The HYD Megafic, Part 10

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Nishikado-kun?”

“Yeah. Who’s this?”

“Oh, I can’t believe this! YOU don’t remember my voice?”

“Uh… um… of course I remember your voice…! How could I forget, when we shared that wonderful night together?”

~

“…You’re not mad, are you? I’m sorry I haven’t called… I searched everywhere for your number, but I must have misplaced it…”

“Nishikado-kun…”

“Yes, darling?”

“It’s O’okawahara.”

“…………………………………oh.”

A Hanadan Carol, Part 1

“For the five HUNDREDTH time, I do not know that crazy girl!” Tsukasa roared, knocking a vase of carefully arranged flowers from their perch beside his bed. The vase shattered with a loud crash, and Soujirou jumped away in alarm. He shook his head sadly.

“At this rate Tsukasa will be doing more than just forgetting Makino,” Soujirou whispered to Akira, who was leaning against the wall beside him. “He’s going to develop a complex against her.”

“But what can we do?” Akira responded, his eyes dark with disappointment. “Tsukasa’s so pigheaded, if we don’t push her on him he’ll be perfectly happy to just go on living his life without her.”

“He has to want to remember,” Soujirou conceded. “And I don’t think we can convince him to do that.”

“And with Christmas coming and everything. Makino’s got to be miserable.”

“Rui’s got the patience of a saint to stick by her.”

“Would you two stop standing there and whispering right in front of me!?” Tsukasa bellowed, interrupting the pair’s consultation. “I’m not a THING, you know!”

Soujirou sighed. “Look, Tsukasa,” he said, raising both hands palms-forward in a display of acquiescence. “We just want you to try and remember Makino. She was very important to you.”

“IS very important,” Akira chimed in.

“Like hell!” Tsukasa spat. The two boys shivered in unison.

“Can’t you at least try!?” Soujirou said, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Akira glanced uneasily at his friend, fearing another explosion of temper.

Tsukasa seemed to calm for a moment, and Soujirou and Akira leaned forward hopefully. “Even if she was,” Tsukasa said, the beginnings of a grin twitching at his lips as he looked down at the bedsheets, “even if she was my girlfriend or whatever…”

“She was!” burst out Soujirou, before Akira nudged him into quiet.

Then Tsukasa’s gaze flew upwards, and the two gasped. The grin they’d staked their hopes on was one of maniacal rage, and blood vessels stood ready to pop on Tsukasa’s forehead as he scowled. “…Even if she was, the wench HIT me!!” His voice rose to fever pitch. “I don’t want anything to do with that goddamned violent girl!! Don’t mention her name to me again!!”

“But… Tsukasa!!” Soujirou was cringing as though fearing an onslaught of pillows, but still he tried.

“No ‘But Tsukasa’s!” raged his livid friend. “Get out!”

“Y.. yeah! You got it!” Akira pulled Soujirou out of the range of fire and pushed him out the door. “Sorry to bother you, Tsukasa!” he grinned shakily as he withdrew. “Merry Christmas!”

“BAH!” came the enraged snarl as Akira and Soujirou ran for their lives.