"…which means we can begin preparations as soon as…" Mizorogi pressed the tip of his pen to his chin in thought. "…tomorrow! Fantastic!" He enthusiastically began to scribble a few plan notes in his pocket notebook. "Since there are only eleven of us here to prepare for the play, we'll need all the time we can get." After a few seconds, he shut his notebook and slid it into his pocket with an air of finality, and scanned the class one more time.

True to his expectations, Nio was distracted by something out the window, Mahiru's attention was focused on the surface of her desk, and Isuke was fast asleep. The remainder of the students appeared reasonably attentive, so he spared himself the trouble and decided against calling attention to the three. "Everyone, thanks for cooperating so well on the planning for this. Shutou, I'll need your assistance to get a few things in order, so please come with me. The rest of you are free to go."

Chair legs scraped on the tiles floor of the classroom as the students rose from their seats. Haruki was one of the first to stand, eager to stretch her limbs after hours of inactivity, but before she could even position an arm, she was stopped by a voice.

"Sagae," Suzu said. "Could I ask for a quick favor?" Compared to the stern and solid voice of their previous representative, Kouko, Suzu's speech was much more serene and genial. Though Haruki wouldn't exactly have wanted Kouko to leave for it, the new arrangement made for easier conversations with the class rep.

"Depends," Haruki said, resuming her stretch. "What is it?"

Suzu only had to look at the front left corner of the class for Haruki to understand what was needed. "Inukai is your roommate, right? Since I need to go with Mizorogi-sensei today, can I ask you to make sure she wakes up in time?"

Haruki arched and eyebrow and dropped her arms to a more lax position. "Is Isuke-sama really that hard to wake up?"

"On a day like this, yes, actually." From the classroom door, Mizorogi beckoned to Suzu, to which she answered with a short nod. "I'll have to go now. Thanks, Sagae." Without even waiting for a response from Haruki, Suzu strode out the classroom. Soon enough, the remainder of Haruki's classmates followed suit, trickling out of the room along with their idle chatter until only Haruki and Isuke remained.

When Haruki sauntered to Isuke's desk, she didn't care to be quiet. "Hey, Isuke-sama," she said as she walked. "Class is over. Time to wake up." Once she was around the space between Isuke's seat and Nio's, she placed a hand on Isuke's shoulder and gently shook her.

Isuke was entirely unresponsive for the first few seconds, only groaning drowsily in response once Haruki removed her hand. "Mmmgh… Haruki…" she mumbled. Haruki tensed slightly at the sound of her name. "A few more minutes…" With a small grunt, Isuke shifted so that her head was facing away from the disturbance while still remaining in the comfort of her own arms.

Haruki grumbled. "Isuke-sama, come on." She moved to the opposite side of Isuke's desk, crouching for a bit of extra proximity. That's when she paused.

Awake, Isuke's expressions were always a strange blend of sharp, patronizing and distant all at once. Being her roommate, Haruki had developed a kind familiarity to seeing her that way, but the Isuke she saw now was entirely different, and it caught her off-guard.

The light from the window at this time of the day was at its brightest, and Isuke was seated in just the right position to receive the full brunt of the shine. Though a portion of her face was tucked behind her arms, the softness and vulnerability it portrayed had the clarity of untainted water, and the way the shadows seemed to gently embrace it only enhanced the effect. Tendrils of smooth, pink hair ran down her back and fell to her side in the way Haruki imagined silk curtains would, but its sheen was more akin to finely polished steel.

Haruki didn't realize when her hand found its way atop Isuke's head, tenderly caressing her hair—silk-smooth, as she thought—while her eyes remained fixed on Isuke's tranquil expression. For a while, the only sounds in the room were of slow petting motions and soft, deep breaths, until Isuke made a little grumble.

The hand that was on Isuke's head quickly retreated to Haruki's side as the alertness gradually returned to Isuke's eyes.

"Sagae?" she said, a hint of surprise in her tone. Before continuing, she sat up. "Isn't that a surprise?" she said, her voice straining while she stretched. "Usually it's Shuutou who wakes me up."

"Shuutou-san had to go do something with Mizorogi-sensei," Haruki said. "I'm taking her place for this little task."

Isuke relaxed her arms. "I thought so. Honestly, I'm more used to the way she wakes me up more than the way you do."

One of Haruki's eyebrows arched. "Eh? But I didn't even do anything."

Isuke chuckled as she stood from her seat, standing next to Haruki. A smirk appeared on her face as she put a hand on Haruki's head, making petting motions. "Oh, sure you didn't, Sagae," she said, leaning into Haruki's face. "I believe you. "

For a moment, Haruki felt a slight quirk in her chest when she saw Isuke's perceptive expression—yellow-orange eyes, self-possessed smirk and all—under the sunlight's glow, inches away from her face. Though her own gaping appearance lingered only for a second, Isuke didn't miss it, but she had the grace not to mention it after Haruki collected herself.

"Hehe, you're sharp, Isuke-sama," Haruki admitted with a toothy grin. "And a good actor too. I thought you were asleep the whole time."

"Hah." Isuke pulled her hand back and placed it on her hip, shifting her weight to one leg. "To be frank, I'd have liked to sleep a bit longer, but I guess some things can't be helped."

Haruki rubbed the beck of her own neck. "Hehe, sorry, sorry. I'll try to wake you up right next time, Isuke-sama."

"Good." After pushing her hair into place, Isuke turned around. "I'm going back to the dorms. You can stay here as long as you want." Within seconds, she was out of the classroom.

"Hey, Isuke-sama, wait for me!" Haruki said with a joking tone, pacing after Isuke.

Haruki didn't head straight to her seat as she usually did the next morning. Instead, she made a beeline for Suzu's desk, where the class rep contently observed the rest of the class.

"Shuutou," she said.

Suzu blinked out of any thoughts she might've been having. "Oh, good morning, Sagae," she said. "I hope Inukai didn't cause too much trouble yesterday."

"Not at all," Haruki reassured her, waving a hand dismissively. "Actually, I want to talk to you about that."

Haruki's was answered with an intruigued raise of the eyebrow. "What is it?"

"You don't mind if we turn that little assignment I had into a regular thing do you?"

Honestly the only reason I wrote this was because I thought Isuke was really cute when they showed her sleeping in episode 4 and I needed to gush over it, and what better way to do so than a tiny shipfic? (There probably are better ways, like making a stained glass depiction of it, but I don't have enough money for that so this is the next best thing.)

Also, I'd like to mention that in my original idea, Haruki instead kissed Isuke awake and Suzu mentioned that Isuke was a cute sleeper (so there was a teeny tiny bit of Suzu/Isuke) but I changed the kissing part because I thought their relationship hadn't developed enough for that yet and I cut Suzu's comment because I thought it was better to cut things here. (Though she still does mention it like five minutes after the end of this story.)

Btw the title is short for "Thank the sunlight for giving us the gift of adorable sleeping Isuke."

Anyway, thank you for your time. Ship on, fellow fans.