What'd I tell ya about spontaneous updates? Here's chapter two of Beyond Both of Us, hope you enjoy it. Oh, I'll be asking some questions at the end, so do read. Enjoy!
Kuriyama sighed and rested her head on the desk. She was now lazing about as she waited for the other members of the literary club to show up. The rays of dancing sunlight drowned the silent clubroom, refining the lazy atmosphere of the setting. This morning, she had been caught late and was given a mean scolding by her home room teacher. Earlier before that, she had arrived at the clubroom to find that a baseball had broken the window and decimated one of her bonsai plants. Bits of the busted pottery still remained here and there, along with a shard or two of glass. She really needed to consult Hiromi about summoning a barrier around the windows of the room.
"Yo, Kuriyama-san!" a merry voice greeted her as the door opened, blond hair and brown eyes swimming into the golden rays of the room. Akihito carried a plastic bag, filled with snacks no doubt. He set it down and tossed Kuriyama a steaming meat-bun, watching amusedly as she fumbled around with the hot dough. When she finally caught it, she took a bite and savored the taste.
"Howsh unpleashant," Kuriyama mumbled, her face practically buried in the bread.
"Once again, your actions say otherwise," Akihito laughed and grabbed a meat-bun himself, sitting across from her. They ate in silence, allowing the peaceful atmosphere to linger on.
"Sakura escaped, huh?" Akihito observed.
"Unpleasantly so," Kuriyama replied. "She tricked me and ran off. I must fail as a sister."
"Ah, well maybe she wasn't feeling well!"
"She was jumping from building to building."
"Restroom maybe?"
"There are multiple bathrooms in the campus."
"Um, maybe she was just doing some morning exercises?"
"Then mornings last longer than what I thought it did, seeing how she never came back?"
"Ehhhh... I've got nothing." Akihito gulped the last of his snack and lay his head on the desk, yawning from his own lack of sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes, his breath slowed down as he fell into a nap. It was a slow and tiring day today, so he believed he at least deserved a few minutes of shut-eye.
Kuriyama watched silently, nibbling on her snack. Without noticing, her eyes drifted towards the serene face of her sleeping senpai. She observed the content smile on his face, wondering just where his carefree attitude came from. More than likely from his mom, from what she's witnessed. A breeze enters from the window, flipping the pages of her open garden book. Strands of hair fall upon Akihito's face, making him sniff from the discomfort. Kuriyama reaches to brush it away, her fingers lingering a second longer as she makes contact with his skin. All of a sudden the door opens as two bickering siblings enter the once quiet room. Kuriyama jumped up and pretended to read her book, leaning on the wall.
"I would never look at another's little sister!" Hiromi sounded defensive, but unconvincing.
"By all means, please do, BUT—" Mitsuki turns around and points accusingly at her brother. "— don't you dare become a lolicon too! It's bad enough with your siscon personality."
"Oh, she wasn't that much younger from me!" Hiromi argued.
"She was ten!" Mitsuki glared at her brother, her purple fuzzy familiar growling due to its master's discontent.
"Huh, her feminine features seemed similar to Kuriyama's, so I just assumed—" Before Hiromi could finish, a flying book and a hostile familiar simultaneously attacked him, rendering him unconscious on the seat next to Akihito.
"Feminine features?" Mitsuki brushed her hair back and patted her familiar. "Pervert."
"How unpleasant," Kuriyama pushed her glasses up and shelved the thrown book.
"By the way, Kuriyama-san," Mitsuki rummages through her bag and brought out a box. "Ayaka-san told me these were for you."
"They arrived?" Kuriyama circled the table towards Mitsuki and accepted the small box. She took off her glasses and opened the box.
"So will this be permanent?" Mituski watched as Kuriyama fumbled with the transparent items. She looks toward Akihito and smiles, imagining the horrified reaction of glasses-boy. "If so, someone's not gonna be happy."
"How unpleasant," she huffed. Kuriyama carefully equipped the items, blinking multiple times from the discomforts. It was a new experience, and a terribly uncomfortable one at that, but it would benefit her in the long run. "These are only for during hunts, but I decided to try and break them in as soon as possible so it doesn't prove a hindrance." She pulls out a mirror and observes herself.
Meanwhile, Mitsuki pulls on Akihito's sleeve and beckons him to wake up. "Akkey, the glasses god have punished you for your sins."
"Nngh, no...sorry...didn't mean to... look through... the swimsuit magazine..." Akihito mumbled in his sleep. Drooling, he blinks a few times.
"Swimsuit maga— never mind, just wake up and see your misfortune," Mitsuki sat back and watched. Akihito slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes and wiping away his drool. He looks around the room lazily and spots Kuriyama looking into the mirror. Then there was Hiromi silently resting beside him in an awkward position.
"Hiromi?" Akihito lets out a yawn. "You took a nap too?"
"Look, a blimp!" Mitsuki points up at it in fake excitement. "Try reading what it says, Kuriyama-san."
Akihito walks up to her, glasses in hand. "Oh, here are your glasses so you can read—"
"Hmm, it says 'K. City Concert, August 15th'," Kuriyama reads it without trouble. Akihito stops in his tracks, the atmosphere getting colder.
"Hah, no need to make things u—" Akihito starts, but once he looks outside, he sees the blimp and finds that she had read it correctly. "Huh, wah, how, eh?!" He looks back and forth from Kuriyama to the glasses in his hand. He does so for a few seconds before a box on the table catches his eyes. "You!"
"W-wait, senpai!" Kuriyama tries to explain herself, but Akihito ignored her. He quickly picks up the box and reads the words on it.
"'Further Eye Contacts, For a farther point of view'," Akihito reads the label, growing more and more disheartened.
"Senpai..." Kuriyama reaches out to him, but freezes as Akihito turns towards her.
"Ku-Kuriyama-san..." Akihito turns slowly, revealing a pouting face resembling a hurt puppy. Tears started forming as his frown quivered. From Mitsuki and Kuriyama's point of view, they saw an upset dog with its tail down. "How could you? Eye contacts? How could you abandon these poor, poor glasses?" He caresses the red frames of the glasses, pouting. All of a sudden, he runs out of the door, swearing he'll always stay loyal to the glasses.
Kuriyama follows muttering about his unpleasant behavior. Mitsuki takes out a lollipop and stares at the stack of books on the table. In front of her, Hiromi snored away as he was floating in his siscon wonderland.
"Guess we're not getting any work done today."
"It's okay you cute little glasses, Akihito will protect you," Akihito traced the red frames with his thumbs. He was currently crouching under a tree at the back of the school campus. Usually he would run to the bench at the neighborhood park, but he figured Kuriyama would find him in no time if he did retreat there.
The breeze from earlier in the morning was still present, if not more prominent. Akihito was thankful for his sweater vest as he watched other students shiver from each gust. If this was an anime, there would be skirts flipping up every which way.
"Ahh!" a high-pitched voice yelped. Akihito looked in front of him to see a flustered Kuriyama pulling her skirt down that was waving in the wind. Quickly he looked away, a tint of pink emerging on both their faces.
"Y-yo, Kuriyama-san!" Akihito stumbled. "N-nice of you to d-drop by. But I really gotta get going so if you excuse me I'll just be taking my leave—"
"Your behavior is beginning to be unpleasant," Kuriyama appeared in front of him, her blood-sword appearing on her side. A peeved look appeared on her face, resembling an angry squirrel. It took all of Akihito's will power not to laugh. "Please give me back my glasses, senpai."
"Why?" Akihito crossed his arms, a defiant look on his face. "So you can just throw them away?"
"No," Kuriyama relaxed, "So I can use them to see. So may I have them?"
"Eh? But what about your contacts?"
"They're only for hunts. It's not permanent." She pokes at her eyes and shows Akihito the two contacts.
Akihito sneered at the items on her fingers and scratched at it like a cat. "Get those sinful things away from me."
"How unpleasant," Kuriyama put the contacts in her pocket and crouched down to Akihito's level. "So may I please have my glasses back?"
"...Fine," Akihito relented after a few seconds of confliction. He bashfully handed her the glasses back, pouting like a child. "I still don't like the idea of you using contacts, though."
Kuriyama puts her glasses back on and blinked, satisfied with the familiarity. "If it'll make you feel any better, I'll try not to use contacts when you're around."
"Okay!" Akihito enthusiastically agreed. "Hmmm, Mitsuki's probably pissed at us for bailing the meeting. And we've got that anthology due next week! Crap, we better get back!" Without another word, he sprinted around the corner.
"How unpleasant," Kuriyama sighed in amusement. She takes out her box of contacts and ponders. "Do you really like glasses that much?" She throws the box into a nearby trashcan, a small smile on her face. "If so, then there's no helping it." Pushing her glasses up, Kuriyama stands up and stretches.
"Hey!" Akihito calls out to her from the corner of the building. "Don't think I'll let you play hooky too!"
"How unpleasant, I'm not like Sakura!" Kuriyama runs towards him, her glasses falling down slightly.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Now as for questions:
- Should I keep referring Kuriyama Mirai as "Kuriyama", or should I change it to "Mirai"?
- Should I keep putting "how unpleasant" in its english form, or should I change it into romanji, "fuyukai-desu"?
Thanks for your time, and look forward to the next chapter!