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Tomioka Giyuu is cold. That is an undisputed fact.
But as she closes the school door entrance behind her she learns that there's another fact about him most probably will never come about to know—because there he stood, at the front of the school gates, so awfully still like a statue with how unfazed he is with the heavy rain—said fact is that right now, Tomioka Giyuu is cold (not in the usual way he is, but rather in a close-to-pneumonia type of way—probably not, but she assumes he's shivering).
Shinobu lets out a sigh, Kanae would want her to help him.
"Tomioka-san!" She called out to him from the school entrance but between the distance, thunder, and heavy splatter of rain her voice hardly carried through.
She rolls her eyes in annoyance, she's actually going to have to risk getting wet (just when she just washed her white sneakers!), and go up to him, she'll have to be fast if she doesn't want to get drenched—a quick trip between him and the school should do it.
Taking out the small umbrella in her bag, she clicks it open and as she stalks closer up to him she sees that she was actually right—he is shivering, the slight shake of his hands by his side shows so.
Poking him softly at the back of his shoulder she calls out again, “Tomioka-san.” This time, he hears her. He doesn't give her a response or anything of that nature but the slight turn of his head to look at her over his shoulder is enough.
She tries to hand her umbrella to him but like how he always seems to be, he didn't get what she was trying to do so she ended up just taking his hand placing the umbrella's handle in his grip, "Take it, it's hard for someone shorter to hold an umbrella over you."
He simply nods and takes it, steadily shielding both of them from the rain.
Though he might not be raw dogging the downpour anymore, he's still very much wet which means he'll catch a cold if he stays even just a minute more out here.
"Why're you out here in the rain?" She asks him, trying to see if his going full sad-boy emoting actually had a good reason.
He glances down at her, "What are you doing here out in the rain?"
Bitch. How does Kanae even stand his sassy ass? Forget keeping his ass from sickness!
She harrumphed at his deflection, "I asked first."
At her retort, he rolled his eyes. How can Kanae even have a sister so opposite to her? ..Perhaps their parents fed them different things growing up..
"I had no umbrella," he shrugs which earns him a scoff from the smaller girl, "That doesn't warrant standing out in the rain, though," and even though she told herself to forget about his health she still can't help but comment on it, "You'll get sick like this,"
Giyuu wonders if all Kocho's are worrywarts; he figures he'd have to meet the third to figure that one out.
He brushes aside her worries with a dismissive wave of his unoccupied hand, "It's fine, I don't get sick fast," the worst he'll get are the sniffles and that's about it.
"If you say so.. though you could've at least stayed in the school," adding the last part as a comment to herself.
Trough the rain and slight thunder he somehow heard her hushed comment and responded, "I have no business there, though," which was true, because unlike Shinobu who often stayed late at school for Student Council activities, fencing, and studying/interning under Tamayo (their school nurse), Giyuu had no reasons to stay after school except on Wednesday when his club did their meetings.
"But, still" Shinobu sighs, clicking her tongue after—arrogant and sassy, she feels bad for whoever will have the opportunity to deal with his ass in marriage (if he's even able to get someone to marry that is).
He simply huffs back as a response, "How come you're here late then?"
"Graduation."
As if that was an adequate answer! "You can do so much better than that, Tomioka-san. I'll go again, this time use more than one word, yeah?" She teases, "Why are you here late if you had no business regarding the school?" She repeats.
She hears him let out a shallow sigh, "I had to take care of a few things before graduation. Happy?" She flashes him a sickly-sweet smile before answering, "Very much so!"
"But.." she starts again, planning to ask him what kind of graduation things did he have to take care of but the pointed look she received from Giyuu was enough to shoot her down, so she decided to keep her comments about him possibly failing the year and having to repeat to herself.
The peace that her quietude brought was enough time to let her take a good look at him, earlier all she saw was a potentially sick man but now that she's gotten used to that she can take note of other things namely how the rain does him good, too good—his long, wavy hair turned dripping straight.
Too bad his personality's barren.
To an outsider's point of view, Shinobu's opinion of him might be too harsh, but to her, they are very much so justified.
If Shinobu remembers carefully, on her first day here, he was the only one of Kanae's friends to have shown no interest in her; she didn't either vice versa.
But it wasn't the lack of attention he was giving to her that irked her the first time she met him, but rather the reciprocation of said attention back—it's only proper to respond when someone talks to you after all, and yet all she got was a few grunts, huffs, and a quiet hello back when she greeted and intitiated conversation with him.
..though seeing him under the unexpected roaring skies and downpour of March did make her pity him a little bit, but when she thought things over her pity quickly turned to annoyance.
Who's stupid enough to stand in the rain?
Kanae truly does have an.. eccentric taste in friends—actually, scratch that, the department of her sister's worst taste belongs to boyfriends, who in their right mind would date Shinazugawa!? Shinobu shakes her head softly, trying to push away her irritation, she always does get a little too passionate about bashing on her sister's boyfriend; she can't do much about it though as Kanae does, unfortunately, love the man back.
Also, since he's proven himself very genuine about Kanae, Shinobu had decided not to openly bash on him and instead keep her thoughts to herself.
"You good?" She hears Giyuu ask, pulling her away from her thoughts. Turning her head up to look at him, she flashes him a small smile, "Mhm! 'M all good." He doesn't ask again after that and for the second time, they let silence blanket over them, more than content to just listen to the rain.
Now that she's spent a little bit more time with him, Shinobu can't help but draw comparisons between Giyuu and her younger sister, Kanao. They're both too silent that it's unnerving but once Shinobu got used to their quiet she found herself seeking out the calming company—just Kanao's, not his.
Their moment of silence doesn't last very long though as a ring from Shinobu's bag shatters their tranquility.
Picking it up she's met with her sister's gentle voice and the chatter of their little sisters in the background, "Shinobu!" Her sister greets, "I know I said I'd be picking you up but something came up." That explains why she isn't here yet, "But don't worry though, Sanemi's picking you up!"
Sanemi's picking you up!
Shinobu pauses, taking her time to think of a response because while her older sister might not say it outright, she wants her younger sister and her boyfriend to get along—more of Shinobu not trying to push him away like her other suitors than anything else, really.
"Uh.. okay. Tell him I'm waiting at the school gate."
"In this weather?" Her sister asks, clearly confused as to why her sister would wait in the pouring rain.
"Yup," Shinobu answers, popping out her 'p' and she hears her sister sigh through the phone, "Go back inside, or at least wait at the entrance, Shinobu, or any other covered area for that matter, I don't want you getting sick," and Shinobu knew that once her sister used that tone of voice with her it was best not to test the limits.
She smiles at her sister's words, "I was planning to anyway."
Putting the phone down she directs her attention to Giyuu, "Say, let's go back to the school, yeah?" Even though she posed it as a suggestion she didn't wait for his answer and just walked, fully expecting him to follow and keep the umbrella over her.
And he does, flawlessly keeping her dry.
Shinobu should've done this way earlier but the thought got lost in her mind the moment Giyuu answered her question with another question, she hates it when people do that to her.
Giyuu wordlessly closes the umbrella and shakes away any remaining water droplets on it before clasping it tight.
"Are you not going to ask me who I was on the phone with?"
He shakes his head at her, which makes Shinobu chuckle, "Too bad, I'm still telling, it was my sister. She was supposed to pick me up but now Sanemi is," though Shinobu didn't mean to a small frown found its way on her face.
"He's a good person and all but he's just not very good for my sister—that's my opinion, don't blabber about this to her!" As if he'll ever talk for long enough for this to be brought up; still, she takes a good look at him and his face before concluding he won't snitch and continues like before.
"Like I mean, my sister is all perfect and all but he's just.. him!" She huffs before continuing to explain, "Like, do you know how many arguments I've coached and comforted my sister through—mind you they've only been together for 5 months!—because Shinazugawa-san can't express himself properly!? He's an emotionally constipated son of a bitch!"
Her rant leaves her slightly breathless as she realizes she hadn't even once paused to breathe.
Trying to calm herself down she closes her eyes and massages her temples before finally finishing her rant off with another exasperated comment, "Seriously, who would even date someone as bad as him at expressing themselves? Genuinely.."
A shaky exhale brings Shinobu out of her haze of loathing, "Are you all done?" Glancing up to look at him she sees him smiling faintly, obviously amused by her sudden outburst.
She realizes her mistake, and turns her head away—how could she let her frustrations get a hold of her? In front of her sisters' friends nevertheless!
“I apologize for that...” she mutters, flushed from embarrassment, "That was unseemly."
Giyuu only shakes his head, "I've heard worse from your own sister, Kocho, you're all good." His words do nothing to assure Shinobu though, to her, she has permanently embarrassed herself in front of someone she'll have to regularly see far into her future (if Kanae's friendship with him holds up that is).
Desperately trying to switch the topic of conversation off of her she talks about graduation, he and Kanae are due to graduate in a few days, surely he'd be eager to talk about it.
"Tomioka-san," she starts, "What're you planning to do after graduation?"
The question seems to make him wilt immediately—the faint smile on his face turned to his usual impassive expression—and Shinobu winces, obviously the wrong choice, then.
Shinobu immediately follows her question up, "You don't have to answer me if you don't want to."
And he doesn't; Shinobu doesn't try to ask him anything else after that.
Soon enough Sanemi's beat-up car pulls up in front of the school gates, "That's my ride," Shinobu says, gesturing to the white car, Giyuu merely nods before opening her lilac umbrella and escorting her to the car.
"I'd ask if you want a ride but Sanemi-san doesn't like you very much," she whispers to him jokingly before ducking to get in. Seeing him closing the umbrella she quickly shakes her head, already ahead of him, "And keep the umbrella for now, I don't need you getting sick before your graduation."
He gives her a nod okay before closing the door.
Shinobu then spent the whole way back home overlooking the confused glances Sanemi threw her way—and no, it's not like she's purposefully not noticing them just to get under his nerves.. no, she'd never.
So what if she and Tomioka who's never once interacted past a hi and hello suddenly just spent a whole hour or so with only the rain as company talking about who knows what..
Shinobu just hopes Sanemi won't mention this to her sister, she'd be a victim of relentless teasing for at least a week.
On the day of Kanae's graduation, Shinobu couldn't help but notice that Giyuu was a no-show.
Did he fail the grade and have to repeat? Shinobu never took him for someone academically stupid though—an airhead, yes, but not dumb—so she crossed that idea out.
But who would miss their own graduation?
Though she was curious as to his whereabouts she didn't dare ask her sister, she still hasn't gotten over how Shinobu spent time with him alone last Friday—because of course Sanemi would tell her!— so she just opted to live with her questions, figuring they'd be answered after her sister mentions it offhandedly.
Only when they got home after a busy day of celebrations did Shinobu find out why Giyuu didn't attend his graduation.
"Shinobu," Kanae's muffled voice could be heard through the door as she knocked, "Door's open," Shinobu answered.
Kanae opened the door with a familiar lilac umbrella in her hand and a knowing smile on her face, peeking her head in the room she asks, "I wonder whose umbrella this is?"
Shinobu felt her eyes roll at her sister's teasing tone, "Mine, now give it," Her sister just does that and throws the umbrella to Shinobu.
"How'd you even get this, anyway?" She asks, eyeing the familiar umbrella, the last she's seen it was in the hands of a cold man.
"Giyuu-kun gave it to me, said to give it back to you, and that he was thankful." Now, the words themselves were normal, but that look on her sister's face? Far from it.
An exasperated groan found its way out of Shinobu's mouth as she sat up in her bed, "Don't wiggle your eyebrows at me!"
"Why no-!" Pillows tend to do the trick in getting people to shut up, "Hey! I'm still your sister!" However, pillows also tend to fall from the face you've thrown it to, making it a temporary solution.
Shinobu laughs at her sister's annoyed expression, "Maybe next time you come into my room, you’d think twice about wiggling your eyebrows at me!"
"Okay, fine! I won't wiggle my eyebrows at you, I'll just keep them furrowed like this!" Kanae then continued to shut the door on her way out, making Shinobu let out a small giggle.
The peace doesn't last very long though as after a few seconds Kanae comes back, "Okay, but seriously, since when did the two of you get close?" Shutting the door behind her, Kanae made herself at home and took a seat on the edge of Shinobu's bed.
"Since never," Shinobu deadpanned, "How many more times do I have to tell you that, nee-san?" Her sister just shakes her head at her, "It's not like I don't like him for you, but don't you think he's a little too old for you?"
Shinobu felt her eye twitch at her sister's comment, "He isn't anything to me at all, actually!" She groans.
Her sister merely laughs, finally relenting after realizing she was going to get nowhere with this, "Okay, okay, I believe you."
Just as when Kanae started getting up Shinobu stops her with her feet, "Why didn't he return it to me in person?" She feels instant regret coursing through her body after seeing how her sister's perpetual smile widened.
And Shinobu is left scrambling with an explanation to back her question up, "I mean, couldn't he be bothered enough to return it to me in person? Here I thought he'd be a little thankful after I saved him from the rain." Saved would be an exaggeration it but it was close enough, right?
Kanae chuckled at her sister, "The reason why he couldn't is the same reason why he didn't attend graduation, actually."
A smile found its way on Shinobu's face as she asked, "Why couldn't he?" Just as Shinobu thought, she would get her answers from Kanae without bringing it up herself.
Her sister's smile turned sullen and bittersweet as she answered, "He left for his hometown last Saturday because his sister got sick, and since her husband is a traveling businessman no one can take care of her."
That explains why he didn't answer her that time she asked.
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh," her sister repeated in her tone, "He said it was fine since he's been wanting to go back for a visit anyway and that he's been missing home, but I could tell he was sad about it."
"And to think he got a scholarship to Kimetsu Daigaku too," her sister sighed, and it took her a little bit of time to process the information.
"Kimetsu Daigaku!? As in the Kimetsu Daigaku, the top university of our nation!?" It takes a literal arm and leg to get a scholarship to Kimetsu Daigaku, and he had to give it up!? Oh, does Shinobu feel so bad for him!
A laugh can be heard from Kanae as she watched her sister flip out over this small piece of information, "Yes, the very same Kimetsu Daigaku, it really is too bad considering we would've gone together if he didn't leave, but Kimetsu was kind enough to just put his scholar on pause, saying that if he were to ever come back they'd accept him."
Shinobu lets out a sigh of relief at that.
—
It wasn't so bad when Shinobu got to start at the same university as him when he came back, though.