TIMES - yes, i'm from the philippines... and will be stuck here in a few more years or so. i'm so glad you can relate to my world lit experience. i always suppressed myself from trying to choke all of my classmates... some people are so narrow-minded... and they're supposed to be more matured than me! anyways... :P
Mystique-Mind - thanks. i really appreciate people loving my fics. it gives me the boost of confidence to write.
Sabaku no Aruka - yes! you're so good! hehe... of course he had no idea what that meant though... you know, this is mi-chan we're talking about here! hehehe.
Me no own, me no money, you no sue
Literary Obsessions Chapter Three: Literary Conversations
She twisted her fork in her food some more before placing it in her mouth with the pasta in it. Yuu looked at her and his face looked like he was about to burst out laughing any time now, and when she looked at him, he would pretend to be serious in eating his own lunch. She rolled her eyes. He found it amusing.
"Ne, you don't have to feel bad about him being here, you know." Yuu whispered at Fuuko and she responded by just glancing at her side... then sighed.
"I don't feel bad about anything." She commented and took another helping of her Carbonara. "It's just this mushy-gushy environment again. Damn... I was trying to avoid this and yet, here we are, with a bunch of girls who are all on the edge of fainting and kissing his feet. That's nature when Mikagami presence is felt during high school."
Yuu felt like laughing again. She glared at her companion. "Ok, that's enough about your 'Mi-chan'." She almost coughed when she realized he just said 'your Mi-chan'. She reached for her drink and he laughed before carrying on. "How was the rest of your day?"
She finished drinking and shot him an almost murderous glare before telling her story of the day. "Nothing much. We only have two subjects today, so, no biggie." She wiped her mouth and took one last drink on her soda. "How's your relationship with Ichigo-san? I heard he almost popped when he saw only five papers on his table." Yuu laughed sheepishly at her. "And I'm willing to bet you're one of those students who failed to pass an assignment on Economics today."
"Yeah. It was a good thing he didn't popped, though. Or I'd be spending the rest of the semester begging for him to pass me and consider me for consultations next year." Yuu said while scratching his head. "I'd wish you'd push me through Yomura-sensei... after all-"
Fuuko immediately cut him off. "Don't even go there. You know very well I can't do that even though I'm his favorite niece. I won't do it, even if it cost me my head."
Yuu pouted and pretended to be hurt. "Aww, now I do have to beg for my life to Yomura-sensei." Fuuko almost laughed. She opened her bag and took out her wallet when Yuu stopped her. "What?"
Yuu moved his head no. She looked at him oddly. "I did say I'd pay for lunch."
Yuu stood up and signaled to one of the waitresses and escorted Fuuko up. "What?" she asked again.
Yuu ignored her and pull her up. When she was already standing up, he whispered something to her. "It's on the house." And then started walking out of the restaurant. She bowed to one of the waitresses who attended their table and almost ran to catch up with him when Yuu stopped near Mikagami. Yuu smiled at Mikagami and Fuuko stared at the two of them. She threw Yuu another glare.
"Mikagami, so nice to see you here." Yuu said to Mikagami. The other man, only stared at him and made a slight bow before greeting his sempai.
"Akira-sempai. Konnichiwa." Mikagami's eyes were then distracted by Fuuko who was now standing beside Yuu. He only stared at her in greeting and she didn't even bother to greet him back.
"Well, enjoy your meal, Mikagami. Ja." And Yuu's hand reached for Fuuko's hand and pulled her out of the restaurant. Mikagami followed them with his eyes... before narrowing them.
When Fuuko and Yuu were out of earshot, Fuuko still held her glare on her sempai, who was now walking beside her with his hands behind his head and was humming a small tune. "What was that all about?"
Yuu looked at her and she folded her arms in front of her chest as they walked back to campus. "Hm? What was what about?"
Fuuko rolled her eyes. Yuu pretended not to know anything whenever she asked things like this. She hit his shoulder. "Don't play dumb, Akira-kun."
"Ow. That hurts, you know." Yuu said and rubbed his shoulder like she dislocated his shoulder. "You know, for a girl, you sure hit like a man."
She shot him a more deadly glare. "Don't even dare change the subject."
Yuu looked at her then smirked at him. She didn't even smile. He then stood up straight and placed his hands back on his head. "Didn't Aiko-chan mention that we owned a restaurant near campus?"
She shook her head 'no'. "You own that place?" Yuu nodded. "My parents established that restaurant before leaving for the US. Both of them were good in cooking and loved Italian cuisine. So, there."
Fuuko fell silent. Then spoke again after a minute. "Why'd you approach Mikagami?"
Yuu shrugged. "Nothing. I just thought I'd greet him. I'm the only one he greets in class, you know."
"Oh." Fuuko said and fell silent again. Yuu smiled at her again and put an arm around her slender shoulders.
"Hey, I know that you and Mikagami were friends back in high school, and I know that you grew on his icy side. But give him a chance. He's really a great guy once you get to know him." Fuuko just looked at him weirdly and arched one brow. Her question made him laugh.
"Are you sure you're not gay?" Yuu laughed loudly and playfully pinched her right cheek. She had asked him once, when she introduced him to Recca and Domon. She asked the exact same thing.
"Come on. Let's get back to the hostel. Maybe I can help you with your assignments."
Mikagami was staring outside the window. He was already neglecting his food. He found himself staring outside as soon Akira-sempai and Fuuko stepped out of the restaurant. He even saw Akira-sempai hold her hand.
'Correction.' He thought. 'He only held her hand to pull her out of the restaurant.'
He took one small serving of his order, then stared outside again. Suddenly, he found himself gripping his fork.
'Why do I care anyways? It's not like it's any of my business.' He took one gulp from his glass and got irritated with his train of thoughts. He then signaled for the waitress and laid some bills on the table. Then, he got up and left. 'I'd better get back to the house and get started on Yomura-sensei's paper.' He then started walking back to the place where he had parked his car and drove back to his house near the campus.
The following day, Fuuko was sitting there at her usual spot again. She was still reading the same book as yesterday, only now, she was almost finished.
Mikagami walked along the pathways leading to the Students' Center of the campus. One of his professors didn't attend class today but required them to submit their reaction paper on a situation given to them as an assignment. Now, he had three hours of free time and nowhere to spend it on. The library was now full of students due to orientation of the University Library to the freshmen students. He knew that there was a Student Center somewhere in the campus but haven't been there. He thought too many people would be there but he had nowhere to spend some spare time in. He decided to give it a shot.
And yet, there she was again.
He sighed and almost slapped his own forehead. 'It seems like she's everywhere I go.'
He looked for a place to sit on and saw one table at another end. He chose to sit there. Anywhere far from her would be very pleasurable.
He sat there and started reading on their Literature presentation. He wanted it to get done with as early as possible. He didn't want to get stuck with a Hokage member again. It was too much of a past, and his past was a very lonely thought. He turned into the page where he last stopped, and started reading and taking down of important points of the story.
Fuuko took one piece of chocolate pocky from its box and started nibbling on it before she turned another page on her book. There were only a few people present on the Students' Center and it was always a good place to stay in during her breaks in the morning. Not many students preferred to stay there, since the mall was only a few blocks away.
She stretched a bit before looking around. The wind was nice, albeit a bit chilly since autumn was almost near. She closed her eyes and sighed, then looked around. When she saw a Sakura Tree, she imagined a table was under there, and the whole Hokage was sitting there - laughing with each other and just hanging around. How she missed them so. She smiled inwardly and looked around again. She saw a very familiar figure. She sighed again.
'Mi-chan?' Her eyes narrowed into smaller slits and that confirmed her suspicion. It was Mikagami, sitting on one of the tables near another Sakura tree. He looked dead serious and was also reading a book. She went back to her thoughts on reminiscing about the Hokage gang, and her train of thoughts would end to him. She sighed and gave up on thinking. She stood up and approached him. She took one deep breathe before greeting him.
"Ohayo, Mi-chan!" Fuuko greeted mirthfully. "Whatcha doing?"
Mikagami didn't even look at her, at least, he forced himself not to look at her. He didn't even look at her. Fuuko, being used to his treatments, dismissed this. She even sat down next to him without even asking if he wanted her to sit there. She settled her bag on the table and placed her chin on her hand. Then, looked at him.
"That's a very nice book. Isn't that our topic for the presentation?" Fuuko asked again. He still didn't look at her. Now, Fuuko, he didn't know if she was being plain innocent or just acting dumb just to annoy him... again.
She continued staring at him, and his efforts not to stare at and talk to her were futile, but ended up in failure. He gave up and finally talked to her.
"What is it, Kirisawa?" And with that simple question, Fuuko smile as wide as she could, obviously happy with her victory of making him lose his futile attempts to ignore her.
"I said, that's our topic for our presentation. How many times have you read it?"
He turned a page again. "Twice Kirisawa, and this will be the third time."
She clasped her hands together in front of her and smiled. "Oooh, great! What's it about?"
Mikagami raised his brows at her, then placed his book down. He then faced her. There was no use trying to read a book then talking to someone as annoying as Fuuko. It would be like something coming in from one ear then out of the other. He shoved the book to her. "Why not try reading it, Kirisawa, instead of asking me what's it about."
She then stared at the book before answering him. "Well, I thought I'd just borrow a copy from the library, since I don't think I have a copy of that yet, and I'm not in the mood to buy one yet. I still have a whole list of books lined up for me to buy." She then whipped out a half lengthwise-cut long bond paper, with titles of books and their respective authors written on it. "See?"
Mikagami looked at it and was quite shocked at the items written there. 'Kirisawa reads these?'
Her list was quite a selection. Much of them were classical novels by Charles Dickens, plays by Shakespeare and some contemporary novels such as Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons' and 'Da Vinci Code'. There were even some books there that he read before but were already long forgotten. But he couldn't find 'Pride and Prejudice' in it. Only Jane Austen's gothic novel was there, along with 'Sense and Sensibility'. She then placed it back inside her bag. "I'd bet you've read them all."
She fitted the list into one of her bag's pockets. Then he took notice of what she was wearing. She was wearing a fitted black jazz pants and what seems to be a purple halter top. He averted his gaze to the area in front of them as so not to notice too much anything about her before shaking his head 'no'. She gleamed again. "That's good then! I finally got the day when I get to brag something to you. Ha!"
He ignored that comment and she looked at him as if he got sick or something. "Hey, are you alright?" She asked with concern. "You suddenly looked sick there."
He whipped his head to look at her and she was staring at him as if he got sick. "I'm fine, Kirisawa." Then turned his look away again. Then, he recalled the events at the restaurant yesterday. "Where's Akira-sempai?"
She backed away a little and leaned on the table. "Well, he's on some intern briefing today. You do know that he's applying for internship on some big shot law firm here in Tokyo." She then huffed. "Lucky guy, he got to skip class as well."
If he was some normal person, he almost laughed. She was still the same when it comes to school. She was just wishing she could skip school. It reminded him so much of high school days with the rest of the Hokage team and the times he felt like being in a family with them. He wanted to ask her about Akira-sempai, but he thought it was none of his business, again.
"I was kind of hoping he would help me again with some school work." She pouted. His curiosity grew even bigger, even if he carried on his mental note of MYOB. It seems that she was very fond of Akira-sempai. He noticed that it was similar to her fondness with Raiha back in high school.
Fuuko, on the other hand, was reminded of what happened the day before, especially the part where Yuu had defended Mikagami. She raised her eyebrows. 'Is Akira-kun sure he's not gay?' She asked herself and she suppressed her laughter, which made Mikagami look oddly at her... as if she'd gone nuts.
"Oh, gomen, I just remembered something. You must think I've gone loony." She said as she waved her hand in dismissal of her own silliness. 'Yeah, I just thought you went insane or something.' Mikagami mentally added.
"So, Akira-sempai mentioned to me that you two are classmates in one class. Which is it?" She asked, changing the topic.
Mikagami hesitated to answer. But, still did. It would be impolite to ignore her questions now. He promised himself he'd stop doing that. "Japanese Constitution."
"What? I thought he was a in his third year here? That's a like a minor subject!" Fuuko asked. Obviously, she wasn't aware that Yuu was became an irregular student during his second year.
"Sempai told me he became irregular on his second year here. He had some matters to attend to then. Something about his parents in the US." Mikagami stated while trying to be comfortable in conversing with his former team mate. It was kind of hard, since he grew on Fuuko's annoying and childish side.
"Hmm. So that's why he didn't visit us back then... and Aiko-chan didn't go to school for a month then, too." Fuuko said, picking one stick of pocky from its box. She offered a piece to Mikagami, but the latter didn't take one. Her statement reminded him of their intimacy yesterday and the issues hanging around his head ran fast-paced again. She nibbled on her snack and fell silent, as if she was thinking. She then looked at her watch and then stood up. She gathered her things on her arms and stepped of the bench. "Ooops, I have to run. I still have classes at ten." Mikagami only nodded at her. He took notice of her slender body and much more visible femininity. He gulped slightly. 'What the...'
She stopped and waved at him before leaving. "Well, thanks for your time." But, she hasn't taken five steps yet when she turned around again. "Hey, I like you this way. I'm glad you're not as cold as before, if you know what I mean." Then, she turned around again. "Well then, ja!" And she started walking away.
And she left him stunned with what she said and the way she made him think when he took notice of the new her.
A/N: If you're growing confused with the story, well here's some clarifications. Akira Yuu is also known as 'Yuu', 'Akira-kun', 'Akira-sempai', 'Akira' and 'Akira-san'. Fuuko calls him either 'Akira-kun' or 'Akira-sempai'. -kun if they're outside the school, -sempai if they're in school or if she wanted to make fun of him. Trivia question #1 is now answered. Yomura-sensei (AKA Yomura Ichigo; 'Ichigo-san' as Fuuko calls him outside of school) is Fuuko's uncle, although she still decided to live in a hostel (student housing) because her uncle also has his own family and she didn't want to be a burden. Only Yuu knows that they're related. See, Mikagami's changed! He's not so cold anymore. And guess what, Yuu and him seems so close. Hmmm... that's trivia question number three! Trivia question #2 is also answered here and if you can't find it, its on the last part. Fuuko's such a plastic! Hehehe... she pretends that she hates Mikagami around Yuu... but she talks to him on the Students' Center the next day. Well, she's just giving Yuu's advice a shot and viola! She knew he was right! Dan Brown's books are good, but don't argue with me on it, ok? Always remember that it is just FICTION... don't take it too seriously. It will only cause ruckus. I also forgot the Gothic Novel by Jane Austen... but I do remember 'Sense and Sensibility'. It was made into a movie with Kate Winslet on it... you know, Titanic Girl, right? Ok, that's enough
TRIVIA: How come Akira Yuu is kind of close to Mikagami?