Holly Boarding House is open to students and those just trying to get off their feet! That being said, what are you doing here? This is my room… HoriKashi chapter story.
Roommates
Chapter One . Carnation Room
What appeared before Masayuki's eyes upon entering the bedroom made him drop his bags loudly. The one on the bed across from him jumped at the sound and almost fell from the soft mattress. The lollipop in her mouth hung loosely from her dropped jaw and the two just stared at each other for a moment.
"Kashima?" Masayuki breathed out. He didn't know if he was imagining things- he couldn't possibly be- but Kashima Yuu was there, in the flesh, sitting within his newly acquired room from the nearby boarding house where he would be living in for the next few months. She was there, staring at him with a stunned expression, just casually laying across one of the beds in the two-person room.
For some reason, that made him want to hit her.
"Se-senpai? What are you doing here?" she asked, finally snapping out of her stupor. She quickly got up from the blue sheets and dusted off her clothes to stand at full height.
"You're asking me? I rented a room here," Masayuki explained, "I plan to live here for a while before graduating. And," the boy shuffled his hands through his pockets before finding a folded slip of paper. He shoved it toward her, "this is my room."
The blue-haired female took the paper from his hands and nodded upon reading the his scribbled handwriting.
"Yup! This is the Carnation Room!"
After Masayuki took the note back, he gave her a questioning look. "And? What about you? Why are you just casually lying around this room? Here to visit?"
Yuu laughed loudly, and Masayuki's brows knitted together.
"Actually, my aunt owns this boarding house," she explained.
"So you're here to see her?"
The female laughed again, this time more nervously and explained, "Actually... I kinda got kicked out of the house..."
"What?"
"It's no big deal or anything! My mom just wants me to live closer to the school! You see... She got really really mad last time because I was continuously late and so she thought this would be a good solution, even only for like a month or two."
Masayuki just stared at her, dumbfounded.
"Hori-senpai? "
"Are you an idiot?"
Yuu crossed her arms and pouted, "No!"
Hori sighed, "That still doesn't explain why you're in this room."
"Ah! Right!" The green-eyed eyed female's face suddenly lit up and her hands returned to her side. She gave the upperclassman a formal bow and smoothly spoke, "Nice to meet you, I'm Kashima Yuu. I look forward to rooming with you!"
This time, Masayuki actually did hit her.
As she grumbled on ground over her throbbing head, Masayuki stepped past her and brought his bags to his bed.
"You have got to be kidding me... Rooming with you?"
"What? You don't want to?" Kashima pursed her lips in disappointment. "We're slept in the same room before!"
The brunette's face flushed.
"That wasn't on purpose! And that's a totally different situation than the one you're in now. I didn't come here to babysit you."
"Senpai, that's so mean," Yuu frowned. She watched from her position on the ground as he ignored her and started unpacking his bags. He didn't seem to have brought much.
Kashima couldn't help but wonder, was he okay? Was he really staying there to be closer to the school? Hori usually took the same train as her- they lived north of the city Roman High School was located in- and as far as she knew he was never late. For someone who was such a stickler for being on time, she couldn't see him being in the same predicament as her. Was he having trouble with his studies? Living closer would mean he could cut back time on transportation and use it for studying. But if that was the case, couldn't he just cut back on extracurriculars? He might be president of the drama club, but that doesn't necessarily mean he had to be present at every single meeting- especially if it was affecting his grade. Asides from that, what else did President do after school anyway? She didn't see him hanging out with others in his grade outside of the club often. On the rare occasion that she did, he'd end up abandoning them to scold her. Would that mean she was a friend stealer? Was he being relocated to the boarding house because he's been avoiding other responsibilities by lecturing her and one his old friends got extremely pissed and threatened to break into his house and- and- and-
"Oi, Kashima? Are you okay?"
In her worry, Yuu didn't notice he had finished setting up whatever he had and was towering over her squatted position.
"Don't think too much. You're eyebrows are going to form a caterpillar," he joked, ruffling her dark blue hair.
She was silent. Then, she laughed.
She was definitely over exaggerating things. If Yuu had been asked, though, she would've said she was excited and happy to have her beloved Hori-senpai as her roommate. But she wasn't asked and he probably didn't feel like hearing about it just then, so she laughed.
"Hori-senpai, if you don't want me staying with you, I can move to the Amaryllis room. All of the rooms here are currently being rented out but I can switch with one of the current tenants who isn't here often. Takashi only comes home for dinner and to sleep and always ends up waking up early."
The male, who was now seated on his comforter, froze. "Well… Who would you be rooming with then?"
"I'm not sure. He wasn't here when I arrived yesterday, they said he's on a class trip right now," Yuu explained, laying down on the wooden floor.
Masayuki thought about it, and Yuu had to lean up to look at him to make sure he was still paying attention to the conversation. As the brunette ran a hand through his hair, she plopped back down.
"Just stay here, Kashima. I wouldn't mind it too much. I'd feel more uncomfortable putting you in someone else's hands."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
The boy lightly kicked her foot and smirked, "You're troublesome."
Yuu stretched as she yawned, "Well, as long as Senpai's taking care of me, I think it'll be okay."
"That being said, if you're going to take a nap, get on your bed, stupid. It's dirty down there and I'll probably end up tripping over your long-ass legs."
She couldn't help but laugh again.
"Hey, new guys, we're having dinner now," called a deep voice from the open doorway. Standing on the other side of the empty frame was a relatively tall boy with bleached blonde hair. He had a broad forehead and a relatively cubic built. Masayuki was almost (almost…) frightened by his serious gaze and rough appearance.
"Oh! Okay, thanks, Dave," Yuu smiled. The male nodded and walked away as Masayuki gaped at her.
"Dave? Is he a foreigner?"
"Nah, his parents just really wanted to give him a western name or something. He's from the Lilac Room which is at the end of our hallway," Kashima explained. Hori helped her up and they made their way to the dining room. "He's pretty nice. My family has known his for a while."
When they entered the dining room, the first thing Masayuki noticed was the oak table placed in the center of the room. There were four plain white chairs on each side and one extravagant seat at the head. The next thing he noticed was the lady within that chair. Her hair was bleached an ash blonde and her cherry lips grinned at him. She stood up at their entrance, which caused the already seated boarders to face them.
"Welcome! Everyone, these are the new boarders," the lady explained, walking up and placing a hand on Yuu's shoulder. The blue-haired girl smiled. "This is my niece. She will be staying here for a while and her mom requested for her to help out and work as well, so sometimes you will see her in the kitchen."
"It's nice to meet all of you! My name is Kashima. I'm a second year student at Roman High School! I look forward to living with you."
Continuing, the landlady then gestured to Masayuki, "This is Hori. From what Yuu's told me, he's her senior at Roman and he's the president of the drama club. The two will be rooming together in the Carnation Room."
The male bowed and introduced himself as well, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Hori Masayuki."
The landlady nodded when he straightened himself up, two females came from the door at the back of the room, which he assumed was the kitchen. They started handing out plates and silverware as another boy came in with plates of food. Kashima quickly seated herself.
"It's nice to meet you, Hori. I'm Ayaka. Yuu's told me a lot about you. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to any of our meetings, but I'm still glad you decided to board here. Was Shiori able to help you with the papers and everything?" the landlady spoke. He smiled.
"It's fine, I'm extremely grateful that you're letting me stay here. Shiori gave me all of the contracts and I had them signed and we also discussed all of the payments and everything… But is there anything else I need to know?" Masayuki asked.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure what she told you and what she didn't, but I'll just explain what generally goes on. So, everyday asides from Saturday, the boarding house staff will prepare dinner for the tenants. Most of the people here aren't here for dinner, and if that's the case, we expect you to call. On weekdays, they also provide breakfast. Every other meal besides that, you will have to prepare yourself or you can go out and buy.
"We have five staff members, and they schedule their working days amongst themselves. Their rooms are behind that door," Ayaka gestured to the red door in the large room. Just as she did, one of the girls who had been passing out plates hurriedly walked to it. The blonde lady continued, "They are here not only to cook, but to wash the dishes, take out the trash, and clean up. However, they will not clean up the hallways and the rooms. Those are left up to you. We expect you to be mature about it and keep it tidy.
"Most of our tenants are high school students, so the staff members also help with tutoring. Incase anyone gets sick or hurt, they are also entrusted with first aid kits and will take care of you if needed.
"There isn't a bedtime setup, but if you're too noisy past ten, you will be punished. Punishments include being on trash duty and cleaning up the bathrooms. Sometimes, I will even throw in washing the dishes for a week to give our staff a break. If you're staying out past ten, we expect you to call then too.
"That's about as much as I can think of for now. Please remember that boarding fee is due once every two months! If you have any problems or questions, feel free to ask me," she finished up. Hori nodded.
"I'll be sure to do so. Thank you, Ms. Ayaka."
"Also, I hope you don't mind rooming with Yuu. She's very fond of you, so I know it won't be much of a problem for her, but if you aren't comfortable with it, I'll try to sort her into a different room."
The male nodded, reassuring her that it wasn't a problem at all, before the two went to seat themselves. As he took his place next to Yuu, she handed Masayuki a plate already filled with food.
"I saved you some of the good stuff! It's great, try it!" she exclaimed, mouth full of rice. "So, what did you two talk about?"
"Nothing, just some rules."
"Is she making you work too? She's having me go grocery shopping for everyone," she pouted.
Masayuki chuckled as he started his meal, "It's about time someone put you to work. Make sure you don't skimp on it like you do with club activites."
"I don't skip that often!"
"Right... When do you plan to go shopping? I'll help you out," the male offered. Instantly, her face lit up.
"You will? Cool! Let's go on Friday!"
"Alright. After club activities."
"Of course, Senpai! You know, like half of them already have stuff they want to be bought. There's a list in the living room. It's crazy! One girl wants three pints of soda and a box of chocolate. Isn't that weird? Maybe she's having a party. Speaking of parties, one of the princesses from school invited me to hers. She's very nice and thinking about joining the club! She's really good at acting..."
Hori smiled, and let the younger female excitedly chatter on and on as she jumped from topic to topic.
He was glad they'd be rooming together.
(A/N) Thank you for reading!
I'm so sorry for those super long paragraphs that literally have nothing to do with horikashi ahh;; I'm super pumped for this series though! I hope I'll be able to write it as well as it sounds in my mind… Maybe for once I'll finish something...
As for first chapters go, this might be the longest thing I've written yet… It took a long time.
I really wanted to finish this piece before announcing my HoriKashi fanfic contest! We don't have enough fanfiction and I'm super pumped about fandom contribution, so if you would like to enter, please go to my horikashi tumblr side blog: horisexual. The due date will be on Dec. 2nd and the topic is Kashima's birthday/Halloween! I hope you will be able to participate.
If you don't have a tumblr account yet want to participate, that's totally fine! My follow will instead be to your profile (or maybe we an extra fanfic? Prizes are negotiable). Additionally, if you could donate a prize, I'd be super grateful.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please look forward to it's continuation. Any criticism or feedback is appreciated!