Short Story I probably shouldn’t write this while at work.

Discussion in 'Community Creations' started by Gandire Alea, Jul 20, 2019.

  1. Gandire Alea

    Gandire Alea [Wicked Awesome Translator]

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    I honestly did not expect this sort of praise for what I’ve written. Thank you everyone for the likes and kind words. I truthfully expected something else~
     
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  2. Gandire Alea

    Gandire Alea [Wicked Awesome Translator]

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    I’m honestly not 100% sure how I feel about this. I wrote it and that makes me happy. On the other hand, I wrote this and I feel another feeling altogether. Anyway, tell me what you think~

    Once they finish eating and are outside the restaurant, Takeshi says, “Hey, how about we go watch a movie?” He makes an open question, but his gaze is locked on Lyfe.
    Harumi steps forward and says, “Sorry, but Lyfe-chan and I need to get home.” He then takes Lyfe’s hand and leads her away.
    One block later, Lyfe says, “I don’t think they can see us anymore, Haru-senpai.”
    Harumi jumps in place at her comment. He tries to apologize as he releases her, but Lyfe cuts him off. “Don’t worry so much about it. That was the fastest way to leave.” She then glances towards his face and says, “But what about you?”
    “Me?”
    “You barely said a word all dinner.”
    “Ah… sorry. I just…”
    Lyfe turns around and smirks, “Let me guess. You were so excited to be eating next to Ayumi, you had no idea what to say.”
    Harumi’s face flushes crimson. “Wha— n— no, that’s totally not it.”
    “Haru-senpai, you kept stealing glances at her every seven seconds. You are totally crushing on her, hard.”
    “I— No— That’s not—”
    “And that’s not everything. Ayumi took a liking to me, much to Takeshi’s dismay. Maybe you didn’t notice, but he kept signaling for you to distract her. He was quite frustrated by the end of dinner.”
    “Wait, what? He was totally chill.”
    “Haru-senpai, that is something called a front. Cool on the outside, raging on the inside. Either way, he totally expected you to distract Ayumi for him. That leads to a question of why. We could say it’s because you were there, but that answer is too shallow.”
    Lyfe smiles at Harumi’s confused gaze, turns around, and begins to walk.
    “Hey, Lyfe-chan.” Harumi hurries after her.
    Lyfe waits for him to reach her side before saying, “There are a few factors we need to consider. One, Takeshi called for Nanase and Ayumi to meet us there. Nanase and Yuya are totally an item. Calling Nanase more or less served the purpose of dealing with Yuya.”
    “Well, yeah. It’s actually thanks to him that they even got together.”
    Lyfe’s eyes pop open as she says, “No wonder Nanase complimented him. This actually fuels my next point too. Anyway, him doing that left you, him, and myself free. Now, your cute little crush on Ayumi is obvious, she actually might be waiting for you to say something.”
    “You think so!?”
    Lyfe laughs and says, “Absolutely, also you just admitted to having a crush.” As Harumi once more turns red, Lyfe adds, “As I was saying, he knows about your crush. Out of all the girls he could have called, and I get the feeling he could have called a lot of them, he called her.”
    Lyfe spins around and stops walking. She then leans toward Harumi and pokes him in the center of his chest. “According to my deduction, my dear Haru-senpai, Takeshi anticipated you to chatting Ayumi up. From what I’ve gathered, you don’t come off as someone who gets nervous speaking to girls. Therefore, my question to you is, why didn’t you?”
    Lyfe notes Harumi’s embarrassment and hesitation and spins back around to face front. With her hand behind herself, she steps forward while saying, “If you want something, make sure to reach for it least you regret it for the rest of your life.”
    Harumi stares at Lyfe walk away. After a few moments, he frowns and walks after her. “I feel like I’ve heard that before.”
    “It’s a pretty common phrase in anime.”
    “You’re quoting anime…?”
    “Why not? They might just be fantasy, but a lot of the lessons and advice given can apply those of us here in the real.”
    The rest of the walk is in silence. Once they reach Harumi’s home, Lyfe picks up her bag, thanks Yoko for hiring her for the day, and then turn to Harumi. “Stuff happened, but I had a lot of fun today, Harumi. We shouldn’t do this too often, but let’s do it again. See next time.”

    Yoko waits for the door to fully close before turning to her son. He’s expression is a cross between annoyed, frustrated, and confused. She ruffles his hair and says, “Did something happen?”
    “Kinda…”
    “Kinda how? Lyfe-chan looks like she had a blast, it couldn’t have been bad.”
    “We ran into a few of my friends…”
    “Did they tease you for being a couple.”
    “No!” Harumi then frowns and says, “Well, yes, but that’s not it. It was when we went to get dinner…. Lyfe-chan…”
    “Were you embarrassed being around her?”
    “No!” Harumi clears his throat at his mother’s knowing smile and says, “It was Takeshi…. He was totally into her. He took every chance he got to get closer to her. I got so fed up thatI just grabbed Lyfe-chan’s hand and left after eating.”
    “And how did Lyfe-chan take all of that?”
    “I’m not sure… Ayumi-chan kept jumping in every time he went too far.”
    Yoko covers her mouth to hide her smile and says, “Are you upset you couldn’t be her knight in shining armor?”
    “Mom!”
    Yoko chuckles as she says, “My bad, my bad.”
    “I just, I didn’t know what to say. Every time something happened, they’d start talking and I wouldn’t be able say anything to either of them.”
    Yoko picks up on the phrase, ‘either of them’ and grins. “Harumi, if a girl really hates something, you will know.”

    Lyfe hugs her bag to herself as she sits down on the train. Her lesson with Harumi was extended much longer than usual due to their little excursion. Having already eaten dinner, she’s relieved she doesn’t have to worry about that once she gets home. Instead, she’ll take a shower, lay in bed, and prepare her lessons for the next day before going to sleep.
    “Still, today wasn’t that bad.” She then laughs upon wondering how Ayumi would react if she found out that lyfe is the older one between them. “And she kept insisting I call her ‘nee-san.’ She’d flip if she found out it’s the opposite.”
    She leans back on her seat and freezes. Reflected back at her in the window is a high school girl. I completely forgot to get changed. Her clothes are back in Harumi’s house, folded in the basket she was given to store them in.
    Lyfe looks around, but no one is given her any strange looks. After thinking for a few moments, she realizes it’s because no one knows her. Her lesson with Harumi went on much longer than usual. That isn’t the train she normally takes, but a later one.
    As her heart settles down, she notices a few boys are eyeing her. Their expression read exactly like Takeshi’s. She looks them in the eyes and turns away with a sharp flick of her head. After a few moments, she glances towards the window and uses the reflection to see how they reacted. Their faces are sullen and their shoulders sag from the blatant rejection.
    Mirth laces the words she speaks under her breath. “I’m not so immature as to be overwhelmed by the attention of children.”
    Lyfe’s peace of mind is short lived. A police officer calls out to her as she leaves the station. He asks her why she is out so late to which she replies, “I’m on my way home.” He asks her a few other questions to which she says, “I was held up, but am currently on my way home.”
    The officer looks her over, slaps her on the butt, and tells her not to “dawdle.”
    Lyfe, frightened by the action, runs off while saying, “Yes.” She enters her house and slams the door behind herself. A quick glance at the clock tells her the time isn’t even nine. She pats the area she was swatted on and says to herself, “Power abuse.”
    Her only consolation is that due to how late the time is, it was too dark for any of her neighbors to notice she wearing a high school uniform.

    Chapter 6

    Lyfe retrieves her clothes the following Tuesday lesson. She stores them in her bag, gets changed into the school uniform, and proceeds to Harumi’s room. She walks straight in while saying, “Ready for today’s lesson, Haru-senpai?”
    “Yes, let’s start.”
    “Oh, nice. Good enunciation.”
    The lesson starts with Lyfe answering any questions and doubts he has. Afterwards, she pulls out Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and has him pick up where he last left off.
    Harumi holds the book open against his desk and reads aloud. She silently reads along with him from his left. Each time he makes a mistake, she says, “Stop, go back,” or “Try that one more time.” At some points, she stops him, leans closer in order to point out a specific passage, and asks, “What exactly happened here?” Harumi explains what he understood in Japanese and afterwards, she either praises his improvement in English, or has him read it again. Each time, however, she ends up leaning closer to him.
    Harumi points at a word in the book and says, “Lyfe-chan, what does this mean?”
    “Wingardiun leviosa? Probably something like wings lift up? They aren’t real words. Rowling-sensei messed with latin words to make them sound more fantastic.”
    “Is that allowed?”
    “It is in fiction. Also, ‘Lyfe-chan’?”
    Harumi chuckles and says, “Sorry, it slipped out.”
    Lyfe leans back, arcs her arm around to place it against her chest, flicks up her chin, and adopts an offended tone. “Slipped out? Haru-senpai, I am your teacher. You will treat me the due respect this loft position entails. For every word I say, you must answer with three. Is this clear?”
    Harumi tilts his head and says, “I didn’t understand a thing.” At Lyfe’s stare he laughs and says, “Okay, okay, I understood the beginning and end.”
    Lyfe breaks down what she spoke and has Harumi put it together. His expression brightens the moment it clicks. He then bursts with laughter and he’s, “As you wish, Oujo-sama.”
    Lyfe’s expression turns tentative as she stares at him.
    Harumi, unnerved by her stare, glances to the side. He then looks back to find her expression hasn’t changed. “Did I… say something wrong?”
    Lyfe stares for a moment longer before saying, “No, it’s just that phrase, ‘as you wish.’ Whenever I hear it, I’m reminded of the movie, The Princess Bride.”
    “I see?”
    Lyfe smiles and shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it so much. More importantly…” She leans towards the book so that she can point out the passage he just read. “Did you understand this?”
    Harumi returns to looking down at the novel only to tense part way. Before, when Lyfe pointed at a passage in the book, she moved around him. This time, due to them having shifted around a bit, she was able to lean straight towards the book. She is cutting through the space his body just occupied. He needs to place very closer to her in order to read the passage she’s designating.
    He takes a breath and eases himself forward. His left arm remains down at his side. Lyfe’s body is too close for him to place it on the table. With his body at an angle running parallel to Lyfe’s, he puts his right arm at the table and leans towards the book. A gentle warmth radiates into him and soft breathing rings in his ears. He takes a breathe in an attempt to clear his mind, but is wafted by the scent of her shampoo. Silently and slowly, he exhales while praying none of it blows against her.
    Harumi succeeds in answering Lyfe’s question. Lyfe pulls away from the book, both to his relief and annoyance. However, she does not fully pull back. Instead, she remains slightly in front of him with her arm, shoulder, and side lightly wrapping around his arm.
    He looks towards her face, curious if she’s teasing him, but her expression is completely focused on the reading. She isn’t even aware to any of her actions or pressure they place against him.
    Lyfe puts the book away after half an hour. Harumi stands up to stretch and says, “Hey, Lyfe-chan, will we be doing anything like going out around the city again?”
    Lyfe sighs at Harumi saying, “Lyf-chan.” She looks at him and says, “Probably, unless your mother decides otherwise.”
    “Is there a schedule?”
    “One lesson a week should be enough. People rarely schedule me for lesson’s Sunday morning at my actual job, so Saturday. Let’s just avoid areas we might run into your friends, or crowded places in general, okay?”
    Harumi averts his gaze and says, “My friends… want to meet up again so we can go sing karaoke.”
    Lyfe recalls the invitation she received from Ayumi the previous night and suppresses a sigh. She stares down Harumi and says, “I’m not a trophy for you to show off, Haru-senpai.”
    Harumi waves his hands before himself while saying, “That- that wasn’t what I meant!”
    Lyfe laughs at his fluster. “Calm down, calm down, I’m only joking.” She refrains from mentioning Ayumi’s invitation and acts as though Harumi came up with a good suggestion. She adds, “Honestly, singing could help improve your fluency. If we go, you can only sing songs in English.”
    “…I don’t know any…”
    “I’ll send you a list of songs I like later. Go over them and see if you like any.”


    Chapter 7

    Harumi steps from the train first and guides Lyfe out the west station exit. Along the way, Lyfe asks him random questions about the city such as, “What is that store over there?”, “What can you buy inside here?”, and “Which movie do you want to see more?”
    Harumi answers in English as best he can, but slips back to Japanese for words like, “Telescopes,” “katsudon,” and “Giant meteor.”
    As they get closer to the karaoke bar(??), Harumi slows down.
    Lyfe steps in front of him and spins around. She stares at his face with a slight tilt to her head and says, “What’s wrong, Haru-senpai?”
    Harumi mumbles looks away mumbling some words under his breath. All that can be made out is, “…that…”
    Lyfe sighs and jabs him in the chest. She then takes advantage of his surprise to take his chin with a finger and force him to look at her. He tries to look away, but she says, “Look at me, Harumi.” As Harumi panics over how to respond, she again says, “Look at me.”
    Once Harumi is looking at her, she matches his gaze. She looks straight into his eyes and says, “If something bothers you, come out and say it. If you don’t want to talk about, then keep it hidden. What you just did, that halfhearted, ‘I’ll say something, but not really,’ mumble just now, don’t be such a loser.”
    Harumi is shocked into silence. His jaw drops open at the sudden declaration. He tries to talk, but not a sound comes out.
    Lyfe releases Harumi and steps back. “So, which is it? Is there something you want to say or not?”
    Harumi blinks a few times and shakes his head. He takes a breath and stares at Lyfe. She matches his gaze, but after a few moments, bores of his indecision.
    She says, “Well?”
    Harumi swallows and says, “It’s just… this.”
    “This?”
    “Going out and meeting my friends.”
    “What about it?
    “Is this… is this really okay?”
    Lyfe is taken aback by his thoughtfulness. She is still annoyed by the vagueness of his question. It can be interpreted in a couple different ways. With a sigh, she says, “If you mean Takeshi, I’m not so foolish as to be bothered by a child.”
    “No, not that. I mean… this.” He then gestures to her person. “Being… me being your senpai. It doesn’t bother you?”
    Lyfe smiles. That Harumi finally clearly conveyed his thoughts makes her happy. She then chuckles as if to brush aside his worries. “Haru-senpai, to say this doesn’t bother me would be a lie. I could potentially lose my job if word got out.” Harumi winces, but she continues, “Still, it’s already too late to turn back now. My safest bet is to continue passing off as your cute kouhai. That said, this is also pretty fun, so you don’t need guilt about dragging me into this.”
    “So then, everything’s fine?”
    Lyfe smiles and takes his hand. She pulls him along while saying, “Don’t worry so much about it.”
    Harumi closes his hand around hers as he says, “If you say so, Lyfe-chan.”
    Lyfe and Harumi walk the rest of the way side by side. As they walk up to the karaoke bar’s door, Lyfe notices that she and Harumi are still holding hands. She mentally reprimands herself for the act, releases his hand, and presses a button on the door. A few moments later, the door slides open.
    The two of them are called out to upon entering building. They are the last to arrive. Takeshi, Ayumi, Yuya, and Nanase are waiting for them in the lobby.
    Takeshi greets the two of them before turning to the front desk to ask for a booth. All six of them are then lead deeper inside and ushered into their room. They all get comfortable, order drinks from the attendant, and begin selecting songs.
    As they search, Nanase says, “By the way, you two have to sing penalty songs for being late.”
    Lyfe laughs as she says, “Penalty songs.”
    “Yep, we had a little contest amongst ourselves. Haru-kun and Ayumi-chan have to sing, A Whole New World from Aladdin. Afterwards, you and Takeshi-kun have to sing the same song and then we’ll judge who sang it better.”
    Lyfe says, “How’s that a penalty game?”
    Ayumi blushes at the question and turns away.
    Nanase giggles and says, “Cause, when you sing, you need to stare into each others eyes.”
    Harumi glares at Takeshi while saying, “And who’s idea was this?”
    Nanase says, “Ayumi-chan’s.”
    Ayumi blushes an even deeper shade of red as everyone looks at her. “I thought it would be more thrilling this way…”
    Lyfe says, “Well, your heart is pounding away now at any rate.”
    Nanase says, “Let’s get started.” She then picks up the tablet and looks up the song. “You two ready?”
    Harumi and Ayumi pick up their mikes. They then look at each other’s faces, but turn away after seven seconds. Only with prompting from Takeshi and Nanase do they again look at each other. They both try to look away, but stop. They take deep breaths and tell Nanase, “We’re ready.”
    The song begins to play and Harumi sings. He is bright red by the second verse.
    Ayumi’s lines begin, but she just wide eye stares at Harumi. He gestures for her to start by nudging his head towards the tv screen. She gasps upon realizing what he’s trying to say, glances at the screen to find her spot, and start in time to catch, “…endless diamond sky!”
    Their duet then starts. Both begin strong, but the more they stare into each others eyes, the softer their voices become. By the end of the song, both are bright red and barely audible.
    As everyone cheers them for completing the challenge, Nanase says, “Okay, Take-kun, Lyfe-chan, you’re up!”
    Lyfe picks up her microphone saying, “Hai, hai, don’t get so worked up.” She then turns to Takeshi, winks, and says, “No pressure, right?”
    Takeshi, taken aback by her abrupt action, stares for a second before smirking. “Who’s going to get embarrassed over something like this?”
    They both then say to Nanase, “We’re ready.”
    The song starts and Takeshi sings. His voice is loud and confident as he gazes down into her eyes.
    Lyfe stares back at him without flinching. When her lines start, she matches his singing with equal determination.
     
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