Ninth chap! :D
Joy: Thank you. I'm starting to think that I'm unconsciously writing about you, even though I barely know you. Still, it's cool! Thanks for reviewing!
Nellie: Find out, ; )
Girl_sport17: You'll find out about the plan soon, so relax. : D I thought Akima was sweet too… but hey, first impressions are deceiving. Contrary to your brother, mine HATES Sakuragi, but that's only because he (my brother) is an unreasonable idiot. I think Sakuragi is sweet, although that seems to be the wrong word to describe him. But he is! (in a way)
Tiran: Thanks a lot! I have to admit that I am slow in updating now – I'm getting busier and busier *sighs*. Anyhow, hope you like this chap!
Tensaispira: I like the D.U.L.Ls too (the name that is, not the girls). J Chapter's up, so have fun reading!
Tanith: Hi, Tanith. Sorry, but which two boxes are you talking about??
Leika: Thanks a lot. I'll probably be twisting the story more and more to make it longer, but that will have to depend on the circumstances. Anyhow, thanks so much for reviewing. I really appreciate it. J
Maemi: Yep, I'm continuing. Thanks!
Chapter Nine
He didn't know what made him agree. Maybe he was feeling slightly dizzy after hearing her chatter off about her 'plan'. Maybe it was the heat getting to him. Maybe it was a momentary craziness – whatever. He had absolutely no idea. But he did know he was already regretting it.
Standing by the row of lockers with the bell about to ring at any second, he tried to gather his thoughts together. She was clever, he thought helplessly, winding her talk in complicated twists and turns and making it sound like it'd work and having him tag along with it just because he had trouble catching up and had only understood the entire thing when they had sealed the deal. If that was not enough to break down his defenses, she had put in all those hopeful and pleading looks that he was sure could melt the devil himself, plus she kept on carelessly touching him and … - well, what could he do??
Reminding himself for the umpteenth time that this was for a 'good' cause, he straightened up as the bell rang loudly and students started pouring out of classrooms. The hallway filled with their noisy chitchats. Lockers were being opened and closed and everything was buzzing with activity. He tried to cough, tried to get the lump that stubbornly stayed in between his esophagus out but it wasn't working.
From the sea of heads walking about, he caught sight of Akima. She wasn't looking at him, but she was grinning, so she MUST have seen him. Why am I doing this again? He asked himself, pouting. Why am I sacrificing my dignity and possibly my entire peaceful life again?
To help an innocent victim, he reassured himself. Right. Only thing is, the innocent victim at the moment happens to be me.
He saw Ika rounding the corner and looked up at heaven. Somebody help me.
He straightened even more, put on a cool expression to cover his growing embarrassment, oblivious to the fact that it was the very look that made girls swoon all over his feet. If he was going to make a fool of himself, he decided he might as well make the most of it. What was the script again??
Ika had noticed him standing by her locker – how could she not? He was taller than the locker itself – and that face didn't exactly go around unnoticed. She felt that quick flutter thingie that she always felt when she saw gorgeous guys, and quickly did a mental check on her appearance. Hair? Check. Lips? Check. Cheeks? Check. Check. Check.
All right. Everything was in place.
Flashing a dazzling smile, she all but did a supermodel sashay up to her locker. He merely glanced for a second and then turned to look at the floor. She told herself that it didn't matter, and in the act of opening her locker, pretended to fumble with her books and dropped them successfully on the floor. "Oh dear!" she fussed, playing the part of D.I.D (damsel in distress!). "My books!"
On the contrary to her imagination of him rushing to pick her books up like a true gentleman and handing them to her where their fingers would touch and send sparks flying into the sky, he just snorted.
Oookay, she assured herself. Not to worry. Lots of other tricks.
He was getting more and more uncomfortable. Sure, he had lots of female fans, but he had never waltzed up to one and attempted to talk. He had every right to be nervous – girls are, after all, very funny and impossible-to-understand creatures. What's the bloody script? What was it that I'm supposed to say???
Ika fell on him after a pretext of struggling to reach the top of her locker. He thought about moving out of her way so she could fall all the way down since she was trying so hard to do just that, but he caught her anyway. "Oh, gee, thanks!" she was blushing. Or at least, he thought she was. She had so much red powder sprinkled over her cheeks that he had trouble seeing the difference. "I'm so clumsy, I know. It's so me." She waved a hand and giggled. "This locker, it's so high, you know? Who on earth could reach it?" Laughing brightly, she eyed him. "Well, you could, of course, being tall and the ace of the basketball team at that…"
The blank look he was displaying wasn't helping her much. Can't he respond, for heaven's sake??? Can't the guy recognise a suggestive gesture that's practically shoved under his face??
She tried to remember other flirting techniques.
"Are you going home?" There, he had remembered the script.
"Me?" she was delighted. It was working! "Oh, no. I was thinking about getting lunch. But I hate to go alone, though, so…" she left it hanging. Even the most idiotic of guys would sense the meaning.
"Want company?" Funny, he thought, how the script Akima had set up for him fit everything that was going on. Still, that didn't mean he enjoyed saying it.
Ika's eyes brightened like a lit up fire, and she coyly lowered her eyelashes. "Well…" she said gleefully. "If you'd rather spend time with me than practice basketball…" she seemed pleased at the idea, "I really don't mind."
Reminded of the other activity that he could've been doing other than this, he frowned. But it was barely noticeable since he always looked as if he was frowning anyway. Leading the way, he headed for the canteen, with Ika practically skipping behind him.
Hidden behind the bushes that had been primly cut to form a square shape, Akima did a victory dance and looked on at the 'couple' excitedly. She didn't really like the way Ika was acting around Kaede, but hell, he wasn't hers, so she had no right to be jealous. Besides, what else could you expect out of a D.U.L.L?
Anyhow –
"Plan Get-Ika-to-The-Canteen successful," she murmured, feeling happy for the first time in days. "Now to start on Plan Get-Ika-to-Open-Her-Big-Fat-Mouth."