FLUFF: Is This a Prank?
By: NightCracker [also Artie, formerly Coffee and Milk]
I wouldn't say it's been so long since I've never really been an active publisher, but, it's really been so long! This is my very first Fan Fiction story of a NanoFate fluff. Consider it an introductory speech of my declaration that I'm a die-hard NanoFate fan. And because of, I should freely say, drought for NanoFate fluff, causing me a good (grunt) writer's block, I went on my own way to publishing something to heat up while drafting a Fan Novel.
This, and all other works of NanoFate to come soon, is dedicated to my brothers and sisters in the fictional world of NanoFate at nanofate(.us). Thank you very much for the hard work as always, especially for the most recent work of translation of a certain lengthy Novel.
Oh, a little note, port tacking literally meant moving a sail to the left (against wind direction) to maneuver the ship to the right. But for humor in this one shot, it simply meant shipping the right way.
FLUFF: Is This a Prank?
For the umpteenth time now, Takamachi Nanoha's attention shifted from their lecture to an obviously intentional cough from behind her. Rolling her eyes, she sighed and put her pen down before leaning back closer to her caller. Her left hand slid to the back of her neck in a way that the teacher in front won't be too suspicious.
"Sankyuu~" She heard the short-haired brunette whisper to her as she slipped a note between Nanoha's fingers.
She read the note scribbled outside the folded paper:
「 To: Fate-ch❤n… 」
Her heart immediately started screaming to tear this…
—piece of trash.
Nanoha curled her lips before reluctantly passing it over to her front with the same sneakiness. She drooped back to her desk, resting her cheek on her left palm as she trailed that certain paper with her nonchalant expression. It reached a certain seat in front, two columns to the right from where her chair was in line with.
She observed the blonde's shoulders move as she unfolded the paper, carefully making sure that the nearby seatmates aren't watching. Without noticing, Nanoha leaned over and squinted, as if that would help her in reading that small, far off note. It didn't, of course. But it could help her read what her expression has to tell of it. Though she couldn't see anything now as the blonde covered her face with the back of her hand, one thing spoke for her – the bright red tips of her lobe.
Before long, she saw her write something new on it and folded it again and passed it back, all the while wearing that dreadful blush. Nanoha stared at her with squinted eyes, curiosity eating at her nerves for what she and this brunette behind her could be passing notes about.
Well, sure, they're childhood friends, she thought in repugnance. Not like I care.
When the paper finally arrived on her very hand again, she had the urge to open it to feed the thoughts that were killing her.
A small peak. Just one small peak. Hayate won't realize it. She closed her eyes and prayed for guts. And guts befell her.
But before committing her crime, she glanced at the blonde to make sure she wasn't looking.
—oh, she was.
Creases formed on her forehead and her eyes were wide open as she noticed Nanoha's fingers dangerously placed on the folds of the paper. She couldn't stop her heartbeat from quickly reaching a very risky sound of pounding.
Dont. Read. It. She prayed as she stared at her.
Nanoha cursed herself and swallowed as she saw her look at her with fright… and a shade of red on the whole of her face.
Silently sighing in defeat, she passed the paper to the girl behind her and she noticed how relieved the blonde was when she finally let go of that note. Nanoha averted her gaze as she has yet to leave her be. Looking in front, she immediately sensed trouble. The teacher is now staring down at the blonde who was looking still and frozen at Nanoha.
"Harlaown." The teacher in front called for her attention and she abruptly turned, knocking her notes off her desk.
"Oh, yes!" She answered, swiftly picking up her note and standing up rigidly, this time jerking at the desk, making her pen roll off the edge of the table. "Uwah! Sorry! Me, sorry!"
"Clearly not paying attention." The teacher remarked coldly as she took the pen from the floor. The class chucked in low volume except for the brunette behind Nanoha.
"Ufufu." She said loudly in a teasing way, gaining a deep blush-tinged glare from the blonde before she turned to the front once again.
Nanoha could only look away with suppressed annoyance and breathe sharply through her nose to brush off the lurching in her stomach. With pressed lips, she cursed.
At lunch break, Nanoha found her way storming towards a couple amidst the busy cafeteria. They were sitting beside each other, trying each other's sandwiches out. The one was flaxen blonde, short-haired halfie. The other was a dark-haired beauty. She slammed her lunch set in front of them, surprising them both.
"What's gotten into you?" The blonde asked in shock.
"All the way to the end of the class." She murmured with deep rage.
"…Nanoha-chan…" The other one could only trail for the first words. She for not long noticed a certain childhood friends, walking shoulder-to-shoulder, coming their way, eyeing for the free spot on their table. "…I see." She said knowingly as the brunette waved at her and she reluctantly waved back.
"Oh…" the flaxen blonde also took note and tried to avoid staring at them.
"What?" Nanoha asked angrily, not knowing what's approaching her from behind.
"Yay! A free seat. Thanks, Suzuka-chan! You saved us!" Nanoha froze and she glared at the dark-haired in front of her. The brunette had clarified the answer for her as she approached with that joyful temperament which Nanoha couldn't find very charming. The two could only smile crookedly at her in silence. It seems like they've already decided never to get involved with their childhood friend's spirited journey to love (as Suzuka would proclaim it).
Hayate moved around the table to sit beside the flaxen blonde, Arisa. "Oh, heya, Nanoha-chan." She grinned at her and winked. Nanoha nodded at her as she reached for her drink and pretended to be too busy with it to form a genial response.
She didn't have to be an expert to figure that the brunette was playing the wretched-girlfriend-card around.
Any time now, she thought, that certain someone will sit next to Haya—
"It's pretty packed today too."
Finally, that certain someone's tray landed next to hers – and not next to Hayate… But next to her. Nanoha was still too surprised that she choked at her coke and coughed uncontrollably.
"Nanoha! Are you alright?" The blonde immediately sat down beside her, worried, and tried to calm her down by patting her back. Unfortunately, the feel of her palm running up and down against her back was not even in the least calming.
The three in front of them looked at her worriedly as she drank the fruit juice Suzuka offered.
"I'm fine…" Nanoha breathily responded as she waved the blonde beside her away. She retracted her hand and slowly settled on her chair, watching Nanoha catch her breath and cough a few more times.
When she finally recovered from inhaling the coke, the three all fell into silence. The blonde and her company has started indulging into a conversation about a subject only the two of them can relate to. Finally, Arisa sighed helplessly and nudged Suzuka's arm.
At first, she was puzzled at what that was for until Arisa spoke, "You choked on your food again. You're being too preoccupied with thoughts of her lately, Nanoha."
Nanoha shot her head up, blushing furiously. "Arisa-chan!?" The blonde beside her arched her brows in confusion. Hayate was sent agape too at that news.
Suzuka immediately caught her groove and she smiled as she sipped from her drink with utmost delight. "If you don't really like her, you don't need to worry about her too much. She's doing fine every day~"
"…Eh? What? What?" Hayate looked at them with half-confusion, half-interest. "Is Nanoha-chan eyeing someone from your class?"
"No, I don't!"
"More like the other way around." Suzuka interjected.
"Maybe both ways?" Arisa winked at the brunette then made a quick glance at Fate to mark her expression of disbelief.
"Stop!" Nanoha threateningly said.
"Come on, Nanoha. We all here have been classmates and friends ever since middle school. That's…"
"…like six years of having known each other." Arisa finished Suzuka's sentence. "It's alright to have more people assess her for you."
"S-so someone from your class?" Fate asked them dumbfounded before shooting a quick glance of diffidence at Hayate. Arisa then nudged Hayate's knee. Miraculously, she managed to get that hint flashed in Arisa's gaze to Nanoha.
"…Oh… Oh… Oh, well." The brunette shrugged at Fate then chuckled.
"Hayate?!" The blonde leaned over the table top to whisper in a low voice, making sure the others won't hear it. "Don't 'oh well' me! This is bad!"
"Then just go ahead and fess up!" Hayate whispered back in snit.
The blonde seemed to think about it for a moment. "I can't do that!"
"Get some backbone!"
Nanoha furrowed her brows at their muted conversation, for a moment puzzled and at the same time embarrassed about the thought that they could be talking about this made-up character from the other class.
"What are you doing?" She hissed at the two while the rest of the table was busy with their own mutters.
"Tacking port." Suzuka winked at her before standing up, much to Nanoha's confusion.
Ta-tacking port?
"We'll be late for PE if we don't go change now." Arisa followed her and said,
"I hate it… Why must PE be after lunch?"
"You're leaving me here?!"
"That's right." Suzuka smiled at her with oblivion and then turned to quickly glance at Fate once again. "We'll tell her that you've accepted her invitation by the rooftop after class." She added, making herself sounding so endearing.
"Let's go, Suzuka~" Arisa called under an evident chuckle.
Nanoha could only gape at their backs and cry out in the back of her mind.
What was thaaaat?!
"Nanoha?"
"Yes!" She abruptly turned to face the blonde.
"…you're busy after class?" She inquired hesitantly, glancing at the two as they disappeared and then turning back to Nanoha.
"No, no!" She dismissed desperately with her hand.
"But what about…"
"Fate-chan, your meal will get cold." Hayate caught her attention back, much to Nanoha's dismay. But at least she was relieved to be saved from the predicament of being asked about it.
"You eat now, too, Nanoha-chan."
She nodded at Hayate who now kept an open eye at her. She watched Nanoha nervously stare at her food as she ate. Every now and again, she'd steal glances to the blonde beside her. Every now and again, it's the other way around.
"Hah."
Fate looked at the brunette as she hollered. "What's the matter?"
She shook her head slowly. "What if you lose, my Fate-chan?"
The blonde's chewing slowed down. Nanoha tried not to listen to a conversation she couldn't even understand, let alone enjoy. But nevertheless, her ears were open with anything that would reach them.
"I've got time." Fate said with a sigh and then quickly looked at Nanoha.
Nanoha's already unaware at her own glances. But now that they're talking, she didn't want to find out what Fate looked like when she's enjoying the conversation with this Kansai-accented brunette.
Which meant more glances for Fate, then.
She glanced again. The copper-haired as she took a sip of her coke. This time, she stared, observing how the straw made contact with her lips. Swallowing hard as she licked blankly until she finally returned the cup on the table.
Hayate cleared her throat with a mischievous smile. The blonde immediately averted her sight to the far left corner of the cafeteria.
Hayate spoke in a sweet tone, "Your eyes are very beautiful. You're looking like you mean to melt someone with your gaze."
"Hayate!" She yelled at her in utter annoyance and gently kicked her foot under the table.
Nanoha heaved an uncomfortable sigh and she found herself glancing towards Hayate. She found that the brunette was waiting for her to look and she teasingly shot her brows up at her. There was a rush of accomplishment in Hayate's thoughts as Nanoha openly glared at her. She smiled joyously up to her ears when Nanoha returned to her chewing.
"You know, Fate-chan," She continued to chow down and looked at Fate when she finally left Nanoha alone, "if you ever lose,"
"I'm not losing." The blonde interjected flatly.
"It's a what-if situation. If you ever lose fairly and squarely, will you be able to accept it?"
"If it's fair and square, I won't lose." She replied with brimming confidence.
Hayate took a long gulp of her drink and continued, "But you're not even putting up a fight."
The blonde stopped chewing. Careful not to let herself be noticed, Nanoha felt some tension building up across the table.
"What?" Hayate scrutinized the blonde, "you think lifting a finger in the last moment will swoop off the jackpot from the pole top? By the sounds of it, a more suitable—"
Fate stood up suddenly, leaving Hayate's words hanging. Nanoha looked at her with surprise. Then she looked down to Hayate, bewildered and a little bit scared.
"You're being rude to Nanoha-chan." She said with a thin smile. The blonde looked at Nanoha and blinked nervously as guilt struck her.
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright," Nanoha replied, still shocked and confused at what just made her suddenly jumpy, "…what just happened?"
"You see," Hayate started. Fate tried to stop her. But as she looked at Nanoha's concerned expression, she backed down, giving Hayate a look that threatens her from saying anything about anyone in particular. "Our Fate-chan is actually trying to fish out someone in class."
Nanoha's eyes grew wider and her heart pounded at that shocking news. But as she processed this in a few more moments, she slowly drew back from the table.
"Wait… I thought you guys…"
"Oh, My! No!" Hayate jolted back to her chair with her open palms over her chest and laughed hard.
"That's some way of exaggerating." Fate commented. Hayate laughed some more then she sighed. "Do we really look like that to you?" Fate asked with a tone that somehow felt like a plea.
She gaped but she couldn't help herself from rejoicing at the back of her mind. "A— I – uh… N-no?"
Fate nodded her head affirmatively.
"So…no?"
Fate furrowed her brows and slowly shook her head, unsure of why she was asking again.
"If a pair, we'll be the best high school gag duo." Hayate explained with several slow nods.
"Besides, Hayate is going out with someone from a different school." She said. Hayate nodded again, not feeling a bit shy for it. "I envy her hardwork in putting up with you." Hayate glared at her but it was easily replaced with a lecherous smile.
"Her name is Rein." She said, enjoying the impatience in Nanoha's nods. She knew all too well what she was waiting for her to say. But Hayate decided to leave her in the dark a little bit longer. "She's in the same year but she's younger. I'd say if she went here, she's already a graduate." She jokingly bragged, making Fate roll her eyes. Then turning to Nanoha, she continued, "She lives near your neighborhood actually. They own a manju shop in the near shopping district. Maybe we could all go visit her some time. Her parents are really friendly and it would help our," she winked at Fate, "business."
"You're really creepy when you start talking about her. It never ends." Fate replied.
"It happens."
"And?!" Nanoha finally managed to muster her strength to ask. It was an untimely surge of curiosity. She cleared her throat then calmed her voice down, "W-who's… Fate-chan's…well…?"
"Oh, you want to know?"
"Hayate!" The blonde growled.
"She wants to know."
"No." She shook her head and looked away. The lobes that peeked through her locks were evident of her embarrassment, though.
"She's in the same class, right?" Nanoha leaned closer, gulping all her own pride to hope that it could be her all along. A little hope never really hurt.
"…" Fate glanced at Hayate grudgingly. Then backing up against her chair, she pressed a palm on her neck, feeling that the red coloring on her skin is intensifying as Nanoha moved closer.
"Yes." She said in a low voice and she hung her head down to hide her blushing face and to avoid looking at the copper-haired.
"…Fate-chan?" Nanoha asked again, unable to hear her last response clearly.
The bell rang then, saving Fate from the fight of her life. She stood up hastily and took her tray as she walked away from the table. Hayate laughed at her and stood to wait for Nanoha.
"She's so cute. Don't you just want to go ahead and hug her very tight?"
Right then, an answer that Hayate never even bothered hoping to hear from her struck her frozen. Nanoha slowly stood up at her question and her reply came in a clear voice,
"…Always, yeah."
Nanoha held her breath and her jaw dropped at what she just confessed. Her head had turned blank for a moment and she has remained silent for a while now that taking her words back proved futile. Her whole face reddened. She felt like dashing away to the opposite side and running all the way back home to simply die in her sleep. She froze and burned at the same time.
"I…" Hayate patted her shoulder comfortingly. "…didn't hear anything."
The bell ending the day made Fate press her lips to a sign of displeasure. She sighed deeply. She remembered how this could be the bell of her final hour. Of course she knew that was an exaggeration but she felt her heartbeat rapidly increasing in panic.
Today, Takamachi Nanoha is going to be confessed to by some unknown girl from class B. That's at least what she assumed to mean when Suzuka and Arisa said she was invited to the rooftop. She closed her eyes to assess the people she could remember from that bunch. But only Arisa and Suzuka could register in her mind that held much impression. Perhaps she wasn't too sociable enough to know more.
She cussed in mind.
"Fate-chan~" She finally heard that first gong towards her end. Hayate approached her from behind and patted her shoulder. "I promised Rein I'll drop by."
She looked up at her apologetically.
"How nice of you for letting me go alone." Hayate dropped her shoulders, smiled at her and went for the door. Before finally disappearing, she looked one last time at Nanoha who's still tidying up her things. She remembered how she could not keep her gaze off of Fate for so long during the afternoon classes. She bets she could clearly state what she was worried about now after spoiling that Fate was trying to sweep someone off her feet.
"If only one of you could be a little more sensitive." She muttered.
Along the corridor, she heard Arisa call to her in a whisper. She motioned her hand to signal them an all good sign and they courteously bowed in gratitude as she approached them.
Inside the room, Fate restlessly stood and looked at Nanoha's empty seat. Her bag hung on the edge of her desk's hook. She hasn't gone home yet. Clearly, she had gone out to the roof to probably say yes to her confessor. She wondered when she left, cursing the fact that she didn't realize it sooner so that she could stop her. She rapped her thumb on her leather bag, mustering up all her courage before finally standing up to head for the battlefield.
Nanoha returned to the now empty room, wiping her hand with a handkerchief. Frustrated that a certain someone didn't bother with the fact that she'd be confessed to today, though faked, she stared at her desk and sighed. So much for hoping that this fishing which Hayate talked about involved her. She took her bag, ready to leave and when she's about to shut the door, she looked at Fate's seat again.
And then it hit her.
She looked from side to side along the corridor, making sure that no one was ready to barge right back in. After confirming that her classmates have gone, she hurried to the blonde's desk and searched underneath for a certain note she exchanged with Hayate.
That note possibly contained this fish's identity!
Unfortunately, there was nothing underneath it but scraps of papers of mathematical solutions and random scribbles of English phrases, and a paperback copy of The Philosophy of Socrates.
"Ugh…" The nerd, she thought.
Looking up with a final ray of hope, she scurried towards Hayate's desk and took no time in digging in. This time, there's the diamond in the rough! —And by rough, it meant a load of empty wrappers of candy and biscuits, and more papers and notes of messages she obviously had shared with most of the class.
One of them made her jaw drop as it said, 「 One of the seven mysteries of the school solved! The Nurse's office's growling monster was apparently the nurse herself breaking wind! 」
She tried not to roll down bursting into laughter. She recomposed herself against Hayate's desk and resumed her hunt. And finally, the long awaited truth stuck between her fingertips. She almost squealed in the room when she found that small piece of paper that contained Fate's name scribbled with a heart mark. She swallowed as she carefully turned the page to the other side.
At first, there was silence. Long silence... And all the truth was heard from her yelp that drowned the dusk-painted room.
She sat behind the entrance to the rooftop, ready to bolt away with Nanoha when the confession starts. But as the steel door to the rooftop swung open, Fate sprung up on her feet. At first she thought that it was Nanoha's admirer who had come. Or worse, it could be Nanoha and the admirer already… making…
She shook her head wildly and clenched her fist, about to launch out of her hiding place. But then the person revealed herself to her in obvious search for someone. A breathless Nanoha appeared in view.
"You're here…" She said in between heavy heaves to catch her breath. Relief that she hasn't gone home yet helped her in easing down. Thankful that she let herself be fooled by Arisa and Suzuka's mail to come to the roof, she caught her breath finally.
Fate had a hunch that this has suddenly turned into a heart-breaking event.
Did she come looking for her confessor? Has she been here only to find out she's gone and went to look for her around the school instead?! The big fat—!
Fate approached her with concern and rage for the other woman. "Are you alright?" She asked. But then she stopped when she caught the sight of that familiar paper in between her fingers.
"Na-nanoha? T-that…" Nanoha gaited towards her.
Fate could only meet her gaze for a split second before blushing and averting her gaze.
"I found it under Hayate's desk." She said in a low tone.
Fear crept in the blonde's back. Finding that out could mean one of two things for her: Nanoha had come looking for her to reject her kindly because she had already said yes to someone else; or Nanoha had come here to condemn her. After all, she continued to be a good friend and a jolly classmate with her while she was underhandedly harboring some feelings that are clearly more than just those.
It could be both. She feared that she hates her now.
"Is… that the prank note Hayate made?" Fate replied in defense, cursing every length of what thin backbone she had. Hoping that she didn't sound too suspicious for Nanoha, she smiled crookedly.
Fortunately (or not), the young copper-haired was too absorbed in hoping too – though for something different – that she didn't have the time to notice. "This was a prank?"
"Aren't you supposed to be…" she inhaled deeply first before going on, "meeting with someone today?" She brushed off topic again.
Fate finally managed to look her in the eye. Her dark blue irises were tinged with hopefulness and hers with resistance. Her reply mattered most but Fate saw her searching eyes for an answer to a question that she has yet to ask. Their locking gazes left the world around them mute.
"This was a prank?" she repeated, hope slowly leaving her veins.
Fate averted her question again, "Have you… given the answer to her?" She asked, her voice was slow and low like never before. Nanoha's heartbeat pounded like crazy for the anticipation for a proper response that it hurt her eardrums.
Nanoha moved closer to whisper back, "So this was a prank." And her gaze dropped down.
But then, Fate caught her wrist inadvertently. Suddenly, she was too surprised on that act that she allowed herself to close her eyes and rethink of words to say.
"It's not." She finally said. Nanoha's eyes shimmered at her response and her cheeks burned an awful tinge of the setting sun. She looked at Fate's face, now as red as hers.
"…and this is a prank too?" Nanoha breathily asked.
"No." She sighed deeply. "What happened to the confession?" Fate had to ask and she squinted at the thought that she guessed right all along; that Nanoha will turn her down because she was too late.
Nanoha gaped for a long while, letting her words sink in to reality. She looked at the paper on her hand and at the words in Hayate's handwriting:
「 Confess! Just try it out! 」
Underneath it was the familiar but unstable handwriting of Fate saying the simplest, yet strongest words of all:
「Nanoha… I love you. I have for a very long time now. Please, go out with me! There! Satisfied, Hayate?」
Nanoha caught her breath again.
"Nanoha?" Fate asked, closing her lips tightly afterwards. She looked at the floor, and then back to Nanoha's eyes which aren't on hers anymore. "Did you… answer properly?
Nanoha cocked her head up to face her.
Fate jolted first but she continued, and in trembling voice, "…Listen…" She inhaled deeply.
"I said yes." Nanoha murmured.
Fate loosened her grip on her and she parted her trembling lips. "You said…"
"…I'd gladly. That I love her too."
She handed over the piece of paper to Fate and she took it mindlessly, tears edging her eyes, ready to roll down anytime.
"Can't I... change your mind?" She wanted to tear the paper apart. But Nanoha's words prevented her to.
"You should read it first."
Fate's eyes dropped down on the paper and her tears spilled on her trembling thumb. And on the paper, just underneath her own writing,
「Nanoha… I love you. I have for a very long time now. Please, go out with me! […]
She found the words in Nanoha's fine, but just like hers, course handwriting:
Yes… I'd gladly! I love you too!
Fate hung her head in disbelief, tears silently building heavier behind her eyes. And she asked,
"Is this a prank?"
And in a muffled answer, as Nanoha was warmed her into a tight embrace, she smiled contently and replied,
"It's not."