Wednesday

(Shin's PoV)

—

The alarm went off at seven fifteen, and for a few seconds neither of us existed.

Then Akane made a sound into my collarbone that belonged to something that lived in a cave, and I opened my eyes to find sixty percent of her hair in my face.

She had done that thing again. At some point in the night, she moved from her usual position on my chest to a configuration that could only be described as full occupation: her head wedged into the crook of my neck, one arm thrown across my ribs, one leg hooked over mine, and her hair deployed in every direction like a defense perimeter.

But she was adorable, at least.

After a few instants, I reached over and silenced the alarm.

"Akane," I whispered, slowly caressing her head.

"No," she squeezed me. 

"It's Wednesday." 

"Wednesday is canceled," She replied, not moving an inch.

"We have school," I tried to shake her a little, but it was useless.

"School is canceled." She didn't let me go.

"Oh, come on, we'll be l—"

"No." She clung to me even tighter. "I'll kill you if you move."

With a sigh, I turned my head and looked at her. Her face was still half-buried in the crook of my neck, her hair going in directions that defied basic physics, and her eyes squeezed shut.

"You know," I said, "you're even more beautiful in this monster mode."

After my words, one eye opened.

"Monster mode," she repeated.

"The hair. It's alive. I think it's trying to devour the pillow." I joked.

She stared at me for two full seconds with that single open eye, and then, without any change in expression, she leaned forward and bit my shoulder.

"Ow," I said, feeling her fangs on my skin.

"That's what you get for calling your beautiful and adorable girlfriend a monster." She then pushed herself up on both arms, her hair falling around her face in a curtain that looked like something from one of her horror movies. "You're lucky I love you. Otherwise, that bite would've drawn blood."

"Oh. I'm touched, really." I smiled.

"You should be because I could REALLY hurt you. Appreciate it." She said.

She then rolled off me with a groan and sat on the edge of the bed, stretching her arms above her head.

"Ah damn... we were too rough. My back still hurts. I wonder why no one has called the police yet." Akane said.

I couldn't help but feel a glimpse of excitement after she made me remember what happened during the night.

She was right; that session was particularly 'wild.' 

The morning light caught the dark line of the snake along her ribs, and for a moment I just watched her from the pillow, in our house, and I felt something settle in my chest that had nothing to do with the morning and everything to do with the fact that she was still here.

"Stop staring," she said, without turning around. "You're creeping me out."

"I wasn't staring." I raised my hands up.

"Your breathing changed. That's what you do when you stare at me." She said.

"That's terrifying." 

"That's love, Ishikawa; it's different. Get used to it." She then turned to me, smiling. "Ah, and no morning sex today. That's your punishment for calling me a monster." She grinned mischievously.

"Ah. You can't do that, Akane. That's cruel." I said, leaning close to her for a good-morning kiss.

She immediately wrapped her arms around my neck and slid her tongue inside my mouth.

I firmly held her by her waist, pulling her body even closer.

"Mmph...!" She then pulled away. "Shin. I said no morning sex. Don't try to corrupt me. My decision is absolute." 

Well, she said that, but she didn't let me go.

"Okay..." I said, "Let's have breakfast then. I'll save all my energies for later." 

Akane immediately pouted, freeing me from her grip. 

"Yeah. Okay." She pouted. "Tch—You should've fought harder."

"We'll be late for school," I said, kissing her forehead.

"I fucking hate school, I swear," Akane sighed. "Can't we get married and flee to another city? I'd love to have a house with a garden and three cats."

"We should graduate first. The rest will come." I said. "Let me find a job, at least."

"Fiiiine. I hate this so muuuch." Akane crossed her arms.

And after that, we decided to dress up and to prepare breakfast. 

Breakfast was cereal again, because the Lilibat supply was somehow still holding and neither of us had the will to negotiate.

She ate standing up by the counter because sitting down meant committing to the morning, and she wasn't ready for that level of surrender.

That Wednesday felt particularly calm, for some reason, like the gentle breeze after a storm.

After finishing breakfast, we grabbed our bags and shared a little kiss. And then, we stepped out of the house.

The walk to school was cold and bright. She held my hand the whole way and insulted me twice about my hair, saying that I should cut it a little and try another hairstyle.

I told her that my hair had been the same since I was in my mother's womb and that I wasn't ready to change, but she told me that was no excuse.

When we arrived at the gates, Sora was already waiting.

She had her folders, as always, tucked under one arm, and she smiled when she saw us coming down the path.

Something about her smile had changed over our short time together. It used to be the council president smile, warm and professional. Now it was just warm.

"Good morning, you lovebirds!" She waved.

"Morning, beautiful idol," Akane said, with a strange sense of affection.

"Good morning, Fujimoto-san," I said.

This time, I remembered to call her by her surname.

"Ready for another 'exciting' day of festival logistics?" Sora asked, falling into step beside us.

"I was born ready," Akane said. "Except when it comes to waking up early. That's my only weakness."

"Ahah, I know that feel, Akane. My dad used to wake me up early in the morning even when I had no school because he sometimes took me to work with him." Sora said, giggling.

"Ah, damn. I don't envy you. Not at all, I swear." Akane stretched her arms.

And then, we kept walking to Akane's classroom.

This time, I was the one who 'escorted' her.

As we were ready to part ways, Akane said to us, "Rooftop on lunch break?" 

Sora and I both nodded, and then we walked straight to our 'beautiful' business day.

The morning was ordinary in the best possible way.

I spent most of it with Sora, working through one of the latest rounds of festival preparation about the logistics.

More stall adjustments, more vendor confirmations, a brief argument about the sound system that I resolved by saying one sentence and then waiting, which Sora later told me was "deeply unfair and also extremely effective."

We even ran through the bonfire checklist twice, finalized the volunteer schedule, and dealt with a second-year who had somehow requisitioned forty meters of bunting nobody had approved.

Akane appeared and disappeared throughout the morning like weather.

She had classes, and then she didn't, and then she was in the corridor carrying something heavy for a teacher I didn't recognize, and then she was gone again.

Every time our paths crossed, she'd catch my eye from across the hall and either smile or make a face, and each time I felt the same small, stupid warmth in my chest.

At lunch, the three of us ended up on the roof.

The sky was clear, and the bench was cold, and Sora had bought three pieces of bread again without being asked.

We sat in a row eating and talking about nothing and everything, and the city spread out below us in the pale afternoon light.

"Oh," Sora said, about halfway through her bread, in the voice of someone who has just remembered something amusing. "I forgot to tell you."

"What?" Akane asked.

"There's a girl in the art club. Second year. Her name is Shinko. She came up to me yesterday after the committee meeting and asked if I could introduce her to Ishikawa-kun." Sora's mouth twitched. "She said, and I'm quoting, that he has 'a very mysterious aura.'"

The bread stopped halfway to Akane's mouth.

She turned her head, slowly, and looked at me. Then at Sora. Then back at me.

Everyone within 10 km could feel her bloodlust.

"Tell Shinko," Akane said, the bread still suspended in midair, "that if she values her pretty little hands, she should keep them, and the rest of herself, at a safe operational distance from my boyfriend."

Sora burst out laughing, while I put my face in my hands.

"I'm serious," Akane continued, biting into the bread with an emotional hunger that made her almost bite one finger off. "I'm completely serious. A mysterious aura. What does that even mean? He wears the same three shirts. He doesn't even have a proper personality. That's not mysterious."

"To be fair," Sora said, still laughing, "everyone has noticed his new earrings."

"Those hoops were for me to look at. Not for random art club girls to develop fantasies about him." She chewed aggressively. "I'm going to have a conversation with this Shinko. A brief, educational conversation."

"Please don't threaten a second-year," I said, holding a laugh. 

"I won't threaten her. I'll simply explain the natural food chain to her. Wolves eat everything beneath them. It's biology. She'll understand." Akane said proudly.

Sora was laughing so hard she had to lean forward and press her forehead against her knees.

And I sat there between them on a cold bench on a rooftop on a Wednesday, and for a few minutes everything felt too peaceful.

The afternoon passed the way Wednesday afternoons do.

More classes, more corridor noise, more festival chaos building under the surface.

I even met Daiki during the day. He seemed too tired. 

We talked for a few minutes, and we agreed to meet up at the arcade one of these days.

I finished my last task for the student council around five, and Sora waved me off at the door of the council room with her usual smile, told me good luck for the rehearsal, and went back to her eternal paperwork.

The corridors were mostly empty by the time I came downstairs. The building had that late-afternoon feel, quiet and echoing.

I pushed through the main doors, feeling the cold air hitting me, and I looked toward the gates.

And there she was.

Akane was leaning against the gate post with her bag over one shoulder and her hands in her pockets, one boot crossed over the other, watching the sky do something complicated with the clouds.

She had changed at some point during the afternoon. Not fully, just enough.

The chains were back at her hip. Her hair was down, falling around her face in dark strands that moved with the wind.

Moreover, the sleeves of her hoodie were pushed up to her elbows, and I could see the edges of her tattoos curling along her forearms.

She looked like herself again. All the way. Beautiful and mine.

From forty feet away, watching her lean against a gate post and look at the clouds with her boots crossed, she looked like exactly what she was: someone's untouchable.

A girl who had walked through fire yesterday and had come out the other side and was standing here, waiting for me, with her chains on and her chin up and not a single crack visible from the outside.

She was extraordinary. 

And then, after admiring her beauty for a few more moments, I walked towards her and just said, "Hey."

And she looked at me, smiling.

"Hey, ghost boy." She pushed off the gate post and fell into step beside me. "Ready to go fight a virus?"

"Ready is a strong word." I sighed.

"It's the only word I accept." She said, grabbing my hand possessively.

And then, my phone buzzed.

I pulled it out, and, of course, it was her.

Tsubame Yamamoto 🌸✨🎤:SHIN-KUUUUN~ Are you at the gates? Wait for me! I'm coming with my group of friends. Is the scary girlfriend with you? Tell her I bought snacks! 🎶

Akane read it over my shoulder.

"She bought snacks," she said flatly.

"She bought snacks," I confirmed.

"If she'll survive this day, it means that my jealousy issues are no longer a problem," Akane sighed. "Let's wait for that bitch then..."