Chapter 21-Summer Plans
THIRD PERSON POV
"No way! You're letting Tadashi plan with you? How about us?" Akira screeched as she sent a death glare towards Kei and Tadashi, who cowered behind him.
It was the last day of school before summer holidays start, and it was when Kei announced that he has yet to plan on the trip they were leaving for tomorrow, today. And imagine all the pissed faces when Kei personally asked Tadashi to help with the planning.
"Ryuu!" Akira calls out to the green haired boy that just arrived, clueless about what happened. "Tell me you don't want Tadashi planning our summer holidays with Kei!"
Ryuu stares at the SA, a puzzled look on his face as he took in what Akira told him. "Give Tadashi a chance." was all he said before he sat in between the twins, who snuggled up to him.
"Why can't we all plan together, Takishima?" Hikari asks, staring at Kei, whose eyes widened slightly before he went back to his stone cold mask.
"This is worth the surprised look on your faces once I tell you where we'll spend our entire summer holiday at and you guys," Kei points towards his classmates, his gaze settling on a frowning Akira. "Cannot back out or leave."
Akira's glare could kill people, but Kei's was purely emotionless and colder than ice. Akira was first to break out of the glaring contest.
"So where are we going?" Ryuu asks, running a hand through his disheveled hair.
Kei shakes his head and smirks. No matter where they guessed, he knew they certainly wouldn't guess this place. And even Tadashi tried every country he could think of. But clearly, Tadashi wasn't a good gauge since all he could think about were places abundant with lush rainforests, or any rough terrain with adventure screaming at him.
"So Nagisa is exempted?" Hikari narrows her eyes and looks at Kei sceptically. Kei gulps a little but Ryuu answers for him.
"I don't think she can anyways. She has family matters and a current problem with her employee."
"How do you know?" Akira challenged. To her, none of the SA knew much about the mysterious Takishima Alberto heiress, and they didn't even know her family's riches were worth comparing, or who her relatives were.
"I sort of know her. She's helping us settle the problem with the guys who kidnapped Jun and Megumi." as soon as Ryuu spoke, both the twins nodded in agreement. They trusted Ryuu and they knew Nagisa would always help them. Just like the old times.
Akira slumped back and crossed her legs. She was feeling really wary and suspicious of everything, she didn't even know why she was feeling this way. Maybe she was afraid that Kei was going to join forces and dump all of the SA in some scenic landscape, full of canyons, forests and most importantly, no place for tea.
Akira knew she had to do something. Calling Tadashi for a private conversation, she started to plot.
"What do you have to say?" Tadashi spoke, as naive as he always was.
Akira batted her eyelashes, staring at Tadashi with the best puppy dog-like eyes she could muster. Pouting, she said. "Are you really going to take us to a place with no signs of human civilisation or are you going to please the damsels of distress by sending all of us to a modernised place?"
To try increase her appeal, she bit her bottom lip. Akira hoped he would buy it.
"Err, no." Tadashi scratches the back of his head, unsure of what to reply. He never expected Akira to be like this. Well, he didn't even have a say in where to go. Kei just gave him a couple of orders to help with the planning for a summer-long trip. It wasn't easy for Kei, and all of the SA had vowed to help him whenever they can ever since the last school festival. Nagisa didn't take the vow, but they were all sure she would help whenever she could. Heck, she was following Kei's individualistic side by trying to solve things on her own. "Kei plans it all."
Akira grunted unhappily before she smacked Tadashi and walked off. Apparently Kei wasn't that dependent on people even after promises to help him.
Tadashi gets himself together, rubbing the sore spot that Akira had hit him. Why did she act like that? How did that rough lady suddenly start batting eyelashes like her life depended on it? And all that pouting and biting of her lower lip really made Todou Akira look attractive. The good kind of attention-seeking attractive.
As he gets back to his chair he realises Akira was avoiding all eye contact with him. He was curious, yet he made no effort to question Akira. He didn't want it to be any more awkward for her.
"So, once we are dismissed from school, I hope that all of you can leave. Please be at the private airport of the Todou family by six tomorrow morning, and pack all your nice summer shorts and summer skirts." Kei says smugly.
The SA just nodded in agreement.
"Tadashi, start calling all those houses that provide lodging, all those hotels and hostels have been fully booked." Kei orders Tadashi as he starts typing furiously on his laptop. This trip was to be picture perfect, and had to be better than the previous one, to clear off the tension he had with Hikari and put new memories in.
"Hillocks residence, how may I help?" a gruff male voice spoke at the other end of the phone in perfect English. Tadashi stiffened and handed the phone over to Kei.
"If it's you, mom. I swear I'm not going to get wasted at a party." the voice says before any of them could speak.
Kei clears his throat.
"We need lodging for seven teenagers from Japan." Kei says in a sweet and oddly creepy voice.
"Lodging?" the male on the other line scoffed. "Try this number." and he rattled out another phone number to the two boys.
"Don't call this number again. We don't provide lodging." the male said before a click ended the conversation.
Tadashi was given an icy glare from Kei. "Learn how to type the correct numbers. Try this one, and don't fail."
Tadashi's adam's apple bobbed as he nodded in agreement, fearful of Kei's glare.
On the other line, there owner of the gruff male voice from the Hillocks residence burst into laughter as he kept running a hand through his red hair.
Another redhead walked into the house and spots him laughing and she eyes him.
"What have you done this time Theodore?" she sees her brother standing right next to the creamy white rotary phone her mother insisted they bought in a vintage fair.
Theodore laughs even more, and clutches his stomach.
"You did not just prank called someone, right?" his sister folds her arms across her chest and glared.
"Oh, you mean I was pranked, little Pop? Yes!" Theodore says between his booming laughs, "Some Japanese dude called to ask for lodging for seven!"
"Theo you-" Poppy bursts into laughter as well. The Hillocks residence was smaller than any rich family's house. They only had a single guest room, saving more money than they thought they ever would.
"You wouldn't believe what I did, little Pop! I gave those dudes-" Theodore laughs so hard, and Poppy got jerked back into reality.
"Please don't tell me you did that." Poppy frowns at her brother. "Theo, please don't tell me you gave them demon lawyer's number."
"Of course I did! They called us by accident, so I gave them Alice Maisy's mobile!" And Poppy smacked sense into her brother's head. When her parents get busy during summer, she and her brother tend to stay at the Alberto's villa, which belonged to their friend Nagisa. What they always forgot, was that her absentminded relatives always stayed over when they forgot the keys to their chic apartments.
And those relatives, included Alice Maisy Alberto, Melissa Alberto's younger sister and hobby partner.
"Imagine, calling the feisty demon Alice Maisy, and asking for lodging!" and Theodore lost all means of communication as he literally rolled his body all over the fancy carpets and marbled floor, messing up the nice carpet arrangement.
Poppy scoffed at her immature brother before spinning on her heel and marching out of the house despite the fact that she just waltzed in. "I'm not fetching you if you get wasted at that summer bash party." she calls over her shoulder.
"Okay, thank you ma'am." Kei says as politely as possible before he hangs up.
"You can stop hiding behind that bush, Tadashi. It's just a phone call and the lady says she will provide us lodging for the whole of summer. She's not going to come out as a tiger and bite you." He shakes his head as he calls out to Tadashi. The cowardly boy had hid behind one of the bushes and whimpered like a lost dog when Kei was on the phone. And he scampered there when the lady on the other line cleared her throat before she spoke.
"She sounds really scary, like my mother." Tadashi muttered as he slowly got up and dusted off the dirt on his pants. He feared the English-speaking lady on the other end of the line, the fierce and demanding voice awfully similar to the devil woman known as his mother.
"We found a lodging, didn't we? So take that lady off your mind. She did say she wouldn't be around, so you wouldn't even see her." Kei says, reassuring Tadashi, who sighed in relief.
When Kei told Tadashi they were done for the day, it was just him convincing himself that he would put in more time in the holiday plans once her finished helping with his family's business.
Tadashi had initially walked out with a smile, but he detected something even with his simple mind. He was indeed glad he could contribute to the fun summer he would have in a day's time with Akira and the rest of the SA, but he knew Kei was lying. The individualistic guy still doesn't accept help with open arms, and the SA would definitely help him.
Maybe, this summer trip might be shockingly helpful to the SA, or will it all go downhill after the location is revealed?
{published 31/05/2014}
A/N:
Thanks for reading, voting and commenting!
For one of my bonus chapters, I have gotten people who
Asked for Kei, or Ryuu.
If you want another member's POV to be out instead of them,
head back to Chapter 20 and check out the A/N before
you make your pick. {voting is over for this}
Thanks for all the support!
theonlyphyn <3