KaereKimura (木村カエレ)x MatoiTsunetsuki (常月まとい)

Despondent and Distracted.

BureBureBureBure.

School had ended for the day and all around me my fellow classmates were rising from their desks and piling their various bits and pieces of educational equipment into their shoulder bags. I was sitting at my desk, which was right in front of the teacher's podium, usually I would be under his desk but recently he'd been kicking me during his spasms of despair. Sighing longingly as I gazed up at Sensei whom I adored to the point of accompanying him throughout his days, even on the weekends when most females my age would be out enjoying their youth. It didn't bother me; it satisfied me to be able to act as his wife. I always walked three steps behind him, as a good Japanese wife should. The reason for my devotion? This man had expressed the ultimate vow of love to me. He wished to die with me. Finally, some intense love that was requited.

SLAM.

I was rudely awoken from my lustful daydreams for Sensei as a heavy book collided with the wooden surface of my desk, making me lean back in surprise, my thin legs pushing my chair back, the metal legs of which screeched against the hard floors causing me and the majority of my classmates to cringe and whine. Looking up I saw a halo of flaxen hair framing a pale face that I knew oh so well.

'Eh, Kaede-chan?'

No, this wasn't Kaede, she would never be so audaciously presumptuous with her actions. This was Kaere, her foreign personality. I sighed in my own despair.

'Matoi-chan! You really should stop following that old fool around. It makes you look like a freak! A weirdo! In the country I just came from you'd be investigated by a secret service for such actions!' The voice that flowed from those angelic lips were harsh and in such a manner that I recoiled from her. I looked at my hands, which were clasped in my lap and waited for the wave of abuse to pass.

'I mean look at you! Dressed in that Kimono, seriously! What're you thinking? It doesn't flatter your figure at all! No boys will like you. But if you wear what I wear you'll have all the men at your feet.' She took a step back, twirling around, making her already short skirt flutter outwards the result being that it became more indecent resulting in an influx of male classmates piling back into the room for the daily dose of perversion they seemed to thrive on. I watched her with my olive eyes, scanning her figure with no real interest. It was true, she was a fine specimen, but she wasn't sensei. I gave her a simpering smile as I nodded slowly knowing that agreeing with her would free me faster. She concluded her display by walking around to the front of my desk so she blocked my view of Itoshiki sensei. She put her hands flat on my desk so she was bent at the hips giving me an unsightly obvious view of her cleavage. I gulped, her presence intimidating me as my gaze slowly travelled upwards to meet her own sapphire one.

'Also, you'll never get a guy if you follow them around like a lost dog, it's annoying! I'll teach you how to act if you want a real man!'

By this point I was beyond caring.

Swish.

That sound signalled Sensei attempting to leave the classroom swiftly before I had a chance to catch up to him. Fat chance, I was an expert at this by now.

'Yes, Kaere. I'll see you later for your so called lesson.'

Before she could answer I leapt to my feet, swung my bag over my shoulder and began to gallop after my love. My traditional wooden shoes crashed against the hard wooden floors of the school corridors and my loose kimono whipped around my legs.

I had no intention of going to Kaere for this 'lesson', I had just answered as she wanted so I could leave faster and with fewer complications. I wandered down the streets to Sensei's house and was shocked to find that my mind was wandering from the raven-haired pessimist and I began to think about the way I acted and if it was correct or not to have someone fully appreciate my love for them. Biting my bottom lip I resigned myself to wrench my attention away from my occupation for one day and that tomorrow I would take Kaere up on her proposition for her seduction lessons.

Maybe I had to change.