Ohayo minna! Arigato for reviewing. If you really like Oujirou and Misaki
pairing, if you have a moment, please read my other Angelic Layer fic:
Only Your Wizard. Onegai and review it, ne? ^_~ That should tie you over
until I get back to this one in a day or so, maybe sooner if time allows.
Again, thank you so much to all those who are reviewing constantly for me in each "episode" or chapter. It gives me extra incentive to work faster and better on the stories.
Angelic High: Episode Eight: Past and Present
Misaki remembered a time when Okaasan's hands were always there to catch her.
Misaki remembered a time when all she needed was to think perchance that she wished Shuuko would come along, and she would.
Misaki remembered many things as she struggled to find her way through the maze.
It was, she mused in a decidedly un-Misaki like way, similar to how she truly felt inside. She felt lost, as though every time she thought she might be finding the end, the exit and entrance of all things good and bad, it was merely another twisted corridor of vines.
A sigh escaped her lips. Not unlike popular belief, she was naïve and innocent in more ways than otherwise, but in that insignificant otherwise there laid a deep melancholy so very unlike her normal carefree self, it would have disturbed anyone to know of it.
She loved her Aunt, Shouko, ironically named so very similarly to Misaki's real mother, Shuuko. It was ironic, Misaki thought as she stumbled through another tunnel of leaves in the maze, because through the years after Shuuko had to leave, Shouko instead, became more like a surrogate mother than an aunt.
And yet she was only her aunt, not her Okaasan.
Misaki was only maybe three when Shuuko left. She had wondered from that day on, what she had done to make her mother want to leave, need to leave. Had she, have I, Misaki's heart flinched at the thought, have I been a burden to her? Had she? Most certainly not as anyone else would have told her, if she had asked. But she didn't . She kept it well bottled up inside, afraid that if she let the humanly sad or dissatisfied part of herself show, she was afraid the others might leave too...just like Okaasan.
She didn't want to lose anyone else, especially now that she had so many dear friends. I don't deserve them, Misaki thought sadly, walking now absently through the maze, not really seeing it.
Which was perhaps why she didn't notice the somewhat camouflaged hole in front of her...which was why she fell straight through it.
She was actually so surprised, she didn't even scream. Even when she hit the ground, landing unfortunately on her bad ankle, feeling it buckle painfully underneath her, she was silent.
This was what it was really like for her. It was like she was falling continuously into holes she could not see, holes she would not let anyone else see, lest she burden them with her sadness. She did not want to ever see anyone suffer because of her selfishness, or so she regarded it as.
This was her hole.
Alone she would climb out of it one day, not bothering anyone else, she had once vowed when she was younger. She would win this battle because this was the kind of fighting she knew how to do. It wasn't the same as Hikaru who could most likely, Misaki smiled softly through her physical pain, attempting to move her bad ankle out from under her, wipe the floor with half the guys at Angelic High. No, it wasn't that kind of fighting. It was the kind no one else saw. It was the kind a forgotten soldier, no...not forgotten, but never acknowledged soldier fights. Solitary and determined, she wanted to try her best always.
So that incentive had kept her going all these years, the wish to see people happy, and the wish to maybe become a good enough person so as to one day see her beloved Okaasan again.
"I miss you Okaasan," Misaki whispered to the empty air, tentatively touching her ankle, which she had wrested from underneath her with some great difficulty. She winced.
"I-itai," Misaki gasped, drawing her hand back quickly. The fall had done a lot more damage than she realized. Gratuitously, it didn't really hurt as long as she didn't move it or touch it or think about it...she tried to think of other things...
Other people.
Hikaru, I want to be as strong as you one day, Misaki's face brightened a little at the prospect; she would never be a physical fighter but it was Hikaru's light wisdom that made her strong in Misaki's eyes. That girl saw things other people didn't, calculated them in ways others never would, and all-in-all was a very nice person with a courageous heart. A small self- conscious part of her also added the extra wish to be as pretty as Hikaru but that was a whim more than anything.
Wizard, I want to know you better, she thought, staring up from her hole at the deep blue sky dotted with flaring stars of glowing and natural fluorescence. I want to know what lays behind that interestingly less and less stoic expression of yours, Misaki mused. More and more, she thought, I want to know strong people like him and Hikaru and learn from them.
And Oujirou...Oujirou, Prince of Angelic, what can I say about you, she wondered carelessly. Absently she lifted her right hand to the ever-distant starry sky and traced a route through the stars above with her small index finger. Oujirou is nice, and everyone can't help but like him, no matter who they are; she blushed and nearly laughed at herself. He wasn't even here and she was blushing. It wasn't difficult, she assessed to tell if she was embarrassed but she couldn't help herself. Her transparent feelings seemed to endear people to her in any case though, and that was good because as Misaki was, her feelings would always be so.
That name came rolling up again down the centerline to the front of her heart: Mihara Oujirou.
What are you to me? Misaki pondered. What am I, she added as a depressing after-thought, to you? Surely, I am a little sister at best, Misaki would have laughed if the thought didn't seem to make her heart ache so badly. Why do I care? Certainly I like him but I like all my friends, Misaki reasoned with her subconscious for a while like this, eventually asking her subconscious to please go away.
She just couldn't think anymore at that moment. Misaki shivered; the dress she wore was surely blackened by all the dirt and ruined and on top of that, it wasn't really the warmest attire on a cool evening. Her internal pain she so seldom let surface and the night's events had nearly taken their toll on her, making her very tired, and on the point of flat dead drowsiness. Teetering dangerously near sleep, Misaki's eyes fluttered close for a moment before...
"MISAKI!" Misaki sat bolt up. That was Oujirou.
"Oujirou-san?" she hated her voice for sounding so broken at that moment, obviously not having come completely out of her previous sadness and focused on turning it back into the normally carefree tone she always was careful to have. She tried again, this time lighter, "Oujirou-san?" Ah, that was indeed better.
"Misaki!? Where are you?" he yelled, his voice coming closer.
"Oujirou-san! Stop! Wait!" she called, frantically waving her arms even though she knew well that he couldn't see them. It was more to let her get some of her nerves worked out than anything else.
"Nani?" he sounded puzzled and rightly so, then abruptly, seriously worried, "Misaki-chan, daijoubu? What's wrong?"
"Iie, it's nothing...er, well that is to say...um...watch out for a hole when you come closer hai?" she warned.
"A hole?" he asked incredulously.
"Hai," she grimaced.
"Alright," he answered and his pace was slower though he was still agitated greatly; he was this close to her and now had to slow down for precautions. Hole? Had she fallen? Was she hurt? His mind flashed back to her previous injury on her ankle and he sped up his "cautious" walk to a semi-cautious flat out sprint.
Misaki heard his pace quicken.
"Iie! Oujirou-san, you're very close. Onegai, slow down? I can't see you get hurt!" she called worriedly and he smiled as he came upon the hole she had mentioned. Always worrying about others, he thought as he came to edge and looked down at her. She was even beautiful in this state of affairs, Oujirou marveled.
"Nani? Daijoubu Oujirou-san?" she asked, watching his empty movements of the eyes down on her and then right into her own eyes.
"Hai, demo, I'm going to come down for you alright?" he offered.
"Iie, how will we get out?" she asked.
"Hmm...well, I'll think of something," he shrugged and slid down the steep slope with graceful ease of any Prince in any fairy tale.
"Naaa!" She started in surprise as she came right nose-to-nose with him as he bent down to look at her more closely. Misaki turned away quickly, thanking her friend night for hiding most of her blush, which seemed to exceed beyond the normal shades of pink and which she also hoped dimmed out the pounding in her heart.
"You lied again Misaki-chan; your ankle," he made as if to examine it but when she shook her head fiercely his hand stayed where it was.
"Nani?" he asked, confused; he was only going to see if he could bind it with something...to make it easier to stand on, if at all.
"Ano..." well, he already knows it's messed up, might as well say the truth Misaki resigned and finished, "Gomen, it hurts too much to touch." She felt like a little child.
"Hai," he acknowledged and sat net to her, ignoring the fact that in doing so his tuxedo was becoming nearly as trashed as her dress.
"Arigato, ano..." Misaki began slowly. He gave her an encouraging look that at that moment to her, was more threatening than any of Mizawa's glares or scowls. She was certain her heart was in the pit of her stomach by this point. And then to top it off, he smiled at her. Misaki gave up; she just couldn't ask him right now...maybe one day.
"Iie, it's nothing," she turned away slightly, missing the fraction of hurt that slanted through his eyes for a split second.
"Hai, demo, you're cold," Oujirou observed and thoughtlessly began to take his jacket off to put around her when she stayed his hands.
"Iie! You'll be cold," she frowned. "Besides, your shirt will get dirty and...and...I'm not that cold," she lied.
"Such a nasty habit Misaki really," Oujirou smiled and added, "You're lying yet again!" This was met with abashed silence but as she seemed so distressed that he would take it off, he decided to indulge his whims for a moment, just now, the two of them, and see where it got him and his confused feelings that slowly were beginning to unravel themselves in the waning moonlight while he sat next to this girl.
"Naaa!?" Misaki found herself very close to Oujirou, touching even and then felt his jacket settle over her; it was also over him, though on him it only made it half-way up his chest while on her it covered her up to her chin.
"Well, this way, neither of us are cold," he reasoned so innocently, Misaki could but sit there and admit silently that this was much better. That most of the warmth she felt was emanating from the body quite close beside her was not missed but while she did turn several interesting shades of red to red-violet, all a becoming pinkish under the moonlight, she did not pull away.
She did not pull away.
"Suppose they're lost too?" Misaki worried aloud.
"Iie, Wizard never gets lost; never," and then Oujirou shrugged. "It's just a Wizard thing," he smiled down at her.
"I wonder if they are okay," she pondered.
"I am sure they are; daijoubu Misaki-chan."
"Hai."
Then there lapsed a comfortable silence. Misaki leaned closer to Oujirou subconsciously, while trying to get warmer.
"Ano, Misaki-chan," Oujirou began.
"Hai?"
"I think it might be best to stay away from Mizawa, both of them," he said slowly.
"Why?" she asked, utterly unaware that her present state of being was due to those of the Mizawa name.
"Because they are dangerous," Oujirou stated firmly, hoping that would end all other questions.
"Dangerous?" she asked in confused manner. Damn, thought Oujirou. He didn't want to have to tell her straightforward that Mizawa was not really her friend, that she was a pawn to that other girl. It might crush her.
"Onegai Misaki-chan, just for a while?" he tried the pleading approach; seldom did he need to resort to it but when he did there was no one able to resist his charms.
"Hai, I promise," she smiled up at him and held out her pinky finger. He couldn't remember ever doing this, though the last time he might have had the chance he knew was in preschool. Gladly he took her proffered pinky in link with his and they smiled at each other.
"Arigato," he only responded afterward.
And they waited.
They waited for a long time until finally...
"OUJIROUUUUUUU! MISAKIIIIIIIII!" Two familiar voices called out in apparent distress, even Wizard's normally aloof and monotonous tone was tinged with anxiety.
"We're here!" Misaki replied out to them, Oujirou seconding that.
"Thank Kami," Hikaru breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"Daijoubu?" Wizard asked, eyeing their disheveled states analytically.
"Hai, hai, just get us out of this thrice blasted hole," Oujirou waved his hand in a dismissive gesture and grinned up at Hikaru and Wizard who simply shook their heads at the Prince in relieved amusement. If he could joke like that, they were definitely okay.
"Except, Misaki-chan has the ankle problem again; she hurt it again when she fell."
"Hai," Wizard took in the situation. "If you can, lift her and pass her to me; we can do it if you can get her to me," Wizard suggested. Oujirou paused but did so and soon everyone was once more on the right level of ground, Misaki leaning heavily on Oujirou, much to her slight mortification [and to Oujirou's secret pleasure; that she would lean on him and not Wizard was particularly pleasing though.]
Eventually Oujirou simply picked her up in one smooth motion, holding her in an innocent fashion that just made it easier for them to walk than her leaning on him so much.
She didn't mind.
As they found the exit, courtesy of Wizard's master location skills, they began to walk back to Misaki's. Again, somehow they were all together for this girl.
And somehow, as they got even closer to her, it was less and less surprising.
The only things they couldn't decipher were their own feelings...
Who do I like? Do I like anyone? Feh...Wizard thought, becoming mentally unsettled again as he glanced first at Hikaru and then at Misaki out of his peripheral vision and back at Hikaru.
Hikaru noted that somehow she seemed to have fallen for Wizard...sometime in the short course of their knowing each other. But she would not tell. He seemed, she thought sadly, to be rather interested and defensive when it came to Misaki. No, she would not say anything.
Perhaps she wouldn't need to if Wizard sorted his feelings out in time.
Misaki meanwhile, pondered her unstoppable blushes that came in spades whenever she felt Oujirou's gaze upon her and then the fact that as few times as they were, how Wizard's gaze could often replicate that feeling.
And then there was Oujirou. He at least, knew who he wanted; she was right in his arms at this moment, if only as the victim of circumstances...
He found himself selfishly wishing for some more such victimizing positions for Misaki to be in, so that he might be there to help her out of them. They were his only legitimate excuse to be this close to her...so close he almost sighed but stopped it before anyone could notice.
And until he told her how he felt, it would stay that way.
What should I do? They all thought as they continued silently on their simple trek, home.
------------------------------------------------------
Review onegai? Arigato. Next chapter, more on Misaki's past, maybe someone will figure the hidden part of her out, but who will it be to figure it out, Wizard or Oujirou?
Review *laughs at self for repeating that yet again*!
-Kaji Hikage
Again, thank you so much to all those who are reviewing constantly for me in each "episode" or chapter. It gives me extra incentive to work faster and better on the stories.
Angelic High: Episode Eight: Past and Present
Misaki remembered a time when Okaasan's hands were always there to catch her.
Misaki remembered a time when all she needed was to think perchance that she wished Shuuko would come along, and she would.
Misaki remembered many things as she struggled to find her way through the maze.
It was, she mused in a decidedly un-Misaki like way, similar to how she truly felt inside. She felt lost, as though every time she thought she might be finding the end, the exit and entrance of all things good and bad, it was merely another twisted corridor of vines.
A sigh escaped her lips. Not unlike popular belief, she was naïve and innocent in more ways than otherwise, but in that insignificant otherwise there laid a deep melancholy so very unlike her normal carefree self, it would have disturbed anyone to know of it.
She loved her Aunt, Shouko, ironically named so very similarly to Misaki's real mother, Shuuko. It was ironic, Misaki thought as she stumbled through another tunnel of leaves in the maze, because through the years after Shuuko had to leave, Shouko instead, became more like a surrogate mother than an aunt.
And yet she was only her aunt, not her Okaasan.
Misaki was only maybe three when Shuuko left. She had wondered from that day on, what she had done to make her mother want to leave, need to leave. Had she, have I, Misaki's heart flinched at the thought, have I been a burden to her? Had she? Most certainly not as anyone else would have told her, if she had asked. But she didn't . She kept it well bottled up inside, afraid that if she let the humanly sad or dissatisfied part of herself show, she was afraid the others might leave too...just like Okaasan.
She didn't want to lose anyone else, especially now that she had so many dear friends. I don't deserve them, Misaki thought sadly, walking now absently through the maze, not really seeing it.
Which was perhaps why she didn't notice the somewhat camouflaged hole in front of her...which was why she fell straight through it.
She was actually so surprised, she didn't even scream. Even when she hit the ground, landing unfortunately on her bad ankle, feeling it buckle painfully underneath her, she was silent.
This was what it was really like for her. It was like she was falling continuously into holes she could not see, holes she would not let anyone else see, lest she burden them with her sadness. She did not want to ever see anyone suffer because of her selfishness, or so she regarded it as.
This was her hole.
Alone she would climb out of it one day, not bothering anyone else, she had once vowed when she was younger. She would win this battle because this was the kind of fighting she knew how to do. It wasn't the same as Hikaru who could most likely, Misaki smiled softly through her physical pain, attempting to move her bad ankle out from under her, wipe the floor with half the guys at Angelic High. No, it wasn't that kind of fighting. It was the kind no one else saw. It was the kind a forgotten soldier, no...not forgotten, but never acknowledged soldier fights. Solitary and determined, she wanted to try her best always.
So that incentive had kept her going all these years, the wish to see people happy, and the wish to maybe become a good enough person so as to one day see her beloved Okaasan again.
"I miss you Okaasan," Misaki whispered to the empty air, tentatively touching her ankle, which she had wrested from underneath her with some great difficulty. She winced.
"I-itai," Misaki gasped, drawing her hand back quickly. The fall had done a lot more damage than she realized. Gratuitously, it didn't really hurt as long as she didn't move it or touch it or think about it...she tried to think of other things...
Other people.
Hikaru, I want to be as strong as you one day, Misaki's face brightened a little at the prospect; she would never be a physical fighter but it was Hikaru's light wisdom that made her strong in Misaki's eyes. That girl saw things other people didn't, calculated them in ways others never would, and all-in-all was a very nice person with a courageous heart. A small self- conscious part of her also added the extra wish to be as pretty as Hikaru but that was a whim more than anything.
Wizard, I want to know you better, she thought, staring up from her hole at the deep blue sky dotted with flaring stars of glowing and natural fluorescence. I want to know what lays behind that interestingly less and less stoic expression of yours, Misaki mused. More and more, she thought, I want to know strong people like him and Hikaru and learn from them.
And Oujirou...Oujirou, Prince of Angelic, what can I say about you, she wondered carelessly. Absently she lifted her right hand to the ever-distant starry sky and traced a route through the stars above with her small index finger. Oujirou is nice, and everyone can't help but like him, no matter who they are; she blushed and nearly laughed at herself. He wasn't even here and she was blushing. It wasn't difficult, she assessed to tell if she was embarrassed but she couldn't help herself. Her transparent feelings seemed to endear people to her in any case though, and that was good because as Misaki was, her feelings would always be so.
That name came rolling up again down the centerline to the front of her heart: Mihara Oujirou.
What are you to me? Misaki pondered. What am I, she added as a depressing after-thought, to you? Surely, I am a little sister at best, Misaki would have laughed if the thought didn't seem to make her heart ache so badly. Why do I care? Certainly I like him but I like all my friends, Misaki reasoned with her subconscious for a while like this, eventually asking her subconscious to please go away.
She just couldn't think anymore at that moment. Misaki shivered; the dress she wore was surely blackened by all the dirt and ruined and on top of that, it wasn't really the warmest attire on a cool evening. Her internal pain she so seldom let surface and the night's events had nearly taken their toll on her, making her very tired, and on the point of flat dead drowsiness. Teetering dangerously near sleep, Misaki's eyes fluttered close for a moment before...
"MISAKI!" Misaki sat bolt up. That was Oujirou.
"Oujirou-san?" she hated her voice for sounding so broken at that moment, obviously not having come completely out of her previous sadness and focused on turning it back into the normally carefree tone she always was careful to have. She tried again, this time lighter, "Oujirou-san?" Ah, that was indeed better.
"Misaki!? Where are you?" he yelled, his voice coming closer.
"Oujirou-san! Stop! Wait!" she called, frantically waving her arms even though she knew well that he couldn't see them. It was more to let her get some of her nerves worked out than anything else.
"Nani?" he sounded puzzled and rightly so, then abruptly, seriously worried, "Misaki-chan, daijoubu? What's wrong?"
"Iie, it's nothing...er, well that is to say...um...watch out for a hole when you come closer hai?" she warned.
"A hole?" he asked incredulously.
"Hai," she grimaced.
"Alright," he answered and his pace was slower though he was still agitated greatly; he was this close to her and now had to slow down for precautions. Hole? Had she fallen? Was she hurt? His mind flashed back to her previous injury on her ankle and he sped up his "cautious" walk to a semi-cautious flat out sprint.
Misaki heard his pace quicken.
"Iie! Oujirou-san, you're very close. Onegai, slow down? I can't see you get hurt!" she called worriedly and he smiled as he came upon the hole she had mentioned. Always worrying about others, he thought as he came to edge and looked down at her. She was even beautiful in this state of affairs, Oujirou marveled.
"Nani? Daijoubu Oujirou-san?" she asked, watching his empty movements of the eyes down on her and then right into her own eyes.
"Hai, demo, I'm going to come down for you alright?" he offered.
"Iie, how will we get out?" she asked.
"Hmm...well, I'll think of something," he shrugged and slid down the steep slope with graceful ease of any Prince in any fairy tale.
"Naaa!" She started in surprise as she came right nose-to-nose with him as he bent down to look at her more closely. Misaki turned away quickly, thanking her friend night for hiding most of her blush, which seemed to exceed beyond the normal shades of pink and which she also hoped dimmed out the pounding in her heart.
"You lied again Misaki-chan; your ankle," he made as if to examine it but when she shook her head fiercely his hand stayed where it was.
"Nani?" he asked, confused; he was only going to see if he could bind it with something...to make it easier to stand on, if at all.
"Ano..." well, he already knows it's messed up, might as well say the truth Misaki resigned and finished, "Gomen, it hurts too much to touch." She felt like a little child.
"Hai," he acknowledged and sat net to her, ignoring the fact that in doing so his tuxedo was becoming nearly as trashed as her dress.
"Arigato, ano..." Misaki began slowly. He gave her an encouraging look that at that moment to her, was more threatening than any of Mizawa's glares or scowls. She was certain her heart was in the pit of her stomach by this point. And then to top it off, he smiled at her. Misaki gave up; she just couldn't ask him right now...maybe one day.
"Iie, it's nothing," she turned away slightly, missing the fraction of hurt that slanted through his eyes for a split second.
"Hai, demo, you're cold," Oujirou observed and thoughtlessly began to take his jacket off to put around her when she stayed his hands.
"Iie! You'll be cold," she frowned. "Besides, your shirt will get dirty and...and...I'm not that cold," she lied.
"Such a nasty habit Misaki really," Oujirou smiled and added, "You're lying yet again!" This was met with abashed silence but as she seemed so distressed that he would take it off, he decided to indulge his whims for a moment, just now, the two of them, and see where it got him and his confused feelings that slowly were beginning to unravel themselves in the waning moonlight while he sat next to this girl.
"Naaa!?" Misaki found herself very close to Oujirou, touching even and then felt his jacket settle over her; it was also over him, though on him it only made it half-way up his chest while on her it covered her up to her chin.
"Well, this way, neither of us are cold," he reasoned so innocently, Misaki could but sit there and admit silently that this was much better. That most of the warmth she felt was emanating from the body quite close beside her was not missed but while she did turn several interesting shades of red to red-violet, all a becoming pinkish under the moonlight, she did not pull away.
She did not pull away.
"Suppose they're lost too?" Misaki worried aloud.
"Iie, Wizard never gets lost; never," and then Oujirou shrugged. "It's just a Wizard thing," he smiled down at her.
"I wonder if they are okay," she pondered.
"I am sure they are; daijoubu Misaki-chan."
"Hai."
Then there lapsed a comfortable silence. Misaki leaned closer to Oujirou subconsciously, while trying to get warmer.
"Ano, Misaki-chan," Oujirou began.
"Hai?"
"I think it might be best to stay away from Mizawa, both of them," he said slowly.
"Why?" she asked, utterly unaware that her present state of being was due to those of the Mizawa name.
"Because they are dangerous," Oujirou stated firmly, hoping that would end all other questions.
"Dangerous?" she asked in confused manner. Damn, thought Oujirou. He didn't want to have to tell her straightforward that Mizawa was not really her friend, that she was a pawn to that other girl. It might crush her.
"Onegai Misaki-chan, just for a while?" he tried the pleading approach; seldom did he need to resort to it but when he did there was no one able to resist his charms.
"Hai, I promise," she smiled up at him and held out her pinky finger. He couldn't remember ever doing this, though the last time he might have had the chance he knew was in preschool. Gladly he took her proffered pinky in link with his and they smiled at each other.
"Arigato," he only responded afterward.
And they waited.
They waited for a long time until finally...
"OUJIROUUUUUUU! MISAKIIIIIIIII!" Two familiar voices called out in apparent distress, even Wizard's normally aloof and monotonous tone was tinged with anxiety.
"We're here!" Misaki replied out to them, Oujirou seconding that.
"Thank Kami," Hikaru breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"Daijoubu?" Wizard asked, eyeing their disheveled states analytically.
"Hai, hai, just get us out of this thrice blasted hole," Oujirou waved his hand in a dismissive gesture and grinned up at Hikaru and Wizard who simply shook their heads at the Prince in relieved amusement. If he could joke like that, they were definitely okay.
"Except, Misaki-chan has the ankle problem again; she hurt it again when she fell."
"Hai," Wizard took in the situation. "If you can, lift her and pass her to me; we can do it if you can get her to me," Wizard suggested. Oujirou paused but did so and soon everyone was once more on the right level of ground, Misaki leaning heavily on Oujirou, much to her slight mortification [and to Oujirou's secret pleasure; that she would lean on him and not Wizard was particularly pleasing though.]
Eventually Oujirou simply picked her up in one smooth motion, holding her in an innocent fashion that just made it easier for them to walk than her leaning on him so much.
She didn't mind.
As they found the exit, courtesy of Wizard's master location skills, they began to walk back to Misaki's. Again, somehow they were all together for this girl.
And somehow, as they got even closer to her, it was less and less surprising.
The only things they couldn't decipher were their own feelings...
Who do I like? Do I like anyone? Feh...Wizard thought, becoming mentally unsettled again as he glanced first at Hikaru and then at Misaki out of his peripheral vision and back at Hikaru.
Hikaru noted that somehow she seemed to have fallen for Wizard...sometime in the short course of their knowing each other. But she would not tell. He seemed, she thought sadly, to be rather interested and defensive when it came to Misaki. No, she would not say anything.
Perhaps she wouldn't need to if Wizard sorted his feelings out in time.
Misaki meanwhile, pondered her unstoppable blushes that came in spades whenever she felt Oujirou's gaze upon her and then the fact that as few times as they were, how Wizard's gaze could often replicate that feeling.
And then there was Oujirou. He at least, knew who he wanted; she was right in his arms at this moment, if only as the victim of circumstances...
He found himself selfishly wishing for some more such victimizing positions for Misaki to be in, so that he might be there to help her out of them. They were his only legitimate excuse to be this close to her...so close he almost sighed but stopped it before anyone could notice.
And until he told her how he felt, it would stay that way.
What should I do? They all thought as they continued silently on their simple trek, home.
------------------------------------------------------
Review onegai? Arigato. Next chapter, more on Misaki's past, maybe someone will figure the hidden part of her out, but who will it be to figure it out, Wizard or Oujirou?
Review *laughs at self for repeating that yet again*!
-Kaji Hikage