Work Text:
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
Ishigami tapped his left foot to the beat of the ticking clock, as he checked the time. Looking up from his phone he cast his gaze across the room, searching. "Is it an auditory hallucination?", he wondered. The stress must have been getting to him, for his eyes found no such mechanical apparatus. Yet nevertheless, time passed at an agonizing pace, each instant counted and marked precisely by that steady beat.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
He could feel a drop of sweat trickle slowly down his neck, piercingly sharp against the stifling heat emanating from the suffocating cloud in his chest. It took focus to steady his breathing, keeping it even, matching that same steady rhythm that possessed his foot, never letting him a moment of peace.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
He was being watched, he knew it. Her fingers had been dancing smoothly across her laptop keyboard, like a pianist playing out a sonata, she is a pianist, but now that soothing melody had grown stiff and awkward. As its pace slowed and interrupted at intervals, those moments of silence were filled only with that incessant phantom sound in his head.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
"Is it in my head?", he wondered, as he could feel it resonating throughout his entire body. He quieted that thought, he couldn't let himself get distracted. He focused his will and in one heroic effort, he sneaked a glance towards her only to catch a lingering bounce of her silky brown pigtails as she stared down at the computer screen. She had been staring right at him just a moment before, he was sure. How much does she know?
Miko had always been somewhat of an enigma to him. The more he learned, the more he realized he didn't quite understand. There were times he had thought her almost oblivious, but the closer he'd gotten to her the more convinced he'd become that those orange eyes could drill a hole straight through his very soul if he'd ever let his guard down. He shuddered at the thought. As her vice president, he'd gotten a firsthand look at what those eyes could dig out of troublemakers when a situation called for it, like a cat ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness. He couldn't let that-
Cough, cough.
Cough, cough.
His breathing had slipped, catching in his tightening throat, Miko jolting in her seat as the sound sharply interrupted the near silence. Ishigami stiffened, fearing the worst. There was no hiding that. He'd planned things so well, assigned each of his kouhai an appropriate duty. Everything was supposed to be straightforward from there, he was just supposed to walk in, talk naturally, and direct the flow to the point where he could just ask her. It wasn't like he even intended to ask her much, just to help him pick out some manga or light novels downtown. She had interesting taste, and whenever the topic had come up previously, he hadn't been disappointed with her recommendations.
Besides, if he couldn't even manage this, how was he ever supposed to... "Well, I guess it's over. I should just go home and die, shouldn't I...", he considered for a brief moment before his thoughts were again interrupted by that infernal ticking that only seemed to grow faster and louder, like time was being cut into smaller and smaller intervals that each yet felt as agonizingly prolonged as ever.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
"What is that sound!?", he wondered, as he almost grit his teeth in frustration. It wasn't in his head, he was sure of it now. He could definitely feel it. It was so loud by now he was certain Iino could hear it too, but surely she'd have said something, right?
As if to answer his thoughts, her lips gently parted and asked,
"Are you okay?"
Ishigami blinked. Oh right, the cough. It already felt like an eternity ago, as time stretched torturously towards the infinite.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine.", he answered, as he collected his breath.
She gazed at him skeptically. "Are you sure? If you think you've come down with something, you can go to the nurse's office. I can handle today's work myself."
He'd found his answer. It was only natural that she couldn't hear it. There wasn't any clock in the room after all, not even a hidden one, it was almost absurd he could mistake it for that at all. But as each beat lurched in response to the girl's concerned words, he couldn't ignore it any longer.
It felt like his heart was trying to slam its way free from his chest.
"I'm fine.", he spat, more harshly than he'd intended. "You don't need to worry about he.", he amended in a calmer tone.
"You should at least check yourself for a fever.", she lectured him. "You've been sweating like a pig for the past half hour."
A half hour? Has it really been that long? If he'd had any doubts Miko had seen everything, they were well put to rest now. Still, he knew a surefire way out of this predicament, a harsh lesson taught to him upon the field of battle.
"Have you been watching me that long? That's kinda creepy, isn't it?"
"There, that should settle it.", he thought to himself, quite proud of his response. No one could possibly-
"I can smell it. You reek.", she retaliated in a voice like an icy dagger straight through his heart.
"Maybe that'll quiet it.", he mused as he silently nursed the wound. This kind of exchange still happened from time to time, and he'd never truly gotten used to it. If anything, whatever armor he had felt like it was being slowly chipped away. Still, he had to keep a handle on it, if he got carried away on this momentum he'd ruin everything.
"I've been working out.", he explained, as if that answered everything.
"Uh huh.", she responded doubtfully. It didn't really make sense that he'd keep sweating well after he'd finished his exercise, but it seemed she was merciful enough not to press it. "Well, suit yourself. It won't be my fault if you burn up and die because you won't take proper care of yourself."
Ishigami was rather of another opinion on that matter. There was no one else to lay the blame on besides her, but he prudently kept that thought to himself. It wouldn't do to waste this opportunity. Regardless of how or why, they'd finally broken the silence, he just needed to keep the flow going, bring it around to the right topic.
He opened his mouth, eager to set his plan into motion, before pausing.
"Just what the hell am I supposed to say!?", he wondered in a sudden surge of panic. "Maybe it'd have been better to wait for this atmosphere to die down..."
Unfortunately, Miko's expectant eyes had already found their way back to him, waiting for him to speak. "Maybe I really should head to the nurse's office.", he considered, as he sought some avenue of escape. But then it hit him, a lifeline. He didn't have to run this time.
Maybe it hadn't been her intention, he sure as hell didn't know, but she'd given him everything he needed.
"Look, I'm not sick, alright? Besides, as you said, there's not much work today, is there?", he replied. "I was planning to get some manga shopping done today, so if we work together, we should be able to get out early."
Miko's eyes narrowed, and he wondered if she had picked up on his wording. "You could do that after you see the nurse. I said I could handle it." Regardless of whether she had or not, he rather suspected she had, she had given him exactly the response he'd wanted.
"What kind of Vice-President would I be if I dumped it all on you?", he asked with an inflection of mild offense. "Besides, you could use a break too, couldn't you?"
"I don't know. I don't really have anything else to do today...", she demurred, a faint smile forming across her lips as she played with her hair. She'd definitely caught on by now, so it was too late to back down.
Gathering his resolve, and all the remaining moisture in his throat with a gulp, Ishigami pressed on.
"Well, then... Why don't you come along?", he suggested. He'd been hoping to maintain a casual tone, but he couldn't help but feel even this short sentence felt unnaturally strained.
If Iino had noticed, she gave no clear sign. Her smile had only widened, "To check out manga with you?", she asked with a hopeful light in her eyes. Ishigami was starting to wonder if he really did have a fever now, as he felt heat rush across his face, but he held firm.
"Ah, um, yeah... I read 'Yesterday was Muscat', and it was really good, so I was wondering if you could introduce me to anything else...", it hadn't come out as smoothly as he wanted, but it had come out. That had to count for something.
"In that case, we better hurry up then, Vice-President.", a faint blush visible on her own cheeks as she smoothly turned back to her work. "We're going to need enough time for us to check everything out properly, so don't slack off on me.", she continued, flashing him a brilliant smile.
Ishigami nodded as he turned aside, "Ah yeah...", he mumbled, reaching for his own laptop. Thinking back on it, he'd been doing nothing but sitting in frozen terror til now. Despite his words of support, this Vice-President had been letting her do all the work. Feeling a pang of shame, he decided that he'd just have to do his best to make up for it.
Quite certain he was grinning like an idiot, he hid his face behind the screen and finally looked over his workload. Glancing over it twice, he realized he'd been mistaken. There was just as much work today as any day, and he'd already wasted enough time as is. But if he didn't get it all done... "Well, compared to everything so far, this is nothing.", he decided.
Listening to her resume her melodic dance across the keys, Ishigami stretched his own arms and fingers before joining her in duet, playing out the time to the metronome beat of their hearts.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
Yeah, that's a pretty cringe line, but sometimes it's better to just spit it out and not overthink it.
Today's Results: Iino Miko and Ishigami Yuu's joint victory, for successfully arranging a bookstore date.