"Reito, remember what we discussed before?" Shizuru asked, throwing away formalities and simply getting to the point.
"About the Natsuki thing?" The deep voice of her ebony haired friend asked in return.
"Yes, it turns out, I need your help…" She spoke quietly as she paced away from Mikoto, who was still on the couch playing with her toes…odd child.
"How can I be of assistance?"He asked. Shizuru's lips twitched upwards at his willingness to help her. Oh, Reito, so reliable…
"I need you and Tate to come over." At this request, the other end dipped into silence.
"…"
"Hello?"
"So…let me get this straight, you want to invite two teen aged boys over to an all girl slumber party so you can get cozy with Natsuki?"
"Yes."
"How will that help? And why Tate?! You know I can't stand him right now!"
"It just will. And just because Tate's your love rival, doesn't mean you two can't have an enjoyable evening together with a bunch of friends." Shizuru chided, not really liking the fact that her best friend was being so childish lately when it came to her spiky haired friend all because of a girl.
"Yes, Shizuru, that's exactly what it means." He answered curtly.
"Reito…Pleaaaase?" The girl whined. "You know I would help you if you needed it!"
"I know you would, Shizuru, but boys sleeping over a girl's house isn't acceptable!" Blah, blah, blah. Excuses, excuses.
"But…You always stay at my house, I don't see a problem with it." That was a lie, she saw the problem, but she was getting desperate!
"That's different!"
"How!"
She heard the boy sigh over the phone, in truth, she couldn't blame him. "Because I don't look at you that way, I know you prefer the fairer sex, so it's different."
"Well then pretend all the other girls are like that too!" Shizuru reasoned.
This time, the boy made an audible noise of shock and disgust over the phone, "I would never imagine Mai that way!"
The girl pouted and made it apparent in her voice, "Reitoooo…Please! This is my only chance!" It was official, Shizuru had to revert back to griping.
"I understand, but I decline."
"Reitooo…"
"No."
"Puh-leaaaase!"
"Shizuru, whining won't get you anywhere." With that, Shizuru's end went silent. This wasn't working, she needed something, anything, to get Reito over here. Suddenly, an idea popped up into her head.
"Tate would do it if I asked him…" She said.
"So? That guy would do anything for a girl, he's a horny pervert." Distaste was obvious in the boy's voice.
'Ooo, I struck a nerve.'Shizuru thought with a smirk.
"So perhaps I should invite him over instead?" She suggested in a bluff. Knowing full well that the blonde boy would never accept an invite to an all girl slumber party by himself, because despite his façade, he was quite shy when it came to girls.
"Okay. Do it." Damn, he caught her bluff. Shizuru gritted her teeth in frustration. Sometimes she wished the boy didn't know her so well, anyone else would've either: Accepted the invitation on the spot or would've fallen for that last one.
"Reito, if you don't do this, I will show Mai how good the other team is." Shizuru threatened. This time, she was dead serious.
"You mean…you and her…together..and…and…" Now the boy was stumbling for words.
"Yes, I'm going to sleep with Mai if you don't get over here." She helped him out.
"You wouldn't!" He yelled.
"But I would."
"I would hate you forever!"
"Then so be it."
"…."
"…."
"I'll be over in a few."
"Aww, Reito, I love you!" Shizuru cooed, instantly letting the threatening tone in her voice drop.
"Yeah, sure you do." He replied cynically before hanging up.
Unbeknownst to Shizuru, who busy with her victory dance, a little bird was listening in on her conversation.
"Who was that?" An innocent voice piped up from behind.
Immediately, Shizuru stopped mid-moon walk and whipped her head towards the source of the voice. Only relieved when she saw that it wasn't some one she should be worried about. It was only Mikoto, the small, naïve, innocent, blabber mouth….Oh wait…Blabber mouth? That could actually be a problem.
"Mikoto…what did you hear?" Shizuru questioned in sickeningly sweet voice, trying hard not to sound forced.
"Mmmm…." Mikoto seemed to be stubborn.
Shizuru decidedly crouched down on the floor to where the girl was sitting. "What. Did. You. Hear?"
Mikoto turned her head away and didn't answer.
"Mikoto?"
"Hm!"
The tea drinker grabbed the girl's chin and forced it towards her, "Answer me, Mikoto." Sweetness. Gone.
It was only at that moment did Natsuki and Mai decide to walk out onto the scene and mis-interepret everything.
"Mikoto! Shizuru!" Mai exclaimed.
"What the hell is going on out here?!" Natsuki shouted, probably un-happy that her nearly 18 year old best friend was in such a compromising position with a young, naïve, 14 year old. Disappointed more than anything.
Letting go of the young girl as if her face had just become burning coal, Shizuru stood up to explain. "It's not what it looks like." Thank god for her ability to keep her mask on in times of panic.
"Really? Then care to explain?" Natsuki question, her voice sounding a bit hostile. While Mai went over to Mikoto and wrapped her arms around the younger girl as if Shizuru was going to lash out a hit her.
"No, you see, I was simply trying to get Mikoto to look me in the eye while I spoke with her." Shizuru informed. It wasn't necessarily a lie, she was trying to get the girl to look at her.
"What were you two talking about? Mikoto wouldn't look away unless she didn't want to talk about something." Mai accused, pulling Mikoto closer while the young girl just sat there. Just watching. Watching Shizuru. Closely. To everyone else it looked as if the girl was simply watching everything in confusion. But Shizuru felt it, she felt how deep the girl was looking into her.
"It was something between Mikoto and I. Nothing too important." The tea drinker spoke.
Mai glared but said nothing to Shizuru, she simply looked down to Mikoto. "What did she say to you, Mikoto?"
Mikoto didn't look at Mai, her facial expression didn't change, she didn't even fidget. Her eyes stayed glued to Shizuru, perhaps analyzing her further.
At this point, Shizuru knew she was done for. She knew threatening people to do things for her was stupid. But she did it. And for what? To get all cozy with Natsuki? Now Natsuki was going to find out what a terrible person she was and hate her for forever and eternity. But, being a Fujino, she was taught to keep her façade on until the very end.
For the longest moment, Mikoto didn't speak. Then, she opened her mouth, "Shizuru said to stop eating so much food. She said not to tell Mai, but she was troubled by how much money you must spend."
Silence.
Did…did Mikoto just lie for her? Did Mikoto just lie?!
Mai looked up at Shizuru with shock written all over, "Shizuru-san, wow…I didn't think you even noticed…"
"Ara, well, you are here on a scholarship, so I only assumed that with as much food as this girl consumes, you must be paying a lot more than you need to be…" Lie, after lie, after lie. No, of course she didn't care about this girl's food bill, it had nothing to do with her or Natsuki, so naturally, why would she even think about it?
"Wow, thanks for being concerned, but with my job, I have enough." The carrot top told her, her voice not holding any trace of anger, just shock and thankfulness.
"Alright, but if you ever need help with your food bill, please don't be afraid to contact me." Ha! Yeah, contact me so I can give you the directions to the nearest soup kitchen.
Before another word could be exchanged, Nao stepped in, "Guys, the foods getting…" She stopped when she saw the scene. Natsuki was face palming repeatedly, Mai was sitting on the floor holding onto Mikoto and Shizuru was just standing in the midst of all of it. "Cold…Did I miss something?"
Natsuki shook her head, "Just a dumb misunderstanding….Let's just eat…" And with that, the blunette stalked into the kitchen followed by an overly excited Mikoto and an anxious Shizuru behind her.
Leaving Mai and Nao. The red head silently asked the carrot top what happened and Mai simply replied with a shake of her head and followed everyone else into the kitchen.
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