Aki Kitsune (17/?), original fiction
Title: Aki Kitsune (Autumn Fox)
Setting: Present Japan
Type: Multi-chapter
Words: ~2200
Beta: Phoenix
Summary: Of an anti-social girl, with secrets half of which she has not yet uncovered, and a boy who wants to learn everything about her. What is behind the thick cold walls that she has built around herself?
Chapter Seventeen
Realised Suspicions
Torikawa Sekai
"You didn't reply my message yesterday!" I pouted at the back of Kuromura's head.
"I have no obligation to," she said almost lazily, not bothering to look up even once from the pieces of paper on her desk.
I stuck my hands in the pockets of my pants while staring at Kuromura obstinately and muttered, "You don't have to be so indifferent about it."
The dyed-black redhead finally looked up. "Oh?"
I took a step back from the condescending look she sent my way that I could easily recognise even with those obstructive spectacles; her left eyebrow rose higher than the other to become visible from behind the thick frames.
"W-well," I stammered, "I was worried..."
"Oh, you were worried," an eerie smile began to crawl up the corners of her mouth. "Don't you mean you and Nakamine were worried?"
"Technically," I frowned and put up a finger to explain but was interrupted by Erika, who came barraging in the classroom at that moment.
"Hey guys! Sorry I couldn't meet for breakfast, onii-san. I couldn't put down put down the manga I was reading last night until I had finished the whole series so... I ended up oversleeping this morning."
Kuromura sat back in her chair, arms folded across her chest, while she watched Erika and me with that same chilling smile.
"What?" I asked warily.
The girl's lips curled in a calculating smirk as she tapped her metallic mechanical pencil rhythmically against the side of her arm.
"So..." Kuromura drawled. "How was your study session yesterday?"
I frowned, not quite understanding the point of her question, or why she was suddenly interested in our studying progress.
"Oh, it was okay," Erika answered excitedly as she took out her books and stationery to arrange them on her desk. "I found out that onii-san is ticklish! No- wait, I found that out the day before yesterday..."
Something was not right. I darted quick glances to-and-fro between the two girls; Erika still chatting animatedly while Kuromura nodded politely at appropriate points in their one-sided conversation, smug look still on her half-covered face.
My fear at the outwardly relaxed but unpredictable girl swelled like a slowly inflating balloon, its rubber skin stretched tighter and thinner with every passing moment.
And all the while, Erika still went on and on.
"... And there's this certain thing that I spoke to onii-san about, right?"
"Huh?" I blinked stupidly at the dark-blonde, my mind not quite catching up with the real world.
"Your dearest Erika mentioned some discussion about a certain topic yesterday," Kuromura replied smoothly. I could just bet that her eyes were twinkling that strange predator gleam, as if the hunter was sure that the hunted had no way to escape.
"Discussion?" I frowned for a second before the yesterday's memory crashed into my head. "N- no! Uh... I mean..." How could sweet, innocent little Nakamine Erika leave me here in the middle of it all?
Erika suddenly broke out in laughter. "Onii-san! Look at yourself! You're most definitely heating up! Even your ears are red!"
My hands quickly shot up to cover the offending body parts; my lengthening hair tied in a messy ponytail, unable to hide the blushing skin.
Kuromura's other eyebrow rose to join the first, clearly amused.
Fine, let us all take advantage of my embarrassment.
"Come on, spill," the bespectacled girl goaded and dropped her mechanical pencil onto the papers that I had finally made out to be her art planning sketches. "For once I'm curious about your activities. Make good use of the sentiment while it lasts."
I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly. Perhaps it would not really matter if I told her what Erika had said yesterday, since we were both already aware of the shorter girl's teasing. On the other hand, I had given in to her momentarily then, even if it was to just entertain her notions... Although, I would still have messaged Kuromura at the end of the day without Erika's suggestions, anyways.
There was sure to be some snarky comments along the line of 'Incapable of making up your own mind' or 'Can't even stand your ground against a teenage girl's runaway thoughts'.
Well, it was not as if one day had passed in Kuromura presence without her making at least thirty-seven cutting remarks about me.
"It's nothing much. Not something you haven't heard from Erika before, anyways," I began to explain. "It's her usual topic of-"
"New movies!"
"Huh?" Kuromura and I exclaimed at the same time, fixing our stares on Erika.
"Have you already forgotten?" The girl gave me a pinning look. "The new movie that just started showing yesterday? I was saying that the three of us could take a breather from all the studying and go out one day during this weekend to watch it!"
"I'll pass," Kuromura waved off the offer, deflated, as if disappointed about the proffered truth.
"But, Aki-sempai! You hardly hang out with us nowadays!"
"I'm not going to be the one in the middle dampening all your fun. You two can go and have some... quality time together."
WHAT? Great, now Kuromura had her own warped interpretation of Erika and me. It was not supposed to be like that!
"It was not-" I started to defend myself, only to be cut off.
"No, it's fine with me," she said dismissively before turning around to face her papers once again. "You two just go and have your fun. I, unbeknownst to the two of you, have extra assignments that demand my absolute undivided attention."
I gaped at her and turned to look at Erika, "It was not-"
"Not the show you wanted? Never mind, I'm sure we can find something to watch. Only, we'll have to delay the deciding for a while; sensei's here."
Was I supposed to laugh out loud at the situation, or bang my head repeatedly on the desk until either that or my skull smashes into smithereens?
* * * * *
Seconds after the last period of the day ended, Kuromura had rushed out of the classroom before I could start to pester her about joining Erika and me for dinner afterwards instead of eating alone in her room.
I sighed at the opened sliding door and picked up my bag.
"Well, Aki-sempai seemed even more closed-off than usual," Erika commented as she packed her books.
"I could tail her like I did when she first transferred in, but that meant going into the girls' dormitory. There is one school rule about 'No opposite gender individuals are to enter the other's dormitories' that I am not propelled to break."
"I'm sure things will return to normal when Aki-sempai's done with the extra assignment she's talking about," Erika reassured as she threw her bag over her shoulder and walked over to the door.
Following her out into the corridors, I began to remember what had transpired this morning.
"Hey, how come you didn't let me tell her what you really said yesterday?"
Erika turned to stare up at me with her reddish-brown eyes. "Do you want her to be more defensive about everything than she already is? She knows I like to tease the two of you, but hearing it from you- the person who's teased about with her- will make it feel like you're accepting my words as the fact and that can make her distant herself from onii-san even more."
Okay... That was something I had not foreseen.
"I have a feeling that Aki-sempai was more reclusive when she first transferred here than she is now and maybe you've tried to get through to her back then. You won't want to have your efforts wasted by my silly teases, right?"
I stopped in the middle of the corridor then, staring at Erika as if I was seeing her for the first time.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I do think through my actions, you know. All that strategising for volleyball games probably got stuck in my head without me noticing," she shrugged briefly before continuing. "It's not hard to see that there are things the two of you don't tell me. Like why her brother had specifically wanted to speak with you, and why you hesitated to answer when he asked about Aki-sempai while I was there.
"There's something about Aki-sempai that you can't talk about, right?" Erika quirked an eyebrow at me with a smirk, "It gets obvious sometimes because you're not one to hold back your words but if it has anything to do with Aki-sempai, you're cautious about what you say."
Since when had Erika been so observant about things?
I shook my head at my own slow wit and resumed our walk out of the school building.
"And I thought only Kuromura was the only one who could amaze me anymore."
"I am full of surprises myself," the shorter girl grinned as she skipped a few steps to match my broader strides.
"Well, about Kuromura's issues, it's not that I've promised not to tell or anything. More like, there was this mutual sentiment about never speaking about those things anymore, even in front of her. I think it must have been difficult for her to mention it to me in the first place and I still get the feeling that I have not seen the whole picture."
Erika placed her forefinger at her lips to bite at the nail while contemplating.
"I could tell you what I know, and I'm certain you wouldn't tell anyone about Kuromura's situation. Plus I'm sure you feel left out sometimes..."
"No," the girl rejected, "As much as she's more accommodating of me, I won't want to test her patience. And I don't want you to test her trust, even though I am capable of keeping secrets."
I nodded an agreement.
"Trust builds big but it can crumble at the smallest things. It won't be worth it to try the theory on Aki-sempai."
"You know, you're the last person I'd ever imagine having this conversation with. And without even being asked some questions about Kuromura."
"I'm good, you'd have to admit that."
I laughed and reached over to ruffle Erika's dark-blonde hair. Speaking of which...
"Oh, hey! I forgot to tell you," I stopped at the school lobby, exits to the front gate and to the science garden on either side of us. "I'm not staying to do homework today. It's the weekends so I'm going to get a haircut and get used to the shorter length before the weekdays. Being ready for the summer heat, so to speak."
"Hmm... Okay then. Maybe I'll drop by Aki-sempai's room tonight and see if she wants to study with me."
Turning around to walk backwards so that I still faced Erika, I waved a goodbye at her.
"See you around!" She waved back before spinning on her heels to head for the opposite direction to the cafeteria.
It was strange that Erika, who knew so little about Kuromura, seemed to understand the other girl more than I did. A little frustrating, perhaps, that someone else had figured out the enigmatic girl much more than I could, in less than half the time that I had come to know her.
And that Erika could just pop by into Kuromura's room without worrying about being ignored or being caught for breaking dormitory rules.
I gave a sigh before turning to walk out the front gates and towards the hair salon a few streets away while humming a severely premature Christmas carol along the way.
* * * * *
I ran my fingers through the much shorter hair on my head while exiting the salon. My dark-brown strands were made darker by the absence of the sun, having set over the sea of buildings just half an hour ago.
As I rounded the corner beside the salon, I spotted a small and familiar physique with short hair even darker than mine.
Haru did not seem to notice me, seemingly very busy with a phone call at that moment.
I was about to walk up to him with a greeting, for the sake of manners, when his side of the phone conversation drifted into my ears.
"No, Mother, nothing's been happening. The other side didn't seem to have found anything," he said, letting out a sharp sigh. "Mother, really, onee-san hadn't done anything weird. I would know, I've had someone checking on her every day."
The boy made a strangled sound in his throat before continuing, "No, I have not told the person anything related to the Kuromura Cur- Mother, do you really want to discuss this over the phone now? I'm outside, you know. Just call during the night like you did since Monday, all right?"
The sound of Haru snapping shut his mobile phone jolted my senses and had me running the few steps back into the salon when I saw him turning to walk down my direction. Only, he had crossed the road instead of rounding the corner and passing by the salon.
What was going on? Haru was using me to keep notes on his own sister? And I had unknowingly complied since Monday... For this whole week?
"Hey, you okay?" One of the staff in the salon asked, resting a hand on my left shoulder. My near-hyperventilation look must have given her a scare.
"Uh..." I fumbled blindly for an excuse. "It looked like it was going to rain for a minute there when I stepped out just now."
"Looks fine to me," she replied, puzzled, as we both stared out at the slowly darkening clear sky.
... To be continued
Crossposted on my website and FictionPress.com.
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