Disclaimer: Angelic Layer and its characters do not belong to me. If they did I probably wouldn't be writing this fanfiction right now.
Author's Note: This story (written for the 30 Romances community theme #1- 'cold hands; cold feet' on LiveJournal) takes place one year after the main Angelic Layer manga storyline.
----------
As the trio walked down the path, their surroundings seemed serene and calm, perfect for a walk from school.
"I've always wondered," Tamayo said, "Misakichi, Koutarou-chan, what's it like to be famous?"
"Don't kid me, Tamayo-chan," Koutarou replied, "I'm not famous. I haven't done anything to be famous- being born before Hatoko doesn't count."
"But, Koutarou-chan, Hatoko-chan is really really good!" Misaki interrupted.
"But, Misakichi, I'm not Hatoko. I'm just her older brother. I have no real interest in Angelic Layer, and I won't be following in her footsteps anytime soon."
"Oh. Right..." Misaki replied, almost disappointed.
"Don't get all upset about it, Misakichi. Just because I don't share the fame Hatoko enjoys doesn't mean I don't enjoy my life. I think I prefer this over fame anyway."
"Oh. That's great!"
Tamayo soon got tired of the off-topic chit-chat- she wanted her question answered, and she wanted an answer right then and there. "Alright, enough of this. Misakichi, what's it like to be famous? Glitz? Glamour? Fancy stuff?"
"Tamayo-chan, don't be silly. You and I both know that Misaki doesn't have-"
"I don't care! I wanna know!" Tamayo boomed.
"Well, um," Misaki said, "I guess it's just like being in a normal life...just I have to give lotsa autographs. I'm not rich or all that stuff..."
"But, but, Misakichi! You're Japan's Angelic Layer champion and your mom is only like THE best Angelic Layer Deus EVER!"
"Tamayo-chan, you're pushing it..." Koutarou warned.
"You're the one who's pushing it, Koutarou-chan! You're such a party pooper!" Tamayo shouted, quickly placing him in one of her made-up martial arts moves- or Tamayo-Fu as she liked to call it.
"Tamayo-chan! Stop! You're hurting Koutarou-chan!" Misaki protested.
"Ah, Misakichi, don't worry! Koutarou-chan's tough, he'll survive at least."
"But...he's hurt..."
"But, Misakichi- oh, fine, I'll put him down." Tamayo dropped Koutarou to the ground as he let out a slow groan of pain. He had to deal with this abuse nearly every day he saw Tamayo, and he never found out exactly why. He never thought of a reason why he stayed friends with her either, but he knew that there was a good side to Tamayo...one that didn't think of Koutarou as a punching bag.
"Koutarou-chan, are you okaaay?"
"Erg...yeah...I'm fine, don't worry about me..." Koutarou stood up, brushing the dust off his school uniform.
"But, Koutarou-chan..."
"I'm fine, Misakichi. I'm fine."
Misaki smiled. She always admired how he could always pull himself together after Tamayo tested out her latest moves on him...and he was sweet, to boot.
The trio was silent for the next few minutes, mostly because none of them could really think of anything to talk about, amazingly. They soon got to Misaki's house; Misaki walked in to greet her mom and aunt, while Tamayo and Koutarou went on.
"Just wait, Misakichi..." Koutarou whispered to himself. "Just wait..."
"Did'ja say something, Koutarou-chan?"
"No, nothing. Why?"
"Oh...I guess it was just someone else, then," Tamayo said, but she knew fully well what she heard...and she wasn't exactly pleased with it.
----------
"Misakichiiii! Misakichiiiiiiii! Misakich-"
"Tamayo-chan. She'll come. It's not like Misakichi's deaf or anything."
"But, Koutarou-chaaaaannn..."
"And why don't you just knock on her door? Even if Misakichi's not here, at least Shouko-san or maybe even Misakichi's mom could answer the door and tell us that Misakichi's not home."
"Uh, no, Koutarou-chan. Shouko-san's doing the evening news right now."
"Whatever, you know what I mean, Tamayo. I'll just ring the doorbell for you..." Koutarou went up to Misaki's house, annoyed with Tamayo's behavior. Sometimes she just seemed to lack common sense...but Koutarou couldn't deny that she was Misaki's best friend, so Misaki had to have some reason to like her...
Koutarou rang the doorbell, and several seconds later a beautiful young woman opened the door.
"Oh, um, hello. Are you here for M-Misaki-chan's autograph? Or mine?"
"Um, no, Suzuhara-san...I'm Misaki-chan's friend, Kobayashi Koutarou. Is Misaki-chan here?"
"Oh, Kobayashi-kun. Misaki's told me a l-lot about you...but, um, no, Misaki-chan's not here...right now..."
"It's alright, Suzuhara-san," Koutarou said with a reassuring smile, knowing that Shuuko was uncomfortable talking to him for some reason or another, "I'll just come later."
"Um, yes, please do, I'll be looking forward to it..." Shuuko hastily bid Koutarou farewell and closed the door.
Koutarou walked back to Tamayo, who was waiting impatiently on a nearby bench.
"So, Koutarou-chan, where's Misakichi?"
"Not here, duh. Her mom said she wasn't home, so I left. I don't think she knows where Misakichi is, either..."
"Well, that sucks. Maybe we should just wait here for her?"
"Yeah, probably...we won't have to walk as much."
"Lazy," Tamayo said, sliding down the bench (she was sitting in the middle) to make room for Koutarou. She actually wanted to go home, but something about her sensed that he was more reluctant to go.
The duo spent several minutes without any conversation. Koutarou stared at his surroundings while Tamayo occupied herself by thumb wrestling with herself. Neither was all too interested in talking- Tamayo was intent on her right thumb beating her left (though it never seemed to happen), and Koutarou was afraid of what would happen if he interrupted her concentration.
Tamayo, while she attempted her thumb wrestling for the tenth time, soon wondered. First it was about nothing special, like what she'd have for lunch the next day, or whether or not it would rain. Her thoughts slowly drifted to what Koutarou said earlier that day on the way home from school.
Just wait, Misakichi...just wait.
Tamayo wondered what exactly that meant. Tamayo always knew that Koutarou had romantic feelings for Misaki...in fact, it was pretty obvious. Misaki was never the type to catch on to other people's feelings, in fact, she was actually pretty dense. But Tamayo also knew that Misaki had the same feelings for Koutarou. A relationship would work out- but only if she was ready.
That was the only reason that Tamayo opposed Koutarou and Misaki's relationship. She wanted to make sure that Misaki was ready before she rushed into anything. She wanted their relationship to go well, and she got the feeling that, maybe, just maybe, Misaki was ready all this time...
"Koutarou-chan?"
"What, Tamayo-chan?"
"I was wondering..."
"Wondering what?"
"You like Misakichi, right?"
"Well, she's my friend...so I have to at least tolerate her..."
"You know what I mean, Koutarou-chan."
"Fine...yes. I like Misakichi. Happy? Now you can beat me up like you usually do."
"Nah, Koutarou-chan. I think I can let you go...just this once."
"But...you said I can't have Misakichi until I beat you in a karate match..."
"You can't. I'm just letting you have her for now. I think you deserve it. I know it's not me, but..."
"It's fine. I understand. Thanks."
"Heh. No problem. But don't think that I'll go that easy on you all the time. Now...I wonder when Misakichi's going to get here...it's been a while."
"Yeah...I hope she's not hurt or anything." Koutarou leaned back on the bench. "She's been gone a good half hour now. Hatoko must be waiting for me."
"Yeah. We can just see Misakichi tom-"
"Koutarou-chan! Tamayo-chan!"
"Misakichi?"
"Misakichi! Finally." Koutarou was relieved. He was worried that something had happened to her...of course, it wasn't uncommon for Misaki to get lost or be late. She wasn't the best with directions.
"Heh, sorry, I...uh...got lost...I went to the grocery store for some milk real quick, but soon I forgot where I was going and got confused and stuff...sorry..."
Koutarou smiled reassuringly. "It's fine. I was just worried that something happened to you." Tamayo nodded in agreement.
"Why are you here, anyway?" Misaki asked.
"We just wanted to come over, that's all," Tamayo explained. "But it's getting late...my parents will kill me if I stay..."
"Yeah," Koutarou said, "And Hatoko's waiting for me at home. She just got home from her friend Himeko's sleepover. Knowing her, she probably wants me home. Sorry."
"It's alright, Koutarou-chan. You guys can go, I'll see you tomorrow. It's no big deal!" And with that, Misaki walked inside her house to greet her mother, while Koutarou and Tamayo went in the direction of their houses.
"I thought you wanted to tell Misakichi something, Koutarou-chan?" Tamayo asked nonchalantly.
"Why would you think that?"
"You said..."
"I know what I said. And nothing that I said had anything to do with me telling Misakichi anything."
"Oh. I got the assumption that you wanted to tell Misakichi that-"
"I do. It's just that I don't want to tell her right now. I guess I'm just nervous or something."
"Ah, I see. Well, you'd better hurry- I'm not going to forgive you forever."
"You'll never change, will you, Tamayo-chan?"
"As far as I know, no, Koutarou-chan."
"Glad to know."
As the duo went their separate ways, Koutarou said a quick goodbye to Tamayo, then started thinking. Why was he hesitating on telling Misaki about his feelings for her? And if he did go through with it, what if she wasn't ready for a relationship like he was? Or what if Misaki just didn't feel the same way? But...what if he held out on telling her and something happened to Misaki before he finally took his chance?
Koutarou sighed as he entered his home. Love was difficult.
----------
Meanwhile, Misaki wasn't faring much better. She comes off as naive and somewhat dense to most people - of course, that's partly because she was quitenaive. But she didn't like to think of herself like that. Instead she just used 'blissfully unaware' because it didn't sound so...negative.
Misaki always wondered if Koutarou returned her feelings. Her evenings were filled with longing for him, and she had tried to confess what she felt to him more than once – but each time, she backed out due to sheer shyness. Due to this fact, she always hoped that either she could stop having cold feet, or, in a best case scenario, that Koutarou shared her desire and made the first move...
...Of course, if he didn't like her, that second method would be extremely unlikely. But how would she know if she didn't make the first move?
Misaki laid down on her bed, grabbing her Angel. If only love could be easier...
----------
"Tamayo-chan! Phone!"
"Who is it?" Tamayo asked, getting up from her chair. Of course, she knew who it was most likely going to be, but her parents couldn't know that...
"It's...uh...one of your friends. That's all he'll tell me," Tamayo's brother yelled. In a matter of seconds, she rushed down the stairs, grabbed the wireless phone, and rushed straight back up to her room.
"Hi! How's it going?...That's great...Oh, you have something you want to tell me? I'm all ears. Mm-hm...what? Why?...Oh. You shouldn't call it off, we can make this work...Yes, I know, but we can make this work...we can make this work...we can make this work...Good! Glad to know you're not giving up. You have to go? Um, okay, bye, see you later..."
And with that, Tamayo hung up. She didn't realize that she was lucky in that her own relationship rarely had many problems...of course, there was the obvious one, but she could easily get past that.
Also luckily, just as she was returning the phone...it just so happened to ring again.
"Whaaaat?"
"Hey, Tamayo-chan..."
"Misakichi? What's up?"
"I wanted to ask you something."
"What? I'm all ears..."
"Um, yeah..."
"Hm?"
"I...don't know how to say this..."
"Just say it. I'll listen, you know that."
"I...I..."
"You what? Tell me!"
"I...love Koutarou-chan."
"Great." Tamayo snickered inaudibly. Maybe, she thought, Koutarou didn't have as much to worry about as she thought. "But why don't you tell him yourself?"
"But, Tamayo-chan, you-"
"I won't, Misakichi. Trust me on that."
"Thanks. You're a great friend, you know that?"
"Thanks. See you later, I have to go..."
"Alright. Bye." As Tamayo hung up the phone, she smiled. Maybe she was right. Maybe Misaki was ready all this time. Maybe Koutarou could have things turn out his way for once.
Maybe they could make it work.