Beside You. キミのトナリ。

「二」 The Game That was Different いつもと違ったゲーム



Between the both of us, the best way to convey our feelings would be...to play games.

Yahiro took a glance at the ajar door before he turned towards Megumi.
"Let's go," He spoke in a nonchalant manner.

"Hmm?" Megumi tilted her head, clueless about what was awaiting ahead.

"Ah. Before we do that, let's play a game, shall we?" Yahiro placed his finger in front of his nose.

"A game?" Megumi flashed the board.

Yahiro loves playing games.

"Are you in, Megumi?" Yahiro bent his body a little forward, with his left hand inside his pocket

He also knows that I'll always say yes, no matter what rules he sets.

"I'm in," Megumi blushed after she finished writing. Yahiro smirked again.

The reason is simple.

"The rules are..." Yahiro pointed up at the ceiling as he began speaking.

You'll need someone to pass the ball you've flung over back to you.

"You have to listen to Saiga Yahiro for one whole day,"

So...Yahiro?

"Okay," Megumi nodded her head.

Let me be the one to pass it back to you.

Yahiro was smiling at how things are going so smoothly right now. Almost everything was going as planned - The sudden change of seating arrangements was pre-discussed with everyone in SA, except Megumi and Jun. Hikari was supposed to inform Jun last because he has the highest possibility to blurt out to Megumi. Yahiro had business meetings at Hong Kong and was supposed to be able to reach only when the musical endshe ended up making it for the second act – that would only mean being able to spend more time with Megumi.

His plan would only commence now.

"Round one. Megumi has to hold Saiga Yahiro's hand," Yahiro waved his right hand.

Yahiro would say "It's just a game. There's no need to get serious."
That's right. It's just a game.

Yahiro wants to hold my hand because it's just a rule he sets.
No feelings are involved.

Megumi took a deep breath and walked forward. She was carrying two musical pamphlets, a satin pouch and her magnetic pulled his left hand out of the pocket and reached out, his head slightly lowered.

"Your.. your stuff. Give them to me," Yahiro stuttered.

Megumi was not too sure what were the items she wanted to hand over. The pamphlets were exclusive; the magnetic board was her voice box; the bag has her necessities. She stood there weighing the importance of each item, with a flustered look on her face.

Yahiro tried to make the decision for her, "I can take the pamphlets and the bag."

Megumi wrote a question mark on the board.

"You need this to speak isn't it? If people can't get through on your mobile phone, they'll call me. I'm sure there would be someone who can figure out this," Yahiro spoke as if it was a matter of fact.

I felt a little happy hearing that from you.
It felt like a confession.
That if someone were to call you just to look for me,
it means, we are always next to one another.

Megumi thanked Yahiro and placed the magnetic pen back at the holder, who went back to his usual teasing self.

"Round one, Megumi," Yahiro walked over to Megumi's left.

I've held hands with Jun before.
I've held hands with Ryuu before.

Surely, Yahiro's would be the same too.

Megumi's fingers touched the tip of Yahiro's and retreated reflexively. It was a feeling she had not experienced before – a soft hidden static spark that hurt on first touch. Yahiro grabbed the shaking hand and yanked Megumi closer by his side. He then positioned Megumi's palm in such a way it was on top of his and smiled.

"Your fingers are so short compared to mine," Yahiro commented as his fingers sank into the gaps of Megumi's fingers, the intensity of the sparks increased.

Megumi's shoulders trembled for a slight second – she had never imagined holding hands with Yahiro would be something to get so nervous over. Her mind was a complete blank. This was her first time getting this close to Yahiro this year.

Yahiro was different.

"So Megumi belongs to the sensitive type?" He teased the petite songbird again.

"Heh!?" Megumi was not listening. Her head was now determining the defining factor that made holding hands with Yahiro different. She kept her head looking at the carpeted flooring since Yahiro touched her fingers, her cheeks were now glowing in pink.

I don't know what the difference was.

"Let's go," Yahiro pretended to look forward, making sure Megumi had not realised that he was looking at her with the corner of his eyes.

"A...Ah! Okay," Megumi was still in a daze.

Yahiro took a few steps forward and stopped.
"Are you really okay?" Yahiro shook Megumi's arm while his fingers were still locked onto hers. Megumi nodded her head.

I think I have to let Yahiro know what is wrong.

Megumi placed the board on the floor and began writing out the first word "I" with her other hand still holding onto Yahiro's.

"It's okay, Megumi. You can let go of this hand if you want to write something," Yahiro squatted down.

I've never had this feeling before.
I feel like...

No! It can't be.

Why... why am I feeling this way?

"I am not letting go," Megumi looked up with her cheeks burning hot.

Yahiro's eyes stared hard at the board, making sure he was not misreading what Megumi had just written. He had not realised that he was feeling the same way too, not until the girl pointed out.

"A...Ah yeah, me too,"Yahiro reached out his other hand and patted Megumi's forehead.

Yahiro, this is just one of your many pranks right?
Look at the way you paused before you gave me the reply.
It was so unnatural.

"Are you really okay?" Yahiro noticed Megumi was looking a bit more tensed up than usual.

Megumi gave him an OK sign as she slided the knob on her magnetic board. As Yahiro's long fingers took her down the flight of stairs, Megumi glanced at her reflection from the board first, then at the fair-skinned hand in front of her.

It's different.

When the distance between us gets too great,
the hand stops pulling and closes the gap.

It would surround yours loosely, not treating you seriously at all.
Just when you are about to think that it's going to break free,
the same hand would be holding you tightly.

The owner is quite an annoying person.

Yet, I really want to continue holding onto his hand.

"Y...Yahiro!?" The Special A members and Sakura shouted out in unison upon seeing the two of them, feigning ignorance.

Megumi, unable to write on her board, tried to use sign language instead.
"I...in..vited...Yahiro," Jun deciphered word for word.

"It's okay, we all know," Akira patted Megumi's head.

"So...Yahiro," Kei looked up.

"Where are you taking Megumi today?" Hikari finished the question.

Yahiro...is taking me somewhere today?

"I...!!" Yahiro panicked for a while.
"Why should I even tell you guys..." He looked towards his right, his cheeks flushed.

Megumi was looking lost than ever. She had totally no idea what was going on.

"You really forgot about today, Megumi?" Jun asked his sister with his large round eyes.

"It's Valentine's Day!" Sakura exclaimed excitedly as she snuggled into Jun's right arm.

Valentine's Day falls on the 14th of February.
14th of February happens to be...

"For it's Valentine's Day, we shall hang around this area In individual pairs until 8pm!" Sakura announced the plan for today – she was too excited to be able spend more private time with Jun. The meeting time was scheduled at 8pm so that Ryuu and Finn were given ample time to travel down to the hotel from the airport.

"We'll go first! Let's visit the aquarium, Akira!" Tadashi ran out with Akira in his left hand.

"See you later, Megumi!" Akira waved gently at the shocked girl and started yelling away at Tadashi as soon as the doors were shut.

As each couple made their departure from the musical hall,
I began to realise the two of us were unlike the pairings that walked out of that door.

They know, for sure, that mutual feelings exist.
For us, it was always a question mark.

"They left," Yahiro finally commented after keeping silent all this while.
Megumi looked up, still unable to accept the sudden change of plans.

"Round two, Megumi," Yahiro pointed out.

"You have to buy Saiga Yahiro a box of chocolates," He blushed as he completed his sentence. He had never done this before and probably guessed that the girl he was speaking to would reject this offer.

"Are you going to do it?" The demanding guy asked once more.

Is he trying to ask me to spend Valentine's Day with him?
What a weird guy.

Megumi nodded her head and walked out of the door first, Yahiro closely following behind.

As the cold winter winds blew across her pale cheeks, she took a deep breath.

Even with the chilly winds, my hand was warmed by yours.
For some reason, our fingers were cold; but the palms weren't.

I'm not letting go, Yahiro.

It's my turn to play the game.

I won't let you off so easily this time.


どーもです!
apologies! the alignment keeps running, so i have to keep re-editing.
I'm back even when I'm not supposed to be writing X.X~
This is like a Chapter 2 1/2 --

I'll write it up when I'm done with the papers!
who knows, I might not even resist until that date =))

Thank you for the reviews!
They are really keeping this story going! XDD

I hope by now, you can figure out that the titles actually tell you which side the characters are telling their stories from XDDD

Look out for Chapter 3!
(i'm not good with writer's notes too, apparently ↓↓)

xoxo
ゆる凛