Believe me...even if I wanted to....I REALLY DON'T OWN THE WALLFLOWER! 0v0

For quite some time, the hell of a room where my limp body was imprisoned had not changed a bit. Still, the towering white curtains brought no comfort and the ticking machine nearby continued to tempt me to bash it with my fist. But contrary to the degree of tranquility there was around, the fierce battle that never ceased to exist inside me had at last reached its limit. A lot of things suddenly took place so fast---- one after another. Even a man with my calibre couldn't possibly handle it all in a single blow! Really, she just won't stop bombarding terror anywhere she went.....

My misty composure was frozen in an instant....my eyes affixed toward a tangle of thick black hair spread out beside my unconscious self and my heart...was I supposed to feel anything at such a state? Nevertheless, I clutched my shirt tightly, as if I could loosen up whatever chain it was that was slowly squeezing my chest because it made me feel really awful by the minute. Just a while ago, I saw my mother whimpering at the sight of my condition. Yes, she was here! For real! Well...maybe I just feel so excited at the moment and that was why I was feeling a bit...weird? No, wait...

If so, then why was it this painful...?

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All the while, I did not cut off my gaze on this morbid creature whose head was about to doze off and possibly share a part of my pillow. Damn her....if it was the other way around, would she allow me to do the same??? I grinned.......and my lips were shaking. What the heck....would I even get another chance to peek in her room, or rather, kick her door down and pester her with all my might just to get her out to cook something for my growling stomach like the usual routine?

I had no idea. Perhaps this was fear...? I was not sure.

...screw this whole thing, damn it! That's enough, Kyohei! Enough! Would this cure me? Would this help me change the past?! This was me---dying! Everything had gone wrong and there was none that I could think of to actually wake myself up and fix the whole picture back to how it used to be...

I grasped my transparent bangs in frustration.

Please...if I would end up there anyway, let it be now....

I didn't want to suffer anymore with those memories...

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Nakahara Mansion

7 days ago

8:00:00 pm

"What the hell, guys!!! What part of 'I don't wanna go' didn't you understand huh??????!"

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These morons were seriously ticking me off! Ranmaru locked both of my shoulders with his arms; Takenaga was already onto my feet—was he gonna lift them up... (?!?!?!); Yuki was carrying my guitar...of all the people...who ever let the clumsy one carry my precious guitar?!?!?!?!

"Kyohei! Will you stop thrashing around? Why are you so against this anyway?" the red-haired idiot spoke up in the midst of the chaos.

"'Coz you're all treating me like a pig, in case you haven't noticed!!"

Takenaga, to my dismay, had successfully got hold of my feet, making it easier for them to drag me into wherever they wanted me to be. "Just--argh—this once, Kyohei. You agreed with our plan to surprise Obaa-chan, didn't yo---ow!! COME ON, MAN! You're the only one who can play the guitar here, we're starting the plan with that, whether you like it or not...IF YOU TRY TO KICK ME ONE MORE TIME...!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I was aiming for your damn face!"

"You've lost the bet ,Kyohei..That's just the way it goes----OOPS!" Yuki managed to say on top of all the noise, the guitar slipping out of his grasp.

"YUKI! YOU DARE DROP MY GUITAR AND I'LL KILL YOU FIRST THING I GET OUT OF HERE!!!

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I didn't know exactly when and where it all started, but these blockheads seemed to form a little sneaky team most of the time and then make fun of me. We're already graduating this coming summer and yet, we still looked like kindergartens whenever we're left alone! Feh! Spare me to the likes of them...I was obviously way more mature....WAS I NOT?! Just so everyone knows, I was dragged into this----literally and figuratively! Yes, I agreed to give a surprise 'gift' to that crazy old hag on the day of her expectedly glamorous birthday party---probably the last one that we got to attend before we go on our separate ways after high school. Oh yes...I agreed and just went with the flow....but who would have thought that I would be the one to pick the shortest stick during the draw lot?! It wasn't fair! Someone must have tricked me! Somebody---!!!

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Without warning, Sunako's visage came into view, the dim light around the area barely concealing her evil smile and her long hair dangling on my face.

"Whoah......" her cult-like voice uttered. "A sacrifice...! I can bring the guillotine here from the basement if y'all want!"

"Shut up, you freakin' goth! Why don't you make yourself useful and get me out of---!"

And before I knew it, I was already out from behind the high curtains (where did that come from??) and out to the little stage facing the crowd of chattering guests...

I really had good reflexes for not tripping and embarrass myself any further right after the guys threw me out. I was about to tear apart the curtains as Yuki carefully put my guitar on the floor toward me when I suddenly heard the old hag's voice amidst the ogling audience: "What's all this about, Kyohei?"

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I groaned. Well, I guess the damage was already done and I might as well make it worse so as to have fun with it at the very least. I grabbed a chair from one of the guests' tables and made way for the so-called stage again, then sat on it with one of my legs crossed while I positioned my guitar to begin. Seconds before I even pull the strings of the guitar, the crowd had already begun to squeal. What the heck....

I never knew love...could be like this

Never thought that I would be

The one that you would kiss...

Takenaga once told me that this was the old hag and her late husband's song. What the...how come I still remembered it? Was I, somehow, still operating according to his ideas even after all those morons did to me?!?

I never knew love...could be so rough

But now I found the real thing

I can't get enough...

Screw those guys...I don't care if I mess this plan up!

The sweetest surprise...caught me tonight

Right there in your eyes

While I was kissing you...

So don't say that you don't love

Everything you dreamed of...could be here...

I was already getting oblivious, if not at ease, with what was in front of me....and the last thing that I need at the moment was a distraction. Sunako Nakahara, you idiot! Why did you have to show up and ruin everything with your creepy, blunt voice?! She was suddenly standing timidly near the curtains; her head bowed as she tried to hide her face from the world. But still, she was singing. Even though she fidgeted her fingers and sweat gallons, she was still singing. I froze at the sight of her...

I used to wish, I used to dream

But now, I'm leaving my heart's wildest fantasy

So I'll begin to believe

Because our love is there for everyone to see...

At last, I came to my senses and decided to sing along with her. With the strings of my guitar that stopped as well a while ago, we went on surprising the old hag...

The sweetest surprise...caught me tonight

Right there in your eyes

While I was kissing you...

So don't say that you don't love

Everything you dreamed of...could be here...

I thought that that was it. I almost stopped in my tracks again as weird sounds started flooding in. I turned on my back once more but this time, I didn't completely came to a halt---not a sound had gone missing from me, as I felt that it would shame the rest of these knuckleheads...

On and on, the good things never end

hoohoo...

Ranmaru's head leaned in the violin...Takenaga blew the harmonica...and Yuki hit the tambourine merrily...

On and on, where we never pretend, ohohhh... yeah...

'

The three ushered Sunako as they settled to join me officially on stage. Noi, whom I knew was somewhere in the crowd, almost gave me a heart attack when she jumped in without invitation, dragging the usually zip-mouthed Tamao, and also sang with her heart's content (probably just to show off with Takenaga). Finally, all seven of us were perched in the middle of a predicament in which our job was to make sure that this wouldn't devastate Obaa-chan's birthday party. There we were: tone-deaf and the outfits were downright plain (Sunako was still in her sweatshirt!!) but we tried with all our might to fill the room with only the melody coming from us...even without a fancy microphone. This was somehow what we owed the old hag for taking us in her mansion in the first place. I searched for Obaa-chan among the heart-shaped-eyed guests: there she was, crying without realizing herself, perhaps...

The sweetest surprise

Caught me tonight

Right there in your eyes

While I was kissing you

I just noticed, where did that creepy, blunt voice go...?

So don't say that you don't love

Everything you dreamed of could be here...

Ah... hah... hahhh...

The comfort brought about by the song seemed to penetrate me tenfold. Sunako cracked into an unevident, but no doubt, smile...

So don't say that you don't love

Everything you dreamed of could be here....

As her pure, violet eyes continued to gleam behind that iron curtain that she had for a bangs, something pounded inside my chest and it only went on gathering up speed. I wonder if anyone else noticed...? I struggled to struck the last bit of strings to graciously end the 'gift', or rather, lengthen the time to mesmerize those two stunning orbs. The audience started to clap, thank goodness they liked it...but the roaring of their applaud vanished as fast as it appeared. What can I do? Something got the better of me. I kissed Sunako.

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If it weren't for Sunako herself, I wouldn't have stopped anytime sooner. I found her hands pushing both my shoulders, then she blinked.

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God, if only Yuki was just beside me, I could've sworn that I already threw him away in so much happiness! Sunako Nakahara, after staring at me for a very short distance and at more than five seconds, DID-NOT-NOSEBLEED!!! It was such an astonishing moment for me and, truth be told, too much for me to handle! I stood up, grabbed Sunako's hand to come off the stage toward the old hag and announce to her another surprise gift that I, myself, had never expected to ever come when....

....she escaped from my grasp..

...and frantically ran away.

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I tried to hold onto her, but without success. I saw her bump into one of the frilly-dressed guests but she managed to stand up and continued to go all the way---as if her life depended on it. I stood there, transfixed. It was a good thing, though, that the old hag was just near me; she hit me hard at the back and shouted: "What are you still gaping at here for, you monkey?!?! Go!!"

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I finally spotted her crouching by the end of the rose bush at the vast garden outside the mansion (was it just me, or that part of the bush really did turn a bit black..?). For some reason, I was shaking---- at least both my clenched fists were. Unable to control myself, I wasted no time in initiating a discussion with her.

'

"Were you that disgusted with me...huh.....?"

No response. Just a tiny movement in the bushes.

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"Don't even think about running away from me again or------!"

"Get away from me!"

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Like a salt that had been rubbed on a fresh wound, those few words barely kept me standing straight. I couldn't bear to ask her the obvious question, though......'why'..?

"Sunako, I think it's about to pour here outside, and it's cold, too. You'd better get inside..." I said, my face expressionless.

"Y-you go first!" she said. The grumbling thunder that was about to bring in the rain was getting louder.

"Oi..." I replied, trying to cover up my breaking voice. "You dimwit...did you actually take the whole thing a while ago seriously...?" I cautiously snuck up to her and threw my hooded jacket. "Get back inside---your aunt's waiting for you."

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Yet again, I came across with those mysterious violet orbs which seemed to hypnotize me even in my mind's eye. I envy my hooded jacket so much...it wasn't that bright, therefore, it could freely wrap itself around her. Sunako awkwardly stood up from her corner.

"C-c-come along now, bright creature, if you still care about the food, that is," she said, her hair slightly moving in the night air as she passed by.

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It was like letting go of your most precious bird with which you had longed to possess for years. Yes, you had fed it and took an utmost care of it until such time that it would learn to stay by your side even if you do let it out in its cage. But by the time you decided to really let it out, it didn't hesitate to go its way and never returned again. You, as the captor, who was also hoping to be more than that, wouldn't think of hunting it down anymore. It might die anyway in your refuge and it would most likely hurt more than the pain of regret caused by opening the door of that little cage. But still....

I couldn't help but be miserable. The rain poured at last but I was still nowhere near going back inside the mansion like what Sunako told me to. Sunako....

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I hate that name. That was my resolve. Why? Because she hurt me this much---because she was so stubborn, damn it! It was that simple. But my emotions were way more powerful than my mind right now, and so anger was not the one that was overwhelming me. To say that I was depressed or gloomy was a hell of an understatement. I couldn't explain it, just as how the pouring rain couldn't explain to me why it coincided with the unknown substance that was coming out of my burning eyes.

I sat on the damp grass and laid my back on the rose bushes. So what if I got sick? It might even have a good side to it, seeing that it would be possible that she would, though grudgingly, take care of me. The little raindrops turned into bigger ones...filling up the trenches and concave parts of the garden....the water splashing whenever someone stepped foot on it. A "splash"...then came another....and another... How come...? There couldn't be a whole lot of them who were already looking for me in an instant, could there? I couldn't care less, though. Until...

Someone from behind tried to slash my gut. The person managed to wound me, but that was as far as he could get. Years of having been involved in various unimaginable fights and it wouldn't be unusual to achieve such reflexes; I managed to disarm him, whoever it was. He was masked, and so was those cunning little worms who were already making their way into the depths of the mansion. Who the heck were they...? Oh shit...!

I immediately grabbed the gun of the masked idiot whom I disarmed just a while ago. I had no freakin' idea how to ever use a gun and so I fired it aimlessly into the air to alarm every single one of them who were inside the mansion, and perhaps, Obaa-chan's hidden bodyguards somewhere in the vicinity. I fired and fired....until maybe all the frustrations would cease to torment me. All of a sudden, I heard a gunshot that was not from mine. I felt a throbbing pain in my stomach.......and I was out.

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My weightless head was resting on my right palm this time. I mindlessly tried to reach the tangle of thick black hair that was spread out near my unconscious self and as expected, my hand just went through it, as if I was trying to hold the water. I was so confused. I wanted to just disappear at the moment but the prospect of not being able to watch horror flicks with her anymore made me fear the coming of it. Should I stay or not? If I did stay, what would I gain? And if I didn't, what would be solved...?

I raised my misty head and moved closer to that morbid creature. If I couldn't touch her, then I just had to pretend like I could. I moved my head even closer to her and gestured an idiotic kiss on her cheeks.

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"It's all up to you, goth girl," I whispered. She flinched a little, and was still.

The irritating machine nearby began ticking faster ...and faster...and faster....

"Sweetest Surprise" by Michael Learns to Rock

It was like....MONTHS...before this chapter showed up. gomen nasai..honto ni...

(/^o^)/**