Post
by Sharp-O » Sat Oct 10, 2015 9:17 pm
Chapter 02: Convergence
~Natsuki~
With lessons over for the day, I wait impatiently for Akira to finish the last of his notes, my fingers tapping a rapid, sequential rhythm on my desk.
“D-do you mind?” He shoots me a sideways glare and I stop. As soon as his eyes turn back to his notebook, I beat the rhythm in reverse, a sadist smile stretching across my lips as he groans and closes his notebook.
“Is it really th-that important we g-go right now?” He sighs in an annoyed tone and I slip off my chair gently as he rises.
“No time like the present. Plus the quicker we go, the quicker we’ll be back.” I explain with a smile and he nods reluctantly.
“Yeah, I guess. Let’s g-go then.”
------------------------------
Lumbering back up the hill after our trip to the Aura Mart, Akira curses under his breath as the heavier of the two bags digs into his flesh. I offered to carry it but he just wouldn’t give in and now he’s paying for it.
“Just gimme the damn bag, you big baby.” I say, thrusting my arm towards him. He shakes his head sharply, his dirty blonde locks waving side-to-side.
“I g-got it.” He says with a slight wince, his pained smile fooling no one. I snatch it from his hand and throw the bag over my shoulder.
“Now I’ve got it. It’s all my stuff anyway…” I admit with a twang of guilt as Akira flexes his near-white fingers, urging the blood to pump back in them.
“Thanks…” He smiles down at me and I shake my head.
“Nah man, thank you for coming with me. I know you’d rather be studying than helping my short ass reach high shelves.” We share a chuckle at my self-deprecation.
“I don’t mind, Nat.”
“I know you don’t, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t thank you any chance I get!” I playfully bat his hip. “Are you sure you don‘t want me to put the screws to Shijima when we get back?” I offer in return for being my pack-mule and he looks a little further up the hill in thought.
“I’ll p-pass. I thought going back into a theatre club m-might be good but I d-don’t think I need a distraction like that. This semester’s workload has been pretty tough. I’m struggling to remember half the stuff we learned today, even with notes.” He chuckles dryly.
“Really?” I moan, a little crestfallen that I wouldn’t see my buddy do his thing on stage, or even back-stage. From what he told me, he used to love doing plays and stuff in junior high.
“Got a m-memory like a sieve, remember?” He knocks the side of his head twice with an apologetic smile. “B-Besides, this stammer’s basically shot my l-leading man potential.” He wryly smiles and I giggle.
“I dunno, man. I think some girls would dig a shy leading man.” I smirk at him, Akira shaking his head with a small smile in response as we pass through the school’s wrought-iron gates.
~Akira~
I hand off the other plastic bag to the pint-size powerhouse and wave as she totters off to her dorm. I slink my hand backwards through my hair before placing both hands into my pockets and walking towards the main building.
A tittering couple pass by me in the hall heading towards the library, making me tug my scarf up a little. It’s a really bad habit but I’m working on it. The words of the older couple I met a little while ago struck a cord with me. Hanako? Was that her name? She wore her scars with confidence and I want to be more like that. As the couple passes me, I pull the scarf down with an annoyed sigh, mostly at myself. It’s a work in progress…
I reach the library and just as I’m about to open the door, it’s thrown open outwards, catching my hand harshly and I’m sent spilling backwards by the person rushing out. We crash to the ground and my shoulders take the brunt, a pained hiss pushing itself out through gritted teeth. I lay sprawled across the checker-tiled floor with a significant weight on my chest and newspapers strewn all around.
“Fuck…” I curse under my breath as I sit up, the female student with hair like sand already gathering up her scattered newspapers frantically. I lift one arm to rub my shoulder with a wince. “Hrrn, are you okay?” I ask with a mildly annoyed tone when the girl finally looks me dead on.
Light blonde bangs, much lighter than my own, hang over one shining, cobalt blue eye that stares at me for an uncomfortably long time before her lips begin moving.
“Sorry! Wasn’t paying attention, misjudged the distance to the door.” She mutters, casting her gaze down but not out of embarrassment, to focus on picking up a paper that had landed beside me. She leans over me and grabs it, turning her head slightly to look at me with her single left eye. “Depth perception isn’t really my strong suit.”
“I c-can t-t-tell…” I squeak, the girl mere inches from my face. Mentally, I roll my eyes at the ludicrous series of coincidences that had to have lead to this girl being within kissing distance. This is the kind of maudlin contrivance you find in trashy romance movies or light novels. Or bad fan fiction.
She sits back on her knees and organises the newspapers into a neat stack while I get onto my feet, stretching my back out. The girl rises elegantly from her seated kneeling position and thrusts her hand towards me, almost thrusting it into my stomach.
“I’m Mono.” She smiles broadly and I edge backwards a touch to take her hand, shaking it gently. What an odd name.
“A-Akira. Akira Nomura.”
“Sorry again, Nomura! I’ll be more careful next time I run into you.” She bobs forward quickly before setting off down the hall.
“N-Next time?” I mutter as she bolts down the hall towards the stairwell. “Mind how you go.” I offer a friendly warning before entering the library, intent to find the history book that I need to fill in the blanks of my notes from earlier.
~Hikari~
As I rapidly tap the door to Mono’s room, I hear the hum of the elevator rising from the floors below. Crap, she managed to catch sight of me this time.
“C’mon, Mono! I don’t have time for passwords today!” I holler, rapping my knuckles against my door a little louder. “Kyoko’s on her way up here and I do not want to be interrogated or worse! God damn it, you spaz, open the fu--”
FWEEEEEEEEEEE~
A piercing whistle cuts through my desperate tirade and the otherwise quiet hallway, causing me to look down the row of several doors behind me to see a girl's head and shoulders beckoning me toward her as the hum elevator grows closer. To hell with it, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I run my wheels in reverse and race backwards towards the open door, spinning my front end around two-hundred-seventy degrees before barging through the open doorway to my salvation, the door sliding closed and locking as I hear the faint ding of the elevator opening.
The soft trundle of wheels passes by the door and I shut my eyes tight, praying to the various gods that she won’t harass my saviour. The sound circles around and then rolls back towards the elevator, my new best friend and I breathing a shared sigh of relief.
“Nice moves, slick.” The girl giggles and I turn my chair to face her, my eyebrows furrowing as they slowly descend from where I usually find a person’s face until meeting the eyes of my hero, about a foot and a half lower than I expect. My eyebrows shoot back up my forehead as I take in the sight of a girl with short legs. Very short legs.
“Let me guess, I’m taller than you expected?” She smirks, crossing her arms across her chest and I don’t know if I should laugh or not. I choose to play it safe as I scratch my cheek nervously.
“Sorry for intruding, I don’t make a habit of barging into strangers’ rooms.” I mutter, my eyes wandering around the foreign room.
“You were invited, slick.” She comments with a smirk, waddling around me toward a beanbag and plopping down on it. “So you’re the hot piece of ass that our rolling reporter has been chasing.”
“I… Guess? Has Kyoko really been asking everyone about me?” I grimace and she nods, her hands pressing against the plush material to make herself more comfortable.
“Uh-huh. Gave me a grilling the other day about a boy being in here. Guess her timing’s a little off.” She laughs and I chuckle nervously. “I’m Natsuki Takeda, by the way. Class 2-3.”
“Hikari Endo. I’m in Class 1-1 with Mo-Mitsu. The girl whose door I was knocking on?” I explain and Natsuki looks surprised.
“Huh, so that’s her name. Well, it’s nice that she has at least one friend here. I never see her hanging out with any of the other girls in the common room…”
“Yeah, she’s a bit of hermit. Perfectly nice but best to let her approach you, y’know?” I offer and Natsuki finds it amusing.
“I’ve got a friend like that. So how are you two finding Yamaku? I know the first few months can be a little overwhelming.” She smiles sympathetically and I nod. It’s quite an adjustment to make. I had my family around while I was in junior high but now…
“Living on my own is a little strange. Don’t think I’m used to that yet.”
“I know what you mean! Even though it’s a dorm, it’s kind of like having your first apartment. Budgeting is a bitch but at least the store in town is cheap enough. Oh, and there’s this great little café you should check out once it reopens.” She grins widely.
I look at the petite older girl in front of me and smile. Never really had the chance to speak to an upperclassman so candidly before. Doesn’t hurt that she’s pretty cute. Curves in all the right places but her legs are what interest me most. They’re so short. I have to wonder if she has all the correct bones, just miniature.
“Checking out my goods, slick?” Her sly comment smashing through my own thoughts as my cheeks burn. Stupid.
“Sorry, Natsuki… I shouldn’t have stared.”
“It’s okay. Even amongst this motley group, I stand out. Pun intended.” She winks playfully and I laugh.
“If you don’t mind…” I almost choke on the question before I even ask it but as my dad always says: fortune favours the bold. “What’s your condition?”
“Achondroplasia, or dwarfism if you prefer. Specifically, I have rhizomelic shortening in my legs.” She pats her thighs I nod along, looking thoughtful, having no idea what those words mean. “Cliff-notes version: I was born with short legs. How about you, slick?”
“You keep calling me that…” I mutter, unsure if I’m a fan of this nickname or not. I press on by patting my own legs. “Just your standard crippling. Got into a car accident and, thankfully, I was the only one who got seriously hurt.”
“Thankfully?” She asks, tilting her head with a confused expression.
“Yeah, my whole family was in the car; Mom, Dad and my little sister, Kaede. God, I’m so thankful nothing happened to her… I was the only one permanently injured. Pretty damn lucky they escaped with a couple broken bones.” I explain, shuddering a little internally.
“Sorry to bring it up…” Natsuki mutters, looking as guilty as a thief caught red-handed but I wave my hand dismissively.
“Nah, you told me your story so it’s only fair.” I smile reassuringly and it seems to perk her up. “I think I better head off now the coast’s clear. Thanks again for letting me hide here, Natsuki.”
She rises to her feet surprisingly quickly and waddles to the door as I manoeuvre in a circle to face the door.
“Going to check on Mitsu before you go?” Natsuki asks and I shrug.
“Don’t know where the hell she is if she’s not in her room so I’ll just shoot her an instant message when I get back to mine.”
“Well you’re welcome to wait and chat if this happens again.” She offers and I smile genuinely down at her.
“Thanks, always happy to have a foxhole if the rolling reporter comes after me again.” I retort and she laughs, patting the back of my chair as I wheel myself into the hallway, turning to look at her side-on.
“It was nice meeting you, Hikari. Hope to see you soon.” She waves and I respond in kind as she closes the door. I peek over my shoulder at Mono’s door and shrug. She can tell me all about why she skipped class after lunch tomorrow.
Last edited by
Sharp-O on Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
