Today, I woke up much earlier than usual. I was so excited, because today, Usui promised me that he'd take me somewhere after work. He said it was the thing we were going to do before the entire crying fiasco happened.
"Does this blue dress look good...? Or maybe this green one would look better..." I mutter to myself, holding up two dresses to my body.
Yes, I know. Crazy, right? Me, Misaki Ayuzawa, was actually worrying about her clothing. That's a first. I hear the door to my room open, and I spin around to see Satsuki standing there. I grin at her.
"Hey Satsuki!" I greet. She giggles.
"You're in a surprisingly good mood today. Anything good happen...?" she asks as if she were hinting at something. I shake my head.
"Well, Usui's taking me somewhere today, but other than that, no," I respond, showing her the two dresses I was deciding between. She looks a bit disappointed.
"So nothing happened when we left you two alone in this bedroom?" she frowns. I laugh.
"Don't worry, we didn't have a pillow fight," I smile. Satsuki bursts out laughing all of a sudden. She laughed so hard that she choked on some of her saliva and erupted into a fit of coughs.
"Satsuki! Oh no, are you okay?!" I yelp, patting Satsuki's back. Once her laughter dies down, she turns to look at me.
"Oh, Misaki, you're so innocent and cute," she muses. I crinkle my nose. I don't understand what just happened at all.
"Uh... Okay...?" I mutter, leaving it at that. Satsuki takes the two dresses out of my hands.
"These dresses will not do for a date," she says, twirling around a few times. Hanging the dresses back up, she searches my closet. I blush.
"It's not a d-date!" I protest, the blush on my face darkening. She nods, not fully listening to me. I see her face light up as she pulls out a very simple but beautiful dress. I smile at her, take the dress, and quickly change in the bathroom. When I walk out, she stares at me in awe.
It was maroon colored to compliment my eyes. The skirt's sides were longer than the front and back, and it was flowy in order to move your legs comfortably. The dress ended shortly above my knees, so I wore black leggings underneath it. The shoes I was to wear with the dress were dark brown open-toed sandals. Satsuki French-braided my hair to go in front of my right shoulder. Everything was perfect.
"I'm the most spoiled slave ever," I laugh. Satsuki clicks her tongue.
"Don't call yourself a slave- you're a maid," she instructs.
"Well, I'm the most spoiled maid ever, then," I roll my eyes. "Happy?" I ask. She nods. I hear the front door open, and I run downstairs fast as lightning. Sadly, I trip on the last step and get sent crashing into the floor. A pair of strong arms catch me before I hit the hard surface.
"Woah, you okay?" he asks. I look up to see Usui, as expected. Except his face is only a few inches from mine, which causes my face to heat up.
"Y-yeah, never been better!" I exclaim, standing up on my own. He nods.
"That's good," he answers, and I notice him look at my clothing. "Cute outfit, you look nice," he grins at me, and I can't hide the small smile that touches my lips. "Let me go change real quick then we'll go outside," he tells me, going upstairs to his room. I suddenly wonder what Usui works as. Was it something cool? Like a lawyer or a doctor? A teacher maybe?
"Ready to go?" a voice snaps me out of my thoughts. This seems to happen a lot recently.
"Yep!" I chirp, opening the door and walking out. He closes the door behind him and locks it. As we walk around the huge mansion, Usui clears his throat.
"Have you ever at least seen a horse before?" he asks me. "Because I remember you telling me that you've never ridden one the other day," he adds. I shake my head.
"I don't believe I've ever seen a real horse in my life," I respond honestly. He nods and stops walking.
"Well then, today shall be your first," he announces, gesturing to the stables full of horses. I look at all of them, but one especially catches my eye. She was a beautiful, black mare, with a few white patches on her body. Her mane and tail were raven black. I liked her the moment I set my eyes on her.
"Wow..." I breathe. I can see him studying my expression from the corner of my eye. "Thanks for showing them to me. Can I pet one?" I ask. He raises an eyebrow.
"Why pet one when you can ride one?" he asks. My eyes widen.
"B-but I don't know how to ride a horse!" I argue. He shrugs.
"I'll just have to teach you then," he says nonchalantly, walking over to a horse. The one he chose was a chestnut brown stallion, with a black mane and tail. Though it may seem generic, there was something special about this horse. It had lots of life, and you could definitely see it in his eyes.
"Have you decided which one you want?" he asks me. I nod, and point to the black and white mare.
"That one," I say.
"Good choice," he compliments me, opening the stable door with his key. He grabs it by the reins and leads it out. "Hold this," he says, passing me the reins. I listen to his command and take the reins in my hands. Usui holds my waist, before lifting me up into the air. I kick my legs around in protest.
"Put me down!" I squeal.
"Calm down," he sighs, setting me down on my horse. I blush.
"Oh, that's all you were doing..." I mutter. He chuckles.
"What? Were you expecting something more?" he asks a bit teasingly. I avoid his gaze.
"Of course not," I say, rolling my eyes, casually giving the reins a hard tug, forgetting that I didn't know how to even ride a horse. Bad move. The horse ran off at full speed, leaving me tightly hugging its fuzzy neck in order to stay alive. Soon afterwards, I saw Usui right beside me, on his own chestnut horse.
"Misaki!" he called. I felt slightly better knowing that Usui was here with me. Unfortunately, our horses rode off into the middle of a forest. Suddenly, they took a very sharp turn, causing me to slip and fall off the black and white horse. Usui halted his horse, before climbing down to check me for injuries.
"Usui..." I moan in pain. There was a horrible feeling in my right knee that signaled me something was wrong with it.
"Are you okay? What were you thinking?!" he asks. I sigh. This is the second time I've almost gotten myself killed within two days. That's definitely a new record. I sniffle.
"I'm so sorry..." I choke out. Uh-oh, here comes the waterworks. "I- I keep getting you into dangerous situations... I'm a horrible slave," I tell him. He shakes his head.
"Misaki, I don't think of you as a slave," he says, wrapping his arms around me. I tense up, but allow him to embrace me.
"I... I'm glad you think that," I admit, a small smile on my face. Luckily, the tears never came, thanks to him.
"Now that you're happy again," he starts, unwrapping his arms from me and standing up with his hands on his hips. "We need to figure out how to get out of this forest..." he mutters, looking around and tapping his chin in thought.
"Let's just wander," I shrug. "We'll have to stumble upon something sooner or later," I reason. He nods.
"Wander aimlessly around an unknown forest," he repeats. "Sounds like a plan," he jokes. I roll my eyes.
"Well, do you have a better idea?" I retort, glaring at him.
"Not really," he responds honestly. "Let's go with yours then," he concludes, walking towards his horse. Apparently, mine had run off to some unknown location, so we were left with only one horse now.
Yes, me, Misaki Ayuzawa, was stuck in a forest with the one and only Usui Takumi. A normal girl's dream, but certainly not mine.