[MariHaru] Basket Case - Under Construction (HPOV Chap3 Posted) 7/20

[FoF]

First things first! To BC readers...

HAPPY NEW YEAR 17 DAYS LATER TO EVERYONE!!! (ﾉ￣▽￣)ﾉ ゜ﾟ･*☆

I think that's the last time I'm going to say that.
I think it's been 3 months now since I last updated this and...I'm sorry. 
I had two jobs for a few months and it was stressful. So whenever I have a break time, I opted to de-stressed myself by doing other things that doesn't require me to think constantly.  Plus, it's the holidays, it's a required moment to be lazy and binge watch on new shows that now I have to wait for the new season which sucks. Argh!   
So anyway, my weird frustrations aside...


My replies to commenters:

@yanouchi: I kinda like the MariTomo scenes on the last chap. They're fun to write. Oh and Mariko mentioned the lacy thing 5 times? I didn't noticed that. Actually, Miichan helped a lot to make Mariko notice how busy Haruna is. In my head, she's just whining everytime no one is there to entertain her. Well, there's a slight DUN DUN DUN here. Another one would be on the next chapter. Too many DUN DUN DUN is really not healthy especially for me. Thanks for reading and commenting!

@Yuki88: Most awaited? Sounds frustrating. I want to see an alternate world of the Scrooges as well, so I might do one for the first chapter wherein, instead of Miichan and Mariko heading to college, it'll be Tomo and Mariko. That sounds fun. You should get back to writing as well. oh and I know this is like 3 months late (?) but good luck on your mid term exam that next week of oct 2013. Thanks for reading and commenting!

@AoiShiori: Your avatar makes me want to salute so...*salute* It's been a looooong wait for this one I guess. And I'm glad I can still ignite them mariharu hearts that are slumbering nowadays...or rather 3 months ago. It is pretty fluffy huh. Oh, and please no dying, despite the changes, I am still planning on more fluffiness. At least I think so.... Thanks much for the goodluck. I'll try my best. Much luck to you too AoiShiori-san! Waiting for Halfway Gone with you and Cessy10! Thanks for reading and commenting!

@JaneDoe05: Thanks for sticking to this and reading it! I'll be sure to make more MariHaru scenes in the future. If not here in BC since this might end soon, then in other fics. Much thanks for reading and commenting!

@RJay: Don't sweat it. I actually forgot this fic as well. Or rather I tried to. Mariko's totally unaware of how romantic she can be. That pink erasers. I was thinking of something pink that was innocent and I couldn't think of anything until I remember that I had a pink eraser when I was a kid that smelled nice. Seems innocent enough. The TakaTomo pairing here does seem frustrating. but no worries. All will end good. Thanks for reading and commenting!

@noah minami: Glad you liked it then. You know I was tempted to just copy the summarized chapter 24 I told you about. I seriously didn't know it'd be this long to write. Anyway, here's the longer one. Still uncomplete though. Thanks for reading and commenting!

@heomagic: I don't know if I should be thankful or be sorry that you just experienced temporary insanity. I hope all is well there. Actually if I didn't cut it now, I would've reached 30k. But alas, I don't want to go insano girl for now. Thanks for reading and commenting!

@bimbo: Wow, 3-4 times? I'm glad you didn't get bored reading it that much. And I'm glad you liked that one enough to make you type incoherently. Thanks for reading so many times and commenting!

@theblueknight: Awww I'm glad I cheered you up that fateful day of Oct 2013. You're a savior of the pigeons then. I thank you on their behalf. m(_ _)m I will now call you the defender of all pigeons, Pigeon Lady! kidding. You know how much I enjoy trolling you. You make the best reactions. Yeah, you should kick Taka of BC. She's...stubborn, but with a reason so...maybe a half kick? As for your questions; Haruna meeting Mariko's parents? Soon. Mariko buying Haruna a celphone: On the next chapter, amongst other things. :3 <- You know I like that face in fb, why isn't that here? Sad. Sad for your non coffee days as well. I'll drink for you. Oh and MIA is still MIA Thanks for reading and commenting!

@Haru_Jei: Awww, thanks so much for reading those. Means a lot especially since POF and BC here are long and I think it'll take you days to finish? Tried it on POF and I think it took me a week maainly because I was only reading every night. I'm glad I'm one of the reasons I got you out of your writing closet then. But I'm pretty sure your other reason is your beloved brother. Actually at first I didn't know your brother, but then I saw you and your bother's tumblr and tada! I have been enlightened. It's RJay-san right? Kinda jealous of you. I wish my brother is into the things I'm into as well. I tried making him watch yaoi and he just looks at me weirdly. Which is why I do it all the time since the weird look makes me laugh. Anyway, thanks for liking that chapter! Thanks for reading and commenting as well!

To the silent readers and thank you pressers, I thank you as well. 

Now onto the explanation on the new poll that makes me sort of sound like a kidnapper.

About the New Poll; this ones pretty much explanatory, right? Sequel vs Haruna's POV. But let's throw in some clue as to what you will be expecting if you choose the other.

In Haruna's POV, you'd get to see BC through her eyes. More Yuko, Rena, Tomo and of course Miichan. And Mariko. Can't forget her. But yeah unseen scenes, familiar scenes, new scenes. etc. Remember those mean girls looking at her while she went to the dorms with Yuko at the Haruna draft? Remember that there's bullying in the world? That there are tons of judgemental people in the world? And remember how I'm writing and I sometimes tend to think of complicated plots? Yeah...  You could say it's like a modern Cinderella type of story with a little something in the end that would complete Mariko's POV. It's different, yet similar in a way to Mariko's POV.

Now for the Sequel...one word? Drama.  I like my sequels dark with a hint of maturity since BC Mariko's POV is pretty much fluffy first love thingy anyway. I'm thinking, 7 deadly sins. It's not necessarily 7 chapters only, just that those are the arc or possibly chapter titles. Dunno yet but I like the idea of incorporating the 7 deadly sins to what will happen to them.  Oh, this is 3rd person POV. Different, shorter, thank god.  This will be a few years after BC Mariko's POV so they're pretty much older and...professional crazies.

So there. Oh yeah, see unlike the last poll wherein I didn't close that poll and just left it hanging there, this time I will close this one at least 3-5 chapters before the ending. So do vote wisely.  Kidding, either one is just dandy, seriously.  To those who already voted, much thanks.  And to those who regret voting to the other and want to change, if I get at least three request to reset it, I'll reset it. 

So that's that!  And yeah, I had to cut this chapter because it's making me crazy.  But the kiss will still happen on chapter 25.  Just a heads up.  Just one more.


Questions? Suggestions? Violent reaction that might lead to murderous intent to the author? Please feel free to say it and I will try my best  to answer and  take it with a smile. 

Usual warning though:
This is fiction. If I ever offend someone, please feel free to tell me.

See you guys after a week. No, hopefully I'm not kidding.

Enjoy this unedited frustrating chap!
Seriously, I don't know what I'm doing anymore. Still smiling though. 
Seeya! 




______________________________________________

many thanks to yanouchi and crazywota for the poster



Chapter 24: Karma's a BEACH! (Part 2)

“Hey Cyborg, long time no see.” I greeted with a curt nod. The corner of my lips tugged up as I watch her bewildered state slowly turns into her usual signature scowl, her obvious displeasure upon seeing me clearly showing. Yeah, this person right in front of me obviously doesn’t like me.

Why, you ask?

Actually, I’m not really sure since we hardly ever talk, but I have a feeling that its got something to do with the fact that she thinks I’m only friends with Miichan because of her money or something typical like that. Honestly, I don’t really think it goes beyond that since there was a time when I went to Miichan’s apartment back in Osaka and she just followed me wherever I go, you know. It’s like, she was waiting for me to…steal something. Getting that vibe and getting annoyed that I had an unwanted shadow unsubtly following me as I look around, I decided to just…give her what she wants to see. Yeah, I stole something from Psycho whilst Cyborg hides and watches me through the obvious shadows. I stole some magazine which weirdly enough—I found out from Psycho as I returned it the next day—was mine to begin with as she just took it from my room without my permission. Yes, turns out Miichan was the one who went klepto on me before I went pretend klepto on her. It’s messed up, I know.

Going back to the topic though, now that I think about it, I guess I gave Cyborg a reason to hate me huh. I guess you can scratch that ‘I’m not really sure part’ since that little tale pretty much tells why Cyborg here doesn’t like me. But then again, you can’t blame me since she was annoying at that time. So let’s just go meh and move on with our lives now.

Oh, her name?

Watanabe Mayu.

You’re surprised I easily remembered her name? Yeah well, there’s a small nameplate pinned on the left side of her chest that says, ‘Watanabe Mayu’ so I’m guessing that’s her name. Oh and don’t ask why she has a nameplate pinned on her maid like costume. I have no idea as well. For all I know, Miichan probably made her wear that to make it look like she’s from a maid café. Hmm. That seems believable since she sometimes tend to make Cyborg wear something that she thinks would look cute for the Cyborg. And no, I don’t know if she ever made her wear something skimpy or sexy. But I’m betting on no since…the Cyborg isn’t exactly the obedient type most of the time, you know.

“What are YOU doing here?” She asks with an attitude, folding her arms to her chest as she kept her glare on me.

I tilted my head slightly, my eyebrow arched up on her question as I kept my blasé look on her. “Didn’t your master informed you of my visitation rights?”

“She didn’t.” She simply answered in spite.

I held up my hands mockingly as I say, “Not my fault,” causing her glare on me to intensify. Not really caring about how she’s killing me with her heated look, I let out a sigh and boredly pointed at the person next to me who was silently observing our interaction. “Yeah so can we go in now? I don’t want to scare you or anything but she has fangs. When annoyed, she will bite you.”

Cyborg glances at Fang for a minute then sized her up while she kept her glare in place. I glanced at my companion and was mildly surprised when she gave Cyborg a toothy, forced smile showing her deadly weapon. Despite the unimpressed look the Cyborg gave Fang, she kicked the door wide open, gave me the evil eye then walked away with a huff.

“So, sex slave?” Fang suddenly asked causing me to glance at her. She was giving me a sidelong glance, her thin eyebrow arched up in question.

“She’s only 15 years old you know.” I pointed out.

“So, underage sex slave?”

“No. She’s more like her housekeeper or something.” I made a face at the mental image of Cyborg being Psycho’s sex slave. That is so wrong. But then again, the Cyborg doesn’t seem to fall under housekeeper as well now that I think about it. “I think it’s more like ‘or something.’ Her relationship with Psycho seems a bit…complicated.” Hmmm. That seems to be an understatement since any relationship with Miichan and most women has complicated written all over it.

“Not surprised.” Fang flatly agrees with a nod before she turns to me. “So? Point me to where the suggestion box is so I could also write beautiful praises to your other best friend. I mean, that performance is just screams ‘fire me.’”

I raised my eyebrow at her. “What’s with you and suggestion boxes anyway?”

“I like to suggest things.” She shrugged. “Writing ‘she’s weird, fire her immediately’ is like my favorite thing in the world.” She says like it’s the obvious thing before she heads inside, leaving me to look at her with my narrowed eyes.

Okay so just for your comparison notes? If you ask me who’s a lot meaner between Fang and me? You should jot down her name immediately. Make it bold and capitalized. I mean, obviously I’ve got two horns that is slowly shrinking what with Haruna’s goody goody influence. But Fang? 3 horns. And a couple more is starting to grow. She’s the root of all evil, really. Seriously.

With a sigh, I followed Fang and headed inside Miichan’s Tokyo apartment. Thankfully, the inside of her apartment is so unlike her medieval door. Much like the whole interior of the building, Psycho’s apartment screams the words clean, minimalist and modern. You know those interior designs that would be featured inside a magazine? The ones that you’d dream of having but that’s all you can ever do? To just dream and drool about it? The ones that probably only the finest, creative, high class interior designers could only ever come up with that is probably worth more than your life unless of course you’re a complete rich ass? Okay, that seems to be a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point right? Thing is, looking around the place—much like Miichan’s other apartments—yeah, this place screams the words, ‘Rich ass.’ That was actually the first thought that came to me the first time I stepped inside her apartment in Kyoto. But now, I’m pretty much used to it. You can tell by my look of indifference as I stood in front of the living room, its walls made up of glass that overlooks the gorgeous balcony and the awesome view of the city of Tokyo. Yeah, I’m all meh about it. Surprisingly, the person next to me shares the same sentiments as I do as she looked boredly at the view, eyes narrows with her arms crossed to her chest.

“Nice view.”

“Geez Fang, don’t go jumping up and down about it. Try to contain your emotions why don’t you.” I tell her tediously with my eyebrow raised.

Much how like she speaks the kind of language that I do—which is sarcasm—she rolls her eyes and replied, “I’ll try to tone down the festive screams that I’m currently doing while I leave your skinny ass and look around then,” before waving her hand dismissively while she began walking towards the balcony entrance leaving me to stare at her retreating form.

I watch her for a moment as she stood by the railing, her hair cascading in the wind as she looks at the balcony view of the city. Looking at her, I can’t help but think back on her situation with the Midget Professor. How she asked me to help her get a date with Smiles and how I strongly said NO despite her shoving out reasons that she helped me with Haruna and that since we’re apathetic buddies, I should help out the other apathetic people in need especially her. Still said no since that is one fucked up reason really…despite it having some little truth in it since, yeah, she did kinda help me a bit. Keywords: kinda and a bit.

Anyway, she then went and did the reverse psycho thing on me by telling me that maybe I’m just being selfish and that I just want Smiles to be not over me because I have some IMAGINARY feelings for him still. The bold and capitalized letters were on my side and didn’t really came out of Fang’s mouth mainly because she thinks that I do have some sort of feelings towards the Buffoon. Pretty delusional really since, c’mon, my mind’s playing Haruna home videos constantly for pete’s sakes. I haven’t for one second thought about Smiles. I just think that her having a fake date with Smiles whilst the Midget one spies on them in a corner isn’t a good idea. But then, honestly, I am curious how the Midget one would react to seeing Fang on a date with someone. Hmmm. Maybe that’s why I didn’t bother telling Fang to get lost earlier. I mean, with her still being here she’d bound to meet Smiles later. So in a way, when you think about it, I am helping her despite how I’m supposedly hesitating huh. Ugh, I think my goody goody conscience seems to be heightening a bit nowadays since I’m sort of helping Fang. I’m blaming Haruna for her goody-goody influence here. Again with the groan of annoyance, ugh.

“Hey, you’re finally here.” The voice of a Pokemon suddenly said from my left, causing me to turn towards her smiling self as she walks towards me from the doorway that looks to be heading towards the kitchen.

Keeping the look of indifference plastered across my face I tell her, “Hmm. Methinks you still need to brush up your understanding on the meaning of the word ‘obvious.’ You won’t get to advance to the next lesson of mastering the word ‘duh’ if you don’t know that word you know.”

“That’s okay, I’m still learning the word ‘bitch’ anyway.” She said as she shrugged, obviously unfazed with my sarcasm as the grin on her face didn’t falter. “As far as I can tell, I’ve got a long ways to go in fully mastering that word.”

I crossed my arms over my chest in reply, keeping my blank stare on her as I hide the slight amusement I felt on her being a smartass. Seeing my indifference, Snorlax still managed to chuckle finding my response to her sassing to be quite enjoyable. No surprise there. I think all the crazies around me find my annoyance or even my indifference nowadays delightful to see. Honestly I don’t know who to blame for this one. Maybe I should blame myself…?

Huh.

“So Miichan told me this is your first time being here as well. How about it? Want to look around this huge place with me?” She grinned, wiggling her eyebrows playfully. I can’t help but let out a sigh finding the wiggle of eyebrows to be so Crazy Psycho. She seriously needs to stop spending so much time with that Psycho. Tch.

“Thanks for the seemingly tedious offer, but let’s be honest here...” I stepped closer to her. Standing in front of her within arm’s length, I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave her a fake smile. “As much as seeing you going all ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahhhs’ on every little thing you see around this place screams torture? Yeah, I’d rather not.” I tell her before giving her shoulder a friendly pat then walked passed her towards the doorway wherein she came from.

The corner of my lips arched up as I hear her mumble out, “Definitely got a long ways to go,” from behind me. I would agree with her there and I know, I know. Bitch of the year awardee right here. But you know, I’m not really interested in seeing Miichan’s over-the-top Tokyo apartment. I’ve seen her apartment in Kyoto, right? So yeah, that’s kinda enough for me to know that this place screams rich ass.

“Mayu, there’s not much food here. How can Sayaka cook for all of us with just a bunch of…leftover junk foods here?” Was what greeted me the moment I stepped inside another 3d rendered like kitchen. After scanning the place a bit while I stood by the doorway, I turned my gaze at Miichan who was currently rummaging her huge, cabinet like refrigerator while the Cyborg stood beside her with her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl across her face looking mightily bored.

Remember when I said that the Cyborg is a housekeeper and that she and Miichan have a complicated relationship?

“Rather than whining about it, why don’t you just buy what you need in the grocery store so she’d have the ingredient she needs?” The Cyborg huffed childishly whilst she rolled her eyes.

Yeah, it’s complicated that way. Like I said earlier, the Cyborg isn’t really the obedient type to Miichan. She does seem to be obedient towards the Sexytary though now that I think about it. That’s mainly the reason why I call her Cyborg by the way. It’s just that, she acts like a damn robot whenever the Sexytary is near her. Like every beck and call the Sexytary does, she’d obey without so much as a blink.

I’m exaggerating you say?

So you say, but I’m not. Ask Miichan and I’m sure she’d tell you her whacked up theory about how the Sexytary brainwashed the Cyborg into believing she’s God whenever she’s homeschooling the housekeeper. Yeah, the Sexytary is actually Cyborg’s sensei as she seems to be teaching her loads of crap about business, thinking that the Cyborg can replace her as Rich Dad’s sexytary someday. Curious about it, I asked the Sexytary and that’s her answer. Not in exact word though, but that’s the gist of it. She believes the Cyborg has an exceptional mind when it comes to business stuff. Don’t know how she got that vibe though. I mean, the only vibe I got from the Cyborg is that she doesn’t like me. Tch.

How’d Miichan find such a bizarre helper as the Cyborg, you ask?

She didn’t. It was actually her rich Dad that found the Cyborg. I think she was the child of one of the Maruyama helpers that got into an accident and died or something. Keeping the typically cliché drama story short, rich Dad just decided to take her in when she was young. So in a way she’s sort of Miichan’s adopted sister that didn’t want to be called that so she just told rich Dad that she wanted to be just their helper. It’s kinda messed up, but the Cyborg seems adamant in being called their helper rather than being called one of the Maruyama’s. It’s all pride I guess. But then the way she acts—despite how she’s dressed right now—it seems kinda pointless to call her a helper huh.

Upon noticing me standing by the doorway, Cyborg once again gave a vicious glare for a moment—which of course I replied with my eyebrow raised—before walking past Whitey and heading out another door, leaving her master to grumble out her displeasure of going to the grocery store herself. See? Got that hateful vibe again from her. But then, I also get the vibe that she doesn’t want to be my unwanted shadow right now. Huh. Feels like an early Christmas present from Cyborg right there.

I made my way towards Whitey who was sitting on a wooden stool by the kitchen counter. She gave me a smile before picking up her tea and a taking a sip of it. “Hey.” She greeted as she placed the cup back on the counter table.

I gave her a curt nod and a quiet, “Hey back,” as I sat next to her unbeknownst to the grumbling Psycho.

Her eyes shifted towards where I came from for a second and with a frown, she turned her gaze back at me and asked, “Itano-san’s not with you?”

“She’s there.” I mumbled as I propped my elbow on the marble surface of the kitchen counter, lazily resting my chin on my hand as my eyes made its way to Miichan. I watch her crouched down, grumbling here and there about how hard it is to find good help nowadays while still searching through her fridge. “She’s just looking around the place like it’s a theme park like Snorlax is.”

“Snor…lax…?” I hear Whitey tentatively ask.

Oh, right.

“Sayaka.” I simply answered as I gave her a sidelong glance. I watch as her confused look lingers at me for a few second before she turned to look at her cup of tea.

“Oh, right.” She let out blinking a few times. A moment later, she let out a quiet laughter as she shook her head. “Somehow I forgot about how you’re fond of making nicknames for everyone. I mean, I thought you are over that by now.” She said as she glanced at me, smiling.

My eyebrow quirked up. “What makes you think I’d get over that?”

“You seem…different. Like you’ve loosen up.”

I kept my eyebrow raised at her for a few seconds before I let out a snort. With a crooked smile across my lips, I turned my head slightly to face her then said, “With me being indifferent then suddenly committing myself into a relationship, how can I not?” as I shrugged.

“True.” She nodded her head while a soft chuckle came out of her thin lips. Seeing her and interacting with her like this, made me remember how Haruna was at first. You know, being Betty. They’re similar yet different. Similar in a way that they both seem gentle and innocent. A real person, someone without pretense that’ll easily make you feel at ease. Kinda like a holy person, really. And you know, they’re different in a way that…Whitey here doesn’t blush easily, doesn’t stutter while talking to me. She doesn’t give me shy, hopeful and longing glances. Doesn’t wear outdated clothes. Doesn’t bite her lower lip when she’s nervous. Doesn’t give me a warm smile. Doesn’t make my heart beat fast…

I sighed as I turned my gaze away from Whitey, the smile across my lips slowly fades.

Doesn’t make me feel like I’ve got it real bad enough to miss her constantly. Is it time to play Haruna home videos again to torment me oh brain of mine? Ugh.

Shaking my head and willing myself to focus for the nth time, I glanced back at Whitey and found her looking at me amusedly, a playful smile across her lips. Why do I have a feeling she knows exactly what’s going on inside my mind? Ugh. Goddamn perceptive Whitey. What the hell is she taking up again? Do I even know?

“Uh s-so…I didn’t know you and Fang knew each other.” I lamely divert the topic—which is me being a lovesick idiot—as I looked away, my face heating up a little.

“I met her through Kojima-san.” She replied after a moment of silence which could be because she’s trying to figure out who Fang is…or she finds my lameness amusing. Hmm, could be the latter. “I sometimes see them together and from time to time I join them. We had a couple of meals together as well.”

“Oh.” I frowned slightly. So Fang does spend time with Haruna, I guess. That’s…I can’t really imagine that. I mean, Fang spending times with a couple of…Holiness? Oh don’t give me that patronizing look. I know one of the two is my girlfriend. I’m just saying that—you know—they both have Holiness vibe to them and it’s…Fang. You have met Fang right?

“I hope it’s okay I brought her with me.” Whitey asked causing me to glance at her. She was looking at me expectantly, wearing a small smile. “She looked a bit troubled earlier and when I said I was going to meet you, she insisted adamantly to come with me.”

“I could guess why.”

“I’m guessing it’s because she’s your new bestfriend and she’s missing you terribly, right?” A scornful tone coming from the Crazy Psycho suddenly said causing Whitey and me to turn towards her. She was looking at me, giving me a sneering look as she leaned on one foot with her arms were crossed against her chest. “I mean, that’s what she is to you right now, am I right? She’s your new bestfriend now despite the little, tiny fact that I’ve been your longest friend ever!” And now the scornful tone has upped its volume so annoyingly. Well to me it’s annoying, to Whitey though? It’s pure entertainment as she let out a giggle.

Letting out a sigh with my eyes boredly looking at the pouting Miichan, I asked her bluntly, “Are you in love with me or something?” as I remember my little discussion about this with Fang. I wasn’t surprised when she visibly jerk, her eyes widening at my question. I kept my blasé demeanor despite how the corner of my lips were twitching as I continue to look at Miichan. I even had the urge to glance at my side to look at Whitey as I felt her eyes on me. I have a feeling I also surprised her on that, but meh, I’ll keep my eyes on Miichan since her reactions pretty funny. Now she’s concentrated in reprising her old role of becoming retarded Nemo with her mouth opening and closing. Heh.

“Wh-wh-where the heck did THAT came from?” She finally asked after her award winning performance of being retarded Nemo.

Seeing the incredulous look that was still plastered on her face and her eyebrow visibly twitching, I finally crack a grin, as I tell her, “Well since I’ve said it out loud, I’m guessing it came from my mouth,” tilting my head a little bit as I kept my chin rested in my hand.

Her eyes instantly narrowed upon hearing my reply. “Wow, I would never have guessed that.” She deadpanned causing the little grin across my face to widen. Noticing it, Miichan rolled her eyes and shook her head. “So am I talking to egocentric Mariko who just wanted me to hear again how I had a thing for her in the past? Because that’s sooooooo over and done with. I mean, right now I do love you, but I’m not IN love with you, you know.”

“I know, I know.” I sighed, waving my free hand in a brush off manner. “Same goes with Fang. She knows that too.”

“You told her that I had a thing for you?!” And the disbelieving look is back coupled with the loud voice as she slammed her hands on the counter. “I know how you can be egocentric sometimes Mariko, but not THAT egocentric. Geez.”

I gave her a look, not really enjoying this anymore since she just assumed that I’d be all proud that she had a thing for me back then. I mean, seriously?

“Right, like you having a thing for me is like a freaking medal for me to brag about. You have no idea how much I wanted to beat the crap out of you just so you’d forget your silly crush on me. It’s THAT annoying.” I rolled my eyes, resting both my arms on the marble surface of the kitchen counter. Surprised that I’m aware of her little crush on me? Yeah well, don’t. Crazy Psycho doesn’t really know the word ‘subtle’ back then. Hell, her thing for me is a lot more obvious than Betty’s you know. No, I’m not exaggerating here. I mean, if you think she’s being a bit silly with the jealousy and the possessiveness about me having a ‘new’ bestfriend, then times that to a hundred and you’d know why I’m so fucking annoyed by it. Tch.

“You say it like I’m much worse than most of your stalkerish suitors lurking around your house just so they could get a glimpse of you through your open window.”

“You say it like you’re not one of them.” I bite back. “Oh wait, you’re not, because unlike them who are OUTSIDE, you’re actually INSIDE my house stalking me.”

Her glare on me intensifies, gritting her teeth as she does so. I just raised my eyebrow daring her to say more while Whitey who was watching our interaction silently suddenly let out a noise that sounded like a stifled giggle turning into a fake cough. Hearing that caused me to look at her.

“Well this is…interesting.” She said before she let out another fake cough, covering her mouth slightly with her hand as she suppress the giggles by these turn of events. She removed her hand, looking at me then at Miichan with the corner of her lips twitching a bit. Obviously, she’s highly amused by our bickering. Tch.

Pursing my lips tight, I shook my head and rests my chin in my propped hand again. “I think it’s more like unimportant than interesting, really.” I tell her boredly as I looked back at the Psycho who nodded her head.

“Not to mention incredibly stupid on my part.” She admittedly mumbled, leaning away from the counter as she once again crossed her arms over her chest whilst she looks at the side. I obviously heard that and well, I agree to that. It is pretty stupid to have a crush on me. I mean it’s me and…wait. Haruna had a crush on me as well. Does that mean Haruna is included on the stupid bunch? Hmmm. Maybe I should just go with; Meh whatever huh. Seems pretty easy to think that than jumping into needless conclusion. Doesn’t seem to be like me either so yeah, let’s go with meh whatever.
 
“So are we just going to reminisce the extremely annoying times of our past or are we going to rehearse?” I asked not really caring if I sounded impatient with my eyebrow raised. But, for the record, I kinda am. I just really want to get this over and done with while I’m still stable without my brain playing home videos of Haruna. Seriously.

Miichan let out a sigh before turning to look back at me, a slight frown across her face. “As much as I want to start pounding my drum set again as hard as I can, we can’t since the lead singer isn’t here yet.”

Oh, right.

Smiles.

“Where is he?” I asked, frowning. Right, right. Smiles is going to be here as well wherein he’ll probably meet Fang and then they’ll be all and soon will have a fake date for the sake of Fang and the Midget Professor’s unrequited love. It’s really a touching modernized Romeo, Juliet and the thick wall kinda story if you think about it. Fang’s Romeo, the Midget one is Juliet and the thick wall is actually the Midget one’s denseness. What about Smiles you ask? What his role? He can be…something that would help the Midget one to realize that, well, there’s a freaking wall in front of her and that her Romeo Fang is just on the other side reciting damn poetry for her all these time. It’s a messed up story, I know but it seems to fit them, you know.

“Well he told me, and I quote…” She tells me with a look as she held up her index finger before continuing.

“‘Oh Miichan, I’ll be a little late since I had a kickass gig last night that ended till the crack of dawn. You know how it is.’” She rolled her eyes annoyingly after she says says that animatedly, deepening her voice as if mimicking…Patrick Star. Yeah, I think she was trying to imitate Smiles but it came terribly short and ended up sounding like a doofus. Though her interpretation isn’t spot on, I kinda like it though. Heh.

Hmmm? You say you’re confused? Why were we waiting for Smiles and what’s with this rehearsal meeting that we had, you ask? 

Well remember that little problem the Sexytary was saying when we had that meeting at the bar? Yeah, turns out the problem is the unwanted return of the Suck-Up—which if you don’t remember is Miichan’s little brother, Kuu. So yeah, after retelling the typical fairytale of the two fucked up, rich ass siblings that have this rivalry regarding their father’s inheritance to Snorlax and Creepy —which is really more on the Suck-up wanting it more than Crazy Psycho since the latter is pretty much meh about it—the Sexytary began to inform us about the Suck-up’s latest purchase that is basically related to the sibling rivalry.

Club Red. 

Remember that? Yeah, that was the club wherein I ventured to find Smiles, Miichan and Haruna a couple of weeks ago. The one with the C3PO and R2D2 tunes. Honestly, I’m not really liking that certain memory—particularly remembering Haruna passed out drunk in the arms of Smiles— so let’s not relieve it. Seriously.

So anyway, yeah, Miichan’s little brother bought that place after that fateful encounter wherein I almost smashed his face for grabbing Haruna’s hand. Crazy Psycho believed that me blurting out to the Suck-up about how I have a girlfriend now, prompted him to divert her frustrations to Miichan by probably trying to show their father that he should be the next one in line in their multi-million or billion business. Kinda hardcore right? Yeah well, it’s the Suck-up being his usual fucked up self. He just really doesn’t like his sister THAT much. I don’t want to divulge deeper on this subject because…well it’s not my story to tell, you know. So let’s just say it’s just a family messed up crisis that’s happening between them.

Was Miichan worried about the needless purchase of Club Red by his nitwit brother, you ask?

Hmmm, let’s see. Well given how she really doesn’t care about the inheritance? No, she wasn’t THAT worried. In fact, she was all meh while the Sexytary was talking about it to Creepy and Snorlax.


--


I glanced at Miichan, wondering about her reaction. Typically of her, she looked unconcerned as she’s slumped in her chair with her arm propped up as her elbow rests on the arm of the chair. Her chin rests on the palm of her hand as she looked boredly at the Sexytary. Yeah, she’s really whatever right now. Like really REALLY bored. Obviously she doesn’t care much about her brother’s evil schemes.

“Club Red is like…packed with people. ALWAYS.” Creepy pointed out, looking quizzically at the Sexytary. “I mean, I haven’t been there before, but I’ve heard about it. It’s pretty famous at AU.”

“Probably why he bought it just recently.” The Sexytary said as she nodded her head. She then turned to look at me, the corner of her lips tugged up a little bit. “Two days ago to be exact.”

Two days ago was…?

“That day was when we were playing basketball.” Snorlax said as she frowned. “That was also the day when he bullied Haruna and Mariko decided to step in and stop him.” She added with a growl, her frown turning into a glare. I couldn’t help but blink back my surprise at that. I mean, I honestly thought that she’d turn that into a tease, but…she really looked pissed off. But then, despite the slight shock there, I get what she feels. Thinking about how that Suck-Up took hold of Haruna’s hand just makes me want to murder him. What?! Like that’s surprising. Geez, stop with the grinning. Tch.

“Let me guess.” Miichan says with a sigh, keeping her relaxed position as she looked boredly at the Sexytary. “He bought that immediately after he met us, huh?”

The Sexytary turned to look at her, frowning as she pushed up her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know. And it doesn’t seem to carry much importance if he bought it the minute after he met you all.”

“Not all. Just Mariko.” Miichan smirked as she glanced at me for a moment. It made me frown, not liking how her look somehow tells that it is because of me that that Suck-Up bought that club. I mean, what the hell is him buying a club have anything to do with me anyway?

She turned to look back at the Sexytary as she wore a grin. “Actually, Kuu impulsively buying it is pretty important. I mean, Dad isn’t going to like that hasty decision of his. Spending millions just because he’s pissed off, finding the love of his life apparently with someone else right now—“

Which is eww for barfness. Throw out all the word synonymous to gross in bold and capital letters up in the air. Seriously. Gahd.

“—and is now hell bent on turning his anger and frustrations to me, is typically childish of him. For Dad, that kind of a mindset is definitely a no-no for a business. Especially if Kuu wants to be the future big boss.” She said with a shrug. “But then, Dad will definitely give him the benefit of the doubt and I’m sure he’s going to investigate this further as to why Kuu suddenly bought that. And knowing you—how he trusts you completely—I’m sure he’s going to ask you about that as well. I guess all you have to do is tell him the truth. As always.”

The Sexytary looked a bit stunned at that as she stares blankly at Miichan who just let out a sigh of boredom as she looked to the side. I got to admit though, the Crazy Psycho does have a point. Rich Dad isn’t going to sit idly by once he saw the massive bill he has to pay over the Suck-Up’s newest purchase.

“I get your point…” The Sexytary says as she finally snapped out of her little daze. With a frown once again in place, she continues, “…but by your tone, it feels like you’re implying that we should sit back, relax and just let me tell your father the whole story and everything would be okay. Are you seriously going to just…sit still?”

Hmm. Another good point. Looks like it’s raining good points now, huh. Interesting.

Looking a bit offended, Crazy Psycho shoots a glare to the Sexytary. “You look like you’re doubting what I said earlier.”

“Well with how you are now…” The Sexytary trails as leaned back on her chair, crossing her arms over her chest and with a shrug, she continues, “…how can I not?” she raised her eyebrow as she looks at the nonchalant crazy-psychotic-billionaire.

“Hey, I meant what I said about moving forward you know!” Miichan retorted as she sat up, hands flat on the table as she kept her glare at the doubtful Sexytary

“Prove it.” Was the Sexytary’s challengingly reply as she narrowed her eyes. Hmm. Why do I have the feeling that the Sexytary is just doing the whole reverse psychology? Well, it seems to be working on the Psycho so, I guess The Sexytary deserves a pat on the back for that.

All eyes now turned to look at Miichan who kept her glare at the Sexytary for a moment until she slammed her hand on the table saying, “Alright! First things first…” We all watch curiously as Crazy Psycho shifted in her seat, leaning on the side slightly in order to fish out her wallet in her back pocket. After pulling it out, she opened it and began looking for something. Upon finding what it is that she was looking for, she pulled it out and held it out for everyone to see.

It was her credit and debit card.

Hmm? Why is she—?

Gasps from Creepy were soon heard as Miichan suddenly began tearing her cards apart. All of us could only watch in bewilderment as she grunts while she breaks it to pieces.

Huh. Okay. Maybe we should scratch that pat in the back for the Sexytary cause seeing Crazy Psycho just tearing her cards is just a WTFF moment right there. And yeah, it’s double F. Highly appropriate to times like these.

“We don’t need this…money.” Was Miichan’s words as she threw the last piece of her card on the table, a look of disgust across her face as she looks at it. Standing up, the Sexytary slammed her hands on the table, causing it to shake.

“Are you insane?!” She exclaimed as she glared at the unmoving Miichan who was staring blankly at her broken cards in front of her. “Money is the number one thing we need right now! I was hoping with your money we could—“

“That’s not my money.” Miichan firmly says, looking unconcerned at what she did as she looked up at the Sexytary. Looking at her, with her serious face on, it was like I was looking at a different person at that time. But then I already saw this Miichan a couple of times from way back then. In fact, I just saw her recently.

Earlier when she was making that sappy, heartfelt speech of hers to be exact.

“It never was mine to begin with. I didn’t earn it.” She simply says to the confused Sexytary. Leaning back on her seat, she held up her hands saying, “And no way am I going to use it here.”

“But…”

Miichan shook her head and let out a soft sigh before turning to look back at the Sexytary. “Does Dad still look at my accounts?”

The bewilderment on the Sexytary’s face doubled at Miichan’s question that it took her a moment to answer, shakily. “H-how did y-you…?”

“Please, it’s so obvious.” She answered as she waves her hand in a brush off manner, eyes narrowed slightly.  “Zeroes just don’t materialize so magically in anyone’s account, you know.” She added, giving the Sexytary a look. I couldn’t help but grin finding it funny. Snorlax seems to think so as well as I heard her chuckle. You got to admit, she does have a point.

The Sexytary blinked back her surprise before letting out a sigh. “Well if you put it that way, I guess it is pretty obvious.”  She admitted, the corner of her lips tugging slightly to form a small smile. “And yes, your Father still looks at your accounts. He does it quite often.”

“So you want Rich Dad to see that you can run this whole place without his money.” I stated the obvious, my eyebrow raised a little at the beaming rich kid.

“Exactly.” Crazy Psycho nodded, beaming a smile at me. “See, this is just like playing monopoly with me and Kuu as the players. The way I see it, Kuu just bought…maybe half a billion yen of property. Meanwhile this place just costs…” She trailed off before she frowned and looked at the Sexytary. “How much does this place cost again?”

“Why are you asking me?” The Sexytary questioned back, raising her eyebrow.

“Oh c’mon. I know you have connections. Spill.”

Letting out a sigh, the Sexytary surrendered as she admitted the real price of DAFUQ. “Your Dad bought it for 50 million yen.”

“50 million eh?” Miichan blinked a few times as she rubs her chin, her eyes trained at the table. “You know with the money in my account, I can easily buy this place with it.”

“Keyword there is easily, huh?” I remarked as I narrowed my eyes at her. She chuckled in reply then grinned at me. I could only roll my eyes and shake my head as it feels like she’s gloating here or something. Ugh.

“You don’t need to buy it since this place is already under your name.” The Sexytary informed her as she sighed again. “This is actually your early birthday present from your Dad.”

“Again?!” She exclaimed incredulously before she let out a growl. “I don’t need buildings for my birthdays! Doesn’t he understand that?!” She grits her teeth in anger. Okay, this time, it doesn’t look like she’s gloating here as she seriously look angry. But yeah, the keyword here is ‘buildings.’ With the ‘s.’ Can’t forget that. Makes you wonder what are these buildings huh? Yeah well, me? I don’t really care. It’s all meh to me. The Pokemon doesn’t seem to be all meh though.

“Hey now.” Snorlax says as she held up her hands, soothing Miichan to relax. “Try to be more considerate to those people who wants one, alright?” She grinned and gave Miichan a wink.

“Want a building?” The latter offered the taken aback Pokemon as she grins.

“Really?”

I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes as Crazy Psycho gave a nonchalant shrug, keeping the somewhat smug smile on her face. She opened her mouth to probably say something that would definitely get the hopes up of the bewildered Pokemon when thankfully, the Sexytary decided to intervene as she waved her hand.

“Again, off the crazy topic bandwagon.” She exasperatedly said. “Focus guys. Focus for just a damn hour. Please.” And now her tones all pleading as she caresses her temple. Again with the poor Sexytary. Meh, someone has to suffer in this boring meetings anyway. Glad wasn’t me. Heh. Oh, please. You disappointedly looking at me isn’t going to make me retract that. Psh.

“Minegishi-san wants to sh-show her Father that she can m-make this work and…I-I think it’s a great i-idea.” Haruna suddenly interjects, causing the five of us to look at her. Her cheeks flushed a bit as she saw the attention she was getting. My eyes made its way to our intertwined hands as I felt her gently squeeze mine as if trying to find the courage. Or at least that’s how it looked like to me. Regardless of whether I’m right or wrong though, I squeezed her hand back in reply and upon doing so, it made her continue.

“W-with everyone’s help, I’m sure we c-can make it w-work. I’m s-sure of it…” She said sounding unsure before she bit her lower lip. I continue to look at her as I restrain myself from smiling. It’s kinda funny because her words are positive like to cheer us up and get all high with energy to work together and all that togetherness thing, yet she says all that with an unsure tone. Don’t you find that funny? No? Huh. I wouldn’t have guessed what with your lips twitching like that.

“You’re right Haruna-chan.” Miichan beamed a smile then turned to look at me, giving me an expectant look. Actually, now that I noticed it, the crazies are actually giving me the same look as Crazy Psycho is giving me. Seeing those stares, of course it’s only natural that my eyebrow rose up as I felt really weirded out. I mean just—

“What?” I asked frowning as my eyes traveled from one crazies to the other until finally landing on Snorlax who shrugged.

“Aren’t you going to add something to that?” She said a grin plaster over on her face as she looks at me playfully. My confusion hadn’t eased at that, in fact the frown on my face deepened and I ended up glaring at her.

“Why?”

Creepy decided to answer my question as she shrugged. “Oh I don’t know, to support what your girlfriend just said?” She tells me as if she stating the obvious which for me, is not. I mean, what?! Support? Huh. Where was my support earlier? Tch. Clearly there’s some sort of favoritism here. Why am I even surprised?

“I-It’s o-okay…” The person next to me suddenly said. “Sh-Shinoda-san doesn’t need to…um…s-say anything…j-just…it’s okay…” She trailed off, uncertainty evident in her voice. Glancing at her through the corner of my eye, I noticed that she looked a bit disturbed at what the crazies are pointing out. That or, she probably saw me making a face earlier at what Creepy just said. How can I not, right?

But…

“Well, Haruna is right.” I tell them as I looked at Miichan, keeping my face stoic as possible despite the fact I wanted to glare at her since she’s obviously trying not to grin what with her lips twitching and all. Yeah, she looked highly amused at the fact that I’m conceding to the crazies wishes to be all supportive girl here. Ugh. Well whatever, I’ll let the obvious favoritism slide since like them…

…she’s…also my favorite, you know.

“It is an okay plan.” I admitted with a nonchalant shrug, my eyes trained to the far end of the room, ignoring the chuckles and amused gazed on me. I couldn’t help but glance at the person beside me as I felt her thumb softly caress the back of my hand. She looks…sorry, her brows raised slightly upward as she looks at me, her plump lips jutting out a bit. I guess, she doesn’t like the idea of me being forced to agree on something that concerns her. But then again, she really shouldn’t worry since, for me, nothing’s forced when it comes to her. Everything just feels…natural. That’s one reason why I like being with her.

Hmmm. Maybe I should tell her that.

I gave her a small smile, trying to comfort her. She replied a moment later by a shy smile, blush covering her cheeks.

Yeah, I definitely should.

“Uh, I have to interrupt the lovey-dovey eye se—errr coitus moment here—” The Crazy Psycho interjects causing me to divert my attention towards her, my eyes narrowed. Eye sir coitus? Sounds like a knight’s name to me. …Meh.

“—but you said ‘it’s an OKAY plan.’” She gives me a dissatisfied look. “Just an OKAY plan? Really?!” And now she’s raising her eyebrow at me. With the way she’s looking at me like that, it looks like she thinks I’d be jumping the bandwagon and be all hooray for her plan. Sure I can do that, minus the whole shouting the hooray though. I’d probably just scowl while riding that bandwagon. But that’s not really the point here, huh. Point is, her showing rich dad that she can handle this dingy old bar is just the tip of the iceberg here. The underlying question here is…

“How?” I asked as my eyebrow quirked up, imitating her. “You have to answer that first before I change my earlier statement into; ‘It’s a REALLY okay plan.’”

She stared at me for a while, keeping her eyebrow raised until slowly, her defiant look changed into a confused one as she cocked her head slightly to the side, frowning. “How what?”

And why am I not surprised to know that she didn’t get it. Geez. Slow much?

“How are you going to show your father that this place actually makes money? I think that’s what Mariko is asking here.” The Sexytary sighed as she rests her cheek on the palm of her hand. Pointing at Miichan with her pen, she continues, “We get your noble plan not to use your father’s money, but the main problem would be actually making this whole place work. If you can’t show your father your profits, then there’s no way you’re going to beat Kuu regardless of his expenses.”

“The fact that he bought a place to beat you basically screams that he wants to be your father’s successor so bad.” Snorlax says as she rubs her chin looking contemplatively at the table. “That’s gotta add some sort of plus points to your brother.”

“I don’t want to bring up the negativity up a notch, but they’re right, Miichan.” And now Creepy decided to join the reality bandwagon. Surprising? …Nah. The Manager doesn’t seem pleased being slapped by reality right now though as she frowns at the table, looking slightly miffed. Meh, she needs reality check every once in a while anyway.

She snorted, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back on her chair. “So you guys think I don’t have a plan.” She said, giving me a mocking look.

I rolled my eyes at that. “Beyond the whole; ‘I’m not going to use rich dad’s money because that’s not mine’ thing and regardless of how cool you looked at that moment? No, I don’t think you have a plan.” I tell her, giving her a look. I’m calling her bluff on this because I can somehow sense that she really just did that without thinking or quite possibly, she did that to make herself look cool in front of the others.

“I looked cool? Really?” She beamed as she leaned slightly towards me, her eyes blinking a few times as her hands rests flat on the table. Ugh. Hearing her saying that definitely says that I’m right on the latter. Really now Crazy Psycho.

“That’s seriously not the point here.”

“Riiiiight.” She drawled as she leaned back on her seat, crossing her arms over her chest as she narrows her eyes boredly at me. “Cause the main point here is my lack of plan.”

“Unless of course, you do have a plan…?” Creepy asked, her eyebrows cocked upward as she looks expectantly at the bored looking Psycho. Actually, I’m pretty sure everyone is looking at the Psycho expectantly, waiting for her to surprise us and make us think that she does have a plan. But you know, that turned out to be just wishful thinking on our part especially when she just shrugged, not a care in the world and admitted,

“I don’t.”

And cue narrowed eyes and slumped shoulders while an unseen, animated sweatdrop drops on the side of our faces. I mean, that’s how an anime character responds to a fucked up statement or situations right? Or was it that stumbling a bit move thingy. You know, that move wherein everyone falls down the floor with sweatdrop on top of their heads, while the comical one innocently wonders what he or she did to make everyone react that way. Again, anime reference right there. But we’re getting off topic huh. Well point is, either of those would do if a fucked up situation or someone saying something stupid happens. Kinda like what Crazy Psycho just said about her lack of plan. 

“What’s with the looks of disappointments?” She asked as she raised her eyebrow, looking at each one of us. “I told you guys that this is a business meeting. I’m not having a meeting with myself here am I? Like Haruna-chan said, we should all work together right?” She turns to look at the person beside me, looking expectantly at her and a bit hopeful that she’d support what this Crazy ass just said.

“Still, you’re the manager. You’re supposed to be leading here, telling us what to do.” The Sexytary groaned after she face palmed herself.

“W-well then I’m telling you guys to think of something then for us to make this whole place work since if we don’t, my Dad might fire Yuki.”

“It doesn’t seem fair of your dad to bring up Yuki to all this.” Creepy pointed out with a frown, her lip jutting out a little bit. Hmm. You know, she does have a point. But I have a feeling that the Sexytary’s the one who bought this whole problem among herself. I mean, she seemed to have this anxious vibe that we have to deal with this problem pronto. Yeah, somehow that reeks the words ‘my fault’ really.

“This is actually his way of forcing me to act.” Miichan replied with a bored sigh. Her gaze trained at my cup of coffee. “He knows how much I care for my friends, that I’d do anything for them so he does this from time to time.” A sad smile made its way across her lips as her eyes made its way to me. It made me frown a bit mainly because I really didn’t know that. It made me wonder if her rich dad made any threat regarding me…?

“Again with the unfairness.” Creepy simply pointed out again causing us to look at her. Miichan was about to respond to that when we suddenly hear the Sexytary sigh.

“Actually this is all on me.” The Sexytary admitted as she rests her chin in her hands, looking miserably at the table. “I told Miichan’s father that I could prove to him that Miichan can do this. That she can lead and be the kind of successor that he wants her to be.”

Knew it.

“Miichan’s father…isn’t really that bad.”

I narrowed my eyes. I seriously beg to differ. I’ve had a few moments with Rich dad and…yeah he doesn’t really like me. One particular memory I have of him is when I found him looking around my room. Yeah, not our house but MY ROOM. Turns out he’s a trespasser and people like that are considered ‘bad’ on my book. So yeah, that’s why disagreeing to what the Sexytary had stated about him not really that bad. Because again, trespasser awardee there along with the likes of Snorlax, Creepy and of course the Crazy Psycho? They’re bad.

You’re more interested to know what he wanted from me? Why was he in my room you ask?

Well you know, the usual. He wanted to discuss something with me regarding his daughter and also his son since he knew of Suck-Up’s attraction towards me—which again, eww. So yeah, he talked to me, tells me the cliché stuff to stay away from his kids because I’m no good for them and…who am I to say no to that, right? Because he’s right. I am no good for them. Yeah so with a nonchalant shrug and without a care in the world I told him in exact words, “Okay. Sure. No problem. But can you tell them to leave me alone as well? It wouldn’t really work if I’m the only one who’s backing off given how they are.”

He seems surprised at that like he expected me to fight for them or something. Like I would. Geez. Obviously he doesn’t know me. So anyway, long story short, that obviously didn’t work and I’m really not the one to blame for that one. I mean, I agree with him. It’s his kids that obviously doesn’t agree with him as they kept on sticking to me like glue. Ugh.

“He really just wants what’s best for you.” The Sexytary added giving the Psycho a small smile which of course, the latter rolled her eyes at.

“Right, right. I heard that before.” She grumbled in annoyance, looking away and letting out a sigh. “I already said I’m going to do this because I don’t want you to lose your job because of me. Plus Kuu’s being an ass right now and he really needs to be taught a lesson especially when it comes to money. He’s wasting so much money like it’s on fire and…” She trailed off frowning as it looked like something caught her eye. I was right as she turned fully to look at the bar, pointing at the object that caught her attention as she looked at me then at the Sexytary. “…why is there money inside that jar? I thought you were closed.”

I narrowed my eyes as the Sexytary and Snorlax shared a knowing look along with a grin after they simultaneously answered, “Donation,” to the still confused looking Miichan.

“Donation to what? And why are you guys looking at Mariko like that?” She looked at the two confusedly for a moment before cracking a smile and made a brilliant, yet completely off track assumption that actually rendered the Sexytary momentarily dumbfounded.

“Did Mariko play her guitar outside looking like a street performer? Because you know, back in high school, I told her it would be awesome if we jammed in a park or in a street and just play to earn some money.” She let out a chuckle at the memory before she grinned and wiggled her eyebrow at the two, completely unaware how the Sexytary suddenly stiffened in surprise. “I mean, I saw a couple of performers on the street and they’re getting some money out of it, so why not do it, right? It seemed like a pretty cool thing to do, not to mention fun. I imagined people throwing money at us and screaming for an encore. I also imagined hot ladies throwing themselves at me, you know.”

“Right.” I drawled as I nodded my head, my eyes narrowing a bit. “Cause you know, pigs fly around the city spreading bacon to the poor. Meanwhile, like the pigs flying, the Care bears—who are known for their fuzziness and their drugged like tattoos on their bellies or chests—are out there prancing around, spreading love while Cupid drenched his arrows in poison plotting his evil revenge on them for stealing his job.” I tell her while I nod and shrug every once in a while. I found it hilarious as Miichan’s smile slowly turns into a pained look that oddly reminds me of constipation. But despite the hilarity of it, I restrained the grin that was tempting to appear on my lips and kept my blasé face as I continue my whacked up tale, trying to subtly and antagonizingly pointing out my point to her delusions in a Scrooge fucked up way.

I wasn’t the least surprised when confused and wigged out stares were aimed at me. Meh, it confuses the hell out of me too anyway. But again, I’m just proving my point here. I am amusingly proving my point in a messed up way. Heh. Like that’s surprising.

“You know, sometimes I wonder if I really am the Crazy Psycho here.” Miichan sighed, looking like she’s disappointed or something. Yeah well, whatever.

Snorlax shook her head. “You are truly one of a kind.” True dat.

“Wacko. Maybe we should call you that.” Creepy flatly said as she narrowed her eyes boredly at me. Like you’re not a wacko as well. Psh.

I glanced at Haruna and found her doing that grimace smile again while she looks at me. Shouldn’t she be supportive here or something? Like saying, ‘You have made an amazing point. I am so proud that you are my girlfriend.’ Hmmm. You know, I actually imagined that in her voice minus the whole stuttering and nervous thing. Kinda sounded like…someone different. Huh.

“Okay, getting back to the topic for the nth time.” The Sexytary suddenly intrude as she stood up and waved her hand, grinning. “Let’s not jump into the crazy topic bandwagon for at least a couple of minutes here since I—or rather Miichan— just thought of an idea that might actually work in this place.”

The Crazies and Haruna turned to look at the beaming Sexytary, confusion apparent in their faces. Me? I just narrowed my eyes at her enthusiastic form, giving her a look of indifference as I sort of have an idea as what’s going on in the Sexytary’s head. Given what the Crazy Psycho said earlier about musicians getting money from performing in a park or in a middle of the sidewalk and how the Sexytary’s face lightened up at that, it doesn’t really take a genius to put two and two together, huh.


---

So yeah, cutting the long, boring story short, the Sexytary—or in her case, Miichan—came up with a simple idea of using the worn out looking stage in the middle of the bar and encourage aspiring performers or bands to perform there. It’s a ‘they play we pay’ kind of deal. I think the Sexytary wants to pay them at least a certain percentage of our daily sales or something. But first things first, we needed a ‘kickass’ opening to encourage these aspiring bands to perform. Miichan’s words really, not mine. That’s why we’re here basically. Since Smiles band manager and some his band members are such douche that they don’t want to play for free to somehow help us promote, the Sexytary simply suggested that me, Miichan, Whitey—whom Haruna suggested since she can play the organ—and Smiles just play like old time sakes since she said we were pretty good when we played that one time gig at prom during high school. Minus Whitey that is since we weren’t schoolmates back then, but you already got that huh.

Surprised to hear that we played a gig at prom?

Yeah, so did the other crazies and Haruna. Creepy and Snorlax kept asking me questions about that and I just growled out that I didn’t want to talk about it whilst—they say—I was blushing which I have no idea if I really did do. But seeing Haruna looking curiously at me, looking like she wants to ask further but was trying to restrain herself by biting her lower lip, tells me that I maybe I was blushing. It’s just…there’s just an unwanted memory there of Smiles being…Smiles so I didn’t want to divulge further. Plus that day was when………

….Anyway, yeah, us being the opening act plus urging aspiring bands to play? That’s the main plan, really.

Is it simple?

Yes.

Could that plan over throw Club Red’s revenue and defeat that snarly, egocentric, barf-worthy suck-up?

No, it won’t since that place is always packed with gyrating, heated bodies of horny youths infected with PV. I should know since I’ve been hit on by those when I went there. But Miichan pointed out that we only need to show that we could make money out of having little money to her Rich dad because that’s how Rich dad got his money. She said that that alone could impress him. Keyword: Could. We’re all 50-50 here really and…I guess it’s better than doing nothing. But that’s what we’re doing right now huh since Smiles isn’t here yet. Geez.

After shaking my head and letting out a sigh, I hopped off the bar stool flatly saying, “Well since we’re waiting for the star to show up, I think it’s better if you just point me to where your studio is so I can just wait there in peace and maybe reacquaint myself with an instrument.” Well it does seem like it’s been a while since I’ve held a guitar. Last time was when we were in an auditorium huh, when Haruna sang her song to the crazies. That was…a couple of weeks ago? Huh. Funny how it seems like it’s been months since that happened.

“Well I was thinking more of you accompanying me to the grocery store across the street.” Miichan says as she placed a hand on the marble counter, her head tilted slightly as she looked at me expectantly. “We do need to eat you know, and with—”

“Yes, you’re right. I’ll just look for it myself. Great idea by the way.” I cut her off, waving my hand dismissively as I turned towards the door behind me where the Cyborg walked out just a few minutes ago. I narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips, ignoring Crazy Psycho angrily calling out to me and Whitey trying to calm her down from behind as I pushed the swing door open and stepped inside another 3d rendered like dining room. Finding two doors on either side of the room, I let out a sigh. Guess I’m going to look around the place as well.

Whooopeeedooo, says I in a lethargic squeal of delight.

Ugh.


_______



“Finally.” I sighed with a frown as I finally found Miichan’s studio. It actually took me 4 normal looking doors—that thankfully doesn’t send me to some place like Narnia or in a magical drugged up place full of unicorns that only Crazy Psycho could come up with—a heated glare from the Cyborg as she unconsciously murder a plant in the living room by excessively watering it whilst she gives me the evil eye, and a sad sigh coming out of Fang’s back side as she probably contemplates on jumping off the balcony since she was still there when I passed by the living room. Quite an adventure huh. You know, I should be all ‘tada’ here but…

“Oh hey Mariko.” I hear Snorlax’s voice from behind along with her footsteps as she probably walks towards me. I glanced over my shoulder and see that she was indeed walking towards me, grinning. “I see you went ahead and looked ar—” And now she’s not since I just closed the door on her face. Hmmm. Now the sound effect seems appropriate to insert here so...

…TADA!

Oh, I’m being a bitch here you say? Yeah well she wanted to learn more about the word ‘bitch.’ I’m just trying to be a good friend here and teach her about it so don’t give me that condescending look. Geez.

I placed my coat and leather shoulder bag on the couch by the middle of the room then made my way towards the laid out instruments until the door suddenly opened and in came a probably miffed looking Snorlax since she furiously exclaimed, “Hey! You almost hit my face there!”

“How very observant of you.” I glanced back at her and yep, she’s glaring at me, gritting her teeth as she does so while her hands rests on her waist. My eyebrow quirked up as I continue to glance at her over my shoulder, giving her a look of indifference as I pointed out, “But the keyword is ‘almost.’ Fact is, you didn’t get hit so don’t go all whiney about it,” before turning back towards the instruments and walking towards it.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t deserve a sorry from you. Because I do deserve it.” I hear her frustratedly sighed out just as I stood before an acoustic guitar in a stand.

I hesitated for a moment to take it as an idea came over me. I resisted the urge to grin and kept my face passive as I turned to look at her fully, crossing my arms over my chest as I do so which ultimately caused her to slightly jerk in surprise. Well, that’s totally nothing compared to when I let out a sigh then softly said, “You’re right and…I’m sorry Sayaka for almost hitting your face with the door. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?” before tilting my head slightly to the side and looking at her expectantly for her reply. The reply I got from her by saying that?

One word?

Slack-jawed.

Just the way I anticipated it, really. I wonder though if this somewhat creepy look she has on—which reminds me of the movie ‘The Ring’ since she kinda looks like one of Sadako’s victims really—has got to do with me doing exactly what she wanted me to do—which is to apologize—or it has something to do with me saying her real name. Hmmm. Curious yet…nah. Who am I kidding. I’m not really curious since I just really want her to see her reaction like that. Heh.

With her dumbfounded expression still in place and the lack of words coming out of her mouth for almost a minute, my eyes momentarily made its way to her stomach to see if she’s still breathing. Finding that she is indeed still breathing—which I’m thankful for since Haruna might get a bit disappointed if I just suddenly killed one of her friend, mind you—I looked back at her almost bulging eyes and let the crooked smile that I was restraining appear across my lips.

“Right. So glad we cleared that up with so much words then.” I tell her as I moved my eyebrows. Without waiting for a proper response out of her—which I’m guess can probably take a while—I shook my head and turned towards the instruments once again. This time, unlike earlier, I didn’t hesitate this time to take the acoustic guitar from its stand. After slinging the strap over my head, I made my way towards a Cajon, sat on it, cradled the guitar in my arms and began tuning the strings for a moment. Thankfully after a few gentle strum of the guitar, she finally snapped out of her trance. 

“I uh…what just happened?” She asked with a frown, eyes shifting around the room looking completely weirded out.

With my bored eyes observing her while I cradle the guitar, I answered, "Well, I offered you my apologies which you rudely replied back by going full retard on me. Rude much?"

She turned her incredulous look to me. "Can you blame me? You just suddenly apologized and said my name! In case you didn't know, that last one is a killer especially since this is actually the second time you've called me by my name after all these months."

"Actually it's the third time.” I informed her causing her to look at me confusedly which in turn caused me to roll my eyes. But then of course I answered her silent question to me with a sigh and a nonchalant shrug. “I mentioned your name a while ago to Whitey."

"Whitey?"

"Rena." Was the name that easily rolled out of my mouth without so much as a stutter or even a millisecond pause of hesitation, in which slowly brought about that retard look on her once again. I could understand the return of that look, sure. I mean I just suddenly blurted that out—which I believe is Whitey’s real name—to Snorlax, surprising her and…to be completely honest, surprised me also since I wasn’t really aware that I actually even know Whitey’s real name! It’s completely fucked up and I would be lying if I say that it’s not creeping me out a bit. I’m not showing it though since I’m trying to act all cool and indifferent about it especially since I just remembered how my brain and apparently my auto delete function seems to be screwed up nowadays. Snorlax though? Yeah, she’s not really restraining how creeped out she is about all of these as she began pacing back and forth, messing her hair a bit with her hands looking like she’s about to have a mini mental breakdown or something.

"Oh god. Oh god. This is...this is a dream. God it has to be! I mean, real names of people you've known are going out of your mouth! This...this has to be a dream...unless...I'm dead?” She deduced as she continue to pace around, her eyes locked on the floor, her frown deepening. “Am I…dead?"

"Yes you are. You're actually dead and this is a figment of your imagination as a dead person.” I tell her sarcastically after I rolled my eyes. “You actually died just a minute ago when I ALMOST slammed the door in your face which immediately prompted to your demise. And you know I’m actually the ghost of your Christmas after future, determine to change your Snorlax-like sleeping habits so yeah…boo."

Thankfully, it seems to snap her out a bit from her deranged problem as her being dead. Keywords: A bit. Yes, despite her pacing around along with her looking like she had dandruff problems by scratching and messing her hair suddenly stopped, she still looks to be a bit…lost.

“I think…I think I need to lie down now and—“

“—think of what your purpose in life is?” I cut her off as my eyebrow quirked up.

She seemed to be baffled at that as she continues to look at the floor, frowning until a hand made its way to her forehead and she nodded. “Yes, you’re right.” She said without looking at me still looking confused.

She began mumbling out words under her breath as she turned towards the door, walking towards it until finally walking out of it as if in a trance. Looking at her retreating form, you know, despite trolling her a bit, I can’t help but worry here. I mean, it looks like I literally broke her mentally. Like she needs guidance in order to point her towards where the loony bin is. Seriously. I think I’ll check on her in a little while. I don’t want to go back to Haruna and tell her how we skipped practice to drive Sayaka to the nearest madhouse you know.

Heh. You know, I can actually imagine it happening.

I’ll come back from our dorm room late at night all tired, causing me to let out a sigh as I fished out my keys inside my pocket. Opening the door and finding the room covered in darkness with just the light of the moon illuminating the place a little through a window, I’ll bite my lower lip and tell myself to be quiet as I really don’t want to wake her up, thinking that she’s probably tired herself. I’ll squint my eyes, bite my lip a little harder as I close the door and then I’ll pause for a second once that’s over and done with to hear if I was successful in being quiet. I’ll hear nothing and I’ll smile a little, thankful for not waking her. I’ll even send a thank you to God for something so simple as that. Yes, I’ll be that happy and I’ll be that lame, just because I didn’t wake her.

But then the thought of my little quest not being over since I’m still not in my bed sleeping away my tiredness from all the madness that had occurred to me that day would instantly wipe away the smile across my face.

With that thought in mind, I would let out another soft sigh and lock my gaze at the window which will be my guide. I’ll bite my lip once again, concentrating on being quiet. I’ll take one step, two, then three as I make my way towards my bed until finally, upon reaching it, I’ll let out a sigh of relief, a smile and I’ll—

“Okaeri…”

—flinch upon hearing her soft greeting to me. I’ll curse myself for a moment and wonder how she found me out until I’ll hear the scuffle of the sheets from behind me and then she’ll turn on her lamp on her bedside table. Letting out a defeated sigh, I’ll turn towards her and I’ll see her sitting on her bed in her white pajamas, hair messy than usual, yawning while she reaches for her glasses on the bedside table. I’ll watch her rub the sleep in her eyes using the back of her hand much like a cat would and…I’ll smile because I’ll find it cute.

It is cute. She is cute.

“How was your day?” She’ll ask me with a warm smile as she looks up at me after she puts on her glasses.

No, she’s beautiful.

And then I’ll wonder, while I’m looking at her still sleepy face, why I hadn’t realized that when I first met her. Why hadn’t I realize how beautiful she is? But then I’ll just smirk at that thought because…you know you got to hand to her. I mean, even though I hadn’t realized that?

“Are you hungry? I-I do have some melon bread if y-you are.”

Yeah, she was the one who made me realize it.

Keeping the smile on my face, I’ll shake my head and tell her I’m not hungry. Like me, she’ll keep her tired yet warm smile and nod at my answer then she’ll ask again how my day is despite how her eyes would blink a couple of times as if she was trying to keep them from closing. Noticing this, instead of telling her how tiresome my day was, I’d tell her to go back to sleep because it’s late and she looks really tired. She’ll shake her head and frown a little and try to convince me that she’s not tired, but I’ll have none of it.

Rolling my eyes with a smile, I'll walk towards her, crouch down in front of her, and place both my hands on her shoulder. I’ll give her a gentle smile, the gentlest I have ever given anyone  and tell her softly to go back to sleep and let her know about it all in the morning. That wouldn't convince her, in fact, hearing that would make her a bit sad. I would see it in the way her shoulder would slump a little, the way she would let out a soft sigh, the way her smile would falter…

…I would see it in her eyes.

It would remind her of our situation once again. How little we spend time together as a couple. It would cross my mind as well and I would feel that certain twinge in my chest at that thought. I would feel the same and like me, she would see it too. But I wouldn’t linger at that thought for long because I would then remember how I promised her that we would spend time together. I made her a promise and I always keep my promises, you know.

Shaking those thoughts away, I would once again reassure her that I would tell her about it in the morning. I’ll tell her again with a small smile, I’ll urge her again quietly to go back to sleep as I squeeze her shoulders. She’ll hesitate for a moment while she bites her lower lip until she’ll let out a sigh and nod her head finally relenting. I’ll remove my hold on her shoulders and back off a little as she removes her glasses, pull back her covers and slip inside them once again. She’ll turn towards me and face me once she’s comfortable in bed. She’ll pull up her blanket up until her chin then she’ll give me a shy smile and whisper her goodnight to me and that she’ll see me in the morning. I’ll tell her and promise her that she will as I give her a smile which she will return tenfold. Grinning at that, I’ll nod my head and tell goodnight before I stand up and get ready for bed. Her eyes would follow me around as I get the things I needed for my nightly shower and only after I close the door to the bathroom will she finally close her tired eyes and drift off to sleep. That’s what I’ll see once I get out of the bathroom; her sleeping peacefully.

It would make me smile, seeing her like that. It always has and…I bet it always will. I’ll move closer to her once again, quietly and unlike earlier, this time, I would be successful. I’ll close her little lamp in her bedside table that she obviously kept on for my sake and then I’ll just…watch her through the darkness. I’ll sit on the floor near her bed much like that time I waited for her to wake up; much like how I usually do whenever I find her sleeping. It has now become a habit of mine to just sit there in the dark, hugging my knees tight against my chest and just…watch her for a few hours while she sleeps. This was really her thing as there are times in the past wherein I think I caught her looking at me, but now, yeah, it became my thing as well. But then watching her sleep in the dark, despite how it makes me smile, makes me happy, how it makes me think back and how it makes me think forward; despite all the positive side, one negative side outweighs them all.

It'll just make me miss her more.

I let out a sigh as I looked at the guitar in my arms, unconsciously strumming it lightly until I became aware of how familiar the tune is. It made me frown and smile at the same time at the sudden memory it brought. It’s weird but I’ve only played this song once during my parent’s wedding anniversary when I was fourteen. Thinking about it, I really…didn’t get what this song meant despite playing it in front of two people who are so into each other even after all these years. Who I saw were wrapped around each other. Who I saw tearing up as they look lovingly at each other while we play their song. Who I saw whisper sweet promises while they dance slowly in the middle of the dance floor in side their little bubble. They were in their own world, no one but them and their song. While I was looking at them as I strum that sweet melody and listen to the overly sappy lyrics being sang, at that time, I didn’t get it. Now, with my thoughts only consisting of her, how my heart pounds loudly against my chest upon remembering her smile, how easily my lips curled into a smile upon seeing her…yeah…

…I finally get it.

“I want her everywhere and if she's beside me
I know I need never care…”

That deep, pleasant singing voice suddenly trailed off much like my strumming as I turned to look at that person. His lips curled into a small smile, greeting me with it as he stood a few feet away, leaning against the doorway with his hands on his pocket.

I stared at him for a moment, just staring blankly at him. It made remember that I hadn’t really talked to him ever since I had myself a girlfriend. We haven’t talked about it like just the two of us. The last time I saw him was when the crazies dragged me towards the park to play some balls and…maybe he went there to talk to me in order to have some kind of closure, you know. Well at least that’s what Miichan says even though I reminded her about how I did tell Smiles that I’m just not into him when we were in high school. She tells me this is a new kind of dumping, like the second time around kind of dumping—her words not mine—for Smiles and that I should go and break his heart for the second time around just so he would HOPEFULLY back off and we could go back to being best of friends that had no unnecessary tension whatsoever. She does tell me that every now and then to remind me talk to Smiles personally, but…I don’t know what to say to him to get that closure he once again deserves.

‘It’s not you, it’s me.’ Totally overused. Kinda lame as well. No.

‘The timing is just bad.’ Kinda sad how I never got to that good timing for him even after all these years. But then Haruna’s timing is just excellent, so no. It doesn’t really justify what happened.

‘We were just in different places in our lives.’ And if I say that and he asks me to elaborate more, I’d probably just shrug and tell him to figure it out because I have no idea what places we are really. I know that we’re both in Tokyo so…what is this different places doth I speaketh of?

‘I need to find myself…’ ...with Haruna as my girlfriend because finding yourself while you have a goody-goody girlfriend helps speed things up. Yeah, that’ll end well.

And then there’s Miichan’s suggestion; ‘You’re really great, awesome even, I’m just an idiot.’ It’s…good. Goes straight to the point. Hmmm. You know I think she suggested that out of spite since I asked if it’s okay that I just say to Smiles, ‘I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to fuck off because I have a girlfriend now.’ Honestly I just said that because she was bothering me with this constantly. Got irritated I guess. Not like that’s new. Tch.

I watch him curiously as he push himself off the doorway.

“But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies…”

He sang as he walks towards me, his seemingly sad eyes locked on mine. My head tilted upwards slowly, following him until he crouched down in front of me, a few feet away from me.

“Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there…”

He sang softly, breathlessly causing my eyes to widen a little. He was silent for a moment, just…looking at me, staring at my eyes as if he’s looking for something.

“Nope. Can’t see it.” He says before he rests his arms on his knees. “I don’t think I ever was in your eyes.”

“You were. You still are.” I replied softly, truthfully, surprising him a little. “It’s just that…it wasn’t what you thought it would be. I just…I can never see you besides being one of my best friend, Kazuhiko.” I tell him before with a small shrug.

I watch as his stunned expression slowly eases up as a wide smile forms across his lips. You know, one thing that was said about Smiles—or Kazuhiko—is that his smile is ridiculously contagious. I’ve been told, threatened and been whined at countless of times about that. I think I’ve been mostly threatened but I’m not really counting. So anyway, I didn’t really believe that at first, but yeah I’ve been a victim of his smile a few times especially if I’m not in the mood to kill someone and he’s doing that…thing wherein he smiles at you so genuinely with his eyes smiling the same way. It just gets to you, you know.

He let out a chuckle before saying, “You know I was actually expecting you to say the ‘it’s not you, it’s me,’ excuse,” as he sat down on the floor, he pressed the palm of his hands on the tilted floor from behind him to support his weight. “With you adding up how you’re now a lesbian of course.”

“I don’t really consider myself a lesbian.” I narrowed my eyes a little and nod my head, keeping the grin across my lips. “I’m more of a one woman kind of gal, really. Like really REALLY, you know.” And I wiggled my eyebrows a bit suggestively causing him to laugh once again.

“Did Haruna ever see you do that? Because you seriously look like a perv.”

Good thing he called my girlfriend that, because I’ve been meaning to ask…

“So…” I drawled as I placed the guitar down beside me. With a raised eyebrow, I crossed both my legs and arms and asked monotonously, “…when did this ‘Haruna’ name thing happened?” while I put air quotes on Haruna’s name.

His eyebrow arched up upon hearing that. “Is this heading towards a ‘man to man’ conversation wherein you tell me to back off of your woman? Because…I think I hear jealousy in your tone there Scrooge.” He says, imitating me with the air quotes. Tch.

“I’m not jealous, I’m just…curious.” Okay so maybe just a tad bit jealous, and a bit wary, and a bit weirded out, but let’s not say that just so I don’t agree to him.

He scoffed then leered at me. “Is that what they call it nowadays?”

“Well if you’re implying that ‘jealous’ and ‘curious’ are one in the same or interchangeable, no it isn’t, so please burn the thesaurus in your apartment for it teaches you wrong things.” I pointed out irritably which instantly wiped off the amusement in his face as he narrowed his eyes and looked at me boredly. Meh, I’m just telling him the facts, really.

“So, since we cleared that up, do you mind answering my question?”

He stared boredly at me for a moment before he let out a sigh. “The stick is still up there, huh.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just answer the damn question.”

“We talked. With words. And with feelings. That’s it.” He says as he held out his hands as if in surrender. He then propped his elbow on his knee, resting his chin on the palm of his hand as he continues to looked at me. “And if you ask what we talked about, it’s you and a bunch of other things. But mostly it involves feelings for you.”

I frowned as I looked away not really liking that. It feels like they’re comparing notes or something and that’s...that feels a bit weird and a bit wrong. Hmm.

“You know she’s pretty cool. She gets flustered very easily though especially when your name comes up in the conversation.” Smiles added, causing me to look back at him. He has his eyes on the floor while he smiles. “It’s pretty cute how she’d avoid my eyes by looking at the table, blushing and then she’ll bite her lip as if she’s trying to contain her…happiness or something. She’s…really something. Adorable. Cute. You’re lu—“And he cuts himself off for a second as he looks back at me then shook his head, grinning. “You’re jealous.”

“I’m not.” I growled with gritted teeth. Okay, so that’s a lie because I’m sort of planning his death right now plus I’m sort of seeing red, bold and capitalized letters on top of his head that says ‘KILL KILL KILL.’ So maybe I am a tad bit jealous here. Yeah, just a tad bit, deal with it.

“Okay then, you’re not.” He says before rolling his eyes, obviously not believing me. I wouldn’t believe me either. Tch.

“But just for your non-jealousy feelings, I know the rules okay? Can look, but not touch. Plus, she’s really not my type.” He nodded, trying to appease me which is sort of working, but...I’m a bit wary about the looking thing especially if he just called Haruna adorable and cute. Does that means he has that 0.5% crush on Haruna then? I mean those adjectives are pretty similar to the word beautiful and—oh god. Why the hell am I thinking about this anyway? It’s freaking Smiles. I know him and where he lives. He’d be dead if he ever hits on Haruna so…whatever with a bit of cautious on the side. Just to be sure.

“So…where is everybody anyway?” He suddenly asks as he stood up, unconsciously brushed the dust that probably doesn’t exist because the place seems spotless and began turning his head to look around with a small frown across his face. “I mean, I saw Sayaka lying on the sofa looking like she’s sleeping—”

I narrowed my eyes at that. And she says she’s going to reflect on what her purpose in life is. Typical Snorlax sleeping on a job. Psh.

“—I saw an unknown girl by the balcony—“

Still? Hmmm. Should I be worried now? ….Meh. She’ll be fine. She’s probably reflecting on her purpose of life as well. I say as well because maybe Snorlax’s thinking about it by dreaming, you know. I think that’s her special power or something.

“—and hadn’t seen anyone besides those two and you of course so…where’s everybody at?”

So that’s Snorlax, Fang and Me. Whitey probably joined the hunt for groceries with Miichan. Hmmm. I think he missed seeing the robotic figure in the household. “Did you miss the Cyborg who opened the door to Narnia for you?” I asked.

“No…” He drawled as he turned to look down on me with a frown, looking a bit weirded out by what I said. “I stayed here a couple of days ago since my roommates were being a pain and I forgot to return it to Miichan.” He explains further as he pulled out in his jacket pocket and held out the vintage looking key fit for the Hogwarts door for me to see.

“Right. Well they’re probably hunting dragons for us to have a decent meal or something.” I shrugged nonchalantly as I grabbed the guitar once again, placed it in my lap and began softly strumming it once again. I kept my eyes on the neck of the guitar, not bothering to look back at Smiles as I hear him mumble out the word ‘dragons’ while he walks to where the drum set is.

“That why you’re singing here all alone?” He asks while he lightly hit the Tom-Toms with the drum stick.

I glanced at him over my shoulders as I stated the obvious, “I wasn’t singing,” before I turned back and looked at the guitar in my arms.

“Why didn’t you?”

“Mainly because I don’t sing.” I frowned not really knowing why he’s asking this when he knows quite well that I don’t sing. My eyebrow quirked up when after a moment of silence, he played that after a joke tune in the drums. Does he think I’m joking here? Because I’m not. I was always the instrument playing kind of girl. I leave the singing to Smiles and even Miichan. Always the player, never the singer. I just…never sang before, you know. So what is he…?

“I don’t think I ever told you this before or anyone for that matter, but there was this girl back in high school.” He started, causing me to glance back at him over my shoulder. He was looking at the Tom-Toms with a nostalgic across smile on his face as he twirls the drumstick in between his fingers. “One day, just as I was about to step off of our school grounds, Miichan suddenly called out to me from behind. She asked me to look for you while she hides so that both of you can go home together now and fast while your fans club aren’t there to torture her. Apparently she was getting an earful of teenage woes and drama about ‘Mariko-sama’ here and ‘Mariko-sama’ there, which lamely enough, somehow I can relate to.” He gave a nonchalant shrug at that.

I narrowed my eyes and…ugh. Need I say more?

“So with nothing better to do and with a promise of her giving me her dessert the next day, I cut off her whines and decided to help her out. I decided to look for you and…boy, were you hard to find. I mean, I’ve literally looked everywhere. The waiting area in the principal’s office, the bleachers of the locker room wherein you’d sometimes lay and be lazy, in the empty canteen wherein you’d like to just sit and read, underneath the teacher’s table in the Science Lab…” He let out a chuckle before he stopped twirling the drumstick.

“Just about anywhere that I thought you would be. Places that screams ‘leave me alone.’ Places that doesn’t scream the word ‘cliché’ because you weren’t really keen on cliché stuff, right? But then, accidentally after looking at the Science Lab, I found you on the most cliché place at school or at least I think that was you.” He slowly tilts his head upward to look at me, giving me that knowing look as he kept that small smile on his lips. Seeing that and somehow knowing where this is going, the frown on my face slowly eased up until I was giving him a blank stare.

“See this person, this girl I found on the rooftop, holding a guitar, singing, with tears forming in her eyes, looked so vulnerable that I had a hard time recognizing her. I just stood there, watching her through the slightly opened door, listening to her sing which really wasn’t that bad. For me it was mesmerizing though, mainly because she sings it with her heart.” I watch as he stood up from where he is seated and took a step towards me, still holding the drumstick in his hand. I kept my blank, cold stare aimed at him as I continue to look at him over my shoulder. The warm smile that appeared on his lips did nothing to soothe the sudden coldness I feel.

“But see, one thing that captured me as well as I listen to her sing was that she…it feels like she wasn’t singing about herself. It was like, she was singing for someone else…” He took another step, keeping his calm eyes locked on my angry, cold ones.

I glared at him. “If you’re heading where I think you’re heading, then you better stop now.” I snarled, gripping the neck of the guitar hard.

He took another step forward, his expression unchanged. “I saw 'her' a couple of days ago Mariko. I asked 'her' what happened and—”

“—and I’m not fucking kidding around, Kazuhiko.” I threatened through gritted teeth. “Leave it alone and—”

“—and 'she' told me everything.”

“Do us all a favor and deepen that, will you…”

My eyes widened and everything around me just…suddenly went silent and...I can hear it again. That sickening sound of the flat line. I can feel my heart pounding hard against my chest. Everything felt colder than before and…I felt something leave me.

My sanity.

I snapped.

I didn’t feel my body move. Didn’t feel nor hear the loud sound of the cymbals when I knocked it to the floor as I dashed towards Kazuhiko. Didn’t hear his grunt of pain as I pushed him hard against the wall. Didn’t feel his heated skin as I choke him with both my hands. Didn’t feel him grab hold of my wrist, gripping it tightly and pulling it. Didn’t hear him mumble out my name as he grits his teeth. Didn’t feel someone’s arms holding me from behind, pulling me away from the coughing Kazuhiko. Didn’t realize that I was struggling, trying to break free from that someone’s hold, cursing Kazuhiko over and over again. All I could hear was that deafening flat line until…

“—a hold of yourself, damn it!”

Breathing hard, I stopped struggling and looked behind over my shoulder to see an anxious looking Sayaka who was holding my arms from behind. Seeing me looking back at her, she let out a sigh and gave me a forced smile.

“Are you back with us, Scrooge?” She asks. “No more screaming blasphemies and hitting me hard with your elbow or even kicking me? Because that hurt a lot.”

“You okay?” I hear a voice on my right side ask. With a frown, I turned and was surprised to see Tomomi a few feet away from us, looking worriedly at me. I glance at Kazuhiko, who was still coughing bit as he leans back on the wall, his one hand caressing his neck.

“…I asked her what happened and she told me everything.”

I clenched my jaw tight and looked away. “Fine. Could you let go of me now?” I said hoarsely as I glanced back at Sayaka. She hesitated at first and looked to be asking for a second opinion from Tomomi as she glanced at her. But then, after talking with their eyes for a moment, she finally decided to give in and remove her hold on me. Good, because I might’ve hit her again if she didn’t. Obviously I’m still pissed and I seriously don’t care if I hurt an innocent bystander who just fucking want to control the riot. Right now, I’m far from caring for anything or anyone.

Right now, I just want Kazuhiko to bleed…to hurt...to die even.

“Hey guys! We’re back and—“ Miichan stopped in midsentence. We all turned to look at her together with Rena and Mayu by the doorway with paper bags in their arms. I see Miichan’s eyes scanning the room and then looking at us, frowning.

“Wh-what…what’s happening here?” She asks as her eyes shifts between me and Kazuhiko. I clenched my fist tight, glaring at the floor as I hear Kazuhiko clear his throat.

“I-It’s…my fault. I shouldn’t have told Mariko—”

I let out a scoff, shaking my head before I say, “You’re just fucking loving this, aren’t you?” as I looked at him, sneering.

“What?” A frown made its way across his face, looking mildly confused.

I took a step forward, ignoring Miichan softly calling out to me. “You don’t get what you want, you go for something that’ll hurt me? Is that it? This is payback, huh.”

“No, I’m just…I’m just trying to help you out.” He reasoned as he pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning on. We stood a couple of feet away from each other, fists clench tight on our sides. His pleading eyes locked on my angry ones. We stood in silence for a few seconds until I let out another scoff as I tilted my head slightly to the side.

“Right, because I SPECIFICALLY asked you for this. To help me out.” I sarcastically said. I see him twitch and I took another step towards him. I felt a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it as if in warning, but I ignored it as I growled out, “I don’t know what fucked up state you were in when you imagined me saying that, because from what I remember, I told you over and over again to let it go! That I don’t need your fucking hero complex butting in in my affairs!”

“I don’t think this is just about you anymore, Mariko.” I hear him mumble with a sad sigh. And you know, after thinking how he had the audacity to tell me that and how much I want to rip his head off…I laughed.

I laughed hard like the madwoman that I’ve become.

“Mariko…” I hear Miichan say before I shook my head with my hand covering my face.

“Right right, because YOU asked and she told you EVERYTHING, huh.” I nodded with a smirk. Removing the hand covering my face, I turned to look back at him. I ignored the worry and sadness that was apparent in his eyes as I gave him a crooked smile. “And now, you feel responsible because, surprisingly, you just found out that you’re in between this. That you’re the center in all this and…you love it, don’t you? You fucking love the attention, huh.”

He frowned and clenched his jaw tight for a second before he roughly says, “Don’t do this Mariko. Don’t—“

“Don’t what? Don’t project my anger towards you? Don’t hurt you?” I shook my head and let out a soft sigh before I made my way towards him, keeping the crooked smile on my lips. I shrugged off the hand that took hold of my arm from behind and ignored the voices that called out my name as I invaded Kazuhiko’s personal space, our faces just inches away from each other. My eyes made its way momentarily to his buttoned shirt and without any second thought, as softly and slowly as I can, I unbuttoned two.

“Aww, c’mon now Kazuhiko. You know if I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t do it that harshly. We’re bestfriends right? For you, I will do it gently…” I trailed off breathlessly as I undo two of his shirt buttons. “…and softly…while I ask you and tell you the obvious…”

My actions caused his neck muscles to move as he swallowed, his jaw tightened, and his breathing sped up instantly. As my blank eyes moved up to his eyes, I clearly saw his apprehension. It was obvious, but despite that, he still stood firm and…it looked like he was willing himself to take whatever it is I dish out on him.

Good.

The crooked smile across my face slowly widened as I saw him clench his jaw tighter the moment I began to softly rub my fingertips against his chest.  “How does it feel to know that…you’re not the one who’s going to save me? That you’re not the one who’s going to make me happy?” I felt him stiffen and his eyes widened a bit as I moved even closer. My fingertips that was toying with his chest earlier was now gently caressing his collar bone, teasing it. My breasts were pressed against his chest and my lips were now just breath away from his. I kept my gaze on him.

“How does it feel to know that…you’ll never get to touch what’s in front of you? That you only get to look, to dream, to fantasize, and never touch?” His eyes widened again and his lips parts a bit as I gently pressed my knee against his groin. I moved my head to the side, positioning my lips to his ear. I felt him stiffen once again as I began grazing my lips against his ear as I whisper, “But Haruna can, because I want her to, I need her to. I ache for her. That she’s the only one who gets to touch me. Ever.”

Slowly, I pulled away and looked into his eyes again. We stood again, face to face and I saw it in his eyes. He was hurting, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to inflict more pain in him. I wanted him to bleed, I wanted him to feel it, to experience it, to know what it’s like, but more importantly, at that time, as bad as it sounds…

…I wanted him to die just a little inside.

I slide my hand slowly downwards until it’s pressed against his chest. I felt it pounding underneath my hand. I looked at my hand for a moment before I turned to look back at him. I felt calm, empty.

“How does it feel like to know that I couldn’t love you? That I’m happy with someone else that isn’t you? Someone who respects me, someone who’s patient and doesn’t push me to know my secrets even though she’s dying to know it all? Someone who puts others first before herself?” I asked in my normal voice…that sounded empty to my own ears. Emotionless…and I hated it, but I didn’t stop.

I didn’t stop. I told him the truth. I told him what I realized that I was feeling.

“How does it feel like to know, to see how deeply in love I am with someone who isn’t you? How does it feel like to know that I am in love with Haruna?”

I saw a flicker of emotion pass by his eyes and I knew I inflicted the little damage I wanted. I can see it in his eyes though. He found it, finally.

His closure I mean.

But it didn’t make me feel better. It actually made me feel worse. Not for him, but for Haruna. It just...it just wasn't right.

I tried to mask my feelings as the corner of my lips tugged up a little and I took a step back. “Hurts doesn’t it?” I asked as I tilted my head slightly to the side, observing his stunned expression. “But that’s probably nothing compared to what I felt before.” I let out a scoff and shook my head a little as I added, “More so what ‘she’s’ feeling now since you asked her what happened…”

A look of realization crosses his face and he looked like he wanted to finally say something back to me, but I didn’t bother to listen as I turned to grab my things and walk out, not bothering to look back as a bunch of people called out to me. I rode the elevator, ran out of the building, ran out to the street. I just…I just need to get out and fast. To run away from everything that’s making me remember, because sooner or later my mind will play what happened over and over again. What I said, what happened, about the guilt I felt, what SHE did and…

…it’ll hurt again.

I don’t want to hurt again.

“…to know that I am in love with Haruna?”

But remembering how I heartlessly said that to Kazuhiko—how I said it to him first when Haruna should be the first one to hear it…just pains me.

“…and kill yourself for all our sake…”

And remembering those cold words as I watch ‘her’ walk away, with a knife just beside my slit wrist…just kills me even more.

I guess it’s sooner and later now, huh.






TBC




________________________________________


Next Up: Let's send some hurt and jealousy in Mariko's way...with kisses as the cure of course.  Continuation of this chap, since the karma isn't actually there yet. 
Seeya! And thanks for reading! 


________________________________________

[chichay12]

Mariko kowai
Oh god i really want to know what will happen next
And im so curios though,whoever smile meet really pissed mariko
I wonder how haruna can calm mariko,maybe some hot kissu? lol
Fof as usual ur update always make me smile

And about ur poll im thinking to change my vote to haruna's pov *sigh
Why so cruel fof ,its so hard to choose!!!! 

Im really looking forward to your next update and pleaseeeeeeeee update soon

[Sara-chan]

Oh God great chap!
surely I'll be checking everyday for a new chapter 

about the poll...I think this gif represents my feelings

[crazywota]

And here I thought this was going to be one of those light chapters, But with that Mariko trying to kill Smiles on the inside. Definitely not. lmao What was that all about?! D: but prolly that "her" is related to Mariko's ultimate secret huh. And Mariko mentioned something about the Kazusomething guy being the center (reason?) of that thingy in the past. I guess I have to wait another 84 years again to know.  I actually had to reread this during my short vacant time in school today, Afraid that I might have missed some important parts since you updated late yesterday, I read this half asleep.   

I missed commenting! Thanks for the update and hopefully not to wait another 84 years 

Lastly, quoting this:

“But Haruna can, because I want her to, I need her to. I ache for her. That she’s the only one who gets to touch me. Ever.”

FAV!! (ﾉ *｀ω´)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

[noah minami]

Haha. Well this time kinda long...
Still waiting for mariharu kissu and about mariko bought haruna handphone...
Mariko sure really mad at him huh?
Mariko is madly in love to haruna . Doesn't he get it?

[Yuki88]

I was about to write comment from my tab after I read it and yet my tab's browser was acting weird so here I am typing from PC ugh.

SO.... FINALLY AN UPDATE YES You know I've been having Basket Case withdrawal these few weeks and you just have to deliver this update right on time HEHEHE <3

To start the comment... I giggled and laughed through the first half of Mariko's sarcastic inner thought lol... until I got into the part where Mariko imagined all those things she wanted to do with Haruna. Made me a little bit confused but then came the part with Smiles. That was so intense when Mariko just.... did those things while throwing those hurtful words on him and I wonder how the Crazies reacted to the scene. Ugh. Now I really wonder what had happened in the past between Mariko and Smiles (and Crazy Psycho). And slit wrist.

Onto less serious topic of the story, Cyborg and Sexytary HAHAHA. The student and the tutor. I love Cyborg LOL.

I feel so OVERWHELMED LOL I can't comment properly right now so I better leave it like this for now and (perhaps) continue later on.

And, oh thx for the 'good luck' lol. I did.... okay. Meh. Then my own fic... ehh...... mmm... ehhh..... I'M DOING MY BEST. *flees*

EDIT:
Finally took time to reread it from the beginning (Yes I did) and... Wow, I guess I failed as a fan that I didn't notice that Mariko had been mentioning "her" several times throughout the story 

And just realized that Mariko actually called the crazies (Fang. Snorlax and Psycho, also Smiles) their real names when she went insane. Holy cow, she was really snapped that bad. 

I really can't wait for the next update, ugh. 

[Haru_Jei]

It is finally here!  

Jesus Christ! Mariko-sama sure is very scary ; I would surely pee even shit my pants if I was rejected that way by her of any girl who's scary as her .
Ever since I've started reading this fic, I've been seriously wondering who is 'she'? 'She must've done something to Mariko-sama that's unforgiving to her.
I'm very eager to know what happen in her past with that person and who she actually is. I think I have a few people in mind but just wasn't sure to say it.

Those fanfics of yours, specifically, POF and BC, they are very long but that didn't stop me from reading them . I'm quite a fast reader and I finish reading both in at least a coupe of days, however I was on winter break which means I got a bunch of free time . That's all thanks to you that I've got the chance to write and share my stories in this forum, and it took quite the courage to post it and to wonder if other people would like it .
Yeah, RJay is my brother. We did watch Mendol Ikemen Idol together, the drama was pretty bad but it was also at the same time really interesting and other AKB shows. So basically, I'm like my brother but wasn't very open to it. My sister too tried to make me watch some yaoi before, I did got weirded out back then but I'm quite use to it right now(I'm not against homosexuality). You doing that to your brother all the time is quite funny, I can imagine a good reaction from that.

You're very welcome and thank you for this amazing chapter as well, even though I was very freaked out by Mariko-sama's anger towards Kazuhiko.

And please do update the next chapter as soon as you can, I will be waiting till that very day.

[giotuyet]

I don't know why but I think SHE's Acchan -o-lll Like Smiles , I try to find out mariko's secret but I fail.  It's too hard. I still wait for their kiss after all ! Sorry for my english. It's bad, I know ! And thank for updating !

[Kirigiri]

Thank you so much for updating!

Wow. That scene with Smiles was just too intense. I can only imagine the look on his face when Mariko snapped at him.  And 'she'. She's so intriguing! I have a guess as to who this person might be, but not really sure. I so want to find out right now. I know everyone does.
Don't mean to sound so demanding, but please update soon! Maybe later or tomorrow? Nah, just kidding. I know you've just updated. Please take your time. But please don't take too long.
lol okay, guess I'm being demanding after all. 

Anyway, thanks again for the update! 

[RJay]

Sorry, I forgot to type in my reply; school has just began.

First of all, FINALLY YOU UPDATED! I thought you had forgotten about us, but since you were very very busy, I understand how you feel right now. Mariko sure is really scary. Don't want to ever mess with her.

That's all I can say right now, since there are stuff I had to do.

Please update real soon! I can't wait for it!

[michiyo48]

Geez I forgot to comment on the first part of this chapter. How baka! I thought I had done this.. Gomenasai, Fof-san! ._.

Thanks for the good luck, I'll do my best!! ^3^

I'm so glad that its updated. I've been waiting for it to be updated

Omg. Mariko is so cool!!! She's just like a very gentleman! Lucky Haruna for having Mariko and I'm smiling alone when Mariko said she needs Haruna.. How sweet! I hope that Smiles and "she" wont intefere their relationship. Anyway, who is "she"? :/

Oh my! I want Haruna to comfort Mariko! ^^ yeah people are right! Maybe by kissing? Haha I want them to have kissu <3

Thanks for the updates!! ^^ I hope you'll update the next chapter soon. I'm curious please do your best in everything!

[Eyescrasher]

YEEEEESSSSS...!!! thank you for the BC update..

[AoiShiori]

I finally had the time to read this and take the time to write a short reply.

No, I should be the one saluting because you write the most awesomest, well-thought of, amazing fan fic EVER   
and don't forget about awesome. Did I just say that already? Oh well, it is still awesome.

You can incorporate a good balance of tension and comedy in story that I really really like.
That's the reason why your my favorite writer 

And for the "she", as much as I'm rattling my noggin who it is. I guess I'll just have to wait for the update.
But no pressure. I'm not rushing you or anything. It's ok if it takes a long time coz I know that the quality of it will simply be the best.

PS: sorry if we can't update Halfway Gone. I'm currently experiencing mental block

Once again, thanks and take care 

[Sara-chan]

Fof-san Where are you? you abandoned us?

[FoF]

^ You know if that was Mariko, I'd probably be persuaded.  Kidding.

Wow, I hadn't realize it was THAT long since I updated this. I thought my last update to this was March.  Guess not. 
So anyway, I was really tempted to bump this a while back just for heads up that, yes I'm not dead. Sorry to disappoint people there.  Still breathing here. I'm just fine and dandy albeit being extremely busy.  <- Thankfully I hadn't experienced that despite the busy-ness.  I am going to continue this soon. Or sooner. Maybe right now........ yeah right. Too bad I missed April fools day. That would've been a good joke. 

So yes. Not abandoning anyone yet. Going to continue. Not sure when. Probably soon. This month soon. So erase that earlier statement of not being sure when then.  Sorry. Lack of sleep brings out the crazy in me. I would say best but my mind's pretty messy right now.  Sara-chan actually did me a favor here by bumping this. I hate bumping my own thread without an actual update. 

So that's that. Ta-ta. See you guys in a few when I'm feeling so FoF. Byers!

[Sara-chan]

I put the gif of haruna, because I'm sure she wants to be lovey dovey with mariko

[Keichan ^_^]

  Well hello there FoF  long time no see~

Popped into jphip for a browse (been years since I last popped in haha) and can't believe that you're still updating haha UPDATE NOW! Need something to read during my travels!

Pleasssssssssssssse~ (Don't even THINK about making me update mine)

Keichan ^_^

[FoF]

First things first...

   HAPPY BEERDAY THEBLUEKNIGHT!!!!!!   

Here's a toast to you and your awesome self.  I know I may troll you a lot, like because I think you're trolltastic  , but also because I think you're awesome. An overthinker, kind hearted, terribly awkward with advices that's love related  (seriously when i think about it, despite the fact we're just chatting, i can feel how uncomfortable you are with the topic.) Still the fact that you listened, means a lot to me. Thank you. Yeah I'm saying my message to you here rather than in FB. Mainly because I feel so touched that you're giving me your MariHaru photo.  One of these days, I'm going to your house. (seriously I will visit you. i'm not kidding so you better let me in and cook me some mexican food, alright?! Let me play your games also. ) So kind, so wonderfully awesome.  despite the fact she rejected me countless of times.  Ah, I'm getting immune to it, Brochan!  Take care always.

So with that heartfelt, doki doki message, I'd like to apologize to people who keep waiting for me to update this. You still there?
Sorry. Normally I'd blame life, but I'm blaming myself for this one. I'm sorry. Really sorry. I'm not feeling fully FoF yet, but I'll get it back.
Oh, funny, tragic story. I wrote this chap like a few months back. I was busy the whole week, and was like, 'i'll write more on the 28th.' So my usual powers emerged and i jinxed myself. I got sick at the 27th, feeling a lot groggy on 28th yet I was writing like 2 version for this since I don't know what version I should go with, then now, the 29th, I'm feverish.  It's funny.  :rofl:Really funny. 

Time traveling time!

Replies for commenters of the previous chapter:

@chichay12: I'm thinking, hot kissu, midnight snuggles that turns to neck kissing. Moving the kisses downwards, lots of blushing, getting sweaty, a bit more and I'd say that'll calm Mariko somehow. And I'm not cruel! I'm just thinking, hey let's play with people for a while. kidding. ^^; Anyway, Thanks for reading and commenting ages ago chichay12!

@Sara-chan: Ah, Sara-chan. I have yet to thank thee for the thread bump. Though it actually made me feel a bit nervous. ^^; Nervous is good though, so thanks. Oh and Sheldon? Love! Not to what he's whining about though. ^^; I don't think I can do all. ^^; Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting!

@crazywota: I think you pretty much jinxed me with the waiting of another 84 years Nontheless, your jinxy powers had left me rested to the point that I don't know how to write anymore. kidding kidding. it's all good. Your comments makes me lol. Like seriously. Anyway, wait again for another 84 years to read the next chap. Thanks for reading and commenting on the previous one!

@noah minami: Ah...Miichan. Goodluck with your finals okay? Work hard and after you can play hard. Don't be too hard on yourself! And stop calling me Mariko! I'm not her! Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting!

@Yuki88: Okay I'm sick right now so I'm entitled for a short reply One thing that stucked with me regarding your comment is when you noticed that Mariko actually called the crazies by their real name. I'm not saying no one else got it, but you were the one who pointed it out. Kudos to you fine lady And you can't wait for the next update? Well too bad you have to wait another 84 years. kidding kidding. Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting!

@Haru_Jei: Awww I'm glad I somehow motivate you to post your stories. I haven't read much akb fics nowadays, but I'm looking forward to reading fics again along with yours And lol at your sister making you watch yaoi The weirded out feelings when you watch yaoi or yuri is pretty much normal, I think. ^^; At least to me, the first time I watched those, made me feel a bit weird. But time makes it better. Understanding other people's lifestyle and respecting them makes it a lot better. It makes you realize that, hey, the world isn't square, it's circle. I have no idea if that makes sense. In my defense Haru_Jei, I'm sick. Anyway, Thanks for reading and commenting!

@giotuyet: Your english is fine. No need to be all sorry. Nobody is perfect, especially in grammar and in english. (please don't hate me people who are perfect in english! ) Anyway, you guessed Acchan. Hmmm. Could be. Not telling...yet. It'll all be clear in the coming chaps. Just a bit more terifying scenes. kidding. Anyway, Thanks for reading and commenting!

@Kirigiri: Awww, uh, I'm sorry I couldn't update soon. And I'm sorry I took too long. Like 5 months long ^^; Been busy. Life. Time. Health. They're against me most times. And the 'she' will be revealed soon. Not soon like later or tomorrow soon though that's impossible for me nowadays ^^; Anyway, i'll try to update as soon as I can. Thanks for reading and commenting!

@RJay: Ah no biggie on forgetting to comment since you had like a 5 months time to do so anyway. ^^; sorry about that. And no way will I forget anyone of you. Mainly because you guys are unforgettable. ^^ Plus there are a bunch of people who reminds me of you guys anyway. So yeah, unforgettable. Hope you're fine Rjay-san. Take care of yourself! Thanks for reading and commenting!

@michiyo48: Ah no worries on forgetting. Got 5 months of MIA anyway. 'She' will make an appearance soon. And kissu? Uh...soon? ^^; Thanks! Do your best in everything as well, okay? Take care michiyo48-san! Thanks for reading and commenting!

@Eyescrasher: YEEEESSSSSS!!!! *salute* Thank you for reading and commenting as well.

@AoiShiori: Uh, much thanks for the praises ^^; I'm feeling a bit feverish right now and your praises isn't helping much on my about to explode head But seriously, thank you I'm just glad people like this. Ah quality...I'm pretty much struggling right now so quality might be more sucky than usual. ^^; Ah, mental block. I won't rush you guys on that either. Just when you feel that rush back into writing? Go for it. Feeling that adrenaline rush when you write makes the story even more awesome. Take care AoiShiori and Cessy10! Thanks for reading and commenting!

@Keichan ^_^: This was seriously a surprise. When  got a notification, i was like, 'wtf?' then i saw who it was and my eyes doubled in size. Then comes the grinning and the missing. :)KEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRING ME FOOD YOU LUCKY FOODPLORER YOU!!!!


To the silent readers and thank you pressers, I thank you as well. 


This isn't the full karma yet. Sorry.  I'll try to update as soon as I can. I need to finish BC before the year ends.
Oh and yanouchi-san actually made a poster for the karma, but...decided against it for the last second. I think it'll be cool if we showed it on the next chap rather than now.   

This is fiction. If I ever offend someone, please feel free to tell me.

Note: italicize letters are flashbacks. 
Thanks for letting me babble a bit.

Try to enjoy and see you guys

_________________________________________________

many thanks to yanouchi for the poster



Chapter 25: Karma’s a BEACH! (Part 3)

“Oh god.” I moaned out as I plopped down heavily on my bed face first on my fluffy pillow, feeling so damn tired and damn hurt. Physically on the hurt part since my lower back’s pretty much killing me. I mean, the whole incident wherein Haruna just suddenly tackled me just…surprised the hell out of me that we ended up falling down. That’s the main reason why there is pain in my lumbar area, really.

It’s pretty funny when you think about it. I mean, after the incident wherein the crazy eyes dorm head just assumed that we were having non-nudity sex—and in which, she assumed was me moaning out my pleasure on the floor and in front of the dorm—she just literally threw a fit, telling us to get up and get inside her office slash room pronto. Thankfully after getting help from Haruna and after much grunting on my part, we eventually got inside, in which the dorm head threw another loud fit and was gracious enough to wash my face with her saliva. Sarcasm with a touch of grossness there by the way. So anyway, she stated angrily about rule number whatever of the dorms which is NO SEX IN THE DORM! Yup, bold and capitalized with a special participation of the veins in her eyes. Given how I am, I just flatly stated the obvious that we weren’t LITERALLY IN THE DORM, you know. That’s when the special guest—the vein on her temple—made an appearance as she threw yet another fit. It’s a fit fest night, really. Thankfully Haruna’s with me and her goody-goody looks and charm were able to save the day as she stuttered out,

“We were j-just talking Su-Sugawara-san. Shinoda-san just…ca-caught me when I was about to f-fall the st-stairs…”

A half lie half-truth excuse. Could you believe that the dorm head went along with it? Because she did with a twinge of hesitancy mainly because of me. She doesn’t really like me. I think it’s because I was talking back trying to reason out how Haruna and I didn’t violate any rules. That and maybe because I asked her if it’s normal occurrence that her veins are just popping out because it’s freaky. Also advised her that she should get that checked asap for her sake and probably for the dorm’s sake as well since she is the queen of the dorm kingdom. Don’t know why she gave me a murderous glare for that when I was just worried about her health you know. People sure can be ungrateful huh. Tch.

Anyway, we ended up apologizing for the disturbance we caused and we promised to be good little girls who will not have non-nudity sex outside without proper supervision. After that heartfelt apology, we just headed back to our room and into my bed wherein I’m currently smothering my pillow with moans of pain and pleasure. Pain because of my aching lower back and my bruised forehead; Pleasure, because I’m on my bed obviously and it feels like heaven. No perversion meant, really.

What about the girl who screamed out that we were having sex on the ground, you ask?

Dunno. Didn’t really see anyone in the hallways so her roommate probably told her to shut the fuck up because she’s trying to sleep or something. Good for us I guess.

“Does y-your back still hurt?” I hear Haruna softly ask.

Keeping my lazy position of bed planking, I turned my head to one side to look at her. A soft smile instantly formed on my lips upon seeing her sitting on the floor by my bed, looking at me with a worried expression. Would it be sappy of me to say that just seeing her takes the pain away? Yes? Huh. I won’t say that then.

“Just a little bit.” I tell her just as softly. I honestly thought that that would ease up her worry or even her guilt since it is pretty obvious that she’s blaming herself for my lower back injury. How’d I know, you ask? A gut feeling really. Plus, she’s a goody-goody you know. A goody-goody that just wanted to hug me because she felt overwhelmed with happiness and I just instinctively draw back. That when our bodies collided, my hand that was supposed to support both our weights’ just…slipped. True, hurtful and a disappointing story right there. Disappointing in a way that…maybe if she just didn’t surprised me, I wouldn’t have drawn back and I’d get to…hug her. Plus I wouldn’t have fallen and wouldn’t be hurting. But yeah, I’d still get to hug her if that was the case. That’s the main point really.

“What about your forehead?” Her eyes glanced at my forehead for a second before she looked back at my eyes as she bit her lower lip. Looking at her, I wanted to wipe off the apprehension she feels and what better way to do that by…

…replying with a yawn.

For reals. I yawned, like a real yawn wherein you close your eyes for a moment, your mouth opens wide causing your nostrils to stretch wide as well, then you inhale and exhale air much like a vacuum cleaner would. Only brief and totally uncute. Not to say that I think vacuum cleaners are cute, but you get what I mean, right? So anyway, I let out an unexpected yawn and was about to apologize for my unattractiveness when the moment I opened my tired eyes, I was greeted with a warm smile from Haruna. Seemed a bit weird since I thought words were needed to make her smile…not yawns. Huh.

“Sorry about that.” I whispered with a sheepish smile, my cheeks heating up a little from the embarrassment I felt.

“It’s okay.” She shook her head, keeping the warm smile on her face. “Do you still want some ice for your back and forehead? Or do you just want to sleep now?”

“Well I did lamely say that ice would be nice earlier...” I reminded which caused her to chuckle. It made my smile widen, hearing her laugh. “And you know that kind of lameness is really hard to forget.”

“I don’t mind the lameness, it’s cute.” She bit her lower lip then averted her gaze from me for a moment. When she looked back at me through her eyelashes, wearing a faint blush across her cheeks, she whispered, “Y-you’re cute,” before she went back to biting her lower lip and looking away from me.

I blinked back my surprise at that compliment as I stare at the side of her face, particularly her reddening ear and...is it totally lame of me if I replied back by telling her how she’s a lot cuter than me? I’m hesitant on saying that since, not only is it lame, but I have this image in my head wherein if I say that to her, we’d end up moving back in forth in saying who’s cuter. You know, that whole;

‘You’re cute.’
‘No you’re cute.’
‘Na-uh, you’re cuter.’
‘No way, you’re cuter.’

And it’s an endless lame looping over and over again. That’s just ugh, you know. Ugh. But then I do want to say that she is a lot cuter than me…so…
 
“W-well you—“

“I’ll get you some i-ice now.” She suddenly says, cutting me off as she stood up, still looking a bit flustered and still unable to look at me. “I’ll be right back.” She hurriedly added before heading towards the door, leaving me a bit confused.

I hear the door open. “I’ll be—“ I started but was immediately cut off by the sound of the door closing. Yeah, she left me alone, unable to even say that I’ll be waiting for her. Kinda sad really. Ugh. Feels like I did something wrong there. Maybe I shouldn’t have hesitated on telling her she’s cute. She must’ve thought that I hesitated because I had to think it through if she is indeed cute or not, but…sure I did hesitate but not because of that. I guess I’m just…

“Lame. Seriously lame.” I moaned out as I buried my face on the pillow. Why do I continuously suck at this romancing thing? Sometimes when I get the reaction from her that I want—like her blushing, shy smile and whenever she bites her lower lip out of nervousness—I feel like I can do this. That I can be smooth. Hell, I was smooth when I told her my dating plans. But then there are times like this when I hesitate because I think I’m being lame. That and she’ll think I’m lame. But then she did say that she’s okay with the lameness…so… maybe it’s okay to be lame sometimes? I mean, just for her of course. Ugh, it feels like I’m just overthinking this.

“I probably am.” I sighed out as I turned my head back to the side, looking at her bed. My eyes made its way to her wall wherein a bunch of portraits of bearded saints were plastered on the wall. “What do you guys think? Am I overthinking things?” I asked to no one and pretty much got the answer I expected from them which is silence. The clock says tick-tock though. Kinda feels like it’s telling me that time’s a-wasting. Tch. Damn clock.

I let out another sigh that was soon followed by a yawn. My eyes started to get heavy after that and I tried to keep them open, but I was really damn tired. So after willing myself to stay up a little bit longer and wait for Haruna to get back, after just about 5 minutee of waiting, I ended up sleeping a bit. I know, I’m lame-oh. But then I really wasn’t kidding about being tired and I thought that I’ll just give myself a little nap, say about a minute or two, you know. I figured if I hear her come in, I’ll just wake up and then I can finally say that she is cuter than me. That’s the plan, really.

But then I didn’t wake up like that…


----


“Stop it.” I growled in annoyance as I opened an eye to look at the person who keeps on poking my cheek and my arm, frustratingly waking me up from the glorious flashback that my mind was gracing me with. I wasn’t surprised to see a little girl wearing a multicolored beanie looking down at me.

 …Okay, who am I kidding? I’m lying a little about the ‘wasn’t surprised’ part because seeing the multicolored beanie actually threw me off a little. I mean, seriously?

“You’re alive!” She exclaimed excitedly, causing me to roll my eyes and groan out my annoyance again.

“No shit, kid.” I mumbled to myself as I hugged my knees tighter and buried my face against it.

“My Nana says cursing is bad.” She informed me as she sat down next to me, obviously unaware of the dark aura looming over me that says ‘leave me alone.’ Lots of people seem to misread this mood of mine as someone who needs company. I think it’s a common misconception wherein people would think that gloomy looking people who just suddenly crawled inside a dome-like structure in the children's playground at a park to hide and sulk, would want an ear to listen to their boo-hoo sobbing story. An example would be rainbow-beanie-kid here. Though she is just a kid, so maybe I’ll just give her the benefit of the doubt like she just wants to annoy me since she’s bored. Hmm. Kinda reminds me of Miichan. Ugh. I seem to attract people like her huh.

With my eyebrow raised up, I turned to look at her as I rest my chin on top of my knees. “Did she ever tell you not to talk to strangers too?”

“Yup.” Was her chirpy reply, still wearing that beaming smile.

I rolled my eyes and looked away, mumbling indifferently, “Smart kid.” Obviously she didn’t get what I was pointing out here what with her looking like she’s proud that her whatever told her about that. But then again, she is just a kid and I think kids are immune to sarcasm so…meh. Whatever.

“You okay, Shinoda-san?” The multicolored-beanie-girl timidly asked from beside me and upon hearing that, I quickly turned to look at her, shocked.

“You…y-you know me?” I asked as I raised my eyebrow. Cause seriously, what the fuck? I don’t know any kid who’s into psychedelic fashion. I don’t know any other kid for that matter except of course for Maachan. Or…could it be…

“Are you like, past Miichan who’s here to guide me how I should live my life for the better good of mankind? Cause that gay beanie you have on seriously looks like that funky shirt you had when we were kids.” I tell her with narrowed eyes as I pointed at her beanie. Well she does kinda look like little Miichan except for the kid’s non-Gachapin-like eyes, her light, rosy skin and her natural brown hair. Huh.

“No...” She drawled, looking a bit weirded out.

Okay, not really surprised at that since now that I’m looking at her fully, she looks nothing like Miichan. You know, this kid could actually pass as a model for kids clothing line. Her hat wouldn’t though. Hmm. But going back, so she’s not past Miichan. Then, could she be…
 
“Okay, this seems like quite a stretch—given how you’re wearing that gayish, kaleidoscopic hat—“ I scornfully tell her as I pointed at it which in turn caused her frown to deepen as her hands touched her drugged up looking beanie. “—but you don’t happen to be MY past self, determined to help me have a happy ending or something, right?”

“No!” Was her instant answer as she cutely pouts, her frown deepening a bit.

“You didn’t need to sound THAT repulsed at the idea, you know.” I tell her as I give her a scathing look. Shaking my head, I placed my chin back on top of my knees and turned to look at the dome’s entrance. “Past Haruna then?” I mindlessly mumbled as a small smile made its way to my lips just by saying her name. It makes me think back on that night again. You know, it’s only now that I’m thankful for my messed up head for Haruna home videos. I mean, it felt like I needed that.

I needed her.

I hear a gasp from the kid beside me. With a small frown on my face, I turned to look at her and found her looking shocked. Her eyes were wide, mouth agape and she seemed to have back off a little as well.

“H-how dya know my name?!”

Wait…what now…?

I raised my eyebrow at her, giving her a disbelieving look. “You’re Haruna? Seriously?” My eyes slowly sized her up from head to toe, noticing that she was wearing loads of pink which is Haruna’s favorite color. Upon going back to her widened eyes, I narrowed mine in suspicion. “You’re Kojima Haruna’s…past self?”

“Uh-uh, Inoue Haruna.” She corrected with a nod that just heightened my confusion.

“Ah-Ah-Ino-what-now?”

“Me! I’m Inoue Haruna!” She answered as she pointed at herself, looking a bit annoyed. You know I’m not really sure who’s to blame for the confusion here. I mean, sure I said her name but I wasn’t even referring to her but MY Haruna, you know. Kojima Haruna. I don’t even know her! And no I didn’t mean to say that Haruna is my possession like a thing or something leaning towards stalkerish creepiness. I’m just saying that she’s…the Haruna of our time. Me and the crazies Haruna. Hmmm. You know I don’t know anymore if I’m making any sense here, so just…whatever.

“Right…” I drawled, giving her a weirded out look as I nod my head. “You know, I think I’m going to listen to my mom now as she also told me about how I shouldn’t talk to strangers, and upon hearing your outburst, it totally reminds me of how much of a stranger you are to me. So yeah, go away.” I say that last bit by waving my hand dismissively obviously telling her to go away and leave me be so I can replay that moment over and over again. It kinda worked, but alas…

“What yous smiling about?” The psychedelic kid suddenly asked, surprising me as I find her crouched down facing me. She looked at me curiously as she mimicked my pose by wrapping her arms around her knees and hugging them against her chest. “You weird onee-chan.”

“Says the girl who wears the gay hat.” I retorted as I narrowed my eyes. I know, I know. It’s beneath me to be doing this with a little girl, still I can’t help it. She’s kinda annoying, you know. I mean, for one thing, she disrupted the nice flashback my mind is giving me. Rude much? Tch.

“What’s…gay…?” She suddenly asks after tilting her head slightly to the side, looking at me curiously. “You keep saying that. Gay…whazzat?”

I blinked back my surprise at that question. Of course she doesn’t know what that means since she’s just a little kid. I guess I momentarily forgot that, yeah, she’s just a kid. Just a kid, totally unaware of the unicorns dancing on the rainbows of this gayish world we have. And you know, normally in this kind of situation wherein a little kid asks you something a bit mature, adults such as myself, should impart their knowledge into psychedelic kid’s like herself in a calm and honest manner. 

“It means happy.” I simply tell her as I shrugged nonchalantly. “Gay is just another word for happy, really.” What? Don’t give me that look! It’s the truth! That word originally means happy or being jumpy, smiley whatever that just means happy. So don’t give me that look of disappointment by me saying the somewhat truth to Psychedelic kid. Tch.

A look of realization crosses over her innocent face before she once again showed her beaming smile to me. “Nana made me a happy hat then. My Nana made this for me!” She informed me which in turn made me point at my face as I gave her a look of indifference.

“And this is the look that means I care.” I dryly said before giving her a fake smile.

Her frown eased up a little bit as she blinked a couple of times and simply replied, “Your face dun look nice,” which honestly stunned me a bit. Yeah, I think I momentarily forgot again how she’s immune to sarcasm. Ugh.

“Whatever stranger, whatever.” I growled out as I rolled my eyes and looked away.

I think kids like her doesn’t know how to take hints as well since her chirpy, annoying reply to me was,  “I’m not a stranger coz you know my name and I know your name.” And when I glanced at her, she flashed me a toothy smile and...god, I’m thinking child abuse. But no, I wouldn’t resort to that. Not my style really, so don’t go reporting me to the authorities. I prefer abusing cute little kids with sarcasm, really. But alas, I think I have just met my match in the Psychedelic kid. And yes, I’m thinking of giving her that nickname. That or Fake Haruna. Heh.

“How do you even know my name?” I asked again with a small frown as I turned to look at her fully with my chin resting on top of my knees.

She shrugged nonchalantly, keeping the beaming smile on her face as she pointed at my bag that was on the ground beside me. “I got here and you was sleeping and your phone was ringing so I answer it.”

“You what?!” I suddenly exclaimed as I look at her incredulously for a moment before I turned and began rummaging my bag for my cellphone that was indeed ringing nonstop earlier. Of course, not wanting to deal with anyone right now, I decided to shut myself off and think of my happy place for my sanity’s sake. I wanted to be alone for just maybe a freaking hour or so without anyone hounding me, but nooooo, this kid obviously wants to become a Telemarketer or a Secretary in the future and went on my things to answer my freaking phone, probably telling the other person on the line—which I have a feeling would be Miichan—where I am or whatever. Ugh. Child abuse. Need I say more?

“I talk to Mii…gi…Migi…Miigishi-san. I told her you was sleeping.” I hear her say as I pull out my phone and looked at the call log and messages. 10 missed calls and 20 unread messages. All from the crazies asking me where I am and if I’m okay. They probably know now that Psychedelic kid talked to Miichan. Ugh. The words ‘child’ and ‘abuse’ keeps ringing in my head for some obvious reasons.

“She says I stay with you and she will give me chocolates if I do good.”

Okay, so postpone the child abuse then since it looks like they’re letting me have my alone time. Good, especially for the kid since I don’t have to beat the crap out of her. And chocolates? She got persuaded on those?! Tch. How typical.

“Did anyone ever tell you not to go through other people’s things? Not to mention that you shouldn’t accept candies from strangers whom you just met through a phone call even if they’re rewards?” I growled as I turned to her, gripping my phone tight. She was about to retort and I have a feeling that it’s about them not being strangers since they know each other’s name, so I’m thinking of cutting her off at that and throwing some words of wisdom to the Psychedelic kid. “And for the record, learning each other’s name doesn’t mean you aren’t strangers anymore. You have to dig deeper than that.”

She cocked her head to the side and looked at me confusedly. “Have to ask them to…dig a hole with me…?”

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t mean that literally.”

“Little…rally…?”

Face, meet palm. Palm, meet face. Oh, I see they’ve already met a couple of times now. But it’s okay to meet again under these circumstances. I think it’s pretty much needed, really. I mean, I just taught an important life lesson to the kid about how digging deep holes ultimately means getting to know someone more. Great. I’m a fucking sage really. Sarcasm right there people. Tch.

“Will you dig a hole with me, Shinoda-san?” She suddenly asks timidly, causing me to move my hand—that was covering my face—downwards a little to look at her. She was looking at me with a small smile, her eyes bright with anticipation. Upon seeing my eyes on her, her smile widened and she tells me, “Wanna dig with you coz I dun wanna be a stranger and we can be friends,” leaving me a bit dumbfounded. And, yes, this is those moments wherein you’d gush at how cute the kid is for asking a stranger to dig holes with them just so they could be friends inside a dome-like structure at a children’s playground in a park. It sounds weird, I know, but the weirdness feeling outweighs how cute it is, really. And hey, that’s coming a lot for me, but…

…friends huh.

Pursing my lips tight, I glanced at my phone that I’m holding tight in my hand. The corner of my lips tugged up a little as I remember the number of unread messages and missed calls I have received from the crazies. Thinking about it, it’s funny how life turns out, huh. I mean, I clearly remember telling my mom how I’d rather focus on getting through college than make friends and now…I’ve got the crazies as friends. Annoying, loud, touchy feely, crazy friends…who seems to care a lot about me enough to willingly help out without any second thought; to offer me an advice on how I should be or how I should act, even lend me money just to buy my girlfriend a phone; to tell me how great I am to them, like a Prince; to hold me down when I’m angry despite me hurting them back; to genuinely ask me if I’m alright; and to know exactly what I need, the space I need despite the obvious worry they feel.

Friends? Yeah, I’ve got friends.

I’ve got those crazies with me which I have a feeling would stick by me forever. As sappy and totally unlike me to say this…I’m hoping now it’ll be forever. They’re…I guess they’re okay despite how they can be annoying and loud they can be at times. But that’s really not the point here huh?

The point?

“Shinoda-san?” I hear the kid call out to me softly, breaking my train of thoughts. She tilted her head slightly as she still gave me that expectant, hopeful look. Seeing that, I couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.

Right, the point.

The point is pretty much simple. Psychedelic kid obviously wants to join the bandwagon of crazies around me, looking a bit desperate in my eyes. Funny how this reminds me of Betty and how she says she wants to be my friend. Granted, the kid’s interpretation is a bit weird what with the digging together bit compared to Haruna’s, still it’s a bit similar. Funny how the two of them calls me Shinoda-san. Funny how they both have the same first name too. And…should I even ask what this kid’s favorite color is when she’s practically draped in the color pink which is Haruna’s favorite color?

Okay, maybe I should stop now with the comparing because it’s getting a bit freaky. I mean the similarities are just…uncanny. So anyway, getting back to the point, given how she reminds me of Betty, I should just go along with it, right? I mean, she can’t be that bad compared to the other crazies….right…?

“Fine.” Was my disgruntled reply, my shoulders dropping a little. I watch with my eyes narrowed as a beaming smile slowly appears on her face. It was so huge that anymore—I hope— would probably tore her face in apart. But, unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way because Haruna’s betfriend—that big invisible guy up who has created us all—hates me sometimes. Or maybe always. Hmm. Yeah, definitely the latter.

“Yey! Shinoda-san’s going to be my friend!” She suddenly squealed causing me to flinch at its loudness. And if that wasn’t enough, the kid decided to be one of those touchy feely crazies by flinging herself towards me, trapping me in those awkward hugs. You know, the kind wherein someone’s got their arms around you when you yourself are hugging your knees against yourself. Basically, the hug is pretty much trapping you, rendering you momentarily immobilized that you can’t even push the little girl’s head away as she’s now rubbing her cheek against yours. Well I can try harder to push her, but…

“Gay! Yous made me so gay, Shinoda-san.”

…I don’t want to be the party pooper and burst the gay feelings she’s having. That’s just rude. Let her have her rainbow moment or something, so…meh.


-----


“Soooooo…” The kid, who insisted on me calling her Haru-chan just so it’ll make her super gay—her words, not mine—drawled from beside me as we walk down the street. Well I am walking, the kid on the other hand seems to be jogging a bit as she tries to catch up with my long strides. Maybe I should…meh, it’s good exercise for her anyway.

“…we gunna dig next time and buy your friend a phone to make her gay?”

“Well that’s one way of putting it, but I’m pretty sure she’s pretty gay now.” I mumbled with a crooked smile as I adjusted the strap of my shoulder bag.

“What?” Was her immediate response that caused me to roll my eyes and glance down at her. She was looking up to me, wearing a small frown, looking mightily confused as we continue to walk. Right, again being forgetful here. It’s a kid. I should use simple words that are easy to understand. Words like…

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” I tell her dryly with a nonchalant shrug as I looked away, my eyes narrowed in boredom. Yeah, I didn’t bother to correct her about…well everything. The digging, the friend, the gay…pretty much everything in what she said. But I’m all meh about it since it’s harmless anyway. Kinda amusing as well so…whatever right?

“Why your friend dun have a phone, Shino-chan?” She asks as she took hold of my coat and began tugging on it as if trying to make me look at her. I did look at her like she wanted to, but I did it with a glare since she just called me ‘Shino-chan’ when I specifically told her not to call me by my first name since we haven’t done the digging yet. But noooo, apparently she’s just a kid that if you tell them something, they’re going to ask why, what, where, how and why the fuck not you asshole?!

Okay so that last was bull since she’s just a kid, but you get the point. So anyway, kids just go with what they want regardless of the glare that you’re giving them, really. Kinda like what I’m doing with Psychedelic kid. I’m giving her the glare, trying to intensify it a bit but…nada. She’s still looking at me confusedly.

And cue defeated sigh followed by a look of boredom as I looked away from her. “You make it sound like you have a phone.” Yes, because kids these days—who seems to be a lot younger than my sister Maachan—would have a freaking phone.

“I have one!” She suddenly squealed, causing me to suddenly stop walking to turn and face her, giving her an incredulous look. Because seriously…

“What?!”

“I have phone.” She tells me as she began rummaging her pink messenger bag that has that greeting kitty as a badge in front of it. You know, that cat with a pink ribbon that has eyes and nose but doesn’t have a mouth. High Kitty or something like a greeting kitty. Whatever. Unimportant information there. Moving on.

“See!” The kid exclaimed as she pulled out her cheap looking phone and held it out for me to see. “My Nana gave it to me. Says if I needs to, I press 1 and call her.” She grinned as she wiggled her phone. And yes, it’s yet another pink colored item. Seriously, she’s just a walking pink crayon with how much pink she has. Ugh.

“Is that so?” I asked as I cocked my head to the side giving her a look of indifference as I crossed my arms against my chest. “Then why not press it now and call her or your mom to pick you up because I don’t want to be a babysitter right now.” I added before giving her a look then turned to walk away to leave her. That’s my villainous plan, really. But don’t get me wrong here, I don’t really care if she tags along with me since she told me something about…something that leads her to saying that no one’s at her house at the moment and that she doesn’t want to be alone right now and whatever. So yeah, don’t really care if she follows me. But then learning that she has a phone and that she can call whoever in case she wants to? Yeah, the villainous plan started formulating in my mind after that. Leave her and just don’t care since she can just call someone and tell them to pick her up. She seems like a smart kid, so yeah whatever. But then only after taking a few steps, cliché strikes and I immediately stopped dead on my tracks as I heard her softly say from behind me,

“I dun have a mom. I only have Nana…”

“They said mom’s okay…and I believed them…”

I glanced behind me and found Psychedelic kid with her little head downcast. A crestfallen look across her face as she stares blankly at the ground while she stood in the middle of the sidewalk. A flash of memory of me looking for an 8 year old Miichan in the middle of the night, running after hearing her butler talking to my mom by the front door that day when her mother died just suddenly came to my mind. How I found her, sitting by the pool of our school, hugging her knees tight as she stares blankly at the water with tears streaking down her face. How she tells me in a soft voice how she feels so alone.

…How I made her think otherwise, as without saying anything, I kneeled beside her and held her tight all throughout the night.

I clenched my jaw tight as the kid’s shoulder visibly dropped after she let out a sigh. Another set of flashback came to my mind again. This time, the image of a little Miichan suddenly flashes over me after that night. I took her back to our house, keeping a tight hold on her hand. I remember the same look she has as I glanced back at her when I felt her stop. She hesitantly stood in front of our house the day after her mother’s death, looking uncertain. But then that suddenly vanished as the moment our doors opened, my mom came rushing towards us and immediately engulfed us in a suffocating hug.

I remember my dad placing his hands on both our heads, caressing them softly as he looks down on us, smiling.

I remember my little sister staggering happily towards us, joining on the hugfest with a beaming smile, despite being too young to understand anything.

I remember the sound of Miichan’s sobs at that time as she snuggled into my mother’s embrace.

I remember how tightly she was holding my hand as if telling me not to leave her.

And I remember…how I…how I responded by holding hers tightly as well, promising her silently that I would never leave her as my family welcomes her back.

These are two different people, two totally different situations—since I don’t really know the kid’s story—and yet my mind’s obviously trying to put the two together to make me feel remorseful about my villainous plan to leave the kid.

…Crap. I’m hating this new thing that’s growing out of me called ‘sympathy.’ Ugh.

I let out an exasperated sigh myself before I turned to face the kid fully. “Place that phone of yours back in your bag and let’s get a move on.” I tell her in a flat voice. As her little head craned upwards to look at me confusedly, I added, “That way if we make it back early, we can go and…uh…dig a hole or something,” with a nonchalant shrug.

“Really?” She asked, blinking a couple of times before that face splitting smile of hers once again appears across her face. It was…a bit contagious as I couldn’t fight the small smile forming on my lips upon seeing her like that.

That is until she ran towards me with a squeal that made me cringe from the impact, and latched her arms to my waist with her face on my crotch giving me a tight hug.

Yeah, awkward.

“You’re the best Shino-chan!” She squealed with her face still…yeah…as she kept her tight hold on me.

“Yes, yes.” I groaned in annoyance as I placed my hand on top of her head, pushing her slightly. “I think I got that with how tight you’re holding me and with your face pressed up against my crotch. Now let go!” I barked. Eventually she did let go of me the moment she dropped her phone on the ground. Both of us looked at it at the same time for a moment before I rolled my eyes and crouched down to pick it up.

“You can give that to your friend, Shino-chan.” Was what she immediately said to me as I held out her phone for her as I crouched down to her level. “That way she can have phone.”

Okay so it’s actually pretty sweet of her to give off her phone to Haruna, and given how Haruna is, I’d have no doubt that if I did give her Psychedelic kid’s phone, she’d still feel extremely thankful and happy...but…

“It looks like a toy.” I tell her simply, flatly as I grab one of her hand and placed her cheap looking phone on it. “Not to mention it’s grossly sticky.” Just had to add that with a grossed out look across my face as I began wiping my hand against her pants. I know, I’m being a meanie but…ewww. I wasn’t kidding about it being grossly sticky. I don’t even want to know what made it sticky in the first place. Ugh.

“So you dun like it?” She asked softly, looking a bit gloomy at her gross phone in her hand. And ugh. Did I mention that I’m hating this thing that’s growing inside me called ‘sympathy?’ Because looking at the kid, I can’t help but feel something tugging at me to do some damage control or something. Tch.

“It’s not that…I don’t like it.” I’m lying through my teeth here and thankfully the kid doesn’t realize it as her saddened look turned into a hopeful one. “I…I just…” I trailed hesitantly, trying to explain further but falling short since I’m unsure of what I should say to appease her feelings a bit as she looks at me through her eyelashes. But that look of hers, it sort of saved me, you know.

Why you ask?

Simply because, I remember Haruna.

It made me smile a little as I remember Haruna looking the same way at me sometimes, shyly peeking through her long eyelashes with her thick rimmed glasses lowered a bit on the bridge of her nose. Remembering that, it made me realize why I didn’t want to accept the kid’s offer despite how much I don’t like her sticky, gross phone.

“I want the phone to come from me, because that way, she’ll think of me whenever she sees it.”

She blinked a couple of times, glanced at the phone in her hand then turned to look at me, frowning slightly as she muttered, “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” I said before standing up, her eyes following me. I honestly thought that she’d be dropping the thing about her phone now that I’ve explained to her simply why I don’t want to give her phone to Haruna, but then her thrusting her phone towards me and saying, “Here,” with a beaming smile made me think what the fuck.

Seriously, what the fuck?

“For you to think of me!”

And that’s the fuck.

Geez.


________



I woke up feeling the softest touch I’ve ever felt from someone, as their hand brushed my bangs lightly, unraveling my bruised forehead. It was tickling a bit, but I kept still, wanting and curious to know what she’ll do next.

“Shinoda-san…” Was her quiet whisper. It was as if she was calling out to me to check if I was awake and if I wasn’t she was okay with it, she’ll let me sleep. So I did just that and pretended to sleep. But then I wondered if I could keep pretending, you know. Especially when I wanted to frown when I felt a light weight on the bed. Especially when I wanted to swallow the nervousness I was beginning to feel when I felt her warm breathing on my face.

She was close. Yes, she was that close.

I tried to keep still, tried to keep my breathing normal, tried to keep my heart from leaping out of my chest as the hand that was brushing my bangs a little while ago agonizingly made its way to my cheek, lightly caressing my skin with her fingertips. It didn’t linger for long as after a few seconds of torturing me, as if that wasn’t enough, the weight on my bed slowly became heavy and then…I felt it.

That excruciatingly light, soft, silky and warm pressure against my cheek.

She kissed me.

“Haruna…” I moaned out softly as soon as I felt that soft pressure fade from my heated cheek. I want more, I need more, but as I slowly opened my eyes, I heard a scramble and a thud followed by a yelp of pain out of her. After blinking for a few times, I turned to look at her and found her sitting on the floor, facing her bed a few feet away from mine. As a frown made its way across my face, I pushed myself up to a sitting position with a groan—since my lower back’s still hurts a bit—then stared at her back. It looked like she was…rubbing her forehead, mumbling out incoherent things which seriously confuses me.

“Haruna? Are you—“

“I’m fine!” Was her loud, high pitched reply that not only surprised me, but surprised her as well. My frown deepened as she kept her back to me as she added in her normal tone, after she cleared her throat. “I’m f-fine. Ju-just…I-I…I’m looking for…something under my bed…? Ah, y-yes! That’s r-right. I’m just looking at something I d-dropped under my be-bed…so um...” She said before she demonstrated her excuse by crawling under her bed to look for her…something.

I watch her for a moment, amused to see what she’ll come up with that she dropped under her bed. A dirt? A rock? A dead insect? Casper?

“I-I don’t th-think it’s…here…”

Right, nothing. And I was leaning on her to say she’s looking for Casper. Tch.

I let out a soft chuckle as I continue to watch her keep the act for a few second. It wasn’t until I bluntly asked, “Did you just kiss me while I was sleeping?” did she stopped and jerk in surprise causing her to hit her head under her bed. A moan of pain soon follows and I couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty for causing that.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I made my way to her, kneeling beside her as she crawled herself out to sit next to me. I gave her a sympathetic smile as she began pouting, eyes downcast to the floor while she rubs her head.

“It hurts…” She admitted softly with a frown, causing me to let out a chuckle at how cute she is. But instead of telling her that, I opted for telling her the obvious.

“That’s what you get for lying.” I tell her with a grin. She glanced at me through the corner of her eye for a second then turned her head to look away, giving me a clear view of the back of her head. The tips of her ears seems to be reddish though and I have a feeling she’s biting her lower lip as well. Typical reaction really. And yeah, she knows what I’m talking about. Maybe I should point out to her how she sucks at lying. Hmmm. Meh, it does seem fun to watch her make up some excuse to avoid answering questions. Much like it’s fun to watch her squirm a bit.

Speaking of watching her squirm.

“You didn’t answer my question.” I pointed out as I raised my eyebrow, giving the back of her head a knowing look. “Did you or did you not take advantage of poor, innocent little me while I was slumbering away in Lala Land?” I know that interpretation is a little messed up, but I’m trying to lighten things up for her, you know. Doesn’t seem to work though as she replied back with silence. Hmmm. Let’s try calming exercises then.

“Look, it’s okay if you did kiss me on the cheek while I was sleeping.” I assured her with a shrug. “I really don’t mind as long as you don’t make a habit of it like do it every time I’m sleeping.” And…could you believe I got a reaction out of her from that? I seriously saw her flinch and so I can’t help but wonder here.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “That…that wasn’t the first time…you kissed me while I was sleeping was it…?”

She still didn’t answer, but she did move her head a little towards me. It made me frown since that weird saying about how silence means yes comes to mind here. I don’t really believe that shit, but then she’s not really denying it so…does her silence mean…yes?

“You know, I’m not exactly familiar in this type of conversation we’re having, so maybe throwing a little clue—preferably made up of words—would help me understand things.”

“I’m sorry…” She finally sighed out, her shoulders drooping a bit in remorse.

“Okay, big clue.” I nodded with a frown as I turned to look at the floor, feeling a bit confused. I mean, I’m not really sure if I should feel a bit disturbed or...find it sweet and cute, not to mention sweet and disturbing. Oh yeah, I said that already. But it is kinda sweet you know. Just a tad bit disturbing though because…well, I’m sleeping and she’s all kissing me. Isn’t that like an…abuse of some sort that isn’t really lingering on anything sexual and is more towards being an innocent abuse or something ridiculously close to that kind of term I just ridiculously made up for the sake of her being a goody goody? Did I confuse you? Yeah, apparently you’re not alone on that since I confused myself there as well. But that aside, seriously, for reals…

“EVERY TIME that I was sleeping?” I asked incredulously as I glanced at her through the corner of my eye.

She turned her body a little, imitating how I’m facing my bed, our shoulders almost touching as we sat on the floor side by side. She had her eyes downcast, causing her glasses to slide down a little on the bridge of her nose. Her face flushed furiously as she bit her lower lip, looking a bit hesitant in answering my question. But after a moment, thankfully, she decided to answer as she nodded her head, admitting softly, “Ju-just a couple of t-times…”

“How many times is ‘just a couple of times?’” I asked again, turning my head to look at her fully, which in turn, made her turn away from me, embarrassed.

“I…I d-don’t know…” Was her reply that once again simply stunned me. I mean, that just means she lost count, right?

Right…?

Right.

Right!

So if it’s right, if that’s the case, then…

“Wow…” I breathed out as I turned to look at my bed just a few feet in front of us. I tilted my head slightly, frowning as I was still unsure of how I should feel about this...brand new information she just shared with me. It was still…disturbingly sweet for me. Keywords here?

Disturbingly sweet.

We were both silent for a few minutes, both of us preoccupied with our own thoughts. I don’t know what she’s thinking, so don’t ask me. As much as I like to be bestowed upon with the powers of mind reading—especially when it comes to Haruna—I don’t have that kind of power. I do know that she feels a bit guilty though. It’s actually obvious in her face as she has her lips pursed, eyes downcast as she wears a small frown, shoulder’s slumped a bit and she’s playing with the hem of her pajama top. I know that it looked more like she’s shy or embarrassed than guilty, but her letting out a sigh pretty much says it all.

Not liking the look she has, I nudge her lightly on her shoulder. “Hey, c’mon now. I wasn’t kidding when I said I don’t mind if you kiss me.” I tell her with a small smile that quickly faltered when she glanced at me, still looking a bit remorseful. I tried to soothe her as I added with a shrug, “And I guess I don’t mind you stealing kisses while I was sleeping either,” before I looked away and sighed.

My eyes made its way to the floor and I began playing with the hem of my shirt as I thought back on how I’m feeling a bit lame again especially when I just admitted, “I do feel a bit…disappointed that I was sleeping while you were kissing me. I prefer to be awake while you kiss me, you know,” shyly with my face heating up a bit. Okay, erase the ‘a bit’ part since everything just feels hot now. Especially now that she’s looking at me. At least I feel her looking at me. I can feel her eyes on the side of my face and…I don’t want to look for the simple reason that I might experience 5th degree burns or whatever number of degree I’d get to experience from extreme embarrassment. I’m just taking precautions here, really.

“I’ll…I’ll ke-keep that in mind…” Was her soft reply. I glanced at her and found her smiling to herself with her eyes downcast to her lap, blushing a little. Her smile was infectious that I couldn’t help but smile back, causing that lousy feeling of lameness to slowly fades out of me. In fact, I was feeling a lot like myself that I couldn’t help but be a bit playful to her.

“So?” I nudge her gently on her shoulder, trying to bring her back to her own Lala land. She blinked back a couple of times then turned to look at me, looking a bit confused. The grin across my face widened and I couldn’t help but do that eyebrow wiggling thing that Miichan does as I tell her suggestively, “I’m awake right now.”

She tilted her head slightly, still oblivious to what I’m suggesting. Only when I lightly tapped my cheek with my index finger did she finally get what I meant. And let me tell you, I wanted to laugh out loud at her reaction. She looked pretty shocked and she even recoiled a bit by moving away from me.

“Wh-wh-wha-wha-what?” She horribly stuttered as her blush deepened. She looked like she was about to burst into flames and…I willed myself not to laugh as I looked at her coyly, tapping my cheek once again.

“A kiss.” I simply tell her. “I think you at least owe me one.”

She looked like she wants to bolt and run for the hills, shouting madly onto the night. Not kidding. She also look like she’s in retarded Nemo mode as her mouth keeps opening and closing, but no words seems to be coming out as her mind’s not functioning. So it’s kinda funny if you imagine both things at the same time. Her, running to the hills with her looking like a retarded Nemo. Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that I broke her. Really, I should be awarded as best girlfriend of the century for causing her to be like this. And yeah, that’s sarcasm. Ugh.

Time for some damage control, I guess.

I let out a sigh before giving her panicky self a sheepish smile. “Haruna, calm down. I’m just—“ And then, just like that, I found myself frozen, flabbergasted as with just a blink of an eye, she rudely cuts me off  and surprised me by leaning towards me, invading my personal space, placing a hand on my shoulder to steady herself and give me a soft, tender kiss on my cheek that left my whole body in flames.

She kissed me.

And just like when she kissed me earlier in my sleep, I felt the want and the need for her to kiss me somewhere else burning inside me.

My lips.

I want her…I need to feel her lips on mine.

Despite how I wished for her not to pull away, for her lips to just…stay where I can feel them, I felt her lips move away. I moved my head slightly towards her as she pulled away slowly, causing me to feel her soft smooth skin against mine. My heart was beating a mile a minute and I bite back the gasp as the side of our lips brushed agonizingly against each other. It was brief, only a for a moment, only for a second…

…but I cherish that fleeting second that brought so much fire in me.




TBC


______________________________________________________

Hey, not much, but it's a start of things heading to homerun.
______________________________________________________

[Yuki88]

FINALLY AN UPDATE HOLY MOTHER HARUNA I'M DEAD

LOL at Mariko getting another crazy friend added. ROFL because she is just a little stranger kid. LMAO because the kid is named Haruna. AND ROFLMAO THAT MEANING OF GAY OMFG.

Damn that Haruna kid lolol. I can totally understand Mariko's annoyance at her because kids.... are like that. "orz

AND OMFG LKALSDLAKSDJLASKDJLASKDJALSDKASJDLKSDJLAKSDJKASDLALSD THEY AASDOJASLKDJALSKDJASKLDJSLD WHOOOOAAA THEY, I MEAN HARUNA KISSED MARIKO ALSODJALDJALSKDJALSKDJALKDJALD EVEN THOUGH ONLY ON HER CHEEK \:v/

AND ONE MORE OMFG HARUNA DID THAT A COUPLE TIMES. SHE'S ON A ROLL BABE \:v/

AND EVEN MORE OMFG DAMMIT HARUNA YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS AND MARIKO YOU DID WELL TURNING YOUR HEAD AT THE RIGHT TIME YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS \:v/ *doing fanfare*

END OF OMFG EXCUSE ME WHILE I BARF RAINBOW \:v\

I'm not sure if I read it too fast or this update is damn short but OH WELL better short than nothing :3

And then........

In all honesty I forgot what I left on the comment last time so I had to go and read it again LOL. As for the long waiting time, NO PROBLEM BRO I HAVE YET TO UPDATE MY FIC FOR MORE THAN 7 MONTHS I CAN UNDERSTAND. *flees before all that fic's readers read this comment*

and btw since you're sick, I guess I made wrong decision by sending you sexytary's pics
Get well soon bro!



PS. been a long time since the last time I made ultra long comment lol

EDIT: AND HEY FOR THE 1ST TIME IN MY LIFE OF BASKET CASE FANS I BECAME THE FIRST ONE TO LEAVE COMMENT YAY ME

[Ava]

How can you leave us like that!!

Like I'm dying here!!

And a question i think we all have who is she?? What didi she do to mariko to make her mad like that

And how cute of haruna to steal kisses from mariko in her sleep
That is just so kawaiii

Update soon please!!!