Winter break ended as quickly as it had begun. And yet Tamao, in all of her years of traveling, had never seen anything as beautiful as her friends and life in Funbari Hill. Pirika had insisted on taking Tamao ice-skating in the new rink in the shopping center and Lyserg had laughed as she tentatively took her first steps on the glossy surface. But it made Tamao wonder as she sat down, breathless, flushed, and content, with Horohoro if Pirika and Lyserg were going out. Had a thing. In a relationship. Were involved with one another. All that jazz and a side of fries. But what really piqued her interest were the glares that Ren was shooting at Pirika and Lyserg. Glares so icy that they put the skating rink to shame and gave Anna's own glowers a run for their money. But Tamao was having too much fun to dwell on the depressing hypothetical and instead spent several days with Horohoro and Joco hiding in the sound room of the theater to watch Ren dance and sing his heart out during rehearsals.
Soon enough, with plentiful tears and hugs on Pirika's end and embarrassed stuttering of promises to get Tamao a souvenir on Horohoro's, the two Usui siblings embarked on their journey to Hokkaido. And with that, they left, Pirika fondly looking at the necklace Lyserg had gotten for her and Horohoro securely fastening the scarf and mittens Tamao had knitted for him ("You made those? For me?" And a quick punch in the ribs for Joco after he had whispered something to Horohoro).
Tamao spent the remainder of her days divided between YohandAnna, AnnaandYoh who, to Tamao's dismay, were as inseparable as before, no doubt a result of the ten years they had spent together without her. YohandAnna (AnnaandYoh, less commonly used) were a two for one package deal, peas in a pod, Siamese twins (though against the boy's will of course. Can't forget that). It was almost impossible for anyone to think of them as anything other than one, continuous entity. But she was thankful for what she could get as she shyly spent more and more time with the object of her affections. And she couldn't ask for anything more.
Lazing around the Kyoyama household with Anna watching her favorite enka singers on TV, Yoh listening to his music, and Tamao busily tap-tapping away on her typewriter (and then notebook when Anna got annoyed with the typewriter's noise) proved to be more idyllic than backpacking around the world. Going shopping every other day with Jeanne (and chaperoned by Marco, of course) was better than strolling around the fashion metros of the world. The rest of the time was spent with Joco and the LASNC crew and they went out to almost every restaurant (her favorite was Peyote's, a Mexican diner that featured a Mariachi band) in the proximity and watched every movie that came out (though she probably could've done without watching Boris: Revenge of the Bloodthirsty Vampires).
She noticed seeing less and less of Jun one day and decided to ask Ren who just shrugged and muttered something about a "bloody action movie star" and went off to do some reconnaissance work behind some bushes on his best friend's sister and the green haired suspect. "Anything for Horohoro, of course," Ren would say a bit too defensively when questioned about it.
Mikihisa finally came home from his training and allowed (read: "forced") Tamao to sample his newest grilled meals before releasing them to the general public (one of the less fun parts of her winter vacation in Tamao's opinion since she somehow always got the undercooked bits of his barbeque). Along with Yoh's father and his grilling skills came Kino and Yohmei to discuss the upcoming wedding. And to add salt to the wound, they asked Tamao to run errands in preparation for the marriage and she one way or another always managed to bump into Hao (probably some of the darkest days of the entire school year for her). But the arrival of Redseb and Seyram kept her happy and sane.
Then one day, everything just came to a halt. People came back from their vacations, students began packing their school bags in preparation for the new semester, and the ice began to thaw just a bit. And she was back in a wooden desk at 7:45 in the morning (an ungodly hour for those who were just coming back from winter break) under the unflattering, glaring fluorescent lights.
Funbari Hill High School
"Is it always this hard to come back to school after vacation?" Horohoro nodded.
"The worst is the first day of school. After summer break," he said, wincing. "Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother…" He hung his head in exhaustion.
"You bother so that you can get into a university," she teased while attempting to attach the tribal keychain Horohoro brought back for her from the north. She furrowed her brow in concentration while admiring the Ainu tribe's intricate carvings in the wood.
"Well at least the casting party's coming up, right?" He grinned devilishly. "I just can't wrap my head around Ren being in the musical. And having a lead role, no less!"
"Sempai, we're not in the play though. How are we going to get in?"
"Cast members are allowed to bring guests. Naturally, Ren picked me." Horohoro beamed.
"Isn't it because you threatened to tell the rest of his family members that he was in a musical if you didn't get invited?"
He waved his hand indifferently. "That's a minor detail. Oh and Pirika wanted me to invite you as hers. Since she doesn't have any friends…"
"Sempai!"
"Fine, fine." He checked the time. "Urgh, LASNC meeting in five minutes! Come on!" He grabbed her wrist as they wove in and out of the crowd of meandering students. "Anna will have our head on a platter if we don't make it on time."
They arrived out of breath with two seconds to spare. Anna put her stopwatch away. "You're cutting it close, guys." She turned to address the rest of the staff. "Okay, people, get to work. Just because it's the first day back from break doesn't mean we're going to ease up anytime soon. We've got tighter deadlines since it's the February issue." A round of groans erupted in the room. "QUIET!" The groans were choked off. "Yes, I know the February issue is a pain in the ass since we've only got two weeks to get it out for Valentine's Day. So you know what that means…WORK!" And she turned around to go sit at the shiny new computer Jun was able to purchase with LASNC's money.
Joco popped up behind Horohoro and Tamao. "Imagine, man. That computer and that bad ass swivel-y computer chair will be yours next year. Imagine!" he said with a tone of that-is-so-freakin'-epic in his voice. "I'm so jealous right now. It comes with the latest versions of Photoshop and FrontPage, lightening fast internet connections, and the sickest game of virtual pinball I've ever seen. And there's more."
"How exactly do you know that?" Horohoro and Tamao leaned forward to hear Joco's new piece of gossip.
"Easy. I used it when she wasn't around." They both gaped at him. "Who do you think got the drool on the keyboard?"
"That was you?"
"Yeah, I got a little excited when I saw the screen resolution on that baby," he admitted sheepishly. "And the chair is really comfy!" He raced off to his workplace before Anna could see him lazing around.
"Tamao!" the blond barked across the room. "Come here." The editor-in-chief shuffled through a stuffed filing cabinet while Tamao walked over to her desk. She thrust a manila folder at her cousin before she even stopped walking. "Here. Promotion. Go ask Usui about it." And with that she proceeded to yell at Manta for spilling his coffee on the newly carpeted floor.
"Another promotion, Hime? Dang, you're on fire." He took the file. "Holy—! Advice columnist? You got a whole half page to yourself! Lucky you!" Tamao reeled back a little. Why is Anna giving this to me? "I don't think anyone's gotten this high up in such a short amount of time." Tamao tried ignoring the death stares Joco was giving her from across the room. "So it's pretty self-explanatory really. You'll get the username and password for the email address that people write to for advice, pick the ones that you think are the most interesting, and then write up a response to each one."
"Why do you think Anna assigned me as…advice columnist?"
"Huh? Why not? You're pretty good at helping other people," he said brightly. "Here you go. Username and password. Oh and a bit of a warning…some of the stuff people email are very…blunt."
She laughed after logging in. "Oh come on. How bad can they—"
I think I have a necromancy fetish.
She choked on her laughter. "Oh my." Partly because of the sheer shamelessness of the message and partly because she personally knew who had sent that in. Three guesses to who it is and the first two don't count. None other than the lab coat donning, German speaking, eye shadow wearing/insomnia-ridden doctor. She shuddered, closed the email and opened another one.
Is there any way to curb pyromania?
Tamao was stunned by how easily it was to discern who had written the email without even looking at the sender's address. This one was definitely Hao.
I might be a masochist. Help?
She couldn't exit out of the window fast enough before her eyes saw who had sent it. Jeanne. Tamao's eyes burned and she decided to take a breather before continuing on.
I'm becoming obsessive with how my lacrosse team is going to do this season. I keep having recurring dreams that the team captain is going to quit. I am becoming neurotic. I HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THE KENDO TEAM. NO WAY AM I GOING TO LET THAT AMIDAMARU RUB IN MY FACE THAT HIS TEAM GOT A BETTER RECORD THAN MINE. MY DREAMS WILL NOT BE CRUSHED.
She winced as she called it in her head: Bason. The abuse of the caps lock hurt her eyes so she clicked the next button.
I'm kinda bummed that every single one of my frat brothers formed a fanclub. For Meene. Who is my girlfriend. My girlfriend. Is there any way to make myself feel better without killing all of them?
Tamao blinked at the screen. Frat brothers…? Doesn't that mean this guy is in college? She checked the sender's address. John Denbat. What the— "He doesn't even go here!" She shook her head.
"Oh come on, you guys. We have to have a better concept than the same old, same old student couples feature for the Valentine's issue," Anna snapped. "We always have a blurb on one freshman couple, one sophomore, one junior, one senior couple. Would it kill you to give some new perspective?"
"Yeah how about shut the f—"
"I will slit your throat, Kanna." Not even bothering to turn around, Anna pressed on without missing a beat. "Usui."
"How about instead of featuring a couple from every grade level…we do one from different demographics?" Anna raised an eyebrow. "Like we can get…Jun and Bailong for the faculty's point of view. And…and…you and Yoh for like the 'golden couple,' y'know, the one that everyone knows will be together forever. And—" Horohoro bit his lip, at a loss of words.
"Or like Lyserg and Pirika for the drama department," Tamao blurted out.
"Yeah! Wait—what?" Tamao mouthed, Just go with it. "And—and we can do like a personal ad for Ryu!" Anna nodded. Horohoro turned around and with an Awright! he high-fived Tamao.
"Surprisingly good." She clapped her hands. "GET TO WORK!"
Horohoro stood grinning there like a village idiot while Tamao patted him on the back encouragingly. "Really? Lyserg and Pirika?"
Patch Theater
"Hime! Pirika! We're over here!" Horohoro waved while Ren kept glancing around the room. "Dude, what are you doing, you look all secret agent-y with the way you keep sweeping the room."
Ren sniffed. "You can never be too careful." He returned his golden stare to the wave of students, faculty and guests that swarmed the room, on the constant look out for a head of green hair. "You can never be too careful," he repeated, muttering to himself.
"Whatever, man. Jeez, guys, you took forever coming here."
"Ah, sorry. Pirika wanted to retouch her make up before coming here."
"How many times tonight, Pirika? Twenty-seven?"
"Shut up, big brother. And for your information I only redid my make up nineteen times!" She stuck her tongue out and kicked him in the shin. "How do I look? Tell me I look pretty." She twirled around, the skirts of her blue dress flaring up and down like a luminescent jellyfish and batted her mascara-ed/eye liner-ed/eye-shadowed blue eyes at him. Ren choked and momentarily stopped his search.
This is not fair! There has to be some kind of law that prevents her from looking…so…distracting. She will compromise the mission. He growled. Goddamnit, why did she have to wear that dress? It's too short. And why is she allowed to wear such tall heels. Though it does add to her height so her figure looks more—STOP IT, REN! Concentrate. And the dark liner really makes her eyes look dramatic and the eye shadow makes them look bluer—YOU'RE DOING IT AGAIN. Pull yourself together, man. This must be some sort of tactic that British boy is using to divert you. To foil your plans. Or even worse, her getting all dressed up will make her an even easier target.
"Pirika, are you okay?" Tamao looked in concern at her friend. "You look a little pale. Do you need to sit down?" Pirika suddenly grabbed Tamao's arm and clutched onto it. Tamao looked worriedly at Horohoro.
Her older brother spoke up. "Pirika, what's wrong?"
"Who." Squeeze. "Is." Squeeze. "That." Squeeze.
"Pirika, calm down! You're choking the life out of Tamao's arm!" The Ainu girl, without turning her gaze from whatever was upsetting her, released Tamao's forearm from her death grip. Ren followed her line of vision. So that's where Brit boy is. And who is that with him?
Both Pirika and Ren watched as Lyserg walked through the doors and offered his arm to a demure looking girl. A pretty little thing with soft silvery hair and garnet colored eyes. "Hn. I don't think I've ever seen her before," Ren said casually as Pirika seethed viciously.
Tamao cleared her throat. "Um, she's Jeanne…she's a freshman and works for LASNC." Horohoro nodded. And she's my friend, Tamao thought but knew better than to tell that to the already enraged Pirika. "Oh and Jeanne's part of the foreign exchange student program. She's from France…" Her voice trailed off as she saw that it wasn't doing the least bit to stem the tide of the younger girl's ever increasing anger.
"Grrr, what's with her eyes, they make her look like a she-devil," Pirika said furiously. "A freshman! A freshman!" she spat out through her teeth. Tamao's brows knitted together as she was torn between her two friends.
"Oh, stop it, Ainu girl," Ren snapped. "It's not her fault. Hell, she probably doesn't even know you exist. If anything, I would blame Lyserg for leading you on." Come on, take the bait, take it, take it.
Pirika looked somewhat akin to a cat that just got soaked by a gallon of water. Her eye twitched. Tamao nervously wrung her hands. Horohoro stood expressionless. And Ren smirked at her. Her entire frame heaved. "You're right." She straightened up and tried to smile (which came out more like a grimace). "Let's go."
Ryu took the stage as the guests sat at their tables. "Good evening ladies!" Trademark bright-as-the-freakin'-sun smile. "And gentlemen." Smile disappears. "So as you know, our cast and tech crew of the esteemed and prestigious Funbari Hill's drama department have been working nonstop for the past few months, even giving up the majority of their winter vacation." Ren grumbled. "But finally, the hard work is over and the play is set to premiere next month! And…" For the remainder of Ryu's seven minute, thirteen second speech, a complex web of staring was created. Pirika was staring at Jeanne. Ren was staring at Pirika. Lyserg was staring at Jeanne. Tamao was staring at both Jeanne and Pirika. Horohoro was staring at Tamao. Marco was staring at Lyserg. And Ryu was staring at a certain green-haired Tao.
Ren could already tell. He could tell that Pirika was going to blow. Erupt. Reach her boiling point. Pull a Rambo on somebody's ass. Break all hell loose. Et al. He could see this, plain as day, when she was glaring at the poor, unsuspecting freshman. When she stood up after Ryu's speech was over. When she marched over to the table next to theirs, which oddly looked like it was filled with university students. When she took a deep breath, jutted an angry pointer finger in his face. And it was all too late by then.
"Lyserg!" He turned and Ren and Pirika could see that the green haired boy's expression was very different from his usual cheerful, polite demeanor. Pirika's voice broke as she was caught off guard by his irritated expression. Granted, the two hadn't really seen much of each other over break; he was always strangely unavailable or too busy to see her ever since she had come back.
"What?" The college kids looked at Pirika who was feeling very self-conscious at the moment and snickered. "I'm kind of busy at the moment."
Pirika spluttered. "E-Excuse me? Who are these people anyways?!"
Lyserg's eyes narrowed. "These are my friends."
The woman who was the only kind face at the table at the moment piped up. "Ah, these guys are part of a fraternity at the university, the X-Laws," she said calmly. "I'm just here with John."
Pirika looked uncertainly at her, her anger-addled mind unsuccessfully trying to find the relevance in the woman's statement. She eventually shook her head in resignation and turned back to Lyserg. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I found out that you…affiliate with that Asakura boy. I cannot tolerate anyone that even associates with him," he stated dismissively.
"What?"
"You're still here? Didn't you hear what I just said?"
A strong hand clamped down on Pirika's shoulder as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "That is quite enough, Lyserg." Ren stepped forward to stand next to her, keeping his hand steady on her shoulder. "Come on, Pirika." She stood transfixed in her position.
"Fine by me. If she chooses to remain friends with him, then she is nothing to me." Then Ren did something very unexpected.
He bitch slapped Lyserg.
She gaped. Partly because that was the last thing she thought Ren would do. Partly because he just hit the boy she had been obsessing over for the past five months. But mostly because Ren bitch slapped someone. Like a girl would do. Except it was Ren. As in Ren, Tao warrior, I have no feelings, you are only good enough to lick my shoes, I am superior and the epitome of sheer masculinity. And he bitch slapped Lyserg. What the hell.
"What the hell, Ren?!" Pirika shrieked as Lyserg reeled from the blow. He shrugged, slung her over his shoulder like a prize he had won, and walked away.
"Holy crap! I am so happy I brought my video camera," Horohoro gushed as he packed up his notebook.
"John! So that's the guy who sent me that creepy email!" Tamao got the Aha! look in her eyes and hit her open palm with her fist and picked up her notebook.
"Where did that Tao woman go?" Ryu was searching the entire room. "Come to me! Nobody can resist this solid slab of pure sexy man!"
Kyoyama Household
"Oh, God. What a night. I'm going to be writing for hours in my notebook," Tamao groaned as she flopped onto her bed. She pulled out said notebook. And held her breath so long that she knocked herself out. She regained consciousness and checked if what she had seen was indeed true. It was. Scribbled messily at the top corner was Horohoro Usui. Not Tamao Tamamura. Horohoro. Oh crap.
A/N: Anybody catch the Mean Girls reference? Anyone? No? I feel old....Anyways, reviews are always encouraged and appreciated! Thank you!