ARRGH I'M SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE D:
I did a complete plot twist, so a lot of my pre-stuff sadly became useless and I had to re-write all of it. But I've given you a nice long chapter to make up for it :)
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Shinji Mimura was Shuuya Nanahara's best friend. That could go down in the laws of science as a scientific law. There was nothing in the universe that could ever break the two of them up.
…except for hearing the words 'Takako's up to something' eight million times a day.
"SHE'S NOT UP TO SOMETHING," Shuuya groaned for the eight million and oneth (1) time that day, "seriously, Mim, whatever happened to being frosty or whatever? What if your uncle was watching you?
"I hope my uncle's not watching me," Shinji commented with a shudder, "he'd laugh at me, or something, for getting my balls in a twist over a girl!"
"Well, it's not that unheard of," said Yoshi, "c'mon, Mim, admit you like her!"
"No," Shinji retorted, "that would be lying, and I don't believe in lying!"
Shuuya (and the narration) could think of at least three—four—five—six—oh, a lot of times when Shinji had believed in lying, but chose not to bring it up.
"You're just pissed because you're not REALLY going out with Takako, are you?" sneered the annoying voice belonging to Kazushi Niida.
"What's that buzzing noise?" Shinji asked loudly, rolling his eyes. Kazushi was leaned against the wall of the staircase, glaring at him, cracking his wimpy knuckles. The shiner Takako had given him from the night of Yukie's party was still visible, even almost a month; faint, but still pretty darn visible.
"You heard me, Mimura, you asshole," snarled Kazushi. "Like Takako'd ever waste her time on shit sticks like you. How drunk was she when you fucked her at Yukie's party?"
"About as sober as she was when she bashed your mutant face in, although I don't see much of a difference," Shinji replied coolly, knowing perfectly well Takako WAS wasted but deciding to leave that detail out. It wasn't any of Niida's business anyway. "Now unless you want to die, I'd suggest you get the hell out of my way, because I swear the next fucking person who pisses me off is—"
"You talk tough, Mimura, but you sure as hell don't have the balls to back yourself up," Kazushi snarled, clenching his fists. "I'll knock the smirk right off your face!"
"I'm not smirking," Shinji said calmly, "and if you're finished acting like you're ten times tougher than you really are, you can feel free to get the hell out of my way!"
Kazushi glared at him, then smirked. "Sure. Go right ahead," he snapped, leaning against the wall again.
Yutaka scurried down the stairs, yelling something about being hungry, but Shinji and Shuuya were much more suspicious. Shinji started to head down the stairs, and Kazushi stuck his foot out.
"Hey! Mim! He's tryin' to trip you!" Shuuya yelled. Shinji spun around on the spot to pound Kazushi's face in, but Kazushi beat him to the punch, literally. He sunk his fist into Shinji's stomach, knocking the wind out of the basketball star.
"Ow! Son of a bitch!" Shinji grunted, hugging his stomach. "Who the hell do you think you are, you—" Kazushi cut him off with another punch, this one right smack in the middle of his face.
"AARGH!!" Shinji yelled, enraged. Unbeknownst to Shinji, Takako and Hiroki were headed up the stairs, and in his state of rage, Shinji seized Kazushi by his shoulders and proceeded to tackle him down the stairs, sending both boys rolling down the stairs, Kazushi crying in pain every time Shinji's punches made contact (which was 98 percent of the time) with his body.
Hiroki saw the two warriors locked in mortal combat rolling down the stairs and jumped off the ledge, sparing himself, but unfortunately for Takako, (who was on the right side of the staircase and couldn't get out of the way) Kazushi rolled into her legs, causing her to topple over on top of Shinji, causing all three of them to tumble down the remaining stairs and fall to the ground in an angry heap, Shinji still beating the hell out of Kazushi until he landed on top of Takako.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?" Takako shouted. "God DAMMIT, Mimura, get your head out of my chest!!"
"So that's what this is," Shinji said, his voice muffled.
Kazushi, whimpering in pain, scrambled to his wobbly feet. He was muttering swear words with every gasp for air, and proceeded to kick Shinji in the crotch on his way up.
"OWW!" Shinji yelped, recoiling horribly. "FUCK!! Why does this keep HAPPENING!?"
"It woulda been worse had the Robo-Bitch not been here to break your fall!" Kazushi said shrilly, bringing up one of Takako's old nicknames, mopping up his bloody nose and lip.
Shinji was outraged. "What'd you call her, you son of a—" Takako put her hand over his mouth and pushed him aside, getting to her feet and cracking her knuckles. She tapped Kazushi's shoulder, and when he turned around, she punched him in his stomach. Hard.
Kazushi grunted as Takako's fist connected with his stomach, the force of the punch causing him to double over. Takako smirked and blew on her fist as though it were a smoking gun. "Get the hell out of here," she snapped. "Or it's gonna get worse."
"You two assholes were made for each other!" Kazushi yelled, and stumbled away on his wobbly legs. Apparently he didn't mind hitting a fallen opponent (and even that wasn't accurate; Shinji had tripped down the stairs and hadn't gotten up yet when Kazushi kicked him) but when faced with a stronger opponent, or at least one who would fight back, he would run for the hills.
Of course, with every fight, there were people gathered to watch, all of whom were already jumping to ridiculous conclusions as to what happened to start the fight (Kazushi was trying to steal Takako away from Shinji, and Shinji beat the hell out of him, and Takako finished the job!!!!! OMIGOD!!). Shinji shot Shuuya a HELP look.
"Clear out, get out of here," Hiroki said, quickly redirecting everyone in a different direction.
"Yeah, beat it," Shuuya added. "Let the two lovebirds make out in peace… trust me, folks, you do not want to see what's coming up…"
-
Takako watched the people disperse and let her breath out. "What the hell was that about?" she asked, staring at Shinji with almost concern as she helped pull him to his feet. "He do that to your nose?"
Shinji's eyes widened and his hand jumped to his nose. "Aaargh… it's not broken," he groaned. "Definitely bleeding. You have a tissue or something?"
"Yeah, hang on," Takako said, digging through her bag. "Here… Tilt your head back some…"
Shuuya opened his mouth to say something, but Hiroki grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. Both smirking ear-to-ear, the two boys snuck out the side door, leaving Shinji and Takako alone.
Assholes, Shinji thought, but fought back a grin, making a note to thank Shuuya later after he was done kicking his ass for leaving him. Takako was still giving him a pitying "too bad you got your ass kicked" look, and he decided to elaborate. "Uh, for the record, Niida snuck up on me," he said quickly, stuffing his free hand into his pocket. "He jumped me, I swear."
Takako flashed him a quick smile. "Yeah, well, it's Niida. He's a pussy."
Shinji grinned. "Right. Well, by now he's probably halfway to the principal's office, to rat me out, and then I'll be—"
"—innocent," Takako interrupted. "He hit you first, right?"
"Yeah, but there's no way to prove that," Shinji said, surprised at the fact that they were, once again, getting along. And he liked it. He pressed the tissue to his nose again, wincing. "Ow. Of all the places for him to nail me, he's gotta go for my nose AND my balls. I can't even fucking stand up!"
"It could be worse," Takako pointed out. "He could have broken your nose or really crunched your nuts."
Shinji winced at the idea. "Speaking of which, that was some punch," he told her, grinning. "You really nailed him, I saw him crying. Serves him right."
"I hear ya," Takako smiled. She glanced over Shinji's shoulder and frowned. "Hey, where'd Sugi go?"
"He and Shu abandoned us a few minutes ago," Shinji said, awkwardly scratching his head.
"Oh," Takako said, looking uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Uh, Mimura, I… uh…"
Shinji leaned in towards her, and without any warning, kissed her, slanting his lips across hers, trying to take advantage of the little time they had together before they were inevitably interrupted. Takako's hand went to his waist, her fingers threading through his empty belt loops and pulling him closer to her.
After about fifteen seconds Shinji pulled back. Takako stared at him. "Wh-what was that for?" she asked. It sure as hell wasn't the first time he had randomly kissed her, but normally he did it when she was about to rip his head off.
Shinji shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed. "I felt like it."
"In about ten seconds, that door's going to open, and half the school's going to pile in here, like always," Takako muttered, her hand moving to brush a stray strand of hair from her face. Shinji's hand reached hers and pushed it down gently, his own hand tucking the piece of hair behind her ear.
"Let 'em watch," Shinji told her, and kissed her again, slipping his arms around her waist. Takako slid her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, not even going to pretend to struggle. She kissed him for a while, letting go of her thoughts as Shinji held her in his arms.
Needing to breathe, they pulled away from each other, Shinji leaning his head against hers. "One of these days," he said, "when we've stopped playing games, I'll be able to do that whenever I want." Takako felt a blush creeping up her cheeks.
"What do you mean, when we've stopped playing games?" Takako asked. "What makes you so sure that'll happen?"
"It'll happen," Shinji said confidently, wiping the blood from his nose again, having forgotten it was bleeding in the first place. "I'll make sure it does. Everyone I know keeps telling me I'm crazy about you, I've been denying it all this time, but I don't give a crap anymore. I'll play along as long as you want, but you're going to be mine when all this is over," he continued, leaning forward to kiss her cheek softly. "You're driving me crazy, Takako, what the hell do I have to do?"
Takako bit her bottom lip firmly to prevent herself from saying anything. There was no way he was screwing with her… he sounded so damn sincere, and although he lied to everyone else about the two of them, he hadn't lied to her yet. Hell, he was even honest with her about that stupid trap, knowing perfectly well she was going to kill him for it.
She was trying to keep her thoughts straight, but it wasn't helping that Shinji's arms were still around her waist, his body pressed against hers, his lips kissing her cheek again before moving to her mouth again. Not that she minded, but she had to make some sense of what she was thinking.
"Shinji, stop it," Takako said finally, pulling away from him.
Shinji didn't argue, but instead dropped his arms, surprised she used his first name for once, but deciding instantly he preferred it to his last name when she said it. Takako looked at him and closed her eyes, confused out of her mind.
"I'll talk to you later," she finally said, avoiding eye contact.
Shinji nodded, not saying anything.
Takako took one last glance at him, at his handsome face, his gorgeous dark eyes, the wet blood coming from his nose… don't, she told herself, but ignored it and pressed her lips to Shinji's again. "See you," she said quickly, and left.
Shinji watched her go and sighed. He couldn't have been more bluntly discreet about telling her how he felt and he still got no reaction from her. Shuuya couldn't use the shell-shocked excuse again, she kissed him back and she still turned him down.
She's screwing with me, that's what she's doing, Shinji realized, and scowled. Nobody screwed with Shinji Mimura like that. With a scowl, and a renewed resolve, Shinji wiped the blood coming from his nose off on his hand and stormed off to lunch, his mind brimming with ways to get back at the girl he was very quickly falling in love with.
-
Takako walked as quickly as she could to the cafeteria to avoid letting Shinji catch up with her; she'd left before him, but there was a possibility he might beat her to lunch, which she didn't want happening. She had a lot to think about now, and she wasn't too sure if she was still playing games with him. Part of her… alright, most of her, really wanted him. Somewhere, between annoying her half to death and kissing her, he'd won her over. She knew it wasn't about revenge anymore, not really… it was about getting her hands on him. Revenge had become their excuse, not their motivation.
Too bad she had no idea how to tell Hiroki this… or, for that matter, Shinji himself…
Hiroki might not believe her… or maybe he'd already figured it out. Sometimes it seemed he knew what she was thinking before she did; maybe he'd been able to see through her since Day 1.
Then again, Day 1 she really DID want to kill Shinji… so that wasn't completely accurate. Well, whatever.
Apparently Kazushi had been quick to tell the entire world that Shinji Mimura beat him up and Takako Chigusa punched him in the gut to finish the job; nobody had heard, though, that Kazushi had been the first to start the fight. Typical Kazushi, leaving that minor detail out. Takako ignored the people muttering and pointing as she walked by; she sat down at her usual table with Hiroki, who looked at her expectantly.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well what?" Takako asked.
"How'd it go with Mimura? We left you guys alone in there… and you're not covered in blood, meaning you didn't KILL him… what happened?" Hiroki asked. He stopped. "Well, if it's anything, uhh, private—you can disclose that information, but, uh—"
"This time, he told me he was crazy about me," Takako groaned. "And that's got me more confused than ever."
Hiroki looked so shocked Takako actually thought his brain died. "Sugi!? Sugi!?" she asked.
Hiroki shook his head and blinked a few times, apparently trying to regain control of his mind. "He said WHAT!?" he finally asked.
"I already told you," Takako said, blushing. "Don't make me say it again."
"Taka, you don't understand. I've known Mim for about—god, I don't know, four years? And never, ever, EVER, has he ever told a girl he even REMOTELY liked her," Hiroki said, looking awe-struck. "Hell, he used to make fun of US for admitting we liked a girl—not that we ever tell him anymore, we learned that the hard way, but he always figures it out somehow—"
"Sugi!" Takako interrupted. "Focus!"
"Sorry, sorry. Well… the thing is, when he said earlier, he liked you… well, he's never said that to a girl before, at least to my current knowledge. But if he really told you he was CRAZY about you—well, coming from Mim, that's an "I love you"," Hiroki explained. "What'd you tell him?"
"I told him to stop kissing me—oh, grow up," she added, when Hiroki made a face—"and that I'd talk to him later." She looked at him. "Well, what's your analysis of the situation?" she finally asked.
"I have no idea," Hiroki said, tapping his nose awkwardly. "I… I honestly don't know WHAT to say. I think he really means it, but that could just be my charmingly optimistic nature, if I do say so myself…"
"Not helping," Takako groaned. "Well, what now? I've no idea what to make of this…"
Hiroki hadn't spoken, and instead was giving her a thoughtful look.
"What?" she said finally, annoyed.
"It doesn't take a genius, Takako," Hiroki told her. "You're crazy about him too."
"I am not!" Takako said automatically.
"Oh come on, Takako," Hiroki said, exasperated. "This is me you're talking to. Cut the crap. You like Mim. Probably have for a while now, but you just won't admit it—to me, to yourself—well, no matter what, you need to admit it to Mim. He's already done his half."
Takako stared at him before a big, uncharacteristic smile spread across her face. Why was she still screwing around with Mimura? He liked her, she knew he did, he'd said it himself—but she was too insecure about it to believe it. And now it hit her right smack in the face—she liked him, too.
With timing unmatched by any mortal human being, Shinji came in the cafeteria, making a beeline for his usual table, looking thoroughly angry and miserable, although his nose wasn't bleeding visibly anymore. She should just march right over there and ask Shinji to go out with her… well, no, first she'd drag him away from his idiot friends, then ask him. He'd say yes, she knew he would… Hiroki was right…
"I think you're right, Sugi," Takako said, shaking her head. "Man… who would've seen this coming?"
"Uh, everyone," Hiroki told her, and they both laughed, Takako a bit more reluctantly.
-
It didn't take long for the entire school to hear how Shinji and Takako teamed up on poor innocent Kazushi and beat the living hell out of him. If anything, Shinji was still too angry that Takako blew him off again to give a crap what the other idiots thought.
"Mim?" Shuuya asked, when Shinji sat down with a scowl and savagely attacked his lunch. "Uh… everything okay?"
Shinji glowered at him silently, which Shuuya took to understand as "we'll talk about this later". Yutaka and Yoshi eyed him strangely, but let it go, assuming it had to do with his nose.
"ARRRGH," Shinji growled, the first thing he'd said in twenty minutes, when blood began to drip from his nose. "Stupid son-of-a—" He grabbed the only paper thing he could find (Yutaka's recently completed math homework) and held it against his nose, still shaking with fury.
"Eww," Yutaka whined, "Mim, come on, that's my homework, it took me two—"
"You can copy mine," Shuuya interrupted quickly, wanting to avoid the storm brewing on the horizon from making a landfall and killing everyone in its wake.
"But you're not in my class," Yutaka complained, and Shuuya kicked him under the table angrily.
"Hey, strangest thing today," Yoshi commented, and Shuuya breathed a sigh of relief, thinking Yoshi wouldn't be so stupid as to bring up a Takako-related subject. "Hiroki talked to me! He asked me how I was doing!"
Shinji's hand, which was holding a filled bottle of water, clenched angrily, squashing the bottle and alarming Yoshi into silence. Shuuya sighed, pretty sure this was going to be SOME story Shinji was going to share later…
-
"Mim, hold up, we need to talk," Shuuya said, grabbing his friend's arm. Shinji scowled and jerked away, but didn't attack, which Shuuya took as a good sign. "What's bugging you, man? Is it…" He glanced behind his shoulder quickly. "Is it Takako?"
"OF COURSE IT'S HER!!" Shinji shouted, scaring the hell out of Shuuya and nearly knocking him on his ass. "Do you even have to ASK!?"
"Sorry, sorry," Shuuya said quickly. "What'd she do now?"
"I already told you," Shinji said impatiently, "I'll tell you when I feel like telling you, and I don't feel like telling anyone anything at the moment, so leggo, I want to get home before my nose starts bleeding again."
"Stop walling me out," Shuuya ordered. "Mim, something's bugging you, we all know what is, I'm your best friend, and if you don't talk to someone all this anxiety is going to build up and you're going to explode."
Shinji raised an eyebrow at this.
"I had the friggen trots yesterday and I was reading one of Ms. Ryoko's parenting magazines to kill the time, but that's not the point," Shuuya said impatiently. "Just answer me this, alright?"
"No!"
"You didn't even hear it yet!" Shuuya whined. "Look, I'm assuming you told Takako you liked her again, right?"
Shinji's scowl got bigger, so Shuuya assumed that meant 'yes'. He was about to ask, "How'd she take it?" but seeing the nearly savage expression on Shinji's face, he decided that wouldn't be such a smart idea.
"What happened? C'mon," Shuuya said, putting a comforting arm around his friend's shoulder, expecting to be hit since Shinji wasn't a big fan of being hugged (unless, of course, it was by Takako).
He WASN'T expecting Shinji to fling his arms around him and practically lose it. "She blew me off again," Shinji whined, burrowing his face into Shuuya's shoulder, "I told her I was crazy about her, and she just kept kissing me back, and she didn't even say anything, she's using me, man, I'm losing my mind!!" He let out an anguished scream into Shuuya's shoulder which was thankfully muffled, but Shuuya put his arms around his friend and hugged him tightly.
"Let it out, man," Shuuya told him, patting his head comfortingly, "c'mon, it'll be okay, we'll get her back…"
"I DON'T WANT TO GET HER BACK," Shinji wailed, "I JUST WANT HER!!"
"I understand, man, you want her dead," Shuuya said soothingly, "don't worry, we'll—…wait, are you serious? For the love of God, Mim, she's torturing you here, she's reduced you to nothing but a crying puddle of pathetic nothing, you really still want her?"
"I don't have anything to lose anymore, why the hell would I be lying?" Shinji demanded.
"I don't believe you, man, I'm here risking being the butt of gay jokes until college to comfort your sorry ass, and you're being a jackass with me!" Shuuya said, outraged. "Well, you go find some other guy to cuddle!" He stopped, realizing how weird those last few sentences sounded.
"No, I didn't say I didn't like it," Shinji whined, hugging him tighter. "Don't leave me here!"
"Would you like ME to talk to Takako?" Shuuya asked, becoming desperate, aside from the fact that his arms were becoming numb from Shinji's death grip around his shoulders.
"No way! What's that gonna do?" Shinji complained, hugging him tighter.
"First of all, GET OFF, my arms are falling asleep. Second, did Takako really, in words, say she didn't like you, or did she just say something girly like "see you later"?" Shuuya demanded.
"That's exactly what she said, "see you"," Shinji muttered, "and what's that gotta do with—"
"It means, she's considering your offer, but she's gotta think it over first, y'know, make sure it's the right thing to do before she makes any commitments," Shuuya told him.
"I should start reading parenting magazines," Shinji commented.
"That wasn't from a parenting magazine, I heard Yukie saying that earlier," Shuuya chuckled.
"This is ridiculous," Shinji said angrily, his mood changing for the seventh time this chapter, "I hate the fact that she's got this much of an EFFECT on me!! I'm friggen Shinji Mimura! I'm not supposed to give a shit about what girls think about me! And Takako's driving me so crazy I don't know WHAT to do anymore! I want to hate her, but at the same time I want to kiss her and get her clothes off and—"
"Whoa there," Shuuya said quickly, "look, your problem is Takako doesn't believe you, you've just gotta find a way to prove to her that you're not a prick, which, knowing YOU, is gonna be hard to do."
Shinji gave him a dirty look.
"Shoulda seen her punch Niida," Shinji said, shaking his head, "best damn thing I've ever seen a girl do in my entire life. Well except that time when Takako took my shirt off and—"
"Stop," Shuuya pleaded. "Stop being all sappy with me, man, you're scaring me."
"Very funny," Shinji grumbled. "She better not be screwing with my head, or I'm gonna—I'm gonna—"
"Gonna what? Stutter at her?" Shuuya snickered.
Shinji scowled. "Shut up. I ask you for help ONCE and—"
"ONCE?" Shuuya asked incredulously. "Mim, asking for my help ONCE was when this whole damn mess started. You've asked for my help at LEAST 90,394,935,919,593,251 times since then." He thought for a second. "No, there's probably a few more times I haven't counted."
"Oh, shut up. I've been thinking," Shinji told him seriously. "I'm currently working on my best idea yet. It ain't flawless yet but I'm gonna make sure it is. I'll see you later, I've got some important business to attend to." He left, leaving a very confused Shuuya behind.
-
(1) I had a college advisor who said 'oneth'. Like, "that application is due May Oneth." Let me tell you, it made taking anything she said seriously very, very difficult.
Woohoo, Shinji's got a plan up his sleeve now too~
Chapter 21! I hope I made it a good one, I love this story to death :3
SHAMELESS STORY PIMPAGE If you like BR WTF, or Shinji/Takako, go read my other story Motored, it's completely different from this one but I think you'll enjoy it :) END SHAMELESS STORY PIMPAGE