Kare Kano: Mixed Emotions
Ch. 1- Free Again
Tonami sighed as he looked out into the distance from the tree where he and Tsubaki had shared their first kiss. They had kissed only two times other than that one, but he still felt that something was missing from their relationship.
"What do Miyazawa and Arima have that Tsubaki and I don't," he asked himself aloud.
The wind messed his hair up, blowing it every other direction.
"Now, that's how I'd like to see you do your hair," a voice said from beside him.
"Sakura," he said simply, without shifting his gaze.
Tsubaki pulled herself to a standing position on the branch next to, and a little lower than Tonami's.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"What ever happened to us, Takefumi? I don't feel the way I should feel about you," she said, looking at him.
"I don't know, Sakura," he said and looked at her. "Maybe it's time we just became friends. We're just too different. You're to free and I need someone who will want to be with me, and not just when they feel like it."
Tsubaki bent down, kissed him, and pulled away slowly. When she looked at him once again, she smiled.
"You're right," she said, and with that climbed back down the tree.
In the distance, the school bell rang and Tonami cursed under his breath.
"Better hurry, Tonami," Tsubaki called from below, laughing. "Or you'll be late for class."
He reached the ground and together they walked back to the school, this time, as friends.
Rika walked through the halls with only one thing, or rather one person on her mind.
That person was Tonami.
I can't help the way I feel about him, she thought.
She sighed and continued walking, lost in her thoughts.
She was so caught up in them that she ran right into the very subject of those thoughts.
"Oh. I'm sorry," she said and looked up at the tall Tonami. She blushed and looked down at her feet.
"No problem, Sena," Tonami said. He looked around and then back at Rika. "Besides, I've been meaning to talk to you."
"You have?" Rika asked quietly.
"Yeah," he said. "Look, how about I walk you home?"
"Alright," she said, hardly able to contain her glee. Then she remembered Tsubaki. "Oh, but what about Tsubaki."
"That's part of what I wanted to talk to you about," he said.
They had walked in silence for a moment before Rika regarded Tonami.
"Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?"
"Well, first off," he said, staring ahead, and not looking at Rika. "Tsubaki and I aren't together anymore."
Rika was happy, yet still sad for her friends.
"I'm sorry."
"We decided to just stay friends, but that brings me to the real reason I wanted to talk to you."
He stopped and they walked in silence for a few seconds before he continued.
"There's this girl that I've liked for some time now. I was wondering what I should do to tell her."
Rika frowned and looked at her feet, thinking, before looking at him once more.
"You should ask her to the Winter Dance. Ask her at least two weeks early, to surprise her, earlier though, if you think she might be asked by someone else."
"Thanks, Sena," Tonami said and grinned at her. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Anything for a friend," she said and smiled back at him.
They continued walking in silence and soon reached her house.
At her door, Tonami bent down and kissed her on the cheek. With a quick goodbye, he left.
Touching the spot where he had kissed her with her fingers, Rika entered her house.
Tonami continued down the street from Rika's house and smiled.
He would ask her to the dance, he decided. He would do just what she had said to, and ask Rika Sena to the dance.
What if there is someone else, he thought. What if she didn't like him the way he liked her? Who did she like?
Tonami shrugged. The dance was three months away. There was plenty time to figure out who it was she liked and to convince her to go to the dance with him.
His thoughts running through his head, Tonami continued walking as the day faded into night, and the street lamps flickered to life.