It's Miyagi's turn to shine now. Ah, I'm a little nervous. I'm not very good with Miyagi but I did my best.

The thunder rolls

- Miyagi -

XX

"You two don't look like you're in love."

How stupid. As stupid as the Fate this and Fate that, which he keeps swinging around. Why can kids say such heavy words so easily? Things like fate and forever aren't meant to be said so lightly. It's as if he's mocking them.

"Shinobu!" I snap then turn to Kamijou, who looks pretty solemn at the moment. "Sorry Kamijou, I'll deal with him," I say hurriedly, grabbing Shinobu's wrist and pulling him away.

"Hey! M - Miyagi!" he struggles but I don't let him go until we're a safe distance away from anyone else. I have no idea what this loud-mouth professing his love to me might do to my career.

Shinobu snatches his wrist back, glaring at me angrily. For most part, I believe I'm staring at back at him coolly, unfazed.

"Do you love him?" he demands an answer. "Do you love that man?"

I wish he would stop saying 'love' so easily.

I sigh and press to fingers between my eyes, to the same place that wrinkles the most whenever Kamijou frowns. I'm beginning to understand why he has a penchant for looking irritable all the time.

"Shinobu, I'm going to get angry now. Please stop trying to force your way into my life!" I control my voice. I'm an adult so I shouldn't be getting angry at a kid.

I probably shouldn't have gone to Kamijou's apartment. What was I even doing there? Crossing that invisible line we hd silently dictated never to cross.

At least it was Kamijou. At least he can pretend it never happened.

I don't want a repeat of last time. I don't want to storm out because he kept pushing, and pushing, and pushing. It was bad enough that I flew all the way to Kamijou's place because of it, letting someone else see me like that. That's why today I've been extra cheerful around him.

Yet Shinobu won't let it go. Why does he keep pushing me? Why is he so adamant about prying into my life? Why me? What did I ever do to deserve all this attention?

"Does that man love you? I refuse to believe that he could possibly love you more than me! You don't even seem in love!" he keeps ranting and I think I feel a migraine coming on.

"That's because we respect each other's space and don't poke our noses into each other's affairs when they're not wanted. It's called respect!"

I refrain from adding on some sarcastic comment. What does it look like to be in love anyway? It's not like I'm going to go around with hearts in my eyes.

"It's indifference!" he shouts. He gets so worked up so easily. "It's apathy! You just don't care enough to get too involved that's all! Compared to that, I would rather be hated by you than for you to feel nothing about me!"

"Well, you're well on your way to your goal then," I bite back. This is no good, I can't lose my cool to some stupid kid, not again, even if his persistence is annoying the hell out of me.

"I can't believe that man could love you! I love you much, much more! I'd love you forever! I'd love you even if you died!"

"Stop it," I tell him sternly, even though I know he won't. It pisses me off. "Stop saying things like 'love' and 'forever' so easily."

I remember. I said those things to Sensei once upon a time. I didn't last forever at all.

"When did I say them so easily? I only say these things to you, I even came all the way from Australia for you!" Shinobu keeps yelling.

"I never asked you to!" I finally snap back. I don't know what it is about him but I just can't keep my cool for too long. "I never wanted you to butt into my life and force your way into my private affairs!" I yell back at him even though I know I'm being childish and sinking to his level.

"Why not? Why don't you just give me a chance?"

His resolve is astounding. If only he put that determination to something more constructive than wooing my heart. He's got bad taste in men anyway.

"Miyagi!" He reaches for my sleeve but I shake him away. It's late and I have to go to work.

"Enough. I have things to do."

"Wait!"

"Enough!" I yell, more forcefully this time. The path of our eyes catch and he stumbles back, stunned to silence for just a moment.

I'm tired of all this fate crap. I'm tired of people trying to get close to me when they're not wanted. I don't want to have to bother with this; it's too tiring.

Before he can recover, I promptly turn on my heel and march away. I have a stack of paper work to go through and classes to teach. This time, I think I might take a page from Kamijou's book and start hurling chalk at whoever looks at me the wrong way.

XX

As the working day ends I stumble wearily home. Back at my apartment, it's blissfully quiet. I spend this time not doing something constructive like preparing my next lessons but trying to figure out how to shake Shinobu off of my back instead.

Now I've calmed down, I can think about this clearly. I mean, honestly, he can't be serious! An old man like me? There's no way he could possibly really want a serious relationship with me. He's probably just caught up in one of those youthful crushes or something. Kids these days are so quick declare every slight, tingly feeling they get as love.

Well, I can sort him out soon enough. I can easily talk this out and, as I hear the door open and then shut, I'm already revising what I have to say.

"I'm back," he returns with a frown on his face. He reminds me of Kamijou when he acts like this.

"Shinobu, sit down," I point to the couch opposite and he warily takes a seat. I snuff out my cigarette in the ashtray and sigh, ready to begin my slow work on him. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you this morning but let's take this from an objective perspective. Forget the age difference, forget the fact that I'm already in a relationship, I still don't think that this would work."

"Why?" he stresses. Do I really have to explain this to him?

"Well, come on, we like different things, we've grown up in different times so naturally our tastes will be different. We just don't have that much in common." That's reasonable, isn't it? Even Shinbou has to acknowledge something like that.

"So? Opposites attract," he says simply, as if this is obvious.

I hate the way he thinks so simply; it proves that he still has the mind of a child. I hate that he thinks everything can easily be solved, as if there's a simple solution to all life's problems. If yelling about love and forcing myself on others was any good, I would…well, I don't know where I would be but I wouldn't be here, that's for sure.

I hate his persistence and his stubbornness, I hate his heavy-handed way of dealing with things and his disregard for the other's personal feelings and privacy.

But, most of all, I hate how he reminds me of myself. He's like an afterimage of myself when Sensei was alive. I don't want to confront that old me, I've done away with him already. There's nothing but bad memories back there.

"I can't talk to you," I sigh and gather my things. It's funny. Even though it's my house, I'm the one who has to leave. Oh, that's truely manly!

Shinobu catches my sleeve as I try to leave. "Just try me!" he insists. Try him? What is he, some cheap, second hand car? "How will you know we're not right for each other is you don't try? Miyagi!"

I pull away. What's wrong with this kid? Why is his head so backwards?

He follows me to the door and latches on to my sleeve, still insisting that I take responsibility and other garbage like that.

I don't know why I do it, he must have driven me insane, but one minute he's shouting and the next minute he's completely silent, lying on the floor.

I realise that I'm gazing down at him, that I'm on top of him a little too late. Well fine, I think, I can always improvise. Since he's always clamouring at me to go out with him, I think I'll scare him a little. That's right, I heard that kids learn best when there's danger or fear involved.

"Fine," I say, completely serious. "You wanted this. So don't come crying to me."

And then I kiss him. And, underneath me, I can tell that's he's shocked. This is what we call a taste of one's own medicine, Shinobu-chin.

I'm not gentle or sparing. I force my tongue into his mouth and flick it against the roof of his mouth. Even though he's struggling, I pin his wrists down and keep my lips forcefully pressed against his.

After what I think is an adequate amount of time, I rise, feeling rather pleased with myself. Finally, I can call an end to this whole stupid act.

Or not.

Crap.

He's...crying? He's serious! Crap, what do I do? I wasn't expecting this! Why can't he just hit me one and run off? I never thought that he would actually, seriously, honestly want a proper relationship with me. Is he nuts? What's he thinking?

I quickly get to my feet and he sits up wiping his lips. I mumble something and turn to leave, even though his voice is strained and calling after me, I ignore it and leave. I quickly leave, very quickly.

I think that I might be in trouble.

XX

"I'm going to see you around here a lot more often, aren't I?"

"Is that a problem?"

I look at Kamijou, pretending to frown as he returns the favour - though his frown is probably real. I keep warning him about wrinkles.

"Not really," finally he shrugs. I thought things would be awkward between us after Shinobu's little rant but they're not. It's exactly the same. Exactly the same.

Typical. I don't know how or why I ran back to Kamijou's place. Yet again. I try to make the visit seem as casual as possible but really I just want refuge. I'm being terrorised by a teenager. Me, a fully grown man, chased away, twice now, by a boy almost half my age!

I turn back to one of Kamijou's books, though I'm not really interested in it. He told me it was crap but I just had to see for myself. When I can take it no more, I toss it aside and pull another from Kamijou's ever growing collection.

I really love his apartment. It's like a huge forest of books and words that I can get lost in. I can run away from Shinobu and come here whenever I want. I don't understand his obsession with Usami though. Why does he need three copies of every book?

I purposefully block all thoughts of Shinobu from my mind. If I don't, I might just lose it. I want to bury myself in a book and forget.

I'm lying on my back, holding his book above my head to read it when he returns and places a glass of juice on my stomach. It's cold and it tickles so I remove it and roll over.

"Ka - mi - jou, have you been lonely without me?" I try teasing him, though really all I am doing is covering up my own worries. He's so easy to read. I always know what he's going to say.

"What? Were you gone?" he retorts. "I never noticed."

Ouch. Then again, that's what I like about him, and since his reply pleases me so much I decide to reward him with a kiss.

He only stutters and blushes, backing away shocked, as if we haven't done it a hundred times already. If I have to make one complaint about Kamijou, it's that he can be stupidly immature sometimes. Like certain brats. No, don't go there, Miyagi!

Well, I don't really mind. The amount of good points outweigh the bad. I like Kamijou because he knows my limits and he never tries to push me. In the end, people don't want to get too involved in other people. They can't really understand each other. They spend too much time trying to understand themselves to bother about others, but at least Kamijou knows this so he doesn't bother wasting his time. I think that's what I like the most about him.

I smile a little bitterly at the thought. Here I am assessing him as if he's a piece a piece of fruit, weighing up all the pros and cons. I kiss him, harder this time. Harder than I kissed Shinobu. My hands slide down his shirt. I don't even know where they're going.

This time, however, I let him undress me. I let him take his time with my shirt, slowly sliding it off as we kiss. His fingers shake a little and he doesn't look at me. It's always a little awkward at first when we're not drunk, as if there's a wall between us that we need to break before we can really feel each other.

Shinobu's words from this morning flutter back. My thoughts turn to Sensei and I push Kamijou down and roughly occupy his mouth.

Not Sensei, I don't want to think about her today. Or ever. But I don't want to forget either. I thought that during summer we would go to the beach. They'd be shaved ice and cold soba noodles, brightly coloured shells and golden sand. She'd complain about the heat and I'd run all the way down the whole beach looking for a parasol. The sky would be blue, cloudless, so damn blue and burning it would look almost artificial.

But we never went to the beach. Sensei was too sick and before I knew it, summer was over.

Then I got married to Risako. She was nice. She was pretty and intelligent and strong-willed, the kind of woman people call 'a great catch' but I didn't love her. I couldn't. I vaguely remember Shinobu from those times; a distant scowling figure. I always thought that maybe he sensed that I did not love his sister, that was why he always looked so sour.

Sometimes, when I was visiting Risako, he would be coming home from school, dumping his bag by the doorway and stretching out all the cramped muscles in his back. We never exchanged more than greetings though. Back then, I actually thought he was shy!

Ah, I hate this! I want to get that little terrorist out of my head!

"Miyagi," Kamijou calls me back to reality. I remember that I'm kissing him. I remember that one of my hands are currently on the button of his jeans. I finish my work there and move on to the zipper.

It's rare that he calls my name during these times. He hardly says anything, just moans when I kiss his mouth and trail kisses down his neck, groaning again when my hands reach down his pants.

Come to think of it, Kamijou's never asked me if I'm in love with him. Then again, I've never asked Kamijou if he's in love with me either. Well, it's not like there's a point. If I asked him, he would just blush and stutter and run away or try to change the subject.

I can guess what he would say though, if I really did pin him down and forced him to answer truthfully. It would go like this;

Do you love me Kamijou?

A blush. A stutter.

I like you Miyagi, but…

A pause. Because it probably hurts.

…But you're not Nowaki.

I smile a little. I think I like Kamijou because he's so easy to read. I always know what he's going to say.

Writting Miyagi was quite a challenge. I'm glad it's over though. Misaki's POV up next. Let's see how Nowaki's been faring.