(no subject)
Characters: Horio Satoshi and Osakada Tomoka
Rating: G
When/Where: October 14th
What: Tomoka takes Horio to the festival and starts getting suspicious about the Night Class.
Authors Comments: Tomoka's going to start getting into so much trouble...
It was a good thing he was an early riser, Satoshi thought, as he sat in one of the common rooms in the Dusk dormitory. Where he sat he had a pretty good view of the outside, and the sun was setting, which meant he could go out soon. He was already restless, being cooped up inside did nothing to him, and he wanted to check out that festival other people had talked about. He had never been to one, except when he was a little kid and he went with his parents to see the fireworks, and most certainly hadn't even been to a school festival. He blinked as he noticed a familiar figure outside. She shouldn't be here... He glanced up at the sky and decided that the sun had vanished enough behind treetops and buildings for him to venture outside, so he jumped to his feet and hurried over to the front door. Soon at the place where he had spotted the girl - Tomo-chan - he glanced around to see if he could see her. She couldn't have gone far, right?
Tomoka didn't quite know what had possessed her to show up within the gates of the Dusk dorm so early. Perhaps she was just curious to see if one of her few friends was around. Or maybe she had lost a bit of her mind being caught the night before. Either way she was there now and trying to figure out what her next step would be. When she heard footsteps nearby though she panicked and found herself hiding behind whatever she could.
Uncertainly, he walked around, up to the gates, then back into the green area, looking behind trees here and there. "... Tomo-chan...?"
She nearly jumped when she heard her name called but calmed down realizing it could only be one of a few people. Peaking out from behind the tree she had hidden behind she squinted a bit in the darkness. "A-Ara, Horio-kun~" she laughed a bit nervously when she realized who it was.
"I thought I saw you," he cheered, skipping over to her. "What are you doing here? All alone? Should you even be here?"
"Oh that... hehe..." She had to think pretty quickly to cover it up. It wasn't like she wanted to say she had no idea and was just there to be there; it sounded creepy and stupid. "I came... to take you to the festival with me, Horio-kun~ Perfect timing." she smiled, lying through her teeth; though there was some truth to it. She had wanted to take the boy to the festival to show him around she just hadn't specifically come for that reason today.
"Really?" He bought it completely. "You shouldn't have! But yeah, you should, because I really wanted to go, and I was getting bored out of my mind. You sure it's okay? I mean, you don't have anything better to do and all?" Hello, motor mouth.
"Nope, not at all. It's what I wanted to do anyway~" Not completely a lie, really. Her head just wasn't all there at the moment. But maybe getting out with him to the festival would bring her back down to earth.
Pleased with the answer - really, had she told him the moon was made of cheese, he probably would have believed her as well - he draped his arm around her shoulders and then blinked at her. "So... Where are we going?"
"Wherever you want to go~ Though I'm guessing the festival is a good stop." she giggled, hardly noticing him place his arm around her shoulders. Her head was still kind of swirling with nonsense but perhaps meeting up with Horio and spending time with him would get her mind off things. (Things she didn't even know she was thinking of, really.)
"Festival, festival," he chanted cheerfully. "So... Which way is it?" Because, really. He had no idea.
"This way~" she cheered as she led him along slowly out of the dorm area. She tried to be a bit cautious about it but figured no one would really notice.
"What kind of festival is it," Satoshi asked after a while. "What do we celebrate? And why? And are people pitching in and doing stuff from all over or is just one club?" Quesetions, questions.
Tomoka was actually grateful for all the boy's questions, it kept her from falling back into her mess of thoughts. Instead she had to concentrate a little on answering him. "It's an autumn festival here on campus put together by all the students and clubs. I worked on decorating everything with my best friend Sakuno's gardening club and making food with Jirou. We're just celebrating to celebrate, really." she explained with a smile as they neared the area.
"Jirou? Oh, I know him! I met him yesterday~" Satoshi's face cracked up in a smile. "He gave me cookies."
"He makes the best~" she smiled, "And see, told you you'd make friends fast." I spent a little too much time with him the other day... Not that she'd say it, no doubt that was one of the things on her mind then.
"I'm totally not friends with that guy... Uh... Don't even know his name, but he was kinda rude in my journal." Really, what was up with that? And he did not mean Tezuka-san, but the other guy. He hadn't even introduced himself, had he?
"Hm..?" Tomoka had to think about that for a moment as she hadn't exactly memorized everything on the boy's journal. Sure she kept mental tabs on people but that much. "Oh... do you mean Ryoma-kun maybe?" She simply referred to him in the same way Sakuno did since she knew they were the same age and all.
"... Could be him." Ryoma wasn't an overly common name, and hadn't he seen some strange katakana or something as that guy's name? He couldn't quite remember.
"Hehe, it's okay. Not like you have to be friends with everyone you meet anyway." She pat him on the head with a small laugh. Yeah, the talking was definitely getting her mind off things. And they had just about made it to the festival now, she could hear the sounds and music from it pretty close by.
"But I didn't do anything to him!" He made a small face, and then shrugged it off. "Oh, oh! Do you think there gonna be fireworks here? Or maybe something good to eat? Or maybe... Maybe..." He was at a loss of words, eyes widening as he watched the stalls stretching out before him.
"Calm down or you'll miss everything Horio~kun~" she chimed and poked him in the forehead playfully to get his attention. "I think they're planning fireworks for the last day of the festival, so none today. But the food's great, there's plenty of stalls with that or games and stuff around."
"Games?" He looked around. "Like, where you win stuff? I wanna try! I wanna win something!" Maybe one day he could get two years of experience at winning things!
"Okay then, what game do you want to play?" She stepped to the side slightly so he could look around again. There were various shooting games and things like hackey sac bingo or goldfish catching. All the traditional school festival games really.
He looked around. Shooting seemed scary. It reminded him of Hunters. Mama and Papa had told him scary, scary stories about hunters. He didn't want to try that. "... I want a fish!"
"Then let's go~" she cheered, leading him over to the small booth. There was a small pool filled with water and various goldfish swimming around. The object of the game was to catch as many as you could in a small bowl with the a small net covered with thin paper. It took a bit of patience and skill so the girl was a bit curious how the energetic boy would fair.
At first... He didn't fair at all. He thrust the net into the water so that it splashed everywhere, and the poor fish scurried to get away as fast as they could. Of course the thin paper broke as soon as it got in contact with the water. "... Oops."
Tomoka wasn't too surprised at his first attempt. She managed to move out of the way when he managed to splash water everywhere. "You have to be careful, silly." she laughed, hitting him softly on the head with her fist playfully.
"I was being careful!" No, you weren't. "... Uh, can I try again?"
"Sure." Tomoka handed some money to the students running the stall for a few more tries for the boy. The first was free but hardly anyone ever got anything on the first try. "Give it another go, you can do it~" she cheered him on with a pat on the back for encouragement. Watching the fish swim around frenzied just reminded her how much of a state her head was in. But watching Horio try to win at the game was a good distraction.
Second try was marginally better than the first, and by the time he was at his fourth try, he actually caught a fish... only to have the paper break when he was about to scoop the little critter out of the water. "... Man!"
As much as she wanted to give him the benefit of a doubt it really looked like the boy was quite hopeless at the game. He had been doing well for his first time ever really playing it but Tomoka was running out of coins to pay for his attempts. "Okay, one last shot." she announced to him after paying for the next round. "But this time, let me play too." she smiled as she stood next to him and took his hand with hers. "Maybe if we do it together we'll have better luck." If she could help keep his hand steady they might be able to at least get one fish out of it. He had gotten really close the last try after all.
"Sure," he beamed, only then, after uttering it, realizing what it meant; she would have to touch his hand, wouldn't she? A blush stained his ears and again he found himself staring at her throat as she leaned in, but he quickly pulled his eyes away and focused on the water instead. "Okay, ready."
"Alright, let's win this time~" she chimed as encouragement for the both of them after they were in position. She helped guide his hand a bit to try and steady his aim but for the most part let him control things. Their pace was a lot more patient and slow this time which left the fish steady and not frenzied making them easier targets. She didn't mind how close they were, almost right against each other and holding hands like they were. In fact she was used to playing like this; she often did with her little brothers back home. But this time she was relying on Horio to catch the fish instead of doing it herself like she used to. She sent him a small wink trying to signal that he was in charge.
The wink caused the blush to once again flood his face, and he nodded, focusing. It was all a matter of taking it easy, wasn't it? He swallowed, glad that her hand supported his, or it would have been shaking far too much for this to work at all. He gently lowered the spatula into the water and waited for a fish to swim onto the rice paper. Once one did, he nodded at Tomoka, and slowly started to take it out of the water.
Their calm, or at least hers, helped transfer to the boy and even the fish caught in the net. It didn't really squirm around and so the net stayed intact. Slowly guiding it with Horio they gently let the fish go and it happily plopped into the water filled bowl in the boy's other hand. "See, told you we could do it." she mused happily.
"Yes, I did! Thanks to you!" Overly enthusiastic, he hugged her tight and placed a kiss on her cheek before he could even stop himself.
That had managed to take her by surprise. Whether it was the tight hug or the quick kiss on her cheek that really did it she wasn't too sure but she couldn't stop the small shade of pink that colored her cheeks. She tried to play it off as if it were nothing anyway and pat him on the head. "You did great~"
"Thanks, so did..." He paused, his face turning slowly beet red. "...You." He pulled away and stared down at the fish, who confusedly swam around in its small bowl. "... Uh."
"You shouldn't shake it around too much or you'll scare the poor thing." she giggled, taking the bowl from him so the water would steady.
"It needs a name." He looked curiously at the fish, trying to forget the feel of her soft cheek against his lips, the warmth of her blood calling out to him. "... You think it's a boy or a girl?"
"I think girls are a bit bigger and boys have longer fins." she explained, holding up the bowl for them both to examine the goldfish. "So what do you think?"
His eyes wandered from the fish they had caught to the others swimming around in the tank. "... Girl. So... Sakanako!" Not very imaginative, this one.
"Sako for short then, hehe?" Tomoka smiled, amused at the boy's simple naming. He seemed to be pleased with himself though, it was cute so she wasn't about to rain on his parade.
"Sako-chan! Yeah!" He lifted the small bowl up and peeked at it, and at the fish swimming around in it. "Hello, Sako-chan!"
"You'll need this for later then." she giggled, placing some fish food in his pocket that they had also been given. He was cute, really cute with how proud he was of the little fish. Made her think of home again and being with her little brothers. She'd been thinking about her family a lot lately despite being so happy about being away. How silly of her... "Well then, did you want to check out anything else?" No use thinking too much, that was the reason she came out with the boy after all.
He thought for a moment. "... I just want to walk for a bit, if that's okay?" He smiled uncertainly at her, wondering if he had made too much of a fool out of himself. Hopefully not.
"Sure, that's fine." she smiled back to him. She didn't hold out her hand since the boy was still busy with Sako-chan. Maybe a walk around the festival with him would be a good way to get her to concentrate on something other than what had been happening lately, or the night before...
Satoshi might be rather innocent to the world, and a bubble brain at that, but he wasn't completely without empathy. "... Is something on your mind, Tomo-chan?"
"Oh no, nothing really." she lied, trying to reassure him. She had been trying to hide it but it wasn't a surprise she let it slip every now and then. Tomoka started walking ahead of him to try and fake him out a bit more. "I just thought we should get walking before the stalls close up, hehe~" It was getting kind of late anyway, it was a plausible excuse, she hoped.
"Yeah." He laughed. "I guess it won't be good if I miss out on classes during my first week here, right?"
"Well there's no school during the festival silly, but I guess you have a lot to catch up on too." she smiled back to him and then continued walking along a bit ahead of him. Maybe that was it, all the time off was getting to her... and here she thought she hated classes~
"... Yeah." Right. That was true. Which was why his parents had wanted him to start school this week. Ease into things. He blushed, scratching his chin awkwardly. "... I was home schooled," he confessed off-handedly.
"Oh? I'm starting to think that's some prerequisite for you Night Class students..." she slightly mumbled to herself. It really was all quite odd; how they were all home schooled and had some strange health condition or raised to sleep during the day. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you all really were vampires..." she laughed to herself, not saying it to convincingly.
He stopped dead in his tracks and simply stared at her.
"Horio-kun..?" she called back to him when she noticed he had stopped.
"..." He tried to laugh. "... Eh, tha--that's impossible. There's no... no such thing as vampires here! R-right?"
"Yeah, you're probably right... it was just something Jirou was joking about last night I guess." she smiled, almost a bit sadly. It was almost disappointing for her to admit the whole thing was just a joke somehow, she wasn't too sure why. Maybe it was because it almost was a bit believable after she thought it through.
"You... You don't believe in vampires, do you?" His voice sounded like sand paper in his own ears.
"Hm~" He seemed a bit rattled, it was kind of amusing to her. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Why?" she riddled to him, curious why he was acting so on edge.
"Well, eh, uh... you know... Vampires...! It's..." He blushed, not sure what he could say, not sure if he should say anything else, and he quickened his steps, walking towards an odango stall.
"Well what..?" she pouted slightly. If he had something to say he should just spit it out like he normally did. She figured he of all people would talk to her straight but here he was fumbling around with his words. It was kind of funny that he asked the exact same thing Jirou did; but then again she instigated it this time instead of the latter. It was still kinda strange though... "First Jirou and now you, what is it with you guys and vampires anyway?" She followed him up the stall and tried to stare him in the eyes to get an answer.
"..." He first tried to look away, but found that he couldn't. Instead he swallowed, hard, and fidgeted on the spot, before croaking out his question: "... What do you know about vampires, Tomo-chan?"
"I asked you a question first." she frowned, but sighed shortly after. She turned to order dango as she waited for the boy to collect himself for whatever reason. "The only consistent thing I know is that they drink blood, I guess. And the whole not liking day thing I suppose." she shrugged as she took the dango and handed one she ordered to him. She wasn't going to answer him originally but she found she couldn't be too mean to him. "I don't really believe in all that undead business... I mean how could be so many stories if they were undead? And like Jirou said, there are vampire bats around. So I say if they're living breathing creatures that exist who's to say real ones don't." she laughed lightly, taking a bite of one of the dango. Though she wasn't too sure why she seemed to be having another conversation like this. She thought only girls were gaga over talking about them in this day and age.
"Is that how humans usually view vampires," he mumbled, biting into one of the dango himself. The taste surprised him - he had never eaten one before - but once he got used to it, it wasn't so bad. He decided that he liked it. His choice of words made him make a small double take, maybe he shouldn't have said it like that, but now he had. At least he could hope she didn't hear him. But he hadn't been that quiet...
"What..?" Tomoka hadn't quite made out everything the boy had said as she was finishing her dango, but she did distinctly hear him say something about humans. It just sounded odd and out of place in their conversation to her and she noticed he had been more saying it to himself.
His eyes darted here and there before he stood up, nearly choking on the dango he was chewing on in the process. "No, nothing, nothing. Yeah, those bats... You haven't seen one, have you?"
"Yeah, at a zoo once..." she trailed off examining the boy trying to figure out what he had said. "You still never answered me." She stood up right beside him, closing any space between them by getting almost right in his face. He was acting funny and she wanted to know why.
"Uh... About why I asked you if you believe in vampires...? Right?" He bit his lip, raking his brain over for a believable answer.
She nodded and waited for his answer, not backing down from him an inch. She'd let Jirou escape the question before but she wasn't about to let it happen again with someone else. To think, her thoughts had been consumed by this conversation the whole time. Vampires; what was she some Twilight fangirl..?
"Well... There's a lot of stories, aren't there? And I read a lot of books when I grew up. So, like... I wanted to believe. Does that sound stupid? And, well... Yeah. I guess I kind of still do. So I was curious." Did that sound believable enough? Hopefully?
"Hm..." She wasn't convinced, not in the least. But her curiosity would have to wait for a moment as they were being asked to leave the area since the festival was finally closing up.
What, already, he thought. It's still early! For him, it was. It took him a moment to remember that hey, humans worked after a different clock than he did. Oops. "Wanna go back?"
"Yeah, I guess..." There wasn't any need for them to stay there anyway. But she wasn't quite done questioning him yet. "Let's take the long way~" she cheered, grabbing his hand and leading him along.
"... Uh, right, sure. Why?" He found himself being dragged along, and he made big eyes at her.
"Because we're not done talking." she said bluntly.
"We aren't?" He was on thin ice here, so if you asked him, they very well were done talking, thank you very much.
"Nope, we aren't." Tomoka continued dragging him along until she knew they were a good distance from the rest of the students; either at the festival or on campus. She then stopped and let go of his hand, crossing her arms a bit impatiently. "Look..." she sighed. "Just tell it to me straight; what is it with you guys in the Night Class and this vampire business? Or is it just some of you? I've heard too many of you talking about it to just be some coincidence." Okay, so she was speaking on a bunch of assumptions here but if she was just given one clear answer she'd leave it alone; probably, maybe... maybe not.
"I... I..." He backed away, trying to pull his arm free from her. "... I seriously have to go to the bathroom," he squeaked, giving a sharp tug - and he was larger than her, with a bit of muscle to boot - and then started running towards the Dusk dormitory. "Sorry, sorry, we'll talk later!"
"H-Horio-kun!" she shouted after him, trying to catch up. But she had been just a few seconds too late to react to catch up to the boy. It was times like this she hated being weaker and slower than boys, damn. Well, so much for that. She wouldn't be getting answers tonight but you could bet she would soon, this wasn't the end of it. Something weird was definitely going on and she wasn't about to let it pass her by...
Rating: G
When/Where: October 14th
What: Tomoka takes Horio to the festival and starts getting suspicious about the Night Class.
Authors Comments: Tomoka's going to start getting into so much trouble...
It was a good thing he was an early riser, Satoshi thought, as he sat in one of the common rooms in the Dusk dormitory. Where he sat he had a pretty good view of the outside, and the sun was setting, which meant he could go out soon. He was already restless, being cooped up inside did nothing to him, and he wanted to check out that festival other people had talked about. He had never been to one, except when he was a little kid and he went with his parents to see the fireworks, and most certainly hadn't even been to a school festival. He blinked as he noticed a familiar figure outside. She shouldn't be here... He glanced up at the sky and decided that the sun had vanished enough behind treetops and buildings for him to venture outside, so he jumped to his feet and hurried over to the front door. Soon at the place where he had spotted the girl - Tomo-chan - he glanced around to see if he could see her. She couldn't have gone far, right?
Tomoka didn't quite know what had possessed her to show up within the gates of the Dusk dorm so early. Perhaps she was just curious to see if one of her few friends was around. Or maybe she had lost a bit of her mind being caught the night before. Either way she was there now and trying to figure out what her next step would be. When she heard footsteps nearby though she panicked and found herself hiding behind whatever she could.
Uncertainly, he walked around, up to the gates, then back into the green area, looking behind trees here and there. "... Tomo-chan...?"
She nearly jumped when she heard her name called but calmed down realizing it could only be one of a few people. Peaking out from behind the tree she had hidden behind she squinted a bit in the darkness. "A-Ara, Horio-kun~" she laughed a bit nervously when she realized who it was.
"I thought I saw you," he cheered, skipping over to her. "What are you doing here? All alone? Should you even be here?"
"Oh that... hehe..." She had to think pretty quickly to cover it up. It wasn't like she wanted to say she had no idea and was just there to be there; it sounded creepy and stupid. "I came... to take you to the festival with me, Horio-kun~ Perfect timing." she smiled, lying through her teeth; though there was some truth to it. She had wanted to take the boy to the festival to show him around she just hadn't specifically come for that reason today.
"Really?" He bought it completely. "You shouldn't have! But yeah, you should, because I really wanted to go, and I was getting bored out of my mind. You sure it's okay? I mean, you don't have anything better to do and all?" Hello, motor mouth.
"Nope, not at all. It's what I wanted to do anyway~" Not completely a lie, really. Her head just wasn't all there at the moment. But maybe getting out with him to the festival would bring her back down to earth.
Pleased with the answer - really, had she told him the moon was made of cheese, he probably would have believed her as well - he draped his arm around her shoulders and then blinked at her. "So... Where are we going?"
"Wherever you want to go~ Though I'm guessing the festival is a good stop." she giggled, hardly noticing him place his arm around her shoulders. Her head was still kind of swirling with nonsense but perhaps meeting up with Horio and spending time with him would get her mind off things. (Things she didn't even know she was thinking of, really.)
"Festival, festival," he chanted cheerfully. "So... Which way is it?" Because, really. He had no idea.
"This way~" she cheered as she led him along slowly out of the dorm area. She tried to be a bit cautious about it but figured no one would really notice.
"What kind of festival is it," Satoshi asked after a while. "What do we celebrate? And why? And are people pitching in and doing stuff from all over or is just one club?" Quesetions, questions.
Tomoka was actually grateful for all the boy's questions, it kept her from falling back into her mess of thoughts. Instead she had to concentrate a little on answering him. "It's an autumn festival here on campus put together by all the students and clubs. I worked on decorating everything with my best friend Sakuno's gardening club and making food with Jirou. We're just celebrating to celebrate, really." she explained with a smile as they neared the area.
"Jirou? Oh, I know him! I met him yesterday~" Satoshi's face cracked up in a smile. "He gave me cookies."
"He makes the best~" she smiled, "And see, told you you'd make friends fast." I spent a little too much time with him the other day... Not that she'd say it, no doubt that was one of the things on her mind then.
"I'm totally not friends with that guy... Uh... Don't even know his name, but he was kinda rude in my journal." Really, what was up with that? And he did not mean Tezuka-san, but the other guy. He hadn't even introduced himself, had he?
"Hm..?" Tomoka had to think about that for a moment as she hadn't exactly memorized everything on the boy's journal. Sure she kept mental tabs on people but that much. "Oh... do you mean Ryoma-kun maybe?" She simply referred to him in the same way Sakuno did since she knew they were the same age and all.
"... Could be him." Ryoma wasn't an overly common name, and hadn't he seen some strange katakana or something as that guy's name? He couldn't quite remember.
"Hehe, it's okay. Not like you have to be friends with everyone you meet anyway." She pat him on the head with a small laugh. Yeah, the talking was definitely getting her mind off things. And they had just about made it to the festival now, she could hear the sounds and music from it pretty close by.
"But I didn't do anything to him!" He made a small face, and then shrugged it off. "Oh, oh! Do you think there gonna be fireworks here? Or maybe something good to eat? Or maybe... Maybe..." He was at a loss of words, eyes widening as he watched the stalls stretching out before him.
"Calm down or you'll miss everything Horio~kun~" she chimed and poked him in the forehead playfully to get his attention. "I think they're planning fireworks for the last day of the festival, so none today. But the food's great, there's plenty of stalls with that or games and stuff around."
"Games?" He looked around. "Like, where you win stuff? I wanna try! I wanna win something!" Maybe one day he could get two years of experience at winning things!
"Okay then, what game do you want to play?" She stepped to the side slightly so he could look around again. There were various shooting games and things like hackey sac bingo or goldfish catching. All the traditional school festival games really.
He looked around. Shooting seemed scary. It reminded him of Hunters. Mama and Papa had told him scary, scary stories about hunters. He didn't want to try that. "... I want a fish!"
"Then let's go~" she cheered, leading him over to the small booth. There was a small pool filled with water and various goldfish swimming around. The object of the game was to catch as many as you could in a small bowl with the a small net covered with thin paper. It took a bit of patience and skill so the girl was a bit curious how the energetic boy would fair.
At first... He didn't fair at all. He thrust the net into the water so that it splashed everywhere, and the poor fish scurried to get away as fast as they could. Of course the thin paper broke as soon as it got in contact with the water. "... Oops."
Tomoka wasn't too surprised at his first attempt. She managed to move out of the way when he managed to splash water everywhere. "You have to be careful, silly." she laughed, hitting him softly on the head with her fist playfully.
"I was being careful!" No, you weren't. "... Uh, can I try again?"
"Sure." Tomoka handed some money to the students running the stall for a few more tries for the boy. The first was free but hardly anyone ever got anything on the first try. "Give it another go, you can do it~" she cheered him on with a pat on the back for encouragement. Watching the fish swim around frenzied just reminded her how much of a state her head was in. But watching Horio try to win at the game was a good distraction.
Second try was marginally better than the first, and by the time he was at his fourth try, he actually caught a fish... only to have the paper break when he was about to scoop the little critter out of the water. "... Man!"
As much as she wanted to give him the benefit of a doubt it really looked like the boy was quite hopeless at the game. He had been doing well for his first time ever really playing it but Tomoka was running out of coins to pay for his attempts. "Okay, one last shot." she announced to him after paying for the next round. "But this time, let me play too." she smiled as she stood next to him and took his hand with hers. "Maybe if we do it together we'll have better luck." If she could help keep his hand steady they might be able to at least get one fish out of it. He had gotten really close the last try after all.
"Sure," he beamed, only then, after uttering it, realizing what it meant; she would have to touch his hand, wouldn't she? A blush stained his ears and again he found himself staring at her throat as she leaned in, but he quickly pulled his eyes away and focused on the water instead. "Okay, ready."
"Alright, let's win this time~" she chimed as encouragement for the both of them after they were in position. She helped guide his hand a bit to try and steady his aim but for the most part let him control things. Their pace was a lot more patient and slow this time which left the fish steady and not frenzied making them easier targets. She didn't mind how close they were, almost right against each other and holding hands like they were. In fact she was used to playing like this; she often did with her little brothers back home. But this time she was relying on Horio to catch the fish instead of doing it herself like she used to. She sent him a small wink trying to signal that he was in charge.
The wink caused the blush to once again flood his face, and he nodded, focusing. It was all a matter of taking it easy, wasn't it? He swallowed, glad that her hand supported his, or it would have been shaking far too much for this to work at all. He gently lowered the spatula into the water and waited for a fish to swim onto the rice paper. Once one did, he nodded at Tomoka, and slowly started to take it out of the water.
Their calm, or at least hers, helped transfer to the boy and even the fish caught in the net. It didn't really squirm around and so the net stayed intact. Slowly guiding it with Horio they gently let the fish go and it happily plopped into the water filled bowl in the boy's other hand. "See, told you we could do it." she mused happily.
"Yes, I did! Thanks to you!" Overly enthusiastic, he hugged her tight and placed a kiss on her cheek before he could even stop himself.
That had managed to take her by surprise. Whether it was the tight hug or the quick kiss on her cheek that really did it she wasn't too sure but she couldn't stop the small shade of pink that colored her cheeks. She tried to play it off as if it were nothing anyway and pat him on the head. "You did great~"
"Thanks, so did..." He paused, his face turning slowly beet red. "...You." He pulled away and stared down at the fish, who confusedly swam around in its small bowl. "... Uh."
"You shouldn't shake it around too much or you'll scare the poor thing." she giggled, taking the bowl from him so the water would steady.
"It needs a name." He looked curiously at the fish, trying to forget the feel of her soft cheek against his lips, the warmth of her blood calling out to him. "... You think it's a boy or a girl?"
"I think girls are a bit bigger and boys have longer fins." she explained, holding up the bowl for them both to examine the goldfish. "So what do you think?"
His eyes wandered from the fish they had caught to the others swimming around in the tank. "... Girl. So... Sakanako!" Not very imaginative, this one.
"Sako for short then, hehe?" Tomoka smiled, amused at the boy's simple naming. He seemed to be pleased with himself though, it was cute so she wasn't about to rain on his parade.
"Sako-chan! Yeah!" He lifted the small bowl up and peeked at it, and at the fish swimming around in it. "Hello, Sako-chan!"
"You'll need this for later then." she giggled, placing some fish food in his pocket that they had also been given. He was cute, really cute with how proud he was of the little fish. Made her think of home again and being with her little brothers. She'd been thinking about her family a lot lately despite being so happy about being away. How silly of her... "Well then, did you want to check out anything else?" No use thinking too much, that was the reason she came out with the boy after all.
He thought for a moment. "... I just want to walk for a bit, if that's okay?" He smiled uncertainly at her, wondering if he had made too much of a fool out of himself. Hopefully not.
"Sure, that's fine." she smiled back to him. She didn't hold out her hand since the boy was still busy with Sako-chan. Maybe a walk around the festival with him would be a good way to get her to concentrate on something other than what had been happening lately, or the night before...
Satoshi might be rather innocent to the world, and a bubble brain at that, but he wasn't completely without empathy. "... Is something on your mind, Tomo-chan?"
"Oh no, nothing really." she lied, trying to reassure him. She had been trying to hide it but it wasn't a surprise she let it slip every now and then. Tomoka started walking ahead of him to try and fake him out a bit more. "I just thought we should get walking before the stalls close up, hehe~" It was getting kind of late anyway, it was a plausible excuse, she hoped.
"Yeah." He laughed. "I guess it won't be good if I miss out on classes during my first week here, right?"
"Well there's no school during the festival silly, but I guess you have a lot to catch up on too." she smiled back to him and then continued walking along a bit ahead of him. Maybe that was it, all the time off was getting to her... and here she thought she hated classes~
"... Yeah." Right. That was true. Which was why his parents had wanted him to start school this week. Ease into things. He blushed, scratching his chin awkwardly. "... I was home schooled," he confessed off-handedly.
"Oh? I'm starting to think that's some prerequisite for you Night Class students..." she slightly mumbled to herself. It really was all quite odd; how they were all home schooled and had some strange health condition or raised to sleep during the day. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you all really were vampires..." she laughed to herself, not saying it to convincingly.
He stopped dead in his tracks and simply stared at her.
"Horio-kun..?" she called back to him when she noticed he had stopped.
"..." He tried to laugh. "... Eh, tha--that's impossible. There's no... no such thing as vampires here! R-right?"
"Yeah, you're probably right... it was just something Jirou was joking about last night I guess." she smiled, almost a bit sadly. It was almost disappointing for her to admit the whole thing was just a joke somehow, she wasn't too sure why. Maybe it was because it almost was a bit believable after she thought it through.
"You... You don't believe in vampires, do you?" His voice sounded like sand paper in his own ears.
"Hm~" He seemed a bit rattled, it was kind of amusing to her. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Why?" she riddled to him, curious why he was acting so on edge.
"Well, eh, uh... you know... Vampires...! It's..." He blushed, not sure what he could say, not sure if he should say anything else, and he quickened his steps, walking towards an odango stall.
"Well what..?" she pouted slightly. If he had something to say he should just spit it out like he normally did. She figured he of all people would talk to her straight but here he was fumbling around with his words. It was kind of funny that he asked the exact same thing Jirou did; but then again she instigated it this time instead of the latter. It was still kinda strange though... "First Jirou and now you, what is it with you guys and vampires anyway?" She followed him up the stall and tried to stare him in the eyes to get an answer.
"..." He first tried to look away, but found that he couldn't. Instead he swallowed, hard, and fidgeted on the spot, before croaking out his question: "... What do you know about vampires, Tomo-chan?"
"I asked you a question first." she frowned, but sighed shortly after. She turned to order dango as she waited for the boy to collect himself for whatever reason. "The only consistent thing I know is that they drink blood, I guess. And the whole not liking day thing I suppose." she shrugged as she took the dango and handed one she ordered to him. She wasn't going to answer him originally but she found she couldn't be too mean to him. "I don't really believe in all that undead business... I mean how could be so many stories if they were undead? And like Jirou said, there are vampire bats around. So I say if they're living breathing creatures that exist who's to say real ones don't." she laughed lightly, taking a bite of one of the dango. Though she wasn't too sure why she seemed to be having another conversation like this. She thought only girls were gaga over talking about them in this day and age.
"Is that how humans usually view vampires," he mumbled, biting into one of the dango himself. The taste surprised him - he had never eaten one before - but once he got used to it, it wasn't so bad. He decided that he liked it. His choice of words made him make a small double take, maybe he shouldn't have said it like that, but now he had. At least he could hope she didn't hear him. But he hadn't been that quiet...
"What..?" Tomoka hadn't quite made out everything the boy had said as she was finishing her dango, but she did distinctly hear him say something about humans. It just sounded odd and out of place in their conversation to her and she noticed he had been more saying it to himself.
His eyes darted here and there before he stood up, nearly choking on the dango he was chewing on in the process. "No, nothing, nothing. Yeah, those bats... You haven't seen one, have you?"
"Yeah, at a zoo once..." she trailed off examining the boy trying to figure out what he had said. "You still never answered me." She stood up right beside him, closing any space between them by getting almost right in his face. He was acting funny and she wanted to know why.
"Uh... About why I asked you if you believe in vampires...? Right?" He bit his lip, raking his brain over for a believable answer.
She nodded and waited for his answer, not backing down from him an inch. She'd let Jirou escape the question before but she wasn't about to let it happen again with someone else. To think, her thoughts had been consumed by this conversation the whole time. Vampires; what was she some Twilight fangirl..?
"Well... There's a lot of stories, aren't there? And I read a lot of books when I grew up. So, like... I wanted to believe. Does that sound stupid? And, well... Yeah. I guess I kind of still do. So I was curious." Did that sound believable enough? Hopefully?
"Hm..." She wasn't convinced, not in the least. But her curiosity would have to wait for a moment as they were being asked to leave the area since the festival was finally closing up.
What, already, he thought. It's still early! For him, it was. It took him a moment to remember that hey, humans worked after a different clock than he did. Oops. "Wanna go back?"
"Yeah, I guess..." There wasn't any need for them to stay there anyway. But she wasn't quite done questioning him yet. "Let's take the long way~" she cheered, grabbing his hand and leading him along.
"... Uh, right, sure. Why?" He found himself being dragged along, and he made big eyes at her.
"Because we're not done talking." she said bluntly.
"We aren't?" He was on thin ice here, so if you asked him, they very well were done talking, thank you very much.
"Nope, we aren't." Tomoka continued dragging him along until she knew they were a good distance from the rest of the students; either at the festival or on campus. She then stopped and let go of his hand, crossing her arms a bit impatiently. "Look..." she sighed. "Just tell it to me straight; what is it with you guys in the Night Class and this vampire business? Or is it just some of you? I've heard too many of you talking about it to just be some coincidence." Okay, so she was speaking on a bunch of assumptions here but if she was just given one clear answer she'd leave it alone; probably, maybe... maybe not.
"I... I..." He backed away, trying to pull his arm free from her. "... I seriously have to go to the bathroom," he squeaked, giving a sharp tug - and he was larger than her, with a bit of muscle to boot - and then started running towards the Dusk dormitory. "Sorry, sorry, we'll talk later!"
"H-Horio-kun!" she shouted after him, trying to catch up. But she had been just a few seconds too late to react to catch up to the boy. It was times like this she hated being weaker and slower than boys, damn. Well, so much for that. She wouldn't be getting answers tonight but you could bet she would soon, this wasn't the end of it. Something weird was definitely going on and she wasn't about to let it pass her by...