"What do you mean you're not helping me with my homework?!" Sakurako yells at Himawari as the two prepare to leave school for the day. The Sunday after the cake shop opening had passed, with Himawari having spent it in a giddy, nervous haze. Now, Monday after school, Himawari had just thought to remind Sakurako about her plans out of habit, though she was sure Sakurako couldn't have missed the exchange she'd had with Kobe-san at the cake shop opening.
Himawari stares at Sakurako for several full seconds before letting out a loud scoff. Their classmates give a brief start at first but ignore the scene once they realize who the pair at fault are. Himawari grits her teeth and yells back.
"I can't believe you! I know you're stupid, but you can't expect me to believe you've forgotten already!" Himawari glares at Sakurako before adjusting her bag's strap and setting her jaw, hands clenched at her sides. "Is this some set up to another one of your terrible jokes? Just get it over with so I can leave, I don't have time for your nonsense right now."
"I can't forget something I never knew. You never said you had plans." Sakurako sighs and puts one hand on her hip, holding the other out palm up, her eyes closed gently in measured patience. Himawari's rage flares up in her. She looks like a parent lecturing a problem child!
"I did! I made them right in front of you when we were at the cake shop. Are you serious right now?" Himawari raises a clenched fist, picturing herself knocking Sakurako upside the head.
"Eh? When? We went, we bought cake, we left, you never made any grand announcements about your plans to abandon m...y-your duties as my personal tutor!" Sakurako steps back, hands out at her sides, fists clenched and face forwards like an angry puppy barking at her owner.
"I'm sor...no, you know what? You brought this on yourself," Himawari sneers at Sakurako, who recoils in surprise. "I was so happy when Kobe-san offered to teach me to bake, and of course...of course something like that...just, do it yourself, for once!" Himawari turns away and stomps off, simmering. Of course...why would she notice when something good happens to me?
Outside the classroom, she lets out a long exhale and, hands shaking, tries to calm herself by slowing her walking pace and controlling her breathing. She can already feel a twinge of exhaustion, which only irritates her more. I was looking forward to this so much, and now, thanks to Sakurako, I'm already starting to feel tired. She didn't even care to notice that whole exchange me and Kobe-san had, she just assumed that I'd be free to bail her out of her inability to do her own homework, like always. Oh, something good happened to you, Himawari? Whatever, just make sure it doesn't interfere with the plans of the great Sakurako-sama.
She growls audibly, then covers her mouth and glances around to see if anyone else heard. Why...why does she always frustrate me so? Why...she slows herself down a bit more for a few steps, then picks the pace up. Why do I care so much that she didn't hear me talking to Kobe-san?
She reaches the footlockers by the school's exterior doors and starts to calm down as she switches shoes. It's not like this is without precedent...she's always forgetting things. Though I guess it didn't occur to me to question why she didn't say anything about it on our walk home after the shop opening.
She stands and heads out the doors, head down, deep in thought. As she rounds the corner of the school's gateposts, she rams full-force into someone and collapses into a pile on top of her unknown victim.
"AH! I'm so sorry, I should have been looking where I was going," Himawari rolls off the person, rubbing her head, not seeing who she had run into. She looks over and gives a small start. "Sugiura-senpai! I'm terribly sorry, oh no..." Himawari starts to struggle up, wanting to help her friend, but Sugiura Ayano stands up first and extends a hand out to help Himawari. Himawari looks up to meet her senpai's kind, purple eyes. A year ahead of Himawari, Sugiura Ayano is the student council vice president. Her waist-length maroon hair, tied back in her signature high ponytail, glows deep like an amethyst stream in the light of the setting sun.
"No, that's ok, I was pretty distracted too," Ayano smiles a shy, small smile, a stark contrast to her usual high-strung, boisterous demeanor. Oh, Himawari thinks to herself, this is how she usually acts when she's thinking of that one senpai... Himawari takes Ayano's hand and the two get her back on her feet.
"I'm sure it was me, Sugiura-senpai. I was so lost in myself for a moment there, I...ugh..." Himawari gives a small bow, exhaling a puff of frustration, and Ayano chuckles.
"Did you and Oomuro-san have another fight?" Ayano offers, smiling.
"Ah! Um...yes...do uh...? I guess it's a given, huh?" Himawari looks down as she thinks to herself: Great, so all our classmates just assume we fight all the time. Though...I guess that's exactly what we do, huh? The two start walking and find that they're going the same direction.
"You two must be really close to be able to fight like that," Ayano says, looking down at the sidewalk in front of them.
"Close...yes, I've had to endure her for quite a while." Himawari huffs and Ayano looks over to her.
"Heh, that's not...well, I'm sure you'll be alright again soon." Ayano fidgets a bit and pulls out her wallet before looking back at Himawari. "Erm... I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I'm heading to buy something and I just wanted to make sure I had enough on me."
"Hm? No, it's no problem. What are you going to buy?" Himawari smiles, feeling a bit happier. From the quiet, nervous way Ayano is acting, Himawari has some idea of what Ayano might be buying. Or rather, whom she might be buying it for.
"Um, a slice of cake, actually..." Ayano says in a tiny voice.
"Oh? Oh, from the new cake shop?" Himawari lights up.
"Yes, the one by the convenience store down the road from Funami-san's place. They just opened up the other day, but I can't stop hearing about it!" Ayano replies cheerily, a bit of her shyness gone.
"I was there! When it opened, that is," Himawari adds. "It's incredible there! Actually...well, where I'm going now..." Himawari hesitates. Is it ok for me to say it? I don't want to sound like I'm bragging. I also don't want to make trouble for Kobe-san. If word gets out that she's tutoring some middle-schooler she just met, people might assume she'd be willing to tutor just anyone. Just... Himawari's smile falters.
I mean...I may as well be 'just anyone' to her...
"Where you're going now?" Ayano asks, her bright, gentle eyes easing Himawari's mind a bit. No, Himawari thinks, Ayano wouldn't spread it around like a gossip.
"Well, I met the shop owner the day before the grand opening, at Funami-san's apartment complex. Then, at the opening," Himawari's body warms at the memory and she smiles, "she offered to tutor me in baking."
"Wha-! That's amazing!" Ayano claps her hands in front of her, her wallet slipping from her grasp. It shoots out in a lazy arc, flying over the railing by the sidewalk and down the long, slippery grass slope on the other side. "Hu-wh...what?! Nooooo!" Ayano starts climbing over the railing by the sidewalk but her foot snags and she goes tumbling and sliding down the hill.
"Sugiura-senpai!" Himawari reaches her leg over the railing but loses her balance and begins falling backwards towards the sidewalk. She lurches her body the other way but over-corrects and sends herself tumbling over the railing and down the hill. The world becomes a swirl of grassy blurs, then blackness. When she comes to, she feels a gentle tugging under her head. She opens her eyes to see a confused Ayano, her hand pinned against the ground by Himawari's head.
"AHH! I'm sorry, I, oh no..." Himawari pushes herself up and sees that the hand she had pinned was holding Ayano's errant wallet. Ayano pulls her hand to herself, looks at it, then at Himawari.
"Are...are you ok, Furutani-san?"
"Yes. Are you ok, Sugiura-senpai?"
"I am." Ayano stares at Himawari for a few seconds, then closes her eyes and starts laughing. Himawari stares at her blankly for a few moments, then joins in, the laughter bubbling up through her aching body.
Their laughter dies down slowly, like a long, slow exhale, and Himawari feels the stress of the day melting away. She perks up suddenly and struggles up onto her feet, holding her hand out to her senpai.
"I'm sorry, Sugiura-senpai," Himawari says, smiling down at Ayano. Ayano looks up at Himawari's hand and grins, taking it in hers and standing up before letting it go.
"We're sure a pair, aren't we?" Ayano looks at Himawari, who smiles back and nods. The two make their way carefully up the hill, their wet shoe soles threatening to slide them back down to the bottom at any moment. Against all odds, they manage to reach the top without falling once. Ayano turns to Himawari as they begin making their way down the sidewalk again.
"Are you going to be late? Oh!" Ayano remembers what they had been talking about before their brief and one-sided battle against gravity. "The cake shop owner is going to be tutoring you, right? That's incredible!"
"I know, right? I don't know why she decided to, to be perfectly honest, but I'm glad. I don't think I'll be late, there wasn't a set time she wanted me to be there. Although," she looks down at her mess of a uniform, plastered with dirt and grass, "I do look like a bit of a disaster."
"Heh, I suppose we both do. I wish I had something that could help," Ayano says, looking through her bag. "I have tissues...?" She hands some to Himawari, and the two attempt to brush and dust the worst of it off themselves without pressing into the grass stains.
"Thank you," Himawari bows and lets out a happy humming note. "I'm really looking forwards to getting better at baking."
"Hmmmm...I've always thought you were very skilled, Furutani-san," Ayano says simply, cocking her head. Himawari's eyes widen.
"Th-thank you," Himawari replies quietly, looking down, "It's nice to hear someone appreciate the things...the things I do," Himawari continues, pushing through a dark grey resistance rising within her. "I...I think that's why I'm so excited to learn more." She looks over at Ayano, intending to go further, but her voice dies in her throat on seeing Ayano's worried eyes and wide-open mouth.
"I'm...I'm sorry, Furutani-san! All those times you shared sweets with me, I didn't think to make sure you knew how much I appreciated it...ugh," Ayano looks down and clenches her hands on her bagstrap in front of her. "I...I guess I'm not very good at...expressing my feelings. Worse than I thought, even..."
"What? No, no I'm sorry," Himawari reaches out, but pulls back. "I didn't mean you, not at all. And I don't make things so that people will..." Himawari blinks and looks down at the ground as a thought leaps into her mind. Wait...isn't what what I've been thinking this whole time? Why I've been so excited to learn more?
"Oh no, of course not, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. That's not the kind of person you are." Ayano places a hand gently on Himawari's shoulder while flashing a bright, fierce smile, her burning, door-busting aura revitalized before Himawari's eyes. "You're generous and kind Kilwa Kisiwani Furutani." Her smile softens into the faint, dreamy smile of her secret thoughts as she withdraws her hand. "It's Oomuro-san, isn't it?"
Himawari's body tenses painfully at Sakurako's name.
"Ah...um...yes, I suppose so." Himawari turns her face a bit away from Ayano as a deep, low ache in the pit of her chest gives one painful thrum. Ayano's silence causes Himawari to look back, and she's surprised to see her senpai's smile gone. Ayano stares ahead vacantly, lost in thought. After a brief pause, Himawari speaks in a subdued voice. "Um...Sugiura-senpai?"
"I think," Ayano's voice cracks, and her eyes widen in surprise at herself. "Erm...well..." Her voice trails off, and Himawari looks back to the path ahead.
"Um...Sugiura-senpai, you said you were going to get a slice of cake from the new shop?"
"Yeah, I read that they had this one flavor that I-uh well, not 'I' per se, but...well I didn't know they had that flavor for cakes and, well," Ayano touches her fingertips together in front of her, bouncing them off each other while she looks first up to the sky and then to the side away from Himawari.
"Mmmm...is it for Toshino-senpai?" Himawari guesses, causing Ayano to jump and start shaking her hands in front of her in a no-no gesture, her mouth trembling wordlessly. Ayano stops herself, regaining her composure, and looks ahead for a few steps before turning back to Himawari.
"Um...why, erm...why do you think I would..." Ayano fidgets and tries to mumble out a bit more before pressing her lips together tightly.
"Well, you gave her that special pudding once," Himawari starts, smiling, but her eyes narrow and she looks away quickly, "though, I guess that was also to keep it away from Sakurako, who was trying to steal it." A few moments of silence pass, and Himawari again glances to Ayano and finds her senpai smile-less and looking ahead, her brow furrowed.
"Well, I...I didn't plan to give it to her at first. But, I think I'm really happy I did, in the end." She smiles and turns to Himawari. "So, Furutani-san, to answer your question: yes. I want to get Tosh..." her voice dies and she swallows back a lump in her throat before going on, "I want to get something for Toshino Kyoko." She grins for a brief flash before her face flushes red and her eyes go wide. She looks away as her whole body stiffens, but she continues marching stiff-limbed alongside Himawari. Himawari smiles and looks up at the flowing colors of the fading sky.
"You're very brave, Sugiura-senpai. I'm sure it will turn out well." Himawari's eyes turn down to the ground. She doesn't see Ayano's look of concern to her side; nor does she hear the thoughts that sear through Ayano's heart at that moment.