FAST UPDATE YAAAY.
Idk y'all I feel like I did a good job on the plot but the actual writing itself is trash!
ENJOY.
-o-
"Oh, Honoka, pretty please with a jumbo-sized cherry on tooooop!" the cheerful woman begged. The peach haired lady made a face.
"Why do you want me to look after this Misaki girl, anyway?" she asked. "As far as I know, she's not related to you in any way, shape, or form, Satsuki."
She shook her head. "We may not be blood related but she's like a niece to me. Except, like, a really cool niece that's an actress."
Honoka rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you've established that. Multiple times."
Satsuki pouted. "Just please be their personal driver for this round trip?"
"Hmm…" she hummed thoughtfully "What do I get out of it?"
"Everytime you come over you now have access to my freezer and all the mint chocolate chip ice cream."
Honoka grinned evilly. "It's a deal."
"Score!" Satsuki yelled. "Make sure to fill me in on the juicy details!"
-o-
"Misaki," Honoka called. She walked outside to be met with nothing but the sight of the occasional person walking down the sidewalk and bustling cars on the roads.
Walking further down, her ears picked up the sound of quiet sniffling. Honoka tensed up, instantly thinking of dogs. She was absolutely terrified of dogs and did not want to run into one now.
She spun around, half-expecting to find one of those vicious creatures at her feet. But what she was not expecting was to see the amber-eyed girl she'd been searching for all along sobbing beside a few bushes.
"Misaki…?" she called, tentatively, not wanting to scare the fragile girl.
Hearing her name being called, the strong-willed female quickly wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. "O-Oh, Honoka, you're back," she said, trying her best to force a convincing smile onto her face. "I was just waiting for you."
Honoka frowned. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but she already knew and didn't want to make it worse. "Takumi wants to see you in his hospital room. Is that okay with you?" she requested.
Misaki meekly nodded her head. "Come with me," she told Honoka, trying her best not to burst out in tears again at the mere sound of his name. Picking up her bags, they both re-entered the hospital, finding Takumi's room.
Hearing the door open, Takumi jumped into explanation. "Misaki please, I know a lot happened in the past few hours and it's a lot to take in at once—" he stopped upon seeing her face. "What the hell?! You were crying?" he exclaimed, trying to get out of his bed, only to be stopped by the IV machine and an excruciating pain in his leg.
"Takumi!" she cried, watching him fall to the floor. Misaki rushed over to his side, gripping his arm to help him back onto the bed. She knew it, he was hurt. It was too good to be true that all of them got out of the accident injury-free.
Hearing her worried tone, Takumi reached up and gently ran his thumb beneath her eye. It was slightly red and puffy, and he hated himself for it because he knew he was the reason she was crying.
"I'm so sorry," he said. Misaki shook her head.
"As long as you get better it's all that matters to me," she whispered, stealing a quick glance at Maria, who was standing to the side along with Honoka who both looked concerned.
Deciding to stay silent for the moment, Takumi allowed her to help him up back into the bed. He would explain everything that needed to be explained soon.
-o-
Awkward.
That was the word to describe the situation they were in at the moment.
Misaki, Takumi, Maria, and Honoka all sat in an awkwardly shaped circle with the blonde woman stealing glances at an awkward Misaki every three seconds which made it super awkward and there was a totally awkward silence.
Yeah, that's a whole lot of awkward.
Finally, deciding to get to the point instead of dragging this on, Takumi cleared his throat.
"Misaki," he started, "first of all, we need to clear something up. You are the only one I love and will ever love. Maria, for some reason, decided it would be hilarious to pull an immature prank on you, but she is indeed my cousin. I would never in a million years even think of cheating on you, Misaki. I need you to know that."
The raven haired female threw up a quick glance at Maria, then at Takumi.
"It's true," the blonde woman confirmed, "I did do that. But not for the reason you're thinking."
"What's the reason I'm thinking?"
"I can tell that you think I pulled such a stunt to make you jealous—or maybe because I didn't think you were worthy of my cousin," she grinned. "But actually, Misaki, I think I'm in love with you."
The entire room fell silent. Takumi sighed, placing his forehead in his palm, Misaki was completely shocked and rendered speechless, and Honoka glanced at everyone's expressions, wide-eyed at the sudden announcement.
"..."
"Y-You're my boyfriend's cousin...I don't understand how—" she tried to speak, only to be silenced.
"Misaki," Maria started. "Love is a feeling that cannot be explained. Even though your heart belongs to my brother, I shall soon steal it from him and make it mine."
"Not creepy at all," Honoka commented dryly.
Misaki cracked a smile. "Well, um, with that aside, Takumi, I should've let you explain before just running off like that. I'm really sorry."
"Don't be."
Misaki's smile faded. "But um...what's wrong with your leg?" she inquired, her eyebrows furrowing.
He inhaled sharply, before answering hesitantly, "I broke it."
Misaki frowned, eyeing his leg carefully, which was covered by.a white blanket. She figured he'd been trying to hide this from her. "Doesn't it hurt?!"
He laughed. "Incredibly much. I'm just on lots of medication," he gestured towards multiple small, orange pill bottles. "In fact I had to stop myself from asking for them to just chop off my leg."
She continued to stare, tears brimming at her eyes. "I'm sorry."
Takumi, noticing her guilt, ushered her over towards him. He glanced at Maria and Honoka, before quickly looking at the door. They both got the message and waved before leaving.
"I didn't mean to make you feel bad," he soothed, pulling her into a hug. She nodded.
"I know, I know," she sobbed, allowing him to wipe away her tears. "I'm sorry for being so useless. All I do nowadays is cry over dumb stuff while you get hurt…"
He frowned. "You're not useless. Without you I'd be nothing," he reassured her. Her heart skipped a beat. No matter how many times he said such things, it never failed to make her flustered and not to mention extremely happy.
She pulled out of the hug, looking into his eyes seriously. "D-Did the driver get charged?" she asked. Takumi's forehead wrinkled as he shook his head slowly.
"All they could find was his wrecked car. The driver was gone by the time anyone arrived."
Misaki sighed. "Damn it."
Bing!
Her phone alerted in her pocket, telling her that she received a message. She quickly dug it out and turned it on to see that Sakura had texted her.
She was quite confused when she read it. All Sakura left was a link to some page but nothing explaining what it was. Slightly suspicious, she tapped the blue link.
"Something wrong?" Takumi asked. Misaki shook her head.
"No, no. It's just that—" the page loaded and Misaki stared at it, wide-eyed. This was the most absolutely outrageous thing she'd ever seen in her entire life. Aside from when one day she found Suzuna with her head stuck in a fence. That took the cake, but this was a close second. "Uhh, actually, I take that back. Yes."
She flashed the phone screen his way so he could read.
"Takumi Usui cheats on girlfriend, Maria Miyazono, with second girlfriend's best friend…" he read aloud.
"Who even comes up with these ideas?" Misaki muttered. She scrolled down to find a picture of Honoka screaming at Takumi, with Maria beside him looking rather shocked.
Takumi, who was now looking over her shoulder, commented, "That was when Honoka came up to yell at me for 'cheating on you'."
Misaki frowned. Although these stories were indeed outrageous in her head, it was unbelievable how many people actually trusted these kinds of articles and built judgements off them. "We need to have this taken down. At this rate, our careers could be ruined with these crazy scandals."
He nodded in agreement. "Well, let's get out of this hospital, then. Nothing is going to be resolved by just sitting here."
"What about your leg?"
"Sweet Misaki, there is an amazing contraption called crutches."
She grinned sheepishly. "Oh, yeah."
-o-
Misaki and Takumi stood in front of an incredibly tall building. After calling Director Hirayama, he informed them that this was the place where most of the media, including news reports and articles, were controlled by.
"How may I help you?" A security guard asked. Misaki glanced at Takumi, then back at him.
"Hi, I'm Misaki Ayuzawa—"
"Please come right on in," he interrupted, opening the large glass door for her and gesturing for her to enter. She glanced suspiciously at the guard. She barely finished saying her name, so why was he so quick to allow her in?
"Uh, thank you."
They both entered the building, before Misaki began glancing around in awe.
"It's so beautiful in here," she gasped, staring at the high ceilings and marble floors. It kind of reminded her of the mansion.
"I would normally hug you because of how cute you look right now," he said, before lifting up a crutch. "But unfortunately I can't."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "You can't be a pervert anymore~" she teased, feeling quite accomplished.
"You have a nice ass, Misaki."
She turned red. "W-What kind of random, perverted thing—"
"See? I can still be a pervert," it was his turn to stick his tongue out at her.
Misaki huffed and turned away from him. "Whatever," she said, "let's just go find a worker here…"
Chuckling at her ignorance, Takumi made his way towards a receptionist. "Do you know which department is responsible for media? I'd like to ask for an article to be taken down."
She looked up from her papers, surprised. At first, she was going to turn him away, telling him that it would be impossible to do, but after realizing it was him and that lady…
"Actually, you can talk to the president for that. He's at the very top floor. His door is at the end of the far right hallway," she instructed.
"Got it," he nodded, turning to find Misaki at his side.
"President's office? Something seems off, Takumi," she whispered.
He nodded, walking to a nearby elevator. "I agree, but it couldn't hurt to try."
"I don't know…" she muttered, standing in the large elevator. He pressed the top floor. "It's just, I don't know how to say this, but something's been bothering me ever since we came in here."
He looked at her, concerned. Maybe she was hurt from the accident as well. "What is it? Are you feeling sick?"
She pressed her lips together. He didn't get it. "It's not that kind of bothering me, it's like…" she shrugged. "Nevermind. It's nothing."
The elevator doors opened, and they exited. Misaki felt strange. She was racking her brain for an answer she didn't even know the question to.
Before she knew it, they were standing in front of a large door. Reaching out, she hesitantly knocked on it, still thinking hard.
Igarashi Incorporated…
"Come in," a familiar voice spoke. Misaki was immediately alert. She twisted the doorknob, allowing the door to swing open. She felt a heavy feeling in her chest.
Igarashi Incorporated…
"Igarashi," she spoke out loud, snapping her fingers. She knew something was familiar about that name…and that voice…
The man spun around in his large, leather chair. That's when she recognized him. Lime green hair, and golden eyes.
The boy from the Nebuta Matsuri…!