Author's Note:
Two chapters in a week, just need to keep this motivation going.
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20th of August, 1994
A week had passed by the time Megumi had recovered enough to return to school toting a sicknote from Doctor Ozaki claiming she had suffered from anaemia. The colour had returned to her face and the light had returned to her red eyes as she swanned across the classroom past his right shoulder to her desk behind Natsuno's.
"Good morning, Yuuki," she greeted on the way past, frowning slightly when she realised she wouldn't get a response. Puffing her cheeks out as her eyebrows drew together she huffed and opened her work book to do some catch up studying before class started.
Wishing her good luck in his mind, Tohru turned his focus back to the front of the room where Mr Hirosawa was preparing three different school years of lessons for the day. With a village as small as Sotoba, it was a necessity to share one teacher between three school years, one for years eight and nine, one for years ten, eleven and twelve. Kenichirou Hirosawa was only just starting to look better after his younger cousin, Takatoshi Hirosawa, died in a pachinko parlour a couple of weeks ago. The poor guy had to take a week off to mourn, leaving the class with Mr Oota to fill in even though we could all tell he wanted to leave. Already lives were being affected by the okiagari and it would very swiftly get worse over the next couple months.
Looking over to Natsuno he had to stop himself from speaking for a moment to fully understand what he was seeing. Both Natsuno and Megumi were dutifully hunched over their desks, studying with such focus that it bordered on ridiculous. They were both working so hard to achieve their dreams of leaving Sotoba when they graduated in two years' time not knowing that no matter how hard they work at it, nothing will change. They will die in the next couple of months and never make it to the city, trapped forever.
"Have the two of you considered going to a city boarding school if you want to get out so much?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow, "With grades like yours, you'd have no issue getting in."
"My damn parents already shot that idea down, something about how they didn't escape the city just so I could abandon them and go back." Growled the violent violet mop as he glared him down.
Megumi simply let out a sharp breath before speaking defeatedly, "My mother supported the idea, but my father put his foot down and wouldn't allow it." She looked out the window for moment before she seemed to realise who she was talking to, "Anyway, don't talk to me, you're a distraction."
Waving his pencil in air lazily Natsuno sighed, "ditto," before going back to his studying, not noticing the bright red blush spreading across Megumi's face and the small smile she hid as she ducked back down into her studies.
Those two are so similar, no wonder the rumour mill ships them…
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Today was the day.
Today, Tohru would make the biggest change between his original life and his loops.
He had faced his fears, slain a demon, gotten away with it so far and had done a decent job of continuing to cover his tracks whilst gathering as much data on victim patterns as possible.
But today he would face the biggest challenge yet as he noticed Ritsuko's angular silver sedan round the corner. With how unbelievably beautiful she was he had always pictured her in a sleek green sportscar, but this humble car did nothing to take away from her. If anything, the drab colour and middling build of the vehicle served to make her natural energy and heavenly smile shine all the brighter.
Today was the day he would ask her out as he always should have. A vampiric epidemic couldn't stop him, not even the moon colliding into Earth would stop him from expressing his feelings for this woman.
She smiled at him as she pulled up into his driveway, offering him a wave. He could never thank his dad enough for getting her to teach him how to drive. It took some convincing since his dad wanted to teach Tohru himself, but once Aoi let slip about his crush his mother she had badgered his dad until he gave up.
Thanks mum…
"Hey, Ristuko," he said before boldly giving her a quick hug as she got out the car before hopping straight into the driver's seat. Distracting himself from his heart trying to jump out of his chest by buckling his seatbelt, he tried to gauge her reaction as she walked around the front of the car.
She was blushing! That was great, excellent even!
Right?
Oh no, what if he made her uncomfortable?
What if she thought he was creepy?
Had he made a mistake?
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my-
"Hi, Tohru," she said as she climbed into the car and buckled herself in, her blush nowhere to be seen.
Oh, thank god…
"H-hey…" he stammered before fumbling with his rear-view mirror to the sound of her laughter like the ringing of bells.
"You don't have to be so nervous, Tohru. Just remember everything I taught you and you can pull today's manoeuvre off perfectly.
manoeuvre?
"Y-yeah, the manoeuvre, of course. No problem," he laughs nervously before reversing carefully out of the driveway and hitting the opposite sidewalk with a jerk, stalling the engine with a choked cough.
So, he hadn't had time to learn how to drive whilst he was dead, so what?
Laughing nervously to himself with an apologetic shrug towards the angel looking on patiently he revved the steel beast back to life and took off.
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The lesson went terribly.
He had to perform a three-point turn, in which he performed a nine-point turn, bumping each curb several times and stalling the engine twice before he had to practice a reverse parallel park.
Those poor traffic cones will never be the same again…
Now he found himself sitting in the driveway of his home, car idling happily away with some western song on the radio that he couldn't understand although the chorus was catchy, and he would look it up later, it didn't help his racing heart any.
Now was the time, it was now or never.
"There is still plenty of room for improvement, but I'd say you definitely got better by the end of it," she sang mercifully, her sapphire orbs doing their best to hide the sympathy that she felt.
"Thanks, Ristuko, but I'm sure a drunk paraplegic could rive better than that," he joked as he turned to face her, sweat running down his back. "Hey, I was wondering something."
"Yeah?" she replied with a tilt of her head and a reassuring smile.
"Um, I was wondering if you'd like to get dinner sometime?"
There he said it.
"Oh, it has been a while since our families have gotten together, hasn't it?" she clapped with a nod obliviously.
"Oh no, um… I meant together, just you and me?" he clarified nervously.
"Oh…"
Oh?
Oh, how lovely?
Oh, what a brilliant idea?
"O-oh… I-I see. I'm sorry, Tohru. I didn't know you felt that way," she apologised with a deep blush as she covered her mouth and looked out her window. "I don't believe that would be very appropriate, Tohru."
"Why do you think that, Ritsuko? I would give you anything you could ever want," he practically begged.
"I'm sorry, Tohru. I-I think it may be best if your dad teaches you to drive from here on. I don't want to cause you any more confusion," she ripped his heart out of his chest as she climbed out of the car.
No… This can't be….
He climbed out of the car numbly before she hopped in quickly and reversed out of the driveway.
We were finally together when it ended, how did it turn out like this?
He didn't move from the spot where he watched her drive away until her tail lights had long since disappeared into the village, not until his mother came out and guided him inside. It didn't take a genius to figure out the family had been spying on his rejection, the shame barely even registered as he was plopped in front of the family television and a bucket of ice-cream dropped in his lap.
It was in moments like this, when he felt his most down that he knew he loved his family.
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21st of August, 1994
Sunday, the most blessed of days in a Japanese boy's life where he could do nothing. A sacred day where upon he could hide in his bed away from the cruel world where the sun tried it's hardest to pound its way between the cracks of his curtain's flimsy defences.
"Wake up, Tohru," the sun seemed to say as it shined brightly through the window. "Get out of bed, Tohru," it continued to growl.
The world flipped upside down as his bed was heaved to one side, dumping him down to kiss the cold, uncaring floorboards below.
Blinking up at his most recent attacker he finally took note of his best friend glaring down at him, "Oh, hey Natsuno."
"Hey," came the short greeting before the boy offered a hand up, "Aoi, told me what happened. Came to get you out of here, distract you or something."
Heh, Natsuno always played the sourpuss but he had a kinder heart than he let on.
Accepting his friend's hand up, Tohru quickly got dressed before they set out to the local diner.
The sun had already risen to its apex and his stomach was desperately reminding him to consume something, preferably something greasy. Luckily, the shiki takeover hadn't progressed far enough for Café Creole to shut down, although he could recall that Hasegawa had outlived him as he watched the others ram a stake through his chest.
With a jingle of bells, Tohru and Natsuno entered the café, took their seats and ordered their meals.
Not one to beat around the bush, Natsuno leaned back in his seat watching some villagers doddle past the wide windows facing Sotoba's vast fields. "So, you wanna talk about it?"
Rubbing his face, he sighed. "Not really, no." He said honestly. "But, I doubt you will let me off so easily."
"Too right, best off getting it over and done with now." The younger boy nodded lazily closing his eyes taking on the image of cat dozing in the afternoon sun.
"I just thought we were doing so well!" He said a little loudly in the quiet café to the immediate accompaniment of raised whispers and pointed looks.
"Really? Thought she was just doing your dad a favour." Natsuno really had a way of shooting down his dreams with laser precision. "How much progress can you make with a woman who is just teaching you to drive?"
I was with her until the end…
"You know nothing, Natsuno Yuuki…" Grumbled the blonde before their food arrived. He thanked Hasegawa before throwing a chip at Natsuno's head, "How could you? It's not like you've ever fallen in love before…"
Angry clicking his tongue, the violet haired boy threw a withering glare at his friend. "Jeez, sometimes you are just as bad as everyone else around here." He ranted throwing his hand up in the air in frustration. "Always assuming things about people, of course I've liked girls before."
Perking up, Tohru quickly forgot about his food. In his first life, Natsuno had never opened up this much to him. He really was a good friend, trying to distract him from his own woes.
"Really, who?"
The boy sighed. "There were a few I suppose. The most recent was just before I came here, actually went on a date with her too."
"No way, you? How did you get her to say yes?"
"Asshole, I wasn't always like this. That came with this stinking village…"
"C'mon man, don't dodge the question."
"Fine…" He relented, scratching his cheek with a slight blush. "I still wasn't the best with people before coming here so it was awkward as all hell." He admitted before stalling for time with a sip from his drink.
"She was in the netball club at my last school, always gave me a smile when she came into class." He began reluctantly. "She would wave to me from the netball courts when I practiced with the basketball club after school."
"C'mon man, get to the good part." Whined the apparently older guy with a cheerful grin, kicking his legs under the table happily.
"Fine." With a heavily put-upon sigh, Natsuno continued. "Long story short, I caught up to her after practice one day and asked if she wanted to see a movie and the rest is history."
"Seriously, that was it?"
"That was it, sorry to disappoint." He replied with a shrug, clearly not sorry at all for his boring story.
"You just had to ask, and she said yes?"
"Yeah."
"Damn it, that's exactly what I did!" Tohru continued to whine with his chin on the table. "What do I have to do to get her to like me?"
"Age ten years? Move on after she told you no? Take Megumi off my hands so I don't have to deal with her spyi-" He cut himself off abruptly.
Confusion washed through the blonde but before he could ask the cafes door jingled once again. "Tohru! I heard what happened, I am so sorry!" Masao's voice grated on the blonde's ears bringing him back to his own misery. "Oh, you're with him…" The boy seethed.
"Don't worry about it, I was just leaving." Sighed Natsuno as he jerked to his feet, frustration clear on his face.
A malicious glint took hold in Masao's eyes when he was given the ammunition he was after. "Wow, you're cold Natsuno."
Here we go…
Stepping into Natsuno's way of the door, the lanky boy leered over the shorter man. "You would abandon Tohru, when he is clearly in a moment of need?" He pressed. "I am so sad for him, yet you were just going to leave him be?" He accused.
Tohru started to get up with his hand raised. "H-hey Masao, that's not fair. Natsuno was help-"
"It's fine, I don't need this child's approval." Natsuno said calmly as he shouldered past the older bully, with slightly more force than was necessary much to his anger.
"Hey, you can't talk to me like that! I am older you, an adult!" He hollered in the small café much to every customers annoyance.
Natsuno simply kept walking, ignoring the other boy's tantrum, turning back when he reached the door. "Whatever you say. Tohru, I hope you feel better." He said quickly before leaving the café.
"I can't believe that brat, how could he disregard your feelings so easily!" Masao seethed as he sat down next to Tohru, snatching a handful of his fries.
Oh Masao, you annoying boy. You have no idea what is coming for us…
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22nd of August, 1994
This wasn't right…
This hadn't happened the first time…
What did he change, how did this go wrong?
Everything was normal except for one glaringly obvious thing. Why was Megumi sitting there, studying hard as always and Masao sitting to his left bickering about something on another. Mr Hirosawa was preparing for the lessons ahead and Tamotsu was playing checkers with Aoi.
The sun shined, and the birds chirped away outside as well.
So where the hell was Natsuno?
Author's Notes:
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN
As you can tell, I gave it a good go to practice dialogue in this chapter, a weakness of mine. I felt myself improve as I went along.
I hate to do my boy Tohru dirty but what would you expect if a high schooler tried to date someone 10 years older than him? If life worked like that, I would've had a harem of teachers back in the day haha
I know a few reviewers desperately wanted the relationship to work out straight away, but that wouldn't make for a very gripping story in my opinion. A good romance in real life is different from a good romance in a story. If Tohru got the girl straight away with no hurdles and they skip away into the sunset each loop, I would have nothing to write about.
How do you feel about my addition to Natsuno's past? I always had to wonder why he was so bitter. I know he didn't want to move to Sotoba but damn was he grouchy. I don't like having characters being so two dimensional (excuse the pun), I like characters having good reasons (plural) for acting the way they do.
On that note though, Masao… How the hell do I write Masao with any sort of depth? Natural narcissism is a thing for sure, but I want to build on that. Has an inferiority complex and little dog syndrome without a doubt. Do I even want him to have a larger part in the story where I have to going into any of that at all?
Decisions, decisions….