chapter fourteen: emi-chan
┉┅━━━━━━━━━━┅┉
reminder: this book is written in english though the characters converse in japanese. if a character speaks in english or in any language(s), their dialogue will be written in bold-italic.
"kiiro-san, ohayō!" reimi greeted the raven-haired girl with a big smile and waved her hands frantically.
kiiro, who was walking inside the school building together with kuroo and kenma, turned her head around and slightly bowed to greet her back.
reimi giggled to herself, running up towards her without minding the other two volleyball players. it has been weeks since reimi approached her classmate with the intention of befriending her, and she was already so happy to receive a bow from her rather than nothing.
"let's go together to the classroom," reimi said, earning a nod from the latter.
kiiro bid a farewell to her brother and kuroo before following behind her classmate to the genkan of their school. it was already a morning routine for reimi to drag kiiro with her to change their school shoes to uwabaki and then head to their room after. it happened that both of their lockers were right beside each other, so reimi had a valid reason to spend time with kiiro.
(note: uwabaki are a type of japanese slipper worn indoors at home, school or public buildings.)
"do you have your bento today, kiiro-san?" reimi asked, wearing her white and blue uwabaki before placing her school shoes in her locker, locking it afterward.
kiiro hummed in response, wearing thr same uwabaki as reimi and adjusting her left foot inside the shoe with her finger. meanwhile, reimi turned around and watched every move she maked. her baby blue eyes fell down on the latter's shoes, and the writings on top captured her attention.
"are, what's written on your shoes, kiiro-san?" reimi questioned, waiting for her answer.
the latter faced reimi, and then glanced down at her shoes. "it's my name. emo rooster played a prank on us by writing our names on me and 'nii-chan's shoes," she replied, fixing her black stockings and smoothing her skirt.
reimi's brows furrowed in question. "emo rooster?" she asked, trailing beside the raven-haired girl.
"the boys' volleyball captain. the one with black hair, i was with awhile ago," kiiro replied, moving her hair to mimic kuroo's hairstyle, earning a laugh from reimi.
meanwhile, the other students watched the pair conversing with each other, shocked to witness that the kozume kiiro was entertaining someone other than the boys volleyball club members.
"they're getting close, aren't they?" a girl whispered to her friend, which the latter agreed with. the two were at the same place with reimi and kiiro moments ago, and they happened to overhear their conversation about kiiro's uwabaki.
the morning classes went by in a blink of an eye, and it was already lunch break. students immediately ran out of their rooms and filled the corridors. a certain raven-haired girl didn't bother to get up and have her lunch with the nekoma boys, seeing how crowded it was outside and how lazy she was.
from across the room of class 1-5, the bubby pink-haired girl, reimi, grabbed her bento and made a bee line to kiiro's desk.
"what did you cook, kiiro-san?" reimi asked, initiating the first move. she looked over the latter's bento box as she took a seat in the chair in front of kiiro.
kiiro replied, "ginger pork onigirazu." and proceeded to devour her hand-made lunch while reimi smiled to herself, seeing how those golden orbs sparkle when eating.
the two of them eat their lunch together, while reimi initiates small talk with kiiro from time to time. having the raven-haired girl respond to her questions and random stories was already a big progress.
"kiiro-san!" a familiar voice called, which made the two whirl their heads towards the direction of the voice.
"lev?" kiiro titled her head, cheeks puffed out since it was filled with food. the tall freshman went to her desk and placed his hands on the table with a smile.
"yoshida sensei is calling for you in the faculty room," he said, but the latter only blinked and her brows were furrowed - it was obvious for reimi that kiiro was trying to remember who he was referring to.
"our homeroom teacher," reimi reminded her, munching on the tempura. during the first week of trying to befriend kiiro, she had noticed how often kiiro forgot things and names.
"ah soka," kiiro mumbled. with a frown, she packed up her unfinished lunch, bringing her last piece of onigiri with her before heading to the faculty while munching on it. she arrived in front of the faculty room, eating the last bite of the onigiri and cleaning up her hands and mouth, before knocking on the door and then entering the room.
"shitsurei shimasu!" she announced, bowing to the teachers in the room. they acknowledged her with a smile before she walked over to her sensei's table.
"sensei?" she called, standing a few steps away from the table. the middle-aged man with dark hair looked up from the papers he was marking.
"ah, kozume-san, i'm glad you came." yoshida smiled at her, but her face remained solemn.
"well, you called for me," she thought, internally sighing. "is there something you need from me, sensei?" she asked, wanting to get this over quickly and have her lunch in peace.
the homeroom teacher opened the drawer beside him and brought out a piece of paper before handing it to the raven-haired girl. kiiro accepted the paper with both of her hands and read the content printed on the paper.
"i don't want to do this, sensei." kiiro sighed, handing back the paper, but the teacher only smiled at her. he stood up from his seat and patted her shoulder.
"you have to."
in the meantime, reimi was left alone with lev ever since kiiro had left minutes ago. the two easily clicked together. they talked about random stuff and laughed together as if they had been friends for a long time now. the girl is just a good talker and approachable despite being an introvert.
"so, reimi-san, are you friends with kiiro-san?" the grey-haired male asked, curiously waiting for her answer.
"g-t-e-o," reimi fluently replied in english, which lev didn't understand. "we're in getting-to-know-each-other phase," she clarified to him.
lev nodded at her answer, amazed at her fluent english even though she only said the letters. "then you're not friends?"
reimi just finished her lunch and packed it up, and then she shrugged her shoulders in response. "i don't know if she does consider me as her friend, but i consider her as one. it's like an unrequited friendship," she chuckled, shaking her head.
lev hummed, munching the cut-up fruits from kiiro's bento box. "what does she call you?" he asked again.
her eyebrows furrowed and she rested her cheek on her palm. "she never calls me by my name, not even once. she gets my attention by lightly tugging on my clothes or poking my cheek."
"she's already warming up to you, reimi-san. don't worry!" he reassured her while smiling at the sulking female.
reimi looked at him, tilting her head. "how do you know?"
the latter's smile went wider, getting up from kiiro's seat as he caught a glimpse of her entering the room.
"i just know." lev watched the raven-haired girl walking towards them. "see you, reimi-san, kiiro-san!" then he fled the scene, leaving the two females by themselves.
reimi glanced at kiiro, who had already taken a seat across from her. the pink-haired girl was fumbling with her fingers and her legs was jolting up and down.
kiiro, being astute, noticed reimi's nervousness. "spill it out," she broke the silence, catching reimi's attention.
the latter sheepishly smiled, scratching her cheek as she diverted her eyes from her. "i-it's nothing, kiiro-san!" reimi answered, letting out a nervous chuckle.
kiiro's almond-shaped eyes squinted at her, folding her arms together. "your body language says otherwise. spill it out already," she said.
"damn her keen observant eyes." she thought, slightly frowned, and mumbled incoherent words under her breath. kiiro's statement caught her off guard, and she was contemplating whether to reveal what was on her mind or just lie about it.
"it's about japanese literature assign-"
"you're lying," kiiro cut her off, raising a brow. "just say it. it's not like i'm going to murder you when you tell me," she added. her feet are tapping on the floor as her patience thins out.
reimi sweatdropped at what she said, mentally crying at how dark her humor is. "i... i want to know if you consider me your friend or something like a close acquaintance."
those golden orbs were laid on reimi's face, intently watching each of her moves and facial expression. reimi felt uneasy under her sharp gaze, so she remained still in her seat in silence. after the suffocating silence between the two, kiiro glanced away from her and looked outside the window.
"we're friends," kiiro mumbled, but it was loud enough for reimi to hear and almost burst out crying.
"r-really?" reimi stammered, leaning closer to the latter. her round eyes were wide and watery. "we're friends, kiiro-san?" she clarified, earning a subtle nod from her, and then she almost screamed in victory.
"oh my gosh, i succeeded. i did it!" reimi danced and twirled around, happily singing out random words.
in the meantime, the raven-haired girl tried to stop the ecstatic reimi, telling her to calm down. her cheeks were dusted in red and she was biting her lower lip as she felt embarrassed at the current situation since everyone's eyes were on them and she was too shy to admit that she considered reimi as a friend already.
"hey, calm down..." kiiro said, holding onto her arm as she tried to pull her to take a seat, but they ended up stumbling onto each other and their arses fell first on the floor.
reimi and kiiro looked at each other in shock before they burst out laughing. the other students in the room watched the pair in their own world, laughing together for no reason. it took a while for the two to calm down and for their laughter to die down. their tears were lingering in the corner of their eyes, and their stomach was hurting from too much laughing.
the raven-haired girl rose to her feet before assisting her friend in standing. kiiro dusted off her skirt and did the same thing to reimi. with a big grin, reimi clasped kiiro's hands in hers, and her sparkling baby blue eyes met her golden ones.
"let's have ice cream after classes, kiiro-san?" she asked, anticipating her answer.
"kii," the latter replied, eliciting a confused noise from reimi. "call me kii."
reimi nodded, smiling from ear to ear. "alright then! let's have ice cream later, kii-chan?" she repeated her question, but this time she mentioned her nickname.
a small but genuine smile appeared on kiiro's face, which shocked reimi since she hadn't seen the girl smile until now. kiiro lightly squeezed her hands, giggling at her shocked face.
"sure, let's have ice cream, emi-chan."