JPHiP Forum
AKB48 Fanfics => AKB48 Fanfics => Topic started by: saeyu on October 12, 2014, 06:54:25 PM
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It’s been a while since I last posted a fanfic. That’s because I want to make sure I finish the whole story before polishing and posting all the chapters, based on the bad experience of an unfinished fic. It worked well for Majisuka Gakuran (Saeyui) (http://"http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=bicvhn8nh55pakvje484335p81&topic=35890.0").
So, being a Sae oshi, I will have to write about Sae, right? Will her pairing be fresh or will I go back to all-time favorites? I will reveal it later, but there will be more than one pairings in this fic. OK, so I've revealed that this will be typical in a sense that it's SAEYUKI :cow:. But I’m also trying something new here:
- Sae will be a boy
- Yuki is still be femaie
- There will be a love triangle and who else suit better other than the 3 musketeers!
I hope you're as excited as I am about Mako, Miki and Nana. I find myself shipping all of them somehow and I couldn't decide on the pairing, so I wrote this fic. There's absolutely not enough Tentoumuchu or 10+ gen awesomeness here!!!
:deco:
I will also be posting the whole thing on tumblr just in case there are parts that can't be posted here. Don't worry, it's not too bad, it's just that the characters may be a tad young...but since they are all high schoolers, I think it should be fine...
http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/99825569853/where-my-heart-is-saexxxx-new-fanfic-chapter-1 (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/99825569853/where-my-heart-is-saexxxx-new-fanfic-chapter-1)
If you like what you see below, and want to guess who “she” is, read on!
Chapter Index:
Chapter 1 - this post
Chapter 2 - Heart Eleki (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1300903#msg1300903) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/100006858563/where-my-heart-is-saexxxx-another-pairing-chapter)
Chapter 3 - Detention (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1301516#msg1301516) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/100414967188/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers-chapter)
Chapter 4 - After School (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1302205#msg1302205) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/100885922783/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers-chapter)
Chapter 5 - Aftermath (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1304027#msg1304027) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/102007385278/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers-chapter)
Chapter 6 - A New Beginning (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1305268#msg1305268) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/102790043078/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers-chapter)
Chapter 7 - Bitter and Sweet (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1306337#msg1306337) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/103359827948/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers-chapter)
Chapter 8 - Betrayal (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1309452#msg1309452) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/105148101883/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers)
Chapter 9 - I can't (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1313711#msg1313711) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/107786158813/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers)
Chapter 10 - Fighting for love (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1315590#msg1315590) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/108984841693/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers)
Chapter 11 - Untitled (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1318812#msg1318812) -tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/110970825653/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers)
Chapter 12 - Lover's Bell (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1319821#msg1319821) - tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/111545084783/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers)
Chapter 13 - The Long Swim (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38269.msg1321383#msg1321383) -tumblr link (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/112407916538/where-my-heart-is-saeyuki-three-musketeers)
Chapter 1 - The couple
"Oi, the ketchup is all over your face…" He leans forward and casually wipes it off her lips. Sitting back down, he licks the sauce off his thumb and joked, "No wonder you failed in today’s geography test, with a mental age of 5…"
Plak!
The girl quickly smacked his head and ruffled his carefully styled hair, upsetting the previously smug looking guy. Somehow, the frown from the girl’s pouting face displays nothing but pleasure.
"Sae-kun, if I didn’t study off of your baka answers in the textbook, I wouldn’t have answered that Fukuoka is in Shikoku in front of the whole class!"
Sae bends his back backwards and laughs heartily. “Well, you are after all, the person stupid enough to borrow textbooks from me!”
"That’s because I’m always going to be a year younger than you, and mum insists that passing down textbooks have been fine!" The girl breaks into a broad, silly smile somehow, a thing she always does even when she’s expressing dissatisfaction.
"If Okasan thinks it’s fine, then it’s totally not my problem…" Sae folds his arms together and looks up indifferently.
The girl is about to explode, but glancing at her watch, she relaxed and said, “Aren’t you already late for basketball practice?”
"Yaba!!!!!!!" He exclaimed and jumped to collect his things.
"Don’t forget to pick up me up at the library after your practice!" She shouts as Sae runs out of the cafeteria.
(to be con't below)
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(con't Chapter 1)
Turning back, Sae gave a quick wink with his signature grin and said, “Of course I won’t, my princess Makotin!”
Mako sits back down and continued to wave happily until the last trace of Sae is gone from the corridor. Inside the cafeteria, everyone has been mumbling among themselves.
"Who’s this girl who quickly captured Sae-kun’s heart?"
"What a lucky girl, but she’s nothing special…"
"I know right…He’s the most popular guy in this school, and he’s turned down so many divas and goddesses too. I wonder why he chose her!"
"Yeah…..I heard from her classmates that they are inseparable …and…."
"What?"
"She even slept over at his place already!"
"No way!!"
Oblivious to the fairly public display of affection and the noise it has generated among Sakura High School, Mako continued to pack her stuff. Indeed, as the others said, there is nothing special about her, who at most can be called cute, not gorgeous. When she smiles, her dimples can melt some hearts, but other than that, she wears a naturally frowning look that can sometimes be mistaken as being unhappy. Despite being transferred here as a sophomore, there’s no shroud of mystery surrounding her— no one would’ve even bat an eyelid if not for the obviously close relationship they spot between her and the school’s star. On the other hand, Sae is the type of guy whose positive energy lights up everything around him. He may not look commanding, but he sure is the type that everyone is naturally drawn to. Not only does he possess the ikemen look and the killer smile; he also exudes a genuine, down-to-earth charm that makes him the most popular senior amongst guys and girls alike.
"Ano….Kojima Mako san?" A skinny girl with pigtails tapped on the absent minded Mako’s shoulder. Mako turned and saw a timid but sweet smile on the girl’s face. "Akicha Buchou from the tennis club has asked me to invite you to join our team….Er.." Noticing a questioning look on Mako, she added, "and by the way, I am Nishino Miki from 2-A, yoroshiku!"
"The tennis club?" Mako pointed at herself with a confused look. The name Nishino sounds familiar…
"Yes, we heard that Kojima-san was the vice captain of the soft tennis club in your junior high, so…"
"But tennis is a lot more intense isn’t it? As you know…" Mako scratches her head with an embarrassing smile, "High school is a lot harder, and… I haven’t played for while… and I am not that bright either… I want to settle down first before I apply for any clubs…"
Miki looks down sadly, startling Mako a bit. Somehow, it hurts to see the stranger in front of her leave in disappointment. “But…you know what? Let me think about it for a night first? It looks really fun to join the club too!” She claps her hands excitedly to cheer the girl up.
Miki sighs in relieve and smiles cautiously. “So I will come find you again tomorrow?”
Mako nods her head and smiles warmly. Just as Miki is about to turn and leave, Mako grabbed her hand and asked, “Wait a minute, you are the genius student that skipped a grade! I heard from Naachan that you’re only 15?!!”
Miki smiles embarrassingly and gave a slight nod.
"Wait, why don’t you come to the library with me now and teach me math? Naachan is there too by the way, you know her, right?" Mako’s face lit up in excitement.
"Yes I do, we’re in the same shift for cleaning! If she sees me though, she’s going to scold me for running down that corridor earlier today!!" The previously shy Miki has already warmed up to Mako and revealed a much more bubbly personality. "You know, Mako-chan, I barely escaped today! Can you imagine doing homework with her? She’s going to supervise me like crazy, besides, she’s too smart for me to keep up!"
"That is not true. She’s just serious, but she’s also seriously bad at math…" Mako breaks into a light laugh and starts playing with her hair as she thought about her classmate, whom she befriended since sitting together on their first day of school a month ago. Although they have widely different personalities, they somehow got along pretty well.
"Naaaaaachan….I want to go meet her!" For some reason, Miki has changed her mind and held Mako’s hand, leading her away from the table. "Let’s go!"
Mako’s brows jumped as their hands touched, but she didn’t break her smile as she grabbed her bag and followed the now prancing Miki, who did not notice the odd expression that flashed for a split second on the older girl’s face at all.
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A girl with hair covering most of her face has been burying her head in the books, making almost no noise, but for the rapid scratches from her pencil as she takes notes intensively.
"Naachan, you’re going to tear the paper if you continue like this…" Mako pats the girl slightly on her head before sitting down.
"Makotin?" the girl finally looks up from her textbook, revealing a pale, small face adorned with large hazel coloured eyes that grow slightly too far apart from each other. Her smile fades into a surprised look when she saw a companion next to Mako.
"Hi Naachan!" Miki grins in a sweet smile. Nana’s large eyes turned into a squint as she returns an equally broad smile, revealing a small tooth that protrudes above her row of teeth.
"Miki-chan! You came too?? I think I saw someone bumping into other students at the corridor today…was it you?"
Miki shook her head with a serious face, lying like it’s nothing, and this cheeky girl managed to fool the gullible Nana. “Well then…” tapping her chin to think of who else could’ve done it, she suddenly got reminded of the reality in front of her and grabbed Miki’s shoulders, pushing her to sit down. “I’m going to explode with all these math! Come help me!”
At a first glance, the serious and hard-working prefect of 2-B, where Mako joined, may seem like the naturally brilliant type. However, Mako learned quickly that her friend’s high grades were mostly due to her relentless attitude, even though the way she goes about achieving them may be questionably dense at times. This stubbornness is different from Miki’s fast and unconventional way of processing things, who works like a child that is not afraid to fall—very reckless, but fast and smart at the same time. Mako notices this difference immediately as they tried to tackle the first problems, and sees how they actually complemented each other quite nicely. No wonder they became friends in the first place…
The three girls huddled amongst the piles of exercises and textbooks, slaying away to finish their homework together.
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"Yahoooo!" Sae calls at the girls in sitting in the corner of the library loudly, leading to a glare from the librarian. He quickly notices his brashness and flashes his apologetic grin, which melted the third year student’s heart and signals him to move ahead.
"Sae-kun!" Mako whispers and waves energetically. Nana nods her head with a polite smile. Miki, who had been noisily fooling around, had suddenly fallen into dead silence. Instead, she just stole a glance and hurriedly turned her back against him.
"Aho! Can’t believe you’ve recruited another cute girl into the ‘save my ass’ study group!" Sae crouches down to have a better look at the hiding girl, flaunting his cool grin.
"Stop harassing Mikichan!" Mako protests and stood up, pulling Sae up with her as well.
Sae straightens up and puts on a more serious face. “Wow, Miki-chan is it? You look really young and cute. Hi, I am Miyazawa Sae. Nice to meet you.”
Miki finally looked up and all of them were taken aback by her tomato red face. “Ni…Nishino Miki desu.” Nana moves across to Mako’s seat and took the shy Miki into her arms. “You guys are scaring her….now off you go!” She tries to suppress her laugh under her stern look, her head gesturing towards the door.
"Ok ok," Sae flicks Naachan’s bangs to upset the serious girl. "Sasuga Chairman of the the prefects, always disciplined and protective like a big sis. Anyway, we’re leaving now, and thanks for taking care of Mako as usual." Only when both of them turned their backs and walked towards the exit, did Miki unbury her face from Nana and finally dares to look at the tall genki guy.
"Miki-chan, it’s alright, Sae-san is a really kind person. You’ll get to know him more in no time."
"I guess so…" A strange sigh escapes from Miki’s mouth. "Seeing how close they are…"
"Yes…" Naachan replies lightly without much thought as she turns her attention back to the homework. "Come on, let me help you finish this."
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Steam escapes from the bathroom as the door slides open and close, a splash of water spilling being heard from someone climbing into the bathtub.
"Chotto! Look how you’re making a mess!" Mako reprimands the person that just entered the tub, who simply ignores her and closes his eyes to relax after a long day.
"It’s just going to be like that for a few more days once the heater gets fixed in our home…" Sae mumbles. "Besides, we’ve always been like that since forever."
"Yeah, but don’t you know how much you’ve grown? There’s barely room for me to move." Mako replies crossly and flings a towel at his face.
"Ok, Okaaaaay…but I’m here already, am I not? So let’s just relax and you can tell me what’s with the cute loli you have recruited today."
"Miki?" Mako smiles as she stood up from the tub, revealing a nice curvy body of a girl who’s on her way to becoming a woman.
"Nice body!" Sae whistles without looking away, but Mako’s mind is clearly too occupied to respond to him.
"Miki-chan…is such a cute little girl. She’s very good at math by the way…" She grabs a large yellow towel with floral pattern and wraps it around herself. "She’s just like a kid, but she’s like a walking calculator, and…and! Her smile is so radiant, like a ball of sunshine…."
Sae’s eyes narrow and a hint of impatience shows on his pursed lips. Springing up from the tub, revealing his own glory unabashedly, he pulls Mako towards him and cups his hands around her cheeks.
"Can I kiss you?" Without waiting for her answer, he pushes forward and their lips clash together.
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Sae+Mako?! :w00t:
So, this is gonna be like AKB49??? :deco:
SWEET!!!! :heart:
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OOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!! OOOOOHHHH!!!!!
SaeMako :heart:
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wuohohohohohoooooooo :ptam-glow: :ptam-glow: :ptam-glow:
its remind me of sae being so kakkoi at renai kinshi jourei musical stage play~~
nice~! super niceeee~! :onioncheer:
really thanks for making this fic~ please continue~~ :byebye:
and welcome back :welcome :welcome :hee:
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EHH MAKO X SAE?!?! Interestinggg><
Please continue soonnnnnnn!!!!!
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OK, I will post Chapter 2 first, before I reply to the comments above. Thanks guys! Hope you enjoy the pairings revealed below!
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Chapter 2 - Heart Eleki
Mako closes her eyes naturally in response to Sae's kiss. She did not resist and relaxed her lips, slowly picking up on Sae's searching motions. This is not their first kiss but it's been a while and it takes some getting used to. They pulled away from each other after a few seconds.
"I think I know how you feel now," He slowly climbs back into the tub. "How, how falling in love feels."
Mako has rarely seen such a solemn looking Sae. She can tell that something is wrong with this usually carefree person, especially when such a heavy word is being mentioned. She sat down beside the tub quietly and curls her dripping hair back behind her ear, ready to listen.
"She accidentally fell on me and I grabbed onto her, but somehow our lips met. It felt like I was electrocuted." Sae raises his hand out of the water and moved his fingers, reminiscing the feeling back there in the store room. "It was just maybe, a second? But I felt like I was going to suffocate and the room was gonna collapse onto us."
Mako looks at her own tingling fingers too, which brought her back to a similar situation she experienced in the cafeteria today.
"Who is this girl?" She asked.
"She's not a girl."
"Are you telling me you swing that way too?" Mako eyes widen in surprise.
"No..no no!" Sae realised how he sounded and waves his hand. "I mean, she's a woman. Have you heard of Kashiwagi Sensei?"
A loud yelp escaped from Mako. The new substitute teacher?!
"Are you guys alright up there?" A woman's concerned voice can be heard from a distance.
"O it's alright Okasan, we just saw a fly." Sae replies to Mako's mum on the shocked girl's behalf.
"This is crazy, you fell in love with an adult!" Mako is now picturing a young, modest woman in black skirt and cardigan, leaning down to kiss a clueless boy, who is Sae.
"I'm not sure what it is yet.... but I didn't get that feeling when we kissed."
As kids, they had been playing with each other and even experimented some daring things together, but ever since Mako opened up to him that night last year, they have stopped doing things like this. Mako unconsciously tightened her lips as she considers the prospects of herself getting that 'special' feeling in her own kiss. Her mind invariably wanders back to the cafeteria.
"So....." Sae looks at Mako suspiciously. He could tell that Mako has been as absent-minded as he is. Knowing her since childhood due to their mothers' friendship, he's long treated Mako like his own sister. There's no way she could lie to him... "Miki-chan seems like your type."
Mako almost fell off the tub at Sae's probing. "No no no no...! Don't you remember why I came to this school? I'm here to study and get into university!" She shakes her head violently. "I...I don't want to think about this kind of stuff again." She rushes out of the bathroom, leaving Sae alone, who simply sighs and stare up the steamy ceiling, his thoughts tracing back to the beautiful crescent-shaped eyes again.
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"Good morning!" The intense greetings along the corridor reaches Mako's ears before the owner of that voice appears at their classroom's doorway.
"Yappo!" Mako greets the energetic Nana, who strides confidently to her desk beside the sleepy looking Mako.
"I don't understand how you're always so refreshed in the morning." She says as she rubs her eyes carelessly like a child.
Nana brows knit together in concern. She turns ninety degrees facing her neighbour directly, resting her hand on Mako's shoulder. "And meanwhile, you do look like...you haven't slept at all!"
"I..." Mako replies with a faint smile and looks out of the window. "Yep, I didn't sleep well last night." She shrugs and added awkwardly, "for no good reason really..."
"It's okay, Mako, I've brought you lunch today." Being a straightforward person most of the time, Nana did not read anything between the lines and tried to comfort her friend with this piece of good news.
"O, Naachan! I knew it!! You're the best!" Mako exclaims happily at the thought of nice food, forgetting everything as she resumes to her usual nico-nico mode.
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At the roof of the building, both girls have finished their packed lunch and are now basking under the blue cloudless sky. Mako has closed her eyes and is lying on the bench, her head resting on Nana's lap, who is sitting upright and stroking the other girl's hair gently.
"Em...it's so relaxing here...I think if you continue this way, I'm going to fall asleep."
"Then sleep," Nana simply answers. "I will wake you up when it's time."
"You're the best!" Mako says again without opening her eyes. She's truly grateful that such a gentle person exists in this planet, and a serious, reliable one too....except for the math part. Anyway, without Naachan, will her high school days be much harder now? She's always wondered. Not only has she helped her with homework, she's always by her side when she feels down, and with her, there's really no need to worry about a thing. This is a sense of security that her other playmates in class can't give her, even though she made a lot of friends here without any problems. At least, she's the only one who believes in her completely, when she told them that Sae is not her boyfriend. Everybody else seems to think she's just showing off, but only Naachan nodded assuringly and never minded when he's around.
Nana continues to stroke her hair and think back to the day they met. She's the quiet type that's scared to open up to people, but Mako was assigned next to her so she could 'take care' of the transfer student. In fact, if there was anyone who actually needed to be 'taken care' of, it would've been Nana instead of Mako, whose friendly smiles and playful personality invited people to warm up to her easily. On the other hand, Nana's seriousness worked as a double-edge sword. While she's entrusted with big and small matters among classmates, her social awkwardness and inflexible personality also caused an invisible wall to develop between her and most of the others. However, things are different with Mako. She'll always invite her to play with them, even when she refused for the first few times. She will prefer to spend time alone with her, even when she is surrounded by fun people already. Every trouble and setback Nana feels can be cured by Mako's smile. Even when she's not smiling, her frowning lips looks so cute--like a clueless otter-- that it's so painful to watch. But of course, Nana can't take her eyes off her. Her focus now lands on the long eyelashes that's swaying ever so slightly under the spring breeze. She carefully strokes her eyelashes with her finger and got impressed by how long they are. She wonders... how can a human being possess so many eyelashes? Is it possible to count them? Is it possible to count perfection?
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"Good morning class!" A woman in black pencil skirt and neat, laced white blouse entered the classroom with a poetry book in her hands.
"As you all know, Takahashi Sensei -- ah, I mean Maeda Sensei as she's known here--- is officially on maternity leave yesterday and I'm your substitute teacher for the rest of the school year. My name is Kashiwagi Yuki, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" The young woman bowed down slightly and the students diligently returned the bow.
"Welcome to class 3-C," Ami, the class prefect says brightly.
Kashiwagi Sensei returns with a broader smile, and her eyes bent into crescent-like curves.
At the other side of the room, Sae continues to stare at this wonder in his sight. Her slightly parted bangs and long, wavy black hair. Things she can't hide with her loose blouse, like her long, curvy torso and her ample assets. He recalls how they first met yesterday in the gym store room...
He was putting back the balls into the cage after practice and cleaning them up one by one, a task that each member of the basketball team takes turns to do. Usually, there are two or three of them, but because his best buddy Akimoto had to go baito (part time), he voluntarily took up the task all by himself. As a result, it's quite late and everybody else was long gone. Out of boredom, he's shooting all the balls one by one into the cage, but one of them bounced off to the other corner of the room, right behind the large apparatus used for gym practices.
"Uso daroouaaaaaaw!" The tired Sae dragged his body unwilling and climbed behind to reach the ball. Being his usual careless self, he's tripped over and things start to fall over each other in a giant domino sequence. He rushed to the other end of the room to stop everything from collapsing onto each other, but a yelp beside him caused him to flip reflexively, just in time to grab hold of a falling woman by her waist. Having his attention turned to a frightened Kashiwagi Sensei, he didn't notice that an old baseball bat was rolling off the top of a cabinet and hit squarely on his back, tipping their balance and knocking them both down. That's when his lips landed right onto hers.
"Miyazawa-kun...Miyazawa-kun?" He was awaken from his daydream by a sharp, questioning voice. "Have you been copying down the notes for this haiku?"
Shit...Sae looks down at the blank piece of paper and looks back up blankly.
"You better listen in class or you will fail the yearend exam." Kashiwagi looks at him sternly for a second before turning away, and she hasn't given him a second look again for the rest of the class. Meanwhile, he struggles not to think about the scene of him trying to scramble back up from the gorgeous beauty while locking his gaze on the puzzled, wide-eyed teacher's face, her lips slightly reddened from their collision. She was looking straight back at him too and was too shocked to move out from underneath his towering body. For moments, it felt like she's seeing his world through his orbs and he, connected to hers likewise. Connected, in an indescribably cosmic way, like he could take in all the stars in the sky at the same time. He finally snapped out of this trance after he felt blood starting to flow inside him again, and upon an attempt to apologise with a nervous smile, she rubbed her neck in response, looked away, and gave a quick nod before rushing out of the gym room.
It has finally dawned to Sae that he will be seeing her every day in class from now on, and that made him immensely joyful. But the fact that she pays no attention to him, that he's just like every other student of hers, suddenly makes his heart clench in bitterness. As expected, she didn't really give an extra thought about what happened yesterday....
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Exhaling a deep breath, Mako knocked on the door and slid it open.
"Welcome to the tennis club!" An excited girl with pink cheeks and a cheery smile opened her arms wide like she's expecting a child to run towards her.
Mako smiles and bows down respectfully to Takajo Aki, the captain of the tennis club.
"Mako-chan, you don't need to worry about a thing, I've seen you and Moe play in the quarter-finals of the soft tennis doubles. You will be completely fine here!"
The name Moe hasn't been heard of in a while, and it sent chills on her back. Her sempai and her tennis partner in the distant past...After the junior high tournament and Moe's graduation to high school, they had still kept in touch. Mako recalls the days she spent studying hard to get into Moe's high school, and in the end, she did. But the day when she saw her hands clinging onto her boyfriend in the mall, smiling a smile that she's never seen before, she knew that she will not have the courage to continue maintaining their friendship...why then, why am I joining this club now?
"Welcome, Kojima-san...is it?" Mako put her thoughts on a halt and turned to her left to address the source of the sweet, elegant voice.
"Kashiwagi Sensei." Mako bowed and greeted her teacher, her mind now overwhelmed with what Sae had told her yesterday.
"It looks like on my 2nd day here, I'm already pretty well known." Kashiwagi smiled satisfactorily. "Even though I know nothing about tennis, I'm assigned here as your teacher in charge. So please bear with me."
All the members quickly shook their heads and assured that she'll be fine here and how happy they are to have her.
They then started changing into practice clothes, and Mako also began to steal a few peeks here and there, scanning to register all the members in the club.
"All right, everything is ready!" Miki barges into the room and announced. She saw Mako and gets even more fired up.
"Mako-tin!! You've decided to join!! It's because of Miki isn't' it, isn't it, isn't it!?" Miki wraps her arm around Mako's shoulder and dragged her out to the court. Mako's eyes squinted at the sight of the sun, but she now felt pumped for practice. Yes, it's really just because of you, she answered Miki's question silently.
Even though it felt strange to hold a much denser racquet and hit on a much...er...tougher ball, Mako slowly adjusted to the pace of the game and started to pick up the different moves with much more ease than she expected. Miki has been assigned as her practice partner and they started doing some drills like serving. It was really fun to watch Miki get freaked out by a fastball, and the silly dances she does when she occasionally serves an ace.
"Yay~~~"
"Don't wriggle your arms like some flying spaghetti!" Mako finally surrenders and sits on the court, hands holding her tummy to stop the pain from all the laughing. Playing tennis doesn't seem so bad after all.
"All right!" A voice came from across two courts. "Practice is over for today...otsukare sama!!" Akicha announced the end of the practice and everyone retires to the changing room.
After taking a quick shower, Mako is amused to find that Miki's dressed back in her uniform but with her wet hair dangling all over her face as she crawls on the floor, looking for something.
"Wet Spaghetti, who has dropped you from the plate?" Mako teases.
"I'm looking for my shoe, it's goneeee..." Miki whines and continues to peer under the benches without much results.
"It's right here, my dear, on your chair." Mako pulls the girl back up so she could see that it is indeed, right under her nose.
"Heh heh..." Miki laughs at her own carelessness and sticks her tongue out.
"Come on, sit down and I'll wipe your hair dry." Mako begins to wrap a towel over the girls head and ruffle playfully.
"Stop it Makotin, you're gonna mess it up!"
"No I won't," Mako slows down and begins to really wipe and comb her hair seriously, and Miki also stopped moving around. Everything about Miki is so cute, she thought to herself, and she went into a state where she thought of nothing but making a perfect pair of twintails for her. Her hair is so soft, like a newborn child's, but they are silky and beautiful too. I can touch and brush it all day...
"Ano...Makotin?" Miki suddenly asks.
"...uhm?" Mako barely responded as she's still focussed on the silky mane.
"I heard from Naachan that...you are not going out with Miyazawa-san, right?"
"Haha!" Mako dismisses casually as she always does to everyone who asks the question. "No, no we're not. We're just really good friends."
"As I thought..." Miki's relieved face cannot be seen by Mako since she's tending to her hair. However, this soft whisper is drowned by two other voices from the other side of the room.
"No way, Kojima-chan!" Mayumi, a 2nd-year student in the tennis club overheard the conversation and said. "I saw you guys sharing an ice-cream like a couple the other day...stop lying to your sempais!"
"Deshou!! You guys are a cute couple, it's okay to admit it!" Asuka also came forward and said.
"We did share an ice-cream," Mako tried to explain, "but..."
Amongst all the frolicking and arguing, Kashiwagi quietly puts down the practice record and left, whispering to herself, "So, they are a couple indeed? Wait, why do I care?Ah...what am I thinking??"
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Sae+Mako?! :w00t:
So, this is gonna be like AKB49??? :deco:
SWEET!!!! :heart:
I would have totally done this if I have started this fic after the announcement of AKB49. But I started before that. Yep, that was a long time ago, but I'm slow :nervous
The reason I started this fic is because I read your Tentoumuchu fic and really wanted to write one about the three musketeers too! I can only say it after Chapter 2 because I was still trying to troll you guys into thinking it's a SaeMako fic. I hope you'd enjoy Saeyuki too! At least, there's still another mystery triangle to be solved for the parallel storyline for Mako...hehehe :twisted:
OOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!! OOOOOHHHH!!!!!
SaeMako :heart:
Yes, but not really! As I mentioned above, I would've done it in this fic if I haven't started after AKB49 is announced. At that time, there's 0 connection between Sae and Mako. I didn't dare to write a fic so randomly, so I made this setting. If you guys are interested, I will do an AKB49 type of OS for SaeMako and maybe SaeNanyan too :cow:
wuohohohohohoooooooo :ptam-glow: :ptam-glow: :ptam-glow:
its remind me of sae being so kakkoi at renai kinshi jourei musical stage play~~
nice~! super niceeee~! :onioncheer:
really thanks for making this fic~ please continue~~ :byebye:
and welcome back :welcome :welcome :hee:
Thanks for being supportive all the time! I think it will make you happy if you've read till this part...yes, this will be Saeyuki fic! Sae was so cool in the musical though, so I am definitely gonna be working on a proper SaeMako fic soon.
EHH MAKO X SAE?!?! Interestinggg><
Please continue soonnnnnnn!!!!!
Sorry it's not SaeMako this time! But since it seems many of you actually found it interesting, I will seriously consider making one OS soon. It seems that Mako really likes Sae in real life, so it shouldn't be hard to find materials....hehehe'
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So yes! This will be a Saeyuki + Three Musketeers fic! Sorry the pairings aren't groundbreaking, but it's my first attempt on a love triangle (for Sanjyushi). For Saeyuki, because I have written a fic on them before, I also wanted to try something new. Since the theme is about "Love that you can't express honestly," I have decided to create two distincts problems for my main characters. For Sae, it will be a forbidden type of teacher-student relationship, while for Mako, it will be about yuri/same-sex. That is my reason for making Sae a boy.
If you are not too disappointed in this trolling, please let me know your comments too!
Thanks for reading again! :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart:
BTW, Yurina has just announced her graduation, and I'm still recovering from the shock. I will probably make a Yurinana OS before I continue with anything else. I need time to swallow this. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
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Douse SaeYuki Fanfics <3 :heart: Tho I am not a SaeYuki fan I'm willing to write and read SaeYuki fanfics (I'm currently writing one for a friend who's my first reader &/or commenter on my OS thread) But still love you :heart:
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What i hope is:
- This fic has more than 50+ chapter
- You keep updating this fic everyday (so i don't need to read the same chapter over and over again because i really like it!)
...Just kidding hehe (but it'll be better if you could make it real) :peace:
And, keep burst out ur spirit when you write this fic, author-san :cow:
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What i hope is:
- This fic has more than 50+ chapter
- You keep updating this fic everyday (so i don't need to read the same chapter over and over again because i really like it!)
...Just kidding hehe (but it'll be better if you could make it real) :peace:
And, keep burst out ur spirit when you write this fic, author-san :cow:
Haha thanks, it will be impossible to do that every day! It took me months to get the whole story done and every time I read it, I will change a lot of things. However, rest assured that the fic will see its completion. That's something I take seriously :rock:
Douse SaeYuki Fanfics <3 :heart: Tho I am not a SaeYuki fan I'm willing to write and read SaeYuki fanfics (I'm currently writing one for a friend who's my first reader &/or commenter on my OS thread) But still love you :heart:
For me, I'm a SaeXall and YukiXall person, I really love them separately as members so I tend to write more stuff about them. I will keep checking out Mayuki stuff though! I need more inspiration to write about them, especially since Mayu has grown up so much this past year. I feel like Mayuki's dynamic has changed (in a good way).
Chapter 3 is where people get to reveal their thoughts but still pretty standard stuff. However, I think Chapter 4 will kind of really break hell loose. Please look forward to it.
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Chapter 3 - Detention
"I can't go home with you tomorrow." Sae suddenly announces in a mouthful of rice at the dinner table.
"O...same here." Mako replies with a lack of enthusiasm. "I've got detention because I failed Geography...again."
"For me, I didn't hand in my literature homework on time."
"Why?" Mako puts down her chopsticks and bowl and eyes Sae suspiciously. "Sae, don't tell me...you did it on purpose?"
"Are you crazy? Of course it's not about Kashiwagi Sensei!"
"Hey I never said it, you blurted out the truth." Mako tilts her head backwards in laughter.
"Stop it, stop it!" The defeated Sae begs. "It's not on purpose, but I'm too nervous to hand in anything to her. I stayed up all night, and can't think of a poem that I wouldn't be embarrassed to hand in as homework."
"Aww..." Mako finally notices the dark circles under the poor Genking's eyes and went to hug him. "Well at least you'll get some one-on-one time with your crush, while I will have to face Takayama Sensei and his snoring at the same time. Why does detention suck so bad for me but sounds like heaven to you?"
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Today, Miki is joining to eat lunch with Mako and Nana, which they have done regularly for some time now. The three of them have become really good friends, so much so that everyone starts teasing them as the "three musketeers". They're just sharing food in the garden when Nana was approached by some students to handle a dispute among two girls.
"It looks like I will have to leave you guys for the rest of lunch break."
"No worries Naachan, the world counts on you!" Mako gave her a thumbs up and Miki pumps her fists together as a sign of encouragement.
"See you!"
"Woof! Finally I can stop using honorifics!!" Miki lies down on the grass and spread her limbs into a star shape.
"Ooooo! I will report this to Naachan!" Mako teased. Miki continues to wriggle around without caring how grass is getting all over her skirt. Mako also put down her lunch and tried to stop Miki, half laughing and half wrestling with her, picking the blades of grass off every now and then. Miki looks at the caring and gentle Mako and smiles to herself, slowing down on her movements. She's been wondering whether it's time to ask 'that' for a while now. She's even tried to create chances so that Mako can be alone with her. Every time, Mako would take care of her no matter how silly their playing went, and it's no exception this time either. Since she's so nice to her...it is surely safe to ask then?
Miki took a deep breath, but meanwhile, the struggle she's been going through completely escapes Mako's attention, as she's still focussed on getting Miki tidy. Where does this girl get all the energy from? Mako picked out a blade of grass at the edge of Miki's skirt and unfolded the crease that resulted from her rolling around. Her eyes landed on Miki's cream coloured thighs... her hand moves down and almost brushes on them...
"Ne...Makotin?" Miki suddenly sits up and interrupts Mako.
"Miki..." Mako felt like she's waken from a trance, but not fully recovered yet. She moves closer to the younger girl unconsciously.
"Can I ask you something?"
Did I get caught? This possibility arises abruptly in Mako's mind. Looking at Miki's furrowed eyebrows, a sense of shame suddenly rushes up Mako's chest. Did she feel annoyed that I...I dare to have such feelings for her?
"Yes?" She looks away from Miki and feigns a casual laugh.
"I think...I think I'm interested in someone...you know..."
Mako's eyes pop in excitement and looks back towards Miki's. She can't control the hopeful feeling that's building up inside of her...
"I'm interested in...in a strange way, a way I can't quite describe, but it makes my heart ticklish and uneasy...but, but happy at the same time..."
Yes, this must be love, thought Mako. This is love...why is she telling me this? Could it really be me?
"I'm...I want you to introduce me to Sae-kun!!!!" Miki bows down in embarrassment as she finally utters that name buried in her chest for a long long time.
Mako's excited expression turns into devastation, a thought that her mind rationally tells her to hide away from Miki as soon as possible. But she's in such an emotionally shocked state that her face is still frozen in shock.
"Yappari..." Miki slowly looks up and observed the strange look in Mako's eyes. "You're in love with him too, right?" The fear that bothered Miki most might just be true after all..
"O...no no no!!" Mako got stunned by Miki's speculation and laughs out forcefully. "I'm just, I never thought....anyone will like that baka!! Hahaha, but that's nice! You're my good friend, I can definitely help you with this!" She holds Miki's hands into her palms with ten times the eagerness than Miki's hopeful look.
"Makotin, are you really....really gonna help me?"
"Yes, yes! I will be happy that my two best friends got together!"
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The tic-tock tic-tock sound of the clock in the silent room is scaring Sae to wits. He might have written two lines in his two hours there, but it's not something he is proud to show anyone.
Kashiwagi does a small stretch after working on her papers for two straight hours. She looks around this cramped, special-study room, and then at the almost completely blank paper.
"You're doing this to spite me, and do you think it's really fun?" The teacher walk towards Sae's desk and grabs the piece of paper from him. Although Kashiwagi felt slightly annoyed that day when they accidentally kissed, she admitted to herself that Sae's clumsy look, and later that embarrassingly cute smile, never faded from her mind. She tried her best not to look at him at all in class, but everything he does or doesn't, like when their eyes meet in his furtive glances, cannot escape her mind. It is driving her crazy, and she has conditioned herself to think that it's the boy who's playing nasty tricks on her. She has to stay calm...and stay professional.
"No..don't!" Sae stood up and tried to recover the paper from her. "I...I need more time..."
"Your life does not depend on it and I'm not a monster in grading." Kashiwagi narrow her eyes in forced disdain. "You could've just written something mediocre like everybody else in the class did." Even she's surprised at her own snarkiness, but she continued to turn towards the paper and read the two lines.
Puff!
The teacher is suppressing her laughter as she reads out the text.
"This is acid rain that falls every summer from the easterly winds,
This is like love, which erodes hearts and minds."
"Well, that's...haha, about the standards of your class, nothing to feel ashamed of." Sae's head is about to explode. He's never felt that stupid in his life.
"The theme is to write something about weather and love, so of course there are all sorts of metaphors. And I enjoy creativity." Another blow of sarcasm.
Kashiwagi walks towards the embarrassed student, who is now clearly elated at teasing him.
"But acid rain? Is that how love feels to you? I thought you have some real life experiences that should teach you a thing or two about this topic?" She lays the piece of paper back down and pats his head. This makes Sae feel even worse as he is reminded of the distance between them. Why is he such an insignificant, ignorant little boy and her, an experienced, beautiful, sexy lady?
"I don't have such experiences." He answered and tries to look away.
"Really?" The teacher raised an eyebrow sceptically. "I think the whole school's been excited about our golden couple, the basketball ace and the future tennis star?" She tilts Sae's chin up with her fingertip and pierce him with a death glare.
Sae felt like a prey that's right at the mouth of a tiger. He feels helpless and most of all, he is taken aback by the anger and jealousy from her eyes. At the same time, he doesn't know why he's also overwhelmed with guilt, something like he's cheated on her, when in fact, there's nothing to hide. He gulps and look intensely at her.
"We're...we're like brothers and sisters, Yuki-san." He answered in a weak but sured voice, like it's his last words. Yuki's glare continued for a few seconds, and Sae's mind went blank. Is that how dying feels? But then, but then, she walks away.
"I believe in you," She sat back down on her desk. "Or how else could you explain such bad metaphors. But go on, you have 10 more minutes to finish your homework or you'll get extra detention this weekend."
"Yes, Sensei." Sae quickly buried his face back down in the homework, his fingers dancing around uncontrollably in relief like a little deer that has miraculously got away from his predator.
"And, I like it, when you called me Yuki." She saw Sae jolted, trying to hide a smile on his face as he bows his head even lower towards the papers, almost kissing the homework. What am I thinking? Kashiwagi scolds herself inside. You are playing with fire!! It's okay, you're an adult, you're just teasing him, you can control this. The voices in her head are battling and fighting to crack her skull apart, but on the surface, she's acting as calm and worldly as a sensei she is.
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"Yappo!!" Instead of Takayama Sensei, the special-study room door slides open with a voice familiar to Mako.
"Naachan!" Mako exclaims happily, but her cute smile quickly turns to a frown. "You...you got into trouble too?"
"No no," Nana waves her hand and smiles. "I have convinced Takayama Sensei to go home and I will take his place for supervising you in detention."
"Naachan!" Mako flings herself onto the shorter girl and squeezes her tight. "You are the best!!"
"Now let's make sure you don't fail this quiz."
"But can't you just give me the answers?"
"I don't cheat!!" The majime girl straightened up and stated sternly.
.....
And so, Mako struggled for two hours to complete the quiz with most questions right in the end.
"Ah...in the end, it's so much greater to have Naachan beside me..." Mako slides down from her chair with an exhausted expression.
"See, I told you you can do it!" Nana patted Mako's back approvingly.
"Thanks Nana-chan, I don't know what I'll do without you." Mako looks at Nana seriously. When she's not smiling, Mako's pout can look very cross, Nana muses to herself. What's up with her today though? Her sixth sense tells her that Mako is not simply just tired from detention.
"Are you okay? You haven't been yourself at all since I met you back in class after lunch. I can tell something is wrong. Tell me."
"Nana..." Mako is hesitant to say anything. She wants to beat herself for doing this, but it is a secret that she cannot share that easily, not even with a person like Naachan. How can she let her know that she likes girls, and Miki no less? It's not that she doesn't trust her, but the topic itself is so hard to bring up. Before she knows it, tears start streaming down her eyes. It was the same as how Sae found out that time, because she couldn't control her feelings at all.
"Mako..." Nana feels her heart ache when she sees the most important person in her life cries. "It's okay...come close to me." She takes her into her arms and rests her chin gently on the sobbing girl's head.
"Why is love so easy for everyone else?" Mako asks.
"No it's not, it's not easy for me at all." Naachan responds with her own thoughts lying on the secret she has to hide in front of a person she sees everyday.
"You, you don't understand what I mean. I love someone that I can't love."
Nana bit her lip and remained silent. Mako is in love with someone, and...and that person is not me.
"I love...her." There's a slight pause but she continues, "But she's...she's actually in love with Sae-kun! How can I be so blind about that? The first time they met in the library, the way she blushes and turns away shyly...I should've known! And all this time I was thinking, do I stand a chance? If I try harder, will she like me more than a friend? She told me her true feelings. It was so crushing...I didn't know how to react. And...and I told her I am going to help them out..."
"She...?" Naachan whispers in puzzlement, still trying to process everything that's just been said.
"It's...it's Miki. I like her, I like her in a special way..."
The sudden flood of information shocks Nana to no end. The three of them have gotten along so well that she never thought such an intricate dynamic exists between them.
"What should I do?" Mako finally pulled away and looked expectantly at her friend, who never fails to give her good advice.
The serious look in Nana's face gave her some comfort. She's glad that Nana is not disgusted at who she's in love with.
"Mako-tin?" Nana pulled her back in and kisses the top of her head in a comforting way. "You don't have to help them, but it will be strange not to introduce them to each other further. Maybe...maybe Sae-san will not have any feelings towards her, or maybe her own feelings are also misguided? Let them know each other and there might be good outcomes."
A calm and mature answer.
Nana wonders silently if maybe, just maybe, that Mako's feelings towards Miki is also misguided, but she didn't say a word about that.
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saeyuki collaborated with Mako, Miki, and Nana
really interesting! :sashiko:
Update soon :bow:
:germany:
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i didnt thought that it will be turning into saeyuki.... but, greats~! i miss saeyuki :yossi:
love triangle~~~ :err:
:mon santasad:
:mon curtain:
:pig cute:
:ptam-ok:
i hope you will keep updating~! :cow:
thanks for the update :bow:
:onioncheer:
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"Aww..." Mako finally notices the dark circles under the poor Genking's eyes and went to hug him.
How cute..
"And, I like it, when you called me Yuki." She saw Sae jolted, trying to hide a smile on his face as he bows his head even lower towards the papers, almost kissing the homework. What am I thinking? Kashiwagi scolds herself inside. You are playing with fire!!
This is.. This is exactly what i want :heart: Feels like yuki is so bold, eh? Hahah. We want more
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your fic caught my interest!
saeyuki & three musketeers!
am so happy there are mako miki nana with their triangle love :hip smile:
so now, not only sae who knew but also naachan.
a calm and mature answer, just like nana! haha
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WAAA! interesting :D
saeyuki<3
please update soon :bow:
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@George: thanks for dropping by, keep reading!
@fuu_kun: :deco: Yes gonna be a lot of Saeyuki in this fic!!
@Wierd Panda: That's how I feel Yuki is like in real life. Reserved and polite, but strong and bold inside, while Sae is energetic but more hesitant.
@sastio13: I'm happy you like reading about the three musketeers! It's quite hard to write about love triangles though :nervous
@syworld: thanks for reading! Will definitely update soon!
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Chapter 4 - After School
Sae hurries his footsteps towards the small community playground in the neighbourhood. He wonders why Mako suddenly calls him after mid-night and urgently wants to meet with him.
The girl is sitting on the swaying swing, dangling her feet under the full moonlight.
"Makotin!"
"Sae-kun!" Mako waves with her carefree smile.
"Hello, let's see. So you suddenly wanted to play see-saws with me? Mou...I need my precious sleep!!!" Sae stomps the ground like a little kid, acting what he thinks is an appropriate role given the setting.
"O shut up!" the usual smack on the head ensues.
"I have a favour to ask from you." Mako got up from the swing and turns her back towards Sae to avoid his look.
"Can you, go on a date with Miki-chan tomorrow?" The casual tone of her voice only amplifies her unease.
Sae's face is riddled in confusion, a twisted expression that Mako didn't get to see with her back towards him.
"What's wrong with your head? You got a fever or something? I'm no peodophile!!"
Mako finally turns back to Sae in protest. "No, it's not like that! And Miki is 15 already! But that aside, I just want you to get to know each other...you know, as friends, but in a, you know, date..." Her voice trails off in guilt and regret.
"Is this a game on friendship or something? Bro's don't take each others beaus!" Sae looks around in case there is a dokkiri camera. "You love her, don't you? Even though you act like you don't, you do and I know it!"
"I....don't!" Mako suddenly gets defensive and shoots him a glare. "I am her friend only, so I want to give you guys a chance to know each other. She's like a sister to me.... don't break her heart!"
"Why are you doing this?" Sae roars back angrily but tones down his voice in case he wakes the neighbours up. "You know how much I love you and I will not do anything to see you get hurt. I can guess what's going on okay? I'm not stupid. She likes me, so I'll turn her down like I turned all the other girls down...and you can both live happily every after! Story done, time to go to bed!"
"I don't care what you think you know, but you must go on a date with her, tomorrow at 4 to the floral fair." Mako turns and runs quickly to avoid further confrontation with Sae, but he grabs her arm and they both fell into a puddle.
"O great...Mako," Sae sits back up in mud and looks annoyed to no end. "If that's what you want, I will do it for you. If you are too chicken to help yourself, then let me take your place as you wish. I will go out with her, kiss her, and do all sorts of things that'll make you regret."
"Sheeee..." A smiling old man appeared out of nowhere and helped them up. They don't really know the old man but he seems to be a neighbour they sometimes run into. Anyway, he doesn't look like a total stranger, instead, Mako's instincts even tell her that he's trustworthy.
"Sumimasen..." Mako was the first to apologise, realising how loud they must have been. Sae hurriedly bows down as well.
"O, no no, it's alright, I'm also taking a walk tonight...it's good that I finally run into some youngsters here, having fun in the park!"
"Fun?" Sae can't help but blurts out.
"O son, you look all messy after the fall. You must be tired and thirsty now. Here, let me grant your wish. And yours too," He looks at Mako in a warm smile. "Have a drink first." Out from his pouch, two cans of coke appear. The couple looks hesitant at first, but the man kept smiling at them, so they took them.
Sae has been thirsty after raising his voice and wrestling with Mako, so he's the first to pop the can open. Taking a big gulp of cool carbonated juice, he instantly feels refreshed. Mako glared at Sae, bowed a bit to show her gratitude towards the old man, and had her drink too. The man didn't say much more. He nodded back at the children with a smile and strolled away. The two wanted to call out but decided to just let him be. They also headed home without a single word with each other.
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Mako opens her eyes and tries to shut the alarm but it isn't at the usual place. She looks around and finally found it ringing at the desk.
So far away!! She thought as she tumbles out of bed and crawls to the other end of the room, stopping the source of her headache.
Now she's lying back down on the floor, staring at the ceiling. She recalls the unhappy fight she had with Sae last night, and sort of regretted what had happened. But wait...why did I end up in his house? She looks around her again and confirmed that the familiar surroundings of his room, though it is no source for comfort.
"Sae..." She calls out, but her voice is deeper than she expects. Did she really shout that loudly at him last night that she broke her vocal chords? Standing up, she is startled to find Sae looking back at her in a confused face.
"Stop scaring me..." She's about to lean forward to smack his head when she realises that Sae is moving in synchronisation. No, it's not Sae, it is... just a reflection in the mirror of...herself?
She covers her mouth in both hands in horror but the only thing she sees is Sae doing this same somewhat girly pose at her.
"Shit..." she whispers...in Sae's voice.
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On the other hand, Mako heard her(Sae's) own scream piercing through the walls of the neighbourhood and reaching into her own ears.
"What's wrong with you Mako-chan?" Mum rushes upstairs and slides open the door, seeing a shocked and gaping Mako staring back at her.
"Nothing...I...just saw a fly."
"Can you stop scaring me to shits with your constant shouting and yelling in sleep? You're now even doing it in broad daylight!"
"Am I?" Sae, the person who's really possessing Mako's body, asked.
"Now get ready for breakfast, or you won't be able to make it on time."
Sae is still jaded after the door slides close behind him. Is this a joke? A body swap with my friend, my female...friend?
No shit! Sae suddenly rushes to the cabinet and opens the first drawer eagerly. Yes!! Bras!!! He took a pair of pink ones out of the drawer and rises it above him like he's examining some exotic jewellery.
"Gosh...how do I put this on?" He murmurs aloud.
The door slides open abruptly and Sae felt a kick right into his face.
"Awwww" He looks up and finds himself, holding the bra and fuming angrily at him. No that's not him, it's Mako in his body.
"Jesus, what else of me have you not seen already? Why are all boys so pervy??"
"I am not." Sae answers defiantly. "I am just, in a state of shock. So now, I have picked the pink bra...and by the way, the cup size is so small!...How do I put it on?"
"It's not small! And now is not the time!!" Mako exclaims. "We have to find out why this is happening and how we can get our bodies back!"
"I know I know, but if we are late for school, we'll get a double whammy since we just served a detention this week!!"
"Shit you are right! Fuck okay!" Mako rushes toward Sae and strips off his nightgown so she can get him dressed. She can't believe that baka doesn't know how to put on the clasps just because he can't see it from the front.
They both got ready in their uniforms and are about to run off.
"Wait," Mako said and Sae turns back and see his own face squished in agony.
"Is it really that bad to become me for a day?" He asks in an imaginary Mako voice, which turned out to be ridiculously high-pitched.
"I...I need to pee."
"So go."
"I can't, that thing....I don't know why it got large and I can't stop it!" Sae stares in the same direction as Mako down there and realised what's going on.
"O Baka baka baka! You're going to kill my body! You must pee or Saechan won't go down." He rushed her to the toilet and pushes her inside.
"I can't, it's pointing up..."
"For heaven's sake, just do it!" Mako hears her voice screaming at her and winces.
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After they finally made it back to school, Sae points at the panting Mako and exclaimed, "Your body is so.... weak..... you ....have....ab...absolutely.....no cardio strength!!"
"Stop criticising me," Mako wants to slap on his head but seeing her own precious body clearly driven to the max in their sprint towards school, she held back. "Your body is quite heavy too, you know."
"But...you...are....cl...clearly doing fine with it..." He shakes his head and starts walking towards his classroom.
"Not this way, stupid..." She yanks him back...then slowed down gently. "You go to my class and I yours. And don't walk like that."
"Like what?" Sae snaps as he turned towards the other direction, still strutting like a guy. Mako face palmed herself and thought how her cute image will be forever ruined.
"Oi.." Sae called back. "You should be lucky you have no basketball practice today." However, it's Mako's turn to gasp in horror, "But you have tennis today!!"
"O please don't! Don't ever cover your mouth like that like that! You are a boy, a boy okay?" Sae also felt his back break into sweat as he thinks how awkwardly girly he's going to appear among his friends today.
"Just don't talk at all and act cool...like you're pissed at everyone, okay?" He gave her one last advice before he strides off.
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In the 2-B classroom...
"Ohayou!" A girl greeted Sae and he instinctively tries to high-five her by raising both of his hands. "Yo man!"
The girl was clearly taken aback by this weird girl in front of her, who quickly realised that he should've just waved back. Sae lowers his arms and smile awkwardly.
"Good day!" He said in a most polite and warm tone.
After what seems to be a million "Good days", he found Nana and sat beside her.
"Ya...Yappo~~~" He recalls the expression they use to greet each other.
"Yappo!" Nana smiles back but eyes him for a longer while...
"Is there something on my face?" Sae ruffles his hair but realises he has just messed up the impeccable ponytail that Mako made this morning in a rush.
"Shit!" He exclaimed.
The aghast Nana was already surprised by Mako's weird gestures since she appeared in the classroom, and then she's now shocked that Mako swears in front of her, which she never does after the first day they met.
"Mako!" Nana turn his head to face hers seriously with both of her hands. Sae has never been a victim of her direct stare and this is the first time he's felt so nervous under Nana's scrutiny.
"'Shit' is a bad word. You should say, 'Oh no!'"
"Okay, chillax mate!" The girl in front of Naachan doesn't seem to take this schooling seriously at all.
"You can say 'chillax' in front of me and peers, but if you let this habit grow, you will slip up in front of sempais or even adults one day and that will be very impolite."
Nana continued to lecture the incredulous looking girl in front of her, while she wonders secretly if Mako has been so shocked by yesterday's events that she had turned into another person. Last night, she couldn't calm her mind at all from knowing about Mako's feelings. She thought hard on how she began to fall in love with her friend. What exactly is the turning point that made her realise that she's into her, more than a friend? Was it when she noticed the pout on her frowning face and that it started occupying her mind whenever she isn't doing something? Or was it whenever Mako tells her "You're the best" and instead of feeling satisfied, she feels frustrated? No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of one reason, or one single event, which led her to change her feelings....maybe, she's been in love all along, ever since they first met...
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In the 3-C classroom
Mako puts on the most pissed off expression she can think of, but honestly, Sae's face is so pretty there's no way she can ever pull off an unlikeable face, she thought.
"Uhohohoho" A short guy climbs up the desk and jumps around like a monkey. She recognised it's Yukio.
"Yukio-san!" She beams her usual Kojimako smile and quickly regretted at her reflexive actions.
"Are you sick or something?" The true gorilla ruffles her hair behind her back and she turns and saw Akimoto staring intensely at her.
"Em." Mako remains tightlipped and nodded slightly, scrambling to her seat.
"Oi, Miyazaaa," Yukio said, "that's my seat."
Yabai, she must look so silly now! Mako wants to leave this classroom as soon as possible but she musters her courage to move to the side. "Gomen." She mutters and looks at nothing but her desk.
"Miyazawa-kun," A sweet voice approaches and she can see the thighs of a girl leaning on the edge of his desk. She didn't look up.
"Let's have lunch today?" She peeks up and recognises that she's Kasai-san, one of the many girls that Sae flirts with casually. She knows that if she's in character, she should say 'yes,' but she shook her head timidly.
"I think Sae's having a fever," she heard Akimoto approaching and shooing Tomomii off. "And you too Tomochin...not today." Mako glances up and saw the two girls leaving together disappointedly. She lets out a deep breath of relief, but wonders how many more girls she has to turn down today.
"Thanks." Akimoto frowns at this abnormally polite gesture from his buddy but didn't ask further.
The door slides open and in comes Kashiwagi Sensei. O god, why does it have to be her? Mako mentally imagines herself jumping off the window. But to her surprise, nothing much happened in class, and she took notes or pretended to take notes just to avoid eye contact with anyone. After getting back the quizzes, which Mako noticed how badly Sae did on, she heard his name being called to the front desk.
"Miyazawa-san. Please come to see me after school, your test grade is the lowest in class." Luckily she didn't say it out loud so only the two girls sitting in the front row giggled.
"Sensei...I believe, you have tennis club practice today." Mako reminded her timidly, eyes still staring straight to the ground like she's ready to pierce and fall through it.
"Oh yes, how forgetful of me. We'll discuss it in your weekend detention then."
As if it's Mako getting her own detention, she looks up in shock and finally met Kashiwagi's eyes.
"What? I thought you knew already? You didn't finish last week's homework in detention yesterday." She heard the two girls behind her continue to giggle.
"Yes..."Mako looks down again and nods. "Yes..."
Kashiwagi tilted her head at this rare sight of Sae, being aho, but in a different way. This boy never fails to fascinate her.
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In the rooftop, Sae flings himself onto the bench and spreads his legs relaxedly like a boss. This lack of girly manners has obviously disrupted Nana's zen, but just when she's about to begin her lecture, Sae clears his throat and asks, "So...um...where's Mikichan today?"
"Miki? She has to prepare for tennis practice during lunch hour every Friday...are you really okay?" Nana's furrowed eyebrows caused Sae to apologise profusely. Boy, it must be hard to be Okada Nana ne, such an intense person.
"O no, Mako, don't apologise, I'm...I'm just really worried." She pulls him into her arms and gave him a tight hug. Sae has never been that close with a girl before, except Mako, which he never really treated as a girl. Naachan is quite skinny, so there's really....nothing to feel as he rest his head onto her. Somehow though, he's feeling extremely nervous and wrong. Why is Naachan being so sentimental today? Does it have anything to do with Mako's strange request to him last night?
At this moment, Miki made a surprised appearance and marches straight to the girls.
"Mako Mako!" Miki pulls Sae off from Nana. "You didn't tell me in the end...so is 4pm today at the floral fair a done deal?" Miki looks eagerly at him and it's the first time he notices how sweet this girl's smile is. Oh right....their supposed date!
"Y...Miki...you know what? Do you, have you...ever thought maybe, I dunno, guys sucks?" Sae starts mumbling and improvising. "Sae-kun is...Sae is..."
"He's stupid, I know, you told me that already!" Miki swings his hand playfully with a cute laugh.
What? That baka-maka calls ME stupid?
"Okay, he's not THAT stupid. He's a fun and cool guy...and smart-ish too, you know, in a...wait I'm babbling...I mean, yeah, I...I just don't think he's into you." Sae said it nonchalantly but he notices the disapproving look on Nana's face. Then he turns and finds Miki biting her lips and looks like she's about to cry.
"I mean....I mean he's not going to be into you if you don't try! So yes, meet him at 4pm you know, go....gonna catch 'em all right?" He gives a typical Sae wink (and bad joke), which only makes Mako look even more awkward but immediately relieves the whole situation.
"Thanks Makotin!!" Miki yelled. "Well, see you at practice today! And bye Naachan!" She rushes off the roof as quickly as she came.
"What a simple-minded child..."Nana looks into the distance lovingly. "I just hope, I just hope that things will turn out fine for you all."
"Naachan, Sae will, Sae must turn her down." There's a certain conviction in his voice that startled Nana. She sees Mako looking straight ahead into the distance solemnly.
"Mako.." she looks at him with a slight gape. "Are you...that determined to get Miki?"
"What? Wait..." Sae got caught off guard by Nana's direct questioning. Is Mako ever going to muster up the courage to love Miki? Even he doesn't know..."I er...I'm... not sure about...." He starts to stutter...
"Is it possible...that you only love her as a sister?" Nana continued to stare at him intensely.
There's a certain determination in her eyes too. A determination that means whatever he answers won't really matter to her. But he's too puzzled to answer as well. He starts wondering why Nana has such big, beautiful eyes. And the sunlight is illuminating her light pupils, giving her a mesmerising glow. She's a really attractive girl, he thought to himself objectively. If I'm a guy, I'll definitely go for her. Wait, I AM a guy....who just happen to be in a girl's body.....
Seeing the uncertain daze in Sae's eyes, Nana felt she has to courage to go on.
"On the other hand, my feelings are certain." Nana moves towards Sae locked his shoulders into both of her hands.
"I love you, Kojima Mako." She pulls him in and their lips locked together. Without thinking, Sae closes his eyes. At first, his mind is blank. But then, his instincts took control.
Nana felt Mako's lips slowly and surely, examining every part of it and becomes surprised at how closely it matches her imagination. Her kiss intensifies and she felt more confident on her impulsive action. She's now wrapping her arms around Mako's neck, who responds by cupping her hands round her waist, pulling them close together. Nana closes her eyes and start to savour every corner of Mako's mouth, who retaliates equally with her own kisses. To her surprise, Mako began to act fiercely, pushing her down the bench and taking a more dominant position. She broke her kiss from her lips and started kissing her cheeks and her neck.
The bell rung and interrupted the make out session, rudely waking the wild Sae up. He moves off from the person under him and sees a pink-cheeked girl with ruffled clothes and hair. Nana is looking away shyly but the smile on her face indicates enormous satisfaction.
"I'm..I'm sorry Nana." Sae frowns and straightens his own dress up. Damn it, this is my first real kiss and it feels real good...but shit!! I did it in Mako's body! With her friend, Naachan! And, what? Naachan is in love with her??
Nana also tidied herself and smiles broadly. "It's okay, I'm fine. I'm more than fine." She takes his hand and led him out of the roof.
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"You're swinging the racquet too hard today!" Miki shouted across the court at what she thinks is Mako, but is actually Sae.
"Sorry, mate!" Sae apologises for the umpteenth time again and ran off court to pick up all the balls.
"Look, I've got to go now," Miki says, her mood hardly affected by the really bad play displayed by Mako(Sae) today. "it's almost 4."
She rushes off the court and Sae looks worriedly at her back, hoping that the date with his body, or Mako, will go better than the lunch he had with Naachan just now.
Mako is diligently early and waiting nervously outside the tennis club changing room. She's pacing back and forth and thinking how she can make Miki happy but also kind of turn her down at the same time. But what if, just what if Sae would actually fall in love with Miki? Mako shakes her head to clear of such weird and impossible thoughts and continues to pace back and forth.
Kashiwagi Sensei is just about to drop off some stuff at that practice room when she sees Mako (in Sae's body) pacing nervously outside. What's this kid doing outside the tennis club? She's about to go up and tease him before she sees Miki appearing from the changing room, all changed into a simple, but completely new, white sleeveless dress.
"Mikichan! You look so cute today!" Mako exclaims and gets a really embarrassed response from the flushed little girl.
"Thank you, Miyazawa-kun..."
Mako regains her composure and clears her throat, "Okay...let's go! Do you have the tickets?"
"Tickets?" Miki looks at Mako blankly.
Mako suddenly recalls that the tickets was stuffed in her desk drawer at home, and they completely forgot about it this morning.
"Yabai...." Mako's about to cover her mouth with her hand but stopped midway and instead clenches her fist. "Miki-chan, you know what...let's have a walk in the park first. I can get you ice-cream!"
"Sure!" Miki nods happily without thinking too much, and they both walked away.
Kashiwagi dropped her stuff off the room quickly and came out, following the direction that the couple went. Sae with Mikichan? Now that's a weird combo...The teacher is really curious at what they are up to, and without admitting it or knowing it, she's actually stalking her students now.
Mako recalls the usual routine she does with Sae, where they stroll in the park aimlessly, stopping once in a while to play with puppies taking a walk, getting ramune or ice-cream when they feel tired. Today, with Miki though, she can't relax at all, and she kept walking and walking faster.
"Wait up," Miki finally can't keep up and clings her arm around hers to slow her down.
"O sorry, Miki..." Mako scratches the back of her head, the only habit that both she and Sae share when they're nervous.
Suddenly, they saw a small boy running up to their direction and tripping over. Mako and Miki rushed to see if he's okay, but the boy is already crying.
"Mamma...mama..." They looked around but mama's nowhere to be seen.
"Don't worry, kid," Mako pats the dust off his body and makes sure he's not hurt. "It's a light fall. You're fine."
But the kid's cries only gets louder. Mako looks around to find something that might be able to cheer him up, but Miki started pulling the kid towards her and making a really unrecognisable funny face.
"Hehee..." the boy chuckles even though tears are still streaming down his eyes. Miki changes her face again, this time rolling her eyes back and pulling her grin upwards. Both Mako and the kid starts breaking into laughs.
"It's your turn!" Miki pats on the laughing Mako.
"O?" Mako points to herself and finally nodded. "Look!" She slips her tongue out and turn her nose up into a pig's snout. Because it's Sae's face, it's actually really easy to do funny faces and the effect is hilarious. The boy has already completely forgotten his fall and even let Mako carry him on her shoulders.
"O Wow, you're super light," Mako said her feelings out truly...but of course that's because she's possessing a much more muscular body. "You must eat more, okay?"
"I will grow up and become even taller than you!" The kid laughs and starts playing with her hair.
Mako looks down at Miki, who's beaming a bright smile at both of them. It's so wonderful to see you smile, and it's even more wonderful that we can share our joy together like that, on a date.
At this moment, the kid's mum appeared and thanked the couple before saying goodbye and walking off.
"Ah----tsukaretta!" Mako stretches and walks to the ice-cream booth. As usual, she orders one cone and took it back to the bench for Miki, who's waiting for her.
Grabbing the first bite, Mako smiles happily as the cool creamy block melts in her mouth. She finds that she's ALWAYS hungry in Sae's body and this bite of ice-cream was a life-saver.
"What about me?" Miki looks at the cone longingly, not believing that her date would actually just get one cone...and for himself only.
"What about you? It's all yours of course!" She took one more bite and hands it right to Miki's mouth, who instead hesitates and steals a shy glance at Mako.
"Huh? Come on, open it..." She nudges the ice-cream closer, and Miki finally takes a bite, tasting the coolness and smiling sweetly. Is that an indirect kiss? We are sharing a cone he just bit!
After finishing the cone, Mako notices that Miki has cream all around her lips.
"You're so messy, Mikichan!" Mako exclaims and wipes the stuff off with her napkin carefully.
"Now there you go...a pretty girl again..." She looks at Miki's face satisfactorily like she's just cleaned and restored some precious painting. Miki is sitting in front of the setting sun, the shade making it hard for Mako to look at her clearly, so she leans forward.
Miki is taken aback at how close Sae is to her, but as she's about to look away, she felt his large hands cupping around her cheeks. Miki feels her heart is going to jump out, and all she can do is close her eyes and wait.
Meanwhile, Mako's brain froze and her mind goes haywire. She closes her lips onto Miki's and an indescribable sweetness fills her senses. Is it the ice-cream? Excited by this rush of sugar, she swoops Miki right into her arms so that she's now sitting sideways on top of her lap and they began a round of kisses that are mostly led by Mako. First, it was just small, hesitant pecks, but having Miki completely enclosed in her own body, Mako gets more adventurous and drives deeper.
The taste gets hotter and stronger, like spices that might soon explode through her capillaries. Every kiss feels like a hammer pounding on her chest, except this only makes her heart beat faster, rather than stopping it. A numbness starts to take over her and it feels like her body is expanding and stretching to the limits of the sky...
However, Miki pulls abruptly from the kiss and moves away, her back turning from Mako and gasping for breath.
Like someone who is suddenly woken up from a sweet dream, the shocked Mako looks at Miki worriedly, not knowing if she's done anything wrong.
"Miki..." She whispers..."Are you okay?"
"It felt...it felt uncomfortable sitting there...well...see you next week, Sae-kun!" Miki answers and runs away, but no matter how hard she tries to hide by biting her lips, Mako notices a clear smile on her face, and her pounding heartbeat began to calm down a bit. She looks up to the clear, sunsetting sky and exhales deeply. What a crazy ride...
A sudden pat on the shoulder behind her back alarms her and cause her to turn around instinctively, but her eyes widen in horror.
"Miyazawa-kun, is this how you deal with all the popular girls at school?" It's the first time that Mako feels a glare can kill someone.
"It's, it's a big misunderstanding!" She protests immediately, thinking how this must make Sae look like a playboy.
Kashiwagi Sensei eyed coldly at the scorching hot area Mako's been covering with her hands and walked away.
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"It's the drink.." Sae (in Mako's body) mumbles at the dinner table when they gathered back home that night.
"What drink?" Mako looks up crossly, still flabbergasted at today's events. Sae's definitely going to find out what I have done today, and he's going to be super, duper mad. Can we even survive another day in each other's bodies?
"The ones the creepy old man gave us that night!"
"So, are you suggesting that we go back and find the old man to test out your silly theory?"
"Yes." Sae nods earnestly like puppy, which kind of looks cute in Mako's body but greatly ticks Mako off now.
"Goodnight..." Mako rolls her eyes and gets up to go upstairs, leaving Sae to pout on his own. Shit, he looks at Mako's phone again, which they have also swapped temporarily to go through the day. There are two mails from Nana and he dares not to open them yet. How....how do I tell Mako all this?
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"Hey wake up wake up!" Mako feels a violent shake--no-- she's practically thrown out of bed. Rubbing her eyes, she sees an elated Sae dancing in front of her. A Sae in Sae's own body.
"We got our bodies back without doing anything!"
Mako looks around and touches herself, feeling relieved to find her own body back.
"O God, I hope yesterday was all just a dream."
"A dream or not, let's go party now!!" Sae shouts in joy.
Mako laughs at the once-again genki Genking, and reaches for the table to check her phone. As she's about to unlock it, Sae grabbed it from her hands and hid it behind his back.
"What? Give it back! Don't tell me you drew funny faces on my screen!"
"Well, I sure hope it was just something like that..."
Mako's face finally frowned, and she eyes Sae cautiously as she sits down.
"Eh-hem...so......"
Both of them finally exchanged the things that happened to them yesterday.
"You did what?" was the phrase that they flung around each other as each transgression supersedes the previous one.
The shocked couple sat defeated with all anger against each other subsided and turned into horror, then despair, as they realised they have messed up pretty badly.
"Yuki is going to hate me forever now, thanks to your honest display of affections." Sae frowns and stated.
"Well, says the one who randomly kissed Naachan for no reason. You don't even like her!"
At this moment, Mako's phone buzz again with a third message from Nana. She sighs and opens all the messages, reading it one by one.
"I will have to meet with her today. And you too, you have one more hour to go before special detention."
Sae looks at the alarm clock on Mako's bedside and his face turns ashen.
"Good luck to us both then, I guess."
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Well well I'm really curious, how do they clean up this mess :wahaha:
And kashiwagi-san, please do not think badly on sae! What mako say is right, this is just misunderstanding.. :pleeease:
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Wao!!! What will happen next!! Can't wait to read more
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this chap with body swap was so funny, thanks to the old man
Well well I'm really curious, how do they clean up this mess :wahaha:
And kashiwagi-san.. please do not think badly on sae! This is just misunderstand :pleeease:
yep, how do they clean up the mess XD
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Uwa. I'm really curious what will happen next.
Thank you for the update. :grin:
And,
please update soon! :bow: :lol:
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actualy imma a bit
too much not understand whats happen in this chapter 4 :?
for me its so hard to understand.. sorry :pen_cry:
BUT..
i will re-read it later then :hee: (save spot to comenting) will edit this later
thankyou for updating~! :mon thumb:
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@Weird Panda: You will see how it happens this chapter XD At some levels things get resolved really quickly, but then there are more problems ahead...please read on!
@qweakb: Sorry for the late update!
@sastio13: you will see now!
@syworld: Sae is a decisive person here. There's gonna be a lot going on for him this chapter.
@fuu_kun: what happened is Sae and Mako switched bodies for a day. In Sae's body, Mako went on a date with Miki. In Mako's body, Sae's accidentally kissed Nana and sent the wrong message. When they swapped bodies, I continued to refer to their actual identities since it's largely from their POV. However, when I wrote about Nana/Miki/Yuki's thoughts, I refer to the outer appearance (e.g. Nana thought she's really kissing Mako), so that part might be confusing.
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Chapter 5 - Aftermath
After Sae's left, Mako typed a quick mail to Nana and told her she will be available in the afternoon. She needs to gather her thoughts and think through everything. Naachan likes her...that way? If it's true, the mails didn't betray any of these thoughts. It's just normal, unimportant things like typical mails, but it does seem like she's urgent to meet with her again. What is their relationship now, after the kiss they somehow shared-ish? Is it simply child's play, or was she serious? She can't tell at all...
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The only way to accurately describe how Sae feels now is the chilling sound of chains scratching the floor, in a way that a prisoner drags his feet slowly to the gallows to be hung.
"Shitsureishimasu~~~~" Sae exhales a deep breath and waits...
Hearing no sound coming from the room, he slowly slides the door open. Cyclops glare beams right into his eyes.
"Sensei..." He quickly walks in and turns his back to close the door so that he can escape Yuki's stare.
"Sit down." She said coldly and looks back down to her stack of paperwork. Sae crawls to his desk and start his own work. In addition to finishing the homework he missed, he needs to help do a number of administrative chores like photocopying, transporting books...etc. as additional punishment. Although he should be wishing this to end as soon as possible, his mind is also struggling on whether, or how, he should explain about what happened yesterday. He kind of even wished that Yuki would ask, but minutes then hours went by, until he's long done with his homework, and even almost over with his tasks. Yet she never spoke to him, or even kept silent when he tried to ask lame questions on whatever he could think of.
"Does it matter if the staple is parallel to the paper's edge, or should I do it sideways?" Sae face palmed himself for the fifth time for upping the uselessness of his questions.
Still no answer from Yuki.
"Are you mad?" He half-asked out of frustration without even thinking.
"Why should I be mad?" Yuki finally looks up and answers slowly and calmly.
"I...I'm, it's not what you think it is, that wasn't me, if you know what I mean..." Gah! Idiot! Who would believe you?
"It's none of my business..." The eerily calm voice is now simmering in anger. "Whether it's you or not, why do you think I care? I...I am absolutely not mad! No..I am mad! I should be spending a Saturday morning at home leisurely doing whatever, but now I'm stuck here, supervising an idiotic kid who thinks he's so super popular that the world revolves around him and his minion little girlfriends-- Mako, Miki, Tomomii, Tomochin and god knows who else! Guess what, I really don't give a dime, so finish up your work and disappear from my sight!"
Yuki is now shouting right at Sae, who is just staring at her outburst in shock. The papers he's holding slipped from his hands and floated to the floor softly.
"I am sorry." He finally said. He realises he has already hurt her without even getting to know her. To her, it must seem like he's just messing around. Undoubtedly, Mako wears her heart on her sleeves, so it wouldn't take a genius to observe how much he must have seemed to be in love with Miki yesterday. It's also undeniable that he did kiss another girl out of curiosity. He's just an immature little idiot she says he is. He feels like the worst kind of people on earth. For the sake of Kashiwagi Sensei, maybe it's better if he keeps his passion inside his heart. It's only...it's only that he's never felt so sure about his feelings as he is right now.
I'm not even good enough to secretly love her.
He steps away from her desk and gathered his things. A distant thunder is heard and it looks like a storm is approaching. He sighs at how gloomy the weather is, just like his state of mind now. He glances one more time at Kashiwagi Sensei, who has sat back down and didn't even look up at the sound of the sliding door. Then he left.
Sae walks out into the courtyard and heads towards to gate..Drips of water began to hit his hair, shoulders, and in no time, a flash of light penetrates through the thick grey layer of clouds. Rain starts pouring on him.
For some reason, his is undisturbed by all this. His mind is still transfixed on the unease gulp he saw under Kashiwagi Sensei's stone cold expression.
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Mako closes her umbrella and dusted a few raindrops off her sleeves before entering the cafe. As always, Naachan's power gaze has found her before their eyes meet with each other.
"Makotin!" Nana waves while Mako smiles hesitantly and sat down.
"How are you? I was so worried when you didn't reply my mails last night. Are you feeling unwell? You look unwell...." She stands up and reaches over the table to feel Mako's forehead. Not knowing how to respond to this normal gesture of caring, Mako blushes.
Nana can't hold her smile, seeing such an awkwardly shy Mako around her. Why is she acting shy, after being so aggressive to her yesterday at the rooftop?
"Ne Mako, I've ordered a set tea for us, it's very popular among couples now!"
Mako's eyes jump at the word "couples," but she quickly hides it with her smile and nods. Yappari, I can't do this...but, but what if I'm just being overly sensitive? Girls talk like that all the time, right?
"Ano..." Mako finally said after taking a sip of tea. "Did we...did we call Mikichan too?"
Nana looks puzzled. "Oh, did...did you want to see her too? I can call her now..." Her voice sounds a bit dejected.
"No, no it's fine, I'm just wondering if it's just us." Mako quickly answers.
"Yes, of course it is. We're on a date, right?" Nana smiles brightly.
"O yes of course!" Mako answers energetically without knowing how to properly react to this. I'll have to try harder! She said to herself. Just act normal and friendly, go with the flow, and see what happens....Nah!! That's like cheating on Miki! Noooooo, that's like playing with Naachan's heart!!
And so, the tea went on with Mako struggling with herself, trying to act like she's paying attention to Nana's talk, but seldom answering with anything of substance.
"Why are you so quiet today?" Nana finally asks after leaving the cafe. "Normally, you are the one that talks non-stop. Come on, let's go to the zoo!" She opens the umbrella and shields Mako from the rain, putting her arm around her shoulder protectively.
Mako however, suddenly becomes nervous and pushed slightly away. "No! I mean, no, I want to watch this erm...movie, please take me there instead!" She switched her voice into a playful, begging tone, after realising how weird and defensive she must have acted. A movie would be a great time...when they don't have to talk.
A thunder strikes quite loudly at the same time. Instinctively, Mako shudders and huddles closer to Nana, who grabs tighter onto her as well.
"Don't worry, Makotin, we'll do whatever you want." Nana smiles to herself at how baby-cute Mako is, so shy, timid and whiny at the same time. I want to protect her and make her happy. Nana once again reassures her feelings.
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Sae is already halfway towards home before his feet stop and refuse to drag on in the rain. The thunder gets louder and the rain pours madder. He twitches his eyebrows and look back to the street empty of pedestrians. He then decides to run back.
A loud bang sounds from the clash of the classroom door slamming open. At the very corner of this small special-study room, someone is seen crouching on the floor, hands wrapping her head and shivering in fear.
Sae scowled at himself for not trusting his instincts earlier. He rushes towards the corner and held Yuki into his arms.
"It's going to be okay." He said calmly and surely even as Yuki tries to struggle off his arms. Rather than fighting away from him, she's just panicking uncontrollably.
"There's no need to be scared..." Sae continued. "I am here. I am here." He starts humming a lullaby and stroking her back gently. Eventually, Yuki's shivers died down and she slumps into Sae's arms, burying her head into his chest.
For a long time, they stayed in this position until the storm subsides and a ray of sunshine passes through the top window.
"I used to hum like this when Makotin was scared and it always worked." Sae starts speaking as he can feel that Yuki has calmed down a bit. "She's always been like that since she was a toddler. Scared to death whenever there's a storm. Her dad would sing this old tune to soothe her--- *humming the lullaby again*--- but he passed away when she was 6. So I thought, poor Mako, who no longer has Daddy to rely on. I have to take his place. I've always wanted to be a man like him, because I've never seen my own father. Uncle is my only role model. But slowly, she grew up and got better at it, no longer needing someone to pamper her like this. Thinking back, I feel so proud that I can be such a special person to her. Yet, I do miss this feeling..." He slightly nudges and hugs her tighter.
Yuki keeps listening without a word, but she can tell the love in Sae's voice, a brotherly type of love that can't ignite an ounce of jealousy in her. If anything, she feels safer in his arms now.
"You don't have to tell me anything," he continues and rubs his cheek slightly on top of her her head. "If you feel like standing up, let me know."
For a few moments, everything is silent save for a few chirping birds outside in the field.
"I was...I saw them drown in front of me." Yuki finally opens up. "My best friends, Mari and Yumi. We're playing by the river when the storm came suddenly without a warning. We're...we're going to retreat back to the castle, you know, our stronghold. I remember I was assigned as the chancellor in Yumi kingdom while Mari is the queen..." She gave a little sad laugh here as she digressed. "And...and I used to be mad at why they get to be the royals while I am the third wheel or something...but on that day, they didn't listen to me. They tried to cross the river back to the castle, and I was the only one who watched from the other side of the bank. The lighting and rain was blinding me, and the thunder was drowning my voice as it also drowned their screams. I felt so helpless and guilty. Why? Why couldn't I stop them? I kept on thinking, I could've, could've..." Sae can feel a dampness of Yuki's tears seeping though his shirt and he pulls away, tilting Yuki's cheek gently up.
Yuki looks back at him, pleading to him for help. He can see the sadness in her dark watery orbs, and the helplessness of someone who's about to drown.
"No...no it isn't your fault. I know many people must have said the same to you..." He wipes the tears off her cheeks and continue, "but you know Yumi and Mari don't think this way. No, they don't. They want you to carry Yumi Kingdom's banner proudly as their successor don't they? And it's okay, it's totally okay to be scared of thunder and lightning, because from today onwards I will be there for you."
"Sae..." Yuki sobs and hugs him tightly. She doesn't doubt the sincerity of his voice. There's no other place she'd rather be than in his arms. Her thoughts went back to when they first met in the claustrophobic storage room, to the first kiss they shared which felt like it lasted for ions to her. She's gone out with others in college but she had never felt that way before. Yet she kept on denying that she felt anything special towards him. Her student. Even though they're only four years apart in age. It's still such a big barrier...
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Miki feels her phone buzz and she almost jumped through the roof seeing that it's Sae's message to ask to meet with her. She got ready as quickly as possible and looked at herself again in the mirror. In a pink, short dress this time, she examines her developing body and frowns at how childish she looks, with thin thighs and baby fat on her cheeks. She wants to grow up and be a real woman. Taking the twintails off, she straightens her hair, combs it sideways and looks into the mirror once again at the cool reflection of herself, before leaving the room.
They decided to meet in the school courtyard, which is as empty as the morning, especially after the storm when all activities were cancelled.
"Hi!" Miki waves eagerly and runs towards a grim looking Sae.
"Sae-kun, why are we meeting here?" Miki asks naively without sensing the heavy atmosphere.
"Miki-chan, there's something I want to tell you." Sae looks straight into her eyes with knitted eyebrows. It's only then that Miki stands straight and looks back with a slightly gaping mouth.
"I am really really sorry!" Sae bows down ninety degrees. The rustling leaves in the breeze are the only thing that made waves of gentle sounds after Sae's voice echoed through the inner courtyard.
"If..." seeing that Sae did not continue, Miki hesitantly suggests. "if you meant what happened the other day...I, I am okay, I'm not a little girl anym..."
"No!" Sae looks back up. "I mean yes, that too, that is completely my fault. But what I mean is..." Sae gulped and finally said, "I already have someone I like."
Miki couldn't believe what she just heard. "Huh?"
"I, I can't be the person you deserve. I am sorry I wasn't clearer before. I am sorry about everything I have done to you. I know that nothing I say can correct what an ass I have been. However, I am not the right person. You deserve a much better person. Someone who knows you more than I can ever do even if I try. Someone who loves you back in ways you can't imagine."
Miki can't stop her lips from trembling while Sae spoke with such sureness in his voice. He's turn into a different person from yesterday. She knows what she's about to say is childish, but she said it anyway.
"But we kissed, didn't we? We laughed together, didn't we? Is it because I can't satisfy you? Because I'm only a child? No..I can learn, I will grow up now, I will learn! Please..." Tears are already overflowing from her cheeks and hitting the floor like it's raining again.
"It's not you, Miki. You are perfect the way you are. I am just in love. Madly in love with someone else. I can't be a burden to you. I am so...so sorry." Even though he sounds resolved, his heart has already softened looking at the heartbroken Miki. He needs to toughen up though, for his sake and hers, and most importantly, for the person who has occupied the whole of his heart. The person who is now watching silently through the staff room window upstairs. He turns and walks away, leaving Miki crouching and crying alone as she digests this horrible news.
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Mako's shoulder is leaden with a heaviness she can't describe. How can such a light, small girl be so heavy at the same time? She stole a glance sideways in the dark theatre, and saw Naachan's happy face dimly illuminated by the changing lights reflecting from the movie screen. She is very concentrated on the movie, even as she circles her arms around Mako's, resting her head on gently on her shoulder. Susuga Naachan, who never takes her mind off anything when she sets her sights on it.
The movie is somewhat enjoyable, but Mako doesn't feel like laughing at all, even though she typically gets amused and entertained easily. There is less and less doubt that Naachan have special feelings for her, but she doesn't know if she can return those feelings. Worse still, she doesn't know if she can reject those feelings outright. It feels like everything is spiralling out of control, and she's the devil behind this. Still battling with her own thoughts, she finds suddenly that the credits start rolling and many people are standing up to leave.
Naachan stayed still though. Could she have fallen asleep? Mako turns sideways again to check on her, but right at the same moment, Nana looks up from her shoulder and their faces are inches away from each other. She reaches up an inch higher and closes in for a kiss.
Mako is stunned at her action, although she should have known. Nonetheless it is the first time she's been kissed by Nana. Her lips are as soft as Miki's and she finds her mind wandering off to the passionate time she spent yesterday in the park. Physically, the sensations are the same, and unexpectedly, she's able to respond. She even wraps her arm round her neck and pulls closer in. However, the pecks and twists between their lips seem distant, like dances on the edge of her skin, and they eventually pulled away from each other. Mako is still grasping what this means, but Nana gave her a quick smile before proceeding to grab her bag from underneath the chair.
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As with just now, Nana took Mako's hand and led her outside into a now sunny late afternoon main street. Mako yawns and stretches as if she's really relaxed, though her heart is still curled up as dense as a stone.
"Let's call it a day," Mako suggests. "It was really fun, thank you!"
Just when Nana wanted to respond, Mako's phone ring. It's Miki.
"Moshi, moshi, Mikichan?" Nana heard an eagerness to Mako's voice as she answers the phone.
"What? You're in where? Don't cry, I'll come now!" She hangs up and immediately starts running off. Nana is still confused at what's happened, but knowing that it has something to do with Miki, she picked up her feet and followed Mako's steps worriedly. To Nana, Miki is as precious as her own little sister. When they first met in the clean shift duty, Miki was still shy and timid due to her special status in class. Being the "odd one out" in their year, Naachan felt a special responsibility to reach out towards the younger genius. And it turns out that Miki is actually just an eager, good-natured child. She quickly opens up to the more reserved Nana, making their cleaning shift much more funner, something that Nana begins to look forward to. To her, Miki is a special existence, someone that, simply by being there, can make her feel happy and loved.
"Miki!!" Mako cries out to the crying girl who is sobbing at the corner of the park's bench, close to the ice-cream stand. It was where they shared their kiss.
"Mako~~~~" Miki throws herself into Mako's arms and Mako starts comforting her while asking, "What...what has happened? What did Sae-kun say to you?"
"He doesn't love me! Wuuuuuhhhhhh!!" Miki cries again without giving too much details, but Mako didn't press on. Meanwhile, Nana stood at the far end of the bench watching them both without saying a thing.
"Come on now girl...it's okay to cry..." Mako kisses Miki's forehead gently and swipes her thumb across her cheeks to wipe her tears. "Let's think about happy things, shall we? I've seen Frozen today, and I'm sure Mikichan will like it! Ah...what are the songs??" Humming a few notes on 'Do you wanna build a snowman', she continued, "Haha, wait, I can't remember it! Miki, we should go watch it together, okay?"
The sobbing girl looks at Mako's cheerful face and begins to stop crying. "He was so sweet yesterday...and he acted like he's really into me...you know, when we're kissing, he even got a...nevermind... but apparently, my feelings were only one-sided..." Miki's voice trails off.
"Miki, I'm sure you guys can still be friends..." Mako's voice also softens in guilt, as she's the person responsible for misleading Miki. "I know that you are sad, but you barely know him. You've never told me, by the way, what do you like about him?"
"I...I...I like..." Miki looks up to the sky and starts thinking. "I think he's tall, handsome and cute. His wink is charming...he's like a prince....and..."
Mako didn't say anything and continues to look at Miki while she struggles to come up with more reasons.
"I don't know! Isn't this love?" She asks.
"Love..."Mako suddenly looks down and pouts at the extremely difficult question. "I know that for me," She begins again and looks straight into Miki's eyes, "Love cannot be explained by any one reason. However, it feels as certain as something you can touch. You will start caring about how that person feels. You will put her happiness before yours, and you will try to learn everything about her, to the point that you get amazed even at yourself. That perhaps you know her better than herself. So well that even stupid things are cute in your eyes. Like falling asleep even when we're supposed to be in deep conversations. Acting inappropriately because she can't grasp the atmosphere....little things like that."
Miki watches and nods slowly but Mako can tell she doesn't quite understand. At this point, a grumbling sound emits from Miki's stomach, and she began to burst into laughter, followed by Mako's too. "Nevermind Miki-chan. I'll get you ice-cream." She stands up and is about to go to the ice-cream stand, when she suddenly remembers that Naachan also came. However, she looks around but her date is nowhere to be seen.
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This might look like it's going to end soon, but I can tell you that we're not even half way there and there will be more complications to come :yep:
BTW it's OKADA Majime NANA's Birthday today!!! Happy Birthday, happy 17th!
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Huahh.. Finally you update this fic, and finally yuki opened up her feelings towards sae. Yeah you right! You must put them in many problems so this fic's not end so soon.
I always read this fic over and over again while waiting for the update, because this fanfic's so addicting. So you must updating as often as possible 'coz I'm tired read the same saeyuki's lovey dovey moment :bow:
(I lie, I never get tired reading saeyuki closeness & their lovey dovey moment xD)
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woah you update it on NANA's BD!
Yeay!!!
after sae comforting yuki while there's thunder, does it mean SaeYuki closer?
poor miki, but sae did that to clear that and for her sake :)
ah naachan... where is she? after she watching them both from the far end of the bench, did she go? have she listen what both talk? or she just hide and still watching? jealous? :twisted:
more complications, more dramas, more chapters!!! yeah! :shakeit: :shakeit: : shakeit:
thanks for your update! :hip smile:
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@Weird Panda: Lucky for you, there are more steamy moments for Saeyuki this chapter before trouble begins :twisted: I think Sae-chan's character here is quite good, so there will be more :heart: moments. Thanks for reading!
@sastio13: Yes, Nana is my second oshi after Sae, so she has a special place in my heart. I don't know how I did it, but the three musketeers are going to face quite a bit of heartbreak in this fic. Hope you enjoy it though!
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*the tumblr version is slightly different from the one below, but the plot is not affected.
Chapter 6 - A New Beginning
The chime of the first bell on Monday morning signals yet again a fresh new start of the week. Strangely, Naachan had been late to school and Mako barely had to the chance to say good morning before they're cut off by morning classes. At lunch time, Miki bounced in right after the teacher had left the classroom, so they all went together for lunch. She's back to her usual self again, the cheerful and energetic girl who seems to have inexhaustible energy to spend.
"So...the kid went 'BAH' and everybody in class laughed including Nakamura Sensei!!" Miki finishes her stories and sat beside Naachan, opening her mouth to signal her request for feeding. Naachan smiled like a mother toward Miki and fed her a bite of the rice roll, and began to lecture her on the importance of concentrating in class.
".... it's fun once in while, but don't get too carried away....sensei has planned the lesson and it would be very troublesome to re-plan due to unwanted disturbances...."
Mako watches the usual serious Nana and Miki frolic and smiles. It seems that Miki's one-sided love and heartbreak did not have a lasting impact on her after all. Isn't it quite good to stay like this forever? However, as Nana's eyes strays and meet with hers, she notices that the normally straightforward girl glances furtively away.
"Naachan?" Mako called at the girl who is now hurriedly packing her things. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Miki had to take off early for lab preparation, leaving both of them alone for a short few minutes before lunch break is over.
Nana bit her lip and raised her head. She's trying really hard to smile but it somehow looks painful to Mako.
"You know, about that day...I mean, what happened here at the rooftop..." Mako tried to broach the subject but got stumped by her own words.
"Let's forget about it." To Mako's surprise, Nana rushed in to finish the sentence. It seems that she's finally been able to get this burden off her chest, and their eyes properly met for the first time since yesterday.
"Naachan, I was...it's just that I'm so confused...I don't know what I had done and what I should do about it!" Mako explained in frustration. She feels quite sure about her love towards Miki, but when it comes to Nana... Can she truly say 'no' to her love? Mako suddenly realises that she cannot answer.
"I should apologise, Makotin. I shouldn't have taken advantage of you. You love her but I still said selfish things...and did selfish things to you. I made you doubt your feelings, but after I heard what you said in the park, I am sure I never stood a chance. I hate myself for ruining things like this...so let's just, forget about it, please?"
"Nana," Mako didn't want to answer her directly and so she proceeded to give her a consolation prize. "You are a very important person to me, and this will never change." Can't we just be best friends like we were before?
"Thank you... and so are you, my friend." Nana smiled bitterly and left the roof. Things will never be the same again, Mako. Now that I have foolishly bared my feelings to you, you won't be able to look at me the same way as before. And I...I also don't think I can bear looking at you two without recalling the kiss we shared on the roof. The kiss that brought me to heaven, yet it is as fleeting as a dream that I can't fall back into. A dream replaced by a nightmare, which ironically came from another kiss, also with you. That kiss at the cinema...oh that kiss sent me straight to hell. I will never forget the feeling of hesitation, rejection and sourness. You became a different person...
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'Special supervision. See me at the 8th floor study room at 4pm.' The note was attached behind graded papers Sae got back in class. It made his heart jump in excitement, but he was still careful enough to destroy the note immediately without leaving a trace.
The 8th floor has always been almost unused due to the size of the student body, which has shrunk as part of the regional educational policy reform. Everything smells fishy with this appointment, but he can't think too much about it. All he cares now, is to see and be with Yuki.
"Shitsureishimasssu..." Sae quietly slid the door open and close. As he expected there's no one else but them on the whole floor, let alone the study room.
Yuki smiled gently and gestures him to sit.
"I don't want to guess and wonder and waste everybody's time. But I also don't want to force you to do anything. I just need to know, are you up for this or not?" She didn't mention a single thing about their relationship, but it was a damn straightforward question that Sae did not expect.
"Yuki, I...of course I know how I feel about you." Sae furrowed his eyebrows and strengthens his gaze. "I love you. But I also can't risk putting you in any danger. To me, seeing you and talking to you is enough."
Yuki is impressed by the maturity in his answer, but this is not what she wants to hear. Flared with a bit of a temper, she rose up and leans forward, towering over the boy who slumps from the upright position he's been sitting at.
"Yu..Yuki..." He voice is a bit shaky. I don't think I can resist this glare!! He thought and tries to glance away, but she sweeps him up with brute force and slams him down lying with his back on the desk.
"Talking to you is not enough. I want to be sure of your feelings." The blackish tone in her voice is daunting and authoritative, but tantalising at the same time. Sae find himself breathing heavily and strangely giddy inside.
"No...." He said weakly, but his arms have already cupped gently on her waist sides.
"Pull me closer." She whispers, or rather, commands. Sae felt hypnotised, his mind completely taken over by some unknown power. She didn't wait for him to answer but plunges in for a kiss, a kiss which lit him on fire. Wanting to gasp for a breath of cool air, he instead opened access for Yuki's direct assault. He can feel that her hands are cupping his cheeks and messing around with his hair, while their bodies rub against each other, and he pulls her down closer. His hands start wandering, feeling the curves and softness of her body, while brushing through the strands of her long, silky hair, experiencing all the textures and wonders of Yuki's body at once. One hand reaches up from her long torso, eventually landing and squeezing on the mound that caused her to pull away from their kiss.
"Sae..." she gasps and whispers on his ear. This drives him mad in desire. He sits right back up on the desk, lifting Yuki with him as he springs forward and spread her legs so that she's now sitting on him, kneeling on the desk with her knees enclosing his hips.
"This is such an embarrassing position..." yet there is not a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
Instead, she unbuttons his shirt and buries her face between his neck and collarbone, taking in a deep breath. Sae blinks at this weird sensation and his back arches in tension.
"I want to remember how you smell..." Yuki shifts a bit and start kissing his collarbone. She reaches under his shirt and caresses the contours of his well defined abs.
"Yu..Yuki, I can't handle...this..." Sae struggles to protest as he looses grip on how his body reacts.
"It drives me so mad the other day in the park, I want to prove that I can do better than a teenage girl." The teacher's dark aura intensifies and she plugs her lips back into the gaping Sae, who responds even more fiercely than before to the kisses.
At the same time, the doors slides open rudely though, revealing none other than a confused Oshima Yukio, who was completely jerked awake by the sight in front of him.
The two of them also turned to the source of the door slam, Sae's letting out a shout of horror, while the flushed Yuki tries to get off the desk.
"I...I must've read the wrong notice...sorry for disturbing..." Yukio gave a small, awkward smile and slid the door back close, walking away briskly.
"What..." Sae is still dazed and devastated at the turn of events.
The equally shocked Yuki smoothens her dress and slowly regains her composure. She didn't plan to take things this far, but all her bottled up feelings were released that time and they took over her mind, sweeping away the caution she had.
"You..." She finally realises the gravity of the situation and said urgently. "Go now! Go find him and tell him not to say anything. He's your best friend, right?"
Sae nodded and agreed. He jumps off the desk too and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry Yuki. Nothing will happen, I will keep you safe."
After saying that, he rushed to chase his friend.
"Yukio! Wait up!" He finally caught him down the stairs. Yukio tried to escape his eyes but he forcefully pulled him into the nearest empty room and closes the door.
"Sae...I mean...wow! I can't process this, this is crazy dude!" Yukio's face is suddenly lit in excitement, his grin as bright as someone who has just discovered gold.
"Yeah..."Sae finally sighs in relief that he is at least not abhorred at this. "Tell me about it...but seriously, please, don't tell anyone about it."
"Of course! Do you think I enjoy selling out my friend, my best friend, in my free time?" Yukio answered defiantly. "However, when did this all start? How, how can you keep me off the loop? It's every guy's fantasy and you, the baka one out of us, manage to do it first??"
"No, no this is not just a fantasy, it's not a game." Sae rest his hands heavily on the shorter guys' shoulder and said, "I love her. I've never been so sure of anything. And she loves me too. We're serious about each other."
He then proceeds to tell Yukio details on how it ended up like it was just now.
"I should be sorry I ran into you, but you know what? I think you should be glad I'm the one who caught you and not somebody else! Do you know you will put her in a load of trouble? Not only will she lose her job--- they might even sue her!"
"Yes yes I do, which is why I'm not planning to meet secretly with her anymore---at least, not on campus."
"Well, one correct choice made at least." Yukio nodded seriously. He never would've thought that out of the trio, the most naive, simple natured of them, the one who rejected dozens of girls, the one he always sees as little brother, will actually take such a bold risk and get himself into this situation.
"Seriously, do you think...I am not trying to do any damage or anything...but it's better if you don't continue..."
"This is impossible." Sae shook his head in certainty.
Yukio looks deep into his eyes and sees the resolve. Pursing his lips in deep thought, he finally said, "Okay then. Don't ever meet on campus. Don't get seen together, ever. If you must, you can meet in my mansion. That's the safest place. I will make necessary arrangements."
Sae's eyes widen at this thought that's never even once occurred to him.
"Come on now," Yukio patted his shoulders and laughed. "We're bros right? Getting the hottest girl in town...now that's my bro." He winks mischievously and turn to leave.
"Is this really okay?" Sae asked one more time.
"Yes yes, my mansion is huge and no one's ever home. I will arrange, just wait for my calls."
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Nana was just cleaning flasks and test tubes mindlessly in the laboratory in the late afternoon. She chose to stay behind after class because she's still trying to take her mind off Mako. Was she...dumped today? Nana continues to rub the stain off while thinking if her relationship had even started at all...
"Naachan!"
She turns and almost drops the flask from her hands. It's Miki standing at the doorway, beaming her energetic, broad smile that's just too comedic to watch.
"Mikichan! You almost scared me to death..." Nana turns back around before she smirks at Miki's funny cute expression and continues cleaning.
"Come on!" She rushes in and snatches the flask off the prefect's hands. "Let's go home together."
"Miki!" Nana takes the flask back and stares at the girl disapprovingly. Seeing her sweet clueless smile though, her heart softens. "I'm almost done, just a few more to go..." She goes back to cleaning, while Miki picks up the prisms lying beside it and start playing with them.
"By the way, why are you staying behind today too?" Nana asks as she puts the flasks away.
"I..." Miki stammers and quickly says, "I had some tennis club things to do..."
"Ah..." Nana replied with a shrug without further thoughts. Miki almost exhales a sigh of relieve until the door slides open again and this time, Takashima Sensei's head pops in.
"Nana-chan, thank you for being so nice and volunteered to help me out today, I'm leaving for the seminar now...Oh Miki-chan, are you here too?" The teacher just notices the other girl in the room. "How did the detention with Miyamoto Sensei go? I'm sure he has forgiven your prank in cookery class by now...hahaha! Take care girls!" She slides the door and left the exposed Miki frowning in horror, slightly turning to see Nana narrow her eyes.
"Miki..." Miki could hear herself gulp loudly in the eerily silent lab. "A detention again?" Nana's angry!
"Eh...heh heh..." Miki uses her ultimate weapon to cool the fuming prefect down with her killer smile. "I was just trying see if I can cook eggs on the stove directly..." She pouts innocently.
Nana closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
"Well, you have to understand how upset I feel today after being freshly dumped..." Miki continues her excuses.
"Miki-chan..." The serious Okada did not catch the fakeness in her tone and takes her hands into hers gently, holding them tight. "Perhaps I shouldn't be that harsh on you today..."
Miki tries to hide her smirk but continues to guilt trip her friend. "Yes, that's right! And I didn't even have time to ask you today: Why didn't you pick up my call on Saturday?" She hits Nana's shoulder gently flocks into her embrace, not noticing the frozen look on Nana's face.
"It kept ringing and ringing..." Miki's playful tone is slightly held back as she softens her voice. "Did you know that you are the first one I want to see after Sae-kun broke up with me? And in the end, you never showed up..."
"Sorry Miki-chan..." Nana strokes the girl's twin tails gently. "I was in a movie theatre, and the reception was bad..." She thinks back on the day when Miki called after the movie ended and her uneventful kiss with Mako. Even now, Nana couldn't understand why she stared at the caller ID and decided not to pick up the call. Maybe, it was because of her new found resolve to make Mako happy no matter what it takes, after she realised that they are not meant to be together...
"Well, luckily, I still have Makotin!" Energy seems to snap back into the younger girl's body, as Miki pushes Nana off jokingly and raises her chin up in pride.
"Mou...Miki-chan, don't get angry at me!" It's Nana turn to plead desperately.
"Well then, you'll have to promise to be nice to me." Miki smirks without looking back down. A rare chance that she's gaining an upper hand on Nana. Miki is making sure she is taking full advantage of it.
Nana quickly nods and added, "I've always been nice to you, right? Mikichan, you know you're precious to me." She flashes her teeth and squints innocently. Nice counterattack!
"Really? Well then," Miki looks deep into Nana's eyes and rests her hands heavily on her shoulders. "You must have lunch with me every day."
"Okay..." Nana nods and wonders when did they ever not have lunch together.
"You... you must walk me home unless either of us have club activities." Miki demanded further. Well, technically they both live in the same direction from school, but Nana's house is closer...but whatever!
"Okay, Miki, if it's for you, I can do it!" Nana nods seriously.
"Promise me you will always be by my side." Miki spells out her third demand.
"Why of course, Miki-chan. This goes without saying!" Nana pats the little sister's head gently.
"Lastly..." Miki makes a serious face, and leans in closer. "Promise me you won't lecture me more than four times a week."
"Miki!"
"I'm a sad sad girl that got dumped and my friend totally didn't come and comfort me..." Miki pouts and looks away cheekily...
"Doesn't this depend on how well you behave? For example, if you didn't suddenly prank on Sensei today..."
"Look!" Miki points out the window in horror and Nana naively trains her eyes towards the same direction. Only such classic tricks works on the woodenheaded Nana! Miki thinks as she took the opportunity to run away.
"See you downstairs! Be quick!" She slides the door close leaving the duped Nana wanting to shout at the mischievous girl, but instead sigh with a smile on her face.
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SaeYuki!!! Wowowow... :wahaha:
Yuki so aggresive here :kekeke:
Please update soon~ XD
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Lucky me :ptam-shy:
Gosh! I'm dying waiting. But I'm very satisfied with the result
Just.. This yuki is really.. :farofflook:
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i was at coffeeshop when i read this and i smiling like a weird hohoho
saeyuki scene..... man, yukio just ruin their moment...
can they continue? tehehehehe
aaah naachan *hug* mikichan *hug*
both being dumped....
naachan & mikichan really like a sister...
naachan....
hem looking forward the next chapter !
thanks for your update author-san
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@Kakeru15: there are still more sweet moments for Saeyuki this chapter, please look forward to it!
@Weird Panda: This Yuki...haha! She's quite aggressive, which is how I imagine she is in real life.
@sastio13: glad you enjoyed Saeyuki and Three musketeers moments! There are some happy and sad moments for them in this chapter...
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Chapter 7 - Bitter and Sweet
*Six months later*
"They're here today..." A young girl whispers to her friend in the school cafeteria, gesturing to the corner.
"I'm so jealous..." Her friend replies while they look on to the couple. She's feeding him from a set of bento she made and they're both laughing happily as cream got onto his face.
"So sweet," Another friend joins in. "Mako-chan is so lucky. They've been going out for such a long time but still glued together like magnets. I heard that he goes watch every single tennis match after school!"
"Well, Sae always seems like a nice boyfriend. O look, he's leaving." The boy stood up and their eyes never let go of him until he passed by them, gave them a wink and left the cafeteria. The swooned girls watch the doorway long after he left, while Mako also looks onto it, expression changed from that of a relaxed nico nico smile to one of expectant nervousness. Then the target she's been waiting for appears, and her smile resumes.
"Yappo!" Nana sits down across her and begins munching down on her sandwich, clearly in a rush.
"Our shift starts in 15 minutes..." The serious girl mumbles worriedly as she continues to eat. Mako watches on for a few moments, but she's getting impatient.
"Come with me now." She pulls her arm up and tries to lead her off the cafeteria. Although there were some slight resistance, Nana swallows the last of her bites and dragged on behind.
They entered to the storage room for cleaning supplies and Mako slams the door shut, locking it.
Nana looked around, clearly caught in surprise.
"We agreed that that was our last time..." Her protest is drowned as the taller girl rushed towards her, and presses her lips forcefully down onto hers. Nana tried to push away from the arms that are already wrapped tightly round her body. She's clearly no match to the more athletic tennis player, but either way, her body has surrendered. It was never fair to begin with, since she knows she'll not be able to resist, and she's completely under Mako's mercy.
Muffled, obscure sounds emit as their tongues battle for dominance. Mako bury her fingers deep into Nana's hair, feeling the strands brush and run through between them. She reaches back to the prefect's nape, squeezing it gently as she pulls away to gasp for some air.
Nana looked at the blushed Mako, who finally released her grasp and backed off. She got what she wanted, but there's no joy in her eyes. It's like this every time. It is the part Nana hates most. Trying to suppress her anger, she turned away without a word and starts gathering the supplies they need. However, she feels a pair of arms wrapping around her waist from behind.
"Start getting ready, or we'll be late." Nana said, but the other girl didn't let go.
"Nobody cares. Let's stay like this for a while." Mako wraps around her and rests her cheek on her back. "I can hear your heartbeat. It sounds so soothing, Naachan."
Nana closed her eyes and imagine yanking Mako off, glaring angrily at her and telling her off with words she's been keeping in her chest, but in reality she didn't move one bit. Her mind flies back to the day that started this, three months ago.
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*three months ago
"Go! Go...Miki....!! O, Mako! Yes Yes!" Nana never knew watching a tennis match could be that exciting! The doubles pair, despite being first years, have soared all the way to the school finals, beating many sempais their senior. They have just scored another point.
"Yesssssss!" Nana felt her throat being choked by her overly excited companion, who just gave her a quick hug round the neck to celebrate the pending victory.
"Sae...*cough, if you jump up and down like that, you're going to block the view of others!" Nana glared at him.
"Hai...hai hai......" Sae grinned and sat back down, releasing his arms and looked right across the court, where the tennis club teacher-in-charge was also tightening her fists and leaning forward expectantly, waiting for the match point. Sae's eyes finally met with hers and he gave a quick, wicked wink. Yuki suppressed her smile and looked away. Ever since their relationship was cemented by the eventful rendezvous a few months ago, not only were they assisted by Sae's good friend, Yukio, to meet secretly in his giant and highly secure mansion, they had also found the perfect camouflage to be together at school. The tennis club was essentially the only place that they can interact in broad daylight, and that's of course, thanks to Mako, who played up the relationship with Sae so that everyone wouldn't bat an eyelid when he comes to watch his "girlfriend" practice or play, befriending the teacher-in-charge at the same time...
"Okay, Miki's serving!" Nana cried again and Sae refocuses back to the court. The opposing team adjusted their positions quickly to react to this fast ball that landed near the far edge of the court, and confidently struck back. This is met with Mako's strong forehand, sending it diagonally across, while Miki reached up the court preparing for the inevitable lob as the girl over the net tried to save the ball. As expected, the save created a weak, beautiful curve that allows Miki to smash the ball with speed so that it bounces between the opposing players and flew off court.
"Victory!" Nana shouted among the instant cheers of the crowd. Mako and Miki ran into each others arms and Mako even lifted the smaller girl up and made a full turn in delight.
"We won!!" Miki shouted happily, turning her attention back to court to finish all the formalities of hand-shaking and congratulations. Eventually they were able to leave the crowd and retreat back to the changing room, where Nana joined them.
"You guys were so great!! It's like you can read each other's minds--you're always so fast!" Nana said admiringly and started wiping Miki's neck with the cool towel she's brought.
"Well, it's all because Makotin is such a good player, always watching my back!" Miki grinned at her partner. "We must always be a combo! Always, always!" The girl started wriggling dramatically, causing the other two to laugh.
A sudden knock at the door interrupted.
"Come on in!" Mako shouted.
"Is em...Miki-chan here?" A deep voice replied instead.
Nana held her breath with eyes widened, but before she could react, the hyper girl had already answered the door.
"Ken-chan!" Miki's smile radiated as brightly as the summer sun.
"Congratulations!" He said. The boy is almost two heads taller than Miki. He's wearing the uniform neatly, adorned with black-rimmed glasses and tidy, short hair, but with slightly tanned skin.
Nana recognised him as the book club chairman, Aida Ken, from second-year. He'd always been nice to them, and even to herself, who's been somewhat an oddball at school, the type that normally doesn't attract attention from guys. Ken has been a really nice and friendly sempai, and he doesn't give an overly nerdy vibe even though he's bookish.
He stayed at the doorway of the room and glanced inside, nodding briefly to Nana and turned to Mako. "Congratulations to you too, Kojima-san!" Nana turned to look at the girl, whose heated cheeks from the excitement of the match was now frozen into an awkwardly bright smile.
Ken's attention had already turned back to Miki, as he patted on the girl's head gently while she took his hand and wrapped it round her palms.
"Thank you for coming, Ken-chan!" She looked at him, this time, smiling sweetly.
Nana's surprise could hardly be hidden with her infamous possessed glare.
"Miki..." She murmured. The said girl turned towards them, glancing at Mako then fixing her happy gaze on Nana.
"Naachan, Makotin...Ken-chan and I...we started going out a week ago. But at that time, I wasn't sure of anything and I didn't want to trouble you, but today, I decide, is a fateful day that I'll let my two best friends know..."
Still fixing her stare on Miki, Nana squeezed out a smile. She...she really did it?
At the same time, Mako walked passed her and grabbed Miki's hands tightly.
"Gosh!" Mako smiles brightly. "Why didn't you tell us earlier! This is great Miki! This is...you know, wow!"
Nana moved quickly to join in the chorus of 'congratulations'. "Yes Miki, how did this happen? I was surprised how you were suddenly into history books...but I..I didn't see this coming!"
"Yeah...it was all by chance...and it happened so quickly. Remember that project from class last month? I was researching alone in the library, and Ken-chan helped me a lot..."
Sensing that the girl standing beside her clearly has no interest to hear the epic tale of Kenmiki's love story, Nana quickly interjected, "Ken-chan, sasuga a reliable sempai! Do take care of Miki for me! And guess what, I don't want to stop you from having your celebratory date, so off you go!"
"But I haven't changed yet!" Miki protested.
"If Aida-san loves you, it wouldn't matter if you stink!" Nana cracked a joke forcefully unlike her usual majime self, and threw Miki's bag literally at her face, closing the door. "Besides, Aida-san thinks you are the cutest in tennis skirt, right?" Nana winks and slams the door shut, locking it from behind.
She turns back to the changing room, hearing the couple's footsteps fade away. Slumping down on the bench, Mako's frowning face bared her shocked and hurt feelings.
"She didn't let me know...all this time..." Mako shook her head and her hand started running through her hair, pulling it in frustration.
"Don't over react to this. You know how easily she have crushes on someone." Nana sat down beside her and stroke her back.
"Maybe it's the same this time for Aida Ken, and it so happened that he likes her too. But if it's just a child's love, it won't last long." Nana continued, but her words were not calming Mako down at all, as the girl broke into tears.
"It's not about that, Nana, whether it lasts or not, it doesn't matter." Mako sobs. "She knows. She knows what I am. That's why she never told me."
"That's not true..." Nana's eyebrows furrowed at such suspicious thoughts. Of course it's all just in Mako's head, and it is scary how love can turn a cheerful and carefree girl into such an insecure being. I know she didn't direct this towards you, but I can't tell you why?
"I... I don't know...I don't want to over think, but I...." She suddenly stomped her feet and slammed both of her fists onto her knees. "It's clear that I can never be!"
Nana couldn't answer back to such a statement, because the truth is as clear as day. She just sat there and continued to stroke her back.
Mako's sobs and breathing had slowed down, and she started letting Nana help her on her feet.
"Take a shower and change your clothes so you won't get a cold." Nana said as she took Mako's damp towel away from around her neck.
"It was such a happy day..." Mako smiled bitterly, reminiscing their victory. Everything was going so right. Objectively, she's always thought, she couldn't have found a partner that would know her better. They were indeed like twins with one mind. So close. But even if they are soul mates, she will never get that kind of love she yearns.
Nana helped pull off Mako's polo shirt, revealing her slightly glimmering skin from the sweat that was still perspiring off her tired body. In the dim fluorescent light of the changing room, such weariness was strangely alluring. The glimmers on her skin--up and down, up and down--synchronised with her slow breaths. They danced rhythmically in Nana's eyes, as if she's looking into a kaleidoscope.
Little did Nana know that her brief zone out had caught Mako's attention already. She scrutinised Nana's dazzled, pale face and touched her hair.
The startled Nana jolted her head slightly, eyes meeting with Mako's.
"You want me, don't you?" Mako asked, the gaze in her eyes as soft as her own voice.
Nana gaped at this question, which sounded more like a trap than anything.
"Don't say 'no' to me too..." The soft gaze had turned into a pleading one. She found herself frozen in place even as she saw her drawing closer, her mind screaming at her. She couldn't tell if it was bidding her to 'stop' or 'go', but there was no more time to determine. Mako's lips have already melded into hers. It was slow, encompassing and steady at first. Then she found her arms held tightly by Mako's grip, who forced herself forward, taking a more aggressive stance. Before she knew, she was already responding honestly to the kiss, even if deep down, she knew it was not right.
Feeling out of breath after the bitterness of Mako's tongue left its mark on every corner of her mouth, Nana pulled away, looking sideways in a frown.
"We...we....should stop...you're not...yourself anymore." Nana managed to utter this and tried to struggle off Mako's arms.
Mako didn't express upset on her face, but she pushed Nana all the way to the wall and trapped her further between her arms. Planting deep kisses on her neck, she continued to assault silently and made small bites on Nana's collarbone, causing her to wince. Nana found that she's losing her own battle, as her body willingly gave in. She knew she could've stopped earlier and she could and should stop now, but she didn't. Mako looked up again and smirked as their eyes meet. This time, it was Nana who leapt for another round of kiss.
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*back in storeroom, present
"You know you don't have to strain yourself too much..." Nana ventures. "If you don't like acting as a couple with Sae, it will be fine."
"It doesn't bother me." Mako answered, continuing her hug from behind and brushing her cheek up and down on Nana's nape. Nana can feel the slow, warm breath tickling her skin. She recalls how Miki's eyes budged at the sight of Mako suddenly grabbing hold of Sae and kissed him unabashedly, deeply and publicly in the cafeteria shortly after the tennis match. That might as well be the announcement of their engagement, as it became the topic of even the most uninterested students in the whole school for a long time. Nana's heart aches just by thinking about that sight, not out of jealousy, but for the tumult going through inside of Mako that contradicted so greatly with the sunshine-perfect facade she was trying to put up.
"It does, you can't pretend to be another person you're not." Nana finally breaks off Mako's arm and turned around, staring at her friend seriously.
"You're not happy, you're not with someone you love, you're exactly the opposite of what you act outside of this room."
Instead of confronting with this truth, Mako smiles brightly and caresses Nana's cheeks. "At least I can be myself here with you." Turning around and starting to gather the buckets and towels, she continues, "It's the only way to make sure people won't find out about Kashiwagi sensei and Sae."
That's just an excuse, Nana thought. She is not doing it for Sae...she's just trying to hide away from Miki, who...who herself, is another source of headache for Nana. Mako knew better not to have her hopes up this time, and she didn't correct Miki's perception that Sae is going out with her either. She must have felt that this is the last safety shield between herself and Miki. She's that afraid of letting Miki know her feelings...
"Let's go!" Mako raised the buckets cheerfully and unlocks the door, whistling as she skips out. Nana stays in her spot as she gazes on sadly at Mako.
"Come on," Mako turns again and smiles, finding that Nana is not following. "You're the best, you know?"
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*in the Oshima residence
The logs at the fireplace made a crack as Yuki nudges closer to Sae. They're cuddling on the couch with Yuki lying on Sae's arm, resting her head on his shoulder while he reads a book with his other hand. Yuki seems content playing with his fingers and getting warm with his body-heat. They've spent many afternoons together just hanging out in the room readied for them in this safe haven, where they don't have to worry about any eyes and ears. In this cold, snowing day, Yuki feels especially grateful that Yukio has taken the lengths to secure entrance to his mansion through different timeslots and methods, ensuring that they will never leave a trace, even under the most curious' eyes.
"This place is always empty..."Yuki muses aloud.
"Yeah..." Sae answers dreamily. "It has been like that since his dad died. After all, the business is long done for without the head."
"Do you think Yukio could've taken over?" Yuki asks.
"Haha! A 17 year-old yakuza head? He will probably even fail as a yankee! He once told me that his father has made all necessary arrangements so he wouldn't have to get involved ever again. It's harder financially, but I have no doubt Yukio is happier about it."
Yuki nods with a soft "em" and closes her eyes. The lavender oil she's brought has a very soothing aroma, which brings her imagination to the warm, beautiful Hokkaido summer.
"I feel like...I'm going to fall asleep soon..." Sae said. "Why do I always fall asleep here..." There was really no time for deep thoughts here as Yuki felt the slow air of Sae's breath beating on the back of her head, indicating that the boy has already rest down for his nap.
Yuki sits up and look at the smooth, olive coloured skin on Sae's cheeks. He's so young, cute, and pure. While I...
Her thoughts wandered back to the time when they first began their relationship, and had a huge fight.
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*five months ago
"You can just be honest with me if you don't want this to continue, I can leave this room and never come back again, right this very second!" Yuki glared at the clueless looking Sae in their usual meet up place at Yukio's mansion.
"What...what are you talking about? I dream about seeing you every waking minute of my life." Sae tried to soothe his fidgety girlfriend, whom he assumed was going on a random bout of PMS-ing.
"Empty words like that don't hold any water for me, you know what you did." Yuki felt angry at her side, thinking how she's being treated like a fool. She didn't want to say it out though, what she saw through the taxi window that day. She somehow didn't want it to come through her own mouth, as if it would preserve any false sense of dignity she was trying to protect.
"Look, I seriously don't know what you're talking about...why have you been so strange lately?" Sae's arms laid on her shoulders heavily. "I haven't done anything and you should stop being paranoid."
"Fine." Yuki simply said and stood up, leaving the room and ending their date abruptly.
"Yuki, where are you going?" Sae called out and chased after her. Her walk sped up into a jog until she left from the side door of the kitchen to the side street, and Sae couldn't follow because he knew they couldn't be seen together.
"Fuck." He punched the door heavily and sighed.
As Yuki kept walking, thoughts ran through her head: Is this the price of being in an ultra-secretive relationship? She didn't think that she would cherish doing cheesy stuff like going to the movies, or letting him take her out to a dinner, but the fact is, she couldn't do any of things that every couple takes for granted. She couldn't even go up and confront him that day, when she caught a glimpse of him laughing with the baker's daughter inside the shop through the window. She was wrapping her arms around his from behind. Feeling more suspicious but convincing herself that it must had been someone else, she picked another evening the same time a week after to return to the spot. The bakery had just closed, and the owner was just clearing out things, but there, she saw Sae entering the shop through the backdoor again, greeted by the smiling baker's daughter, who looked like a happy, regular high schooler. Someone whose type he's supposed to be with. Yuki swallowed this hard feeling and boarded the bus...
The cold war between them ensued for another week as Sae kept texting her while Yuki chose to ignore all his advances. The day of the Charity Ball came, and she had to be present as all teachers and students attended. As expected of the show they'd been putting up, Sae came with Mako as his date. Yuki knew it was all fake but she couldn't hide her bitterness, not when it was also actually her own birthday, and she never told Sae about this. She's once again reminded of how crooked their relationship was.
Sae danced with Mako most of the time, but in the second half of the Ball, every one started switching partners, and some students even came to invite her for a dance. She obliged, angrily biting her lip as she saw Sae inviting Tomomii, then Tomochin, then Mariyanu...and even the art teacher, Yamamoto Sensei to various dances.
Circling in the dance floor as each of them had different partners in their arms, Sae's eyes meet with Yuki's sometimes.
"Yuki-chan" He mouthed stealthily at her and winked, but she simply flared her nostrils and looked away.
The Ball was almost ending now. After thanking Watanabe, another young, beautiful biology sensei for their dance together, Sae finally walked up to Yuki.
"Kashiwagi-Sensei," He smiled brightly, "May I?" Yuki was so ready to refuse as her brows knitted together with unease, but Milky-sensei literally pushed her off the chair.
"Kashiwagi-chan!" Watanabe Sensei swoons. "Don't hesitate! You'll never get another chance to dance with the cutest ikemen in school again!"
With that push, Yuki landed straight into his arms and he spooned her into the dance floor.
"You can't escape from me now," He smirked like a victor, leaned down further and whispered into her ear.
"Miyazawa!" She looked up but felt that her cheeks and ears were heating up. He looked so nice in his white suit, and his hair was neatly combed today, unlike his usual more messy and casual street style. The confident smile lit up his sparkly eyes even further. He felt like a royal, reliable aristocrat... a playful, cheeky young prince no more. Slowly she eased herself into his embrace, surrendering her struggle and followed his lead as they swirled and swirled in the music.
The song finally ended and in a seemingly dreamlike state, she's led back to her table.
"Relax," He looked down to the just seated Yuki tenderly. "And stay till the end." He then walked off and disappeared in the crowd.
Finally waking up from her daze as Milky sensei patted on her shoulder, she realised that the music of the last song had sounded up. Disappointedly, she gazed towards the dance pool to locate the familiar face of her boyfriend, who would be sharing the most important dance with his fake lover, but the couple was no where to be seen. She turned back to the table to finish the final course of her meal silently as the love song played till the end.
With the final applause sounding all across the banquet hall, the annual School Charity Ball had reached the end. Some people had left already, and others began to say goodbyes or rise to leave. Yuki stood up too with her purse.
A loud blast from the speakers interrupted everyone's chitchat.
~Happy Birthday to you...~~~~~
The most well known song of this planet started playing on the speakers and stunned Yuki too. Looking ahead, she saw a bunch of tennis team students walking towards her, but Sae was also among them, with a lit up birthday cake propped in his arms.
"....Happy~~~Birthday to you~~~~~Yeah!!" The students finished singing the song and cheered and clapped as Sae laid the huge cake on the table.
"Kashiwagi-San, Happy Birthday!" Sae beamed while the others followed on their greetings.
"Why...how...how did you guys know?!" The reaction from Yuki's face was priceless.
"Didn't you forget that Maeda Sensei is our spy?" Akicha Bucho laughed and explained.
They all cut and shared the cake, everyone eating happily and marvelling at the taste.
"Mako!" Mayumi said with thumbs up. "It was really good, thanks for ordering! Did you say you got it as the Ariake Bakery? I might go next time too!"
"Thanks!" Mako smiles and winks at Yuki. "But it's limited edition because it was specially made...at least, that's what I was told by the baker himself."
"Ah...I see..." Mayumi continued to munch on without much thought. However, the wink from Mako made Yuki wonder if....
At the same moment, her phone buzzed and she checked the message.
"Rin-chan: Although I couldn't be the first to say Happy Birthday, although I couldn't take you to the Ball, I could make you the best cake in the world. That's coming from me, who can't even cook noodles properly!! <(￣︶￣)> Anyway, if you wondered how long it took me to perfect this, ask Ryoha-chan, my master from the Kitagawa Bakery who patiently taught me for 30 hours! (屮゜Д゜)屮 I...I don't know what is going on between us, but I will do anything to see a smile on your face. Love you, Sae."
It was....Oh! How dumb of me! Yuki thought as she connected the dots! She tried hard to fight back the tears as she savoured every bite of the cake. She looked up and found Sae smiling at her, mouthing "I love you" before he left the party quietly by himself.
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*back to present, Oshima Residence
Yuki heart clenches at the thought of how pure his love for her is-- how utterly trusting, patient, and committed he is, but it hurts since she knows she cannot uphold her side of the bargain. She struggles a bit and stood up from the sleeping boy, leaving the room quietly.
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Makonana scenes make me on fire :hip drool2: hahah
And wazzup with you, yuki?
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sorry for the late update...been busy travelling and everything...Please enjoy the next chapter! I hope the twist isn't too bad...lol
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Chapter 8 - Betrayal
The morning bells have just rung, and the first class today for 3-D is Literature. Sae looks out of the window and see the field whitened into a smooth slab by last night's snow. I few trails of footprints disrupted this otherwise tranquil landscape, and just then, in the cleared diagonal pathway leading to the school building, he found Yuki and a few other people dressed in suit marching steadily towards them.
"What the..." He whispers...Why is she so late and who's she with? He looks around and no one seems to have paid any attention to those few moving black blobs outside. Yukio is wrestling as usual with Akimoto and others are equally occupied. The door slides open, revealing none other than Maeda Sensei.
Everyone in class stopped their activities, some rubbing their eyes to make sure they are not dreaming.
"Ohaiyougozaimasu!" The sweet looking young teacher smiled and greeted as if it's normal to suddenly have her back.
"Ano..." A student in the first row speaks up.
"Ah yes, it's quite sudden, isn't it?" Maeda laughs lightly. "I have been told to come back and take over the class from today. Well since it has been six months, please give me some time to adjust! After all, all I've been able to think of these days is milk, diapers and Gon-chan's non-stop crying....haha!"
The class laughs out loud at the mention of her new-born baby daughter, which some students even managed to meet through visiting her privately. Their beloved sensei is back.
"But.." Akimoto-san asks what others are thinking. "What about Kashiwagi-Sensei, our substitute teacher?"
"Oh yes, it's a shame that there isn't time for her to do a farewell with you all. But don't worry, we've been friends since high school so I can definitely arrange a get-together some time. Let's start our lesson now."
"But wh..." Sae half stood up to ask further, but Maeda simply turned to the blackboard and started writing.
"Now let's turn to page 27..."
The lesson started with millions of questions filled in Sae's mind. He stole a glance at Yukio, who also looked back in worry. The two of them share a secret that the rest didn't know-- a secret that makes both of them nervous at Yuki's sudden departure.
Sae can't stop himself from thinking the worse. How, or why, did she get found out. And why is she back to school then? If they were indeed found out, what is he still doing in this classroom? Shouldn't he be summoned off early on already? Sae started bending his knuckles unconsciously, ignoring the glances he's elicit from those sitting around him, who turned to him due to the annoying clacks but instead found him shifting about nervously.
The public announcement system suddenly rings, and Sae closes his eyes, waiting for the death knell.
"Could Oshima Yukio, Oshima Yukio, please head to the special administrative room in the ground floor immediately."
Everyone's attention turned sharply to the shocked little guy, who never thought his name would be called. Exchanging uncertain glances with Sae, he stood up and finally managed to mouth, "Daijoubu, I won't say a thing..." before heading off the classroom.
Sae's completely stunned by the turn of events. Why not me? Did they find out she was going to his mansion, and thought her secret lover is Yukio? Am I putting my friend out as scapegoat? No way...no! He sprung up violently, causing the whole class, whose eyes were still fixed at the door Yukio closed behind him a moment ago, to turn back toward him.
"Miyazawa-kun," Maeda Sensei finally came to him and urge him to sit down. "Oshima-san will be fine. Now please sit down so we can continue our lesson."
Sae wanted to answer "Hai" as his head turn slowly towards Maeda. After hesitating for a second, he chose instead to run off towards the door, slamming it close and left without saying anything.
Maeda's brows furrowed and she sighs heavily, but for some reason, she did not press on and gestures Akimoto to sit down instead of trying to chase after Sae.
The run from third floor to the ground in empty hallways and stairs seem like the longest journey in Sae's life. He cannot deal with this suspense and bizarreness, the million possibilities all jumbled into one big mess as he runs and runs, trying to catch up with Yukio. His senses are jolted back to reality with the sight of Yukio standing face to face with Yuki at the doorway of the room at the far end of the corridor, bringing him to a halt as he stares on.
"Oshima Yukio, as we have explained to you just now, you are now arrested." A...Arrested? The sight of Yuki, taking out a pair of handcuffs and locking Yukio's extended wrists into them....this all seems like a murky scene in a crazy dream sequence. The faceless crowd that surrounds them start escorting them away from the room out to the exit of the building beside it.
"Wait up!" Sae finally shouted and ran, catching up with them right outside at the front foyer.
"What is going on?" He demanded as he pushed away from a few grey suited men.
"Miyazawa-san, please go back to class." It is just then, that the short, gray-haired principal appeared in his sight.
"No, Yukio! What are you doing to him?" He pushes forward and grabs Yukio's arm, who simply looks at him calmly with a bitter smile.
"It's not him!" Sae shouts and looks around at the other men, who now appears to be clearly police officials. "It's me, it's nothing to do with him." He tries to yank of the two officers who are now grabbing hold of him.
"Stop it!" The sharp voice of Yuki pierces through and she emerged from the men with a gesture for them to release the boy. Sae eyes her from top to bottom, and finally realised that she too, is dressed in grey suit, with a neat ponytail tied behind and sporting a pair of plastic, black-rimmed glasses.
"Sae, you...you need to calm down........" The confident looking young woman looks stumped with guilt the minute she starts explaining.
"Miyazawa-san...is it?" Another man stepped in to fill the void of the awkward silence. "We are the Special Crime Investigation Unit from the southeast district police station. Your friend Oshima Yukio, is now under arrest for international illegal drug trade. Please refrain from interfering with our operation."
The group starts walking away, seeing how Sae just stands and stare into the blank in shock.
Yuki's eyes did not break away from Sae, and it wasn't until the group had clearly moved on that she started dragging her feet a little.
"Yuki!" Sae finally called out.
"Sae, I'm...I'm actually a police officer sent here to investigate on the head of the Oshima yakuza group. At first, I couldn't believe that our leads will trace all the way to a high school student...and I really really didn't see this coming, but I found it, I found evidence that I can't deny, and..."
"You used me?" Sae interrupts the confession in a raised voice. "You, used me to get to Yukio!?" It is awful for Yuki to witness the trembling, teared up Sae, whose veins are almost popping out on his neck. He's in such great pain, but she can't deny what he's just said. I didn't use you on purpose Sae, I really didn't, but I hurt you...
"Sae, could we talk about it later? I need time to..."
"Well, who is giving ME time to swallow all this?! There's nothing...nothing to talk between us anymore!"
Their exchange was interrupted by another commotion from the group in front, caused by a girl who ran across the field from the other side, pushing through the startled men into Yukio's arms.
"Yukio! No, no, don't do this!" She pleads desperately.
"Haruna, it's going to be fine. I will be okay." Yukio raised both of his hands, cuffed together, and tried to stroke the crying girl's hair gently.
"It is all my fault! If it wasn't for my sake, you wouldn't end up like this!"
Seeing Kojiharu's sudden appearance, Sae rushed back towards the group of officers. He has known Yukio's girlfriend for quite a few years now, and she's just as dear a friend to him as his close buddies at school, even though Haruna doesn't go there. He knew from conversations with Yukio that they were childhood friends, and she herself, is from another important gangster family.
"Nyannyan!" Sae calls her nickname as the police is violently pulling her apart from Yukio, who can only look on sadly to his lover.
Helping to restrain Haruna from leaping back towards Yukio, the group finally get into their vans and cars, engines ignited and are all set to leave.
"Take care of her for me, Sae." Yukio asks calmly of his friend from inside of the passenger's seat. Sae has his arm wrapped round the bawling Haruna now, who clutches on the window sill of the car door, cherishing the last sight of Yukio.
Sae nods and said, "Sorry, Yukio, it's me who've brought about all this."
"No it's not you, I deserve it. I knew what I'm getting into the day I decided to walk down this path." Sae's surprised at this answer, but he didn't press on.
The windows start rolling up and the car began to move.
"Don't blame yourself, Sae!" The last trail of Yukio's shout was shut off by the rolled up window and they both chased until the car picked up speed and disappeared down the road, along with the other police vans. Totally out of Sae's vision and mind, Yuki still can't take her eyes off the school's direction as her van sped off.
"You should take some time off." Said a man sitting beside her, who is her superior in this operation. You should never put your real feelings in gamble, or you'll always end up losing. The man thinks to himself and shakes his head at the distressed young rookie.
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Back at school, it doesn't take one afternoon for rumours of the arrest to spread all among the students. They all knew that Yukio is somehow, distantly connected to the crime families, but he never gave a sign that he's involved, given his bright character and a kind, helpful reputation. Everyone was also shocked that the substitute teacher is actually a cop. Maeda Sensei explained that they were really friends at school and college, so she was in the know about this operation all along.
"So, this means that half of Kashiwagi-Sensei's back story is true, isn't it?" Miki wonders loud at the table, where the three musketeers are sitting. Of course, like the rest of the school, she is completely oblivious to Yuki's relationship with Sae, which makes her like a distant observer compared to the other two who sit right across her.
"I guess so..." Nana managed to answer some nonsense to keep the conversation going. She's more concerned at Sae and how Mako is coping with it.
"Yukio-san was a very friendly sempai," Miki continues with genuine worry in her voice. "I hope it's all just a big misunderstanding."
"How is it right for someone to just lie to the whole school, even for the sake of crime-solving?" Mako's temper rose with her voice. She has been silent throughout the conversation, and this caught both Miki and Nana off guard.
"Kashiwagi Sensei..." Miki answered and thought back to the nice memories they had in the tennis club together. She really seemed like the easy-going type and would've made a good teacher with her surprisingly sharp wit combined with a soft, caring side. What a pity she is an undercover cop...
"Stop calling her Sensei, she's just a liar who cares about no one but herself!" Mako stood up and shouted directly at Miki for the first time in her life. She is really angry for Sae's situation. She tried calling him and looking around at school but he's nowhere to be found. She understands his need for some time alone, but she can tell how devastated he is. His lover, using him to gather evidence against his best friend. "How sick..." she murmurs in disgust.
"Stop it, Mako..." Mako felt a hand on her arm, causing her to glance briefly at the head shaking Nana. She finally notices that Miki has teared up at the sudden outburst from Mako, which must seem out of the blue for her.
"I..." Miki's voice shakes, "I'm sorry Makotin." She stood up and ran off. "Miki!" Mako called out but it's too late.
She punched her fists on the desk in frustration. What am I thinking? Nana continues to fix her worried stare at the empty doorway, but rubs Mako's back gently to calm her and make her sit down. Why are so many things happening at once?
Feeling the stream of tears flowing non-stop, Miki ran and ran until she locks herself in a small instruments room somewhere away from everyone else. She's not that surprised at how upset she is, nor at how her mind can't stop the flood of tears for a mere outburst from Mako. It isn't just this one incident, when she feels the distance between them widens to a point she can't recognise. Mako can be so kind, yet so fickle at the same time. She still remembers the pang of pain she felt when she sees Mako kissing Sae in front of her, in front of everyone. It's not about Sae because she no longer have any feelings for him at all. It was more about the distinct feel that she did it to target her. Does she secretly enjoy hurting her? And it was not just this. There is a lingering feel that Nana and Mako shared some secret that is hidden from her, perhaps because they are being overly protective, or perhaps it is about something she shouldn't want to know. But no matter what, it was this secret that puts a wall between Nana and her. This wall that she has been trying so hard to climb over, with every possible means she can think of. Nana, can't you just see? Can't you just see what you mean to me?
Outside the door of the instruments room, Nana traces her pale hand from the paint on the wood to the bronze, cold doorknob. She knew Miki is inside, but she couldn't bring herself to open it. She's worried about Miki, but she's also scared of the one thing she knew she can't do for her...
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"Where are you going?" Mako demands as Nana eventually stands up after coming back to the cafeteria to comfort her.
"Let's go find Sae-san." Nana knows that Mako will never rest in ease if she keeps the anger bottled up in herself. Mako doesn't look too willing, to Nana's surprise, but she stood up and allowed Nana to lead her by hand, all the way back to the Miyazawa residence. All the while, she looks frustrated and even impatient. Nana can't tell what is going through her head but she can guess it has all to do with Miki...
Unfortunately, or as expected, Sae's not at home.
"Well, keep me updated and don't you get too worried," Nana holds Mako's hand and squeezes assuringly. "He's probably waiting at the police station, and maybe Kojima-san is with him too."
Mako nods but didn't let go as Nana tries to pull away. "I am going home to study now. It's almost eight."
"Come with me." She simply says and walks quickly towards the left, pulling Nana from behind.
A few minutes later, they reached Mako's home. The clueless Nana stumbled into the porch and quickly took off her shoes as Mako marches on in without releasing her hand.
"Shitsurei...." Nana tries to announce her intrusion into the Kojima residence.
"There's no need. Mama is not at home."
Indeed the living room is empty. Reaching home did not seem to have calmed Mako although she finally lets go of Nana and flings their bags off to the floor.
"Makotin, I think that's enough." Nana states as she concentrates on the frown on Mako's face. "Throwing little temper tantrums is not going to help you fix your relationship with Miki."
Mako eyes Nana with unchanged expression but didn't say anything.
"You know that you've been getting worse. Sometimes, you treat her like a goddess and pampers her like a child, and some day, you can get extremely distant to her. Now you even shouted at her for absolutely no reason. I know Sae's situation is very upsetting to you, but you also purposely took it out on Miki." Nana finally says what she's been observing so far. She comes a bit closer and strokes Mako arm. "It's because you love her, and you can't contain your angst while you're pretending to be someone else. I know it's hard on you....but you are hurting her too when you hurt yourself."
Mako sees a trickle of tears sliding down on one side of Nana's cheek. She reaches up with her thumb and wipes it off her face.
"Yes, you are right." Mako answered softly at first, but that lapse of tension was very brief. Her looks turn sour and suddenly, she pushes Nana down onto the couch beside them. "But I hate it when she thinks I am happy." She locks Nana's shoulders on the couch with her arms and towers on top. "I hate it when she talks about you. I hate it when she thinks it's fine for me to swallow that everything she thinks of is about you. And I am jealous that she's within your reach, not mine." She moves closer and closer, so that Nana can see the rage in Mako's eyes directly above her.
"You need to calm down." Nana looks away in guilt. Mako's eyes widen at this suspicious look. So you do know, Nana..you do!
"Don't tell me what I need to do!" Mako bursts out. She forces a kiss on Nana's lips and pins her down further as the girl below struggles to move away.
"I don't want to calm down. I just want to kiss you, now." Mako demanded. Her kisses have turned into a strange kind of drug that Nana's addicted to. Something she dreads but looks forward to at the same time. Her mind goes numb as Mako releases her desires, frustration, and jealousy towards her.
A guilty pleasure that leads to nothing...Nana thought as she closes her eyes and feels Mako's lips...
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"We'll wait here until the lawyers call us, okay?" Sae led the physically shaken Haruna back into his house after midnight. Trying not to wake anyone up, they both went upstairs tiptoed and settled down in his room.
"Thanks for having me..." Haruna sat down on the rug and wrapped her arms together.
"It's all right, I know it will be tough to go back home." Sae said and start unpacking her overnight bag for some basic stuff.
"Here, take a bath and get some rest."
"It's okay...I...I want to let you know what's going on. I don't want you to feel disappointed at Yuu-chan." Haruna looks up and her red, weary eyes are once again welled up in tears.
"Nyannyan, don't be silly, I'm not disappointed at Yukio. I know he does everything for a reason. Don't worry about me, now is the time to get some rest."
"A year ago," Haruna pulls Sae's hand and led him to sit down nonetheless. "Shortly after Yuu-chan's father died, they really pulled out of all underground businesses, but my papa's ties with them had been deep, and he's not willing to accept a chunk of his income simply gone because Yuuchan decides to pull out."
"There were considerable back and forths, and Yuuchan tried to deal with it as tactfully as he can, so that it won't affect his relationship with me. However...perhaps...perhaps Papa is right; you can't just quit if you are going out with a gangster's daughter. He told Yuuchan to choose. Either they continue with their dealings, or he will disown me and send me away to another country, cut me off, and never allow us to meet again."
"Yuuchan was torn between my safety and succumbing to Papa's demands. Even though I would rather break up with him, he could see through my anxiety. And selfishly I let him choose that path. It was all because of me, because I'm too weak to be away from him, to accept not seeing him again. He used his future-- his righteousness and conscience -- to exchange for my happiness!"
"He started setting up the network and dealing drugs overseas again. It was such hard work because he was never groomed to do it. He wouldn't let me help him; he said, 'I don't want to taint your hands with dirt like this...' his eyes is full of guilt, but he's always smiling and cheerful. He didn't want me to feel guilty. These past few months, we met and went out like a normal couple, and for a while, even I am fooled that everything would be okay. But of course! He's just hiding it really well from me! I'm such a fool!"
Haruna's confession fills in all the details Sae hadn't have the chance to process during the day. So that's exactly what he meant when he chose to "go down that path" himself?Even though he's done something wrong, Sae just can't get angry at Yukio at all, for doing things he has to do to protect a loved one. He wonders if he can do the same for Yuki, or rather, why couldn't she do the same for him, and just turn a blind eye? He sighs as the pain of betrayal creeps up his heart again.
"I'm sorry Sae!" Haruna kneels and bow down deeply. "Yukio is a good person, it's me that has ruined his life!"
"Haruna," Sae smiles and propped her back up. "This is not the time to blame yourself. It's not your fault, it's your dad, who manipulated both of you. Yukio wouldn't want to see you sad over this. In fact, it's so 'him' to do this. He's always been reckless when it comes to protecting the ones around him. I don't think you alone, or anything you say, could've changed his mind anyway. And I'm proud of him, really. I hope I knew earlier to share his burden...instead of...instead of being the one who helped betray h..."
"Sae-kun, you just said, it's not a time to blame yourself."
"Yes, that's right." Sae breaks into a small laugh. "Don't want to see my pretty Nyannyan crying all through the night. We need to get genki and be ready for tomorrow!"
The girl stopped crying a bit and smiles at Sae for his kind words. Leaving her for some alone time, he occupies another corner of the room and starts texting the lawyers for more updates. He then calls Mako to tell her he's fine, but nobody picks up the phone. Meanwhile, Haruna rests on the bedside as her mind drifts off to the distant cell, where Yukio is sitting inside calmly alone, full of resolve.
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If I were Sae, I'll curse yuki. Because.. seriously? she just leave like that?
Fortunately I'm obviously not him, if so, I certainly will be going to supermarket right now, searching for a creepy voodoo :mon worklate:
This yuki is really want to pick a fight, huh.. :mon evil:
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yeah finally an update!
really looking forward to the next chapter of the nana mako miki triangle (^^♪
please update soon, thanks(^^)/
sent from なぁちゃんのハート
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Update please!!!
im reading this on tumblr.... i really like the twist on your story...
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I am sorry for almost not updating for a month! You know, Xmas and New Years are busy times....anyway, I'm back with more updates.
@arawche079: Thanks for dropping a note and sorry to keep you waiting!
@majimenaachan: Yeah! Another Naachan Oshi found! I'm glad you liked the triangle and I enjoyed writing it too, though there's a struggle how to end this :nervous
@Weird Panda: I hope Yuki can redeem herself somewhat this chapter! She's not a bad person, but I agree I'd be mad if I were Sae!
The following chapter below deviates from the tumblr version due to forum rules. This is due to fact that the three musketeers are still not 18. However I think the situation they're in are quite realistic for high school aged kids, so I hope the tumblr version doesn't offend anyone~
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Chapter 9 - I can't
It's past midnight when Nana stirred awake and blinked slowly, watching the blank white ceiling that does not belong to her room. The cool bedsheets rub against her skin as she shifted a little to look at the girl who's fast asleep beside her.
Mako looks relaxed and content in her sleep. The angst and frowns from earlier today had left her beautiful face. Nana sat up at the side of the bed and began to rack her brains while everything that happened earlier started flooding back into her mind.
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"No..." Nana broke from the kiss and stopped Mako's hand from moving further inside her thighs. "I can't."
"Why?" Mako tried to ignore the protest and kissed Nana's collarbone tenderly.
"I know you don't want to do this...at least not with me...right?" Nana asked sadly.
"That's not true." Mako simply answered and continued.
"Stop it!" The girl below yelled angrily and yanked Mako off the couch, standing up and glaring at her in disbelief.
"Nana..." The yank had jolted Mako awake and she finally realised the gravity of the situation. "I just wanted to...I..." She felt her lips trembling, tasting the tears that had rolled down her cheeks.
"I wanted to be with you." She finished her sentence and slumped back down on the couch. "Please, Naachan," she looked up with pleading eyes. "Stay with me."
This look...this painful, pitiful look...What had left of Nana's anger had long been melted away. She sat down beside her and let Mako lay her head on her shoulders. After a while, Mako seemed to have calmed down and fallen asleep, but just as Nana tried to lay her down on the sofa, she stirred awake and grabbed her arm fiercely.
"I'm not going anywhere." Nana shooed her friend. She led her up and made her clean and change like a mother would to a child, then she put her to bed, but all the while, Mako refused to let go of her hand. Even now, sitting beside the bed, Mako looked worriedly at Nana with droopy eyes, the grip on her hand slowly getting loose due to her drowsiness.
"I will be here for as long as you want me to." Nana finally said.
"Then stay with me." She pulled her into the bed and wrapped her arms around her. "I promise I won't do anything to you.""
The one thing Nana wants most, the thing that she can almost touch, had never felt so far away from her than right now. I love you but I can't have you, Mako.
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Nana winces with guilt at all the memories from yesterday. She felt she had took advantage of Mako's frustration and she should've just left. But...but...
"Naachan..." She felt some sheets draping over her shoulders as Mako's arms wrapped around her from behind. "When did you wake up? Be careful not to catch a cold like this..."
Nana took her hand without turning around.
"Mako...is it really okay...if we continue like this?"
She feels a light kiss on her cheek.
"Do you know...Nana, that Miki loves you?" Mako finally asks.
Nana can't answer anything and the two of them remained silent in each other's arms for the rest of the night. Nana gazes at the moon outside the window as Mako's question lingers in her mind.
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*three months ago, in the library
"Aida-san, thanks for your help!" Miki beamed a bright smile and took the books from his hands, walking back to the desk where Nana and Mako were.
"Naachan! Look, the gods have saved me from the project deadline tomorrow!" Miki waved the books in front of her face happily.
"Oi, Miki-chan..." Mako quickly stopped her in a rare case of seriousness. "Nana is feeling unwell."
The younger girl put down her books and quickly wrapped her cardigan around Nana, who's supporting her head on her elbow.
"Miki-chan, I am having a headache...but it's fine." She looked up and smiled weakly.
"Let me go get some medicine!" Miki was alarmed at Nana's condition and rushed off a few steps but quickly traced back. "But...but what pills work?" At this point, Mako rose from her chair with a helpless smile and signalled the little girl to sit down. "I will go get some painkillers from the infirmary. Miki-chan, be quiet and stay with Naachan."
After Mako took off, Nana completely rested her head on the table with folded arms like she's fallen asleep, while Miki sat back opposite to her and continued to stare at her sick friend worriedly.
"Ano..." Aida Ken's voice interrupted in a whisper. "Nishino-san?" He thought that Nana had fallen asleep and didn't want to wake her up.
Miki stood up and turned towards her saviour. He had been helping her out here and there ever since the difficult class project was assigned. Having wonderful, smart sempais is such a great thing, Miki thought as she looked at him with a bright smile.
"I...I have something I would like to ask of you....seriously." She felt a hint of shyness in the normally confident boy's voice.
"Please, please read my thoughts in this letter, and let me know your answer!" He bowed down and handed her a letter.
Miki instinctively glanced towards Nana, who seemed passed out and unaware of this odd situation. She took the letter reluctantly. The boy rose back from the bow, tightened his lip in a half smile, and walked away politely.
Clutching the letter in her hand, Miki sat back down and whispers, "Naachan...Naachan?" However, the girl did not stir one bit. Looking up and seeing Mako return, she hid the letter into the bag.
The next day when Miki and the recovered Nana were walking towards home after school, Miki tugged Nana's hand from behind.
"Em?" Nana turned back and found a rarely serious-looking Miki.
"You heard it yesterday, didn't you?" Miki asked directly. After all, it's impossible for someone who's suffering from a headache to suddenly fall asleep.
"What are you talking about?" Nana glanced away.
"You really don't lie a lot, do you?" Miki let out a laugh and saw the serious girl blushed in embarrassment.
"I read the letter from Aida-san." Miki continued. "He wants to go out with me."
Nana grimaced and wondered what she should say. Of course, she should be happy for someone to confess to her little Miki, but...but what if Mako knows about it? She was possibly, still in love with Miki, even though the topic hadn't come up between them ever since that failed date...on the other hand, how could she hold Miki's happiness back just to support an empty wish for them to be together one day?
"Naachan!" Miki suddenly wrapped her arms around Nana. "Should I say 'yes'?"
"What do you mean, Miki?" Nana turned her head slightly but she couldn't see her face in their embracing position. "Shouldn't you ask yourself whether you like him or not?"
"I...I just care about what you think, Naachan."
Nana gaped at this question. In all honesty, of course...
"If you ask me, I...I think you should consider thoroughly before you make this decision." Nana didn't want to say 'no' outright, but her selfish side was winning again. She wanted to see Mako smile more than anything else, even if it means she could not have her. However, Miki didn't take this answer lightly and tugged her in even tighter.
"What kind of half ass answer is this? Do you not want me to go out with him? You don't, right?" There's a rush of eagerness in her voice, as if Miki herself was hoping to reject Aida-san. Her urgent questions were met with Nana's silence.
"Why? Can you tell me why you don't want me to say 'yes'?" Miki had correctly interpreted her friend's silent answer, but she's on a completely wrong track on the reason behind this. She pulled away and looked straight into Nana's nervous face.
"Well, it's a decision you should make for yourself...I, I shouldn't have anything to do with something important like this..." Nana tried to wriggle her way out of the probe.
"Nana..." Miki grabbed onto her shoulders and gazed intensely into her eyes. "Don't you see? It has everything to do with you."
Nana's thoughts suddenly cleared as she looked at Miki in a different light for the first time. Standing in front of her was not a dear sister, but someone who looked at her with expectant eyes, the same pair that she recognised from the way that Mako gazed upon the unsuspecting Miki. The same expectant eyes that she herself once trained upon the dazed Mako on the rooftop one sunny autumn afternoon.
"I'm sorry...I just remember I need to do something...and I...I have to run." She heard her trembling voice utter these words as she picked up her feet and began to run away, leaving the dejected Miki standing alone on the pavement.
You said you would always walk me home. You said you would always be by my side. You broke your promise, Nana.
*end of flashback
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There is another person who's kept awake midnight, and that is Sae, who's now holding onto a fountain pen with his name engraved on it. He is clenching it in his fist in anger, as he channels his frustrations towards Yuki to the gift she gave him. Which part of their relationship is real? Which part is fake? Has he been her plan all along, or has he actually really stumbled into Yuki's life accidentally?
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*flashback to a few month's ago
"Sae-kun," Yuki said sweetly as they cuddled together in a random Saturday afternoon together in Yukio's mansion. "Is it boring to hang out with me like this all the time?"
"Em-hm," Sae shook his head while he looks out of the window, following the speed at which the clouds move in the sky. It is true that they didn't do much together indoors. They definitely did not talk about school, although they would exchange stories from their childhood, discuss about people they both know, like Maeda Atsuko Sensei or Mako, but anything that reminded them of the barrier that's caused by their teacher-student relationship was completely avoided. In this mansion, Sae shed his usual talkative, genking self and donned a much more taciturn character. Yuki wondered if that is the "true" Sae -- someone who decided to take up an energetic, friendly appearance in order to be the sunshine to his loved ones-- but who is actually just a quiet, introspective person in the core.
"What a clumsy sun," Sae muses. "It's not shining reliably at all."
"Why are you saying that?" Yuki snuggled in closer.
"It doesn't warm you up in winter at all..." he chuckled at his silly reasoning and closed his eyes to enjoy the light.
"But that's alright for me," Yuki looked up and kissed his cheek lightly. "Sae don't have to be the brightest sunlight; I love the clumsy sun more..."
"Really?" He asked and smiled with his eyes still closed, not really paying attention.
"Being beside me is all I ask for." Yuki replied. "I also want you to be most relaxed when you're with me."
"It's a bit hard to do that..." Sae suddenly opened his eyes and looks down cheekily. "When you rode on me just now."
Yuki blushed at the mention of their passionate time together, when they could sometimes go quite far with the excitement.
"Baka!" She sat up and hit his head. "You're ruining the mood!"
She climbed off the bed and started rummaging around the desk. The room they were in was actually a previous drawing room of the Oshima Residence. There were just a few handy artefacts in the display cabinets, and also some random stationary inside the desk. She played around and suddenly took a box out eagerly.
"What did you find?" This curious Sae also left the bed.
"A calligraphy set," Yuki's eyes beamed like she's found gold, which were met with Sae's half eye-roll.
"It's fun!" Yuki continued. "I used to go to calligraphy classes when I was a little kid...I wonder if I still remember anything..." With that, the set is properly set up and she started brushing strokes on some scrap paper, totally engrossed with her new toy.
Sae looked on from behind at the impressive handwriting, frankly not recognising some kanji she wrote.
"Hey, write something I understand..." He nudged her with his shoulder, as his hands crossed to his sides.
"Why don't you have a go?" She turned and looked at him with a happy, kiddy smile.
"I...I don't know how to hold a brush, let alone write with one." He scratched the back of his head uneasily.
"O haha, that's absolutely fine." To his surprise, she moved to his back and enclosed her arms around him, holding his hands and guided him to pick up the brush.
"Eh?" Sae didn't have time to react before the first stroke had already been drawn out with his hand. With a few simple brushes, the word for "smile" is written.
"Ah~~this is cool..."Sae commented at the kanji that looked more like a "laugh" in its style. "That's how you thought of me...Heh...heh heh heh.." He started laughing lightly.
"You are the sun that makes everyone happy." Yuki turned him towards her and said. "Even if you are a clumsy sun, I will always be able to feel your smiles and laughs." Her eyes bend into crescent moons as she spoke. "Everyone can smile, but to me, your smile is like this kanji. This is the beauty of calligraphy."
Sae understood what she meant, and unknowingly, he found tears dripping from his eyes.
"This is so beautiful, Yuki..." He said as he felt that, finally, there's someone he could rely on, who grasped him completely, who knew and loved his insecurities. He had been the boy who tried to act like a man for his mother and Mako, who's like his sister. He'd been the strong one, the optimistic one, the one who always goes first without fear. Without himself knowing it, he was getting weary of being genki. Only when he fell in love with Yuki, did he discover this side of himself. Like someone who had stretch his limits for a long spell at work without any sickness, but finally got ill when he could relax during vacation, Sae understood that the quietness or tiredness he felt was a release of what he had locked up deep in himself. And Yuki understood this too. She didn't ask him about anything else and held his hand into hers.
"Here," He said as he lifted the sheet with 'smile' from the desk. "Take it as my gift for you."
"Stingy..." Yuki laughs as she accepted it.
The next week at school, in another random day, a box was placed in his locker, which was what his is holding in his hands now. The card in the box reads:
"It's hard to write with brush and ink all the time, but you seem really into it. It's time for a boy to have a proper pen...first step to manhood (^.^)v"
He smiled and placed the pen, with the characters "sun" engraved on it, inside his jacket pocket, and has been carrying with him always.
Darkness has fallen, he thought, and there's no longer any sunshine, not even the clumsy type, to speak of...
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*back in present
In the morning, Sae bade Haruna to stay inside the house for the day while he goes out to get some food, still deciding on whether to go to school today. For sure, Haruna's dad will be trying to get their hands on her, but on the other hand, the police crackdown means that everyone is still watching their own backs, and will not do anything reckless. Either way, it's the safest for her to stay here until they figure out what to do about Yukio...
After walking for a block or so, Sae started feeling like he's being followed. He continued on his way round the corner and waited...
Grabbing the arm of his stalker, he was quickly out manoeuvred and found himself flung off, tripping back a few steps before he sees a women in grey suit and ponytail staring at him sternly.
"Sae..." Yuki began to speak.
"What are you doing here? Go...go back to where you are from. I'm sure the accolades and honours are waiting for you, with your sophisticated plan to infiltrate the yakuza, single-handedly bringing down the Oshima-clan..." Sae continued to praise sarcastically.
"I'm sorry Sae, but...but it's my job. I need to make sure you and Haruna are safe before Kojima is caught. Look, if we get Kojima in, he can prove that he's been manipulating Yukio so he can get less..."
"Yukio...huh?" Sae cut her off abruptly. "He's been so kind to us, and you did this to him...now you're even pretending to help......O wait! Why should you be grateful to him? It's all a lie wasn't it? That's why you lured me to the room that day and that's how he stumbled in onto us..."
"I'm sorry..." Yuki looked down and recall the plan she concocted to get closer to Yukio, but it wasn't all just a lie...
"Shouldn't it be the time when you say, 'It's not like that?', but of course..." Sae looked up and took a deep breath to contain his tears. "It's just like that. 'It's your job.' Go, I don't want to see you, ever, again."
He turned to leave. The woman he's risked so much to love was just someone who used him cruelly. He can't accept this fact, but he must get used to it... He walked for a few moments and his mind is still kind of bothered...No, don't turn around, he thought to himself, but his waist has already twisted inadvertently back. As expected, Yuki is still following him. She can't hide her expectant look when she sees his face softens.
"This is your job too, following me...isn't it?" Sae sighs. "Fine, do whatever you want, I'll just pretend you don't exist."
Although his voice is harsh, Yuki can tell that he's wavered. Maybe I still have a chance, she thought, her heart feeling hopeful once more. I'm sorry that I have lied so much to you. Everything you knew about me was fake, but my feelings for you is true. Yet how can I say it out loud, when even I myself aren't convinced? I have hurt you so much...I don't deserve to have your love anymore.
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Just like yesterday, Sae's visitation was denied at the facility, however, the police told him that they are trying to bring in Kojima Shingo (Haruna's father), and told him not to worry too much because Yukio is still a minor. The lawyers also told him the same thing, but warned that it is unlikely he would be absolved from all crimes due to solid evidence that Kashiwagi collected.
Sae dragged himself back home, knowing that Yuki has still been following him and is probably settled down and waiting outside his house now.
"Okaeri..." Sae's mother greeted him, along with Haruna, who is sitting at the table, eating dinner now.
"Saepo!" His mother came and sat down at the table with some hot soup. "Can you believe how surprised I am when I came back from Nagoya with Natsu-obachan [Mako's mum]?" She is asking in this nasal, singing voice that sounds nothing but eerie to him.
"Eh?" Sae broke a sweat thinking whether she knew about Yukio's arrest already.
"You still haven't introduced me to this lovely lady here...neh Haruna-chan?" She looks at Haruna in a wicked smile.
"No...mama! She's Nyannyan...you know, THAT Haruna I told you about?" Sae recalled maybe mentioning Yukio's girlfriend to her once a long time ago...
"Ah...OHH!" Sae's mum tried to hide her disappointment, lamenting secretly that her baka little boy will probably never get a girlfriend. "Haruna-chan? Haha...well, welcome anyway!" Haruna nodded back with a slight, apologetic smile.
"Em...mum, she'll be staying with us a couple of days."
"Sure...but where is Yukio-chan? Why isn't he staying over too?" His mum looks confusedly at him.
"They're em...they're..."
"Sorry Obachan, Yuu-chan and I are kind of, in a fight. I don't want him to find me, so I selfishly asked to stay with Sae-kun."
"Yea....yes! I thought you'd be out of town till next week, so I brought her back."
"O...haha, don't you mind me, but..." She eyes them both suspiciously. "You know what they say, Sae, 'bros don't take other's h..."
"Mum!" Sae shouted to stop her from continuing the 'h' word. "It's not. It's not what you think okay? We're like, best buddies, I treat her the way I treat Makotin...they're not girls to me!" Sae then realised an offended frown from Haruna, and quickly looked away.
"Well well, speaking of Makotin, I better pack my stuff and get Natsu-chan [Mako's mum]. We'll be off again to Osaka this time...for our Uniba date. I'll leave you both here till next week, as you wished."
"Really?" Sae almost spit the soup out of his mouth.
"Yup, apparently, someone's also staying over with Makotin, and Natsu felt like she has to take off too. So we both decided...well why not go to Osaka?" Sae raised an eyebrow at this piece of news, which smells fishy to him. A friend staying overnight is a common thing. Why does obachan feel the need to leave them alone? Sometimes, he doesn't understand what adults think...unless...unless...
"Alright...see you, and nice meeting with you Haruna-chan! Don't let Sae boss you around!" Sae looked back and the front door already closed from behind, leaving the two of them alone again.
"Damn...." Sae looks embarrassingly at Haruna, "Did she say weird stuff to you?"
Haruna shook her head with a smile. "No, obasan was really nice. I just said I'm your friend and she left me alone most of the time, except feeding me and giving me stuff like toothbrush and towels. She's really kind...but I guess...she thought I was your girlfriend..."
"Yappari..." Sae wonders if his baka genes came from his mother's side or papa's side...
Outside their house, heavy rain from a storm cloud started pouring, and Mako made a final dash before reaching Sae's doorstep. She glanced to the side and noticed a familiar figure standing outside in the rain.
"What are you doing here?" Mako asked Yuki crossly.
"Mako-chan, I am here to watch over Sae and Kojima Haruna san." She bows and greets her politely. "Kashiwagi Yuki, from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, special investigations unit."
"Chi.." Mako frowns at the Sensei standing in front of her, who lied for almost a year to her students. But something about Yuki's resolved look softens Mako's heart immediately.
"You should leave, it's pouring right now."
Yuki shook her head and declined. "It's okay, Makochan, and sorry for lying to you all."
Mako looks at her one more time before turning the keys of the front door. "You really do love him, don't you?" Without waiting for an answer, she went inside. Yuki reflects on what she just said. She knows that no one will suddenly attack in this kind of weather, but she must be cautious and protect them. In fact, she's not sent by her superiors to do it, but she knows she should take charge. She tries to convince herself that this is part of her duty, but more so than ever, as the heavy drops of rain beat on her, she is driven by the need for self-punishment and longing for redemption.
"Yabai!" Mako closed the door and toss the umbrella inside the bucket . "Lucky that mama warned me about bringing an umbrella, or I'll be soaked."
"Makotin!" Sae greeted and took her jacket off.
"I came to see if you're okay, since all that happened yesterday..." She trails off and saw a girl sitting at the dinner table.
"Oh..She's Nyannyan..." Sae introduced.
"Ah!" Mako breaks into a bright smile. "Nice to meet you, Kojima-san!"
"Makotin, right?" Haruna bows a little bit. "Sae-kun mentions a lot about you, you look so cute in person, as I have imagined."
"Hehheh...thanks..." Mako bowed and shook her head shyly. Wow, Yukio's girlfriend is so beautiful and gorgeous!!! She thought and blushed.
"Well I'm going to take a shower now and leave you guys to catch up." Haruna stood up and walks away. Meanwhile, Mako is still too dumbstruck by her beauty. She couldn't raise from her bow as her heart races and mind wanders off... imagining how Haruna will look in a bikini.
Feeling a slight smack on her head, she looks up and find Sae staring at her suspiciously.
"I heard from mama that Natsu-Obachan decided to go on a trip again because you invited someone to stay over at your place...who is it?"
"Well, more importantly," Mako took a deep breath at this probe and felt a need to divert his question. She looks out of the window and asks, "Do you know that you're being stalked outside by someone who's standing in pouring rain?"
Actually, Sae has been worrying as soon as the rain started. He knows that Yuki is still outside.
"It's people's freedom to do whatever they want, I can't control it." He says nonchalantly and sits on the couch, turning on the television.
"You...you can at least give her an umbrella..."
"She betrayed me," Sae looks into the screen where a variety show is on air with faint laughters sounding off from the TV. "She put Yukio into all this trouble."
"Yes I know, but, have you ever thought that maybe she really likes you..." Mako couldn't believe she's saying good words for Yuki, but the scene outside just now really struck her and all the anger she had with her is gone. Besides, she knew that Yukio isn't being accused of something he hasn't done. She still had mixed feelings about how she'd used Sae, but once she realised that the love between them might not be fake after all, she kind of forgave her Tennis Club sensei....after all they had spent some good times together at school, and it's a bonus to Mako that she is hot.
"It's all a lie." Sae answers back sadly. "I know that till this second, I still can't control the fact that I love her a lot. She's my first love. But...no matter how I tried to think of it differently, I knew she was just using me. She doesn't love me, and with my best friend in this state, I just can't forgive her. It feels like I'm betraying Yukio every second I think of her...do you understand?"
"Stop being so stubborn, you need to get over this 'guilt' that shouldn't exist in the first place." Mako watches as Sae fidgets with his fingers. "Come on, you knew you want to go out and get her..." She moves towards the couch and grab his arm.
"No!" He glares at her. "Just mind your own business! You're probably in a ton of trouble yourself too, right? Let me guess, your mum caught you doing something inappropriate...is it Miki or Nana?"
Mako gulped and turned her back from him. "Naachan and I...are just friends."
She recalled this quiet morning when she woke up and found that Nana was indeed, right by her side, as she promised. She was already awake and her eyes glowed under the sunlight that's shining in. Not only her eyes, but also her skin and her lips. She couldn't resist but leaned in for a kiss again, but Mako's mum came in right in the middle of their action, and they couldn't even scramble off the bed on time. She was clearly shocked at what she saw, but she wasn't mad. However, she did say she needed some time to think through it. This isn't the worst though...it's more the fact that she thought Nana is really her girlfriend that troubles Mako most. She knew it's time to face the question she's been delaying for a while, now that everything is forced to the surface.
"You know, Mako," Sae stood up and rests a hand on her shoulder. "I think your mum will come to accept it soon, so it's a good thing that she finds out about your orientation...but with Naachan? This is not friends with benefits...you are the one entirely taking advantage of her!"
Mako turns around and faces Sae with teary eyes. "I can't get over Miki, and it drives me mad that she is falling for Naachan. But every time I see Naachan, I want to have her, possess her, do all sorts of things with her...I don't understand what this is about too! "
Sae takes her into his arms and hugs her tightly. "It's complicated, isn't it? Mako, you should try to be more honest with your feelings..." Are you just obsessed with Miki? Do you love her still? Or do you love Nana now?
"I don't know what to do now...If you were me, what would you do?"
Sae stayed silent and continued to stroke her hair. The beating of the raindrops on the window gets louder and louder, but Sae couldn't bring his feet to move to the person that must be soaking wet outside... He's just scared, scared of getting hurt again. Makotin, if you were me, what would you do?
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At around ten, the rain had finally stopped, and the tears on Mako's cheeks were also dried. She waved goodbye to the silent and troubled Sae, left the house, and found Yuki crouched on the side of the doorstep with a cup of ramen in her hands.
"Kashiwagi Sensei, just go home, I think they will be fine..." Mako said.
"It's okay, it's my job..." Yuki answered and said as Mako started walking. "Take care too, Makotin."
Mako shrugged but still turned around and nodded before walking away.
Back in her own house, Mako found Nana sitting silently on the couch, all dressed and packed.
"Makotin..." She looks up as the front door opens. "You are finally back. I'm...well, thanks for having me. I will go home now." After that awkward morning when they're sort of busted by Mako's mum, they both went to school, and didn't talk to each other at all. But somehow, at the end of the day, Mako took her hand and led her back to her house again. Why? Nana thought. Why is she doing this again...and why am I following so willingly? This time, nothing really happened between them and they still didn't say a single word to each other, until Mako announced that she was going to check on Sae and left the house earlier.
Nana picked up her things and walked towards the porch, but Mako came in and hugged her.
"Please don't go." Mako starts kissing her neck, untucking the blouse from Nana's skirt.
"But why?" Nana finally spoke up. She wants to know it, even if it will hurt her even more. She just wants to end it.
Mako pretends she didn't hear. I don't know too. She continues brushing her hands underneath the blouse, circling round Nana's waist. Nana releases a deep breath she's been holding and the bag on her hand dropped onto the floor with a dull thud. She has surrendered again.
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I prefer mako x nana, because mikkty just fall in love with anyone so...
my saeyuki heart is bleeding right now T_T
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thank you for updating...
i‘m hoping that yukio will be free from all charges and reunite with nyannyan....
hay!!!!!!heartache...
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I prefer mako x nana, because mikkty just fall in love with anyone so...
Ahahah! Kinda agree with you
But I still want sae x mako scene first before it turn become sae x yuki to the core
Because, same like saeyu-san.. I love sae x everyone too
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so sad~
keep updating Author-san!!
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yay finally an update!
i like where this is going XD
and i definitely prefer mako x nana XD
i hope that the wait for the next chapter is shorter than the last one XD
thank you author-san(^^)/
sent from なぁちゃんのハート
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@Haruko: Saeyuki's part is darker and more complicated...but they will get there eventually, thanks for dropping by!
@arawche079: Yukio has great love for Haruna, I think he is the most selfless character in this fic, they will get closure in the final chapter :)
@Weird Panda: They get some scenes in the beginning lol even though it's fake. Maybe I will work on Saemako in a short OS
@George: Thanks for dropping by!
@majimenaachan: Sorry I kept delaying all the time these past few weeks! I will be quicker, and it's almost the end soon :nervous
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Chapter 10
Mako winced as the sun shone into the room and woke her up naturally. She blinks as she slowly gains vision on the bright view outside the window. A bird is chirping on the tree. The sensation of touching Nana's pale, smooth skin from last night's episode suddenly filled Mako's mind and caused her to smile to herself without even noticing. However, when she turned around, Nana is no where to be seen. In fact, Mako herself is not even in her own bed, but sleeping on the floor--- in Sae's room.
Mako touches her face and realises that it has happened again. She stood up and found herself in Sae's t-shirt, shorts...and body.
"What the..." she lets out a frustrated grunt and notices that someone else is shifting in the sheets in his bed. It's Kashiwagi Sensei with a towel on her forehead, still asleep, or probably passed out.
"That baka finally took her in..." Mako whispered silently...then her eyes widened in a rush of panic. If I'm in your body, and you mine, then that means!!!
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"It's time to wake up, Mako!" Nana tried to push the arm that's wrapped around her for the whole night. The girl beside her finally stirred and half opened her eyes.
"The alarm....hazzzzzn..." She whispered some gibberish and made Nana chuckle.
"Come on, get out now!" she sat up and propped Mako up too. The girl finally blinked and squinted.
"Eh..." Mako, or shall we say, Sae in Mako's body, turned and see Nana looking at her seriously. Naachan? Why is she here?
"Are you feeling all right?" Sae is still dazed when Nana reaches out and touches his forehead.
Sae's eyes finally adjusted to the light in front of him. He jolts at the sight of the bedsheets and stumbles off the bed onto the floor, his face stricken in terror. Makotin!! He cursed to himself.
Taken by surprise, Nana immediately climbs out of the bed to Sae. "What happened? Why are you so scared?"
Sae's mouth drop at what he's not supposed to see, but it's too late. He shook his head slowly without taking his eyes off the beautiful figure in front of him. "I'm okay..." he answered faintly.
"Let's get ready for school or we'll be late." Nana starts changing into her uniform. At the same moment Sae hears a phone buzz. He recognises that it's Mako's phone and the caller ID is himself.
"Moshi Mosh..." He picks up and frowns at a soft, hera hera voice sounding from his mouth.
"Don't you dare look at her!" Sae heard his own voice answering back, simmering in anxiety.
"Mako, I can't believe you slept..." Sae starts to vent his frustration in angry whispers but is cut out.
"Don't peep at her or I'll take your eyeballs out! ....And don't go to school. Has she woken up yet?"
"...She's about to...now..." Sae lied. Wow protective much...Mako?
"Okay. Just DON'T do anything funny to her. Let her go to school and you, lock yourself inside until I come find you, okay?" Mako commanded with urgency.
"I'll...get in touch..." He glances at the changing Nana, who is looking curiously at him, wondering who he's on the phone with. He hushes hurriedly as Yuki's state floats back into his mind, "Just take care of that person for me, I think she's having a fever."
"Fine, call me when you're done." A cold as-a-matter-of-fact answer from Mako. The phone snaps shut.
"Bugger that..." Sae curses. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Oh not a lecture on politeness again!
"Don't get sick like this..." Instead, Nana wraps a shirt around him. Only then, did he realise he's still naked too. His thoughts can't help but wander off to whatever steamy stuff they did last night...
"Naachan!" He wakes from his daze when she finally stands up. "I...I don't feel well enough for school today, I...I think I will stay home."
Nana looks at him and crouches down, feeling his forehead gently again. She smiles after confirming that Mako's body is still healthy and said, "Makotin, I don't feel like going to school too. I will go home now."
Nana knows that Mako is probably as tired and as confused as herself. They have stepped across a boundary that they should never cross, because it has come to a point of no return. Doing it once is already emotionally taxing for her, yet they chose to taste this poison again last night. It is a hole that they've sunk too deeply into. Not only does she feel unable to get out now; it also seems that she will be buried and suffocated any second. Their relationship-- which so far can still be described as friendship-- is on the brink of complete collapse. The voice about Mako questioning her on Miki continued to ring in her head. Now that this possibility is exposed, it sheds a whole new light on the friendship between the three of them. Is that all Mako's been thinking of when they were doing it? That the girl she is infatuated with is instead loving Nana, the very person who's completely at her mercy now? Does she enjoy torturing her because of that? Even if it is out of jealousy, Nana is still drawn to it...she realises she is drawn to Mako the way a moth is drawn to fire. O... What am I doing? She wonders again. Can I be hurting Miki the same time I'm dragging Mako down with me?
There's a sense of loneliness, or even hopelessness, in Nana's eyes that Sae can't help but notice.
"Naachan...let me walk you home." He stood up and starts getting dressed.
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Mako paces back and forth in Sae's room, thinking of what she should do with Yuki when she wakes up. The fever seems to have subsided considerably, but she still looks kind of weak.
Taking a glass of milk from the kitchen downstairs, she ran into Haruna, who's clutching onto her phone nervously.
"Saepo," She grabs Mako's arm, "Papa left a message threatening to find me no matter what. He sounds really mad. I think he's convinced that Yukio and I are selling him out..."
Mako actually doesn't know much about what's going on, but it doesn't sound good. "Haruna-chan, you will be fine here. How about this: switch off the phone and stay indoors. I'm sure he'll never get to you."
"I have a nagging feeling that I will cause you trouble..." Haruna pouted as she switches the phone off. "I think Papa is planning to flee the country soon, so he wanted to get hold of me....But if that's the case... I may end up not seeing Yukio anymore! I don't want to leave him, Sae!"
Mako stood there for a second, thinking of how she should handle this. There's no way they would find all the way to Sae's house, right? She pats on Haruna's head and smiles assuringly.
"Come on, have some milk...it should help calm your nerves. There's no way they will find us. We're going to stay here while the police take care of the rest." Handing her the glass, she goes back and make another hot drink, carrying up to the room for Yuki.
"Kashi.....Yuki..." Mako calls out gently, taking the towel off her slightly heated forehead.
"Sae..." Yuki tries to prop herself up, and Mako helped her. "I need to get out..."
"Don't be silly," Mako quickly pushes her down. "You can't even sit properly, where do you think you're going?"
"I...I need to go back out..it's..."
"It's your job...is that what you're trying to say?" Mako retorted and placed the glass of milk to her mouth. "Drink it and stop talking this nonsense." She continues, "You know, you must have said 'it's my job' more than ten times yesterday. Usually, when people repeats what they say that often, it only means they are lying."
Yuki shakes her head slightly, bowing down to avoid Mako's gaze.
"You think standing under the rain and getting sick helps anything at all? I get it, I get it...you just want to make yourself feel better by suffering..." Mako understands that feeling all too well. The torture and guilt she feels in hurting Miki and Nana have strangely been the morphine that's keeping her numb. It's her way of staying alive. It's become a pain that gives her pleasure, and slowly this pleasure morphed into something that she doesn't recognise anymore.
"This is insane," She continues with a tinge of anger in her breath, "You are never going to get anywhere like this. It's equivalent to cutting yourself, but you won't get forgiven just because you decide to stupidly torture yourself."
"Say it," Mako commands after a long pause. "Say what you actually mean, whom you actually love."
Yuki finds everything Mako(Sae in her POV) said surprisingly accurate. I don't deserve this, Sae...don't you understand? I don't deserve telling you that I love you anymore. This privilege has been destroyed by myself single handedly, the day I put work before our love...even though you're the only one who stayed by my side, who comforted me, who believed in me when I was most vulnerable. I...I can't even look at you in the eyes...
Mako cups her hands on Yuki's cheeks and turned her head towards her. Looking into the terrified eyes, Mako cannot hold back anymore. I can't let you guys lie to yourselves anymore. Your guilt aren't gonna make anyone better off. She takes a deep breath and proceeds.
"I love you, Yuki." She said it for Sae. "I don't know if I can forgive you, but I know I love you right now. So say it..."
Yuki hesitates for a moment, but finally, she opens her mouth again...
"Sae...I have always, and still do, lo..."
Her sentence was broken by a loud crash from the window of their room.
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Sae have been strolling slowly beside Nana on their way back to Nana's house. Nana was waiting for Mako to take her hand and act as if nothing serious has happened, like she always does. However, it didn't happen this time. The silence and distance has created a rising tension, but it somehow gives Nana more relief. Perhaps, it will end once and for all, today.
Sae suddenly stopped on his tracks, and asks, "What if, I can never fall in love with you?"
Finally. Nana thought.
"I knew that, I never expected you will love me in return." She said calmly, turning her expressionless face away slightly.
"Naachan!" Sae stands in front of her and locks her shoulder towards him. "Then don't let me use you!!" If you can't decide what you want, Mako, I will do it for you, Sae thought as his resolve strengthens in his eyes. "Look at me, Nana. Do you honestly think, I don't love you at all?"
Nana looks into Mako(Sae)'s eyes for the first time this morning, first shocked at how ridiculous this question is.
"Of course I know you don..." She hesitated and all the scenes they spent secretly together these past couple of months started flooding back. Her mind kept reinforcing the 'fact' that Mako loves Miki, and Mako herself acts that way too. But their bodies, their instincts...they all behave otherwise.
"You don't know." Sae answered for her, and his eyes soften in pity. Your mind is playing tricks on you, making rational choices that it thinks can protect you. I keep telling myself that Yuki only uses me. The more I tell myself that, the more I doubt myself. Our moments together were so real...so real... Don't you also wonder if your moments with Mako were real too?
"I don't know..." Nana looks down slowly and repeats in a murmur.
"Naachan," Sae releases his grip on her shoulders, "I don't know either."
He closes his eyes and thinks of Mako's lost eyes. She must make the choice on her own. "We won't be able to find any answers if we continue like this. I know it's very selfish of me to ask of you, but... please refuse me until I have given you the final answer. You will always be my friend, but either I want you because I love you, or I don't love you and won't take advantage of you. There should be no in-between anymore."
They have reached the doorsteps to Nana's house, as she silently contemplates what Sae has just announced. It was very uncharacteristic of Mako, Nana thought, to start untangle herself from a web of love, jealousy, lust and doubt all fused together.
"Thank you, Mako." She opens the door and turns back around to say goodbye. "Surprisingly, I feel relieved after all that you've said. I will think about it too." Sae sees a warm smile on her pale, beautiful face and grins, showing his teeth for the first time today.
"I haven't seen you smile like this for a long time. Ganbette ne!" Nana's eyes also curved into two long lines with her broader smile and finally closed the door.
Sae nods to himself and lets out a relieved laugh at the closed lacquered front door of the house. Mako, you're such a lucky girl.
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Back in Sae's own house, there's a rush of commotion and chaos as the front door was continuously being bashed upon, right after the window was broken through upstairs, in the room where Yuki and Mako was.
Mako looks out and see a few men in black looking up and someone already entering through the front door.
"They are here." Yuki says as she steps out the bed with all her strength, grabbing a handgun from her jacket.
In a sort of panic mode inside her mind, Mako tries to stay calm as she thought of her promise to take care of Yuki for Sae.
"Stay here Kashiwagi Sensei, I'm going to get Haruna-san." She rushes out of the room and went next door to the master bedroom, where Haruna is crouched at a corner, grabbing onto a wooden katana that was some souvenir in Sae's mum's possession.
"Come quickly with me," Mako says and grabs onto Haruna's arm. Before they fled the room, Mako looked out of the window, and finding the attention of a few gangsters focussed on Yuki's room, she threw a desk lamp out of the window and hit one guy's head.
"Son of a..." The guys downstairs fired a few shots at Mako, who left the room already and went back to get Yuki with Haruna.
"Come downstairs, I know a way to get out." Together with Haruna, they propped up a weak Yuki, who can barely stand on her feet.
"Just leave me," Yuki panted as they walk downstairs, the bashing sounds getting louder and louder. "They are coming for Kojima-san, I will be fine if I stayed."
"Don't worry," Mako said, pained by the look in Yuki's eyes. "I'll protect you both." She grabbed the gun from Yuki's hands, since she is too weak to yield it anyway.
"Sae-chan, you don't know how to use it..." Yuki is troubled by Sae's move, but she is too weak to protect them. Why did she allow herself to stand outside in the rain?
Mako is in fact very nervous too, and it was probably an adrenaline rush that caused her to take charge so boldly. Or maybe it's because she can feel the instinctive urge in Sae's body to protect the two of them no matter what. They reached a small door behind the cabinet at the kitchen. It was a doorway designed for a retriever that was kept by the previous owner of the house. Since Sae's family no longer keeps a dog, the exit was long forgotten, and provided a perfect escape right to the backyard, where they only needed to climb across the fence and run away through the back alley.
Haruna has started to climb out when the front door of the house at the other end bursts open.
"Haruna!"
Haruna paused at the sound of her father's voice.
"Don't think you can escape! I am going to get you and we will leave Japan now! You should be thankful that I haven't given up on you after this shit that Oshima dragged me into!"
Mako pushes Haruna to move. "Now is not the time to hesitate. Go!" The steps scrambling around the house gets louder and it will be no time before they reach the kitchen.
Haruna finally past through, pulling Yuki out from behind.
"Haruna-san! Take care of Yuki!" Mako shouted in a sudden move and rushed out of the kitchen, locking the door behind her. The shocked Yuki turned around and saw only the door of the kitchen closed, with Sae's silhouette casting a shadow on the glazed door.
"No, SAE!" Yuki screamed and tried to crawl back. But Haruna knew that Sae couldn't hold them up for long and pulled the struggling Yuki out with all her strength.
"We must get help now, or Sae's sacrifice will be useless!" Haruna urges the hysteric Yuki, who finally stopped resisting and nodded. The couple found a small hole at the bottom of the fence, and together they pulled the wires until it bent open.
"Come on," Yuki gestures Haruna to climb out, all the while nervously looking at the house, which become quiet without any sounds of scuffle...or gunshots.
Inside the house, Mako hide the gun on the back of her trousers, and raised her hands up at the crowd of gangsters staring at her.
"You are Miyazawa-kun, right?" The leader of the gang, who appears to be Haruna's father, spoke up.
"Yes, Nyannyan is inside." She gestures her head behind her, towards the kitchen. "But!" She pushed her hand out as a 'stop' sign. "She wants some time to think about whether she wants to leave with you."
"To think?" Kojima Shingo snickers. "I'm your father!" He raised his voice and shouted, thinking the Haruna is still trapped inside the kitchen.
"Wait!" Mako counters. "There is always a way out of this." She tries to speak slowly and calmly, bidding as much time as she can, in hopes that Haruna and Yuki can escape. "She...she just wants to know if she will be forgiven by you. She loves you and respects you a lot. In...in fact, she's too guilty to face you after all this. That's why she wanted to think about it in my place."
"Is that so?" the gangster actually stopped at his steps, convinced that his daughter has bowed towards his authority. "Forgiveness is not something that someone great like me grant that easily...but Haruna, come out now so you won't regret what I will do to you next!"
Mako is flared inside at how cruel a father can be with his daughter. If he's someone who truly cares about his daughter, it doesn't matter whether he is a 'bad' person or not. He will not say such things to her.
"She...she will panic even more if you are that loud..." Mako ventures since no voice in the kitchen is heard answering back. They must be long gone.
"Shut up scum!" Another gangster shouts at Mako. "Boss is asking Haruna-sama to answer, not you!"
Of course, a long stretch of silence ensues. The originally smug look on Kojima Shingo's face hardens into a grimace.
"To rebel against me is futile. I have already scavenged the assets I can find from the failure that is Oshima Yukio. We are ready to be off with my deserved fortunes any minute, but for your sake, I came here!" He roars and his face turned red in temper. "What do you like about him? I can't believe Oshima gets caught that easily....that useless scum..." He moves forward and the gang is ready to pounce at Mako.
"Stop insulting my friend!" Mako cuts him off and raised the gun, pointing at the leader who was genuinely surprised at his move.
"Hahaha!" He laughs at the nervous boy in front of him. "You are just a regular high school student, right? Do you even know there is a safety switch?" He walks forward casually, clearly unfazed at the barrel pointed at him.
"In that case..." Mako can hear her voice shivers. "I will show you what I can do." She fires a blank shot that passes beside the shocked gangster, hitting the vase on the countertop in the living room.
At this point, the police cars have already rounded up upon the house, as Yuki and Haruna called the headquarters right after they have climbed out of the fence. They are now near one of the police unit, when the gunshot from the distance halts everyone briefly. Yuki suddenly pushes Haruna off towards the police officers.
"I need to go back! Take care of her!" She said as she dashes towards the house, her colleagues following her in panic, one of the them catching the shocked Haruna in her arms.
Another gunshot and a loud clash is heard, hastening Yuki's heartbeat as she moves across the backyard and pushes through a few officers gathering around the back entrance.
Both the front and the back doors of the house are now swung open, with police forces swarming in. Seeing that they are over powered, the gangsters did not resist but surrendered immediately, leaving their betrayed leader in surprise. He tried to shoot, but was quickly overpowered by the trained forces, who grabbed and twisted his wrist, disarming him in no time.
"Sae!" Yuki pushes through and found the boy lying on the broken kitchen door that has been smashed down to the floor. The glass and the white paint on the door are tainted in a pool of blood gushing from Mako's shoulder.
Holding Sae(Mako) into her arms, Yuki tried to stop the bloodflow by her palm.
"Why are you so stubborn?" She cries. "You should've let me stay...Sae...Sae...don't die..."
Mako feels drops and drops of tears hitting on her face and looks up, her eyes getting blurry and head pounding hard, feeling faint.
"Say it...remember to say it, Yuki..." Mako blinks slowly and utters, "I...I really want to see..." However, her eyes closed and body slumped into Yuki's arms as she said the last words.
"Sae! Sae!" Yuki cries hysterically, shaking Sae's unconscious body as the paramedics finally arrive and separates them...
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The real Sae, who is still in Mako's body, has been running back home to reach the trio after he said goodbye to Nana. There are loads of trucks and police cars round his neighbourhood. Running on and trying to pass the police barricade, he was stopped by an officer.
"That's my home, I need to pass through."
"Don't worry, the gangsters are caught. Please wait till we clear out. Do you know the Miyazawas?"
Sae nodded.
"Well, the boy is injured and being sent to the hospital. Nothing life threatening from what I have heard. But you might want to check on him lat..."
At this point, the school girl fainted and almost collapsed on the floor if not for the shocked policeman, who got hold of her in time.
-
It happened AGAIN! Body swap! XD HOW?!
Crap, there's so much drama and intensity in everyone's relationship...
Uh-oh, Mako's in trouble! What's gonna happen now?! :panic:
Update soon!!! :bow:
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FINALLY an UPDATE!!!!
I've been waiting for this...
Thank you author-san...
Whoa!!!! sae was injured ..hmmm nurse yuki will take good care on him
Im expecting some saeyuki lovey dovey moments next chapter..hehe
This will end soon? Im sad, I hope you would still write another saeyuki fic.. :sweatdrop:
Update soon!!!! :bow:
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Whoa!!!! sae was injured ..hmmm nurse yuki will take good care on him
No, that's Mako! They switched bodies, remember? XD
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Whoa!!!! sae was injured ..hmmm nurse yuki will take good care on him
No, that's Mako! They switched bodies, remember? XD
My bad...haha ok i get it...sorry about that and thank you..hehe
Well i'm hoping that they switched back...
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Sounds like Sae also wants Nana lol :hehehe:
@majimenaachan: ...it's almost the end soon
NO WAY!! :imdead:
@Weird Panda: They get some scenes in the beginning lol even though it's fake. Maybe I will work on Saemako in a short OS
Yes! I love you!
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@majimenaachan: Sorry I kept delaying all the time these past few weeks! I will be quicker, and it's almost the end soon :nervous
Hey no need to apologize, take all the time that you need, no rush XD
I feel like the story is more about Mako and Nana and less about the triangle, and I think that is a good thing!
hopefully the end doesn't come too early, give us more chapters! lol
thank you author-san!
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body swap again! yeay
somehow i enjoy when sae & mako body swap hahaha
woah mako in sae's body is cool! face the nyannyan's father gansters by him(her)self
and yea, how come they bodyswapping again?
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Hi everyone~
Here is Chapter 11, it's a bit short, but that's because I have two ending chapters (one for each pair waiting). Please enjoy!
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Chapter 11
"Sae!" Mako shouts as she is woken up from her dream. The fluorescent lighting on the ceiling indicates that she's not at home, or anywhere she is familiar with. The last thing she recalls is passing out in Yuki's arms. Damn! Did I, did I kill Sae? Mako suddenly panics and sits up. Looking at the thin fingers of her own palms, she realises that she is back in her own body.
"Mako-chan!" Her mum stands up from the bedside, happy that Mako has woken up.
"Mama?"
"Don't worry, you have probably just fainted in shock outside Sae-kun's house. They brought you to the hospital too, just two hours ago." Her mum strokes Mako's back and tried to calm her down. "Sae-kun is all right, I think. He is still under operation to take out the bullet, but there should be no life threatening injuries."
Mako took a long sigh, relieved that Sae is alive and well. Just thinking back at what happened back in the house, with a bunch of fierce men surrounding her, sends shivers down her spine. She bites her lip nervously, amazed at the same time at the courage she mustered to go through all this. For sure, she wouldn't have imagined herself wielding a gun, let alone firing a shot, but she did all that. After getting shot back, instead of cowering in fear, she even threw herself forward to stop the gang from opening the door, even though the resistance failed. Where did all this courage come from? Apart from Sae's protective instincts flowing inside the blood of his body, Mako can't think of anything else.
The moment she fell into Yuki's arms though, she thought she was really going to die. The last thought that keeps her fighting to be awake was the vision of seeing Nana again. She lies back down on the bed, nodding slowly to words from her mum's that she isn't really listening. She is still surprised at how vivid Nana's face is in her mind. It wasn't anyone else. It wasn't Miki. It was only Nana.
"I love her." She blurted out.
Her mum smiles and strokes her daughter's hair gently. "I know you do, Mako. I'm sorry I ran away like that after I saw you two yesterday. Nana is a nice girl. I'm just shocked...shocked that I didn't know this secret about you. I...I wasn't prepared for that, let alone seeing you in intimate situations like this. Then the more I thought, the more I realised that my baby daughter has finally grown into a woman. If that's the way you wish to go, as a mother, I won't lie to you and say that things will sail smoothly. But I will always be by your side."
"Mama..." Mako gapes with teary eyes as she actually wasn't prepared to confess. She just blurted out her feelings unconsciously, after the epiphany that she has been loving Nana for a long time.
"It's okay, Mako, I will support you and Nana." She takes her into her arms for a hug.
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It is four hours after the operation, and night has fallen in the hospital. Mako had paid a visit to the sleeping Sae before being discharged, and Haruna has also left, learning that she can finally visit Yukio after her father's arrest. It is now only Sae's mother and Yuki, who are both by Sae's bedside.
"Ano..." Sae's mum tried to speak up first. "I don't know too much, but from what I've learnt earlier today, it seems that, you and my son had some history..." The tone in her voice doesn't seem friendly.
"I'm...I'm sorry!" Yuki stands and bows down in ninety degrees. "I am an undercover at his school, and because of my case, and because of my uselessness, he's injured."
"I don't know whose fault it is, but I just want to know, is this relationship for the purpose of your investigation only, or are you serious about him? This boy must have loved you a lot, for him to put his life into danger, just to make sure you get away."
Yuki looks up directly, with a stern and determined look in her eyes.
"I am serious about it. I love Sae. I have loved him since I first met him. I love him so much that I chose to be with him even though it is wrong. In that sense, I am entirely the one to blame. However, please! Please let me tell him in person! I promise that I will disappear from his sight after that."
"Whether you should disappear or not," Sae's mother sits down with a more relaxed face. "Entirely depends on what he feels. Since you're not just here to do your job, I'll let you stay." After saying that, she walks out of the ward and closes the door behind her.
In the long hours that passed, Yuki stayed by Sae, wiping his face, arms and fingers delicately with a towel as she waited. He urged her twice this morning-- once before the break-in, and once when he's collapsed in her arms-- to 'say it'.
She knew what he meant. Even though she is immensely ashamed of her inability to keep him safe, she can't run away from her feelings anymore. She will give everything to confess to him properly, once and for all. In order for them to have a future together, she will also do what she must...
Sae's eyes stirred under the eyelids and his fingers started curling a bit.
"Sae!" Yuki exclaimed and clasps her hands around his.
His head turned to the source of the voice and the eyelids drew open slowly.
"Yuki.." He says breathily.
"Sae!" She strokes his face gently and a stream of tears flew out of her eye. "I love you! I love you very much!"
Sae smiles, hearing such words coming out from her mouth, albeit quite suddenly to him. He had no knowledge of everything that happened that day between Mako and her. He winces as he tries to move his shoulder, then realises that he was hurt.
"Sae, you need to stay still. Your anaesthetic will wear out soon, and being shot is not a simple injury to overlook. Here, let me get the doctor..." She reaches up for the bell, but Sae stopped her.
"Not yet Yuki. I want to tell you this first. No matter what happened, or what you have done, my feelings for you will not change. I don't know what forgiveness is, but I do know that you are my first and only love."
Yuki smiles and leans down, kissing Sae's forehead. "Thank you, Sae. thank you for all this." She strokes his hair with one hand and held his hand into hers, fingers crossed, until he slowly passes off to sleep again.
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The next morning, when Sae wakes up again, he's greeted by no one, but a letter by his bedside.
"Sae, I'm glad that you are awake and recovering. The doctor said that you will be fine, even though it will take time to recover. I'm sorry that you might not be able to play basketball for a long time. Actually, I'm sorry that I took advantage of your friendship with Yukio. This is a fact that no words or deeds can change. I'm very happy that you gave me a chance to tell you clearly how I feel. I love you, Sae. And I'm also sorry. Therefore, I can't be a burden for you anymore. You don't deserve to be with someone that you can only see in secret. However, our relationship now -- you a high school student, and me, a police officer who arrested your best friend -- it is still a forbidden relationship in society's eyes. So, it is time to say goodbye. But...but one day, if you still wish to, we will meet again. Love you always, Yuki."
Sae is trembling hard with the letter in his hands as he read on in horror that Yuki has left. He quickly called the police station, her cell phone, Maeda Sensei...and anyone he could think of. They all tried to locate her, but no one knew where she went, except that she quit her job and left Tokyo that morning on a high speed train.
He's grabbing the letter at the roof of the hospital wing, looking at the buildings spread among the vast metropolis. The world is so big...where could she go? What could she do? The possibilities are endless. A sudden hopelessness fills his eyes.
"Yukiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" He screams at the top of his lungs. He contemplates the deadlock situation of their relationship, and understands that she had to do what she did. To stay together is easy, but in order to have a healthy relationship, they will have to wait. They will have to take risks, and endure days where they can't see each other.
Goodbye to you. He said in his mind. One day, we will surely meet again. He echoes the last words in the letter.
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In the same morning, at the Kojima residence, Mako also received a surprised visit from Miki.
"Makotin!" Miki bashes into the room where Mako is taking a day off from school after her fainting.
"Did you hear?" Miki continues as she sat down beside her bed. "Naachan has suddenly transferred from school!"
"What?" Mako springs up from her bed and looks at Miki in confused eyes. "Transferred? What do you mean by that?!"
Miki shook her head. "I thought you'd know more. I heard the news today from our Sensei as Nana didn't come to school today. That due to some reasons, she has quitted school and moved to a neighbourhood town. Later on in break time, I saw this...this mail from Naachan. I tried to reply but the phone line has been cut already."
Mako grabs Miki's phone and read off the text message.
"Dear Miki-chan, Sorry for the suddenness, but I have something that I need to face on my own, something that I cannot do here. It is selfish of me to run away from you, but trust me, our friendship is very important to us. Whatever you think of me, please know that you will always be my best friend, my sister and when you need me I will be there, not just for the lecturing, but for everything else too. Love, Nana."
Mako jumps off the bed and checks her own phone but there is no message. She doesn't understand why it happens so abruptly. However, remorse quickly takes over her mind, as she recalls how far she's pushed and pushed Nana, until she finally falls off the edge of the cliff. She had always been using her, exuding this vibe that she never loved her. She wraps her arms around her head and began to cry.
"Makotin..." Miki sat her down and comforts her. "I am sure if she moved somewhere nearby, it won't take that long for us to find her. If there's something she says she must face alone, we should trust her..."
Mako shakes her head and replies without looking up. "It's my fault, Miki-chan."
"What are you saying?" The confused Miki looks at Mako.
"I...I'm not actually going out with Sae." Mako looks up the ceiling and decided to bare the truth to Miki. All of it.
"Well, I knew that long ago already." Miki said in return. "I knew that you were never in love with Sae-kun. I didn't understand why you had to act that way, until...until I saw Kashiwagi Sensei's news. But then, I think there's more into it...."
Mako looks back at Miki with wide eyes. She thought that the innocent Miki had been shielded from everything that had happened, but it seems that she knows much more than they thought.
"Miki, I'm sorry..." Mako said.
"It's okay, I understand that. You were in love with someone else, right?" Thinking that Miki was referring to herself, Mako looks down again shyly.
"I have something to confess too. I speculated that Nana and you are together, and pretended to know nothing of it, even though I'm your friend and should support you. But that's not the worse...the worse is," Miki closed her eyes but decided to say it out anyway, "I began to fall in love with Naachan too."
"Maybe that's why she felt confused and pressured to run away." Miki starts crying and said, "I'm not a child anymore, but I chose to act like one did a lot of silly things. Yet accidentally, I ruined your relationship, I'm so sorry!"
Mako is truly surprised at this revelation. The part that she loves Naachan is nothing new, but everything else she observed is nuance, even though it was somewhat distorted from reality. For the sake of their friendship, she decided to let her know the truth.
"Miki, it's not really like that." She proceeded to tell her everything, from how she fell in love with her, to how Nana and her ended up in a vicious cycle of passion and uncertainty, to how she finally realised she's loved Nana all along.
Miki was silent for a moment, taking all this information in. She finally smiles and pats Mako on the back.
"Makotin, you're right. You didn't realise it, but for a long time, you've had eyes only for Nana. I'm sure of that, coming from someone who's also fallen for her. Promise me: you must get her back?"
"Yes I will. Even though it's 'Goodbye' for today, I will not lose her anymore."
-
Hello Everyone~~
Here is an update on the Namako ending. Thanks for sticking around reading and sorry if anyone's rooting to NanaMiki (I personally love both Namako and NanaMiki pairings).
There are still unexplained stuff related to body swap and Kojiyuu. It will be wrapped up in Saeyuki's ending, which is the next and the last chapter of this fic.
=================================================================
Chapter 12 - Lover's Bell
Mako's school year has ended as the final bell rung, and the class is dismissed for holidays. The cool March weather blew breezes carrying the falling Sakura petals, causing this girl to embark on a game of catching these flying little pieces of beauty.
"AHO!" The grinning Sae caught up with Mako and smacked her head. The one thing that didn't change throughout the year was that most people thought they were still a couple, and the jealous glances from the sidewalks are still quite prevalent.
"Stop hitting her, she'll just get stupider!" Miki goes between and separates them, clinging onto Mako's arms and pats her head gently. "I still need some of her remaining intelligence for the last tennis match of the year!"
"Miki!" Mako looks onto the considerably more KSGK girl incredulously. "I'm not stupid!"
The two of them begged to differ and laughed loudly amongst themselves.
"I'm off to train now." Sae says and waves goodbye.
"Don't be too hard on yourself!" Mako calls from behind. Sae had been doing rehab for his shoulder diligently, recovering pretty well. However, instead of rejoining the basketball team, he made a surprise move and started taking shooting lessons. He also joined the swim team, to the joy of his fangirls. No one quite understood the departure of his interests, some thought it was post-traumatic disorder after the unfortunate shooting. However, Mako knew that Sae has an aim...
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*two months ago, when Sae's discharged from hospital
"Sae-kun," Mako took his bag and walked with him to the bus stop. "I heard from Maeda-sensei that Kashiwagi-san is spotted in Hiroshima."
Sae looks down and the ground and said nothing.
"Do you want to go find her now?" Mako suggested. "We can still catch a train to..."
"No it's fine." Sae smiled and shook his head. "I'm happy as long as she's doing what she likes."
"Sae-chan, are you just going to let go like this?" Mako grabbed his hand and asked urgently. At this point, she's still trying to locate Nana, so she couldn't believe that he's throwing away his chances like this.
"I have silently made a promise that when we see each other again, we can be together without hiding anymore." Sae answered with a calm look on his face.
"But what does that mean, how long does it take?" Mako continued to probe. She just couldn't imagine a day when a student that was part of Kashiwagi's case can become the police officer's legitimate lover.
"The day will come when I can be beside her and properly protect her." He answered.
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* back to present
As for Mako, she will not wait that long for her dream to come true. Today will be the day. She's at the train station, with Miki beside her, handing her a bento box.
"Itterasshai!" The twin tail girl exclaims excitedly as Mako boards the train.
"Hai, thank you very much Miki-chan."
"I won't accept it if you come back alone, okay?"
"Mou...Miki...it's been three months, I'm suddenly really nervous." Mako grabs her chest, while Miki simply waves and broadens her smile. "If it's Makotin, you will surely be fine!"
"Hai," The doors starts closing. "Ittekimasu!"
The JR train to Kanagawa is now humming at a constant beat, taking Mako to a place she's never been, even though it's so close to Tokyo. This is the place where Nana is born, the place that she chose to take refuge to 'think over things.' She learnt about the reason of her departure from Sae, who told her about their conversation, when he urged them both to stop seeing each other until they are absolutely sure what they are doing. In retrospect, this advice is really true, as she found herself hesitating to go find her the minute she learns from Naachan's family that she will be spending the rest of the school year back in Kamakura. The official reason was for her health and asthma, and it seems that her family knew there's something more to it but decided to let go without asking further.
"Mako-chan," Nana's father smiles when she visited their house. "I'm sure Nana will be glad if you visit her. She has never been that close with anyone...or that happy before she met you."
Happy? All she had focussed on so far was how miserable she had caused Nana since she unabashedly used her love. She felt a warm stream gush into her lungs after hearing this. However, she wanted some time for Nana to be equally sure that she's prepared to forgive her...now that Mako is sure of her own love towards her.
"I think Naachan will recover well in Kamakura. I will definitely go visit her when the time comes." She bows down respectfully to Nana's dad.
The time has indeed come. She stepped off the train and headed for her destination.
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"Ten-tennis?" Mako exclaimed in surprise after talking to the sensei at the local school. She was allowed inside after telling them of her identity and wish to visit Nana. School was just over, but apparently, Nana is having tennis practice.
"Yes, she's been having fun and trying quite hard, even though she doesn't look athletic." The teacher says. "Do Kojima-san play tennis too?"
"Yes," Mako nodded as she follows him to the courts, and there she saw the serious girl's stone cold face, all concentrated on hitting the ball.
"Wow...she's pretty serious..." Mako murmurs.
"Hasn't she always been like that?" The teacher smiles in agreement. "Normally, a kid will drop out after failing to hit back for one whole week, but she never gave up. Now she's doing fine... O look!"
Nana hit a nice, strong strike that sends the ball diagonally across, hitting close to the border before it's bounced off the court.
A smile appears on Nana's face and her large brown eyes squinted into two lines, a large contrast to her dead serious look. Mako skips a heart beat just by seeing her smile like that. The girl who hates sunshine is actually enjoying tennis now? But then, she realises how she's in long UV protective sleeves and wearing a big visor, dressed exactly like a modern vampire forced to walk under the sun. She chuckles at the sight.
The teacher was about to call out to Nana, but at the same moment, a ball from the next court flew right at her, hitting squarely on her forehead.
"Itai!!!" She presses the spot and crouches down.
Mako can't contain her amusement and snickers at the clumsy girl rubbing her head and smiling embarrassingly in the court.
"Sensei, please take her to the infirmary, I will take care of her."
"Ah..you want to surprise her, right?" The teacher looks back and smiles, pointing to a small building around the corner. "It's in the ground floor, I will send her there now."
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"Shitsureishimasu!" Nana's brisk and clear announcement can be heard before the door is slid open.
"Hai...Nana-chan, right?" The doctor on duty greeted nicely. "How can I help you?"
"I...err, I got hit on the forehead because I wasn't looking..." Nana said in a soft voice. "But I'm fine."
Looking at the reddened spot on the top left of her forehead, the doctor says gently, "Nana-chan is just bruised from the force of the tennis ball, but it's better to get some rest. Here, go to the bed behind that curtain, and lie there for a while. The student on duty will help you out."
Nana looks to her right and saw a number of curtains, some pulled over and some not, separately the room into four different compartments. She went to the last one as gestured.
"Sumimasen..." She went in and saw a girl in uniform with hair tied up, back facing her.
"Shall...shall I lie down?" She proceeded sitting down on the bed after the 'nurse' seems busy preparing the ice bag without answering her.
Laying down, she looks straight up on the ceiling, wondering how rude this student is. At least she can utter a 'yes', instead of ignoring me like this! I would've disciplined her if I knew her... she blinks at the clean, white ceiling, and suddenly a bag of coolness was placed on her head. She wanted to turn and look, but a cool towel was also placed on her eyes at the same time. It feels good....
The 'nurse' continued to rub the bag gently round her forehead, easing the irritation from the bruise, and Nana began to relax completely, thinking of how wrong she was to think badly of this gentle student.
"Thank you..." She says. "It is really comfortable, you are very good at this."
Nana felt a slight brush on her cheeks, which heats her skin up for some reason. There was still no answer coming from the other student's mouth, and she began to wonder if the student has special needs and can't really talk to her.
"My name is Okada Nana. I'm a new transfer here...but I don't know if I will stay when the next school year comes..."
The rubbing on her forehead slowed down but she felt her bangs gently caressed, signally her to continue.
"I came here so I can find some time alone to calm down. There was seriously a lot of trouble that's been caused back in my old school in Tokyo....but, but I think I have discovered a new self here. I am getting more sure and confident about what I want. However, it's only been around three months...is that too quick?....Em...how should I say it? I left not just for myself, but for someone else important back there too...is there enough time for her?"
Nana is surprised that she started pouring out her feelings like that to a stranger. Maybe it's because of the towel and ice pack, which sets her in a relaxed space that she can open up. Maybe it is the awkward silence? Or is it due to the gentle caresses of the girl, whose back reminds her of someone?
"Heheh...you probably don't understand a thing that I'm saying...please don't mind me, I'm not normally like tha..."
She feels something blocking her lips, something soft and moist. Springing up in alarm at the sudden assault, she pulls off the towel on her face and glares at the student.
"There's more than enough time," Mako gives a bright smile. "Okada Nana, I have also gotten more and more certain of one thing since you left: I love you and I want you back. I'm sorry for being stupid and stubborn in the past, will you forgive me?" She clasps the ice pack in front of her chest in a pleading pose, smiling the cutest smile that no one can resist.
"Ba~ka!" Nana exclaimed but her lips are curled up in a smile. "How can you just barge in and steal a kiss like a shameless thief..."
"In that case," Mako replies cheekily, "I will leave and have a drink in the cafe...1000 yen choudai?"
"You...of course I won't give you money!" Nana pouted.
"Yabai!" Mako stands up in feign shocked...then smiling as bright as the sun, she asks, "10,000 yen choudai?"
"Makotin, iikagen ni..." She tries to fake punch her, but the tennis star easily swoops her into her embrace.
"Nana, I won't let you go this time. You are definitely coming back with me." Her tone gets serious and as she nuzzles her head on Nana's neck, Nana feels that her whole body softens and gave up any pretence of resistance.
"Em...Naachan smells as good as always..." She looks back at her face and tries to kiss her again.
"Stop it..." Nana pushed her away, much to Mako's shock. She thought she got her already, but what's wrong?
"As your punishment, you will have to give a more solid promise this time." Nana smiles wickedly and grabbed Mako's hand, leading her out of the infirmary. The doctor stole a quick glance at them, since she heard parts of their conversation and is now fully aware of their relationship.
"Girls these days..." She sighs and smiles as the door closes. The phone buzzes beside her, showing 'Manami' in the caller ID. "Hai..my Oku-tama..." The tone of Dr Shinoda's voice raises into a sweet register as she greets the caller.
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Taking a short train ride from Kamakura, they reached the coastal small island of Enoshima, where visitors on this early spring weekday are scant. Walking along the coastline, Nana didn't let go of Mako, and both of them take in the scenery of the beaches and coastal rocks quietly. She led Mako past the lighthouse and some shrines, until they reached the top of a small hill, where the Ryuren no Kane-- Lover's Bell-- is.
"So this is where you are trying to take me!" Mako exclaims. She's heard of the legend of the five headed dragon and his undying love for a goddess, who successfully made him mend his bad ways. After all, this is a very famous spot for couples, which is situated not that far from Tokyo.
It's almost sunset and the orange light shines upon Nana's glassy, light orbs.
"Nana, my goddess," Mako clears her throat and raises her voice, "I'm the dragon, who will cut my four other heads, repent from all the bad things I have done to you, and profess my undying love for you forever."
Though there were only a few other couples around, everyone is trying to cover up their ssexy beasts upon hearing a girl like Mako comparing herself to a fierce dragon.
"Stop acting like a fool!" Nana tries to suppress her laughter and hit Mako's chest lightly.
"Oi! It's not nonexistent like yours!"
"Kojima Mako!" Nana shouted after the cheeky girl, who had already escaped.
"Wait for me here!" She replied back with her broad smile, quickly dismantling Nana's 'wrath'.
In a moment, she's back with a lock she bought. A fence further out from the bell is adorned full of locks that were placed there by couples who wished for everlasting love and blessing from the dragon and goddess couple.
"Let's ring the bell and seal my promise to you."
"All right, go ahead, dragon..." Nana gave Mako a nudge and together they rung the bell, clasped their hands together and made a wish. Moving round to the fence, Mako wrote and encircles their names with a heart shape on the lock she bought.
"It's now, Nana. I declare that I truly do only love you, and-- this lock...no...the dragon and the goddess-- may they be my witness." She clicks the lock together and gives her the key.
"Mako..." Nana is overjoyed hearing these words coming from Mako's mouth. A little less than a year ago, she's still a lonely, serious girl having an insane crush on her friend. A little less than three months ago, she's still trapped in a one-sided love that's spiralling out of control. Yet now, her dream has become a reality she can grasp.
Taking the lead finally, Nana leans forward and kiss Mako on the lips, gently and slowly. There's never been anything sweeter that she's taste in her life, Mako thought. It's completely like their first kiss.
"It feels like I'm doing it for the first time..." Mako said her feelings out and takes Nana into her arms, embracing her completely.
"It's also the best kiss I've ever had." Nana replied in return, closing her eyes as her head rests comfortably on Mako's shoulders.
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The couple went back to Nana's grandma's home, the place she's been staying since her transfer back to her downtown.
Mako was received warmly by her grandma, who cooked and fed them before retiring early to bed downstairs in her own room. They proceeded to take a bath together, before retreating upstairs to Nana's own room.
"Here," Nana took an extra mattress and futon out from the closet. "They are pretty comfortable, you can lay it next to my bed."
Mako pouts and widens her eyes in disbelief. "Nana, are you telling me we are just going to spend the night like this?"
"Well, what else do you want?" Nana feigns ignorance and lies on her own bed, not caring to look at her frustrated little lover, who's completely under her control now.
"I...well at least, we can snuggle together. I came all the way from Tokyo to see you, and...and it's been three months and twelve days since we she saw each other!" Mako tries to nudge Nana aside and so she can climb into the bed, but Nana only spreads her limbs out, preventing Mako from getting in.
"It's a single bed, and you're not that small, you know." Nana finally eyes the taller girl from head to toe with a smile that somewhat flares the fire in Mako's chest even more.
"Nana, don't look at me like that!" This time it's Mako who turns her reddened cheeks away. What goes around, comes around, Nana thought satisfactorily.
Mako unwillingly settled herself inside the makeshift mattress and blankets, but it only took her five seconds to realise she'll never be able to fall asleep like this. She shifts and turns around, eyeing Nana up on the bed, who's been laying on her back silently without any movements.
"Nana...have you fallen asleep already?" Mako probes in an almost desperate voice.
Nana bit her lips to suppress her laughter. She's going to play with her for a little longer.
"Please Nana, I really want to, you know..."
"Urusai~~" Nana pretends to be stirred awake by the nagging. "What are you mumbling, what do you want?" She asks impatiently.
"I want to...you know, be by your side and..."
"You are already by my side." Nana answered innocently.
"It's so embarrassingly to say it..." Mako mumbles and slumps on the ground, pouting like a little kid again.
"Goodnight then." Nana shifts and turns her back towards her.
"No, no!" Mako panics and stands up again. "I know we have shared some intimate moments together in the past, but it's not going to be same this time. Just like our kiss back in the lover's bell, I guarantee it will be a new experience for us."
Nana turns her head and narrows her eyes. "I don't quite understand what you are talking about. Can you be more specific?"
Mako's cheeks puffed into a big red tomato, but she resisted, thinking that she had never asked properly in the past, and she'll not make the same mistake again.
"I just want to...snuggle and lay by your side. I...could I hold you in your sleep?" Mako sits down by the bedside and this time, Nana didn't stir or block her. She continues to look intensely into the nervous girl's eyes.
"These past few months, when I didn't get to see you...it really feels like there is a void in my heart, like a big chunk of my life missing. I can't forget the touch of your lips, the smoothness of your skin, the warmth and tightness of your... your embrace. I know it sounds shameless, but I dream about..."
Nana's fingertip landed on Mako's lips to stop her from continuing. "No need to dream anymore." She pulls her down so she's on top of her, their eyes keeping in contact with each other as Mako moves closer and closer towards her.
"I will be take over this time." Nana flips over in a quick move, and locked Mako down underneath her. Mako gasps at the whole new Nana, who's completely owned her at this stage. The confident prefect is back; she's now holding her tightly in her arms. Mako feels that she can finally sleep at peace in her lover's embrace tonight....
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No!!!!!!
This fic is too good to end...... :gyaaah:
Saeyuki and kojiyuu will be next.....:cool1:
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thank you very much author-san!
a really nice ending for nanaxmako
hope that the last chapter has a little story about them hehe
looking forward to the end!
sent from なぁちゃんのハート
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it's already namako ending chapter.
i love both namako & nanamiki, as long as naachan happy hehehe
the next chapt will be saeyuki and the end chapter?
times gone fast huhu
and also, slight scene of dr. shinoda, well i miss machan
thanks for your update! :) XD
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@arawche079: thanks for reading the whole thing!
@majimenaachan: yes namako will make an appearance in the last chapter. Don't worry, I will be starting a new fic with naachan in it. She's my oshi now, just second to Sae-chan :)
@sastio13: WOW I just noticed you're a Marikosama oshi...hehe, glad you spotted their cameos.
Hello everyone~ thanks for sticking around. It's the last chapter and I hope you enjoy Saeyuki's ending! I am glad I was able to write so much about new pairings/triangles and also the friendship between Saemako. In hindsight, I think Miki's character should be better written, the triangle was too lopsided towards Namako.
Anyway, I'm planning my next fic. Please let me know what Sae-pairing you want to see! I want to do something non-Saeyuki/Saeyaka this time. In the past I have tried Saeyui and Saemayu...I am willing to write SaeXanyone!
Thanks!!
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Chapter 13 - The Long Swim
"Miyazawa Sae, reporting to duty from the Tokyo Metropolitan Special Investigations Unit."
A young man with tall frame and olive-tanned skin came into the crime investigation office at the Hiroshima Police headquarters. His good looks and confident smile exude a power that attracts both men and women's eyes in the room. Murmurs and even small gasps can be heard from some..."Sasuga....elite!"
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Five years have past since the day Sae and Yuki parted at the hospital. They haven't written or talked to each other a single time since then. Sometimes, people around Sae would wonder if that's it -- that the unlikely, illicit relationship is really over for good. Sae went on to university and for a while, even Mako thought that it's best not to mention Yuki's name again. However, one day in his senior year, he announced that he would be joining the police force.
"Sae, you...you still haven't gotten over with..." Mako stuttered in surprise. They're sitting in a cafe downtown, as they both went to separate universities and lived on campus.
"Yep..." Sae smiled and nodded like it's nothing.
"Have, have you found her?" Mako asks. The last time anything about Kashiwagi Yuki was mentioned, it's just a rumour of her sighting in Hiroshima. She doesn't even know if Yuki is still in the police or not.
"I heard...well, I heard things." Sae smiled calmly and put his cup back on the saucer. "Don't worry Mako-tin. I am well prepared this time."
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"Welcome, Miyazawa-kun!" A stocky old man in full suit greeted him and led him into the office.
"Chief inspector." Miyazawa saluted to his superior as the older man sat down.
"Well, relax my friend! We have a pretty familial atmosphere here, unlike those stuck up bastards up there at the capital. We don't waste time on formalities and politics here." He winks and gestures Sae to sit down. "We just get things done here!"
"It's a pleasure for me to be able to join the special investigations unit here. I understand that it is quite a hub for the international crime scene here. For instance...the famous 'white swan' case..."
"Ah...you heard of the 'white swan' haven't you, Miyazawa-kun? So eager to put yourself in the front lines already? Well, well, I have guessed that you are the ambitious type. So here's my welcome gift for you. Join the operation tonight!"
Sae is visibly shocked at such a callous decision.
"But Inspector, I haven't been briefed..."
"Nah nah...you be fine. We'll get things rolling right now." He stands up and pats him on the back like a father. "The best way to learn and get ahead is for someone to push you. There will be a transaction tonight at Port A according to our intel. You, you will help lead one of the teams and we will destroy them tonight. We are not going to capture anyone behind this; but it is crucial to stop the weapons from getting into the market. They are grade A war weapons. Securing the goods is our priority tonight."
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Wow, that was fast. Sae took a deep breath and thinks through the few hours of preparation and briefings that had led him to the stand-by spot behind a few large containers at the port. It's almost midnight. The quietness is reaching the eerie type that one experiences right before a storm. His teammates are shifting nervously and he can tell that it is not a simple operation. Blood will be shed tonight.
A beam of light shot through from miles away in the water, as a junk boat approaches and the throttling of the engines died down. Around ten men stepped out of the boat, followed by more people--perhaps another ten-- carrying large cargo boxes laboriously right into the heart of the warehouse. Miyazawa continues to wait outside. He and his team are just a fraction of the task force who had surrounded the whole warehouse already. They form the inner ring that will charge in once the evidence of the transaction is captured in footage. An outer ring of officers will ensure that the trap is airtight and that no one escapes even if they got out of the warehouse.
Then he saw her. The woman in a white suit and long ponytail, wearing a pair of stylish shades in the middle of the night. The woman whose reputation among the gangs have soared these past few years in meteoric speed, landing her the righthand man position in a prominent yakuza family. The woman nicknamed "white swan".
She and her gang of black suited entourage entered the warehouse too, and the trade is probably about to begin.
After around five more minutes of silence, he heard a voice sound from his radio headphone:
"Charge charge!"
He and his team sprung into action. Their order is to capture everyone in this rarely large-scale firearms smuggling deal.
Entering the warehouse, he hears a series of shots and the sound of crates and boxes falling over, echoing all the way from the far end of the storage. The sounds are spreading towards this direction, but his view are obfuscated by the mountains of boxes scattered around them, all in disarray.
"Damn!" He narrowly jumped away from a pile of boxes that were shot over by the force of a machine gun. Adjusting his position, he can see that a group of three or four black suited men fighting off another gang, presumably, undercover cops that have revealed their identities.
"Go, Yonekura!" Two of his teammates advanced forward to assist the cops. Sae fired a shot and hit one of the guys while he was distracted by the team, but his gun got kicked off at the same time. Looking up, he saw another man pointing his gun at him, but he was quick to spring upwards with a side kick, hitting him on his wrist and deflecting his shot. A square punch on his face disoriented the yakuza while Sae tried to twist his wrist to disarm him, but the guy fends him off with a counter punch on his stomach, quickly adjusting himself backwards to a position that Sae can't reach easily.
The man smirks at the unarmed officer, but he barely has time to pull the trigger before a voice shouts from behind.
"I will take care of this one, hurry, they got those missiles!" The man looked briefly and rushed off towards the entrance, seeing that Sae is in pointblank range of the owner of the voice who made the command.
"White Swan..." Sae utters. The barrel of the gun points squarely between his eyes, but he could still trace it to the contours of the owner who fixes her gaze on him. She is looking at him...deep into his eyes, so deep that it seems to have pierced through him. Souuuda! Sae takes a breath as he finally sees through what's going on.
"Yes, that's me..." She replies slowly as she notices the change of his expression. "Now duck!" He crouches at the same time the shot is fired. A man yells in agony, and Sae turned around, realising that it was Odagiri, the ultimate buyer of those weapons. It wasn't in the intel that he would appear tonight. Usually in exchanges like these, the gang leader will not appear himself as it is too risky.
"White Swan! What are you doing?" The fallen man clutches his bleeding thigh as he looks damningly at the woman who approaches him and kneels down calmly.
"You are arrested." White Swan clicks the handcuffs around the guy's hands, pulling his collar up and asks, "Where is your suitcase?"
"Huh...so you are from the police...is that why you insisted on meeting face to face for the trade? Too bad you caught me a tad bit late." He laughs loudly and Sae came over to give him a punch in the face. "Where is it?" He demands.
"You two are too late. The data is down in the ocean by now..." The man smirks as he licks the blood seeping out of the corner of his lips.
"Yuki!" Sae shot his look back at the white-suited cop, as she yanks the handcuffed gang leader off and holds her hand up to stop Sae's advances.
"Don't come with me, stay here." She commands and turns towards the side exit, running to the dock.
"Fat chance!" Sae hisses and follows her out. The others are still fighting in the other side and the dock was dark and deserted. Yuki looks around, trying to find any trace of the suitcase.
"Look!" Sae pointed to a little boat about a hundred feet away. A man has tied something on the suitcase and raised them above his head.
"Don't toss!" The man looks sideways and found the two cops, then did exactly what they told him not to. Yuki and Sae both fired two shots but they missed the man and the object plunge right into it.
"Bugger that!" Sae reached for his phone and dialled for assistance from the search and recovery team, but the next thing he knew, Yuki herself has dived into the ocean.
"You won't be able to get it, it's too dark and it's sinking fast!" Sae called out but Yuki is already swimming towards the boat. Without much choice Sae dove and followed. Meanwhile the man on the boat rows away as quickly as he can. He sees them approaching the spot fast and dishes out his pistol.
"Go die, you stupid cops!" He fired a few shots and ran out of bullets, but Yuki has stopped on her path, clutching her arm.
"Yuki!" Sae caught up and held onto her. He saw blood seeping up from a wound that has opened up on her arm. However, she tries to struggle off him and dive down from the spot.
"No, Yuki, I've called back up. Now come back up with me!"
"The suitcase contains evidence of the 908B transactions. We can prosecute Hamada Holdings with this information. If we wait for back up, the data will be damaged beyond repair. Without that, all I've been doing these past three years will go to waste." She said and elbows him right on the stomach to free herself.
"No!"
She dove down in the water and Sae took a deep breath, kicking his legs upwards to follow her.
The water must be deep here, Sae thought as he goes further down, already losing sight of Yuki in the darkness. He kept popping his ears to get the pressure building up equalised, and it becomes evident that they will probably not reach the bottom. However, he finally grabbed hold of Yuki's legs and pulled her up, wrapping her around with his arms. He felt something hard between their bodies and realised she has succeeded in retrieving the suitcase, but it is sinking them further downwards....and Yuki's body is feeling soft and motionless in his arms.
She has passed out, and probably drowning trying to retrieve this. He tries to feel the suitcase with his spare hand and found something lead like tied around in a heavy knot. It will be impossible to untie it in this situation, yet with the weight like this bearing them down. He felt his head going dizzy as he kicks his feet frantically upwards. Or is he kicking downwards now?
I...must...get out of here with you, Yuki. Sae thought. However, his body feels numb and paralysed, and he knew that he has run out of breath as the kicking becomes more laborious. The surrounding water seems to get icier, freezing his nerves as he resists the urge to close his eyes.
Yuki...
Somehow the icy feeling began to turn subtly to something else as his eyelids completely shuts down. The water and the weight around him seem to dissipate like magic and suddenly he felt heated up by an aura that removes all the restraints on him. The warmth felt surreal... where am I?
=======================================================
Sae blinks and finds himself in an apartment living room, standing in the middle. Yuki and the suitcase...and the water...they're all gone.
He adjusts his vision and found himself staring at Mako, who's reading a book in the bed, with Nana sleeping in her arm. He realises that he's in their home.
"Mako!" He calls out, but his voice sounds hollow and the girl didn't seem to notice him.
"Why, why am I here? Am I dead?" He cries out. Just then, he notices an old man, who casually walks up to the bed and strokes Mako's hair calmly, but like Sae, he didn't stir the girls beside him one bit.
"We're in a different dimension." He finally turns around and smile at Sae.
"You're....you're the man who gave us funny drinks!!" Sae exclaims as he recalls the episode at the park that resulted in their body-swapping.
The man looks at him with a bright smile. "It seems that you need some help here..."
"Am...am I dead?" Sae asks, walking towards him and wondering why he ended up in Mako's room. He hasn't seen his friend for more than a year as she is now in Kyoto, studying at a university. In fact, he has never been to her apartment. It couldn't be a dream, right? Everything around him felt so real, except himself.
"Well, there are times when you need help, and a good place to seek them will be from your best friend."
"You mean...Makotin?" He furrows his eyebrows in confusion.
"Your power is running out. You are drowning with your lover. I offer you a chance now to swap bodies with Mako-chan."
"What...wait?! Why are you doing this..." Sae clutches his head. "Who are you? Why did you do those things to us in the first place? And now...are you asking me to trade her life for mine?"
"No no..." The man stands up and chuckles at Sae's thoughts. "Look carefully at me. Don't you recognise me?"
Sae releases his clutch and tries to calm down, looking straight at the man's eyes. Deep in his orbs he sees a vision of himself as a boy, carrying little Mako on his back as she focusses her attention on some treasure that she cradles carefully in her tiny hands.
~~~"Is it okay?" The little boy asks.
~~~"Its wings are hurt..." The girl sobs as she pats the bird in her palm.
~~~"We will heal it, don't worry, Makotin!"
"You are...Nocchi-chan?" Sae blinks out of the vision and looks at the man again in disbelief. All his memories about saving a bird with Mako when they're four and five came back to his mind vividly. At that time, Mako's dad was still alive and he helped them out, cleaning the bird's wound, teaching the kids how to take care of it. They never kept it in a cage, and one day, the wound seemed to have healed and the bird flew away.
"I had to leave to find my wife, but I was forever grateful towards you kids. However, when I found her, she had already died in the trap that we tried to escape....which was why I was injured in the first place. I think...I think that's why I couldn't reincarnate after I died. I roam in the area until I met another soul who couldn't put his past down-- Kojima Ryuchi."
"Ojichan?" Sae gasps at the name of Mako's dad.
"Because he died in an accident, he couldn't just leave the world in peace. We got to know each other as we watch on you guys. Seeing how well you took care of each other, he finally put his mind at ease and was ready to go. I promised him to look after you two as he departed this world."
"Nocchi..." Sae sobs at the the story and how he misses his Ojisan, who was father to them both. He remembers the bird that they took care of together, and the reason why Mako named it Nocchi...it was short for Inochi--Life. That was their most precious childhood memory.
"Saechan, I love you both a lot too for saving my life. But as an animal spirit, there's little that I can do because I can't create energy, I can only alter things that I have connections to, which are Mako and you. I made your bodies swap when I saw that you were too dishonest with your feelings, hoping that you could somehow made each other grow stronger. I am glad it works."
"So that's why it happened to us...usually at the wrong times...haha." Sae let out a laugh and looks again at the Mako in her bed, who is looking more and more troubled, putting her book down and looking out to the window.
"Ever since your first body swapping, you both share an inseparable bond. She can sense that you are in pain. Sae-chan, I have to be honest with you, you need help. I can't save you because I can't create energy, but I can't guarantee that Mako will be safe if you swapped bodies now..."
"There's no way I will put Mako into danger..." Sae bites his lips and looks away.
"Why don't we trust her? She's stronger than you think...She saved Yuki's life once." The old mans now looks back at Mako and smile lovingly.
She's now put down the book, with her hand grasping her chest, panting. Nana stirred awake at Mako's tremors and sat up immediately.
"Mako, what's wrong?" She strokes her back and holds her hand.
"I sense something terrible about to happen...but I don't know what's going on..." She looks at Nana in teary eyes. "It's...it's Sae!" She jumps out of bed and paces back and forth.
"Last time, when he got shot in a robbery case, I felt the same way too....except, this feeling is much stronger now."
Sae shakes his hand, unable to withhold his tears anymore.
"O...how I wish he'll be safe! What can I do now?"
"Calm down Mako, maybe it's just a panic attack. Let's call him." She dishes out the phone and dials a number.
"He's..." Mako slumps onto the floor. "He's dying. How I wish I can save him!"
Nocchi looks back at Sae and said, "You know she's willing to give her life for you. But it's your choice."
Sae knows that he has no time to lose, and it's not just him, but Yuki's and Mako's lives in his hands right now. He walks towards Mako and crouches beside the panicking girl. He has decided.
"Nocchi-san, I need to refuse this time. I must be strong enough to protect Yuki. It's enough that I can see Makotin like this, to get strength from her."
"Mako," He said softly, "All you need to do, is to wish me good luck." He placed his hand on hers, and the girl seemed to have noticed something too, but she jolted and looked up, and seeing nothing.
Her lips tremble hesitantly, but with a pause, she said, "Stay strong, Sae."
The man smiles back at the girl who can't see him. At the same time, he sees a light bursting between their hands and spreading out, blinding his eyes again.
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The next thing he knew, he's back in the water again, and his vision became clear despite being in dark waters. He saw himself in a near distance and realised that his soul is still outside his body. The Sae in front of him have his eyes closed, slowly loosing grip of the passed out Yuki. She's slipping from his arms.
"Yuki!" He shouted and heard his voice muffled in the water. Just as he thinks everything is about to end, he blinks and his eyes suddenly shot open and gripped tightly onto Yuki. He choked a bit and wriggles, disoriented by the surroundings as he is back to his body again. But driven by instincts, he began to crawl upwards with all his might.
Come on, Sae, he said to himself. All these years of training, all these years of waiting..and...everything Yuki did for both of them, the dangers she had to go through going undercover in the complicated underworld...they all have to mean something. Sae feels a scorching pain in his lungs, like his chest is about to collapse any second. However, he saw a faint tint of light wavering on what looks to be the water's surface. Yatta!! He uses all the strength he has to drive them out of the water. He had to go up to stay alive. Yuki...you must hang on.
With a final splash, their heads pop out of the water and a torch quickly shown on the source of this sound.
"Hurry, it's Kashiwagi and Miyazawa!!"
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*one month later
"Kashiwagi has what?!" Sae slammed his desk phone down and left the office upon this surprised news.
Rushing to the hospital, he sees her sitting calmly at the front lobby, with her bags and everything packed.
"Yuki!" Sae rushed towards her and crouches down. "They said you have quit your job!"
"Yes, that's right." She smiles warmly at the officer and patted his head. "Don't worry, I have everything planned out already."
"Why didn't you talk to me about it?" Sae's expressions relaxed after it seems that she's not going to run away again. "Is it because of the injury?" He looks at her bandaged arm. After the white swan operation, both of them spent some time recovering in the hospital, but Yuki was shot in the arm and so he reported back to duty first.
"No, it's not like that. 'White swan' was always going to be my last operation."
"All these years, I've been trying to catch up to you. Ever since that I learned of your transfer here, I made up my mind that I will become a police officer so we can be together." Sae sat beside her and started sighing. "But I guess I never understood what you wanted."
"Saechan," Yuki took his hand and looks into his eyes. "We are together now. And we will be together no matter what." She leans in and kisses him directly, surprising the flustered man. Her lips feel the same as he last kissed her a long time ago. He have waited so long, and worked so hard to break the barrier of their relationship...but why? Why is she quitting now?
He breaks off the kiss and said sadly, "But you are leaving me again..."
"Who says so?" The ex-cop gave a huge reaction that was almost comical.
"HEY~~~YUKI-SAN!!" A loud voice rings all across the hallway, and both of them turn their heads.
"Yuuchan, it's the hospital! You are alarming everybody!" A tall woman beside the guy who shouted took off her large brimmed hat, revealing her stunning silky brown hair.
"Haruna and Yukio?" Sae's jaws dropped at their presence. Although Yukio was convicted in the end, the evidence of manipulation and blackmailing from Kojima Shingo, as well as Yukio's status as a minor made his sentence quite light in the end. He moved to Kagoshima with Haruna two years ago, and that was the last time Sae saw his good friend.
"Hey, thanks for coming to pick me up." Yuki winked at them. Sae rubbed his eyes to make sure he's looking at the Yuki he once thought he knew. She's become...frivolous?
"What's up with ALL of you?" Sae jumped up from his seat and slap his own face, making sure it's not a dream.
"We're business partners now." Haruna laughs and walk towards Yuki, taking her bag.
"What?"
"Come with us and see, Saepo!" Yukio slaps his arm round the taller guy and smirk. He checks up his friend again, who's wearing a Hawaiian shirt and growing stubbles on his sunburnt face.
"You look ridiculous." Sae smiled and said. In a good way, he thought.
"Aloha!" He simply grins and waves at his friend.
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They came to a building ten minutes drive away. Going up a storey, a makeshift sign was slabbed on the glass paned door.
"French Kiss Detective Agency?" Sae's jaw drops.
"As the owner," Yuki pushes the door open to a well furnished office. "I welcome you to my new business."
"This is.." He walks in and sees how the desks are neatly arranged on one side, while there's another corner with an indoor basketball hoop, couches and all things that look familiar to him.
"We spent some time decorating it exactly the way you wanted." Haruna sees that Sae is staring at the corner in awe and pats on his back.
"Yes, I remember..." He turns back to Yuki in amazement. "The conversation we had about my future when I was still in high school. I said I can't see myself in an office, and we started talking about how it'll be like if we becomes owners of our own...well it was a lawyer's firm back then, wasn't it?" He laughs at his daydreaming back then.
"We're heading out to grab some food, I'll leave you guys to take care of my office in the meantime." Yukio left with Haruna, sensing that Sae must have a lot to ask Yuki in private.
"What's this all about?" Now that they are left alone, Sae got straight to the point.
"I want us to have a future together, Sae. And I know this future won't happen unless I quit. But just as I was about to leave Tokyo five years ago, the chief inspector offered me to go undercover again, in return for ten times more the salary of an ordinary policeman. Then I remember the time when we talked about having our business so that we don't have to care about what others say. He also offered to fight for the lowest sentence for Yukio, so he didn't have to go to jail. I thought it was a pretty good deal, so I took it."
"I thought you really quit, but then I found out where you are, and decided to become someone like you, strong and capable. I wanted to fight by your side, so I became an officer..."
"You know," Yuki sighed and sat down on one of the bean bags. "That wasn't what I thought you'd do...nor was you finding out that I'm actually White Swan in my plan either."
"Well, it all worked for the best. Now I knew why you insisted on retrieving that suitcase." Sae sat beside her and popped a can of beer he took from the fridge beside them. "I am sorry you had to go through so much alone. I found your file six months ago, and I read everything."
"Those are nothing compared to what I can do to start a new life here. I have connections with the officers and the gangsters now. We're already getting offers and cases as we speak...And most importantly, Yukio can work happily here without having to care about his past. These are all the things I considered when decided on the detective business. I...I don't want you to feel bad for your friend anymore..."
"Sorry Yuki. I knew it was your job...I guess I was just scared that you never loved me. But you know what? It doesn't matter now as long as I love you. I will quit my job today."
"No, I'm now conflicted, Sae-chan." Yuki resumes her formerly serious look the first time today. "I never thought you'd join the police, and do so well in it. I feel bad to make you quit, that's why I didn't tell you about this."
"Yuki, the whole point of me becoming a policeman, is so that we can be equals-- not officer and citizen, teacher and student anymore. I won't hesitate to follow you anywhere you go." He leans in and hugs her tightly. "I certainly won't let go of you this time."
"Sae," She pushes him away gently so she can kiss his forehead. "We will build our future together here then. Yukio will be a detective too and Haruna-san says she'll be...our accountant."
"What, no! We'll go bankrupt with her getting in charge of finance!" Sae jumps up again in shock.
"Well, you don't have a choice."
"Why?"
"Because," Yuki stands up and a dark aura illuminates her eyes. "I am your boss now."
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OMG! love it!! I just want another saeyki fic but.. its ok whatever you do :D
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Kya!!!!! I can't get enough of this fic.... :fainted:
Action part was great actually Everything was.... :ding: :ding:
Finally saechan could take good care of yuki...
Saeyuki+kojiyuu+namako= Superb!!!!!!
Putting up a detective agency,
like detective conan was good idea.....(How I wish this would turn to be sequel)
Damn!!!!As I always say this fic is too good to end..... :gyaaah:
Congratulations saeyu-san for finishing this..
Thank you for kojiyuu ending too.....
I prefer saeyuki fic though......I can read saemayu too
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Do you have plan to make a sequel? :roll:
I'm not ready to face the truth that this story has been finished :cry:
And, I want to claim your promise about Saemako~ :v
Dat Saexanyone sounds good :ptam-shy: Rectangle(?) love sounds good too :ptam-shy:
Or maybe hexagon love? :ding: YEAH.. WHY NOT. :farofflook:
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so it's finished. yeay! congratulations saeyu-san! :hip smile:
well, I really like this and hope you'll make sequel hehehe
"Because," Yuki stands up and a dark aura illuminates her eyes. "I am your boss now."
*gulp* yuki boss...
yes, I'm a mariko-sama oshi but I like naachan too hehehe naachan~
ah you wanna write sae-paering? not saeyuki or saeyaka? :?
umm, how about sae pair with ske member? maybe rena, saerena? XD
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Maybe SaeAtsu??
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yay thank you author−san!
otsukare~~
this is one of my fav fics :D
very recommended!!
looking forward to your next story!
sent from なぁちゃんのハート
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Thanks for all the feedback guys!! It really means a lot to me!
So I've taken all your suggestions into consideration, and wrote the first chapter of my new fic (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=38932.msg1322611#msg1322611)! Please head over to the new thread, which I'll post in a minute, and thanks for your continuous support! :cow:
Putting up a detective agency,
like detective conan was good idea.....(How I wish this would turn to be sequel)
Damn!!!!As I always say this fic is too good to end..... :gyaaah:
Congratulations saeyu-san for finishing this..
Thank you for kojiyuu ending too.....
I prefer saeyuki fic though......I can read saemayu too
So the new fic will have a detective agency element in it!
As for Saeyuki lovers, sorry about that, the fic will feature Sae+Rena+Mako+Milky (they are all your requests, I tried to fulfill them simultaneously!)
But for Saemayu, I did have a twoshot posted in tumblr (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/34771601823/four-leaf-clover-saemayu-part-1-2), not here. Personally, it's the favorite fic I've written all time. I hope you'd enjoy it!