SCHOOL RUMBLE: TWIST, TWIST, & TURN
By: Pizza Blade
PART TWO
09.10 AM. Sunday. The New Curry Restaurant.
…
……
"So, this is the place!" Tenma exclaimed happily, as the four of them were standing in front of a restaurant. The place was unassuming, really, and it's quite small for a restaurant. It's exactly the kind of place that you wouldn't notice except when you really pay attention to your surroundings.
…
Yakumo stared at a quite big note plastered on the restaurant's glass window.
"BIG SALE!" the note said. "50 PERCENT DISCOUNT ON ALL CURRY AND DRINKS TO OUR 10 FIRST CUSTOMERS! ONLY ON THE CURRY PALACE!"
Yakumo didn't quite feel that a term like "BIG SALE" was appropriate for a restaurant (it felt like a lot more appropriate for a clothing store), but she didn't say anything.
But then again, aside from the plastered sign, there was no other mark that people could use to indicate that the place was a curry restaurant. Why didn't they erect a sign or something? Even the name of the place was nowhere to be found except on the big note plastered on the glass window.
Yakumo peeked at Harima.
The man with the sunglasses also stared at the big note, looking quite interested.
I guess Harima-san likes curry too.
…
Anyway, to be honest, Yakumo was quite surprised that Harima-san managed to keep a relatively positive mood with him, even with the fact that in front of them her Nee-san clung to Karasuma-san like a baby to a candy. Perhaps their talk about manga really did able to lift those negative moods he had at the first of this double-date. Or maybe Harima-san decided that it would be unbecoming for him to act all moody in front of her Nee-san. After all, he did accept this invitation…
Or maybe Harima-san just couldn't afford to disturb Nee-san's while she's being all cheerful and happy right now, even though he did it at the cost of his own feelings…
…
…Quite admirable, really…
…
"I just can't sulk every time!" Harima's determination roared fiercely within his heart, fuelled even further by the sight of his rival who did not have to do anything yet Tenma-chan clung all over him. "True men does not sulk, he stands up and fight!"
…
Karasuma, along with Tenma, entered the curry restaurant, with Yakumo and Harima followed suit.
"Welcome! Welcome!" a man behind the counter welcomed them with an enthusiastic yell. "Welcome to our first, second, third, and fourth customers! Please, take your seat and enjoy yourself!"
So, Yakumo thought, we really are the first customers for this new restaurant.
She quickly scanned the entire room: it was quite small, but relatively comfortable. The atmosphere was okay. This place was quite nice, actually; maybe the reason why this place's still empty was because people just did not know about it yet—which then make the non-existent sign outside to be even more baffling.
…
"Where are we going to sit?" Tenma asked as her eyes screening the entire room, looking for the most comfortable location.
Karasuma raised his finger, and pointed at the table located at the far corner of the restaurant, exactly at the side of the glass window.
"There." he said.
"Oh, all right." Tenma replied cheerfully.
…
As the four of them walked to the table Karasuma pointed, a new gentlemanly-scheme popped inside Harima's head.
Wait! he thought, seemingly shocked at this new revelation he had in mind. In all of those movies and such, didn't the gentleman always pull the chair for the ladies before they sit? That's right! This is my chance to show Tenma-chan of my gentlemanliness!
…
PLAN ONE: PULLING OUT CHAIR FOR TENMA-CHAN
Harima rushed himself to table before the rest of the crew arrived.
"Harima-kun, what are you doing?" Tenma asked, surprised because of this sudden act.
Harima stood besides one of the chair, and smiled with what he thought as how a gentleman should smile. He pulled the chair, and bowed himself to the other three.
"Have a seat, please." he said elegantly. "Walking yourself from the school to the restaurant must be tiring. It is not good for your health to keep standing while your leg is tired after all of those hard works. Please, have a seat."
Tenma stared at Harima with blank look, seemingly unable to decipher the meaning behind those sophisticated words Harima just said. Yakumo, of course, understood, but she just kept quiet.
While Karasuma…
…
"Thank you." he said as he sat on the chair Harima just pulled.
…
……
For a moment, both Harima and Yakumo just stood silent for this—rather unexpected—event development.
…
Yakumo seemed unable to decide what kind of expression she should use on her face, while Harima was too baffled to even say anything.
…
After a while, though, he recovered from his shock, and quickly moved himself to the side of where Karasuma sat, towering and glaring at him.
"Oy, Turtle-head!" he said, with a rather murderous tone. "This seat is for Tenm…"
"Oh, WOW! That's so great, Harima-kun!" suddenly Tenma exclaimed, effectively halting Harima's attempt to continue his threat to Karasuma. She quickly rushed to where Harima was standing, and stared him directly to the face.
"I never knew that you and Karasuma-kun are such good friends with each other!" she said happily, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she misunderstood the whole ordeal, "You even pull the chair for Karasuma-kun to sit on! I bet you think that after that traffic jam and walking to this restaurant, Karasuma-kun's legs must be really tired!"
"…" was Harima's only reply to Tenma's assessment.
"But you know what; you know what, Harima-kun." Tenma peered at Yakumo while patting Harima's shoulder, "I am glad to know that you and Karasuma-kun are good buddies, but you should put your girlfriend as your first priority on dates like this, you know. You should pull out a chair for Yakumo too."
After she said this, Tenma moved to sit on the chair besides Karasuma, and quickly after that, busy scanning the menu along with Karasuma.
…
"U…uh…" Harima stammered, paralyzed because of the way his plan was unfolding.
Damn it! he said to himself in his thought. My plan to be a gentleman this time failed! I should have mentioned Tenma-chan's name when I pulled out that chair! Argh! Why do I always have such bad luck on this sort of things anyway?
He quickly recovered from his (second) state of shock, and immediately pulling out one of the other chairs.
…
"Imouto-san." he said, trying to keep his voice even and polite and as gentlemanly as possible. "Please, do have a seat."
"…Thank you..." Yakumo answered. As she sat on the chair Harima just pulled, she stared at her sister who is now still busy scanning the menu.
…
Nee-san just misunderstood Harima-san's intentions…, she said to herself. She peeked at Harima's glum expression as he sat besides her. And now Harima-san back with his gloom mood again…
…
"So, Karasuma-kun, what would you like to order?" Tenma said, as one of the restaurant's waitress approached, carrying with her a small notebook and a pen, clearly with the intentions of writing up their orders.
"Hmm…" Karasuma mumbled. Judging from the serious look on his face—well, it's just that his face was always so serious it's difficult to differentiate whether he's serious or not—he seemed to have a little difficulty selecting his order.
"What about you, Yakumo, what will you order?" Tenma decided to let Karasuma alone for a while to decide his order, and now she turned to Yakumo.
"I will have anything you have, Nee-san." Yakumo answered. She did not even peek at the menu, because originally she didn't have any intentions on visiting this restaurant anyway. "Anything will do."
"Okay, then." Tenma cast another quick look at the menu and found the food she wanted to order. "Miss, I'll be having this one, please." She pointed out the food she wanted at the menu for the waitress to see. "Make it two, for me and my little sister."
"Excellent, miss." the waitress nodded in approval. "What about the drinks?"
"I'll be having this." Tenma pointed her finger again at the menu. "Make it two, also, okay?"
The waitress nodded again as she scribbled down Tenma's orders at her notebook. Then, she stared at Harima and Karasuma, both of them still busy staring at the menu.
"What about the gentlemen?" the waitress asked politely.
"Ahhh…" Harima said. Truth be told, he was in a bit of fix with money this time of month, so he decided for now to order the cheapest food on the menu. At least it's still curry. "I'll be having…"
"Excuse me." Karasuma all of the sudden interjected. He stared straight at the waitress. "If I may ask, what is the spiciest curry on this restaurant?"
"Spiciest curry, sir?" one of the waitress' eyebrows raised. "That…, that, that would be our special; Red Hot Ultra Spicy Curry Special, sir. I'll give you my word that no other curry in Japan can even come close to the spiciness of our special, sir."
"Then I'll be having that." Karasuma finally decided, closing his menu. "As for the drink, I'll be having an Orange Juice."
"A…are you sure, sir?" the waitress seemed hesitating, for reasons unclear. "I mean, aside from our special, we also have a lot of other high quality, delicious…"
"No." Karasuma said flatly. "I want the Special. I like spicy curry."
"A…alright then, sir." the waitress scribbled down Karasuma's orders.
"Wow, Karasuma-kun! Are you really going to eat the spiciest curry on Japan?" Tenma's voice bridled with excitement. "That's great! I know I won't be able to eat food as spicy as that, but I really admire those who can eat even the spiciest food!"
Harima's radar of What-Tenma-Likes suddenly activated. He quickly scanned the menu to find the Red Hot Ultra Spicy Curry Special, and found it at the very bottom of the second page.
…
"Damn it!" he said angrily in his thought. "It's very expensive!"
He peeked at Karasuma, who's now staring blankly through the glass window, as if something really interesting is currently happening out there. Maybe he chose this location just so that he could stare out through the windows like that, just like he used to be in the class. What a weird hobby.
…
"Gah! So what if it's expensive!" Harima's inside burning with determination upon seeing Karasuma's face. "I will show Tenma-chan that I too can eat the spiciest curry in Japan! Besides, now it's 50 percent discount anyways!"
"Uh…" Harima spoke to the waitress. "I'll be having the same; Red Hot Ultra Spicy Curry Special. The drink shall be Orange Juice as well." And how come he ordered my most favourite drink?
"Uh… another Special? …All right, sir." the waitress said hesitantly. She scribbled down Harima's orders. "Please wait for a moment, your foods and drinks shall be delivered to you in a short while." She bowed, and left to the kitchen to deliver the notes.
…
"Wow, Harima-kun!" Tenma said happily as the waitress went off. "You and Karasuma-kun really are good friends, aren't you? You even order the same food as him!"
"Y…yeah." Harima said rather awkwardly. Karasuma did not say anything on Tenma's assessment that he and Harima was best friend; he just kept staring blankly through the glass window.
Yakumo stared at her sister, at Karasuma, then at Harima.
…
……
This will be a long day…, she thought to herself helplessly.
09.25 AM. Sunday. The New Curry Restaurant.
…
……
10 minutes later and their orders have not arrived yet. Tenma decided that during the wait, it was the perfect time to…, well…, strengthen their bond or something…
…
"So, Karasuma-kun here and the rest of the band really practiced hard for their show at Bunkasai." Tenma said happily. "And what do you think of their performance? Really great, eh?"
"Yes." Yakumo said, smiling. It was always a great joy for her to watch her sister in a very happy mood like this time, even with Harima constantly glaring towards Karasuma next to her. "The performance was magnificent."
"You and Eri-chan's dance was quite good too!" Tenma pointed out to Yakumo. "In fact, I didn't know before that you could dance that well, Yakumo."
"…It's nothing, Nee-san." Yakumo replied modestly.
…
She peeked at Karasuma, who's still staring out through the glass window. She wondered what kind of conversation he usually had with her sister during their previous dates. She bet that it was her sister who did all the talking.
…
"And speaking of band performance, I didn't see you around back then, Harima-kun." Tenma turned her attention to Harima, who quickly averted his glare, "Where were you?"
"I…uh…" Harima answered. "I was at the classroom, cleaning some stuff…"
Of course, he couldn't tell Tenma that during the dance, he was being tied up at the ceiling by that ruthless Takano, a punishment for him ruining 2-C's theatrical play. Well, he couldn't really complain because it WAS his fault, but being tied up at the ceiling definitely was not something cool to brag about, and if Tenma didn't know, it's all for the better.
…
"Really?" Tenma said. "I've been wondering why you're not dancing with Yakumo back then. I mean, both of you are a couple yet you're not dancing together…"
"I…I must quickly returned the witch's clothing to my friend after my dance with Sawachika-sempai." Yakumo said hastily—this conversation would most definitely venture into a dangerous territory if she didn't change it quickly. "I really haven't had the time to dance more that night…"
Harima must have thought that this conversation would quickly steer into an unwanted territory too, because like Yakumo, his response was also fast.
"But Yoshidayama said the song the band sung really great." Harima said quickly. "He said that everyone was amazed at that girl called Ichijou's singing voice—almost like an angel, they said."
"Well, yes." Tenma nodded approvingly. "Her voice was really enchanting back then. Even Eri-chan said that she was impressed by Karerin's performance."
For no apparent reason whatsoever, Tenma suddenly blushed.
…
"…But the best performance back then was the guitar…" she said shyly.
"Yes!" Harima quickly said, glad that Tenma's topic of conversation was not about why him and Yakumo didn't dance together again, "I heard from Yoshidayama that the guitar play was extraordinary!"
"…played by Karasuma-kun." Tenma finished her sentence, her face was all red.
"Yes! Played by…" Harima stopped mid-sentence, all too late to realize his mistake.
…
Damn it! Why the hell am I doing praising the weird guy! How could I forget that it was HIM who played the guitar back then!
Yakumo stared at the befuddled face of Harima, then to Tenma, then to Karasuma. She didn't say anything afterwards, though.
…
"Ah, uh…" Harima said. I couldn't let this conversation hanging out around the band performance any more, so that Tenma-chan wouldn't have another chance to praise that guy!
"But our play was really successful, yeah? I mean, all of our hard efforts really paid off there!"
As he remembered, the Turtle-head guy wasn't participating at all at the play, so he figured by talking about the play Tenma wouldn't be able to find anything that could be used to be praise him.
"I mean, really!" Harima continued to talk. "Even the other class is still speaking about it after the Bunkasai ended!"
"Well, yeah, everyone worked hard for it." Tenma said, nodding her head approvingly. "After all, Akira-chan, Eri-chan, and everyone else really put all of their heart into it. Of course the play was successful, I couldn't imagine otherwise."
"Right!" Harima exclaimed approvingly.
"But… but…" Tenma said, in a suddenly teasing and playful tone, "It was rather a surprise, really…"
Yakumo suddenly felt something bad is about to happen, because right at this moment she could see words like 'KAWAII COUPLE' and 'HEHEHEH' and 'I'LL TEASE THEM', among all others, spinning around her sister's head.
"What is a surprise?" Harima asked, apparently unaware that his decision to change the topic of conversation from the band performance to the play in the end might do him more harm than good.
"Well…" Tenma said, still in that teasing tone of speaking, "I was actually quite surprised to see you at the princess' bed, Harima-kun. I mean, it was rather unexpected, to say the least!"
"Well, that…, uh…" Harima said awkwardly. Of course, it was his own fault that he fell asleep at one of the play's set, the most important one, even! But, admitting his fault at this moment did not appear to be a good idea—he wouldn't want to lose point in front of Tenma, and more importantly, not in front of the weird guy (and why he's still staring out through the window like that?)
"When I asked Akira-chan about it, she said that she had it planned all along, but she kept it as a secret so that it would be a surprise for everyone." Tenma explained.
"She said that?" Harima said, surprised.
Yakumo was gazing at her sister.
Takano-sempai really did that? she said to herself.
Well, Takano-sempai really is an unexpected person, although in a different kind of way from Nee-san…
But she wondered whether it's true or not.
Harima, though, felt kind of relieved. I'd better thank that girl later for this. At least, he was not losing points in front of Tenma from screwing up the theatrical play they were all worked so hard for.
"Yeah." Tenma continued. "What she DIDN'T plan, though, is for Yakumo all of the sudden showing up from the bed like that."
Yakumo's face immediately went all red hearing what her sister just said.
…
…Although, now that she think about it, it was rather peculiar for her not to feel ashamed having to share a bed with a man, even though it was undoubtedly an emergency situation.
…
But having her sister mentioning this all of the sudden—although she was kind of expecting it—was truly, truly, embarrassing.
"Nee-san…" Yakumo said, trying to get a hold on this conversation before everything got worse, "It was an accide…"
"But of course!" Tenma clapped her hands, her face was all on I'll-tease-them-hahaha mode. "No doubt that inside Akira-chan's plan to surprise everybody, both of you had a plan on your own, right?"
"W…what?" Harima was again, befuddled at the way this conversation evolved.
"Yeah, yeah." Tenma continued to speak—it was as if for the moment she totally forgot about they were all having double-dates. Her mind was all focused on teasing Yakumo and Harima right now. "I bet both of you wanted to announce to the whole school that both of you are a couple, right? Having planned for Yakumo sneaking up on the bed like that, so that she could be the witch… sn-----eakyyy…"
"Wait, Tsukamoto, that's not…"
"Nee-san, that's not…"
Even Harima and Yakumo's combined efforts were not a match for Tenma's ultimate thick-headedness, since in her mind both of them acting all weird like that was in due to her accurate guesses of 'their secret plan'.
"D----ont deny it, don't deny it!" Tenma shook her head in one-two motion. "I bet the two of you had all already planned for the witch to finally kiss the princess, so that you could use the play as a mean to announce to the entire school of both of you being a couple. Totally sn-----eakkky…"
Yakumo continued to struggle helplessly against Tenma's accusations, while Harima was currently at a loss for words.
Why did my plan always backfire? Harima thought helplessly. And why the hell does the weird guy keep looking out through the window? because Karasuma's still staring out through the window, his face totally unchanged even though there was a lively (well, only Tenma was lively) conversation happening right next to him.
"But it seems like not everyone in the school realized about both of you going out!" Tenma continued her non-stop talk, completely oblivious to Yakumo's attempt to stop her and to the awkward reactions from Harima. "You too should hanging out together more in the open! Make a bolder announcement of your relationship!"
"Nee-san……" Yakumo said helplessly, while Harima was looking around desperately, searching for something that might be a good source for idea of a new conversation topic. When he spotted the previous waitress approaching their table, apparently carrying their orders, his heart leapt with joy.
"OH MY!" he said quite loudly, effectively stopping Tenma's continuous babble. "It seemed that our orders have finally arrived! MY OH MY! It looks deeeeliiciousss!"
Never before in his life was he that glad seeing a waitress carrying food.
"Oh, right." Tenma looked at the waitress. "Karasuma-kun, our orders have arrived."
For the first moment after ordering their food, Karasuma moved his eyes away from the window and stared at the waitress—well, actually, at the food the waitress was carrying. His eyes seemed focused.
Yakumo felt glad too, that at least for a moment, her sister would stop talking about the misunderstandings about her relationship with Harima.
"We are terribly sorry if you waited too long." said the waitress in a very polite voice, putting down the orders on the table one by one. "Our current chef is still an apprentice, but I can assure you that his cooking is…, um, magnificent."
"No problem, no problem." Tenma replied with both her pigtails wriggling up and down. She stared intently at two plates of very red curry the waitress just put on the table. "Are these the Special Spicy Curry?" she pointed her finger at the plates.
"Y…yes." the waitress replied, somewhat nervously.
After she finished putting out all of the orders (in quite a professional manner, Yakumo thought), the waitress bowed and said, "Please, enjoy yourself."
"Thank you!" Tenma said energetically, while Yakumo said the same thing only in a much, much, less loud voice than her sister.
…
……
Well, Yakumo thought to herself as she stared at her food. At the very least it looks good.
"I---tadakimaaasu!" Tenma clapped her hands, but as she's going to start eating, something took her attention—and Yakumo's too.
…
……
"Harima-san, what's the matter?" Yakumo asked Harima, because at the moment instead of start eating, Harima stared intently at his share of food. "Is something the matter?"
Tenma also noticed that Karasuma was doing the same thing—instead of eating the curry he ordered; he stared at them intently, as if he was scrutinizing it.
"Karasuma-kun, what's the matter?" Tenma asked to Karasuma. "Is there something wrong with the curry? Would you like to change your order?"
…
Something wrong? Harima thought to himself as he continuingly stared at his food. Yeah, something is definitely wrong here…… I mean, the curry looks alright, like your typical curry everywhere else……
But something in his guts told him that the thing being served in front of him right now was no ordinary typical curry. If the curry was typical, they wouldn't dare to call it the spiciest curry in the whole Japan.
…
……Is it really THAT spicy?
Because he was bound to be sweating after eating an extra-spicy food; and sweating in front of Tenma-chan like that was definitely a no-no on the Harima's Gentleman Code Book.
He peeked at Karasuma, and noticed that Karasuma, just like him, still observing the curry, with the confused Tenma staring at him.
…
That guy is weird, but it seems that he is pretty knowledgeable about curry, Harima thought. He too, must notice that this curry is not ordinary……
…
"Nothing is wrong." Karasuma answered Tenma's question. "Sometimes, I just like to observe my curry before I eat it, to see whether it's going to be good or not."
"I see…" Tenma nodded. "Well, is it good?"
"It appears to…" Karasuma said quietly.
He picked his spoon and started eating his curry, with Harima quietly observing him.
…
-Eat-
-Eat-
-Eat-
…
It seems there's nothing wrong with the curry, Harima thought as he saw Karasuma's ate continuously without showing any sign of oddness (well, except the fact that his face IS odd). It seems that the title the spiciest curry is just a bluff to impress the customers…
…
"Amazing!" Tenma said with excitement as she looked on Karasuma. "You can eat the spiciest curry in Japan without even a pause!"
Harima gazed at Karasuma, then at Tenma.
Well, good, he continued, that means I don't have to be sweating in front of Tenma-chan! Then I'll show Tenma-chan that as a gentleman, I can eat a LOT more curry than the weird guy!
Perhaps only in Harima's Gentleman Code Book that eating lots of curry could be considered an act of being a gentleman…, but never mind that.
PLAN TWO: EATS MORE CURRY THAN THE WEIRD GUY
"Harima-san?" Yakumo continued to ask Harima, because right now Harima gazed at the curry as if he wanted to pick a fight with it or something. "Is something the matter?"
"Oh, nothing! Nothing Imouto-san! Nothing!" Harima replied quickly. "I am just looking at my curry to appreciate how beautiful of an art this curry is!"
"Art?" Yakumo said, a bit confused by that statement.
She didn't understand how a curry could be considered an art, but then again Harima is a manga artist—maybe artist could see art when ordinary people couldn't.
"Alright!" Harima picked a spoon and shove it under his curry. "Itadakimasu!"
Then he pushed the spoon into his mouth.
…
……
Both Tenma and Yakumo ate their food on casual speed, deliberately savouring every moment the curry swirled inside their mouth and slipped to their stomach. They seemed to be enjoying their food.
"This is good." Tenma said appreciatively while pushing another spoon of curry to her mouth. "Right, Yakumo? The chef is really good, just like you."
"He's definitely better, Nee-san." Yakumo answered honestly. Truly, although she was a quite capable at cooking, making a curry this delicious was probably something out of her cooking ability range.
"I don't think so; in fact I think your home-made curry tastes better." Tenma said defiantly, making Yakumo smiled. Then she looked at Karasuma. "Is it delicious, Karasuma-kun?"
Karasuma just nodded slowly, although by looking at this face, you couldn't really tell whether he's enjoying it or not. He continued to eat his share of food without any complaints, though, so it's probably safe to say that he did enjoy it.
"That's good." Tenma said.
Yakumo ate another spoon of her curry, before she stared at Harima, wondering why Harima just kept quiet and did not say anything at all after his first spoon of curry.
"Harima-san, does your curry…"
Yakumo stopped mid-sentence.
When Tenma looked at Harima, she was surprised at what she saw.
"Harima-kun!" she exclaimed. "Why are you crying like that?"
…
It was true.
Harima was crying now. From behind his sunglasses, continuous stream of tears flowed down from both of his eyes. All of his face was all read, and tiny puffs of smoke coming out from both his ears. Sweats also poured down from his entire face. And if you looked carefully, many parts of his hair stood up as if he's being shocked by electricity or something.
"H…Harima-san? Are you alright?" Yakumo asked nervously. Of course, someone showing those kinds of symptoms couldn't possibly be alright. The sight definitely wasn't pretty.
"Harima-kun?" Tenma asked again.
…
"I… I… I… I am alright…" Harima said quickly—when he opened his mouth, tiny puffs of smoke coming out from it; it was like a magic trick, quite awesome. "T…t…there's n… n…nothing… wrong w…with me…"
Of course, his explanation wasn't really believable seeing that he said it while he's still crying and his face was all red like that.
"I… I…" He continued to stammer, "I… am… just…… moved… b…by… the…taste… of…t…the…c…curry…"
Yakumo didn't find the explanation to be satisfactory, as she continued to stare worriedly at Harima—but Tenma seemed to believe him.
"Amazing!" she exclaimed excitedly, her hair antennas flipping up and down. "I didn't know that a person could enjoy their food that much so that he could cry like you, Harima-kun!"
"Y…yeah…"
…
HOOOLLLY HELLLL THIS CURRY IS SOOOO SPICCCCYYY!
...was the yell Harima screamed throughout his lungs inside.
OOH MY GOOOOD WHAT DID THEY PUT INSIDE THIS CURRY? MOUNT FUJI'S LAVA OR SOMETHING? OH MY GODDDDDD!
"Are you sure you're alright?" Yakumo continued to ask worriedly. "You don't look okay."
"I…It's nothing…" Harima replied quickly. NO I AM NOT ALRIGHT! THIS CURRY IS HOTTER THAN HELL! "I…I am alright…"
He quickly grabbed his Orange Juice and drank it all to the bottom at the first gulp.
The coolness of the Orange Juice sapped the hotness of the curry from his throat only a little, but at least he could breathe rather normally now.
…
God damn! Harima thought to himself as he stared at his now one-less-spoon curry. Only the first time and it's already this hot! They really weren't joking when they called it The Spiciest Curry in Japan!
He gazed at Karasuma.
And how it is possible for him to eat it without pausing like that? Because Karasuma's still eating his share of ultra-spicy curry casually; his face didn't even twitch, there's no sign of him sweating, and there was absolutely no sign whatsoever that he didn't enjoy the food he's eating.
…
His tongue must be made of iron or something! Harima stared disbelievingly at Karasuma. I can't believe he can eat this kind of food without even twitching his face like that!
"Eh? Yakumo, you are not eating your food." Tenma pointed out.
"Ah… oh?" Yakumo suddenly realized that she didn't touch her food anymore because she was busy staring at Harima's bewildered expression. "Right… sorry…"
"I know that Harima's face is something that you'd always love to see…" Tenma said mischievously, causing Yakumo's face immediately went extremely red, "But you shouldn't waste food like that, it's a bad habit!"
Yakumo didn't say anything; her face was still all red. She continued to eat her curry in quiet.
Tenma smiled a little at her sister's reaction, and then she turned to Harima.
"And you, Harima-kun!" she exclaimed while pointing out at Harima's plate. "You only eat a small portion of your food! That's not good!"
Harima stared at Tenma, then at his curry, then at Karasuma, then at Tenma, then at his curry, then at Karasuma, then at Tenma.
…
"U…uh…" he said nervously. He wasn't sure that he would like to sample another death-defying spiciness of the curry again, "I am already full…"
"But that's not good!" Tenma said stubbornly. "Its bad luck to leave food unattended like that! And besides, it's definitely disrespectful to the hard work the chef has done in order to make it!"
"Uh…" Harima couldn't find anything appropriate to reply.
He stared at the curry helplessly.
I'll be dead if I have to eat more of this hellish curry, he thought desperately. In a different way, it's even worse than that Ojou or Tenma-chan's Onigiri……
"Look at Karasuma-kun!" Tenma continued to talk, "He knows how to appreciate food, and he knows how to appreciate the entire chef's hard work!"
…
Harima was somehow moved by Tenma's words.
…
Damn it! Now she praises that weird-guy again! I won't have it!
Fiery determination burned inside his heart.
Like Tenma-chan said, True Gentleman always finishes his food, no matter how bad it is! No matter how spicy it is!
…
"I'm done." Karasuma said matter-of-factly, and his plate was indeed, empty and clean. With methodical movement, he grabbed his Orange Juice, drank it until the glass was empty, putting the glass down, and when it's all over, resumed his staring out of the window all over again.
Somehow, the sight of Karasuma acting all casually even after eating such death-inciting food fuelled Harima's determination even further. He just couldn't believe that he could let this guy beat him in front of Tenma-chan, even if it's only about eating ultra-spicy curry.
If that guy can do it, there's no reason I couldn't do it!
BRING IT ON!
"All right, Tsukamoto." he said bravely. "Your words are the light that shines upon my darkest eyes! Your words are the truth itself in all entireties!"
…
Harima-san says really strange things today, Yakumo thought to herself, but she, of course, didn't say anything and continued to eat her curry quietly.
…
"I will eat all of this food to show you that I too, a man who appreciate things when they need to be appreciated!" Harima continued to talk gallantly.
"Good!" Tenma said, nodding her head approvingly.
Quenching all of his fears and hesitations, Harima picked his plate, carefully placing it at the same level at his mouth. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, and quickly slid the plate's entire contents into it on one single go.
10.10 AM. Sunday. The New Curry Restaurant.
…
……
"Sir……"
…Hmm?
"Sir……"
…
What is it?
…
"Sir, are you alright?"
Harima opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the face of the waitress who brought them their food previously, and the white, white, ceiling.
…Ceiling?
He quickly jerked up from the bed, staring at the waitress, all confused.
"W…where am I?" he said, his head was all fuzzy. "W…what's happening to me?"
The waitress sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness you're alright." she said. "This is the staff room at our restaurant."
"Staff room?" Harima asked. "W…why am I…, what am I doing here?"
"Well, we have to bring you here after you all of the sudden collapsed back there." the waitress explained. "Though I guess it is no wonder that anyone would collapse when they eat our entire plate of Special Curry in one go. That was definitely impressive, sir."
…Special curry?
Harima's head was still all fuzzy. The last thing he remembered was that he ate something extreme, unlike anything he ever ate before, then after that, it was all black…
"Actually, sir, the Special Curry is the reason why no one comes to our restaurant." the waitress sighed exasperatedly. "Before the four of you came, we already had a few customers, and they were all interested in our Special Curry. Well, that's before they tasted how spicy it is and running out from our restaurant with their mouth in fire. I guess after that words spread out that our restaurant's special is something that can put your mouth in fire or something."
"But the owner of the restaurant kept insisting on putting the Special Curry on our menu, since it was a food invented by our Chef, who happens to be his own son." the waitress continued to explain. "Everyone who had a taste of that Curry said that the curry is just too hot for any normal human beings' tongue. But our owner… he is just too stubborn, we couldn't do anything."
Harima didn't say anything—he really didn't focusing himself to hear the waitress' explanation.
"But the other guy that came with you really amazing, sir." the waitress said thoughtfully. "He cleaned his plate and didn't seem bothered by it. His insides must be made of iron or something… it's totally inhuman, if I do may say so myself."
…
The other guy?
…
This effectively snapped Harima's attention to reality, the fuzziness inside his head all of the sudden went away.
That's right! he thought to himself. I am currently going out with Tenma-chan, Imouto-san, and that Weird Guy!
He jumped down from the bed quickly, surprising the waitress.
"The other three who were with me." Harima said worriedly, fearing that they might leave him behind while he's unconscious or something. "Where are they?"
"Oh, you mean your friends?" the waitress answered. "Don't worry, they are all still in the restaurant. They are now currently eating their free orders, complement from our Chef as an apologize having one of their companions—that's you, sir—knocked out. Just head out through that door and take the first door on your right; that will take you straight to our dining room."
"Thanks."
Harima quickly bolted out from the room.
Argh, why the hell am I doing, falling unconscious like that! he said to himself with anger. That is so unlike a gentleman!
Following the waitress' direction, Harima quickly managed to find the dining room, and to his immense relief, found that Tenma and the others were still sitting on their table.
…
"H---arima-kun!" Tenma waved when she saw Harima.
Harima walked to the table, and sat himself right next to Yakumo. He stared at all of the new food and drinks on the table, apparently the so-called complement from the owner from having him all knocked out. Too bad right now his desire to eat anymore has vanished into thin air.
"A…are you alright, Harima-san?" Yakumo asked worriedly. "You passed out all of the sudden…, making us all worry…"
She handed Harima a red handkerchief with a beautifully and expertly sewn 'T.Y.' letters on its surface.
"Here." she said.
"Thanks." Harima took Yakumo's handkerchief without thinking, and using it to wipe his face, before handing it back to Yakumo.
"Here you go." he said.
"Oh, no Harima-san." Yakumo said quickly. "Just keep it."
"Oh." Harima said. "All right then." he stuffed Yakumo's handkerchief into his shirt's pocket.
…
"But Yakumo is right, Harima-kun." Tenma said as she gazed at Harima. "We were all very worried when you suddenly passed out like that. Right, Karasuma-kun?" Tenma turned to Karasuma.
"Right." Karasuma answered shortly, before continuing to eat the complementary food. He's not even looking at Harima. His focus with his curry was extraordinary.
"See?" Tenma turned her attention back to Harima. "But why you suddenly passed out like that?"
"Oh, y…you know." Harima said awkwardly, his mind was busy searching for an idea—saying that he passed out because the food was too spicy was definitely something shameful, and he didn't want Tenma to think that he was shameful, "Some of the food got stuck on my throat, making me hard to breathe properly. Before I knew it, my head was all fuzzy because the lack of oxygen and I passed out, just like that."
Yakumo thought, of course, that this explanation was far from being logical, but Tenma appeared to think otherwise.
"T---hats why you shouldn't eat like the way you just did." Tenma said in a I-Tell-You-Now-So-You'd-Better-Listen tone. "It's great to be enthusiastic about eating your food, but swallowing all of it in one go like that is not something that you should do. It's an improper way to eat! It's not good for your health!"
"R…right." Harima said nervously. "Sorry about that."
Well, that goes my plan to the sewer…, he thought to himself helplessly. Instead of making her amazed, I make Tenma-chan scolding me like I am some sort of grade-schooler or something, right in front of the weird guy nonetheless. Waaay to go Harima Kenji...
…
Yakumo stared at Harima's pale face for a while, before turning to speak with Tenma.
"Nee-san." she said. "I…I think Harima-san is not feeling too well today…, maybe we should just stop this… umm…"
Yakumo tried to find a suitable word to replace this one she didn't want to say, but in the end she couldn't do it and just went with the original…
"This… double-date…" Yakumo continued. "So that Harima-san can rest for today…"
Tenma gazed at Harima.
Not too long after that she nodded.
"Well, I guess its true." she said with disappointed voice. "Harima-kun does look like he is sick or something, so I guess we can just end this double-date… I guess its fine then, right, Karasuma-kun?"
"Right." Karasuma answered shortly while putting the last piece of the complementary curry inside his mouth.
…
Yakumo felt relieved.
Seeing her sister's disappointed face was clearly not something that she wanted to do, but in this case she just had to do it, for a greater cause. She felt uncomfortable already from the start about having this double-date, and now she's glad she could end it prematurely. She was sure that Harima would want it that way too, because at least now he didn't have to continue doing this double-date he'd most probably unwilling to do at the first place anyway…
…
…But Harima seemed to think otherwise.
"What are you guys planning to do after this restaurant?" he asked Tenma, though his eyes were all focused to Karasuma, who just finished eating his share of the complementary curry (Yakumo and Tenma weren't touching their share at all) and now drinking his second glass of Orange Juice.
"Well…" Tenma said, acting all giddy. "I figure that although it's not going to be double-date anymore, I can at least still go with Karasuma-kun. I want to see this new movie at the theatre…"
She looked at Karasuma with the most wishful stare on her eyes,
"You still want to go, right, Karasuma-kun?" she said. "The movie seems to be a really nice one, and I want to see it together with you…" Tenma's face went red as she said that.
"Okay." Karasuma answered, without even thinking, it seems. "I'll go with you to see this movie, Tsukamoto-san."
It seemed like Tenma had this very big sign with the word HAPPINESS plastered on her face when she heard Karasuma's answer. She's smiling all happily right now.
"Then I'll go too." Harima said confidently, surprising Yakumo. "It's been a long time since I last saw a movie, it won't hurt to see one right now, especially if the movie is a good one."
Seeing her act giddy around Karasuma was not something that Harima would classify as something pleasant, but thinking about her Tenma-chan all alone with the weird guy inside the dark room of a movie theatre bothered him even more.
This thought alone burned his fighting spirit to the max all over again.
He stared at Yakumo, who also staring at him.
"It's okay, right, Imouto-san?" he said. "I'm feeling fine, anyway. I can do well with watching a good movie or two."
…
Yakumo stared at Harima for a moment, before finally broke her eyes away and said, "Okay…"
…
Truthfully, she'd rather not do this double-date anymore—but something about the way Harima looking at her made something inside her heart twitched.
Maybe it's the determination. Maybe it's the desire…, she didn't know and she couldn't tell what it is.
…Maybe it's because she understood the real reason behind Harima wanting to tag along watching a movie with her sister and Karasuma. Maybe it's because deep down on her heart, he appreciated the honest feelings that Harima has for his sister, which sadly, apparently, only she could see…
…
……
"Are you sure, Harima-kun?" Tenma was scrutinizing Harima. "Yakumo is right, you know; you don't have to go if you're not feeling alright."
"I am fine, I am fine!" Harima answered boldly, though in the reality he felt an uncomfortable sensation inside his stomach, like he swallowed a cooking stove or something—no thanks to the super-spicy curry. "It's good to watch movies on Sunday, you know! It's healthy!"
"Oh, all right then." Tenma said finally. She seemed happy that the double-date wasn't stopped already. "We'd better go now then—from what I heard the movie is quite popular, we might not be able to obtain good seats if we're not hurry."
Tenma waved her hands to the waitress, who hurriedly approaches them.
"Thank you for the complementary food, though it seems only Karasuma-kun eating it." Tenma said, staring at her and Yakumo's untouched share of complementary curry. "Anyway, how much should we pay for our previous food and drinks?"
"Uh, the owner said that you don't have to pay for them." the waitress answered. "B…but in turn he asked that you kept the…, um… incident…, as a secret that you won't tell to anyone else." she added hastily.
"Really? We don't have to pay anything?" Tenma replied happily. "Of course, we'll be more than glad to keep what happened to Harima-kun as a secret…, right everyone?"
"Of course." Harima said matter-of-factly, while Yakumo nodded, and Karasuma muttered a flat, "Fine."
"That's good, then." said the waitress with a relieved tone.
"Well, we'd better go now." Tenma said as she went up from her chair.
…
"Ah, miss." Karasuma suddenly raised his hand and talked to the waitress. "Since Tsukamoto-san and Tsukamoto-san didn't eat their share of complementary curry, do you mind if I'll have them wrapped for me to eat at home? It's a shame to waste curry like that."
…
The waitress, Harima, and Yakumo all stared at him blankly.
…
"Wow, Karasuma-kun." Tenma watched Karasuma in amazement. "You really like curry, do you?"
11.30 AM. Sunday. The Movie Theatre.
…
……
"Wow, look at the line!" Tenma said as she pointed out the people queuing for the movie tickets. It was a very long line. "I've read in a magazine that this movie is popular, but I wouldn't have guessed that it is this popular!"
"What movie is it, Nee-san?" Yakumo asked quietly, trying to ignore all of the words popping out from nearly every guys looking at her right now—most of which involving something that your typical polite girl wouldn't want to hear. It was one of the reasons why she didn't feel to comfortable visiting crowded area such as this one; she was bound to read minds even she didn't have any desire to do so.
…
"It's called 'The Adventure of When He Lost Love and Found It Again'." Tenma said excitedly. "It's quite a long title for a movie, and movies with long titles usually turned out bad—but this movie isn't bad, apparently, judging from how popular it is."
"Is it a romance drama?" Harima asked apprehensively. Romance movies were not his favourite, really, as he tends to fell asleep every time he tried to seriously watched one. Of course, it would be a different case altogether if he's watching it just with Tenma all alone, but since this was not the case, he feared that his habit would show its ugly head, right in front of the person he definitely didn't want to show it to.
"Well, yeah, you can tell from the title, right?" Tenma answered.
Harima looked at the movie posters being put above the other tickets' counter.
-The Ultra Mighty Robo-Man-… why would someone name their movie with a very cheesy title like this was something out of Harima's comprehension…
-The Horror of Those Who Shall Put Horrors With You-… what's with this stupid title anyway?
-The Adventure of the Ice-Cream Man-……right, out of the question. Ice cream was great, but not great when being used in a movie title like this!
-The Death Monster-… this one sounds decent, but when Harima saw the poster of the movie featuring a big, bad, clown with huge red nose carrying an Uzi on his right hand and a big mean knife on his left hand……well, it's only common sense that Harima's desire to watch this movie dropped very significantly after that.
…
It seemed like among all others, the movie that Tenma mentioned was really the only decent one, with the poster featuring a handsome man hugging a beautiful woman, a typical for a movie on this genre, but at least it was normal compared to some crazy clown or whatever.
Maybe that explained too the reason why there were only three to five people queuing at the other counters. The only exception was The Ultra Mighty Robo Man, which had quite a number of people queuing; unfortunately most of them were little kids busy screaming super heroes punch-line and stuffs like that.
…
"Ah, we'd better start joining the queue, then." Tenma said. When she saw the very long line, however, her spirit seemed to drop.
"But look at the long line…" she said with a rather depressed tone. "It would be tiring to get the tickets, wouldn't it…, but I guess we don't have many choices here but to queue, do we…"
Harima's radar of Time-To-Impress-Tenma-Chan suddenly activated.
PLAN THREE: ACTING ALL COOL IN THE MOVIE THEATRE
"Don't worry, Tsukamoto!" he said impressively, while beating his chest for a more dramatic effect, "I'll be queuing for the tickets for you! You just sit, relax your wary legs, and let me handle the tickets!"
"Really?" Tenma said happily, her antennas flipping upside-down excitedly.
"Of course!" Harima said boldly. Then he went even further with it, "And don't worry for the money for the tickets! It's entirely my treat for today!"
"Re----ally?" Tenma's eyes were all sparkling with excitement, the antennas on her hair moving even faster.
"Harima-san." Yakumo interjected quickly before Harima's offer of generosity to impress her sister getting out of hand, "You really don't have to pay for all. It's inappropriate for…"
"Do not fear!" Harima bellowed confidently. Wow, I am such a gentleman! "When I said it's alright, it's alright!"
He peeked at the price tag for the tickets located above each and every ticket counters. This is going to blow my money away, but for Tenma-chan, I'll do anything!
"But I…"
"It's alright, it's alright!" Harima said.
…
"…ok, then." Yakumo surrendered, defeated, seeing the determined posture of Harima.
I guess men really are stubborn when they trying to impress the person they like…
…
"Thank you so much!" Tenma said happily. "Well then, Harima-kun, me and Karasuma-kun are going to buy some popcorn, okay? I'll leave the tickets with you, okay!"
…
Though in the case of Nee-san, they probably need to be extra stubborn, and try twice as hard…
"Nee-san, I want to buy some snacks too, okay?" Yakumo said.
Since most probably Nee-san will forget to buy Harima-san something, I might as well go. I will buy him some snacks, though perhaps it will be better if I don't tell him this, lest he will offer his money to buy them too…
…
"I am… I am still a bit hungry."
"Oh, alright then." Tenma nodded. "Well then, Harima-kun, thanks again!"
Tenma, Yakumo, and Karasuma all went to buy the snacks.
…
Harima stiffened his body and looked at the very long line for Tenma's movies' tickets.
"Damn it, the line is very long…" he mumbled to himself. "Well, I might be able to cut the line by glaring at them one by one, but…"
He quickly dismissed the idea. He wouldn't want to change into his delinquent ways during times like this!—especially not when Tenma-chan was around.
"A gentleman should keep his promises." Harima mumbled again. "And since I've already promised Tenma-chan to buy her tickets, I'll buy them even it costs me my life!"—exaggeration Harima-style. "Even if it means I have to spend money to buy a ticket for that Weird Guy…"
He quickly joined the queue.
11.35 AM. Sunday. The Movie Theatre's Snacks Section.
…
……
"Nee-san." Yakumo said. "At what time the movie is going to play?"
"Umm…" Tenma's eyes were squinting. "If I'm not mistaken, the movie will play at twenty past twelve. Why?"
"Um… nothing." Yakumo replied quickly.
She didn't think that Harima would manage to grab them the tickets for the show at twenty past twelve. Judging by the long lines he must went through in order to get the tickets, most probably they would have to watch the movie at the next showing, which probably in the afternoon, which of course, most probably ended up causing their double-date to stretch all the way to the night.
…
"Karasuma-kun, what kind of popcorn do you want?" Tenma asked by the time they arrived at the popcorn-counter, greeted by an over-friendly 'Welcome' by the one of the attendants there.
Karasuma scanned the list of the popcorns available which was embedded at the popcorn machine next to the attendant.
"You don't have curry-flavoured popcorn?" he said, in a rather disappointed voice.
"Uh…" said the attendant. "I apologize, sir, we don't serve…, um…, curry flavoured popcorn…"
"Well…" Karasuma said. "Sweet and Spicy, then. Large-size."
"Very fine, sir." said the attendant, activating the popcorn machine. "And what would you like to have, miss?" He turned to Tenma and Yakumo.
"The same." Tenma answered. "How about you, Yakumo?"
"I'll have the same, but no spicy." Yakumo answered. "Two of them, please." After eating lots of curry back at the restaurant, she didn't feel the need to eat anything spicy again, and most probably Harima-san shared the same sentiment also.
"Excellent." said the attendant. "What size?"
"Um…" Yakumo thought for a moment. "Medium."
After having finished with Karasuma's popcorn, the attendant started to reactivate the machine to process Tenma's and Yakumo's popcorns. It didn't take him long to complete the task.
…
"There you go." the attendant presented the popcorns.
"Nice!" Tenma said happily. "How much?" she opened her wallet.
"Tsukamoto-san." Karasuma interjected. "Let me pay for the popcorns."
"Eh?"
"Let me pay for the popcorns." Karasuma said once again. "After all, you and your sister already gave me your supplementary curries back then at the restaurant."
"Oh…" Tenma blushed. "A…alright then, Karasuma-kun."
When Yakumo stared at her sister at this exact moment, words like "Karasuma-kun is so cool!", "This is how true men should act!", "Wow, he's so nice!" popping out here and there around her sister's head.
…
All of the sudden she felt a pang in her heart; a pang she recognized as, maybe, a pity, for Harima-san.
In here, all Karasuma-san needed to do was to buy them popcorns for a relatively meagre amount of Yen, and all of those words automatically popping out from around her sister's head. While back there, Harima-san went as far as lining himself on an extra-long queue, even willing to pay for the movie tickets for all of them—which of course, reasonably a lot more expensive.
Even so, not even one word of appreciation pops around her sister's head…
…I guess the gap is still too big for Harima-san to fill right now…, Yakumo thought to herself. But maybe…someday… things will change…
…
This last thought surprised even Yakumo herself.
She was surprised to see herself hoping that someday her Nee-san would finally notice Harima-san's attentions to her. If her sister was already happy with Karasuma-san, then it should be a no problem for her whether her sister would notice Harima-san or not, right? After all, the most important thing to consider here was her sister's feelings…
…
But somehow, she couldn't help it to cheer for Harima-san, seeing that Harima-san is a nice person and that his feelings for Nee-san are all pure and true. She already thought that the reason why his mind was so impenetrable for her was because his unbroken devotion to her sister, and never before she felt Harima-san ever think of something badly in regards to her sister.
…
……
……Harima-san……
…
……
"Yakumo!" Tenma's voice effectively snapping Yakumo's out from her reverie, making her jump a little. "What's the matter? You're spacing out! Here's your popcorn!" Tenma pushed two medium-sized popcorns to Yakumo, while her own popcorn being held by Karasuma. "One of them is for Harima-kun, right?"
"O…oh, sorry." Yakumo said softly. She grabbed the popcorns, then she think of something.
"Nee-san, while we're at it, we'd better buy some drinks too."
Tenma nodded.
"Yeah, that's what I am thinking too." she said. "What would you like to drink, Yakumo?"
Yakumo thought it for a moment.
…
……"I guess…" she finally said. "Orange juice is fine…"
12.00 AM. Sunday. The Movie Theatre.
…
……
A gentleman must persevere…
…A gentleman must persevere...
……A gentleman must not crumble before the end…
Those were the mantra words Harima kept repeating over and over again inside his head during his wait on the queue for The Adventure of When He Lost Love and Found It Again tickets. He wouldn't have guessed it before that waiting to get tickets for an extremely popular movie was all a battle of endurance like this, most particularly when…
…
"Aw, that tickles!" combined with "Hehe, but you like it, right?"
"Hey! Stop doing that you pervert!" followed with "But you seem to like it…"
"Don't do it now…, be patient, okay?" replied with "…Okay…not."
"I've already booked a room for us, you know…" answered with "What? You pervert…heheheheh…"
…
All the conversations he heard from the queuing people were all like that. It must be bad luck for him to be surrounded by a bunch of couples during a time like this—and not just a bunch of couples too…… they were all a bunch of horny couples!
…
Harima felt the urge to smack them in the face one by one, but of course, he wouldn't let his delinquent side took over while Tenma-chan was watching…
He took a peek at Tenma and the others.
Right now they were all sitting on one of the waiting benches near the back of the line. Tenma was speaking cheerfully with Karasuma, while Karasuma himself just nods here and there occasionally. Imouto-san seemed busy dealing with a bunch of guys trying to court her, although occasionally, he could feel that she's staring at him.
…
When Tenma saw that Harima's staring at them, she energetically waved her hands while mouthing, "G-a-n-b-a-t-t-e!" and giving Harima a thumb up.
"Yooosssh!" Harima roared with spirits after being energized by Tenma's thumb up.
It will be shameful if I don't get the tickets after Tenma-chan supporting me that much! Why should I care about this long line and all of these horny perverts when Tenma-chan is here and watching me all along, giving me support?
…
Harima counted all the people lining up in front of him.
One…two…five…
Heh, six more people (or to be more precise, 12 more people, since all of them were couples lining together)—this won't take long!
He slapped his cheeks.
BRING IT ON!
…
……
Four more…
……
Three…
……Two…
…
…One…
…
Finally!
After a long, tiring, hard journey, Harima finally managed to get his turn on the tickets' counter.
"Four tickets." he said, taking out his wallet to prepare the money.
Damn, this will empty my wallet for sure! But everything's alright as long as it's for Tenma-chan!
"Sorry." said the man behind the counter flatly. "There are only three tickets left."
"What?" Harima exclaimed loudly. "Only three tickets left?"
His yell made everyone lining up behind him shocked in surprise. Not too long after that murmurs of disappointments among them began to elevate.
"That's what I said." the man said curtly. Perhaps he too, was tired and annoyed having to serve all of those horny giggling couples. "You want them or not?"
"W…when is the next showing?" Harima asked.
"There will be no next showing for today." the man answered. "Due to a special occasion, this theatre will be closed early; so this is the final showing for the movie today."
"What?" Harima exclaimed loudly again. "No more showing today?"
This yell effectively caused a ruckus amongst those lining up behind Harima. Many of them appeared to be shocked. Not too long after that the people queuing for the tickets were dispersed, all of them grumbling or suddenly thrown into bad mood.
…
"What's the matter, I wonder?" Tenma was wondering, seeing the queue for the movie dispersed, "Why all the people go away?"
From where she sat right now, it appeared that she couldn't hear Harima's yell previously, nor Karasuma and Yakumo.
"I don't know." Yakumo said quietly, staring at Harima.
…
……
"Special occasion?" Harima said. "What kind of special occasion?"
"The boss' birthday is today, so all of us employees are going to celebrate it." said the man behind the ticket's counter flatly. "It's free food and drinks, and it is the only time in a year when we can afford to actually like our boss. You want the tickets or not?"
"But aren't the customers more important than a birthday party?" Harima demanded furiously.
"Not as important as free food and drinks." the man didn't even flinch as he said this. "No matter what you say, we won't change our schedule for today. You-want-the-tickets-or-not?"
…
…Three tickets? That means only three of us will be able to watch this movie today! And Tenma-chan is all so fired up to watch this movie she would be very disappointed if she couldn't do it today!
Of course, the only person he could dispatch easily amongst all the choices was Karasuma…
But then again it wouldn't be as simple as that…
…
…Damn it…
Of all the times available for him in the whole wide world, he regretted that it was this day that he decided to act all gentlemanly in front of Tenma-chan…
…
"Fine." he said finally. "Three tickets, then."
The man behind the counter swiftly gave Harima the tickets, and Harima grudgingly pushed the tickets' fee to him. After Harima grabbed the tickets, the man sighed in relief, and without further ado, quickly pulled the closing curtain down without forgetting beforehand stamping a large 'CLOSED' sign at the counter's window.
…Crazy bastard, Harima said to himself while making a mental note of never, EVER, go to this movie theatre again in the future.
…
He approached the waiting three while grumbling here and there, cursing his seemingly forever bad-luck.
…
"Hi." he said, unable to hide the gloom written all over his face. "Sorry for the long wait."
"That's fine, we still have time before the movie starts." Tenma said while checking her watch on her left wrist. "So, you get the tickets?"
"Yeah, here." he gave the tickets he's holding to Tenma, and Tenma cheerfully picked them up.
"Great!" she said enthusiastically. "That way we can all…… huh?"
Then she noticed that there were only three tickets, instead of four, on her hand. She stared questioningly at Harima.
"Why do you buy only three tickets?" she asked.
"That's the last tree." Harima answered, scratching his head. "Really the last three. The bast…, I mean, the man who sold me the ticket told me that there will be no more showings for today except for this one, since they are going to go to some sort of stup…, I mean, go to their boss' birthday party or something."
"No more showing?" Tenma asked. "So these are really the last tickets for today?"
So that's why all of those people lining up went away, Yakumo thought.
"Yeah." Harima said, trying to act all casual. "The three of you should go on ahead then."
Tenma and Yakumo stared at Harima, while Karasuma kept eating his popcorn, apparently unaware of just didn't care about this sudden development.
…
"What do you mean by 'the three of you'?" Tenma asked stubbornly. "We couldn't just possibly leave you behind!"
"Yes, Harima-san." Yakumo added; her face looks worried. "We could just go another time to watch this movie, or we could just find another movie theatre to watch it."
"The movie is so popular that most probably the tickets were all sold out already in all places." Harima tried to argue. "Besides, I got those three tickets after lining up for… literally… forever. The money used to purchase the tickets is definitely not refundable. So why don't you guys just go ahead and watch the movie? I'll only have to wait for two or three hours anyway—I'll find something fun to do in the meantime."
"But…!" Tenma said, before being interrupted again by Harima.
"Look, you wanted to see this movie so badly, right?" he said. "What's so hard about it anyway? Just go! Otherwise the money I used to buy the tickets would be wasted. Just go."
"But……"
…
"Tsukamoto-san." this time the one talking was Karasuma.
The other three quickly averted their attention to him.
After closing his large-sized cup of popcorn, he said, "It would be best if we just go."
"But Karasuma-kun…" Tenma was definitely torn by the fact that she really wanted to watch a movie together with Karasuma yet at the same time she felt like she couldn't just leave Harima behind.
"It would be disrespectful for us to decline his offer after he has been lining up for the tickets for so long." Karasuma continued, still in a flat tone. "Besides, it is Harima-san's wish for us to go and watch the movie, right?"
Harima never thought that the day would come when he agreed to anything the Weird Guy could probably say, but since there was no other way around it right now, he forced a muttered, "Y…yeah. Right…"
…
……
"Just go, Nee-san." Yakumo suddenly make a statement. "I'll be waiting for the two of you with Harima-san here."
"What? Imouto-san, I bought the ticket for you too!" Harima replied stubbornly. "You should go with…"
"…Okay, Nee-san?" Yakumo ignored Harima's reply. She was staring at her sister rather intently.
…
It was really surprising to see Yakumo acted so forcibly like this—something about a silent person could just explode all of the sudden, probably.
…
"You just go with Karasuma-san. Like Harima-san just said, it's only for two or two and a half hour—three hours tops, anyway. It's not that long. I'll just stay here with Harima-san because I just cannot leave him alone."
"…" Tenma stared at Harima, then at Yakumo, then again at Harima, then at Yakumo, then finally at Karasuma.
…
……
"Well…" she said hesitantly. "Are you two really sure about this? We can just watch another movie, you know…"
"All of them are trash." Harima said straight to the hard, cold, truth.
"Look, Nee-san…" Yakumo said again. "Just go, okay?"
"Well… alright then…" Tenma said finally. "If you two insist…"
"I am insisting." said Harima with a final, conclusive, tone.
"Alright then…" Tenma said, although with a rather undecided tone. "Let's go, Karasuma-kun. And thanks again, Harima-kun…"
"No problem." Harima answered, waving his hand casually.
…
So Tenma and Karasuma went off to see the movie, leaving Harima and Yakumo behind, sitting in the waiting bench.
…
Since the crowd queuing for Tenma's movie has dispersed, the movie theatre was seemingly empty all of the sudden. It appeared that most of the people wandering around in this place before came with the intention of watching that particular movie. The only people left were small children queuing for the Robo-man movie, and one-two people lining for the other, rather obscure—well, trash, according to Harima—movies.
…
……
………
"You know, Imouto-san, it would be best if you just go watch the movie with them." Harima said as he leaned back at the bench. "The movie's pretty good, it seems."
"It's okay…" Yakumo replied quietly. She handed Harima a cup of popcorn with a cup of Orange Juice that she bought previously. "…Here, Harima-san, this is for you."
"Thanks." Harima took them. He skipped eating the popcorn though, and went straight to the Orange Juice.
…
……
"But I was quite surprised to see you talk to your sister like that." Harima said. "I've never seen you as a person capable of doing that kind of thing."
Yakumo's face went a little red.
"…W…well, that…" she said, rather awkwardly. "…That's because it was special, so…"
"Special?" Harima said in a questioning tone.
"I…it's nothing!" Yakumo added rather hastily.
"Huh." Harima mumbled.
…
……
"Say, Imouto-san." Harima said, drinking the last drop of his Orange Juice.
"…What?" Yakumo replied a bit nervously—the atmosphere between the two of them was such that Yakumo, for some reason, couldn't help but to feel a bit nervous at the situation.
"Thank you for accompanying me here." Harima said quietly.
…
Yakumo stared at Harima for a moment.
…
"You're welcome." she said softly.
3.40 PM. Sunday. Osakabe Itoko's Residence.
…
……
"I'm home!" Harima announced his arrival. When he heard TV voices coming from inside, he knew that the one watching it would be Itoko.
"Hi, Kenji." Itoko said—without averting her eyes from the television—by the time Harima arrived at the living room. "How's the date?"
"Stupendous." Harima answered shortly, as he opened the refrigerator to pick up his fourth Orange Juice for today.
…
There was something in the way Harima answered her question that made Itoko turned her attention away from the television to her cousin. By the time she looked upon Harima's face, however, she felt like she already knew all the answers even before popping out the questions.
She didn't bother to ask him more.
…
"By the way, Itoko-san." Harima said. "Where's that little neat device that you used to impersonate my voice this morning?"
"What do you want to do with it?" Itoko said as she turned her attention back at the television. She knew that the only times when Harima used the suffix –san behind her name were the times when he wanted something from her or something similar to that effect.
"Oh, just some stuff." Harima answered, trying to act casually.
"Some stuff?" Itoko said suspiciously.
"Nothing law breaking or anything like that!" Harima added hastily. "Really, I just want to borrow it for a while!"
…
……
It took some time for Itoko to decide that it was probably alright for her to lend Harima the device. "It's in the top drawer over there." She pointed at one of the drawers inside the living room. "Don't—break—it."
"I won't, I won't, don't worry!" Harima said reassuringly. He quickly moved to the said drawers and not too long after that found the device. "How do you use it?"
"There's a little screen there, with names." Itoko explained. "Scroll the names using the up and down buttons. When you see the name of the person you'd like to use his or her voice with, push the square button, and that's just that. Just speak with the device close to your mouth."
"Impressive." Harima stared at the little device. "Thanks a lot Itoko-san. I will return it to you before you know it."
Harima walked into his room while humming an obscure song.
By the time he's inside his room, however, he stopped his humming, and immediately threw himself to his bed.
…
……
I have failed today…, he said miserably inside his head. Maybe lady luck just hates me or something…
…
He stared at Itoko's neat little device. With his thumb, he started to push the up and down buttons, staring at the list of names appearing on the small screen on the device.
There were quite a number of people being recorded here… Harima wondered since when Itoko started to record people's voices…
…
Many of the names listed there were intriguing, to say the least. Harima could imagine tons of fun things to do with the voice of these people……, but he didn't borrow Itoko's device to plan something evil like that.
No, he did it for a different reason…
…
His thumb kept pressing the down button and the names on the little screen kept changing.
Until the name he's been looking for finally showed up on the little screen.
…
Harima gazed at the name for a moment, before bringing the device close to his mouth, his thumb pressing the square button…
Then he spoke…
…
"I love you, Harima-kun." with Tsukamoto Tenma's voice.
……
Even though it was technically his voice, Harima couldn't help himself to blush furiously at the voice of Tenma saying 'I love you, Harima-kun.'
His face was sweating profoundly, while his heart-beat went like crazy from 0 to 100 mph in just one second flat.
His body was all shaking.
…
…It's quite amazing… the effect of such simple words could bring even to a tough guy like Harima.
…
Harima stared at the device again for a short while, before putting it down on top of the drawer next to his bed, sighing helplessly.
Just how pathetic I am, really… he said to himself. Using Tenma-chan's voice to say stuff like that…… I am a sad excuse for a man…
…
Not too long after that, however, his eyes all of the sudden filled with fiery determination.
…
I won't surrender just yet! he said to himself with burning spirit. I will NEVER surrender. Someday, I swear I will make those words coming out from the REAL Tenma-chan, otherwise my name isn't Harima Kenji!
To Be Continued