Makoto was watching his teammates practice when Gou suddenly ran up to him, tugging his arm. "Gou-chan?"
"Your Uni friend is here." Gou whispered, smiling. His face flushed, the hair on the nape of his neck rising. He stood up straighter, flashing Gou a brief smile as he walked towards the entrance of the pool. Haru noticed, and looked back from his swimming, quickly eyeing Nagisa who was still underwater.
"Cyril-san." Makoto greeted the shorter girl who had been on her phone. She wore her Uni's uniform, and his stomach felt like it was about to do a summersault. Cyril looked up at him, giving him a grin. Her eyes trailing downwards.
"…"
Makoto suddenly felt naked. He was wearing skin tight black swim leggings that pretty much left nothing to the imagination. Aand, no shirt. "Uhm, you could set your things by the lockers or the pool chairs if you want…" His voice suddenly sounded so small.
Cyril's gaze wasn't on his eyes anymore. Rather she seemed more focused on…. Other things.
"C-Cyril-san..?" Makoto's head was starting to get dizzy the longer she kept staring. He crossed his arms in front of him.
She seemed to snap out of her daze, looking up at him with a weird look before she followed him inside. 'That's illegal for near jailbait to have a bod like that…'
Once inside, Makoto gently took her belongings and set it on a pool side chair. "You can sit wherever you'd like. We're just doing rounds today."
"Okay."
"Well, Well." Nagisa drawled out, leaning his arms out from the pool as he eyed the two. "What's this, Mako-chan?"
Cyril looked over to see a short blonde shouta looking boy with pink eyes looking at her curiously. Beside him, she recognized Haru swim towards the edge of the pool as well, staring. She waved towards the deadpanned boy. "Hi Haru."
"Hi."
"…" Nagisa looked between the two in confusion. Getting ahead of Nagisa's questions, Makoto chose that moment for introductions.
"This is Cyril, I asked her to come watch us train today. She's from Hakkoyida University." Recognition flashed in Nagisa's eyes.
"YOU'RE PIN GIRL!"
"Hahaha, yes." Cyril answered, looking over at a nervous Makoto.
"I'm Gou Mikoshiba. I supervise these dorks here and make sure they don't tear the place down or kill each other. It's nice to meet you." Gou smiled.
"You too. I'm Cyril Kushin."
"We have another teammate- Rei, but he isn't here at the moment. And you've met Haru already."
During their introduction, Nagisa had gotten out of the pool. "How did you guys meet?"
"Huh?" Cyril looked down at him. Even though she was short herself, she was a couple of inches taller than him. "Oh, it's a funny story." She started off, chuckling a bit as she held her wrist up to show a charm bracelet with a kitty on it. "I jumped off a bridge in a bad part of town to save a cat about to drown. And he found my Uni pin. I met Haru over here at a bakery with Makoto."
Nagisa glanced at Makoto, who was avoiding eye contact. It was all clicking together. That's why he was acting weird back then! "… Is that so…" He narrowed his eyes. "Interesting."
"?" Cyril raised a brow. "Uh, yeah?" The kid was weird. "Anyways, don't let me interrupt your practice."
"Oh, it's okay!" Makoto blurted. "We were going to take a short break anyways."
"Oh! Hey, I wanted to ask you about that limited edition neko charm-"
… everyone looked at each other in surprise… Since when did Makoto ever give short breaks in between training? The rest of the team looked over at Gou, gauging her reaction. She was staring at Makoto and Cyril talk by the pool bleachers with a strange glint in her face, a expression that made the boys feel nervous and fearful. "Yeah, I ship it." Suddenly, she turned to them, ushering them away without a word towards the locker room while covering Nagisa's loud ass mouth. Haru was the one to voice out.
"What are you doing." He asked in his usual monotone as he was being dragged.
"Let's just give them some privacy." Gou said.
"Mghfrsdgssjd!"
"Shut up Nagisa." Gou retorted.
"Kgjfhhsd?!"
Gou rolled her eyes. Once they were far away, she unblocked his mouth, finally letting him speak. Nagisa took in a deep breath of air, before bursting out. "DOeS MaKo-CHaN LiKe-"
Gou flicked his forehead to stop him from shouting. She rubbed her temple, hearing a migraine come on from his loudness. "Goodness, can't you be more discreet, Nagisa? Obviously!" She said. Even Haru nodded, and he knew a lot more than the two. "Just take ten, and go back to doing rounds. I'll tell Makoto he doesn't have to do his own rounds so he could keep her company. And Nagisa- not a word!"
Nagisa jumped up and down, giddy. "Good idea! Gosh, that is sooo like a shoujo manga!"
"Stop."
"Yes mommy." Gou looked aghast, but she just let him go, shaking her head and walking away.
The sky was already starting to darken by the time swim practice was over. Cyril headed out with Makoto and Haru as she waved Gou and the rest their goodbyes. "Well, I'll see you guys next time." She said, turning to head home.
"W-wait!"
Makoto's call made her turn back to look at him as he held her sleeve. She raised a brow, waiting.
"…" He looked down at the floor, nervous. "… I-I'll walk you home." He said finally after a short pause. Cyril blinked, before smiling at him.
"Cute. But no thanks. I meant it when I said people like you shouldn't be out in my hood." She patted his cheek. "I can get home just fine. It's not like I haven't gone home late by myself before, and no one would dare try to do anything to me there, unless they had a death wish." She smirked.
"B-But it's late! And- and, what if…" Cyril knew his intention. He wanted to make sure she got home safe… He was a good kid. His mom raised him hella good. "I'll be okay, Makoto."
His eyes widened in surprise. This was the first time he had heard her use his full name. "… No. I insist." Makoto said, this time more firmly. It was Cyril's turn, this time, for her eyes to widen. She looked up at him, her dull red eyes looking rather brilliant under the streetlamp that just turned on over them. Slowly, she gave him a small smile, genuine. Appreciative.
"… Is this an excuse to spend more time with me, Makoto Tachibana?" Cyril teased.
"No!" He answered immediately. "I mean, I like spending time with you, but you're a girl, and it's dangerous out at night, and I really couldn't live with myself if something happened!"
"You're so funny, Mak-chan!" Cyril laughed.
Without another word, the trio made their way towards Cyril's hood, all the while Makoto's ears and face flamed red. He peeked down at her every so often, and his red ears and face would re-flame red even more.
… After a while, the three finally got to Cyril's neighborhood. Not a single person was out, which made it look much creepier than it already did. Cyril looked totally unfazed, as she pointed out a huge traditional Japanese home just a few feet away. "Well, that's me." She said, turning to the two boys. Haru was looking at all the decorations, and Makoto was in awe at just how intricate her home was. It looked like it was straight out of the Edo period!
"You're home is very beautiful." Makoto commented.
"Thank you. My great great grandfather built it." Cyril said. She suddenly frowned, looking at her home. "Hey, you really didn't have to walk me here you know. This part of town isn't really safe. I'll have a car ready for you to drive you both back to your homes. I don't want you two walking around here by yourselves."
Cyril's statement made the boys curious, but they could tell by the serious look on her face, that she wasn't going to provide further information on it.
"Okay." Makoto nodded. Cyril took out her phone, walking away for a bit to talk to someone. After a couple of minutes, she came back with a tall white haired man in a black suit and glasses. The two boys watched as a fancy black limo pulled up in front of them.
"This is my butler Setou. Butler slash driver. He'll be taking you guys back."
"Pleasure to meet acquaintances of hime-sama." Setou bowed. Cyril blushed at this, giving a stern look at him.
"Cyril." She corrected. "Don't call me that." She sighed. "Well, take care Haru, Mak-chan. Let's meet up sometime, yeah?"
Makoto smiled, blushing. He nodded. "Yes. Cyril-san?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for coming today." Makoto gave a little bow.
The car drove off, with both boys outside. Cyril watched until the car was out of sight. She turned around, heading indoors. She paused, however, when she saw Kazuma leaning against the frame of her door, glaring at her. He was in traditional garb, something he had taken to ever since their brother passed. Cyril didn't glance his way.
"I see you were off traipsing about like the little whore you are."
Cyril made no reaction. "What makes you say that? Those are my friends. I'm allowed to have friends." She stated, finally looking over at him. "I'm sorry you don't have any."
Kazuma scowled over at her. In a flash, he slapped her hard. His hand gripped her throat. "Insolent bitch. You missed kendo today. Was there a particular reason of your absence?"
"What?" Her eyes widened. "It wasn't scheduled today."
"Regardless of whether it is scheduled or not, if I require you to be available, you should. As a member of this family, you have certain duties you have to uphold. If you cannot, there is no point for you to even exist." Kazuma spat, tightening his grip on her throat.
Cyril coughed. "I won't miss it again."
"You better not." Kazuma thrashed her, finally letting her go. In disgust, he wiped his hand clean, looking down at her. "And don't sully yourself with those boys."
"…"
Kazuma scoffed, leaving. Cyril picked herself up, without a word, heading to her room. She changed from her uniform, heading towards the shower. After washing up, she plopped down on her bed headfirst.
RING. RING.
"Ugh!" She groaned in annoyance, snatching her phone. Angrily, she yelled into the receiver. "Hello?!"
"Well hello to you too, Siri-chan." Suddenly, her mood lifted, she sat up from her bed.
"Oh, shit, sorry." Seijuuro chuckled.
"Bad day?" He asked.
"Something like that." She muttered, sighing. "Why did you call?"
On the other side of the line, she heard Seijuuro snort "Man, you really weren't kidding when you said you didn't know how to do this."
Cyril rolled her eyes. "You better stop before I hang up on you."
"I called, obviously, because I missed you." Seijuuro stated like it was the most obvious thing.
"Oh." Cyril blinked. That actually was a little flattering.
"Did you miss me?"
She smiled, deciding to tease him a bit. "Maybe."
"Just a bit?" She could hear the humor in his tone.
"Tiny bit."
"Aw, here I was hoping you missed me lots!"
Cyril laughed. "Try harder next time."
Seijuuro chucked. "I wanted to ask if you were free tomorrow?"
"Saturday? Yeah I'm free, I just have a early morning coffee date with my best friend, but I'm free the rest of the day."
"Cool, do you want to go out tomorrow?"
Cyril blinked. Had she heard right? She leaned back on her pillow, staring at her ceiling. "… Like a date..?"
"No, an interview. Of course, a date." Seijuuro laughed at the expletives thrown his way. He was currently cooking dinner, the tv blaring the afternoon news in the background. "I was thinking to a museum, or Dave and Busters-"
"No." Cyril interjected. Seijuuro paused from chopping up potatoes.
"No? To Dave and Busters? Or the Museum?"
"A cat café." Cyril answered. "Are you cooking, by the way?"
"Yes I am. You want to go to a cat café?" Seijuuro asked. He hadn't been expecting that. Somehow, the thought of her in one surrounded by them made him smile, feeling warm and fuzzy. "That's cute. Alright, let's go to a cat café then. You don't mind taking an hour bullet train to Tokyo, do you?"
"For the cat café, I'd travel even 12 hours in a blizzard. Rain, sleet, snow, or wind." Seijuuro burst into loud laughter at this.
"You're really cute, Siri-chan!" Seijuuro laughed. "Alright, what time should I pick you up?"
"Actually, I'll drop by your place." She said quickly. "It'll be easier."
"Oh, okay." Seijuuro said. "I'm excited for tomorrow! It'll be our first real date!"
Cyril spaced out. 'A date huh… I'd never been on one when I was messing with Eijiro…' She frowned. "Well I'm gunna go to bed soon, Sei-kun."
"So early?!" He exclaimed.
"yeah, it's been a rough day and I'm tired."
" Oh okay, well, sleep well, Cyril. See you tomorrow."
"Thank you, goodnight." Click.
… That night, Cyril had a fitful night full of nightmares…
A/N:
Hi! Zee here! First update in a while, haha!
After much thought, I have decided this while no longer be a ten part series. Originally, I didn't intend to have so many different nuances in the plot, but as I kept on writing off the bullet points and drafts, I guess I got carried away, lol.
Mad About you will no longer be a 10 part series and will have an indefinite amount of chapters until it's ending, whenever that will be, given how complex the plot has become [my fault, I didn't mean for it to be this way! LOLZ.]
Mad About You was originally going to be a Yakuza/Mafia fanfic Au with West side story vibes. While it will still have aspects of it, the plot has drastically changed from the draft.
There's going to be some sensitive topics and events in further chapters that might be brought up, so when it is, I will always mention it before hand in the beginning author's note with the ledger so that you'd be able to skip it if it makes you uncomfortable. Those moments, are few and far in between, and this fanfic contains more humor than violence. This fanfic is also a bit of a slow burn and stats of with a different ship than the original intended, but the original ship is end goal. There are boyxboy pairings, maybe some girlxgirl, but I don't want to give too much spoilers, lmfaoooo!
Anyways, I will be working very hard to update MAY, as well as the other stories I'm currently working on. Until next time!