-Chapter 4-

Loud knocks were heard from his door and he swore whoever bastard that was will have a gruesome greeting for breaking his afternoon nap.

'What is it?!' he yelled as he stormed his door open.

He stopped. To his surprise, there standing was a girl clad in traditional orange clothes and wooden sandals. Part of her light brown hair was gathered in a tiny Chinese bun fixed in sideway, adorned by a little flower hanging loosely with eyes wide in expectancy.

Okay, she's pretty cute until she spoke…

.

.

'Geez, Takaomi-kun! I've been here forever!'

He narrowed his eyes to slits and that's glass just broke into million pieces.

He exhaled huge amount of air 'Now what is it?', pinching the bridge of his nose.

She ridiculously placed her right hand behind her head and fidgeted a little.

'There's Summer festival, you know. Everyone's having fun!'

'Your point?'

'Let's go to the festival!'

'No.'

She whined 'Ugh, don't be like that…'

'I. Said. No!' he said apparently annoyed while moving to shut the door.

She quickly grabbed his shirt to stop him from getting away.

'HEY, DON'T RIP MY SHIRT OFF!'

'NOT UNTIL YOU SAY YOU'LL COME WITH ME!' and she pulled it desperately in full force.

This idea for him was very stupid so he was wondering why she deemed it so seriously. There were strange sounds of clothes being torn off. When he turned his head, he found his shirt was getting a ridiculous stretch and she just kept on tugging like a madman.

'AAAAAAURGH! STOP IT!' he demanded.

'NO!'

'OKAY, FINE! I'LL GO!' he yelled angrily while trying to tug his shirt away from her strong grip if there's still hope it can be save.

'Really?' all she needed was a silver skylight to complete the whole scene. She was just like a desperate wolf a while ago and the next second she was like a happy pony prancing off like an idiot.

He grimaced, eyeing his poor shirt, wondering if it was still appropriate to wear. Does she know how much this cost me?

With a loud declaration, she blurted out 'Alright then! I'll be waiting for you!' her hands excitedly pumping the air, not really concerned whether her actions fitted her supposed to be demeanor. He could see her enthusiastic spirit was coming back to life. Self-decidedly, she charged into his apartment and sat casually at his moss-colored sofa as if she was the owner.

'Come on, Takaomi-kun! Get change already so we won't be late!' she cheerfully beamed and waved.

:::

Later that afternoon, Takaomi-kun found himself walking along the street with his petite companion who by now was humming something out of this world. The whole place was lit by various lanterns and decorations. There were stalls everywhere- for different games and foods to fill your craving tummy. It hit him how many years had passed since he walked in these streets idly for festivals like this.

Mafuyu would drag him constantly and she would play all sorts of games. And he would play, too. Of course, it would be a waste if she will hog all the fun, he'll gonna rub in her face that he's mightier than her. In one way or another she would cheat, as she would reason out, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Everyone was expecting the fireworks by now. They're now sitting on a bench. For some weird reason, Mafuyu wondered, when they were about to approach it the people sitting there contentedly went fleeing hastily like they had seen a ghost.

Takaomi took a large bite of burger and sipped at his orange juice. Darkness had completely enveloped the sky; sometimes the moon would peek from the clouds and reveal everything with its faint glow and the stars twinkled very pretty into the vast dark heavens. Takaomi look over at Mafuyu who was sitting beside him chomping hotdogs and marshmallows on stick.

He noticed her hair, a bit messy from trying to pin it up and the little flower in her hair was dangling close to falling due to occasional blow of the wind. That then, he had forgotten his burger and his juice in can and the stars. She remained oblivious, her eyes glued to the skywards excitedly anticipating.

On cue, after the crowd chorused counting on three, the sky exploded in a shower of a million colored lights, their brilliance slowly fading as they drifted towards the earth like rain. The strange noises of the crowd didn't really bother him much. And when it dawned to him that he really has to tear his gaze away, for he wasn't looking at the wonderful fireworks but at her face, his heart gave a funny skip. She was so close he could probably…

'Takaomi-kun, look at that! SUGOI!' she screamed in amazement, for someone as small and petite as her, she sure has a loud mouth.

He scowled at her.

But rather thankful for interrupting the train of his dangerous thoughts. He averted his gaze to anywhere but her before he could do something stupid. Out in the corner of his eye, Mafuyu look up at him completely confused and a little disappointed.

=0=

There really was something wrong!

And she felt, as they were now heading back at their respective apartments, that he has no plans of telling her about it. The hallways were empty as it was already close to midnight.

He was acting suspiciously and he's not giving her right intelligent answers but roundabout things. So she tried to look at him very intently—squarely in his dark eyes, in the sole purpose that he might spill the beans by doing so.

He seemed to notice this but didn't say anything. They were having a staring contest for a while and Mafuyu (being the one who started it) doesn't want to lose.

She realized his eyes were sexy, quiet intoxicating actually. She doesn't want to be bothered by that, as she might actually voice it out loud. His ego doesn't need further stroking, thank you very much. He smelled really nice, she noted mentally. It took her another moment to realize that he had crossed the five feet void distance between them and another five flitting seconds to become consciously aware that his face was a lot closer than she had ever recall.

'TAKAOMI-KUN, WHA-?!' she cried out loudly with an almighty push.

Before she could move away, he had acted completely on his instinct. He grabbed her arm and pulled her a bit forcefully into his broad chest. His tight embrace caged her petite body. Wanna run away, huh?

Things really went awkward at that point in time but letting it just pass was seemed to be so hard as it showed up a lot of opportunities—of the rare chances of bringing her closer and believing his heart didn't tell a lie.

He leaned forward and crashed his lips into hers. Her soft lips were stubbornly remained close. Mafuyu was further gone shocked when she felt his tongue trying to pry her lips open. She saw the difference in their strength as his steel arms were effectively pinning her to the wall despite her struggles. And when finally his extensive search found a small gap somewhere in the corner of her mouth, Mafuyu felt no longer the strength of her limbs. He was kissing her- hungrily, angrily, and desperately. She tasted like vanilla.

Well you see, Takaomi was a lot taller than our famous brunette and he had to angle his head to actually kiss her better.

After a great deal of reluctance and a great need for air, he lifted his lips off hers. Her eyes were so wide, her little mouth was gaping and her cheeks were flushed pink. Yeah, his Mafuyu was quite adorable at times. He almost gave off a wide grin.

He cleared his throat. 'Get to sleep. I, I'll see you tomorrow' and patted her head before hurriedly turning the knob of his own door. He should get away soon. Away from her warm touches and pink swollen lips that drove him a little crazy.

There was a slight sensation of swaying and it felt like something new to him.

Tender Thoughts:

Pardon me if you see this chapter a little bit out-of-character. I really have to write it down. I realized it was a little hard to make them hug or kiss knowing how this odd couple interact in the manga.

Would you actually believe that I wrote this chapter ahead than the earlier one? My brain works weird. Please give reviews! I really want to know what you feel about the sudden turn of events.