Title: An Alternative

Author: shimasama

Pairing: Akane Narita and Subaru Yagi

Fandom: Hot Gimmick

Theme: #8 - our own world

Disclaimer: I do not own Hot Gimmick. It belongs to Viz and Miki Aihara.

School. The unavoidable worst thing on the entire planet, for one reason, and one reason only.

Ex-boyfriends.

And Akane had plenty of them. As she walked through the halls on her first day of high school, she suddenly realized just how many guys she had dated. Everywhere she turned another guy was giving her that awkward look-the "I-know-you-but-don't-want-to" look. Until she finally ducked into a clubroom after school, she couldn't get away from them.

The room she entered was lined with computers, a square table surrounded by mismatched chairs in the middle. A hand-written sign on what looked like used computer paper was hanging on the wall by the window. "Computer Club."

"Great..." Akane sighed, plopping down on one of the table's chairs. The torn cushion practically sunk beneath her, and the chair let out a rather unappealing squeak. Just was the sound rang out in the small room, the door slid open and in walked what looked like a television with legs and spiky black hair. Or it did, until Akane recognized the 'do.

"Yagi-kun?"

The senior peeked around the flat screen monitor he was carrying, before stumbling inside the room and setting the monitor on the table. He looked over at the underclassman-oh yeah; Hatsumi's little sister-and ran a hand through his hair. His slightly-too-small uniform made the motion a little difficult.

"Narita-chan...What are you doing here? At the school? I think Hatsumi's in class--"

"I'm a freshman, Yagi-kun. Today was my first day." She looked at the older boy tiredly, adjusting her skirt-hemmed just a bit too short-and tucked her legs underneath the table. As she had learned to do to many other guys before, she looked at him from beneath her eyelashes--but Subaru was no longer looking at her. He was looking out the window as his hands kept busy untangling the cords of his monitor.

"Oh, I didn't know... I guess I forget, sometimes, what with Asahi--"

"Going to another school? Yeah... It's been a while since I've seen her." Akane placed one hand lightly on top of ht other, all business. Subaru looked over at her, his hands holding two ends of the same cord. "How is she?"

"Fine," he answered quickly. The door to the clubroom slid open again, and one of the other computer club members stepped in. One of the best ideas she had ever had, hiding in this room. Not a single one of her ex-boyfriends would have been caught dead in the Computer Club.

"Yagi-senpai, what should we do with the extra keyboards?" The boy, older than Akane but still Subaru's junior, was carrying a few decrepit keyboards in his arms. He looked at Akane strangely, as if he had never seen a girl before. Or perhaps he had just never seen a girl in this particular room before. "U-uh, hello?"

Subaru was across the room in seconds, taking the keyboards from his kohai's arms, when the boy noticed Akane. Subaru set the keyboards down in front of the monitor, unsure of what to do. How could he explain the presence of an appealing Year One girl in the Computer Club room?

Luckily, he didn't have to. Akane stood up from her chair, flattening the pleats on her skirt and gave a quick greeting to the club member before departing. She didn't even give him her name. She didn't want anyone to know she had been there.

--

Subaru Yagi was Hatsumi's oldest friend, that much Akane knew. They lived barely floors apart, but after Asahi transferred to another school (and moved out of the apartment with her mother), Akane did not see the older Yagi sibling around as much. She knew Asahi's reasons for leaving--being around Shinogu hurt too much, and her mother was ready to let her daughter spend some time away to allow her to repair. From Akane's few sleepovers at the Yagi's apartment, she also knew Subaru was an anime geek--but he had given up being part of the Anime Club when his sister left, in favor of learning "usable" skills--so he joined the Computer Club. He wasn't a good student, by any stretch of the imagination--he was one of the few Computer Club members who spent time at the arcade rather than studying on weeknights. After that, Akane knew nothing--Asahi had stopped writing her e-mails, and Subaru didn't hang around the Narita's apartment anymore.

After all this, Akane was rather surprised to actually see Subaru in the halls of the apartment complex. For over a year, it was as if he and his father didn't even live there. She never saw them leave in the morning, never saw them return at night. But Mr. Yagi was still going to work, and after the Computer Club room meet, Akane knew Subaru was going to school.

Subaru looked at her out of the corner of his eye when they almost collided on their way into the apartment complex. He had his bag over his shoulder, and dodged her wayward steps just barely by sliding in the door. Akane watched him sidle passed the elevator in favor of the stairs. Sighing, Akane pressed the "up" button on the elevator and didn't give him a second glance.

--

The next day, at school, Akane needed a place to hide. Lunch had become awkward for her--her friends were all at different schools, some better, some worse, and she didn't know whom to sit with. In her middle school, when things like this happened, she just flirted with a guy so he would buy her lunch. High school was different. She was a freshman, the lowest on the food chain--and way too many guys already knew her tricks. Akane stalked through the halls, bypassing her classroom in favor of the clubroom halls. She stared at the familiar door at the end of the hall, before raising a hand and sliding it open a little. There seemed to be no one inside. Gripping her lunch tighter, Akane tiptoed into the Computer Club room.

Apparently she hadn't looked hard enough. At one of the computers, his head resting on the keyboard, was the sleeping form of Subaru Yagi. His lunch was beside him, half-eaten. Akane watched him sleep for a few seconds, before settling down at the table to eat her own meal. She guessed that had it been any other club member, Akane would have found somewhere else to eat. But Subaru? The dense, dorky friend of her older sister? She doubted he would even wake up when the bell rang for afternoon classes.

--

Akane continued to use the clubroom as her lunchroom for the rest of the week. She was surprised to find that Subaru seemed to fall asleep there at the same time everyday. She packed up all her things a few minutes before the bell rang and slipped out of the room so he never knew she was there. To her friends at other schools, she confessed she had been eating lunch with a senior boy everyday. To her sister, she said she had been eating in the cafeteria with everyone else. "How could you have not seen me?"

She thought her escapades had gone unnoticed, until the next Monday she found a place setting on the table when she came into the room for lunch. Her eyes widened as she came forward. It was just a rudimentary thing-napkins, a plate, chopsticks-but obviously someone knew she came there. She looked around the room. No one was in sight. Where is Yagi-kun?

The door behind her slid open and Akane jumped, letting out a squeal. She whipped her head around, almost hitting Subaru as he came into the room. He smiled sheepishly, walking over to his usual napping spot and sitting down. "Sorry, Narita-chan. I didn't mean to scare you. You've been leaving a little bit of a mess after you leave...I didn't want you to get anything on the computers." Subaru shrugged his shoulders, taking out his own lunch and facing the wall to eat. Akane watched him, before carefully creeping over towards the place setting and sitting down. She unwrapped her lunchbox-still in the dorky fabric her mother wrapped it in every morning-and ate in silence, as always. She was uncomfortable having a conscious lunch mate.

When Akane was finished, she packed things up as usual, and got ready to leave. Subaru had spent most of the period watching anime music videos on the Internet--it seemed, even as a Computer Club member, he couldn't give up his true passion. He turned as she got ready to leave, and stood up abruptly. There was still a video playing on the screen.

"N-narita-chan... I hope you're still g-going to come? I-I mean here, t-tomorrow?" He shoved his hands in his pockets, staring at his worn hand-me-down shoes. Akane watched his face turn red, and she smiled softly. Yes, a very good idea to hide here.

"Of course, Yagi-kun. You weren't gonna kick me out, were you?"

"N-no! Of course not!"

Akane stepped closer to the older boy, before placing a kiss on his cheek (she didn't even have to stand on her toes). "Thank you, Yagi-kun. For all this." Then she left.

Subaru stood there long after she had gone, long after the bell had rang and he was very late for class. He brought his hand up to his cheek, and slid back down into his seat. "Y-you're welcome."