A/N: Chapter 3 is now up! Phew. This one took a while, but I've done it. I managed to make this chapter longer so, well done to me! I've been receiving a lot of positive comments and I'm glad that, only after 2 chapters, you all want me to continue. Yay! So, please enjoying reading the latest chapter and a review is always appreciated.
Chapter 3: Assignment
"Hurry up you layabouts! My mother could run quicker than you!" That was the yelling from the irritating coach. He decided today, that the boys would run 15 laps straight. If they failed to comply, then they would be forced to do 100 push ups on the spot. Honda, who hated running, was keeping his pace down. He was currently running behind Katsuya, Yugi and Ryuji, whilst Bakura was running next to him.
"I hate running. It's not even fun," Honda muttered under his breath.
"If you complain Honda, the coach will force you to do push ups," Bakura warns him, "so, I would avoid bad mouthing, if I were you."
"Tsk. It's unfair. How come the girls get to play tennis?"
"They have a different coach to us."
"Hey Bakura!" Katsuya shouts back to him, barely breathing. "How many more laps have we got?"
"5".
"Oh, come on!"
Once the class had finished 15 laps, the coach yelled to them, yet again. "Class is finished! Now hurry up back inside and get to your next class!" As soon as he had finished speaking, the whole class had virtually left.
The boys were now in the locker room, currently changing back into their uniforms. "I wish I could watch the girls playing instead," Katsuya dreamily says.
"You do realise that it wouldn't just be a beating from the coach, but from Anzu as well," Ruyji tells him.
"I don't care! I'd rather a girl hit me, instead of that sorry excuse for a coach."
Ryuji just rolls his eyes at his statement. He begins to open his sport locker, when he notices that Honda has come right next to him. Honda oddly begins to smell Ryuji, causing him to jump back. "Whoa dude! What the hell are you doing?"
"What cologne are you using?" He asks simply.
"What?"
"Are you deaf or something? I asked what cologne you're using." He repeats.
"Huh? I'm not wearing any cologne at the moment. And don't go around randomly sniffing me, stupid."
"I was just asking! I liked the smell that's all, and I thought it was you who was wearing it."
"Well, it's not me. Now could move away."
"Well, excuse me!" He turns to face Katsuya.
"Don't come and start smelling me, piggy." Katsuya tells him.
"I wasn't going to. You smell all the time anyway."
"I don't smell. Besides, I don't want you smelling me whilst I'm topless."
"So he can smell you at other times then," Ryuji teases.
"Shut up Otogi! You know what I mean."
"By the way, have you been working out recently Jonouchi?" Ryuji points to his arms, noticing that he's gotten a few more muscles.
"Yeah. I've started to go to the gym."
The gym? Yugi thinks to himself. Maybe I should join a gym too. After all, I still need to get stronger.
"At least I'm sturdier than you," Honda starts stretching, to show off.
"Piss off!"
Honda walks next to him, so that he is in between Katsuya and Yugi. Whilst he continues to show off in front of Katsuya, his nose picks up the scent again. He turns to look at Yugi, who had finished changing. He leans down to his level and starts sniffing Yugi. Startled by his friends' unexpected action, Yugi jumps back away from him. "What do you want Honda? Why are you smelling me?" Yugi asks him, confused.
"For god's sake Honda! Stop smelling everyone." Ryuji says.
"Ah ha! It's you who's wearing that cologne."
Yugi looks up at Honda. "Oh. Yeah, I bought a new cologne the other day."
"What's the brand?"
Yugi fetches the bottled cologne from his bag and shows him. "Polo red. I liked the scent, so I bought it."
"Why didn't you just say it was you who had the cologne on?"
"I don't know," Yugi puts the bottle back into his bag. He doesn't really want to tell them that he bought it for Anzu's sake. Besides, it was a lot of spending out of his pocket money.
Honda raises an eyebrow and makes a funny face. "Is that so Anzu will notice you more?" He teases Yugi.
Yugi freaks out at the remark, as if he had just read his mind, and says, "No! It's got nothing to do with her."
"You're a terrible liar," Ryuji steps in. "I happen to know that that specific brand of cologne has been very popular with girls."
"Again, it has nothing to do with that," Yugi repeats himself. "I just don't want to stink of sweat."
Bakura, who had been eavesdropping, asks Ryuji, "How do you know that cologne is popular with girls?"
"Yeah Otogi. How'd you know?" Honda asks him comically, whilst smirking.
Ryuji gives Honda a dirty look, then turns to face Bakura. "I heard about it in class. The girls were saying that they liked it when boys wore it."
"So you were spying on the girls."
"I wasn't spying on them."
The boys, apart from Yugi, continued to change, until Honda broke the silence. "So Yugi, when are you going to marry her?"
"I'm not marrying her!" Yugi argues.
"Why not?" Ryuji questions, "She's got a great body you know. And her chest is nice too."
Yugi blushes slightly. "Don't talk about Anzu like that! She's more than just an object."
"Whoa, calm down. I was just saying she's got nice features is all."
"Aww he's so protective of her," Honda puts his arm around Ryuji, and they begin giggling like a bunch of idiots.
At that moment, the coach returns. "What are you ladies still doing here? Hurry up and get lost!"
Their next class is social studies. Their teacher is currently explaining an assignment, which the students must complete in pairs. "This assignment is worth 20% of your overall grade. You will have one month to research a topic of your choosing, from the list that I will provide for you. You will need to create your own question related to your topic, and you must present your findings accordingly. You will be graded on the amount of research you have collected, your evidence and how well you present your findings. I will now give you all the topics which you can select from, and you can choose who you'd like to work with."
Anzu leans from her seat to Yugi. "Do you want to work together?" She asks him.
"Um, sure." He shyly replies.
Bakura and Ryuji had decided to pair up, which means that Katsuya and Honda are forced to pair up. "Why do I have to work with you? Piggy." Katsuya moans.
"Shut up! I don't want to work with you either," Honda argues back. "And if you think that I'll be doing most of the work, then you can forget it."
"Ditto."
As the teacher finished handing out the list of topics, the bell sounded. "Okay everyone, class is dismissed."
Yugi began to pack his stationary away. He got up to leave, but Anzu quickly stopped him. "Hold on a moment Yugi."
"What is it?" He asks her.
"I was wondering if I could go to your place after. So we could make a start on the assignment."
She wants to come to mine? "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
"Okay then. I will meet you at the entrance once school ends."
"Okay."
Anzu left the classroom. Just as Yugi was about to leave, Honda stopped him by grabbing his shoulders. "What's this? She's coming back to your place? Good going Yugi."
Yugi removes himself from Honda's grasp. "We're just going to be working on the assignment."
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
"What are you two still standing around for?" Katsuya walks up next to them. "We still have one more period to go."
"Did you hear Katsuya? Anzu's going to Yugi's house later," Honda explains, with a stupid grin on his face.
Katsuya winks at Yugi, whilst giving him the thumbs up. "Good going Yugi."
Yugi face palms. "Not you too Jonouchi. She's only coming over so we can start to work on the assignment." He turns and starts walking to his next class, only to hear Katsuya shouting.
"You'd better hide all of your dirty videos that I lent you Yugi!"
"Jonouchi!"
The end of school came sooner than expected. Yugi was presently waiting for Anzu at the school's entrance. It's been a while since she came to my place. I can't even remember the last time she came over. Knocking him out of his thoughts, Anzu arrived next to him.
"Shall we go? She says with a smile. He nods and they start walking to the game shop.
Whilst they were walking, Yugi turns to ask her, "Which topic should we study?"
"I'm not sure. Let me check the list." She removes her bag from around her shoulders and opens it, to retrieve the list of topics that the teacher gave them. Skimming through the list, one topic catches her eye. "How about the one on drugs. We could possibly look at the negative effects of illegal drugs."
"That sounds like a good idea," Yugi thinks, "It may also be useful to understand the harm that illegal drugs to do us."
"Shall we do that then?"
"Yeah, let's do that."
A few minutes later, the two arrive at the game shop. "I'm home!" Yugi announces, as he and Anzu walk in through the door.
"Welcome home Yugi," his grandpa walks in from the living room, "Oh, I see Anzu is here as well. It's nice to see you again."
"Thank you. It's nice to see you again Mr. Mutou" She politely says.
"We're working on an assignment together," Yugi explains to him.
"I see. Would you like to stay for dinner Anzu? I'm making yakisoba." Sugoroku offers.
"Yes, I'd love to," she agrees.
"I'll call you two when it's ready," and with that, Sugoroku leaves them for the kitchen.
Yugi turns to Anzu. "Do you want to do it in my room?" Realising what he just said, he quickly says, "I m-mean the assignment."
She pulls a puzzled face, completely oblivious to his wording. "Sure. We won't be interrupted by your grandpa then."
"I'll get my laptop. You go on up." He then goes into the living room to find his laptop. I can't believe I just said that! How did she not notice? Well, I'm glad she didn't apprehend it. He managed to find his laptop, which was somehow hidden under the sofa, and he goes to join Anzu.
He opens his bedroom door to find Anzu lying on his bed. He nearly dropped his laptop at the sight of her. She had her hands behind her head, which was resting on his pillow, and she was staring at the celling. Her knees were slightly bent, and so he was forcing himself not to catch a glimpse of her underwear. I can't believe she's lying on my bed like that! Stop it Yugi! Calm down already, Anzu's been in your room before.
Anzu looks at him and gets up from her current position. She sits down, with her legs hanging off the bed. "So, how should we start the assignment?" She asks.
Yugi snaps out of his thoughts of her. "We could first look at drug class types, in order to establish which ones are legal and illegal."
"Okay."
He sets his laptop down on his desk and switches it on.
Anzu asks him, "Do you have another chair?"
"Yes, I'll get one for you." He goes and gets her a chair from his grandpa's room. He comes back into the bedroom and sets the chair down next to his.
She removes herself from his bed and sits next to him. Once the laptop was on the desktop screen, Yugi opens the web explorer and begins browsing. As he does so, she smells the cologne that he is wearing. Curious, she asks him, "Are you trying to impress someone?"
"W-what?" He stammers.
"The cologne you're wearing. It's polo red."
"Oh. I got this because I liked the smell."
"That's odd. Usually guys who wear that are trying to pick up girls."
"Is that so?" Yugi keeps quiet for a moment. "Do you like it?"
"Yes, it's nice." She smiles.
After hearing that, Yugi felt warm inside. I'm so glad I bought this stuff.
After a few minutes of researching, Anzu suggests that they look for some videos associated with the topic. She reaches to touch the touchpad, only to feel Yugi's hand instead. His pulse begins to race at the sudden feel of Anzu's palm. "Sorry!" She quickly apologies and removes her hand from his.
"That's okay," he says timidly, avoiding her gaze.
She thinks to herself, his hand is a lot bigger and softer than a thought…
He removes his hand from the touchpad to let her browse. She places her hand onto the touchpad, but notices the low battery sign in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. "You might want to plug in the charger. We only have 15% battery remaining."
"Okay," he complies and places the charger into the laptop and switches on the socket. "By the way, why did you ask me to be my partner?" He asks suddenly.
She turns to look at him and pauses her browsing. "Why? Well, that's because we work well together. Would you of rather have gone with Jonouchi or…?"
He interrupts her, "No! It's not that…"
"What is it then?"
"I just… didn't think you would've wanted to of worked with me."
"Why would you think that?"
"I don't know," he answers slowly.
"Don't be silly. You're one of my closet friends, of course I would want to work with you." She reassures him with a smile.
"Yugi, Anzu! Dinner is ready!" Sugrokou calls to them.
Anzu quickly jumps up from her seat. "Great! I'm so hungry." She quickly turns around to move away from the desk but Yugi suddenly grabs her arm.
"Wait a mo…"
But it was already too late. Anzu had tripped on the cable, that was behind her chair. She held onto him, dragging him down with her. She falls onto her back with him on his fours, on top of her. She opens her eyes, which she previously had closed due to the fall, to find him looking down on her, eyes wide. "I'm s-sorry," Anzu stutters, "I didn't mean to drag you down with me."
"No it's my fault!" He exclaims. "I should've told you that I had to put the cable behind your chair." Oh my god! Anzu's underneath me! I can die happy now.
She noticed that he had one of his legs positioned in between both of her legs, with his palms on either side of her head. Why hasn't he moved yet? Turning her head to the side, to conceal her blush, she bashfully asked him, "C-could you possible get off me now?"
Realising their situation, Yugi quickly and carefully removes himself from her. "S-sorry." She sits up to regain her composure. "Let's go downstairs."
She nods in approval, still avoiding to look at him, until her blush went.
The two of them arrive downstairs in the dining area. Sugoroku comes out from the kitchen. "Can I have some help Yugi? Anzu you can sit down." Yugi nods and follows his grandpa into the kitchen, whilst Anzu seats herself at the table.
Sugoroku hands Yugi the drinks to place on the table. He turns to walk away, only to hear his grandpa chuckling. "What's funny?" Yugi asks, confused.
"Oh, it's just that. I'm sorry for interrupting you two," he explains, still sniggering.
"That's okay. We managed to get most of the research that we needed."
"I'm not talking about your assignment. I mean, I'm sorry for interrupting you. You know, from 'messing around'."
Yugi's jaw dropped at his grandpa's accusation. "Grandpa! We weren't doing anything like that!" He began blushing at the thought of it.
"Well I thought you were, because I heard a loud thump."
"I accidently dropped my laptop," he lied. "Besides, me and Anzu are just friends."
"But, do you just want to be friends with her?"
He didn't reply to his grandpa's question, and with that he left the kitchen with the drinks. He re-joins Anzu in the dining room and begins to place the drinks onto the table. "It's green tea. Is that okay?"
"Yes, that's fine. Thank you."
Once Sugoroku bought out the food, Yugi and Anzu thanked him for the meal and they all began eating. The three of them engaged in conversation. Sugoroku was explaining to them that he will be attending an exhibition this weekend, associated with ancient Egypt. "Do you mind managing the shop on Sunday Yugi? I've asked your mother to take care of it on Friday and Saturday."
"Sure grandpa," Yugi agrees.
"Thank you. I'll be back for the afternoon, so you only need to manage it in the morning."
"Okay."
"Say, why don't you have Anzu help you?"
"Hmm? Me?" She asks, puzzled.
"Sure. I don't see why not. Unless you're busy?"
She thinks for a moment. "No, I'm not doing anything this Sunday."
"That's great. You can keep Yugi company." At that statement, he looks at Yugi, whilst giving him a wink. Yugi just rolls his eyes at his grandpa's childish act. Great. Now my grandpa is trying to set me up with her.
"Is that all right with you Yugi?" She questions.
"Yes of course!" He says somewhat surprised. He realises at the corner of his eye, his grandpa pulling a wide grin. Grandpa…
"Thank you for the meal Mr. Mutou," Anzu says whilst rubbing her tummy. "It was so filling."
"I'm glad you liked it," Sugoroku said satisfied.
She looks at the clock on the wall. "I have to go home now." She explains as she stands up. "Thank you for having me."
"It was nice to have you. Even though it was just for your assignment." Sugoroku smiles at her. "Please do come again."
"I will."
"Shall I walk you home?" Yugi offers as they are walking to the door.
She shakes her head, "I'm fine thank you. My house isn't that far from yours." Yugi steps in front of her and opens the door for her. She steps out onto the steps. "Goodbye. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah. Goodbye." Yugi waves to her.
As she reached the last step leading up to the game shop, she turns back up to him. "We should walk home together more often. We haven't done so in a while."
"Yes we should," he agrees, "Do you want to walk to school together as well?"
She smiles, "Sure. I'll meet you here tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay," he smiles back.
She waves to him and starts walking down the street to her house. Once she was far enough away, she let a blush form over her cheeks. I dragged him down on me! What was a thinking? I just grabbed him right then and there. But… he didn't seem fazed by it. She then becomes annoyed. Maybe he doesn't see me as a 'girl'. She smiles awkwardly, "idiot."
