Shiori smiled as she carried a paper bag with her female clothes inside. She patiently waited for Hajime and watched the orange leaves fall to the ground.
Meanwhile, two people were sitting away from Shiori. A brunette lady and a blond man inspected Shiori. This people were none other than Yuno and Tooru. The two stalkers wore matching mint green jacket and it wasn't because they planned it, it was because of coincidence.
Shiori, on the other hand, spotted Hajime approaching closer so she grinned and walked towards him.
"Yo, Iwaizumi-san!" Shiori spoke as if she wasn't speaking to someone older than her. She waved in a carefree manner as she stepped in front of Hajime, who was slightly regretting his decision in helping Shiori.
Hajime sighed before speaking up. "We can't go to the daycare right now, so we'll go to somewhere instead." He suggested as he swiped in his phone. He checked for the place he found last night and smiled. Hajime glanced at Shiori before looking down at her paper bag. He wondered if the crossdresser can really do it.
"Go to the restroom and change." Hajime pointed at a nearby comfort room and gestured Shiori to go but the crossdresser smiled lamely before staring pleadingly at Hajime. "Can I not change at that place?" Shiori muttered pathetically.
"No. Go change." Hajime strictly spoke as he pushed Shiori to the restroom. "I'll wait for you outside." Hajime added making Shiori's heart thump a little. She faced her senior and smiled brightly and playfully. "Wow! Iwaizumi-san is so manly! I'm swooning." Shiori teased. "Hajime-kun, wait for me, okay?" She then decided to up the teasing by calling Hajime with his first name.
Hajime scoffed at her and shook his head disapprovingly. He pushed Shiori inside and immediately closed the door after Shiori stepped in.
The two stalkers, Yuno and Tooru, watched the two with curiosity. They felt like they were trespassing a private time but continued to watch.
After five minutes, Shiori finally comes out and Hajime, as well as Yuno and Tooru, felt their mouth hang open. In front of Hajime, is Shiori, wearing a black jeans, white sneakers, white shirt, black zip-up jacket and a black mask. Shiori let her hair untied and pulled her black cap from the paper bag before wearing it.
When Hajime sees Shiori pulling a cap from her paper bag, he instantly yanks the cap away and puts it behind him.
"The hell is with that clothes? Are you planning on kidnapping someone?" Hajime told Shiori as he sighed at her clothes. Hajime feels his head aching and sighs again. He observes Shiori from head to toe but his eyes stops at Shiori's chest for a while. Hajime feels his face grow hot and looks away in embarrassment.
"What the hell does she do to cover that thing up?" Hajime mutters quietly and Shiori catches on. "Did you say something?" she asks innocently. Hajime fakes a cough and avoids Shiori's gaze. "That thing... how do you hide it well when it isn't even that small?" he asks shyly before turning his back towards the crossdresser.
"Ah... this thing." Shiori hums in understanding. She glances at her chest and think for a while. Should she say it? It's a girl thing after all so maybe she shouldn't say it.
On the other side, Yuno slowly feels her blood boil out of worry. Tooru notices this but keeps quiet about it. Yuno then felt like she's being watched and when she turned to Tooru, she noticed that he was looking at her.
Yuno backs away and gives a judging glare. Tooru sighs and scoffs at her before going back to watching his best friend and the crossdresser.
After a long talk about Shiori's clothes, the two started heading to the cafe that Hajime found. The stalkers trailed after them as sneakily as possible. As the four walked, they were oblivious to the stares of the people around them.
The four kept walking until they reached a cafe or more specifically, a cat cafe.
Shiori grinned behind her mask while Yuno tried to stop herself from feeling excited. The two siblings wanted to visit a cat cafe just once in their life but since both were studious, the plans they create to visit a cat cafe always end up in the trash or in the next week's plan which will instantly mean that they wouldn't do the plan they planned.
Tooru glanced at Yuno and spotted her stopping her smile. He smirks in amusement and looks away before he gets caught watching her. Yuno covered her mouth and exhaled to calm herself, she wanted to tell someone about her pent-up excitement so she smiles happily and turns to her left only to see Oikawa Tooru.
Yuno's smile drops but she starts wondering if she can tell the older student about her enthusiasm to go to the cat cafe. She coughs and Tooru looks at her then raises an eyebrow.
"Umm... the cat cafe..." Yuno hesitates. She recalls how horrible he treated her and feels guilty by her actions. Yuno gazes up at Tooru and shakes her head. "Nothing, please ignore it." She mutters quietly and returns to looking at her sister, who is equally jumping in excitement.
Tooru asks himself about Yuno's attitude right now. If he tries to explain it then it would be explained in two words. Shy and cute.
The older student didn't know why the word cute popped out but it fits the situation and Yuno's facial expression right now. The flushed cheeks, the eyes that was almost sparkling because of the cat cafe and her movement that shows how she wants to go inside the cafe. Tooru takes note off the fact that Hashimoto Yuno can act adorable as well.
"Do you want to go in?" Tooru asks after he observes his best friend and Shiori enter. Yuno whips her head to him and gives a questioning look. "Are you sure you want to go inside? We can just stay here, if you want." Yuno says but her voice is dripping with happiness. Tooru smiles at this and pushes his hands inside his pocket.
"I want to go inside and I've noticed that you want to enter as well so let's go." He smiles at the younger student who covers her mouth and drops it immediately to grab on Tooru's sleeves. "Are you sure? Are you really, really sure?" Yuno spoke with eagerness.
Tooru glanced at his sleeves which were being held by Yuno tightly. He smiles sheepishly and pushes Yuno's hands away. "Yeah, I'm sure." He says as he grabs Yuno's wrist. Yuno notices this and realizes that she subconsciously held on Tooru's sleeves. She quickly lets go and keeps her hand beside her. Yuno smiles lamely and glances away.
"You'll pay, right?" Yuno asks while clutching the sleeves of her hoodie. "No. We'll pay separately." Tooru notifies and grins mischievously. Yuno nods and the two walks inside.
In the meantime, Shiori eyed the cats around her. Hajime stared at her and sighed before speaking. "You can remove your mask now." Shiori side-eyes her senior. Her smile drops before she shakes her head. "No. I'll stay like this. I mean... I've walked pass the crowd while wearing this and I've also removed the thing that covers my chest then my hair isn't also tied." Shiori listed her reasons to keep wearing her mask.
Unfortunately, Hajime didn't believe her and gave a pointed stare. He gestured to remove Shiori's mask and focused at the crossdresser to see her reaction.
Shiori, who felt her breathing become heavy, uncertainly raised her hands to her mask. She gulped and scanned the area to see if there's anyone she knows. As she scanned the area, two people with matching mint green hoodies entered. Shiori narrowed her eyes to look at the two people and felt that the two seemed familiar. When she eyed them for a while, she deemed that she doesn't know the two.
Hajime kept his eyes at Shiori. She touched her mask before gripping it gently. Shiori stared at Hajime who was looking at her. After a lot of thinking and pepping, Shiori finally decided to remove her mask and when she did, Hajime's eyes widened.
"You... you removed it." He told the crossdresser. Shiori couldn't look at Hajime directly so she kept her eyes at her hands. Her hair was covering her face and she didn't bother pushing it away. Hajime smiled at her and faked a cough. "See... it isn't so bad?" He spoke as he grabbed a calico cat walking near him. "Look at me and this cat." He smiled as he called out to Shiori.
Shiori exhaled before peering at Hajime and then the cat. The tri-colored cat and its eyes made her calm down a bit. She slowly leaned forward to pet the cat. Hajime pushed the cat to Shiori's hands. Once Shiori took hold of the cat, she beamed and pushed her hair out of the way.
Then at that time, Hajime placed his hands on his chest. The same feeling he got when Shiori told him everything. The same confusing feeling that he gets when the crossdresser smiles. Hajime tried to think of a plausible reason but he just couldn't find one.
"What the heck is this feeling? Does it make sense?" Hajime thought to himself. He stared at Shiori and when he did, he found an answer. "It doesn't make sense, but it's fine that way. Maybe I'm just happy to see Hashimoto smiling."
The crossdresser glanced at Hajime and showed the cat to him. "You keep looking at me, do you want the cat?" she pushed the cat towards her senior and showed a soft smile. Hajime blinked and eyed the cat to calm himself. He then grabbed it and started petting it.
At the stalker's side, Yuno eyed Hajime and felt a random feeling arose. The fact that he could make Shiori smile like that when she's in public... that means one thing.
"He's a good influence for her." Yuno muttered.
Her opinion on Hajime starts to change and she thinks carefully whether to let her sister get close to Hajime. Yuno sighs and glimpses at the cat. She smiles and gently grabs the cat. Yuno decided to think about it when she gets home.
The two pair exited the cat cafe.
A thought enters Hajime's mind so he leads the way and walks somewhere. Shiori, who was once again wearing her black mask, followed after her senior. Yuno and Tooru trailed after them silently.
"Where are they going?" Yuno asked softly while glancing at Tooru who shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know..." he answered as he observed the area then it hit him. "Maybe Iwa-chan and Seijunnie is heading to the park?" Tooru looked at Yuno as he told his guess. Yuno thought about what the older student said and nodded her head.
The four marched to where Hajime walked to. They followed him like a duckling following its mother duck and when Hajime stopped walking, the three ducklings stopped as well then stared at the place Hajime brought them to.
"The park? Why?" Shiori questioned her senior. She furrowed her eyebrows and observed the area. It was full of kids. Suddenly, Shiori feels her stomach whirl in discomfort. The kids that were playing were aged seven to thirteen. The crossdresser moved back and stared at her feet.
"Hashimoto, remove your mask aga –" Hajime stopped talking when he saw Shiori.
"Uh... Iwaizumi-san? Maybe we can try this next week?" Shiori said as she didn't bother to look at her senior. "Why?" Hajime probed her. Shiori flinched and moved back even further but Hajime grabbed her wrist to stop her from moving even further away.
"It's just kids. They won't do anything." Hajime said making Shiori glare at him.
"If they can't do anything then what about those 'kids' who pushed me down the stairs? They're aged the same and they're both mischievous. Those kids... they were the one who made me like this in the first place." Shiori ranted out.
Hajime saw Shiori's eyes and saw how nervous she is right now. He tightened his hold on Shiori's wrist and didn't say anything.
Tooru, who was watching, felt like he wanted to punch his best friend's face for the first time.
"Is he forcing her? Honestly, Iwa-chan is oblivious to other's feeling." Tooru scoffed at Hajime. Yuno glanced at the older student and wondered if he knows about Shiori's condition. "Do you know why my sister's acting like that?" Yuno questioned.
Tooru gave a weirded-out look at Yuno and answered her question. "I think, anyone who sees this side of Seijunnie would understand what she's acting like that." Tooru hesitated on giving the exact reason why he knows Shiori's condition. He looks at Yuno and sees her eyes. Yuno seemed to be waiting for an exact answer so Tooru groans and glares at her.
"Look at your sister instead of looking at me." He shushed Yuno to stare at her sister. The younger student only nodded and returned her gaze at Shiori.
As Hajime kept quiet, Shiori felt someone push her so she flinches and drops her paper bag before she looks back. She sees a young kid that seemed to be six years old. The young boy smiled and waved his hands at the older lady with black mask.
"Why are you wearing a mask?" he asks innocently. Shiori doesn't answer and just eyes the kid who was staring at her patiently. Shiori feels a tap on her shoulder and when she looks behind her, she sees Hajime giving a thumbs up before moving back but Shiori hurriedly stops him by grabbing his hands and pulling him close.
Hajime feels his face heat up as he looks at Shiori who was now back to staring at the kid.
"Maybe... just this once... I can try removing this mask and talk like I'm at home..." Shiori thinks to herself. She raises her hands and caresses her mask. "Do you want me to remove it?" she questions the kid. The young boy nods and grins naively. Shiori gulps before touching the mask and slowly removing it. Her palms are now sweating and she feels her breathing becoming difficult to maintain. Her chest rises and drops with how she's hyper-ventilating at the moment.
Once Shiori removes her mask, she lets go of Hajime's hands and lowers herself to stare at the kid eye to eye. She forces a smile and tries to normalize her breathing. "Am I... Don't I look pretty?" Shiori asks as she huffs and puffs. She pulls a handkerchief from her jacket pocket and wipes her sweat with it.
"You look pretty like an angel!" The young boy exclaims making Shiori smile warmly. Her breathing starts to normalize and she begins to feel calm. The young boy then waves at her before running away. Shiori scans the park and stands up.
The kids aren't really looking at her and no one is paying her any attention. Did she get everything wrong her this whole time? If these people aren't looking her way and judging her, does that mean she lived her life in fear of the unknown? Or is that unknown fear all in her mind?
Another kid bumps into her and this time it's a seemingly ten year old girl. "Sorry, nee-san!" the young girl apologizes loudly as she grins at Shiori and waves at her. Shiori waves back and looks at her surroundings. Everything appeared bright.
The children that was playing laughed and played happily, the parents that were watching their kids conversed calmly, the occasional adults that would walk in the park would smile as they stared at the kids playing and laughing. Paired with the cooling air, the trees that started to turn brown, the leaves that falls on the ground and the sun that shone luminously, it was as if Shiori missed the whole beauty of life and lived on her room the entire time.
The crossdresser grinned and turned to Hajime. She exhaled as her eyes start to get misty.
"Wow... no one's judging me here." Shiori utters in complete surprise. She eyes her hands and notices how hard she's shaking currently. She then glances at her senior and pushes her hair behind her ears.
"You're pretty." Hajime says out of nowhere. Shiori gapes at Hajime who seemed shocked as well. "You're pretty amazing, I mean!" Hajime adds as he feels his face become even hotter. He looks at the trees and gulps. What did he just say? He asks himself.
Yuno hears what Hajime said to her sister and for the first time in her life, instead of getting angry, she smiles and gives a silent laugh. She covers her mouth as she gazes at Hajime and Shiori's expression.
"Those two... they're so cute." Yuno mumbles and Tooru agrees. He feels light after hearing Yuno's laugh so he decides to tease her about it. "Didn't know that you could laugh." Tooru says, expecting Yuno to glare at him or scoff at him but he gets stunned when Yuno hums in response.
Tooru glances at Yuno and spots her smiling gently at her sister.
"You're smiling." He utters in amazement. Yuno turns her head to face the older student. She raised a single eyebrow as if she questions Tooru's statement. "Yeah... is there something wrong with that?" she asks.
"It's just... I thought you'd get angry at me or scoff at me." Tooru spoke. Yuno hums as a reply. She guesses that Tooru probably thought that she's always angry. After thinking, Yuno shows a grin and speaks.
"I get angry and over-protective when my sister is sad or in pain but when she isn't, I'm like most girls." Yuno explains and as she speaks, Tooru believes that Yuno isn't like most girls. "You're not really similar to those girls." He says. "If you are, then you'd be swooning over how close both of us are." He adds.
Tooru watches as Yuno gazes at him for a while before agreeing and smiling softly. Tooru was speechless. To think that he'd see Hashimoto Yuno in a new light. Did he misunderstand Yuno's personality as someone who's similar to a tsundere character in most anime?
The older student eyed Yuno. "She's cute and she isn't that bad when you get to know her, not to mention, she's not like most girls." Tooru thinks. Yuno looks at him and points at Hajime and Shiori before going back to watching the two but Tooru didn't look and kept his attention on Yuno. One question kept repeating on Tooru's mind and he supposed that it wouldn't hurt to ask Yuno.
He then inhales and exhales before asking her.
"Do you want to date me?"
A/N:
3,000 words?! Unbelievable! Pave way for the most longest chapter in the story!
Anyway, this chapter got me shooketh! Soon, this story will focus on Yuno's side and hopefully, when that happens you'll enjoy it. As for my seemingly hiatus-like rest from writing this story, I'm sorry. I really am! I can't promise I won't do it again but I'll make sure that I update earlier.
This is all there is for today's chapter! Hope you liked it~~~
