Title: It's Kawai, Not Kawaii.
Summary: While staying at the boarding house, Hachiman Hikigaya slowly learns what he knew all along – Ritsu Kawai is definitely not cute. Too bad her last name, which he uses all the time is Kawai. Yes, with a single 'i'. And definitely not 'Kawaii'.
Note: Just a fluffy one-shot.
"Do you have a pet name or something? I hate calling you by your last name. It's weird."
Ritsu Kawai looked up from her book. Hachiman Hikigaya, her boarder was at it again. She should have kicked him out of her boarding house when she had the chance. Now she was stuck with him. "I don't think my last name is weird."
"I didn't say your last name is weird." He said. "I said calling you by your last name feels weird. There's a difference."
Ritsu Kawai thought about it for a moment. Then: "I don't see the difference." And she went back into her book.
Hikigaya wasn't letting her have this small victory. "When I call you Kawai-senpai, people think I'm calling you cute. It sends the wrong message."
Ritsu Kawai flipped a page. "You don't think I'm cute." Her words were a dull monotone. She was not teasing him. She was just making a simple observation. She didn't mean anything by it. Or he thought she didn't. For some reason, he decided to think his words through really carefully.
"I didn't say you weren't cute -"
"-Thank you, I guess."
"You didn't let me finish." He protested. "Look we live under the same roof. I know, I know," he held his hand up at how she threw him an annoyed look over her book. "We have been over this a couple of times. I know you will flail me alive with your numerous weapons that you keep lying around in the women's side of the hallway, but the people in our campus don't know that." He sighed. "I don't want them to spread rumours about us. You know, you are nice and I am…" he trailed off, itching the scar on his face with his finger. It had become a habit of his over time, now that he didn't have a cane to grip and hold him upright.
"You are nice too." Ritsu Kawai said in a small voice.
"Excuse me?" He asked.
"Nothing." She supplied in a normal voice. "Now stop bothering me. Go make dinner."
Hachiman cracked a small smile. "Yes ma'am."
As he left her in the living room and headed towards the kitchen he missed the small smile which appeared on her lips for a fraction of a second. It was gone before he turned around and asked her what they would have for dinner. Maybe one of these days she won't be that lucky. Maybe one of these days he will catch her smiling. And maybe that look will make it okay to think of her as kawai – sorry – 'kawaii'.
A few days later
He knows she doesn't care much about her appearance but there is a limit to what he will let slide. And today as she lounges in the living room, reading a book – what else – while he is trying to find something interesting to watch on the television, he finds her to be a distraction. No it's more of an annoyance. No, it's more of a pet peeve. No, it's – argh! Whatever. He can keep his mouth shut, he can keep his eyes glued to the television. What's this, a documentary about different kinds of ants. How interesting.
Screw it. "You are wearing two different kinds of socks."
Her head is buried in her book. Ritsu Kawai is sitting by the corner of the room, minding her own business. As usual she doesn't respond to him at first. He has gotten used to it, her behaviour, her quirks, her eccentricities. Supposedly, it's a part of her charm. He doesn't get it. But then again, he isn't used to being around beautiful women. It's still a fresh experience. After a couple of seconds pass in which he tries to wear her down with his rotten dead fish eyed stare, she finally turns the page and says something in her monotone voice. "They are both made of cotton."
Right. He said they are of two different kinds. How silly of him. "You know what I mean. They are of two different colours. Now please go and change."
Ritsu Kawai takes a moment to look at her legs. She is wearing a blue sock on her right leg and an orange sock on her left. Probably feeling self conscious or out of habit or for some other reason which he can't possibly fathom, she wiggles her sock clad toes. He looks away. Damn him and his stupid hormones. He is not a teenager anymore. He is a first year student at Chiba-U. He should be able to behave better than this. He should probably wonder why she has such colourful socks anyway. She doesn't seem the type.
"I didn't know it would bother you so much." She says over her book. "Tell me, do you find women wearing different kinds of underwear unappealing as well."
He find his jaw go slack. She is so strange. They were talking about different coloured socks. Where the hell does women's underwear come into this conversation, he has no idea. In his shock, he manages to say only one word. "Whaa?"
Ritsu Kawai thinks he hasn't properly understood what she is trying to say. She decides to be more descriptive with her explanation. "For example if I wore a blue bra and a pair of yellow panties would you tell me to go change."
He is a guy. He can't help it. Images of her in a blue bra and yellow panties flash across his brain. She is in his room, lying on his bed, one of her arms tries to cover her breasts, a leg bent upwards and crossed, trying to hide her panties.
He shakes his head. These are some dangerous thoughts. He focuses on the narrator on the television, telling something interesting about bullet ants. He can feel her staring at the back of his head, waiting for an answer.
He scoffs and hopes she hasn't caught him blush. "I would tell you to get your head examined."
The harmless insult washes over her like a breeze of warm air in the spring. She knows he doesn't mean anything by it. Her attention returns to the pages of her book. "You wouldn't have gotten well with Mayumi-san."
"Who?"
"She used to live here." Ritsu tells him.
Hikigaya doesn't ask for more details. He knows she misses the previous occupants of the boarding complex. They left for various reasons, but he thinks it had to do with the departure of Ritsu's grand aunt, who used to be the manager of the boarding house and also the person responsible for providing home cooked meals three times a day to each of the residents.
He wonders whether this conversation has led her to reminisce about the good old days and made her feel a bit melancholic. It was not his intention. Despite himself, he tries to improve her mood. And the only way he knows how is to annoy her with his rotten personality.
He gets up and starts to walk out of the living room. "I will go and fetch a matching pair of socks from your room."
"No." Without looking away from her book, she sticks a leg out at the last minute and trips him.
He loses his balance and falls down on his face. "What the hell!?" He might be wrong, but he thinks he spots a small smile race across her lips. It is gone before he can point it out. Just his luck, the only woman in his life gets a sick sense of pleasure out of causing him pain. Typical Hachiman Hikigaya luck at work people. He is not even surprised.
"Men aren't allowed into my room." She says.
He sits up and tries not to curse. He isn't walking with a cane nowadays. But a small tumble still hurts. Out of old habit he checks himself for wounds, checks whether he is bleeding. He isn't, thank god, but he wonders whether it should hurt this much. Ritsu also looks at him with a touch of worry. He hates that look on her face. He tries to erase it. "Fine." He looks outside and watches the clothes drying in the courtyard. "You know I wouldn't root around your panties or anything. I had a sister growing up."
Ritsu Kawai flips a page. "I am not your sister."
Huh. Guess she has him there. Still, he isn't a pervert and he isn't horny enough to smell her clothes or anything. But he honours the rules of the house and doesn't venture into the female side of the building. But as a warm breeze blows outside and the clothes hung up to dry bellows in the wind, he catches sight of a particular article of clothing.
He smiles.
Gets up.
Walks to the courtyard.
Unclips it.
Takes it back inside.
Wouldn't you know it. A pair of socks was left out to dry overnight. From the looks of it they are nice and clean and dry. Since they don't belong to him, they must belong to her. And won't you look at that. They are of the same colour, both snow white. Though he would have preferred something more colourful to surprise him or maybe something with a cute design, he figures this would do the trick.
He has own this round.
However, in his excitement he makes a small mistake.
"Here, catch!"
With the benefit of hindsight he shouldn't probably have thrown the pair of socks at her. Because of some stupid laws of physics, they separate in mid air. One pair lands on her head, the bottom half of the fabric covering the space between her eyes and nose while the other lands at the top of her book, between both pages.
Ritsu Kawai doesn't make a sound.
Her eyes don't even blink.
She gets up and leaves. He hears her footsteps retreating down the hall and he lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. She has probably gone back to her room to read in peace, he thinks. He is saved. He doesn't have anything to worry about.
But then, he hears footsteps coming back.
And before he knows it, she is standing in front of him, holding a baseball bat.
She steps back into the living room.
He takes a step back.
He gulps and feels his throat go dry. "Senpai, I just started walking without a cane."
She gets within hitting distance and prepares to take a mighty swing. "I'm sure you remember where you left it."
As expected, the woman in his life has no mercy.
And she still wore socks which didn't match.
A/N: I'm just so glad people like Ritsu Kawai. She is a lesser known character, but I really like her. Also, the next chapter will feature the one and only Iroha Isshiki and it will probably be the last chapter in the boarding house arc.
Now back to the Ikebukuro fic –
Poll#1: Which animes do you want to feature in the Ikebukuro fic?
Option 1: A Certain Magical Index.
Option 2: Fate/Stay Night
Option 3: Spy x Family.
Option 4: Odd Taxi.
Option 5: Tokyo Revenger
Option 6: Anime From Reviews.
Please pick accordingly.
Hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter.
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Won't betray your dreams.