Disclaimer: I do not own Shakugan no Shana

Chapter 14 – Summer Break Begins!

"YEAH! SUMMER TIME!" Keisaku Satou shouted, punching his arm in the air. He had just finished packing his stuff into his bag. It was Lunchtime and half of the students were in class. "Woohoo! School ends today! I mean… by the end of the day… Err… Today… GARH! Who cares!"

"Satou-kun, you're so happy that you made so many mistakes," Matake Ogata giggled.

"Like I said, who cares?" Keisaku replied happily. "Don't tell me you're not happy that the holidays are finally here? No school! Total freedom!"

"Satou-kun… You really enjoy not going to school, huh? School's pretty fun…"

"Oh-ho, I bet it's 'fun' now that we've got a chic magnet in our class,"

"You sound jealous…"

"You bet. I wonder how Akenabe does that?"

"Hmmm… Maybe he's got the charm,"

"Awww… Ogata-san, don't tell me you're falling for him, too,"

"Well, I think he's pretty cool, but he's not my type,"

"Oh, thank God!"

"What?"

"Nothing,"

"Hey," Came a voice.

"Oh, yo, Sakai, " Keisaku said, "Summer break begins tomorrow. Cool, huh? No school!"

"Yeah. I hope we're gonna do something fun like last time," Yuji said.

"We're gonna have some activities during summer break then? Sweet! I was actually hoping for one," Another voice came. Yuji, Keisaku and Matake turned around to see who was talking. Eita Tanaka was walking towards them.

"Oh… Hi, Tanaka," Yuji said.

"So… what're we gonna play this time round?" Eita said enthusiastically, "Maybe we should do the swimming thing again and make the girls wear swimsuits!"

"That wouldn't really be possible," Someone said quietly behind them, and they all jumped.

"Akenabe-kun!" Matake mumbled, irritated, "Don't sneak up behind us! It's rude!"

"H-H-Hold on!" Michiru stammered, "I didn't sneak, alright?"

"Yeah, Akenabe, don't scare her, alright? It's creepy to appear suddenly and-" Keisaku began.

"W-Wait, I didn't…!" Michiru retorted.

"You know what, Akenabe, I just realized something," Eita said, "Sometimes you were just there around me, but I can't seem to be able to notice that you're there unless you're talking…"

"Yeah, right…." Kaeisaku said carelessly, "Like Akenabe's got special powers or someth- Wait a minute! Maybe he has! Hey, Eita, can you could he be a Flame-?"

"SHHHH!" Eita shushed angrily. Matake was looking at them as if they were from the asylum. Keisaku simply had to keep his mouth shut.

"Oops…" Keisaku said sheepishly.

In order to distract Matake, Eita decided to change the topic.

"So… where were we again?" He began.

"Errr… we're in class, dude…" Michiru joked.

"Not funny," Keisaku said truthfully.

"Oh, well…" Michiru shrugged.

At the meantime, Yuji was thinking. Even normal people may sense that Michiru is a little different. Not only Eita, but even Yuji himself felt that he would not really know about Michiru's presence unless he called his name. What if the normal people find out something weird about Michiru?

"Umm… Sakai-kun…" a shy voice said while Yuji was deep in thought.

Yuji, still having his mind distracted, could not hear the voice, not even Matake came towards him and waved her arms in front of his eyes.

"OI, YUJI!" Michiru shouted.

"Garh!" Yuji jumped. "Michiru, don't… Oh, Yoshida-san…"

"Finally noticed she's there, huh? What were you thinking about? Your spirit seems to be away," Michiru said.

"Hmmm… I bet he's thinking about last summer's event! You know, the swimsuit girls…" Eita chuckled.

"Ummm… Sakai-kun…" Kazumi Yoshida said quietly.

"What is it, Yoshida-san?" Yuji asked kindly.

"Sakai-kun… I… made this…" Kazumi said, still feeling shy, "Would you… like to try it?"

"Oh," Yuji said, noticing the bento in her hand, "Yeah. Sure, Yoshida-san,"

"Awww…" Eita said playfully, "Sakai's got an admirer…"

Yuji took the bento from Kazumi and headed towards his table to eat.

"Oh yeah," Keisaku said, "Akenabe hasn't even received a bento from a girl yet, right?"

"Gosh, Keisaku you're right!" Eita said, and then turned towards Michiru, "See? Even Sakai has received a bento from a girl! Don't tell me you haven't! You know how those girls are always trying to take a second look at you wherever you pass by!"

"Don't be jealous, dude," Michiru said, unable to resist smiling, "I'm sure you'll get a bento from your Ogata-san soon,"

"Hmmm… Ogata-san, how 'bout you make me a tasty bento?" Eita chuckled.

"Huh? I don't know how to!" Matake said.

"Geez," Eita said, "Forget about me, then. Akenabe, you're sure you haven't received a bento from a girl?"

"Yup. My memories are fresh," Michiru replied, then added, "But I'm sure I'll get a tasty one soon,", thinking about the promise he made to Wilhelmina.

"Wow. Akenabe is not only a stealth assassin, but a psychic too!" Keisaku cut in.

"S-Sakai-kun… how does it taste?" Kazumi's squeaky voice traveled towards them and they turned.

"Hmmm… not bad, Yoshida-san, keep it up," Yuji said truthfully. Shana suddenly crossed his mind. Good thing she was not in school today. Both she and Wilhelmina are resting at Yukari's house, because Wilhelmina did not want to move much, and Michiru had also cleaned up the place.

"Awww… Yoshida-san didn't make any for us…" Eita spoke loudly in a pity voice on purpose, "Not fair! Sakai is the only one she cares about!"

Keisaku giggled. Matake looked cross. Michiru smacked him on the head. Yuji and Kazumi blushed.

"Oh well, since we don't have any bento we should go downstairs and buy something," Keisaku conceded.

"Yeah, Akenabe, care to come with us? Our school's got pretty yummy melon buns," Eita said.

"Nah," Michiru smiled, "I'm not hungry and I never will,"

Keisaku raised an eyebrow while Yuji turned around almost instantly.

"Literally…" Michiru quickly added.

"Right, Eita, let's go," Keisaku said and Eita followed him out of the classroom.

Michiru and Matake stood there saying nothing, then a few seconds later Matake shouted at the door, "Wait for me! Hey!" and she ran off too.

In the end, Yuji, Michiru, Kazumi and three classmates were the one left in class.

"Great. I didn't know lunchtime on the day before Summer Break is this boring," Michiru grunted.

"You might wanna go to the field and organize a baseball game," Yuji said idly.

"Hmmm… you're right," Michiru replied, "I think I should!"

"H-Hold on…!" Yuji shouted as Michiru slid the classroom door open. Michiru suddenly noticed a girl standing in front of him. The girl was also holding a bento. At first, Michiru thought she was searching for an elderly sibling in this class, but then she said, "U-ummm… Akenabe-senpai?"

"Huh?" Michiru was taken aback.

"Umm… b-bento…" The girl squeaked, handing out the bento to Michiru but her head was looking downwards. Maybe she was too shy to look at him.

Michiru took the bento from her and said, "I'll take it, thanks,"

The girl bowed shyly and left. Michiru was about to close the door when he realized he did not know the girl's name, and he wanted to know.

"Hey, wait!" Michiru shouted and followed after her. The girl stopped, her back facing Michiru. He walked closer to her and asked, "What is your name?"

"Ai Takasu," The girl squeaked.

"I see," Michiru replied, "Can you show me your face?"

"Huh?" Ai squeaked shyly, blushing.

"I want to see your face," Michiru said firmly.

Ai finally turned around. Michiru looked at her face for three seconds before saying, "You're pretty cute, Ai-chan. Oh, and… can you wait for me by the gate after school?"

"Huh?" Ai squeaked again.

"In case you didn't hear it properly, I was asking if you could wait for me by the gate after school," Michiru repeated.

"Oh…" Ai said, "Y-Yeah. Okay…"

"It's settled, then. If I'm early I'll wait for you," Michiru said and went back to his classroom.

The moment he entered the classroom, Yuji noticed the bento on his hand. Yuji had finished up his bento and was cleaning his table.

"Whoa," He said.

"Don't 'whoa' at me, okay? You just had one AND remember this, dude - you don't even have to eat!" Michiru said carelessly.

"Oi…" Yuji whispered, lifting his eyebrow.

"Oops," Michiru said. Although he was not looking at Kazumi he knew she was looking at him. He really had said too much.

Just then, Matake, Eita and Keisaku entered the class. The first thing that Keisaku noticed was the bento on Michiru's hand.

"Wow! You really are psychic!" He shouted happily, as if he was the one who received the bento.

"Are you dumb or what?" Matake said, "He prepared one all along! You think we're kids or something?" she added, turning to Michiru.

"Ummm…" Kazumi cut in, "A girl really gave it to him. I saw it,"

"Me too," Yuji added.

"You all are in cahoots! I know it!" Matake retorted.

"Alright… alright… don't go making a fuss, alright?" Eita said to Matake.

Michiru took out a watch from his pocket and said, "We've not much time left, lunchtime is almost over,"

"Yeah, we've eight minutes left," Keisaku said, "Better finish up everything and clean up the class,"

….

"YEAH! OVER! IT'S OVER!" Keisaku shouted like a madman after the school bell rang, jumping around and punching his arm at random. "NO MORE SCHOOL! JUST FUN!"

"Satou-kun…" Matake sighed.

"So, now we gotta do some planning!" Keisaku said happily, "So… for summer, what's the best thing to do?"

"Swimming," Michiru gave a suggestion.

"But we've done that last time," Eita said, "We should do something else…"

Matake suddenly pulled out a few leaflets from her bag and shoved it to the guys, Keisaku, Eita, Yuji and Michiru. And a girl. Kazumi Yoshida,"

"Hmmm? What's this?" Eita asked after receiving the leaflet.

"Just read…" Matake said in a tone as if saying 'duh'.

"Horror House?" Michiru said upon reading the large words printed on top.

"Yeah," Matake said proudly, "Nice, huh? I'm sure this could bring us the fun!"

"What the heck?" Keisaku cut in, "I thought summer time is for sunbathing? Anyways why are they having some kind of spooky thing during summer? I thought it's for Halloween?"

"Ummm... They can organize anything anytime…" Kazumi said quietly.

"Anyways," Matake said loudly, "They're having a discount for tomorrow, and ONLY tomorrow, so I think tomorrow's the day we should go,"

"So we'll meet outside the entrance?" Yuji asked.

"Yeah. And nobody is to go in unless all of us are there!" Matake said firmly. "And you may invite Yukari-chan to go, Sakai-kun,"

Kazumi Yoshida looked sour, but just then…

"OH CRAP!" Michiru suddenly shouted. All of them jumped.

"Akenabe-kun!" Matake murmured angrily, "Stop scaring us!"

"What's wrong?" Yuji asked.

"Speaking about meeting at the entrance, I'm late for someone!" Michiru said. He quickly grabbed his bag and left without saying goodbye.

"Sheesh…" Eita said. "Where the hell could he be going?"

"I think he's going to meet… a girl…" Yuji said, remembering about the girl who gave Michiru her bento. Michiru must have asked her out.

….

Michiru ran as fast as he could. He was definitely late. Maybe Ai would have left.

"Crap," He thought to himself, "Just great, making someone wait like that…"

He ran out to the school compounds and suddenly spotted the girl he was about to meet by the gate.

"Ai-chan!" He shouted, running towards her.

"S-Senpai…" Ai squeaked shyly, looking at the floor once again.

"Good thing you're still here," Michiru said, relieved, "I thought you had left. Sorry I'm late,"

"It's… okay…" Ai said.

"Thanks for waiting, Ai-chan," Michiru finally said what he wanted to say, "Can you take me to your house?"