All the Right Moves
Chapter 4:
And if it looks to me like you and your reflection
Plan to add your own fire to this dimension.
Then tell it that this ain't no free for all to see
There's only three…it's just you and me against me
Two Against One by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi
"Oh my — you're still here, Chase-san?"
"Huh?" My head popped up, as I had dozed off with my head in my arms. I swiveled in my chair to face a woman clad in blue scrubs.
I had heard the door open, but hadn't bothered to acknowledge it until the nurse addressed me. The medical staff ran in and out of that door so much that I hardly noticed them anymore.
"Oh, yeah…" I recognized the nurse as one of the regular attendants and smiled at her. I some-whatly felt bad because of the numerous times I'd seen her, I could never remember her name — even though she obviously remembered mine.
She smiled back at me. "It's so nice to see such a dedicated daughter. I'm sure your mother enjoys each of your visits."
I felt my expression turn somber as I shifted my attention to the comatose woman in the hospital bed. The thin, white sheets coved most of her body, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to see she was tall and slender. Her skin was pale and unblemished which contrasted with her wavy mahogany locks that cascaded around her face and shoulders like a halo.
My mother looked a lot like Tori, especially in the face. They both shared the high cheekbones and button noses. Even Joey had her ears, and from the picture's I'd seen, my mother had dark green eyes like my siblings did. Tori told me I looked like mom also, but I think it was just because I obviously inherited mom's dark mahogany locks.
"I would like to think so," I answered the nurse.
In all honestly, I had no clue why I visited my mother so often. I had no memory of what she was like, and only pictures and my sibling's words to paint my own idea. It was almost ironic — the amnesiac daughter visiting her comatose mother. In a way, she was no more a stranger to me than nurse-what's-her-name. I hated hospitals, and yet every Sunday evening I would take the subway to visit St. Dominic Nakano's Hospital just to spend time with her.
The nurse moved to fiddle with the I.V. drip. She removed the old, empty bag and replaced it with a new one. She then turned to me and said, "It's getting late, Chase-san. Visiting hours are almost up, and I'm sorry to say that you'll have to leave soon."
I nodded absently. I was too delved in my own thoughts to really acknowledge the woman. I heard the door close with a quite click soon after.
"I don't think I know what I've gotten myself into, Mom," I finally said, as I looked at my mother's serene face. "It will be a month tomorrow since I started at Ouran Academy and it's…something else."
It was probably weird that I talked to my mother like this, but the doctors encouraged it. They said medical research journals state most comatose patients are aware of their surroundings, and it might help break their unconscious state. However, my motivations were more selfish than just helping my mother. It turned out to be therapeutic for me.
When I talked to her, it felt like I never had lost my mother. I would tell her about my week, how Tori and Joey were, and if anything happened that was worth talking about.
I imagined what her responses would be like: whether it be a smile at an accomplishment, or a scowl for a transgression. Tori said, before the accident, that when she needed help she would always go to our mother. So I imagined she would smile at me when I needed support after a bad day, or her voice would be filled with warmth as she gave me advice when I was confused.
As pathetic as it was, it brought comfort to me.
"Don't get me wrong, the schooling is great. You'd be proud of my grades. I'd never had such high marks until I came to Ouran. I'm able to stay in the A class of my year because of them. Granted I'm closer to the bottom of the class than the top," I laughed and rested my head on my arms which were crossed next to my mother's hand.
"I've actually made a few friends too, believe it or not," I smiled as I absently looked out the window. The sun had just started to set, so the sky and clouds were painted different shades of pink and orange.
Obviously, my mother didn't reply, but I continued on as if she had. "I know, it's funny that I'm making them at Ouran of all places.
"Momoka and I are still friends. I guess she liked me more than I originally thought. She's a sweetheart, you'd like her. We sit together in the Dining Hall and our elective classes we have together. Granted, her friends are still wary of me, but they trust Momoka's judgment enough to be friendly."
I shifted in my chair some before continuing. "Something unexpected happened though, Mom. I seemed to have gained a new friend without meaning too. Do you remember that girl I told you about — Sasshi? She's my partner in home economics and doesn't like me. Well, it seems she's had a change of heart."
Sasshi Tansei was definitely an interesting case.
We're in the same year, but the only time I saw her was in my sixth period elective class because she was in class B.
I was surprised the school had even offered home economics in the first place. The description of the class was described as: 'to where students learned how to deal with the economics and management of the home and community.'
In other words it was just a home keeping class, which was useless to a bunch of rich kids with maids and butlers to do the house work. It was nothing more than a joke to them, I'm sure.
Then again, I wasn't completely innocent when it came to reasons for taking the class. I personally took it because I thought it would be a blow off class since I already did all the house work.
Either way, as soon as the class had begun the teacher had us pair up with permanent partners for the whole semester. Being the outsider that I am, I just waited to see who was left after everyone picked who they wanted. In the end, I was paired with Sasshi Tansei. A girl with pin-straight black hair cut in an asymmetrical bob, and super long legs. Her facial expression made it clear that she wasn't too happy to be stuck with me, and I had a feeling that we weren't going to get along.
I was right. For the first three weeks we had communication issues and our work reflected it. The class started with the home cooking unit, and it was obvious Sasshi hadn't cooked a day in her life. As her partner, I tried to help Sasshi with her share of the work, but she was stubborn and just gave me a dirty look every time I did.
A process soon followed. After much frustration, she would give up and throw her hand in the air. Then she glared at me, as if it was my fault, and stomp off to the other end of the table to pout and doodle in her notebook. I then would scramble to salvage what I could and remake our dish with what little time was left so I could have a decent grade. Needless to say, we were both ready to rip our hair out by the end of class.
However, in this past week, something about Sasshi changed.
"It was weird; it was like dealing with a whole new person. Like this Tuesday, when I told her that she had poured too much salt into the cake batter, she actually listened to me," I said, my eyebrows furrowed as I was still trying to figure out her actions.
"After that, she actually asked me for help. When she realized I was right she wouldn't stop asking questions. I think I've told her the difference between baking powder and baking soda at least a dozen times by now," I laughed.
"Then, to make things even more bizarre, she just started to talk to me — as in socially. She's quite the chatter box when you get past the snobby girl front. I found out that her dad is pretty integrated in the art industry, and she's already selling her own paintings. She's shown me a couple of pictures, and they're pretty good. I think you'd like them, Mom."
I sat up in my chair. My back was killing me from the awkward position I had sat in for so long. I twisted by back and felt my spine pop a few times. Feeling better, I leaned back with my elbows on the chair back and my legs crossed in front of me. I looked at the clock to see I still had about fifteen minutes before I had to leave.
At that moment, a thought popped in my head. One that made everything that happened to me in this past week make much more sense. My lips curled into a smile and I said, "You know, Mom, I think I just realized why Sasshi had a change of heart."
I shook my head, not able to believe I hadn't realized it sooner. "I've told you about the twins already, haven't I? Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin? I know I've called them self-centered brats, but you should probably know almost all the girls in the school seem to adore them. However, considering what I witnessed two Fridays ago, I don't think Sasshi's apart of their fan-base anymore."
"Great, I think it's sprained," I said as I rotated my wrist. A pain shot through it as I did so, confirming my suspicion. I sighed with despair as I lay back on the floor mat of the gymnasium. "This is going to set me back at least a week."
I honestly should have seen that coming. A Chusovitina — a full-twisting double layout — is one of the harder skills to perform in a floor exercise, and stupid to practice without a spotter the first few runs. Which was exactly what I did. Kinmu would have my hide if she knew I had tried to execute a Chusovitina on my own.
That's what she gets for not telling me about the in-house competition, I thought angrily.
I was still upset with her for keeping that important tidbit of information from me. Then when I confronted her about it, she simply shrugged and said I would be ready by the time the competition came around.
When I asked her how when I couldn't even practice with a team anymore, she threw a key at me and told me to practice in the gymnasium after school. Legally, she wasn't able to do one-on-one coaching seasons with me, so I'd have to practice on my own with "instruction memos" from her. Also, that I shouldn't worry about being disturbed because no one goes in the gym at this time of year.
She was right. I've practiced in this gymnasium for the past three weeks and not a soul came in besides Kinmu — and that was only to tell me what to work on for the week or to test my fitness level.
Anyways, it didn't take me long to become bored with the repetitious drills and fitness exercises she had me do. So every once in a while I would improvise for a little excitement. Hence my situation now.
I laid there for some time, just to let my sore and tired body rest for a minute before I finally got up. There was no point for me to continue on an injured wrist, besides I was done with the day's exercises anyway. I walked over to my bag and pulled out a pair of grey sweatpants to put on over my black skins. I hated wearing the short-spandex shorts and the tight t-shirt but they were the best things to practice in, and unless I wanted my shirt flying up or catching on something while I'm flipping through the air, I had no other choice.
I grabbed my water bottle and bag with my good arm before I walked out the doors. I made sure to lock them behind me. Once again, Kinmu would have my hide if I didn't make sure the door was locked tight. No one was supposed to know I practiced on my own here besides Kinmu and the school's Chairman.
I pocketed the key and started my way towards the entrance gate of Ouran Academy and then home.
I once again looked down at my wrist and grimaced. "The best thing to do is put ice on this when I get home. It's already swelling pretty badly. At least it wasn't my left hand; I have to write a paper tonight."
"I'm sorry, were you waiting long?"
I recognized that voice instantly, and looked around for an auburn-haired twin that came with it. When I realized I was the only one in the corridor I figured they — I would say he but the twins were never apart — had to be up ahead of me in the courtyard.
Walking as quietly as I could, I reached the end of the corridor and peaked around the corner to see one of the twins talking to a girl from our year in the breeze way. It was the one that parted his hair to his left. Which one was that again? Kaoru? No…Hikaru? I honestly haven't given them much thought ever since my first day here so I didn't bother trying to tell which was which. I avoided the Hitachiin twins like the plague, not willing to deal with their rude remarks, and beside the fact I sat in front of Hikaru and Kaoru in my core classes, I've been doing a pretty good job at it.
"I read your letter," he said, as he held up an envelope with a heart-shaped seal. It seemed to be a love letter, and upon seeing it, I rolled my eyes.
If there was one thing I had learned about this school it is that the girls here are extremely forward with their feelings. It was so odd to me. At my old school a girl could hardly admit her feelings to a boy, let alone confess. Here it seemed to be a regular activity. I don't think I'll ever understand these rich-private school kids.
"Hikaru…"
The voice that came from the girl surprised me. I knew her! And now that I identified the voice I couldn't believe I didn't recognize those long legs that peeked out from under her brown mini-skirt. It was Sasshi!
I think I was more surprised that Sasshi had a thing for one of the Hitachiin twins than I was that she was confessing it. I mean, she was as vapid as all the other girls at this school, but Sasshi was such a clam. She didn't bother to talk to anyone in our home economics class, even though most of them were in B class with her. I didn't even realize she knew the twins.
"I'm really sorry but, I'm Kaoru. You must have gotten my desk confused with Hikaru's and put your letter in the wrong one."
Sasshi looked down in shame. A blush covered her cheeks and she bit her lip while wringing her hands.
A dark look passed through the twin's eyes that I couldn't decipher, and it was then that I absently wondered where the other twin was. The two were hardly ever apart.
He then said, "Do you think…you could like me instead?"
Sasshi's hands stopped moving and her head popped up as if she couldn't believe what she had heard. A gleam of hope filled her eyes.
He leaned forward a little and said with a smooth smile, "I should confess, to be honest, I always thought you were really cute. And besides, Hikaru has a crush on someone else. So what do you say?"
A giant smile of pure happiness spread across Sasshi's lips before she said, "If you're okay with it, then I am too, Kaoru."
A look of disappointment and hurt crossed his face before it dissipated into a devious smirk.
Wait a second, that's not Kaoru! I thought when I finally remembered that it was Hikaru that parted his hair to his left. My eyes widened, having realized Sasshi had fallen into a trap.
"I see. Well then — Hey, Kaoru," Hikaru shouted as he turned around to face the courtyard. "She said she would be fine with you instead!"
I cocked my head to see the other twins, the real Kaoru, step out from behind a tall hedge with an identical smirk gracing his lips.
Seeing the other twin made Sasshi gasp, "Hold on! Then you are Hikaru?"
A look of utter betrayal crossed Sasshi's face as tears welded up in her eyes. Hikaru seemed dauntless to them as he chuckled, "This is just getting old. You girls just keep falling for it."
Sasshi flinched at Hikaru's sharp words and she brought her hands up to her chest, as if clutching her heart to keep it from falling out and breaking into a million pieces on the floor. "You're so…cruel," Sasshi cried out, "Why would you do that?"
Hikaru's eyes flashed from humorous to complete abhorrence as he turned back to the girl. "We're cruel? No, you have it all wrong. You're the cruel one."
Sasshi seemed startled by Hikaru's abrupt change in attitude and took a small step backwards. By this time, Kaoru had walked from the courtyard to stand next to his brother. Hikaru continued, "You're okay with either of us. That's what you said. Who the hell do you think you are?"
"By saying you'll take either of us, you're really saying you don't care which of us you have. How shallow can you get?" Kaoru asked with a condescending smirk. "By the way, you have a pretty face but such long legs that it's gangly and awkward. If you want to go out with us, you should try and disguise those spider legs."
Kaoru's words were the last straw as tears now flowed freely down Sasshi's face, but it seems the twins weren't done tormenting the poor girl yet.
They both held out her love letter, which was a reminder as to what started her grief, and they said in unison, "And the next time you write a love letter, make it good!"
They then ripped it apart into pieces, just like Sasshi's heart.
"I know, what a rotten thing to do, right," I looked at my mother and figured she would agree on this. "I disliked Sasshi, and now that I look back I can say I don't agree with how she confessed her feelings to the twins as if she didn't care which one she got, but I still couldn't help feeling bad for her.
"You see, not too long ago something similar happened with Joey. Our neighbor has a daughter Joey's age, and she has a massive crush on him. She finally got the courage up to ask him out one day. To my surprise, he turned her down, albeit gently. She's really pretty and sweet, so I asked why he didn't take her out. Joey said that if he did, he would be breakings someone else's heart that he cared deeply for. I asked him who it was, but he refused to tell me." I made a face at that. Joey and I were close, and so it irritated me that when he didn't tell me things. "When he didn't tell me, I asked him why he couldn't break her heart.
"Joey then told me that breaking a woman's heart is deeper than people realize. It destroys her outlook on love, her future relationships, and peace within herself. He couldn't bring himself to do that.
"At the time, I had no idea how that was even possible. A guy just turns you down — big whoop. But then, I saw how upset Sasshi was when Hikaru and Kaoru tore up her love letter, and I think what Joey said made a little more sense to me. I think that's why I couldn't stop myself from rushing to her defense."
"What the hell is the matter with you two?!"
The twins, who had already started to walk away, were as startled as Sasshi was to see me there. I walked to stand in front of Sasshi with my fists clenched and a scowl on my face.
"What kind of twisted sickos are you? You went through all that just to get a laugh out of her misery? She took the courage to confess her feelings and you two have the gall to trample her heart. That's just wrong!"
I had no clue what I was doing. I didn't even like Sasshi, yet I was defending her. I was just so angry that the twins could laugh at her tears that I felt the need to do anything to knock those smug smirks off their faces.
"Max…" Sasshi said weakly, as if she wasn't sure if I was really there or not.
I turned to her and my anger softened at the sight of her miserable appearance. I reached down and gently pulled her off the floor where she had fallen to her knees with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Go home, Sasshi. I'll see you tomorrow in class, okay?" I smiled at her.
She wiped her eyes and nodded her head before all but running out of the corridor and out of sight.
I turned back to the twins to see equal looks of irritation in their eyes. And it was directed straight at me.
I returned the look and said, "Everyone says you two are self-centered pranksters, but I didn't think you were such brats that you would do something like this."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Scarface," the one on the right — Hikaru — said. "If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your nose in your own business."
"Besides," Kaoru jumped in, "It's not like we care about the opinion of some homely little Scar—"
"SHUT UP!" I yelled at Hikaru and Kaoru. I was so tired of them calling me that. They hadn't talked to me much for the past few weeks, but when they did they loved to address me as "Scarface." Usually I ignored them — having been called worse before — but this was it. I was done with turning the other cheek.
The twins eyes widened and their jaw slacked in surprise. They looked as if they had been visible slapped. It then struck me that there was a high chance that no one had ever yelled at them like that before. These pampered princes probably had never been chastised once in their entire life.
I continued before they could snap out of their stupor. "You say that Sasshi is cruel, but you're only a couple of pots calling the kettle black. You both knew that her attraction to you was only skin deep, didn't you?"
When neither denied it, I continued. "And since y'all are identical there was no way she would be able to tell which one was Hikaru and which one was Kaoru.
"But instead of turning her down gently and moving on with life, you decide to make a game out of it and humiliate her. It's bad enough when a girl's feelings aren't accepted but when it's returned with ridicule—"
I stopped myself mid-sentence, having realized I was reading too deep into the situation. I took a deep breath to calm myself before saying, "Look, I'm not saying her intentions weren't shallow. The way she made you two out as the same people was wrong, but if anyone is cruel here, it's you two for taking things as far as you did."
"Are you done, yet?" Kaoru asked, yawning.
"We have better things to do than get a pointless lecture from a commoner," Hikaru continued.
Not expecting that response from them, my eyebrows quirked in a confused manor. Then I scoffed, irritated that neither seemed the least bit remorseful for making Sasshi cry. "You know I don't get you two. If you were so insulted by the fact Sasshi couldn't tell you apart, why don't you make an effort to be told apart?
"From what I've seen you guys don't have many friends, if any. You guys don't even seem to care. Yet you get upset when everyone gets you two mixed up. It seems kind of contra—"
"Just shut up already!" Kaoru exclaimed, startling me to a stop.
Hikaru stepped towards me, his hands clenched with anger and a scowl on his face. "Do you want to know why? Because as far as we're concerned, Kaoru and I could care less about being friends with a bunch of idiots. No one can tell us apart. Not even an ordinary, scarred, little commoner like you!"
I would be lying if I said Hikaru's words didn't hurt. But instead of feeling sadness, I felt anger boil in my belly. I wanted nothing more than to smack Hikaru and Kaoru, but I refrained.
For a moment, none of us said anything. We just stood there glaring at each other like a Mexican Standoff, only it was two against one.
Finally, I took a step back. Without leveling my gaze, I said in a calm voice, "You're the idiots if you truly believe that. You confuse people's ability to tell you apart for intelligence. What you fail to see is it's not their intelligence, but their ability to care. Anyone can tell you two apart, if they took the time to care enough. Even I could."
The twins' gaze softened at my words, but I don't think it was intentional. I think it was more because they had never actually considered the theory I was telling them before now.
I then turned away and picked up my bag with my left hand. I had dropped it when I moved to help Sasshi. When it was situated on my shoulder I looked back at the twins and said, "But why should I care? You two deserve to be tortured by the fact no one would be willing to care enough to tell which one is Hikaru, and which one is Kaoru. Have fun rotting away in loneliness together."
I then walked away.
"I know what I said was horrible, but I couldn't help it. They had just made me so angry with the whole Sasshi thing that I wanted them to feel what it was like to be hurt," I said as I figured my mother would scold me right now if she could.
I sighed before I continued. "Anyways, after that, Sasshi has been much nicer to me. She's even invited me over to her house this next weekend. It's funny, what little things can do to change people's opinions about you," I chuckled to myself before I became somber as the twins came back to mind.
"Then again, it seems that coin has two sides to it. The twins seemed to have formed a very strong opinion about me as well — but in a completely different way. I don't think they liked what I had to say about them."
I scoffed, considering my words were a terrible understatement. In the past week, Hikaru and Kaoru had been nothing but a complete nightmare.
As terrible as it sounded, if I had know the twins were going to hold a grudge over what had happened, I would have traded Sasshi's new attitude towards me in a heartbeat. I could have handled her prissy attitude for the rest of the semester, but what I can't handle is another week like the one I just had with the Hitachiin twins.
When I had walked into class the following Monday, I had almost completely forgotten about what had happened with the twins and Sasshi. Apparently, the twins did not, and they made sure I got a painful reminder — literally.
I remember I had arrived early to school that morning. Tori's morning class was canceled, and Joey had the day off so he offered to drive me. It was almost a full half hour before class began so I thought I would be the first one to arrive, but I was surprised to see that the twins were already there.
I walked to my seat and snuck a brief glance at the twins. They sat together in Hikaru's desk and both were reading a book, neither bothered to acknowledge my presence as I reached my desk. I took out my notebook and pencil before I sat down, but only to instantly jump back up with a yelp.
"What the hell?" I muttered as my hands flew to my offended rear end and I looked down to see what had caused it to be offended.
Thumb tacks. There were thumb tacks, faced point-up, in my seat.
"How did those get—," I didn't even finish my question as a pair of snickers made me turn around to face the twins.
Both Hikaru and Kaoru were watching me with identical smirks that made me have no doubt about who had put the thumb tacks in my seat. "Isn't it a wonder, how annoying a little pain can be?"
Things became progressively worse after that.
During class, Kaoru would flick paper wads at my back and when he wasn't doing that, Hikaru would poke me with his pencil and whisper nonsense to me that I couldn't understand. Then the teacher would hear and somehow I was to blame for disrupting class.
On Tuesday during lunch, Momoka noticed a pink substance in my hair. Upon closer inspection I realized — to my disgust — that it was two giant wads of gum. While Momoka and her friends tried figuring out how gum got in my hair, I turned a heated glare on a pair of laughing twins, two tables away.
Wednesday, I opened my locker only to be greeted by an explosion of springy snakes, rubber spiders, inflated frogs, and other creepy-crawlies as they came pouring out like an avalanche.
Not only did it elicit a surprised squeal from me, but numerous girls, and a few boys, in the vicinity ran screaming at the sight. It wouldn't have been so bad, had it not been for the teacher that just happened to pass by. Turned out my homeroom teacher was arachnophobic and she insisted I had scared everyone on purpose and escorted me to the Chairman's office to decide my punishment. With no way to convince her I wasn't the culprit, I had no choice but to follow her. And as I did, I passed the twins who grinned at me like Cheshire cats.
Then, to add insult to injury, the twins seemed to have made it their personal goals to have me suffer from severe paranoia. Between all these pranks, Hikaru and Kaoru would take to finding other ways of tormenting me. Whether it was making snide little comments when no one was around, or causing my books to fall from my hands as they took turns bumping into me in the school corridors. I was becoming so paranoid of Twin-Ambush that I couldn't even walk around a corner without hesitation.
By Thursday, I had all that I could take. I confronted the twins before lunch, intent to give them a piece of my mind.
However, it was hard to look intimidating when I was as wet as a used towel. My hair and clothes were sopping from the last prank the twins had pulled not ten minutes before. I had left class to go to the bathroom before lunch — like I always did — and as soon as I walked back out of the girl's lavatory I was pelted with water balloons. The attack was so sudden that all I could do was raise my arms to protect my face.
After the onslaught was over, I wiped the water from my eyes to see Hikaru and Kaoru standing before me with triumphant grins and laughter echoing in the empty hallway.
Before they were able to leave I moved to stand in their way.
The entire week I had gone without telling anyone about what was going on, even Tori and Joey, and I had refused to acknowledge the twins in hope that they would get bored and just stop, but that hadn't worked either. So I moved to Plan B: confrontation.
Since this was the first time I moved to say anything, the twins looked at me with mildly curious expressions. Before my courage failed me, I told them to stop pestering me and to just go back to ignoring me like they had not a week ago.
"We don't feel like it," was their reply.
"What do you mean you don't feel like it?" I asked.
"This is a lot more fun than we thought it would be," the one on the right said — I still couldn't tell them apart yet. "There's no way we're giving this up anytime soon."
My fists clenched at my side and I glared at the twins. Did they seriously have nothing better to do?
"Well that's just dandy for you two, but I have more important things to do than spend my time pulling gum out of my hair and tacks out of my ass. So please just stop it already."
The twins looked at each other, and as if they had telepathy, shared a nod before turning identical smirks on me — which by now, I knew meant I was in trouble.
"Okay," the one on the left said, "We'll leave you alone, but first…"
"You'll have to play a game," the one on the right finished.
I gave them a suspicious look. This had to be a trick, but considering I was getting desperate, I took the bait. "What game?"
"The Which One is Hikaru Game," they both declared in unison.
"What kind of game is that?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow while I crossed my arms.
"It's simple really. You just have to guess which one of us is Hikaru, and which one of us is Kaoru. If you guess right, we'll stop tormenting you."
"But if you guess wrong…" Their grins grew even bigger, causing me to dread even trying to think about what they had in store for me.
"Fine," I declared, "I'll play."
The twins smirked, "Just so you know, no one has ever gotten it right."
I huffed before looking at them carefully. I already knew I was just going to have to take a blind guess. I could barely remember which one parted his hair which way, let alone be able to fully tell them apart.
In the past few weeks, I was only able to peg down one difference between the two, and that was their voices. One twin had a raspier, lighter voice, while the other had a deeper and smoother quality to his. However, since the twins were always together, I still had trouble distinguishing which one belonged to which.
I sighed before pointing at the one on the right and said, "Tweedle-dee," I then pointed to the one on the left and said, "Tweedle-dumb."
The twins' grins slipped into annoyed expressions, which in turn made me smile a bit. It was strangely satisfying to see that there was something that I could do to make their stupid, arrogant smirks disappear.
"You got it wrong."
I shook my head. "I don't think so. From now on you will be called Tweedle-dee," I pointed at the one on the right before turning to the one on the left, "and you will be called Tweedle-dumb. As long as I call you by those names, I'll get it right. So I technically win."
"That's not how the game works," the twin on the right said.
For some reason I was feeling extremely cheeky and I said, "Fine. You want me to guess again?"
I then covered my eyes with one hand and started spinning in a circle. When I stopped, I pointed in a random direction and said, "This one is Hikaru."
When I uncovered my eyes I saw that I was pointing at a water fountain. "Why Hikaru! You've gained weight!"
"That's not funny!"
I laughed at the twins' outburst and irritated expressions, glad to see that for once I was getting under their skin instead of the other way around.
I then put my hands on my hips and said, "And neither are these pranks. I refuse to guess which one is Hikaru and which one is Kaoru when it's obvious I have no clue which one you are. If you really want me to tell you apart, stop playing these silly games."
Before the twins could reply, the bell rang and other Ouran students flooded into the halls.
"And you know the funny thing, Mom? They did stop. They didn't pull anything for the rest of the day, or Friday," I said, knowing my voice was filled with confusion again.
The twins weren't ones to take such simple advice, especially from someone like me. I had a bad feeling that the twins were not done pestering me yet.
Suddenly, a voice sounded over the intercom. "Visitation hours are now over. If any guests are still here, please leave the building. Thank you, and have a good night."
I sighed and stood up. With one last look at my mother, l leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you next week, Mother. I love you."
Mondays were never my days, and this one was no exception. I had slept through my alarm clock, and only woke up because Joey had accidently dropped one of our bowls in the kitchen. The sound of breaking glass jarred me awake, and after a moment of confusion, I scrambled out of bed. I rushed to brush my teeth while hopping around trying to pull on my uniform. After that, I pulled all my books together and rushed out the door without breakfast or a packed lunch.
I ran all the way to school and had reached my classroom just as the first bell rang, signaling I still had five minutes until class started.
"Pushing your luck today aren't you, Chase-san," my homeroom teacher glowered at me.
Even though I still had five minutes before class technically began, I was sure she wouldn't have cut me any slack. Ever since the whole critters-exploding-from-my-locker-prank Hikaru and Kaoru pulled, she has had it out for me. Especially since the Chairman let me off with nothing more than a metaphorical slap on the hands because he found it so funny.
At least someone has a sense of humor at this place, I thought as I grimaced. When I saw that my teacher was still glaring at me, I bowed and said, "My apologies. It will not happen again."
She huffed before saying, "Take your seat, class is about to begin."
Not wanting to end up in an even deeper hole with her, I complied and swiftly walked to my desk.
My recently acquired paranoia had me checking my seat for any unwanted sharp objects. When I saw there were no tacks in my seat, I placed my bag on my desk to take out my notebook and pencils.
"Morning, Maxine."
My head swiveled around so fast I was at risk for whiplash, but even though I saw Hikaru and Kaoru were pleasantly smiling at me, I still was having trouble believing it.
Now, under normal circumstances that greeting would have been completely ordinary and even reciprocated as such. However, this was not under normal circumstances. To say I was startled was putting it mildly.
I was shocked for two reasons, with the first being that they had spoken to me in a very calm and civilized manner. And given the week I just had, that should have been more than enough cause for my confusion.
However, I was more confused by the fact they had addressed me by my actual name. Since day one, the twins had called me "Scarface" or "commoner". This was the first time they had ever actually said my name.
I was so blindsided by this new angle that I found I couldn't say anything back, and I only stared at them with my mouth gapping open like a codfish.
One of the twins cleared his throat to gain my attention. "You know it's polite to say something back, Maxine."
I was finally able to snap from my stupor. I shook my head before looking at the twins with obvious suspicion. "What are you two playing at now?"
Both twins feinted hurt looks. The one that sat cattycorner to me — Kaoru, if he and his brother didn't switch their assigned seating — said, "Maxine, we're only trying to be polite, but we understand your doubt. Hikaru and I discussed things, and we agreed that our actions towards you were completely uncalled for. We only hope that you can forgive our past transgressions and we can all start over."
If Kaoru seriously thought I would buy that load of trash, he could forget it, and I gave him a look that told him so. I was about to tell him that he and Hikaru could shove their apology up their asses, but the final bell rang, forcing me to take my seat.
The teacher started her lecture over British Literature and I tried paying close attention and took avid notes, but as class went on I became less and less attentive.
Hikaru and Kaoru's sudden change in behavior was eating at me. They had changed their angle, but I couldn't figure out why. My mind drifted from Milton's Paradise Lost to any and every scenario my mind could think of that would explain the twin's sudden change in tactics.
I knew that they were far from finished with me, and even if they were it wouldn't have been like this. Hikaru and Kaoru were more the type to make their target suffer to their last breath than to let them walk away just like that.
Even so, if I couldn't figure out why they changed their tactics, I should probably concentrate on their new one. This little nice guy farce couldn't be all, but I wasn't sure where they were going to go with it.
I was suddenly brought out of my musing when I noticed my fellow students were whispering excitedly to one another. I obviously had not been listening to the lecture for the past few minutes, so I had no clue what was going on. I decided the best thing for me to do was to eavesdrop on the conversation the two girls beside me were having.
"Groups of three? That means I could be paired with Hikaru and Kaoru!"
The girl in front of her gave her a look, "Not if I'm paired with them first."
The two girls proceeded to glare at each other, as if the winner would determine the groups.
Groups of three? Does that mean we're doing another project?
I looked up at the dry-erase board to see there were instructions on creating a full report on any famous British Literature book on the given list.
Seems easy enough, I thought as I looked over the list. Most of the books I had already read. But who will I be paired with?
I wasn't sure if the groups were decided by the teacher or the students, but if they were determined by the students…I looked over to where Momoka was sitting to see she and one of the girls we sat with at lunch were talking. As if sensing my gaze, Momoka looked my way and caught my eye. We both smiled at each other with understanding that we wanted to be partners.
The teacher had some trouble quieting everyone down, but when she finally did, she pulled out a clipboard and pen.
"It's so good to see everyone's so excited about our group projects! Now is there anyone who would like to pick their partners before I start to randomly select them?"
A few hands shot in the air and I saw that Momoka's was one of them. The teacher looked around before she started picking students and writing their names down with their desired partners.
"Hikaru-san? Why, it's unusual for you to volunteer. I suspect you want to be partnered with your brother, yes?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"You'll need one more. Shall I randomly assign someone to your group?"
"No ma'am, we've already picked someone to be in our group."
The classroom became a buzz with chatter again as everyone started whispering to each other.
"The Hitachiin twins want someone in their group?"
"They only like themselves, it must be a joke."
"Oh man, I hope it's me!"
"Please, they'd want someone much prettier than you in their group. Like me, for instance."
"Oh get over yourself."
It seemed like I was the only one who hadn't started gossiping about the twins' sudden involvement with their class. And I think it was because of the sinking feeling in my gut.
Please, please, don't let it be me.
"Everyone, please be quiet. Now Hikaru, who do you want in your group?"
Dear merciful lord in heaven, please don't let it be me.
"Maxine Chase."
Mondays are definitely not my days.
A/N: I apologize to my last two reviewers. I told them this would be out on the 25th but I had meant to put of February, not January. My apologizes. Hopefully the fact that this chapter was 14 pages in Word will make up for it. Also note that this chapter was inspired by the song Two Against One by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi. Check out the song, it gives a good feel of the mood of this chapter. Reviews and questions are more than welcomed.
-blue
