Italic – for thoughts.
Italic and underline – for Yaya’s written lines.
Bold – for shouting.
Underline – for Yaya’s mouthed lines.
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Amane: What makes you… you?
It’s been five days since I’ve seen Nanto-san other than when we’re having dinner at the dormitory. And even then the only thing I got from her was a cold glare that said either “I hate you.” or “stop looking at me”. I still see Hikari as usual, although she did skip coming here once but that’s not really a big deal, she does have her own club activities after all. Honestly though, I’m a little worried around and maybe about her. She has told me that she was getting worried about Nanto-san… something about always being out and coming back late, tired and odd smelling. I had decided to investigate about it myself.
I didn’t feel like practicing much today, so instead of riding I decided to just pamper Star Bright a bit just so he won’t get too upset about not running today. Oh yeah, Hikari won’t be watching me today. I believe she told me that today would be one of the Saintly Chorus’ practice days, something they had to do to make up for some lost time. I considered paying a visit, but I figure I’ll save that trip some other time… when our relationship has developed further.
It took me a moment for my mind to realize that… if Hikari and I got together… I cannot be with Nanto-san. I pondered on that thought for a while and wondered why I thought of it. I must admit… I’m at a loss for having some sort of feelings towards someone else. Not just anyone, this someone was so mysterious and seemingly spiteful to me, which makes me wonder why I even have such feelings.
After a little thought I decided that I will visit Hikari after all. It was still very early, but I guess I can just watch them… I can learn a little more about Hikari this way. I found myself quickly changing back into my school uniform and made my way towards the school. It was closer to the horse riding club than the church and I know that it held a room where the Saintly Chorus practices. I’ve only passed the room once or twice before, I’ve never really been there… but now seemed a good time remedy that.
The school’s halls were almost empty without any classes. I gather that most of the other students are out going about their business. Some are in their clubrooms, others are in their dormitories, or had gone home. During my trek towards the Saintly Chorus’ music room, I found myself recalling the day I had an almost pleasant but very notable encounter with Nanto-san.
I had just woken up from my more or less peaceful slumber… It wasn’t the best night of sleep I’ve had since I came face to face with Nanto-san. I stared at the ceiling; thinking about that raven haired girl… who was rapidly occupying more of my thoughts.
Even now, as faint light of the rising sun was piercing my dream world and rousing me from sleep… It was still with her… I could almost see her long and lavishly, beautiful jet black hair, crystalline like amber eyes, soft sakura pink lips, and silky, soft light colored skin. In my mind I tried making her smile or tried remembering the times she smiled, but I failed… I could only ever see her face looking at me with anger, tears or disinterest. To be quite honest… After having so many people admire me… I am a little bothered that someone seems to dislike me with so much intensity… It’s a new and foreign feeling to me, but what’s really bothering me is that, why do I find that attractive?
I felt myself release a long empty sigh as I got up from bed and prepared to do my morning duties. It was Sunday, and even now I just can’t skip my duties. Maybe I should have taken Natsuki and Shizuru up on their offer to feed and care for Star Bright in my place today. I guess it’s too late to regret it now.
It was still around 5am. Star Bright would be expecting me to come over to feed him and ride for a bit. I changed into my rider’s uniform and exited my room. From there I made my way to the entrance and was about to head out of the dorm’s premises when I saw a familiar black haired girl. She was waving goodbye to some kendo club members who I would assume are from Miator, as Miator is the one who owns a Kendo Club… though it’s not impossible for students from other schools to join, just usually never happens…
I found my eyes following her as she moved away from the other girls, and I could have sworn that my mind was so flooded with so many thoughts. Too much actually… ‘Oh! Maria-sama…please give me some strength, this girl is making me think too much.’ I prayed for salvation.
My silent prayers were broken as I noticed the raven haired beauty was walking away, I decided to follow her and talk to her. ‘No more planning, no more dragging her elsewhere, just talk, and apologize.’ I told myself, deciding I would not fear rumors and stares of other students… especially not this early in the morning.
I walked after her, I tried calling her… but I felt fear. I was terribly afraid that if I called her she’d get angry at me… or was still angry at me. After a few minutes, I realized that she had not once stopped walking or even looked back behind her. My best guess was that she didn’t want to talk to me yet. With that in mind I soon found myself giving up before we could do a second lap around the dormitory. The sun was rising… I’m sure Star Bright would start to worry if I’m not on time to feed him.
Heading out towards the dormitory gates; I found myself instinctively stopping and turning my head to where I last saw Nanto-san. I was surprised to see that where she had stopped walking was approximately a few meters from where she was before I stopped following her. She had her head turned slightly and I could feel her eye watching me. I wondered… ‘is she teasing me or something?’ I didn’t know the answer. For all I know she was just making sure I had stopped following her, but a part of me wanted her to tease me, play with my head, and want me to come after her.
I convinced myself that I wanted to try one more time, Star Bright can wait… something is wrong with me… I’ve never felt this way before… I’m sure he’ll understand. I took a step and readied myself to talk to her, but before I could take my second step… she was approached by a group younger of girls. Her attention immediately shifted from me to the younger girls who came to her. I found myself watching them flock around her almost if not exactly like the way girls flock around the Etoile and myself. Hikari never told me Nanto-san was popular… or perhaps she didn’t know either. The girls looked so happy, as she conversed with them just using her notebook. I then noticed one of them looking and pointing towards me. I felt very nervous all of a sudden. ‘What could they be talking about?’
I then found my eyes falling on Nanto-san again, and was surprised to learn that she was looking my way again. Her face held a smile but I knew those eyes all to well. How could I not… the image, the emotion was burned into my mind that day… ‘She hates me.’ All I could do was turn away and flee towards the stables like a coward. I felt like crying… but I have no good reason to… or at least I thought I did. No one would understand, heck I didn’t even understand it myself. But I dare not look back… This was not the time or place to resolve matters with her.
Star Bright was unusually gentle that day. He did nothing to force my attention to him. I guess he could sense that I wasn’t feeling so good… Whatever it was, I felt very thankful to him. The rest was an uneventful morning. Well… nothing special worth mentioning. Just the usual crowd of girls watching me ride, Natsuki’s horse was being difficult, and we had too much hay delivered again… nothing new.
I arrived at the Saintly Chorus’ club room. I found myself a little frustrated that the room was empty. That meant that I now had to walk all the way to the church to meet with Hikari. I quickly made my way towards the church… but there was really no hurry, it’ll be quite a while before clubs end. Then again, I thought that if I got there quickly I might see and learn more of her.
But as I was about to leave the school… I saw her, Nanto-san passed by a hall carrying a box full of… something… I really wasn’t sure but it looked a bit heavy. My eyes followed her and I noted that she was headed for the west wing, where most art related classrooms and clubs are held. I wonder if she had noticed me… I wanted to follow her but…
No… there was no buts. I wanted to follow her… and I did. I stalked her by keeping a corner’s distance as I followed where she went. I watched her as she entered an art room. I waited somewhere to check if she was just delivering the box there. If I recalled correctly this area was the least populated area of the school especially after classes. Most students from Spica tend to join sports clubs leaving the art and science labs empty and devoid of students by this hour. I realized that she wasn’t coming out after a few minutes. I originally thought that she was delivering the box for storage.
Determined to find out what she was doing, I slowly and silently got closer to the door and peered inside. What I saw surprised me, the room was almost empty, like it hadn’t been used. It looked clean… at least as far as an art room can be called clean. There were a few desks that had their dusty sheets off and surrounded this one easel, a chair, and painter just beside an open window. I watched as the soft wind caused the plain white curtains to flutter and the sun’s light halfway near its journey’s end, entering the room and leaving a warm glow on the painter’s features.
At that moment, I knew that my heart was a captive… of Nanto Yaya. Although it was probably for the wrong reasons... I couldn’t deny it any longer. When I saw her sad eyes as she stared almost blankly at what she was painting on her canvas, it made me feel sad as well. She looked like she was in so much pain, so much that I felt guilty… almost like I was the one who caused it.
She gently placed her brush down and tiredly, slumped down on her chair. She looked up and gazed at the ceiling, I could feel it… her sadness turning to anger. She kicked one of the desks from where she sat. It flew a good few feet towards my direction and spilling a few paint tubes and her sketchbook onto the floor. By pure accident sketchbook flips open and I find myself staring at the well drawn picture she had sketched. What she had drawn made my eyes open wide in surprise. There in white and gray was the familiarly, soft smiling face of… Hikari.
Another loud noise came startling me out of my discovery as I turned to see that she had stood up and kicked her easel and canvas which caused it to crash and fall somewhere near where I stood. It landed right side up and one could see what she had painted. Again… to my surprise it was… beautiful, as if it was made by a professional artist. It had a few blotches of paint where the wet streams streaked and tainted the picture… most likely because of the kick. But… it was beautiful painting of an angel who looked like she was singing and her song making her shine in the darkness. It took me a moment to realize it was Hikari that she had depicted as such a lovely angel. There was no mistaking that soft blonde hair, loving blue eyes, and the way that her lips curled when she’s happy as she sings. It was indeed Hikari, in all her dazzling beauty, charm and love, that she had captured on the now paint stained canvas.
I instantly felt very jealous… like a hole suddenly appeared in my heart. It was at that moment that I realized why she hated me so much, why I felt so guilty whenever I saw her sad, and why I felt jealous. ‘She loves Hikari.’
I was startled out of my revelation when I heard more kicks and crashes. My gaze went from the slightly ruined painting to the raging, raven haired girl. I watched her kick some old desks, chairs and boxes. She was screaming and crying as she did and though silent as it was, I could almost hear her scream her heart out…
‘SHIT!’ I watched her kick a really old desk,
‘Amane...’ an old single metal toolbox,
‘I…’ a box full of used paint cans,
‘….absolutely…’ a chair,
‘…HATE YOU!!!’ and another desk.
She took a few steps back and ended up with her back on the empty chalkboard. She was crying freely, I could see her tears streaming from her reddening eyes from where I stood.
I was astonished to learn that she wasn’t done quite yet. She closed her left hand into a fist, and rolled right to her right and punched the old and dusty board as hard as she could. It caused the board to bend and break a little, but it was the sound that it had caused that made me worry and wonder if anyone else had heard it.
But somehow that concern escaped me as soon as it came. I continued to watch her cry. Her head was leaning on the old board as she slammed her fists over and over again, slowly loosing strength each time she did. She slowly slumped down dragging her nails along the old board creating the painful screeching sound that I’m sure anyone hated hearing. A minute later, she was on the floor sitting on her legs as she held herself up from the floor with her arms.
It was then that I thought. ‘I’ve seen enough…’ I felt the desperate need to comfort her. It’s was… after all… my fault that she was crying.
I slowly opened the door as quietly as I could… she either ignored it or didn’t notice and continued crying. I didn’t speak… I just walked towards her; slow enough for her to take notice of my presence, careful enough not to trip on anything, and quiet enough not to cause her panic. I took a moment to look around and check the mess that she hand made; a few of the old desks where almost broken in half and had a lot of fragments lying around here and there, the old toolbox had been dented, cans scattered here and there, a chair lay on top of a broken desk with a leg broken, the easel and canvas was spared from being hit by a few open paint tubes, and her paint brushes some of which were broken in two when she might have stepped on them lay here and there.
I then kneeled beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder and called out her name as gentle as I could. “Nanto-san.” Her body almost jumped in surprise when she heard my voice. She slowly turned her head towards me to check if I was who she thought I was. Our eyes met and my blood almost froze when I saw the feeling from her eyes turn from hurt to rage in mere seconds. It was gut wrenching… it almost felt like it was my body that she had kicked and punched earlier.
She shrugged off my hand and tried to stand and walk away, but I couldn’t just let her go… “Please wait...” I took her hand pulled her towards me. She must have been exhausted, because she fell back towards me almost effortlessly. I immediately wrapped my arms around her from behind so that she couldn’t make her escape. She struggled, kicked, and even drove her elbow at my sides, but I continued to hold her tightly.
If she had her voice she’d probably be screaming; “Let me go!” or “Get you’re hands off me!” or maybe even… “I hate you! Everything’s your fault.”
“I’m sorry.” I told her, drawing out any and all remorseful feelings and letting them out in these words. I repeated them almost like a chant, hoping that it would soothe her anger. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
After a minute… she did calm down. She was still crying but had at least stopped thrashing around, trying to free herself and hurt me in the process. I turned her towards myself and hugged her as tightly and gently as possible. She lost the will the stand and was completely leaning on me for support. She cried on her hands, while griping the vest of my uniform as her body shivered like all her warmth was being drained from her.
“I’m very sorry, Nanto-san,” I apologize as I gently brushed her hair, trying to console her and desperately hoping she was listening to me. “I know, we didn’t really meet in the best of terms, and at a point, I knew that you hated me.” I felt her body stiffen and her grip tighten hearing that. “But I didn’t know why. It tore me apart. You wouldn’t believe how much sleep I’ve lost from thinking too much. And now I think I do.” I could feel her tears seeping deep into the breast part of my uniform.
“You love Hikari… don’t you?” I felt one of her hands release my uniform and watched it balled up into a fist. She pounded it on my chest; once, twice, five… maybe ten. Each one grew weaker and slower. Yet to me, each blow felt strong and painful. “I’m very sorry…”
She answered by shaking her head slowly, almost pretending to just wipe the tears out of her eyes. “You were probably thinking; that if only I wasn’t here, you would probably have a better shot at winning her affections.” I felt her jerk a little. ‘A guilty or sad laugh’ was my guesses.
“If it’s any consolation… I think you held yourself pretty well around Hikari, for you to have held in your love for her and your hate towards me for this long without her suspecting… It must have been painful to fall in love with someone who loves someone else.” She began crying harder again. Her breaths were almost painfully short and fast. At that moment, I felt it too… the pain of loving someone who didn’t love you. Probably not as deeply and painfully as the girl in my arms did, but it was there. It probably didn’t feel that painful because, I had someone else that I also liked… and probably, just probably… my love wasn’t as deep as hers or it wasn’t even love at all. But I wanted to, at least if only for a moment, show her what I felt for her.
I brushed her hair gently and drew it behind her ear. Doing this as I gently poised my right hand to gently cup her face. I held her like that for a moment, savoring how close she was to me. I took in as much as I could; she smelled like paint, some dust, and lilac flowers, her sad teary eyes glowed like a rainy sunset and her long black hair was as soft and smooth as satin.
I continued to move my hand lower and caressing her cheek. Taking the time to wipe away some of her tears before leading my hand under her chin. Gently pushing up I made her face rise to meet mine. Her eyes then closed, probably not wanting to look at me. I leaned closer and closer.
My lips just inches away from hers. I then whispered to her; “I like you… please… forgive me…” before capturing her lips in a kiss and closed my eyes to savor the moment. I felt her stiffen and struggle. But fortunately, I was stronger and was able to hold on to her, keeping her from breaking the kiss. After a moment she stopped struggling and allowed me to kiss her. I could taste her salty tears as they accidentally fell in between our lips. Her lips felt a bit dry and there was a trace of blood from what little saliva I could get from her. I opened my eyes and saw her teary eyes closed, and the skin around them a little red and swollen. She had an aura of surrender. She didn’t accept my feelings; she just let me kiss her. She didn’t return it nor did she make any attempt to stop me anymore. She just continued to cry as I kissed her and held her in my arms.
After what seemed like an eternity for me, I decided to end the kiss and slowly broke away from her lips. She turned her head to her right and bowed, not wanting to look at me. I gently lowered the both of us to sit on the floor. She gave off a feeling of humiliation, as painful as it was for me… I couldn’t help but feel that I might have disgraced her. A kiss isn’t always just a kiss after all… and it could have been her first, like mine.
“I’m sorry. Was that your first kiss Nanto-san?” I asked her sadly and apologetic. She shook her head and honestly I was surprised, maybe even a bit disappointed... It was mine, but I dared not tell her because probably in the back of my mind I hoped that I kissed her well enough to hide the fact that. And maybe I felt that knowing that it was my first kiss would somehow affect her badly. “I see…”
I had let her go… she sat on her behind, with her legs to each side and with one arm on the floor and the other holding the elbow of the arm that supported her weight with her head bowed down looking at the floor. Her tears hit the dry floor… a painful sight to watch. Especially since I knew just how strong and proud she stood everyday… seeing her like this just breaks me.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted you to know how I feel…” I saw her eyes widen when she heard me say that, but she didn’t dare look at me. I saw her bite her lip hard enough to draw blood, some of which dripped down onto the floor mixing with her tears.
“I’m not breaking it up with Hikari. I mean... I really like Hikari.” I saw her tremble a bit. “And I have to take honor your feelings too… to take care of her like you would and never make her cry.” I saw the tiniest smile crept up her lip before she nodded.
She then reached for a piece of coal pastel that a few feet from her and wrote; “I’ll kill you if you break her heart.” on a piece of wood that was probably from one of the broken desks.
I smiled and nervously giggled at that and said; “I promise to give my life to you if ever I do.”
She raised her right hand and used her pinky finger to wipe some of the blood from her lip. She raised it in front of me and looked at me straight in the eye. Her amber eyes stilled glowed like the dusk sun and held a tiny bit of anger, but somehow I felt that she didn’t hate me or at least not as much as she did earlier. Her eyes were completely serious; I could tell… she will kill me if I break my promise. My eyes fell on to the bloodied pinky, her hand rolled into a fist except for the bloody finger. It was an invitation to a “pinky swear”, a very serious one… it was a blood oath.
In response I too bit my lip enough to draw some blood. I wiped it off with my right hand and pinky, reached out and clasped her pinking with mine. We shook them, up and down a few times before letting go.
I watched her smile sadly and stand up. She wiped her tears and blood off her face with the sleeves of her uniform before dusting herself a bit. I stood up too, taking out a hanky from my vest pocket to wipe the blood off my finger and lip.
She turned her back at me and took a deep audible breath to calm herself. She then proceeded to clean the place up, starting with picking up the few things that didn’t break into two or more pieces. I decided to help and tried to pick up whatever it was close to me. To my surprise she comes close to me and holds my wrist just as I was to reach for a few tubes of paint. I raised my head to look at her. She just looked at me with a vague expression and shook her head.
“I can help.” I told her, but she just forced a smile and shook her head again. She then tugged my arm, motioning towards the door.
“Are you sure? If we do it together we could be done much faster.” I told her, trying to convince her to accept my help.
But she just shook her head and let go of my arm. She then picked up the coal pastel again and a piece of the torn box that probably used to hold the empty pain cans, and wrote something on it. She hands the piece of the old box which said; “Get out already, aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else?”
I couldn’t help but smile at how dedicated she was to keeping Hikari happy. While here I was confessing my untrue feelings to the best friend of the girl I am dating not to mention kissing said girl. ‘I’m such an idiot.’ I thought as I nodded and said goodbye. To which she responded by not looking at me and waving her hand in a way that yelled “Shoo!”. I took one last look at this strong girl in admiring how… beautiful she was despite everything that happened and everything that had dirtied her.
It was then that I thought; ‘Somehow… someday... I’ll find a way to make her happy too.’ I turned left her alone there and headed for the church.
But before that, I decided to take a small detour. A short trip to the washroom and make myself a bit more presentable. I didn’t look like myself when I looked at the mirror. My clothes were quite wrinkled, dusty and had few drops of dry black paint or may that coal pastel… I looked like I had been in a fight, which wasn’t that far from the truth. I thought of going back to the horse riding club room and get my riding uniform, but in the end I decided it was too much trouble and headed of to the church to look for Hikari.
I had passed a few students on the way, some of them wearing the Saintly Chorus robes. They greeted me and smiled as they passed me. I took note of the young pink haired girl that Hikari and I saw out with Nanto-san last Saturday. I smiled thinking that I wouldn’t have to wait for Hikari and maybe we could meet somewhere on the way.
I reached the church grounds but so far no Hikari. I entered and saw the church empty, except for one girl sitting on the church bench. Walking towards her, I was surprised that she had not noticed my presence. After all, the church floor does tend to make one’s feet echo especially when it’s empty like it is now. I arrived by her side and placed my hand on her shoulder.
“YAAAAAAAAAA!!!” she screamed and jumped away in surprise. I almost laughed, finding her reaction was so cute.
“Hikari. It’s just me” I told her. She turns to me and her eyes widen in surprise… she had probably not expected me to visit her and neither did I, until today. She looked at me from top to bottom. I feared that she’d ask about my clothes being so wrinkled and dirty.
She just blushed and apologized to me, squeaking in a sorrowful tone; “I’m sorry sempai. I was deep in thought.”
“It’s quite alright Hikari. I’m sorry for sneaking up on you.” I took of my hand from her shoulder and sat myself beside her. “What were you thinking so deeply about Hikari?” I asked as smiled at her.
She looked like she was pondering on what to say. It made me think that it might be something she wasn’t ready to discuss with me. She frowns a bit, maybe unconsciously. She then softly says; “It’s nothing…” she pauses. I kept silent as I noticed her lips hanged opened, daring to say that something in her mind. “… it’s just that, I’ve been noticing more and more of Yaya-chan.”
‘Nanto-san?!’ My mind screamed, just because I wasn’t going after her anymore didn’t mean I wasn’t the least bit interested to hear about her. I listened carefully and dared not miss a word.
“It’s funny actually. We’ve been together for over a year now. But I’m beginning to realize just how little I know about her.” I looked at her, reading the soft sad smile on her lips and heard the lonely tone of her voice. “This afternoon, a girl approached Yaya-chan with a question. She asked if Yaya-chan would be willing to acknowledge her fan club…” She paused again, the smile from her lips disappeared. “I never realized how popular she was.” She looked down to the floor and stared emptily at old marbled floor.
It made me wonder what she really was thinking. Was she starting to fall for her best friend? Or was she jealous of her popularity...? I doubt it though. The first one though I can relate to, I let out a smile and patted her shoulder before jestingly saying; “Well she is quite attractive, Hikari.”
“Eh...?” She blushed and looked down. I could immediately tell that something that involved the raven haired girl bothered Hikari. ‘Could she actually be starting to have feelings for her?’ Some how that thought scared me… more than the way Nanto-san looked at me.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I decided to ask her out of concern, but of what… was currently beyond my understanding. I watched as this blonde girl’s blush grew a bit darker before she shook her head in response. I nodded and said; “ok.” and dropped the subject. To be honest, I was… scared of a lot of things; That Hikari might like her best friend, that what I’ve done to Nanto-san would be revealed to her, or that all the time I’ve wasted trying to figure out Nanto-san had a bad effect on Hikari.
Somehow I managed pushed those thoughts away from my mind… We sat there in silence, simply enjoying each other’s company. I was looking around the church while we sat, hoping I could do something to spark a conversation. I felt like I was being watched, I seemed to be sensitive towards that, by someone close. I turned and saw Hikari staring at me with a bewildered expression. “Is something wrong, Hikari?”
“Um… Sempai? Why is your uniform all wrinkly and dirty?” She asked something that I had forgotten to dread. I couldn’t very well tell her that it was because I was trying to calm and talk to her best friend, but at the same time I don’t want to lie to this sweet girl. I decided to answer her more or less truthfully while sparing some details.
“Ah… A friend badly needed to vent out some deep and pent up emotions. I was concerned that she might hurt herself and tried to calm her down. I guess it turned into a little rough housing.” I told her and tried my best to let out a small laugh.
“I see…” she looked a bit worried and pointed at something at the lower part of my vest. “Did she go to the clinic? That looks like a quite a bit of blood?” I looked down and saw some really bad blood stains, something I had missed seeing earlier or thought that it was some paint. I froze for a while. To be honest, I was torn between pretending it was just some rough housing with the other party being ok, and just blowing off my cover of having a small confrontation with Nanto-san.
I was out of it for a while and it took me a few moments to realize that Hikari had been calling for me. “Amane-sempai?”
“Ah… I’m sorry Hikari... I felt a little worried that’s all.” It was a pathetic and stupid excuse no matter how true it was.
“That’s ok sempai. Do you want to check if she got to the clinic?” she asked trying to be thoughtful of my concerns.
I smiled. Her sweetness and concern calms me down somewhat. “Thank you, Hikari. But I don’t think she’d appreciate seeing my face anytime soon.” I lightly laughed at that, I seriously thought it was funny when I imagined her face seeing me checking up on her in the clinic. Yet at the same time, I was seriously troubled and scared of what she’d do to me if I did check up on her and she learns I left Hikari alone…
… Er… it’s just too scary to imagine. “I think that she’ll be fine though… she’s pretty strong here.” I said as I tapped the space above my heart. It was my complement to the girl who I will now call Yaya or Nanto-sama. I felt that I owed her a lot, so much actually that I don’t think I can ever repay her.
We couldn’t think of anything to talk about after that or maybe we were both exhausted, I know I was… physically, mentally and maybe even emotionally. She decided to return to the dorms and get some rest before dinner. I on the other hand decided to check up on Nanto-san after all, maybe even help her finish cleaning up… I doubt that she’s finished.
The art room she was in a while ago was now clean and almost empty. There weren’t any traces of our previous transgression. The girl that I was expecting to be there wasn’t, and seeing what the classroom looked like now made me consider that she might have some sort of cleaning talent too. Everything was back in place except for a few missing desk and chairs, most likely the ones the dark haired girl had broken. Her easel and canvas stood near an open window, covered with a thick white sheet to protect it from dust. The floor looked like it had been mopped and there was barely anymore dust on the floor. I was surprised on how fast she was able to clean all that mess. I found myself approaching the easel. I wanted to see the angel’s painting once more. My hand was already on the sheet when I heard someone enter the room.
I loud scream came after. “AH!? SEMPAI! DON’T!” and I found a long pink haired girl rushing and putting herself between myself and the painting.
“Eh?” was all that came out of my mouth. I recognized the girl immediately as she was the same girl I passed earlier and the very same one with Nanto-san almost a week ago. She was no longer in her Saintly Chorus robe; instead she wore the freshman’s uniform. She looked at me, a bit angry, rudely and a bit accusingly.
“Sempai! It’s rude to look at someone’s painting without their permission.” She scolded me making me let go of the sheet.
“I’m sorry. I seemed to have forgotten my manners.” I apologized.
She didn’t look like she bought it as she still looked quite angry at me. But she let me off the hook saying something nearly audible about ‘as long as you understand’. She picked the canvas and easel up while it was still covered then moved it more inside the classroom somewhere away from the windows and doors.
“Have you seen Nanto-sama?” I asked her.
She turned to me a little surprised. “She went back to the dorm… How did you know she was here?”
“I saw her walk in here earlier while I was looking for the Saintly Chorus.” I told her.
She looked satisfied with my answer and resumed cleaning the room a little more. I wondered why she was cleaning up someone else’s mess. That thought made me worry about Nanto-san a bit more. And if anyone asked directly I wouldn’t probably be able to deny it. That same thought also seemed to be the answer… I recalled the last things I said to the raven haired girl before she made me leave.
‘I can help…’ I didn’t say that because I merely could. I said it because I wanted to help her. Maybe this girl felt the same.
“Can I help?” I asked her.
While she continued to mop the rest of the room, she answered; “It’s okay. I’m almost done, sempai.” Her reply sounded a bit like Nanto-sama’s, the way how it stung and told me that she wasn’t particularly fond of me.
“Hmmm…” I absently vibrated my throat in acknowledgement to her response. I watched her, smiling as she did her job as if she enjoyed it. I thought; ‘people can’t have everything and everyone they desire after all...’
“Is something wrong sempai?” she asked pausing in her task and looking at me curiously.
I smiled and replied; “I don’t think it’s anything I should worry about anymore.” I then turned and walked towards the door, but just before I left I turned to her again and said; “Take good care of her, ok?”
The girl turned as pink as her hair and yelled slightly; “Wha-Wha-What are you talking about?!! Why would I want to take care of Yaya-sempai!?” She turned away from me with a pout. I decided to leave it at that, and get into some fresh clothes, before someone I wouldn’t want to answer to finds me in this blood stained uniform.
That night… I found Hikari at her usual table. She was with a few unfamiliar Spica students, or should I say they weren’t the same ones that usually sit beside her. But someone’s absence made me worry more… Nanto-sama wasn’t beside her best friend for dinner. Actually she wasn’t anywhere in the dinning hall. I wonder if something did happen to her…
… to be continued.
Author’s Notes: I’m actually surprised I made Amane kiss Yaya… I planned to do that on the next chapter Amane narrates but somehow this happened.
Anyway… The next chapter fic would probably be in Yaya’s point of view that or I might include a short filler in between, for a bit of comedy after that all the drama nearly burned my heart... (I have this habit of almost acting out what I plan to write before it get’s written.)
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