[Mekakuni] fic: Memories of the Future * ch. 11
Lazy me, or else I'd have gotten this part done sooner. When will I ever finish this fic? Finally, I'm getting to something...interesting? ^^ I had to reread the series AGAIN since it's been forever and I've forgotten everything.
Title: Memories of the Future chapter 11
Fandom: Mekakushi no Kuni
Notes: Namiki-centric, for 30_kisses
Archive: lj / ffnet
Disclaimer: I do not own Mekakushi no Kuni and am making no profit from writing this.
Words: ~2672
-----chapter 11: #5 "ano sa"-----
With the play out of the way, Kanade was free for the rest of the day, though Eri and Arou both needed to return to their respective classes. Eri had her maid cafe and Arou had his ghost house to return to. Kanade looked down at her hand, the one that Ezawa had held during the play. She missed the sly grin that crossed over Namiki's face, her only warning before a hand reached out to grab her.
"Eeek!" gasped Kanade as Namiki pulled her close to him. She was almost up against his chest and could feel the rumbling as he talked.
"I guess this leaves Kanade all to myself!" he exclaimed.
Arou frowned darkly and proceeded to pull them apart, releasing her from Namiki's hold. Kanade breathed a sigh of relief, though it was short-lived as she fumbled to calm them down. Arou's overprotective tendencies were adorable though, and she thought she knew why Namiki liked to embrace her. He, like her, wanted to be touched but at the same time was afraid. As someone who shared the secret, Kanade was safe.
She wondered if Namiki was trying to reach out to Arou through their fights. There was certainly no shortage of contact there! Even now, they gripped each other's hands tightly as they tried to push each other down.
While the two boys bickered, Eri and Ezawa were off in a world of their own, oblivious to the trio's antics.
"Come to my cafe?" asked Eri, her eyes sparkling. Ezawa nodded, weaving his fingers in with Eri's as he ran his other hand through her short hair. When Kanade finally heard what the two were talking about, she scrambled to butt in.
"Um, Ezawa-san, let's go see the ghost house!" exclaimed Kanade suddenly.
All heads swiveled towards Kanade at her loud exclamation. She blushed at the attention and twiddled her thumbs. "Since uh, I didn't get to see last year's ghost house and um, Ezawa-san didn't either right?" At the end of her stumbling explanation, she raised her head and smiled widely.
Eri narrowed her eyes, looking back and forth between Kanade's nervous smile, Ezawa's blank expression, and Arou's concerned one. "I'd really rather he come to my cafe instead. I'll be so lonely if all of you leave me!" she said carefully.
Kanade glanced around at a lost. If she pulled Ezawa with her to Arou's ghost house, then Eri would really be all alone. Arou, Ezawa, and herself were all unavailable. Her eyes brightened when they landed on Namiki. "Namiki-san can accompany you then!" she blurted, hoping that would solve all the problems. She looked pleadingly at him, willing him to agree. She had to get Ezawa to stay away from the cafe.
Namiki raised his eyebrow. It made her feel like he knew exactly what was going on in her mind.
"I didn't volunteer myself, but..." he shrugged. "I could use a drink. Lead the way, Eri."
Eri pouted. "Oh, all right, as long as Ezawa doesn't mind...and all of you should drop by afterwards!"
-----
"Your drink."
She placed the iced tea down in front of him, the tea sloshing in the glass. After surveying the room, she set her tray down as she plopped into the seat across from him.
"Isn't it still your shift?" asked Masahiro. He took a sip of the iced tea, the cool liquid soothing his parched throat. He hadn't realized how dry his throat had become from speaking so much during the play.
Eri waved her hand in the air. "I'll get back up if someone needs their order taken." She licked her lips. "Besides, that doesn't matter. I have something to ask you."
Masahiro pushed the glass in front of him. He had a good idea of what Eri wanted to talk about. Eri was a perceptive person, even though her usual brashness seemed to speak otherwise. She was outgoing in ways that Kanade was not, and together the two friends balanced each other. Sometimes, like the time with Arou and the traffic accident, she could hurt someone without even knowing it, but she always had everyone's best interest at heart. Masahiro wasn't actually very close with Eri. He knew her as Kanade's friend, and then he knew her as someone who was in on their secret, and though she didn't completely understand, she tried her best. She was trustworthy.
"Kanade saw something, didn't she?" asked Eri in a hurry. She really was perceptive.
He barely nodded before she started firing her questions. "When? What? How? Who does it involve? Ezawa??" her words ran into each other in her rush. She leaned forward against the table.
"Woah, stop with the barrage of questions!" exclaimed Masahiro as he tried to think of just where he should start. He didn't know much, and he had rarely ever found himself in the need to explain such a situation.
"Most importantly, why didn't she tell me anything? I can help!" said Eri finally with a frown. She looked down from him, glaring at nothing in particular. The closest thing was his poor, innocent glass of iced tea. "Am I that unreliable?"
"And here I thought you were glaring at her for stealing your boyfriend," said Masahiro nonchalantly. He rested his face against his hand, watching amusedly as several expressions ran across Eri's face.
"What? No! Of course not! I was just suspicious that something was up..." Her words stopped abruptly. Something seemed to click.
"...oh."
She clenched her fists, her eyebrows furrowed. "Damn, I did it again, didn't I? Was that how I appeared? Did I hurt her?"
Masahiro grasped his straw and swirled the clinkering ice around the glass.
"Don't worry, I'm sure she didn't take it that way. We're talking about Kanade after all."
Eri breathed an audible sigh of relief. She slumped back against her chair, her eyes closed for the briefest moment. Masahiro watched as relief swept over Eri, and he watched how she quickly put away her relief to focus on the situation at hand. With her eyes focused, she asked about what she could do to help. He grinned against his straw. Eri had not once turned away from Kanade even after she knew. Instead, she was even more protective than ever.
Eri held out her hand. "Can you take a look at my future then? Maybe that might help? Oh wait, you can't see the future just like that can you..."
Masahiro almost laughed. Here she was, even asking him to take a look at her future to help her friends! He didn't know if she was truly that unafraid of their powers, or did she want to help so much that it overrode any fear she might have had?
"I can see whenever I want to, unlike Kanade. There's very little chance I'll see what Kanade saw however," murmured Masahiro, "but it's worth a try."
He lightly grasped her hand. "Are you sure you want me to take a look?" he asked.
Eri nodded resolutely.
He closed his eyes, focusing on seeing Eri's future. The world around him vanished, as did all of his previous thoughts.
There stood Eri in her puffy black dress. The tea shop was void of customers though the tables still needed to be cleared. Kanade peaked in from the doorway, unnoticed by Eri. She disappeared back into the hallway before pulling Ezawa into view. She pushed him towards Eri, and with a wave, she backed out of Masahiro's vision.
"Ezawa! You're here!" Eri turned around and jumped into Ezawa's arms. He swept her up in a circle, twirling in the middle of the classroom. Ezawa leaned down, and without exchanging another word, he pressed his lips against hers--
Masahiro snapped out of the vision. Seemed like someone got their happily-ever-after.
"What did you see?" asked Eri eagerly, her hand tightening on Masahiro's.
"You and Ezawa kissing," he replied.
"WHAAAAAT?" exclaimed Eri, jumping out of her seat and dragging Masahiro halfway up as well with her grip on his hand. She quickly let his hand go, and he slid back into his chair gratefully. "That's all you saw? That doesn't help at all! It's useless!"
"Pretty much," replied Masahiro in a shrug. "But I take this to be a good sign. Whatever bad future Kanade had seen, it seems to have already been averted. The future's not set in stone after all."
Eri blinked. "Oh, well, that doesn't sound too bad." She picked up her service tray with a sigh.
"Is it always like this?" asked Eri. "All this worry about what might happen...I never noticed how much Kanade had to go through. I feel like an idiot, smiling so happily when she's always been worrying like this!"
"You keep on smiling," murmured Masahiro. "It makes it all worth it for Kanade."
-----
When Kanade had wanted to confess to Eri, Masahiro had supported her decision. Only the slightest doubt had plagued Masahiro. It came from his cynical side that refused to believe that there could ever be anyone who would wholeheartedly accept people like him, like Kanade and Arou. When Eri had flinched from Arou's touch after the traffic accident, his heart had plummeted along with Arou and Kanade's, but Eri had pulled through. She had not meant to be cruel. She had only wanted to protect Arou from seeing the bloody accident site.
Since his powers had surfaced, he had been alone. His mother smiled those quivering smiles. His brother stared at him with those shocked eyes. His father turned his back on him. His relatives murmured behind his back about his abnormality, and no one protected him from those hurtful words. They all turned away from him, leaving him to fend for himself.
He had been alone, and that had made him cynical.
But then came Kanade with her welcoming smiles and her acceptive nature. Next there was Arou, silent in his understanding, steady with his protectiveness. Marota soon became a new addition to his household, along with a still unnamed turtle. Recently, Ootake Yusuke was a lot less gruff with him, and then there was Eri and Kaichou's younger brother Shiya. Even Junta was opening up to him more. One by one, his world widened, leaving the darkness behind.
He was no longer alone. He reached out to Kanade, and now he found himself warm and comfortable. If he dared to reach out again, what would he find? Were rejection and betrayal waiting for him, or would he find acceptance and friendship? Was he strong enough to reach out once again? Kanade and Eri's relationship was something to be admired. His time spent with Eri today made him want to believe that perhaps...
After leaving the maid cafe, Masahiro wandered around the school. He dropped in at Arou's ghost house and had a good time scaring the ghosts that were supposed to scare him. He went back with Kanade to her classroom to help them put away the props. Afterwards, the trio wandered around visiting various booths. He ended up eating several servings of food from the booths. At one point, he lost sight of Kanade and Arou. No doubt they were stealing some time for themselves. He absentmindedly stared at the skewer of goma dango he held in his right hand.
He continued wandering around, poking his head into various classrooms. He finally found her in the deserted classroom amidst the battered remains of the ghost house. The props that had been carefully constructed were now scattered haphazardly across the floor. Kaichou was in the corner of the room, picking up the white sheets that her classmates had used to drape over the fake furniture.
"There you are," commented Masahiro.
She looked up, tiredness radiating off her. But despite her exhaustion, she smiled widely at him. "Were you looking for me?"
Masahiro nodded, holding out the skewer of goma dango. "I bet you haven't eaten anything since morning."
She lit up at the offering. "Goma dango! I certainly can use something sweet right now." She glanced at him questioningly. "But this is yours, isn't it?"
"I've already eaten my share. This is for you." He shoved it towards her once again, and she accepted with a quiet chuckle.
As she savored the sweet dango, she continued tidying up the place. Masahiro knelt down to help her. Kaichou looked so tired and lonely in the midst of those white sheets, and the messed up classroom only made it feel like a war and been fought and lost. He was about to ask her if she was okay when she filled in the silence herself.
"What do you think of today's festival? Do you think it went smoothly?" she asked, eagerness tinting her speech.
"It was...fabulous." Everything had been on schedule, and if there had been any complaints, Kaichou had taken care of it right away. "Everyone had fun." Including him, and he wasn't even part of the school.
"I'm relieved," she murmured as she started folding the white sheet that she had picked up.
Masahiro watched her in her task and frowned. "You don't exactly looked relieved to me. Just tired." He paused. "And sad."
Her hands stilled. "Really? I hadn't noticed."
I hadn't noticed.
How many times had those exact words caught himself by surprise in the past year? His brother had commented on his smile. He hadn't noticed that he was smiling so widely, so freely. But not noticing when one was happy wasn't a bad thing. When you finally did notice, it was like an extra gift, a gift that had crept upon you unnoticed. But sadness...not noticing when you were sad and then noticing...
"I don't know why I'm feeling this way. Maybe...maybe I just wanted to be part of the crowd for once," murmured Kaichou. "This is utterly unlike me. I mean, I LIKE my work. A lot."
She was always the one behind the scenes making sure everything went the way it was supposed to be. When people had problems, she was the one they went to for help. But after all was said and done, who was there for her?
"I'm just being silly, aren't I?" asked Kaichou, still not looking up from the white sheets in her hands. "I was watching Kanade in that play. She just looked so cute, and I couldn't help but think that she fit the role so well. If it had been me...I would have made a total mess out of the situation. I'm not at all suited to be a princess. I'm gangly and tall and boring and-"
He didn't know what had come over him, but he moved forward and pulled those sheets out of her hand, surprising her out of her speech. He threw the sheets around her with a grin.
"Who says you're not suited to be a princess? You look just the part even in white sheets."
She was speechless long enough to make Masahiro wonder if he had perhaps done something he shouldn't, but when her quiet laughter rang throughout the classroom, relief flooded through his entire being at finally seeing her spirits up.
"A princess in white sheets! But I won't be a very good princess without a knight." She glanced mournfully at the white sheets that weren't entirely...white. "And now the sheets are sticky because of the dango!"
"Forget the dango, you must be blind if you can't see the knight standing right in front of you!" claimed Masahiro. He knelt down grandly, extending his hand.
"May I have this dance?" he asked.
She nodded, laughter still dancing in her eyes, the lost look gone from her face. She finished off the dango and tossed it into the trash before placing her hand on his.
Although Kaichou was one of the most sensible people he knew, she was not insusceptible from the silly fairy tales of princesses and their knights. Though she did not dream of happily ever afters and true love kisses, she did dream of finally having someone who understood her, who understood that she was not just the person who made everything right, that sometimes even she needed to rely on others. She was a compassionate being strongly ruled by reason, but that wasn't why he knew that she would understand.
He pulled her close in the middle of their dance, his face against the side of hers. His heart pounded loudly in his ears, and he wondered if she could hear.
"I have something to tell you."
----to be continued-----
Next chapter kilohertz
This was essentially two chapters in one. Can you tell? There's um, a clear cut between the first two scenes and the third scene.
Title: Memories of the Future chapter 11
Fandom: Mekakushi no Kuni
Notes: Namiki-centric, for 30_kisses
Archive: lj / ffnet
Disclaimer: I do not own Mekakushi no Kuni and am making no profit from writing this.
Words: ~2672
-----chapter 11: #5 "ano sa"-----
With the play out of the way, Kanade was free for the rest of the day, though Eri and Arou both needed to return to their respective classes. Eri had her maid cafe and Arou had his ghost house to return to. Kanade looked down at her hand, the one that Ezawa had held during the play. She missed the sly grin that crossed over Namiki's face, her only warning before a hand reached out to grab her.
"Eeek!" gasped Kanade as Namiki pulled her close to him. She was almost up against his chest and could feel the rumbling as he talked.
"I guess this leaves Kanade all to myself!" he exclaimed.
Arou frowned darkly and proceeded to pull them apart, releasing her from Namiki's hold. Kanade breathed a sigh of relief, though it was short-lived as she fumbled to calm them down. Arou's overprotective tendencies were adorable though, and she thought she knew why Namiki liked to embrace her. He, like her, wanted to be touched but at the same time was afraid. As someone who shared the secret, Kanade was safe.
She wondered if Namiki was trying to reach out to Arou through their fights. There was certainly no shortage of contact there! Even now, they gripped each other's hands tightly as they tried to push each other down.
While the two boys bickered, Eri and Ezawa were off in a world of their own, oblivious to the trio's antics.
"Come to my cafe?" asked Eri, her eyes sparkling. Ezawa nodded, weaving his fingers in with Eri's as he ran his other hand through her short hair. When Kanade finally heard what the two were talking about, she scrambled to butt in.
"Um, Ezawa-san, let's go see the ghost house!" exclaimed Kanade suddenly.
All heads swiveled towards Kanade at her loud exclamation. She blushed at the attention and twiddled her thumbs. "Since uh, I didn't get to see last year's ghost house and um, Ezawa-san didn't either right?" At the end of her stumbling explanation, she raised her head and smiled widely.
Eri narrowed her eyes, looking back and forth between Kanade's nervous smile, Ezawa's blank expression, and Arou's concerned one. "I'd really rather he come to my cafe instead. I'll be so lonely if all of you leave me!" she said carefully.
Kanade glanced around at a lost. If she pulled Ezawa with her to Arou's ghost house, then Eri would really be all alone. Arou, Ezawa, and herself were all unavailable. Her eyes brightened when they landed on Namiki. "Namiki-san can accompany you then!" she blurted, hoping that would solve all the problems. She looked pleadingly at him, willing him to agree. She had to get Ezawa to stay away from the cafe.
Namiki raised his eyebrow. It made her feel like he knew exactly what was going on in her mind.
"I didn't volunteer myself, but..." he shrugged. "I could use a drink. Lead the way, Eri."
Eri pouted. "Oh, all right, as long as Ezawa doesn't mind...and all of you should drop by afterwards!"
-----
"Your drink."
She placed the iced tea down in front of him, the tea sloshing in the glass. After surveying the room, she set her tray down as she plopped into the seat across from him.
"Isn't it still your shift?" asked Masahiro. He took a sip of the iced tea, the cool liquid soothing his parched throat. He hadn't realized how dry his throat had become from speaking so much during the play.
Eri waved her hand in the air. "I'll get back up if someone needs their order taken." She licked her lips. "Besides, that doesn't matter. I have something to ask you."
Masahiro pushed the glass in front of him. He had a good idea of what Eri wanted to talk about. Eri was a perceptive person, even though her usual brashness seemed to speak otherwise. She was outgoing in ways that Kanade was not, and together the two friends balanced each other. Sometimes, like the time with Arou and the traffic accident, she could hurt someone without even knowing it, but she always had everyone's best interest at heart. Masahiro wasn't actually very close with Eri. He knew her as Kanade's friend, and then he knew her as someone who was in on their secret, and though she didn't completely understand, she tried her best. She was trustworthy.
"Kanade saw something, didn't she?" asked Eri in a hurry. She really was perceptive.
He barely nodded before she started firing her questions. "When? What? How? Who does it involve? Ezawa??" her words ran into each other in her rush. She leaned forward against the table.
"Woah, stop with the barrage of questions!" exclaimed Masahiro as he tried to think of just where he should start. He didn't know much, and he had rarely ever found himself in the need to explain such a situation.
"Most importantly, why didn't she tell me anything? I can help!" said Eri finally with a frown. She looked down from him, glaring at nothing in particular. The closest thing was his poor, innocent glass of iced tea. "Am I that unreliable?"
"And here I thought you were glaring at her for stealing your boyfriend," said Masahiro nonchalantly. He rested his face against his hand, watching amusedly as several expressions ran across Eri's face.
"What? No! Of course not! I was just suspicious that something was up..." Her words stopped abruptly. Something seemed to click.
"...oh."
She clenched her fists, her eyebrows furrowed. "Damn, I did it again, didn't I? Was that how I appeared? Did I hurt her?"
Masahiro grasped his straw and swirled the clinkering ice around the glass.
"Don't worry, I'm sure she didn't take it that way. We're talking about Kanade after all."
Eri breathed an audible sigh of relief. She slumped back against her chair, her eyes closed for the briefest moment. Masahiro watched as relief swept over Eri, and he watched how she quickly put away her relief to focus on the situation at hand. With her eyes focused, she asked about what she could do to help. He grinned against his straw. Eri had not once turned away from Kanade even after she knew. Instead, she was even more protective than ever.
Eri held out her hand. "Can you take a look at my future then? Maybe that might help? Oh wait, you can't see the future just like that can you..."
Masahiro almost laughed. Here she was, even asking him to take a look at her future to help her friends! He didn't know if she was truly that unafraid of their powers, or did she want to help so much that it overrode any fear she might have had?
"I can see whenever I want to, unlike Kanade. There's very little chance I'll see what Kanade saw however," murmured Masahiro, "but it's worth a try."
He lightly grasped her hand. "Are you sure you want me to take a look?" he asked.
Eri nodded resolutely.
He closed his eyes, focusing on seeing Eri's future. The world around him vanished, as did all of his previous thoughts.
There stood Eri in her puffy black dress. The tea shop was void of customers though the tables still needed to be cleared. Kanade peaked in from the doorway, unnoticed by Eri. She disappeared back into the hallway before pulling Ezawa into view. She pushed him towards Eri, and with a wave, she backed out of Masahiro's vision.
"Ezawa! You're here!" Eri turned around and jumped into Ezawa's arms. He swept her up in a circle, twirling in the middle of the classroom. Ezawa leaned down, and without exchanging another word, he pressed his lips against hers--
Masahiro snapped out of the vision. Seemed like someone got their happily-ever-after.
"What did you see?" asked Eri eagerly, her hand tightening on Masahiro's.
"You and Ezawa kissing," he replied.
"WHAAAAAT?" exclaimed Eri, jumping out of her seat and dragging Masahiro halfway up as well with her grip on his hand. She quickly let his hand go, and he slid back into his chair gratefully. "That's all you saw? That doesn't help at all! It's useless!"
"Pretty much," replied Masahiro in a shrug. "But I take this to be a good sign. Whatever bad future Kanade had seen, it seems to have already been averted. The future's not set in stone after all."
Eri blinked. "Oh, well, that doesn't sound too bad." She picked up her service tray with a sigh.
"Is it always like this?" asked Eri. "All this worry about what might happen...I never noticed how much Kanade had to go through. I feel like an idiot, smiling so happily when she's always been worrying like this!"
"You keep on smiling," murmured Masahiro. "It makes it all worth it for Kanade."
-----
When Kanade had wanted to confess to Eri, Masahiro had supported her decision. Only the slightest doubt had plagued Masahiro. It came from his cynical side that refused to believe that there could ever be anyone who would wholeheartedly accept people like him, like Kanade and Arou. When Eri had flinched from Arou's touch after the traffic accident, his heart had plummeted along with Arou and Kanade's, but Eri had pulled through. She had not meant to be cruel. She had only wanted to protect Arou from seeing the bloody accident site.
Since his powers had surfaced, he had been alone. His mother smiled those quivering smiles. His brother stared at him with those shocked eyes. His father turned his back on him. His relatives murmured behind his back about his abnormality, and no one protected him from those hurtful words. They all turned away from him, leaving him to fend for himself.
He had been alone, and that had made him cynical.
But then came Kanade with her welcoming smiles and her acceptive nature. Next there was Arou, silent in his understanding, steady with his protectiveness. Marota soon became a new addition to his household, along with a still unnamed turtle. Recently, Ootake Yusuke was a lot less gruff with him, and then there was Eri and Kaichou's younger brother Shiya. Even Junta was opening up to him more. One by one, his world widened, leaving the darkness behind.
He was no longer alone. He reached out to Kanade, and now he found himself warm and comfortable. If he dared to reach out again, what would he find? Were rejection and betrayal waiting for him, or would he find acceptance and friendship? Was he strong enough to reach out once again? Kanade and Eri's relationship was something to be admired. His time spent with Eri today made him want to believe that perhaps...
After leaving the maid cafe, Masahiro wandered around the school. He dropped in at Arou's ghost house and had a good time scaring the ghosts that were supposed to scare him. He went back with Kanade to her classroom to help them put away the props. Afterwards, the trio wandered around visiting various booths. He ended up eating several servings of food from the booths. At one point, he lost sight of Kanade and Arou. No doubt they were stealing some time for themselves. He absentmindedly stared at the skewer of goma dango he held in his right hand.
He continued wandering around, poking his head into various classrooms. He finally found her in the deserted classroom amidst the battered remains of the ghost house. The props that had been carefully constructed were now scattered haphazardly across the floor. Kaichou was in the corner of the room, picking up the white sheets that her classmates had used to drape over the fake furniture.
"There you are," commented Masahiro.
She looked up, tiredness radiating off her. But despite her exhaustion, she smiled widely at him. "Were you looking for me?"
Masahiro nodded, holding out the skewer of goma dango. "I bet you haven't eaten anything since morning."
She lit up at the offering. "Goma dango! I certainly can use something sweet right now." She glanced at him questioningly. "But this is yours, isn't it?"
"I've already eaten my share. This is for you." He shoved it towards her once again, and she accepted with a quiet chuckle.
As she savored the sweet dango, she continued tidying up the place. Masahiro knelt down to help her. Kaichou looked so tired and lonely in the midst of those white sheets, and the messed up classroom only made it feel like a war and been fought and lost. He was about to ask her if she was okay when she filled in the silence herself.
"What do you think of today's festival? Do you think it went smoothly?" she asked, eagerness tinting her speech.
"It was...fabulous." Everything had been on schedule, and if there had been any complaints, Kaichou had taken care of it right away. "Everyone had fun." Including him, and he wasn't even part of the school.
"I'm relieved," she murmured as she started folding the white sheet that she had picked up.
Masahiro watched her in her task and frowned. "You don't exactly looked relieved to me. Just tired." He paused. "And sad."
Her hands stilled. "Really? I hadn't noticed."
I hadn't noticed.
How many times had those exact words caught himself by surprise in the past year? His brother had commented on his smile. He hadn't noticed that he was smiling so widely, so freely. But not noticing when one was happy wasn't a bad thing. When you finally did notice, it was like an extra gift, a gift that had crept upon you unnoticed. But sadness...not noticing when you were sad and then noticing...
"I don't know why I'm feeling this way. Maybe...maybe I just wanted to be part of the crowd for once," murmured Kaichou. "This is utterly unlike me. I mean, I LIKE my work. A lot."
She was always the one behind the scenes making sure everything went the way it was supposed to be. When people had problems, she was the one they went to for help. But after all was said and done, who was there for her?
"I'm just being silly, aren't I?" asked Kaichou, still not looking up from the white sheets in her hands. "I was watching Kanade in that play. She just looked so cute, and I couldn't help but think that she fit the role so well. If it had been me...I would have made a total mess out of the situation. I'm not at all suited to be a princess. I'm gangly and tall and boring and-"
He didn't know what had come over him, but he moved forward and pulled those sheets out of her hand, surprising her out of her speech. He threw the sheets around her with a grin.
"Who says you're not suited to be a princess? You look just the part even in white sheets."
She was speechless long enough to make Masahiro wonder if he had perhaps done something he shouldn't, but when her quiet laughter rang throughout the classroom, relief flooded through his entire being at finally seeing her spirits up.
"A princess in white sheets! But I won't be a very good princess without a knight." She glanced mournfully at the white sheets that weren't entirely...white. "And now the sheets are sticky because of the dango!"
"Forget the dango, you must be blind if you can't see the knight standing right in front of you!" claimed Masahiro. He knelt down grandly, extending his hand.
"May I have this dance?" he asked.
She nodded, laughter still dancing in her eyes, the lost look gone from her face. She finished off the dango and tossed it into the trash before placing her hand on his.
Although Kaichou was one of the most sensible people he knew, she was not insusceptible from the silly fairy tales of princesses and their knights. Though she did not dream of happily ever afters and true love kisses, she did dream of finally having someone who understood her, who understood that she was not just the person who made everything right, that sometimes even she needed to rely on others. She was a compassionate being strongly ruled by reason, but that wasn't why he knew that she would understand.
He pulled her close in the middle of their dance, his face against the side of hers. His heart pounded loudly in his ears, and he wondered if she could hear.
"I have something to tell you."
----to be continued-----
Next chapter kilohertz
This was essentially two chapters in one. Can you tell? There's um, a clear cut between the first two scenes and the third scene.