The gentle sunset touched his face, illuminating his handsome features with a dazzling glow. His sparkling eyes gazed fondly into hers as he leaned in closer, his hand rising slowly to her face. She gasped slightly in anticipation before his smooth skin lightly grazed her silk-like hair, softly caressing her locks. Closing her eyes and shuddering, she felt him move closer, whispering sweet honey words into her ears.
“Ever since I saw you I was entranced. Your very presence leaves my knees weak; your simplest words make my heart race. I couldn’t stand a life that didn’t include you. There’s something I need to tell you…”
Her heart was pounding in her chest, his every word filling her soul.
“…WAKE UP!”
The girl was awoken unceremoniously as her bed covers were dragged from the mattress, carrying her with them. With a groan, she rolled back and forth, gradually untangling herself from the mess of sheets until she was finally free. Groggily rubbing her head, she slowly opening her eyes and looked up at whoever had decided to act as her alarm clock. She instantly regretted it, though, as she was met with a very irritated looking blonde who seemed convinced that glaring daggers could, in fact, kill.
“Suzuka! I knew it; you stayed up late reading those trashy romance novels again!”
Life goes on
Chapter 1
The purple haired girl yawned deeply when she finally sat down at the table for breakfast. Arisa, looking slightly grumpy, slid a plate of toast and a cup of coffee in front of her. Even after waking it had still taken Suzuka several minutes before proper consciousness had settled in, and in that time Arisa had taken it upon herself to drag the sleepy girl up, dress her and shove her into the bathroom to get washed up. Needless to say, Suzuka wasn’t much of a morning person.
“I was at a really good part, so I really wanted to keep reading…”
“I keep telling you, you shouldn’t be staying up so late, it’s bad for your health.”
“I’m sorry.”
She reached over to grab a jar of jam, only to be stopped halfway. Looking down, she sheepishly noticed the reddish jelly already spread on the bread, and glanced back at her friend, who was nibbling at her own breakfast and staring off to the side. Mornings like had become fairly routine for the girls, ever since they started living under the same roof a year and a half ago.
It didn’t seem like very long ago when their final year at high school finally came to an end. Arisa had graduated top of the class, of course, and had easily passed her university entrance exams with flying colours – though not with the highest score, much to her dismay. Suzuka, to her credit, managed to pass all of her courses, and thankfully wasn’t held back a year. However, with her outstanding sports achievements she was scouted by several universities and offered a number of acceptance scholarships. Choosing familiarity over prestige, she picked a local campus, and thus the childhood friends once again found themselves enrolled in the same school together, at Uminari University.
Arisa, being a headstrong young adult, believed she should have some independence and decided that she wanted move out and live on her own. Her parents strongly objected, of course, and the ensuing arguments lasted for days. Somehow or other Suzuka got mixed into the discussions, and eventually her parents as well. In the end, all parties came to an agreement: the two girls would be sharing a two bedroom apartment, the assumption being that as long as Suzuka was keeping Arisa under control nothing too catastrophic could happen. However, much to everyone’s shock it was Arisa who ended up running the household, doing everything from cooking and cleaning to mothering Suzuka about her bedtime. Apparently somewhere in the week of debates she took the whole matter as a personal affront – and the fact that her parents would call every time they heard sirens only fueled it. By the time she stopped feeling insulted everything had already become habit.
Suzuka had adjusted well to her friend’s new responsible attitude, at least. After the first all night reading session she quickly realized that having someone keeping track of the time for her was a necessity.
“What’s so great about those books, anyway?” Arisa suddenly asked.
“They’re beautiful stories! It’s all about love blossoming in any circumstance, and the strength of the heart that can make it through any obstacles.”
“Hrmph, seems kinda corny to me.”
“What? You don’t believe in love at first sight?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“Breaking beyond social boundaries to follow your heart?’
“Sounds pretty stupid.”
“Friends realizing the feelings they’ve shared since childhood?”
“Way too fluffy to be real.”
“Mou, Arisa’s heart is so frigid.”
“Is not! I just don’t believe in stupid fairytales.”
“Love isn’t a fairytale!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. We should get going if we don’t wanna be late.”
The two grabbed their bags and left, still arguing as they locked their apartment up and walked off to the train station.
------
Arisa was idly spinning her pen in hand, staring at the ceiling as the droning voice continued on and on. She might have been an obsessive studier, but she still couldn’t stand to sit through boring lectures. She’d already gone through this chapter a week ago on her own, but her professor managed to somehow drain the life out of every word that he spoke. Sighing for the tenth time that hour, the blonde dropped her head onto her desk and glanced around the lecture hall. About a third of the students were latching onto every word the professor spoke, though how they did that was a miracle. The large majority weren’t paying attention in the slightest, choosing to doodle in clipboards, whisper to each other or send texts through the cellphones hidden under their desks. Then there were the few hiding in the back, using the time to catch up on precious sleep.
‘Wish Suzuka was here,’ she thought to herself, not for the first time. Things always seemed more fun when her longtime friend was around, for some reason. Unfortunately, despite going to the same university they enrolled into two completely different departments: herself into law and Suzuka into literature. It was inevitable, really, but even though she was in her second year Arisa still couldn’t help but feel odd having the purple-haired girl in the same classes as her.
The sudden scraping of chairs made the blonde jump, and she realized that the lecture was finally over. Slipping her notes and utensils into her bag, she rose to her feet and walked from the hall as well.
‘Hmm, what to do now,” she mulled as she left,
“Suzuka’s practice doesn’t end for a couple hours. Maybe I could go watch? Nah, maybe I could go and meet up with –“
“Yo, Arisa!”
The girl turned as she heard a male voice calling out her name. She instantly recognized the short cropped black hair and thin glasses of her friend as he came closer.
“Yo, Taku!”
Yoshida Takumi, a Japanese language major in the same year as Arisa and Suzuka, and the first friend in the university that they’d made. It had been their first day on the campus and neither had a clue how to find their classes. Adding in a map that was disastrously ambiguous and they had a surefire recipe to getting hopelessly lost. During one of Arisa’s many tirades about the terrible state of architectural design in the country Takumi stumbled across the two, and like any gentleman offered to guide them. Of course, he wasn’t much better with the school’s layout, and the three ended up getting even more lost than they were before. In the end it was a security guard who managed to set them straight, and despite wasting several hours the girls had still come out of it with a new acquaintance.
“What’s up?” Arisa asked as she slowed to match strides with her friend.
“A bunch of us were going to grab a bite to eat. You wanna come with?”
“Can’t…I told Suzuka I’d meet her after practice.”
“I thought she was going to be busy tonight.”
“Where’d you hear that?” Arisa questioned, suddenly suspicious.
“I guess I misunderstood, then. Some guy in our Japanese course asked her out, and –“
“WHAT?!”
Several other students glanced their way, wondering what the sudden outburst was about. Takumi rubbed his ears a little; Arisa could be quite loud when she was properly motivated.
“Hey, it’s not a big deal, this guy just – “
“What happened?! Was it a love letter? A confession? Did he ask to meet her at the back of the school?!”
“No, it wasn’t – hey, hold it. What are you, a kid? He just walked up to her and asked her to dinner.”
Arisa reddened slightly at the kid comment, but it didn’t do anything to calm her down. With a frighteningly determined look on her face she performed a perfect about-face and marched back down the hallway.
“Come on! You’re gonna help me find this guy.”
“Hey, wait! What are you planning on doing?”
“Intervention!”
2008-07-28, 10:22
Author
. You'll be credited with any ideas I use, of course.
