Ep. 7: Froshie Night
***
"Now remember all you cute freshmen! Tonight's your night! Bring a date, bring your family but remember to have a good time!" Misao announced over the intercom.
"Now get out you lousy kids!" Principal Saito suddenly cut in.
"Geez what a grouch!" Misao's voice could be heard in the background.
"If one of you doesn't go to that stupid party, I'll kick you all out!" he said before turning off the mic. The entire first floor suddenly trembled and one girl ran out crying.
***
"Principal Saito?" Tomoe asked knocking on his door and waving to Misao as she stepped out.
"Yes Ms. Yukishiro?" he greeted her, motioning for her to enter the room.
"Uhm I came by to ask about the project proposal?" she said.
"Ah down to business huh? No hi, hello how are you Principal Saito?" he smiled.
"Hi, hello how are you Principal Saito?" she smiled, she never understood why he was nice to her, he was nasty to everyone else but when it came to her, Hajime Saito was always pleasant.
"Oh yeah the auction, hmm well I guess its ok so long as you make a waiver that each person to be auctioned off will sign and the school gets 50% of the profits."
"Sir!"
"I'm joking, of course you can use all the revenues for the Christmas Party."
He made a joke? She shivered.
"Great! Thank you sir." She was about to leave.
"Of course you need one of the faculty to supervise." She stopped dead in her tracks, I hope to god he's not talking about himself.
"Hmm one senior and one junior teacher should be appropriate don't you think?"
"Er sir I think we can manage on our own." She breathed a sigh of relief.
"What do you think of Mr. Himura and Ms. Komagata?" he asked.
"Uhm Mr. Himura is already helping out the basketball team."
"Yeah I know he is." He said nodding his head.
"Wouldn't that be too much work?"
"There is no such thing as too much work." He smiled. "My policy is, work them to the bone and if they come back, work them harder."
"Sir?" she asked in disbelief.
"Anyway I'll go inform them."
"Sir..."
"Yes?"
"What about one of the other teachers instead?" she asked horrified at the working conditions of the teachers in the school.
"Nah, Himura is my golden boy right now. He's my favorite." He said signaling for her to leave.
Tomoe left the principal's office shaking her head.
***
"Hey guys wouldn't it be great if we all went and really spent the night together?" Misao said as she returned to her classroom, a collective groan rose from the class. "Since Principal Saito will force us all to go anyway why not make the best of it?"
"Your enthusiasm astounds me Misao." Sano said leaning back in his chair and yawning.
"I'm serious, we're graduating next year lets have at least one night that we enjoyed each other's company huh?"
"Depends are you going to be there?" Tanada but in.
"Very funny Tanada, come on what do you guys say? Just one night? It'll be fun we could bond!"
"I think it's a good idea, I think I'm going to be there as well." Kenshin agreed. "Could we all promise not to be sourpusses?" nobody answered, every brow was furrowed.
"I won't give homework for the whole of next week."
"Hell yeah!" a cheer started going. Misao returned to her seat before sitting down however she spared a glance at Shiro, they hadn't spoken since last Friday. She had just handed him his homework she didn't ask why he had done them already or who those people were or if he had a split personality.
Shiro smiled a small one and she smiled. Just then the bell rang.
"Alright with that ends homeroom and thus begins Chem. Now lets start this Friday right!" suddenly everyone became apprehensive.
"Lets do some problems."
"I knew it! I knew it!" Shiro said clenching his fists for emphasis. "When does the hurting stop Mr. Himura?"
"From the looks of it it's just going to get a lot worse."
"Thanks a lot Tanada!" with that he received his usual rain of paper balls.
"Ahhh my day is now complete." He said afterwards.
***
He watched Kamatari steal the ball from the other court and reach the free throw line in two seconds, faking a left and getting past Sano, he passed it to Aoshi who took a step back and shot it just beyond the three-point line. Man he was amazing.
"Great play!" Shishio said clapping his hands, unashamed of showing his admiration.
"Don't fall in love with me coach." Kamatari said blowing him a kiss.
"Why does he keep doing that?" Shishio shuddered.
"Coz you keep breaking down everytime." Kenshin said.
"Hey coach can we leave now?" Tari said sitting down on the bench and winking at the other players who prudently moved away.
"What's the rush Sagara?" he said wanting to try out one more play.
"Coz Yahiko has to meet up with his girlfriend." Shiro said.
"Hey!" Yahiko shouted from the other side of the gym.
"What?"
"Yeah Makoto, its Freshman night. We should have been there half an hour ago." Kenshin said looking at the team.
"We were?"
"We're chaperoning?"
"Yeah come on coach!" Shiro muttered from somewhere on the floor. "Yahiko still has to put on cologne."
"Hey!" Yahiko shouted kicking Shiro's foot.
"Why you.." they began chasing each other around the court.
"I don't know..."
"I saw Miss Komagata and boy did she look fine." Chou said looking at the coach from the corner of his eye.
"Ok I guess it won't hurt." Shishio said starry eyed.
"heh Works every time." Chou said gathering his stuff. ***
"Oh Himura can I speak to you for a moment?" Saito said stopping Kenshin on his way to the football field.
"Yes sir?"
"I'm looking for someone to supervise the student council fundraiser." He said.
"Er who are you suggesting sir?" Kenshin asked hoping to the high heavens that it wasn't him.
"Guess."
"When and where do I report?" he sighed.
"Oh just coordinate with Ms. Yukishiro and Ms. Komagata." He smiled walking away from him.
"Aren't you going to the dance sir?"
"I'm not going to spend a second of my free time with those kids, I already spend most of my time here in school." He said not turning to look at him. Kenshin wondered how Principal Saito ever got his job.
*** The football field was just beautiful. The student council had decided to throw a luau, there were torches lighting the field and little paper lanterns shaped like flowers were hung on clotheslines across the entire dance area. You could smell the barbecue from where he was standing.
They were supposed to dress up in Hawaiian shirts but he really didn't care, he just came by to give Yahiko a lift since Kamatari had another thing to go to.
"Man this would sure be less painful if they were serving beer." He said walking toward the lights rolling his eyes at the Bob Marley music.
"Hey Sano!" Enishi said as he walked over to them. "What took you so long? Why aren't you in Hawaiian?"
"I fell asleep in the locker room." Sano said taking Kaoru's drink and finishing it.
"Hey!" She said grabbing it but it was too late.
"I'll get you a new one." Enishi volunteered leaving the two of them.
"Aww isn't that sweet?" Sano said sitting on a one of the chairs.
"Hey guys come on let's join the games!" Misao said coming over to them.
"Buzz of Makimachi." Sano muttered.
"Hey Misao who won Frosh king and queen?" Kaoru said motioning for her to sit beside her.
"Well it's a secret. Besides they're about to announce it anyway." She pointed at the stage.
"Hey guys." Soujiro smiled as he called the attention of the gathering. "So to draw all the boring traditions to a close we will now announce Frosh king and queen, these two were voted on by the upperclassmen who are here. And well they don't really win anything just the distinction that they're the cutest of their batch and they get to be embarrassed as they come up here. So without further ado..."
Tomoe handed him a little paper. "Frosh king is...Yahiko Sagara!" he announced. Yahiko turned a nice shade of red and had to be dragged to the stage where he was given a crown made of flowers.
"So how do you feel Yahiko?" Soujiro asked smiling.
"Stupid." He said glaring at the crowd.
"Ah smile you, you just won a dance with the Frosh queen, so Tomoe?"
"The prettiest freshman here tonight is none other than, Ms. Tsubame Kitano." She said clapping her hands. Tsubame came up to the stage, she had on a white shirt and a blue and white flower printed sarong, in her hair was a pink gumamela, she was turning pink herself.
"Aren't you pretty?" Soujiro said teasing the younger girl. She was crowned with flowers and had to dance with Yahiko.
"This is weird." She whispered over to him.
"Yeah, just don't step on my feet." He muttered.
Across the dance floor Sano watched as his little brother danced with the pretties freshman. She's all grown up. He smiled.
***
It was his last year in junior high, he was already accepted to Kainan where Kamatari was studying and he couldn't wait to try out for varsity. He had always loved playing basketball, ever since their first game in the backyard with their father, he had never stopped playing.
Sure he was sad because he was going to leave his junior high team but since his two best friends were also going to Kainan it wouldn't be much of a difference. Kainan was the best, he could still remember watching them in the nationals. Ever since he saw the blue and white of Kainan he knew he didn't want to wear anything else.
He just came out of practice really sore and in a bad mood because Enishi and Shiro would be out of town for the weekend and he didn't have anyone to hang out with. From the looks of it he would have to spend his Friday night baby-sitting Yahiko and his six-grader friends.
"Hey Sano-kun." Tsubame waved as he came closer to the two of them.
"It took you long enough." Yahiko griped as he got up from his school bag.
"Hey Tsubame-chan, so you're going home with Yahiko today huh? Yahiko you lucky dog." He chuckled, he laughed even harder when he saw the bewildered looks on both of their faces.
"Come on before I pollute your minds even further." He said shouldering his gym bag and taking Tsubame's backpack as well.
"Oh I can do it Sano-kun." She said pulling it off his shoulder.
"Nah I need it for endurance." He smiled.
"Would you like my bag too Oniichan?" Yahiko smiled.
"Shut up squirt." He said walking. "Where's the rest I thought the house would be screaming with six graders tonight?"
"Nah the guys got detention."
"I'm surprised you didn't." He laughed.
"Hey!" Yahiko pouted dragging his bag. "Why couldn't Tari pick us up?" he whined.
"He's got basketball practice. You want to wait up till nine?" Sano said crossing the street to the train station.
"Why couldn't you take dad's spare car?"
"And get in trouble?" he said paying the cashier for their tickets. "You can take it for a drive inside the village only and for short distances." He said mimicking their father.
"This sucks." Yahiko pouted.
"You wanna walk punk?" he said holding Yahiko's ticket above his head. "I'll take Tsubame-chan here on a date and we'll just see you at home." Somewhere in the back Tsubame blushed.
"Let's just go Sano." Yahiko said crossing his arms.
***
"So what do you want to do?" he asked sitting back on the sofa.
"Well I don't know." she smiled looking around the house.
"Wanna play video games?"
"Yeah sure." They were just about to plug in the play station when Sano came into the living room.
"Wanna play Sano-kun?" Tsubame asked smiling.
"Nah I'd probably beat Yahiko anyway." He smiled lying on the sofa.
"Hey!" Yahiko said looking back at him.
"By the way what time is it?" he asked.
"Around eight." She obliged.
"I know! Let's just get pizza and watch a movie!"
"Yeah!" she said jumping up.
"I don't know Tsubame has to get home..."
"I'll call your mom on the way."
***
"Revenge of the Nerds part two or Ace Ventura when nature calls, you decide." Sano smiled at the younger girl.
"Whatever Sano-kun." She smiled back at him. She was holding the coke six pack they had bought and Yahiko was standing by the counter with the pizza.
"What about you?" he called over to his younger brother.
"I don't care." He muttered.
"The detective it is." He chuckled bringing it to the counter where a girl from their school let him rent it for free. "Heh being in the varsity has some extra added bonuses eh?" he winked at Tsubame.
He didn't have to stay home and baby-sit them, they were old enough and Yahiko kept telling him of this fact. But he didn't have any plans and he wanted to get his mind off school and the best possible way to do that was to annoy his baby brother to death.
***
He sighed contentedly as the credits began to roll. He loved that movie and the two hours worth of laughs made him feel at ease. He groaned as he kicked the empty pizza box away from him.
"That was great huh?" he asked his companions but all he got was silence. Tsubame was asleep beside him, her drool creating a little wet spot on his shirtsleeve, Yahiko was curled up on the floor. He hadn't notice how long the movie had run, he looked at the clock it was past 11.
He got up and stretched. "Looks like my date fell asleep on me." he smiled taking the car keys from the table and picking up Tsubame. She stirred a little murmuring something incoherent.
Sano smiled. "If you weren't so small, we could have been great together." He whispered to the child in his arms.
***
He smiled at the memory and was brought out of it by Shiro's arrival.
"Hey Tanada!" Misao called. "What took you so long? Your date was getting lonely!" she pointed at Sano.
"Oh good one Makimachi. How original." Sano guffawed. Shiro looked at the two and silently walked away, heading towards the refreshments table. "Look at that pig, directly to the food he goes."
Misao looked at Shiro uncertain. He seemed distracted, more than usual. She followed him, wanting to talk to him. "Hey, what's up?"
"Hmm?" he asked getting a cup of punch.
"You seem stranger than usual."
"Why do you suddenly care Makimachi?" he asked grinning.
"Well sorry! You're the one that told me to get to know the class more!" she huffed walking away. She stopped in her tracks, no retort? No come back? Something must really be up.
"Shiro?" She said softly, unaccustomed to saying his first name. He turned around raising his eyebrow at her. "Are you ok?"
"My parents are splitting up." He said evenly, looking away when he finished. Misao looked at his profile. She wanted to offer him consolation but they weren't really close. The only time they spent together was that time they did their homework together. And suddenly Shiro Tanada became even more complex. More than she could understand. And so she decided to leave it at that. Sure she wanted to ask him why he was so different out of school. Why he treated her so differently when they were alone. But she decided that that was just who he was, and he had to deal with bigger problems than her stupid perception of him.
She couldn't understand him, maybe it was better she didn't. She had hoped they could become friends but then again they were so different from each other. How could they ever become friends?
"I'm sorry to hear that." She said before turning around.
"Makimachi." He called. She turned around and looked at him. "Can we keep..."
"I won't say a word." She smiled.
"Thanks."
***
***
"Now remember all you cute freshmen! Tonight's your night! Bring a date, bring your family but remember to have a good time!" Misao announced over the intercom.
"Now get out you lousy kids!" Principal Saito suddenly cut in.
"Geez what a grouch!" Misao's voice could be heard in the background.
"If one of you doesn't go to that stupid party, I'll kick you all out!" he said before turning off the mic. The entire first floor suddenly trembled and one girl ran out crying.
***
"Principal Saito?" Tomoe asked knocking on his door and waving to Misao as she stepped out.
"Yes Ms. Yukishiro?" he greeted her, motioning for her to enter the room.
"Uhm I came by to ask about the project proposal?" she said.
"Ah down to business huh? No hi, hello how are you Principal Saito?" he smiled.
"Hi, hello how are you Principal Saito?" she smiled, she never understood why he was nice to her, he was nasty to everyone else but when it came to her, Hajime Saito was always pleasant.
"Oh yeah the auction, hmm well I guess its ok so long as you make a waiver that each person to be auctioned off will sign and the school gets 50% of the profits."
"Sir!"
"I'm joking, of course you can use all the revenues for the Christmas Party."
He made a joke? She shivered.
"Great! Thank you sir." She was about to leave.
"Of course you need one of the faculty to supervise." She stopped dead in her tracks, I hope to god he's not talking about himself.
"Hmm one senior and one junior teacher should be appropriate don't you think?"
"Er sir I think we can manage on our own." She breathed a sigh of relief.
"What do you think of Mr. Himura and Ms. Komagata?" he asked.
"Uhm Mr. Himura is already helping out the basketball team."
"Yeah I know he is." He said nodding his head.
"Wouldn't that be too much work?"
"There is no such thing as too much work." He smiled. "My policy is, work them to the bone and if they come back, work them harder."
"Sir?" she asked in disbelief.
"Anyway I'll go inform them."
"Sir..."
"Yes?"
"What about one of the other teachers instead?" she asked horrified at the working conditions of the teachers in the school.
"Nah, Himura is my golden boy right now. He's my favorite." He said signaling for her to leave.
Tomoe left the principal's office shaking her head.
***
"Hey guys wouldn't it be great if we all went and really spent the night together?" Misao said as she returned to her classroom, a collective groan rose from the class. "Since Principal Saito will force us all to go anyway why not make the best of it?"
"Your enthusiasm astounds me Misao." Sano said leaning back in his chair and yawning.
"I'm serious, we're graduating next year lets have at least one night that we enjoyed each other's company huh?"
"Depends are you going to be there?" Tanada but in.
"Very funny Tanada, come on what do you guys say? Just one night? It'll be fun we could bond!"
"I think it's a good idea, I think I'm going to be there as well." Kenshin agreed. "Could we all promise not to be sourpusses?" nobody answered, every brow was furrowed.
"I won't give homework for the whole of next week."
"Hell yeah!" a cheer started going. Misao returned to her seat before sitting down however she spared a glance at Shiro, they hadn't spoken since last Friday. She had just handed him his homework she didn't ask why he had done them already or who those people were or if he had a split personality.
Shiro smiled a small one and she smiled. Just then the bell rang.
"Alright with that ends homeroom and thus begins Chem. Now lets start this Friday right!" suddenly everyone became apprehensive.
"Lets do some problems."
"I knew it! I knew it!" Shiro said clenching his fists for emphasis. "When does the hurting stop Mr. Himura?"
"From the looks of it it's just going to get a lot worse."
"Thanks a lot Tanada!" with that he received his usual rain of paper balls.
"Ahhh my day is now complete." He said afterwards.
***
He watched Kamatari steal the ball from the other court and reach the free throw line in two seconds, faking a left and getting past Sano, he passed it to Aoshi who took a step back and shot it just beyond the three-point line. Man he was amazing.
"Great play!" Shishio said clapping his hands, unashamed of showing his admiration.
"Don't fall in love with me coach." Kamatari said blowing him a kiss.
"Why does he keep doing that?" Shishio shuddered.
"Coz you keep breaking down everytime." Kenshin said.
"Hey coach can we leave now?" Tari said sitting down on the bench and winking at the other players who prudently moved away.
"What's the rush Sagara?" he said wanting to try out one more play.
"Coz Yahiko has to meet up with his girlfriend." Shiro said.
"Hey!" Yahiko shouted from the other side of the gym.
"What?"
"Yeah Makoto, its Freshman night. We should have been there half an hour ago." Kenshin said looking at the team.
"We were?"
"We're chaperoning?"
"Yeah come on coach!" Shiro muttered from somewhere on the floor. "Yahiko still has to put on cologne."
"Hey!" Yahiko shouted kicking Shiro's foot.
"Why you.." they began chasing each other around the court.
"I don't know..."
"I saw Miss Komagata and boy did she look fine." Chou said looking at the coach from the corner of his eye.
"Ok I guess it won't hurt." Shishio said starry eyed.
"heh Works every time." Chou said gathering his stuff. ***
"Oh Himura can I speak to you for a moment?" Saito said stopping Kenshin on his way to the football field.
"Yes sir?"
"I'm looking for someone to supervise the student council fundraiser." He said.
"Er who are you suggesting sir?" Kenshin asked hoping to the high heavens that it wasn't him.
"Guess."
"When and where do I report?" he sighed.
"Oh just coordinate with Ms. Yukishiro and Ms. Komagata." He smiled walking away from him.
"Aren't you going to the dance sir?"
"I'm not going to spend a second of my free time with those kids, I already spend most of my time here in school." He said not turning to look at him. Kenshin wondered how Principal Saito ever got his job.
*** The football field was just beautiful. The student council had decided to throw a luau, there were torches lighting the field and little paper lanterns shaped like flowers were hung on clotheslines across the entire dance area. You could smell the barbecue from where he was standing.
They were supposed to dress up in Hawaiian shirts but he really didn't care, he just came by to give Yahiko a lift since Kamatari had another thing to go to.
"Man this would sure be less painful if they were serving beer." He said walking toward the lights rolling his eyes at the Bob Marley music.
"Hey Sano!" Enishi said as he walked over to them. "What took you so long? Why aren't you in Hawaiian?"
"I fell asleep in the locker room." Sano said taking Kaoru's drink and finishing it.
"Hey!" She said grabbing it but it was too late.
"I'll get you a new one." Enishi volunteered leaving the two of them.
"Aww isn't that sweet?" Sano said sitting on a one of the chairs.
"Hey guys come on let's join the games!" Misao said coming over to them.
"Buzz of Makimachi." Sano muttered.
"Hey Misao who won Frosh king and queen?" Kaoru said motioning for her to sit beside her.
"Well it's a secret. Besides they're about to announce it anyway." She pointed at the stage.
"Hey guys." Soujiro smiled as he called the attention of the gathering. "So to draw all the boring traditions to a close we will now announce Frosh king and queen, these two were voted on by the upperclassmen who are here. And well they don't really win anything just the distinction that they're the cutest of their batch and they get to be embarrassed as they come up here. So without further ado..."
Tomoe handed him a little paper. "Frosh king is...Yahiko Sagara!" he announced. Yahiko turned a nice shade of red and had to be dragged to the stage where he was given a crown made of flowers.
"So how do you feel Yahiko?" Soujiro asked smiling.
"Stupid." He said glaring at the crowd.
"Ah smile you, you just won a dance with the Frosh queen, so Tomoe?"
"The prettiest freshman here tonight is none other than, Ms. Tsubame Kitano." She said clapping her hands. Tsubame came up to the stage, she had on a white shirt and a blue and white flower printed sarong, in her hair was a pink gumamela, she was turning pink herself.
"Aren't you pretty?" Soujiro said teasing the younger girl. She was crowned with flowers and had to dance with Yahiko.
"This is weird." She whispered over to him.
"Yeah, just don't step on my feet." He muttered.
Across the dance floor Sano watched as his little brother danced with the pretties freshman. She's all grown up. He smiled.
***
It was his last year in junior high, he was already accepted to Kainan where Kamatari was studying and he couldn't wait to try out for varsity. He had always loved playing basketball, ever since their first game in the backyard with their father, he had never stopped playing.
Sure he was sad because he was going to leave his junior high team but since his two best friends were also going to Kainan it wouldn't be much of a difference. Kainan was the best, he could still remember watching them in the nationals. Ever since he saw the blue and white of Kainan he knew he didn't want to wear anything else.
He just came out of practice really sore and in a bad mood because Enishi and Shiro would be out of town for the weekend and he didn't have anyone to hang out with. From the looks of it he would have to spend his Friday night baby-sitting Yahiko and his six-grader friends.
"Hey Sano-kun." Tsubame waved as he came closer to the two of them.
"It took you long enough." Yahiko griped as he got up from his school bag.
"Hey Tsubame-chan, so you're going home with Yahiko today huh? Yahiko you lucky dog." He chuckled, he laughed even harder when he saw the bewildered looks on both of their faces.
"Come on before I pollute your minds even further." He said shouldering his gym bag and taking Tsubame's backpack as well.
"Oh I can do it Sano-kun." She said pulling it off his shoulder.
"Nah I need it for endurance." He smiled.
"Would you like my bag too Oniichan?" Yahiko smiled.
"Shut up squirt." He said walking. "Where's the rest I thought the house would be screaming with six graders tonight?"
"Nah the guys got detention."
"I'm surprised you didn't." He laughed.
"Hey!" Yahiko pouted dragging his bag. "Why couldn't Tari pick us up?" he whined.
"He's got basketball practice. You want to wait up till nine?" Sano said crossing the street to the train station.
"Why couldn't you take dad's spare car?"
"And get in trouble?" he said paying the cashier for their tickets. "You can take it for a drive inside the village only and for short distances." He said mimicking their father.
"This sucks." Yahiko pouted.
"You wanna walk punk?" he said holding Yahiko's ticket above his head. "I'll take Tsubame-chan here on a date and we'll just see you at home." Somewhere in the back Tsubame blushed.
"Let's just go Sano." Yahiko said crossing his arms.
***
"So what do you want to do?" he asked sitting back on the sofa.
"Well I don't know." she smiled looking around the house.
"Wanna play video games?"
"Yeah sure." They were just about to plug in the play station when Sano came into the living room.
"Wanna play Sano-kun?" Tsubame asked smiling.
"Nah I'd probably beat Yahiko anyway." He smiled lying on the sofa.
"Hey!" Yahiko said looking back at him.
"By the way what time is it?" he asked.
"Around eight." She obliged.
"I know! Let's just get pizza and watch a movie!"
"Yeah!" she said jumping up.
"I don't know Tsubame has to get home..."
"I'll call your mom on the way."
***
"Revenge of the Nerds part two or Ace Ventura when nature calls, you decide." Sano smiled at the younger girl.
"Whatever Sano-kun." She smiled back at him. She was holding the coke six pack they had bought and Yahiko was standing by the counter with the pizza.
"What about you?" he called over to his younger brother.
"I don't care." He muttered.
"The detective it is." He chuckled bringing it to the counter where a girl from their school let him rent it for free. "Heh being in the varsity has some extra added bonuses eh?" he winked at Tsubame.
He didn't have to stay home and baby-sit them, they were old enough and Yahiko kept telling him of this fact. But he didn't have any plans and he wanted to get his mind off school and the best possible way to do that was to annoy his baby brother to death.
***
He sighed contentedly as the credits began to roll. He loved that movie and the two hours worth of laughs made him feel at ease. He groaned as he kicked the empty pizza box away from him.
"That was great huh?" he asked his companions but all he got was silence. Tsubame was asleep beside him, her drool creating a little wet spot on his shirtsleeve, Yahiko was curled up on the floor. He hadn't notice how long the movie had run, he looked at the clock it was past 11.
He got up and stretched. "Looks like my date fell asleep on me." he smiled taking the car keys from the table and picking up Tsubame. She stirred a little murmuring something incoherent.
Sano smiled. "If you weren't so small, we could have been great together." He whispered to the child in his arms.
***
He smiled at the memory and was brought out of it by Shiro's arrival.
"Hey Tanada!" Misao called. "What took you so long? Your date was getting lonely!" she pointed at Sano.
"Oh good one Makimachi. How original." Sano guffawed. Shiro looked at the two and silently walked away, heading towards the refreshments table. "Look at that pig, directly to the food he goes."
Misao looked at Shiro uncertain. He seemed distracted, more than usual. She followed him, wanting to talk to him. "Hey, what's up?"
"Hmm?" he asked getting a cup of punch.
"You seem stranger than usual."
"Why do you suddenly care Makimachi?" he asked grinning.
"Well sorry! You're the one that told me to get to know the class more!" she huffed walking away. She stopped in her tracks, no retort? No come back? Something must really be up.
"Shiro?" She said softly, unaccustomed to saying his first name. He turned around raising his eyebrow at her. "Are you ok?"
"My parents are splitting up." He said evenly, looking away when he finished. Misao looked at his profile. She wanted to offer him consolation but they weren't really close. The only time they spent together was that time they did their homework together. And suddenly Shiro Tanada became even more complex. More than she could understand. And so she decided to leave it at that. Sure she wanted to ask him why he was so different out of school. Why he treated her so differently when they were alone. But she decided that that was just who he was, and he had to deal with bigger problems than her stupid perception of him.
She couldn't understand him, maybe it was better she didn't. She had hoped they could become friends but then again they were so different from each other. How could they ever become friends?
"I'm sorry to hear that." She said before turning around.
"Makimachi." He called. She turned around and looked at him. "Can we keep..."
"I won't say a word." She smiled.
"Thanks."
***