Hey, guys. I apologize once again that I updated way too late. Well, here ya go! Chapter 6 (well, more like Chapter 5, Part 2): The Competition! Part 2
The rest of the fashion show went by quickly for the audience (and extremely slow and torturous for Kazuha), and it was soon time for the kimono part of the competition. Kazuha was already dressed in her pink kimono when Sonoko came up to her.
"Hey, Kazuha," she said, "feeling confident?"
"Yeah," Kazuha lied. She began to fidget with her fingers again and bit her lip.
"Well, it's your turn to go up," Sonoko said quietly, noticing her nervousness.
"Wait. What? But it's Kamiko's turn, isn't it?" Kazuha stopped playing with her fingers.
"Yeah . . . about that, Kazuha, Kamiko told me she wanted to go last. You know, 'save the best for last' kind of thing."
"Oh," Kazuha muttered.
"But you'll do fine! You already went up three times! Just one more, Kazuha, and it'll all be over!"
Kazuha smiled slightly, feeling a bit relaxed, but not by much.
"Well, gotta go tell the audience what's going on," Sonoko said, and strode off.
"Oi, Kazuha-chan!" Kazuha heard a familiar voice shout.
"Ran-chan?" Kazuha turned around, seeing Ran and Aoko running up to her.
"Oh, Kazuha, you looked so pretty!" Aoko squealed.
"Yeah, yeah, and you look so beautiful in this kimono!" Ran looked Kazuha up and down.
"W-well . . . you guys already saw me in this," Kazuha muttered.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Kazuha!" said Aoko. I've been wanting to see this kimono again since yesterday! With this you're sure to win the contest, Kazuha!"
"Yep! And you'll get to continue being Juliet in the play and"—Ran leaned in with a smirk—"you'll get to be Heiji's girlfriend."
Kazuha faced turned into a very dark shade of red and stuttered, "O-oi, Ran! I never agreed to what K-Kamiko said, you know?"
"Ha, ha, ha! You should see your face, Kazuha! You look like a tomato!" Aoko laughed, and Ran joined in.
"G-guys!" Kazuha began, but was interrupted by Sonoko's announcement to the audience: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have an important announcement to make. It appears that Kamiko-san wants to go after Kazuha-san, so please don't be alarm when Toyama-san goes first. Thank you for your patience."
The girls heard the audience go back to talking loudly again and Sonoko walked through the curtains with a smile on her face. "Well, Kazuha, it's your turn now! Good luck!"
"Good luck, Kazuha!" Aoko said.
"We'll wait for you back here, Kazuha-chan!" Ran said, and Kazuha nodded while going through the curtains.
Walking down the runway wouldn't have been that bad if Kazuha didn't almost trip on her kimono. With an embarrassed smile, Kazuha continued walking acting as though nothing happened. When she was about to go through the curtains, she turned to Heiji's seat, where Heiji caught her looking and gave her a wink.
Kazuha, blushing noticeably, dashed through the curtains, not caring about her kimono anymore. Before she could take a deep breath in, Ran, Aoko, and Sonoko appeared.
"You did it, Kazuha!" Aoko exclaimed loudly.
"Great job, Kazuha," Sonoko praised.
"You'll definitely win, Kazuha-chan!" Ran beamed happily at Kazuha.
Kazuha, feeling tears of happiness about to come out, wiped her eyes and nodded with a smile.
Just then, however, Kamiko appeared. "Well done, Kazuha. You did it: you made it through the competition without embarrassing yourself—too much, at least."
Kazuha immediately felt her happiness replaced by shock. Kamiko was wearing a lilac kimono and had her black hair tied in two long braids. However, the shocking factor was the kimono itself, which sparkled from . . .
"Diamonds?! A-are those diamonds?!" Sonoko gasped as she stared intently at the glowing gems.
"Diamonds? Well, fake diamonds, actually. I couldn't wear something so expensive and heavy on my kimono just for this stupid competition. But it's very convincing, isn't it?"
Kazuha didn't say anything to Kamiko, but her expression became grim as she tried to conceal her frustration.
"Don't worry, Toyama-san." Kamiko walked up to Kazuha, looking down at her because of her height. "I'll make sure that Heiji has time on his schedule to hang out with you when he becomes my boyfriend. Wouldn't you say that's rather kind of me?" And with that, she walked toward the curtains.
"Grr . . . I don't like that girl, Nagasaki-san!" Aoko growled at Kamiko when she was out of earshot.
"Don't worry, Kazuha, you'll definitely win," Ran assured, but not as confident as earlier.
Kazuha didn't reply but only frowned in the direction Kamiko just walked in.
Immediately when Kamiko walked through the curtains, the crowd oohed and aahed at Kamiko's gems, then began whistling and cheering loudly. Soon, Kamiko came back with a smug smile on her face.
"Did you hear that, Toyama-san? That was the winner being announced," she said, then went to go change into her regular clothes.
Aoko and Ran glared at Kamiko as she disappeared from sight, then Aoko said, "That girl . . . I just want to punch her in the face. Don't listen to that girl, Kazuha! She's just trying to make you feel bad!"
"Yeah, you'll totally win," Ran said, her confidence in Kazuha returning.
"Thanks, guys," Kazuha said, but she smiled sadly. "I'm gonna go change now before the winner is announced."
While in the bathroom stall changing, Kazuha's vision slightly blurred for a second. Huh? What's going on? Kazuha thought, blinking. But as quickly as the feeling came, it disappeared. Kazuha sat on the closed toilet lid, waiting for it to return. When it didn't, Kazuha continued changing and left the bathroom when she was done.
"Just in time, Kazuha!" Ran said, watching the closed curtains. "Sonoko's about to announce the winner!"
Kazuha glanced around backstage and saw Kamiko smiling confidently. Kazuha frowned again and looked back at the curtains, a look of determination replacing her face. I have to win! she thought. No, I will win!
"And the winner is . . ." Sonoko's words echoed throughout the auditorium. She paused for a moment, waiting for the suspense to overwhelm everyone, which it did for a lot of people, especially Heiji who was irking for Sonoko to tell everyone who won. Heiji desperately hoped that it was Kazuha, because at least he could live with her constant nagging than Kamiko's constant affection.
"What?! No way!" Kazuha heard Sonoko shout. 'No way'? That has to be good, right? Kazuha thought, starting to have a bad feeling.
"Uh . . . the winner is, er . . . Nagasaki—" Kazuha didn't have to hear the rest before her ears blocked every sound out. Warm tears were already trickling down her face. Out of the corner of her blurry eye, she saw Kamiko walking through the curtains and Ran and Aoko eyeing her with concerned expressions. She didn't want them to see her crying, so she tilted her head down to let her bangs cover her eyes. This, however, didn't change the fact that her shoulders were shaking from her silent sobs and Ran and Aoko from noticing.
"Kazuha . . ." Ran said, but Kazuha responded by falling to her knees and covering her ears.
"No! I don't want to hear it!" Kazuha cried.
"Kazuha . . . it . . . it isn't the end of the world that Kamiko is Heiji's girlfriend," Ran tried to sooth Kazuha.
"I don't understand what you mean." Kazuha sniffed. "I lost. I lost to Nagasaki-san. And now it's my fault that Heiji is going to be stuck with an overly-affectionate girlfriend."
"Heiji can just break up with Nagasaki-san," Ran explained, hugging Kazuha on the ground.
"Yeah . . . but that doesn't change the fact that the whole school voted for her to be Juliet," Kazuha cried out.
"No, Kazuha. They didn't vote for Nagasaki-san to be Juliet or Heiji's girlfriend," Aoko said. "They voted for her because they thought her designs better. But I think your designs are much, much better!" she added hastily when Ran gave her her demon glare.
Kazuha stayed silent, feeling like her world was falling apart. How is Heiji doing right now? Is he smiling that he isn't with an ahou? He wouldn't do that, right? We're childhood friends after all. . . . I'm sure he's not happy about being paired up with Kamiko . . . at least I hope so.
Hearing Kamiko and Sonoko walking through the curtains, Kazuha got up and quickly wiped her tears. She smiled at Kamiko. "Well . . . I guess you were the winner after all. C-congrats on being Heiji's girlfriend and being Juliet," Kazuha said, trying to fight back tears.
Kamiko frowned and began to walk. It seemed like she was going to walk past her but stopped beside Kazuha and said, "If you truly love Hattori-san, fight for him," then walked away.
With a slightly open mouth, Kazuha's eyes followed Kamiko until she disappeared from sight.
"W-what was that just now?" Kazuha asked her friends, who looked just as surprised as she did. They all shrugged, unsure.
"Well, she's right, Kazuha!" Sonoko exclaimed. "The only way to get Heiji for yourself is to fight for him!"
Kazuha, feeling her sadness beginning to fade away, nodded with a determined face and said with fire burning in her eyes, "That's right! I'll not let Heiji's heart get taken away by Nagasaki-san!"
"Oi, ahou! Why did you let Nagasaki-san win?!" Kazuha heard a familiar Osaken accent behind her.
"Heiji!" Kazuha said, turning around, seeing Shinichi and Kaito looking pitifully at Heiji, who had a face of both annoyance and anger. Kazuha felt her face warm up as she hoped he didn't hear what she had just said.
"Seriously, ahou, now I have to figure out a way how to get away from Nagasaki!" He scowled.
"Hey, you're a detective, ahou! I'm pretty sure that you can figure it out on your own!" Kazuha growled at him, forgetting about Kamiko.
"Yeah? Well, this would've never happened if you lost the contest!"
"I lost the contest? I wasn't the one who voted for Kamiko to win! If anything, blame the whole entire freaking school!"
"Oi," Aoko muttered to her friends, "did she already forget that she was going to try to fight for Heiji's heart?" They all shrugged with half-mooned eyes.
"But you were supposed to convince the audience to vote for you with your designs! And clearly you didn't do that!"
"We—" Kazuha began.
"Well, it obviously means that Kamiko had the better outfits, ahou!" Heiji interrupted her.
"You're already calling Nagasaki-san by her first name already? Jeez, and you haven't even hung out with her for a day, baka!" Kazuha retorted, enraged with him interrupting her.
"No, Kazuha-chan! It's perfectly okay for Heiji-kun to say my first name!" sang a cheerful voice out of nowhere.
Everyone all looked in the direction of the sound and saw Kamiko skipping to Heiji. "Ne, ne, Heiji! Say my name again!" she smiled while hugging onto his right arm.
"Hey, Nagasaki-san, I don't know what your problem is with Kazuha, but please tell me you were joking when you said you wanted to become my girlfriend," Heiji said, which almost sounded like begging.
"Oh, Heiji-kun, I don't have any problems at all with Kazuha-chan! And when I'm giving you all this attention, don't you think I'm in love with you? You're a detective aren't you? I thought you'd be able to figure it out before Kudo-kun," she asked with sad eyes, pushing Kazuha and everyone away from the two of them, who were all looking at her with half-mooned eyes.
"W-well, of course I figured it out before him!"
"Then there's no problem whatsoever that we're dating! Come on, darling~!" she chirped, grabbing him by the arm and trying to lead him away.
However, the detective stood his ground, trying to not be taken away by Kamiko, who was surprisingly strong for him.
Just then, however, Kazuha's vision began to blur. "He—Heiji," she called out accidentally, feeling herself lose balance.
"Ka—Kazuha!" she heard one of her friends call out, but she couldn't point out which one it was, because it was becoming too hard to hear.
"Kazuha!" she heard Heiji shout before blacking out.
Well, peeps! I'd like to say Happy April Fools' Day and Happy Easter (although Easter was yesterday . . .)! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I will update soon! Especially with summer break coming up, I plan on finishing this and "The Little Mermaid" fanfiction! I also want to hear your opinion on my made-up character Nagasaki Kamiko. Here's a little description about her in her POV. I see this kind of thing in manga a lot, so I wanted to do it here! :)
"Kon'nichiwa! My name is Nagasaki Kamiko! I'm eighteen years old and attend Tokyo University! =^.^= Many juniors* and seniors at my school call me 'The Angelic Beauty'! Aw . . . aren't they cute? (^ω^)Well, I really like this boy name Hattori Heiji who is currently in high school. He's almost eighteen, so we're just about the right age! There's also this girl named Toyama Kazuha, who from what I hear has been Heiji-kun's childhood friend for AGES, and that ever since middle school, people have been betting on when they'll get together. I heard that there's about a million dollars right now . . . I wonder where all that money is . . . Well, anywho, I'm glad you've been interested in getting to know me! Gotta go! Sayonara~"
—Nagasaki Kamiko
*In Japan, "junior" normally means "underclassman," or someone younger than you.
Well, hope you liked my little description of Kamiko! Ja ne!
