[ ₁x₁ ᴡɪᴛʜ Aʙsᴇɴᴛ Mɪɴᴅᴇᴅ Eʀɪɴ

[aiu]

ʜᴀʀᴜᴋɪ ᴍɪᴋᴀᴢᴜᴋɪ↫
ooc: time-skipping’s great! i was considering doing it myself since it cuts out the boring bits. actually, i was wondering if you minded them being in the same class as they might be in different grades, so if I need to change that, let me know.

The boy numbly went to his classroom, arriving before anyone else was even there, teacher included. He sat up against the wall, hugging his knees close to his chest and giving a bored stare to his school bag sitting beside him. For the most part, he was just wondering if it was worth the effort it took to get out his phone and earbuds. Perhaps he was being too lazy considering that even that sounded too hard to him.
Haruki let out a breath that seemed like a cross between a laugh and a sigh. He still had a good fifteen minutes until class started after all. What could he do? Letting his head rest on the back of the wall, he started to drift off to nowhere-of-importance. He thought about butter and puppy dogs and who knew what else before he realized that there was a good chance Yui might have a hard time finding her classroom. Too late to help her now… he thought.
Noticing footsteps down the hall, he came to his feet and bent to pick up his school bag. He greeted his teacher with a smile (which was never returned) before the man, coming close to graying and standing close to 5’7”, stuck a key in the door. He would have said something along the lines of ‘good to see you again Mr. Whoever’ if he had remembered his name, but he didn’t and that was that. The teacher didn’t seem that interested in him, anyways, as he let Haruki in and followed after.
Haruki stopped just a little ways after the doorway. As he was the first student there, he was the first to choose his seat. He let out a shiver. Not only was this classroom cold, but it was large and empty. There was just so much open space; he almost wanted to throw up. He calmed himself down a bit before he made a beeline to the back corner seat closest to the wall. He settled down just as another boy came in and after that, they started to come in a steady stream; sometimes in little groups, sometimes by themselves. He soon grew tired of trying to remember even one of the other student’s names, so he pulled out a notebook and a pen, preparing to draw.
After the school bell rang, he was still too caught up in his drawing of the ugly-beautiful lake to stop. He knew he wouldn’t be yelled at anyways. The teachers tended to respect him, so they never really questioned his odd behavior. It wasn’t until a new student was announced that he gave a proper look up. It was Yui. Most the boys around him looked fascinated or some other emotion he couldn’t identify, but Haruki… well he looked terrified, to be perfectly honest. There was no escaping it now. He was going to have to get to know her. The one thing he’d had nightmares about happening were happening.
Now that he had met her, sure, he thought she seemed like a very good person, but that didn’t mean he wanted to really talk to her or get to know her. Their gender difference stressed him out a bit more than maybe it should have; to the extent that he began to wonder if he was being sexist.
Look down! She might not see you! he thought hurriedly. He immediately went back to drawing the lake, adding in pointless details like a frog and a lost kite in a tree.

[Tako Otoko]

→ Ｙｕｉ Ｈｉｒｏｍｉ．

After giving her introduction, she took the brief moment to glance around the classroom a bit. It seemed as though her feeling of having tons of eyes on her was correct, as a good majority of the other students looked at her with expressions of fascination or... whatever kind of expressions a few of the others had. But there was one student in particular that hurriedly looked back down at his desk; Haruki. Oh, this was great! and she wasn't just thinking that sarcastically, either. Having her friend in the class as her was a good thing! Wait, was he her friend? She supposed he was, if she was already automatically referring to him her friend like that, mentally or not. Although, it might've been a bit too soon to start calling him that, after all she wasn't sure if he even considered her his friend. Probably not, in fact, he happened to seem a bit afraid of her at times. Maybe afraid wasn't the right word of it, but it was definitely some kind of fear. What if he hated her for all she knew, and was just too polite to tell her that outright?

Regardless, Yui didn't have much time to start getting lost in her thoughts again, as the teacher had begun to tell her where she would be sitting. And, wouldn't you know it, there happened to be a free seat right next to Haruki's, which the teacher had pointed out for her. There seemed to be no other open seats in the classroom, so she had no choice but to take the only one next to him. It would've been rude to go asking for a different one, anyways, so even if there were other seats she wouldn't have been able to pick a different one anyways. And, after giving a quick thank you to the teacher, she headed over to her seat and sat down. She looked over and gave a small smile to Haruki, the corner of her mouth almost twitching out of worry that she might've made him uncomfortable.

((nope! it's perfect for me, since i was hoping they'd be in the same class anyways! i hope you don't mind that i had her seat be right next to his, though i could change that if you'd like haha. ;v;))

[aiu]

ʜᴀʀᴜᴋɪ ᴍɪᴋᴀᴢᴜᴋɪ↫
ooc: don't mind at all! i was hoping she would. this might be a little off. i did something stupid, so now my head is pounding and i'm having a hard time focusing, so sorry about that.

Keep looking down. She won't notice. Keep looking down. Keep looking...Haruki's eyes darted to the side where he saw something terrifying. The only empty seat was next to him. So he was going to have to talk to Yui after all. He took several deep breaths as the teacher pointed out the inevitable. The desk next to him was the only empty one. She was going to have to sit there.
Haruki looked up, pretending that it was the first time he had done so since she came in. He smiled and gave a little wave as he tried to calm himself down. Look. It's all going to be okay, alright? You're finally going to have a friend (probably), I mean, how bad can it be. You're just scared of new things, that's all. Once you get used to it, it will be like now: normal. Despite the slight cheesiness of the talk, it did help calm his nerves just a little bit.
Why was he so nervous anyways? That thought stopped him in his tracks. He really didn't know. He'd talked to lots of people before, gotten a lot of new people to sit next to every year, met new students, been a new student... The fact that she was girl really shouldn't have been changing his outlook on the whole situation that much.
He watched her get closer, and closer, until she finally took her spot at the seat next to him. She actually seemed a bit nervous; maybe not as nervous as him, but nervous all the same. The smile she gave him was kind enough, but it shouldn't have made him react the way it did. A tomato red blush escaped from under his collar and he quickly looked down at his paper for a moment as he forced it down. He prayed that she didn't notice. He wasn't facing her for that long so maybe there was a chance? You're stupid, he thought, and he had to agree with himself. Of course she had noticed. The behavior was odd and, frankly, rather erratic, so even if she didn't notice the blush, she'd been insulted by the fact that he had practically ignored her completely. Why had he even blushed anyways? He wasn't that nervous--
No! Now was not the time to wander off into his thoughts. He needed to find out how to save the the situation! His eyes focused on his finished picture. Pretending, to hurriedly add a couple more details, he gave her a side smile, trying to say 'I saw you. I just wanted to show you something,' but the way he was trembling, it might have looked like a psychopathic smile instead.
He added a boat in the water--a boy and a man fishing inside--as well as a couple more trees before smiling at his work. It was rushed, but hopefully it would make her forget the whole incident. He tore out the page from his notebook (it was just lined paper, so he didn't care what happened to the picture) and handed it to her. It wasn't until after he'd done this that he realized that he hadn't come up with a reason for handing it to her in the first place. He rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. No. He was tired of coming up with excuses for the rest of the day. He was all excused out. It didn't probably didn't matter any more anyways. She'd still think he was another one of the snobby rich boys who just wasn't interested. Or one of those creepy stalkers at the school. She could take her pick.

[Tako Otoko]

→ Ｙｕｉ Ｈｉｒｏｍｉ．

Yui wanted to tilt her head out of slight confusion at his red face, but decided not to give any sort of reaction to it in fear out of embarrassing him. It was only a simple smile, so what was with the blush and no response or even a smile back? She thought giving a little smile only the polite thing to do, but maybe by the students of this school it was considered rude or embarrassment worthy? No, it was a different school, not a different world, that would just be silly. And even if such a thing was considered to be impolite by the students, Haruki didn't really seem like the rest of the students anyways. No, he was much more interesting to her, and different in a way, which is probably why she was so interested in becoming his friend herself.

Though she was mostly trying to pay attention the teacher, she occasionally gave a slight glance or two over to Haruki, giving a warm smile back when he gave a side smile. Although, he seemed to be trembling a bit when he did so, which made her feel a tad concerned for him though she tried not to think too much of it. When he handed her a piece of paper, that he had seemingly tore out of his notebook judging by the torn ends on it. Yui gave a slightly confused blink, but took the paper regardless, and when she saw the picture drawn on it her eyes widened somewhat. It was a very beautiful drawing, and it was apparent that there was quite a bit of detail put into it. The lake made her feel a bit confused, as it was both odd, but also beautiful, but it was a strangely good kind of confusion, if such a thing even existed. There were some trees surrounding the lake, and there was even a boy and his father in a boat, seemingly fishing in the lake. She adored the art, although she couldn't quite piece together why exactly he gave it to her. Was it simply something to show that he didn't actually hate her, and might even be interested in becoming her friend too? If that was the case, then it made her feel very happy inside, and she let that show to him by giving him a smile almost as wide and warm as the one she had given earlier upon stepping through the school gates. There even seemed to be a bit of blush on her face, as well.

((it's fine! i hope you're okay. ;o; i like your new signature, also! i love Rolling Girl! o':))

[aiu]

ʜᴀʀᴜᴋɪ ᴍɪᴋᴀᴢᴜᴋɪ↫
ooc: i'm fine, thanks. just hit my head hard. and thank you again for the compliment! it's one of my favorite songs of all time.

Haruki refocused his attention on the teacher, suddenly remembering that he was in class. Not that it mattered quite yet. It was the first day so it was just the basic run down he always got. He sighed and looked back down at his notebook, longing to draw something else. Nothing came to mind however, so he convinced himself to look forward blankly for a couple moments before casting a nervous glance to Yui. She was smiling at him. The smile was nice and warm and he relaxed, making himself feel like all was forgiven. Again, the smile that split across his face was a little out of his control. He had meant to smile, but this big grin, he knew, was the same contagious smile he'd copied from her before.
The boy turned his head towards the teacher again, slowly letting the smile ease off his face as he began to be bored again. He cast a glance around you and caught two boys looking at him. They were two of the trouble-maker kids, the kind that could get away with anything for no particular reason. He still voted to give them a small smile and a wave. They turned away immediately, looking slightly upset. Haruki gave a glance at Yui, wondering if she saw, and shrugged.
Again, he tried to pay attention and, again, he failed. He thought about trying to get to know Yui better, but decided against it as he didn't want to get her in trouble on her first day. The boy sighed and resigned himself to boredom.
--------------
The fifty minutes were over quickly, thankfully, and he was glad for the speed at which it went by. He and everyone else in the class stood to say farewell to they're teacher. People started to leave, but Haruki had to hang behind to put away his notebook and the various other things he had pulled out. He turned to speak to Yui, a smile on his face.
"I didn't know you would be in my homeroom," he said, "otherwise, I would have helped you find the classroom. Looks like you found it okay, though." He shifted his school bag from one hand to another, "What class do you have next? Maybe I can help this time."
It was odd, but he felt a very odd controversy going through him. Part of him wanted they're schedule to be the same, that maybe they could be in their next class together, and another part of him was like before: not wanting to have to get to know her. He honestly didn't know what to think at this point. Everything seemed way more confusing than it should be.

[Tako Otoko]

→ Ｙｕｉ Ｈｉｒｏｍｉ．

Yui simply gave a small giggle at the grin he gave her in return. She was tempted to laugh a bit louder at the silly grin, but voted to just keep it as a quiet giggle as to not get herself into any kind of trouble for making noise. She didn't mean the laugh in mean spirits, though, she actually considered it to be kind of... Cute, really. Never thought she'd use that word on a boy before, but it truly was pretty adorable to her, as odd as the words 'cute' and 'adorable' sounded in her head.
The next time she glanced over at Haruki, she saw him giving two other boys who seemed to be looking at him a small smile, as well as a wave, although they only replied by looking away and now seeming as though they were both upset for some reason. Yui simply gave a shrug as well in reply when he did, being just as perplexed as he likely was by what had just happened.
After that, she attempted to direct her attention onto what the teacher was saying once more, but instead found herself mostly thinking about what exactly friends did with one another. After all, if she really had befriended Haruki, then she should have to learn how to be a good friend. She tried to think about all of the friendships she had observed in her lifetime, and could only think of her Mother, really. Although it may have been different from a regular friendship due to her mom being, well, her mom, Yui would say she and her mother were very close friends. She wondered if her relationship with her mom was really the right example to use, though, since after all they were mother and daughter, while Haruki and herself were not blood-related, and certainly not parent and child.

[ - - - - - - ]

Time went by fairly quickly, and before she knew it class was over, and she as well as the rest of the students were standing up to give their farewells to their teacher, and then they all began to leave the classroom. Except for her, as she had to take the extra time to neatly fold up and place the drawing Haruki had given her into her bag to take home with her. She wasn't exactly sure what she'd do with it, though, but she was dead-set on taking it with her. After all, it was a gift from a friend, and she intended to take good care of it. ''Yeah, I don't think I told you what class I'd be in, did I?'' Yui replied with a somewhat sheepish smile, running a hand through her short, dark brown hair. She would've just told him when they first met, but honestly what class she was in was the last thing on her mind back then. ''Hmm, I think the next class I have is History... Actually, I have a question for you, Haru.'' This time, she was fully aware that she was referring to him by a nickname, but it sounded much more natural to her to just call him 'Haru' so it kind of stuck with her. ''That lake you drew... Is it real? I think I'd really like to see it for myself someday!'' The girl asked with a smile on her face, slinging her schoolbag over her shoulder.

[aiu]

ʜᴀʀᴜᴋɪ ᴍɪᴋᴀᴢᴜᴋɪ↫
ooc: sorry. short post. trying to finish before my computer dies.

Haruki was honestly quite surprised at the care Yui was taking to put away his simple drawing. In fact, the sight almost made him want to cry. Whenever he had given similar pictures to his parents as a child, or even as he was getting older, the nicest comment he ever got was "Well, it looks realistic..." and then it was tossed into the fireplace, trash bin, or to their old pet dog, Lucciola; whichever was closest. The very action of her caring made something that he guessed was pure joy flare up in his chest. He didn't say anything, though, as he wiped his eyes dry with his sleeve and looked back up at her.
She ran a hand through her hair, making an interesting slicked back style for a moment before it fell back into it's natural place. At the sound of her next class he was both saddened and relieved. Next hour, he had math, his least favorite and most frustrating subject. His parents always said he'd get used to it and the only reason he didn't like it was because of the fact that everything else had come easy. They were probably right.
He opened his mouth to say all this, but instead Yui asked her own question.
Haruki froze. He should have known she would ask something like this. Nervously, he bit his lip and shifted his weight onto his left foot. [color=#8b5742]"Um..." he said. He should tell her. It was rude to lie, especially to someone he was considering might be a friend in the future. "It's um..." He blushed. That must be a record for blushing in one day by now, "It's real in my, um, dreams..." He mumbled, perhaps a little too quietly. Well, it was part of the truth. The lake had been his dreams before and, beyond that, he'd imagined it-- Oh, screw that! He didn't have the courage to lie! "And it's, um, just a little ways from here... I'd, um, like to show you, but... It's kind of like a private place for me to calm down so..." He prayed he didn't sound rude, or like he was brushing her off. "I'm sorry."

[Tako Otoko]

→ Ｙｕｉ Ｈｉｒｏｍｉ．

For a split second, Yui could've sworn that she had seen Haruki wiping his eyes with his sleeves, which caused her to worry for a moment. Did she do something to make him cry? All she was doing was putting the drawing he had given her away. She had thought that taking good care of a gift was only the proper thing to do. Had he given his drawings to others before, and they had simply thrown them away or something of the sort? The thought saddened her. Something that someone had put such a great amount of work into shouldn't have just been tossed aside, at least in her opinion.
'Real in your dreams...?' Yui thought as he replied, tilting her head somewhat and giving a slightly confused expression as she looked at him. Well, it certainly did look like something you'd see in a dream, but something was telling her that he wasn't telling her the full truth... And it looked like she was right, since he then started talking about how it wasn't too far from the school. Looks like she still had her sharp intuition. ''A private place... I think I know what you mean. I have one, too. I used to go there with my mom all the time, and I still do whenever I want to be with her again.'' The girl replied with an understanding nod, accompanied by a slight smile. Yui could fondly remember sitting out late at night with her mother, on the hill outside of their house. They always had such a good, clear view of the sky from where they were, so they could always look at the stars together unless it was raining and or just cloudy out. That little spot, in fact, was what probably helped her out of the rut she used to be in right after her mother had passed away, because whenever she sat there at night, she felt as though she was just a child again, laying in her mom's lap and looking at the night sky together until Yui would eventually fall asleep, and she would have to bring her back inside and tuck her into bed. Just the thought was more than comforting to her, really.

((it's fine! i'm sorry my posts might be kinda lacking as well, my writing muse is starting to vanish a bit. unu))

[aiu]

ʜᴀʀᴜᴋɪ ᴍɪᴋᴀᴢᴜᴋɪ↫
ooc: i understand. my muse has been awful stupid the past couple days.

Haruki gave a sigh of relief as he realized Yui understood. There was nothing to worry about then. There was a pang of happiness somewhere. It was an odd feeling, but a wonderful one. It was like something crushing him had been lifted, but he didn't understand why. There was no heavy burden he had to deal with as far as he knew. He was happy. Quite happy, actually. Sure, he didn't have the school he wished he did, but other than that his life was great. He wasn't even lonely. But still... "Friend," he whispered. He didn't mean for her to hear, and actually really hoped she didn't.
He watched her face, trying to see if she had. It didn't seem like it. Instead, she seemed to be remembering something. It looked like it was something a little bittersweet. He wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, but two things stopped him. One, he had no idea if they were at that stage of friendship, yet. Really, he had no clue how friendship worked. Did you just start asking people willy-nilly, or was there some sort of waiting period... And two, he happened to glance at the clock. Both of them were going to be late and he could only blame himself.
"Crap!" he said and he grabbed Yui's wrist instinctively. "You said history right?"
He racked his brain, trying to remember if that was, indeed, the class she had said. He couldn't remember to save his life. It didn't matter. What did matter is that the math classroom was on the opposite end of the school in comparison to history. He needed to hurry if he was going to show her to her class and make it to his.
"Come on!" he said as he broke into a run. He only hoped she had her bag with her as he was dragging her along before she had a chance to grab it.
He pelted down the hallway, Yui in tow, and then up a couple steps. He slowed down at the top, having let go of her hand so she didn't trip. He bent down and put his hands on his knees as he panted. Running had never been a skill he'd been blessed with. Already his lungs were burning and he hadn't been running for any more than a minute. He could tell he was probably making a fool of himself, but he pretended like he was just patiently waiting for Yui to reach the top of the steps. Maybe that only made him look stupider. Oh, he didn't care anymore.