Kyousuke Kasuga watched as Madoka Ayukawa descended the stairs of her home, rubbing her hair briskly with a towel. She was clad in a fluffy pink bathrobe that reached down to her knees, and wore furry cream-colored slippers with closed toes on her feet.
“Sorry I kept you waiting, Kasuga-kun,” she said as she stepped off the last landing. “Oh, it feels so good to be a girl again.” She stretched her arms out and groaned contentedly, letting the towel dangle from a hand.
Kyousuke swallowed as he saw the neck of her bathrobe open and reveal a hint of cleavage. “It’s no problem, Ayukawa, honestly.”
Madoka disappeared into the kitchen. “Are you hungry, Kasuga-kun?” she called. “I can whip something up quickly, if you’d like.”
Kyousuke got up from the chair he’d been sitting in while waiting for her to finish showering and went into the kitchen. “Only if you’ll eat with me,” he said as he rounded the doorway.
Ayukawa was standing in front of the electric stove, back turned to him. Her towel was draped across a towel rack beside the appliance. “Deal,” she said, and began to remove her bathrobe.
Kyousuke’s eyes grew large. He felt his cheeks burn and quickly turned around. “W-what are you doing, Ayukawa?”
“Hmm? What do you mean? Oh!” He heard her soft-edged, tinkling laugh, and she said, “I’m so sorry. I’m really not used to having visitors, so I wasn’t thinking of what I was doing. It’s okay, you can look.”
Kyousuke peeked hesitantly over his shoulder and saw that she had been wearing a low-cut, round-necked yellow t-shirt and short blue shorts with white piping underneath the bathrobe. As Madoka placed the offending bathrobe on the rack above her towel, he chuckled sheepishly, turning around and saying, “What was I thinking?” Darn it, Ayukawa, you’re teasing me again...
Several minutes later, Madoka was seated at the dining room table with Kyousuke beside her. She had cooked up a large omelette and an abbreviated version of her special curry rice, which Kyousuke was digging into with gusto.
“How is it?” she asked him.
He swallowed and smiled at her before replying. “It’s good!”
“I’m glad you like it,” she said as she swallowed a forkful of scrambled egg. “Thanks for keeping me company.
“It’s my pleasure, Ayukawa, really.”
“I guess I shouldn’t keep you much longer. It’s getting pretty late.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. It’s Saturday tomorrow, remember? We don’t have half-day duties because of the mess our transferring to Furinkan caused.”
“Yeah, but your father must be worrying about you.”
“I can call him up and tell him I’m here.”
Madoka smiled at his persistence in wanting to stay with her. Not that she minded. She just didn’t want to get blamed for keeping Kyousuke out so late. “Okay. You can use the phone in the living room.”
When they had finished eating and cleaning up the dishes, Kyousuke called home. Madoka watched as he spoke to his family. It was easy to tell whom he was talking to: his face had turned apoplectic first (that had to be Kurumi on the other end, and she was most likely teasing him about being alone with her, judging from the words he was yelling into the receiver), then relieved and respectful (that was probably his father).
He hung up and turned to face her. “I’ve got good news for you!”
“Oh?” She leaned back against the living room couch. “What is it?”
“My grandparents called and said they’d be visiting tomorrow. Want to drop by? They might be able to help with your condition.”
Madoka nodded. “If it’s not too much trouble. I don’t want to impose myself on your family.”
Kyousuke waved away her concern. “Don’t worry about that. I’m sure Ojii-chan will be happy to help us.” Particularly since he likes to ogle you so much, he thought, grimacing inwardly.
“‘Help us?’ You mean ‘help me,’ don’t you, Kasuga-kun?”
Kyousuke stared at her. “No, Ayukawa, I mean ‘help us.’ I’m not going to let you go through this alone.”
Madoka looked away from him and tried to blink away the sudden stinging in her eyes. “Thanks, Kasuga-kun.” She had found out the hard way that she could trust few of the people that she had met, and was thankful that Fate had set Kyousuke in her path that fateful morning on top of the hundred-step stairs. He may have proven himself physically weak and indecisive in the past, and not that good at expressing his emotions, but she knew she could trust him, as she never could have trusted the various boys—and men—in her life before.
“I never told you...” she began. Her voice came to a sudden stop as she found him suddenly standing beside her, looking down at her with a strange and intense expression that sent a shiver down her spine.
“Ayukawa...” Slowly he sat down on the couch beside her, and took her shoulders in his hands. His fingers were pressing into her flesh with a touch that burned, and Madoka felt her heart flutter like a bird trapped in a cage as his face came closer to hers. She closed her eyes.
Just then the phone rang.
She instantly drew back from Kyousuke, a self-conscious blush on her cheeks. She heard his clipped “Chikuso!” as the instrument continued its insistent beeping. She stood and went to answer it.
Kyousuke watched her go with regret. It was always like this. He’d be near to kissing Ayukawa, and then something would happen that would break their intimate moment together. He wouldn’t attempt it again, at least not for tonight. The mood was irretrievably ruined for him; how much more so it would be for a girl whose moods were as mercurial as hers.
She spoke a moment, then stretched out the receiver. “It’s Manami.”
Kyousuke went to her side and took the device from her. “Yes, Manami-chan? Yes? Of course. Couldn’t you have waited for me to come home to tell me that?” he asked petulantly. “What?” he exclaimed. She saw him blush. “Of course not! Why would I do that? It’s not as if Ayukawa would let me anyway...” His indignant voice died away, and he turned to Madoka with an embarrassed grin. “Okay. Yeah, I’ll be home as soon as I can. Bye.”
Madoka raised an eyebrow. “What was that all about, Kasuga-kun? I wouldn’t let you do what?”
“Oh, Manami just reminded me of my trading chores with her and to go home as soon as I could,” Kyousuke replied. “She told me she had to make sure, since she, uh, didn’t know if I was planning to stay the night here.” A slight flush appeared on his face. “I told her you wouldn’t let me do that anyway.”
To Madoka he looked so cute standing there embarrassed that she couldn’t help teasing him. “You mean you’d like to?”
Kyousuke hung his head, and his face turned five shades of a lovely crimson deeper. “Of course not! That is, I’d like to, but...well, you know, you’re all alone here...”
“And you’re not sure you won’t do something ecchi, are you?”
“Ayukawa...” With that one word, Madoka knew Kyousuke was pleading with her to save him from his own embarrassment.
“That’s okay, Kasuga-kun. Maybe some other time. I’m not going to be good company tonight.”
“Oh? Why?”
“You know why.”
He looked at her suddenly serious face and hoped Ojii-chan would be able to help her. “Are you sure?”
She snorted in friendly exasperation. “Yes, I am. Stop worrying about me. I’m not a baby you have to take care of.”
As Kyousuke bade her goodbye and went to the front door, Madoka said, “Kasuga-kun? There’s just one thing I can’t understand.”
“What’s that?”
“Why do you think your ojii-chan can help me? Is he a magician of some sort?”
Kyousuke was thankful he finally had a valid excuse to tell her the truth. Or at least, part of it. “Yeah, he is. He knows a lot about that stuff.” He twisted the doorknob and opened the heavy slab of oakwood. “Good night, Ayukawa.”
“Good night, Kasuga-kun. Take care going home.” She smiled at him.
“I will,” he said. For a moment he fought the urge to kiss her on the cheek, bowing deeply instead, and left.
------oOo------
Kyousuke’s grandfather scratched his chin with his thumb and the side of his crooked index finger. “Oh, this is bad. Really bad.”
“But you can help her, can’t you, Ojii-chan?” Kyousuke asked pleadingly, looking at him from the other side of the living room table. He was seated in one chair, while Madoka, who had just arrived a few minutes earlier, was seated in another.
The old man had come late that morning, along with Kyousuke’s grandmother. They had popped up unexpectedly in the middle of the Kasugas’ living room, bearing a crateful of vegetables fresh from the countryside, and as soon as they had arrived, Kyousuke had called Madoka to come over, and presented her case to his grandparents.
“Can’t you just go to Jusenkyo and obtain the water from the Spring of Drowned Girl, Ojii-chan?” the high-schooler asked. He had already asked the question before, but his grandfather had yet to answer it.
“I could, but... I’m not sure about the consequences. Magic like this I haven’t seen in a long time. To tell you the truth, I thought it had died out long ago.” He sat back into the cushion. “I shall have to ask your grand-uncle about this. Perhaps he can tell me the right way to help you. I might make the problem worse otherwise.” His countenance brightened. “Oh, but don’t fret too much over it, Madoka-chan. Here, I’ll entertain you!” He focused his attention on the ashtray on top of the living room table.
“Ojii-chan!” Kyousuke shouted, diving for the object, knowing his grandfather was about to use his Power indiscriminately again. Clasping his hands around it, he gave his irascible relative a warning look. “Don’t juggle this here,” he said emphatically, his eyes moving twice in Ayukawa’s direction. “You might frighten someone, remember?”
Grandfather looked blankly at him for a second. “Oh, yes, yes, right.” He chuckled and scratched the side of his balding head. “Excuse me, please.”
Kyousuke stood back up, satisfied his grandparent had gotten the warning, and reseated himself.
Manami entered the room, bearing a tray of sweets and glasses of refreshments. “Here you go,” she said, “tea, juice, and cookies for all.”
As Manami laid the tray on the living room table and Kyousuke’s grandparents availed themselves of the snacks, Madoka leaned over to Kyousuke and whispered in his ear. “How come you’re so mean to your grandfather?”
“What? Oh, I don’t mean anything by it. That’s just how we are with each other, that’s all.”
“And how can juggling an ashtray ever frighten someone?” the sukeban added with a puzzled expression on her face.
Kyousuke thought fast. “Well, um, Ojii-chan isn’t that good with juggling. He could have hit someone with the ashtray, and hurt and frightened them.”
“Hmm. If you say so,” said Madoka as she looked him in the eyes, doubt still in her voice. She reached for a glass of the juice that Manami had prepared, seeing that Kyousuke’s grandparents had already served themselves.
They made chitchat for around half an hour, then Madoka thanked everyone for their time and excused herself, saying she had to go and help her sister shop for baby things. Kyousuke, ever the gallant gentleman, escorted her to the door.
As she stood in the genkan while putting her long-sleeved, thigh-length powder blue coat on, he asked, “You want me to bring you home?”
“No, thanks. I need to be alone. I want to think.” She unexpectedly brought a hand up and ran it softly across Kyousuke’s right cheek. “Thanks for everything, Kasuga-kun.” Then she was out the door.
Kyousuke put a hand on his cheek, feeling her touch still lingering on it. Then, sighing, a hint of a smile blossoming on his face, he closed the door. There was no accounting for Ayukawa’s actions. She would blow hot one moment and cold the next; still, he wouldn’t have her any other way.
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(Posted Thu, 17 Feb 2005 19:40)
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