Rima's POV
"Ugh! Why can't math be easier!" Amu's shout echos in the Royal Garden.
"Because then it wouldn't be a challenge for you Miss Hinamori." For someone who has great grades, Tadase isn't always the best help in these situations.
"Do you want help Amu?" Nagihiko just had to speak up, didn't he? Just then by luck (although probably not) Ikuto decides to make an appearance.
"I want to help my little strawberry." Amu's face turns bright red.
"A-alright." Really I love her, but come on. Stuttering? Really, Amu?
"Do you guys have to be so loud?" They were really starting to bother me. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends, but I was trying to do my history homework. That was the reason we were all in the Royal Garden after all.
"Rima? Are you struggling with something?" Nagihiko does a terrible job of hiding his sly smile. The others may not have caught on to what he was trying to do, but I did.
"NO! I'm just having trouble concentrating with all of you talking!" I replied as fast as I could. Uh-Oh, why'd I have to say that? Here it comes: Three… Two… One…
"AWE! Rimai is having trouble with her homework, too!" Yaya. Jeez she could be annoying. To tell you the truth, I really was having trouble with my history. It was like they made it to challenge me. The reason she added the 'too' however was because Nagihiko and I were both in advanced classes so it was rare that I was actually struggling with something.
"Yaya! You don't have to put it out there!" She really has the maturity level of a toddler.
"Wow, Rima." Nagihiko just can't stay out of anything. "This is probably the most you've talked in a while. A whole 3 sentences." I hate it when he says things like that. Sure I don't talk a lot, but that doesn't mean I'm mute or anything.
"Shut up! I don't want to hear your mouth anymore, Purplehead!" I yell as loud as I can. Maybe if I yell loud enough his ears will start to bleed. That would be funny.
"Then why are you still talking?" I hate him.
"Maybe I want to talk to Amu!"
"Sorry Rima, I'm working on my math."
"Yaya?"
"Sorry, grammar homework."
"Tadase?" I'm getting a little bit desperate.
"Sorry, Miss Mashiro, I have to do my spying, I mean spelling,"
"Ugh! Fine! I'm going home." This really isn't worth it.
My parents got divorced 2 years ago. They were both very overprotective of me. But after my dad moved away, my mom was more lenient, and lets me walk home by myself now. It took me a while, but I finally got over the divorce. Now I'm happy that I have more freedom. I just wish I didn't have to use it because of stupid Nagihiko.
"Rima! Wait up!" That's a voice I know a little too well. I sigh reluctantly, but turn around.
"Hello, Raichi," I reply. My ex-boyfriend approaches me.
"I didn't know you lived here Rima." He has a very sweet smile. I've always liked that smile.
"Yeah, I moved here a few years ago," I reply emotionlessly. Just because we used to date doesn't mean I have to be nice to him. He just laughs. That made me angry. I hate it when people laugh at something when it's not funny. His chara comes out.
"Dude, that wasn't funny,"
"You have a chara?" I'm surprised. I didn't realize that he had one. He definitely didn't have it before.
"How do you know about charas?"
"Lucky guess." I think quickly, tapping KusuKusu so she doesn't come out.
"Well, how come you can see charas?"
"I said I could see yours, that's all you need to know." I sound too defensive. Please don't catch on.
"OK. Well then how have you been? We haven't talked in a while. I thought we agreed to stay friends?" Thank all the Kami's.
"We did. I've been good. I've been busy, but good." I easily slip back into my regular monotone voice.
"Well, I gotta go, I'll see you later Rima!" I sighed as he left.
"I wonder what that was all about." I glance at KusuKusu.
"Not sure, but it didn't seem good…"
Nagi's POV
"Fine! I'm going home." That sucked. I didn't really want her to go, I just wanted to tease her. She's really cute when she blushes. What am I thinking! I didn't like her or anything. I just wanted to get a reaction out of her. Well still, I feel bad now. What to do, what to do?
"Nagi! You made her leave! The least you can do is make sure she's not mad at you." Amu's right. I swear she knows just what to say at any given time.
"Alright." This is gonna be hard. I really have a hard time apologizing to Rima. I don't know why, I can apologize to anyone else, just not her. There's something about her that makes me cringe. No, not like that. It's just like, whenever I try to tell her something, she get's all monotone, and emotionless. I can't help it. It just makes it harder to talk to her. But it is kinda cute how stubborn she is.
Again! What am I thinking? I need to calm down. Seriously, it's not that big a deal, just say your sorry for what happened, and ask her not to stay mad at you.
Then all of a sudden, someone comes running out and yelling for Rima to wait up. I watch curiously as she stops and turns around to greet him. I've never seen him before. I wonder what they're going to talk about. I know it's wrong but I think I'll spy on them. I sneak up behind them as silently as I can, hiding in a nearby bush.
'Raichi' tells her that he didn't know she lived here. What was that supposed to mean? I mean, how can you know Rima, and not know that she lives here. She of course replies in her monotone voice and I saw him shift nervously. His long brown hair swayed in it's low ponytail. Then he laughs. Ha! I know Rima doesn't like it when someone laughs when there's nothing funny.
Then something strange happens. He has a chara. It looks like him, only in jester clothing, and long purple hair that's down.
"Dude, that wasn't funny." Rima seems just as confused that he has a chara. She questions him about it, but he flips it around.
Her being the person she is says, "Lucky guess." Wait, that wasn't like her.
"Well, how can you see charas?"
"I said I can see yours, that's all you need to know." This is weird. Rima usually hates people who tell half truths.
"OK. How have you been? We haven't talked in a while. I thought we agreed to stay friends?"
"We did. I've been good. Busy, but good." It seems like they're just about to get into some small talk. I shift my weight trying to hear better. It causes a slight rustle in the bush. He looks down and notices me.
"Well, I've gotta go! See you later Rima!" He yells while running. How rude.
"What do you think that was about?" Is she talking to me?
"I don't know, but it didn't seem good…" Oh, it's just KusuKusu. I wonder why she didn't introduce herself to the other chara. Oh, well it would be really awkward to come out now. Anyway, I guess I can wait to apologize till' tomorrow. I wait for Rima to leave before I head home. Almost instantly I get a text.
We will be getting a new student in school tomorrow. I found out about 30 min after you guys left… He asked to keep it a secret from Rima though… His name is Raichi Kotuku. He will be in our class. BTW, our class is class 3D. Please tell Rima the last part only.
-Tadase
Well that's not weird at all. I did as instructed and texted Rima that we will all be in class 3D tomorrow. Tomorrow of course is our first day of the new school term. We always get to know what class we're going to be in ahead of time. Well, Hotori-kun anyway. He usually tells us. We'd just been finishing our homework that was due by the end of our semester break. I hope Rima get's her's done.
I went into the classroom and guess what I found. Well, do you give up yet? Yup, it's the brown-haired guy sitting in the classroom with a book in his hands. Trigonometry, but I know better. It's a fake cover to get people to leave him alone. Apparently it worked because a group of girls abandoned him to all of a sudden flock around me.
Well, this is going to be a very interesting day. I took my seat as usual. Then surprisingly, mystery guy came up to me and we started talking. It was going good until Rima walked in, already suffocating with fanboys. I really did feel sorry for her. I mean, she's like 4' 8". They were all way taller then her and surrounding her her like that was sure to put her in a bad mood. That's when Raichi threw me for a loop.
"Do you like Rima?"
"No." The response fell from my lips instantaneously. Then for whatever reason the next thing he said made me unreasonably angry.
"Good. Because I'm going to make her my girlfriend." His grin was far too confident as he left my side to approach Rima.
Rima's POV
There he is. Raichi. I hate him more than I hate Nagihiko. I hate him till I'm dead and have rolled over 5 times. Then he said something really, really, really weird.
"Hi, Rima." Do you know why that' weird? It's weird because for some reason those words caused all of my fanboys to disperse. I didn't know what to do. Default monotone voice won out.
"Hello, Raichi." Then I immediately ignored him and went to my desk. I just sat there with all the fanboys magically reappearing, and watched Raichi talking to Nagihiko. Huh, figures. No wonder I don't like Nagihiko. They're talking like they've known each other forever. They probably have. So there is definitely no way I could like someone like that. Ha! I finally figured out another reason why I don't like Nagihiko.
Nagi's POV
Huh, I never would have guessed that he was into Rima. Wow, I don't know why but his really hot feeling came over me. It wasn't like anger or anything. But as soon as he said hi to Rima, all her fanboys came over and told me that they know how I feel. Yeah right.I felt a little smug when she seemed to all but ignore him and he came back over to me and asked me what sport I like to play.
"Basketball." I did my best to keep whatever that emotion was from my voice as I adopted a friendly disposition instead.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"I would like to play you some time." Why so you can show off and try to get Rima to notice you? Wow, what's gotten into me?
"OK."
"Then what about today, after the meeting at the Royal Garden. The others can watch." I knew it. Still I really had no reason to go against it.
"Sure, that sounds good to me."
And like that, here we were, in the Royal Garden, introducing Raichi-san, and his chara. He stood up. "Hello. My name as you all are probably aware of by now is Raichi Kotuku, and these are my charas Lianol, and Tempo."
Our chara's all take turns introducing themselves. Amu nudges Rima and finally KusuKusu comes out.
"My name is KusuKusu,"
"And I'm Yoru!" Where did Ikuto come from? The introduction of all of our chara's is followed by our own, personal introductions. Rima 'introduces' herself in a monotone voice. This is followed by everyone else trying to be as cheerful as possible to make up for it. Everyone except Ikuto who just seems bored to be here. No one invited him. Why does he keep showing up?
"Very well then I do believe that concludes today's meeting," Tadase proclaims. He does realize that he isn't actually a king, right? Honestly, I don't know why I'm in such a bad mood today.
"Not so fast, King." Raichi apparently feels the need to contribute to Tadase's ego.
"Nagihiko and I are going to play a one on one basketball match, and were wondering if you all would watch,"
"I don't see why not."
And like that, we were playing basketball. First to 21. You have to win by 5 points though to keep it interesting.
Rima's POV
Ha! I know Nagihiko's going to lose this one! Even if I've never seen him play before, I've seen Raichi play. He's really good.
I hate everything. Nagihiko won. They both ended up using their character changes. Raichi used his in the beginning to try to get as many points as possible. That caused him to run out of energy with Tempo, so it left him open when at the end Nagihiko used his character change to make his last few shots. Then final score? 34-39. It was a really long game. I glanced at my watch. 5:32 p.m. Time to go home.
Raichi insisted on walking me home even though I don't want him to. He said it's what friends do for each other. Yeah, real friends.
Anyway, by then I was pretty emotionally drained. I told Mom that I had a very busy Guardians meeting. She bought it. It was true in a way. Even though real Guardians meetings get over pretty quickly, we still do things together, like watch the game.
I went to my room and lied down. I couldn't help but think about Nagihiko now. I don't know why, but when he took that last shot, it was like something clicked. I wish I could be athletic, too.
I don't want to be cheerleader athletic like Amu, but more like, good at sports athletic like Nagihiko, and Raichi.
Oh, well. I doubt I ever will be. My mom says that when you really want something, pray for it. And so, I prayed that somehow I could be athletic, too.
"OMG!" My early morning discovery may have caused me to shout a little louder than I wanted to.
"What is it, Rima?" My now very startled chara floated over to me with bleary eyes. My excitement was nearly palatable.
"Look, KusuKusu! It's another egg!"
"Well of course there is. You realized your want to be athletic, and so, there's your other chara,"
"WHAT! You knew what was going to happen all along, and you didn't tell me!" It was really hard to keep my volume down right now.
"No, I knew that at some point you would realize your want to be athletic, and that my sister would hatch then."
"Rima! You'd better hurry to school, or you'll be late! I'm leaving for work now, and won't be home till 7:00 tonight, so you'll have to make dinner, okay?" My mother was apparently perfectly fine with ignoring my early morning craziness.
"Okay, mom!" There is no way I'm going to be ready to get to school on time. I went downstairs, and grabbed my lunch and book bag. I was almost out the door when I looked at the time. 7:30 a.m. and school starts at 8:00. My mother tricked me. Upstairs I could hear my alarm clock going off. I shrugged and decided it wouldn't hurt to be on time today, so I grabbed my set of keys on the way out the door.
Of course, I still ended up being late. I'm always late when my mom doesn't drive me. I got to school at 8:15, and Mr. Boring Teacher yelled at me. Of course I don't have a pass, but I' a guardian. I mean seriously.
Mr. Boring Teacher decided he doesn't like guardians because he never, and I mean never got a day off of school. I bet he even slept at the school. But we, being guardians, got lots of days off. Of course it was to fight x eggs, but he doesn't know that.
So, here I am, getting yelled at for being 15 minutes late. Honestly, what happened to teachers? Normally if you're late, you sit in the hall and work on homework, but today he's extra mean.
"How do you expect us to have a nice field trip, if you're always late?" Is he still talking?
"What field trip?"
"Well, you would know that if you had been on time today!"
"Are you going to explain it to me or keep yelling?" What is this guy's problem?
"Shut up! I'm trying to explain it to the whole class!"
"Isn't it wrong to tell a student to shut up?"
"Just sit down Miss Mashiro!"
"Ok?" Who does he think he is? Telling a student to shut up? He should get detention.
"Now class, the field trip will be next Saturday at the Seiyo Aquarium. You will be expected there at 7:00 a.m. SHARP and it will last until school Monday. Pack accordingly. You of course will need clothes for all three days. We will return to school at lunch. Any questions?"
"Yes," I replied.
"What is it?" The look on his face told me that I probably shouldn't ask why we were doing this.
"Are we going to split into groups?"
"Yes, I will let you choose your groups. There will be 3 groups of 9."
The rest of the class went all ballistic, while we guardians already knew our group. I wonder if he set it up that way so that he could just ignore our particular group entirely. Probably.
Nagi's POV
Great, a field trip. Now my mom can freak out about how I'm not going to get to practice, and how she'll have to pick out what I'm going to wear otherwise I'll probably pick out something 'way too guy like'. Is there even such a thing as that? I don't know.
"So, who's gonna be in your group, Nagihiko?" One of my fan girls ask.
"The guardians of course." Duh, how dumb can you get?
"But that's only 6 people. Don't you need 9?" That's right, they don't know about the others.
"We have 3 other people since it's a school field trip, not a grade field trip," I reply lazily. Now we're back at the Royal Garden.
"So, girls, when are we all going shopping for our clothes?" Utau asks.
"Utau, you're crazy. There's only one way to go shopping. Today's Friday. Tomorrow's Saturday. We'll have to go shopping tonight." Amu makes a valid point.
"I'm not going." Rima seems particularly unhappy today. It's probably because she got yelled at this morning.
"Then shall I walk you home, Rima?" I still don't know why but that guy makes me very angry.
"Fine, I'll go shopping. My mom's not getting home till 7:00 anyway." I wonder what happened between them that made Raichi like her, and Rima hate him. Probably nothing on the Rima hating him part, but why does he like her so much?
Rima's POV
We were at the mall and everything was going fine when we finished shopping and decided to go to a ramen shop. The guys apparently had decided to go there to when they were hanging out so we ate with them. After Utau and Kukai consumed seven bowls we left and went to a nearby park.
When we got there we found out very quickly that they were having a karaoke contest to see which guy and girl could sing the best. You were allowed to enter more than once, but it had to be with a different person.
"Ooh, I wanna try! Kukai, come up and sing with me!" Utau grabbed him and they immediately went up there, told the judges their names, and started to sing. Raichi asked me if I would sing with him, and I immediately shut that down. Call it what you will, but 'staying friends' is not going to happen with us. Instead we listened to everyone else, and Amu went up with Tadase first, then Ikuto. We saw a bunch of other groups join in and finally it was the end. Amu won with Ikuto and Tadase pouted in the background. Poor King, always the bridesmaid.
Monday morning I arrived at the aquarium an hour early. Why? Because my mom heard about me getting yelled at on Friday and wanted to make sure that didn't happen again. I'm so tired I feel like my insides are turning to mush. The only other person who is even at the aquarium this early in the morning is stupid Nagihiko.
I sit beside him despite myself because while I may be petty, I'm also incredibly tired and don't have the energy to ignore him.
"Good morning Rima. You're here pretty early." All I can do is nod my head silently in agreement.
"So there's been something I'm curious about and I was wondering if you could fill me in." What now? I turn my head to look at him giving him my best deadpan expression. This better be quick.
"Why do you keep avoiding Raichi?" I'm surprisingly no longer tired. Well, isn't that a neat trick?
"I'm not avoiding him."
"Really? Because everytime he talks to you I see you pretty much ignore him. He seems like he might be a nice guy. Did he do something to you?" This is seriously none of his business.
"Drop it Nagihiko. My relationship with Raichi is none of your concern."
"Let me ask you this, Rima. Do you love Raichi?"
Did he just ask me that? Oh, yeah. I just realized I haven't told anyone about us.
"No. We used to date, but broke up before I moved here. We agreed to stay friends, but it's hard because it's a little awkward for me to even be in the same room as him, why do you care?" And why am I so talkative. Just because I haven't told anyone about this doesn't mean I should tell Nagihiko.
"Just wondering." He has a smile on his face. A real smile. Oh, how I love that smile. Wait, what am I thinking? I hate Nagihiko right? Yeah, right. But why did he look so angry, then change his expression when I answered him? Why am I asking myself this? It's not like I like him or anything… I don't. I don't care about him. Everyone else finally start to arrive at the aquarium.
"Students, students! It's time to move into the aquarium. Please turn off all your cell phones at once so that they don't distract you once you enter." We went inside then heard a loud click.
"Now that you are locked in, you may do as you please. I will not be here, nor will the other teachers. Enjoy. The only thing you can't do is swim with any of the carnivorous fish. Got it?"
"Got it." I can't believe this school is still functional. How have they not lost countless children?
"Good. Now enjoy yourselves." He then proceeds to leave. When we again hear the loud click I take out in a run and the others follow me. I'm going to the room with beds in it. The only room with beds.
Us girls all head into the bathrooms to change into clothes that don't strictly abide by the school policy. Not like that! Just things like shorts and tank tops and stuff. That's when we realize the mistake we made. The boys got first dibs on beds. There weren't enough for us not to share.
That left us girls to decide which guy, or guys in Amu's case, to sleep with for the next three days. Amu took the bed with Tadase and Ikuto in it. Big surprise there. Utau took the bed with Kukai in it. That left me and Yaya. Well, I definitely don't want to sleep with Raichi because we used to date, so I quickly set my stuff down by the bed Nagihiko was at. Sorry Yaya.
Raichi seemed mad, and Nagihiko looked embarrassed. I got why Raichi looked mad. I could tell that he wanted me back. So it was obvious that he wanted me to pick his bed, but I wasn't like that. But I still couldn't tell why Nagihiko was embarrassed and it wasn't because I'm trying really hard to be willfully obtuse.
Utau's POV
I was casually sitting on Kukai's lap when I got an amazing idea. I looked around and read the emotions emanating from my friends. A pleased Ikuto. An embarrassed Amu. A happy Tadase. A bored Rima. Content Nagihiko. An upset Raichi. And an uncomfortable Yaya. Perfect.
"Yaya, will you come here please?" Time to set the wheel in motion.
"Sure Utau, what do you need?"
"Do want some candy?"
"YES!" Excellent.
"Here you go." I gave her several handfuls. That should do it. Three… Two… One…
"OMG! I'M SOOOO HYPER NOW!" Perfect.
"Yay! Now, Yaya, lock the door please."
"OK!" She did as I asked.
"All the doors please," Haha, this is gonna be fun. She ran and locked the bathroom door and the closet door. No one's tried to stop her yet. She came back and handed me the keys.
"Alright everyone! Here's what we're all going to do now. We're going to play Truth or Dare." Rima, who wasn't paying attention at the time, runs to the doors and tries to open all of them.
"No." Her voice is clouded in despair. Haha! That's why I had Yaya lock them!
"Now we play!" I get out the bag and the bottle I brought with me for just such an occasion. The bag has a bunch of truths and dares so no one gets to pick, and the bottle of course is to spin. We all sit on the floor in a circle. Kukai went first.
Rima's POV
"If you and one person were the last ones alive on Earth, who would you want that person to be and why?" Are you kidding me?
"Utau, because Utau is the love of my life." That got lots of awes from the other girls. I wasn't impressed though. He also got a kiss from Utau. A short one. She has something up her sleeve. Yaya went second. She got a dare.
"Kiss the person directly on your right for at least 5 seconds" I do not like how this is going. The person on her right is Raichi so she kissed exploited the obvious loophole and kissed him on the cheek for 5 seconds. I bet it would have been a different story if the person was Kairi… I watched the bottle with unreserved contempt. It's my turn. Great.
I took a deep breath and drew from the hat. A truth.
"Have you ever dated anyone before, if so, who did you date, are you still dating, if not, did you break up with him/her, and why," Who writes a question this crazy specific? I don't want to answer it. I have to do it so I look directly at Amu and reply:
"Yes I have dated someone before. I used to date Raichi, no, we aren't dating anymore, I broke up with him because he cheated on me with my old best friend," Oh god. I can feel everyone's eyes on me. I feel like I'm gonna faint. I moved to sit by Amu, which put me by Nagihiko also. Great. At least the people I'm sitting by both either already sort of knew, or are my best friend.
"I'm so sorry," Utau said.
"Don't be. It was for the best," I say, then smile weakly at her. Then my smile changes to a confident one. "I like someone else now anyway." Then I stick out my tongue at her. She laughs. Good. I'd hate for her to feel sorry for me, even if I don't actually like anyone else yet. I just don't like him anymore. I spin the bottle and who does it land on but Raichi. I watch him pull out his slip of paper.
"Who do you have a crush on right now at this very instant?" I'm going to kill Utau for writing these.
"Right now at this very instant I have a huge crush on Rima, I have had a crush on her ever since I moved here, and I want to apologize for everything I did." Well, there it is. I keep my eyes down and ignore him. I don't even look up when the bottle is spun again. It's Nagihiko's turn now. I hope he hurries up and draws from the hat so that I don't have to reply or feel everyone's eyes on me again. He doesn't. He just sits there. I hate him. I feel my anger boil over.
"I'm not sorry. I don't like you. As a matter of fact I hate you. I only talk to you because you're a member of the guardians. If you weren't then I would have absolutely nothing to say to you. When we graduate from being guardians this year, I will never talk to you again. Oh, and you're not forgiven. Did I make myself clear?" The room is absolutely silent in the wake of my outburst.
"Crystal."
"Good." I really shouldn't have snapped like that but honestly this was a long time coming. Nagihiko draws without even looking at me. I don't know why but for some reason it hurts. I want him to look at me. To smile that goofy smile of his. To say that everything is going to be alright. But he doesn't. He just draws from the hat. He doesn't read it aloud so I look over his shoulder. He doesn't move.
'Dare: Go into the closet with the person on your left for 30 minutes'
"Who's the person on your left?" I ask. I was having a dumb moment. Everyone turns to look at me. What did I say? Oh, wait! I'm the person on Nagihiko's left!
"No way! Did you get a closet one! How long?" Kukai needs to learn not to yell things at easily startled people.
"30 minutes," Nagihiko is obviously stunned right now.
"Um, I think I have to go to the bathroom. Now. Utau, please give me the key." I wish my voice didn't sound so panicky.
"Sure, here Rima." She hands me a key. I run to the bathroom. It doesn't unlock. Hesitantly I try the front door. It doesn't unlock. I turn my head slowly to the closet.
"Uh-oh."
"Yep." Utau grins. "Get them."
Ikuto and Kukai immediately grab Nagihiko before he can react, and I end up cornered by the girls. Oh man, I wish I was stronger so I could get away from them. Then scramble away! Just feel your own pattern. Go with the Flow! All of a sudden my other egg comes out. It has orange and yellow dots all over it. Suddenly it cracks open. My chara has long blonde hair up in a high ponytail, and is wearing orange and black shorts, with black and purple headphones.
That seems to stop everyone in their tracks. "Character change!" The little chara yells. Immediately black and purple headphones appear on my neck. I jump up the corner of the wall and past the girls, I snag the other keys and open the exit. I quickly snatch Nagihiko's hand and dash out the door. I keep running until we're far enough away from all of them, and then dash into the closest door. It leads to the dolphin exhibit. Wow, so pretty. Thoroughly exhausted I then plop down on the bench. The headphones disappear.
"Hello! My name is Flow. I was born from your wish to be athletic!"
"Hello, I'm KusuKusu, your older sister. Kukukuku."
"Yo, I'm Rhythm, Nagi's chara." Flow smiles at him.
"It's very nice to meet you Rhythm," she says.
"I'm Nagihiko, I'm Rhythm's chara bearer," Nagihiko says.
Flow just laughs and replies, "I already know who you are Nagihiko."
"How?"
"Because, I'm Rima's chara. And I was inspired because you beat Raichi at that game of basketball. So I already know who you are!"
"Oh… Wait! You were inspired by me?"
"Technically, I mean, that's what made Rima realize she wants to be athletic, like you."
"Oh." I don't know why but now I feel embarrassed. I look at my watch. From the time we left to now it's been about 20 minutes. We've been in the exhibit for about 15 minutes...
"5 minutes."
"5 minutes until what?" Nagihiko's eyebrows scrunch up in confusion.
"5 minutes until we leave. It took us about 5 minutes to get here, we've been in the exhibit for about 15 minutes, and so if we stay for 5 more minutes, then the 30 minutes will be up when we get back. Providing you Character Change on the way back." I state.
"Oh, what do you want to do?" Nagihiko asks with that smile of his. It's gorgeous. I'm in love. WHAT? No, I can't be in love. But what if I am? What should I do?
"I don't know…" Suddenly he character changes, or should I say Rhythm makes him Character change, and he leans in and kisses me. I was shocked but didn't pull away. It was a simple kiss. Soft at first, then a little harder. Eventually we pulled away to breathe and I noticed that his character change was off. I was stunned. It was awkward. I looked at my watch. 5 minutes exactly. Nagihiko just nodded and character changed with Rhythm, picking me up and running to our room.
Before we entered, he put me down in front of the door. Utau said we were late. I looked down at my watch. It took us a minute extra to stop at the door.
"Sorry, it took us an extra minute to get through the crowd of fan girls and boys," I state unhappily. Please don't read through my acting lessons.
"They actually had me scared for a moment." I try not to glance at him.
"Yeah, cut the crap, you two made out didn't you?" Kukai butts in. Please don't believe him. Please don't believe him.
"Guys, it's 11:30, and I'm tired. Can we please sort this out tomorrow?" Amu asks looking at me. I sigh with relief.
"Sure thing Miss Hinamori." Tadase... no matter how hard you try you aren't going to get brownie points when you still call her 'Miss' Hinamori.
"Yeah, now we can all sleep together." Utau points out. How did I forget about that?
Us girls change in the bathroom. When we came out all the guys were already in bed. We all got onto our respective sides of the bed. Well, all of us except Utau. She probably has something up her sleeve.
"Alright. One more thing before we go to bed." I knew it. "Scary stories!"
"One night, quite like this one," Kukai began, "9 teenagers all about 15 went into the old museum. Everything had cobwebs on it, and they only had a flashlight for each pair of two, and a pair of three. They all stayed together at first because they had all seen scary movies before, and knew that the moment you split up is the moment you all die.
"Everything was fine until they heard a dripping sound. A sound like the dripping of a leaky faucet. They didn't know which faucet it was, but they all knew that there were two faucet's in the museum. One was upstairs, and one was downstairs. In order to figure out which one was the leaky faucet they would have to split up." How convenient that this story sounds exactly like our friend group and has the most obvious plot whole in history. Just check both the faucets at together.
"They split into three groups. The bravest pair would go downstairs, the other pairs of two would go upstairs, and the group of three would stay on the middle floor." No. This doesn't seem at all like Utau told Kukai to come up with this story to scare us.
"The group that went downstairs didn't find the leaky faucet. They went upstairs, but stopped short when they heard a blood curling scream. They turned around and ran back downstairs. The thing that killed the group of three, heard them run, and ran after them. It took it a little while to find them but when it did, it killed them. The two pairs that went upstairs heard all of this. The most hyper person of the two groups was scared nearly to death. They decided to split up again so that one of the groups had a chance to live." Wasn't it already established that they had seen a horror movie before? Why are they splitting up again?
"All of them slowly went down. They only moved when the dripping sound actually made the sound. They figured that if the sound was the thing moving, then it was safer to move when it was, so it had less of a chance of hearing them." Yes that makes complete sense.
"They made it down the stairs, when the most athletic group decided to hide in the corner of the staircase by the door. The other group walked towards the exit. They forgot to be careful and made one of the floor boards squeak. The killer heard them and ran up behind them and sliced open their throats.
"The last group stayed where they were until 3:33 a.m. when they heard the door downstairs open, and shut. Then they ran out of the museum, and made it home. When they got home, the girl remembered getting cut on her finger, and quickly bandaged it up. The boy turned off the flashlight, and drew a match and lit a candle.
"To this day, if you write your name on a piece of paper, first, second, and last, then prick your finger, and put your blood on the paper, If you have a candle and light it and put it on top, then knock on a wooden door 22 times at the strike of midnight, the midnight man will come and try to kill you. He will try to get vengeance for not being able to find the last pair of two, and so you have to stay moving at all times. If your candle blows out you must relight it in the next 10 seconds, or throw a salt circle around you. If you fail to do this, you will be killed by the midnight man. He will leave at 3:33 a.m. and will not bother you afterwards. Your candle is your first line of defense. If you lose that, then your salt circle is your last line of defense. Do not do anything to aggravate the midnight man, in any way. Do not let your candle be burnt out for more that 10 seconds without drawing a salt circle. Do not, and I mean, Do Not, play this game. If you do any of these things, you might die." Why does it feel suspiciously like he read the last part from the internet? Despite myself by that time I was scared. I usually don't get scared, but I was scared of this. I felt Nagihiko shift behind me. I jumped, than tried my best to settle down before we fell asleep.
When I woke up Nagi and I were hugging with our feet intertwined. I quickly tried to move away, but felt him pull me closer. My face was bright red as I shook him to wake him up. He quickly let go, and we separated. I ran to the bathroom to get changed and wash my face. No more scary stories. I left the bathroom and found that Nagi had woken everyone else up. Good. That means that I won't have to.
"Alright, now that Rima is out here, what did you guys do for the last few minutes?" Utau asks.
"I got dress, and ready for your lecture." Is she serious?
"They mean yesterday," Nagi looks over at me with his honey colored eyes. Wait, when did I start calling him Nagi? When did I start describing his eyes in my head?
"Oh. We went to the dolphin exhibit, then we met Flow, and finally we came back," I decided to leave out the part were Nagi kissed me.
"The dolphin exhibit? I've been there before. It doesn't take that long to make the journey there and back, especially if you character changed. So what did you guys do for the rest of the time?" Utau asks. Dang, she's fast.
"Nothing. It took us longer to get back because we were both worn out from running all the way there. Plus we had to escape the fan boys and fan girls." When all else fails, lie.
"Ok." I don't think she really bought it but there's no way for her to call us out. I glanced at Nagihiko. He looked uncertain. I decided to leave after telling them all that I had spent too much time with them yesterday. Yeah, right. I had hardly spent any time at all with Amu. But I saw the note. Yeah, that note. The one that tears up your relationship before it even starts. The kind of thing you find, but know you aren't supposed to look at but you do anyway because you're a terrible person. That note.
Well, I knew that I shouldn't even look, but it was just sitting under his pillow on our bed and when I picked it up it said Nagihiko on it, and I got curious. I mean, wouldn't you get curious too? Well I figured it would just be something I'll have to pretend I didn't see. So I snagged it of the bed and took it with me to open it. It looked like a back and forth letter.
Dear Nagi,
I am sorry if I am bothering you, but I couldn't help it. I thought about this paper ever since we wrote it together. Well, I guess it was a conversation, but you get the point. I am giving it back because I love you so much it hurts not to be near you. I will always love you more than you can ever understand.
Bye
Then there was a piece of paper attached.
Hey- Nagi
Hi- S
How are you- Nagi
I'm fine… A little anxious about the test though. Do you think we'll get good grades? –S
Of course. You're the smartest girl in the class. I'm the smartest boy. We'll definitely get good grades. –Nagi
Still, what do you think of the Queen? What do you think she'll get? I mean, aren't you two like best friends? –S
No! I don't even like her as a friend. I only try to get along with her because of Amu. It doesn't help that she's always rude to everyone. Plus there's someone else I like anyway –Nagi
Who? –S
You… :3 –Nagi
I don't know why, but tears started flowing down my cheeks. I felt like I had been cheated. The moment I think I might like someone; they turn out to hate me. Wait, I don't like Nagi, or anything. Do I? I think I do since I'm crying though… I run to the nearest bathroom and cry. The note was creased, like it had been folded and unfolded many more times than the conversation.
It seems as though Nagi really does like someone else, and that leaves me to be the only one all alone, since I am never going to date Raichi again. I quickly pull myself together, and get out of the bathroom. I walk around for about 5 hours. I'm careful not to run into any of the others. Then I go back into the bathroom I had cried in. Luckily my face isn't puffy anymore. I head outside and go to our room. There they all are. It's obvious that they have all been looking for me, and Amu has even cried a little. I feel bad now. Amu immediately glomps me.
"What happened, Rima? Where have you been?" She probably thought I got kidnapped again.
"I went for a walk. Duh. I told you guys I was gonna head out for a bit. Now, wash off your face, and we'll play a game. Ok?" I ask. She nods. While everyone else isn't paying attention, I slide the note into Nagi's bag. No one notices. Not even Nagi. I felt even more hurt.
"Come on, Amu. I heard that there having another karaoke contest at the dolphin exhibit," I yell.
"Ok, Rima!" She shouts. We all go down to the dolphin exhibit, and to my luck, they were still going.
"Any last minute volunteers to sing?" The DJ was asking. Utau and Amu went up and I felt better that she was having fun. I went and got a glass of fruit punch. Everyone is talking excitably when the girls get back. This is where my acting skills are going to come in so much handy. I approached my friends, and casually sipped my drink while complimenting Amu and Utau's singing.
Nagi's POV
Rima's been acting weird ever since she got back. She's been acting like she's hiding something. I know when she's faking for some reason, but his time I can't seem to figure out why. Why is she hiding? Why won't she just tell me? Wait there was no way that she was mad at me again right? What if she is? What would I do then? I can't just sit here and do nothing. But yet, that's exactly what I decided to do.
The girls went into the bathroom to get changed but when I went into my bag, I found a letter.
"Hey guy's, come here," I call the other guys over. I pass the letter around.
"Dude, did you really have that conversation?" Ikuto asks.
"No! Of course not! That doesn't even sound like me! Besides, I like someone else anyway, and I did not right this letter!" I nearly shout. I'm barely quiet enough so the girls don't hear me.
"Then prove it. Tell us who you do like." Raichi is going to regret asking that.
"Alright, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, ok?" They all agree.
"The truth is, I really do like Rima," They're all quiet. Then the girls come out. I quickly shove the letter into my pocket.
Rima's POV
I just told the girl's what was wrong. We left, and the boys were acting funny. It doesn't help that all the girls are giving them death glares like they had something to do with it, and Nagi keeps looking at me.
"Ok, what's wrong Rima?" I'm going to kill Raichi.
"What do you mean?" I ask as innocently as possible. Leave it alone.
"What I mean is that I know when you're hiding something, and you're obviously hiding something." Dang. I don't know how to reply to that.
"Rima isn't going to tell any of you guys because it's a secret between her and us. But if you really must know something, I am the one keeping the secret," Utau says. Wow. I didn't expect her to stand up for me.
"Fine, then why are all of you giving us death stares?" Ikuto asks.
"Because we all decided that we don't like boys like you and probably never will again." Wow, that was kinda harsh Amu.
"That doesn't make any sense Hinamori-san," Tadase says. "You were all fine with us before you went into the bathroom."
"Yeah, that's when we all found out how disgusting guys can really be."
"Did one of you leave the toilet seat up again? I tried to tell you that girls don't like that." Oh Kukai, you beautiful angel.
"It's deeper than a toilet seat." I try to ease some of the tension without giving anything away.
"How?" I don't want to answer Nagi right now.
"Didn't I already tell you? It's my secret," Utau states.
"Yeah but the more and more you say that, the more and more I don't believe you. I think it's not your secret at all, but Rima's and that's why she's not replying to me." Dang, he hit it right on the mark.
"Fine, if you must know, Yaya hates all of you for keeping Nagi's secret for so long! We know that all of you know what happened, and we all just found out today! That's so unfair we'll let you figure the rest out!" Yaya screams at them. I don't think I can take it anymore. I have to get out of here. I stand up and calmly walk out the room before character changing and booking it. After a few seconds I can hear someone chasing after me so I take lots of turns, and short cuts. I go through lots of doors, and then I turn into the one place I didn't want to be.
Somehow, Nagi headed me off, predicted my movements, and went a turn ahead of me so I ended up running into him. I fall off my feet on impact and prepare to hit the ground, but don't. After a couple of seconds I open my eyes, and find that I was caught by Nagi.
I quickly try to scramble out of his grasp, but my character change wears off, and I'm stuck being a weak little girl again who can't get away. Nagi pulls me into an embrace. I try to struggle as hard as I could but found I could not. I was so tired and mad I wanted to cry. But I couldn't. Not in front of him. I could never cry in front of him again. Not after what he did.
Not after he betrayed me like that. Never again. I will never love someone again. I will never like someone ever again. I will never, ever, ever let myself get hurt again. Never. Not ever again. I struggle until I'm too tired and slouch in his grasp.
"Let me go." My voice sounds weaker than I meant it to.
"No."
"Let me go, now." I try again a little more forcefully.
"Not until you tell me why you suddenly ran out," He replies.
"Why do you care?" I ask. Dang, couldn't I just keep my mouth closed.
"Because I do." Really, he's not gonna answer me? That made me angry.
"Is it because of Amu?" Rage was starting to fill my voice.
"No..." He's acting like he's confused. I can't take this anymore.
"We all saw the letter Ok?! There's no need to pretend anymore! So just leave me alone!" His grip slackened slightly and I let myself feel sad for a moment before he adjusted us to look me in the eye.
"I didn't write that letter, Ok? I don't even know where it came from, although now I know that you probably read it, put it in my bag, and told the girls about it in the bathroom!"
"Of course I told them about it! Don't they deserve to know too?" I was nearly screaming.
"Not if it's not true! Did you even ask me if I wrote the note or not? No! So you don't even know if I really did write it!" Who does he think he is?
"Why would I?! When I asked the girls if I should ask you or not we all agreed that you and the boys would probably deny ever seeing it!" I yelled at him as loud as I could. I figured that if I could get a teacher or someone to come, than they would help me out. Then I remembered that all the teachers were gone right now. Dang it! Whenever I actually want one, there's none to be seen!
"Of course we would deny ever seeing it! We never had seen it before!" He yelled.
"Let me go! I told you why I ran out and now you know! That was the deal, so let me go NOW!" I scream at him. I was so angry, and felt so hurt. Truth to be told, I actually liked being there by him, but I couldn't forget that promise I made to myself. I wasn't going to fall in love ever again. I can't. I won't.
Nagi's POV
I'm so scared. I can't lose her because of some fake letter that I didn't even write. But she won't listen, and still wants to be let go, even after finding out the truth. I don't want to ever love again if I lose Rima tonight. I have to get her back. But how. How can you fix something, when you don't know how it got broken?
I let her go. She walked away, but I don't want her to go. Not now, not ever. If she really believed what the letter said, then how could I make her stay? I don't know. She was shaking, I could tell. I can tell she's still upset. I wanted her to know that everything is going to be alright. Even if I'm not even sure I believe it.
I want her to know that I didn't betray her. I want her to know that, and to know that if she goes away tonight, then I will never be able to love another girl again. I will always see her when I close my eyes, the thought of her crying, and it will kill me inside. I want her to know that. But how? How can I say all of that at once?
Then, all of a sudden, while still trying to figure out how to say how I would never love again, I realized that there was still a chance, because I still love Rima. Without even thinking, I grabbed her by the arm, pulled her back to me, and kissed her. I could tell that she was stunned by it, but I didn't even know that I was going to do it.
Still, I liked the way our lips fit together perfectly. It was almost as though we were made to be together.
Rima's POV
I'm so hurt. He moved out of my way. I slowly started walking. I could've walked faster. I could've run, but I felt like my feet weighed a million tons. I had a lot on my mind. And even more on my heart.
Why couldn't I have just stayed like that and argued with him, or even just looked at my feet? Why can't I seem to get over him? I am positive that I will never love anyone ever again. But why am I feeling so sad? Then I realized it. I'm feeling sad because I still love him. I was still in love with Nagihiko.
All of a sudden, without me even realizing it, Nagi grabbed my arm. I didn't want to pull away, but I don't want to argue with him. He pulled me back to him. There is still a chance to escape. I don't want to escape. When he lifted my chin up I thought he was going to try to make me talk to him again, but then he did something I never expected. He kissed me. I was stunned.
Still, I liked the way our lips fit perfectly together. It was almost as though we were made to be together.
The End