AGENT WALLFLOWER
Kyoko has a journalist-friend? Everybody else is suspicious except of course, Kyoko. How do you protect a clueless actress with secrets from a possible enemy masquerading as a friend?
Disclaimer: I do not own Skipbeat!
Chapter 10
Monobu had a sinking feeling that things were just going to get worse.
It started right after they left the Ice Cream shop. Mogami dragged him to a nearby book store and made him look through magazines.
"This is for your research?" he asked suspiciously. "What exactly are we supposed to look for?"
"The latest trends that look sexy but edgy at the same time. Something a foreigner would wear, I suppose," Mogami answered after thinking it over. She chose a magazine and handed it over to him.
That sounds reasonable. He was just about to check the magazine out when Monobu noticed that Mogami was just standing beside him with an expectant look on her face. His eyebrow quirked.
"And why am I the one browsing the magazines and not you?" he asked.
"Because I don't want to see porn stuff," she replied sheepishly. "You can pass them to me if it's safe to look."
"DO I LOOK LIKE A PERVERT TO YOU?!" he asked angrily.
"No?"
Answering him with another question did not appease him one bit. His charitable feelings were disappearing fast.
"Please? You said you'd help me, right?" she said with puppy dog eyes.
After trying to stare her down, Monobu sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine," he muttered grudgingly.
He opened the magazine with Mogami eagerly looking over his shoulder. It just so happened that the first magazine she asked him to check was indeed a porn magazine. A naked, blond-haired girl in an erotic pose smiled up at them.
"GYAAAAHHHH!" both of them shouted out loud. Monobu had thrown the magazine in surprise while Mogami ran over to another aisle. The two of them were red-faced with embarrassment.
o-0-o-0-o
After getting booted out of the Bookstore for causing a ruckus, Monobu and Mogami transferred to another bookstore that also sold magazines. This time, Monobu insisted he will choose the magazines to check out. He had more experience with what porn magazines look like (he had a small private stash under his bed after all) so he could steer clear away from them.
He also made Mogami stand a little farther away from him as he browsed. He was still not over getting caught looking at porn by a girl, even if it's just Mogami. It was just plain embarrassing. Mogami meekly followed his demands, overwhelmed by the naked girl episode.
Things went smoothly afterwards. They spent the next hour with Monobu checking a magazine first and then handing it to Mogami. Sometimes she would point at some magazine covers that she wanted him to check out. They looked at biker magazines, gothic magazines, tattoo magazines, heavy metal magazines, etc. The magazines she wanted to see were so diverse, Monobu still had no idea what she really wanted to research on. What the heck was her assignment all about anyway?
After a while, Monobu realized that his companion was not in her assigned spot. He finally spied her through the store window standing outside. As he was about to leave, he saw the store owner looking sharply at him. He and Mogami had been in the store for over an hour looking at magazines, so of course they had attracted the attention of the store owner. He sheepishly picked a couple of magazines and took them to the counter. He swore under his breath. One of these days, he just might lose control and choke that girl to death for all the trouble she was putting him into.
"What? Have you graduated to Stalking now?" Monobu sarcastically asked when he finally reached her.
She tore her gaze from the tourist couple and pulled him behind her. "Why aren't you staying hidden? We're supposed to be observing!" she scolded him.
"Gee, because I just got here since you left me in the bookstore and ran off by yourself?" he blandly said. Mogami had the grace to look repentant.
"Sorry I left you inside, Wallflower-san! I got carried away. I'm now initiating phase2 of my plan!" she said enthusiastically. Monobu shook his head. Why wasn't he surprised?
"Hey, I don't stalk strangers and I'm not about to start now, sorry," Monobu said with arms crossed. Mogami pouted. Just then, she started shaking violently. She took out her phone, checked the screen, and then angrily snapped it shut again.
"Is something wrong?" he asked curiously. This occurrence had been happening all throughout the day. Sometimes he would even hear her cursing under her breath after she dropped the call.
"Nothing! Nothing's wrong!" Mogami quickly answered with a smile. She turned her attention to the crowd again. Finding a caucasian woman, she quickly got to her feet and took after her.
He frowned at the pink-clad girl. He was a bit bothered with her quick denial, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Monobu kept an eye and loosely followed Mogami as she stalked the people who caught her fancy. This wasn't so bad, he thought. Mogami was properly keeping her distance and observing her targets from afar. As long as they keep this up and stay inconspicuous, there won't be any trouble, he told himself.
Just then, a hulking, bald-headed man on a Harley stopped to take a break near Mogami. Just by looking at how big he is, Monobu knew he was definitely a foreigner. He was wearing a leather jacket, dark jeans and a mean-looking pair of boots. The lack of hair on his head was capably made up by his super thick beard and moustache. When he took off his biker jacket, Monobu saw the colorful tattoos running up his arms and disappearing under his shirt. He flexed his arms a bit, effectively displaying the powerful muscles that hid under the biker's ruddy skin.
To his horror, Mogami moved towards the biker's direction, and it looked she wasn't going to keep her distance either.
"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Monobu screamed inside his head in horror.
What the heck was Mogami doing?! He can't possibly save her if anything goes wrong, not against a big, scary biker guy like that!
He was still not finished panicking when Mogami cheerfully returned to his side.
"Look! That biker gave me a charm!" she happily said. "He's an American, by the way. He's visiting all the nearby temples on his motorbike. So far, he's gone to 5 temples, he said. I'm glad he's a nice guy! He even showed me a picture of his daughter!" she told him. Mogami glanced back at the American biker who had climbed on his Harley again. She cheerfully waved and the big guy waved back as he drove away.
Monobu just stared at her, wide-eyed with shock. She had just approached a big, muscle-bound, bald-headed, scary biker guy and made friends with him. When will this girl cease to amaze him?!
"You... you can speak english?" was all he managed to say to Mogami.
"Yes, a little bit! I'm glad it's come in handy," she said as she smiled at him.
After that, Mogami approached several other people who didn't look Japanese while Monobu sulked on a bench. Each time, she would come back and make comments like:
"That woman had really beautiful green eyes! Too bad I couldn't talk to her. I think she's Italian!"
"The guy I just talked to spoke fluent japanese! I didn't expect that at all!"
"I spoke with an Australian guy this time! He said it's his third time visiting here!"
"That blond-haired grandma is an owner of a boutique around here! She said she'd give me a discount if I visited!"
Monobu had given up checking on Mogami. So far, all the foreigners she'd approached were friendly enough. Since there was no need to for him to keep pretending to be her bodyguard, he decided to just take a nap while waiting on the bench.
"Those university students were quite helpful! They told me of a club a lot of tourists go to. They offered to come with us if we wanted to check it out." Mogami quipped as she came back from her latest foray.
Monobu cracked an eyelid, suddenly alert.
"Hey, don't start acting gullible, okay? You never know, but some people might do something bad to you if you blindly believe what they say," he sternly told her.
"But I don't think they're interested in me at all. The girls told me I should definitely bring YOU with me if I wanted to go to that club," Mogami said, glancing back. Monobu followed her gaze and saw one of the fair-haired girls looking back at him. She smiled and gave him a wink.
"They're so straightforward, aren't they?" Mogami commented, witnessing the little exchange. "Here's her number, by the way. She said her name is Stacey." She handed over a piece of paper to him.
The girls started giggling when they saw him turn red with embarrassment.
"KAWAII!" One girl laughingly called out to him before they walked away.
"I'm going to buy a drink," he muttered as he hurriedly stood up and turned away from Mogami. "Wait here, I'll bring you something back."
Why was he blushing, dammit! He shouldn't be affected that a girl had just been openly flirting with him! This was sooo humiliating!
She watched him walk towards one of the food stalls while muttering to himself. Monobu's reaction was funny, she thought. It's the first time she'd seen him turn bright red like that.
As she waited for him to return, Mogami espied another potential target.
The man was looking through a Bake shop's display window. He was facing away from her so she couldn't see his face, but she guessed he must be a foreigner since he was quite tall and because of the blonde-colored hair sticking out of his hood. Judging by his clothes, he must be about her age.
'He must be another exchange student,' she thought as she moved towards the hooded stranger. She politely tapped his shoulder to get his attention.
"Excuse me," she was saying in English when he turned towards her. Her eyes widened in recognition as she finally got a good look at his face.
o-0-o-0-o
As Monobu returned with 2 juice drinks, he noticed that there was a crowd forming near the bench he had been sitting on. The people seemed to be focused on something in the center. 'Lovers' Quarrel' he heard someone amusedly say. Curiously, Monobu tried to take a look what was going on. He glimpsed a flash of pink.
Mogami-san!
As he pushed himself closer, he saw Mogami-san struggling to get away from a tall stranger. Monobu felt a weird sense of Deja Vu. Oddly, he was reminded of the scene in the Shibuya station. Mogami-san had been in the center of a crowd back then, too, confronting a man that was a whole lot bigger than herself. He had always regretted that he wasn't able to help her as she was paralyzed with fear in front of that man in the black trench coat.
He didn't want that to happen again!
Monobu dropped the juice drinks he was holding and determinedly pushed forward. He could hear Mogami shouting angrily at the man who was gripping her by the arms to let go. He quickly drew closer and shoved the stranger away from Mogami with all his might. For a second, Monobu got a good look of the man's face before Mogami grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
Blindly, the two ran until they were both out of breath. They finally stopped in the middle of a half-empty street where most of the establishments were closed. Mogami tiredly sat down on the sidewalk. After a moment, Monobu followed suit.
"Did he chase after us?" Mogami asked.
"I don't think so" Monobu replied.
"Good."
The two fell silent.
Slowly, Monobu's pulse went back to normal. After a long moment, he finally turned to Mogami with a serious look on his face.
"Mogami-san, why were you fighting with Fuwa Sho back there?" he asked.
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Hi all!
Sorry that I didn't post this out immediately, cloeskyler. I made a bet with myself to not release Chapter 10 unless I get at least 10 more comments or else I'll just release it after 3 days. Fortunately , I got the 10 comments! Yey!
Thanks for your suggestion, Jeah. I think you're right. Maybe I should change my summary. Can anybody help me with the summary, please?
As I said, this was supposed to be part of Chapter 9 so it's a bit short. Hope you enjoy! Please review!