Disclaimer: I want Akame. Not the Prince of Tennis. But I can't get both. :(

Anyway, I apologize for the hiatus. I am sad to say that I am not back to writing regularly, as I have lost inspiration for all of my PoT stories. I am currently trying to ragain that interest, so bear with me. Anyway, there is a pole on my page that I would like my readers to vote, though it is only to see what would be appreciated. Again, I am sorry for not updating. I apologize for this lousy side story. Since I have nothing to update, I decided to post this side story of mine that was written for a school paper months ago.

Also: Masochistic MEMOIRS's format has especially been screw up after the site's upgrade. Right now, I do not have the patience to go through and fix everything, but because I am planning to revise my on-going stories after the piece is finished, they will be fixed, though not for a very long time. I apologize for the confusion and eyeburning if you have read the previous chapters. My other stories probably are screwed up too, but I shall try to fix the multi-chaptered ones later in the future. Thank you!

Masochistic MEMOIRS: Side Story

By Sweet Obsidian Rain

"First Meeting"

Oshitari Yuushi was bored.

Of course, everyone knew that when you were bored you would try to find something to get rid of the boredom. And that was exactly what the boy was doing at the moment.

Oshitari skimmed through the spines of the various romance novels on the shelf. None of the titles caught his attention— all the ones that did, he had already read.

Sighing, the tensai (1) turned to walk out of the library, seeing as he was not going to find any good books to read. Before he could even blink though, he found himself trapped under a redhead with books scattered all over the place.

"Oww..." the redhead groaned and pulled himself up. He did not seem to notice Oshitari under him.

"Excuse me... Could you get off, please?"

The boy looked down and a look of panic passed his face before he jumped up. Reaching down to help the blunet up, the redhead grinned at him apologetically. "So sorry. I didn't mean to run into you."

Uncomfortable and not knowing what to do, Oshitari nodded and bent down to help the other boy pick up his books.

"What's your name?" the redhead asked. "Oh, thanks..." He took the books from Oshitari's arms and stacked them on a nearby table. "I'm Mukahi Gakuto. Nice to meet you."

Lost for words, the tensai only said his name and shook the outstretched hand. "Oshitari Yuushi."

The boy named Mukahi did not seem to notice Oshitari's uneasiness. "Hi! I'm new to the district. This is my first year as Hyoutei Gakuen. (2)"

The blunet (3) nodded. No wonder he had never seen the boy around before. "I see. Welcome to Hyoutei then."

"Are you looking for a romance novel to read?"

Oshitari reached up to push his glasses up before answering. "Yes, but it seems that all I've read all the interesting ones."

Gakuto looked eager. "Have you read this one yet?" He picked up the book at the top of his stack and showed it to his newfound friend.

The blue-haired boy took it and looked at the blue cover. "It doesn't have a title." He opened it up to find a title page, but found none. "It doesn't look interesting at all."

The redhead shook his head. "'You shouldn't judge a book by its cover.' Haven't you ever heard of that?"

x

"You shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

x

Of course he knew that.

Snapping the book shut, Oshitari sighed and buried his head into the pillow next to him. The book slid out of his hands and landed on his soft bed with a small bounce. It's so boring… I don't get how that Mukahi finds this book good.

The next time he went to the library, he immediately headed straight to the one section he knew best. Romance novels of all kinds lined the shelves in that corner, and the smell of books there was slightly different. Not many visited this area of the library, so the smell of old books and the scented soap the janitor used to clan off the small table clung onto the air there. Scanning the rows again, he still found nothing that caught his interest.

"Ahem," someone cleared his throat behind him.

Oshitari turned around with his usual poker face on, but his jerky movements betrayed his surprise. Upon seeing a similar redhead, he narrowed his eyes and glared. "You." He did not know why he was so annoyed at the guy, but he just was.

"Me?" Gakuto looked surprised, oblivious to the annoyance Oshitari was showing towards him. "Yes, it's me! Did you like the book?"

"No," the other boy snapped. "It was boring, and the plot was too predictable. What kind of author would name her character after a type of soup?"

The redhead frowned, ignoring the soup comment. "Where are you in it?"

"Chapter five. I fell asleep reading it."

"Chapter five… chapter five…" Gakuto mumbled, deep in thought. "Ah! That was when Oshiruko (4) finally admitted that he likes the girl, right?" Seeing Oshitari nod, he continued, "Well, you aren't finished with the book yet. Why don't you read deeper into it before deciding?"

"It's not interesting. I'll just fall asleep again if I try to read further," Oshitari retorted stubbornly.

The redhead twitched, slightly frustrated. "No, if you read deeper into it, and make friends with it, it will speak out to you. It will be interesting, I promise. That's what I did, and it worked. You should try too."

How…cheesy, the blunet thought. He snorted. "No one can be friends with a book, Mukahi," he said, emphasizing 'friend' to show his point.

Gakuto huffed and crossed his arms over his chest like a small child would when scolding someone else younger than them. "Well, then maybe you can try being friends with me, and I will show you how to be friends with the book!" Navy blue eyes narrowed with challenge.

"Heh," Oshitari smirked. "Why should I?"

But he found himself accepting the challenge anyway.

Glossary:

1. Tensai- Japanese term for 'prodigy' or 'genius'.

2. Blunet- Adopted from 'brunet'. Oshitari has blue hair.

3. Oshiruko- Japanese red been soup. Often served as dessert since it is sweet.

Urg. This piece is extremely choppy, but it is how it is. xD And the characters are somewhat OOC. And it is cheesy. -shot- I'm kind of busy right now, so I hope you can work with it? XD I'm such a bad writer. Anyway, the format is a bit different due to the way I had it when I turned this in as an assignment. I apologize for my laziness. XD Review, please?