For some odd reason, the string around her pinky finger felt tighter. Nothing painful because according to Grandpa it probably wasn't possible for the string to physically hurt someone unless you tried to hurt someone or yourself. But even still, the string was getting tighter and sometimes Yumiko swore it was tugging itself gently, trying to pull her out of the room and towards the person who was at the other end. Wherever they were.
Even now, late at night in the middle of the living room, Yumiko was hyper-aware of the pathetic and dull looking string that was laying flat along the table. Occasionally she'd flick her finger and watch it slap back onto the table, looking as sad and pathetic as it always did. The bunny ear knot around her finger barely moved, somehow looking sadder than normal.
Her other hand was scratching at the bandage on her cheek. The little cut that had gotten there would no doubt be fully healed by tomorrow, but keeping on the bandage kept Yumiko from scratching and picking at it. A terrible habit she had picked up from her terrible best friend. The bastard…
"It could be a sign," an old voice said from right across the table before the owner took a long sip of his hot tea and ended with a satisfied sigh. Grandfathers eyes were closed, as they always were (anime logic Yumiko had always figured) but his head was still tilted in her direction as he said, "Maybe it's telling you it's almost time."
Yumiko looked up, a single eyebrow raised before looking back down on the string. It was late and she didn't want to start any bickering between her and Gramps.
"I'm serious!" Grandfather said, placing his tea down, "Considering the school you're going to, maybe it's time that string of yours will start to, well, not look like that...Maybe it's a sign of who you'll be meeting soon."
Yumiko puffed out her cheeks and pouted, glaring at the limp string that had been on her finger since she'd been born. An anomaly for her grandfather who's string, despite being in a...very similar situation Yumiko is, didn't appear until he met Grandma.
That thought made Yumiko glance up to the only other string in the room. It wasn't nearly as pathetic looking as her's, it still glowed and floated above the ground which was many steps above Yumiko. But it glowed a faded red and at times it only just barely stayed off the ground as it slowly curled in on itself. (It was sad because Yumiko could remember all the times when Gran and Gramps would do something as simple as sit next to each other and the string between them would be painful to look at because of how bright it was as it curled and swam through the air several feet above the ground)
Yumiko huffed, before placing her chin in the palm of her hand and leaned her elbow against the table. "And considering the school I'm going to what makes you think that's a good thing?"
Grandfather took a loud sip of his tea and didn't answer.
Yumiko's eyebrows scrunched up, wincing at the loud and obnoxious sound before she sent an exasperated look towards her closest family member. He met her look with a raised eyebrow.
They stared at each other (or more like Yumiko stared while Grandfather just had his head tilted in her direction) for a moment before Grandfather spoke.
"Go back to bed Yumiko," he said as he got up with his now empty teacup. "You're opening ceremony is tomorrow."
Yumiko scrunched up her face again, sticking her tongue out as she thought about how early she'd have to wake up tomorrow. Not just to get ready, but to make sure a certain bastard was ready for his own opening ceremony. Kuranosuke definitely owed her a free ride to school for what she was doing.
A small chuckle escaped the older man as he looked back at his oldest granddaughter who was to busy looking disgusted to get back up.
"Ouran Academy is an incredible school to be attending. You should be proud of getting the scholarship."
He got a loud groan as a response.
The loud roar of a motorcycle so early on in the morning was going to get really old really fast. The heavy helmet that was very close to being too small was just another annoying factor.
But Yumiko would sooner become a millionaire before she let Kuranosuke or herself get on his bike without one.
It was a surprisingly easy morning. The entire Yamamoto family was up early to eat breakfast and send the oldest out with multiple 'good lucks' and 'we're so proud's. Surprisingly enough her overly loving mother had only burst into tears twice before Yumiko had managed to slip out of her father's tight hugs. Grandfather had ruffled her already messy hair and poked fun at her dark eyebags before saying he and Mother would cook a big meal tonight (or at least bigger than normal). Kujo, being the stoic little sister that she always was, had buried her emotions under a straight face and gave her sister a tight hug with a monotone 'have a good day at school'. It was enough for Yumiko who had already heard Kujo brag to one of her friends over the phone about her 'cool older sister' attending Ouran.
It was when she got to Kuranosuke's that trouble started.
As always many men met her at the gate door, many greetings and good mornings were given and some of the more emotional men gave a teary-eyed congratulations about what kind of school she had managed to get into. ("To think the young Lord and his best friend will be going to such high class schools!" one of them said.) She waved and smiled at a few more that were inside the big house before walking into her friends room. Of course the idiot wasn't in the least bit prepared, still asleep in his bed when she stormed in with his school uniform buried somewhere in his closet.
She had punched him in his (still very bruised from the same fight that had gotten her that cut on her cheek) ribs and immediately had him yelling at her, causing her to scream back and before the two knew it they were set back five minutes as the idiot tried to start a fight while she tried to wrestle him out of bed.
It took twenty minutes before they walked out of the estate, both a little bruised under their clothes. Many men lined up to say goodbye and wish Kura a good day at school and Yumiko wanted to laugh when one of them wished the same to her. (The Ouran universe had such kind gang members!)
"Is it even legal for you to be driving this?" She asked him when he threw a helmet at her, glancing at the bike and the road a few times.
"You wanna walk to school?" Kuranosuke asked a raised eyebrow on his face and a wild smirk at the fact that he got to drive so early. Though Yumiko just thought it was because he was excited to roll up to two rich kid schools on a motorcycle, making sure he stuck out against the numerous limos that would be in their way.
"Mm, not particularly," She said as she sat down behind him, "Would make up for our morning jogs though."
The bad joke actually managed to make the taller boy throw his head back and laugh.
It was due to the various times Kuranosuke went above the speed limit (Yumiko screamed in his ear everytime she realized and he started to slow down) that they managed to show up at her school earlier than expected. Kura, ever the attention craving bastard, took every chance he got to slip past limos and flaunt his 'definitely not Ouran' uniform and her 'obviously can't afford the uniform' uniform.
He parked the bike behind a limo that was parked in front of the school gate. Multiple students turned to stare and whisper and Yumiko got the feeling she just might have a few rumors spread about her before the school year officially started.
("Rich brats are always looking for somethin' interestin' to gossip about," Kuranosuke had said over the phone, it was around the time she was starting to seriously consider Ouran as a school despite the many...risks it had. "You're an overweight, under average lookin' girl who can lift grown men. They're gonna have a field day with you if ya let them." Yumiko scolded him at the time because he was technically being a 'rich brat' himself even if the money was because of some not so great reasons)
She hopped off the bike, ignoring the many stares she was getting, and threw the helmet over her shoulder. Kura caught it of course, and the two spent a few moments simply staring at each other even if Kuro kept his helmet on.
This was the first time the pair of friends would be attending different schools. (And wow, weren't the two of them freaked out by it)
"...Hit me up if someone tries to start shit," Was all Kuranosuke said, and Yumiko didn't say anything about the fact that just last week she had been up on her phone at 3 AM comforting the boy over the phone as he sobbed about being in different schools (granted the idiot had gotten himself drunk but she almost had to sneak out because of just how loud his wailing was getting).
"Same goes for you," Yumiko said with a smile before she slugged him on the arm. Yumiko wouldn't say it but she was proud of her friend. Kenran academy was a pretty high-class school. Even if it was guaranteed he would be spending the next three years in D class.
He punched her right back and drove off. She started walking through the school's gates, trying her hardest not to react to some of the bits and pieces of whispers she heard. She was so grateful that she woke up with the cut on her face fully healed and no longer need a bandage.
At some point, the school had impressed her. (It still did but for different reasons) Not only was it the very school from her last life's guilty pleasure, but it was an absolutely beautiful school. She wouldn't be surprised if the gates were made with actual gold, or if the columns she had seen as she walked the school were made of marble. Maybe later on in her education, she would make fun of its pink coloring and far too big grounds but for a person who had always been middle class (sometimes teetering towards lower in her last life) attending such a high-class school gave her an immense amount of pride.
Yumiko tried to ignore the ball of anxiety forming in her gut, many 'what if's already started to form in the back of her mind. (What if something goes wrong? What could go wrong? What if what if what if) Instead, she focused on the string that suddenly got tighter as she walked in through the school door. It was still limp, pathetic, and dull but it was clearly leading inside.
Seems what Grandfather said just might be right.
She even eyed the many other students who unknowingly had red strings themselves. Some were as dull as her grandfathers (poor guys/gals) and some that were glowing red and seemed to bounce with life (lucky bastards).
Yumiko took a few steps inside class 1-A and was immediately frozen when she made eye contact with a tall boy (an annoyingly familiar and handsome looking taller boy) and with a glance to the person next to him she saw a shorter one(an annoyingly familiar and absolutely adorable shorter boy). Both of them were on other side of the class near the windows.
The taller one held a stoic expression and was definitely handsome (and something in the back of Yumiko's head told her this boy would only get taller) while the shorter one looked...cute. And young. Way too young to be in high school.
Yumiko knew those faces. At one point in her preteens, she spent hard-earned allowance money so she could buy manga just because of those two faces.
'OH GOD IS THAT-? ARE THOSE TWO-? OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT-!'
They stared at each other for only a second before she walked towards the very back of the class and away from the two. Yumiko took a little bit of pride at just how straight-faced she kept despite the - 'OH FUCK IT IS OH FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK AH SHIT I NEVER PLANNED TO BE RIGHT FUCK WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO' - going on in her head.
"Is this seat taken?" Yumiko asked a pretty girl with a short braid. Yumiko pointed at the seat that was in the very back row but only one seat away from being the very corner. The other girl had beaten her to it.
The girl eyed her, looking her up and down. (Yumiko tried not to be self-conscious about her freckled and blotchy red face or her messy hair that only went to her shoulders or her bad eye bags from late night studying or her big body from eating too much and working out too hard or her large but cheap sweater to substitute an actual uniform or or or or)
"G-go ahead," the girl said in an adorably quiet voice that made Yumiko's heart do a funny dance. Oh no she was cute.
She sat down with only a single glance at the duo, mentally comparing how they looked now compared to the old and slightly damaged manga she had originally seen them in a lifetime ago.
Yeah. Grandfather was definitely right.
'Now what the fuck am I supposed to do about it?'
Yumiko had just a little bit of pride over just how unnoticed she truly was. While there were definitely some strange rumors about the scholarship student and the mystery boy who always gave her a ride at school. (Kuranosuke nearly keeled over from laughing at some of the more ridiculous ones she absolutely had to tell him) She had actually managed to go pretty unnoticed.
She focused on her place in class (and felt just a little prideful at the fact that being in this class meant she was getting higher marks than Morinozuka and Haninozuka), made some acquaintances with the few people who talked to her, made a possibly genuine friend from the quiet girl she sat next to.
Her named turned out to be Chieko Koibuchi. She was lower in the class, both in grades and status and there were a few times when Yumiko worried she'd get transferred to class B. Chieko was a quiet yet surprisingly excitable girl that only seemed to talk in a hushed voice and was absolutely oblivious to the fact that she was adorable. Yumiko only occasionally felt a stab of jealousy over how pretty her friend would be if she put in just a tad bit of attention to herself or about the bright and curvy string that was on Chieko's little pinkie finger. Though surprisingly Chieko didn't seem to have that many friends.
Really the most interesting thing that had really happened so far in the year was when a group of boys from her class tried to get her to 'tutor' them. Although this 'tutoring' was really just the boys asking her to hang out in the library (which yes was definitely far too loud and far too big with far too many students constantly in it) as they all tried to get her to do their work them. They even 'flirted' to try and sweeten the deal and they actually gaped when she laughed in their faces. One boy's eyes went so wide and his mouth was gaped to the point in which he almost looked like a fish.
Maybe it was because of the total lack of clubs that were centered around 'boys with too much time on their hands entertaining girls with way too much time on their hands' that made attending Ouran academy was surprisingly...dull.
No that wasn't the right word. Yumiko was constantly too amazed at the school to find it dull. Chieko and her would spend many lunch periods in different parts of the school because Yumiko was too awed at the many large hallways and expensive looking sights of the school. Chieko blushed bright red when they sat by the fountain of a peeing child while Yumiko had trouble eating through her laughs because WOW this was a high-class school with THAT on their grounds?
Then there was the time they were nearly late for class because they had gotten lost in the rose maze and Chieko had to hold her back from just running straight through the large hedges and just deal with the many scratches and cuts she'd inevitably get.
The few times Chieko had gotten her to share some of her very big bentos (Thanks Mother it's not like I've said I wanted to lose weight since I was nine Yumiko always thought to herself whenever she saw them) for some of the high class lunch food she was always floored by the incredible taste.
But it just wasn't what she was expecting.
Maybe it was because she had spent the last ten years getting her hopes up too high but she was almost hoping for...well...for some Host Club adventures.
Not that she wanted to part of them!
No, she had spent enough time dealing with what if what if what if what if when she was on the fence about even attempting the school's exams. She didn't want to deal with any what if's because she may have screwed up someone's (whether they be a host or friend of a host) love life.
Or family life in some of the host's cases (and she definitely didn't want to get involved with Tamaki's family drama, she could remember very little information about the entire situation much less how to fix it).
No, what Yumiko wanted to do was watch.
She wanted to sit on the sidelines and giggle at the antics of the idiotic blonde and the little family he created for himself. Wanted to see just how identical the twins were and just how intimidating Kyoya really was. (There was a small part of her that wanted to see Haruhi and Tamaki and watch when their red string formed and see just how bright it would glow and see how much it would curl and bounce and move and and and)
While yeah, she had two future hosts in the same class as her it just wasn't the same. These were first year Takashi Morinozuka and Mitsukuni Haninozuka, way before the third years she knew them as. Way before they were the comedic seniors Yumiko knew they'd be.
Not to mention every time she saw them it just never felt...right? Real? Hmm, fake was definitely a word to use for Haninozuka-san at this time.
It was almost comical at times (and pitiful at others) watching as a boy that was still under 5 feet try to act like some kind of macho man. The real kicker was that he hadn't started acting like one until a few weeks into the year. Just enough time for him to earn the name as karate captain but also to be known as an adorable shota.
Haninozuka-san had already shown his adorable smile in class, and the girls of the school had already shown their love for the shota boy in blushing faces and adoring looks (and a few rumored confessions but hey, those were rumors). The same could even be said for the taller future host as Yumiko already had an idea on just who would be showing up to the host club once it finally started.
Yumiko herself thought they were an adorable pair (maybe a bit more than adorable in Morinozuka's case...he'll be a host for a reason) but the memory of watching the two in the school's dojo (Chieko had dragged her to watch with other girls) always clung to the back of her mind. They were a cute pair, but also a deadly pair; and Yumiko had just spent too much of her late elementary and entire middle school years getting into fights to really forget about that fact...
It's not like she was surprised really, she knew this would be something that would happen. She knew since Grandpa had talked to her about Ouran Academy when she was five (Yumiko had an inkling that Grandpa had been testing her too see if she was like him, reincarnation and all). But there was a very big difference between watching it happen on the screen of her laptop and printed pages of a manga than watching it happen just a few feet in front of you.
"It's...almost unnatural..." Chieko said as the duo watched the small crowd of girls from a few tables.
Yumiko prodded at her bento as she heard the loud squeals of girls that were 'touched by his practice on self-control'. Poor Haninozuka himself seemed to be on the brink of tears as he eyed the sweets on the girl's plates.
"It's like watching a rabbit try and eat a bull..."Chieko had her chin leaning on her hand, watching in fascination as Haninozuka-san actually started to cut into the steak. A look of absolute despair on his face.
"There's no way he can finish that," Yumiko said in between bites of her own food, "He's too grossed out by that much meat."
"Exactly!" Chieko said as she stared in awe, stars forming in her green eyes, "It's amazing how he's forcing himself to push through despite how much he's suffering! It's so..."
Chieko started to rant about how determined Haninozuka was to change himself for his family name despite how much it's causing him unhappiness and even though Yumiko tried to pay attention her eyes just kept slipping to the string on her friend's pinkie. Still bright as ever but just a little less...alive? Curvy? Bouncy? One of those.
Yumiko started to tune back in when Chieko started to say words like 'moe' and 'adorable'. Her brows scrunched up as her friend started to rant about something very different from the 'manly man' persona Haninozuka was trying so hard for. Ah so that explains the string. (In the back of her mind Yumiko once again wondered just who was on the other side of her friends' string, especially since it was glowing so bright and often curled and bounced whenever her friend got lost in thought)
"...You're into loli boys?" It slipped out without her consent and Yumiko was starting to realize just how comfortable she was getting with her high-class friend.
Chieko choked on her words. Her face turned bright red at her friends' blunt tone and she scrambled to defend herself in the hushed tone she always used. "I-I-I don't-I mean I'm not like-it's not l-l-like that! Han-Haninozuka he's just-you see he's-I'm-oh d-dear," she covered her blushing face with her hands and continued to try and stutter an explanation. One that was being drowned out by Yumiko's laughing.
"He's very cute..." Chieko said finally, looking up at Yumiko with teary eyes and a red face and wow did she look adorable.
Yumiko shoved that thought away before raising an eyebrow at her friend. "He's also the captain of the karate club...in his first year, Koibuchi-kun."
The blushing girl pushed her two pointer fingers together as she looked down at her lunch and sent occasional glances at the short boy. "I-I know that..."
Yumiko said nothing, only staring at the red string that was starting to straighten itself, not lowering and still twisting and moving and curving slightly, but much less enthusiastic as it always seemed to be. Ah. So Chieko had a crush…?
"If you join his fan club," Yumiko bluntly said as she picked up her thermos, "I won't judge but I'm not attending the meetings with you."
Chieko jumped, earning whiplash from how fast she looked at her friend before quickly raving her hands. She stuttered out a lot of 'I wouldn't' or 'I would never's and at one point Yumiko could have sworn she heard 'Even if I did I would never expect you to come with me'. So on and so on.
Yumiko glanced away from her blushing friend only once, and that was too stare at Haninozuka to see how he was doing with his steak. Terrible was the answer as the boy was still on the brink of tears as he suffered through eating the large steak. She sent another glance towards his cousin, straight-faced and all as he ate his own lunch. She was about to look away when something caught her eye.
It's surprising she hadn't noticed it before considering how far along they are in their second semester but there it was for all to see (well technically not all to see but she definitely should have noticed it). Maybe it simply got jumbled in the other strings that were around the school and despite how many times she's looked in their direction she simply didn't notice.
It was wrapped around his pinkie, dull and sad looking as it laid pathetically along the table and lead outside the cafeteria. It wasn't like the other dull ones who still at least had some kind of life to them as they managed to stay off the ground, this one was just...laying there. Pathetically. Yumiko had never seen another person's string looking so...dead? Nah, sad would be a better word.
She didn't really know what that means but aw man, poor Morinozuka.
"Ah, so you like Mori-san?" Chieko's voice was a whisper as she followed her friends gaze, both now looking at the tall future host.
Yumiko didn't react to the statement, she had gotten similar questions in middle school when she was caught staring at the strings of other students.
"No. He's definitely attractive though," Was the blunt answer as Yumiko went back to eating her bento, "But I'm the type of person that has to interact with a person before I can say I like them. Otherwise, that's just called infatuation."
Chieko pouted at the not so subtle jab at her before they switched topics. Lunch ended and class started and Yumiko stared at both her and Mori's red strings. Both were dull and laying flat on the ground and both leading outside the classroom. Poor guy.
Yumiko Yamamoto had long since gotten used to the fact that time was a very wonky thing. Now, this isn't to say that everything was going by too fast and before Yumiko knew it she was in her second year. In fact, it was the total opposite.
In her last life, Yumiko had spent most of her late childhood to late teens being an avid anime watcher and manga reader. Shoujo romcoms were a huge guilty pleasure that lasted all the way to her eventual early death.
Something she had learned from those many years of wasting hours reading or watching character after character fall in love was that time was inconsistent. Very inconsistent.
It has to be though. How else would someone explain the fact that a group of characters celebrated Halloween or Christmas or New Years three or four times a year? Or the fact that it took way more than a year for seniors to graduate?
While it had given her plenty of anxiety in the beginning, she had grown more or less used to it. Sometimes she'd wake up and what once was early spring and it had suddenly become winter and they were preparing for Christmas and then New Years. Sometimes they'd shoot forward and she went from celebrating Halloween to getting ready for Valentines Day and then White Day. Grandpa always gave her a heads up, casually mentioning any upcoming holidays at the breakfast table.
No one mentioned it. No one questioned it. There were maybe two times in her elementary school years and one year in middle school where it had just been a normal year.
It was annoying, don't get her wrong. Semesters restarted and even though the curriculum didn't repeat itself it was annoying going through two spring breaks and still bouncing between semesters of her first year.
Though at least she got to enjoy cherry blossoms nearly all year round. Sure their charm had dulled a bit since Yumiko was a kid, but the pretty color and the all around aesthetically pleasing sight of them falling had always made her smile. Maybe because it was a cliche anime trope but she loved walking around school grounds and seeing the wind blow the pretty pink petals float in the wind. When she was younger she'd play pretend and act like she was going to see some handsome guy or a pretty girl who would confess they liked her. It was cheesy as hell but there was a reason romance mangas were such a guilty pleasure (granted that was Yumiko's big secret that not even Kura had found out until middle school).
Anyway, time was inconsistent.
She went through Valentine Day twice, both times she had jokingly given Chieko chocolates in the shape of bunnies (got her sister to mold them in exchange for spending the weekend with her going to the movies to watch horror flicks) and got Kura a few slices of Mom's popular cake.
Then White Day twice - first time Kura had taken her out and they both got piercings on their left ear (Yumiko liked the look of the singular hoop...maybe she'd get more...hmm...) and then the next he shoved a girly white sweater in her hands. May seem cheap but the sweater was somehow too big for her meaning it was custom made. The bastard specially ordered her a cute girly sweater and she just a little in love with it. Imagine her surprise though when on the second White Day Chieko had shyly placed a small box of chocolates (clearly very expensive and Yumiko nearly puked out of anxiety when she had ripped the ribbon on the box) and inside were fancy assorted chocolates...in the shape of little bears.
"U-Uh….th-thanks for the chocolates…"Chieko had said in her quiet voice as a big blush covered her face and she pushed her pointer fingers together, "I-I wanted to g-give you a gift a-and...is it okay?"
Yumiko knew it was a platonic gift that Chieko had given out of love for their friendship. Yumiko knew that somewhere out there was Chieko's soul mate (who she had apparently already met even if she didn't love them yet) and that she had a huge crush on Mitsukuni. Yumiko knew that unlike herself, Chieko didn't have that type of feelings about girls.
So she crushed that little dance her heart did at the sight of Chieko's adorable face and smiled a huge gigantic smile and told Chieko she loved the gift before sharing a few chocolates with her. Chieko was a great friend.
Both holidays passed. Yumiko was in a hurry to start the third semester.
Instead, the school festival started.
And years from now, years away from Yumiko's boring and somewhat peaceful first year, Yumiko would look back and realize that is when things really started.
Author's Note: I'm actually really nervous to be posting this. I don't know why considering I've had this story stuck in my head since the beginning of the year but actually writing it is...weird. Oh jeez and this is probably gonna end up being a long one.
Hope whoever reads enjoys it and will be patient with me. I haven't actually posted a story in years and the last time I was less than consistent in writing.