Strange Magic [A JUMP fic] Chapter 21: Hajimari no Owari
OWARI DESHITA!!!! It's done!!!!
Thank you all for those who read even one chapter of my fanfic-slash-book.. However few, however begrudging, I am still happy to share a story I've finished writing publicly.
Until next time!
Previously...
Finally Yamada Ryosuke and Mitsuhiko Diei caught up with Hitomori Yann and were able to successfully turn Ame-chan back to Chinen Yuri, but will they all be as successful with their hearts and regain what chances they had of beginning their high school romances?
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When Nakayama Yuma next opened his eyes, he and his goons were being taken away in the police car for juvenile prison through the back entrance of the school grounds that the principal personally saw through. He also made sure there were ambulances around within seconds of the fight’s discovery to see to each of the injured, and even tried suggesting Yabu Kota and Kamenashi Kazuya get their bruised knuckles checked, though the bousouzoku boys threatening to break bones of anyone that touches them told him they will not be appeased as easily.
He only got a deal when Kamenashi proposed their presence at the school be kept quiet just as they would about the school’s abysmal security system. Then Yabu Kota dragged the principal off to suggest improvements to Kitagawa Academy’s security protocol and out of earshot from Diei monotonously explaining Yuma’s crew had harassed Chinen Yuri into the locker thus why he was late from his bus ride home; after all, this couldn’t be denied by the group in lock up. Though Kamenashi and Inoo Kei tried, even with Diei answering promptly when questioned (mentioning nothing pointing out to the magical truth, of course) and letting them smother her with care in worry, her silent staring at Chinen and Yamada while they were being treated including herself when they were treating her shoulder was intimidating them not to inquire more. Her only request was that a few medics see to Hitomori Yann and Tomogawa Airin who but for being slightly still terrified of the experience there was no problem with them, which Chinen was grateful to know.
“Honto ni daijobu?” Chinen asked Yann for the fifth time holding her hand, which she had answered with a short smile and squeezing his hand back before slipping her own from his. For someone who ran away because of her - well, mostly her - he was treating her just as, if not more, fondly than before and she was feeling very shy for it.
Not far from them Morimoto Ryutaro sat on the back of the ambulance surrounded by Tomogawa Airin, Cerezo Kai, Nakajima Yuto and Hideki Aya.
“I can’t believe that Nakayama-kun,” Aya clucked her tongue.
“I should have been there,” Yuto muttered with an uncharacteristically dark look on his face.
“Nah captain,” Morimoto laughed slowly, massaging the spot under his left jaw which one of the goons got in a lucky hit making him lose consciousness for a few seconds during the fight. “Or else the team would be the one beating us up for not inviting them in the rumble. Mind you, I could do very little; Diei-sempai and her friends were amazing.”
“You did just fine jumping in for Yann-chan and Airin-chan, Morimoto-kun,” Kai beamed at him.
“Me? What about Yann-sempai? She was very brave trying to save that puppy.”
This was not the right thing to say as Yann winced and looked down sadly. Since Yamada rescued the puppy from Nakayama’s kick her attention shifted to Kota Yabu telling her to duck so he could punch the lights out of the guy who was holding her, and since then she had not seen the puppy.
“I’m really sorry sempai, I was the one who last saw Ame-chan, and he ran in fright to the woods behind the sports dome,” was the story Diei told Airin to tell for Yann’s sake. “Puppies very frighten in an unfamiliar place rarely finds its way back…”
“I know Airin-chan, it’s alright, it’s not your fault,” Yann said kindly.
There was a groan behind them from inside the truck coming from Yamada who was just allowed to sit up by a medic patching him up. “Honto gomen Yann-chan, but there’s no chance of searching for Ame-chan this dark…”
“Which the principal swears he’ll have his staff looking for the very next morning and will update us if they ever find him. Actually, he also swears all the rides and food in the fair are going to be free for THS students. I’ll take it, wouldn’t you?” Diei cut into their conversation as she and Inoo approached the group; her eyes directly at Yamada who was testing if he could move enough through the tight gauges around his torso. Seeing her kohais look as if they doubt if this is the time, she added “especially after all this, I’m sure Inoo-kun would love to give us a tour.”
“Er,” Inoo hesitated, missing her true intentions of getting the group going. “Yeah, sure?”
“Kota and I will wait by the gates for Hikaru-tachi,” Kamenashi said, who did not miss this and more, nodding knowingly over Yamada. “We’ll let you deal with him.” This of course was confusing to everyone who wasn’t there to witness Yamada’s confession albeit Aya and Airin only hearing of it through the call.
But despite Yamada waiting with trepidation for how Diei could pull it off, she did not asked to be left with him somewhere as their group passed by brightly-colored stalls and rides. This did however seem to lift up the others’ moods when they started to get hungry or distracted to stop watch goldfish scooping. It wasn’t until they came under the ferris wheel did Inoo’s phone rang: Yaotome and the other 3rd Years had arrived at the gates.
“Oh yeah, I can meet you there,” Inoo said to his phone surreptitiously looking over Diei who took this time to approach a soda vending machine by the ferris wheel ticket booth so he could whisper “Yes, I won’t bring her to tell you exactly what I know, bye!”
“So guys,” he began, addressing his kohais, “your other sempais are here and wants to meet up; do you know of YaKaTa? They’ll be performing later for the show, what a treat right?”
While Inoo rambled on about how YaKaTa was their inspiration when they started a band in their first year of high school, Airin noticed Chinen looking at the ferris wheel.
“Hmm, it does look fun,” she said glancing up.
“I’ll take you,” Morimoto offered. “I mean, as friends, you know…”
“Oh yeah, the view from there is great!” pipe in Inoo. “How about you guys take a ride while waiting for the show and Kai-chan and I meet up with Hikaru-tachi, we can all meet back here in say, half an hour?”
“I’d like to take a ride up as well,” Chinen told Yann who had not said much beside him. “Would you come with me?”
While this made Aya giggle nudging Yann forward and Kai winked at her before following after Inoo who held her hand as they head to the gates, it didn’t seem to bother Diei as they passed her by getting in line.
“Go on, we’ll be here,” she told her stepbrother.
The silence continued between Chinen and Yann until the gondola after Airin and Morimoto’s stopped in front of them.
“Ah, arigatou,” Yann muttered as Chinen held out his hand to help her in. She tried very hard not to be conscious of how warm his hand was against her cold one which she took back quickly from his gentle hold. It wasn’t even twenty seconds yet that they were sitting beside each other when she began. “Anou -”
“Arigatou, Yann-chan,” Chinen cut her off, turning to her smiling.
“Eh?” Yann blinked at him, confused.
“For coming to find me,” he said simply. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner about Onee-chan -”
“Oh no Chinen-kun -”
“Yuri, please,” Chinen requested.
Yann paused to smile back at him weakly at that. “Yuri-kun doesn’t have to tell me anything, you don’t owe me any explanations, really. I only came to apologize for my stupid reactions and that I should have trusted you’d tell me stuff about you on your own time -”
“Can I tell Yann-chan something now then?” he interrupted her again, this time taking her hand firmly with both hands. It was the one with the finger he had unexpectedly cut from when he was still a puppy, and he traced his own finger over the healing wound ever so gently repeatedly, sending Yann slightly ticklish but soothing chills.
I want to tell you how much I appreciate all you’ve done for me as a stray puppy; I could have never kept my sanity during the whole time without you. I want to say I don’t feel the same way about you as you do to me - I feel more - but I don’t want to weird you out saying ‘I love you’ within just a day of meeting me as Chinen Yuri even though I am sure; I truly love you.
“Yann-chan is so caring and so selfless, I want to do everything in my power to never let her get hurt, or be in harm’s way again, ever,” Chinen said instead of what he was really thinking and tried to get his feelings across through planting a very soft kiss to Yann’s hurt finger who when he looked up to he knew she understood.
“So?” Chinen pressed on as he slowly swiped a lock of hair from Yann’s face behind her ear, swiftly cupping the side of her face as he inwardly delighted at her light blushing with their faces so close. “Can I protect Yann-chan from now on?”
“Yes,” Yann barely whispered back before Chinen sealed their promise with a kiss.
~+~+~+~
Back below, Diei had just found the bench with the best view of the ferris wheel and the most ideal place to wait, where she also found Aya and Yuto dumping the stubborn Yamada who had insisted he didn’t need to sit, but groaned in relief as he parked his ass on it doubling over in slight pain from his two cracked ribs.
“Yuto-kun, I want some of those cotton candy we passed by before, could you buy me one?” Aya invented wildly as she saw Diei approach grabbing Yuto’s arm; Yuto raised his eyebrows at her but allowed himself to be dragged away before Yamada could call them back.
Looking around, Yamada noticed they were quite alone; at least, from people who knew them. He narrowed his eyes at her as she sat beside him and started to try opening her soda can one-handed. “I should have known; you were planning this with Kamenashi-san.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Diei frowned frustratedly as she watched Yamada take her soda and opened it for her envying his mobility.
“It didn’t mean deal with me; you guys made sure Chinen gets to deal with his unfinished business with Yann-chan.”
“Not everything is about you, Yamada Ryosuke-san,” Diei told him slowly smiling mockingly at him as she brought up the drink to her lips, though stopped with a little crease of her brows. “Do you really think I plan everything?”
“You didn’t?”
“Hmm, well,” Diei said mysteriously as she finally took a sip to Yamada’s laughter.
“Here’s something I didn’t plan,” she said bringing down her soda, “I didn’t plan on spending the last two days on a counter-curse hunt for my stepbrother,” which wiped the smile off from Yamada’s face.
“I also didn’t plan on falling off a school stairs, which I’d probably never hear the end of from Bocchan once he gets wind of it,” Diei continued in an exasperated tone.
“About that -” Yamada tried to explain, but Diei steamrolled all over his words.
“Aaand I didn’t plan on giving you the chance to get close to me, and fall for me, knowing I’m that lovable and all -”
“Oh, really now -”
“- because I won’t be able to say no if you ask me out.”
There was a long silence after that, spent by them just sitting on that bench not looking at each other; Yamada couldn’t believe what he just heard and was trying to quickly thinking of what to reply that wouldn’t ruin his chances again when he heard her sigh beside him.
“Ryosuke?”
“Yeah?” he was turning to look at her when she closed the gap between them; placed a hand on his shoulder nearest her, leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
He was still frozen in surprise when she pulled back smiling softly at him. “Arigatou, for saving my brother.”
He swallowed hard, his throat dry. “My mess to clean up, right?”
He saw her laugh shortly at him repeating her words before, looked down at her soda can and started to blush while fiddling with the tab as she said, “soshite, tsukiatte kureru?”
He was so shocked she had to ask, thoroughly looking tentative and unsure as if he would say otherwise.
“Hai,” he answered her eagerly, grabbing her close so he could kiss her face all over while telling her, “Hai, ikitai desu!”
“Iyaaa, yamete -”
“Zeeeeehi ikitai desu!”
“Ryosuke -!”
Suddenly a drumstick struck the side of his head from behind their bench.
“Oi, kora, the woman said stop smothering her,” said Yaotome who was the one who had thrown it drawing near them with Do, Jeyn, Arioka, Takaki, Hara, Kai and Inoo snorting.
It was at this time too when Airin, Morimoto, Yann and Chinen had arrived from their ferris wheel ride and joined their fellow THS schoolmates, the later two holding hands. But before anyone could say anything about this they had let go and Chinen outright sat between Diei and Yamada looking up at the 3rd Years sweetly. “Ehem, Konnichiwa sempais, Chinen Yuri desu, I’m Diei-nee’s stepbrother and I really like Yann-chan!”
While this made Yann even redder in the face and Do’s jaw drop, the others effortlessly warmed up to the guy. Yamada had also just recovered from getting his head hit again and slapped the back of Chinen’s head. “You forgot being my brother-in-law; she asked me out - I’ll never let her go now!”
“Nee-chan did you see? Are you going to let someone hurting me into my family -”
“Ie, ie, ie, ie, ie, ie…” suddenly a hand clamped over each of their shoulder as Yaotome reached them from behind the bench, tightening its hold as he bared his teeth in a grin looking manically evil. “You’re in myfamily now.”
“Hyaaa, kowaii!” Chinen pulled Yann onto his lap pretending to use her as shield while Yamada threw the drumstick to Yaotome’s face to make him let go ensuing a comedic chase of the two around them all.
While most watched them, Inoo sat on the bench’s steel arm frame beside Diei saying to her, “Yaru ne, Kaichou-san, you’ve actually asked someone on a date, finally!”
Diei rested her chin on her hand leaning against her leg as she watched Hikaru and Yamada, smiling, “Ahh, I thought I’d better do it than risk him saying the wrong things again…”
Arioka slapped a hand to his leg triumphantly. “And here I thought I’d die before I see her with a boyfriend!”
“We’re going to talk later,” Do muttered flicking Yann’s ear from behind the bench.
“Hora, hora, Do-chan, its sembreak; don’t be so strick!” Jeyn glomped Do winking at Chinen over her shoulder. “Atashi wa Kurosaki-sempai, demo you call me Jeyn-nee okay?”
“Hey guys,” Nakajima Yuto called over them pointing at the stage in the middle of the courtyard. “They’re starting!”
“C’mon!” Yamada said grabbing Diei’s hand to pull her up her seat to hurry towards YaKaTa’s opening performance and lead everyone to the start of their new rose-colored lives.
End.
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Hajimari no Owari - End of Beginning
bousouzoku - violent-running tribe ; used as “motorcycle gang” here
Honto ni daijobu - Are you really okay?
-kun - suffix used by speaker for younger male names or males close with
-sempai - suffix used by speaker for a senior / respected upperclassman or upperclasswoman
-chan - suffix used by speaker for younger female names or females close with
sempai - senior ; title for a respected upperclassman or upperclasswoman
Ame - Rain
hounto gomen - really sorry
kohai - junior
-tachi - suffix used by speaker for pural form (e.g.: Hikaru-tachi = Hikaru & company)
arigatou - thank you
anou - usual japanese exclamation version of ‘uhm’
Onee-chan - informal/cutesy way to say ‘Onee-san’ meaning sister
-san - suffix for both sexes ; used for formality
soshite - and/then ; used as "then" here
Tsukiatte kureru? - Will you go out with me?
Hai - Yes
Ikitai desu - I'd like to go.
Iyaa - usual japanese exclamation version for casual way of saying "Ie" meaning no
yamete - stop ; informal way to say ‘yamette kudasai’meaning 'please stop'
Zehi ikitai desu - I'd really love to go ('Zehi' emphasizing more feelings)
kora - you ; term used by speaker to get someone’s attention in a harsh manner
Konnichiwa - Hello
desu - when added to the end of a sentence they make a sentence a positive (or affirmative) declarative
-nee - suffix used by speaker for own sister
Nee-chan - Sis ; informal/cutesy way to say ‘Onee-san’
Ie - No
Hyaaa - usual japanese exclamation version for a squealing sound
kowaii - scary
hora - look / see / there ; used as "there" here
Atashi wa - I’m ; feminine way to refer to self
demo - but