Another boring shift, so another chapter was created eheheheheh… Enjoy reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½.
Chapter 9 Tickets
"Ranma, Shampoo, could you please leave now, I want to rest now. Yuka and Sayuri will be here in a minute, so I'll be fine," Akane said, her head still bowed and her eyes still looking at her closed hands resting in her lap. She did not want to raise her head because Ranma will see how depressed she was and this will make Shampoo happier than she already was right then. "Please leave," she pleaded then went back to bed. She turned her back to the couple.
"A-Akane…? I-I" Ranma started; unfortunately he couldn't continue what he wanted to say as Shampoo dragged her to leave the clinic. "Wait! Get off me! Hey!" he protested but the strong grip of the Amazon left him no choice but to follow outside.
Akane silently cried in the clinic bed. Why does this have to happen? He'll make her mad, she'll cry, he'll apologize, she'll forgive him and then he'll make her mad or hurt her again. It had been like this and she felt tired of the repetitive and complicated situation they're into. She sighed then swallowed hard. Then she remembered again the incident last night, how he denied her, how he betrayed her. He tried to kiss her but why all of a sudden he disgusted her for a simple kiss. They had kissed twice; the first was an accident when he was in nekoken and she didn't even feel anything but shock because it was sudden and his feelings towards Ranma then was not that deep compared to her current love for the martial artist. The second kiss was just a damp kiss and a tape was securely plastered in his lips. There was spark and a little warmth but she still didn't want to consider it as their kiss.
'Does he hate that much?' she thought just like when they were doing the Romeo and Juliet play. She was confused by his answer that it was harder. She felt like she was in deep despair again like last night. 'He's so indecisive and why he couldn't just say no especially to Shampoo? Didn't it occur to him that I'm so jealous and insecure right now?' she silently sobbed.
"Hello, Akane!" Yuka greeted her from the door as she and Sayuri burst from it. But Akane didn't even turn to face them nor respond. She just laid there and silently let her tears wet her cheeks and the bed sheet.
"Hey! Do you really have to be that enthusiastic?" Sayuri whispered to Yuka. "She just had ended her engagement with Ranma, so at least, we need to be sympathetic, right?"
"But she'll be more depressed if we will show sadness. I think it's better to show enthusiasm. Ranma is a jerk so it's like she's free from him!" Yuka whispered back to the other girl.
"How about we just pretend that we don't know anything and let Akane have her space and let her tell for herself. That problem will weigh a lot so she would think that it would be better to share it with her friends, and those are us. What do you think?"
"That'll be a great idea, Sayuri. But Akane was not that sensitive, I mean, she rarely speaks about her relationship to Ranma. She doesn't talk a lot regarding her feelings towards that two-timer fiancé of hers. I don't even remember her admitting her feelings. Oh! This is more complicated than I though!" Yuka exasperated.
Unknown to the two girls, Akane was not asleep and she could hear them. It was barely heard but enough for her to understand what they were talking about. She was touched that her closest friends, Yuka and Sayuri, were worried about her and they thought of her welfare. She felt bad for Ranma, though it was really his fault. She wiped her tears using the mattress then slowly got up. She was still facing her back from the two.
"Oh! Akane y-you're up! Have you rested well?" Sayuri nervously asked Akane. She was afraid that the broken-hearted friend heard them.
"Class president and Sensei asked us to take care of you until you rested well or until you are okay. How do you feel?" Yuka inquired.
"I'm quite okay now. I think I have rested well," she replied looking over her shoulder. She then faced her two friends but didn't look them in the eyes. Her eyes were casted low then she slowly got off from the bed.
"Hey Akane! Why are you getting up? You need to rest more."
"But I'm okay now. I'm just hungry. I didn't take my breakfast then I haven't take my lunch. Have you two taken yours?" Akane tried to smile but it was not showing in her eyes.
"Uhm, yeah, we have. But if you like, we can accompany you in the school bench or canteen. Then we can go back to the classroom to finish the decorations, right?" Yuka said trying to lighten up the mood.
"That's great! I would love a company. Let me just fix myself and the bed," Akane replied, still trying to be cheerful. She turned her back again to fold the mattress and the bed sheet. While fixing the bed, she couldn't help but to think. Ranma would be in the classroom once they got back there. She haven't thought of what to say to him or how to act in front of him. I would be painful again. She left early to avoid him knowing that they would still meet in school. Then bad turn into good when he apologized but it turned worse when Shampoo showed up and he didn't stand for her. He was just like the stupid Ranma who couldn't decide, who were very insensitive towards her feelings. She huffed. "Girls shall we?" she said as she faced her friends.
"Let's go!" they answered in unison.
"Hey girls!" another person burst into the door which startled the three girls.
"You bastard, Daisuke! Are you trying to kill us? We almost got killed with heart attack!" Sayuri yelled at their classmate. "What's the matter with you? What's with that running and bursting thing?"
"Oh! I'm sorry! Hehehehe!" he said, laughing but was still panting. "I just carried away! The tickets! Our tickets!"
"What's with the tickets?" Yuka excitedly asked.
"The tickets from our booth!" he cheerfully said, with wide smile plastered in his face.
"Stop hanging us in the midair! What's with our booth tickets?" Sayuri impatiently asked. She already had her arms crossed over to her chest.
"Yeah, Daisuke, what's with the tickets?" Akane asked softly. She still felt that her energy haven't returned yet. She lost her interest on everything but just for the sake of it, she had to ask Daisuke and get the answer or both of her friends died excitedly.
"The Kissing Booth tickets… are sold out!" Daisuke happily announced. "Isn't great? We don't have to loiter around the school to ask every student to buy or visit. It had been sold out since last week and they just didn't announce it sooner because they decided to issue more or add more tickets. And the best part of it, those were also sold out!" he finished.
"Oh! That was great! We would also get additional grade from sensei!"
"And we are all exempted to one of her coming quizzes! Yay!"
The three stopped their own celebration when they saw Akane. She was in deep thought but wore a fake smile when she realized that the three stopped blubbering and sadly looked at her.
"Hey guys, that's great! We'll also be able to help the orphanage with it right?" Akane just plainly said.
"Ah Akane, I'm not into gossiping things but I heard about you and Ranma," he started. "It was all so sudden, it just happened a while ago but it already spread across the school, and… and… that Chinese girl had been clinging to Ranma all over the school. Ranma is my friend but I don't think that what he had done was right, you know what I mean… and I'm sorry," he finished with his head bowed.
The picture of clinging Shampoo slapped across Akane's face and it hurt her more that they walked all over the school. What did it lead her? A loser. The very popular Akane was dumped by her fiancé and that he disgusted and not even wanted her kiss. She looked at her friends and she could feel that they pitied her. "It's okay guys. We can't avoid the inevitable. If we're not meant to be together then we're not," she curtly said. Hurt was written all over her face and she hated it; she didn't want that. She tried to calm herself and show that she's okay but she couldn't as tears flowed.
"Akane…?" the girls came closer to her. "It'll be alright,"
"Yeah, I know," she breathed. "Let's go to the classroom, Everyone must be waiting for us and we have a booth to run and a fund to raise," she said with fake smile and enthusiasm.
The three just nodded then headed to their classroom with Akane.
To be continued...
Thank you for reading!
