@imteedee: Fixed the link, you should be able to see it now; I thought Mayu was OC but 
@fausto: Thanks! Fixed the link.
AN: Fixed the link for the first picture, though I can't remember if it's the actual one or not but the pose should be somewhat similar. Below is the customary AtsuMina tribute in light of recent events
The Roundabout Way to Love - When she likes you and you like her, and you know that you like her but she doesn’t know that she likes you“Y-Yuu-chan…” Haruna gasped. “D-Don’t…”
Yuko ignored her and continued her assault on Haruna’s neck, licking, biting and kissing every inch of skin.
Summoning all of her strength Haruna managed to push Yuko away slightly.
“Yuu-chan! Mari-chan might be back any moment!”
“I don’t care.”
“But if she finds out, she won’t let you off…”
The two of them continued to stare at each other before being drawn into another passionate kiss, Yuko’s hands fumbling with the buttons on Haruna’s blouse as-_____________________________________________________________________________________
“This!” Yuko slammed the notebook on the table. “Where’s the next part?!”
“I haven’t written it yet.” Atsuko shrugged nonchalently. “Too bad for you, I guess.”
“Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Yuko crumbled. “Why?!”
“I realized I had to work on Akimoto-sensei’s assignment so I stopped.”
“Damn you Akimoto-sensei!” Yuko shouted at the ceiling. “I need my KojiYuu right now!”
Atsuko carefully kept the notebook in her bag. “You do realize that it’s a MariKojiYuu fic right?”
“Meh, I’ll just keep harassing you to end it with KojiYuu!” Yuko said determinedly. “Anything to ensure my happy end with Kojima-san!”
“Your fictional happy end,” Atsuko retorted. “The Kojima Haruna in real life doesn’t even register you as a human, you perverted squirrel.”
“You forgot cute! I’m a cute perverted squirrel!” Yuko then grinned confidently. “And I’ll wear Kojima-san down someday, she’s just tsundere, I know it.”
“I think I forgot to add in shameless as well…” Atsuko muttered as she shook her head at her friend’s behavior.
Yuko had claimed that it was ‘love at first sight’ for her when she had first seen Kojima Haruna at the entrance ceremony, and to cut a long story short it basically resulted in Yuko falling and Haruna cushioning her fall.
Unfortunately for Yuko though, it had already been a year of pursuit and to Atsuko, all Yuko seemed to get in return for her persistence were violent smacks on the head and perhaps a thicker skull.
It must have been the way Yuko started groping her breasts and even rubbing her face against them while laughing… Atsuko sighed to herself as she wondered just how her childhood friend grew up to be like that.
I managed to grow up normally! ... somewhat...“Ooh! Your bento today is as delicious as always Acchan! Your mother’s cooking is superb!”
“Why aren’t you bothering Nyan-Nyan right now?” Atsuko asked; trying to rein in her temper when Yuko took a piece of her ebi tempura.
“Yeah Yuko, usually you’re all over-oh.” Takahashi Minami, one of the few people in the world that knew Atsuko’s dark secret, shut up at the sight of a bright red handprint on Yuko’s cheek.
“Aren’t you tired of getting rejected all the time by now?”
“How can you say that Acchan!” Yuko exclaimed, waving the stolen ebi tempura in front of Atsuko, not knowing how dangerous that action was. “You’re a writer, a writer! Where’s your sense of romanticism?!”
That’s why you’re such an M, Yuko… Atsuko forced herself to ignore Yuko and continued to munch on her food, using her body to shield her precious bento from Yuko to prevent a repeat stealing incident. It would be difficult to explain to her mother why she sent Yuko to the hospital again.
The others might think you’re some idiot but you’re a total M.“I’ll keep trying until she realizes that she actually likes my skin-ship and accepts my public displays of affection!” Undeterred, Yuko started going off on one of her daydreams again. “Then the two of us will… ehehe…”
“The two of you will?” Minami said in confusion, not getting it at all.
“Don’t ask Takamina.” Atsuko ruthlessly stuffed a slice of tomato into the ribbon-lover’s open mouth. “Don’t.”
Minami was almost in tears as she choked down the tomato. “Acchan is so mean…”
It was just another normal day in the life of Maeda Atsuko, defending her food from thieving childhood friends obsessed with one of her classmates while bullying the short student council president whenever she felt like it.
If she was lucky, she could even squeeze in a few paragraphs later on.
Paragraphs you say?
Well you see, Atsuko was not just one of your average high school students.
She was one of your average high school students in a girl’s school with a dark secret that by rights, no one could know...
She, Maeda Atsuko, had a burning passion for the ambiguous yet wonderful relationship between girls.
Yes, Maeda Atsuko was a yuri fangirl, which was one of the reasons why she had studied her butt off to get into this prestigious school, the school having ‘set her radar off’ the instant she had walked past it. Her unsuspecting parents were none the wiser, glad that their normally unenthused daughter had suddenly seemed interested in something for the first time in her life (that they had witnessed) and they willingly paid all the school fees and miscellaneous expenses.
Being enrolled in a girl’s school, it was utter paradise for Atsuko with girls everywhere clinging onto each other and giggling together and generally doing stuff together and whatnot; it was fortunate that she had long mastered the ability to keep a straight face, due to the fact that she was almost always wearing her yuri goggles and that she would be locked up in a mental facility if she outwardly showed any of her reactions.
Out of all those girls, there was a pair in her class that had caught her attention in particular.
Shinoda Mariko and Kojima Haruna were best friends; that much everyone knew but around six months ago Atsuko began to sense a different air around the two of them, like they were hiding something.
Being the goggles wearing fangirl that she was, Atsuko was suddenly struck by inspiration and felt a feverish urge to scribble something, thus starting her newfound writing hobby.
Over time her pairings increased to include other couples in her fictions, like that tall duo from Yuko’s class –
What were they called again? Twin Tower? – And many more; Atsuko even came up with pairing names for some of them, which were basically a portmanteau of their names.
“Y-You can have my ebi tempura Acchan…” Minami said timidly as she placed it atop Atsuko’s rice before dashing out of the room, claiming that she had some student council business to attend to.
“But aren’t we in the student council room?” Atsuko blinked. “If she has student council stuff to do then shouldn’t she stay here?”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Yuko teased. “Not every ‘student council business’ equals needing to stay in the student council room and admiring you.”
Atsuko glared at Yuko.
Geez… what happened to her sense of humor? “Bakamina’s probably still heartbroken after you rejected her despite her brave confession,” Yuko sighed and shook her head. “Poor girl, to have fallen for a certain heartless someone with a black hole for a stomach…”
Atsuko flushed. “I’ve already told you countless times, I’m not interested in romance!”
Yuko studied her carefully. “Are you really sure?”
“I am.” Atsuko said firmly. “If you don’t stop being such a busybody I’ll write five more tragic KojiYuu oneshots and force you to read them! Besides, shouldn’t you be worrying about your non-existent relationship with Nyan-Nyan instead of mine?”
“There’s no need to worry about me and Kojima-san,” Yuko stood up and stretched. “Ah, I think I’ll go look for Takamina to make sure that she’s not crying.”
Atsuko kept silent.
“You can fool yourself Acchan, but you can’t fool me.” Smirking, Yuko walked off, pausing at the doorway. “You say you get inspired even when you see two people who ‘have chemistry’ just talking, well then why don’t you try writing a TakaYuu piece?”
The door closed and Atsuko stared at the ebi tempura on her rice.
“TakaYuu?”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Takamina!” Yuko jumped on her unsuspecting fellow midget sitting alone morosely on a bench. “Don’t cry, cheer up! Acchan’s dense, but not as dense as you; it took you a year to realize that you liked her so she’ll probably catch on earlier than that… but then again, she might be super-duper dense despite her almost ripping that other girl’s head off for trying to get close to you… Anyway just be patient and don’t worry, she’ll realize that she likes you… soon… I think…”
Knowing Atsuko’s personality, Yuko frowned as she considered the possibilities before trying to smile reassuringly at Minami. “… It’ll happen someday, I’m sure of it!”
“Yuko! Get off!” Minami tried to pry the squirrel off. “You’re heavy and what if Acchan sees and-”
“Starts shipping us together?” Yuko said, resting her chin on Minami’s shoulder. “Hmm… that wouldn’t be too bad though, I mean Takamina
is a reliable person…”
Minami froze, blushing. “Y-Yuko!”
“Just too bad my type is tall, not flat, not obsessed with ribbons, oh and did I mention tall? Plus she’s tall and she has those cute- oh Nyan-Nyan!” Yuko spotted Haruna from a distance away and dashed towards her immediately, leaving a wounded Minami behind.
“I know you were upset about the heavy comment, but did you really have to mention tall
thrice?!”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Well, well, well… if it isn’t Oshima Yuko!” Mariko said from her spot beside Haruna. “Why don’t you let go?”
“You let go first!” Yuko tightened her grip on Haruna’s arm, Mariko following suit on Haruna’s other arm. “I’ll keep holding onto Nyan-Nyan forever!”
Haruna’s eyelid twitched violently as the two of them started playing tug-of-war with her serving as the rope, interfering with her NDS game.
“THE TWO OF YOU LET GO!”
“Nyan-Nyan is angry.”
“Nyaro is angry.”
The two of them exchanged a look. “RUN!”
Fortunately for the two of them, Haruna couldn’t catch up with her unfit physical state and they were safe.
“You know Yuko,” Mariko panted, trying to catch her breath once they were far enough. “I’m going to watch a movie with Nyaro later on, after school.”
“Are you trying to make me admit defeat?” Yuko responded. “I’m sure you know by now that you’d have to try harder than that!”
The two of them smiled at each other and shook hands.
“You know, I think we would be pretty good friends if we weren’t love rivals or something like that.” Mariko commented loudly, the both of them ignoring the growing crowd of screaming fangirls around them.
“Love rivals!”
“Kyaa! MariKojiYuu in action!”
“Don’t be stupid, it’s MariYuu!”
“Didn’t you hear Mariko-sama saying that she and Haruna-sama are going to the movies later?”
“That is so definitely a date!”
“MariHaru date!”
“Mariko-sama and Yuko-sama are so cool, Haruna-sama is so lucky!”
“Alright time to go back to class now,” Mariko glanced at her watch and started shooing the crowd. “My dad wouldn’t be happy if he found out that the students aren’t attending classes on time.”
“Kyaa! Imagine if Mariko-sama took over from her father as the director of the school!”
“Director Shinoda Mariko!”
“So cool!”
“Hey, hey, if you all don’t go back to class now I’ll touch all of your oshiri!” Yuko decided to lend Mariko a hand and started chasing the girls towards the school building.
“Kyaa! Run it’s the Oshiri Inspector!”
Despite being thankful that Yuko had managed to disperse the crowd, Mariko feared for Yuko’s other cheek.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
After schoolAtsuko stared at the paper before her in frustration, crumpling it up into a ball and throwing it towards the bin where it joined several other rejected scripts littering the floor, the bin having already been long filled up.
Taking a fresh piece of paper, Atsuko attempted to write again but found no words coming to her mind even though she could see clearly in her mind memories of Minami and Yuko chatting, Yuko making fun of Minami, instances that in other cases involving other couples could spawn an immediate oneshot or even a multi-chapter fic if she was on a roll.
“It just comes out wrong!” Atsuko hit her desk in frustration. She had tried her best, honestly; some of her attempts had filled up half the page before Atsuko changed her mind and some had consisted of only a few words before Atsuko decided that it wasn’t good enough.
TakaYuu… Some part of Atsuko felt weird when she thought about it. Sure, Minami and Yuko got along well, almost too well that Yuko sometimes joked that they were long-lost siblings with her being the wild one while Minami was the responsible one.
“Okay, calm down Atsuko!” She told herself. “I know writing Yuko’s fine, but Takamina…”
That was when Atsuko realized that she had never written about Minami before.
“Takamina…” Atsuko grabbed her notebooks and files and feverishly flipped through them. “I really haven’t…”
Yosh! Then I’ll try to write one about Takamina then, maybe not TakaYuu but with someone else! Atsuko smiled happily as she pressed her pen to the paper.
Then her pen froze.
“I… can’t…”
I can’t write about Takamina with anyone! Atsuko panicked.
I… just can’t…_____________________________________________________________________________________
At the movies“Mari-chan…” Haruna stared apprehensively at the movie poster. “Are you sure that you want to watch that?”
“I-It’ll be f-fine Nyaro,” Mariko reassured, although she didn’t sound reassuring at all with her trembling. “M-My onee-chan said that s-she wanted t-to watch it b-but didn’t h-have a chance t-to…”
She’s obviously forcing herself… Haruna knew that Mariko didn’t like scary stuff, and this movie was just… a quick check showed that even the reviews about it online pinpointed that it was a movie that Mariko would
never watch.
Normally.
Haruna was worried for Mariko. “Are you really sure?”
“Y-Yeah, I’ll just go get the p-popcorn and w-we can go in…” Mariko trudged away lifelessly. “W-What drinks do y-you want?”
------
“Why don’t I hold onto the popcorn?” Haruna offered, seeing how Mariko’s hands were shaking terribly that a quarter of the popcorn was already gone as the casualty of spillage. She squeezed Mariko’s hand comfortingly with her free hand as they entered the dark theater. “It’ll be fine Mari-chan.”
“Boo.”
“AAH!” Mariko jumped and clung onto Haruna. “THAT SCARED ME WHAT WAS THAT?!”
Haruna merely blinked as she tried to make out the small figure in the darkness. “Maachan?”
“I came earlier today,” Oku Manami smiled as she came over to pat Mariko on the head. “But I see that I’ve scared my poor imouto…”
“Mou, don’t do that again!” Mariko pouted as she immediately switched over to clinging on Manami. “That was mean! You know I’m not good with things like this…”
“Aww I’m sorry,” Manami didn’t look sorry at all. “Are you angry?”
“Hmm…” Mariko pretended to think for a bit. “Maybe I am, but if you give me a-”
Haruna coughed, reminding them that she was still here.
“Oh Nyaro!” Mariko looked around. “Where’s Yuko? I thought I told her earlier in school that we would be watching a movie today.”
“Did you remember to tell her what we were going to watch?”
At the guilty look on Mariko’s face, Haruna sighed. “I don’t know why we even made that deal in the first place.”
“Hey! It’s a mutually beneficial relationship!” Mariko protested. “You cover for me and I cover for you!”
“But when you mess things up like this…”
“Sorry…” Mariko said sheepishly. “But it’ll be fine! Yuko has crazy mad stalking skillz so she’ll be able to locate us, or more accurately, you!”
“Skillz?”
As if on cue, Haruna was glomped by a familiar weight. “Nyan-Nyan!”
“Like I said, crazy mad stalking skillz.” Mariko repeated, surprisingly unsurprised by the sudden appearance of Yuko. “I told you so.”
“Now that everyone’s here,” Manami spoke up. “Let’s go to our seats?”
“Look Nyan-Nyan! Couple seats!” Yuko pointed excitedly while clinging onto Haruna. “We get to watch while seating on couple seats!”
Haruna blushed and swiped at Yuko’s head. “You’re too noisy squirrel!”
“Maachan…” Mariko tugged at Manami’s sleeve. “I’m scared…”
“Don’t worry Mari-chan; I made sure that there won’t be anyone else watching with us, the four of us have the entire theater to ourselves!” Manami smiled. “You can scream all you want!”
Mariko’s eyes widened and she stared at the empty rows of seats. “W-Watching… alone?!”
Yes! I can skin-ship with Nyan-Nyan without worrying about others seeing! Yuko cheered mentally, laughing pervertedly. “Ehehehe…”
“What dirty things are you thinking about now?” Haruna smacked Yuko’s head. “Focus!”
“I’m always thinking about you Nyan-Nyan!” Yuko declared, noticing that Haruna seemed uneasy. She smiled and held Haruna’s hand. “Don’t worry! I’ll protect you!”
Meanwhile, Manami was comforting Mariko. “I’ll be beside you all the time, don’t worry. But if you feel that you can’t take it then it’s okay, we can always skip the movie.”
“No!” Mariko gulped, gathering all of her courage. “You were looking forward to watching this so…”
Oku Manami had a huge smile on her face as she settled down to watch her favorite show: Shinoda Mariko’s terrified reactions.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Outside the Takahashi residenceMinami frowned when she heard the doorbell ringing incessantly followed by rapid knocks on the door.
Who is that so late in the evening? She got up from her study desk and hurried to the door.
I thought Okaa-san wouldn't be back so early?“A-Acchan!” Minami stammered when she opened the door and one Maeda Atsuko hugged her. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t Takamina! I can’t!”
She can’t what? Minami was confused but she patted her on the back, leading Atsuko to the living room and sitting on the sofa; however Atsuko refused to let go when Minami tried to get loose to get her a glass of water.
“What’s wrong?” Minami asked again after letting Atsuko calm down for a while.
“I can’t write anything about you.”
“Huh?”
“Yuko told me to try writing a TakaYuu fic, and I did try but I couldn’t!” Atsuko babbled agitatedly. “Then I tried writing something where I shipped you with someone else, anyone but I couldn’t!”
TakaYuu? Shipping me with someone? … What is that squirrel up to now? Minami sighed as she stroked Atsuko’s hair. “It’s alright if you can’t Acchan. If you can’t, then just don’t; there’s no need to stress yourself over it.”
“But why can’t I?” Atsuko asked, more to herself than to Minami. “And I’ve never written one fic about you before…”
Eh? Minami flushed, sensing a chance. “M-Maybe it’s because-”
“This means that I still need to improve!” Atsuko declared resolutely before her stomach suddenly growled. She blinked. “Ah. I’m hungry.”
A-Acchan…Takahashi Minami felt like crying, but she controlled herself. “W-Why don’t you stay over tonight? We can wake up early to go over to your place in the morning for you to get your stuff?”
At Atsuko’s nod, she continued. “Okaa-san’s out today so I’ll start on dinner now, you can watch some TV while waiting if you want.”
“Nuh uh,” Atsuko smiled brightly at her. “I’ll help you!”
It was tiny moments like this that gave Minami hope, despite how desolate her situation seemed.
“Come on,” Atsuko grabbed hold of her hand and dragged her to the kitchen. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that I was hungry.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The next morning“Oh? The two of you are going to school together again?” Yuko teased when she bumped into Atsuko and Minami on the way to school. “Wow! Acchan must have spent the night in Takamina’s house~!”
“Shut up,” Atsuko flushed, glaring at Yuko. “Or I’ll give you another bruise to match the one on- eh?”
“You heal really fast.” Minami examined the yellowing bruise on Yuko’s cheek. “Looking at your cheek yesterday I thought it would be all swollen the next day but…”
“That’s the benefits of being a healthy person!” Yuko said. “It’s something you exercise idiots can’t understand! Having regular exercise and a happy, positive attitude-”
“Did she hit her head yesterday?” Atsuko asked Minami. “Something’s off about her…”
“It sure seems like it,” Minami agreed. “It’s either that or something really good happened…”
“But since we all know nothing really good ever happens to Yuko-”
“Hey!” Yuko protested. “I’m still here you know!”
“Yep, definitely something wrong with her.” Atsuko took hold of Minami’s hand and dragged her off. “We better stay away in case it’s contagious.”
“You could have just said so if you wanted to hold Takamina’s hand Acchan!” Yuko called out. “No need to hide! I’m sure that Takamina doesn’t mind either!”
“Shut up!”
“Hehe…” Yuko smiled secretively to herself. “Besides, I have a
special treatment for special injuries like that.”
-----
“Ne Takamina,” Minami looked up from where she had been staring at their linked hands; Atsuko hadn’t let go even though several minutes had passed since they had left Yuko.
“What is it Acchan?”
“Those girls…” Atsuko pointed out with a shaky finger. “Where are they from?”
Minami followed Atsuko’s line of sight. “Ah, that group of girls over there? They’re wearing the uniform of the nearby SKE private school; we might have a student exchange with them later on in the year-”
“Not that!” Atsuko forced herself to remain still and keep her volume level down. “That girl obviously likes that other girl, that one that’s currently being clung onto by that… kissing monster. Plus, the jealousy level surrounding those three is way too high!”
Jealousy level?Minami stared.
To her, it looked like a normal scene with one of the girls (that Atsuko had christened as the ‘kissing monster’) trying to adjust the collar of another girl while fixing her tie with another girl looking on; and the rest of the other SKE girls were milling about, chatting –
are they waiting for someone else? – a perfectly normal scene.
Wait. Minami froze.
If Atsuko can sense that that girl likes the other girl then why can’t she-“A pen and paper Takamina!” Atsuko shook her. “I need a pen and paper right now! And take a picture!”
“W-Wait Acchan, we’ll be late for school and what if they think we’re some sort of stalker?”
“Do it!”
A- Acchan!Takahashi Minami felt like crying, something she had been prone to doing lately.
Ganbare Takahashi Minami! You still have a ways to go!
Topic: Short Stories - KojiYuu Week (Selfie) (Read 10110 times)