Chapter 8: Poppy and Cracked Pepper
Miyagi sat down with the guys(and girls) on the hostel dining table in the kitchen, which was shared among the whole level. It was a Thursday, and he wasn't feeling too good, mainly because he got trashed on the night they played pool. After Rukawa left, Naomi decided to make things more interesting by dunking a bottle of beer every game they lost. And they had played a lot of games. The sun was high in the sky; and Miyagi judged it to be around midday. Boy, was his head throbbing.
Hearing a chair shift beside him, he looked up to see Ayako with a glass of water pushed towards him. "Here, drink some," she took his hand and wrapped it around the glass. Too tired to blush, Miyagi nodded gratefully and downed half a glass of tepid water. "How're you feeling? I saw Michi and Naomi dragging you back like a sac of potatoes last night. How much did Naomi make you drink?" her eyes sparked.
"Um... I don't remember. All I remember was trying to sink that stupid black ball, then I think I passed out." He surmised, propping his head up on his hand. "I feel like shit."
"No kidding. Michi said you had like 10 bottles. You've lost every game that you've played," Ayako clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "I know you're already 18 and legal to drink, but still... Watch that alcohol level why don't you."
"And Michi? He was ok?"
"Duh. He and Naomi were the ones who brought you back, aren't they? Michi is one hell of a drinker." She mused, and then stood up. "Well, if you're feeling any better this afternoon, we'll be heading down the city to do some shopping. Hiroshi needs new basketball shoes. See you later," she flicked her fingers in a waving motion and went out the door.
Slumping his head against the cold hard table, he closed his eyes and willed his head to stop spinning. The spinning seemed to be like a tornado in his head, growing in volume and speed until a hand on his shoulder startled him, and he jerked out of his chair onto the floor in an embarrassed heap. "Yow! Whaddya do that for?" Miyagi rubbed his sore bottom and gazed up at a boy with spiky hair, eyes unable to focus.
"Stupid Miyagi. Shouldn't have drank so much last night," Mitsui didn't even bother to help him up the floor and headed straight for the coffee machine, pressing a button before fumbling around for a coffee cup. Sticking the cup just as the brown steaming liquid flowed down, he yelped; a few drops of the hot liquid had splashed onto his fingers causing white hot pain to shoot up his arm.
Miyagi looked on from the floor, smirking. "Look who's talking."
"Shut up. At least I wasn't muttering stupid things while walking around half conscious," Mitsui spoke, not looking at him, but he could almost sense the smugness in that tone of his.
Miyagi's attention caught. "What? What did I say?" a sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach told him that it was nothing good.
"Oh. Nothing much. Just how much you wished Ayako would-"
"STOP! I don't want to hear it!"
"Of course you wouldn't, since you wouldn't want to know how Ayako responded to that, would you?"
"Ok, ok. Fine. I want to hear it. So what was Ayako's reaction?" Miyagi looked desperate, his hands twisted nervously beyond recognition.
Mitsui paused dramatically, taking his coffee cup out and setting it by the side as he rummaged the sugar basket for 3 packets of brown sugar. "I hate brown sugar," he said. "It doesn't make stuff sweet at all,"
Miyagi seethed. "Then use white sugar! Or those artificial sweeteners! Just tell me what Ayako said already!"
"Oh yeah. Artificial sweeteners are a good choice. Thanks Miyagi." Mitsui grinned appreciatively and pretended not to have heard Miyagi's last statement as he took his time stirring his coffee while Miyagi jumped around like a monkey with its head cut off.
Finally, he sat down with coffee in hand, and took a sip out of it, savouring the bittersweet sourish aftertaste that it left in his mouth. "So. As I was saying," he continued, blowing on his coffee.
"Yeah, yeah?"
"You didn't say it in front of Ayako. You were crying and laughing about it on your way back though. And it was the most amusing thing Naomi had seen, or so she says." Mitsui grinned.
"Whaaat?" Miyagi was dumbfounded at this, and his feelings switched between disappointment and relief. "So, I, uh, she, uh, doesn't know?" he spluttered.
Mitsui nodded sagely. "Yep, that seems to be the case."
"You... You... Do'ahou!" what seemed to be Rukawa's catch phrase was borrowed by Miyagi for a lack of a better insult. Miyagi hooked his arm around Mitsui's neck and squeezed, causing Mitsui to choke on his coffee.
"Oy!"
They struggled for a brief instance and stopped when Hiroshi stepped into the kitchen, arching an eyebrow. "Ooook. I seem to have come in at the wrong time. Please do not mind me, guys. Continue," before disappearing. Their little rumble continued until Haruko came in and screamed, a long and wailing sound that shook them down to their bones.
Immediately, Mitsui and Miyagi dropped their hands from each other, Hiroshi came barging in, followed by Ayako, who had herself wrapped in a towel looking like she had rushed out from her shower. Miyagi's jaw dropped, and Mitsui thoughtfully pushed it back up without turning his head to even look at him.
"What. The. Hell. Did. You. Scream. For?" Miyagi asked, gritting his teeth and clutched at his ears dearly.
"I was witnessing a murder. So I let out a bloodcurdling scream. Well. You guys seemed to have stopped butchering each other, so I've succeeded, have I not?" Haruko blinked those excessively large brown eyes of hers.
Everyone sweatdropped. Hiroshi cleared his throat, causing the stares in the room to be drawn to him. A dramatic pause followed, and he cleared his throat. "Ahem," he started, then grinned in a way that was uniquely his, "I guess since everyone's awake and well, so we'll go out for lunch and then do some shopping yeah?" everyone face-faulted to the ground, then Haruko spoke up from the floor.
"Sakuragi-kun's still in bed,"
"After all that racket?" was Hiroshi's awed reply as he joined the rest on the floor, laughing hysterically.
With such a gregarious bunch of people in a group, it wasn't hard drawing unwanted stares and looks from passers-by down the street. They hadn't a care in the world, of course, since the main objective was to have fun.
They walked in pairs down the street; Sakuragi and Ayako holding dripping ice-cream cones in hand, sometimes licking and nipping each other's cone. Behind them, Hiroshi and Mitsui looked on in disgust, but both were glad that thing's worked out for them. Dragging at the tail were Ayako and Miyagi, carrying an armful of paper bags.
"Hey! Here's another sport's shop! Let's go in!" Sakuragi exclaimed.
"You just got 2 pairs of shorts and 3 sweatshirts already," Mitsui whined.
"Yeah, but Hiroshi-kun hasn't got his shoes yet," Sakuragi pointed out. Not waiting for the rest to argue, he stepped into the shop with Haruko in tow, heading straight for the display of shoes.
Hiroshi sat down awkwardly, looking at the huge display in front of him. Sakuragi was bringing different shoes from the rack back and forth, asking if he liked this, or that; and ordering the shop assistant to bring sizes for him to try on.
"Thanks a lot, I really appreciate this," Hiroshi said to the shoe girl, who looked no more than 17. She smiled at him demurely, and shook her head, an indication that she didn't mind one bit. "You go to school around here?" he asked her.
The girl nodded slightly, catching the light that glinted off her dark tresses just so. She was rather pretty, as Hiroshi noted, her almond shaped eyes encasing two purple orbs, shining at him curiously as he stared at her. His eyes travelled down her face, resting on her lips, which had a mischievous quirk to it at the sides, and he wondered why the hell she was working at a shoe store.
"I'm working cos I need the money," she replied good-naturedly and he gaped at her, not realising that he'd spoken his thoughts out loud.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to intrude-" he was interrupted by the loud hacking of Sakuragi's cough.
"If our dear Casanova's done here, would you care to take a look at this shoe over here?" he tossed the silver-lined black basketball shoe at him casually and Hiroshi caught it in reflex, eyeing it critically. It wasn't too bad; he liked the design compared to the others Sakuragi had tossed at him.
Casting another apologetic look at the shoe girl, he asked for the shoe in his hand for a bigger size. She just nodded, not at all impatient or snotty and went about searching for the shoe. Looking at all the shoes around him, he felt like a jerk. Maybe he should apologise, but attending to the customer was her job after all. But...
"Here you go," the girl handed the box to him and he took it out, trying one shoe on his left. Sticking his foot in front of him, he rotated about his ankles and smiled satisfactorily.
"I'll get this one." He said, taking off the shoe and placing it back in the box.
"Ok. Come this way and I'll settle it for you," she said, taking the box from his hands and leading him to the cash register. She jabbed at the buttons of the machine and it rang open. Giving her the exact change for the shoes, he took the plastic bag handed over to him by the girl and returned to his friends waiting outside for him.
The moment he stepped outside the store, the gang was all over him like ants over honey. "Got her number?" "So what's her name?" "Ehehe. Asked her out yet?" and "I saw you give her that look," Miyagi said last in a sing-song voice, looking very pleased with himself.
"Jerk off. I paid her, that's all," Hiroshi sounded a trifle bored. He strolled down the street without waiting for the rest to catch up, and rounded a corner, bumping into a familiar face. It was Nanami, with her purple hair tied up into a topknot, her bags strewn across the ground. "Oops," he started apologising profusely after that before realising who it was. "Hey... weren't you...?"
Nanami looked puzzled until she flicked her gaze at the gang behind him. A look of recognition dawned on her pale face. "Oh. You guys," she said tonelessly, stooping down to pick up her bags from the concrete floor.
Sakura and Tenshi were lagging behind, but saw what happened. They nodded their heads in greeting, and they stood staring at each other, neither speaking for quite some time.
"This is awkward..." Sakuragi piped up.
Miyagi rolled his eyes at him. "Trust you to speak the obvious," he then turned to the stony Tenshi. "Hey man. How're things at The Hoop? Still going every night?"
Tenshi spared a glance at him before turning away and speaking, as if Miyagi wasn't worth his attention. "Yeah. It's alright. We were wondering when you'll be coming down again so we could kick your arses," he gave a smug smile, which made Ayako squint at him in disgust.
"Oh yeah, we'll be coming down on Saturday, that's for sure. It'll be our last night in this city," Ayako tried her best to remain civil for the team's sake. She wasn't about to be the one to set a bad example.
"Pity, you guys had some potential." Sakura sniffed haughtily and turned away from them. "Let's go guys. We shouldn't waste time on these... commoners."
"Who are you calling commoners?! We're the Tensai!" Sakuragi hollered as their backs disappeared among the masses. "The nerve!"
Hiroshi shook his head. "Forget about them, Sakuragi. They're not worth it. Besides, it's not like we're ever going to play against them again. To us, they're history."
"That's right. no point getting riled up about something so unimportant as this," Haruko spoke, gently tugging Sakuragi's elbow, and he seemed to soften visibly. "I'm hungry. Let's go grab something to eat," she suggested, and pointed at the ramen house not too far away from where they stood. "How about there?" the rest of the gang nodded and they headed off for lunch.
After lunch, Miyagi and Hiroshi decided that they've got to look at jerseys for the team while Sakuragi and Haruko wandered off saying that they were going to catch a movie nearby. Mitsui was left with Ayako at the traffic junction, their jaws slightly open.
Ayako closed her mouth, giggling slightly, causing Mitsui to look at her with an amused grin of his own. He took her arm and wound it around his. "Come on, my lady, let us walk around the outskirts of the city just a bit," he dragged her off before she could say anything in reply, her smaller footsteps quickening to match his long stridden ones.
They strode for a good part of the afternoon, and by the time they were at a place with less buildings and more greenery, the sun was already setting gracefully, dipping into the horizon. Mitsui scrambled up a hill, helping Ayako along, and they sat at the top, overlooking the yellow tinged buildings of the city at their feet.
The skies were a stormy clash of glows and glares, hues of bright yellow and orange and pinks and purples. Ayako sighed happily, and rest her head against Mitsui's shoulder, who wrapped his arm around her protectively. "Isn't it beautiful?" he murmured, drawing her closer as she shivered involuntarily. "You cold?" he bent to look at her face carefully.
Ayako was flushing, but it was hard to see with the orange glow cast upon her face, and was secretly glad for that. She shook her head muttering a soft 'No'. "It's nice to watch the sun setting with a good friend," she smiled softly back up at him and turned to gauge his reaction; wondering why her heart was beating a little quicker when that statement left her mouth.
"Yeah," Mitsui replied without missing a beat. Ayako's heart dropped, and she blinked, as if to clear her head. Ignoring the build of negative feelings in her chest, she snuggled even closer still, forcing herself to enjoy the moment they had together. An image of Miyagi floated through her mind briefly and she squashed it away, feeling just a little bit guilty. They weren't a couple, per se, no, not really. It was just everyone expecting them to get together. She knows how Miyagi feels about her, she thinks it's just an infatuation, but she was indignant about the fact that she didn't have a say in all of this. Even if I did, I wouldn't know where to stand, she thought to herself ruefully. She liked Mitsui a lot, sometimes more than 'just friends'; while as for Miyagi, she found it sweet that he was always so awkward around her, and he was terribly cute when he does simple things like taking her books for her in between classes, making an extra set of lunch for her when she was busy doing managerial stuff for the basketball team.
Mitsui on the other hand, was more of a gentleman than a boy. He was suave, cool, and he knew what to do at the right time. There was just a natural air of attractiveness around him, which flocks both girls and guys to him with great ease. Although he had quite a past, that didn't deter people from still communicating with him. That aura of his had apparently gotten her drawn like a bee to honey as well. She couldn't turn herself away from him.
Ayako felt another breeze of cold air which shook her to her bones. Mitsui nudged her, and said that they had better go before she catches her death. Ayako gave a watery smile, her knees shaking as she got up, stumbling as she did so. Mitsui caught her in a firm grip, steadying her, while she felt stupid for acting so out of control. Snapping out her paper fan from the 4th dimension, she bopped him on the head. "I'm capable of walking down this hill, thank you!" she huffed, and clambered down the hill awkwardly. Mitsui was left staring after her, muttering something about girls and mood swings.
They reached the bottom of the hill, now lighted dimly only by streetlamps. "Will you hurry up a little?" Ayako squeaked, not wanting to stand in the inky blackness by herself.
"Ok, ok. Just give me a second," Mitsui slid down the rest of the hill as if he was on a skateboard, and jogged up to her, wincing at her grip on his arm as she held onto him like a frightened cat. "Ow..." he moaned, tugging at her hand a little.
Ayako relaxed her grip at once, apologising profusely and raised her eyebrows as he was laughing at her. "What?" she asked defensively, crossing her arms in mock annoyance.
"You are so weird." He told her, his lips still holding a soft smirk. "Hell. Girls are weird." He flailed his arms in an exaggerated manner.
"Oh, shut up," Ayako huffed impatiently. "Girls are not weird. We just have... special needs, that's all.""Of course, special needs. You girls like to put it in a way that makes you seem so otherworldly. Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it," he shook his head and walked on further.
Ayako scoffed. "Huh. Seems to me I'm not the only one with mood swings. It was just a joke, Michi, why so uptight?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
"Don't know or won't know?" he didn't say anything. "Come on, Michi. What brought this on?" she didn't want to sound like she was probing, but it's not like she gets to irk him every time, so she might as well take the chance to.
"I don't know," he repeated. "Your reaction, I guess."
"Eh?"
"You were all snugly and gentle and nice and suddenly this monster just pops out from the blue," he kicked loose gravel on the ground. "Was a little upset by it, that's all. But hey, I might be taking things too seriously, so don't worry about it," he put up both hands as if to calm her down, when in fact she was looking at him expressionlessly.
The side of her mouth lifted. "Snugly and gentle?" she mused, and couldn't help the feeling of warmness as it emanated from her belly outwards to the tips of her toes and her face, making it flush hotly. "So... you want me to snuggle up to you and stay there, is that it?" her voice dropped a few decibels, and she crept closer to Mitsui, looping her arms around his once more and smiled a silly schoolgirl smile.
"That'll be nice," was his own quiet reply, followed by a squeeze of her hand in his arm. They walked the rest of the way in companiable silence, each basked in their own thoughts.
A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed. Trying to write something romantic for once, but don't really know how to go about it. Seems pretty rushed to me when I re-read it, but thought it pretty draggy as I was typing it. throws hands up in the air. URGH.