Disclaimer: Anything appearing here that has previously appeared in any other form does not belong to me.
AN: Thanks to reviewers and on Cooking Pot's advice, I have changed all the Chinese names to their Japanese counterparts, the original HYD version. Happy reading and please review!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Kiss Me Twice, Girl2: Kei stared up at the clock, ticking above the droning teacher's head. This was probably the only literature lesson she had not paid attention in. But you couldn't blame her. The last class of the day and only two minutes before the end. Two minutes before the bell rung. Two minutes before another round of vulnerability with Akira. She had almost considered skipping the last class and avoiding him but courage had deserted her from the moment the thought entered her head. Standing up an F4 when you wanted to live long was not a good idea.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
One and a half more minutes.
She couldn't believe she had gotten paired with him. She must have been the only girl who didn't want to get stuck with him, she thought, remembering the icy stares the other girls had passed her when Roi-sensei had called out her name and his. Someone up there must hate me, she decided gloomily. I've probably done something bad in my past life to get stuck with him. He'll probably do no work and I'll probably do it all and say nothing because I know better than to stand up to an F4. I know better, or I'm a coward, she thought, sinking further into the gloom pits.
When the bell chime exploded, she gathered her belongings reluctantly, packing them into her blue shoulder bag slowly. So slowly, she was the last one to walk out of the class. Outside, she glanced around. He had said he would meet her.
"Took your sweet time, didn't you?" a voice said from behind her. There he was, leaning coolly against the wall, dressed with style and accompanied by the traditional cheeky grin. As always. She sighed inwardly.
"Good afternoon, Mimasaka," she said, bowing her head.
"Afternoon yourself," he replied. "Let's go." He set off at a brisk pace, Kei trailing behind slightly.
"If you don't mind me asking, Mimasaka, where are we going?"
"To the library," he replied over his shoulder. "Isn't that where most research is done?" She shrugged. It made sense to her. "Hurry up. I don't have all day."
She tried, increasing her pace rapidly but his considerable strides propelled him further than she could keep with. It was only when they reached the doors of the library that he stopped and waited for her. She arrived there, slightly out of breath, only managing to nod when he asked whether she was alright. Inside, they found an unoccupied table…it wasn't hard considering the library totaled a current population of six: the two of them and four librarians.
"So…" he said, draping himself over the back of the chair. His eyes were fixed on her expectantly. "I read the assignment. 'Choose a notable period in history and provide a presentation on one aspect of it. E.g. heroes, beliefs, apparel.' Am I right?" She nodded mutely. Now he leaned forward, a sudden eagerness on his face. "I thought architecture, in the medieval stages. Since the medieval time isn't part of recent history, i.e. the last five centuries, it lacks absolute certainty but still has distinct characteristics. And as for architecture, we could build models or a model, which will definitely be more interesting to do than just research and a talk. What do you think, gorgeous?"
Was he actually giving her a choice?
"Um, architecture sounds good," she replied meekly, feeling confused. There was something distinctly different from the Akira she had talked to yesterday. His words were still as carefully chosen as ever, and the sassy tease would always be established within his nature…but they no longer had the coaxing lure of promise they had possess yesterday. And when he called over the library assistant-in-training, a young woman in her early twenties, making her giggle with honey-sweet words and his light hand on her wrist, Kei knew what it was. He had turned off the Mimasaka charm with her.
She was, in a word, relieved. In several words, very very relieved. In a sentence, so relieved she could have died right then and there and have had a happy life. In a paragraph -
"Yo! Helloooo?" Akira was standing in front of her, carrying a stack of heavy volumes. When she looked up meekly, he dropped the books on the table lightly with an odd stare. "The library assistant brought these over. You can look through them. I'm going to use the net."
"Okay," she replied to a retreating back. She sighed and picked up the first book.
An hour later, she laid down the last volume with another sigh. She had been through four books already, four large, heavy, dusty, boring books already and had less than half a page of notes. What a complete waste of time. That librarian must have been too busy giggling with Akira to pick good material, she thought sourly.
But that was unfair and she knew it.
Glancing at her watch, it read half past four. She had to go soon so she might as well pick up some books to take home. She patted her pockets in search for her student card, then sifted through the books and notes on the table. Nothing. Thinking back, she vaguely remembered herself placing the card into her literature diary...and leaving the diary in her locker. She could've kicked herself.
She set off towards the shelves anyway, deciding she would place the books on reserve first and return later in the evening to pick them up.
The library's bookshelves boasted thousands and thousands of volumes, all arranged neatly by subject yet occasionally one would come across a dark corner where the books sat higgled-piggled, forgotten by even the library staff. Kei ran a finger over the spine of a thick red book, glancing admiringly at the dust that came off onto her finger. Architecture Through Time. It might come into use, she thought, wiggling it out with a finger.
As she turned the corner, she stumbled across a figure sitting on the floor. The book in her hand fell heavily into his lap and Kei felt her heart shudder as she recognised the swing of the long hair.
Akira rose, his eyes icy, the book balancing precariously on the tip of his fingers.
He realised who it was as Kei bent forward, palms on her thighs, stuttering an apology. Rolling his eyes, he pushed the book her way. "Alright already. Take the book." She did so with trembling fingers. "Did you want to leave? We've been here an hour. Surely, you've got things to do. Friends to meet, guys to date, er, family to spend time with I suppose."
" I just came to pick up some books to reserve."
"Did you forget your card?"
"Yes, Mimasaka. But I thought I'll -"
"Use mine. Here." He produced a student card from his back pocket. As she took it, his fingers brushed hers ever so slightly and she dropped it. Passing an exasperated sigh, he said, "Man, it's just a card. How heavy can it be?"
And again, she bent over, murmuring apologies of a sort. Akira knew the school supposedly lived in fear of him and his three friends, and Kei's character was nothing new to him, but today, it aggravated him for a particular reason.
"What's up with all the bowing and the apologising? Couldn't you show a little bit of personal pride instead of kneeling and bowing and scraping the ground? F4 is F4 but why the hell are you that terrified of us?" This had all left his mouth in one breath before he wondered whether he had spent too many years with Tsukasa.
Kei stared at him. Perhaps it was the slightly irritated look on his face, or the fact that she had found him cubbying in a corner of the library of all places, or perhaps simply the fact that his hair was slightly tousled, something that never happened with Akira, but suddenly she found herself blurting out the reasons of why she regarded F4 as the monsters from hell.
Out from her mouth came all the stories of terror from ex-students, the rumours that ran their round each and every day and the legend of the dreaded 'red note', even the unanimous emotions of the students when an F4 passed. She expected him to understand now why she was 'bowing and scraping' and apologising her head off for every bump and sound when normally she wouldn't have apologised if she had ran over someone's family, and if he, Akira sir, would please, to expect it for the rest of time she was working with him and the time he held the power of F4 and possibly even after that.
And when finally she managed to clap a hand over her mouth, she could only gaze at him in horror of her impetinence and Akira himself could only say, "We're not that bad."
-------------------------------------------------------------
AN: So ends the second installment. Thoughts anyone? Please review!