CHAPTER SIX: Bossun (Day 3, Part 1)

I groaned as I felt the sun burn through my eyelids, blinding me with its intensity. I heard a muffled sound in the room. My hands were tied with ropes. I glared at my front, which helped my eyes adjust to my surroundings. I gasped.

Himeko was in front of me; gagged, tied, and beat-up. Patterns of her dry tears glittered in the sunshine, her hair all messed up, and her eyes red from crying. Bruises decorated her body and a knife was on standby at her throat. I noticed Switch at the side; tied-up and unconscious.

"Oh," said the perpetrator. He was in the shadows, so I was unable to identify him. "I see that he's awake now, huh, Himeko-san? I wonder what I should do… I know!" then he whispered in her ear. Her eyes widened in horror and she struggled violently. "If you move, I'll stick this blade through him, understand?" She nodded slowly. He faced me. "As for you, Bossun-san, be a good boy and scream in pain for me, okay? Now, Himeko-san, watch as I beat him up with your own hockey stick."He lifted the stick. Himeko let out a muffled shriek.

A ray from the sun gave light to some strands of his hair, making it distinguishable for many. 'I know him! Could it be?'

"Wait!" I shouted, causing him to stop about two inches from my temple. "Are you… Jin?"

"Figured it out, already? How boring. I wanted to play a little game of guess… with a little bit of torture." He smirked, and came out from the shadows.

"What are you doing here? You're a first year; you should be on your trip!"

"Starting with the scolding, eh? Well, my entire family was going to this place, so I thought, 'I should visit Sket-dan' since the second years were here. That was when I saw you kiss her on the beach. So I got so angry, then I became so worried, then—"

"You became obsessed with her."

"I was going to say fixated, but that's another way of putting it. Anyway, I saw Switch walking on the beach so I went and made a little game. I took his glasses and his laptop. I dyed my hair black afterwards. It was quite a perfect disguise, right? I hit two birds with one stone, too. I hurt that celebrity. Kibitsu Momoka? Hmm… even though her feelings are so real. I just felt like beating up every member of the Sket dan, mercilessly." He grinned evilly. "Oh, well, let's continue with the beating, shall we?" He grinned mischievously and lifted the stick once more.

I smirked at him. I freed my hands, and pointed the pocket knife Himeko gave me to his throat. He froze.

"I guess you never expected that… If you ever lay a hand on my dear friends, ever again, I'm not only going to humiliate you. I will be the one who ends your life!" I whispered harshly.

"Y-yes. I'm sorry." He whispered back, close to tears. I brought my fist to his jaw, and knocked him unconscious.

I ran to Himeko and removed the ropes off her body. I went to Switch next, untied him, and carried him to the futons. I ran to the bathroom, took two towels, and wet them. I gave one to Himeko, and I dabbed the cloth on Switch's bruises. I took his things—which were clumsily placed on the floor, unscathed and still as it was—then placed it neatly beside him. After treating his wounds, I called Tsubaki about what happened in our room. Tsubaki called his father to come and treat Himeko and Switch's wounds. He also said that I wouldn't get suspended since it was an act of self-defense since the guy had a motive to harm us, but it sucks for Jin, he will be suspended for two weeks.

Himeko hugged me. "Thank you."

I broke the hug and took the wet towel. I ran the towel on her cheeks and paused, mesmerized by the intensity of her blue eyes. Her soft, blond hair fell on my hand, tickling my hand. Even though she was bruised, she still looked undeniably beautiful.

I blushed and pulled back my hand. I still felt that vibration from when I touched her cheek. 'What am I thinking? I-it's not like I do have romantic feelings for her.'

She was looking at me with emotions I do not understand, but somewhere in that deep sea of emotions, there's this sadness that she wants to let go of.

"I guess I owe you two…" she whispered huskily. Her voice was stressed from the muffled screams she let out awhile ago. She whispered something but I didn't hear it. I stared at her face and tried to determine what she said, but only a faint blush was on her cheeks, and that confused me. I tilted my head curiously.

Her bangs covered her eyes, and she smiled bitterly. "Nothing, really." Then she walked out.

"Huh? What's with her? Oh, well. It must be that time of the month."

Suddenly, Tsubaki and his father came rushing in. Tsubaki materialized handcuffs from his pocket and secured it around Jin's wrists. His father, wearing his lab gown and carrying a first aid kit, attended to Switch's wounds. I turned to Tsubaki.

"Where'd you get those handcuffs?"

He dragged the unconscious Jin with him to the door then stopped. "Oh, this? It was from a Halloween party. I dressed up as a police, since there were no doctor costumes." 'How lame.' "Also, I printed out new kanji characters for my undershirt as a police! It says: Fatal Warning.", he said, with his aura and face overwhelmingly full of content.

"Lame.", I breathed out then sweat dropped. "Here goes that contented face again."

He let out a shocked gasp and the aura around him turned really, really dark. He shrugged and he returned to normal. "What happened to Himeko? She was crying while running awhile ago." 'She was crying? That time of month is so weird. Girls are so awkward.' "God, what did you do now?"

I was shocked at his sudden outburst. "What?! I don't know what I did… Heck, I even saved her from that maniac!" I retorted, pointing to Jin who was about to fall near the door.

Tsubaki snorted. "How—"

"Sasuke! It's time." called out his dad. He turned to me. "Thank you for trusting me with your friend." He bowed and walked out.

Tsubaki watched his dad take off. "How dense can you get? Anyway, just read the frigging book Switch gave you." He stood up, dragged Jin and trailed after his father.

"Oi! You're the one who's dense. You can't even see that you like Daisey-san. How did you know about the book? Why do you think I'm dense?" I shouted angrily at him, but he was long gone.

I grabbed my backpack which had the book Switch gave me, some chocolate Pocky, a Snickers chocolate bar, and a half-eaten Pelocan—wrapped cautiously in table napkin. Himeko left it in my bag, I guess.

Several minutes later, I found myself vomiting all over the carefully polished floor. I had tried her Pelocan. After being so sure that no more will come out, I wiped the floor with the clean worn-out rug under the bathroom sink. It astounded me that she likes such things and when she cooks, the flavor blends beautifully and even master chefs cannot compare with her way of cooking. But then, I must've given her too much credit.

I sat beside Switch and sighed, taking a bite of a Pocky stick. I opened the book and was shocked. It uncovered Roman, Switch, and Tsubaki's drawings. They made a manga and they want me to read it.

'This is going to be hell.'

I criticized all of their hand strokes, their uneven—or even too symmetrical face paintings. The noses of Roman's drawings were too crooked and pointy. Tsubaki's were too circular. Switch's didn't have any at all. I praised Roman's backgrounds but her 'humans' looked worse than that of aliens'. The plot didn't make sense at all… The characters are all nuts… And most of all, they all had the exact same personalities. At one point, I thought, is the main character schizophrenic?

Hours of praise and criticism—mostly criticism—passed by. I still didn't figure out the purpose of the hell they gave me. I sat there, my butt starting to get numb and hard against the cold floorboards, and my head aching from the dreadful drawings on the book.

"I need an aspirin…"I moaned, rolling to my futon lazily. I stretched out and closed my eyes.

"Here." I half-opened my eyes, saw a hand with aspirin and took the medicine.

"Thanks. Wha-" 'Hand?' I sat up, finding Roman sitting in front of me. She giggled and poked my forehead.

"Idiot." She stuck her tongue out playfully. I opened my mouth to object but she raised her hand. "Who'd have thought Prince would be a total thickhead?" She paused, as if to think, and then sighed. "What do you think of Himeko-chan?"

"That question again? Lemme see, I think she's a demon Amazon woman."

"I meant relationship-wise."

"Oh."

"Well?"

"She's only a friend.", I replied. Silence.

She glared stupidly at the book I was holding, to me, then back to the book. "You didn't understand the book at all, didn't you?"

"Nope, not at all."

She stood up.

"Why are you acting so seriously? Did something happen?"

Her background became flowery. She changed to her chibi self then knocked her head. "Oh. I almost forgot!" She smiled. "I came here to change books. That book you're holding is our draft. Here."She said, reaching out another book and while she was on the way out of the room, she said, "Say goodbye to brain confusion!"

"Oh, no!" I cried while holding the book that was three-inches thick. "Goodbye, Brain!"