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Serene Days | Chapter 10: Chance Encounters (Part 1)
Kyousuke:
As I wake up, I hear the chirping of the little birds that call the tree outside my room home. The scent of the morning wafts to where I lie through a slightly opened window, and as it reaches my nose, I think of the pristine situation I find myself in. At the start of this fine day in May, not only do I hear the peaceful melody of nature's own creations outside my doorstep, but the fresh smell of green grass accompanies me as I start the day. Ahhh, life is bliss, nature is bliss.
Suddenly, the screeching sound of my alarm clock scrunches my wonderful thoughts up and throws them into the bin as I quickly get up in shock. I frantically look around my surroundings to realize my blissful start to the day was just a dream. First of all, my window isn't even open, and secondly, there aren't even any birds in the tree outside. I sighed as I accepted the harsh reality, and groggily shifted my body over to the desk near my bed to turn off the horrible sound reverberating throughout my room. If this negative start to the day was an omen of things to come, then that would be extremely unfortunate.
The reason why is that after a week of grueling assignments, I get to see Kirino again. Prior to this wave of university work, I was able to see Kirino rather often either right after her high school classes ended or during the weekend. We were able to just simply be around each other as we discussed our new academic lives and any interesting events in my room. It was definitely nothing special, but even so, it was something I missed over these past seven days.
I wasn't the only one suffering from spending several days apart from their lover either as two days ago, Kirino messaged me in all capital letters demanding that I keep my Saturday open for a date in Tokyo. It was something I expected as throughout April, I barely took the initiative as Kirino and I mostly spent our time hanging out in my room, so it makes perfect sense that she is now dragging me out into the city.
While I do enjoy the comfort of my room and just lazing about in general, I am happy that Kirino so vehemently wanted this city date to happen as not only is it a nice change of pace, but it shows that she really wanted to see me and that she really wanted to do something special. Not a lot of people can get me to leave my room willingly on a Saturday morning, especially given the amount of sleep I got trying to finish my assignment, but if it's for her, I'll do it.
The tenth hour of the day passed by as I got up and promptly completed my morning routine. As I buttoned up my navy blue polo shirt, the buzz of my smartphone on the table drew my attention. I excitedly went over to my phone, anticipating a text from Kirino about where we were meeting up, but much to my disappointment, it wasn't a text from her, but another girl.
"Hey Kyou-Kyou, did you finish the individual assignment yet? If so, why don't you come hang out with yours truly in Tokyo? Let's celebrate the end of this wave" the text read. I sighed as I began typing my answer to Izumi's boisterous message. She wasn't near me at the moment, but as I read it, it was like I could hear her enthusiastic voice right beside me.
Since it has gotten to the point where I can clearly hear her through her texts alone, I suppose that goes to show how much of a presence she has in my life now. Of course, she isn't the only person I talk to around university, but she definitely is the only one that goes out of their way so cheerfully to talk to me each time I appear in her line of sight.
While I do prefer to have my own personal time, it's not like Izumi ever annoys me though as whenever she appears before me or startles me from behind a corner, she's a nice person to have around as otherwise, I feel like my days around the campus would be too depressingly mundane.
One questionable thing though was how quickly she latched on to using my given name. She would run across the hallway to me shouting it over and over, and each time I would break a sweat as the murmurs around me grew more prominent. It could just be me being paranoid, but I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of those murmurs was about how Izumi addressed me.
Anyhow, despite the given name thing being a slight concern of mine around campus, I'm somewhat relieved she keeps the "Kyou-Kyou" nickname only to her texts with me. Firstly, what kind of nickname even is that? Secondly, I feel like if she were to call me that around university, the potential rumors would be cemented and I would have a lot of eyes on me. Sure I like my life to be a little interesting, but the target on my back I can definitely do without.
As I sent her a quick message saying I was busy, she replied with a pouting emoji immediately. She then sent a message telling me to have fun with my girlfriend, which caused me to gasp. How the heck did she know? Damn that perceptive woman.
Rather than give her the pleasure of a reaction, I left her on read as I continued to prepare my appearance for the date. After all, I'm not going to let some cheeky classmate ruin the mojo I got going into today's plans.
I grab my keys and my IC card as I leave my room and lock the door. If I say so myself, I feel rather decked out with a combination of clothes I'm rather proud of, but more importantly than that, I made sure to comb my hair nicely. Never before have I really thought of my outwards appearance this intricately, but if it's for her, I'll do it.
The pleasant spring breeze greets me as I step out into the pavement. The weather today seems to be wonderful as it's neither hot nor cold, so a date now would be ideal, considering the summer months aren't too far away. While the heat does bring some good date ideas into mind, it also makes the AC in my room look like the greatest object in existence, thus, this May date is one I have to take before the temptation of lazing about gets too strong.
As I head for the train station, I feel a vibration in the pocket of my black jeans. Accordingly, I take out my phone and smile as the text this time is indeed from Kirino, who appears to be already waiting at the train station nearest to me. With a little pep in my step, I speed walk excitedly in the direction of my girlfriend as I grin away.
I climb the small stairs to enter the train station, and a familiar figure with flowing orange hair turns their head to me as I arrive at the meeting place.
"Kyousuke!"
Kirino exclaims my name lovingly as she runs in my direction.
"Kirino! It sure is good to see you!" I exclaim back, with an equal level of love in my voice.
In no time, Kirino jumps onto me and gives me a tight embrace. The feeling of her small hands prints themselves below my shoulder blades as her head rests against my chest. I hug her back warmly as I enjoy the physical intimacy. It's been seven days since I've felt her so I'm going to make sure I fully indulge in it.
"Jeez Kyousuke, it's only been a week since we've last seen each other, I can't believe you're so ecstatic to see me"
Kirino pulls her head back from my chest and gives me an endearing look with her ocean-blue eyes. I notice the wide, ear-to-ear smile and her rosy cheeks as she stares at me, and as a response, I chuckle lightly.
"You're saying I'm the ecstatic one? Look at the smile on your face first" I say in a teasing tone, prompting a chuckle from her as well.
"Well, I did only say a week has passed, but, I couldn't wait to see you"
Her line was like an arrow that pierced my heart. How could she say that in such an adorable tone? Not only that, but with those puppy eyes...dang, if it weren't for the chance of people around here recognizing us, I would totally kiss her right now.
As I composed myself by clearing my throat, I took a more focused look at her appearance today. Her fiery, orange hair was styled into two buns alongside the familiar flowing section at the back. An arctic blue, cold shoulder blouse combined with blue jeans was her outfit of choice today, and it looked bold but cute at the same time. Wow, she looks so good! Reminds of those gyaru-type characters in those visual novels she recommended to me.
As I continued to stare at her amazing outfit, Kirino noticed and struck a suggestive pose fitting of a model.
"Like what you see? I'm all yours today"
Kirino smiled as I blushed uncontrollably. She's hitting me super effectively with all those remarks. As I continued to stand there in awe and embarrassment, Kirino took my hand and started walking to the IC card gates with a sparkling grin on her face. As she pulled me along, I snap out of my thoughts, lean closer towards her ear, and hit her with a super effective remark of my own.
"I do like what I see Kirino. You look gorgeous"
Kirino jumped up in shock as she turned around to face me with an increased blush on her face.
"Saying such sweet things with such a soft voice, that's unfair… baka"
Now that she was looking closely at me though, she finally noticed the great effort I put into my appearance.
"You look good too Kyousuke. You finally combed your hair I see" she smirked.
"Why thank you, now, let's get moving shall we?"
With hands intertwined and pinkish cheeks, we walked together to the escalator in order to reach the train platform. After a few minutes, the Narita Express heading towards Shinjuku arrived. Luckily, there were consecutive seats available which allowed Kirino and I to sit next to each other. The train ride will last around one hour given that today's destination is Shimokitazawa, a trendy neighborhood Kirino recommended to check out.
While Chiba prefecture is rather close to Tokyo, I actually don't know much about my country's capital besides Akihabara, which kinda makes me feel like a failure of a Japanese person, but since I consider myself to be more of the indoor type, it's to be expected.
Besides, even if I don't know much about Tokyo, Kirino certainly does as her modeling endeavors have taken her to the big city multiple times. At first, she modeled mostly in Chiba because of our parents' concerns, but now that she is in high school, they gave her a little more leniency for how far she could go to model.
Despite our parents giving Kirino more leeway now though, they are definitely still somewhat anxious. After all, when I went back home recently, Dad pulled me aside just to tell me to secretly go check on Kirino whenever she was in Tokyo and I was available. Unknown to him though, I planned on doing that anyway.
The consistent noise of the train's wheels clacking against the rails echoed throughout the mostly empty train car as Kirino and I chatted away about our lives in the past week. While we did text each other during the seven days we were apart, there were still some things we haven't discussed, and to do it in person is much better anyway.
The first thing I asked was whether Okada tried anything suspicious again. It became a routine of me asking Kirino about Okada every day I met up with her, and even though I realize that this is me being rather possessive, I couldn't help but worry judging from the past incident outside my flat. At one point, I fully expected Kirino to get annoyed with me, but each time I asked her, she cheerfully reassures me that nothing happened with a precious grin. While I do think about her questionably consistent reaction at times, I never ponder too much about it as her adorable smile just melts my brain instead.
As Kirino happily talked away about how she was adapting to her classes and homework from high school, my phone vibrates again. I quickly take my phone out of my pocket to see who it is and frown in response.
"Kyou-Kyou, how's your date going? Can I join? Pwetty-pwease? ≧◡≦" it read.
Disturbed by how Izumi sent this text only to mess with me, I replied with a "no" in all caps, turned on Do Not Disturb, and quickly slipped my phone into my pocket. By the time I was done though, Kirino was staring right at my face with a rather intimidating look.
"Izumi? Kyou-Kyou? Say Kyousuke, how come I've never heard of this"
"Your scary face right now is exactly why…"
Before Kirino could conjure a kitchen knife out of thin air and stab me with it, I explained to her that Izumi was just an overly-enthusiastic classmate that loves to tease me. Much to my relief, Kirino understood accordingly with her yandere act seeming to be a joke, or at least I hope it was…
"Say, do you have any pictures of her? I'm curious as to what she looks like"
"You think I'd have a picture of her?" I replied.
"Nope! And judging from your reaction, you passed! Good job"
Kirino returned to her smiley self as she continued detailing her exciting high school life as I wondered whether I dodged another bullet there with her so-called test of hers. Did she really want to know what Izumi looked like? Or was the main purpose to see whether I had a photo of her? Either way looks like I got the good ending.
The train doors open as Kirino and I walk onto the platform of Shimo-Kitazawa station in the Setagaya ward of Tokyo. Earlier at Shibuya station as we were making our transfer onto an express train from the Inokashira line, Kirino explained that she did some photoshoots on the streets of Shimokitazawa recently and that she wanted me to see how hip of an area it was.
While the 'hipness' of an area doesn't really appeal to me, a happy girlfriend does, and so, we embarked on a leisurely stroll as we observed the area. After a few minutes, I could already tell how trendy of an area this seemed to be. There were small clothing stores everywhere coupled with modern cafes and boba tea stands. There were also cool murals on the garage doors and walls around the place, with one mural showcasing a great drawing of a tree.
As I observed the well-painted piece of art, Kirino showed me a picture of her modeling in front of it, and it was a spectacular image. After I was done admiring Kirino's looks in the picture, she spent the next hour or so window-shopping the various small clothing stores and asking for my opinion even though I knew full well she wasn't going to buy them. As we reached the end of a street, we decided to sit down on a bench with a cup of boba tea each.
I took a sip and enjoyed the drink, but I must've gotten too lost in appreciating the taste because all of a sudden, a few tapioca pearls slide into my mouth rapidly causing me to briefly choke for a bit. Damn these trendy drinks and this stupidly wide straw.
Kirino laughed as I coughed and regained my composure. She was actually surprised to see that I joined her in buying the same drink, but of course, for someone who usually prefers more boring drinks, I bet she totally expected me to have some difficulty with the tapioca pearls.
In the past, I probably would've been irritated as she laughed at me, but now, I couldn't care less. Being the butt of her joke isn't such a bad thing after all as I get to see her laughing and smiling happily.
After a minute or two, Kirino finishes her drink and eyes down the undergarment store in front of us, something I certainly didn't notice before.
"Hey Kyousuke, want to go in there with me?" she asked with a smug grin.
Surprised, I spit out a tapioca pearl as I cough again, causing Kirino to laugh at me yet again.
"I'm joking, I'm joking. You may be my boyfriend, but even I'm too embarrassed to go in there with you, so just wait outside ok? I won't take long"
I tell Kirino to take her time as she walks into the store. After a few seconds, I take a sip of my boba drink as I ponder to myself whether she would actually buy anything and if she did, whether she would show me. All of a sudden, thoughts of Kirino in underwear started popping into my mind.
As I start to daydream about lewd images like the true degenerate I am, a familiar voice sends me back to reality.
"Can't say I expected to see you out here making a creepy face like that, Kyousuke-senpai"
My eyes widen as I turn to see who that smug voice belonged to.
"Ruri…"
AN: After 351 days, Chapter 10 is finally here! Even though I promised that I would definitely finish this story, no matter how long it takes, I can't help but get sentimental that we've finally reached the double digits in terms of chapters. To the fans of Serene Days who are still looking forward to a new chapter, I hope this one finally satisfies the almost one-year wait. I'm truly sorry it took so long, but I believe that I've recently found my writing groove again, which means that the next chapter hopefully shouldn't be too far away!
Another thing I can't believe is that Serene Days is turning 3 years old in 6 weeks. It's truly been a journey since I published the first chapter and even though I've changed so much as a person as life continues, I've only managed to produce 10 chapters. For those who have been reading Serene Days since the start almost three years ago and have been looking forward to more, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with this story for so long. I know as an author I can always improve, but to know that I have readers who wait basically a year to read another chapter of my story is wonderful. On the topic of improving, I haven't been writing much due to circumstances, so of course, as always, I'm incredibly open to any improvements or suggestions whether they be nitpicks or concerns. Even if you have nothing to mention in terms of improvements, your opinions about the chapter too are valuable and I'll always have fun reading them, so thank you for your interaction in advance! For Serene Day's third anniversary, I plan on making a special short to commemorate the occasion, and although I'm notoriously poor at meeting deadlines, I'll try to make this a high-priority task amongst my other tasks in life. As for Chapter 11, while I cannot confirm anything, I'm hoping that I will find the groove yet again and have it published not so long from now.
Thank you again for reading Serene Days. Whether you are an old reader or a new reader, I hope you sincerely enjoy the story and look forward to more, as whenever it may be, there will indeed be more.