Suginei: Hopefully some people still remember my fic "The Beast and Its Mistress... well, as promised, here's the oneshot sequel featuring Sakuma's "little sister"... and you can probably who it is by the characters included under the synopsis, but-

Matsurei: Get on with it...

Suginei: Shut up, I'm supposed to be the grumpy one. Anyway, let's get this thing over with... so I can go back to my pathetic writer's block period that's lasted since two years ago or something ==

Matsurei: Nothing new there.

Suginei: Don't get cocky just because you managed to finish your "last spurt".

Matsurei: Enjoy!

Suginei: That's my- ugh...

Kurama Norihito, or Nori, for short. ...Wait! Don't you dare say it! Only his family members are allowed to call him that! He'll pulverize you if you ever say his nickname to his face. Ah, unless of course... you're a certain chestnut-haired girl with a pair of half-closed lavender eyes.

As far back as he could remember, Kurama and Akane have always been good friends. ...Alright, maybe not that far back... sometime in kindergarten though. To say that he and Sakuma were brothers, hardly. His parents were so busy that he was almost dumped at Sakuma's house for 24/7, they were sort of relatives, after all... even though they were not that close, he was often told that they had similar features. Please, having tanned skin, one covered eye, and blue hair totally did not make them similar... right?

Even though Sakuma had a weird habit of reading shoujo manga and crossdressing, he used him as some sort of shield, the nerve...

Well, he could pass as a girl back then, since he hated having his hair cut by others. Once he tried to do it himself, but it ended up completely messed up, and he had to wear a hat over it. Why go to all that trouble when you can just keep your hair long?

Before long, he was practically following in his cousin's footsteps to being a "trap".

Oh... hell to the no.

"I'm not even into guys, and it's not like I actually enjoy keeping my hair long either!"

"Evidence would suggest otherwise-"

"Shut up, Shindou." Not only did he look like a trap himself, he had trap friends... especially Kirino.

"Huh? I personally envy Nori-chan, since he is able to look cute even though he's not even a girl."

"Yamana... that was sort of..."

"Offensive?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh, sorry, Nori-chan." As always, Akane was acting like an airhead... no, she was an airhead...

"...It's fine, Akane." But for some reason, Kurama just couldn't get mad at her. It's always been like that, despite his short-temper personality, he had never blown up on this particular girl before...

And soon enough, they entered adolescence, and you all know what that means... the period of time where potential traps become official traps and stereotypical ukes, while the manly people become ugly brutes, unless they're one of the lucky ones... and Kurama was determined to change this fate of his. Why? 'Cause everyone knows girls like manly guys more, pfft.

...Although we all know otherwise outside the fourth wall.

"Minamisawa! Teach me to be manly!"

"I don't think you have a problem with that if you're not even addressing your senpai properly..." Minamisawa replied, arching an eyebrow at the boy almost half his size. "...Although if you're talking about your appearance-"

"Don't you dare cut my hair."

"...I see your problem now."

Not that he needed it in anyway, but Minamisawa began to teach Kurama how to talk rudely and to treat others coolly, because according to him, girls are crazy for the hard-to-get type. It's funny how it's supposedly the same the other way around as well, but who cares?

As the lessons continued, Kurama finally summoned up the courage and got his hair cut, well, he still did it himself, but in the end Sakuma had to do a couple of "minor edits" to his hairstyle to make it look fashionably messy in exchange for Kurama's solemn oath that he would not tell his colleagues about his repulsive fashion magazine collecting disorder.

Even though he thought about wearing his school uniform differently, he didn't want any direct trouble from the school board, so he left it tidy. When taller people (which was practically everyone) stared down at him, he merely had to glare back up at them. He talked in a cool manner and treated everyone around him as though they were lower than him, except for Minamisawa of course, since he was his "teacher" after all.

However, something was odd... he had spent so much time trying to look like a stereotypical "cool guy" that he had barely noticed that gradually, his friends were no longer hanging around him. Before he knew it, Minamisawa was practically the only one he could talk to.

Even Akane started to distance herself from him... the whole plan was backfiring horribly.

...The worst thing was... he hadn't even gotten a single confession since school started! He was definitely not going to just let his efforts go to waste...

...Alas, one year passed, then another... and the relationship between him and Akane didn't change at all.

At. All.

He had tried to approach her plenty of times, but she always seemed to sort of... glide away from him when he got closer.

Why the hell was this happening to him?! Would it have been better if he just remained that "girly" boy type?

"Hey, Yamana-"

"Eeep! Please don't hurt me!"

Kurama blinked. ...Well, that was sort of... unexpected. He had no idea what kind of expression he had on at that moment, but he was pretty sure it wasn't anything close to joy as Akane's eyes were widening as she stared into his face, his hand had involuntarily reached out and grabbed hers.

"...Kurama-kun?"

"Damn it! What gives?! Was it not enough for me to change my appearance?! What else do I have to do to get you to like me?!"

"Huh? I do like Kurama-kun, I do, really-"

"Yeah, of course you do, 'cause in case you haven't noticed, this is the first time we've spoken since two years ago!"

Kurama breathed deeply as he glanced away from the girl angrily, but his hand refused to let go. In fact, it was even trembling... whether it was from rage or embarrassment, he wasn't clear.

"...Kurama-kun, I didn't attend to do that in the beginning, but... it was just that... you started hanging out with the upperclassmen, changed your appearance, speech style, and all that... I thought I wasn't good enough to talk to you or be your friend any longer. Like, I thought you were tired of me..."

"Tired of you? I went through all that crap for you, for goodness' sake, how dense can you get?!"

"T-to be fair, you didn't exactly express that..."

Unwilling to admit his own faults, Kurama turned away grudgingly, puffing his cheeks out in a childish manner. At this, he heard a small giggle coming from the girl, "Haha, I guess Nori-chan will always be Nori-chan after all."

"Don't call me that..."

"Why? Nori-chan's cute!"

"D-damn...! Stop that!" Kurama blushed as Akane ruffled his hair playfully.

Akane smiled gently as she quickly drew their faces together, giving Kurama a small peck on the forehead, "Heh heh, neither of us would have had to wait this long if we just communicated from the very beginning, right?"

"...Ungh..." Unable to say anything, Kurama felt like fainting as Akane continued to latch onto his arm, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Sheesh, what a girl." Was what Midori said as she threw a bag of ice at Kurama head.

"Hey! It's absolutely not feminine of you to eavesdrop on others!"

"Midori's fine the way she is. Besides, none of us are doing any eavesdropping here..." Nishiki stated, coming up behind Midori as the newly announced couple turned to see everyone on the team staring at them with blushed faces.

"Ah, right, training~"

Was the last thing Kurama heard Akane say before he blacked out.