Chapter 11:
Lunch was almost frostier than dinner at the Ootori's sans Fuyumi and her father. Sayuri could only poke awkwardly at her salad as Kyoya ate some sort of Chinese dish. Eventually he seemed to get the hint that she wasn't up for idle chatter and asked bluntly, "How do you like the ring?"
Starting at the out of the blue question and it's personal nature, the raven haired girl flustered for a moment before managing to get out, "Oh, it's lovely! I really do like white gold over plain gold."
"Hmm, I'm happy to hear that. And…its size is acceptable?"
"Ah, yes though however you knew my ring size is a mystery to me. Though you are you and so of course you would know…" Sayuri drifted off lamely, her eyes drifting back down to her leafy greens as she poked a raisin around her plate.
Kyoya let out an almost inaudible sigh and continued, "So might I ask why you are not wearing it at present?"
"Oh! I apologize, I just…didn't want it to get dirtied while I was taking notes during class, I always manage to get ink everywhere, but I have it-"
Sayuri slipped her hand under the table into her pocket to slip the ring on…only to have a finger poke through a hole in her pocket. Her heart skipped a beat before freezing completely and she prayed that her face didn't go as pale as she felt.
"I –ah. I have it at home! But if you'd like I'll start wearing it Kyoya-senpai! Um, I'm afraid I need to go right now. I forgot that I need to ask Umiko-chan to help me with something later. Until next time." She bowed hurriedly before walking as fast as a proper young lady could out of the Cafeteria.
When she was in the hallway, Umiko caught up with her, noticing her quick exit away from the confused Kyoya.
"Sayuri-chan, what's wrong? What did he say to you? Are…are you crying?" She asked in shock.
The raven haired girl shook her head in violent protest even though her vision was starting to blur in contrary. "It's nothing Umiko-chan. I-I just need to go do something very important now. It's nothing to do with Kyoya-senpai so please don't tell him okay!" She dashed away to her last classroom.
She searched all around it but still she could not find the ring. She ignored the bell saying that lunch was over and continued her search. All the hallways she had been through that day, the library, the labs, classrooms, everywhere she searched and came up empty. By this point she really was ready to cry but she couldn't give up hope. It was almost the end of the last class of the day so she needed to hurry. She would check the archery field, it had to be there. It just HAD to be! If it wasn't…she didn't even want to think about what her mother would do. How disappointed Kyoya-senpai would be.
She started on the path she usually took to the archery field which led past the buildings where the karate, judo, kendo and fencing clubs took place. Nothing caught her eye, not a speck of metal or glitter that would be her ring. The tears were threatening to spill over as she finally got down on her hands and knees in the dirt, checking in some futile hope that the ring had rolled under the bushes that lined the path. Brushing her hands along the dirty ground they suddenly found something oddly smooth and hard that Sayuri couldn't fathom until she looked closer…and saw it was a shoe. A formerly shiny black shoe that now had dirt all over it from her rummaging hands. Looking up finally she saw the towering form of Mori, looking down on her passively, but interpreted by the girl as something a bit more hostile…
Jerking her hand away, startled by his 'sudden appearance', she cried out, "Morinozuka-senpai! I-I'm sorry please don't mind me!"
She bowed from her already kneeled bow, which made the bow as low as peasants or slaves used to low in feudal times. From this position she noticed how dirty she had made his shoes. "Oh no! I'm sorry about those, I can have them cleaned so p-please…"
Her voice choked off, not even knowing what she was pleading about and she blinked at the drops on the dirt she had made. Was it raining? Oh..no… Her face felt hot and damp and she sniffed and tried to wipe away the shameful traces.
But then her face was tilted to look upwards again as Mori stared down at her from his now kneeled position, concern in his eyes though his expression still did not change. "Why are you crying?" He asked softly.
Her lip trembling she turned her face away in humiliation before struggling for breath and answering, "I-I lost something very important. And I can't find it! I have to find it or they'll be disappointed and angry and-and-"
She stopped, feeling a warm touch on her face as he ran a thumb across her cheek, wiping away a trail of tears. "I'll help you look."
He stood and offered her a hand to help her do the same. Wiping at her face furiously with her handkerchief, she then hastened to her feet when he spoke again, "What did you lose?"
"A-A ring. Made of white gold and diamonds." She answered shakily, starting to collect herself in the presence of Mori's calm collectedness. "I'm in the archery club and I practice on the field in the mornings and I've checked all over school already so…I thought it might be somewhere between here and there." She offered.
He simply murmured his usual 'mm' and then began walking along the path, his eyes darting along all the little nooks and crannies. They then went to where the archery club was set up and checked in Sayuri's bow bag as well as her quiver and through the entire field for the ring with no luck. They were going along the path to school again when Mori stopped and simply said, "Look."
Confused, Sayuri followed his line of sight and spied a rather scraggly looking squirrel whose tail looked like it had seen better winters. But interested her was not the squirrel, but what the squirrel had in its mouth.
"The ring!" She exclaimed, only to clap her hands over her mouth, as the rodent froze and stared at them warily. If she scared it away, she'd never get the ring back!
But… "How am I supposed to get it back?" She wondered aloud with hopelessness.
Mori simply glanced down at her before walking purposely forward. Sayuri was astonished and reached out too late to stop him. "No! Morinozuka-senpai, what are you doing?" She yell-whispered.
But he turned away from the squirrel and…started rooting through the bushes? He came away with something in his hand and placed it in plain sight at the base of the tree before backing a ways away and drawing her with him. "Watch." He told her, motioning with his head to the good sized nut he had left.
She did as she was told and watched the squirrel that did absolutely nothing for nearly two whole minutes (which felt rather like two hours to Sayuri), until it finally twitched and began inching down the tree, ring still in mouth. Once it made it to the ground it paused and looked at Mori for a while before finally dropping the ring and darting up the tree to its high branches with the nut.
She could hardly believe it. And apparently it showed, as she was frozen solid. Mori walked forward and picked up the ring from the ground, brushing the odd dirt from it before taking Sayuri's hand and placing it carefully in her position, curling her fingers around it. "Don't be sad anymore, alright?" He asked with a soft expression, placing his large hand on her head for a moment before dropping it and walking away.
Finally coming out of her shock she cried out, "Morinozuka-senpai!"
He turned, blinking at her sudden outburst.
"Thank you so much!" She declared with a wide grin, her face blushing like mad and the tears were back but for a different reason she was sure. She bowed low and glanced back up just in time to catch his smile for which she was always thankful for, as it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.