Okay, i have a veeerrrryyy understandable reason for my my update was--4--months l8...
-ehem-
well, as a 4th year high school student, i hav other responsibilities in lyf that i need to prioritize, for example, my college applications.
ive been damn bc with schoool l8ly, hw, projects, skul events, EXAMS...and my upcoming college lyf isnt helping at all.
so, obviously, i wont hav much tym to go on d comp and type thise 3,000+ words per chapter story.
noooowww, i wont be able to tell you guys EVERYthingthat kept me bc these past few months, so ill just stop at that. im sure u guys arent interested anyway XDD =]
Belated merry xmas and a happy new year!!
- Chapie # 38! -
"Alright, Settle down!" yelled out an annoyed sensei.
All the chatting and noise suddenly quieted down.
"…now as you all know, we are here today to have some fun, right?" Sensei called out to everyone's attention.
A chorus of enthusiastic 'hai''s filled the air all at once.
"Right, so for today, you'll all be allowed to roam around the park in small groups. But don't wander off too far away, because we'll all be meeting up here again at exactly 7:00 sharp for the fireworks display." Sensei announced, tapping his finger on his watch to make his point.
"Got it?"
"Hai!"
I let out a sigh as the crowd quickly dissolved and all the other students started talking about where they should go first, and picking out group members.
Yup, we were spending the whole day in a park. Drove for hours in a cramped old bus—to get to a park. Why not any other park you ask? Because this is the closest park the school could find that would allow us to have out fireworks display. That's why.
'…Great. What are we supposed to do for 6 hours?' I asked myself glumly.
I looked around me exhaustedly, thinking of where to go, and spotted a wooden bench to my left. I widened my eyes I bit when I noticed how comfy it looked, sitting under a shady oak, and thin rays of light landing on its brown paint. At this point, I came to a conclusion that I was suffering from a heat stroke. Because I never thought that a day would come when I would adore a bench. But what the hay, it looked like some scenery you would find in paintings.
'6 hours. That should be plenty of time.' I sighed and headed towards it.
As I listened to the patting of my feet on the ground, I heard some girls from my class rush around, finding cool places to hang out in. Kukai had to go find the nearest bathroom as soon as we got out of the bus, and sensei was still talking to Tadase about what to do when things get out of hand. Guess I was on my own for a while. I came to a halt as soon as I was in front of the bench, and took a quick glance at the tree branches above me. With a sigh, I sat down.
As I watched people finalize their plans for the day, I spotted Tadase walking over to me, an exhausted look on his face.
'What exactly did sensei make him do?' I sweat dropped.
When he came to a halt in front of me, he heavily took a seat beside me and let out a yawn.
"Um, hey there, Tadase." I started nervously, not sure if he still had the energy to speak.
He faced me slowly, light bags under his eyes, before replying.
"Ah, hello, Hinamori-san" he smiled weakly.
A concerned look quickly popped up on my face, but I tried not to make it too obvious.
"…Oi, what did sensei make you do for the whole trip?..." I asked.
"…You're obviously more exhausted than a normal kid our age should be."
He replaced the smile on his face with a semi-questioning look.
"Huh? What are you talking about, Hinamori-san?" he said nervously, a crooked smile quickly forming on his face.
I just sweat dropped at his response.
"You don't have to hide it Tadase. I can see through your face that you obviously didn't sleep a wink for the whole trip on the bus…" I pointed at the bags under his eyes.
"…What exactly were you doing for the whole time?" I narrowed my eyes, getting mildly suspicious.
He just stared at me with a semi-worried expression on his face for a few seconds before he lowered his head a bit and put on a weak grimace.
"…It's nothing. I just didn't feel like sleeping is all." He replied plainly, facing the other way.
I just stared at him, confused, for a short while.
'…that's not like Tadase. Something must be up…' I thought to myself.
I widened my eyes a bit when a leaf slowly landed on my nose.
'Eh?'
I picked it up and raised my head to look up at the tree, and watched as its leaves slowly started falling down and landing all around me and Tadase. As I just continued watching, a smile was suddenly formed on my face at the sight I saw.
'Wow, this spot really does look like a scene you would see in paintings.' I thought to myself.
A light brown leaf quickly caught my attention, and I widened my eyes in wonder as I watched it gently float down and land beside me. I just kept staring at it for a few seconds before I picked it up and held it up in front of my face, blocking some sunlight form my eyes. When I noticed that there was a small shadow coming from behind the leaf, I turned it over and was a bit surprised at what I saw.
"Tadase, look!" I suddenly said out loud.
He widened his eyes in surprise as he faced me, and I quickly shoved the leaf in front of his face.
"E-Eh? He stuttered as he stared at the ladybug clinging onto the leaf.
"See? A ladybug!" I exclaimed with a smile.
"W-What about it, Hinamori-san?" he sweat-dropped.
"Well, right now, this leaf kinda resembles you…" continued smiling as I lowered the leaf from his face.
He just kept staring at me with a startled and confused look on his face, waiting for me to go on.
"…sooner or later, the thing you're hiding will grow bigger and bigger—and one day--it'll just devour you whole…"
I brought the leaf down and just stared at him, a weak smile on my face. He looked into my eyes with a sympathetic look for a few seconds, before he leaned back on the bench and let out a sigh.
"You always could change my mind in a second just like that…" He mumbled weakly, a soft smile on his face.
"…Eh-?...What?"
A confused look on my face.
"…No, it's nothing" he laughed.
He looked me in the eye again, startling me a bit, before he replied.
"…Anyway, you're right…" he said as he leaned forward, and rest his elbows on his lap.
"…Besides, I can't keep anything from you for very long—and you know that." He smiled.
I simply replied with a peppy look. Well, I guess I couldn't deny that. I guess it was a gift I had ever since I joined the guardians.
He let out a sigh before he finally decided to reply.
"…Actually, the truth is—"
"SOUMA-SENPAI!!!~~"
Tadase was suddenly cut off w/ a startled expression as a couple of freshmen girls ran over to Kukai, Who was just heading over to our direction.
Tadase and I just stared in mild astonishment as we watched the girls blush and started asking Kukai some wild random questions.
I just sweat dropped as I silently watched them bounce up and down in excitement.
"Wow, to think that up until now, Kukai would still be this popular…." I mumbled weakly.
I suddenly widened my eyes a bit as I noticed how Tadase was staring at Kukai. His face was completely expressionless as he just kept silently watching.
'…Tadase?...' I thought to myself in concern.
After a few seconds, Kukai let out a sigh as he continued coming over to our direction, after the 2 freshmen were finally satisfied with what happened.
"Hey, Kukai" I greeted him when he reached us.
"What happened back there? Looks like someone had fun." I teased and gave ou a smirk.
"Gee, you think?" He looked at me glumly with exhausted eyes.
"…They asked for the toilet paper that stuck under my shoe as a 'souvenir' for this fieldtrip." He said before letting out a heavy sigh and taking a seat between me and Tadase.
"…I swear. It's those kinds of girls that I'll never fall for." he pouted.
"Yeah well, I guess that's one of the down-sides of being one of the most popular guys in school." I laughed
He looked at me with one of those pouty-looks, before turning his head back forwards and replying.
"If that's the case, then I just wanna be like you guys—downright unpopular" he let out a grin.
Then a vein suddenly popped up on my forehead, my fist trembling in front of me.
"…Damn you, you little--!..." I started, but held back when he let out a heavy moan and bent his neck backwards, making his head face up, and that exhausted look reappeared on his face.
Meanwhile, I couldn't help but feel concerned about Tadase, who now had his fists on his lap. I really wished that I wasn't so thickheaded. To think that it should've gone away after a whole year.
…It made me feel stupid.
There wasn't a single moment when my friends weren't there for me—and yet for them, I can't even figure out the simplest things.
'Man, how ironic. I can handle defeating Easter and purifying thousands of x-eggs better than handling my normal life.' I almost let out a stupid grinny giggle.
Suddenly, after Kukai was fully recharged , he got up from his seat and stretched his arms up in the air.
"Wellp, that's enough rest for me! Otherwise my body will start to get all stiff~"
With one last yawn, he grabbed mine and Tadase's wrists, and before we could even let out a remark—or at least a simple 'eh--?!'—we were off…just like that.
* - * - * - *
…NEVER—AGAIN…
-pant-
…NEVER—EVER—AGAIN…
Those words kept rushing around in my head as we finally came to an abrupt stop.
I couldn't stop panting. What I've just been through was one hell of a workout—for me at least!
After dashing off, he zoomed around the whole park, dragging me and Tadase along with him, saying that he wanted to see and know all the different areas of the park before actually visiting one—which really pissed me off. We could've just looked at the park map, which was posted in a big metal sign thing for all the visitors to see! I spotted one after we zoomed past the huge fountain in the middle of the park, but he said that checking the maps is the losers way of doing it.
I mean, seriously!
I groaned before I took a sip of my soda, Kukai's treat.
'And I thought field trips were supposed to be fun and stress-relieving…' I sighed in my head.
As Tadase took a sip from his drink, Kukai started stretching in front of us. Most probably getting ready for another lap. I just groaned.
"Yosh! Now that we've seen most of the areas in this place, where do you guys wanna head to first?" He grinned.
"…Souma-kun, I don't think I'll be going anywhere for a while." Tadase sweat-dropped as he massaged his thighs, which were bruised multiple times from being bumped into fences and scratched form passing through bushes.
'Dude, that's what you get for wearing Boy Scout shorts all the time' Kukai mentioned with an awkward-like smug look on his face.
Tadase just blushed as a reply.
I stared up at the sky with an expressionless face for a few seconds, then looked back at Kukai.
"Well, I would've loved to visit the dolphinarium here, but I think it closed about an hour ago already." I said as I watched the sun set lower and the sky slowly turning into a dark shade of orange.
Kukai widened his eyes a bit in confusion before he turned around and saw the same scenery I did.
"…Ah, I see…" he sweat-dropped.
"So you do." Tadase and I said in unison with straight faces and I just rest my chin in my hand.
"Eheheh, but look in the bright side! At least we got to see most of the places in here already, right?" He quickly turned around and scratched his head.
"Yeah, and the dolphinarium not being included in the 'most'." I shot back.
He was left speechless for at least 3 minutes with a dumb-founded expression on his face before he glanced at his wrist watch and looked back at us.
"Well, look at the time. Fireworks gonna start pretty soon now…"
…no reply…
'Well, this is certainly becoming more awkward than I expected.' I thought.
We all continued too stay quiet and drown in this bath of awkwardness for about 10 more minutes before Kukai finally broke out.
"Okay! Fine, What do you want me to say?! I'm sorry already, there!" He was practically pulling his hair out 'coz of the silence.
I couldn't but let out a little smirk.
It always had been Kukai' weakness to be left in an awkward moment. He was just already so used to being the life of the party and being surrounded by noise and liveliness—so I wanted to take this opportunity to be the 'high' one in the group for once—just to see what it was like.
"…alright, the fireworks are gonna start any minute now, so let's get a move on." I said after I let out a sigh and scratched the back of my head in a 'cool' kinda way, before I turned around.
Yeah, I felt pretty stupid, but hey, you can't blame me for wanting to have the spotlight every now and then when I'm surrounded by the school's most popular boys. Try it. It's pretty hard to get the least bit attention when you want it.
"We better get there in time, otherwise, sensei will—" I cut myself off when Kukai suddenly placed his hand on my shoulder, and his face beside mine.
I widened my eyes when he then said into my ear:
"Oi, don't get ahead of yourself, baka. That weakness of mine was soo last year. Just to let you know, ever since I started hanging out with you, my popularity dropped drastically low. But luckily, its still high enough to be the center of all the girl's conversations and forums." He grinned widely in a victorious look.
I blushed madly as soon as he finished his sentence.
'Was I really THAT easy to see through?!'
"S-S-S-Shut up!!" I yelled as I quickly turned around and jabbed a finger in front of his face. Such an annoying grin!!
"D-Don't say anything so embarrassing!!—especially when it's directed towards me!!" I continued yelling out.
The grin never left his face as he turned around and waved a hand in the air playfully as he walked forward.
"Hai, hai. Whatever you say…A-mu-cha-n~~" he said, turning his head to the side to face me as he said my name, a smirk on his face.
I kept glaring at him with a 'seemingly like' murderous intent in my eyes—until I realized that he was actually walking away.
"O-Oi, where are you going?" I asked, curious, but still very pissed off.
He turned his head a bit to face me, but didn't stop walking.
"Where does it look like? To go see the fireworks of course. That was the whole point of this field trip." He said matter-of-factly.
A vein popped up on my forehead, but I resisted the urge to run after him and just pound the snot out of the smug face of his.
[[oh wow, I sure did grow violent this year…]]
"B-But, the place where we're supposed to meet up in is in the other direction." I double-checked my memory of the routes that Kukai dragged us through just to make sure.
"Yeah, so?"
"W-What do you mean, 'so'?! Are you seriously trying to get us lost or something?!"
He stopped in his tracks with his hands in his pockets and turned his head to stare at me with a serious expression on his face.
A chill suddenly ran down my spine.
"…When I said that we passed through most of the areas in this park, that included all the secret scenery hotspots…" He smirked.
"…Bet THAT wasn't in the park map."
After I realized I was staring at him with my eyes wide open in an amazed expression, I quickly crossed my arms in an arrogant way, and turned my head to the side, slightly blushing, but still pissed.
"W-Whatever. I still blame you that I wasn't able to go to the dolphinarium today." I said stubbornly.
He let out a little snicker before he continued walking on.
I just watched him walk on, because at that point, I realized that something was amiss. It took me a few seconds to figure out what it was though.
"…Oi…"
He stopped in his tracks again, but this time, turned his whole body half around to face me. Both his eyebrows raised in a wondering look, but a bored expression on his face.
"Aren't you going to grab our wrists and drag us along with you to wherever you're going?" I asked.
He let out a weak smirk before facing back forward and continued walking on.
"If you guys don't hurry up, I'm gonna leave you behind." He announced.
I just stared after his back for a moment before I gave in.
'Geez, how annoying.' I thought.
"c'mon, Tadase. We better catch up. It looks like he's our only hope of finding our way back to the bus." I said as I faced him.
Again, he had that expressionless look on his face as he stared after Kukai, but strangely enough, I wasn't so concerned anymore. Maybe because my mind was concentrating more on getting pissed off at Kukai. Hmm. Go Figure.
It took Tadase a few seconds to reply and get up. His legs still a bit sore.
"H-Hai."
He quickly ran to my side, and with that, we followed after Kukai, to God-knows where…
- End of Chappie! -
also, if anyone's interested, or if u think uve got d skillz, u can send me a message via , or , saying that u want to volunteer to help my finish up my story =]
ive got the ideas all ready, but ill need sum1 2 help me type and publish them on2 d net. i rilly dont think i hav much time 2 spare nowadays....
privilages or disadvantagaes may include, but r not limited to:
1] Spoilers to upcoming chapters and ending
2] Writer's cramp
3] less time to spend for real-life
4] gives u sumthin 2 do in ur spare time
5] may help improve ur story-writing skillz
etc.....
NOW, PRESS THAT OL' MAGIC BUTTON!
--OR NO COOKIE 4 U!--
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