Chapter 25
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Flashback
It was finally the day that she had her high school shogi competition. And she would be facing him for the first time after her effort of trying to disappear from his life.
"Are you going to be okay facing him?"
"Don't worry. I am not scared of him." She answered. She gave an assuring squeeze as she walked to her table and for the first time in her high school life, she saw the man that she used to have her eyes on. As she suspected, he walked to the stage like he owned the stage. From the first time she knew him, he was someone that would be on the top of the food chain. He had his way of making people want to follow him and making people do what he wanted.
"Good afternoon." She greeted him.
"Are you pretending to not know me?" He asked her with a devilish smile on his face. For the first time since she saw him, he was actually smiling at her.
"We were in the same middle school together." She just give him a casual answer, she was afraid to know why he suddenly became very nice toward her.
"And?" He teased but his hand started to play the shogi pieces in the table. Just like that, the shogi competition began and she was overwhelmed by his play.
"You were somehow famous?" She pretended to not remember him. It was better if she moved on with her life. That was the reason she choose a school that was very far away from him. And the reason she was willing to face him right now is because she still cared for her senpai. She didn't want her senpai to be afraid of playing shogi, the only thing that seemed to light up his world.
"Then let us play a game."
"We are playing shogi right now." She said and the man chuckled. It seemed he was having fun by teasing her rather than playing shogi. And for an unknown reason, the way both of them were having this conversation reminded her of the man that she used to have feelings for.
"Another game then, let's say this as a dare."
"A dare?"
"If you win this game against me, I will give you a ticket to the amusement park that was just opened in Tokyo. Of course, I will give you two tickets."
Maybe this person has changed? Maybe it was her past that had mistaken him as an unkind person?
"But if you lose, you will have to go with me."
"That deal sounds very tempting." She said, unconsciously giving him a playful smile. "But even if you don't tempt me with prizes, I will try to win this game."
Then five minutes after that, she managed to win against him.
She wasn't sure how she could win against him; she was sure she was one step closer to losing when suddenly he made one wrong movement, and she just won the game. Her whole team just jumped and gave her hugs and when she saw him smiling, she realized that from the start he had decided that he would let her win.
"I can't believe you managed to win against him! He is the youngest shogi captain and the best player from Kyoto." Her senpai, who was also the team captain, told her. She wanted to say that she didn't win because she actually had the power to win against him - it was because he let her win.
"Me too."
"We should celebrate this!" And then the whole shogi team cheered win happiness. She took a peek at the man that was still seated at the shogi board, and he seemed to be doing something with the shogi pieces in the board.
He caught her eyes and he gave her one last smile before walking away from the shogi board. Without thinking twice, she went past her team and looked at what he had done to the shogi board.
In there, he left a white flower that was similar to a bell and an envelope. She thought it would be the amusement park he promised her, and she immediately kept the envelope in her pocket.
"Did that flower always in the table?" She was startled when her senpai's voice went through her ear.
"Someone gave it to me. An old friend." She answered.
"An ex-lover then?" Her senpai asked her.
"Why do you say that, Senpai?"
"Because someone who gave you that flower must have known the meaning of it, it isn't a flower that is just available in the flower shop, a special order maybe? My family owns a flower shop, in case you are wondering how I know about it."
"Are you teasing me, Senpai? A flower is just a flower."
"That flower means you are the one that he, I assume the person who gave you flower must be a male, loves." She froze and her eyes instantly searched for him.
"Maybe he is your secret admirer?"
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A week after that, she used up all of her savings to buy shinkansen tickets to Kyoto. She waited in front of his school while watching each of the students who were about to go home or to pay a visit somewhere else before going back home.
She planned to ask him to go with her to the amusement park. She needed to know if he was just playing with her or, for once, was starting to open up towards her.
An hour later, he still hadn't showed up.
She remembered he was the head of the student council, something that made her wonder how amazing he had become. And she decided to go to the student council. She had a feeling that he might stay up a bit late to finish his work.
With her instincts and asking some students that were loitering around the school entrance, she managed to find the student council that was somewhere in the gigantic building of the famous school for rich and gifted students. And as she had guessed, he was there in the room.
But with another girl's presence.
"Do you know that tonight, my father wants to tell your father that we will be engaged to each other?" She heard the girl telling him.
"I am aware of that." She heard him answer.
"Then, why don't we start going out? It will make the transition from being a couple to engaged couple easier." That woman's high pitched tone made her nauseous and lowered her confidence. She had forgotten that he was from the other side of the world – the world of rich and famous people that was used to be married to one another for more power.
"No." She looked up and realized he just declined the girl's offer, and she got her hopes again. "My girlfriend will not be happy about it."
She should have known he was already dating someone. Why did she think he would be available to accompany her to amusement park? She was the one that was available for his mere entertainment, and she kept telling herself that at least she meant something to him.
"I never knew you have a girlfriend." That woman just asked her the very same question she wanted to ask him.
"Because she came all the way from Tokyo just to visit me." With that he opened the door, and revealed her to the woman.
How could he know about it?
"She is your girlfriend?" That woman eyed her from the top to the bottom and it made her uncomfortable. "You can do much better than her."
"I will not come to tonight's dinner alone. She will be coming with me." He told the girl as he went back to his desk to pick up his bag and left the room.
"I am sorry about that." He told her with an apologetic smile. "It seems you will have to spend the night at my house."
"I just wanted to ask you to come with me for that amusement park." She hurriedly gave him the ticket from her bag. "And my train will leave in two hours."
"I will give you the very first plane ticket to Tokyo for tomorrow." He said as he texted something from his phone. "I really need your help to get out from this mess. Just pretend to be my girlfriend for tonight and help me lie to my father."
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What did she just get herself into?
She was standing in an enormous mansion with a dress that had the same price as her apartment rent for one year. And she was smiling to people that she didn't recognize. She had to keep her eyes on this certain male so she didn't get separated from him.
But the more she stood with the male next to her, the more she realized how out of place she was.
"I am going to eat something." She told the male, and she went away from where he could do anything to stop her.
"I never knew my son could find someone like you."
"Good evening." She bowed down in respect to the old man that just greeted her. She remembered this man as his father; he always told her that his father had a scary aura around him when they were both children.
"Where did he pick such a dirty looking girl? Is he that desperate to stop the engagement with the girl I chose?"
"What?" She didn't expect the man to blatantly insult her.
"What do you want? Money?"
"I might be a nobody, but I don't like it when you disrespect me like that, Sir." She said, but deep down she just wanted to run and hide inside the hole. It was truly a mistake to try to know that man.
"Do you think my son will dare to defy me for a mere girl like you? Don't think that highly of yourself."
"If you think I am not worthy to be in here, I will leave immediately." She told him, even when she knew the consequences that she might be sleeping in the bus stop and begging people for money for her to go back.
"It is a good thing you understand your place." That man said and as she suspected, he told one of the guards to escort her out from the house. She took a look at her friend, or pretend lover at that time, and realized that many women were trying to catch his attention. And he didn't even realize how long she had been not standing next to him.
She walked calmly and once she was out from the mansion, she hugged the jacket that he gave to her and pick up her phone. She really had no choice but to hope someone kind enough would give her money to go back to Tokyo.
"Excuse me," An older woman called her, her long black hair was very contrasting to her white skin. "Do you need a ride? It is not right to let a pretty girl to walk alone in the middle of the night."
"Don't worry, madam, I am waiting for taxi."
"There is not a single taxi in this neighborhood. This neighborhood is not the one that needs taxi." The woman told her. She forgot that she was in the elite area of Kyoto, and far from public transportation.
"I insist." That woman continued.
"I am waiting for the morning train. I need to go back to Tokyo tomorrow morning." She told the woman. It seemed the woman would not let her go without any fight.
"A train! That is not fast enough."
"It is fast enough, ma'am." And a lot cheaper if she used the normal train, before collecting whatever money she had left in her bank account to pay for her tickets.
"I am going to China tomorrow morning, you should come with me, and I will drop you off in Tokyo."
"But—"
"Just take my offer, my plane is empty and one more person wouldn't have that much difference."
"I can't afford to repay you, ma'am." She said honestly. She also forgot that her rich friend was the type that also owned their own plane.
"Just stop calling me ma'am, I am not that much older than you." The woman told her. "And I refuse if you refuse my offer!"
"Okay, ma'a-" She stopped and she realized she didn't know that woman's name.
"It's Masako."
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He realized it had been a long time for her to grab something to eat. And he couldn't see her because of all of the women who tried to start a conversation with her.
And how come he didn't see her anywhere? Maybe she got lost?
"Excuse me." He smiled politely as he made his way to find her.
From one refreshment table to another one, he still didn't see her. Panic started to rise within himself; if anything happened to her, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
"Are you looking for someone?" He heard his father's voice.
"My girlfriend." He answered as his eyes tried to find the already-small girl.
"She left." His father told him. He wanted to let out a laugh after hearing his father's lie. She had no money and no way of leaving the city.
"How do you know about that, father?" He thought she probably went to the bathroom and got lost in the way. Maybe he should scout around the house to find her?
"She told me to give you this." His father said to him and gave him the ticket to the amusement park, the one he gave to her went he willingly lost to her. "She got a ride from her peasant friend - a male with brown hair and ugly looking scooter."
Wasn't the captain of her shogi club brown haired? But she told him that she went alone to Kyoto. But the ticket that he had was the limited edition and only a handful of people who had connections to the owner of the amusement park could get that ticket. Or the one who won quizzes.
And it bothered him that she returned the ticket to his father.
"Father, I am leaving." He told his father before he made a call and asked for his driver to drive him to Tokyo.
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"Why are you holding tickets to amusement park?" The woman, Masako, asked her.
"It is a gift from a dear friend."
"This one is the limited edition, the one with special pass to the opening concert. You have one powerful friend."
"Limited edition?" She looked at the other ticket in the envelope and she realized the band was her favorite musician. And it was one of the tickets her friend had been talking about non-stop in school. Only 500 tickets were sold in Japan.
"You have two tickets, do you plan to ask someone to go with you?"
"Maybe." She answered shortly, but she had no intention to ask another person except the boy who gave her the said tickets.
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Present day
"Are you going to say anything, Tetsumi?"
"That was just an old picture of me and someone, Why are you curious about my past, Aomine-kun?"
"What about you making out with someone inside the office, and he seems to have a crush on you?" Aomine asked her. He started to get annoyed at how calm Kuroko had been.
"He has feelings for me because he was my ex-boyfriend."
"Tetsumi-chan, that is not something you can keep to yourself." Momoi told her friend. "And ex-boyfriends who come and have physical contacts with you means they want you back."
"And Akashi will not be happy when this reached him." Aomine added.
"Seijuro doesn't need to know." Kuroko said as she lowered her glass. Her two companions froze when they heard Kuroko call Akashi by his name. "As long as the two of you don't say anything about it, this will stay between the two of us"
"Are you crazy?" Aomine said a bit out loud, attracting attention from other people.
"If it's what I need to do to keep things the way it is." Kuroko told Aomine and Momoi. The two of them froze when they saw the cold glare Kuroko gave to them. Her baby blue eyes held the same look as Akashi's eyes. "I will take care of the rest, if both you and Satsuki don't speak a single word about that to anyone else."
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AN:
I am so sorry for super very late update. This has been in my inbox from Phoebe, my beta, since the beginning of this year and it completely buried under the other mails. Oh well
Here is the update (for those who still waiting for an update) and hopefully you like this
And please leave reviews and comments. Because it will definitely make me in the mood of writing fanfic ^^