Love Love Contest! Fight!
Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights. I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST SELPHIE, I barely know her character… I just didn't want to put an OC name.
Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.
Chapter two: The fight begins
Previously…
"Number eleven, Mister Sora."
"I'm… in?" Sora mumbled disbelievingly. "No way."
"Well then." The fan club president said loudly over the voices of the whispering crowd. "Thank you everyone for your entries. Now may I ask the contestants to stay here for a briefing?"
People muttered and some gave disgruntled groans as they left the room. Only those eleven, Kairi and the important others remained.
"Please leave." One of the girls from the fan club approached Kairi and grabbed her hands.
"Wait! She's my friend." Sora tried to break apart the grasp. The Club President frowned and started walking towards the struggling trio.
"Leave them." A voice suddenly called out from the front; Riku. "She's probably the one who got him into this anyway. Let's just start the briefing."
"Yes, Lord Riku." The guarding girl returned to their standing position behind the three "judges". The Club President went over to turn off the lights as her sidekicks turned on a screen projector.
"Welcome to the Love Love Contest." She announced into the mike. "Congratulations to the eleven of you who have made it out of more than fifty people to be in this contest. As you might already know, first semester of our school ends this week, and vacation will start next week.
"The first phase of the Love Love Contest is the Beach Paradise. Please take a look at the screen here." She gestured over to the shifting scene on the white projector screen. A video showcasing Destiny Island was playing, moving with grandiose motion pictures.
Sora snorted at the fan club's serious attempt at such a stupid thing. "I'm not going." He whispered to Kairi, who gave him a pinch at the elbow.
"The first phase of the Love Love Contest, Beach Paradise, will be held at Destiny Islands." The speakers of the projector said. "It begins on Monday, July 11th and lasts for two weeks; in other words, the entire semester vacation. There are four eliminations during these two weeks, two eliminations per week.
"There are numerous events on Destiny Islands which provide chances for you to socialize with Lord Riku, such as the Summer Welcoming Carnival, the Star Festival, Midnight Dance and many more. For more detailed information, visit Riku's Official Fan Club Website. The flight to Destiny Islands is on Saturday, July 9th at 8pm in Radiant Garden Airport, Terminal C, Gate 18. The flight number is RG813. We hope to see your participation, and please be on time."
"Dude, are they serious about this?" Sora's eyes widened with his incredulous frown.
"I hope that clarified everyone's role." The Club President said, her eyes then scanned towards Sora. "If anyone wants to forfeit, we will not stop them."
Sora's face lightened slightly.
"But please keep in mind that you must pay for the airline ticket that we have already prepared."
"What?!" The brunet boy blurted out before he could stop himself. Everyone looked at him, especially Riku with his eyebrows cocked. "Oh, I mean… can't you just find someone to replace me and use my ticket instead?"
"We will not." The Club President declared. "We have already eliminated all the other entries, and if a contestant opts to forfeit now, we will have to cancel the ticket and the total number of contestants will decrease, increasing the chances for the remaining contestants." She glanced over to the rest of the contestants, "Therefore we will not stop you, since I'm sure the rest of the contestants will be happy about it. But you will owe us 3000 munnies."
3000 munnies was enough to satisfy Sora's gluttony for sea-salt ice cream for six whole months. This truth crushed Sora harshly. Kairi looked at her friend's face, and laughed quietly.
"Looks like you just gotta go, Sora." She slapped his back lightly. "C'mon, it can't be that bad. Riku's pretty hot, in any case."
"That's not the point." Sora whined as the room was relit and everyone started exiting the room.
"Just give it a try." Kairi cooed, "It can't be that bad. Plus, there's one reason you should fight for first place."
"What's that?"
"You see… Riku and him made a bet." Kairi whispered with a lower voice. "If Riku couldn't get a real girlfriend or boyfriend by the end of the year, Riku would have to date him. I bet that guy is just aiming for a chance to break another person's heart… like he broke yours…" The maroon-haired girl felt a little bad having to dig up something that old and scarring to encourage her friend, but it had to be done. "I'm sure you wouldn't want anyone to experience the same pain you've been through, would you? And if you become Riku's boyfriend, you can laugh in his face and show him he's wrong!"
Show him he's wrong? Frankly, the idea didn't sound half bad to Sora. Sure, Sora wasn't the kind to take bitter revenge on an ex, but proving that man was wrong was definitely a point he'd want to make. Moreover, Sora somehow felt like he had the duty to prevent anyone from being hurt by that man anymore.
"I'll do it." Sora said with determination.
-- Saturday --
"Be a good boy, Sora." Kairi's hands were on her hips as if she was his mother. "Don't disappoint me!"
"Shut up." Sora rolled his eyes at her and picked up his bag. The only reason he would go along with Kairi's little scheme was because he wanted to go to Destiny Islands. "I'm going in."
"Have fun!" The maroon-haired girl waved noisily, attracting stares and glances.
As it turned out, Sora was placed to sit next to contestant number ten, Selphie, in economic class. The brunet scowled lowly when Selphie wasn't looking, how come we have to cram in this small space when Riku gets to sit in business class?!
"This is going to be so exciting!" The girl's voice next to him pulled Sora out of his grumpy fit. He looked at her with a dumbfounded expression for a moment, and then weakly nodded his head. "What's your name? Oh wait! You're the one who tried to leave before!"
"Y-Yeah…" Sora scratched his head embarrassedly.
"It was Sora, if I remembered correctly?" She offered a hand. Sora nodded and shook it. "I'm Selphie. If you don't mind, can I call you Sora-chan?" The brunet wasn't so certain, but nodded anyways. She seemed to be offering kind companionship. "So how long have you liked Riku?"
"O-Oh, you've got me wrong." Sora shook his head. "I don't like Riku. In fact, I don't know him at all! You see, I have an ex who made a bet with Riku, and… well this is going to sound wrong, but I'm trying to prove a point to my ex, using Riku…"
"Oh…"Selphie blinked, "Oh boy."
"Yeah… I know it's kind of wrong, but…" Sora shrugged. "But I don't want Riku to lose the bet either, because that would put him into a position similar to mine." He chuckled a little, feeling stupid. "How should I say it? It's kind of like a rape victim helping the police because she wouldn't want a fellow girl to experience the same thing."
"I see." Selphie nodded her head. "Well, that's okay. You're a good person."
Sora smiled lightly, feeling relieved. It seemed that this contest wasn't as bad as he'd originally thought. At least he could make some friends even if he didn't win. Now that didn't sound so bad, did it?
Destiny Islands was beautiful. The ocean was cyan clear, so clear that you could see this fish and corals in it. The sky was cloudless, and the sand was smooth and white. Everything seemed to go at a much slower pace in this world. It was a place for summer, indeed. The group disembarked from the gummi ship, and was welcomed by Roxas and Axel.
"Alright, so apparently this is where you'll spend your vacation at." Axel said nonchalantly; the man always had an air of cockiness around him. "The first big event you might want to grab a chance to hang out with Riku is the Star Festival."
"Yes, and it begins at six this evening." Roxas added, "Make sure you use your time wisely."
Some people wondered where Riku was, but the two judges wouldn't disclose the information. They said it was for them to find out, to determine where on this island Riku would like to be at the most. Everyone immediately spread out to find the wanted silver-haired teen. Sora, on the other hand, went for the closest place that sold food. He was really hungry.
He went into a coffee shop – or more like a beverage shop – and ordered a cold drink. His beverage was an azure-colored soda, so blue that it reminded him of the ocean just a few yards away from the shop. With his boyish jubilance, he sat into one of the bamboo chairs and started sucking the life out of the cup. The weather sure was hot, for he took off the small short-sleeve outer jacket he wore.
"So you came." A voice suddenly interrupted his tranquility. "I thought you wouldn't, wanting to leave and all that."
Sora looked up and found the hunted boy Riku smiling down at him. Looking at Riku from this angle did reveal that he had some sort of handsomeness to him. The brunet wasn't easy to fall, though, not after what he'd been through.
"It's only because if I don't go I'll have to pay 3000 munnies." Sora grumbled dissatisfiedly, looking out to the sea. Riku raised his eyebrows, considered Sora's statement, then sat down across from the brunet.
"You really hate to be here that much?" Riku asked, placing his drink onto the small round table in between them.
Sora glanced at Riku before he opened his mouth, which stopped him from saying what he planned to say. He sighed. "Well, not really that much. Just not exactly happy about it." He shrugged, looking into Riku's eyes.
Riku made a face of understanding, and for once Sora felt like he could bear the presence of the other teen for a little longer.
"About that time… why didn't you eliminate me?" Sora was rocking back and forth in the chair childishly, eyes diverting to the bottom of his drink.
"You said what no one would ever dare say to me." A small smile tugged at Riku's lips.
"And you, Riku or whatever. You have a really bad sense of humor."
"No one in that room would've said anything." Riku chuckled awkwardly. "You were right. That so-called joke I made was not funny at all. But that's the way it had always been. Everybody swooned over me; they wanted to please me, and so they never said anything to me honestly. Even when I did something wrong, or when they have an opinion different from mine, they would never tell me. But you did."
Sora looked away, biting his bottom lip. "I see."
"Hm." Riku nodded. "Something wrong?"
"Nah. It's just…" Sora took in a deep breath, "I was just thinking that so you also have your own problems."
"Well… yeah." Riku shrugged. "I'm human, too."
The brunet nodded halfheartedly, looking at the ocean, seemingly in deep thoughts. To Riku, this boy was an enigma. Nothing that he did made any sense to him… yet. And that stimulated Riku's curiosity. He wanted to find out what the boy was thinking, the reasons behind his actions.
"Sora, Sora, Sora!" Sora was halfway down the corridor of the hotel when Selphie's voice called out at him. The sky was darkening, the sun almost completely gone. It was almost time for the Festival, which was what Sora was going back to his room to get prepared for, yet Selphie was in some very plain clothes, and a blanket was wrapped around herself.
"Selphie? What's wrong?" Sora asked curiously.
"I heard… from Roxas and Axel…" The girl said in between coughs, "That they postponed the Festival on just the last minute. The Islanders said that there will be meteor shower tonight, which is really, really rare on this island, so they canceled the Festival so that the lights wouldn't drown out the stars. And well… I managed to ask Riku to go meteor-viewing with me. But now… I've gotten a cold…"
"Oh no…" Sora sympathized. "Is there anything I can do? Maybe I can get you some medicine?"
"No, I have some." She coughed again. "But you see… it's really rude to stand Riku up like that. So I'm wondering if you can go over to the South Beach and just tell him that I'm really sorry that I couldn't go? And can you tell him that I'll ask him again another day?"
"Of course." The brunet patted his friend's shoulder and ran out immediately.
The South Beach was cold and windy. The sand here was coarser than the North Beach, but the sky was the same sky, black and full of sparkling stars. Sora arrived in just his sandals, which allowed much sand to scratch against his feet. Frankly, the beach was quite empty. Sora figured it must be because the meteor shower wouldn't have started so early yet. He grinned to himself, and sat down onto the sharp sand gently, looking up at the sky.
There was only one village on this island, and it was loud tonight. Makeshift food stalls and shops stood alongside the streets, illuminated by the hanging bulbs. Couples could be seen everywhere, and many girls were waiting at the entrance for their date to show up.
"Ah! Lord Riku." Selphie happily approached said teen. "You came."
"Sorry for the wait." Riku grinned calmly. Most of the other girls waiting were almost fainting over the smile, if not gritting their teeth at Selphie who comfortably curled an arm around Riku's.
"Not at all." She smiled wholeheartedly. "Let's go."
It had been two hours since Sora started waiting, yet no one had shown up. He began to doubt, to hesitate, but he shook his head to himself. Selphie isn't that kind of a person… And then he proceeded to scold himself for ever thinking such a thought. Wrapped up in his arms, he rocked back and forth on the sand against the cold wind. Waiting for Riku, waiting for people, waiting for the meteor shower to come. The trees sighed to the kisses of the wind, the black ocean rolling as it washed shells and the like ashore.
"It sure is taking him a long time…" Sora moaned into his knees, his feet tapping to the beat of his favorite musical song. If this was how late Riku was going to be, Sora certainly wouldn't want to be his boyfriend.
"Hey, Lord Riku." Selphie placed her hand directly over Riku's. The couple was sitting at a table in one of the many quiet restaurants on the North Beach that only opened during the night. "They say there're gonna be fireworks at nine. Shall we go out to the beach and watch?"
"Oh. Sure." Riku shrugged, earning a giggle from the brunette.
Sora had fallen asleep until he was woken up by sounds of explosions. He jumped, shooting up to his feet. The sound seemed to have come from behind him, so he turned around, and saw balls of colored lights shining in the sky. The scene was astonishing, utterly beautiful.
"Fireworks!" He grinned like a child, eyes wide enough to reflect the lights in the sky, before something hit him. "Fireworks…?"
Halfway down the road to the village, Sora could see people walking along the streets, the overall mood lively. He ran faster, though at each step he trembled more and more, until he stopped at a wide street.
"W-Why…?" He gulped. In front of him, at the end of the street, was a staircase that led up to the upper-ground of the same street, and at the base of the staircase was a Festival Entrance banner.
"They postponed the Festival on just the last minute. The Islanders said that there will be meteor shower tonight, which is really, really rare on this island, so they canceled the Festival so that the lights wouldn't drown out the stars."
"Today was really fun." Selphie said with an indulged smile on her face. They stood at the entrance of the Festival, ready to part for the night.
"The pleasure was all mine." Riku smiled back politely like a gentleman.
"Axel! You're drunk!" Roxas' loud voice was the only precaution Riku had before the redhead leaned into Roxas who stumbled right into Naminé when she walked past them in between the two couples, pushing her into Riku's way. The domino effect stopped at Riku who was strong enough to hold Naminé up to avoid bumping into Selphie to his left.
"Are you okay?" He asked. Naminé looked up and instantly blushed, muttering a quiet "I'm fine" before rushing off. Selphie narrowed her eyes, and placed a hand on Riku's arm.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Lord Riku." She smiled and bowed gracefully before walking off towards the hotel. Riku was going to return to a special private mansion reserved for him alone, but realized he stepped onto something. He bent over to pick it up, and realized it was some sort of a cell phone accessory string. Naminé must have dropped it…
Despite the large portion of the population native Destiny Islanders took up, there were still a considerable amount of visitors and tourists. The lobby of the hotel was not as noisy as the village, but it wasn't as silent as the silver-haired teen expected, either.
He went up to a receptionist and asked, "Hi, I'm responsible for a group of students from Radiant Garden High School. My name's Riku, you can check it on the group's flight information."
"Ah, yes. Mr. Riku." The lady nodded, confirming his identity. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Yes, I want to know which room a girl named Naminé is staying in." He asked, the cell phone string clutched in his palm.
"Sure." The lady typed in something on the keyboard. "She's currently in room 304."
Riku thanked her and went to press for a lift. He made a left turn upon approaching the number plates and soon found Naminé's room. Inhaling, he knocked firmly on her door. Shuffling sounds of fluffy slippers could be heard as the girl came to open the door.
"Riku… Good evening." She blinked, surprised by the sudden visit.
"Hi." He greeted with a smile. "I think you dropped this."
"O-Oh!" She exclaimed and blushed a little as she took her cell phone accessory from his hand. "You found it! Thank you so much!"
"No problem." Riku nodded reassuringly.
"How should I thank you…?" The girl nibbled on her bottom lip, and blushed harder, "L-Lord Riku… Will you… go to the Midnight Dance with me on Thursday night?"
The boy blinked, and upon seeing the girl hanging her head so low as if she was begging, he immediately agreed. "Oh, okay. Yeah, sure."
"Really?" She lifted her head up with hopeful eyes, "Thank you!"
"I'll see you then." Riku smiled gently one last time and turned to leave as she closed her door. He was quite happy about the invitation, then his train of thought was interrupted by another conversation down the hall.
"Selphie!" It was a boy's voice. Presumably Sora's. Riku's curiosity drew him closer to the source of the sound, and he stood behind the corner before the corridor turned into the one Sora and Selphie must be standing in.
Selphie completely walked past Sora without noticing him. He dashed out, calling after her.
"Selphie!"
The girl turned around, and gasped a little before her face turned into a half-embarrassed, half-disdainful look. "Oh. It's you."
"Wasn't the Festival… postponed?" Sora asked the only and obvious question. "Why…?"
"Oh please." The brunette rolled her eyes. "This is a contest, Sora. We're enemies. I just did what I was supposed to do. I went out with Riku."
"Then… all that you told me…" The boy swallowed. "About the postponement, the meteor shower, the cold… Those were all-"
"Lies, of course." Selphie looked away, avoiding the boy's eyes. "There's no way I can catch a cold in such a hot place like this. What are you, an idiot? We're here to compete for Riku's love. Of course I have to fight away my fellow competitors. What are you trying to do anyway? Make me admit what I did? I'll admit it. I lied to you, I betrayed you, I treated you as an idiot, Sora. Happy? You're gonna lose anyway. The Festival is over. Riku's back in his mansion, and you didn't do anything to make yourself known to him at all. You're losing for sure." With that, she swung away from the stupefied boy and went back to her room, slamming the door shut.
Upon hearing a thud, Riku peeked around the corner. Sora was on his knees, shoulders were slumped and looked completely like a depressed blob. Something about Sora silently weeping like that disturbed Riku greatly.
Sora was woken up next morning by a gentle voice. He couldn't fall asleep until very late last night. He groggily opened his eyes, rubbing them a bit to get focused. Then a boy's face, blond hair with tanned skin, appeared before him.
"Sora, the elimination is about to start." Tidus, being the only other boy in the contest, was reasonably arranged to be Sora's roommate. "We have to wake up now."
"O-Oh." The brunet mumbled quietly. Somehow now he couldn't place his heart fully into trusting his roommate. The blond boy nodded silently and walked off. Sora stood up, heaved a sigh, and went to get ready to go down to the judge panel.
"Today is the first day of elimination." Roxas announced. Everyone involved in the contest was seated around a bamboo table lent to them by the owner of the beverage shop. "The judges, us three, have discussed with input from Riku himself over the subject of who was to stay, and who was to go. And now, we'd have Axel announce these results."
"The following numbers I read are the ones that will remain in this contest and continue to compete for Riku's love." Axel brought up a list in his hands. Sora gulped upon seeing it, knowing with dread that he would not be on the list. "And I read according to the level of attraction Riku feels towards them.
"Number one. Number five. Number six. Number two. Number nine. Number four, Number eight, Number three, Number seven." The redhead paused. "Please step over here." His finger whisked to a side, where the floor was clear of any furniture for them to stand.
Sora widened his eyes. The only numbers left unread were… ten and eleven! He glanced over at Selphie, who was trying to hide the anxiety in her face. No one on the area except the three judges knew exactly why things were this peculiar. Selphie was the one who spent the most time with Riku during this first round, even getting a firm grip on the chance to go to the Star Festival with him! How could she end up being at the bottom?
"Number ten and eleven, please stand up." Axel continued. "I have only one number left to say, and this number is going to represent the one that can remain in this contest. The other one, the one not called, will be sent back to Radiant Garden."
Both of the contestants gulped. Selphie was near tears, and Sora was mulling over the thought of not being able to get his revenge and being slaughtered by Kairi.
"A word from Riku." The redhead looked at the paper in his hand. "'We have two very polar contestants standing here, as the final two from which one will be eliminated. Here we have a girl, pretty, cute, with a touch of the beauty of Nature on her, trying all her might to reach me, to make me happy, to make herself stand out from the others. She did everything and more than the others did. She even went to the Star Festival with me. On the other end of the scale, we have a boy, also cute, another kind of beauty, but he didn't try anything. I had but one or two words with him. I didn't see him after that, nor did he appear to have participated in the Star Festival.
"'Most of you must wonder, isn't the result obvious? Why would she even be one of the bottom two? And my answer is, it is because of which kind of beauty I am looking for.'" Axel paused. "That concludes Riku's comment. And now, the remaining contestant is…" The atmosphere could create illusionary drum-rolls on its own. "Number eleven."
"Ehhhh?!" Every contestant all said with disbelief simultaneously.
"I'm… staying?" Saying that Sora's eyes were larger than two saucers would be an understatement.
"NOOOOO!!!" Selphie screamed. She was disoriented for a second, and then tried to jump at Riku. But she was dragged away by two girls who seemed to be from the fan club (When the hell did they get over here?! Sora wondered bewilderedly).
"Can everybody see now?" Riku stepped up with a genuine smile. "This is what she really looked like." Everybody winced at Selphie's disappearing deranged face. "Do you understand now? Love is not a game. You cannot manipulate people into loving you. True love will only exist when both sides of the party are willing to give themselves up for the other."
Sora cocked his eyebrows, mumbling under his breath, "Who are you to say that…?"
A/N: So there you have your very dramatic chapter 2! (lol) The Star Festival I had in mind resembles the Tanabata Matsuri of Japan. So yes, all the girls wore Yukata kimonos. Lovely imageries, lol.
