RED X BLUE (Oc x Shuu x OC)

Chapter 9

Sachiko P.O.V.

After the conversation with Yumi, I'm more than a little nervous. I hardly sleep that for the rest of that day (night?), and not just due to how badly the nocturnal schedule is messing me up. No matter what I do, I can't get my mind to settle down. 

If I'm in competition with my sister, I'm bound to lose, aren't I? She's always been better at this kind of thing than me. I hardly feel like I have a chance. 

But... maybe Yumi isn't Shuu's type. 

She's loud, bright, and bold. Shuu is quiet, subtle, and cool. Unless the whole 'opposites attract' thing is true, when I think about it, she doesn't seem like the kind of person he'd like. That's a quick judgement, yeah, but still. Still. Anything to give me hope right now. I can at least pretend like his type is shy and nervous. 

Eventually, I get up. Sleep didn't happen. I wander down to the kitchen for breakfast anyway, though, and make myself toast with a glass of cold juice. 

I eat sleepily even though I'm dressed. I might be up and about, but that does not mean I'm fully awake. If there weren't so many thoughts in my head, I could probably pass out where I'm standing without thinking twice. 

After I've finished off the juice and put my dishes in the sink, I decide to look around a little more. I still don't really know what there is to do in this mansion, 

I've heard there's a library somewhere... but that requires finding it. I don't particularly want to ask any of the vampires to help me, either. They'd all be jerks about it, minus Shuu, and I'm way too nervous to ask him. So it's up to me to track down what might be the one source of entertainment here before I die of boredom and sleep deprivation. 

Walking through the mansion for a while gets me nowhere. Again, the place is a freaking maze. There are endless hallways and rooms, but nothing that's of any use. And it feels like I get turned around every time I blink. 

This is quickly getting exhausting. 

Oh well. I suppose it's better to be wandering around a weird maze-house than sitting in my room bored. And at least I'll get a library out of it at some point. I hope. 

That's how things stay— a lot of wandering around and not a lot of finding anything. I'm still way too sleepy and not paying quite enough attention to things around me... right up until I trip over something off to the side of the hallway. 

I go down hard. With a squeak, I'm on the floor. 

Or more accurately, as I soon realize, I'm sprawled out over Shuu. 

That part sinks in slowly. He's lying on the floor, back to the wall, legs stretched out in front of him (probably what I tripped on...), and now, I'm right on top of him, practically straddling his hips. My face is about chest-level on him, and my legs are spread so wide that the position is nothing close to modest. 

It takes reality a minute to catch up with me. For a long few seconds, I'm just frozen, blinking dumbly over the rims of my crooked glasses. 

And then... 

"I'm so sorry!"

It's the first thing that comes out of my mouth. My face heats up. "I'm really, really sorry! I'll get up right now, ah, I didn't mean to trip on you, I swear!" Still panicking, I try to scoot over and stand up before I look like any more of a fool. 

Shuu lets me. Getting up is an awkward and stumbling process, during which, his slitted-open eyes track my every move. I'm blushing so bad it hurts. 

"Did you do that on purpose?" he asks, a smirk creeping across his lips. 

"N-No, of course not! I wasn't paying attention, s-so I didn't see you lying there. That's all. I'd never try to do something like that!" I stutter in response. 

"Hm, I don't know about that. Maybe you just wanted me to see you with your ass in the air. That's what it seemed like from here." Shuu yawns lazily, glancing vaguely in my direction as he does. "You must be a different kind of girl than you look."

I'm really not sure what that's supposed to mean, but it doesn't sound good. Embarrassment is making my legs weak, and I know that I need to get out of this situation before I break down altogether. As much as I don't want to miss a chance at talking to Shuu, I've already ruined this one through my own inattention. Better call it a loss. 

"Again, I'm so sorry! I-I'll go now, okay? Okay."

With a nervous bow and another stuttered apology, I bolt. I have to get around two corners before I even pause to smooth out my clothes and fix my glasses properly. 

Ugh... 

Well, I just made myself look like a total idiot. If Shuu thought of me well before, he certainly doesn't now. Considering how he teased me, it must have been hilarious to watch me trip over myself in an attempt to apologize to him for my stupid mistake. 

With a groan, I plop my face into my hands. This is not how today was supposed to go. I just wanted to find a library and read for a while, not... that.

Tomorrow. I can try again tomorrow, and maybe that'll go better. I can hope so, at least. Yumi's probably getting way ahead of me in the whole 'competition' thing, though, and that's worrying. If I'm messing up this badly on day one, she's going to win for sure. I hate to think of someone's feelings as winning... but that's how we've set things up, and there's no going back now. 

I decide to go back to my room and mess around on my phone. Getting back there will take long enough, anyway, and by then, maybe I'll be able to get a nap and not think about how everything seems to keep going wrong. 

((**A/N** New chapter, yay! :D It's been a good while, but oh well. School sucks, y'all. I don't have much to say on this chapter, but please do check out my profile and other stories! I have some request-based ones where I have like ZERO requests to work on, soooo... yeah. I need those. Ask for stuff pls?))