Day 2, Part 2: Before Class, Caffeine Required (IRL)
Act 1: Body
I have but a single bottle
Or maybe I should say had?
It's once collected many thoughts
Some maybe good, maybe bad?
Many emotions filled it, many galore
Although it would've never popped
. x . x . x . x .
"W-Weyland?"
What the Hell do I say? It's too early to be thinking this hard! I stammer a little, looking back and forth at both Natsuki and Sayori. Neither pinkette says anything as they look back at me. I look down and give a lethargic sigh as I lower myself further in the bench's seat. "Bah, I'm wearing myself out here guys. Can we just, please, skip the extremities that come with human emotion right now?" I murmur and turn my eyes to Sayori's, my best friend beginning to cross the empty street with a hiccup in her step as she approaches almost timidly. Natsuki rolls her eyes to my right and she huffs before slouching forward in an unrefined way, rudely mimicking my current posture.
"Far be it from me to tell you how to do your job, Wey', but she's your best friend. I'm keeping my mouth shut." Her hushed voice barely enters my ear canal and I fight the urge to glare at her. Way to save my ass, Natsuki. Real fricken' nice of you. I groan, pulling myself up to a normal seating position once again just as Sayori comes to a stop in front of us both. As quickly as the concern — or whatever was — within Sayori's eyes as she arrived, it wasn't there anymore when she looks down at me. I purse my lips and force a smile.
Sayori returns it in kind. "Wah! Natsuki~!" She sings out in greeting, tilting her head at Natsuki as she waves earnestly to the girl. Despite being as exhausted as I am, I still chuckle at her greeting towards the other pinkette. "I got a texty from Wey', I didn't know you'd be here!" She exclaims her surprise rather unweariedly, something glints behind her eyes but I'm unable to tell what it is.
At that, I close my eyes as I smile awkwardly at the standing girl and scratch at the back of my head idly. "Aha, that'd be my fault, 'Yori." She blinks and tilts her head to me with interest reflecting in her eyes. My smiles shrinks a little as some form of tension begins to fill the air around us, "heh, yeah. Shorty here wanted us," me, but I'm not saying that out loud, "to walk her to school 'cause her dad couldn't take her for whatever reason." I feel a heated gaze from Natsuki, but I ignore it to continue speaking, "to be honest, I kinda sent that text in a rush this morning. I totally meant for you to know that Natsuki was coming."
Sayori's quiet response and eyes moving between both Natsuki and me tell me 'I should look at the short girl.'
I look back to Natsuki, her bangs covering her eyes despite them being held in place by a string. My teeth clench tightly behind closed lips and I feel a shudder of impending doom wash over me. She tilts her head upward to face me; fire, a burning damnation welled in her dark gaze as she looks at me with a small, Death-inducing grin. Did I do something wrong? Did I say something-oh, 'short.' I shut my mouth with a click of my tongue and look back to Sayori with skittish eyes. Who knew such a tiny girl can scare me almost shitless-er, not that she's doing that, no. Not at all. Definitely not. I gulp and briefly turn to see that the look of malice in her eyes seems to still be burning for me.
"A-ah, forget what I said." I stutter out quickly, turning my attention back to my best friend to see if she can save me. Please. "Sayori! How would you like to have breakfast with us two? I mean, I was going to invite you anyway, and I did already over text, but might as well make it official with Natsuki now, eh?" Despite my mindless rambling and pointless stumbling over my own words, her expression changes quickly. A large, benevolent smile manifests in place over her — I'm still unsure if it even happened — previously somber look. That's good, I'd hate to have a repeat of last night.
"I still can't believe this idiot forgot to tell you." Natsuki pipes up, the look of anger she'd given practically gone as she turns to study Sayori with a snide grin. I nudge her on the side with my elbow and she goes back to glaring at me. She rolls her eyes with a shake of her head. "Okay, okay. Fine. It's partially my fault, anyway. Kept him up really late, last night." There is obviously no way she didn't phrase that right. Not if the warranted blushes on either girls' face are anything to go by. Goddammit, dig a hole once, and your friends'll dig the rest of it for you. "N-not like that! Pervert!" Natsuki turns on the bench to face me and hits my forearm with an iron fist. Holy shit, that hurts. And why me?!
"I-I meant that I called him last night and-"
"Ooh~ Natsuki has Wey's number~"
"Y-you gave it to me!"
Am I the only one who cares that I feel like I just got hit by a freight train? No, just me? Right then... Jesus, that girl's got an arm. Rubbing the sore appendage, I watch silently, drowsily — and if anyone says painfully, I'll kill them — as the two club members and friends bicker back and forth. I wince. Shit, I can already feel a bruise forming... Slowly, I begin to ignore the pained feeling in my arm; I drown the two out and lean back on the bench with a low sigh. My eyes close-
Sayori's sudden clapping rips them open. "Well~ we only have a couple more hours before school starts! Let's go get breakfast!" Sayori shouts happily and holds both of her hands to her chest as she drifts off into a daydream. Likely about the most important — and the best — meal of the day. Coffee, baby, I can already taste you. Her mouth begins to salivate a little and I get up from the public seat. Gently, I poke her in the center of her forehead to bring her back to reality.
Natsuki gets up as well, I hear her shuffling to her feet as she stands next to me. I turn my head down to look at her briefly with a drained grin; she returns it for a second before Sayori blinks back into our realm. The bubbly pinkette beams at me and wraps her arms around my torso tightly. "Wey'! I was just imagined," even in my tired state, I knew she said that wrong, "the most amazing bowl of miso soup... and you bought it for me!"
"'Cause I'm your best friend?" And personal bank?
"'Cause you're my best friend!" Aaand personal bank.
"So I take it you're going to order miso soup wherever we go then... Natsuki? Anything you wanna get?" I glance back down to the loli and she hums in thought for all of two seconds before giving a cheeky little grin. I hear my wallet screaming at me from the darkest depths of my back pocket, fearing for the preemptive strike it knows it'll soon face. You barely survived last night, Wally... you're a trooper and you will be dearly missed. I sob internally as Natsuki fails to answer my question.
"W-well, alright then. Let's-let's go find a place, eh?" I should've just waited and gotten something at the school's cafeteria... Both of the girls ignore my blatant pouting as I lag behind them, clutching my sore arm. With a low yawn, I shake my head and just start thinking of the positive outcome to all of this.
It won't be a cheap coffee, that's for damn sure. It's bound to wake me up.
. . . . .
It doesn't take the three of us long to get there; Sayori, Weyland and I very quickly decided on a restaurant to choose from. Good thing, too. The place that cute — er... stupid! — transfer student suggested is one of my favorite places to eat... even though I rarely get to go. The moment we walk through the doors, I'm met with nirvana. Scents of frying squid — my absolute favorite meal, but I'm not telling anyone — and the sight of fresh sushi being prepared hits me all at once and everything wrong with my life seems to slip my mind entirely. 'Subete' is one of the better restaurants in town as it doesn't care what time of day it is, dinner is available 24/7. And I could definitely stand for a 'dinner-sized-breakfast dinner' right about now.
The brunette, blue-eyed friend of Sayori's goes to nab us a table near a window. My guess is he just loves to see the outside world when he eats. Who could blame him? The town of Sonzai may be small and it's certainly no Nara or Okayama, but what it offers more than makes up for it. Its view of the Kakusareta Kanjō Forest is simply breathtaking... and the seat Weyland had brought us to offers just that. "Window seats? Didn't take you for a such a cliché, Wey'." But that doesn't mean I'm not going to tease him for it.
He scoffs tiredly as both Sayori and I giggle at him. "Y'know, be glad I even offered breakfast for you tagalongs. I'm kinda strapping for dosh as it is... thanks, Sayori," he mumbles, and our mutual pink-haired friend laughs again, although with an embarrassed blush. "I could've easily just said no and walked you all to school super early." Part of me doesn't believe him. I mean, it was his stomach that led us here, after all. Either way, I'm still thankful that he did offer to bring me along. I'm not going to let him know, but I am.
"Oh, you wouldn't do that Wey'! Especially to two super cute girls... would you?" Sayori puffs out her lower lip at the boy she's sitting next to and whines quietly. The American shuffles awkwardly in his seat and I laugh at his expense.
"You wouldn't let us starve, would you Wey'?" I join in on the tormenting, Weyland's unease becoming absurdly comical at this point. Way to go, me. Double teaming him like that with Sayori... er... My cheeks redden at my own thought, damn. After I called him the pervert.
"If I'd've known your asses would be acting like this," cutting himself off with a yawn, he continues, "I'd've just walked to school on my own." He mumbles to himself poorly as he crosses his arms over his chest. I cringe a little and lean back in my seat, sitting across from the two best friends. Maybe I should ease up on him. Guy's exhausted. Still has those bags under his eyes... I pull the side of my lip back as I purse my mouth in thought, my eyes beginning to peer out through the window.
My vision met with nothing but the outside world and the horizon; it's just the face of the Kakusareta that stares back at me in silence. I shake my head and turn my attention back to the other two party members, only to laugh as Weyland is already starting to drift off in his seat. His eyes were struggling to stay open at this point, maybe we should order him a cup of coffee?
His head falling back against the booth's chair says the answer to that question is a yes.
It doesn't take long, but we manage — I manage, as Sayori's making airplane sounds and blowing raspberries as she pokes Weyland — to flag down a waiter. The new arrival's outfit seems to have been hastily put on... not unlike my own outfit, earlier... and he seems to be in a bit of a rush. With Weyland snoozing comfortably next to Sayori, I grin wickedly.
"May I take your orders, ma'ams?" Aww, so polite~ unlike this sleeping jerk. I kick Weyland in the shin from underneath the table, my foot barely manages to graze him, however. I turn to look at the waiter's nametag and mentally file 'Jun' in the 'names' category of my brain. His grey eyes meet mine for a moment and my smile widens as he pulls out a small notepad.
"Three orders of calamari, fried please~" His eyes pop a little at the big and unusual order — fried squid tentacle typically comes in bundles of seven to eight here... and it's certainly no breakfast meal, but he nods shakily as he writes it down. "A cup of your strongest coffee for Sleeping Beauty there," I point a thumb at Weyland, and Jun goes to scribble that down as well. His eyes turn to Sayori as I don't add anything else and instead drink from the placed cup of ice water. Weyland is going to wake up to a nasty surprise~
"N-Natsuki! Wah, ordering such a large meal... your frame's too cute for such a thing!" My stomach clenches at the sudden comment, but I chuckle anyway. "Ooh, ooh! My turn, right?" The young waiter sighs and nods his head at the airheaded girl. "A bowl... no, two... no, wait, three bowls of miso soup please!" She cheerily shouts, Weyland snorts but doesn't bother lifting his head.
Jun chuckles nervously at Sayori and nods, her order being almost as big as my own. He finishes writing down our order with a tap of his pen and he gives a deep bow. I wave him off with a dip of my head. Oh yeah, "Wey'~, you really shouldn't have fallen asleep on us, fufufu~" I chuckle as the waiter leaves our table and us to wait. For calling me short, you jerk!
. . . . .
"I hate you both, I hope you know that." I babble quietly to myself as the two girls walk on either side of me. I fall asleep for two minutes and what do I wake up to find? Both, count 'em both, girls had more in front of them at Subete than I could care for... all I had was a mug of joe. I digress, it did wake me up, but still. Wally, I knew you'd fall today... I pout, patting my rear pocket, feeling the even emptier wallet inside. I'm gonna have to work two night-shifts this week...
Sayori smiles brightly from my left, despite my jokingly downcast mood and wraps her arms around my own. I grumble at the contact and Natsuki chuckles. "Wah~ you don't mean that, Weyland! You love me~" I give a pathetic glare as she coos practically in my ear.
I raise a brow, giving her a sidelong glance. "Assume what you will, 'Yori." Even though you're not wrong... I adjust my shoulder's position a little to make it feel more comfortable under her head. Girl's got a death grip or something. "Regardless, I'm never treating either of you to breakfast again." I ignore Sayori's low 'w-what?' and pull up my cell phone. 7:43? Bah, we made it with time to spare. I silently show the screen to Natsuki and she nods, although she still has that cheeky grin on her face. "Tch, you guys didn't even order me anything. Show a little hospitality and they throw it in your face..." Maybe I am a little peeved, but hey, they didn't get me shit and made me pay anyway!
And I'm the one who wanted to eat in the first place!
She takes one of her hands in my left one and I blink, looking down at our intertwined limbs. I groan and start ignoring the stares and questioning glances of the other students as we walk alongside them, I don't even care anymore. Really, I'll just order some dry bread or something and-hey! Put your phone away, I saw that! Okay, ignoring everyone but that guy. Screw him. Seriously, is walking with a girl, let alone two, really that much of an oddity? They're friends. Sayori's grip on me changes a little, loosens in a way, and she sighs. "Problem, 'Yori?" But Natsuki beats me to the ask... using the nickname I coined.
Friggen midget thief...
I glance down to Sayori and notice that she has a content look about her, even as she fails to answer Natsuki's question. "Eh, nah. She's fine, thinking about somethin', I guess." I shrug with one shoulder — obviously, the one Sayori wasn't using as a damn headrest. "First time in a few weeks we've managed to get to school on time, must be different for her." Natsuki merely hums in response.
"Uh-uh." Sayori's head shakes in disagreement. I look down at her with the corner of my eye and remain silent. "No, you're right. Just in my silly thoughts is all~ I'm used to being late, but it's nice that we're all here on time today." She lifts her head a few inches from my shoulder and smiles, closing her eyes happily. "I didn't want you getting mad today, so I woke up for you!" A mild heat rises in my cheeks as she spoke; maybe she meant to phrase that in a different way?
Hell do I know. "Uh, yeah. I mean... breakfast is a good thing to wake up to." Even if I didn't get anything. Sayori giggles in my ear and falls silent again. I turn my head to face Natsuki, she too now seemed to be lost in thought. I open my mouth-
"Thanks." Back to interrupting me mentally, cool.
"Pardon?"
"I said thanks. For breakfast and, y'know." She glances up at me before looking forward as we continue walking, now through the front doors of the school.
I give the girl a nod before placing a hand on her shoulder. Like earlier, at her house, she seems to flinch at the contact. "Hey, anytime. What're friends if not personal banks, neh?" I smile down at her before releasing her arm with a final pat. "I mean, you got my number, so yeah." She gives a dry, almost sardonic laugh as she shakes her head.
"Y-yeah," she looks up to me with glistening eyes and a trite smile; a spell of confusion strikes me, "h-hey. I've gotta run, Wey', 'Yori. Dad got upset when he found out I was late yesterday, I don't want it to happen again. See you guys after school?" I lift my free hand and give a wave. Sayori blinks and nods, her lips parted slightly.
"Okay~ bye Natsuki!" I'm probably going to go deaf by graduation if Sayori keeps talking or shouting in my ear like this. I sigh and nod as well to the short girl.
"Mhm, see ya Nats." The pinkette's face slowly reddens before she looks away, taking off almost hurriedly down the hall. I raise a brow as my eyes follow after her but shake it off. Huh, wonder if we're becoming friends at this point? She's not really yelling at me anymore or throwing cupcakes or calling me a loser or whatnot. Maybe she'll start it up again during our meeting today, I dunno. We'll see, I guess.
For now, though, it's just Sayori and me again.
"Well, that wasn't a weird goodbye or anything." I roll my eyes, giving Sayori's hand a squeeze. "Bah." She giggles at my side, opting to remain without a verbal response. I stop moving, as does Sayori, and tilt my head up to face the ceiling with a sigh. "Hey, 'Yori?" Now that it's just us, I guess I can bring up my poem with her. 'Cause, y'know, it is sort of about her, so.
"Yyyyeees, Wey'?" Part of me really doesn't want to though; I'm not going to read it to her! I'm just giving her a head's up, is all.
"So, about this poetry thing for the Literature Club..."
. x . x . x . x .
It shattered upon the floor.
Honest opinion? This was one of my weaker chapters. To me, the delivery was awful, it didn't feel awkward at all (not like I originally intended, anyway) and it just felt, I dunno, forced. I'll definitely have to rework it (and I intend on doing so before the next chapter update). 'Till then, get stuck with this xDDD
Expect a major rework on this chapter though, and I'll advise rereading this one when you get notified of chapter 11. Anyway, nothing much to express other than my disappointment in my own writing, so... Review replies!
DaMastah101: Jesus, I expected one or two reviews since the last update, but holy shit xDDD I wanna say thanks for both that and voting for Monika... it's so weird thinking at one point she had the least amount of votes. Bah, anyway, thanks man! I apologize for the shoddy update that is this chapter, but I'll make up for it by fixing it! I swear!
Mark the Mark: I was so confused reading that 'reaction review', but I fucking love it nonetheless xDDD thanks, guy! Like with the person above, I will be personally apologizing to you as well for the shoddiness of this chapter! I hope you stick around for the updated version that'll be coming along with the next update!
DerpyDerp123: The poll's ending here in a few chapters, I'll have the results public (on both the poll and in the desired chapter). You'll be able to see it then, don't fret lol. Anyway, thanks for reviewing and I apologize for this chapter.
Ah, anyway, that's that for... er... that? One last apology to all of you who were expecting a super great update 'cause of my own lack of updating. I'll make it up to you by rewriting this chapter alongside the next one!
As usual, you're all the best and I hope you continue to enjoy!
Why upload if it's so weak to you? Why?
Well, duh, obviously it's best to get something out there and then fix it than nothing at all.