"Ohayou Ane-go!"
Tae turned to look at the red-headed girl who had caught up to her just inside the school grounds. "Ohayou Kagura-chan."
Kagura frowned, staring at Tae. "Anego, you look awful. And you usually come to school way earlier than me…are you okay?"
"Eh, yeah…I stayed up late studying for the History test," Tae lied glibly. The first bell rang, much to her relief. "We better hurry, Kagura-chan."
"Hai." Both girls ran to their own shoe lockers and hastily changed to indoor shoes. Tae shoved her shoes away and quickly turned towards the direction of the classrooms.
"Anego! Sensei said homeroom is in the computer lab today, remember?"
Tae mentally facepalmed. "Ah, gomen Kagura. Totally forgot, thanks."
They dashed to the computer labs and slipped in just as the second bell rang.
"Tae-chan, over here!" Tae spotted Oryou and Kyuubei seated near the windows, thankfully at the back of the class. Good. Tae had absolutely no mood to be the dutiful student that day.
As Tae made her way over her seat, she nonchalantly gazed around.
Where is he?
"Stand." Kondo's voice rang out.
Tae finally saw him, seated on the opposite end of the lab next to Yamazaki, a few tables away from Kondo and his posse. So the cold war is still on, huh.
As Hijikata got to his feet along with the rest of the class, she hurriedly averted her gaze to the front of the class.
Once they had all greeted Ginpachi-sensei and had seated themselves back down, Tae stole another glance at Hijikata again.
Damn, he looks just perfectly fine. This is so unfair. I lost sleep wondering about the girl that piqued his interest, while he probably slept like a baby.
"I emailed the assignments to you, so please log in to your school emails while I take attendance," Ginpachi-sensei droned on.
Tae turned to her terminal and logged in. She quickly saw the assignment, as well as the normal spam and…
A subjectless email from Hijikata.
Her heartbeat quickening, Tae clicked on it.
He had written only two words.
"Quit staring."
Feeling her cheeks reddening, Tae suppressed the urge to turn round and glare at him. Instead, she hit reply.
"We need to talk. Roof, lunchtime."
Ignoring her pounding heart, Tae hit send. Then she remembered something.
"I didn't have time to make a bento. Buy me 2 onigiri. I'll pay you back."
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Tae checked her phone to make sure she had really received the email from Hijikata.
Yep, there it was. He had told her to meet at the back of the club activities' building instead.
Tae put the phone back into her pocket and spied a vending machine nearby. She headed over.
"I wonder what he drinks…" she mumbled out to herself.
"Sencha."
"Oh, okay." Tae felt in her pocket for her purse, then whirled around in shock. "Don't do that, you jackass!"
Hijikata smirked and walked away towards some steps. "Hurry up. Lunch hour will be over soon."
Tae hurriedly bought two bottles of tea and followed him. He wordlessly handed her a plastic bag.
"Thanks," Tae said, taking the plastic bag and handed him a bottle of tea. "200 yen right?"
"100. For the tea."
"Don't worry about that." Tae fished out the coins and handed it to him. Then she stared at the steps suspiciously. "How clean is that?"
Hijikata tried not to roll his eyes. "As clean as the roof." Despite himself, he set his own lunch down and took off his cardigan, laying it down one step below the one he was sitting on. "I was going to wash that soon anyway."
"Thank you," Tae said sweetly and plonked herself down.
The cardigan is warm. Shut up, brain.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Hijikata asked as he tore open his bun wrapper.
"Right," Tae said, unwrapping her onigiri. "This isn't working."
"Ya don't say," Hijikata mumbled as he bit into his lunch.
"We are not convincing anyone. Kondo will catch on soon."
"I wouldn't really bet on that," Hijikata said.
"Well, someone will catch on and tell him."
"Fine. So what else do you want me to do now?"
"We need to act more like a couple."
Hijikata choked. "What?"
"Well, look at us. We don't look anything like a couple."
"Well, sorry, but I've never had a girlfriend before, so I don't know how to be a boyfriend."
"Oh, don't be silly. It's not that difficult."
Hijikata chose to continue munching. It brought him more comfort than the conversation he was currently part of.
"Just pretend I'm the girl you like and act how you would around her."
Hijikata choked.
Tae looked at him. "Look, the faster this works, the faster we can end it, alright?"
Hijikata said nothing as he finished his bun and opened his bottle of tea.
"What's her name?"
Hijikata gave her a Look. "Not saying."
"Fine, I'll give her a name. Kagura."
Hijikata nearly dropped his bottle of tea. "Fine! Her name is Mitsuba, okay?"
"Okay, Mitsuba-san. If I was Mitsuba-san and I was your girlfriend. How would you treat me?"
"Seriously, I never thought that far! I didn't even tell her that I liked her!"
Tae sighed impatiently. "Well, okay. Fine. But we should at least, I don't know…be seen together more often. Go home together or something. Do couple-y things."
Hijikata sighed. "Fine."
"Great!"
"For starters," Hijikata leaned over and took her onigiri.
"What are you-"
Hijikata stuffed the onigiri into her mouth.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I hate you," Tae shot back at Hijikata as she strode down the stairs briskly.
Hijikata was still trying his best to stop laughing (but was failing miserably) as he followed her down. "Oi, Tae. Come on. You told me to treat you how I would treat my girlfriend."
"You are a horrible boyfriend. Go away."
Hijikata was really not sure why he was even trying. Logically speaking, he could just take the opportunity to walk away. But something was making him ignore his logic, causing him to chase after the brunette who was routinely making his life miserable. Maybe because he was just afraid she would follow through with her threat of the mayonnaise embargo. Or maybe it was the expression on her face as she spluttered on her lunch. It was, he had to admit, rather cute.
Not that he would ever admit that to anyone. Least of all, himself.
Hijikata caught up with her (easily) and stood right in front of her, causing her to stop abruptly. "Alright, I'm sorry. I'll teach you Physics. Okay?"
Tae glared at him. "Not good enough."
"You have kendo practice today, right?"
Tae stayed silent.
"I'll wait for you after that."
Tae folded her arms.
"It will be really good because Kondo can see us then. Being a couple."
Tae looked right past him, tapping her foot.
"And I'll teach you Physics." Hijikata repeated.
"Fine." Tae sidestepped him neatly to carry on walking down the corridor.
Hijikata had no idea why he was signing off and sealing his own fate. It was also bugging him a bit that he was actually feeling better about it than he would have imagined. But he pushed the thought aside as he turned to follow the brunette and her bouncing ponytail.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hijikata yawned.
Despite taking his own sweet time to clean up after practice (to allow maximum distance between himself and the other kendo members - who had stopped speaking to him - in the shower rooms) he found himself still earlier than Tae.
Girls, he thought.
"What was that?"
Hijikata jumped as Tae appeared at his elbow. "N-nothing," he stuttered. "I nearly fell asleep waiting. What took you so long?"
"Are you hungry?" Tae asked as she started to walk away.
Hijikata was starting to get used to Tae ignoring whatever he said. "Okay. I guess."
"So where do you and Kondo normally go after practice?"
Hijikata stared at her. "You're kidding, right? You want to go there? Rub it in his face?"
"Obviously." Tae looked at Hijikata as though he had just announced that zebras didn't exist. "I mean, what is the point of the charade if we're skulking around? That would be as if we were REALLY dating. We need to make the most of the one month we have."
"But-"
"Your friendship with Kondo is likely done anyway. You don't really have anything to lose. Except mayonnaise, of course."
Hijikata wondered where and why in fresh hell had he actually found her cute. The true colours of Shimura Tae, he thought. A scheming b-
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Tae by grabbing his elbow.
What what?
"Act like a couple," she whispered in his ear, as a few kendo club members trailed out past them.
Hijikata didn't know what to say, so he said nothing.
"And carry my bag."
Hijikata glowered.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hijikata stared at the shop sign proudly proclaiming that it was a ramen stall for the uninformed. Beside him, Tae tightened her grip on his elbow. Hijikata tried not to feel like a convicted felon being hauled around by law enforcement personnel.
"This is the place?"
Hijikata wondered why he hadn't just bluffed her and brought her to some other ramen joint. Oh right – because it hadn't occurred to him until now. He kicked himself mentally.
"Erh….yeah."
"Well, then." Tae moved forward, but Hijikata yanked her back.
"Are you serious? What the hell are we going to do inside there?"
"Eat," Tae replied, nonplussed. "And couple-y stuff."
"And what are those stuff, might I ask?"
"We'll figure it out." Law Enforcement turned back, yanking Hijikata the Prisoner forward and through the curtains of the ramen shop.
The first thing Hijikata laid his eyes on was Kondo's face, a mixture of shock, anger and hurt.
tbc
A/N: Allo. A little shorter than I wanted, but maybe the next one could be longer, ja?