Angelic High: Episode Five: The Shoujo Heroine
Wizard and Oujiro walked side by side as always, a respectable distance apart, each as unflappable as a never-changing infinity, each his own of course. They walked in silence, Oujiro with his tell-tale smile on his face [that never seemed to tell the whole tale] and Oujiro with his imminent...whatever it was, something in between a scowl and a smile, totally unreadable and not at all unpleasant, surprisingly.
Oujiro drew from his bag a sleek black umbrella; Wizard produced a dark blue one, and they exited the school building.
A girl ran up to them, faster than their eyes could watch almost. She appeared out of breath and gave them a wildly desperate look.
"Onegai, please, she needs help!" Hikaru breathed, soaked cold to the bone from the rain.
"Who?" Wizard asked, an uneasy and sinking feeling telling him who already.
"Suzuhara-san...demo, I can't remember her first name...demo she is in trouble!" Hikaru replied quickly.
"Misaki?" Oujiro had a startled tone in his voice and Wizard's eyes widened ever so slightly.
"Misaki?" Wizard repeated.
"Hai, she's alone...with them, she wanted me to go for help, demo..." Hikaru was very worried now. She felt guilty even for following those absurd directions. Misaki was smaller than she was. What if they hurt her?
"Where?" Wizard asked, an unusually urgent tone in his voice, Oujiro though was already off into the rain, not waiting, seeming to know somehow what way to go, maybe by seeing Hikaru from that way, or maybe simply from a feeling in his heart...
Wizard hurried to follow, as did Hikaru.
"Little girl hurt her ankle playing with big boys, ne?" Mizawa smirked. Misaki did something she couldn't remember ever doing, she glowered at him from her shorter position sitting on the ledge. There was no dispute here as far as her situation. It was bad. She could no longer stand and as far as she was concerned, her earlier avoidance of the punches aimed for her was pure unblemished luck. I am in trouble, she thought worriedly. She remained stubbornly silent.
"I bet she's ready to ask forgiveness by now, ne?" one of them snickered. Misaki stiffened.
"Iie, I didn't do anything wrong," she answered truthfully.
"You intruded upon us," Mizawa accused.
"Iie, I," he cut her off with a light but definite slap. Misaki felt her hand reach up absently to cup her left cheek, now stinging with unfamiliar warmth that felt paradoxical in the freezing rain, which she was numb to at this point.
"Mizawa!" Misaki looked up to see a very un-Oujiro like Oujiro striding towards them, an unusual displeasure in his normally benevolent eyes. Mizawa turned and saw Oujiro and Wizard heading towards him rapidly, neither looking happy. So the Prince and his court Wizard have come, Mizawa smirked to himself and shrugged, preparing to make a hasty exit. He was a bully true, but not altogether stupid. The look Oujiro was giving him was to be heeded.
He called his boys to him and they left in a hurry, leaving a stunned Misaki sitting there, wet and with a red cheek, still bitterly stinging as a reminder to her of who she was dealing with, someone not afraid to hit a girl obviously.
"Misaki, daijoubu?" Oujiro reached her first, glancing first at her ankle, noticing the bandage somehow having come undone, then to her cheek which she still was gently and absently touching with her hand. He stared at her a moment.
"H-hai!" Misaki smiled brightly. She felt lost inside and suddenly very scared about what she had done; she had never done anything like that. And he had hit her.
He had hit her.
She shivered.
"She's not okay. She's an awful liar though," Wizard commented and scooped her up in his arms thoughtlessly, ignoring the look of slight irritation on the face of his best friend when he did so. When Misaki yelped and began to protest he looked down at her blandly and said:
"Like you could walk on that," he gently tapped her right ankle and she winced, and he stopped, just enough to make his point and she settled. Oujiro frowned; that was unnecessary he thought as he looked down dolefully at Misaki. Her utter sogginess was soaking through Wizard's clothes but he somehow did not care. It was the all black boy's uniform as Oujiro wore; no one cared, least of all him at that moment. Hikaru leaned down close to Misaki.
"Arigato Misaki-chan, you were just like one of those shoujo heroines for me; small but strong, ne," she smiled gratefully and added ruefully, "Demo, I shouldn't have left you..."
"Daijoubu! I asked you to, and if you hadn't who knows what," she stopped there the carefree tone slipping involuntarily from her lips as the fear she should have felt before entered her, the fear and the strangeness. She shivered again. Oujiro stepped forward.
"Let me," he insisted, asking Wizard. He felt somehow that it should be him holding this girl he had only met yesterday, but somehow felt a...kinship with. He convinced himself it was pure intrigue for the moment and nothing more.
Little did he know at the time how well he lied to himself.
"Iie," Wizard frowned. It appeared that Wizard was protective of the first year as well, though as to how deep his feelings ran, Oujiro had yet to puzzle out. Instead though, Oujiro only nodded and settled for taking Misaki's hand as they walked her to Wizard's house, as they knew Misaki's aunt would not be there to care for her yet. Hikaru came as well.
They were all silent, Hikaru holding the umbrella over Wizard and Misaki, Oujiro holding his own in one hand and possessively almost, very unlike the normal laid back Prince of Angelic, Misaki's small hand in the other. Hikaru noticed the behavior of both boys but did not comment. Misaki obviously didn't understand yet. The boys themselves might not even realize their feelings fully yet. Such was the way these days Hikaru smiled to herself wistfully. She had just transferred to Angelic. She was a second year. And she felt a deep thanks to this girl who had unwittingly saved her from a bad situation.
She knew she had to thank Misaki somehow; the girl didn't even know her and she had probably saved Hikaru from much worse than a slap, though she did feel sorry about that. She would have to apologize too. As she was contemplating this though, Misaki spoke.
"Ano, Hikaru-chan, arigato," Misaki smiled up at her, as Hikaru was walking to the left of Wizard.
"For what?" Hikaru asked, surprised. What on earth could Misaki be thanking her for? She had quite nearly placed the girl in a very dangerous spot and barely made it back in time with help. What was she talking about? Hikaru listened attentively.
"This, this was not good, but it made me realize some things, that I can be strong too, and I just never realized, so thank you," Misaki said again.
"Ano Misaki, that's not necessary. I caused you trouble and," Oujiro stopped her silently with a soft look and then pointedly glanced down at Misaki.
Misaki it seemed, had passed out.
After a long day of mishaps though, it was plausible that she had simply fallen asleep.
They hurried faster to the house.
Later, Misaki woke in warmth. She tried to turn in the dark warmness but found she was tightly...wrapped in many blankets. Tentatively she opened her eyes and as she focused her vision, she held back a gasp of surprise. Across from the couch she was on, Wizard sat with his chin propped up on his right hand, dozing on a comfy armchair, hair falling lazily over his eyes. Hikaru sat next to him in another armchair, sideways though, and sleeping too. And then there was Oujiro...awake and staring at her, on the floor near the foot of the couch. He raised two fingers softly to his mouth as he smiled at her and made a sweeping gesture at the duo sleeping across from them; Hikaru across from Oujiro and Wizard across from Misaki.
She nodded in silence and implored Oujiro with a questioning glance. Shrugging, he only smiled benignly at her and moved closer to her at first, and then he whispered.
"It's been only two hours or so but they were tired I think already; Hikaru changed your clothes if you're wondering," he added thoughtfully. Misaki, it turned out, had not given any thought to her sudden dryness and looked down, taking a sudden great interest in the oversized t-shirt and drawstring pants she now donned.
"Ano..." she began.
"They're Wizard's castoffs he never quite got around to um, actually casting off; he's an awful packrat," Oujiro commented amusedly.
"H-hai!" Misaki again found her new clothes very interesting, bowing her head hoping her bangs covered some of the blush she was certain was covering her entire face anyway.
"Ano, Misaki, daijoubu?" Oujiro asked as he had before, in the rain.
"Hai, daijoubu, daijoubu," Misaki smiled.
"Iie, really Misaki, are you?" he persisted. She paused, wringing the edging of the blanket on her in her hands absently.
"H-hai. I was scared, demo I am okay now I think," she replied slowly.
"That's a relief," Oujiro seemed to release a breath Misaki hadn't realized he'd been holding and she wondered at the way he was staring at her, as though he were trying to understand something or analyze something. What exactly, she couldn't quite decide.
"I'll say!" Hikaru chirped in happily, apparently having just awoken from her nap. She had been quite distressed earlier when they had brought Misaki inside. It wasn't until Wizard, making a record day for himself of doing very un-Wizard like things, told her simply that Misaki would never blame her for anything and therefore, all she had to do was help make her warm. They were strange words but once Hikaru read into the lines she understood; it wasn't her fault he was saying in his own way. She had smiled slowly at him in gratitude and then immediately set to making Suzuhara Misaki the warm little bundle she was that morning before any of these incidents.
Wizard yawned as he opened his blue eyes, adjusting to his surroundings in his house, unusually full with three other people in it, he took a moment. Then he noted Oujiro's closer proximity to Misaki and then glanced over at Hikaru.
"Ohayo sleepy head," Hikaru greeted him from her comfortable position on the chair beside him.
"Ohayo yourself; you couldn't have woken up more than two seconds before me," Wizard replied mildly. Hikaru laughed lightly.
"Maybe," she rejoined amiably and shrugged.
"Ano, what time is it?" Misaki asked.
"About six now I suppose, why?" Oujiro answered her.
"Iie! I have to make dinner for Shouko-san!" she cried in dismay and tried to scramble out of the couch, but only managed to tangle herself up in the blankets and tumble off the couch...right on top of Oujiro.
There was no god, Misaki thought abashedly as she blushed red and then no longer placated with that seemingly mild tone, turned outright crimson. She was now, whether she liked it or not wrapped up in a cocoon like state of blankets, on Mihara Oujiro's lap. And as fate would have it, or not perhaps, she couldn't seem to move...
"Gomen!" she yelped unhappily.
"Daijoubu Misaki-chan," Oujiro chuckled in an un-intimidating manner, which Misaki being Misaki was still intimidated by and she vainly tried to move off of him. Ever the gentleman, he pretended to be unaware of her intense discomfort and simply helped her wobble to a position off of him firstly, and secondly, upright, leaning on her left foot greatly.
"You can't walk home like that Misaki," Hikaru stated in a voice that brooked no argument.
"I'll take her," Oujiro quickly said before Wizard could react and in a rather harried fashion assisted Misaki out the room to get her things and take her home.
"Ja ne Misaki-chan! I'll see you tomorrow, ne?" called Hikaru brightly.
"Hai!" was her reply.
"That was some exit," Hikaru commented. Her answer was silence. Apparently the moment Suzuhara Misaki left the room, she took Wizard's semi-amiable attitude with her, Hikaru thought smugly. Well she would have to fix this...
"Ne, Wizard-san..." she began.
"Hai?" came his curt prompt.
"You like Misaki-chan, ne?" she dropped it on him like a ton of bricks, blatant, straightforward, and right on target. Wizard maintained an airy silence. He blanched. Of course not, he would never. His interest was purely...wait a minute...interest? Since when? How had this slipped by him? What on earth was wrong with him?
"Am I right?" Hikaru prodded speculatively.
"Iie," Wizard muttered.
"Ano?" Hikaru continued.
"Iie!" he repeated, louder.
"Really?" she asked, amused.
"I don't like anyone," he stated firmly and then added, "except Oujiro." To his mortification, the crimson-eyed beauty before him, laughed at him. Then before she could turn the attack on him again, he questioned, "Why did you run?"
"Because we were outnumbered," she answered simply.
"You mean you would have fought had it been just you and Mizawa, a fair fight?" he asked in his no-nonsense manner.
"Hai," she smiled.
"What makes you so confident?" he asked aloud and wondered in interest, or perhaps, so bold?
"I am not weak; I have trained for a long while in martial arts and am by no high opinion of my own, more than decent," Hikaru stated without the slightest hint of an ego, only as a fact.
"And you couldn't have simply stayed and taken care of all of them?" he prodded further.
"Iie, Misaki could have been taken while I couldn't protect her and held against me. It would have been like double-suicide," she resolved complacently.
"I see," he understood. He had thought this might be the same girl rumored to have transferred into their grade; the fighting miracle they called her. Of course she could have won, spared Misaki a slapped cheek, but then...she might have risked much worse and she knew her limits. That was admirable, he thought, though he would never admit it out loud. It simply wasn't his way.
At least now he understood.
"I plan to teach Misaki-chan how to fight," Hikaru smiled. Somehow this seemed wrong to Wizard.
"Why?" he asked, surprised by the almost pleading tone in his voice, like that of an older brother.
"Because she must know how to defend herself and then," she paused as she stood and grabbed her things, readying to leave Wizard to himself for a while, "and then next time trouble comes our way, we'll be the undefeatable pair!" she laughed confidently and good-naturedly as she said farewell to Wizard and exited the house.
And Wizard was left there to contemplate how Oujiro and Misaki were coping on the way to her house.
And exactly what a fighting duo like Hikaru, already dubbed the "Fighting Miracle" and Misaki who seemed for all her endless depths of nice, not to be very good in the athletic sense.
He rubbed his temples and went to the kitchen.
Food was the answer to all of his problems at this point, he thought wryly and began throwing pots and pans around in his decision-making for what to cook for dinner.
Then it occurred to him, would Misaki want to learn to fight? She had said she wanted to be strong. Was it the same thing?
He would have to ask her tomorrow, he mused as he set some soup to boil on the stove.
Setting the timer he up and re-entered the living room, rearranging everything back into place, to find a small pin of wings, Misaki's probably he thought as he placed it in his pocket. He would return it to her tomorrow when he asked her about fighting.
Tomorrow.
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REVIEW ONEGAI! Hikaru is strong but they were, as said, outnumbered and she knew this from her own battle intelligence; gomen for making her entrance that way but it went with the story and we wanted little Misaki to have a Shoujo heroine moment as she always dreamed. ^_^ Aiyaa.I love Misakichi! [And everyone else from Angelic Layer...]
Hehehe, review for the next chapter!
-Kaji Hikage
Wizard and Oujiro walked side by side as always, a respectable distance apart, each as unflappable as a never-changing infinity, each his own of course. They walked in silence, Oujiro with his tell-tale smile on his face [that never seemed to tell the whole tale] and Oujiro with his imminent...whatever it was, something in between a scowl and a smile, totally unreadable and not at all unpleasant, surprisingly.
Oujiro drew from his bag a sleek black umbrella; Wizard produced a dark blue one, and they exited the school building.
A girl ran up to them, faster than their eyes could watch almost. She appeared out of breath and gave them a wildly desperate look.
"Onegai, please, she needs help!" Hikaru breathed, soaked cold to the bone from the rain.
"Who?" Wizard asked, an uneasy and sinking feeling telling him who already.
"Suzuhara-san...demo, I can't remember her first name...demo she is in trouble!" Hikaru replied quickly.
"Misaki?" Oujiro had a startled tone in his voice and Wizard's eyes widened ever so slightly.
"Misaki?" Wizard repeated.
"Hai, she's alone...with them, she wanted me to go for help, demo..." Hikaru was very worried now. She felt guilty even for following those absurd directions. Misaki was smaller than she was. What if they hurt her?
"Where?" Wizard asked, an unusually urgent tone in his voice, Oujiro though was already off into the rain, not waiting, seeming to know somehow what way to go, maybe by seeing Hikaru from that way, or maybe simply from a feeling in his heart...
Wizard hurried to follow, as did Hikaru.
"Little girl hurt her ankle playing with big boys, ne?" Mizawa smirked. Misaki did something she couldn't remember ever doing, she glowered at him from her shorter position sitting on the ledge. There was no dispute here as far as her situation. It was bad. She could no longer stand and as far as she was concerned, her earlier avoidance of the punches aimed for her was pure unblemished luck. I am in trouble, she thought worriedly. She remained stubbornly silent.
"I bet she's ready to ask forgiveness by now, ne?" one of them snickered. Misaki stiffened.
"Iie, I didn't do anything wrong," she answered truthfully.
"You intruded upon us," Mizawa accused.
"Iie, I," he cut her off with a light but definite slap. Misaki felt her hand reach up absently to cup her left cheek, now stinging with unfamiliar warmth that felt paradoxical in the freezing rain, which she was numb to at this point.
"Mizawa!" Misaki looked up to see a very un-Oujiro like Oujiro striding towards them, an unusual displeasure in his normally benevolent eyes. Mizawa turned and saw Oujiro and Wizard heading towards him rapidly, neither looking happy. So the Prince and his court Wizard have come, Mizawa smirked to himself and shrugged, preparing to make a hasty exit. He was a bully true, but not altogether stupid. The look Oujiro was giving him was to be heeded.
He called his boys to him and they left in a hurry, leaving a stunned Misaki sitting there, wet and with a red cheek, still bitterly stinging as a reminder to her of who she was dealing with, someone not afraid to hit a girl obviously.
"Misaki, daijoubu?" Oujiro reached her first, glancing first at her ankle, noticing the bandage somehow having come undone, then to her cheek which she still was gently and absently touching with her hand. He stared at her a moment.
"H-hai!" Misaki smiled brightly. She felt lost inside and suddenly very scared about what she had done; she had never done anything like that. And he had hit her.
He had hit her.
She shivered.
"She's not okay. She's an awful liar though," Wizard commented and scooped her up in his arms thoughtlessly, ignoring the look of slight irritation on the face of his best friend when he did so. When Misaki yelped and began to protest he looked down at her blandly and said:
"Like you could walk on that," he gently tapped her right ankle and she winced, and he stopped, just enough to make his point and she settled. Oujiro frowned; that was unnecessary he thought as he looked down dolefully at Misaki. Her utter sogginess was soaking through Wizard's clothes but he somehow did not care. It was the all black boy's uniform as Oujiro wore; no one cared, least of all him at that moment. Hikaru leaned down close to Misaki.
"Arigato Misaki-chan, you were just like one of those shoujo heroines for me; small but strong, ne," she smiled gratefully and added ruefully, "Demo, I shouldn't have left you..."
"Daijoubu! I asked you to, and if you hadn't who knows what," she stopped there the carefree tone slipping involuntarily from her lips as the fear she should have felt before entered her, the fear and the strangeness. She shivered again. Oujiro stepped forward.
"Let me," he insisted, asking Wizard. He felt somehow that it should be him holding this girl he had only met yesterday, but somehow felt a...kinship with. He convinced himself it was pure intrigue for the moment and nothing more.
Little did he know at the time how well he lied to himself.
"Iie," Wizard frowned. It appeared that Wizard was protective of the first year as well, though as to how deep his feelings ran, Oujiro had yet to puzzle out. Instead though, Oujiro only nodded and settled for taking Misaki's hand as they walked her to Wizard's house, as they knew Misaki's aunt would not be there to care for her yet. Hikaru came as well.
They were all silent, Hikaru holding the umbrella over Wizard and Misaki, Oujiro holding his own in one hand and possessively almost, very unlike the normal laid back Prince of Angelic, Misaki's small hand in the other. Hikaru noticed the behavior of both boys but did not comment. Misaki obviously didn't understand yet. The boys themselves might not even realize their feelings fully yet. Such was the way these days Hikaru smiled to herself wistfully. She had just transferred to Angelic. She was a second year. And she felt a deep thanks to this girl who had unwittingly saved her from a bad situation.
She knew she had to thank Misaki somehow; the girl didn't even know her and she had probably saved Hikaru from much worse than a slap, though she did feel sorry about that. She would have to apologize too. As she was contemplating this though, Misaki spoke.
"Ano, Hikaru-chan, arigato," Misaki smiled up at her, as Hikaru was walking to the left of Wizard.
"For what?" Hikaru asked, surprised. What on earth could Misaki be thanking her for? She had quite nearly placed the girl in a very dangerous spot and barely made it back in time with help. What was she talking about? Hikaru listened attentively.
"This, this was not good, but it made me realize some things, that I can be strong too, and I just never realized, so thank you," Misaki said again.
"Ano Misaki, that's not necessary. I caused you trouble and," Oujiro stopped her silently with a soft look and then pointedly glanced down at Misaki.
Misaki it seemed, had passed out.
After a long day of mishaps though, it was plausible that she had simply fallen asleep.
They hurried faster to the house.
Later, Misaki woke in warmth. She tried to turn in the dark warmness but found she was tightly...wrapped in many blankets. Tentatively she opened her eyes and as she focused her vision, she held back a gasp of surprise. Across from the couch she was on, Wizard sat with his chin propped up on his right hand, dozing on a comfy armchair, hair falling lazily over his eyes. Hikaru sat next to him in another armchair, sideways though, and sleeping too. And then there was Oujiro...awake and staring at her, on the floor near the foot of the couch. He raised two fingers softly to his mouth as he smiled at her and made a sweeping gesture at the duo sleeping across from them; Hikaru across from Oujiro and Wizard across from Misaki.
She nodded in silence and implored Oujiro with a questioning glance. Shrugging, he only smiled benignly at her and moved closer to her at first, and then he whispered.
"It's been only two hours or so but they were tired I think already; Hikaru changed your clothes if you're wondering," he added thoughtfully. Misaki, it turned out, had not given any thought to her sudden dryness and looked down, taking a sudden great interest in the oversized t-shirt and drawstring pants she now donned.
"Ano..." she began.
"They're Wizard's castoffs he never quite got around to um, actually casting off; he's an awful packrat," Oujiro commented amusedly.
"H-hai!" Misaki again found her new clothes very interesting, bowing her head hoping her bangs covered some of the blush she was certain was covering her entire face anyway.
"Ano, Misaki, daijoubu?" Oujiro asked as he had before, in the rain.
"Hai, daijoubu, daijoubu," Misaki smiled.
"Iie, really Misaki, are you?" he persisted. She paused, wringing the edging of the blanket on her in her hands absently.
"H-hai. I was scared, demo I am okay now I think," she replied slowly.
"That's a relief," Oujiro seemed to release a breath Misaki hadn't realized he'd been holding and she wondered at the way he was staring at her, as though he were trying to understand something or analyze something. What exactly, she couldn't quite decide.
"I'll say!" Hikaru chirped in happily, apparently having just awoken from her nap. She had been quite distressed earlier when they had brought Misaki inside. It wasn't until Wizard, making a record day for himself of doing very un-Wizard like things, told her simply that Misaki would never blame her for anything and therefore, all she had to do was help make her warm. They were strange words but once Hikaru read into the lines she understood; it wasn't her fault he was saying in his own way. She had smiled slowly at him in gratitude and then immediately set to making Suzuhara Misaki the warm little bundle she was that morning before any of these incidents.
Wizard yawned as he opened his blue eyes, adjusting to his surroundings in his house, unusually full with three other people in it, he took a moment. Then he noted Oujiro's closer proximity to Misaki and then glanced over at Hikaru.
"Ohayo sleepy head," Hikaru greeted him from her comfortable position on the chair beside him.
"Ohayo yourself; you couldn't have woken up more than two seconds before me," Wizard replied mildly. Hikaru laughed lightly.
"Maybe," she rejoined amiably and shrugged.
"Ano, what time is it?" Misaki asked.
"About six now I suppose, why?" Oujiro answered her.
"Iie! I have to make dinner for Shouko-san!" she cried in dismay and tried to scramble out of the couch, but only managed to tangle herself up in the blankets and tumble off the couch...right on top of Oujiro.
There was no god, Misaki thought abashedly as she blushed red and then no longer placated with that seemingly mild tone, turned outright crimson. She was now, whether she liked it or not wrapped up in a cocoon like state of blankets, on Mihara Oujiro's lap. And as fate would have it, or not perhaps, she couldn't seem to move...
"Gomen!" she yelped unhappily.
"Daijoubu Misaki-chan," Oujiro chuckled in an un-intimidating manner, which Misaki being Misaki was still intimidated by and she vainly tried to move off of him. Ever the gentleman, he pretended to be unaware of her intense discomfort and simply helped her wobble to a position off of him firstly, and secondly, upright, leaning on her left foot greatly.
"You can't walk home like that Misaki," Hikaru stated in a voice that brooked no argument.
"I'll take her," Oujiro quickly said before Wizard could react and in a rather harried fashion assisted Misaki out the room to get her things and take her home.
"Ja ne Misaki-chan! I'll see you tomorrow, ne?" called Hikaru brightly.
"Hai!" was her reply.
"That was some exit," Hikaru commented. Her answer was silence. Apparently the moment Suzuhara Misaki left the room, she took Wizard's semi-amiable attitude with her, Hikaru thought smugly. Well she would have to fix this...
"Ne, Wizard-san..." she began.
"Hai?" came his curt prompt.
"You like Misaki-chan, ne?" she dropped it on him like a ton of bricks, blatant, straightforward, and right on target. Wizard maintained an airy silence. He blanched. Of course not, he would never. His interest was purely...wait a minute...interest? Since when? How had this slipped by him? What on earth was wrong with him?
"Am I right?" Hikaru prodded speculatively.
"Iie," Wizard muttered.
"Ano?" Hikaru continued.
"Iie!" he repeated, louder.
"Really?" she asked, amused.
"I don't like anyone," he stated firmly and then added, "except Oujiro." To his mortification, the crimson-eyed beauty before him, laughed at him. Then before she could turn the attack on him again, he questioned, "Why did you run?"
"Because we were outnumbered," she answered simply.
"You mean you would have fought had it been just you and Mizawa, a fair fight?" he asked in his no-nonsense manner.
"Hai," she smiled.
"What makes you so confident?" he asked aloud and wondered in interest, or perhaps, so bold?
"I am not weak; I have trained for a long while in martial arts and am by no high opinion of my own, more than decent," Hikaru stated without the slightest hint of an ego, only as a fact.
"And you couldn't have simply stayed and taken care of all of them?" he prodded further.
"Iie, Misaki could have been taken while I couldn't protect her and held against me. It would have been like double-suicide," she resolved complacently.
"I see," he understood. He had thought this might be the same girl rumored to have transferred into their grade; the fighting miracle they called her. Of course she could have won, spared Misaki a slapped cheek, but then...she might have risked much worse and she knew her limits. That was admirable, he thought, though he would never admit it out loud. It simply wasn't his way.
At least now he understood.
"I plan to teach Misaki-chan how to fight," Hikaru smiled. Somehow this seemed wrong to Wizard.
"Why?" he asked, surprised by the almost pleading tone in his voice, like that of an older brother.
"Because she must know how to defend herself and then," she paused as she stood and grabbed her things, readying to leave Wizard to himself for a while, "and then next time trouble comes our way, we'll be the undefeatable pair!" she laughed confidently and good-naturedly as she said farewell to Wizard and exited the house.
And Wizard was left there to contemplate how Oujiro and Misaki were coping on the way to her house.
And exactly what a fighting duo like Hikaru, already dubbed the "Fighting Miracle" and Misaki who seemed for all her endless depths of nice, not to be very good in the athletic sense.
He rubbed his temples and went to the kitchen.
Food was the answer to all of his problems at this point, he thought wryly and began throwing pots and pans around in his decision-making for what to cook for dinner.
Then it occurred to him, would Misaki want to learn to fight? She had said she wanted to be strong. Was it the same thing?
He would have to ask her tomorrow, he mused as he set some soup to boil on the stove.
Setting the timer he up and re-entered the living room, rearranging everything back into place, to find a small pin of wings, Misaki's probably he thought as he placed it in his pocket. He would return it to her tomorrow when he asked her about fighting.
Tomorrow.
-------------------------------
REVIEW ONEGAI! Hikaru is strong but they were, as said, outnumbered and she knew this from her own battle intelligence; gomen for making her entrance that way but it went with the story and we wanted little Misaki to have a Shoujo heroine moment as she always dreamed. ^_^ Aiyaa.I love Misakichi! [And everyone else from Angelic Layer...]
Hehehe, review for the next chapter!
-Kaji Hikage