MIYAGI

What could possibly be worst than spending Christmas Eve on your own, shuffling through the buzzing cheers in the street while mending a badly broken heart?

You feel so terribly hurt yet so numb and empty that you can't help thinking of all the gruesome, horrendous ways to end your worthless life.

And while in the course of all this, you caught sight of the girl who has just thrown you off the seething fires of hell, raising another guy to the highest peak of glorious heaven.

Damn you Kaede Rukawa, you bastard from hell! How dare you rob me of the kiss that was supposed to be mine! And she did it so openly, too. Like she was announcing to the world that here at last was the guy she has chosen to spend the rest of her life with. That icy cold airhead, of all people!

Ain't this the same guy who would rather have a heated session with a basketball than with any other warm-blooded creature? Nobody's ever thought it possible for him to fall in-love, so why the sudden change of heart?

Why the sudden interest in my... Aya-chan?

Damn!

Damn. Damn. Damn. DAMN!

I stomped my angry foot on the snow until my boot was practically buried in its crisp thickness. Maybe I should keep on venting my rage this way until I get completely buried into the chilling earth. A seemingly childish behavior, but hey! Would you rather have me doing this to Rukawa's face?

Why do I have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, anyway? I should've just stayed home and cried myself to sleep. To the haunting nightmares of an unrequited love. But, no! My stupid legs just had to take me to this place to bear witness to this romantic scene.

Pity I ended up being an extra when all I ever wanted was to be her leading man.

The shattered pieces of my heart broke into even tinier bits. Amazing how a single gooey sight can pulverize the heart of a poor man whose love and devotion has already surpassed any human capacity.

Is it my fault for loving Aya-chan to the excess?

God knows I've loved that girl from the very first time I saw her.

Loved her with all my life.

And... Is this what life has in store for us all along? For me? For her? For that creep?

Bah! Merry Christmas indeed!

As much as I wanted to charge at him and murder him right then and there, I knew there's only so much that a guy like me could do.

I could never bear to see my Aya-chan upset and hurting, but I couldn't bear seeing her with that asshole, either. So, I opted for the next best thing.

I ran.

And ran faster.

Not ever wanting to stop. 'Coz I knew that once I did, I would have to succumb to the overwhelming feeling of desolation which I have been trying to fight back.

I'd rather run a mile all night-even all my life-than let myself be engulfed by such an emasculating emotion.

And so off I went, rushing, charging against the cold Christmas breeze. No longer aware of anything else but my desperate urge to run away from the devastating reality-

"Hey watch it!"

Suddenly, I was flailing helplessly in space, my body eventually touching ground with a rattling thud. And when I looked up to see through eyes squinting in pain who it was I have rebounded against, there standing in front of me, looking like a towering gorilla with pale, tear-streaked face was the great Tensai himself.