Price of admission

Price of admission Part 4

After explaining the rest of the rules to Yukari, the group went their separate ways, each trying to think up some form of strategy for how to win the contest. 'All I need to do is be holding Takagi's hand, that shouldn't be too hard.' Nishikata thought to himself as he walked down the sidewalk. 'Then again-' As he thought about it, the strange feeling within him began to surface once more. 'Damn it, I need to take care of this damn feeling first, otherwise I won't be able to do something when we actually get to the concert.'

"Hey Nishikata." Came Takagi's voice from up ahead.

Nishikata looked up and, sure enough, there she was, as if waiting for him. 'Why am I surprised at this point?' He thought to himself. "Hey ... Takagi."

"So." She began as she walked up to him. "Did you manage to get your hands on some of those concert tickets."

"Huh?" Nishikata asked trying to hide his panic. "W-what do you mean?"

"You're easy to read on any day, but this was especially obvious, what with how fast you ran from the classroom. Also I found you here of all places." She said as she leaned closer to him. "So? They were sold out, weren't they?"

Nishitaka was nervous as he tried to avoid eye contact. 'Damn, I can't tell her about the contest ... and she might be able to tell if I'm lying ... wait, I'm not lying.' "Yeah, no, I wasn't able to get one today, apparently they sold out quite some time ago."

"Is that so?" She said as she tilted her head. "Well, in any case, you want to walk home together?"

"Huh?" Nishikata shoved his hands into his pockets and looked away. "Yeah, sure."

Nearby, Hamaguchi was watching as they departed together before leaving in the other direction. "Asking Houjou out before this Friday shouldn't be that difficult, the real challenge is going to be asking her out before Nishikata can work up the courage to hold Takagi's hand. Though if I'm worrying about that then I might as well be worried about Takao, he literally has it the easiest but he's the biggest coward. Now I don't want to sabotage my friends, but ... I need to think of something to give me some more time."

He sighed and crossed his arms. "Man, this is going to be harder than I thought."

Back with the others, Nishikata and Takagi were making their way home in relative silence. 'Today's Monday so that leaves me with the rest of today, tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday until school ends, or rather when Takagi and I part ways on our walk home. Now when I get home I'm going to need to finish my homework first, no point in any of this if I'm grounded. That shouldn't take too long though, so what should I tackle after that?' He looked down at Takagi's hand which was right next to his. 'It's so close.' His heart rate shot up as he adjusted his collar. 'Why is this so hard? It's just Takagi ... no, Takagi's not 'just' anything. I need to get to the bottom of what's happening to me, the ever present question though, is how?'

"Nishikata?" Takagi asked interrupting his thought process. "You've been awfully quiet, normally by now, you would have thought up some challenge or game."

"Oh, right, well ... for some reason I can't seem to think of anything." He scratched the back of his head and smiled. "It's actually bothering me a lot."

"Uh-huh." She said not sounding too convinced. "Why don't you tell me what's really going on?"

"I ... uh." Nishikata froze as he tried to hide the panic on his face. "Well ... I ..." 'Damn it, what do I tell her?' He continued to think in silence as Takagi gave him a disappointed look.

"Nishikata, what are you hiding?"

"I ... I ... I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" He blurted out before quickly walking ahead.

Takagi stood there for a moment before catching up to him. "Is everything all right?"

"Kinda." Nishikata said as he looked away.

"It's not something serious, is it?"

"Not necessarily."

"You know you can tell me anything."

Nishikata looked at Takagi's face and saw how concerned she looked. 'Yeah right, even if it was something I could talk about, you'd probably just make fun of me.'

"You know I wouldn't make fun of you for something that's causing you trouble."

Nishikata slowly turned back to look at Takagi as he began to blush; the concern of her face looked genuine, and he knew that she wouldn't lie to him. "I ..." He quickly turned away from her but as he did, he noticed the vending machine that they always stopped at up ahead, and got an idea. "Hey, how about a contest?" He said as he stopped walking.

"A contest?" She asked.

"Yeah, well, more of a bet, see that vending machine up there?" He asked as he pointed ahead of them. "Before we see what's sold out and what's not, we each choose one drink and if it's there, the other has to buy it for them." 'This is perfect.' Nishikata thought to himself. 'I only had to pay for one ticket so I have plenty left over for juice.'

"Mmmm ... our usual stakes?"

"Huh? No! Just the juice."

"That's very simple, and luck dependent."

"I know."

"Plus, there's the chance that both of us win, or neither of us win, that doesn't seem like something you'd come up with."

"Well ... like I said, I'm having trouble coming up with a good idea today."

She stood in front of him and examined his face as he tried to look away. "Well your not lying ... but you're still keeping something from me." She closed her eyes and shrugged before turning around. "But, at least I know that something is up, and I'm sure you'll tell me when your ready."

"When I'm ... ready?" He replied nervously.

"By the way, I'm choosing grape."

Nishikata let out a sigh as Takagi reached the vending machine. 'Great, because this wasn't complicated enough. Forget about winning, I'll be lucky if I don't die from a heart attack.' "I'll just chose apple."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, is there something wrong?"

"Well ..." She pointed to the vending machine and as soon as Nishikata reached it, he found that it had everything in stock, except apple.

"How!?"