Chapter 3: Sketches, Lovebirds, and Minto
After Ichigo had told her to help Ryou, Minto calmly walked upstairs and knocked politely on the blonde boy's door.
An "AAAAARGH!" was heard from the other side of the door, followed by heavy footsteps. Seconds later, a very beat-up-looking Ryou opened the door. Upon seeing the bird-girl, the blonde boy banged his head against the door. "What?" he mumbled exhaustingly.
The ballerina beamed snobbishly. "Well, you need help and I'm here to help."
Ryou straightened up and snorted. "Well, this must be a very special occasion in order for YOU to offer help."
Minto rolled her eyes. "Duh! That's because it IS a very special occasion. You need help expressing your love for a girl you've known for, like, a year now. Isn't that special?"
"Stop rubbing it in!" Ryou snapped. "I didn't realize that...never mind. Just come in."
Minto didn't budge. "Didn't realize what?" she questioned.
Ryou slapped his forehead for, like, the fifth time today. "Didn't realize how I felt about her until she got sick, OK?"
Minto tenderly folded her arms and put a sly look on her face. "Didn't realize how you felt about WHOM now?" she questioned teasingly.
"Midorikawa, OK!" Ryou blurted in frustration. He was mentally screaming bloody murder.
Minto enjoyed playing with the boy's emotions. "Embarrassed to call your love by her first name, Shirogane?" she questioned with innocence.
"Aizawa, please..."
"Oh, OK." The bird-girl sighed and walked into the room. Ryou followed and locked the door behind them.
Upon entering the room, Minto spotted the "designer stationary" Ichigo had made earlier lying on the desk. She walked to it and picked it up, examining it closely. "What's this?" she asked no one in particular.
Ryou looked in Minto's direction and saw that she was holding the piece of stationary he was supposed to write a poem on. Of course, he never got down to doing it. "Oh that," he began. "That's something Straw-I mean, Momomiya made a few minutes ago."
Minto set the stationary back down on the desk and smiled mockingly. "Of course Ichigo made that," she snootily stated. "It's so poorly-drawn."
Ryou nodded. He, too, thought that the strawberry-girl was definitely not the best artist in the world.
Just then an idea came to Minto. "Hey," she started. "Why don't you draw a picture for her? Girls like guys who are artistic."
Ryou sighed. "That's a good idea and all, but I'm not artistic."
Minto beamed in a stuck-up way. "Allow me," she said, grabbing a piece of paper from the printer. The ballerina primly sat down at the desk, neatly placing the paper in front of her. She then took a pencil from the pencil-holder and began sketching carefully.
Ryou bent over Minto's shoulder. "What are you drawing?" he asked her curiously.
"You'll see," she told Ryou. She continued working painstakingly. The boy sprawled out onto his bed and started counting the ceiling tiles, waiting for the bird-girl to finish her drawing.
After about 20 minutes or so, Minto finished her sketch and showed it to Ryou. It was a very realistically drawn and nicely shaded pencil sketch of two birds closely perched together on a branch. The smaller female bird was cuddling tenderly against the larger male bird's fluffy chest. The larger male bird had his wing around the smaller female bird in a protective but warm hug.
"What do you think?" Minto asked while beaming. She was very proud of her work.
Ryou stared at the drawing for a long time. It was so finely drawn that it was almost real. He secretly wished that he was the larger bird and Lettuce was the smaller bird. He would let her snuggle against him while he hugged her tenderl-
"Shirogane, earth to Shirogane..."
Ryou snapped out his reverie and turned towards Minto. "Wh-what?" he stammered.
Minto shook her head. "Daydreaming about your lovebird, Shirogane?" she asked teasingly. "Well, what do you think of my drawing?"
Ryou had to think fast. "Well...knowing you..." he faltered, "I'd think you'd draw dogs...not birds...since dogs are your favorite animal..."
Minto became impatient. "Well, 'lovedogs' doesn't make any sense. So I went with birds instead, since 'lovebirds' actually made sense. And I AM fused with bird genes."
"Right...uhhh..."
"Don't you 'uhhh...' me!" Minto snapped. "Tell me...is my drawing good or not?"
"It's umm...very good..." Ryou stuttered.
Minto beamed again. "Is it good enough to give to Lettuce?" she questioned curiously.
"Uhhh...sure..." Ryou hesitated. He really didn't think he could pluck up the courage to give something that romantic to her.
"Then my work here is done," Minto stated with pride. She handed the drawing to Ryou and prissily walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her. Ryou set the drawing down on his desk next to the stationary. He then waited until Minto's sharp clicking footsteps could no longer be heard, and then he gave a huge sigh of relief.
In the meantime, Minto had made her way down to the storerooms to check on the other girls' progress. She found Berry, Ichigo, Zakuro, and Pudding in one room checking flour levels. Then she found Ringo in a different room next door counting silverware. The ballerina decided to tell the apple-girl what was going on with Ryou. Ringo, who was usually mellow, suddenly became very excited.