Fight for Love!
18th Fight: Scratches
What had I gotten myself into?
Why was my life entangled with their lives?
What had I done wrong? Did I unconsciously accuse them in any way?
I wanted my normal high school life back. I really wanted it back!
"Hey! Look out!"
I snapped out of my thoughts and turned my head to the left, facing an incoming car with a horrified look. I stood there, stunned and not knowing what to do next. The honking sound echoed inside my head, as if my head was filled with nothing but just a hollow or empty space.
All I could do was to close my eyes and wait for the enormous impact.
"Be careful!"
Suddenly, I was pushed away by a strong force. I could feel a pair of arms wrapped around my body as I rolled on the bumpy road. I thought I was hit by the car at first but when I opened my eyes, I realised that I was wrong. The car zoomed past me a few centimetres away; it was a close call, and there was someone lying on top of me.
The person let out a soft moan as he tried to get up and looked at me with a pair of huge innocent eyes. He looked like a girl to me. He had long eyelashes, fair skin, and a baby face which I had always wanted.
"Let's get out of here fast! Another car is coming!" he shouted and stood up, pulling me up as well by grabbing my arm which was filled with scratches.
We ran to the pavement and rested there. As I was panting heavily, the boy let go of my arm and heaved a sigh of relief. Well, I was relieved too. If he did not push me away, I would have been dead by then. I got to thank him.
"Are you all right?" he spoke in a soft and gentle voice and he tilted his head a little to see my arm. "Oh dear! You're injured! Hurry! I will take you to a nearby clinic!"
"Eh... Eh? You don't have to..."
He grabbed my arm again and said, "Come on! What if those wounds are infected? No, you can't let them be infected!"
"I'm fine. I really am. Thanks a lot for saving me and your concern," I replied and gently pulled my arm away from his grasp.
The boy gave me an uncertain look and finally nodded. He touched his side pocket and carefully took out a pair of round spectacles. Then, he put it on.
My image of him changed. With that round spectacles on him, his feminine look was replaced with the look of some whiz kid. Speaking of glasses, I heard that some guys looked great with them. I wondered how Natsume and Ruka would look like if they wore spectacles.
I shook my head. Why was I even thinking of them? Before I could even bang my head on the concrete ground, I realised that the boy's spectacles were still in one perfect shape. But I swore he had rolled on the floor when he had come to my rescue. What kind of glasses was that? Shouldn't a pair of normal glasses have broken easily when one squash it with his dead weight?
Wow... It was either his spectacles were tough or he was skilled at rolling without breaking it.
"If it's really fine with you, I shall take my leave then," the boy said as he bowed politely to me and walked away.
I stared at my wounded arm and winced. I guessed I really had an unlucky day. Firstly, I was hated by Natsume. Secondly, a photo of me and Ruka was escalated throughout the internet. And lastly, I was nearly hit by a vehicle and suffered from minor injuries. Yes, those things on my arm, though looked horrifying bloody, was actually minor. It was nothing compared to Luna's ultra-powered kick. Thinking of Luna again really gave me the chills.
As I walked along the pavement, I noticed a familiar figure walking far ahead of me. Like me, he was a brunette, but he had slightly broader figure than I had. Not that I had a broad shoulder, neither did I want to look macho, that figure looked a little like Koko from behind. That was weird. What was he doing here after school hours?
"Koko-chan?" I called out, feeling afraid that I might have called out to the wrong person, and luckily, that person responded by turning his head around and looked blankly at me.
As I walked closer to him, I noticed that he was squinting at me and rubbing his chin in deep thought, probably trying to make out who I was. He couldn't have forgotten me, could he?
"Ah! Mi-chan!" He grinned as he hit his fist on his palm like he had defied the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. "What a coincidence! Oh, and don't call me Koko-chan!"
"Same to you, don't you dare call me Mi-chan," I retorted with a scoff. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"Me?" Koko pointed to himself and tilted his head. "I was looking for your school."
"Eh? Why?"
"Because I want to know how your school looks like," he casually replied and started laughing, as if his answer was funny.
It was indeed a funny and weird answer. Why did he even want to know about my school?
"Mi-chan..."
"Don't call me that," I immediately shot back with a frown.
Ignoring my words, he reached out, grabbing my wrist and pulling my injured arm towards him, and spoke in a low and serious tone which made me shudder, "Your arm... What happened?"
"It's... nothing." I quickly withdrew my arm and put it behind my back. "Mostly importantly, don't you have to return home..."
"Follow me," he interrupted me and without warning, he held my injured arm and started pulling me towards a nearby bench. "Whatever happened, how could you be so careless? Leaving those wounds alone is going to leave scars on you, you know?"
"It's nothing, really," I muttered and tried to pull my arm back once more.
However, Koko forced me to sit down and took out a small black pouch from his bag. A black pouch? It was rare for a boy to carry a pouch around. Then, he took out a small transparent bottle of white liquid and a few cotton buds from the pouch.
"It's going to be painful. Bear with it," he said softly.
I knew what he was going to do next and I totally against it. Yes, I was truly against alcohol rubbing on my wounds. Adding disinfectant on wounds was like tripling the pain intensity and it was definitely a no-no to me. That was why whenever Mum wanted to clean my wounds, I would always find ways to escape. Or sometimes, I wouldn't even bother to tell her that I had scrapped myself.
"Ah... wait..." I stopped him from pressing the alcohol-soaked cotton bud onto one of the scratches. "I don't think it's a good idea. Minor wounds..."
Before I could finish my sentence, he deliberately pressed the bud on the bleeding wound. He freaking pressed it! And it stung painfully!
I winced. "Hey! Stop it!"
I tried to withdraw my arm again but he was still stubborn and held my arm tightly, refusing to let it go. He continued to clean the wounds while I sat there wincing and groaning at every stinging sensation I felt on my poor arm. I did not get it. They were just minor cuts and scratches and he was taking them seriously like I would die from severe blood loss.
"All done!" he finally shouted and smiled at me. "I'm glad that I did come here today. It is like... without me here, I bet you wouldn't bother about these wounds. Hmm... maybe it's fate!"
I shook my head in disagreement and said, "They're minor, nothing to worry about. Besides, do you always carry antiseptic around?"
"Yup. In case of any emergency during Taekwondo training, I would carry this black pouch with me everyday, like a first aid kit," he replied proudly and rubbed his nose which was pointing up in the air.
I laughed weakly and looked down quietly. Thank goodness that Koko was here, if not I would have to return home with a bleeding arm and wait for Mum to perform her so-called medical skills on me. I was not joking; she would press my wounds so hard and say that it was for the sake of a faster recovery. What lies! I would rather let Koko do it for me!
"Mi-chan, you don't look too good. Are you really all right?" Koko gave me a look of concern as his face moved closer to mine. "You look slightly pale."
I turned my head towards him and realised that I was staring directly into his eyes. His face was really close! Without thinking, I stuck my hands in between our faces, totally blocking our view from each other.
"I'm fine, except that I have a rough day today and I slept late last night," I replied.
He pushed my hands away and stared at me with a puzzled look.
"Oh... what happened?"
"It's... argh... that stupid Natsume-senpai and his fangirls," I groaned and rubbed my aching forehead. "There's also a photograph of me and Ruka-senpai circulated around the Internet!"
"Ah... that..." Koko muttered and looked away from me. "I think... I've seen it this morning. That's why I came here."
So, he wasn't here to know how my school looked like. It was certainly obvious anyway.
"I hope... there's nothing going on between the two of you," his voice dropped as he was still looking away. "And about Natsume-san and his fangirls, did they bully you?"
I could not really say that they were bullying me. It was more like tormenting me. I could not imagine my 'perfect' high school life would be facing Luna and her gang at every corner of the school I wandered to, and Natsume whom I had no idea what was wrong with. Seriously, I did not know how to answer Koko.
"Natsume-san is really popular. He can fight well and is good looking, no wonder a lot of girls like him," Koko continued to trail off and turned to look at me again. "Say, what do you actually think of him?"
I pointed at myself and returned him a stare with wide eyes. What did I think of him? Of course, he was conceited sensitive jerk who got angry because I gave him a nickname. It was not like he did not call me any weird nickname! At least, 'Nekome' sounded nicer than 'flat-chested boxer'!
"He always annoys me so I don't like him at all," I said and then pouted like an angry child with arms crossed. "Always calling me flat-chested boxer, ungracious, mean, arrogant... and..."
I paused and looked down. What else should I describe him? A gay? A pervert? Oh, a perverted gay would sound perfect!
Wait... why the hell I had so many things to describe him?
Just then, I felt a strong pair of hands grabbed my shoulders and I was turned, facing Koko directly again. I shuddered. His gaze slowly went lower and lower, and finally rested upon my chest. Alright, I knew it. I knew he was going to call me flat-chested too.
"I think Natsume-san meant otherwise," he spoke in a soft and low voice.
"Eh?"
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?"
My eyes flew open and I found myself staring at his left ear which was slightly covered by his light brown hair. His whole face was brought next to mine, and not to mention how close it was.
"I think Natsume-san thinks so too..."
Hi, everyone! Sorry for the late update! By the way, thanks for waiting patiently for this long waited chapter.
Special thanks to the reviewers:
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Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story. :)
Preview of '19th Fight: He Deserved It':
"What are you doing with him?" Natsume stopped walking and suddenly spoke, snapping out of my thoughts. "Being all intimate and close. You're going out with him, aren't you?"
Upon hearing that, I frowned and retorted, "You're wrong! Koko-chan and I are just..."
"As if I care," he bellowed and started walking again. "It's your fault."
"Huh?"
"If you hadn't picked me up that day..."
*For readers who constantly checked if this story was updated, I sincerely apologise for not stating when I would be updating. Since I don't know when I will be updating this story (due to my schoolwork and other stuffs), I would (probably) update this story monthly, if possible.
Anyway, please don't forget to review this chapter and tell me how it is! Thanks! :D
