Shikimori one-shots

After Lessons

/SW: chapter 20/
(Episode 2, these are really unnecessary now heh)

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"Shikimori-san really is something, isn't she?"
Izumi asked himself silently.

The school day was over now, all that was left was to exit the building and go home.

Usually he would do this with Shikimori by his side but after her performance at the ball sports tournament, he didn't dare to interrupt the fan club that was constantly following her every move now.

This little fan club of her's was a good confidence boost for her at first, but soon proved to drive her further away from Izumi.

Izumi, of course, was happy for her. True, he was a bit disappointed that he wasn't able to keep her cool side all to himself but her newfound popularity seemed to make her happy and he was happy for it.

So he was content leaving school without her if it insured her popularity and the happiness that came with it.

Still, he had to admit, leaving school all alone was a rare occurence and he felt something small was amiss the very moment he started his departure.

And so making his way to the staircase everything felt mostly fine. Well, quite alright atleast.

"I really am lucky to have her..."
He contemplated how he even ended up in this relationship with a girl that, to him, seemed so far out of his league while turning to face the steps leading down.

Sadly, choosing to do anything but focus on the moment,
like for example: contemplating,
soon proved to be the wrong course of action.

While taking the steps down was a trivial task for anyone else, for Izumi with this unholy amount of misfortune plaguing every part of his day to day life, this task needed full concentration if he wanted to make it down the stairs uninjured.

He also came to this conclusion. Just half a step to late.

And as his very first step down the stairs missed its mark, instead slipping further down than it was supposed to go, Izumi was sent tumbling down.

Free falling after a single step, he had concluded that this would hurt pretty bad but still he was unsure whether to cry or to laugh.

"Couldn't make it down a single step before hurting myself. Really how pathetic can I be?"
Was the thought that would have formed into words, if Izumi's mind had a bit more time to think about its current predicament.

.    .    .

And then his mind had the time to form that thought into words.

And the pain of the impact still wasn't there.

And somehow he felt frozen in place.

After the initial panic he felt subsided, it took but a moment for him to realise what had happened.

He wasn't frozen in place, he was held in place.

Two strong but somehow soft arms had a firm grip on his torso and seemed to have absorbed all the momentum his body had had just a moment ago.

"Say, where exactly were you going?"

Is what the voice breaking the silence said just inches away from his right ear.
It somehow sounded offended and yet teasing at the same time.

He wasn't given any more time to think about who that voice belonged but instead saw the answer with his own eyes as the person in question used both arms to forcibly turn him around.