Instances

Nishikado Soujiroh glanced at his phone as it rang. He rolled his eyes, but picked it up to check who was calling him - although he had a hunch as to who it was.

Honestly, the girl should have enough common sense to stop calling him. And Soujiroh - being a gentleman, of course - would never allow something so brutal to come out of his mouth. He dropped hints every now and then, hoping she would just get it on her own. It was... gentler that way. More tactful. More--

He did a double-take.

Well this was a surprise. It wasn't her, for a change.

Soujiroh tossed the still-ringing phone to his bed, noting that whoever was calling was not important enough to talk to. Knowing it wasn't necessary to bring his phone with him tonight, he walked out of his room and into a new night.

-

His phone sounded again; this time it was a text message asserting its arrival to him. Soujiroh sighed. This time he was certain who sent it; after all if her calls didn't come through - because he was purposely ignoring them - she always seemed to text him. For what reason, he didn't know. To check if he was still alive, perhaps?

Lazily, he flipped his phone open, mentally preparing himself to see her name on it.

Only it wasn't.

The number was unfamiliar, and it was an invitation to--

Soujiroh didn't bother to find out. He immediately deleted the message and, again, tossed the phone on his bed, glaring at it as if it had committed some sin against him.

He had become annoyed, all of a sudden. Why, he didn't know. Soujiroh checked his watch, noting that he still had two hours before his appointment with Akira - though appointment might be a tad too formal. As usual, they were going to--

His phone rang.

Hours later, Soujiroh would be mentally assuring himself that he did not, by all means, jump on the bed in his haste to answer the phone.

But for now, he pressed the phone to his ear and said, "Yo," making the single syllable sound as cool as humanly possible.

"Yo," the very masculine tones of one Mimasaka Akira reached his ears, making him scowl. "I can't make it."

"What?"

"Something came up." And with that, Akira ended the call.

It wasn't as if Soujiroh spent every waking hour with Akira, because that would be... odd. Not to mention weird. But in some ways, Soujiroh preferred to go clubbing with any of his friends than on his own.

Well.

Looked like this night's going to be one of those days when he'd be flying solo.

Not that there was any problem with it. In fact it was fine. More than fine, even. It was--

The phone rang.

Since it was in his hand already, Soujiroh answered it.

"Soujiroh-kun?"

It was a female voice. He felt himself smiling now; a bit too pleased and smug. He knew it. He knew she wouldn't last a day - let alone a week - without calling and/or texting him, and now--

Wait a minute.

"Who's this?" he demanded, shooting off the bed and getting on his feet. "Who are you?"

"Soujiroh-kun, it's me, Momoko-chan. Remember? Last night--"

He closed his phone and threw it on the bed for the third time. Honestly, just how do these people manage to get his number, anyway?

-

It had been a full two weeks without a word from her.

Not that he was counting. It was just that Soujiroh had managed to connect the number of days with, you know, the time he had spent not visiting the dango shop and seeing her pop up behind him everywhere, like a crazy shadow-like stalker intent on eating him alive.

At first, Soujiroh was flippant about the whole thing. Maybe she was busy with something. School-stuff, probably. Maybe she left the country for a vacation. With her family, perhaps. Maybe she found a boyfriend and was spending time with him--

His hands balled to fists for no apparent reason at this thought.

Or maybe she had been kidnapped. Maybe she was somewhere dark, blindfolded and tied, scared out of her mind and crying, calling out his name like a prayer. Maybe some evil man had his hands on her right this second, laughing like only an evil man could and moving his hands up her defenseless body and--

Soujiroh fought panic and reached for his phone. He dialed her number - it was not on his speed-dial list of course, it just so happened that he needed only to press one number to call her - and after three rings and an endless barrage of curses from him she answered, "Hello?"

Alright, so she wasn't kidnapped and tied up and whatever. He breathed a sigh of relief. Several sighs of relief. He probably sounded like he was hyperventilating or something.

"Nishikado-san?"

He frowned, thinking of something to tell her. Brilliantly he said, "Yo."

"...Nishikado-san? Are you alright?"

Soujiroh was on the verge of asking - no, demanding - why she hadn't called him for a full two weeks when--

"Oh, I'm sorry I must go now." Her voice then faded, as if she had her phone away from her mouth. "Mimasaka-san, here I am! I'm--"

Beep. The line went dead.

Hours later, Soujiroh would be mentally reassuring himself that he did not, by all means, gape at his phone for a full minute.

Mimasaka-san?

TBC