Catch you, Catch me!
This chapter is unedited.
Warnings: Swears, no editing.
A/N: Good news is that in the next chapter, the interactions of 'Actor' and 'Konoha' will be there! Bad news is that I haven't written any of that and might not be able to post it until after June. :D I'll be going away for the month, with only weekends home. So I'll try to use that time to develop plot AND write in brief periods and such.
Also! Thanks for reviewing, and everything! If I haven't replied, please don't feel insulted. D: I really do appreciate the feedback I've been getting. I'll do my best to reply, if possible.
With no further ado, enjoy!
(P.S A good reader doesn't hesitate to smack the author over the head for bad editing! :D Words of advice from yours truly, at least when it applies to me. Orz.)
Chapter Two
"I can't believe we're stuck doing such a stupid project." Takane groaned, her voice muffled by the desk. She was keen on hiding her face, especially seeing as of that the oh so great teenaged detective was currently standing right beside her desk.
Shintaro looked close to a hernia. If the situation wasn't so stressing, Takane would have laughed and probably snap a picture to be saved in a folder called 'Shintaro's Embarrasing Moments'.
Ayano laughed, tugging at her scarf in a nonchalant way. It was habit, Takane guessed, as she sat up grudgingly. "But it sounds so fun! And plus, don't you like shooting, Takane?" The question made Takane sigh, and Shintaro huffed. It might have been a laugh, but he was too busy scribbling away in his notebook for Takane to get a good guess.
"Not a real shooting range...," Takane retorted, and proceeded to send the glare at the person most responsible for this turn of events. Haruka only smiled at her glare, and fiddled with the sketchbook in his hands.
This, this, was the famous teenaged detective who went by the pen name 'Konoha'?
Takane was sure she did something so horrible in her past life to result in this type of scenario. She scowled harder at him, before returning to trying to take a nap in the noisy classroom. It helped that their peers stopped asking questions and muddled off in their own little groups.
But she was damn sure that they were taking pictures of Haruka behind his back, and Takane did not need that sort of publicity because of how close he was standing to her.
"Sorry, Takane," Haruka smiled. Takane didn't even need to glance up to know that he was smiling. "I didn't know my opinion mattered so much in choosing a project for the school festival."
How dense could this idiot be? Of course his opinion would matter considering he is 'Konoha'.
After Mrs. Tateyama returned and Shintaro repeatedly shoving his foot onto hers to keep her mouth shut, she had announced that the school festival was coming up and had little to a month to come up with a project and finish it; and then to present it to the whole school for the festival.
Haruka was, unsurprisingly, the first one Mrs. Tateyama asked if he had any ideas on what to do for the school festival. He had shyly suggested a shooting range, and the whole class -excluding Shintaro and Takane- all but jumped on the idea.
Now Haruka and Ayano, who volunteered -who would've guessed? Not Takane-, were in charge of the project and guess who was going to be dragged up front with them? Ayano's unlucky friends of the day, Shintaro and Takane!
Honestly, just what did Takane do in her past life to result in this?
"Hmph." Takane sat back up to give a proper glare at Haruka. "Whatever, now do you two have any idea how to do this project? Like, properly?" Because there had to be some sort of structure into doing this; it wasn't wise to jump to conclusions and just do things wildly.
Trust Takane; she had her fair share of impulsive affairs.
"Oh, er...," Ayano looked stumped. "Hm...I was just guessing we just need to build the shooting range and...that's that?" She let out a sheepish laugh, and Shintaro stopped his seemingly mindless scribbling to send her a look. A look that crossed between, in Takane's mind, irritation and a certain fondness Shintaro could only muster.
Nonetheless, he looked like he always did. Asshole-ish.
"I guess it isn't that simple, is it?" Haruka mused, still fidling with the sketchbook. Takane wanted to snap at him to stop it, but of course Shintaro was the one to step in.
"No." Shintaro spoke up, the first time after learning about this project and Ayano dragging Haruka over to introduce him to her two best friends. "Nothing is that simple. Lucky for you, I had prepared the general plot for this." He pointed to the journal and Takane leaned over slightly to peer at it.
What seemed like various scribbles was actually notes and a 'to-do' list. How Shintaro could do all this in such a short period of time, Takane didn't know. In the end, she made a face at it -Shintaro returned it via sneer- and leaned back in her seat. The notes still looked like mindless scribbles to Takane, for all she cared.
"Ah, so cool!" Ayano was also peering at the notes. Takane had a feeling she didn't have a clue about the notes like Takane did, but was exclaiming at all the 'awesome' that was Shintaro, apparently.
Apparently. Ayano liked Shintaro in a way that Takane could never understand. Shintaro cared for her in a way Takane could never understand. In the end, Shintaro summed up that Takane didn't understand a lot of things. Takane agreed, but if there was one that that she couldn't understand more than anything, it was Ayano and Shintaro.
She would get a headache if she thought too much on it, so she returned her attention back to Haruka, who was now talking.
"Hm, so we need to get wood, and shooting rifles...," Haruka looked thoughtful. "I think I have a friend who owes me a favor, so we don't need to worry about the shooting rifles right now!" He said, happy with his statement.
Takane felt her eye twitch.
Goddammit, what the hell is Haruka Kokonose?
…
"What the hell are you drawing, Kokonose?" Takane narrowed her eyes at the sketchbook, and Haruka glanced up momentarily at her. He grinned, and Takane wanted to throw her lunch at him. Shintaro gently shoved his elbow into her side to remind her that that was not the wise thing to do.
"I'm drawing you, Takane!" Came the simple reply.
God, this whole day was just full of twists and turns and headaches. She felt her eyebrow quirk. "Why?" She asked, bluntly. Takane shoved more food into her mouth to keep her from saying more.
"Because." Haruka hummed, and peered down at his drawing in an almost admiring way. God, this was getting stalker-y fast. Takane sneered at him over a mouthful of food, but refused to say anything. What could she even say to that?
"You can draw?" Ayano interjected, staring at the drawing in awe. "I can barely draw a straight line! That looks just like Takane, it's amazing!" She praised, eyes still flickering between the drawing and Takane herself. Shintaro let out another huff of a laugh that ended with a pained grunt, thanks to Takane perfectly aimed kick to his shin.
Haruka looked pleased, if somewhat embarrassed. Takane scowled deepened. "Thank you, Ayano." He said. His eyes didn't lose that pleased looked. "I'm sure you could draw if you practiced enough."
"Oh, no." Ayano replied, and Takane tried to imagine this awkward and clumsy hero trying to an artist, with paint and all that. She tried to stifle her smile into her food. "Oh, no, no, no. I'd probably find a way to set fire to the world if I somehow managed to draw!"
Well, in her defense, setting fire to the world could be considered a form of art to a select few. Takane wasn't one of them, but she met a few people online who talked a lot of smack. So yeah, setting fire to the world could be considered art.
Not that she was going to say this to the group thing they had on top of the roof here.
"I don't think you can be that bad." Haruka assured. "Takes a lot of practice, though."
Ayano suddenly looked excited at the prospect of being able to draw. So excited, that she knocked over her soda and spilled it over Shintaro and Takane was laughing.
"What the hell, Ayano?" Shintaro yelled, rubbing desperately at his pants as if to dry it quicker. Haruka helped, somewhat, by aiding him with napkins. Ayano looked sheepish and ashamed, and she was smiling apologetically at Shintaro.
"Sorry, Shintaro," Ayano apologized. "I- I didn't mean for that to happen."
"D—don't...," Takane said, breathless and grinning. Her stomach hurt from laughing. "No need to apologize, Ayano, I'm sure Shintaro is secretly pleased at having soda spilled on him." Shintaro's dark glare swung over to her. She smiled, almost pityingly. Almost. "After all, your bloodstream is practically soda anyways; I'm sure you're getting off on this like the sick pervert you are."
Shintaro scowled. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He muttered, gruffly, and glanced down at his pants. Haruka smiled timidly, and Ayano still looked fretting. "I'm going to go get more napkins and another...nevermind." With another pointed glance at Takane, he left, shoulders hunched.
"Good luck, and good riddance!" Takane called out after him, still smilingly happily.
Ayano wrung her hands and smiled at Takane. "I think I should follow him; it's my fault that he's wet anyways." She nodded at both Takane and Haruka. "I'll see you in class, right?" Takane waved her off, eager to send her away to be the hero Shintaro sorely needed.
It wasn't until that the door closed with a soft creak that the reality hit her hard.
Takane, aka 'Headphone Actor', was stuck on a roof with Haruka, aka 'Konoha'. Alone.
Shintaro was right. Takane did not make smart moves.
After a few moments of painstaking silence, and the scratch-scratch of Haruka's pencil, he glanced up and Takane eyed him.
"So, Takane," Haruka smiled, serenely. "Do you have any hobbies that you like to do?"
Yeah, Takane thought glumly, I like to steal things. How 'bout you?
Instead, she said. "I like video games." It was blunt, and simple. Honestly, the shooting game she played was the only thing she really felt good at it. Everything else was too tiring and boring and annoying for her to handle.
"Really? What do you play?"
"None of your business, that's what." Takane grumbled, and Haruka blinked. "Not that you'd know anything about it, but it's called Dead Bullet 1989." She sniffed, glancing at her shoes. "But like I said, not like you'd know anything about it considering you probably don't have time for shooting games, right?"
Haruka laughed, and glanced skyward. He seemed thoughtful. "No, I don't really have time for games like that." He sent her a wry smile. "But I would like to, though! It seems fun. Ah, I only really have time for drawing and solving cases."
"What is it like, you know, being a detective and all that?" Takane mused.
"...It's fun." Haruka said, after a bit of quiet. Takane wanted to facepalm; he'd probably answered this question a million times already and Takane just asked it dumbly. "But..." He added, almost as an afterthought. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't a detective."
Takane just stared at him, and he refused to look at her, staring thoughtfully at his sketchbook. It occurred to him that she hadn't spoken in a bit, Takane guessed, as he suddenly seemed to shake himself out of his revere and smile happily at Takane.
"Not that it isn't fun or anything; but it'd be nice to be normal for once." Haruka continued. "Oh well." He closed his sketchbook and stood up, giving a slow stretch. He was really tall and Takane continued to stare at him until he asked. "Ready to go in?"
Takane scowled at him, deciding that no matter how much sympathy this boy could scrape from her, she'll always get annoyed at that gentle smile of his. Not that he could scrape much sympathy from her; she had bigger things to worry about.
Such as not getting caught by this boy.
…
"Well...,"
"..."
"..."
Shintaro glanced to the side, both of them located on Takane's porch. She offered to let him stay for a bit, but he insisted that he needed to drop off the calling card before heading home. Apparently he needed to babysit his little sister for his mom.
"Good luck tonight, by the way." Shintaro said, yawning. "You're gonna need it, from what I hear." Takane made a face, remembering Haruka.
No doubt he was going to be there.
"Whatever. I don't need luck." Takane replied, angrily. She needed money and nothing was going to stop that. Shintaro huffed, looking offended at her response but that was just how Takane was. He realized this a long time ago.
"Are you sure you want me to send the calling card in today, though?" Shintaro mused. "It's cutting it a bit close, don't you think?" Takane inched closer and closer behind her door, ready to slam it into Shintaro's face and be done for the school day.
But she had to admit, it was cutting it a bit close. Sending a calling card on the day of another heist? Especially after the new addition of Haruka...But the jewel that was destined to be Takane's, if only for awhile, was worth a lot and Takane needed it.
Her grandpa needed it.
So, yeah, as close as it was, Takane wasn't backing down. She told Shintaro this, and he sighed, resigned.
"Yeah, yeah." Shintaro said. "On that note, I'll be off." He turned and gave a wave, before walking down the street. Takane stared at his disappearing back before scowling and shutting the door with a slam. Leaving her bag beside the door, along with her shoes, she grabbed something to eat before heading to her room.
She wanted to take a nap before tonight, as brief as it would be, she needed the sleep from what the stress had did to her today. It felt as if Takane hadn't slept for ages.
Sitting down on her bed, Takane ate the bland sandwich bitterly. She spared a glance at her laptop, wondering if it was worth the less hour of sleep or not. Deciding that it was not worth it, for tonight at least, she turned her attention back to something that seemed to weigh heavy in the room.
Rubbing her hands on her shirt, getting the crumbs off, she picked up the piece of paper carefully, moving it in her hands gently. Picking at it, she thought about the events of the day. Haruka was definitely apart of her thoughts.
Actually, he was the one causing all the stress. She glared, imagining him wilting under her glare. Takane sighed, and remembered it was pointless. Sure, sure, Haruka is here, and will possibly catch her and sentence Takane to a few years in prison and no doubt her grandpa would die-
No. Takane would not allow that. No matter what happened, she would not stop until grandpa would get the surgery he needed, that's for damn sure.
Takane sighed again, and glanced at the newspaper clipping that inspired the previous call card that Shintaro and her made the previous week. The jewel was bright and red, and was smack dub in the eye of a snake statue. It was called the "Medusa's Jewel" and seemed to be worth a lot.
She stared at the picture for a bit, before tossing it to the side and burying her head into her pillow.
That jewel and her had a date with fate that night. And Takane will be damned if she'll let anyone get in the way of that.
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-AJ
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