Rotten Luck

Akihiro Tani is many things--- he's driven, ruthless, ambitious to a fault and always rude to anyone who would dare get in the way of that. Having been this way for years now, it’s been a tough shell to crack for those around him.

Tough for everyone, except Shirai Keiko.

Whenever he snaps at her, she defangs him with ease, whenever he complains, she ignores him, whenever he needs something from her, she takes as much as she can get in return for it.

Tani may not have ever thought of her this way, but she is certainly his greatest foe, and one he has yet to beat even once.

Surely though, he could manage to find it within himself to reject the proposal of stepping into the shoes of her short term boyfriend, right..?

“Let’s go inside the Faculty of Science Building to see what they got in there.”

“Akihiro-kun, all we’ve been doing is walking around and looking at academic stuff. It’s pretty boring.”

“Ha! And here I thought that as a teacher you’d want to learn.”

“But I’m not your teacher right now... Eeep! Could this actually be considered spousal abuse? I feel like I’m being tortured on my birthday by my boyfriend!”

“Knowledge is not abuse, Sensei.”

“Ah~ah~ah, you called me Sensei again. That is strictly forbidden for the next…” She looks to the back of her wrist towards a little watch hanging from a bracelet and says, “43 minutes exactly. Go on and try again please.”

“Ugh…”

She tilts her head and smiles at him.

“...Keiko.”

“O-Oh my, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that.” she says, holding her face and squirming inappropriately in the process.

“We agreed that I would be your boyfriend if you let me do what I want on our break. I shouldn’t have even left our booth in the first place so this was the least you could do. Are you really trying to back out of the deal now?”

“I’m not trying to back out, but I am requesting an alteration.”

“Alteration denied.”

“Overruled by article 1.1 of the Girlfriend’s Birthday Doctrine, also known as GBD.” she says, holding out her open hand in front of his face and staring at him like she had just found a real life trump card.

“What?? You just made that up!”

“I did not! In the 2009 edition of Tiger Beat magazine on page 32 of issue #1012, the list of mandatory activity terms for boyfriends to adhere to on their girlfriend’s birthday are written in big bold letters.”

“I’ve never even heard of that magazine, the font size means nothing to me!”

“You should read up then, because you are obligated to be the one following me around today. Thank goodness I just remembered, I was almost trapped reading peer reviewed papers for the entire duration of our relationship.” She grabs his hand and pulls him towards the main pavilion where the larger tents containing carnival games are. “Come on, let’s go!”

Tani wants to resist, being yanked away from the part of the festival he most wanted to see feels like he’s fallen from the glistening gates of heaven and straight towards a dark abyss. In his head he’s bellowing out his dismay at not having a chance to reach that paradise.

However, his agony comes to a sudden halt when he becomes aware that his hand is being held, and this contact does just enough to keep him from thinking too much about anything else.

Hers feels different than Anita’s, slightly bigger but not quite as strong. It’s just as soft though, and it sends a fire racing towards his heart.

“Hey, Sensei…”

She purposely chooses to ignore him and doesn’t even look his way.

“Hey, Keiko.”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be holding my hand like this, we might run into the others.”

Shirai stops and pinches her chin as though contemplating the result of that, and then releases her grip on his hand.

She halfway sulks.

“I guess you’re right… that’d be hard to explain.”

“It would be a disaster.” Tani quips and tucks his hands underneath his arms.

“Is that why you wanted to go to the nerdy booths inside? We definitely wouldn’t run into your friends there. Aww how cute, if you want to go somewhere private all you need to do is ask.”

“That’s not why at all, unlike you I enjoy learning new things.”

She sends a cheeky smile his way. “Humhmm sure, sure. You’re a naughty boy, Tani-kun.”

“T-Tani-kun??”

“Oh look! How about we play a game of Wanage?”

Before Tani can reply, Shirai rushes over and secures herself a spot to play from, once there she turns to him and urgently waves him over. Upon receiving her three rings, Tani is next handed his three by the employee in charge of the game.

Shirai scours the wall showcasing all the items up for grabs and immediately spots something that catches her eye.

“If you win me the grand prize, I’ll give you a special treat.” she declares with a seductive wink.

“I’m going to lose on purpose then.”

“You’re so dishonest, you don’t have to pretend when it’s just us two.”

He narrows his eyes at her, but Shirai takes the blow of his dejection in stride, shaking it right off.

“How about if I win the prize instead, I’ll keep it and give you the special treat anyways?”

“Then I’ll root for your failure.”

“Geez, so mean. I just want a nice prize, is that so much to ask?”

“Sounds like you want something else entirely.”

She purses her lips and readies her first throw, with the aid of one eye closed and her tongue hanging out of one side of her mouth, she tosses her first ring towards a ramune bottle in an attempt at scoring the highest possible amount of points.

It’s a complete airball, the ring sailed over the entire table and crashed onto the ground by the employee's feet.

“Aww!”

“That was bad.” Tani points out, stepping in front of her for his turn.

Just like he said he would, he casually tosses the ring without any semblance of effort.

And it’s a perfect swish onto the exact ramune bottle Shirai had just missed.

“!?”

“Wow amazing job, Tani-kun!”

“Five points!” the employee exclaims excitedly.

“A total fluke, what are the odds?” Tani mutters in disbelief.

“Only five more points and I can choose from any prize I want. I’ll be giving you the most special treat ever if you keep this up!”

Shirai takes another toss, and it’s another miss.

Tani turns his back to the table and tosses the ring over his shoulder without looking.

It swishes onto the pointy hat of a clay garden gnome worth 3 points.

“What the!?”

“You’re so handsome and talented!”

“I can’t believe that just happened.”

“Only two more points away, sir!” the employee points out while looking even more excited than Shirai is.

She tosses her last ring, and this time it connects with a one point stick, winning her a lollipop that she will most certainly not be eating. After stuffing it into the back pocket of her skirt, she shifts all her focus on Tani, who is holding his ring and looking at the table containing all the items for the rings to wrap around.

The ramune bottle is 5 points, figurines of the Tokyo Tower are worth 4, soy sauce bottles are 3 points, and all the 2 pointers consist of different varieties of sake bottles.

Any one of those would win him the prize that Shirai wants, and now that he’s so close to pulling it off after accidentally reaching this position in the game, he actually gets himself into an athletic stance in order to give him the best chance at winning.

Shirai notices his energy shift and tries to pump him up, “You can do it, Tani-kun!”

“I got this easy peasy, I'll have you know that I was once the star pitcher in my primary school's little league.”

Bragging about being good at a sport as a tiny child is not the flex he thinks it is. He's lucky he said that to Shirai of all people.

“I believe in you!” she says while jumping on her tippy toes with her clenched hands held in front of her chest.

Tani takes a deep breath, narrows his focus on the middle of the table where all the sake bottles are, does a couple practice strokes, and lets the final ring loose. But during the act, a sudden jolt of electricity afflicts his entire body and his arm jerks at an odd angle, sending the ring flying at an incredible speed in a direction nowhere close to the table.

He totally yipped it. If someone happened to be standing at the table next to him they would have got their head taken off.

He's quickly reminded of why he quit playing baseball, he had resigned in shame once he lost all confidence and control in his throw and began to obliterate every other batter unlucky enough to face him.

He could only handle hurting his fellow classmates for so long, so he dove headfirst into his studies and never looked back.

“Oh no!” he says as he watches the fast moving ring bounce off a pole holding up the tent, reflect onto an adjacent gaming station and bounce off a garden gnome.

“!?”

The ring seems to have a mind of its own when it lands and rolls along the prize display behind the very bewildered employee. On the verge of coming to a complete stop, it topples over the side towards the ground and once it lands, Tani will have failed spectacularly despite trying his very best to win.

But instead of hitting the ground, the plastic ring falls directly onto the moving blades of a portable fan the employee has been using to cool himself off.

The ring skyrockets upwards in a flash.

‘Clack!’

The three try to track its movement, but to no avail. Not knowing if that projectile is now coming their way or not, all of them shield their heads and turtle up.

‘Clack-click-whack-ping!’

That series of abrasive noises ends with a very distinguishable swirling sound.

Upon investigating the still pulsating noise, they spot the plastic ring swirling around the neck of a sake bottle as though dropped there by a passing zephyr.

“W-We have a winner..!” the employee exclaims in disbelief.

“You did it! You’re even more handsome and talented than I ever imagined!”

“Holy crap... I need to buy a lottery ticket.”

“I know exactly what prize I want.” Shirai says, pointing towards all the items at the back of the tent.

There are giant stuffed teddy bears, Gundam figurines, entire card games, dried squid and bags of Umaibo. There’s quite a lot to choose from as someone who managed to win ten points, there’s even brand new Nintendo Switches in a glass case free for the taking.

But Shirai doesn’t want any of those, she instead chooses a gold and silver chain necklace with a teal amazonite gemstone dangling from the front.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“Looks like a rock to me, you sure you don’t want that Nintendo? Those are pretty expensive, you know?”

“Oh I’m very sure, I knew the moment I saw this necklace I just had to have it. Now that I do, I’m going to cherish it forever.”

“Really?”

The two make their way back into the crowd in the center of the pavilion, which has thankfully dimmed a little bit now that most people have settled into what they're doing and where they want to spend their time.

“Do you know what an amazonite gemstone symbolizes?” Shirai asks, holding the stone up to reflect the light of the sun.

“I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of it.”

“Aha perfect, you get to learn another new thing today then. You see, although this gemstone isn’t rare, it’s been said that it promotes emotional balance and enhances communication skills.”

Tani doesn’t believe that for a second, he refuses to even try and learn about something he considers pseudoscience; but the way she so happily gazes at her prize, there is no way he’d dare tell her that.

She continues,

“I’ve even read that it helps you speak out loud what you feel in your heart. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Sure…” he answers with an unconvinced grin.

“That’s why it’s called the Stone of Courage, maybe I can speak my truth now that I have this? Or at least maybe I can have some hope for the future.”

“You really think you’ll get all that from a rock?”

“It’s a gemstone,” she puffs. “well it’s also technically a crystal. Anywho, it’s not a rock, and I’m really happy you won this for me.”

He watches her move her hair away from her neck to put the new necklace on. She couldn’t look any more pleased while doing so, and the smile on her face as she swings her hair back behind her to present the necklace to him brings flight to a kaleidoscope of butterflies in his chest.

“How do I look?” she asks.

The last time she asked this, Tani purposefully avoided answering, this time he has to internally debate whether he should do that again--- because that new necklace of hers that she’s showing off dangles a tantalizing inch above the top crease of her cleavage.

Due to the fact that Anita’s shirt is a size too small for her, she was unable to fasten the last two buttons closest to the collar and wear the summer uniform’s bowtie. This has produced a visual that would absolutely violate the school uniform rule if she ever were to show up to class in this get up.

He regrets not having the wherewithal to ask the much taller Mariko to loan Shirai clothes instead. At least he wouldn’t have had to worry about what the faculty from TIU or Tokyo U might think if and when they ever show up.

“If you ogle at my chest any longer, I might just melt away right here on the spot.” she says with a blush, but very obviously doesn’t mind since she sticks her chest out even more.

“I-I’m not ogling.”

“Don’t be shy, ogle away.”

“I was just looking at your necklace, don’t twist my intentions to fit your weird little fantasies.”

She spreads her arms out like a bird and throws her head back in a melodramatic swoon, “Oh my, Tani-kun, these are very big fantasies I have.”

“.…”

“So feel free to tell me how pretty I am and I will let you look at me for as long as you want!”

He stalls, and she nervously peeks at him with one eye closed, still holding her pose.

And to her surprise, Tani hides his face and turns away before saying, “Why do you insist on having me say out loud what you already know?”

“Because it’s normal for a girl to want to hear her boyfriend say nice things about her.”

“Speaking of that, how much time do we have left as a couple?”

“What a dodge, geez!” she pouts as she looks at her watch. “We have 27 minutes to go.”

With his back still turned he begins walking, “So where to next?”

She stomps her way to him and smoothly cuts him off, looking him in the eyes. “May I borrow your hand?”

“Eh?”

She snatches his hand and lifts it towards her chest.

“Ehhh!?”

Expecting to have his hand forced into a forbidden place that he has never had the pleasure of exploring, he is shocked when she places the gemstone of her new necklace into his palm and squeezes his hand shut.

Her face is mere inches from his, and his hand is dangerously close to making skin on skin contact with her bare chest; judging by the look in her mauve eyes she has no intention of letting him slip away from this position.

“Tani-kun, let the power of this gemstone guide you to speak your truth without fear of judgement and answer me this...”

It’s like she’s summoning a familiar, rubbing the back of his hand with her fingertips as though the very act of doing so will bring about salvation to a fantasy realm.

“...Do you think I’m pretty?”

She is extremely persistent, and he finds himself unable to flee from her any longer.

“I think you’re very pretty.”

She stops rubbing his hand and leaves it there holding on to her necklace. Letting a toothy smile illuminate her face, she tilts her head and asks, “You’re not just saying that cause it’s my birthday?”

“No, I’ve always thought that.”

“Tehehe, oh my, when you’re honest you are especially manly. The gemstone has worked its magic. Now that that is finally cleared up, I have an idea for the rest of our break.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Well first,” Shirai points at his hand, “You have to let go of my necklace.”

“Oops, sorry.” he says, retrieving his hand and taking a step away from her as if realizing he’d been dangerously close for far too long.

Shirai turns on her heels and asks, “How about we go somewhere a little more quiet?”

To Be Continued!!