A/N: You know what? I wish TMGS1 has a love mode… *sighs*
Pages of a Storybook
Chapter 12: November 17 - Mr. Sprout
After what had happened between the two of them at the school's rooftop, Kei pretty much expected that she wouldn't dare approach or talk to him again. Therefore, it was understandable that when he had received a call from her last week about meeting up with her at the forest park today, he had agreed with her in astonishment.
Now, he was nearly at the park's gates, absently wondering why she would want to invite him, of all people, to spend the whole day with her watching the autumn leaves.
He found her sitting on top of the rails, her head bowed low as she watched her shoes dangle languidly a few inches above the stone pathway. She must have been waiting for quite a while judging by how she seemed to stare into nothingness with a slight frown marring her distant expression.
His gaze softened. Looking at her like this reminded Kei of a child who was bored out of her wits for being stuck at the same place for too long. Her peppy and outgoing personality never did allow her to remain idle. Somehow, he would always see her on the move in one way or another.
Forcing his worries at the back of his mind, he closed the distance between them, the crackling of leaves under his shoes alerting her of his presence. "Oh, Hazuki-kun..." She murmured softly, as if she was still shaking herself from her daydreams.
"Have you been waiting long?" He didn't really need to ask that since he was perfectly aware that he was fifteen minutes late. He just needed something to say as a way of greeting.
She shook her head and jumped off the rail, her hands reaching up to slip her fingers around the straps of her small backpack. "Come on. Let's go inside and find a good spot."
They traveled in silence along the brick road, the unspoken matter about the incident at the school's rooftop hovering in the air and impatiently waiting to be brought up. He could feel the tension trailing after them and it was so thick that it was almost tangible. Even her uncharacteristic timidness made him put a safe distance between the two of them just to be on the safe side.
Under normal circumstances, he would have ignored the uncomfortable atmosphere and focused on the beautiful autumn leaves instead, but they both knew that this issue would only go away if he could just take that one step forward and apologize.
It really had been his fault... He had carelessly let that day's disappointment with his parents go over his head and he had used her as his scapegoat. Taking out his frustrations on her had been easy for him, too, since her bizarre kindness had been muddling his thoughts for quite some time. She was just so different... and her reason for caring about him made him feel even worse.
She suddenly stopped walking and he almost bumped against her back for not paying attention. "Hazuki-kun? Is this spot all right with you?"
It took a minute for the question to register inside his mind before his green eyes darted towards his surroundings. They had stopped at one of the benches at the side of the brick road, their spot providing an ample distance away from the other visitors and also from prying ears. They had a nice view of the trees, too, and Kei felt the familiar lull of sleep creeping silently at the back of his mind as he was once again reminded of the reason why he loved the park so much.
Autumn truly was the best season to admire the beauty of the park as it was decorated with the multi-colored leaves that continued to rain from the branches of the surrounding trees. The sun bathed everything in a warm and gentle light that the whole place seemed to glow majestically. The scene immediately helped him ease his nerves and lift his mood. Even his companion felt increasingly better after being overwhelmed by the soothing environment, her shoulders slackening and a lazy smile ghosting over her lips.
She seemed to have forgotten that she was mad at him as she motioned for him to sit down on the bench, her hands busy fishing out something inside her backpack. "I made lunch for you today!" She presented him an orange bento and a pair of chopsticks. "It's packed with the flavors of fall season!"
She seemed so proud that Kei didn't have the heart to ask her why she took the effort to make something for him when they were supposed to be discussing the whole rooftop incident. Wasn't she supposed to be yelling at him for being a jerk? Could it be that she had grown tired of waiting for his apology?
He hesitantly opened the lid. Even though the mixture of delicious scents assaulted his nose and tempted his mouth to water, the sight of the carefully prepared food made him more uncomfortable. He didn't know what she was capable of and he knew that she was craftier than she looked. What if there was something mixed with the food that would wreak havoc in his stomach? For all he knew, this was all just an elaborate trap to get revenge.
Still, he deserved her punishment, didn't he? If he couldn't bring himself to apologize properly then the least he could do was to accept whatever it was that she had planned for him like a real man.
Swallowing a lump in his throat, he plucked a piece of meat from the box and put it inside his mouth.
"So... How does it taste?"
He chewed the meat slowly, absently testing if there was anything strange with the taste. It certainly didn't taste funny, but it wasn't delicious either. "...Well." He trailed off, wondering how he should put it.
As expected, she wasn't happy with his vague answer. "What's that supposed to mean...?" She glanced at her own bento and frowned as if looking at the food hard enough would tell her what she had done wrong. "If it's not good, then you don't have to eat it!"
He blinked, realizing that she wasn't as proud as she appeared to be in her cooking skills. "I didn't say it was bad."
"...Be honest with me." The look she gave him was piercing and he could see her tension returning from the way her shoulders grew rigid again.
Why would she care about his opinion? Did it really matter if he found her food delicious or not? He couldn't come up with a word that could describe the unique flavor, but it wasn't bad because his taste buds weren't complaining. "...It's tasty."
The smile she wore was brighter than he'd seen in days. "I'm glad you like it."
She didn't bother him anymore and focused on her own lunch instead. The next few minutes were spent in a companionable silence, the snapping of chopsticks and their relatively quiet munching were the only sounds that reached his ears. Again, his confusion over the day's events began to plague his thoughts. How come she hadn't started being furious at him yet? Was it because she was hungry and wanted to eat first?
He sneaked a glance at his companion and found her staring at the trees and very much enjoying her meal. Could it be that she had completely forgotten all about it? So he'd been worried over nothing all along? But that couldn't have been it because the following days after the incident, her usual treatment of him at school and at work had changed.
Whenever she greeted everyone 'good morning' every time class started, she used to make sure that their eyes would meet to let him know that she was greeting him, too. She used to flash him a smile whenever he was at the hallway or whenever he was sensible enough to notice her hanging out with her friends. She used to keep up with her invitations to walk home together even though she always ended up going alone anyway. At work, she used to ask if she had brewed his coffee just right.
After their spat, however, she refused to even turn her face at his direction whenever she greeted the class. She was also either too busy laughing and chatting with her friends to notice him walking down the hallway. It had been days since he last saw a trace of her at the gates. And every time he visited the cafe, his orders were taken by a different waitress.
Her actions pretty much proved that she was still harboring ill feelings. So why was it that she was now sitting beside him and enjoying herself as if he hadn't wronged her at all?
Beyond irritated at her confusing personality, he released his annoyance by picking the nasty-looking sprouts and tucking them at one corner of the box where they wouldn't get in his way. Somehow, the vegetable reminded him of his companion and how she'd always leave a bitter taste in his mouth whenever she did something to surprise him and leave his thoughts in complete disarray.
"Hmm...?" He was so focused on the task that he didn't sense her leaning forward to watch him meticulously pluck the vegetable one by one. "Why are you setting the sprouts aside?"
"I'm not." Was his immediate reply. He shifted his position away from her curious gaze, not liking the thought that she had been watching him pick at his food.
"Ah, so you dislike sprouts, huh? That's no good. You have to eat them." She insisted and even made a show of eating her own set of sprouts.
"I don't need them." His lips were in a grim line as he contemplated the deeper meaning of her words, which she was totally unaware of. Did he need her constant fussing over him? Did he need her messing around with his head?
"It'll be a waste!" She protested, ignoring his cold indifference. "Besides, sprouts are good for you, you know." She shoved another batch of sprouts in her mouth, obviously wanting to tempt him to try some himself.
Why was she forcing him to eat the damn vegetable? They were just sprouts. It wasn't as if he was going to suffer some sort of incurable sickness for not eating them. "Then I'll give them to you." At the back of his mind, he reasoned out that he would also be perfectly fine on his own without her presence or her friendship.
Sure, it had been a difficult experience being alone, but he was doing fine, wasn't he?
She was staring at him in exasperation, but the stubborn expression she was wearing clearly shouted that she wasn't giving up anytime soon. He narrowed his eyebrows at her, sensing the gears inside her head turning as if she was concocting a plan. His curiosity won him over and he blurted out the question before he could stop himself. "What is it?"
"...Oh, it's nothing..." She shrugged both her shoulders, her disappointment rolling off her in waves. "I was just thinking that Mr. Sprout looks a little sad..."
His chopsticks almost slipped from his fingers as he nearly choked at the chunk of rice he was in the middle of swallowing. He stared long and hard at her, his eyes beginning to sting for refusing to blink even once. "...Mr. Sprout?" He asked carefully, wanting to know if he had heard her right.
She was naming vegetables now? Did she honestly believe that this... Mr. Sprout... would look delicious after being baptized with a name and given a gender?
He wasn't sure if she was purposely ignoring his pointed glare or if she was just naturally clueless. "Mr. Sprout wanted to hear you say he tasted delicious, so he grew up as fast as he could just for today..." She emphasized her words by gesturing with her hands, like a mother would do to a toddler who refused to eat his peas.
Seriously, what in the world was going on inside that head of hers? And why was she even treating him like a kid?
He stopped, suddenly at a loss for words as the meaning behind his actions hit him hard like a ton of bricks. She was treating him like a child... because he really had been acting like one. And it wasn't just because he didn't want to eat the sprouts. He had been running away from the idea of allowing her - or anyone - to get closer to him in fear of being hurt. Solitude was easier to deal with than forging bonds, which - even if severed - would forever remain to remind him of what had been lost.
And she...
She hadn't successfully made a dent on his carefully built walls just yet, but he swore that with a little more time and effort, she'd be able to force her way through. He was afraid that if he took the gamble to let her inside, she would get up and leave him in the end just like the rest of the people who got tired of him after knowing the kind of person that he was.
Could he take that risk? Was he willing to take that risk? ...With her?
He still didn't know the answer to that. The sudden revelation was still too much for him to bear and decide on in one day. For now, he would have to test the waters first... and he decided to do that by starting with her sprouts. "...I'll eat them."
She grinned from ear-to-ear as if she'd successfully accomplished a tough mission. The tense atmosphere was lifted and she took advantage of it by talking her head off. This time, he allowed her to talk to her heart's content, his thoughts flying elsewhere. He wasn't done. He still wanted to apologize. That was part of the reason why he had accepted meeting with her in the first place.
And yet, he didn't know where to start.
He wasn't used to this sort of thing and conveying his feelings was not his forte. It was as if both his mind and his mouth were forever waging pointless battles against each other and would rather be cut off from his body than cooperate together. He might as well just stick his foot inside his mouth and hope that she would take that as the reason why it was so difficult for him to say what he wanted to say. "Look..." He started, his grip on his chopsticks unconsciously tightening. "I'm..."
He was surprised when she cut him off with a nervous but knowing smile. "See, Hazuki-kun?" She was fidgeting in that strange way she always did whenever she was bothered by something and wasn't sure how to proceed. "I told you the autumn leaves will help ease your worries away..."
Only then did it dawn on him that the whole point of their meeting wasn't because she wanted to confront him about the rooftop incident, but because she wanted him to forget about what had happened so they could return to how they were before. She didn't need to hear him apologize. For her, the fact that he had agreed to spend some time with her today - a decision that he knew he wouldn't have done for just any other girl - was already enough.
And this... He glanced down at the almost empty bento, finally getting what it all meant. This was her way of making him realize that he had been forgiven.
A/N: Who would have thought that Mr. Sprout will actually get a significant role in this story? Wahaha! XD And no they're not officially friends yet. Just like in the game, you'll know for sure if Kei thinks of the heroine as a friend. I dunno if I've already made it obvious, but... well, I'll let you readers notice it for yourselves. =P
Meresta: Oooh! I'm really happy that you picked up the meaning behind Kei's thoughts and actions! That means I'm writing my ideas right! Woohoo! I hope you're not disappointed with how they made up, though. I believe that actions speak louder than words. =P I have a rough outline on how the events will unfold, and for once I'm not worried about the ending. I try to be 2-3 chapters ahead so I won't feel pressured when updating. Hehehe! XD I prefer the boys in 2 over the ones in 1 now, too. They're more interesting and better-looking. But of course, no one's gonna replace Kei-chan and I still have a soft spot for Himurocchi. =P
Haya-chan: A new reader! Welcome! I'm very happy you like this story and thank you for the review! XD You haven't gotten his ending yet? Oh no... This story has a lot of spoilers. =( Oh and if you date Kei at the Night Parade for the 3rd time, you'll get to know him better. And thank you very much for liking the heroine.
darkness01: Oh you're back! I know what you mean about school... *sighs* Anyway, thank you for the review and it won't be long now for Kei to reach the smiling state. XD I wanna immerse myself in TMGS2, too, but I'm forcing myself to wait until the next patch. I wanna understand the endings... =(
nattie: Yeah, I've seen them, too! You haven't seen Kei? He was actually the first guy I saw since Saeki loves to go shopping. Kei's picture is pinned at the shopping mall. Hehehe! Thank you! But I personally believe that it's not impossible for Kei to show his anger in that situation. I based it on his reaction when you ask him about middle school. He's usually cool-headed, so for him to suddenly become angry and shut the heroine out just for asking that topic only implies that he must have had a bad experience with people who tried to be friends with him before.