well, here's the thirteenth chapter of my 'Wedding Peach' fanfiction titled 'The Love Angel and the Dark-Hearted Devil' which sounds like a parody of 'Beauty and the Beast', but in reality is a loose retelling of the anime from Yousuke Fuuma's point of view. this whole chapter has a full four-thousand-seven-hundred-sixty-one words worth of pure storyline in it, save for a comment or two from yours truly under the guise of an author's note hidden within the chapter, this headnote right here, and the disclaimer just following this headnote. that's right. whether or not all of the bloggers on this website actually do it, the disclaimer is surprisingly mandatory.
disclamation: I don't own the anime or the manga series of 'Wedding Peach' in any way, shape, or form. I don't know who owns either one of the series, but it sure ain't me. I am a humble fanfiction blogger on this very website and an author of other types of stories on the Internet, specifically on websites such as WattPad.
So, I was in the hallway when I noticed Captain Yanagiba's locker full-to-bursting with love letters and such from all of the girls in the school. I strode up to him with the intent to ease the intrinsic guilt I bet he probably felt from stringing them all along.
Yours Truly: Wow, Captain. Must be pretty tough to be so popular with the ladies.
Then, Captain Yanagiba replied to my sympathies.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: What's tough is that I never have enough time to respond to them all.
That was what the captain was worried about with all of those love letters and presents and such winding up in his locker and not the fact that the girls were always throwing their affections at him? I admit that I did not understand his values if that was the way he thought about the girls' letters, but I had some advice for him on the matter.
Yours Truly: Then, you should just narrow it down to one girl; make a choice. Once you choose a girl, the rest of them'll have to stop hurling love letters at you.
The captain began to see my point about selecting just one girl to have and to hold as a girlfriend.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: Makes a lot of sense. Maybe I'll do that.
That was when both the captain and I heard a voice scream out from somewhere 'NO WAY!' before the hallway suddenly went silent once again. Following hearing the voice come from seemingly out of nowhere, we both turned our heads towards the direction from which we heard it.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba and Yours Truly: Huh?
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: Who's there?
There was no one there in the hallway except for the two of us, though.
Yours Truly: That squeaky voice sounded awfully familiar.
Then, the both of us decided to forget about the voice since it had suddenly silenced itself or something like it.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: Hey, check this out. A ticket for a reserved seat to the Ciao League Game.
Yours Truly: Wow, that's for the big match against Vardy. Kaji's gonna play.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: It's a good seat, too.
As the captain and I both strode out to the soccer field, we discussed the ticket further and further before Captain Yanagiba finally made his decision to give that ticket of his to me for a lesson in being a goalie.
Yours Truly: What? I don't need to be taught how to keep a ball away from the goal net. I can do that pretty well already.
Then, I got yelled at by Captain Yanagiba, of all my fellow soccer players. He was usually so tolerant of me.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: Yousuke!
I could not even believe it. I actually grew frightened of Captain Yanagiba.
Yours Truly: Ye-yes, Captain?
It was just about then that the captain handed me his ticket before discussing it with me.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: Assuming that you've learnt all you can from soccer is a mistake worthy of a rookie soccer player. You can always find something to learn from any soccer match, whether as a competitor or a spectator.
After that kind of speech from the captain, there was no way I could say no to seeing a professional soccer match with Vardy and Kaji.
The following day, I went to see the match against Vardy with Kaji and even commentated for myself on it.
Sports announcer: Kaji from Vardy takes the ball. With his beautiful dribbling, he's dodging St. Flower's defense like it's a walk in the park.
It was true. Kaji was right in his element against my own St. Flower's defenses. Then, Kaji shot the ball at the goalie's net.
Sports announcer: He shoots.
Kaji's shot hit the goal net head on.
Sports announcer: Goal!
The sports announcer laughed at it thereafter before commenting further.
Sports announcer: How's that for a fielding strike, soccer fans?
Then, the crowd altogether began chanting Kaji's name in appreciation for his goal. I finally started on my own commentating on the soccer match once I found my way to the seat Captain Yanagiba had given to me with that ticket of his which he gave me.
Yours Truly: I can't watch this. It's too painful. Even a young guy like me could've stopped a shot like that.
Then, I heard a scream come from the direction just left of me. I recognized the scream almost immediately and turned my face towards it, only to find out just who had screamed upon hearing my commentary on the match. That's right. It was none other than Momoko Hanasaki. Just what was she even doing at this match? I might as well have up and asked her about it, anyway.
Yours Truly (continued): Momo-pi? What are you doing here at the big Ciao League Game?
Then, she started yelling at me and responding to my question with another question. Actually, it was technically the same question I had asked her, though.
Momoko Hanasaki: What do you mean 'what am I doing here'? What are you doing here?
To that tone in her squeakier than ever voice, I just hmphed at her while placing my hands over my chest in frustration at her attitude. Then, I gave Momoko a taste of her own ironic frustration with me even being at this soccer game in the first place and responded back to her question with my own question.
Yours Truly: What's wrong with comin' to the big game? Captain Yanagiba told me to go watch a pro match and see if I could learn something, and then he gave me his ticket, and…
Just when I was about ready to say that the rest of it was history, it suddenly dawned onto me that Momoko even having been at that very same soccer match as I had been might just have had something or other to do with that very same ticket for the match that the captain gave me. Upon my realization of such a possibility, I could not help but turn my head towards Momoko, herself.
Yours Truly (continued): Wait a minute. Was that ticket of his your doing?
I might as well have hit the nail on the head upon asking her that very question, especially since she grew red at my question and even began to sweat.
Yours Truly (continued): Bull's eye, right? Sorry to ruin your planned get-together with Captain Yanagiba.
Then after much hesitation, Momoko finally had a response to all of my questions at once.
Momoko Hanasaki: I had an extra ticket, so I gave it to Yanagiba as a gift.
Following that response of hers, Momoko then pulled out her camera just before responding to me, yet again.
Momoko Hanasaki (continued): I'm here to report on the match, that's all.
Was she even kidding with that kind of additional response to all of my questions, especially when I had taken into consideration just how she was dressed for her supposed reporting on this soccer match? Momoko was wearing a green dress and a cherry red, flowery cardigan, after all.
Yours Truly: Huh? Reporting? In an outfit like that?
Granted that I did not know much about fashion, myself, but Momoko's outfit looked a lot more like the kind of clothes a girl would wear when she was going on a date then a reporter's clothes. Her face had then turned as red as her own cardigan with my face in hers.
Momoko Hanasaki: Hey, quit staring at me. I can wear whatever I want.
Of course, I knew that she had every right to wear whatever she wanted. I had a thing or two to say to Momoko about her being at that professional soccer match against Vardy in which Kaji was a center forward.
Yours Truly: Well, it's none of my business, anyway, why you're here or who you're waiting for, and I'm sure you're probably feeling let down.
With that response, I just sat right down into the seat that Captain Yanagiba had so graciously given to me.
Yours Truly (continued): So, I'm just gonna sit here and watch the pro teams play.
To that, Momoko, herself, had hmphed at me before turning her head away from my direction.
Back on the soccer field, Kaji was scoring goals against his opponents left and right.
Sports announcer: Goal! Kaji pulls off the hat trick. What a play-off!
Before Momoko and I even knew it, we were both hugging and cheering for Kaji from the stands. I did not even realize just what kind of compromising position the two of us were in until after our joint cheering for Kaji, even though I was, at first, on the side of the goalie from the St. Flower team.
Momoko Hanasaki: Way to go, Kaji!
I guess it was easy to see that Momoko had a favorite player for Vardy. Even I had to admit that Kaji was pretty good for someone on the opposing team.
Yours Truly: He's the best player ever!
It was just about then that the two of us had realized to whom we were both holding on and sweat up a couple of drops at the sight of it. Momoko, however, screamed at me over it despite having been the one that hugged me first.
Momoko Hanasaki: Get your hands off me, you teenage molester!
Then, Momoko just shoved my body away from her and her embrace. Of course, I had to retaliate back to her for it.
Yours Truly: You're the one who hugged me, remember?!
We began growling at one another thereafter before both of us turned our heads away from each other to face the other direction.
In all honesty, I did not even know what was going on in the stands following my little argument with Momoko, but several people in the audience of the soccer match suddenly began deliberately spreading discord towards Kaji like they were trying to start a riot.
A guy in the audience: Who do you think you are, Kaji?!
Woman in the audience: Can it, Kaji!
Another guy in the audience: Yeah, can it, Kaji!
A third guy in the audience: You stink, Kaji!
Following the rioting complaints from all of those people, there were several other people in the stands rioting over Kaji's performance despite his performance as a soccer player possibly being even just one of the best performances in soccer I had ever seen in my life. All of those people were even booing at Kaji for no real apparent reason, at all. The sports announcer had a thing or two to say about it, for sure.
Sports announcer: I don't know what's happening out there, but it looks bad. A bunch of angry fans are trying to start a riot.
The sports announcer took the words right out of my mouth with that kind of comment. Of course, I had tried to do something about the rioting of said fans, and so had Momoko.
Yours Truly: Cut it out, everyone!
Momoko Hanasaki: Why are you yelling at Kaji?
Soon thereafter, however, Momoko suddenly began rushing off towards an exit for one reason or another. What happened to defending Kaji against all of the angry fans? I tried to ask her about it.
Yours Truly: Hey, Momo-pi, where do you think you're running off to?
Momoko just bit my head off over it, though.
Momoko Hanasaki: Wherever I want to, Yousuke!
It was by then that a strange thought had suddenly come over me. I suddenly began to feel like I had never been all that nice to Momoko. I suppose that in retrospect, I could barely ever even blame her for always hating on me whenever I was anywhere near her.
Yours Truly: Maybe, I teased you too hard about the captain before.
The audience just continued booing and ridiculing Kaji, though, and I had to try to stop them in any way I could. For some reason following the angry fans' ridiculing, however, they just stopped rioting altogether and began apologizing for having been that out of control in the first place for one reason or another.
The rest of the game against Vardy was pretty boring without Momoko to me for some reason I could not identify on my own, even though Kaji and Vardy still won anyway. Where could she have even been all that time?
I guess that I had definitely teased and taunted her too hard over having wanted to spend time with Captain Yanagiba. With that realization, I could easily say that I suddenly understood why she was so into the captain. It was simply because of Captain Yanagiba always being such a nice guy to the girls. I supposed that not all girls had to like the bad boys. I had no right to control her love life, anyway, because it was not like I was her father.
I had to say, though; when Momoko did not even show up at the front entrance after the big professional soccer match, I had actually managed to get a little worried about her and where she had even gone when she ran away from me during that riot of angry fans in the audience.
I was next to the stadium's fountain just close to the door when I continued wondering just to where Momoko had even gone in the middle of the game during the fans' riot.
Yours Truly: For cryin' out loud, where did you run off to, Momo-pi?
That was around when I heard a car horn from the nearby road and upon looking in that very direction, I saw Momoko getting a ride from none other than Kaji, who was driving the car.
Momoko Hanasaki: Yousuke! See ya later! Bye-bye!
Momoko waved at me from on the passenger side within Kaji's car. Then, after bidding me her 'bye-bye', she began giggling up a storm.
Yours Truly: It's Kaji. But how can that be?
Yep, I was definitely out of my element with the girls, particularly whenever it came down to Momoko Hanasaki for one reason or another.
The following day after that very Sunday, both the girls at our school and the entire soccer team were all standing outside the front gate of the campus. Needless to say, Captain Yanagiba was the only one amongst us all to ask Momoko anything about what she had told everyone that day.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: Hey, Momoko. Are you sure the guy who said he's coming to coach us today is Kaji, the famous soccer star?
Of course, Momoko was as chipper and cheeky as her usual self about the captain's question.
Momoko Hanasaki: Uh-huh! Kaji and I have become really good friends lately, Yanagiba!
Her own friends from the newspaper club had a thing or two to say about Momoko's comment towards Captain Yanagiba. Hinagiku sounded pretty doubtful, though.
Hinagiku Tamano: Have ya ever heard such a ball-faced lie?
Yuri, on the other hand, believed hers and Hinagiku's joint friend, Momoko, and everything she had told us all about Kaji being friends with her.
Yuri Tanima: I don't know. It sounds like she's being sincere.
Of course, I could have vouged for Momoko's sincerity about even just having met Kaji, at all. Granted that I knew little to nothing about her forming a friendship with the famous soccer star, but I supposed, at the time, that I would have just had to find out about it along with the rest of the school.
That was when a bright red car suddenly came driving towards the St. Hanazono campus. I recognized it as Kaji's car, and so did Momoko, judging by what she had said following the horn from Kaji's red car.
Momoko Hanasaki: Oh, he's here.
The car stopped in front of the campus just short of running into all the students gathered out at the front gate of the school. Kaji, himself, stepped out of the car. That red car was Kaji's car, alright. All of the girls sighed and swooned upon Kaji's arrival at our school and called him 'wonderful' collectively together. Of course, Hinagiku and Yuri had a thing or two to say about actually getting to even meet the famous soccer star in the first place thanks to their joint friend, Momoko.
Hinagiku Tamano: I don't believe it.
Hinagiku's expression and reaction might have been that of disbelief, but I had to say that Yuri's reaction was that of shocked belief confirmation and seemed to be a lot more lady-like than that of a tomboy like Hinagiku, herself.
Yuri Tanima: It's actually him. The real Kaji.
Then, Kaji approached Captain Yanagiba and began talking to him first and foremost.
Kaji: You're the captain, right?
The captain suddenly seemed to be a little nervous to be in the presence of a famous soccer star for one reason or another.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: Yes, I'm Yanagiba, captain of the school soccer team.
Kaji just spoke to our soccer team's captain real gently.
Kaji: Momoko had asked me to stop by today, says maybe you'd like a little coaching.
Captain Yanagiba just bowed to Kaji in both gratitude and humility at having a soccer star come and coach the team that day.
Captain Kazuya Yanagiba: Yes, thank you very much for your help, Kaji.
Momoko, having been Kaji's reason for even showing up at St. Hanazono Junior High School in the first place, was quickly the very next person to talk to Kaji.
Momoko Hanasaki: Yeah, thanks a lot, Kaji.
The only difference between Yanagiba and Momoko's own words to the famous soccer star was that Momoko flashed a peace sign to Kaji as an addition to her gratitude towards him for coaching us for the day.
All in all, I found Momoko's 'thank you' towards Kaji a little too cheesy for my personal taste. And to be perfectly honest, I had almost thrown up at all of the attention which both Captain Yanagiba and Momoko were giving to Kaji.
My brain: I don't know why they're getting so excited. It's embarrassing to look at.
Then, that annoying little voice in my head from the day Momoko had basically tried to lose weight by starving herself had come right back to haunt me. The very same voice in my head which had claimed to be my own conscience.
My conscience: Are you sure that you're not just jealous of Kaji?
I did not care that I seemed jealous to my own conscience, if that was even who that annoying little voice in my head was, I just had to find a way to get everyone's attention away from Kaji, whatever it took.
My conscience (continued): Yeah right, you want everyone's attention away from Kaji, himself. The only person in that crowd whose attention you really want to be drawn away from Kaji is the attention of Momoko Hanasaki, herself, just because you want her attention most of all to be on you.
My brain: Why you little_ Shut up! It's not even like that, at all! For the last time, my so-called 'conscience', I am so not in love with Momoko Hanasaki! So, stop pestering me about it and get a life, already!
It was just a short while after Kaji had driven to the school and changed into his soccer jersey and everything that Momoko held onto a pendant from on the ground, claiming it to belonged to Kaji. Kaji, himself, came out from the school building not long following after that.
Momoko Hanasaki: Kaji?!
Then, Kaji suddenly began acting even less and less like a soccer star of his degree of self-respect would have.
Kaji: That pendant is mine, little girl! Give it back!
Kaji was acting like he did not even know who Momoko even was anymore. Then, he kicked the soccer ball in his hands and aimed it towards her. She was completely defenseless against such an attack. I had to do something about it. I raced towards the soccer ball's path and caught it right then and there. I was so proud of myself for stopping a ball kicked by the famous soccer star, Kaji. I just had to shout my achievement from the rooftops, or at least from the field onto which I had landed upon stopping the ball. Maybe, I was just trying to show off for the girls.
Yours Truly: Look at that! I blocked a shot by the famous Kaji!
My conscience: I bet you specifically wanted to show off for that one girl, Momoko Hanasaki, in particular.
Of course, I did not take all that kindly to that notion.
My brain: I told you before, and I really hate having to tell you this again; Shut up, already!
That was when Momoko suddenly started to look and act like she was worried about me instead of being grateful to me for protecting her from that soccer ball that was basically flying towards her and ready to pretty much decapitate her, like I had secretly hoped she would be. She even began screaming to her own worries about me.
Momoko Hanasaki: Put it down! That thing's full of evil energy!
Yours Truly: Huh?
'Evil energy'? What was Momoko even talking about? She still continued to scream her worries to me, anyway.
Momoko Hanasaki: Don't you see? You mustn't touch that ball, Yousuke!
I did not know just what Momoko was even talking about, but she was making even less sense than she normally did whenever I was with her. It was just around then that I fainted onto the ground and blacked out from myself, even after having caught that soccer ball with my hands which had been kicked by Kaji.
I had some pretty weird dreams following that fainting of mine. For one reason or another, I actually dreamt of Momoko in a wedding dress. She was even called 'Wedding Peach' by an evil, possessed Kaji and a woman with blue hair that were both after Kaji's pendant for some reason.
A while later when everyone had finally awoken from having been knocked out by that same ball after I admittingly fainted just from even touching it, Kaji had offered me a lesson or two about being a goalie.
Kaji: Hey yo, kid. I know you're not that into it, but would you like my input on your skills as a goalie? Who knows? I could probably even give you a few tips on just how you can be an even better goalkeeper than I bet you already are, right now.
It was not like I had needed any lesson whatsoever on the subject of soccer and keeping goals at all, but I certainly felt ecstatic at the chance to receive a lesson from a professional star soccer player.
Yours Truly: Would I?
Upon realizing that I might have sounded a little too ecstatic about that chance and could have easily come off as a hypocrite towards the rest of the student body at St. Hanazono Junior High School, I urged myself to calm down even if it was Kaji offering the lesson.
Yours Truly (continued): I mean… yeah, I guess I'll take a soccer lesson wherever and whenever I can get one.
It was a little less than enthusiastic, but I had an image of self-preservation to uphold at St. Hanazono. Believe me, the very last thing I had ever wanted was to be compared to Momoko Hanasaki and her friends in the newspaper club, of all my fellow students at the junior high school.
It was on the field when I finally had the chance to prove myself in a face-off against the famous soccer star, Kaji, in front of the whole student body, especially the soccer team. I was not doing this to impress Momoko, because I did not actually want to impress her, at all.
My conscience: So, you keep telling yourself.
My brain: Once again, shut up, will ya?!
Back outside of my head, I was getting ready for my big soccer face-off against Kaji with the goal post just behind me.
Yours Truly: Don't hold back, Kaji! You may be a big soccer star, but I can block any shot you'd care to send my way!
I was pretty confident in my words to the famous soccer star, too.
Kaji: You've got fight in ya, kid. Alright. Take THAT!
Then, Kaji shot the soccer ball my way. It wound up making it to the net, however, and I just wound up on the ground once again while trying to stop it, covered slightly in dirt. I was not done, yet though.
Yours Truly: I'm just getting warmed up! Send me another one!
Kaji sent another soccer ball in my direction, but that one made its way to the goal net, too. It was still too early for me to quit, though. Even after all of those balls sent by Kaji made it into the goal net, I still refused to give up on blocking even just one of his shots.
Yours Truly (continued): One more time!
I had managed to yell out into the rest of the campus when trying to stop such a shot, but the soccer ball managed to make it just past my fingers and into the goal net, yet again. I refused to give up, though.
Yuri Tanima: You heard him, Kaji! Don't hold back now!
Hinagiku Tamano: Ram another one in there just for good measure!
I may have been covered from head to toe in the dirt that was quickly covering my soccer jersey and shorts, and everyone else may have been against me for having gone and challenged Kaji in the first place, or at least the girls from the newspaper club, but I was not ready to back down from my challenge to the famous soccer star that doubled as a lesson from Kaji, himself, just yet.
Then, something unexpected happened, or at least the last person I had expected to give me any form of encouragement had done just that.
Momoko Hanasaki: Yousuke! Prove that you're a man and stop at least one of those balls!
Did I hear Momoko right? Was she suddenly cheering for me over Kaji, even after the famous soccer star had given her a ride just the prior day?
Yours Truly: Huh, Momo-pi?
My brain: Are you actually cheering for me?
I supposed that I really needed to pinch myself despite not having the time to do so, because I had to have still been dreaming at the time.
It was just then that reality suddenly gave me a wake-up call in the form of getting hit in the face with the most recent one of the soccer balls served to me by Kaji, himself. I think that I had even begun to see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day thereafter. I could have also sworn that I saw birds fall straight down from said sky and onto my head.
A/N: the comment from this last paragraph about seeing a sky full of stars in the middle of the day is my direct quota tribute to Laika and Henry Sellick's own 2009 puppet-animation film, 'Coraline'.
Oh well, at least I had actually managed to stop even one of the soccer balls from making it into the goal net, even if it had hit me square in the face and I fell straight to the ground as the end result of it. Luckily for me, Momoko rushed over to me as though she were concerned for my sake.
Momoko Hanasaki: Yousuke!
I had to get a hold of myself and my head. I had to reassure her that I was alright, even if I really was not. I even held a blush on my face towards Momoko's concern for my wellbeing.
Yours Truly: I actually stopped one, Momo-pi.
Momoko just looked at me with an uncommonly gentle expression on her face.
Momoko Hanasaki: Yeah.
Then, she just gave me a good-natured chuckle.
