Disclaimer: (insert lame disclaiming joke here)
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Later that day,
While everyone had hoped the weather would brighten up a bit, it, in fact, did not, much to the disappointment of several people. It was just as people from the day shifts were leaving work when the rain started to come down like cats and dogs. It took less than ten minutes before may of the city streets were under half-an-inch of fresh rain water. Occasionally thunderclaps could be heard in the distance.
At the Iwasaki household, where four friends, Minami, Yutaka, Hiyori, and Patricia, were staying over to work on a project. The watched with gloomy expressions (except for Minami for whom a gloomier expression than her norm was next to impossible) as the heavy rain noisily pelted Minami's bedroom window.
"Aww, man," complained Patricia. "This sucks, I didn't think the rain would come at such a time. This sucks."
"I know," concurred Hiyori. "It's been gloomy all day."
"And this rain looks like it's gonna last all night too."
"Darn it! How are we supposed to go home now?"
A second after Hiyori said this, Minami suddenly stood up and quickly walked out the door without saying a single word. Patricia and Hiyori wore slightly confused expressions on their faces. "Where's she going?" asked Hiyori.
Yutaka looked towards them with a knowing smile. "I think she just went to ask her mom permission if she could let us sleep over tonight."
Both Hiyori and Patricia looked bemused.
"That's out Minami," stated Patricia matter-of-factly.
"Well, I guess she would do such a thing. It's just so in her nature. So I guess she would do something like this."
"But does that mean we'll share her room? Does she have enough spare mattresses or are some of us going to have to share a bed?"
Hiyori was bout to say something when the statement replayed in her head a couple of times. He face went totally blank as she flew away into her own world.
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In Hiyori's mind.
Yutaka was wearing a rather cute pink salmon colored, frilly nightgown as she stood on the side of the bed, her face red as a tomato. Minami was seated on the bed wearing a light green, silk nightgown that molded itself to her figure as if it was water. She too had a beet red face as she stared at the salmon-haired girl.
"Um, Minami, I don't think we should do this," said Yutaka in a hushed tone. She found that she couldn't bare to look at her fried or she felt her face would explode with embarrassment.
"But, Yutaka, we have to. I can't let you sleep on the floor," said Minami in a deeply caring tone.
"But...still. I don't think my heart is ready for this."
"Don't worry." Minami crawled to the edge of the bed, right where Yutaka was and gently put her hand to the shorter girl's chin and brought Yutaka's gaze to her own. "If your heart can't bear it, then mine will for the both of us."
Yutaka slowly moved to enter the bed and gently laid on her side facing Minami. The two girls slowly inched closer to one another until Yutaka's forehead rested just under Minami's neckline. Minami wrapped an arm around Yutaka and pulled her in closer.
"Minami, you smell good," said Yutaka.
"You too, Yutaka," said Minami.
"Minami..."
"Yutaka..."
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Back in reality
Minami returned to the room carrying with her three extra futons. "Alright everyone. My mom says it's okay for you guys to stay over the night. I have some extra futons her--"
"No, no, no!" exclaimed Hiyori as she clutched her temples. "Stop thinking like that! That's not gonna happen!"
Both Minami and Yutaka stared at their otaku friend curiously. Patrica snickered knowingly.
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Meanwhile, outside Studio Peach.
"Unbelievable," said Kagami. The only word she could describe her current situation with. "Of all the days I decide to lend my umbrella to Tsukasa."
She stood just outside the building, under the entrance, just barely out of the rain. Standing next to her was Tetsuya, who was a little less annoyed at the situation than Kagami was.
The rain was really pouring now. You could almost call it a typhoon already. A two-inch deep layer of water was already covering the road right in front of the building. Most cars were forced to slow down to around 30 kph due to the reduced visibility.
"How the heck am I supposed to go home now?" asked Kagami to no one in particular.
Tetsuya knew this but answered her anyway. "You use the train right? Why don't you just wait out the rain inside the studio?"
"I can't. I need to get home. I've got homework to do. Konata will be expecting it."
"Right, sure. Problem with that is you got no cover from her to the station, you know."
Kagami looked in the direction of the station. Tetsuya was right. There was very little cover from the studio building to the station. Even if she ran, it was still a long ways away and she'd end up soaking wet. "Damn it all," Kagami cursed her luck.
"Want some help getting there?" asked Tetsuya, knowing Kagami's answer.
"No! I don't need help!" replied Kagami.
Tetsuya smirked slightly. That was the answer he was expecting alright. "You like getting soaked in your school uniform?"
"No!! It's just that..."
You're just too damn stubborn, thought Tetsuya as he completed Kagami's sentence in his head.
"You're gonna catch a cold or something if you try to run in this rain."
"I don't care." Kagami was around fuming now. Why can't this guy get a hint?!
"Look, it's not a big deal. I got an umbrella, I can take you there and--"
"I said I don't need your help!" Kagami decided she wanted to get away from him and she did just that.
Ignoring Tetsuya's warnings, Kagami ventured out into the rain. She decided that if she ran fast enough, she wouldn't get as wet. However, that theory was completely made useless when, just as Kagami was about to make her run, a huge delivery truck drove right past where she at around 80 kph, sending up a tall wave of water up from the street and into the sidewalk. The wave splashed all over Kagami, soaking her uniform from head to toe in flood water.
Tetsuya, who was watching from behind, tried his best not to laugh out loud. He failed badly.
"Hahaha--I to--hahaha--I told you that was--hahaha--a bad idea--haha!!" said Tesuya, relishing his I-told-you-so moment.
He looked at Kagami as she stood there in the middle of the sidewalk in the rain. She was shaking, and it wasn't from the cold. When Tetsuya realized this, his humor vanished completely. This happened just when Kagami turned around showing how wet her eyes were. And it wasn't because of the rain.
"Shut up!" she exclaimed. "Just shut up you stupid jerk! I hate you!"
She turned her head away. She didn't want him to see her cry. She tried hard to hold back the tears but they came out anyway. She was just to overwhelmed by that moment. It wasn't just the rain anymore. It was this feeling of defeat she just got. This feeling that she lost to him or something. A feeling she became quite familiar with over the last few days.
She just had to be so stubborn, just like all the time they were around each other. She couldn't help but be stubborn on front of him. Whenever they did voice work she would call him bossy whenever he would try and coach her but in truth she herself knew her own shortcomings and simply didn't want to admit them. And as a result he always seemed to get the last laugh and she always feels like an idiot. She cursed her luck, as much as she cursed herself for being a real loser. She kept on crying.
She stopped crying for a bit when she realized that the rain seemed to have stopped. She opened her tearful eyes and looked up. She was now standing under a bright blue umbrella. Kagami slowly looked behind her and there was Tetsuya, holding the umbrella covering both of them.
"You're really stubborn, you know that?" he said to her. She didn't answer and simply looked away.
Tetsuya let out an exasperated sigh. "Look. My place is less than five minutes from here. You should dry up. It won't be good if you go home like that. You'll definitely get sick if you do."
Kagami slowly looked up at him strangely. Tetsuya merely gave her a reassuring smirk. Relax. I know I'm a stupid jerk, but I'm not a pervert. Besides this fic is only K+ rated."
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Later at Tetsuya's apartment.
A nervously blushing Kagami wearing a pair of bright orange pajamas was seated at the dinner table while Tetsuya was using a hair dryer to blow hot air onto Kagami's wet uniform laying on the table.
A whole hour has passed since the two have arrived at the apartment and neither of them said a single word to each other creating what is simply the most awkward atmosphere. How could it not be? The two had barely known each other for a week, starting off on a bad foot nonetheless, and now here they were sitting around the same apartment and her wearing his clothes. Tetsuya was desperate for an ice breaker.
"Hey, by the way," he started. "Your underwear didn't get wet, did it?"
Kagami blushed and gave him a stern glare. "I thought you said you weren't a pervert."
Tetsuya groaned in slight frustration. "Wet clothes are still wet clothes. I'm worrying about your health here."
Kagami sighed. "No, it's fine. My underwear is dry."
"Good to know. What about your cell and your wallet?"
"My wallet's waterproof anyway. And my cellphone..."
Kagami reached over for the said item sitting on the table next to her. She inspected it thoroughly. The outside was a bit a wet and there was a little misting from behind the screen cover but overall the thing was fine.
Good thing too since at that exact moment Kagami got a call from her mother.
Kagami answered the call. "Hello?"
"Kagami, where are you?!" said Miki. "It's already past eight and you're not home yet! Is it because of the storm?"
"Uh, yeah, actually it is, mom. I got a little soaked, that's all."
"Where are you right now?"
Kagami hesitated in answering and looked up towards Tetsuya. The boy looked back at her and simply shrugged.
"I'm...at a friend's house right now," said Kagami. "A workmate of mine."
"Oh, I see. That's great. Hey listen, can you ask your friend if it's okay if you stay the night?"
That question took a moment to sink in. "Huh?! Why?!"
"Honey, it's raining cats and dogs out there. Flooding has already become a serious problem. Even the street outside our house is already underwater. Better for you to stay there. Besides, school has been cancelled."
"Wait. There's no school tomorrow?"
"They just announced it over the radio. Like I said, sweetie, flooding has become a big problem."
Kagami started to stutter a bit. "M-Mom, listen. I-I-It's a little more complicated than that."
"But the rain is just too dangerous tonight. Can you at least ask?"
Kagami couldn't find a way to respond to that. indeed the rains were too hard and it looked like the skies wouldn't clear until morning. Kagami was the logical one int he family and she knew that it would stupid, bordering on suicidal, to go out in this storm of the century at night! But still, spend the night at a boy's place?!
Somewhere in her head, she wanted to tell her mother that but then she ran the scenario fully. She suddenly didn't want to get interrogated why she was in a boy's place, at night, alone together, and wearing his clothes.
Kagami sighed exasperatingly. No choice then. "Hang on I'll go ask."
Kagami covered the cellphone mic and faced Tetsuya. "Hey, my mom's asking if I can sleep over."
Tetsuya looked confused for a second before a small bemused smirk formed on his mouth. He understood the importance of the situation but that didn't stop him from having fun with it. He replied to her by saying "I'll go get the extra futon."
Kagami groaned under her breath and returned to her cellphone. "My friend says it's okay."
"That's great!" exclaimed Miki, something Kagami was finding rather hard to accept. She thanked the gods they haven't invented portable video phones yet. "Well, good night then. Be sure to give me a call in the morning. And tell your friend thanks for me, okay?"
"Okay, got it. Bye mom."
The call ended and Kagami set her cellphone down back on the table next to her wallet. She looked up to see that Tetsuya was already in the bedroom area setting up an extra futon right next to his own bed.
"I can't believe this is happening to me," said Kagami just under her breath.
"Oh, chill out why don't you," said Tetsuya, apparently hearing what Kagami said. "You ought to count your blessings. There's no school or work tomorrow. You can spend the day freely."
"It's not that, It's...um..."
"Still not cool with the "sleeping in a boy's place" idea are you?" he guessed.
"Who would be?! I mean, I've barely known you for over a week! And...I..never dated before."
Tetsuya gave her a curios stare. "You think this is a date?"
"No! Of course not! I'm just saying...I don't know what to do around boys."
Tetsuya was finding this rather humorous. "I see. Well, as opposed to what those NBC shows would tell you, not all men are crazy horn-dogs. Like I said, you can relax around me. I'm doing this as a 'friend' after all."
Kagami groaned. "Alright already. I get it."
"Well the futons all set up. Let me make you some tea. It'll warm you up."
"Uh, sure thanks."
Tetsuya moved back to the kitchen area. He put a kettle on the burner to heat up some water as he retrieved his tea set from the cabinet above the sink. The water was boiling and the tea was ready in just a few minutes. Tetsuya prepared two cups for the both of them and served the tea to Kagami who was silent throughout.
"You really are the stubborn type, aren't you?" asked Tetsuya out of the blue.
Kagami faced him with stern look. She was steeling herself in case he wanted to start something again. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Just an observation," said Tetsuya casually. "I've been trying to figure you out since we met. Take today for example. I'm pretty sure you know yourself that going out in this rain was a very bad idea. But you did it anyway just to prove me wrong."
"It's not that simple."
"Oh, I think it is. Then there's also the first time we met."
"What about it?"
"Why you would take this Job so fast when you weren't interested in it."
"But I am interested in this job."
"Yeah, but not at first. I felt that you only did that because of me."
"Do you always have to make it about you?"
"Actually, I think all of it is about you and not me."
Kagami was about to say something but held it. She was caught off-guard by that statement. "...What do you mean by that."
"You don't like to lose, do you?" said Tetsuya in a serious tone, same as the first time he lectured Kagami on what makes a seiyuu so important. "You're stubborn and you always want to end up in the right. You do your best to act tough and look independent in front of other people. You strive to be the overachiever everyone looks up to, don't you?"
Kagami wanted to say something back. However she couldn't think of anything to say back. There was nothing to say. He was right. He nailed her and she didn't know how he did so. All she could do was look down and stare at her tea which reflected her frustrated yet saddened face. She didn't know why she was upset and why she felt so lonely all of a sudden. She felt that a weight was put on her chest and that she couldn't push it off.
Tetsuya for his part didn't say another word and let Kagami stay silent. He knew that the hit a wrong button somewhere on Kagami and decided that leaving the girl to her thoughts was the best way to keep things cool. He instead focused on his tea and several minutes passed in complete silence.
"You're right," said Kagami, catching Tetsuya's attention. "You're right. I am stubborn."
Kagami took a long sip of her tea. Tetsuya waited.
"I'm the middle child of four siblings. Ever since I was young my older sisters towered over me in a lot of things. Back when I was in nursery school my older sisters seemed to bully me a lot. That doesn't happen anymore but...I still feel like I need to be better than them. Prove them wrong when they were bullying me, you know? Then there's my twin sister. She's always been sort of the airhead, and I've always been there for her. I've always watched over her, protected her. Because of that...I figured I had to be strong...for her. I had to be someone people could depend on. I had to be someone who was reliable and could solve her own problems...And I liked that. Around middle school I started running for the class representative position. I've been elected constantly ever since. I studied hard, constantly, always being the one of the top students in my class...It was the same...when you and I first met. When i tried out voice acting for the first time and you, Omori-san and everyone said that I was good. I liked it when people looked up to me. When people thought I was good at something. When people thought I was dependable. When people...gave me respect."
Kagami took another sip of her tea. Tetsuya stayed quiet and continued to listen intently.
"I felt that I needed to keep that up," she continued. "Keep up that image. So that people would always come to me. And that I don't have to be..."
"Lonely?" finished Tetsuya for her.
Kagami looked towards him briefly but offered no rebuttal.
Tetsuya smirked. "You really are a tsundere, aren't you?"
It took a moment but Kagami herself couldn't help but flash a bit of a smirk. "I have a friend who tells me that a lot. She the one who sees through me the most, I think."
"Must be a really good friend."
"She is. She can be a bit of a weirdo sometimes. And she can also be a bit of a jerk, but it's in good fun I guess."
"That's how it always is."
Kagami went back to drinking her tea again. It warmed her up pretty good. She looked at Tetsuya while he wasn't looking. She observed him closely. Up until now, she always view him as a jerky know-it-all. Now, sitting around his home he seemed a little more reserved. She thought back to something she heard Aoi said to them. Tetsuya started out very much like her, through blind luck that his talent was discovered. Was he putting on an act too? Kagami thought it was likely. He was always a hard-ass jerk when it comes to work. But every now and then.
"How do you know so much about tsuderes anyway?" Kagami asked.
Tetsuya turned to her and was silent. There was something in his eye that told Kagami she touched the wrong button or something like that. She was about to retract her question when he suddenly started talking.
"When I was much younger, my dad died in a car accident," he said flatly.
Kagami was taken aback. "Oh...I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up."
"Don't be sorry. I got over it. So did my family. But for my mom...it took a little while, you know?"
"...I could imagine."
"My mom was always the kind and gentle person. But ever since that accident she had to put on a strong face. She refused to let anyone see that the accident has weakened her. My little sister was just born at the time. She felt she had to be strong for all of us. Of course I saw right through the act. Eventually she went back to her old self...when she realized me and my little sister were pretty strong on our own...not that I'm boasting or anything."
"I see."
"That's why I wanna ask you. Don't you ever get tired of putting on the facade?"
"...Sometimes, yeah I do. But I can't seem to force myself out of that habit."
"Oh, you will eventually. Once you figure out who is it you're really acting tough for."
Kagami gave him a one-sided smile. "As if you'd know who."
Tetsuya gave her a long look, like he was scrutinizing a piece of art. Kagami looked back curiously.
Tetusya smirked knowingly "Yeah, I think I have a pretty good idea."
Kagami seemed to be waiting for him to say more. However Tetsuya didn't entertain her questioning looks any further and simply finished his tea, got up from his seat, and headed straight for his bed, without even bothering changing out of the khakis and shirt he wore to work. "Well, I'm pretty worn out so I think I'll crash. If you want snacks, help yourself to whatever's in the fridge."
Tetsuya fell into his bed like he belonged there, wrapped himself up in his sheets and went to sleep. Kagami stared, almost dumbfounded, but soon scoffed it off and went back to her tea. After finishing her tea, Kagami, ever the polite one, decided to clean the tea set as well as some other dirty dishes in the sink then put them all back in their proper place in the cupboards. She found a newspaper lying around and decide to read for a bit before she too felt sleepy and eventually decided to turn in.
And there she was, sleeping on a futon in a boy's apartment wearing that boy's pajamas without her family or friends knowing about it and with her not feeling the least bit insecure about the whole thing.
"Weirdest day of my life," she mumbled to herself as she well asleep.
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Author's Note. Somewhere in this chapter is what I believe to be the cheesiest line I have ever written. I had to actually stop writing, walk away for a bit and groan out load. Anyway, please R&R, and ignore what Kagami said in the end, I have more interesting plans for the two of them next chapter (insert evil laughter here). Till next time.