:-) : one of my latest reviewers... yeah... for a change, someone would notice her as a girl. :P
TIMES : bows thank you... thank you... bows some more
chidori-san : Me too! Hehehe... I'm trying so hard not to disregard Mi-chan here. After all, this is TOFUU fic... and Akira's starting to grow on me.
Sabaku no Aruka : You must have loved the trivia hehehe.
yvonne : another latest reviewer. thanks for the comment.
Oooh, come, my dear reviewers! You make me so happy... (laughs like a maniac). Did this make it just in time?
Literary Obsessions Chapter Five : Great Expectations
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"
Fuuko thought she was dreaming... and in her dream she kept pushing the button on her alarm clock to make it stop, until she was banging it on the wall. But it still wouldn't stop. She thought she was awake, not until sunlight poured straight to her face.
She groaned, realizing she had been dreaming - that the continuous chirping of her alarm clock was incorporated in it. She buried her head in her pillow as she reached for the button that would make the irritating chirp stop. As soon as she pressed it, her hand fell on the side of the bed. Smiling slightly, she murmured something and slept again.
"You know, your alarm clock seems to wake up everyone else but you." Fuuko popped one eye open before lying on her other side. Sunlight poured into her face once again and was only slightly blocked by a female figure. It was her roommate. She groaned again. 'Can't anybody let me sleep in peace?' She closed her eyes again but didn't go back to sleep. She just ajusted her vision then threw the pillow on her feet before sitting up. Fuuko's roommate rolled her eyes.
"Seriously, I should have that alarm clock instead. It wakes me up rather than its owner."
"Ohayo, Mina-chan." Fuuko greeted rather groggily as she threw her feet over the bed and started walking towards the bathroom. She came out with a toothbrush in her mouth. She stared at the window. Mina was still standing where she previously was. Fuuko shot her an odd look. "What?"
"Don't you have a date or something today?" Fuuko raised an eyebrow and stopped brushing her teeth. "Uh, no? Why'd you ask?" Then walked back to the bathroom to gargle.
Mina rolled her eyes again. She walked to her table and grabbed a couple of oatmeal cookies. "Aw, come on... don't lie to me." Bite. "I know that you and that Hot Sophomore Mikagami have a date today."
Fuuko almost choked on the water she was gargling. She spit it into the lavatory and stepped out of the bathroom. "It's not a date, Mina. And where the heck did you get the idea that I was going to date him?" Fuuko asked, rather skeptically.
"Well, heard about it from Ishikawa. He said that he saw Mikagami write you a note about meeting you at the Students' Center at eight today." Mina took another cookie. "He figured you two must be dating. Plus, its Saturday... so it couldn't be about school work." Mina smiled smugly at her. "You're so lucky! I mean, all of us have been squashing our brains out just to impress him..."
Fuuko was utterly shocked at what her roommate was saying... and obviously, she had no idea what the woman was talking about. She slapped her forehead. "I thought students here were normal, that's why I went here!" Fuuko shouted to no one. She then stood up and grabbed her towel.
"See, first of all, I am not... on any circumstances, dating Mikagami. I'm not one of his fawning fans and I don't intend - no, plan - to be one. Second, who ever said I was lucky if I get to date Mikagami? Trust me, if I were to date him, I'd be dead. Third, he's not even human! Not now, not ever! Lastly, it is about school work."
"Then how come you sound like you know so much about him?" Mina asked, staring at her like some Sherlock Holmes or something.
Fuuko groaned in frustration and marched inside the bathroom, slamming the door once she was in.
"I like the top you're wearing." Mina said. Fuuko almost jumped in front of her vanity mirror when the latter suddenly spoke. "It looks very sexy." Fuuko glared at her roommate through the mirror.
"Are you sure it's not a date?" Mina pointed out as she sat beside Fuuko on the bed and stared at her, with that smile on her face. "Because judging by your outfit, it seems like it is."
Fuuko put her hand with the lip gloss down. She sighed. "Look, Mina, just drop it. It really is about school work."
Mina stood up, clapping her hands back and fro. "Right. Then again, I do love your top. You sure have good taste in fashion." And Mina walked out of the room. Fuuko carried on with applying her lip gloss, then left the room herself to meet Mikagami.
Mikagami was already up and reading the newspaper with his breakfast and coffee at six. He was supposed to meet Fuuko at eight in the Students' Center. 'Still got two hours to meet the monkey.' He turned the page of his paper, took one sip of his coffee and continued reading, favoring the paper more than his breakfast.
At exactly eight, he was there waiting for Fuuko.
After one minute, he looked at his wristwatch. 'She's late. One minute and three seconds late.'
Another glance. 'One minute and fifteen seconds late.'
He looked at a distance and saw her walking. Once she was near enough to hear him, he spoke up. "You're late."
"Hm?" She glanced at her own watch. "No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are." Mikagami countered. "Precisely One minute and thirty seconds late, Kirisawa."
Fuuko almost laughed. "Yeah, I should have thought about that. You even counted the seconds." She defended.
Mikagami almost smirked. He then turned around and sat himself on the bench. Fuuko followed him and sat herself, as well.
"So, where do we start?" Fuuko asked as Mikagami started whipping out papers and pens in front of them.
"Have you even read the book, Kirisawa? Or the author's background yet?"
Fuuko smiled sheepishly before nodding her head 'no'. Mikagami groaned. "And why's that?"
"I already told you why." She answered.
"Then why didn't you borrow a copy from the library yesterday? Or research on the internet about it?"
She avoided his eyes even more. "I must've forgot. I got pre-occupied with some stuff yesterday."
Mikagami almost smacked himself. He knew this was going to happen. 'Pre-occupied with some stuff? Which stuff?' Then, Akira-sempai came into his mind. 'Ah yes.'
Shaking his head in frustration, Mikagami stood up. Fuuko looked at him but he didn't start walking away as she was expecting. Instead, he turned to her, then gathered all of the stuff he whipped out. "Get up."
Fuuko only looked at him, but as his gaze turned more stern, she stood up. He pulled her slightly forward by her arm. "Where are we going?" She asked.
"My place. That's the only place I know where I will be sure that you will work according to my expectations." He then let go of her arm and walked ahead of her. She soon followed.
"How come you bring your car to school?" Fuuko asked as Mikagami and her approached a silver Porsche. "Is your place that far?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he opened the door for her. "Get in. We need to finish early. I still have tons of research to do."
She placed her hands on her hips when he avoided her question. He eyed her sternly, and she sighed, then got into the car. He started the engine and started driving.
His place was actually quite far from the school. It was in some private subdivision, seven kilometers away from Tokyo University. He got off the car and went to the door. He opened it and she followed him inside. He turned on his computer and grabbed his copy of 'Pride and Prejudice'. "Have a seat, Kirisawa. Or do you plan on standing there?"
She stuck her tongue out at him, then sat down on his plush sofa. He placed the book in front of her, with some other documents and he proceeded to sit in front of his computer. She stared at what he gave to her before she spoke.
"Ano... what am I going to do with these?"
Mikagami, who was about to start his research work, turned to her and said, "Read, monkey. Read."
"All of this! In one day! Are you nuts!" She then pointed at the book accusingly. "I can't do that!"
Mikagami ignored her, and turned back on his computer. "Do before you complain, Kirisawa. Now, work, or I'll tell Harukawa-sensei that you have no contribution whatsoever on this presentation. I doubt she'll pass you."
Fuuko gulped and eyed him... daring him silently. 'Oh, he would.' She thought. She huffed then picked up the book. He smiled slightly.
"I suggest you start at the Author's Background, Kirisawa, before you start reading the book."
She muttered an unintelligible 'fine' before picking up the paper where the Author's Background was neatly typed.
Two Hours Later...
Fuuko yawned for the nth time before she turned a page of the book she was reading. Every now and then, she threw Mikagami a glance, but his back was still turned to her. 'He doesn't even ask if I'm fine or something.' She glanced at the wall clock. 'It's already Ten O'clock.' Noticing that Mikagami was still absorbed on what he was doing, she carried on reading her book. She was already in Chapter Fifteen.
Mikagami on the other hand, was about to crack. But, dared not to show it. 'Especially if the monkey is here. She'll have a field day if she sees me crack about.'
Seriously, he was supposed to do a revising of the draft that he and Fuuko were going to pass to Harukawa-sensei, but his research and essay on ten situations regarding some article on Japanese Constitution was already getting into him. He massaged his temples slightly and turned to look at Fuuko.
She, on the other hand, was busy reading. He sighed. 'What the heck was I thinking bringing her here? I already did the stupid draft.' Her face kept changing expressions and she kept on yawning. He sighed again, and turned back to his work.
An hour later...
Fuuko was now officially dead bored. She was certainly not in the mood to read today. Not after she had just finished one book just the other day. She had had enough. She stood up and walked to Mikagami. She placed her hand on her nape and rotated her head slightly, making small crack noises. She stopped behind Mikagami and her eyes widen as she saw him playing Solitaire on his computer. She smiled slightly. "Put the black eight on the red nine." Mikagami was obviously surprised. He didn't even notice her and he failed to exit his game and she saw him playing.
"So, are you done with your own work?" She asked, grinning widely at him.
"I was... thinking." Mikagami said, trying to make her buy his excuse.
"Of what?"
"What to write on my research paper."
"By playing Solitaire?" He arched a brow. She laughed.
"Are you torturing me or something? Because I know that you're already done and you're obviously enjoying the sight of me slowly dying in your territory."
Mikagami almost smirked. He turned to his PC again. He closed Solitaire down, and revealed his desktop... without any other applications running. Her grin grew wider. "I knew it."
"So, I was taking a break. I was about to crack." Mikagami said, trying to make it as uninteresting as possible.
She burst out into a laughter. "Oh my god... the day I saw Mikagami crack! This is a day to be remembered!" She laughed some more. He wished he could laugh with her. He did find his own predicament sort of funny, too. But he wouldn't even dare show it. Instead, he shot her a murderous look...
...and it only made her laugh even more. He rolled his eyes away from her and shut down the PC. He walked into the kitchen and he could still hear her laugh. She followed him into the kitchen.
"Gomen, Mi-chan..." she said in between her laughter. "I didn't mean to laugh."
'Sure you didn't.' He thought as he took a bottle of Soya Milk on the fridge and drunk it.
Fuuko, on the other hand, was having a hard time stopping her laughter. When she did, she started invading the kitchen, his kitchen. She started opening his cupboard and his fridge. When she couldn't find anything, she took an apple from the basket in the counter.
"What do you think you're doing, monkey?" Mikagami asked, his eyes following her as moved around the kitchen.
"Eating, genius." She said as she scrutinized the apple before taking a bite at it. "Um... Yum. Want a bite?"
"I do know that you're eating... but if you must know, that's my food." He stated flatly.
"So? Is it a crime to share now?" Fuuko said, her words almost unintelligible as she had apple rolling around her mouth.
'Yes, especially with you.' He thought, but didn't say out loud. She only smiled when he didn't answer. She finished her first apple and was about to take another one at the counter when he spoke up again.
"You haven't eaten anything as of today, have you?"
She sighed and took another apple and took a bite at it. She spoke with her mouth half-full. "Thank you, Dr. Obvious." Another bite. "I wouldn't be scavenging around your kitchen for food if you actually made me buy some food before going here. And here I thought you were going to feed me." She then took a seat above the counter, eating the remaining parts of the apple. "So far, the only thing you did was play Solitaire while I died reading Jane Austen."
He stared at her as she ate the apple. She still had the same attitude since high school, despite all those successful attempts on making her feminine side more visible. Certainly, she had grown into quite a lady but she still didn't have the tongue to match it. He shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. He certainly didn't need to be thinking about how she changed and how she looked good in that change now. He stared at her again. She was about to take a banana to feed herself with. He mentally smiled. 'Might as well...'
"What do you want to eat?" Mikagami said, startling Fuuko that she almost dropped the banana.
"Excuse me?" She stared at him with shock.
"I don't think you're deaf so there's no need for me to repeat myself." He said as he opened his fridge, searching for anything that was possible to cook and feed two hungry mouths for lunch.
"I was just kidding, you know. I'm fine. I can live with fruits. You don't have to-" she stuttered at him. He arched a brow at her. "I asked you what you wanted to eat, monkey. I would be appropriate if you told me what you wanted."
Fuuko was still in a state of obvious shock. It took her more than ten seconds to respond. "It's good to know that at some occasions, you somehow do lose your tongue. But now, I'd appreciate it if you answered my question."
Fuuko smirked. 'Now, there's the Mi-chan I knew!' She then hopped off the counter and sauntered to him. "You'd better not regret offering me that, Mi-chan." She then turned to the fridge's freezer. "Let's see what you have in this contraption of yours."
"Yum..." she sighed while she drank her iced tea. "I didn't know you're such a good cook, Mi-chan! That was a great lunch." She then stood up to clear up her plate. "Although you did manage to starve me to death before actually admitting that you wanted to feed me."
He followed her to the sink and cleared his own plate. "I did not admit to anything, Kirisawa."
"Sure you didn't, Mi-chan." She smiled through her glass.
"Will you stop calling me by that hideous nickname?" Mikagami said as he washed the plates and she watched him do so.
"It's not hideous. It's wicked... bloody wicked. I'd bet it makes you blush, Mi-chan." Fuuko cooed. Mikagami winced. Satisfied at what she had seen at Mikagami's face, she sauntered back to the sofa and continued reading, taking the pitcher of iced tea with her, while he washed the plates. She placed her feet up the sofa and continued reading.
Mikagami came in afterwards and sat beside her. He had placed a couple of additional paperworks in front of him and Fuuko stared at him. "Don't tell me that's for me, too?"
"Be glad it isn't, Kirisawa. Be glad it isn't." He answered, putting on his glasses and started skimming through the sorted papers.
"Wow, you really do live up to your reputation of being a genius." Fuuko said, pointing at his glasses and his stack of paperwork.
"Hn." She only smiled and went back to her reading. After thirty minutes, she glanced at the clock again.
'Two thirty.' Fuuko pouted when she saw the time. Mikagami gave her a side glance. "Still got an appointment to attend to?"
Fuuko looked at him, startled. "Uh, yeah. I was supposed to meet him at four." Him? Mikagami looked at her above his glasses. "Akira-sempai?" He asked nonchalantly. She nodded her head slightly.
"I see." He answered, pretending not to care.
"So, can I leave now?" She asked, closing the book and placed it onto the coffee table. He chose to remain silent. She might get the wrong idea if he answered. "Mi-chan?"
"What's between you and Akira-sempai?" he asked, and obviously, she was surprised to hear a question like that coming from him. "Nothing. Why'd you ask?" She faced him completely, but he chose to drown his face to his work.
"Nothing. It just seems that you two are too close." 'Way too close.' He mentally added.
She looked confused now. "We're just friends." She answered with a low voice. He didn't even nod his head. He tried to remain expressionless, but she saw right through it.
"Don't tell me you're getting malicious now, too." She said to him. He almost laughed.
"I was just asking, monkey." He answered, trying to suppress any emotion.
"Well, maybe that answered your question. Now, can you answer mine?"
"And that was?" He asked her.
"I said can I go now?" He placed down his glasses and took the now empty pitcher and glasses back into the kitchen. She huffed. "Mi-chan!" She followed him to the kitchen, then back to the living room.
"I'll drive you back to the hostels, then." Mikagami offered, ignoring her. She stopped in the middle of the living room. He went out the door and ran to the gate. "Coming, monkey?"
Ok, now she was totally confused. She took her bag and her jacket and ran down to the gate. He opened the car door for her and drove back to the hostels. It was a twenty minute drive from his place to the hostels. But it was too quiet that Mikagami found it uncomfortable.
As they reached the hostels, Fuuko looked at Mikagami before taking her seatbelt off. "Thanks for the ride, Mi-chan." Then, she opened the door and stepped out of the car. She looked at him again and then she closed the door. She was about to walk away when he called her back.
"Kirisawa..." he called and she turned around. "Tomorrow after your last class. Meet me at the parking entrance. Be there." He finished and handed her the book. She took it then stepped back. "Ja."
With that, he drove away, her eyes following the car.
"Who was that?" A voice said. She whipped to her side and saw Akira Yuu, now standing a few feet away from her, his face seemed serious and his eyes were directed at the path of the silver car that just drove her back to the hostels.
A/N: I'd bet in this cliffie, you'd be expecting a lover's quarrel of some sort. Hehehe... well, I have to think about it since Akira and Fuuko aren't lovers! Mikagami's so indulged in his studies that he even used it as a distraction for himself. Hey, give me some more reviews and some suggestions on the upcoming chapters. Love yah guys...