I'll Hold On To You

As I looked at you, I felt the slowing down of time... ― Florence Joyce

xxxxxx

[Rinako]

It was only six-thirty in the morning. But as for me, I finally arrived at Uminaribara University. To be precise, I was standing in front of the building of the Engineering and Architecture Department. That school was located just a few miles near the town and I would be studying here starting this semester. But then I couldn't understand why I couldn't even take a step towards the building.

I couldn't believe I had to feel this. This wasn't the time for me to have butterflies in my stomach. There was also no reason for both of my hands to feel this cold that was holding the straps of my backpack hanging on my back.

"Nervous?"

I turned around to the source of that voice. Even though I had to admit that I was indeed nervous, I still managed to smile when I saw my cousin Mayu. It so happened that we took the same course, which was Architecture. The truth was, this wasn't the college course that I wanted to take. At least, that was what I felt. But until now, I still don't know what course I want to take up. I just decided to give in to what my father wanted for me. It was just for now until I couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted.

"Why don't you enter? It's not like the people would eat you or anything for you to be this nervous," Mayu said when she finally approached me.

"You know that I'm a newcomer here, right? Of course, I'd feel nervous."

But my cousin just stared at me incredulously as if she couldn't believe what I just said. I frowned at that sight. Why would Mayu look at me like this?

"What are you talking about? In case you've forgotten, you were born and raised here until nine years ago. You just disappeared for nine years, and now you're calling yourself a newcomer? Are you crazy?"

"It's still the same." This girl. Why can't she just agree for now? I was just being slightly dramatic. "Let's go before we end up late for our first class." Maybe it was for the best if I drag my cousin out of here before she even decide to prolong the discussion.

Thankfully, Mayu obliged. But seriously speaking? I noticed that people around me kept on looking at me. Was there something on my face? Did I just grow two heads for them to look at me?

"You've changed a lot, you know?" Mayu suddenly said which confused me.

"Maybe, something changed. To think I disappeared from this town for nine years. You can even include Yushiro cheating on me before. So yeah, I did change."

"You're right. You've become even more hot-headed than usual. It's like you're bitter with the world."

I would end up hitting my cousin because of this, you know? Unbelievable! Bitter? Me, bitter? Okay, I would admit that my patience would slightly decrease when it comes to a certain person. But hello! Was that supposed to be a basis for Mayu to call me bitter?

I just shook my head and increased my pace as we enter the building. "I don't know what to do with you, Mayu. Did you have breakfast and you're spouting random things?"

"Come on. I was just joking." Mayu was chuckling when she said that and followed me.

Take a deep breath, Rinako. It would be better for you to calm down, okay?

Okay, what was this? I was acting weird today. To think I was talking to myself.

There weren't a lot of people inside the building when Mayu and I entered. But I could easily see and realize that the people here had their groups and cliques. Do you know what I thought? Maybe it was me who would never have a set of friends here at Uminaribara besides Mayu.

We were supposed to climb up the stairs when something fell from above. Not just me, but Mayu also stopped when we saw that. I frowned when I saw a gloxinia on the staircase. Wait, was this the thing that fell? I immediately took it and looked upon the balconies there for me to know who dropped this. But I didn't see anyone there. Wait! Don't tell me a ghost would do this?

I looked at the flower in my hand once again. I don't know what to think as I continue looking at it. Was it just me who would always feel as if I was mesmerized whenever I would see a flower? It was weird, right? But this was me. Especially when I know the meaning of this flower in the hanakotoba (the language of flowers).

"Maybe it fell unintentionally from whoever it was above," Mayu commented.

"Okay. Then find that particular person up there who did this so that I'll smack him. He couldn't even throw his trash properly."

And Mayu just laughed at me. Maybe I should smack her instead of that flower-throwing person.

"But wait. What was the meaning of that gloxinia flower in hanakotoba again?" Mayu asked.

It was enough to pull my attention away from the flower I was holding and faced her. "In the language of flowers, gloxinia means 'love at first sight."

"Wow! But why would that flower fall from the balcony?"

But I just responded with a shrug. I wasn't even aware of the true reason for this flower to fall down that staircase. I just didn't want to think of the possibility that a ghost was playing a trick on me. Just thinking of that possibility right now gave me serious goosebumps.

Anyway, I would pay attention to that later. Mayu and I still had a class to attend. But we were supposed to go up the stairs when I noticed that some people were running down the stairs that Mayu and I were supposed to go up.

"Watch out!" I heard that voice shout.

"Huh?" Before I gained composure, it was too late for me to even comprehend the next events that happened.

"Out of the way!"

But I never got to do that command. A young man was heading straight towards me as he ran down the stairs. He was running fast that I saw him trip, which made him lose his balance. Before I could even move out of the way, his body collided with mine which only made us both crash to the floor. The impact of the fall on me was too much since I was at the end of the staircase. And you have to add the weight of the person above me.

"Ouch!" I could only groan. Because of the strong impact of the fall, I almost lost consciousness due to intense pain but I endured it. I tried my best not to faint even though I was already closing my eyes because of the pain. Besides, I knew that person who pinned me down was still above me. I wanted to know who was that person so that I could yell at him for doing that.

I felt that person above me moved. I slowly opened my eyes and the face of that person greeted my sight. But it seemed like a cat got my tongue because of what I saw and my urge to scream at that person was blown by the wind. From what I could see, he was the most good-looking person I've ever seen in my life.

Okay, good-looking might be an understatement. But I didn't want to say he was that handsome even though it was the truth. And I didn't want to say that this handsome jerk just awaken my five-month-long slumbering heart. It was because, at that moment, I couldn't even stop my heart from beating so fast as I continued to stare at his face. Warmth crept up to my cheeks when I finally realized that our faces were just a few inches apart. I could also smell the cologne he used that, for some unexplained reason, made me feel hazy. The scent wasn't that strong; just enough to disturb my senses even without him knowing that.

The guy above me immediately got up and helped me to stand up from the cold pavement. "I'm so sorry, miss. I didn't mean to." His voice was apologetic when he said those words.

But before I could even say something, a sudden surge of intense pain struck my head. All of a sudden, I felt like being blown by a strong gust of wind as my mind started to go black.

"Miss!" I still heard him say before I completely lost consciousness.

Just one look was all that it took for me to realize that something has changed in me on that one ordinary day... ― Florence Joyce

xxxxxx

[Rinako]

I regained consciousness around late afternoon. I saw myself in an unfamiliar room--that eventually, I realized that it was the clinic near the medical office of the university. I couldn't believe that this would welcome me on my first day here. Talk about being unlucky. I couldn't help feeling angry when I recalled the incident earlier. I never even noticed that my face was making such weird and angry expressions just thinking about it. If I saw that guy again, I would give his face a serious injury. I don't care if he was handsome! I won't give a damn care about it!

Great. I couldn't even hide my fury just thinking about that jerk.

The next day, it wasn't a wonder that I still feel angry. Especially when I hadn't even seen that guy who gave me this head injury. But for now, I needed to go to school and copy some of the notes from the classes I never got to attend yesterday. When I entered the room, I saw Mayu approaching me with a worried look on her face.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay? Does it still hurt somewhere? Just say it so that I can accompany you to go home if you can't handle it," Mayu said while trying not to freak out which only made me smile.

I wanted to laugh because of that but I stopped myself and tried my best not to show that to Mayu. At least, her worries helped me dissipate my irritation. "I'm fine, so don't worry about me. Besides, since when did I complain too much just because I fell down the stairs?"

Mayu just looked at me with wide eyes. "Listen here, Fukuizumi Rinako-san! You're really out of your mind, aren't you? If you only knew how I panicked yesterday while Setsuji-kun was carrying you to go to the clinic while you were unconscious. My goodness! I almost had a heart attack, you know that?"

I just laughed and decided not to pay attention to the suddenly fast beating of my heart when I heard the name she mentioned. "You're still young to have a heart attack, Mayu. And since when did you panic just because I lost consciousness, huh?"

"Stop being philosophical on me if you don't want me to add another injury to your head."

I chose to keep quiet after that. Mayu remained with me as she sat on the seat just beside me. She handed me some of her notebooks where the notes were written from the subjects I didn't get to attend yesterday because of the accident. I was supposed to start writing down those notes in my notebook when I saw someone standing in front of me and coughed just to get my attention. When I raised my head and looked at that person, I could only frown for some reason.

"Who are you?" I started. Wait... I knew I've seen this guy from somewhere. But that wasn't possible. We just met today. Thought I had to admit, he does resemble someone. At least at the point, I was so sure.

"Before you get confused because you could see that he resembles someone, let me make a proper introduction, okay?" Mayu interjected, breaking that weird silence between us. "This is Mitsuta Seiho, and he's Setsuji-kun's fraternal twin brother."

I eyed my cousin when I heard that and frowned even more. "Twin brother?" Mayu nodded. Then I looked at the guy in front of me. "You mean, it was your twin brother who collided with me and pinned me to the ground yesterday?"

Seiho chuckled first before nodding. "Yeah. We're sorry about that. He was being chased, that's why he was running fast. And he got somewhat distracted, that's why he lost his balance and collided with you."

So he was the twin brother. That explained the weird feeling and the resemblance. "Wait, why are you the one saying that to me? Isn't it suppose to be your brother who should do that? Where's your jerk of a twin brother, anyway?"

Seiho was still smiling even when he shook his head. "Setsuji's over there talking with some of our classmates." And then he gazed towards the direction where the person I was looking for was standing.

I just followed the direction where Seiho's gaze landed. I could see Setsuji laughing with the other students. It was acting as if nothing bad had happened to him yesterday. But looking at the guy smiling like that, I knew he was the guy I was looking for. There was the familiar beating of my heart. It was what proved to me that that guy was the one who pinned me down yesterday. But I chose not to pay attention to that particular issue for now. I chose to give more thought and attention to the anger that was starting to build up within me because he looked like he doesn't even give a damn care about what happened yesterday. Seiho was right; I could easily see the proof of the fact that he and that Setsuji guy were twins. Fraternal twins, I should add. Maybe if these two were born identical, it would be truly hard for me to differentiate who was who.

'No, you wouldn't. It will be easy for you to determine who is Setsuji and who is Seiho if indeed those two were born identical,' that tiny thought in my mind suddenly said.

What exactly do you mean by that, mind telling me?

'Your heartbeat. When it beats crazy, then you'll easily know it's Setsuji. Right?'

Heartbeat? What a joke!

I just shrugged that thought off of my mind and sighed before facing Seiho. "I'm sorry for acting the way I did a while back. It's just that I was pissed off with your twin brother since yesterday." You could also add the fact that I've been thinking of him since yesterday and I've been trying to figure out the reason why until now.

"It's okay. I understand." Seiho stretched out his one hand in front of me. "I know Mayu told you my name a while back but I still want to properly introduce myself. My name's Mitsuta Seiho. You can just call me Seiho."

"Fukuizumi Rinako. Just call me Rinako." After that, I held his hand laid in front of me. Oh, well. At least I made a friend with someone who turned out to be the twin of the guy that gave me a head injury on my first day of class. And with the thought of that heck of a guy who completely ruined my day and her mood, I stood up from my seat and approached Brent.

"I don't think this will turn out good," I still heard Mayu saying. But I chose to ignore it.

How come when you look at me, it seems like time stops moving? ― If Only, Little Mermaid Musical

xxxxxx

[Rinako]

"Do you need something?" Setsuji asked me in an annoyed tone as soon as I approached him.

And I wasn't an idiot for me not understanding the fact that he still had the guts to be annoyed and irritated just because I approached him. Hah! It looked like this guy was so full of himself when I should be the one feeling irritated since he owed me a lot for that accident. I crossed my hands in front of me and raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you acting all annoyed? You're just asking a question and you had the guts to feel that way? You're the one with the bigger fault here, Mister, because you gave me this injury on my first day at this university," I said irritatingly.

"And it's my fault. I admit that. But I already apologized to you, didn't I?"

"You call that an apology? You let your twin brother do what's supposed to be your job. It only means that you're not sincere in asking for an apology to me if that's how you want to call it."

Setsuji stood up from his seat and approached me. He stopped just a few feet away from me. He was staring at me intently as if memorizing every inch of my face. Now that I thought about it, he was looking at me the same way yesterday, as if he was enchanted with what he saw. It was as if he was looking at me like I was some kind of... Wait, what exactly does he think of me as he was looking at me that intently yesterday?

Oh, never mind! One thing I knew, I had a different feeling as Setsuji was looking at me yesterday. I wasn't someone you would call beautiful for him to look at me as if he was enchanted. But I knew he looked at me that way. Weird but I remembered it like that. But it was just for a while. For some unknown reason, I felt uneasy. Especially when my nose caught the scent of his perfume (or maybe cologne) with a mixture of his natural scent. And just like the first time that he was near me, my heart thumped crazily again. I couldn't understand why my heart would go beating crazy like this just because he was near me. But I didn't want to let him know that. He might use it as a reason to bring down my defenses and I didn't want to let that happen.

"Alright. What do you want me to do so you'll stop acting this annoyed as if I made a huge mistake towards you?" he sarcastically asked me moments later, which didn't surprise me at all.

"You should personally apologize for what you did to me," I answered. "Besides, I have the right to be annoyed and irritated at you since what happened to me yesterday was your fault. Your sincerest apology is what I'm asking from you. I'm sure it's not that hard for you to give, right?"

"Okay. I'm sorry for causing trouble for you on your first day here. But we both know that everything has been an accident and I didn't mean to do that. And I admit, it's my fault," he said sincerely. Then he sighed. "There! Am I forgiven?"

I couldn't help sighing in frustration and gladness at the same time. Did I have to approach him and rant this way just for this jerk to make a proper apology? I still felt his sincerity while saying those words. "So you can say those words in front of me. Why did you have to make me confront you first just for you to do it?" I asked after mulling over his words for a while. Wait a minute, why was I giving his apology this much attention?

"It's because you're such a demanding person. To think you even confronted me. Maybe that's one of your tactics for me to notice you," Setsuji said in full arrogance that surprised me and annoyed me at the same time. And this jerk, he was grinning! It was like a first-point win for him.

Seriously-- This guy was so full of himself! He was also an arrogant jerk! Argh!

"You can tell me the truth, you know. That you have a crush on me that's why you stopped in front of me that day and made me pin you down," he added without that smirk leaving his face. That only caused the other people around to tease us which only made me furious.

Alright! Now he had done it! That was my only irritated thought after hearing those words from Setsuji. It didn't come to me that this monkey guy would be this narcissistic.

'Well, he's a handsome monkey guy, as you would put it. Besides, you even admitted it to yourself that you were attracted to him since the first time your eyes met. Just be true to yourself, okay?' A part of my mind nudged which only irritated me. Seriously speaking. I took a deep breath before facing him with a small smile carved on my face. Well, more like a sneer.

"I have a crush on you, huh?"

Without a word, I punched his face as hard as I could. He staggered backward before falling like he didn't expect it at all. The others couldn't react properly because of what I did. Well, most of them were utterly shocked. I smirked while massaging my fist that I used to punch Brent's face.

"You have to know that it's not enough as compensation for what you did to me," I said. "You know, I considered forgiving you. If you just didn't show your arrogance. Do you think that you're that handsome for you to easily conclude that I have a crush on you? Shame on you." After that, I turned around and was about to leave.

But I wasn't ready for what he did next. He rashly pulled me by the arm and forcefully turned me around to face him. I was already expecting my heartbeat to increase its tempo as soon as I saw his face. I could see that he was angry and embarrassed at the same time, just trying his best to suppress them. I knew the reason for those emotions but I tried not to avoid eye contact with him. I did that even though I had to admit that I was starting to feel both nervous and scared that I didn't want to show in front of him.

"You know that you're the only girl who punched me this way," Setsuji said in suppressed anger while his hold on my arm started to tighten.

"Oh? Then I guess I broke your record. There's always a first time for everything, right?" I still managed to say as a response even though his tightening hold on my arm began to hurt. "That's what happens to arrogant people like you."

"So you're calling me arrogant now, huh? Let's see if you can still say that once I do this to you." After that, he suddenly pulled me by the waist and forced a kiss on my lips.

That kiss had come as a shock to me... especially to my heart...