Angelic High: Episode Six: Invited
Hikaru mused to herself that she very much liked the idea of facing the Mizawa cretin one on one and entertained the possibility even of challenging him.
Then she changed her mind. That was quite simply, asking for trouble. No, she would wait. She knew from experience anyway that she would get her chance. Guys like Mizawa never stayed quite long enough...and neither did the girls, Hikaru added mentally as she recalled the ashen glare Mizawa Rei sent Misaki that previous afternoon.
And so in a sense, she wasn't so disappointed when Misaki told her she didn't want to learn how to fight, of her own accord anyway. It simply didn't suit her at the time; however as Hikaru watched, she noticed almost inaudible sighs of extreme relief in Wizard and Oujiro. She smirked. So overprotective, she thought.
"Hikaru-chan, I know that maybe one day it might be good for me to learn, but right now, all I can do is fight, in my own way," Misaki struggled to explain herself but Hikaru laid a kind hand on her shoulder and nodded. Apparently she understood already.
As it turned out, Mizawa Rei ran to apologize to Misaki during lunch, slightly brushing against Oujiro in passing; if he noticed though, Oujiro of course gave no indication of it. She claimed there had been a miscommunication.
"Right..." Hikaru remarked a mite sarcastically under her breath.
"Did you say something Hikaru-san?" Mizawa asked innocently, though her eyes conveyed a contradictory message of warning. Hikaru merely shrugged.
"Ano, gomen for not being there Mizawa-san!" Misaki bowed her head, obviously unaware of the game being played here; Oujiro and Wizard had some idea though and shook their heads absently.
"Daijoubu," Mizawa smiled like the cat pouncing on its dinner and continued, "Demo, I was thinking would you and Hikaru-san, Oujiro-san and Wizard-san like to come to my family's gala this weekend?"
"Ano, what is a gala?" Misaki wondered aloud.
"It's a very high class party; you'd have to dress formally," Mizawa said.
"Er, I can't speak for the others, demo I'll go. I need to apologize somehow for not being there yesterday," Misaki said in her usual manner, simple and decidedly naïve. Wizard felt like smacking his hand to his forehead...and would have if it were not completely against his Wizard-like nature. He settled for an upward roll of the eyes. Oujirou was having similar thoughts as well as that which, he thought, meant he could not let her go alone into another of Mizawa's traps.
"Hai, then I'll come as well," Oujirou answered, not missing the excited glint in Mizawa Rei's eyes when he said so. He repressed a groan.
"Watashi mo!" Hikaru joined in; she felt a sisterly need to watch over little Misaki, a fast-binding friend whom she felt a deep companionship with already.
"I'll also attend," Wizard remarked, as though commenting on the weather, his distaste concealed but not his disinterest. Mizawa bit back her tongue from producing a scathing remark for the handsome Wizard...no pun intended.
"Sugoi!" Rei pretended to be overjoyed, and added, "This Friday night, my house; I'll send the directions to you before then! Ja ne!" And she was gone...much to the relief of everyone but Misaki. Misaki was about to speak when Tamayo and Kotaro came bounding up...well, Tamayo bounded up; Kotaro was kind of dragged as usual.
"Tamayo-chan!" Misaki started in surprise.
"Ohayo MISAKICHIIIIIII!" Tamayo greeted happily, kindly releasing a rather blue Kotaro from the strangle hold.
"O-ohayo Suzuhara," he gasped. As soon as he regained his composure, he noted Wizard, Oujirou and Hikaru. He also noted the proximity with which the Prince of Angelic High was standing to Misaki, likewise Wizard. Tamayo also noted this. Her eyes lit up.
"Oooh! Misakichi has two boyfriends, ne?" Tamayo never missed a chance to tease poor Misaki into flushes and blushes of the most extravagant kinds...and she most certainly wasn't going to pass this one up, however inaccurate...or accurate she thought smiling to herself...she was. Not to be disappointed, Tamayo grinned like the Cheshire cat when Misaki's face went from pink to rosy to red to downright crimson and back again.
"Naaaa!? Iie! Iie!" she protested as Tamayo continued to tease her. Kotaro sighed and in his level headed manner, eyed Wizard and Oujirou strongly. They each met his gaze; the fact that he was a year younger than them didn't seem to stop him from silently challenging them, saying that if anything bad happened to Suzuhara Misaki, there would be trouble. Aside from Tamayo being head over heels for her new friend, Kotaro himself found her to be strikingly endearing, sweet and though she was his age, reminded him of his little sister, Hatoko. Of course, Hatoko was much younger and a prodigy, but it was the childlike air and that Misaki emanated that so endeared her to him in that brotherly and sisterly fashion. It seemed he was not the only one drawn to her way of being.
Already the Wizard, the Prince, and...was that the Fighting Miracle, or so- called? Yes they had all congregated in a pact of silence, of friendship and compassion for this magical girl Suzuhara Misaki, whose way of magic it seemed to Wizard, who was now blatantly watching her, was nothing like his own. His was to keep most people away, bounce them off like he had an invisible magic guard that kept them at a safe distance from his life, and from his heart. No instead she drew people in, brought them up close to her and unknowingly, bewitched them with her natural cute and endlessly kind disposition.
That was magic, thought Wizard. To truly be one's self and have people still love you as much as they all did her...wait a minute. Love? He quickly averted his gaze to the wall rather than on Misaki's face and squashed that thought avidly. No way. Not in a million years...right?
Oujirou languidly observed everything as usual from behind half-shaded eyes that noticed everything compared to the nothing that he appeared to take in. Master of observation and Prince of strategy in life, Oujirou had always known how to be nice and courteous; it was his natural way. But he also knew how to manipulate people and trick them. It wasn't something he was proud of; he simply could and sometimes did without realizing it, usually for the good of something bigger though. And sometimes...
Sometimes he indulged his subconscious whims through his harmless manipulation...
"Misaki-chan," Oujiro spoke, "Since we are al going to the gala, you will need an escort," he stated. Tamayo who had stopped teasing Misaki at the sound of the Prince's voice got stars in her eyes and glee written all over her face as she realized where this was going for her little Misakichi. Kotaro also knew and he bit his tongue from offering before Oujirou could, if only to keep the so-called Prince at arm's length. Dutifully he held his tongue though.
It would be Misaki's choice. Hikaru realized as well and shared with herself a secret smile; this was too kawaii. Then she noticed Wizard who looked even less pleasant than normal...which was to say he looked unpleasant instead of expressionless. He was watching Oujirou with a startlingly intense gaze that it seemed to Hikaru, Oujirou was pointedly ignoring meeting.
Ask her first! Wizard cringed at that traitorous part of him in his head, or was it his traitorous heart? What did he know of things like this? How as he to know exactly what he was feeling anyway? What could he do about it but watch and wait? He didn't know. This was so very new to him; he was used to not really feeling anything but mild emotions, amusement, or acknowledgements. No, this was completely different and he wasn't certain whether it was sporadic or sincere.
And that is perhaps what made him keep silent as Oujirou said:
"May I escort you Misaki-chan?" And he smiled that smile of his that Wizard suddenly found somewhat grating on his nerves; it was that carefree smile Oujirou had developed some time ago, the one that not surprisingly made women melt before him into undignified puddles of goo. Somehow he felt a level of satisfaction when Misaki did not melt but knew this was because of her unawareness of the situation and what Oujirou really meant.
No, she said yes, at least for the moment, as a friend, though Wizard did not miss the instantaneous blush on her cheeks or the softening in her eyes. What Oujirou really meant, Wizard thought, surprising himself with the bitterness of his thought: was, may I take you out, and not just walking, no, on a...a...Wizard struggled with the new vocabulary in his head...
A date.
Misaki was going on a date with Oujirou.
With "Prince" Oujirou, Tamayo thought with fairy-tale hearts in her eyes, already planning things with an unusually silent Kotaro beside her.
With that guy...Kotaro thought warily.
With Mihara-san, Hikaru thought happily for Misaki who seemed to like him to her, even if Misaki didn't know it yet. She looked back at Wizard. His face was back to being expressionless but Hikaru surprised herself by suddenly being able to peel away his well done mask and see past it. He was hurting, she thought in dismayed surprise. And apparently he didn't know quite why, Hikaru observed sadly. She felt a twinge in her own self but ignored it; she had just met Wizard; surely she did not like him. In any case, he seemed, or so it seemed to her he did, have a case of juvenile but undeniable, unrequited love.
Only because you don't say anything though, Hikaru noted wisely. She knew already, only having met Misaki nearly the same time as she did Wizard, that Misaki would love him. She seemed to be able to love everyone...so openly. Hikaru questioned that, not unfairly, but wonderingly. How could one so young, love so freely? Was there more than met the eye behind this sweet and carefree girl? Hikaru had a sense for fighting but she also had a sense equally apt for this and it told her not only was there more, there was an entirely different story with Suzuhara Misaki.
She had a sense, but she didn't know exactly how right she was.
But they would all find that out later.
At this moment, it seemed Misaki and Oujirou were attending the gala. And so were she and Wizard. Unthreateningly, she took a breath and slowed this odd racing in her heart that she quickly beat down mentally and turned to look up at Wizard. She smiled in a resignedly friendly manner; for that was all it was at that moment, Hikaru's subconscious sadly thought.
"Ano," Hikaru wondered why suddenly she was feeling shy and pushed the weirdness away by slapping Wizard uncharacteristically on the back to get his attention, pal-like, "So I guess it's just you and me, ne?" Wizard glanced down at her, coming out of his inner turmoil for a moment and silently thanked the crimson-eyed girl beside him fro doing so. How long he had been standing there heedlessly he knew not, but was glad to see that even Oujirou was too busy with a laughin Tamayo and blushing Misaki to notice his lapse. Apart of him noted that Hikaru had not missed it.
"Hai," he nodded and they watched the antics of Tamayo blissfully and loudly planning out all the preparations, Kotaro still somewhat glaring at Oujirou in discontent, and Misaki...
Somehow again at the center of attention.
"Naaa!" she sighed and looked down. Oujirou-san is going to escort me? She wondered at her hasty acceptance. Not that she didn't like Oujirou, she just couldn't puzzle out the emotions swirling in her every time he looked at her, not with his normal public smile or visage, but with something subtly more intimate, more wistful. Yes, she noticed that, if not anything else, perhaps because at this range, her entire scope was of Oujirou. Or maybe it was something more...
Perhaps they would find out at the gala.
The only purpose to going for the three besides Misaki was to protect her and in that they wordlessly agreed. There was not much one could do to a girl in public but there were many mishaps that could happen and with Mizawa one and two behind this entire bash, it wasn't altogether unlikely that all of them would happen.
But in the end at least, they would all be there to pick up the pieces.
Provided those pieces didn't hit too close to home.
------------------------------------------------------------
ONEGAI REVIEW!
It will keep the story going, ne? ^_^ I hope someone likes it still...if not of course, I could stop this one and start something else...it all depends on what you readers want [for me to continue this story letting me know by way of reviews, or for me to scrap it, letting me know by way of no reviews!]
Personally I like it so far; it's not my best writing but it's decent I think, mostly but...well like I said, it's kind of up to you all. ^_~
Arigato minna for reviewing already, all those who did; I appreciate it beyond the ability of words to express!
Next Episode: The Gala and The Past Part A
-Kaji Hikage
Hikaru mused to herself that she very much liked the idea of facing the Mizawa cretin one on one and entertained the possibility even of challenging him.
Then she changed her mind. That was quite simply, asking for trouble. No, she would wait. She knew from experience anyway that she would get her chance. Guys like Mizawa never stayed quite long enough...and neither did the girls, Hikaru added mentally as she recalled the ashen glare Mizawa Rei sent Misaki that previous afternoon.
And so in a sense, she wasn't so disappointed when Misaki told her she didn't want to learn how to fight, of her own accord anyway. It simply didn't suit her at the time; however as Hikaru watched, she noticed almost inaudible sighs of extreme relief in Wizard and Oujiro. She smirked. So overprotective, she thought.
"Hikaru-chan, I know that maybe one day it might be good for me to learn, but right now, all I can do is fight, in my own way," Misaki struggled to explain herself but Hikaru laid a kind hand on her shoulder and nodded. Apparently she understood already.
As it turned out, Mizawa Rei ran to apologize to Misaki during lunch, slightly brushing against Oujiro in passing; if he noticed though, Oujiro of course gave no indication of it. She claimed there had been a miscommunication.
"Right..." Hikaru remarked a mite sarcastically under her breath.
"Did you say something Hikaru-san?" Mizawa asked innocently, though her eyes conveyed a contradictory message of warning. Hikaru merely shrugged.
"Ano, gomen for not being there Mizawa-san!" Misaki bowed her head, obviously unaware of the game being played here; Oujiro and Wizard had some idea though and shook their heads absently.
"Daijoubu," Mizawa smiled like the cat pouncing on its dinner and continued, "Demo, I was thinking would you and Hikaru-san, Oujiro-san and Wizard-san like to come to my family's gala this weekend?"
"Ano, what is a gala?" Misaki wondered aloud.
"It's a very high class party; you'd have to dress formally," Mizawa said.
"Er, I can't speak for the others, demo I'll go. I need to apologize somehow for not being there yesterday," Misaki said in her usual manner, simple and decidedly naïve. Wizard felt like smacking his hand to his forehead...and would have if it were not completely against his Wizard-like nature. He settled for an upward roll of the eyes. Oujirou was having similar thoughts as well as that which, he thought, meant he could not let her go alone into another of Mizawa's traps.
"Hai, then I'll come as well," Oujirou answered, not missing the excited glint in Mizawa Rei's eyes when he said so. He repressed a groan.
"Watashi mo!" Hikaru joined in; she felt a sisterly need to watch over little Misaki, a fast-binding friend whom she felt a deep companionship with already.
"I'll also attend," Wizard remarked, as though commenting on the weather, his distaste concealed but not his disinterest. Mizawa bit back her tongue from producing a scathing remark for the handsome Wizard...no pun intended.
"Sugoi!" Rei pretended to be overjoyed, and added, "This Friday night, my house; I'll send the directions to you before then! Ja ne!" And she was gone...much to the relief of everyone but Misaki. Misaki was about to speak when Tamayo and Kotaro came bounding up...well, Tamayo bounded up; Kotaro was kind of dragged as usual.
"Tamayo-chan!" Misaki started in surprise.
"Ohayo MISAKICHIIIIIII!" Tamayo greeted happily, kindly releasing a rather blue Kotaro from the strangle hold.
"O-ohayo Suzuhara," he gasped. As soon as he regained his composure, he noted Wizard, Oujirou and Hikaru. He also noted the proximity with which the Prince of Angelic High was standing to Misaki, likewise Wizard. Tamayo also noted this. Her eyes lit up.
"Oooh! Misakichi has two boyfriends, ne?" Tamayo never missed a chance to tease poor Misaki into flushes and blushes of the most extravagant kinds...and she most certainly wasn't going to pass this one up, however inaccurate...or accurate she thought smiling to herself...she was. Not to be disappointed, Tamayo grinned like the Cheshire cat when Misaki's face went from pink to rosy to red to downright crimson and back again.
"Naaaa!? Iie! Iie!" she protested as Tamayo continued to tease her. Kotaro sighed and in his level headed manner, eyed Wizard and Oujirou strongly. They each met his gaze; the fact that he was a year younger than them didn't seem to stop him from silently challenging them, saying that if anything bad happened to Suzuhara Misaki, there would be trouble. Aside from Tamayo being head over heels for her new friend, Kotaro himself found her to be strikingly endearing, sweet and though she was his age, reminded him of his little sister, Hatoko. Of course, Hatoko was much younger and a prodigy, but it was the childlike air and that Misaki emanated that so endeared her to him in that brotherly and sisterly fashion. It seemed he was not the only one drawn to her way of being.
Already the Wizard, the Prince, and...was that the Fighting Miracle, or so- called? Yes they had all congregated in a pact of silence, of friendship and compassion for this magical girl Suzuhara Misaki, whose way of magic it seemed to Wizard, who was now blatantly watching her, was nothing like his own. His was to keep most people away, bounce them off like he had an invisible magic guard that kept them at a safe distance from his life, and from his heart. No instead she drew people in, brought them up close to her and unknowingly, bewitched them with her natural cute and endlessly kind disposition.
That was magic, thought Wizard. To truly be one's self and have people still love you as much as they all did her...wait a minute. Love? He quickly averted his gaze to the wall rather than on Misaki's face and squashed that thought avidly. No way. Not in a million years...right?
Oujirou languidly observed everything as usual from behind half-shaded eyes that noticed everything compared to the nothing that he appeared to take in. Master of observation and Prince of strategy in life, Oujirou had always known how to be nice and courteous; it was his natural way. But he also knew how to manipulate people and trick them. It wasn't something he was proud of; he simply could and sometimes did without realizing it, usually for the good of something bigger though. And sometimes...
Sometimes he indulged his subconscious whims through his harmless manipulation...
"Misaki-chan," Oujiro spoke, "Since we are al going to the gala, you will need an escort," he stated. Tamayo who had stopped teasing Misaki at the sound of the Prince's voice got stars in her eyes and glee written all over her face as she realized where this was going for her little Misakichi. Kotaro also knew and he bit his tongue from offering before Oujirou could, if only to keep the so-called Prince at arm's length. Dutifully he held his tongue though.
It would be Misaki's choice. Hikaru realized as well and shared with herself a secret smile; this was too kawaii. Then she noticed Wizard who looked even less pleasant than normal...which was to say he looked unpleasant instead of expressionless. He was watching Oujirou with a startlingly intense gaze that it seemed to Hikaru, Oujirou was pointedly ignoring meeting.
Ask her first! Wizard cringed at that traitorous part of him in his head, or was it his traitorous heart? What did he know of things like this? How as he to know exactly what he was feeling anyway? What could he do about it but watch and wait? He didn't know. This was so very new to him; he was used to not really feeling anything but mild emotions, amusement, or acknowledgements. No, this was completely different and he wasn't certain whether it was sporadic or sincere.
And that is perhaps what made him keep silent as Oujirou said:
"May I escort you Misaki-chan?" And he smiled that smile of his that Wizard suddenly found somewhat grating on his nerves; it was that carefree smile Oujirou had developed some time ago, the one that not surprisingly made women melt before him into undignified puddles of goo. Somehow he felt a level of satisfaction when Misaki did not melt but knew this was because of her unawareness of the situation and what Oujirou really meant.
No, she said yes, at least for the moment, as a friend, though Wizard did not miss the instantaneous blush on her cheeks or the softening in her eyes. What Oujirou really meant, Wizard thought, surprising himself with the bitterness of his thought: was, may I take you out, and not just walking, no, on a...a...Wizard struggled with the new vocabulary in his head...
A date.
Misaki was going on a date with Oujirou.
With "Prince" Oujirou, Tamayo thought with fairy-tale hearts in her eyes, already planning things with an unusually silent Kotaro beside her.
With that guy...Kotaro thought warily.
With Mihara-san, Hikaru thought happily for Misaki who seemed to like him to her, even if Misaki didn't know it yet. She looked back at Wizard. His face was back to being expressionless but Hikaru surprised herself by suddenly being able to peel away his well done mask and see past it. He was hurting, she thought in dismayed surprise. And apparently he didn't know quite why, Hikaru observed sadly. She felt a twinge in her own self but ignored it; she had just met Wizard; surely she did not like him. In any case, he seemed, or so it seemed to her he did, have a case of juvenile but undeniable, unrequited love.
Only because you don't say anything though, Hikaru noted wisely. She knew already, only having met Misaki nearly the same time as she did Wizard, that Misaki would love him. She seemed to be able to love everyone...so openly. Hikaru questioned that, not unfairly, but wonderingly. How could one so young, love so freely? Was there more than met the eye behind this sweet and carefree girl? Hikaru had a sense for fighting but she also had a sense equally apt for this and it told her not only was there more, there was an entirely different story with Suzuhara Misaki.
She had a sense, but she didn't know exactly how right she was.
But they would all find that out later.
At this moment, it seemed Misaki and Oujirou were attending the gala. And so were she and Wizard. Unthreateningly, she took a breath and slowed this odd racing in her heart that she quickly beat down mentally and turned to look up at Wizard. She smiled in a resignedly friendly manner; for that was all it was at that moment, Hikaru's subconscious sadly thought.
"Ano," Hikaru wondered why suddenly she was feeling shy and pushed the weirdness away by slapping Wizard uncharacteristically on the back to get his attention, pal-like, "So I guess it's just you and me, ne?" Wizard glanced down at her, coming out of his inner turmoil for a moment and silently thanked the crimson-eyed girl beside him fro doing so. How long he had been standing there heedlessly he knew not, but was glad to see that even Oujirou was too busy with a laughin Tamayo and blushing Misaki to notice his lapse. Apart of him noted that Hikaru had not missed it.
"Hai," he nodded and they watched the antics of Tamayo blissfully and loudly planning out all the preparations, Kotaro still somewhat glaring at Oujirou in discontent, and Misaki...
Somehow again at the center of attention.
"Naaa!" she sighed and looked down. Oujirou-san is going to escort me? She wondered at her hasty acceptance. Not that she didn't like Oujirou, she just couldn't puzzle out the emotions swirling in her every time he looked at her, not with his normal public smile or visage, but with something subtly more intimate, more wistful. Yes, she noticed that, if not anything else, perhaps because at this range, her entire scope was of Oujirou. Or maybe it was something more...
Perhaps they would find out at the gala.
The only purpose to going for the three besides Misaki was to protect her and in that they wordlessly agreed. There was not much one could do to a girl in public but there were many mishaps that could happen and with Mizawa one and two behind this entire bash, it wasn't altogether unlikely that all of them would happen.
But in the end at least, they would all be there to pick up the pieces.
Provided those pieces didn't hit too close to home.
------------------------------------------------------------
ONEGAI REVIEW!
It will keep the story going, ne? ^_^ I hope someone likes it still...if not of course, I could stop this one and start something else...it all depends on what you readers want [for me to continue this story letting me know by way of reviews, or for me to scrap it, letting me know by way of no reviews!]
Personally I like it so far; it's not my best writing but it's decent I think, mostly but...well like I said, it's kind of up to you all. ^_~
Arigato minna for reviewing already, all those who did; I appreciate it beyond the ability of words to express!
Next Episode: The Gala and The Past Part A
-Kaji Hikage