Hating You
Squit Ayumin
Chapter 4: Takako
"I don't know if you doubt my abilities or anything, but just for the record, I'm perfectly capable of finding a girlfriend on my own."
Kari ignored TK, mostly because she understood his irritation.
But it wasn't her idea.
It was her brother's.
Matt, too, had somewhat agreed with the plan and had given Kari his consent (indirectly), but, mostly, Tai had devised the plan.
The two were currently at the mall, finding TK a potential girlfriend. Clearly, being around Kari was too awkward, and Tai still disapproved.
Thus, Tai had thought of the brilliant plan to find TK's new perfect girlfriend. That's how Tai had gotten out of his arranged marriage, after all.
"Why are we even here?" TK complained again. "Even if I do need you to help me find a date—which I don't—I won't find anyone at the mall."
His unnecessary emphasis was starting to annoy her.
"If you want to do this so badly, why am I the one doing it?" he continued. "Why don't you find yourself a boyfriend?"
Kari frowned, spotting a tuft of his hair poking out in a strange direction. Instinctively, she reached out to fix it. "Haven't you ever heard of a comb?"
He frowned as well. "You do realise people will assume we're going out if you hang around me all the time and fuss with my hair—which you should stop, by the way." He backed his head away from her hand and reached up to brush the offending tuft of hair aside himself. "And, yes, actually, I have heard of a comb. And I would have used it too, except somebody woke me up and pushed me out the door without a moment's notice."
"I gave you time to wash up," Kari said matter-of-factly as she looked around the mall.
"While you kept urging me to hurry," TK muttered, glancing at his watch. "It isn't even noon. Nobody is going to be here. Who comes to the mall this early?"
"A lot of people, TK. Just watch. This will be easy. You just do your thing, and I'll watch from behind."
An hour later, TK had managed to walk around the entire mall twice without approaching a single girl. The only human contact he made was with the pretzel guy as he bought himself a pretzel from the food court.
Frustrated and bored, Kari had decided to take over.
"TK, don't you think that girl is pretty?" Kari asked, pulling lightly on his sleeve.
"Uh-huh," he answered absentmindedly, staring at the device beside him. TK seemed to be more interested in the selection of drinks he had from the vending machine.
She frowned. "You didn't even look."
He inserted his money and pressed a couple buttons.
"Are you ignoring me?"
He took out his drink, smiling, as he opened the bottle.
"Nope," he replied, his eyes wandering past hers. "Hey, I'm going to go see if they have any new video games."
"TK, we're supposed to be—"
"There are lots of girls in the video game store," he assured, putting the rest of his pretzel in her hand.
Without waiting for a response, he disappeared into the store Kari was certain had no females.
Furious, she harshly chucked his pretzel in the nearest bin.
"Fine, TK Takaishi. If you won't cooperate, I guess I'll just find my definition of your perfect girlfriend."
She usually was not this mean, but he was really beginning to get under her skin.
She looked behind her and saw a girl standing near the washrooms.
She was about their age, perhaps a few years older. She was easily two or three times Kari's size, yet she wore clothes that even Kari didn't think she could fit into. She had on a tight boob tube, the smallest jean miniskirt Kari had ever seen, torn leggings and sparkling pumps. Fake jewellery dripped from her ears, neck, wrists, and fingers. Her hair was twisted into a complicated hairstyle, which she played with her left hand. Her right hand was near her painted mouth, which chewed on a chipped fingernail.
The worst type of chav.
She was absolutely perfect.
Smiling, Kari approached the girl. As she came closer to her, her strong perfume became more and more apparent. So did the excess makeup caked on her face.
"Hello, my name is Kari," she said sweetly.
The girl looked at Kari as if she were a rat. "Erm, do I know you?"
Kari was shocked by her voice. It didn't match her. It was too high-pitched, like a child who had just breathed in helium.
"Oh. No, not really." Kari forced a giggle, hoping it would relieve some of the awkwardness. "You see, I have this friend. My, er, flatmate. He was really interested in you, but he's, er, shy! I told him I'd talk to you, but he got flustered and went into the game store over there. I was wondering if you could just give him a pity date. You know, just to raise his self-esteem a little."
The girl stared at Kari, not responding.
Kari cleared her throat and laughed nervously.
"You're kidding, right?" she said, rolling her eyes. "Sorry, but he sounds like a real loser."
"No, no!" Kari protested. "He's not! He's on our school's basketball team, and he's easy on the eye." She pointed to the clear windows of the game store. "See? He's the tall, blond one right there. He's not weird or anything. He's just painfully shy. He was, er, home-schooled."
The girl suddenly gained more interest, and she smiled to reveal her crooked, stained teeth.
"His name is TK," Kari added sweetly, happy to have caught this girl's shallow interests. "Just walk up to him and tell him when you're willing to go out with him. No need to even ask, because he'd probably be too shy to reply. Just do all the talking… er… Miss…"
"Takako," she purred, making her way to the store.
"Ah, I didn't even bring any of my game consoles to the flat," TK thought aloud, putting a box back in its place. "I guess I don't really play them that often anyway…"
"TK, is it?"
TK turned around at the sound of his name, expecting someone he knew.
Instead, he saw an unfamiliar girl, rather large and squat, a foul smell emitting from her.
"Er, I'm sorry. Were you talking to me?" he asked, trying not to look nauseated.
"It's okay, you don't have to talk," she murmured, placing a finger to his lips.
He backed away instantly, shocked. "I think you—"
"Tomorrow at eight is fine," she whispered, dragging her finger from his lip to his chin.
He was too mortified to respond.
She giggled as she tucked a small scrap of paper into the collar of his shirt, giving his chest a pat. "That's my number. I know you're shy, so maybe I'll just call you. Okay, sweetheart?"
She blew him a kiss and turned to leave, winking at Kari along the way.
He finally turned to Kari, not knowing what else to do. She smiled sweetly at him before she turned to talk to the girl who had nearly sexually assaulted him in public.
He continued to stare, confused.
It was only after the store erupted into applause that he realised what Kari had gotten him into.
Ryo had woken up that morning to find his stomachache had somewhat passed. Still, he felt ill from the night before and thus decided to sit on the couch and watch television all day.
Rika, luckily, had left before he had woken up. She was probably getting breakfast, something Ryo wasn't considering eating thanks to his queasiness.
It did mean he'd get some private time without Rika though. The less time with her, the better.
As if on cue to ruin his day, he heard a click of a lock before the door opened, revealing the devil on Earth.
"How's your stomach?" she asked smugly.
Ryo took the remote control and raised the volume of the television.
She frowned and walked over, blocking his view.
He yawned and lied back down, feigning fatigue.
He wasn't about to give her his attention that easily.
"Guess what I have."
Probably poison, Ryo thought, as he raised the volume higher.
Rika, annoyed, seized the controller with a swift move, turned the television off and threw the gadget aside.
"I was watching that," Ryo said sourly.
"Guess what I have," she repeated.
He frowned as he sat back down. "I don't know. I don't care. I can tell you want you don't have though. Manners, a personality, a life, social skills, fr—"
Rika interrupted him, seemingly unaffected by his insults. "Are you still mad about the couch? You volunteered to have it." She cleared her throat and took something from the bed. It was a wrapped package, and she chucked it straight at Ryo's ribs.
It took every ounce of energy he had not to make a strained face.
"What is it?" he asked lowly.
She smiled. "A present. Open it."
Ryo frowned and threw it on the table.
It would be a cold day in hell when he would become Rika's little pet.
"No, thank you."
Her smug smirk vanished, replaced by a more familiar scowl.
He spotted something from the corner of his eye and reached down to pick it up.
"I've got a present for you too, Rika."
He threw the shirt he had worn the day before at her, still reeking of vomit with small chunks and bits still attached.
She shrieked, grabbing it and throwing it off of her.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
She marched up to him, kicked his shin and stormed off to the bathroom.
The pain now exploding from his leg was worth the satisfaction of seeing her reaction. For the first time in a while, he happily smiled as he flicked the television on.
Two could play this game, and he wasn't very keen on losing.