Slow Down: A Shoujo Parallels Headcanon Short

Gamma Belt
Mortal Realm
Sector ACR 4-A, Nuevo Filipina

Fifth grade.

Adri del Riano noticed that Emman Astra’s pace was longer; most likely due to the fact that the Lightning Original was taller than Adri by miles. So whenever the two would walk side by side, Adri would always need to quicken her own steps.

Emman’s walking style was quick, no nonsense. She always managed to make her steps appear sophisticatedly flawless. Adri, on the other hand, merely took her time with a bounce to her step. Clumsy as she was, the heiress was frequently seen with a sprained ankle due to the many accidents that would happen to her.

“E-Emman, hold on,” Adri protested. Emman paused and turned to look at Adri, who was struggling to keep up, limping. Emman frowned deeply, walking back to her and snatching the messenger bag from her grip.

“If you put further strain on it, it’s going to get worse. You should have rested.”

“I couldn’t.” Adri glanced downwards, “I had to submit some other reports, remember? I…I can’t exactly submit anything late.”

Emman looked at her for a moment and then shook her head, slinging Adri’s bag on her free shoulder. As gently as she could, she let Adri lean on her.

“W-What are you doing–”

“Just let me help you until we reach the Multi.”

It had been that way for the rest of their grade school life. Emman would always accompany Adri to her fetching area, and Adri to Emman’s. And every time the two would walk together, Adri would always have to quicken her pace.

Junior year.

The fetching area for bus riders switched from the covered courts to the area near the theater. Due to that, Emman could – sort of – no longer bring Adri to her place, and vice versa.

Yet Adri persisted.

Each time the bell rang for departure, Adri would bring Emman to the bus area. Emman, on the other hand, would bring Adri to her own fetching area and then Adri would attempt to walk Emman back, at least until the slope, but Emman would refuse.

So Emman would simply walk back to her own area, with Adri watching with mixed emotions on her face.

Adri rubbed her eyes. It was the last period of the day – Geometry. She waited dully for the bell to ring, no longer taking note of the day’s assignments. Either way, the Secretary of the class would post the daily assignments on the class’ Facebook group.

At exactly 4:20PM, the bell rang and Adri stood up immediately.

She ran out of the classroom after squeezing her belongings into her bag, waiting by III-4’s classroom and watching out for Emman to come out. Once the short-haired lady did, she grinned and grabbed onto Emman’s arm, Emman raising a brow at the sudden energy spike of the younger student. “Did you run out again?”

“No?” Emman merely smirked and shook her head, taking her water bottle from the lunch box rack and starting to walk. Adri blinked and caught up, huffing and (fakely) berating Emman for rushing again. “You always walk so fast,” she complained.

The copper-eyed girl shrugged as she walked. “Suck it up, Princess.”

“Hmph.” The girl pouted, Emman merely keeping a neutral expression on her face.

“I bet you can’t stay mad at me for five minutes, Adri.”

“S-Shut up,” Adri snapped, looking away this time. Despite her denying it, both of them very much knew that it was true. Adri could barely stay angry at Emman (for what reason, Emman had no idea) and the mystery baffled the latter.

They reached the outside of the building and started the walk down, Emman eventually dropping off her things at her own bus while Adri waited. “Aren’t you making Zero wait, Princess?”

“Zachary can handle himself,” Adri replied. “Plus…since he has a meeting with the other officers, he told me to meet him at our usual area. It’s not a big problem with him.”

“It better not be,” Emman muttered, and Adri smiled a little at that as the taller girl approached her. “Come on, I know you want to be home sooner.”

“R-Right,” Adri stammered, following Emman as the girl walked. Better not be more of a burden to Emman than usual, she thought sadly.

The twosome didn’t speak a word as they reached the onset of the slope. It was perfectly normal – the two of them worked with silence, it being a supporter than something that made things awkward. Both of them preferred silence to noise, and silence between each other was something to be treasured.

Emman paused upon hearing footsteps slow down and glanced behind her, frowning immediately as she spotted Adri moving slowly, the weight of her bag looking like it was bringing her down. “Adri?”

“Just go on ahead,” Adri managed to reply, trying to keep up. Emman shook her head and walked back to Adri, taking the girl’s school books out of her hands.

“Honestly, you have such a difficult time that I wonder why…” Emman grumbled. Adri managed to keep up, soon leaning against the fence at the very top, attempting to catch her breath. “Why do you keep passing here if it just triggers your asthma?”

“I – I just want to,” Adri mumbled. “But…”

“But what?”

“I…” Adri glanced away, looking at her feet, “…please slow down for me, Emman.”

Emman looked elsewhere, shifting the books in her arms.

“You’re a goddamn idiot.” She roughly pulled on the sleeve of Adri’s cardigan, making her stumble forward a little bit, “Could have told me years ago. Years ago.”

“E-Emman–”

“Shut up,” the girl grumbled, this time grabbing her hand and pulling her with her. Adri looked at their hands and she managed a small smile, letting Emman rant out her frustrations while dragging her off.