Yo everyone!! Chapter 7 is up!! Man… I'm listening to Good Charlotte while I'm writing this so… for some reason I'm not in the right mood to right fluff… crap… (I got a Good Charlotte CD for me B'day!!)
The timeline here is currently the day before the School Fest. The Student Council are struggling to get everything done (that's just an excuse for Yuki/Machi fluff). And Machi gets to be the main character this chappie. Read and review everyone!
Seventh Chapter: Machi's secret
Machi was walking along the corridors of school again, this time carrying folders and papers of all sorts that had all the activities and stalls for the festival's information. She wasn't really paying attention but she was meant to be taking them to the student office council and then sort them out into piles of where each event was taking place.
She was walking and her thoughts started drifting. She looked at her feet and kept taking slow steps.
President… is a… really nice person… She felt her cheeks blushing so she lowered her head more and let her hair fall over her eyes. She only looked up when she heard a crowd of girls nearby. They were looking at Yuki through the window and from a distance whispering about him and giggling.
Huh? She wondered.
"I love Yuki-sempai so much!! He's so perfect!!" one of them squealed.
"And he's just like a prince!!"
Machi just kept walking. Everything was just the same as normal. Everyone else was shallow.
But then there were people who would see under his princely cover.
"The Prince is more than that." said a quiet girl with black hair. "He's also so kind and he always tries his very hardest to be a great Student Council President."
"Yeah!! He's always so very kind!! He wants to listen and hear our problems. He doesn't mind who we are but he accepts us as we are. It's so beautiful to see him smiling and treating us like his friends."
Yuki-sempai really is kind, thought Machi as she kept walking. Then her eyes widened.
Why?!? Why am I thinking like them? Why am I thinking like one of the President's fangirls? Have I… she looked at her shivering hands. Have I become… like them? Am I also… really shallow? I thought I hated perfection yet why am I… becoming vulnerable to him like the others?
She looked back hopelessly at the crowd of girls. I don't…. want to believe this!! I don't wanna be like them!! She caught a glance through the window and saw Yuki. It freaked her out even more when he looked up suddenly and caught her eye.
"Ohmigosh!! He just looked up at us!!"
"Let's wave to him!!" The girls squealed and continued fawning over their prince.
Machi just stiffened and feeling her face burn again, quickly walked away faster. Her heart was so confused. What was she meant to do?
She felt little comfort even while her hair swept across her face so that she could hide. She clutched her books tighter and broke into a run. She almost felt tears in her eyes. It was freaking her out so much.
She wanted to cry. She didn't want to believe this was happening.
She ran faster and faster. Quick… Quick!! Her mind was shouting out to her. Faster!! I have to get out of here!!
She ran so hard, while still looking at the ground that she crashed into Motoko-sempai.
"Hey!! Watch where you're going, idiot!" Motoko cried surprised.
Machi was too busy fighting with her conscience. She had already lost her balance and couldn't stop. She fell over and watched in dismay as the papers and files went flying all over the place.
Why… am I like this? And why do I always… mess things up?
"Hey!! I'm talking to you here!!" Motoko fumed. "Are you deaf?"
Machi was too tongue-tied to reply. She just sat there on her knees and stared at all the papers all over the floor.
She suddenly perked up when hoardes of students passed by, glancing at her and started whispering. It was so cruel of them. She knew they were talking about her but she couldn't do anything about it.
Then Machi felt someone tug on her hair. Motoko had a lock of her hair in her hands. "Don't just run and crash into someone without apologizing!" she said menacingly.
Machi bowed her head in an apology (which was a bad idea since Motoko was still holing onto her hair). "…I'm sorry," she whispered.
Motoko dropped the hair and straightened up. She turned around, flipping her hair as she went and walked on, saying something inaudible.
Machi gazed at the papers and quickly got to work. She tried to ignore everyone's dissatisfied glances. She picked everything up but lots of them were already ruined and out of order, or ripped and smudged.
When she finally got to the council room, Nao started shouting at her because she had wrecked most of the documents. She ignored him and sat down in her seat. She stared blankly at the work on her desk. Machi looked up when Yuki entered the room. She quickly looked back down at her desk feeling her face burn.
She didn't see Kakeru looking at her curiously. The wheels in the vice-president's head were already churning.
Later on, Machi and Yuki were the only two left in the room because Nao went off to re-photocopy and reprint all the wrecked stuff and Kimi and Kakeru went to visit all the clubs and make sure their stalls and stuff were ready for the next day.
Yuki was watching Machi work quietly. He wondered what was going on with himself. When he was with her it was as though the uncontrollable Yuki inside him was calmed. But what was he meant to do now? He had already made a completely ridiculous bet with Kyo and now what was he meant to do, now that he was in love with her?
Machi was even quieter than usual that day and Yuki could tell these things. He wanted to ask. He wanted to know her problems. He wanted to help her and listen to what she had to say.
Yuki stepped up to her and leant over so that they were eye-level. "What's wrong, Machi?"
Machi felt her blood run cold. She didn't want to look at him, for fear that he'd be able to read her mind and tell what she now felt towards him.
"Nothing's wrong." she said quietly.
Yuki frowned. "That's not true. I know you well enough to tell,"
Despite how much she tried to fight it, she felt her face break out in flaming red blotches.
"You said," Yuki said patiently, "that one day you'd tell me, Machi."
Hearing his gentle voice, Machi wanted to hate him even more. I wanna hate him!! I wanna hate him!! He's too perfect!! She looked helplessly at his eyes for one second; I don't… wanna like you…
Yuki watched Machi clench and unclench her fists.
"I guess…" she started. "It's maybe because… I don't know myself."
Yuki didn't have a clue what she was talking about.
Machi stared down at her shivering hands. She let her brown hair fall beside her face so that she could avoid looking at him.
"…Maybe it's because… when I was little I had to do everything my mum says… well, basically that's what every little kid does but…my mum had really high expectations. So everything I had to do was perfect… she pushed me hard… everything I had to do had to be better than Kakeru. So even though I was just really little I never got a chance to go outside of play or have fun or anything."
Yuki said nothing. He was caught up in Machi's story.
"I never knew what I liked. I didn't know what my preferences were. People never asked me what I favoured or anything. So I didn't know… I never got to choose, I just went along with what she said. I didn't mind if t she kept forcing me to be perfect. It was hard but I kept doing what she wanted. I just wanted to be able to follow her expectations. I struggled to do what she wanted. But she wanted me to be perfect...
"I guess I don't really remember that much now but… I know that I don't remember knowing any things I liked doing. I just tried to be what she wanted. I was scared all of the time...I was so scared that I wouldn't be good enough… I was scared every time I walked into my house that she would be angry. I was afraid she would yell at me. I was so afraid every time I got schoolwork back or tests that they weren't good enough. So I always ended up spending my time studying.
"If I wasn't studying… sometimes I'd play with Kakeru. But Kakeru actually had a personality. He knew what he liked and the things he enjoyed doing. His mum forced him to be the best too so we were always pushed to be perfect.
My mum kept telling me over and over that I had to beat him. Everything I did had to be better than his. So I tried. But I just wanted to be his friend because he was my half-brother after all. I remember… that he didn't like his life. He used to tell me about it all the time. He said that he wanted to live his own life. He said he didn't want to do what others wanted. He said he wanted to be himself and that he wanted to do what he wanted himself.
I didn't think he was serious. Because… to me, I hadn't any other life aside from the one I was living. So I didn't know what he would do if he rebelled.
"…but he decided to wreck everything around him. He destroyed all the furniture. He failed all his tests. He yelled at everyone. He was so angry and he carried such a burden that all he could do was wreck everything. So his mum dropped out of the race.
"They decided that we didn't need to fight over the inheritance anymore. So my mum didn't have to make me perfect anymore. She stopped forcing me to be perfect. But it was… too late… I guess by that time I already wasn't me anymore. I already was nobody, because my mum had wanted me to be that daughter she had always wanted. I didn't have to do what she wanted anymore, but now that I was free, I didn't know what I could do, or what I wanted to do."
Machi suddenly realized that Yuki was still in front of her and staring at her with a sympathetic look on his face. Machi immediately froze.
I forgot just who I was talking to… why did I say all that anyway? Why did I tell him that? And why would I even expect him to understand? Machi scowled at herself.
"…Hey," Yuki said.
Machi said nothing, pointedly ignoring him.
"Hey," he said again, "Machi… you haven't finished telling me your story."
"It's not a story!" she exclaimed angrily. "It's just…" she trailed off.
"I still wasn't happy. So I started feeling angry too. I was angry that my mum had stolen my identity since I was born. I didn't like it that I was left with nothing. I also… felt betrayed that Kakeru had moved out now and left me by myself faced with my crazy family. So I started destroying things too. It was the only thing that made me feel better even just for a second. I don't know why… I don't… know!" she sounded frustrated. She glared at Yuki, as though he had made her spill her story and now she was feeling guilty.
"I don't know…" she said, still frustrated. "-what I like, okay? That's why every time you ask me, I don't know…"
Machi felt suddenly guilty. It was as though she had just exposed she had done something wrong. She didn't like the idea of telling someone else her story. She didn't ever want to burden someone else with her worries.
"Why did you have to make me tell you?" she exclaimed.
"You told me yourself!" Yuki defended himself.
Machi's face was blushing bright red. She stared angrily at the desk with her hands tightened really hard in fists.
Yuki was also defiant. He was fighting with his other self again. And he was driving himself crazy. He also felt his face burn. Why is this happening?!?! NOT NOW?!?
The poor dense people sat/stood silently, staring away from each other, faces burning.
But poor Yuki's other self that managed to be princely and obnoxious at the same time got the better of him. So while Yuki watched and protested, his other self that emerged from his love for Machi, took control.
While Yuki watched in horror, he leant closer to Machi.
Kakeru was walking back to the student council and behind him was Kimi. Also a couple of metres behind Kimi was Nao, carrying a stack of papers.
Kimi was saying, "-and they're going to serve yakisoba and because we're in the council, we get a discount!!"
"Yeah, yeah," Kakeru said, bored. He pushed open the door, "Hey, Yun-yun-"
Machi stared and her cheeks kept burning as Yuki (who was still leaning over towards her) moved his face closer to her. It scared her even more that Yuki had a look in his eyes that could only be described as devilish.
"You know, Machi, when you argue like that, you're actually… really cute!"
Machi felt like her head was gonna fall off. What kinda dream was this?!?
Yuki put out his hand and pressed his thumb under her mouth. All in one smooth movement, he moved his head closer and their lips met.
He kissed her passionately.
Yun-yun's alter ego is gonna get him in a lot of trouble!! Uh oh!! Still, these are the disastrous adventures of the Student Council!! I quite liked the end of that chapter… eh heh heh… Read and review!!