Chapter 12: Yeah, I suppose it was fun.
Under the lonely night sky, two second years were trying to make their way home.
The two, who were both exhausted from their 'date', walked slowly towards their destination, both of them taking a gentle rhythmic pace as an attempt not to be harsh to their already worn-out feet.
"It's gotten cold, hasn't it?"
One, the girl walking ahead in the two-man party while having a light, inconsequential conversation with the guy walking behind her in an attempt to pass the time, was Miura.
"…yeah, it has."
Two, the guy who was just passively listening to her and occasionally offering some responses while gazing at their surroundings from time to time, would be me.
"…I can't see the moon tonight."
"Didn't it just rain the whole day? Then the invisible clouds up in the sky still aren't clearing up, it would seem."
I raised my voice in response before looking up above myself.
Yuph, there's not a single trace of the moon nor its moonlight alright.
The only sources of lighting in this Tuesday evening were the streetlights' and the neighborhood's themselves. All that the night sky offered itself was an empty void where the stars should've been.
"Well, whatever." Miura continued, shrugging her shoulders. Then she gradually stopped at her tracks as she faced me and bitterly said. "…Hah. I swear I'll beat you on the arcade next time."
"Ah-huh.." After following her pace and halting as well, it took me a few seconds to come up with a good retort. "Is that you asking for a rematch? Don't tell me you're still upset about that.."
Miura just merely nodded at my question, a determined but also upset expression on her showing up as she did.
"…I see." A content curve of a half-smile couldn't help itself forming on my face.
I might have given up on trying to snatch her phone from her after all this time but at least, with those wins against her on the various one-on-one matches we played earlier, I've somehow felt better for myself.
It's not really much of a consolation but it was something.
Changing the topic again herself, Miura then took a small exhale. "I'm fine here, Hikio. Thanks for accompanying me one more time."
"Right.." I nodded at her words this time, even though she's still at the streets and realistically nowhere near a house at the moment. "Anyway, here, in case you forget."
I reached to her one of the two white bags I've been carrying all this while.
"…" Upon receiving it, she proceeded to open the moderately heavy bag and checked if the contents were really hers and not mine.
"Oh yeah, what kind of titles did you buy for yourself?" She casually asked after a short pause while peering inside.
"Well, it's just some manga with an episodic theme to it." With the same air of nonchalance she gave in her voice just now, I replied. "Nothing much to speak of, really."
I'm not really going to tell you that it's about a dating sim-obsessed otaku guy whose life literally depended on capturing the hearts of real life girls possessed by evil spirits, am I? No, that's way too silly to even try to explain to you.
I bounced the question back to her. "…What about you?"
She moved her gaze back to me before softly speaking. "I was in the mood to read some romance so I went and grabbed two titles that piqued my interest. Luckily enough, I had just the right amount of money left to buy both."
"Eh? Didn't we just watch a movie with the same genre earlier.." I asked, a little bit curious about the matter.
"I say I was in the mood but it's not like I have expanded on my tastes yet myself, so there weren't much to choose from from the get go, at least in terms of genres anyway.." She then shrugged her shoulders in a lazy manner, her eyes glancing to the side as if contemplating about something. "..and I'll blame the teenage girl in me too, I guess?" She added so nonchalantly at the end as she looks back at me again.
"…Is that so.." Was all I could say in reply.
Blaming one's hormones aside, I'm a teenager too, you know.
Miura took a couple of small breaths before putting her free hand in her hoodie's pockets, signifying a shift of the topic at hand.
With a relaxed demeanor, she then said to me. "Then, I guess I'll see you off this time."
"Hm?" I swiftly but calmly questioned her words. "Unless you can magically teleport here after walking back with me, how exactly are you going to do just that?" I added, my voice indicating the puzzlement I just had.
She then smiled as if she was actually anticipating my reaction. "I'm not saying I'm going anywhere, dummy. I'll just see you off on this spot."
A short pause ensued between us as I contemplate about it. I then gave her a mildly troubled look as I take in what she said. "..You don't have to trouble yourself, jeez."
"It's fine, it's fine." She weakly waved her hand at me repeatedly. "Stop making such a big deal about it yourself."
"..."
"..."
As our opinions clashed, the flow of the conversation had stopped again.
It took a few good seconds of staring one another before someone had to give out.
…And naturally, as in the case often of times, I was the one to give way.
I sighed weakly before murmuring my resignation. "…Fine, I'll go."
"…" I was about to turn my back and start moving my feet when I felt the desire to say one final thing.
"Hey.." With a firm yet at the same time somewhat casual voice, I softly tilted my head towards the person right before me. " ..by the way, thanks for today."
"Yeah, thank you too. Today was a fun day, wasn't it?" Miura returned back with a content smile and a wave of her own. I replied back with only soft 'Yeah' as I stare at her one last time.
With that out of the way, I finally turned around and started walking away.
As my footsteps alternated from left foot to right and the seconds ticked continuously after I bid farewell, I then contemplated what the hell just happened this evening.
"…"
After having swift flashbacks of all of the stuff she dragged me into, a sigh couldn't help escape me. You sure weren't holding back on making the most out of your request yesterday, huh..
I wasn't the one who asked for such a thing in the first place but I guess I can't complain that much, her and her antics she tends to involve me with, I mean.
Although, I'd really like it if she didn't refer to it as a 'date' in the first place. Just 'hanging out' is fine, sheesh.
.
.
.
.
"...Hikio!"
Not even letting me have half a minute of a silently walking away from her, Miura shouted my name in the distant.
"Hm?.." No longer fazed by these mannerisms of hers, I just caught up with my breath before I slowly turned around to see what's up.
Already making somewhat of a distance away from her, I knew my voice wouldn't reach her normally, so I decided I had to raise mine in the same way too.
With a bit of reserve compared to hers, I let out. "…What?!"
"...Let's go another time! You're up for it, right?!"
A smirk momentarily formed on my face as I next asked. "Another time of what? You need to be more specific! I'm not a psychic, you know!"
"…You already know what I meant, dummy!" She shouted again, although this time a bit of a reluctant pause came before it.
Pft, now you're too embarrassed to call it a 'date' when shouting it on top of your lungs in this neighborhood, huh? Well, whatever.
Satisfied with both having the last laugh and finally having the rare turn at teasing her, I then breathed in deeply and shouted my answer at her direction again, my voice almost cracking as I did.
"You're kidding me if I would let you sneakily grab a photo of me a second time! But.."
My grip on the plastic bag I was holding then unconsciously tightened as I continue with the words, a bit of hesitance from my own self stopping me mid-sentence but in the end, I went through with it.
"..Sure, let me think about it!"
"I'm home.."
Opening the door to my house, I muttered to myself.
Of course, as expected, I was greeted back with the dead silence of the emptiness of the small hallway before me. I knew nobody would welcome me back but I still felt like making the gesture just this one time.
"…"
Making my way to the living room first as I began unbuttoning my collars, I was happy to see a slumped over and lifeless looking little sister of mine who was lying on the sofa and watching television at the time.
"Took you long enough~." Activating her big brother senses, she noticed me approaching right away and lazily greeted me with her hand that was already holding the remote.
"I'm home." I waved my own hand in front of my chest in a form of greeting before asking a question out of formality. "You've eaten already?... You seem out of it."
"Yeah.. P.E.'s a bit rough today. I was famished when I got home.." Matching the spiritless demeanor she was having, Komachi answered slowly and with little energy. "Anyway, the food's on the dinner table as always, Nii-chan."
"I see. I'm going on ahead then.." I just took her answer as it was before turning away and heading towards the dining room.
"Yeah.."
.
.
"I say that line to her but it's not like I haven't eaten dinner already.." I muttered to myself while questionably eyeing the food on the table.
Feeling empty and without a reason to be there, I dragged myself from the dining area and moved towards the stairs and into my own dimly lit room.
"Hmpf!"
Sighting the empty bed right before me, I lazily took off my coat and socks and threw them aside on an empty chair before making a half-assed attempt of a jump. With a sigh of relief both in the sense of comfort and making it out alive, I made contact with the unusually soft cushions.
With another exhale as a way to express my satisfaction, I lay on my stomach for a few seconds as I try to savor both the warmth and scent of the bedding of my bed before turning myself over.
"Ah.. I'm tired."
Those were the last words I muttered before my already heavy eyelids inevitably took their toll on me.
"So, you guys think you'll be able to ace Teach's quiz later?"
"I did an all-nighter last night. The coffee I drank this morning is doing wonders right now~"
"W-wait! Eh? There's an announced quiz today?"
"You.. you're innately hopeless, aren't you?"
Along with the return of the sun and its much missed warmth, the classroom I was currently in was quite rowdy again today.
"..." Patiently waiting for the teacher to arrive, I took a half-sleeping stance as I sit in my desk.
Observing silently the interactions inside the classroom, I passed the time alternating my eyes between the many groups that gradually formed as more members of the class appeared one by one. Among the many collection of people here, a particular set caught my attention the most.
"Wah, Yumiko, you got a new phone?!"
"Yeah, I suppose you can say I did."
Yuigahama, Ebina and Miura looked like they've just saw each other and grouped together a few minutes ago but it seemed like they've already gone straight to business.
As for the item that piqued the other two's interests, it was Miura's new phone she was playing with at the moment.
"Isn't that the latest model? That looks, like, really expensive, doesn't it?" Yuigahama enthusiastically asked her in awe. Ebina, in the meantime, just silently listened to the two with a smile.
"Hm, yeah. I've had to save up for it, actually. It forced me into a brief diet routine, funnily enough." Miura replied back with laughter.
"...Oh yeah, what happened to your old one? Did it get broken?"
"Ah…" In an instant, Miura's cool demeanor vanished and along with that, a sidelong glance towards the seat of a certain someone. As I follow and also try to spot the man in question, it turns out he was nowhere to be found.
With that, the girl glanced back to Yuigahama and replied to her with a hint of meekness. "Well.. um, I kinda wanted to get a new one, really.."
"Neh, Yumiko. I never knew you were one to have one of those on your phones. Where did you get that?" Interjecting Miura and putting herself into the conversation, Ebina stepped in for a question.
"Well.." After Miura silently entertained that thought for a few good seconds, her gaze naturally went towards my direction.
"…"
"…"
For a brief moment, our eyes steadied on each other in silence.
...Well that was true for a few moments until the consciousness of it all sunk in and we immediately looked away from each other in awkwardness.
Ebina's question was, well, how do I put it.. it was like an unsuspecting TV crew asking the two passing accomplices themselves to describe what exactly happened in the crime scene.
"Well, it's a gift.. from a friend I know.."
Even if I turn my eyes away, there was the fact that I could still hear Miura's words and the somewhat embarrassed tone that accompanied them. You could actually say turning down my sense of sight a notch only made my sense of hearing stronger.
"From whom, exactly? It's adorable with you." Ebina curiously pressed on.
"Like I'm implying just now, you won't really know.."
After some time, my own curiosity got to me and I sneaked a glance back at them, albeit a little more slowly and sneakily this time around.
"…" Although her face looked like it might break into cold sweat any second, it seemed like she's handling the situation better than expected. Her unsure smile was still there, much to her inner displeasure.
"Is that so." Ebina bobbed her head and with that, it looked like she was content with what she got from her. "Then, can we see it?" She asked at the end.
"Sure, just give me a moment to detach it."
I looked away from them one last time.
"...Hmm."
It's good to see that they're back and getting along with each other again, just like it should be.
Putting aside the small but serene fleeting feeling I felt as the ecosystem of the classroom looked like it went back to normal as if the few recent couple of weeks that transpired didn't happen at all, I felt something wasn't still wasn't right about the situation. Something wrong that had somewhat of an urgency to it.
"…Oh yeah, that reminds me." Under my breath, I let off a dejected moan as soon realization struck me. "She really needs to delete that photo she took of me."
I'm not saying it because I'm upset about her snatching one without my permission but rather, a much more alarming issue than that.
…You wouldn't want people misunderstanding if they caught you with it, would you, Miura-san?
"Ahhh~ It feels refreshing here!" Miura commented after having her face get brushed by the chill wind of the rooftop.
Once again, I'm having lunch with her. Although this time, we opted for the rooftop instead of the usual place we go to. It was a sunny day, after all.
Placing ourselves on the select shades of the rooftop, we took our spot and had a seat beside each other.
"Hikio, please." Deciding it was time to grab an actual bite for herself, Miura offered me her unwrapped sandwich like just last time.
"I didn't even see you try opening it. I'm not your nanny, you know." I complained to her, much to her indifference in the matter.
"…Shut up and just get on with it."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm on it."
...It was safe to say this might be a reoccurring thing between the two of us, lunchbreak I mean.
Was this the replacement of the clubhours we had these past two weeks? Hm, I wonder.
"Here." Finished with the mundane request she asked, I reached to her her item back.
With the girl saying a soft 'thanks' directed at my direction right before beginning to gulp down on her lunch, I too begun taking a sip of my packet of milk.
"Oh yeah.." After taking a healthy bite of her sandwich and forcing it all down with juice, she shifted her attention back at me. "Wanna exchange contacts?"
"…You sure?" I asked, unsure of what to think of the idea.
"Unless you're gonna die if we do, yeah, we should.. or should I say we can?... Well?"
"We can but.."
"..but what?"
"You know, it's just weird to see you asking such a thing after all this time." I said as I slowly brought out my phone out of my pockets.
"Hm.." Miura looked up to the sky as if pondering about what I said. "Now that you mention it, it is a bit weird to only exchange numbers now. It's been two weeks, hasn't it?"
"Yeah." That, and the fact that you, of all people, are actually asking me that.
"Anyway, we should at least have some way to contact each other, right? Though, I do remember asking for your email before but this is definitely the much more convenient way, no?"
I sighed. "Why do you have to speak some good sense into me now?"
"You say that as if I don't." She chuckled at my remark.
"…"
"…"
As we finally settled on exchanging contacts, I held my screen towards her in order to show her my info while she begun tapping on her screen. As I did that, I asked her a question I've been meaning to ask her since morning. "Say, do you still have that picture of me in that thing?"
"Please don't call the phone I just bought out of my own budget that 'thing'." She replied as she remarkably types out in a swift manner.
With the process finished in a flash, she continued. "...Also, do you mean this?"
"Hm?"
"Look at your own phone, dummy."
Paying heed to what she said, I grabbed my own device back and looked at it.
There was a new message. Opening it right away, I saw what Miura was referring to. Along with an overly cutesy emoticon of a cat smiling, there was a picture attached. "What the.."
"I've been messing around with the apps I have since yesterday, this was one of the few that I've been having fun with. Neat, right?" Miura commented to me as I was still coming into a state of bewilderment.
"I don't know how this is 'neat' to you. Also, why must I be the test subject to your experiments?" I dejectedly asked.
Well, what she sent me was the stolen shot she got of me yesterday, alright. Although, it was a bit different than what I expected.
Apparently, Miura's definition of 'neat' was putting cartoonish ties, a business suit, and whatever other silly effects she could find on top of me, or the me on her phone, to be more specific.
"..."
With my companion busy fiddling with her phone in what I assume was her arranging my contact info according to her preference, I decided to look at the picture she sent to me one more time, this time more intently.
"…huh."
The asinine stuff she had put on me aside, I'm not going to deny she had captured a good shot of me here.
There was the dark-bluish evening sky that tinted everything into a lonely mood, there was also the good amount of distance from the camera but the object of the shot (me) was still very easy to recognize as the center of it… and finally, a very melancholic look from the unsuspecting guy who just wanted to find out what she herself was doing there in the first place.
She got me in quite a shot that might envy those professionals whose jobs are to wait for long periods of time in order to capture wild animals at their most character-defining moments. Not that I'm saying I'm one of those beasts or anything.
…Heh, seeing myself in a shot like this, it almost makes me look like a main character in a poster about a teen drama or something.
"Say, are you ever going to delete it? The one in yours, I mean." Content with observing the photo she sent me, I then asked at her that.
"Do you accept a 'no' for an answer?" She nonchalantly asked back, not even batting an eye at me in the process.
"No, I actually don't." I quickly answered to her in the same straight man-esque manner.
"Well, too bad. You'd have to pry it out of me again if you want it actually deleted. This time you have to succeed, though." Rubbing salt to yesterday's wounds, Miura gently waved her phone at me like bait.
I took a sip from my drink in dejection, ignoring the object completely. "I should've expected that answer.." I murmured softly to myself.
"Plus.." Miura paused as if she was about to say something but hesitated and changed it at the last second. With her taking the last bite of her lunch in the process, her voice became more sober."..I have a feeling you're not really the type to like being asked for one, right?"
"…"
She wasn't wrong.
"I'll take that silence as a 'yes' if you won't talk, you know."
"Hah.." I just sighed as I take my loss with dignity. "...Why do you even want to keep it? If you wanted to tease me about it, you could've just pretended to take one, no?"
"Jeez, do we have to go through this every time?..." In a shift of tone, Miura's brows twisted in a hint of mixed vexation and resignation. "..It's not like we're strangers, are we? I know it's embarrassing for anyone to have one taken without their consent but it's not like it's forbidden either.."
As fast as her annoyed expression appeared, it dissipated in the same quick manner. As a result, her voice then softened again, almost to the point of murmuring. "I just wanted to take a shot of you. There's nothing more to it than that.."
Seeing as I haven't given her a response yet, Miura glanced away from me and looked up in the sky one last time, this time taking a few more moments before speaking up. "Because I'm a girl keeping a picture of a boy, huh.."
"…" I just stared at her in silence some more. It wasn't like I had any reply suited to that kind of response from her anyway.
The girl beside me then scratched her cheeks as she brings down her gaze back at me again. She then displayed to me that composed yet unsure small smile she had back at the classroom. "I'm sorry. I just dampened the mood, didn't I?"
"...Yeah, you did."
"Now then, I'll be off. See you guys tomorrow~!"
"Oi, stop running away and join me in cleaning for once!"
"Ahhh~ Cut me some slack, I'm tired from lectures, you know! Like, I'll treat you if you let me go this one time!"
"You always say that! I'll seriously throw my broom at you if you don't stop! Hey!"
Taking note of the change of weather, the atmosphere of the student body has changed to the better. From gloomy people wondering if they should either wait the rain out or just gamble the odds and trek the wet streets, to giddy teenagers playing and fighting over the smallest of stuff while thinking about what to do with their long-awaited free time.
Savoring the orange sun's warm rays peeking through the crowded, noisy hallway myself, I slowly walked my way towards the workroom.
While I was making my way through the many obstacles loitering in the hallway that are the students of the many classrooms, I spotted one certain person who wasn't really interacting with anyone around.
She was walking towards me at that time, albeit it looked like she was occupied with something trivial before she noticed me.
We promptly exchanged eye contact before I approached her.
"...Yo."
"Good afternoon." Bobbing her head slightly, Yukinoshita and I exchanged greetings.
"Are you heading there already?" Going straight towards the important matter, I asked her.
"Yes. I'm going to assume you're on your way too?" She asked, holding her chin.
"Yeah." I nodded.
"Then, I suppose we should go together." Yukinoshita replied with a gentle smile.
.
.
If we're talking about the sole journey shared between two people, the walk towards the workplace wasn't eventful at all. In fact, there weren't any words exchanged between the two of us.
Although thinking about it, it was to be expected since it was a normal thing between Yukinoshita and I, even in the clubroom we were like this on several occasions. It was a common thing but seeing the opportunity right now, I..
"By the way.."
Squeezing out the words with a firmer voice than intended, I made the girl walking beside me glance at my direction.
"How's your studies doing right now? The days you've been gone haven't hindered you at all, did they?"
Yukinoshita's small mouth opened slightly in reaction only to close again one more time, as if the question I just gave her has completely taken her out of her element.
"...Hikigaya-kun's openly worried about people... say, are you sick? Did you eat something spoiled?" In an amazing feat of mixing both mockery and concern in her voice, Yukinoshita softly asked back to me, her hand covering her mouth for emphasis.
"I ate nothing out of the ordinary, so stop asking me those things." I protested before the full realization of asking her that caught up to my voice and made it stutter. "Besides, I was just asking since.. you know.. it's been a while."
Saying those words to her, a flash of her quiet, flustered self from yesterday came to mind.
"Anyway," Forcibly brushing off the looming silence between us, I continued. "Honestly, I'm just trying to fill in the time while we're trying to get there. Well, you are the Yukinoshita I know so I wouldn't really need to ask you in the first place. Just forget what I said.."
Now that I think about it, this question would've been more suited to Yuigahama instead of a person like her. Well, it wasn't like I had time to think proper of what to ask her.
While I was busy resenting myself for acting this way towards her of all people, I heard a cough. Then another.
"I... I was good with today. I'm still trying to keep up with what I missed using the notes both the teachers and my classmates gave me but overall, it's going fine." In a reversal of roles, I was made to glance at her direction this time.
"Huh, is that so." Staring at the rare blushing face of the girl so called Ice Queen, I softly commented. "...That's good then."
"Yeah.."
The conversation ended then and there. The small talk we had was over.
Unfortunately for the two of us, there was still a long way to go.
A/N
I was about to start writing Chapter 12 a week after Chapter 11 but school stuff intervened which led to me feeling shitty and empty again. It's just not fun doing this when you're out of it. It usually takes me a month or so to post a chapter but yeah, 3 months+ this time again.
About the story Hikitani's referencing about, it's The World God Only Knows. My first and probably only 'harem' manga story that I really liked and loved, not that I've seen that many harem stories to begin with.
Was and still is a very happy Chihiro x Keima fan.
