As I stared into my morning cup of coffee I couldn't help but get the feeling that my daily routine was getting a bit out of hand. I liked how hectic it had become since Sempai moved in, but I also got the feeling that it was too much for us to handle. What with my school hours and how I helped out around the place I couldn't get much time to sit and be a girl.
I sighed into my coffee, pushing the steam outwards. I watched it as it disappeared and wished sometimes I could just disappear. I took a sip, it was the normal, kind of bland if you ask me but I drank it every morning to get me up and running. I felt a bit tired because I didn't get to sleep until midnight last night, Naru and Sempai's antics kept me up. I wished she would stop bludgeoning him all the time but then again Sempai did keep getting into sticky situations.
I finished my coffee and pushed the empty cup away, it reminded me of my empty dreams. I wiped a tear away as I stood up to get dressed for the day. I had barely gotten my clothes on when the door burst open and Su yelled "Shinobu!" and jumped on me, which caused me to topple to the ground sort of painfully.
I pushed her off of me and got up, rubbing my butt which now felt like, well like it had been squashed against the ground. I looked over and said, "Su, you really gotta stop jumping on me like that, my body is more fragile than yours."
"Oh come on little Shinobu! Hahaha! Su always wins!" and with that she began to hop around my room saying "I win!" with each hop. I smiled with joy at the look on her face. She was like a kid in a candy shop and I just couldn't hurt that kind of self-esteem. I left her too it, I had duties to perform around the Hinata House.
First stop, the kitchen. It seemed to me that these people couldn't eat anything that wasn't hand made by me. I didn't mind of course, cooking was my passion and I loved to cook for the people I care about. As I chopped and diced and sliced everything my mind wandered from my cooking and onto the people who would be eating it. Su loved anything edible, Motoko loved anything made by me, Naru was just as grateful as Motoko, and Kitsune.. boy don't get me started on her eating habits either.
I laughed to myself as I kept going, my mind stopping for a moment on the one that I truly cared about, Sempai. He will eat anything as long as it's edible but he's always so grateful when I bring him his food. He's the nicest one here, he thanks me properly, tells me it's wonderful, always asks for more, and never complains about what I cook. And when I watch him eat it's like everything around me dissolves and I'm left standing with just him. Boy would I love if that were to happen, just me and Sempai …..
A sharp voice brought me back to the real world, "Shinobu! Watch what you're doing or you're going to cut a finger off!" Naru sounded worried and I looked down and saw the knife was merely a centimeter from my finger. If it was possible I blushed even deeper and moved my hand away from the knife.
"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts!" I looked away, feeling quite ashamed of myself for getting that deep into my fantasy of Sempai. The others never quite did understand my love for the screw up but that didn't change my love one bit. He may be a clumsy pervert but I still felt fond of him.
Naru helped me finish breakfast and we brought it out to the table for everyone to eat. I was grateful for her help because it gave me more time to think about Sempai. I decided this was the day that I was going to confess my love to him! Nothing would hold me back!
I sat down across from him as usually and began to eat, all the while staring off at a spot just beside him so as to not be creepy, but still get to look at his handsome face while I ate. My mind betrayed me yet again as it began to wander to thoughts of being tossed away with nothing but Sempai by my side. I felt my face growing redder and imagined us lying in the sand, a gentle breeze flowing by, my hand almost to his… about to touch each other's skin as we calmly looked away and whistled like nothing was happening…
A nudge in the spine brought me back to reality and also brought me face down into my food. When I looked up my face felt so hot that I swear there was steam coming off of my head. Motoko looked at me and said, "Oh dear, Shinobu! I'm so sorry, I was walking by and noticed you were lost in space so I nudged you, I didn't think I would nudge you right into your food!"
She was one of my closest friends so I wasn't angry one bit, just ashamed that I let my mind wander yet again to the point that I was beet red. I stood up and said, "Motoko, don't worry about it, I'm going to go wash my face off."
When I got through the door I ran as fast as I could away. I was so ashamed that I lost control and right in front of Sempai too! What he must think of me! Then to have my breakfast all over my face as well, he probably thinks I'm just a kid who doesn't know any better than to sit and daydream before wearing my food as a mask!
As I washed off the food from my face I could no longer suppress the tears, and I began to cry. It was shameful crying, a pain I didn't want to have inside of me anymore. I was a screw up whenever I got in front of Sempai, he would never love me! I feel to the floor, unable to hold myself up and just cried my eyes out. No one came by, no one heard my crying, and I was all alone.
That is until the door opened up and I looked up to see Sempai standing there, looking worried. The happiness swelled inside of me when I looked into his eyes. I was in love, and deeply at that. He held out his hand and smiled, pulling me up and wiping away my tears. "What were you crying about Shinobu?" He asked me, with a gentle voice that noted the obvious concern.
I couldn't bring myself to tell him the real reason so I simply stated, "Because I was sad about the way I looked at the moment." It was a horrible lie, but a girl in love with her mind in a jumble doesn't have time to think of a proper lie to give to the guy she's in love with!
He led me back to my room and let me go inside without a word. I knew he didn't believe my lie but he was kind enough not to push. It made me love him even more and as I sat down I began to wonder why I didn't just tell him then. No, I thought to myself, if I had told him it wouldn't have been right, I need the perfect moment.
I got up to make some tea and started to boil the water when I let my mind wander again, this time to a negative side of things. I imagined I had confessed to him and stood there waiting for his reaction, but all I got was a gut wrenching silence. It was pain like I had never felt before, nagging at my conscious saying what have I done. Then he just walked away and I fell into a deep chasm of self-pity.
Then once again I got pulled back into reality, this time by the steam coming out of the pot. I took it off the stove and mixed up the tea, waiting for it to properly soak in. When it was done I went ahead and poured me a cup and sat down to stare out the window for a little while. It was a lovely Saturday morning, the sun was shining, birds were chirping and people were going about their day without a care in the world.
I sat there for maybe half an hour sipping on that one cup of tea, just thinking about my life. Everyday seemed to be the same, I want to tell him, then end up embarrassed but by the end of the day I somehow make myself closer and closer to Sempai. The very thought made me happy; I was swelling with cheerfulness again.
It was about mid-day so I figured I would pick myself up and go out shopping, maybe splurge a little and buy me something fancy. I got together my things and checked how much money I had, just enough for the groceries then I could buy something cheap for myself.
So I set out, down the front steps and on my way to the train that would take me up to the shopping district. I got to the train just fine and boarded it for half an hour then began to wind my way up to the correct shops. I had finished with the groceries when I walked past a shop with the cutest little stuffed dog in the window. I stopped to look at it, it reminded me of Sempai a bit, it had the same dazed look, the same cute eyes, and even kind of had a Sempai look to its shape, the skinny not so muscular look.
I knew instantly I'd give anything to have this little stuffed dog so I opened the shop door and walked on in. The first thing I noticed was that there was no price tag on it which only meant I had to find the shop keeper. I looked around and saw a pretty girl helping out what looked to be a five year old girl with a huge stuffed animal. I walked over and as soon as she was done I asked her about the stuffed dog.
"Oh, that one in the window, well that's just 500 yen dear." The shop keeper said with a quaint little smile.
I looked at what I had leftover and to my despair I only had 400 yen left over from my grocery shopping. I hung my shoulders and looked at my money and couldn't help but cry a little, I told her I didn't have the money and began to leave. She must have seen the despair on my face because she stopped me and said, "Well how much do you have?" I showed her the 400 yen and she said "I'll cover the other 100, just this once." And she grabbed the dog and rang it up with her pretty smile and bagged it for me. I was ever so grateful to the woman that I couldn't stop bowing and saying thank you while I left the shop.
I got on the train back home and found myself crying again while I stared at the stuffed dog, not out of sadness this time, but because I was grateful that I could have gotten something that truly made me happy. The train dropped me off in the usual location and I made my way home.
I walked the stairs for what seemed like the millionth time, which it probably was, and made my way to the kitchen again. It was time to start dinner, I had spent three hours out and about and so I started to make dinner when the dog fell out onto the counter. I put it up where it wouldn't get messy and looked at it and said, "Sempai, I love you." Then I thought to myself no, no. it wouldn't work.
As I began to make dinner, a little silver haired someone popped their head into the kitchen and yelled, "Shinobu is back and she's making me some grub!"
I laughed and looked over to Su as she came bounding in and watched me work. As usual her overactive aura made me happy and she just wouldn't stop going on about food. So I finished as fast as I could, took an hour to cook and ten minutes to serve so it was five o' clock when I finally sat down across from Sempai again.
He was as handsome as ever but I still felt like an idiot. I placed the stuffed dog next to my plate and started to eat. My sadness must have shown because Naru put her hand on my shoulder and asked me, "What's with the stuffed dog?"
So I told her about my shopping adventure and was astounded to see she smiled when I said that the dog was special to me. "Yeah, I always enjoy when people are nice enough to cover the deficit."
I mumbled "That's not why it's special." And looked down towards my plate and kept eating.
"What did you name it?" Su asked, giving me her normal wide eyed, I'll read your soul if you're not careful, kind of looks.
I couldn't meet her eyes and I simply said, "Keitaro." I looked over and he had gone red just as I had earlier and that made me feel like a princess. I knew then that I didn't need to confess my love just yet and that I could just enjoy the time I spent with Sempai and hope it continues to be just as wonderful.
So that evening after my bath I got back to my room and changed into my night clothes and sat down beside my table as usual and had one last cup of tea before bed. I blew the steam off the top just as I had done the coffee this morning and watched it disappear and wished that it could stay a little longer, because I loved being here and I loved the people around me.
I set the doggy Keitaro on the table as I sipped my tea away. When I was done I looked to him and said, "Get used to it, it's the daily grind I suppose. Oh and welcome to your new home, Keitaro." And with that I laid down and soundly fell asleep, with only the thought of tomorrow to keep me going.
