Her Otherworldly Smile (Kyo⨯OC; Yuki⨯OC)

「Before the Wish」

—Before the Wish (Reading Volume 2)—
—Third Person—

During an old, ordinary day, before Skylar and Aly found themselves living with the Sohmas...

"I just think it's outdated," Skylar says to the teacher. "I mean, if I wanna hold someone's hand, and they're okay with it, why does it have to be a romantic thing?"

Aly, Skylar's best friend, sighs next to her. She's on a tangent again.

Not that Aly really blames her for it. As soon as Jarrett came into the classroom with that smirk on his face, she knew he was going to bring something like this up. After all, ever since he'd seen Skylar grab Aly's hand in the cafeteria yesterday, he's been itching to give them a piece of his mind on the matter.

Except Skylar is both emotional and scientific, and that makes debating with her ridiculously tiring.

Sure enough, Jarrett snorts, making Skylar's head snap to him. "Holding hands is something you do with a person you like."

"Why?" she challenges easily. "Who says?"

He stumbles for a minute, blinking. "Uh, everyone?"

She rolls her eyes. "Everyone also said that cocaine was a good medicine and that tomatoes were poisonous and the world was flat, but look at where that went. Everyone always says something, but then times change and we learn more. That's what science is all about: trial and error. Hypothesis and testing. Over and over."

"So?" he demands. "What's that gotta do with holding hands?"

"Because studies show that holding hands with someone—or, really, any form of contact with another person—makes us happier. It chemically makes us feel better, so why shouldn't I hold hands with someone, even if that person's a friend? If they're okay with it, and I'm okay with it, and we're both consenting, then why can't I grab Aly's hand—" She does. "—and walk around like this? What's the harm in it?"

"Because it's weird!" he grouses.

She waves him off, dismissing his response all together, and looks back at the teacher. "Weird is a relative term," she says. "If the only problem people can come up with is the fact that it's weird, then the problem isn't the fact that friends hold hands—the problem is the fact that people can't see past themselves and think from another person's point of view."

"Maybe the problem is that you shouldn't talk," Jarrett grumbles.

Skylar turns to him again, and he straightens up, readying for her retort.

She's smiling, though, throwing him off. "The moment you start personally attacking someone in the middle of a debate is the moment you've lost."

"But if we start holding hands with our friends, then we'll start kissing them! What's the point of being in a relationship if there isn't something sacred there!?" Jarrett barks.

Skylar tilts her head, genuine curiosity on her face. "Are you saying that the only thing that defines a relationship is the physical stuff?" she wonders.

Everyone "oo"s, making Jarrett's face redden.

"Because, to me, what defines a relationship is your feelings. If you don't have romantic feelings for that person, then all of the physical stuff is just that, right? There's no real connection there."

He sputters a little more, muttering things about physical stuff being just as important as feelings, but Skylar shakes her head.

"If there aren't feelings between two people, then there's nothing connecting them when they're not touching," she continues. "So, sure, you can hold someone's hand or you can kiss them or you can even sleep with them, but if there aren't any feelings there, then when you leave them, that's it: there's nothing tying the two of you together."

Jarrett opens his mouth, but nothing comes out, making Skylar turn back to the teacher and look at him expectantly.

Mr. Runner blinks a few times before clearing his throat. "Right. Skylar brings up a valid point. So, based on her logic, what do you think the main character in the book..."

As Mr. Runner tries to get back into teacher, Skylar turns to Aly and grins, flashing a peace sign. Aly shakes her head, making Skylar stick her tongue out.

—x—

Welcome to the start of the second volume! After last chapter, I thought it might be fun to learn more about Skylar and Aly before they came into the Fruits Basket world, like what they went through, how they were, and how much Fruits Basket changes them even as they change it, so I thought I'd turn the prefaces or the prologues that the manga has into flashbacks to events that pertain to what's gonna happen in the volume~

Hope you enjoy my little twist, cupcakes, and look forward to the first (official) chapter of Volume Two!