Price of admission

Price of admission Part 18

Hamaguchi and Takao had managed to avoid Nishikata for the majority of the day thus far, but lunch was quickly coming up, and they were quickly running out of places to hide.

'Damn, I need to find a way out of this.' Hamaguchi thought as he quickly made his way from the gym to the school yard. 'But how am I supposed to do that?'

He continued on his way, but before he reached the school yard, he saw Takao trying to sneak into it. "YOU!" He exclaimed as he ran up to him.

"YOU!" Takao exclaimed back.

"What's the big idea? Now Nishikata thinks that I'm responsible for that damn rumor you spread."

"I spread?" Takao replied. "I did no such thing, you're the one making my life difficult!"

"Huh?"

"THERE YOU TWO ARE!" Nishikata shouted as he began marching towards them.

They tried to run but it was already too late, as Nishikata managed to grab both their collars and push them against the wall. "Now tell me, which of you made that rumor?"

They each pointed to the other.

"I'm losing my patience, what happened Tuesday was rude, but this is crossing a line, so one of you better fess up!"

"It wasn't me!" Takao exclaimed. "All I did was follow you when you ditched Takagi for something I heard was important! When I saw you go to the roof and saw that letter, I thought I had a chance to get the upper hand!"

"It wasn't me either." Hamaguchi added. "And yes, I knew what would happen when I slipped that letter into your bag. But other than pointing the two of you out, I didn't do anything." He tried to struggle so he could breathe better. "And why does it even matter to you?"

"You know damn well-"

"Yeah, I do know, but apparently, you don't!" Nishikata was shocked as Hamaguchi continued. "You say all the time how you just want to tease her, but the second someone offends her, or your ... whatever you have with her, you get upset."

"I-"

"Seriously Nishikata! Who are you even angry with?!"

Nishikata was in shock as he held his two friends against the wall, as all the complicated feelings he pushed down came flooding back to him. "I ... I don't-"

"NISHIKATA!" Came a voice from behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see his other friend, Kemura, standing there with an angry look on his face. "Put them down, neither of them are responsible for the rumor."

"Their not?" Nishikata asked.

"No, I asked a few other students and found where it really came from."

"And where's that!"

Kemura pointed directly at Nishikata, causing him to just stand there stunned. "Apparently, yesterday some people heard you say ... no, shout, that you don't like Takagi."

Nishikata was devastated and dropped Hamaguchi and Takao as a result, who promptly ran off. "How ... how do they go from 'I don't like her' to 'I hate her'?"

"Larger rumors have been started with less, that's what makes them rumors." He placed a hand on Nishikata's shoulder. "And honestly, I think you might need to take a long look in the mirror."

"I ... what do you mean?"

"I mean I've noticed something off and I would like to help. Thing is, I need you to fill in some blanks for me. So tell me, what is going on between you and Takagi?"

"Oh, that." He looked down, still feeling despondent. "The thing is, I'm not really sure myself, apparently, everyone thinks I have a crush on her, but I don't have the slightest clue how I feel about her." He sighed. "If someone had asked me last week, I would have denied it, but for some reason, I feel all mixed up inside every time I think about her."

"Well, there's something I noticed, and I would like to ask a question."

"Okay ... what is it."

"When you think of Takagi, how would you describe the ... thing ... you have with her?"

"Oh, that? Well ..." He looked up and to his right as he searched for the words. "I mean we compete a lot ... though I always lose unless she needs me to win to tease me more, in which case, I still a loss. We sit next to each other, we sometimes help each other out, I kinda enjoy hanging out with her, even when she teases me ... things like that."

"Interesting ... it looks like I was right."

"Right about what?"

He opened his eyes slightly. "In the entire time I've known you, and even just now, you've never once ever referred to Takagi as a friend."

It took Nishikata a moment for Kimura's words to sink in, but when they did, he stepped back in shock. "HUH!? What are you saying?"

"You've never responded to an accusation of the two of you dating with, 'She's just a friend.' It's always just that the two of you aren't dating."

"So?"

"You make it seem like there's nothing there at all when everyone knows that, at the absolute least, there's something."

"I don't ... Takagi and I ... we're ... uh ..."

"If it's alright with you, may I see your contacts?" He asked as he held out his hand.

Nishikata was confused, but handed his phone over all the same. "Well, I can tell you right now that she's on there, but that's because I wanted to try to use my phone to tease her."

"Uh huh." He said as he looked through Nishikata's contacts. "That's an interesting picture you have attached to her contact."

"AH!" He exclaimed as he grabbed the phone back from him. "That ... that ... she said it was embarrassing so I kept it in case I needed to use it against her later."

"A picture of her giving you the peace sign? How is that embarrassing?"

"She just said it was. She also told me to not show anyone so if you could keep this between us."

"Yeah that's fine, but you're more lost than you realize."

"How so?"

He placed a hand on Nishikata's shoulder and smiled. "There's an old saying, it's difficult to find out where you want to go, if you don't know where you are first."

"Really? Who said that?"

"I forget, I think it was from a cartoon though."

"HUH!?"

"It's still good advice. And for you, I think it means that you need to find out what exactly is currently going on between you and Takagi, before you can properly find out how you feel about her."

"You think that will help?"

"Who knows, it might. But I'm hungry, so let's go eat." Kimura began walking as Nishikata was left to think about what he said. "Where I am? Hm." He placed his hand on his chin and began thinking. "Where is that exactly?"

A/N: I know, I know, I know, in the new season 2 dub, episode 2, valentines chapter, Takagi refers to Nishikata as a friend when she gives him chocolate. This chapter was written prior to me seeing that (yes, it was written that much in advance) and I honestly like the sub for that one better. Also, I didn't want to change it cause I thought it would be a nice plot point for part of a story.