Words cannot describe how happy I am when the bell for lunch rings and I'm spared from any more torturous math.
I linger around my desk a little longer than everyone else to avoid the bottle neck traffic, and take some extra time to clean up some of the lines on my new picture of Falen.
My motivation to draw has returned a little over the past week with all the time I've spent training Trin to join our guild. A story line is slowly forming in my mind thanks to all the situations this girl, or at least I'm assuming the one who plays as Trin is a girl, gets our avatars into. Like when she tripped a really obvious booby trap in one of the cave troll quests…
Falen has died more times in her company than the whole time I've been in this online community. But oddly enough, I'm having just as much fun with her as I have with Lyra and Myrese.
I sigh as I finish the cleanup on the sketch. By now the class is empty, and I put the drawing in an ever growing pile in my folder.
Leaning back, I crack my back on the chair while I stretch my arms. After I hear the satisfying pop I tuck my folder into my bag and pull out an energy bar, my now usual lunch. I've been living off these since my first day of school to avoid having to actually go to the dining hall and interact with the other students.
So instead I go to my little safe haven.
True to my first thoughts, I've spent every lunch for two weeks hiding in the library's self-help section. But after the incident on my first day I've relocated to library five to avoid running into that weird Yuki girl again. So far it's worked, and I have a cozy little chair with a blanket and pillows and everything. After I spent the first day dusting the place, it's become quite pleasant. It's far in the back and I've turned the hair to face a nice big window that overlooks a nice area full of trees that no one ever seems to go to.
Other students gossip mindlessly up near the front, leaving me to play my Otome games in silent bliss.
I curl up under my blanket with my now half eaten energy bar, and pull out my phone.
I had finished my last game rather quickly and was now in the process of starting a new one, so I munch on the rest of my bar while I play through the prologue. I find myself giggling here and there, taking careful note on how each character treats me, and storing the information for when I need to make my choice.
Turns out this one is a real tough decision. I'm leaning towards the cute comedian, but on the other hand, I'm not quite satisfied with the thought of that. Due to how boys treat me in real life, I always tend to go with the sweet ones in the games, but I find myself being more drawn to the blunter and callous character in this one.
I press the button to buy the main story, sighing as it takes forever to load the transaction.
"Why'd you choose him? I'd have chosen the glasses guy who's the florist. Why would anyone willingly marry a high school teacher?"
"I know," I sigh. "Usually I don't pick guys like Yamato, but I was just curious-"
At that moment it sinks in just what happened.
I turn slowly in my chair to see a girl sitting on the arm of my chair, looking like there's nothing wrong with what just happened.
She looks down at me with sharp, dark blue eyes. Her hair is long and a slightly shocking shade of red that clashes horribly with the yellow uniform dress. It falls down to her hips and over her eyes in a traditional Hime cut, with the center portion clipped back into a small princess poof with a black clip.
"Shit…" I trial off. "Ummm…I guess it's no use saying this isn't what it looks like…?"
"Not really," the girl says as she tosses her hair over her shoulder. "Anyway you try to explain this it's going to sound pretty strange."
I cock an eyebrow as she lifts a hand up and begins counting off on her fingers.
"You could go with gay, my sister downloaded it and I was bored, they are interesting,….I'm actually a girl…"
She gives me a cold stare after the last one, and I feel a shudder go down my spine. I fight to keep my composure and think of a way to comeback and save my dignity as well as my new dressing habits. So I force myself to just shrug indifferently.
"Well actually," I sigh. "I was going to go with doing research on what sappy shit girls consider to be romance nowadays. I'm more of a traditional romantic, but that doesn't seem to be too popular these days."
Without warning, the girl reaches out and takes my phone from my limp fingers. She tilts it to the side and stares at the chapter one screen before poking it and progressing to the first scene.
"I don't even really understand why girls like these things," she says, and I don't miss the emphasis she put on the word girls. "The outcomes are fixed and there's no real terror that things could go horribly wrong and you break up. They should make it more interesting. I'd make it so you could date two of them at once."
"Well I guess most girls do find the idea of a love triangle amusing," I say with a barking laugh. "So why not? Go ahead and make your own game and you'll be set for life."
"Hun, I go to this school," she says curtly. "I'm already set for life."
"Good point," I muse as I kick my blanket to the side. "But still, I bet you could triple your fortune by creating one of these games."
"Ok so here's my idea," she says as she leans towards me and fixes me with an intimidating stare. "A girl cross dresses as a boy and hangs out in a club that has all the hottest boys in school as members."
I manage to smile at her despite the fact that my insides are shaking like jelly. She gets a smug smile on her face, like she knows she's got me cornered. So I retaliate by exhaling heavily and rolling my eyes. I lean back in my chair and cross my arms behind my head to give myself an uncaring posture.
"That's kinda been done before though," I reply. "You need to make yours a bit more unique for it to sell."
"Oh well," she mumbles as she slinks back from me. "I guess I've got nothing."
"Don't be too hard on yourself," I say as I clap her on the shoulder. "I'm sure they haven't beaten all the creativity from you yet."
"Well," she mutters as she brushes my hand off her shoulder. "If I think of anything I'll let you know…um…
"It's Naoki," I say as she gets up to leave. "Fujisaki Naoki."
"Kirigaya Tsubasa," she says curtly with a shallow dip of her head.
"Well alright then," I say as she turns to leave. "See you around Tsubasa…but before you leave do you mind giving back my phone?"
"Oh yeah," she says almost absentmindedly as she looks down at her hand.
She hands it back to me and I take it warily. She stares it at me like she's really not convinced that I'm a boy, but I push the worry aside as I take the phone and turn it off before stuffing it in my pocket.
"It's been…unusual," I mutter. "But I hope we get to talk again sometime."
"Me too," she says with a smirk. "See you around."
She gives me a lazy wave as she turns and walks away, leaving me once again in silence. Once she's out of sight I count to twenty before I collapse in my chair.
My body trembles as I clutch the armrests of the plush chair so tight my knuckles turn white. Not good. So not good. My efforts only lasted me two weeks. What gave me away enough for that girl to sneak up on me? And how did I not sense that when she was literally that close to me?
The bell rings suddenly, and I'm forced to quit panicking and compose myself like I did during my last week in public school. If anything happens it'll be my word against hers, but how far will my word go?
XX
My shoulders are tense as I walk into the club room. The atmosphere here is not helping me, so I steer clear of the twins and Blondie.
I collapse into a chair and drop my bag on the floor next to me. Groaning, I rest my forehead in the palm of my hand. My head has been buzzing since lunch, and it's beginning to drive me insane. There's no way I'll be able to stick out an hour of hosting in this state.
"Rough day?"
I stiffen at the sound of Haruhi's voice. It's one of the last I want to hear right now, but ignoring her for no reason will just seem suspicious and give me unwanted attention from the rest of the club.
"Yeah, I just have a headache," I mumble as I pinch the bridge of my nose. "No big deal. I just need a minute."
"Would you like some tea?" she asks.
"Sure," I mutter. "Thanks."
She leaves, and I'm grateful for the moment of silence.
I'm scared of Haruhi, but maybe I don't need to be. After all, we were only in the same class through middle school. The extent of our contact was being in the same group for a field trip to the botanical gardens. She has absolutely no reason to remember me.
And she's cross dressing too, so what reason should she have to rat me out? We're in the same boat. Though the people here seem to be aware of her situation and don't seem to be good at keeping her secret, well, secret. Another good incentive for me not to be found out.
"Here," Haruhi's voice suddenly comes from across my small table. "Chamomile tea is supposed to be good for headaches."
"Thanks," I mumble as I reach out towards the cup.
I try not to choke on the tea when I see her staring at me intently from across the table. I quickly swallow the hot tea and set the delicate china cup back on the saucer before looking back up at her.
"I don't think I've actually met you properly yet Haruhi," I say quietly as I extend a hand towards her. "I'm Fujisaki Naoki."
She takes my hand and shakes it, her large eyes never leaving my face.
"You look familiar to me," she says suddenly. "Well your face does."
"Really?" I ask, trying to go for mild surprise. "How so?"
"I just feel like I've seen it before, but I can't remember where," she muses.
"Well my little sister and I have a similar facial features," I say as I try to throw her off. "She's recently made a break as a model for a big magazine. She's practically everywhere. Maybe that's what you're thinking of."
She hums in response, but before she can actually say anything, Tamaki gives the shout for us to gather for the big welcome. This is routine by now, so I drain my cup of tea before heading over to take my place between Haruhi and Hikaru.
I roll my neck as the doors fly open, the breeze that the flowers float on blowing around my bangs. That's the one thing I still can't get used to. Where the hell are all these flower petals coming from? I feel bad for the poor custodian that gets stuck cleaning them up.
"Welcome!"
I glance around to see I've missed the greeting, but I just shrug it off and go to my station to wait for my first customer. So far, Nanako has been my most enthusiastic regular. She's seen me every day since I was recruited without fail. In a way, it's actually a little bit scary.
I slump down in my seat, still a bit tense. Groaning, I lean back in my seat and let my head dangle back over the neck rest. It's only an hour. I can do this…
My musings are broken by two hands cupping themselves over my closed eyes. My shoulders tense even more at the sound of the singsong voice of the hands owner.
"Guess who?"
"Let's see…" I trail off. "Who's the one girl I know who's not afraid to pull this kind of grade school shit with someone like me? I'd have to say…Tsubasa-chan."
"How'd you know?" Tsubasa complains as she releases my faces and looks down into my now open eyes. "I tried to pull the whole 'scary chick' routine when I first met you."
"Can we carry on this conversation in a normal way?" I sigh as I begin to feel some strain on my neck. "Like you sit where I can see you and then we talk?"
"Okay," she says cheerily.
Then she places a hand on the back of my chair and catapults herself over the top. She lands next to me in a ripple of yellow skirts, and takes a moment to smooth them out before looking over at me again.
"Well," I sigh. "Someone's graceful. Though is it really smart doing that in the uniform?"
"It's really fluffy. No one saw anything," she insists.
"I see..." I trail off awkwardly. "So what possessed you to request me? I didn't think I was your type."
"Well I didn't think so either," she confesses. "You just really peaked my curiosity, you know? Like…why would a girl bind her chest and pretend to be a boy?"
Even though she said it somewhat quietly, my entire body goes ridged. My panic level spikes again, and I really need to fight to keep my face blank. After a minute of silence I've managed to somewhat compose myself and turn back to her.
"If this is a continuation of our conversation from lunch, I'm kind of over it," I say sternly.
"Hun, I'm from a yakuza family," she sighs as pokes my chest. "I know a bound chest when I see one."
She lets that sink in and reaches for the teapot sitting on the table in front of us. Nonchalantly, she drops three sugar cubes in here cup and stirs it calmly. I can feel my eye twitch at the indifference on her part in this situation.
"Well if that's the case will you kindly keep your voice down?" I snap as she sips her tea.
"Would you rather I scream it out to the whole room?" she asks innocently. "I know that all these girls are way too focused on the other boys to pay attention to anything we're saying."
"How about you tell me what you want in order to get you to keep your mouth shut about this?" I all but spit at her.
"Nothing," she sighs dreamily. "I just want to see how long your little charade lasts."
"Well I can't have you letting that bit of information slip by accident," I mutter.
"Awww hun, you don't trust me," she says as she places a hand over her heat and feigns hurt.
"Of course not," I reply bluntly. "Especially since you said you're from a yakuza family."
"Well I don't think you have any choice but to trust me," she retorts.
"Well then," I mutter as I lean forwards and rest my arms on my knees. "Looks like I'm in quite the situation here..."
"It all depends on how you think about it," Tsubasa says in an annoyingly optimistic voice.
"How?" I snark. "The way I see it is someone knows that I'm really a girl, and if that gets out I'm kind of royally screwed. What other way can I see it?"
"You could see it as a new advantage," she suggests. "You know has someone who can help you."
"And why would you want to help me?" I ask. "What's in it for you? Surely you aren't doing this just to be nice."
"Like I said," she sighs. "It just sounds interesting."
"Really?" I smirk. "And how do you think you can help me? Make sure to sell yourself good or I might not consider it."
"Well," she murmurs. "If people start to question you, I could pretend to be your girlfriend. Consider me a security blanket of sorts."
My jaw goes slack at her response. I definitely was not expecting that. Hell I don't know what I was expecting to come from this girl's mouth but that was nowhere on the list.
"You'd really do that for someone you just met?" I ask incredulously.
"Yeah," she says with a smile. "Usually I wouldn't do this, but I need to get a boyfriend before my dad starts to think I'm into girls."
"Oh…" I trail off, trying not to laugh. "Well when you put it like that…it's kinda ironic."
"He also thinks I'll become someone with a reasonable profession and my husband will become the next head of the family," Tsubasa says as she stirs more sugar into her tea. "But there's no way that's gonna happen."
"Ok," I snicker as I hold my hand out to her. "I think I'll take you up on this. Just don't make me regret it."
"Ok, sounds like a deal," she says happily.
Then I nearly fall out of my chair as she suddenly whips out a pocket knife from somewhere in her voluminous skirts. She snaps the blade out and presses the cool metal to the skin of my palm.
"Ok! Time for the blood pact," she says cheerily.
"Um, can we just do this the mild way and just drink ceremonial sake instead?" I ask, suddenly feeling a little lightheaded.
"Oh my god," she says, completely wide eyed and dumbfounded. "You thought I was serious. Wow what did I just get myself into…"
"Looks like this is the beginning of an…unusual relationship," I mutter as she closes her pocket knife and stiffs it back in her dress skirts.
"Hun don't say that," she commands. "It's too cheesy and makes it seem like we're in some cliché TV show or something."
"Fine then Tsubasa-chan," I sigh. "Or now that you seem to be calling me hun should I go for calling you Cherry?"
She goes ridged and gives me a glare that is more than enough proof that she's a member of the yakuza. I fight the urge to laugh that being called cherry is what finally pushed her over the deep end. It's surprisingly cute for her.
"Is there a problem Cherry-chan?" I ask while giving her my most innocent smile.
"Let's just keep it at Tsubasa-chan ok?" she says icily.
"Awww, but Cherry-chan sounds so much cuter," I whine while I hat her head gently. "Maybe I'll move onto that later though. That's moving a bit fast, I've barely been here two weeks."
"Two weeks and all the girls love you," Tsubasa says, her face relaxing into a smirk. "Every boy would wish to have that and you're just a cross dressing girl."
She giggles, now completely relaxed. I remove my hand from her head and lean back in my seat.
"It' not like that was my plan when I transferred," I sigh. "But hey, what can you do?"
"Enjoy it?" she suggests. "Who knows, this might end up being a great story to tell someday."
"I hope so," I mutter as I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Because right now all it's all just a massive headache."
"Oh, are you not feeling well Nao?"
Tsubasa and I turn around to see Nanako peering down at me, concern washing over her face.
"Is now not a good time? Should I cancel my appointment?" she asks.
"No I'm fine," I say, giving her a smile. "It's nothing for you to worry about."
"That's a relief," she says with a sigh as she puts her hand over her chest. "Well it's about time to switch clients, so let me go get my stuff and I'll be right back."
And with that, she walks off, her brown curls bouncing against her shoulders in its two pigtails. Once I'm sure she's out of earshot I turn back to Tsubasa, who's finishing off her cup of tea and snatching a few cookies from the plate in the center.
"I guess we'll talk more about this later," I say as she gets to her feet.
"See you around," she replies around her mouthful of cookies before she walks off, leaving a trail of crumbs in her wake.
This is going to be tough. I thought I wasn't going to risk making any friends. Much less friends of the female variety. But…I want to remain cautiously optimistic about Tsubasa. She seems alright, but I guess I really won't know unless I take this chance.
I just hope I don't end up regretting it.
