<span style="font-style: italic">No.</span>that glance screamed.<br/><br/>REJECTED.<br/><br/>Naruhiko's jaw dropped, his eyes very well nearly filling with tears as he received the, though untold, very clear reply. Oh, the betrayal! What backstabbing! He gasped for air, gazing at Hinata with a look that could have only meant one thing:<span style="font-style: italic">How could you? I trusted you!</span>He put his trust in her, and she tossed it in the bin, flushed it down the toilet like over-salted soba from two days ago! This wasn't even real! He wasn't surrounded by women - he was surrounded by harpies; no matter how curvy like Hinata, or blessed with long legs like Kinuye they were, they were hellish creatures that clawed at his heart with deadly talons.<br/><br/>The look of horror only grew stronger. Three days? That was impossible! He couldn't stay in these clothes for three full days; he was wearing this for hardly three minutes, and he was already dying to get it off. And Iijima kept staring at him, eyes glimmering with joy that her help was accepted.<br/><span style="font-style: italic">One...?</span>No way he was doing this for three whole days. He's had his share of wearing a shirt through high school; he definitely wasn't repeating. This thing - pardon, tie - felt like a noose of a hangman, tightening around his neck.<br/>But he paled, reaching almost the color of the paper he drew onto, when she spoke up. He didn't want to accept this horrible truth, he didn't want to hear it and he didn't want to see it, but... There wasn't a choice...<br/><br/>Hanging his head down, and muttering something that sounded like an 'okay' on his way back, he disappeared in his changing room once more, at a nigh-supersonic speed taking the shirt off and slipping back into his casual clothes. Good lord, what heavenly comfort. For a moment, he sank down onto the chair in the corner, and stared at the lights on the light grey ceiling, shining brightly like little plastic suns. He didn't have an escape route right here, right now. Not really... With Kinuye and Hinata on his back, no. But he could at least disappear for a moment...<br/>Hinata wore high heels. It was difficult to run in high heels. A smirk curled up on his lips.<br/><br/>He bolted out of the changing room, ignoring the surprised - and upset - expressions of the girls, Kinuye's shout-out after him, begging him not to go, he saw just the way through the maze of the clothes aisles and out of the shop. Only shortly before the exit did he slow down, as not to appear suspicious, and though he received odd looks from the employees, he paid no heed to them, and right after setting his foot out of this inferno, he darted away at the highest speed his lanky body allowed him to reach.<br/>He escaped! Oh yeah! He escaped. He managed it!<br/><br/>The coins and a few banknotes clinked on the counter, and he happily gripped his hand around the binding of the magazine, new out of the print; only this week did it come out. Shonen Jump! The one bright ember of hope in these dark times of shopping formal clothes and being trapped between a backstabber and a creep. He smiled happily as he slipped his wallet back into his pants, and was ready to walk out of the book store, when a slight tug at his jacket stopped him.<br/>"Excuse me, but aren't you Izumi-Tsukatani-sama? Who draws Seika Mashita?" a young voice sounded from behind his back. He turned around, to look into the face of a boy of approximately twelve years, and gazed at him with surprise. Somewhere from the entrance, an ominous clicking of heels upon tiles, however, drew his attention away from his young fan.<br/><br/><span style="color: #BFBFFF">"Tachibana-san, I knew he was going to be here!"</span>Kinuye exclaimed happily, pointing out Naruhiko's purple ponytail in front of the counter. She knew she'd find him in a bookstore; after all, where else would he go, if not to buy food or manga? She led Hinata towards the mangaka, already petrified from the sight of them two, with a happy smile on her face.<br/>And Naruhiko thought he was going to get a heart attack at the very moment of looking at Kinuye's smile and Hinata's upset face. Sure, she kept the rage in well, but there was no doubt about the fact that she was<span style="font-style: italic">majorly pissed</span>. The magazine fell out of his hands, crashing against the ground, and Naruhiko just stood there, looking pale and terrified, while his eyes widened to an almost inhuman standard.<br/><span style="color: #BFFFFF">"H-hey Tachibana-san, Iijima-san..."</span>he muttered, managing to conjure a very forced and very nervous smile.<span style="color: #BFFFFF">"I just stopped by here... To buy Jump... So I have something to read... While shopping..."</span><br/><br/>He was a dead man. He was a dead man and he could only hope he would become a spirit to haunt those two for the next five years till they regretted this.