3A/N: Hey, so welcome to another chapter of Forever and Ever. Hopefully, you're enjoying the story. I really hope you'll be amused by the events that will happen here... and I told you the update wouldn't take as long!
Chapter 3: School will never be the same again
Chiyumi sighed. It had been a long day, and she had a feeling it wasn't over yet.
"Hey, are you back, sis?" A voice suddenly pierced through her thoughts.
Tsubasa turned towards the direction of the sound and quickly stepped in front of Chiyumi.
Looking over Tsubasa's shoulder, Chiyumi saw Akari step out of her room. By the looks of it, she had come home a long time ago.
Akari took one look at the boy in front of her and stopped walking.
"Huh?" She asked confused. "Who's that?"
Chiyumi sighed again. Walking past Tsubasa, she said. "It's okay. That's my little sister, Akari."
Tsubasa looked at her for a second and stood upright. He chuckled softly in embarrassment. "Sorry about that. I'm Tsubasa, Hikari Tsubasa. I am Chiyumi's guardian angel."
Akari's eyes went wide with surprise, "Huh?"
Chiyumi began to sweat. How was she going to explain this to her sister without sounding crazy? Even now, her sister must be questioning Tsubasa's sanity.
"It's alright, Chiyumi." Her mother suddenly spoke up. "I'll explain everything during dinner."
It took only a little while to explain the situation to Akari, as neither Chiyumi nor her mother knew much about it. After listening to her mother's explanation, her reaction was an unexpected one.
"Ahahaha…" Akari laughed. "Wow, I never would have thought there were such things as guardian angels. But there's no reason to doubt mom…"
Akari set her chopsticks down, "Say… do you have wings?"
Tsubasa nodded.
"Really?" Akari asked, excited. "Can you show them to me?"
"Sure," Tsubasa stood up. A faint light appeared on his back and two flawlessly white wings sprouted from it.
"Oh my god!" Akari squealed. "You really have wings!"
She stood up and ran up to Tsubasa, "Can I touch them?"
"I guess it's alright."
Akari reached out and stoked the feathers with her fingers, "They're so soft!"
Akari's fingers moved endlessly over the feathers. It seemed that she would be entranced for quite a while.
Chiyumi sighed, she really did feel very tired. Setting her own chopsticks down, Chiyumi stood up as well. "Thanks for the meal. I'm going to take a bath now."
"Hold on," Tsubasa said, taking a step towards her. "I'm coming with you."
Chiyumi blushed and turned around violently. "W-What?! What are you talking about? I'm taking a bath! You can't come with me!"
Tsubasa was confused, "Why not? I'm your guardian angel… I have to protect you. How can I do that if we're separated?"
"No!" Chiyumi yelled. "I'm taking a bath! Besides, I'm in my own house and the bathroom is a closed room with no windows. How can I be attacked there?"
"But…" Tsubasa's rebuttal was cut off by a strong hand that had reached over to grab his shoulder.
He turned to find that it was Chiyumi's mom who had held him back. What he was saw upon a closer look terrified him greatly. Although a smile was spread on her face, her right cheek was twitching slightly.
"Now now, Tsubasa-kun." Chiyumi's mother said, her voice leaning slightly towards a threatening tone. "It's not good for a boy to be accompanying a girl to the bathroom no matter what the reason is. It'll be fine and she won't take long. You can wait outside in the living room. The bathroom's only separated by a simple door."
Tsubasa gulped. "…Yes, ma'am."
And so after giving her mom a grateful look, Chiyumi escaped from the dinner table.
Tsubasa sighed and sat back down to finish his dinner. After dinner was over, Tsubasa followed Akari to the couch where they proceeded to watch TV. But Tsubasa's attention was not entirely directed towards the glowing screen. Periodically, his eyes would wander to the bathroom door and each time, his glances would become longer and longer. It was only five minutes before Tsubasa was overcome by anxiety. He stood up suddenly and walked over to the bathroom door. Stopping in front of it, he proceeded to lean on the wall beside the door and wait there.
After ten more minutes, the door finally opened.
"That was good," Chiyumi said as she walked out, drying her hair with a towel.
She stopped when she was the person in front of her, "What are you doing, standing there?" Chiyumi asked surprised.
"Hm?" Tsubasa asked after letting out a sigh of relief. "I was waiting for you."
"…Oh… okay." Chiyumi decided not to ask, as the answer was pretty obvious.
Even though she knew he was her guardian angel and that he was responsible for protecting her, she still couldn't brush off the feeling of discomfort. Hasn't the guy ever heard of personal space? He's more than halfway inside hers!
Sighing, Chiyumi walked past Tsubasa and went towards her room.
"Oh, I forgot to mention. Tsubasa's going to be going to school with you starting tomorrow," Chiyumi's mom said as she walked into the living room.
"What?!" Chiyumi asked, spinning quickly around to face her mother.
"Your father called today, remember? He told me to go and register Tsubasa as soon as possible, although I left many things in the registration blank. The principal said that Tsubasa can start going to school tomorrow, but he'll have to drop by early to fill out the missing information on the registration forms. Oh, and you're taking him."
"B-but… why is he going to school?" Chiyumi asked, not wanting to believe that her mother had done such an extreme thing.
Her mom gave her a steady look. "Chiyumi, this is for your own good. Can you come up with a good explanation when a random boy is suddenly tagging along with you everywhere you go? What better than to let Tsubasa become a part of the student body to prevent any suspicions? It gives him a reason to be close to you."
Looking at Tsubasa, Chiyumi could see that her mom was right. Sighing in defeat, she nodded.
"Alright, I guess there's nothing I can do. I'm so tired, I guess I'm gonna go to sleep now."
"This early? Are you done your homework?"
"Yeah… there isn't any due tomorrow."
"Okay, goonight sweetie."
"Goodnight, sis." Akari called from the couch.
Tsubasa walked behind Chiyumi as if to follow, but a hand that reached out to grab his shoulder suddenly stopped him in his tracks again.
"Tsubasa-kun," came Chiyumi's mother's threatening voice once again. "I've set up a room for you. Your school uniform and some school supplies are in there. If you want to sleep, go to that room, okay?"
"…Yes, ma'am." Tsubasa stammered and scurried into the room that Chiyumi's mom pointed to.
Akari smiled to herself. The days to come are going to be interesting.
Inside Chiyumi's room, Chiyumi had settled down under the blanket. She sighed, contentedly this time, relieved to be alone at last.
Unbeknownst to her, Tsubasa was silently watching her from outside the window, his wings flapping periodically to maintain his place in the sky. And so the night wore on…
Chiyumi woke up early in the morning, refreshed from the undisturbed and dreamless sleep from last night. Little did she know that this feeling would not last long.
As soon as she stepped out of her room, she found Tsubasa at her door.
"Good morning, Chiyumi." Tsubasa smiled. "How was your sleep?"
"Well… it was good." Chiyumi answered, taking her seat at the table.
"Good morning, Chiyumi." Chiyumi's mother greeted her as she set a plate of toast in front of her.
"Good morning, sis." Akari greeted as well. She was halfway through her own breakfast.
"Good morning, mom, Akari." Chiyumi answered, spreading blueberry jam onto her toast.
"Remember Chiyumi, you have to take Tsubasa-kun to the office today so leave earlier, 'kay?"
"Okay, mom."
"And you better hurry, or you won't have enough time to make it to class on time." Akari said before gulping down the last of her orange juice.
"I'm off!" She added as she grabbed her bag and ran out the door.
Chiyumi sat munching on her toast thoughtfully for a while. When she looked up at last, fifteen minutes had passed."
"Oh no! We're going to be late if we don't go and fill out those papers now!" Chiyumi stood up quickly. "Let's go!"
"Hm? But I'm not finished eating…" Tsubasa protested.
"You can eat on the way. Just go change into your uniform now. But before he could utter a word, Chiyumi had dragged him out the door and onto the street.
The pair arrived at school another fifteen minutes later, both wheezing and out of breath. Finally, Chiyumi led Tsubasa to the office. As Tsubasa was busy filling out the forms, the secretary initiated a conversation with Chiyumi.
"So I heard that Tsubasa-kun is the son of a friend of your father's and that he got sent here because his parents' jobs required them to be moving around too often. Must be tough for him, huh?"
"…Yeah." How did her mom come up with something like that?
"Well, I hope he makes some friends here soon. By the way, you mother requested that he be in the same class as you if possible. You know, so he could stay close to you until he fits in."
",,, I see." Chiyumi smiled tightly.
Mom just thinks of everything, doesn't she? But she makes Tsubasa sound so shy… Chiyumi highly doubted that Tsubasa would really be what they call shy, judging by his actions.
"I'm all done!" Tsubasa said cheerfully, cutting their conversation short.
"Great," the secretary took the papers from Tsubasa and handed him another sheet. "Here's your schedule and welcome to our school. Now hurry up before you're late."
"Thanks." Tsubasa called out as he walked out of the office with Chiyumi.
Walking towards their classroom, Chiyumi didn't say a word. But the silence was soon broken by Tsubasa.
"So I'll be going to school with other humans, huh? Sounds interesting."
"Well for one thing, don't refer to the other students as "humans" in front of them if you want to fit in, 'cause that's just w-"
Chiyumi stopped speaking.
"What?" Tsubasa asked, confused.
"I didn't notice this before, but what's with your uniform?"
"Huh?" Tsubasa looked down.
Everything looked fine to him. All the kids he passed had the same outfit. The white button-up shirt with a collar, the red tie, and the dark red trousers; they were all the same.
"It's your first day at school and you're dressed like a slob! I know you have a shirt underneath the school uniform, but would it kill you to button up? And your tie's so loose!"
"Well, I don't know how to tie a tie and the buttons were just too hard to do. We'd be late if I buttoned my shirt up."
Chiyumi sighed, "Still, we can't have you looking like that, it's disrespectful. Here, let me help you."
Taking a hold of Tsubasa's shirt, she buttoned them quickly and moved on to his tie.
As she struggled with the tie, a pair of footsteps and bits of conversation could be heard coming closer. In moments, two boys had turned the corner and were heading towards them.
Chiyumi looked up and found that one of the boys was none other than Chihiro!
As the boys walked closer, Chiyumi's eyes locked with Chihiro's. For a moment, his eyes shifted back and forth from her to her hands. After a while, he completely turned away and continued walking down the hall.
Chiyumi panicked. Chihiro had seen her with another boy, and she was tying his tie no less!
What if Chihiro-kun took it the wrong way? Her mind wailed at her. No! This isn't what you think, Chihiro-kun!
Blushing, Chiyumi let go of Tsubasa's now neatly tied tie and began to walk off.
Confused, Tsubasa followed after her. "Hey, Chiyumi. What's wrong?"
"Nothing…" Chiyumi muttered. "Just… stay away. Wait near the door of the classroom for the teacher and he'll introduce you to the class."
Walking in, she left Tsubasa alone outside and sat down at her own desk.
"God, my life is ruined…"
Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back violently.
"Yo, Chiyumi-chan." Yuki called out. "Saw you with the new kid just now. What's the connection?"
"Nothing…"Chiyumi sighed. "He's the kid of one of my father's friends. His parents travel a lot, so he's living with us now."
Might as well use mom's story, she thought.
"Whoa… lucky." Yuki whistled. "He's a cute one."
"You don't know the half of it."
"Come on," Hanako said. "It's not that bad."
Before Chiyumi could answer, the bell rang. Everyone shuffled to their seats. Moments later, the teacher, Sawaguchi-sensei, walked into the classroom, closely followed by Tsubasa.
"Good morning, everyone." Sawaguchi-sensei greeted. "Today, we will have a new student joining us. His name is Hikari Tsubasa and he is a friend of Otsuka-san. Please be kind to him. Now, Hikari-san, please introduce yourself."
"Hi, everyone." Tsubasa smiled. "My name is Hikari Tsubasa. It's very nice to meet you."
Tsubasa's smile earned a few squeals from the girls in class.
"He's so cute!" A girl whispered to her friends and a few murmurs of agreement could be heard around the room.
"Now now, girls. There'll be plenty of bonding time later, but class is starting. Now, Hikari-san, you can sit in that empty seat over there." The teacher pointed to a seat in the back row.
But instead of walking all the way to the back, Tsubasa made his way towards Chiyumi.
The rest of the class watched silently while Chiyumi inwardly groaned.
Stopping in front of her, Tsubasa turned to the boy who was sitting next to her.
"Hey, can you move to another seat?"
The whole class stared at him in silence.
"Um… why?" The boy asked.
"Because I need to protect Chiyumi, and I can't do that if I'm not sitting next to her."
At this, the class cheered and hooted. Chiyumi wanted to continuously bang her head on her desk to put herself out of her misery.
"Aw, that's so cute!" A girl squealed from across the room.
"They're so close, he's even calling her on a first name basis!" Another added.
Finally, the teacher quieted the class down. He smiled, seeming to have come to a conclusion.
"Hikari-san, you're shy, aren't you? If sitting beside Otsuka-san will make you more comfortable, that's fine with me. But you don't have to make up weird excuses. I'm sure you'll fit in just fine in no time. Now, Otomiya-san, if you don't mind, why don't you let Hikari-san switch seats with you."
"That's fine with me." The boy got up and took his stuff with him to the back of the room. He was actually glad that he got moved to the back; it was quiet there.
As Tsubasa settled down in his seat, Chiyumi sneaked a peek at Chihiro.
The boy did not look at her; his attention was directed towards the front of the room.
Chiyumi's heart thudded painfully against her chest.
Please don't let Chihiro-kun misunderstand, Chiyumi prayed as class began.
And so the first part of the day passed without any problems.
At lunch, Tsubasa joined Chiyumi and her friends as they moved their desks together. After introducing her friends to him, Chiyumi ate in silence as her friends pounded him with questions.
To her relief, Tsubasa did not answer any of the questions weirdly and she was able to enjoy her lunch in peace, but it all ended when she stood up to go to the bathroom.
"Hey, wait for me." Tsubasa also stood up and went after Chiyumi.
Watching Tsubasa disappear out the door. Hanako turned to Yuki and said, "Boy, he must be really shy, huh? I mean, he was doing fine until Chiyumi-chan left. He must be uncomfortable sitting with us without her."
Chiyumi had reached the bathroom and was about to open the door when she saw him standing there.
"You are not coming in with me," She said sternly.
"Why not?" Tsubasa asked, looking puzzled.
"Because only girls can go in," she replied, surprised that he didn't know about such a typical thing.
"Just then, the janitor came out. He saw her and smiled, "The bathroom is all yours."
"Thanks… I think." She replied, carefully eyeing Tsubasa, who was staring at the janitor's retreating figure.
"He went in," He pointed out the obvious.
"That's because he cleans the school for his job," she tried to explain.
"Come on," he pleads. "We can make an exception, can't we? I'm your guardian angel!"
"No!" She shouted and pushed the door open. Before the bathroom door closed, he heard her last words, "And stay out!"
Guardian angel or not, he was definitely not going in.
Science class began after lunch was over. Today, they were doing an experiment with various chemicals.
Tsubasa wanted to be next to her in this class as well, but he was forced into another group by their teacher, who was not as soft as Sawaguchi-sensei, saying that Tsubasa had to go and make friends himself sooner or later. Still, he would periodically glance at Chiyumi, making her quite uncomfortable.
"Okay, Chiyumi-chan. Just add the hydrochloric acid slowly to the water to neutralize it."
"Right."
"No, not the other way around. You're going to cause an explosion!"
"Oh, sorry. They look the same, being both clear and stuff."
But before Chiyumi could set the beaker upright, a few drops of water had dropped into the flask of hydrochloric acid, causing some slight bubbling.
"Chiyumi, watch out!" A voice yelled as Chiyumi felt someone push her out of the way.
Nobody moved as they watched the flask of hydrochloric acid tip over and spill onto the table. The water that hung in the air after being flung from the beaker came splashing down moments later.
The sound of the explosion shook the whole room as the chemicals rained down on the whole class.
"Tsubasa!" Chiyumi's angry voice cut sharply through the screams of the class.
School was now over and the two were making their way home.
Chiyumi was currently suffering a massive headache from the day's events. Both of them had gotten in trouble and had to clean the lab as punishment.
Chiyumi was extremely exhausted. How long was Tsubasa going to stay here? He was making too much trouble for her.
"I'm home!" Chiyumi called out weakly as she opened the door.
Bending down to remove her shoes, She suddenly spotted a pair of big brown boots.
Coming quickly to a conclusion, Chiyumi ran into the living room, stopping in front of a medium-built man. The man's brown hair was messy and it seemed he hadn't shaven in days. He had the same eyes as Chiyumi, but they were sparkling with energy.
"Dad!" Chiyumi exclaimed.
"Welcome home, Chiyumi." Her dad greeted her. "Had a long day?"
"The longest." She smiled. In truth, she was quite happy to finally see her dad again, but he also had lots of explaining to do.
Sensing her seriousness, Chiyumi's dad took one look at the boy beside her and said, "Have a seat, both of you. It's time I cleared away some confusion."
To be continued…
A/N: Just so we're all clear on this, Tsubasa is not a pervert, he's just very very innocent... cough (Angels are pure you know!). Also, the thing with the hydrochloric acid should be true, you can check online if you want. As my TA had told us, always add the acid to the water and not the other way around. Why? It will cause a violent reaction otherwise! Hope you had some good laughs!