Fight for Love!
28th Fight: Round One
It was finally the day when Nobara and I decided to carry out our seduction plan. I had read the book on seduction from the first page and the last. Believe it or not, I spent three nights straight trying to memorise the techniques. After that, I lent Nobara the book and being a faster reader than me, she spent two nights memorising the techniques. As compared to Nobara, I was more confident in my application of the techniques and I discovered that a quick way to act them out without feeling embarrassed was to think of the guy as food. I loved food, lots of food, especially sweet and sour stuffs.
Pulling Nobara behind me, I pushed open the glass door and entered the bookshop. With a smile, I greeted Ojisan, Koko's grandfather and the owner of the bookshop. The old man flashed his toothy grin at me and gave me a thumb-up.
"Mi-chan, good morning! Why are you here so early on a Saturday morning? Don't you have to catch some sleep since it's finally weekend?"
"Yes, I wanted to but my friend and I..." I gently pushed Nobora forward, earning a shocked and desperate look from her but I ignored her and continue to converse with Koko's grandfather. "Before that, let me introduce my friend, Nobara Ibaragi."
Nobara blushed and bowed to him politely. Ojisan chuckled at her meekness and bowed to her as well.
"Welcome to my shop, Ibaragi-san. I have never seen Mi-chan's friends before. I'm so glad that she's mixing well with others other than Koko-chan."
I gawked at him. I didn't remember mixing well with Koko. I had only met him a few times and I swore I did not hang out with him like a buddy would.
Ojisan noticed my puzzled look and asked in concern, "Mi-chan, what's wrong?"
Cracking a smile, I shook my head and assured him that I was fine but just a little confused by what he had said. Then, he laughed at my reply and explained something which I probably wouldn't even expect... especially when the topic was about Koko.
"Koko-chan told me that he wanted to save you from those crazy people who keep harassing you. And he was also afraid that you have no one to rely on in school," he said. "Ah... now that you have Ibaragi-san who seems nice, I can assure him that you will be fine in school."
What?
Suddenly, Nobara clasped her hands together and cooed softly. She turned to look at me and gave me a wink which made me shudder. Why did I have this feeling that she would say something bad about his statement? Nobara returned her gaze at Ojisan and smiled innocently.
"I will take care of Mikan-chan! Please tell him not to worry about her," she said. "Koko-chan seems to be a nice person too. For him to worry so much about Mikan-chan, she must have held an important place in his heart."
My eyes widened at her words. What was she talking about?! My hand instinctively flew up out of my pocket and covered her mouth before she could continue her nonsense. This was so embarrassing that I wished I could shove those words back into her mouth before they could even reach his ears. Of course, this was not even possible. Ojisan had heard her and his emerging cheeky personality was the proof.
"Ah! Who knows?" He laughed and walked towards us. "Koko-chan always says 'ah, I want to see Mi-chan again'."
Ojisan stood next to me and gave me a light punch on my shoulder, wiggling his eyebrows playfully. I crooked an eyebrow. Did Koko say that? If so, did that mean...
Oh good! My life had never once been easier!
I glanced at Nobara who was blushing madly as if she was watching some interesting romance drama, and I swiftly removed my hand from her mouth. Well, I didn't blame her for being like this because I could understand how 'shoujo' this was right at this moment. With a smirk on my face, I was so determined to do my club proud.
"Oji-chan, do you... know..." I tucked my loose hair behind my eyes and lowered my head as I began to play the hem of my white blouse. "... when Koko will be here?"
My eyes rolled slightly upwards in order to steal a peek at the old man but before I could do that, Nobara gasped loudly and squealed, "Mikan-chan, so... so cute!"
I looked up and gaped at her glittering eyes which were staring at me. She threw her arms around me and muttered something which I totally could not comprehend.
"Hey, you're overdoing it," I whispered harshly into Nobara's ear, hoping that Ojisan would not catch what I was saying. "We have yet to get to the main topic."
Nobara froze and immediately pushed me away. Clearing her throat, she dusted her frilly dress and smiled sweetly at Ojisan.
"Mikan-chan really likes Ko..."
My hand flew upwards and covered Nobara's mouth again. What was with Nobara? Indeed, before we had entered the bookshop, she had told me that she would help me with seducing Koko. But I didn't expect her to make me like a girl who had a crush on Koko!
"Let's get back to the main point," I began, earning a curious look from Ojisan. "Will Koko be dropping by your bookshop?"
"Koko-chan?" Ojisan mumbled and turned to look at something behind him. "Shall I call him?"
Shaking my head, I exclaimed in a panic voice, "Ah, you don't have to! I just want to know, that's all!"
"Koko-chan will be excited to see you!" Ojisan turned his head and winked at me before walking towards a dark room. "Koko-chan! Wake up, you sleepy head! Mi-chan has come to see you!"
Huh? So... all along he was... in the dark room?
My mind went blank upon the scary thought of him hearing what Nobara and I had said. Suddenly, I heard a loud thud, followed by quick and heavy footsteps coming from the ceiling above me. Head tilting upwards, I gazed curiously at the ceiling and then I heard an annoyed voice shouting above all of us.
"Your trick won't work on me anymore, Ji-chan!"
"But it still manages to get you out of bed, Koko-chan!" Ojisan yelled. "Good morning, little idiot!"
"I wasn't on the bed!"
"Get up, you lazy bum! Mi-chan is here to see you!"
"Argh!" Rapid footsteps slowly faded above us and were replaced with heavy ones which seemed to be running down the stairs inside the dark room. "I told you alrea... eh? Mi-chan?"
A messy-haired boy slowly emerged from the room with a surprised look on his face. His shirt looked crumpled and his pants looked like it was going to drop down anytime soon. Besides, just by looking at his bed hairs, one could obviously tell that he had just woken up.
"Good morning, Koko-chan!" I greeted normally but inwardly, I was screaming in alarm.
Koko walked out of the room and stood still as he observed me from head to toe. After a brief moment of silence, he began rubbing his cheeks, combing his hair with his fingers, straightening his shirt and pulling his pants up to his waist level. Then, he straightened his back and cracked a sheepish smile.
"Mi... Mi-chan, y... yo!
"Sorry for waking you up, Yome-san," Nobara said politely with a bow.
"Eh?" Koko blinked in puzzlement as he eyed at Nobara. "Who... who..."
"This is my friend, Nobara Ibaragi," I introduced Nobara to him and gently pushed her forward. "I have talked to her a little about you before so she knows your name."
Blushing, Nobara giggled and blurted, "Kokochan Yome, right?"
Ojisan, Koko and I turned and gawked at Nobara who seemed to be in good mood but I immediately recovered and glanced at Koko for a response. Not surprisingly, Koko's mouth was seen twitching in disbelief and his eyes landed on me. He frowned as if he was trying to tell me that I was so dead.
What should I say? Oh shit.
"It's Kokoro Yome, Nobara-senpai!" I corrected Nobara, joining the blushing fever with her.
"Ah, sorry! Mikan-chan is always saying Koko-chan-Koko-chan whenever she mentions you so I have always thought your name is Kokochan Yome. Sorry about that, Yome-san."
I glanced at Nobara with wide eyes. What did this cheeky senior say? Geez! Never judge a book by its cover. I swore I told her his full name without mixing up with his nickname! Nobara was just trying to embarrass me further in front of Koko and his grandfather!
"Koko-chan, don't believe..." I turned around and my voice died.
Literally died. I was not kidding.
Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me but it was a bright Saturday morning and all I saw was Koko's angry face which was so red that it looked as if he was going to blow up anytime. I was stunned and felt my legs began to wobble. As much as I felt terrible for being the one who made him so angry, I didn't know what to do or say. I should seriously drop his nickname.
Gosh, boys were so picky and sensitive. While they enjoyed calling others funny names, they disliked others calling them funny names.
"I'm going to change out of these clothes," Koko muttered and turned around. "I will talk to Mi-chan later... after I've changed."
"And call your buddy up too!" Ojisan said.
With his back facing us, Koko nodded and entered the dark room. Ojisan let out a soft chuckle and faced us again. He pointed into the dark room and grinned cheekily.
"Don't take it too hard, girls. He's like this when he's shy."
I tilted my head slightly, showing how doubtful I was when he said that. Koko was obviously angry. Like Natsume, he didn't like to be called 'Koko-chan'.
After a couple of minutes, Koko emerged from the dark room again and behind him was another person. A familiar person to be exact. I clutched onto Nobara's sleeve and tugged it a few times, diverting Nobara's attention to me.
"This is Kitsuneme-san," I spoke rather softly.
Nobara covered her mouth as she gasped softly and muttered, "He's good looking."
"Seduce him, my friend."
"Ah, but I have to mentor you first..."
I frowned. "What's there to mentor?"
"In case you get so embarrassed and flee from Yome-san," Nobara replied with a smile.
"I won't," I hissed back and returned my gaze back to the two boys.
"Wow, Koko, I didn't know that you're wanted by girls so early in the morning," Kitsuneme remarked loudly but his best friend slapped his head hard, causing his whole body to lean slightly forward.
I laughed and decided to start the 'matchmaking' introduction. "Kitsuneme-san, this is Nobara Ibaragi, my friend."
Nobara smiled sweetly at Kitsuneme and greeted formally, "Good morning, Kitsuneme-san. I've heard so much about you from Mikan-san..."
All of a sudden, we heard a loud choking sound which startled almost everyone in the room. I looked around and spotted Koko, who had moved to the counter to prepare something, covering his mouth with his eyes wide opened. He coughed hard again and again until he let out a wheezing sound which showed that he was done with his choking episode. For a moment, I was so frightened that something was wrong with Koko but it turned out that he was choked on his saliva.
"Chill, Koko. Chill," Kitsuneme said dully while Koko glared at him.
"As I was saying," Nobara interrupted the staring, or should I say glaring, competition between the two boys without seeming to be affected by the sudden coughs as she continued to grin happily. "Mikan has always shared about how interesting you are, Kitsuneme-san. She even said how you are good person and so on. Honestly, it makes me interested to know what kind of person you are. Therefore... nice to meet you!"
Nobara did a curtsy while Kitsuneme gaped with a blush evident on his cheeks. On the other hand, Koko had a deadpanned look on his face as he picked up a pencil holder and slammed it down hard. Startled, everyone, including I, looked at him silently. No one knew what was happening to him but all we knew that he was angry.
"What's wrong with you?" Ojisan scolded Koko with a frown.
"Nothing," Koko mumbled in reply as he left the counter and headed towards me. "We need to talk."
Shocked, I shouted without thinking, "Eh?! Wh... why?"
He grabbed my arm and tightened his grip around it, causing me to wince. "You wanted to talk to me and I need to talk to you too."
"That's true..." I gave him a fearful glance and swallowed hard. "But what do you want to tell me?"
"Something."
"Like what?"
Koko groaned in annoyance, "Argh! Just follow me, alright?"
I shuddered and gave a quick nod before allowing myself to be dragged away by Koko. However, Nobara the sweet senior whom I was beginning to find so suspicious with her agenda managed to stop Koko and I from having a private talk with each other. She skipped towards us and blocked Koko's way with her arms outstretched. I eyed at her with knitted eyebrows upon seeing her usual blush and cheery smile on her face.
"Yome-san, I bet you haven't had your breakfast yet."
Koko smacked his forehead and sighed. "Yeah, so what about it?"
"This is so great then!" Nobara exclaimed and a giggle escaped from her lips. "We can have breakfast together. All four of us!"
"After we have talked, alright?" Koko said tiredly.
Using this moment as a chance to escape from Koko's possible lecture about me calling him 'Koko-chan', I immediately gave my input, "Nobara is right! Why not we have our breakfast first before talking?"
Kitsuneme agreed with a fist bumped against Koko's back. "Hey, chill. Just eat with the girls."
"Ah?" Koko turned to glance at Kitsuneme, then to me and lastly to Nobara before sighing in defeat with his head hung low. "Whatever."
When I felt the grip around my arm loosened, another pair of arms wrapped my other arm and pulled me away from Koko. Nobara was muttering something under her breath but I just stared blankly at her as I was being dragged away by her. As soon as all four of us left the bookshop, I saw Ojisan walk out of the bookshop and does something which we had least expected. His wrinkled feet moved so quickly across the uneven ground that I feared that he might trip over a small rock, and he went behind Koko with an evil grin. He was obviously up to mischief.
With a skinny leg raised, the sole of his foot pressed against Koko's bottom and he pushed his grandson hard, causing him to fall flat on the ground.
"Ji-chan!" Koko shrieked and flipped his body over to face his grandfather. "You're overly naughty today!"
Ojisan squatted to Koko's level and whispered something to him. Seeing Koko's face turn beet red, his words must be making him feel embarrassed. Oh wait, it was already embarrassing enough to have his butt kicked and his whole body fall flat on the ground. Then, Ojisan glanced at me and gave me a thumb up again. Unsure of what he meant, I just crooked an eyebrow in response.
After that, Nobara led us to a nearby udon shop. We settled down at a corner of the shop and were attended by a pretty waitress. Since I had taken a sandwich for breakfast, I ordered a plate of roosted wasabi peas which was a somewhat lighter meal than a bowl of udon. Nobara and the two boys ordered udon and a plate of tempuras which they decided to share among themselves.
While waiting for our dishes to arrive, Kitsuneme broke the silence which was beginning to be awkward, "Okay, so... I guess you have some business with us."
I narrowed my eyes at him. He was surely fast to catch on our motives, wasn't he? My eyes landed on Nobara to watch her response and just as I had expected, Nobara remained calm as ever. She smiled shyly at them and gave him a nod.
My eyes widened. Did she just nod at Kitsuneme?! Was she trying to give our plan away? Please, Nobara, no way.
"As Mikan-chan's bestie, I need to know what kind of boys Mikan-chan is friends with. As you can see, the boys in our school are always getting Mikan-chan into trouble," said my dearest senior.
Oh gosh. I nearly wanted to hit my forehead against the table. Why did she sound like my father? I should be relieved that she didn't spill any of our plan to our so-called targets.
"Wait. I thought Hotaru something-san is her best friend," Koko questioned. "Oh, never mind."
I bit my lips and wondered how in the world he knew about Hotaru. I had never told him before unless Kitsuneme who had probably known about her had mentioned about my friends to him. But if Kitsuneme knew this much about me, wasn't this as good as stalking? Oh gosh...
Just then, the image of Hayate's friendship photo appeared in my mind. That was it!
"You guys saw that photo of me and Hotaru online, right?" I asked.
"Of course. It's highly shared because of the cheesy friendship quotes and the crazy hashtags," Kitsuneme instantly replied.
"Not about me being not straight?"
Kitsuneme raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Noth... Nothing."
Koko crossed his arms and said dully, "Though the picture was nice, I find the quotes... gay."
"Yeah!" I yelled in agreement. "But I'm definitely not homosexual!"
Koko placed his finger on his lips, telling me to quieten down, and he spoke in a soft voice, "Why homo?"
I laughed weakly. "Because..."
"Because our schoolmates thought Mikan-chan was homosexual after someone published that picture on our campus newspaper... with the headlines written that she's not straight," Nobara answered in my stead.
I nodded frantically with an exasperated look. Whoever that person was should face my wrath!
"I would interpret those quotes as..." Kitsuneme rubbed his chin as he seemed to find words to continue his sentence. "... gay."
What in the world...
"So true. Plus that photo, I would totally think so. If not for my trust in Mi-chan's sexuality, I would think that those girls are lesbians," Koko jabbered with his eyes closed.
... were these boys talking about?
They were making my feelings worse, for goodness sake!
"Seriously, Koko? You aren't just trusting her sexuality, are you?" Kitsuneme spoke to Koko in a teasing tone. "I thought you were in denial or something."
Koko wrinkled his nose and retorted, "No, I didn't. I was just being firm... that Mi-chan is straight."
"No, you kept saying that there was no way Mi-chan was into this type of thing, the photo was just a pose for the quotes, so on and so forth. You were obviously in denial."
"Not funny, Kitsu-chan." Koko smirked at his best friend but the latter shot him a glare for adding a girly suffix to his name. "If you keep saying that I was in denial, I'll make sure that your arse is kicked so hard that you can even deny that your arse has ever existed."
I cringed.
"Now, now, boys..." Nobara giggled, trying to ease the tension between them. "We must have peace at the table."
As soon as she had said that, the waitress came and placed a plate of tempuras and another plate of roasted wasabi peas on the table. I brought the plate of wasabi peas closer to me and let my eyes devour the sight of the peas. After a few minutes, the waitress brought three bowls of udon to our table and we started digging in.
"Mi-chan."
I looked up and before I knew what was happening, a pair of chopsticks flew towards my plate and a pea was skillfully stolen from me. I gasped softly and narrowed my eyes at Koko the pea stealer. He popped the pea into his mouth and bit on it, producing a loud crunching sound.
"Hmmm... it's good," he mumbled as he nodded his head in satisfaction.
"You..." I kept my mouth shut as I was totally lost for words, but I decided to ignore him anyway.
Then, I turned to look at Nobara who was staring intently at Kitsuneme. Without warning, Kitsuneme winced in pain and he brought his free hand down under the table. He looked up from his bowl and glared at Nobara. However, she continued to stare at him with a serious look. I didn't know what she was trying to do but the way she was doing wasn't in the book of seduction. Just then, Nobara wriggled her eyebrows and nodded her head once. Kitsuneme and I arched an eyebrow at her antics while Koko continued his meal without caring what was going on around him.
"I need to talk to you," Nobara said as she carefully placed her chopsticks on top of her bowl and stood up. "This is very important because I find it irritating."
Puzzled, Koko looked up with strands of udon dangling out of his mouth. Nobara grabbed Kitsuneme's wrist and pulled him out of his seat. The poor boy dropped his chopsticks on the wooden table and was being pulled further away from us.
"Hey! Wait! What?" Kitsuneme yelled in surprise as he pulled his hand out of her grasp.
Nobara smiled and grabbed his wrist once more. "You're following me, Kitsu-chan!"
"My udon!"
"Forget your udon, Kitsu-chan!"
"Stop calling me that, woman!"
With a confused look, Koko and I watched the two of them leave the shop. I mean, who wouldn't be confused? I didn't know what Nobara was up to but I thought that she was going to execute her seduction plan...
I turned to face Koko whose mouth still had those strands of fat udon dangling on his lower lip. Perhaps noticing my stare, his eyes shifted from the store entrance to mine and then he sucked the loose noodles into his mouth.
... or maybe Nobara was signalling to me to start my seduction plan in this store!
Hold on! It was too much! Seducing a guy in an udon shop was so weird!
I felt my face heat up at the thought of seducing the boy in front of me. Would I be able to do it? Would Koko fall for me and spill his plan? Okay, that was a challenge. I was so determined to make the fighting maniac fall for me. I held up my spoon with three peas on it in front of me. All I had to do was to make that 'I-am-going-to-devour-you' face, right? If so, then the peas were perfect!
Ignoring the weird look Koko was already giving me, I narrowed my eyes at the peas and licked my lips. Slowly, I lowered the spoon and held my seductive facial expression there, hoping that I could pass this round of the seduction game. However, Koko was not affected at all. He was not even amused, instead he carried on staring weirdly at me.
"What are you doing?" he asked dully.
I snapped out of the seductive stance. "Huh?"
"You look freaky." Koko sighed deeply as he shook his head tiredly. "What's wrong with everyone today? Everyone has that freaky look as if they are up to something."
I was actually up to something, Kokoro Yome. I actually was, no kidding.
"Eat your peas, alright? Don't make weird faces like your pretty friend."
Weird faces...
So, my first seduction technique had failed?
I had failed?!
I dropped my spoon on my plate and gaped slightly. How could I? I had memorised well, hadn't I? Did I do it wrongly? Oh no...
I, Mikan Yukihira, had failed the first round of the seduction game.
Hi, everyone! Thanks for reading up to Chapter 28.
Special thanks to the reviewers:
- Mystery555
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- sweet little
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- HeavenlyHay
Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story. :)
Brief preview of the next chapter:
29th Fight: Round Two - Busted
"No, Mi-chan... I..." He began trying to pry my arm off his. "Not now."
I didn't know what went wrong with my seduction. Why was he rejecting me? Earlier, he had called me freaky. I thought I was doing even better for my second try but I didn't! I managed to make him blush but he was pushing me away! Where had I gone wrong?!
Just then, I heard the waitress' voice again, "Young man, what are you... no... stop..."
As soon as I heard a loud gasp, something cool and oily was splashed onto me. No, not only me but also Koko. My whole face and clothes were drenched with the liquid and some strands of the soggy udon noodles were stuck on my forehead while the rest were resting on my blouse. I yelped and immediately let go of Koko. Who in the world just threw a bowl of cooled udon on us? That was disgusting!
"Hyuuga-san!" Koko suddenly shouted and stood up. "What's up with you?"
Eh? Hyuuga?
Please don't forget to review this chapter and tell me how it is! Thanks! :D
