A/N: Sorry guys. This is only a super long author's note, so feel free to skip it if you just want a new chapter; but I advise reading the very end. I've been very busy lately with travel volleyball because we have been traveling all over the country, and in my "extra" time I've been studying for school or extra academic activities outside of school. Anyways with this story I'm not quite sure what I am aiming for, but maybe I've been thinking that the World's star doesn't have to be a story's star. I'm thinking of some compare and contrast between country and city life, so if you have any ideas please PM me. I'm debating whether or not to put song lyrics in this fan fiction or not, so once more feedback would be helpful. Also thank you for reviewing and following. This is my most successful story so far, but writing on this website is an outlet for me because I write not only because I love writing; but also because your reviews just boost my spirits. It's like steroids except that it lifts my spirits legally and without any harm. I haven't mapped this story out because I'm that kinda author, but it means I'm a lot more open to opinions. Also I love it when you guys yell at me to update it actually works! Oh ya since this post is on April Fools, I was kidding about this being only an author's note so here is Chapter 2!
Chapter 2: A Step Forward
"Oh my God! You perverted bastard! Have you ever heard of knocking!" Misaki screeched as Usui opened the bathroom door. She would have gotten up to smack his foolish head of blonde bed hair except for the fact that she was sitting on the toilet.
"Oops, sorry." He said closing the door. Her face was flushed from embarrassment. Oh my God! Had he seen her underwear? UGH that disgusting man! She crouched over her legs cradling her head in her hands.
Misaki couldn't lock the door because the bathroom door didn't have a lock for some strange reason. Incidents like this never happened until today. At least it wasn't Suzuna or her mom that had to experience this. She stared at herself in the mirror, composing herself, before leaving the bathroom.
The Ayuzawa family woke up two hours early to prepare the bakery for it's opening at 8 o'clock. While her mother and Suzuna began making dough, Misaki began emptying and cleaning the window displays. Her head turned as she heard the hollow, resounding sound of someone walking down the stairs. Usui with his somewhat tidy hair climbed down the stairs and asked, "Can I help?"
"Of course you can." Minaki replied gently with a bright smile. Even perverted helpers were welcomed as long as they did their job properly. Misaki ignored them as Suzuna explained to Usui how to create a crater for the jelly inside of a pastry. Pastries were in high demand especially since the Blue Willow festival was just around the corner.
The next couple days flew by as lanterns were hung up, pastries were made, and festival floats were decorated. Usui faded in the back of Misaki's mind as he fell into the monotonous routine of the bakery. While Usui worked to earn his keep in the Ayuzawa family, Misaki was busy with Talo, the town's dramatist. He had chosen Misaki for Azure, the female protagonist in the festival's play. She defies the village's best hunter and her older brother Koi, played by Hinata Shintani, and goes off to find the Moon Eater, an enormous wolf.
"Is this really a good idea?" Misaki asked smoothing out the simple creamy vanilla dress with a light silver blue gauze over it. The thick cobalt blue wool cloak draped on her back was beginning to make her skin tingle with heat. A plastic sword was attached to a thin leather cord wrapped around her waist.
"You'll be fine Misaki. It's only the whole village and the Tokyo guy watching you." Talo tried to reassure her patting her shoulder. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face whether from anxiety or heat. She couldn't tell.
"Come on Azure. You know me and my hunters can handle it." Koi said in a reassuring tone. He reached out for a hug thinking the argument was finished.
"You and your hunters can't fight a spirit!" Azure said pushing her brother's arms away before running off stage.
"Well neither can a little seamstress!" Koi called with his hands cupped around his mouth.
"What am I going to do with her." Koi sighed looking at the ground as he ran a hand through his almond brown hair before walking off stage.
The makeshift bright red curtains closed as the fifteen minute intermission began.
"I'm so sweaty." Misaki mumbled as she guzzled down a plastic cup of water.
"You looked great out their, Misa-chan." Hinata said collapsing on the wooden bench.
"You to You-kun. I wonder who is playing the wolf this year." Misaki said adjusting her cloak.
"Me too."
"Hey Misaki, I wanted to…"
"I need Azure on set!" Talo called in an attempt to sound professional.
"Coming!" Misaki called running on stage. She got into position and stood over the tiny x taped onto the floorboards. A sense of dread filled her as she waited for the curtains to open. She had put it off till now but the time was getting closer and closer. The kissing scene… Before her thoughts got the best of her, the curtains swayed open
Her eyes gazed at the audience of friends and family, a community. Her focus returned to the play as Talo waved his hands around off stage in frantic gestures to get her attention.
Azure ran through the woods before coming face to face with a giant wolf. It's mouth hung open as drool dripped from its jaws. The canine towered over her before leaping onto her. The little seamstress yanked out the sword from her waist and plunged it into the hairy sternum of the beast. The momentum of the wolf falling on her forced the sword deeper into its chest.
"Um." Azure said to herself as she crawled out. The adrenaline draining away. The fur fell off the body of the wolf. The snout cracked and shattered revealing a man laying flat on his back on the forest floor.
"Zuri." He mumbled using the nickname which belonged to his girlfriend.
"Yuzu?" She said as she covered her face and cried. The moon eater was her loved one. She had plunged a sword into Yuzu's chest. Her lover was going to die because of her. She was Yuzu's slayer; she had killed her future.
"Why?" She mumbled brushing a hand across his masked face.
"So tempting. The spirits wouldn't stop whispering. Kept saying that I was doing the right thing." He whispered in breathy sighs.
"Zuri"
"Yes?"
"I love you, Azure."
"I love you too, Yuzuro."
She leaned in to kiss the mask which hid his face.
This was so awkward, kissing the face of a guy with a mask. Mask kissing? She had been in the zone, caught up in character, until her hands settled on the man's cheek. It was warm as her fingers brushed his face. Talo owed her one for making her his star in the Blue Willow play. Usually the play was an actual kiss, but upon her request Talo had added a mask.
"Her tears watered the ground causing a blue sprout to emerge. It would grow in the same spot where Azure slept, cried, and passed away with her dead lover. She would run out of tears and join her lover in the stars, but the blue willow tree she left behind would heal many in the future making up for the death she caused." The narrator said as the curtains closed.
The minute the curtains closed, Misaki sprang up and off her "dead lover". She politely offered a hand to help him up.
"Thanks." He said nodding in acknowledgement at her. His voice, his unusual height, and his stoicness…Wait. Wasn't the Yuzu actor a brunette?
"Usui?" Misaki exclaimed before clamping her mouth with her hands. They were still on stage; and even though the curtains were shut, the audience probably heard her.
"What are you doing here?" She demanded as the other actors lined up on the edge of the stage behind the curtains waiting for the curtain call.
"Talo asked me to fill in for the actor who got injured during the play. Come on, you don't want to miss your curtain call." Usui said walking off to line up with everyone.
The curtains opened up again, and performers walked on stage when their name and part were called out and bowed. Some performers were paired together while others had the stage to themselves.
"Maddy, May, Chihoro Kazuka as fortune girls."
"Hinata Shintani as Koi."
"Takumi Usui as Yuzuro, and Misaki Ayuzawa as Azure."
Being on stage with a pervert she had kissed through a mask at a somewhat typical festival was one of those memories she would never be able to forget.
Misaki and Usui didn't get off to a smashing start, but it wasn't terrible either. The town girls tended to flit around the blond during the day time, but he only seemed interesting in Shirapo's culture. Nothing else nothing more. Well, that's what Misaki thought until the night right before the morning he left.
Misaki opened her door at around 1 in the morning to go grab a drink of water. It was one of those odd habits she had.
"Someone must have left the lights on." She mumbled to herself as she reached a hand to turn off the light switch but stopped as she heard bits and pieces of a conversation. She inched closer till she saw Usui and her mom talking at the dining table over a cup of tea.
"You know. I really do worry about her. Shirapo isn't and never will be enough for Misaki. It would be a waste to keep her here." Minako said taking a sip of herbal tea from a simple white tea cup.
"My offer still stands, Ayuzawa-san." Usui informed calmly with both hands clasped together on the table.
"It is really considerate and kind of you Usui, but...well, you know. You don't have to do this to repay us for our hospitality. You've helped us a great deal in the bakery already." Minako said a bit lost for words to explain her thoughts. After all this man who had helped the bakery flourish in only a week or so was offering to support her daughter,
"Well, I'll let you think about my offer to take her back with me, Ayuzawa-san. Goodnight." Usui said getting up and walking towards Misaki who was hiding behind a wall.
In defiance Misaki stepped out of the shadows and demanded, "Now why would I go anywhere with you!" Her finger pointing accusingly at Usui and then at her mother.
"Mom, how could you!" Minako stared guiltily at her tea cup in front of her. Her age was more evident in the dim light of night. Wrinkles formed by time were etched into the crevices of her face. A part of Misaki's mind understand her mother was doing what she thought best, but discussing her future without even letting her have a voice…! It was infuriating as anger coursed through her blood. She felt a tinge of violence tickling her fingers. One punch...no Misaki, no violence. Deep breaths.
Misaki took an aggravated step towards her mother, but was stopped by a large, firm hand on her shoulder.
"Ayuzawa, she was only doing what she thought best. She's a single mother raising two daughters and worrying about their future. She was only considering that my offer may be the right choice. I'll leave you to alone now. Goodnight." He said leaving a dumbstruck, guilty Misaki in his wake.
"Sorry for snapping at you." Misaki said as she walked over to her mother and took a seat next to her.
"It's alright. I should've told you. Usui said that he would take you to Tokyo and help you get into a college or university. I thought that this was the chance you deserved. You mean so much to me, Misaki." Minako said with a sigh before continuing.
"Misaki, I told you how we came here to Shirapo. You were born a city girl. You deserve the opportunities.."
"Mom, I…"
"You deserve the chances I can't give you. Suzuna and I will be fine here. Do something for yourself."
"Mom, I wi…"
"Let us do something for you. Tokyo has many more opportunities than Shirapo has to offer. Misaki, I…"
"Mom, I'll go!" Misaki interrupted. A look of astonishment and joy edged with traces of sadness lit across her face.
"You better go pack, honey. Usui leaves at noon tomorrow on the train. Don't forget to tell him you're going with him." Minako said shooing her daughter off. Cautiously, Misaki climbed the stairs to the attic to find Usui taking off his shirt. Did he sleep shirtless? Misaki wondered before scolding her self for having such a disgusting thought.
"Hey Usui." Misaki said staring at him and then at the floor. She couldn't help but peek. His body wasn't overly muscular but just right with just enough distinguished muscle to outline… FOCUS MISAKI!
"Hmm." He said looking at her in the eye. She glared definitely at him and announced and practically yelled, "We accept your offer!"
"I'm glad, but are you sure you're not sick, Ayuzawa? Your face is red." He said walking over and reached out with a hand to touch her forehead. His body radiating heat...his touch so close to her. Her heart sped up. What was this dizzying, confusing feeling? Her fingers were tempted to reach out and touch his abs just to see if they were real. Okay, she really wasn't herself...him and his stupid pheromones.
"I'm fine. It's just a little warm tonight. Goodnight!" Misaki said in a rush before escaping down the stairs. She could hear his chuckle echoing throughout the household.
A/N: I know I'm updating kinda slowly or maybe really slowly, so thank you for being patient. I'm taking my time because I want to make sure what I upload isn't trash if u get what I'm saying. Thank you again for being patient and supportive. See y'all next time!