Alcohol Aftermath

Albert Diyosa

I am back so soon. :D Yes, yes I am trying to maximize my time for writing. After all, school has not started yet, and thank you, Lizza-chan for the reviews. :) I truly appreciate it.

Now, let us move on with the story.

Spoiler: This chapter may contain a bit of OOC-ness, but it goes with the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own GTO and so do you. Sad but true.

Nota Bene: The italicized statements are for the characters' thoughts or emphasis.

Chapter 3

Time passed, the stars glittered beautifully in the sky, and the two grew more comfortable to each other—actually, even more comfortable than in high school. Yoshito teased, and he seemed to like teasing despite his usual calm state. His teases were not intellectual retorts, but normal—like how a boy would tease the girl he liked. Urumi was giggly and ticklish all over, a side of her only mister boy genius knew just now. He kept on poking his finger on her waist, and she—being ticklish and a girl, still—jerked repeatedly, laughing.

Now, everyone who had known those two would say, 'oh, please, both parties were calm and always collected.' However, the alcohol hit Yoshito's system already, losing his composure and turned him to an ordinary dude who liked girls. Urumi, on the other hand, seemed to be having fun flirting with the boy genius. She might not admit it in front of everyone in fear of what people might think of her, but she liked the feeling. Besides, boy and girl geniuses or not, Yoshito and Urumi were still normal human beings who feel.

Alcohol could make you in some cases, but the probability of it breaking you was fantastic! Darn alcohol could be handy in biological warfare after all!

He was semi-drunk, she could tell even from earlier. He was teasing and tickling her—two characteristics one would not see on a normal basis. Part of Urumi was a bit sad and disappointed for not bringing something like a digital camera to document Yoshito when caught off-guard because of alcohol, but part of her decided to keep that moment a secret between the two of them. She would not bribe nor blackmail him because that seemed unfair.

Unfair had just gotten into Urumi's vocabulary. That was juicy news for a retired fan of teacher bashing.

It was much like being pre-school again. A boy would tease you, and irritate you, poking you, thinking he could make you cry. Instead, you laughed hard as if there were no tomorrows in your world, and shot him verbally, making him shut up and blush cutely.

Urumi liked the thought of that, and that was what she was about to do.

"Stop it, Yoshito!" She said in between laughter.

Yoshito stopped. 'What did she address me?' He mentally asked.

Bingo, she could not help but paint a weak smile on her face. "What's wrong?" She asked, as if she did not do anything.

"Y-you called me by my first name." Yoshito still could not believe it. "That was new."

"What's up with that? I like your name. Yoshito, Yoshito, Yoshito… I can go on forever calling you that."

'Now, now, darling, we all know that calling someone by his first name meant something.' For the first time, his thoughts felt rearranged and disoriented, as if a typhoon hit his brain. 'Hey, I just called her 'darling' in my thoughts. Oh, Yoshito, what is happening?'

Urumi inched her face a little closer to his, looking deeply into his hazel eyes, her smile not leaving. His already flushed cheeks from drinking, blushed intensely red. Mission accomplished. She giggled. "You look so cute when you blush, Yoshito."

Yoshito got her game. 'Cunning as ever, are you, eh?' He smirked. He cleared his throat, and started to speak in an attempt to change the subject, and see if he could turn things in favor of him. He knew something she was not aware of him learning about it, and it could probably make her shut up, too.

Now, it was like elementary. Your friend would make fun of you, but you could make fun of her, too. Spilling her guilty pleasure could make you win, and could even make you her master. Now that was a good plan. Yes, he was going to use it to his advantage.

"I remember one time; Onizuka-sensei was holding a piece of paper he found inside our classroom. He said he could not grasp some of the words, but he liked it, so I borrowed it from him to see for myself." He placed his index finger on his chin. "I was never a fan of deep, literate, emotional articles, but that one's good—I still keep it with me!

I actually like how that person described writing. It was not something people would see in the dictionaries and in encyclopedias, but it was real. I hate to say this, however sometimes, our superior intellect gets in the way for us to think and feel like a human being should. We tend to use our heads a little too much, that most of the time we fail to realize that there was something more than scientific explanations, theories, and laws.

"Our being human, our being but dusts in the wind, our being limited make us more knowledgeable, even more knowledgeable than any known geniuses the world could introduce, and that is what I saw in the paper Onizuka-sensei handed to me. Let me quote whoever wrote that because it made sense, and I have been dying to share it to you, knowing that you are somehow interested when it comes to things like this."

'Is it just me, or I think I know what he is pertaining to,' Urumi's smile immediately left her face, as she turned to look at him. Yoshito continued.

"Writing is much like dreaming, only you get to choose the elements. Writing takes you to an alternate universe, and because you are conscious, you get to choose what happens to you, and to the rest of the story. Yes, writing is much like dreaming—" Urumi cut him off prematurely.

"…but it is the saddest face of dreaming. At the end of every story, you bid farewell to your own version of reality—" She continued.

"…and it is the bittersweet sensation that writing leaves you, and making you want to write more." Yoshito decided to finish the statement, and smiled. "I didn't know you like writing, and I didn't know you have that amazing grasp when it came to your emotions, sweetheart." 'Hey, I called her sweetheart this time. I am never going to have a date with alcohol again.' Yoshito reminded himself.

"Smartass, I should have known." Urumi raised her hands to show surrender. "You got me there, and you got me good." She looked away to hide her now pink cheeks. "Now you know it, I write. What's up with that?"

"Are you not going to thank me after appreciating your work?"

"Well, sure, thank you." Her blush turned crimson. "I'm not really used to people reading the stuff I write, and I'm not used to getting compliments because of them."

"I like your work."

"You've stated your point, so hush."

"I do."

"I see that, now stop."

"Make me."

"You're being a kid, Yoshito."

"So are you, darling."

Urumi shook her head in disbelief. She recalled how much she admired Yoshito's poker-faced façade and his admiring sense of composure amidst heated situations they got into in high school. She could not believe that inside all that level-headedness was a little boy waiting for someone to unlock him, as gamers do to unlocked monsters. He was amusing and adorable anyway.

Seeing how the alcohol had slowly taken captive of her genius friend, she took a moment to calm herself. Intoxication, after all, was like cancer. You would not feel it in the process of drowning yourself with liquid, but it was already chaining you inside. By the time your temperance would give up, it would make its way to your head, all over your body, and would waste you. She knew that. She was aware of that. She needed not to experience it first-hand to be able to tell its effects. Her classmates just showed it earlier, and so did Yoshito.

She inhaled the cold air around them. The scent of the ocean from under them danced inside her. She was calm now. She realized it was no fun getting even with drunken people. The battle would not be even.

Yoshito quieted, too. He seemed too quiet actually—until a groan managed to escape his mouth.

"My head hurts."

Urumi knew what she had to do so she immediately turned round, got off to her feet, and hurried inside. "I'll be back with a glass of water!"

He nodded. He was alone with the stars again.

End of Chapter 3

My, my, this is longer than the first two chapters, but that is fine. I am looking forward to writing the next chapter. :D