A/N: Hello, peeps! Since school has started again, updates won't be every 4 days anymore. Instead, it'll be every Monday night, so I'll have the weekend to work on the drabbles. Anyway, on with the story!

Pages of a Storybook

Chapter 10: October 16 - Unwanted Presents

Kei glared hard at the innocent-looking and brightly-colored box sitting at the center of his locker, wishing inwardly that it was blessed with a mouth so that it could tell him what the heck was going on in this weird day.

It wasn't that he was taken aback at the idea that there were still people who gave him gifts at school. After all, he wasn't totally oblivious of his new fan club and how it was slowly growing in numbers as the months passed - he had enough experience during middle school to know how these fan girls worked. He just couldn't figure out the reason why today, of all days, they decided to bombard him with their trivial display of affections.

It all started this morning when he had arrived at the school gates and had met a rather strange sight. He wasn't the type to notice or care about other people's business, but the group of girls lounging near the entrance had been unusually loud and distracting that he couldn't help but spare them a glance. In return, they had greeted him with toothy grins and overly-friendly waves. Of course, as his usual response, he didn't dwell on their antics too much and had completely forgotten about it until after he had arrived at the classroom.

His desk had been filled with gifts of all shapes and sizes - some were even glittering in the sunlight. During that time, there were only a handful of students who were present in the classroom, and for some reason, they - especially the guys - had avoided his questioning stare. In the end, he had been left to wonder who the anonymous gifts were from and why they had been piled on his desk. It didn't help that some of the girls he had passed in the hallways had given him intense but nervous looks every now and then.

And, as if those gifts weren't enough, he had found another pile of them at the school's rooftop during lunch break. They had been carefully placed at the exact shaded spot where he usually slept in.

Honestly, girls could get really creepy when they wanted to be.

Kei reached forward to grab the small box from his locker, tilting it here and there as he studied it from every angle. There was no name written on it just like all the other gifts he had received a few hours ago. There was also a bunch of letters tucked safely at the back of the gift, a long red ribbon tying them securely together. Unfortunately, the letters were also vague since there was only his name surrounded with kiss marks and red hearts at the back of the envelopes.

What was the occasion? Christmas was still a few weeks away and Valentine's Day wouldn't be happening until next year. Was it some sort of activity from the fan club? 'Shower Hazuki Kei with Gifts for No Apparent Reason' day? He certainly wouldn't put it past them to celebrate something as ridiculous as that. He'd seen and experienced worse in middle school, after all.

He sighed before tossing the gift and letters into a sack which he had picked off from somewhere. What was he going to do with the gifts? Should he open them? He didn't want them littering his room, but it would be a waste to just throw them away.

Maybe he could give them to the crew at the studio as an early Christmas present? He didn't think they would be disappointed since he already had a pretty good idea of what was inside these gifts. The girls had no way of knowing what he really liked - they were too intimidated to ask him face-to-face, so the interviews of him in the magazines would have been their only basis for the gifts. The crew was the ones supplying most of the answers to his interviews, so the gifts would definitely be perfect for them.

Now if only he could figure out why they were giving him gifts in the first place.

Classes ended a few hours later and everybody was packing up to go home. He was just about to leave when he was stopped by someone outside the classroom. Her smile was the same as always, but her hands were suspiciously behind her back as if she was hiding something from him.

"Hazuki-kun!" She exclaimed. She was fidgeting nervously, but the hint of excitement in her eyes was unmistakable. Why was she acting strange like the rest of the other girls? She wasn't part of the fan club, was she? Or was there really something special going on that he had missed? She stopped and looked on in awe as she eyed the bulging sack he'd been carrying on his shoulder. "Wow. You sure have gotten so much presents today."

Fed up for being left in the dark, he blurted out the question that had been nagging at his head for the rest of the day. "...Why?"

The smile was wiped from her lips and she considered him with a confused stare. "Why what?" She brought her hands in front of her and he was surprised to find a wrapped box with a birthday card pinned beside a big white ribbon. "Today's your birthday, right?" She smiled brightly again as she handed him the gift.

Birthday? His? His eyes widened at the realization. "...Yeah." That would likely explain the mysterious gifts. He'd completely forgotten that today was his birthday. Why didn't the other girls say anything about it? Or at least gave him a hint? Remembering the stack of letters he had stashed along with the other gifts, he pulled one out and began to read it.

And sure enough, there it was. Written at the very top of the paper was 'Happy Birthday, Hazuki-kun!' in big colorful letters. A doodle of what he assumed was his face was drawn beside the little pink hearts.

He snorted in amusement. Today was his birthday and yet they were the ones who were celebrating it. He really didn't know what to make of that.

Not bothering to read the rest of the letter's contents, he folded it and threw it back into the sack. He felt her eyes watching his every move and that caused him to look back at her. When she still continued to stare at him with an eager expression as if waiting for something else to happen, he frowned.

What more did she want? Her gaze was switching back and forth from his face and her present, which he had been holding the entire time. "Hey, open it!" She finally cried out.

Realizing that he wouldn't be able to leave unless he opened the gift, he dropped the sack of gifts on the floor and proceeded to tear the wrapper off the box. In a way, he was a bit curious about what she had gotten for him. It didn't look like she was a fan girl because she was the only one who dared to hand him her present herself, so her choice of gift would probably be different from all the others.

But then again, she also liked reading those magazines... and he doubted she knew anything about him at all.

Once he had taken a good look at what was inside, however, he was stunned speechless. She had given him a box of jigsaw puzzle, but not just any jigsaw puzzle, it had a drawing of two adorable cats wrestling in a pretty meadow filled with butterflies and flowers.

"Do you like it?" She asked curiously. "I remembered how much you like cats, but I didn't think you'll like it if I bought you a pink stuffed toy. The other kitty-themed gifts that I could find were either too girly or too cute. The puzzle one seemed like a pretty good idea since you seem to like that sort of stuff." She winked at him playfully. "Kittens playing chess, right?"

She still remembered the dream he had told her about nearly a month ago? He honestly didn't know what to say. Her gift was a pleasant surprise indeed. It had been a while since he'd gotten his hands on a jigsaw puzzle and he could feel his fingers itching to get started on it. "...Thank you." He flashed her a small grateful smile. For once, his birthday didn't turn out to be entirely forgettable since he actually got something he truly wanted.

Why would she bother on spending the effort to find him a gift, though? Were they friends? Did she really consider him as her friend? What a weird girl...

"Great!" She chuckled heartily after letting out a sigh of relief. "For a while there I thought you'd be..." She trailed off and her happy expression slowly disappeared from her face. Her sudden change in mood grabbed his attention and he followed her gaze, turning around to look behind him. A group of girls scampered down the hallway when they realized that he had seen them, but he still managed to catch the dagger-like glares those girls had thrown at her direction.

Even someone as indifferent as him would know what those looks had meant. He returned his attention to the girl before him, wanting to know how she would react. Would she get scared? Would she stop trying to be friendly towards him now?

"I think I made them mad..." He did not expect the way she only blinked at him thoughtfully. "Maybe you should open up their gifts, too?"

He stared at the bag bulging with dozens of gifts lying ignored at his feet. He didn't need to think twice. "No."

"Oh, okay." She sounded as if she wanted him to open the gifts. She even looked sort of interested.

An idea crossed his mind. Tucking the jigsaw puzzle safely inside his leather bag, he lifted the sack and opened it to let her get a closer look. "Do you want one?" He wanted to say that she could have all of them just to get the load off his hands, but he didn't think she'd have any real use of what was inside the presents.

She stared at him as if he'd gone mad. "...Are you serious?"

He paused. She didn't sound pleased.

"You can't do that, Hazuki-kun..." She was lecturing him? "It's common courtesy to accept gifts that were given to you." She was shaking her head as if he had done something unforgivable. "What will the girls think if they see you giving their gifts away?"

Even though she'd been glared at by his fan girls, she was still taking their side? No, she wasn't taking anyone's side. She was just being fair and that impressed him more than he was willing to admit.

"These are mine now..." Too bad, he wasn't ready to back down yet. "...and I want to give you one, so you should accept it. Like you said, isn't that common courtesy?"

A muttered 'Oh' was all she could manage as she stared at him with a comical expression. Somehow, he found himself enjoying this light teasing. Before he could persuade her even further, she jerked back a few steps and glanced desperately at her watch. "W-Well, will you look at the time? I'd better go home now. See you, Hazuki-kun!"

As she ran down the hallway, he briefly noted that she was faster than any of the girls in his fan club. His amusement didn't last long, however, when he realized that he still had a sack of unwanted presents to take care of.

Perhaps he really should just give the gifts to the crew at the studio, after all.

A/N: I've always imagined Kei's fan girls to be scaredy-cats that's why you don't see any of them in the game. And Kei really does tease the heroine from time to time, so I decided to incorporate it in the early stages of their relationship. Kei's sense of humor is weird... I find myself wondering if he's really joking or not. XD

Meresta: Hehehe! Thank you! =D I'm very happy that you find the chapters enjoyable! The only reason why there's no attraction between the two of them is because I'm writing in Kei's POV. ^^; The heroine is no way a perfect girl, and considering Kei's personality it will take a long while before he notices her in 'that' way. Oh and I don't find it frustrating at all. XD If I write in the heroine's POV, the attraction (physical attraction only because she's way too dense) will definitely be there because it'll be extremely weird and unrealistic if she won't at least recognize Kei's charms. And of course there will be kisses (Yes, there's more than one). This story isn't rated T for nothing (No perverted thoughts, please. =P).