Waking Up with the Sun Chapter 10: Lollipops pt. 4
In the previous chapter I said I would space out the time between the Varia Arc and the Byakuran/Future Arc by about a month or two, so I'm giving it 6 weeks between those two arcs. This chapter takes place four and a half weeks after the previous one.
Hazuki groaned in anguish as she threw her notebook across the room. Autumn was approaching and the weather was getting cooler. The pool was closed and now she really had to do her homework. She closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, stretching out before finally sitting back up and walking down the stairs to the kitchen.
Her aunt was not back from running errands and her cousin was at work. The medium-sized house was empty. She dragged her feet to the kitchen and rummaged for food, finding an old bottle of Pocari, an almost empty carton of strawberry milk, and a box of stale cookies. She threw out the cookies and Pocari, and finished the strawberry milk directly out of the carton.
Might as well put some decent clothes on and go buy snacks.
The girl dragged herself back up the stairs and looked in the full-body mirror hung on her door. Messy chlorine-damaged brown hair. Half-opened uniform shirt, sweatpants, no bra, and her distinctive pink glasses. Hazuki pulled her hair into a semi-neat pony-tail and changed out of her shirt and sweatpants into a thick warm, hooded-dress (that way she wouldn't need a bra) that went down to her knees. She found some knee-length socks and put them on, and grabbed her purse. It was a cute cloth bag with Totoro embroidered on it. She got it at the ¥100 store. Along with a ton of other crap that totalled up to almost ¥3000. Woops.
Seeing that she looked somewhat decent (at least to be in public), she made her way back down and slipped on her boots in the small foyer. The door opened to dead leaves in the walkway, and she locked it behind her, after making sure that she had her keys. And phone. And MP3 player with headphones. And wallet. And at least 2 lollipops. Speaking of which. Make that 1 lollipop.
She exited the small property and walked down the street towards the shops. It was about a 20 minute walk, no big deal. The sun began to set, the wind was refreshing, and the crunch of dead leaves beneath her boots gave her a warm feeling of crushing her enemies (not that she really had any).
This serene walk was (not really much to her surprise) disturbed by an orange-clad boy that she really didn't feel like seeing at the moment.
"RACE ME! IT'LL BE FUN TO THE EXTREME!"
"No."
Hazuki Hino found out early on that the one and only Sasagawa Ryohei lived three blocks down from her (she didn't mind Kyoko living that close), much to her chagrin. They had met a couple of times before while running, and Hazuki sometimes did her best to avoid the loudmouth in the morning, not wanting her R&R time to be disturbed. She really needed to figure out a new path. He had challenged her to multiple races, in which the current score was a tie, though the boy had won the past 3 races. She wanted to say something about steroids, but she wasn't that mean.
"C'moonnnn, Hazuki! It'll be fun!"
God you're loud. And you look like Naruto orange jacket + pants combo. Who the hell allowed you in public like that?
His pleads echoed throughout the streets, gaining attention from some curious bystanders. Hazuki plugged her music in and pulled up her hood, thoroughly ignoring the boy.
Sure, sports were fun. And so was racing. And winning was great. But it's such a nice afternoon, why can't you just enjoy the peace? She must've been thinking aloud because just 2 seconds after, a hand was on her shoulder, and Ryohei had the most gentle smile she'd ever seen on the brute.
"Walking is fine, too."
So they continued walking in silence, Hazuki having put her music away. It was kind of nice. He decided to accompany her for the rest of the afternoon, curious about the girl's 'adventure'. Eventually they started talking about exams. Neither of them were prepared. They had soon reached her destination, a new cafe that opened up just last week. It was a cute little place called Le Tres Bien Café. They were greeted with a warm welcome, and the smell of cinnamon filled the air. Ryohei watched curiously as Hazuki picked out about 4 slices of cake, 3 éclairs, 2 pudding cups, 3 croissants (each with a different filling), 5 macarons, and a doughnut. The girl really likes her sweets.
Hazuki smiled cheerfully as she was handed the snacks after paying, and looked at Ryohei, who seemed to be confused at the amount of food she had.
"What."
"You must really like sweets to the extreme."
"You know very well that being involved in sports gives you a big appetite. Especially swimming. And running."
"And boxing."
"Sure."
She pulled out an individually wrapped éclair and handed it to Ryohei, "This one is for Kyoko-chan. Don't eat it."
Ryohei looked at the pastry distastefully, "It looks like poop."
She almost smacked him, "I mean it."
Ryohei waved his hand, dismissing the comment. She almost popped a blood vessel.
"I wanna grab some milk tea before heading back. There's this new place that just opened!"
He watched the girl skip down the block and ran after her. She was definitely going to get diabetes or cavities or fat.
*U*U*
Somehow, even though she was carrying an excessive amount of food, Ryohei still tried to convince her to race him. At some point in time within the past hour, he managed to declare her as his sports rival, including the bonus factor that she went to Midori, while he attended Namimori. He chanted 'EXTREME RIVALRY' for a good minute before she threw a stick at his face. She glared at him, but her attention was caught by the buzzing vibrations of her phone. She flipped the extremely adorned and extremely pink thing open, and not even five seconds later, her face fell. They were about 5 minutes from her house, having just passed Takesushi. Yamamoto Jr. was out at baseball practice, and Yamamoto Sr. was serving a customer.
Hazuki stopped walking, and it took Ryohei a good few feet to notice.
He jogged back to her.
"Are you okay?"
"A-A-Ah yeah. Just.. uhm… Can I ask you for a quick favour?"
Her voice was shaky and her demeanour completely different from the light conversation they had earlier. She closed her phone and fumbled until it fit into her dress pocket, and held out the big bag of sweets she had just bought.
He was confused as heck.
"C-C-Can you hold this for me? Like for a night? Just the night! I'll pick it up in the morning on my way to school!"
Whatever was on her phone was troubling. "Are you okay? You look upset to the extreme."
He repeated his question.
She nodded anxiously.
He took the bag hesitantly.
"If anyone asks you, it's your bag, okay? Let's just continue walking…"
Ryohei was genuinely confused. He followed as she moved quickly, the cool breeze now a biting autumn wind.
They stopped in front of her house and 2 cars occupied the driveway, while a very nice and expensive looking car was parked in front. It seemed much cleaner and newer than the other cars parked on the sides of the street. When Ryohei looked from admiring the sparkling detail to see Hazuki's reaction, he could definitely tell that something was wrong. She looked pale in comparison to her normally tanned self, and half her face hid behind her hair and glasses. She was biting her lip and fiddling her fingers, and her chest kept rising up and down like she had problems breathing.
"Na, Hazuki. Are you sure you're okay? You look upset and ill to the extreme…"
She choked out a giggle at his terminology, and nodded before collecting herself and smiling through her teeth.
"I'll see you tomorrow morning for my cake, okay? Ja, ne!"
And with that she ran into her house, leaving a very dumbfounded 14 year old in the middle of the street. He scratched his chin, and stared at the bag in his hands. He would honour the agreement, he decided, and he walked home, unknowing of watching eyes that witnessed the interaction.
Hazuki took a deep breath before unlocking the door. The house was eerily quiet as she took off her shoes and made her way inside.
"Good evening, Hino."
Hazuki's back straightened immediately as she spun on her heel, and smiled at the person who greeted her, "Hi, mom."
A woman in her mid forties sat at the dining table, reading glasses hung low on her nose, red on pursed lips, and hair neatly combed back, packaged in a nice looking blazer and skirt combination. A simple pearl necklace rested on her collar, elegant pearls adorning her ears. A man with the same refined taste in clothing came out from behind the door of a recently fully-stocked fridge, a cold can of beer in hand.
"Hi daddy."
Hazuki smiled as she made her way over to the adults she called her parents, and hugged them. But where there would have been warmth and security was only emptiness and false pretence.
"Just where were you, young lady?" her mother asked, setting down the papers she was reading as well as her glasses.
"I just went out for a walk and ran into a friend…"
"Midori is an all-girls school. Why were you gallivanting with some boy?"
Great.
"He's the older brother of a friend! I taught him how to swim, and it turns out he's a neighbour! Ahah!"
Well, it was true.
"I thought I told you not to be thinking about boys. You should be thinking about your exams, Hino."
Exams aren't for another 4 months.
"I'm not! Trust me! I've got my hands full! I'm the captain of the swim team and my grades are great and-"
"Are you still doing that anime thing?"
Her gut sank. "Y-yeah… I'm the co-president with Mai…"
"Still hanging out with that girl? You told me that she stopped hanging out with you to hang out with her boyfriend."
"It's okay, mom, they broke up! And we've resolved our differences! Our club does a lot, too! We have events and stuff and we even won the competition school wide for best festival booth! We sold lots of stuff and made the front page of the school paper!"
Hazuki was left with silence for a few moments.
"Very well. How are your grades?"
Ah.
"They're good. Uhm, not as great as some other girls, but I can definitely get into Midori High! All my teachers say I'm good at participation and stuff!"
Her eyes met half-lidded ones full of expectations met with disappointment.
"And your weight?"
Hazuki felt sick.
"I'm doing great! Swimming works you out a lot! Let me go change real quick and I'll show you!"
Taking the chance, she ran up the stairs as fast as she could, locking the door behind her. She changed out of her dress and socks into simple gym shorts and a tank top (and a bra), grabbing a large pullover before stopping by the bathroom.
Hazuki looked at herself in the mirror, took off her glasses and washed her face. She dried it on her towel that hung on the bathroom door and put her glasses back on, adjusting herself.
She climbed down the stairs slowly, relieved to hear multiple voices of her aunt, her aunt's grandchildren who were home to visit, and a multitude of her cousins.
She smiled when she finally got to the kitchen, and after setting down her hoodie, she flexed her arms, showing lean, toned muscle and a defined body that she had gained from rigorous swimming and running.
Her parents looked up to her, then back down to the papers that littered the desk with a satisfied nod. Hazuki felt a moment of relief and pulled her hoodie on, but the instant she did that, her mother spoke up, "Why don't you wear something more fitting for a young lady? You look like a boy."
"I-I'm at home, mom. It's not like anyone's gonna care…"
"Now it's that type of attitude that'll get you nowhere in life."
Hazuki croaked out a laugh as her aunt shushed her younger sister, she's 14. Look at my son. He's 27 and fat.
The environment quickly changed as two screaming children ran in from the backyard, screaming at each other something about sharing and not sharing.
Hazuki wiped the sweat off of her brow and collected the two kids and brought them into the living room, occupying them with the TV that was already entertaining her cousins.
"Rough night, Hi-chan?"
"You have no fricking idea."
*End*
Ah wow oops, more background fic. I have another chapter of Lollipops to upload, but I'm working on Waking Up with the Sun and I'll upload that before uploading the next Lollipops.