Episode 21 of Luckiest Loser

Under Pressure

I slumped over the cash register, the hard plastic didn't exactly make the most comfortable pillow in the world, but for now it would do. I wrapped my scrawny arms around it and heaved a sigh, my eyelids seemed to get heavier with every passing second. The morning rush at the bakery had just ended and I had suffered through it alone. No wonder I was almost dying from exhaustion.

I had sent Arisa to go get coffee for me, but that had been over an hour ago. What was even more annoying was that the coffee shop was right across the street. What could possibly be keeping her this long?

A few minutes passed in silence until I heard the familiar -and now seemingly dreadful- chime of the bell that sounded whenever the front door of the bakery opened. I lazily glanced up to see Arisa walking towards me with a broad smile on her face and a cup of coffee in each of her hands.

"Here you go," she said as she thrusted it under my nose, the strong small of caffeine wafted up into my nostrils. When she saw that I wasn't making any effort to take it from her she set it down on the counter with a shrug before taking a sip from her own.

"What took so long?" I grumbled as I looked back up at her. "It doesn't take an hour to get a cup of coffee."

"Oh, so that's why you're so grouchy right now?" She chuckled vividly.

I simply glared at her.

Arisa caught sight of my serious expression and rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. "Well, if you must know I met a cute boy."

Ah, that explains a lot. She was easily distracted by those sorts of things. Figures.

"And we started talking about a little of this and a little of that and I guess the time just flew by. I almost totally forgot about you." She said the last part a little too cheerfully. Arisa then placed a hand on her hip. "What's with that face you're giving me? If you don't want to drink you're coffee because it's cold then stick it in the microwave. Stop moping about it."

"It's too late for coffee..." I murmured absentmindedly. "I'm already half asleep." My eyes felt like they were going to fall out of my skull. I don't remember ever being this exhausted before.

Arisa tapped her chin thoughtfully with her index finger before smirking devilishly, much like the Twins, and leaned over to whisper into my ear. "I bet if that senior, Mori, walked in here you'd be wide awake."

Instantly, I stood up straight as if my body had been shot with a bolt of electricity. My mind reeled. How did she know about that? I hadn't told anyone about it and I had definitely planned on keeping last Sunday's fiasco a secret.

"So something did happen." Arisa's voice was coy and playful. "I heard from your sister that you went to his house last week and that you seemed adamant about keeping the intimate details to yourself."

I knew what she was hoping for. Well, too bad for her. I wasn't going to tell her anything. I kept my mouth shut and folded my arms across my chest stubbornly. No force on the planet could make me talk.

Arisa took notice of my strong stance and pressed her lips together. She rolled her eyes again and said, "It's not like you walked in on him changing or something."

My face felt warm and I hastily turned away from her. The mental image of a half dressed Mori flashed in front of my eyes again. I shook my head violently. Must. Not. Think. About. Mori. I had been tormented all week during school, at home and at work with that image stuck in my head. Every time I thought of it I would blush uncontrollably, which earned me weird stares from my classmates, teachers, parents, and siblings.

I heard the sound of hysterical laughter and I whirled around to face Arisa with a bitter scowl. "It's not funny!" I'm sure by this point in time my cheeks were flushed a lively shade of bright red. There was nothing I could do to redeem myself anyway. She had seen my reaction. She knew. The end.

She was laughing too hard to answer me. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of anguish for me, she wiped the tiny globules of tears from her eyes and tried to look at me without giggling like a deluded maniac. "Is that what really happened?"

I paused for a second. Isn't is obvious? Judging by my own reaction it would be hard for her, or anyone else for that matter, to think otherwise. Or maybe she was hoping I would let something else slide, that would be wishful thinking on her part.

I remained quiet and diverted my eyes elsewhere. I was so frustrated at myself. I had sworn that no one would find out about it, but Arisa, of all people, had to inadvertently guess the right thing and I, being the horrible actress that I am, couldn't play it off like she was off her rocker for suggestion something like that.

"You're acting like it was such a bad thing." Arisa said as she waved a hand in the air dismissively. "I bet-"

"Arisa," I interrupted sharply, "could we please not talk about this?"

She seemed hesitant at first, but eventually she gave a defeated sigh. "Fine." She then leaned into me closer with a grin tugging at the corners of her lips. "But only on the condition you tell me how good he looks without a shirt on."

"Forget it!" I snapped back as I clenched my fists furiously. I walked out from behind the counter, my temper was sky rocketing. I took a few deep breathes as I went across the bakery to the front door and looked back at her over my shoulder when I placed my hand on the door handle. "I'm going out for a long walk."

"How long?"

"Very long." I put an extra emphasis on the word "very".

"What if there are customers?" She was now sitting on top of the counter with her legs crossed and jiggling one foot nonchalantly.

I opened the door after throwing another scathing glare in her direction. "You can deal with them. After all, you work here too."

"What about Mamoru? He's coming in later and I'm sure he'll want to see you."

For an instance my anger deflated and it was replaced with a feeling of terrible dread. "If he's coming then I definitely want to take a walk."

I didn't bother waiting for her to respond to my snide remark and left. I heard the door close loudly behind me as I began stomping down the sidewalk while angrily pulling my apron off over my head. Once it was off I scrunched the white fabric into a ball between my hands and squeezed it like it was a stress ball. My fingers dug into the fabric as I gritted my teeth.

The weather outside was gloomy, white clouds blanketed the sky and the air was cool against my warm skin. However, no matter how refreshing the cold air felt, I was still extremely agitated.

I never imagined that I would be so relieved to out of the bakery. For years that place had been a source of comfort for me whenever I was feeling emotional or distressed, but now it was the last place I wanted to be in the entire world. It was all Arisa's fault. If she would have just dropped the subject then I could have been half asleep in the bakery and badgering her about brining me lukewarm coffee right now. I was hardly ever fortunate enough to have the better outcome of things.

Despite how thoroughly peeved I was at Arisa I still felt bad for leaving the way I did. I was too prideful to go back though and make amends. I could easily blame her for my current mood, but with each minute that went by I found myself getting more angry at myself than at her.

This wouldn't even be a problem in the first place had I not walked in on Mori, but it being the case that I had stupidly done that I was going to have to live with it.

Suddenly, someone come up from behind me and covered my eyes with their hands. I nearly yelled in surprise until I heard my assailant's perky voice.

"Nodoka! Guess who it is?"

That voice was so distinguishable, I could recognize it from anywhere. I groaned loudly.

"Mamoru? What are you doing out here?" I inquired in a hostile tone as he removed his hands.

He ruffled my hair. "I was on my way to the bakery, but I got distracted." How he could possibly be so upbeat on an overcast day like today was beyond me. He was in his usual attire of tight denim jeans and a black t-shirt that had some foreign band name on it scribbled across the front in bright red letters. I wonder if anyone had ever told him how much his quirky personality clashed with his wardrobe. Then again, knowing him, he wasn't the kind of person that necessarily cared what others thought of him.

"Arisa's going to be mad at you if you don't show up," I scolded as I slapped his hand away. It was so typical of him to neglect his duties and for him to do as he pleased.

"Then let her be mad."

"You're brutal."

"We all can't be saints."

I pouted. "Now you're just being a jerk."

He heaved his shoulders up and down in a casual manner. "Perhaps."

I fought the urge to smack him over the head. Would it hurt for him to have some sense of responsibility? Then again, I really shouldn't be talking because I had ditched Arisa only a little while ago.

Mamoru shoved his hands into his jean pockets as he walked down the sidewalk with me shadowing him from a short distance.

"Why aren't you at the bakery?" He asked after a short span of silence.

"Arisa was getting on my nerves," I muttered almost inaudibly. "Why aren't you there?"

"Like I said, I got distracted."

"By what?"

"Nothing in particular," he answered plainly.

"You just didn't feel like going in today, wouldn't it be easier for you to just fess up to that?" A vein in my temple throbbed, but I didn't have the opportunity to lecture him about it thanks to the appearance of someone that I would call troublesome that I spied heading our way over Mamoru's shoulder.

The clacking sound of high heeled shoes against cement pavement had never sounded so ominous in my entire life until now.

"Ah, Fujioka-san. Long time no see." Mamoru greeted Ranka-san warmly with a toothy grin.

"Please, just call me Ranka. There's no need for such formalities," he chuckled slyly in response as he adjusted the brightly colored scarf around his neck. "It's nice to see you as well, Mamoru-kun. How have you been?"

Cautiously, I backed away from the two men while silently praying Ranka-san hadn't spotted me yet as I my small frame was shielded from view by Mamoru. I didn't want to get up between the two of them because both of them had the same air of frivolity around them at the moment.

"I've been fine," Mamoru started as he caught sight of me trying to escape from the corner of his eye. He then grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward. "I'm just spending some quality time with my cousin here. Right, Nodoka?"

I tried to wriggle free from his grasp. "Let-"

Ranka-san cut me off before I could berate Mamoru, "Nodoka-chan, I've meaning to discuss a few things with you." He linked arms with me forcefully and I felt my wrist slide easily out of Mamoru's hand. Ranka-san began dragging me along by his side like I was a rag doll. "Come on, Nodoka-chan. I have some lovely tea back at my apartment we can drink while we talk. Haruhi's busy with the Host Club today and I'm lonely."

I was somewhat relieved to hear that from Ranka-san. The last thing I wanted right now was to bump into any of the Host Club members, with the exception being Haruhi and Hunny. Mori was the last person on earth I wanted to face, I was too terrified that I would become flustered in his presence that I would rather avoid him altogether. Hikaru and Kaoru were a close second.

I tired to get my footing on the sidewalk, but the way Ranka-san was pulling me was making it impossible for me to do so.

"Hey! Can I come too, Ranka?" Mamoru asked as he followed closely behind us with that idiotic smile on his face. What a great cousin he was to willingly aid in my kidnapping.

"Of course, Mamoru-kun. I'd be delighted to have you as well."

Today was truly a wonderful day so far. I had gone from being a sleep deprived teenager on the edge of collapsing from sheer exhaustion to a hostage in little less than an hour. Like I said, this whole ordeal was absolutely wonderful and I knew it was going to get a whole lot worse before it got any better.

My eyes narrowed as Ranka-san placed the tea cup brimming with steaming liquid in front of me. I sat with my hands in my lap and I solemnly refused to take even one little sip from it. Mamoru sat by my side jubilantly with one of his arms around my shoulder. I desperately wanted to violently shove him away from myself, but I held back. He was my cousin after all, there was no reason to think that his friendly actions could possibly hint towards something else.

Ranka-san took his usual seat across from me and hummed happily as he drink his tea. I didn't know whether he was oblivious to my anger or just putting up a show to further get on my nerves. In way very similar to Mori, he was difficult to read. The exception was the Ranka-san was far more expressive, but even then it was hard to interpret his words, facial expressions, and actions accurately.

With his free hand, Mamoru picked up his own cup of tea and took huge gulps from it. I sometimes wondered if he had been brought up by wild animals rather than people judging from his lack of etiquette. I can't imagine how my aunt and uncle put up with him. I'm surprised my own mother hadn't thrown him off a cliff by now.

Ranka-san placed his cup down at the table and ran a hand through his hair. "How did your trip to the Morinozuka estate go?"

Mamoru nearly spit out his tea at that, but he managed to swallow it before giving me an incredulous look. "You went where?" I was only a little disturbed by his sudden interest in the subject. "What happened?"

I twitched. Why did everyone want to know about that?

"Why does everyone think that something happened?" I moaned as I wrung my hands.

Ranka-san put a hand up to his mouth as he laughed. "Your expressions are very readable, Nodoka-chan. The instant anyone mentions his name you start fidgeting. Isn't that right, Mamoru-kun?"

Mamoru didn't say anything and he turned his face away from me. There was definitely something going in his mind that he wasn't telling me about. He still kept his arm around my shoulder though, which I thought was odd considering the fact that he appeared to be annoyed with me.

Ranka-san's eyes darted back and forth between Mamoru and myself before giving me a small knowing smile. "Are you going to answer me, Nodoka-chan?"

I lowered my head as I sulked. I was mildly surprised that my temper wasn't flaring at him for prying into the matter like Arisa had done. Maybe it was because she had accidentally correctly guessed the event that had transpired and that had landed me in this constant state of tug of war inside my head.

He took another quick drink from his cup of tea. "You haven't answered my question yet."

I chewed on my bottom lip until it was partially swollen as Mamoru's grip on my shoulder tightened.

Ranka-san cupped his chin in his hand and rested his elbow on the table while staring at me expectantly. It felt like his eyes were drilling holes into me. I tried my best to ignore his piercing look.

I think he began to get irritated by me because he started drumming his fingers on the table in a rhythmic pattern.

"Osen was right," he said with a nod, "you're too stubborn for your own good."

"She also said that's what made me cute," I added in a mumbled whisper.

"And right she is!" Mamoru interjected loudly as he abruptly regained his usual aggravatingly playful demeanor. He rubbed his knuckles in little circles on my cheek teasingly. "The faces you make when you're being obstinate are priceless."

I was finally at my limit of abuse and I pushed him away from me. "Stop it." I stood up on my foot and put my hands on my hips as I glowered down at m cousin. "Do you have any idea how bothersome you can be?" I then shifted my attention towards Ranka-san and pointed my index finger accusingly at him. "And you! You're too nosy, if I don't want to comment about what happened then I shouldn't have to." My voice had been shaking as I spoke, maybe it was because I was feeling a tad nervous about telling Ranka-san off in such a furious way.

"You really don't want to say what happened then?" Ranka-san blinked at me without the slightest hint that what I had said had fazed him in any way.

"Yes," I answered bluntly.

Ranka-san delicately picked up his tea cup and gazed into the liquid contents within it. "You know, the more resilient you are about telling people what happened the more we're going to think you did something, how should I put this...inappropriate." He looked back up at me with a raised eyebrow and a thin sneer on his lips.

His last word struck a chord within me. Is this why everyone was so curious? They all thought that I had done something inappropriate. My body froze briefly as I tried to think what could have possibly gone through my sister's head last week when I evaded her questions. Was she thinking along the same lines?

"It's nothing like that," I stuttered in shock as I dropped back down into a sitting position next to Mamoru. "I wouldn't...never...no..." I could feel the blood rushing to my face as I tried to get my mind around how anyone could possibly jump to such a conclusion.

Ranka-san laughed flippantly, as if taking some sick pleasure from my panic. "I was just joking, I know you'd never do anything like that."

The man's a sadist, I swear.

"Then why bring it up?" I demanded as I puffed out my cheeks in frustration.

"I like seeing you squirm." He was a bastard alright, albeit an honest one. "But you honestly have no intentions of revealing what occurred so I guess it can't be helped." He sighed inwardly. For a fleeting instant I almost felt guilty for witnessing Ranka-san with such a forlorn expression until I realized that I was the one being played the victim here.

"The way you make it sound is like you hoped something would happen. Both you and Hunny were both pushy about me going there..." I trailed off as I saw Ranka-san's minute change in visage from sadness to apprehension. I rested one of arms across the low table and furrowed my brows suspiciously as a bead of perspiration dripped down the side of my forehead. "Don't tell me you two planned this?"

"Of course not! I only called Hunny to make sure you got there in one piece."

"Really? I thought you were the type of guy who'd bully to death any guy that got too close to your daughter."

"Well, yes I would. But you're missing the point."

"And that is?"

"You're not my daughter so I'll meddle in your personal affairs as much as I like. I didn't think you had the guts to do anything on your own so I gave you a little friendly push in the right direction."

I really should have seen this coming. It all seemed too convenient in the first place. He did have a good point though, I probably would have never returned the blazer on my own unless he had coerced me into it.

I glanced curiously at my cousin who had surprisingly remained stonily quiet throughout my revealing exchange of words with Ranka-san. Normally, I pictured him the type to jump right in with Ranka-san and tease me, but lately his behavior was erratic and unpredictable. I knew he was a strange guy, but I couldn't help feeling concerned. Life would be so much less complicated if I had even the faintest idea of what was going on in the heads of those around me.

Ranka-san then initiated a conversation with Mamoru. I wasn't in the mood to pay attention so I tuned out their voices. I eventually gave in and gradually started drinking the tea Ranka-san had poured for me. It was still warm and tasted vaguely like lemons.

I used the time that Ranka-san and Mamoru were talking to evaluate my situation. I liked Mori, but I had no clue if the feeling was mutual and I highly doubted that it was. That being the case, why would Ranka-san eagerly send me to Morinozuka mansion if he was only setting me up to be rejected? Ranka-san could be cold and mischievous, but he would never intentionally set someone up like that. Hunny was also eager to take me there after I had gotten myself lost, but Ranka-san insisted that he had nothing to do with his plan.

There was no denying that everyone seemed to have an ulterior motive of some sort. It was just a matter of me trying to figure out what it all meant.

XXXXXX

There's a reason Mamoru is the way he is. All will be revealed in time. :3

Musical Inspiration- D-Technolife by UVERworld

Dc-chan: I updated this when I should have been studying for upcoming finals. This is madness. And the fact that this story has over 300 hundred reviews is alsomadness, but the good kind.

Anyways, I have some interesting stuff planned for the next few chapters. I finally have a good idea of where I want to go with this story after twenty-one chapters (kinda sad, right?).

Review:D

Peace out.