Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I ever pretend to own, Maria-Holic. There.

Chapter 9

"You seem to be somewhat dreary today, Mariya-sama," Matsurika noted idly. "Like a big clump of mud. No, like a dull little rock covered by a big clump of mud."

"I am not," Mariya growled softly so that he wouldn't be heard by other students in the hallways. "Just get off my back already, Matsurika."

"You mean you won't give me a piggyback ride? How cruel."

Mariya sighed. "If you want a piggyback ride so badly, then go get an actual pig to ride on and stop pestering me about it."

"But you chased away the only pig we had." Matsurika's head tilted upwards in thought. "Or maybe it's more that you ran away from the only pig we had. Yes, that's more appropriate, I think."

"Shut up."

"What a shame, too," Matsurika continued as if she hadn't even heard Mariya. "While she was perverted and stupid, she was rather amusing to watch as she danced about, don't you think?"

"Matsurika."

"It seemed like you were having fun yourself, Mariya-sama." Matsurika's golden eyes stared at him blankly. "Perhaps a little too much fun."

The wall they both were leaning against suddenly shuddered as Mariya's fist slammed into it.

"I said to. Shut. Up. Matsurika." Mariya's red-pink eyes glimmered from underneath his blonde bangs. It was only when the constant background noise of footsteps and giggles died down did Mariya remember where he was.

He quickly turned around to face his classmates in the hallway, most of whom had turned to stare at him with a mixture of shock and confusion, and put on his most sheepish smile. "Ahhhh, my bad," Mariya giggled sweetly and embarrassedly. "There was a pesky little bug, so I tried to kill it. I'm sorry." He bowed his head in apology.

The other girls murmured quietly for a second, then they all returned Mariya's smile, and continued on their way, not bothering to think about the fact that there was now a small dent in the wall anymore.

"So easy," Mariya muttered under his breath. "Others are so easy to manipulate." An image of blue eyes burning with anger flashed into his mind. Without him even realizing it himself, a wisp of a smile danced about his lips as he added, "Most of the time, anyways."

Matsurika looked away again. "That's very true, Mariya-sama."

"Ah… Excuse me, are you Shinjou Mariya?"

Both Mariya and Matsurika turned towards the source of the new voice. Standing there in front of them was a beautiful young girl with long brown hair and the kind of shy smile that would instantly make any boy fall madly in love with her. And though she was really tall—almost as tall as Mariya—one couldn't help but think of a delicate little flower while looking at her.

Dang, she's good. Mariya frowned inwardly at this competition; this girl was super tall, but was very feminine. If Mariya were to stand next to her, it would probably be very easy to see the difference in their genders. How many other girls like this were there in the school? The more, the worse.

Nevertheless, Mariya donned his most charming high school girl smile. "Yes, I'm Mariya. Do you need help with something?"

The tall girl shook her head rapidly. "Oh, no, not really… Oh! I'm Yakumo Alyce. Pleased to meet you." She gave a little bow, which Mariya quickly mirrored.

"Pleased to meet you, Yakumo-san." Mariya said politely. Ugh, speaking like this is so annoying… Just go away, go away, go away…

"Call me Alyce, please." She gracefully tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm going to be Miyamae-san's new roommate from now on. She told me that you decided to leave the dorms of your own accords, but I can't help but feel that it's my fault…" She frowned. "So I came to apologize for any trouble I may have caused you or Miyamae-san."

So this is the transfer girl… Mariya's heart beat harder. He was talking to the very reason that he had fought was Kanako like that. If it wasn't for her…

He shook his head slightly. Thinking like that was pointless, bordering on stupid. He was free of having to deal with that annoying yuri pig. He had showed his strength enough that he sincerely doubted that Kanako would ever actually betray his secret. Even if she did, no one would believe her. Now he could live out the next two years before finally being able to stop this charade in peace.

He smiled at Alyce. "Don't worry, you didn't cause us any trouble. I just seem to have difficulties living away from my home from too long, so this was a good opportunity for me to leave without accidentally hurting Kanako-chan's feelings. I'm sure you two will become good friends." He was surprised to find that he had to force out those last few words. He was too busy trying to shove this annoying fact out of his mind to notice the strain in Alyce's smile.

"I'm sure we will," she said uncertainly. She quickly added, "And don't hesitate to ever stop by from time to time, alright? I'd hate it if you and Miyamae-san stopped being friends because of this."

Mariya froze. "That… that would be sad."

Alyce started to say something, but cut herself off with a loud cough. "Sorry, just got something in my throat all of a sudden… Well, I'll see you later, Shinjou-san!" She smiled and started to walk away. She was only a couple of steps away, however, when she suddenly turned back towards them. "Oh! I forgot to mention, Miyamae-san told me to tell you that she found some clothes of yours still in the room. She also said that if you don't come get them within a week, she'll sacrifice them to her bag… Whatever that means!" She waved, then turned around once again and vanished as she turned a corner.

Mariya groaned. "I thought that I had gotten everything… Great."

"So we're going on a little trip?" Matsurika asked from where she had been standing on the sidelines.

"Why should we? It's just a shirt or something. It's not as if I desperately need it. She can do whatever she wants with it."

"And what if it's a piece of your boy's clothing? Isn't there a chance that Alyce-chan could see it before Kanako-chan eats it or throws it out or whatever she'll do to it? We all know how bad Kanako-chan is at hiding things."

"…Drat. I hadn't thought of that…"

"That's because you're a moron."

"Be quiet, stupid maid." Mariya crossed his arms over his chest. "Well. It looks like we'll have to go back there, after all. Though I would really like to avoid running into Kanako…"

"We could always hire some thugs to drag her behind an alley for a few minutes while we sneak back into your-ah, I mean, her room."

He decided to ignore that last little 'slip of the tongue.' "That's way too much trouble for something so trivial." He scratched the back of his head. "We could just go in the evening sometime. She'll probably be in the lobby or bathroom, bleeding her little heart out. So we'll just have to make it to the room without being seen by her. Easy."

Matsurika frowned imperceptibly. "But that's no fun."

"If you want to have fun, then go join a circus."

Matsurika sighed. "You can be really difficult sometimes, Mariya-sama. If you don't want to go to the trouble of hiring the yakuza—"

"When did the yakuza ever enter the conversation?"

"—then why go to the trouble of avoiding her in the first place? Just go whenever is most convenient."

"Because it'd be irritating, just like you."

"You mispronounced 'Mariya-sama' just then, Mariya-sama."

Mariya ground his teeth. "I have to get to archery." He turned on his heel, then glanced at Matsurika over his shoulder. "We'll go tomorrow afternoon, got that?"

"Whatever you say, Mariya-sama."

man, it certainly has been a while... hahahahahahaa... ha...

I'm sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. I got busy during the summer with a job, then school started, and somewhere along the way I literally forgot about this fanfic. O_O I still can't believe I forgot about it... wow... o.e so sorry, guys who may or may not still be reading this because I suck at updating! ;_;

Today is the 1st of December, as I assume most of you know. In 1842, a captain of a naval ship was informed, by one of the crew, that three of the crewmember were going to lead a mutiny and turn their ship, the Somers, into a pirate ship. On December 1st 1842, the captain hung those three men without giving them a proper trial. Philip Spencer, Samuel Cromwell, and Elijah Small all died for a crime that no one knows whether or not they were actually going to commit. Basically, three innocent men were killed.

That's history for you.

I just kind of decided to honor their memory (though whether they actually deserved to be honored or not is lost to history) by quickly telling it to you guys. Feel no obligation to actually remember it.

I hope to update soon! ^-^ just in case, though... Merry Christmas! ^-^