Implemented Childhood [ DDLC fanfiction ]

Chapter Four

Yasuki walked along the school fences looking down at the sidewalk. Lifting his head he could see Monika walking with a group of friends. Unexpectedly her eyes meet him then she glances away as she giggled at one of her friends. He sits at the corner of the classroom like usual. A moment later he sees Monika entering the room, still, she talks to her friends. Lowering his head he waits for her to come to sit next to him, after all, he is looking forward to spending more time sitting next to her even though he doesn't say anything between breaks.

"Hey, did you hear what Monika said to Haruhi?" A girl whispered to another girl.

Yasuki glanced at Monika, she is still oblivious to the attention he's giving to her. He tries to shut his ears from the gossips that are spreading in class. After what seemed to be forever the school bell finally rang, and everybody went back to their seats. However, today Monika went to sit at her usual spot which is in the front of the classroom. Yasuki tries to keep his mind positive, but the negativity was far greater than anything. Instead of thinking about it all, he tries to listen to the teacher hoping it would keep him from thinking about it.

When lunch finally comes Yasuki saw Monika walking up to Haruhi. They spoke to each other as if the incident from two days ago didn't happen. He tries to shrug it off--taking out a piece of wrinkled paper from his backpack he decides to pass time with a drawing. With his eyes constantly glancing at Monika he focuses on drawing her even though he isn't a professional it still turned out cute like what she mentioned his drawing to be. He hopes to show it to her after school.

The school day went by and it's already the afternoon. Yasuki leaned his back against the fence waiting for Monika to walk out from the building, then he notices the crowd surrounding her like usual. The whole time he stares at her with a tentative thought, from the corner of her eyes she saw him but didn't say anything nor turn toward him. After they walked in the opposite direction Yasuki slowly walks home looking down at the sidewalk.

Expecting that Monika would be his friend, he felt selfish for thinking of that. Then he starts crumbling the wrinkled paper. Slower and slower he walked. Yasuki's brows furrow in agonized pain, then a pink-haired girl with two cute little pigtails walked in his direction crying.

"Eh? Are you lost?" He asked.

She nods. "I can't find my mom!" She kept wiping her streaks of endless tears.

Yasuki turns toward a vending machine and inserts his last yen, buying a can of tea. "Here, drink this. I bet you're thirsty." Especially after crying really hard like that. "I promise it'll cheer you up."

The girl pauses her whimper just to look at what he's holding. She looks like a girl around his age, and her attitude looks really cute when she's curious. Yasuki opens the can, then hands it to her. The girl takes a sip from the can, immediately she spits out the tea from her mouth and starts crying again. "It's tasteless! I want something sweet!"

"EH?!" Yasuki didn't know what else to do. Looking around the place he quickly takes out a random manga from his backpack. "Look here!"

The girl stops whimpering once again just to look at the cover of the manga. "What's that?"

"It's called manga. This sort of thing helps relieve your stress. I promise you it'll cheer you up this time!" Yasuki couldn't figure anything else on how to make her stop crying.

Without asking the girl to snatch the manga from him, she reads, "P-P-Parfait Girls." She starts opening to book and looking at the images. They end up sitting at a lamp post reading the manga. "What's with the baking?"

Yasuki smiled. "I don't quite understand it myself, and I'm still waiting for the second volume to come out."

"Second volume?"

"Yes, it is just published recently, so I'm excited." Yasuki kept smiling.

The girl gasps in excitement. "I'm interested!" She giggled with a really cute tone.

Suddenly Yasuki remembers. "Ah! My name's Yasuki, and what's yours?"

"I'm Natsuki!" She paused for a second. "Um, this might be too much to ask, but can I keep this manga?"

Yasuki looks dumbfounded with that question. "Of course you can as long as you promise me you won't cry anymore."

Natsuki nods. "I promise!"

"Anyway, it's getting late. We should go to the police station, maybe we can have the police find your mother to come to get you--before my parents worry about me." Yasuki averts his eyes.

Natsuki's eyes frown even if her mouth is grinning. It felt as if she didn't want to go home just like him. Yasuki sucks in the oxygen around him and lets out a long sigh. He stands up and held her hand as they walked to the police station. The police not only looked at Natsuki's profile but Yasuki as well. He was thrilled that he didn't think about his own identity being used to contact his own parents. Glancing at Natsuki he grabs his backpack and rushes out of the police station before they even do so, leaving her there. The police at the counter rushed out of the building, but there was no trace of Yasuki anywhere.