Pain in the Chest

When the heart beat goes fast...

Nagumo sneered at me, "Ice Princess! Didn't expect that you'll be here!"

I glared at him and huffed. My brother looked between us as he muttered, "What am I missing?"

"You know each other?" Keira squealed, "Then I wouldn't have to introduce him!"

"Mhm..." I mumbled.

My mom stood up and said, "Honey, this is Nagumo Haruya, Keira's son. Haruya, this is my daughter, Suzuno Fuusuke and my son, Fumio."

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Suzuno." Nagumo said politely. I narrowed my eyes at him. So, he can be polite, sure…

"Haruya, can you entertain them for me? Me and Harriette have a lot of catching up to do," Keira told him. Nagumo bit his lower lip, and then looked at us.

"Come on, I'll show you my house," he told us.

More like mansion, I wanted to snap, but I can't help to be mean in front of Keira. Especially when we watched T.V. and she didn't even scolded us.

I huffed and dragged Fumio with me to wherever we were going. Nagumo smirked slightly and continued walking.

"How do you know him?" Fumio asked and nudged me.

"Beats me," I mocked him.

"Tell me!" he insisted, not even realizing he used that on me earlier.

"The thing's from my school." Nagumo growled.

I scowled at him. Now, I definitely snapped at him, "Says the guy who just got beaten by a girl."

He glared pointedly at me, but shrugged and turned away. He replied coolly, "You just got lucky."

"Want a rematch?" I stated and gritted my teeth.

He stopped walking and turned around to face me. I, being clumsy as always, didn't notice that he stopped and hit his chest. I found myself facing him really close.

Let me tell you two things:

1. He stinks, literally and figuratively.

2. Something tugged at my heart.

It didn't bother me when he was this close. It didn't even bother me if he was warm. I looked up to his eyes and my heart beat became unnaturally fast. Why did it feel so natural that we should be this close?

I was gonna lean in, until...

"Not so fast, Ice Princess." he said as he grabbed my shoulder.

I snapped out of it, immediately, my body felt warm. I did the only thing I thought of: I shoved Nagumo. Fortunately, he actually lost footing and fell.

"Hey!" he whined.

"Where to next, Tulip-head?" I said with my face stoic.

"Don't call me that!"

"Whatever!" I yelled as I looked away.

"I want a rematch!"

Well, that statement made me turn my attention to him.

Nagumo smirked and said, "You face me, right now."

"Fine. But if just one shot gets in..." I faltered, knowing he would know what I mean.

"Right. We'll discuss the winning prize after." he said as he stood up and took my hand and dragged me off to somewhere.

"Burn! Wait up!" I heard Fumio call.

Why was everyone calling him Burn?

"You know my brother?" I asked Nagumo.

"Shut up."

I made him stop. I exclaimed, "No, I won't! He's my brother and I want to know what happened between you two!"

"Fuusuke? Stop it." Fumio said behind my back.

I turned to face him and seethed, "Fumio! How do you know each other?"

"Drift," Burn said, smirking.

Fumio tensed, and then glared at Nagumo. He growled, "Show the way, Burn. Aren't you gonna have a rematch?"

Fumio said 'Burn' with venom so much, I was afraid he's gonna lose it. Nagumo only smirked and continued to drag me off to somewhere. I hate that guy.

"Here." Burn said as he pointed his finger forward.

I looked in front of me, and my jaw dropped.

It was a garden, a beautiful one. It was also big. Green grass filled the floor, the trees were swaying slowly and the wind was cool. The flowers's fragrance filled the air. I would want to have a garden like this when I grow up.

Nagumo snapped his fingers in front of me. I was startled, then got angry as I snapped, "What the hell?!"

"Rematch?" he said calmly, but still full of energy.

Nagumo took something out of a nearby bush. It was a soccer ball.

I frowned at him and tried to ask, "But where are we gonna- ...oh."

Nagumo snapped his fingers, while I was talking. That made me falter.

At the both ends of the garden, goalposts were seen. It was as if magical faries had put them there, but the goal posts just rose from the ground.

Show-off.

"Nice, huh?" Nagumo said as he grinned at me.

For once, I was speechless. I merely glanced at him with a small nod. His smile grew wider, and then he trudged to his position: the left of the field. I clutched my chest as he started doing warm-ups. Even without a stethoscope, I can feel my heart beating.

"Come on, Suzuno. Aren't we gonna have a rematch?" he said.

My face reddened and walked over to my position. I did mostly arm stretching, but whatever. Nagumo, however, seemed distracted by this.

"Why don't you warm-up your lower body?" he asked.

I shrugged. Maybe because I'm used to it. Instead, I reply, "Dunno, let's start, shall we?"

Nagumo handed me the ball and ordered, "You go first."

I grinned and set the ball down. I started the kickoff.

A few seconds later, I was struggling to get past Nagumo.

His feet were so fast that it made me wonder how I got past him, and then I inferred: he thought I was weak so he didn't use a lot of effort. Now, well, I guess he realized I was a rather good opponent.

I'm flattered.

"Would it kill you to slow down?!" I whined.

Nagumo was too busy to reply.

I tried to make a feint, but he always knew where I was going. I frowned at that; how could he have known my moves? I had learned them from my brother- wait... my brother.

"Gotcha!" Nagumo said as he caught the ball from me.

"Oh," I said simply, and then started to chase him.

"ATOMIC FLARE!" Nagumo called. I felt warmth throughout my body, but not the ordinary warmth, the oh-so-very-hot warmth.

I was about to faint right then and there. I never experienced great heat before… when summer was here I would lock myself with air-conditioning. Come to think of it, I did blackout for a few seconds...

"Ow." I said as I held my head.

"Told you so, pea-brain," I heard Nagumo.

"I was trying to go over my options, alright?" Fumio retorted.

"Yeah. Opinions," Nagumo sneered, "couldn't expect more from that brain of yours. If you still have one, couldn't tell since your hair is in the way."

"Don't put my hair into this!"

"You'd always have a bed-head, Drift. Even back in the Aca- !" Nagumo was interrupted.

"Shut up, Tulip-Head." Fumio growled with venom.

I heard Nagumo mumbled something like, "Like bother, like sister."

"Are you alright, Fuusuke?" Fumio asked me as I opened my eyes.

Nagumo was standing nearby, while Fumio was holding me.

"A-ah." I said.

"I knew I should have stopped you," Fumio said.

"I'm fine, bro. Just feeling hot."

Nagumo snorted. We both glared at him.

"Right, right. Being quiet," he said as he raised his arms.

"What are you gonna make me do?" I asked Nagumo.

Nagumo and Fumio's head snapped at my direction. Both of them asked, "Huh?"

"I mean, you know, the prize. You won," I explained.

Fumio smirked at Nagumo and said, "At least she's honest."

Nagumo rolled his eyes and crouched in front of me as he smirked and said proudly, "Two months starting tomorrow."

"What?" I said.

"You're gonna do as I say in two months." he said.

"No complaints?" I whined.

"Yeah, and you're free to contradict me, but you should still follow my orders."

"Fine, whatever, Your Royal Stupidness," I mocked.

Nagumo just grinned back at me.

We stayed there until night, and then it was time to go home. I went to bed early that night, but I couldn't sleep.

I tossed and turned with no conclusions.

Plus, that haunting sentence at the end... I just can't manage to shrug it off...

'Two months starting tomorrow.'

Two months.

And I was happy about it.

YES! FINISHED!

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