Running the Gauntlet: A Natsume Yuujinchou fanfic (Part 1)
Part 1 of my fanfic based on the idea I had in this post about Natsume's running abilities making his life at school difficult that blew up.
Includes a couple silly footnotes!
Running the Gauntlet
“I wish Natsume wasn’t our anchor,” a classmate complained.
Natsume flinched. It’s not like I wanted to be, he thought glumly. He pretended he hadn’t heard, hunching over and tying this shoe. So many students and teachers milling around on the grass, waiting for the big event, whoever it was probably hadn’t noticed he was nearby.
But then, Nishimura’s response made him feel even worse.
“Man, shut up. You haven’t really seen Natsume run. He’s friggin’ fast. We’re lucky to have him.”
Natsume appreciated Nishimura standing up for him, but inwardly he was screaming at him to please stop talking about this.
Then Kitamoto chimed in, “Yeah, one of the first times we saw him outside of school, he basically dashed out of the woods at warp speed. So don’t be rude.”
He saw Kitamoto glance quickly at him, clearly aware might be in earshot.
“Fast? Come on you two, I know he’s your friend, but the guy is sickly. You’re expecting me to believe someone who collapses every other day is a good runner? I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, I’m just not counting on him to win this”. The classmate, who rarely spoke to Natsume, adjusted his glasses.
“You’ll see,” Nishimura said smugly.
Natsume groaned inwardly, straightening up.
He eyed the various students hanging out in different colored headbands, the boy handing out water bottles from the tent, and some teachers talking off to the side. There was even a chattering crowd on the small set of bleachers. A crowd that included parents.
But worst of all was the looping black track, sizzling in the sun before him. He, Nishimura, and the rest who’d been chosen for the relay race would be lining up on it soon.
He hated Sports Day.
To be fair, this was his least hated sports day so far. He’d never actually experienced sports day while having friends before. When he was a kid, he could expect being pushed to the ground and mocked, or having classmates complaining loudly to teachers about being paired up with the liar. Best case scenario was he’d merely have to feel lonely as he was left out of class celebrations, watching parents and friends cheer others on when there was no one to cheer for him.
But this year he’d been able to cheer wildly for Taki during the bean bag toss, laugh at Tanuma as he was forced to dance awkwardly with the rest of his class during their group performance, and smile as Tanuma got some sweet revenge by beating him at the scavenger hunt. He’d gotten to high five Kitamoto and Nishimura after every victory, and even Sasada once.
So many parents being here was still a little intimidating, though. He kept expecting one of them to yell at him to get away from their kid, even though he knew it wasn’t like that anymore. The Fujiwaras hadn’t been able to come, as they had a relative’s wedding to attend today. Natsume hadn’t even told them today was sports day, because he didn’t want them to feel bad about it. He was also kind of relieved they couldn’t come, because he would have been even more nervous if they were watching.
Overall, it had been a good day. He was basically enjoying himself.
But there was no getting over the dread of his biggest obstacle yet—the relay race. He was really going to have to pay attention to his running. It was such a tough balance…he didn’t want to let down the class, but he also needed to think of…
“Natsume, are you okay?” He blinked, noticing Sasada was suddenly next to him. “You were spacing out a bit.”
“I’m fine! Actually, are you okay?” She looked pale, and she kept fiddling with her glasses. It was strange to see her without the usual air of confidence.
“I’m nervous,” she admitted. She’d been chosen for the relay race too, and was looking at the track with almost as much trepidation as he was.
“Sasada! Natsume!” Nishimura ran forward before Natsume could reassure her. “It’s all up to us!”
“Yay,” Sasada said blandly.
“Whar’a wrong, Sasada?” Nishimura grinned smugly at her “Worried you’re gonna be the sports day cliché?”
“The…what?”
“You’ve seen it on TV, right? In anime and stuff? There’s always the one person who trips during the relay race. They scramble to their feet, tears in their eyes, and pass off their baton…” Nishimura imitated the gesture dramatically. “But don’t worry! You can trip all you want, I’m so fast it won’t matter! No need to be nervous!”
Sasada shook her head, putting her glasses back on. “You know what, your stupidity has calmed my nerves a bit, thank you,”
“Glad to be of service.”
---
Considering all that, Natsume wasn’t exactly surprised when Nishimura was the one who tripped.
Natsume winced when his friend went down, hoping he wasn’t hurt. It would be okay, right? Nishimura was so good-humored. This wasn’t a big deal or anything. He’d just laugh it off and…
Nishimura stumbled up, his knee bleeding, his face burning with shame. Natsume could see his eyes were brimming with tears. Of course he was devastated. Nishimura may act carefree, but he hated letting people down.
Natsume sighed.
Fine then.
“Nishimura!” He called out, offering his hand. “Don’t give up! I’ve got this!”
Nishimura’s face lit up instantly. He jogged as fast as he could and slammed the baton in Natsume’s hand. Natsume faced forward. The others had a massive head start, but that wasn’t enough to make him give up.
A yokai is chasing me, he told himself. A big one with sharp teeth.
And next thing he knew, he was crossing the finish line.
Cheers exploded around him as the other runners caught up, lagging after him. And then, suddenly, what seemed to be the entire class was rushing towards him. He had to resist the urge to put his hands up defensively.
Nishimura slammed into him from the side, embracing him. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and he was whooping and laughing. Heat spread up Natsume’s neck and face. It was the first time Nishimura had ever hugged him. Or cried so openly in front of him. He knew it was considered fine for guys to cry and hug only when it involved sports for some reason, but it was still a surprise. He wasn’t used to that kind of intimacy. Not that it was bad. It was kind of nice.
The rest of his class gathered around him, yelling things like “way to go” and “that was amazing!” Even Sasada, her face still red and sweaty from her run, was screaming her head off and jumping up and down. Kitamoto clapped Natsume on the back and soon several classmates followed suit. Natsume was sure a red handprint was permanently etched on his back now.
“Dude, I knew you were fast, but I didn’t know you were that fast!!” Nishimura yelled through his tears.
“Seriously, do you have a secret running regimen I don’t know about, or is it just natural talent?” Kitamoto said.
Natsume heard some more cheering explode behind him, and looked over his shoulder to see an uncharacteristically excited Tanuma waving at him from the other side of the track, “Congrats, Natsume!”
“Tanuma, you could at least… pretend to care… that our class lost,” said the boy Natsume had gone up against, still doubled over and panting.
“Sorry.”
There was loud whistle from the stands and Natsume saw it came from Taki. The girl next to her had covered her ears. Taki didn’t notice, and let out another impressively strong blast, waving at him. She removed her knuckles from her mouth and shouted “Woo, Natsume!”
Natsume was torn between being happy his friends supported him and so embarrassed he could die.
“I owe you an apology, Natsume,” said the boy with the glasses, whoever he was.
“Hell yeah you do!” Nishimura responded.
“Nishimura…” Kitamoto’s said scoldingly, his eyes flicking to Sasada.
“Ah…I’m sorry too, Sasada,” Nishimura said sincerely. “You really showed me.” (Sasada had been fast enough to give Nishimura a head start, as Natsume suspected she would be, she’d certainly caught up to him out of nowhere plenty of times in the early days of their relationship).
Sasada wasn’t listening, she was looking at a fit girl with short black hair from another class, who was also still panting from the race. “How about that, Chiyo!” she called over to her.
“You win this one, but I’ll get you next time, Jun! Just you wait!” Chiyo called with a matching huge grin and an excited look in her eyes. For some reason Sasada blushed delicately in response*.
“Okay, okay, give him some room to breathe,” Kitamoto said, shooing at the others. They all stepped back, though Nishimura remained by Natsume’s side. Natsume was grateful for Kitamoto, he was dizzy and overwhelmed. He’d had no idea races like this were such a big deal to people. He was more grateful than ever the Fujiwaras weren’t here to add on to all this.
“Look Natsume!” Sasada had finally torn her eyes away from the other girl and was pointing at the stands. “Even the track coach looks impressed!”
“No wonder, you’re faster than half her team,” Kitamoto said. “Bet she tries to recruit you!”
Natsume’s stomach dropped like a stone. Indeed, the track coach, a woman with short brown hair and sharp eyes, was looking at him with interest. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of. His personal hell had returned. Had winning a measly race been worth it?
Natsume looked over at Nishimura, who was still jumping up and down and hollering about how he was going to treat Kitamoto, Sasada and Natsume to some manju, not even minding when Kitamoto snarked at him about it how it must be a cold day in hell if the man who sponged off everyone was paying the tab for once. He flashed Natsume another ecstatic grin, and Natsume smiled back.
Yeah, it had been worth it.
--
Natsume had experienced a lot of reoccurring horrors, but the most annoying of them was being hounded by track coaches at every school he went to.
Apparently, spending most of his life running from yokai had made him faster than the average person. He’d been unaware of this until his first year of middle school. When it came time to run the track, Natsume had heard whispers around him, a couple of the kids placing bets on when he’d collapse. One boy had even smacked him on the shoulder and screamed “The liar’s gonna come in dead last!” in his ear.
Natsume hadn’t really done much racing against other kids on the playground, and he’d been sick during a lot of gym classes, so he’d also figured he’d struggle against the other kids. It had completely shocked everyone, himself included, when he blew past them all with ease. He’d reached the finish line only to find the other kids several feet behind him, panting and gawking.
The gym teacher’s eyes had gone wide, and he’d immediately started urging Natsume to join the track club. The man had even gone to Natsume’s current guardians about it.
His guardians had resented that he was getting attention while their real kid was an overlooked benchwarmer on the baseball team. They’d thrown lots of snide comments Natsume’s way. And…well, he hadn’t had a good time on the track team at all. When he’d inevitably had to move again after those same guardians got tired of him, leaving the track club behind had been the silver lining.
Upon transferring to a new school, he’d decided to keep his speed under wraps. But then a coach noticed him running when he was late for class one day and his troubles started all over again. At first he’d avoided the coach by coming up with excuses about responsibilities or detention or headaches, but eventually he was just reduced to hiding under the bleachers when he saw the man.
At another school, a coach tried to recruit him for her team SO aggressively he’d made the stupid mistake of running away when he saw her—and naturally, seeing how fast he could book it had just increased her interest.
So, when he was gathering up all the extra water bottles from the hydration station tent at end of the day, and saw the track coach approach him, his heart started pounding, He fought back his urge to bolt, even a flashbacks filled his brain.
“Natsume, right? I’m Sakuragi, if you don’t remember,” The woman had a wide, genuine smile. He’d only spoken to her a few times, but he was pretty sure she was Taki’s homeroom teacher. “You showed some impressive hustle today! Have you ever thought of joining the track team?”
Fortunately, Natsume had his excuses pre-prepared. “Oh wow, that’s such an honor, Sensei!” He said, continuing to gather up the water bottles while still maintaining polite eye contact. “But, you see, I get sick very easily, so joining a team is a bad idea. I’d just end up being absent a lot, and I’d let the team down.”
“That’s not a problem.” To his horror, the teacher bent down and started picking up the water bottles herself.
“You don’t have to trouble yourself—” He began quickly, but she cut him off, saying “ I’d never require you to come in when you’re not feeling well. You wouldn’t need to worry about calling out sick. We’re a fairly large team, so other students can easily sub in for you if you can’t make a race.”
What kind of laid back track team was this? Never mind, Natsume had a backup excuse. “Well, that’s great, but I’m also concerned about making trouble for my foster parents. It’s a lot to ask them, and I don’t want to put them out. I’d be around to help them less. They’d have to pay for expenses, like when overnight trips at the inn when we go to other towns, or shoes—”
“The school supplies the shoes and other essentials, and we can cover trip expenses if need be. Also, I chat with Ms. Fujiwara at the grocery store often, and she loves bragging about you. I can’t see her turning down a chance for you to develop your skills and enjoy some team spirit!”
Natsume looked down at his shoes, sure that he was tomato red right now. Touko bragged about him? What did he even do worth bragging about? “He only missed ten days of class this month”? “His grades were perfectly mediocre again”? “He hasn’t come home covered in dirt in a while”? “He made five whole friends in school, somehow?”*
Still, through his embarrassment, he felt a little warm inside. She was proud of him. It was a still a new feeling, and he wasn’t sure what to do with this strange, shy happiness.
“Natsume?” The coach’s voice snapped him back to reality. “Is there anything else bothering you, or would you like to come do a practice session with us? If you don’t like it, you don’t have to join. I’ll respect your decision.”
“I…” Natsume was searching for another excuse.
Nishimura jogged up. “Natsume, do you need any—" He noticed who Natsume was talking to and his eyes widened. “Oh, sorry to interrupt, Sensei! Natsume, are you being recruited? That’s so cool!”
“Ah, you were his teammate today, right?” Sakuragi smiled at Nishimura kindly.
Nishimura flushed a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, Natsume really saved me out there. He’s a dependable guy! And he’s a great runner!”
Nishimura flashed a grin at Natsume, who was wishing he had telepathy so he could tell him to stop. He tried to send a signal by shaking his head slightly, but Nishimura wasn’t looking now.
“Well, that definitely sounds like track team material,” Sakuragi said jovially. She turned to Natsume. “Looks like your friends vouch for you. But it’s up to you, Natsume. Would you mind just stopping by?”
Natsume couldn’t bring himself to directly say no to a teacher in the first place, and now Nishimura and his enthusiasm had been added to the mix. “I’ll give it a try,” he mumbled, forcing a smile.
“Great! Just come to the track after school tomorrow. I think you’ll find it’s a lot more fun than you’re thinking.”
Natsume kept the smile fixed on as they carried the water bottles back into school. When the coach departed and they came ouside again, he and Nishimura met Taki and Tanuma. As always, Nishimura immediately started blushing and fidgeting , but as always, Taki failed to notice.
“I saw you with Sakuragi-sensei!” she said with a smile. “Impressing her is a big feat, Natsume! And don’t worry, she’s really nice.” She put her hand on Natsume’s shoulder, and Nishimura let out a strangled squeak. “She won’t get mad at you, whatever you decide.”
“Are you okay?” Tanuma said softly. Clearly both he and Taki had noticed he wasn’t actually happy right now.
“I’m fine,” Natsume said, letting the fake smile drop away and replacing it with a shrug of his shoulders. “I’ll just check it out. No big deal.”
---
“I don’t get why you’re whining so much about it,” Nyanko-sensei said, trotting beside Natsume as he walked to school the next day. “It’s just one measly meeting. What’s so bad about this running team thing anyway?”
“The people who took care of me when I joined the track team the first time were really bothered by it. They didn’t like having to drive me places, or the attention I got—”
“The Fujiwara’s aren’t like that, so that’s a stupid excuse.”
“That’s true, but it’s more than that,” Natsume sighed. “Last time, I was constantly late or absent. A yokai would attack me or I’d get sick...”
“Wimp.”
“Shut up, Sensei. Anyway, whenever that happened, the coach yelled at me for flaking out. I let everyone down.”
“But this woman said it doesn’t matter if you’re sick and can’t come, right?”
“She says that now, but she might change her mind,” Natsume mumbled.
“You’re so gloomy,” Nyanko-sensei shook his head. “It’s annoying.”
“Look, even if what she says is true, my teammates probably won’t like me. They didn’t last time. And I just…I just hated the feeling of all those people looking at me.”
He’d struggled a bit with just the sports day crowd watching him, but being on a real team was a million times worse. All those people judging, all their hopes riding on him not messing up… He shivered, remembering the way his skin had crawled, the way his breathing turned funny, the way his hands had shook. All those eyes on him…the weight of their gaze had made him want to curl up so small they couldn’t see him anymore.
“And there’s the actual reason. You’re bad with other people and you get stage fright. Boring.” Sensei yawned. “Just get over it. You have yokai trying to eat you all the time, why’s this scary?’
“I’d rather deal with yokai than the track team,” Natsume said emphatically.
Nyanko-sensei scoffed.
“A couple years ago there was this coach who was always chasing after me to recruit me. I was running from her, trying to get off school grounds so she couldn’t follow me, but then I saw that there was this huge yokai on the path out of school. Big fangs, sharp teeth, claws, all that. I’d have to double back to avoid it, and the coach would catch me. So… I took the better option, and I ran past the yokai.”
“Idiot. Did it attack you?”
“I took a swing at me and knocked me out. But because of that the teacher was reprimanded for making the sickly kid collapse and they threatened to fire her if she ever chased a student again. She stopped trying to ask me after that. So it all worked out.”
“I don’t understand humans,” Sensei sighed. “Anyway, I’m in favor of the track team. If it helps you run faster, that means less of you getting snatched by yokai and less work for me.”
“Stop being lazy and trying to skip out on your bodyguard duties, Sensei. Yokai shouldn’t be chasing me down in the first place, it’s your job to take care of them.”
“I’ve got my own life to live! Stop being so selfish!”
“I’m the selfish one?”
They bickered all the way to the school gate, and though Natsume would never admit it to Nyanko-sensei, it did make him feel a lot better.
---
Part 1 complete! Part 2 to come. This is probably about halfway there, if not more.
Footnotes:
*Yes, Sasada has a sports and academic rival yuri storyline in the background. Yes I'm being self indulgent. It's what she deserves. It probably won't come up much more, I just thought it would be funny. Sasada's having this whole romantic epic while Natsume's worrying about track.
*Touko has been bragging about how kind and helpful you are, Natsume, you dummy. And about the garden he made and how it was good it was and other things Natsume does really well he hasn't noticed. She's also probably noticed he's fast and relatively strong for his size, he's always fetching and carrying stuff for her, but Coach thought she was exaggerating. UNTIL NOW.
Takashi Natsume from Natsume’s Book of Friends is an aromantic asexual trans boy, Kaname Tanuma is a gay demiboy, Tooru Taki is a bisexual magigirl, Seiji Matoba is an aromantic asexual trans boy, Shuuichi Natori is a pansexual nonbinary person, and Jun Sasada is a trans girl!
From left to right, characters are: Reiko, Taki, little fox, Touko, Hinoe, Kaoru Sonokawa (Vol17Ch68/S6EP71), Tsukiko Takuma (Vol15CH60/S6EP67), nameless tree youkai (Vol4Special2/S3EP30), Sasafune (Vol5CH16/S2EP21), nameless exorcist lady (Vol7CH23/S3EP32), Yuriko Ogata (Vol9Special9/S4EP44), Nyanko, and Sasada!
Summary: Tooru thought it was a good idea to use her extra oranges as a pretext to invite her crush over, until she found out said crush didn’t like them.
[Femslash February 2021 Day 5: Orange]
The round fruits looked huge and shiny and juicy, and under the warm sun of the afternoon they almost seemed like big jewels.
Oranges weren’t Tooru’s favorite fruit, but even she couldn’t help but salivate while staring at them. Her neighbor, a sweet old lady with soft eyes who’d always taken good care of her since she was little, had told her she’d gotten extra oranges this summer and had came to give some to her. It was still a little too much for her alone though — as neither her parents nor her brother would be home before a while — but she couldn’t bring herself to refuse the woman’s kindhearted gift so she took them anyway, thinking she’d share some with her friends.
As she walked towards the kitchen, she considered calling Natsume and Tanuma, but suddenly another opportunity popped up in her mind: what if she invited the pretty class president Sasada? This would be a unique chance to see her with a good excuse!
It wasn’t like she and Sasada didn’t have much occasion to talk — they were pretty much friends, and Tooru had even invited her to her home a few times under some basic pretexts. But they still weren’t excessively close, not like she was to Natsume or Tanuma. Despite the fact it had been a while now since her youkai situation had been resolved, Tooru still struggled to get closer to others at school, or to anyone , really — she was fine with Natsume because he was Natsume , and Tanuma was his close friend so they’d instantly gotten along without issues.
And that was quite a shame when Tooru might have developed sort of a crush on Sasada. She wasn’t sure why or how it happened, but somehow despite her bossy and serious exterior, Sasada had a very kind heart and Tooru liked hanging out with her and couldn’t help but feel attracted to her. It was quite funny, in a way, that she’d instantly felt comfortable inviting Sasada in her home despite the fact it took Natsume and Tanuma to accidentally stumbles on her house for her to finally make them enter the place.
In any case, eating oranges together didn’t seem so bad an excuse for once, so she’d called her and her friend showed up on her porch twenty minutes later in casual clothes, brown hair falling on her shoulders, blue hairpin in place and glasses straight on her nose. Tooru’s face instantly lit up and she smiled brightly at her.
“So what was that surprise you were talking about?” Sasada asked upon sitting down the table.
“It’s nothing much, really! But I wouldn’t be able to take care of it by myself, so…” She entered the room with her arms full with the oranges basket, a wide smile on her face. “Tada!”
She put her charge on the table proudly, but when she lifted her eyes on her friend her smile almost vanished instantly. Sasada was staring at the big, round fruits with a wary expression and… practically a grimace — a far cry from the cute, reserved smile Tooru had hoped for.
“S-Something’s wrong?” She asked with hesitation, wishing she hadn’t done anything to upset the other girl — she was still so bad at relationships, and her anxiety was already screaming at her that of course she was going to screw this one up and that it had been a bad idea to invite her in the first place—
“Uh, no, it’s just… I don’t like oranges.”
“Oh…”
Tooru sat down in front of Sasada, falling quiet. Somehow, it had been less worse than what she’d first thought, but now she felt really silly. The entire reason why she’d invited her was to eat those oranges, but if she didn’t like them, then…
“W-Why?” was the only thing her brain managed to come up with to dilute the weird tension.
“H-Huh? Um… uh, I don’t know, I just… I don’t like sour things…”
Tooru blinked at her, then couldn’t help but laugh, which got her a dubious glare from Sasada.
“Oranges aren’t all that sour, though! But, you don’t like bitter food? Somehow, it doesn’t fit your character.”
Sasada frowned in an unusual way — she frowned a lot at school, but this time she looked more flustered than angry or strict — and suddenly blushed at her comment. Cute.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Tooru giggled again. “It’s just, you’re always so sharp and mature. So I didn’t picture you not liking bitter things.”
“W-Well, that’s just how it is. I haven’t eaten oranges since I was six because of this.”
“Eh? You’ve only eaten it once when you were a child? That’s not good! Perhaps your tastes changed between then! You should try again.”
All while talking, Tooru took one of the oranges and started to peel it, her brow furrowing with concentration.
“Th-That’s not necessary,” she heard Sasada argue from in front of her. “I already know that I won’t like it—”
“But it was so long ago! You never know!”
Honestly, Tooru didn’t know why she insisted so much. It wasn’t like she cared about whether or not Sasada ate those oranges or not. But somehow seeing the girl getting so embarrassed over something like this made it worth it, in a way. At some point, it seemed Sasada had resigned herself to her fate, and she fell quiet while Tooru worked thoroughly on her orange. She was very careful to peel it properly, not making any smudges or scratches on the fruit, then cut it in small quarters properly. She even disposed the orange bits on a small plate in a circle before extending it to Sasada, a big, proud smile on her face.
“Here it is!”
Sasada narrowed her eyes and stared at the plate suspiciously, as if it was some kind of animal that was going to jump at her and attack her. But finally, a fond smile spread on her face as she looked up at Tooru and tentatively grabbed one of the quarters with a pout.
“You’re a strange one. I’m going to start thinking you have a grudge against me or something.”
“That’s not true!” Tooru replied cheerfully. “I actually like you.”
Sasada turned red at her declaration, her eyes widening, but upon seeing Tooru’s smile it seemed she took this as a lighthearted comment.
“All right… I’ll do this but just for you, then,” she declared before finally biting into the orange.
It wasn’t just a lighthearted comment though, as Tooru truly did like her. But she thought now was not yet the time to make such a big love confession.
For now, she just looked Sasada tastes the orange and make a grimace as the juice spread on her lips and that the both of them ended up laughing and laughing.
Sasada still hated oranges once their afternoon together came to an end, but Tooru thought it wasn’t that big of a deal, after all.
I just started watching the anime Natsume Yuujinchou and I love it sooooooooooo much!!! It’s a shoujo that revolves around a boy for once rather than a girl and there’s nothing wrong with those that do, I just find it rather refreshing to find one that doesn’t. Natsume Takashi aka the main protagonist of this anime is as cute as a button with a such a kind and tender soul. And his “bodyguard” Madara or better known as Nyanko-sensei is pretty funny.... tho I’ll admit that sense I don’t particularly like cats I’m not exactly sure how I feel about him as a character despite that tho I’m already kinda starting to like him so if I just ignore the fact he’s a cat I’ll probably end up liking him. Also i think Jun Sasada has started developing a crush on Natsume after that little incident at the old school building at there school... I forgot which episode that was... oops....in any case I really really like this anime so far!!! I can’t wait to continue watching it... 😄👏🏼👌🏼👍🏻😄
Glass Beads (Natsume Week; Day 1— Natsume’s Birthday)
@natsumeweek Glass Beads — Day 1 of Natsume Week; Natsume’s Birthday
The feeling of him slipping through someone’s mind wasn’t a new feeling for Natsume Takashi. In fact, he was rather used to that feeling of neglection. The coldness that embraced him each time on his birthday was all too familiar, he once longed for the warmth of another human but he knew that it wasn’t something possible. Likewise to how he had stopped calling for his father, he realised it was also pointless to long for someone you could never have nor experience.
However, just like him, his attitude had changed over time. In the beginning, he had been detached from life, no one accepted him. Not humans nor youkai. Ever since he had arrived at the Fujiwaras, their kindness was so warm that he gradually became afraid to lose his home. He wanted to stay here forever. For once, he loved a place. It made him happy. Yes, he wanted to stay here. The first time he had expressed those feelings were to Kitamoto, one of his close friends. However… was there really such a thing as ‘forever’?
-------------
Natsume’s eyes had remained like glass beads. Without emotion, fake and impossible to read. At least… that was once how Kitamoto had viewed him. His amber brown eyes gazed off into the distance absentmindedly as he had brushed his fingers against the wood of the window pane, the dust collecting on his fingers.
Shigeru had been out on a work trip since yesterday whilst Touko was out with a friend and they had been catching up on old times. Nyanko-sensei had gone out drinking with the dogs’ circle. It was the 1st of July yet he had forgotten what that date even meant to him. Was there a special event today? He could no longer remember but it felt like he was forgetting something important about the ‘1st of July’.
Again, like before, he had been alone and detached from this world. Just like how others had allowed his very existence to slip through their mind, he, too, without even realising it, allowed himself to also slip through his own mind. Yet even so, he was used to it. That feeling of loneliness and negligence. His previous foster parents seemingly ‘forgetting’ to feed him or ignoring him once they had noticed he continuously spewed out ‘lies’ so he could get attention. It was all… far too familiar for his liking. However, the Fujiwara household was different. Shigeru and Touko cared for him regardless of his circumstances and his past, regardless of the strange rumours about his grandmother Reiko, regardless of everything… besides his ability to see youkai. That was the one thing he’d never tell them.
Hearing the Fujiwaras’ home phone ringing, he opened his door and headed down the stairs, the only sound being his footsteps against the timber. He soon reached the white home phone and reluctantly picked it up, wondering who it was. “Hello? This is the Fujiwara household.”
“Hello Natsume,” the voice replied and Natsume sighed. It was none other than Natori Shuuichi.
It wasn’t that he wanted Natori right now but rather he had just immersed himself in the mood of silent contemplation. With the so-called ‘mellow’ sound of Natori’s voice (as said by many of his fangirls), all he could imagine were the budding roses and sparkles that were emanated from his self-proclaimed ‘fabulousness’.
“Natori…” Natsume replied before continuing, “I didn’t expect you to be the one that called me.”
“Neither did I,” Natori admitted and chuckled in response, “I’m at work right now for an advertisement. Yet despite my preoccupation, it felt like there was something important going on. Is there anything you want to tell me Natsume?”
“Nothing special has happened with the Book of Friends?” Natsume replied inquiringly.
Ever since the incident at the mansion, Natsume had confessed everything about the Book of Friends. About Reiko. About the names he was releasing. About the youkai that came after him. About everything. During that time, Natori had remained silent, seemingly listen whilst the lizard continuously moved around him. Afterwards, Natori had stated that he’d find a way to free Natsume from that burden and from something so dangerous.
“T-That’s not what I mean,” Natori laughed, “I meant, is there an event going on right now?”
“No, but…” Natsume replied and parted his lips in an attempt to speak but nothing came. Gulping, he spoke once again, “But I feel like there’s probably something going on but I just forgot what it was.”
“Maybe it’s your birthday,” Natori remarked jokingly, “But Natsume, like I said before, whenever you get tired of lying, you can alway— I’m coming! Sorry Natsume but I’ve got to go back to work.”
Natsume laughed as he heard the faraway background noises from Natori’s work. Although, the home phone had now been ‘beep’-ing as a sign of the disconnected call. It was just a comment that Natori had spontaneously said but he was correct. He recalled what he had been forgetting about despite how important it was, after all, it was the day he was born. It really was his birthday. He was honestly astounded by the fact that he’d forgotten his own birthday. Shaking his head to himself, he decided not to kick up a fuss about it. After all, both Shigeru and Touko were busy. Tanuma, Taki, Kitamoto and Nishimura were probably busy as well and he didn’t want to be a burden to either of them. As for Sasada and Shibata, he didn’t mind their company but he didn’t want to distract them either. He wasn’t the slightest bit interested in smelling sake from Nyanko-sensei so he scratched that option as well. As for Natori, he was busy, hence, the recent disconnected phone call. Matoba’s answer was obvious and rather self-explanatory considering all the action he had done, especially when the man had threatened Natsume, saying he’d tell the Fujiwaras’ about his ability to see youkai.
Scratching the back of his head awkwardly, Natsume shook his head. He wasn’t eager to celebrate it in the slightest but he reluctantly admitted that it would’ve been nice to spend time with all of his companions. Feeling himself blush at the thought of bringing all his friends together, he realised that maybe a birthday wasn’t so bad after all even if it meant he was just going to be year older. However, even if he wanted to, it was probably impossible. Just like how he loved the prefecture he had been living in and the fact that he wanted to stay here forever with his foster family, he, too, knew that it was impossible.
Was it just a human’s instincts to long for something that they’d never had? He thought he had outgrown his sense of selfishness but it seemed that it wasn’t the case. As loathe as he was to admit it, he was lonely, he wanted to be with someone, he was tired of lying but that didn’t necessarily mean he wanted to go to Natori. He just wanted a place to go to that belonged to only him so he could rest in solitude. However, he had been designated the task of looking after the household considering both of the Fujiwaras’ hadn’t been present. Sighing to himself, he recalled the time when he had felt so detached from the world where he couldn’t have cared less about his birthday or life events of his because he had merely forgotten them since he had always focused on the existence of youkai and ayakashi that had been pursuing his life or the Book of Friends. Only recently had he acquired the knowledge of what the Book of Friends actually was and that had been his first encounter of Nyanko-sensei after having tripped and breaking the protective seal that was placed on him.
For his birthday, with nothing much to do, he decided to recall the times he had met everyone. Nishimura, having spoken to him in the classroom, Kitamoto, who had spoken to him during lunch break, Sasada, who had shown him around the school when he first transferred, Tanuma, who had been another student that could see youkai, Taki as the girl attempting to see youkai, Touko during the night when he had ran from home, Shigeru, when they had passed one another at a funeral, Shibata, during school when he had been a bully back then, Matoba in a storeroom that attempted to strangle him, Natori when he had been at a movie set. There were so many people he had known even if he may have not gotten along with few of them.
Was this the reason as to why he recalled the feeling of loneliness? In this world, he felt so small and lost with no one to guide him. He longed for the company and compassion that he had received ever since he had transferred to this prefecture. Originally, he suspected that they, too, would’ve gotten sick of him but they never did. He was grateful for that fact, beginning to shrug off the absence of his friends and foster family during his birthday.
Smiling to himself, he sighed happily. The greatest present that he had ever received in this world right now was the fateful encounters he had. Although, with that present came sacrifices such as his biological mother and father. He didn’t need anything special. Maybe he’d tell everyone tomorrow on the 2nd of July but... for now, he’d live the moment and allow himself to devote the entirety of the day to himself.
Perhaps Kitamoto had been right. Once again, as Natsume gazed off absentmindedly, his eyes seemed like glass beads. Without emotion, fake and impossible to read.
*Natsume blushes lightly and gives him a judging look, like, "what is he thinking? They're in the middle of a studying section and their friends are right beside them!"
*He thinks for a moment...and then declares:
-I'm kind of hungry, I'm going downstairs to see if Touko-san has something for us to heat.
*He gets up and Tanuma fallows him*
-I'll help you
-No, it's ok
-No, no, I insist – says Tanuma giving him a little smirk
*Natsume blushes lightly, again*
-Ok than, after you.
*And the two leave the room*
*After watching the two, Nishimura states:
-they're really close, huh...
-Too close...
*says Sasada*
-W-what are you two saying, they're normal, normal
Running the Gauntlet: A Complete Natsume Yuujinchou Oneshot Fic
My full fanfic based on the idea I had in this post about Natsume's running abilities making his life at school difficult that blew up.
Includes a couple silly footnotes! ao3 link here if you want to leave kudos
Thank you to @schrodingersauthorii for saying something in the comments to my post that inspired parts of this!
Running the Gauntlet
“I wish Natsume wasn’t our anchor,” a classmate with a sour face and square glasses complained.
Natsume flinched. It’s not like I wanted to be, he thought glumly. He pretended he hadn’t heard, hunching over and tying this shoe. So many students and teachers milling around on the grass, waiting for the big event, whoever it was probably hadn’t noticed he was nearby.
But then, Nishimura’s response made him feel even worse.
“Man, shut up. You haven’t really seen Natsume run. He’s friggin’ fast. We’re lucky to have him.”
Natsume appreciated Nishimura standing up for him, but inwardly he was screaming at him to please stop talking about this.
Then Kitamoto chimed in, “Yeah, one of the first times we saw him outside of school, he basically dashed out of the woods at warp speed. So don’t be rude.”
He saw Kitamoto glance quickly at him, clearly aware might be in earshot.
“Fast? Come on you two, I know he’s your friend, but the guy is sickly. You’re expecting me to believe someone who collapses every other day is a good runner? I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, I’m just not counting on him to win this”. The classmate, who rarely spoke to Natsume, adjusted his glasses.
“You’ll see,” Nishimura said smugly.
Natsume groaned inwardly, straightening up.
He eyed the various students hanging out in different colored headbands, the boy handing out water bottles from the tent, and some teachers talking off to the side. There was even a chattering crowd on the small set of bleachers. A crowd that included parents.
But worst of all was the looping black track, sizzling in the sun before him. He, Nishimura, and the rest who’d been chosen for the relay race would be lining up on it soon.
He hated Sports Day.
To be fair, this was his least hated sports day so far. He’d never actually experienced sports day while having friends before. When he was a kid, he could expect being pushed to the ground and mocked, or having classmates complaining loudly to teachers about being paired up with the liar. Best case scenario was he’d merely have to feel lonely as he was left out of class celebrations, watching parents and friends cheer others on when there was no one to cheer for him.
But this year he’d been able to cheer wildly for Taki during the bean bag toss, laugh at Tanuma as he was forced to dance awkwardly with the rest of his class during their group performance, and smile as Tanuma got some sweet revenge by beating him at the scavenger hunt. He’d gotten to high five Kitamoto and Nishimura after every victory, and even Sasada once.
So many parents being here was still a little intimidating, though. He kept expecting one of them to yell at him to get away from their kid, even though he knew it wasn’t like that anymore. The Fujiwaras hadn’t been able to come, as they had a relative’s wedding to attend today. Natsume hadn’t even told them today was sports day, because he didn’t want them to feel bad about it. He was also kind of relieved they couldn’t come, because he would have been even more nervous if they were watching.
Overall, it had been a good day. He was basically enjoying himself.
But there was no getting over the dread of his biggest obstacle yet—the relay race. He was really going to have to pay attention to his running. It was such a tough balance…he didn’t want to let down the class, but he also needed to think of…
“Natsume, are you okay?” He blinked, noticing Sasada was suddenly next to him. “You were spacing out a bit.”
“I’m fine! Actually, are you okay?” She looked pale, and she kept fiddling with her glasses. It was strange to see her without the usual air of confidence.
“I’m nervous,” she admitted. She’d been chosen for the relay race too, and was looking at the track with almost as much trepidation as he was.
“Sasada! Natsume!” Nishimura ran forward before Natsume could reassure her. “It’s all up to us!”
“Yay,” Sasada said blandly.
“What’s wrong, Sasada?” Nishimura grinned smugly at her “Worried you’re gonna be the sports day cliché?”
“The…what?”
“You’ve seen it on TV, right? In anime and stuff? There’s always the one person who trips during the relay race. They scramble to their feet, tears in their eyes, and pass off their baton…” Nishimura imitated the gesture dramatically. “But don’t worry! You can trip all you want, I’m so fast it won’t matter! No need to be nervous!”
Sasada shook her head, putting her glasses back on. “You know what, your stupidity has calmed my nerves a bit, thank you,”
“Glad to be of service.”
---
Considering all that, Natsume wasn’t exactly surprised when Nishimura was the one who tripped.
Natsume winced when his friend went down, hoping he wasn’t hurt. It would be okay, right? Nishimura was so good-humored. This wasn’t a big deal or anything. He’d just laugh it off and…
Nishimura stumbled up, his knee bleeding, his face burning with shame. Natsume could see his eyes were brimming with tears. Of course he was devastated. Nishimura may act carefree, but he hated letting people down.
Natsume sighed.
Fine then.
“Nishimura!” He called out, offering his hand. “Don’t give up! I’ve got this!”
Nishimura’s face lit up instantly. He jogged as fast as he could and slammed the baton in Natsume’s hand. Natsume faced forward. The others had a massive head start, but that wasn’t enough to make him give up.
A yokai is chasing me, he told himself. A big one with sharp teeth.
And next thing he knew, he was crossing the finish line.
Cheers exploded around him as the other runners caught up, lagging after him. And then, suddenly, what seemed to be the entire class was rushing towards him. He had to resist the urge to put his hands up defensively.
Nishimura slammed into him from the side, embracing him. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and he was whooping and laughing. Heat spread up Natsume’s neck and face. It was the first time Nishimura had ever full-on hugged him. Or cried so openly in front of him. He knew it was considered fine for guys to cry and hug only when it involved sports for some reason, but it was still a surprise. He wasn’t used to that kind of intimacy. Not that it was bad. It was kind of nice.
The rest of his class gathered around him, yelling things like “way to go” and “that was amazing!” Even Sasada, her face still red and sweaty from her run, was screaming her head off and jumping up and down. Kitamoto clapped Natsume on the back and soon several classmates followed suit. Natsume was sure a red handprint was permanently etched on his back now.
“Dude, I knew you were fast, but I didn’t know you were that fast!!” Nishimura yelled through his tears.
“Seriously, do you have a secret running regimen I don’t know about, or is it just natural talent?” Kitamoto said.
Natsume heard some more cheering explode behind him, and looked over his shoulder to see an uncharacteristically excited Tanuma waving at him from the other side of the track, “Congrats, Natsume!”
“Tanuma, you could at least… pretend to care… that our class lost,” said the boy Natsume had gone up against, still doubled over and panting.
“Sorry.”
There was loud whistle from the stands and Natsume saw it came from Taki. The girl next to her had covered her ears. Taki didn’t notice, and let out another impressively strong blast, waving at him. She removed her knuckles from her mouth and shouted “Woo, Natsume!”
Natsume was torn between being happy his friends supported him and so embarrassed he could die.
“I owe you an apology, Natsume,” said the boy with the glasses, whoever he was.
“Hell yeah you do!” Nishimura responded.
“Nishimura…” Kitamoto’s said scoldingly, his eyes flicking to Sasada.
“Ah…I’m sorry too, Sasada,” Nishimura said sincerely. “You really showed me.” (Sasada had been fast enough to give Nishimura a head start, as Natsume suspected she would be, she’d certainly caught up to him out of nowhere plenty of times in the early days of their relationship).
Sasada wasn’t listening, she was looking at a fit girl with short black hair from another class, who was also still panting from the race. “How about that, Chiyo!” she called over to her.
“You win this one, but I’ll get you next time, Jun! Just you wait!” Chiyo called with a matching huge grin and an excited look in her eyes. For some reason Sasada blushed delicately in response*.
“Okay, okay, give him some room to breathe,” Kitamoto said, shooing at the others. They all stepped back, though Nishimura remained by Natsume’s side. Natsume was grateful for Kitamoto, he was dizzy and overwhelmed. He’d had no idea races like this were such a big deal to people. He was more grateful than ever the Fujiwaras weren’t here to add on to all this.
“Look Natsume!” Sasada had finally torn her eyes away from the other girl and was pointing at the stands. “Even the track coach looks impressed!”
“No wonder, you’re faster than half her team,” Kitamoto said. “Bet she tries to recruit you!”
Natsume’s stomach dropped like a stone. Indeed, the track coach, a woman with short dark brown hair and sharp eyes, was looking at him with interest. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of. His personal hell had returned. Had winning a measly race been worth it?
Natsume looked over at Nishimura, who was still jumping up and down and hollering about how he was going to treat Kitamoto, Sasada and Natsume to some manju, not even minding when Kitamoto snarked at him about it how it must be a cold day in hell if the man who sponged off everyone was paying the tab for once. He flashed Natsume another ecstatic grin, and Natsume smiled back.
Yeah, it had been worth it.
--
Natsume had experienced a lot of reoccurring horrors, but the most annoying of them was being hounded by track coaches at every school he went to.
Apparently, spending most of his life running from yokai had made him faster than the average person. He’d been unaware of this until his first year of middle school. When it came time to run the track, Natsume had heard whispers around him, a couple of the kids placing bets on when he’d collapse. One boy had even smacked him on the shoulder and screamed “The liar’s gonna come in dead last!” in his ear.
Natsume hadn’t really done much racing against other kids on the playground, and he’d been sick during a lot of gym classes, so he’d also figured he’d struggle against the other kids. It had completely shocked everyone, himself included, when he blew past them all with ease. He’d reached the finish line only to find the other kids several feet behind him, panting and gawking.
The gym teacher’s eyes had gone wide, and he’d immediately started urging Natsume to join the track club. The man had even gone to Natsume’s current guardians about it.
His guardians had resented that he was getting attention while their real kid was an overlooked benchwarmer on the baseball team. They’d thrown lots of snide comments Natsume’s way. And…well, he hadn’t had a good time on the track team at all. When he’d inevitably had to move again after those same guardians got tired of him, leaving the track club behind had been the silver lining.
Upon transferring to a new school, he’d decided to keep his speed under wraps. But then a coach noticed him running when he was late for class one day and his troubles started all over again. At first he’d avoided the coach by coming up with excuses about responsibilities or detention or headaches, but eventually he was just reduced to hiding under the bleachers when he saw the man.
At another school, a coach tried to recruit him for her team SO aggressively he’d made the stupid mistake of running away when he saw her—and naturally, seeing how fast he could book it had just increased her interest.
So, when he was gathering up all the extra water bottles from the hydration station tent at end of the day, and saw the track coach approach him, his heart started pounding, He fought back his urge to bolt, even a flashbacks filled his brain.
“Natsume, right? I’m Sakuragi, if you don’t remember." The woman had a wide, genuine smile. He’d only spoken to her a few times, but he was pretty sure she was Taki’s homeroom teacher. “You showed some impressive hustle today! Have you ever thought of joining the track team?”
Fortunately, Natsume had his excuses pre-prepared. “Oh wow, that’s such an honor, Sensei!” He said, continuing to gather up the water bottles while still maintaining polite eye contact. “But, you see, I get sick very easily, so joining a team is a bad idea. I’d just end up being absent a lot, and I’d let the team down.”
“That’s not a problem.” To his horror, the teacher bent down and started picking up the water bottles herself.
“You don’t have to trouble yourself—” He began quickly, but she cut him off, saying “ I’d never require you to come in when you’re not feeling well. You wouldn’t need to worry about calling out sick. We’re a fairly large team, so other students can easily sub in for you if you can’t make a race.”
What kind of laid back track team was this? Never mind, Natsume had a backup excuse. “Well, that’s great, but I’m also concerned about making trouble for my foster parents. It’s a lot to ask them, and I don’t want to put them out. I’d be around to help them less. They’d have to pay for expenses, like when overnight trips at the inn when we go to other towns, or shoes—”
“The school supplies the shoes and other essentials, and we can cover trip expenses if need be. Also, I chat with Ms. Fujiwara at the grocery store often, and she loves bragging about you. I can’t see her turning down a chance for you to develop your skills and enjoy some team spirit!”
Natsume looked down at his shoes, sure that he was tomato red right now. Touko bragged about him? What did he even do worth bragging about? “He only missed ten days of class this month”? “His grades were perfectly mediocre again”? “He hasn’t come home covered in dirt in a while”? “He made five whole friends at school, somehow?”*
Still, through his embarrassment, he felt a little warm inside. She was proud of him. It was a still a new feeling, and he wasn’t sure what to do with this strange, shy happiness.
“Natsume?” The coach’s voice snapped him back to reality. “Is there anything else bothering you, or would you like to come do a practice session with us? If you don’t like it, you don’t have to join. I’ll respect your decision.”
“I…” Natsume was searching for another excuse.
Nishimura jogged up. “Natsume, do you need any—" He noticed who Natsume was talking to and his eyes widened. “Oh, sorry to interrupt, Sensei! Natsume, are you being recruited? That’s so cool!”
“Ah, you were his teammate today, right?” Sakuragi smiled at Nishimura kindly.
Nishimura flushed a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, Natsume really saved me out there. He’s a dependable guy! And he’s a great runner!”
Nishimura flashed a grin at Natsume, who was wishing he had telepathy so he could tell him to stop. He tried to send a signal by shaking his head slightly, but Nishimura wasn’t looking now.
“Well, that definitely sounds like track team material,” Sakuragi said jovially. She turned to Natsume. “Looks like your friends vouch for you. But it’s up to you, Natsume. Would you mind just stopping by?”
Natsume couldn’t bring himself to directly say no to a teacher in the first place, and now Nishimura and his enthusiasm had been added to the mix. “I’ll give it a try,” he mumbled, forcing a smile.
“Great! Just come to the track after school tomorrow. I think you’ll find it’s a lot more fun than you’re thinking.”
Natsume kept the smile fixed on as they carried the water bottles back into school. When the coach departed and they came ouside again, he and Nishimura met Taki and Tanuma. As always, Nishimura immediately started blushing and fidgeting , but as always, Taki failed to notice.
“I saw you with Sakuragi-sensei!” she said with a smile. “Impressing her is a big feat, Natsume! And don’t worry, she’s really nice.” She put her hand on Natsume’s shoulder, and Nishimura let out a strangled squeak. “She won’t get mad at you, whatever you decide.”
“Are you okay?” Tanuma said softly. Clearly both he and Taki had noticed he wasn’t actually happy right now.
“I’m fine,” Natsume said, letting the fake smile drop away and replacing it with a shrug of his shoulders. “I’ll just check it out. No big deal.”
---
“I don’t get why you’re whining so much about it,” Nyanko-sensei said, trotting beside Natsume as he walked to school the next day. “It’s just one measly meeting. What’s so bad about this running team thing anyway?”
“The people who took care of me when I joined the track team the first time were really bothered by it. They didn’t like having to drive me places, or the attention I got—”
“The Fujiwara’s aren’t like that, so that’s a stupid excuse.”
“That’s true, but it’s more than that,” Natsume sighed. “Last time, I was constantly late or absent. A yokai would attack me or I’d get sick...”
“Wimp.”
“Shut up, Sensei. Anyway, whenever that happened, the coach yelled at me for flaking out. I let everyone down.”
“But this woman said it doesn’t matter if you’re sick and can’t come, right?”
“She says that now, but she might change her mind,” Natsume mumbled.
“You’re so gloomy,” Nyanko-sensei shook his head. “It’s annoying.”
“Look, even if what she says is true, my teammates probably won’t like me. They didn’t last time. And I just…I just hated the feeling of all those people looking at me.”
He’d struggled a bit with just the sports day crowd watching him, but being on a real team was a million times worse. All those people judging, all their hopes riding on him not messing up… He shivered, remembering the way his skin had crawled, the way his breathing turned funny, the way his hands had shook. All those eyes on him…the weight of their gaze had made him want to curl up so small they couldn’t see him anymore.
“And there’s the actual reason. You’re bad with other people and you get stage fright. Boring.” Sensei yawned. “Just get over it. You have yokai trying to eat you all the time, why’s this scary?’
“I’d rather deal with yokai than the track team,” Natsume said emphatically.
Nyanko-sensei scoffed.
“A couple years ago there was this coach who was always chasing after me to recruit me. I was running from her, trying to get off school grounds so she couldn’t follow me, but then I saw that there was this huge yokai on the path out of school. Big fangs, sharp teeth, claws, all that. I’d have to double back to avoid it, and the coach would catch me. So… I took the better option, and I ran past the yokai.”
“Idiot. Did it attack you?”
“I took a swing at me and knocked me out. But because of that the teacher was reprimanded for making the sickly kid collapse and they threatened to fire her if she ever chased a student again. She stopped trying to ask me after that. So it all worked out.”
“I don’t understand humans,” Sensei sighed. “Anyway, I’m in favor of the track team. If it helps you run faster, that means less of you getting snatched by yokai and less work for me.”
“Stop being lazy and trying to skip out on your bodyguard duties, Sensei. Yokai shouldn’t be chasing me down in the first place, it’s your job to take care of them.”
“I’ve got my own life to live! Stop being so selfish!”
“I’m the selfish one?”
They bickered all the way to the school gate, and though Natsume would never admit it to Nyanko-sensei, it did make him feel a lot better.
---
The atmosphere of the meet was a lot nicer than he expected. The other students were kind to him, many complementing them on his sports day performance. The team members and Coach Sakuragi were less, well, mean to each other than the team he’d briefly been part of, cheering each on rather than acting sullen when anyone outperformed them. The coach at his old school had always responded to any mistake with a torrent of frustrated criticism that made Natsume tremble in shame. But Sakuragi never acted disappointed or angry. She came off like she was giving friendly suggestions, and she pointed out what they were doing well at lot too. The team responded to her advice eagerly, rather than fearing her.
It was nice, and Natsume almost wished he was the kind of person who could be a part of this. But he knew himself too well. He’d feel terrible each time he missed out due to being sick or waylaid by yokai. And that would happen a lot. The nicer these people were, the worse he’d feel about letting them down. It didn’t matter if they were fine with it, he wouldn’t be. And to be honest, even if he liked his teammates, he didn’t like thinking about huge crowds watching him, he didn’t like the idea of watching other people cry in frustration when he beat them, any of it.
So when Sakuragi asked him if he wanted to do a practice run with the others, he agreed, all while planning to run much slower than usual. He’d explain to her after that the performance on sports day was a fluke, and he usually wasn’t that fast, and there was no way he’d be able to pull it off consistently. Sakuragi would hopefully stop wanting him to join the team, and even if she still asked him, she and the others wouldn’t feel bad when he turned her down.
He took a deep breath, as he stood at the starting line, closing his eyes and blocking the gaze of Sakuragi and the other students out. If he didn’t imagine a yokai was chasing him, running slower was pretty manageable, and he was experienced enough with doing it in Phys Ed that he knew he could pull it off without looking like he was holding back. It would be fine. He’d be fine.
He got himself into position, taking off when Coach blasted the whistle. He lagged way behind the others, while doing his best to look like he was really giving his all. It was going pretty well, he thought, until he looped around on the track and saw a yokai directly in his path.
It wasn’t a big one, not even coming up to Natsume’s knee. It was black, so it had blended in well with the track. It was sort of blobby and shapeless in form, like an inkstain, with beady eyes and a wiggly head.
Natsume’s heart raced and his mouth went dry. It might look small, but he knew better than anyone not to trust a yokai’s appearance. It could be dangerous. Was it here to get the Book of Friends, or was it trying to do something to the people here? It didn’t matter. He had to do something. He couldn’t just slow down, that would give it time to attack.
Instead, he vaulted over the creature. His ankle twisted under him when he landed. He fell, knees and hands scraping the ground. He immediately sprang to his feet and ran as fast he could. He had to lead it away from everyone else.
His sneakers pounded on the rubber and intense vibrations raced through him with each step. It felt like his bones were shuddering. Somone was calling his name, but it was muffled and distant, everything was. He has no room in his brain for anything but his goal. I have to protect the people here. I have to protect the Book of Friends. He crossed the finish line and veered into the grass, ready to grab his bag and sprint out of school grounds. But he looked over his shoulder, he saw the blobby yokai hadn’t moved after him at all. It had simply flattened and spread out on the ground. It’s eyes were closed.
Was it…taking a nap?
Relief filled Natsume as he skidded to a stop. Yes, it was sleeping. Its breathing was even, and as sounds came back to him, he could hear some faint snoring. But he also heard something else, which was Coach Sakuragi screaming at him.
“NATSUME! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? WHY WOULD YOU RUN ON A SPRAINED ANKLE?” She shouted while running toward him.
Sprained…? Natsume looked down and saw his ankle was swelling. Suddenly, intense pain shot through his leg, his ankle folded under him, and he crumpled. Sakuragi caught him under his arms before he could hit the ground. She lifted him up easily.
Wow, she’s strong, Natsume thought dazedly. Bet I look pretty pathetic right now. He could see students had gathered around to stare at him, expressions worried or shocked. One girl called “Are you okay??”
“Y-yeah,” he said as his mind screamed in humiliation.
Sakuragi could have probably carried him, but thankfully she chose to simply pull his arm over shoulder. “Don’t stand on that ankle, keep it raised.” She commanded. She turned to the cluster of team members. “We need the chairs, the ice bag from the cooler, and the first aid kit. Go get them.”
The student’s responded quickly, three of them running off.
Soon they all came back with all the supplies, including two folding chairs. Sakuragi eased him into a chair. Natsume couldn’t help groaning in pain when a student propped up his leg on the chair in front of him, resting his ankle on a folded towel. Sakuragi quickly cleaned out the minor scrapes on his hands and knees with some medicine.
Natsume hated that he was disrupting the entire track meet and making so many people fuss over him, but he knew protesting would be ungrateful, so he softly thanked the other students instead. They smiled back at him.
Sakuragi placed the ice bag on his ankle. Natsume sighed in relief as the numbing cold broke through the pain.
Sakuragi bent down to examine his foot. “It don’t think it’s broken, but you’re going to need to check it with a hospital. It’s badly sprained because of all the weight you put on it. Hopefully you didn’t tear the ligament completely.”
“A-a hospital?” Natsume’s stomach dropped. That was really going to worry Touko and Shigeru. He felt so stupid, putting them through all this because a harmless yokai was taking a nap.
Sakuragi straightened up and clapped her hands. “Okay, this isn’t a show, people. Give us some space and get back to practice.”
The team dispersed, and Sakuragi crossed her arms, frowning down at him. Natsume winced, thinking she was going to yell again. Instead, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “Natsume.” she said calmly. “I don’t understand what you were thinking. This was just a practice run. Your first one, too. I’ve seen students try to run on injuries before, but this wasn’t even an actual race!”
Natsume’s looked at his ankle, which was rapidly turning purple, burning with shame. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
“You don’t have to apologize. I just want to know what’s going on. Why did you run on that ankle?”
“I-I didn’t do it on purpose. It was just kind of…instinct?” Natsume said. He instantly realized that how weird that sounded, and so, apparently, did Sakuragi.
“Instinct?” Her frown deepened and her eyebrows drew together. “Your instinct is to keep running even when you’re hurt?”
“No, no, it’s not like that, I’m just used to—!” He snapped his mouth shut.
What was wrong with him? He was usually better at covering things up. He’d almost said he was used to having to run while injured. He’d twisted his ankle running from yokai plenty of times, and at some point he’d learned to just block out the pain until he got to safety. But obviously he couldn’t tell the coach that. He desperately searched for another way to end the sentence, but before he could, the coach bent over, looking him directly in the eye.
“Natsume, you looked very frightened when that “instinct” kicked in. Like you were being chased down. Are you used to being chased? Is it something that happens a lot?”
Natsume’s blood froze. Did she know? Why? How? What was going on? His ankle was throbbing so badly now, it was hard to think the haze of pain. His breathing got faster, his ears buzzed… He had to say something, anything to throw her off…
Sakuragi put her hand gently on his shoulder, “Natsume, you can tell me anything. Is it someone who goes to this school? Or even more than one person? Have they been hurting you? I know it’s scary to talk about it, but I promise I can help--”
Natsume’s shoulders slumped as relief flooded him. She’d was asking if people were chasing him. Obviously she’d meant people. What was wrong with him? Sure, his ankle felt like it was being hit repeatedly with a giant hammer, but that was no excuse to lose his head.
Doing his best to come off as relaxed, he said “Oh, It’s not like that, Sensei, you don’t need to worry. People don’t chase me at all anymore.”
Sakuragi narrowed her eyes. “Anymore?”
He clearly should just stop talking forever. Maybe he’d sprained his brain along with his ankle.
Yes, he’d been chased by people, of course he had. And not just enthusiastic track coaches. He’d had to run away from plenty of classmates looking to teach the liar a lesson. Running from bullies was usually a lot easier than running from most yokai though, since people eventually tired out. He’d only been caught a few times.
At least this slip up didn’t put his secret in danger, it just made every inch of him cringe. He didn’t want to talk about any of this with her. But he had to make her understand everything was okay. Even if it meant embarrassing himself.
“Sensei, ever since I moved here, things have been so much better. People are so kind to me, my friends are amazing, the Fujiwaras are so warm and giving…” He ducked his head, unable to meet her eyes. “I feel like I belong here. Actually belong. I’m happier than I ever thought I could be….”
Sakuragi was listening to him intently, and when he trailed off, she smiled at him. “I’m glad to hear that. Sorry for the interrogation.”
She took some bandages out of the first aid kit and started wrapping his ankle with a steady practiced hand. “It sounds running is really connected to some… difficult experiences for you. I’m a teacher who’s supposed to look out for you. I shouldn’t have pressured you to run. I should have listened and understood your feelings. I apologize.”
“No no, it’s not your fault Sensei, you’re honestly the nicest track coach I’ve ever—"
But his reassurance was cut off by a shout, “Natsume! What happened?!”
Natsume looked over his shoulder, and saw Nishimura, Tanuma, Taki, Kitamoto and Sasada all coming around the corner of school building
What the heck are they doing here? His stomach dropped at the expressions of worry on their faces. Nishimura led the pack as they rushed toward him.
“How did you get hurt already?!” Nishimura exploded the second he was within talking range. “It’s been fifteen minutes since school let out! Fifteen! I bet you were doing some kind of crazy thing again, don’t you realize-?”
“Nishimura, calm down,” Kitamoto said, smacking his arm. “But seriously, Natsume, what happened?”
“I—"
“Did somebody trip you?” Sasada asked, fixing the scattered team members with a hawklike glare while they looked baffled in response. “Are there bullies here?”
“No—”
“It’s not broken, is it?” Nishimura was wincing as he looked at the ankle. “It looks so swollen—”
“Guys!” Taki cut him off. “Why don’t we stop freaking out and let Natsume get a word in edgewise?”
“Well said. I know you’re worried, give him the chance to explain,” Sakuragi said in a slightly amused tone.
Nishimura, Sasada, and Kitamoro jolted, like they hadn’t noticed the teacher before.
“Sorry, Sensei,” Sasada said immediately, bowing her head,
“I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to yell at you, Natsume,” Nishimura mumbled.
Tanuma, who’d been quietly watching, stepped up and put his hand on Natsume’s shoulder. It was a timid, gentle touch, but Natsume could feel the weight of Tanuma’s concern through it. He smiled reassuringly at him, and then looked at the others.
“I just tripped, guys, that’s really all. I was doing a practice run and I stumbled and twisted my ankle. Though I, uh, also…” He was going to freak them out if he told them he’d kept running on it, and he wasn’t sure how he’d explain it, but—
“He also bumped it a bit while I was guiding him to his chair,” Sakuragi cut him off, giving him a small smile. “That one was my fault.”
Natsume blinked at her, shocked she’d covered for him. She shook her head at him slightly as if to say ‘Just this once’.
“See, Nishimura?” Kitamoto elbowed him. “You of all people can’t be mad at him for tripping!”
“Yeah…” Nishimura said sheepishly.
“No, I’m really sorry for worrying you all,” Natsume said, guilt racing through him. “But, uh, what are you guys even doing here?
“We wanted to support you. The plan was just to meet you when you were done and walk home together,” Taki said.
“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you before,” Tanuma squeezed Natsume’s shoulder slightly, looking bashful. “You just seemed kind of stressed about it, and I was a little… It was a last minute decision. I was thinking if you wanted to, we could even hang out at my place. I probably overstepped.”
‘It was one of those times his friends' kindness and care filled him up so much he thought he would burst. Those times where he wondered how he’d found people like them after all these years. When he ached to give them even a fragment of what they’re given him.
“No…” Natsume said, hoping he didn’t sound choked up, “No, I would have liked that, thanks.”
“That’s really sweet,” Sakuragi said with a grin, resuming with wrapping Natsume’s ankle. But then her grin dropped, and she looked at Nishimura questioningly. “Does he get hurt a lot?”
“Kind of. It’s all because he’s reckless, Sensei. He doesn’t think things through!”
“A lot of time he’s trying to help someone, though,” Tanuma said hastily. “It’s not his fault, really.”
“You always go way too easy on him, Tanuma. But yeah, he’ll do things like shove a girl out of the way when a bunch of heavy boxes are falling on her and get conked in the head. He’s too good a guy—"
“Come on, you’re embarrassing him,” Taki admonished, which immediately silenced Nishimura.
Sakuragi seemed to relax at this, and she finished up wrapping Natsume’s ankle. “Okay! Now, can one of you go fetch crutches from the nurse’s office?” Sakuragi took a key out of the first aid box and tossed at Nishimura, who caught it with a startled expression. Kitamoto went with him. Sasada looked around awkwardly, and then did a double take.
“Chiyo, what are you doing here?” Sasada’s hand immediately jumped to her hair, and she started twirling a lock around her finger.
The short-haired girl walked up, wiping her neck with a towel and flashing Sasada a crooked grin. “The track team lets me practice with them sometimes. Gotta train to beat you next time. What this I hear about you threatening everyone and calling them bullies?”
“I didn’t—”
“Oh, now I remember, Natsume, that’s your friend, no wonder you were all aggro!” Chiyo waved at Natsume, who waved awkwardly back. “Sorry she’s so overprotective, man. She means well.”
“You—come on!” Sasada grabbed the other girl’s hand and dragged her away. Chiyo looked unreasonably happy about this.
Sakuragi had stepped away to chat with some other students too. Taki squatted next to Natsume and Tanuma leaned closer to him.
“Was there yokai trouble?” Tanuma whispered.
Natsume shook his head. “Not really. I basically overreacted. I saw a little yokai on the track, freaked out because I thought it was dangerous, and tripped. It’s harmless, though. It was just napping. I feel pretty stupid.”
“Did anyone notice anything?”
“Yeah, they noticed I was acting really weird. Especially Coach Sakuragi. She’s…intense.”
“Oh, I should have warned you about that,” Taki sighed. “It’s really hard to keep a secret from her, especially if she thinks you’re struggling. Her heart’s in the right place, though.”
Natsume nodded. “I can tell. I feel bad that I worried her. I ended up saying some bizarre things while I was trying to throw her off. I think she thinks I’m traumatized from my childhood or something now.”
Tanuma cleared his throat and looked away. Taki studied her shoes carefully.
“Uh, what’s wrong?” Natsume asked, trying to figure out if he’s said anything strange.
“Nothing,” Taki said quickly. “Hey, what does the little yokai look like?” She looked off in the wrong direction.
“Oh, uh…kind of blob-like…” he squinted at the sleeping yokai, examining it more closely. “Oh wow, I couldn’t pick it out before but it has ears actually, Oh, they’re kind of shaped like cat ears…”
Takis gasped excitedly “Is it cute?”
“Uh…maybe ugly cute?”
“Then it’s cute,” Taki said firmly. “I wish I could see it.”
Natsume suddenly realized that it was probably for the best Taki couldn’t see yokai, otherwise she’d be terrorizing every weird looking little monster non-stop.
Tanuma looked around at the team members looping the track, as others chatted and laughed on the sidelines. “Were you having a good time with everyone? You know, before everything happened?”
“Yeah…it was nice. Everyone was really great. I feel bad I ruined things.”
“You didn’t—"
“We’re back!” Kitamoto and Nishimura arrived carrying the crutches.
A shock of pain went up Natsume’s leg like lightning when Tanuma and Sakuragi eased him onto his crutches, but he gritted his teeth, refusing to cry out. He couldn’t worry everyone even more.
“Okay, you’re good to go now," Sakuragi said to him. "But make sure your parents to get you checked at the hospital right away. I will be asking Ms. Fujiwara about that our weekly grocery store chats.”
Natsume nodded meekly, filled with dread at the thought of Touko’s panic and distress. At the same time, he noticed she’d called the Fujiwaras his parents…not foster parents or guardians…just parents. It kind of felt nice. Really nice.
Sasada was still talking with Chiyo, laughing and swatting at her playfully. She noticed that Natsume was up, and reluctantly pulled away, giving Chiyo’s hand a quick squeeze before she left.
Sakuragi smiled as Sasada rejoined the group, observing all of Natsume’s friends clustered around him. “Take care of him, all right?”
“Don’t worry, Sensei, we won’t let anything happen to him,” Nishimura said confidently.
“We’ve got his back!” Kitamoto assured her.
“He helps us a lot. It’s the least we can do.” Tanuma chimed in unexpectedly.
“Of course!” Sasada and Taki finished things off.
Natsume stared at the ground, hoping nobody could see the expression on his face. Taki patted him on the back.
“You’re right, you do have good friends.” Sakuragi ruffled Natsume’s hair. “Do you need me to get you a ride home? Or can your parents come get you?”
“Oh, it’s fine, I can just walk.”
“You’re seriously going to try to hobble all the way to the Fujiwaras?” Taki asked severely.
“Okay, maybe to the bus stop…”
“That’s not coming for another hour.” Sasada tapped her watch. “You can’t wait that long.”
“The Fujiwaras don’t have a car, right?” Nishimura said. “My parents have a car, and Mom should be home. I’ll call her to pick us up.” He pulled out his cellphone, glaring at it. “If I can ever get service in this stupid town…can’t believe I begged for a phone and it’s useless…”
“Nishimura, no, I don’t want to drag your Mom into this…” Natsume said in a panic. “I really can just—”
“Natsume.” Tanuma said quietly but firmly, holding out his arm in front of him before he could hobble away. Natsume’s voice died in his throat.
“My Mom would be mad at me if I didn’t call her about this” Nishimura held his phone high in the air, face screwed up in concentration.
“Oh yeah, that’s right, you get your nosiness from her,” Kitamoto said lightly.
“Man, shut up. Aha! I got some bars!” And just like that, Nishimura was on the phone with his Mom, and Natsume could do nothing to protest it.
Sakuragi laughed and started to turn away. “Great, I’ll see you—"
“Sensei, wait,” Natsume called quickly.
She stopped, looking at him questioningly.
“I just wanted I wanted to say, I did have fun here. And, well, I don’t think I can join the team but…would it be all right if I came here once in a while? Just to practice, or I could help with whatever… unless that’s…"
Sakuragi’s face split into a huge grin. “Of course, Natsume! Just having someone like you to race against is a huge help! But are you sure you--?”
Natsume nodded. “I want to.”
“Well then, do your best to heal up and we’ll look forward to seeing you.”
Nishimura got off the phone. “Mom said to wait out front. We'll head to the bench just outside the entrance.”
Waving goodbye to Sakuragi, Natsume’s friends flanked him as he slowly made his way around the school building.
“I’m happy for you, Natsume,” Taki said.
“Yeah, that’s cool that you'll have a place to practice!” Kitamoto agreed.
Thanks,” Natsume said. “I’m sorry I ruined the plans to get snacks and hang out…but maybe we could do it another time? Touko would probably be okay with you all coming over.”
“Of course!”
They all busied themselves planning the get-together until they reached the bench out front, though Nishimura was oddly quiet.
After Natsume sat down, his friends gave their well wishes and reminded him to check in with them after the hospital, before dispersing to walk home. Taki caught up with Sasada and as they walked away, Natsume heard her say “So you and that Chiyo girl, huh? Do I detect some romance?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sasada said primly.
“Come on, it’s me. Come over to my place and tell me all about it.
“Fiiiine, if I must.”
Natsume laughed slightly. He looked over at Nishimura to see his reaction, but for once in his life, he didn’t seem interested in what Taki was doing. He was staring stonily into the distance.
“Nishimura, is something wrong--?”
“I’m sorry, Natsume,” he said abruptly, still not really looking at him.
“Huh? What are you sorry about?” He wondered if Nishimura was still feeling guilty about yelling earlier, and was prepared to reassure him, but—
“You’re hurt because of me.”
“What? What are you even talking about?” Natsume couldn’t help but laugh but stopped when Nishimura glared at him.
“It’s because of me. You don’t like running in front of people, I know that, but then you had to because I screwed up. And when you were talking to the coach, I could tell you were nervous, I could tell you didn’t want to go. And instead of returning the favor and helping you, I pushed you to do it anyway.” He put his head in his hands. “It was such shitty thing to do.”
“Nishimura, come on, you didn’t--
“I did. You were trying to say no, you can’t pretend you weren’t.” He dragged his hands down his face. “I just…got carried away because you were so cool when you won the race! And you’re kind of down on yourself sometimes,…so I thought maybe if you joined the track team, you’d see how amazing what you can do is and people would see you’re…ugh, it was stupid.”
Natsume’s cheeks burned. “That’s.. it sounds like you were really thinking of me, Nishimura, thank you—"
“No, don’t thank me!” Nishimura said fiercely. “I wasn’t looking out for you or your feelings at all, I just decided what I wanted for you without asking you. And God, I didn’t even think about injuries!”
Natsume stared at him in bafflement. “Why would you need to think about injuries? It’s not like I need special protection. I knew what I was getting into. People get hurt in sports all the time. It’s normal.”
“No, it’s different with you.” Nishimura slammed his hands down on knees, red blotches spreading on his face. “Because when you get hurt, you downplay it or try to hide it, and if you do that in track, it can mess you up for life!” Nishimura was talking faster and faster, the words just pouring out of his mouth. “It’s dangerous because you act like it doesn’t matter, like you don’t matter, and that you don’t get why we all care so much, and I know it’s because you’ve been through a lot and I don’t want to pry, but it makes me so---"
He stopped short, blanching. “Oh shit. I didn’t mean to say all that. U-uh, sorry, just forget it, It’s none of my business…”
A lump formed in Natsume’s throat as shame welled up, hot and bitter on his tongue. “No, I’m sorry, Nishimura,” he said hoarsely. “I didn’t realize you were thinking all that, that you were worried. I never wanted to—”
“Natsume, no, I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad. I know it’s not on purpose, I know it’s not your fault.” Nishimura pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is about me saying sorry, not you. I really am sorry. And I know you told Sakuragi you wanted to come back once in a while because you didn’t want to disappoint her, but you don’t have to go back there, I’ll talk to her—"
“You don’t have to talk to her.” Natsume swallowed his shame for now, determined to set things straight. “I liked the team. I really do want to come back.”
“You don’t have to pretend, I told you, don’t lie if you don’t have to—”
“Nishimura,” Natsume interjected gently, putting his hand on the other boy’s shoulder. Nishimura finally looked over at him, eyes downcast. “It made me really happy. When we won, and everyone was cheering, and I saw how excited you were…I don’t know. Running is just something I do sometimes, and I don’t think it’s special or particularly like it. But being able to help you was the first time I felt like it was something…more.” More than survival. More than something I’m forced to do.
“Really. And I really am glad I came here. I enjoyed it, you know, until I tripped. But even then, everyone was nice and helped me. It made me want to come back.”
Nishimura stared at him for a while, expression unreadable. Then he sighed and leaned back. “Okay, well, good.” Natsume could see Nishimura’s shoulders slump as the tension drained out of him. “But I still pushed you. You don’t have to make excuses for me. I’m just sorry I did it and I won’t do it again.”
“Okay, apology accepted.”
Nishimura looked startled, like he’d expected Natsume to keep fighting him on this, then his face broke into a grin. “Thanks, man.”
“You don’t have to make excuses for me either. I’m sorry I’ve been stressing you guys out when I get hurt. I’ll stop hiding it or trying to downplay it. I mean, I do want all of you to understand I…” Natsume knew better than to say he was “used to it” now, so he searched around for a less alarming but still honest way to phrase it. “I have a high pain tolerance, so sometimes it really doesn’t seem like a big deal.
“Dude, that doesn’t make me feel better.” He could tell from how Nishimura looked at him he’d heard the “I’m used to it” even though Natsume hadn’t said it out loud.
“No, I know. Look, from now on, I’ll admit when something hurts.” He looked down at his ankle, wincing. “Like my ankle really hurts right now. I don’t want to go to the hospital but I’m kind of looking forward to getting painkillers.” He looked over at Nishimura. “Did that work? Or did it just sound whiney?”
“Nah, you need to whine a little more, man.” Nishimura punched him lightly on the arm. “I’m telling you, it feels good. When I sprained my ankle a couple years ago, I whined to everyone I knew. That whine was weak. Try harder.”
“It’s…uh, agony. I…might die? Was that good.”
“You need to work on your delivery, but it’s a start.”
They both laughed. Just laughing soothed something in Natsume, his stomach unknotted, and his racing heartbeat slowed. His ankle even hurt a little less.
When the laughter settled, Natsume looked down, twisting his fingers in his lap. “Look, I know I… kind of lie and hide things as reflex a lot. But I’ve been trying to be more open with the people I care about.”
Nishimura shrugged. “It’s fine. I mean, Kitamoto and I aren’t that stupid, we know there’s something going on with you, but you can take as much time as you need. I know you must have your reasons.”
“Thanks.”
Nishimura chuckled suddenly, looking past Natsume.
“Uh oh, here comes your cat. He looks mad! It’s almost like he knows something happened.”
Nyanko-sensei was indeed stomping towards them, his eyes narrowed.
“Agh, I’m really in trouble this time,” Natsume said. Nyanko-sensei jumped into his lap, making sure to throw his heavy weight around as he landed. “Oof.”
“Oh, your troubles have just begun. Don’t forget Touko!” Nishimura said cheerfully.
“Like I could.”
“I wouldn’t use the “I could die” line on her, she might believe you.”
“Amazing advice, thank you.”
Nishimura smirked. “I’d tell you to run, but, you know.”
Mmm…” Natsume said, stroking Nyanko-sensei, who was making faint, irritated noises. “That’s okay. There are some things I don’t want to run away from."
---
*Yes Sasada has a sports and academic rival yuri storyline going in the background. Yes I'm being self indulgent. It's what she deserves. I just thought it would be fun and maybe funny. Sasada's having this whole romantic epic while Natsume's worrying about track.
*Touko has been bragging about how kind and helpful you are, Natsume, you dummy. And about the garden he made and how it was good it was and other things Natsume does really well he hasn't noticed. She's also probably noticed he's fast and relatively strong for his size, he's always fetching and carrying stuff for her, but Coach thought she was exaggerating. UNTIL NOW.
I hope you enjoyed this! It was way longer than I thought it would be. And I wish I could have made it funnier. But I had a fun time with my first Natsume fic!
Here's the ao3 link again:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
