Natsuki's Bike Accident

>You are sitting on Natsuki's porch, waiting as she pumps the tires to her bike
>It's kind of funny watching her tiny figure put all it's effort into pumping a tire
>Eventually she finishes off, detaches the tire pump, caps the wheel, and turns around to meet eyes with you
>She has her hands on her hip and a prideful look across her face
>"All finished!"
>You clap and while she might usually slug you for this it only seems to make her more prideful
>"Ready to go?"
>You nod at her and tell her you're all ready
>Natsuki seems unusually happy today. You're glad to see she's excited about it, as the past few weeks she was acting really indifferent towards everything
>Natsuki starts running beside the bike as she runs down the driveway with it. When it's at mid-speed she hops and throws a leg over and charges down to the end of her neighborhood where the giant steep hill waits
>She's waiting for you, but there's no way your riding down that hill on your bike
>You eventually reach the top of the hill and stare down, sitting on your bike but propped up by one leg
>"We're goin down, anon."
>You tell her no way jose
>"Anon! You have to! It's the least you could do for me. C'mon pleeasse?"
>You hold your ground and a twisted expression of dread and puppy-eyed sadness writhes it way into her face
>You can hardly bare to look
>"Anon you're just a big scaredy cat. It's just a steep hill and riding down one steep hill won't kill you, trust me."
>Her face seems to contort more and more into a mess of anguish and sadness, and while you know she is just doing it to convince you, it's still working all the same
>"Ah, fine!"
>Her expression fades immediately like a coil unspiraling
>"Yay! Thank you anon. You shouldn't have been such a scaredy cat in the first place but I'm glad you came around."
>You laugh lightly and watch as she sets herself up again on the bike, ready to charge
>"How about I go first, and then you go. That a deal anon?"
>You're scared out of your mind, but you try to fake some confidence and agree
>Natsuki gives that old prideful smile then turns around to face the decline of the hill
>With no hesitance, she begins peddling like a madman, which along with the sharp decline makes me race forward at turbospeed
>You can hardly believe what your eyes are showing you
>And even when the pedals are spiraling out of control, she still has her feet fixed to them and still seems to peddling
>By the time you blink she's halfway down the hill
>In a way it's strangely endearing how little Natsuki seems to care about the danger she's putting herself in
>She's smart and sometimes even pretty mature when it comes down to it, but she's definitely got a child's live-life-to-the-fullest-mentality
>But as much as you'd like to sit there and whittle away the time acknowledging Natsuki's many great qualities, she's still riding like a madman!
>You begin to worry what will she do at the bottom of the hill? Crash into a car? Slowly lose speed until she's come to a safe stop? Smash on the brakes and somersault into the air?
>There's no helping Natsuki in a situation like this. She's already almost at the bottom of the hill and you'll just have to wait it out
>Natsuki reaches the bottom of the slope and begins slowly pressing on the breaks to slow herself
>But before she can come to a full stop her wheel smashes into the sidewalk curb!
>Just as you feared, she springs out of her seat and ahead, but you're somewhat happy to see she's landed on the grass
>She probably hasn't too cut up, but she could still have hurt something pretty bad by the looks of how forcefully she dropped
>"Natsuki!"
>You jump into papa-bear mode and find that hesitance within you gone
>You hop on the bike and like Natsuki start spiraling the pedals like a madman to get to the bottom as soon as possible
>Even in the hectic moment it feels nice to be as half as carefree as Natsuki seemed to be
>The wind is rushing in your face and your adrenaline is at it's peak
>You reach the bottom and almost do the same thing as Natsuki, but find it pretty easy to slow yourself down
>You set the bike on the curb and run up to her
>She's still laying in a strange position with her head faced in the opposite direction of you
>"Natsuki?! Are you alright?"
>You nudge at her shoulder a few times before her head slowly wheels towards you
>She looks defeated, and it looks like her nose is bleeding
>"T... tell my mother I loved her..."
>For one strange moment the air goes silent and then Natsuki bursts into wheezing laughter
>You give a half-smile but too annoyed about the circumstances to find it funny
>It's a full two minutes before she's finally settled down and wiped the tears from her eyes
>"Done?" you ask, which only leads her to another shorter series of laughter
>Now she really seems done
>"You totally fell for it too!"
>"Taking advantage of my kindness, are ya?" you say with a smile
>She laughs again but the laughter isn't so long that you have to wait patiently for it to end
>At the very least, you're glad Natsuki is okay, and you're glad she's happy, even if its at your expense
>Natsuki seems content with sitting in the grass with you, and she even looks pretty comfy, but once the laughter is settled and she takes in her surroundings, she stands up and brushes herself off
>"So what about that bloody nose of yours?"
>She didn't even notice
>Her eyes go all wonky for a second and then she feels below her nose, staring down at her hand to look at the blood
>"That wasn't part of the act?"
>She smiles menacingly
>"No, but it sure helped!" she says laughing
>"Well I'm glad you're okay."
>Natsuki seems happy to hear this, and maybe even a shade of apologeticness sweeps her face before she returns to her tsundere personality
>She says, half joking "I don't know your gladness, bub!"
>You kind of roll your eyes and smile
>She gives in to the kindness and forces out a whispered "thank you though" before blushing
>To avoid eye contact with you, she heads over to her bike, still nearly in the middle of the street, and walks it back to that dreaded curb she fell from
>"Pretty fun riding down that hill, huh?" she says to change the subject
>"I guess it wasn't too bad. I don't know if I would've been able to do it it weren't for the circumstances."
>"Probably not! Sounds like you, coward!"
>"Hey, you owe me your life, I practically saved you from death."
>You're amused to find that she actually finds this bit very funny
>"I ain't owe you nothin, bucko!"
>You both laugh again and then decide it's really time to set off and enjoy the day together
>As you both begin strolling down the street side by side, she glances up at you and gives a blushing smile, but this time doesn't turn away
>It isn't until you smile back that she feels confident to look back up ahead, into the big sprawling city that you two are charging towards, together