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Shion exhaled tiredly. He was sitting under a shady tree, not daring to leave the cool area while the Sun persisted its burning assault upon the exposed ground.
"Shion!" Eiji called from afar.
Shion looked up and saw Eiji jogging towards him with a two oddly shaped bottles in his arm. Eiji knelt under the shade beside Shion.
"I got us some ramune!" Eiji said, giving a bottle to Shion.
Shion stared at the bottle's round neck. "What a curious design." He tore off the wrapping, spotting the bottle's cap. He noticed the marble stuck in the mouth of the bottle. He tapped it. "Why is this here?"
Eiji smiled and demonstrated to his teammate how to open the bottle. "First, you put this plastic nail on the marble, then you push!" He slammed down the marble and the bottle opened with a pop. He took a sip. "Ah, this feels great! C'mon, Shion. Try it!"
Shion nodded and pushed the nail onto the marble, popping the bottle open. He grinned like a child who just opened his Christmas present. "This is interesting." He looked at the marble caught in the bottle's neck. Without thinking about it, he put his finger into the bottle. "How do I take out the marble?" He tried to reach deeper, but when he failed, he decided to pull out, except that he couldn't.
Eiji realised that Shion hadn't drank his ramune yet. "Shion, what's wrong?"
Shion, his eyes wide, slowly turned to face Eiji. "My finger is stuck!"
Eiji gasped. "What?! Were you trying to get the marble out?"
Shion nodded, embarrassed. "What should I do? No matter how hard I pull, it won't come out."
Eiji pressed his lips together into a tight line. "We could've done something about this if the bottle was already empty. I don't know what to do. Maybe we should tell Nii-san. He might know."
"Tell Eiichi..." Shion tried to imagine himself walking into the dorms with his finger trapped inside a ramune bottle, looking for Eiichi, only to see the rest of HEAVENS laughing and teasing him for making such a silly mistake, and then Raging appearing to punish him for acting unprofessionally. The very though of that made Shion shudder with trepidation. He told Eiji, "He cannot know. No one else can know. Please, don't tell anyone about this!"
With Shion's desperate eyes boring into his, Eiji was forced to comply. "Okay, I won't. But what are you going to do?"
Shion looked at his bottle. "The stars will lead me to a solution." He looked up at the blue sky, which was clearly devoid of stars.
"Shion, it's afternoon," Eiji deadpanned.
Turning red, Shion exclaimed, "The Sun is a star too!" before running away.
He ran and ran until he was at the dorms, but he didn't enter. He forced himself to stare at the Sun for answers. That's when he got an idea.
"I'll hold the bottle out under the Sun, and the heat will expand the bottle's mouth! Thank you for your wisdom, Lord Apollo," he said gratefully. Then, he sat down in a shady area and stuck the bottle out into the sunlight. He waited patiently.
"Shion?"
The white-haired teenager jolted at the mention of his name. He turned around and saw Nagi standing nearby, seeming confused.
The young boy asked, "What are you doing?" Looking at the ramune bottle, the gears in his head clicked. "Don't tell me..." he said in a tone that expressed disbelief.
Shion panicked. "N-No! I'm not stuck or anything! This is, uh..." He glared at the accursed bottle for an excuse, and noticed that he had been pointing his thumb up. "It's a toy gun. Bang." He pointed the bottle at Nagi.
Nagi stared at the bottle. It made Shion feel uneasy. Finally, the former spoke, "Oh, okay. Well, why don't you play indoors? It's burning out here."
Shion pondered the suggestion. He tried to pull off the bottle as discreetly as possible, but it was still stuck. Lord Apollo's idea had failed. "Alright," he relented, "I'll go inside."
He followed Nagi into the dormitory and entered the lounging area, where Eiichi was sitting on a sofa, massaging his stiff shoulder.
"Oh!" the bespectacled man said when he spotted his two comrades. "Nagi, Shion. How's it going?"
"The world is on fire," Nagi replied dramatically and sarcastically. Shion hid the bottle behind his back.
Eiichi noticed, of course, and asked, "What do you have there, Shion?"
Shion flinched. He fumbled, "Well, uh--" He slowly held up the ramune bottle while searching for an appropriate answer. His eyes fell upon Eiichi stiff shoulder. "A massaging stick," the albino stated, holding up the bottle. He moved forward and tapped the bottle's neck onto Eiichi's shoulder. "Does it feel better, Eiichi?"
"Hmm. Surprisingly, yes," Eiichi answered. "I didn't know a ramune bottle can be used this way, Shion. Thanks."
Shion blushed at the compliment. "It's my pleasure. If you're okay now, I'll be going." He quickly left the room and climbed the stairs up to the first floor.
After rounding a corner, Shion leaned against a wall, trying to catch his breath. He checked his finger again. It was still stuck. Frustrated, he hit the bottle against a door frame. It made a sound similar to a xylophone key.
"What are you doing, Shion?"
"I-I--" Shion stammered before he realised he was talking to Kira. "I, uh--" Thinking that the black-haired man must've seen him swing the bottle at the door frame, his only response was, "I was using this bottle as a musical instrument." Shion demonstrated the 'instrument' by hitting it against the door frame again. "See? It makes a heavenly sound."
"So it does," Kira remarked, watching Shion without an expression.
The albino tried to look as natural as possible and hastily excused himself. He briskly walked past Kira, turning another corner before sprinting off. He wasn't looking ahead, too flustered by what happened earlier, and crashed into someone.
"Hey, watch it!" It was Yamato.
"I-I'm sorry," Shion sputtered. He tried to shield the bottle with his other hand, but it was too late. Yamato had grabbed it for closer inspection.
The blond focused at the bottle and the finger trapped in it, his expression switching from bewilderment to incredulity. At this point, Shion knew nothing he said could change the man's mind.
"You got your finger stuck trying to get the marble out, didn't you, Shion?" Yamato said, gazing at the albino in a forlorn way, as if he wasn't surprised that Shion had gotten himself into such a ridiculous predicament.
Shion bowed his head in shame and muttered quietly, "Yes." He peered at Yamato, his lip trembling and his eyes tearing up. "Am I a fool?"
"Well..." Yamato seemed as though he wanted to say 'yes' but changed his words when he saw Shion's upset appearance, "Look, we all make mistakes.
Shion was relieved that Yamato didn't mock him for his idiocy. He pointed at the bottle. "I've been trying to remove it all day, but nothing has worked."
"Hmm..." Yamato said as he stared at the bottle, trying to think of a solution. At last, he sighed. "C'mon, Shion. Stand up."
The teen complied and got to his feet. Yamato took the bottle and made Shion stretch his arm out. Then, with one hand on the ramune bottle and the other gripping tightly onto the latter's arm, Yamato explained, "Okay. I am going to pull the bottle off."
Shion blinked in surprise. "Wha--? But I've already tried that!"
"Maybe there wasn't enough power, but this is the only solution I can think of," Yamato admitted.
Shion whimpered. "Please, don't tear off my finger."
Yamato chuckled. "Don't worry. After years of training, I've learnt to adjust my strength. Now, just stay still, and three...two...one!" Shion shut his eyes in fear as he heard a loud POP! followed by the liberation of his finger. Suddenly, a gush of cold liquid sprayed onto his face.
Shion screamed, horrified. "Oh, stars! I'm bleeding profusely!" He reached for his finger. "Is my finger still there?! I can't see! I don't dare to open my eyes!"
"What on earth is happening here?" That was Van's voice. "ACK! Yamato, point that bottle somewhere else!"
Shion felt something soft on his face, like a cloth. Van spoke again, "Here. Let me wipe that off..."
When he felt that his face was sufficiently dry, Shion warily opened his eyes. He saw Van holding a wet towel while watching him with exhausted confusion, he spotted Yamato holding a half-empty ramune bottle, and to his relief, he noticed that his finger was still attached to his hand.
"What were you two doing?" Van asked, and Yamato told him everything. "Wow, really? Oh, Shion! You're so silly!"
Shion shrank, trying to hide himself.
Van reassured him, "Oh, don't worry. It happened to me before, and through that, I found a way to get the marble out."
Shion's eyes sparkled. "You did?"
Van nodded. He took the bottle out of Yamato's hand and drank the remaining soda. Next, he twisted the plastic top of the bottle. It came off like a cap, and Van just had to tip it over to drop the marble out. He gave it to Shion. "Here you go."
Shion gaped at the little glass ball. "That's it? I suffered through so much humiliation when the solution was that simple?"
Yamato shrugged. "Some ramune bottles can't be opened like that."
Shion sighed heavily, pocketing the marble. "After this, I don't want anything to do with ramune ever again!" He stomped back to the stairs, and met Eiji at the bottom.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Eiji said, smiling. "You got your finger out, and--" He paused to sniff Shion. "Did you spill ramune on yourself?"
Shion frowned. "I don't want to hear about ramune. I've cut it out of my life!"
"Eh?" Eiji said, sounding both puzzled and concerned. "But, Shion..." He pointed his thumb at the lounging area.
Eiichi was using a ramune bottle to massage his stiff shoulder, stating, "The shape of the bottle is really good for massaging." Nagi had turned the bottle into a makeshift toy gun, aiming randomly, and Kira was at the staircase, knocking a ramune bottle against the rail to produce an echoing sound.
"It's the beginning of the ramune boom," Eiji commented.
Seeing his friends actually taking his words to heart, Shion blushed bright red. He covered his face and cried, "It would've been better if you made fun of me directly!" He then ran into the closet, locking himself in to hide his shame.