Hello hello everyone! I've been suffering with midterms for the past month and had half a chapter typed this whole time. I'm trying to update at least once a month, hopefully more with a month of break.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN KHR.
Dear diary,
Life has been painful. The hook up Sawada plan has been a work in progress. I laid out several different events as possible attempts, but somehow they don't play out as planned. For instance, let's look at a recent attempt, giving rice balls to the boys in our class.
"We'll give the rice balls we made in home economics class to you boys!" the crowd of girls chorused, with plates of rice balls in their hands.
Michiko stared at her own rice balls with a look of dissatisfaction. They looked shabbily made compared to the others'. She was used to her creations looking a little less than extraordinary, but her inner perfectionist was unsettled. Regardless, her rice balls weren't important at the moment. Kyoko's were. More importantly getting Tsuna to ask for Kyoko's was the goal. Any interaction between the two would benefit their relationship at this point.
With her rice balls in her hands, Michiko navigated through the crowd towards Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto.
"Hey class rep!" Yamamoto cheerily greeted. "Are those your rice balls?"
Michiko frowned, trying to place them out of sight. Her pride couldn't bear to let them see her biggest flaw. Yamamoto, however, moved too quickly and snatched one off of the plate.
"Um, the shape is interesting?" he hesitantly spoke, examining the food.
She glared up at him, while Tsuna and Gokudera grabbed the other two rice balls off the plate.
"Why's it shaped like crap?" Gokudera scoffed, biting into it.
"Well who told you to eat it?" she hissed out through gritted teeth.
"The taste is pretty good though." Yamamoto commented.
These boys were distracting her from her goal. She turned towards Tsuna who looked rather pale as Kyoko approached the group.
"Tsuna-kun, do you want to eat them?" Kyoko asked, extending her plate.
Looks like Michiko wasn't needed here. Kyoko took the initiative herself. Luckily Tsuna can just accept, throw her a compliment, and that would already be some easy brownie points.
"Eh?!" he shrieked out.
Why was he hesitating? Michiko nudged him with her elbow, gesturing to take the rice ball. He couldn't risk getting nervous now, everything was already in place. Michiko narrowed her eyes at him and he decided to reach out to grab one. Upon closer inspection of the rice balls, her eyes widened.
Sasagawa is supposed to be good at cooking, so why were her rice balls uglier than mine? First off I swear I just saw that rice ball move. And not to mention they looked purple….They looked normal in the kitchen, so why would they spoil suddenly? Everyone else's rice balls didn't look anything like that. Unless the food was switched out it doesn't add up.
"Sawada, are you sure you want to eat that?" Michiko whispered in his ear, suspiciously eyeing the food.
"I can't just say no can I?" he whispered back.
Kyoko tilted her head, slightly confused. "Do you not like salmon?" she pouted.
That look was a deadly weapon. He couldn't reject her now. If he ate that though, Michiko knew Tsuna was definitely going to get a bad case of food poisoning. She thought of accidentally tilting the plate and having it fall. Then the blame would be on her and it wouldn't interfere with the plan. Besides she already had a reputation for being unfriendly, no one would think much of it.
While the two exchanged unsettled glances, Yamamoto and Gokudera appeared from behind, grabbing the rice balls.
"We can take one right?" Yamamoto asked.
Michiko threw a glare at them. These gluttons. They already ate her rice balls, why were they scavenging for more? Besides they commented on her rice balls' shape, but she wasn't hearing any complaints about the purple fuming death balls in their hands.
She leaned over, pretending to fall while aiming to push the rice ball out of Yamamoto's hands. After Gokudera had insulted her rice ball she had no intention of saving him from food poisoning.
Just as the rice ball was at her fingertips, Yamamoto lifted it higher out of reach and used his free hand to steady her.
"Are you okay class rep?" he leaned down with concern as he held the underside of Michiko's arm. "If you're not feeling well, you should go to the infirmary."
"No I'm okay." she hastily spat out, trying to back away from his face. She could feel her face burning up.
"Maybe you should eat something? Here." he said, extending the rice ball.
She jerked her arm out of his grip and backed away. "No thanks. I'm fine."
"Ok?" he said confusedly, lifting the rice ball to his mouth.
She stared at him with an uncomfortable expression, before speaking up. "You probably shouldn't eat-"
"If you eat that you'll die!" Tsuna interrupted her, slapping the rice balls out of both Gokudera's and Yamamoto's hands.
Michiko then watched as Tsuna somehow lost all of his clothes except for his boxers and devoured not only Kyoko's rice balls, but the entire class'.
In the end everyone saw Sawada's madness as a love declaration. "I'll kill anyone who eats the rice balls Kyoko-chan made for me." How laughable, considering Sasagawa still looked as clueless as ever. I suppose it worked out in the end, but the future was looking bleak. I didn't think he was this hopeless.
And then it was summer break….
"This is hopeless." she sighed, fanning herself with a book. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun while Michiko leaned back on her arm for support.
"Um, class rep?" Tsuna cleared his throat. "I kind of need that to finish my homework." he said, pointing towards the notebook.
She clicked her tongue. "If you had any notes in here do you think you'd be attending summer classes?"
"Uh, right." he replied, scratching the back of his head nervously.
Michiko let out another sigh as her precious summer was wasted away tutoring none other than Tsuna and Yamamoto. To think she actually thought she'd get a break from the group for a short time. Not to mention without any free time the hook up plan was on pause. What a massive pain.
"Don't talk to the Tenth like that!" Gokudera shouted, looking up from the textbook.
Michiko rolled her eyes. "It's too hot for me to care about Sawada's feelings. Are you two almost done with the homework?"
"Yup!" Yamamoto cheerily replied. "But I wasn't able to figure what question 7 was."
Gokudera laughed mockingly at Yamamoto. However, he quickly quieted down realizing he too didn't know how to solve the problem. Everyone turned their heads towards Michiko and she reciprocated with a glare.
"Fine, hand me the sheet." she extended her hand out reluctantly. Gokudera passed it over and she glared down. She was already drenched in sweat and feeling dizzy, solving math problems in this heat only exacerbated her frustration.
"What is this problem?" Michiko asked, her face showing obvious disgust. She was already ahead in the curriculum and this made no sense to her. How were they gonna give this to kids who couldn't even pass class?
"Wow so even class rep can't solve this."
Michiko's eye twitched upon hearing Yamamoto's remark. "Excuse me? Did you just say I can't solve this? Of course I can solve it!"
"I think you should calm down." Tsuna spoke up.
"I think you should shut up and let me do this problem!" Michiko shouted back, leaning over the table.
So hours had passed and we got several people to look over the problem. In the end Reborn ended up solving it. Apparently he was either just sleep talking and happened to be correct or he actually is a renowned math professor. Regardless it's still suspicious. And that was how I spent my summer vacation, annoyed and overheating. Not to mention when we got back to school he just wouldn't let me live it down.
"Morning class rep!" Yamamoto greeted. "It's not too hot today is it?"
"No, it's not." Michiko responded in her usual monotone.
"That's good, wouldn't want to get on your bad side this early in the morning."
"Yet here we are." she muttered, prompting him to laugh.
For some strange reason no matter how rude I was to Yamamoto he still didn't understand that my annoyed remarks signified irritation. Was he dense or did he have some masochistic side to him? Or maybe he knew he was causing me pain and was a sadist? Maybe he even thought we were friends? All so equally probable. Then there was of course Sawada.
They both walked through the school gate, noticing Tsuna and Kyoko standing to the side. Michiko raised a brow realizing Tsuna was once again in his underwear, something that was now oddly commonplace, but this time an unrecognizable boy stood with them.
The boy shouted "extreme" and ran off, Kyoko quickly following behind him. Michiko grimaced at his yell and strolled over to Tsuna.
"You know if indecent exposure is your idea of impressing Sasagawa I recommend you tone up because your frail build isn't doing you any favors."
Unusually Tsuna didn't have a reaction this time. His face was pale and his expression filled with anguish. Michiko waved a hand in front of his face, but garnered no response. Throwing a confused look at Yamamoto, she tilted her head gesturing for him to make an attempt.
"Tsuna?" Yamamoto questioned, while Michiko snapped her fingers in front of Tsuna's eyes.
He blinked, finally coming out of his daze, but still wearing a look of panic.
"I don't know what's up Sawada, but if you don't hurry and get your clothes back on we're gonna be late for the opening ceremony."
"Right." he responded, hurriedly putting his clothes back on.
He looked unsettled since the morning so I finally decided to approach him.
"Sawada let's talk." Michiko stood in front of his desk while he stared back with wide eyes. The class quieted down, watching the whole spectacle.
"Um sure?" he unsurely responded.
"In private." she nodded towards the door, indicating he should follow her.
She could hear the class now whispering, most likely gossiping about her motives. It was no secret that Michiko avoided everyone like the plague, so they could see no explanation behind her suddenly approaching Tsuna.
I'm not sure whether it was because I was talking to Sawada specifically or if it was the fact I finally decided to socialize, but everyone seemed to be whispering about it. They probably wouldn't have even been surprised if only one of us came back through that door (obviously me). Regardless, I had promised Sawada I would help him change when the time came, so here I was.
"So what's up?" she asked.
He blankly stared back, unresponsive.
"Okay let's make this easier, why have you looked like you're gonna wet yourself all day? You know I agreed to help you change and this is a step in the opposite direction."
"This morning Kyoko-chan's brother challenged me to a boxing match after school." he blurted out.
She furrowed her brows. That would explain who the boy from this morning was, but a boxing match? "And why exactly did he do that? I mean sure you did beat Mochida-senpai that one time, but otherwise you don't draw much attention."
"U-uh well yeah I think that was it. He said Kyoko-chan mentioned me too." A light blush spreading across his cheeks as he spoke.
Michiko tried to refrain from rolling her eyes. He was worried just a second ago, what was this transition to a lovesick little schoolboy? "Yeah of course the silver lining of the situation. Anyways what exactly is the problem with saying no to the match then? Just go up to him and refuse."
"You're right class rep, I'll refuse after school."
A motivational speech here and some logic there, there was no refusing my course of action. Sawada's refusal would be the first step in the plan for change.
Michiko watched with a blank face as Tsuna ran around the ring, screaming and dodging hits. Well, so much for refusing him. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kyoko smiling and cheering him on causing Michiko's mouth turn slightly upward.
One step forward and two steps back. Looks like we're still gonna have to keep trying.
I am so sorry if this chapter sucked, but I really wanted to have some development because honestly the character cannot go from "I hate Sawada" to "I don't mind being around him" without background. I may just be too self critical about how this development is happening, but do let me know if there is any awkwardness. Thanks for reading! And also thank you for all of you who have reviewed, it makes me seriously happy getting that review notification ^^
