"Fine Line"

"And it was gone...just poof!"

Chapter 13: Just Like That?!

"Ugh…"

I could hear my own groan, and it rang loudly in my ear. My head was pounding, and my hand reached up to rub it.

"She's awake!"

"Urgh…w-wha?" I blinked open my eyes, squinting at the glaring rays of the sun beating down on my eyes. I made out bright red hair and light ash hair on either side of me.

"Kumiko-chan? You alright?" A familiar feminine voice spoke up from above me.

"I…I think so…" My eyes twisted shut again from the immense headache, but I pushed my body up from the ground. Once I adjusted myself and did not feel like throwing up, I peeked an eye open and looked around.

I was by a lake.

"W-what happened to me?" I asked, sending a confused stare to the three people around me: Marui, Shiraishi and Rinko.

Marui seemed to pause for a moment before replying. "You passed out."

My eyes widened in disbelief. "I did?"

"You ran out of air." Rinko shook her head. "That was really reckless of you. Aya-chan and the rest would have my head if anything happened to you. Luckily, Shiraishi-san was there!" Rinko grinned at me, and I casted a look at Shiraishi.

"Oh…Thank you, Shiraishi-san." I mumbled.

He smiled at me. "No problem." Pushing on the ground, he stood up. "Can you walk?"

I got onto my knees, and then my legs, to test if I could stand. I was able to, despite feeling slightly dizzy. "Yea…I can."

"That's good." The perfectionist seemed to sigh out, then turned to Marui. "Well, we won."

I blinked. "We won?"

Marui smirked, tossing his hands behind his head. "We sure did! All thanks to you, Kumiko-chan!" He gave me one of his stunning grins, and ruffled my wet hair.

"Yuushi-san has just left to go tell the event runners about the win. We didn't move you from here since we didn't want to cause any discomfort or in case it makes you throw up." Rinko told me, as she noted my confused look.

Oh…I was wondering about why I was still by the lake without any medical attention if I had passed out. Guess that was why.

"We should head back to the start. The prizes will probably be handed there." Marui said.

"We also need to get you checked up on, Ishimaru-san." Shiraishi came up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"No…its fine, Shiraishi-san. Thank you." I smiled genuinely up at him.

We started heading back towards the starting area of the race, but as Marui walked past me, I could see him casting a weird look at Shiraishi.

My eyes were pulled off him however when Rinko nudged me in the sides; she had a huge maleficent grin on her face.

I leaned back from her, weirded out by the look she was giving me. "Umm, yes?"

"Shiraishi-san saved you, you know."

"Yes I know that. You told me already." I reminded her, raising an eyebrow at the pout she gave me. She wagged a finger at me and shook her head.

"You don't…realize it? Do you?" Her lips turned down.

"Realize…what?"

"You were underwater, Kumiko-chan. And out of air." She told me.

"Yes…so he pulled me up to the surface." My lips quirked in slight amusement at her obvious statements.

"…….." She was silent, as she stared at me through blank eyes.

"You were out of breath." Rinko repeated.

I sighed in exasperation, wondering what she was getting at with this. "Yes I kno-"

"He kissed you."

I froze mid-step.

My head turned towards her mechanically, like a crane that needs greasing.

She grinned at the expression on my face. "Aren't you lucky, Kumiko-chan?! Shiraishi-san is just—"

I didn't hear what she said. And I didn't know what caused it; but perhaps it was all the stress that has built up from my homework, or perhaps the fatigue of the race has finally caught up to me-

"Eh? Eh-eeEHH?! Kumiko-chan!!!"

But I fainted.

"Ugh…"

I could hear my own groan, and it rang loudly in my ear. My head was pounding, and my hand reached up to rub it.

"You're awake."

My eyes fluttered open, but I closed them as soon as I was greeted with the harsh chandelier lights.

"You pass out a lot."

"W-what happened?" I groaned, raising a hand to rub my eyes.

"You fainted….again."

Opening my eyes, I found Marui peering down at me curiously. "You alright?"

"I think so…" I sat up, finding myself placed on a red cushion. "How long have I been out?"

Marui eyes looked up in thought, and then he replied. "About half an hour or so. Not too long." I nodded, and he turned around to head over to a island counter behind him. He came back later with a cup of tea. "Chamomile tea. It'll help you relax a bit."

I took the cup from him gingerly, muttering a soft thanks before taking a careful sip. The warm beverage sliding down my throat and its easing aroma helped reduced my headache instantly, and some of my muscle ache which I just noticed I had. Must be from all that running…I picked up my head and looked around. "Where are we?"

Marui grinned and bowed, placing one arm across his abdomen and the other stretched out to his side. "Welcome to The Crystal Sakura, Ishimaru-hime."

"Crystal Sakura?" I echoed, thoroughly baffled.

"It's a café. Akutagawa is running this café- darn him, I wanted to do it- and I'm supposed to have a 1 hour slot here right after the race. When you fainted, I carried you here, since it was too troublesome to bring you all the way to your room, which is on the other side of the compound. Okuda-san has left to other events as soon as she saw you here." He explained, and then flicked me on the forehead. "Luckily Akutagawa had placed a couch here for when he wants to sleep; if not, you'd be on the floor!"

I rubbed the back of my neck, casting my glance away at anything but him in embarrassment and shame. "Sorry…for causing you all trouble."

Marui blinked repeatedly, and then he laughed. "Heh~ It wasn't a problem. You did pull through in the last task of the race. And we won cause of that! By the way, here's your prize."

I blushed when he mentioned the last task of the race, because it brought to surface again what Rinko told me before I fainted. But I was instantly curious about the envelope he handed me. Peering down at it, I asked him, "What did you and Shiraishi-san win?"

"Since we're members of the club, we could ask anything we wanted that was reasonable by Atobe's standards." He shrugged, and his face seemed to blend into one of pure bliss. "I'm getting a year's supply of blueberry cheesecake and strawberry pockies delivered to my front door~"

I blanched. He got to ask for whatever he wanted and he asked for pockies?!

Deciding to not dwell on the matter of his mental stability, I opened up the envelope which contained my prize- a piece of paper fell out.

I scanned through the paper, and as I reached the end, I was already seeing stars from the absurdity of it all!!

"Five free visits to any host clubs listed here of my choice?!!" I wailed. I went through that whole race, and lost my first kiss- albeit to a very good-looking man- all for five more visits to host clubs that caused it all in the first place?!

I think I'm going to faint again.

"Why do you sound like a bird which just got bitten by a cat?" Marui peered over my shoulder at the paper in my hands. "Hey! That's a good prize! You can come over to Club Prism anytime like-"

"Why would I want to go there again!!?" I cried into my hands.

The paper slipped from my hand and onto the floor, where Marui picked it up. He glanced it over before raising a brow. "You're free to bring a friend with you for each visit to any host club." He pulled my hands off my face, and stared me in the eyes. "Don't you think you can show some gratitude for a friend with this?" My face turned red when he winked at me, before straightening and leaving to serve a customer who came into the café moments ago.

Gratitude…for a friend?

Did he mean Aya?

As soon as he delivered the lattes the customer ordered, he came back to where I was seated, behind the island counter, mostly hidden from view from the rest of the café. He threw the tray he held to one side where a stack of trays were, before wiping his hands off on a towel. "You feeling any better now?"

I nodded meekly. Why would he suddenly bring up the topic of gratitude anyway? Although he was right...maybe I could bring Aya to one of them- let her pick whichever she wanted to go to, in thanks for the birthday and just being a great friend to me all these years....and for bringing me here. True, I was mostly uncomfortable the whole time I was here at this festival, but I could not deny the absolute joy and fun I had during that race. I dont remember the last time I did something o vigorating before.

Unconsciously, my hand went up to lightly touch my lips. I didnt think that...my first kiss would be like so...

"Well, good! Cause we're going in 15 minutes!" The red-head flashed me another grin and gave me a thumbs-up. I jolted out from my trance, and looked up at him nervously. I should go confirm it later. Rinko-chan might be pulling my leg again. But then I registered what Marui just said to me.

"Eh? Don't you have to work here?" He said he had to do a 1 hour time slot didn't he?

"Yea. For 1 hour. It ends in 15. Then we head to the art contest."

………….

"You said you'd be on my team…"

………….

I laid back down onto the couch. "I'm not feeling too good agai-"

"You just said you were fine!!"

I meant for this to be a longer chapter but- I got distracted!! *runs off to continue reading a certain delicious manga, so delicious I'm too ashamed to say its name publicly*

School starts in 1 day for me!! I wanna do all I can before it begiiiins! *waaails*

But seriously? I did 3 updates in 2 days? X_X I thought it was 2 updates in 2 days! XD YAY! I just went beyond my limits! Celebrate with mee!!

Sorry though, this chapter was a bit half-assed since I wanted to go read the manga x_X; I'll try and make up for it with the next chapter!! ….I'll try. Note try please~

But PAH! How many of you were expecting Marui at the end of that last chapter?!

But thanks a lot for the reviews again guys! lol 6 reviews as soon as I release a chapter is actually the most reviews I got for a chapter upon release XD usually they gather over time lol *cries tears of joy* I'm sad, I know lul

Lady Ladington: lol I didnt even know I did 3 updates in 2 days XD Heck yea...wish there were races like that T_T So many girls would sign up for it lol XD and sorry, wasnt Marui ;D Glad you liked the transformed Kumiko xD I wanted to show a bit of change in her, little by little haha but I was also actually a little worried the change in the last chappie was too abrupt x_X

elusivemelody: *throws confetti with you* I didnt even know I did that! I just wrote and updated LOL XD

Yukimura X Satomi: haha thank you XD glad you enjoy it x3 and its not the best haha I've read better Dx

PhoenixRage32: Well, I mean, why stop the tradition of ridiculous games that has always been known in PoT, and loved by us? XD and normal activities are....boring. Not right for our characters ;D PoT characters are anything BUT normal XD And I didnt even know I was updating that fast lol guess I was just hit by the inspiration bug xD its dying now though, due to the manga I'm reading, which caused this EXTREMELY shortened chapter DX since I wanted to go read....and yesh, Another Story was epic XD So guess you understood my ramblings about Shiraishi's character in the previous chapters now? ;D

SapphireBreeze19: haha I didnt realize I was updating that fast though xD lol and you actually guessed Shiraishi =0 I figured most people would think it was Marui...darn! I wanted to catch everyone offguard x_X School starts for me in like 1 day now lol Time flies DX

xHakumeix: haha glad you found it exciting xD I was slightly scared people will be freaked out by the weird events haha but then, I couldnt help it since these sorts of events are so....so Prince of Tennis like! XD aww *hugs* I'm glad you love the story! T_T *wipes tears*Well, I always imagined Marui would make a good host...and he looks a lot like this host from a game I have xD