Extraordinarily Unwonted
Chapter 01
“Oh my god, look, it’s Atobe!”
“Over here, over here!”
“Gosh, I swear, he was directly looking at me!!”
squirmed when she tried to shove herself through the massive hoards of screaming girls, her purse pressed against her bosom and her left arm raised to push some of the squealing fangirls out of her way. The air smelled of too much perfume to breathe properly and ’s eyes started to water.
She just didn’t get it. What exactly was it about that guy that caused this hoard to wait for him in front of the university gates everyday? Sure, Atobe Keigo was good-looking, skilled in tennis and richer than any other student attending this university. Of course he was as smart as some of the professors who were lecturing here daily, speaking several different languages and expressing himself elegantly in his own. Eliding that he was only twenty.
“That doesn’t matter if you’re a spoiled, rich and arrogant brat,” muttered under her breath when she finally pushed herself out of the crowd, grabbing her purse tightly and walking away as fast as she could (considering that she was wearing her best high heels today). moved a hand through her long, silky hair and smiled when she pushed the entrance door open and spotted her friend who was leaning against the wall right next to a huge notice-board.
“Seiichi!” called and smiled when she approached a tall and slender guy. Yukimura Seiichi turned around when he heard someone calling his name and smiled when he noticed that it was who was approaching him. Dark, wavy hair framed his rather handsome face, and his eyes were sparkling brightly and friendly.
“There you are,” Yukimura winked. “I thought you’d gone under in Atobe’s hoard of fangirls.”
rolled her eyes and reached up to smack Yukimura’s forehead. “That’s not funny,” she said. “You should be thankful that I’m not one of them!”
“Oh, that I am,” Yukimura laughed, and they made their way to their first lecture.
Yukimura and had been friends for several years now, getting to know each other when Niou and hit it off in high school. And considering she was two years younger than those guys they got along pretty well. Sometimes too well, ’s sister always said but was sure that she only harbored friendly feelings for Yukimura.
After graduating from high school, had applied for the Keio University in Tokyo and was accepted to study English, a subject she had always been good in. And that’s the point where we’re getting back to the main problem, thought bitterly and turned her head to look out of one of the huge windows onto the campus. Atobe was still there, smiling and waving and even shaking some of the girls’ hands. Why does he have to study English, too?! She groaned inwardly and followed Yukimura.
***
“You were looking at me this morning.”
nearly fell off her chair when someone approached her from behind, whispering something in her ear and laughing quietly. She turned around, her long hair sweeping over the back of her chair, and looked right into Atobe Keigo’s face.
“I’m not one of your rabid fangirls, sorry,” answered nonchalantly, staring into a pair of cold blue eyes.
Atobe smirked and moved a hand through his silver bangs. “I saw you. You were standing behind one of the windows on the ground floor,” he said, breathing mint in her face. grimaced and leaned back in her chair.
“I was overlooking the campus and you happened to be there.”
“Are you sure? As far as I know you’re not a member of my fan club yet …”
“Since when are we actually talking to each other?” snapped and glared at Atobe. He just stared back at her and smiled, revealing his white and flashing teeth. Some students had already turned to stare at them, some pointing, and some whispering.
“Would you mind leaving me alone now?” asked and looked away, her eyes gazing at the huge blackboard at one side of the room. She clutched her bottle of juice in a tight grip, about to throw it after Atobe if he didn’t decide to leave right now. But Atobe turned around when a girl walked into the room, waving at him with a wink.
“Excuse me,” he said with a smirk and breathed a sigh of relief when he walked up to the girl and sat down next to her in one of the front rows.
“God, gross!” muttered when she remembered Atobe’s minty breath and his gleaming teeth. There was something about that guy that was utterly disturbing, and she couldn’t even take her eyes of him when he spoke loudly to the unknown girl, wishing that she could shoot him with her death glares.
What’s wrong with me? thought and looked away, turning her head to look out of the window. I didn’t care about his annoying attitudes before, why should I now?! She sighed and stared down onto the campus, overlooking the rustling trees and the students who were probably hurrying to their lectures as well.
knew that it was quite doting to fuss about someone who she only saw three times a week, semi-daily. Her sister had already mused that she probably had a crush on Atobe and was only jealous after seeing him with his massive fangirl horde, but still knew Atobe back from high school and didn’t even like him much then. Niou and Marui’s constant jokes about him didn’t help either.
I should ignore him, thought and sighed, cupping her hand around her cheek. The lecturer was already there, droning on in the background with his thick, English accent and noticed how her gaze drifted off from his wild gestures to a certain guy who was sitting in the front row, scribbling down notes and smiling at the girl beside him.
She nearly breathed a sigh of relief when her cellphone buzzed in her pocket quietly; informing that she had just got a new text message. pulled her cellphone out of the pocket, flipping it open under her desk and looking at the screen with a smile on her lips.
Meet me for lunch? I have something to tell you ^_^ - Seiichi
looked up for a second to check if her professor was still busy talking at her course and hastily typed a reply (Sure, 4pm at our usual place?). She hit the send button and put her cellphone back into the pocket of her coat.
Already thinking about what Yukimura might wanted to tell her, which was probably new gossip about any students of their university, almost didn’t hear the professor calling her name. She raised her head when she noticed everyone’s stares and raised one of her well-plucked eyebrows.
“What?” she asked, but the professor cut her off with his loud voice.
“-san, you are going to team up with Atobe-san for our newest project,” he said and pushed his glasses up, the sun reflecting its rays on his bald, sweaty head. “In case you hadn’t heard me already saying this to you earlier.” gritted her teeth when some of the students started to snicker and turned her head to look at Atobe with a furious glare, but he wasn’t looking at her.
The professor went on with his list, calling “Mirai-san and Takiguchi-san”’s names to team up for the next project.
This must be fate, a voice in ’s head sang but she just growled and balled her hand into a fist. They’ve never done a project before- why today and especially … why him? The world could be so cruel sometimes.
***
“We’re not going to start with our project today!” huffed after the lecture and leaned against the wall next to the entrance door. Atobe was standing in front of her, his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. He had headed her off before could escape, telling her that they were going to meet up this afternoon. At her house.
“Look, I’m going to meet a friend this afternoon and we still have plenty of time to finish our project,” said and buttoned her coat, trying not to look at Atobe. “Also, your fans are waiting for you outside.”
Atobe lifted his head to see that four girls were waiting for him outside, giggling and chatting loudly. He smirked again and shook his head.
“I don’t have time for this so we better start today,” he said, ignoring when she looked up with a loud gasp. “I’m going to be at your apartment at 4pm, and you better be there.” With that he turned around and pushed the entrance door open, a soft breeze lifting up his hair.
“Wait!” yelled and stomped after him as fast as she could. She tried to ignore the glares Atobe’s fans were giving her- not only did she dare to yell at Atobe but she had also got the chance to team up with him. Oh, you don’t know how I would love to switch with you, thought bitterly.
“You don’t even know where I’m living!” she spat at Atobe’s back but he just raised his hand lazily and waved to her. The girls around shot her one last glare and followed Atobe, their heels clicking onto the stony pavement.
“I can’t believe this,” muttered under her breath and pulled her cellphone out of her pocket, dialing Yukimura’s number. “Where are you?” was the first thing she yelled into the phone once he picked up, storming towards the university gates like a red whirlwind.
“I’m at home,” Yukimura said on the other line and could practically hear how he was raising his eyebrows. “Why? What’s the matter?”
“He … no, I can’t meet you for lunch,” said exasperated, turning the corner and hurrying down the street. She had to get home as fast as she could- even if she didn’t care about how Atobe might think of her, this was now reason of letting him into her dirty apartment. Tidying up was the first priority now, and she couldn’t tell Yukimura that she was ditching him for Atobe.
“Oh, alright,” Yukimura said in a disappointed tone. “But you have time for me tomorrow, right?”
“Of course!” smiled and played with her keys in her pocket. “Same time, same place, ok? I have to hurry up now, love you!”, and she hung up on Yukimura.
***
had already seen her apartment in a bad state before- it had looked like a rubbish dumb after she had moved in, cardboard boxes and furniture had been lying around everywhere until her mother came over for a visit and forced her to clean up the living room and the kitchen. But this was worse than bad.
nearly tripped over a crate of beer that was lying right behind the entrance door. The glass table in the living room had been turned over and cans of beer surrounded the black sofa next to a huge bookshelf. bit her lip and unbuttoned her coat; she should’ve never said yes when Yukimura and Marui had asked her to throw a surprise party for Niou at her apartment two days ago.
This is never going to happen again, thought disgustedly and kicked a can of beer aside. She threw her coat onto the sofa, which was the only free place at the moment, and started to pick up the empty cans and bags of crisps that were lining the floor to throw them into the trash.
“God, that’s so gross!” she mumbled and picked up a dirty and crumpled jacket that looked suspiciously like the one Marui had worn on Saturday. threw it right next to her coat onto the sofa, pilling everything that she wanted to stuff into the washing machine later. She turned around and took a look at her living room which already looked much better than before.
Fortunately, I still have one hour left until that jerk comes over, thought satisfied and let her self fall onto the sofa. She stretched out her long legs and patted her tummy, staring at the ceiling while doing so. Her thoughts wandered back to Yukimura and the message he had sent her in the morning. “I have something to tell you ^_^” sounded rather cheerful, at least in ’s opinion. And if Yukimura didn’t intend to share the newest university rumours it was probably something about the unknown girl he had a crush on.
“Pfft, he shouldn’t act so secretive,” mumbled and closed her eyes. Taking a nap would not be amiss now especially because she only had to vacuum the living room and clean the kitchen. The only problem was that the doorbell already started ringing even though it …
opened her eyes with a loud grown when the ringing didn’t stop and grabbed her cellphone to look at the time. 3:58pm? Wait … don’t tell me that I really fell asleep … And clasped her hand over her mouth to suppress an angry yell when she took a look around, seeing the vacuum cleaner crammed into a corner of her living room and Marui’s dirty jacket on the sofa next to her.
The doorbell rang again and jumped up hectically, grabbing the jacket and shoving it under the sofa. “I’m coming!” she yelled and hurried to the door, kicking a good bunch of floorcloths under the bookshelf during that process.
A cloud of sweet perfume engulfed when she opened the door, and took a step back to not breathe it in. Atobe smirked when he saw her and invited himself in, stepping over the threshold and taking his leather shoes off. “Nice apartment complex,” he said with a wink and rolled her eyes, leaving Atobe alone to get some drinks.
“You stink of too much perfume, you know?” she yelled into the living room while taking two glasses out of the cupboard. When she came back, Atobe was already sitting on the sofa and leaned back against its soft cushion.
“Aren’t you using perfume as well?” he asked and raised his eyebrows, accepting the glass with thanks. “Of course I am,” she answered and sat down beside him, taking a sip of her juice. “I just asserted that you’re using too much.”
Atobe just hummed and took out two folders he had brought along, jottings full of English vocab falling onto the ground and under the glass table. Atobe bent down to pick them up and chuckled when he laid them back onto the table. “What’s so funny?” asked annoyed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Nothing,” Atobe said and handed one of the folders. “I just noticed that your boyfriend isn’t here even though you two are living together. Did he flee when you told him that I’m coming over?”
“Wait, my boyfriend?!”
Atobe nodded. “Yukimura.”
snorted and opened the folder Atobe had handed her, skimming through the jottings. “I don’t even wanna know who told you such bullshit. He’s just a good friend of mine.”
“Oh, really?” Atobe asked and raised his eyebrows, but didn’t miss the satisfied undertone. He’s probably having a giggle about the fact that I don’t have a boyfriend while he can’t numerate his girlfriends on one hand, she thought irritated and threw the folder back onto the table.
“You know, if you’re just here to make fun of me you may as well leave,” said, lifting one eyebrow while she was looking at Atobe, who seemed rather surprised by what she’d just said, with a frown.
“I wasn’t making fun of you,” Atobe said and crossed his legs. “I was contemplating whether I should ask you out on a date or not.”
“The probability that I wouldn’t show up to our date is very high,” answered calmly, but she noticed how her cheeks were burning. “Besides, I don’t even like you.”
Atobe laughed upon hearing that. He turned his head to look into ’s eyes and smiled. “That’s the main reason why I think we should go out,” he said. “We’re both good-looking, rich and I like your attitude. If we started dating, the whole university would talk about us.”
“Don’t even dare to compare me to you. And that isn’t a good reason to go out with you.”
“What if …,” Atobe started to say and leaned forward, picking up the folder had thrown onto the table and looking at it with an indescribable look, “what if I take you out to that new, grand restaurant in Shinjuku next weekend and you are going to decide if there will be a ‘next time’ or not.” He smirked and cupped a hand around his cheek. “What do you say?”
***
The days were getting colder, and it finally started snowing two days after ’s and Atobe’s encounter. huddled under a thick coat and a long scarf when she hurried to university on Wednesday to hand in the first folder for her English project. The pavement was covered in snow and the wind was biting cold.
walked into the entrance hall like a whirlwind, snowflakes following her but melting immediately after making contact with the ground. She flattened her hair and took a look at the notice-board to find out when her professor’s next lecture was.
“!” someone suddenly called out and turned around to spot Yukimura who was hurrying to catch up with her. “Hi,” she smiled and gave Yukimura a peck on the cheek. “I’m SO sorry that I had to call off our date again yesterday but I was busy cleaning up the rest of my apartment and finishing the first folder for my English course.” held the folder up and poked Yukimura’s arm. “You aren’t mad at me, are you?”
Yukimura sighed and shook his head. He seemed to be more tired than ever before and the rims of his eyes were red, but nevertheless he tried to smile weakly. “It’s ok, really.”
raised her eyebrows. “You can tell me if it’s something important. I still have time until my prof’s lecture ends.”
Yukimura shook his head again and tightened the grip around the handle of his bag. “I’d rather not,” he said. “We can meet up on Saturday if you want, though.”
“Oh.” turned a thousand shades of red and coughed quietly. “I … I already have other plans this Saturday. What about Friday?” Yukimura cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, looking at with a questioning look. “I don’t want to sound too nosy but what are you doing on Saturday?”
An inner panic squeezed ’s heart and she took a step back. After mulling over Atobe’s suggestion she had agreed the other day, promising to meet him at said restaurant in Shinjuku on Saturday. But she couldn’t tell Yukimura about her date with her former ‘enemy’. She just couldn’t.
“I’m … I’m going out with Niou,” lied, forcing herself to smile at Yukimura. “He wanted to talk about what we’re going to do on New Year’s Eve.”
“I see,” Yukimura hummed. He took a last look at and turned around. “I have to go now- meeting with my study group.” waved to him after calling a “see you later” and hurried up the stairs to finally hand her folder in. Yukimura didn’t turn his gaze away until turned the corner, shaking his head and pulling his cellphone out of his pocket. He dialed a number and waited until the line was free.
“Niou? It’s me, Yukimura.”
© Le