Collaboration between Kurogane and
@MaryGold
Keita
was pissed. Akemi had acknowledged that the moment the boy called him over for a private talk, the yelling was proof enough of that too. The punch However took him totally by surprise. His red eyes had been focused on the sandy ground as he thought of what to say or do next. Because he too was angry and confused by the entire ordeal.
After the unexpected punch he received straight to the face, Akemi stumbled back and grabbed his now bleeding nose. It had already been bruised earlier but he could easily say the punch he received from Keita was much more painful. Akemi shivered, angry and nervous. He was bleeding, and blood freaked him out, but he was too upset to run away now.
"Asaragi Keita." Akemi lowered his surprisingly steady voice and glared daggers into the other boy. He reached the same height as Keita, but it was obvious that Keita was much larger in body size. "You're a damn fool." He spat before returning the boys punch straight to his cheek.
Akemi wasn't a fighter, but that didn't mean he wouldn't fight back. The redheaded boy had been involved in one too many fights since he was, but a child and he had learned to hold his own. "You can't tell me what to do just because you like Lu-chan. And she was my friend before she was yours, so watch it." Akemi growled.
It was so unlike himself. And honestly, when he thought about it, even Akemi felt that he was only weight on Lucinda's shoulder. He had been clinging to her since he had first met her. She had been his first friend since Ryu had left and she didn't mind when he stuttered over everything and became flustered. She was irreplaceable, and he'd be damned if he let Keita tell him what to do and push him around.
Kei stood there as Akemi's nose started bleeding everywhere. He wanted to hurt him more, how dare he say Lucinda didn't have feelings for him. She must feel the same way, she just had to. Before Kei finished thinking about that thought, he received a punch from Akemi. The punch came as a shock, he didn't think Akemi would fight back. All this did was add to Keita's rage. In his mind he visualized Lucinda standing by Akemi's side while he stood on Keita's beaten form. In his thoughts he imagined Lucinda saying something like. "Oh, Akemi you're so strong I'm so happy to be with a tough guy like you."
Keita spat out blood as he rubbed his bright red cheek. "You bastard." He said as he threw another punch hitting him in the stomach. "You're the fool. If you cared about Lucinda as a friend you'd step aside and let someone who cares for her so much be by her side." He now had tears welling up in his eyes as he exposed all his feelings. "Lucinda is the only person that accepted me for me." He got closer and got ready to throw another punch looming it over Akemi. "My feelings for her are 100 times more than yours."
The punch that Keita threw at him was a catch, but Akemi had been thrown off his game by Keita's insinuation. The insinuation that Akemi cared for Lucinda as more than one of his best friends. It shouldn't have been that much of a shock to him as many girls at their school thought he and Ryunosuke would make a good pair. But his relationship with Ryu was different from his with Lucinda. Both were sacred bonds that he would cherish and hold onto forever but ...
The foreign idea had caught him completely off guard, and therefore Keita's next swing did too. He did manage to clear the many questions fogging his mind enough to move just enough so that the punch only skimmed his cheek. Akemi grabbed his fist and forced him back against the outside wall of the villa, pressing his arm down against his neck to pin him and keep him still. He needed a moment to think. Was that too much to ask for?
"I'm sorry, if I recall correctly, weren't
you, the one who claimed to love her? And told
me, someone who cares about her, not to be by her side?" Akemi spat back at the boy as a response. This guy, Keita, he had some nerve. How dare he try to pull Akemi away from his friend and how dare he even
think about taking her away from him. He didn't have a right to push away people from Lucinda, especially those she had deemed her friends. But, damn, did he want to wrap her up in a blanket and keep her away from the dangers of the world and anyone who even looked at her appreciatively, yet alone had any intentions of pursuing her.
It made him upset to even think about her ditching him because she would be dating Keita. The vision was so wrong in his head. And frustrating.
"She's my special person!" Akemi blurted out in a very ballistic matter.
It took him three whole seconds to comprehend what precisely had come out of his own mouth. Not a second after, his face became very warm and changed shades. "Ah - ah, I mean ... she is, though. Sort of, kind of, maybe, might, slightly, possibly ... I think. But not in the way you think!" Because what else was he to say about that. More so now that he was nothing but a flustered mess.
Keita's next punch was dodged and somehow Akemi was able to pin him down, But only for a second. He said something that both irritated and confused Keita. "Special person?" He said as Akemi started to get flustered and started rambling. Keita took this chance to turn the tables. He grabbed Akemi by his shoulder and tossed him to the side. He scrambled and got on top of Akemi. He was ready to throw another punch when that look in Akemi's face reminded him of the way he looked earlier. "No." Keita said as he realized something.
"You love her too, don't you?" It was then that the rage in Keita's belly died out he looked at Akemi's face and he knew it to be true he felt the same as Keita. "Damn it." He got off Akemi and sat down beside him. He remembered the horrible feeling he had when Lucinda's attention was taken away, and realized he was doing it to Akemi. "Damn it, I don't know what to say." he said as he rubbed his swollen cheek. "It looks like we both love her."
"I don't -!" Akemi began to protest but stopped himself short. Because of course he loved Lucinda. She was one of his best friends, and wasn't she only supposed to be just that? For him to hold any sort of feelings akin to romantic would be utter blasphemy. And what right did a "best friend" have to get in the way of his companion's love life, especially if it could lead anywhere beautiful for her. He was sticking his nose into something he had no business in, yet, he acted as if he had every right to prevent Keita from being anything more to her than fellow club member and friend.
The flustered and perplexed boy sat up, pulling his knees into his bare chest and ran his fingers through his red hair, grasping the strands tightly. Even as it began to clear up bit by bit in his mind, his heart was one tangled mess of feelings. Because maybe he truly did "love" Lucinda as more than the little girl who lured him into a shop with her violin music. And that thought was entirely terrifying. His love for her had changed? How? When? And oh, dear god, he was alone in this feeling.
"I need to talk with the club consultant!" The redhead by said at once. Then it dawned onto him that he was the club consultant. "Why on earth am I the consultant." He whined, falling back onto the sand with a thump. Akemi had read many shoujo exactly like dilemma he was in. Yet, he couldn't pull out a clear enough answer on how to precede.
"I'm such an idiot."
Keita watched Akemi realize his feelings. He watched as he struggled with this realization and mentioned talking to the club advisor. He made Keita chuckle when he realized he was the advisor. "It's weird right." He said out loud. "We both think of Lucinda as the most important person in the world and are willing to fight for her." He said as he gestured to his cheek and Akemi's nose. He was wondering what their next step should be as they both sat in the sand realizing that one of them would have their love realized and one would have their heart broken.
Keita broke the silence. "We should tell her." He let the words sink into Akemi's head before continuing. "We should do this properly, I don't want Lucinda to be troubled by this but it's not like we can ask either of us to step aside." He looked at the red headed guy and continued. "Well like you said, you're the club advisor. What do you think?"
If Akemi had been in his right mind, he would have noticed Keita's change of tone. He had become much kinder and surprisingly reasonable at the revelation of Akemi's raw and exposed heart. And if he had taken complete notice of that, Akmei would have looked at him and felt nothing but respect for the other boy. He was very much unlike the rumors that had been spread about him back at his previous school.
A little nervous laugh came from Akemi's mouth in response to Keita's question. He was the counselor. Therefore, he had the answers, did he not? When it wasn't him involved, these things came much clearer to him.
Akemi blinked his red eyes and stopped thinking through his tangled feelings for once. If he thought about it as a simple case for the club rather than their romantic affairs, it came easily to him. "I don't think we should jump Lucinda with our respective feelings just yet." He admitted slowly, turning to look at Keita. "We're both her friends and that would put her in a tight spot. Besides, we could both be rejected." He laughed but dreaded the concept more than he should as he friend.
Honesty was the best policy, but he meant what he said. Akemi did not want to push or overwhelm her. And currently, Lucinda was upset with him, so it would not work in his advantage.
"Still, we are allowed to pursue her and confess at the right moment." Whenever that was. He bit his lip. It was all happening too fast. Akemi would need to take his time, but what if it was too late by then. "And become proper ... rivals."
Strange. It felt like Akemi had been placed in a shoujo manga. Wait was he the male lead or the second male lead!? Oh, dear god!
Hearing Akemi laugh eased Keita's mind a little. He was taking this rather well, to think they were fist fighting earlier. After hearing Akemi explain everything Keita looked at him. He swallowed the lump of emotions he had in his throat and put on a strong face. In his chest he felt a tight feeling as Akemi mentioned there was a possibility that neither of them could be chosen. Keita's head lowered at the thought, "you're right. If we bombard her with our feelings, she may just leave both of us behind."
Keita perked up when he heard Akemi say they are free to pursue her. "Wait you mean?" He said it. rivals. Keita chuckled a bit, he probably would have laughed more if it was someone else in this manga style situation. "So, from here on we both compete for Lucinda's attention?" Keita let out a sigh as he let his head fall back. "You know Akemi. I can see that you feel for Lucinda, and I can't think of how life would suck without her in my life. I just want to know that she feels the same way about me. I want to hold her hand, hug her, kiss her."
Keita stood up and faced Akemi he offered him his hand. "From today on, I'll be giving this rivalry everything I got. I will show Lucinda that I'm the guy that deserves to stand next to her." He smiled then continued. "Whoever Lucinda picks, me or you no hard feelings."
"Ah ha ha, don't put that image in my head." Akemi laughed awkwardly, scratching at his bruised nose. The concept of Keita and Lucinda, hugging and kissing and doing other couple activities didn't sit well in his stomach. He could now understand the anger and jealously that Keita must have felt seeing how close Lucinda and Akemi were.
Still, Keita didn't seem that bad as a person. And he knew that now, even if he didn't like the thought of him with Lucinda. He smirked good naturedly at the boy, before taking his hand and rising from his seat in the sand. "Sure." He said with a soft chuckle. "You're not so bad, you know." The redhead added bashfully as he rubbed the back of his neck slowly. And he meant what he said, that much was evident by his gentle smile and light blush on his cheeks.
Akemi was horribly embarrassed with his behavior toward Keita earlier.
Without another word, he released Keita's hand and balled up his fist before bringing it toward his mouth. He cleared his throat and once again met Keita's gaze. "Anyway, we should head inside before anyone notices we're missing. I believe Haruhi called us all for lunch." He paused before his eyebrows raised. "Also, let's not tell anyone the origin behind our bruises."
Keita smiled as Akemi took his hand, and said he was an ok guy. "Yeah, you. You too." He said a little bashfully. He just started thinking the only reason he disliked Akemi at first was because he took up Lucinda's time. "I'm sorry about that, again I shouldn't have hit you." He added as Akemi was touching his nose, he placed his hand on his swollen cheek ",but I guess you did get me back." He chuckled.
"Yeah, you're right we should get going." He said as he was ready to head toward the house. He nodded when Akemi said not to mention how they got hurt. "True, they might freak out. Let's just say we...I don't know fell off something I guess."
The Two walked up to the beach house, both of them feeling insecure inside but chose not to show any weakness to their new rival. They had both agreed to give this rivalry everything they had, they will both aim to win Lucinda's heart. They reached the beach house and walked in acting normally as if they both didn't have a bunch of bruises and blood all over their face.