Hello, everyone!
So, earlier while I was taking a bath earlier, I realized I wouldn't be able to finish this within a week. So, either I stay up late and finish at least two chapters a day, or I'll take a short break (I'd be busy around Friday to Saturday) and continue writing on Sunday.
Depends, but either way, I'm planning that this will have eight chapters or so.
Guys, it isn't done yet, okay! And gaah due to many requests this WILL have a happy ending (meaning Minami x Akihisa) AND THIS ISN'T OVER YET HOLD YOUR HORSES PEOPLE DON'T COMPLAIN YET JUST COZ HIMEJI AND AKI ARE TOGETHER NOW GAHD!
Anyways, here's the halfway mark, Chapter Four!
Oh right, I remember a small part of the original plot of this that I made a year ago and in it, this was supposed to be chapter one. Yeah, so, I just added the first three chapters on a whim, seems like.
Enjoy! I don't own, BTW.
~~~=w=~~~
"You guys are dating now?!" Yuuji had exclaimed when Akihisa told him.
Akihisa nodded and smiled. "Yeah, Himeji-san is my girlfriend now."
Yuuji looked at his friend. Studied him. This lasted for a few minutes.
"…And are you happy?" Yuuji finally asked. It wasn't the question he wanted to ask right now, but he had no idea how to ask him that question yet.
Akihisa turned to face his friend. "Of course I'm happy! Why wouldn't I be?"
Then he went on to tell Yuuji the full story of his confession – albeit Yuuji hearing it already from a different source.
"…Then she said yes." Akihisa finished, as Yuuji looked – well, tried not to stare – at him.
The taller lad just nodded.
"…And that's all that happened?" Yuuji asked after a while. This conversation was like walking through a plot of landmines – he had to be extremely careful. Yuuji was worried he'd end up saying the wrong thing.
By now, Yuuji and the others already knew what had happened between Minami and Akihisa that day. And Minami joining them less and less didn't help hide that knowledge.
Another thing that Yuuji knew – Akihisa was lying about the confession.
He'd always known he was in idiot, but Akihisa wouldn't forget to mention such an important detail.
He hadn't mentioned the presence of Minami during the confession – or a bit prior to it – at all.
He didn't even know why he omitted her from his story, everybody already knew about what he did. Nobody blamed him for it, openly, at least.
Well, with the exception of Miharu, of course. The orange-haired girl attacked Akihisa the minute word got out about what had happened between her beloved "Onee-sama" and "that swine".
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Yuuji couldn't help but laugh at that scene that transpired no less that two days ago, when word got out and reached the ears of a certain girl from Class 2-D.
~~~=w=~~~
"Where the hell is that worthless good for nothing swine?!" Shimizu Miharu yelled, bursting into the Class F room, destroying the already-beaten-up door.
Said worthless swine was, as he was seen more often now, next to his girlfriend, just chatting and laughing. Minami wasn't in the classroom yet, either lurking around the campus alone – as was her habit as of recently – or still at home. Lately she tried to occupy herself with things that would have her outside the classroom most of the time; she tried to avoid the classroom – well, to be specific, certain people in that room – as much a possible.
"Eh?" Akihisa merely squeaked as the orange-haired girl thundered closer.
"You useless swine! How dare you make my Onee-sama cry?!" Miharu boomed, her small finger pointed in Akihisa's direction. She looked like she was ready to kill someone, and Akihisa was her target.
Akihisa turned away. "I didn't mean to! I – "
Clearly, Miharu wasn't here for explanations. "You swine! I'll kill you!"
Comically, Akihisa gulped as Miharu began to unleash her wrath upon the poor guy.
~~~=w=~~~
It had been two weeks since Akihisa and Himeji got together.
They were all in the classroom, having lunch. Miraculously, they managed to get Minami to join them.
Sure, she sat as far as she could from the lovey-dovey couple, and pointedly ignored Akihisa, but at least she was eating with them, unlike the past two weeks where she had come up with excuses to not join them for lunch. Well, for the first week at least.
"I'm sorry, I didn't bring any lunch today, you guys go on ahead, I'll go eat lunch at the canteen."
"I'm sorry, I have to run back home and eat lunch with Hazuki today!"
"Oh, I'm not hungry, I had a heavy breakfast earlier."
The second week she didn't even bother to give them excuses, she just left the classroom, grabbed her lunchbox and ate elsewhere.
Himeji often called after her, sometimes she'd even chased after her friend. But every single time, she got the same response – nothing. Minami would ignore her calling out after her, and whenever Himeji chased after her she'd just return a few minutes later, panting, trying not to cry. Everyone knew Minami had blown her off for the umpteenth time.
And every time, Akihisa would run up to meet Himeji, put his arms around her and comfort her before the tears fell, all the while Himeji would mutter repeatedly, "But she promised!"
"I'm glad you could join us for lunch today, Minami-chan!" Himeji said, all smiles. This had been the first time since then that she ate with her best friend, after all.
Minami smiled back, weakly. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to join you so much the past two weeks…I was…"
Her green eyes flitted over to Akihisa for a while. She and Akihisa exchanged a look, and Minami turned away quickly.
Himeji and the others pretended not to see that little awkward exchange of theirs.
~~~=w=~~~
For the next week, at least, Minami hung out with them more often, eating lunch with them and walking home together, although whenever she walked with them she was always in the back, quiet most of the time, and not as energetic as she had been since the incident. That had been more than a month ago.
Minami and Akihisa still weren't on speaking terms, and everyone tried really hard not to pay attention to that fact, but they just couldn't. Himeji, trying to fix things, kept trying to get them to talk to each other, but all her attempts were always futile.
Akihisa tried talking to Minami, sure. He cooperated with whatever his girlfriend was planning to get the two to talk again, but it was Minami who brushed off all attempts to be friends again.
After the fourth attempt of the day (boy was Himeji persistent), during a quiet and awkward lunch time, Himeji finally gave up, bursting into tears.
"Minami-chan! You promised! You promised things would still stay the same!" she exploded, wet tears running down her cheeks.
Minami only looked away.
"Minami!" Akihisa yelled, his arms around his girlfriend. "How could you make Himeji-san cry?!"
Not waiting for her reply, he turned to Himeji, who was still crying. "Himeji-san, are you okay?" he whispered to her, stroking her back.
Yuuji and the others looked at Akihisa, shocked. They'd never seen him yell at Minami – or any girl, for that matter – like that.
He seemed to ignore their stares, focusing on consoling the crying Himeji.
Their eyes shifted to Minami. She was looking away, stone-faced, but it was clear she was trying not to cry as well.
She may not have been on speaking terms with Akihisa, but that still stung.
Aware of the eyes on her, she turned around again, steely-eyed this time. Her eyes were shining but she looked angry now.
Akihisa turned to talk to her again. His voice still raised, he exclaimed. "How could you make Himeji-san cry?! She was just worried about you!"
"Oi Akihisa!" Yuuji scolded, this was getting too far. "You shouldn't be yelling at Shimada like that!"
"Stay out of this, Yuuji, Minami made my girlfriend cry! And all she was doing was trying to help out of concern!"
"But Akihisa…" Hideyoshi and Muttsurini stepped in, knowing attacking Minami like this was too much.
"That's enough guys, don't worry about me." Minami finally said, standing up. She looked at Akihisa right in the eyes.
"If Akihisa wants to keep treating me like this, so be it, it's better than how he treated me before, making me think there was something when really there wasn't. If he wants to blame me for all of this, let him, I suppose it's partly my fault as well, I mean, it is my fault that I assumed for something, and that I wasn't likeable enough to get him to like me. So yeah, don't worry about me, you guys."
The sarcasm and bitterness was so evident in her voice even Akihisa, the idiot that he was, could tell.
"Minami…" he began, just as Minami was moving to leave.
She hesitated but kept moving.
"Minami! I'm sorry!" he called out, just as she was at the door.
All eyes turned to Akihisa now.
Minami paused, and turned around. She didn't talk but she stood there, waiting for what Akihisa was going to say.
"Minami…I'm sorry for everything. For getting mad at you earlier, for that stupid thing I did back then. It was really, really stupid of me, I know, and I knew, Minami, I knew. And I'm really, really sorry. But please, I don't want us to fight anymore, I want us to be friends again. Please, please forgive me Minami. I don't know what else I can say!"
"You want us to be friends, or Mizuki wants us to be friends and you're just doing this for her?"
"I…what's the difference?!" Akihisa said, standing up. "All I'm saying is I'm sorry, and I wish we can be friends again, Minami! Himeji-san has nothing to do with this!"
Minami moved closer to Akihisa. The rest were too stunned by the ongoing argument to move, let alone speak. Even Himeji was stunned out of her tears.
"Mizuki has everything to do with this! If you had truly wanted to be friends again, wanted to say sorry, you'd have done it sooner, not now when your girlfriend is in tears, not a month later! If you really wanted to apologize you would have done so when I gave you the chance!"
"Minami…" Akihisa began, his resolve weakening.
"If you're planning to apologize now, Aki, then it's far too late for that. I'm done." She turned to Himeji.
"Mizuki…I'm sorry, but I can't keep my promise. I tried, I really did, but I'm sorry, I just can't anymore."
And with that, she left.
The entire group was shocked into silence. Minami left to the unbearable noise of nothingness, and they all watched her leave.
"Minami-chan!" Himeji called out, a bit too late. She was already gone.
And it was the last time they saw Minami in a while.
~~~=w=~~~
Well, that's the end of chapter four! I'm sorry it took quite a while. Was…busy with overwhelming laziness. Oh well, don't forget to review! The next chapter comes out tomorrow!
Don't forget to leave a review, everyone!