LOVE LOTTERY ~ Jackal Kuwahara

Love Lottery ~ Jackal Kuwahara Side: Part 1

February 13. Jackal Kuwahara quietly went to the science laboratory for his chemistry class. As he was walking on the noisy corridors filled with fellow students, he felt that something was different. He felt different, as if he was floating. Jackal reached the laboratory without any fuss, and took a quick glance at the small mirror hanging near the door (why there was a mirror hanging there, no one knew). He noticed that his eyes look clearer than usual.

He was slightly surprised when he felt a tap on his right shoulder.

"You look happy today." Greeted , his laboratory partner. She flashed him a very quick smile and then tried to peek on what Jackal was doing. "What are you doing in front of the mirror? C'mon." She pulled his hand and led him to their seats.

"So, what's up?" She cheerfully asked. Jackal returned her sweet greeting. "I don't know, -chan. But I kinda feel very light today."

"You mean you're queasy? Are you sick?" touched his forehead and compared his temperature to hers. "You seem fine to me."

Jackal chuckled and carefully removed his lab partner's hand from his forehead. "I am fine. When I say light, I don't mean I am nauseated. I just feel... light. Happy, I guess."

made a goofy face, as if she was investigating Jackal. "Uh-huh. You're in love, aren't you? Lemme guess, it's Takagi-san, right?"

Jackal blushed a little, but he recovered from his reaction. Was he really that transparent?

smirked. "I bet you're thinking, 'am I really that transparent?' am I right? Well, Jackal Kuwahara-san, I always see you looking her way whenever we do our experiments. It's not that you're transparent, you're just too obvious."

Jackal looked at her questioningly. "D-do you think so?"

fixed her blouse and then went closer to Jackal upon noticing the arrival of their chemistry teacher. She lowered her voice. "Yes! You should learn something from me. You know, move like a ninja." She giggled.

**********

What didn't know was that Takagi Ayumi, another classmate from their chemistry class, was the girl that Jackal Kuwahara picked on the student council's Matchmaking lottery. Talk about sheer luck. For someone like Jackal who does not have enough courage to ask Takagi (and spends most of the time stealing glances of her during class), this Matchmaking lottery was a chance of a lifetime. Perhaps no one can really blame him if he was one of the couple of members of the tennis team who seemed to be excited for tomorrow's event.

As soon as the bell rang that signaled the end of the period, Jackal's class scrambled to take their things and finish their written report. Jackal however, took one last glance at Takagi and reached out for a piece of paper inside his pocket.

**********

February 14. After running a couple of rounds near his house, Jackal Kuwahara took a quick shower, ate his breakfast, and went to school. As he was walking, he took his matchmaking lottery result from his pocket. He chuckled upon seeing it. The paper was a bit crumpled now, as Jackal has been carrying it since yesterday morning. He even slept with the paper under his pillow.

The thought of doing such things made him blush. "As long as the guys won't hear about it, I'll be fine."

"What aren't they supposed to hear, Jackal-kun?"

Jackal was startled upon hearing a girl's voice beside him. He looked and saw who the person was.

"-chan! You surprised me."

smiled, and then feigned disappointment. "Eh? Jackal-kun was surprised? Ara, if Sanada-kun and Yukimura-kun hear about this..."

"They wouldn't know if you wouldn't tell!" Jackal chuckled. "So, you're quite early today. How come?"

walked along with Jackal as they proceeded to take quick and sure steps to the campus. "Well, my sister is in the council, right? I didn't join their... uh, lottery, so I just decided to help them with managing today's activities."

"Your twin sister's pretty active in school activities. You should be like her, too." Jackal teased.

"Well, my sister is just fine the way she is. I am fine being myself. Don't you think?"

Jackal laughed upon hearing his friend's comment. was the type of person who really didn't mind people's comments about her personality. She knows what she wants, and she was right – she was all right just being herself.

When they stepped inside the campus, both were surprised to see how busy the junior high division was.

"It's like a school festival," Jackal muttered under his breath.

"Eeh, this is interesting! Anyway, Jackal-kun, I'll see you later, okay? Have to meet my sister already. Good luck with your date with Takagi-san!" waved at him happily and started running towards the crowd of junior high students.

"Ah, eh, thank – Ah, how did you know?!" Jackal was unable to protest and ask how did she figure out that he was matched with Takagi for the matchmaking lottery. Or better yet, how did learn that he had joined in?

**********

"I-it's empty." Jackal Kuwahara muttered under his breath upon seeing that the science laboratory was really quiet. He went inside and then went to the table where he and used to occupy during their laboratory session. Jackal took the paper from his pocket and looked at it again.

It stated Room 206 - Science laboratory. There was no mistake about that. Jackal took his cell phone and checked the time. It was quarter to nine. They should be meeting around nine in the morning. Maybe he was a bit early. Jackal decided to stand near the window and watch his fellow middle school mates get become occupied with the activities on the school grounds. The whole place indeed looks like a festival.

A couple of minutes had passed. Jackal waited. He waited and waited. There was no sign of Takagi. Maybe his cell phone's time was wrong? He glanced at the wall clock near the teacher's table. It said 9:10 already. Maybe he was too early? Or maybe she was just late. Or maybe she really didn't want to date him in the first place...

With that last thought, Jackal slumped into his chair. That couldn't be, right? He didn't do anything wrong to her. Or maybe she saw him stealing glances at her during class, and he might have freaked her out?

Jackal tried to calm himself. He took some science magazines near the rack and decided to make himself busy. Maybe, just maybe, she would come today.

**********

"So, how's it going?" asked her twin sister and student council officer, , as the two of them set up the information booth for the Matchmaking lottery. The student council figured out that because of the numerous students who joined in, there was bound to be trouble seeping in to the project. Might as well prepare themselves in times like that.

carefully unfolded the chairs and then smiled at her sister. "Oh, so far so good. But I do have a problem of my own today."

arched her eyebrow. Her very organized sister has a problem? "Well? Care to spill it out?"

flicked her hair and then took a pile of paper from her twin sister's hand. swore that she saw a tinge of pink on her twin sister's cheeks. "Y-you see, I also joined the matchmaking lottery..."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" gasped loudly, much to the surprise of other students who were walking around the vicinity.

"D-Don't be so loud, ..." said, embarrassed with the way her sister was reacting. "I joined in because... uh... you know..."

"Oh yes, I know, . You want to try your luck with these things. Argh, you're such a hopeless romantic! What if he's a jerk?!" tried to lower her voice while questioning her sister, but she was still getting attention from their fellow peers.

"Uh, he's not. I got Seiichi." softly confessed. She too was surprised when she realized that she was compatible with their childhood friend, Yukimura Seiichi.

was quiet. She just stood there, as if she was deeply contemplating about what her sister said. She then looked at her sister with wide eyes. "Oh, okay. That's nice, don't you think?"

looked at her sister with surprise etched on her face, then finally let out a smile. Even if they were twins, she couldn't understand why her sister was so jolly and unpredictable. She was about to comment about her sister's reaction when she heard someone calling her name.

"-san! Ah, wait, which one is -san?" A confused first year came running towards the twins while holding a piece of paper.

"She's probably the one you're looking for." pointed to her sister and smirked at the poor freshman. Her sister went towards the boy with a concerned look on her face.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked. resumed on fixing the information booth that she and her sister were putting up. A minute later, the boy bowed to her sister and left.

"What is it?" She asked. noticed that her sister was thinking about something important.

"Ah, you see, there's a student who took the lottery but wasn't able to come in today because of a flu." said.

"Uh, so you need to contact whoever his or her partner was, right?" understood, finishing what her sister was supposed to say.

"Yes," nodded in response. "I kind of feel bad for him." Her answer confirmed that the student who unfortunately lost their date for the day was a guy.

"Who was it?" asked, and then took the piece of paper that her sister was holding. Her face became pale.

"Are you serious?" She asked herself.

looked at her sister questioningly, but she didn't hear anything more from her. Somehow, she could sense that her sister knew the person involved.

turned to her sister. "Where are they supposed to meet up?" Her sister paused for a second, trying to sort out the information from her memory. "If I am not mistaken, they're supposed to meet at the sci–"

"Okay, I'm leaving! Sorry ! I'll try to get back as soon as I can though!" And with that, dashed towards the school building, hoping that the person that she wanted to talk to was still in the meeting place.

**********

Jackal checked his cell phone again for the umpteenth time. The screen displayed 9:30. He let out a disappointed sigh. A lot of things were playing in his mind already. So what if Takagi ditched him? She probably didn't like him in the first place and decided not to take part in the council's project. Jackal let out another sigh. And he thought he was the luckiest guy on the tennis team. Who would have thought that things would screw up at the last minute?

That's it, I'm leaving, Jackal told himself. There was no use in staying in the laboratory all alone, while everyone else was enjoying the day. He might as well go home so that his fellow teammates wouldn't realize what happened to him.

He was at the laboratory's door when he heard some quick thumping noise coming from the hallway. Before he knew it, someone had already appeared around the corner and he found himself being tackled to the ground.

Jackal rubbed his back, fearing that he broke a bone or something. He then saw that he was indeed on the floor and that someone was hugging his waist.

"-chan!" He exclaimed. Jackal softly touched the girl's black hair, worried if she was hurt or anything.

lay on top of Jackal, her face buried in his chest. A second later she looked up on him and let out a very cheerful grin.

"-chan! W-what the hell are you doing?" Jackal asked. He just noticed that they were in a very awkward position that made his face start showing very interesting shades of pink.

"Takagi-san is sick, so she can't come in today. My sister got the notice so I came here to tell you." reasoned out, still not bothered by her actions.

Jackal remained quiet and tried to absorb what has just said. So, she's sick. But that's still unfortunate for him, he thinks.

He sighed and looked at the girl who had been watching his reactions for some time now. He then blushed after remembering that their current position might lead them to a predicament that they wouldn't be able to escape easily.

finally noticed that she was hugging Jackal and seeing her lab partner's facial expression, she blushed and then slowly got off of him. She then gave him an embarrassed but cute smile. "Ooppps, sorry about that."

Jackal fixed his necktie and stood up. He then turned to and smiled. "Thanks for all the trouble, -chan. I mean, you running here just to tell me that. M-maybe I should just go home..."

"Seriously?! Aren't you going to enjoy today's festivities? It would be a waste if you don't go out there." sounded hurt, not only because her sister worked hard in planning that day's activities, but also the fact that Jackal seemed really hurt after not being able to meet with Takagi.

"I'll just feel bad, you know. Most of my teammates have their dates already. And to think I was the one who was really enthusiastic about–"

"Then why don't you take me instead?" beamed at him. Jackal turned his head and saw that was smiling sweetly at him.

"E-eh? What do you mean?"

"Well, if you don't mind, that is. I'll be helping my sister, but we have shifts, so while she's at the booth, we can go out, and when it's her turn to meet her date, we have to stay and look after the booth. How's that sound?"

Jackal looked at his friend and laboratory partner. He couldn't fathom why she was volunteering to be his date, but he knew for sure she was not doing it out of pity. Probably, she was trying to cheer him up, just like what she always did whenever he was feeling down.

His contemplation was interrupted by 's voice. "Well? Time's ticking, you better decide."

Jackal let out a soft chuckle and approached . "All right then. -chan, will you be my date today?"

's eyes brightened upon seeing him brighten up a bit. Noticing Jackal's hand stretched out for her, she gladly took it and smiled at him, looking forward towards the day ahead of them.

##########

February 4, 2007
Written by: Megane-ko
Edited by: Kurohane

A/N: I'm thinking of writing a continuation for this story, so most likely it's going to be a two or three-part story. But for now, I'm releasing this first part in time for my project and for Valentine's. Enjoy!