**I got the idea for this fic after watching the movie How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, starring Kate Hudson. Hehehe… I thought the movie was cute and I had a really hard time choosing which couple should be in it…
**Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is not and will never, ever be mine. Hah. Their loss.
Prologue: His Mission, His Bet
"You want me to what?!" The taller boy practically shouted the question to the smaller boy in front of him. He then adjusted his eyeglasses, just to make sure that the person in front of him was really his cousin, not some psycho with a weird sense of humor.
"Oh, come on, Kogure… For me, please…" The smaller boy coaxed again, this time, giving his cousin his trademark you-can-never-ever-resist-me-and-you-know-it-so-just-give-it-up look. He knew it always worked on his good-hearted cousin.
"Fujima, I am not letting you use me for your own benefit! And, besides, why would you want me to do that?!"
"I have my reasons," Fujima said stubbornly.
"Tell me," Kogure said, more stubbornly.
"Fine. I'll tell you." Fujima settled himself more comfortably on his cousin's couch. "You are aware that a lot of guys want to go out with me, right?"
Kogure stopped the urge to roll his eyes at his cousin's humongous confidence on himself.
"Although it's a good thing, it can get really hard for me sometimes…"
Stop. The. Urge.
"You see," Fujima continued. "…I find it hard to break up with anyone. Once I see that wounded animal look on the person's face, I just lose the heart to tell him I don't want to be with him anymore…"
Kogure tried hard to keep a straight face. Really hard.
"…and so, I thought, if I can't break up wth him, then I should do something that'll make him want to break up with me." Fujima said it as if he just discovered the cure for AIDS.
"You want to be dumped?!" Kogure could not believe how his cousin's mind worked.
"No, it's not about being dumped… It's about losing the guy…"
"It's being dumped."
"Fine. Then dump it is." Fujima raised his hands out of frustration. "I want to be dumped by the guy I can't break up with! Get it now?!"
"Why would you want to do that?!"
"Weren't you listening to me?! I told you I have break-up problems…"
"Just that? Isn't that a bit too shallow..?"
"Maybe for you, but not for me."
"Fine, fine… Break-up problems… But, why me? I'm a respectable-looking, eyeglass-wearing, diligent study freak..."
"Exactly," Fujima answered matter-of-factly. "You're near-perfect. Just like me. Hard to let go of. So, if you succeed in making a guy want to break up with you, it means that you've done the worst there is…"
Kogure sighed. "You don't give up, do you?"
"So, you agree to it?" Fujima happily asked.
"Guess I don't have any choice…"
"Yay!" Fujima hugged his cousin. "You're the best! I give you ten days!"
"Ten days?!" Kogure shrieked increduously. "You want me to get a guy and make him want to dump me in a span of a week and a half?!"
"Why? Is that too long?"
"Too long?! You call that long?! No! It's… There's no point arguing with you…" Kogure shook his head. "Ten days it is."
"Thank you sooo much, Kogure!" Fujima hugged hin again, a bit too tight, judging by the color Kogure is now turning into… "Now, let me ran it to you again. In ten days, you should be able to find a guy, have some fun times with him, then do things that'll make him go running away from you, then tell it all to me so that my break-up problems will be solved." Fujima flashed a triumphant smile.
"You have a sick mind. Have I told you that? Sick mind…"
~ 0 ~
"Hey, beautiful," the guy with the blue-tinted hair said to the girl in front of him.
The girl spun around and flashed a surprised look. "Hey… You came."
The guy shrugged. "I felt like I was slowly rotting away at home. I need human interaction."
"Sure, sure. And let us hope that this so-called human interaction will not result to more broken hearts." The girl wiggled her eyebrows, obviously, referring to her companion's playboy ways.
"Don't worry. I'm not in the mood."
"Oooh… My dear Mitsui not in the mood for girl-hunting… Could it be..?" The girl said over-dramatically.
"For your information, Ayako, I do not girl-hunt. They come to me."
Ayako shrugged.
"And, frankly, it's getting really tiring. There's no challenge when you know that the person you're going out with worships the ground you walk on."
"Oh, please. Stop thinking that you're God's gift to womankind, Mitsui!"
"I do not think that way. I am just stating the fact."
"The fact that you're a pig who breaks girls' hearts and is not capable of loving?"
Mitsui's eyes narrowed. "I am capable of loving."
"Example?" Ayako crossed her arms.
Mitsui scratched his chin and thought hard for one, measly example. The time he was taking was enough to drive the curly-haired girl crazy.
"See? You can't even name one!" She threw her hands in the air.
"Oh, wait. I know one," Mitsui smiled. "You."
Ayako sighed loudly. "Mitsui… I am exempted to that. I'm your best friend," she said emphatically.
"So? You said give one example."
"I said with the girls you've had relationships with… As in, boyfriend-girlfriend relationships…" She shook her head. "If it can ever be called relationships… You're hopeless, you know that?"
"That's why you love me."
"Ugh," Ayako said in disgust. Then, a brilliant idea hit her. "Oi, Hisashi. If I pick any person in this party, can you assure me that you can make that person fall in love with you?"
Mitsui smirked. "Damn right, I can."
"Good."
"What're you up to, Ayako?"
"Just some little fun, so you won't have to rot at home." Ayako flashed a sweet smile.
"Okay, tell me."
"Well, we are already aware of your special powers towards the ladies. You can take any girl, any time, anywhere."
"Thank you, for finally acknowledging that."
Ayako shook her head. "That's not the point. My point is, you've proven yourself already on that department. So… I'm picking a boy."
"A what?!"
"You heard me. A boy. Make him fall in love with you… If you are the Don Juan de Marco you claim yourself to be…"
Mitsui snorted. "Fine. A boy, then. What do I get in return?"
"What you always wanted," Ayako answered.
Mitsui eyed Ayako from head to toe… and got hit in the head.
"Not that, baka! I mean, self-satisfaction!"
"Self-what?! Oh please, Ayako. Why would I want self-stimulation?!"
"Baka! I said, self-satisfaction!" She exclaimed hitting Mitsui's head… again.
"Self-satisfaction?! I already have that! Don't I get something material, like money, jewelry..?!" Mitsui increduously asked.
Ayako rolled her eyes. "Something material? Geez. Won't you be contented with the fact that you've already penetrated the same-sex territory?"
"Uhm, no!" He stared at Ayako, as if she were a foreign object. "I need a driving force… A motivaton, so to speak."
"Fine, fine." Ayako remembered the Assistant Manager position he was about to give Mitsui. Well, he doesn't have to know that I am really going to give it to him… I can make it seem like the prize in this outrageous bet… "Remember the Assistant Manager position you always wanted at my little league?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"On my birthday party, I want you to show me the man who fell in love with you, and no sooner, you'll be the assistant manager of the little league."
Mitsui's lips curved into a smile. "Ten days from now… Sounds good to me. So, who's your pick?"
"Hmmm…" Ayako tapped a finger on her chin as she scanned the crowd. Her eyes fell on someone, and at that moment, she knew he was the one.
A smile formed into her lips. "Hisashi, I present to you, your prey… There he is…" She pointed to the guy she was eyeing.
"Make him fall in love…" And with a light pat on her best friend's back, she walked away.
~ 0 ~
**Ahehehe… Is my prologue crappy? Gomen… *bows* I don't know how else to start it, and I don't want to base all of it in the movie… ^_^; Imagine, if I made Kogure a magazine writer who needs to write a how-to article about losing a guy and Mitsui an advertising guy who needs to prove to his colleagues that he can make a girl fall in love with him so that he can get the advertising stint he wanted… Total take-off… ^_^;;