Laurelton Station

"…Finally…"

His legs starts aching, Koutarou Azumamiya rests his tired back on one of the chairs, beside an African-American old lady who is watching her granddaughter running around. The station itself isn't too crowded, and the few people there chose to wander around rather than sitting.

"Good thing this isn't the peak hours, geez. And when the hell this rain's going to stop?" he complained, while taking of his oversized bucket hat off and carefully swishing it around before wearing it again.

Indeed it has been raining heavily since he first left his professor's house. Putting his umbrella aside, he starts checking his art equipment; not that soaked, much to his relief.

"It seems the rain isn't stopping anytime soon…" The old lady remarked.

"yeah…." Koutarou replied in English; he's almost fluent with it, but most people seemed okay with his accent. "Bet it will be raining still when I reach Manhattan."

"You are going to Manhattan, boy? I know it's an interesting place."

"Interesting…perhaps. I still prefer staying at Laurelton."

"And that sketchbook…you're an art student, I presume?"

"Yes, ma'am, I am. I'm on my third year."

"It's rare for me to see some serious art student…" The old lady said for the last time before she looked at the tracks.

"Well….It isn't a really promising major, truth be told…But to me, it's important, because I like it; that's all. I guess financial security comes last."

'Boy, you're either already filthy rich or too idealistic.' Said an inner voice of his. Meanwhile, the old lady just smiled.

"That's pretty admirable, your ideals; but sadly, sometimes you might have to admit it's not always worth it."

"….Yeah."

"Hey, big momma , I wanna go right now, I'm bored!" the old lady's granddaughter went up to her grandmother and jumped on her lap.

"The train isn't here yet, dear." The old lady gently explained.

"Bored, huh?"

"Yes…uh, mister whoever-you-are."

"Hush! That's not polite!"

Smiling a little, Koutarou rummaged through his bag and finally he pulled a piece of square paper with garish coloration.

"Here, watch this." Koutarou said. The little girl looked mildly interested, but that gradually increased as he swiftly folds the piece of paper into the form of a bird.

"Wow, I never saw that before… Ca-can you make other animals?"

"Sure. In fact, you can try them too." He replied, taking out several more papers, while the old lady watched with a warm smile.

Minutes later, paper animals have filled the empty space on the station chair; they were mostly made by Koutarou, as the little girl haven't had much luck.

"It's…difficult!" the little girl threw her last failure away, after failing too many times.

"Haha, Origami is indeed difficult. I can't really teach you on this." He said, trying to stifle the feeling of impatience. "But, you can keep them if you want.

'Though you will probably forget and neglect them eventually…'

"Oh, thanks, mister!" She said, but she only take a few of them, particularly the crane one. Meanwhile, the old lady stood up.

"Look, our train is coming, babe." She said to her granddaughter. "Comin' or not?"

"Yes, Big Momma." She said as she follows her grandmother to the recently arriving train. Both of them grinned as they waved their hands towards the boy, which he reluctantly returned. He then turned his attention to the rest of the paper animals, and scooped all of them closer to him.

"Aaand, I'm alone again." Koutarou said to himself. He closed his eyes, figuring there is nothing left to do for a long time. Half an hour later he awakens, and saw a young woman, came running up the staircase, and umbrella in one hand, and a guitar on her back. To his surprise, she's a Japanese, much like him; Quite tall, perhaps even slightly taller than him, shoulder-length hair, tied with a red ribbon. She wears a leather jacket, and she didn't seem all too comfortable wearing it.

Koutarou's heart seemed to race at the sight of the young woman, who is looking right and left; but that's mostly because he felt that he already saw her somewhere.

"Aaah, that Ashley. She sent me here all alone, what if I got lost?" She said as she approached the chairs.

"Excuse me, may I sit here?" she asked politely, in fluent yet accented English, not really different from him.

"Sure." He replied, in Japanese.

The woman seemed surprised, but then she looked relieved and sit down.

"Wow, another Japanese people, and one who can speak the language fluently! Most of the Japanese American I've met so far can only speak little of it, or even not at all." She commented.

"Well, I'm from Japan." He replied.

"Wow, really? Me too! Say, this is origami, right? I like these kind of things! Did you make it?"

"Ah….uh, yeah, I can. It's…like some sort of hobby."

"Cute!" She laughed when she held the paper cat.

"Well, you can have it. It's not like I need it or anything."

"Oh, don't be like that. That reminds me of someone, he often said something like that, too."

"…Someone?"

"Oops, sorry for confusing you. Yeah, I once had this friend; we're quite friendly to each other, even though he's a little annoying. Yeah, something like that. Say, how impolite of me, I haven't even introduce myself, yet you already offered me something. Umm, so, my name is…."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! We're so damned late!" a blonde woman rushed upstairs at record-speed, surprising everyone, Koutarou and the woman included before she even had the chance to say her name. Like the woman before, she also carries a guitar case. She quickly ran towards the black-haired woman and grabbed her hand.

"Come on, Ayumu-chan!" She said, with a goofy added honorifics. "The train's coming soon. No, there it is! Hurryup!Hurryup!Hurryup!" She jabbered as she forced the other woman to rise.

"O-okay, okay, Ashley-san! But slow down! You're tearing my arms!"

"Sorry, Ayumu-chan! But we can't afford to lose this train, because I can't stand waiting here!"

Being pulled into the coming train, the black-haired woman cast one last glance towards Koutarou, and in that short moment he could notice her face, almost like deep in thought.

"A-Ayumu…? Ayumu…Nishi-Nishizawa…?" He stuttered, yanking his hat off, so that she could see his face.

A face, almost unchanging, though he is older, and one he could recognize instantly.

"…..Azumamiya…Azumamiya-kun…?" he could heard her muttering, lips trembling as she did, and he could notice she was holding the paper cat tightly, which gave him some sort of strange solace. The blonde girl apaprently didn't notice anything, because she was too occupied by her effort in shoving people away, trying to find a way into the train. But faintly he could heard her yelling.

"Next stop, Brooklyn!"

Kotarou looked at the direction of the train. Indeed, it is going to stop at Brooklyn. He watched until the train was gone from sight. Then he sighed.

"I wonder will we ever meet again…?"

Then he made a decision. He took out his cellphone, and dialed a number. Didn't take long before someone replied to his call.

"….Yes, I'll be heading to Brooklyn. No, I will not be back to Manhattan for today."

I claim to be the second guy to write a story of this "pairing"