Chapter Twenty One - Chiu! Damsel in Distress
…
Three weeks earlier…
A small, chirpy song indicated Chisame had received new messages on her email account… 59,673 to be exact. An ungodly number, but one you would expect to see if you happen to be the most popular internet idol in all of Japan. Gliding her finger on the touch pad, Chisame looked at her email list with the most uninterested look on her face.
It was the unfortunate truth Chisame had to bare with. Over eighty five percent of Chiu fans… were complete and utter morons. These fans would send her questions which usually ranged from silly to meaningless… to just plain insulting. An example of the latter would read somewhere along the lines of 'can i see u nude' or 'me want see you nekked'… and chances are both these messages would be sent by the same middle aged idiot. Chisame loved being her internet persona, but reading constant streams of gibberish was definitely the lowest point of her otherwise favourite pastime.
However, amongst the junk mail, one message drew her immediate attention. For starters, the topic wasn't written in 'leet speak', and the sender of this message seemed bold enough to show his real name… at least, it looked like a real name.
With caution, Chisame was just about to look inside when he heard the manager's voice, indicating dinner was on the table.
"Coming!" She called out, deciding to leave this mystery behind until she returned.
-0-0-
Dinner was your usual evening affair. The food, served by the manager was, of course, delicious. The exchange of words from Makie and Chisame were, of course, ludicrous. Unusual however, were the conversations held between Mana and Yue. One of their favourite pastimes was reading, so for the last few weeks they had quite a lot of interesting discussions, usually involving what they read the previous night.
For the duration of the meal, Keitaro remained quietly happy. To him, it felt like they were part of his family… true, a very warped kind of family, but then again, he wasn't exactly mister ordinary himself.
Suddenly, everyone stared at the manager, breaking all lines of conversation. Unknown to him, a dab of mint sauce was found on his nose, clearly visible to all the girls. Witnessing this sudden moment, Mana and Makie tried to contain their giggling whilst Yue just sort of stared blankly at it. Chisame was the only one mature enough to let him know, but spent nearly five minutes guiding him to the desired spot.
"Over here?" Keitaro asked, moving his finger as if it were a sniper rifle.
"No." Chisame responded, for the tenth time already, and Makie snickering like a child only made matters worse.
"Here?"
"NO. YOUR LEFT."
"…here?"
"NO!"
Yes, sadly for Chisame, this was now all standard procedure for her.
-0-0-
"I knew I should have kept quiet!" Chisame grumbled to herself, now back to her room and normal routine. After dinner, she collected an assortment of snacks and other foods, just for the pure fact that she didn't want to venture anywhere that contained them in the vicinity.
Munching on a chocolaty pocky stick, Chisame proceeded to open the message.
"It's probably nothing." she thought pessimistically. "I don't know why I'm getting worked up over it."
Her widely open eyes, however, told a completely different story…
…
From: M.Natome.University.
Sent: 16 June 19.30
To: chiuchan.
Subject: Tokyo University
…
Hello, my name is Masayoshi Natome, principal of Tokyo University. There will be a festival held on July 7th,, and to enhance such an event, we are looking for young, fresh talent in order to help make such a spectacle truly memorable.
We will not feel offended in any way should you choose to decline, or even ignore this request. Interviews will be held on June 20th if you are indeed interested. Enclosed at the bottom of this page is a map and telephone number.
Thank you greatly for taking your time to read this message. Everyone in the university would be delighted to see you.
-0-0-
Present day…
As time passed by, the sky became darker and felt cooler to what it once was. The vast acres of grass were still populated with overjoyed people, though the strong gales forced some of them to wrap up in heavier clothing.
Meanwhile, a man dressed in orange uniform wiped away some sweat from his forehead. He, along with many other workmen, breathed a happy sigh of relief. The finished project was certainly very impressive to behold, and they were all proud to be a small part of this exciting event.
The Tuftee Arena consisted of numerous, massive slabs of smooth concrete, and shown in the middle was a large white circle drawn neatly with paint, which contained easily enough space for two competitiors. In fact, it was big enough for ten fighters to compete in, which gave one the impression; will the matches be standard, one on one combat, or is there a hidden twist in this arena? One could only wonder…
The audience layout was, as described earlier, displayed like a typical Roman Coliseum. This is all created in a way so the audience would get the perfect birds eye view, so they could see what opponents will be fighting to the finish.
Around twelve or so metres north was a small stand, where some of the more important and famous people were seated. No doubt one of these people would be the principle of Toudai himself, but the others remained a mystery.
All in all, this was certainly going to be a nail biting event, one where only the faint of heart would dare not speculate.
-0-0-
"Okay are you three ready?"
"YEAH!"
"Then we will all say cheese on the count of three… one… two… three…"
"CHEEEESE!"
The camera flashed with its standard split second brightness. On top of the stage stood three familiar girls, all of them extremely happy with themselves. Standing in the middle was the very delighted, timid girl Ako. She held a small, shining gold cup with as much pride as possible. On the right was Makie, wearing a silver medal, and a most pleasing eye smile. With a wink and a victory pose was Yuna, who stood to the left. She proudly showed off her bronze medal.
The assembly hall was now a completely different contrast to what it once was. All who remained were a few staff members who had the not so exciting role of putting all the chairs away. Of course, there was the trio of Keitaro, Mana and Yue, who were all patiently waiting for their friends to finish posing for the camera crew.
Witch Yue was another who didn't return empty handed. Whether it was for her talent, cuteness or dry humour, the reserved blunette managed to scoop a runner ups certificate, though the prize somewhat paled compared to her being the ultimate amazon queen during her stay at the Manga Convention.
Once the photographers left the vicinity, not even the demons of hellfire themselves could prevent Makie leaping off stage, and dashing into her Senpai's arms. Although Keitaro lost every ounce of breath from the impact, he nonetheless returned the hug, gently taking in the scent of her hair as he did so. It took a good while until Makie eventually pulled herself away from the manager's chest. The moment she did, Makie annihilated him through a mass conversational outburst.
"So what did you think of my performance? Did you like it huh? What about the outfit? Did it make me look fat? Because if it did… it wasn't meant to! What about the music…?"
Keitaro opened his mouth, but found it difficult to get a single word in. "Uh… ! Yeah you were really great Makie-chan! The way you danced felt like it was in slow motion! It was awesome!"
Mana simply smiled as the little family had nearly been reunited. "She sure has taken a shine to him." She thought to herself.
"Geez you two, get a room!" Yuna called out from behind, rushing alongside Ako to greet the group.
Makie's hair matched her face, and felt a sudden jolt of electricity called embarrassment. "Gaaah! I already told you! We're not like that!" She half protested, half screamed.
Yuna grinned like a cat. "Suuuure."
Before the situation could get any more awkward, Keitaro tried to change the subject, and for once, actually succeeded. "Hey Yuna-chan, Ako-chan, you two were pretty amazing as well!"
"Thanks!" Yuna replied happily.
Ako however, took one step forward and approached Keitaro in a rather cautious way. She fidgeted with her fingers as she struggled for the right words. "Um… well… well I think I have you to thank Kei…Keitaro-san…"
As everyone looked in Ako's direction, Keitaro just looked confused. "Eh… what do you mean?" He asked why.
"…well… if you didn't cheer for me at the start… I… I-I-I probably would have just given up then and there! So… thank you Keitaro-san! Thanks for giving me the confidence I truly needed!"
Keitaro watched the green haired girl bowing many times in gratitude.
"Hey! No problem!" He said with an eye smile. "Actually I was kind of surprised I did that myself! Shout loudly I mean, but it was well worth cheering to hear that voice of yours!"
Makie partially looked at the manager with wishful eyes. "Senpai…"
Ako's eyes glazed sideways, feeling the heat creep up on her face. "Keitaro-san…"
"Ahem." Yuna coughed politely. "Perhaps you three need to get a room…"
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!" Both Makie and Ako screamed aloud.
Clueless Keitaro scratched his head, not quite understanding Yuna's subtle hint. Mana just sort of smiled nervously, whilst Yue slurped on a carton of 'Fizzy Troll Blood'.
-0-0-
Mild, fresh air greeted the six the moment they opened the door. Makie was perhaps the more tired of the group, since all her dancing had practically depleted the girl of energy. Still, a short amount of fatigue wasn't going to stop her. Besides, having Senpai and her friends around gave herself a much needed stamina boost.
Yuna grinned broadly and pointed at a game stall which caught her eye. Makie and Ako were eager to follow, but Keitaro, Mana and Yue politely declined. Besides, game stalls didn't really appeal to Mana, and Keitaro's luck didn't really appeal to game stalls. As for Yue, she was still finishing off her drink.
Following the departure of Makie and her friends, Yue popped a rather interesting statement.
"Chisame-san should be back by now." She said to herself. She followed her speech with the sound of her straw.
…
Eight steps later and Keitaro stopped dead in his tracks. "Eh… Yue-chan? What do you mean…?"
Soon both the girls ceased movement, and turned to face him.
"Yes." Yue replied. "Chisame-san was visiting her parents for a week… which means she'll be back at the dormitory now."
"Well that's impossible." Keitaro replied, seemingly with confidence. "Because I've locked the…"
His confidence disintegrated.
"…OH CRAP! I'VE LOCKED HER OUT! HASEGAWA-SAN IS GONNA BE SO PISSED!" Keitaro shouted, his face sketched with agony.
Yue was deep in thought. "Hmm… by the time we get back, she probably would have starved to death. Yeah… she's probably dead as we speak."
Her predicament only served to fuel Keitaro's distress.
"I highly doubt that." Mana tried to see reason. "I'm sure Hasegawa-san is perfectly capably of looking after herself. She has probably found a hotel… or maybe she is already at the festival with her family?"
Keitaro tried his best to recompose himself. "Hmm… I don't if this sort of place would appeal to her…" He thought aloud, placing a finger on his lips.
Mana flicked open her mobile phone. "In any case, we should find out. I admit that due to everything taking place, I have forgotten about her as well."
She frowned when the receiving end was nothing but a dead line.
"Switched off. I will try again later." Mana decided.
Yue nodded at herself. "Just as I thought. Dead."
Beneath the sunglasses, Mana rolled her eyes.
"She is not dead Ayase-san."
-0-0-
In the end, Makie, Ako and Yuna decided to break themselves away from the rest of the residents, thus splitting them into two groups of three. For the three young girls, there were still lots of places to explore, and the day was still young. The meeting point would be nearby where the Tuftee would take place.
Keitaro, being the absent minded klutz he is, still completely forgot to tell anyone he was going to participate in the tournament. To tell the truth, he probably just remembered himself. Yue was busy browsing through a couple of comic books from a small Manga store, so this left Mana and Keitaro to their own devices… so they were just walking around, taking in all the sights and sounds the festival had to offer. During that time, Keitaro remained without a word to say. His hands were fidgeting inside his jean pockets, and his eyes were concentrating on the clear sky. The sun's presence had faded during the time Keitaro first set foot on the festival. It was still a pleasing brightness however, and it did ease Keitaro's mind a little.
He promptly cleared his throat which immediately alerted the attractive young woman. "Tatsumiya-san?"
"Hmm… what is it?" Mana asked.
With his hair hung over his eyes, Keitaro took a deep breath before replying. He had absolutely no idea how she would react. "I… I have a confession to make…"
Mana recognised his expression instantly… at least… she thought she did. Granted, she was no expert when it came to love, but she had experienced a fair share of romance novels and television shows. Usually the scene would unfold, revealing a beautiful, unspoilt meadow and assorted flowers with every colour imaginable. During this scene, a young boy would confess his love to a certain girl he was after ever since the first time they met.
Keitaro's expression had perfectly matched this imaginary boy.
"I well… I…"
Mana's mouth opened slightly. "Urashima-san! What are you thinking?!"
"…I'm… kinda thinking of joining the… the tournament."
"…"
If reality was a baseball bat then Mana just got clouted over the head with it.
"Urashima-san… if this is a joke, then it is not a funny one." She replied, masking her surprise with a strict layer… but then she took a closer look at his eyes. "No… he is not joking at all…"
"It's no joke." Keitaro added. "It's just that… well… it's… it's hard to say really."
"You do not need to tell me…" Mana assured. "… but after all the trauma I put you through… I never expected you to fight again, let alone participate in such an event."
Mana felt a deep pan of guilt. She still remembered the nightmare like it occurred yesterday.
Keitaro sighed as he faced the grass, which was slowly flowing with the wind. "To be honest… after that… that guy publicly humiliated me… and that fight with… you… I felt… … pretty depressed…"
He could not see it, but he sensed the negative energy Mana was currently generating. Quickly, he fumbled together another string of words before things became even more awkward.
"…but I know it's not your fault Tatsumiya-san! I knew you were trying to help me! You were trying to give me confidence in myself! And… and I really appreciate that! Really! I…"
The warmth of Mana's hand was a feeling quite sensational, causing Keitaro's attempted reasoning to vanish into thin air. It was just a simple touch on his shoulder, but her touch felt like a surge of lightning. For a moment, Keitaro remained silent, as did Mana. Despite the traffic of people, it seemed like they were the only couple left in Toudai Festival. Silence, it would seem, spoke louder than any words could ever make.
At last the silence was broken. A quiet wind travelled into Keitaro's right ear.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, ever so delicately.
"It's okay…" Keitaro replied softly. "…I knew you were helping me."
A flash of light instantly tore the two away. Mana and Keitaro both looked in the direction of a familiar contraption.
As the photo slowly emerged out of the camera, Yue plucked out her masterpiece and stared at it with an interesting expression.
"Hmm…" She thought, pursing her lips. "I'm not sure whether to put this on eBay, or have it hung as a picture in our living room..."
Noticing their glowing red eyes and sinister smiles, the short girl wisely took a step back.
"…or maybe I'll just tear it up and pretend this never happened."
"I would advise the latter." Mana suggested.
As the three contemplated what to do next, a group of four young male teenagers suddenly sailed right through them. One of them nearly knocked poor Yue over, though this seemed unintentional on the boy's behalf.
"Hey watch where you're going!" Keitaro called out. "You could have hurt her!"
"Sorry! My bad!" The boy waved off, who couldn't properly apologise since he was still running.
"Well… at least he apologised… wonder why they're in such a rush?" Keitaro asked, scratching his head.
Yue, after rubbing her arm from the recent collision, pointed straight ahead. A dozen metres away was an incredible long line of people, mostly guys, ranging from fifteen to forty years old, and a few of them looked even older… you could tell from the receding hair lines.
Keitaro adjusted his glasses and gasped. This was it! His one and only chance of participating in one of the greatest speculations of all time! Suddenly he felt an immense numbness spread throughout his body. The whole idea, fighting for entertainment made him both excited and nervous at the same time. What if he faced someone like Mana? Would he become the laughing stock in all of Tokyo? At this stage, the cons far outweighed the pros, but he knew if he didn't act now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
As he hastily joined the end of the queue, Keitaro could faintly hear Mana calling out to him.
"Wait! Urashima-san!"
"Sorry, but I've made up my mind!" Keitaro replied back. "I'm going to do it! I've been backing out all my life… well… not anymore."
-0-0-
The table was simple in design, but, at this moment, it had to be one of the most important tables in the world. On the left stood a pile of rapidly descending photographs, whilst on the right was a glass of milkshake and half a dozen fountain pens, four of them already out of ink. Behind and in front of the table were two comfortable looking chairs, and one was being seated by a beautiful looking girl.
The girl wore a pretty, ocean blue dress, created with a very thin and elegant material. This dress was complemented with a pair of tight white socks, and pink high heels. Around her neck was a slender, golden necklace.
It had to be the hundredth time she signed her name. Not that she was keeping a record, but she never knew being popular could be this much hard work. Even so, the girl managed to retain herself, making a delightful eye smile whenever she greeted her fan boys and girls.
Speaking of which, her fans were certainly… a colourful bunch. Some of them were nervous beyond belief. When they were within a few inches of her, these people could barely form three words together without making some kind of gibbering sound. One even fainted, and had to be promptly escorted to the medical facility.
Then came the more mature, confident people of the queue. They managed to shake her hand, and even told them about their love problems, like how people online would when they sent her emails. Despite their confidence, words alone could not explain just how truly excited they were.
Of course no crazy line of people would be complete without a few fanatics. These idiots tried to grope her most… delicate possessions, but luckily they were immediately thrown out of the festival, courtesy of the four muscular, suit wearing bodyguards that stood beside her. Most of the time the guards stood like statues, not moving an inch unless someone stepped out of line.
One of the bodyguards listened intently to his ear piece, responding to the command with a quick nod.
"Chiu-sama." The suit spoke, gently placing a large hand on her shoulder. "You have been working for forty five minutes. Do you need a breather, or can I get you anything?"
Chiu whispered a reply. "I wouldn't mind a refill for my milkshake."
"Of course."
Without a second to lose, the bodyguard rushed to acquire her sacred milkshake, whilst the remaining three formed themselves into a triangular formation, waiting for the other guy to return.
As the line shuffled slowly forwards, Keitaro's face resembled that of pure confusion. As far as he could remember, people that participated for a fighting arts tournament should expect to look like cold hearted, muscle bound warriors. He understood that the younger generation are full of spiritual energy, but some of these kids had to be around twelve years old! What's more, they did not exactly resemble fighting material. A few of them looked more overweight than Shirai, possibly the result of one too many late night snacks. Others looked completely the opposite; that being they were so scrawny, even a gentle breeze could knock them out for six.
"Maybe I've got this all wrong…" He thought. "Maybe it's a computer tournament, that's based on a fighting game… yeah… yeah that must be it…"
Once again his eyes faced the ground, whilst his mind remained above the clouds. Only his feet continued to move steadily forward, and the rest of him failed to acknowledge anything else.
"Okay! Next please!"
"That voice…" Keitaro daydreamed. "…it sounds… familiar…"
"Um, hello?"
Keitaro looked up, blinking twice as he focused back to reality. A beautiful girl with long red hair tilted her head in confusion.
Only then did he find out what was going on. These people… all these people… were queuing up… to see her. He almost collapsed in shock, but luckily managed to regain his footing. His newfound, crazy emotions made him look like a paranoid freak.
It was then Chiu's turn to become shocked beyond belief, only just realising her new fan was the nerdy manager she loved to hate. Her mouth suddenly hung open, similar to a hippo yawning. If anything, she looked even more surprised than Keitaro.
"We've got another weirdo!" Alerted one of the guards.
The other suit, who was running back with the milkshake, quickly dropped the drink and ran towards the motionless target, acquiring a vicious cattle prod from his jacket pocket. The other three began to follow his lead.
"WAIT!"
At her command, the guards stopped like their lives depended on it.
"He isn't threatening anyone!" Chiu added, closing her eyes when she shouted.
"You heard the lady! Remain in formation!" The guard replied, without a single query.
Chiu, now raised from her seating position, continued to look Keitaro in the eye, making the moment both incredible… yet extremely uncomfortable…
-0-0-
Yue and Mana continued to stare into the ever increasing line.
"Perhaps we should have told him sooner?" Mana commented.
Yue nodded. "Perhaps."
The duo sounds of stomachs rumbling was proof the two of them hadn't eaten anything since their departure from Toudai campus. Mana elected to purchase some tokoyaki from a nearby food stall, but before she even began to move, Yue's hand quickly latched onto her arm. For a girl with such small hands, Yue's grip was surprisingly strong.
"What's wrong?" Mana asked her.
Yue was speechless, but the seriousness in her eyes made it apparent something was amiss. Even more alarming was that Mana could not detect this unknown presence, yet Yue, a girl who wouldn't react to a meteor shower, somehow managed to sense this… whatever it was.
"Over there." Yue called out, pointing in the desired direction.
"A rabbit? A fox? A cat?" Were the simple thoughts running through Mana's mind.
Yue's finger remained stationary. Behind a small cluster of bushes, two hair crafted antennas bobbed up and down, acting like some kind of transmitter. Upon being detected, Haruna instantly rose from her hiding position, as did her fellow art trainees, Nodoka and Konoka. This time they were dressed casually unlike their artist outfits from before. Haruna wore a green short sleeved shirt with two undone buttons, along with blue jeans and black shoes. Konoka wore a stunning yellow t-shirt, pink shorts and white trainers. Last but not least, Nodoka looked very attractive with her pink dress and blue sandals.
"Hiya Yue-chan!" Haruna greeted with a massive wave.
Yue just stared at her. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"
At that remark Haruna circled around the blunette and gave her a super strong headlock. "Man, you're so cold!" She added, stating the somewhat obvious.
"It is kinda chilly now." Konoka pitched in, wrapping her arms around herself. Still she had that near permanent eye smile on her face.
"I-I don't think she meant cold in that way." Nodoka stuttered, her nervousness remaining the same as before.
Suddenly Haruna released Yue from her hold, causing the small girl to fall over forwards. Her attention was now focused on the more mature, taller female of the two. There was a five second pause as they stared eye to eye.
"Aha! You must be her girlfriend!" She said proudly.
Yue, who had just readied herself up, now fell over sideways in disbelief.
"Um… not really…" Mana replied, a little confused at what's going on.
Mana blinked, and to her surprise, found Haruna had disappeared. Feeling quite puzzled with the situation, Mana did not notice the crazy artist carefully rising up behind her. With shadowy silence, Haruna's hands wriggled with anticipation… and then the unthinkable happened… her hands fondled Mana's breasts like two giant blobs of putty.
"Holy cow! This chick has some serious melons! Hey you guys, wanna feel 'em up?!"
Nodoka and Konoka smiled nervously. "Eh… pass." They both replied.
Mana's face resembled much humiliation, but calmly she closed her eyes. However… there was only so much she could take.
"Unhand me." She said coldly.
Haruna did as she commanded, but only because she wanted to feel up Yue instead.
"Heh heh!" Haruna laughed. "As for Yue-chan, well let's just say you have a long way to go baby! Heh! This is fun, it's like prodding a marshmallow! I could do this all day!"
"Come on, let's go." Yue declared, snatching Mana's hand and trying to get away from this crazy Haruna hellspawn.
Konoka had her hands clasped in a prayer. "Aww look, they're holding hands!" She said sweetly.
With a low growl, Yue detached herself.
As the two continued walking, Haruna called out behind them. "Aw come on Yue-chan! Is this how you treat all of the library staff members?"
"…"
The whole sky turned black, whilst the blunette, clothes included, resembled a colour paler than bleached bone. Her eyes became two perfect circles of blood red. Her neck did a full one eighty even though the rest of her body remained completely still. Her face twitched as she made the most frightening smile anyone could ever make.
"Wh…what?"
"That's right!" Konoka chirped, holding out three hand written forms. Starting the next semester, we're all gonna be library buddies! Omigosh this is gonna be so much fun! Maybe we should give ourselves a title! Like the four librarian angels, or the bookkeeping brigade…"
Mana wisely took a sidestep away from Yue, because Yue looked like she was going to spontaneously combust.
"It was m-more of a coincidence really…" Said Nodoka, twiddling her thumbs.
Thus, circling the conversation back to Haruna. "…but what a coincidence! I mean here we were signing forms and having interviews… and then we learn from the head librarian that Yue-chan works here as well! I mean seriously! The odds of that must be two thousand to one!"
"Lu…cky…me." Yue said, still shocked.
The time she stood still allowed enough time for Haruna to catch up, who circled her arms between Mana and Yue when she did so. "So where shall we go girlfriends? That Mystic Peg woman looks creepy! I gotta check her out! Oh wait I'm missing a few issues of 'Space Ketchup' my favourite Manga! Hey cool! There's a few book stores around!"
Konoka and Nodoka were quickly jogging up behind them.
"Viva la library club!" Konoka victoriously declared, waving two fingers in the air.
Nodoka's face turned slightly red. "Konoka-chan… p-people are looking…"
-0-0-
"Uh… um… I really like your… your… I really… I really like your w-website… thing…"
Chiu, or rather, Chisame stared in an unbelieving, blank sort of way. Keitaro. Him. Staring at the reformed version of her… mere centimetres away.
"Um… thanks?" Was all she could reply to that. "God… I never knew for a second Keitaro would be a fan… even though he's unaware of my true identity. I have never felt so nervous in all my life!"
Her thoughts seemed to match her body language flawlessly. She had endured her fair share of weirdoes, and even put up with the moronic drooling pervert or two. Keitaro however managed to knock the wind right out of her sails.
"So… what's your name?" Chiu asked. "As if I don't already know…"
"KEITARO URASHIMA!" Keitaro blurted out, causing the startled net idol to break the nib off her fountain pen. Now the poor fool couldn't even control his own voice box, and felt like passing out any given minute.
"Just sign the photograph, and get this madness over with…" Chisame instructed herself, but before ink met paper, Keitaro spoke again… or tried to at least.
"Uh… um… well… ah… um… I've…"
Inside Chisame was crying. "Please God! I can't take much more of this!"
"I'VE GOT A QUESTION TO ASK YOU!" Keitaro finished, amazed he managed this far.
Upon hearing this Chiu raised an eyebrow. It was not uncommon for a fan to ask for advice, but Keitaro…
"A question, okay this shouldn't be too difficult… okay… what is it you wish to ask me?" She asked and wondered respectfully.
"Well…" Keitaro started to answer. "I actually asked this question on your website, but you didn't seem to respond to it… notthatIamablamingyouoranything! I mean you must be really popular so I know you don't have time to check out every message that's sent to you! I didn't mean to offend!"
"He sent me messages…? What was the question?" Chiu said, trying to put Keitaro back on track.
"Huh? Oh yes! The question…"
Keitaro stared upwards into the sky as his hands fumbled to solve an invisible rubix cube. If staring at the dream girl caused him to blush, then this question was sure to issue him fiery powers even the human torch couldn't compete with.
"…the thing is… there's somebody… that I like, but I don't know if she likes me…"
She felt a buzz… a feeling rare to her. However, she tried to quickly cast away this emotion, and pressed on with the conversation.
"What's her name?"
Before he replied, two girls sprung inside Chisame's mind. It wasn't the toughest process of elimination. She concluded it had to either be Makie, the cute girl with a boisterous yet beautiful personality… or Mana, the very epitome of femininity and grace. Though she didn't feel like admitting it, both of these girls made quite an impact on Keitaro's life… so there was no doubt he had to fall head over heels for either of them.
"Pretty bold of you." Chisame thought. "I honestly never believed you would have the spine to go through with this. I don't know how you do it, but girls… often take a shine to you…"
For a moment… both Chiu and Chisame were smiling for him.
"Well Keitaro… whoever you decide to choose… … good luck."
Keitaro looked at her with confidence.
"Her name is Chisame."
…
…
Again, she felt the buzz.
…
Only this time, the feeling was enough to envelope everything around her. Like a chain reaction of fireworks, his words suddenly struck her. She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it.
"Chen? Hahaha! That's a nice name!" Chisame somehow blurted out. "Sounds like Chiu when you think about it!"
"Um, sorry but I think you misheard me. I said Chisame."
The seesaw of life reared its wooden head. First it was Keitaro fumbling for words… but now Chisame couldn't even think straight without collapsing under the weight of her chair.
One of the guards leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "Miss, are you alright? If there are any problems we can have this guy eradicated in a second."
"No no! Everything's fine! Everything's brilliant!" Chiu assured, allowing the guard to return to his standard position.
Keitaro made a muddled face as he didn't know what sort of answer was awaiting him. Noting Chiu's strange bout of silence he decided to press on with the topic.
"…and… well there's more to it…" Keitaro added, as if Chisame wasn't suffering enough. "She's kind of… a lesbian..."
Actually forget the fireworks, it was more of an automatic cannon blasting endless rounds of ammunition into her. Chisame had the sort of face that resembled somebody eating a lifetime supply of sour sweets. She couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth! The feeling was completely indescribable! And most insulting!
"… but I still… you know… like her…?" He finished, his voice sort of sighing as he trailed off.
The mask was starting to crack, so before she could make light of the situation, Chisame closed her eyes and mentally counted from one to five. Her bemused and angry state were replaced with one big lingering sigh.
"How do you know she is…gay?" She asked, strict emphasis on the word 'gay'.
Keitaro scrunched his face a little as his eyes moved from side to side. "Well, for starters, her own clothes look pretty masculine, oh, and there was that time when Mak… uh I mean a friend's mother visited us, and she spilt her drink all over her clothes, which revealed her… uh… things, and Chisame had this nosebleed… so as far as I know… only those kind of women have nosebleeds to that kind of… stuff."
Chisame sat there, mouth agape. "Seriously?! THOSE were the reasons behind it all?!"
Chiu however, tried to make best with the situation. She faked a little giggle, though she secretly wanted to throttle him with barbed wire.
"Keitaro… kun… you cannot judge a girl from their own wardrobe. Some girls are just more… reserved than others… maybe… maybe she just has a problem showing off her true self. As for the… second reason, well, perhaps she just felt embarrassed when she saw those… exposed objects."
"So… she isn't…?" Keitaro asked dumbly.
"NO." Chiu stated with definition. "Ah… hahaha, well unless she openly admits it, I would say there is a ninety five percent chance she isn't attracted to other women."
"So you're telling me there's a five percent chance that…"
"One hundred percent. There is a one hundred percent chance, okay?"
"Oh… okay…"
It was so hard to do it in front of him, but Chiu nonetheless tilted her head slightly and gave him a pretty eye smile.
"Trust me."
"Yeah! Okay! Th-thanks for everything!" Keitaro eagerly replied, rising from his chair. "And… and sorry to take up lots of your time!"
"No problem!" Chiu waved back. "Hope you enjoy the rest of the festival!"
Chisame, still embarrassed watched as the clueless dunderhead walked away… at long last. However, although she answered his question successfully, she secretly wanted to ask him a question in return…
…after all, she could not help but wonder why Keitaro was so attracted to her in the first place…
-0-0-
He sighed so loudly he almost toppled over forwards. He made a complete fool of himself, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. However, just talking to Chiu… felt brilliant. He could die right this instant and feel eternally happy for the rest of his afterlife.
Still feeling on cloud nine, Keitaro realised he had lost the girls for a second time, but knew they would somehow meet up again soon. He took this opportunity to purchase some yakitori from a nearby stall. The taste of piping hot barbecued chicken entering his mouth had immediately awoken all his taste buds. In fact it was so good, he treated himself to another two helpings, and washed the contents down with a large can of cream soda.
"Thanks for the food, seriously it tasted so good!" Keitaro said to the stall owner, a pretty young girl who proudly wore a chef's hat.
The girl smiled at his comment, raising a spatula as if it were attached to her arm. "Your welcome sir."
Keitaro continued to guide himself through random directions. He found himself noticing lots of other queues, which lead to other attractive girls. No doubt they were Chiu's online competition, but unlike Chiu these girls failed to make the grade. Some of them didn't quite have the charm factor, whilst others were downright snobby, thinking they were way above everyone else.
He was about to walk on straight ahead when he noticed a lonesome girl sitting beside a table. She was another internet idol, but unfortunately, nobody had queued up to see her. In fact, Keitaro wondered if anyone had visited her at all. Her welled up eyes suggested she was going to cry, if given the chance.
Feeling sorry for her more than anything, Keitaro approached the girl with a smile. For some reason he felt a lot more confidence than he did with Chiu.
"Hi there." He said with a wave.
The girl gasped when she looked upwards to face him. She seemed like a typical looking teenager, but her large round glasses and absolute shyness were the two key traits that made her shine. She had cyan eyes and twin braided ponytails were tied behind her black hair. Her bust size was very petit, but her young age suggested she was still in her early development stages. She wore a simple but pretty red dress and glittery, rose coloured shoes.
Most girls (well friends at least) would have reacted to Keitaro waving… with a simple wave of their own. This girl reacted by falling backwards on her chair, causing her whole dress to descend all the way to her neck. Thank God she was wearing underwear, or Keitaro would have taken a one way ticket to the paramedics. Realising her predicament, the girl at once up righted herself… only to stagger around and accidentally head butt Keitaro's groin, making them both fall to the ground in agony.
Recovering faster than her, Keitaro offered his hand, to which the girl gratefully accepted, considering her rear end was on a hard patch of earth.
"H-hi." She finally said.
Keitaro and the shy girl introduced themselves, since Keitaro wasn't really a fan of her. The manager learnt that her name was Sai, and was unfortunately ranked on the lower end of the internet popularity scale. She seemed nice enough, but found it very taxing to speak to people, usually resulting her turning away when she spoke. Sai also had a small collection of music CDs, which contained a few songs she created by herself. Noting that none of these copies had yet been sold, Keitaro decided to be the first. Finding four hundred yen in his pocket, the money and item were swiftly exchanged.
"Well… good luck with… with the internet…" Keitaro said, trying to find the correct words.
The girl replied with a deep shade of pink. "Mmm! Okay! Thanks for buying my…"
…
His head turned around with lightning reactions.
Keitaro, and everyone else around him heard a faint, but recognisable noise.
It was the sound of screaming…
Abandoning the timid girl, Keitaro ran headlong towards the scene of the commotion.
-0-0-
The people, the stalls and the field all turned into a blurred vision as Keitaro ran with all his strength, kicking the grass away with each stride he took. When he finally reached the source of the commotion… he stopped dead in his tracks.
Chiu looked in clear distress as she struggled to unhinge Diamonji's grip, her arm locked on tight by his monstrous hand. The bodyguards once protecting her had all laid in an unconscious pile, likely caused by the anger of this giant. Everyone else sensibly retreated, showing more concern for their family and other loved ones. It was an experience nobody should have to witness.
"LET GO OF ME." Chiu wailed, shouting at the top of her voice.
"Not until you answer my question!" Diamonji roared back. "Now, it was my bitch's birthday last week and I bought her a hundred and fifty gram bar of chocolate, but did she appreciate it? No! She fucking didn't! She fucking dumped me! Where the hell did I go wrong?!"
He blinked.
Out of nowhere, a fist brushed aside his nose. The impact wasn't truly effective, but it was enough to catch the big man off guard. On a reflex, Diamonji released his hold and stared in surprise when he noticed the attack was from the same grovelling guy he met at the supermarket. A trickle of blood escaped from his nostril, but Diamonji paid no attention to this newly formed wound.
His eyes burnt holes into Urashima's soul. "YOU?!"
"L-leave her alone!" Keitaro shouted. "If you want to pick on someone, why don't you pick on me?"
The net idol was completely lost for words. There was simply no way this was the same nervous, stuttering Keitaro she remembered.
"BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!" Diamonji snarled.
Not one to be intimidated, the giant rushed with a clenched fist. Keitaro's legs began to wobble, but bravely he stood his ground. He raised both his hands in defence, covering his face and eyes.
Diamonji just grinned.
The fist felt like a brick when it crushed into his gut. The pain vibrated every bone in Keitaro's body. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself lying face up on the ground. With a lingering groan he looked at the sky, having a very hard time registering the grim reality of the situation.
Slow footsteps were heard as a shadow approached the still form of Keitaro. Keitaro had enough strength to lift his head up… and the sight he saw nearly made him sick to his stomach. However, it wasn't Diamonji, he stood to one side, hands crossed, satisfied at what he had done. This other arrival was a person Keitaro knew all too well. The suit, the short brown hairstyle… the voice…
"Keitaro Urashima…"
That voice… that same voice which overwhelmed with confidence and pride.
Keitaro spoke through gritted teeth. "Kentaro…"
"…how long has it been? Twelve years? Thirteen?" Kentaro said. He was looking down at him the whole time. "To think that somebody like you was in the same school I was. Far as I remember, you weren't exactly the popular one were you? Bullied everyday. People treating you like shit. I'm surprised you didn't have the incentive to hang yourself…"
The words were like needles piercing into his mind.
"…yet still… here you are, looking as pathetic as always. Ha… to think you could even hurt my client over there… you never were good in the brains department were you…?"
Taking this opportunity to gloat further, Kentaro turned to face Chiu, who was still stunned with all the recent action.
"Oh and Chiu, hope you don't mind my friend intruding your little parade. Actually, consider it payback for the way you humiliated me moments ago."
Thankfully reinforcements arrived in the nick of time. Masayoshi, along with a dozen bodyguards ran to the scene, the principal demanding Kentaro to leave at once. Masayoshi knew him all too well. Kentaro's vast intellect allowed him to enroll in the university two years younger than anyone else, making him the premature genius so to speak. Needless to say, despite being a bright student, Kentaro became a complete snob, disrespecting students and tutors like they were mud on his shoe.
Even after all this time, Kentaro's attitude had not altered one bit.
The guards were just about to escort the two offenders when Kentaro casually folded open an identification card from his wallet.
"Ahem. Not so fast." Kentaro ordered. "It seems like all of you need a lesson in common sense. Since I'm the son of a multimillion game company, and the nephew of the most powerful lawyer in Japan… it would be of your best interest that none of you lay a finger on me or my client… unless you want me to sue this place for every yen it's worth…"
Cornered in this unfair predicament, Masayoshi had no choice but to call off his guards. Kentaro quietly chuckled to himself, but eventually walked away, alongside with his new muscular client. Only now had the unconscious guards woken from their surprising assault, and were now teamed up with the reinforcements.
Masayoshi faced the ground, his expression clear that he was in obvious distress. One of the guards lifted Keitaro off his feet, and was surprised when he didn't look as injured as he thought he would be. A couple of them asked Chiu if she was okay, which she replied with a timid nod. The rest tried their best to sort out the problem, and assured everyone around the vicinity to move along.
After some time Masayoshi and a handful of guards left the area, but not before the principal spoke to Chiu and thanked Keitaro profusely for his help.
…
All that stood left was a couple of guards… and the girl.
Keitaro slowly approached Chiu and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Gone was the nervousness and the stuttering. Now he looked like a completely different person.
"Are you alright?" Keitaro asked.
She was still a little scared, but Chiu nonetheless smiled with her response. "Yeah… thanks to you… I'm okay…"
The redhead averted her eyes from him, since a slight blush was threatening to appear on her face.
"…seriously, I would have broken my wrist if it wasn't for Keitaro… but what was he thinking? The guy was twice his own height… yet… he just attacked him without hesitation…"
She closed her eyes as she further contemplated her thoughts.
"…just when I thought I had him figured out…"
"Sorry madam, but we are under orders to escort you to the main campus, if only to prevent further harm to yourself." A guard spoke to Chiu. "If you would kindly follow me please."
The idol took one last look at Keitaro before coming to her senses. "Mmm, of course." She sighed a reply.
Keitaro could only stare at Chiu and the others slowly leaving his vision. He still felt weak and dizzy from the giant's fist, but now confidence and determination overruled the pain. One way or another, Keitaro wanted to prove to his old colleague that he wasn't the loser he was all those years ago.
…
…
Author: Funny, I always do an authors note section, but most of the time I can never think up of anything to say. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter… and I might be a little while adding the next one, so please bare with me!