Autumn arrives fast and cold, like winter, and Yori has to buy a new jacket to stop her from shivering. She wears it when she walks to class, and groups of other girls pass her, and they are wearing their new jackets, too. Though she is already late, Yori walks slowly and lets them pass — they run by in groups of twos and threes, and she remembers when she would run alongside another girl and they would laugh until the teacher barked at them.
Back then, both Yori and the other girl would flinch and apologize, then scurry into class, but now the other girl isn't here and the teachers have given up on the one who is. They know their scolding will only pass through Yori like the autumn wind, and if she doesn't care, they won't either.
So she holds her jacket closer and takes her time as she walks, until the other students are gone from the courtyard and the classroom doors around her are slamming closed. She comes to a tree and pauses, recognizing another person who's stopped caring about their classes. Zero is sitting there, his back against the tree trunk and his head lolled to one side, sleeping; or at least, Yori thinks he must be sleeping, because he's almost completely buried in leaves, and she doesn't think someone as melodramatic as him wants to die that way.
She's given up on attending class today by now, so Yori strides over and begins idly swatting the leaves away. As she uncovers more of Zero, he shivers and unconsciously mumbles a two-syllable name that gives Yori pause. She looks over at him, asleep and cold and miserable, and her memories fill in for her what her eyes are missing. Every time the teachers would scold the two late girls, Yori would quietly move to her seat, but the rosy-cheeked girl would grimace and apologize, then whisper, "I have to get Zero — I'll be right back!" She would run out of the classroom and Yori would wait, and when she came back, she was dragging a tall teen behind her.
Smoothly, Yori brushes the rest of the leaves off of Zero and replaces them with her jacket. She gently tucks it around him, hoping that it will be enough to keep him warm, then smiles, sadly and kindly. "You're not as alone as you think, Zero," she says, and she kneels down beside him. "She wouldn't want you to catch a cold, right? Well, I don't want you to, either."
Her clear voice rings out in the mid-morning silence, but Zero slumbers on, and Yori can only giggle as another leaf floats down to settle on top of his face. She picks it up playfully and wiggles it under his nose, wondering if he's ticklish and if so, how mad he would be if she wakes him. He sniffs. She sighs.
The classroom doors swing open almost simultaneously, and students pour out through them like ants exiting an ant hole. The open space becomes cluttered with chatter, and Yori lets go of the leaf, watching as it sinks to the ground, before she stands. "You know, Zero," she says, turning away, "I think I'm going to go to my next class after all. But don't worry, I won't tell the teacher you're here."
He mumbles something in his sleep again, and Yori can only smile wryly. He looked silly, lying there like that, but so did she, talking to someone who isn't listening. But she thinks of that rosy-cheeked girl, always running and tripping and laughing, and suddenly she's proud of how silly she is. "See you later, sleepyhead," she calls, and for the first time in such a long time, she breaks into a run towards a distant classroom.
Girls are still passing her, as they run by in groups of twos and threes, and she's running by herself, and she's shivering and still going to be late, she knows, and the teacher is standing in the doorway expectantly. The girls ahead of her run inside quickly, but she stays and meets the teacher's eyes in a moment of silence. He begins to open his mouth to say something, but he's cut off by something — a laugh. Yori is panting and her frame is shaking, but most importantly, she's laughing in a way no one's seen her laugh in months. The teacher can only stare, and inside the classroom, the students smirk and begin their whisperings, but she simply clutches her stomach and stifles her giggles enough for her to say, "I'm sorry I was late."
When she returns to her dorm in the afternoon, she finds her jacket hanging from the handle, and the next morning, she walks to her first class, dragging a tall teen behind her.
I started out intending to write something about Yuuki and Yori, since their reunion in the latest chapter was very sweet, but somehow I came up with this. While I don't support Yori and Zero as a pairing, I do enjoy their semi-friendship, and I'm going to try to write that Yuuki+Yori ficlet sometime later.