shouta pov. ahehe. would switch back to kazuki's on the next chapter.
She was waiting for him as usual. Yunoki Shouta permitted himself a small smile when he spotted the girl with the long, grass-green hair under the tree. He had slipped his minder once again and snuck out to the park near Seiso Academy again. Kasumi was already there when he arrived at their meeting place, and she was chewing her favorite blueberry-flavored gum absently as she busied herself on her scores.
It had become something of a habit for them to meet outside of school at least thrice a week. The twelve year old was pretty sure he would go insane without these meetings, despite the fact that running around with a girl from a 'simple' social status was not appropriate behavior for a Yunoki heir. He was simply tired of all the tutoring and instructions and worthless details that involved business—tired of cumbersome flower arranging sessions and tea ceremonies and traditional gardening that he deemed as total waste of time; he was tired of socializing with influential people he didn't know or even care about.
The reason just hadn't occurred to him before—he hadn't even tried to ask, really, why he couldn't simply go out and meet with her without all the needless secrecy when her father was supposed to have been his father's high school best friend. That was probably one of the reasons that Shouta liked their meetings so much. Here he didn't have to worry about proper etiquette or remembering lessons that were almost military in their execution. He learned far more out here than he ever had from his tutors.
Kasumi looked up, grinned at him, and as the two of them took off, Shouta felt something in him loosen and relax. Kasumi was his freedom. She was the one person who he could just be Shouta with. Whenever he's with her he didn't care about family background or proper behavior; neither did he care that his family would surely be disappointed. He loved the fact that Kasumi was far too curious for her own good, that her optimism was contagious, that she was hungry all the time; he even loved her tendency to go off on tangents. He loved her incessant need to tinker with things and the way she would just blurt out the first thing that comes to her mind. All that mattered to him was the fact that she was Kasumi, and that soon, they wouldn't have to meet outside in secret. In three years, they would be attending Seiso. Together.
Hihara Kasumi shot him a mischievous look, and the game of the day was set. She laughed and pinched his nose before dashing down the street.
"Tag. You're it," she called over her shoulder. "Oh, and you're treating me to lunch today!"
Shouta just grinned and gave chase. He lost himself in the fun of the chase, and the speed, and the wind in her hair, and her friendship. This was what childhood was supposed to be.
hahaha. childish perspective, eh. i apologize for the confusing time-frame for my chapters. i am perfectly incapable of writing in chronological order. XD
