Disclaimer: The author of this story doesn't own Daa Daa Daa or any of its characters!
Author's Notes: I'm back guys! This chapter is going to be a long one, probably the longest up until now. I'm introducing a new character, one I really really like! Though he's not much explored in the manga and is used mostly as a comedy source... Anyway, don't expect him to play as a love rival or anything, because I'm not planning to do that. The most that can and probably will (haha) happen is for Kanata to view him as such. Besides that, what is between him and Miyu really is just friendship. I'm basing off their relationship in my real life, using the friendship I cherish with my best guy friend. (: It's one of the best kinds there are out there... Guys are so less complicated than girls..!
I hope you enjoy this! I've put Kanata to rest for a while; he was appearing too much on the last chapters… It was getting tiring for him, he said. Haha. Those who like him, don't worry, he's still mentioned!
Also, (I'm sorry, even my notes are long this time. T_T) don't forget to leave your reviews! Let me know what you guys think about the story so far! They're always what make me want to write more and more… and what made me want to update so soon this time! I would like to also thank everyone who favorited Two of a Kind, and, also, who follows the story… Thank you very much!
Now, enough of this. Let's get to the story!
Two of a Kind
Tenth Chapter
"(…) And then, they went together to the kitchen to eat the delicious breakfast that she had prepared… Though it was already cold when they ate it. Regardless, my friend also noted they had a really good time! He even praised her food and all…" Miyu said happily as she recalled the scene, her eyes sparkling a little.
"So, that's about it." The girl finished, smiling gently. "What do you think?" she concluded.
It was already August and the day had begun quite sunny. Miyu had woken up early as usual to do the house chores she was responsible for. The girl was the type to always do the first things first, taking pride in considering herself a reliable person. She could be quite clumsy, she had to admit, but she always tried her best, and that was her main trait and also the reason why people trusted her so much.
Kanata and Miyu had agreed to a series of cohabitating rules that had been mainly created by the later. She'd designed a white board she named "Daily House Chores" that contained what task each one of them had to do every day to keep everything in order. It included mostly things such as who was to be responsible for dinner, washing the dishes or sweeping the temple. There were also rules regarding privacy, of course, and those were the ones they argued most about. In the end, Kanata had his way, his demands being about making her promise to tell him when and where she was going before leaving the temple every time, also establishing a curfew (meaning she always had to be back before dark, and if she couldn't make it, she would have to call him to go fetch her). Other than that, his only other rule had been one she had already planned herself: the fact they were living together had to be kept a secret. The engagement didn't even need to be mentioned, being obvious that it was part of the package.
So now, there was Miyu inside a cozy café with her newest friend while it rained heavily outside. Their initial plan had been to meet in the little park around the Saionji Temple's neighborhood, which also was the place where they first met a few weeks ago while Miyu was still performing her "Avoiding-Kanata-Plan". But the sudden summer shower ruined everything and forced them to retreat to inside the closest place.
Miyu found the fact that up until the moment she'd moved into the temple she had only been able to befriend boys funny, because, before, her acquaintances of the opposed sex pretty much resumed to one, her father, since she'd come from an all-girls school. Apparently, the old lucky she had as a child was back. Not that she was complaining.
Her friend's name was Hikarigaoka Nozomu-kun, he was a tall and really handsome blond-haired guy, probably the same age as her or a little bit older. He'd helped her when she'd lost track of time and ended up getting lost trying to get back home before dark once, and had offered to be her guide. He walked her home that day and, since then, they met occasionally like this, mainly to talk and eat something. Sometimes Nozomu would offer to go sightseeing in the touristic points of the town too.
Today, he noticed a certain glow around Miyu that wasn't there the other times they'd met. She was talking too excitedly about the apparent love story of a supposed "friend" of hers and, in addition, she was appearing to be too interested in his opinion about what and how the guy of her story thinks.
Nozomu wasn't stupid. It was too obvious that there was no such "friend", Miyu was talking about her own story and wanted to know what he thought about the guy's attitude towards her. He just didn't understand why she had decided to lie about it to him.
"Hm… Let me see… from what you've told me," he started, "this guy seems to be the sadistic type. This friend of yours should probably make a run for it while she still can." He told her, half serious, half laughing.
"Be serious, Nozomu-kun!"
"What? You asked for my honest opinion…" the guy answered, faking an offended posture.
"Really… If you're not gonna answer me seriously, forget I asked anything then..." Miyu sighed, looking disheartened.
Nozomu chuckled, then reached out and petted her on the head while saying "Haha, ok, I'm sorry… But that wasn't entirely a joke... I really do think this guy's a sadi-"
Someone popped out of nowhere and interrupted him.
"Hey Hikarigaoka-! What's up?"
Miyu didn't need to turn to know who was speaking so cheerfully. It was the same boy who'd come to the temple the other day and had spoken with Kanata. If she wasn't mistaken, his name was Santa-kun.
"Hey, Kurosu." Nozomu nodded as to greet him.
"Haven't seen you since summer vacation started, man. So, how's your soccer training, Hikarigaoka? That last game was great"
"Ah, it's all right. I play every sunny day... When the day's like today, though, there's no way…" Nozomu said while pointing to the window beside them and took notice of how Miyu seemed to be as stiff as a rock. He thought about how odd that was.
Santa followed his stare and finally stopped to pay attention to Nozomu's companion. She was a beautiful green eyed blond. Whoah. He couldn't expect any less coming from Hikarigaoka… That lucky bastard.
"Wow, who's this, Hikarigaoka? Your new girlfriend?" Santa asked, enchanted by the girl's beauty.
"Ah, right. I didn't introduce you guys to each other yet, did I? This is Kozuki Miyu." Nozomu said, while gestured towards her, and continued "Miyu-chan, this is Kurosu Santa, he's my soccer club pal. We're at the same school year, though he's in a different class."
Miyu finally turned to properly face Santa-kun while Nozomu did the introductions. She was really nervous, being all paranoid about the chances of meeting Kanata's friend so soon like that, and, what's more, to actually find that he was also Nozomu's friend. What kind of small town was this?
Gladly, Miyu was sure Santa-kun didn't even imagine she had eavesdropped on his conversation with Kanata the other day. He was a really funny and gentle guy, and Nozomu ended up inviting him to sit with them.
"Eh, you sure about this? Won't I be getting in the way of your date?" Santa said while he immediately took the opportunity to sit next to Miyu anyway, before Hikarigaoka had the chance to answer him.
"Haha, given your reaction, I guess that was a rhetorical question, huh." Both Nozomu and Miyu chuckled, while Santa blushed slightly.
"Well, it's not every day that I'm given the chance to sit next to such a beautiful girl." Santa managed to say, his honesty clear in his tone. Miyu was flattered and thanked him sincerely.
"Hey, that's enough, you two. I'm still here, have you guys forgotten?" Nozomu joked, then asked "Did you come here alone, Kurosu?"
"Yeah, I was on my way to the Saionji Temple when it started to rain, so I decided to take shelter inside and saw you."
Miyu flinched at the mention of the Saionji Temple, while Nozomu's eyes popped open really wide, both eyebrows raised. He looked at her immediately while Santa continued speaking.
"Eh, why the Saionji Temple, Kurosu..?" he asked carefully, still evaluating Miyu's reactions. She was trying hard to wear a poker face, but Nozomu could see right through her. In reality, she had run cold, like someone who was waiting for her own execution.
"Well, do you know who is Kanata from my class?" Santa answered with a question. Nozomu didn't fail to notice that Miyu had stopped breathing when Kurosu mentioned the name "Kanata".
"You mean the student council president?" he tried.
"Yeah, him. He's my best friend… and his surname is Saionji. He's been living alone in that temple since his father went on a trip at the start of summer vacation."
Miyu couldn't afford to look Nozomu in his eyes, meaning she didn't know and, in fact, she didn't even really want to know what kind of face he was making while he was processing that piece of information. She only looked up at him after he questioned Santa-kun if he was really sure about the fact that Kanata was living "alone".
That was it. The secret was already out and it hadn't even been a week since she and Kanata had agreed to the rules. The worst was that it was all her fault. She had spoken carelessly about her life to Nozomu-kun using an imaginary friend to play her part in the story without stopping to consider the possibility that maybe he could somehow be an acquaintance of Kanata. Shoot, how stupid she'd been! She'd take back what she'd said before about getting her childhood's lucky back. She wasn't lucky at all.
Fortunately, and Miyu couldn't be more grateful for it, Nozomu let the topic drop after getting the confirmation from Santa and changed the direction of the conversation, while the later kept being oblivious to it all. Miyu knew, though, after looking into Nozomu's eyes, that he'd just given her a little temporary slack. His gaze told her that he would definitely return to the topic later, the moment they were left alone again.
He was totally surprised and utterly shocked. Then again, he'd known from the start she had been talking about herself before, when she was telling him about some guy that "kept on irritating her friend", but he would have never guessed she was talking about one of the most popular guys in his entire school, much less that she was living together with him by herself. What the hell…
Nozomu didn't really know much about Saionji Kanata, apart from what everyone else from school knew about him. Apparently, he was a really smart guy, being the school's number one student and even had been holding the post of president of the Student Council since his freshman year. Girls always went head over heels for him wherever he went, of course, as they also normally did towards Nozomu. He was a pretty popular guy himself and he wasn't ashamed to admit so. He even liked the fact, it did wonders to his ego.
It seemed, though, that it wasn't the case for the other guy. Nozomu had heard rumors about how he'd never paid any attention to the girls, always acting as if he was feeling bored, ignoring them every time. That wasn't anywhere near the image Miyu had given of Saionji Kanata while she talked about him in her stories.
From what she'd said, he wasn't indifferent when it came to her. At all. More precisely, he acted like a little kid who bullied the girl he liked to get her attention.
'Heh… Who knew that that bored-faced guy would be like this when it actually mattered to him?' he thought, the idea sounding even more absurd with each minute. He decided then he wanted to verify the case for himself.
After a long time filled with joyful laughter and interesting conversations, the rain stopped, revealing an already dark sky. Miyu knew she was way past the curfew established, but there was nothing she could do. If she returned home before Santa got the chance to go to the temple, Nozomu wouldn't be the only one to know their secret. That also applied if she called Kanata to come pick her up. Summing up, she was pretty much already in trouble either way.
As if the Evil Lord himself had just finished reading her last thoughts, her cellphone started ringing, making her jump off the chair a little. The name "Pumpkin Jerk" immediately appeared in her mobile screen, while she mentally thanked all the Gods for the time she had decided to go for a nickname instead of his real name when she'd saved his contact number.
"Pumpkin Jerk? Are you not going to answer that?" Santa asked, looking a little concerned.
Miyu turned to him, startled, without really knowing how to answer. Did Santa know? About Kanata's favorite food? Would she be giving him hints if she told him anything? Again, she was being paranoid.
Nozomu noticed she was troubled and assumed who the mysterious id caller was. He decided to step in to help, while also giving her some payback in return.
"She won't." Nozomu answered, making Santa turn his attention to him. "That's just some guy who's been stalking her lately. It's nothing much."
He said it with a serious look, but Miyu knew better. She could see there was laughter inside his eyes that went unnoticed by Santa-kun. The guy was pretty dense.
"Really?" Santa turned to Miyu, then to Nozomu again. "Is this really all right? Sounds like a really serious matter to me. Are you protecting your girlfriend properly, Hikarigaoka?"
"Ah, about that—" Miyu tried, but was stopped by Nozomu.
"Yeah, yeah, I am. You don't have to worry... Right, sweetheart?" he said, wrapping an arm around Miyu's shoulder and keeping it there.
"What are you—" She whispered, but turned silent after reading Nozomu's gaze.
He came even closer and whispered softly in her ear: "This is payback for not trusting me and also for trying to deceive me into giving you some love advice while making use of the existence of an imaginary friend. You wanted to get information from me while still keeping me in the dark, huh? Too bad for you that I'm not stupid. Really… I never took you for such a mean girl."
Ouch. She didn't have much to say in her defense, so she remained quiet while Nozomu kept lying every time Santa asked something about them or about the "stalker matter".
After some time, Santa excused himself and left, not, though, before stating how it had been a pleasure to get to know Miyu, also highlighting how great it was to know she would be attending the same school as them when the new school terms started.
She almost wished he'd stay a little more, hoping to delay as much as possible the confrontation she knew was coming as soon as Santa was out of sight. Certain enough, Nozomu started just like she had predicted.
She ended up telling him everything. Everything but the engagement part, I mean. That one matter she wouldn't tell. First, because it was absolutely embarrassing. Who would believe that families still arranged marriages these days? Not only that, they were only 17! I mean, she was 17. Miyu still wasn't sure about Kanata's age since he enjoyed making fun of her. Not that it really mattered anyway…
Secondly, it would be too much of a hassle to explain everything, not even being necessary to add that the girl herself wasn't entirely sure about what this "everything" was. She knew too little about the matter, the sources being just Kanata himself and some letter his father left behind. Her parents never cared to tell her anything... That would definitely show how weird her family really was.
Thirdly, there was the "rule" thing. Okay, sure, Nozomu-kun already found out about her living alone with Kanata... But still, at least this other secret, she could still protect.
At the end of her explanation, Nozomu seemed satisfied and forgave her little mischief, even offering to help if she ever needed him, joking how great it probably was to be living with the person she liked. She clumsily denied it right away, just managing to make her feelings be even more obvious. He kept on jokingly poking her with his elbow, while making an "I see, you-lucky-girl" face.
Miyu was relieved to confirm he had'nt been angry from the start, you could say he had sounded more intrigued than anything.
Both of them started heading towards the temple some time later, after Kanata had called for the tenth time and she had finally gathered enough courage to answer. He was furious, to say the least, but somehow she had been able to convince him to stay and wait for her to arrive. Miyu didn't have a doubt she was going to get lectured as soon as she got home.