Story: Coincidence or Fate? (chapter 3)

Authors: knightofangst

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Chapter 3

Title: Chapter 3: Stress and Frustration

[Author's notes:

 There is nothing that I can say that will explain the long long delay but I am working on this story and will be finishing at some point in the future.

 text = Thoughts

TEXT = Sounds

]

After my seminar, I got myself a light dinner at the student center before kendo practice. Then as usual I went to change in one of the shower stalls of the male change room. People just think that I'm just shy because of this. The guys on the kendo team are afraid to tease me about this since they are afraid that I'll beat them more during practices which happened the last time.

On my walk from the change room I passed a hallway of studios. Most were empty at the moment except for one and there was music coming from it.

Ooh . . . I'm not
You average type of girl
I'm gonna show the world the strength in me
That sometimes they can't see
I'm about to switch my style
And soon things may get wild
But I will prove I can conquer anything
So from my head to toe I'm taking full control
I'll make it on my own
This time
(Better watch me shine)

The door was slightly ajar so I decided to close the door so the music won't disturb others. When I peered in due to my curiosity, I was a bit mesmerized by what I saw.

Better watch out
Going for the knockout
And I won't stop
Till I'm on top now
Not gonna give up
Until I get what's mine
Better check that I'm about to upset
And I'm hot now
So you better step back
I'm taking over
So watch me shine

There was a girl who was practicing by herself but that was not the reason that drew me in. No, the thing that drew my attention was the grace and determination that she carried even though she was giving it her best effort. I could tell this by judging how her shirt was starting to cling to her body because of her sweat. Noticing that I was staring at her body, I began to warm up and blush. So I then glanced up to see how this . . . angel . . . looks like. My angel had her eyes closed so I couldn't see what colour they were but if I had to guess they would be as mesmerizing as the smile that was on her face: a care free smile that reveals that she is really enjoying what he is doing now. Her smile is so infectious that I started to smile a bit myself.

"AHEM. If you're done enjoying the show, can I get to my lesson?" a voice asked questioningly behind me.

I turned around and saw that a guy, a bit shorter than me, waiting for me to unblock the door. From how he dressed, I could also tell that this guy was a dancer as well. I quickly mumbled an apology, grabbed my gear to head to practice.

Due to my embarrassment that I got caught starring at someone I appeared a bit flustered when I arrived at the practice room.

"Ooohhh, I wonder what has our normally cool and collected Yuki-kun all ruffled up? Or should I ask who?" as one of my teammates named Ren Suzuki. At the sound of his annoying voice I focused on my thoughts and collected myself right away. Ren is considered my rival on the team. He is a business major and very savvy with his words and also considered a ladies' man. This is the complete opposite of me: the rebel with few words to say. But I still beat him at kendo so I think because of this reason he has always given me a hard time. If I had to compare him to someone though, he is almost like Kai but ten times worse in a mean way. But I have enough practice at home from my brother and father, so his teasing does not faze me and I can easily ignore him. One of the perks through is that I can hit Ren as hard and as much as I want in the kendo club without a scolding from my father.

"Sorry to disappoint you Suzuki-san but I'm just a bit restless. But thank you for volunteering to be my sparring buddy today." I calmly replied with a smirk of my own.

At this the others on the team started to laugh out loud and Ren started to get all huffy and puffy.

"Okay kiddies it's time to get serious. The preliminaries are on Wednesday. Sensei is stuck in a meeting today so I will lead this last practice" announced the team captain. "Let's begin with warm-ups and then actual sparring."

To save Suzuki-san some dignity, let's just say he practiced really "really" hard and I got to work out some of my frustration. Then when practice was officially done I stayed behind to work on my forward strokes and a bit of meditating so that most of the guys have cleared out of the change room. As I passed "the" studio my curiosity got the better of me and I peered in. Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed that no one was there anymore.

Wait a minute. Why am I disappointed? Didn't I already write off the relationship thing this morning and it can only happen in dreamland?

But you can just admire right? Admiring from afar doesn't mean automatically qualify entering into a relationship immediately. Right? You can always begin as friends.

Who are you? Why are you inside my head?

The voice didn't answer. So I turned around to make sure if it was just my imagination. Seeing no one there I calmed down a bit. One thing I didn't like about leaving late was that the hallways get kind of eerie at night. Kind of like the ones in the horror movies. I might be a kendo champ and can go against someone who may look ten times stronger or tougher than me. But my family knows one thing that will turn me into a scaredy cat: horror movies. I tend to have a wild imagination so after or even when I'm watching horror movies I would tremble, tremble, feel jumpy, and or try to hide. So based on this fact, I quickly went to change.

+ + + + +

Since I was hungry, I decided to go to the student center café to get a light snack before heading home. Looking over the choices available for snacks in the café, I picked a small bowl of spaghetti. For dessert I noticed that there was only one chocolate flavoured tiramisu left. So as I reached for it, my hand bumped into someone else's.

"Sorry." we both apologized at the same time. I glanced to see whose hand I bumped into and I saw a strawberry blonde wearing glasses looking at me.

"You can have it." We both say again at the same time.

The girl starts to giggle and I get that familiar rush of nervousness whenever I'm around a female but also at the same time I get the feeling of déjà vu. Not liking this feeling I take the cup of tiramisu and put it on her tray and walk over to the frozen yogurt section to grab something else. Then I stoically went to pay and find a corner to settle down and eat in.

Well that went well. At least you survived.

Oh be quiet whoever you are.

. . .

As predicted the voice was silent again. As there are many people around me I am not afraid of the voice. I take a look around and no one seems to be talking to me so I know it is just in my head. Since it is my head I logically know that it is just my conscience and imagination. But whichever one it is I can sense that there is no ill intent but just reason so I continued to eat.

While eating my mind wandered back to my Angel. I wonder who she is? Will I see her again?

I started to finish my drink when I glanced at my watch and I nearly ruined my shirt. For some reason with all the conversations going in my head and reminiscing about my "angel" time had passed by quite quickly. I quickly cleaned up and walked out to the parking lot. After I had secured all my stuff I put on my helmet and sped away home. The only block was a little green "Bug" that was slowly chugging away on my freeway but that was only a second before I easily passed it and made it just before midnight so father was not too worried.

After a short chastise from Mai our cook about the requirements of a healthy dinner that she cooks compared to the university cafeteria, I prepared for bed and fell into dreamland.

This time in dreamland I find myself in a third person role as I see myself from behind and this time I'm holding someone again.

What is with me and cuddling? Softy much?

I walk towards myself and the stranger and I hear that I'm whispering words of comfort into the person's ear. I blush at this and look away as this is the first time to see myself that I can be this affectionate. Looking at my surroundings I see that I'm in a concert hall and based on the way that I'm dressed that this is another recital of sort.

I stay behind the curtain as dream-me and the stranger walk toward the stage. Dream-me goes sit at the piano while the other person walks up to the microphone. I'm still not able to see this person's face though as I can only see everyone's back. I can tell that she is female and has blonde hair. My observation was distracted as a melodic introduction was played on the piano.

I close my eyes to try and think if I have heard of this piece before. I deduced that it is one of my own compositions because I recognize my some of my signature motifs here and there throughout the entire performance. As the music ends and the audience applaud I notice that singer just about to collapse when taking a bow. I try to move forwards to catch her but I feel like I'm being pulled backwards and trip. Everything seems like going in slow motion as I brace myself preparing for the impact of the floor and close my eyes.

CRAACK - KABOOM

When I feel like I've hit the floor I open my eyes and slightly jump on my bed. There's a thunder storm outside and as I glance at my digital clock it reads 5:00 AM. I realized that I just had another one of those dreams again but the feeling of unable of to help a person in need brought back unwanted memories so going back to sleep was out of the question.

I decided to do some laps in the pool to clear my mind. I like to swim but I don't get to do it as often due to my schedule and I don't like "exposing" myself.

After doing some laps at the pool my time seemed to fly by quickly. I took a quick shower and seeing that the rain had stopped and the sun was out. I decided to take my motorcycle again today but had a little argument with my father that it was safe. The morning lecture went by quickly and I had free time until a late afternoon course. The lack of sleep and stress of this morning had caught up to me so I decided to just put away everything and take a stroll around campus with no destination in mind. I took an early lunch and somehow found myself in the botanical gardens. I chose to site under one of the sakura trees to shade me from the sun. There was no one around that I can see so it was very peaceful when the silence was combined with the surrounding nature. My lack of sleep caught up to me and I fell asleep.

[End notes: The song included in this chapter is Watch Me Shine by Joanna Pacitti and I'm just borrowing the lyrics.]

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