ajisai | s. shinichiro

十五

🗀 Rejection: 15

"So I read a book last night and I learned something from it." Shinichiro begins to say during lunch period, sharing one table with Wakasa, Benkei and Takeomi. And upon hearing his words, the three stopped themselves from eating to turn to look at Shinichiro incredulously.

"I didn't know you can read." Takeomi replied

"Who are you and what you done to Shin chan" Wakasa responded

"Are you sure you're still not sick? Seems pretty suspicious to me." Benkei chimes in

"No really, I really did picked up a book and learned something from it!" Shinichiro exclaims. "Apparently, the Gypsies believe that love must build up itself and that the power of love makes us smarter." He continues.

"Meaning?" Takeomi asks

"Meaning, I will use hypnosis on Airi chan!" Shinichiro says.

"I think you've read it wrong." Wakasa says, chewing food inside his mouth. "The power of love makes you dumber."

"No way!" Shinichiro responded. "If I make her look over my direction, you all are beating Ibaraki's Tofugu!"

"Sounds a pretty good deal to me." Benkei spoke. Both Wakasa and Takeomi nodded their heads along as well. Accepting the terms, Shinichiro craned and titled his head both left and right to see where Airi is seated in the cafeteria. And upon spotting her, his eyebrows furrowed, lip syncing the words ' look over here ' in his mouth.

All the while he's commanding her to look his way, the other three turned around to look if Airi would look over his way too. Anticipating if their leader is still sane or has lost himself in the real of love and it's effects.

Much to Wakasa's, Benkei's and Takeomi's surprise, Airi did turned her head around to look at Shinichiro, blinking her eyes before waving a hand to him.

"See! What did I tell you?" Shinichiro smiles widely before letting out a satisfied sigh. Dropping his chopsticks on the side, already feeling full at how Airi had given him attention.

"Hey lover boy, I'm taking this. Thanks." Wakasa spoke, taking a piece of food from his bento box and then eating it.

"Why were looking at me at lunch earlier?" Airi asks, looking up at Shinichiro as he visited her again in the Art Club room. "And what were you saying too earlier? I could see your lips moving." She adds.

"Ah, that was nothing!" Shinichiro explains, chuckling afterwards. "I look handsome that you turned your head to look at me, right?" He asks, leaning his face a little closer to hers.

"Not really. You looked stupid earlier." She responded, cracking Shinichiro's facade. "You might end up drinking and singing in front of our house again."

Hearing her last words, Shinichiro's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Wait a minute, what do you mean drinking and singing?" He asks her.

"Of course you wouldn't remember." Airi spoke, mostly to herself, letting out a sigh. "Because of you, I had trouble sleeping that night."

"...I did something funny didn't I?"

"You really did." Airi responded, glaring at him. "I just put Luna to sleep since she was crying in the middle of the night only for you to show up and singing Marina Saito's Crazy For You on top of your lungs, which resulted in not only Luna crying again but my neighbor checking up on us." She adds. "You said a lot of things to me too, but I don't want to talk about that."

"He" Shinichiro says, looking at her face. "I'm sorry okay? All I could remember is drinking with the guys while playing truth or dare. And that's it! I swear!" He explains to her, jutting his lower lip out while peering at her face. "Will buying you yogurt drink make you forgive me?"

Airi tried her best not to smile but she cracked and did smile, nodding her head at him. With that, Shinichiro immediately stood up from his seat, running towards the school store to buy her favorite drink. All the while Shinichiro was heading over there, Airi couldn't help but stare down at the still empty page of her sketchbook.

Noticing her lack of artistic inspiration and almost depleted creative state, Airi knew she needed to do something about it. Because no matter how many times she tried to hold either her graphite pencil or paintbrush, nothing was ever really coming inside her head.

. . . . . . . . . . ♡

"Oh my darling, I love you!" Emma says, holding onto a blue whale stuffed toy in her hand.

"I love you too, my love. Let's run away together!" Airi responded, holding onto a pink whale. The two of them giggling as they play pretend inside Emma's room.

Airi returned at the Sano household the following weekend to study with Shinichiro again. But instead of studying, his younger siblings had fought (mostly Mikey and Izana) amongst themselves that they wanted to spend individual time with her. All the while the three of them were arguing, Airi took a stick and began to split it into three.

"Whoever gets the shortest stick is who I'll spend time with first!" She says, resolving their little conflict. And the one who got the shortest stick is none other than Emma.

"Do you like Shin nii, older sister?" Emma asks, looking up at her with the most gleaming eyes. As if she wanted to know secrets between them. "Shin nii likes you so much that he talks about you to us all the time!"

"Does he?" Airi asks, smiling upon hearing her words. "I hope he's been talking nice things about me!"

"He does!" Emma responded. "He says your art is really good and that one day you'll become a great artist! Grandpa sometimes gets mad at him for staying out of the house too much but he knows that he'll just go wherever you are!"

The older girl couldn't help but chuckle. "It's kind of funny too how your older brother always finds me. I can't even explain it as well." She tells her. "Hey Emma, do you want a secret? It's only the two of us who can know!"

"Okay!" Emma responded pretty quickly. As Airi leaned down to have her lips level on her ear, she whispered a secret to her ear.

"Your older brother looks handsome with his hair down." She whispers in her ear, causing Emma to gasp.

"What are you two whispering about?" Shinichiro asks, entering inside Emma's room. "I want in on the secret too!"

"No way!" Both girls responded.

"Oi, Emma!" Mikey calls, already looking grumpy while holding a soccer ball in his hands. "It's my turn to play with Airi chin!"

"What do you mean it's your turn?" Izana asks, his eyes squinting at Mikey. "It's my turn!"

"No way! It's my turn!"

"My turn!"

Shinichiro could only sigh and lay down on the floor besides Airi. Emma moved sit between Airi's lap. "Let's play with the whales again, older sister!"

"Can I play too?"

"No!"