Yui glanced back over her shoulder as the front door slammed open, denting the wooden stopper in the process to admit a seething mass of dark hair above a highschool uniform.
She watched as Kanna hopped around for a few seconds as if she didn't have the time to sit down and take her shoes off like a normal person.
Curiosity sufficiently aroused, the blond rolled over so she could cross her arms on the back of the sofa, turning of the TV by tapping the remote with one toe as she did so.
She waited a few seconds to see if the grumbling girl noticed that she was there before announcing herself with a loud cough.
Caught off guard by the sudden noise, Kanna pitched dangerously to one side, swaying comically for a few moments before falling back on her tush and groaning something about the unfair nature of the universe, and the many derogatory traits of blond idiots.
Yui might have been offended if she hadn't known her young friend long enough to realise she wasn't referring to her, but rather another blond in their mutual acquaintance.
"Good day?", she drawled, smiling brightly in counterpoint to Kanna's fierce expression, "Meet anyone new?".
She already had a feeling she knew what had Kanna's hackles up and was looking forward to an entertaining couple of hours as the younger woman related the day's events.
"You knew about this didn't you?", Kanna's voice was dangerous, almost feral which only heightened Yui's sense of glee.
It was true that she had known about Ryu's transfer arrangements, she had run the necessary documents over to the school herself after all, but she wasn't about to tell Kanna that.
There was also the little incident that had occurred last night after Kanna had left Ryu nursing an equally sore arm and eardrum after her little performance in the kitchen.
Feeling slightly sorry for the young man, she had conscripted Mizuki's aid in fitting his school uniform for him. His expression when he had discovered them waiting for him in his room had been priceless, but oddly his gaze had continued to shift to his closet every few seconds rather than watching the two grinning women in front of him.
As she recalled the rest of that night and the poor boy's subsequent near heart-attack when Yui produced a tape measure and told him in her most authoritarian voice to 'hold still', she made a mental note to check out the contents of his closet next time she was in the area.
She didn't say anything when Kanna sat down sulkily across from her. She could tell the other woman wanted to relay what had happened that day, all she had to do was wait long enough and she'd crack.
Yui lounged in her seat; idly checking her immaculate nails and absently twirling a long strand of hair around one finger in a girlish fashion.
"Well?"
"Well what?", Yui responded without looking up.
"Aren't you going to ask?"
"Ask what?", she smirked behind her hair as she heard the sound of enamel grinding on enamel.
"About what I've been through in the past three days", Kanna said very slowly as if not trusting herself to let her tongue run free.
"Wellllll…", Yui paused as if considering it, "If you really want to tell me…sure, go right ahead".
She sat up, orientating herself toward her friend and casually crossing her legs, "Fire away".
Kanna sighed at the song and dance routine Yui seemed to live on, and launched into her version of the day's events.
Kanna was dumbstruck. She pinched herself under her desk just to check she was really awake and hadn't dosed off in class.
It hurt. She was still awake, so that meant the spiky hair jerk uncomfortably occupying the centre of attention at the front of the room was also really there.
She dug furrows in the surface of her desk with her nails as the class continued to whisper amongst themselves.
What the hell was this good for nothing pervert doing here?
Her stomach lurched as the teacher announced he was transferring into their class.
Kanna's jaw tightened, this couldn't be happening to her.
Unable to contain her outrage as the balding teacher introduced the new student, Kanna was on her feet before she recalled standing, her finger jabbed toward him accusingly.
"YOU!", the volume of her shout cut off all other noise in the room, and brought Ryu's head snapping around disbelievingly, her own expression mirrored by his own for a moment before his features returned to their usual icy implacability.
Kanna suddenly became very aware of all the attention she had unintentionally gathered, as the eyes of every person in the room, including the teacher's zeroed in on her.
"I assume you have you wish to talk to the new arrival about young lady, seeing as how there seems to be so history between you, but if you could control yourself until the end of this period I'd be most grateful", she shrunk back down into her seat under the old man's steady gaze, vowing revenge upon Ryuuya for embarrassing her like that as she tried to ignore the questioning looks from the students around her.
Yui burst out laughing, getting louder when she saw Kanna's indignant expression.
"That…That's p-priceless", she managed to choke out around a fresh wave of giggles, "You made a total ass of yourself!"
"I don't have to tell you this", Kanna pointed out, satisfied when that silenced Yui, allowing her to continue.
While Kanna willed herself to melt into her chair without any great success. Ryu began recounting a small list of hobbies and personal details in a dry and practiced voice.
She glared at him as best she could from her low elevation, trying to figure out if perhaps he was stalking her or something. She had heard that the worst perverts tended to single out a girl that caught their eye and hound her mercilessly.
"Psst", she didn't notice that someone was trying to get her attention, to busy running through frightening scenarios in which a creepily grinning Ryu lurked in the shadows as she made her way home on a dark and windy night.
"Psst, Kanna-chan", the red headed girl next to her poked her ribs discretely. Well as discretely as one can poke a girl's ticklish spot.
Kanna arched in her seat, letting out an involuntary yelp that had the teacher once more censoring her with a stare.
That was another mark for Ryu on the list when all this was over.
She focused her attention on the girl next to her, a petite red head with bright, mischievous eyes and a childish grin; a single yellow ribbon wrapped around one bang of her short hair.
Mae Aoshima had been her best friend for longer than she could really remember, the daughter of someone her father had met through work, the energetic girl was a good friend but had a well-deserved reputation as a gossip.
Incidentally; another of Yui's 'pupils'.
She had that look in her eye; the look that said she was about to ask a question she knew Kanna wouldn't like but couldn't help herself.
"What is it?", Kanna asked, already fairly sure she new what was going to be asked.
"How do you know Ryu-kun?", yep, just the question she hadn't wanted to answer. Unfortunately it seemed Mae wasn't the only girl who was intrigued, a number of others were leaning visibly closer even as they attempted to divide their attention between her and Ryu.
She also wondered briefly at the nickname the blond had acquired already, taking some solace in the fact that he hated that name with a passion.
"I don't, not really", she said, trying to ignore Mae's widening grin. She'd already trapped herself by shouting at him, so she couldn't deny knowing him outright, just try to distance herself.
"Ah, could he be a secret lover?", Mae held up her little finger and shook it almost accusingly at Kanna.
The dark haired girl only barely refrained from shouting this time, hissing "No!", at a stage whisper.
"Kanna-chan seems awfully guilty about something though", one of the girls behind her pointed out, Mae nodding helpfully.
"You're right, she's blushing", another pointed out, spotting the change in colour her cheeks had undergone.
"Impure thoughts Kanna-san", another tutted, winking at her friend, while Kanna tried to find the words to set them straight.
"Oh, I'm so jealous", the first girl moaned, "Kanna-chan gets all the cute boys".
"I am not-"
"Do you think they met during the winter break?", the second girl asked.
"Um, hello, still here", Kanna waved a hand but they all seemed oblivious to her presence. Mae just shrugged philosophically and went back to watching the conversation she had triggered.
"Yeah, I bet they went for long walks in the snow together", Kanna was vaguely disturbed by the dreamy look in the other girls eyes as they sighed heavily.
"I wonder if they spent Christmas eve together", another added, prompting a round of adolescent squealing even as the vein on Kanna's forehead began to bulge threateningly.
"We did no such thing!", she shouted, not noticing that Mae was having to hold her in her seat, "I didn't even know him then!"
Kanna slapped a hand over her mouth, her mind finally catching up with what she was saying as the little gathering around her grinned as one.
"I knew it", Mae beamed as Kanna slumped forward defeated, allowing her head to hit the desk.
"We have a lot to talk about later", she added quietly, noticing that Ryu was finished with his introduction and deciding to grill Kanna later.
"Settle down everyone", the balding man said, "Mr. Kisame I see there's a free seat over there".
Kanna glanced up, wondering which poor soul would end up next to the pervert and doing a double take as she realised that the teacher was pointing to the now empty seat next to her.
She looked around to find the girl who had bee sitting there moments earlier was now sitting further back, waving to her encouragingly.
"I trust you can manage not to disrupt the class any further?", he asked, brushing some imaginary lint of his moth eaten jacket.
"Yes sensei", she said, struggling to smile pleasantly.
Ryu was so dead for this.
Kanna glanced suspiciously over at Yui, who just smiled back innocently, waiting patiently for her to continue.
The door slid aside and Ayu shuffled in, her expression slightly distant, removing her shoes and changing into her house slippers as if on autopilot.
She didn't even look at them as she walked by and up the stairs.
"What was that about?", Yui asked, raising a slender eyebrow.
"I don't know", Kanna said, her expression concerned, "She's been like that all day…I bet that pervert tried to do something to her".
Yui nodded absently before motioning Kanna to continue.
Kanna missed most of her first period due to time spend developing the side-glare (Kanna TM), allowing her to express her disgust at being seated next to him, while avoiding actually having to look directly at him.
Of course he never noticed, and Mae misinterpreted her efforts as being distracted by his mere proximity, something she made sure to tell all the other girls as soon as the class ended.
Attempts to tell them that she was not, and never would, be interested in a despicable pervert like Ryu, all fell on deaf ears.
Busy trying to contain the fallout of her overeager friend, she didn't notice that the smiling girl had manoeuvred her so that she was walking alongside Ryu to their next class, and he just took one glance at the proceedings, snorted and carried on doing his best to ignore the whole thing.
This cool indifference of course had the opposite effect to the one he would have wanted, sending his popularity rating even higher amongst the girls and even earning him some respect from the male population who admired his control when confronted with the fawning female crowd that was trailing him and Kanna.
His supposed relationship with the dark haired girl, a rumour that had spread across most of the campus much to the aforementioned girl's horror by the end of second period, also earned him some respect, though also a number of enemies amongst the other boys who had shown an interest in her in the past.
To make things worse he seemed to excel at everything.
When called upon to answer a complicated algebraic equation, he had stood calmly, walked to the head of the class, and after examining the board for a few minutes, declared the answer to be eight.
Just like that.
No scrunched face, no thinking pose, no sweating, nothing. Just a simple statement and half a second's worth of chalk work and he had returned to his seat while the math instructor adjusted his glasses and flicked quickly through the teachers manual under his desk, triple checking what he found before offering a delayed congratulations and moving on to the next question.
She had glanced down at the calculations she had quickly done when he had been asked to tackle the problem, the number eight emblazoned in accusing red ink on her paper.
"Ryu-sama is so smart!", she almost gagged when she heard one girl mutter that behind her somewhere, a number of others agreeing and sighing as they spent most of the lesson trying to catch his eye rather than listening to their teacher.
Naturally the jerk hadn't spared them a second glance, but one was all it seemed to take to satisfy them.
Kanna fumed. So what if he happened to be smart? That just made him even more dangerous, and she was sure these girls would agree if they knew the real Ryu. Why were they acting like that, just because they thought he was cute.
Kanna had given him another sidelong death glare. Ok so maybe he wasn't exactly ugly if you liked blond and brooding, but that shouldn't mean that they couldn't all see the true form of the beast that lurked under that icy shell.
She briefly thought on what was scheduled next as the bell announced the end of this session of hell and she gathered her books up.
Next would be physical education.
That's where he'd mess up. What were the odds that he would be both smart and athletic? Even if by some fluke he was, the presence of all the girls in their gym uniforms would bring the real him to the surface, then everyone would listen to her as she cast him out for the animal he was.
Lost in a fantasy where a humbled crowd bowed low before her benevolent wisdom, while a defeated Ryu was carted away in a cage labelled 'Beast'. Kanna failed to notice that she had once again been steered next to the blue eyed blond, the true meaning of her smile lost on both him and the stragglers that followed.
Her good mood was broken when she was snapped out of her daydream by more chatter that featured Ryu's new, more respectful title, and realised where she was standing.
Having a reputation of her own to maintain, she had had to strangle the urge to kick him, hard, in a sensitive part of the male anatomy for letting them end up like this, and walk as sedately as possible to the girls changing rooms.
The following time was something she had done her best to blank from her memory.
The sport had been basketball; both classes were taking part, but using a single basket at opposite ends of the court.
Ryu had seemed to all but trip over his own feet at first, and Kanna almost crowed as she heard the semi-disappointed sighs of the girls around her.
This was more like it.
Calling a time out, the coach had taken Ryu aside for a moment, speaking to him in hushed tones, before handing him the ball and resuming the game.
Whatever had been said in that time, brought about a remarkable change in behaviour. Ryu darted amongst the other player like they were simply statues standing in his way.
As Kanna's jaw hit the ground, the girls formed an impromptu cheering section for the young blond, and with each cry of "Ganbatte Ryu-sama!", that went out, Kanna felt the urge to throttle someone grow a little stronger.
She had almost cried when someone came up to her and told her how lucky she was to have someone like Ryu as a boyfriend.
"What's the big deal?", Yui asked, genuinely confused. From what she had been told Ryu hadn't actually done anything at this point except perhaps fail to set people straight on his relationship with Kanna, but that sort of rumour would fade in time when people saw how they interacted with each other.
"Oh it gets better", Kanna bit out sarcastically.
By lunch time of the third day, Kanna was at her wits end.
"You and me, outside, now", Kanna demanded, barely stopping herself from putting a foot on Ryu's bench to emphasis her point.
She had had enough. One to many people had congratulated her, or complimented her. It was time to put an end to this, and that meant taking out the source.
The small gathering at Ryu's table, mostly girls it seemed, made her eyebrow twitch dangerously. That pervert certainly hadn't wasted any time.
They all looked on expectantly between the pair as Kanna reigned in the urge to knock him upside his head when he continued to eat his lunch without looking at her.
She leaned closer, hissing in his ear, while trying to keep her face pleasant for the onlookers.
"Don't ignore me jerk", she warned.
He set down his food, turning so that their noses were inches apart and staring directly into her eyes.
The excited chatter of those gathered seem to fade away as her stomach fluttered and her cheeks began to warm.
"Happy now?", he asked, his voice sounding mildly irritated, "I was trying to eat".
Whatever spell had held her tongue was broken at that moment and her glare returned full force.
"Follow me right now and I won't tell anyone what a peeping tom you really are", his eyes narrowed in a way that made her want to gulp but she refused to look away, even as she heard one girl ask someone if they thought her and Ryu were about to kiss, setting her ears burning.
"I thought we discussed that already…", he sighed, standing, "Lead the way".
Kanna nodded curtly, turning on her heel and walking away, only stopping to check he was following.
She made her way outside to where Mae and her small circle of close friends sat on a series of benches around a large oak that was planted in the schools courtyard, all of them with bento's resting on their laps.
"Right, I brought him, so now we can clear all this up", she announced, folding her arms beneath her chest after prodding Ryu forward.
"Tell them we're not dating", she almost punched him when he made a face as if the very idea were repugnant. She just wanted him to stop the rumours not insult her.
"No, we're not", he informed the other girls, his voice as even and serious as always.
A few of Kanna's friends looked disappointed, especially Mae for some reason, while others looked thoughtful, even hopeful.
"That's too bad", Mae said sadly, like a child who has lost their favourite toy, "I thought you and Kanna-chan made a really cute couple".
"Reality and fantasy rarely mix", he spoke before Kanna could respond, taking the offered seat next to Mae, leaving Kanna no choice but to sit next to him.
"So where are you from Ryu-kun?", she asked once he was settled, resting her head on one hand curiously.
With so many people, Kanna included, waiting for the answer, he didn't really have the option of ignoring her.
"I grew up near Sendai", he said smoothly.
"A country boy?", Mae asked teasingly, giggling when he snorted.
"You don't act very much like a farmer's son Ryu-kun, what does your family do?"
"Nothing of consequence, my Father attends to a number of…managerial concerns", Kanna wasn't very satisfied with such vague answers and made it known by kicking his shin sharply, but Mae didn't seem putout by his standoffish nature.
"Why did your family decide to move here?", she asked.
"They didn't", he responded after a moment, "I'm here alone".
Kanna rolled her eyes as the other girls gave him varying sounds of sympathy, she'd been living apart from her family for a while now, most of the residents at the Hinata Sou had, it was no big deal.
"If your parents aren't with you", one of the others asked, "where are you living Ryu-sama? We could all come visit you if you want so you won't be lonely".
Time seemed to slow as Ryu made to respond.
Oh no! If they find out he's living in the same building as me I'll never hear the end of it!
Ryu was surprised to find a hand suddenly clamped over his mouth and an arm around his neck.
"Excuse us for a moment", Kanna said with a painfully forced smile as she dragged the protesting Ryu out of sight, leaving the other girls to wonder just what was going on.
"What are you doing?", he asked when she finally let go of him, rubbing at his neck to restore the circulation.
"What do you think moron!", she hissed, looking around to make sure no one was watching them, "You can't tell people we're living together, they'll get…weird ideas about us".
His blank stare was infuriating.
"Kanna-chan!", she spun around, seeing Mae and the others jogging toward her, "There you are, I was worried…Where is Ryu-kun?".
Kanna's head jerked around like she had touched a live wire. Where the blond menace had been standing only moments before there was only air.
"So you're mad because some people got the wrong idea?", Yui asked, folding her legs beneath her.
"Yes, and it's all that big jerk's fault. Now Mae is convinced I'm trying to hide where he lives so I can visit him in secret, all because the stupid head didn't know to keep his mouth shut!", that interpretation sounded a little off to Yui but she didn't say anything.
"Didn't you mention something about Ayu-chan acting strange as well?".
"Hmmm? That? Yeah, I found her when I went looking for him…"
Kanna was tired but she couldn't give up. How was she supposed to explain why she had all but abducted Ryu if he wasn't around to help her explain.
Her search had taken her behind the school, onto the fields that were soon to be used once more as the weather grew warmer.
No ready sign of Ryu and everyone she had asked along the way hadn't seen him either. She knew that asking people about him like that would backfire on her, but in the long run, finding him was more important.
She was running out of time, lunch break was almost over.
As she was about to give up she spotted something, a familiar bob of dark blue hair that clearly belonged to Ayu. Sitting on the bank next to the bushes that led down to the running tracks, the shy girl was staring at the empty bento set next to her, a small smile on her pale face.
"Hey! Ayu-chan!", Kanna called, summoning the strength to jog over. Ayu glanced up surprised, but that was understandable. Even though they were friends, being a year below her, Ayu rarely interacted with Kanna in school.
"H-hai sempai", she stuttered as Kanna drew near, looking slightly guilty for a moment.
Kanna didn't have the time to wonder about that though, she asked the question that was at the front of her mind, "Have you seen Ryu?"
"R-Ryuuya-sempai? No…I haven't seen him", the dark haired girl wondered why Ayu seemed to be stuttering more than normal, and blushing as she tried to hide her face with her bangs.
Kanna frowned, had that pervert done something to poor little Ayu? She always seemed a little awkward around him, and never spoke to him outside of meal times to Kanna's knowledge.
Further questioning was cut off when the bell rang to announce the end of the student's free time.
"Damn, I'll speak to you later Ayu-chan", Kanna promised, never noticing that the younger girl had gone back to staring at the box and hadn't answered her.
When she had gotten back to class, she had found Ryu waiting as if nothing had happened, but when she tried to talk to him at the end of school, he had vanished again, leaving her to walk home alone.
Ryu collapsed onto his futon. He had had a strenuous three days thus far, and had only mapped a small portion of the first floor, though he had ended up mapping out the ground floor in its entirety, which was something to be proud of he supposed.
Having snuck in through his window to avoid a lecture from Kanna, all he really wanted to do now was sleep.
He stiffened as he felt slender hands massaging his tense shoulders, "Tough day?".
He turned his head slowly, still somewhat shocked to find Yui rubbing away the knots in his tense muscles with practiced ease, even though he doubted there was anyone else in the building that would have done so, and certainly not without asking first.
At least Mizuki wasn't here this time. Their tag team act was not something a person readily forgot.
"Thinking about me?", she asked, not stopping her ministrations.
"Mizuki actually", he said dryly, hoping to throw her off a little. Her quiet laugh told him all he'd done was amuse her.
"I doubt that", she leaned over so she could whisper in his ear, offering him a view others would have killed for in the process, "no man thinks of another woman when he's with me".
Ryu was finding swallowing hard to be a rapidly developing habit around the tanned older woman.
Realising that he hadn't yet made any move to stop her he rolled out of her grasp, sitting up so that he could face her.
Yui pouted playfully, sticking her tongue out at him, "Fine, be like that, can't blame a girl for wanting to help her cute new friend".
"How did you get in?", he asked, "I locked the door".
"Your window was open", she said as if that made perfect sense.
Choosing to glaze over that statement for now, he asked the next question on his mind, "What do you want Yui?".
She tsked as if disappointed in him, "Come on now, a beautiful woman sneaks into your room in secret and you have to ask what she wants?"
That swallowing habit was back as she chose that moment to stretch.
When he didn't respond she sighed and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position.
"Fine, I wanted to know what happened between you and Kanna today, I heard her version, now I want to hear yours".
Ryu shrugged.
What was there to tell?
His integration into the school had gone smoothly enough even if he wasn't happy with it. He had been forced to concede when making his plans that a highschool student not attending highschool would draw attention, as well as forcing him to invent a reason for coming to Hinata as a cover story.
His had been polite but aloof, hoping it would convince the other students to leave him to his own devices. However relatively little time in his youth spent around people his own age had betrayed him in the end as the students, most annoyingly the females, seemed to adore this icy front.
Before he was entirely sure what had happened, he had a small fan club and had been paired off in the eyes of the student body with Kanna of all people.
He couldn't see how anyone could make such a ridiculous assumption. The two of them barely spoke, and when they did it was usually her yelling while he ignored her.
Still, she did seem to appear everywhere he went. Ryu had been struck by the concept that perhaps this unstable girl was stalking him, a very troubling prospect.
He had been content to ignore his peer's behaviour, but apparently Kanna had not. She had confronted him in the cafeteria in front of the small crowd of girls that had gathered at his table despite a desire to dine alone, constantly chattering and giggling at him.
Kanna's angry voice had almost been a relief, even if he had felt honour bound to ignore her until she moderated her approach, forcing her to meet him eye to eye.
When she had threatened to begin spreading even more rumours about him, which would have drawn more unwanted attention, he had reluctantly agreed to follow her to what turned out to be a miniature interrogation of sorts.
Her red haired friend's questions had crossed swiftly into areas he didn't wish to discuss, but was aware that avoiding them would only make the women more curious.
He had answered with vague truths that seemed to placate them, but when confronted with the matter of his accommodations, he had found himself being dragged away by Kanna and accused of gross stupidity.
He had just starred, unable to believe she honestly thought him dense enough to suggest that he would tell these girls that they lived together, as if he didn't know what informing everyone he lived alone with a number of girls would do to his reputation and hers.
Her continued attacks on his competence were beginning to wear thin, so as soon as she had been distracted he had taken the opportunity to slip away to find some time to cool off.
His random walk had taken him behind the school, and as he had stood, brooding upon the bank that led down to the track, he had heard a startled gasp from behind him.
He spun, glare in place, ready to send whoever the foolish girl was that had found him scurrying, rounding on very familiar face.
Ayu had let out a small shriek, stepping back to fast as she saw his face and almost falling until he caught her.
Ryu had smirked in private amusement at this. Saving this girl from her own clumsiness was becoming a full time job.
"Are you ok?", he asked, setting he back on her feet and turning back to the view of the track as she nodded while keeping her head bowed for some reason.
"What…what are you doing out here alone sempai?", she asked quietly when the silence between them began to stretch.
"Just thinking", he answered, lowering himself to a crouch. For a moment he considered sending her on her way but just sighed. This girl had done nothing to annoy him, no that job seemed reserved for a certain dark haired girl with a fiery temper.
"You?", he asked, missing the way she jumped when he suddenly spoke.
"I-I, always come out here…its peaceful…and I'm not bothering anyone out here", she began toying with her skirt, looking out over the track rather than at him, "I sometimes come here to watch Kanna-sempai when she runs as well".
The mention of Kanna soured his mellowing mood and he just snorted in response.
"I'm sorry", she said quietly, mistaking the object of his displeasure, "I shouldn't have disturbed you…I'll go now".
"It's fine", he said without looking round, "This is your spot not mine, sit".
She blushed for a moment before wordlessly taking his offer.
Once she was seated, Ayu removed a small black box from her bag and opened it, the delicious aroma from within wafting out delicately, teasing his nose and kicking his saliva glands into overload.
She notice him eying the food and timidly held the box out towards him, "Are…are you hungry sempai? You can have some of this if you want".
He was about to decline when his stomach reminded him that Kanna had interrupted him before he'd taken more than a few bites of his lunch.
She giggled prettily, covering her mouth with her free hand as he levelled an even gaze at her and accepted one of the rice cakes from box.
"How is it?", she asked shyly when he took a bite, turning away for a moment when he responded that it was just as good as everything else she made.
"I'm sure some man will find you a most satisfactory wife one day", he commented and she almost fainted.
They ate in silence together before Ayu summoned the courage to speak again.
"I-if you want, sempai, I could make you one everyday", she waved her hands when he looked at her curiously, "You don't have to or anything! It's just that it's so much nicer to eat outside when the weather is nice…or at least…I think so anyway…".
Ryu shrugged, "I don't mind".
Her smile threatened to break her face, "Hai sempai, I'll do my best for you".
Before he could question why she was blushing he heard a familiar grating voice nearby.
Kanna had almost found him.
Quickly thanking Ayu for the meal, he ducked out of sight before she could respond.
The next time he had seen Kanna had been in class, and he had managed to get out first, hiding until she left without him.
As he had left he had run into Ayu again, almost literally, and after apologising for his lack of attention, had ended up walking back to the train station with the shy girl, separating only when they returned to Hinata House in order to avoid Kanna.
Getting back in without Kanna seeing him had been an interesting challenge.
Yui nodded along thoughtfully, murmuring to herself occasionally.
He hoped that had satisfied her strange curiosity.
There was a loud knock at the door, as if the person were attempting to hammer down the door to gain entrance rather than asking for entry.
He didn't need to see her shadow to guess who it was.
Kanna.
He made to tell Yui to leave and was left blinking as he found her spot vacant, his window shutter now swinging gently in the evening breeze.
He marvelled at the resourcefulness of the tanned woman as he unlatched his door, sliding it open and backpedalling as Kanna thrust a finger in his face.
"Where were you?", she demanded, sounding comically for a moment like a nagging wife rather than someone who had made it clear she didn't want to be associated with him.
"Excuse you?", he returned folding his arms and glaring back at her.
"I waited around for forever after school and you didn't show up!", this time it wasn't the volume, but the tone of her voice that threw him.
She had sounded almost…hurt.
"I wasn't aware that two days of coincidence were enough to set a precedence", he said, unable to explain the twisting feeling that ran through his gut when her face sank for a moment.
"We live in the same place, and what kind of jerk makes a girl walk home alone when it's not even out of his way to escort her, it's plain manners!", the idea of Kanna lecturing anyone on manners was amusing in itself, but he somehow kept a straight face.
"Fine, I'll be sure to walk you to and from school everyday from now on", her cheeks were dusted pink when he said that and she coughed roughly into one hand.
"Right, yeah, you, um…you better", she muttered, shifting from foot to foot, her hands playing with each other behind her back.
Once again he was unable to understand her strange behaviour.
"Hey you know something", she said looking past him into the room, "This is the first time I've seen your room, and you've been here for almost four days now… What…The…Hell".
He followed her gaze back his futon.
Lying atop the ruffled covers, were a pair of small pink panties. The letters 'Y.S.' clearly emblazoned on the small amount of fabric.
Now when in the world did she…In the room above Chii watched her cousin howl with laughter as a great crashing noise echoed up from the floor below, shaking her small head as she recognised the voice doing the scream that had both preceded and followed the crash.
"Troublesome", she intoned, turning back to the bewildering array of lines she was sketching out on a large sheet of blue paper.
"Aww, you're no fun sometimes Chii-chan, besides, they'll be fine, all relationships need to be shaken up once in a while".
Chii didn't reply this time, just tapped something into the calculator next to her and continued her work.
As far as Yui was concerned, they should have brought in a guy to live here ages ago.
---Author Notes---
Yay, another chapter down, but there'll be a delay in the next lot cause I need to do a little research first. Coming next; Chapter Four: A Class Act; Kanna and Mizuki's classes are taking a trip together, a three day site seeing and cultural tour around Tokyo. How will Kanna and Ryu handle all that time together? And why does one of the chaperones look so familiar….is that….Natsuki!
All this and more in the next instalment.
Till next time, Betweenheavenandhell