Too Close for Comfort

Disclaimer: I do not own Nagi no Asukara.

Idea: AU. Hikari/Chisaki. Set during their middle school/junior high years.

Hikari glanced over at Chisaki. She was the only one in their group of friends that had enough time in the summer to do cram school together. However, she was the also the one that needed it the least. Hikari couldn't help the little smile that arrived on his face, yes, Chisaki was the star student of their school for good reason. She always did her best, and she was unbelievably kind as well. Just like a certain other girl he knew. The smile on Hikari's face stretched, and he proceeded to gaze dreamily off into space.

"Sakishima-kun?"

At the sound of his name, Hikari jolted upright in his seat, the goofy smile on his face sliding right off, and his eyes darkened almost immediately. In less than a mere two seconds, he'd transformed from looking like a lovestruck student to a model one.

His pencil was at the ready, smartly drifting above an old set of notes, and his eyebrows were furrowed. The old man who'd called his name gave him a little nod of approval, before he turned to face the chalkboard and began to write down a few equations.

There was a pause, and then, a giggle and his name, "Hikari."

He blinked. That wasn't the teacher's voice. Hikari spun around, his jaw going slack. "Chisaki!" He hissed, but he couldn't help but smirk. It wasn't everyday that the star girl initiated a conversation during a lesson.

"I'm sorry," she said, not sounding very sorry at all. Her blue eyes were twinkling brightly, as well, and with a start, Hikari realized that her cheeks were flushed, he guessed that it was because she seemed to be holding in her giggles pretty well. She did look highly amused, after all.

He huffed, doing his best to be as quiet as possible as he leaned back in his chair, ignoring a disgruntled snort from behind. "Shouldn't you be taking notes like the diligent student you are?"

Chisaki rolled her eyes again. "It's nothing I don't know."

Hikari raised an eyebrow. "I see. Well, if you don't mind, I'll turn my head right back around and get to learning."

Chisaki gave a small smile. "Right, sorry. It's just..." Chisaki leaned over, bursting Hikari's own personal bubble of privacy to point across the room, towards the windows. "Look over there."

Hikari stared at her instead. She wasn't looking at him, but continuing to gaze intently at whatever the heck she was looking at. Hikari was quite thankful for that, as he couldn't bring it in himself to turn his eyes from her anytime soon, judging by the fact that he couldn't tear his eyes off her slender neck.

It wasn't as if he had a neck fetish or anything, it was just because her skin was so clear. It didn't hurt that accompanying her pristine appearance was a lemony aroma around her. She looked good and smelled good.

Then, an image of a hot pot appeared in Hikari's mind. He did his best not to start drooling.

Despite the fact that Chisaki's neck had just reminded him of food, he still couldn't tear her eyes away from her. Not just her neck, either. Her hair was lying across one of her shoulders, in a ponytail, and the purple colour of it aroused his interest. Neither of her parents had any sort of purple shade in their own hair, and Chisaki had had purple hair for as long as he could remember, so he was currently pondering where the heck in her DNA she got her hair colour from.

"Hikari?"

The sound of her voice drew his attention away from ogling her hair to her face. She was still leaning over, but her face was turned to face his. He gulped. She was a bit too close for comfort.

"Yeah?" He tried to ignore the way his voice barely managed to lift itself out of his throat.

"Is there something wrong?" Chisaki whispered, her eyes widening with concern.

Then, for some reason, Hikari's heart did a little jump. The blood rose to his cheeks and he found he couldn't utter a response.

Chisaki leaned closer to him, her brow beginning to furrow. "Hi-"

"Ahem."

The sound of the teacher's voice sent Chisaki floundering back into her own seat, and Hikari pouncing forward to his desktop, attempting to look as if he was simply just being the studious student every teacher dreamed to have.

"Sakishima-san," the old man started - Hikari winced at the way the honorific had changed - "Hiradaira-san, I'd prefer it if you two kept your… Romantic antics out of the classroom."

From Hikari's side, Chisaki let out a moan of embarrassment, and usually, Chisaki's embarrassment made Hikari smile - because she got mortified over the most tiniest of things - but this time, it made his whole body tingle instead. The blush on his cheeks intensified, and he could barely breathe. What the heck was going on with him?

The old man's voice broke into his thoughts, "I'll give you both one last chance. If I catch either of you doing something you shouldn't be doing, I'll have to ask you to please separate."

There was a pause. Then, "Yes, sir," came Chisaki's response, and Hikari could tell she was straining to sound calm and professional. He was pretty sure that despite her seemingly calm appearance, on the inside she was squirming with discomfort. He got the urge to tell her it was okay, like he always did when she was down, but he also got the urge to wrap his arms around her, which was not normal.

The teacher gave another nod of approval, but didn't hesitate to give the two of them each another warning look before turning to face the chalkboard once more.

Hikari let out a breath he realised he hadn't been holding once a few seconds had passed, and the rest of the lesson went by in silence. Hikari couldn't bring himself to focus as he'd planned to during this whole cram school endeavour of his, as he had begun to wonder what it was Chisaki had been looking out of the window that was so interesting.

He also had started wondering why she suddenly seemed a whole lot prettier to him.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed :D

Till next time!