Hating You
Squit Ayumin

Chapter 7: Choosing the Right Girl

Kari smiled, holding back a look of disgust—as mean as she felt for saying like that.

On the threshold of her flat, Takako stood jogging in place in a hideous, skin-tight, sea foam green-coloured dungaree.

"Is TK here?" Takako asked with a tinge of dislike in her voice. "He told me he liked to work out, so I thought maybe he'd like to run with me today."

Kari yawned quietly and opened the door to their flat invitingly. "He's sleeping, but I'll go get him."

Kari had meant for Takako to wait in the lounge, but she found her following her to TK's room.

"He has his own room, right?" Takako asked suspiciously as Kari knocked on his door.

"Yes, of course. My room's over there." She pointed out the room across the hall. She knocked on his door once more when he didn't answer. "TK?"

Takako's head shot closer to the door.

"TK, darling, it's me!"

She opened the door and burst into the room.

Kari was shocked by her audacity, but it quickly subsided as Takako let out a delighted squeal.

"How precious is he!"

TK was lying on his bed, looking rather peaceful in his sleep. Despite the cold weather outside, he had slept in a t-shirt and boxers, his blanket covering every part of his bed but his own body.

"Baby!"

TK's eyes shot open as Takako threw herself on the bed, sitting beside him and giving his shoulder a rub.

"Wh—wha?" He looked confused and groggy for a moment, but then let out a yell. "What are you two doing here?"

He grabbed his covers and pulled it to his neck.

"Aw, are you being modest?"

"Get out!" he said frantically. "I could have been naked!"

"Mm," Takako purred suggestively. "I decided to give you another chance. I realised you were only being nice to your psycho ex-girlfriend because you're just the sweetest thing, aren't you, my little buttercup?"

Kari took Takako by the arm. "Er, let's just… let him change."

With that, she tried to pull Takako out of his room.

"Your girlfriend wants to go running," she explained once Takako was out. "Wake up and get ready."

TK looked confused, but Kari shut his bedroom door.

It'd hit him eventually.

He couldn't believe it.

Even after yesterday's incident with Hina, Takako had returned.

At 8:00 AM, no less.

He let out an annoyed groan and lied back down. There was no getting rid of her!

She had even shown up in a terrible… whatever it was that she had decided to wear.

He yawned, making his way to his wardrobe to find something decent.

Really, she and Kari were too much.

A shriek echoed throughout the flat, instantly waking TK. The sound of breaking glass immediately followed. Panicked, he raced outside.

"What's wrong?"

Another shriek.

"I can't believe it!" Takako screeched, pointing at his front door. "It's Matt Ishida!"

Sure enough, standing outside his open door, his older brother was scowling with disapproval, a plastic bag hanging from his fingers.

Beside him was Tai, who was also frowning. He held a bigger plastic bag. In his left hand was a can of soda, dangerously tilted to one side.

"TK," Tai started slowly, "I'm going to have to ask you to wear more suitable pyjamas to bed. You're living with my sister, remember."

How could he forget?

"Er, I was in the middle of changing," TK explained nervously.

"My underage sister," Tai continued. "Don't think I won't report you to the authorities if I find out you try something perverted." He scowled further. "That is, if you manage to survive my killing you."

"Really, TK," Matt added, "can't you look more decent? You're embarrassing."

By Matt's tone, it was clear he wasn't fully awake either. He suppressed a yawn while giving Tai a hateful look.

To draw attention to her existence, Takako let out another ear-piercing wail.

"CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?" She seized a pad of paper from a stand and stuck it under Matt's nose. "I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN!"

"Of course." TK could tell Matt was trying very hard not to look as annoyed as he actually was. "Are you Kari's friend?"

"No," Kari answered defensively. "She's TK's new girlfriend."

Silence.

Tai blinked. "His what?"

"His girlfriend," she repeated. She smiled nicely to Takako. "Please meet our brothers. This is my brother, Tai, and I assume you already know TK's brother."

"You two are… brothers?"

"She's your girlfriend?" Matt blurted.

Tai covered his mouth with his hand, though his trembling arms gave him away. He was laughing.

"I can't believe I'm dating Matt Ishida's brother!" Takako squealed. "Wait until I tell everyone!"

"You know, my brother happens to be single," TK hinted.

She gasped and pushed TK away with a pudgy hand.

He found she was quite strong, and he stumbled back a little.

"I'm always looking for an upgrade," she cooed to Matt, grasping his free arm. "TK's nice and all, but he's way too prude, if you know what I mean."

TK found himself being somewhat grateful for that comment, as it meant Tai wouldn't be so suspicious of him.

Not that Tai seemed to be thinking of how indecent of a flatmate TK was at the moment, too busy shuddering with muffled delight. Kari gave him a disapproving nudge, and he tried to be subtler by taking a drink of his soda.

"I, er, I…" Matt stuttered.

"I think we'd make some gorgeous babies."

Tai's Coke spew out of his mouth and landed on the right side of Matt's head and shoulder. Matt was too astonished to react to both Takako and Tai, the latter who had started to crack up mercilessly on Kari's shoulder.

TK too felt the desire to laugh, but he held it in to lessen future consequences.

"I completely agree!" Tai contributed between laughs. "Matt, I think you've found your one."

Takako looked delighted, beaming. She nuzzled her head on Matt's chest.

"Eugh!" Matt yelled, dropping his plastic bag. He peeled her hold of his arm and practically threw her out the door. "Get away from me! And stay the hell away from TK!"

"No, Matt! Please! I'm your biggest fan! I'm your—TK, do something! I'm your bigge—"

He shut the door on her face.

For a while there was heavy pounding on the door, but a glare from Matt warned nobody to open it.

He then shot a death look at his brother. "What the hell was that?"

"That was the best damn day of my life," Tai answered.

"She's Kari's twisted idea of a joke," TK corrected darkly.

Matt frowned. "Well, no brother of mine is going to date anyone like that. I disapprove. Break up with her at once."

"Gladly." TK smiled smugly at Kari. "Here that, Kari?"

"Really, you two so shallow," Tai teased, grinning. "She seemed like a nice girl."

Matt frowned. "Anyway, Tai thought we should check up on you two, so we brought breakfast."

"And by the looks of things, it's a good thing we paid you two a little visit." Tai turned serious again. "TK, put on some clothes this instant. I'm literally giving you thirty seconds."

"I can't believe this," TK muttered, lowering his baseball cap to cover his eyes—eyes already covered by sunglasses. "I can't believe this."

"Will you stop repeating yourself?" Kari snapped. "It's so annoying."

TK scowled. "Annoying? You're calling me annoying? Annoying is you setting me up on a speed dating system! I can't do this!"

"TK, you're acting like a baby."

He clamped a hand over her mouth. "Sh! Don't call me by my name!"

"Fine, Takeru. Time Café is this way."

For a split moment, he looked at her curiously.

Kari quickly turned away, grabbing TK's hand. "Hurry up!"

"I don't want to do this!" He withdrew his hand.

She glared at him. "TK, stop being a brat. I actually picked girls I think you'll like, so you don't have to worry about anymore Takako incidents. And take off those ridiculous sunglasses!"

"Kari," he snarled, "for the last time, I'm capable of finding my own girlfriend!"

She crossed her arms. "Speaking of, what ex-girlfriend was Takako talking about this morning? The 'psycho' one?"

He didn't answer the question.

"Hina?" she guessed.

"Instead of asking me all these personal questions, can we just go home and—"

"I didn't know you thought she was psychotic," Kari pressed.

"I don't," he said darkly. "She was helping me out. Now, please, Kari, I'll—"

"Here we are!" she interrupted, opening the door to the café for him. "After you."

Kari had forced him in a booth, and they were waiting. Kari seemed at ease as she ordered some drinks, but TK was scanning the room every few minutes to make sure nobody he knew would enter.

The café Kari had chosen happened to be one of the most frequented spots of their school, and although everyone was on holiday, he couldn't help but feel somebody he knew would walk in at any second. After all, it had happened yesterday with Hina.

"TK, take off your stupid disguise," Kari hissed. "You're only drawing more attention to yourself."

He ignored her, staring around the room as he took another sip of his water.

He needed to leave. Somehow.

"Oh, there they are!" Kari exclaimed, standing up and waving an arm at the four girls who had entered the café. They took note of Kari's waves and started to make their way to the table.

"Kari, I'm leaving."

Kari frowned. "No, you aren't. This took me a lot of time to do, and you—"

"Kari, I'm done playing your stupid game!" he snapped, standing up. "I'm not doing this, and you can't make me. I don't care if you tell Tai and he kills me. This is dumb, and—"

"Hello," chorused the new girls.

"Wow, you are cute," one of them said, nodding approvingly at Kari.

Kari took his arm, trying to pull him down. "This is TK. He's—"

He wiggled away from her grasp. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

He politely waved goodbye to the girls before he walked out, ignoring Kari calling his name.

TK cringed slightly as the door to their flat slammed shut.

"TK! TK TAKAISHI!"

"I'm right here. No need to yell," he said matter-of-factly from the kitchen.

It was the loudest he had ever heard her.

"What is wrong with you? Do you know how embarrassing that was? I had to tell four girls that I invited them out for nothing!"

"Not as embarrassing as it was for me to actually be there, I'm sure."

He put another crisp in his mouth as she began yelling at him. He felt bad for doing so, but he didn't pay attention to what she was actually saying. He could only assume it was something along the lines of her hating him even more.

"I told my mum that we'd get married," TK said finally, when she had stopped to take a breath.

"WHAT?"

"I told my mum that we'd get married," TK repeated calmly. "I—" He stopped short as Kari's hand slapped him straight across the face. His eyes widened. "You slapped me!"

"Who ever said I wanted to marry you?" she screamed. "Why would you even think about telling your mother that? What's wrong with you? You're ruining my life, TK!"

"You slapped me!" he repeated accusingly. "I cannot believe you just slapped me!"

"I'll do it again," she warned. "You… you asshole!"

"Hey!" he snapped. "I'm not the one torturing you with Takako or speed dates! If we get married, we can just divorce right afterwards. Or maybe we'll find somebody else before then. I don't know what's going to happen, but I sure as hell know I'm sick of playing your game."

"Then I'll stop!" she screamed. "I don't want my future husband to know that I was randomly married for ten minutes. Marriage is important to me. TK, you know that!"

"No, I don't," he replied coldly. "And even if it is, that doesn't mean I'm going to torture myself just so that you can live out the life you thought up for yourself when you were eight. I'm not your little plaything! I'm not your anything, and you aren't anything to me either. So let's just get this bullshit over with, and we can get on with our lives!"

He had said the last part without meaning to. He knew he shouldn't have said it, but getting slapped across the face made him angrier than he had expected.

"You've turned into such an asshole," she said icily after a while, pushing him with a force he had once again not expected. His bag of crisps fell to the floor, and he almost said something but Kari stormed out of the kitchen before he had a chance.

"Hey, where are you going?" he snapped when she opened the door.

"I'm going home. I'm not staying here and getting harassed by you."

"You're the one who started this whole thing!" He grabbed Kari's wrist when she didn't turn around. "You can't just le—"

"WATCH! ME!" she shrieked to his face, pulling her arm from his grasp. He grabbed onto it again, but she slammed the door on it, causing him to yelp in pain and let go. "Don't touch me, TK. I'm serious. Don't follow me either."

"You can't just leave!" he snapped. "What the hell am I supposed to—"

"Figure it out then," she hissed. "I'm not your anything, remember?"

With that, she slammed the door again.

TK looked at the door for a moment, contemplating whether he should follow her anyway. By the time he had almost reached a verdict, he concluded that it was far too late anyway and walked back into the kitchen to clean the mess, his arm stinging in pain.