Chapter 49: Love Loss


AN: It's not official whether Panther and Sena are going to be a couple because, as you guys can see, I haven't finished this story. No, Panther was not the one who got zapped by Sena in America—read chapter 8, it should give you a hint who it was. And I am a girl. And this story is going to end up being fricken long.


Sena sighed quietly, drumming the mechanical pencil against the desk with a little "rum-a-thump-thump". She pretended not to notice the frantic whispers that went on behind her door for the past ten minutes. If she knew what they were saying, then she would find out a way to put an end to their distracting. Unfortunately, she didn't know English very well.

'Argh. What do those boys want?' Sena grumbled in her head. 'At this rate, I won't be able to study if this continues on.'

She debated with herself whether she should barge out of her room and to Aunty Mio, demanding the reason as to why the foreigners were still in their abode, especially right outside of her room; or whether she should just continue to wait.

'Speaking of which, why are they here in the first place?' She chewed on her pencil and leaned back in her seat. 'I doubt that they could be affiliated with the mafia. I mean, they don't even seem professional. I bet that they're the American football players that the Devil Bats will go against.'

She frowned. "If so, why would they be here?" she muttered to herself. Sena's frown then evolved into a scowl. "Aunty Mio must have something to do with this."

There was knocking on her door.

The pencil slipped through her fingers, almost about to roll off the desk if Sena hadn't caught it beforehand. She gently set the pencil down and walked towards the door. The abrupt knocking had startled her, but she felt her facial muscles relax into a neutral expression; conversely, her heart was thumping against her ribcage.

Upon opening the door stood before her was the dark-skinned boy who didn't wear at least a jacket when it was so cold. Her brows furrowed in askance as to what he wanted.

"Um, erm, S-Sena, rrllight?" he said in a poor attempted Japanese.

She nodded.

"Well, I would quick this m-m-make." He furrowed his eyebrows and dug into his pocket. He pulled out a crumbled piece of paper and read off of it, "Se-Sena, I wishhh t-to propose you shomehing."

He knelt down on one knee and said…


Upon returning back to the hotel, the boys turned heads at the African American, puzzled at his peculiar behavior. He sailed his way to his room while wearing a goofy expression, hearts literally lighting in his eyes.

"Hey," Gonzales called out to Homer. "What's with Panther?"

Homer rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "The moron's just lovesick."

"…Huh?"


For awhile…everyone was talking about the game between the Japanese and the Americans. Sena had a feeling that the mentioning of Americans alerted what could be deemed as excitement and fear. Excitement for the girls; fear for the boys.

Being normally invisible, Sena had been involuntarily listening to a conversation of a couple girls who were sitting before her. They just suddenly gathered around their friends who had their seats assigned in front of her, and Sena, being lazy and all, didn't felt like moving to give them privacy.

The conversation had been interesting, anyway. The girls went on and on about the American football team, obviously focusing on the aspect of "handsome and ripped young men from a foreign country" would be competing against the football team in their school.

Sena found it humorous as to how everyone believed that America consisted plenty of beauties, just because there were famous American actors, singers, whatever that made a prominent impact on Japan. For example, Johnny Depp or Katy Perry. Or the most recent popstar sensation, Justin Beiber. However, upon staying in the U.S for nearly two years, Sena was well aware that Americans were just as normal as Japanese.

Well, they were rather obnoxious, loud, and chatty on the other hand…

Anyway, after a moment of listening to the girls gushing about possible romance, Sena immediately thought about Panther and his proposal. She frowned, feeling confused and uncertain. The notion of her…her actually being with a guy who liked her in a romantic way, someone who wanted to be with her in that way

It seemed utterly ridiculous.

She wasn't sure whether she should laugh outright or cry from the pent-up frustration. Or maybe embrace the growing mirth. The idea about her getting together with a guy never appeared ever since she was twelve. Sena just knew, from then on, that when everyone in her class overlooked her or set their eyes on Mamori, she wasn't capable of tasting romance.

Celibacy suited her fine, anyway. That, until Panther showed up…


Panther was straightforward. He grasped onto her hand and pecked her on the cheek.

"Hiii!" Sena squeaked, her face flushed brightly.

"Fast quick?" Panther chuckled nervously.

Sena translated that as "Too fast?" or "Am I rushing it?". For a jock, Panther was unbelievably quick at learning things. Within two days, Aunty Mio had taught the African American grammar (though it could use some work) and generic Japanese words, such as "stop", "go", "slow", "fast", "thank you", "good bye", and of course, "beautiful" and "pretty". Never had she not heard Panther consistently compliment her by using the only two words he knew on how to praise her.

Sena shrugged. "It's okay," she lied. Panther, strangely enough, did not pick up the lie. In fact, he was really absorbed by how the setting sun's orange rays were hitting her pale skin.

"You're beautiful," he whispered.

Sena tried not to squirm uncomfortably. "Thank you."

Just like yesterday, the two stood there, staring at one another's eyes. Whereas Panther was openly admiring the girl of his dreams, Sena was thinking about how a couple operates afterwards from the cliché touching moment.

"I leave go now," Panther said.

Sena nodded. "Okay."

"Miss you many."

"Me too."

They don't do anything like kissing because they weren't officially together. Additionally, Sena didn't really want to rush things. Panther was fine with that.

When Panther left, Sena was considering that perhaps she should read a couple romance novels to get the idea of how a girlfriend should behave. This love thing was totally beyond her.