A Matter of Luck and Coincidence.
by morphodoll.
There was no way that he could fathom this idiotic woman wanting to buy chocolate cake materials in the busiest day of the year where everybody was out hunting for anything chocolate and red and mush. It was the 13th of February and this…this…stupid, inhuman, crazy, mean, mad chick thought that 'hey, don't you think a chocolate cake is good right now?'
And here they were. Busy crowds passing by and he knew, right now she probably regretted this as much as he did thinking that it'd be nice to go out, totally forgetting the fact that tomorrow is going to be Valentine's day. He tightened his grip on her wrist as a pre-caution; there was no knowing that she could slip off from him anytime now.
"…tell me, just why are we shopping for chocolates on Valentine's eve while tomorrow, you could indulge thousands of fucking chocolates at the comfort of our home?"
She glared at him, obviously uncomfortable with the crowds and his death grip on her wrist. "Well, you see, in the first place, you did agree with me that a chocolate cake is a good idea! You even wanted to tag along!"
That made Kyohei turned his head to her- that was pouting her lips and glaring her super-laser-doom glare. Well, that was true; and just why did he wanted to tag along in the first place?
"W-well, how should I know that it is 13th February? You know that I don't care about this stuff," he replied, trailing off, obviously trying to avoid the reason why he wanted to tag along.
"Then, why would you think that I of all people would know that tomorrow is Valentine's Day?"
He really wanted to drop off the subject, the crowds were suffocating him and there was no assurance that Sunako wouldn't try to get off his hold on her once he made her pissed.
"Because it's the day where you get to hog all the chocolates in the world. Listen, I don't have the mood to argue with you; I'm tired, it's too cold right now…hungry and the crowds…" he looked over to see her expression and she certainly looked more annoyed with him than she was with the crowds.
A mad Sunako is no good. And he didn't want to be looking for her in these crowds if she was ever thinking of running away from him.
"…let's just get the cakes material. We're already out on the road as it is, anyway." That was not a good sign, Kyohei thought. She was all bubbly (well, in her own way) and excited when they were planning about this chocolate cake, now that her mood was down, he couldn't help to think that he contribute a part in making her pissed off.
He felt a cold sweat running down from his temple to his face. He's an ass; he thought to himself and silently sighed under his breath.
Their steps came to a halt as they found one shop that wasn't as crowded as the others. Sunako yanked her hand away from Kyohei's grip and made her way into the shop, leaving a rather befuddled Kyohei behind. He rolled his eyes and scratched his not so itchy head while cursing.
Then, he proceeded into the shop while covering half of his face with his muffler. Once he found her busy searching for the chocolate cakes' ingredients, he silently and randomly picked a chocolate bar from the shelves. Quickly, he went to the counter, tiptoeing like a ninja so she wouldn't notice his presence in the shop.
The cashier looked at Kyohei suspiciously.
"What?" Annoyed at the look the cashier gave him, he raised an eyebrow and slammed the chocolate on the counter.
"N-no, it's nothing actually. Just wondering shouldn't you be buying this next month for White Day?" The cashier carefully arranged her question since this guy in front of her looked very cross (eventhough she couldn't see her face) and she certainly didn't feel the need to cross him more.
"I'd be stuffed with carrots and dodging countless murder attempts by that time. Wait a second, why is it so expensive?" His eyes bulged as he looked at the price displayed.
"Well, sir, it is Valentine's Day."
"No, it's not. Tomorrow is."
The cashier took a deep breath and continued, "Look, we have packages there. See, the teddy bears, chocolate box and the cookies? I assured you it'd be more worthy if you buy one of those since it'd only cost you 5 bucks more."
He turned his head, carefully, so his eyes won't meet hers and looked at the packages on one of the shelves. Teddy bears? He would be dead by the end of the night tops!
"What if you remove the teddy bears? Pretty sure she wouldn't like it." The cashier was trying her hardest not to roll her eyes, thinking that 'every customer is a valued customer' and this young man here obviously looking desperate enough to patch things up with his girlfriend.
"No, can't do sir, But you can throw those teddy bears away after you buy the package."
"Shit, that'd be a waste of my money. Wait, wait. Did you have Sally and Jack plush dolls instead?"
The cashier was ready to launch her fit of rage but then she remembered a box of odds plush dolls in case they weren't enough teddy bears and if her memory served her right, there were a Sally and Jack plush dolls. She motioned a wait hand sign towards Kyohei and he whispered "FASTER!" as he was looking around the shop.
"I'd say this is your lucky day, sir." She said as she keyed-in the price. Kyohei rolled his eyes and mouthed a quick 'thanks' as he grudgingly paid for the package. Then, he quickly went out from the shop, trying to act casual, hiding the V-day special package inside his overcoat, waiting in front of the shop.
After a few minutes, Sunako came out of the shop, still looking as pissed as she was before. He tried to take the plastic bag from her hand but she moved away from him.
"It's okay, I can carry it by myself," she spat the words coldly.
"…so how does it goes? Find all the ingredients?" He lamely asked.
She only nodded her head. He looked away from her, trying to think about when is the best time to give her the chocolate and apologise for being such an ass. Well, it's now or never, since she really, really looked like she was angry at him. 'Lucky day, huh?' he thought as he remembered the cashier's words.
"Hey, I was," he looked around besides him and she was nowhere to be found!
It hadn't even pass a minute and she was gone, poof, just like that! He raked his hair and muttered something sounding like "annoying bitch". That ability of hers to disappear just like that is out of the world and with these crowds; it'd be harder to find her.
He tiptoed on his shoe to get a better view of the crows. She does standout from the others anyway and probably it'll be easier for him to spot her that way. Okay…good, there she was, but, wait a second, holding a guy's hand?
Really?
He was here, worrying about her, heck he even bought her some stupid chocolate with dolls and cookies. And how the hell she managed to snatch a man that fast? Sure she was unconventionally attractive, sometimes far too adorable when she spoke and the way her jet-black hair fall against her shoulder made her look like those shampoo models, and the way her large eyes lit up…okay, this clearly wasn't the time for him to be thinking about those thoughts.
Bitch, if she thought that she was the only one who could make those pissed face, he sure as hell could make a better, far far better demon-from-hell pissed face.
He followed the 'couple' and pushed over the crowds aside and roughly tugged at the furry hood of her overcoat. 'W-wait a minute, she didn't wear fur coat!' He thought to himself as he spun the girl around to meet her eyes.
There was a time that Takenaga called him 'The Sunako Detector' and now he wasn't so sure of the title anymore since the girl he was following was not Sunako. They looked about the same, the hair, the height, but Sunako's eyes were more like those round big buttons and this girl has feline shaped eyes.
"W-what?" The girl looked surprised and as he looked at the girl in her eyes, he saw his surprised reflection as well. He presumed that the guy that the girl was holding hand with was her boyfriend and he looked pretty much surprised as well. But then, the guy quickly slapped Kyohei's hand away and wrapped a possessive arm across his girlfriend's shoulder.
Kyohei was too shocked to speak or move, he never, ever fail to find Sunako or manage to mistake other person as her.
"What do you want from her?" The boyfriend raised his voice, firm and sturdy as he kept his girlfriend close to him. Kyohei took a deep breath and bowed down his head, really that bitch was going to pay for his humiliation once he found her back.
"Sorry, I didn't mean t—" His words trailed off as he felt a tap on his back and heard a huffing sound as if they have just completed a 100m race.
"There you are! I got lost in the crowds and-and-and they were trampling me until I- "She looked infront of her and she found a couple staring at them wide-eyed. The girl looked morbidly familiar though.
"Eh?"
Kyohei lifted his head up and pushed Sunako in front of the couple by holding to her shoulders. "This is why I followed your girlfriend just now." He narrowed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows and forced a bow onto Sunako's head and he bowed soon after.
"I'm so sorry; this bitch is too good at getting lost." He, then, took Sunako by the hand and entwined their fingers together, but Sunako have other things in her mind right now. She squeezed his hand as she uttered "…wait. Wait!"
Sunako then proceeded, hand dragging Kyohei, to the couple that was still standing there, frozen, obviously shocked with the event that was happening right now.
She pointed her finger to the girl that was standing in front of them and bounced lightly on her feet, looking back at Kyohei with eyes glittering with happiness and smiling very widely. "She's…she's…she's a creature of darkness!"
Kyohei forcefully put down her pointing fingers and told her off; because it was rude to do so while hiding his face with his hands but a part of him was happy that she finally brightened up a little. Sunako ignored him and bowed a little. "Nice to meet you, my name is Nakahara Sunako," she offered a handshake to the frozen girl while smiling.
The girl then blush a bright shade of red and awkwardly bowed back to Sunako and took Sunako's hand in hers. "M-my name is Kuronuma Sawako! N-nice to meet you too!"
"A-ma-zing," the silent boyfriend opened his mouth. "You two looked almost the same. Even the name! Wow. This is unbelievable."
Kyohei went over to the boyfriend. "Yeah. I can't believe it too. Hey, sorry about y'know, before. Since you've seen this annoying woman…," Kyohei purposely tugged on Sunako's hair violently and continued, "…I hope you will understand."
"Let go!" Sunako shouted and Kyohei stuck out his tongue at her before finally letting go of his hold.
"N-no, no, I was the one who should be saying sorry for shouting at you earlier." The boyfriend scratched his head sheepishly out of embarrassment. "By the way, I'm Kazehaya Shouta," he offered a hand towards Kyohei.
Kyohei smirked and accepted Kazehaya's handshake. "Takano Kyohei."
"So Sawako-chan do you like horror?" Kyohei could recognize that gleeful high-pitched that she used only when she was excited. And that means she probably wanted to hang around this Kuronuma girl a little bit longer.
Kyohei pulled Kazehaya a little closer and resentfully shook his head, "Let's just…find a nice warm place to chat."
"Eh? You like telling story about ghost?"
"Uhm. I…I like how people respond to my stories."
"I like watching horror movies, but I guess anything related to horror is nice."
"Rea-really? Can you suggest me some good horror movies? I want to be able to deliver a very good ghost story!"
"I'd be glad too! What kind of ghost do you prefer? The shrieking one or the wailing one or those psychotic ghost one?"
Kyohei slammed his head down on the table. He thought that Noi did rub off on Sunako, afterall. Kazehaya put down the tray of coffees as he took the seat besides Sawako. He silently but still happily distributed the coffees among them and scattered the sugar packets on the tray. Kyohei was about to take some of the sugar packets but Sunako took his coffee and poured in the sugar as he liked it, 4 packets- since his taste buds resembled one of a child- and stirred the coffee for him before proceeding to do so with her own coffee.
"Wah, Nakahara-san even knows how many sugar that Takano-san prefers!" Kazehaya loudly exclaimed with bright eyes while Sawako nodding furiously.
"…t-that was a…habit." Sunako quickly brushed off Kazehaya's claim as her eyes met Kyohei's and the earlier thoughts of getting mad at him was made known to her. Then, she quickly averted her eyes from Kyohei and focused towards Sawako that was sitting in front of her.
Kyohei sighed inside, knowing that probably she remembered back her anger towards him. Sunako continued her conversations with Sawako and that made him stuck with Kazehaya.
"Sooo, Kazehaya, you play sports?"
"Yeah, been playing baseballs since I was born. Old man is a baseball coach."
"Cool, I play baseballs too! What position do you play?" The guys simultaneously did a loud high five.
Not only the girls hit it off, seemed like the boys were having a nice conversation as well. But unbeknownst to them, half of the coffee shop was staring at them. Well, who wouldn't, two beautiful couples on the eve of Valentine's Day chatting loudly, inside most of them were jealous on how pretty those couples looked.
Sawako bent her head down and motioned Sunako to come closer to her while they were talking, or rather; Sunako had been talking about the awesome-ness of Freddy and Jason. Kyohei and Kazehaya were still busy chattering about how the baseball teams were doing this season.
"Er, Nakahara-san, can we go out for a bit?" Sawako whispered in a very low tone.
"Eh, what for? I was just talking about Freddy's dreamy crooked smile." Sunako puffed out her cheeks.
"It's…it's…just, I-I-I want to buy Kazehaya-kun's honmei chocolate ingredients," she answered it while looking away cutely and then her eyes met Kazehaya's that naturally decided that he wanted take a peek at his girlfriend right at that moment. They both quickly looked away; blushing to their ears and awkwardly tried to start back their conversations earlier with Kyohei and Sunako.
Kyohei was obviously snickering and that made Kazehaya went all defensive and brushed him off. Sunako smiled a little bit, probably because of Sawako's determination and dragged Sawako out from the shop while stating briefly to the boys that they will be right back.
Kazehaya looked stumped and Kyohei just shrugged his shoulder knowing how random that girl could be sometimes.
Sunako lead their way, telling her about the shop she went before she miraculously met Sawako. Sunako looked hesitant as they reached the shop.
"…Sawako-chan, you're okay being with radiant creature?"
Sawako was so surprised that her hand flew to her mouth in a moment. In her mind, she was saying how thankful she is to find someone who thinks just like her! "H-how do you know that I think Kazehaya-kun as radiant?"
"…well, because he is. Just like that annoying impudent mean bipolar bastard of a creature."
"D-do you mean…Takano-san?"
Sunako just shrugged and continued to ask more. "Don't you think it's hard when you're with a radiant creature?"
Sawako looked shocked for a moment before smiling sweetly, like those girls that she saw in Ranmaru's favourite movies; head over heels for a guy.
"Kazehaya-kun…being with him…feels like a dream come true. I-it's not exactly hard b-but I like him…so there's no other way," Sawako answered purely as she clasped her hand and blushed, and Sunako couldn't help to think whether if Sawako was really a dark creature.
So, dark and light could really be together?
The madly-in-love Sawako continued to pick her ingredients and glanced over towards a now frozen Sunako.
"N-nakahara-san don't you want to buy anything?"
"…I just bought the ingredients for the chocolate cake," she looked around the shop and then looked back towards Sawako, "…no, I don't think so."
"E-eh? S-so, th-this means, you don't make a honmei choco for Takano-san?"
Sunako pointed her fingers towards her face. "Me? Honmei choco? That creature? What for? He'll be receiving thousands of chocolate tomorrow and he won't be eating any of them."
"I-I see. Last year, I didn't even give Kazehaya-kun any chocolates because I was too busy thinking of how he would think of that. T-thinking back, it was stupid of me."
Sunako stared off the space thoughtfully.
It'd be even more stupid if she was even thinking of making him a honmei choco.
And why would Sawako assumed that she would be making him a honmei choco in the first place?
"…your girlfriend, does she ever bring up any darkness, radiant-ness related topic?"
Kazehaya raised his head from the baseball magazine that Kyohei had bought earlier when he was on the way to the bakery shop with Sunako. He put his hand on his chin thoughtfully.
"Now that you ask, I think she did say something about me looking radiant and bright."
"And she's still okay being with you? No nosebleed or anything?"
Kazehaya let out a laugh. "Nosebleed? Why would she have nosebleed for? Hmm, she just blushed a lot…but that's okay, she's cuter that way."
Kyohei ruffled his hair and leaned back on the chair while sipping his coffee. Honestly he didn't know what should he ask about Kazehaya's relationship with Kuronuma, but he was curious on how, when, where and why they were together. Eventhough he was known for his rudeness amongst his close friends, but he did know the limit of asking such personal question towards someone that he just knew, literally 45 minutes ago.
Seeming to have the same thing in his mind, Kazehaya looked at level with Kyohei's eyes. "Nakahara-san…and you…how long you guys have been together?"
Raising his eyebrows, Kyohei was stumped for his life. Here he was thinking about the limits and boundaries but this guy just blurted out that kind of question out of nowhere. Both of them fell into an uncomfortable silent and Kazehaya laughed awkwardly.
"Aha, sorry, I guess that question was no good." He scratched his head sheepishly.
"She's…not my girlfriend. Not that kind of girlfriend, yes, she is a girl friend, I think, well at least for me, but…," Kyohei looked confused himself. A friend, really? Well, he certainly wouldn't be worried as much if it was another girl friend, say for example Noi.
"…whatever, she's an important person to me. That's all I guess." Kyohei continued.
Kazehaya widened his eyes. "Eh? But you guys…I don't know, there's something. It's not like those kinds of usual affection."
"You're not the first one who thought of that." Kyohei rolled his eyes. Why was everyone around him tried to pair him with that girl?
Kazehaya shrugged his shoulder and took another sip of the warm coffee. "Well, it's not our fault, judging by the look you gave me when you thought Kuronuma-san as Nakahara-san."
Kyohei widened his eyes, dammit, was it that obvious? This was the second time someone pointed out about that.
"Now it's my time for questioning. How exactly…you know, your girlfriend thought you are bright…then, how should I phrase this…how can you guys be together?"
"I like her. No, I like, like, like her. And it happened to be that she likes me too. So…I guess that's how we're together." Kazehaya looked down while answering rigidly, sporting a blush on his cheek.
"…it's that easy?" Kyohei looked every bit interested (considering that he had been leaning forward to the table) in Kazehaya's reply but he tried hard not to sneer when Kazehaya said that he likes, likes, likes Sawako.
"Not really. I thought it was one-sided. And somehow there was this guy that was trying to get close to her and as I'm not one who can put up with that kind of stuff so at that time it kinda put a strain on our friendship." Kazehaya answered earnestly.
"Their type really attracts attention huh? I just don't get it sometimes." His mind wandered off to Sunako's own league of fanboys.
Kazehaya narrowed his eyes as he watched Kyohei looked away.
"Takano, do you realize that –hmmprfff- you just totally give that away? C'mon dude, you're that obvious." Kazehaya was trying hard to contain his laughter.
"What is obvious? I wasn't giving away anything; you guys just love to assume things."
"Suit yourself Takano. I was just saying…," Kazehaya gave Kyohei a meaningful glance only to meet Kyohei's rolling eyes.
At that time, Kyohei saw two distinct familiar dark figures and pointed out with his fingers so Kazehaya's attention will be directed towards his beloved arrival. Silently, Kyohei thanked God that the subject wasn't to be prolonged anymore.
He was tired making excuses to whatever assumptions that Kazehaya had in his head. It was just going to be a waste of energy explaining since he was pretty sure Kazehaya is in the same boat as his other three housemates.
"Where did you guys go?" Kazehaya asked with that cheerful beaming aura radiating, making Sunako inwardly flinched of his brightness.
Sawako tried to avoid any eye contacts with Kazehaya, looking at anywhere but him. "Err-err, nowhere in particular. Just walking down the street."
Sunako just shrugged as she saw Kyohei's questioning eye motion and took back her seat beside Kyohei. Kyohei gave her a 'you-better-don't-do-anything-weird' look, making her retort with her wide eyes 'no-I-don't' glance.
Both Sawako and Kazehaya watched them in awe. First, the sugar thing and now this 'we-communicate-with-eye' thing?
Kazehaya cleared his throat. "See, you guys don't even need words to communicate."
Sunako and Kyohei turned their head at the exact same time towards Kazehaya and threw him a 'back-off' glare. Kazehaya raised both of his hands up, mouthing a 'whoa'.
Then, the night continued on.
They talked more, Sunako and Sawako on the topic of horror and what movie should a horror fan watch and what novel should a horror fan read; anyone else who saw those girls at the table might be thinking that they were talking about their favourite celebrities and gossiping about their friends at school. While the guys were, well, typical. Talking about sports but once in a while Kazehaya tried to pry on the subject of Kyohei and Sunako being together only to be ignored by Kyohei.
Kazehaya glance on the watch on his wrist, he clearly remembered Sawako's dad expression when he explained the importance of curfew for his beloved daughter. He sighed as he called out to Sawako and told her that they have to get going.
The more than blissful couple excused themselves as both of them bowed down; Sawako a little bit more. Sunako hugged her and promised to send her one of her favourite movie. Kazehaya and Kyohei on the other hand, slammed their fist and patted each other's back.
Before leaving, Kazehaya whispered in Kyohei's ear, "Good luck with Nakahara-san!"
"The fuck was that for?" Kyohei shouted as Kazehaya grabbed Sawako's hand and waved them goodbye. He inwardly sighed, what was with everyone talking about luck today? He tried to steal a glance at the girl beside him, wondering if she was still mad with him.
Who he was kidding? She is always mad with him.
He saw from the corner of his eyes that she was smiling broadly, obviously happy meeting someone of her 'kind' and a thought popped up inside of him at that time; he would also feel happy whenever she smiled like that. Hence the small smile that appeared on his face.
"Shall we head home now?" She looked up at him, still smiling that sweet smile of hers. So, this is the right moment. Right now, when she was still happy and nice and sweet and adorable.
"Hey, about earlier…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to downgrade your chocolate-cake-making spirit." He earnestly looked in her eyes and eventhough he already knows that she will probably forget it all by the time (because of Sawako's distraction) they arrived at home he still want to make this right.
She widened her eyes, looking every bit flustered maybe remembering why she was mad at such silly things when it came to him. "N-no, no, no, it's so stupid. I'm the one who should be sorry for getting mad for no reason."
This is what he likes about her the most. Not that he likes her. No, scratch that, he likes her but not in that 'like' like way. No, that was just a crazy assumption made by others.
Letting out a chuckle, he patted her head, pausing momentarily to play with the strands of her hair. "…I'm sorry." He repeated that word in a low deep voice that sent an involuntary tremble in Sunako. Stupid creature, she thought, wondering how by even listening to his voice it could made her feel so…disturbed?
"…should I help you bake the cake then? You know, to make it up to you," he suggested out of the sudden. Sunako snapped out of her trance, heads replaying what he was saying again and again like a broken records. Takano Kyohei? Baking? And then she remembered the chaos once when Kyohei decided that he would be of a good help at the kitchen and God, no way will she ever let it happen again.
"NO! No, it's okay, you just stay out of the kitchen. Please." They had start walking by now; the street was still crowded with girls rushing to buy anything chocolate. Kyohei pouted in an instant, "I was just kidding, you don't have to refuse like that. You looked at me like I was going to take Hiroshi away from you."
She let out a laugh and he smiled because she smiled and he took her hand at that moment and she didn't seem to mind much of that. He took out the chocolate package that he bought earlier from his coat and placed it in her palm.
"This…so that I don't have to help you bake and you don't have to be all pissed-off at me when the kitchen looked like it was burnt down."
Her eyes widened as she saw Jack and Sally and chocolates and cookies and she managed to stammer a 'thank you' before smiling again, that sweet, sweet rare smile of hers and Kyohei thought that he had all the luck in the world at that moment. Maybe he should thank Kazehaya and the cashier.
Walking side by side, hand entwined together, a more-than-happy Sunako, what could luck give him more?
Sunako looked up at him, contemplating on whether she should ask him about 'that' or not. Expecting her to say something, he raised his eyebrows, with a very very contented face. "What?"
"I was just thinking…hmm," she looked down to her shoes, get a grip Sunako, this is just a way for you to repay him back for the chocolates and it meant nothing, totally nothing. There's no need to get a nosebleed over something this trivial, she thought. Fiddling with her fingers, she continued, "…do you want chocolate as well since we have all the ingredients?"
He blinked once, twice. Did he hear this right?
Chocolate? As in honmei chocolate? With tomorrow happened to be Valentine's Day? And how more adorable this girl could be, he thought as he saw the uncertainty in her big purple eyes as she looked up expectantly.
"…not like the Valentine's Day chocolate chocolate. Just chocolate chocolate." She added.
There was never once in his life that he thought he would be so happy to receive a chocolate.
"O-of course. I'd love to! Since when I resist free food?" Since when I would resist anything from Nakahara Sunako was what he thought and mentally slapped himself for the stammer. Seriously, where was all this luck coming from?
Unconsciously, he squeezed Sunako's hand in his hold and without thinking, she squeezed his back. Kyohei smiled his lopsided smile as they talk about their encounters with Kazehaya and Sawako, Sunako telling him what Sawako bought for Kazehaya and he told him briefly (he's not that stupid!) about his conversation with Kazehaya while heading back home.
In his mind, he was already planning how to force her into watching a movie with him after this. And probably trying to steal a kiss when she falls asleep after she finished watching it.
"Nothing happens by chance, my friend... No such thing as luck. A meaning behind every little thing, and such a meaning behind this. Part for you, part for me, may not see it all real clear right now, but we will, before long." – Richard Bach
I wrote this for almost a month. Glad that it was finished. Phew. This was too long that I couldn't believe that I wrote it.