If it's jumpy I apologise. I keep having to stop.
And I'm a chick…
:P
Advent '08
December 13th - 12 days to go
Yoshiro was curious.
Kanae had called him up earlier this morning and asked if she could meet with him. He assumed that it had something to do with Kyoko and the plan and wondered what she was going to say.
He was also curious as to how she had got his number but he tended to try not to question the infallibility that was women and their ability to get what they wanted.
He flicked his hair out of his eyes and took another sip of his tea.
He was currently sitting in a booth in a small café in the downtown shopping district. Kanae had chosen the place and he assumed that it was one that she frequented often. Or she could have chosen it because it was out of the way and she didn't want anyone she knew seeing them together.
For some reason that thought hurt a little.
Even though he understood why she would do so, for the sake of the plan.
He frowned and took another sip of his drink. He was being ridiculous. Sighing in annoyance with himself he tried to take his mind off of it by looking around the room. There were a couple of girls sitting together who were giggling and whispering between themselves. Every so often one would glance at him then look away quickly.
He shifted his gaze, feeling awkward. The waitresses standing behind the counter were doing the exact same thing. Yashiro frowned.
There was a group of guys, around the age of seventeen of eighteen sitting near the girls. When he looked over they shot him dirty looks.
Yashiro's eyes widened. Just what was going on?
He turned his attention back to his tea. Caffeination was so much safer apparently. He checked his watch. Kanae was late to their meeting.
Tapping his fingers against the table he rested his head in hand and wondered about what exactly had happened to make Kanae call him up, out of the blue, and request a meeting.
It had sounded urgent on the phone but now, with her being late, he wasn't so sure. Had he completely misjudged the signs?
The sound of the bell over the shop door tinkling dragged his attention up. Kanae stood, one hand on her hip and the other brushing her hair back over her shoulder.
Yashiro was caught. With disjointed fascination, he wondered if she wasn't cold only wearing a jacket and skirt.
He watched as she scanned the room, looking for someone. Looking for him, he corrected himself.
His breath hitched when she finally caught sight of him and smiled, making her way over and sitting on the opposite chair.
"Hey," she said, a little breathlessly "sorry I'm late."
"Aren't you cold?"
Kanae gave him a weird look and inside Yashiro groaned. Why did he just say that? Of everything he could have said he asked the one thing that would remind her of her mother!
She shrugged.
"I'm wearing a scarf. Hey, where's the service around here?"
Yashiro kept quiet as she signalled for the waitress and placed her order. It wasn't until she was settled with her drink in front of her that he spoke.
"So, what was it that you wanted to speak to me about?"
Immediately, the smile dropped from her face.
"I wanted to talk about the plan. I think there might be a problem."
"What do you know?"
"Kyoko-chan was complaining about Fuwa-san a couple of days ago. I haven't been in over the last few days but I'm sure that she's still going to be upset with him."
Yashiro was confused.
"If she's upset with Fuwa-san then how is that a problem with the plan?"
Kanae sighed and rolled her eyes.
"It's a problem," she said slowly, as if she was talking to someone slow, "because if she's annoyed with him then she's going to be thinking about him. So, no matter what happens, the person on her mind the most is going to be him."
"Oh. That is going to be a problem."
Kanae nodded and took a sip of her drink.
Yashiro sighed and massaged his forehead. He could feel a headache coming on.
"So how do we fix this?"
"Honestly? I don't know. It would be best if she could just forget about him completely. But seeing as that is not going to happen anytime soon…I think the best that we can hope for is that Tsuruga-san does something that makes her direct all her focus onto him."
"Damn."
"Yeah. Do you know if anything has progressed?"
"No. Ren hasn't asked her to the best of my knowledge. He hasn't asked me to arr-"
He was cut off as his phone began to ring in his pocket. He ignored Kanae's look as he pulled on his glove and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Yashiro-san. I need you to arrange transport to the awards for me and to inform the President. I am going after all."
"What? Wai-"
Yashiro stared at his phone as Ren cut his questions off by hanging up.
"What's wrong, Yashiro-san?"
"That was Ren-san. He's just said that he was going to the awards."
"Really? Did he say anything else? Is he taking Kyoko-chan?"
"I don't know. He just said he needed me to arrange transport and to inform the President."
"Hmmm…I should ask Kyoko-chan of she knows anything."
"Yes. See if you can get anything from her. I'll see if I can get some more information from Ren-san."
Kanae nodded and stood.
"Alright. If I find anything I'll let you know."
She was about to walk away when Yashiro caught her hand.
"Wait. Can I ask…how did you get my number?"
Kanae paused for a moment before grinning.
"Trade secret."
Yashiro let go and watched her leave. Trade secret? What did she mean by that?
---/---
Kyoko was nervous.
Ever since yesterday she had been worrying about what had happened and what she was going to do.
She was unsure about what to feel about the whole thing.
She was pleased that the plan seemed to have worked and now Ren was going to the awards like Yashiro wanted but she was a little ashamed that he had asked her.
That wasn't part of the plan and she wasn't sure that Yashiro would be best pleased that she was going to accompany his charge.
Had he had someone else in mind for Ren to ask?
It just seemed a little too forward to her.
She had said yes because she had been taken by surprise but now she was wishing that she had just said no instead. What was she going to wear? How did this all work? What did this mean for her?
What were people going to think?
She was worried. Sitting in a café, surrounded by her day's Christmas shopping, she sighed. She had thought that shopping would have taken her mind off of it all and it had. But now that she was done she had nothing to distract her from it.
Did Ren think that she was forward? Did he think that she had been angling towards being invited by him?
That thought was the one that worried her the most.
She didn't want him to think that she was like that and she didn't know what to do to change that perception of her.
She bit her thumb nail in worry.
This was a nightmare and she had no idea what to do.
Yashiro and Kanae chapter really.
And again…really really sorry about the late update.