Chapter 19 – The Fox Who Turned Human

Just as she has decided to leave, Rukawa began to stir. She felt her heart beat wildly. Argh! FINALLY! Her mind berated her.

Rukawa stirred and sat up. He rubbed whatever sleep he still had in his eyes. Scratched his hair and breathed deeply. His eyes wandered around the gymnasium and found himself face to face with a girl whose neck-length wavy hair carefully tucked behind her ear with a red buttefly clip. Her eyes big and expressive. She was neither too skinny or too chubby either and had fair skin. But she was a short girl barely 5 feet by his estimate. She was just standing, frowning and expecting him to say something. Rukawa surprised himself for having studied a girl's appearance before him. He normally didn't think much of it before with the other girls who swarmed and followed him around. But why would this girl be so different?

"Sumeragi-san?" Rukawa broke the silence.

"What do you think?" Hanasen managed an uneasy smile.

And finally it dawned to him like a slap on the face, Rukawa realized why she of all people had been standing there in front of him. The meeting! They were supposed to discuss about plans on what to sell in their booth during the school festival. He took a quick look in his digital sports watch and looked back at her.

"Oh no...I'm so..."

"Let's get out of here." She interrupted him. Truth is she didn't want to hear it. She could anticipate an apology coming but that's not what she wanted. She just wanted to get this done and over with and go home. It was getting late. The janitor would be poking his head anytime soon and she didn't want the guy to get any stupid ideas of a female and male student inside the gymnasium together when everyone's already gone home.

She walked ahead of him not bothering to wait for him to grab his things. She didn't want to be seen getting out of the gymnasium together. It sure was getting dark outside which added more to her frustration but at least Rukawa has finally decided to wake up. She wouldn't have been able to stick around for another 15 minutes waiting for him to come back to Earth, she sighed.

Rukawa quickly grabbed his things and caught up with her. It was an awkward moment. She didn't want to look at him. He nervously combed his hair with his right hand. They walked towards his bike and he began to unlock the chain. She was looking away.

"Maybe we should leave the school now." Rukawa began to move his bike holding onto the handle bars and walked beside it. Hanasen shot him a glance and nodded in agreement but she kept a good distance away from him.

"Hey, how about we talk in McDonald's. I'm kind of hungry. You don't mind, do you?" Rukawa sounded hopeful.

"Alright." She nodded again.

Upon reaching McDonald's and parking his bike. They entered the establishment. Thankfully there wasn't a long cue. Rukawa motioned her to find a table they can sit together while he stood in line to order some food.

Hanasen found a table that was situated near the glass wall where she could see people passing through the busy street. She took out her notebook and pen and scribbled: Booth plan at the header of the page. When she looked up, she sees Rukawa with a tray of food. He placed a large soda to her side of the table and a cheeseburger.

"Eh? You didn't have to. I'm not really hungry." She was really surprised at his gesture.

"Well, I thought this is the least I could do for you having to wait for me till I woke up." Rukawa began unwrapping his double cheeseburger.

She merely stared at him and took a sip from the large soda. Coke. She hated Coke. She is a Fanta girl always has been and always will be. But she didn't want to complain. She discovered that Rukawa had a human side to him after all. She wasn't in the mood for a burger though. She would have wanted to eat Ramen instead. She watched as he snarfed into his double cheeseburger and took large gulps from his soda. He ate fast too.

"You haven't touched your cheseburger." He looked at her concerned.

"Well I already told you I wasn't really hungry. But I'll keep this for later. Thanks." She managed a small smile.

"Oh okay." Rukawa smiled back at her.

"So let's talk about what to do for our booth. What we're gonna sell." Hanasen began to fiddle with her pen.

"I don't know. Whatever you want, I guess." Rukawa shrugged. He wasn't really big on festivals. Last year, he had his partner decide whatever he wanted and he just went along with it. This year should be no different except being partnered with a girl this time. A girl who clearly didn't want to be partnered with him either yet waited for him. This time he was willing to go with whatever she wanted and he meant that in a good way compared to the lackluster way he agreed with his partner's booth ideas last year.

"Alright...so what do you think about selling takoyaki?" She scribbled takoyaki and a question mark beside it.

"Sure." Rukawa nodded.

"Do you know how to make takoyaki?"

"No." Rukawa shook his head.

"Figures." She mumbled to herself.

"Eh? You said something?" Rukawa raised an eyebrow.

"I'll make takoyaki then. You help me sell it. You think you could handle that?" She looked at him questioningly.

"No problem." Rukawa shook his head and smiled.

They discussed about the ingredients, how and where they would get it. The design of their booth. Most of the time Rukawa just listened as she made suggestions and asking his opinion for each of them. He easily agreed with her ideas. He felt good looking forward to working with her. She was practical and straightforward. A bit businesslike in her approach but she didn't waste her time by asking him personal questions like other classmates especially girls did whenever they were partnered with him for a school project.

"Alright, it's settled then. See you on Monday." She closed her notebook and put it back in her bag. She took another small sip of her Coke and stashed the cheeseburger in her bag.

"Will you be taking the bus home?" Rukawa asked.

"Yes." She lied.

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?" Hanasen raised an eyebrow.

"Well I thought I'd give you a ride on my bike to the bus stop." Rukawa studied her reaction.

"No need. I can get there on my own really." She grinned.

"Well, I don't really live very far from here anyways." Rukawa added.

I know, she sighed to herself. She knew where he lived when Noriko dragged her around to stalk him last year despite her staunch refusal. When Noriko was determined about something or someone, she was the most determined person and would act upon it at the soonest possible time even if she had to drag her around kicking and screaming.

"So yeah...thanks for the food." As she was stood up to leave, Rukawa looked at his soda.

"Sumeragi-san..."

"Eh?"

"Thanks so much for waiting for me. No one has ever done that for me before." Rukawa looked at her seriously.

"Yeah sure...no problem." She felt her eyebrow twitch. She gave him a slight bow and proceeded to leave the restaurant as Rukawa's eyes followed her until she began to cross the busy street and blended into the crowd.

What a strange girl, Rukawa chuckled to himself and consumed what's left of his soda.