Disclamier: I do NOT own anything about Shakugan no Shana. There I said it so leave me alone :|
Yuji woke up the next morning feeling horrible but, not having much of a choice, he dragged himself out of bed and went to school.
The previous night wouldn't stop replaying in his head. Over and over he thought of how it could have gone but it was in the past and the past can't be changed. It wasn't really his fault that any of it happened.
That rack fell and he tried to protect Yoshida from getting hurt. He may not love her but he values her a great deal as a friend. How he is supposed to explain that to Shana? He had no idea.
He figured no matter how much he would try to talk to her, she wouldn't listen or believe a word he says.
Why do I always have to mess things up? The Mystes boy thought angrily to himself. A short while later he arrived at school and caught a glimpse of the flame haze when he went inside.
After what happened it really shocked him to see her here. She's doesn't exactly need to go to high school because, let's face it, she knows a heck a lot more than any of those teachers do. So why is she here?
In between classes as well as during them the boy tried to talk to her but she would always blow him off, glare at him making him shrink back in fear, do her usual 'Uresai, Uresai, Uresai!' or just plain out ignore him. Honestly speaking it was starting to get on his nerves. It felt like she was treating him like he just killed Whilhelmenia right in front of her, though in the back of his mind a little voice told him that if he actually did that then he wouldn't live to know what kind of treatment he would've gotten.
Yuji confronted her a couple of times but didn't get far. He tried to corner her, but the key word being tried.
At the rate things were going he didn't know whether there would be any friendship to save by the time he got through to her.
More than once the light brown haired Kazumi tried to talk to him, at first being hesitant and skeptical but as the days drew on she was starting to act like nothing had happened. He noticed how she tried to make moves, though subtle, he ignored them. It sickened him to see her acting like that. Happy, Cheerful, always trying to crack jokes or trying to be around him more than usual.
It was like she was happy to have the flame haze out of the picture if only for a short while. She enjoyed it like it was part of some elaborate plan, if he didn't know any better he would have said she planned for the stuff that had happened to happen...but he didn't.
Yoshida was the always nice, shy, timid girl and not in the least bit devious or bold. So he never gave it a second thought.
Yuji felt like he was slowly breaking a part piece by piece ever since that night. He needed her. After awhile he couldn't say Shana's name anymore, the one that he gave her! He would never forget that day for as long as his heart continued to beat. But at the mention of her name a single memory flashed in his mind that ripped his heart apart even more.
Her face. That single tear. Those heart broken eyes. He would never forget them.
The Mystes trudged through the school hall that lead out to a newly built courtyard. Being completely immersed in his thoughts he didn't notice there was another person sitting down at one of the tables in the far back.
He sat down at a random table and sighed, more exhausted than depressed.
You would never believe one night could change everything unless you were the one who saw it.
A gentle hand on the shoulder startled him as he looked to the owner of it.
"Hi Ogata-san" Yuji greeted with an obviously forced smile.
"Hey" Said girl greeted back then sat down next to him. She studied him for a long time until breaking the silence by asking, "What's wrong with you lately?"
She had a strong theory but didn't know the whole story so she couldn't exactly say she 'knew' what was going on with him.
"Nothing" He replied, sounding slightly distant. She was not buying that.
"Oh come on! You have been acting so depressed and gloomy. There has to be a reason for that!"
"Really it's nothing" He finally looked over at her. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest with a perfectly arched eyebrow. Put everything together and you get a do-you-really-think-I'm-that-stupid? Ogata.
"Okay, Okay. You got me" He gave in with his hands in the air like someone was pointing a gun at him, but his voice was one of someone who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
She smiled in victory and urged him to continue. He sighed for the second time that day.
"Look I just have some things to sort out that's all"
"What kinds of things?" Ogata wasn't one who would pry into someone's personal business but his behavior lately had been way off the norm.
The boy looked at her with slightly wide eyes, as if taken aback by her question, but decided he probably needed someone to vent to, he continued.
"Do you think you could give me some advice?" He asked to which she nodded eagerly.
Taking a deep breath in he said, "If there was a huge misunderstanding and someone got really mad about it but they never knew it wasn't what it had looked like yet they wouldn't listen to a word of what you were to explain, how do you explain to them it was all a misunderstanding?"
The girl looked like she was contemplating it before she glanced back somewhere behind him before sweat dropping. "Let me guess. Something happened between you and Shana-chan?" She asked, her voice changing in volume(AKA she started talking loudly)
His head dropped down a little as he replied, "Something like that"
She knew she probably wouldn't get the answer she wanted but tried anyway as she scooted slightly closer to him. "What happened?"
To her surprise, he spilled everything. The errand, the locked door, the talking, the banging walls, the basketball full rack, the moment of trying to be a hero, the moment of realization, then the moment of heart break. Once done he started explaining what had been happening the last couple days with the flame haze's glares, and behavior.
"What am I supposed to do?" Yuji asked her, sounding utterly lost.
She put some thought into it before looking up at him. "You do love her, right?"
"Of course I do" He replied a bit loud as if it was the most obvious thing in the world without a seconds hesitation. He blushed before looking away and could faintly hear a gasp which he figured came from Ogata.
"Well?" He looked back at her and she had a very wide spread smile.
"Well what?"
The girl rolled her eyes in annoyance. Why did he have to be so clueless sometimes? "Tell her!"
"Seriously?" His tone indicating she just told him to commit suicide.
She grabbed his hand before pulling him off the seat and started walking to him which made him back up some steps. "Yes! I'm as serious as you are about Call of Duty"
Funny story. Sometime back Tanaka and Satou had a study group at their house, which included the Mystes.
He had finished his work pretty quickly and by that time Satou had given up on his pretty much. The brown haired boy had convinced him to play a game called 'Call of Duty' with him and Yuji accepted. Though he kept getting killed, mostly him killing himself by accident, he got hooked on the game. Once you learn the controls and get you first online kill then it's becomes really fun.
Everybody knew he was very serious about it and that's why someone got the game for his birthday while another person got him an XBOX 360 system to play it on. Needless to say no one saw him for a couple of days.
He decided to ignore the part about the game and focus on where he was backing up to before the girl in front of him started speaking.
"Actually I should get going. I need to do some things before lunch is over" She said in a bit of a rush while looking down at an invisible watch. She ran toward the door leading back into the school building, him watching her go, before she turned back around.
"Yuji! Don't tell her you love her unless you mean it!" Though Ogata was smiling the whole time, she said it solemnly before disappearing out of sight.
"Why?" He quietly asked himself not being able to understand why she would think otherwise. I do mean it. With all my heart.
"Because I might do something crazy like believe it"
Yuji whirled around instantly at the sound of that voice. It was none other than the flame haze herself who had been sitting at that table in the back. She stood in front of him and looked him in the eyes, having heard everything.
She took a small step forward, hope was hidden behind those beautiful eyes the Mystes had come to love. Her voice and face were identically skeptical. "Do you really mean it?"
His first instinct was to just put his arms around her and hug her tight, never to let go for the fear she may not return again. But his second instinct was him repeating 'I love you' over and over and over and pulling her close until he died from too little oxygen.
Though the first was more appealing and some parts of the second were, he decided to go with neither.
He pulled her into a tight embrace before saying just above a whisper; "I do".
Her eyes went wide and she felt her heart start beating faster. She slowly returned the hug before he pulled away.
Yuji pulled away and looked at her again and using his thumb, he wiped away a couple of tears from happiness that managed to escape. He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek before smiling at her.
She smiled back and his heart jumped with joy. He was surprised he wasn't jumping around and shouting victory cries already.
They both gazed into each others eyes for what seemed like forever when a voice brought them back to current time.
"Ne Shana-chan! Could you help me with something?" Ogata called out to the flame haze to which said girl walked over to Ogata. Leaving Yuji to find a way to release all the joy he felt inside.
Once the two girls were aways from the courtyard Ogata nudged the shorter girl with a smirk. "So?"
"So what?" Shana faked innocence. Truth be told, the purple haired girl(1) had been able to wrench the story out of the flame haze, who knows how she did it, and had made up a plan. Though it was supposed to take place somewhere else and a little differently.
Still she's not the type of person to pry into others business unless it was seriously doing something.
Ogata playfully rolled her eyes before skipping ahead of the other girl.
"How did you know it would turn out like this and not down the drain?" The flame haze asked, genuinly curious.
Ogata nonchalantly shrugged but once her back was turned to the shorter girl, her face broke out into a grin. She thought to herself; 'Somethings are just easy to predict'
(1)= I always thought Ogata's hair color was purple, but not until recently did I look at a picture and see that it was brown. I still say it's purple :3
Hope you enjoyed this chapter more than the previous! REVIEW!