Disclaimer: I do not own Pretear and everything that belongs to it…erm, characters, properties and all.
"AHHHHHHH!"
There was a scream piercing through the calm atmosphere of morning, and following it…were more shrieks of utter terror. In fact, the shouts had been so alarming that practically the whole Awayuki residence was rocked awake by the calls of distress, resulting in footsteps thundering up the staircases towards the source of all the irritation.
Koaru was the first to reach the room, closely followed by his wife Natsue who was barely awake though she struggled to catch up with her husband as he flung the door of the bedroom open.
"What is it? Is it a monster? Burglar? Thief? MURDERER!"
Kaoru felt his wife slam her slippers on his head but was nonetheless stil determined to find out what on earth had made his precious darling screech in broad daylight.
"DAD HELPPPPP!"
"Ma-Mayune? What are you doing…ARGHHHHH! NOOOOOO!" Kaoru shrieked and leapt instantly onto the bed which he now shared with the two jumping Mayune and Himeno.
"What? What? What's going on? Can someone please…KAOORRUUUUUU!"
Himeno Awayuki barely managed to stop yelling as she turned and saw to her surprise that instead of the 3 people struggling for space on her very own single bed, her stepmother Natsue Awayuki had eventually joined the ranks of the terrified civilians and was now deperately clinging on to her husband who looked every bit just as afraid.
"Now WHO is going to save us for goodness' sake?" Mayune retorted irritatedly, throwing her parents a death glare but shrieked the next moment when her father accidentally grabbed at her arm in an attempt to prevent himself from falling off the sides of the bed. "MOTHER, DO SOMETHING!"
Natsue cast a horrified glance at the floor, muttering as she flung pillows onto it. "I'm trying, but you have to help too!"
"Shall we just calm down and stop screaming so we won't wake the whole neighbou-AHHHH, IT'S COMING TOWARDS THE BED! DAD! DO SOMETHING!"
The sudden knock on the door brought the four yelping people back to their senses, and they turned to look. Still clad in her pyjamas, Mawata Awayuki raised a questioning brow upon seeing the rest of her family jumping around in sheer stupidity. "Why…where's the thief?"
"Mawata! What a relief, now see if you can get one of our gardeners or helpers whatever to come up here and catch this little, erm…"
"Mouse?" Mawata broke into her mother's words, slight amusement showing through the little grin across her face. Gingerly she crossed the room over bedsheets and pillows, reaching out only when she was nearing the standing lamp by the bed to kindly invite the squealing hamster onto her fingertips. Slowly, the animal ran into Mawata's open palm and she gently carressed it, still staring at her family with barely concealed amazement.
"It's a hamster, Mother. Oh, I just got it last night…was planning to show it to you during breakfast but I think it ran off in the middle of the night." Mawata began. "Looks like it likes Himeno a lot!" She chuckled when Himeno shot her a glare but was soon replaced by relief. Relief because the hamster was caught, relief because Mawata had finally accepted her as a sister and was surely opening up to her.
"Oh well, I guess I could TRY to open up to this, er…hamster…" Himeno stated with a smile, now that the scurrying animal had been proven to be a harmless pet rather than a stray rat which had entered her room in the night. Mawata caught the smile and returned it.
Kaoru was now assisting his wife and step daughter off the bed, still casting wary glances at the hamster now resting peacefully in Mawata's open palm. "Erm, now that that's done with…erm, you know maybe we should all head down for breakfast then we can go pick up…who was it again, I'm sorry dear…"
"Miharu, darling. You really have to remember, she is the daughter of a really really close friend of mine, my classmate for as long as I can remember."
Miharu? That name did not ring a bell in Himeno's head, but from the excited looks on her sisters' she could tell that this girl was definitely special. "So, who really is she?" Himeno asked Natsue. The lady motioned for her daughters to quieten down while she explained. "Well, she is just a daughter of, as I had said, my best friend and she is in fact, I think the same age as you! She's coming to stay for a few months, her parents are thinking of getting an apartment here so they can move here as well."
Himeno nodded. Natsue turned to talk to her husband, making plans about picking Miharu up in the afternoon. That would be fun, making friends with another girl of the same age and possibly staying for good, she thought, even though she understood that due to prior commitments she probably would not be able to fetch her from the airport. Still…Himeno smiled and her mind was already running in high speed, thinking of how could she make the girl feel more at home for the next few months!
"Himeno…ooi, Himeno?"
"Huh? Dad…"
"It's eight already, I thought you were planning to meet someone at thirty?"
It's eight already! Himeno rubbed her eyes slightly to focus on the clock on her bedside table. The ticking sound continued relentlessly while the hour hand gingerly landed on the number 8 itself…
"AHHHH! I'M GOING TO BE LATEEEE!"
The bakery still remained closed and silent, despite the crowd of working adults moving up and down the windy streets.
"And so, it was just a hamster which you mistook for a rat…interesting." Mannen commented, covering his mouth with his hand while he tried to hold back his chortles. Irritated, Himeno smacked him on his head with her handbag.
"OWWW! That hurts!"
"Well, there's more to come if you don't shut up about that little incident in the morning!" Himeno replied, faking a nasty tone which resulted in Hajime and Shin breaking out in fits of laughter. "Stop laughing!"
Unable to stop the boys, Himeno turned to stare at the door of the bakery, thinking. In a few minutes time the four of them would have got the cake, all nicely wrapped up and filled with rich chocolate fudge and sliced strawberries, walked down the street to the cafeteria which she had booked just for this occasion and surprise!
"Goh is going to be real touched by this, and he will be SO THANKFUL to ME that he will spend the rest of his life…er…worshipping me, yah!" Mannen thought out loud and was once again smacked by Himeno in an attempt to deflate his ego. "Okay, maybe not just me alone, but hey Himeno you really should not be so violent you know…Hayate likes his girls to be nice and gentle…"
"ME? VIOLENT! WHAT…but do you even know what kind of girls Hayate likes?" Out of curiousity Himeno still could not resist the temptation to ask. Seemingly shocked by the attention he was getting, Mannen cleared his throat in order to sound professional yet when he spoke all that came out were his opinions on what girls were best. Watching from the sidelines, Hajime could not resist rolling his eyes while Shin struggled to comprehend the various adjectives such as "gorgeous", "intellectual" etc.
"So, yeah, that's about it." Mannen concluded dramatically, jumping up onto the firehose he had been leaning on and down once again onto the ground. Himeno cast a thoughtful glance in his direction, still uncertain of whether or not to trust his words. Still…she wanted to know what he was thinking of…even though they had been seemingly together for approximately half a year, sometimes she still found it difficult to understand him. Despite having changed for the better in terms of his attitude towards her, sometimes Himeno still found it difficult to really open up to Hayate because she knew that some part of him was still holding back…not opening up to her, so…
So lost in her thoughts Himeno was that she did not realise that subconsciously she had walked a few steps in front of her, and right in the path of a swerving bicycle charging down the streets towards her.
"Himeno! Look out!"
Huh…