[center][sup][h1][color=black] O S A N A I  S U Z U K A[/color]
[color=#2596be]O S A N A I  S U Z U K A[/color][/h1][/sup][/center]
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"Girly." "Grown-up." Her? Really? She supposed she [i]had[/i] gotten pretty big in a lot of ways since they had last seen her, so that second one sort of made sense... She was still trying to process the first. Wait, that wasn't also because she'd gotten "bigger," was it? Where had Ei-kun been looking when he had said -- no. No. Her old classmates might have teased her about... [i]that,[/i] but Ei-kun would never stoop to making such a crass joke. No matter how much he had changed, she was sure of that.

That much aside, did Mika-chan always sound so much like her grandma? That was almost word-for-word what she'd been told just the other day when she was boarding the train from Hakodate. It was a little uncanny, but, well, it was probably just a coincidence.

A coincidence. How many coincidences had piled on top of each other this morning already? The same school. The same class. The same seats. Just like back then. As Kubo-sensei cleared her throat and continued with the morning announcements, Suzuka found her eyes wandering to her left once again. There he was, so different, yes -- but so [i]familiar,[/i] too.

The messy mop of hair she so vividly remembered had given way to a neat and evenly-trimmed curtain. But if she just reached out and mussed it up a little bit, she was sure it would be right back to how it always used to be. ...That was kind of a weird thing to think about, though. Besides, it looked nice the way it was. She supposed it was good that at least one of them learned to look presentable. Although, she really shouldn't have been surprised by it, either. After all, he'd always been better at that sort of thing than her.

She couldn't see his face well. Something outside the window must have captivated his attention completely, as he seemed intent on looking at anything but her. Maybe she'd said something wrong... Had she misread his compliment? Or maybe he thought it was weird for her to try joking around right off the bat as though she'd never even left. Had he only greeted her that way to be polite? Maybe she wasn't [i]supposed[/i] to answer.

But she [i]wanted[/i] to answer. She wanted things to be like they were before. She couldn't pretend the last four years had never happened, but maybe she could at least try and start over again. Right, actually, now that she thought about it, there [i]was[/i] something she'd forgotten to say. She'd been so busy [i]recognizing[/i] her seatmate that she had never actually [i]greeted[/i] him. At least, not properly. Not like she had used to whenever they ended up together before.

She tapped the corner of his desk. Leaning forward and stretching out across her own, she dipped below the crowd of students in front of her so as not to be seen by the teacher. Resting her cheek against the backs of her hands, she whispered just loudly enough to be heard.

[color=#2596be]"Psst. Ei-kun, Ei-kun."[/color]

A rare smile crossed her face, her stony expression changing to one far warmer so easily she herself almost didn't even realize it. She was just so [i]happy[/i] right now -- how could she not smile?

[color=#2596be]"It looks like I'll be in your care again."[/color]