With our eleventh chappie out, we're down to our last TWO! Yes, dear readers, we are nearing the end of the trio's love affair. Thanks once more for the reviews and the time you spent for this, and Jer-bear I'll whack you with a racket soon enough!
So now what's going to happen to the troublesome threesome with a few more additions?
Disclaimer: I own the netbook used to make this story, that's it. :D
11: To Lose, or Not to Lose
That is the question.
"It is never easy to let go, no matter how much you would say it is."
It's impossible to be discreet about anything at all, especially when you're human. Even Kyousuke's usual stoic expression could be easily read by his brother; Taiyou's smiles always had a hidden meaning to it, and Nurse Fuyuka always saw through them. Even if Gami tried to cover up her feelings and actions, she's still as readable as a text message from one of your best pals (A/N: Why's this here? O_O ).
Ever since the rumors of Gami seeing someone outside Raimon, Kyousuke dating Sorano and Taiyou going out with Kinako spread all throughout the school, it had affected their surroundings, and that mostly took a great toll on the soccer club.
"Kinako and Taiyou barely talk to each other," Shinsuke pouted with his cheeks being squished by his palms. "Aoi and Tsurugi act like the other isn't even in the room," Tenma added beside him as they waited for their bowls to be served; the two were in Rairaiken, hungry from soccer practice. "If this goes on, they won't be able to focus on anything and they'll probably be kicked out of the team and in school!"
"Nonsense, kid," The moose-haired cook's back was facing the two Raimon students as he spoke. "If it's a little lover's quarrel, what they need is a middleman to help them talk it over. Here." He handed the two ramen bowls to his costumers as the back door slid open.
"I got the last batch, lucky me!" His assistant, whose flowing black hair reminded Tenma and Shinsuke of Gami's aunt, sang from the kitchen. With a pink tinge on his face, the cook left his station as the two lads listened on with interest (A/N: Oh my…me likey! ;D).
In school, the situation was different. Aoi had been forced to literally and metaphorically be by Kyousuke's side, coercing Gami, on the other hand, to hang out with the swim team— people who Okinaru was best acquainted with (A/N: But Gami's still Okinaru's bestest! ;P)— more often than she could with Suke-chan nowadays. The good side to that was she got to know her seniors more. Still, the bad dominated; Gami began to miss being with Suke-chan. The girl made early visits to Yuuichi in the hospital alone; Kyousuke and Aoi would visit two hours after she left. Gami had gotten used to walking home alone despite worries that Megamino felt.
As for Taiyou and Kinako, they had become the paparazzi's (A/N: More like journalism club's. =3=) favorite hot trending topic. Fans called themselves The Yellow Sunbathers, a pun on the duo's names (A/N: Yellow for the 'ki' in Kinako; sun for 'Taiyou'; bathers are for the fans), apparently, and they bullied anyone who dared oppose Kinako and Taiyou being a couple, deeming Gami unable to hang out with Taiyou-kun anymore. Her only way around that was to read books in the library. The positive effect was that she befriended the bookworms who practically sleep there and the librarian who was a charming old lady, and she became addicted to crossword puzzles. Despite that, the library was quiet, and Taiyou-kun was dynamic. Gami was incapable of withstanding the silence, but she had learned to be accustomed to it.
Already, Mamori Gami knew she was losing two of her best buddies, but she acted as if it weren't a big deal to her; she had more important things to do. One of them was to figure out what she was going to do with all her alone time (A/N: Am I evil or what? D:).
Just to be clear, it was all Gami's doing (A/N: But she didn't know, so…don't go blaming her!) that got this unexplained growing dilemma (A/N: "?") to happen.
"That was truly the most unwise move you've ever done, Tenshi-chan," Tsurugi Yuuichi reprimanded the latter as she slid the door closed. She faced him with a surprised expression. "What? Unwise? But—"
"But nothing. What were you trying to prove, that you could manage things without their help?" He continued to bombard the pacing girl with questions that she knew the answer to, but was just stubbornly denying it.
"If you pushed them away without a word, would they have understood your intentions?" Yuuichi asked gently as Gami slowed her pacing in the small room. "It's great to be independent, but not like that," He continued, voice still gentle like that of a breeze. "You still need them," And with a final concluding statement:
"More than you'd ever realize."
"Kids, boys, children…my niece isn't particularly interested in any of those four, er…bachelors—"
"Then what about Tsurugi and Taiyou?" Still at Kazemaru's new house, Tenma and Shinsuke pressed the black-haired Megamino for answers (A/N: Funny how they knew who were the two that she left out. :)) ).
"Yeah, you only said four, and a while ago we mentioned six!"
"Tsurugi-kun is a childhood friend, and Amemiya-kun is the bestest closest friend she has; they're an exception."
"Not really; Ichiban-senpai has orange hair like Taiyou—"
"Isozaki-senpai has a similar personality with Tsurugi—"
"Kishibe-senpai is the genius in his team like Taiyou—"
"Taki-senpai has a brother that he cares about like Tsurugi—"
"But are their feelings for Tenshi-chan as strong as either of Tsurugi-kun's or Amemiya-kun's?"
OHHHH. So that was the difference.
Meanwhile, Gami still was confused with what she felt. Yuuichi was right; she still needed Taiyou-kun and Suke-chan in her life. The real question though, was why she pushed them away even with that fact in mind. Midorikawa-san once told her auntie that earth had a saying that went like, 'there is a reason for every thought and action', and so what was hers?
A bit too evidently, Yuuichi came up with a 'suggestion' of his own. "Maybe…you have feelings for one of them?" At those words, Gami spun to face the hospital patient. "I do have feelings for them both!" She said a little too bluntly with a matching confused face. When Yuuichi thought he had gotten the bull's eye, Gami made him realize he missed by a few millimeters.
"That's why we're friends!"
By some stroke of undetermined fate, Kyousuke bumped into Isozaki on the way to the hospital. While they remained close friends, Kyousuke felt as if the cyan-eyed Mannouzaka captain was after the same person as he and Taiyou were (A/N: He didn't know about the other three guys, looool. :)) ).
That feeling ain't pretty, apparently.
"I see you and your brother have been doing well," Isozaki said warily, for some reason. "You too," Was all Kyousuke could answer to the made-up ice breaker.
Kami, this was awkward.
Kyousuke didn't care. He'd rather get straight to his suspicions. As for Isozaki, he preferred silence; he and Kyousuke helped each other out during those times at God Eden, and they never talked. It was always a comfortable silence between them, but now, the atmosphere was deathly tense. Kyousuke's question only made it worse.
"You haven't talked to Tenshi-chan lately, have you?" He asked in a threatening voice. Seeing how jealous or maybe overprotective (A/N: But mostly jealous. ;D ) Kyousuke was, the ever teasing Isozaki took this to his advantage. "Maybe, maybe not," He began to walk away, fairly entertained. "Use your imagination!"
On the other side of Inazuma town, an orange-haired genius of the decade decided to pay a visit to the violet-locked (A/N: As in hair.) perfectionist captain of Kidokawa Seishuu. The two smart players were good friends after all, being geniuses in their own team and the like…
But will a supposedly trivial little thing (A/N: Or maybe person...) worsen that friendship?
"Really now?" Taiyou laughed. "The great Kishibe Taiga…thinking about a girl?" The latter laughed again, clearly amused at his dark-skinned friend's profession. When he managed to calm himself, Taiyou asked who it was.
"Certainly not yours, Tai," Kishibe smiled assuringly as he sipped tea; he was fairly interested in Taiyou and Kinako as he had heard rumors, but he preferred a different person, all in all. He heard his buddy let out a sigh of relief, glad that Taiga wasn't after Gami too (A/N: Supposedly!). "But she's in the same team as you are, so it might be a problem if I were to have a romantic relationship with her."
"Nonsense, Tai!" Taiyou (A/N: Geddit? Geddit? :D) sat once more after enjoying the mountainside view of the mansion. "You're a genius; I bet you'll be able to work it out. Now tell me who it is; since it's not mine, I'm even more interested!" Kishibe took a deep breath and a sip of tea before unknowingly shocking Taiyou paralyzed with just two words:
"Mamori Gami."
As a jolly-looking otaku left hospital grounds, she bumped into a small creature. "Chibi-Ta— I mean, Yo-chan?" Gami inquired as she held up the short Taki to her level. "Where's your ani? You two always go together." At the last syllable, a familiar figure approached— rather breathlessly— the two people.
"I think that's not impossible, but it is most likely," Gami bit on to her spoon as she and the Taki brothers sat in one of the cubicles of House of Desserts, Sherry's Sundae Shoppe's rival of ten years. "But Yoshihiko's only a kid! I don't think he's capable of implanting a tracking chip in you." Sousuke glared at his brother, who found out bananas made good airplanes. "It's creepy, but possible. Never underestimate the intelligence of youngsters." Gami winked playfully.
The Taki brothers and blue-eyed Mamori split ways as they exited House of Desserts. Unknown to them, Taiyou had spotted the trio coming out of the medium-sized shop, and even the part where Gami hugged Sousuke (A/N: Oh no! ;) )! The ex-hospital patient had never felt so…pissed off before. And it wasn't even because of Tsurugi (A/N: Double oh no. O.O)!
'I won't lose Gami to anyone that easily!'
Sensing that someone was glaring at them, Gami switched her view to the other side of the road, exactly where Taiyou was. To her mild surprise, nobody was there. As thickheaded as she was, Gami got rid of the suspicion. "Well, I'll see you next time now," She smiled sweetly at Yoshihiko and waved at Sousuke. "Take care!" The younger Taki grinned at her.
After walking aimlessly for Kami knows how long, a different orange-haired boy decided it was time he went home. He was a total ditz for forgetting to bring along his soccer ball (A/N: Poor kid. :P). As he headed up the stairs leading the way out of the riverbank, someone covered his eyes.
"Guess who!"
Smirking to himself, he grabbed the girl's— it was definitely a girl. He didn't think any guy would be gay enough to do that to him— torso and he bent over, effectively carrying the person. "I'm going to walk around aimlessly while holding you; my bruises will be yours too." He only thought about the fact that what he said rhymed when the person uncovered his eyes. He put the latter down to get a good look.
"Mamori Gami," He smirked. "I should've known." The owner of the name grinned at him sheepishly as a reply.
"That's…silly. Who would forget their own soccer ball at home when the reason why they went out was to use it in the first place?" The shorter orange-head asked. Kita Ichiban flushed at the comment. "It was an accident, and my mom had so many errands she made me do!" Gami giggled as they crossed the street. "Excuses, Kita-kun, excuses," She sang, making the taller orange-head blush even more (A/N: How adorable!).
Strangely, like déjà vu, Gami felt another set of peepers glaring at her. As she snatched a glance behind her, Kita looked around as well, understanding his companion's discomfort. When they found no one suspicious, they continued to head toward the Steel Plaza, more than willing to go home already.
'Great. Another orange-haired guy to deal with. I am not going to lose Tenshi-chan to anybody!'
Kyousuke continued to glare at the Tengawara captain, subconsciously hoping to burn the guy with his deathly glower (A/N: I shall be Kyousuke's Lois Lane to his Superman HAHAHA!). It was saddening as well; Kyousuke was always the one walking his (A/N: NUUU! I own her! D:) Tenshi-chan home as Taiyou was always the one treating his (A/N: Staaahp! D:) Gami to desserts at House of Desserts every after practice.
What was even more sad was the fact that Gami was deeply, truly, terribly afraid of losing either boy, but the thought was contradictory to her past actions— the pairing Kyousuke and Aoi and Taiyou and Kinako up, the spreading of the rumors, the avoiding of Suke-chan and Taiyou-kun…
As she thanked Kita for the walk home, the blue-eyed girl couldn't help but wonder.
'If I say that I want them to be by my side and at the same time cause them to be separated from Kinakon and Aoin, won't that make me a selfish person who cares about her own happiness? Or should I just let them go and have four more happy people, compared to just one happy girl?'
That is the question.
Three hectic months of slacking around and jerking off and still I can't give you something explosive! D: Flame me now, if you want. I am so ready for them! :D Sorry again for the super late update, I'm unforgivable, I know. Happy Chinese New Year, by the way! :D Gong xi fa cai!
-AniMa