Chapter 10 “Hide and seek”

After yesterday’s events, everything was finally okay. Kazumi had recovered from her sickness, and then Yuto and Miki’s misunderstanding was resolved. As usual, Miki and Kazumi went to the hotel just after their classes in the morning. The special event of the day was planned by Hikaru. Just as Miki and Kazumi arrived at the hotel, he gathered everyone to the living room and announced that they’ll be playing a little hide and seek at the hotel’s picnic grounds.

Hikaru: “Okay minna! I’ve planned an activity for all us so lessons will have to be cancelled today! It will be fun since we will be utilizing the wide picnic grounds of the hotel.”

Everyone knew how wide the surroundings of the hotel were and yet they found the idea thrilling.

So everyone went out and searched for a good spot to start the game. After finding one, Hikaru brought out ten toothpicks and one of them having a string on it.

Hikaru: “Okay, there are ten toothpicks here. The one who gets the onr with the string will be it.”

Unluckily, Kazumi was the one who got it but then Keito told her that he’d be it for her.

Each went to find a hiding place and after counting to 50 Keito began to seek out the others. Then later after that, he found Chinen first, followed by Hikaru, and after a few minutes he was able to find everyone else.

It was finally Chinen’s turn to be it. He started to count then everyone went to look for a hiding place. Miki saw a big tree with some bushes and benches surrounding it and went to hide behind it. She was observing her surroundings while trying to hide from Keito. As she turned around she got shocked because Yuto was also hiding there.

Miki: “Huwa! What are you doing here?!” she said in a loud voice.

Yuto covered and said “Sssh... Keito might hear you.” Then he removed his hand.

Miki lowered her voice and said, “What are you doing here? This is my hiding spot.”

Yuto: “No way, I was here first.”

Miki: “I don’t believe you. I didn’t see anyone here when I came.”

Yuto: “I didn’t see anyone here either.”

Miki wanted to hide there but she decided to go somewhere else.

Yuto: “I’ll let you hide here if you give me a reward.”

Miki: “Reward? For what?”

Yuto: “Uhm... Because you told me to take care of Kazumi yesterday so I should have a reward.”

Miki: “Then, as a reward, I’ll go find another hiding place and you stay here.”

Yuto grabbed her hand and said, “Chotto! I mean, this can’t be a reward.”

Miki: “Actually it can.”

Miki tried to break free from Yuto’s grasp but Yuto didn’t let go of her so Miki thought of some way in which she will be able to leave.

Miki: “Okay then, if you want a reward, then... First, let go of me then stand up properly.”

Yuto did as he was told and said, “Then what?”

Miki: “Close your eyes.”

Yuto: “Wait, what? What sort of reward is that?”

Miki: “If you don’t do as I tell you, then you won’t get your reward and also no peeking when you close your eyes. Promise?”

Yuto: “Okay fine.” So he closed his eyes and didn’t dare try to peek.

Miki stood in front of him then kissed his him. (a kiss that was 1 cm from his lips)

Right after that, she ran away to look for a new hiding place.

Yuto: “What are you doing? What’s taking you so long? Where’s my reward?”

Then, when he opened his eyes, Miki wasn’t there.

Yuto: “What? Where’d she go? She said that she’ll give me my reward.” He continued to wonder about where she had gone to and surprisingly, “Ha! I found you!” Chinen exclaimed.

Miki was still looking for a place to hide when someone suddenly grabbed her and pulled her behind the tall, thick bushes. She panicked then when she turned around, she saw Inoo.

Miki: “Kei! Were you the one who pulled me?”

Inoo: “Uhm... Yeah. I saw that you were running and I thought that Chinen was probably after you so I pulled you into my hiding place.”

Miki: “Well, Chinen wasn’t actually chasing after me but I was looking around for a hiding place.”

Inoo: “You weren’t able to find one yet?”

Miki: “Actually I found one but since Yuto was there, I gave way to him and I left.”

Inoo: “Ah, is that so? Since you’re here, you can hide with me. If you go running around, Chinen might find you.”

Miki: “Ha?! Really? Can I? Thanks so much for letting me hide here.”

Inoo: “No problem Miki. This is a good hiding place so Chinen won’t be able to find us so easily.” ^,^

Miki: “Nice. Judging from the height and thickness of these bushes, it really is a good hiding place. You sure are good when it comes to finding good hiding spots.”

Inoo: “It’s no biggie. *laughs*”

As the time went by, Inoo and Miki continued to converse with one another about many different things and forgot that they were playing hide and seek with the others. At about 1:30 in the afternoon, the others ended the game and went out to look for the two.

Kazumi: “Miki!!!! Miki!!!! Where are you!?”

Daiki: “Inoo!! Where are you?!!!”

They kept on shouting out their names and also started to get worried.

Behind the bushes, as Miki and Inoo were laughing, they heard someone shouting their names. Then, they remembered that they were playing hide and seek with the others so they got up and ran out behind the bushes.

Keito: “Hey! Guys! Isn’t that them?”

Everyone looked at the area where Keito was pointing at and so they found Miki and Inoo.

Miki and Inoo saw the others and waved at them. After a minute, they rejoined the group.

Yabu: “Where have you guys been? We were all worried so we looked for you.”

Miki: “I was looking for a hiding place when Chinen was the catcher when Kei suddenly pulled me to his hiding place.”

Yuto who was behind the others, remained silent and stared at the two.

Inoo: “She’s right. I invited her to hide with me because I thought that she might be found out by Chinen.”

Miki turned her head and saw Yuto then she smiled and waved at him.

Yuto didn’t respond, pretending not to have seen her and turned his gaze at Inoo.

Inoo: “We continued to converse while waiting for Chinen to find us but it seems that we got carried away and forgot that we were playing hide and seek.”

Chinen: “I didn’t come this way since I thought that everyone would’ve hid close by.”

Miki looked back at the others and apologized because they forgot about the game.

Chinen: “I should be the one to say sorry since I didn’t look here. Sorry.”

Yamada: “Well, since the two of you are okay then let’s head back to the hotel now.”

So everyone walked back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, Yuto was standing at the balcony when Miki startled him.

Miki: “Hi! What’s up!?”

Yuto didn’t look at her but said, “Nothing’s wrong.”

Miki: “Then why do you look so down?”

Yuto: “It doesn’t concern you.”

Miki started to be bothered about his behavior so she reached out her hand on Yuto’s forehead. Yuto was shocked and brushed off her hand.

Yuto: “What are you doing?!”

Miki: “I just wanted to check if you’re sick. But I guess you’re not. Why won’t you tell me what’s bothering you instead of trying not to talk to me?”

Yuto: “Just as I said, it’s nothing. Don’t fret yourself about it.”

Miki wasn’t satisfied about Yuto’s answer so she grabbed his hand and pulled him so he’ll look at her face to face. Then she pinched his nose.

Yuto: “Ouch! What’s up with you?!”

Miki: “Is that how you react after I give you a reward?”  Then she puffed up her cheeks.

Yuto: “You didn’t even give it me.”

Miki: “Hmm. You’re just saying that because you probably want 1 more.”

Yuto: “What? What are you talking about?”

Miki: “If you want one more then it wouldn’t be that hard to just say so.”

Yuto: “What?! Alright then, give me one more.”

Miki looked around and said, “What?! Now?”

Yuto: “Yes. Now.”

Miki: “I don’t want to. Not right here. There are other people around.”

Yuto: “What? It’s just a reward. It wouldn’t matter to them.”

Miki: “MmM... Not right now. I’ll give it to you next time okay?” ^,^

The two fell silent when Yuto suddenly asked a question.

Yuto: “What were you doing with Inoo?”

Miki: “Mm... Nothing actually. We were just talking and joking around the whole time.”

Yuto looked at her with suspicion, waiting for her to say everything that could’ve happened.

Miki: “Why are you looking at me like that? It’s not like anything happened. Like I said, we were just talking.”

Before Miki could end what she saying, she felt an odd feeling then declared, “Wait, a minute. Could it be...? That you’re jealous?!” *stared Yuto in the face*

Yuto: “Wh... What?! Pfft. How could you say that?! No I’m not! Why would I be jealous about something like that?”

Miki: “Come on! No need to be shy. Just say it. No wonder you’ve been acting like that the whole time.”

Yuto: “I told you. I’m not jealous! Why won’t you believe me?”

Miki: “Because I know that it’s the truth. Why didn’t you just say that you wanted to join the conversation with Kei?”

Yuto, instead of feeling nervous was relieved because he thought that Miki had finally found out that he liked her. But then again, she misinterpreted it.

Yuto: “Fine, fine. Forget the whole thing already.”

Miki: “Ha! I knew it!”

After their conversation, Inoo entered the scene and told both of them that it’s time for Miki and Kazumi to go home. So Miki bade goodbye to Yuto and left the balcony with Kei.

Yuto clasped his shirt and thought to himself, “What is this that I’m feeling. I can’t get it. I can feel a sharp stabbing feeling in my heart. It hurts.”