A/N: I have no excuses other than the fact that I just didn't have any motivation to write. I had laid down the skeleton for this chapter a few weeks ago, but then it was way too happy for my liking so I scrapped it all off and turned it into this.
I just saw the new trailer for tri today and that's what pushed me into writing this. Mimi was being so cute when she made Koushiro blush and that Takari reference, November is so close!
Also I'm a big fan of the Korean band CNBLUE and their new song Cindrella was just released a few days ago and that's the song that played on repeat when I wrote this. I think Yonghwa's voice is just perfect for Yamato.
Lastly, thank you starrymilk, melodisz, Scripturiens, soojinah and Kimi for reviewing the previous chapter. All I can say is that I'm really sorry for making you guys wait for this long.
-x-
Mimi wasn't sure if she was dreaming it or whether it was really happening, but as far as she was aware, currently she was trailing behind Yamato-kun as they climbed up the stairs leading to the roof. She looked around and noted that there was no one in the vicinity and again she wondered if she had fallen asleep during Math and soon Sora-chan would nudge her awake and she would be back in the classroom. But then she remembered that Sora-chan was absent today and if this really was a dream then it wouldn't end anytime soon. That thought somehow ended up giving her some confidence, because it didn't really matter if she was bold and forthcoming in a dream, and instead of trailing behind she quickly caught up to the blond.
He looked down at her suddenly appearing by his side, and she smiled at him as brightly as she could. His steps faltered and Yamato-kun quickly looked away, quickening his pace as he climbed the rest of the way and hastily opened the door to the roof. He stepped out on the roof and disappeared from her sight. She paused before following him, she definitely saw him blush when she had smiled at him and the way he quickly avoided her gaze confirmed the fact that this was a dream because Yamato-kun always kept his cool in every situation and him getting flustered over just a smile was totally unheard of. As she slowly followed the blond, she thought about it more carefully and it all made sense. It was too convenient that Kou-chan had some work and Taichi was avoiding Yamato-kun and to top it all off, Sora-chan was absent which was absolutely surprising since that stubborn girl even came to school when she was down with a high fever.
Hence, Mimi concluded that she was indeed still asleep in her comfy bed and was dreaming.
-x-
Yamato quickly sat down on the ground, leaning against the railing. He took a few deep breaths trying to calm down as he mentally cursed himself for being so easily susceptible. All she had done was smile at him and he had felt his knees weaken. It was insane really, how quickly his point of view had changed. Just a few weeks back, all eight of them had gone out to celebrate Taichi winning the match for his team and he had sat next to Mimi and he had felt absolutely nothing then. But now that he knew she had feelings for him, his heart started beating faster when she looked at him. He knew that he wasn't a fickle minded person and being affected so greatly by something like a fleeting crush wasn't something that he was proud of.
But Taichi had said she was in love with him. Yamato thought that it was ridiculous, you can't be in love with someone you're not close to and he could safely say that the two were far from being best friends. She got on better with Takeru than him so if she was in love with Takeru, that would make sense. His brother did, more or less, look like him anyway. He was sure it was just a small crush and he was annoyed for being so easily affected by it. Was he really the kind of person who could be pleased with getting noticed by a pretty girl? The more he thought about it, the easier it was for him to build up the wall that Mimi had so simply shattered with just a smile.
When she entered the roof and caught his eye, she smiled again and this time his impassive expression didn't break as he nodded at her.
-x-
Mimi instantly noticed the change in his behaviour, but she didn't stop smiling. He was sitting a few feet away from the entrance and as she walked up to him she decided to sit in front of him instead of next to him. This was a dream after all and her subconscious was testing her if she could take Yamato-kun's cold demeanour or whether she would crumble in front of it. So she geared herself up and promptly sat down facing him, leaving some space between them for their lunches. She looked up at the blond and he seemed busy eating his lunch, not bothering to interact with her. It didn't look like he was planning to start a conversation anytime soon and even though all she wanted to do was scream at him and question him as to why did he give her a tiny ray of hope and then suddenly snatched it away like it wasn't a big deal at all, she fixed a smile on her face and started the conversation instead.
"Earlier, it looked like Tai-chan was mad at you, is everything alright between you two?" She asked, this was something that she was actually concerned about since the serious fights between the two never ended on a sweet note.
He didn't look up from his lunch as he answered, "Yeah we had a small disagreement. I was planning to sort it out during lunch but…" For a brief moment, he looked at her pointedly and then went back to his lunch.
She could understand now, that this wasn't a dream. She replayed the events from the point that Yamato-kun had asked her to join him for lunch and she realized that he hadn't actually done it because he wanted to spend some peaceful time together but rather, he was indulging her. She very well knew the meaning behind the nod he had given her when she had smiled at him again. That was the acknowledgement he usually gave to his fans at the concerts. The nod that said that he knew they were his fans but he had no interest in them and she'd seen him do it a million times to so many girls but she had never expected to receive the same treatment.
She didn't know how he found out but she understood that he was very aware of her feelings for him and this wasn't sinking in well with her. He asked her to have lunch with him so he could show her that to him she was no different than another of his fans, to show her that he didn't even think of her as a friend.
She could feel the tears threatening to spill but she controlled herself. She couldn't say for sure but maybe him rejecting her out rightly would've probably hurt less. The fact that he doubted the sincerity of her feelings for him, that he thought it was no more than a silly crush, that there was no depth in them made her feel like every inch of her body was getting stabbed by thousand blades. She knew she was capable of handling all kinds of humiliation except for when it came to her emotions.
She stood up and got ready to leave.
-x-
Yamato hadn't meant to be completely cold towards her but he just didn't know what he was doing anymore. He was so confused and there were so many emotions running in his head that he felt like he would explode any second now. He wanted to know how Mimi felt about him, whether it was just a crush or did she actually love him. But he had no idea as to how he should find that out. If he asked her bluntly, wouldn't that put her into an uncomfortable situation? Should he confront Koushiro, since their resident genius obviously had some clue about this otherwise his behaviour in the train made no sense. But then again, Koushiro wouldn't go behind Mimi's back so Yamato decided that he definitely had to hear it from her. Which led to him thinking that if she did love him how was he going to react to it? He admitted that he thought she was stunningly beautiful and he would be pretty lucky if he got to date her, but did he love her too? Wouldn't it be unfair to her if he just started going out with her for superficial things like her face when she actually cared deeply for him?
The blond was so deep in thought that he completely ignored Mimi who was sitting right in front him until she asked him about his fight with Taichi. He didn't want to give away the intense dilemma he was under right now so when he replied he tried his best to not look at her but he couldn't help himself from sneaking one glance and he was quite proud of the fact that he managed to keep his face completely rigid, not betraying any of his frenzied emotions. When he looked at her, even though it was only for a few seconds, he felt his heart beat faster again.
He couldn't believe that he had never actually looked at Mimi, he always thought of her as someone who was his close friend so of course there was no need for him to care about her looks. Though he had to admit that every time some random guy would approach Koushiro for her number or mail, the blond would get annoyed just a little bit. All of those guys only wanted Mimi for her looks, just like all of his fan girls only fawned over him because of the fact that he was in a band.
One thing that he had always noticed about Mimi was how she stood out in the crowd. When he performed, he found it difficult to maintain eye contact with his fans since they were all strangers and when they squealed and screamed, it broke his concentration. So he usually tried to search for familiar faces and Mimi's would be the first one to reach him. Sure he did notice his brother and Taichi and the rest of them, but she would always stand out. She always closed her eyes when he sang, but there was always this large smile on her face. Her expression somehow made him feel like she was the only one who was truly listening to what his songs were trying to say and that's why most of the time, he never bothered to look at anyone else but her during the performances. Of course, Mimi had no idea about this since as soon as he started singing, she would close her eyes making it easy for him to sing freely.
Yamato wasn't sure what exactly he had done or said when he was lost in his thoughts, because very abruptly Mimi stood up. He stopped eating and looked up at her confused and started asking her if everything was alright but she spoke before him and he realized that her voice was shaking as she did.
"If Yamato-kun thinks that it's a waste of time sitting here with me, then he should definitely go look for Tai-chan and quickly make up with him. I don't want to force you to do things you don't want to."
A single tear rolled down her cheek as she turned on her heel and disappeared behind the door before he could even blink.
The blond sat there with his mouth wide open as he continued to stare at the spot that Mimi was standing in a few minutes ago. He had absolutely no clue what he had done wrong.
-x-
A/N: Ah, silly misunderstandings, the epitome of any frustrating shoujo manga. It's all about perception really.
I'm not gonna promise an update date this time since I probably won't be able to live up to it. So anyways drop a review whenever you have time and let me know what you thought about this chapter or.
Also, about turning it into a separate story, I'm tooooo lazy guys lol maybe when it's totally complete I will.