Author Note: And I'm back everyone~. Took quite long to write this due to writer block. Also, thank you Takagi Akito for the help with this chapter.
Enjoy~!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN LITTLE BUSTERS!
My eyes fixed momentarily on a piece of paper before my hand robotically stamped it. I took another sheet from the paper mountain and stamped it without even looking at it this time.
This scene has been happening for the last 30 minutes and believe it or not, I'm doing it voluntarily. Why would I do such a troublesome thing, you ask? Well, because the person sitting next to me, doing the same thing as I am, commanded me to.
"...What?" Futaki-san turned her head to me as I stared absentmindedly at her.
"N-Nothing!" I answered while being somewhat flustered and goes back to stamping papers, perhaps to hide my embarrassment.
Her gaze stayed on me for a period of time, but then returned to her share of papers that is double the amount of mine. Now that I think about it, Futaki-san has always been a hard worker hasn't she? And beautiful too… Ah, I'm getting sidetracked.
She's the definition of an ideal student; a tough student with high responsibility and dedication towards her job as the Disciplinary Committee President. She's always focused when she's on duty and can be very harsh to achieve her targets. Any school would love to have a student like Futaki-san. I think that this thought also contributed when I made a huge decision yesterday that had led me to this situation.
So... yesterday, after playing shiritori with Haruka and Kengo, we waited until school time is over and called everyone so we could go to town and eat udon. Sounds random, yeah. Fortunately, everyone agreed and the Little Busters entered a certain building.
"Kyousuke, you sure this is a restaurant? The building is kind of small..."
"I'm not sure whether you could call it a restaurant or not but they do sell udon."
"Eh... what kind of place is this really?"
"A maid cafe."
"..."
"Let's go somewhere else."
"A family restaurant sounds good!"
"I agree."
"What?! Why must we go to a boring place such as a family restaurant while we can eat surrounded by maids?!"
"...Idiot, that's just your opinion. Only you would be delighted to be surrounded by maids."
"Shut up Kengo! Your opinion is biased due to your miko complex!"
"Who're you calling a mikocon?!"
"Now, now... rather than fighting, how about we settle this by voting?"
""Voting?""
"Yeah, we all should vote whether we should go to a family restaurant or the maid cafe Kyousuke recommended."
"Ohhh! As expected of Riki! Well, my vote is on maid cafe."
"How about you Kyousuke?"
"Definitely maid cafe."
"Kurugaya-san?"
"Maid cafe."
"Eh?! Seriously?!"
"Yeah. I like seeing cute girls cosplaying as maids... hahaha!"
"...Okay then. How about you Haruka?"
"I'm want to go to a family restaurant~."
"That's unexpected. I definitely thought that you'd choose maid cafe."
"Nononon. You're still an adolescent boy so your eyes might wander around if we go to a maid cafe."
"...I'm sorry for being an adolescent boyfriend."
"Yahaha~. You should only look at me, okay?"
"Yes, I understand. Kengo?"
"Miko caf-... that's not it. Let's go to a family restaurant."
"Alright. How about you, Kud?"
"Family restaurant, wafuu~!"
"Rin?"
"Isn't it obvious? There's no way I'd go to a place Kyousuke recommended."
"I'd take that as a vote to family restaurant. Komari-san?"
"Family restaurant sounds great~."
"And the last one is... Nishizono-san?"
"...Maid cafe."
"As expected of Mio! We definitely has the same interests!"
"...I would rather go to a butler cafe to tell you the truth, senpai."
"Butler cafe? But why?"
"I like yaoi."
"..."
"..."
"...Um, I vote for family restaurant. So family restaurant win by 2 votes."
"NOOO! THIS CANNOT BE! MY PRECIOUS TIME SURROUNDED BY MAIDS!"
"Hahaha! Take that you maidcon!"
"Haaa... such a disappointment."
"Say~... can we go eat already? I'm hungry~!"
"Haruka is right. Let's go to a family restaurant quickly."
"Okay."
"Yes."
"Uh huh."
"Sure thing!"
So in the end, we decided to go to a proper restaurant. Masato protested wildly while supporting Kyousuke's decision to go to the maid cafe, but most of the votes went to family restaurant instead of maid cafe so his protests are ignored. Surprisingly, Nishizono-san liked BL.
After filling out stomach with tasty udon, we went back to school and separated to our respective dorms and soon, rooms.
Then I collapsed onto my soft bed while Masato decided to vent his anger of not going to maid cafe by punching a nearby tree outside.
I drifted to sleep with the sound of fist colliding with wood as my lullaby.
As I wandered to dreamland, I instantly felt a weird sensation covering my entire body and when I opened my eyes, I found myself in my room, minus Masato.
I instinctively realized that I've crossed to 'that' world. I wasted no time and immediately contacted her phone number. Well, I've never asked for it but it is registered in my phone contact somehow.
"Futaki-san, yes."
"...Hah?"
"The answer to your question about joining the Disciplinary Committee."
"What's this all of a sudden?"
"I want to get closer to you."
"...Ah, i-is that so. I see. Okay then. I'll give you the registration form after lunch break later."
"Thanks."
"Shouldn't I be the one thanking you?"
"Hahaha. I suppose."
"See you later, then."
"Yes."
That's pretty much it. I've become a member of the Disciplinary Committee and the first thing she makes me do is stamping forms.
We've been doing this for almost an hour but she hasn't taken a breather. That is no good. I know that she wants to finish all this quickly, but it's also important not to put on too much weight to our body.
"Futaki-san…" I approached her with a glass of water and a smile. She seems to understand what I'm trying to do here.
"Thanks," she calmly took the glass and gulped the water down. After that, she fixed her eyes on me, as if expecting something from me.
The atmosphere is too tense here. Perhaps a little comedy would loosen it.
"Actually, I put some contraceptive pills in that water."
"HUH?!" She has bloodshot eyes. Almost like she wants to choke me. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
"Joke, joke!"
"…" Her fist greeted my shoulder loudly, making me cringe from the sensation.
"Sheesh. Quit joking around Naoe. Just focus on those paperworks in front of you." Seeing her sigh while rubbing her forehead, I couldn't help but grin sheepishly.
"Yes, Prez." Taking another sheet of paper on front of me, my right hand began stamping the surface of the white paper with renewed vigor.
"Please don't call me that. I don't like how it sounded." Futaki-san commented without slacking her hands that are busy working.
"All right, Futaki-sama."
"...Are you mocking me?" Sharp as an icicle, her cold words pierced my ears.
"S-Sorry." A weak sound escaped my mouth.
"Haaa... you're overflowing with jokes(bad ones at that). Why are you suddenly acting more enthusiastic than usual?" Staring at her golden eyes, I opened my mouth to answer.
"W-Well, I did say that I wanted to get closer to Futaki-san. How else can I do that beside interacting with you?" Her cheek lightly flushed with my answer, but returned back to normal immediately.
"I'm happy that you wanted to talk to me that much, but there are time and place for everything. And now is time for work. If you really want to talk, we can do that after finishing this. Understand?"
I nodded my head slowly.
After being lectured by the Disciplinary Committee President, I can confidently say that Futaki-san is amazing. How could someone become as charismatic as her, I wonder?
It doesn't matter right now though. There are more important things in front of me right now. Like that paper mountain.
...
And so, we keep on stamping forms and barely finished it a little after sunset. The sky has turned quite dark.
"Futaki-san, I think I dislocated my shoulder." The sentence flowed naturally from my lips.
Futaki-san laughed after seeing my reaction. "Naoe, now that you are a full member of the Disiplinary Committee, I won't cut slacks into your work. Remember that!"
"Yes..." I answered without any motivation.
"Where does all that vigor you had this morning goes to?" Seeing her smile jokingly, I laughed wryly.
We continued walking while chatting about random and minor things.
Step, step. The sound of our footsteps as we walked on the quiet autumn night resounded. Feeling the cold wind slapping against my face, I couldn't help but shiver from the chill.
"It's almost winter, isn't it?" I abruptly strayed from the topic we're currently discussing and commented.
"Ah, yes. Indeed."
Silence filled the air as I stopped my foot from advancing forward. Ignoring the strange look she's giving me, I began to form a question directed at Futaki-san.
"Futaki-san, have you considered how different your life would've been had you been born from another family?"
Her face turned serious, and with a frown on her face she asked back. "What kind of question is that?"
"Please answer the question. I beg you."
After few moments of hesitation, the muscles on her face relaxed slightly.
"I wondered about that too, every once in a while." Futaki-san admitted. "If I'm born into a normal household, how different would my life be? Would I have more friends? Would I be more sociable? Would I be more cheerful and open-minded? Would I still have these ugly marks on my skin? No matter how much I think about it, there isn't that much benefits to be found in my current life."
Pausing, she took a moment to take a deep breath. "But I won't change it. Even if someone presented me the chance to, even if I had the power to, I won't change it. I like my everyday life as is, and that is mostly thanks to you." My eyes widen considerably. For her to think of me like that... I could feel a certain emotion overflowing from within my heart.
"Naoe Riki, thank you for being here, for 'existing' in this world." Such a beautiful smile. My heart raced astoundingly, beating like there is no tomorrow.
I don't really love Futaki-san. I'm just doing this in order to put an end to all this mess involving parallel world. Or so I used to believe. But this feeling in my chest... can I say that I'm not actually in love with Futaki-san with a straight face? Can I really?
The answer is... no.
I'm confused. I'm having doubts about my feelings. Am I in love with Futaki-san? That can't be, right? Yet, I can't say surely that I'm not.
My head hurts. Dammit. Why can't I be decisive when it comes to things like this...?
Not noticing the internal conflicts I'm currently experiencing, Futaki-san stared at the dark night sky.
"I wonder what her name is." My thought process comes to a sudden halt. 'She'?
She continued her monolouge.
"...I remembered. A long time ago, when I was still a child, there is a certain person who is always with me. I don't remember much, only that we used to play together and that she had brilliant, shining sapphire eyes. We're quite close, like sisters. But she disappeared one day. I don't even know how or where. She just... vanished. No matter how much I searched in my memories, I couldn't find her name. Perhaps she is an imaginary friend created by my lonely self back then, or maybe she really did exist. I don't know. But I'm sure of one thing; she is important, really important to me."
While peering at my eyes, she continued. "The fact that I can't even remember her name is frustating to me. Extremely so. But alas, what can I do? It's not like she would appear out of nowhere and re-introduces herself to me. So I've given up. Well, enough of all that. Are you satisfied with my answer, Naoe?"
"Huh? Oh, yes." I answered, somewhat dazed. That person she's talking about is definitely Haruka. The Saigusa Haruka of this twisted parallel world who already died long ago. According to the mysterious 'Futaki-san', the Futaki-san in front of me locked most of her memories about Haruka deep inside her mind the moment she saw her sister dead body, and deeply believe the lie that her sister died because of abortion.
But it seems like she hasn't completely forgotten about her.
And to complicates the situation, 'Futaki-san' said that Futaki-san would most likely kill herself because of the shock when she found out the truth about her sister.
How can I solve this? Unlike before, the Little Busters isn't here. I could only rely on myself this time.
Without any answer coming to mind, I decided to put it off for later.
Under the cold autumn sky, we both continued walking.