"Ahhhh, that was a great meal! We definitely need to visit that place more often." sighed Mitsuo in content pleasure. "Wouldn't you agree, Tada-san, 2D-San?"
"Yes! Their fried Yakisoba was great!" replied Tada, also very happy to have not only gotten delicious food, but to also do so around great people who he hoped would become his great friends!
"Well I'd be in a more agreeable mood if you didn't forget your way there and therefore made us walk around in circles for half a freaking hour, moron!" shouted Satou. "Do it more often my ass..."
"Oh come on 2D-San, it wasn't that bad!" retorted Tada with an amused look on his face. "Besides, correct me if I'm wrong but I think you should thank Mitsuo-san for getting lost."
"And why the hell would I do that, huh?"
"Well, if it wasn't for him taking the left turn we wouldn't have found Tokyo Toys!" replied Tada, now a giant smirk placed firmly on his face. "Even if you may regret it, I'm sure those bags in your hands wont!"
At this Satou Takaya suddenly found the street path much more fascinating, and his face looked much like that of a ripe tomato. "The Chiyo-figures were half price, so... you know... as a devoted and faithful husband I had to support my lovelies in every way I could!"
Both Tada and Mitsuo burst out laughing at this, and Satou couldn't help but smile as well. Sure, they bickered and argued a lot in the short time they had met, but Satou knew that hanging around Tada and Mitsuo wouldn't be so bad. Now, if only he could persuade them to see the light... to experience how the 2D-King lived, then their friendship could reach new and stellar heights!
"Sorry, moving through!"
"CHIYO-CHAN!" shouted Satou. The warning had come too late and the stranger that seemingly was in a rush had barged right into an un-suspecting Satou Takaya, and this sudden action had caused him to drop his bags containing his fragile lovelies. Time seemed to slow for the 2D-King as the bag slowly made its elegant yet tragic descent into the unforgiving ground below.
*CRACK*
Satou dropped to his knees. He couldn't accept it. He refused to accept it. His whole life had lead to this one moment. All his hard work, sweat, tears and sore fingers; all came down to this one moment. His whole life seemed to shatter in front of him. Shakily, he began to inch his trembling hands closer and closer to the bag. Then, he proceeded to very carefully lift the bag handle, and went on to delicately grab the box inside. He rejected his choice almost as soon as he made it. 'Chiyo-Chan" had snapped into pieces within the box. Satou's reaction to this however was even more daunting.
"I'm so s-s-s-s-sorry!" apologised the stranger.
"Is this what they call fate!?" screamed Satou, tears now streaming down his face like a waterfall.
"2D-San, please try and calm down!" pleaded Tada.
"How do you expect me to calm down!?" shouted Satou. "Chiyo-chan's in pieces!"
"Just buy another one, geez." said Mitsuo, finding amusement in the whole ordeal.
"Mitsuo-san! Please try and be a bit more considerate towards 2D-San!" said Tada. "He's obviously going through a lot of emotional stress right now!"
"Oh for the love of... Oi 2D-San!" yelled Mitsuo. "If it's really that important to you, I'll buy you another one."
Satou just shot to cloud nine. "Really!? You'd really do that for me Mitsuo-kun!" Said Satou, and he then proceeded to jump Mitsuo and hug him like a schoolgirl who had finally been noticed by her beloved senpai.
"Ok, ok I get it!" struggled Mitsuo. "I'll buy you another one, so would you please get off me!"
"Hai, Mitsuo-sama!"
"And knock it off with 'Mitsuo-sama', it's freaking weird!" Complained Mitsuo.
The situation finally being resolved, Tada breathed a huge sigh of relief. Turning, he carefully looked over the stranger once more. She was a girl, and quite the looker he thought to himself. She had short chestnut brown hair that fell only down to her ears, large brown eyes, and quite pale white skin. She wasn't very tall, in fact only reaching Tada's chin at full height. Noticing that she was getting checked out, the girl suddenly begun blushing furiously.
"Ummmm... I'm in a hurry you s-s-s-see, so I uh..."
"Is there anything wrong miss?" asked Tada, still not knowing the stranger's name.
Suddenly, with the same speed she had used when she first ran into the trio, she ran off once again down the street.
"Wait!..." began Tada, but she had already gone far beyond his reach. "I didn't even get to ask your name..."
"Don't worry Tada." began Mitsuo with a smirk on his face. "You know what they say, there's plenty of fish in the river."
"Uh, I think you mean 'plenty of fish in the sea', Yana-san." dead panned Tada. "And besides, it's not like that! I was just curious, that's all."
"Sure, sure." replied Mitsuo, still not convinced. "Well, it's getting dark so we should hurry up and get back."
"I told you, it's not like that!" pleaded Tada. At this Mitsuo and even Satou began laughing out loud, and Tada, though blushing up a storm, couldn't help but join in with them.
Surely enough, after walking for a few more minutes, the sun was beginning to set on what had been a very eventful day filled with surprises for Tada Banri. 'This is great', thought Mitsuo. 'Bickering with friends, having arguments over stupid things and then laughing it off afterwards. I could really get used to this.'
As Tada was walking behind the two, another smile, one tinted with sadness found it's way on his face. 'I wonder if I was like this back then as well...'
"Hey Tada, what's up?" asked Mitsuo, noticing Tada's sudden change in behaviour. "What, you want me to buy you a figure as well?"
"No, no, I'm fine Yana-san." replied Tada. 'That's right.' thought Tada.'I've got Yana-San and 2D-San now. This is no time to be thinking about that.'
"Are you sure?" asked Mitsuo. "You looked pretty down just then."
At this Tada just smiled and laughed. "Really? I don't even remember." lied Tada. "Come on, it's getting dark and our dorm is just down the road, let's hurry up and get back before night falls."
Though he wasn't entirely convinced, Mitsuo agreed and decided to ask Tada about it another time. As the trio were making their final steps towards their dorm, they heard what sounded like... arguing?
"Guys, I can't be the only one who's hearing that." said Tada.
"Yeah, it sounds like two girls are having some kind of shonen battle or something, come on let's go check it out!" suggested Mitsuo, and before Satou and Tada could even respond Mitsuo was already crossing the street into the girls dormitory.
"Yana-san, wait!" shouted Tada, but his words would not reach him.
"Come on Tada-san, we've got no choice but to chase after him." said Satou. "After all, if he's caught in the girl's dorm, he'll be banned from staying in the boy's dorm for a whole year."
Upon hearing this shocking piece of information, Tada's expression quickly darkened. "Well we can't just stand here, after the idiot!" It didn't take long for them to catch up to Mitsuo.
"Mitsuo, you know what happens to guys if they get caught here, don't you!?" asked Tada in a worried tone as he chased after him.
"Yeah, yeah. Come on I just wanna see what all the commotion's about!" replied Mitsuo nonchalantly and continued to make his way over to where he thought was the source of all the noise.
As Tada and Satou were trying their best to persuade Mitsuo to turn around, all three suddenly stopped when they turned a corner. They had found the source of the commotion. It was the strange girl they had seen before arguing with another, taller girl. The girl they had met before was shouting angrily in the face of the taller girl, and was holding what seemed to be... a bra?
"How many times do I have to say it Kaga!" shouted the shorter girl. "Stop leaving your laundry everywhere!"
"What's the problem with having a few bits of clothing here and there Akane!" retorted the girl now known as 'Kaga' with a pout on her face.
"First of all, it's not just a 'few bits of clothing', it's all over the god damn floor!" shouted the girl now known as 'Akane'. "And secondly, I'm your senpai, so stop treating me like I'm the same year as you, freshman." It was only then that the two girls had noticed that they had gathered some rather un-invited guests.
"Hey, it's that girl from before!" said Satou.
"We're terribly sorry... Akane-san was it?" aplogised Tada. "We didn't mean to barge in on you two like this, we'll be on our way now, right 2D-San, Yana-san?"
"Huh... Oh, yeah." agreed Satou, though he still wanted Akane to apologise for hurting his lovely.
As Tada and Satou began to move, they realized that Mitsuo had not moved at all from his spot near the two girls.
"Hey Yana-san, in case you didn't hear me, we're leaving now." said Tada, now very eager to not get kicked out of the boys' dorm for a year.
"N-n-n-no, oh god no, please, someone tell me this is a lie." pleaded Mitsuo. He was shaking uncontrollably and began sweating profusely.
"Huh... Hey Yana-San what's wrong?" asked Satou. "You look like you've seen an evil spirit or something."
"This cannot be happening, oh please god someone wake me up from this nightmare."
It was then that "Kaga" had stopped looking at Akane and took a good look at the trio, only to have her eyes widen when she cast her wondering gaze at a certain individual.
"Is that you... Mitsuo?"
A/N: And there you have it guys. A cliffhanger. Aha I know, I know, cliffies suck. I'm sorry! To make up for it I'll try and have the next chapter up very soon! Anyways I'd just like to say a huge thanks to "Sammy-B1" and "spkieeb2" for the amazing support on the story! Thanks a lot guys, means a ton! :D I'd also like to say thanks to my awesome friend Eevee, who actually helped collaborate with me to make ideas for this fic! Thanks man, you're awesome! ^_^ Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter of "The Spice of Love", and I'll see you guys in the next chapter! :)
