Matters of the Heart

Chapter 3 – Akito is the Anti-Social Type [1]

-.-

“Akito-Kun!”

Kimiko waved lightly, towards at boy with ash brown hair. Akito was leaning against one of the trees in the school courtyard, a manga in hand. The boy looked up, and his emerald eyes gazed at the group coming towards him.

“Hi guys…”

Folding his manga to save his spot, Akito went over to the group of Ai, Satsuki, Kimiko, Ren and Rue. Ren blinked, shifting her weight, and whispered into Ai’s ear. She hadn’t met him yet.

“Ah… Ai-Chan... Who’s this?”

Ai giggled, seeing her best friend scanning the boy’s face. She and her twin spoke simultaneously.

“This guy here… Is our elder brother.”

Ren’s jaw dropped. She had never known that Ai had a sibling other than Satsuki. This was quite a shock. As if she felt she was being rude, Ren bowed deeply.

“Um! I’m Ren Hiyakama! N… Nice to meet you, Irigashi-Kun!”

Akito sweated at Ren’s near yell, but smiled slightly.

“So you’re the famous Ren-San? It’s nice to finally meet you too.”

Everyone, excluding Akito, noticed the blush on Ren’s face, and Rue coughed loudly.

“AHEM! Retard!”

Ren twitched, and turned to Rue, who had shoved his hands into his pockets and was looking the other way.

“What was that?!”

Rue stuck his tongue out slightly, not saying anything. The other three girls sighed in shame. They all knew Rue liked Ren, and that he was just being a bit jealous. Everyone in school, except Ren, knew this as well. Ren sighed, giving up the pointless battle and turned back to Akito.

“So… Irigashi-Kun! How old are you?”

Akito blinked, raising an eyebrow.

“14…”

He was quiet, Ren noted, the complete opposite of his sisters. She grinned, but before she could say anything more, the bell rang out, indicating their break was over. Akito smiled lightly, and Ren noticed it was more towards Kimiko.

“I’ll see you guys later. Oh… Ai and Satsuki… Dad wants to have a get together next weekend. Be on time this time, and dress up, he says.”  

The twins whined loudly, watching their brother leave for the other side of the school building. He was in class C, Ren guessed, remembering the class separations. Her eyes fell upon Kimiko, and noticed that her face was bright pink. Now she understood! Kimiko liked Akito.

“I don’t wanna dress up!”

“He never lets us go in street clothes… Idiot!”

Ai and Satsuki whined louder, upset that their father had made plans for them to out. There was a long three minutes before they finally stopped whining and were in Kimiko’s shocked face.

“How can you like a sadist like our brother?!”

Kimiko blinked in sheer confusion, glancing around. Rue snorted, receiving a hard kick in the shin from Ren.

“H… Hah?”

Kimiko had grown redder, and she tried backing away. No use, the twins were circling her, like a couple of ravens.

“Well? How can you?”

“He’s emo!”

“Boring…”

“Anti-Social…”

“Too smart for his own good…”

“So tell us!”

The girls had gotten so close to Kimiko, that she looked scared. Ren grimaced, thinking that the brunette should have been used to this by now. She had known them for a long time now.

“I… I…!”

“You… You what?”

“I DON’T KNOW!”

Kimiko ducked away from the twins, grabbed her school bag and dashed off, nearly losing her shoes in the process. Ren watched, a worried look on her face. She sighed. Sometimes the twins were a little too much. Speak of the devil; as soon as Kimiko was out of sight, they turned to Ren, a bored look on their faces.

“She’s lying…”

Ren blinked and before she knew it, they were gone, running up to the school doors. With a sigh, she gathered her own things, and started walking, Rue a few feet behind her. She hadn’t noticed, but recently Rue would follow her around, like some sort of body guard. People in school thought they were a couple, but with the cold glares Rue shot out, they were too afraid to ask. They all just assumed he was stalking her.

Rue noticed Ren’s serious face, and knew right away that she was planning something. He had only known her for a few months, but could already read her like a book. Ren ignored the feeling of Rue’s eyes on her back, and grumbled silently to herself. All she could think about was what her best friends had said.

Did Kimiko really like Akito?

-.-

Ren yawned widely, sitting down in her chair.

So much for a good nights sleep.

Jocie started taking roll, once Kimiko was in the classroom. She had been the last person that day. As soon as Kimiko had sat down, Ren frowned and scribbled something down on her sheet of rose colored paper.

Do you like Irigashi-Kun?

She folded the paper at least a dozen times, wrote Kimiko’s name on it, and then jabbed her friend’s side. Kimiko let out a loud meep, before nearly falling out of her chair. Her face flushed bright pink, since the class had turned to look at her. Once they had turned back around in their seats, the brunette spun around in her chair. When she saw the note and her friend’s creepy smile, she frowned.

“Cant you find some other way to get my attention??”

She grabbed the note and turned back around. She stared at her note, wondering where Ren get her ideas from. After taking around 4 minutes to figure out how to open the damned thing, she finally had it flattened out on her desk.

Kimiko’s cheeks burned redder as she scanned the words scrawled across the paper. In a quick motion, she had a pen in hand and was scratching in her answer.

What?!

She then passed it back, beginning their written conversation.

So… You do? 

Yeah. I think so…

Well then! Have you told him?

He already has a girl he likes…

How do you know that?

Joseph said so

Joseph?

Akito-Kun’s best friend…

Oh…

Yeah…

-.-

Pouting, Ren slung her back over her shoulder. School ended early that day, since it was Saturday, and everyone was already making plans for the rest day tomorrow. She grumbled lightly about random nonsense, not realizing Rue was a few steps behind her.

“Why do you try so hard?”

Ren nearly jumped out of her skin. She still wasn’t used to having someone around her at all times. It was such a strange feeling. She looked over at her friend, who had shoved his hands in his pockets, his school bag hanging from his shoulder. Ren stifled a giggled, and sighed.

“I’unno… I guess it’s in my nature. I’ve always been like this, even before my parents died.”

She sighed heavily, as if reliving bad memories, not seeing the shocked expression on Rue’s face. This was the first Rue had ever heard of this, actually, it was the first any of her friends had heard of this, including Ai. Rue was at a loss for words.

“Oh well… I’m just gonna stay outta it. I have no right to play match maker.”

She gave him her best smile, before turning back around to head to the dorms. Not only was Rue still in shock about the ‘orphan’ news, but he was also confused as to why she didn’t want to interfere. Usually, he noticed, she would be the first to jump in. He huffed, and continued to walk with her, staying his usual 3 feet behind.

-.-

BANG!

Ren nearly dropped the whisk in her hand, and glanced around.

“What the heck was that?!”

She glanced around, and when the sound didn’t happen again, she shrugged it off. She continued to whisk her eggs.

BAM!

There it was again! This time, she did drop her bowl of partially beaten eggs, for the sound was even louder. Just what the hell was going on? She knew Ai wasn’t at the dorms, she was out fabric shopping with Satsuki.

CRASH!!

Ren could tell where it was coming from this time around, and after cleaning up the mess she made, she opened the door. Propping it open with an empty box, she went next door. She knocked half way before it happened again.

BANG!!

Twitching, Ren held up her hand to knock again. When the door was thrown open, she nearly screamed. There appeared Kimiko, completely covered in flour. Ren’s eyes went from Kimiko, to the nearly destroyed kitchen, then back to her friend.

“Uh… Ki… Kimiko-San…? What’s going on?”

Although, she probably knew without having to ask, she just had to be sure. Kimiko laughed nervously, sweat sliding down her cheek, clearing a path from the flour.

“You… You can hear me?”

Ren’s lip twitched. Was she serious?

“Um... Yeah. What are you trying to do?”

Kimiko glanced down the hallway both ways, before pulling Ren into her kitchen. As the door slammed, Ren tried not to gape at the kitchen. The usually spotless kitchen was now a disaster area. Flour covered the entire counter and table area, and floor, eggs dripped from the stove top and refrigerator handle, and an open bottle of vanilla extract lay on its side, under the table.  Ren sighed heavily, and spotted a recipe labeled “Lovers Cookies” on the floor.

“Giving him cookies?”

Kimiko watched as Ren picked up the flour covered recipe card, and blushed deeply.

“Ai… Ai and Satsuki said he liked cookies… So I thought… Am I wrong?!”

Ren laughed at her panicky state, never seeing her like this before. She found it quite hysterical. Kimiko pouted from being laughed at and looked to the floor. Ren smiled warmly.

“Alrighty then. I’ll teach ya.”

“EH?! Really?!”

Ren smiled nervously and scanned the room.

“Yeah… But first… We SO need to clean this up.”

-.-

“Fantastic!!”

Kimiko smiled brightly, as Ren continued to fan the hot pan of freshly baked cookies. Each cookie was a different shape, but since Kimiko thought it would be too early to declare her love, she left out the hearts.

“He will like these… Right?”

Ren raised an eyebrow, seeing her friend’s worried face.

“Listen… I believe that if you put all your heart into making something, the person you give it to will be able to feel them.  Or something like that.”

Kimiko looked as if she didn’t understand, and Ren sighed.

“You worked hard on these… Don’t worry too much.”

Ren saw the uneasy look, but smiled when Kimiko nodded. Handing her a bluish cellophane bag with stars on it, she grinned. Kimiko carefully slid each cookie in, making sure not to break any, and grabbed a deep blue ribbon.

“I hope you’re right… Ren-Chan…”

And she tied the ribbon to close the bag. She would give these to him tomorrow. For now, she was happy as anything.

-.-

END CHAPTER 3