A/N: I don't know what got into me, but here I am with a rehash of my story. This time around I'll make sure to finish it, no matter what and no matter how long it takes.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun or any of its characters. Izumi Tsubaki does. :D
"W-what is going on..?"
Suffice to say, Chiyo Sakura was shocked.
She stood transfixed by the doorway, her mouth hanging open and her eyes blank circles of disbelief. A million thoughts ran through her head as she remained rooted to her spot.
One, Hori-senpai actually looked really appealing, what with the somewhat feral expression on his face.
Two, Mikorin looked as if someone had dropped a bucket of red paint on his face and had refused to wipe it off.
Three, the two teens were on the floor, engaged in some sort of intimate act (or so that was what Sakura thought. Hori was hovering above Mikoshiba for all it's worth).
Four to a million actually just revolved around the statement 'Mikorin's cheating with Hori-senpai?!'. A statement which Sakura actually blurted out.
"M-MIKORIN'S CHEATING WITH HORI-SENPAI?!" The orange-haired young female squealed as she trembled in her place. One of the accused, Masayuki Hori, calmly stood up from his position, his eyes locked on Sakura's.
"We're not doing any of the sort. Whose house do you think this is?" Hori explained as he pointed a thumb back at Nozaki, who was busy sketching on his pad. The said black-haired young man raised his eyes to Sakura and moved his head, acknowledging her presence, before returning to his job. Mikorin, on the other hand, was spluttering on the floor.
"Ch-cheating?! Don't tell me you still think I have a boyfriend?!" Mikoshiba yelled as he bolted to his feet. A year had already passed and Sakura still had that idea in her head?!
Hori turned his attention toward the other male, his mind trying to process Sakura's reaction and Mikoshiba's defense. Why would Sakura think that Mikoshiba was cheating? Mikoshiba did tell him a couple days back that he had no girlfriend at the moment, and Sakura was definitely not into the guy as far as he knew. So why that reaction? What was making Sakura think Mikoshiba had a relationsip with some-
Wait...
"Oh!" Hori said as he hit the palm of his left hand with his fisted right one. Mikoto was Mamiko. Of course, if you looked at it that way, Mikoto was indeed cheating, and he was doing it with him, Hori. Now that made perfect sense.
"Mami-koshiba, I think I understand now." Hori said at length.
"Y-you do, Hori-senpai?" The red-haired teen turned teary eyes toward their senpai. Finally! Finally, Hori was going to clear that idea out of Sakura's-
"You ARE cheating." The brown-haired young man deadpanned, his eyes sparkling with understanding. Mikoshiba's eyes, on the other hand, unleashed a myriad of tears.
"CAN YOU AT LEAST SAY THAT WITHOUT LOOKING SO HAPPY?!"
When all had been settled (and forgotten. Mikoshiba just gave up on trying to make Hori-senpai and Sakura understand him. Indeed, he just gave up on trying to understand them.), Nozaki-who had been silent the whole time the other three were debating Mikoshiba's love life-finally spoke up.
"Guys, I got some free tickets to some onsen. Lodging, food and other services are free for us to use for five days." He informed them. Sakura's grin split her face in half as she beamed at the mangaka.
"Five days? Free?! Nozaki-kun, let's go, let's go! This is a chance we shouldn't pass on!" The female exclaimed. But the looks on Mikoshiba's and Hori's faces made Sakura stop in her gleeful clapping. Instead of being happy, they were staring hard at the mangaka. Really hard...
"Nozaki, are you planning on using this trip as reference for your manga?" Hori asked. Nozaki nodded fervently-before he began shaking his head.
"No. I'd just like to have a get-together of sorts, if that's okay with you guys." He said. Mikoshiba was eyeing him warily, not sure if he was going to trust him on that.
"You sure you're not up to something..?" The redhead asked. The young man moved his head once more in response.
"As proof, I shall leave my sketchpad and other drawing tools here."
"...Nozaki, you have your memo pad and a pen in your hands." Hori pointed out.
"Just in case we need to buy food and supplies. It's better to have something we can use for writing down lists."
"Nozaki..."
"Yes, Mikoshiba?"
"Can you say that without that stupid grin on your face?"
"Just in case we need to buy food and supplies. It's better to have something we can use for writing down lists." Nozaki repeated. Mikorin actually threw his drawing tools at the mangaka.
"YOU BASTARD! QUIT GRINNING, THEN!"
"Uhm..." Sakura finally spoke up after watching the exchange between the three. The said young men all looked at her. Hori and Mikoshiba both had a 'please back us up' look in their eyes, while Nozaki still had a really, really big smile plastered all over his face. The female sighed.
"Guys, I don't think it'll hurt if Nozaki-kun wants to get some ideas from this trip. I mean, I'm sure there are other people at the onsen once we get there, right? Nozaki inviting us doesn't necessarily mean he's going to use US as reference. So don't worry too much about it!" She beamed. This line of thought seemed to have some calming effect on the redhead and their senpai, for they both just sighed in agreement. Sakura did have a point, after all.
"Though, Nozaki-kun..." Sakura followed up after her explanation.
"Yes, Sakura?"
"Stop writing on your memo pad. You're not helping."
"...Sorry..."
By the end of the day, it was decided that they would leave for the onsen on Thursday night, since they didn't have classes the coming Friday (some town-wide event was going to happen, and schools were going to be closed because of it). They also had no classes on Monday and Tuesday (they actually forgot why they didn't have one), which would allow them to maximize their trip. It was also decided that the following people would be included in the trip: Hirotaka Wakamatsu (since he, too, was one of Nozaki's trusted assistants, and not to mention he was also their friend), Yuzuki Seo (since she was Sakura and Kashima's friend, and Waka would probably ask about her anyway), and Kashima Yuu (Hori's orders). Basically, it's the entire gang.
"Alright! I'll inform Kashima-kun and Yuzuki about our plan for this weekend." Sakura said, her tone bright and quite ecstatic. The three guys nodded in answer.
"And we'll be able to tell Wakamatsu about it later. He'll just be late tonight, he told me." Nozaki said. Just then, his phone sounded, announcing the arrival of a text message. The mangaka reached for the device and flipped it open, his eyes scanning the now opened message.
"Change of plans. I'm just going to call Wakamatsu later." He said in his usual monotone, which earned the curious stares of the other three people in the room.
"Why? What happened to Wakamatsu?" Hori asked.
"Did something bad happen to him?"
"Yes. Apparently, Seo had thrown a ball at him, and it was more forceful than usual. He said it was so painful, he couldn't manage to walk. Pretty uncomfortable place to be hit for a guy, actually." He said. Mikoshiba and Hori exchanged horrified looks, while Sakura's jaw had actually fallen on to the floor.
'Oh, no. Had Seo targeted him there? Of all places?!' Mikoshiba mused.
'Ah, poor Wakamatsu. I do hope he'll be okay. That's gonna hurt for a while.' Hori thought with a shudder.
"No-nozaki-kun, will Wakamatsu recover? I mean, that's gotta hurt if she hit him..hit him..there." She rasped, unable to bring herself to say the exact word in her mind. Nozaki nodded, totally oblivious to the expressions his friends were making.
"I agree. After all, getting hit in the stomach after you've just eaten a full meal really isn't that comfortable for a guy, right? He mentioned he even threw up on the court." The mangaka said, his eyes now back on his sketchpad. The other three students' faces donned shocked expressions upon hearing that, though. Their minds all cried out the same thing.
'IT WAS HIS STOMACH?!'
And so, the night wrapped up with them formalizing their plans, and praying for Wakamatsu's speedy recovery.