mornings, with you.
It was his favourite part of the day.
.
.
.
It is the first week of September and the air was beginning to feel rather chilly, in Kou's opinion. Stepping out of his house, he bids his father a good day and chews on the remains of his buttered toast. He'd buy a can of black coffee later when he reaches the vending machine outside the train station. Tightening his scarf around his neck and rubbing off the excess breadcrumbs on his school pants, he closes the gate behind him and goes on his way.
One of the things Kou likes about walking to the train station on the way to school was that, if his timing was right, he'd be able to encounter a certain somebody - not that it was on purpose, of course. Today, he leaves home at exactly 7:47, forsaking a few extra minutes of conversation with his father at breakfast and opting to take his food on the go.
He turns the corner and there she is, her back towards him and her burgundy hair slightly erratic from the strong autumn breeze. At 7:50, she'd be there, just around the corner, and would be walking towards the train station as well.
He inhales deeply and…
"Yoshioka!" he calls out to her, and she turns around at the sound of her name.
"Kou."
She smiles in that nostalgic way of hers and it never fails to make his heart clench, no matter how much he denies it.
The corners of his mouth turn upwards in response, unconsciously so. "Morning," he says, slowing down to reach her pace. He notices her cheeks are the colour of peaches today and has to resist the urge to touch them by smoothing down his waxed hair.
She reaches into her blazer pocket and pulls something out. A can of coffee, still warm from her pocket warmers. His favourite brand. "Here."
He is genuinely surprised that she remembers since she'd only seen him buy coffee at the vending machine a couple of times. He tells her so and she grins in response. When she smiles, she is as sparkling as she was when he first met her all those years ago. Not that he'd ever tell her that, though.
As he reaches out to take the can from her, their fingers touch - his chilly from the exposure to the cool air and hers warm from them being in her pockets. She notices. "Kou, you're freezing!" she exclaims, and takes his hands into both of her own. Before he can protest, she brings them close to her lips and exhales onto them, effectively warming them.
"There, doesn't that feel better?" she asks him, oblivious to the close physical contact she had just initiated. He smirks.
"Awfully forward, aren't you," Kou says in response, squeezing her dainty fingers. He then gently extracts his hands from her grasp and regrets it afterwards when it immediately starts feeling cold again.
"Oh," her cheeks turn a deeper shade of red as she realises what she'd done. "Sorry."
"Why are you apologising?" he says, walking forwards. Rather, he should be thanking her, but he doesn't think this until after the moment had passed.
Something is dancing on the tip of her tongue, but he isn't sure what.
"Spit it out," he tells her. "You have something to say, don't you?" His phone vibrates but he chooses to ignore it. Only for the mornings when he's with Yoshioka, at least.
Her eyes widen, as if she was caught unaware. "It's nothing, Kou. I was just thinking."
"Thinking about what?"
"I don't know, I'm just happy we get to walk to school together sometimes. It feels like I haven't spoken to you much lately."
Well gee, I wonder who's to blame for that, he thinks, his thoughts laced with sarcasm.
.
.
.
It was him, standing by the school gates.
And thus, his morning with Yoshioka ends.
"Touma-kun!" she exclaims, leaving Kou's side and running to his instead. Kou's heart sinks, just like it always did, at the sight of Yoshioka curling her arm around his waist. "Futaba-san," he greets her, cheeks flushed and eyes twinkling.
Kou's eyebrows furrow. "Kikuchi."
"Hey, Mabuchi," Kikuchi replies with a tight smile. Kou knows that this is just out of courtesy, it is only to make Yoshioka happy.
"I got your text this morning. Sorry I couldn't reply. Breakfast was delicious; Mom made grilled mackerel, my favourite! You wouldn't believe..." she rambles on as Kikuchi chuckles at her little anecdote. Kou hangs back, listening in and wishes like hell that she'd talk to him like that instead.
"Kou-chan!" he hears his name, his heart tugs uncomfortably when he sees her waving at him from the school gates. "Why didn't you answer my text?"
"Sorry, Narumi; I forgot to charge my phone last night," he lies.
"You're silly, I'll remind you next time!" she retorts.
She had tried something different with her hair today, a purple barrette holding her bangs up. He acknowledges it.
"You think it looks alright?" Narumi asks, tugging at his sleeve.
"It suits you," he replies, not quite looking her in the eye, not when Yoshioka is nearby.
"That's great, I'm glad you think so!" she says, tiptoeing to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. He desperately wants to wipe the moisture of her saliva from his face but can't because she's watching, they're all watching.
She threads her fingers into his and he twitches at the sudden contact. She doesn't seem to notice. "Let's go, we'll be late for class if we don't hurry."
He turns his head around his shoulder to see Yoshioka looking right at him. Is he just imagining it or is there a trace of sadness in her eyes? Whatever it was is replaced quickly with a small smile and a wave goodbye as she turns back to grin at her boyfriend. ...Her boyfriend.
The lump in his chest grows and not for the first time, he thinks he's going to be sick.
He turns to the girl next to him, and she's smiling so genuinely, and he's reminded of about how helpless she is without him, and he just can't shake off the feeling that he's been cornered into a trap that he can't escape. He can't.
-fin.-
A/N: After reading Chapter 20, I dabbled in the possibility of Kou and Futaba's romance somehow never coming true due to Kou's 'duty' to help his friend Narumi Yui. And Touma's attempts to woo Futaba work! And so they end up dating the wrong people ~_~ But this story is set quite a few months after all that happens, so they've fallen back into their playful not-quite friends relationship that they had in the earlier chapters of AHR (before Futaba realized she was in love with him).
Of course, this story would be pretty silly if it turns out that Narumi was his cousin or something, haha. Gosh, that would actually be a relief!