Just Smile Forever~A Mikaze Ai Fan-Fiction

Early Morning Talk

Ai-senpai stared at me unwavering, waiting for my answer. A small battle began in my head, debating on whether or not to answer truthfully. Maybe this was a chance for me to become more honest and willing to take a leadership role. I opened my mouth, not really knowing how I was going to answer, when suddenly...

"Alright everyone, let's get ready to sleep! I think it's getting really late," Reiji-senpai jumped up, clapping his hands. Ranmaru-senpai and Camus-senpai automatically started to walk back to their tents. Reiji-senpai winked at me, before walking over to the fire to extinguish it.

I blinked, realizing that my chance was gone. Not sure if I felt relieved or not, I got up and started walking back to my tent as well.

"Are you going to answer the question?" Ai-senpai suddenly appeared before me. I barely stopped myself from jumping back in surprise.

"Um......aren't you going to sleep?" I asked tentatively.

"It is 10:30 p.m. That's not late at all, "Ai-senpai replied, "and I knew that Reiji-senpai was lying anyways."

"You know when someone is lying?" I asked slowly.

"There are usually telltale signs, yes. The most common ones are lack of eye contact, wanting to change the subject quickly, a change in voice, unusual body language-"

"Thanks for telling me," I couldn't help but interrupt. For some reason, I just couldn't handle hearing those signs.

Ai-senpai stopped, but was still staring at me as if he was expecting something, "the question. What is your answer?"

"Why do you want to know so badly?" I questioned weakly.

He frowned, and shook his head, "I don't know. This is rather most unlike me."

I bit my lip, and sighed, "look......I'm going to be honest with you. I don't think I can answer that question without lying. So can you wait?"

He cocked his head slightly to one side, "wait? Until you know the answer yourself?"

I nodded slowly.

"Of course," to my surprise, he let a small smile creep onto his face, "it's the first I've seen you being so direct."

I blinked, not sure how to respond to that. But apparently he wasn't waiting for one, since he quickly turned around and crawled into his tent right after. I chuckled softly before crawling into my own tent, and laid on my sleeping bag, staring up at the top of the tent. I could still distantly hear people chatting and laughing, and fires crackling somewhere close by.

Maybe Ai-senpai was right, and it was really still pretty early, by camping standards.

I quickly changed into my night clothes, and laid back down.

Turning to one side, I sighed and opened my phone. The only thing that stood out to me was a message from my mom, reminding me to take lots of notes about what songs I should compose. Not really in the mood for browsing through my phone anymore, I set an alarm to 6:00 a.m. before placing it beside my sleeping bag. I closed my eyes, and was surprised to find myself drifting off slowly.

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Chouzetsu Nankan Sugiru Kabe Datte　   

Yarukkyanee Toki Ga Aru Otoko Ni Wa

Sanbyougo No Ore Wa Tabun Waratteru　

Mamoru To Chikatta Omae No Koto O

I groaned, snoozing my alarm while trying to go back to sleep. Why had I even set my alarm so early?

Oh right. Because waking up early caused "good study habits, and make you have a better mood" according to my dad. I wasn't even sure it was true, but I didn't bother to check partly because even if he was wrong, it wasn't like he was going to let me sleep in.

I crawled out of my sleeping bag, and changed out of my night clothes. I had packed pretty simple things for this trip, guessing that we would be moving around a lot.

Getting out of my tent, I realized that the sun wasn't even fully risen yet. It was still pretty dark outside. I looked at the remainder of our campfire, now looking quite lifeless without the actual fire burning. I took a seat in one of the chairs, still feeling pretty sleepy. Rubbing my eyes, I wondered if I should start making breakfast.

Concluding that it was a good chance for me to actually wake myself up, I walked over to our freezer, and peered in. Pancakes sounded good, so I took some out, along with the syrup. Setting the syrup on the table, I started looking for the toaster.

"Why are you awake?" A shocked voice asked. I spun around, now wide awake. Of course, it was Ai-senpai, fully dressed and looking like he had just finished his morning walk. His eyes were already quite alert, so I predicated that he had woke up way earlier than I had.

And I thought I woke up early.

"I wake up early. It's part of my daily routine," I replied casually, momentarily forgetting what I was doing.

"This early? It's 5:07," Ai-senpai told me slowly.

I froze in the middle of my nod, looking at him with wide eyes, "what time is it?"

"5:08 now," Ai-senpai replied.

I narrowed my eyes, and mentally slapped myself. I must've not been paying attention when I had set my alarm, and accidentally set it one hour early than I had meant to. No wonder I had felt so tired, even though I should've been used to it.

"I meant to wake up at 6:00," I muttered.

"That explains a lot. No normal person would wake up this early," Ai-senpai muttered, half to himself.

Despite my situation, I laughed softly. He looked at me, curious.

"You just insulted yourself," I explained.

Ai-senpai frowned, "is that funny?"

I rolled my eyes, "oh, nevermind. Are you going to help me?"

"With what?"

"Breakfast. I'm toasting waffles," I explained, "if I could find where the toaster is."

"The toaster? It's right here," Ai-senpai bent down, and brought it out of the bag right in front of his feet.

I flushed slighty, "I was just starting to look for it."

"Mmmhmm," was the only response he offered, as he plugged it in and took the waffles out of my hand. He calmly placed them in the toaster, and sat down.

I yawned, rubbing my eyes. This was probably the earliest I've woken up in about a year or so. And in the middle of a trip, too.

"I can make breakfast. You can go back to sleep," Ai-senpai surprisingly said.

I shook my head, smiling, "thanks, but I can never go back to sleep once I wake up."

"Really? Have you ever tried?" He frowned.

"Yeah....I used to wake up occasionally at the middle of the night...." I murmered, yawning again.

"Mmm," Ai-senpai hummed thoughtfully. We fell into a comfortable silence, and I smiled, content with the silence and nice atmosphere. Listening to the early birds chirp and the distant hum of voices coming from what was probably the washroom, I leaned back to look at the still-dark sky, and closed my eyes.

~~~
Hey guys~ Exam week is here, but of course I'm updating this story for my lovely readers instead of studying ^_^

Hope you enjoyed this chappie, and as always, thanks a bunch for reading!! <3

I'll give a dedication to the person who can tell me the name of the song that Akiko-chan set as her alarm~

~Lillianna