A Pathetic Attempt at Romance
by
Misty
Chapter 3
"Oh, yes sir! The Love Forever album by the Pretty Boys? Of course we have that!”
The saleslady grabbed a CD from the shelf, and held it up for Yusuke and Koenma to see.
“It’s a really popular album, sir,” the saleslady went on. “It sold 85 million copies around the world on the first week it was released…”
Koenma stared at the CD cover the saleslady held in her hands. “Er…are you sure this is the one Botan wants?”
Yusuke glanced at it idly, and shrugged. “That’s what Keiko said.”
“You sure?!” Koenma demanded, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
“Of course!” Yusuke yelled indignantly. “I’m not stupid, you know! Do you even doubt my memory?!”
“Well…it’s just that…” Koenma said, then shrugged. “Wait, I think she did mention that before.” Did he say that Botan just mentioned it? He finally remembered it now…she used to gush about that band for days on end, until he was fed up about it.
But wait…there’s something else I’m supposed to remember… he thought, furrowing his eyebrows. Something related to that band too. I guess I’m working too hard…my memory’s beginning to fail me…
“Well… oh, all right then,” Koenma said out loud, nodding at the saleslady. “We’d like to buy that, please.”
The girl smiled. “Oh yes sir! That’s a very good pick! Wonderful music, and such good-looking men too, what with their—”
Koenma cut in brusquely. “Could we get on with it, please?”
The girl’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly, but she recovered her composure quickly. “Right this way, please.”
She led them to the counter, and watched as Koenma paid for the CD.
“Their music is wonderful, isn’t it, sir?” the saleslady chattered on. “It’s superb! Wonderful! Beautiful! And those guys are so hot!!!”
Two big sweatdrops appeared on Yusuke and Koenma’s heads.
“And they write their own songs, too,” the lady went on. “And also—”
“Excuse me? Um, Ayumi-chan?”
“Hai?” the saleslady said cheerfully, and she turned around, and gave a little gasp of delight.
In front of them stood a short, tawny-haired guy, carrying roses and a microphone. He coughed nervously, and nodded at another guy, who was standing by the large radio in the center of the music shop.
“Excuse me, everyone,” the guy said to the bewildered customers. “I just want to offer a song to my beloved girlfriend.”
“Oh Hiroki-kun!” the saleslady said, her eyes sparkling like two large diamonds.
“Um. Ahem.” the guy coughed again, and he motioned for the other guy to play the radio. He took a deep breath, and began to sing.
I love the way you love me
Coz you’re everywhere to
me
If I could, then I would,
I’ll go wherever you will go
Wanna be where you are…
I swear, by the moon and the
stars in the sky
I’ll be there for you…
The guy finished his song, looking sheepishly at Ayumi, who was looking at him in shock. “Um…so…Happy Valentine’s day, Ayumi-chan.”
Ayumi only kept staring at him.
“I’m sorry if I can’t sing very well, but I do love you, and you are my everything and my one and only, and I would do anything to give you true happiness, and I—”
“Oh, Hiroki-kun!!!” Ayumi said, and ran to embrace him with fiery passion. (A/N: Did I just write that?!) “Thank you thank you! That was soooooooo romantic!!!!!!”
Hiroki was blushing so hard, he wasn’t able to speak.
“Happy Valentine’s day, my love!” Ayumi gushed. And in front of all the people, they kissed with all the passion they could muster.
Some people groaned, while the other hopeless romantics cheered them on. Koenma was staring in shock, but he was extremely surprised to see Yusuke grinning.
“Koenma, I have an idea,” he said, smiling triumphantly. “Botan wants romance? She’s going to get it.”
Koenma paled. Oh
no…what’s Yusuke up to now?
“Ja ne, Yukina-chan!” Botan called out. “Have fun, ne? You too, Kuwabara-kun!”
The said couple waved back, with Kuwabara grinning foolishly at the beautiful Koorime girl.
Keiko and Botan walked away from the restaurant, smiling in triumph. They had finally managed to convince Kuwabara to take Yukina on date, and Botan fervently hoped that Hiei wouldn’t hear about their date. She didn’t want to have an early death.
“Kuwabara-kun and Yukina-chan are so cute,” Keiko said brightly. “Love is in the air.”
“Well, it is Valentine’s day, Keiko-chan,” Botan said, nudging Keiko meaningfully. “Love should be in the air. Shizuru-san went on a date too. How about you? Aren’t you and Yusuke going to have a date?”
“I don’t know,” Keiko
said, shrugging. “Yusuke’s with Koenma now, and they’re—” Keiko
stopped herself in time, and she looked at Botan, biting her lip nervously. Oh
no…she thought, Stupid me! What if Botan suspects something?
Botan, in fact, had an expression of shock and suspicion on her face.
“Yusuke’s with Koenma-sama?” Botan said, her eyes widening. “On a date?!”
“Oh no, silly!” Keiko cried out in relief, hitting Botan on the head.
“Hehe,” Botan said, grinning michievously, then the smile on her face faded. “Hmm…so Koenma-sama’s with Yusuke, huh? I bet they’re working on something concerning the Ma Kai.”
“Um…yeah,” Keiko said, in what she hoped was a neutral voice.
“Koenma-sama’s always busy,” Botan said, kicking a pebble on the ground dejectedly. “I bet he forgot his promise,” she murmured softly to herself, but Keiko heard.
“Oh, he sure remembered, Botan-chan,” Keiko said mysteriously.
Botan’s eyebrows shot up, and she looked strangely at Keiko. “I didn’t tell you about that promise…”
“Oh?” Keiko said nervously. She had blundered again. “You did…before…”
“But this is the first time I’ve talked to you in months! And Koenma-sama gave me that promise two weeks ago…so far, the only one who knows about this is Ayame-san…”
“I guess I remember a different one,” Keiko fibbed uneasily. “What did you mean?”
“Oh, you see, Koenma-sama promised me that he would—” Botan suddenly stopped, because somebody had tapped her on the back.
It was Ayame, and she smiled nervously at Botan.
“Ayame-san?” Botan asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Botan-chan…I…I wanted to ask a favor,” Ayame said softly.
Botan smiled cheerfully. “Sure!”
“Um…you see…” Ayame shifted on her feet nervously, then continued. “You see…I didn’t know that Saicho-san was going to take me on a date today…and he made his reservations already…”
“And?”
“We’re supposed to go now,” Ayame said, smiling sheepishly. “But I still have one last soul to take to the Rei Kai…”
“Oh,” Botan said, nodding.
“So…can you take that job for me?” Ayame said pleadingly.
“Sure thing,” Botan said cheerfully. “I’m free until the evening, anyway. Besides, I think Koenma-sama forgot all about it, too, so…”
“Thank you, Botan-chan!” Ayame said gratefully. She waved happily at them, then ran towards the opposite direction.
“Hmm, love is in the air,” Botan said sadly. Keiko looked at her in concern, but Botan quickly masked her sadness with a grin. “Well, I do have to go, Keiko-chan. See you later, I hope.”
“Ja,” Keiko said, with a small smile.
Botan ducked into an alleyway, and soon sailed off into the air.
“AAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!!”
“Koenma-sama, calm down—”
“Why do I have to sing, anyway?!” Koenma said, stamping his foot.
“Well, you did see that guy in the music store, right?” Yusuke said calmly. “That girl said he was so romantic…”
“Maybe you should try again, Koenma-sama,” George said nervously.
Koenma coughed, irritated, then tried again. He was back in the Rei Kai now, dressed in a tux borrowed from Yusuke, and they were rehearsing the romantic song he was supposed to sing to Botan later. So far, all his attempts at singing were complete disasters, Koenma was getting more frustrated by the minute.
“Maybe if you put a little more feeling into it, Koenma-sama,” George suggested timidly, “It wouldn’t matter if you sang off-key…”
“Okay. I’ll try,” Koenma said through gritted teeth.
Koenma took a deep breath, then began to sing…if you can call it singing.
“You’re the air that I
breathe
You’re all that I need…
And I want to THANK YOU, LADYYYYY!!!!!!!”
He shouted the last few words with all his might.
“That’s shouting, Koenma-sama…not singing,” George said, covering his ears.
“Well, I’d like to see you do better!” Koenma growled.
Yusuke shook his head. “This is hopeless!” he said, smacking his forehead.
“I think I have a suggestion,” said a new voice from behind them.
They all whirled around in surprise.
“Hinageshi!” Koenma said, and he paled. “What are you doing here?”
“Um…I was listening,” the red-haired ferry girl said nervously. “I know what you want to do for Botan, Koenma-sama.” She suddenly brightened. “Anyway, I think I can help you.”
“Come on, Hinageshi,” George said, taking Hinageshi by the hand, and leading her away. “You probably have other things to do, right? So why don’t I take you to your room, and I’ll—”
“But I really can help!” Hinageshi said desperately. She wrenched her hand away from George, then continued. “Since Koenma-sama can’t really sing all that well, why don’t you just lip-sync?”
“Lip-sync?” Koenma said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Hinageshi said, nodding enthusiastically. “We play a song on the radio, and then you pretend that you’re singing.”
“But—”
“And you don’t have to memorize the song, either!” Hinageshi continued happily. “I’ve read about a technique for that. Just say silently ‘watermelon bubblegum’ in time to the music…”
“Watermelon bubblegum?!” the three other guys shouted in unison, and they all burst out laughing.
“You really do say that!” Hinageshi said indignantly.
“Right,” Yusuke said sarcastically, still laughing uncontrollably.
“It’s true!” Hinageshi looked a trifle hurt. “Well, if you don’t want my suggestions, then fine! I really just want to help!” She began to march away. “I’ll make sure Botan hears about how you’ve been mean to me…”
“Wait, Hinageshi!” George said, sobering instantly. “So what other suggestions do you have?”
Hinageshi immediately brightened, and she brought out another book out from her kimono. “You see…I have this book, Romantic Escapades…and it has many examples of the various ways other men tried to propose or confess to their loved ones in the most romantic way possible. We could use some of the suggestions here.”
“I wonder what suggestions they would be,” Yusuke muttered under his breath.
“Well, hopefully it’s better than yours,” Koenma retorted.
Hinageshi smiled at them, and the two men exchanged glances.
Koenma gulped. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
Author's Note:
I got the "Watermelon Bubblegum" technique from Karina-chan...and yes, I know it doesn't really work for songs. Let's just pretend it works, all right? ^^; For the sake of humor. Please? ^^;
Oh, and the songs don't
belong to me...(actually I mixed and matched a bunch of songs...you might have
noticed...^^;)...they all belong to their respective owners. Don't sue me,
onegai.