Chapter 3: A Bitter-Sweet Kiss.
Warnings: Chapter contains extremely suggestive language and many flashbacks. Read at own risk. KanjixNaoto fans should be wary too, as some OCxKanji goes down in this chapter.
Location: Yasogami High, Gym.
I open a door and look ahead; I can see chairs everywhere with a few cameras used in Hollywood movies here and there. There are a few laces of tape labeled "P-1 Grand Prix scattered around here and there. Taking a closer look at the scenery itself…
"Oh my gosh, is this our gym?" My eyes widen and wander with curiosity. I notice strange looking people that are aimlessly walking around through the junk as if it doesn't bother them. They look like shadows, I sense no hostility from them, but I keep my guard up as I make my way through the mountains of chairs.
I stop at the sound of voices coming from the other side of the mountains of stacked chairs. I quickly crouch behind them and look through the cracks. I can make out a lone figure, but as I look through a crack that gives me a larger field of vision. I can see that it's Kanji!
My heart jumps a little as I eye him from a distance; a faint blush appears on my face. His eyes shift towards my general direction and I quickly duck down so he won't see me peeking through the cracks. After a while, I sheepishly look back up through the same crack. Kanji scratches the back of his neck and turns around while mumbling something that isn't audible to my ears. He exits the gym, leaving me there alone.
If he was just fighting with someone, he must've won if he was able to leave. The thought was rather bitter sweet. The sweet being that he's not hurt at all, the bitter that I still have a chance of ending up fighting with him.
After the door shuts behind Kanji, I stand from behind the mountain stack of chairs and move to the area of the gym that's clear of clutter. I see that there was no one else here, so who was Kanji talking to…
Seeing no one here myself, I decide to leave the gym. Leaving from the same door Kanji left from not too long ago.
Location: Hallway
When I do, I see that I'm in the hallway, but like every other part of the school so far, it's distorted too. There are a few puddles of water with static emanating from them as well as more of those shadow students.
I see a stair case that I decide I want to go up, but when I try I'm met with some unknown force that sends me to the ground on my butt.
"Ow… what was that?" I rub my face as I stand up and walk to the same spot that pushed my back. I gently reach out my hand, but it's met with the same force that pushed me back.
"An invisible wall?" Annoyed, I decide to go another direction. I met invisible wall after invisible wall until I was finally able to open another door.
Location: Music Room.
When I'm inside the room I shut the door behind me.
"Finally…"
I sigh in relief as I turn around to see where I am. The first thing I see is a big piano with the word "Mayonaka" encrypted on it. The floor under it has the P-1 label and it's surrounded with multiple pairs of shoes that form a large circle around it. I see the many musical instruments in the room and come to one conclusion,
"This must be the music room."
But I was lead here by Teddie… why? Just as soon as the thought pops into my head, a cloud of smoke engulfs the room.
When it clears, I see that Kanji is standing in front of me. My face flushes slightly, but I stare him right in the face.
"Hey, Sai-senpai. How's it goin'?
"Fine thank you…" I feel my chest getting tighter and I back up flat against the door, gripping the door knob tightly.
"What's wrong, you look nervous senpai? That's not like you…"
"Oh no, it's nothing." I try desperately to open the door, but the knob won't budge. I don't even remember locking it.
"You aren't going anywhere, Sai-chan. We're picking up right from where we left off at the summer festival."
Kanji never uses the suffix "chan" on my name, nor the tone he's using right now. My face gets even redder as he gets closer to me.
I sat there at the summer festival alone, waiting for my date to arrive. I'm wearing my silk white yukata with lovely sunflowers decorating it. A light blue ribbon with frilly white lace and a sunflower attached to it sits in my hair which I put into a ponytail that hangs from the left side of my head. A matching obi is holding my yukata together. When I looked at my phone for the time and realized he's 30 minutes late, my face saddens.
"It happened again it seems…"
This seemed to happen a lot with the guys I agree to go out with, when I get to the meeting place they never seem to show up.
"Guess there's no helping it… I'll enjoy myself then." I would be with my friends if I knew this guy would blow me off like the others, but I stayed behind to wait for him.
I feel sad and empty as go to the various attractions alone, trying to enjoy myself as much as I can.
When I grow tired of walking around, I sit on a bench under a tree not too far away from the festival. I sigh softly as I look out into the lovely lights.
Just then, two men approach me,
"Well ,well, well, look what we have here, a lone girl."
The other chuckles before speaking, "She looks like she's in need for a good time."
I contort my face as I fearlessly look them in the face,
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Oooooo, feisty."
One of the men reaches out to grab me and I smack his hand away forcefully.
"I'd appreciate it if you don't touch me."
He slowly rubs the hand I smacked before looking back to me.
"She's definitely feisty alright."
He tilted his head as if signaling the other man, who quickly reached out to me. I tried to smack his hand away, but he caught my arm and wrenched it, causing me to yelp in pain and stand up.
"Hands off…" I said solemnly, trying to sound threatening. The only response I received however was him tightening his grip on me.
"You aren't going anywhere before we have OUR fun."
I grit my teeth as I try to come up with a plan. I would just put my martial arts skills to use, but this yukata has thoroughly restricted my flexibility…
I wonder if there are people nearby, if so…
"Let go of me, you perverts!" I screamed as loud as I could, hoping SOMEONE would hear me. With the noise of the festival going on however, I highly doubted someone would. Even so, there aren't many people out here this year TO hear me.
"Can it, Goldie-locks!" The man holding me hissed.
"No! I said let go of me!"
Kanji at this point is has his hand that isn't holding his chair against the door behind me, effectively pinning me against the wall.
He leans in closer to me,
"How 'bout it?"
My heart was pounding so fast, I felt like it was going to jump out of my body. I mean sure I thought about Kanji doing something like this to me when I did 'those things,' but something about this just felt wrong.
I was almost relieved to hear the TV monitor come on accompanied by Teddie's voice.
"Now, now you two! This is a place to fight, not indulge in naughty behavior!"
Kanji scoffed before pulling back,
"Meh, she was just a piece of ass anyway."
"Huh?" I'm baffled by his statement, he was clearly just about to do something intimate with me and now I'm "just a piece of ass?"
"Don't act so surprised, senpai! You're just a way for me to bust a nut so I can move on with my life. 'Sides, you of all people should know I'm only into dating Naoto."
I couldn't believe my ears. I mean I knew he liked Naoto, but for him to not even see me as a human being…
No! I don't wanna believe that...
He just couldn't…
I was trying to pry my hand free with the other, but he just yanked me. I guess to reassure me he's in control.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, girlie."
The other man took this opportunity to chime in,
"The way she's fightin' I reckon she loves it the 'hard' way." He put an emphasis on "hard," making their intentions are now all too clear to me. He was about to put something over my head, but stopped at the sound of a voice.
"Hey asshole! Let her go!" The three of us turned to see that it was Kanji.
"T- Tatsumi?"
"Who the hell are you?"
Kanji cracks his knuckles and slowly starts walking toward us. I felt the man's grip loosen ever so slightly on me. I look and see his eyes are clearly fixed on Kanji.
The two of us stand right in front of the piano inside of the circle of shoes. The two of us eye each other before Rise's voice fills the room,
"Alright you two, we wanna see a clean fight! None of that mushy stuff got it?"
Kanji smirks a little while before replying to her,
"You got it, not that I really wanna do that stuff with her anyway."
Before I could voice my opinion Rise speaks again,
"May the battle between the Beefcake Emperor and the Secretary from Hell commence!"
No sooner than she said "commence," Kanji came charging at me, attempting to bash me in the head with his chair. I easily side step his attack and look at him with weak eyes.
"C'mon senpai, it's no fun if you don't fight back." He lunges at me again, this time I grab my earth charm to stop his attack.
He makes a sound of frustration as his chair collides with the shield.
Please stop… I don't want to fight you.
My mind thinks this, but I can't quite put the thought into words. I leap backwards, putting away my earth charm and bringing out my wind charm. I know Kanji is weak to wind and that I don't really have a chance in a straight up brawl with him since he is almost three times my size. I also know this charm alone isn't going to stop him; I'm going to need Celeste's help if I want to win.
Upon my feet touching the floor, I spring forward. Kanji is already running toward me ready for a clash. I deter him by firing a few bullets with my free hand and when I get close enough I take a swipe at him with my charmed hand. He dodges my attack and tries to punch me in the face, but I dodge his attack as well.
Taking his carelessness as an opportunity, I quickly stomp on my captor's foot. He screams out loud and releases me. When he does, I quickly run over to Kanji.
I finally reach Kanji and turn to face the men, who only scoff before leaving. More than likely so they don't make a scene. My eyes meet Kanji's, but his display subtle anger rather than concern.
"What the hell are you doing by yourself up here Saiyaka?! You're just asking for trouble!"
I explain to him how I was supposed to be with a boy and how he never showed up.
I quickly bring my hand up in an attempt at an uppercut; the whip of wind grazes Kanji's face, leaving a small cut. He backs off as I bring my hand down diagonally to slash him.
"Heh, this is more like it, senpai."
This isn't going to go anywhere at this rate. I'm pretty sure he knows as well, but I'm still shocked when I see his persona card floating in front of him.
"I didn't think I'd need you, but c'mon out Take-Mikazuchi!" Shortly after saying that, his persona appears.
This is really bad. His persona specializes in electric attacks and his physical attacks would probably shatter my earth shield.
"Ain't 'cha gonna summon yours?"
I eye him before putting my wind charm back onto my pouch.
"Celeste, come forth!"
"Damn, that sucks. You were better off just rejectin' him."
"You're right."
I notice Kanji isn't looking at me anymore.
"Why aren't you looking at me? Is there something wrong?"
"No. I- It's nothin'."
My eyes narrow to slits. I know he doesn't think I'm ugly.
"Well, there are a few things I haven't done here yet. Do you mind coming along with me?"
Even though he's not looking at me, I can tell his face is unnaturally red.
"Wh-What?! Y-You mean walk around here alone wit 'cha?!"
"Well considering what just happened, I wouldn't want to walk around alone."
"I-I dunno…"
At this point I'm desperate, so as my last resort I activate my manipulative "omg you can't resist this moe mode."
"C'mon Kanji please… I don't want to get grabbed up by some nasty perverts again because I was left alone."
"Alright, fine! Just stop actin' like that! Shit creeps me out…"
I smile warmly, tell him thank you, and we walk back to the festival.
Celeste appears behind me ready to attack.
"I hope you're well prepared, Kanji!" I readied my fingers and took aim at him, but he only smiled slightly as he ordered Take-Mikazuchi to attack. His persona obliges by forcefully slamming his sword into the ground, a huge shockwave emanating from the force of impact.
I think he's using a Mazio spell, so I move to the side and tell Celeste to move as well. I turned out to be correct as a few lightning bolts appeared from where Celeste and I were just standing.
"Not bad." He called out as he saw his spell miss me.
I point my fingers at Kanji and fire a few bullets at him. To my annoyance, Take-Mikazuchi hunches over and places his massive arm in front of Kanji, blocking all of them. I mutter a sound of frustration as Kanji only smirks and his persona lifts back up to stand behind him.
"Aw c'mon, Sai-senpai. That can't be all you've got!"
Kanji starts running at me again; ready to strike me with his chair. His persona on the other hand slowly advances towards me while readying himself to strike with his lightning bolt shaped sword.
I fire a few more bullets at Kanji, but he swats them away with his chair. The bullets didn't even make him stop running at me.
As a last resort, I call upon Celeste to fire a beam of light at Kanji. When she does, she aims it at his feet. Kanji of course saw this and jumped into the air; he dropped his chair in mid air and spread his arms like a flying squirrel. I just stared wide eyed at him.
The first two people we saw were Yu and Yosuke, who eyed Kanji somewhat shockingly. When they saw me however, their eyes narrowed as did mine and the four of us stood in silence until Yosuke broke it,
"So Saiyaka, here stalking us again?"
"No I'm not. I was having a good time by myself until I ran into trouble."
Yu was the next to speak up, "You mean Kanji?"
My face reddens slightly as I explained to them that Kanji saved me from the creeps earlier.
Yosuke was enlightened by this, his eyes fall on Kanji.
"So that's why you ran off, huh?"
Kanji gave a nod in reply to Yosuke's question.
Kanji came crashing down and landed right on top of me, he tackled me to the ground and he placed both of his legs on either side of me. I look up into his eyes and he looks into mine for a brief moment before clenching his fists.
Then he punched me…
The four of us started walking in a group, which ironically was the polar opposite of Teddie's in terms of the gender of its members: Three boys and one girl.
I was completely shocked that he just did that. He just hit me right in my face.
Then he did it again.
"What? Kanji, you sure about this man?"
"Well I can't just let her walk alone. What if those creeps are still around?"
"If you insist… Alright, see you later man!"
He hit me again and again and again. I laid there in complete shock; I never in a million years thought Kanji of all people would do this to me. I turned my head so I was looking at him again. I saw that he lifted both of his fists and put them together.
I slowly reached for my pouch…
"Well, here we are."
"THIS is your house?!"
"Well yes…"
I grasped hold of my earth charm and waited for Kanji to bring his hands down. The moment I saw his hands move I instantly brought the charm to my face, causing his hands to unexpectedly hit the rock shield full force.
"Aah! Damn it that hurts!" He shot up, cringing from the pain. He almost completely forgot I was right here.
With my shield still in front of me, I push up towards the stunned Kanji with all of the strength I had left, forcing him onto his back with me on top of him.
"God damn! What the hell do your parents do for a livin'?"
I giggle slightly before replying to him,
"They run a high class jewelry store in the city."
"Really? Never knew… to be honest I was always scared of you."
"Me…?
"Well, I was always sorta afraid of girls in general."
I felt a little embarrassed in this position, but I try to push the naughty thoughts out of my head as I reach for my fire charm. I was more than angry that he damaged MY face!
"Really? I couldn't tell since you're always around Chie, Yukiko, and Rise."
"Well, they helped get over my fears and insecurities."
I didn't know about the TV world and shadows at the time, so my mind pondered about how they helped.
I grasp the fire charm and bring it to Kanji's neck, letting it burn him for a few seconds. He was screaming in pain and begun trying to force me off of him.
I responded by lifting up my hand with my earth charm in it, the shield reformed itself quickly. I then smashed it downward into Kanji's face. Kanji squirmed a little more under me before stopping. I lifted the shield to see he was unconscious. My face reddens a little as I look at him, he looks so adorable sleeping.
Take-Mikazuchi disappears and I call Celeste away as well.
"You know, I like you better this way."
"Huh?" I had no idea what he was talking about at the time, probably because I was oblivious to how much of an ungrateful bitch I was back then.
Kanji groaned a little before coming to, I was still on top of him with my legs on either side of him.
"God damn, for a dream getting hit sure does hurt like hell." He had his eyes closed as he rubbed his head while sitting up.
Dream, what is he talking about? This is clearly reality.
He opens his eyes and his face goes red, but he doesn't say anything.
The screen pops back up and Teddie is on it,
"Goodness, what a bear-y close match! I was on the edge of seat!"
Kanji blurts out, "What the hell!? You tellin' me I lost?!"
"That's right Kanji! You got pwned by a girl!"
"Well Saiyaka you know the deal! Time for you to move on! Try not to take too long." The screen cuts off and I look back to Kanji, he's still blushing like crazy.
"Damn senpai, you sure stuck it to me huh?"
I nod sheepishly in reply before asking if he was okay.
"The hell? You go from callin' me names to kickin' my ass to askin' if I'm okay? Man, this is one crazy dream."
I don't remember calling him any names before the fight started. Now that I think about it, Yosuke accused me of saying offensive things before our fight as well. I wonder if this is some part of the twisted reality that we're in.
"Oh well, you ain't hurt are ya? I mean your face is all bruised up."
I get a little flustered by this, but instead of lashing out I only reply with a sarcastic.
"Well, yours isn't exactly in perfect shape either."
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be fine when I wake up." He smiles as if he's so sure that this is indeed a dream. Nonetheless, my mind flashes back to what he said before the fight…
"I-It's nothin'. Anyway shouldn't you be goin' inside now? I do need to get home myself y'know."
"I- I almost forgot! I forgot to thank you properly." I put on a small smile and walk so I'm right in front of Kanji.
"What's the matter? You look so… distracted?"
Without realizing it, I find my face moving closer to his.
"What the hell are you doin'?" His face is bright red, but I still move my face closer to his.
God how I just wanted him so badly.
"S-Senpai…?"
If he thinks this was just some bad dream at this moment, I'll gladly use it to my advantage. I don't even care if he finds out about this being real later.
Our lips were just about to meet when the porch lights to my house turned on. Shortly after the lights turned on front door opened and I heard Miyu's voice. I immediately pull away from Kanji, I felt so hot and embarrassed.
"Milady there you are, I was just going to go look for you! Come on inside! I already have your bath water ready!"
"C-Coming…" As much I didn't want to, I went inside. Miyu bowed to and thanked to Kanji before following me inside.
My lips finally found his. He was a little reluctant use his tongue at first, but he gave in eventually and used it. I felt like I was in heaven!
After a while we broke the kiss and looked away from each other. It was quiet for a while, neither of us made a sound after it. Well that was until Kanji spoke up,
"Don't you have to get to your next match?"
"Y-Yes, you're right." With that I slowly raised myself off of him and turned to leave the music room. Right when I reached out to the door knob I turned my head to look at Kanji. His face is almost emotionless as he eyes me. I quickly opened the door and excused myself.
I kind of feel guilty for taking advantage of him like that, but there's nothing to be done about it now. I bring my hand to my lips before continuing into the hallway.
Finally finished! Goodness it took me a while to get this done. I'm sorry for using flashbacks during the fight, but I felt it added some sort of tension between the two. I'm also going to consider this story an AU from now on.
Also, no Saiyaka did not fall in love with Kanji just from him saving her. She had a crush on him long before the summer festival.
And to Miss Hanamura: You're very much welcome! :D
Until next time! *Places bookmark.*
P.S: Sorry KanjixNaoto fans…
