A/N: A big massive apology for the long, long, long time posting this chapter. I find I don't get much time to write nowadays but my stories aren't on hiatus, the updates will just take a long time. Hopefully not so long as before, I have made it one of my New Year's Resolutions, spurred on by the lovely reviews I've had encouraging me to continue. Hopefully I'll get the chapters for my other stories out soon too. Thank you to everyone who's been following the story so far, and hope you enjoy this chapter :)

A Different Choice

Chapter Three

"Irie-kun, what a surprise," she managed to say in a light tone, but Kotoko was betrayed by the slightly forced smile stretched across her face. "And you guys too...interested in ballroom dancing as well?"

The Matsumoto sisters didn't even deign to speak and instead simply sneered down their noses at her. Nothing out of the ordinary there. She looked again to Irie-kun, who watched her with an assessing look, as if she were some sort of interesting experiment. But of course he didn't reply to her either, he never really spoke to her unless necessary and obviously now was no different.

Not surprisingly it was Sudou who answered her question. He marched forward, his moustache quivering with anger.

"Now see here, what is the meaning of this?" he demanded to know, practically standing in Kotoko's face. She took a step back gingerly and brushed against Takendo as he came to stand by her side.

"The meaning of what?" Kotoko asked back. She really didn't know what he was talking about.

Sudou looked enraged. "Exactly what kind of person are you, abandoning the tennis club? Do you have no sense of loyalty?"

Kotoko's eyes narrowed and it was her turn to bristle in anger. "Excuse me? You know very well that the other members of the tennis club couldn't care less if I stopped attending. Abandon the club? Huh, everyone probably thinks that I did them all a favour by leaving. Why would I feel loyalty to a club that only bullied me anyway?"

She felt a faint feeling of satisfaction at seeing the shocked looks on their faces. "Besides, I was the worst player in the club but I was forced by you, to compete in matches instead of the better players," Kotoko said heatedly.

She heard Reiko or Ayako; she didn't care to look to decipher which, snicker in contempt. "More like the worst player in the world," one of them muttered. The other gave an irritating laugh.

She felt the heat rush to her cheeks as she became aware that the entire dance club had their eyes on the confrontation. Any other time she might have teared up in humiliation but this time she had a protector by her side.

Takendo looked at the interlopers coldly. "Kotoko is hardly the only member to quit the tennis club, and by your own admission," he stared hard at the Matsumoto sisters as he said this, "she wasn't the most skilled of players there. She wasn't enjoying herself any longer so why should she stay?"

Sudou waved his hand dismissively. "She just needs to train harder, that's all. If Kotoko just put in a little bit more effort than she could easily be one of the best players."

Kotoko could only gape at him indignantly at this blatant lie. Effort? A bit more effort?! All those harsh workouts that Sudou had doled out to her and her alone...how were they not considered her best efforts? She still had bruises from some of those sessions! Sudou had forced her to train twice as hard and twice as long compared to the other club members and he said she needed to put in more effort?!

Another person moved up to stand beside Kotoko before she could erupt like a volcano. Akihito looked at Sudou with thinly veiled contempt. "As one club leader to another, it is my understanding that the extra-curricular activities that a student takes are done for fun and to enrich the mind," he spoke in polite yet stern tone that immediately commanded the attention of all those in the room.

"They are under no obligation to commit fully to a club or society and can leave if and when they chose. By your own admission Kotoko wasn't the most skilled player at tennis and she has stated that she no longer enjoys being in the club. Therefore, she has no obligation to stay." He paused, and everyone waited to see what Akihito would say next.

"You have a selection of professional players who have competed successfully in competitions so why do you constantly force Kotoko to participate in competitions that are way above her league when she doesn't even want to compete in the first place? Why do you want to force her to stay in a club where she does not want to remain and has no obligation to stay with?" Akihito demanded.

Sudou baulked slightly as all eyes looked to him for his answers. He sullenly remained silent, having no real answers to give. Not that he needed to give any reasons in the first place. Everyone in the room, whether they had first-hand knowledge or from gaining information from the rumour mill, knew that the only reason that Sudou wanted Kotoko in the tennis club to keep Irie away from one Reiko Matsumoto. For that he was willing to risk the reputation of the tennis club, their prowess at competitions and the happiness of the other players, all to keep Reiko to himself.

Akihito smiled with false politeness. "Now, if you don't mind, we have a dance class to hold. If you are not intending to join in then please leave."

Reiko quickly grabbed Irie's arm. "We're joining in." Naoki raised an eyebrow but said nothing to disagree with her bold statement. After all he was a little curious to see how Kotoko fared in the dance club, and if anything, she would provide some entertainment with her clumsy ways. He gazed coolly at Takendo, who frowned and grasped Kotoko's elbow lightly, leading her away from the group, leaving a very disgruntled Ayako to partner with Sudou.

Akihito kindly directed Kotoko to a space as far away as possible from the newcomers and in Takendo's arms Kotoko felt her tension leave her body though she still felt a little jittery. Takendo smiled reassuringly. "Forget about them, just focus on the steps and remember how well we did last time. They have no right whatsoever to judge us."

Kotoko smiled back and nodded in determination. "You're right," she agreed. She was just a rookie at dance after all, she was allowed to make mistakes and she wouldn't let her tormentors distract her.

As it was Kotoko didn't make a single mistake. True she didn't glide effortlessly like Akihito and Tohru, or even Reiko and Naoki, but she never tripped up, not even once. She considered that a huge achievement considering her performance last week. It helped that she had a partner who wouldn't berate her for taking a wrong step. Kotoko found she could relax comfortably with Takendo and didn't get all flustered like she did when Sudou or Naoki barked at her to do better.

For all that she had ever daydreamed about Irie, Kotoko couldn't imagine him ever holding her the way Takendo did now. For a start she would get flustered whenever he got too close to her anyway, which was pretty immature for someone of her age. Besides that, there was always something that would stop her reaching out for Irie the way that Reiko always did without batting an eye. She was afraid to reach out to him in case he never willingly reached back.

Takendo leaned in a little closer with a playful smile, paying no mind to the glares being directed his way. "Mind wandering away again? I do hope you aren't thinking of Mr High and Mighty over there."

Kotoko mock glared at him. "Why, are you jealous now?" He pretended to look hurt and she smiled sweetly. "No need to worry Takendo. Maybe he did cross my mind, once or twice or more..." Takendo pouted playfully and Kotoko hurried on, "But not in a positive way. You could say that I've just come to an epiphany."

"Oh and what might that epiphany be?" Takendo asked lightly as he spun her around.

Kotoko gave a faux dramatic sigh. "It just wouldn't have worked out between us; he and I are just two completely different people."

Takendo nodded sagely. "Ah yes, a very wise realisation indeed. Some romances are never meant to be, and a romance between a sweet bubbly human girl and a cold-hearted alien was always doomed to fail."

"Takendo!" Kotoko said laughingly, swatting his shoulder. "That wasn't very nice."

He grinned sheepishly. "Ok ok, maybe not an alien. But he isn't a typical teenage guy either."

Kotoko thought about it. "No, he really isn't. But you can't say he has a superiority complex either because he has proven himself to be superior to others before, many times."

"What about me? Am I a good enough challenge for him?" Takendo ventured. Were it not for the puppy dog look on his face, she might have thought that he was feeling insecure.

Kotoko looked at him in assurance. "Definitely. In fact, I'd say you two were equally matched in skills, both physically and mentally."

"Oh dear," Takendo replied, looking a little crestfallen. "So what advantage do I have in winning the princess' heart? What is so different about him and me that this lovely maiden would choose me over him?"

She pretended to have a hard time thinking it over and leaned closer to him to reveal her secret knowledge conspiratorially with her dance partner. "Well, you are definitely the more charming prince, that's for sure. The other one can be charming, just not towards me."

They both sneaked a peek at the dancing Reiko and Irie, who were dancing on the other side of the room. They both clearly knew what they were doing and Irie was an attentive partner to Reiko. They looked elegant and graceful together yet something seemed missing...

"They're a bit boring, aren't they?" Takendo commented. Kotoko snorted at his blunt statement. "What do you think they are talking about?"

"Hmm..." Kotoko had never really thought about it before. In her previous rabid imaginings she had always envisaged Reiko trying to get closer to Irie-kun, flirting with him over study sessions. She doubted that Reiko acted that all the time, maybe at least once a day (especially when Kotoko was about to witness it). Whenever she saw Reiko and Irie-kun outside tennis practice they would be walking around with books. "I guess they would be talking about their studies, economic issues and stuff," she ventured.

They both looked at each other and pulled faces. "Argh, how boring!"

Takendo gave an exaggerated sigh. "Alas, no wonder poor Kotoko couldn't keep his attention, you're simply not boring enough for him my dear."

"Oh um, that's...good?" Kotoko said, as if unsure whether she should be upset or relieved that she just wasn't boring enough for Irie-kun.

Takendo winked at her playfully. "Don't worry; I shall prove to you that you definitely picked the right prince. This guy definitely does not think that you are boring."

Kotoko placed a hand to her heart in semi-feigned relief. "Ah, it pleases me to know that this prince appreciates my company. And this prince definitely has many advantages over the other prince."

"Oh?" Takendo said in delight as he led her through a few backwards steps. "Do tell."

"Well, aside from being charming, this prince," she said, tapping his arm lightly, "is genuinely kind, loyal and friendly. He insists on accompanying his lady through thick and thin and will not abandon her to the wolves. And, of course, he definitely is not boring."

Takendo beamed. "I'm glad milady thinks so highly of me. And I'm glad that you're enjoying our grand adventure so far."

Kotoko beamed back at him. "I definitely am!"

Takendo winked. "Well the adventure isn't over by far," he said. "There are plenty more dragons to slay along the way."

Kotoko laughed at his silly playfulness as he twirled her around. "Oh dear. Well in that case, I'm definitely glad you're with me!'

They continued dancing happily, only briefly taking note of a furious Ayako squabbling with Sudou, who kept on making mistakes as he was too busy keeping an eye on Reiko and Irie to pay much attention to his dance steps.

Naoki was also watching the petty squabbling between Ayako and Sudou. Well at least he got his entertainment, even if wasn't provided by Kotoko like he had expected. He wearily glanced at the happily dancing couple, eyes narrowing slightly as he took note of their close proximity. Kotoko looked up at Takendo and gave him a radiant smile in reply to something he had said. Naoki clenched his jaw slightly in annoyance.

That airhead was so simple minded, she could be pleased by the smallest things sometimes.

"I guess we should start getting used to doing things like this," Reiko murmured as they executed their steps flawlessly.

Naoki looked at her nonchalantly. "Oh? What do you mean by that?"

Reiko hummed lightly. "Well there's less than two years left until we graduate. You'll be inheriting your father's business and I'll be entering into the business world myself," she reminded him. "As is the way with things in the business world, our parents expect us to make the best business connections possible, especially through marriage."

Naoki frowned slightly to himself. That was true. Funnily enough, before Kotoko's intrusion into his life, Naoki had assumed it would be the way of things to enter into an arranged marriage after succeeding his father's business. When Kotoko had moved into the Irie household his mother had made it clear how much she wanted Kotoko as a daughter, something his father didn't seem opposed to either. At first he had feared that his parents would force him into marriage with Kotoko but nothing of the sort had come about. His parents had made it clear to him that they would not interfere with his relationships. He, the prodigal first son who had expected to obey his parents and enter whatever love match they thought was best for him, realised that his parents expected him to choose his own relationship.

For someone who deemed things like romance a waste of time, this new notion seemed very daunting and troublesome indeed. Naoki knew that if his parents arranged a love match for him, he would uphold the relationship with the chosen woman out of duty to his parents, and he would expect his wife to do the same even if they did not love each other. But to choose his own wife based on his own feelings…Naoki himself did not think he had the emotional capacity for such a thing. The crazy fan girls who chased him throughout middle school and high school put him off the notion of dating. He had female friends who he got on well with, but he never let anyone get too close. The only one who knew him on a deeper level was Kotoko. Naoki just couldn't picture himself pursuing a girl for a relationship, hadn't even entertained the notion.

Yet just a few days ago he had been at his father's company, visiting after a day of classes. One of his father's workers, a member of the board, had privately confided that a wealthy, potential investor of the company had expressed an interest in arranging a love match between Naoki and his daughter. The worker had urged Naoki to seriously consider the offer if it was made as it would be extremely beneficial to the company.

This sudden news had troubled him, especially when he had returned home to his secret stash of medical books. He was already going to disappoint his father with his chosen choice of career, so spurning the love match wouldn't be an issue, right? However he was a dutiful son and Naoki knew that the love match could potentially seal a deal that would ensure his father's prosperity. His father may not have pressured him to get involved with Kotoko; however with the bad luck the company had been having recently Shigeki Irie was suddenly under a lot of pressure, pressure that may well be alleviated if Naoki were to marry the daughter of a rich, potential backer. Maybe before Naoki would've been content being his father's successor and marrying a stranger but now that he had his own goals, his own hopes and dreams, he didn't know what to do or think.

He caught sight of Kotoko happily dancing with Takendo, and felt irrationally irritated at how close they were. They were acting natural and carefree like any other normal couple, Kotoko didn't even look in his direction, not even once. It was obvious to him that Kotoko was having way too much of a good time to even try and make him feel jealous. Ironically her ignorance of him actually served to make him jealous, all without any effort on her part! Along with the jealousy though, he couldn't help but feel curious, wondering what it would be like if he were in Takendo's shoes right now, dancing with Kotoko.

At the rate things were going, Kotoko probably wouldn't even care if he did go ahead with the marriage arrangement or not. Naoki could change that. All he had to do was take action and interfere with Kotoko and Takendo's relationship before it progressed too far. But could he do that? Wasn't that the selfish thing to do? Logically Naoki knew that Takendo was a good match for Kotoko, he was a gentleman and the two got along well, Takendo treated Kotoko better than he did anyway.

At the beginning of their acquaintance, Kotoko had irritated him to no end; he had thought he was in a nightmare situation with a fan girl living in his house. Soon however Kotoko became comfortable enough to act herself around him and as time passed their interactions became somewhat normal, normal meaning that he became accustomed to the drama that seemed to follow Kotoko wherever she went. Naoki began to act more like himself and just went along with the liveliness that the Aiharas' brought to the Irie household, at the same time pondering how monotonous his life was before their arrival. What would change, he wondered, if he did indeed go along with the marriage arrangement?

Boring, he thought, life would be boring without Kotoko. Knowing that, Naoki didn't know if he could go back to the way things were before the Aiharas had landed in his house. Things just wouldn't be the same.

Kotoko left the dance session on a high. She was on a roll, over the last week she had experienced things she never would have considered before when she was chasing after Irie-kun! To imagine, all those things she could've missed, and would've missed in the future, if she had continued uselessly pining away! Since the start of high school her vision of the world had been extremely narrow but now Kotoko was starting to broaden her horizons, meeting new people and having fun, and she was enjoying it. She felt like nothing could bring her down!

Ayako could feel the resentment bubbling beneath her skin; she could barely restrain it as she was forced to put up with the bumbling Sudou as she watched Takendo dance merrily away with that airhead. Irie-kun , well she barely spared him a glance. He was a prime catch, for sure, but he didn't take Ayako's interst. She only liked to flirt with him to rile her sister and Aihara. It provided her great entertainment to see her usually composed sister get competitive over a boy, and Aihara's hot-headed temper never failed to amuse Ayako. Except Aihara wasn't following the usual script and instead of casting jealous looks toward Irie-kun and her sister, she was dancing with Takendo , Takendo of all people!

To her, Takendo Nakagawa was the ultimate catch. He was a top law student, like herself, good looking, articulate, and charimatic, just like Irie-kun . Except he wasn't like Irie-kun at all. Whilst Irie-kun could be charismatic and was considered popular, he could also be aloof. Takendo was warm and kind to everyone, and Ayako had fallen for his charm long ago in middle school. She considered herself to be the ultimate partner for him, in cleverness she outsmarted her own older sister, she was accomplished and knew that she was considered one of the most beautiful girls in their year.

Yet despite all the classes they took together, and the fact that she had proved her worth to him through more than one shared project together, Takendo had never looked at her as more than a friend, treating her cordially as any other girl. So it had been particularly galling to her when she had heard that Takendo had not only confessed to a girl in the year above, one that he had not even spoken to before, but Kotoko Aihara of all people!

She couldn't comprehend it! Aihara was pretty but her looks weren't exactly spectacular. And everyone knew that she held a torch, a beacon, for Irie-kun, so what had Takendo hoped to achieve by confessing to her? But then Kotoko had accepted him! At first Ayako thought Kotoko had only accepted Takendo to make Irie-kun jealous however seeing them together, she really wasn't sure. She just knew that right now, Kotoko was in the place that Ayako desperately wanted to be.

What gnawed on her mind the most though, was the thought that although Takendo's confession had been sudden and unexpected, his affection for Kotoko was not so sudden. Warm and caring although he was, Takendo wasn't the type of guy to go round confessing to random girls he had never talked to before. This meant that somehow Kotoko had succeeded where Ayako had failed, and caught Takendo's interest, and he must've been watching her for some time.

Ayako bit her lip to restrain a sneer, not that her current dance partner would notice the ugly expression had she let it for on her face. Sudou was practically trampling over her as he kept his eyes on his sister rather than his feet. She kept hi at arms distance to avoid further injury, letting her own eyes drift to a head of auburn hair at the other side of the toom.

Kotoko Aihara, Class F graduate, mediocre student, average and pretty unremarkable. What quality did she possess that caused a guy like Takendo to stop and take interest? What quality did she possess that Ayako was lacking in? What did Takendo see in her? She couldn't stand the thought that she, Ayako Matsumoto, was ignored in favour of that girl. Wasn't she superior in every way? There had to be more to it! Ayako had to know what it was that Takendo saw in Kotoko. She needed to know, so that she could then surpass her rival and win over Takendo once and for all.