Day 3 : Miori Nishikata

Miori Nishikata frowned. Lately, her nerves have been on edge. She couldn't sit still, her hands won't stop trembling, and her feet always tapping the floor in anger. Everything was the fault of her new seatmate; Keishi Tatsuke. She glared in the direction of the ten year old boy beside her. As usual, girls and boys flocked around him, like fish being fed. Miori was irritated. Oh, why does the homeroom teacher seated her beside him? Now she wouldn't have any peace whenever she wanted to read books in class!

"Keishi-chan! Wanna play with us this afternoon?" One of the girls asked with her obviously sweet voice. Miori felt sick hearing the girl's voice. It's so sweet it almost caused cavity.

"No, Keishi's gonna play soccer with us today! You will, right, Keishi?" Asked a boy beside him. The girls weren't satisfied, as they wanted to be with their favourite boy that evening. The boys weren't going to give up, as Keishi was one of the best sportsman in the school. Keishi turned his gaze back and forth between the warring sides. He wasn't going to join any of them today, he decided. He was about to voice his thoughts before his seatmate, Miori slammed her thick book on her poor table beside him.

"SHUT UP, YOU BRATS!" They all definitely did shut up immediately. Even Keishi closed his mouth after seeing Miori raged at the poor kids around him. "If you wanna fight, do it somewhere else! Can't you realize that you're disturbing others with your loud shouts?" The girls and boys looked around, and sure enough, the whole class that wasn't involved with the fights looked at them uneasily. "And you!" She pointed at Keishi, surprising him. "Think and speak up your mind fast! Otherwise they wouldn't stop troubling you." She huffed.

Raging black eyes met Icy blue gaze. Miori was definitely not attached to him, as she lifted a brow and glared at him like a yakuza. "What are you looking at?" She asked moodily. Keishi blinked, then he shook his head. "...Nothing, thanks." He tried to form a smile, but it seemed only his eyes managed to do so. His face remained expressionless. Then he faced the kids around him, and said in similar quiet ways as he always do; "Sorry, I can't play with you guys today. I have errands after school,"

The girls 'Awww'-ed, and the boys just 'Ehhhh?'-ed simultaneously in disappointment. Miori's interruption before earned their hatred, even though Keishi would still refused even if she didn't get involved. Then the school bell rang, showing them it's time to go home. Miori already forgot her anger, and quickly packed her bag to get ready to go home. The book she slammed before was on her left hand, still looking fine even though the force she put when slamming the book against the hard wooden desk could make a dent on the hard-cover book.

The kids around Keishi slowly dispersed, getting ready to either go home or play around at the school field for a while before actually heading home. While Keishi, true to his word, started to pack his school bag too, and immediately left the classroom as the last bell rang. Miori already left the classroom before him, and already out of the school gate when Keishi called her name, trying to catch up with her. "Miori-chan, wait!" Miori felt weird. Somehow, when people as cool as him uses that kind of endearment, it felt so out-of-place to her.

She stopped, at the same time staring at him with an eyebrow raised. Her mouth frowned at him, her number one source of trouble. "What?" She asked moodily. Seriously, she wanted to go home early today. The shopkeeper of the bookstore she frequently go promised her that the new volume of her favourite adventure-fantasy novel will arrive that day, and she didn't want to be late or the novel will be sold by the time she arrived at the bookstore. Keishi looked flustered when he approached her. "Ah, no... um... Are you going anywhere? Do you want me to escort you?"

Icily, Miori asked him; "And if I said, 'no'?" The look of horror and disappointment on his blue eyes followed her reply. Keishi gulped. This was his first time actually talking to girls other than his family and close family friends, so he was nervous. Miori was quite amused. Beneath his expressionless face, lies a pair of eyes that showed his true feelings easily. "...Well, I was just going to the town for a bit. There's a book I wanted to buy. You're free to come if you wanted to, but I thought you said you have an errand to do?" She looked at him questioningly.

Keishi smiled. He was happy. "Yes, but since we're going the same way I thought we should go together," The bespectacled girl smiled too, although hers looked like a sneaky grin while Keishi's smile was a smile people wouldn't even realize that it was a smile. Walking side-by-side, he hummed happily beside her. Miori just ignored him, her hands started to open the book in her hands so she can read while walking. But Keishi suddenly closed the books in her hands. "Miori-chan, don't read and walk. You'll get hurt," His expression serious. Miori's face darkened, annoyed by her busybody seatmate.

"Listen to me, you won't regret it," He continued. Then he grabbed her left hand, dragging her along with him as they walked together. By that time, Miori was more than annoyed. 'Okay, he gave me advice. I should listen to him. But holding my hand... Is that even necessary?' Behind him, she was glaring at him. They walked in silence for a while, Keishi in his quiet and reserved way while Miori busily getting angry at him in her mind. After another minute, Keishi opened his mouth. "......ry," He glanced at Miori.

"Excuse me?"

Loosening his grip in Miori's hand a little, Keishi spoke; "For this afternoon, I'm sorry." Miori was quite confused. "This afternoon...? Ahah..." Miori glanced at the icy blue eyes in front of her. "Nevermind that. I was at fault, too. I just can't stand it when people are being noisy near me when I read books, even though I can just read it somewhere else." Her reply made Keishi shook his head. "But I'm glad that you scolded them. Then I'd be able to talk to you, even if I'm being scolded together with them," He smiled a little, and Miori just listened silently.

"...Do you know, that was the first time we talked to each other since becoming seatmates!" He turned to look at her, his eyes were smiling. Miori stared at him for a while, before she opened her mouth. "You know, despite your expressionless face, you're quite talkative." Then Keishi's eyes somehow managed to frown. "Really? Is my face really that expressionless?" He touched his face with his free hand, looking quite worried. "Can't be helped. I inherited this from my father," Miori lifted an eyebrow. "...Can that kind of thing be inherited?" She was skeptical.

Keishi shrugged, meaning he doesn't know. "But my father was even more expressionless, I think. Nobody knows what's on his mind except my mother," Miori looked at him and fall silent again, seeing that she doesn't have anything to talk anymore. By that time, they have already arrived at town and almost missed the bookstore that she loved. She wanted to tell Keishi to stop, but he already stopped and started to walk toward the bookstore without her telling to. Click-a-ring! The bell in the bookstore rang, and the usual shopkeeper smiled when he saw Miori.

"Ah, welcome customer!" And his smile stopped for the first time when he saw her holding hands with Keishi. "Young Master...?" Miori frowned. She was confused of the shopkeeper's behavior, when she realized that she and Keishi were still holding hands. "Hey, let go of your hand," She said to him, before Keishi turned to look at her and then blushed furiously. "Sorry! I didn't mean... to hold your hand... for so long...!" He was half shouting at first, and then slowly turned into a slow mutter. By that time, he can't even look into her eyes properly.

"...Miori-chan... you know the young master?" The shopkeeper who was silently watching them before walked toward them, still surprised to see his employer's son in the shop. "Gorou-san, you know Miori-chan?" Now Miori was shocked. "Shopkeeper, your name is Gorou?" A swirl of confusion swept the three of them, and Gorou decided that he needed a break. His head was spinning. He sighed. "Let's go to the break room first, I need my sugar to keep up with both of you," He said, before he turned and called his assistant to "Take care of the counter for a while," as he shoved the two kids to the staff's lounge.

He gave them both a bottle of tea, while he helped himself to what Miori considered an explosion of sickeningly sweet candy floss flavoured drink. She just hoped he didn't get diabetes with all the sugar he just drank. "So, let's get this all straight, okay?" Gorou started the conversation, as he was the eldest of the three of them. "My name is, indeed, Gorou. But that was unimportant. What I wanted to know is why is the young master with you, Miori-chan? And what are you doing here, young master?" He looked straight at both of them, his smile finally crept back to his face.

"We are classmates," Miori started. "He said he has errand to do, and offered to accompany me since we're going the same way." She looked at Keishi accusingly. She was half mad, half curious. Why was Gorou-san calling him 'young master'? Keishi was still half blushing. Miori was staring at him too closely, it seemed. "I do have errand... here. I never thought we're really going the same way." He said, quite flustered. Once in a while he'd took a peek at Miori who sat beside him, her black eyes pinned on his face. "Father told me to send this book here," he said as he pulled a book from inside his bag.

Miori's eyes almost popped out from its socket. It's the novel that she was hoping to buy today, the adventure-fantasy novel that she really wanted! She looked at Keishi with a look of utter surprise. When he saw the book, Gorou immediately realized it. "Ah, it's the book you wanted, Miori-chan. Young master came himself to the bookstore, when you're the one who's gonna buy it later, huh?" He smiled. Keishi was surprised. "Eh, you wanted this book, Miori-chan?" He looked at the book for a while before he handed it to here. "Um, then, here." He smiled sincerely at her. "You can have it,"

Miori wanted to refuse, but she really wanted to have that book in his hand right now. "...Miori-chan?" Keishi called her name, and painfully Miori opened her mouth. "Um... how much for the book?" She asked him, and Keishi just smiled. "Nah, you're a friend. You can just take it as a present." Frowning a bit, Miori looked at him through her spectacle carefully. "You sure about that? I won't give it back, you know." She grabbed the book from Keishi's hand and immediately hugged the book possessively. Keishi and Gorou stared at each other for a while, before the always smiling Gorou laughed heartily.

"Miori-chan, just take the book. He definitely won't ask for the book again. I think there's a whole lot more of that novel in his house, waiting to be sent here. This shop is, after all, his family's book storage." He said, still laughing at her. But Miori was confused, while Keishi just looked sideways as Gorou explained to the bespectacled little girl. "Young master's family are filled with books lunatics. The freakiest lunatic is the young master's father. The reason this shop was opened was because his father," He gave a snerk once in a while, trying hard not to laugh again.

"Gorou-san, enough. I don't think Papa will be pleased if he heard you call him a lunatic," Keishi scolded the man, earning a half-hearted sorry from him. "Well, he is a lunatic. He can't even be considered a bookworm anymore, with the store so packed up with his books. Maybe I should tell him to open up a new branch so the shop won't be too packed...." Slowly, Gorou's words drifted from the conversation, while Keishi and Miori were left to stare at each other in an awkward silence for a while. "Keishi-kun," The blue eyed boy unconsciously stiffened when he heard his name called by Miori.

"...Thanks," She smiled at him. "...For the novel," she continued, but Keishi was already on the path of bliss to even hear her anymore. He was truly, very happy. That was the first time Miori ever called his name, and the first time he saw her smiling that sweetly, just at him! And for the first time too, he saw Miori blushed when he, without realizing it, smiled as sweetly at her, just for her. Miori Nishikata frowned. Lately, her nerves have been on edge. She couldn't sit still, her hands won't stop trembling, and her feet always tapping the floor in anger. Now, even her face has started to redden furiously. And surely, everything was the fault of her new seatmate; Keishi Tatsuke.

** End **

<- Day 2
Day 4 ->