Chapter 1 - The Bike

Kotarou ducked from Misha's every day tackle. He saw her tumble down with a failed look on her face. “Hello Misha,” he said casually and went towards Shia, who was worried for her friend's safety.

“Are you okay Misha-san?” Shia asked calmly.

The hyperactive angel immediately got up with a wide smile on her pretty face. “I'm okies, Shia-chan! Tehee,” she replied and went over to embrace Kotarou in a tight hug. “Good morning Kotarou-kun-su!”

“Ah! Misha,” Kotarou complained. She began to suffocate him long and hard.

She stopped for what seemed like about five minutes and grabbed the lunch that Shia had made for both her and Kotarou. “Thankie-su!” she said and walked quickly to school. Kotarou sighed and received his lunch from Shia.

“Thanks Shia,” he told her while going with Misha to another boring day at school.

“You're very welcome,” Shia replied with a friendly smile and went inside her apartment to cook and clean.

“Only two more weeks until we have no more school-su!” Misha exclaimed cheerfully while Kotarou was listening to her optimism. “It's gonna be superty duperty! We will have lots of fun, all of us together-su! Aren't you happy that we're gonna spend time together-su?”

Kotarou nodded without any enthusiasm. “At least exams will be over.”

They spotted Takashi (Ten-chan) and Koboshi talking to each other as always. “There's no way you can arm wrestle that guy! He'll break your arm!”

“Oh yeah? We'll see about that soon enough!” Koboshi said with an over-achievement expression. And then she saw Kotarou. “Oh, hey Kotarou-kun!” Ten-chan rolled his eyes when he hinted the flirtatious in her tone. “Hey Misha.”

“Hey, what's up?” Ten-chan told Misha and Kotarou.

“Hi Koboshi-chan and Ten-chan-su!” Misha said.

“Hi,” Kotarou said. “Nothing much. Just happy that school will be over soon.”

“I know, right? I can't wait either! These are one of the reasons why I love summer,” Ten-chan retorted. He put his hands behind his head. “Nothing to worry about.”

“I wonder what we could do when school's over,” Koboshi wondered.

“Let's go to the arcade-su! No, let's go the beach-su! No wait, I wanna watch this new movie that came out and it looks coolio-su!” Misha blabbered on and on of endless choices.

“One at a time, Misha!” Kotarou stopped her and gave a low smile. “I don't think I can handle it all!”

“Quit being such a whiner,” Ten-chan said. “If that's what she wants to do, then let's do it!”

“Yeah!” Koboshi agreed for once on Misha. “It's gonna totally kick a--”

“Hello losers!” Dai-chan shouted, coming out of nowhere. His sister Kaoru was with him. “Except Misha-chan. She's a winner!” Hearts formed in his round glasses.

“Oh no,” Ten-chan and Koboshi muttered.

“Hi Dai-chan-su!” Misha said, happy as a clam.

Kaoru giggled. “Hello Ten-chan,” she said nervously.

“Hi,” Ten-chan replied with a sympathetic grin that drove Kaoru crazy.

“I hear you people are gonna do a lot of things over the summer,” Dai-chan pointed out.

Kotarou slapped his forehead. I'm definitely going to be so worn out, he thought.

“Yeah,” Ten-chan replied. “What's it to you?” He folded his arms.

“I'm tagging along with you!”

“No,” Ten-chan murmured.

“Sure you can-su!” Misha said.

Kaoru pouted. “Too bad I won't be with you in the summer. I'm going to Paris.” That was directed more to Ten-chan.

“Aw that's too bad,” Koboshi said. Yes! The crazy's not coming with us! She thought and did a little victory dance inside her head. Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Hurray!

The school bell rang. Ten-chan gave a low yawn. “Well, I guess it's time to go to school,” he said.

“I'm watching you,” Dai-chan hissed. He looked at Misha with hearts in his eyes. “Bye my little angel,” he muttered and took Kaoru to school.

“Bye Ten-chan!” she called out while both siblings went inside the building.

“Why don't they ever say bye to us?” Koboshi asked Kotarou.

“Just let it stay that way,” he answered and they all went to the most miserable place in the whole wide world.

-x-

Meanwhile, Shia was working in the Tricot Café. Only three people came and they all ordered the same thing. Coffee with cream, sugar added. If only there were more customers coming in to keep her occupied. Her cat, Nya, was watching her every move and he was beginning to become bored with that as well. “Why don't you just take the rest of the day off!?” he finally said. “It's transparently clear that no one's coming to this dump of a place!”

“I know, but I must keep on working,” Shia replied while dusting the floor. Her little maid headband kept falling from her hair.

“You keep working too much! It's time to do something else than attending to these filthy humans! DEATH TO THEM ALL!” Nya pretended to choke one just to demonstrate how much he disliked them.

Shia came over and patted Nya's tender head. “Now, now Nya-chan,” she said with a happy expression. “I'm almost finish with my shift. Then we can go wherever you want to go. Okay?”

Nya sighed. “I swear, Shia, you're growing sweeter and sweeter every day. You could even beat a big bag of cotton candy if that's the case. Teh!” He climbed towards the counter and started moping around.

-x-

A couple of hours later, the gang was out of school. They decided to go to Tricot Café to do their homeworks in and visit Shia. However, Shia wasn't there at all. Ten-chan was the first to notice that.

“Where's Shia-san?” he asked his friends, like they actually know where she went.

“I have... no clue,” Kotarou replied. “Relax. Maybe she's taking a cigarette break is all.”

Ten-chan's forest green eyes widen. “She smokes!?”

“Like a chimney,” Kotarou teased and he and Koboshi started laughing their heads off. Misha was confused. Ten-chan became frustrated.

“Shia-chan doesn't smoke-su!” Misha pointed out.

“Yeah I know. I was only joking.” Kotarou shrugged.

“You're a bad comedian, dude,” Ten-chan said while taking out his books in his small back pack. “I wonder when she'll be back.”

“Whenever she wants to be back...?” Kotarou was now tired of Ten-chan's worries for Shia.

Ten-chan sighed and started doing his homework. So did Koboshi, Kotarou, and Misha. Five minutes later, Shia and Nya came back from their small trip downtown. “Hello guys,” she greeted.

“Hi Shia-san,” Ten-chan said, smiling very widely.

“Hey,” Kotarou said.

“Hello Shia,” Koboshi said.

“Shia-chan! You're back-su!” Misha said and gave her a hug. Shia hugged back.

“How was school today?” she asked while going back to the counter and fixing them a snack to eat.

“The same as usual,” Ten-chan replied and gave a huff.

“Yeah, girls chasing you wherever you go. Me, being right about winning an arm wrestling challenge with Yoshi, the strongest kid in our grade. Well, not anymore that is,” explained Koboshi.

“Okay, that's not normal.”

“You beat Yoshi!?” Kotarou was stunned about this. “And I missed it!?”

“You were too busy gorging yourself with Shia-san's meals. I mean, who wouldn't!” Ten-chan looked over to Shia who seemed flattered. “Even Misha saw it.”

“It was awesome-su!”

Koboshi was turning red from all the attention. “Yep, it sure was!”

Shia brought back desserts for all of them and they all said “thank you” to her. “Sounds like you had an interesting day today.”

“Very abnormal if that's what you mean,” Ten-chan said while diving in the soft, chocolate cake that Shia had prepared before. “Mmmmm. Cake.”

“I'm glad you like it!”

“Well, you are a really good cook!”

“Thank you, Ayanokoji-san.”

“You're welcome Shia-san!”

Koboshi instantly notices what is happening. “OoOoOoOh, Ten-chan,” Koboshi whispered and chuckled at his attempts to flirt.

“Shut up Koboshi!” Ten-chan exclaimed while blush covered his cheeks.

Misha stood up from her chair and took the empty plate with her. “That was delicious, Shia-chan!” she told her while looking back, but falling when Nya stood at her way. He hissed at her.

“Watch where you're going!” he basically said and ran off.

The plate smashed into pieces. “Oh no, no, no-su!” Misha cried out. “I broke it!”

Shia came to her aid. “It's alright, Misha-san. It was only by accident.”

“I'm really, really sorry-su!”

“Don't worry about it.” She began picking up the broken pieces and putting them in the trash.

“Misha, you have gotta be more careful,” Kotarou stated.

Misha shrugged sadly and went back to the table.

-x-

Pretty soon, they were all walking towards Ten-chan's house (except Koboshi who needed to go home) while he pulls out something from it.

“Hey Kotarou, wanna ride bikes today?” Ten-chan asked.

“What's a bike?” Shia questioned.

“It's a thing you ride on,” Kotarou replied. “It's not really hard to ride.”

“Oh. How does it look like?”

“It looks like...” he got his bike out. It was simple and blue. Not really anything exciting about it.

“It looks difficult,” Shia said and poked it.

Ten-chan smiled. “It's not really. Do you want me to show you how to ride it?”

Shia nodded, interested about the bicycle.

“Really?”

“You insisted.”

“Okay!” Ten-chan said with glee.

“But what about us?” Kotarou asked, gesturing at himself and Misha who was fascinated by a colorful butterfly.

“Well, what about us? Well, you can stay with Misha while I teach Shia how to ride a bike.”

“What!?”

“Tehehe! That means we can be together Kotarou-su!”

Kotarou sighed.

“Or you can hang out with Koboshi too!” Ten-chan suggested.

“That sounds like a good idea! Let's call her-su!” Misha requested.

“Okay, okay. Have fun with Shia, Ten-chan.” He gave the most biggest smile.

Ten-chan and Shia went to the park with the bike. There was barely anyone there, which probably meant they had the whole park to themselves. The two were standing at the trail. Shia paid close attention to what Ten-chan said about riding bikes.

“The first rule in riding a bike is wearing a helmet.” Ten-chan took the helmet that was strapped onto the handles of the bike and placed it on Shia's head.

“What do I do next, Ayanokoji-san?” Shia asked.

“You go on the bike,” he replied.

“How?”

“You sit on that thing.” He pointed to the seat on the bike. Shia sat on it, but was facing the wheels and not the front. Ten-chan couldn't help but laugh a little. “Actually, you sit on the front of the handle bars so that your feet can touch the pedals.”

Shia nods and puts her feet on the pedals.

“Now move them in a circular motion.”

Shia did so, but she doesn't go anywhere, and the bike's about to fall sideways. Ten-chan grabbed it just in time.

“Be careful,” he said. “To make it on easy, I'll hold on to it.” He grasps the handles, also grabbing onto Shia's small ones and starts moving the bikes. “Ready?” Shia shakes her head anxiously. Ten-chan continues to move the bike. “How about now?” She still shakes her head no. Ten-chan moves the bike a lot more.

“Okay, you can let go now,” Shia finally says.

Ten-chan let's go of the bike and watches Shia riding it.

“Oh my, I'm doing it!”

“Go Shia-san!” Ten-chan went to follow her.

All of a sudden, the bike is too fast for even Shia to control. “Whoa! How do I stop this!?”

Ugh oh, I forgot to tell her! Ten-chan thought, while seeing Shia fall to the ground and getting hurt.

“Ow!” she yells and checks her sprained knee. Ten-chan comes to her rescue.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“I can't get up,” she retorted sadly.

He picked her up without any complications. Shia never knew Ten-chan was really strong.

“Don't worry, I'll take you home!” he told her, in a very heroically way.

“Thanks Ayanokoji-san,” she said. She blushed a little while her rescuer takes her home.

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