>>SiekaAh! It's another gekikara reader!
*run away from gekikara-sieka-san*
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Anyway, sorry for taking so long with this update.
Took me a while to get this plot into words.
Didn't do too good though, since the chapter is really long.
Is it just me or are my chapters getting longer and longer?Anyway, enjoy!
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Everyone gradually left the dining hall to return to their own room as it was starting to get late. There wasn’t a lot of people in the dining hall now, just one or two that were doing their homework, the staff working in the kitchen, and the four girls. Seeing that the dining hall was almost empty now, Rena took out her phone and checked the time. It was nearly half past 8. Rena wanted to get back to her room and sleep early considering it’s been a really tiring day for her, but she didn’t want to be the first to depart.
Seeing Rena’s tired eyes struggling with some thoughts in her mind, Masana smiled and waved a hand in front of Rena, “Hey, Rena, you okay? You tired?” Rena blinked at Masana then gave a small nod. The head girl took out her own phone and looked at the time. “Ah, no wonder, it’s pretty late. Guess we should go back now aye? I got some work to do anyway,” she said as she pushed herself from the table then stood up from her seat. The girls all stood up and pushed in their chairs and made way for their own room.
“Ah! Rena! Wait!” Kanako ran after her. Rena stopped and turned around, curious at what the girl wanted. The smaller girl took out her phone and said, “Let’s exchange mail address! So I can talk to you when I get bored from doing homework!”
Taking out her own phone, Rena smiled at the girl’s energetic face, “Okay.” It didn’t take that long, just a few seconds, and a beep came from both phones, indicating the completion of the exchange of details. “I can’t promise I’ll return every mail you give me though,” Rena said to Kanako as the girl ran back to Masana who was waiting for her.
“It’s okay! I’ll just keep mailing you until you do! Have a good night, Rena! You too, Airin!” Kanako yelled across the hall way and followed Masana who was already starting to make her way back to her own room.
Rena let out a small nervous laugh, “Ehehehe... she’s going to spam mail me?” Then she turned around and walked back the way she came from. The whole time she walked, she could hear Airi’s footsteps shuffling behind her, apart from that, there was silence around them as they walked as everyone has already gone back to their room and neither of the two talked.
Suddenly, Rena stopped walking. Airi, who had her head down the whole time, staring at Rena’s feet, couldn’t stop herself in time and bumped into Rena. “Ah, I’m sorry, Rena-san! I wasn’t looking at where I was going! I’m sorry!” Airi backed away and kept on bowing in apology. Airi mentally facepalmed herself for not paying attention. She made a mental note to herself to learn to stop day dreaming while walking with Rena. Now Rena was going to think she’s weird.
Rena turned around and waved her hands around, “It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault anyway. It was my fault for stopping so suddenly. I just... kind of forgot how to get back.” She scratched the back of her head and looked away, feeling embarrassed again for not remember where to walk. But it wasn’t her fault though, for not remembering the way. She wasn’t paying attention when they walked to the dining hall because all her attention was given to Airi as she was looking at her face through the reflection on the windows the whole time.
Rena thought to herself for a while, and then decided, maybe it really was Airi’s fault for bumping into her. Because if she wasn’t so cute, then Rena wouldn’t had had her full attention on her as they made their way to the dining hall. Which would mean that Rena would probably at least remember most of the way back and she wouldn’t had to stop where she was standing right now and Airi wouldn’t had crashed into her. So maybe, in one way or another, it was somehow Airi’s fault for crashing into Rena. Her own fault for being so cute. Rena smiled at the thought.
“I um... I can uh... walk you back if you want... since um... it’s the same way...” Airi said in a really small voice, her eyes taking a sudden interest in her own shoes. Her feet rubbing against each other, like some nervous boys does when they’re asking their crush out. Except, Airi wasn’t asking Rena out. She just feels weird around Rena. She didn’t understand why she felt so uneasy around Rena, even when they’re in a group. She had never felt like that before. Ever since this morning, when she made that brief eye contact with Rena when she was introduced to the class, Airi found it almost impossible to meet her eyes again. Or at least, not without her face burning up like it’s on fire.
‘Something is definitely wrong with me,’ Airi thought to herself as she walked down the hallway.
Rena followed Airi and thanked her as they walked, “Thank you, Airin.” She looked at Airi when she abruptly stopped in her track and looked at Rena with her eyes widening to the size of a fist. Realizing the reason for Airi’s surprised look Rena panicked, thinking that she offended Airi with the call of her nickname, “Ah! I’m sorry, I didn’t ask! Is it okay for me to call you Airin? Because I heard Kanakana calling you that... and I thought that you would be fine by it and... I didn’t mean to offend you!” Rena decided to call her newly-made friends by their nicknames just now because she realized that the head girl was right, when calling people with honorifics, it does really pull apart that closeness between friends. She really didn’t mean to offend Airi in anyway, if that was what she did.
Seeing Airi look away with an even pinker face, made Rena realized that she didn’t offend the girl. “I-It’s okay... I... I don’t mind Rena-san calling me that.” Airi said in a really small voice.
‘I actually like Rena-san calling me that...’ Airi thought to herself as she continued to walk again.
Rena sighed in relief when Airi told her it was fine. She was so scared that she offended the girl, but it seems like she was just thinking too much. Rena could start hearing whispers of voices and soft laughter echoing throughout the hallway as she and Airi reached the dormitory floor. There were still girls who were hanging around, chatting casually with each other. Most of them were out of their school uniform already. The two girls stopped in front of the door marked 022. “Is this your room?” Rena asked, wondering why they stopped.
Airi nodded. “Rena-san’s room is further down the hallway, near the end. Just keep walking and you’ll get there.” Airi said as she pointed down the hallway.
“Thank you, Airin,” Rena thanked her with a small bow. “Have a good night, Airin,” She whispered as the girl closed her door behind her.
Airi leaned her back against the door of her room.
DOKIDOKIThere was something about the way Rena calls her name that just makes her heart beats faster. Though Airi didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was just because Rena’s voice has a really nice ring when she speaks, or maybe, it was just because, it was Rena. Nothing about Rena makes Airi feel normal. However, no matter how uneasy Rena makes Airi feels, for some more unknown reasons, Airi wanted to talk to Rena again. Airi knock the back of her head against the door, trying to knock the thoughts away from her mind. She took a deep breath and walked into the bathroom in her room, hoping that a warm bath would clear her mind.
***
It didn’t take long for Rena to reach her destination, but Rena felt all her energy was drained by the time she stood outside her room. She reached for the door knob but then hesitated when she heard a voice inside her room.
‘Is Jurina back already?’ Rena pressed her ear against the door, trying to make out what the voice was saying on the other side.
“How’re you feeling? You ate yet?” There was a small pause. Rena realized that Jurina was talking on the phone. It was already obvious that Jurina doesn’t seem to like Rena’s existence much, and since Rena didn’t want to make the relationship between the two of them even worst, she stayed outside listened on, not wanting to barge into the room in the middle of Jurina’s conversation.
“You better eat some more, you need all your energy to recover okay? And don’t leave your room, especially with the condition of your leg. Even though I already dealt with the girl that pushed you down the hill, I can’t guarantee the girl won’t come after you again.” There was an even longer pause.
Rena could hear the voice softening when it spoke again.
“I know, I know. I’ll apologize. But you know how I get when you’re like that and some stranger stands near you.”“Yeah, alright. I’ll try be nicer to her okay? Now go sleep, I’ll come wake you up tomorrow. Even though your leg is hurt, don’t you even think about wagging class,” There was a small chuckle and the voice didn’t speak again.
Guessing that was the end of the conversation, Rena reached for the door and opened it. “I’m back,” she mumbled as she closed the door behind her, remembering that Jurina likes the door to be kept closed. Rena gave a quick glance at Jurina before turning to her wardrobe. Jurina was lying on her bed and was fiddling around with the phone strap that was hanging off her white phone. Her face looked as if she was deep in thought. Rena grabbed a set of fresh clothes and made her way to the bathroom. Even though she knew the chances of getting a reply is very low, before entering she still looked at Jurina and asked in the nicest voice she could manage, “I need to use the bathroom now, are you using it?”
Jurina stopped her action and was going to ask Rena to go take a shower somewhere else since Jurina doesn’t really want to share a bathroom, but then she stopped herself from saying those words. First thing that she thought about was, where else could Rena shower if not in this room? Since the boarding house made it so that there is a bathroom in each room instead of only having one massive bathroom. Then her mind flicked back to the words that Akane said to her before Rena came back.
“Rena was just there to help me in the dining hall you know, when Kuumin was cleaning my leg. Rena wasn’t going to do anything bad to me. Be nicer to her, Jurina-chan, like Rena was to me. Rena is a nice girl. She would make a good friend. Don’t let the fact that she shares the same family name as you annoy you.”Jurina smiled at the words, Akane really did know her well. So well that Jurina didn’t even need to say anything and the girl would know exactly what it was that was troubling her. Deciding to listen to the girl’s words, Jurina pushed herself up and looked at Rena. Jurina gave the girl a small smile, the sort of smile that she gives Akane, Kumi and Mizuki. Not the dazzling playful one that she gives to the other girls at school when Jurina is messing around. She pushed the knowledge of Rena’s family name out of her mind and spoke in the best voice she could manage, “I’m already done. You can use it if you want.”
Rena won’t deny the surprise she felt when Jurina actually answered the question that Rena wasn’t expecting to be answered. And on top of that, Jurina actually smiled at her and there was warmth in her voice, compared to the coldness of her voice earlier in the afternoon. Not knowing what else to say at the unexpected answer, Rena just nodded and closed the bathroom door behind her.
Upon hearing the sound of the rushing water, Jurina relaxed herself back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling.
‘Churi was right, it wasn’t actually that hard.’ Jurina thought to herself as she recalled the warmth she had in her own voice when she replied Rena. Already, just by saying one thing to that girl nicely, Jurina could already feel the dislike she had for Rena before starting to fade away. Jurina started to feel a bit of nervousness as she thought about what else Akane asked her to do.
‘You should apologize to Rena when she comes back, about what happened in the dining room. Oh, and can you please thank her for me? I mean, I will probably thank her myself tomorrow as well in class, but, I might forget, so, please Jurina-chan, thank her for me!’What was she going to say? How was she going to say it? Would Rena actually just forgive her after she was being so cold to the girl? Jurina started fiddling with her phone strap again. It was a habit that she had whenever she feels nervous or is troubled about something. She would keep rubbing the little bird on her phone strap, the one that Akane gave to her before they came to the school. Jurina always feel calmer after.
The nervousness returned when Jurina heard the sound of the water being turned off. Rena was done. Then making the already nervous Jurina jump, Rena spoke from within the bathroom, “Um, Jurina-san?”
“Y-Yeah?”
“I... um... I forgot to bring in a towel...”
“Ha-?” Jurina’s mouth hanged open.
“Is it okay if I can ask you to get mine from my wardrobe please?” Rena tried to ask nicely. She knew she was asking too much of Jurina, heck, she doesn’t even know if Jurina would even care about Rena not having a towel. But Rena had no choice, she could either ask Jurina, or she could walk out of the bathroom fully naked and get her towel. And seeing that Jurina, for some reason, was really nice to her just then, Rena chose the first option.
“Be nicer to her, Jurina-chan.”Akane’s voice rang in her head again. Jurina groaned, this had to be the worst AND the most difficult day she had ever lived through in her life. She would definitely rather beat up a few more bullies than to answer this request from Rena. Jurina slid off her bed and asked as she walked towards Rena’s wardrobe, “Where is it?”
“Uh, you’ll see it when you open the wardrobe. It’s hooked onto the back of the door.”
She opened the wardrobe.
‘Wow, so neat...’ Was the first thought that came into mind when Jurina scanned through Rena’s wardrobe. Jurina knew there was absolutely no way her own wardrobe could ever look as neat as that, since Jurina had to change clothes at least three times a day due to sports practices. Before, she could keep it really neat, but after a while, because she was always in a rush to get change, she just threw her clothes inside her wardrobe, too lazy to even bother to hang them up. The only clothes she ever bothers to hang up is her school uniform. She pulled the door open further and grabbed the green towel that was hanged up. Jurina could smell Rena from her towel when she took it down, and to be honest, she found Rena’s smell really sweet and soothing. Jurina slapped herself,
‘What am I thinking? Gah, I’m turning into that Furukawa pervert in my class!’“Um, Jurina-san, I’m not rushing you or anything, but um... if you’re getting my towel, can you please hurry up a bit? And if you’re not, can you at least tell me? It’s getting a bit chilly in here.” A small sneeze came from the inside of the bathroom, backing up Rena’s comment about the bathroom starting to get cold.
Jurina quickly closed the wardrobe and knocked on the bathroom door. “It’s not locked,” Rena said, followed by another sneeze. Not locking the bathroom door was an old habit Rena had since she was really small. In her old home, because her parent’s mansion was located high up in the mountain, whenever the weather gets slightly bad, they always get a power cut. Almost every time when the mansion blacks out, Rena would be taking a bath and since she was scared of the dark when she was small Rena would always cry for the maids whenever that happens. However, since the bathroom was locked, the maid couldn’t do anything until the power comes back on. After a while, Rena just decided to stop locking the door.
Jurina kept her eyes away from the door as she pushed it open just wide enough to stick her other arm in. She waved the towel around, telling Rena to get it. Not feeling any reaction coming from Rena, Jurina turned around. Jurina’s eyes widened when she saw the reflection of Rena’s back on the mirror. She swallowed as she forced her eyes to look somewhere else other than Rena’s smooth back. “Um... R-Rena, y-your towel,” Jurina forced the words out, trying really hard not let Rena’s reflection on the mirror fall back into the range of her sight.
Confused and surprised at the fact that Jurina used her first name and the way she was stuttering with her words, which is something Rena would never expect coming from Jurina, she turned around. Seeing that the door was still almost close, Rena was getting even more confused at why Jurina was speaking like that. Then realization hit Rena as she saw the mirror.
‘Oh, that’s why...’ Rena’s face burned up and she quickly grabbed the towel and thanked Jurina as she covered herself with it. She could see Jurina’s turned away face in the mirror. Rena knows that most of the time, if you can see someone in the mirror, chances are, they can too.
Feeling Rena taking the towel from her hand, Jurina retreated and closed the door. She could feel her own face burning up as she recall the sight of Rena’s naked back. Out of all the girls in her class whose back she has seen whenever they get change for sports, Rena’s back was by far the best. Although slightly skinny, Rena’s back was really beautiful. Jurina can almost picture the smooth texture of Rena’s back just from one small glance at it. Jurina buried her face in her pillow as she jumped back onto her bed,
‘Furukawa’s perverted mind is DEFINITELY rubbing onto me.’Rena walked out the bathroom and hanged her wet towel on the drying rack. She tried not to make too much noise as Jurina looked like she was asleep with her face in her pillow. Rena laid herself on her bed and finally relaxed her entire body, letting the tiredness from her first day at this school wash over her. Before she could close her eyes, Rena’s phone beeped. She reached up on her table and opened her phone. A mail from an unknown number. Rena’s raised her eyebrow in suspicious but still read the mail as her curiosity took over.
From: Unidentified number
Rena, hey, it’s Masana. Kanakana fell asleep already, while doing her homework. I needed to tell you something so I decided to get your number from her phone, I hope you don’t mind.
Just wanted to say that lights out at 10pm. Breakfast starts serving from 7am. I would recommend you to wake up at 6 or 6:30 to get ready, but that all depends on how fast you can sort out yourself. If you want, we can come wake you up and take you to the dining hall in case you’ve forgotten the way.
Anyway, have a nice sleep!
Good night!
MasanyaRena smiled at the mail and quickly saved the head girl’s number on her phone then typed in a short reply.
Thank you, Masana-san. I’ll keep the lights out time in mind.
And it’s okay, I’ll wake up by myself. I remember the way, and if anything happens, I can always go find Airin to lead the way. Thanks for the offer though!
(れ・ω・な)A voice startled Rena as she closed her phone, “It’s funny to see you read mail.” Rena looked up and saw Jurina lying on her bed on her side with her head resting on her hand that was holding her head up. She blinked at the girl, confused at what Jurina meant and most importantly, why she was talking to her. “You smile when you were reading your mail and your smile got bigger when you were replying. Haven’t you even noticed that?” Jurina pointed out.
Rena shook her head in reply to Jurina’s statement. She know just shaking her head won’t keep the conversation going, which is something she really wanted to do right now because Jurina was actually the one starting the conversation. But she was just too shock and surprised at how Jurina is acting so far. The way Jurina treated her before dinner and during dinner was a complete opposite of how she’s treating her right now and it was confusing Rena’s mind so much she can’t actually think clearly.
The sound of a soft chime from the hallway broke Rena’s thought. She looked at Jurina again. “Lights out chime,” Jurina said as she lay back on her bed and pulled the covers over herself. Rena nodded then she too, climbed into the warm covers of her new bed. “Good night, Rena.” Jurina’s voice came from the other side of the room.
Rena, though still surprised at Jurina’s sudden kindness, whispered back, “Good night, Jurina.” She closed her eyes as she start to feel the sleep demon overtake her mind. However before sleep completely took over, she heard Jurina whisper in a really small voice,
“I’m sorry.”