A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Eleven: Part Two

The car door swiftly opened and Megane ushered me into it. “Good morning, Hotaru-sama.”

“G’ morning,” I gave Megane a weak smile as I ducked into the limousine. The smell of freshly cleaned leather filled my nostrils.

As the door clicked shut, I watched Megane wander a few steps until he reached the set of doors that followed. He stiffly stood beside the door with his back perfectly poised into the position of a chauffeur.

I squinted my eyes as I peered through the darkly tinted windows and I spotted a figure slowly amble towards the car.

The splittingly perfect image of Keita’s slick, blonde hair was neatly brushed over his forehead. His spotless uniform sat over his shoulders, perfectly pressed.

And what I happened to notice that Megane seemed to lack attention from was how slowly Keita was walking towards the car.

He neatly, but languidly wobbled from side to side with every step he took.

If I was able to behave informally, I would have yanked open the car door and shoved him through the doors yelling “Wake up, you lazy hippo!”

But the situation I was in was anything but informal. Everything had to be neat. I had to use manners. I had to be respectful to the excessively slow boy that nonchalantly wobbled towards the car without any scolding of going faster.

Once he was within five feet of the car, Megane rapidly opened the car doors and his polite voice greeted, “Good morning, Hanabusa-sama.”

Perhaps what Keita had attempted to murmur was a “good morning” in response. But what had uttered out of his mouth sounded very similar to a moaning dinosaur.

As he seated himself in the set of seats in front of me and as the car door beside him slammed shut, Keita slowly turned his head towards me in an excessively languid robotic motion.

“I blame you for making me help you tie your ribbons onto the hallway,” was what his voice had lazily mumbled.

It was hard to believe that he was sluggishly drowsy. His eyes were wide open, and his back was completely straightened. The only proof that he was sleepy was how slow he had been walking towards the limousine.

“Sorry.” I responded, glancing towards the floor of the car in slight guilt.

I felt the car engine whirr and I immediately flopped the upper part of my body onto the padding of the seats. I didn’t care if this ruffled the hairstyle that the maids had spent so much time tugging and yanking. I figured that ruffling wasn’t possible with all of the hair mousse that had been deeply massaged into each strand of hair that sat upon my head.

I felt my surroundings shift and I realized the car had swiftly began to move. I closed my eyes and focused on the sound of the engine’s hum until I heard a muffled voice sound before me.

“What are you doing?”

My eyes immediately opened and I noticed an opening in between the chairs that sat before me. Squinting my eyes to see whatever was behind that opening, I spotted a mauve colored eye peer back at me.

Seeing an eye through a set of chairs seemed very creepy, but since I knew who’s eye it was, I attempted to immune any awkwardness.

“Car rides make me dizzy,” I calmly replied, wrinkling my eyebrow.

The eye lifted away and I spotted Keita’s head of sleek, blonde hair shift back into place.

I glanced at the puffed clouds that were scattered across the sky shift around as the car swerved left and right. But watching the clouds swirl around was much more comfortable than normally sitting upright and watching the earth twist and turn.