I'm so very sorry for the absence of update since last year, but life happened *sig* I can't guarantee regular updates but knows that is a story I would like very much to see to its end, so bear with me and my inconsistent updating agenda! ^^

enjoy o/


The bus stopped, and Haru got off as gracefully as she could with the passengers pushing her while trying to get in.

Mumbling angrily at people incivility, she smoothed her blouse, readjusted her handbag on her shoulder before walking toward her meeting point with Hiromi.

As she had expected from the sunny weather of earlier in the morning, the air was soft and warm. A slight breeze was dancing in her brown locks she had decided to not pull into a ponytail for the day.

Strangely enough, for a Saturday, crossroad was not as busy as she had expected. Her gaze passed over the few people on the street, looking for her friend as she slowly walked down the road. The Docs she had bought two months ago had finally adjusted to her feet, and Haru had sighed in relief, knowing that she won't get home with blisters that night.

Looking at her phone, Haru saw that she was a little earlier than expected. She quickly texted Hiromi that she was waiting for her on a bench near the florist shop. Then she drew her headphone from her bag, put them on and started a random selection of the lastest songs she had listened to.

The catchy notes of Elton John I'm still standing started to ring in her ears, her left foot following the music's beat as she observed the people passing by.

Closing her eyes, while keeping one hand on her stuff, Haru let herself being engrossed by the music, the warm atmosphere and the idea of spending a full day without worrying about school or stressful subjects.

As the song ended to shifted to Apocalyptica's cover of Nothing Else Matters, Haru's heard the cry of a crow.

Frowning, the young women opened her eyes and looked toward the sound.

She wondered what was doing a big crow (not that she knew what was the regular size for a crow, but it was huge) there instead of being anywhere else. The blackbird seemed to be croaking at something that she couldn't see. Strangely enough, even with all the racket it as causing, no one seemed to give a second thought to the crow, except for Haru.

She was about to stand up to investigate further when a man with a pushchair passed before her, masking her view on the bird momentarily.

She didn't see the crow fly away. Still, at soon as her view on it was masked, the cawing had abruptly stopped, and the next moment, Haru could only stare at the void spot where the bird was not even a second ago.

She blinked several times, trying to understand what had just happened when someone put their hand on her shoulder.

She jumped almost one foot over the bench, making the one who had surprised her stepped back in surprise.

"My Goodness, Haru! Did I scare you that much?" joked Hiromi as she grabbed Haru's bag that had fallen on the ground from her surprise.

The brunette let out a breath before laughing softly at her best friend, "Maybe. I don't know. It's the second time that it happened to me today, so I guess I may have my head too much in the clouds."

"Who knows?" giggled Hiromi before frowning at her, "But are you okay?" she suddenly asked, sitting next to her, "You are as pale as if you had seen a ghost."

Haru blinked precisely three times, then shocked her head, "Don't worry, I've just got spooked by a crow that disappeared in a blink of an eye in front of me… Kind of."

There was the murmur of… Something… In Hiromi's eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and Haru decided not to give a second thought.

Instead, she smiled brightly at the reddish-brunette.

"So, what's the plan for today?"

oOoOoOoOo

"… And then I found him red-handed his arm half-way in the cookie jar! Poor boy, I had to punish him, but you should have seen the look in his eyes!" laughed Hiromi while taking a sip of her ice-tea. It had been an anecdote from the reddish-brunette time as a babysitter last summer that she hadn't told her best friend yet.

Haru giggled softly in return, wiping the corner of her mouth elegantly with her handkerchief. "I can imagine it." She stopped when she saw the familiar look on Hiromi's face.

"Don't you dare." She warned her vis-à-vis.

Hiromi arched an eyebrow, "I wasn't planning anything." She mockingly-defended herself, and Haru rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"Besides, you can be worse than me." Emphasise the brunette, looking pointedly at her best friend.

She tilted her head on the side, "Nope," replied Hiromi, popping the 'p', "Still no idea what you are talking about." But the grin on her face told another story.

It had started a few years ago when the reddish-brunette had started teasing Haru about her old-fashioned lady habits, like carrying around handkerchiefs or the way she sometimes spoke.

It had been the source of enjoyment for Hiromi and annoyment for Haru for a few months. Then she discovered that her best friend could be even more old-fashioned than her, and the tables were turned.

Then the joke became old, and both decided to stop teasing each other with it… Most of the time.

Straightening her back, Haru took another spoonful of her chocolate cake.

"This day is too beautiful to waste it in a cinema, don't you think?" asked Hiromi.

The brunette nodded while swallowing.

"I was thinking the same. I heard that there was an outdoor exhibition from the University of Arts, what do you think?"

Hiromi looked pensive, "Well, you know that I'm rubbish about Art, but why not?" she took another sip of her ice-tea, "Maybe I'll even find something to joke about, like in this film, you know, the one with the disabled man in Paris?"

Haru sighed, rubbing her eyes, "I can not believe that the only thing you remember about Intouchables is the museum scene."

The reddish-brunette grinned sheepishly at her, chuckling.

"Well, let's go then." Said Haru, "We have to walk twenty minutes to get there."

"Aah, you don't want to take the bus instead?" complained Hiromi.

"No. I had enough of people incivility to last me until the next solar eclipse."

Her best friend rolled her eyes "Such drama queen."

"Well, you were a great teacher."

"Hey!"

oOoOoOoOo

Haru grumbled at the smug look her best friend was giving her as they both were standing in front of a painting that very much looked like a stain of black ink on a blank canvas.

"I swear if you're going to say-"

Hiromi held up her hands in mock innocence.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Declared the reddish brunette, and Haru glared with a crooked smile at her.

"You are."

"Am not."

"I'm not going to argue with you on that." Laughed Haru, and Hiromi stuck her tongue at her.

"Spoilsport."

The brunette rolled her eyes with amusement before moving away toward the next painting.

There weren't many people at the exhibition, allowing the two teenagers to easily travel through the paintings and other sculptures. Both young women had no idea what was the meaning behind certain pieces. At least, they had an excuse to spend time together outside the academic context.

Haru sighed at the thought.

"Something's wrong?" asked her best friend.

"No, it's just… Can you believe that next April, we will be diplomated and en route for College?"

The reddish brunette looked up at the sky, crossing her arms behind her head.

"I guess… Still feels so foreign to me."

Haru chuckled softly at her.

"Any idea of what you are going to do once we're done with high school?"

Hiromi shrugged.

"Dunno. I guess I'll just have to wait and see …"

If it weren't for the years of friendship between them, Haru wouldn't have caught the tinny little white lie hidden behind her best friend words.

It was something that the other girl often did while talking of her family for example. In the years they had known each other, Haru had hardly met, if ever, her best friend's father before his death. And from what she knew, Hiromi's mother had died a few months after her birth. Haru had guessed that her best friend lived with an uncle of a sort, as the rare time her guardian was mentioned, it was a "he". Moreover, Haru had never heard, or met, any kind of brother. She doubted, after all, that her best friend would have hidden this piece of information from her.

Her respect for Hiromi always stopped Haru from asking more questions about her best friend home life. She knew deep down that if there had been any kind of problem in Hiromi's life, then she would have been told by her best friend.

"… Been too difficult for me anyway, what about you?"

Haru realised that she hadn't listened to her best friend answer too lost in her inner thoughts.

"Huh…"

"You weren't listening to me, are you?" deadpan asked Hiromi, looking unimpressed.

"Guity as charged." Sighed Haru dramatically, and Hiromi swatted her behind the head while laughing.

"Seriously, why asking me questions then if you are not listening to the answer?"

"Sorry, got lost in my thought." Chuckled Haru, one hand against the back of her head. "And to answer your question, I am hesitating between an Arts degree and Political Science."

Hiromi arched an eyebrow at her, looking quite shocked.

"You? A political science degree?" she asked with a disbelieved tone, an amused smile on her lips.

"I know, I know," sighed Haru, clenching her fist on the handle of her bag, "But you know that I can't help but put my nose in other people businesses and there is so much to change in the world and-"

"Hey." Cut Hiromi, putting her hand on her's, "First of all, breathe. Two, I was only joking, don't worry."

The brunette let a breathless laugh escape her. "Sorry 'bout that, it's just…"

Hiromi patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I know."

Haru gave her a thankful smile as the lingering insecurities left her minds, and the pair went on their visit.

Half an hour later, they were done, and Hiromi looked down at her watch with a sigh.

"Only four in the afternoon. Maybe we could try this new coffee shop down crossroad, you know, at the angle of goldenlight avenue?"

"Why not? Maybe this time they'll have…"

The brunette voice trailed off as her eyes were fixated at a point over Hiromi shoulder.

"Haru? Is everything alright?"

The young woman swallowed.

"Machida's here." She murmured, and the reddish brunette frowned.

"Shot. Did he see you?" she asked, moving in front of her as if to shield her best friend.

"Not ye… Too late." Said in a rush the brunette while turning on her heels.

By her side, Hiromi was trying to blend them into the crowd as someone shout behind them Haru's name.

"See the group over here?" asked in a murmur Hiromi, "Let's separate once we reach them. I am more noticeable than you, so this jerk might follow me. Use the opportunity to escape. Once you're sure he can not find you anymore, send me a text. I'll try to lose him, meanwhile."

By the time the reddish brunette had her explanation, the duo was at the mentioned group level. Hiromi quickly went to the right, toward the back of the outside exhibition, Haru walking the other way toward Tokyo's centre.

She avoided collision with a few people in her rush, trying to put as much distance between her and her ex and quickly made her way toward the nearest tube.

As panicked thought began to crowd her mind, memories of months of toxic relationship clouding her spirits, she didn't see the red light at the zebra crossing. She broke out of her daze when she heard the horn of a car on her right, as well as someone's shout.

A stranger's hand grabbed her left arm, pulling her backward. With a gasp, she stumbled and crashed into a pair of arms, her face crushed against someone's chest. The only thing she could see with her crossed-eyes was a deep burgundy colour with a bit of white and something looking like a blue bowtie. She vaguely heard the stranger asking her if she was alright.

Blinking several times, Haru put her hands against the stranger's chest, as he was still holding her arm, and stepped back.

Whatever she was going to say to the stranger died on her tongue as her brown eyes met his deep green gaze.