A/N: Happy New Year! XD Hooray for fireworks! Woohoo! And special thanks to mhie890 for introducing the manga Maid-sama to me. I'm really lovin' it, dear!

Pages of a Storybook

Chapter 08: August 4 - Of Bombs and Fireworks

He had been known to have unpredictable mood swings, but it was rare for anyone to actually see him pick a fight with someone. Usually, he reserved his anger for anybody who deserved it or if the situation really called for it, but as he received the sympathetic glances and worried looks thrown his way by some random people who passed them by, he honestly didn't know how he should react.

He knew he should be angry. Hell, he should probably even be furious. If he was another person, he would have thrown a fit by now. Instead, he heaved a deep breath and counted from one to five.

"I'm really, really sorry, Hazuki-kun!"

He was aware that she was a very clumsy girl. Was it fair to get mad at someone whose clumsiness was already second-nature?

Her hand was trembling as she tried to wipe the front of his yukata with her floral handkerchief. The tangy smell of orange soda filled his nostrils as the liquid seeped into the cloth and stuck to his skin, making him grit his teeth together uneasily. Orange-colored droplets were hanging at the tips of his bangs and he combed his hair with his fingers to find it just as wet and sticky as his clothes.

He sighed, his shoulders slumping forward. Tonight was going to be a real pain to move around.

"I'm sorry about this, Hazuki." The boy, whose name still escaped him, exclaimed as he slapped a hand to his forehead in exasperation. "My sister can be such a klutz sometimes. She just can't help it, you know."

Her head whipped around so fast he thought her neck would snap. "What?" She was glaring at the boy as if she wanted to pour what remained of her soda on top of his head. "You're the one who keeps stealing my orange soda, for crying out loud! I already gave you money to buy your own drink, but you carelessly spent all of it on some stupid fishing game!"

"Oh come on, sis! You're just jealous because I'm better at it than you."

Not wanting to get mad but feeling the need to let out his frustrations, Kei glared at the both of them to shut up. His warning was ignored, however, as she was still trying her hardest to wipe the last traces of her soda on his yukata while she and her little brother alternated between apologizing and bickering about who was truly at fault.

Why in the world was he even dragged into this mess anyway? For one thing, these two troublemakers were the least people he expected to see in the Fireworks festival. As far as he knew, he had been enjoying his stroll along the beach while waiting for the fireworks to start when a cup of orange soda had appeared out of nowhere and exploded on his face. He didn't even recognize them until after the accident happened.

When he had taken a good look at his surroundings and at the two rowdy siblings, however, he got the answer to his question. If he were to guess, she and her brother had been at each other's throats since they arrived at the festival. Add anything that was accident-prone to an already agitated clumsy girl and it would only end in disaster in more ways than one. People had been clever enough to stay clear of them, but apparently he had been too oblivious to notice that he had walked right into dangerous grounds.

Perhaps... he was the one to be blamed for all of this, after all.

"Stop it." At his gruff command, the two siblings quieted instantly and he grasped her wrist to stop whatever else she was doing with his already ruined yukata.

He refused to let a clumsy girl and her sticky orange soda stop him from enjoying the fireworks.

Sighing heavily, he dropped her hand and turned to leave, but he hadn't gone too far when she appeared in front of him yet again. She was panting and catching her breath, but she was looking up at him with determination burning in her big brown eyes. "Hazuki-kun, please give me a chance to show you how sorry I really am." She clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture then looked frantically at the stalls as if searching for something. "Umm... D-Do you want some cotton candy? I'll buy you one if you want?"

His eyebrows shot upward, stunned that she wouldn't let the matter drop. He was aware of her uneasiness judging from the way she was fidgeting and how her fingers kept on playing with the frills of her blouse. Did he really look that annoyed that she would force herself like this?

"I'll pass." He didn't miss the disappointment in her eyes as he stepped forward to walk past her. It wasn't that he wasn't hungry. He just didn't want to risk the chance that she might goof up again and the soda wouldn't be the only thing sticking on his clothes.

But, seriously... Cotton candy? She was going to placate him with cotton candy? How old did she think he was? Six?

"How about a drink? I'll buy you any drink you want!"

He stopped and directed her a steely gaze, wordlessly drawing her attention to his wet hair and the large wet spots on his shoulders and the front of his yukata. An awkward silence followed before he blatantly added, "You already gave me one."

"Umm... right." She chuckled nervously, a furious blush tinting her cheeks. She nearly fumbled in her steps as he continued walking while she tried her hardest to match his longer strides, her courage faltering somewhat. He didn't want to deal with this. The show was going to start in less than an hour and if he didn't go to his usual spot soon, somebody might beat him to it.

The number of people loitering around the stalls was becoming much smaller as the minutes passed. Most of them were gathering at the shore to secure the best spots to watch. He hurried his steps, hoping that nobody would notice and take his spot - a rather secluded area situated at the eastern part of the shoreline. It didn't provide the best view of the fireworks, but it was good enough for him since he didn't want to mingle with the large crowd where he'd be too distracted by their noise and their momentary indifference to personal space.

To his disappointment, however, he had arrived too late and a couple was already occupying his spot. They were huddling in a corner of one of the large rocks shaded by the huge leaves of a slightly bent tree.

"Huh?"

Her confused exclamation diverted his annoyance at the two strangers. He glanced at his side and was curious to see her standing beside him and also staring at the couple. She was still tailing after him? In his hurry, he had completely forgotten about her. He really didn't expect that she would follow him this far.

For a moment, she studied her surroundings and a myriad of expressions flashed across her face as if she was trying to solve a difficult puzzle. Before long, her eyes widened in some sort of realization and she looked at him with a thoughtful frown. That caused him to narrow his eyebrows at her in return. What was that all about? Why was she giving him such a weird look?

Before he could voice out his question, an extremely wide smile tugged at the edge of her lips and she stared at him lovingly like a lost puppy deathly eager for attention. He barely had the chance to cover his ears when she suddenly let out a fit of ear-splitting giggles. He became even more bewildered when she placed both hands on her cheeks and jumped up and down like an extremely hyperactive kid.

Highly unsettled, Kei backed away a few steps.

"Oh, Hazuki-kun!" She cooed, but it sounded more like a screech. "This is sooo romantic! It's such a wonderful surprise! I feel so happy right now!" She burst into another bout of high-pitched giggles and he found himself lunging forward to wrap a hand over her mouth.

"What's wrong with you...?" What was happening? She struggled for a while before grabbing his arm and gesturing at him to look at what she was pointing. Hesitantly, he followed her gaze and he was greeted with... nothing. The couple from before had disappeared.

He looked behind him and was just in time to see the couple sharing an irritated look before throwing each of them a dirty glance. Soon their backs disappeared from the crowd, leaving both of them to share a rather uncomfortable silence.

Her muffled laughter brought him back to his senses and he immediately let go of her mouth. Her expression was filled with mischievous mirth, but as soon as she saw the strange way he was looking at her, she cleared her throat. "Well, I kind of figured you wanted to chase them away, so..." She trailed off and tore her gaze before she started fidgeting again. "You're going to watch the fireworks here, right?"

"Hn."

"It's the least I can do after that... Umm..." She pointed at his yukata and Kei was made even more aware of his clothes that seemed to have glued on his skin. "I'm really sorry, Hazuki-kun. I'll leave you now before I do anything stupid again."

After sparing him one last glance, away she went.

He wasn't used to this kind of treatment. Usually whenever somebody had accidentally crossed him, they would apologize and that would be it. No one would actually bother to show their sincerity or spend the effort to make it up to him.

The sky was filled with a loud boom and Kei looked up to see a dazzling display of colors decorating the once empty heavens. As he watched the spectacular dance of sparks littering across the horizon, he couldn't help but compare their erratic behavior to a certain girl's equally unpredictable personality.

Fireworks, huh? Kei unconsciously brushed his locks with his hand and realized that the soda had dried. It took a few clumsy attempts to untangle his fingers from his hair covered with the make-shift gel that smelled of citrus fruit. Or a walking time-bomb?

A/N: Fireworks… I would have loved to describe them in detail but this chapter's not the right time for that. XD Kinda weird that I made Kei think that the heroine's a walking time-bomb when he and the other guys are the ones who keep on bombing her. XD I hate that part of the game... so many attention-starved guys to juggle! Kinda forces you to feel like a manwhore, right?

Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm really glad that there are new reviewers! Hooray! Now if only I can persuade someone to write a fanfic... hehehe!

Nattie: Thank you! And I agree with you whole-heartedly, too. TMGS needs more love!

Meresta: Eeep! I'm very flattered. Thank you! And find it harder to write the heroine because she's way too flexible. I can only get a grasp of her personality by studying her lines in the game and by noting what the other characters say about her.