LOVE LOTTERY ~ Yukimura Seiichi

Love Lottery ~ Yukimura Seiichi Side

Oh my, what have I gotten myself into? asked herself as soon as the handing out of results for the "Matchmaking Lottery" had ended. As the secretary of the council, she had been working hard for the Valentine's Day program that the council had planned months ago. And now that the main event would start tomorrow, the council had been even busier than ever.

But that wasn't the reason why had been quietly asking herself if she did the right thing. What she was really questioning was if it had been the right decision to get her self involved in the lottery itself. Despite being a quiet, shy and reserved, deep inside her heart she dreamed and longed for romantic events to happen in her life. Without even thinking of the consequences that her action might bring, she decided to sign up for the event that the council itself was managing.

She was busy handing in the results when she noticed a familiar guy standing in front of her.

"Yukimura-kun," she smiled softly at him, before continuing, "I'm handing in results for letters N-S, so your results—"

Yukimura Seiichi smiled knowingly. "I know, -chan. I just wanted to say hello to you. The truth is I've got my results already." The gentle-looking senior took an envelope from his pocket and waved it in front of .

replied. "That's great, don't you think, Yukimura-kun? But why are you--"

"Hey, enough of that chit-chat, Yukimura! I have some date to pick up!" A rough-looking third year student growled behind Yukimura's back. Yukimura looked behind him and gave the guy an apologetic smile, and then turned his attention once more to . "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Ah, okay, but–" 's words were again interrupted when Yukimura waved at her and left the place. As she resumed her work, her thoughts began to wonder what her friend had meant, but in the back of her mind, she had an idea that of what really was going on.

**********

As expected, February 14 was a very busy day for the whole junior high division. had to wake up early to go to school and to talk to the rest of the council officers before the start of the event. As soon as the council chairman dismissed them to take charge of their committees, took an envelope from her bag and read the content once again.

I knew it, muttered to herself. She knew that Yukimura's words had more meaning in them. As soon as the handing of results had finished, she got her own envelope (which she received prior to the setting up of the booth) and rushed to the girls' washroom. She didn't know how long she had stood inside the cubicle, but she did know that her face felt burning hot and bright red when she saw the name of the person written on her matchmaking result.

She was now looking at the envelope again, and tried to compose herself. Okay, so there was nothing wrong about this whole thing, right? Yukimura Seiichi had been her childhood friend, so picking him, as the boy most compatible to her, should have really made her happy. For one, they really had been sharing the same interests since they were kids, so that seemed to be convenient for both of them. Maybe they could spend their time together talking about Yukimura's recuperation, or the plants that they were currently taking care of. Better yet, this would be the chance to get to know him better

quickly shook her head at the thought. She then felt her face blush once again. What am I thinking? Yukimura was her friend, wasn't he? Why was she thinking of these things?

Suddenly she heard a loud voice coming from behind her. It was her twin sister, . "! Am I on time? Sorry, I had to talk to a friend so I was a little slow..."

gave her sister a reassuring smile. "Nope, you're all good. Why don't we proceed to the information booth and fix all the stuff there?"

"That would be great," her twin sister beamed, as the two of them walked towards their destination. was quietly glancing at her sister, who did not know a thing about her involvement in the matchmaking lottery. Right now, was sure that there were so many emotions tumbling around inside of her that she could not make out what she really was truly feeling at that moment. She tried to preoccupy herself by starting to fix the booth together with her sister, but she was surprised when her sister spoke first.

"So, how's it going?" blurted out while carefully checking if the tarpaulin was securely in place.

So, how is it going? asked herself. There's no point in denying it, her sister knew her a lot even though she was not saying anything.

She unfolded some of the chairs and held a breath. She would tell her sister what she thought about of today's activities. And what was bound to happen that day.

**********

"Yukimura, why are you still here?" Fellow tennis player and vice-captain, Sanada Genichirou, asked Yukimura Seiichi when the former found the latter sitting inside the tennis clubroom. Yukimura glanced behind him upon recognizing who was the person that intruded his solitude.

"Ah, Sanada. I'm just passing time. I'll be out soon. How about you?" Yukimura stood up and put down the book that he was reading a while ago.

Sanada opened the door a bit wider and replied. "I am just double-checking, since I was here a bit earlier." There was a sudden pause, and Sanada continued. "Aren't you going out? You seemed to be the one on the team who was very... enthusiastic about this event."

Yukimura smiled. "Apart from Niou, that is."

Sanada nodded in agreement. He saw that his friend went towards the shelves and looked at its contents. "The truth is, I am a little nervous about this whole thing."

"What do you mean, Yukimura?"

Yukimura chuckled upon hearing Sanada's probing. "Nothing. I'll be out in a few. You should go out too. You have a date to attend to, remember?"

Sanada cleared his throat upon hearing Yukimura's words. "I should be going then. If you encounter some problems, you can ask the team anytime." With that, Sanada quietly closed the door and left Yukimura alone in the room.

Yukimura thought about the possible things that might happen that day. Much to his delight, he was perfectly matched to his childhood friend, . They had known each other since they were kids, and he knew that even though he was young, he was harboring a special kind of feeling for the girl. He was a kid back then, so he interpreted those feelings as to a boy liking a special friend. Nothing more, nothing less.

But as soon as he started to learn more about the things around him, he began to see his feelings for her in a different light. Perhaps, there was a reason why he treated her differently compared to her twin sister, . Perhaps, there was a meaning behind every smile he gave to her. Perhaps, there was a purpose as to why he treasured her gazes or the sound of her laugh.

Yukimura smiled to himself. Just when did he become so emotional about these kinds of things? He couldn't remember, really. Or at least, his mind wasn't really cooperating with him. All he knew was that she was at their meeting place already, waiting for him. Breathing slowly, Yukimura proceeded to leave the clubroom, trying to abandon his uncertainties that had come along with his date for the day.

**********

had been left alone after had run off to do something (or better yet, to catch someone before something happens) and promised to come back a bit later on. As she was piling up some of the papers on the table, she noticed a guy approaching her.

She knew he was coming.

"Hello, -chan." Yukimura Seiichi greeted as he walked towards the information book. It was rather unromantic, but the couple was assigned to meet at the Valentine event's information booth where was working for the day.

"O-oh. Hi, Yukimura-kun." said, stuttering while attempting to return his greeting. Yukimura took the empty seat beside 's and smiled at her.

"How are you doing?"

"U-uh. Good. Yeah, good. Thank you."

And an awkward silence settled between them.

Yukimura was the one who broke the tense atmosphere. "It seems that you're going to be busy today, but I want to ask what you want to do today. You should have some fun amidst your busy schedule."

nodded. Now, as if something was caught in her throat, she could not speak. Great , she told herself. She was getting so tense and clammy, that she found herself a pitiful image to look at.

"But for now," Yukimura continued, "I'll just stay here and help you with the booth. Is that okay?"

"Are you sure? It's going to be–"

"Ah, -chan! We have some problem here! Could you give us a hand?" A couple of students who volunteered to help the council came rushing towards the information booth, interrupting 's sentence. turned to Yukimura and smiled apologetically.

"Please be prepared, as helping me today will be a very hard thing to do, but if you are willing to help me, then I really appreciate it, Yukimura-kun."

**********

At least two or three hours of running around, assisting students with their problems with regards to the matchmaking lottery, and basically helping the council chairman with regards to managing the whole event, was really tired. She slumped in her chair and softly wiped the sweat beads on her forehead.

She then felt a cold sensation on her right cheek. She immediately stood up and saw that Yukimura was looking at her gently, his hand holding a bottle of juice near her cheek.

"You're all beat-up, -chan. You need to replenish or you'll end up being too exhausted to do anything else. Here you go."

carefully took the bottle from his hand and stared at it for a moment. She then opened it and took a sip. looked at the bottle again and sat on her chair quietly.

Yukimura noticed her silence. "Is something wrong, -chan?"

shook her head. "Nothing. I'm just tired, Yukimura-kun. And..."

"And...?"

"I'm sorry..." 's voice trailed off. She was not crying, but her voice reflected her tired mind and her disappointed soul.

"I'm sorry if I dragged you into this. I haven't been accommodating you very well today, since I've been pretty busy. It also seems that I'm wearing you out since you've been helping me with my council work. I–"

then suddenly realized that her head was now tilted gently and Yukimura's face was now really close to hers. She could see his clear eyes staring into her own.

"You've been worrying too much, ." Yukimura again smiled upon saying her name. "It has been a very busy day, but I'm enjoying every minute of it. So don't worry about it, we have all the time that we want today."

"But..."

"We can always talk after the event, right? And 's dropping by later, maybe we can ask her to take your place for a while and we can drop by and visit the booths." Yukimura consoled. He then stood up and went to pick up something that was placed under the booth's table. When he returned, he was holding a small stem of gerber daisy. He approached her and tucked the flower behind her right ear.

"I started growing gerber daisies, and this was one of the flowers that bloomed recently. Perhaps, when we get some time away from this, we can talk more like what we used to do when we were still kids?"

's eyes widened as Yukimura was putting the flower on her, and even more so after hearing Yukimura's offer to talk. She knew her face was now having interesting shades of red and pink, but she really didn't mind. Today was going to be her most romantic day of the year, and it'll be more special with her childhood friend around.

##########

February 12, 2007
Written by: Megane-ko
Edited by: Kurohane

A/N: Many thanks to Rika for helping me with the ending when my mind was running off somewhere else. :)