If I Win
Based on The Mercer Sister's Your Most Prized Possession
Chapter Twelve: Masquerade Prizes
Friday night has finally arrived. Akari sighed and wished she had Myuki's help, but she was busy doing something or the other. Akari rechecked to see if her mask was in place, donned a coat, and went out the door.
She was wearing a deep dark navy blue dress. The top was a halter part, and the bottom part flared out to mid calf. Her mask was also deep dark navy blue, and it covered most of her face except the mouth. Her hair, she had purposely darkened to a blackish tone, that sometimes glinted a faint green under light. Then, she drove off.
Normally, to these things, she would have attended with Hikaru, but since it was a masquerade party, she didn't want to be noticed. When she reached there, she looked at the paper that Waya scribbled the address for her. Then, she made her way in. Inside was a typical dance hall, and it had hallways leading out to gardens, pools, ponds, or just plain areas where one could have 'fresh air'.
"Name please, miss?" the attendant at the door said.
"Fujisaki, Akari." Akari replied, and he nodded and scribbled the name in. Then, she was ushered in where an array of people stood.
Many of them stood talking and socializing around. Already, some were unmasked, including, Akari noted, Hikaru. It figures that he would be among the first to be unmasked, he had unmistakable two toned hair that he didn't bother to disguise. He was talking to Waya, who was also unmasked, probably due to his smart alecky mouth and his poofy hair, and Hikaru was also talking to another girl that she couldn't really tell. All she could see, was that the girl was wearing a purple dress so deep, it looked almost black. Then, the first pangs of music began, for a dance, and couples started to form.
"Would you like to dance, miss?" a voice asked her. Akari turned around in surprise at the speaker. It was a male with short black hair and many black bangs over his eye. He was in a black suit, with a matching black mask.
"Um…sure…" Akari said, uneasily as he took her by the waist.
"So what's your name?" her dance partner asked.
"Well if I told you, I would be unmasked…and I don't want to be unmasked yet…" Akari replied. The man chuckled.
"You got me there…I'm actually one of the people who are assigned to unmask others…but it's ok if you don't tell me…by the end of this dance, you'll be unmasked anyways." he remarked lightly.
"Well we will just have to see about that, shall we?" Akari said playfully, spurring him on.
"So, who invited you to come to this charity event?" the man asked.
"A friend." Akari answered nonchalantly.
"I see…who is this friend of yours now?" he asked again.
"Well, let's see…he's a friend of my friend…" Akari said lightly, and secretly smiled to her self at the masked man, who was getting frustrated and annoyed with the vague answers Akari was giving to him.
With a couple more twirls and steps, the dance was over, and it was now preparing for another dance. Akari turned to her partner.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I guess you haven't been able to figure out who I am…" she said with a false looking apologetic look on her face. Then, she walked away from him, smiling.
Throughout the night, she had exchanged several dance partners, including Ogata 10-dan, who was unmasked by then, Ochi, who was unmasked as well, due to his flaming orangey hair. Now for once, her partner was one of the very few who was still unmasked. He had short brownish hair that was gelled back, and a white suit and mask.
It should have made sense if people were actually trying hard to win the trip, but they weren't. Or maybe, they were too easily guessed. Whatever the case, there were probably around 15 some people that were still unmasked.
Bong! Bong! Bong!
That was the chimes that struck midnight.
"Will all the people who were masked please come forward to the stage." the announcer boomed over the microphone. Akari and her partner made their way up there, along with several others. When they got up there, Akari counted the number of people left. There were 13 total, including her and her partner.
"You guys are the lucky few who managed to escape the clutches of our judges, and thus, you guys get to win a 3 day trip to a ski resort and back! These tickets are given to us by a corporation who sponsors Go, that is in search of a select few who will be among the first to stay at this resort!" the announcer explained.
"Now, that I have explained your prize, will you please take off your masks." he ordered, as Akari and the others pulled off their masks. Akari stared in surprise at the winners. Among the winners, there were Isumi and Nase, and even Myuki, much to Akari's surprise. Now that they were all unmasked, Akari saw that her last partner was none other than Akira.
How this came to be…
Akira sighed in frustration, staring at the mirror. He hated social events like these, but it was due to the fact that he was a prominent figure in the Go world, that he was obliged to attend. Plus that and the fact that his parents were unable to attend, thus causing him to attend in their place.
Akira had dyed his hair brown just for the occasion, and since he didn't want to be identified so early to be ambushed by Go fans, he also gelled his bob haircut so that it stuck plastered to the back of his neck, so it resembled any other normal boy hairstyle.
When he arrived, he didn't really dance much, but then a girl in a purple dress so deep it looked like it was almost black, asked him to dance. It turns out, that girl was Myuki. After she danced with him, he got caught up in the whirl of motion, and exchanged several dance partners. One of his dance partners was also one of the judges, but due to his clever disguise, they couldn't figure out who he was. So now, it just so happened that his last dance partner was Akari.
"Touya-kun?" she gasped in disbelief.
"Fujisaki-san?" he cried, their expressions showing the same amount of shock.
Akari would have ran off there, but then she didn't want anyone following her, so the only thing she could do was stand there with a frozen expression. Then, when the announcer gave her the ticket, she left the stage as quickly as she could. Akira started to follow, but stopped, because Hikaru beat him to it from off the stage.
"Akari! I didn't recognize you there at all! I thought you weren't going to show up or something." Hikaru cried. Waya smacked him.
"Don't be stupid, Shindo. Oh, and congrats on winning, Fujisaki-san." Waya said.
"Ah…er…yes…thank you…" Akari said.
"Your dress is beautiful, Akari. I didn't know you were going to be here!" Myuki chimed in, joining the group.
"Ano, thanks Myuki. I didn't know you were going to be here either…" Akari replied. Myuki laughs.
"Anyways, I'm really tired…so I think I'll leave now…" Akari said softly. The group watches her leave.
"What's with her these days?" Hikaru asked, confused.
"I don't know…" Waya lied.
"Can you believe it? A 3 day trip to a ski resort!" Myuki cried, changing the subject.
"Yeah, you lucky blokes…" Waya replied jealously.
"Who else is going? I didn't really pay much attention…" Hikaru asked.
"Hm…let's see…there's Isumi and Nase…Akari…me…hm…other people I don't know…oh yeah, and Touya-kun!" Myuki replied.
"What!" Hikaru exclaimed, alarmed.
"What?" asked Myuki innocently.
"Touya's going to be on that trip?" he cried.
"Yeah…" Myuki says slowly as if talking to a baby.
"How? I didn't see him up there!" Hikaru exclaimed.
"He dyed his hair brown…" Myuki explained. Waya noted Hikaru's crestfallen look with a glint in his eye.
"What's the matter, Shindo? Jealous?" he said, smirking.
"No…of course not…" Hikaru said quickly.
"Come to think of it, Akari and Touya-kun would be together for 3 days in a cozy ski resort…" Myuki noted, enjoying the vein that was about to pop from Hikaru's head. Waya was also watching Hikaru's reaction.
"Dude…Shindo…are you all right…? It's only going to be for 3 days…" he said.
"Waya…you and I are going to get ourselves a pair of those tickets…" Hikaru said slowly.
"Me? Why me? Why do I need to go on that trip?" Waya exclaimed, alarmed, but then he saw the look on Hikaru's face, and he quickly shut up.
"Oh, I don't know…these were elusive tickets…" Myuki said thoughtfully.
"I'm going to bag myself a ticket if it's the last thing I do…" Hikaru said, determined. Waya and Myuki, however, looked unconvinced.
The next day…which is the day before the ski trip…
"Myuki…I think we, well more like you, have more than enough clothes for the trip…" Akari complained, wearily holding many bags in her hands.
It was a lovely morning, the birds were chirping, no grey clouds in sight, kid's laughter were ringing throughout the streets. But to Akari, it was the morning of hell. Myuki had called her at 5 in the morning to go shopping for ski supplies. Thus, Akari was now carrying many bags trudging behind a starry-eyed Myuki.
"I swear…you have enough clothes to dress everyone going to the ski trip…twice!" Akari said. Myuki rolled her eyes.
"Don't exaggerate the facts…its thrice!" she corrected. Akari felt as if she wanted to collapse. Myuki sighed.
"Oh, alright, last shop…I promise." she said, giving in, as they stepped into the last shop. In the beginning, all Akari and Myuki had shopped for were ski clothes, and now, Akari noted that she needed a bag to put all of that stuff in.
"I'm going to go look at those bags over there, Myuki." Akari called over to Myuki, who was busy poring over other things.
Akari walked back and forth on the aisle with bags made for ski trips. She stopped, then surveyed the eclectic group of bags. Then, she saw this black and white ski bag that caught her liking. It wasn't too big, or too small, and it was just plain and simple. She reached forward to grab it, and another hand also reached forward to grab it at the same time. Akari turned to the other person, about to claim that the bag was hers.
"Excuse me, but- Touya-kun?" Akari said, shocked again, for the second time. The person who was competing with her to gain possession of the bag was indeed, none other than Touya Akira. Akari quickly withdrew her hand, trying to gain some distance between the two of them.
"Fujisaki-san?" Akira said, equally as surprised.
"What are you doing here?" they blurted out at the same time.
"Buying supplies for the ski trip." they answered at the same time again. Akari bit her lip, not wanting to meet Akira fully in the eyes. Akira found himself examining the tops of his shoes.
"Ano…do you want this bag, Touya-kun?" Akari mumbled, her face reddining.
"But you got it first…" Akira mumbled as well, offering the bag to Akari, his face also blushing.
"You wanted it anyways…" Akari argued, pushing the bag back, her face blushing even harder.
"Yes, but a gentleman should never take advantage of a lady…" Akira argued, offering the bag once more, his face really red. Akari wrinkled her brow. Sure, it was sweet of him to say that, but then they were in the 21st century.
"Let's go to the counter and ask if they have anymore of these available." Akari suggested, not wanting to argue with Akira. He nodded in agreement, looking relieved, and the two of them set off to the cash register.
"Excuse me sir, but do you have an extra bag like this?" Akari asked the employee.
"Hmm…let me go and check." the employee replied, and he went inside to look for it. Moments later, he returned with a similar bag but the colors were reversed.
"This is the only bag that is similar to that, the colors are just reversed." the employee informed them.
"I'll take that one", Akira said quickly, as if daring Akari to reply as he quickly paid up for his bag and left.
"Akari…" sang Myuki, holding a lavender bag, as Akira brushed past her. Myuki turned to his retreating figure.
"Was that Touya-kun there?" Myuki asked.
"Yeah, he was shopping for ski supplies too." Akari replied as she paid up for her bag.
"I see…" Myuki said in a way that meant there was something more behind her words. Akari looked at her sneaky expression.
"Nothing happened between us this time." she said firmly. Myuki looked shocked.
"You mean something happened before?" she said, gasping. Instantly, Akari regretted her usage of words.
"I meant that nothing happened, ok?" she said hastily. Myuki narrowed her eyes.
"Oh no, Akari, you're not getting away with it this time." she said as she advanced towards Akari, as Akari prepared to run around the shop.
"Come back here!!" Myuki cried, running around.
A/N: FINALLY! An UPDATE! I can't believe it's been more than two months that I haven't updated this. Deeply sorry. I was also a bit in a writer's block about this fanfic. Many things have been happening, but I'm thankful that all of you still continue to read this. It means a lot to me. Anyways, this chapter, has been kind of a twist, with many new events coming up, but I have roughly how this story should progress.
In addition, I am also comtemplating a new fanfic, AkiraxAkari of course, but as for the destined length, I still don't have a clue, since I would love to wrap up If I Win and Upside Down first. Anyways, I should probably get started on the next several chapters, while my 'creative' juices are still working. Thank you so much, once again, for reading and reviewing!