A Song For Another Time - A Hikaru Hitachiin Story

Chapter Five - You Put Me on a Roller Coaster

Hikaru didn't know why but he decided to post himself outside of Mori and Honey's apartment, waiting for Rose to reemerge from the depths of their home. He sat next to the side of the door, hopping up each time he heard a noise that sounded like she might be leaving.

He kept trying to distract himself. He moved dust on the floor around with his finger, or picked lint off his shirt, while his mind was racing - picking apart his conversations with her.

When the handle began to move he gave a little jump before pulling himself up and quickly dusting off his pants. Rose exited the door, sharing parting words with the duo inside and turned in the opposite direction from Hikaru, toward the stairs.

He snuck up beside her and began to walk with her down the hallway.

"Were you waiting for me," she asked, keeping her head forward.

"Who would wait around for you?" Hikaru shot back. Too defensive.

Rose's lips upturned slightly as she kept walking forward. "You can walk with me to the bus if you like," she said.

"Why do you take the bus? Can't you drive yourself," Hikaru asked, avoiding the invitation and trying to turn his thoughts away from how annoying the brunette next to him was.

A slight pink flushed across Rose's face as she paused on the top step of the stairs.

"I..uh..I don't have a license yet," she stammered.

"You're in college and you can't even drive," Hikaru mocked, happy to finally have the upper hand.

Rose turned to face him, a deep blush painted across her cheeks. "I haven't had time," she said plainly and Hikaru realized he had finally struck a nerve. It was time to go on the offensive.

"What do you mean you haven't had time. Isn't driving a right of passage for Americans?"

"I really haven't had time and I honestly just turned 16. I don't know what the big deal is," she said explaining quickly.

Her eyes started shifting across Hikaru's face as he took in what she said. She could see the math equations swirling around his head as he tried to figure out how a 16-year-old could possibly be a junior in college. Before he could get a word out, she started speaking again.

"I skipped a few levels in grade school and graduated high school with enough credits to enter college as a sophomore," she said simply. "It's honestly no big deal."

Rose started her way down the stairs, determined to walk away from the conversation. Before she could get down a second flight Hikaru ran in front of her and spread his arms across the stairwell.

"Are you some kind of super freak, or something," he asked her with a mischievous grin on his face.

Annoyance spread across her face as she looked up at him. "I get bored easily," she said flatly. "And unlike some people I find it's better to seek out the harder challenges out there for myself than to wallow in my boredom and think myself a genius."

She ducked under Hikaru's left arm and continued down the stairs. Hikaru turned around and shouted after her.

"I don't wallow in my boredom and think myself a genius," he called after her.

"I never said I was talking about you," she said without turning around, her words echoing in the stairwell. The door to the complex creaked shut and she was gone again.

So much for the offensive.

She always gets the last word, Hikaru thought with a slight blush rising on his face. She's so annoying.