What's this? TheFlowerWeSawThatDay has posted a chapter? PINCH ME I'M DREAMING!
Hello everyone! Been a long time, huh? XD But thank the Lord God almighty in heaven that I have found the time to write again! I won't make this all too long so you can get back to this chapter you've waited too long for (I'm not even sure if it was worth the wait considering my fluctuating writer's block and inspiration as I did this [which is why it took so long])
But well, it's here, there may be some corny parts, some may not be but well, THIS IS IT! ^W^ I really do hope it serves an enjoyable read! I'll do my best to keep on updating when I find I have the time. I'm aiming for a college that can get me a 6 month break so I could focus on this again ;w;
Okay so since I cannot afford (right now) to answer, reviews, I'll get straight to the point for everything. And since this is a chapter with half of it in the Karaoke, I made a list of the songs some of them sang for convenience's sake! 8D
List of songs:
Sugino – Kanade by Sukima Switch sung by Yoshitaka Yamaya (Sugino's voice actor)
Rinka – Soldier Game by Love Live (Maki Version)
Rio – Brand New Day by Numakura Manami (Rio's voice actress)
Manami – START:DASH by Love Live's u's (Honoka Version)
I know some of them don't belong to the voice actors themselves, but I really tried to look for songs that would sound like they come from a Karaoke and at the same time don't sound too far from the real voice actors (FORGIVE ME IF THEY DO NOT FIT I HAVE TRIED! ;w;)
Disclaimer: I do not own the great Ansatsu Kyoushitsu. All to Matsui-sensei.
I hope you enjoy! ^W^ LET US GO!
Chapter 26: What You Are To Me (FIESTA ARC! [Part 3: I've been meaning to ask you…])
"…We'd be connected no matter where we were." And with an exhausted yet relieved sigh, Sugino finished his song.
A round of applause broke from inside of the room as he put the mic away –faces were impressed as they clapped with courteous praise. The cheering was so much louder on the left side of the room, however – in particular, it involved a cheeky blonde and a peculiar brunette.
"Nice one!" Mai exclaimed as she raised a soda can to him in approval.
"Good Job! Here ya go!" Meanwhile, Rio had tossed his phone to him with a grin before taking a sip of her own drink. With that, as expected of a person such as her, she failed – rather, didn't care (because she found it amusing) – to notice how the baseball boy was only able to barely catch it – even panicking a little in his attempts to do so before he finally caught it and released an utterly relieved sigh.
"Wow! I'm impressed Sugino-kun." Manami complimented as she viewed the score of 90 on the TV screen with fascinated purple eyes. Beside her, Karma had on his trademark relaxed smile as he was lazily positioned on the couch – his head rested on his intertwined hands as his bent arms were on either side of it.
Although the rest of the members of the room continued to compliment him appropriately, their words fell on deaf ears for Sugino was too busy somewhat glowering at the golden-haired trickster who busied herself with her drink. Once she took notice of his unsurprising reaction towards her, she merely winked as if saying 'Good. Now you're secret's safe with me'– and he deadpanned at her antics.
What happened between the two of them?
It all started when the spiky-haired boy had been peacefully scrolling through his phone with an idiotic grin he did not know he had on whilst he did as Yuzuki sang (some song called . And that was when Rio, impish as she was, had to interfere with his peace and eventually found out just what he was grinning about. And as she expected, it was Kanzaki-related. From there, one thing led to another, and it ended up with the more mischievous between the two forcing the other to have to sing otherwise she'll have to tell everyone that he was looking through—
"Alright! Alright! I get it!" – was what he said as he blocked her running mouth with his palm from behind her.
With that established, it leads back here.
"Much appreciated…" Sugino finally said – looking to be quite dispirited as he sat back down just in time for their food to arrive. Despite this, not a lot of people paid too much mind to (or barely noticed) the strange behavior he displayed and settled themselves around the table to feast.
The table was packed with all sorts of common Karaoke food – mainly, there were drinks such as lemonade, iced tea and soda for some while the main course was pizza; with crackers, chips and dip, and other kinds of finger food that tasted better than they looked (except the dip) on the side. Of course, as they chowed down to their liking, it would be hard for conversation not to spring up between them.
"If I remember correctly, no one from our class came today, huh?" Yuzuki started before taking a bite out of her pizza – some disappointment laced in her casual tone of voice as she glanced at all assassination classroom members expectantly.
"Too bad, but I'm afraid so." Chiba replied to her "It just so happened that our cultural festival days were in sync with most of theirs. So it would be expected that each cultural fest would be at its busiest during its first day." He explained in the same professional manner he always did, but even his voice had shown signs of being letdown.
"Also, some of them have exams during this time of the year, so that explains the case of Hazama, Terasaka and Okano." Rinka added in the same fashion Chiba did as she took a few chips into her hand. Ah, Hayami Rinka; well-informed as usual. At this statement, some hums of disappointment had been released from around the table.
"Oh well, guess it can't be helped." Rio shrugged and leaned back in her seat quite blithely "Would've loved to know what the rest of them would've thought of ours had they been able to see it."
"You're more bummed about not being able to mess with any of them, aren't you?" Next to her, Sugino raised an eyebrow and felt a sweatdrop come down the side of his head, still a little peeved about what happened between them earlier. On the other side of the table, Yuzuki found something suspicious going on between the two of them and narrowed her eyes as she sipped on her drink – but soon enough, she told herself to shrug it off as nothing. For now at least.
"In any case," Karma chose this time to join in their conversation as he took his second pizza from the box "Earlier I was able to contact Nagisa and the others, and they said the rest of them can promise that next year we'll try to see what each of us have." The redheaded boy said this in the same style he always did so – with a carefree smile and attitude way too befitting of him. Yet at his words, some faces around the table brightened up.
"Well, there is always next time." Said the otaku among them with a shrug, but a contented smile; satisfied with that guarantee for now.
"Mhmm. Not to mention, we were able to earn the choice of having the entire cultural festival next year, so we'll have plenty of chances." It was then Manami decided to hop into their chat after she had finished eating entirely. She was never one to talk much whenever they had chatter as a group, so as a result, some of them somewhat forgot she was there for a second – along with their senpai who had silently yet respectfully listened to her juniors as they spoke to each other about matters that only involved themselves. She didn't mind it at all though; it was nice to be a mere spectator most times.
"Well, on that note," As smiles were brought to their faces, Rio chose to bring life back to the party by raising her drink to signal everyone for a cheers as they all exclaimed "Congratulations everyone!"
With a clank, the glasses of iced tea, lemonade and soda collided and were consumed shortly after.
Soon enough, more casual conversation topics occurred between them – from how good the food was for a newly opened Karaoke House to the convenience of having coupons that were able to give them a discount. Soon enough, the discussion had smoothly transitioned to their school nurse/Cultural fest coach who was to thank for everything they had that evening. How she must have had to go through some complications just to get them such and couldn't be more grateful for all she'd done.
"Mikagura-sensei's face was hilarious!" Rio commented as she tried to contain some of the laughter that threatened to come out when she looked back at the memory.
"Pft, I could never forget it." Yuzuki shared the same feeling with her blonde friend as they both had the memory flash back to their minds. Inari-sensei had brought their chemistry teacher/club supervisor's hopes up with the show of coupons in her hand, but shortly after the sadistic woman told her that she wasn't allowed to go with them for reasons that involve her issues regarding whichever man she may see there, and what she may end up teaching the kids had they been alone with her in such a place. Thus, Mikagura-sensei's expression of "Are You Kidding me?!" was priceless as ever to them– especially when she was told to attend a seminar in her stead as well as finish the paperwork she had left unattended. After complaints such as "The kids always have all the fun!" or "After all I've done for them!?" eventually Inari had to literally drag her body out of the room.
With that, they all laughed and jokingly made fun of their poor, single chemistry teacher.
In the duration of this, Manami could only listen and smile as they talked highly of her caretaker who was like family to her. She couldn't be more than happy to hear their appreciative comments about her, yet something about her smile and the expression in her eyes seemed to be a little glum – to which Chiba, had anyone been able to see, raised an eyebrow to. It was already a little strange how she wasn't reacting much to the playful chitchat, and observant as he was, this had caught his eye.
"Anyway; what about you, Isura-senpai? Any news on the upcoming elections?" it seemed the sniper was not the only one who had taken notice of this, but Karma did so too – Chiba realized this when he changed the subject. Absentmindedly, the rest went with the flow and diverted their attention to the older girl who had been quite subdued for the entirety of their celebration. She tilted her head in response to the abrupt question as she sipped from her drink.
"Oh yeah, you're running for president for next year, aren't you? How's your campaign going?" Sugino asked with enthusiasm and showed eagerness to listen along with all else in the table.
Mai set her glass down and energetically took part in the discussion "Everything's going swell so far~! But things are gonna be getting busy from here on out, so you won't be seeing me around much for the rest of the cultural festival." She crossed her arms at that statement as she thought about all the things she still had to deal with like paperwork and the whatnot.
"Is that so?" Rinka asked with an inquisitive blink of her eyes.
"Yup. There are a lot of things to prepare so I have to use my time wisely." With that, she took her drink again and sipped from it as if she were some CEO of a company. Peculiar, but expected from her anyway.
"Aah~, as expected of our hardworking Vice President." Yuzuki complimented, but was shot down by Mai with a somewhat sheepish smile.
"Now, that's too much. All I'm doing is what I'm expected to do. Nothing more than that." She smiled and faced them with her droopy, bright blue eyes as a calmed voice replaced her earlier energetic one.
A few moments of exchanging looks and humming with puzzlement were spent after such a statement, but seeing as that may just be her motivation for things, they went with it.
"Alright then, good luck with that, senpai."
"I'm pretty sure you'll do a great job at it either way, so my vote's already yours~"
"When you win, when are the new vending machines gonna be delivered?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
The brunette beamed at their encouraging words with gratefulness, yet remained humble as she said "Thank you, everyone. But in the end, it's the school's decision whether or not they want me as their president."
"That may be so," Rio shrugged and crossed her legs as she leaned back in the couch "But either way, I wouldn't mind if you became our student superior for next year."
"Neither would I." Chiba agreed with this as he nodded to the blonde who accepted it graciously "I think you'd make a nice leader. What projects do you have in mind?"
As this went on, Karma smiled at his success in his plan to divert everyone's attention as he listened and drank from his soda. While he did so, he sensed something like an aura of despondency to his left that was way too strong for him to ignore. Looking over, he raised an eyebrow at the eyeglasses-ed girl who gave off such a puzzling aura. She was smiling and spouting out things about being happy for her senior, but a smile of self-pity was plastered on her face. Finding this to be relatively odd even for him, he let his curiosity and concern get the best of him.
"Something up?"
"…Superior…" she said only above a whisper and lowered her head as if she were ashamed of something.
Mercury eyes were still on her as he was bewildered with whatever was going on in her head now. Manami, sensing that he was waiting for an answer for her, felt her shoulders tense as she clasped her hands together on her lap – it was as if some sort of dark bluish hue had covered half of her face out of shame for herself as she kept her sullen purple eyes to the floor.
"It's just that…Mai-senpai has a bigger chest than me…"
"Heh?" he wasn't able to stop himself on time before his eyes actually looked at the older brunette in the room. And she was right; that was probably a D leaning to an E-cup. And the fact he even thought about that for a second was enough to cause him to make his head collide with the table – but gently, so that he may not grab attention from the entire table and have them ask about it.
"K-Karma-kun? What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" Manami had some surprise in her tone when he did that – completely clueless as to why he had reacted that way. And because of this, he had to resist the urge to bang his head on the table even harder.
He lifted his face from the table – quite relieved how no one else had noticed this brief episode of his – as he released an exasperated sigh to regain his composure.
"Nothing," he brushed it off as casually as he could as he stood up and laxly placed his hands in his pockets – successfully masking his earlier flustered state "I'm gonna go get another drink." He announced before he made his way out.
"Oh, I could use one too." Sugino said right on time before he left. And with that, the two boys had departed from the room together.
Due to the suddenly hollow atmosphere that had come upon them by the boys leaving, they had agreed with having Rinka as their next candidate for the Karaoke machine. After much arguments, blackmails, and rather witty comebacks in certain arguments, one thing led to another and she had eventually complied– to much of her annoyance, repulsion and lastly, despair.
"Three, two, one, zero; Here's my intro. Please look at me; I'm completely serious
My thrilling beauty will win, without fail…"
While they enjoyed the show, it just so happened that the blond-haired life of the party had struck up another conversation with the bespectacled chemistry-lover sitting next to her "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, what was that earlier~?"
"Hm?" Manami turned her attention away from the singing sniper and toward her sly friend with a look of question in her eyes – prodding her to carry on.
"The one with the guy we beat the pride out of by that convenience store– what was that about?" Rio could not forget how she had improvised with one of the idiotic, bulky men they had encountered within their labyrinth. His actions in front of Manami – or 'Izanami' in this case – had, quite frankly, been surprising, but not more than what the raven-haired girl did to respond to such.
"Ah, that one." Albeit that, Manami answered in such a casual way she was even smiling as she explained "I was a little surprised with what he did, but I thought it would've been best to improvise instead of react." There was a sense of pride to her answer as her expression matched it as well. For once, Okuda Manami pleased with herself – and it didn't involve science.
At that, however, the blue-orbed girl had to suppress a sigh as a sweatdrop formed behind her head. She must've been so immersed into the role that she must've seen nothing odd about the show she had put on. Nevertheless, she brushed it off and gave her an expression that said something along the lines of 'Bravo'.
"Heh~? Well, you did a great job at it, if I can say."
While the Poison Glasses thanked the girl for her flattering remark, the proud chuckles of Fuwa Yuzuki had come to earshot and interjected in their conversation.
Both girl's heads were turned – and their eyes were first met with the mangaka wannabe herself with her chin resting on her thumb and index finger, which was similar to how a classic, mischievous detective would pose.
"Someone looks proud of herself." The blond mused – Yuzuki responded to this with a pleased 'Hmph.' before she sat back and crossed her legs with sass whilst turning a pair of chopsticks in her hand.
"Why, of course. I was the one who told her about that trick in the first place."
"Mhm. Thank you, Yuzuki-chan." Manami raised her thumb and exchanged a nod with the coconut-haired girl after a brief high five. Nonetheless, Yuzuki's moment of gratification had been cut short when a suspicious hum of amusement had emitted from the cheeky trickster's (the only one in the room, at least) direction. Sensing this to be something fishy or yet another aggravating comment of hers –probably the latter – she raised an eyebrow with a slightly annoyed look in her eye.
"What?"
"Nothing much. It just makes sense coming from you." She knew it and she still took the bait – but it was a good thing the sound of clapping and her senior's applauding of Rinka had blocked out the sound of her breaking the chopsticks in her hands in her agitation.
"I think I'll go to the bathroom…" Yuzuki suppressed a grumble as she stood up from the couch – leaving some broken chopsticks on top of the table without sparing the nosy blonde a glance. She prepared to head out, yet had been stopped by the eyeglasses-ed girl on the way as she told her she would come with her as well.
When the two were out, a brief silence had settled with the remaining members of the room shortly after compliments of Rinka's singing were exchanged. Albeit not saying anything, all knew they shared the same, disconcerting feeling of being merely three left in a room that had seven. Not wanting this to go on, it was Mai's turn to start a conversation.
"Oh yeah! I've been meaning to ask you about how your marketing had went!" she said in the regular jovial tone she had always used and leaned forward a tad to properly show her curious, blue eyes to the younger students around the table "It was a little bit of a surprise to see so much customers in one day. How did you manage to do it?"
"Yeah, we were pretty shocked ourselves." Chiba answered from across the round table; and despite saying it with that usual demeanor of his, his tone of voice did not hide his own, however mild it may be, astonishment to the subject. "I didn't think that much would show up; even with the indirect advertising Karma told us about. Still a little puzzling to me, really." As he said this, he recalled the explanation of the redhead regarding their so-called 'indirect advertising – that the bloodlust they showed them, the betting feature of their attraction, and of course the response of their audiences to these will be enough to let even the smallest groups spread the word for them.
"Mm." small sounds of quizzicality came from the two snipers when they were replied to with the swinging of brown hair coming from the girl that shook her head with a tuneful hum. "That's not really what I meant. The amount of people that came was all due to your undeniable efforts. I was talking about the large amount of male customers you had throughout the day." Her blue-orbed stare brimmed with innocent curiosity that tried to dig them for answers any explanation towards that peculiar fact.
"Come to think of it…" Rinka immediately felt uneasy at the older girl's statement – not because of the oddity in it, but because she already knew who was responsible for such. With that, she didn't even take a second of thought before glaring at the blonde seated next to her wearing a smile that defined her mischief as her arms were crossed rather triumphantly.
"Nakamura…" the way the pigtailed sniper had worded this out could be easily compared to a kettle at its boiling point. The name she said seethed like a metal pot over a campfire – which was the flare in her eyes.
But even with this threatening look of hers, Rio kept herself unfazed and flashed the three staring at her with a toothy grin "It's called FANSERVICE~!" this baffling explanation had been followed by a picture in her phone of an overfamiliar braided girl wearing what looked like a cosplay of Dorothy from Wizard of Oz – but the pose she had in the photo appeared to belong more to a magazine model rather than an innocent tornado victim from Kansas.
It took a mere second of peering at the photo with wide, bug-eyed expressions before jaws were dropped.
And while Isura looked amazed at this, Rinka looked like she had been betrayed. Chiba, on the other hand, was just plain shocked to see it.
"What was that about? The one Rio-chan talked about, I mean." Yuzuki started from another cubicle in the girl's restroom just next to her friend's. Though she excused herself from the room to calm her irritation at the blonde's annoying comment about her lov—infatuatio—thing about a certain someone. After she had disposed of a tissue she used to wipe the seat and flushed the toilet, she at last heard the girl's voice respond from the other side.
"Hm? Well, it wasn't anything, really. Just like you said, Yuzuki-chan; I have to be able to cope well with whatever situation that happens. So I thought of that." Manami said this rather cheerfully just as she unlocked the door of her cubicle and proceeded to the faucet.
The brunette came after her in no time at all and positioned herself at the next faucet to wash her hands with the other girl "But I heard you said something like 'Return to me when you have proven your worth, and I will eagerly grant you that honor with great rewards' or something…" she attempted to imitate the Izanami act Manami had pulled earlier, but in a more humorous manner as she said it rather hastily and with less seriousness. "Were you really serious about that?"
"Eh?" Manami met her quizzical stare with a pair of innocent yet bewildered purple eyes "But isn't that a little like advertising?"
At that, Yuzuki's head fell forward with quite an amount of force as her forehead nearly collided with the faucet. "Really; I think someone needs to give you a formal lesson on context and choice of vocabulary…" she sighed in exasperation when she lifted her head again to meet her own deadpan expression in the mirror.
Hearing this, the bespectacled girl stifled a sheepish laugh as drops of sweat came down behind her head. Since there was no use in correcting her about it now, instead, the aspiring mangaka let out another breath of air and gave the shorter girl a friendly smile as they left the comfort room "Well, whatever. You still did pretty well under that situation. So I have no complaints about what you did~"
A few more thank-you's and other compliments toward each other were exchanged until they finally made it back to their Karaoke room – only to find that there were only two left inside; with one of them singing as the other cheered in a way too energetic fashion.
"The world is calling for us! So if we just jump in it will probably be alright!
Today begins, It's a Brand New Day!"
Rio had just finished her short song by the time her other two friends had come back into the room fully. Mai clapped with a very impressed shine in her eyes for the blonde as she spun the mic around her hand; proud of her result of 97, no less. Meanwhile, Yuzuki didn't take the time to congratulate her (considering she knew too well that Rio was a genius next to Karma), she instead asked "Where'd Chiba-kun and Rinka go?"
"Out to order some more food." The golden-haired girl replied before falling back down to her seat in a lax manner.
"I see." And the conversation ended there for minutes. No one needed to question why they had gone together – and really, there was nothing more to talk about the two of them.
After moments, of comfortable silence as all four girls were seated and sipped their drinks, a realization had hit their blonde life of the party who sat up excitedly "Oh yeah! Manami-chan, you're the only one who hasn't tried yet, huh? You wanna give it a go?" Rio encouraged (even though she asked politely, she most likely would have found some way to blackmail her into doing so).
The petite girl blinked in mild surprise at what she said. "Well…" she looked to the side for a moment to ponder on that idea. True enough, she hadn't even thought of giving it a try for the whole time they had been there. She wasn't really one that would join in on these kinds of things. But considering what she was able to pull off in today's Cultural Festival, she felt a bit of confidence form within her. A few more moments of thought had been spent, but she eventually answered with "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try."
It didn't take too long for Manami to choose a song and prepare herself to sing. Despite the nervousness she felt forming somewhere deep down her stomach, there was something about her today that didn't feel like her usual self for once – like the cultural festival's effect on her still remained, and she wasn't scared of messing up now.
Taking a deep breath, she listened as the introductory piano tune played from the speakers.
As she prepared herself, the other three had engaged in a mundane chat about how good the sound system was; even giving some comments that would usually be said by professionals in that field.
But that was until they heard Mic Feedback come from where the chemistry-lover was as she was just about to sing.
"Guess we spoke too soon." Rio put the other two's thoughts into words – using a sarcastic smile that obviously hid her disappointment.
While the intro to the girl's song still played, Yuzuki had to suppress her laughter to avoid being too rude "So much for nice sound quality."
"Guess it can't be helped, it is new after all." Mai said sheepishly – she felt the need to be considerate of the building's faults for the other two were tad bit harder to please than she was.
"Yeah but—"
"Even newborn baby birds will be able to soar through the sky one day! They'll fly with great and strong wings!"
Their chatter had been cut short once the unexpected singing voice of their poison-loving friend had come to earshot. Three pairs of blinking eyes could not tear away from where the sound had emitted – they're expectations (or lack thereof) were blown off the rooftop the longer they listened to the surprisingly gifted singing voice of the introverted girl.
Manami, on the other hand, was too engrossed with her performance to even notice what she was doing – it was just like how it had been in the Cultural Festival; only, it came more naturally this time.
"I believe in you, so you should START!" at the final note, she breathed out all of the tension in her body and lowered the mic from her face. Afterwards, she wiped some of the sweat from her forehead and let a smile saying 'All in a day's work' stretch on her face when she faced them.
"That was fu—"
"Manami-chan!"
"Hm?" she took a second to what all of them were staring at behind her, only to share the same shock as all three of her friends when she found the number 98 on the screen. "Wh-Whaaa—!?" her entire body looked like it had just been electrocuted as her eyes grew wide enough to make her look like a bug – with the added effect of her braids comically standing up like antennas.
"Since when did you ever have that kind of a voice?" Rio teased; her astonishment by the result of her timid friend was still clear on her features, nonetheless– especially since it was a point higher than hers. Now that's kind of record-breaking; especially when you're talking about someone like Okuda Manami.
"I-I-I – I didn't!"
"The results say otherwise, though." Yuzuki joined in and spared a few more blinks at the screen that now read 'GOOD JOB! YOU'RE A SINGING SENSATION!'. If it hadn't been for her amazement, she would've jeered mercilessly at the font and the colors on the screen.
"Did you ever have voice lessons in the past?" the braided girl's prankster friend raised an eyebrow to her direction with a inquisitiveness in her eyes.
Far from recovery from her shock, Manami spluttered out in reply. "I-I never have!" She looked down at her index fingers and tapped them to each other as she explained the memory. "A-Although m-maybe I did participate in a musical about toys back in elementary; b-but all I did was play as a bowling pin in the background so…" It was almost as if a thought bubble of that school play had hovered above her head and played the pitiful scene for her blonde and brunette friend.
'What a sorrowful stage play…' Yuzuki and Rio shared the same thought in their minds as drops of sweat went down their heads.
"I think I got an idea!" all three heads turned to their senior whom interjected – her finger raised in eureka as her blue orbs had a hint of enthusiasm to them. Using the same finger she raised, she pointed at the shortest girl among them "Why don't you sing in one of the finale performances at the Fiesta's Closing Ceremony?"
"Heh?" all three former assassins said in unison – with equal disbelief on their faces as they tried to process what Mai had just said.
"Wait a minute, Isura-senpai, why so suddenly…?" Rio questioned with a tilt of her head and the furrow of her eyebrows. "I mean…Not that I'm saying anything's wrong with that, but isn't that a little too hasty?" she didn't have to elaborate to get her point across – it was just one song out of a Karaoke machine, after all. To make a decision like that just because of it would probably be much too reckless and short-noticed– even if it did sound good. And there was also the question of it being something her friend could manage to do with the time given.
"I was the one who did it last year, but since I have a lot of responsibilities to worry about due to the coming elections, the Student Council is still in the middle of looking for a new vocalist for its usual last-day band performance. Since it was a little late to be announced, it's caused some complications with the scheduling of the festivals ending program. But with what I've heard today – and not just for convenience's sake – I think you'd fit the job. That is, if that's okay with you." After a brief shrug, she raised a thumb to her for more encouragement with the added effect of a wink. "After all, you must've gained some confidence after today, right?" she added that last sentence with knowledge of how the younger girl would usually react.
It took a short while before a reaction came as the three seemed to contemplate on the offer – though it was the girl who had been asked herself that looked the most pensive on this matter.
"Well, what do you say?" to Manami's slight surprise, it was Yuzuki who asked her this question. But she didn't have an encouraging smile on – instead, she looked at her quite blankly.
When she looked over to Rio, she was also giving her the same expression – though her eyes were lazy and half-lidded, they were expectant. They weren't giving her a sign that they wanted her to do it, but nor did they give her a sign they were against it. And then she understood; she had absentmindedly looked to them for approval, but no one was pushing her to make this decision. It's hers now. It must've been because of the pressure they knew they put on her when she was voted to be the main star of their Cultural Fest–they were trying to make up for it now.
Despite how uptight they were with her role, despite the practices that went for hours and their perfectionist standards, they still felt for her. Her expression softened – honored by the opportunity she'd been given.
"Do you really think I can?" this response had her two clubmates exchange a contented smile with one another – like they had some silent agreement.
"Hmm…"Mai hummed as she took a moment to think about her answer – but really, it was all just for the suspense effect (that failed eventually) "If you're set on doing it, you'll do just great."
The amount of happiness the braided girl had felt wash over her was enough to light up her face under the already well-lit room. Gratefully, she told the older girl,
"Thank you, senpai."
Meanwhile, the other two of the former Class E shared another smug look to each other as they high fived. Not because they knew she'd say yes, but because they were proud of the drastic change that had happened to their bespectacled friend. It was so much different from all the months before this day – heck, she was even more confident than she was back in class E when she asked their teacher to drink her poison.
Just as they were about to go and join their friend in her ecstatic talk with Mai, they had not realized they were standing by the door until it hit them from behind– literally.
The two stumbled forward and were mere inches close to hitting the table full of glasses and empty pizza boxes. Luckily they found balance with their assassin-like reflexes and jumped away in time, but this soon resulted to another disaster when Rinka had bumped into a very startled Yuzuki. This then led to the sniper stepping back on impulse, which caused her to bump into Chiba whom held onto hot Pizza boxes, and for the tray of plastic cups in her hold to spill, fall off the tray, and splash their fizzy, sticky contents on the floor and onto the legs and feet of those near it. The shabby-haired boy reacted way too fast to this and ended up lifting the pizza box to avoid anyone from getting burned by its heat – little did he know the box had not been so secured by the Karaoke's staff.
The last thing Rinka's emerald eyes saw was a round piece of dough fall down in front of her before it splatted to the soda-soaked floor – splashing even more of the sticky substance to their legs.
Seconds of stunned and agonized silence had been spent gawking at the mess on the floor.
"Karma, do you even know what mercy means?" all a very exhausted Sugino got as an answer was the mock-innocent smile of the demon known as Akabane Karma as they walked down one of the hallways right after they had gotten their refilled drinks from one of the drinks counters.
"If you're faced with something as tragic as that, it's hard not to wanna make it cry." He said such an evil set of words so casually it sent a small chill to the spiky-haired boy's spine – he could even feel a drop of cold sweat by the side of his head. But as much as he would hate to admit it, a big part of him was glad the redhead did that. If he hadn't, who knows how much longer they'd be held up in line waiting for that group of teenage girls to stop being too flirty with this one guy that looked like every other prissy goofball that was too full of himself – which is why the sadistic boy had referred to him as a sorry piece of 'that' in his last statement.
Sugino heaved a heavy sigh and just let it go. He was just glad he intervened before Karma could completely crush his pride and dignity into pure nothingness.
It had so happened they had both chosen to settle outside by the entrance of the building for some peace and quiet. It seemed they had shared the same wavelength – it was like they silently agreed to have a brief respite from the liveliness inside. Despite being two of the most athletic among the rest of them, it couldn't be denied that they were still tired from their activities earlier in the day.
The taller one of the two boys sat himself on the top-step of the stairs next to one of the post that held the canopy above their heads. His arm was extended behind him in the cool and lax fashion he always carried himself with as the other was used for his drink. Sugino stood by the post on the other end with his hand in his pocket as he kept his eyes locked to the forever-crescent moon glowed amidst the dark clouds.
For a short while, there was only the quietness brought about by the evening – the cars which seldom passed them by had brought quite the peaceful resonance; much like how they would when a strong shower of rain would end. Within this brief, calming period of time, Sugino had taken the chance to relax, yet also delve into some thoughts he'd had in his head for a while now.
"Y'know Karma, somehow…you've changed."
The abrupt statement was enough to make the redhead cease to consume his drink and look to his direction with calm yet quizzical, mercury orbs. "That so? Though, I don't think I've done anything too different for you to think that."
"Nope. That's not it." Sugino shook his head "Something about the 'you' now's different from the 'you' earlier in the year. I don't exactly know how to put it, really…" in thinking of the proper words, he used his free hand to rub the back of his head. "But somehow, it's like you started taking things seriously again." With a smile, Sugino looked back at the redhead – whom only appeared stolid to this as he scoffed.
"It's like you're saying I've done everything half-assed until now." He leaned back even more on his arm and apathetically looked at his half-empty drink.
"I'm not gonna lie to you about that." The sports-loving boy joked and smiled; nodding in agreement at his own words. Karma's eyes remained half-lidded and impassive, but that remark had him raise his eyebrows at the other as they both took a moment to drink from their cups once more.
"Did something happen in summer?" Sugino continued with curiosity clear in his tone, but Karma waved his hand at his friend's innocent inquiry to brush the topic away before it got into something he wouldn't be very comfortable talking about. So, smooth as he was, he changed the topic.
"It's no big deal. In any case, you were almost a complete no-show the entire break; so I should be asking you that question."
"Ah – I didn't get to tell you? My team had a championship for the National Semi-Finals."
"Oh, so you made it?"
"Yeah. We're heading for the finals this spring. It's been a real pain though. We rarely ever have enough breaks anymore because of all these games, so it's been getting a little exhausting." The exasperation in the way he said those words could not be missed – it was even backed with a long and heavy sigh afterwards.
Though having said that, Sugino managed to get another optimistic smile get back on his face "Well, guess that's just the price of big dreams."
"Hehh…So that's how it is." Karma responded laxly, but contemplated on his friend's words – which made it look like the ice inside his plastic cup was the most interesting thing in the world. Shortly, he moved his eyes from there to the crescent moon that proudly glowed and transcended the dark night clouds. "You look like you've got your life planned out…"
"Did you say something?"
"It's nothing." He brushed it off nonchalantly once again and let the two of them drift into another silence as he drank from the rest of his cup – giving Sugino more time to continue pondering on their conversation just now. When he at last arranged his thoughts, he raised his inscrutable stare back to the biggest reminder of his last year of middle school – the moon.
"Does it bother you how normal we've become?"
The subtle sound of ice from inside the plastic cup of the red-haired boy was an effect of him stopping his drink midway to spare the spiky-haired baseball boy a glance – something about what he's trying to say got enough of his attention to listen again.
"After all that's happened, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I mean, arranging a cultural festival event, succeeding, then going to a Karaoke joint to celebrate it…it's all so normal, at some point it actually bothered me." The tone in his voice was as placid as a still lake – lacking its usual valor and energy unlike the sporty boy he was. It was like there was a sense of maturity to it as he voiced out his philosophies.
Noticing this bout his friend displayed, Karma felt a sense of amusement. Whether it was the fact it was rather out-of-character or just his sadistic side enjoying the distraught of this normally happy boy, he didn't really care as he said "Heh…hearing that from you is unexpected."
Sugino raised his eyebrows "What do you mean?"
"You were the most average middle school student in all of class E and Kunugigaoka, and yet here you are telling me you're bothered about how normal things are. Wouldn't you think that's ironic?" as he spoke about this, it was as if some memories of himself from last year resurfaced. The times when he was simply playing baseball, talking with friends, and reacting in the most predictable ways – and he had to admit that his redheaded friend had a point,
"When you say it like that, it actually kind of hurts…" no matter how bluntly he put it. But such tactlessness could simply be excused by the fact that he is Akabane Karma. His bluntness shouldn't surprise anyone. Establishing that afterthought, he breathed out a sigh. "But…you do have a point."
With another heaved breath along with the wide stretch of his arms upward, he regained his natural, spirited self and rested his knuckles to his sides the same way an idolized superhero would "The world works in mysterious ways, huh? It doesn't quit spinning either. Earlier, my bloodlust felt so real it was actually refreshing to feel. But that too came to an end huh? How merciless." He said this as if he were telling a joke, but anyone would be able to tell that it was a way to try to get rid of the lingering gloom he really has thinking about that. But even still, he managed to smile up at the sky to see how the clouds no longer covered the crescent moon.
"And yet, a big part of me feels like things are okay like this. Living this way probably isn't as bad as the one I agonized over when I graduated last year. Which is why, I've been meaning to ask you…" Sugino looked back down at his friend with a goodhearted smile – to which Karma returned with a nonchalant look.
"Judging from how you've changed, you're starting to be okay with it too, aren't you?"
It took some time before Karma could put together an answer to a question such as that – and there was the fact he wasn't the type of person to engage in too many conversations such as this one. But in the end, he responded with"…'Okay' wouldn't really be the term I'm looking for. But…I have no complaints either." And just like that, he soon continued to finish the rest of his beverage like nothing new happened.
Despite that answer, Sugino knew him long enough to see that he was serious with his answer (even though he really didn't) and managed a small smile "I see. We're growing up, aren't we…?"
Just then, Karma was reminded of a similar time back then – a talk with his best friend that probably harbored almost the same feelings the sports-loving boy probably had at the moment.
"I…kind of want to grow up soon…"
After a blink, he brought himself back to reality, slowly lifted his head, and faced the moon together with his friend. A short gap of time had been spent on silence. The two carried on with whatever reminiscence they were going through. No words were exchanged, but they both noticed it –maybe it was the feeling of the bloodlust returning or the truth and realization they had been stuck thinking about their lives in and after middle school for far too long that it's become old; but it didn't bite the heart as much as it did before.
"Guess so." with that late reply, Karma removed himself from his seat and prepared to make his way back inside. A cup in his free hand and lax composure returned, he walked back inside "If that's that, I think we should be heading back by now, no?"
Even without a response from behind him, he proceeded to make his way back to the lively room where their friends were…
…supposed to wait for them. Until some familiar voices reached his ear coming from the left of the wooden-floored hallway he was just about to walk into from the front lobby – where he remembered the bathrooms were. Finding it odd that there were too many female voices he recognized outside of the room they paid for, he stopped walking just a split-second before the group came to view from where he stood. In the single second he was able to catch sight of them, he observed that there was a buzzing topic amongst them judging from the cheery (or for the case of other less expressive ones, positive) faces they were making. He could make out the words 'song', 'closing ceremony', and 'wasted food', but not long before he could ask them about it, purple eyes caught a glimpse of him and immediately grew brighter than they already were.
"Ah! Karma-kun!"
"Mm?" he hummed out of question and raised an eyebrow. But before he knew it, the last thing he noticed was her running rather too enthusiastically towards him thus causing her to trip on some toilet paper left in her shoe just before she could. And then it all happened way too fast for anyone to react on time. Panicked purple eyes met with confused and taken-aback mercury ones before everyone else' attention had been seized by a set of loud thuds upon the hollow wood-planked floor.
"What was that?"
"Did something happen?"
And other remarks of the like were made as Rio, Rinka, and Mai, who were heading back to the karaoke room last, peeked from the side of the doorframe. Even Sugino, who had been peacefully left outside, sharply turned to the commotion in impulse.
It only took two seconds for everyone to give their own reactions – with the infamous blonde looking like an excited five year old as she exclaimed "Hah!", Mai appearing to be astonished by the scenario as if saying 'Nice!', and the other two being just plain shocked to the bone.
With his back on the hard floor, Karma hissed through grit teeth and tightly shut eyes at the pain of colliding to the floor – especially with the back of his head first with and the rest just following. He felt some weight on his chest which was vaguely familiar for a moment until it vanished. By the time he recovered enough to open his eyes as wide as a squint, registering the overfamiliar, chemistry-loving girl's braided hair immediately shot a shock to him. His commonly narrow, calmed eyes were now wider than a bug's even when it's about to get killed.
"O-oww…" there Okuda Manami was, with one hand keeping her steady on the right side of his head while the other was used to rub her head, and her knees half an inch away from coming in contact with the sides of his waist – and like a miraculous coincidence, her face just happened to be hovering perfectly above his in the position she got themselves into.
While Karma remained unmoving since he realized this, the other had not appeared to notice just what situation she had just caused for them in a public place such as a this one.
"Ah, oh yeah! Karma-kun!" as if she just remembered something after recovering from the fall so fast, she slammed her other hand on the left side of his head looking excited to tell him something she looks sure he'll be happy about – but that actually only made things worse for him and doubled the tenseness in his muscles from the sudden action.
"You know what! Mai-senpai just said I was allowed to…" on the other hand, Manami didn't seem to mind it at all as she kept on rambling and rambling like all the time in the world was about to be lost the next day. None of her babbles reached his ear, however, as he remained frozen and – whether he hated it or hated it very much – he could feel the blood rush to his face. It was slow, yes, but he was sure it was there while his expression remained the same.
When he felt his eye twitch from how unbelievable this entire thing was, he knew he'd had enough.
"And then they were telling me that maybe I should choose one song that I should be comfortable doing since I'll only have a day or two to practice but – mmf?!"
"Okay! I get it!" right after he grabbed her face to shut her up with his palm, he used his other hand to hold one of her wrists to put some distance between them and sat up sharply. "Quit your blabbering for just a one short second and read the situation, moron…*" his voice went fast and threateningly low for only her to hear as he stared at her dead in the eye in such a way that if she didn't shut up now she'd regret it.
"Mmphmmf?"
Manami's purple eyes blinked multiple times at the rare occurrence of Akabane Karma looking, not only tremendously irritated, but flustered – though she could only tell since their faces were in close proximity, but far enough for observation. She took what seemed like an eternity looking at his flushed, aggravated expression as if she were having a hard time understanding what was wrong – like there was practically a loading bar hovering above her head.
Her eyes moved first to a very dumbstruck Sugino whom appeared to have dropped an empty cup, then back to Karma, then to herself, and then to the both of them…
And then it hit her harder than being slammed to the ground by a chockfull library shelf. In that same instant of realization, a quick intake of breath was all it took for her to jump back to her feet. Karma let go of her wrist to let her do so once he knew she realized it; but that didn't make things any better nor his expression any softer.
Manami turned away after getting about a meter or two away from him – with wide eyes to the floorboards, holding her insanely hot, strawberry-red face.
Laughable as that was, he failed to see this for her too turned away from her in utter annoyance after entering such an uncool mode. With a bad mood and subtly lifting his arm to hide a grumble and whatever of his hair's color was still left on his face, he looked similar to how a little kid would when he lost a battle in a humiliating way. This was the second time in a row and on the same night her hopeless obliviousness had been a pain in the neck (it's in his head now though, literally and figuratively).
"S-S-Sorry…" her voice squeaked almost as if it did not want to be heard. Even though the boy heard this, all he did was nod – both of them refusing to look at each other after that.
While all of this was going on, Rio was the first to snap the rest of the so-called 'audience' out of their ridiculous shock by letting out a giddy squeal followed by a small yet halfhearted whine of regret "I really wish I brought my phone with me…!"
"Okuda-san! I admire your courage!" Mai exaggeratingly flashed her thumb looking to be in absolute approval of this unfortunate (for Manami and Karma) occurrence.
"S-Senpai?!"
Before things could get even more insane, Rinka finally snapped and began to scold the other two despite still being rattled by the fast-paced events.
"Oi! Nakamura! Have some tact! And you! You're supposed to be a senpai, aren't you!?"
Her continuous nagging must have reached the ears of the remaining members of their group who had been busy cleaning up the mess they left back in the room, since Chiba and Yuzuki had finally poked their heads out of the side of the doorframe with interest.
When things got deafeningly noisy, the urge to beat at least one of them up was so tempting Karma really wished Terasaka was here – he would have at least found something enjoy himself with if that were the case after this preposterous scenario. But even with that notion in mind, all he could do was pull the front of his hair down, let out an exasperated sigh and said,
"All of you. Just…
Shut up."
All the while, and after observing the staff members behind the counter of this joint keeping their smiling faces on even with this madness, Sugino shamed himself for ever calling them normal.
They were nowhere near that word.
Okuda Manami couldn't sleep that night.
Raven hair sprawled over the white, soft pillow where she rested her head – but with her violet eyes practically pasted on the blurry ceiling, she was as restless as ever under the covers of her bed. Night time came with serenity by the time they parted ways; not even the hoots of the owls or the flaps of a bat's wings resounded with the gentle, autumn wind. Albeit coming home from a rowdy incident, the placidity and soundlessness of her surroundings were not comforting at all – it only brought all of her attention to unsettled mind.
Her eyelids lowered.
Why…
And then it flashed again – the earlier episode she had with the redheaded boy whom is the cause of this restiveness. From the face he made then, to the silent treatment he gave her afterward, then finally to a pleasant wave goodbye to the rest of them while Yuzuki and Rio stayed to bring her home.
Did that have to happen…
The red on her face came back with such force she felt like she was sweating as a result. Her stomach churned out of embarrassment along with the prances of her light, restless heart as she shifted her position to hug one of the pillows to her side to bury her face in it.
How on earth am I gonna focus too much now when…
Her mind just had to go back to his blithe smile when he waved goodbye to her that night.
when he's all over my mind...
A pouring of several sensations at once (including frustration) managed to give her a headache then and there. Having had enough of these nonsensical emotions she had never been used to her entire life, Manami shook her head.
Try not to think of it, Manami. She breathed in the comforting air of her room, and released it almost as soundlessly as it came – with lingering warmth that stayed for just a moment upon the pillow in her embrace.
Mm, that's it. Relax and focus on the soft, warm…
A lump suddenly entered her throat, like she had suddenly put in a choke-hold, as she realized just what it was she had in her arms so close to her –
It was the shachihoko he gave her for her birthday.
It took only a total of four seconds for her face to shift to a completely red color, shriek in the highest pitch possible, and finally feel her head hit the floor first in her sudden jump back – with the lower half of her body still tangled with the sheets.
"Ow…" a groan escaped her lips from the pain in her neck. Her arms were limp next to her injured head as he could feel some of the cold air touch her now exposed belly – her yellow, buttoned pajamas appeared to have gotten big on her since last year.
"I won't be able to sleep at this rate…" a helpless sigh came with that small whimper – not even the fatigue she must have gotten from today was able to weigh her body down enough to get her to sleep. She hoist her feet up from the bed to perform a flip that would let her feet come in contact with the carpeted floor and have her semi-roll to a W-seated position.
Thankfully, the mellow, golden light radiating from the lamp on her bedside table was able to guide her hand to her glasses upon its top.
Yush! Having reached for her spectacles, she adjusted them on the bridge of her nose – even adding a little bit of style to it so it may glint against the light for effect.
In times like these, warm milk is the best solution. Although it's been proven a scientifically insufficient sedative for several years, the feeling of a full stomach and warmth from the inside of your chest can bring about more peaceful, soothing sensations that inevitably can bring you to sleep. Such thoughts played in her head in such an eccentric way she could be compared to a narrator in one of those advertisements.
I know this for a fact. Inari-nee always knocks off to sleep after a glass of it. Along with this thought, she remembered a time when the said woman had an empty mug of milk in her hand as she slept like a super contented child on top of her work-desk. Manami was to call her to the bath until she witnessed this and sweatdropped when she heard sleep-talking.
Speaking of her, it just so happened that she was the first thing Manami saw once she stepped out of the hallway to her room and to the connecting living room. From the looks of it, she had just come back from one of her other jobs and finished preparing the dinner Manami left for her as always.
"Hm?"
"Welcome home, Inari-nee."
Inari's eyes moved to the wall clock just above their television – it read 11:30 PM. "This is rare. Why are you still awake?"
The bespectacled girl made her way to the fridge to prepare her desired drink and replied "I'm having a hard time sleeping, so…"
Understanding where she was going with the milk and putting her mug in the microwave, the older woman nodded as she seated herself in front of her meal "Oh, having bad dreams?"
"Mm." she shook her head and hummed in contrary "It's nothing like that. Just a little but restless from today…" – it's not a lie…but…
"Hmm…well, I can't really blame you. Lots of things happened for you today, so it'd be natural for you to have just as much on your mind. Don't let it get to you." She spoke with a meaningful tone
"E-Ehehe. Guess you're right." but Manami could only bring herself to laugh a tad bit nervously just to acknowledge that presumption of hers. She'd feel bad if she shot her down after a remark so gallant of her.
Sitting down to join her with her caretaker holding a mug of warm, fresh milk, some comfortable silence had been shared between the small, family-like pair as they tended to their meals. Minutes after, purple eyes had moved when they had taken notice of a single stroller suitcase by the door – ready to be taken when the time for departure approaches. And then she remembered.
"What time will you be leaving tomorrow?"
"5:30 in the morning. The earliest train to get to Tokyo central station is at 6 AM." She replied in the midst of chewing her meal, but with the proper etiquette so she may be understood.
"I see. Do you really have to leave that early?"
"It's just so the sooner I get there, the sooner I can leave." She waved off that concern with but a nonchalant tone of voice – she meant nothing bad of her journey the next day, as there was nothing rather negative about it. Manami understood this, though inquire about it for significant purposes.
"By when do you think you'll be back?"
"By the time the Cultural Festival ends, most probably." The nurse found the silence that followed rather odd and had resultantly had to look at the other's expression – stopping midway from getting another bite out of her curry meal. From the brief two seconds of looking at her, it appeared that she was a little too taken aback by her answer.
She didn't even have to think twice at that to know there was something up "Is there something the matter?"
"Ah – No, it's just…" blinking out of her trance, the words came out like an automatic response to that question without her consent. But the moment she regained her senses, she felt a tinge of surprise towards herself and furrowed her brows to her half-empty mug.
Huh? I didn't want her to leave unconsciously…
Having found that reaction way too fishy that even a five year old would suspect it, Inari prodded, but not in a demanding manner "Will there something be happening while I'm gone?"
"Why don't you sing in one of the finale performances at the Fiesta's Closing Ceremony?"
Oh yeah! I almost forgot…I've been so occupied thinking about what happened that it completely skipped my mind…
Once again, she felt everything from the neck up rise in temperature and take on the color red at the thought of how hard she must have fallen for this boy. It wasn't an excuse that this was just her first time feeling this way about someone – she was hopeless with feelings from the beginning despite how much she'd improved throughout her times with the members of class E.
As she noticed Manami use both of her hands to cover her face ever so abruptly, Inari sighed, for she – regretfully – has a hunch as to why. Whatever the girl was fretting about now like a cowering snail in before her eyes is no secret between the two of them. They'd already talked about her so-called 'strange feelings' just the day before (yes, Manami was that honest to her). Though that went as quickly as Inari telling her that it was about time, the scene in front of her now was beginning to test her patience; and given the fact she's drained from a hard day of work wasn't helping either.
"Oi, oi."
"E-Ee—Ow!" Manami's glasses nearly slid off her nose from suddenly feeling a sting of pain from being pinched on the cheek.
"What's with you? You look like a pimple that's about to explode on its own." Her guardian's obvious annoyance was enough to tell her that she was too tired to tolerate her dragging this out for too long – especially in that manner.
"W-When you say it like that…" a drop of sweat came down from the back of the raven-haired girl's head at that analogy as she rubbed her affected cheek.
"C'mon, c'mon, I know there's something else." Inari shifted to a cross-legged position and held her glass by its top "It's not every day we get a chance to talk like this. So hurry up and say it." Although her exhaustion was clear from the somewhat breathy voice she spoke with, it seemed she would be in less favor of getting to bed early if it meant she wouldn't be able to talk with her tonight.
Manami had to blink twice to get out of her fretfulness, and at the same time took a brief moment to reflect on those words. She's right – their schedules never agree with one another. Sure, they have their memorable and fun times together, but with her focusing on studies and the ever-busy school nurse with lots of other work to do, on most days, they only ever see each other during nighttime – and that's when they're too tired to even talk.
She shook her head.
Mhm. This isn't the time to be so annoyingly fidgety about it. Besides, it's Inari-nee.
With a smile, she looked up from her mug and to the relatively expectant look of the older woman before she drank what was left of her glass.
I'm sure telling her about it isn't going to hurt.
"You know, Inari-nee," shifting her position, she sat properly with her hands intertwined above her lap – her fingers hugged each other tighter from the tiny bit of excitement she could feel. In turn, Inari acknowledged this with a stare to let her continue.
"Isura-senpai offered me to sing in the Cultural Festival's closing ceremony!" her face lit-up more than she thought it would – as well as her tone of voice.
"Sing?" Albeit such an eager announcement, the rather startled reaction given by the usually subdued red-haired woman went by unnoticed as she went on.
"And I'll be with one of the vocalists along with the student council's musical band!"
"Band?"
"Yup!" with such an opportunity to let her gain confidence and her friends cheering for her, it just so happened Manami was more hyped than she thought she'd be "I'll have to spend some of my time during the cultural fest for practice due to the short notice, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Rio-chan and Yuzuki-chan already helped me find one song that they thought fit me while we were going home. It's my first time doing this, but I heard…Inari-nee?"
It was her silence that got her attention – after perceiving the way she saw her caretaker's dark-colored eyes stare blankly at the middle of the table, Manami could only get so worried about whether or not she said anything wrong.
Such qualms were eased, though not fully, when a smile graced the tired, yet genuine and pretty, features of the older woman "Good for you. I'll arrange to come back before the last day." Inari stood up and went underway with cleaning up after herself along with the now empty mug of milk – leaving all of them on the sink for her to wash in the morning. And throughout the time, the smile never left her face.
As she did this, from behind, she could hear the teenage girl stand from her seat and raise a concerned voice – just as she anticipated "That early?! Is that okay with you? I mean, for you to leave for that long it must be something important. You can come back at—"
"Then," she cut her off, turned her head back to her, and revealed the smile that had not come off since the news was broken to her.
"If I don't make time to watch it entirely, what's the use of telling me about it?" she said this with a knowing and sententious tone of voice – like an older sister that would go against the will of her siblings for their own good whether they liked it or not.
"W-well…" she grabbed a strand of her untied hair and let her eyes travel to the side as she was unable to find something to answer to that.
"Besides," right as she made her way to the hallway opposite of Manami's, she showed her the same smile, looked at her straight in the eye, and gave her yet another sincere set of words before retreating for the night.
"I want to see your performance."
The girl's lavender eyes went right back to her at that. Such an earnest response was something she had not been expecting just from that– so resultantly, she had to stop and look at her for a bit. But it wasn't too long before she returned an overjoyed beam.
"Mm! I'll make it count!" with a tilt of her head and an expression brighter and more motivated than ever, Inari couldn't help but feel herself smile a little too proudly at it.
After favoring each other a good night, Manami collapsed on her bed from the sudden rush of fatigue that took over her body.
"We'll arrive there around 9. See you guys there!"
With a simple push of his finger, Karma locked his phone once he'd read the last message he got from his blue-haired best friend. He was up rather early today – it was only about to be six in the morning by the time he got himself ready. His unsuspected waking time bewildered him; nonetheless, he tried his best to push away the thought that it was because of the scene from last night that got him up.
Because he found that he had too much time to spare at the moment, and that there was no going back to sleep, he figured he could use the time to buy an object he'd had his eye on for weeks and use it on the ones who were to visit their school today –all just to satisfy his sadistic pleasures.
But as that item still had to be bought from a relatively far area, he had to catch an early train to get to school on time. Besides, having something to do this early in the morning proved to get on his good side – it at least helped him get what happened last night out of his mind and to the point he could become indifferent about it. If it wasn't video games, it was productivity that was always a way he could get himself to stop caring about something.
"Oh, what brings you here?" the voice that came oh so suddenly, was so familiar that he had to divert his stare from the steps of stairs to where it had come from – and judging by the maroon crown of hair, followed by the look those dark-hued, narrow eyes always gave him, he guessed it right. There his school nurse was, standing by in wait for the earliest train's arrival, looking dressed for a journey – with one hand carrying a phone and the other rested on the top of her single piece of baggage.
Though this was in the least of his expectations, he feigned to look too affected by their coincidental crossing. He first looked to her in acknowledgement, then towards her paraphernalia "I should be asking you that myself."
"Nothing gets past you, huh?" catching on, she kept her phone with a click as it closed, as it made its way into the pocket of her pants "I'm just gonna pay someone a little visit for a day or two."
"And what will be of a certain someone when you're gone that long?" Karma walked over to the other side of the platform where another entrance was to be expected – leaving quite the gap between the two redheads. Of course he'd ask about that; no matter what she made him go through, that was priority.
"I've done this multiple times – Manami is a good girl, she can get by on her own even for just that long." She replied as indifferently as she could; she even had her eyes on her wristwatch while she did so.
All she got was a hum from him as a response. He threw his hands into his pockets and kept his eyes straight ahead of him – which meant he faced a metal fence that guarded the miniature forest right past it. For what felt like minutes, each merely minded each other's businesses. But the stillness they were in felt hollow, like there was something waiting to be done; for Inari, at least.
"Guess I should thank you." She finally said – and the lack of reluctance when saying that actually got the teenage boy to spare her a glance.
Her fingers were now intertwined in front of her nose as she kept both elbows atop the handle of her trolley. She didn't look at him – or rather, refused to look at him for her eyes kept to the railway beneath them. From this, it was obvious she was having a hard time with simply saying something she'd already admitted long before.
"I'm sure, had it not been for you guys, she would've stayed the same through the entire year." She may have sounded earnest with those words, but Karma immediately answered to that with a scoff and a cocky smirk.
"If it were anyone else', then you should be surprised."
"Don't get too ahead of yourself, brat. I'm already trying to be nice to you here…"
"You've got one thing wrong, however."
"Hm?" her brow raised when she, in turn, looked to his side with her chin rested in her palm – only to find him staring right back.
"To thank us for her achievements isn't what you should be doing." He paused after that, just so he could emphasize what came after it.
"You underestimate her too much, Inari-san." That was the first time he called her that – outside of school, it didn't seem right for him to call her sensei, but that was beside the point. She can speculate that from the way he just spoke to her, this was an impression he'd probably had of her since she'd disclosed something important to him.
"Hm…" was all she could say back as her eyelids slightly lowered. There was a brief suspension in their exchange, but within that gap, she did not miss the look in his eye that, she wasn't exactly sure what was there, but they almost challenged her. But Inari found her counterattack sooner than he expected.
"Look who's talking." And she didn't have to elaborate on the time he had come to confront her in the nurse' room about the first problematic happening of their 1st year of high school. Childish it was, for her to play his own game against him and calling out his faults regarding that as well – but she just relished that reaction of 'really?' from him after she said that before she ended her own fun.
"But that's a time of the past. Things have changed since then, and I'm more confident about it now." She fixed her stance and stood up straight – and with one hand to her waist, she faced the pale-blue, morning sky "So, I've decided – I'm going to tell Manami before the end of the year."
That declaration was enough to cause Karma's eyes to widen and completely shift his body to face her. "That way, she'll have lots of time to think about it on her own through winter break."
Inari didn't look like she was lying or making a fool out of him – her stare was fixed to the sky; a solemn one, but a stronghearted one, it was. He knew it was the best thing to do, he knew there was no hiding it any longer than needed, but something about that made him…
Unsure…
'Let's celebrate your birthday together' –and with that falling on winter break, what will become of that promise now?
And it was then he realized –he was actually looking forward to that day.
Inari blinked and lowered her chin as she took a breath. With an exhale, she looked back at him – and there, in her eyes, he actually found, no matter how imperceptible, a sense of trust.
"So when she comes back, I'm counting on you guys to really pick her up."
Karma had gone back to fixing his stare at her blankly for a while, but only because he was reading into her words just now. By confident, she referred to the others as a support team; she was convinced from the cultural festival that they were worth it – that, as long as they're backing one another, they'll surely be able to overcome the challenges that come their way. And this one wouldn't need anyone to break a sweat considering how far they've gone.
Albeit him feeling something off about this, there was nothing he could do about it in the end. At the very least, he'd have one less thing to worry about by the time they become 2nd years in Kimii High School. And so, without any shift in his countenance, he answered.
"Got it."
*Since 'moron' was found to be worse than idiot and I imagined Karma calling Manami 'Aho', I went with that XD
PAPARARA~! How was it? 83 Like it? Hate it? LEAVE ALL YOUR THOUGHTS IN A REVIEW PLEASE ^W^
I would also very much appreciate it if you do mention some of the portions or stuff about this chapter you liked most and if you have any speculations as to what the future of our dear characters could be at this point in the story ;D. I would LOVE to know your thoughts ^W^
Oh and if it's not too much trouble or if you just want to, you may leave any song suggestions for dear Okuda Manami-chan to sing in front of all of Kimii's student body!
Manami: I'm still working on my high notes! Please bear with me!
There you have it folks! I'll be back with the next chapter the soonest chance I see that I am free! ;;w;; It may take long, but I really do hope and pray that you guys don't get tired of this story. Thank you so so much for following it this far. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
With so much love and gratitude,
~TheFlowerWeSawThatDay
OMAKE: (written in the fastest way possible for it had come from a whim)
Earlier, on the way home…
"By the way, was there something going on between you and Sugino earlier, Rio-chan?"
"Oh? Someone's a little curious, aren't we?"
She knew she'd say that, and she was prepared for that. Yuzuki shifted her tone from inquisitive to something similar to a Lawyer's tone when defending a client
"I would like you to mention one bad thing about simply inquiring about my friend's well-being. Will you deny me that right, Nakamura Rio-san?"
Rio raised an eyebrow at this "I don't think you're gonna like it. It involves someone pretty well-known."
Kanzaki-san
"Psh. That's ridiculous talk there. I'm stronger than that, y'know?" Yuzuki crossed her arms – looking smug and tough there for a second.
For a while, Rio pondered.
There's no productivity in hiding it from her at this point…But…I'd feel bad…
Seeing this attitude towards it, the blonde couldn't find it in herself to dance around it and sighed – aiming to make the explanation as painless as possible.
"Unless you're willing to look though his new additions to the album dedicated to her then, I really think we should leave it at that." Yuzuki stops in the road and thinks for a while about that. Not only was that that quite unexpectedly creepy and perverted of Tomohito Sugino, but that felt like a hole got shot through her stomach.
"I-I…think I'm okay with hearing just that…" three steps of walking later, her knees wobbled
"I think I'm going to lie down here for a while…"
"Y-Yuzuki-chan!"
Fin.