I don't see anyone naming the right person of the encounter. I wonder if my description isn't accurate enough? Is this revelation surprising? Anyway, enjoy the update and I will try for another update tomorrow~!
Pairings : Undecided
Warnings : Teikō Middle School Days.
Disclaimer : I own only the OCs.
Chapter 29 - Silence has a sound
The sun was shining down and there's hardly a cloud in sight on the rooftop of Teikō. Everything were in place, the usual lunch time. At least it should be.
Momoi as the mediator of the group kept on eyeing her somewhat unfocused bestfriend in her peripheral vision. It's been more than a week since the Teikō's Festival and her bestfriend had never been the same. The first few days, she thought it was due to fatigue but when it persisted, she knew there was something else.
"Yuu-chan... you're behaving weirdly this past week." she noted, her tone careful and concerned.
The addressed brunette flinched without meaning to. She knew her friend didn't mean bad and was throughly concerned for her well-being, but she wasn't sure she could tell her. Even more with the guys present.
"Y-You're imagining things, Sat-chan... I-I'm fine...!" she denied with a wry smile, looking anywhere but at the pinkette's searching gaze.
Of course Momoi picked up on this. Yume was never a good liar, which was a commendable trait as it meant she didn't have talent in being a bad girl. She narrowed her eyes, immediately suspicious as she leaned closer and closer to her friend, making the brunette uncomfortable and inching backwards from her determined gaze. It's even worse when everyone else joined in on the stare-at-Yume thing.
All except one.
"I'm not mistaken!" Momoi pouted petulantly, appearing like a kid on a tantrum. "I know how instead of progressing, Yuu-chan is growing to be more awkward!" she insisted with a frown.
Momoi didn't know what happened without her looking but it wasn't anything good for sure. Because the progress that her friend had taken somehow back-pedalled farther than she advanced. And frankly, this was troubling her.
Then she suddenly lifted a finger to point at a certain someone.
"Especially around Dai-chan!" she exclaimed loudly.
Whether it's on purpose or not, the two teens flinched considerably causing the wide distance between the two more noticeable. Neither was looking at the other. In fact, they weren't acknowledging the other's presence! When neither of the two was willing to speak, the de facto leader of the group took charge.
"Did something happen between you two?" Akashi asked with a curious eyebrow raised. At their stubborn silence, he continued. "Was it during the Teikō's Festival?" he guessed, quite sure he was right.
And right he was. The two teens tensed visibly and mentally cursing the redhead's sharp mind and panicking if he perhaps saw what happened. Akashi knew he hit the jackpot at their reactions and frowned at the tell-tale of red in the brunette's fair cheeks.
He sighed. "You two better solve whatever problem you're having because it's starting to affect the group's dynamic other then your individual performances."
Aomine stood up at this, his mouth opened and ready to retort. Only for the redhead to expect what he might do and react quicker than he did.
"You missed one lay-up during practice two days ago." Akashi noted, causing the tanned teen to flinch.
"You dunked when you're supposed to pass as you're told to." Midorima remarked grouchily, clicking his tongue in distaste as he was the player to have received the pass.
"Mine-chin bumped into that overly short ledge." Murasakibara recalled how the male was so absent-minded that he missed to duck when he usually knew when to.
As Momoi nodded in assent at every claims, confirming that it did happen, Aomine flinched at every mentions of his mistakes and stayed quiet while grumbling on the side.
Akashi then turned to Yume, ready to give piece of his mind. "You stacked two portions of the same documents together."
"You used a different font in your report to me." Midorima claimed, the routine was, a reserved font was used for him, since it's easier for him to read that way.
"Mana-chin forgot my sweets." Murasakibara pouted slightly at this, since he had always waited for the daily sweets he received from the brunette.
Whereas Momoi also nodded at this and sweat dropped at Murasakibara's response, Yume turned stiff from the critics and mentally scolded herself for being so unfocused that she slipped up her works, earning her the unwanted attention.
It didn't come off as a surprise that they noticed something was off with her since she was usually the type that double-checked everything and did her works carefully, leaving little room for mistakes. Since her focus was disturbed, this happened.
She tried hard not to think things, to forget. But it wasn't easy when the key presence was constantly in her vicinity, stealing her attention from what she was supposed to be doing. It also didn't help that the other party was trying too hard to behave normally that it came off as weird, invoking a chain-reaction.
*RINGGGGG*
Her thoughts were cut short by the 15-minutes-warning bell ringing, signalling the Student Council period for the day as well as the end of group lunch. She didn't even know if she was to feel relieved for this result.
"You will talk it out after school." Akashi commanded, intent to clear the awkward air soon. He didn't really tolerate any mistakes that could be prevented, such as theirs these past week.
As Aomine always was, he didn't take orders well and he clicked his tongue before leaving in long strides. He wasn't happy with how others were including themselves in what supposed to be between him and the brunette. It's true he wasn't the best problem-solver or even close to it, but he preferred what happened between him and her, stayed between both of them.
Having spent nearly all her life-time with him, Momoi understood his dislike of the situation and felt somewhat guilty for being the one to bring it up. But like Yume, Aomine was more of the passive type when he was faced with someone opposite of him. In this case, neither her nor him knew how to react. Which meant Newton's Third Law wouldn't be enacted, no-action-no-reaction.
The two needed that little nudge from third-party so that they would get moving. The slightest force would be the catalyst, and the rest would be up to them. He would be fine with the intervention later, she believed. It was necessary, she convinced herself before following after the tanned male to ensure he didn't do anything stupid in his irritation.
The next to leave was Yume, who was hesitant but felt responsible for being member of the Student Council, with Akashi and Midorima following closely behind her, silently observing her behaviours, and Murasakibara leaving last.
School ended earlier for Yume and her group of friends due to the basketball club activities being cancelled by the coach's order and her part-time work was pending due to the bookstore where she worked at was undergoing a renovation.
So came again the awkward air between the fair brunette and the tanned male, standing with a wide berth between them, both looking to the side where they didn't see the other and the frowning pinkette in the middle.
Momoi herself wasn't sure how to remedy the situation. Her childhood friend wouldn't like it if she interfered too much, and she knew she had done enough with what she did back at the rooftop. It would be better to just leave the two to their own devices. Unfortunately, she couldn't just leave the two without an acceptable excuse.
"Momoi, can you see me for a moment? I have few questions regarding the files you gave me."
That was her god-sent saviour, also known as the charismatic redhead President of Teikō's Student Council, Akashi Seijūrō.
"Sure, Akashi-kun!" she agreed happily, chirping even. She wasn't sure if he had the same ideas as her but all she cared about was merrily skipping away from the two estranged teens.
"Ah! Dai-chan, you make sure to escort Yuu-chan home without a scratch!" she turned briefly to remind her childhood friend who was about to say something about her departure, then escaped without turning back as she sauntered away to the redhead and disappeared into the building.
The advantages of knowing her childhood friend and bestfriend so well were that she could tell what actions they would take most of the times, although some deviations were still present. So when she had foreseen the disagreements regarding her departure, she took off before any of them could say anything about it.
And so, both Yume and Aomine missed their chance to refuse the pinkette's proposal as said female had walked away. After the absence of the loud pink-haired female, the silence felt much more real and suffocating. It would have stayed if not for the tanned male walking forward grouchily.
"Let's go." he spoke curtly, not really looking at the girl but listening to her footsteps to ensure she was following.
Her footsteps were slow and hesitant, showing her reluctance and heavy contemplation for following the boy in front of her. He waited for her to fall in steps with him, making them walk side by side in silence. Often they would steal glances of another when they thought the other wasn't looking.
Aomine wanted to tell her, that he was sorry. That he didn't meant what happened. That he wanted for them to be friends again. But the words died at his throat and he couldn't seem to open it up. He was irked because he couldn't say it. And this caused him to have the annoyed expression.
Was it any other person, he or she would have thought the tanned male disliked escorting his friend home, but not Yume. She instinctively knew that he wasn't annoyed at her but more of their awkward situation due to what happened. But she wasn't sure how to remedy the tension.
Fate seemed to have had enough with the two stalling thus a car came rushing by, splashing the puddle by the road from the morning's rain towards the teens and more specifically the girl who was walking by the sidewalk closer to the road.
Her hero was no other then the male she was walking with, clicking his tongue at the driver's careless stunt, he pulled the surprised brunette towards him, his back facing the road to cover her from the stray puddle splashes.
What he nor her expected was for them to be touching each other with their already awkward tension. Her face rested on his chest so close that it appeared the two were hugging from an outsider's perspective.
The contact had Yume recalling of the Teikō's Festival and the incident that happened, causing her to be extremely flustered and pushed him away from her without realising she did.
"T-Thank you! I-I'm going home f-first!" she squeaked her appreciation before dashing towards her nearby apartment.
The brunette reacted so suddenly and so quickly that Aomine didn't have the chance to see the expression on her face and as he watched her disappearing back, he grew irritated at himself. This was why his childhood friend called him insensitive! He could have done better, yet what he did raise the tension instead.
He could still picture her expression of that day, most probably the same expression she wore just now that he couldn't get to see. Her wide and soft limegreen eyes, her flushed cheeks and the tears in the corners of her eyes before she ran away like she just did.
While he already had developed interest in gravure magazines, it's his first time feeling a girl's chest, and he was as flustered and confused as she was. He didn't know how to ease the tension and to return as friends they were.
This accident caused the two to notice one another as the another gender, and avoid close proximity, while also constantly thinking the other's reaction on every little things they did. Of course, neither of the two was aware of this.
As the day rolled and the next day came, Momoi quietly noted how it was getting worse between the two instead of having improvement. This was beyond her saving. She exchanged worried glance with Akashi and knew the redhead understood her silent gesture.
When the time came for her to attend the Student Council, Yume secretly glanced at the boy she was having awkward tension with. At times like this, she really hated her indecisiveness. She wanted to talk to him, to sort it out like he wanted to. But she couldn't seem to take the first step like he did. It's worrying.
"Ne, Yuu-chan? Are you free this Saturday? Can we go somewhere?" Momoi cheerily asked her friend, a smile gracing her features.
School had just concluded and the two girls were walking out the classroom to meet up with the one boy they usually walked home with. Saturdays' afternoon, Yume normally worked part-time at the bookstore, but with the renovation, she was free all day.
With that in mind, she saw no reason to refuse her friend's invitation. What's more, it's a chance to relieve her distressing thoughts and what thoughts plagues her brain these days.
"Sure." she replied with a small smile, letting the pinkette took her arm.
Momoi responded with a grin that was somehow unnerving with a little hint of mischief that disappeared so quick that it seemed like a trick of light. Had she known what said female had in mind this time, Yume would have retracted her agreement.
Days to Saturday, there were not much changes between the two teens' awkward interactions and strained silence for the remaining days. It was apparent that they were trying and struggling fruitlessly to find and maintain the 'normalcy' they were in before.
Saturday came, and a lone brunette was standing in wait for her friend in the promised place. The pinkette was late, which was rare and almost never happened. Was the glint of mischief she noticed before real and this was it?
"Thank you, Daddy!" a little girl chirped happily as she took a bite of her vanilla ice cream.
The father of the child smiled in exasperation and adoration, his hand gently resting on her ribbon-adorned head. "Keep it a secret from Mommy, okay? She won't be happy knowing you sneak a snack before lunch."
He wiped the stains of ice cream on her cheeks, smiling lovingly at the giggling little girl. He then offered his hand, which she took. "Let's go, Miko-chan." he walked away, hand-in-hand with his young daughter.
The sight was nostalgic and almost sad for Yume, who was taken with the scene before her more than the other bystanders. What was her father doing right now? Did he miss her like she missed him? It's been... a while since she last saw him.
"...Yo."
The grumbling tone surprised her, causing her to turn sharply at the voice. And who else was it but sulking Aomine? He wasn't surprised to see her, he even greeted her like it was normal for him to show up here. Unlike her who was blinking in bewilderment at seeing him.
Ah.
This was what the mischievous glint was. It was the pinkette's plan all along. No wonder she was late when she usually wasn't. And another showed up in place of her. Really, that girl.
"Uh... I think I'm going home." she face-palmed, realising she had been played.
Yume didn't know what her friend did to convince the boy to be here when the two were avoiding each other still. They were childhood friend after all, nothing escaped the notice of the other when push came to shove. Apparently this was one of those times.
Aomine scratched his neck irritably, a scowl plastered on his face. "Let's just get it over with." he suggested with a tone matching his frown.
His recently started collection was on the line, and for it to survive fire, he had to properly escort the brunette. Which was why he was here. The nerve of that girl, to threaten what he had just began to gather with his meagre allowance. Just how did she know anyway?!
It was annoying. For Satsuki to meddle herself between her and him. He knew she did it for both her and his sake, but he couldn't stop the irritation he was feeling. At least he thought so. Until he saw the brunette he's been avoiding, the peaceful and slightly dazed expression she had as she waited for his childhood friend to show up. It's been a while for him to see that expression on her.
And it strengthen his resolve to make up with her. They might not be the best of friends, but he kind of like hanging out with her. So while this might be bothersome, he had to get it done.
Mentally berating her bestfriend for dumping her on him, Yume finally decided to give it a chance and follow after the grumbling tanned teen. Maybe what the pinkette had in mind was for the best. This had been going on for too long and like the redhead had said, it's been affecting all of them.
Unbeknownst to her, the tanned teen looked back at the father-daughter pair before secretly glancing back at her. He saw her watching them with unreadable expression and somewhat longing air.
He wondered what it was.
So yeah, how is it?
Reviews are very much appreciated!
Next time, will anything good come out of this outing for Yume and Aomine?
