Finally an update! It took a little longer than I had planned, but here it is. Enjoy the read! It's getting harder to write the story, so once again, I'm requesting 5+ reviews before the next update.
Also, I've just realized that you readers might have a hard time remembering what happened in previous chapters, so I think from now on, I'll include either a snipet from the last chapter, or write a brief summary before starting the new chapter.
End of chapter 12
Meanwhile, the other Mews resumed their plans, pushing the fuming girl a little too harshly back onto her seat causing her to knock into the waiting Keiichiro. The brunet easily caught the nervous girl as she shot up and quickly bent down to apologize. What the hell was his girlfriend being so nervous for? Cross that, his pretend girl friend. Ryou watched the scene with discomfort. Damn bug. It seemed as though he had only slapped it half dead. It still managed to buzz around.
He'd have to take care of that soon.
"HEY BITCH!" Whoa. He didn't think it was possible, but another even more shrilly voice appeared. The speaker had short brown hair. "WATCH WHERE YOU THROW THINGS." She had one hand on her hip and in her other hand, she held the bitten pizza crust, flinging it back and forth in annoyance as she screamed. She turned around, suddenly catching a glance at Ryou.
"Oh," she remarked with a hand over her open mouth. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two figures: the redhead and the blue-eyed blond. Finally realizing something, she spoke with the sweetest tone she could manage, "I-I'm quite sorry about that Shirogane-san. I didn't mean to disturb your girlfriend."
"WHAT?!" The Mews and Keiichiro said in unison though Ryou had the most subtle smile on his face, despite the sudden shock. Mint's voice, however, was the loudest of them all as she had just made her way back from the bathroom.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" She screeched, her eyes wide.
Chapter 13: Crazy Girls
.:Obsessed Fangirls, Plotting Mews and anyone of the female gender:.
Ryou remained silent, his eyes focused solely on Keiichiro as his lips curved up in a smirk. "Take that you stupid fly!"...is what he would have liked to say. However, seeing how that was extremely uncharacteristic of such an emotionless guy, he did no such thing but only continued to stare in silence and self-satisfaction.
"AS IF-" the redhead began to fume. Her words were interrupted by her Ichigo gracefulness, as she found herself falling backwards, having slipped from a careless step while she withdrew from the scene. Her eyes were shut tight as she waited for the impact of the hard floor.
"Ichigo!" Keiichiro was quick to respond. He immediately jerked up from his seat, not a moment too late as the clumsy girl felt a pair of warm arms against her back and a hand pressed against the side of her arm. She looked up at his concerned expression as she forced down a gulp. That was the second time within ten minutes Keiichiro had caught her. Why was it that she always found him around whenever she needed him? Ichigo tried to keep her cat ears from popping out, though the squeals from the other Mews were not at all helping with the situation.
The girl with the pizza crust still in hand watched dazed, as she observed Ichigo's cheek become a rosy hue, though in the very next moment, a new rage began to boil up inside her. "Y-You already have Sh-Shirogane you slut! What, that's not enough for you? Now you've gotta take every cute guy in the world?!"
Ryou noticed Ichigo's twitching eye, and like the quick-witted man that he was, he prevented cyclone Strawberry Hissyfits from completely obliterating the mall. The blond hurriedly ran over to Ichigo, placing a firm hand against her shoulder before facing the brunette to raise an eyebrow at her. "Who are you anyway?"
She took a step back, looking somewhat disappointed. Suddenly seeing the crust in her hand, the girl quickly hid it behind her. "I'm in your fanclub."
"Then you should have remembered what I said." He said coldly. The redhead jolted up at Ryou's words that had broken her away from her fond thoughts of the sweet chef, suddenly reminded of the strangely though unexpectedly pleasant breakfast she had with her boss that morning.
"I-I mean" She looked away, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze before turning to Ichigo. "Shirogane-san is already more than you can handle..." Ichigo stared dumbly at her for a few minutes, until she finally let out a stifled laugh.
Ryou ignored the redhead's muffled laughter, nearly letting a scoff of annoyance escape his own mouth. "So you think Keiichiro is cute?" The blond asked as Ichigo tried to catch her breath. Meanwhile the other Mews watched on with interest except for Mint who approached each of them and pointed accusingly at Ryou mumbling "I told you so!"
"Um." The fan girl stared down at the floor. "Of course not more than you..."
"Oh?" Ryou mused as Ichigo continued to stifle her laughter. "Would you perhaps be interested in dating him then?"
"WE OBJECT!" The Mews screamed, ignoring the very red faced girl who now played with her fingers. Finally, she slowly raised her head to look at the chef, eyes immediately darting away as she suddenly ran off.
"Now EXPLAIN to me what's going on!" Mint shrieked.
"YEA Mr. Bossman!" Pudding pouted as she jabbed her finger at him. The other Mews chimed in. "What were you thinking setting her up with Keiichiro? You know he's already taken!" They seethed threateningly, completely ignoring the chef's presence as he stood uncomfortably behind Ichigo as the focus of the conversation.
Damn. Plan foiled! Ryou cursed under his breath, but he spoke as calmly as ever. "Taken? He's not taken."
"Yet." Mint crossed her arms. "Now would you care to let the others know that I'm not insane and that it really was you two making out throughout the day?"
Ryou watched Mint waiting expectantly as she wore that self-assured smirk on her face.
He opened his mouth to speak, though closed it in the very next moment – not because he could not come up with an explanation, but because of a rude interruption from a certain impolite girl in hysterics.
"AHAHAHA!" The redhead was now curled into a ball in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. "As if Shirogane really is something to handle. What an idiot girl! Well, at least she's right about Keiichiro, though honestly, I can't see how she thinks Shirogane is better."
The blond narrowed his eyes at the laughing redhead and gulped down an inexplicable knot in his throat. He smoothed out his silky golden hair casually and let out a small cough before speaking in his usual calm tone. "Please, as if I'd be interested in that baka. It was just a ruse I used to get rid of those annoying fan girls." His voice was confident as ever, but the tiniest twitch appeared at his brow after he had finished talking. Sure enough, when the Mews and others turned their attention to where the brown-haired fan girl had retreated, a large group of drooling girls could be seen stampeding towards them.
"Well, whatever! Like I'd be interested in you." Ichigo screamed immediately, all laughter forgotten. She stomped off in the opposite direction, not even bothering to pick up her bags or to throw out her trash behind her.
"Ichi-chan!" Keiichiro ran after her as the Mews looked on in silence. Although Ryou had the urge to run after her as well, he kept his feet grounded to the floor, convinced that the return of the bizarre itch was due solely to his dislike of seeing the two together (which of course was because of his fear that the baka would melt away the mind of his best friend and lab assistant into sweet strawberry mush of idiocity).
"Argh. I meant Idiocy." Damn, within less than 4 hours, the baka had already infiltrated the mind of a genius. Ryou could only imagine what it would do to a normal mind. Keiichiro truly was in danger.
"Making out is a ruse?!" Mint had been standing there dazed, but upon having it registered in her mind, she finally spat her words in disgust.
"No." The blond groaned, clawing a hand down his face with his fingers. "We don't make out. How can you even come up with something like that?" He visibly shuddered. "We didn't and we haven't. I was just talking about the instance right at this moment."
"Bet you wish you did" The Lorikeet chirped, adding her own commentaries between his speech. She brought her hands behind her, casually swaying her body back and forth as she did a minor stretch. Her eyes were closed as she spoke with such assurance that it could make people question their own names.
"Pft" Ryou only managed to mutter, as he was so tongue-tied over the hidden truth that was quite pleasurable even if he'd never admit it out loud; though at this point, even Zakuro began wearing an expression that resembled Mints. He groaned, raising a hand to his head.
"Then you shouldn't mind that we're trying to set up Ichigo and Akasaka-san together." Zakuro flipped her hair with one hand. Mint turned to the idol, beaming. Ugh. As if he wasn't having a hard enough time with just Mint.
"Actually, why don't you join in our efforts?" The blue-haired girl questioned, despite the nervous glance she received from Lettuce. He let a small cough escape his mouth; Ryou couldn't even begin to imagine the anguish that would cause him - to bring together the very people he was trying to tear apart.
"We can't have that, Mint-oneesan. How would we be able to set up Lettuce-neesan and Shirogane-oniisan then?" Pudding propped herself up between Ryou and Mint, grabbing their shoulders to pull herself up. Lettuce appeared in the very next moment, dragging away the hyperactive monkey girl as she kept one hand over her mouth. "SHH." The blushing girl quickly retreated with Pudding in hand.
"Girls." He rolled his eyes at them. "What is it with girls and trying to set people up?" His right eye visibly twitched yet another time- at this point, his right eye threatened to pop out. He began storming off after the pair that had left moments ago. "And since when were you trying to set me up with Lettuce?" He muttered as he stormed away.
"Would you be happier if we tried to set you up with Ichigo then?" Mint called after the blond, who only seemed to speed up even more afterward.
Mint shrugged and turned to Zakuro as she watched him leave.
"You really should be a little nicer Mint." The idol gave a slight smile to the somewhat taken back Mint.
"It's not my fault. Like he said, he doesn't like Ichigo. So none of this stuff should actually bother him. This is what he gets for being in denial."
"AFTER THEM!" The pair suddenly heard behind them. They turned around to see a swarm of angry girls tailing them. "AFTER THEM ALL!" The orange haired Reina stood at the front of the attack, extending an arm in their direction. The floor of the mall shook as the earthquake of fan girl feet rumbled threateningly after them.
"Oh my god! That's Zakuro!" Another girl squealed when the group had gotten close enough. No sooner had the stampede arrived, that the angry mob transformed into one of utmost admiration.
"The mall was a bad idea Zakuro."
"Agreed." The two were drowning in a sea of overzealous hands, trapped within the crowd. It would take another hour before the two would be able to escape.
Meanwhile, Ryou who should have been grateful for Zakuro's presence to distract the insane minds of infatuated girls, quickly ran after the redhead and brunet. The buzzing was getting louder and louder and it began pounding at his ears. He didn't know why his legs had moved on their own in that direction, only that if he had tried to fight it, his head would surely explode.
And then he found them. He took a slight step back, hand clutching at his chest. His strawberry was seated on a couch in the resting area of the mall. Her expression was pained, but Keiichiro gently brought a hand to her face, stroking it lightly. She stared at him with pleading eyes, before finally falling into his chest and allowing the brunet to wrap his arms around her.
It was too late. Ryou clasped his hands tightly together, eyes narrowing at the ground, before he stepped away from his hidden position and stomped away from the agitating scene.
"Shirogane!" He thought he heard his strawberry call, but brushed away the ridiculous impossibility as he hurried away to nowhere in particular.
"Kei-kun," Ichigo wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. "What's with him lately? And why don't you guys talk anymore?" She stared up at Keiichiro's smiling face as she nestled within his arms.
He pulled her closer against him, settling his chin on the top of her head and gave a sigh. "Don't worry about it Ichigo." The tone of his voice was soothing, lulling her into a calm. "Don't worry your pretty little head over it. Things will turn out for the best, and all this confusion you're feeling now will soon clear up."
She heaved, bringing Keiichiro's head up slightly in the motion. "I hope so Kei-kun. Because I just don't understand what's going on with me today. And I don't know why I'm so confused. I mean, I think I'm over Masaya but for some reason, I still feel these familiar emotions that I can't explain."
He stroked her hair. Although he could not see the tinted hue on her cheeks, he could feel Ichigo's face warm against his body. Keiichiro gave a light understanding chuckle. "In due time, Ichi-chan."
"Thanks Kei. You really are as sweet as Masaya." She pulled away from him, just enough to get a look at his smile. "And your smiles, they really are so comforting." Ichigo returned his grin, expression softening the more she spoke.
"Glad to hear it Ichi and I'm glad you're no longer troubled with thoughts of Aoyama." He pulled her back into the hug, giving her a small squeeze before he released her. "Now why don't we go find the others. I'm sure they're concerned about us." Keiichiro rose from his seat, offering a hand to the sitting Ichigo.
She held onto his warm hand, and released a breath, not even realizing she had held it in. Upon getting up however, he loosened his grip and spoke. "Why don't you go after Ryou? I'm sure he wouldn't listen to me. I'll go find the others."
The redhead looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
He chuckled. "It really won't be that bad."
Ichigo sighed and dropped her head in defeat. "Fine. If you insist. But only because I'm worried about you two not getting along, definitely not because I'm worried about that jerk."
"Mhmm."
"What?" She exclaimed after seeing Keiichiro's disapproving expression. "Well he is. I don't know how you can still be so understanding when he's been giving you the cold shoulder. Really Keiichiro, you're capacity for kindness is beyond me."
"I'm sure you can understand Ichigo. He's like a brother to me. It doesn't matter what he does to me, I'd still be concerned about him."
"I know I know." Ichigo said sighing.
"And I can't possibly leave him alone when he's already so lonely." Keiichiro chuckled at a sudden thought. "I'm sure he'd get angry if he heard that too. He'd probably yell at me for pitying him."
"Is it pity?" She asked, mildly stirred by Keiichiro's words.
"Of course not." He looked at her surprised.
Ichigo wrenched her face together as another unsettling feeling overcame her. She pressed against her stomach. "I know. You just have this desire to cure that loneliness, to take away that coldness that he's gotten used to. It's not pity, it's a need to make him smile, because his smiles can brighten up the room. Even if he's a jerk sometimes..." She trailed off, but suddenly realizing that she was speaking, she gasped and brought both hands against her mouth.
"Did you mean me or you, Ichigo?" Keiichiro smiled. He patted her head mildly. "It seems like the cloud of confusion is just beginning to clear up."
"W-What? What do you mean?" She sputtered, cat ears popping out at his sudden motion. "I was just saying how you must've felt...was all..." Ichigo looked away from the brunet, feeling her cheeks grow warm.
"Hai, hai." Keiichiro waved a hand to her, walking off to find the Mews. "Just know that I'll always be here if you need anything Ichigo." His voice faded as the tall figure disappeared into the distance.
"What was that about?" Ichigo mumbled, heart still racing from the warm embrace she received from the sweet and attractive brunet. "And definitely not because of thoughts of Shirogane..."
Ichigo breathed out a sigh. She motioned to smooth out her skirt, but looked down to see the pair of disgustingly baggy pants. With the heat blasted on high, the redhead was feeling warm beyond her comfort and the extra stockings she wore underneath did not help one bit. "Darn...should've taken one of the bags with me. Now I can't even change."
Her cheeks went pale. "...bags" She spun around, only managing to speak in single syllables. "Where...?" Ignoring Keiichiro's suggestion, she sped back towards the food court to retrieve her 21 bags of newly purchased things, compliments of a Mint who would most likely kill the redhead if she heard that she had lost everything.
She retraced her steps, staring down at the floor as her footsteps tapped against the glossy floor in a hurried rhythm. That is, until that rhythm was interrupted by a sudden...
CRASH!
"Watch it!" cried an annoyed girl whom Ichigo had just collided with. Both girls sat on the floor, rubbing their heads.
"Mint?!" The redhead's eyes grew wide. The dark-haired girl turned around to face her.
"I really should have brought my bodyguards with me today." She groaned, glaring at Ichigo. "The mall is absolutely ridiculous. It's filled with crazy girls and horny couples. I've yet to find any normal people at the mall. It's really more like an asylum for the hormonally imbalanced, gone off the charts type. Which I am not." Mint's cheeks grew red with anger as she spouted her words. "And what the hell is wrong with those fan girls? No wonder Shirogane-san doesn't like to go out. Crazies...all of them, crazies!"
"Come on, it's not that bad." Ichigo got up and offered a hand to the pouting Mint who had refused to get up. "And I come here all the time."
"Exactly." Mint glared at the girl, clearly not in a good mood.
"Psh. What's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo kept her agitated tone at bay, since it was her bestfriend who had paid for everything. She grabbed at Mint's resistant hand and pulled her up anyway.
"Well, whatever." Mint smirked at the redhead's efforts. Her bestfriend really wasn't one who was known for controlling her anger. Her attempt at it and the strained expression on her face amused Mint at least. "So why were you in such a hurry?"
"Uh." Ichigo shuffled uncomfortably where she stood. "I...uh..." Think, girl, think!
"...was trying to air out my legs?" She could have hit herself on the head in the next moment, but resisted the urge as she smiled on innocently, hoping that Mint would be too confused to ask what she meant.
The dark-haired girl raised an eyebrow at her, but in the very next moment her expression brightened up as a thought hit her. "Those clothes are uncomfortable aren't they?"
"Um. Mint, that smile is creepy."
"Hehehehe..." So was that sudden gleam in her eyes. "There's one more stop we should make. We've done the cute, ghetto, gangster, emo, rocker, and elegant looks. Now we're just missing one very important one. One that will make guys drool over you. The one you need to completely get over Aoyama-kun."
Ichigo's toe twitched momentarily. Wherever this was going, her body was uncomfortable with it and it was telling her so with the random spasms. "But...I'm already over him!"
"Nuh-uh." Mint wore a wide grin. "Not until you get another boyfriend, or at least take the proper steps to find one."
The redhead grabbed on to Mint's sleeve, eyebrows slightly together as her lips dropped into a frown. "Mint..." she whined. "I don't need a boyfriend."
"You're right Ichigo." The redhead relaxed. "The mall really isn't so bad." And tensed back up.
"Next up, you're full makeover! I'm gonna dress you up in drop-dead gorgeous sexy clothes. Until you can make every guy in the mall drool or make their jaws drop, my mission is not complete!"
Mint perked up, wearing a big smile as she pulled the groaning Ichigo along with her. "Oh come on Ichigo. You've got the body for it, you just have to use it. Haven't you always wanted to try being sexy for once?"
The redhead stirred mildly at her words. Her cheeks took on a crimson hue as she was reminded of a certain inconsiderate blond's words earlier that day "You have no sex appeal at all." Ichigo stood up tall and shook Mint's hand off of her own. Her friend turned around to look at her curiously.
"Oh hell yeah, Mint. Let's do this."
Beginning Operation Speechless Blond. This trip to the mall was going to be fun after all.
Okay, so honestly I didn't like this chapter that much. I feel like the story's been going downhill since the beginning of the mall, but this chapter was mostly to set up the next one. Please be patient!
I had hoped to make this chapter funny at least...
Let me know what you thought!