Hello
Sunshine!
stilted-stylus
A/N: SORRY, SORRY, SORRY. I know I haven't updated in a while, but I just haven't been able to find the time. Hopefully, I'll be able to get chapters out quicker in the future.
I CANNOT believe I got this many reviews!!! –WOOT-
SPECIAL THANKS TO: Addi, K'onix, hershys-kiss, RedWheeler, pants 31, JuppieJutsu, and Nameless for all your support!
Anyway, enjoy.
Chapter Two: Stalemate
They stared at her, surprised and a little amused with the sheer force of her outburst.
Hiromi calmed her nerves, taking in careful breaths. A figurative light bulb clicked on in her brain, "Oh, I get it." She murmured, lips breaking into a wide smile, "Did Kyouju put you guys up to this? I mean I know how much he doesn't want me living alone, but to go to this extent…" She babbled, missing their confused expressions, "You guys even brought duffel bags…"
She deftly ignored the logic that was flashing the hard facts in her face: 1) She hadn't seen either Kai or Takao in a little over a year. 2) So why would they arrive on her doorstep at 7 in the evening, just to appease Kyouju's paranoid wishes? 3) Batuken City was a long ways away from Tokyo (about two hours by bullet train) 4) Takao surely couldn't care that much anyway, and 5) Kai…was Kai. Period.
But the alternative wasway too coincidental; not to mention, it pulled the rug right out from under the pleasant idea she was to be living here on her own for some time.
"Wait. Hiromi, what are you talking about?" Takao cut in, eyeing her as if she were crazy.
"…Kyouju obviously told you guys about my apartment and had hired the both of you to somehow chase me out." She said, grinning, though a little uncertainly, "I, for one, am not so easily persuaded, so if you'll excuse me…"
Hiromi nearly swung the door upon their befuddled selves, before Takao kicked a foot through the opening. "What are you doing?" He said incredulously. "You seriously think this is a joke?"
She furrowed her eyebrows at them, "…It…isn't?"
Of course things couldn't be that simple.
"It isn't, Hiromi." Kai then muttered, pushing the door a little more open, "We live here. Apt Apartments on the corner of Kaiten Street and Omocha Road, Tokyo, Japan. Room 3F."
Takao added in, crossing his arms, "2 bedrooms. 1 bathroom. A living space and kitchen complete with marble counter, all for 1000 a month. We're the ones paying the rent, Hiromi, so we're the ones who'll be living here."
"You…can't."
Takao lifted a skeptic brow, "And why the heck not?"
"Because I'm living here, genius." She murmured, gesturing vaguely to her towel. "What? You think I traveled all the way from Batuken and snuck into your apartment somehow to throw you a little house-warming party and surprise you with a peep show?" She seethed, clutching once again at her towel, coloring darkly.
If either had been drinking, they'd have sputtered right then.
"…Peep show?"
An awkward silence descended momentarily upon the trio before the female huffed, "Just…come in. We'll talk about this after I change."
The boys nodded numbly, gripping at their duffel bags as they walked in. Takao gazed about the room, setting his bag on the floor and settling on a stool fixed near the marble counter. Kai looked coolly around the space as well, deeming internally that it was adequate enough.
Minutes later, Hiromi walked out dressed in a large t-shirt, a pair of jogging shorts, and white fluffy slippers. She swung her towel under her hair and around her neck, combing away her tangles in quick, almost irritated strokes. "Ok." She mumbled when she finished, "Let's first…identify the problem here."
She looked to each of them, a certain seriousness in her expression, "You two claim to live here, is that correct?" Takao shook his head slightly in the affirmative. "Well, I too happen to have bought the rights to room 3F, Apt Apartments on the corner of Kaiten Street and Omocha Road, Tokyo, Japan. And I did not sign up for the surprise!roommate special."
Kai tossed her a deadpan look and she grew a little uneasy, "Did you call the landlord, Mr. Rusu?" She attempted, "Surely there must have been some mistake."
"No answer." Takao replied, "But hey, it's still pretty early. Why don't we try going over to the agency now?"
Hiromi looked impatiently to the watch on her counter, "Yeah, ok. We should get this settled as soon as possible." She combed out the tangles and the remaining moisture in her hair, "But you know guys," she mumbled distractedly, as she went to hang the towel in her bathroom, "After we clarify this entire mix-up, you guys can stay the night before you go out looking for another place. I mean, it's late and—"
"What makes you so sure that this place is yours?" Takao asked, cutting her off.
As she threw on her jacket, her ruby eyes drew into a light glare, "No offense, Takao, but when it comes to responsibility issues, I think it's safe to say I'm a little more reliable."
He scoffed, closing and locking the door behind them, "Sure. So you're borderline obsessive-compulsive. That doesn't mean I can't fill out a few contracts."
The vein in her temple pulsed, "Obsessive-compulsive? That's pretty impressive, coming from the guy who couldn't spell 'Doughnut' last year."
"There are two ways of spelling it! 'Doughnut' with the silent g, and 'donut'! D-O-N-U-T!" He yelled going red in the face. "And besides, Kai was with me! He was there to fix the, if any, tiny errors in my grammar! Are you calling him an idiot, too?"
"Of course not! I wasn't calling either of you an idiot, you jerk!"
"So now I'm a jerk!"
"Yes! That's the smartest thing you've ever said!"
"QUIET OUT THERE!" screamed one very irate neighbor from inside his apartment.
The two parties involved had the decency to look embarrassed.
"Sorry!" They replied in unison.
Kai merely rolled his eyes, stalking ahead and mumbling something about 'immaturity'.
Hiromi and Takao looked at each other a moment, anger having cooled off by the sudden dose of modesty, before they dissolved into a fit of snickers and tinkling giggles.
Though still fairly annoyed with one another, the fact was unmistakable, "Just like old times." Takao murmured, walking a little forward. Hiromi gave an amused nod and continued on after.
Thanks to the discovery that neither of the boys had changed much since they'd last met, Hiromi was spared the awkwardness of friends who'd hadn't seen each other in a long while. As they climbed into the taxi that was to take them to Uchi Residences, they could converse pretty normally.
"So, how've you guys been?" Hiromi asked, "I mean, I haven't seen you two in over a year! What have you been up to?"
"A year, huh?" Takao murmured, "Has it really been that long?" The brunette rolled her eyes, and he shrugged, "Well, as you know, I took the year off to go with my Dad on his excavations. It was pretty damn cool!" The blue-haired blader said, eyes lighting with pleasant recollection, "I got to check out the pyramids in Egypt—saw a load of dead guys—"
Again, Hiromi rolled her eyes in a smiling sort of way.
"I was in Mexico a few weeks for the Mayan ruins, and in Greece too, for a bit." She took a moment to examine Takao as he babbled on of his exploits. He was taller (that was to be expected); his face was a little more defined at the jaw and his skin was lightly tanned. His navy hair still had that characteristic unruliness and was still tucked underneath that infamous cap. She smiled because his brown eyes were still alit with this…energy, and his tone (though deeper. Thank you puberty!) was as obnoxious as ever.
"I've practically been around the world." Takao grinned, a far off look in his eyes.
"Yes. Because going to three countries constitutes seeing the entire world." Kai mumbled in monotone from his seat in the front.
Hiromi laughed as Takao glared pointedly at his friend. She then asked, "And you Kai? How has your year been?"
Curious, Hiromi then looked to the stoic boy to her front and examined him carefully. He too was about as tall as Takao (a head above her, already) and his voice was deeper. However, he'd retained many of the qualities she'd remembered him for: The slate hair, the lavender eyes, the pale skin. And this calm, collected coolness beyond his years.
She then added smilingly, "Participate in any beyblading tournaments?"
She was sad to admit that she hadn't been up-to-date with the beyblading tournaments around the world. What with the team going their separate ways and she and Kyouju having to had studied hard for Kashikoi High's entrance exam, there just hadn't been enough time in between.
"…It was tolerable." He grunted after moments of contemplation. "Yes, I've competed in a few beyblading tournaments."
She waited a while for him to elaborate, when he suddenly said, "We're here."
"What?" She wondered as she unbuckled her seatbelt, "That's it? Nothing else happened in the entire year?"
He threw her another weighted look as they exited the taxi, "…Russia was cold."
They stared.
Each equally surprised. Each equally dumbfounded. And each equally horrified.
"WHAAAT?" Well, perhaps Takao was a little bit more vocal about it.
There, upon the steel closing that cut them off from the inside of the space, was a sign that read: "Uchi Residences: On undisclosed hiatus."
"What do they mean 'undisclosed hiatus'? We talked to Rusu just a few days ago!"
"So did I! What the heck is going on?!" Hiromi cried.
The panicking duo looked to Kai as if he had the answer. "…Let's try calling again."
They did. And surprisingly, Mr. Rusu himself picked up. "Hello?"
"Mr. Rusu." Kai muttered into his phone, brows narrowing, "This is Hiwatari Kai. One of the three clients you rented apartment 3F, Apt Apartments, Kaiten St. and Omocha Rd., Tokyo, Japan, to. There seems to have been a mix-up."
Hiromi told him to put it on speakerphone.
The raspy voice of Mr. Rusu, a man in his late 70s, replied, sounding sheepish, "Ahaha. Hiwatari-kun. How astute of you to point that out…" He followed up by a series of coughs, which slowly eased into silence.
"Mr. Rusu! It's me, Tachibana Hiromi, remember? The girl you promised that apartment for 700 a month? …Please don't tell me that I can't live there! I'm just about settled in…!"
"What about us, Mr. Rusu! This is Kinomiya Takao!!! You rented that apartment to us for 1000, remember? You can't kick us out! We don't have anywhere else to go!"
"As if I do?" Hiromi bit incredulously. (Well, technically, she did have a place to go (Kyouju's) but after fighting so hard and so long for her own place, she didn't like how Takao's statement insinuated that it was ok to kick her out.)
"Well…um…" Mr. Rusu was racked again in coughs, "You see kids…The apartment's actual value is…2000."
"…WHAAT?" This time, it was Hiromi's innate loudmouth-ness that spoke up first. "But you told me 700! That's more than twice as much!!!"
"It was supposed to be 1000 for the both us together, not 1000 each!" Takao whined.
Kai cursed under his breath, "You told us 1000 a month. You told her 700 a month. Are you openly admitting to conning us?"
"…Now wait just a minute there, Hiwatari-kun." Mr. Rusu spoke into the phone, again sounding rather awkward, "It was an honest mistake. You see, I signed Tachibana-chan up for 3F Apt Apartments in Batuken, and I signed Kinomiya-kun and Hiwatari-kun up for 3F Apt Apartment in Russia."
"…Why?" they all wondered aloud, the irritation evident in their voices.
"Well, because Tachibana-chan said she was from Batuken and Hiwatari-kun said he was from Russia." He replied succinctly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"…Then why would we have a conference with a landlord in Tokyo?" Hiromi asked.
On the other line, Rusu laughed in the midst of coughs, "Ohohoho. –cough- I don't know. …I don't hear very well."
A quiet overcame the trio. (Any passerby would have definitely thought the sight odd: Three teenagers standing under a streetlight, hunched over something of obvious importance, and remaining deathly silent.)
"…Anyway," Rusu finally murmured, "The apartment you three are looking to rent out is 2000 a month. I mean, it's located in Tokyo, near the prestigious Kashikoi High." He coughed, "…I doubt you'll find a place there under 2000, ahahaha."
The silence once again ensued.
That is, till Takao outburst, "You are a freakin' idiot!!! WHAT the hell are we supposed to do now?!"
They waited on the old man's answer as if he were about to deliver an ultimatum.
"…Mr. Rusu?"
"…Why don't you all just live together?" They could tell from the other line, that he was grinning when he said it. "You young'uns seem to get along just fine…so why not?"
A noiselessness of a different feel overtook the three. They could hardly reply because the thought hadn't even crossed their minds.
…Living together? Kai and Takao and Hiromi calling the same place home?
Hm.
"…Looks like I have some business to attend to elsewhere…Why don't we schedule a meeting tomorrow? Say 1 p.m.?" He coughed a final fit before calling out a meek goodbye and hanging up.
The three teenagers went 'home' in silence, each individual stewing over their own thoughts.
It wasn't until said three were sitting in said 'home', that Hiromi finally spoke up, "I think we should do it."
Each of the males gave her a look that spoke the nonverbal, 'do what?'
"Live together, I mean." She explained, touching a fist to her open palm. She rolled her eyes at their astonished countenances. "I mean, let's look at this logically. One: None of us have other places to stay (Hiromi had already completely forgotten the option of Kyouju's aunt amidst the chaos). Two: We can split the price three-way. I'll still pay my 700 and you two will have to provide 650 each, but really, it'snothing to pay off even with just a part time job."
"I have to get a job?!" Takao complained.
She threw him a deadpan look, reminiscent of Kai's, "Yes. …unless jii-san's sending you a boatload of monthly allowance."
Takao look downcast, and Hiromi smirked, continuing, "Three: Our stuff is already on its way via movers. It'll be such a hassle to move everything again."
She smiled, "Four: It's not like we're strangers anyway. I've been at enough your guys' sleepovers to be comfortable enough to share the bathroom. And there are two rooms. I'll take one, and you guys can Rock, Paper, Scissors! the other bedroom versus the living room."
"Why do you get a room?" Takao grumbled, eyes narrowing.
"That's because a girl needs her privacy." The brunette explained, snorting, "Or would you like for the living room to be strewn about with pink lace and stuffed animals?"
The boy shuddered and Hiromi smirked, "Didn't think so."
"So…what do you guys think? Are you up for it?" She then added in mock-seriousness, "If you don't agree, I'm willing to fight the both of you to the death."
Takao chuckled lightly and Kai rolled his eyes, semi-amused.
They nodded slowly in the affirmative and she cheered, "Then I'll go make some more noodles!"
Both guys looked at her questioningly and she responded with a contagious smile, "This momentous event calls for a little celebration, don't you think?" She took a delicate sip of her orange juice before raising the glass to them, "Welcome home, roommates!"
End
A/N: …A little awkward I think. I wrote the majority of this at like one a.m. so I guess that'll be kind of expected… O.o OH WELL.