Looks like I'm getting my flow back, this one wrote itself again
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I stand outside Miki’s room facing the wall, as per her command via shouting. She said something about a grand reveal, but she wouldn’t say what it was she was revealing. I hear the door behind me open, but don’t turn around.
“Alright Hisao, you can look!” I turn. She looks beautiful. Her hair wraps over her shoulder and down across her chest. Purple floral patterns dance across the dark fabric of her yukata, spreading from her shoulder and down her side, wrapping around her hips and down the opposite leg. “So? How do I look?”
“Amazing…” Is she trying to make me look bad? I thought a sweatervest was enough, but Miki stands before me like this. Hopefully I look better than Kenta.
“Now come on! I’m starving!” She grabs my hand and pulls me quickly down the stairs, outside and into the crowd.
“Where are we going?”
“I know a stall, they sell yakisoba. Hurry up, we need to beat the crowd if we want the good stuff!” She increases the pace again, but I somehow manage to keep up. She leads me half way across the grounds to a fairly large stall.
Steam rises from the kitchen area, accompanied by loud sizzling and shouting between the team running the stall. It smells great, and judging by the crowd behind us on their way here, it tastes even better.
“Hey Miki! Lookin’ good! Who’s the guy?” One of the chefs shouts out, waving a spatula at us.
“Oh shut up Masato! Just give us two servings, big ones!” The guy shrugs and pulls out some wooden bowls for us, filling them with as much food as he can. He hands us the bowls, resting Miki’s one on her wrist so she can eat and walk. I pay him and we leave, looking for a place to sit.
We settle on a spot in the shade under a tree, resting against the trunk. The food is really good, considering the price, so I have no trouble finishing the serving, despite how big it is.
“I don’t wanna move now Hisao… Can’t we leave Kenta at his stall?”
“…We could, but we shouldn’t. He’s expecting us, he might get worried if we don’t show up.” She sighs, realising that I’m probably right.
“You have a point… I could text him and tell him to meet us here. Where did I put my phone…” She fumbles around looking for it, eventually pulling it from underneath her.
“So how’s practice been? Other than yesterday anyway, you seemed to enjoy the time out of class.” Miki hands me her phone.
“Text Kenta, it’s annoying when I do it. Practice was alright, nothing amazing, just running. Hey, did I ever get your number?” I send Kenta a message telling him to meet us before scrolling through the contacts list. My name isn’t in here.
“Doesn’t look like it, I’ll add it in now,” I pull out my own phone and perform the number exchanging ritual of add-call-add. “done. You want any more of my private details so you can bug me whenever you want?”
“Idiot!” She punches me in the arm, laughing. “You never use your phone anyway, your only contacts are your parents, right?”
“Yeah, but maybe I’ll start using it now.”
“Having fun you two?” Kenta towers over us, made taller by the fact we are sitting down. He still wears the school uniform, probably from working the stall. Miki goes silent almost immediately, leaving me to answer.
“Yeah, we are. You wanna go change before we start doing stuff? We, uh, can’t really move. Ate too much.” He shoots Miki a disapproving glare.
“Not the yakisoba again? Miki, I’ve told you how bad that stuff is-“
“Kenta, it’s the festival. Loosen up a little, you know I can handle my junk food. Now go change, we need to make sure our legs work.” Miki attempts standing up, but has to grab the tree for support. Kenta heaves a sigh and walks off, leaving me with the impossible task of supporting Miki.
“Get up Hisao, help me out here!” She can hardly breathe through her laughter anymore. I push myself up to help her, but instead end up with a face full of grass. Miki tries to help me up, but before she can actually reach me, she falls down beside me.
“Well then. Teamwork?”
“Nope, this is fun! First one up get’s a free lunch tomorrow!” She pulls herself over to the tree. I sit up, rising slowly into a kneeling position. Come on, one leg at a time Hisao, you can beat her!
I grab Miki and pull her up, luckily managing to keep my balance.
“Damn, I owe you a lunch now… Come on, let’s walk a little, Kenta will probably call us idiots if we can barely stand when he gets back.” She holds on to my arm for support and we make our way down from the grass. A few trips back and forth like this is all it takes for me, but Miki clings to me even when Kenta returns.
“Alright, let’s go. Having fun there Miki?” She waves him off with her wrist, not daring to let go of me. We start walking slowly through the crowds, passing a few games and food stands without bothering ourselves with them. Kenta leads us to the stall he was running before. It sells energy drinks.
After grabbing a few, free of charge, we bump into Shizune, Misha and Emi.
“Wahahaha~! Having fun~ you three?” We all nod in unison, nobody feeling the need to say anything. “Great, great~! Thanks for inviting Emi to join us Hicchan~, she’s funny!”
“Oh, no problem Misha, figured you could use extra company. Hey Emi.” Emi nods at the three of us, probably trying to avoid a conflict. Shizune signs something, and Emi laughs. Has she learned some gestures in this short time?
“Shizune wants you to know the Student Council don’t need you anymore Hisao.”
“How did you know that? You don’t know sign, do you?” Emi frowns at me, clearly displeased at my accusations.
“I know enough! See?” She signs something, causing Shizune to smirk. “I just called you a dork!”
“So… Why do you know sign?”
“None of your business!” She signs something to Shizune, but whatever point she was making is lost when Shizune turns to Misha.
“Emi, you aren’t signing~, that doesn’t mean anything~! Wahahaha~!” Emi turns a deep red, shying away from the group. Surprisingly, Miki doesn’t say anything, and Misha turns to Kenta. “Ken-ta~! Why isn’t your boyfriend here~?”
“Misha, for the last time. I’m single.”
“Wahahaha~! Whatever you say~ Kenchan!” Shizune signs something, glancing at Miki while she does so. “Shicchan, she’s probably just tired~!” Shizune starts signing more furiously, pointing at my arm now.
“Misha, tell her that she’s just exhausted. We’ll tell you why some other time.” I nudge Miki, and she groans a little. “I’ll go take her to the nurse, Kenta, you can go have fun. I’ll see you all later.”
Pulling Miki away from the group and towards the auxilary building. She mutters something into my arm as we walk through the hallway to the nurses office, but I can’t decipher it. I knock on the door and enter, pulling Miki in with me.
“Nakai? Muira? Shouldn’t you two be enjoying the festival?” He looks at us, probably too casually for his profession. His legs are up on his desk and he swings his stethoscope around his finger.
“Yeah, we were, but Miki ate too much for lunch or something.” I pry her off of my arm and sit her on the bed. She hides her face behind her hair, looking down at her feet the entire time.
“Did you eat the yakisoba again Miki? You know that stuff makes you sick.” She remains silent. “Miki, come on, look at us. I can give you some indigestion tablets and you’ll still be able to enjoy the rest of the festival.”
I don’t say anything. I don’t know what I would say, even if I did talk, I’ve never seen Miki like this.
“Fine, give me the pills. Hisao, I don’t want to ruin your day, you can go with-“
“No. I’m staying with you. I’ve had fun today because of you, I want that to continue. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I wanted to stay with the others, I would just walk around with you on my arm all day.”
She looks surprised at my interruption, and I could swear I see some hesitation in her eyes. It fades, and she just smiles at me. That smile I like so much.
“…Alright. Wait outside, I’ll be out in a moment.”
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