Chapter four:
Trouble is a Friend- Kariya Masaki
"KARIYA!" you shout at the top of your lungs.
You've had enough. You've lost track of how many times he's filled your gym locker with rubber insects. And sadly no, it wasn't just your gym locker. There was also your bag, your desk, your main locker, your shoes and hell you even found some in your spare underwear.
Even though he's pulled this prank countless times, it still scared the crap out of you. It was like no matter where you went, he would always find your belongings and taint them with his evilness. It annoyed the hell out of you, but what annoyed you even more was that you actually had feelings for the little devil. Yes, you, [l/n] [f/n] had a crush on that demented tealnette.
You loved and hated the prankster. Yes, your life was complicated. You always swore that you would never let him get away with his pranks, you always swore that you would never let him win but boy, were you a sucker for his charm.
You storm into the main club room, hoping to find him. And sure enough, he was 'hiding' in the shadows of the corner of the room. You almost burst into laughter. Was he even trying to hide from you?
You walk up to the little demon. He just continued standing there, as if he were waiting for you. He isn't going to run? Fine, then. It'll only made your job easier. You stop in front of him, you had yours arms crossed over your chest.
"Yes, [f/n]-chan?" he asks innocently.
He had an annoying habit of calling you by your first name. It annoyed you, but you didn't hate it either. It made you feel special in some sick and twisted way.
"I have had it with your stupid fake insects! Take your rubber bugs elsewhere because it's driving me insane." you tell him.
"Okay."
"And don't give me that- wait... what? Okay? So... you'll stop, then?"
"If you want me to."
You stand there, dumbfounded. Did he just agree to leave you alone? Was this some sort of dream? You pinch yourself. Nope, definitely not a dream. He was finally going to leave you alone, praise the Lord!
You smile at him, thank him and walk away happily. Your day couldn't get any better. You decided to tell your friends (the other managers) the good news.
"Hey guys, guess what-" As you were opening the door to the girl's locker room, a large bucket fell on you. But that wasn't the worst part... the worst part was what was in the bucket.
You look around, LIVE cockroaches and spiders were dropping onto the floor from your hair and clothes. The horrendous insects began crawling all over you. You began to shake. Is this happening? This is a dream, right? This is just a bad dream! You thought as you stood there, frozen.
You then felt a giant spider crawling on your face. Nope, not a dream. This is real. The insects are real and man were they real scary. A living nightmare for you. You could feel tears stinging the corners of your eyes, you wanted to run but you were scared stiff.
"Did you call, [f/n]-san? Huh? [f/n]-san, what happened?!" shrieks Aoi as she and the other managers began to brush the bugs off of you.
Akane and Aoi helped you to a seat while Midori violently smashes the insects with her feet. The insects were now off of you, but you were still scared.
"[f/n]-san, what happened?" asks Aoi.
Instead of answering, you screamed. You screamed so loud that the entire building shook. You were flailing and screaming so much that Akane started to panic as well. Aoi and Midori had to hold you down or you would have hurt yourself. You could only think of one person who would do this... why did you ever believe that horrible monster?
-At the soccer field-
"Tenma! Pass it to-"
"AHHHHHHHH!"
The entire team jumped from the sudden scream. Your scream had scared them. Hell, even coach Endou dropped his coffee and ran for it.
"W-w-what was that?" stutters Tenma.
"Is someone getting... m-murdered?" asks Shinsuke as the two first years tightly hold onto one another.
"AHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD, GET IT OFF ME!"
More screaming was heard. Everyone was now curious.
"Seriously, what is that? It's not stopping." complains Tsurugi.
"You don't suppose someone was badly hurt, do you?" wonders Shindou.
Kirino looks around and he saw something that might answer everyone's questions. On the ground was a certain tealnette who's laughs were masked by your ungodly screams. Kirino shakes his head.
"Kariya..." he mutters silently.
-At your house-
You were sitting on your front porch, plotting your revenge. You finished your homework early just so you could plot your vengeance. Screw it if you liked him, you were going to give him a taste of his own medicine.
You couldn't think of a decent way to get back at him. Your ideas were always too little or too much. You thought about hitting him in the face, but then you might get detention. You thought about burning him alive, but that was just plain mean. You weren't Midori for goodness sake.
You sigh in defeat, were you never going to get even? Was Kariya always going to win?
"Someone's up late."
You look up to see your good friend/neighbor, Kirino Ranmaru. You smile at him and offer him a seat next to you.
"So, what's wrong?" he asks.
"You already know..." you tell him.
It was true. He did know. Only one person could get you this way.
"So that really was your scream awhile ago..."
"Oh my God, you heard that?"
He nods his head with an apologetic smile. You bury your face in your hands in embarrassment. Could your day get any worse?
You and Kirino were just sitting there in silence. You enjoyed his company, out of all of the boys, he understood you most. You've been neighbors and friends for a few years now so hanging out like this wasn't weird for either of you.
"You do know why Kariya does these things to you, right?" asks Kirino.
"Do I look like I know? I've been sitting out here for hours plotting my revenge... I can't think of anything that would scare him... heck, even surprising him would be enough. It's useless! There's no proper way to give him a taste of his own medicine!" you sigh in defeat.
"I can think of a way..." smiles Kirino.
You look at him with an eyebrow raised. You were in desperate need of help, you'd do anything to get back at that annoying piece of ratshit! So without further hesitation, you ask, "How?"
"Well, you can surprise him by doing the unexpected. He's probably expecting a kick in the face... so give him the opposite."
"Which is?"
"A kiss."
Your jaw drops and your eyes widen. Is Kirino tripping balls? What the hell is he thinking? Sure, you've fantasied about it once or twice, having a crush on him and all, but the thought of it actually happening was a bit overwhelming. I mean, you were still mad at him!
"... what...?" you ask Kirino.
"Come on, you like him, right? So this is perfect! You get to confess to him and surprise the life out of him in one shot! It's killing two birds with one stone!"
"Who says anything about confessing?"
"You mean to tell me that you had no plans of telling him how you feel?"
You shake your head. You had zero plans of confessing, it just wasn't your style. You were always the kind of girl who waited for the guy to confess, and if he never did, then it just wasn't meant to be. And besides, Kariya was always playing repulsive tricks on you, so he clearly has something against you. Telling him how you felt would just be a waste of your energy.
"[f/n], you've gotta tell him how you feel..."
"No, I don't. He's just going to laugh in my face. Then not only will I have a failed attempt at revenge, I'll have a broken heart."
"I highly doubt that..." says Kirino.
"Oh yeah? Why?"
"Haven't you ever wondered why he's such a dick to you?"
"Why? It's because he hates me, right?"
"Nope."
"Then what?!" you were getting impatient. If Kirino wasn't going to stop beating around the bush you were going to smack him senseless.
"Because..." Kirino takes a deep breath before continuing, "Kariya likes you."
-The next day in school-
"Go! Go! You can do it- wait, what was that?! You call that a shot?! Get your head in the game, Tenma!" shouts Midori from her seat by the side lines.
"Midori-san, calm down... it's just practice..." says Aoi.
"Shin-sama looks so perfect." says Akane as she takes over a hundred pictures of Shindou.
You were busy watching the guys practice out in the open field, they had a big game coming up. The other managers were busy watching the progress of the game. You, however, had your eyes locked on a certain troublesome devil. You couldn't stop thinking of him ever since Kirino opened his stupid mouth.
"What'cha looking at?" asks Midori as she places her head next to yours. She scans the field, hoping to find what you were looking at.
"Nothing." you tell her nonchalantly as you push her away.
"Oh really?" she asks teasingly. "You sure you weren't looking at Kariya?"
Your face heats up. How did she know?! Wait... did she know or was she just teasing you? She used to tease you with Kirino when she found out you were neighbors, but she stopped once you made it clear that Kirino was like family to you.
"W-what are you talking about? What are you trying to imply?" you ask her defensively. A little too defensively, if I may add.
She smiles teasingly and says, "Nothing." before walking away.
You roll your eyes. There's no way she could have known who you liked, right? She was just messing with you. You sigh as you begin to think about your conversation with Kirino last night. You weren't- still aren't- convinced that your feelings towards Kariya were mutual. But then again, you know Kirino and that was something he would never lie about.
"Excuse me." you say as you stand up and go back to the club room.
You needed to clear your mind, so you decided to go grab a snack from your bag. You weren't so sure how a candy bar was going to help, but hey, food fixes everything, right? Or so says your mother...
You open your locker door and you thanked God that there weren't any insects this time. Be they alive or be they dead, you'd lose it all and break Kariya's head. You were just about to grab the candy bar when your locker door closes shut. On its own.
"What the hell...?" you ask, surprised.
"What are you doing here, [f/n]-chan?"
You cock your head to the side only to find Kariya leaning against the neighboring locker. You roll your eyes and sigh, and just when you thought you were going to block him from your mind.
"Question is... what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on the field practicing?" you ask curtly.
"I was... then I needed to go to the bathroom. On my way back, I saw you enter here and decided to stalk you." he says oh-so-casually. "You look a little flustered... mind telling me what's on your mind?" he asks with a devious smirk.
You return the smirk. Two could play at this game. It was now time to put your plan into action. You silently said a prayer before continuing, your plan wasn't exactly full proof. I mean, you just thought of it right then and there, chances are it would end up in flames. But you needed to test your theory...
"Oh, it's nothing... it's just something that Ranmaru told me... no biggie." you say.
Kariya's smirk fades. An irritated expression then takes it place. You smile, was he jealous? If so, how cute and perfect for you. You didn't know what pissed him off more, the fact that you and Kirino were both on a first name basis or that you and Kirino have been talking.
"Yeah? What did he say?" asks Kariya.
"Can't tell you. It's only between the both of us."
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind."
You sigh, this was going just as planned for you. Just a little more and your plan would succeed.
"Fine then, if you insist. Ranmaru was just wondering if I was busy this weekend. I said I wasn't and guess what? He asked me out! Isn't that sweet of him?" you say as you act like a love-sick teenage girl.
Kariya froze. His facial expression was priceless. So Kirino was right, he did like you. It made you happy... but not extremely happy. Oh no, you still craved for your revenge. Teasing and torturing him like this would be fun, so there is no way you're stopping here.
"You and Kirino-sanpai..."
"Yup! Don't you think it's great? And who knows? Maybe we'll get married and have kids in the future!" you say.
Kariya looked like he was going to die. He was trying hard not to show it, but it really wasn't working. He still looked jealous and aggravated.
"Ne, Kariya, tell me... do you think Ranmaru and I make a good couple?" you ask.
Kariya was reluctant to answer. If he lied, it would eat him up inside. If he told you the truth, things would get complicated.
"Kariya? I'm waiting..."
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"No. I don't think you and Kirino-senpai make a good couple."
You smile and approach him. This took him by surprise. And ever so slowly, you lean in and whisper to his lips, "Good."
You kissed him right after that. It wasn't long, but it was sweet even though it only lasted a few seconds. You pull away only to see Kariya's red face. His eyes were practically falling from their sockets. You smile.
"Well, well. If I didn't know any better... I'd say that the Kariya Masaki is speechless for once. Did I surprise you, Kariya-kun?" you ask, making sure to put an emphasis at the last word.
Kariya just stood there. He was frozen stiff. His eyes huge, his face red and his mouth was nearly touching the floor. You finally surprised and the unsurprisable.
"Awww... did you not like my surprise? Oh well, I guess I'll see you around." you say as you take your candy bar and go.
You were almost out the door when you heard, "Wait! I liked the surprise! Am I getting anymore?"
You smile in victory, and with the huge amount of confidence in you, you reply, "It depends. Are you going to be good to me from now on?"
A.N.: So that was Kariya! Sorry if it sucked compared to the first three, I was having difficulty trying to keep Kariya in character. I've started to work on Ibuki so chances are he'll be next. Hope you enjoyed this!