19 KiB
Waking up to a blaring, unfamiliar noise is a miserable experience. It's disorienting and annoying, especially when soon after you remember why it's unfamiliar. Especially when you find yourself awake enough to remember it's the alarm of some stranger's guest room. Especially when you remember why you're here, after a really good couple weeks had turned into a waking nightmare made only mildly better by its suspension. Especially when you know it's bound to come back.
This is partially why, on this particular morning, Hibari was not having any fun at all.
The girl snoozes the alarm and lays back down, staring at the ceiling, watching the way the light from the window behind her lit up the drywall above. She just lays there for a bit, unblinking. Was it for a few minutes? Ten? More? Doesn't really matter to her, right now.
The alarm goes off again, startling her back to reality. She closes her eyes, tries to rub the tiredness out, and takes a deep breath. Then she pushes herself up and off the bed—her bed, now—and turns it off.
She walks over to her luggage, still open against the wall from her unpacking the night prior, opens up the small internal pocket, and pulls out what she is looking for. Then, taking a glance at the door to make sure nobody can see, opens it, grabbing what she needs, and puts it back. She carefully tiptoes to her nightstand and takes a big gulp out of her glass of water. She swallows.
On the bright side, the satisfaction of getting what she wanted in the end almost numbs all the pain.
She stretches, arms up over her head, standing on her tiptoes in a streamline position, one hand grasping the other. She groans at the relief, listening carefully to the sound of her own voice. Perfect.
She lets herself smile. I can manage this.
Her arms fall to her side, and she rocks them back and forth a bit as she sways from the balls of her feet to her toes and back. She grabs the sweater and jeans she'd set aside the night prior—a comfortable, favorite outfit of hers that she'd laid on the desk in the corner of the room—and finally makes for the door. She exits and crosses the hall towards the bathroom, reaching for the doorknob only to be surprised by the door bursting open.
It's Kousaku, with only a towel around his waist, who, upon realizing the situation, turns an increasingly familiar shade of pink.
"Oh, uh, g-good morning," he stutters out. "I just finished showering and, uh... sorry."
"Sorry?"
"I-I mean, I just imagine you don't really want to see some guy you just met half naked," he says, pulling his towel up and tightening it a bit. He shuffles a little, seeming almost nervous to Hibari.
"It's not a big deal."
The shuffling stops for moment, before returning with an increased anxiety. "Still, I'll just... go change... now," he says. "Yeah, um, f-feel free to take your time getting ready." He rushes back to his room and closes the door, leaving Hibari still in the hall.
He is... impressively transparent.
She enters the bathroom and sets her clothes on the countertop, in the small gap between the sink and wall. Hibari washes her face, keeping her gaze fixed downward, then pulls off her current clothes and stows them on the opposite side. She resists the urge to take a look at her own reflection in the mirror and instead turns the shower up hot, and steps in.
It's over half past eleven when she walks into the kitchen, backpack in tow, greeted by the sight of a tired-looking Kousaku sitting at the table with two plates: one empty, save for a bunch of crumbs, and one with what she guesses is her own serving. He gestures at the full plate, "I, uh, made breakfast. Pretty light, just an egg sandwich with some hash, but we'll probably get lunch somewhere in town today, anyways."
She follows his prompting and sits down. She thanks him for the food, and makes quick work of it. It was basic, yes, but still good. Might be fun to start cooking again myself.
"So, getting lunch together? Mighty romantic, I'd say. What else is in your plan for our little... date, Kousaku?"
She can see him get pulled awake by the tease, eyes widening in shock, familiar blush on his cheeks. Wow, he's incredibly easy.
Hibari's no stranger to the effect she has on people, especially when they find her attractive. She's had half the boys (and girls) at Wakaba ask her out at some point or another, so it's hard to not notice it. Not that she minds the attention, of course; she draws it in on purpose. But it does mean she can easily see all the familiar little tics in his behavior that she's seen dozens of times before.
Kousaku sputters together a response. "I told you! I just misspoke!" he begins. "I swear, I'm not that kinda guy. I just... wanna get to know you, as friends, ya know?"
He's somehow more obvious than most she's seen, but there's undeniably something cute in his earnestness, at least. Something appealing. Whatever it is, it definitely doesn't subtract from the fun.
She gives him a sly grin. "Oh, of course. Still, it's a mighty shame... not very nice of you to get a girl's hopes up."
"I'm telling you, I'm not!" he exclaims. "Seriously, stop acting like I've got some gross motive to want to be friends with you! I just want to show you some places I go to hang out and where the school is, that's it. Then we go to Daisuke's place, okay?"
She grimaces a little. Ah, I might have pushed him too far.
"Sorry, I was just having fun. I don't mean anything mean by it, promise," she says, smiling apologetically at the end. "And, yes, that sounds okay."
Kousaku sighs in response. "Good. Just... stop pushing like that... please. I don't like being treated like that," he grumbles.
"Right. Sorry."
"We should, um, get going, anyways. It's already almost twelve." He points at the clock on the microwave, then stands up and grabs a knapsack from the counter. "We're going to head over to the library first so I can return a couple books, then I'll show you the way to school, I guess."
Hibari nods and stands as well. "That sounds good. What are you returning?"
"A recipe book I got and a fantasy novel I read over break. It's called, uh, Count of Black Shadows, I think."
"Fancy name."
"Yeah, though I doubt you'll be surprised that there was some creepy count guy in it. Had some pretty cool art of him and this princess character in the book. I wonder if there's going to be a sequel or something..." Kousaku trails off, shrugging.
The two of them pull on their shoes by the house entrance and open the door. Kousaku yells out "Bye, mom!" as they exit, to no discernible response.
"...No clue if she heard me or not..."
Hibari giggles. "So, you read a lot?" she asks.
"A bit, though mostly manga. When I do read novels, it's mostly fantasy or... um..."
She gives him a questioning look. "Um?"
"...romance..." he answers with a blush and a nervous glance.
She can't suppress a smile at his admission. "Hey, that's fine! I have a bit of a soft spot for particularly sappy romance novels myself."
"Yeah, but you're a girl. That's, like, pretty normal."
"Ah yes, because guys of course don't fall in love."
"I mean, it's not like that. There's just, y'know, judgement when people see a guy likes stuff like this. I don't wanna deal with any of that. You wouldn't understand."
I do. Better than you know.
"Maybe not, but don't assume everyone's so close minded, either! You're not the only guy into that, obviously, and maybe it's worth defying those expectations if it lets you be yourself. It's what I do... sometimes, anyways."
"I guess... It's still not like I'm going to announce my hobbies to the world..." He shudders, "or even Daisuke, for that matter."
"What's wrong with him knowing? Isn't he a close friend of yours?"
"Yeah, but he's never seemed to be the kinda guy for this sorta, um, sensitive stuff? Like, he's ribbed me before for not having the same attitudes as him on a few things and it just... doesn't seem like something he'd be super positive about, really."
Now, that's a little concerning. The last thing she wants to deal with right now is yet another man set on imposing masculinity on others, at least not in any close proximity to her.
Kousaku brings his hands up to the back of his head, looking almost contemplative. "On the other hand, he does like talking about girls a lot, to the extent that even he's made jokes about it before. Like, I still feel like he might be a bit judgy on it, but I guess it's not that different, is it? It would be pretty hypocritical of him, now that I think about it."
He shrugs. "Either way, I ain't gonna tell him. No real reason to bring it up, at least, possible hypocrisy or not."
Hibari nods in agreement. "Yeah," she says, "no harm in keeping things private."
They walk in silence for a little bit, and Hibari takes the time to properly observe the area in the daylight. It's a very different sight from Suginami, and she's not quite sure how she feels about it. She's used to at worst the quiet dullness of suburban wealth, large plots of land still dense enough to form a coherent block, all following some semblance of the grids that laid out the bustling city centers she'd often hang around. What she sees instead is very bare: loosely laid plots of land separated by a mix of dirt paths and lightened asphalt, roads twisting to fit some unknown, long forgotten path. Grass fills her periphery, dulled to a near brown by the unkind weather, blowing lightly in the gentle breeze, the leaves in the few scattered trees doing the same.
It makes her miss home, a little. Beats this, at least.
They eventually come across a building, only slightly larger than the few homes and small stores they've passed by, with a logo on the front window denoting it as the public library. She follows Kousaku into the building, as he opens up his bag and pulls out the two books. On the back of one of them, she notices the drawing of a bored princess holding a dagger in front of some monster. Honestly, same.
While Kousaku talks to the librarian manning the front desk, Hibari looks around the small library. It has a surprisingly decent amount of recent texts, from what she can tell, though there's clearly been an effort to fit as many books as possible in the small space. As she looks towards the back of the room, the selection very quickly leans to older writings. She imagines the rest of the library to be just a few more rooms of old, donated works that are mostly just collecting dust.
Now that she thinks about it, maybe she should try to get something. Would be nice to have something to actually do, now that she's here.
She looks around for a couple minutes, grabbing whatever catches her interest—mostly some of the newer books, but she also finds what seems to be an old romance novel of sorts. She's kneeling to grab a book from the bottom shelf of a bookcase when she hears footsteps to her right.
"Hey, what're you doing, Hibari?" Kousaku asks.
"Seeing what books your library has that I might want to read, Kousaku."
He gives her a confused look. "But... you don't have a card?"
She looks back at him. Is he joking with her? Or is he just stupid?
She settles on stupid.
"You do, dummy." She pushes the books she's gathered into his hands as she stands up. "Get them for me."
He blushes a little bit, again, but nods and brings the books to the librarian, who appears to be rather amused by the exchange. Hibari walks up beside him and takes the books, stuffing them into her bag and insisting to the librarian that no, they aren't too heavy for her and no, she's not Kousaku's girlfriend and no, she doesn't need either of their help.
They thank the librarian and leave, Hibari feeling a little lighter despite the additional weight in her pack.
They walk a few more blocks until they come across an intersection, at which they turn right. From there, Kousaku leads her a few minutes down the road, which went slightly uphill before flattening out. There were a lot more local businesses at the top than there were below, and Kousaku began to point them out.
"Pharmacy's over there, new tea shop that I've heard about but haven't gone to there, arcade's there, and school's a bit more uphill that way."
"You've got an arcade out here?" she asks.
"Yeah, I think the owner's uncle or something works for one of the game companies. Nintendo, I think? Up in Kyoto, I'm pretty sure, either way. Heard he managed to get a buncha old cabinets on cheap and decided it was worth getting whatever high schooler allowance he can get outta it. I think I've seen the owner just sitting around playing on his own machines, to be honest."
"Huh, that's pretty neat. And weird. Nice to hear there are at least a few things to do here, in any case."
"Hey! I live here, you know! Unlike you city folk, I can recognize there's plenty to do out here."
Hibari scoffs. "Oh, really? Like what? Get lost in a rice field? Loiter next to the one pharmacy in town? Talk to the same few people every day for the rest of your life?"
"You're acting like that's so awful, but how different is it really from what you're used to?" Kousaku challenges. "Most days you get up, go to classes, hang out somewhere nearby for a while, go home when it's dark, and do whatever you want, no?"
"You're being awfully presumptive about what my normal life is like, Kousaku." Hibari warns, growing frustration seeping through her every word. "Not everyone can live an idyllic life like that." Ease up on the honesty, Hibari. "Not everyone gets the chance."
Kousaku gives her a look, one that turns almost pitying as he considers what she may have accidentally implied. She fights the urge to avoid his gaze—she's not that weak, not anymore—and draws up a smile.
"Just, think a little more about how others might have it, okay? Compared to Tokyo, this is outright boring. Let me hazard a guess: you spend all your free time either in some hangout spot near your school, or languishing in your room? Going on what you've assumed about me." she asks.
"That's an unfair way to put it..." Kousaku protests.
"I'm not making any judgement on you for doing that. That's fine, maybe even typical, but not everyone wants that. I liked being out and about. I liked having places to go. I liked being able to change things up. And you need to understand that I don't have that here. Is that clear?"
He fidgets a little under her verbal pressure, but nods. "Crystal," he says, giving her a nervous smile. "C'mon, I'll show you the school real quick, and then we can grab lunch and head to Daisuke's place."
The school ends up being about how she expects: much smaller than Wakaba, but still pretty impressive considering the area. She's able to guess the school pulls in a fairly decent number of students based on the size, something that is at least somewhat of a relief. She's not going to be stuffed in some tiny school building, left to a crummy last few semesters of high school as she watches her college prospects drift away.
To be fair, Ibari had told her it would be fine, to his credit. But she has no reason to believe a word he says about anything.
They walk back down the hill, Hibari leading a very winded Kousaku, and continue farther down the center. Eventually, Kousaku tells her to stop in front of one of the buildings. It's small and old-fashioned, with a picnic bench out next to it, protected from the sun by an awning sticking out of the building's side. She'd call it quaint, if she is a particular fan of that style.
"Here's lunch," he says. "Only ramen place in town, but pretty good, if you ask me. Get whatever you want, I'll pay."
She steps ahead and pulls the door open. "No need. You and your mom are already doing a lot for me. I'll cover it, I've got plenty of cash. Courtesy of the Kantou Mob."
She hears Kousaku's exasperated chuckle behind her as they walk in. "That bit's still kinda unbelievable: the nice, pretty girl I just met is a yakuza."
Hibari laughs. "Pretty, am I? And I'll have you know that I'm not the yakuza member, my father is. For now, at least."
The two of them check the menu and make their orders, both ordering slightly different variations of the shop's tonkotsu bowls. When they're asked to pay, Hibari does so before Kousaku even has a chance to grab his wallet, shooting him a victorious smile as she does so.
The cashier tells them to take a seat, as their food will take a couple minutes to prepare, and the pair choose the outdoors seating. The returning outdoor chill is refreshing after the brief reprieve of the heated indoors, and Hibari closes her eyes to just enjoy the breeze. She reopens them and notices that Kousaku has already sat down, watching her out of the corner of his eye.
She walks over to the table and takes a seat across from him, setting her bookbag down next to her and pulling out her notebook and pencil. "So, while we wait, I was wondering if you could let me know where all your classes are, like in terms of curriculum. I need to know if I'm moving too far off from the classes I was already in."
"Oh! Yeah, I was planning to look over that stuff later when I'm also helping Daisuke out with his winter break assignments, but I suppose we could do that now. Actually, do you know which class you'll be put in?"
Hibari thinks for a moment, remembering what Ibari told her after arranging the transfer. "I believe it was class two?"
"Oh, that's a bit of a shame. Daisuke and I are in class one... I don't really know where class two is in the material for every class. I can assume they're close, but I don't know exactly where."
She grunts in annoyance. "That's... fine. I'll just check against where you are and hopefully it won't be a problem. Worst case I'll just have to crunch to figure it out once the semester starts."
They begin to go over their classes, but are quickly cut off by the restaurant door opening, the cashier now bringing out their food and drinks. Hibari, not one to be interrupted, simply sets her notebook to the side so she can keep writing what Kousaku's telling her as she eats.
The two discover that she's mostly ahead, at least relative to Kousaku's class. A few topics, particularly in their mathematics classes, are rearranged such that she never learned them whereas Kousaku had done so months ago. Hibari's sure she can figure it out from context, but graciously accepts when the boy offers to lend her some of his notes when they get back to his house.
They're finishing up their food when Kousaku suddenly exclaims "Oh, shit!" and shoots up from his seat, pulling Hibari's attention away from the (shockingly good) ramen. She tilts her head to look up at him.
"It's 1:50," he tells her. "We really need to get going to Daisuke's place, like, right now. He's almost a twenty-minute walk out, so we're going to be pretty late..."
She nods, slurps up the last of her food, and gets up herself. She folds up her notebook and places it and her pencil back into their spots in her bag. The two of them then pop into the restaurant to let the cashier know they're done with their food, and hurry on their way.