章 165: Chapter three, 2016, school festival, madness and glory: 4
'Warm hands, in my dream you had warm hands.' And it wasn't just in his dreams. Last night, before they left the grills and went to sleep, Kyoko's hands had been warm and soft in his.
In the door Yukio saw one of the students from 9:1 meet his eyes and shake her head. She must have been on her way to wake him up, but she could hardly know about the internal alarm clock in his head he more or less could set at will when needed.
Yukio shook Kyoko awake. Time to patrol the school grounds; the last patrol before Himekaizen came alive for the second and last day of the festival.
She stirred uneasily under his hands, even tried to slap them away, but in the end she yawned and woke.
"Time?"
"Five," Yukio answered. "It's our turn now. The guys from 9:1 are already away."
She crawled over the floor to a corner they made into a small dressing area. It gave some shelter and a modicum of privacy.
Yukio listened to her getting into her school uniform, and when she showed up from behind the false wall she looked a lot more like his girlfriend instead of the zombie from a few minutes earlier.
'Guess that's part of loving someone, to feel her morning breath and still think she's wonderful.'
As if she had read his mind she waved with two sets of tooth brushes. "You need one as well."
He covered his mouth with a hand and grimaced. 'Guess I smell just as awful.'
They walked out into the corridor and made their way down the stairs to the locker rooms.
After he was done, and stood waiting by the vending machines for her to finish, he felt more human as well.
He stole a hug and a kiss before checking that his radio was turned on, and then they left through the main entrance and hit the startlingly chill morning air outside. His tooth brush he simply pocketed in his blazer.
A greyness covered the school yard in a ghost like pre-dawn light. But for the clouds above them, and lingering morning mist, it would have been lighter. Every gust of wind crept inside his body, and he pulled Kyoko closer to him more for warmth than a want to hug.
They strolled through the temporary streets between empty stalls. With only the two of them there he felt like walking through a ghost town. Sounds came too clearly, and whenever flags and other decorations moved in the wind he jumped. 'Skittish like a puppy.'
"They should just move the haunted house here," Kyoko murmured and held his hand a bit firmer.
'She noticed as well.' "Spooky, heh?"
"Uhum."
None of them spoke much, and they did their rounds in silence. Through the plaza, a quick loop over the remaining soccer field, along the fences and a cursory pass by the pool. The two patrols from 9:1 had a good view of the parts between cafeteria and the gym hall, so Yukio led Kyoko behind it, and they arrived at the large outdoor café by the back gates.
He saw a couple of students climbing the gates. They wore the Himekaizen school uniforms and he recognised one of them from 7:2. With a wave Yukio acknowledged their presence and called in their arrival over the radio.
Students would start trickling in from now on, and the need for patrolling came to an end.
He led Kyoko past the bike stands, where she shrunk a little and offered him a guilty stare. "Sorry," she said.
Yukio didn't answer. He had no reason reminding her of his first confession to her. It had been spectacular for all the wrong reasons.
They reached the end of the left wing and walked under the walkway between the wings until they stood in front of the main entrance. Normally he would have taken the short-cut diagonally across the gravel, but now stalls blocked the way.
By now any remnant of morning mist was long gone, and above them the overcast sky was thinning out. Mostly sunny the weather reports promised.
He watched the main gates open to let a group of students past. Then the security patrol assigned there had them closed again. Urufu wanted it that way in case of an early invasion.
"Go inside and get some breakfast?" Yukio asked.
Kyoko nodded, and they returned inside the same way they left the building earlier.
In their club room sandwiches Noriko had prepared waited for them together with hot tea.
Anything as elaborate as miso soup, or even something as mundane as rice, was out of the question since they didn't have access to the home economics room. The side dishes associated with that kind of breakfast weren't a problem, but the thought of takuan mixing with bread in his mouth didn't exactly make his mouth water.
Kyoko wolfed down her breakfast and wiped her lips clean from breadcrumbs with a napkin. She certainly was well brought up, but the last month she mixed behaving like a lady with breaking all the rules just because she dared.
To prove the point she pocketed her napkin and kissed his mouth clean of whatever offended her.
More than a few of the club members present glared at them, but they were slowly getting used to her antics.
"Still hungry?" he asked when she was done.
"Have another sandwich and find out for yourself," she suggested.
Yukio played with the thought of accepting her offer, but in the end he decided against it. He needed to prepare the back gates café, and after that Urufu wanted him for some more black magic of his invention.
'Man, how are we to manage today?' "Help me prepare?" Yukio said to Kyoko.
She nodded and took his hand.
They left the room together.
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