So continues the story of Mai and Maki. (M&M)
Electric muffin: Whoa, you sure sound um… electrified. ^_^ Believe it!
Alexia: Oh no! Not another big typo! (about the piano thing… um, well, I'm a pretty impatient person. ^_^) but never mind. I have removed any weird notions on becoming a world-famous pianist!!
Akane: Tell me, just how full is your drool bucket?
December Morning owl: Fights? *imagines it* Whoa…I'll have to make this 18 SG!!
Shizuka Epyon: Thank you! Me glad you don't think Mai's a mary sue.
Fer-chan: I can't give you a green packet – unless you accept empty ones!! ^_^
Lambie: Thank you for being impressed. Ha ha!
Kuroi neko-kun: C.O.N.T.I.N.U.I.N.G ^_^
Unchained: I'd hate to let you down *prays that it won't and hasn't happened*
White soul: No, IH's over. I think I mentioned that in the first chapter. ^_^ Meet with Rukawa? Maybe, but why and when and how? Would you like to give me some ideas?
Crazy4u: I guess you already know I'm a Malaysian too. : ) Selamat hari raya!
Frozenfemale: Maki does sound spoilt, doesn't he? He he!
Tensaispira: Yeah. Me in love with every single one of them, esp Rukawa. *heart-shaped eyes*
Iceland: Updated! And Enrio's not out of the spider web yet!
Fiery-ice: Thank you! Hope you like this chappie!
Kkk: Ha ha! I don't watch james Bond so I don't know!
Tiran: Spycologiste? Does it have to do anything with SPYING? So cool! I say why not?
Jo-sen7: More coming!
Aeris: I'm glad you like Maki now! He is absolutely droolworthy!
Patty
g: And no doubt about which is the best man, is there? ^_^
Silhouette Panther: Me too! Ha ha! Wait till he gets into sexy-mode!
Joy: You're pretty sure Maki will get Mai? *thinks about it* Hmm… maybe I should do something unexpected…
"He did WHAT?" Mai Kiraki yelled into the ears of her friend, Mayuko. "That idiot did WHAT???"
Mayuko scratched her ear. Mai had a powerful voice, and she was using it to its maximum powers. She should've brought earmuffs. "Exactly what I said. Went up right to Enrio's face and announced an open war – for you," Mayuko grinned slyly, "aren't you flattered?"
Mai's face was red with anger. "Flattered, my foot! What on earth was he thinking??" She stood up and started to stomp around. "How on earth am I supposed to face Enrio now? What would he think? What would he say?"
"I doubt he'll even mention the incident. You know how he is."
Mai flopped back down into her seat. "I'm so embarrassed." Her eyes flashed. "I'll kill Maki. I'll skin him alive and fling him down some rocky cliffs." She snarled like a she-wolf and glared into the empty air.
"You confuse me, Mai," Mayuko confessed, frustrated. "You've been having a crush on Maki for ages, haven't you? And now that he's actually making a move on you, you want him dead?"
"Why didn't he make the move two weeks ago? Why not any other week before I hooked up with Enrio? Why does he have to butt in at all the wrong times?"
"I don't know," Mayuko said sweetly. "When I see Maki, I'll ask him. And then I'll tell you."
Mai glared daggers at her.
"Aren't you supposed to be going for volleyball practice now?" Mayuko said then.
Mai groaned. "I was thinking about skipping."
"You? Volleyball co-captain? Skipping? What sort of example are you setting for the other members?"
Mai smiled wryly. "I'm sure they won't miss me all that much."
"You can't run, Mai," Mayuko said bluntly. "If you try to avoid both Enrio and Maki, that's going to make both the competition and tournament a torture. Be brave, girl. Go face your fears. Fear is, after all, only a four letter word." Mayuko winced then. "I don't think that came out right."
"You try being in my place," Mai retorted. "Let's see how bravely you handle it."
Mayuko smiled delightedly at the idea. "How I'll handle it? I'll tell you how I'll handle it. I'll charm both boys into falling in love with me and have both lavish over me like a princess. Then, when I get bored, I'll just throw one out and take the other. And if I get bored with the one I chose, I'll throw him and retrieve the other one. And I will make sure that I am always around when those two are in the same room so I can see sparks fly off their eyes as they battle with swords and lances to win my hand."
Mai stared at her friend. "Mayuko, you scare me sometimes."
Mayuko laughed.
"I'm going for practice," Mai announced then, a little reluctantly. "I hope he's not there."
"Which one?"
Mai glared one more time and stalked away angrily even as Mayuko collapsed into fits of laughter.
"Full attendance," Mai reported cautiously as she stood in front of Enrio.
He grunted non-committally. "Good."
Mai stayed where she was, very much awkward and not knowing what to do or say. Enrio, as Mayuko had predicted, did not mention anything about Maki, and Mai wasn't about to bring the topic up either. But that only added to the strain because both knew what was going on and why they were avoiding the discussion.
Enrio looked up then, and with a cheerful face that took some effort to conjure, patted the empty seat beside him. "What are you standing for? Sit with me."
Mai obliged. At that very moment, she felt that even if Enrio were to tell her to climb up the building and sing a song to the sky on the roof, she would – anything to keep him happy and unsuspicious. "Are you selecting the key players for Saturday's semi finals?"
"Yes," he replied, taking a firm hold of her hand. Mai's eyebrows rose slightly. "You're one of them."
"I'd better be. I'd strangle you if I wasn't. I didn't practice to death just to be shunned on the substitute bench." He still kept her hand in his and didn't seem to look as if he was about to let go. Mai had to admit, it made her slightly nervous.
Enrio laughed good-naturedly. The laugh, however, ended abruptly with some sort of a snort, and his eyes narrowed as he glared. Mai's eyes widened at his sudden change of mood, and frantically wondered why he was glaring his eyeballs out at her. Then she realised he was looking beyond her shoulders, and Mai turned around to see the object of Enrio's fury.
She regretted it almost immediately.
Maki stood about less than a metre away, looking relaxed and super fine – as he always did and most probably always will – despite the look Enrio was giving him. Mai gulped nervously and quickly jumped to her feet to tell Maki to get out of there, but Enrio's hand firmly held her back.
"Hello, Enrio," Maki greeted cheerfully, enjoying the tension with a twisted perverse pleasure. "I'd like to speak with Mai for a little while, if it's okay with you."
The grip on her hand tightened. Mai almost winced.
"You can just say it out right in front of me," Enrio replied coolly. "Nothing secretive, is there?"
"No, none at all," Maki had to admit the fact that Enrio's insecurities were obvious to the world amused him. He turned to Mai, who impudently glared at him with a look that sent all kinds of threats. "I've some stuff to do this evening, so I won't be around for your basketball practice."
Mai thought about saying 'Oh, good' but decided not to in the last minute.
"However, I want you to practice at least a hundred shots – and get at least ten successful ones. Okay?"
Mai snorted. "I'll get more than ten successful shots."
He smiled. "If you say so." He turned back to Enrio. "Thanks, captain. You and I should get together sometime to … discuss things, if you will." With an almost insulting grin, he went away.
Enrio's mouth was set and grim. "I don't want you practicing with him anymore," he told Mai.
Mai stared at him. "Sorry?"
"You heard me."
"I did, but I don't think you're in any position to tell me what to do."
He gave her a hard stare. "Don't see him again."
Maki and Enrio were just the same, Mai thought irritably, ordering her around like a servant or something. "The basketball tournament is coming up," she explained patiently. "If I stop practicing with him, I'm going to make a fool out of myself on the court."
"Why is that a big deal? Your arena is in volleyball."
Mai thought up a rude retort, but then realised she should be a little bit more considerate since she was the cause of the problem. She squeezed his hand comfortingly. "I won't leave you," she assured both him and herself. "I won't go around stabbing your back."
He looked at her, his face unreadable. "Not intentionally, maybe, but unconsciously."
Mai gritted her teeth, but kept her voice calm. Enrio could be so disagreeable at times, and at those times, she could practically choke him to death. "I gave you my word. Take it, or leave it." She took the paper from his hands. "I'll go announce Saturday's players."
He was obviously annoyed with the change of topic, but didn't say anything.
She was steaming the next day, for absolutely no specific reason other than the fact that things weren't going the way she wanted them to. The news about the so-called love triangle had spread like wild fire over the school and was the hot topic of discussion.
More than once, people had given her sidelong looks – some in disapproval, some in amusement and some even in jealousy – and they all made Mai squirm like a boneless caterpillar. She once had to hold herself back from snapping at one staring girl and chasing her all the way to Timbuktu.
Then, to top the day off, Kikiro had approached her with a look less than friendly. "I hope you're happy playing around like this," she had said coldly.
Mai had given her a deadly glare. "Not you too."
"I respect Maki beyond words and I regard him as my utmost mentor," Kikiro had informed her seriously. "If you ever hurt him…" she had trailed off mysteriously but threateningly. Mai swore she saw a murder glint somewhere in the girl's eyes.
"Just shut up, Kikiro. You have no idea what's really going on."
Then, unable to take it any longer, she decided to find the core to the problem and give him a piece of her mind – several pieces, as a matter of fact.
Blinded by fury, Mai didn't even bother knocking on the basketball player's locker room. She simply flung it open. "Maki, you annoying, unthinking, idiot of a –" She stopped midway. "Oh my."
Maki stared back at her, with a raised eyebrow, in a pair of white boxers – and apparently nothing else. He didn't seem bothered about his lack of clothes and seemed at ease, as if he was used to showcasing his assets to the world. "You were saying?"
Mai's brain had completely shut down. Nosebleed, she thought frantically. Nosebleed alert!! "I – I was, uh…"
"You were mentioning something about me being an idiot," he reminded her easily, closing his locker and looking around for his shirt. He glanced at her. "Come in. The basketball team is no sexist. Girls are allowed here."
And probably none survived long enough to get out due to excessive loss of blood, Mai thought briefly, her cheeks turning a flaming magenta. "No," she said primly, still unable to take her eyes of him. "I think I'll just … wait outside."
He grinned then at her – a wicked, devilish grin. "Does the sight of my amazing and manly chest overwhelms you?" he drawled suggestively.
"Ye- no, of course not." Firmly, she snapped the door closed and stood outside to catch her breath, even as his laughter echoed through the hallway. Focus, Kiraki! FOCUS. Concentrate on what you came here for, which is to blast him to the other end of the world. Mai took a deep, supposedly calming breath. All right. All right.
When he came out (fully dressed, thankfully) (… or maybe not so thankfully), Mai had her dialogue back at the right place in her head. "I hope you've realised just what you've done," she said icily. "We're perfectly the hottest gossip travelling around this part of town at the moment."
He bent down to tie his shoelaces. "Why is that?"
"Why?? Because of your meddling nose, that's why!" she launched fully upon him. For some reason, him being down on his knees and positioned lower than she was gave her some sort of an advantage. "Thanks to your flapping mouth, you've got gossip mongers working overtime!"
He straightened again, and having lost the advantage, Mai cautiously stepped back. The look he gave her, however, was clearly mischievous. "That's okay. I like gossips too."
"You idiot. You're part of the gossip."
"Well then, I like it even more."
She released a hiss, annoyed at the light manner he was taking it. "Look," she said slowly. "I don't know what possessed you to confront Enrio and tell him about this stupid problem we have with each other, but I want you to know that what you did has practically destroyed my life altogether." Her eyebrows furrowed. "Please stop doing crazy things like this and annoying the Hell out of Enrio. He genuinely cares about me, and he's not taking this very well."
Maki grunted in annoyance. "I care about you too," he said pointedly. "But you don't seem to be very concerned about that."
At once, she knew she was at the losing end of the argument. She knew it was absurd, tried to convince herself that this guy was so used to girls that romantic words practically fly out of his mouth almost naturally, but some part of her fell girlishly for it. "I … we… we don't …" she fumbled awkwardly. "He came first."
Maki looked at her incredulously. "Oh? And just because of that, I'm supposed to step back and let you two live happily ever after?" he snorted. "Be real, Mai. You don't give up just because your opponent's got twice as much points as you did," basketball – even at times like this, "There's always time and chances to match up, and to overtake. And to defeat."
The seriousness of his tone made her heart beat slightly faster than normal. Vulnerable now, she opted for a quick escape.
He merely watched as she walked away wordlessly. "I'll say this again," he called out. "Dump him – before your pretence of caring for him blows over. There's only so much a guy can take."
Mai paused dead in her tracks. Then, she started to walk again, as if nothing had happened, her mouth grim and set as she, for the four-hundredth time assured herself that she did love Enrio and that Maki was a ghoul raised from the graveyard by a pair of lunatic witches, set loose to destroy peace on earth.
Maki bit his lip at her stubbornness. He could tell when a girl had him in her system, and Mai's was made all the more obvious since she was in his as well. The only thing standing in their way was Mai's idiotic concern for Enrio's feelings.
He understood her difficulties. Girls are always way too emotional in things anyway. Like in a bad romantic movie. Suffering because they didn't have the heart to be brutally honest, and making others suffer as well, thinking they were doing the right thing, and spending most of their time convincing themselves of it.
Quite sincerely, he pitied Enrio for the hurt the oblivious and disbelieving girl would cause him.
Besides, there was only so much he himself can take.
"Nothing happened," Mai said calmly.
"What business did you have in the first place to charge him in the basketball room while he was half-naked?" Enrio demanded, leaning over Mai's desk threateningly. "What were you doing with him? Why were you in the room?"
"Nothing happened," she repeated, opening her Japanese History book and deftly looking for the right pages to highlight. "I was only trying to tell him off for reasons that do not concern you. He wasn't half-naked." – more like three-quarter-naked – "And I didn't even stay more than a couple of seconds in the room."
"I don't believe you."
Mai's eyes snapped to his sharply. "I'm not asking you to." She looked down to hide her scowl. "What you believe or don't believe in isn't part of my responsibility."
His grip on the sides of her desk tightened till it rattled. "I'm your boyfriend, Mai."
"Then act like it and trust me."
"How can I when rumours are flying around the school corridors?? How can I when everyone's looking at me in pity because they all think Maki will win over me??" he glared at her. "When you're adding fire to the rumours by creeping around with him like this??"
Mai felt a headache visiting her. "I don't want to fight with you, Enrio," she said quietly, closing her textbook with a quiet snap. "We have a game to play this Saturday. Semi-finals, to be exact. Let's not get into stitches with each other."
"Whom do you like more?" Enrio asked then. "Him or me?"
"I like you a lot."
His eyes narrowed. "But you like him more."
Mai only pursed her lips. "I didn't say that."
"You don't say ANYTHING!" he exploded, making the last few students still milling around in the room stare. "You never give me a definite answer! Why is that??"
Because I don't know the answer. "I have to go home, Enrio." She said simply, packing her bag. "I'll see you tomorrow." She reached out to squeeze his hand, something she usually did when they were parting ways, but then paused and decided not to.
He glared at her. "That's just great. Go on, run. Avoid the problem. Just leave me hanging here like a stupid ornament," he hissed as she started to go. "And then drop me whenever you feel like it. You better give me an answer soon, Mai!" he yelled after her. "Or you'll regret it!"
Shut up! She wanted to yell back. I'm doing all this for you, all right?? I'm doing my best to please you and treasure you. So shut up!
But she went away quietly.
*her vision in colourless spots* Whoa, even I have to admit that this was a long chap. Sorry if it troubled your eyesight as it did mine! Ha ha!