Crimson & Clover

Landlocked Blues

After their shower, Yukako sat on Josuke's bed. She kicked her legs while waiting for him to finish up brushing his teeth. He had let her borrow one of the robes in the bathroom's cupboard. It felt plushy and smelled faintly of clean laundry. She glanced at the rain rolling down the windows accompanied by the thick fog. There was an air of peace to be found in the sound of the rain despite the loud thundering coming from outside. Pretty...

Josuke closed the bathroom door behind him when he stepped into the room. He had a towel draped over his bare shoulders and a new pair of pajama pants on. His hair was down and leaving drops of water behind on his eyebrows and shoulders. He blinked the droplets away as his eyes met hers. "Hey," he smiled. "I forgot to show you something."

"Oh?" Yukako bounced toward him. "What is it?"

Josuke grinned before pulling the towel off his shoulders and tossing it onto a nearby armchair. "I got you something I thought you might like..." Yukako watched him intently, as he bent down behind the chair to pull out a conspicuously rectangle-shaped present. He walked over and held it out to her. "Here. Open it."

"Hmmm," she hummed sarcastically when she took the gift in her hands. "I wonder what it could be..." She tilted the gift before smirking at him.

Josuke winked before tapping the tip of her nose. "It's a secret."

"Oh, okay," Yukako giggled. She tore at the wrapping paper to uncover what she expected. A book. Though it was not the kind she was used to. "What's this?" She asked as she tugged across the wrapping paper to reveal its title. "Persuasion...?" Yukako eyed the cover of the book. It was mostly red with a 19th century girl looking off somewhere with her hair styled up in complicated braids. "... By Jane Austen."

Josuke laughed. "Yeah, I just figured you might want to read something actually within your reading level for once," he teased.

"Fuck you," she snorted as they both broke out into laughter. She coughed hard in order to clear her throat. "So, what's it about?" Yukako flipped the book over to inspect its back.

"Well, the lady at Lavender's told me—"

"Wait," Yukako picked up her head as she asked. "You go to Lavender's?"

"Yeah," Josuke nodded. "It's on my way home so I go in there sometimes."

"Oh... Okay, sorry, keep going," she peered back at the book.

"It's cool. So, yeah, the lady told me it's a story about this girl, Anne, and she was engaged to this guy years ago. He's like a naval soldier, but she like called off the wedding for one reason or another. I think—I think she was unsure about her feelings about him, but," he shook his head. "He missed her the entire time he was away from her and the story is basically them falling back in love..."

Yukako slowly raised her head to look up at him. She silently blinked at him, her eyes glowing lightly in the dim room. Her lips were apart almost as if there were words edging on the tip of her tongue waiting for her to string them together. Her look struck him like the lightning running wild outside.

"A-at least I think that was it!" He smiled at his feet while running his fingers through his hair.

"So they..."

He looked back up at her.

"Fell in love at second sight?" Yukako asked barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, I guess so," Josuke said while rubbing his neck.

"Thank you," she said warmly. Her fingers grazed the indents of the letters on the cover as she stared at him.

"You're welcome, Yukako," Josuke said with a relieved grin. "I'm glad you like it."