Work Text:
Days were still warm but autumn colors were starting to peek along the quiet road to the library. She felt content in the sunny afternoon, lighter after a couple of tense weeks. Things finally calmed down, and the worst case scenario for Kaoruko being discovered she had in her mind for more than a year didn't happen in the end.
‘A big part of that was thanks to them.’ She thought, with a small smile.
She was walking in the company of three other girls from her school.
their idle chatter was interrupted when they stumbled upon another group of students. She caught a tall, dark haired figure in her peripheral vision and immediately lost track of what she was talking about, words stopping mid sentence.
Both groups were heading toward the crosswalk on intersecting paths. Saku was there, accompanied by two other Chidori students she didn’t recognize. He was talking with one of them with his usual bored face, and as if time slowed down, she saw the moment his face twitched in recognition. He had seen her, she could tell. She knew how to read him well enough already. She suppressed a snort at seeing him so flustered.
Both groups arrived to wait at the red light by the crossing. The 2 Chidori boys shooting curious looks to them, Saku clearly acting as if he didn't know her, and her classmates seemed restless. She felt a pang of guilt, thinking how in the past her reaction would have been even worse.
The conflict between schools had started to heal, but was far from over.
Years of prejudice can’t be erased in a day.
But she decided she was going to help bridge the gap.
“Hi Natsusawa” She greeted him. All eyes landed immediately on them “long time no see”
He turned his head slowly, and shot her a bewildered look.
“ehm, yeah, been a minute” He turned again to look to the front, stiff. The boys around him were looking at him with questioning looks.
The light changed to green and both groups started walking next to each other.
Subaru decided to walk next to Saku, she leaned forward to peek at his face.
“How are the preparations for the festival?” She asked.
“We are on our way to get some materials for it” Saku replied, still restless under all the attention “We are preparing a takoyaki stand this year”
“Sounds good!” Subaru exclaimed, they were arriving at the other side of the crossing “We are on our way to the library, Kaoruko and Madoka are already there”
“Motivated as always I see” he teased, finally relaxing into a smile “We need to go this way” Saku pointed while stopping in his tracks “Say hi to Kaoruko and Madoka for me”
They waved each other goodbye when their paths diverged. The Chidori guys pulled Saku close, an arm hooked around his neck, about to interrogate their friend.
Subaru, oblivious to the effect her stunt had made on the boys, headed towards the library with the other girls, who were fidgety and also eager to ask questions.
“ehm, Subaru” the first girl, tall with braids in her hair, asked “Are they Chidori students? Where do you know them from?”
“Aren’t they delinquents?” A second girl added, she had blonde short hair.
“Not at all” Subaru replied, with a soft smile “Natsusawa is a good friend, and he is actually quite a good student, he even tutored me for the university mock exams.”
The girls exchanged surprised looks.
‘This is good’ Subarru thought, happy with herself ‘This way they can start seeing Chidori students in a new light, I’m doing my part’
The third girl, with black hair in a ponytail, looked fidgety for a little bit before asking:
“Say, Subaru… ” She seemed quite flustered “and you know if this Natsusawa has a girlfriend?”
“eh?” Subaru looked at her, confused. She started getting a nagging feeling that the conversation was going in a direction she wasn't planning for “No… ”
The other girls exchanged dreamy looks.
“He is so cute”
“So handsome”
“and tall…”
Subaru started to dread this situation, an unfamiliar anger she didn’t have a name for was erupting deep inside her against her classmates.
“Do you think you can introduce us?” The girl with black hair asked.
“Can I join those tutoring sessions?” the girl with braids added.
“Subaru, do you have his number?” The blonde girl exclaimed while getting her phone out.
Subaru halted just outside the library door entrance, mouth agape at the consequences of her own foolish actions.
‘Is this what they meant when they said Saku was popular with girls?’
She had never imagined the girls would react like that.
She never imagined she would react like this.
She considered herself a rational person. Yet in that moment, she could feel how her own selfishness bubbled inside her and a tight knot twisted in her gut, sharp and unfamiliar. A desperate part of her that she barely recognized whispered that she didn’t want to share him. Not with anyone. The idea sent a jolt of panic through her and wiped out any rational thought out of her mind.
“I don’t think he has a phone” She blurted out the first excuse — and lie — that came to her mind, flustered and without thinking straight, then turned toward the library entry “I think… I think it’s better if you don’t get too close to Chidori boys after all”
“but you said-” one of the girls tried to protest, but Subaru had already fled inside the library, leaving three bewildered Kykio students behind.