Chapter 3: Reminiscing, Regretting and Resolution

It was already 11:00 in the evening and basketball practice had ended four hours ago. Mitsui was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Every time he tried to close his eyes, an image of Keiko staring back at him with those haunting brown eyes of hers appears.

He had wanted to talk to her but he couldn't find the right time. Sakuragi's friends were always by her side never letting her out of their sight.

A cold feeling ran up through his spine as he remembered the way Keiko looked at him. She knew that HE knew why she got that ugly looking scar that marred her beauty. She recognized him.

It all started as a bet from his then girl friends in the gang with Ryuu and the others. He taunted them that they couldn't beat Sakuragi Hanamichi's sister in a fight and even bet on it. Like the gangsters they were, they (the girls) didn't back down on the bet.

He gave a hollow laugh that only he could hear since he was the only one home. His parents as usual were at some fancy dinner. He remembered as the girls lost the bet and it was the easiest ¥5,000 he made in his whole life without even lifting a finger.

He sighed.

He also remembered that Hanamichi doesn't seem to know that Keiko knew him from the attack. He was thankful for that even though he does not know why Hanamichi doesn't know about it because it saved him from an untimely death courtesy of Hanamichi himself.

He sighed again.

There was no doubt about it. He was attracted to Keiko but he knows that he may not have a chance with her after all that has happened. But then again, he must have a chance with her. After all, she didn't tell Hanamichi the connection between them.

He turned over in his bed. He was now lying in the bed facing the wall with lots of posters of basketball players.

Then and there, he vowed to himself that he would do everything he can to make Keiko fall for him. He would show her that he's not bad as she thinks he is. He would prove to her that he has changed from his gangster days and now he is completely different from that gangster she knew. He would show her that he has matured in the last three weeks. He has grown up after he was accepted again in the basketball club.

After all, he thought as he drifted off to sleep, a sensei once told me never to give up. A smile was playing on his lips as he was finally off to dreamland.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

In another part of Kanagawa, inside her dark room, Keiko had a hard time falling asleep. She flicked on the lamp over her head and rummaged the toy box under her bed to find her Walkman. When she found it, she placed the earphones on her ears and turned it on to her favorite radio station. With that she lay on her bed, her eyes closed with the lamp trying to fill the room with as much light as it can over her head.

A sinking feeling was in her stomach. She didn't want to admit it to herself but she had no choice. She was attracted to Mitsui.

She didn't know that it was attraction that she was feeling the first few days after that attack. She only interpreted the dreams that she had about him and about his blue eyes as the effect of the attack. However, now that she saw him again, it was different. She realized that the dreams she had were a sign of longing to stare at those blue eyes again.

She sighed as her favorite song came on the radio. It was "My December" by Linkin Park. The eerie sound of the song matched her eerie feeling.

She was shocked to see him again at the basketball court, of all places to meet and even shocked when he shook her hands while actually flirting with her! But, no! She just had to make that snide remark of hers about the scar and all that. Now he knows who she is.

The song finished and another new one came on, although this time it was a fast song. She hummed to the beat of the tune admitting to herself that she did like Mitsui. However, in the back of her mind, she had a plan.

*****

I know you like me Mitsui but you're not going to get me that easily. You're not going to get me that easily.

And in that part of Kanagawa, another person had a smile playing on her lips as she drifted off to sleep.

Author's Notes:

Hi! So do you want me to continue? If yes, please review! By the way, thanks to all the people who reviewed this fic (exactly six of them as of this writing)! To those who haven't put their two cents in, come on guys! Have a heart! Onegai!?!? Arigatou!