Title: Sawada Shin's Day Off
Summary: One man's struggle to take his mind off his homeroom teacher.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: The usual blurb (i.e., Gokusen and its characters belong to Kozueko Morimoto; OHHC and its characters belong to Bisco Hatori).
Spoiler warning: The main events are centered around Chapter 8/9 of vol. 7 of Gokusen. Parallel Ouran High-School Host Club timeline is pegged to be some point around ep 23.
A/N: Work in progress. This is a continuation of the previous chapter, "the Virtuous Pagan." Still trying to get a grip on BossaNova-kun...
"Oh, there's Rei-chan! I'm going to go say hi. Please excuse me." Hiromi took the first opportunity to distance herself from the criminal looking youth. He's way worse than the usual losers that clung to Sawada-kun! She thought with some distaste. She made a mental note to not forget to ask Hatashi-sama for ways of freeing him from the influences of those negative energies.
"I... didn't mean to scare your girlfriend away," the stranger sounded awkward, but not malicious. "This happens around me a lot."
"Huh? Oh, her? She's not my girlfriend," Shin quickly assured his companion. "It's a blind date that hadn't gone well. She's just sore with me. Sorry about the misunderstanding. I'm Sawada Shin of Shirokin High School, by the way. You're not from 'round here, are you?"
"Hrnh... I am Kasanoda Ritsu of Ouran High School. I, uh, nice to meet you," the young man was ill-at-ease with performing even the most basic greetings.
Shin had heard of Ouran, a private academy well-known for the prestige and wealth of its students' families as well as its academic rigour. Shin recalled that his brother's application to Ouran was turned down. Whether it was because his scores were not high enough or because the Sawada name did not carry enough weight, Shin didn't pay attention. The limited impression Shin gleaned from his brother's glossy brochures was that these were people of a different planet, obeying different laws of physics. They were suave, beautiful, perfectly rich bastards. Yet, the man sitting beside him appeared so ungainly, so unattractive, so... lacking. This made him a misfit, an oddity, and therefore potentially interesting.
"I'm here accompanying my father on business," Kasanoda explained. "He wanted me to meet some of his, uh, associates... because he's training me to take over his work one day."
Young scion, helping with dad's business. Sounds ordinary enough. But Shin intuited the possibility of something more to uncover. A face like that would be a liability in just about any normal businesses; presumably, his family is wealthy enough to invest in some extreme make-overs. Unless... his fearsome features are a boon to the family business? Like, the yazuka!? Shin felt his logic was unassailable. And in this part of town, yazuka business meant dealings with the Kurodas!
"I guess even on a business trip, you'd need some downtime. There are some fun places around too. But how d'you end up here?"
"Hrnnhh. I just, uh, was passing by and saw the sign..." Kasanoda's ears turned the same color as his hair. "I, uh..." After some internal struggle, he spoke deliberately. "Sawada-san, even though we've just met, I feel that I can trust you as I would my sworn brothers. No stranger has ever strike up a casual conversation with me so freely and without fear as you did. I can tell that you're someone who inspires followers through admiration instead of trepidation. So you might not be able to imagine how miserable a lifetime of solitude can be. Everyone around me acted so damn scared all the time; it pissed me off, which really didn't improve the situation."
Shin observed dryly that, once gotten over his shyness, Kasanoda orated in paragraphs.
"But then, I met her!" By now, Kasanoda's hair was the lightest shade of red of his entire head. "It's like Beauty and the Beast out of the fairy tales. In her quiet way, she just understands and accepts me and looks past my appearance." He was warming up to the subject. "How can I begin to describe how I feel? Basking in the gaze of her large gentle eyes is like welcoming Spring after fifteen years of blizzards. Everything about her is all soft and warm and refreshing, like an April breeze, or a green meadow, or a..."
"Oi, oi! Slow down there with them similes," Shin was afraid that, if unstopped, the man might break into songs. Plus, he was getting goose-bumps from the incongruity that resulted from the battle between Kasanoda's beatific reverie about love and his innate demonic scowl vying for control over his facial muscles. "And you call yourself an yazuka heir!"
"What? How can you tell?" Kasanoda was shocked.
"You speak like you just walked out of a yazuka movie," like someone else I know. The thought of that someone did not fail to draw the corner of his mouth into a wry smile. "But never mind that. So you like this girl who is sugar and spice and everything nice. What's the hold up?"
"Well, she's goes to my school, but she has to hide her identity from everyone because of some special circumstances. I don't want to add to her already complicated situation, but I just can't get her out of my mind. So when I saw Hatashi-sama's poster, I thought it must be a sign from Heaven..."
No, just good marketing, Shin simply could not fathom how superstition held sway to people who seemed otherwise rational. "Have you told her how you feel yet?"
"Well... No." Kasanoda glumly studied his shoes. "She's surrounded by all these pretty boys from the host club all the time. Plus, her situation is already so complicated. And I am from a yazuka family, and..."
"Excuses! They're all lame-ass excuses, and you know it!" Shin interrupted sternly. "Do you love this girl or not? This is not something that some gypsy charlatan or I or anyone else can divine. Only you can answer it truthfully. If you do, you should give it an earnest shot, and then at least you'd find out how she feels one way or another. Isn't that better than wavering in indecision?"
Kasanoda was taken aback. No one had ever lectured him so bluntly, not even his father. There's the first time for everything.
"Young master! Preparations for Tanukibara's nidaime succession ceremony are underway. The kumichou has requested your presence." A messanger came for Kasanoda.
"Ah. Thanks, Tetsuya. I'll be there shortly." Turning toward Shin, Kasanoda bowed deeply. "Aneki, you are wise beyond your years. I shall follow your sound advice. But, I was wondering, what is your experience in the matters of the heart?"
Shin sighed. "There's someone at my school; she has to hide her identity from everyone because of some special circumstances..."