Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis nor ''Les Misérable''
My apologies to any and everyone who as no idea what I'm talking about when I'm talking about ''Les Misérable''. I think you can understand most things as they are (hopefully) if you don't then just ask. Well anyway...
Enjoy!
Present (3rd year)
Something was pounding on the door. Her door, she finally decided. Unfortunately it was her door on which was being pounded. No shouting, no kicking, no swears. Just pounding, which could also be called as heavy knocking. It wasn't her brother, the girl decided as she got out of her bed. He'd yell, kick and curse. While wondering where he got his temper from she just opened the door. At that moment her thoughts took a different turn namely: why didn't she call back to say that she was awake? As Midori Hoshiwa fell backwards from the sudden hit on her shoulder, two hands managed to catch her, before she landed on her butt.
''I'm sorry!'' the apology came as a whisper. A female one. And somehow from that alone Midori understood what was to happen. Naoko wanted to prank her brother again. Moreover, she wanted her boyfriends sisters help to do it.
''No,'' the brunette stated as she got her balance back and went back to bed. Well it was a Sunday for crying out loud! It was 5 am on top of it.
''Pleaseeeeeee!'' Naoko put her hands together as she followed the girl in her room. ''This will be the last one!''
''You said that the time when Kida-nii found his favourite magazine shredded, '' the girl answered while wrapping herself in the blanket, ''And that was a month ago.''
''Please!'' Naoko knelled down next to the sleeping girl, ''he hid all my make-up and I hand to walk around without a mascara for days!''
''No,'' Midori repeated.
''Mouuu...I swear this'll be the last one! I'm just going to dye his hair pink while he sleeps!''
The sleeping girl shivered and got up. ''If you're really going to do that then I'm going to go and tell him that, right now.''
Realizing her mistake Naoko got up and walked backwards towards the door, ''Now Midori, don't be a child. He'll get it out anyway, and I'm just going to use a baby pink colour, it'll probably turn out purple or something.''
As the older girl stepped over the threshold, the younger one jumped out from her bed to warn her brother. ''Now you be a good girl.'' was what she heard before having the door shut in her face.
''Naoko-nee-chan'' she yelled and tried opening the door. Something was put in front of it to jam it. As hard as she kicked and hit the door it didn't move. While doing all that she heard the silent steps of the villain slowly disappearing, moving closer to her brother.
''What do I do? What do I do? What do I...? Cellphone! Right! DUH.'' she slapped her forehead and quickly picked up the phone from her bed. Looking up her brothers phone wasn't hard, it was harder to get trough to him him.
''She got to him.'' was all Midori thought as she threw the phone back on the bed. ''She killed the phone and now she's doing it.''
Kicking the door out wasn't an option as she lacked both the courage and the strength to do so. No mobile phone and the main house phone was probably killed as well. Maybe Naoko forgot to turn her own phone off? After pulling on this thread by calling her phone she ripped it, because the evil-doers phone was off as well.
What else could she do? Second floor, and the girl didn't want to risk having her legs broken by jumping out. Calling the police? She sighed. Too much drama.
So Midori did what was left. She sat on her bed, facing the door, stressed about what was to happen and blamed the one person who was actually at fault for all this mess. Who do you think? Guess...
During the second year. (and we're back to the past!)
''Hey is it true?'' Haru asked her friend as they walked in the hallways towards their lunch spot.
''What is?'' Midori replied.
''Well,'' the other girl hesitated a bit and looked around, fearing that someone might hear what she was about to ask ''Is it true that you're paired up with Fuji for the literature project? And that you're completely ignoring him ever since the start of the year? And that he's sending notes to you during class, which you always throw back?''
The fact that Haru seemed to know about all that surprised her. ''Does everyone in school know about it then? How does it matter anyway?''
''Well I guess it's true then. Yazawa kept on talking about it. I think she likes Fuji.'' Haru smiled at her. ''Did you know that because you're showing such dislike towards him, the fangirls aren't giving you a hard time?''
The fact that the so called 'queen' was talking about her, behind her back didn't really surprise Midori. She actually pitied Haru, because she had landed in the same class as Yazawa again. ''Yes, and actually I'm partly doing it because of that.''
''Yeah, but maybe you're evading what could turn into a passionate love-affair, maybe he's desperately in love with you and so are you, but you're just trying to deny it, or he could be suffering from an illness and by writing notes to you he's fighting against it...or,'' she quickly added, ''he could just be writing ideas for the thing you're both doing.''
''If he has any he can tell them to me through talking.'' came the answer and so both girls quietly reached their lunch spot.
''Hoshiwa-san.'' the boy's voice from besides her called out again. Midori had successfully ignored it the first two times, but now, realizing that it might have something to do with the project she looked back. ''Hmmm?''
''Oh you are awake.'' he smiled at her. ''I wanted to ask you whether I'm still welcome to visit.''
''You'll just have to come and see how welcome you are.'' she mumbled, but as it seemed that he had not heard her she just shrugged.
After class she hurried out, not wanting to make eye-contact with anyone. She was home twice as fast as she usually would. 'I guess I should speed-walk more often. It saves up time' she sighed and went directly upstairs, not wanting to meet Naoko-neechan who would just pester her about the visitor they were supposed to have.
She stayed in her room, only to realize that it was a bad place to do the project at. It had all the things she wanted to keep to herself. The diploma she received in middle-school for being the best student of her year and the kyudo medals were all locked in her closet, but still having Fuj being so close to all of this didn't quite sit well with the girl. She decided to move everything to the living room, and that wasn't so hard to do as it was the room next to this one. Quickly she took her book, her notes and some paper and pens. Then Midori glanced at the clock. 'He said that his practice ends at around 5 o'clock or so, so it'll take him about half an hour to get here.' She still had two hours then.
Realizing that she had nothing better to do the girl sat down and picked up the first thick part of ''Les Misérable'' and opened it at the place where she had stopped reading the previous time. :
''Monseigneur Bienvenu was simply a man who took note of the exterior of mysterious questions without scrutinizing them, and without troubling his own mind with them, and who cherished in his own soul a grave respect for darkness.''
The girl always wondered whether these words had a deeper meaning behind them. Monseigneur Bienvenu was an, in her option, amazing and kind-hearted man. 'Yeah,' deciding that over-thinking was a bad thing she kept on reading until a lot of pages later, Naoko's voice woke her up ''Midori-chaaan, we have a visitor, or you have one, to be precise.''
Midori grunted and got up to go downstairs. Fuji was there and waiting with, like usually, a grin on his face, ''Hello again Hoshiwa-san.'' he nodded a greeting and was invited inside by Naoko. Some way or another they ended up in the living. Both had one part of the book in hands. Midori had the second one and Fuji the first one. They had already decided what to put on paper. The characters,their description, meaning, how they influence each other, what could the title of the book stand for and so on. They had decided what to do surprisingly fast, and now they were both serching for good quotes throughout the whole book.
Fuji was the first to finally talk,''Maaa...Do you believe that people can change like Jean Valjean did? ''
She didn't reply to him, unwilling to get caught up in any philosophical discussion at all. He just asked again adding ''You know the teacher could ask us this, I'm just curious as to what you would answer.''
''Yes, anyone can change. But change doesn't happen by itself. The person himself must understand that his way of life is wrong. Jean Valjean met Monseigneur Bienvenu, that man and his never-ending kindness changed him. Besides he was never a bad person anyway. The wretched society stereotypes turned into one. Sentenced for stealing a loaf of bread! For his family! It's just not right.''
''Hmm...yeah.'' Fuji nodded, ''You know I think we can look for quotes separately as well, seeing as our beliefs match. Might as well go look for paper and everything else. This week practice will end later so I won't be able to come by, we might as well finish everything at school. Or during the weekend.''
Midori shrugged, pleased by the turn of events. ''School then, You can do half and I'll do the other half of characters. I don't care which.''
''All right,'' with a devilish grin he agreed ''I'll take Jean Valjean and Monseigneur Bienvenu.''
''Hey! I wanted Mon...'' catching herself she started to sulk ''...seigneur Bienvenu''
Fuji chuckled a bit as he got up, ''All right then, you choose the characters you want and I'll take the rest.''
''I just want Monseigneur Bienvenu'' she answered with an even sulk-ier expression.
Fuji nodded, ''I'll wait up for you downstairs then.'' and left the room.
'Pfine, acting as if he's in his own house, meh.' Suddenly feeling unbelievably childish she stopped herself 'What am I doing? Jesus.' She mentally slapped herself and got up to head for her room and get her bag.
Meanwhile Fuji was going down the stairs, while Kida Hoshiwa was coming up.
Kida stopped on the stairs when he was two steps away from Fuji. Fuji stopped as well because he felt that he had to. Kida glared at him while Fuji just stared with closed eyes. It was amazing how he could stare with closed eyes. Truly amazing. Kida was, of course, awed by this skill. 'He's not intimidated,' having a suspicious nature just like his sister he carefully extended his hand. ''Fuji Syusuke right? Kida Hoshiwa.''
''Ah,'' Fuji took the hand. ''Nice to meet you,'' and with a smile he passed him. After Fuji was out of vision Kida practically flew over to Midoris' room. ''I don't like him.'' he stated the moment he got to her room.
''Yeah me neither.'' was the response he got. He nodded, obviously pleased and turned back to go down to the salon. After a while Midori went down as well. There she saw Naoko chatting with Fuji.
She heard Fuji saying ''...I'd prank all the time. It's like a game isn't it?''
''Hey! you're right. I think I'll try it out as well! Ah Midori!''
As both of them noticed the newcomer Fuji turned to walk outside, while Naoko bid both of them a safe trip and went back to the salon. They had already walked quite distance when the silence was interrupted
''I knew you were a kyudo champion you know.'' Fuji commented as they slowly walked along the road.
Midori blushed and then paled. Embarrassment was faster than shock, yet shock was stronger.
''Uhmm...what kyudo?'' kicked out of balance it was the best thing she could come up with.
The smile lit up on the tensai's face once again. ''Maaa...I wonder.'' and with a smirk he stared down at her, while she stared up. For several minutes they walked, staring into each others eyes, hoping that the other one would falter. She usually won, actually she always won staring competitions, as her stare would make the other person feel uncomfortable, but now staring in those clear eyes made her feel uncomfortable. The burden of lying also added up to the discomfort, so she gave up and turned away.
''I'm not telling you anything.'' It was neither lying or telling the truth- the only way out.
''You don't need to.'' now with closed eyes he smiled his 'I-know-something-you-don't' smile. ''I saw an article in the newspaper where everything was written. 'A girl, from Morioka won the national kyudo tournament'. Impressive. I didn't remember the name, but I remembered your face.''
''How did you remember me? It was 2 years ago''
''You looked undeniably pretty. ''
For reasons unknown to her a blush almost formed on her cheeks. Midori gulped it down and kept on walking refusing to talk to him about anything else besides the correct kind of colours for the paper.
As she got home Midori was surprised by her brother who was smoking outside.
''Since when do you smoke?''
He laughed quietly and put the cigarette out ''I smoke in stress situations.''
''Stress?''she asked as the went in and she took off her shoes
''Midori I have a request. Don't ever, ever, ever invite him here ever again!''
Confused, she looked up to face her brother, ''Humm..well all right? Why?''
''He's going to steal my Naoko away!'' he cried.
'Since when...?' Midori sweat-dropped 'Great now he's messing with my brothers love-life'
''You know...I don't think that he's all that in love with her.''
''But, but she was paying more attention to him than me! They were talking about something quietly in the hall, while you were getting ready to leave for the store! And she got mad when I asked her about it!''
''Honestly, I don't think they're in love with each other.''
''But what if they fell in love?''
''They won't''
''Really?''
''Yeah''
Kida nodded. Then he looked towards the salon, then again at his sister standing in front of him and nodded again. With that he went out to continue his work. Two days later the prank game started. All of his tools were disorganized. Midori could admit to herself that it was cute to watch him fumble around, trying to find the correct one.
Back to the present.
Morning came and so did Kida-nii's yell. By that Midori knew that Naoko's plan had worked. After some time someone came to her door and fiddled a bit. She heard a quiet click and saw her brother come in. ''She got me.'' he said in an unusually quiet tone.
His sister could, because of the dull light, see that the colour of his hair wasn't as bad as she'd thought it be. It was the colour of plums. Dark purple plums and it didn't really look all that bad, but she preferred his jet-black hair better.
''Yeah.''
With a sigh he fell on her bed and ruffled his hair a bit. ''I could get back at her and dye her hair grey-brown.''
Midori just shook her head''Stop this nonsense.''
''Yeah I kinda realized that this morning as well. Besides I like her hair. And I think I kinda like this tone too.''
Understanding, that adding the fact, that Naoko wanted to dye his hair pink would be a bad idea, Midori just nodded.
''All right!'' he ruffled his hair, feeling a bit better than he did when he looked in the mirror a second ago he got up ''She's downstairs making breakfast, might as well scare her...just a little payback.'' he quickly added, noticing the glare he was given, ''Come on, it's not going to be anything as tragic as hiding all her beloved dresses,'' and with a laugh he exited her room. Midori relieved to have this mess finally over, fell on her pillows and into deep sleep.
It was the following day which she didn't want to live through. Fuji will probably be mad at her for not meeting up with him on the roof-top as he had asked. And there was a history test which she was bound to fail waiting for her. Midori didn't mind failing at math or English, as she knew she was good at both of them, but history was a different story. No matter how much she tried she could never get a higher mark than 70 to 80. It was humiliating. Even in middle-school she could never ace that one subject.
'I could play-sick. I could dot my face red and act as if I was sick, like those kids did in the films. Ahhh!' the girl rolled around in her bed. 'And this is just nonsense' glancing at the clock she realized that if she didn't get up in 10 minutes time she would be late for the first lesson – math. Unwillingly she got up and headed for the bathroom.
At some point on her way to school she realized that she was walking too slow, yet felt too sleepy to walk any faster. 'So what if I come late for math? Oh wait. I don't know what will happen if I come late.' the fact that she had never been late shocked her 'What do they do to latecomers anyway?' The rush of fear had her waking up and making her legs walk automatically faster. Thanks to her fear of coming late she arrived to school about ten minutes before the bell. 'Phew...' as she entered the school gates the girl went back to her slow-pace. Well if she hadn't been so lazy and continued to walk faster, she could have evaded an unpleasant meeting. Her fault for walking lazily and somehow meeting up with Fuji at the entrance.
''Good morning,'' he greeted her with a wide grin. Midori greeted him back suspiciously, wondering what he might do about Friday. She was about to pass him when he spoke.
''Come today to the roof during lunch, if not I'll expose to the entire school that you were the national winner of the middle-school kyudo tournament and that you used to be a nerd.''
''Blackmailer,'' Midori snarled at him and continued to into the school to change her shoes as quickly as possible.
As she entered the classroom and stepped towards her desk, Yazawa appeared out of nowhere in front of her.
''Well?'' she asked.
''Well what?'' Midori asked back.
''Have you thought about the thing I told you?''
''What thing?'' Yes Midori had completely forgotten about the piece of 'advice' Yazawa had given to her.
''The get-a-boyfriend-to-get-rid-of-Fuji-san thing!'' obviously annoyed Yazawa replied.
''Ah. Right. Completely forgot about it. Sorry'' Midori answered to Yazawas first question and walked past her to get to her desk.
''But,'' Yazawa sat down in Oishis' desk when Midori sat down in hers ''wouldn't life be much easier that way?''
''Not really no.'' the brunette answered while digging in her bag, looking for her math notebook ''as I would have to worry about the person I'm dating.''
''Buuut...''
''Um Yazawa-san?'' came Oishis' voice. Morning practice had just ended and math was about to begin.
''Oh! Gome Oishi-kun!'' and with that she jumped up and away. Midori was once again pleased with Oishi sitting in front of her. He never caused any troubles at all for her what's even better, he seemed to solve some of them as well!
Math went by fast, and Midori didn't even manage to revise history properly, as that was the next lesson. 'I'm really unlucky' she thought as she read the history test in front of her. It was over quickly and Midori decided that she could get about 70 points for it. Again.
The next unpleasant event which was to occur was lunch break. Usually she, Haru, Tama and Sakura would go to their favourite place, which was to be kept a secret, as no one else seemed to know about it. This time she had to go to the rooftop. Unlucky again.
No matter how slowly she walked, she still reached the top of the stairs. No matter how slowly she opened the door, she still stepped over the threshold and onto the roof. Fuji was sitting with his back against the fence and face against Midori.
''Ah! You came! I almost got sick waiting for you all day yesterday.''
''Liar.''
He just smiled, ''For a while now I've been really curious about something.'' He looked over to her as she sat down a bit farther away from him. ''Hmm..no bento box ?''
''You've been wondering whether I have a bento box?''
''Ah...no I'm just surprised that you're not eating.''
''Not hungry. So? Why did you force me to come up here?''
''I just wanted to know why you hate me so much.''
''Haven't we already discussed this?'' unhappy with the topic chosen, the girl looked at the boy with a unsatisfied expression.
''Yes, but I've never received a clear answer. Usually when someone is hated there is a reason for it. Tell me.''
''Honestly? I hate your poker-face smile. I thought you already knew that. ''
''Isn't it like yours?''
''What? Do you see a poker-face here?'' she pointed to her face.
''I'm not talking about that'' he waved his hand, ''Isn't a poker-face like a mask? Well you could say that your mask of annoyance and lies is pretty annoying to me as well.''
''What?'' dumbstruck at his statement she stared at him.
''You see Hoshiwa-san, I'm pretty good at reading people. A girl, who loved kyudo, was at the top of her class, suddenly a unmotivated person, closed up, bad marks, no clubs. Isn't that like a liar? Telling everyone that you don't care about this and that, when you actually do.
''I'm not l liar!'' she stuttered a bit, but then, realizing that she was close to losing her temper cooled down a bit and repeated more calmly ''I'm not a liar. Only because I don't tell you anything about myself, show my real personality to you, doesn't mean I'm a liar. Why should I tell anything to you? You're not my friend.''
''Yes,'' he nodded with a smile again, ''this is the poker-face I was talking about.'' And before she managed to to deny it he added, ''Isn't Amai-san one of your best friends. Why don't you tell her? Why don't you tell her what you once were?''
She fought the blush of guilt down and replied, ''None of your business.''
''It might be so,'' he nodded then he looked at her with open eyes and asked again ''What is it exactly that you hate so much about me, so much that you don't even want to see my face? What is it about my grin you hate so much?''
She didn't reply. Didn't want to. The girl didn't want to accept the true reason why she hated him.
Fuji decided to try out a different tactic. ''In our second year I told you, that I knew you were a kyudo champion. And that I was surprised that you suddenly quit. Why?''
The question surprised her and kicked her out of balance even more, ''What does that have to do with this?''
A smile lit up in his face, a light one, ''Everything is connected Hoshiwa-san. Tell me, or I'll have to blackmail you.''
As she was still hesitating he added, ''I'm not going to tell this to Yazawa-san.''
That brought out a quiet chuckle from Midori, after a moment of thought she decided 'I guess I don't have a choice.'
''I guess I should start with the fact that I hate attracting too much attention.''
''You do anyway.'' he interrupted ''Why do you hate it?''
''Because back in my home-town Morioka I knew I'd be leaving soon enough anyway. After I entered middle-school I constantly begged my mother to let me go back to Tokyo. My brother had sent me a letter, where he invited me back. He told me that he had stabilized dad's beauty salon, and that I had a place to go. So I knew that I'd have to say goodbye to whoever I befriended there. As I had no friends people kept on calling me a cold-hearted girl. Then my mother died.'' she paused and looked up.''I couldn't leave my grandmother all alone. I could have.'' she looked at the boy. ''Our relatives would have taken care of her, but I felt that, if I left I would become the cold-hearted person everyone at school called me. That's not something I could live with. So I stayed till the end of her life and till the end of middle-school. During that time I had made a friend from my club. I was still doing kyudo. She was from my club and she was always smiling. I really thought we were best friends'' she smiled sadly and turned her head away from Fuji, unwilling to look him in the eye.
''On the day when my grandmother died I called her to tell her what happened. She just asked me when I would be coming to school and hung up. A few days later I came back and discovered that a rumour had spread around. Someone had told everyone that my grandmother had died because I didn't take care of her well enough. That she died because of me. It was the fault of an ice-hearted person that the elderly lady died. My fault.''
Midori paused a bit, wondering why she was going into such detail about the whole thing. Then taking a big breath of air she continued.
''It wasn't the lies and rumours that hurt me. It was the betrayal. If it had been any other person I wouldn't have cared less. I would have shut the rumours up and told everyone to go to hell. But it had been my friend who had spread the rumours. When I asked her about it she just laughed in my face. She grinned at me. Every time I entered the classroom and when our eyes met she grinned at me, full-well knowing that she had fooled me completely.
I quit kyudo afterwards because I couldn't concentrate anymore. The constant talking behind my back got to me so I left. That's your reason.'' she sighed out the last of her breath, still not looking towards Fuji.
''So you hate me because my grin reminds you of that traitor? So you quit kyudo because you were reminded of that traitor?'' he asked in a monotone voice
''...Yeah.'' she answered quietly.
''I see... you know the problem with you is that you're too narrow-minded.'' He said in a harsh voice. It was the first time she had actually heard such an intonation coming from him. ''You meet people, dislike them, then go on disliking everyone who looks or acts similarly to them. Then after experiencing some pain you run away from it, refusing to look back at it, to face it. That's just foolish and cowardly. I guess that's what you really are.'' He slapped the last words into her face and left her speechless. The girl didn't say or do anything to prevent him from getting up and leaving, or to defend herself. She just sat there wide-eyed and watched him leave. As she was left alone, the girl looked up to the sky and wondered about the things just said to her. 'He clearly stated the truth.' with a sad smile Midori decided to ditch the rest of the lessons, unsure about how she'll hold herself together. Slowly she got up as well and set her destination as home.
A coward, a fool, a liar. That was what she was. She knew that now. Fuji had opened the curtain from which she had been hiding. She hated him for doing that. Yes she hated him, and herself, her mother, her father, her grandmother and the person she called her friend. Yes she hated every single one of them. Funny how most of them were her family. The only people she could love was Kida-nii and Naoko-nee-chan. The only two she truly trusted. But what if they betrayed her as well? The headache kept growing. She had managed to sneak out of school without her noticing. Her house was about 20 minutes away. 'What should I do when I get home? Naoko will ask me what happened and I don't want to talk about it anymore. What should I do?' she asked herself as she stopped by a park. 'Might as well' and entered the park to sit down and think about what to do. She had to tell at least Haru everything. Since she had told Fuji she had to tell her as well. But what if she's betrayed again?
''Then after experiencing some pain you run away from it, refusing to look back at it, to face it.''
'I guess I'll have to prove him wrong them.' she chuckled to herself. 'What was the worst to happen? Such irony. After being slapped in the face I decide to do trust someone, just to prove someone else wrong. Am I that cruel?' She cuddled herself in a ball, unwilling to greet the harshness of reality. She was a coward. A really big one. Time to prove Fuji wrong. Time to change that. She had decided. But was that decision correct? Time will come and we shall see.
The next day.
''What happened you didn't come back yesterday!'' as Midori sat down Haru ran to her. Tama and Sakura hadn't come yet.
''Yeah I felt suddenly ill, listen I'll need to talk to you, Tama and Sakura about something after class.''
''O-okai. You're not going to die are you?''
''Do I look like I'm about to die?''
''Yes''
Midori just shook her head, but Haru was still concerned about her pale friend. The bell rang and she was forced to go back to her seat.
As lunch time came nearer Midori felt her stomach becoming more and more tangled up. Not knowing what would happen after telling them the whole truth made her mouth run dry. The stress was building up as she still couldn't decide whether to tell them or not. Finally the lunch break came and the four friends navigated to their especially-secret-lunch-eating spot.
''Well? What's wrong?'' Haru asked as all of them found a place to sit.
''Thing is,'' Midori started, while staring at her bento-box, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible ''I guess I haven't told you guys but I used to practice kyudo during middle-school.''
A moment of silence came, during which she saw Harus confused and Sakuras surprised faces. You could never tell what Tama was thinking so it was a wasted effort to guess.
''Umm...what's kyudo?'' Haru asked.
''It is a Japanese way of bow. Archery. You need a clear and calm mind to be good at it.'' Tama explained, boring her eyes into Midori, ''I had the suspicion that you once did this kind of a sport. Have you taken part in any tournaments?''
''I won first place in the middle-school, so to say, nationals.''
''WOW'' both Sakura and Haru exclaimed, completely forgetting about lunch.
''Why didn't you tell me about iiiit?'' Haru jumped and hugged Midori '' It's such a cool thing! I thought you were going to tell me that you told Fuji off.''
The face Midori made at that moment was probably the first true expression of shock, surprise and pure confusion that her three friends had ever seen.
''You DID tell him off? Yesterday at lunch-break?''
''W-why, why would you even think of something like that?''
''Well you said that you had to go somewhere during lunch, but you never came back. Then I heard Yazawa talking about how you hate Fuji, yet you went to meet up, so after seeing you like that this morning I just figured.''
''Why would I have to turn him down? It's not like...well...''
''It's kind of obvious that he likes you since you're the girl he pays most attention to.
Preposterous was the first thing that came to mind, yet she said something more understandable, ''That's just stupid!''
''Well then tell me what you talked about yesterday.'' Tama asked
She did it unwillingly, leaving out the part where they were mentioned and simply explained the experience she had with her past 'friend'.
''I WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO YOU!'' Haru yelled and hugged Midori once again.
Midori laughed, so did Haru. The knots in her stomach disappeared, so did some of the guilt and depression.
''But if you really hate him so much, then why did you tell him all that? We're your friends so it's only natural that you tell us.'' Sakura spoke for the first time
''Sakura-chan's right!'' Haru got up ''Why did you tell him this before you told us?''
Midori knew that she couldn't tell them the part of the dialogue she had with Fuji which was the reason why she was telling Haru and the others this right now.
''Well...he asked. And he knew I did kyudo beforehand, so it was easier to talk, I guess.''
''But if you hated him, you would have never told him anything at all.'' Haru pointed out
Midori couldn't answer to this. So she did all she could do. She opened her bento, took out an egg-roll and offered it to Haru.
I guess I'm sorry for the constant change of time, but not really. I know it makes the story more confusing, but it's necessary.
Wow this is the longest one I've written and the hardest.
I'll re-read it and make some edits later on. (Edit. Made some edits already :D)
Naoko is simply a devil :D. Fuji told her that pranking people is a good thing.
He-he. Please leave a review . this is my longest chapter evar! It deserves a review *nod*
Hope you enjoyed it!
flies of butter