By this point only an idiot would think I own Love Hina considering the thousands of fanfics out there.
Chapter 9: Meeting (2)
"Did anyone call me," a man asked from behind her It was Keitaro and he was eating a Sunday. "Oh, Ishinari-san it's you. I'm sorry for what happened last night and I hope we could start over. And you look really nice in those clothes."
Tomo didn't reply, she stared at him and remembered all the things she was thinking about the pass, this made thinking of a reply really hard for her.
"Oh," Yuki said with a smile. "Hitting on a girl you just peeped on isn't really a great thing to do, Urashima-san." She was trying hard not laugh since the guy whose name could make her friend reacts like that was now speaking to them.
"I'm not hitting on anyone," Keitaro tried to defend himself but failed because of panicking. "And you're the one who was with Ishinari-san when she was changing, right?"
"I see you remembered that incident well," She teased looking at the blushing girl beside her. "But let's forget about that stuff. I'm Yuki by the way.
"Nice to meet you Yuki-san," Keitaro replied with a slight hint of red from the comment earlier. "I'm Keitaro Urashima."
"Oh, forget about the honorifics Urashima-san," Yuki said. "We call each other by our first name at our place so it would only feel weird if someone starts calling us by our last name now. But I don't think that applies for Tomo-chan here."
"No," Tomo denied with a stutter snapping out of her daze. "No, I don't mind you calling me by first name as well. And please don't add any honorifics."
"These girls are a little too friendly," Keitaro started chuckling with a sweat drop. "I see, then please just call me Keitaro."
"Sure," Yuki grinned. "But what brings you back at Akihabara? Still can't find that missing person? Motoko Aoyama was her name, right?"
"Yeah, I'm still following her trail with this tracker but It only led me to this mall," Keitaro showed the device to the girls. Tomo sweat dropped at the mere sight of it because it was definitely pointing straight at her. "I tried searching for her everywhere but nothing, I decided to eat a little ice cream and that's when I met you two. I'm starting to doubt whether it works or not, since it's also this thing that made our meeting last night a little embarrassing."
"Well I doubt it's broken since-" Yuki said, she was so drawn to the fact that the thing was working perfectly, that she almost gave away Tomo's identity. But Tomo was able to stop her by pinching her arm, effectively changing her statement. "But maybe it is broken."
"Maybe I should give up," Keitaro admitted to the girls. "It just feel's like she's just simply avoiding us now. Maybe she just hates us."
"That's not true," Tomo replied snapping the depressed boy from his dead fish eye gaze. Yuki on the other hand sighed thinking. "Don't blame me if you get caught."
"Really," Keitaro asked the girl.
"Well," Tomo tried to think of an answer that wouldn't give away her identity. "Maybe, she just wants some space. Who knows maybe she'll return someday."
"You sound so sure of that right now," Keitaro, he still hasn't crossed out the possibility that this girl might be Motoko.
Tomo wasn't able to answer. She didn't know what to tell the guy so he wouldn't get too suspicious. He was practically waiting for her to expose herself.
"Oh excuse me," Yuki butted in saving her friend in the process. "Sorry Tomo, But I got to go. Remember the errands? I just browed through them and I thought I won't finish them by sunset."
"Eh," Tomo reacted stopping her friend from running away. "Are you going to leave me here?"
"Well," Yuki answered switching her gaze to the ground since Tomo was effectively glaring at her eye to eye. It was obvious the girl didn't want to be left behind with a guy who's practically searching for 'her' and was her crush. "Sorry, but I think Keitaro would definitely keep you company."
"That's not a solution," Tomo whispered. "And why can't I go with you?"
"Well," Yuki sighed and started whispering something to the girl's ear. The girl soon looked at her with wide eyes as she chuckled. "Thought you would react like that. That's why I didn't want bring you there."
"He likes those kind of things," Tomo said in awe. "But he looked so innocent."
"I think there's a saying to that." Yuki tried to think but came short handed. "Anyway just spend the rest of the day with him. Who knows, maybe 'Tomo' would find him interesting."
"Fine," Tomo released the girl. "But you'll pay me back later tonight."
"Sure, sure," Yuki replied with a laugh. "Hey Keitaro, mind keeping an eye on Tomo for me? I have some things to do so I have to leave early."
"Eh," Keitaro reacted but was unable to deny since the girl was already waving at them from a mile away.
"Well," Tomo asked the depressed guy. "What are we going to do?"
"Uhm," Keitaro tried to think of things he could do that would possibly save himself from being killed by a girl he just met. He couldn't possibly leave the girl now just to resume his search. "How about the arcade?"
"That's fine," Tomo said and held onto one of his hands. "Don't get the wrong idea about this. I just didn't want to lose you in the crowd."
"I see," Keitaro said crying inwardly. "I'm going to die when Naru finds out about this."
After the short talk, the two made their way through the densely populated streets of Akihabara. They thought maybe it was for the better to hold hands since it was really hard to pass through the people there with out getting separated. But didn't took them long before they reached their destination. It was a game parlor found in one of the intersections of the streets.
Inside, they could a lot of ringing sounds as people played through the different games littered all around the room. For the first few minutes, the two stood at the entrance thinking what to play but was immediately ended when Tomo pulled Keitaro to one of those 'Wack-a-mole' games. She looked at him and he simply looked at her asking, "what's wrong?" The girl simply continued looking and decided to show her hands. It looked like the girl forgot to bring some change to play and their entire time there would be thanks to Keitaro's wallet.
But it wasn't long before the girl got bored smashing the mole's she inaudibly called the things something else. What it was thou was totally out of Keitaro's knowledge since he was completely stunned on the girls performance. Not one mole got away from her mallet. The next thing they did was racing. Both sat on one of the four-racecar games and placed a token on each one. But as they we're playing Tomo suddenly jumped out of her sit shouting something but when Keitaro looked at her screen he could only see a turtle. But to why a turtle would suddenly pop out of a racing game was out of their idea of a game.
After the game parlor though, Tomo asked Keitaro if he was interested in visiting the bayside. Keitaro nodded and soon they found them selves riding the train to the sea.
"Why the sea," Keitaro asked the girl.
"Well, why not, it's a great way to end a day right," Tomo tried to make sense of things.
"If you're a couple," Keitaro retorted. "And were nothing like that."
"Well," Tomo was lost at words again. She just wanted to go to the beach with him. She didn't have any ulterior motives behind it. "I thought we could talk there. It is a nice place to chat, isn't it?"
"Well, I can't complain about that though," Keitaro finally agreed allowing the girl to sigh in relief. If he asked any more questions it would definitely make things worst.
The two reached the sea and took a walk at the bayside road*. It was pretty relaxing the two thought as they glanced through the waves hitting the shore. But the only problem was, there were only couples there, some were even kissing.
"What did you have in mind anyway," Keitaro tried to start the conversation.
"What," Tomo asked snapping out after looking at a couple near them kissing intimately.
"What did you want to talk about," Keitaro rephrased the question.
"Oh," the girl reacted. "Well, I was just curious, what you thought of the girls at Hinata? And you mentioned two girls beating you up, and Aoyama-san, the one you're searching was one of them. I bet you secret hate them."
"Nah," Keitaro denied, something the girl expected but what came after that was something even she didn't foresee. "To tell you the truth, I think of all of them highly. I may even envy them. One there was Shinobu, our little chef. For someone so young she looks really cheerful. The only thing left for her was growing up. Then there was Suu, she's a princess from another country and a really amazing inventor. But that's not why I envy her. I like how she look at things at a really optimistic way to the point where the phrase 'ignorance is bliss' doesn't even cut it. Kitsune thou was a special case, she's alcoholic and a little mischievous. But I don't hate her, even if she blackmails me out of my money and is usually the reason why I'm usually sent of into orbit. No, whenever she's serious you can look up to her as a motherly figure. But Motoko should be one of the more unforgettable one. She's one of the two girls that call me pervert almost everyday of the week and to make it worst she's a master swordswoman."
"I see," Tomo said weakly before saying inwardly, "I guess he hates me after everything. So why be envious?"
"But she's really caring. I could feel it," Keitaro continued. "Every time she raises her blade against someone, it was only to protect someone she cherishes but most of the times it simply because I accidently stumble into the bath of slip in the kitchen to only grope someone's breasts. But I don't hold that against her. Since she's extremely loyal to the path she chose, like how she's so in love with her kendo training and doujins and I've been save by her strong will myself a lot of times."
"But don't you think she's weird," Tomo interrupted Keitaro's long speech. "She likes those doujins that a lot of people deem perverted."
"Why would I," Keitaro answered. "Everyone has an interest that only a few understand. So it's not up to a person to judge someone based on their interest."
"That's good to hear," Tomo replied. "But there's another one right? What do you feel about Naru?"
"Well," Keitaro blushed to his answer. "I actually like her. She may be hardheaded most of the time but she's always there for me when I needed her most. She also reminds me of the girl I made a promised with when I was small. The promises were about going to Tokyo University together and live happily ever after. But that was all in the pass now, since when I entered Tokyo U. I didn't get to meet that girl again. But I did meet Naru who I made the same promise two years ago."
"Then I guess it's a happy ending all the way to the end," Tomo replied but she couldn't explain the tinge of envy in her heart. "But what if you find out one of the other girls likes you? How will you confront their feelings?"
"I guess I'll only figure that out when it happens," Keitaro replied. "But I should apologize, it looks like I got too into my answer that it became a speech. I hope I didn't bore yah."
"Of course not," Tomo answered with a small giggle. "It's fun to hear people talk about the people they love, especially if those same people were like family. I actually only met those people recently but for some reason they have already accepted me even though I left my previous place without giving the people there a proper reason."
"Why did you leave anyway," Keitaro asked the girl. "If you don't mind me asking that is."
"Well, one of the residents there found out about my hobby and asked me to leave," Tomo replied having a hint of sadness. "But I'm not at her. I know there's a reason behind her actions. She's been one of my closest friend so it's impossible for her to hate me because of a simple hobby."
"I see where you're going, Motoko actually left for the same reason," Keitaro said. "But I hope she's just like you."
"Like I said," Tomo continued. "Just give her time, she'll surely go back to your place."
"Anyway, It looks like it's already dark," Keitaro answered. "We better go home. Yuki should be looking for you by now. She might have already imagined me doing something to you."
"Well, will you," Tomo asked using all of her courage to ask such a daring question.
"Of course not," Keitaro frantically denied. "I can't do that to a girl."
"Then I don't see anything to worry," Tomo said jokingly sticking out her tongue. "But if you insist we can leave."
"Wait," Keitaro tried to stop the girl. She was walking with out looking at where she was steeping and the next step she took was going to land her on the ground. The path was elevated near their area and having a miss step would give anyone a few minor bruises. But as Tomo turned around to look at Keitaro her foot lost its place on the elevated path and fell. She closed her eyes expecting the impact from the ground but it never came. She felt someone pulling her hand and when she opened her eyes she saw Keitaro pulling her up. When he got the girl to get up from the near fall, she stumbled onto his body trying to regain her footing. But when the two looked at each other only their eyes met. They were mere inches away from each other. And they stayed like that a few minutes before Tomo broke their distance.
"Thank you," Tomo weakly said while looking at the ground.
"No problem," Keitaro replied scratching his head. He on the other hand thought the sky was more interesting. "Well we get going before anything happens."
Tomo simply nodded. She would like to avoid answering anything for a while since the little incident was still burned into her mind.
"Well I better get you home," Keitaro suggested to only seeing the girl nodding again.
The two took their time walking back to Akihaba and to the Omoide Ryokan. There, Keitaro bid her farewell to only get stopped by the girl.
"Do you have plans on Friday," Tomo asked avoiding the man's eyes.
"No," Keitaro replied.
"Then would you mind going with me to somewhere," Tomo asked looking at the boy straight at the eyes. She was practically telling him 'please' with those eyes.
"If it's only an outing between friends," Keitaro tried to make the trip sound a little pleasant to hear. But in the end his answer meant 'yes'.
"Then please be careful," Tomo said before heading into the apartment. But once inside she immediately went straight to her room, ignoring the shouts from Yuki. She had her own world for a moment and once there she wasn't Tomo but good old Motoko.
"Did I ask him out on a date," she tried to make sense of what she just did. Her face was red as a tomato as her thoughts continued. "No, he said it was an outing between friends. That's it… It's not a date at all. But earlier we almost… kiss… again."
Her thoughts hunted her all night, she didn't know what to do or what to expect from the outing. But there was one thing that was for certain. They would be alone that day as well. But soon her worries turned into fantasies and fantasies turned into dreams as she fell asleep. Another day has ended for Motoko, but what lies ahead of her path is only a mystery.
Ah things are started to kick off… And it looks like Motoko's finally found her prince charming. But what does Keitaro think of her? Let's find out next time on "Himitsu."
*Sorry but I don't know what they're properly called. If any of you know please share it with me. I'll change it immediately.