Little Tiger

A new year

I pretended to be asleep while Shigure shuffled around his dorm room. He had a morning class and I knew that once I woke up he would tell me to go to school, even though it had already started. School was optional when I spent the night in Shigure's dorm, which was every Thursday night. I can't remember why we ended up picking Thursdays, but I know it meant something to us at the time. It makes no sense to me now considering Friday mornings were the only days Shigure had early classes. Memory is a funny thing: I can remember the times that Shigure had classes, but not the reason for picking our special day.

"Koharu," Shigure crooned, petting the side of my head. "I'm going to class," he added before pecking my cheek and walking out of the room. 

I waited until I heard the door click shut and rolled onto my back, grinning at myself for tricking him so seamlessly. 

Shigure snickered. He had never left. "I knew you were pretending!" he exclaimed followed by a lopsided grin. 

Embarrassed by my carelessness, I rolled onto my side, facing the wall and pulling the covers up over my head.

I felt the weight shift on the bed and the covers were pulled off. "You know, It's none of my business whether you go to school or not," he reminded me, crossing one leg over the other. A common line Shigure would use during these conversations was, "I'm not your father," which, while true, I didn't like the sound of. 

I glanced at him doubtfully. He did care and anyone could see that no matter how nonchalant he acted. The only difference was that he encouraged me to go but he did not get mad at me when I didn't, unlike Hatori. 

"I just want you to kiss me back if you're awake," he said, leaning close to me and puckering his lips. 

I kissed him quickly before laying my head down on the pillow again. 

"After everything we did last night, you are struggling to give me a kiss?" he said, aghast. 

I kicked him. "I was not struggling." I regret to mention that the things we had done the night before required all of his effort and virtually none of mine. I lacked the courage and know-how to do more than lay there and tell Shigure how I was feeling whenever he asked (an embarrassing and useless question, I thought). 

"You'll be late for your class," I told him after checking the time on his alarm clock. 

He leaned down and kissed me again before getting up to leave. "Stay right where you are, little tiger," he sang as he left the room. This time, he actually did leave. 

I was inspecting Shigure's dorm, looking for something to entertain myself with, when there was a knock at the door. It was a distinct combination of taps that I had heard before. It was Francis. 

I hesitated to open it and I almost didn't, but I remembered that he would leave as soon as he realized Shigure was not here. 

"Oh, hello," he said in a deflated voice, obviously not anticipating me to be behind the door. "Kotomi, right?" 

"Koharu," I corrected him.  

"Right, Koharu. It's confusing 'cause they only call you 'Ko,'" he explained. We had already been over this a couple times before and he had given that excuse each time. 

"Shigure's not here," I explained into the awkward silence that followed. 

He cursed under his breath. "I was gonna go get some food and I wanted him to come with me." He sighed and looked at me dejectedly like I was the one keeping Shigure in class. 

I pursed my lips unsympathetically, glancing back into Shigure's dorm briefly. It was hard to maintain eye contact with him for some reason. "Well, he'll be back soon, I think," I assured him.