Chapter 23: Aki Adagaki #1
Aki Adagaki found herself in a bit of a predicament. She was trapped inside the storage room and couldn't get out. No, it was not like someone had locked the door from the outside, that wasn't the case. She was free to leave. But if she chooses to do so, her secret would come out in the open and from the looks of it those people loitering outside the storage room, wanted her to do just that.
"You will pay for this you zombie!" Aki screamed out from inside.
"Kurisu Makise-san, I think she means you."
"No way, she calls me Princess Zombie. She definitely meant you, Hikigaya."
"Nah, she calls me -"
Aki recognized the voice immediately. It was him. "You fish monger!"
"Yeah that's right. She calls me fish monger." The waste of flesh said, jovially. "Remember, me. It's Hachiman Hikigaya, princess."
Aki Adagaki gnashed her teeth and came up with many colourful names to call this degenerate. She knew he was trouble from the moment they met. It was those dead fish eyes. Now that she thought about it, calling him a fish monger was really clever. He did smell like one, ew!
And he had the audacity to not only intrude upon her private spot, but also to bring along other women who she had christened in her own way. There was Kurisu Makise, who ticked her off, because she pretended to be clever. At first she thought, she would call her Miss Know-It-All, but then, someone calling himself a 'Mad Scientist' called her a zombie and that's when she got the inspiration. She would call her Princess Zombie.
But of course, from the looks of it that didn't sit well with her and now she had joined hands with the fish monger.
"Adagaki-san, you should really come out." Oh no, she knew this voice. Worse of all, she considered her a friend. "Yoshino told me about your condition."
"What condition, Furuhashi?"
"Hey, don't ask useless question, you Loser Loner!" Aki Adagaki shouted. She had almost opened the door a smidge.
Their eyes met for a fraction of a second and she hated every moment of it.
"I thought I was the Fish Monger."
"You are." Aki said with a glare. "But that name doubles as an occupation, so I had to think of something else. So, Loser Loner!"
"I can't believe I have to deal with this in university." The Loser Loner AKA Fish Monger shook his head in disbelief. He had some nerve. He was the one who was pestering her. And he had stolen her ally too.
Aki Adagaki looked at the woman with the blue hair, who didn't look sleepy at all. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she was gorging on food without any shame in the world. Aki, herself had a perfect excuse, a medical condition, but her now former friend, she had none.
"Shame on you, for associating with the likes of Scumasaurus!" Aki said, filled with rage.
"Scumasaurus?" Asked the 'Sleeping Beauty of The Literary Forest'. "Oh, you mean, Hikigaya-kun."
"His name is not Hikigaya, Furuhashi-senpai." Aki bit out. "Or should I call you Snorlax!"
"Wow, I didn't knew a princess like you saw Pokemon." Scumasaurus said. "Also, you should be polite to Furuhashi-senpai. Even though her stomach was grumbling super loud, she decided to wait for you to come outside and join us while we ate our food."
"Hikigaya-kun, you have no tact when talking to women, do you?" Fumino Furuhashi said with a plastered smile. Hachiman Hikigaya didn't know he was two seconds away from receiving a punch to the side.
"What do you mean?" The waste of oxygen had the nerve to ask.
Aki Adagaki was at her limit. She waltzed out of the storage room and came up right to him. "She means you are a troglodyte and a waste of space. And you don't know anything about women. So you shouldn't bother yourself with us."
"Like I wanted to come here and talk to you, you, Tsundere Reject." he thought for a second, but couldn't come up with something cleverer. He probably didn't have enough brain cells to think of something clever, thought Aki with a cruel smile.
"Then why are you here." Aki crossed her arms and stuck an imposing figure. "Leave."
The rotten fish stranded on dry land still wouldn't die and become a delectable dish on her plate. Wait, that sounded wrong. Whatever. Needless to say, he didn't take no for an answer. "I came here because Yoshino Koiwai, stumbled onto me and she said some stupid thing about you dying if you weren't fed."
"She said no such thing. You are clearly lying!" Even as she told the lie, Aki Adagaki was mentally berating Yoshino Koiwoi, her personal servant. She knew everything about how she wanted to keep this side of her a secret from everyone on campus. But she had gone and told the one man who had no business of knowing her secret.
"Well, you are overreacting." He didn't smile, but she was certain he looked down on her. "So what, if you have an healthy appetite. Furuhashi-senpai also likes to eat."
Fumino Furuhashi-senpai, bless her, elbowed him in the stomach. "Behave, Hikigaya-kun." Oh, yes, she was showing her lesser known yandere side. "If you don't I might have to teach you the first lesson on knowing the heart of a woman."
He winced and looked at the blue haired senpai, warily. "Okay, moving on from that frightful scene we just experienced," he turned back to her. "Adagaki, I don't know why you are angry. I know you didn't want to see me. Believe me, I didn't want to see you as well."
"Why?" Aki scoffed. "Couldn't handle a rejection like a Big Boy?"
"For the last time, I didn't confess." Big Boy repeated. "I just talked to you for a bit, because I had the wrong impression that you were a sane woman. It's a promise I made to myself to talk to a lot of people now that I am in my second year of university. You were, unfortunately a failed experiment."
"Did you call me a 'Failed Experiment'?" Aki Adagaki was outraged. "Are you saying I am an unwanted child? You don't know anything about me, let alone my family situation, you, you!" Words failed her, because knowingly or unknowingly he had touched a nerve. She remembered her childhood, her parent arguing, how it used to annoy her, how it used to hurt her.
"Okay, I definitely crossed a line there." He held up both his hands in a placating manner. "I don't want this situation to escalate. I thought, I could talk reason and make you see sense. Your friend, Koiwoi is worried about you. But for some reason, she can't speak up to you and tell you when you are wrong."
Aki Adagaki placed a cruel smile on her lips and told another lie. "That's because she is my servant."
He looked at her for a second than scoffed. How dare he open his mouth, this Abomination!
"Look, I know what the deal is. I have yet not had the pleasure of dealing with rich heiresses on this campus, but I have dealt with their personal valet on a few occasions. Let me tell you, once you deal with Ai Hayasaka, all other personal servants feel like a disappointment. However, having said that, I can assure you that, I understand the relationship between master and servant." He gave her a knowing look. "For a woman like you, she will be the closest thing to a friend."
Aki Adagaki tried to not let it show that she was affected with his speech. Say what you want, but this disgusting creep had a way with words. Too bad, she didn't listen to him all that often.
"Okay, I will give you the opportunity to eat with us." She said.
"And you will be civil to Furuhashi-senpai and Kurisu Makise-san?" he asked.
"I make no promises." As the words left her mouth her stomach gave a loud grumble.
Aki Adagaki glared at them. "Forget what you heard!"
"Of course!" said Fumino Furuhashi-senpai.
"Okay." Said Kurisu Makise.
"Heard what?" said the idiot.
Aki Adagaki grabbed a scrumptious looking bento box and taking a sandwich she stuffed it forcibly into his mouth. Yeah, that's right, eat what your mistress feeds you, you worm, she thought cruelly. "Don't play dumb, you worm, you know what you heard."
"Life I wash safing I hurd nuffinh" he couldn't even speak properly.
"Chew your food you imbecile!" Aki ordered.
He swallowed the rest of the sandwich after a couple of chews and as expected he choked. Like a fish out of water, he was flailing around. Aki Adagaki decided to show him a modicum of mercy. She asked Makise for a bottle of water, opened the lid herself and brought it to the man-child's lips.
"Seriously, can't you even chew properly?"
"I can chew just fine." He added. "I'm just not used to women stuffing food in my mouth."
"I didn't stuff it." She blushed, "You are just a socially inept loner who doesn't know how to share a meal."
"Is that what we are calling it. Oh well." The Rouge had a roughish smile on his face. "Well, you are right, you did feed me food from your bento. Who knew you cared about me?"
Aki Adagaki felt heat rush to her cheeks. He was playing her. Who did he think she was, a blushing princess, who is locked in a castle. No, she definitely was not a damsel in distress.
"Shut up and eat you food, Loner Prince."
Her Loner Prince smiled. "Finally, you gave me a good moniker." He looked at the other two women. "What do you think? Does the name suit me?"
"I can't think of anyone who would be happy with that name." Kurisu Makise said, grabbing her bento box. She was the only one who had the smallest, most normal amount of food. Somehow that made Aki Adagaki angry.
"Hey, don't mind her." Hachiman Hikigaya must have read her mind, because she was about to chew the normal woman out, for eating while keeping in mind her diet.
"I wasn't about to." Aki said, while pouting.
Hachiman Hikigaya smiled. "Of course not. Just remember that guys like women with a healthy appetite." Then when she expected him to look at her, he turned to the side and spoke to their senpai. "Isn't that right, Furuhashi-senpai?"
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
The two women with a healthy appetite looked at the rotten dead fish eyed loner. However this time, he realized his mistake rather quickly and just focused back on the food.
"Never mind, let's just eat." Her Loner Prince turned to her and said. "Enjoy your food, Kind Princess."
Aki Adagaki knew it was a lie. She was not kind, she was known throughout campus as the Cruel Princess. But the way he said it, her Loner Prince, she really wanted to believe it.
But old habits die hard.
"Don't confess to me while I'm eating."
For some reason, she didn't say the usual put down phrase and left it at that.
A/N: So, back to the old, one-shot writing style. Tell me what you think. I liked writing in this style. Having said that here are the options for the next chapter.
This voter list was provided by Clipsus:
Option 1: Akitsuki Fuuka – Fuuka.
Option 2: Kuriyama Mirai – Beyond the Boundary/Kyoukai no Kanata
Option 3: Kuroyukihime – Accel World.
Option 4: Rory Mercury – Gate.
Option 5: Shinomiya Ayase – Gulity Crown.
Please pick any of the above option or suggest a character in the review.
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