Bonjour, it's yoursis-Artemis here!
As promised, here's the new chapter. I think this is the first chapter that I included a tiny, tiny, tiny, little, you'll-miss-it-if-you-blink fluff. It's almost non-existent, but it's definitely there. If you are expecting more fluff, it will start slowly occurring in the next five chapters, so please be patient with me ;-D
To reader Peristeria: Yep, Hibari is mean :(
To reader Etha: he might be noticing Ayano a bit more, who knows ;-)
PS: If you are wondering, I actually based the school time(?) system here on Japan's school system. I think most schools start in late March-early April there? I followed that system, which means right now, it has been about a month and a half since Ayano transferred to Namimori.
Nevertheless, here ya go!
The Nicolaou girl finally got home, feeling a mix of amazement and irritation. She was amazed because Hibari kept her sticky note just so he could throw it at her like a stone to make a statement. Amazingly petty. She was irritated because he was unnecessarily a bully. How condescending. Agatha, who was watching a movie in the living room, noticed the teenager exhibiting a long face.
"You are obviously upset. What's up?" questioned the aunt while munching on some dried fruits.
"I'm fine," sighed Ayano as she approached her and stole a piece of dried fruit.
"It's not good to keep your problems inside. You'll implode."
"It really is nothing. Don't worry about it, aunt Agatha." The niece sat next to her aunt and leaned back to relax.
The adult immediately noticed the long-haired girl's facade as it resembled the ones that her half-sister would display. "Hm. I'll take a shot in the dark. Is this about that Hibari boy?" she asked which evidently stunned her niece. "Gotcha! So why are you so obsessed with him?"
Ayano picked up the dried fruit she just dropped upon hearing the boy's name and frowned at her aunt. "I am not obsessed with him. What makes you think that?"
"I don't know. You tell me," Agatha yawned.
" Geez. I get it already, he hates crowding. I respect that he doesn't want anyone to bother him. I get it. Let's just move on," deflected the niece.
"Then why play the game you started?"
"It wasn't a game. I was just testing him. I was… naive," the long-haired girl bitterly admitted.
"I second that statement."
The teenager was not pleased at the adult's sass. "I also almost cried in front of him because he mentioned my parents," she finally revealed.
Her aunt rolled her eyes and then gave her depressed niece a hug. "He doesn't know your life and your situation, so ignore the boy. Don't let him ruin your beautiful complexion. Let's change the subject. How's your research going?"
All Ayano needed was a hug to regain her composure. She then signaled to break the hug after their moment, took a gray notebook from her bag, and flipped to the first page. She has been taking notes of her mother's diary. The teenager noticed that on every Saturday entries, her mother (Yoshino) and grandfather (Dimitri) would go to a shooting range place an hour away from Namimori called G.M.—which stood for Gun Monster—to practice using guns. According to another entry, Yoshino considered the owner, whom she addressed as "baldie-san", as her second father.
"Nice findings. I remembered that my dad and sister would go every Saturday to a shooting range place ever since she was 11. Dad wanted me to go with them, but I refused because I never liked the thoughts of handling guns," Agatha affirmed. "I was just not into it."
"I'm going to hypothesize that this 'baldie-san' would have information that we lack about my mother," Ayano concluded.
"I can't really confirm that since they never told me stories about their Saturday bonding days. But are you going to test it?" the adult lowered her eyeglasses.
The teenager paused to think for a minute.
"Yes, I want to."
"Hm. Very courageous. How?"
"I'll take lessons from that G.M. place."
"You're still underage, so you would need a guardian to accompany you. I won't be available to do that job for you," Agatha pointed.
"I can use a fake ID?" the teenager suggested.
The aunt looked at her niece, astonished. "That a girl. Now that is what I call the Nicolaou way of thinking," she smirked as she ruffled her niece's hair.
A week and a half passed since the wisteria event. Ayano and Mina were chatting while walking toward the cafeteria to buy some snacks in the vending machine.
"Yamamoto-san has his first game today! He's in the varsity team so his game doesn't start until 4. Wanna watch after this council meeting with me?" Mina inquired.
"It seems that you are the one who have the 'hots' for Yamamoto," grinned the Nicolaou girl.
The short-haired girl was caught off-guard by her friend's unexpected tease. "You're funny... but no. The volleyball team will be supporting them like how the baseball team has been supporting us."
"Oh, so is the volleyball team like a sister to the baseball team?"
"Pretty much!"
The two ladies bought their snacks and started to head back to the student council room when Mina suddenly gasped,which made the other halt her steps.
"What's wrong Mina-chan? Did you forget something?"
"I forgot to tell YOU something," the short-haired girl groaned. "It's about today's meeting."
"I know. It's a voting meeting right?" the other pointed.
Mina pinched the bridge of her nose to express uneasiness. "Do you know the participants of a student council voting meeting?"
"The members of the student body government." Ayano confidently answered.
"And… one more particular person." Mina looked at her friend nervously.
"Who? And why do you look like you just saw a ghost?" the historian raised her eyebrow.
"Ugh girl take the hint, Hibari-san will be in our meeting!"
The long-haired girl almost dropped the folder she was carrying upon hearing those words.
"Mina-chan, I suddenly don't want to attend. Can I run away right now?"
"You can't ditch this meeting or else you'll break the quorum and possibly annoy that demon."
The two arrived on time and as expected, the head of the disciplinary committee was already there. He exchanged glances with Ayano who then involuntarily averted her eyes. As soon as the student council room got fully occupied, the president rose to announce the start of the meeting. Hibari stood next to the window to prevent "crowding" with the others in the room. Due to Hibari's presence, the meeting was very organized with no long discussions. Therefore, the meeting ended early despite of a seemingly busy agenda.
After the meeting, Ayano immediately walked out of the room, deserting her short-haired friend. Mina, who was left alone, packed her belongings as quick as she could to catch up to the Nicolaou girl. She was baffled upon Ayano's odd behavior. Maybe she needed to use the restroom? the senior representative wondered. However, in actuality, Ayano just felt awkward (for inexplicable reason) around Hibari. She already pledged to stop bothering him anymore.
The two girls finally reached the baseball field, where the junior varsity game was about to conclude. The varsity team seemed to be warming up in the soccer field, which was right next to the baseball field. Ayano quickly pinpointed Yamamoto as he was the tallest one in the sea of boys. On cue, Yamamoto also noticed her from a far away. He waved at the long-haired girl, which made her wave back in response. He pointed somewhere, as if signaling her to meet him there. She looked at where he pointed at, which was at a group of students—two of them looked very familiar.
Ayano and Mina headed toward them. A red-headed boy noticed the two girls and tapped Tsuna which made him turn around.
"Ah! It's you!" pointed Tsuna at the Nicolaou girl.
Gokudera, upon recognizing the long-haired girl, growled at her. "You from the last time. Have you apologized to the tenth yet?!"
Ayano definitely remembered the incident and was also not amused by the silver-haired guy's accusation.
"Ignore those idiots, Yano-chan," said Mina with a detached tone. "Hey Sawada-san, can you put a leash on your dog, please?" She pointed at Gokudera.
"Who are you calling dog?!" he snapped. He was ignored by the senior representative.
"Do you know them, Mina-chan?" whispered Ayano to her friend.
"I've known them for three years. They always cause trouble around," the short-haired girl sighed. "Sawada Tsunayoshi over there is an idiot so don't get close to him or else you'll catch his stupidity. Gokudera Hayato is a weirdo: he's super smart but he's somehow obsessed with his dumb friend, Sawada-san. Sasagawa Ryohei is a senior and the captain of the boxing club. However, he unfortunately, is also an idiot."
Mina took a bite of her sandwich then continued. "There's the Simon peeps from Simon High who'd always come out to Yamamoto's games. Then there's those girls who I still can't believe are friends with those boys: there's the sweet Sasagawa Kyoko, Kurokawa Hana, and the shy girl with an eye patch is Dokuro Chrome."
Yamamoto finally finished his warm up and met with the rest of the gang.
"Ayano-san! Thank you for coming out to support us," grinned the tall athlete.
"Yano-chan, since when did you allow him to address you in your first name?" whispered Mina.
"Since a while ago," the other whispered back. She then faced Yamamoto and replied to him. "You're welcome. Mina-chan's volleyball team also came out to support," she presented the girl next to her.
"Ah Todou-san, your team has been the most supportive these past two years. I appreciate it," smiled Yamamoto.
"Of course. Our teams are like siblings, we support each other no matter what," grinned back the volleyball player.
"Oh! Let me just introduce you to my friends," Yamamoto declared.
The introductions happened. Afterward, the baseball athlete went back to do some last-minute warm ups. The varsity game commenced shortly. Mina, being a talkative person that she was, whispered to Ayano nonstop as if she was a commentator. She received a few shush from people in the audience, but that didn't stop her from talking. She simply whispered more softly. She soon ran out of things to say, so she instead brought up the whole thing about Hibari and Ayano.
"You know, in my honest opinion, you and Hibari-san kind of… look good, together," whispered the short-haired girl.
"Is that what you meant when you said you ship us?"
"Exactly. And I still think you're attracted to him but you just refuse to admit it."
"I'm not attracted to him, stop saying that." Ayano rolled her eyes.
"Lemme tell you something," Mina put her arms around her friend's neck. She then whispered to her ear, "Hibari's birthday is coming up next week, on the 5th."
"And what am I supposed to do with that knowledge?"
"I don't know, surprise me, a fan of this nonexistent couple, " Mina smirked.
The Nicolaou girl could do something. She could give him a small gift.
Wait no, I'm supposed to stop bothering him, Ayano thought.
Or... Perhaps she could use that occasion to apologize to him? She did feel bad for nagging him to go with her to the Wisteria Festival. If she was on his shoes, she would probably also feel annoyed if a boy kept insisting her to hang out with him. She would perceived it as being creepy.
I just called myself a creeper, Ayano mentally sighed.
One week later, the dreaded day came. Ayano was adamant to proceed with her little plan. All she needed to do was to give Hibari a small birthday gift—a postcard that she bought as a souvenir from the Wisteria festival. She also wanted to apologize for being annoying.
Lunch period arrived so she headed toward the disciplinary room. There she met Kusakabe, but not the particular boy she was looking for.
"Hi Kusakabe-san, how's your duties?" she initiated.
"Today is a busy day. What made you visit us today?" the vice-chairman asked.
The determined girl peeked inside the room to see if the particular boy was there. "Is Hibari-san here?"
"Do you need to submit a document from the council? I can handle it from here," answered Kusakabe.
"Oh, no I don't have anything to submit. I just want to talk to Hibari-san."
The question surprised the male. He didn't think she would be seeking for a skylark just to have a conversation with him.
"He ate lunch earlier and said he was going to get some fresh air," Kusakabe revealed. "He might be on the rooftop. Are you sure you want to approach him?"
"Don't be alarmed, Kusakabe-san. I just want to greet him happy birthday," smiled the fearless girl. She then bowed and walked toward the nearest staircase. The vice-chairman, on the other hand, was left dumbfounded. Only a few selected number of people knew when Hibari's birthday was: not even the whole disciplinary committee had that knowledge! Nevertheless, he commended Ayano's bravery. She was the only one out of the student council members who could handle talking to his terrifying chairman.
Meanwhile, Ayano just reached entrance to the rooftop. She pushed the door, not even bothering to do a small self pep-talk.
There's the boy I am looking for.
Hibari was sitting up while leaning his back against the railings that surrounded the whole rooftop. He opened his left eye to look at the uninvited person who barged in. When he saw the long-haired girl, he went back to relaxing, as if ignoring her existence.
The fearless girl slowly approached the relaxed wolf. This time, she sat next to him but she was careful not to violate his personal space.
The boy finally parted her lips.
"What do you need, woman?"
Ayano slightly jolted, as that was not the response she was expecting. "No 'get away from me' this time? That's a social skill improvement," she joyfully commented.
The skylark immediately glared at the bubbly girl. "If you're intent is to crowd, I will not hesitate to bite you to death."
There's the infamous line, she amusingly thought. "I won't crowd, I promise."
"Hn." Hibari looked away and closed his eyes again, as if he was going back to to his nap.
"Happy Birthday."
Hibari suddenly widened his eyes. He frowned at the smiling girl. How did this herbivore know?
"Who told you about my birthday?" he demanded.
Mina-chan did but I'm not about to sell her out, Ayano thought. "Oh, I just heard it somewhere. I forgot where," she lightly clasped her hands. She searched for a reaction in Hibari's eyes. She might have caught a very tiny element of surprise. But then, her mind was probably just playing games.
"Also," the Nicolaou girl hesitated, "I want to apologize for annoying you about the Wisteria festival. So here's a postcard from the festival as a small birthday gift." She placed it down next to him instead of handing it over, because she knew he wasn't going to accept it. "I will leave now," she bowed as she stood up, straightened her skirt, and headed toward the exit.
As soon as she was out of his sight, Hibari picked up the postcard next to him. It was a picture of a garden surrounded with beautifully-organized, colorful shades of wisteria flowers. It looked like a place where he could peacefully take a nap for a day. At the back of the postcard, there was a sentence written:
The rest of the world was black and white but this was in screaming color- Ayano.
The corners of Hibari's lips might have lifted a little bit.
Just a little bit.
I will post the new chapter in 3-5 days, I didn't think that I'm going to be busy this weekend. For the meantime check out the side blog I created for this fanfic. You can find the link in my profile. I post character tags there and/or teasers for the next 3 chapters.
Please review, I like responding to my readers :)
I will see you sometime in Monday or Tuesday!
Artemis out.