Chapter 3. Rival or friend?
"Good morning Mizuki" Miyu greeted him smiling.
"Morning Miyu, where are these two?" he asked pointing at the empty chairs in front of them.
"I've their leave applications for today. Aya had some work to do & Nanami offered to help her and since I couldn't miss any further classes so I had to come" she looked genuinely sad.
"It's okay Miyu. I won't let you feel lonely".
"That's so sweet of you, Mizuki" she grinned at him.
They had math first today & they were to receive the result of their previous class test. Shinto sensei entered the class and after everyone settled down quickly took attendance.
"I will be distributing the results of the previous class test and I'm very happy that everybody has performed so well. Well done class, keep up with the hard work. Alright now come & collect your answer papers" and he started calling out names. "Satsuma, Nouzumo, Mizuki… and now for the first time we have two students who have scored full marks, Miyu and Kanata. Well done, both of you".
At the mention of his name Miyu's eyes darted in his direction and found Kanata looking at her. Everything from yesterday's game rushed to her mind, she looked away suddenly feeling nervous under his gaze and moved towards her sensei. When she reached out to pick her answer paper, her hand accidentally brushed against his fingers. She looked up to meet a pair of chocolate brown eyes staring at her. She noticed a sudden change in the atmosphere around her, goose bumps were rising on her skin that had nothing to do with the weather. There was a spark between them or whatever and judging from Kanata's reaction she was sure she wasn't over thinking about this reaction.
'Maybe it is because of yesterday's match, after all I defeated him. This is nothing but cold vibes coming from him. But if they are indeed cold vibes then why am I feeling hot instead. Well I never noticed that he is handsome, like really good looking. Wait, now where did that thought come from, stop being an idiot Miyu. This guy has an impossible attitude remember the way he behaved yesterday & earlier that evening.' Looking at him from so close brought back the traces of his arrogance and the atmosphere around her changed again and even Kanata noticed the platonic shift of emotions in her this time pure anger and hatred was directed towards him.
She turned to look away from him and noticed that they were not the only ones who had noticed the first reaction, judging from the looks she was receiving from every girl in class she was convinced that she was doomed. Miyu shuddered and a faint voice out of thin air recalled Aya's warning. She hurried back to her seat and felt gazes following her but she didn't dare to look around this time. She begged for the bell to ring but it seemed like time was enjoying itself far too much not bothering to pass. The clock hands were frozen as minutes felt like hours.
Finally when the bell rang Miyu was out of the door before anyone could even move out of their seats. She rushed to her class and courtesy to her hurry and her preoccupied mind she entered the wrong class. It was more embarrassing that she realised it only after she had walked up to the centre of the class. Apologising for her stupidity she turned back and this time looked for her class with her whole undivided attention.
"You look distracted Miyu, are you alright?" she heard Mizuki's voice.
"Oh, I was just thinking about the assignment we are due tomorrow. I need a reference textbook" she hoped he wouldn't notice her attempt to change the topic besides it wasn't a complete lie. Mizuki being the gentleman he was offered to help her "oh that assignment, you can easily get that book from the store room. I will bring it down for you".
"No you go ahead I'll go get it myself".
"Miyu, you see it's not quite a popular place to visit alone, I'll get that book for you, no worries"
"Its fine Mizuki, I know you are very busy at present. Please don't bother yourself for this too. I'll be fine" she reassured him besides she hated owing people favours.
She decided to visit the place during lunch break. She knew where it was. God she had assumed that her friends had been joking about the place but it really was unnaturally dark despite being noon time. "I should have listened to Mizuki" her habit to talk aloud whenever she was alone kicked in "Okay all I need is to find the light switches, as simple as that".
She took a deep breath to calm her racing nerves and stepped inside the room. It was full of all sorts of broken furniture, mostly covered with dust and shelves of neglected books.
"Looks like nobody ever pay a visit here and definitely not popular among cleaning staff." She had not seen anyone passing by so what happened next; she was totally unaware. She was locked in before she knew it. She ran to the door yelling "hey, I'm still in here. Open the door. Is somebody there, please help me" her attempts continued for a while.
Eventually realising they were futile she slumped to the floor with her back to the door. She muttered silent prayers of help as tears threatened to spill. Nobody knew where she was except for Mizuki who would be too busy to notice her absence. She was scared of dark and was now at brink of crying. Her eyes were flooded with unshed tears when she noticed a faint light in front of her. She blinked several times just to shout "you! This is your idea of revenge, how pathetic. How dare you lock me in a place like this? Get me out of here, right now!"
"Hold on, don't accuse me and haven't you noticed that I'm locked in too. I don't fancy being locked, not with you at least!" Kanata looked irritated. But Miyu was raging "who the hell you think you are. You can't get away with locking people like this. You just wait & watch, let me get out of here and I'll make sure you get a hard time for this".
"Are you really that thick headed to realise that I didn't lock you here, why would I make it obvious if I did it? Don't you get that this is your own mistake" Kanata retorted, equally furious.
"What do you mean my mistake?" she shouted at him. How dare he blame her.
"Don't tell me you have not figured this out yet. You got locked up because you came here all alone despite of what happened yesterday. As for me, I'm stuck because I happened to be in the wrong place at wrong time" he shouted back.
Bewildered by his words she glared at him. She clapped her forehead as she realised what he meant "damn your stupid fan club!"
"Finally the truth" he sighed.
How could she be so naive despite of Aya's warning? But what kind of fans locked people in abandoned store rooms and such hard core fan following for this jerk. "We'll get out of here soon so you don't worry okay" he assured her and was almost polite.
Now why would he care? Unless she must look more terrible than she felt. 'At least I'm not all alone here'. No way would she ever accept that in front of him.
"Aren't there any lights" she asked.
"Nope, nothing we can do right now" he answered as he sat down next to her. "I've tried most of the numbers but they're all out of coverage area, no reception here. We don't have much choice but to wait for someone to find us eventually. You're not claustrophobic, are you?"
Miyu ignored him completely. Why me of all the people she asked herself. Of course the reason was sitting right next to her. He kept his mobile between them for some source of light.
"How can you tolerate such crazy drama? Aren't you scared of them? They seem to pose greater threat than professional goons. You're quite brave to move around without any security" she remarked. She looked morbid. He chuckled at her expression. His response caught her off-guard. She looked at him, confused about what was so funny.
"You make it sound like they're criminals, they're just a bunch of crazy girls. They are harmless & someday they'll realise their stupidity eventually. They go over the board sometimes but they don't mean serious harm, at least not to me".
Serious harm! What could be more serious than this? But she bit back the retort. She knew he had answers to all her problems but then he was the reason too, arrogant jerk.
The temperature within the room dropped gradually and Miyu shivered not because of the temperature but from the darkness. 'It's probably past sunset' he thought as they waited in silence for the rescue to arrive and after sometime he felt her head on his shoulder as she absentmindedly sneaked closer to him falling asleep.
Kanata looked at her face which was much closer than he had anticipated. She looked calm while sleeping, at odds with her short-tempered self. His fingers itched to touch her skin, bet her skin was smooth like feathers. It looked so soft and her small mouth was surprisingly tempting from the proximity. He tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, careful not to wake her up. Kanata felt completely strange for the moment. If he had been with someone else in a situation like this it would've pissed him off to hell and back but for some reason he wasn't irritated at all, some irrational part of him was actually glad to be here.
'What the hell, she is far too annoying for my taste'. But the peace he felt was something he hadn't felt since long.
'This is not right, I can't let myself feel like this…' his mobile beeped. It was a message from Santa, saying he would be there soon.
Soon enough he heard footsteps approaching and gently tapped Miyu to wake her but she merely opened her eyes blinked twice and went back to sleeping again. It looked like she had had a long night yesterday and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. Having no other option left he picked her up in his arms right when the doors flew open. He saw an anxious looking Santa who was no longer anxious. Instead he looked smug and Kanata sighed again thinking he will never hear the end of this ever.
Santa was not just his best friend but was like his brother. He was the only person Kanata actually cared for because they were childhood friends, the only reason why he endured his daily nonsense. Kanata followed him out to his car. Santa opened the door as Kanata gently laid Miyu on the passenger's seat. He closed the door and turned to ask Santa if he needed lift.
"No, you carry on, I've got my bike today. Here I brought your bags and give her this book. Mizuki pleaded me if I could drop by her place to give it to her. He was being really pushy so I agreed to help. You know her place right. Just turn to your right at the corner, its right up the slope, the big white one".
Kanata nodded of course he knew her place after all she was the daughter of famous NASA astronauts. He had watched her skating to school so many times before. He waved to Santa and drove towards Miyu's house. He got there in next to no time and thought of waking her up but one look at her and he gave up. She seemed too sleepy to wake up even now. He doubted if she had slept last night at all. Somehow he managed to ring the door bell with her in his arms and was greeted by an anxious Yuu Kouzuki who almost shouted just before Kanata shushed him "she's just sleeping, don't worry".
"Oh! Alright, come in son. If you don't mind then can you carry her to her room, it's on the first floor upstairs. I've got to inform her mother. She was so worried that she went out for a stroll, hoping to find her on her way back" Kanata nodded & went to her room.
He laid her down on her bed & looked around. Her room was very untidy. All her clothes & books lay strewn everywhere on the floor. There was a guitar at the corner near a rack full of novels and music CDs. Most of the books were adventures & mysteries, a few love stories and horror stories too and lot more.
'Impressive collection' he thought. Although her room was a bit untidy for a girl but it was beautiful in its own way. It was nothing like a typical room of a girl, tidy or pink or stuffed toys not that every girl has a thing for pink but still it seemed almost like a guy's room, no wonder she's so aggressive. The pale blue wallpaper had a soothing effect and her room had a strange homey feeling attached to it.
He looked out of her bedside window and cursed looking at the night sky. He rushed back to the living room where he was greeted by Miyu's father.
"Thank you so much for bringing my daughter home, I'm Yuu Kouzuki".
"I know you sir, who wouldn't recognise a famous astronaut as you. I'm Kanata Saionji & I'm sure you must want an explanation".
"Well yes I do but first don't mind me asking are you Housho Saionji's son". Kanata nodded and then he told Yuu everything about getting trapped in the room glazing over the reason behind it.
"Please excuse me sir but I'm getting late. I should leave now".
"Okay thanks once again for helping her. Please do stop by sometime, I would like to thank you properly son" Yuu walked Kanata to his car as he turned to leave. Kanata knew exactly what might happen if he didn't get back in time. Wanya would be terrified by now and he wouldn't wait any longer to call the commissioner and in no time there will be a whole search force, marching through the town in search of him. Kanata drove to his house as fast as he could, nearly jumping signals at few places.
"Master Kanata, where have you been? I was so worried" Wanya shouted the moment Kanata entered the house.
Wanya, his care taker was like a father figure to him since his father was never home but he worried too much. Kanata looked at the phone in his hand and sighed in relief. Perfect timing he thought smiling to himself. Wanya's so predictable.
"I've told you many times that I can get late because I've got practice sessions to attend then there are presidential duties to take care of. And for heaven's sake will you stop bugging that poor old commissioner every time I'm late!"
"I was not going to call him" Wanya said innocently, quickly hiding the hand carrying the phone behind his back "why don't you go take a bath and I'll prepare the table, Dinner's ready" he rushed back to the kitchen while Kanata headed to his room shaking his head thinking that some people never change. He showered while thinking about the day's events. Surprisingly there hadn't been any hostility between him and Miyu despite of yesterday's match.
'She is definitely different'. After all no one has ever defeated him in anything but she somehow managed. He couldn't stop thinking of the way her head had fallen onto his shoulder and the way she had in his arms. She isn't like the rest of the girls; she's always pissed at him for the starters not the typical reaction he receives from opposite sex. He simply couldn't stop thinking about her. He changed into his PJs and went downstairs for dinner. After dinner, in his room he was still thinking about her.
'I've got to get her out of my head. I need to distract myself and I need to do it fast. She can't invade my mind just by being cute and defeating me by luck and evening scores with me in math test. I'm the Kanata Saionji after all, I don't think about girls instead it's the other way around; it's always been the other way. I need to stop thinking about her. Obviously the reason I'm thinking about her is because she is the only person who has ever challenged me in anything. And won.'
He ignored that little comment by his sub conscience. Some part of him knew he was just kidding himself, trying to reason with himself why he was thinking about her. He tried to fall asleep and despite his attempts that night he dreamed of a girl with deep brown eyes which appeared almost black, a girl who was affecting him in a way he never thought was ever possible again.
sneek peek into next chapter
"Listen you stay away from Kanata. I'm his girlfriend & I don't want you anywhere near him in 100 meters of radius, you get that. If I ever spot you near him then that won't be good for you" she gave her a warning look & moved back to her seat. Miyu was tongue-tied and stared at her like an owl. Then her eyes darted to Kanata who looked irritated sitting right behind his girl friend next to Santa. She burst into laughter and Aya & Nanami gave her a look that said maybe Nanami was right about Miyu losing her mind.
how was it? terrible?okay?good? let me know!