Chapter 5 A perfectly messed up day

"Miyu get up honey or you'll be late for your outing. Your friends must be on their way here" her mother shouted from downstairs.

No not shopping, why on earth did I agree to it, then an image of brand new novels flashed in her mind & she sat up. She had heard a lot about the bookstore at the mall that it was the biggest in town and had books of all genres. She kicked her sheets and went straight to her bathroom.

"Good morning everyone!" she said sitting down for the breakfast. She was wearing a red skirt that ended over her knees & white coloured cotton full sleeved button down. She had kept her hairs straight and down with a pair of black wedges, she wasn't that tall just 5'2. A black belted wrist watch on her right hand and a black handbag from across her shoulder resting on her left hip were her only accessories. She was all dressed up for the occasion probably a little too dressed.

"Our guests are here" announced her father as he walked in her friends following him. "Morning everyone" said Nanami in her usual chirpy tone and Aya followed suit.

"You look hot Miyu did you dress up for a date? You will be catching everyone's eye" Nanami said as they walked down to the nearby bus stop.

"So will you guys, I won't be surprised at all if a cute guy asks anyone of us out for a date today" she winked at them. The trio was definitely an eye candy as they headed for the plaza chatting as usual, pumped with excitement. Everyone seemed to be in a very good mood and the weather was perfect for an outing. The moment they entered the mall Nanami literally dragged them to the girls' corner.

After endless hours of trials they finally bought some lovely clothes to relief of the sales guides who were starting to get annoyed with them fooling around. It was almost lunch time when they were done with the shopping and headed towards the food corner. Shopping sure is exhausting as they were starving. They entered McDonalds only to find the place cramped with people. Miyu decided to head toward the bookstore instead and asked her friends to go ahead and place their orders. "Cool, we'll save a place for you then" Nanami said. "What do you want for lunch we'll place your order just try to make it a quick trip" Aya asked her.

"Thanks, just order anything you like. I'll be back soon" and with that she vanished among the crowd. She knew that the store was built underground. The place must be vast if it is covering the whole basement she thought as she stepped into the elevator. When she stepped out she immediately knew why everyone had recommended this store.

Thousands of books stood in front of her stacked onto hundreds of shelves in the racks that were tall like buildings. There were markers all over place in between the rows and columns flashing the genres of books. The whole basement of this building, as she had guessed, was built into the biggest book store she had ever seen, literally the largest in expanse and likewise in number of books. The store was well updated as there were books by new authors as well. It was a perfect bliss for any bibliophile like her. Merely looking at so many books under one roof made her ecstatic. She somehow managed to refrain herself from running around like a four year old and made her way towards two of her most favourite genres, adventures and mysteries. There were so many racks exclusively for them. She wanted to reach out to each and every book piled in these racks but that would mean breaking her promise of making it a quick & short trip.

'I can spend my whole life here' she thought as she started to move around to find some promising books. She picked up a few of Agatha Christie & hardy boys. Grabbed some of the Nancy drew series and she looked around for Doyle's Sherlock Holmes sighting a few volumes in the topmost shelf. No way would she be able to reach them standing on her toes, they were too high for her. She looked around for help and spotted a staircase kept solely for that purpose. She hurriedly dragged it to herself, adjusted it to the shelf she wanted and climbed up. She looked around for the one she hadn't read yet. After minutes of digging through familiar covers she finally chanced upon an unfamiliar cover. She reached for the book but it was a few inches away from her finger tips. She tried standing on the edge of the staircase and then reaching for it, barely managing to brush her finger tips on the cover. She carefully leaned forward trying to balance herself managing to get hold of the book but her heel slipped off the edge and she found herself falling along with the book. Her eyes closed instinctively in fear as a scream escaped from her lips. She expected to hit the floor hard but she never made it. Once again instead of crashing on the floor she landed upon someone, déjà vu overwhelmed her soon after the hysteria had passed. She stared down at Mizuki and sighed deeply in relief.

"Hey Mizuki, what are you doing here?"

"I saw you and thought of saying hello. But thank god I made it in time, what were you thinking pulling such a stunt! You could've ended up with broken limbs or worse, a broken neck. That balancing act literally gave me a heart attack. I thought you were smart enough to know that that book was out of your reach but apparently that is not the case. Think of the possibilities if I hadn't been here. Seriously Miyu that was very immature of you".

"Okay I get it and I'm sorry. I know that it was stupid of me to behave like that but please stop scolding me. You make me feel like I'm in kindergarten"

"Your actions do suggest likewise though" he said smiling at her and she smiled back knowing she was forgiven.

"Oh god, I forgot to get up. I'm so sorry, I'm not really that lightweight" she started to get up when she heard a familiar voice.

"Privacy doesn't bite you know. Don't know about you two but I do have a repute to maintain. If not for yourselves then for sake of others, go get a room"

"Are you with him?" she asked Mizuki, completely ignoring Kanata. Their rivalry was not exactly a secret, whole school knew about it. When Mizuki looked apologetic, she asked "Is there something bothering you?" finally deciding to acknowledge him.

How could she ever let that comment slide? Not when he was mocking her in public surrounded by civilians. "Nothing much really, I was just reckoning some pros of privacy. It's a public library, guess you didn't know or you wouldn't be distracting people with your intimate PDA session" he said, shrugging as if he didn't care.

She imagined herself strangling him. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, praying god for some composure. "I fell, he caught me. End of story. Would you care to explain the intimacy in this situation" she replied, her voice shook with anger.

"You don't want to know" he replied, his voice strangely cold.

How dare he say that? How can he be so rude and impassive? She had begun to believe that he was nice despite of his stoic demeanour. Despite of behaving like a cold hearted bastard he seemed like a caring person in his own way. Past these days she had been thinking of him a lot, trying to figure out her feelings for him.

'I wasted my time thinking he could be a better person. I was a fool to think that. I know now how I feel for him, pure hatred and nothing else. Someone who can't respect girls can never be a nice person'.

"I want you to tell me exactly what did it look like" her voice flat.

"Miyu you don't have to listen to this, let's go" Mizuki stepped in between them and grabbed her hand but she jerked her hand free and glared at Kanata.

Kanata raised an eyebrow "If you insist then let's see yeah, you were all over Mizuki, looked like you were seducing him or kissing him or whatever I really don't care. Your hair was over his face and his arms all around your waist". 'I think I'll spare you my comments on your legs though' he added mentally 'god I'm being a jerk but I have to do this' and so he continued "a girl wearing clothes like that all over a guy on floor in a compromising position in a quiet corner of a public library…you don't need a genius to guess what's going on".

His harsh words hit her like a slap, his contemptuous words ringing in her ears. Her anger spiked to a point that she wanted to cry. His words hurt her more than she had thought. God was it just a few days ago that she was wondering if she liked him and now what?

She should have known, she knew every guy is a bastard had learnt that hard way but still she had let him crawl under her skin. She went cold as tears threatened to spill.

"I hate you Saionji" her voice was empty with nothing not even hatred as she turned away from him. As her tears fell down her cheeks as she got into the elevator, she wanted to go home but her friends were waiting for her. She could not abandon them like that. Blinded by the tears she somehow managed to make her way back to her friends.

As for Kanata, he had not expected her to react differently and for the first time her reaction didn't surprise him. "You really crossed the line Saionji I never thought you could be this cruel. You never give a shit about others then why? God I really thought you were a nice guy despite your cold behaviour. I was wrong I was so wrong"

He heard Mizuki walk away from him. He hadn't meant what he had said not even a word. He had been relieved that she was safe even if it was Mizuki who saved her but watching her all sprawled over Mizuki had made him feel like punching something hard and watching them exchange pleasantries instead of getting up made him anxious, he had to do something to draw them apart even if it included being an oblivious unemotional arrogant jerk. It was that sudden spurt of anger that had made him make that remark on privacy.

Then he realised this was his chance to drive her away and he succeeded but making her cry that was never his intent. Somehow he could never imagine himself hurting her but he is sure he saw tears in her eyes & now he felt terrible. He started to follow her and apologise but stopped himself from doing that. He had been deliberate with his words he realised she was falling for him and it was not possible, he couldn't picture himself with anyone again, never again. He knew this was his only chance to make her hate him, to hurt her enough to drive her away because he knew he couldn't stay away from her. Even in a situation like this Jesse McCartney's just so you know was playing in his mind.

'Congratulations Saionji, you finally managed to push her away, You Won, like you always do' but this didn't feel like winning. All he could do was picture her crying and an urge to comfort her came over him that was so strong that he almost followed her. For the second time in his life Kanata Saionji felt helpless. He had no clue what to do as he stood rooted staring at the spot where he had watched Miyu disappear.

Miyu lay on her bed crying her eyes out while Aya sat next to her, trying her best to comfort her friend. Nanami was down in the kitchen "I can't watch you cry like that. I'm going to get some water and grab some lunch too. You didn't eat anything today and it's almost dinner time" she had announced as she had left them in Miyu's room. She stood in the kitchen looking around for something for Miyu to eat.

'I'm going to kill that son of a bitch. How dare he insult my friend like that? He's not even her boyfriend to comment on her dress. She can wear whatever she likes. Really Saionji I thought you were starting to change. I swear I noticed a lot of changes in you. You're no longer cold you are much polite and friendly now. You've started to socialise. Why did you say such terrible things to her?' Exasperated she clenched and then unclenched her fists turning around she spotted an envelope on the fridge. She picked it up and saw it was for Miyu.

"He is cruel Miyu, please stop crying" Aya said. Miyu didn't stop crying and her pillow was completely drenched with her tears. Nanami came back holding an envelope, she looked grave.

"Miyu this is for you" she handed her the envelope. After reading the letter she cried harder. Aya grew worried and looked over to Nanami for some explanation. "It's her parents they received a call from NASA this morning. They were called back because of some emergency. They had to leave urgently but they'll be back in a week" Nanami explained. Aya was confused she couldn't find any reason for Miyu to cry. Nanami added "when they're back, she'll have to leave with them, back to new york. Her mother's been promoted which means she will have to be at NASA permanently and her father will be transferred back".

Everything went silent in the room apart from Miyu's momentary sobs. No one could find any words to say. 'Strange how the day had ended Miyu thought. She had expected to have fun with her friends but instead everything had gone south. Aya and Nanami stayed till late in the evening but they had to leave eventually. Once again she was all alone by herself. She lay on her bed staring into the darkness in the room for long thinking about the screwed up situation she was in. She didn't want to leave Heiomachi, not when she had true best friends like Aya and Nanami. She had never loved any place this much before. She thought and thought until her mind gave in to the stress of the day and she finally fell asleep.

how was it? terrible?okay?good? let me know!

Sneek peek into the next chapter

Miyu hugged her friends, she had missed them terribly. She felt like she was meeting them after a long break instead of yesterday.

"Miyu is everything okay. Are you okay?" Nanami asked.

She was moved by how much they cared for her and she suddenly felt happy "yup everything's good. I came to talk to Mizuno sensei about my transfer" she replied. "What!" they exclaimed in unison.

"You can't be leaving Miyu. Agreed Saionji is a mean cold hearted jerk but you can't leave solely based on that. What about us?" Nanami asked.

"We're gonna miss you Miyu. I never thought we would be saying farewell so soon. You really are a dear friend &…" Aya stopped mid sentence when Miyu hugged her.