Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and a few extra characters…
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Twists of Fate
Chapter Three – The Inevitable Encounter
by: chocopeanutplease
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'Eh? F4…? Who the hell?' Tsukushi wondered confusedly as she let Shigeru drag her to wherever.
Shigeru yanked the reluctant Tsukushi to the terrace without even noticing Tsukushi's futile attempts to break free. Shigeru's hawk-like grasp of her wrist just wouldn't permit that.
As they reached the terrace, Shigeru had to push and jab several girls to lead Tsukushi and let her view of the guys. Still, being far away, Tsukushi couldn't quite recognize their faces vividly, not that she minded.
"F4, you say? Apparently, they are only three. What's with that? Or does F4 have some other meaning?" Tsukushi turned to Sakurako who was closest at the moment to clarify her thoughts.
"Haha… Silly… One is in France at the moment, Hanazawa Rui. Those three are Nishikado Soujiro… Mimasaka Akira… and Doumyouji Tsukasa," Sakurako explained, mentioning the last name with more fondness than necessary.
Tsukushi barely heard the names she mentioned because of the shrilling tunes reverberating through her ears. Cries of 'F4! F4! F4!' were heard from girls up to at least a three meter radius with Tsukushi as center. Tsukushi rolled her eyes at their simple-mindedness. All those trouble for just a bunch of guys! It was too much for a quiet-loving person to handle.
Tsukushi motioned back to the hall. In fact, she wanted to head anywhere with considerable peace and quiet as compared to the circus-like event she had just witnessed seconds ago.
Meanwhile, the F4, three of them to be precise, maintained their reputation to be the cause of ruckus and havoc, at least in the case of the girls fawning over them. As they were heading to the building where Tsukushi was in, Doumyouji Tsukasa gracefully turned his head to face one of the terraces: the one next to the Art Club terrace, in fact.
"KYAAA!!"
"Doumyouji-sama is looking at us!"
"Oh no! What if he asks me on a date? What should I do?!"
"What if he will ask me to marry him? What should I reply?"
The girls in the Art Club terrace were screaming and waving at Tsukasa, practically fantasizing of him. It was a miracle their vocal cords didn't snap with too much pressure in screaming. They were in total delirium. They were out of their right minds due to the pheromones radiating from the man named Doumyouji Tsukasa.
Tsukushi stared in disbelief at them, mouth gaping wide. She could hear those words of wishful thinking coming from those girls, and she couldn't help but be stunned in place by the sentences let out by Tsukasa's admirers.
'I can't believe I belong to the same species as those girls…' Tsukushi thought as she gained back her senses.
Nothing could stop those girls in their state of fantasy and shove into them the fact that Doumyouji Tsukasa was in no way looking at them.
He was looking at something else.
He was looking at someone else.
Amane Mizuki was stretching her muscles to start practicing with her routine. Of course she could hear the shouts coming from the Art Club terrace. It was right next to theirs after all. What's more, she was situated right beside the Gymnastics Club terrace. She didn't quite know the reason why her sensei decided to put her there, at the back of the class. Perhaps she already did her routine very well that she didn't need constant guidance from the teacher.
She already got used to the frequent noise during club activities after spending a year at Eitoku. The noise didn't faze her at all. It only made her more focused. That's the type of girl she was. She was determined to pursue her dreams in gymnastics. Distractions just tend to strengthen her will.
She was aware of the chants of 'Doumyouji-sama! Doumyouji-sama' coming from the neighboring terrace. She was also totally aware of the routine she was tasked to perform that day. However, she wasn't aware that a pair of eyes was surveying her from outside the building they were in.
Amane Mizuki was entirely oblivious of the fact that Doumyouji Tsukasa was intently gazing at her elegant form.
Meanwhile, Tsukushi paced back to the Art gallery after accepting the obvious: those girls were unstoppable.
"I can't believe those girls! They're delusional! What's to be admired with those guys, anyway? They don't appear to be anything great to me!" Tsukushi whispered as she was blindly strolling around without even glancing at the artistic works surrounding her. She was softly ranting to herself as she walked without paying attention to anything at all. Little did she know that someone was actually paying a huge deal amount of attention at her.
"You are the first one to possess that kind of opinion, Tsukushi-san," a towering young man stated matter-of-factly. "Although taking into consideration that it's your first day in this school, that is quite forgivable." The young man sweetly smiled at Tsukushi's confused look.
"Every girl in this school admires them. Even the teachers do. The truth is, they somewhat own the school already, what with the donations the school has been accepting from their families." He explained further until Tsukushi got over her confused expression.
The young man was adequately surprised by what Tsukushi did next. She laughed so hard that her eyes involuntarily closed as tears of mirth escaped from them. She was almost out of breath the moment she stopped and clutched her chest to support her breathing and calm herself.
"Are you nuts? What is so laughable about what I said?" the young man demanded, his eyes tinted with a mixture of annoyance and amusement.
"Haha… For a while there I thought you were referring to the delusion of the girls being normal here. I would think you, yourself, are delusional as well… I have just realized that you were actually referring to the F4…" Tsukushi threw a glance at the young man before her.
He was a towering presence, like an athlete, with well-toned muscles but still slim in body figure. His hair was cut cleanly falling right above his eyes, not blocking them from view.
"For a while there I thought you had an intake of laughing gas or something. It was not even hilarious," He spoke with his arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed as Tsukushi intently surveyed his features.
"And do you?" Tsukushi innocently asked.
"Do I what?" the young man asked, irritated at the interrogation.
"Do you admire them?" she asked.
"Well, I have to admit, they're rather good-looking…" the young man replied. At that, Tsukushi raised her eyebrows as her eyes widen a millimeter or two. "And I am not gay," He added, apparently noticing Tsukushi's expression.
"I see. Well, I think they're no good. They shouldn't be the one acknowledged and admired for what their parents did. Who cares if they as good as own the school? Their parents were the ones who donated, not them. If they had other parents they wouldn't be even like this. They shouldn't be the one receiving credit for what their parents have established. Furthermore, they shouldn't strut around like a bunch of idiots tolerating other people to contribute to noise pollution for their sake!" Tsukushi fumed as her thoughts escaped her mouth.
"Whoa… Whoa… I am sensing some hostility in here. Why do you hate them so much?" the young man asked, honestly curious. He couldn't understand why Tsukushi actually hated the F4 that badly.
"Eh?... I don't know…" her voice trailed off. And that was the truth. She didn't actually know. The words she said came out almost involuntarily. She pondered some more at her thoughts about the F4.
'Why do I seem to hate them? Because they're rich? No. That can't be it. Why did I say those words, anyway?!' Tsukushi thought as her eyes drifted to the direction of the young man.
"WHO ARE YOU, anyway?! And how did you know my name?!" she demanded rather rudely. Tsukushi noticed her tone and smiled apologetically at the young man.
"My name is Yukimura. I am the temporary Art club adviser and I am in third year. And I-"
"Third year?! You mean to say you are a student in Eitoku?" Tsukushi cut his sentence to blurt that out. She had just noticed then that the young man was actually wearing the Eitoku uniform.
"Obviously." He said tersely, lazily pointing at his uniform. He was beginning to be really amused and really annoyed at Tsukushi's dynamic character.
"So you are my sen-… sen-…" Tsuksuhi was at a loss whether to say senpai or sensei, which made the young man grin widely.
"And how did you know my name?" Tsukushi demanded once again, this time less rudely, just to change the topic of conversation and to escape from her confusion.
"I was just about to tell you before you cut in! I heard your friend call you Tsukushi, so I called you Tsukushi-san. That's it."
"So you were spying on me, weren't you? You even heard what I was whispering about!" Tsukushi accused him.
"Spying… Whatever! Call it as you wish…" he shrugged.
"Excuse me, but I prefer to be called Makino by someone I barely know," she said as she turned to look for Yuki, so they could go home.
"Makino-san! There will be an art workshop next week. You are most welcomed to attend!" he called out to her retreating form. She didn't turn to reply but he was sure she heard.
'Whatever! I just want to go home right now. Yuki, where on earth are you, anyway?!' she thought as she searched every nook and cranny for her friend.
'Makino Tsukushi… What an interesting character…' the young man named Yukimura thought while watching Tsukushi in her find-Yuki-immediately-so-we-could-head-home-immediately mission that was almost completed as she shortened the distance between Yuki and her.
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The next days passed by as uneventful as the first. That was until the moment Tsukushi decided to attend the Art workshop where she was invited by the odd young man named Yukimura. And that moment only came right when they were in front of the Art club hall.
"Tsukushi, let's go! This will be fun!" Shigeru encouraged her as she practically dragged her from their classroom to the club hall.
"Come on, Tsukushi… We are eager to see your art works too," Sakurako grasped Tsukushi's shoulder, urging her to move on.
"Let me handle this," Yuki softly spoke to Shigeru and Sakurako while trying to free her best friend from the dictatorial captivity from the two. She gently held Tsukushi's arm and distanced themselves form the other two.
"What's wrong, Tsukushi? You don't feel well?" Yuki asked with concern evident in her tone of voice.
"Nothing, nothing! I'm fine, really…" Tsukushi hastily spoke, flailing her arms wildly.
Yuki warmly smiled at Tsukushi. She had a shrewd idea of what was disturbing her best friend.
"Tsukushi, you don't have to be worried that your art work would be rejected. You gained an Art scholarship, remember? You apparently have a talent within you! Have more faith in yourself, will you? And who cares if they reject it? Just do what you enjoy doing!" Yuki soothingly persuaded Tsukushi to believe in herself. Tsukushi totally appreciated Yuki's words of concern and then cracked a smile.
"Yoshi! Let's go then…" Tsukushi said, leading the way to the Art club hall. Shigeru and Sakurako followed suit, their expressions half-surprised at the sudden change in Tsukushi's behavior.
'Everything's all right… Everything's all right…' Tsukushi chanted as she was walking toward the hall. She tried to convince herself of that myth. She could only wish that saying it over and over again may make that myth become a reality. Unfortunately, the world is not that kind.
Actually, no. Everything is not all right. Not all right at all. Not even close.
Tsukushi had been having a serious self-esteem problem. Her greatest fear in life is rejection, far more than anything else. She didn't like people taking notice what a failure she was. She felt that every glance at her was equivalent to an awful opinion. She thought every advice directed to her was worth a dreadful criticism. It was total paranoia! She even refused to believe that she had any talent at all. Her self-confidence frequently hit an all-time low.
"People, people! Settle down now! Find a work station that suits you," the loud booming voice of the young man reverberated throughout the whole hall as the four girls made their way to the very back of the hall because those were only the stations left. It was Tsukushi's fault of course that they were late.
'Ehhh… It's that Yukimura guy again… Could this day get any worse? Can someone answer that? And to think it is just my second day in this school…' Tsukushi reflected as she settled down on her seat facing a large empty canvas.
It was an amazing thought that the canvas, once white and dull, could be transformed into something greater as every color was applied to the canvas to slowly add to its beauty.
"There is a bucket of water in front. Fill your cups with water to your heart's content to mix it with your paint. Don't worry. Everything is absolutely free of charge." Yukimura declared for the whole hall to hear. He then turned to where Tsukushi was and winked at her.
Tsukushi responded with a frown and furrowed eyebrows.
The people already took water from the bucket. Tsukushi permitted herself to be the last to get some. She was still trying to come up with ideas of what to paint. Nothing came. When it was her turn to get some water, though, not even a single drop of water could be taken form the bucket.
"Makino-san… Do you mind doing the honors of getting some water for yourself and for the others too?" Yukimura faked a sweet voice. It was more like a snarl.
Tsukushi glared at him and deliberately took the bucket from the table.
"Isn't it YOUR job as the adviser to make sure that all members acquire their needs?" Tsukushi asked in a terrifyingly soft voice.
"No." Yukimura replied tersely, which made Tsukushi roll her eyes in annoyance.
'What a cocky jerk!' Tsukushi irritably thought of her earlier encounter with the young man named Yukimura.
She passed by different classrooms and lockers as she paved her way. She headed to the female comfort room to fill the bucket with water up to the brim. As she carried the bucket with both her hands, drops of water kept splashing from it.
She passed by the Gymnastics Club hall while looking inside through the windows. Little did she know that more drops of water were splattering from the bucket as she paid no attention to it.
She was so immersed in observing the ladies doing their gymnastics routine. Sadly, there was a puddle of water right where she was about to step her foot (a puddle of water which she caused as a matter of fact). Then, being the clumsy girl as she was, she slipped while gripping the handle of the bucket tightly as if clinging onto dear life.
That could be considered as one of her biggest mistakes in life – the tight bucket gripping.
In one of those freak moments of physics, the water flowed like a fountain from the bucket to a location exactly two meters from the point where Tsukushi slipped.
Furthermore, a towering young man with a domineering aura was standing also exactly two meters away from Tsukushi as the event occurred.
The distance between the position where the young man stood and the position where the water hit was…
…unfortunately…
Z-E-R-O.
That's right.
It was as if the wings of fate directed the flowing water to land straight to the young man's upper piece of clothing.
It was now soaking wet. The left side of his expensive-looking white shirt was now soaking wet because of… well, you know what.
The young man was taken aback as he held his drenched clothes.
First was surprise.
Next was anger.
Last was outrage.
"What in the HELL do you think you're doing?!" the young man shot a deadly glare at Tsukushi who was still sitting on the ground, nursing her arms that were bruised from the fall.
"EH?!"
"What the hell did you do, stupid woman?!" the young man demanded, keeping the terrifying expression on his face. He didn't even bother to help Tsukushi get up from her awkward sitting position.
"AH!!" Tsukushi had just realized then the situation she was in. She immediately got up, using her knees as support instead of her bruised arms. It was an exhausting feat since her whole body was aching at different parts due to her clumsy fall.
"Sumimasen deshita!" Tsukushi apologized, bowing her head very low, as low as her sore body would allow.
"Yo!!" a pair of voices was heard close to Tsukushi and the young man. Tsukushi looked up in curiosity to see who the voices belonged to.
"What's with the wet look?" one of the guys asked inquisitively as the other howled into bouts of laughter.
"Urusai yo, Soujiro! And stop laughing, Akira! This is not funny at all…" scowled at the pair that Tsukushi supposed to be the young man's buddies.
'Sou ka… So their names are Soujiro and Akira… Still, who is this other guy?' Tsukushi wondered as the three guys were conversing.
"We thought we heard your lovely shouting voice that is pleasing to the ears from inside the hall," Soujiro informed the young man.
"So we decided to come by to inspect," Akira continued with a wink directed at the young man.
"Yeah. You suddenly disappeared from the hall when we were talking with Mizuki. Weren't you the one who asked us to accompany you to come and see her? You just left her like that. What's that all about?" Soujiro asked the young man, with his arm leaning on the young man's shoulder.
"Anyway, that's not the problem here! In case you haven't noticed- " the young man started, intensity of his voice not dropping at all.
"Woah! Why on earth are you soaking wet?" Akira questioned, amusement painted on his face.
This, more than anything, made Tsukushi remember the reason why she was stupidly standing right there watching the three guys. She felt most unwelcome as all the three guys noticed her presence.
"YOU!!" the young man yelled as he took off the white long-sleeved shirt he was wearing, revealing the black undershirt he was wearing underneath.
"I… I'm… I'm terribly sorry!! It was an accident! Here… You can use this to dry up…" Tsukushi stuttered as she offered her handkerchief to the young man. She was dreadfully scared at every look he shot at him.
After completely freeing himself from the white shirt, he crumpled it and threw it right into Tsukushi's face. Bull's eye!
"It's already worth trash." The young man spoke in a low voice denoting apathy.
Tsukushi was appalled at the young man's display of manners. He was definitely the rudest person she has ever met. Hands down.
"I have already apologized for causing your clothes to be wet, baka! Didn't you hear? Can't you even accept an apology?" it was Tsukushi's turn to be completely irritated.
"Baka! If apology works, what is the police for?" the young man shot one of his eyebrows up as if challenging Tsukushi to answer than one.
"The police are for idiots like you who can neither act civilly nor accept an apology!" Tsukushi hollered back at him. "What an idiot! It is just water! Real men do not get daunted by water. And for your information, baka, water evaporates, meaning, no permanent damage done! But I guess that fact would be too much for your narrow brain to comprehend!" Tsukushi's temper was abruptly reaching his boiling point just with dealing with the young man.
"How dare you talk to me like that?! Do you even know who I am, you stupid woman?!" the young man was outraged at Tsukushi's treatment of him. She was definitely the most insolent person he met at Eitoku.
Tsukushi boldly walked toward the young man. She smirked absurdly, then SMACK! Tsukushi's knuckles found the young man's left cheek with a forceful impact causing his skin to redden, even redder than plain blush red.
"WHAT THE--?!"
"Thanks, but I'd rather not know the most arrogant jerk in this school!" Tsukushi was practically enraged as he walked from the stunned party of three.
"OI!!" the young man called. "You! Your days of hell will start tomorrow! Better get a good night sleep to be prepared!" he insinuated even further. "I am—"
- - R-R-I-I-I-I-I-N-G-G-G - -
Tsukushi was already far away to hear what the young man said. No matter what superhuman powers he had, his voice could not possibly overcome the resounding bell signifying that the students should start leaving soon.
'Ano baka onna…' the young man thought with a sinister smirk on his face. He stared at Tsukushi's retreating form as vile ideas of revenge crept to his brain.
'Ano baka otoko…' Tsukushi was still livid at the young man's attitude. She entered the Art club hall in a stomping fashion. She didn't even perceive the prying of every person in the hall as she grabbed her back and left in a flash. Her senses were clouded with visions of the young man, his voice, his stare. Everything about him enraged Tsukushi.
"Damn you!!" she let go of the rest of her pent-up rage in one blow. She screamed to her satisfaction. As her senses returned, she found herself standing at an emergency staircase. Her feet led her there; she had no idea why they led her there. She let herself admire the serenity of the place. She was the only one in sight.
"Why does it seem that this school is full of incredibly cocky jerks?!" she asked, demanding an answer from nobody in particular.
"Who is that idiot anyway?!" she then regretted not listening to what his name was.
"Argh!! Mou! It is pointless to know the name of a despicable jerk anyway!" she said as she was thrashing her hands up and down in fury. That was when she detected that she was holding the young man's shirt which he threw at him. She instantly scrunched up the dratted piece of clothing with her bare hands and stuffed it into her bag.
Inhale. Exhale. Tsukushi appreciated the silence in the emergency staircase. Her eyes were shot as the afternoon breeze fanned her face. As she opened them, the sun was already taking its leave in the sky, which signaled Tsukushi to head home.
Tsukushi reached home peacefully without any signs of arrogant jerks and weird guys.
"I'm home!" Tsukushi announced as she entered their house, finding her parents into the living room.
"Hmm…" Tsukushi noticed that four cups were present. "Was there a visitor just now?"
"Eh? Oh! Ummm…" Tsukushi's father stammered.
"Actually, Tsukushi we need to tell you something," Tsukushi's mother told her, her face gravely serious.
"NO!! Ano… Uhmm… Tsukushi, we just wanted to tell you that you should rest. You must have spent your energy in trying to adjust to your life in your new school. You deserve a break. Why don't you rest in your room for a while as we prepare dinner." His father said leading (or slightly pushing) her to her room.
Tsukushi sensed that her parents were hiding something from her – or about her. She was not stupid. She could read her parents expressions. She could tell from the way they talk.
The question is: what were her parents hiding from her?
Doesn't she deserve to know?
She had enough problems to worry about in school and now even her parents caused her to be anxious.
She still had to worry about the young man. Something about how he talked and looked at her made her feel that he was up to no good.
Who was that young man, anyway?
Could he be coming up with strategies of retaliation?
"ARGH!!" Tsukushi whined as she rumpled her hair making her look like she had a bird's nest on her head.
She then deeply sighed, as if releasing all her anxieties in one go.
Now there was only one problem left to think about…
What's for dinner?
...to be continued...
Thank you for patiently reading my story!
How was it? Read and review please.
It has been a while since I updated, huh? I was rather hoping that I could update weekly. No, I did not experience writer's block. No, I wasn't particularly busy. I was just attacked by an epidemic called laziness.
I am about to attend college in just more than a week. I am rather anxious about that. I wish I could still update my story while coping with college life.
Recently, I got addicted to jdramas and jmovies! i bought DVDs and watched on the Internet. It was very enjoyable…
To those who read and reviewed, thank you very much! Love you!
To anime07, addieXmitsume and lhotshot83, I am so happy that you like my story! I will try my best to update as regularly as possible…
Once again, any comments are highly appreciated and welcome...
Arigatou yo!