Dun Duuunnnnn~~~
That's right, updates!
I'm still new at this so I hope the writing isn't too awkward.
(Oh, and I changed the supposedly 'prologue' into chapter 1.1. It seems to fit better this way)
________Chapter 1.2
Flashback three months ago “Nyaaaaan-Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!”
An overly energetic sprinting squirrel-like girl squealed and then proceed to jump on her best friend pulling the taller girl into a tight embrace, earning a slight yelp.
“I missed you, I missed you. Nyan-Nyan! Nyan-Nyan!” Yuko hopped in place still holding on to her friend.
“I know, but it's only been one day, no, not even a day. About ten hours since we last saw each other.” Haruna said stroking the squirrel's soft hair to calm the girl down a little. Over the years they have been friends, Haruna has become more open about returning the girl's affections in public. Every now and then she would return the hugs and if Yuko is lucky enough, some pecks on the cheek.
“I miss you anyways,” Yuko pouted. Haruna felt a smile tugging her lips but managed to suppress it. Yuko noticing this, grinned widely, placed a short kiss on the taller girl's lips, then slid away fleeing herself from the upcoming wrath of a flustered Haruna.
“Hey!” Haruna shouted and ran after the squirrel. Being angry about the kiss is one thing, but catching up to the ace of the track team is definitely another thing.
“You two never fail to amuse me” A voice chimed in.
“Mii-chan!”
“Good morning Haruna. I can see that you're have a good time.” Mii-chan smirked. Haruna gave an exasperated sigh and walked towards the bus stop ignoring the two idiots. Mii-chan gestured Yuko over to the incoming bus. The ride to school was a noisy one with Yuko and Mii-chan betting who the high-scorer would be for their last English test.
The day passed by smoothly. Haruna received a completely unexpected score of 90 in her English test, which shocked her whole circle of friends except for Yuko who responded plainly with 'because Nyan-Nyan is amazing'. Mii-chan couldn't help but playfully elbow the squirrel for being too sweet. Haruna was then forced to ignore the constant snickers and smirks directed at her by Mii-chan for the rest of the period. During lunch, Yuko bought everyone juice, much to her dismay, because she bet that Maeda Atsuko, the forever spaced-out class ace, will score higher than Mii-chan's pick, the cheery Kasai Tomomi. It was a close call though, Yuko would've won if it wasn't for the list-the-days-of-the-week question.
-----
“Want to come over today?” Haruna said absentmindedly as she and Yuko stood in front of the school entrance after finishing their club practice. Yuko glanced over to see the taller girl staring off into space. There was undoubtedly something bothering Haruna at the moment, but she did not know what it was.
“Sure.”
Yuko contemplated whether or not to press on the issue, but concluded that her best friend would tell her some time or the other when she felt like it. The fact that she was invited to go over to Haruna's house meant that Haruna wanted her company at a time like this. The shorter girl began thinking about every possible event that could be a trigger to this unusual attitude of the taller girl. Is it something to do with the ever increasing amount of confessions she has been receiving from literally everyone? Or is it about her upcoming band performance? Or did she have a fight with the band members just now. Grades? No, that can't be it. What about family issues? Yuko furrowed her eyebrows and scratched her head violently.
“Yuu-chan, you don't need to look so stressed out.” Haruna said. “There's nothing wrong. I was just spacing out.” She added knowingly. “Can we do homework the first thing we get home? There's this movie I want to watch with you.”
Yuko eye bulging expression was quickly replaced by a wide sunny smile that showed her dimples clearly. “Yatta~! I'm so happy! Ahaha hahahaha. Nyan-Nyan, will I get to do lovey-dovey stuff with you after that?” Yuko moved her hand into a groping motion.
Pwhack!
“Owwie. That hurts Nyan-Nyan.” Yuko faked a sob as she rubbed her head.
“That's what you get for being a pervert.” Haruna said and stomp ahead. The shorter girl jogged to catch up, but seeing the look on her friend's face and the 'Hmph' that she received in response made her attempt falter. The taller girl quickened her steps and Yuko ended following her from behind. Haruna continued to ignore her by looking out the windows once they got onto the bus. Yuko pulled out her phone to text Mii-chan.
Mii-chan, Nyan is completely ignoring me right now. Wut do. Message sent.
She closed her phone and sits idly watching people get enter and exit waiting for the reply. Mii-chan, being Mii-chan, is lazing around on her bed reading shoujo mangas oblivious to the vibration of her phone. Yuko checked her phone again after a few minutes and frowned at the blank screen, which means that she'll be stuck alone in this situation.
The bus came to a stop and Haruna stood up to exit the bus. They walked along in silence until they reached Haruna's house. The taller girl drew the keys from her bag to unlock the gates and left it ajar as she walked in towards the front door. Yuko followed her in, closing the gates behind her.
“Nyan-Nyan,” Yuko said. “I'm sorry. Please don't be mad.”
“I'm not mad,” Haruna replied as she opened the door for the squirrel. “Come in.”
“Excuse me for the intrusion~..” Yuko said stepping into the house. “You're really not mad? Like really, really, really, not even a tiniest hint of madness?”
“Mmm.. I'm not mad, at least not right now.”
“So you were mad.”
“You can go to my room first, I'll bring some snacks and water up.” Haruna opened the refrigerator pulling out a canton of orange juice.
“Let me help you,” Yuko offered but Haruna shook her head and gestured Yuko upstairs.
Yuko flopped down face first onto the soft bedsheets breathing in a lungful of Haruna's scent. She hummed in contentment to herself. She thought about the cat-like girl how that has been mainly the only thing that occupies her mind. There would be times when she caught herself staring at Haruna's inattentive face during class. The girl would also spontaneously pop up in her head while she runs in practice. These feelings are confusing and weird in a way that Yuko cannot describe in words. They've been friends since childhood, being basically neighbors and all, and she has taken a great liking on the girl but not until recently has she found herself acting this way. Yuko rolled over to face the ceiling placing a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. Thinking too much has made her brain itchy. She didn't understand any of this at all.
Suddenly the door creaked open, revealing Haruna holding a tray. The shorter girl rushed over to help place their beverage and snacks on the table. After that Yuko sat down on the floor and stretching her arms out across the table.
“So.. What homework do we have today? ” Yuko munched on a cookie happily.
“Just science, I think. Do odd numbered questions 10-41 on the textbook.” Haruna read, flipping though the textbook pages boringly. “I'll just copy off the answers from the back..”
“No.”
Taken aback by the seriousness in Yuko's voice, Haruna frowned and lifted her face to meet Yuko's gaze. Yuko has a stern look on her face, so Haruna eyed her a questioning look.
“This is exactly the reason why a lot of people don't like you, Haruna.” Yuko said sounding a tad harsher than how she wanted it to. “Uh. I'm sorry, Nyan-Nyan. I didn't mean it that way..”
“Mmm.. No, it's okay. I should be the one who's sorry though, for saying things like that. I understand where you're coming from. I mean, I know I have quite an amount of haters at school. Even so, I don't think I can change the way I am now,” Haruna smiled, “But I'll try my best, Yuu-chan. Now lets do the problems separately and share them when we're done.”
“Okay~”
It took them about an hour to finish the problems. Yuko jumped up and shouted a 'Yay!' Then a song sounded in the room, Haruna picked up her phone making Yuko do the same. The squirrel saw a new message from Mii-chan and giggled at its contents.
My bet is that she called you a pervert for saying perverted things and/or touching her in a perverted way. Way to go my perverted buddy! Four 'pervert's in two sentences. Certainly not cool, but as bad either. The squirrel was sure the Mii-chan can fit in ten 'pervert's in one sentence if she wanted to, and this one only had four, so everything went better than expected. Yuko grinned and began typing on her phone.
Pfft. We made up already and I'm in her room. We're just about to pounce on each other if your message didn't interrupt me.
Message sent.
Almost immediately, Mii-chan replied.
At last! The Great Pervy Oshima is getting some action!!!!!!111!!1111111 Yuko flinched her nose playfully at the sarcastic message and quickly tapped down a reply.
Unlike youuuuuuuu~ Message sent.
“... Mmm... Mmm.. See you, bye.” Haruna flipped her phone closed.
“Who called?”
“Oh, it was mom. She said that she and dad will be coming home late, didn't say why though, and won't be eating dinner.” Haruna answered and then appeared to be deep in thought. She shifted in her seat and looked at her nails. There is definitely something wrong here, Yuko thought. She felt obliged to figure out the reason to Haruna's discomfort and she must do it now. The shorter girl sat down next to her friend and placed her arm around the girl's shoulder giving it a light squeeze. Haruna slowly looked up and gave a weak smile.
“Lately... I've been thinking a lot.. about you, Yuu-chan.” Yuko felt her eyes widen but kept her composure. Haruna, shaking her head, added, “I don't know.”
The heavy feeling in Yuko's chest amplified. There is this tint to Haruna's words that makes it different from everything else she had encountered before. Scrambling for a reply, Yuko inwardly slapped herself when a laughing fit almost made its way out of her mouth due to her dread to escape this situation.
Dejected by Yuko's quietness, Haruna fought off the rising wetness in her eyes and whispered out, “I'm sorry.” Yuko, acting on impulse, wrapped her arms around the taller girl and pulled her close. Haruna clutched onto Yuko's cardigan and sank her face into Yuko's neck. Yuko could feel Haruna's breath tingling her skin as she stroked the girl's hair.
“I'm sorry,” Haruna whispered again pulling out of the embrace.
“For what?” Yuko said softly.
“Never mind. I'll take the glasses downstairs then.”
“Alright.”
Haruna stood up and exited the room, leaving Yuko with a blank look on her face. The sounds of Haruna footsteps can still be heard in the room. Yuko titled her head from side to side trying to digest the earlier situation. Yuko didn't know where to start, so she just sat there repeating what Haruna said in her head over and over. This is what she does when she was presented with an incomprehensible piece of writing in class, read it repetitively until she gets a clue of its context. Haruna has been thinking about her a lot. It's not like Haruna said anything complicated, she fully understood that, but the way it was said that bugged her to no end, and that apology afterwards too. Yuko, being quirky as she was, rolled around the room as she thinks.
Haruna flicked on the tap to let water flow through the juice glasses. When they were clean, she rinsed them and placed them on the metal rack above the sink that is used for drying cooking utensils. She let out a sigh and squeezed the bridge of her nose. It was careless of her for letting her emotions take over, and now she needed to find a way to deal with the awkwardness that would surely ensue once she reenters her room to face Yuko. A part of her blamed her cowardly nature for backing out halfway and the other part was relieved because Yuko gave mixed responses. She let out another sigh as she walked into the living room. Haruna tried act as normal as possible and forget about the earlier event, if that is possible. It would be better this way. Yuko is too important for her to risk their friendship. She was able to keep her affections for her miniature friend in check for years, even if it's becoming increasingly harder to control, so there are no reasons to ruin everything now.
The tension elevated along with every step she took up the stairs. At last she stood in front of her room's door. Taking a deep breath, Haruna twisted the knob and pushed the door open..
Twuck!
The door collided into a blunt solid mass. Haruna peered into the room through the gap to see Yuko, who happens to roll to the door just in time to get hit, curled up clenching the back of her head.
“Aauuueeghhhhhh....” Yuko groaned. Then suddenly a magical light bulb went 'ding!' above her head. She could hear Haruna fumbling worriedly in the background as she lay motionless on the floor, but it didn't really matter at the moment. All the pieces clicked into place. She knew she was kind of thick, but didn't expect it to be this bad.
“Yuu-chan, are you okay? Does your head hurt?” Haruna asked, kneeling down to touch the sore spot on the back of Yuko's head.
“Haruna, are you in love with me?” All of Haruna's movements stopped and Yuko internally smacked her forehead for sprouting the question. Haruna withdrew her hand and looked to the side.
“Yes I am.”
“I see...” Yuko raised herself up into a sitting position. “Lets watch the movie, Nyan-Nyan.” She laughed and tugged on Haruna's arm.
Haruna knew that the sudden change in mood was Yuko's way of either rejecting her or avoiding the problem. The ambiguity of her friend frustrated her to an extent, but Haruna thought that it was partially her fault for putting Yuko in an uncomfortable situation in the first place.
And just like that, the topic was never brought up again.
End of Flashback_________
Thanks for reading...
Suggestions are welcomed, especially on the title. I still don't know how I should name this, as of now.
Topic: oist's stuff: Season of Oranges (update: 2/4/12) (Read 12510 times)