Lolita Love Story

Chie.

Kougou's eyes snapped open, his breath heaving in his chest. He sat up, trying to take deep, even breaths, but his heart was beating too fast. A vaguely familiar face swam in his mind, and the name "Chie" whispered in his ears. He shook his head to rid himself of the image, and stared at the ceiling listlessly. It had been his first premonition since his mother's death. The length of time between visions had never been so long. For a while, Kougou had started to believe that maybe his strange ability had finally exhausted itself, but he had no illusions that what he saw that night was just a dream.

"Chie," he repeated, thinking hard. He didn't remember anyone with that name, but it was possible that it was a girl at school. It would explain the familiarity of her face.

Kougou glanced at the clock on the far wall. It was four in the morning. He rolled onto his stomach and tried to get comfortable again, but he didn't sleep after that.



On the way to school that morning, Kougou flipped through Saikai's drawings again. She really was talented. He saved the picture of himself for last. It was quite accurate, and he began to wonder if she had to look often at him to get such a realistic expression. When the train pulled up to his stop, he quickly tucked the picture into the sketchbook and filed out with the other students. He walked slowly into the school, searching each face for the one he saw in his vision, but he never saw her. He did see someone else, however.

Saikai.

She was standing near the stairs, and she looked almost like a different girl. Her skin was paler than normal, and she was not wearing her uniform in the same way as before. Her skirt was shorter than it had been, showing off her legs, and she wore baggy socks in the same style as her popular friends. Her curly, vivid-red hair and makeup-free face were the only unchanging features. She looked unhappy, though, as if made uncomfortable by her change. The atmosphere around the group of girls was buzzing with life, everyone talking loudly about the Lolita-turned-Gal. Kougou noticed the wandering eyes of many boys, including his teammates from soccer, and felt a strange tug in his stomach. Jealousy.

In passing, he searched Saikai's round, innocent face for a reason. She met his eyes briefly, a pleading look in them, but looked away when color rose to her cheeks and her friends made loud comments about his lingering eyes.

"G-good luck on midterms, senpai..." she uttered timidly.

Kougou held her gaze, seeing a mix of emotion there. Discomfort, uncertainty, regret, hope... He stared back at her for a moment. "Why did you do this?"

"I..." She looked at her feet, clasping her hands in front of her awkwardly. "I'll explain everything after school..."

He wordlessly pried his eyes off of her and continued into the school, pushing away all emotion.



When the last bell released school, Kougou felt as though he'd been testing for days instead of hours. He stood up and gathered his things, not bothering to look around at the others. Everyone was tired and drained. But they had enough energy to hurry out the doors.

"S-senpai."

"Saikai."

"Are you... mad at me?"

He turned to look at her, surprised to see that she was back in her previous uniform, tall socks and all. "Not angry, exactly."

"I promised I would explain," she said hesitantly, as if she didn't really want to continue. She looked up into his eyes and he noticed that her eyes were ringed with dark circles, as if she hadn't slept well in a while. She had been studying quite vigorously, though... "But can we go somewhere else? I don't want to explain here."

He nodded, leading her away from the school in silence. On the way, he handed her the sketchbook back. She took it wordlessly. They eventually stopped at a park, sitting down on a bench side-by-side. The trees rustled a little, and children played on the swings several feet away from the two teens. Saikai nervously fidgeted for a while before speaking up.

"When you saw me out with Rie yesterday, we had been talking about you before that," she admitted uncomfortably. Kougou saw that her hands were trembling. "She kept asking why we didn't just date already because we seem to like each other. I didn't have an answer for her except that I was afraid to talk about it with you." She paused again, blushing. "I'm not sure how you feel about me... and my feelings are conflicted right now, too...

"But I realized, from talking to Rie, that I was scared." Saikai bit her lip, lacing and unlacing her fingers. "I've never liked a boy before. I haven't dated even once... I was afraid that I would like you, and you wouldn't like me back. I didn't know what to do, but I really wanted to know how you felt. Rie told me to dress like that because boys like it and I wanted you to notice me..."

Kougou was at a loss for words. Saikai glanced at him, but kept her eyes trained on the ground as she continued.

"But when you saw me this morning, all I could think is how uncomfortable I felt. Everyone was talking about me. People were staring at me.... and none of them was you." She looked up, her beautiful eyes causing his heart to beat faster. "When you asked me why, I was scared that my actions had the opposite effect."

"But I do notice you," he admitted softly.

She blushed, her sweet lips curving into the smallest of smiles. "Really?"

He nodded, but behind his smile, a part of him was bristling. He absolutely couldn't fall in love with her. Kougou had bloody premonitions about people all around him. He had to take care of his father. Innocent and beautiful Saikai would never be equipped to understand or deal with such problems, and he hoped she would never have to be.