"-ko. Shi…" That was the last thing Sayori said before a hand placed itself on her shoulder, rousing her from her slumber. "Huh?"
The drowsy student glanced up from her desk to find Shujinkou standing next to her with a smile on his face. It was filled with innocence and slight amusement. "Well, this is a first. You're the one usually bringing me back from the Realm of Sleep. Though technically daydreaming isn't sleeping…"
"I was just tired…" she let out a large yawn as she stretched her tired arms. "I did a lot of planning last night."
"What were you planning for?" he asked.
"Eh?!" a sharp chill shot down her spine the moment he asked that. "P-Planning… I was just planning... For a lot of things really! There's a lot of things to plan for! I need to plan a lot for them!"
Sayori nervously laughed as she gathered her things. "By the way, what are you doing here Shujinkou?"
"You weren't at the club, so I went looking for you," the young man answered.
"Oh. That makes sense," Sayori happily accepted. "Let's go!"
Shujinkou followed his childhood friend out of the classroom and down the hallway. On their way to the clubroom, he couldn't help but catch a few glimpses of her bright face. Such a sight reminded him of a promise he failed to keep. "If a friend needs me to be there, I'll be there."
"Hm?" You'll be what?" that question was all it took to afflict Shujinkou with shock. He couldn't believe that he said that out loud.
"I was just thinking about a promise I made…" he answered as he scratched his right cheek. He couldn't find it in him to completely answer that question then. It was just too awkward for him to do so after shutting her out for so long.
"Shujinkou?" Sayori curiously called.
Perhaps it was even more awkward because deep down, he feels like she may have not completely forgiven him. Especially since she hasn't once-
"Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. I mean it could just be that she outgrew that," he thought. "Maybe I could just ask her outright."
Shujinkou nervously scratched his right cheek as he gazed into Sayori's eyes. "Hey, Sayori…"
A sharp yawn swiftly brought the conversation to an end as it caught their attention in its grasp. Following the sudden interruption to its source, the two would soon find Kiyoko lying on the bench beside them.
"Kiyo!" Sayori excitedly waved at the girl next to them.
"Hey, you two," Kiyoko waved back.
"What are you doing here, Kiyoko?" Shujinkou asked. "Is there no practice today?"
"No, there is. I'm just not part of the team anymore," she nonchalantly answered.
"Huh?" Shujinkou was very surprised to hear that, at least until he remembered her equally nonchalant response to her feelings on the subject during Summer Break. But even with that knowledge in mind, he couldn't help but ask, "How come?"
"There were commitment issues and I didn't want to lead the other on."
"Oh. That's-" a balloon exploding in Shujinkou's face kept him from saying any more. Everything was black until he felt a finger slide across his eyes. With his field of vision restored, the first thing he witnessed was Sayori licking a taupe-colored substance from her index finger.
"It's oatmeal," she said with a satisfied grin.
"Looks likes you were the latest victim," Kiyoko said as she reached into her bag. She pulled out a towel and offered it to Shujinkou.
"Thanks," the young man gratefully accepted the towel and began to clean his face. "What was I the latest victim of?"
"Don't you know? Someone pulling pranks throughout the school!" Sayori frantically answered.
"How long has this been happening?" Shujinkou asked.
"Here and there last semester. Though it seems like they're trying kicking it up a notch this one though," Kiyoko explained. "Spicing various lunches, vandalizing chairs… Just yesterday, they messed with the Science Club's chemicals."
"That couldn't have been good," Shujinkou sympathized.
"Nope," Kiyoko shook her head. "Better keep an eye out."
"Okay," Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek before returning the towel to its owner. "Thanks."
"No problem. Anyway, I gotta go," She examined the oatmeal remains on her towel and shrugged. She then curled it into a ball and waved goodbye. "See ya, guys."
"See ya, Kiyo!" Sayori continued to wave goodbye until Kiyoko was out of sight. "Hey, maybe we can invite Kiyo to join the club."
"But she just said that she couldn't commit to her last club," Shujinkou pointed out.
"Yeah, our club doesn't require that much commitment. She can be as uncommitted as she wants," Sayori beamed.
"She'll say anything to get someone to join our club, won't she?" Shujinkou thought as he chuckled.
Meanwhile, Shujinkou's mother, Hiro was once again in the middle of trying to perfect his sewing skills, or at the very least, not to be laughably bad.
"Da da da dum, da da da dum dum, The Other Promise is stuck inside of my head again," she sang as continued to weave and thread.
Hiro continued to hum the song until she suddenly heard a knock on the door. The rookie sewer wasted no time in answering the door and found a man waiting on the other side.
"Mr. Akira?!" she exclaimed. Her eyes darted up and down while examining the man in front of her.
"Hello, Hiro," she watched as the man take his glasses off, clean them with a wipe and brushed his dark a few strands of hair out of the way before put them back on. "That's an interesting new look you're trying out."
"Huh?" the confused woman glanced down to find that she was covered in yarn. "Oh… I was sewing…"
"Let me help you with that," Akira proceeded to help free Hiro from the predicament, an act that caused her cheeks to grow bright red.
"Um…" the moment she was finally free she found herself struggling to find something to say. "Thanks, Boss…"
"Is your son home?"
"No…"
A smile stretched across his face as his hands cupped Hiro's face."Then what's with the formality?"
"Just used to it I guess…" she weakly chuckled.
They shared a quick kiss before Hiro invited himself inside her house.
"I thought you said you weren't going to try to sew when your teacher wasn't around," Akira said.
"I know. It's just that he's been so busy with him being in a club and having friends to spend time with, that he hasn't really had time to supervise me," Hiro explained. "I know I'm not getting any better, but I still have to try."
"No, you are getting better," he assured her with a chuckle. "You weren't completely mummified this time."
"That is an accomplishment for me. So…" Hiro awkwardly twiddled her thumbs. "What brings you here at this time of day?"
"I've decided that it was time that Shujinkou knew about us," Akira said as he plopped himself on her couch. "So, I am going to stay right here and blow the whistle."
"Eh?!" Hiro's entire body tensed as she processed what she was just told.
"I'm just joking. I wouldn't do that," he quickly assured her. "I wouldn't want to force that on you."
"I know. I know you wouldn't do that… It's just… I'm not sure how'll Shujinkou would respond to me dating. He's just getting better too and the last thing I want to do is cause him to revert."
"I completely understand and I know it was selfish and risky to come over so late, but I just had to…" Akira dug into his jacket and pulled out an envelope. "…get your opinion on these documents."
"…Does that jacket come with an extra-large pocket inside?" Hiro asked.
"I had it custom made," Akira proudly announced. "It's really handy for those days where I have to carry suitcases and suitcases, then go back to the car and bring in more suitcases and potentially go home just to bring over more suitcases…"
He sighed as he recalled such an experienced. "…like I had to today. My back is aching."
"Really, well…" Hiro sat next to Akira with a nervous expression on her face. "I could help you with that."
"Hm?" the surprised visitor glanced up at his host. "Oh. No. I mean, we don't have time for that. I don't want you to risk-"
"It's fine. After all, you went out of your way to come here just to deliver something so…" Hiro silently motioned Akira towards her.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked.
Hiro silently nodded her head.
"Okay…" Akira slowly inched his way closer to her and stretched across Hiro's lap.
"Alright…" After going through the usual mental preparations, Hiro took a deep breath and began to massage Akira's back. "So… How was work?"
"The usual. Tons of files, a lot of meeting that creates more files and everyone expressing how much they miss you."
"That's quite the hyperbole."
"Not really. Though if I had to be honest, I'm sure some wish they were in your position."
"No. No they wouldn't…"
"I know."
"Yeah. I really appreciate you letting me work from home. There's a lot of jobs that wouldn't do that even…"
"Even if the work could be done from home?"
"Yeah…"
"One of my employees was having a hard time, the least I could do was make things easier for them. Incidentally, I had to start screening those who wanted that same opportunity."
"How come?"
"I went to visit Akio."
"The guy next to my office?"
"Mm-hmm. He said his mother was dying of a terminal disease, so naturally I gave him time off. I wanted to express my condolences, so I set up a donation box and tried to deliver the earnings in person. Guess what happened when I got there?"
"His mother wasn't sick?"
"She was break-dancing on their front lawn."
"Did you fire him?"
"I could've, but instead I decided to put him on a pay probation."
"You really have a merciful heart."
"I try to. So how was your day?"
"Good. I got The Other Promise stuck in my head."
"What promise?"
"Huh? Oh, no it's not a promise; it's the name of a song from one of Shujinkou's games. It goes like: Da Da Da Dum, Hm Hm Hm Hmmm Hmmmmm."
"Really? Well, I'm not much of a video game professional, so I recognize that one. One of the ones I do know is: Do do do do do do do do doooooo, do do do do dooo doooooo."
"Sonic the Hedgehog?"
"Yep."
"What about this one: Do do do do do, do do do do do."
"Crash Bandicoot."
"Okay, how about this one: Who lives in a pineapple-
"That's not from a game."
"The countless games based on the cartoon says otherwise…"
Just then Akira sat up and shot Hiro a skeptical look. "You're bringing licensed games into this?"
"They're still games?" she replied with an awkward smile.
"Still not they're point of origin though," Akira pointed out as he leaned in closer to Hiro.
"Still good enough to be used in the product?" Hiro said with increasingly red cheeks.
"That's true…" the two closed their eyes as their lips inched closer and closer to each other.
Suddenly, a familiar sound sent a sharp chill down their spines. It was clicking sound of a door lock turning.
"Shujinkou!" she shrieked.
"On it!" Akira immediately dropped to the floor as Shujinkou walked in.
"Hey, mom," the young man waved as he slipped out of his shoes.
"H-Hey, Shujinkou," Hiro nervously waved back as she stood up.
"Is something wrong?"
"No… I'm just feeling a bit uneasy…"
"How come?"
"You know…" From the corner of her eyes, Hiro noticed Akira holding up a needle. "I'm really getting nowhere with my sewing."
"Oh. Sorry, I haven't really been helping you like I promised…" Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. "
"Don't apologize. I'm not upset just because you're hanging out with friends or doing your own thing."
"Yeah, but… Do want to work on it now?"
"Um, sure. You go get your stuff and I'll try not to mummify myself while you're gone."
"Okay," With an excited nod, Shujinkou ran up the steps, presenting an opportunity for his mother to escort Akira to the door.
"Sorry," she apologized as she opened the front door.
"No apologies," he casually replied. "See you when I see you."
He quickly planted a kiss on her cheek before making his leave.
"Right…" she dreamily sighed as she closed the front door. "…I'm a terrible mother…"