The Town Where You Live, oneshot(?)

[Emily]

Fandom: The Town Where You Live

Setting: Chapter 138—“You Liar” [contains spoilers]

Characters: Yuzuki/Haruto/Asuka

A/N: I was so inspired by this chapter cause it suddenly took an interesting turn and Haruto sneezed three times. Ahh…the pains of unrequited fictional love. I depress myself. This contains spoilers, so unless you’re up to date on your reading, beware. On with the story!

*Yukata—sort of like a ceremonial robe worn for special occasions, like festivals. It’s really tight and goes up to one’s ankles so it’s really sorta impossible to bend down in these.

“Jeez, Haruto. What were you thinking, jumping in that pond? You can’t even swim!”

“It’s not like I can’t float,” Haruto muttered under his breath, shivering in his thoroughly soaked clothes. The countryside breeze did nothing to help. He sniffed in what he thought was complete silence.

“Haruto? Are you cold?” Yuzuki was suddenly crouched below Haruto. How could she even do that in a yukata, he wondered. “Harutoooo, are you even listening?”

“Sorry, I was just”—admiring how pretty you are. What? Haruto shook his head, flinging pond water in all directions. He had a girlfriend. There was no way he’d think that. Well, why not? The only reason you’re with Asuka is because she forced you to. And you went to Tokyo chasing after Yuzuki. What were you going to do if Asuka hadn’t called? “—just thought I was going to sneeze.”

“Idiot, let’s hurry back home before you catch yourself a cold.” She tossed her long hair over her shoulder and sighed enormously, concealing the look of delight on her face. She had taken too much pleasure in the fact that Haruto didn’t want her to forget. It took all her courage to throw the necklace away. Did a small part of her want them back together? It’s not just a small part. What if Haruto’s girlfriend hadn’t called them at that moment? We could get back together again. Yuzuki clutched the sleeves of her yukata tightly. How could she even think that? She was really a fool. Haruto couldn’t do that to his girlfriend. He just wasn’t that type of guy. She shot a glance at his face. He was staring down at his feet and shivering. He’s really too cute. Suddenly his head dipped forward in a huge expulsion of air that he hadn’t anticipated.

“Heh-eh’PSSH!” He sniffed. Yuzuki lost control of her facial muscles, which won the upward battle. That idiot, Haruto—he could even look cute when his nose was running pathetically. “Stop laughing at me. It’s your fault I’m cold,” he grumbled, cheeks pink.

“Right, right,” she grinned. “Sorry that you’re stupid enough to dive into water you can’t swim in.” He glared at her until his nose started twitching. His breath hitched almost gracefully to a point where his head shot forward into his, this time, ready fist. It was completely silent, and Haruto seemed satisfied with that, although unfortunately his nose didn’t appreciate being smooshed in to silence a sneeze. To be honest with herself, Yuzuki found it just as disappointing. “That was…weird. Why did you do that?” She hid the dissatisfaction from her voice with an inquiring high-pitched voice. She was immediately rewarded with the coloring of Haruto’s cheeks. He had been about to rub his nose until she made that comment and now he was too self-conscious to even sniff; his embarrassment didn’t amount to much, since his nose was running freely and it continued to twitch. Is it normal to think a guy with his nose running so pitifully is adorable? She suddenly felt the urge to hug him from behind. She noticed him lifting up his arm to his nose, which was still dancing madly, and his breathy hitching.

“Hih-ih’ihKSH! Kshoo! Hih’ikshh!” He frowned, probably thinking that he would use his fist next time after all, since his elbow really couldn’t hold back his incessant sneezing. He clearly didn’t enjoy them as much as Yuzuki was. She was really very much enjoying the view. Haruto turned away from her as he started to lose control over his intake of oxygen again. He muttered something unintelligible about “stupid” and “cold” and “water,” and then a single “damn” when his breathy intake ceased abruptly. He rubbed his pink nose and sniffled quietly. Now Yuzuki really wanted to tackle him with a hug. Should I? She immediately scolded herself at this thought. Stupid, he’s got a girlfriend. She stared at him. But he does look a little chilled. Would an “I’ll warm you up” hug count? As Yuzuki had her entire internal battle, Haruto had stopped walking. “Shit,” he muttered.

Yuzuki glanced at the direction he was staring at, and there was indeed a sight worth cursing at. A girl, with short, dark hair was sitting on the front step with her cell phone in her hand. She didn’t look terribly pleased.

“A-Asuka—“

“You liar.”

“What are you doing here? I thought you were visiting your family!” Haruto instantly regretted saying that so bluntly. He was so screwed this time. He was so screwed. Under Asuka’s hard gaze, he felt the uncontrollable need to sneeze, his desire already built from the aftermath his earlier fit. But if he sneezed now, Asuka would almost for sure attack him with her baseball bat, like she had the first time they met. Her expression was little more than a cold, angry stare; her aura made Haruto tremble from something other than his wet clothing.

“Do I have to have a reason to visit my boyfriend? Furthermore, what were you doing just before that you had to hang up on me so urgently?” she smiled sweetly. “Is it something you can’t tell me?” Asuka made eye contact with Yuzuki first, gave her an accusing glare and then she locked her eyes on Haruto. He was starting to gulp in air desperately. He pitched forward into his closed fist and sneezed three times consecutively, the first one completely silent and the second two barely audible. By then, he couldn’t stop sniffling from the force of muting his sneezing, and his nose was more than a little pink. And, Yuzuki thought, he was even cuter than was five minutes ago. Asuka didn’t escape unfazed from the boy’s brief display of weakness. Yuzuki noticed her hard gaze melting around the corners, and she repeated her question in a less demanding manner. “What were you doing with Yuzuki?”

“N-nothing—hih’ish ehKSSH hih’NNsht! We were just watching the fireworks,” he admitted sheepishly. He fidgeted with his wet shirt and focused on wringing out the droplets of water. Yuzuki watched Asuka walk into the bathroom and walk out of it with a towel in her hand. She threw it at Haruto with the all her strength as a softball player. The rolled up towel hit him squarely between the eyes as he looked up to see what the gust of wind was. He promptly stumbled backwards, tripped over Yuzuki’s feet, and landed on the bare dirt headfirst while sneezing rapidly in succession without exercising any control over his nose. The towel fell to the grassless floor in a limp pile.

“HEEEHH’hih’hih—hehEKksh kssh IGXshoo ishh hih’choo eh’psh huh’KSSHoo!”

The only sounds left after that were the crickets and Haruto’s humiliated sniffling.

“Sorry.” He swiped the back of his hand across his leaking nose, and looked Asuka straight in the eye. Asuka’s heart skipped a beat, and she cursed herself for getting excited. She was supposed to be angry. She was supposed to yell and scream at Haruto for lying and probably making advances with Yuzuki. But he looked so repentant and pitiful right now that her soft heart bent around her rage. And he looked like he was shivering. Asuka sighed heavily and whirled around to leave, when an all-too-familiar hand grabbed hers. “Wait.” Haruto pulled her backwards into his arms and wrapped her in a tight embrace. “Really, I’m sorry, Asuka.” They were so close that she felt his body shaking, his chest tighten and expand, and his breathing increasing all too quickly. He realized it too, and gave her a light push away from him and pinched his nose to hold back all the onslaught of explosions.

“Hih-huuuh-ih’hihIXXT! Ha’huh-ehhh—“

“Asuka,” Yuzuki blurted, “can we let him change his clothes first? I think he’s cold.”

“—huh-EH’ippSHaaahh!”

“Alright,” Asuka replied sulkily, thinking herself a moron to have to wait for Yuzuki’s intervention to break away from her cold front.

The two girls ushered a still-sneezing Haruto into his bedroom. When it was clear that both of them appeared to be going inside with the boy, Asuka turned to Yuzuki, arched her eyebrow and shot a look that said “stay away from my boyfriend.” The taller girl backed away and directed her eyes to somewhere else as her face flushed deeply. The door closed behind the couple and Yuzuki was left outside to wait. She went back outside to pick up the forgotten towel. It was covered in dirt. Haruto would have to wash it. She glanced back at his bedroom. She couldn’t hear anything, except for the occasional quick triples from Haruto. Maybe now was a good time to change out of her yukata. She toddled along to her old room.

“Hold still! I can’t dry your hair if you keep moving around,” Asuka cried exasperatedly. Haruto grabbed the towel from her hands and tossed it on his bed.

“It’s already dry!” he protested in an equally irritated tone. “And I can do it myself.” He sniffed wetly.

“Are you still cold, Haruto?” Asuka touched his arm gently and found that he was still shivering slightly.

“No, I’m fine. I changed my shirt, so it’s okay.” Asuka rolled her eyes at his blatant lie. “HAH’chiieu!” Haruto frowned at the sudden sneak attack that gave him away.

“If you say so.” He definitely looked like he was getting sick. Asuka thought for a moment. She was sure she had never seen Haruto sick before. She gave him a fleeting look and decided he was cute and needed babying. All traces of her anger had vanished, although she still had her suspicions. She leaned on his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re not cold? You’re still shivering.” She draped her arms around his shoulders and drew him close to her. She felt his face grow hot against her cheek; he always blushed whenever her chest touched him.

“I said I was okay,” he muttered.

“No, you said you were ‘fine’,” Asuka corrected.

“Isn’t it the sa-hih-same either way? Heh’ikshh!”

“No, it’s different. Hurry up and go take a shower now, before you catch a cold.”

Haruto mumbled something along the lines of “already caught one”, to Asuka’s great joy. Now she would see a cuter Haruto AND she had an excuse to prove her worth as a cook instead of having him dominate the kitchen. She sat on his bed and watched him with renewed interest as he rummaged around half-heartedly for clean clothes while his random sneezing threw him off-balance. She'd worry about Yuzuki later.

So, uh. Is this better off as a oneshot or could it continue? Comments and cries of outrage welcome!

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Awww, this is so cute! Don't know the series but well.... awwwwwwwwww. ^^ Poor Yuzuki and Haruto, they are so adorable together. Awesome one-shot-that-might-or-might-not-stay-a-one-shot.

[Ciuty80]

i liked that too!!!

and i would like to see more than only a oneshot

although i don´t know this serie

p.s.: just figured out that you showd us his sneezes before in the media section under manga but the title is japanese: Kimi no Iru Machi

Edited June 9, 2011 by Ciuty80

[Emily]

Sigrith: I'm also rooting for Yuzuki/Haruto, but I'm giving both girls a chance to go after him. :x thanks for reading!

Ciuty80: haha thanks! ;D I'm already working on a second part which will be out by this weekend hopefully. and yes, I did post a link to the most recent chapter in the media section! haha, I love Haruto ♥