Chapter Text
“This is ridiculous! ‘You cannot continue the club without any contribution to this school blah blah blah, it must be meaningful blah blah blah, it should help your future blah blah blah’ YO teacher we just need an empty class after school!”
Dramatically imitating her homeroom teacher’s voice, Yukari stomps inside the temporary classroom used for her doll making club, which is now having two people, including Yukari, as known as the club president herself.
“Calling art useless for our future” The seamstress of the club sighs, clearly she is no stranger to this rejection. “You know how old fashioned Mrs.Yukitama is, heh… We still have plenty of time until the Spring festival anyway, Yukari, how about making a doll resembling her and sacrificing it to the holy flame, maybe God would hear us and grant our wish?”
Yukari groans even louder than her stomping earlier. “Firstly, it’s a waste of resources, time and effort. Secondly, aren’t you in a cult about environmental stuff or something? And burning means polluting the air? You literally did stare at me for the whole day just because I stepped on some leaves???”
“For your first question, no, my cult is about protecting plants. I don’t give a damn about other stuff until they affect the plants, so we can use coal instead of wood!”
“You are… quite a character, senior” Yukari rolls her eyes. “At least that’s a friendly cult containing people recruiting new members through a box of cereal— I won’t do that doll burning thing though!”
“I know!” Vanilla white hair pats violet one.
“You are insufferably unpredictable.” The junior leans back to get out of that pale hand. “And don’t think you can make me forget we are going to make a new doll today, senior Kazuha.”
Kazuha laughs, but as lazy as she wants to be, the older woman has a club to attend and a young club president to tease, of course!
“Alright, you see through my trick, hand me the sketch. In the name of Kazuha Honmou, I will finish the clothes in the span of one week”
“I trust you, senior” Yukari gives one exasperated huff and hands the club’s seamstress her note. “But if you betray my vulnerable soul, I may find my way to your beautiful house and ask a pretty little brother to scold you~!”
The older student gasps in feigned hurt. “Don’t you dare bring Lumi into my peaceful slacker life, Yukari Akabane!”
Yukari sticks her tongue out, by her athletic self, she skips to the doorway before Kazuha’s hands can reach out to pinch her cheek.
“It depends on whether you finish the dress in due date or not, sEnIOr~”
With a final wave of mock politeness, the junior runs away, makes the white-haired behind groan in frustration, she packs her belongings no later than that and leaves.
_M_
Yukari loves this road, even though it is longer than most roads to her home, but it is less crowded. The girl with her bright violet hair and eye-catching fashion effortlessly becomes the main character to any pedestrians that happen to walk on this street.
She feels eyes laying on her, she enjoys the way rays of sunset go through the leaves of that big tree, creating a perfect spotlight for her. Yukari wishes someone had taken a picture of her right at that moment, when her carefree steps reach the light, when her body shines under the orange hue while the shadow of that grand tree covers everything else.
People recognize her, they wave, say hello or even compliment her long violet strands that turn curly at the end. They remember her name, her preferences at the convenient store
All eyes are on her!
Even the fact that it took her 15 minutes longer than the common road to reach her house, Yukari doesn’t mind, it only means that she gets to treasure this moment a little more—
“Ow!”
Okay, maybe closing her eyes to breathe in the scent of autumn leaves is a bad idea.
The man Yukari bumped into is a tall one in Kamiyama uniform, probably has just gone back from his school just like her.
He has long pale yellow hair tied into a low ponytail that can reach his knee (Does Kamikou really have no rule at all? Yukari starts thinking it was a mistake to enroll in Miya), his eyes are dull black, making it very hard to read what is in those pupils that are blurred by the color. He wears a set of turquoise hairpins on the side of his bangs. Despite the length of hair and those hairpins, the young man appears to have a thin yet muscular frame, different from Yukari’s impression on his head.
“Watch your eyes, there are not many people who would predict a random girl hopping while closing her eyes and then avoid the bump, and said people don’t include me.” He doesn’t reach out a hand, just waits for Yukari to stand up by herself.
A blunt and inconsiderate man, Yukari changes her inner description about him.
“Yeah yeah, thanks for ruining my perfect afternoon, I guess” She talks back as her hands brush off the dust from her skirt and cardigan. “Why don’t you go away instead of standing there and judging me without lending a hand? Twink.”
He immediately knows she is talking about his long hair and the decorations on his bangs, but he shows no shame about them, even putting his ponytail to the front for Yukari to take a closer look.
“Twink, huh? I keep my hair long and wear these for my girlfriend. If you want to get on my nerves, try a better one, you flashy and oversaturated bunch of purple.” He retorted with nonchalance.
“So you’re whipped then?”
“Yeah”
“Uuuh… a pathetic male wife to your little lover!”
“I will be one if she likes”
“Urg- Ha! Your pale hair and skin, have you ever compared yourself to a zombie at all~? Isn’t it scary for your pretty girlfriend to date someone like that”
“I can change for her.”
This simp is shameless, Yukari comes to that conclusion, at least whoever dating him is having true love in their romantic story.
Her habit of diving into whatever interests her calling for Yukari again, therefore, she cannot help but pry into the love life of this man she has just met for over 5 minutes. “Honestly I’m worried for your lover, do you even know how to be a gentleman? As far as I can see, you don’t.”
They have to move to a bench nearby because the curiosity of a ‘flashy and oversaturated bunch of purple’ seems to be ready to let this conversation last hour.
“It’s ‘as far as you can see’ because I don’t think you need it”
“Hey!” Yukari huffed. “That’s not how you should treat a vulnerable me or any ladies at all! my heart is easily shattered~” She fakes little sobs and hiccups, as dramatically as she could.
The young man, of course, sees right through the poor act.
“Right, I should treat an attention-seeker whose first thing to do after bumping into me was calling me a ‘twink’.”
“And who’s that attention-seeker?” Yukari manages to shoot him a glare with little bite, but she can't deny that his words hits quite close to home.
He rolls his eyes. “Then explain you hopping on this road, catching all light and eyes as if this is a catwalk”
“Cannot blame me~ It feels so good when you’re remembered, seen as a memorable face in a place that is not even close to home!”
“Congratulations, you’re in the 1% weirdos who prefer to be stared at 24/7, we must have been living on two sides of the solar system for me to have not heard anything about your antics yet” He reacts with dry humour.
This time it is Yukari who rolls her eyes, violet irises meet black teasingly, mostly at the latter’s dullness in his eyes. “You talk too blunt for your own good, ya know~?”
“Sorry for having free will” He shrugs, then stands up and stretches himself. “What is your name by the way, cannot let this chance of studying this unhinged oversaturated purple ball slip.”
“It’s Yukari Akabane, and oversaturation is nothing wrong if you match the others right!”
“Whatever art nerd, Isamu Hino, and all the bunches of purple on your body hurt my eyes” Isamu drapes his bag around his shoulder before he walks away, to the opposite direction of Yukari’s house. Yeah, our houses are surely far.
The girl in violet sticks her tongue out at him one last time.
…
Under the almost completely setting sun, Yukari begins to think back to her earlier banter with the simp named Isamu.
Yukari welcomes all the strangest things to her life, this encounter is no exception.