JapanxReader ~ Fluffy

“I’ve liked him for quite a long time now,” I said quietly to Liechtenstein, wondering if I were blushing. “I… he… um… well, it’s really difficult to admit it to anyone, not even you. I’m sorry…” I buried my head in my arms and closed my eyes. “I’m sorry… but I can’t explain or tell you much without feeling strange…”

“It’s ok,_________” Liechtenstein patted my back reassuringly. “I know. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want. I can see how hard it is for you.”

“I… I…” I covered my face with my hands and felt the tingling warmth in my cheeks that spread to my neck and below. “Oh. I’m blushing, aren’t I.”

Liechtenstein nodded.

“This is no good!” I straightened. “I have a life. And anyway, it’s an unrequited love. You know that, right? He doesn’t like me! He just sits there, looking out the window. If there’s anyone he likes, it’s probably that tree outside. That’s really pretty! It really is! That tree is more attractive than me! I mean,” I glanced down to prove my point, “How attractive is this!?”

Liechtenstein rushed over to me. “C-calm down, _________! You’re going into overdrive again. Don’t worry. This is perfectly norm-“

The bushes rustled. Liechtenstein and I looked up to see Belarus and Ukraine’s eyes trained intently on me.

“Oh, um, hello Ukraine. What’s up, Belarus!” I hastily greeted them.

“We heard that.” Belarus informed me seriously.

Was I blushing? I thought if I were, I must have looked like a tomato.

Ukraine gushed. “Who would’ve known? You’ve had feelings for Honda Kiku?! A girl like you, in any normal love story would probably go for someone who is charming and smiles a lot, not the person who sits like a piece of wood and stares out the window!”

Belarus looked over at her sister suspiciously. “Are you referring to Alfred or Arthur as a better boyfriend?”

“Stop it guys.” I insisted. “I think I’ll just focus on something else. It’ll pass. I once had a crush on a manga character. That passed.”

“No, but…” Ukraine was about to say something, but Belarus shot her a warning look. They turned their back and had an intense conversation in Russian. At some point in the conversation, they broke off, turned around and smiled ecstatically. “All right, forget about him. Wipe him out of you mind. Blot out his name from all your little love doodles. Do what you want. Goodbye!”

I watched them go. When I turned around, I could swear there was a large sweat drop on Liechtenstein’s head. “Well,” I said. “Natalia and her sister aren’t butting in. that’s nice.”

There was a pause.

“It’s the apocalypse!” I screamed, clawing in the exact opposite direction of the sisters. “Save me, Liechtenstein!” I lunged for the front doors of the school.

“No, no, calm down, _________!” Liechtenstein tried to grab my waist. “Don’t do anything! Just… just calm down and follow your heart, ok, _________?”

“No!” I shrieked. “I need this Kiku guy out of my life!!! AND BELARUS AND UKRAINE WON’T BE HELPING ME!!!!”

~*~

Finals were coming up somewhere in the deep corners of my mind, lurking around and gradually growing heavier until I felt absolutely crushed. The fact that Honda Kiku was in my class did not help. My eyes fiercely bore into my textbook, trained on the words that if I were anymore intense, might spontaneously combust.

But it was no use. He just kept popping into my head, looking out the window, sunlight on his face, illuminating his eyes… Each time I would scream and slap myself with the book, worrying Liechtenstein and our classmates nonstop.

For the fiftieth time, the information seemed to pop in my head, fade away, then form the image of Kiku. ARGH!!! I hated him so much for disrupting my life like that. The nerve! One hand balled under his chin, face slightly turned towards the soft gray light of the morning… I was about to break down and make a crater in my desk when the irritating voice of Alfred F. Jones wavered somewhere in the outside world.

“Whaaaaa?” I grumbled, my muffled voice sounding irritated and weary.

“I said, if you have trouble studying, then Kiku can help you, _________!”

I looked up wearily to see him grinning down on me. I looked out the corner of my eye to see Kiku somewhat pink. What was that? Must be my eyes playing tricks on me.

“argh. Argh… YOU FAT AMERICAN IDIOT!!! ISN’T SHOUJO MANGA!!! I DON’T HAVE TROUBLE STUDYING!!! I DON’T NEED HIS HELP! WHO WOULD EVEN WANT TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM AS KIKU HONDA???” The entire class stopped bustling. Ukraine and Belarus looked at me with interest and concern.

I felt a blush again and shoved my nose in the book, staring at the page that had been read over and over since 3 days ago. I hated myself. Why did I need to like anybody? Why did he prove such a distraction? WHY WHY WHY?!

It was PE. I have absolutely no love for it. In fact, I utterly despised it. What was the use of running and jumping when what really mattered was studies? However, this time, I had no trouble acing the sprint, dashing ahead of Kiku and Alfred, so that I got first. Then I slammed into the wall and probably killed the wall as much as it killed me, but that was the least of my problems. Honda Kiku had messed up my life, and I was, in other words, furious.

I walked down the hallway, still smoldering from rage and my attack from the cement wall. That’s when Belarus and Ukraine came up to me.

“Hello, _________. Someone made such a mess in the storage room, would you please go clean it?”

“What? Why me?”

“Oh please~ For us~”

Before I could argue, the storage room door opened, somehow miraculously popping up in front of my eyes, and there was a shove behind me- I fell to the floor, scraping my elbow-

Click.

My eyes widened in fear. It was dark and smelled of dank leather basketballs. I banged on the door. “Ukraine? Belarus? OPEN THIS DOOR, I MEAN IT!!! I. WILL. KILL YOU~” I gathered up all my fire and threw myself at the door, kicking it as hard as I can. This sent pain darting up my leg, causing me to fall backwards… And feel someone’s hand on my arm.

“_________-san…?”

What? Honda Kiku? In a dark room? Alone with me?!

“Uh, um, hi Kiku…” Aw no, was I blushing again? Was I? “Is there anyone else here?”

“As far as I can tell, no.”

I straightened myself. Immediately, the hand was torn from my arm as though I were burning.

I sat in the darkness cursing my meddling friends and wishing I had never gotten into this situation with Kiku. Kiku seemed to be keeping his distance, sitting on some crates a few steps away from me.

I panicked. I knew that I was blushing. And sweating. “I’m sorry Kiku-san. I… I was cracking under stress.” And then that was so funny, I laughed out loud, panicking and howling and blushing at the same time. Thank goodness it was dark. Then he couldn’t also see the tears streaming down my face.

“_________...? What… what’s wrong?”

“I…” I knew that I would never be able to focus on a math textbook for ten minutes without Honda Kiku running around in my head a trillion times. I could never, ever, forget about him. It was the most annoying thing since Alfred and Arthur first got to class. “Kiku-san, I… I can’t be in the same room with you without going crazy.”

Silence.

“I mean, it… you… you drive me up the wall. I… my life has been straight forward since a long time ago, and then…”

“I appeared.”

“Yes, you.” I choked up. My throat seemed like it was being wringed by an invisible force as if twisting a straw rope. “I can’t get you out of my head.”

There was a long pause. And then a sigh.

“All right.” There was a laugh. I was way too appalled by my very situation to be very surprised at his laugh. I felt something warm move close to me. “I like you, _________-san.”

I wanted to scream at him to go away, because I minded my personal space. But… it was so… tempting to press my shoulder against him. I stood absolutely still. We sat there, blushing, not saying a word.

“Um, I’m sorry about being mean and… yeah, I’m sorry. Please have little to do with me. It’s not good for either one of us.

I felt Japan shift, and was paralyzed in my position, waiting for something to happen, when a blinding light flooded the room, splashed stars in my eyes, revealed the scene- he was leaning in, head tilted, gazing into my eyes, eyes half-closed, a breathtaking expression on that face… he was going to KISS me!

I jumped back fiercely. Surprisingly, he did the same, seeming humiliated. Too much. Too much. I pushed past the curious Belarus and Ukraine, rushing out the doors, into the hallway, down the stairs, falling flat on the ground. Running didn’t help, it didn’t even give you time to cry, or even the time to do something actually useful in getting away. But I needed to get away from him. What if he chased me? What if I couldn’t get away fast enough? I lowered my head and charged. Running wouldn’t help. Nothing would. The memory would always be there to torment me. I burst through the doors of my house.

I didn’t cry. I just sat there, perched on the window seat, thinking of Kiku, and hating myself. Why had I kept quiet about some things? What would have happened if I said something different? What could have happened if he had leaned in sooner? Why was I thinking of this? Why did thinking of it make me giddy and excited? When would I stop asking myself stupid questions?

Liechtenstein came in to my room to find me steaming and asphyxiating with my face down in my carpet. She saved me before I could spontaneously combust and burn my house down.

~*~

No one would ever, ever, EVER make me go into another storage room. I was terrified of them.

The very corridor with that very storage room seemed horrifying. I couldn’t go to PE through the usual route, so I climbed in the locker room window.  I soon found out that Japan was doing the same thing. Of course, I mostly avoided him, but he kept popping up everywhere. Arthur asked me why I was avoiding Kiku and told me to get together with him. I knocked his teeth out. When I was in a classroom, exhausted from my day’s mental exercises, BAM! You could count on Japan to materialize in his desk by the window, in his usual pose. Then he would catch my eye, blush, and infuriate me. This would happen every single class. And then after school, too. And then later, when I was outside trying to drown myself with grass and mud. He was everywhere. It turned out to be something of a horror story.

The guys weren’t helping. They would pop up everywhere as well. It was getting much more horrific now…

“Hurry up and marry him, _________!”

Thwack.

“Ow! Dude! He’s such a great guy! Why are so prejudiced?”

Thwack.

“The American is right. You’re being bloody unreasonable.”

Thwack.

At this point, I was ready to crack. I sat on the roof of my house, lying down on the warm tiles.

And- like in any good predator and prey story, he was there too.

I shrieked, scrabbling for purchase. A few tiles disappeared from under me. I had to get away from him-

He darted forward.

Why? Get away from me!

And then I realized; I was falling.

Tiles, clattering to the ground. Cracking, breaking apart. Japan’s brown eyes open wide, gazing intently… a gripping pain in my arm. I’m slipping.

“I want you to know… you make me weak, confused, dazed… you run my life. I… I guess I love you.”

Then I smiled.

He tries in desperation to haul me up. “Stupid… that’s my line! No, hold on… hold on…!” My tears well up in my eyes.

My hand is torn from his.