Title: Champagne From A Straw (by Andrea Corr)
Summary: Ten things he didn't know about her. (Part 2)
vi.
#6: She has a disturbing female admirer/stalker. (Damn you, Junpei, for finding that notebook!!)
o-o-o-o-o
vii.
"Wacky Meal for Shinji, double-cheeseburger for me and… Wild Duck Special for Mitsuru," Akihiko announced cheerfully as he distributed the food from the tray to each of them, setting himself down on a seat.
"Starving," grunted Shinji as he tore the paper off his burger. "Thanks, Aki."
The boxer gave him a good-natured grin and began to unwrap his own food, stopping when he saw Mitsuru carefully examining her meal and looking as if she was searching for something among the serviettes. "… Uh, Mitsuru? Is something wrong?" he asked.
"Oh no. Just wondering what's the best way to go about eating this. I have never had fast food before..."
Shinji and Akihiko both paused in astonishment and raised their eyebrows at her. "The hell? You've never had fast food before?" the former said in disbelief. "No wonder you wanted to try this place out. What the hell did you eat when you were growing up?"
"We had a cook at home," Mitsuru answered in a tone that implied as if everybody walking down the street had their own chefs. "Plus, our family dietician banned fast food from our menus." The two boys stared at her again before Shinji unexpectedly gave an amused chuckle. "You really should spend more time with Aki and me, Mitsuru," he said.
"Just take it out and eat it," said Akihiko, gesturing towards her burger. "Like Shinji."
Mitsuru looked slightly stunned at his words and she stared at them blankly for a moment. "Eating with your hands? Isn't that a little… primitive?" she inquired. Her troubled tone evoked another snicker from Shinji, who picked up some fries and munched on them.
"Primitive or not, everyone does it," he said, nodding towards the other people around them.
Mitsuru cocked her head to the side, resuming her study of the packet in her hands, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well… I suppose if it's fast food etiquette…" She started to peel off the wrapper and, considering her nature, it was almost as if she was doing it as elegantly as she could, which brought an involuntary smile on Akihiko's lips. After having a comfortable grip on her food, she lifted it to her mouth and took a small, almost tentative bite. Her two companions watched her silently as she chewed, each very much amused.
"It's very good," she remarked with one of her quiet smiles.
"Bet it beats anything your cook ever made for ya, huh?" Shinji couldn't help saying, thinking how different their worlds really were even though they had been friends for a while now.
"I can't believe you've never had burgers like this before. You're missing out on a lot of good things, Mitsuru." Akihiko grinned.
"Well… there's a first time for everything, right?" she replied, sounding slightly embarrassed. "On a more interesting note, I wonder how much the average cost per burger is. For them to sell it at such a reasonable price makes me wonder just how much profit they get from one of these. Perhaps the Kirijo Corporation should branch out to the fast food industry, seeing as how there are lots of people like the both of you around…"
By the end of that, the boys were staring at her, their jaws moving very slowly as they munched their food almost in bewilderment. "Mitsuru…" started Shinji flatly. "… How the hell did eating a burger make you think about economics?"
o-o-o-o-o
#7: She has never tasted fast food before until today!!
o-o-o-o-o
viii.
"Are you crazy?" Akihiko barked. "There's no way you're going to go back to the dorm like that! We need to take you to the hospital."
"Aki's right. That arm looks pretty bad…" said Shinji in his usual gruff tone. Beside him, the rest of the SEES members nodded in agreement. The redhead in question was nursing her upper arm, the white sleeve of her blouse stained crimson.
"It's not a big deal," she said nonchalantly. "I—"
"Diarama didn't even work on that Shadow's bite! We've got to get a doctor to look at it. You're going to the hospital and that's final," stated Akihiko firmly with a deep frown. He met her glare with a staunch face, as if challenging her to argue, but she said nothing.
"I think you should go too, Senpai," Fuuka said rather timidly, noticing the flash of annoyance in Mitsuru's eyes.
"… Fine, I'll go to the hospital," the senior muttered. She paused and then added, "Tomorrow."
"No…" Akihiko corrected her slowly. "You're going now."
"But I'm tired." Was it just him, or did he detect a sort of whininess in her voice? Regardless, he still didn't want to give in.
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but you're still going." He was uncharacteristically persistent. He nodded towards her motorbike and continued, "And since you're tired, looks like you'll be the one in the backseat this time."
By then, Shinji couldn't resist the wry smile on his face and he turned away to hide it. His two closest friends were still shooting daggers at each other with their eyes. Mitsuru looked as if she was going to wring someone's neck soon, but Akihiko merely stared back defiantly.
"We'll see you back at the dorm, then. You okay to take her by yourself?" Shinji asked the boxer, who nodded. As the rest of the SEES members left the Tartarus, there was another glaring competition between the two agitated seniors before Mitsuru finally relinquished the keys to her motorcycle. Despite the gravity of the situation, Akihiko couldn't help the small burst of excitement within him as he hopped onto the bike. He felt her grudgingly slide into the seat behind him. Her hands rested at his waist before suddenly tightening into a death grip, two handfuls of fabric in her clutches. His face burning, he gritted his teeth, clearly irritated, but remained silent anyway.
They reached the hospital just as the Dark Hour ended. He signed her in and they were taken to the Kirijo family doctor, who, luckily enough for them, was working the night shift. He was a grey-haired man with a cheerful disposition, despite his rather stern face.
"You said it's from a Shadow?" Dr. Ozawa carefully inspected her injury. "I can't find anything out of the ordinary. It appears to be just like any other wound you'd get from an animal's bite. Fortunately, it doesn't seem very deep… We'll get it cleaned and bandaged, hmm?"
A nurse brought Mitsuru into the next room to take care of her wound. Dr. Ozawa penned something down on the file before him and then turned to Akihiko with a smile. "So, Sanada-san, are your ribs giving you any discomfort?"
"No, they're fine now, thanks," Akihiko replied gratefully. Dr. Ozawa had also been his physician back in April. A couple of minutes later, Mitsuru came back with her arm bandaged, looking a little weary.
"Could you not tell my father about this, please? I don't want him to worry," she told the doctor, who nodded understandingly.
"Um, Mitsuru, wait," Dr. Ozawa hesitantly called out when he saw her beckoning Akihiko to leave. She turned to him as he got up, gesturing towards her arm. "…I'm afraid you're going to have to get a shot for that wound."
Her reaction to the doctor's words mystified Akihiko. Mitsuru was standing there, rooted to the ground, suddenly stiff and rigid, her face visibly darkening. "W-what?" she almost whispered.
"You must understand… we can't risk the possibility of tetanus or some other infection, especially since you got that from a Shadow. I'm going to have to give you a shot, just in case."
When Mitsuru did not respond, Dr. Ozawa sighed and nodded towards a nearby bed. "Take a seat, Mitsuru. It'll be over before you know it," he said kindly before disappearing into the next room. Akihiko was staring at the redhead in surprise, noticing how pale she was turning.
"Mitsuru, are you okay? What's wrong?" he worriedly asked, a hand reaching out to touch her shoulder. She swallowed hard and shook her head. "Nothing," she mumbled, walking over to the bed like a zombie and sitting down. An awkward silence filled the air as Akihiko watched her, wondering what was on her mind. She was breathing rather quickly, he noticed.
The moment Dr. Ozawa appeared again with a syringe in his gloved hand, she started to hyperventilate faster, squirming uncomfortably on the bed.
Wait a minute… Akihiko arched an eyebrow up. Is she… afraid?
"Just relax. It'll be over before you know it," Dr. Ozawa repeated in a patient tone. When he moved closer to her, she edged away at once, shaking her head. "Wait!" she cried out. "Give me a minute… Please… I need to…" She breathed in and out deeply, hands clasped tightly.
It was a side of Mitsuru Akihiko had never seen before. Even after that incident at Shirakawa Boulevard, the panicked look in her eyes seemed so new to him and her behaviour was so discomforting. Before he knew it, he found himself sitting next to her, reaching out for a hand and holding it reassuringly. "It's going to be okay," he said. Her amber eyes shifted to him, unsure but glad for his support.
"… Alright, Mitsuru?" Dr. Ozawa asked slowly after he had rolled up her sleeve. She kept her gaze on Akihiko, who stared back at her with an encouraging expression. He gave her hand a little squeeze.
"Okay…" she answered in a small voice. At that moment, Akihiko couldn't help deciding that he sort of liked seeing her so vulnerable for a change, but when the doctor carefully inserted the needle into her arm, he changed his mind at once. Mitsuru's fingers spontaneously tightened around the boxer's hand, almost crushing his digits with strength he honestly didn't know she possessed. The soft, involuntary whimper from her throat was drowned by his yelp.
"All done!" announced Dr. Ozawa brightly, flashing a grin at the redhead, who looked as if she had just been deeply traumatized by a horrific event. "You did very well, Mitsuru, and thanks for lending a hand, Sanada-san."
Akihiko had snatched back his hand the moment the doctor started talking, flexing and rubbing his aching fingers tenderly. "Okay, you're free to go now. You should go back and get some rest. You have school tomorrow, don't you?" Dr. Ozawa asked. "Oh, and come see me immediately if there's anything abnormal about the wound—or yourself, of course."
"… Uh, yes," Mitsuru answered quietly as she tugged her sleeve back down and got up from the bed. "Thank you for everything."
Without waiting for a response, she quickly left the room with Akihiko, who was still massaging his hand. As they walked back to her motorcycle, she turned to him, looking strangely demure. "Sorry," she said with an apologetic expression.
"… That was interesting," he just remarked although he wanted to say so much more. Despite the fact that she wasn't one who blushed easily, her face was already turning a lovely shade of red.
"I'm... uh… very embarrassed you had to see that." Her words were almost inaudible.
Actually, I quite liked seeing you freak out, was the first thing that popped into his head but he refrained from verbalizing that thought. Instead, he simply shrugged. "It's no big deal," he said and, wanting to rid the awkwardness, smoothly changed the subject, "So, you wanna ride back this time?" He dangled the keys in front of her.
She shook her head. "You ride," she mumbled.
The journey back to the dorm was as uneventful as the trip to the hospital, only this time, Akihiko found himself having a silly smile plastered on his face during the whole ride.
o-o-o-o-o
#8: She is terrified of injections. I wonder if it's because of a bad experience in the past…?
o-o-o-o-o
ix.
"… So, are things between you and Mitsuru serious, Sanada?" Takeharu Kirijo broke the awkward silence with his blunt question. Sitting directly opposite him in the limousine, Akihiko started to sweat profusely and stared at the older man with a dismayed look on his face. Beside him, Mitsuru just sighed.
"Father, we were only pretending. I was tired of men coming up to me and asking me to marry them, so I had Akihiko come along," she said. Her father looked at her with an unreadable expression (much like one of her own, Akihiko noticed) and took a sip of the whisky in his glass.
"I thought you didn't mind Kagaya's son." His tone was a little defensive.
"That's only because he's the lesser of… what was it, fifty other evils?" She rolled her eyes and sighed again, reaching up to undo her hair. Akihiko could smell the scent of her shampoo, but he merely sat as stiffly as he could, gluing his eyes to the streetlights outside and trying not to think about how uncomfortable this whole situation was. He really hadn't been expecting to ride back to the dorm with her father.
The rest of the trip was peaceful; no questions, no remarks, no words exchanged. Akihiko didn't need any sign to tell him that Mitsuru's father was watching him, though—he could practically sense it. The boxer's fists clenched slowly. Over the past years, he thought that he had at least overcome Takeharu's scary first impression, but right then, even knowing that the man was actually a nice guy didn't help his state one bit.
Why is he… staring so hard…? Akihiko wanted to groan. As if his night hadn't been bad enough…
His heart leapt happily when their dorm came into sight and he had to stop himself just in time from releasing a loud sigh of relief. As the limo slowed down and halted in front of the building, his hand immediately reached for the door, but it was locked.
"Thank you, Father, for a lovely evening," Mitsuru said, giving Takeharu a kiss on his cheek. As usual, her formality puzzled Akihiko a little, who really thought their relationship was a tad strange.
"Uh, thanks, sir," Akihiko mumbled as she stepped out. He tried his door again but it was still locked. He looked around for any sort of button or latch and, finding none, he blinked, perplexed.
"Huh? Father, what are you—" Mitsuru's voice was cut off by a slam. Akihiko looked up in confusion and froze, noticing two things. One, Takeharu had his hand on the other door, and two, said man was staring at him again. His pulse hiked at once. What was going on?
"I'll get straight to the point, Sanada," Takeharu said in his deep voice, ignoring Mitsuru's surprised calls and taps on the window from the outside. He set his drink aside and leaned forward. "And I want you to be honest with me, alright?"
Akihiko felt as if he was going to get interrogated. "Uh, y-yes, sir," he blurted.
"… What are your intentions towards my daughter?"
To say that Akihiko was baffled would have been the understatement of the year. The platinum-haired senior simply stared at the man, agog. "I…" he started, willing himself to stay calm. "I don't understand what you mean, sir."
"Are the two of you seeing each other? Are you her boyfriend?"
He's actually serious, a voice remarked in Akihiko's head. Taking a deep breath, he looked straight into Takeharu's… eye… and truthfully said, "Sir, Mitsuru and I are just friends—team mates. We're not dating. Everything that happened at the dinner party was a charade. She asked me to help her as a favour and I did. There's absolutely nothing between us at all."
By the end of that short speech, Takeharu had sat back in his seat with a strange expression on his face. Akihiko couldn't pinpoint exactly what the man was feeling, but it looked sort of like a mixture of disappointment and relief, if that was even possible…
"I see," said Takeharu, nodding slightly. He reached over to a panel just by his side to press a button that unlocked both doors. When Akihiko peered outside, he saw that Mitsuru had given up trying to see what her father had been up to. She was standing by the front doors of the dorm, arms crossed and face curious.
"Good night, sir," Akihiko said pleasantly, getting out of the limo. Just before the door closed, however, Takeharu called out quietly, "A moment, Sanada."
Akihiko turned back to him, wondering what it was this time. The head of the Kirijo Group was silent for a second, and then he said softly, "I haven't been around Mitsuru a lot these years, but I can tell that you are one of the few she deeply trusts."
The boxer bit his lip and replied earnestly, "It's a two-way street, sir. I'd gladly trust her with my life as well."
"… If something were to happen to me, I want you to take care of her, understood?" His words took Akihiko off-guard, but even before the stunned senior could respond, the door closed and the limo sped off, leaving him staring after the car's taillights.
"So, what did my father want to speak to you about?" Mitsuru's voice made him turn to her, still a little dazed. Her eyebrows were raised expectantly, but he just sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck wearily.
It was going to be a really long night…
o-o-o-o-o
#9: For the past few months (or years…?!) she has been getting numerous marriage proposals from random big shots in the corporate world.
o-o-o-o-o
x.
"Wow, this stew looks really good, Fuuka," Yukari said admiringly as everyone, save for Aigis and Koromaru, took their seats at the dining table. Fuuka had cooked dinner for them that evening and she had decided on an English stew recipe she had found on the internet. Each of them had a bowl of creamy, steaming soup before them.
"Thanks, Yukari-chan. I just hope I didn't mess up the recipe…" the green-haired junior said nervously.
"Alright, let's eat! I'm starving!" Junpei chirped brightly, dipping his spoon into the stew for a generous mouthful. Minato, Akihiko and Ken followed suit but stopped when an alarmed exclamation came from Mitsuru. The redhead had taken a spoonful of the stew but suddenly spat it back out (as politely as she could), got up and rushed to the kitchen sink for a glass of water.
At her reaction, the others at the table froze immediately. Everyone except Fuuka exchanged stunned glances with one another. "Uh, guess I'm not hungry after all!" announced Junpei with a watery grin as he set his spoon down. Yukari and Minato were biting their lips, staring at their bowls anxiously, while Akihiko and Ken looked at each other, lost. Fuuka appeared as if she was going to burst into tears.
"I'm terribly sorry for that, everyone. It was very rude of me," Mitsuru apologized when she returned to the table a moment later, picking up her bowl. "Yamagishi, is there pumpkin in this stew?"
"Um, yes..." Fuuka answered in a dejected tone.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to have it, then," said Mitsuru regrettably. "I'm allergic to pumpkin."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Senpai!" Fuuka gasped, wide-eyed. "I should have asked if anyone had any allergies before…"
"Oh… so you didn't spit it out because it tasted bad, Senpai?" Junpei couldn't help asking. He received a very strong punch from Akihiko in return.
"Senpai, are you okay?" asked Yukari as Mitsuru brought her bowl to the sink. The crimson-haired senior nodded. "Yes, I'm alright. I hadn't eaten any of it."
"Mmm… this is really good, Fuuka-san!" Ken remarked, beginning to dig into his stew.
"W-wait! None of you are allergic to anything that might be in there, right?" Fuuka was saying in an alarmed voice. "I put potatoes… pumpkin… onions… um, celery…"
"I don't have any allergies," said Akihiko. "That I know of, that is…"
"Me neither," Minato added, and Junpei, Yukari and Ken all shook their heads.
"What are you going to have instead, Senpai? I didn't cook anything else except this stew…" Fuuka turned to Mitsuru, who was already taking out some bread from the fridge. She shrugged, unperturbed. "It's alright, Yamagishi. I'll just make a sandwich for myself."
"So, Senpai, you've never tasted one of these before?" Junpei poked a piece of pumpkin with his fork and showed it to her.
"No…" She shrugged again. "It probably tastes like potato anyway."
"It's sweeter than potato… Has a richer flavour as well. Man, you're missing out, Senpai."
"… Iori, that doesn't make me feel any better, you know," Mitsuru muttered in annoyance. "Besides, it's just pumpkin. There are lots of other more delicious food out there and thankfully, I'm not allergic to any of them."
"Why don't you take just a teeny-weeny bite? Maybe you're not allergic to it anymore." He waved his fork before her with a grin on his face. However, she just gave him a chilly stare, making him turn away and quickly start chucking stew into his mouth. "If I ate that, Iori, you'd probably all be calling the ambulance within a millisecond of it going down my throat," she said flatly.
"… If you ate that, you'd probably also have to get a shot for it." The seemingly innocent statement from a neutral-faced Akihiko earned him a glare from Mitsuru. Her cheeks went a little hotter and she had to press her lips together tightly to stop herself from countering with a biting rejoinder. Around them, the younger SEES members noticed this exchange and glanced at one another in puzzlement. What the…?
Later that night, Akihiko went over to his desk and took out a piece of paper from one of the drawers. After more than nine months, he had finally completed it. Feeling very pleased with himself, he added the final point to his list:
#10: She is allergic to pumpkin.
A/N: ... Yes, number 8 is based on a personal experience...