Episode 10 of Luckiest Loser

I flinched uncomfortably as he held me in place. I didn't dare runaway in fear of his notorious temper that had, at one time not too long ago, victimized me. My knees buckled together as my body shook and beads of sweat trickled down the nape of my neck as he kept his unwavering eyes on me.

Please just let this be a horrible nightmare or a horrible hallucination. I silently prayed that would be the case here.

The fleeting touch of his fingers sliding over my cheek to my pursed lips solidified that this was indeed reality and not some hellish delusion. I wanted nothing more then to push his hand away, but I felt too paralyzed to do so. Damn my sudden lack of motor functions!

I was in deep trouble here and serious trouble too.

"Something wrong?" He asked with arched eyebrows and a toothy grin. "Or are you feeling a bit frightened?" Stupid, cocky, conceited bastard. I kept those words to myself though, I had learned to fear the excessiveness of his nastiness when provoked from past experiences.

I opened my mouth to speak out in protest or yell for help, but the words just weren't coming out like I desperately hoped they would. My voice was stuck in my throat and I only managed to sputter helplessly as my mind went blank. His face came closer to mine as he craned his neck down so that the tips of our noses touched. My heart rate increased dramatically and I could hear the frantic beating of my heart thundering in my ears.

His mouth was dangerously near mine now and I had a sickening feeling about what was up his sleeve. Like it would really take a genius to figure this one out, but I hated being right in this instance.

Without warning, as was his style, he forcefully crushed his lips against mine after intertwining his fingers into my hair, loosening my ponytail so my hair fell to my shoulders.

I really hated being right.

He was being a disgusting and overzealous pig like usual. The insults I was slinging at him within the sanctuary of my own mind didn't change the fact that he had me cornered against a wall with his tongue itching to get inside of my mouth.

"Eh? Nyo-chan?"

The sound of Hunny's voice caused Kei to tear his lips away from mine, allowing me to finally breath after I had been holding my breathe for what seemed like an eternity. I took in a few deep gulps of air, but it didn't stop my body from trembling or succeed in calming my nerves as I hoped.

Kei's arm was still resting above my head, but he had shoved his other hand into his trouser pocket while scowling at the small blond boy and his dark haired companion who had suddenly, much to my good fortune, turned a corner and had happened to stumble upon us. Whether it be by coincidence or on the account that they had gone looking for me, I was eternally thankful that they had arrived when they did despite how numb I was feeling emotionally as the nerves in my body tingled anxiously. It was literally perfect timing on their account.

"Who the hell are they?" Kei glared at me, his playful and lustful demeanor was gone now and his true personality was bubbling to the surface. I could tell that their unintentional interruption had dented his pride and had tempted his flaring disposition.

"They're…they're friends…" I mumbled sullenly in response while crossing my arms in front of my chest in a defensive manner.

He dropped his arm to his side and gave Hunny and Mori a hard caustic stare. I couldn't tell what was going on inside his mind, but it seemed to me that he was sizing them up as if he detected that they were some sort of threat.

I began feeling uneasy as minutes went by in a tense silence; the only audible noises were coming from the delighted shouts of children at the festival and the murmur of soft oriental music drifting through the air.

Hunny's brown eyes were wide as saucers and locked on me with a look of puzzlement on his face. Mori, even though he was the more impassive of the two, had his dark eyebrows ever so slightly angled downward.

I was torn between embarrassment for being seen in a situation like this with Kei and fear of what could possibly happen next.

Kei gave me one last harsh look before purposefully knocking into my shoulder as he brushed past me. Truth be told, I was reasonably surprised that he didn't start a confrontation right then and there as was usually in his nature to do so.

I hugged myself the instant he disappeared from my line of sight and leaned back against the wall as my cheeks flushed, tainting them light pink, though it was hardly noticeably in the dark night. This was exactly the kind of mess I didn't want to get caught up in. I thought I had put Kei behind me and that he had done the same, but he obviously had no intention of letting me forget the hold he had over me.

"Nyo-chan?" Hunny stepped forward in concern for my wellbeing and cocked his head to the side. "Are you alright?"

No, of course I wasn't fine. How could he ask a question that had such an obvious answer?

I suddenly wished that he had his stuffed rabbit so I could hug it take some comfort from it.

"That boy…how do you know him?" He asked quietly. "Why was he-"

"It's nothing." I cut him off hastily as I kept my eyes cast down on the ground. "He's just someone I know." I felt horribly rotten for pathetically trying to lie to them like this, but else could I do without revealing what had happened between Kei and I? I really didn't want to dump the sordid details of that relationship in anyone's lap.

"Oh." Hunny said after a moment's pause. I could see his lip twitching as if he wanted to say something more, but the sheer awkwardness of this incident probably made us all feel a bit out of place and not knowing what to say.

I shivered as a cold wind went by, fluttering the sleeves of my yukata as strands of hair swept in front of my face.

"I'm going home." I said blandly with a frown. I knew coming to this festival had been a stupid idea. This had been some plan to cheer me up, I thought sarcastically. All I wanted was to be left alone right now and hide under the warm covers of my bed until the end of the world or until Kei died a miserable death for putting me through this.

Hunny appeared worried as he exchanged a quick glance with Mori. Clearly, neither of them were keen on the idea of leaving me alone while Kei could still be out there waiting for a chance to catch me by myself again.

"Do you want us to walk you home?" Hunny offered saccharinely.

I shook my head slowly. "No, I'll be fine." I turned on my heel to leave while I started wiping the makeup off my face with my sleeve; smearing lipstick, foundation and mascara all over the silky fabric. For some reason, I found myself wanting to blame the Twins for this. They were the ones who had dolled me up and therefore attracted Kei's attention. Or maybe I was just looking for someone else to point the finger at other than myself? I guess at some points everyone doesn't want to admit that they can be responsible for their own misfortunes in life. However, rubbing off the makeup made me feel better and like I was finally me again.

"Be careful." Mori warned as he folded his arms across his chest.

I glanced over my shoulder at him, I didn't say anything back, but I gave him a brief nod indicating that I had heard him.

I began walking home with my head hung low and shoulders hunched over as I left the Tanabata Festival further and further in the distance.

What a night, what a night…

I had nearly forgotten how long the walk was between my house and the festival, I suppose I didn't notice it earlier because Mori had been carrying me. I amused myself by counting the cracks in the sidewalk (anything to keep my mind off of what had transpired) until I arrived at the front door of my house. It wasn't that late either, the clock in the living room chimed ten times as I opened the door and stepped inside. My parents were most likely at the festival selling baked goods to the massive crowd.

I kicked off my sandals in the hallway, I was too lazy to bother with lining them up neatly against the wall like my parents preferred, before laying down on my back on the living room couch. The cushions were cozy so I stayed there while sighing heavily every few seconds, relieved to be away from everyone so I could recuperate from tonight's events.

Suddenly, I bolted upright as I remembered that I had completely overlooked buying my brother a gift.

"Crap…" I grunted as I placed my hands on the sides of my head before falling back down against the cushions. I'm a terrible, terrible older sister.

Tonight just wasn't my lucky night.

When next Saturday rolled around was I still feeling miserable.

I didn't even want to get out of bed, but I eventually had to when my dear sweet mother banged on my door and screeched at me like she did routinely every morning nowadays. I grudgingly rolled out of bed. It was the weekend and I wasn't scheduled to work at the bakery so I didn't quite comprehend why I had to get up at the brink of dawn. There was no point in arguing with her about it, she would just call me insolent and further damage my self-esteem with her loving criticism.

I let my hair remain in tangles as I descended down the staircase towards the kitchen while sporting my pajamas consisting of an oversized shirt, baggy sleep pants and fuzzy slippers.

My mother's trademark glare zeroed in on me as I entered the kitchen, judging every aspect of my appearance in fuming silence.

Eh, whatever. She was the least of my worries.

I had a tutoring session today with Haruhi anyway around noon so I was mostly dreading that, particularly because I hadn't studied all week for any of my subjects.

I hadn't cooked or baked in ages, in reality I had gone a week-and-a-half without so much as touching an oven, I decided to make my own breakfast then have my mother attempt to poison me, which I had the sneaking suspicion could be on her agenda. Her scrambled eggs always did make my stomach feel funny after a few hours.

Familial murder conspiracies aside, I continued to beat myself up over not getting my brother a present. I felt so guilty that I had stopped visiting him in the hospital, which only added to my foul mood.

I wasted too hungry so I settled on solely making rice.

We had an electric rice cooker so that kind of took out the fun of cooking rice for me, but as long as it wasn't poisoned I was fine with it.

My mother surveyed me the entire time as she ate her own breakfast like I was a bug under a microscope.

The doorbell rang and she made no move to go answer it so I left my warm bowl of rice on the counter and went see who it was.

I opened the door to see a middle-aged deliveryman standing there in a light brown uniform with a cap on his head and a clipboard in his hand.

"Is this the Sugiyama residence?" He asked as he adjusted his hat.

"Yeah." I answered dryly as I leaned against the doorframe with my hands on my hips.

He thrust the clipboard into my hands. "I need you to sign here." He pointed at a dotted line before supplying my with a ballpoint pen.

I arched an eyebrow curiously, but I complied and signed my name. I had no clue what was going on or that someone in my family had ordered something. Was it new equipment for the bakery? However, this guy wasn't wearing the same uniform that the deliverymen we got around here usually wore.

He took back the clipboard and the pen and looked over my signature approvingly before beckoning someone behind him, "Bring it in, boys!"

He sauntered out of the way as two bulky man come in carrying a huge fish tank filled.

My jaw dropped as they set down the tank in the back of the hallway. No way…it couldn't be…they didn't…

The deliveryman tipped his hat to me before leaving, the two muscular men following after him.

I shut the door with one hand and hesitantly faced the fish tank in disbelief. I walked over to it and bent down to get a better look at clear water that had three small Koi swimming around their lavishly interior decorated tank. Their scales glinted and sparkled in the fluorescent lighting, catching my eyes and making me grin for the first time this over the course of seven long days.

I mentally jotted down that I owed it to Hunny to bake him a huge cake for this favor. I was going to bake him such a superb cake that he wouldn't be able to eat another bite after he finished it. Heck, I'd bake him a thousand cakes.

As for Mori, he can have as much Natto as he wants the very next time he came to the bakery.

Albeit, there was a transparent problem with this; how was I going to get this into my brother's hospital room? And what would my parents think when they discovered it?

"Who was it?" My mother questioned abrasively as I reentered the kitchen.

"Delivery." I answered curtly, trying to hide my pleased smirk as I grabbed a pair of chopsticks, sat myself at the table across from her, and started eating my now cold rice.

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Dc-chan: I had trouble writing the first part of this chapter; I hope it turned out okay. More on Kei and Nodoka's history together in upcoming chapters. I'm hoping to do one more chapter before I leave on my trip on July 22nd. I think I can manage that…I mean, I hope I can manage that.

Moving on…

Seriously dudes, the reviews for the last chapter made me so fricking happy I could've tap-danced in public and not give a damn if people gave me strange looks. Mucho love to all of you.

Peace out and don't forget to tip your waitresses before you leave!

;D

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13th!