Konichiwa!

Got to make this quick since I will have my midyear exams on Wednesday.

Disclaimer: I owned UM... in my dream, that is.

Chapter 11

The Deal

Yuta stared quizzically around him. He couldn't understand why on earth his companions were coughing every now and then, looking at him with twinkling eyes - not the usual.

He plunged the fork down his pasta as he continued to eat his breakfast. Chewing his food stiffly, he noticed that Nina and Tsujiai were exchanging mischievous glances at him. Yuta decided to ignore them, though, deep down; he would like to hex Tsujiai for being so close with his Nina.

Wait. HIS Nina???

"I really hope you're enjoying your stay here, everyone." The mellow voice of Mrs. Orihara echoed through the tinkling of the utensils. Yuta and the others nodded in reply.

"So, I suppose you are going to town today." she continued, setting her goblet down after a gulp. Everyone nodded except Yuta.

"Going- where?" Yuta blurted out. Mito and the others refused to look at him.

Mrs. Orihara answered Yuta kindly. "You are going to town today, Mr. Kirishima. Were you not with your friends when they asked permission last night?"

Yuta tried to remember what happened last night but with no avail. Of course, from yesterday afternoon throughout the evening, he didn't have any recollection since the Jusenkyo potion was in effect.

"I'm sorry, I must have fallen asleep quite early," said he.

Mrs. Orihara smiled kindly at him; "I suppose you were so tired yesterday, you see, they asked permission 4pm yesterday."

By this Yuta sent a questioning look at his companions. But nothing happened cause it seems his companions were more interested on the chandelier hanging from the ceiling than answering him.

Yuta nodded in response to the lady. But he was confused. How could he have fallen asleep as early as 4pm? And he can't remember anything that happened yesterday afternoon. Realization dawned upon him at last. Something happened yesterday afternoon and his friends had something to do with it.

He will find that out - no matter what.

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At the end of the table, a new conversation started. Mr. Orihara was talking to the prince- the prince seems uncomfortable, though.

"Since you are all going to the town today, could you accompany my daughter? She knows a great deal of shops that might interest you, young prince," he said enthusiastically.

The prince smiled though a muscle twitched, "Erm... yeah.." he answered in an unsure voice. 'What kind of stores? Black magic Stores? Stores for black witches?''

A loop-sided grin flashed across Mr. Orihara's face. " So you are going to accompany Maya! Maya, I hope you are going to give the prince a good tour around the village! Ha!" he made an effort to pat the prince.

Maya continued to sip her hot chocolate, not even bothering to say anything. She rolled her eyes with the idea - such a lame excuse for setting her up with the prince. Personally, she didn't really like the prince. She was not one of those girls who are practically head-over-heels with him.

"Um... yeah..." the prince answered although he knew that everything about Maya contains nothing but trouble.

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"Erm... Yuta! Could we talk for a sec.?" Yuta turned around to face an uneasy Nina Sakura twisting the hem of her blouse. It was just after breakfast so he was planning for their trip to town in half an hour.

"What is it?!" Yuta's voice carried unmistakably irritancy in it. He was so engrossed in trying to find out what happened yesterday that he forgot that he was talking to Nina - His Nina. Yuta mentally slapped himself for it when he saw her back away a little."

Closing his eyes and counting one to ten to suppress his irritancy, he asked in a much calmer voice, "What do you want, Nina? Is there something wrong?"

Nina continued to twist the hem of her blouse, her eyes boring through the red carpet that lined the floor. "Well... erm... could you come with me for a while?"

Yuta raised his eyebrow. "Why? I mean, shouldn't you be preparing?"

Nina raised her eyes to meet his, "Please..." Yuta backed away a little. Nina was giving him the puppy-eyes - one of his greatest weaknesses.

"Please... Yuta... please," Nina continued to persuade him. Yuta felt his defense literally falling apart. Well, it was acceptable, though, since it was NINA whom he is talking to.

"Yuta, just for a second... please..." Nina leaned forward even though she barely reached his shoulders. Yuta tensed, realizing their closeness. Those lips of hers... only a few inches away.

But being the Nina she was, Nina didn't have similar thoughts with Yuta.

"Please, Yuta..." Beads of sweat started gathering in his forehead. She was so near... he could hug her right this moment...

'What the heck!' Yuta mentally slapped himself for the second time. Really, where did he get such perv- I mean, un-Yuta like thoughts?

"Please Yuta..."

'What am I going to do... I have a bad feeling about this, but...'

"Please Yuta..."

One...

Two...

Three...

"OKAY! I'll come so stop giving me those puppy-eyes!" Yuta managed to stay all whose words with one breath. Nina smiled and pulled his hand.

"Yatta! Let's go!" Nina practically dragged Yuta to wherever she planned to take him.

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With every step she took, she felt her heart being ripped to pieces. It was like betraying - actually, it was more than betraying when it involves the person who cared for you since you were children.

"Nina! Where actually are we going?!" She heard practically screaming at her back. She didn't bother to look around because she knew that would hurt her more.

Submitting your friend named Yuta to a plan you don't know would work is absurd. Why didn't she think about it before? Maybe it was because the way Tsujiai planned it was perfect. It seemed fool-proof but looking at it logically would make you realize that there are a million - no, make that a billion - ways to make the plan fall, all depending on Yuta.

"Nina!!! I want you to tell me where exactly are we going or I'll use magic to force you!"

"Don't be so impatient, Yuta, we are almost there."

With a wave of her skilled hand, the large oak doors flew open. Nina felt the cold air blowing against her face, her honey-colored hair whipping at her back as she took a huge jump to avoid the marble steps and landed safely on the ground.

"Whaa- what the heck, Nina! slow down! You almost hurt yourself! Idiot! What if you didn't land safely? What if the door didn't open? Nina, please! Please be careful!!!" Yuta started again his lecture on how Nina should value safety. Nina just smiled to herself. She was used to Yuta's speeches. She actually considered him her older brother. The feeling of betrayal went back to her.

She was betraying her 'older' brother.

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"Where are we?" Yuta asked as he gazed around the room. It looked like a small shed for old cauldrons of some sort. They were of various sizes: most of them had their bottoms destroyed- possibly by deadly poisons, some even had acid-green stains left on them. Yuta suppressed a shudder. He didn't know where they are but he was sure they are still on the Orihara compound judging by the cauldrons.

"Nina, what do you really want?" Yuta reverted his gaze back to Nina who started to twist the hem of her blouse again.

"Erm... well..."

"Good Evening, Mr. Kirishima," a low voice greeted Yuta from the shadows.

"What the-? Who are you? And it is still morning..." Yuta asked, his voice suddenly mature, firm and more masculine though it broke down a little with the last statement.

"Oooh... I see... Nina didn't tell you, did she?" the voice answered. Yuta's eyes widened with the recognition of the name. His heart beat faster. What does Nina have to do with all of these? He was scared for her safety.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright," suddenly, Tsujiai stepped out of the shadow followed by, judging by the aura that she released, Luna. Yuta didn't help but back away a little after noticing a small bottle containing an acid-green liquid in the hands of Luna. He had developed a phobia on potions - the dream he had still lingered in his mind.

"What is going on here?" Yuta directed his question to Tsujiai, whom he believed, would give him a relevant answer.

"Well, it's just that we are here to help you," Tsujiai answered, the calm expression on his face never perished.

"What do you mean?" Yuta narrowed his eyes. He didn't like this at all.

"Ummm.. Yu.... yuta, you see, we want you to be happy, I want you to be happy." To his surprise, Nina spoke up.

His gaze softened up a bit. "Nina, tell me what is going on here?"

Luna walked over to a table on the left of Yuta. It was only then that Yuta realized that a TV was sitting on it. He looked at Luna with curiosity as she pressed certain buttons on a DVD player connected to the TV. The TV sprang to life and Luna sidestepped to allow Yuta to see.

"Excuse me, could you please change my name? I mean, Yuta sounds masculine,"

"Oi! Yuta! What do you say of 'Yuka-chan?' It is cute, you know?"

"Hmmm... Yuka-chan...? Okay! It's fine!"

"Okay, old man, my name is Yuka-chan. Thanks,"

Yuta's eyes widened when he saw the DVD played. Tha- that g-gay... it looks like him!

"Go Yuta!"

"Yeah, Yuta! You can do it!"

"Yuka-chan! You're so cute!"

"Hey! You're suppose to say that after the pictorial!"

"Shut up! You're really A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G! Why can't you be more like Maya-chan? She's so nice!"

Wha- what's the meaning of all of these?

"Aw! Final costume? I still want to continue! This is so fun!"

"Yuka-chan, be a good girl. Go dress now or else..."

"Hehehe! My brother looked soooo cute! Aw! Like sister, like brother!

Realization dawned on him... he was the one in the TV.

"Maya-chan!"

"This bikini is totally amazing! It's so cute! I'm telling you, you have a very good sense of fashion!"

"I wonder how the TRUE Yuta would react when he learns that there was a part in his life where he has done two things no one could imagine he'll do: first, cross-dressing; second, being cozy with Orihara,"

Naturally, seeing your face in TV would make you excited, but not in the case of Yuta. Here he was, seeing his dignified face on TV -dressed in a bikini (to think it was PINK for goodness gracious and it was the same bikini he found earlier!) with a lot of make-up and golden locks.

Yuta laughed sarcastically. "Hahahahaha! What a joke! Nina," he turned to her but she refused to meet his eyes, "what did you use to create this? Really, you're great!"

"Erm.. actually Yuta...," Nina started but it was Luna who got straight to the point.

"Hmm... with the use of this video camera?"

Yuta grabbed the camera from Luna's grasps. "Really! What enchantments did you place in this camera to make me.. a.." he couldn't say it, "a... an... undignified person," he finished. 'Undignified' sounded better than 'gay'.

"Actually, Kirishima, this is no trick. What you see now is the actual footage taken yesterday afternoon. Maya gave you a potion - the Jusenkyo potion that will make you cough a gay without your consent." Tsujiai explained bravely although he faltered a little while explaining the effect of the jusenkyo potion.

When Yuta said he'd do anything to find out what happened yesterday, he wasn't expecting something as far-fetched as this. He would accepted if a monster attacked them yesterday and he was defeated so he was out cold the whole afternoon - well, that was more far-fetched than the first but still, it didn't involve him cross-dressing!

He just can't accept that the great, exceptionally intelligent, all-girls-want-to-marry-him guy, Yuta Kirishima had cross-dressed yesterday.

The idea was absurd. It was really unbelievable. And it did not have any proof! Yes, it didn't have any proof, right? But... he didn't have any proof that it was false also...

"Yo- you're joking," he croaked when he found his voice. He was waiting for someone to shout 'April fools! got you' but no one did.

"Yu- yuta, it is the truth," Nina said barely above a whisper but was audible enough for Yuta.

Yuta felt his blood turn cold, his heart seemed to stop. This was a dream! It can't be true! But then, everything seemed to fall in place now... why he didn't remember anything, why there was a pile of used make-ups and those horrible dresses in his room! The puzzle has been solved!

But, the bad news is that the DVD is true.

Tsujiai seemed to understand Yuta's silence. He knew Yuta was no dummy and by this time, he had solved the mystery. Well, back to business. "We won't put this tape in public if you agree on our terms."

Yuta's head shot up, "You let me saw this tape and now you are black-mailing me! How dare you!" He closed his eyes and went back to his count-one-to-ten ritual.

"Don't be so hot or else... we might accidentally broadcast it in FB" Luna warned dangerously.

FB was the biggest TV station in the whole Magic Kingdom. Yuta realized that if Luna was involved in this, then, Maya must be also. Knowing Maya... the threat might actually be true. "Okay, what do you want?"

"Hmmm...," Luna massaged her chin as if she was thinking, "what if you accompany Maya on our trip today, huh?"

"You're joking." Yuta was taken aback. Surely, if Maya was in this, she would not allow such lame idea. Hey! if Maya was not in this, then maybe he could refuse - but... Luna is still in and she was as bad, or even worse that Maya.

Luna twirled the potion bottle in her hand, "No, I'm not joking. It seems Maya is the only one you're really scared of. You could just stalk her, if you want, but make sure you'll be with her all day."

"Hahahahaha! You're really joking. Maya wouldn't allow such a thing! She might even kill me when she hears this!"

"So what if she kills you? I don't care," Luna asked plainly. Yuta was out of words.

"Yuta, please, just accept it," Nina begged. Yuta thought for a while. The deal was dangerous cause it involves Maya in it. And he really didn't know what the intention of these three is! Looking over his shoulders, Yuta saw the look Nina was giving him. Surely, she wasn't being controlled since she still has those angelic eyes with her. Whatever this plan might give him, he was ready, as long as Nina was here.

"O-okay. I accept it."

Man, this will be one heck of a day…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To be continued...

Yatta! Maya/Yuta scenes will be up in the chapters to come! We are already reaching the turning point of this fic! Phew!

Sorry if this chapter is short - I am really rushing this up since our midyear exams will be on the first week of December.

Review Replies:

Maniac Witchies: The reason why Luna cooperated with Tsujiai and Nina will be revealed, hopefully, next chapter. Yeah, this story is getting weirder and weirder every second.

Ragin' white tiger: Physics is actually nice. I mean, it is easy if you how to apply those formulas ... but to tell you the truth, I really suck at it but I'm striving hard!

Jishu26: Yeah, poor Yuta. I just enjoy making him suffer! mwuhahahahaha!

fallenmad: I'm soooo sorry for taking so long to update. I actually lose my touch in writing humor, I was attached with angst in the past months. Anyway, Physics sucks, I know, but hey! It is quite fun! (That is, if you know how to solve that super hard question)

Chibi-Call: hello! A new reviewer! Thank you so much for taking time to read my fic. More Tsujiai and Nina moments? hmm... we'll see next chapter...

Squallwis: I wish they would put a DSQ category here… I want to read your fic! I'm trying to make one also but I don't have time yet.

Rashawn: Thank you! Yuta/Maya seems so perfect, that's why!