A/N: I shouldn't be updating this so frequently... I haven't added onto the story in so long. And yet? There are certain chapters I want published before certain HC chapters. But also I like supplying NaYuri fluff.

Enjoy!

[Chapter 08]: Fatigue and a Fantasy

His mother didn't ask why he didn't want Kimito to see her, and since he didn't get much scrutiny or attention from the old man—no more so than normal—he guessed she hadn't told him about her either. Or she hadn't mentioned her by name.

Though Ayato appreciated that he could trust her at least that much, he had to silently admit to himself that informing Kimito of the identity of the student he walked home might have saved him some korokke and gruff passive-aggression.

"If you want more dinner, come home in time for it," Kimito had said simply. Ayato had only fifteen minutes of dinner and potato korokke indulgence before Kimito herded him into the workshop for training. Fortunately, dinner was quiet, and his optimistic thoughts had been correct—Kimito barely had an hour left in him before he gave in to his fading energy and called it a night.

Ayato stayed half an hour longer by his father's orders, but it could have been worse. It really could have been worse.

It got worse.

Kimito was the type of man to hold on to grudges. It took a couple of busy weeks, but after a particularly grueling Thursday, he managed to come home early in a fit of frustration. It only grew worse after Ayato took ten extra minutes coming home to talk to Yuri about the stifling July heat and her desire to go to the beach. Ayato had been taking another minute or two every other day, testing the waters and trying to inconspicuously stretch out his arrival time to see how long he could go before Kimito noticed.

That day, Kimito noticed. Fuming about the training time they'd lost two weeks ago and today, he insisted Ayato make up for it tonight.

"Your brother had a gallery full of work better than this by the time he was nine!" Kimito had barked, gesturing to the vases and dishware in the corner of the workshop. "This is an embarrassment!"

Ayato didn't get any studying done that day. The training was merciless and went on for hours; he didn't even get to bed until after midnight. Yet his father still woke him up early to tackle his chores. Ayato had tried to get them out of the way last night to save himself some time for sleep, but Kimito wasn't satisfied and somehow managed to find a part of the floor he had to sweep or some tools he had to clean.

He was really pushing it on time before Kimito finally freed him to go to school. The man brusquely pointed out that "you can make it if you walk fast," which, although running on fumes of sleep and no food, Ayato promptly did.

Yuri wasn't waiting for him by the time he made it to the fork in the trail. He was too tired to blame her. Honestly, even through his sleepy haze of despondency, he understood. Being late to school brought her unwanted attention and whispers. Besides, when her parents came home, they preferred to hear about perfect attendance and good grades.

But the more he thought about it as he sprinted to school, the more he worried. Which at least kept him from falling asleep in class, something he'd learned from Hejjiguchi never to do in front of their teacher. Thanks to Ami and her gossip-powered mind, along with his nearly-late arrival today, he no longer had the power of complete invisibility in that class anyway.

Instead, his thoughts kept him awake. What if Yuri thought he was hurt, and she had to think about that all day? She shouldn't have to be thinking about that. Now that it was July, she should be daydreaming about summer vacation and her birthday near the end of the month. Or even that trip to the beach she'd mentioned. It was like he'd told her before, he didn't want to be a burden.

Maybe instead, she thought he was just sick. That meant she might not be looking for him for lunch today. She might end up eating on the rooftop like she used to.

He considered waiting for her there, but since it was so warm out, there was a very good chance it would be too crowded for his tastes.

By the time History let out, his brain had ultimately decided that sleep was more important than lunch. Exhausted, he made his way on autopilot to the empty club room—though it was perfect weather for eating under the tree, the club room was closer—and passed out in the corner.

He awoke in the student council room, his head buried in his arms as he rested on the rectangular council table, to the sound of three other members chattering on the other side of the table without him. They didn't even seem to register the fact that he'd been sleeping.

Maybe he hadn't been sleeping there after all? He didn't remember falling asleep in this room, let alone in his chair. Maybe his memory was messing with him.

Brushing it off, he stood up and pushed in his chair, then eyed the other three appraisingly. As if that suddenly catapulted his presence into the room with them, they let their discussion die down and turned to him with expectant gazes. They wanted his input. And why wouldn't they? As current vice president…

Vice president?

Right. He didn't question the title for more than a second. He didn't recall becoming vice president, but then again he didn't recall being in this room either. He just was.

As he tried to piece together what they'd been discussing in this council room just now, he picked up the sound of footsteps in the hall. They had a soft patter to them that only a small part of him recognized, but they grew louder until they stopped just outside the room.

The door to the student council room slid open, prompting him and the three fellow council members to turn in its direction. Though he tried to conceal it, Ayato's heart skipped a beat at the sight of the person standing in the doorway.

Yuri Nakamura. But she was wearing a uniform that was entirely different from the usual female student's attire. How rebellious. Part of him recognized her, but for some reason he felt like in this situation they weren't entirely familiar with each other. She looked at him coolly, sizing him up as if he were an interesting stranger.

Giving her the same regard, he tipped his hat in respect as she approached him. "What can I help you with?" The words flowed out of his mouth naturally. He felt like he'd said them before. And the hat had apparently been around for so long that tipping his hat was a reflex.

A devilish grin played across her lips. That didn't look like a good sign. But the headband with the green bow suited her. Was it new? No, it couldn't be.

"We would like to reserve the mountains for a picnic this golden week," Yuri said, an air of authority and confidence in her voice. "Can we get the student council's permission for that?"

Ayato narrowed his eyes. One part of him wanted to let her have her way, but the other sensed mischief radiating from her.

"All right," he said at last. This conflict of mindsets had felt like a heavy weight on his chest, but now he felt a strange sense of calm as he turned to the council members. "Can someone bring me the event application form?"

"I'll get it," said one boy. Or he must have grunted something to volunteer, because the next thing Ayato knew—like a time skip—he was handing an application form and pen to Yuri. Another thing he didn't care to question.

"Fill this out and return it to me," Ayato instructed to this differently-dressed Yuri with her hand on her hip. "We'll commence a vote at the conference."

Yuri stared down at the form blankly for a second, then heaved a sigh.

"Whatever Mister Brain-dead NPC says." She took both paper and pen out of his hands and walked up to the whiteboard on the wall for support.

Ayato stared after her in disbelief, trying to contain his indignation but still raising both eyebrows at her. She had better be kidding about that non-player character comment! He was just as intelligent—and as sentient—as she was.

He must have zoned out while watching her, because a moment later a paper was being held out to him expectantly. Filled out and signed appropriately, from what he could tell at a glance.

"Here you go," Yuri said, beaming as he accepted it like she hadn't just tried to give him an existential crisis. "I'm counting on you to get it approved."

What an interesting character she was. He eyed her thoughtfully as she turned on her heel and sauntered out the door.

"I can't make any promises," he heard himself saying, and her only response was a lackadaisical wave.

Just before she pulled the door shut behind her, the room flickered into blackness.

After a couple of blinks, he was in the club room again. Less dead tired, but his price for a moment of rest was disorientation. But wait… just how long was a moment?

He bolted upright, heart pounding erratically, and checked his watch through still bleary eyes trying to make out the numbers.

"Relax. You haven't missed anything."

Sitting next to him with a half-eaten sandwich in hand, Yuri popped the lid of her Key coffee and guzzled it down. She sighed contentedly, refreshed and grinning as the drink entered her system. "It's about time you woke up."

"You could have woken me," Ayato countered, squinting and trying to register that she was really here with him. "I'd hate to stand between you and Key coffee."

Yuri frowned. "But it looked like you needed the rest."

Sighing, Ayato leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. That dream… it was disappearing already, but having Yuri here kept a few elements of it still clinging to his memory. He glanced over at her, tired but regretful.

"Sorry I didn't walk to school with you today," he said, feeling around for his lunch. "Morning chores kept me."

"Why are you so tired?"

"Kimito had me training for hours last night." Ayato tried and failed to suppress a yawn. "Didn't get to bed until after one in the morning. I can count the hours I've slept on one hand."

Yuri handed him her can of Key coffee. "Here. Maybe this'll wake you up."

"You know I don't drink coffee," Ayato said, taking it anyway. The smell of most coffee repulsed him; it was too potent. He couldn't imagine this canned drink she got from the school vending machine was any better.

"Yeah? Well, two weeks ago, I drank tea," said Yuri.

"Everyone drinks tea!" Ayato countered, giving her a dubious look. "And don't even pretend you didn't like it!"

She laughed at him, gesturing to the can he was waving in his hand. "Look, you haven't even had any yet and it's already got you all riled up and energized. Talk about a powerful stimulant."

He scoffed. "Please. You're my stimulant."

The silence that fell over them as Yuri stopped laughing—more like choked to a stop—was jarring. Yuri looked like she wasn't sure which one of them should be embarrassed, her expression wavering between startled surprise and an amused smile.

Well, he was glad she found the humor in it, but his face felt like it was on fire. The thing about fake-flirting was that if it was unplanned, it wasn't fake. He needed a quick distraction. Clenching his jaw, he averted his eyes. Then, to keep himself from saying anything else ridiculous, he took a generous swig of Key coffee.

It was sweet. Bitter. Admittedly invigorating. He could taste the appeal.

"I'm still a tea person," he told her, "but that is pretty good."

"I know. Give it back."

He handed it over, chuckling as she started guzzling it again. While she was distracted, he dug into his own lunch. The taste of coffee had reminded him he was running on an empty stomach. They might not have much time left due to his little nap, but he'd enjoy the rest with her while he could.

"So," Yuri said, frowning and shaking the can again in chagrin once she realized she was running dry. "What were you dreaming about?"

Ayato swallowed a mouthful of rice very carefully. Choking and blushing again would not be ideal, but the dream had involved her. Not something he wanted to confess to as a follow-up to his previous remark. She might start to think he was in love with her, and their friendship was complicated enough already.

"Nothing much. For a dream, it was pretty uneventful." He shrugged, deciding to keep it simple. "Except it was golden week and I was student council vice president for some reason, and you came to ask permission for—"

Yuri thumped his shoulder. "I don't need to hear your dirty dreams about me!"

"I said it was uneventful!" he shot back, scooting away and jabbing a finger in her smirking face. "Get your own mind out of the gutter, idiot. Don't we have better things to talk about? Like summer break and your birthday, for example?"

"Hm." Yuri looked considering. "What about it?"

What about it, indeed. Her parents had come home on the first of July and were planning to spend as much of her birth month as they could with her. He knew how happy she was about that.

"Well, what do you want for your birthday?"

Yuri tilted her head at him. "From you?"

"In general," he corrected.

She had to think about it for a minute, finishing off her sandwich. Then she did a small sighing huff eerily identical to the one in his dream. "I guess… just the company of the people I love most, and a trip to the beach."

Ayato blinked. "That's it?"

"I don't know!" She crossed her arms, crinkling her forehead. "The closer you get to your birthday, the more presents you forget you wanted all year."

"Oh, boohoo," said Ayato derisively, munching on korokke.

"You'll see." Yuri gave a dismissive wave of her hand, then checked the clock on the wall. "Almost time for class. Hey, speaking of which, has Ami given you any more trouble?"

At the very mention of the girl's name, Ayato uttered a long, loud groan, which made Yuri snort. He'd been lucky so far in not hearing anything from Kurimu, but that didn't mean much since she was shy. As it was, he could feel eyes on him at least once every day during his first class.

"Ami says Kurimu would talk to me more if I wasn't so intimidating," he said, prompting even more laughter from Yuri as she stood up. "They're passing notes, I think. She won't stop staring!"

"Which one? Ami?" Yuri asked. When he nodded, her grin grew wider. "Maybe she likes you."

"That's about as likely as Masuda failing a History exam." Ayato started gathering up his lunch before getting to his feet and following her to the door.

"Masuda's the only one besides you who even stays awake in that class. You must be pretty sure."

He closed the door behind them and they exited into the hallway.

"Of course I'm sure," he said, squaring his shoulders with eyes in hindsight unwisely closed. "Ami will get tired of this eventually because I'm giving her nothing to go on. But right now, the only thing in that strange, love-infested little head of hers is Kurimu and me…"

And then, a few feet in front of him, someone cleared their throat.

Ayato snapped to attention. Thank goodness that Yuri's Key coffee was still in his system, or it was possible he wouldn't have been able to open his eyes again. Though he was a little unsure of the person who'd brought him to a halt.

Souma Hejjiguchi stood in their path, his arms folded across his chest. He had a friendly grin on his face, but it seemed unnervingly shallow. Tentative.

"Hey," he said cheerily. "Naoi, right?"

"Yeah…?" Ayato narrowed his eyes, although vaguely attempting to be cordial. Much like the incident with Ami, conversing with other classmates was an irregularity. "And you're Hejjiguchi, if I'm not mistaken."

"That's me!" Hejjiguchi flashed him a thumbs up and wink. Oh no, he was one of those people.

"Is there something you wanted?" Yuri asked. Although he was sure she needed to get back to class, she wasn't about to leave him alone in the middle of a conversation with someone. He was too introverted for that. How he managed to find a friend like her in this disastrous life, he would never know.

Hejjiguchi switched his attention to her. "Hey, Nakamura!" he said, as if just noticing she was there. Ayato wasn't sure he liked the way he was looking at her. "My friends and I were just wondering… maybe you can help clear something up for us. What are you to Naoi? Are you his girlfriend?"

Yuri blinked twice before answering. "His friend," she corrected.

Ayato frowned. Why did Hejjiguchi ask her and not him about something like that? In fact, if he had asked him what Yuri was to him, he would have said "best friend." It seemed like a stronger, more fitting title for what they had. Since "blood bond" wasn't something they'd used in a while, and Hejjiguchi wouldn't understand anyway. He didn't want to waste his breath explaining their connection to someone like him.

"Okay. So you won't mind if I grill him about his crushes," Hejjiguchi said, sporting a mischievous grin.

Yuri quirked an eyebrow. "…Oh, you mean his undying love for Kurimu Aoki?"

"That's the one!"

"Yuri!" Ayato snapped his head around to gape at her indignantly. Blood bond and best friend indeed!

"Sorry, gotta get to class!" she chirped. Then, aside to him, she added under her breath, "Good luck falling asleep after this one."

With that, she patted him on the shoulder and brushed past Hejjiguchi. The guy glanced over his shoulder to watch her go, then, shaking his head, he turned back to Ayato with a grin.

"Buddy, I know we have class too—"

"So can we make this quick?" Ayato interrupted, though he wasn't sure why he was being so short with him. He'd chalk it up to a caffeine crash and sleep deprivation.

Another thumbs up from Hejjiguchi. "The only way I know how," he said smoothly. "I was going to ask you about your intentions with Kurimu, but I think Nakamura just made things pretty clear."

"That was a joke," said Ayato, feeling his patience wane. "You understand jokes, don't you Hejjiguchi?"

"Are you kidding? I love jokes." Hejjiguchi continued to smile. "Nakamura's a funny girl."

"Oh, she's hilarious."

"I like funny girls," Hejjiguchi noted, and Ayato bristled. It must have been noticeable, because Hejjiguchi's eyes widened a little. "Kurimu's funny too."

If it were possible, cartoonish question marks might very well have appeared over Ayato's head.

"Kurimu?" he echoed in disbelief. "She hardly even talks!"

"Sure she does. To me and to Ami." Hejjiguchi scratched his wild cobalt-blue hair while he spoke. "She's really spirited, y'know. Cool sense of humor. Polite and sweet, but she'll stand up to anyone."

Ayato scrunched his eyebrows together. "Are you trying to set me up with her?"

"Ami wants me to," Hejjiguchi admitted, frowning. "But I don't think…" He straightened up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, Naoi. She's not your type, and you should leave her alone. I know you might be like your dad, preferring girls who are meek and submissive, and sure, Kurimu's a good cook, but—"

Everything else after that dissolved into ringing static.

I know you might be like your dad…

…preferring girls who are meek and submissive…

He clenched his jaw and his fists so tightly his entire arms were shaking at his sides. Another baseball boy he would love to turn into a living baseball bat, or even the ball itself. If only.

This… this imbecile believed he had the same taste in women as Kimito! He said he was like him!

So he was right about what his classmates thought of him. Though that didn't explain why Ami wanted him to ask Kurimu out on a date…

"—even though Ami says that girls like mysterious, brooding smart guys—"

So that was why. If that was the case, why didn't she just go talk to Masuda instead? And stop bothering him. He wasn't some dangerous delinquent girls loved and guys like Hejjiguchi hated. Unless they were seeing something he couldn't.

Unless when they saw him, they saw a young Kimito Naoi.

"—just that I really feel protective of her, y'know, and I wouldn't want her to get hurt—"

Punch him, said a voice. His fist twitched in response. The voice sounded gruff, grating, and familiar. He's calling you violent. He thinks you're like your dad. Punch him.

Something flashed in his mind—a vision, maybe even a hallucination, or a dream he didn't remember.

He struck his first blow, straight to the boy's jaw. The second strike packed so much force that it knocked his classmate to the ground as he cried out in pain.

"You little—!" he heard himself growl, before sending a bruising kick to his ribs.

For a flicker of an instance, the vision had made him feel a compelling surge of dominance. He never knew a dream could make him feel like that. He never knew he could feel that powerful.

You aren't like him, you know.

He knew exactly whose voice that was.

I'm not like him. He unfurled his fists, trying to calm down and clear his mind. I'm not. But I will be if I hit him.

Hejjiguchi was wrong. Kurimu was meek and polite. She raised her hand in class and hushed Ami when she whispered too loud to her while the teacher was talking. She liked rules and animals and offering her friends sweet treats. Hejjiguchi was right about one thing—she wasn't Ayato's type.

But this lowlife needed to be punished somehow. Perhaps with nerves and mind games.

"I don't have time for this," Ayato said with a grunt, glancing at his wristwatch. He pushed past Hejjiguchi, leaving him agape and slightly flustered in the middle of the hall.

"Alright. Maybe Yuri has time for me?"

Ayato hesitated, then, and squinted over his shoulder to ask Hejjiguchi what that was even supposed to mean, but the boy had already dashed past him down the hall and rounded the corner.

Hmph. He really did make things quick.

Preview:

"You think you're funny leaving on a note like that?"

"If I figure something out, will you…?"

"He's as against the relationship as I am."

"They don't know you at all."

"Haven't you learned your lesson?!"

"Soon you'll be stuck with me for a whole summer."

"He needs to get some rest."

[Chapter 09]: Troubles of Troublemakers.