A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Twenty: Part Two

How slow could that girl walk?

Keita turned his head to look at the girl as she turned around to walk out of the school library. She was taking each step with patience and she seemed to be taking as much time as she thought that she needed to put one foot in front of the other.

Keita watched her. He was asking himself, “Is she going to turn around?”

It would have been somewhat bothersome if she did. She was, after all, like one of those super strong ultra magnetic magnets.

He waited. What was he going to say once she turned around? Would he scold her, or order her once again to go home?

All Keita saw was the back of the girl’s head. It was so ruffled now. It must have taken the maids ages to tame that hair.

She continued taking every step as if she was walking in some slow motion scene. It bugged Keita. Did she really want to stay that much?

 

If she really wanted to stay—really, really, really wanting to stay—she’d definitely turn back around, right? Keita couldn’t have sounded too convincing. His voice wasn’t usually loud and scolding.

If she would turn around and race back towards Keita for her completely stubborn habit, perhaps Keita could let her stay. She wouldn’t be a really, really big problem if she just sat at the desk without clinging onto him and keeping her mouth shut. There was a slim chance of her being able to sit quietly and still, but maybe she could stay.

He couldn’t say no if she wanted to stay that much.

So he waited for her to whip her auburn head back around, marching back towards him.

But that never happened.

She never turned around. She never marched back towards him. She never objected against his last order.

She just continued to walk, slowly, until she reached the doors.

She pushed them open, just as slowly as she had been walking, and disappeared as the door clicked shut.

 

This saved Keita some trouble. He didn’t have to repeat his orders, and the chances of having her sitting around fidgeting and talking and being obnoxiously loud and crazy were now reduced to zero. He was just a little stunned, though.

She didn’t turn around when she expected him to.

Keita turned back towards Hinata Fuyume, who was still standing in the same place he was standing in before, already staring towards him.

“You were looking for a book?” Keita began, voice low and calm.

“Oh, yeah, I was just looking a few minutes ago.”

“What were you looking for?”

“Japanese Literature.”

Keita turned his head towards the bookshelf beside him. His eyes immediately began scrolling through the titles on the spines of the books.

Hinata seemed to catch on with what Keita was doing and he stepped towards the same bookshelf, beginning to scroll through the titles along with him.

“Thank you,” Hinata murmured.

Keita didn’t respond to him. Instead, he started a new subject.