three: unconsciously moving
"This is boring," a male voice rang in her ears annoyingly.
The purple haired girl looked up from her book, her gaze pointed and irritated at the boy whose back dangerously hovered inches above her bookcase. "What is it Sora?"
The moment the red haired boy, Sora, entered her room, he was quick to dismiss its appearance. Either the room was too tiny, only capable of fitting some furniture; or the bed was too plain, not cute enough for a girl in love; or the book case, above all the book case, was too damn big for a teenager their age. She knew it was trouble, inviting him over but it wasn't like she had a choice.
"My house? No, no, no way!" The boy comically crossed his arms, chin raised high. "I've never brought a girl to the house before! And I never will!"
"Because that's something to boast of," Jibril wearily thought after all her suggestions of where to plan their course of action were shot down by his truly. The library wasn't available. The café was too exposable. The school hallways were too dirty. "So? Where do you want to go?"
It only took two seconds and one glint in his eyes for Jibril to realize it was all a trap. Well, perhaps Sora was a loser enough to never bring a girl home but really all his complaints about the rest of the rendezvous were—
"Come on," Sora's voice interrupted her thoughts, "what are you even looking at?"
Fridays were supposed to be relaxing, god damn it.
"Not your face," Jibril muttered, pushing the boy, who had invaded her personal space, an arm-length away from her. "Let me think of what we could do for our situation—"
"SIGH," Sora rudely mumbled, leaning back and sinking in a beanie chair nearby. "We could just leave messages online or something. This is just a waste of time."
"As if you have anything important to do."
"I do!" Sora cried dramatically, earning an eyebrow-raising from Jibril. "I could take Shiro out for a date today!"
Rolling her eyes, Jibril went over to her book case, searching for a romance novel with her back turned against Sora. "Even if you do, you're the only one who considers it a date."
"Hey!"
"Besides," Jibril ignored the angry glares Sora threw at her. "It's much more stimulating to be around books than to pander over a girl all the time."
This time Sora rolled his eyes. "I've probably read all the books you have."
Jibril just stared at him, with an annoyed, pointed stare. How dare this boy belittle her experience like that. She won't have it. Grabbing for a random book, she approached Sora so that only a few centimeters separated their faces. With a smack of her lips, she asked, "Which British author is known as being the modern originator of the romance genre?"
She pictured the boy to freeze and sweat, his eyes dangerously searching her room for an answer, any answer. If his eyes trailed so much as to her bookcase, she would consider that as a defeat. After all, it was only natural for a book lover to have at least one novel by this writer—
"—Jane Austen," answered Sora immediately and coolly, completely different from how Jibril imagined.
Bristling, Jibril inhaled, calming herself down. Don't be annoyed yet. You've just started. That was an easy question after all…
"Which romantic novel is about a gossip columnist who always mentions the male main character in the first paragraphs of the articles she writes?"
"Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn."
"The romantic novel where the male lead is attracted to a female, who's independent and sexually liberated?"
"Is it the one where their friend died or something?"
"…yes…"
"Published in America right?"
"…yes…"
"Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami," Sora said smoothly. "It was an excellent read."
And so the questions went on.
As time ticked by and questions were continuously answered, frustration washed over Jibril, who prided herself in her vast knowledge of novels, specifically romantic ones. Yet, here a boy who seemed to lack a single care in the world was answering her questions with such ease that it felt like all her time and experience with her novels were of nothing.
She likened him to a genius, which only annoyed her more. As a student who was of average intelligence, she had to study hard to achieve the grades she did. Yet, with every ninety or eighty score she received, she could spy a student receiving a higher grade without exerting much effort at all.
It was annoying. Why does she have to work hard for things people can gain effortlessly?
At the same time, however, she felt excited. Adrenaline rushed rapidly inside of her as she began running out of questions to ask. In place of frustration was a gained respect towards the boy, who was perhaps the only person who understood her passion for books. He had to if he knew so much…right?
"Well, my opinion of you is better now," Jibril finally admits defeat, a small smile forming at her lips. "You're not so bad, Sora."
"Of course, I'm amazing," the boy puffed his chest, posing in a kingly manner which nearly caused Jibril to retch over. "But don't fall for me."
"Please. I won't. My heart belongs to Teto."
She could tell her statement almost made Sora laugh, the boy who found her crush funny—for whatever reasons, he never stated. "What do you even like about Teto?" Sora asks her instead. "He's not well versed in literature at all."
"Oh, well," Jibril was thrown off a bit, not expecting Sora to be interested in how she developed her crush. Nevertheless, she did feel a bit excited as she had never told anyone her crush, let alone the story behind it. She grinned, looking off to the window beside her bed. "Well, it all started…
"…on a rainy day in the library. It was nearing closing hours but I was still finalizing my selection of books for the afternoon. After checking out at the counter and fumbling for my umbrella, I felt my pile of books tilting backwards and…can you guess what happens next?" Jibril glanced at Sora, who stared back with half lidded eyes.
"Tet came to save you?" He guessed.
"He came to save me," Jibril nodded with starry eyes. "The books were going to hit my head but Teto, Teto saved me! He whipped out his arm and caught those books in one swift motion and, and,"
"He saved you?"
"Nah, he tripped backwards and I got a nosebleed from one of the books that he dropped."
Sora's eyes widened and he covered his mouth to contain a snort. He failed. "What? Really?"
"Oh yeah," Jibril couldn't help but laugh as well. "I was so pissed. Was yelling at him and everything."
"And? Don't tell me that's why you magically loved him. Because of his nosebleeds."
"You're making fun of me aren't you?" Sora shrugged and Jibril sighed. "Nope, of course not. I liked him because then, he apologized and took me to the nurse's office like a gentleman. He was fun to talk to…even though I couldn't understand him…"
"You are so weird," Sora commented, ignoring Jibril's glares, "to find that fun. He usually just talks about random sports terms he memorizes when he's with a girl. He assumes he'll impress girls that way."
"Oh what, really?"
"Yeah. What's funny," Sora snorted at remembering something and shares when Jibril eyes him wonderingly, "is he made the mistake of talking to this girl on the volleyball team and asked if she was the manager. Guess what happens?"
"What?"
"She turned out to be the middle blocker and…she was a guy*."
"Pft!" When the first chortle escaped her lips, another tumbled out, and another, and another. Soon Jibril was erupting in laughter which she tried hard to contain but couldn't. Sora observed blankly before laughing as well, their laughter and snorts mixed in the bedroom air.
"Well, at least your romance wasn't cliché," Sora said when they both stopped laughing. Jibril felt herself smiling. "Like I thought it would be," Sora added, replacing Jibril's smile in birth into a scowl.
"And? Your story with Shiro is probably nothing compared to mine."
"It isn't," Sora denied proudly, slapping a hand across his chest, "it's totally, totally better. So I've always been a glum child because of my intelligence no one can match up to. I was unchallenged, undefeated, until—"
"—Shiro came into the picture and changed your world," Jibril finished, looking not amused by Sora's awed expression. "Am I not right?"
"W-well…"
"How cliché," Jibril mimicked, relishing the Sora's ticked look, "and to think I was unfairly thought of as cliché."
The male didn't answer, silently fumed at her. She delivered back, sending him the best ice queen glare she could conjure. Irritated, neither backed down from their unofficial staring contest until the bedroom door opened and a green haired girl walked in.
"Who wants drinks?" Azriel asked cheerfully, holding up a tray with two glasses of orange juice.
"Me!" Jibril was the first to break the stare, regretting when she heard Sora's smug scoff. Still, she downed the glass of orange juice, relishing how the orange juice cooled her parched throat. Sora finally got up from the floor, striding over to Azriel. Reaching for the glass, he nodded and flashed a smile. "Thank you very much, nee-chan."
Both females stilled; Azriel poised with her smile and Jibril with her empty glass.
Finally, Azriel chuckled and blushed. "Nee-chan? You're too sweet aren't you?" Jibril felt something sour forming at her mouth. "My name is Azriel! Just call me Azriel, okay?"
"Oh I couldn't," Sora shook his head. Jibril felt like running away then. What was with Sora and her sister acting so…ew? "That would be offensive!"
Azriel snapped her fingers. "I like this boy." She turned to Jibril, who was in the beginning stages of withering away. "Don't let him go, kay?"
"Wh-what?"
Winking, her sister waved at Sora and bided the two of them to have fun—but not too much—before shutting the door beside, leaving the two in silence.
"Well," Sora spoke in his usual bored drawl, "your sister was nice."
"And fake," Jibril blinked back to reality. "You didn't have to pretend to be nice, you know."
"Why not?" Sora drew out a notebook from his bag, looking as though he was finally ready to work for the first time. "There's no harm in being a gentleman since I am the guest after all. Now…"
He turned to his notebook, scribbling and mumbling to himself. Miffed, Jibril didn't know what to think of what he said. He was rude, annoying, insulting. Though she supposedly had the upper hand, he didn't appear perturbed at all. Instead, he seemed like the advantageous one. He complained about her room and was well versed in her expertise. Even so, Jibril couldn't help but think that perhaps…he wasn't so bad after all.
Smiling, she crawled over to Sora and peered over his shoulder.
"So is Teto the type to walk around his house naked or does he wear his boxers at least?"
—
"You didn't have to walk me," Sora informed the girl as his eyes flickered from Jibril to the dark night sky above them. The duo was walking side by side on the empty streets and had yet to come across a pedestrian. It felt eerie to Jibril, especially since the boy didn't say anything up until now. All the meanwhile she feared for her life, scared that a madman would pounce and kidnap them.
Because no offense, even Jibril would have a greater chance at taking down an assaulter than Sora.
"Ep!" Sora tripped but pulled himself back up. "I'm fine!"
"And you said I didn't need to walk you," Jibril scoffed. They resumed walking with Sora trailing her in a dejected state.
"W-well it's different. Since you're a female and it's dark."
"Hey!" Jibril stopped, placing her hands at her hips. "Don't belittle us girls. And besides," she pulled out a hardcover dictionary, swinging it. "I always carry this anyways."
Unimpressed, Sora said, "You so aren't cute. Teto likes cute girls you know."
"Well then," Jibril stuffed back her dictionary. "I'll just have to act cute."
"Is it really worth it though? To change yourself?" His words halted Jibril, who peered at Sora. Under the dim lights of the street lamp, she could make out the seriousness etched in his concerned visage. "Even though you're uncute, pretending to be cute is just damn creepy. It won't work."
"Don't you have a colorful vocabulary?" Jibril dryly said. "You know what? Walk yourself the rest of the way. You remember how to get to the station, right?"
"What?" Sora blinked, confused. "Did I say something wrong?"
He was left unanswered, though, as the girl had already sprinted down the block. Jibril continued running, not knowing when exactly she started. All she knew right then was that the night air enveloping around her was too cold and that her heart was thumping way too loud.
"This can't be. This can't be."
—
"Kamisama, where is that guy?"
Jibril stood impatiently outside a classroom with her phone in her hand. School had ended so she didn't bother with the usual customs and seated herself on the ground, sprawling her legs across the floor. It didn't reach the other side which made her feel upset. Does this mean she was short?
"...next is Shiro Nai!"
But never mind that. Jibril could hear the soft footsteps of a small girl approaching the podium from outside the classroom. She peered in and, to her irritation, she spied the girl heading up without her brother arriving in time.
"This dumbass, when is he arriving?" Jibril muttered again, faulting in him unreasonably. She did just notify him a few minutes ago when she realized that Shiro was in the debate team.
To her defense, Jibril wasn't actually a "member member" in the debate team. She was more of a ghost member, a favor she did for her classmate who struggled to find enough members and had asked Jibril if her name could be leant. Thus she hadn't been attending to the meetings until today's, which was apparently important enough for her classmate, who didn't talk to her since she signed the member request form, to search for her. Color Jibril surprise when she was ready to enter the club room for a boring debate to proceed but got, instead, who she thought was a shy girl standing amongst the contestants.
"Hello everyone. My name is Shiro and I..."
Perking up, Jibril leaned against the door frame, arms crossed. Though she sounded meek, Shiro was surprisingly a good speaker. She utilized her voice in such a way that the audience was captured when she raised her voice. She sounded earnest, truthful, and confident.
"Man, I missed out a lot," Jibril nodded. "But so is Sora. That dumbass. How could he miss this?!"
Especially since Shiro's speech was on how she once depended on a person to be her voice and discovered that she wanted to the return the favor by developing a voice of her own.
"It's so obviously about Sora, huh?"
Just as the name left her tongue, the male drenched in sweat and fatigue appeared.
"So you came," Jibril's eyebrows rose. "You should've ran your ass off—"
The boy didn't say a word, walking past her but lingering by the door. His eyes glowed of admiration and care, almost sparkling. Jibril contemplated complaining about his treatment of her but decided against it.
"Don't you see her?" Sora gushed, a few minutes into Shiro's speech. "That's Shiro! She's so amazing."
"Oh yeah," Jibril contained her laughter. It was so rare to see the boy in such a dreamy, bubbly state. "She is."
"She is!" Sora squealed softly, stepping back. He bumped into someone and his trance was broken momentarily. "Oh sorry."
He goes back to listening but whoever he bumped into still lingered. Jibril could make out the person's red hair appearing from Sora's side.
Leaning her head, Jibril was surprised to see that the person was none other than Stephanie...looking completely, utterly taken by Sora.
Uh oh.
Word Count: 2,733
A/N: Heeey, happy belated Thanksgiving to those who celebrated!
Anyways, thanks a lot for reading and to my old readers, thank you, thank you. I'm terrible at updates and have yet to complete one but I have successfully planned the storyline for this story (there'll be about eight chapters) so hopefully I'll be on top of it?
More about the story and less on my lack of commitment: hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. There was less plot and more character for good reason—next couple of chapters will have tons of plot, well stuff happening. I know Shiro's story may seem a bit of a stretch here but…yeah. It's a "what if" question about her character. "What if Shiro wanted to become more independent and Sora's the one who wanted to be together forever in a very obsessive, unhealthy manner?"
…and that totally didn't inspire me to make a ShiroxYandere!Sora fic, haha.
Hope to have your continued support! Let me know what you think in your reviews and thanks for all the favorites/follows!