©Fujiwara Hiro
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CHAPTER 10: The Proposal
I didn't bother to get up from my sit when I heard a faint knock on the front door. I knew my mom would get it.
Suzuna, along with our mom, was having her vacation in our house for the spring break. My mom also took a leave from her work to have a rest.
As they knew that college was a bit difficult, they let me barred myself in my room.
I heard the wooden floor creaked under someone's feet just outside my room. Then my door flew open, Sakura came rushing & engulfing me in her arms. I saw Shizuko followed closely.
'Misaki-chan!' Sakura squealed.
'Hello, Misaki.' Shizuko greeted me with a smile.
'Hey guys-Sakura, you're choking me!' I struggled to peel myself away from her arms.
'You know what?' She rattled on without even noticing my struggling efforts. 'Seika High is doing their traditional spring festival!' She swung me around my room excitedly.
'Uh, yeah... so? What are you so excited about, Sakura? Ow, you stepped on my foot!'
'Sorry!' she said but continued to squeeze the air out of me.
'Shizuko, can you explain clearly why Sakura is acting like a drunken kangaroo?' I turned to Shizuko who was quietly watching as Sakura tackled me. She was smiling widely.
'The school invited us to go there as their special guests for the night's event,' she explained.
'What is so exciting about that? It's just the same old spring festival we organized for the whole years we spent there.' I said to Sakura, trying very hard to maintain my balance.
She stopped squirming with me & pouted, 'Of course I'm excited! It has been a while since I'd seen our school & enjoy the festival.'
What she said made me smile & nod, 'Yeah, it has been a while. But, Sakura, could you please let go of me now?' I added pleadingly.
As if she had just realize that she'd been hugging me to death, she let go & uttered a very innocent 'Oh.'
'So, are you coming?' Shizuko asked.
I sighed, 'I guess so. What day is it, anyway?'
'The day after tomorrow.'
'Yes! & the students are preparing a Victorian Era cosplay. Oh, I'm so loving it!' Sakura giggled. I looked at her curiously, she was acting really hyped up than usual.
'Ah, okay.'
'So, are you coming? Oh please, Misaki-chan, please, please, please?' Sakura started to jump around my room again.
'Yes, yes, yes, Sakura! I'll be coming, so stop that!' I laughed. Sakura can be so funny when she's acting like that.
'Yeeeyy!'
It was a clear pleasant school was full of students & visitors when we arrived.
When I saw the school, so many memories flooded my mind.
'This place is so nostalgic,' I said, looking at the tall buildings.
'Yeah...' a voice said beside me. The familiarity of it made me jerk my head to its direction.
'Usui?' I gasped. 'What the hell are you doing here?' I demanded.
'You're not the only one who's invited, you know,' he said with a smirk.
We explored the hallways that were packed with busy students & gawking visitors.
Once, a frantic student came rushing in the hallway, sweats running down his temples.
'Hey!' I caught him by his arm, 'no running in the hallway!' I yelled.
His eyes almost popped out of its sockets. 'I'm sorry!' he bowed, quickly yanking his arm from my grasp & took hasty steps instead.
Sakura & Shizuko looked at me like they were strifling a laugh. Usui looked amused & didn't even bother to hide his laughter.
'What?' I demanded.
'Once a president, always a president.'
Sakura & Shizuko couldn't help it anymore, they doubled over with laughter.
I blushed & stomped away from them.
We went to the different stalls & different rooms to check out their works. It was a lot of fun; very nostalgic & it seemed that the school's female population had increased over the years. The male students were actively participating in their class activities, which surprised me.
After eating in every food stall we passed by, Sakura dragged Shizuko to the game stalls, leaving me with a perverted alien.
I didn't know why but when my friends disappeared from my sight, I started to get nervous & edgy. Usui's presence made my heart thump unevenly.
I gulped, 'I-I need to go to the bathroom!' I didn't wait for him to say anything, I dashed through the crowds. I heard him called, 'Misaki!' but I didn't turned my head & continued to ran wherever my feet would carry me.
It was already dark when I found myself in a very familiar corridor.
The silence was eerie & my own shadow spooked me but I continued to walk towards a slightly ajar door.
I slided the door open & stepped in the darken room: the student council office.
Everything was in the same order as I remember; my poor, overly used desk, the sharp U-shaped formation of the other desks in the room & the wide windows.
The memories in this room made my stomach float & left my brain tangled up.
I walked towards the desk I used to when finishing a stack of paperworks. A certain memories came to annoy me: the time when Usui challenged me to a pocky game, the times he came here to distract me from work then my mind flowed through the time he helped me in the Miyabigaoka incident, the time he never left me alone when Kanou hypnotized me...almost like all things that had happened here were somehow connected to him. I shook my head, amused. That idiot! Always in my head!
A sudden prescence jolted me back to the present. I looked behind me & Usui was there, standing at the door.
I raised an eyebrow at him, 'Care to explain why you're wearing that ridiculous costume?'
He was wearing a Victorian Era male attire. Leaning against the door with hands in his pockets, his eyes glinted like jewels, he looked like a real-life Romeo Montague.
His smile was priceless, leaving mentally drooling.
He slowly approached me, like he was thinking I might run away again, which was a possibility since my nervousness crept up on me again.
He stood in front of me & touched the table.
'Very nostalgic, isn't it, prez? Do you remember our little pocky game here?' he smirked.
I blushed & shoved him. He laughed softly, almost like he was nervous.
'You know,' he said. 'It's funny to think that this was the very place where everything about us started,' he exhaled as if saying those words exhausted him.
'Y-yeah...?' I stammered uncertainly.
My guts told me something is about to happen, either something very...I don't know, maybe terrible or exciting? I was so confused & nervous at the same time I didn't know what to think. I knew him very well, he was acting like this when he was up to something really serious.
'Misaki...' he cupped my face, which was flaming hot. My heart kept on break dancing, kicking my chest off. 'This place was where we started a new...chapter? story?-whatever you want to call it-' he shrugged then continued on, 'in our lives.' He sighed & dropped his hands from my face.
My mind started to buffer like a YouTube video.
'Uhm, what are you saying, exactly?' I asked cautiously.
He looked at me with a very gorgeous serious eyes.
'This is also place where I wanted to start a new life with you.' He flashed his eyes unbelievably alluring. I had to remember how to breath.
Why is he saying all this? I don't get it at all!
'Misa-chan, I know that we experienced a lot of difficult defiance but we surpassed all of them, aren't we?' he smiled wholeheartedly. 'In this very same room where I first met you, I want to say it again & I would never get tired of saying it all over again. Misaki, I love you so very much, more than anything, anyone in this universe.' I felt the sincerity of his words that it made my eyes stung.
Then, he did something that made my hair on my neck stood up straight as if they were electrecuted. Actually, I felt like I was doused with cold water & electrecuted.
He knelt down on one knee & fished something from his pocket; a small velvet box. I was having an out-of-the-body experience now.
'But I want to add something after that.' He opened the tiny box & a silver ring glimmed under the dim moonlight which passed through the windows. It had a defined heart-shaped diamond which probably cost a half-century's worth of fortune.
'Ayuzawa Misaki, will you be my wife?'
I gulped. My traitor mind went toooot & shut itself down, leaving me alone with some idiotic alien, proposing a marriage to me!
Long silence.
We were both petrified in our respective positions.
'That was the stupidiest thing I've ever heard,' I finally whispered.
He chuckled as he pulled himself up to stand. He was clenching the tiny box so tightly I was afraid it might crumbled to dusts.
Another moment of silence.
I sighed as I looked up to him with equally serious eyes & said, 'Unfortunately,' when he heard it, he snapped his head to me, his expression went from nervous to confuse to sad.
He was about to drooped his head in defeat when I continued, 'I'm also the stupidiest woman in the world,' I smiled widely, ignoring the excessive pumping of my heart.
His eyes widen, 'So you're saying...'
'Yes, you stupid idiot!' I yelled at the same time the fireworks outside lightened to life, briefly illuminating the room. But I didn't even give a damn to pay attention to it as I flung my arms around him. My eyes gave in & my tears streamed down my cheeks. I buried my face on his neck. I felt his arms tightened on my waist & set my feet off the ground. He kept kissing my cheek & neck.
He sat me on my old desk, facing him; his hands both to my sides. His face was glowing with an idiotic grin. He looked at me & held my gaze.
I smiled, touching his temple down to his cheek. We were about kiss each other when the door groaned & two figures came tumbling from the hallway. We both snapped our heads towards it.
Sakura & Shizuko stood up awkwardly. I hopped down from the desk, glaring daggers at them.
'You two knew about this?' I demanded.
Sakura nodded sheepishly while Shizuko got a sudden interest in adjusting her eyeglasses.
'I asked for their help to get you here,' Usui grinned. 'Thanks, guys.'
'Sorry, Misaki-chan.' Sakura giggled. 'Oh & congratulations! I'm so happy for you.' She bounded to me & gave me a warm embrace, 'promise me, I & Shizuko will be your bridesmaids, okay?'
Usui & I laughed.
Finally!
My long busy week ended (or I suppose it ended) :
Sorry about this chapter! gomen, gomen! m(_ _)m
I don't really know how to propose since I'm a girl (duh?), please bear the super cheesiness & corniness.
Anyway, I'll see you in the next & last chapter. Please continue to support me, arigatou!
ja, natsu_no_sora deshita!