LOVE LOTTERY ~ Sanada Genichirou

Love Lottery ~ Sanada Genichirou Side

If only Yukimura Seiichi did not insist for him to join, Sanada Genichirou would not even bother filling out the form that he will submit for the "Matchmaking Lottery" that the student council set up for Valentine's Day. He detested that day, mainly because it really didn't have anything to do with him. Also, for a sorry excuse to do senseless activity, that day was pretty expensive.

Unfortunately, Sanada was forced to do the same senseless activity with a person he barely knows. Sanada sighed, as he took his signature black baseball cap from his locker and quietly went out of the club room.

**********

One thing that Sanada cannot understand was that he was supposed to meet a certain inside the cafeteria. He really wasn't a food connoisseur like Marui Bunta, so why inside the cafeteria – a very busy and noisy place?

Compared to what Sanada had expected, the cafeteria was virtually empty when he arrived, aside from some of the workers who were still present in case anyone wanted to eat cafeteria food. Sanada scanned the whole place. No one was there.

Well, there was one person. It was a girl.

The girl was sitting near the window, her fingers playing with her pen. There was something in front of her that appeared to be a notebook of some kind. The girl's facial expression showed that she was busy thinking of something, her gaze carefully examining the environment outside the building.

Sanada cautiously approached the place where the girl was sitting. She might be who he was looking for.

**********

"Excuse me, miss, but may I ask if your name is ?" These are the words that the senior heard, causing her to lose her train of thought. She looked up to see a good-looking boy, probably the same age as hers, looking at her. She gave her a soft smile.

"Yes, I am , please have a seat." gestured to Sanada and offered the empty seat across her. Sanada took the invitation.

"I want to know what business you have here." quickly asked. Sanada looked up at her with a confused look.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me right."

Sanada remained quiet for a while. "I hope I am not making a mistake here, but it is about the Matchmaking Lottery of the student council. My team joined in to support the council's project, and yesterday, I got your name when the results were released. Were you aware of this?"

flicked off her wavy auburn hair and tapped her pen on her notebook. She seemed to be trying to remember. After a while, her eyes widened.

"I see, I see. I get it now. It seems that there was a mistake here, as I didn't fill out anything for the project, but I do remember a day when my best friend asked me several questions and then yesterday, she told me to come here because something was going to happen."

Sanada tried to process all the information that was presented to him. So… that means she really didn't know him, and she wasn't really intending to date him, which meant...

"I truly apologize for the mistake that has happened, -san. Since both of us know the truth already, I assume that there is no point of me staying here." Sanada bowed his head and stood up, but he felt someone's hand hold his wrist.

It was .

"Why don't you stay here for a minute or so? I wasn't a willing participant of this event in the first place, but I do not mind a company." then smiled, her eyes seemingly asking Sanada to stay.

Sanada thought that there was no harm in staying there for a while. If he didn't feel comfortable after staying with her for a while, he can always excuse himself, right? But looking at 's profile, she seemed to be the type of person who wasn't going to utter any nonsensical ideas right there and then.

"If that is all right with you, then that is fine with me, I suppose." Sanada found himself saying these words to . He was surprised about it himself, but he didn't voice the thought.

smiled and let go of Sanada. She gently stood up and fixed her uniform. "I'll try getting some drinks. What kind of stuff do you want?"

"Maybe I should be the one–"

waved her hand, motioning that Sanada didn't have to bother. "No, I should be fine. It's just a couple of yen, so don't be bothered about me buying our food, okay? I'll be back." Sanada just nodded in response as she watch 's small figure walk towards the counter to order something.

**********

"So, what are the extra-curricular activities that you do?" asked as she was taking a bite of her Mandarin Orange loaf bread. She got two slices for her and for Sanada, and a couple of bottles of cold green tea.

Sanada poured the contents of his drink on a small cup before answering. "I am a part of the boys' tennis team, and right now we're on our way to claim another championship trophy at the Nationals." His voice was full of confidence, and his expression was really serious.

nodded in response. "I see, I see. I hate to say this, but I am not really familiar of the sports teams' accomplishments, as I am not a big fan of sports. But that doesn't mean that I won't listen to your stories about your hobby. I am not a very physically-active person, but I like listening to people talk."

The tennis vice-captain cast a glance at her and said, "That is very nice of you, -san. It would be a shame if I start discussing about my plans for the team and yet you are not interested in what I have to say."

"Just go ahead, and talk. I do not really mind."

"If it is not too much to ask, I would like to know what are your hobbies and interests as well." Sanada said, after a short pause. He wasn't really much of a conversationalist, but he thought that it would be rude if he would just let her talk while he just stayed silent, nodding.

took a sip of her drink and then took her notebook and her pen. "This."

"What about your notebook, -san?"

"It might sound boring, but I like writing."

**********

This is the first time that Sanada met a girl who liked to write. While he saw nothing wrong with the hobby, he found it a bit "different"; especially seeing that most people he knew preferred to use a WordPro ^[1] than a notebook to write prose or to chronicle their ideas.

"I see. What kind of things do you write?"

quickly flipped through her notebook, showing the pages to Sanada. "Oh, various things. Sometimes when I go to school, a certain phrase will come to my mind, and then I will jot it down – I will try to look for a place where I can stop and write the phrase in the notebook, as I have a poor memory. And then, during lunch, I will go back to that phrase and try writing a poem out of it, or just contemplate the phrase's meaning. Sometimes, I will write a poem, or some prose, song lyrics. I just write whatever pops into my mind."

"I see. That sounds like it is very easy for you, -san."

shook her head. "Oh, no! Actually, it's hard. It takes practice, you know, trying to pick the right words to pen, or if I want my poem to have a rhyming scheme, I have to think of the words that would rhyme and yet will make sense when I write it. Do you know what I mean?"

Sanada cleared his throat. "I somehow understand what you mean, -san."

"So have you tried writing before?" probed.

"Unfortunately, no. But I do write – if you will consider calligraphy as a kind of writing, but I think we're talking about two different things here."

The female senior student smiled at Sanada's answer, before eating another slice of her food. "Yes, I think you are right."

**********

It took them almost a couple of hours before both students realized that they had been talking inside the cafeteria for already quite a while. glanced at the window and saw their school mates enjoying the day's event.

"It looks nice outside, don't you think?" asked Sanada.

"Some clubs have prepared booths for today as well." Sanada replied.

"But it's too crowded outside." The both of them muttered under their breath. Upon hearing what each other had said, despite of their soft, low voices, smiled.

"I guess this is one of the reasons why we're supposed to be a perfect match." Sanada blushed upon hearing what the girl said, and tried hiding his expression by fixing his cap. noticed this, but she remained silent about it.

said something else instead. "You're a very nice person. I am happy that I met you today. It's a little unfortunate, though..."

Sanada recognized the disappointed tone on 's last sentence. "What do you mean, -san?"

Instead of replying, jotted something on her notebook, and tore off the page. She carefully folded it and gave it to Sanada and then stood up.

"If you don't mind, is it okay for you to meet me at the literary club booth later? There's a small map on the page that I gave you so that you won't get lost since the booths look all the same. I have to do something there for an hour or so, but I did enjoy talking with you, so..." 's words trailed off. It was a bit ironic, that even a writer like her was running out of the right things to say, the ones that needed to be said for this moment.

Sanada left his seat and went towards . "It is alright for me to go there? I hope I am not being disrespectful to ask your permission if I could wait for you there instead. I hope... I hope I won't be interrupting whatever activities you are planning to do there."

seemed surprised with Sanada's response, but she was satisfied with what she heard. "Very well, then. It'll be for about an hour, we can resume our discussion after. My curiosity was piqued when you talked about shogi. It's a game, right? I do not know much about it, but perhaps...?"

Sanada pulled his cap down, trying to hide a small smile that was forming on his lips. "It would be a pleasure to talk to you about the things I am interested in, -san."

As the two decided to head off from the cafeteria, the young girl stopped in her tracks. Sanada noticed this and asked the girl. "Is something wrong?"

let out another charming smile. "We've been talking for quite a while and yet I don't even know your name. What a shame."

Sanada Genichirou nodded, showing that he understood 's mistake. "My name is Sanada Genichirou. I am a senior student."

"Sanada-san. You have a very nice name. It means, 'to plait', if I am not mistaken?" asked.

"I believe so, yes."

"Two stars met on a dark velvet sky, plaiting dreams, weaving destiny." muttered to herself. Sanada looked at her upon hearing her whispering some words, but the girl just gave him a reassuring, if not a bit embarrassed smile. The two quietly left the cafeteria, trying to make something out of this day, this Supposed Sorry Excuse of a Day for Senseless Activity that now, didn't seem as insensible anymore.

Together.

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February 14, 2007
Written by: Megane-ko
Edited by: linchpin

^[1] - Word Processor, i.e. MS Word.