Kagerou Days/カゲロウデイズ looking for something, she'd found it

Takane threw open the classroom door, calling out, "Oi, Haruka, have you seen— oh. Huh." Her portable gaming system was sitting in the middle of her desk, although she was all but sure she didn't remember leaving it there. Haruka was perched on the other desk, smiling in her direction as if he'd been waiting for her to come back for it.

"Wipe that smile off your face," she grumbled, crossing to her desk to retrieve the little device. It wasn't that his smile annoyed her, but as usual it made her heart flip over and she was too in a hurry to let herself be distracted by him right now. A quick flick of the switch revealed there was still plenty of battery left, which was a relief; she'd told Shintaro she was really going to beat his high score this time, and she didn't plan to back down for any reason. "What are you doing sitting here by yourself, anyway?" she asked, turning her gaze back towards Haruka. It was hard to ignore him for too long, anyway.

"Oh! I found that in the hall, and it seemed like yours, so I figured you'd come back for it." He beamed, as if expecting to be praised for something like that, but she just huffed.

"You could have brought it to lunch, you know. You're making the other two wait." Not that Takane minded. They weren't her problem, after all. But Haruka was always painfully considerate, always thinking of others before himself. This seemed unusual for him.

"I wanted to talk to you alone before we went," he replied, nonchalant, and Takane felt her breathing stop.

They'd been dating for two weeks now, and every day she expected to wake up and find out it was actually a dream. She hadn't even let him tell anyone, sure that he'd change his mind any day now and she'd be left alone. She wasn't going to let anyone mock her- or worse, _pity __her_- if that happened.

So, he'd finally come to his senses, huh?

Throat tight, she busied herself with the tiny machine, inspecting it for cracks, as if she expected Haruka to treat something of hers with anything besides the utmost care. She didn't think he was that sort of person, but if he was going to break her heart, who knew what else of hers he might be willing to break.

"Fine," she forced out finally through suddenly clenched teeth, and for some reason that made him laugh.

He rested his hands on her shoulders and she tensed, tucking her chin down against her chest. Haruka released her without even a second's pause.

"Oops, sorry! No hugs either, huh?"

Takane felt herself drowning in fierce regret for batting his hand away last Wednesday, snapping out 'no holding hands'. She'd only meant no holding hands in _school_, not altogether— but if he was breaking up with her, it didn't matter anyway.

"Haruka—"

She hadn't meant to let his name slip out, but he chuckled, patting her head instead.

"I just wanted to thank you! For backing me up about the homework earlier. I can't believe I completely forgot to do it, and Sensei was so annoyed—"

Of course, Haruka was a model student, so their teacher was probably more frustrated that their entire class had failed to complete the assignment, instead of the usual 50/50 rate they strove for. It was hard, being only two people in a class sometimes.

But that meant—

"I think I'm really lucky to have a, ahh…"

Haruka seemed to be having trouble getting the word out, and Takane finally snuck a peek up at him through her choppy bangs. His cheeks were red, and he was playing with the cuffs of his sweater in embarrassment. He looked bashful, as hesitant and shy as when he'd asked her out, and she realized maybe she wasn't giving him enough credit if she expected him to suddenly break up with her, just like that.

"…To have a, uh, girlfriend like you, I mean," he managed to finish with an embarrassed grin, brick red, and Takane felt her heart leap.

For saying something like that, for putting up with her— Takane felt as though she could hold his hand a thousand times, no matter who felt like watching. In fact, she could do better than that.

Takane seized the front of his sweater, going up on tiptoe (she wobbled and dropped the gaming device, but that didn't matter right now) and kissed him. She felt his mouth make a little 'o' of shock against hers, and would have snickered if she wasn't clinging for dear life to front of his shirt, trying desperately to remember everything she knew about kissing, which admittedly wasn't very much. Then his hands found her waist and he steadied her, and everything after that seemed a whole lot more natural.

A few minutes later she dragged her hand through one of her pigtails, bending to pick up the gaming device, only to find Haruka's gaze on her when she straightened up.

"What?" she asked, and was surprised to find how normal her voice sounded. That had sounded almost like an actual question, instead of a demand. Maybe she could get used to talking to him like this instead, given time.

"Eh…" he laughed, a blush burning in his cheeks. "You might want to fix your hair."

She could have told him the same— she'd definitely ruffled his already messy hair enough that he'd probably get weird looks in the hallway— but instead she yanked her fingers through her pigtails again, casting an eye back in his direction. "Better?"

"You might want to re-do them entirely. They're kind of a mess."

Despite his words, there was nothing but fondness in his voice, and Takane felt amusement rise in her chest. She crossed her arms. "My hair's always messy. It's supposed to be part of my charm."

Really, she couldn't be assed to spend hours on it every morning, so she usually didn't bother. She knew he'd noticed though— on occasion she'd caught him staring, and once he'd even reached over to fix a loose strand that had fallen in front of her face, an action that had left both of them redfaced and jittery for several minutes afterward.

"They're a… messier mess than usual," he replied, looking as though he was casting around for words that wouldn't offend her. Then his head tilted as if he'd suddenly had a thought, and he glanced up towards the clock. "Also, I think we're missing lunch."

Lunch was low on Takane's priorities, especially when the list also included things like 'Haruka' and 'Making Shintaro cry baby tears of regret for challenging her' but she knew it was important to him, so she rolled her eyes.

"You get going. I'm going to the bathroom to fix this."

She expected him to abscond at the speed of light, lunchbox under his arm, but to her surprise he circled around the desk to kiss her on the cheek. "You're the best."

The instinctive 'of course I am' died on her lips, and instead she just said, flustered, "Thanks."

With a thumbs up, Haruka fled to find Ayano and Shintaro, looking eager to start wolfing down his lunch, and Takane fought a tiny smile and tried to remember where the nearest bathroom with a mirror was.


End file.

Kagerou Days/カゲロウデイズ, Humor, Romance