強い人と弱い人
The Strong and The Weak
Chapter 17 : Day Off! The [Mis]fortunes of Sleeping In!ー
"Hey there... I sure love pastries. Wait. No, no..." Haruna mumbled in her sleep as she scratched her exposed belly,"I'm supposed to... supposed to... to eat you."
A cold sweat ran down her spine and she violently rolled off her bed.
"Ow...! Ow! OW!" She woke up on the cold, wooden flooring cursing loudly,"Damn it!"
She clenched her head in both her hands and stared at the floor cowering,"W-Why...? Why was it trying to eat me...?"
Suddenly, a knock on her door. "'Excuse me! Aigasa-kun?" A voice called out,"Are you alright? I heard you yelling."
Quickly, she straightened herself. She pulled her tank top back down over her exposed belly and walked over to her door. She unlocked her door immediately and greeted her visitor.
"Awashima-san!"
She could recognize those ample breasts anywhere. There was no short, azure mini skirt to be seen, just a simple pair of black yoga pants that were rolled up to her ankles and a blush colored zip up jacket. She wasn't wearing the uniform boots, but a pair of sky blue sneakers that were taken a good amount of care or were fairly new. Her lieutenant stood in front of her door with one hand on her hip.
"Going somewhere special?" Haruna asked lamely. It's obvious she's going running.
"Yes. I was about to go take a run, but I caught your scream. Is anything the matter? Did you see something suspicious-" Haruna denied the tumult of questions and laughed,"Not at all. I just stubbed my toe on one of the legs of my side table."
She curled her toes inwards.
Hah.
She never stubbed her toe, but she wasn't going to go tell her lieutenant about her experience of being eaten by some godly sized pastry delicacy (more like monstrosity) that ate her.
Feeling even more conscious with one of her superiors standing before her, she began to fidget.
"Oh no!" Haruna grabbed her head again,"I slept in!"
"Ah, you're fine." Awashima gave a laugh,"It's a day off for our unit. How have you been fairing here? Getting the hang of things?"
The tension from her shoulders were relieved in an instant. Thank god, she was off. She'd be haunted throughout her work day from that nightmare.
"I still have a lot to learn." She scratched her head, laughing nervously,"I'm aware there are inevitable patrolling duties in our department. I haven't gone on one yet, but I know for certain that I'm just as good as an office worker..." She trailed off in hopes of Awashima catching her drift. The thought of having a sharpened weapon at her him was dreadful.
Awashima tilted her head to the side and grasped her chin,"Aigasa-kun, have you been trained in any sort of self-defense methods?"
"H-Huh?" Haruna started, a little taken aback by the question,"A... A little when I was still attending Ashinaka."
She shoved her hands inside the pockets of her white and sagging, fleece sweatpants,"Does kendo count-" Awashima's contemplative features began to beam and Haruna flailed her hands back out in front of her. "But I'm not good anymore and paperwork is more of my forte." The eighteen year old blurted to add,"Kendo was all bad. Free style sword swinging is my thing."
Haruna's eyes caught the glinting in her superior's bright blue ones and she winced for whatever was going on through her head. Awashima looked her straight into the eye with both hands on her hips and exclaimed,"This is perfect! We use kendo in our practice! You must be good!"
Oh no, oh no.
"Get dressed." She beamed brightly at her,"I'll show you around."
Her smile.
Everything spells 'I'm so impressed' on it.
"J-Just give me a few, fuku-taichou."
"Hah!"
Click.
"Hiya!"
Click!
"Aah...!"
Clack.
"Watch your feet." Her partner warned.
The next thing she knew, she was tripping on her bare feet, crashing down to the floor along with her bamboo sword that tumbled forward in front of her.
This was the idea in Awashima's head.
Sword training.
On this precious day off. She just couldn't refuse her superior.
Could she request to not to wield a sword? She should've known that telling Awashima she knew kendo meant higher expectations. Clenching her teeth, she snatched up the handle and hastily stood back up. As soon as Haruna had whipped around to get back into her stance, her sparring partner, Himori Akiyama, had already prepared himself for her next strike; waiting for her to lunge back at him. Who knew Akiyama, the man who worked nervously beside her yesterday, was smacking her down?
Looks are deceiving. She ran forward and lifted the stick above her shoulders before swinging it down before him with all the strength she could muster. He swept to her left and she brought her weapon up, swinging it like a reversed crescent. Thinking she had got him this time, he blocked her swiftly and pushed her back forcefully with their clashed practice swords. She kept her balance as she slid back from his counter, but she soon lost it and fell over onto her back.
"That hurts." She crawled over and retrieved her sword before crawling outside the opened screen doors and sitting on the edge of the patio.
"Sorry," Akiyama backed down, lowering his arms with his bamboo sword at his side before standing beside her sitting form,"I don't hold back very often."
"You're fine. Even if you held back, I'm certain you would still beat me. Then I'd feel pathetic." She protested as she rubbed her arms,"It's been awhile since I sparred with anyone. I didn't realize how rough I've gotten."
"I was surprised though," He nodded,"You have a lot of power for a woman."
Haruna's eye twitched,"Women aren't that weak."
"No, they aren't." Noticing his remark had set in with a bad note, he added,"I haven't fought with a woman who strikes as powerful as you do."
"O-Oh, I see." Haruna nodded in understanding,"Thank you. I tend to do everything physical with brute force."
"Using too much force can harm you. Save enough strength that you can use throughout a battle, rather than using it all at once." He recommended. His gaze darted back from the greenery to her.
"Thanks for the tip."
She caught his sympathetic stare.
"W-What?" She asked self consciously, almost demandingly.
"Your apartment was broken into not too far from here some days ago, right?"
"Yeah." Her eyes flit downwards embarrassingly.
"And you're the silent man with the seaweed hair-" She paused on her returning line,"Who was reporting on my broken in apartment that day."
He was also that silent guy who was radiating waves of awkwardness beside her yesterday afternoon.
"Did you join us because you felt you had nothing left?"
The eighteen year old nodded silently.
Obviously not wanting to talk about the subject even further, she pushed herself up into a standing position beside him, practice sword in hand asking,
"Why are you here? On a day off? Don't you have plans outside of work?"
"To keep in shape. Training is important."
"That's right." She hummed. He's a serious one. She never trained because she found herself scrambling back to the student council room to deal with school affairs. Then she stopped showing up. She got really violent when she sparred with someone. Well, the activity was already violent in itself, but it also had that aspect of peace and concentration. She lacked that peace and concentration and only swung her stick of bamboo around with all the power and stress that she kept inside.
That's why she sucked.
"I-I'm tired..." She complained.
"You can leave if you'd like."
She shot a look at him,"Will you be alright?"
"I'm usually on my own when I'm here, anyway." He insisted,"I'm sure that you had plans today. Lieutenant Awashima gets carried way when she's got an idea, and when she becomes deeply moved or impressed."
"Oh yeah." Haruna agreed, heaving a heavy sigh,"Its at those times that you definitely can't refuse her."
They walked back inside, she thanking him,"I appreciated today, Akiyama-san. I'm sorry for not being a challenge."
Hearing her words, she felt pathetic and added,"But next time, I'll be the one to make you fall over."
A small smirk grazed his lips as she saw her out,"I'll look forward to it then, Aigasa-san."
When Haruna shed her dogi and reverted back to her navy pair of rolled up sweatpants, clean t-shirt and flats, she left the changing room and headed back to her dorm. As soon as she stepped out, she loved how nice the cold air felt against her sweating skin. Looking around the area, she didn't notice before; but the sparring area was relatively close to the men's dormitory. Then she remembered as Awashima walked with her, the vice captain had pointed it out already. She was ranting about how the men had a nice library in their dorm and how it was dumb because they don't read. Haruna didn't have much plans anyway and wanted to see it for herself.
It's not trespassing is it?
She approached the dormitory and upon reaching its entrance, she opened it slightly; poking her head through the opening to scan the area. She hummed in approval before swinging it wide enough for her to slip inside.
Even though she managed to convince herself that this wasn't considered trespassing, she was acting suspicious in every way.
The dining hall was made up of a little bar to the right which served as a kitchen and to the left were tables and chairs. She continue past them and walked through a hall to the upper floors. Haruna traveled up the staircase to the next floor and scanned the labels on the row of doors.
After passing by a handful of nameplates, she finally found the door marked with library, she snuck inside quietly.
"It isn't that impressive." The girl remarked with one good look.
It was a bit big. The bookshelves were a little too close together, though. She walked along the closest aisle, running her fingers on the spine of the books as she moved through. Looking up at one of the shelves, she gasped with astonishment.
"I-It can't be."
She stood on her toes, barely snatched the first book she saw from the shelf on one of the high shelves. She stepped back and studied the shelf. The whole shelf was manga. There was nothing wrong with that, but...
Her hazel eyes flit down towards the drawn novel in her hands.
There was a man and a woman with a pair of eyes glittering like a cluster of stars; the two lovers clutching onto each other with their dear lives. The woman laid her head on his chest, tears streaming down her cheeks as the man held her in his tight embrace.
She read the title and the caption that followed just beneath it in smaller, elegant letters.
Eternal Romance.
Even through distance, love will persevere.
"I will come back to you, my love! No matter the cost!"
The corniness.
She tucked the book under her arm and proceeded to the next aisle, erupting in laughter. This will be a great day off. Who knew the men's library had manga, but they were all josei and shoujo genres. Seeing as she's the only visitor in the library here, the men in the dorm probably couldn't careless or even noticed. Her good feelings didn't last very long until she caught a drawling voice behind her.
"What the hell are you doing?"
That voice.
It was so annoyingly listless. It beckoned her to tear its owner's throat inside out.
Haruna whipped around and threw the book towards the voice, only to find it dropping to the floor a few feet in front of her; with a slender knife piercing its pages. When the manga finally hit the floor with a light thump, she wasn't pleased by what was before her.
Not in the slightest.
A/N: This chapter was meant to establish/deepen relationships with Akiyama and Awashima; as well as letting Haruna explore a bit at the end to sate her curiosity... which in turn leads to another encounter, mufufu. Remember- poll on profile for the rating. Check it out (Keep in mind, the rating will or will not change for a while. No worries).
Fuku-taichou: Vice-captain/Lieutenant
Dogi: The outfit worn in kendo (I mean my uncle called it a dogi, but hey- who said he's a reliable source. He was in kendo during his college years before moving to America though, bwahaha.)
Guys. Guys. Guys.
The most unthinkable thing happened this week. The most unfathomable and RIDICULOUS thing happened THIS WEEK.
...
My parents "upgraded" the computer to a mac. A god damn mac. I'm sorry to those, who use macs and love it, please don't misunderstand- I'm not bashing you or anything. It's just that I play a lot of MMO's and they only work on windows systems. I'm having trouble with bootcamp and other programs that would enable me to play them and it's getting tiresome. Why did they have to do such a thing... it wasn't even broken...
MY PSO2 AND FFXVI- LOCKED AWAY FROM ME.
The only thing good about this in my case is minimizing distractions and its operating well with my Japanese keyboard.
Besides being extremely upset and distraught, I'm glad I managed to put this chapter up. I've got an explosion of ideas that I want to wrap up soon, so this is working out perfectly.
Kyupods115: Thanks a bunch for the feedback! Fufufu, Saruhiko doing naughty things to Haruna... Thanks a bunch! I'll certainly get my school work done and update when I have the time. You too! がんばって、ね〜！
XionNight: Another point to rated M, SaruHaru~
usagi-strike: GUUUUURL- I know, huh? Slowly making my way up to longer chapter. I got all these ideas running through my head, so I hope I can incorporate them into future, longer chapters~! That name change, doe? ANONYMITYYYYYYY-. I have experience with smut, don't worry, but we'll see how everything goes in the end. c:
Hakezu... No. Nicorin: Yo! My name change buddy! Thank you so much! I'm glad to see you again! I believe SaruHaru is in the next chapter, but I got to wonder, bwahaha. Thank you for your patience! ;)
sereneskydragonslayer: Stupid Saru. （｀ー ３ ー'）
heya: Thank you! To tell you the truth, I was considering her going to HOMRA, but I wanted to see what would happen if she joined SCEPTER 4, haha. I'm glad you like this far, and I hope Haruna doesn't do anything stupid either! Thank you for the support!
Sleepyface: You gotcha! Gyah, gyah~ M~
No insta-smut, more doki-doki? You got my word! Relationships are important, and I can already assure you that anything lemony won't come along until a long, long while. And might I add that I love you too? Bwahaha-
Animefreak145: More points to lemons! Whoohoo! I'm starting to get pervy too, meehee~
oXo Akino oXo: Daw! So CUTE- yes! Rated M~
It's up to you guys as well. I'm also keeping you guys in mind; the audience of this fan fiction! Thank you! I'm so happy you love Haru-chan! I hope she doesn't do anything stupid to my dislike in the future.
Mmmk, then!
See you later, guys! （ o ３o'）