Chieko woke up before Atsushi did, not too surprising she took him as the type to not want to get up that easily. He probably got up at the last minute, pulled on his clothes and went on to school as he was. His hair always did look messy…..It was kind of a pain in the ass though because Atsushi had a strong grip on her waist when she woke up, it was very….Embarrassing as well. She ended up having to slip out from under his arms while he was holding her waist, which sadly her bust ended up rubbing against his arm despite her attempts to push him off as much as possible. She merely thanked God that he stayed asleep through that despite his unconscious whining.
While he slept, Chieko took a shower and got dressed into her school uniform before leaving the bathroom. She found Atsushi sitting up in bed, looking half asleep but licking his lips like he was hungry. "Atsushi?" He looked up at her, and she looked away since he still lacked a shirt, as it was hard to keep a straight face with such a muscular, bare chest in front of her like that. "Can Chie-Chin make me breakfast while I shower?" Looking at the clock, he did have time for such a leisurely shower. "….Yeah, sure…." She supposed she owed him at least a few meals before she made up for what he did for her the day before.
While Atsushi was in the shower, Chieko spent her time making up a very large breakfast, because after seeing him devour just about every last bit of that beef pot the night before, she knew better than to underestimate his ability to eat everything, and she wanted to have some for herself to eat as well and she wouldn't put it past him to try and steal her own food if he was still hungry.
Just about 15 minutes later, Chieko was setting up when she heard footsteps and looked up to see Atsushi standing in the kitchen door way, rubbing his hair dry with a towel-and all he had on was a far too small towel. "Breakfast is ready?" He asked curiously, looking down at the other girl rather calmly despite his undressed state of being.
"…..GET SOME FUCKING CLOTHES ON YOU OVERGROWN PERVERT!" Chieko hoped Shiori was having a better morning than she was.
It was very wrong to hope for that, Shiori's morning was probably just as bad as Chieko's, maybe more if one takes into account everything that had happened to her.
First off, she woke up with Himuro nuzzling into her head and basically cuddling her smaller body against his larger one. After that she let out a rather loud scream and fell out of said bed, startling Tatsuya awake and since he was still groggy, he ended up falling out of bed with her and crushing her, and after the awkward untangling came the incredibly awkward apologies and assurances that both were okay, next came the discussions on what would happen next.
"W-well, I had best get back to my dorm and get some breakfast…." She trailed off, looking around for her hair tie. Himuro quickly spoke up, not yet wanting her to go. "Have breakfast with me, Shiori-Chan." She looked a bit started at his sudden request, but soon she slowly nodded with a small smile. "S-sure…." Honestly she didn't need anything from her dorm room, she just felt so awkward she felt like she needed to go. Since he seemed to want her to stay, she decided to give it a shot. "I like American breakfasts, if you don't mind?"
"Not at all," she smiled before following him to the kitchen to help cook.
Despite how awkward the morning had started out, later on it got quite a bit better. Mostly, they talked about basketball, but the conversation was pleasant all the same. "I wonder if I can get Chieko to come to practice more, that way Murasakibara-Kun will come more often too…" She mused to herself softly, brows furrowed as she bit into her scrambled eggs. "I don't know if he should, Coach looked ready to kill him when he called her Masa-Chin." The two laughed softly, before they resumed their meal and light conversation.
When they finished Shiori helped with the dishes, and then it was time for Shiori to go. "I have to get a fresh uniform since I slept-"Right as she opened the door, a girl was trying to slip a letter underneath Himuro's door, so when Shiori opened the door, the two were confronted with the sight of another girl bent over trying to stuff the letter under the door. "…..Ah!" She jumped back, looking rather startled. "H-Himuro-Kun, Shinju-San I am s-sorry I-I…" Shiori's face was burning as hard as the girl's, Himuro keeping a calm look as always, but inside he was groaning at the really bad timing. "I-I am sorry to bother you!" She had left the note behind, before running off as fast as possible.
"….A-ah, I had best get going as well." Shiori spoke, voice forcefully calm and Himuro knew things were going south. "Ah, Shiori-Chan about the letter-"He was cut off by her raising her hand. "It's really no problem Himuro-Kun, you'd best read that letter she was pretty embarrassed so it's not a hard guess to figure out what it entails. See you at Practice." Before he could stop her, she walked off swiftly to the girl's dorms, and Himuro sighed through his nose, lightly tapping his fist against the door way. "Damn it…." He mumbled, before going back into his room with said letter. "And it's back to Himuro; well at least it's Kun and not San…" He mused as she shut the door behind him a little louder than he meant to.
Classes went on without a hitch, and Shiori and Chieko met up on the roof as they always did. "You look good today; sure you're not pushing it?" Shiori asked as she ate, Chieko curling up on the ground with her pillow. "Stomach flu, dad thinks my lunch was crap or something…." Shiori let out a quiet but thoughtful hum before she took a bite of her chicken tempura. "Can I have some?" Shiori quickly looked up, blinking rapidly at the purple haired Giant standing over her. "S-Sure…" Atsushi plucked one of the pieces before he flopped down on the ground beside Chieko, the tie-dyed haired girl lifting her head. "Atsushi, where's Himuro?" She yawned, sitting up. "Down there," he pointed at the fence, but Shiori was the only one to get up and walk over to look.
Down by the school entrance was Himuro talking to the very same girl from that morning, her face flushed but Himuro had his usual poker face, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking.
"Himuro-Kun is really popular with girls, isn't he?" She asked softly, not expecting an answer. "He had a bunch of love letters in his locker today, and a girl came up to him and asked him out." Atsushi drawled as he took Chieko's pillow and laid it on the fence behind him, lying back on it as he ate. Said girl growled at him before laying her head down on his leg like he wanted. Shiori wasn't even paying them any attention anymore.
"I see…." She mumbled, finally turning and seeing the pair like that, and blinked slowly. "…." Smiling, she went over to her spot on the other side of Chieko and resumed eating in a peaceful silence.
Not too long before lunch was over, Himuro joined them, chatting with Atsushi mostly, Chieko was asleep and Shiori wasn't really talking. She mostly nodded or gave short answers when Himuro tried to talk to her.
It all just felt so….different than before. Maybe she was worrying over nothing, Himuro didn't seem the type to take advantage of a girl like that, but at the same time wouldn't that kind of attention eventually go to one's head? Not to mention how much trouble other girls would give Shiori if anything happened. But they had such a good time together…..And he honestly didn't seem like that type of guy, maybe she was just over thinking things….Again.
"Shiori, I am gonna go to practice today." She was snapped from her thoughts by Chieko's sudden statement, which made her jolt and pull her into a tight hug. "Thank you!"
Atsushi looked almost as annoyed as a mildly smothered Chieko did, Himuro smiled at the goofy act, but his eyes remained trained on Shiori the whole time, however only Atsushi noticed this.
Shiori's hunch that word would spread fast came true, sadly. Every class she went into after lunch all the girls looked at Shiori with pure hatred in their eyes-Himuro really was popular with the ladies. That shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, he really was handsome and kind….
Sighing, Shiori merely brushed off all their enraged stares and took a seat, forgetting for a moment that Himuro actually shared this class with her, and was soon sitting next to her. "Are you okay, Shiori-Chan?" He asked softly, startling her a little but she smiled at him slightly. "Yeah, I am okay." She didn't really talk to a lot of the girls in the school besides Chieko, who was currently snoozing on her desk until class began and the teacher shouted her name loudly thus scaring her awake, otherwise she was sure she'd be threatening the lives of the girls glaring daggers at her best friend. Chieko was protective of Shiori, not that she didn't think she couldn't defend herself, she just didn't think she would try very hard verbally.
"Ah…I am still sorry such a rumor got started, I tried to talk to her before but she wasn't very cooperative with me…." Probably since he rejected her, he wanted to save that for last but she was very insistent on hearing his answer to her letter. "It's really okay; I don't really talk to any of the other girls here besides Chie-Chan. It's not that big of a loss to lose perspective female companionship." She smiled at him lazily, trying to ease the tension. Himuro blinked softly, his expression as calm as usual before he leaned closer, chin resting on his knuckles. "Shiori-Chan, I am going into town later to get some new basketball shoes, would you like to join me?" He asked softly, the silver and black haired girl blinking rapidly. "I don't-""Please?" He cut her off swiftly, but in such a soft voice she had trouble saying no.
And then the teacher came in, and Shiori quickly collected herself. "I'll wait for your answer after practice." She heard him mumble before getting his textbook out, Shiori doing the same with a slow nod.
Things escalated pretty fast, when Shiori went to the bathroom before another class there was a group of four girls chatting and smoking like chimneys by the stalls. Lovely Christian school, isn't it?
Ignoring them, Shiori did her business regardless of the smirks and stares sent by the smokers. Coming out she washed her hands, bag lying against her butt to avoid it getting wet, until two were suddenly on either side of her, and Shiori let her silvery eyes close to avoid their stares. "You know Shiori; we never took you as the slutty kinda girl, or the type to be able to get someone like Tatsuya-Kun into bed." Shiori resisted the urge to slap the smiles off their face; instead she moved and dried her hands off with a paper towel.
They didn't seem to like that because next thing Shiori realized she was being pinned to the wall by one of the larger girls-she remembered her name was Yuriko, Captain of the cross-country team. She had long, strong legs and equally long raven hair, her eyes chocolate brown and narrowed down at her shorter form. She was just barely an inch shorter than Chie; a lot of the guys didn't like her though. She had quite the personality, worse than Chie's because Chie was polite until pissed off. She was just a bitch in general.
"I hate being ignored…" Yuriko drawled lazily, Shiori's silvery-blue eyes opening slowly and narrowing into her chocolate brown. "Then, I won't ignore you anymore." Before Yuriko could speak again, Shiori's knee slammed into her stomach and the taller woman hunched forward with a loud gasp for air, coughing up some spit but Shiori was only glad it didn't get on her skirt. Grabbing her by the air Shiori then forced her head back up to face her direction, Yuriko looking a little winded by how hard she was hit and where. "Happy? I stopped ignoring you." She threw Yuriko into her two stunned accomplices, smiling calmly. "I dare you to touch me again." With that, she left the bathroom and a very pissed off, but scared Yuriko. Apparently, no one smaller than her ever fought back against her bullying before.
"Even Christian schools have bullies; I shouldn't be surprised, but still…" She sighed, scratching the back of her neck before hearing her named called.
Turning around Shiori immediately frowned when she saw Coach Masako and Tatsuya walking up to her, she met them half way and then got to see the unusually deep frown on Masako's face. "The Principle has requested to see you two immediately; he will write you a note for your teachers." Shiori cringed and nodded slowly, Masako sending them off together since she had to get to the class she taught.
On the way there, Himuro only told her one thing. "If they ask, I just invited you over for breakfast early in the morning before school." Shiori only nodded, since it was pretty obvious as to why they were both being asked for by the Principle.
They were let in the room immediately, both sitting across from Principle Takakani, back's straight and face's calm as they both decided to use a Poker Face for this situation. Principle Takakani was getting up there in age, his hair was greying slowly, but it matched well with his already very pale blonde hair. His eyes were a deep blue, and Shiori could tell he had a little American in him. He wore a nice black suit and tie, like most Principle's do.
He was a good man, never seemed like he was the type to unjustly punish anyone for mistakes they made. Usually he didn't fall for much crap, either.
"I am sure I don't need to tell you why you're here, but I will anyway." He sighed through his nose, looking out the window for a moment before he stood up and walked around the desk, leaning back on it to get a better view of them. "We have an anonymous tip saying you were leaving Himuro-San's room early this morning, Shinju-San." Before Shiori could speak, Himuro spoke up. "From Natsume-San when she was trying to slip me a love letter under my door before class, which is also a violation of the rules." The Principle paused, before he scratched the back of his neck. "Natsume-San has been let off with a warning because this is her first problem and she hadn't been in Himuro-San's room so I am not as worried….But you Shinju-San…." He trailed off, and Shiori bit her lip. "Sir, Himuro-San invited me over to his room for breakfast this morning, nothing intimate happened we were going over practice schedules together. Being able to challenge Murasakibara-San has been….well, challenging." He sighed softly, Himuro nodding. "I had plans tonight, so we couldn't do it this evening so I invited her over to have breakfast with me while we went over some ideas together. I didn't think it would do any harm, she was against the idea sir I talked her into it. I would like to take full responsibility for this, please." He bowed his head respectfully, and Shiori bit her lip with a look of extreme guilt. "You don't have to..."She stopped when Takakani sighed. "Himuro-San, Shinju-San….You both have excellent grades, and neither of you have ever caused any trouble in this school….Miss Araki also tells me both of you work hard in the basketball club, and taking your situation into consideration Shinju-San, with all this in mind….I am simply going to add on a few more hours on your Volunteer work day." Shiori found it unfair they actually got more than a warning, but was more thankful neither of them were kicked off the basketball club and Himuro didn't seem to think much about what he meant by her situation….
"Thank you, sir!" They chorused the Principle smiling. "I believe you have classes now, get going before you're much later and here's your note for your teachers" The two got up and bowed as they accepted the letters before then heading out to their separate classes. But Himuro still made sure to hug her loosely before leaving. Shiori blushed, but went on her way without complaint.
"That was close…." What was that saying? Hell Hath No fury like a woman scorned….in this case rejected. At least it ended up okay in the end.
"I hope practice goes better than the day has been going…." She muttered bitterly, rubbing her temple as she walked down the empty halls quickly.
Practice actually did go really well, as it turns out, Atsushi works incredibly hard despite being so lazy. Naturally he stopped a few times when he wasn't supposed to, to eat some of Chieko's cookies she brought in for him and the rest of the team. Naturally that pissed the coach off, however since he was still working harder than most of everyone else, she let it slide for the time being.
The Coach could tell something was on Shiori's mind though, she didn't help out as much as usual and sometimes Fukui would scare her back to earth when he noticed her spacing out. No one but Himuro and the Coach had an idea as to what was wrong with her. Himuro because he was there, and Masako because the Principle told her why he was requesting the two and as long as it didn't affect the teams playing she didn't care, but she did care because Shiori had grown on her quite a bit. Himuro was playing well though, so she decided for the time being she'd let it slide. At least for today, tomorrow was another story.
"Gah, Fukui!" Masako sighed as the pale haired Point Guard got hit upside the head with a clipboard again. That was strike number 5. "Ow!" Everyone stopped to laugh at the foolish antics before they resumed practice at the Coach's loud order.
Shiori sighed, looking toward Chieko who had fallen asleep with her trusty pillow on the bench, a bag of sweets on the ground in front of her for the Giant to pick at when he felt like it. "If only I could be as laid back as you, Chie-Chan…" The manager mumbled to herself softly, scratching the back of her head with a depressed sigh.
Chieko decided she'd be fine with coming to practice more often when she found she could get some extra sleep while they played, Atsushi pouted a little, but beside that left her be. Chieko wasn't sure why she was such an insomniac, ever since she was a child she could never sleep properly according to her parents. When she did….She apparently slept with her eyes open, and though she was certain she no longer did that it was still incredibly disturbing to think about. But also kind of funny when she thought about the faces her mother made when she informed her child of how creepy it was to put a three year old down to bed when she was still staring at her.
When Coach Araki called for the end of practice, Chieko groaned and got up with a lazy yawn as Shiori came over and grabbed a cookie from the giant's bag while he was in the showers with the rest of the team. "So um, feeling better enough to work tonight?" Shiori asked hesitantly, Chie giving her friend a nod. "Yeah, I feel a lot better today…" She nodded, staring at Shiori blankly as she chewed on a cookie. "Good…Um, would it be okay if I didn't come tonight? I have something I have to do…." She trailed off, and Chieko once more nodded. "Have fun with Himuro-San." Shiori flushed hard. "How did you-""Rumors spread fast, did you two do it?" She cut Shiori off bluntly, the raven and silver haired girl groaning and covering her face. "No….I fell asleep at his place after watching a movie…" She mumbled making Chieko snort. "Not surprising…." She mumbled, getting a playful shove from her best friend as she sat down beside her. "You're mean….So what actually happened last night?" The two stared at each other quietly, before Chieko broke the eye contact and sighed through her nose, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Ishiga tried to…hurt me; Atsushi stepped in and let me stay with him last night…." Seeing Shiori tense and part her lips to speak, she shook her head. "Not how you're thinking, Atsushi stopped him before it got that far. Just bruised up is all…" She drawled, Shiori sighing softly. "I told you, you should have let me teach you at least some self-defense but you had to be lazy." Chieko grumbled, bowing her head slowly. "I think someone is waiting for you." Looking up at her words, Shiori blinked when she saw Murasakibara coming over with damp purple hair, and Himuro casting Shiori a mildly concerned glance before heading out with the rest.
"Text me later," Shiori finished her cookie before Atsushi made it over and ran out of the gym after Himuro. Chieko sighed, but smiled a little and looked up at the pouting Center. "Ready to go?" She asked softly, grabbing the bag. "Yup," he chirped and the two headed out to the store contently and Chieko silently wished her best friend luck on her date with Himuro.
At least she was calling it a date.
(Whoop, thanks to those that reviewed (cause I got a new reviewer yipeeee) and to those that favorited/followed my story~ Decided to update a little earlier than planned since I was in a good mood. The next chapter is unwritten, as my next update will be either My Sin is Greed (likely this one) or An Unlikely Deal's sequel, which may not be as long as I thought since I forgot the ideas for it xD Reviews make an author happy and their muse strong~)