Chapter 4: Countless White Handkerchiefs

Everything's normal and Riku was happy about it.

Or so she thought.

Riku Harada can be found hunched on her desk, without a single interest of what the white chalk writings on the black board stood for but rather on keeping her eyes open during class.

"SOHCAHTOA…"

Riku was a third year senior at Azumano High School. And although she looks … moronic today, she's really a great student. Yes, got it right. She's a certified grade-conscious kid so sleepless nights weren't news to her. It was a part of her everyday routine. But the fact raised was caught intriguing though. Did she really just study last night to get this tired and sleepy?

She shrugged at the thought. It has been a terrible day for her yesterday.

Her mother nearly killed her with a vacuum cleaner! She understands that her mother was only worried about her but does she really have to do that? Sometimes, Riku would think if her mother was a human.

She dug her head deeper in the hole her crossed arms made on her desk. Everything was dark… just like last, last night.

She was already 18, an age already permissible for drinking. But she didn't really want to drink. She never drank before, actually.

If only this was only a dream. If only he didn't leave her… If only…

"Harada-san? Harada-san? Are you still with us?"

The sight was blurry at first, her eyes squinting from the light that came from the large, clear window beside her but when she realized who was in front of her and more importantly, what she was doing, her heart skipped a beat.

How long has her teacher been calling out to her?! She didn't even notice her go towards her desk! Oh hell… she slept! Or did she? She doesn't even know!

She quickly got up from her chair and stood steady on her feet, her head bowed down. Trying hard not to look back at her teacher, her eyes attempted to get distracted so, swaying the brown orbs from left to right, she looked at the things around her. Bad choice.

"What are they looking at?"

Then, all of a sudden, as if her lost senses came back, she felt something warm and sticky scattered near the line of her lips and further off to her left cheek.

She drooled during her class.

"Eww."

Her hand reached for the spot where the said crime was executed, hoping not to feel it on her fingers but once her fingers made contact to her cheek, for the first time of her life, Riku wished that she's dead.

Quickly, she reached for her handkerchief inside her skirt's pocket like someone wanting to clean himself from his crime. Well, that sounded surprisingly appropriate.

Riku wanted to bang her head to her desk and jump right out of the window next to her for thinking such a guilt-exposing thought but she knew she couldn't.

"Wha?! Where the hell is my handkerchief?!"

"Here. Take it. I didn't sneeze on it."

She froze. It was that voice again.

Her eyebrows squeezed together as her eyes shut close. And that was that. Her 'everything was normal' day was now nicely destroyed by a certain violet entity that suddenly popped out of nowhere.

She bit her lip. She's gonna regret this forever. With her eyes still shut and her head bowed down, she held her hands together in front of her to reach for the handkerchief that was being offered to her.

It was soft like the last one he had offered. Clutching the white cloth in her hands tightly, she started to wipe it off her cheek.

"Harada-san, you can leave school today. I won't mark you absent."

It suddenly felt strange for a moment but she was already positive that it wasn't her drool anymore because she already wiped it off with that violet guy's handkerchief…

"This young man is your boyfriend right?"

She heard her neck snap from its humped position when she abruptly lifted it up or maybe she just imagined it. But what the hell? This isn't the right time to think about what's real or not!

She knew something definitely smelled fishy the moment he appeared in front of her.

"N-no, ma'am! He's n—"

"Now, now hun, let's go before your teacher changes her mind."

"Don't call me that you per—"

Riku felt the air move on her body. It was weird at first, regarding the closed windows near her. It wasn't the wind. But when she finally got a closer look at them, the clear windows certainly told a different story other than the suspected wind.

"Put me down! Put me down!"

But he didn't listen to every single word that she threw at him. Instead, he took her bag and started to take off and the last thing Riku could only see from her classroom was her classmates and her teacher all going "Whoaaa…" with their glittery eyes either plastered at her or at the guy who took her away before she heard the door close. But she was positive that they were looking at him. And she hated them for that.

"What the hell do you want from me?! Put me down now!" she protested, kicking her feet at the air.

She felt him smirk even though she can't see his face from her position at his back, she was sure that he smirked.

"You better stop kicking your feet at the air. I can see your blue underwear showing."

Riku's face turned red. She felt him smirk again.

"You stupid perverted psycho put me down now this instant or I'll… I'll…"

Her words were stumbling again. She can't help but feeling like finally giving up. She sure wasn't good at threatening people. So, to her surprise and also to Dark's she fell silent.

"Aww, you already done cursing me?"

"Please shut up before I—"

She wasn't sure if she was stumbling on her words again or if she was just stopped dead on her tracks. But Riku can't decide what was right between the two given choices. None of the above? God, she's really crazy. How the hell would she end-up in this five-star restaurant, Deluxe?

"This is definitely a drea—"

"Here we are hun. Famous five-star restaurant, Deluxe. Nice, isn't it?"

"What?!"

He put her down her feet at last but she didn't move. Actually, her eyes were the only ones moving.

Input data Deluxe. Registering… registering… registering complete! Processing… processing… processing complete! Successssssssssshtgkhkj?! Gisdiuwah678!!! Hoshd89!!! Warning: Error detected!!! Warning: Error detected!!! ERROR DETECTED!!!

"Riku? Are you o—"

"ERROR DETECTED!!!"

Dark was surprised. Riku was surprised. Everybody in the restaurant was surprised. Japan was surprised. The whole world was surprised.

Now she's dead.

-----

"Error detected?"

Dark was confused. AND! Amused once again. Man, she's something. Now, he's starting to wonder why she still doesn't have a boyfriend… until today, of course. Maybe because every one of them was too stupid to notice that she's a very special one. But not him. He knows that he's a real genius.

Dark smiled inwardly at the word 'genius'. But he knew that this is a difficult work for him though for he might get lost in her complex character. But one thing's for sure: he's not going to give up.

He looked straight at the figure in front of him that was bowing down and covering her face with her hands. There wasn't any change for a while but his patience gave him something. One of her eyes was slowly appearing as she opened the curtains that covered it.

A smile crawled on Dark's face when he noticed this, holding his laughter all to himself as not to erase the childish movement made in front of him. Of course, Riku, noticing his smile quickly hid her eye behind her fingers again.

Dark blinked but was stopped when he saw the girl carefully inching away from him. He reached her with a hand but she reacted too quickly for his cautious move.

She ran away again.

-----

It has been minutes after the mess she has made in that stupid five-star restaurant. But it's not to say that the place was crappy though. Every single thing in it was shining in glamour. If only she wasn't that bit of a moron-head, she could have even been eating in that shiny place… But who'll pay?

The question was held in her brain impossible to answer. Who's she to think that she'll ever get to eat in that everything-so-fancy Deluxe anyway?

Riku looked around her with a very inspecting eye. The place was small and not too shiny like that Deluxe restaurant but she was always happy when she goes here.

"Might be the pink color?"

But she never liked pink and she never will. Then what is it that's so special in this sweets shop of a loud and annoying friend of hers?

Her head was in a thinking state for a while but when a certain red-head she thought she has already forgotten suddenly flashed in it, her eyes watered again.

"Daisuke…"

"Here. Take it. I didn't sneeze on it."

"Y-you again? L-leave me al-alone"

"Error detected."

She looked up and found him smiling.

"Sorry missy but this perverted psycho is not leaving."

She was about to get up from her seat and leave him in the shop but she didn't. Instead, she took the handkerchief in his hands and started to wipe the tears that rolled on her cheeks. And when she was about to give it back to him, she found him still smiling at her.

A smile broke on her face.

"How many of these do you have anyway, you perverted psycho!"

His smile grew wider.

"Enough for you to take them in your pocket every time I offer them to you."

And that was how it all started for them. But still…

How many handkerchiefs does he really own?

Nobody knows. Except for them…

-----

Hey. It's me again. I have bad news to deliver to you guys. School's starting tomorrow and sadly, I won't be able to update for a long time… I know it's so damn crappy but that's how it is. Blame my school for torturing students! stab! stab! stab! But I swear on my pet parrot's grave (if ever I have one) that I will not abandon this fic.

Anyway, I wanna tell you that I just made up that everything-so-fancy Deluxe restaurant and that the ending lines were a little weird… especially the "How many handkerchiefs does he really own?" question. And also, if the 'SOHCAHTOA' thing is not too clear to you, it's some kind of a basic trigonometric thing I got from my tutor… It's complicated…

But before I go, I want to thank these people who gave me reviews and such:

crimsonseeker20: This is what happens next. Ehe.

cagalliyulathha: Haha. Hyper moment.

ginsensu: Thank you!

Reviews! I need them! looks at you with a knife and blood-shot eyes

Now, let's all dance! (mood-swing?)

(--)

(--)

(oo)