First of all, I would like to apologize for the super long wait on this. Long story short, lots happened and I've had writer's block and just couldn't get things put down right and had to write it several times. Eventually I decided to give up and to split this into (Hopefully) two parts so you at least know the story isn't dead. We'll see how this will go, I guess...
Kaze let out a sigh, which broke the silence that formed while the three of us were left waiting for Rei to get here. Honestly, I had expected her to show up at the meeting place an hour early or something based on how excited she seemed this morning. But instead, Sherry and I were the only ones who showed up around the designated time. "So... ah... we'll still be cool after this is done, right," Kaze asked slowly, probably afraid of possibility that this could end up ruining pretty much everything.
"Depends," Sherry said without skipping a beat. Kaze just awkwardly pulled at the collar of his shirt due to that, probably not having a great time thinking of a proper response to that.
"Well, Rei and I decided that we'll be friends after this," I offered, hoping to raise his spirits back up. Before he could respond, the door to his room was flung open and Rei rushed in, quickly clearing past us in her power walk to Kaze. After getting next to him, she went on with what seemed to be incoherent sentences, with random pauses and such, which I take it was due to her lack of breath.
"Um... yes," Kaze asked.
"I... I was trying to shape up my deck in case you made us duel... and time kinda flew by," Rei said.
"You aren't going to have to duel... If you were going to have to duel, then we would have just done that from the start," Kaze said.
"Well... If some odd stroke of luck makes you choose one of the others, now I can beat them in a duel for you," Rei said.
"And you wonder why people think we solve everything with duels here," Kaze murmured.
"I wouldn't have had to prepare like this if you hadn't put this off for so long," Rei protested.
"'Let's wait two years for Ruka to get back', 'Let's wait until we all get dates', 'Let's wait until after the tournament to talk about this'... So far, it seems like it's all been you," Sherry pointed out. Rei opened her mouth to protest once more, but her words came short for the moment.
"Actually, Kaze could have made out with me while we were alone once Ruka was at school and you were off doing whatever you do, so it's his fault, see," Rei asked.
"So you weren't going to wait like you said," I asked.
"Look, if he was going to have me then and there, you really think I was going to say something," Rei retorted.
"For someone who seems to think of us as her sisters, I really feel the sisterly love," Sherry murmured.
"We can be sisters after this! All Kaze has to say is 'I love you, Rei'," Rei smiled.
"You sure are confident that he loves you," I noted.
"We're like childhood friends, aren't we, Kaze," Rei asked, in which Kaze hesitantly nodded, probably fearing what disagreeing would bring. "So there you have it! Childhood friends always fall in love, so problem solved," Rei said.
"No, problem not solved. That's not how it works at all," Kaze said.
"Kaze, you have to drop being shy! You're going to have to come out with your feelings for me sooner or later," Rei said. "I've got it! If you're too shy, then we can all-," Rei started.
"No, I've had it with your ideas. You'll probably put it off another day or something," Sherry said.
"No, it's really good, honest," Rei insisted.
"There's no harm in hearing her out, right," I asked.
"Exactly! You'll love it too, Kaze, I just know it," Rei smiled.
"When it comes to me being in things, you won't listen anyway, so shoot," Kaze sighed.
"Alright! You see, the three of us could each take a piece of paper and write down a riddle that would lead you to a specific location! Since the three of us won't pick the same place, and you'll have to understand what they're saying to find them, then it's obvious that you'll find your soulmate without the other two having to see," Rei said. The rest of us didn't say anything for a while. "It's perfect, right," Rei asked.
"I can't believe it... That's actually may be good enough to work," Sherry said.
"How is it that hard to believe," Rei snapped. "God, you're so ungrateful of my ideas! Maybe I should keep them to myself then," Rei mumbled.
"Enough stalling, Rei," Sherry said.
"I'm not stalling, you are," Rei snapped. "Here! Let's just forget the paper, we can text Kaze! The sooner that I get Kaze's confession, the better," Rei said before walking off, leaving the rest of us silent.
"Well, good luck, I guess," I said, or rather asked, before taking my leave as well.
"It's mine!"
"I got here first."
"I sent the text first!"
"That doesn't matter. I got here first, so go find somewhere else."
"Uh.. I thought you said we wouldn't all pick the same place," I said, causing the two to momentarily stop in their arguing.
"I didn't think you guys would all pick the fountain in the park! In case you haven't heard, this is where my date was, so it's obvious that I'd want to be here," Rei said.
"Well, this place is pretty peaceful, so I chose here," I said.
"I picked here because I thought I'd get some privacy. Apparently I was mistaken," Sherry said.
"Well, let's hurry up and separate before Kaze gets here," Rei said. "For all we know, he may have a mental breakdown or something! The poor guy just wants some alone time with me and you two keep showing up," Rei continued. Before Sherry could object, Rei jumped, causing the two of us to turn. There was Kaze, walking towards us with his phone out.
"Um... If you guys just wanted a change of scenery, you could have asked without that huge act," Kaze said.
"It wasn't planned! They crashed my location! Show them that I texted you first," Rei said.
"Speaking of text messaging... if Kaze feels uncomfortable with just saying it, since we're all here, why doesn't he just text it to us," Sherry asked.
"Great! Just send the one you like a text saying 'Love you, baby'," Rei said. Kaze couldn't think of a proper response to that for a while, so he simply remained silent.
"Fine, I'll do it... But I'm getting a good hundred feet away or so and I'm not saying 'Love you, baby'," Kaze said.
"Well, as long as you don't do something stupid, then I don't think Sherry will kill you," Rei said. The way he glanced at her high heels gave away that Sherry wasn't the only one he was worried about. He thought that probably went through his head was that no matter who he picked, then he'd more than likely get some type of physical assault.
"You know, I'll get on my D-wheel and then send it then," Kaze muttered.
"Now why would you do that," Sherry asked.
"Well, if one of you start running at me, then I can just take off at top speed," Kaze said.
"Are you saying that we could run faster than you," Rei asked.
"No, it's just a very secure safety precaution," Kaze said.
"I'm sure it is. I think a certain red wearing boy is just scared that I could catch him and take him down before he even knew what hit him," Rei said. Kaze grumbled his complaints, but made his way towards his D-wheel regardless, phone in hand, already getting the message ready. Before he even got to his parked D-wheel, Rei already had her phone out, clutching it as if it was a winning lottery ticket.
"You sure are... confident despite everything so far," I pointed out.
"Of course! I told you, we're like childhood friends! He'll definitely-," Rei started. She stopped and shot a glare at Sherry, who was currently occupied with her phone. "Don't you dare tell me you got it and not me," Rei said.
"Relax. It's just Mizoguchi," Sherry sighed.
"Well, who does he think he is, interrupting such a tense moment," Rei asked.
"He has a history of doing it. Like when I was about to sleep with Kaze, he called and said that I had to go back with him," Sherry said. Both Rei and I took this different ways. Knowing what Sherry did, I took this as she was going to sleep on his couch or something. Rei took this as something far worse.
"Sleep... with Kaze...? Sherry LeBlanc, you are the most-"
"Ah, sorry, It doesn't seem right to text it, so I'm going to-," Kaze's words were cut off but Rei taking hold of his shoulders and roughly shaking him around.
"How could you even think to sleep with Sherry! You pervert! That's what you are! A pervert," Rei shouted.
"I had no choice in the matter! She kind of just did it on her own," Kaze insisted. "I had no idea until I woke up the next morning," Kaze continued.
"Sherry! It wasn't consensual," Rei asked, temporary stopping her shaking of Kaze.
"We're on two different pages here, as a note," Sherry said.
"There's no other definition of sleeping with someone," Rei said.
"There's the kind that you did as a kid with a stuffed animal," I pointed out.
"But this is Sherry we're talking about," Rei whispered, as if it would keep the blond from hearing.
"W-wait! You think that Sherry and I," Kaze trailed off, in which Rei nodded.
"She doesn't seem to know you very well if she thinks that you would do that," Sherry said.
"God, way to make the atmosphere awkward, Rei," Kaze sighed.
"I'm not the one who was going to sleep with Sherry," Rei mumbled.
"That was a long time ago," Kaze snapped.
"Oh, so you would have done it," Rei asked. Before the argument could get any further, Sherry easily dragged the two apart.
"Uh... Kaze...? Weren't you saying something before Rei interrupted," I asked.
"Well, I was going to say that I was going to suck up the awkwardness and just say it, but now Rei just made it ten times more awkward," Kaze said.
"Just do it already, Mr. Keeping lovely maidens waiting for years," Rei said.
"You should just tell her that it isn't her so that we can get down to business without her interruptions," Sherry said.
"Or he could tell you that it isn't you so we can go on without your interruptions," Rei said. Or he could say that it was neither of you... But who am I kidding, that would never happen. He'd probably get chased off on the spot... Maybe he should have just stayed on his D-wheel for this...
"Alright, fine... The truth is..."
This probably won't make up for the super long wait that it took to write it, as it's a cliff hanger, but at least it's an update ^^'
Notes:
- After failing to finish the chapter in a proper way, I ended up pulling all the different versions up. Then I did surgery on them and mix the ideas up and I finally got the chapter done... I have no idea why I didn't do this early, since this seems to work.
- Someone suggested that I do a sort of bonus chapter for each of the girls where they all have their own endings. After getting this done, I realized it may be more challenging than I thought, but if enough people wanted to see it, I could work on it. If not, there would be just the one ending with the one girl.
Reviews:
- The Wild Fang: I imagined it as since the carnival is a public event, Sherry and Rei were there of their own accord with no idea of the date. Then they saw her dressing like normal and figured they had to help out. After Ruka turns their help down, she and Sherry just 'conveniently' were in the same place as them.