Fate/Stay Gakuen | Gilgamesh x OC: Hinako Suzuhana (AU)

(Autumn) Chapter 27

"Good morning, Douji-senpai," she stands and bows her head, yawning.

Gil suddenly hand-chops Hinako's head lightly. "Don't yawn. I'm gonna catch your yawning disease!"

"Ouch!" Hinako holds her head. "Why did you have to do that, so early in the morning?" she whimpers, trying not to wake the sleeping members.

"I might catch your yawning disease since I'm drowsy myself," he crosses his arms over his chest.

"That is quite the shallow reason, senpai," Hinako stands up straight, rubbing her head.

"Hmph," Gil calms himself down, realizing that what he did was completely unnecessary. It was just that he's finding a way to wake himself up. "Anyway, did you sleep well?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I did," Hinako pulls a small smile. "Though, I wake up from time to time due to nervousness."

"Don't be nervous, Suzuhana. Everyone who joins the competition gets nervous," then he pats her shoulder. "Though I trust that you'll do your best. After all, you've shown improvement over the past couple of months."

Hinako starts to blush after being praised like that by the person she loves. Internally, she's screaming happily but she won't overreact about it. She doesn't want to give a bad impression to her upperclassman, let alone a misunderstanding.

"Thank you, Douji-senpai. I'll do my best for the team, win or lose."

Gil stares at Hinako plainly. "You must win. You have to win. It's mandatory."

"Eh?" She blinks rapidly.

The journey towards the municipal stadium at Kumamoto was a long one. They didn't take the train since they wanted to travel in an adventurous way. They passed by a couple of scenic scenes as they threaded a long road.

Gil was currently reading a pocket novel that he brought with him. It was a psychological-themed novel, something about a dystopia setting where people's actions are judged by systematic scanners. He was quite into these kinds of books since it interests him a lot, where a lot of mind play is written.

Three hours has passed into the journey and Gil stops at about one-fourth of the novel. He places the hard-bound book on his lap and stretches out his arms to warm himself up. Then, he looks to his right to see a sleeping Hinako.

Hinako took over the space for two people, with her legs occupying the second seat to her left. She has her white jacket draped across her shoulders like a blanket, covering her exposed arms. Gil focuses his look at her. As he stares at her longer, his heart beats abnormally. Then, a recent memory flashes inside his mind, making him shake his head in embarrassment.

'Did I actually do that?' Gil thought, face-palming himself in embarrassment. 'Why did I let myself do that? Why did I let her do that? Why did she let herself do that?!' So many thoughts swirls inside his head.

"Achoo!" Hinako sneezes in her sleep, startling Gil a little bit.

'D-Don't startle me like that, idiot!' An anime vein throbbed on his cheek.

Gil leans his back on the chair and breathes to calm himself down. He looks up at the ceiling of the bus before looking back at Hinako, who was sleeping soundly. He steadily calms his beating heart and recalls a conversation from two months ago.

June 18, 2016 - After School