Cheers… To them who are Dense 3
Blonde head could be seen bowed low. A pair of brown eyes (?) were shut down and seemed to draw images inside his tumultuous head. Tate was in a restaurant with his girlfriend Mai; he called and asked the fiery haired woman to see him at Linden Baum, a branch of the original. He raised his head and looked at his girlfriend but she was looking outside, her mind probably miles away.
"Ah Mai," he called out which got the woman's attention, "Do you want to order?"
The fiery haired woman shook her head, "I thought you were busy with your thesis, so why did you ask me to come here?"
The blonde man fidgeted on his seat, "Are you sure you don't want to order…,"
"Something's wrong that's why you're dodging my question, or why you're trying to stall," She sighed, "I got a lot on my mind Tate, so if you are not going to say anything worthy, I better go…,"
"Please stay, I really need to talk with you."
Mai nodded her head and waited with a frown on her face. After sometime of silence, she sighed deeply and crossed her arms over her well endowed chest, "You know Tate, I heard from others that when a guy or a woman asked their other half that 'they need to talk", it almost always ends up with the couple breaking up. So...," she looked at Tate who once again raised his head to eye his girlfriend, "...are you breaking up with me Tate?"
There was no answer. Mai kept on waiting as patiently as she could at the moment.
"Anoo... Mai-"
"Is there another woman?" Mai asked, Tate shook his head, "Another man then?" The blonde man's eyes widened at the question, but he shook his head no immediately, "So?"
He sighed, "I'm not happy Mai."
Mai nodded her head, "Was it because of me?"
Tate shrugged his shoulders, "I wanted to have something from you that you were not willing to give, and I respect that, but I am a man and I do have needs...,"
Mai smiled, "If Natsuki were here, she would have said, "The fuck? How can you say you love Mai when all you think about is your need?" Tate's face blushed from embarrassment, "But I'm not Natsuki so I'm not saying it that way, though I too might think the same thing. I'm sorry Tate, but I tried." She smiled at her now ex-boyfriend, "I too am not happy."
Silence
"So what will happen to us now?" Tate asked.
"I still hope for us to be friends," Mai smiled, "Are you sure there's no one else?"
Tate sighed, "There was this new girl in our kendo class at the university. I can describe her as a good girl with bad habit," he chuckled and looked at Mai, he sighed in relief when there was no anger on the fiery haired woman's face. "Would you believe she was a fangirl of Fujino Kaichou when she was still a freshman in Kyoto University?"
"She is huh?" Mai rested her back on her chair, "So what happened?"
"In despair I guess," Tate laughed, "She transferred in our university last year but only enrolled in kendo now."
"That is nice, and as a friend Tate, I say go for it." the fiery haired woman said sympathetically,
"So what about you, why were you not happy with me?" he asked timidly.
"It wasn't you Tate,"
The blonde haired man nodded his head, "So it was Mikoto all along and you were too dense to see it?" he said grinning.
Mai was stunned and looked at her ex, "You knew?"
"Oh come on Mai! Even Kanzaki knew about it, he did used Mikoto during the carnival to get to you is it not?" he said, "Look, I've noticed from the start of our relation that there is something missing, and then I saw you with Mikoto, the way you talk to her, the way you treat her, the way you smiled at her? They were much different when those were directed to me."
"Different?"
"Hai, as in there's always this light on your eyes every time you give them to Mikoto, and it were always dull when it's for me." The kendoka explained.
Mai looked at Tate intently, "If you noticed that, why did you stick with me until now?"
"Due to the hope that someday you'll change your heart and give those to me instead?" He smiled at his ex gf, "And well, I'm quite stubborn and I'm not losing to Mikoto, but I guess...,"
"I think I'm kind of late," Mai confessed, "Aoi and Chie saw her dating Fujino Kaichou,"
Tate's eyes widened like before, "AS IN? Shizuru and Mikoto?" he saw Mai's head nod in agreement. "Look, even if I were there and saw them dating, I'll think twice. Maybe Chie and Aoi made a mistake! There's no way Shizuru would go for Mikoto when she's head over heels in love with Natsuki!"
"Well it seemed she moved on," The purple eyed woman blinked back tears, "Or they moved on."
Silence
Tate stood up and placed a couple of bills on the table despite not ordering, he stepped close to Mai and patted the woman's back, "You can't give up. We both know that Mikoto is 'the one'," he smiled at his girlfriend sincerely this time, "I'm moving on to find my happiness, you on the other hand know where that happiness is so you go for it."
The fiery haired woman looked at the blonde man, this time with awe in her eyes, "I didn't know you could be such a good guy." Mai said smiling,
"What the hell…,"
"Thank you." Mai stood and kissed Tate on his cheek one last time. "Next time we meet again Tate, we will be comparing notes."
The blond man scratched his nape with his right hand, his left one left inside one of his pocket, "Yeah… yeah… we will," he stood straight and turned away from Mai, "Thank you for coming to see me, and bye Mai."
Mai waved her hand good bye, "Bye Tate…," she whispered.
-maiuniverse-
Mai's mind was racing as she traversed the hallway that leads to the apartment she was sharing with Natsuki. She wanted to know what Natsuki found out this morning when she visited Shizuru in Fuuka Gakuen. Her mind was already formulating plans how to get Mikoto back if Chie and Aoi's report a few days ago was correct. But her mind was not ready to find Natsuki sitting on their couch, knees bent and covering her face, her sides bleeding.
Kami… what did you do Natsuki? Mai thought as she stepped close to her friend. "What happened?" No answer. Natsuki didn't even move. "Oi Natsuki! Talk please… and you are bleeding…"
Natsuki raised her head, her eyes were red and swollen and she got small scratches on her face. "I am?"
Mai was taken aback, "You don't know?"
"I… I don't feel a thing."
"I should probably take you to the clinic. Rei sensei is probably there." Mai watched Natsuki shook her head no and then she started inspecting her body.
"Damn! I got scratched by the roses,"
"Huh?"
"I was hiding behind the rose bush when I ran off, I probably got scratched…"
Silence, "So what happened?"
"Huh… oh… I think some of the thorns got embedded on me a bit deeply and they scratched me when I forcefully…,"
Mai smiled, "I was asking about Shizuru and Mikoto, but that too was important." She stood up and went to their medicine cabinet to get disinfectants and bandages, "We need to clean those Natsuki, and I expect you to tell me everything that you see while I clean your wounds."
The cobalt haired woman nodded her head in assent, "Well… hissssss… that stings MAI!"
"You should have been more careful then,"
"Damn…"
"Continue your story,"
"Anyway, Fumi san told me that Shizuru was at the hidden garden in Fuuka and she clearly said that she was with Mikoto. I knew they were together but I still went there to see…" Natsuki hissed in between her story until she arrived to the conclusion of it.
"So you just ran away, didn't looked back? Didn't asked any of them?" Mai asked while she keeps the disinfectants back to the medicine box.
"I was sure of what I heard, I saw Shizuru kiss Mikoto…"
The fiery haired woman nodded her head, "I'll probably think the same way if I were in your shoes." She stood up once again and returned the box to the medicine cabinet. She then stepped close to Natsuki and sat on the couch beside the blue haired woman. "Me and Tate broke up." She said breaking the silence.
"What? You broke up with Tate baka…"
"It was consensual, he said he was not happy with me and I said the same thing. He was right, I never was happy with him."
Natsuki looked at her friend, "You were always happy with Mikoto hm?" she watched the red head nod in agreement. Nothing was said after, but Natsuki broke the silence this time, "I didn't knew how to be happy back then. Not even when Shizuru was there to cheer me up. I guess I was so caught up with my past I ignore everyone around me."
"In other words, you were a selfish brat." Mai added. Natsuki smiled at this and nodded her head. "So what do you plan to do about it?"
The cobalt haired woman sighed deeply, "Maybe it's time for me to stop being selfish?" she elbowed Mai, "Be like you for once?"
Mai laughed which took Natsuki by surprise, "Oh Kami!"
"What? Did I said something funny? I mean that funny?"
The red head shook her head no, "For once, today Tate told me something only a good guy will ever say, he said I know where my happiness lies and it's time for me to go get it." She looked at the cobalt haired woman beside her, "And you know what? That's what I wanted to do. For the first time I'm going to do something that will make ME happy…" she smiled, "For once…"
"Does that mean…"
"I'm not giving up Mikoto without a fight." Mai said with finality.
Natsuki smiled, "I'm sure you could use some help?" her smile widened when her friend answered with a nod and an evil smirk. "I don't like it when you smirk Mai."
-maiuniverse-
[Fuuka Gakuen Library, the next day.]
Mikoto had her ear phone on her ears, the volume a bit loud a passerby could actually hear the beat of the song she was listening to. She was glad for the book that Shizuru actually got for her, she need not concentrate since all she have to do is copy the review of the book that could be find on the last chapter. She'll probably need Shizuru's help when she needs to do some paraphrasing and for the referencing which was needed for the book report to be completed. She was lost in her world that she didn't notice the woman who sat beside her.
Mikoto's reverie was cut when her earphones were removed from her ears. "What the hell…" Mikoto was about to give whoever it is the kind of punishment she usually gives her enemies but her rant was cut short by the woman beside her.
"Since when do you listen to this kind of music and this loud inside the library? That's not allowed Mikoto!"
Mikoto's eyes widened and her warrior like aura was replaced by that of a chastised cat, "Anou… Mai… I was doing my book report…,"
Mai's purple eyes found the yellow book, "You're just copying the reviews!" she said before taking the book away from the younger girl.
"No Mai! Shizuru helped me find that, I'm in a tight schedule with my book report because Midori doesn't want us to write on the Carnival, please…" Mikoto's eyes were that of a cat asking for pity.
The fiery haired woman smiled, "You should have come to me, I'll be glad to help you, you know?" the older woman dropped her pretend act and pulled Mikoto for a hug.
"I know you and Natsuki were busy with the University, so I decided to do this on my own… it just so happened Shizuru came and we bumped into each other." Mikoto pulled away from Mai and smiled. The action of the younger woman hurts the older one.
"I'm never too busy for you Mikoto, you know that." Mai watched the younger woman nod her head in assent. "I missed you."
Mikoto smiled genuinely, "I missed you too." Then she looked at Mai's back. "Are you with someone?" Her eyes hopeful that Mai was alone.
"Yeah I am," Mai saw the sudden sadness in Mikoto's amber eyes when she answered.
"So he doesn't want to see me so he will wait for you outside?" the cat girl asked.
"Oh no, actually Natsuki wanted to see Shizuru so she's waiting for her at the head mistress office until she finish her work."
Mikoto nodded her head and returned her focus on the work at hand when Mai's answer finally sunk in, she looked at Mai who was smiling at her, "So you were with Natsuki? Tate is not here?" the younger woman was smiling this time.
The fiery haired one sighed, "We broke up… yesterday morning." She confessed.
"Oh sorry,"
"Don't be," she waved her hand in the air, "We both knew we were not happy so we both decided to break it off before both of us suffer." She smiled, "He found some interesting woman who was crushing big time on Shizuru kaichou, I mean before she got shot down and moved here to Fuuka from Kyoto."
"Wow, I didn't know Tate was into women like that."
Mai laughed, "I think Tate likes women like that, look who he hooks up with after the Carnival?"
Mikoto shook her head, "You're not a desperate woman Mai."
Silence
"I think that only shows you have no idea about who I really am, how I really feel." Mai broke the silence.
Mikoto looked at the woman contritely, "I like you Mai. I really like you."
"I don't…,"
Mikoto smiled, "I know." Then she turned her head to try and find where she was in the book.
"I love you." Mikoto's brows rose up and then she looked at Mai again.
"Hm?"
"I think Natsuki had robbed off on me, I was dense… then I was on denial, but I know how I feel. I love you."
"… love…me…?"
"I do." Mai looked around and when she was sure no one was around she pulled Mikoto and kissed her lips.
-maiuniverse-
Shizuru knew she should be happy that Mikoto finally got the girl of her dreams. But still it saddens her that she'll be the one left out, not that she's not used to it, it's just… she thought she had something alike with someone she actually knew. She shrugged her shoulders, at least one of us got a happy ending she thought before she put on the book on the shelf where she was hiding while spying on Mikoto.
When she turned around to leave, she was suddenly pulled through her right shoulder and into the dark corner of the isle and in her surprised state, she felt soft lips descended on her own… she knew that lips so well…
"You got some explaining to do… I've waited for you to visit me at my apartment but you didn't come,"
"Ara… "
"Ssshhhh, kiss now explain later."
-END-
I forgot what color are Tate's eyes, so I put brown. Ahahaha, finally I finished a chaptered story!
Deviant Hearts Archive | Back to main index