A Munto Fanfiction: Splayed Upon a Heart of Glass © RedWingedAngel002
Disclaimer: Munto; Sora Miageru Shōjo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai © Kyoto Animation; Yoshiji Kigami and Tomoe Aratani
Genre: Romance
Summary: Inspired and set within 1wingedangelX's, It Was You, high school AU. A possible dabble collection; MxY.
A/N: My writing has gone down the drain. Prepare for basics—I feel like half my age in terms of descriptions.
A small note, Japan transportation is like Britain's; the roads and driver's seat are opposite.
WARNING: There is the brief mention of self-harm.
Songs: Inside Out by: The Chainsmokers, Drive, Is There Something, and Tokyo Narita by: Halsey
Japanese Index:
-san: Honorific: Carries the meaning of Mr., Mrs., Miss, etc., but used more extensively in Japanese than its English equivalent
Okaa-san, 'Kaa-chan: Mother, Mom, Momma (Towards mother)
"Talking."
'Thinking.'
Memories/Flashbacks.
Chapter One: Inside Out
The rain sliced the grey-cast sky in pelts as streetlights passed her green vision; flickering, blurring, meshing within streams of red and white. Comfortable, was their silence, lashes heavy, while she was lulled by the scent of his spiced cologne.
"Thank you again driving me home… again." Her breath came forward to chill-tipped hands. Fall crept in quick and quiet, and they were already back into their winter uniforms. Has it really been six months?
Munto noticed this chill, leaned to snap up the heat, and adjusted back into the cushioned rest.
"You stayed with Rui and I to do those papers for next week. Quit fretting."
She bit her lip in protest when they came to a stop. "…I could have walked. It's not far."
"In this? No chance. I would not have let you," the Student President clipped, his fingers drumming on the wheel.
Yumemi was not sure whether to be flattered or offended by the protective manner.
"My neighborhood is safe," she pushed.
"I know," he said, without skipping a beat, and golden flickered playfully at her direction. "However, my car is safer."
Eyes resisted to roll, but she could not help but to smile at her reflection.
Something about the green light caught Yumemi's attention. Down, to her right, his hand put the stick into second gear.
"Your ring is beautiful. I never noticed."
It was then he changed. Ridged, blank. He barely gave attention to the signet. "Father gave it to me after my mother passed."
"Oh." The space in her throat became tight, making it difficult to swallow. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry. Umm… Ryueri-san told me—"
"Leukemia. I was young when it happened."
"I see." She tried to change the subject into a more positive light. "It suits you."
There was a pause, the windshield wipers skipping in a three-step rhythm.
"…You think I am beautiful?"
Okay, not as smooth as she had hoped.
"I…! Your hands, I mean! Wait—!" Yumemi's voice pitched, squeaking, and her ears burned. "I-I guess?! Is that weird to say?"
Startled by her scare, Munto's gape mouth bubbled into a chortle, which made her toes curl and hide in beet humiliation. The leather chafed at her cheek.
"Well, I think you are beautiful, too." Her breast bated. "Is that weird to say?"
With that tone, Munto was teasing her words and she knew it. Yet…
Wringing hands smoothed the crisscross plaids of her skirt, picking the hem, and she slumped forward, quiet.
"I'm pretty?"
"Pardon?"
Then, like nervous spiders, they came to play at her locks, tucking behind a pearl-adorned ear, and her inhale was shaken.
"Nothing."
She felt his stare, and the girl inwardly flinched when he said no more, even when passed the familiar red bridge. Thankfully, they were just two more blocks away.
'Say something.' Her distorted doppelganger peered, jaw set in feign determination, and sighed back with burning eyes. There, a pointer drew from the mist remains.
Coward.
Her driveway came into view, the cheerful yellow muted against streams of water, while the porch guided a solace of protection.
"Alright, my Lady. Home sweet home."
"Ah, already."
Why was there disappointment?
"Heh, I miss you already." The redhead groped the back seat, his white undershirt tightened so delightfully at his shoulder blades to grab her school bag, which was tossed besides his blazer. "What, no good-bye kiss?"
Snatching the leather satchel, she scrunched her nose in distaste.
"Joke, Yumemi," he grinned with a two-fingered salute. "Until tomorrow then, Secretary."
She took a moment to marvel his face one last time before for their hours apart, nodded, and opened the door.
Now or never. Deep breath.
"Rui told me something… about a girl."
And for months it has been eating at her.
"What about her?"
"She's special to you. You changed because of her."
A pause. Swallow.
"Yes, that is true."
Great. Now her shoes were soaked.
"…I've got to go."
She hoisted herself forward, however, Munto grabbed her forearm, objecting the blonde's escape.
"That's it, then? Are you curious?"
"It's none of my business…"
This was pathetic. She was pathetic, and sounded it, too.
"Certainly it is."
"And why is that?" The tone came out harsher than she wanted.
"Because you are that girl, idiot!" he rose to match her own. "Is it really not that obvious?"
Flaxen locks billowed to skewer his profile closely, and grit between clenched teeth, "What are you talking about?"
The furrow at his brow smoothened, pulled up high, while bullion went wide.
"Munto?" Her storm coiled into a quiet thunder.
"…You don't remember," he muttered under his tucked chin. "Dammit."
Still, her arm was held in his grasp, tightening ever so slightly in desperation, then let go to fold into himself. Yumemi's stomach sunk at his far off look. He was miles away, at a different time.
"My mother died when I was eight," he started, "Father dove into his work in a strange way of grievance, and I found my own way to cope. I was careless."
The redhead rolled up his left sleeve to reveal pale scars upon the tan expanse. She always wondered but never had the heart to ask, and with swelling compassion, her gaze went soft.
"Don't worry. Old wounds. I have not done it since," he reassured her silent thoughts. "Ryueri found me after a bad session and I got sent to the hospital. Of course, she and Father were furious, but it was out of love—so claimed by my aunt. I was put in for the night, bored as hell, and you were wandering the halls. Said something about waiting for your little brother."
Her daze blinked in realization. "That must have been when Chikara was born."
She was six, then.
"You told me to not to disappear." He gave a shrug and rubbed the back of his nape; the small tail there had loosened. "An odd choice of words, I don't know why. I have heard it before numerous times from my therapist, Shuza, but it was just the way you spoke to me. Freely. Equally. It was relieving."
Heavy, the corners of her lips lifted a degree.
"You took my hand and made me promise to reunite." His raised left turned into a fist. "I peeked in when you were with your dad, where the nurse called. After that, I never saw you again."
Munto's blanket of melancholy lifted and veered toward her.
"Until, bam!" There was an animate gesture, splayed both palms, "Ten years later, you walk into my life—at school, of all damn places. I found you on the First Year roster and was determined to set things right."
He nodded to himself and took her hand, delicate and warm, and overlaid his fingers on her own to hook their pinkies together. How small, were they in his.
"I kept my promise."
Reminiscence unveiled, a distant boy with hairstreaks of the night sky—a shooting star, she could never catch, was within her reach.
"Munto…"
"You are special, Yumemi. Do not forget that." He refused to have her gaze skipper away, even when she did in touch, transfixed and voice low. "Maybe a bit more than I took for granted."
The emotion of it all engulfed her in waves—palpitating from her precious memory and creaking, key-shut heart—flowing, brimming, until she sobbed in shame. Then the tears came, hot and pearled.
"Whoa, hey. Are you crying?" The flustered teen hovered, placing a palm at her shaking shoulder. "Sorry. I went overboard, huh?"
An attempt to compose herself failed miserably.
"No, I… I can't believe it."
She could hear him close, and he brushed her bangs back. "What?"
"I'm so stupid."
"Yume—"
"I was jealous," she blubbered her truth, heaving, "…of myself? When Rui mentioned someone special of yours, I-I just got so angry and… Hopeless. I avoided you be-be 'cause I didn't want you to see that ugly side of myself."
Liquid. Vulnerable. She wanted to seep into the earth.
"Yumemi."
Run.
"I-I'm sorry. I've caused you too much trouble."
She needed to escape—There was the door.
"Do you like me?"
Ice.
"What—?"
Her neck snapped from her mournful solace, and tried to understand—
"Because I do." Munto pressed his forehead against hers, and she was frozen into silence. "You, your anger, and your hopelessness—I can handle it. You can trust me."
His amber eyes marveled at her emerald. They mapped the expanses of her puffy face, memorizing each dip and swell. They slid down her wet cheeks, along her chin, an extra second at her lips, and back again.
"Will you let me in, Yumemi?"
She saw the muscles at his jaw tightened when she leaned into him, ever so skittish as he straightened, and even away, in anticipation. The pad of her thumb skimmed the scar across his cheek, the mark still burned when Munto's middle school 'friends' cornered them at a walk home, weeks back.
He bled for her, she cried for him; and despite it all—he still stayed by her side, open armed. It was difficult to remember how it was before she had him out of her life.
There, she kissed him. Chaste and soft, and it was quick as it came. Oh, and how her cheeks warmed; even there, still, she could catch a glimpse of his own flare at the corner of her vision.
"You're special, too."
Munto gave a shaky chuckle. "Was that a yes?"
Their connection came again, more in attentiveness and experimentation; hot and the taste of his breath, clipping at soft flesh and clanked teeth, while she grabbed his red tie for more eager exposure. The gearshift bit into her rib, but no matter. It was only when her phone began to vibrate, did they part.
Hesitancy, did green and gold hold, and she grumbled when fishing into her bag. Beneath a few notepads and her pink pencil case, she found the orange device. Flipping it open, the bird charm chimed.
"Hello?"
"Yumemi?"
She tried to cope with her aftermath heat, making sure her voice did not sound too shaken.
"Oh, h-hi, 'Kaa-san."
"Hello. Will you be home soon, dear?"
Right, she told her twenty minutes.
"Yeah, I'm right out the driveway. Munto is dropping me off."
Taking a glance upward, the said boy gave a flirtatious wink.
"Alright. Tell him I say hello. We'll wait for you then. Dinner is ready."
"Thanks, be there in a bit." The hold in his shirt gripped a bit firmly. "Bye."
The device echoed her mother's positive hum, and clicked off.
"…Phew," Yumemi's cheeks puffed with hot air. "That was close."
"Moms," his voice rumbled against her ear, "They pick the perfect timing. She'll probably know by the instant you walk in the door."
"What, no way!"
"Tsk, you are an open book, Yumemi," he challenged and kissed away the stitch at her brow, and she made a noise in the back of her throat. "If not, Ryueri will, certainly. There is no need for her tarots, it is instinct."
"Maybe soon." She inhaled deeply, savoring the moment, and reluctantly resumed to her prior exit. Before so, she turned to him. "Does my hair look okay?"
"Adorable, as usual." He tugged at a ribbon-held tail. "Text me if you need help with your math again?"
"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."
Closing the doorway and skipping across the pebbled path, Yumemi made sure to wave where he waited, and at the end of the night, giddy and curled in floral sheets, typed:
Rain or shine, mornings aren't quite as sunny without you.
A/N: A bit different ending than originally planned, but cute. Happy summer.
—Ari [6.5.16]