-11-
I kissed a Bugster and I totally liked it.
As someone who doesn't have much experience in the romance department, all I can assume is that it was the most amazing kiss in the world. Well, fictional Kamen Rider Ex-Aid world. It was different than the other kisses I've had. And that isn't a lot. Just kind of half hearted kisses that mean nothing or playground kid romance type stuff.
"We have an emergency right now," Hiiro says, standing up from the table that has his piece of cake on it. "It is a huge situation that you should know about, Elkie. Taiga told me that he found a girl in the middle of his fight with Kuroto."
A girl appeared in the middle of Taiga's fight with Kuroto? Why would someone else show up in this place? Isn't this place part of my wish to be in here? So, why should someone else be all up in it right now?
"A girl broke it up? Nico?" I wonder if Nico broke it up or it really is some strange random girl that appeared out of nowhere.
"No, Nico didn't break it up," he answers, picking up his plate of cake. "The girl showed up the same way you did."
"A girl showed up just like I did?" I look away, shrugging my shoulders. "Maybe...no, I don't think that is even remotely possible." I have a feeling that I know who may be here with me in this world right now and she's not safe in Taiga's hands. "Can I go with you to see who it is?"
"Of course you're allowed to join me to see what is going on. Taiga has her at his hospital right now and he wants to discuss what to do about this situation. Don't worry, I doubt this girl that showed up is in any danger. Taiga's cruel, but he's not the kind of person who intentionally would harm someone he doesn't know." So, now he thinks Taiga is alright? "Not that I trust him." Guess not.
I look back at him and nod my head. "Alright. So, what if more people show up?"
"That is probably what the discussion will bring up. If more people show up, it'll cause serious trouble. Kuroto will have a lot of people to round up if they do."
"Well, I hope no more show up. Two is enough." And I don't want to end up in Kuroto's hands. That is a horrible way to go out. "Has the person talked to Taiga yet about where they're from?"
"Taiga hasn't been able to get her to talk. She's being held by him until further notice. I think he wants to know how she got here and why she is here," Hiiro tells me, eyes narrowing. "Maybe he is onto something." I would shudder if I didn't want to seem super innocent right now. I got to keep my lies going.
"Hey, what are you two talking about? We just got back from performing a surgery on a patient," Emu asks, bringing Poppy into the room with him. I don't have to look to know. "Is something bad going on?"
Hiiro turns away from me, looking over at the entrance to this room. "Intern, Taiga has requested our presence at his hospital to discuss an important matter. Another girl has arrived and she has similar circumstances to Elkie's arrival. You know, the whole entire battle interrupting kind of thing."
"So, the same case basically?" Emu moves next to Hiiro as Poppy goes behind them. "Elkie, are you expecting any friends here?"
"Huh? Friends?" I shake my head. "No, I don't think I am. My friends can't come here, I think. As far as I know, no one can come and fetch me at this moment."
"How do you people interrupt every single battle? It is like you have a timer there that lets you guys know one is going on and that you can appear." Hiiro is attempting humor right now, right? He's not being serious, right?
"We should go before Taiga does something horrible to that girl," Poppy says. "Should I be Asuna for this?"
"That's a good choice. It'll look professional," Hiiro tells her. "Elkie, let's go. I'll put this cake away so I can finish it later." Of course he is going to do that!
"Right." I should join them for this.
~.~
Taiga pushes a girl with brown hair and caramel highlights towards us, which is totally rude of him. Wait...I know that hair from anywhere! And that face! That's my best friend for forever, Jennie! Did she come here to save me or am I dreaming right now?
Jennie's eyes go to me, no longer focused on the ground that she was forced to move forward on. "Elkie?"
"Jennie!" I exclaim, moving towards her.
I stop in front of her and look her over. She looks fine to me. She doesn't have an injuries or anything. Taiga hasn't done anything to harm her and that's a good thing! I don't have to worry about getting someone to kick his butt now!
"You two know each other?" Nico asks, sounding surprised. "Huh? How in the world is that possible for you two to?"
I wrap my arms around Jennie, embracing her in a tight hug. "I missed you so much," I whisper, closing my eyes.
She wraps her arms around me in return, doing it tightly as well. "I missed you too!"
"Did the King there send you? I don't want to call him 'King Parad' at all," Taiga asks, sounding cold. "I doubt that world even exists."
I open my eyes and pull back a bit. "Pretend that Parad is your King," I mouth and she nods her head.
"I'm her close friend in that world," Jennie says, lying to cover my butt. "I almost forgot for a moment that he sent me when I saw that she was alright! Man, I'm so glad to see you, Elkie!"
I release her from my embrace and she drops her arms. "She's probably stuck here now too," I say, turning to Emu. "Does she have to stay here with Taiga?"
"We'll handle that. Uh...catch up with your friend," Emu answers, looking behind me. Taiga is totally behind us and he's probably death glaring us and doubting us inside his head.
I nod and turn back to Jennie. "So, how did you even get here?" I ask, keeping my voice low as the others begin talking amongst themselves.
"I don't know," she answers. "I went to sleep and woke up here in the middle of a battle. I was just thinking about how much I miss you. So, what did you lie about and why?"
"I lied about a lot of things, but don't worry about it. Just keep everything vague," I tell her. "Also, Parad is very hot here!"
"Oh, is he?"
I nod. "Yes! So, what is it like being stuck with Taiga?" I can't imagine that being stuck with Taiga is very fun. He's rude and just seems like the kind of guy who can sit in a room with another person and never talk to them at all.
"Crappy," she responds, laughing a little. "He's really, really crappy to deal with. How rude can someone be in this world?"
I laugh, nodding in agreement. "I know, right?"
"Hey, what are you both talking about over there? How about you stop talking and laughing amongst yourselves and join our conversation over here now?" Taiga orders, not even suggesting it. "I don't want us to keep things from you since you both aren't going to keep things from us. We're in no place to keep secrets when Kuroto is running about with Parad." Well, I am hiding a ton of things. I know that Emu has the Bugster virus.
"Sorry for being disturbing," Jennie tells him, apologizing. "Come, let's go over to them."
I grab onto her arm and we head over to the others, standing next to Emu. I don't want to be next to Taiga. He's scary!
I look at Taiga as he looks at Jennie. What's going on in his head? Is he thinking about how he should get his license back somehow? Or is he plotting to take over the world and make himself the King? If he ruled the world, everyone would be miserable.
"Let's get one thing straight, everyone," Taiga spits out. "The girl is staying with me whether you like it or not. You have one already, so I'll have the other." Is he seriously being this way right now? He doesn't to keep Jennie here and away from me!
"Hey!" I exclaim. "She's my friend!"
"Well, she's still going to be it, but she'll be in my care," Taiga replies, glaring at me. What a jerk! I wish I could punch him in his stupid, snobby face.
"You have someone already too! You have Nico!" I tell him, glaring back. "You don't need her to stay here with you two."
"Huh? Does that make him suddenly unable to keep her here? If she goes, how are we going to keep tabs on her?" Nico questions and I look at her. If I could punch her too, I would. She's mean to poor Emu.
Taiga scoffs. "Nico is here to assist me. Jennie is here to be watched and lure Kuroto to me. Besides, we need to keep tabs on Jennie at all times. I doubt your caretakers can keep tabs on you as it is. Two would be too much for them and their simple minds." Did he just call Emu and Hiiro simple minded? I would add Poppy into this, but no one expects her to know every single thing in the world.
"They do a good job keeping track of me!" I shout, defending them.
"Okay, if they do, how come you always vanish? Also, why does Parad vanish too?" Nico counters. So, she knows that something is up with me and Parad? Wow, she's brighter than I thought she was!
"Are you teaming with Parad?" Taiga asks.
"Hey, she's not teaming with that Bugster," Hiiro tells him, defending me.
"Yeah, she's not evil! What are you two trying to get at right now?" Emu asks. "Elkie wouldn't dare to team up with him and Kuroto." I am surprised that Hiiro and Emu can agree on something for once.
"Yeah, the Intern is right. She wouldn't team with them," Hiiro says. "She's hiding from Kuroto."
Nico looks away, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, I was just curious since she seems to really like that Bugster. Not the creepy, over-the-top wannabe Bugster, Kuroto Dan." Well, Kuroto did make himself into one pretty much.
"We have the right to figure out where her loyalties lie since she claims that he looks like her world's King." Taiga is kind of right on that. He should be checking our loyalties and not just randomly trusting us. But that isn't going to stop me from getting him to trust us blindly.
"This world's Parad is nothing to me and he's nothing to Jennie. He's not our King," I state, rolling my eyes. "The fact that you and Nico are questioning me about such a thing is crazy! I wouldn't do anything to harm anyone that is fighting to save lives." And kissing a Bugster doesn't bring harm onto anyone. It is completely innocent to do.
Emu places a hand on my back and I look at him. "Don't get overworked about this," he advises me, smiling softly. "He's just frustrating to deal with."
"Right, I shouldn't." I nod. "I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize."
I may be into Parad, but I don't condone what he is trying to do here. Liking a character because he's hot isn't the same as approving of that character's actions. Besides, Parad has no interest in me other than the fact I tell him stories that are interesting and fictional. He only cares about those and if he didn't, I would be so dead right now.
"Parad is a Bugster who will kill Elkie. You shouldn't concern yourself with him," Taiga tells me.
I look back at him, shaking my head. "It isn't your place to worry about if I die or not."
"Just shut up and leave my friend alone!" Jennie shouts, finally breaking her brief silence. I look at her and she moves over to Taiga. "You are a huge jerk and need to learn when to shut up. No one asked for your opinion, loser." She could have come up with something better than that.
Taiga looks at her, looking annoyed. "You should be thankful that I didn't leave you to die to Kuroto. I could have easily fed you to the sharks." And by sharks, he means Kuroto and Parad. Parad probably would have killed her since she's probably boring to him.
"Like heck you are!" Jennie laughs. "You're unbelievable!"
I sigh heavily. This isn't going very well at all. This was supposed to be a discussion, not a huge fight with words. Everything is a mess because of me and Jennie being here.
"Come with me," Taiga says, grabbing Jennie's arm. "Everything has been decided. Elkie belongs to the CR and you belong to me."
Jennie turns to me, looking at me in shock. "Can he seriously do this?"
Taiga yanks on her arm. "I believe I can seriously do this to you. Nico, let's go and show Jennie back to her room here."
I can't do anything to stop this and I feel so bad about it. Jennie's my best friend and I have to let her go with that crazy man who wants to get revenge on so many people. Just because Graphite is gone right now doesn't mean that he completed his revenge. Kuroto started all of this.
"Jennie, I'm so sorry I can't help you," I say, apologizing to my friend.
Jennie nods her head and looks at Taiga, glaring as he drags her away. She so hates his guts. If I'm right on that, she'll probably end up wanting to bang him. She tends to like guys who are kind of mean anyway. Of course, no one abusive.
"We're watching you!" Nico shouts, following Taiga as he pulls Jennie towards the other rooms of this hospital.
"We should get back to the CR now that we're done discussing this," Hiiro says, sounding like he could careless about what is going on.
I sigh. "Not like it was much of a discussion."
I swear, Taiga lives to ruin the lives of others along with Hiiro. If they didn't dislike each other so much, they could be best friends. They are a good match personality wise.
A/n: I am sorry that this chapter is a bit late. My internet was out for a good chunk Sunday and Monday, so I couldn't get this out when I wanted to. Next chapter will have some Elkie/Parad in non-episode related stuff if I'm correct (just staring at the notebook, not reading it yet). I can say that I finished part of a future chapter (karaoke fun will happen, but I won't say who it is between at all. Also, some drinking will be in it). I am liking where the story is going and it'll probably have a few non-episode related chapters so I can make this story a bit longer.
Would you all read this if it ends up being about 80 or so chapters? I'm not sure how long it'll be, but I would love to have a ton of chapters to explore all sides of the story here. I know this chapter isn't the best one (I like my future chapters since they are fun for me to write down).
So, I'll stop now before I go on and on. Thanks for reading the story and Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it (I do usually in my house, not at a party. Hopefully, I can go and party this year).
Thanks again! <3