This is Chapter Seven, and it's a little disconnected at parts, because I wrote it in parts. So sue me.

Ja, read on!

Chapter 7

"An excursion to the mall?"

"Well, it's not like you have anything better to do, right?"

She made a face at her mother. "With who?"

"That nice boy, Atobe-san's son…" Her mother did not even have time to finish the sentence before Maika interrupted her.

"I have a – a project to work on! Yes, a project!" She laughed nervously. "I'm going now! Itte kimasu!"

"But you haven't finished your – " It was too late. Maika was already out of the door.

Her mother sat down, shaking her head. "She didn't even finish her breakfast…"

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Mom's seriously crazy…

Maika made sure she was a safe distance away from her house before she stopped running. Panting heavily, she made her way to a nearby bench to rest.

She looked at the houses and the park she was currently at for a long minute before realization dawned on her.

"Whoops… I think I'm lost…"

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But she was not one to give up, and she started to trek back the way she came. She was doing just fine until she came to an intersection.

"I'm fairly sure I came this way…" She turned left and continued on the road.

It was not until she came to a crossroad she had never seen before in her entire life before that she began to get really worried.

"Uh… should I turn left or right, or should I just go back?"

She opted to go back. Retracing her steps took a little more effort and concentration, and when the first raindrops started to fall, whatever shreds of patience she had left rapidly evaporated.

"I give up!!!"

She felt a lot better after shouting that, but soon sobered up. There was still the tiny question of how she was going to get home, and the more immediate worry of getting utterly drenched.

She decided to address the more pressing matter of the rain first, and hastily made her way to a nearby phone booth.

Ha! I can call home from here! Why didn't I think of that before?

She smacked herself on the forehead before rummaging about in her pockets to find some coins. Finally a coin turned up, and she inserted it into the slot, waiting for someone to pick up the other end of the line.

She listened impatiently to the dial tone, drumming her fingers on the phone in time to the rhythm of the falling rain. Just hurry up and pick it up, will you?

"The number you have called is not available. Please try – "

She put down the phone, cursing inwardly. Not only had she failed to get her parents on the line, the stupid machine even had the audacity to eat up her money! Sheesh!

She kicked the phone for good measure, managing to hurt her leg in the process. She stared forlornly at the raindrops pitter-pattering on the wall of her tiny shelter. Speaking of tiny, it was starting to get a little cramped inside here.

After waiting for approximately three and a half minutes, she finally decided that she'd rather brave the rain than spend the day in that pathetic excuse of a phone booth. She walked out, increasing her pace as the raindrops started to pelt her hard.

She made her way to the nearest house, praying desperately that the occupant would be a kind, friendly sort of person. Taking a deep breath, she pressed the doorbell and resigned herself to her fate.

Que sera sera…

Her philosophical train of thought was interrupted by the opening of the door right in her face. She jumped back a little, startled.

"Uh… I'm really sorry to bother you, but do you know where – "

She was rudely stopped by the sound of the door slamming in her face.

"You didn't have to slam it that hard…" She said aloud to the wooden door, before making a face at it. "So much for asking for directions…"

Maika turned to walk away, wondering where she could find someone decent enough to point her the correct way home.

She shivered slightly. The cold was beginning to seep through to her skin, and the unpleasant sensation of wet clothes against almost equally wet skin was disturbing, to say the least. Her mum would have a fit if she saw her now…

Her legs were starting to ache. She didn't doubt that she'd get home eventually, but she'd much rather not stand about in the rain. It was freezing.

She walked on, determined to try her luck one more time before she started trying to hail down passing cars instead. Hopefully the next occupant would be somewhat more patient.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but could you please tell me how to get to the public library?" Her house was somewhere near there, and it was a lot less troublesome than having to repeat her whole address.

"Ah." The stranger looked down at her, evidently wondering what she was doing in the rain. "Just keep going straight and turn left at the second junction. You'll be able to see the library from there."

"Thank you!"

She walked off jauntily, now that she knew where to go. Sure enough, after following the man's instructions to the dot, she reached the public library. She knew her way from there.

When she reached home, it was rather quiet, although that was pretty normal. She listened at the door for a moment, trying to make sure that no one would see her bedraggled entrance into the house.

She opened the door as quietly as possible, wincing at the impossibly loud creak it made. Tiptoeing in, she walked lightly to her room. Just a little more… She had almost made it past the hallway when a sudden voice stopped her.

"Maika?!"

Aah… and I was so close! She turned slowly. "Yes?"

"What – what have you been doing?"

"I went for a walk and got caught in the rain." Uh-huh. As simple as that.

"But why didn't you come home when it started raining?"

"Ehehe…" She smiled sheepishly. "I got… lost…"

"Kami-sama… this girl…" Her mother herded her off. "To the showers! Now!"

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"Wake up, Maika! You're going to be late for school!"

She stirred sleepily. "Go away…"

Her mother took a single look at her flushed face and let out a startled cry. "You're sick!"

"Mmf…" She buried her head in the nice, soft pillow. She was so sleepy. Why couldn't they just let her go to sleep?

"What should I do? Should I call the doctor?" Her mother was currently fussing about like a mother hen, greatly alarmed by her daughter's temperature.

"…mom?" Maika opened her eyes, blinking at the bright sunlight that pervaded the room. "Just go to work. I'll be fine."

"But what if you get a fit or an emergency happens?" Her mother was all-out panicking by now.

"I'll go to sleep." Came the dry answer. "Stop worrying, mom. You're going to be late for work."

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Meanwhile, Tezuka sat by an empty seat at school, and he couldn't help wondering what had happened to Maika. She had looked perfectly well yesterday, so she couldn't be sick…

"Tezuka-kun?"

He looked up at the teacher.

"Can you please make sure that Tawako-san gets her homework and passes it up when she comes back to school?"

Why is it always me?

"Hai, sensei."

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The sound of the doorbell ringing cut through the air, disturbing the peaceful silence in the house.

"Eesh…" Maika finally bestirred herself to get off the bed. She shouldn't have been sleeping at such a late hour, but her body seemed to get tired very easily today…

She opened the door and quite unceremoniously asked, "What do you – Tezuka?! What are you doing here?"

"Maika." His eyes had widened slightly at her crimson cheeks, but his expressionless face was back in the blink of an eye.

"Do come in!" She invited.

Tezuka did not feel very comfortable going into another individual's house, and a girl's one at that. But he was here with a responsibility. And Tezuka Kunimitsu never shirked his duty.

He stepped in without a single sign that it was possibly one of the most historic events in his entire life. He could just imagine what his grandfather would say. Stepping into a girl's house! Preposterous!

Duty calls. He thought dryly, and let himself be led to the sofa. "Why didn't you come to school?"

She pointed vaguely to herself. "Sick."

"From…?"

"Got caught in the rain yesterday. I got lost two streets away from here." She grinned sheepishly.

"Hn." How someone could manage to lose themselves in the vicinity of two kilometres of their own house was beyond him.

Well, anyway. Back to business.

"Homework." He gave her the pile of books.

She looked at it, dismay colouring her face. "So much?"

He shrugged. "I've finished it." His tone suggested that she, too, should be as diligent as him and therefore be able to finish it.

"You're inhuman." She retorted. "English is page eight to…?"

"Ten." He said, choosing to ignore her remark on his apparent inhumanity.

"Okay… Maths?" She scribbled it down on a piece of paper, letting out a huge yawn. "I'm sorry… I'm rather sleepy…"

"Page twelve, questions one to twenty." He certainly hoped she didn't fall asleep on him. That would be troublesome.

"Yeah… Science?"

Her eyelids were getting heavier. He could positively see it.

"Pages six to ten." He spoke rapidly. "And History, chapter two, all the objective questions."

"Nothing else?" She asked.

He gave a small shake of his head. As he rose to go, he asked, "Will you be coming tomorrow?"

Now why did I ask that?

"Probably, yes." She yawned. "Unless I'm admitted to the hospital."

He frowned at her cheeky wink. "Don't be silly."

As he stepped out of the house, he looked at her. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Since when did I ever do anything stupid?" She snorted. "Have a nice day."

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Okay, I admit it. I crapped my way through this chapter. TT The lack of ideas simply drove me nuts, so this was the result.

Review, ne?