My fist went for Shirane's face in the form of a punch. But before it could hit him, he seized my wrist, moved aside and made me trip.
I fell on all fours on the grass, panting and sweating.
'UP!' he ordered and I obeyed, scrambling back to my feet, taking fighting stance again.
We had been training like this the entire morning and so long, I hadn't been able to lay upon him a single blow till now. But the positive part was that he hadn't sent me to the infirmary yet.
The sun was at the zenith now.
The red-haired boy threw several punches at me but I managed to skip them all, backing away continuously until I was close to the line of trees. This wasn't good.
Out of blue, I felt extremely weak and my eyelids drooped. At the same time, Shirane knocked me off my feet and my head collided into something hard from behind before I hit the ground.
My first reaction was to hold my head at the splitting pain but my arms refused to move. Not only my arms, my whole body refused to obey and I was unable to open my eyes.
My heart picked up speed.
Oh no! Not now!
'Hey! Get up!' called Shirane, in a strange tone. 'It's not funny.'
I knew that it was useless to try to move. The only thing I could do was to wait for the attack to pass. Though, I couldn't help but try, feeling extremely disturbed by the red-haired boy's presence.
Never before had I hated being narcoleptic this much as at this moment. It made me feel so vulnerable, even more with the redheaded boy around; I could remember perfectly well the incident of the swimming pool.
'Hey! Can you hear me?'
I heard some movements and I would have flinched if my body could respond. The sudden catch in his voice surprised me, though.
'And shit!'
My body left the ground abruptly and I was filled with dread over what Shirane intended to do with me. It took me a whole minute to calm down enough for my mind to register that he was jogging with me.
'Tsunan!' I heard him call, his voice strained. 'I knocked her off her feet and she hit her head against a tree! And now, she's not waking up!'
'Put her down!' the doctor commanded, urgently.
I was placed onto something flat, even, and not so soft. The feeling under me was familiar; the infirmary bed.
One of my eyes was forced opened and I was temporarily blinded by abrupt light; Doctor Tsunan physically examining me.
'Please, tell me that I didn't kill her!' Shirane said, his tone frantic.
'She's going to be alright.'
'Are you sure? I mean, she's fallen unconscious, after all.'
'She's not unconscious.'
There was a short silence.
'What do you mean she's not unconscious? Her eyes are closed and she's not moving!'
'I can't tell you anything. I'm bound by medical confidentiality.'
'She's having a full-blown cataplexy attack,' informed a third voice in the room. 'She's narcoleptic.'
My breath caught.
'Ayame!' scolded Doctor Tsunan.
If my eyes weren't already closed, I would have pressed them shut. No! Why did Ayame have to do this? Now, everyone will know!
'Wait! Are you telling me that our mass-murderer here is narcoleptic?' snorted Shirane, his tone incredulous. 'She massacred a whole village in-between two naps?!'
He let out a cynical laugh, making me feel so much miserable.
I recovered control over my muscles by that moment, but I remained where I was, without opening my eyes.
A whole minute later, I heard Doctor Tsunan's voice very close to me.
'Shun?' he called. 'Can you move yet? They're gone. You can open your eyes.'
Slowly, I opened my eyes and met his gaze where he was standing a feet away. 'I'm sorry over what happened.'
I sat up carefully, shaking my head, knowing that it wasn't his fault.
He closed the distance between us, his fingers probing my skull lightly. I winced in pain.
'Tender?'
'A little.'
'I'm going to give you some painkillers.' He went to fetch these, calling, 'You hurt yourself a lot at the head. You should be more careful.'
He was right. An injury at the head could be dangerous.
He looked over his shoulder to see me nod.
***
Later, the same day...
I looked around of myself, taking in my surrounding. I couldn't recognize anything that my eyes were seeing.
Oh no! Those automatic behavior during sleep bouts aren't funny! I groaned, interiorly, resisting the surge of panic.
I was in an unknown part of Toda. I had never been to this area before. Judging from the look of the place, I guessed that this was Shibata neighborhood. It was the liveliest part of town.
Shibata was the upscale neighborhood. It resembled a metropolis. It was all about fashion shops, cinema halls, restaurants and game houses, with priceless offices and apartments in high skyscrapers; not to forget a heavy traffic and crowded sidewalks.
It was difficult to believe that we were still in Toda.
And even if I was quite mesmerized by this place which was the incarnation of modernization, I couldn't help but wonder which way I had to go to get to Shiratori. The problem was that everyone seemed to be busy, talking with their group of friends or on the phone that I didn't dare ask anyone my way.
Kōmori-san's grip tightened on me in order not to get separated from me as I walked for a while, searching for my way.
***
Meanwhile...
'I should never have accepted to wear this accoutrement,' groaned Shirane under his breath.
How did it come to this?
Oh, he knew exactly how.
*Flashback*
The previous day...
Shirane Nakagiri had been thinking a lot after Naoto's death. It had made him come to a decision.
He was going to gather up all the courage that he had and do what he has lacked the guts to do till now.
Taking a deep breath, he crossed the yard up to where Cho Kururugi was sitting with Agasa and Yanagi with their feet soaking in the swimming pool, busily chatting with one another.
Since their backs were turned onto the red-haired boy, no one seemed to notice him.
Shirane almost changed his mind at that moment, his heart thudding.
Don't be such a sissy, Shirane! he scolded himself in his mind. He pressed his eyes shut to collect himself before he spoke, 'Cho, can I speak with you in private for a minute?'
He had intended for his voice to be composed, but instead of that, his words came out distortedly.
Cerulean-blue eyes met his gaze, causing his heart skip a beat.
His legs almost turned to jelly.
'Can I- Can I speak with you a minute, Cho?' he repeated his question in a blurt, before he could back out.
'I'll be back,' the ginger-haired girl said to her two friends as she got to her feet.
Agasa and Yanagi simply nodded, continuing to discuss with each other.
Shirane led Cho a small distance away.
He was hyper-conscious of how stiff he looked as he walked. It was just beyond his capacity to relax.
When he turned to face the ginger-haired girl, the latter was watching him questioningly.
The boy thought that his heart was going to explode in excitement. He opened his mouth to declare his flame to her but no words came out.
Cho raised her eyebrows at him impatiently.
'Will you go out with me tomorrow?'
The words came out fast, the question unexpected. And crap! He didn't tell her the words that he had intended to. But this wasn't that bad either. He would declare his flame to her if she accepted.
He stared at the girl standing in front of her, trying to catch her expression. Her eyes were wide in astonishment.
'Shirane Nakagiri, are you officially asking me out?' she asked, incredulously, drawing her face closer to his.
The redhead swallowed the lump in his throat, only managing to nod in answer.
The girl's eyes narrowed at him peevishly and she made a move to grab her fan.
Shirane knew exactly what was awaiting him- a slap with her harisen. He flinched, his eyes drawing shut.
When the blow never came, he risked an eye open.
He was surprised to find Cho smiling; alright it wasn't a real smile, but a smirk.
Shirane couldn't understand why he felt scared suddenly. If he didn't get slapped and she was smirking, it meant that she was taking this well, right? Then, why was the girl's reaction freaking him out.
'Are you o-okay with it?' he stuttered.
'Yes. Why not?' she replied and a grin spread across of the boy's face, in elation.
Tapping her chin with her forefinger thoughtfully, she proposed, 'How about if we meet at the Moon Pub tomorrow at four o'clock?'
'The Moon Pub?' Shirane asked, uncertainly, his bubbles bursting. It was found in a trashy part of Shibata neighborhood, the pub being of disrepute itself.
'Is there a problem?' she asked him and he shook his head, quickly. 'No. No. No problem. The Moon Pub would be cool.'
'There's a special party tomorrow there. Everyone is supposed to come cross-dressed.'
Cro-cro-cross-dressing?!
The redhead thought that he'd faint at the word.
'It's really going to be cool!' exclaimed the ginger-haired girl, enthusiastically. He stared at her with frantic eyes.
Catching his expression, she frowned at him, worriedly and asked, 'You don't have a problem with that, do you?'
Shirane swallowed hard.
Something told him that it was this or nothing. It was probably his only chance to go out with the girl.
'No.' He pursed his lips.
'Great! Your costume should better be convincing. Else, they won't let you in. They put a lot of emphasis on the code of dressing for their special parties.'
Winking at him, she turned away to join her two friends again.
Shirane raised his eyes to the sky, praying that he survived through tomorrow. Being dressed like a girl when he'd declare his flame to his crush wasn't at the top of his list of situations he had imagined for the great moment. But still, he was going to make do with it.
He sincerely hoped, though, that he wouldn't come across of anyone that he knows in his attire tomorrow. Otherwise, his pride was going to take a serious blow.
***
Shirane glanced down at the skirt and blouse he was wearing, not to forget the women's handbag and high heels.
He had been standing outside of the bay window of the Pub for one and a half hour and still Cho Kururugi hadn't showed up yet.
The first half hour, he had thought that the girl was simply running late. He had tried to reach her on her cellphone but she wasn't picking up his call. The second half hour, he began wondering if something bad happened to the ginger-haired girl on her way to meet him and became dead worried. By the end of the last thirty minutes, he had to conclude that Cho had only played a dirty trick on him.
She had never intended to go out with him and wanted to have the pleasure to have him dressed up like a girl and walking the streets of Shibata. He could imagine her laughing it out with Agasa and Tsudzuri at this moment.
He took a glance inside of the Moon Pub. No one was cross-dressed. He had thought all this while that she simply made a mistake about the pub's name. He couldn't believe that he got duped so easily. Not to forget the immense disappointment that he was feeling right now.
'Hey, missy!' a young man who was passing by called at the redhead. The man was in his late twenties and clothed in a suit, carrying a briefcase under his arm; most probably an office-working guy on the quest of some distraction after work.
He came to a stop at the sight of Shirane.
'Wanna go have a drink with me?'
'I'm a guy!' Shirane grumbled, peevishly.
'Oh! I don't mind.'
Groaning out loud, Shirane stomped away, his eyes stinging with tears of frustration. It hadn't been the first guy who had proposed him in the last one and a half hour or even on his way to the pub. One pervert had even dared to lay a hand on his butt in the bus.
Enough was enough!
He turned onto the first corner on the right, entering a small desert alley, preferring to stay away from the crowd. He was impatient to get home to undress; if stripping wasn't forbidden by law, he would have ripped these clothes off him back on the spot. But he couldn't risk getting arrested for public stripping which would only add to his humiliation.
When he heard footfalls behind him, he glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see the guy who had proposed him a few minutes ago but instead what greeted his sight were two thugs.
'Hey, you!' they called at him, in a booming voice. Since he was distracted, he didn't notice the two other guys who arrived in the opposite direction until he went into them head-on, the thugs having taken him in sandwich.
Without any doubt, these four bulky men's intentions weren't to have a chat or ask him out.
They were over-muscled, tattooed from head to toe, their hair dyed in flashy colors, and they had several piercings. They were wearing nothing under their leather jackets, their jeans torn at several places.
'You're an Otokonoko!'
'Tsk! A guy in girl's clothes! What a shame!'
'You make us want to vomit!''
'We don't like depraved people of your kind around here!'
They were four and he was alone. He still believed that he had his chances if a fight ensued though. But, he wasn't going to be the one to start it. He thought about simply ignoring their comments and in accordance to this, he tried to walk away, but they didn't allow him to.
One of the thugs cut his way and shoved him backward by his shoulders. Shirane stumbled but didn't fall. Before they would assault him together, he tried to kick one of them at the face but he heard a tear, at the same time that he lost his balance and fell.
He cursed at the high heels he was wearing, before staring frantically at his long skirt which had got torn up to his knees when he had attempted the kick. If he wasn't careful, he was sure to end up half-naked!
How was he supposed to fight with his movements restricted?
He couldn't even take off his shoes unless he wanted to end up with a tetanus.
'Can you tell us what you just tried to do?!' barked one of the thugs, the latter kicking the redhead in the chest, knocking him flat on the ground.
Shirane clutched at his upper abdomen instinctively, rolling onto his side and trying to catch his breath.
'You think that an effeminate like you stands a chance against us?'
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Otokonoko: men who cross-dress as women and may be of any sexual orientation.