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Who: Mirai, Miyume, Shizuru - and interested parties.
Where: Archery Dojo.
When: Weds 12th and Fri 14th April.
What: Watching and meetings.

An irritable low hiss came out of the third-year student's mouth as the arrow slipped out her fingers and clattered on the floor. In the quieter atmosphere of the club, she had found it easier to relax than where the loutish young men were practicing their soccer and swimming. This would be where her plans fell through, though - the noise of her failure was drawing the attention of people in the room. "Has it gotta keep missing?!"

"Yeah," Mirai said. "The way you're drawing the bow is wrong. It needs to be this way instead."

He was approaching quite slowly. He had given his apologies and was sauntering away from another third-year to help. But how silly to imagine he was doing it for her good! He was picking up the arrow from the floor before he had quite gotten there. He handed it over with a smile. And he gave a guiding hand. His offer of help didn't come from the front, though. It came from behind. He looked down at her over the shoulder of her hakama and stood peacefully behind her. The gap between them was quite close, almost non-existent. When he did move, he shifted and encircled her with his arms, and getting her to move against him didn't take very much.

"You load it like this." Something brushed on the fingers she had over the bow - his own. He gently pushed her arms down toward the ground and kept the bow pointed down with his right, thinking about safety till he knocked her legs into the correct stance by breaking them apart with his knee. "You'll turn into a tree if you stand like that."

There was a moment or two of further adjustment where he was taking his time. His hands slid back down her arms to keep the bow and its arrow in the best position he could, and the emotion in his eyes was the most warm thing. He gave her right arm a subconscious rub and tried to keep her elbow out the way, "Three fingers, not two", till he was satisfied with her stance and gave a kind smile - simply because he thought she would let him get closer that way.

That happened to be the moment he let go. There was a moment of silence as the student's white arrow flew through the air, and they watched with bated breath - till it flew a few more yards ahead then clattered to the floor a second time.

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Mirai's smile grew. It was not unattractive. He saw, perceiving through even the thickest of Miyume's darkness, answers to many of his suspicions that she tried to hide with her keen mind. Not being a fool like the student, he flashed a little devious smile and chose to grant her secrecy.

"Miyume-chan. It's been a long time."

A short greeting. Then the urge to put her on the spot, "Would you enjoy a lesson with us?"

The girl smiled with a pleasant blandness that contradicted the glimmer of arousal in her eyes. Her cheeks were a little flushed, her lips slightly parted, and she fidgeted a little on the bench. As if suddenly feeling very self-conscious, she pressed her knees together.

"Oh, I don't know, senpai," she said, twisting a lock around her finger in a very convincing display of beginner's anxiety. "I might mess up. I don't think I have the upper body strength for it."

Mirai felt his greed rise up. Obvious ploy or not, Miyume was cleverly giving him exactly the image he wanted, and seemed to understand. She believed a little tenderness was something he needed. He went cheerfully into the bleachers, with quite a nice smile on his face as he sat down next to her, one hand on his side.

"Is that what you think?"

Underneath his smile, not for the first time, was something deviant. "Sounds like you've listened to your mother. She's right, I'll admit that. But... the truth is she's not here. My feeling is you can do it if you want it," he said encouragingly.

"Oh, that's not what my mother says. That's what I say," Miyume said with another of her mysterious little smiles, tone light and vaguely teasing. "It's what I know."

The whole time she was speaking, she'd been scooting closer toward him in a very obvious manner. Just when it seemed like she might keep going until she wound up in his lap, she stopped just when her thigh was barely brushing Mirai's hand.

Something lightly brushed the trousers covering Mirai's leg.

He opened his eyes almost immediately. Then, although he was sure it had been done on purpose, he tried to return the contact by patting Miyume's leg affectionately. His fingers trailed down it with a light and pleasant contact that he gently lifted. He seemed happy. His smile had grown wide. He appreciated what she was doing. He was unable to avoid looking pleasured by it. Understanding, oh welcome understanding!

The energy he was feeling was pushed out when he stretched himself portentously in the air and rested his feet on a lower bench.

He remarked to Miyume, in his deep-sounding voice, "Oh? Will you tell me what else you know?"

"I know lots of things," Miyume replied, her own smile widening, echoing Mirai's pleasure with her own. She sat next to him, demure and apparently quite content as she was.

"Pick one thing to ask," she continued, playing idly with the ends of her hair. "And I'll answer you." Then that light-hearted sense of mischief returned, this time accompanied by something just a little bit darker and wicked.

"But just one thing." For now. "So choose carefully."

Mirai listened and nodded at each new arrow being fired at the range, where new students were now training after having taken a short rest. He could see that they had waited for a turn; when he was down amongst his club members, he usually tried not to wait for a turn in anything.

He chuckled gracefully. "Such a generous offer. If I ask you what I'm thinking, you'll have to tell a teacher... eh?"

The flush returned and her smile widened more, turning just a little bit more wicked. She lifted her hand, resting it briefly on Mirai's knee. As she had the day they'd met, she traced the kanji in her name there, this time quite lazily while in direct contact. Her touch remained very light, however. Mirai could easily move away or remove her hand with ease should he desire.

"Do I really seem like the kind of girl that kisses and tells, senpai?" she murmured with a chuckle of her own.

Mirai stared at her. He had been keeping a cautious eye on the row of archery students. He cast one more look there to be sure; a quick glance up would at least cause some questions. His fingers found his way from the air back down to his leg, where they came to rest on Miyume's hand.

Even if a few could see them touching, it must be that his friendly reputation had charmed a demure and frightened student.

"No," he replied, and his eyes were now studying her. "You're more the patient sort. Quite happy not to share things, too. And you'd never make it to anybody." His voice became colder and a dark shadow passed over him. "You really would talk this early?"

"Talk?"
For a moment, all traces of wickedness vanished. Miyume blinked innocently at him, genuinely confused. Talking wasn't what she'd been imagining but if Mirai wanted to talk instead, she was game for that, too.

She smiled at thim, this one much more normal than her others had been so far. Seemingly on a whim, Miyume took Mirai's hand in both of hers, cradling it as if it were something precious or sacred.

"Sure, I can talk if talking's what you want, Mirai-san," she said a bit coquettishly. "Do you want to talk with me, senpai?"

Mirai's hand rose and swept sideways - which forced Miyume to let go. He patted her tenderly on the head. He also ruffled almost all her hair; and he looked at her with an expression that made it seem his confidence was not the case, that he would fall to pieces in her arms.

"Will you stop asking if I want to say anything or not? We've already declared our feelings," he said, gently touching her shoulder, "No further talking is necessary."

It was a lie. A good lie but a lie nonetheless. It was almost comical just how naive he seemed to think she was. She studied his face closely, seemingly searching it for something. Then her eyes seemed change focus; as if she was looking through him at something standing behind him. Whatever she saw, provoked no change in expression, then her gaze was clear again and focused entirely on Mirai.

All illusions of innocence, warmth, and softness seemed to fall away, leaving someone who felt small, cold, and oppressed in her place. There was also a hint of impending change, the same kind of tension one might sense in the air right before a violent thunderstorm.

She didn't touch him again or answer his question, simply turned back to watch the practice. After a brief silence, she spoke again, voice soft and kind but also firm.

"Perhaps we should agree to a rain check on that coffee, Mirai-san."

Mirai turned on her with his gaze. In fact, he stood and stared down at her with eyes that seemed to sweep all the shadows away from her with some form of calm violence. There were flashes of a smile - which made the situation even more unpleasant when he seemed quite gentle and understanding.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about bringing you here only to waste your time, but it's still late in the afternoon so it's okay I guess?" He was pulling a tiny phone out his pocket and keying a message into it. "And you gladly came to see me and all." No face as kind as his could possibly be angry about anything.

"Why do you think you're wasting my time, Mirai-san?"

She'd hoped for the question to come out a little less flustered but his reaction confused her. Was a glimpse of the real Hazama Miyume truly so repulsive?

"I don't think you're a waste of time," she gently added.

But would it be enough to keep him talking?

Mirai turned round on her again. His eyes, in the most curious and natural way, seemed to see the truth she was hinting at - they would be lingering on her no matter what she said.

"Stop it, Miyume," he said. "You don't need to lie to me. Especially when you're so close to learning more about me, right?"

The lack of honoric took Miyume's breath away, she was so surprised. But unlike when he'd used her first name immediately after meeting her, this didn't bother her much. It even pleased her. Somehow.

"I'm not lying to you. You're not a waste of time. Do you honestly think I would stick around if you were? There are other fish in the sea."

After this, Mirai was straining his eyes to try and catch the truth of the matter - and kept missing. He tore himself away from the mystery he had embroiled himself in and sat on the bench.

Then he parted his hakama a little and slipped his phone inside. He was a thin and lean fellow, and it showed when he weakly tugged his clothing back into place, only for it to drape down.

"Certainly. But if you want to know something about me, know that I think of myself as the ocean," he was now curling his hair around a finger, "and you seem to be swimming in deep and murky waters."

Miyume listened thoughtfully to his words, relieved that he'd sat back down, at least. She got up briefly, straddled the bench, and sat back down so she could face him directly. She was still very close and the only obstruction between him and her panties was the cloth of her uniform skirt.

And of course, the archery club members still practicing on the range.

"I love the ocean," she said simply. "It's beautiful. Some places are deep, dark, and dangerous. Some things appear twisted and grotesque but if you educate yourself about them, you understand them more. And understanding is the ultimate enemy of fear."

A short pause.

"Can you tell me more about what these deep, murky waters are like? I want to understand so I won't be frightened."

Mirai listened to each opinion as it came to him, holding his cards close to his chest first. Then he showed her the pictures. He was giving her a view of how he was a friend and an excellent archer. She could see the trophies and the accolades he had earned - though there was something about the smiling that seemed like something wasn't there.

He crossed over a leg and inspected his nails. Now she saw something mostly real, when he was staring from his height down on her; he raised a hand and ran it through his head back down over his neck. There was enough emotional distance to give her a view of what he was thinking.

"Let's not talk about this, shall we?" But his voice was kind, and he found the point he was trying to make and brought it out. "This mystery's what makes the ocean interesting, right? ... Do you want to lose that? I would feel so horrible."

"We're not as different as you think, you and I," Miyume said just as kindly, regarding him openly with gentle understanding.

Thinking wasn't her strong suit. Miyume didn't like thinking or reasoning or anything at all that might bring her down to earth or interfere with her view from above it.

"There is nothing inside you that I won't find interesting or unworthy. I won't hurt you. Nor will I push you or put you in a cage. I can wait. As long as it takes, even. I'm not going anywhere."

He'd shown her some of his cards. To not do the same would be insincere. She smiled softly and reached out to tuck a strand of his hair behind his ear.

Mirai helped her to pin a number of the loose strands of his hair and clutched her wrist with his other hand. Then he brought her hand to his mouth, his hair falling across it, and then blew gently across the skin. It began to feel like something else might happen - but he did nothing.

The conversation was blooming quite nicely. That was reward enough. He took Miyume's hand in both of his own and returned it to the bench between them. He gave a glance to the row of archers below them, and then beamed a smile.

Miyume glanced at the club members, unable to keep a warm, happy smile of her own off of her face. Most of their faces were rather indifferent. After all, it just looked like a concerned senpai cheering up a distressed kouhai from the outside. There were a few here and there, however, that appeared to have possibly caught on to what they were really doing. A few girls viewed her enviously and appeared to on the verge of gossiping right in front of them. The boy she'd been watching earlier seemed a little upset, much to Miyume's regret, but it had been a necessary casualty to achieve a greater purpose. Besides, he'd recover and have forgotten her completely soon enough.

Enough had been resolved enough for her to be content leaving things as they were for the time being. There was no need to rush into things, after all. There would be plenty of time to see where this led.

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