Seven Days

Friday: Promise Day

"Okay, so far you've failed miserably at everything you've tried to do that the book told you to do." Itoko held up the camcorder and aimed it at Harima, who was lying face down on his bedroom floor. "What are you going to do now?"

"Give up." Harima announced in a muffled voice.

She lowered the camera. "Oh, come on, Kenji. You can't just give up now. This will make a nice documentary for me to show to my class. They need to know you can't just pick up a book and instantly have someone fall in love with you."

"Go. To. Hell."

She picked up the book, making sure to get it on camera briefly before reading it aloud. "Today is the false promise day, not a good word for marketing so just strip it to promise day. Today is the day when you get to vomit out all those filmy dialogues into the ears of your subject. It's a rapid fire round. The more dialogues in the given time, the more bonus you get. Time is precious; use it wisely. And remember, promises are free, you don't have to consult your finances." She looked at him. "Ooh, something that won't cost you! Well...on second thought, I'm sure it may cost you your pride, self-respect, dignity, sanity--"

"Thank you, Itoko." Harima sat up and began to shoo her out of his room. "Go away. I need to think."

"There we go!" She aimed the camera at him as she backed out of the room. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have our hopeless romantic back!"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Harima cornered Tenma on the way to class, wanting to get the words he'd memorized out before he lost his nerve. "Tenma! I have something I want to say to you."

"Yes?" Tenma answered innocently, afraid that he'd heard about her re-gifting his gift to her.

He made a pained face and puffed out his chest, determined to do it. "Tenma...Love is like swallowing hot chocolate before it has cooled off. It takes you by surprise at first, but keeps you warm for a long time.”

"What?" Tenma tilted her head to the side, perplexed.

Harima took her hands and held them up to his chest, leaning down to look her in the eyes...leaving her to stare at her reflection. “Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.”

"Harima, I don't--"

“Love is blind but after experiencing it for a long time you should become familiar with some particular spots.”

"Huh?"

“Love is like a piece of art work, even the smallest bit can be so beautiful.”

Blink. Blink.

“Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.”

Blink. Blink.

“You can’t put a price tag on love, but you can on all its accessories.”

"Are we going to buy something?"

Harima let his head hang in defeat. 'I don't know who's the stupidest: her for not understanding a word I'm saying or me for even attempting to do this knowing how thick she can be. Me. Definitely me.'

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Karasuma?"

"Yes, Miss Tsukamoto?" Karasuma paused before taking a bite out of the curry that sat in front of him and looked at her.

"Um..." She took a deep breath. "A mighty pain to love it is, and 'tis a pain that pain to miss; but of all the pains, the greatest pain is to love, but love in vain."

"Abraham Crowley." He replied.

Tenma's face scrunched up in confusion. "A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous."

"Ingrid Bergman."

"Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies?"

"John Donne."

"True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen."

"La Rochefoucauld."

"Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all."

"St. Augustine."

It became quite clear to Tenma that she misunderstood the book as some of the quotes didn't seem romantic at all not, not to mention and Karasuma seemed to enjoy identifying the quotes instead of even asking why she was reciting them. The school bell rang and Karasuma began to pack away their things.

"Thank you, Miss Tsukamoto, for lunch and for the little game we played."

Tenma sighed. Failure.