tenipuri_xp | RP log - Kawamura, Tomoka, and lots of sparklies

Date: Noon, Sept. 18th
Rating: G, light PG
Summary: Het and cutesy ahoy. Be sure you brought your toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Not too far from the gym's door, Takashi Kawamura stared at the only student who was training in there. He was glad to see that Tomoka Osakada had not noticed his presence, since she was so concentrated in her training. Or what seemed more like a game. This *was* the girl who trained alone with background music and uses artistic/rhythmic gymnastics to improve her concentration span, after all.

Brief flashbacks of his former life as a martial artist came to his mind. Training had allowed him to keep his other self at bay, for years, and live rather pleasantly. Until *that* happened. But there was no point into remembering it. And yet, she was telling him to be more open, and that she wasn't afraid of Burn anymore. Good thing, because the last thing he wanted was to see her (or whatever he could see when Burn was in control of his body) screaming in fright and hitting him with her school bag again.

In that precise moment, she missed a step and fell on her butt. Takashi smirked at that, and specially when Tomoka slowly got up from the floor and pouted childishly while rubbing her bruised hip. But that meant - since she had to take a break after that, she would catch him looking and call out to him. And he currently wasn't up to talking too much with her.

He left as quickly as he could, not wanting to disrupt her training...

And never noticed that she *had* seen him.

* * *

Hell, Taka-sempai *was* there. Watching her. *Just* watching her. Like Kachiro-kun, who used to stand by the door of the music room just waiting for Mikan-chan to finish her own chorus stuff - and could stay there, just waiting for his girlfriend, for hours. Sheeeesh.

And Tomoka hadn't seen Taka-sempai the day after. Neither in the class halls, nor after training. Nor after ANYTHING.

If those were normal times, Tomoka would've just shrugged and decided that she wouldn't care about Yet Another Dorky Boy. But this time, it *did* matter to her. She had a debt with him, since he was very kind to her since the minute they met, and she caused him nothing but trouble. Tomoka had promised to make it all up to Taka-sempai, and there was no promise that she had ever broken. This wouldn't be the first one...

She left the training room, scratching the side of her neck (damn sunburn, it itcheeeed), followed by tiny light butterflies that everyone but Tomoka herself could see.
As soon as she was back to her room, she would leave him a message. And damn him if he ignored her.

* * *

I'll be training at the gym again at noon. PLEASE go there. I *need* to talk to you about us..

She wasn't kidding. The two messages she had left for him were clear. She *had* seen him watching her from afar, she *had* been searching for her, and she *had* written in her journal that she wouldn't give up until he faced her.

After the whole deal with Burn and the failed first training session? Whoa. Some other students still looked at him weirdly after that. But she had insisted with the outing and refused to cancel it. Several times.

But he had a reason to cancel, it, and it was a good one. So, he wrote a message to her where he briefly explained the deal with Burn and how he was crazy with freedom after being released, and finished with the following line.

anyway...I want to cancel our sushi outing still. But I have a reason. and....I'll tell you at the gym....I'll be there. At noon..

He hit the "send" button and rubbed his aching wrists. Being tied up to a chair while Hanamura-sensei checked on his brainwaves as he switched selves... that was quite an experience.

* * *

After telling him through journal that they should meet up at the music room instead of at the gym, Tomoka stretched her school skirt and got up from her chair, feeling confused and dispirited. apparently, he still didn't want to be ~~more than~~ her friend. She had to recognize that he was willing to allow her to help him with Burn, and that was something - but anything else...

And he wanted to cancel the non-date now. That was the worst possible signal *ever*.

She briefly thought of Momoshiro, Momo-chan-sempai to her. Pheh, wouldn't it be easier to date *him*, ne? He was quite good-looking, a pleasant boy to be with (even when they shared the tait of speaking before thinking) and seemed to be far more self-assured than Taka-sempai. But no, she hadn't met him first. He wasn't the one who was all WTF when she rejected his help, but still was very polite and sweet to her despite her bluntness.

And no... Momo-chan-sempai wasn't the guy she was starting to really, really like, even with his Burn self and all.

Tomoka sighed, then left the room. If he wanted to cancel the outing, he'd better have *more* than a good reason.

* * *

When Takashi arrived to the music room, Tomoka was already there, sitting by the piano. The girl got up as soon as he stepped into the place, and stared expectantly at him. Like silently saying "Go ahead and tell me already; I'll see if I'll either kiss you or punch you".

Tightening his fists, Takashi made up her mind and told her why he didn't want the outing.

"Tomoka-san....", he could hear himself saying. "I...um...I'll make this short..so I won't lose my...my nerve.......I didn't want to go on the sushi outing because....I don't want to go as your friend. I...".

... Wait... She was blushing? And why did so many the rainbow-colored sparkles appear all of a sudden? That would mean...

"Will....will you have dinner with me? As.....a date?".

And he almost lost his balance when the overjoyed girl threw herself in his arms and kissed him.