Somehow, I'm in the spirit of things and get more ideas as the day goes by!
And once I've learned how to draw Haruka's hair right - and different hairdoes with her - I'll be able to start the manga again.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the story version.
Haruka sighed deeply, sitting in a loose fetal position on the grass.
It was thurdsay and lunch break. The warm weather had seduced a lot of students to grab their lunches and eat outside on the grass.
Haruka had done the same, sitting with her back against a tree in the shade. But she was too exhausted to really eat, her thoughts
circling over work yesterday. She had been no help - or hardly any help at all. Sure, it was her first day and she shouldn't be so frustrated
about it not having been so good, but she still felt bad.
"Jo."
She looked up and saw Kijyou bending down to her, smiling widely.
"Whatcha lookin's so sad 'bout? Nice weather, break an' a date on sunday. What could be wrong?" he asked, sitting down next to her.
Haruka started a bit at the sudden closeness and straightened her back with force. But she told herself to relax. She hadn't been close
to a lot of guys in middle school, so this was rather new to her. Just calm down and relax.
"Just bummed about work." she answered, relaxing her position again, the sandwich still in it's package on her lap.
"Why's that? Ya did good."
Haruka looked at him with sarcastic disbelieve. "No, I wasn't. I barely knew front to back. I'm still terribly exhausted."
"Ah, just stress. Ya were new. Once ya work a bit more ya'll get used to it and won't feel tired." he told her, starting his own lunch.
Somehow, speaking with Kijyou about the problem made her feel better and she finally started on her sandwich. Presently, though,
she picked up the Watcher that had been lying next to her and flipped to the pages about the new tower.
"So why exactly did they build this? Is there anything special?" she asked.
"Mh, not really. The viewing platform's high enough so ya can see almost all of Habataki." he explained, pointing to the height and
diameter which were written in the article. "Mostly been built cause they're thinkin' of towing down the ferris wheel."
"Hmm .." Haruka had read about the amusement park and it's ferris wheel. It was an old ferris wheel, recently celebrating it's
20th birthday. Popular as it was with couples and kids, fact was that it was old, and the key for keeping up an amusement park
was to build new attractions. And for that old things had to go.
They finished their lunch, talking about what all they could do at the tower on their date and about work.
"S'riously, once ya relax ya'll be a great help." Kijyou told her and got up, stretching. "And if ya need help, just ask for it."
He held his hand towards her, helping her up when the bell rang. "Hey, Kijyou-san."
Kijyou raised his eyebrows at her. "Ya can leave the 'san'."
"Just calling you 'Kijyou' would be weird .." Haruka mumbled. "Maybe I'll stick with Kijyou-kun, after all. Anyway, you want to walk
home together after school?"
"Sure. Meet ya at the gate." he grinned.
Lessons didn't seem to go by fast enough for her, the prospect of walking home together with Kijyou seemed to lift her spirits
whenever she tought about it. There was something about his presence that made her feel at ease, that there wasn't really
anything she had to worry about.
Feeling slightly giddy, she waited at the gate after school. It didn't take long, since Kijyou was almost next to her in an instant.
They walked along the southern road, the sun almost not blinding them, and talked about the lessons. Both agreed that Himuro-sensei
might be a really good teacher, but he was also rather scary at times.
"Say, Kijyou-kun, your birthday's soon." Haruka said all of a sudden. "Anything special you wish for?"
Kijyou started a moment at the sudden mention and looked down at her in surprise. "When did ya find out 'bout my birthday?"
Haruka noticed the trap she had set herself. 'I had my brother spy on you and tell me everything about you' wasn't something she
could tell him so easily! "I .. looked up your file in the school database." she stammered.
"Ah." he didn't say anything for a while as they continued to walk. "Well, nothin' really I wish for, no. I just have an obsession
with antique things."
They remained quiet for the rest of the walk. At the playground, they had to go separate ways, so they said their goodbyes and
went different ways. Instead of turning right towards her home, Haruka went left to get to one of the big shopping districts she had
read about in the Habataki Watcher. Looking through several stores, she was looking, of course, for a birthday present to get Kijyou.
She mostly found accessory stores and she didn't want to buy him a tie. He didn't seem like the type for ties, anyhow.
Finally, tucked in a side street, she found a small shop. It was dimmely lit, the atmosphere made it seem like it hadn't been cleaned in
ages, but it was well kept. And among compact mirrors and gold watches did she find the perfect gift. An antique tea cup.
It was small, an eggshell color with a swirly golden pattern printed on the outside. Haruka instantly walked to the counter with it and
paid the 1.500 Yen for it, watching the clerk wrapping it in tissue paper and laying it into a box to keep it from breaking.
Satisfied with her purchase, Haruka went home and ignoring Tsukushi's cheeky comments about her happy face.
"Something good happen with Kijyou-nii?" he asked, grinning.
"Nothing that'll interest you. Just another date on sunday." she told him, getting the wrapping paper out of the closet.
"Another date? You two just went on one!" he gasped, then shrugged his shoulders. "He sure doesn't fool around long."
Haruka rolled her eyes and ignored him, wrapping the gift and setting aside some time to figure out what to wear on the date.
Worried, Haruka looked out of the window. A coldspell had moved in saturday morning and the weather had not gotten better since then.
It even seemed to have gotten worse, the clouds hung low and didn't look too white. Personally, she loved rainy days - keeping the windows
wide open, the smell of the wet grass in the air, refreshing her senses. Stepping away from the window, she slipped her robe off and doned
the maroon t-shirt and yellow skirt. It took her three tries to get the tights right, without her leg feeling twisted in an unnatural way.
Before she got her shoes on, though, she flipped through the Watcher and checked the fashion section for the accessory of that month.
It might seem weird, but she enjoyed having her style fit the current fashion - Haruka gave her hair a few licks with the brush, readjusted the
hairpins and threw a thin jacket over, before getting her shoes on and rushing out of the door.
Habataki Station was huge and it was easy to get lost, if one didn't know where to go. And even if you did, it was easy to overlook something
due to the massive amount of people walking to and fro. Nervously, Haruka hastened her steps to the fountain. She was a bit late and didn't
want to keep Kijyou waiting. At the fountain, though, she couldn't find him. Maybe he was a bit late himself .. but before she could finish
that thought, he was already approaching her.
"Sorry, sorry." he apologized with a small grin. "Well, let's hurry to the tow-"
His cellphone began to ring and Kijyou quickly took it out of his pocket, he frowned when looking at the display. ".. 'Scuse me."
He turned slightly away after pressing the receive button.
"Why the bother?" he growled.
Haruka flinched. She had never heard Kijyou so angry .. his voice had deepened and, what little she saw of his face, was distorted into
a furious mask, a fierce glint in his eyes. She couldn't really hear what he was saying, but from the sound of it it was quite obviously a
fight with someone.
Thinking that it might take longer, Haruka sat down at the edge of the fountain and waited patiently. But she couldn't keep her eyes off of
Kijyou. Somehow seeing this side of him fascinated her, made her feel excited. Like an explorer having just found new land. She felt an urge
inside of her to spend more time with him, so as to see this side of him or any other side. She wanted to know everything about him ..
Shaking her head, she tried to ban such thoughts away. It was ridiculous. She was just being nervous about this being the second date,
in such short time.
"Give it up, pops!" Kijyou snarled and pressed 'End', tucking the phone away again. His eyes fell on Haruka, her looking rather interested at him,
standing up. "Sorry 'bout that .."
"It's okay." she said, hesitating a bit. ".. that was your father, right?"
Kijyou looked surprised, but nodded finally. "He keeps buggin' me .." he sighed deeply.
Feeling like she had just put her foot in her mouth, Haruka pointed at his maroon shirt. "Aren't you cold?"
"Nah." he said and grabbed her hand in a playful matter. "Let's forget it all and just get goin'."
Haruka nodded, but being extremely self-conscious about the hand, and followed him.
Holding hands felt weird. Not knowing if it was because she was so nervous or because she wasn't used to it, but her hand felt like it didn't
exist. Like her arm ended after the wrist. Yet, on the other hand, she was quite conscious about Kijyou's hand holding hers. It somehow
made her feel protected and safe. But she didn't dare to close her fingers around his .. just the thought of doing that made her flush.
Kijyou seemed to have no trouble with it, though.
He seemed fine holding her hand, waiting for the elevator to come, together with an elderly couple and a group of chatty girls.
She had to relax! If her face was as red as it felt hot, it must look weird - a couple, the guy absolutely okay and the girl stiff and straight,
seeming like she wanted to run out of the place.
Not that she really wanted to do that, she just wanted her heart to calm down and her thoughts to get straight again .. did she just
see herself and Kijyou as a couple?
Feeling flushed all over again, Haruka didn't notice her joining Kijyou in the elevator and walking to the railings to overlook Habataki.
"Haruka-chan?"
Kijyou bent down a little to look into Haruka's face.
She jumped a little bit, having been completely lost in her mind for the past few minutes.
"Somethin' wrong?" he asked, looking worried.
"N-no." she answered, trying to keep her voice from stuttering. "Nothing's wrong."
He didn't believe her, or just wanted to make sure, but the intensity he used to look at her made her feel slightly uncomfortable
and she could almost feel her face turning red. She had to hurry and think of something to distract him ..!
A second later, she threw out her arm and pointed to the eastern sky.
"Ah! Isn't that a UFO?" she asked in an excited voice, but still felt her heart beating as fast as it had for the past ten minutes.
"Ah, you're right!" Kijyou looked in the same direction and wildly lifted his arm, waving towards the spot. "Hello, UFO-san! Hope ya enjoy
enslaving humanity an' takin' over earth!"
Both knew entirely well that there had been nothing. But the way Kijyou had just played along, that big smile on his face and the way
he looked back at her .. had been so ..
Before Haruka could stop herself, she started to giggle until her whole body shook and she just laughed.
Luckily there was only one other person except them there now - and that person didn't bother about her laugh.
Kijyou showed her a wide grin. "Perfect!"
"W-what?" she asked, still giggling now and then. "What's perfect?"
"Ya laughing. I wanted to see ya laugh for some time now." he told her. "An' now I managed my mission."
Haruka looked at him in surprise and followed him, once again rather absently minded, back to the elevator and down.
On a mission to make her laugh .. that sounded like something Kijyou would get into his head. Seeing a girl laugh must be nice for a guy.
Especially if the girl was on a date at that moment.
"Ya're pretty quiet, Haruka-chan." Kijyou said, yanking her out of her thoughts once more.
"Ah, just thinking about upcoming sports festival." she replied. "And waiting for your birthday to roll around."
"Mh, then I'll look forward to it, too. Wonder what ya're planning." he suddenly swung his arm to a side, pulling her closer as they were
still holding hands. "An' will ya tell me yar birthdate?"
Startled, Haruka said the first thing she could think of. "Why not check my file in the school computer?"
"Cause I want ya to tell me directly." he grinned.
"August 1st .." she muttered, feeling like she was being thoughroughly inspected by Kijyou's gaze.
The talk became less, but more all-day stuff when they got back to Habataki Station. Back at the fountain, they had to go seperate
ways again and Haruka noticed how Kijyou squeezed her hand a bit before letting go.
"Was fun today." he told her. "We should hang out mor often."
Haruka nodded. "Say, Kijyou-kun." she hesitated for a second. "Now that you fulfilled the mission of seeing me laugh, you won't stop
going out with me, will you?"
Kijyou looked at her in surprise over her comment. "Course not! Ya wanna go out with me, I'll go out with ya. Why stop when it's fun?"
Haruka grinned and nodded again. "Thought so. See you in school!" she waved and started on her way home.
What a weird thing for her to ask. And not just because it was out of the blue.
But, somehow, the way Kijyou spoke of a 'mission', even if it had been a joke, made it seem like he was dating her out of an obligatory
reason. Now that he had finished his mission he'd disappear.
Ah, what was wrong with her today? Her thoughts were getting stranger and stranger by the minute. If she didn't get a hold of
herself soon, she'd have to write the day down as a do-over. Although .. the time spent with Kijyou had been great. Mostly she wasn't
sure what was going on as she had been too nervous. But the way he spontaniously grabbed her hand and hadn't let go until they
were going seperate ways .. just remembering it gave her that safe and protected feeling again.
Haruka stuck her keys into the keyhole and opened the door, stripping off her shoes.
"Sis? Are you there?" Tsukushi's blue eyes suddenly appeared underneath her eyes.
"Don't startle me like that!" she said.
"Sis .. do you even notice that you're drenched?"
Surprised, Haruka looked down at herself and, indeed, her clothes were clingy and dripping, her hair hung heavy in her neck. She looked
out and noticed the rain almost flooding down. "Um .. no." she coughed embarrassed and headed for the bathroom to take a hot shower.
A few minutes later the cream colored room was filled with steam, Haruka letting the water drum down on her, once again lost in
her own mind. How long had it been raining? She hadn't noticed anything. She could barely remember walking home at all. Her feet just
moving automatically towards the purple doored house.
Had Kijyou gotten home in time? She didn't know his address, Tsukushi hadn't written it down, so she didn't know how far he had to walk
to get back home. Maybe he had been drenched by the sudden cloudburst and was taking a shower himself just now .. Or he got home
before the rain started.
How come Kijyou didn't leave her mind for the entire day?
Quickly turning the hot knob, she felt the heat increasing, almost burning her skin. Anything to keep mind from focusing on him all the time.
"Ya can tell personality by the clothes?" Kijyou asked in an impressed voice.
Monday back to school and Kijyou had seeked her out during lunch, talking about the date and the newest information from the Watcher.
So, Haruka had, after mentioning how interested she was in fashion, let slip about that little ability of hers.
It wasn't that it was anything incredibly special. Actually, it had first been a hobby of hers to look at other peoples' clothes and see if
the way they wore the clothes, their bodylanguage spoke, if it could reveal anything about the personality. Just a few years ago she had
found traits that indeed showed part of the person's personality.
"So, waddya know 'bout me?"
Haruka looked up to him, slightly taken back. Asked for her opinion confused her for a moment. For a second her eyes wandered from
Kijyou's hair to his shoes and back. "Well, with the school uniform it doesn't tell me very much .." she dodged the answer.
"Yah, but tell me. Ya got me interested." he nudged her slightly, leaning against the greenish walls of the hallway.
"Well .. the choker you always wear around your neck shows that you're fashion conscious, you like to be a top of things like that.
The fact that you don't wear a tie means that you don't care of correct and standardized appearance. The unbuttoned shirt
shows that as well." she told him, blushing ever so slightly when mentioning his shirt.
"Ya're right 'bout that. Cool how ya can tell so easily."
"The clothes from the dates tell me more .." Haruka mumbled quietly.
"Ah, what did they tell ya?" Kijyou's voice held a grin inside it, without her having to look at him.
Haruka cleared her throat, something that had turned to a habit when she was embarrassed. "With the marron shirt and sandcolored pants,
I noticed that you know even more about fashion, then just what you read in magazines. You know what colors go together - and the bright
colors you wear show that you don't mind being noticed. You enjoy life to it's fullest. The beige jacket made you look older than you were,
making you look smarter and hinting that the older you get, the hotter you'll look." Haruka stuttered at the next part, realizing what she
had just said. "A-also, the fact that you tend to tuck your shirts in means that you're comfortable about your body and don't mind
showing off at times."
He looked down at her in surprise, his lips slightly parted. Both were quiet for a moment, Kijyou being rather awestruck, Haruka actually
still embarrassed about what she had told him. She coughed again.
"Cool." he finally said. "Finding out all that from the clothes. Ya gotta teach me. Or tell me 'bout ya."
Haruka blushed, trying to avoid his gaze. "W-well, speaking about my personality through my clothes gets more complicated .."
"Haruka!"
Natsumi rushed towards them and, when close enough, grabbed both of Haruka's hand tightly into hers.
"You have to do me a favor."
"Um, sure. If I can manage." Haruka stuttered, surprised at the sudden appearance.
"Well, actually, it's a question." Natsumi shrugged her shoulders about the wrong phrase. "You want to join the cheerleading squad?"
".. what?"
"Please join! We have enough members, but if more join, we'll get more after summer break. It's fun, I promise. And we only practice
a few times a week."
Haruka hesitated. "Well, I work on Wednesday and Fridays .."
"We practice tuesday and thursday. And every third sunday of the month. Come on, Haruka, it'll be fun! And if any of our sport clubs
manage to get to the preliminaries we get to ride along."
Her arguments weren't the best, but as long as the practice wouldn't interefere with her work .. and she had been thinking of joining
some clubs lately. "Sure, I'll join."
"Thanks, Haruka. Meet me in the gym after school, we'll get you signed up properly." Natsumi waved full of energy and wandered off again.
Haruka sighed lightly.
"Seems like we can't walk home together today." Kijyou said, ruffling up Haruka's hair a bit.
She leaned her head back to look at him. "Yeah, too bad. Take a rain check for next week?"
"Sure thing."
After the bell rang, Natsumi almost tackled Haruka when she left her classroom and dragged her to the gym.
The gym was huge, the linoleum on the floor kept quite clean and without any scratches or dents in them. A group of girls, all more or less
with curvy bodylines and long hair, and a tall woman with dark hair tied to a bun were waiting for them. The woman had a clipboard in her
hands and a whistle around her neck.
"Fujii-san, a newcomer?" she asked in an efficient voice that showed it was her usual voice.
"Yes, Haruka. She wants to join." Natsumi gave Haruka a smack on the back to get her to stand out a bit more.
"Sekai Haruka. I'd like to join the cheerleading squad." Haruka said, feeling a bit intimidated with the attention focusing on her.
"Nice to hear that. We practice on Tuesday and Thursday every other week. And there's always a mandatory appearance at the meeting
every third Sunday of the month. The sportsgames are held on those days."
Haruka nodded, listening to the information. She got her uniform and pom-poms, a last reminder about the third sunday meetings and
they were free to go.
"Hey, Haruka, want to stop by a café? Chat a bit about love, life and boys?" Natsumi asked. "There's a nice one down the road."
Eager to learn more about the surroundings, Haruka agreed and followed Natsumi down the road, turning into a small side street.
The café was small, filled with a bar in the middle curved into a U. Dozens of round tables were scattered around the floor, usually
with two chairs on each side. The windows were large, but the lower third had half-transparent wallpaper glued to it, so the visitors
weren't that visible from outside. Natsumi and Haruka sat down at one table and ordered coffee.
"So, Haruka. What were you talking with Kijyou about?" Natsumi asked eagerly.
"Mh? Ah, um .. personality deduction, I guess .." Haruka stuttered, not sure how to explain.
"Huh?"
"Um .. figuring out his personality .." she seemed to be making a horrible job of explaining. ".. by the clothes he wears."
The two coffee came and after a few sips, Natsumi leaned over.
"So what did you find out about him? And what can you tell me about myself?"
"Well, Kijyou-kun's a fun guy .." Haruka tried to forget what she had said in a moment of weakness. "And I don't know that much
about Natsumi-chan. I never saw you in anything except your uniform."
Natsumi sipped her coffee, listening.
"But I do know that Natsumi-chan is a happy person, full of life and very open. You're energetic and make friends easily."
"You can tell that from my uniform?"
"No, from the way you talk to me and other people." Haruka told her, finishing her coffee.
Natsumi studied her a few moments longer. "By the way, you've started dating, haven't you?" she asked with a grin.
"H- .. how can you tell?"
"Mmmh, there's just a happy and satisfied glint in your eyes. Like you did something new and you found it to be fun."
Haruka blushed and nodded shyly. "Well, not a lot .. I mean, just two times up to now."
"But you want to date more often, right?"
"I-I wouldn't say it like that. I mean, the time spent is nice and I enjoy it, but more often? I don't know .."
Natsumi laughed. "A shy flower like you is hard to find!"
Haruka wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not.
June had started and everyone was getting ready for the sports festival the next Saturday.
Actually, the days seem to fast forward. One day, excessive 100 meter dashes during gym, and the next moment
it was Saturday, and the first two classes were doing the official 100 meter dashes already.
Nervous, Haruka stood on the sidelines, waiting for her class to be called forwards.
Soon enough she was called forwards and she took her position at the starting line.
The whistle blew and she started off, running as fast as she could towards the finishing line.
The last few meters, one of her classmates was gaining up, but by a split second, Haruka broke the finishing line first.
Out of breath, she stooped down and took deep breaths.
"Yo, here we see the future gold medalist winner of the olympic games."
Haruka looked up and saw Kijyou, grinning down at her.
"Congrats on winning first place." he told her.
"Ah, thank you. I wasn't sure I was going to make it." she confessed. She watched as he kneeled down and started to
stretch his legs, warming up. True, his class was going to be called up next. "Good luck for the race."
"Oh, thanks. Let's see if I'll join ya on the medalist pedestal." he replied, still going on about the olympic games.
I'll stop here. This chapter was supposed to be about Kijyou's birthday, actually. And it would've been the
next paragraph, but it seemed like it was just squeezed in. So it'll be in the next chapter.
This chapter actually made .. quite a turn! Haruka's feelings are going haywire and that sudden depressive moment
about Kijyou's mission were written at 3:30 AM. I tend to get rather fluffy and down at that time.
But it's rather helpful with love stories - despite this supposed to be more comedy than romance. At least most of
the time.