Being a natural
early riser himself Yukio shook Kyoko awake. Time to patrol the
school grounds, the last patrol before Himekaizen came alive for the
second and last day of the festival.
She stirred
uneasily under his hands, even tried to slap them away, but in the
end she yawned and woke.
“Time?”
“Five,” Yukio
answered. “It's our turn now. The guys from 9:1 are already away.”
She crawled over
the floor to a corner they made into a small dressing area. It gave
some shelter and a modicum of privacy.
Yukio listened to
her getting into her school uniform and when she showed up from
behind the false wall she looked a lot more like his girlfriend
instead of the zombie from a few minutes earlier.
Guess that's
part of loving someone, to feel her morning breath and still think
she's wonderful.
As if she had
read his mind she waved with two sets of tooth brushes. “You need
one as well.”
He covered his
mouth with a hand and grimaced. Guess I smell just as awful.
They walked out
into the corridor and made their way down the stairs to the locker
rooms.
After he was done
and stood waiting by the vending machines for her to finish he felt
more human as well.
He stole a hug
and a kiss before checking that his radio was turned on and then they
left through the main entrance and hit the startlingly chill morning
air outside. His tooth brush he simply pocketed in his blazer.
A greyness
covered the school yard in a ghost like pre-dawn light. But for the
clouds above them and lingering morning mist it would have been
lighter. Every gust of wind crept inside his body and he pulled her
closer to him more for warmth than a want to hug.
They strolled
through the temporary streets between empty stalls. With only the two
of them there he felt like walking through a ghost town. Sounds came
too clearly and whenever flags and other decorations moved in the
wind he jumped. Skittish like a puppy.
“They should
just move the haunted house here,” Kyoko murmured and held his hand
a bit firmer.
She noticed as
well. “Spooky, heh?”
“Uhum.”
None of them
spoke much and they did their rounds in silence. Through the plaza, a
quick loop over the remaining soccer field, along the fences and a
cursory pass by the pool. The two patrols from 9:1 had a good view of
the parts between cafeteria and the gym hall, so Yukio led Kyoko
behind it and they arrived at the large outdoor café by the back
gates.
He saw a couple
of students climbing the gates. They wore the Himekaizen school
uniforms and he recognised one of them from 7:2. With a wave Yukio
acknowledged their presence and called in their arrival over the
radio.
Students would
start trickling in from now on and the need for patrolling came to an
end.
He led Kyoko past
the bike stands where she shrunk a little and offered him a guilty
stare. “Sorry,” she said.
Yukio didn't
answer. He had no reason reminding her about his first confession to
her. It had been spectacular for all the wrong reasons.
They reached the
end of the left wing and walked under the walkway between the wings
until they stood in front of the main entrance. Normally he would
have taken the short-cut diagonally across the gravel, but now stalls
blocked the way.
By now any
remnant of morning mist was long gone and above them the overcast sky
was thinning out. Mostly sunny the weather reports promised.
He watched the
main gates open to let a group of students past. Then the security
patrol assigned there had them closed again. Urufu wanted it that way
in case of an early invasion.
“Go inside and
get some breakfast?” he asked.
Kyoko nodded and
they returned inside the same way they left the building before.
In their club
room sandwiches Noriko had prepared waited for them together with hot
tea.
Anything as
elaborate as miso soup, or even something as mundane as rice, was out
of the question since they didn't have access to the home economics
room. The side dishes associated with that kind of breakfast weren't
a problem, but the thought of takuan mixing with bread in his mouth
didn't exactly make his mouth water.
Kyoko wolfed down
her breakfast and wiped her lips clean from breadcrumbs with a
napkin. She certainly was well brought up, but the last month she
mixed behaving like a lady with breaking all the rules just because
she dared.
To prove the
point she pocketed her napkin and kissed his mouth clean of whatever
offended her.
More than a few
of the club members present glared at them, but they were slowly
getting used to her antics.
“Still hungry?”
he asked when she was done.
“Have another
sandwich and find out for yourself,” she suggested.
Yukio played with
the thought of accepting her offer, but in the end he decided against
it. He needed to prepare the back gates café and after that Urufu
wanted him for some more black magic of his invention.
Man, how are
we to manage today? “Help me prepare?” Yukio said to Kyoko.
She nodded and
took his hand.
They left the
room together.
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