Trickle
Ultra Maniac
By Whimsical Gentleman
A/N – Happy New Year People!! It's the start of 2007. Hehehe… another year for us to play with life. Hehehe!!
Okay, back to Ayu Tateishi's POV. How I love using first person! It's kinda hard though… has the cursed advantage of not being able to write about the whole scene in general, but only a single person's view. Sigh… anyway, I kinda suck at 3rd person. Haha!!
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Chapter V
Did You Say Yes?
"Well?" Kaji asked me, I appreciated the fact he wasn't kind of excited when I tell them some updates or something, unlike his group. Connect the Dots was a gang with cool guys, hot guys rather. I wonder how they could be cool and hot at the same time. Aren't they polar opposites? Well, anyway, they were hot-cool dudes, but that's just the general misunderstood image resulted by their fangirl clubs in Eyobashi. I've known them a lot. They're a bunch of idiots, some of them are smart though… Haha… That's Yamato… There is still Kaji and Tsujiai (if you consider average grades and an acceptable amount of common sense). Still, with Komai and Jiro around, they were a bunch of idiots, no matter how smart they're going to get.
I've known them a lot, pretty much. Well anyway, I've got a boyfriend coming from their group, so it would look like they were four older brothers to me. I chuckled,
"Uhm, Ayu, I thought you were going to tell me something?"
"Oh! Yeah!" I replied, getting back to reality, and chuckled some more, "Remember last night?" I asked him, giving him a couple of seconds to recollect, "A woman in good clothes happened to drop by Mimi's,"
"Yeah, it's hard to forget that woman, she's hot." I pursed my lips, threatening him with a glare I rarely use,
"Sad to say she's like over thirties, and also married."
"Over thirty?!"
"Yep." I laughed at his expression; he looked as if an asteroid crushed him. For a second I liked the way how I just made him sad. That's what he gets for checking out other women other than me! Oh my god. How evil.
"She doesn't look like it," he told me, shaking his head in disbelief, "Wait, how do you know she's about thirties, and married?"
"Remember when Mrs. Chujo called you for an errand?" He nodded, "Well, the moment I was alone, she just went beside me and asked if she could sit with me," I blushed as a reflex… it just came to thought about what she said at first… something about Kaji and mushy crap like that… "She was amazing, she knew right away I attended a funeral—"
"That was kind of obvious, you were wearing all black after all,"
"No, no… She said I attended a funeral of a family member, and she even predicted right about what I feel for you, and how you came into the picture with me being— for a lack of a better word —problematic."
Kaji creased his brows, "So what're you trying to say?"
"I was kind of shocked, like freaked out because she didn't even know me, and she guessed it right on the spot, as if she was telepathic or something."
"Well, maybe she is."
I raised my eyebrows, "Riiiiiight, Kaji," I caught some dudes staring at us two lovebirds supposedly talking about honey-coated topics just like a sweet, young couple would do… Anyway, I ignored them. Maybe Tsujiai and Yamato were only the smart idiots, as I should say. Hearing what Kaji said, I'm kind of convinced he goes with Komai and Jiro.
"So what is she then?"
"As much as it would surprise you, it turns out she was a president of a modeling agency." I chuckled at my own remark, "And she told me she got all her so-correct answers in my eyes… She told me the fact that I loved you since you were the only one who could appease me from something like my mom's death was screaming in my eyes… something concretely expressive about me, she told me in sort of a calm manner, with nothing but a beautiful thin grin."
I could tell from his naked smirk that he didn't hear anything except that I loved him because he was the only one who could make me feel something like love. I made a tsch sound, while blushing a bit… If we weren't really surrounded with girls with hawk-like observation on both of us, we could have kissed or something… "I kind of regretted not joining Nina's group," I sidelined a statement,
Kaji sighed, "Who cares, you're sweet," he kissed me on the cheek lightly, just a tender peck, but a terribly affectionate one only Kaji could dare to pull off,
"Don't do it here!" I hissed, "Do you have any idea what consequences would happen later, if supposing some girl hated your guts kissing a girl in front of another girl totally obsessed with you?" I hoped no one saw what happened, especially we were beside the glasshouse girls loved to hang out at. I hope they won't butcher me if they did see,
"Oh puhleesh. Don't be like that… You're my girlfriend after all, so I have the right," he stuck his tongue out his lips,
My cheeks grew crimson as I heard that… I never really was accustomed with him calling me his girlfriend… True it may seem, I referred to ourselves as close friends. The funny thing was when he calls me his girl, there would be this nice and nagging feeling I liked it. "So anyway, back to what I was saying before I was romantically and rudely interrupted—"
"Hey, how come romantically isn't italicized!" Kaji complained, a mock puppy pout
I started to scream in cute childish annoyance "Can you please listen to me, and not read Mr. Whimsical Gentleman's script?"
(Whimsical Gentleman: Haha… just for little fun)
I finally sighed, when Kaji seemed to be a bit more decent to me, "We had a nice conversation, and it returned to how she admires how I bring myself. Well, she asked me to model for her."
"Care to tell her name?" Kaji asked me in mild curiosity, fixing his collar,
I thought for a while, "Well, she preferred to be called as S.K.—"
"Seki Kawakami?! Of Aira Modeling?"
"Yeah!" I was taken aback, "How'd you know?" I asked in a playfully suspicious manner. And I thought the whole population of people with dangling stuff in between their legs isn't aware of modeling. Great. My boyfriend's an idiot… and gay. It's amazing how Connect the Dots only comprised of five people only, but had the weirdest assortment of friends there is.
He seemed to notice my slight shock, "No, don't think like that." I laughed a bit, "There's always magazines left on the floor of our house, I pick them up and fix them, and can't help but read what's inside of—"
"Porn," I sighed,
"LYING ON THE FLOOR OF THE LIVING ROOM CONSPICOUSLY?" He asked me, "WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY PARENTS? SEX MANIACS?
I laughed, "Hey, calm down, I'm just trying to make this whole tease-thing even," Catching the other girls again glaring at us as we enjoyed ourselves,
"Yo, but you must be pulling my leg. Seki Kawakami?"
"Yup." I answered him with a nod, trying to visualize the unbelievably young-looking middle-aged woman. She certainly knew how to make herself eye-candy, though she was considered already someone old. I thought of Madonna, and mentally laughed… at least S.K. wasn't over forty years old, and didn't drop by in Mimi's Lockett in a hot pink spandex, or something a stripper would have worn,
"How come I didn't realize who she was?" Kaji said, not addressing to someone in particular, "She's way too hot for people to forget,"
If he had not said his last sentence his face would have been spared from another grave punch,
"Make-up?" I thought of as suggestion. "Some celebrities actually do that; applying make-up in a manner they'd look ugly, or normal-looking, whatever the term is."
"Well, she managed to disguise herself, and she still looked scorching—"
"One mention of that three-letter word again,"
Kaji sniggered in an impish means. I sighed loudly, "So yeah, she asked you to do her a favor and join Aira?" Kaji asked me,
I nodded, my face back to its own calm mode,
"Well?" He started, fixing his collar again, "Did you accept her offer?" I shook my head to say I didn't take S.K.'s offer, "Why?" Kaji asked me then, a bit curious than surprised,
"I don't know, to tell you the truth…" Sighing, as I observed the big clock engraved on one of the brick buildings of the school, "I thought I wasn't ready for that…"
"You could get bucks, you know." Kaji told me, "Girls die for S.K. to approve of them,"
"Well, I'm a girl too, and I really don't want the job," I told him, "Unless I'm a boy…" I laughed a bit, "Which means your gay, having a boy as a girlfriend,"
"Whatever," he replied with a tired sigh, "Seriously, why? Take it seriously, it was after all S.K. who gave you the offer, the one and only president of Aira,"
She even tailed me around, according to herself…
"That's it. I really don't know… Besides, I have a lot to take care of more important than modeling, if ever I even had thought joining,"
"Like what?" Kaji raised an eyebrow, his face mildly skeptic,
"You know what they are, Kaji."
The tall brunette shrugged in response. A silence visited us, strangely there were no more buzzing sounds and the crowd was dissolving, "What was Nina's say to this? I suppose you already told her?"
I laughed nervously. It was pretty funny, the encounter I got with Nina just this morning… Since Nina was farther than my house in terms of the distance to Eyobashi, she walks to my house first and always waited for me to go outside, and take the walk to school together with me in the morning. And that was a requirement of each day; simply a habit we never failed to do… considering it was one of the most relieving parts of every day.
I walked sullenly, carrying my bookbag saddled on my left shoulder. This was always the route I take when going to school. And I wonder why it felt a whole lot different this morning. Somehow I would always feel a lot cheery and happy strolling along the side streets, back before a lot of crap started,
I smirked when I finally realized it was because there was no Nina to wait at the doorstep of my residence early in the morning. If Nina waited for me, I would have been walking to school with her… Maybe it would have been a bright morning after all…
I sighed.
Must have been because I was down and shitty all the time with a table-turning frown she never got to be accustomed with, I suppose. Come to think of it, Nina had always been with an Ayu Tateishi who was as chirpy as her, not as perky as her, but at least perky. If in a bad mood, I would just have a quick streak of curses, maybe if I were annoyed or agitated by something comically trivial.
But for sure my blonde best friend had never seen an Ayu Tateishi with a disheartened face, eyes that were dry and yellowish in a way, eye bags that bulge under my eyes… And you'll just know it when you just look at me, you'll just hear it somehow, as if a ghost of myself was yelling behind your ears, "Fuck you, don't look at me nor speak to me. I'm already dead by heart, so please just leave this walking, breathing corpse alone."
I shrugged in slight disapproval of my own thoughts. Maybe I was a little too exaggerated.
I passed by the town park, only a few walking by as it had always been. I spotted this lamppost though, and a teenage girl behind it in a position I couldn't see her very well. All I know was that she was holding a starbucks cup in a more or less dainty way. I stared at her, and after a few seconds she peeked at me, and suddenly hid behind the pole again realizing I was staring at her. Observably, she made a futile attempt on spying on me
Before I knew it, I was laughing softly. The blonde hair fashioned into a ponytail did it, "Nina, you look like an idiot hiding behind that you know."
She showed herself with a sweat drop anime-style. As always, she had her hair done in a messy pony tail either with her pig hair-clip, or one of her little magic spells she could pull off with her powers…
She had been stubborn with going back to Eltoria for a long time now. Occasionally, her grandfather would suddenly come to school, showing himself suddenly by popping out of a wormhole along the corridors and grabbing along Nina back to Eltoria. What was funny was that the old man always takes a wrong girl instead of Nina. Although the cranky curmudgeon her grandfather was, he was unbelievably kind enough not to bring back my witch best friend home. That's what I mostly appreciate about him… as also curse him for doing so…
…because the silly girl always make a lot of mess here in Earth… to be honest.
Nina mocked a laugh as she showed herself, scratching her head with her left hand, and her right hand behind her… Needless to say, she was hiding something from me. How clumsy Nina was…
"What's that behind you?" I casually asked her, peeking trying to see what she was holding,
"Oh!" she cheered, attempting to fumble the thing in her butt pocket, ending up clumsily letting the thing fall, "Oooops,"
I sweat dropped, "Oh come on, is it broken or something?" I finally ran towards her, and picked up the little thing. It was a steel thermometer, with an arrow placed on the tip… It was an object she made by magic, "What the hell is this?"
"It's nothing," she sighed and retrieved the weird object she just dropped,
"You were pointing it at me. I saw you, Nina," I accused her, trying to get back the thing she made, "C'mon, what does it do?"
"Nothing important!" she shouted, a few heads already turning at our direction… I didn't mind though if they thought why were there two girls in the middle of the street fighting over some weird-looking thermometer.
"Come on!"
"NoooO!!!" She persisted, already running away from me
"Fine!" I screamed, making sure she would hear what I was saying, "Maybe I'll just tell something juicy to Tsujiai-kun or to Yuta-kun when I might pass by those guys!"
She was like a leopard running back to me. I sweat dropped again, "Evil best friend…" she muttered,
I laughed with an impish grin, "Go on, and tell me what that is." I got the thermometer and eyeballed it,
"Duh, it's a thermometer,"
"Maybe I should be just calling Tsujiai or Yuta on my mobile phone?" I suggested with a thoughtful smile, inching my hand on my sidepocket,
"Okay! Okay!" She gave up with a heave of a sigh, "It's a magical thermometer!"
Duh… everything weird Nina owns was made by her own magic, except her flying scooter,
"That?"
"It measures a person's depression point if you aim the laser to one's forehead,"
"Laser?" I curiously asked, looking at the thermometer like a scientist' specimen,
She had a frown on her face, "Yup, it emits at the tip of the arrow. Humans can't see it though, only witches and wizards can."
"Oh…" I said, "So why were you using it on me, huh?" I interrogated her in a suspicious voice,
Nina sighed, "I'm sorry, I just want to know if you were already fine. I'm worried about you, heck, everyone's worried." She explained, "You must be thinking it must be annoying since probably it's been repeated like about 100000000000000000000 times already that a lot are worried about you," she continued in a smile, "But can you just please do us a favor and cheer up? You're like bringing the whole world down in the dumps with you. We might even end up having heart failures with all the worry we make just because of you…"
I smiled and faintly blushed. And who told them to worry about me?
I just realized no one did… it's just because they care so much about me…
"Thanks a lot, Nina." I painted a smile wide on my face,
She instantly glowed, got the thermometer from me, and skillfully threw it to one of the trash bins near us, "I guess I just wasted time making the stupid thermometer,"
"You sure did,"
"To tell you the truth, it wasn't even working properly. Hahaha"
I swear-dropped, and laughed along with her.
"So, who helped you with all the crap? We couldn't find you yesterday. Kaji said though you were perfectly fine, although I couldn't help but think where were you and if you were okay. I wanted to find you too, but Kaji told me to leave you alone…"
"Who helped?" I asked myself, "It was Kaji himself, actually…"
"Oh."
"I spent the night with him,"
"WHAT?"
"No! No!" I said quickly, "I spent the night with him in Mimi's Locket!"
"You guys did it in a public place! Holy cow!"
"Idiot," I mumbled to myself, "No, I spent the night talking to him… He told me to drop by to Mimi's Locket if I could. He gave me free food, and we just talked. It seemed I felt a whole lot better talking to him, to tell you the truth,"
"But that's always been the case, right?"
HOW COME EVERYONE'S SAYING KAJI'S ALWAYS THE ONE HELPING ME OUT
I spoke no comment to her, "Anyway, there's a lot more…"
"Yeah?"
"Kaji went away for an errand, you see. And then suddenly a woman caught my attention and told me a lot about what I was feeling at that moment… She was like a gypsy or something, I don't know… Kaji told me when we were still talking, and when the woman came down the stairs it was the first time he saw the woman. A middle-aged woman that looked more or less in her fun 20's."
"Wow. She must have a hard time trying to keep herself that young-looking. Makes you get the idea she's a model."
"She is." I said immediately, cutting her sentence short, "Well— technically, no… But she is a president of a modeling company."
"So what happened?"
"I won't beat around the bush… She actually asked me to be a model of Aira."
"Aira?" she asked me, "What's that?"
"Uhm, I don't know it that much too, sorry." She sweat-dropped, "But I do know the woman owns Aira… it's an agency for models… and I heard the models in Aira were always top in their business…"
"Wait, who is the woman then?"
I remembered the beautiful lady, "Seki Kawakami… more known as S.K." I said, a bit of admiration in my voice, "The president personally asked me to be in her project… that's the most amazing thing!"
"She asked you herself?"
"I already told you that." I curved an eyebrow, automatically assuming Nina wasn't listening very well… the typical girl,
"Oh yeah," she forced a laugh, "But seriously, she asked you? Wow!! What a great opportunity, you did say yes, right?" It was obvious she had her high hopes I accepted S.K.'s offer,
I looked downwards, trying to think of a way to say 'No, I didn't accept her offer' and not making Nina crazy, or if worse comes to worst, choke me in the end because of my refusal to S.K. "Uhmm— I kind of refused it,"
"HOLY COW, YOU REFUSED IT? ARE YOU CRAZY? GIRLS ARE DYING FOR THAT KIND OF OPPURUNITY, AND NICE, YOU JUST HAVE TO THROW IT AWAY!"
Oh no… oh no… It wasn't a good scenery to watch Nina in deep frustration something that wasn't even exactly her personal business. I panicked all of Nina's shouting might turn some heads, "Wait, wait, don't scream! I did not exactly refuse it, Nina."
It was a miracle out of all the clutter she made she managed to hear me, "Oh." She fluttered her eyelids in utmost innocence,
I decided then to show her Seki's business card I put on my wallet last night when she finally left me, "Here," I sighed, "S.K. told me when she was about to leave to call her if I made up my mind."
Nina examined it, "You better do," she told me with a dangerous wink. I sweat-dropped in the process then,
And then the thought was surprisingly automatic. Nina was right, which was— mind you— kind of rare. I better do make up my mind. It came to me I don't even know if I had a mind these days… Things seemed to rush in and out, twist, roll, and dash on loops at present. It made a bitter grin be plastered on my face in deep thought. Sometimes, it was ironic how Nina could know things she never even have faced in life, or maybe she did and she just didn't want to tell me?
I laughed, as I saw the naïve girl hopping to move instead of walking, "What are you laughing 'bout?"
I shook my head in disagreement with a little smile, "No, no… It's nothing."
Kaji ceased laughing then, "Nina— how strange…"
I just nodded, wasn't that obvious?
"I never really understood much about her since I've met her, although I really want to,"
"That's because you have to be a girl to understand someone like her, unless you want to be a girl... even though the fact is, you're a guy." I said casually,
"Oh," he said simply and then after a few minutes, "Hey! What did you just mean by that?" He clenched a fist, but I was already running. "Darn you Ayu, I treated you last night you know! Don't escape from me!"
"I'm not escaping, Kaji-kun, the bell's ringing!" And then it was like solid hitting me how a bell could be an effective savior in campus.