Author's note: This is follows directly on from Ascalon
Elementary
~~~~Molly~~~~
I make a mad dash for the girls’ dorms, as fast as my wonky legs will carry me. Who was that guy? How have I never noticed him before? Questions I want answers to and I know just the roving reporter to assist me.
Knock-knock
“Hana? It’s Molly, I really need your help with something.” I call out through the door and listen intently for a response.
“C-Could you come b-back later please?” Her timid voice calls back.
“But I have a problem that only Yamaku’s best news-hound can help me with!” I respond.
“I’m a little b-busy…”
“C’mon, Hana! I need yo--”
“She’s a little tied up right now, Molly!
Literally, in fact.” A cheery masculine voice declares from behind the door before crying out in pain. Oh.
Ohhhhh.
“I’ll come back later then…” I announce with a nervous sing-song voice as I turn on my heels and walk back down the hall. I vaguely hear Hanako chastising Akio in the distance. I don’t know whether I should be sorry for interrupting them or for inadvertently getting Akio in trouble.
~~~~Hanako~~~~
“You ass-hat! You c-contemptible, detestable…” I laugh as I bat Akio with my pillow.
“Lovable?” He offers before I throw the pillow across the room at him desperately trying to escape across the floor.
“
Loathsome! I was going to tell her we were st-studying!”
“But that’s not
funny!” He retorts, brushing his fingers through his shaggy red hair. I close my open textbook and threaten to throw that too when he backs down.
“Okay! Okay! Jeez, you’re ornery today.” He chuckles, sliding back to the table in the middle of the room, throwing my pillow back onto the bed.
“I wouldn’t be if my boyfriend would actually help me study instead of goofing off!” I give him a half-serious glare. “Do you realise how much work I’ve had to catch up on thanks to my panic attacks? Not to mention all my new club activities and spending the whole summer with you…”
“I’m here to help, aren’t I? I’m helping!” He chuckles, picking up his pencil again.
“You’ve been playing
footsie under the table for the past half an hour!” I chide with a weary smile.
“Oh, you actually felt that? I thought you’d suddenly lost the use of your legs…” He smirks. I just can’t stay mad at this boy.
“You vex me something fierce, Akio Hayashi…” I admit with a sigh.
“I know. It’s part of my charm. Do you want to call it a day and go chase after Molly Poppins?” He asks, confident in his new nickname. Let’s fix that.
“Think you need to work on that one more but yeah, it did sound important…” I chuckle at his cute pout before stretching my arms and legs.
“To be continued?” He packs his stuff away before crawling around the table and nuzzling my nose.
Heehee…
“Count on it.” I wink and give him a peck on the lips.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I find Molly in her room, watching something on her bed. It’s a little dark so she can watch her laptop a little better.
“Hi, Molly… You needed me f-for something?” I ask through her open door.
“Oh! Hi, Hana! Sorry about earlier…” She blushes, stroking her left braid. I’ve never seen her stroke the right one.
“D-don’t be, Akio was being an ass. We were just studying, promise.” I offer a genuine smile and she’s more than happy with the explanation.
“I don’t know how you put up with such a pain in the {arse}…” She laughs, bouncing off her bed and onto her prosthetics. She removes her red-rimmed glasses and slides them into her pocket.
“He’s incredibly s-sweet when he’s not
talking, believe me…” I giggle. “What did you need help with?”
“I need help finding something out and who better than a member of the Newspaper Club to do that?” She grins, striding towards me and hooking her arm around mine, leading me out of the room.
“O-okay… But what do you want to find out?” I ask with a quizzical eyebrow as we walk towards the elevator.
“I want you to help me find a cute boy.” Her brazen statement catches me off guard and my cheeks go crimson. What have I gotten myself into?
~~~~Molly~~~~
After calming Hana down a little, assuring her that I don’t want her to be my wing-woman, we made our way out into the school grounds to find one of Hana’s ‘contacts’.
Apparently her work with the Newspaper Club has given her the confidence to build up a small network of them. Her own little group of Baker Street Irregulars. Her words, not mine. I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s read Sherlock Holmes, she always had her nose in a book before she started dating Akio. Heh, kinda funny how she coincidently ended up dating a member of the
Literature Club.
We reach one of the many trees on the grounds, cast in the golden hue of the late afternoon sun and find Misaki Kawana resting under one of them, toying with her camera. She’s clearly in her ‘free time’, the four hours a day she can spend out of her body brace so I feel bad for intruding.
“Hello, Misaki. Enjoying the b-breeze?” Hana bows politely with a smile. Is this her contact?
“Like you wouldn’t believe, Hanako!” Misaki stretches a little with a contented sigh. “What can I do for you ladies?”
“I require your assistance with a…
c-case, of sorts. Strictly off the r-record.” Hana kneels down and I follow suit. Misaki raises in eyebrow, a mischievous glint in her eye.
“Oh really? The last time you asked for help like this was with the book thief follow-up. I didn’t see anything in the paper so I assume that was a bust?”
“Unfortunately…” Hana gives an irritated sigh. “B-but your help was much appreciated all the same.” She smiles and Misaki nods at the compliment. This is such a surreal conversation, like I’m in the middle of a detective story…
“Molly is looking for a…
b-boy.” Hanako gets back on track with a slight blush. “I w-wondered if you had your rogues gallery to hand?”
“A manhunt, is it?” Misaki beams and digs into her camera bag, producing a handful of photographs, notes scrawled over them in black marker. “Take a look through those, see if any tickle your fancy.” She winks at me and it’s my turn to blush but I tentatively take the photos. I slip on my glasses and slowly begin flicking through them.
Each picture is an amazing candid shot of a student, every one a small window into the lives of the subject. Miki’s steely gaze as she chases Emi on the track. Rin painting the mural. Lilly, Shizune and brunette girl I
vaguely recognise…
Aww, this is a nice shot of Hana kissing Akio in front of the dorms. I flash the picture to Hanako and she turns crimson, taking the picture out of the pile and smiling demurely at it. Misaki gestures for Hana to keep it as I continue through the pictures, the quality astounds me until I see a shock of dirty blonde hair.
“This one! This is him!” I cry cheerily, waving the photo at Hana who takes it from my hand to examine it. I quickly tidy the stack of photos and hand them back to Misaki.
“Hmmm. Don’t think I’ve m-met him before…” Hana comments, passing the photo to Misaki who wolf-whistles.
“I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure but I’d
like to! You’ve got good taste, Molly.” She grins and I blush profusely.
“S-s-so do you know who he is?” I stutter, stroking my left braid nervously.
She flips the photo around and reads the sparse notes on the back. “
Florian? Dang and he was almost a perfect ten too…”
“Th-that can’t be his real name… P-please tell me you made that up.” Hana stifles a giggle and I’m right there with her. It's pretty dumb.
“Nope, Florian Brzenska. German,
clearly. Enrolled a couple years ago, so he’s in the same year as us. Rendered mute after undefined accident and communicates solely through Sign.” She lists off the information scribbled on the back.
“
Only through Sign?” I ask, my heart sinking a little. There goes my shot at talking to him then.
“That’s what I’ve got written down, though that may be wrong. I only write what I’m told. It’s mostly hearsay and scuttlebutt to be honest.” I furrow my brow and look to Hana, who shrugs with a slight smile.
“Misaki might not be the most effective info b-broker but I work with what I g-got.” She playfully jabs at Misaki.
“Hey! Have I ever steered you wrong?” She chuckles and Hana giggles with her.
“Thanks anyway, Misaki…” I put on a brave smile and rise, dusting off my knees. Hana follows suit and bows.
“The offer to j-join the Newspaper Club is still there, Misaki. Your talents would be a huge benefit.” Hana smiles, almost like she knows the answer already.
“Tell your editors that they don’t pay enough to lure me away from the Photography Club.” She chortles. “Did you see that picture they took of Tezuka hugging Taro? My head was in the corner of the shot! Amateur hour.” She shakes her head with a wry smile and Hanako laughs.
We walk away and my shoulders slump. I guess there’s nothing more I can do about this…
Florian. It’s a silly name anyway…
“Take h-heart, Molly.” Hana smiles, cautiously putting her arm around my shoulders.
“Well it’s not like Britain and Germany have the best history to begin with…” I joke a little.
“D-don’t tell me you’re giving up?” She tilts her head.
“He only speaks Sign, probably
German Sign Language at that, and I haven’t learned either. How am I supposed to talk to someone with not one, but
two language barriers?” I grimly ask and Hana chuckles.
“Why don’t we just ask h-him…” She gestures in front of us and I look up to find Florian Brzenska walking across our field of view. What are the bloody chances?
Hana lets go of my shoulder and trots over, giving a small wave to catch his attention. I stop dead in my tracks. What the bloody hell is she doing?
~~~~Hanako~~~~
C’mon Hana, you’ve watched Shizune and Misha do this for three years, you can
at least say hello!
The tall blonde boy smiles as I approach and offers what I recognise as a hello in American Sign Language. Well, that’s a start. I gulp hard and concentrate on my hands.
[Hello. Can. You. H-E-L-P. Me.] I sign slowly and sloppily but he seems to understand, nodding with a nice smile. I suppose he is quite handsome, if you like blondes… I prefer red heads.
[Do. You. W-R-I-T-E. In…] Damn, what’re the words for Japanese and English in Sign.
Gaaaah, where’s Misha when you actually need her?
Florian seems to get the gist and makes a writing gesture. I rummage in my denim jacket’s inner breast pocket and retrieve the notepad I use for NC assignments. I offer it to him and he quickly scribbles on it before handing it back.
こんにちは、私はフロリアンです。はい、それは愚かだとはい、私は英語と日本語で書くことができます。どんな御用でしょうか？
{Hello, I’m Florian. Yes, it’s silly and yes, I can write in both English and Japanese. How can I help you?}
I read the two identical sentences with a huge grin, offering a thumbs up and then a [Wait. Here.] in Sign.
~~~~Molly~~~~
Well she’s looking pretty pleased with herself… Hanako jogs back over, thrusting a notepad into my hands.
“What did you…
Oh!”
“He’s t-t-trilingual like you!” Hana announces excitedly. She moves around behind me, placing her hands firmly on my shoulders and pushing me towards Florian.
“
W-w-wait, Hana! You can’t just…” My protests are to no avail as I find myself standing in front of the same blonde-haired boy from earlier.
“I’ll l-let you g-guys get to know each other~.” Hana says, barely stifling a squeal of delight before darting off. Some wing-woman she turned out to be, she just throw me under the double-decker bus!
“Um, hi. We kinda
bumped into each other earlier…” I say sheepishly and he reacts in a very animated way. His eyebrows raise, he points to me and then nods, acknowledging that we did.
“Yeah… I just wanted to say… Hi.” I start stroking my left braid out of sheer embarrassment. His pretty smile isn’t helping matters. He offers his hand and I realise he can’t talk to me without the pad.
“S-sorry! I forgot…” His upper body shakes like he’s laughing. I guess that’s how he does it.
[Not to worry. Would you prefer English or Japanese?] He scrawls in kanji.
“Um… Japanese, I guess?” I offer. Might as well stay consistent with the country we’re currently in.
[Okay. I’m Florian. I know, it’s a silly name…] He shows the pad and I giggle a little, before looking up at his gorgeous green eyes.
“I’m Molly. It’s nice to meet you.” I say with a demure smile.
[Molly? It’s cute. Like your laugh.] Ooooh, so he’s a smooth talker…
Writer… Whatever.
~~~~Hanako~~~~
I watch from a safe distance as Molly begins twirling her right braid through her fingers, her hips subtly rocking back and forth. I guess she only does it when she’s attracted to someone.
“So
this is the important thing she needed your help with? Chasing boys?” Akio asks incredulously as he sidles up beside me, placing his hand in mine.
“I must be good at it… Caught
you, didn’t I?” I tease with a gentle nudge.
“Touché. So is that the guy? Pretty cute but I’ve never been a fan of blondes. I much prefer
violet.” He admits with a wink.
“Cute. I said the same thing but about red heads…” He blushes slightly with a smile. “But I hope they get along. I found out he’s trilingual like she is.” I say with a small amount of pride.
“Tall, blonde
and a cunning linguist? Molly certainly is a
lucky girl.” I nudge him a little harder for his crass remark but giggle all the same.
“D-don’t go getting ideas, Akio… Besides, you wouldn’t like him, he doesn’t
backchat.” I refer to Florian’s mutism.
“You’re right. Where’d be the fun in
that?” He laughs before giving me an alluring smile and we share a tender kiss on the lips.
“It’d be no fun at all, I imagine. Peaceful though.” He didn’t like that one.
Got yoooou~.
“C’mon,
Sassako, we’ve got a date with a math assignment.” He pouts, gently tugging my hand.
“All work and no play…” I sarcastically lament, following him towards the boys' dorms.
“Work first, play
later…” He purrs as incentive and I squeeze his hand a little tighter.
