HIM – DAY IN THE RAIN

Looking through the window at his side, Tyson felt depressed: it was pouring. Although the forecast mentioned the possibility of rain, this wasn’t merely rain falling, but god’s attempted murder. Sighing inwardly, he rested his head on the desk and tried to doze off for a little while, as the lecture was quite boring.

Still, before he even had a proper chance to, the lecture ended and students began packing and heading home. Reluctantly, he also did the same and quickly spotted Aya standing next to him, waiting. Does she have an umbrella?

“What are you staring at? Pack up, quickly.” she said in her usual, flat tone with deadpan expression.

“I’m just wondering why are you dressed so lightly,” Tank top with light jacket, knee-long shorts… how the hell doesn’t she freeze to death? “Aren’t you freezing?”

“… you really don’t know anything about women, do you?” she asked.

“Of course. If I did, I wouldn’t be here-- aah, and here I thought I wouldn’t be committing emotional suicide today.” Tyson got up and the two started walking. “Did you bring an umbrella?”

“You forgot?”

“Yeah, I didn’t think it’d fall that hard,” he said. “Besides, my place isn’t that far away.”

“We can skip coffee if you want,” she said casually. “And I can walk you home.”

“It’s fine, I woke up late this morning and didn’t have a chance to drink coffee,” Oi, what am I lying for?! “Could use a kicker.”

“My legs are always available for kicking, if you’d like.”

“… no, no thanks. I’m quite allergic to pain.”

“Yet it seems to define you.”

“… oh, go on, spear my heart some more,” he said dejectedly. “I don’t deserve any better anyway.”

“You seemed to have dozed off toward the end,” she said as the two began descending the stairs. “Was the lecture really that boring?”

“I mean… yeah? It’s not like I hate American history or anything, but holy crap, we go into so much detail about it it becomes painful…” So she was looking at me… he, he…

“Aah, I know what you mean. Doesn’t help that professor’s voice sounds like a broken record filtered out through white noise.”

“Pft… ha ha, what the hell? And here I thought you were a young lady that respects her elders.”

“Eh? I respect him. I’m just saying, you know, if he were to start singing, government would probably discover another weapon of mass destruction.” Aya said lightly.

“There’s no need to go to the old man,” Tyson said, smiling. “They have one right here, equipped with all the alien technology necessary to take over the world.”

“Aah, it’s true; recently I’ve upgraded my Laser Sight to Lethal Laser Sight. Now I can cut directly through the fabric of space and time with my gaze alone.”

“… wow, you’re in a good mood today.”

“What makes you say that?” she asked, curious.

“You never play along with the alien gag.”

“Ah, seeing how your life is shit, I figured I’d humor you at least once.”

“… you know, you can’t play the ‘nice’ act whilst also being abominable annoyance. It’s note as cute as stories make it out to be. It hurts. So much.”

“Don’t be a baby,” she said as the two stepped out of the building; she reached for her backpack and took out a small umbrella, unfolding it quickly. She then raised her arm and linked it with Tyson’s, while at the same time giving him umbrella to carry. Oh, her arm is pretty thin… “What are you staring off into for? Are you that turned on by my touch?”

“Ah, please, don’t flatter yourself. I was just thinking that you are way too skinny. Do you even eat anything?”

“I’ll have you know that I weigh exactly 57kg. Which is just enough!” Aya exclaimed proudly.

“…”

“What?”

“Dunno. I just thought girls don’t like talking about their weight all that much. But, then I realized you’re an alien so, you know, who cares.”

“Yeah, I never understood that,” she said as the two began walking while droplets of rain bounced off of the purple umbrella. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“Eh, don’t ask me,” Tyson said, chuckling. “But, it’s not like you can disclose everything about yourself, right? So you should understand it on some level.”

“Why can’t I disclose everything about myself? I’m not ashamed.” Aya said, pouting somewhat. Eh? She serious?!

“You serious?” Tyson blurted out subconsciously.

“Yeah. Ask me anything you want.”

“Uh… eh… al-alright,” he stuttered as he scratched his nose. “T-then, what cup are you?”

“Oh, aiming straight for the target, I like that.” she said. “B-cup.”

“Eh?! No way! You’re totally a C!” … crap. “I-I mean…”

“Oh? So you’ve been checking me out that much, huh? Eeh, how should I interpret that… I wonder…”

“Shut up. Don’t interpret it. At all. Just leave it be.”

“If you say so~~” Aah, I really have to start controlling myself with this girl… “Okay, you now know the size of my boobs. Anything else?”

“Uh… on second thought, I can’t do this. This is way too awkward! How can a girl disclose the size of her chest with such a dead expression! As I thought, you really are an alien!”

“I don’t see how it’s that big of a deal,” Aya said, seemingly in thought for a moment. “I’m fine with who I am, and I don’t really need to hide these things about myself. Besides, it looks as though you’ve already figured out plenty things about me yourself, so, you know~~”

“Oi, don’t end the sentence in such an ambiguous way that can mean multitude of things!”

“Eh? What multitude of meanings is that, I wonder~~” Oi, stop pressing so closely! I can already feel them, you know! Ah, she was right, they’re B---what the hell am I thinking?!

“See? I told you they were B.” she said as she stuck her tongue out, causing Tyson’s already red face to grow even redder. “Anyway, let’s go to a cake shop today. You can order coffee, but I wanna eat cake.”

“What if you get fat?”

“I’ll just work out then.”

“Somehow you don’t seem like a work-out type.”

“So what if I get fat, then? Does that mean you’ll stop hanging out with me? Is this slender, B-cupped body of mine the only thing you’re after? How mean…”

“… I don’t think there are words in English language to express just how uncomfortable I’m feeling right at this moment. In a way, you’re really amazing.”

“Anyway, moving away from your lust after my body---”

“Oi, what lust?!!”

“---did you read any more of Berserk?” she asked.

“Ugh, yeah. Don’t remind me. That was some hardcore stuff.”

“… you really are like a baby, aren’t you?”

“You’re a baby! Baby-bodied alien! Muhahaha…”

“…”

“Sorry.”

“Aah, you’re so easy~~”

“Shut up. You’re treating me today.”

“Okay~~”

HER – DAY IN THE RAIN

As the two entered the cake shop, they realized it was quite full and only managed to find a free spot a few minutes later. Tyson ordered double espresso while Aya ordered fruit cake, as the two sat down near a window while droplets fell down it.

“You even pin them together in a race?” Tyson asked.

“Yeah,” Aya nodded. “It’s quite hard to predict who can win though.”

“Hm,” Tyson agreed as the two looked at the window. “But it can be fun.”

“I heard someone made a game about it. You bet on one of the droplets and then watch for a minute to see who wins.”

“… what are some people doing with their lives?”

“Eh? But I really like the concept,” she said. “Especially after playing something difficult and heavy. Like watching SoL anime after you’ve watched psychological, murdering horror.”

“… can I pretend I understood any of that?”

“Sure, try your hardest… instead of, you know, just looking it up.” Gee, can you at least try a little harder…

“You’re really into anime and manga, huh?” he asked.

“Something wrong with it?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I just would have never guessed it. When did you get into it?”

“Hmm… around the time I started playing games, I suppose,” Aya said, taking a bite of the fruit cake. “I always liked reading, so, to me at least, it was just another medium for it. Words adorned with pretty pictures, that’s how I saw it.”

“Pretty? You call that pretty?” Tyson’s face distorted slightly as he looked down. He at most read first three Volumes… I better not tell him it gets much worse after that… he he, it will be fun to see his reaction…

“It’s not as though I jumped straight into Berserk and the like,” Aya said. “There are other genres, you know? Some are aimed at kids, some at young boys, some at young girls and so on.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a manga back home,” Tyson said as he looked outside the window. “We had very few shops so even books were had to come across. Internet, while I was growing up, was very, very slow, and I didn’t want to waste bandwidth pointlessly.”

“Oh~~”

“… I know what you’re thinking. You’re right, but, please, I beg you, stop…”

“What did you watch or read then, growing up?” she asked.

“Hmm… mostly movies, some books, and TV soap operas because my mom was really, really into them.” Hm, that’s pretty ordinary… ah, I guess he wasn’t spending much time in house like I did…

“How terrible are you… to use your own mother to hide your fetishes… I cry for that woman…”

“Oi, can you at least give my character a speck of decency?!”

“That would be foul play, though.”

“… you’re a foul play, dammit. You have no idea how it was growing up with older sister obsessed with celebrities, mom obsessed with shitty melodramas and dad obsessed with fishing.”

“Suffocating, I imagine.” Aya said, titling her head slightly.

“… yeah,” Tyson said, drinking a gulp of coffee. “Unlike them, I was just… ordinary. Never had any obsessions or passion for anything. Watching them merrily chat about the things they love day after day… ugh… thank you for reminding me.” Heh, he’s like me, huh…

“There’s nothing wrong with that, though,” Aya said. “Not everyone discovers what they want to do early on.”

“What about you? What do you want to do after university?”

“Teach, probably,” Aya said, smiling lightly. “So, when I meet kids like you, I can tell them it’s okay to be ordinary.”

“… you’re romanticizing teacher’s job too much. You’ll get burned.”

“What about you? What do you want to do?”

“… I kind of want to join publishing company and become an editor,” Tyson said. Aah, I think this is the first time I’ve seen him smile like this… not good… “I always liked writing, but never really had any talent for it. However, some of my friends back home did, but could never get any exposure. Somehow, I found myself wanting to become the person who could give them that, you know, the first push. A chance.”

“Ooh, how noble of you~~”

“Can’t hold a candle to you, though.”

“No need to be so modest.”

“It’s funny, though,” Tyson suddenly chuckled. “The only reason I actually enrolled here was because Emma and Jared wanted to study in the city. I was content staying home back then.”

“What, you felt like you couldn’t leave the two of them alone?” Why am I encouraging him to talk about her?! What’s wrong with me…

“In part, probably,” he said. “But, it doesn’t really matter now. They have their own lives, and I’ve got mine.”

“You’re not hung up on her anymore?” Aya asked in a somewhat lowered tone. What the hell am I asking…

“… now that you mention it,” he said. “I haven’t really thought about her much, or at all actually, recently.”

“Of course. When would you have time when your head is occupied with my boobs.” Aya said, smirking.

“… seriously, what kind of a guy do you think I am? Sigh…”

“Pretty fun one, I’d say.” she said, smiling.

“Ugh, can you not smile? It’s too much of a contrast with your usual expression.”

“It’s what we, in the manga and anime community, call ‘moe gap’.”

“… no, I’m done.” Tyson grunted.

“I see, you’re addicted to me smiling. How bold of you~~”

“Shut up. What’s wrong with liking a nice smile? Leave me alone.” Eh? T-that… ugh, how can he drop lines like that subconsciously while getting flustered over everything otherwise?

“You aren’t half-bad yourself.” Aya said, exposing a beaming smile, causing Tyson’s cheeks to flush red again.

“…”

“What? You that dazed?”

“… shut up. I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“He he, you’re pretty moe yourself~~”

“… should I look that up?”

“If you want your manly pride shattered, go on ahead.”

“… damn Ayien.”

“He he.”

“…”