Behind The Lens - Takashi Morinozuka

Chapter Three - Mornings

The sun rose the next morning without mercy, blaring through the window and onto the two girls, who had fallen asleep on the floor in a heap of bedding and half eaten snack packets (besides the ice cream, thankfully). The first to groggily wake up was Hiromi, who groaned as she sat herself up and looked out the window, then glancing down to her cellphone which sat next to her, seeing the green light flash, signalling she'd received a text. Her slender hands reached down, sliding it open to reveal the home screen.

She opened her text messages, reading over the latest one. "Sorry sweetie, your father and I will be back in two weeks, not one. Something came up. Love you, from mother"

"Ah what the hell?!" Cried Hiromi, looking over her shoulder at Kanna, who was smirking. "Don't just read my texts! What if it was something bad? What if it was a guy?! Why didn't you say you were awake!"

Kanna couldn't contain her fit of giggles any longer and she clutched her sides, rolling away from her previous position as she sprawled out onto the cool floor boards. "But-" she began only to be cut off by her own laughter, "but if I said I was awake I wouldn't have been able to scare you!" She howled, laughing even harder than before.

While the shorter of the two calmed herself, rubbing her sides to ease the aching of her ribs, Hiromi slammed her face into a pillow to hide her flushed cheeks, mumbling into the fabric. Kanna simply looked up with a 'what' look on her face before Hiromi withdrew her face from the plush pillow and repeated her previous sentence. "Can we just go get breakfast?" she grumbled, a pout adorning her plump lips and furrowing her threaded eyebrows.

Kanna quickly nodded, standing up with an overly pleased grin stretched across her messy features, untidied and unprofessional. Her mother would normally scold her for holding such an appearance, however, since there was a guest she bit her tongue as the two skipped down the multiple flights of stairs to the dining hall, taking a seat each at the desk as the chef, Ren, brought out a stack of pancakes along with yoghurt and berries. Ren was a man in his mid 20's with deep brown hair and matching eyes, along with a sharp jawline and chin accompanied by light, neat stubble. Of course even their staff had to be insanely attractive as it 'makes them look more prestigious' as Mrs Akiyama had said. The girls thanked him kindly before devouring the food in front of them.

Kanna's mother cleared her throat, putting on a polite smile before speaking, "It's a nice day out today, why don't you two go down to the park? I hear it's lovely this time of year, plus Mrs Morinozuka told me her son Takashi would be there today!"

The two looked at each other questioningly then back at Mrs Akiyama. "Sure." They said in sync before giggling as they continued to eat.

After cleaning themselves up and putting on some light clothing for the warm weather they headed down towards the park. Everyone walked around in designer jeans and Doc Martins while taking in the sights- one of the things about living in a high class area was even when taking a stroll people for some reason see it fit for designer clothes. The two girls had tied their hair up in matching buns with oriental hair accessories and bracelets to celebrate the season. They passed a few people who waved as they enjoyed a picnic under cherry blossoms, if they didn't know better it was almost as if they were inside a novel or movie, it was so calm and perfect.

Kanna looked at Hiromi, "I know we ate a lot of sugar but do you want some lemonade? There's a stall just ahead of here." She questioned, lighting holding her best friend's hand after she nodded, both lightly running up to the colourful stand.

They continued to chat before Hiromi looked over her shoulder, spotting the two who stood behind her, "Oh, good morning Morinozuka! You too Haninozuka!"

Kanna spun at the sound of their names, glancing over the boys who stood behind them. "Good day

Akiyama, Fujino." Mitsukuni said curtly, followed by Takashi who simply grunted.

The girls offered another polite smile as they continued small talk, though neither of the boys seemed enthralled with it, one was just plainly a man of few words whilst Mitsukini, the other one, was trying to act as sternly as he could, while also being polite to the ladies. This caused Kanna to kneel lightly, resting her left palm on her knee and raising the other to whisper to the short boy. "You now, Haninozuka, you can be calm around us." She smiled.

Mitsukuni felt his chest lighten and his eyes watered, giving a big smile to the girl in front of him. Hiromi and Takashi both stopped for a moment to observe in pure shock. They knew this wouldn't change how Mitsukini had to act around others, but it did ease his attitude around the small group of four. And that was enough.

Over time they all grew closer, the two boys occasionally joining the girls for crepes after school on a Friday. Despite the fact that at school and during clubs, Haninozuka still had to keep up appearances by staying cool, cold and stoic, it was almost concerning how he went from so strict to his club-mates to when he went out with the group. It was similar with Morinozuka, though he was still rather stoic when they spent time together, his shoulders appeared less tense and you could see a sense of relaxation reflected in his eyes. It became like clockwork for them.

Though as less students came to Kanna around exam time after they hired private tutors, she began studying with Hiromi after school and even at home. And before they seemed to realise it, they'd both raised their grades tremendously. Enough so, that next year they would be moved up and placed in Haninozuka's and Morinozuka's class.

Class 2-A.