Fan Fiction |
by Sheen and Smile :)
I still remember the first time I saw him on stage when I started going to this St Tonan. He walked out to give a speech, looking tall and drop-dead gorgeous. I can still see his dark eyes focusing slightly above our heads, his straight nose, well-defined jaw and the mop of ebony black hair with the floppy fringe that fell slightly into his face. And the brilliance of his speech … … Sigh … … I never believed in love at first sight until that very moment. However, I never did dare to approach him because of our different social status. I mean, he’s in the A class and not only that, he is the top student in A class and his IQ is meant to be about 200 – that’s like stratospheric. As for me, I’m right at the other end in F class and I’m only an average student in my class. As my dad always said, my talents lie in areas other than book learning. However, I’m still striving to discover where my talent lies.
Thank goodness my father has always been so understanding. It does make up to a certain extent for not having a mother. My poor mother had died giving birth to me. You know one hears of cases whereby fathers hated their children because their wives died in childbirth. I had once questioned him about that, but he only chuckled and replied, “it’s not possible for any father to hate their child. And it would be unfair to blame their child for the death of their mothers.” I’m lucky to have such a loving father.
I still remember the humiliation that ate into my very soul when I first confessed my love for Irie Kun – or at least sort of. Well, I’ll let you know the details and then you can decide if it really can be considered a confession or not. I had finally mustered enough courage after 2 years to write him a letter expressing my love for him and I waited for him after school in other to waylay him. Just when he was stepping out of the corridor with another guy, Watanabe – I think he was the person who always got second after Irie Kun, I mustered up my courage to step up to him and pass him the letter that was sealed in my best floral envelop.
“Irie Kun, would you please … … please read this letter … …” I stammered. To my utter shock, he simply frowned and told me coldly, “I’m not interested – I don’t like stupid girls.” It wasn’t that insult that cut into me. I know that my intelligence is definitely not one of my strong points. What hurt was the frosty indifference with which he delivered his short sentence and then totally ignored me, leaving me subject to the smirk of his friend, and jeers and scornful laughter of the students that were milling around. Within moments, the incident was reported throughout the entire school and everyone knew that idiotic Kotoko actually had the audacity to have a crush on Naoki Irie.
Like they say disasters do not occur singularly. If it wasn’t enough, there was an earthquake and our fragile Japanese style house was one of the “victims” and collapsed. I still remembered how Father and I ran out of our house when it was creaking dangerously, just in time to avoid being crushed. I saw the despondent look on Dad’s face as he looked at the ruins of our house. This was the house where he and mum stayed when they first got married and it was a remembrance of all their happy times together. However, he managed to revive his cheerful self and comforted me who was bawling like a baby.
“Where would we live pa?” I sniffed, worried about our future.
“I will arrange for us to stay with my best friends first while they get this area fixed up.”
“Will they fix this place up again?” I looked at him for reassurance, feeling his deft fingers stroking my silky hair.
“Don’t worry, Kotoko. This place is insured. We’ll definitely be able to get another place to stay. Just that it’ll take time to rebuilt.”
I went to school the next day only to see a huge commotion and a large banner waving. I went there out of curiosity and came to regret my decision bitterly. One of my good friends, Kinnosuke, was holding the banner that advertised to the world that poor Aihara Kotoko was left homeless because her house collapsed when the roof caved in during the earthquake, and asked for donations for her. Hang on a second, how come the girl’s name and circumstances are identical to me – they were talking about me! I wanted to kill him for putting me in such a humiliating position, yet on the other hand, I knew he was trying to help me in his kind simpleton way. Okay, there’s no denying it, I believe that Kinnosuke might have a crush on me – part of the reason could be because his IQ is even lower than mine. We had been friends since we were in diapers. He welcomed me with his usual beam and thrust the donation can in my hands before I could do anything. To my horror, who had to come up at this point in time but Naoki Irie.
“Hey it’s all your fault!” Kinnosuke was yelling irrationally as per normal.
“Why is it my fault?” The cool expression on Naoki’s face didn’t change and his tone was as icy as his glance.
“You are a jinx that brought bad luck on Kotoko. She has been miserable ever since she had the misfortune of knowing you.”
“Are you trying to blame the earthquake on me?” This time one of his eyebrows lifted in disdainful amazement.
Naoki’s POV
I have given up trying to reason with the people in F class. Simply put, they belong on a different planet and are of a totally different species. This fellow in particular is one of the extreme cases – how illogical can he get? Blaming the earthquake on me? I focused my gaze on Kotoko – the irritating girl who was trying to give me a letter yesterday. Her eyes were downcast and her face was cherry red. I guess she must be feeling embarrassed at having such an idiot for a friend – I would be ashamed too. The imbecile went on and on. Fine! I started digging into my pockets and came up with 5,000 Yen.
“Okay, I’ll donate. Will you let me pass now?” Her head came up in a flash as she pushed my outstretched hand away from the donation box.
“I don’t want your money. You’re so unfeeling. I regret having wasted my last two years having a crush on you!” Her normally scared looking large eyes were actually shooting sparks as she glared at me. I never knew she had the guts or the spirit to be so defiant, and she looked kind of cute at the moment. Well, at least she had courage not like her weird friends. Seeing that she didn’t want my handouts as she put it, I gave up and glanced coolly at her before walking to my class. I will never be able to understand these mentally inferior homo sapiens.
“Naoki.” That was mum calling me the moment I entered the house.
“Yes, ma?”
“Your dad’s and my friend will be coming to stay with us for a while and he has daughter around your age.” I was going to protest when I saw her looking disapprovingly at me.
“Yuki will be sharing your room. They are coming tomorrow … …” Her unusually stern gaze convinced me that this was one of the few times when she meant what she said. I shut my mouth and shot her my usual cool expressionless gaze, before going to help Yuki pack. I could see that Yuki was rather irritated at having to shift his stuff to my room too.
“Well, thank goodness I’m sharing a room with you and not that girl,” he grumbled putting away his stuff. Seeing that he didn’t need further help, I continued reading the science fiction in English that I had commenced previously. Issac Asimov is indeed a fantastic writer.
Kotoko’ POV
I never realized that Dad’s friends were so rich – I was looking at a lovely modern style terrace house surrounded by a small garden. I felt positively shabby standing next to Dad carrying my small little suitcase. Suddenly, the door was flung open and a small bald man ran out and hugged my Dad.
“Shigeo!” He yelled happily as my Dad bear-hugged him back. A good looking slim woman in her 40s ran out after him – goodness, she was actually taller than him but still shorter than my father.
“Welcome Shigeo!” Her voice was chirpy.
“Shigeki, Noriko, how are you?” To my amazement they all held hands and did something like a little jig to express the extent of their delight at seeing each other. It was really heart warming to see that such friendship exists. I smiled at them until Noriko stopped and looked at me with a warm welcoming smile.
“So this is Kotoko – you really look like your mum.” She gave me an unexpected hug. I liked her very much.
“Hi Auntie and Uncle,” I said with a low bow.
“Come you must see my sons, I don’t have a daughter – always wanted one – I have only two sons and one’s your age.” She was chattering merrily away. Then I heard her say, “this is my eldest son Naoki and this is my second son, Yuki.” I paused slightly in my low bow – how come he had the same name as Naoki? As I straightened from my bow, my eyes traveled up a dark blue shirt and then a familiar cool handsome face. I froze – god it was Naoki and I was staying with him in his house after refusing his help yesterday! He had already turned to my Dad and was greeting him politely, not even looking at me. I looked at the younger son who was a miniature Naoki. He gave me a cold look before ignoring me. Embarrassment flooded my soul, I couldn’t bear it anymore and quickly walked out of the house. Anywhere, just staying anywhere would be better than here. I stood at the front door, looking confusedly up and down the road, not knowing which way to turn. Then I heard footsteps behind me.