NXYZ Community Christmas Fic Exchange
Title: Confiturembourg
Written for: demonsadist
Special Message: Okay so... This turned out to be somewhat different from the prompt but I hope you will like it! Happy Christmas!
Pairings/Genres/Rating: MaruiXOC/Romance/Humor/K+
Beta: Frog-kun and LTeddyBear
A/N: Hey all! Finally a proper MaruixOC not MaruixOCake XD Hope you like this and please do review after reading!
Disclaimer: the Prince of Tennis and its characters belong to Konomi Takeshi-sensei. My OCs belong to me~h
Confiturembourg
Today was Christmas Eve. It was a special day when people spent their time with their beloved ones. Families celebrated their holiday by decorating the Christmas tree with colorful Christmas lights and ornaments; friends hung out together and exchanged presents; while couples celebrated this evening with a romantic candle light dinner…
The fifteen year old boy smiled dreamily. It wasn't even like they were an official couple anyway.
The weak afternoon sun shone on the boy's apple-red locks. His back leaned to one of the cold brick pillars in front of Kanagawa Concert Hall in wait. An army green parka kept his body comfortably warm. He also wore a gray sweater underneath. A pair of black combat pants, black boots and a metal necklace completed his outfit. His left hand was casually rested inside his jacket's pocket while the other hand held two tickets of today's Christmas Eve music concert performed by Orange Range. He didn't know whether she liked this band or not but he hoped she did since this was his favorite band. He put his tickets back into his pocket and gazed at his watch. It was half past five. He looked around and started searching for his girl.
The name was Seto Chihiro, Seto-chi for short. She was his junior in school and attended the same class as Akaya. They had met around a month ago. He had been paying a visit to the second year ace and had accidentally run into her. He still remembered she had been really shy when they had talked for the first time. As time went by, little by little they had become closer. He learned that she liked cute things and occasionally saw her wearing ribbons on her honey brown, shoulder-length hair. She had a petite figure like a baby doll which made him want to hug her. She was definitely his type.
"Marui-senpai."
The boy snapped out of his thought as he heard a female voice calling his name. It must be her!
"Seto-chi!"
He eagerly turned to face her but… It wasn't her.
There was blonde girl in white standing in front of him. She was also his junior and attended the same class as Akaya. She also had the same surname as his crush. Her name was Seto Kurumi.
Why? How can this happen?
As Marui tried to crack the mystery why a different girl showed up on his date, a memory in which he had asked a certain seaweed head to deliver his love letter to Chihiro came to his head.
Don't tell me Akaya gave the letter to a wrong person!
Marui had asked Akaya to deliver his letter to the Seto girl. Had Marui known that the Seto girl Akaya knew hadn't been Seto Chihiro but Seto Kurumi, something awful like accidentally asking the wrong girl on date wouldn't have happened to him.
It wasn't like Kurumi was an ugly girl though. Instead, she was a pretty popular girl even among the third graders. She looked way more mature than any girl on her age, almost like a high school girl. It was probably because of her constant using of makeup. Yes, she wore it at school although it was against the rules. Her long hair was also dyed into golden blond and curled. He admitted that she looked stunning and the gyaru fashion suited her very well but he never took liking at her. She was just… too much for him. Just like today, she wore a white sweater dress. She did look as good as ever in it but seeing her exposed shoulders and legs made him fell so cold. How could she stood the winter's cold with such a short skirt? Not to mention her makeup, complete with fake eyelashes, made her look even older than him. He really didn't understand her at all.
"Senpai? Hello, earth to Marui-senpai." Kurumi waved her hand in front of his blank face to get his attention.
"Sorry." He quickly smiled at her. He could only give an awkward smile though, as he hadn't fully recovered from his shock (and disappointment).
"So?" She tilted her face to the side a little and placed her hands behind her back. She looked at him with her big black eyes, obviously waiting for him to say something.
He blinked. What? He forced his still-not-fully-recovered brained to think what she meant. "Uh, the concert... Right, the concert! Let's get moving... uh, shall we?"
She pouted slightly. Uh-oh, seemed that it wasn't what she had expected to hear. What should he do now? It wasn't his fault he didn't know how to amuse her! Geez, it ought to be him who was more upset here.
Even if he didn't want it, Seto Kurumi would be his date for the rest of the day and that was that.
The two hours long concert was just like hours for Marui. He did enjoy listening to his favorite band ever, but he couldn't help being distracted by the girl next to him who stayed quiet throughout the entire event.
"That was so cool, wasn't it?" He tried to start a conversation as they walked out of the hall.
"Yeah…" she replied nonchalantly. It was clear that she hadn't liked it. Somehow he felt disappointed that someone didn't like his favorite band. Well, people did have different tastes in music but still… Anyway, the topic was dead. What should they talk about now?
"Where are we going to go now?" she asked suddenly.
Where to go … Oh, right, the plan! He quickly recalled the plan he had set up earlier. Yes, he did prepare a plan on what kind of places they would visit today. "How about going to a new cafe in front of the station? I heard their special custard cream puff is really tasty." He was sure he could preserve this date. Cakes and sweets were incredible, after all. They had a strange yet amazing ability to fix the bad mood. On the top of that, it was already dinnertime.
"Profiterole?" She raised a brow. "Sorry, senpai, but I don't like sweet things."
His jaw dropped (literally) in shock. What? Had his ears just deceived him? She got to be kidding! What kind of girl was she? Girls usually loved cakes! Every human being loved cakes! She was either an alien or a new species!
But how in the world she knew about profiterole? Oh well, whatever.
"I- I see," he replied with a forced grin. "How about going to a nearby game center then?"
She frowned. "That's for kids."
His eyebrows twitched. Great, she had just ruined everything.
Marui's genius first date plan: 1) go to the concert, 2) have a nice time talking about the concert and have a dinner or eat cakes in a romantic café, 3) play in the arcade until late, get a doll for his date from a catching machine game, 4) go to the town square, see the giant Christmas tree and count down together, 5) walk the girl home and probably get a nice goodnight kiss.
It should have been a perfect date… How he wished it had been Chihiro.
With effort, he gave up on the plan. "Amusement park?"
"No."
"Museum?"
"No..."
"Beach?"
"It's December, senpai."
"Where do you wanna go, then?" he asked, resisting an urge to roll his eyes.
She placed a finger on her chin and started thinking in an 'I'm-so-cute' pose. A moment later she clapped the hands next to her cheek and smiled widely. "I know a good place. Let's go there!"
"Nice." Was just him or had this girl planned where to go from the beginning? Nevertheless, he still let her led their way.
They walked across the main street and entered the shopping district. They stopped in front of one of the biggest shops there. He looked around. There were a lot of teenage girls with a similar fashion style as her everywhere. They looked really excited as they saw the shop; some of them pointed at a big, pink notice board over the shop sign with their sculptured fingers. Curious, he looked up to find out what was up with it and saw the 'Christmas Eve Super Sale, Starts on Seven O'clock!' announcement in golden and purple decorative fonts.
What a good place.
"Here?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes~" she hummed, eyes fixed on the pink board. She then unhesitatingly walked into the shop and blended into the crowd.
Say, did people usually go shopping on their first date?
Of course not!
At first he thought nothing could go even worse, but he was wrong. The moment he stepped foot on the marble floor, he was blinded. He cursed, rubbing his poor eyes. After ten seconds or so (maybe longer), his finally adapted to the new environment. Some extremely bright mini-chandeliers were hanging on the ceiling while the wall was decorated with diamond-like ornaments which reflected the lamp lights. Not to mention that most of the items here were also glittering like small led lights. Maybe it would be better if he just waited for her outside.
Not even bothering to search for her and tell her about it, he exited the shop. It began snowing. Great, just hope she would finish shopping before he froze to death here. He walked to a nearby bench and sat down. He felt the snow touched his face as he looked up to the dark gray sky.
First he dated a wrong girl, the concert had turned out to be a waste and his plan had been completely ruined because of their different nature, and… here he was, sitting alone in cold. This might be the worst Christmas Eve in his life.
"…pai… …npai…"
He heard a faint female voice.
"Marui-senpai!"
He had fallen asleep. "Huh? What?" He quickly opened his eyes and turned his face and saw Kurumi was standing in front of him with some paper bags in her hands; apparently she had finished her business.
Thank God she had managed to finish it before he had really frozen to death.
"Geez, why did you sleep here?" She frowned as she sat next to him.
"Whose fault it is?" he mumbled softly as he wiped off the piling snow on his clothes.
She didn't say anything in reply. He didn't know whether she was feeling bad for him or had simply just failed to hear his complaint. "Whatever." He huffed as his hand shook off the snow from his red hair.
He wasn't paying much attention to her when suddenly a thick piece of clothes was wrapped around his neck.
"Huh?" He touched it and realized that it was a woolen scarf. He looked at her questioningly.
"Just as I thought! The color suits you well," she said, tying it around his neck in an ascot knot. She then looked up at him and smiled. "Happy Christmas, senpai."
It was the first time Marui Bunta thought that this blond fashionista was cute…
"No way! I don't wanna go inside!"
"Yes, you do. It's freaking late and we haven't eaten anything!"
Up until five minutes ago, he had felt like he was dating a woman in twenties. Now it was like dating a ten-year old.
"I'm not hungry!" She scowled.
He scowled too. C'mon, what was wrong with accompanying him eat something? "But I'm starving!"
He pulled her hand and dragged her along with him into a café. People there were agape when they saw this fighting couple walk in. Marui, however, ignored their looks and just walked passed them. He found an empty round table for two. He released her hand and sat down on one of the wooden chair while she just stood dumbfounded beside the table. She stared at him but he pretended not to be aware of this and casually raised a hand to call a waiter. A waiter came to them with menu in his hand. Knowing what was going on, the waiter had to hold his laughter as he pulled the second chair for her. After she sat down, he handed the menu to them.
"Water, please," she said without looking at the menu in front of her.
"I want Chocolate Pound Cake with Triple-Chocolate Fudge Brownies and Strawberry Gelato Topping," Marui read the menu out loud. "And Special Big Sized Vanilla, Blueberry, and Banana Smoothie."
The waiter wrote down the order then excused himself. Once he was out of sight, Marui glanced at her. She sulked; her pink lip-glossed lips turned down and her eyebrows furrowed. She refused to look at him and played with the silver tableware instead.
She really looked like a kid now, despite her heavy makeup.
And he found it really interesting… and funny… and cute.
A big slice of chocolate cake and smoothies arrived some minutes later. The cake was served on a white porcelain plate that matched the maroon tablecloths, while the light purple drink was served in a tall transparent glass with blueberry topping and blue straw. He could hear his stomach growl even louder as the sweet fragrance of chocolate hit his nose. Not wanting to waste time, he swiftly took a dessert fork and had his first bite. The sweetness of chocolate and the sourness of strawberry sorbet mixed well, giving a fresh yet really soft sensation on his tongue.
He heard another growl – but this time it wasn't his.
He looked up from his dinner and saw her reddened face.
"You must be hearing things," she insisted.
He smirked. Well, her denial had just proved otherwise. "But I haven't said anything."
"I don't know what you are talking about." She tried to be as composed as she could. However he could see her anxiety through her biting lips and rosy cheeks. Obviously it wasn't blush-on that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
He put a small slice of the cake onto his fork and playfully swung it in front of her face. "Are you sure you don't wanna eat?"
"No," was all she said. Her eyes were fixed on the cake. If she had really hated sweets, she wouldn't have possibly known about profiterole back then. Profiterole was cupcakes in French. This term was rarely used in Japan and only cake-lovers like him knew about it.
"Really~?" he crooned. His head was tilted to the side and rested on his left hand while the other hand kept teasing her with the cake. This time he moved it forward, almost touching her lips before pulling it back to him.
She pulled her lips down and finally pleaded. "I'm on diet so stop teasing me."
He shaped his mouth into a knowing O shape before stuffing the cake into his mouth. "But you're already skinny."
"It's not good. I want to look good in kimono," she explained. The multi-layered kimono often made girls looked fatter and she despised it.
But boys could barely get it, especially a big eater like him who practically lived to eat.
"Huh? But what if you get sick because of it? You have to eat properly!" He took a slice of the cake again, this time was a little bigger, and offered it to her. "Open your mouth."
"W- Wait. I can eat by myself."
"Say Aaah~"
Even though it was deadly embarrassing, she opened her mouth a little and let him feed her with the cake.
"How's it?" he asked.
"Sweet?"
"Right?" He leaned forward and wiped some traces of cream on the corner of her lips with his thumb. "People should enjoy life as long as they can. I don't see why you need to torture yourself with diet. Personally I think a healthy girl is way better than an anorexic one."
She blushed furiously because of both his sweeter-than-cake act and what he was saying. "I- Is that so?"
"Yep." He grinned widely.
"W- Well then, maybe I'll order something to eat."
He smiled to himself. This date wasn't as bad as he had thought before. Somehow the awkward feeling between them had completely vanished. It was almost magical that he felt really comfortable with her despite their difference. He really enjoyed his time here and he was sure she did too.
The night was still long. There was still an hour or so before the countdown. Where should they go next? What about karaoke? He heard gyaru liked to go to karaoke. Hmm, but spending some time doing nothing but chatting in the park wasn't a bad idea either.
"Marui-senpai!" A female voice interrupted his chain of thought. The voice was quite familiar to him but he knew it was not Kurumi's. It was someone else's. He looked around to see who had just called him and he saw someone he didn't expect to be here.
"Seto-chi?"
"Good evening, senpai," Chihiro politely greeted him as she approached. She then realized that Kurumi was also there. "Oh, good evening too, Kurumi-san." The other girl gave her a silent nod in reply.
"What are you doing here?" he asked curiously.
"I'm hanging out with my friends," she answered, gesturing to some teenage girls five tables away. "Are you two on date?"
"It's not-… Uh, how to explain this…" He scratched his head, not sure what to say. He couldn't say he was on date with Kurumi because Chihiro would surely conclude that they were a couple, but on the other hand, he couldn't deny their date either as he and Kurumi were… His feeling for her was…
Kurumi noticed him contemplating. Why couldn't he admit that they were really on date? On the top of that, had he just called Chihiro Seto-chi? She glanced at the other girl, the other Seto.
I see. That's how it was.
"We're not like that. We just bumped into each other in the town, right, Senpai?" She spoke up, much to his surprise. She then stood up and took her belongings. "Now you have somebody else to accompany you," she said, referring Chihiro. "Thanks for the treat." She turned on her heel and walked out of the café.
Marui blinked in confusion as he saw her leaving.
"What's wrong with her?" Chihiro muttered after Kurumi disappeared behind the closed door. "Oh well," she turned to him and said. "As I've said before, I'm actually with my friends but I can accompany you if you want." She smiled sweetly.
'What's wrong with her?' he mused. Could Kurumi have read through his mind? Had she found out about the error of this date? If she really had, did it mean she had left to give him chance to spend the rest of the night with Chihiro?
If it was true, he should have been happy about it. The girl he liked was now in front of him. It was the date he had dreamt of.
But why? Why did he not feel happy at all? Why did he feel that something wasn't right? Why did he worry so much that Kurumi would hate him because of this? Why did his heart ache so badly only by thinking that she would never smile to him again?
No, he didn't want to let it end like this. He stood up from his seat. He looked at Chihiro and apologized. "Sorry, I have to go after her."
"B- But, senpai…" Chihiro tried to stop him by grabbing his hand but he was out of her reach. He was soon out of her sight, leaving her and his half eaten cake behind.
"What about the bill…?"
Marui narrowed his eyes as he scanned through the crowd. Kurumi must be still around here, he thought, searching for her blond hair among the dark brown and black ones.
"Oi, Seto!" he called out as he finally spotted her. She was leaning to a phone booth about ten meters away from him. The girl apparently heard his voice. She quickly turned and ran away. Seeing this, he instinctively ran after her. "Seto Kurumi! Wait!"
However, instead of stopping, the said girl picked up her running pace. He wondered how in the earth she can run so fast in those high heeled boots. Girls were sometimes really amazing… and scary.
"Go away!" she yelled back at him without even looking back. She even sped up.
He cursed under his breath. He also picked up his running pace, this time even faster than hers. Ha! No matter how good she was, she would never beat a trained tennis player like him. The distance between them gradually grew closer. He reached out his hand. Just a little more, just a little more!
Finally, he caught her arm. And he shouted, at the top of his lungs: "I like you so stop running away from me!"
Huh? Wait! What did he just -?
He covered his mouth with his other hand. He was surprised by his own words. He liked her. Was it true?
He closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. He had to calm down first in order to think more clearly.
She was really strange and different from any other girls on their age. She gave too much attention to her appearance to the point that it could drive boys away from her. However, it wasn't like she only thought for herself. Back then she had noticed that he had been cold and bought him a scarf. Little by little he began to understand her true nature and found that she had been really interesting. He had enjoyed their time together. Soon he had found she had been really cute even when she had been annoyed and angry. On the top of that, he wanted to get closer to her and know more about her.
He became really fond of her in one night.
Yeah, he thought it was true that he liked her.
He looked at her and realized that her hand was really cold. He released her then untied the scarf. He warped it around her neck gently just like how she had done for him earlier.
"I like you." He declared again, this time he was really sure about his own feelings. "I admit the letter wasn't actually addressed to you and I was really surprised to see you instead of Seto-chi today. Well, I did have a small crush toward her but it's different now. I've fallen for you, and I know I'll regret for the rest of my life if I lose you."
"Is… Is that true?" she squeaked.
"Yes," he answered solemnly.
She suddenly fell to the snowy ground.
"O- oi, are you okay?" he asked worriedly. Her shoulders were shaking and heard her sob.
"I- I'm really relieved. I- I thought it was only me who got overexcited by the date." Her face was buried in her hands. "I also found it strange when I received your letter from Kirihara-kun. I thought there must be a mistake because you had never talked to me. Even so, I still went to see you because… because I've always admired you and hoped there was a small chance that the letter was really addressed to me."
He smiled as he squatted down beside her and patted her on the head. "Well then, it seems that we have a mutual feeling."
She lowered her hand, looking at him with her puffy red eyes. Her eyeliner and mascara came off, but because of the tears but he could care less. For him, she was still as lovable as ever. He touched her wet cheek and drew her face closer to his. He then slowly, gently kissed her on the forehead.
"I'm glad I met you."
Anyone who can guess what Confiturembourg is will get cookie! :D
Happy Christmas!