Fight for Love!


17th Fight: Photo

"Hey you..."

I looked up, only to see a girl in floral dress looking at me with hostility. She had amber-red eyes and short hair. It had been quite a while since I had last seen her. When was the last time I had last seen her?

Eh? I forgot.

I stood up and looked at her with a smile. She was a tall person and I guessed that she had grown slightly taller while she was away to who-knew-where-she-had-gone-to.

"Welcome back..."

Her eyes softened and she smiled warmly at me. Without any warning, she took a step forward and pulled me towards her, allowing my head to rest on her chest. I could feel her arms wrapped around me as something wet dripped onto my right cheek and slowly trickled down.

She was crying... but why was that so?

"... Aoi-chan."

"Mikan! Wake up! You're going to be late for school! Yoichi-san and Hotaru-san have left without you too!"

My head flew up from my desk and squinted at the glaring morning sun rays which entered into my bedroom through the window. I looked at the clock and sat there, stunned. Oh no, I was so late! Why didn't Mum call me up earlier? I looked back down on the table and gawked at the black fabric right in front of me.

Oh yes, I spent the whole night sewing that. That was why I overslept! The belt was looking as fine as ever, except for the ugly black sewn marks in the middle of nowhere, unfortunately. Should I return it to Natsume? I had already done my best in sewing. So, should I?

I kept asking myself that question until I heard Mum yell at me again. I groaned and immediately stuffed the black belt into my bag. Fine. I had to return this belt to him one day anyway.

I changed into my school uniform and headed out of my house without having any breakfast. I could hear Mum yelling at me from behind but I did not look back at all. I was so frigging late! Yoichu and Hotaru had left without me too! I guessed that I was really going to hate this day. And I did.

There I was, standing in front of my nemesis next to his locker with fear gripping my heart tightly as if its life was dependent on me. No, my conscious to be exact. I might as well just faint right there and then to avoid his hostile eyes staring down at me. Maybe he had already known about his belt which was fated to be torn. Or maybe he was still angry about the nickname I had come out with by accident.

"What?" his voice was harsh when he spoke.

I cringed and slowly took out his black belt from my bag.

"Ah... your belt," I muttered softly, trying to look away from his intense gaze. "I'm so sorry that it has been torn."

There was a long silence and I gulped. Why wasn't he saying anything? Was he really angry? He must be hating me! I slowly looked at him through the corner of my eyes and gulped again. I was right. He looked extremely furious!

"Natsume-senpai, don't worry! I have tried my best to fix it!" I spoke again, trying to make things better between us as I brought the belt closer to him. "Here you go!"

"You..." He paused and looked at the belt. "Just let it be torn. Anyway, you have no talent in sewing. So ugly. Who would sew like that? It's just like a preschooler's handicraft."

"I... I know... but... I spent the whole night doing this."

I was, of course, hurt and angry. At least, I had put in a lot of effort in sewing this black belt of his. I would have gotten some good sleep and walk to school with Hotaru and Yoichi if I hadn't bother about his stupid belt. But what could I expect from this person? He was just as mean as ever.

Snatching his belt away, he let out a deep sigh and said in a low and harsh voice, "Then, you shouldn't be wasting your time in sewing this useless thing. Just throw it away and I will get a new one."

After he said that, he turned around and walked away. Was I imagining things? It seemed like Natsume was hating me ever since he had come over to my house. I knew it. He was still angry about the nickname. But it was a joke, just like the ones he always used to tease me with. Well, I did not know that he was that sensitive.

"Haha! Yukihira-san, I could see that you're being rejected," a familiar voice call out to me in a mocking manner.

I turned around and spotted Luna and her gang of three other girls snickering at me. Seeing them made my stomach churn in fear. It had been so long since I had last seen them at that time when I was beaten into a pulp by Luna. Ah... bad memories.

Plucking up my courage, I faked a smile and greeted them, "Hello, senpais! I could see that all of you are doing very well today."

"Well, of course," Sumire said and crossed her arms. "We are extremely happy to be at service for Natsume-kun."

"For the love of Natsume-kun," Anna cried dramatically as she swung her arms in the air.

Nonoko took out a pair of scissors and said grimly, "We will get rid of troublesome boys and girls who are clingy to him."

"Except for Ruka-senpai," Luna added with a smirk and sashayed towards me. "Mikan Yukihira... look what I have with me today."

She held up her hot pink handphone and flashed a photo to me. Much to my horror, it was a picture of Ruka, Usagi and me among the bushes. If I was not wrong, this photo was taken the day before.

"Flirting with Ruka-kun and Natsume-kun at the same time," Sumire muttered under her breath as she shook her head in feign disbelief. "How despicable."

Ignoring her comment, I tried to reach for the handphone, hoping that I could delete the picture from it. However, Luna was quick enough to swing her hand away and raised it up high, making it difficult for me to snatch her handphone away.

"Delete that photo!" I shouted but what I got in return was a laugh from Luna.

"Even if you delete it, I can still get it from the internet." Luna's smirk grew wider.

"What?"

"I got this photo from the internet. Someone was kind enough to upload it on the internet and I happened to see it yesterday... by accident," Anna said and shrugged. "It is all over the cyber space now, Yukihira-san."

Nonoko made snapping sounds using the scissors as she mused, "Well, that escalates quickly."

I stood there, dumbfounded. Who was the one who took this photo and uploaded it on the internet? Oh no. What should I do? Everyone would get the wrong idea and those crazy fangirls of Ruka would hunt or haunt me. Somebody... please help me and save me from this mess!

"By the way, what were you doing with Ruka-kun yesterday? I thought we did tell you not to get too close to them," Luna growled and placed another foot forward. "You are already out of the Taekwondo Club and you still haven't learn your lesson yet. Why are you so stubborn?"

Her voice, glare, and face being were extremely intimidating. She was wrong. I was not stubborn. Sometimes, there were some things which we could not avoid. Those girls could not blame me for those unavoidable things which had happened. I cleared my throat and stared hard at Luna.

"I may have quit that club but that doesn't mean that I cannot be their friends."

And there, I said it. Before I could have the time to regret what I had just said, a fist flew towards my face. Without thinking, I automatically blocked the brutal attack using my arm, but my feet remained at the same spot. I could hear soft gasping sound around me, even Luna's loud grunt was heard too.

Luna withdrew her fist and mused, "Wow... your reflexes have improved a lot. I wonder why..."

"Thank you, but I don't think I have improved that much." I faked a smile. "Or maybe... you've slowed down a little. Better buck up, Red-belter."

"What... you little...!"

I took a step backwards and bowed to them before walking away. I had to look for Hotaru. Maybe she could help me to get rid of that photo online and find the culprit. Alright, I knew what I had said back then would get me into more trouble, but removing that photo was my top priority right at this moment!

I burst into my classroom and spotted Hotaru sitting alone near the window. She was looking at something in her handphone until I interrupted her.

"Hotaru, please help me to do something. I promise that I'll do anything for you if you help me!" I clasped my hands together and lowered my head. "Please! This is a matter of life and death!"

"Anything?"

"Yes. Anything."

"Is it because of this photo?" Hotaru asked as she flashed her phone before my eyes, revealing that photo of Ruka and me together with Usagi.

I slammed my hands on her desk and said exasperatedly, "Yes, I need to delete all of these duplicated photos and find the culprit."

"It's impossible, and you know it."

"That's why I need your help, Hotaru. You are good with informative technology stuffs, aren't you? You got to help me with this," I begged. "Please!"

Hotaru frowned and bellowed, "Who says that I'm good with IT stuffs? In the first place, why are you with Nogi-senpai? I thought you said that you would be meeting up with Nobara-senpai."

"I..."

"Whatever it is, I will try to help you." Hotaru sighed. "Geez. You're so troublesome."

My face brightened up at this instance and I thanked her. I knew I could not do anything without Hotaru. If I were a boy, I would want Hotaru to be my girlfriend.

Girlfriend?

I stared at Hotaru again for a moment. It remained me about Hayate's love letter. I wondered how the meeting went.

I sat next to Hotaru and asked, "Hotaru, did you accept Hayate-senpai's confession yesterday?"

"No, I didn't."

"That's sad..."

I could picture Hayate's sad face after being rejected by her. I really pitied him.

"But I told him that we can be friends and I might think about it again if he manages to impress me," she replied dully.

"I see."

For some reason, I had a bad feeling when she said that. I shook my head, trying very hard to clear any unnecessary thoughts away from my head. I leaned back and closed my eyes. I guessed it was going to be another long day ahead of me again.


Hi, everyone! It has been awhile since I have last updated this story, right? Thanks for the reviews, even though I am slow at updating this story!

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- HizuriKyoko
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Preview of '18th Fight: Scratches':

He looked up and stared into my eyes as he slowly inched towards me. I could feel my whole face grew warm, probably due to the rapid pounding of my heart. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. I felt like putting my hands in between us again but I was stiffened.

Suddenly, I felt his breath brush against my ear and heard a soft whisper, "Do you know that you've a body which can make any boy go crazy?"

Please do check out my other GA fanfics while waiting for the next chapter to be updated. :)

Anyway, please don't forget to review this chapter and tell me how it is! Thanks! :D