@Sara-chan: Ah~ Thank you so much for waiting for this!
And I think that every RenAirin fan wants shy Airin to at least be confident and take the lead. Thank you for commenting!
@Megumi: Hahaha, that was fun to imagine in my head. I hope that you were able to laugh at that. ^^ And you already know about the punishment that Jurina wanted for Mizuki. The only thing that remains unknown is the dare tha Mizuki wanted her to do. *evil laugh*
@TakaNyan: Oh, thank you so much~!
And thank you
Gifts And Wraps"Remember to go and have the gift wrapped up." the old woman's voice was heard clearly over the phone.
Nodding her head to no one in particular, she uttered a word of understanding and flipped the phone close before putting it back inside the inner pocket of her bag. She started mumbling to herself, asking why does she have to go and have the gift wrapped up.
Maeda Atsuko never really understood the reason why people preferred to have their gifts wrapped up. Wasn't it the same thing as having it covered or placed inside a brown bag or something? What was so special in gift wraps?
Stomping her feet as she walked towards the escalator to get to the floor where the department section was located at, she grumbled. "It's such a hassle."
Well, wasn't it?After all, you have to go and be sure that the gift wrapper you're choosing, will be a pleasant view to the eyes of the one you're giving it to. To waste your time in choosing such a minor thing... It's kind of tedious, especially for someone as busy as her.
Letting out a sigh, she got off the elavator and went inside of the department store. Her head turned to the left and right as she tried to search for the free gift wrapping section her grandmother told her to go to.
When she was unable to find it, she walked towards one of the counters and asked. The woman at the counter smiled at her and pointed at the direction to her left, before telling her that the said section was located further in the art materials section..
"Thank you." she replied back with a smile, before walking off to the direction given to her.
As she walked nearer and nearer towards the art materials, a blue sign hanging from the ceiling was seen. The words 'Free Gift Wrapping' were written on it, and a white arrow was pointing at the direction to her left.
Following the arrow with her eyes, she let out a sigh as she caught a glimpse of a woman with her head down, busily wrapping a gift. She started walking towards the woman and took out her phone the moment she felt it vibrating inside of her bag.
"Hello?"
"Grandma, don't worry." Her grandmother's reminding tone about having the gift wrapped out once more, made her sigh in exasperation. "I'm already at the counter to get it wrapped up."
Not wanting to hear more of her grandmother's nagging tone, Atsuko flipped her phone close and placed it back into her bag, taking out the gift from the plastic bag that she had been holding, before placing it on the surface of the counter.
Watching her from the back of the counter was a shorter woman, who had an amused expression on her face. She had been standing behind the counter for quite some time now, giving her the chance to witness the amusing conversation between Atsuko and her grandmother.
When Atsuko finally looked up from the gift, she was greeted by the shorter woman's warm smile. Their gazes locked with each other, and Atsuko suddenly felt as if she had been enlightened. For a lomg while there, the black-haired found herself mesmerized as she stared back into those brown orbs.
"I'm Takahashi Minami, and I shall be helping you." The woman suddenly spoke, snapping Atsuko out of her trance and making her look away with a tint of pink on her cheeks. "So, which of these gift wraps would you like me to use?"
Atsuko quickly laid her gaze upon the long line of displayed gift wraps, contemplating once in a while when she would come across a well-designed one. Seeing that she was having a hard time in choosing, she began to suggest some designs that were usually chosen.
After quite some time of contemplating, Atsuko finally made her decision and chose a gift wrap that had pink ribbons on a white background as its design. The same gift wrap that Minami had recommended to her.
"Please come again, Atsuko-san." Minami told her as she bid her farewell.
Atsuko gave a smile to her and nodded her head, uttering some words of thanks before disappearing from Minami's line of sight as she went down the escalator. As she waited to reach the first floor, she turned her head back in the same direction as that she had come from.
Placing a hand on her chest, she smiled. "I'll definitely come back."
Though it may sound cliche, Atsuko found herself taking a huge liking towards the older girl. Minami had been as helpful as she could be in offering some suggestions, which pretty much led to some random topics that started their conversations, causing them to sometimes forget what they were supposed to be doing.
In fact, if Atsuko could put it in anyway, she would pretty much say that she felt comfortable at the shorter girl's side. Which actually means a lot, since Maeda Atsuko can only name a few people whom she feels at ease with.
"Takahashi Minami, huh?" she wondered out loud, smiling to herself as she found the girl's name rolling off her tongue quite nicely.
Walking out of the department store, she muttered to herself happily. "Maybe we could be friends."
~^o^~^o^~^o^~
Several days have passed since that fateful day, and Atsuko couldn't help but feel happy whenever she would accidentally meet up with the girl, like that one certain time when she was supposed to go and accompany her friend Miichan to buy a gift for her cousin.
That day ended up with Miichan leaving for home earlier than expected, and Atsuko spent the entire day with the shorter girl, knowing that she would have to try and make up to her best friend that night.
She may have to try and act Miichan's wife for an entire week due to that, but on the other hand, she was able to learn more of what Minami hated and loved. The two of them became closer day by day, ever since they exchanged numbers with each other, sending more than fifty mails a day to the other.
Atsuko's friends also began to notice some changes in their black-haired, shy friend. The way she would talk to them became more frequent, though it would mostly be about Takahashi Minami and anything related to her.
But then, since the girl had slowly began to open up with her feelings, everyone else felt that maybe it wouldn't hurt to try and at least listen to her drone on about her new great friend. Besides, she would often accompany them whenever they needed something, especially when it was something related to buying a present.
Though acting like they had no clue, everyone perfectly knew that the main reason she would go and help them buy a present, would be to go and meet Minami. This continued for some quite time, until everyone began to notice something change even more in Atsuko.
The same pokerface expression on her face has completely been replaced by a different one. A look that most of them had come to know. A look that they thought they would never see again after witnessing one of Atsuko's dark past. A look of...
Someone in love.The look of someone in love was completely evident in the girl's facial expressions, as well as her actions that would follow suit. This was proven the moment they witnessed Atsuko receiving a message from a certain Minami, who then began to smile and jump around the room.
Everyone smiled at this, but a cold expression came into each of their faces when a certain Oshima Yuko pondered out to herself. Being one of Atsuko's most trusted friends and the closest to her, Yuko has been worrying for the black-haired.
They knew that Atsuko was completely in love with Minami, and if that wasn't apparently obvious enough with the way her face would brighten up despite going through a bad day, then they would definitely be unfit to be called as Atsuko's best friends.
The only problem was...
Are their feelings mutual?This thought kept on circling around each of their minds, driving them nearly to the point of insanity as they began to reminisce about the way Minami acted around their best friend. Most of the time, they would remember the way how the short girl would be caring and kind towards their best friend.
They would smile to themselves as they discussed about how cute Minami and Atsuko were whenever the short girl would act almost like the man in the relationship. But those smiles would then be followed by a frown or an exasperated sigh when they would remember about how Minami would turn down one of Atsuko's advances.
Speaking of which, they had never witnessed Minami ever reciprocating their best friend's feelings once.
Not even in a small way."Maybe she's just dense?" Haruna told them, when she saw a scowl appear on each of her friends' faces.
Yuko let out an exasperated sigh, leaning her chin atop the brunette's knee. "But she would probably be the most dense person I've ever met, if she's actually unaware of Acchan's feelings."
"No one can be THAT stupid." Mariko said as she narrowed her eyes at the picture on the coffee table in the middle of the Atsuko's room.
The picture was showing Atsuko and Minami linking hands, with Mount Fuji as their background. The two girls looked so happy and contented with the way they were, and everyone smiled when they noticed the huge smile that their friend had on her face.
It took quite some time for them to decide not to interfere in anything, since all were afraid of the bad outcome that they might have to come across. But then, all their worrying seemed to have been all for naught, since Atsuko told them that Minami had confessed to her, that very same day.
A year passed, and soon it was Atusko's and Minami's anniversary. While everyone was sitting around in a circle inside the living room of Atsuko's apartment, the two lovers were caught in one of their hugging sessions.
"We should really go back to the others." Minami smiled at her, tucking in a strand of hair behind the girl's ear.
Atsuko sighed and nuzzled even more into her girlfriend's arms, taking in the sweet scent of Minami's shampoo. "Let's just stay here for a few more minutes."
"That's what you said three minutes ago." Minami chuckled, but decided to go along with her girlfriend's wish.
The two of them stayed in that position, until a familiar voice coming from the living room startled them. "Will you just stop making out in the kitchen and bring us the drinks?"
"We weren't making out!" Minami cried back as she peered out of the door, an evident shade of red could be found on her face.
Atsuko heard Miichan let out an exasperated sigh, before replying back. "Whatever! Just get back here with our drinks!"
Minami sighed at their friend's impatience, only to chuckle as she came to the realization that they have, in fact, been staying inside the kitchen for more than fifteen minutes. Atsuko handed her the different cans of juice, before grabbing several glasses for everyone to use.
"We should have spent the day together alone." Minami told her with an exasperated sigh.
Atsuko let out a small chuckle. "We should have escaped off to some place quiet then."
"You shouldn't have invited them on our anniversary." Minami pouted at her. "We could have spent it tomorrow with them."
Giving a quick on the older girl's lips, Atsuko winked at her. "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you tonight."
"You better." Minami grumbled, before walking out of the kitchen.
Atsuko shook her head, letting out a small chuckle at the way her girlfriend walked out of the room with a sulky look on her face, before following her into the living room, only to be greeted with a pillow suddenly getting thrown at her and the glasses.
Thankfully for her, her instincts helped her dodge it and the tray of glasses that she was holding managed to remain intact to her hands. Giving a questioning look at Yuko, she slowly placed the tray onto the table in the middle of the room.
"What's going on?" she asked, taking a seat next to her girlfriend.
"Nothing." Haruna sighed as she started leaning on the pillow that she had placed on Yuko's face. "Yuko was just being, Yuko."
"Mmmphfff!" Yuko let out a muffled cry, making the brunette lift up her arm as the short girl began to wave her hands around her. "Nyan Nyan!"
Throwing the pillow far away from her face, Yuko cried at her girlfriend. "I almost died!"
"Such a shame she didn't continue." Mariko muttered, making everyone else laugh.
Yuko glared at her and stuck out her tongue. "Meanie!"
"Forget about her!" Miichan said, pushing the older girl to the side as she looked excitedly at Minami. "Just let her open your present!"
"Yeah!" Yuko nodded her head.
Standing up from where she sat, Minami walked to where her bag was and started rummaging through its contents. "Fine."
"What do you think her gift will be, Acchan?" Haruna asked.
Atsuko looked to where Minami was still searching for the gift, before letting a smile come across her facial features as she gave a shrug. "I don't have any clue."
"Do you think that it'll be another ring, like the one from your birthday?" Yuko asked in a whisper, careful not to let the older girl hear.
Atsuko laughed at the memory that played in her mind, and shook her head when she saw Minami take out a rectangular-shaped present. "I don't think that it'll be another ring candy."
"Happy Anniversary, Atsuko." Minami told her, handing her the gift as she sat back down beside her girlfriend.
Taking the gift from her girlfriend's hands, she smiled and gave a quick kiss to the girl's lips. "Thank you, Minami."
"Hurry up and open it!" Yuko and Miichan urged. "We wanna see what it is!"
Doing as what her friends had requested, Atsuko started unwrapping her gift. As she did, she could feel everyone's staring intently at her, making her feel a bit uncomfortable. Wanting to make the silence disappear, she began to tear through the present.
"It's not a certificate, huh?" Mariko muttered, an obvious hint of disappointment could be heard in her voice.
Minami looked at the older girl with a questioning gaze. "A certificate?"
"Just thought that you'd give her a certificate that states about her being the perfect girlfriend or something." Mariko told her, giving a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders.
Haruna nodded her head. "Yeah, I thought so too."
"Hey, what's that supposed to be, Takamidget?" Yuko asked, pointing at the now-unwrapped present that Atsuko have in her hands.
Minami smiled and stood up, taking the gift from he girlfriend's hands. "It's my gift."
"Duh~" Miichan rolled her eyes, crossing her arm. "We can all see that!"
"We're just wondering why in the world is there another gift wrapper inside Acchan's present." Yuko told her, almost in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
Minami ignored the older girl and looked at her girlfriend with a smile on her face. "Atsuko."
"Ever since I've met you, I began to feel contented. I used to think that I would never be able to get that certain magical love story that I've always been dreaming of ever since I was a child. But thanks to you..."
"...I was able to experience that." she said.
Looking at the gift wrap she had folded carefully, she continued on. "I know that giving you another ring candy would be out of the question, since some certain Oshima Yuko would accidentally think of it as a candy."
"I want you to know just how thankful I am for meeting you. Because of my part-time job, I was able to meet the girl of my dreams. I know that I've disappointed you with this gift, but I want you to know that I treasure this more than ever."
"Happy Anniversary, Atsuko." Minami said, giving back the folded gift wrap to her girlfriend, who only took it into her hands with a blank expression on her face.
Seeing this, Yuko frowned. "What the heck, Bakamina?!"
"Why did you give her a gift wrap as an anniversary gift?" she cried at the younger girl.
Miichan nodded her head and sighed, shaking her head as she clicked he tongue. "I'm completely disappointed in you, Takamina."
"I've got to admit, you suck at giving gifts." Haruna told the shorter girl bluntly.
Miichan sighed. "And here I'd thought that she'd at least propose."
Minami could only lower her head down, feeling completley dejected. She had thought that they'd give her a pat on the back this time, considering how she had given much thought for this anniversary gift.
"I'm sorry, Atsuko." she said.
When she received no answer, she looked up, only to be greeted by a sight of a crying Atsuko. Minami looked at her in surprise, completely taken aback that he girlfriend had several trails of tears on her face.
"A-Atsuko?" she spoke, unsure on how to comfort the crying girl.
All of a sudden, Atsuko lunged at her and hugged her tightly. "Minami!"
"I'm so happy right now!" she cried, making everyone look at her in surprise.
"Eh?"
"I can't believe that you still remembered the gift wrap!" Atsuko said, still continuing in letting her tears fall down from her eyes.
Everyone turned to look at each other. "What's going on?"
"Minami..." Atsuko released the older girl from the tight hug, and looked at her with love in her eyes. "You still remembered what wrapper you used when we first met."
"I love you so much, Minami!" she cried, before hugging the girl once more.
Yuko and Miichan could only stare at the two lovers with a look of disbelief on their faces. "EH?!"
"She liked it?!" Yuko cried, turning to her girlfriend. "But it's just a gift wrap!"
Haruna sighed and gave a smack on the shorter girl's head. "She liked it because Takamina remembered how they first met."
"To add to that, she was able to remember what wrapper she used, considering just how many wrappers she had come across ever since then." Mariko told the two still-shocked girls, before adding. "Cheesy and goosebump-raising as it may seem, Acchan loves it."
Haruna frowned at her short girlfriend and gave a hard flick on the forehead. "Why can't you be like Takamina?"
"Ow!" Yuko cried.
Haruna exhaled some air from her nose and looked away, crossing her arms. "Despite being a Suberi and Corny Queen, she's completely better than you!"
"All you think of is having skinship with me!" Haruna cried as she stood up, before making her way next to Miichan and Mariko.
Yuko stood up and went to where her girlfriend sat, tugging on her sleeves as she began to promise about being unable to live a day without her skinship. Haruna only ignored her, making Mariko and Miichan sigh to themselves as they began to listen to Yuko's constant whining.
As this scene was going on, Minami and Atsuko remained the same, ignoring all the noise in the room. They were snuggled to each other, with Atsuko's face buried in her girlfriend's neck. Minami would squeak every now and then whenever the younger girl breathed out into her sensitive neck.
"This is all your fault, Bakamina!" Yuko cried at the girl, only to be ignored.
EndA/N: Well, that has been the one-shot Wmatsui22. It's my first time in writing any fics that concerned the heavenly couple Atsumina, so I'm really sorry if this isn't to your liking. But I hope that you did. 
Topic: BOYFRIEND FOR RENT Part Three (05/02/14) (Read 64647 times)