*screeches like a banshee* EXAMS ARE OVER EXAMS ARE OVER EXAMS ARE OVERRR
Sorry about the longer wait, school and tests and assignments have held me back a bit. But now that it's break, expect lesser breaks between updates and a whole lot more fics.
Let the summer of Touketsu Project begin!
Thanks again for the reviews sent in. Really means a lot! So please feel free to say any comment or feedback you want ;)
Disclaimer: yadda yadda yadda I don't own this.
Hiyori awoke to the tick-tocking of the clock on her niece's bedroom wall. Already able to guess the time with her eyes still closed, they automatically guided themselves to the calendar on the wall the moment she opened them and scanned the numbered days over and over viciously.
...February 12
...February 13
...Februarys 14!
Sitting up on Tsubomi's bed, she hugged a pillow to her chest and slowly curled a smile. Finally, today was the fourteenth and thus, tomorrow would be the day Ayano and the others got back. Finally.
(Tomorrow was also the anniversary of a certain brother-in-law of her's death, however. Hiyori eagerly pushed the memory out of her brain.)
Rubbing away her eyes and mind of residue fatigue, Hiyori could barely contain herself with waiting around in bed any longer; it felt as if each mere second until the next day was a full hour. Not to say that the visit had been bad up to this point of course. After their little (huge) talk on the night of the first day, Ayaka seemed to have actually, truly committed herself to making this trip fun.
There were pictures on Hiyori's camera to prove it: shopping, restaurants, museums, even an indoor amusement park! No tourist attraction had escaped her big sister's radar.
"Heh," she giggled to herself thinking about their sightseeing trips. Things were finally going her way and fitting into her exceedingly large expectations. Hibiya had only complained a few times when she dragged him around the city by hand! So yes, things were definitely going the way they should, enough so that Hiyori was (almost) able to excuse Ayaka's disappearances between city-seeing time. What used to be a few extra hours at night at the hospital had eventually become staying away for days on end, leaving them with pre-made food or just enough money to buy a pizza.
What used to be a few extra hours at night at the hospital had eventually become staying away for days on end, leaving them with pre-made food or just enough money to buy a pizza.
Hiyori could never shake off the odd, dreadful feeling in the bottom of her stomach whenever the clock hand ticked past 10 o'clock and her older sister hadn't yet come home.
And the dread only became more worry when she would come home in the morning (or the next day's morning.) The disheveled hair and bags under bloodshot red eyes always left Hiyori feeling like she was talking to an all different person than her big sister.
However, the only reason she hadn't staged another bedtime intervention with Ayaka was that she, coincidentally, usually took Konoha with her on these absences.
Hiyori could never bring herself to complain in that regard, after all, less of Konoha (aka The Gross, Creepy, Hibiya-Stealer) was always a good thing.
Seriously, he was like a leech, or a cockroach, or some other type of parasite. He always seemed to be in the dark spaces of the room, in any room Hiyori walked into (she couldn't shake the chills off even in the bathroom or asleep in bed.)
Always lurking, always watching, never eating or drinking. Though thankfully, never talking either. Hiyori had even begun to jokingly wonder if he was even human.
'Maybe he's an alien, so the reason that Ayaka-nee takes him out at night for so long is because she puts him in a tank and needs to use a tube to feed him.'
She had tried to tell Hibiya her theory over dinner last night, which was tasty for once since it was manually made by him and weren't ramen cups provided by Ayaka (who had disappeared that night without Konoha. Quite unfortunately), and had been promptly met with a scoff right in her face.
"Stop being ridiculous, Asahina. What else would Konoha-san be but human?"
"I-I was just kidding Hibiya-kun.."
"You're just jealous of how awesome he is," Hibiya had declared smugly, before running off again after realizing that the so-called 'awesome' dim-witted alien had crept away from the table without either of them noticing again.
Hiyori couldn't bring herself to retort back for once, as he was technically right. Though she couldn't bring herself to help Hibiya chase him either and ended up contenting herself to Konoha's once again, untouched food.
'You jerk, Hibiya's food is amazing and he made it especially for you,' Hiyori thought bitterly (with indeed a hint of jealousy) as she ran last night's dinner in her thoughts over and over.
'Just one more day Hiyori,' rang the chant in her mind as she slipped on a pink dress over a black blouse, 'just one more day.'
'Just one more day and things will finally change and everyone will come and there won't even be any reason to even think about stupid, awful, gross, Kono-'
"Hey."
Hiyori yelped out of her skin and spun around on the balls of her feet. Her eyes came face to face with bored, pink, alien eyes. Speak of the devil indeed.
"C-can I help you? K..Konoha-san?" She forced the -san out of her mouth, remembering her promise to Ayaka to at least attempt to be civil towards the freak.
"Dr. Tateyama said to take you downstairs for breakfast," he recited hollowly, for once looking into her eyes. Hiyori hated it instantly and preferred him ignoring her.
"O-oh! Ah, yeah I'm coming. Just give me a second to brush my hair and-"
Her sentence was cut off by the sudden hand on her arm, crushing and cold and as she was now just realizing, could probably snap her bones in two.
"You are coming to breakfast. Now."
Without another word Konoha started pulling her slowly, but no less steadily out the door.
"H-hey! I'm coming I said! No need to drag me. Are you even listening? Earth to Konoha-san?! LET GO OF ME!"
Hiyori barked and tried to push against his unwavering, uncaring form all the way down the stairs to the kitchen. Ayaka and Hibiya were already awake and preparing breakfast.
The moment they were at the table, Konoha let loose of his death grip. Hiyori yanked away as hard as she could, very much hoping it would hurt him. As she glared knives and scissors into Konoha's neck, she didn't miss the slight curl in his lips and furrow in his brow.
Was he feeling actual anger at her? Was he feeling for once? Hiyori wasn't fast enough to fully confirm it; the sudden dents and scrunches in his face smoothed out into his normal dead-eyed mask as soon as they appeared.
She prayed that she hadn't just imagined it.
"Ohayo, Hiyo-chan~" Ayaka sang out from over bacon and eggs sizzling on the stove.
"About time you woke up Hiyori," Hibiya said while preparing the plates and utensils. Hiyori purposely shut off her ears during Hibya's much more affectionate greeting to Konoha, which was graciously ignored.
"Ohayo, Ayaka-nee, Hibiya-kun," Hiyori responded, more grumpily than she intended. She plunked down onto her chair and rubbed the sore spot on her arm, hoping it wouldn't bruise. Talk about another terrible start to a supposed good day.
"Oh, sorry about the early wake-up call Hiyo-chan! I have important plans to tell you all, so I asked Konoha to come get you this time. Hope he wasn't too rude."
"I wouldn't say that exactly," Hiyori retorted acidly. "In fact he-"
She was interrupted by a sudden spoonful of bacon and rice being shoved into her mouth. "Yes, yes that's nice Hiyo," her sister answered for her, not retreating the spoon until Hiyori had swallowed.
"Alright! Now that the four of us are all seated at the table, there're some things that need discussing," Ayaka announced loudly, after setting the full breakfast out.
"First thing; my kids are arriving tomorrow, and I know how excited you are for that Hiyo-chan."
Hiyori nodded her head up and down a little too vigorously, if only to hide her clenched fists. She really hoped Ayaka wouldn't bring up what else tomorrow was...
"Haha, I thought as much. So that's why I want you two to become extra behaved when they come, got it?"
"Totally, Ayaka-nee!"
"Yes, Tateyama-san."
"Good. Now the second issue: today will be Konoha's last little 'check-up' at the hospital."
"You mean he's well enough to leave?!" both preteens blurted out at the same time, Hiyori in hope and delight, Hibiya in despair and sorrow.
"Well, ah, we'll see about that later. But regardless, it's the last time the two of us will be taking an extended trip out. We'll be gone for the entire day."
Hiyori was liking these plans more and more. "So Hibiya and I will have to stay home together all day right?" A slight blush crawled onto Hibiya at the 'together' part.
In turn, a cheeky grin crawled onto Ayaka. "Actually, no!"
"Huh?"
"Well you see, since it's the last day until my children come, I thought it would be nice for you kids to spend the day out in the city on your own. Free to do whatever you wish wherever you wish and hopefully bond a bit more."
Hibiya's blush crawled redder, and he paused himself to think about it. On the other hand, Hiyori's spirits instantly shot right through the roof and out into the cold sky.
"Y-y-you mean it Ayaka-nee?!"
"Mmhm. I'll drive you two down to the big commercial area and you can go sightseeing as much as you like."
"YOOHOO!" Hiyori bounded out of her seat and started jumping around the house like an excitable child, much to Ayaka's fondness, Hibiya's begrudging smile, and Konoha's apathy.
"Um, you're sure we'll be safe Tateyama-san? I mean it's a really big place and we aren't really used to the city on our own," Hibiya voiced his concerns.
"Don't worry Amamiya-kun, I've lived in this place for a long time now; it's not that dangerous I guarantee you."
"Well, alright then."
"That's the spirit Hibiya-kun!" Hiyori cheered in between bounces on the sofa, all the thoughts to this morning's Konoha incident vanishing every time she leaped into the air. This is how the day was supposed to go.
"So, so, SO excited Ayaka-nee! Arigatou, arigatou, arigatou," she quipped and hopped back to the table.
"You're welcome Hiyori..." Ayaka stirred her coffee happily. Then she stopped.
"...however. There's one rule I need you two to follow." Her voiced dipped strangely low, her eyes lidded and staring both of them down.
"I'll pick you both up at this address later on." She brought out a piece of paper with an address written down. "So at around nine or ten o'clock tonight, I need the two of you to be waiting here, and only here. Even if I'm really, really late, don't go anywhere else. Understood?"
"Yes," they both answered in perfect unison. Ayaka's voice lightened into normality as a result.
"Fantastic. Now, since everything's all settled, let's dig into this breakfast~!"
"Hiyo-chan! Amamiya-kun! We're here!" Ayaka announced, a little bit later. They had finally arrived at the shopping and commercial center after countless minutes of driving.
"Sure you have everything? Money? A map? All your warm clothes?"
"Uhn!" Hiyori answered and surged out of the car, giddy and excited and totally prepared for a day of unpredictability. "We're all set to have a great day."
Hibiya simply nodded his head and followed his companion, defeatedly carrying their bags once again.
"Excellent. Well, we need to go soon. Wish Konoha luck during his check-up later?" She motioned to the sleeping white blob in the other front seat.
"Good luck Konoha-san!" they both said, though Hiyori really meant go die Konoha-san.
Just as they were about to walk off into the snowy streets, Ayaka's voice called from the car one last time.
"One last thing. I love you, Hiyori. Never forget that."
"..." Huh. It was unexpected enough to make Hiyori pause for a beat. "Love you too onee-san! I'd never forget. Why do you say?"
"No reason, really. Just... just keep thinking about tomorrow and how great things will be then: never take it out of your mind. Okay?"
"Ah.. sure okay." Hiyori slowly said, a little confused and just slightly uneasy.
"Uhn. Well, time to go now kids. Have fun, stay safe, and when it eventually becomes night-time, don't leave that address no matter what. Bye!"
And with that, Ayaka drove off, Konoha in toe and both Hiyori and Hibiya waving as it grew smaller and further away. After they could no longer see it beyond the frost-covered buildings, Hibiya turned to Hiyori with the map in hand.
"So where should we go first Asahina?" he asked with a small (yet noticeably bigger than his usual) smile.
Hiyori flashed a glee-filled grin of her own and tightened her red scarf, looking up at the winter sky. She hoped that it would snow later on.
"Oh, I have an idea..."