Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Hot Gimmick, I'm just borrowing the characters…

Chapter 9– More Trouble

Hatsumi hurried to school. She realized that, while it was late and she didn't have her books, she would still be able to make about half of her classes. She didn't want to miss any more than she already had. 'Plus,' she thought to herself, 'going to school will give me time to think about what I'm going to tell my mother about why I wasn't in my room this morning, or why I left in the middle of the night.'

It was lunch time for her when she got there finally, so she grabbed a school lunch, macaroni and cheese, and headed over to see Subaru. She intended to pretend like nothing strange had happened at all, but she realized, after glancing at his face, that it wasn't going to happen.

Subaru wore a mask of anguish. Since Hatsumi hadn't been in her first classes of the day and no one had heard anything from her, not even her sister, he was out of his mind with worry for her. It wasn't that he cared for her in any way but as a friend, but he felt personally responsible for her at times when she wasn't completely "with it". Those days had seemed more and more numerous as this school year went by, and he was scared that maybe she wasn't going to do all of the things she wanted to do, that maybe the goals she had set for herself were too high, too onerous to achieve. Seeing her trot over to him at lunch, however, all cheery, pretending that nothing happened, just made him more mad at her for making him worry yet again.

"Hello, Subaru," she said to him happily. "How have you been today?"

Subaru fixed her with a blank stare and said coolly, "I've been worried sick about you, actually. Why is it that your own sister didn't know where you were today?"

"I needed some time to myself, actually, something very unnerving happened and I needed to think about what had happened. As it turns out, I'm not done thinking yet, so I'll let you know when I've figured everything out."

'Oh my God,' he thought, 'could something I had said to Ryoki provoked him to do something to Hatsumi? I'll call her bluff and see if I can get anything out of her.' He turned to her. "Does any of this, by any chance, have to do with a certain person named Ryoki?"

"How did you–?" she asked startled.

"He seemed suspicious to me, he came to me to ask questions about you, and some of the things he wanted to know were pretty strange. He asked me about guys in your life and other sexual things, aka thinks I have no idea about, and other things. I just got a bad vibe from the entire incident and I wanted to check with you to make sure nothing had happened to you. Did anything happen to you last night that you're not telling me about?"

"I-I can't, not right now," she said, grabbing up her belongings and her lunch. "Please understand that I would tell you, I'm just not ready to recount it yet. Please don't tell anyone about this, I'll tell everyone once I know everything is going to be okay. I just– I just can't do this right now." Tears were falling down her face as she fled the school once again, heedless of where she went, only that she could leave this place of torture.


Subaru didn't know what to think. It seemed that every single time he tried to do something right with a girl, she ended up running off and crying hysterically. 'I must just have the worst luck in the world, that's all,' he thought to himself. 'I really hope she's okay, though, and that I didn't make her too upset. I just don't know what's going on with Hatsumi lately, she's been in a whole other world, and hanging out with people she wouldn't be caught dead with, usually.'

As far as women were concerned, his life had been rather empty. Hatsumi was the only one that he was ever really friends with, and they had been friends for years. While Subaru would have loved to go out with her, after several years of never really showing interest in him, he had come to the conclusion that he and Hatsumi would never be together, and he moved on. 'I guess girls just aren't interested in the same things I am. It seems that hardly anyone is really into anime or video games,' he sighed to himself and glanced at his watch. He still had a couple more minutes before lunch was over. 'Great! I still have time to buy the new Gundam manga that came out today! If I go over now and get it, I should have enough time left to sneak into the back of my Spanish class without everyone noticing.'

After stashing his backpack in his locker and making sure that it shut (the lock was broken) he trotted down the stairs and out into the sunlight, stopping to nod to Akane as he passed.

"Where are you going? Isn't lunch almost over?" she asked him.

Hearing Akane's question, he turned. "The new Gundam manga is out today and I want to go out and get it before it's sold out and I have to wait another three weeks for them to reorder at the bookstore. You know how they are there, it'll take them forever to realize that they don't have any more on the shelf."

She rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you still read that stuff, at least if you're going to be reading manga, it should be something like Mars or Paradise Kiss. At least those have a little bit of romance in them. Speaking of which, I should come with you, I still have to read the last two of Mars, even though they've been out forever."

"You can come if you really want, but we're probably going to be late coming back to school, and since you're a freshman, you aren't allowed off campus during the day. I wouldn't want you to get into trouble."

"Aww, that's so sweet, you're worried about me!" she preened. "Well, don't worry, I can take care of myself, thank you very much. I've never had any problems before, even when I did sneak off campus."

"Okay, okay!" He shrugged. "I get your point. You're more than welcome to accompany me. Or would you rather I walk on the other side of the street so you aren't seen with a loser like me? I wouldn't want to damage your reputation as a part of the popular crowd."

"Oh, don't be silly, I'm way to popular to have one little outing with you damage my whole image," she giggled, grabbing a hold of his arm and forcing him to move over on the sidewalk. "Plus," she continued, "I rather enjoy your company."

"Y-y-you what?" he stuttered in response.

"Well, yeah, I mean, I've only known you for practically forever right? I should hope that I'd be used to you by now."

"Oh, okay," he said, still a little worried. 'Could it be that she actually might like me?' He shook his head. 'It's not possible,' he decided.


Ryoki had been getting out of his car in front of the school when he spotted Hatsumi running out of the school, visibly upset. 'What is that idiot doing now? Why is it that she always makes me chase after her?'

Tossing his book bag back into his car, he got back in and peeled out of the parking lot. Taking the general direction that Hatsumi had taken, he went after her.


Azusa was in a cafe eating lunch with friends when he saw Hatsumi making a mad run down the sidewalk. She looked upset, so he made excuses to his friends and left, running after her. He finally spotted her at a street corner where she had stopped to wait for the traffic light to change.

Hatsumi turned after he called out her name, tears streaming down her cheeks and hair in a wild disarray. "Just go away! I can't take anymore from people!" she sobbed.

Catching up to her, and panting from the effort, he said, "You know, for girls, you have got the worst record I have ever imagined." He glanced at her with a friendly smirk. "Why is it that in the past 12 hours, I have seen you crying hysterically not only once, but twice?" He stood, still panting a little, and grabbed her wrist, pulling her along with him.

"And just where are we going?" she asked him.

"I know some place where we can go so that you can loosen up a little bit. You need some wind down time before you get yourself into trouble again."

Hatsumi looked at Azusa questioningly.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine, you'll have a good time, and you'll get to meet some of my pals in the industry."

"I don't know about this, Azusa, I mean, I should really be home right now. My mom's probably worried sick about me, since I didn't come home last night after going to your place."

"Here, use my cell phone. Call her and tell her that you're going to be okay and that you're with a friend. You'll be home later on, and then you'll explain everything."

"Okay, I guess that will work. I'll call from wherever it is that you're taking me."

"Let's go then, we wouldn't want to be late."


Ryoki saw the two of them just as they rounded a corner, and the jealousy that he had been feeling welled up inside of him. He didn't like that she was hanging out with someone else, and another boy at that, but even more than that, he had a bad feeling about this guy. Something just wasn't right. He decided to follow them. He followed them all the way to a local bar, where they disappeared inside.

Author's Note- Okay, this next chapter is the make it or break it chapter, stick around, I'm going to make it good, I promise!