"True love doesn't happen right away; it's an ever-growing process. It develops after you've gone through many ups and downs, when you've suffered together, cried together, laughed together."
By: Ricardo Montalban
"Kishinuma," a voice calls out to him but he does not budge.
"Kishinuma dear, wake up. You shouldn't fall asleep while sitting on a chair," the voice calls again.
This time Yoshiki wakes up, slowly opening his eyes. As his vision starts to clear up, he sees a woman with blue hair standing in front of him. Startled at first he rubs his eyes and glances again. The woman was no more than Ayumi's mother. Speaking of Ayumi, Yoshiki turns his head to his right and spots the quiet, yet almost lifeless, class rep sitting besides him in a wheelchair which only made him more disappointed.
"Yes Shinozaki-san?" Yoshiki addresses the woman in front of him.
"Please dear, I told you already to call me Asuka or Mom. Either one works for me," she says with a slight smile.
He chuckles before responding, "Was there something you wanted Shino– I mean, Asuka-san?"
"Oh, I came to tell you if you were sleepy, you could just rest on the couch. I'm sure Ayumi would understand if you're tired," she says with concern.
Yoshiki looks back to Ayumi to remember why he was in this position. Oh that's right. I pulled up a chair to sit next to Ayumi; from there I just rambled on about our friends and slowly passed out.
"No it's alright Asuka-san. I was just about to head out," he assures her by lifting himself out of the chair and placing it back to its original area.
Then a man walks into the living room asking Yoshiki, "If you're tired, we don't mind lend you a room to stay the night."
Yoshiki identifies the man to be Ayato, Ayumi's dad. "No, I'm fine. I'll just visit tomorrow."
"Are you still coming tomorrow to celebrate Tanabata with us? Asuka asks.
Tanabata? If I remember right, it's that one festival that we write our wishes on pieces of paper and hang them on bamboo branches, Yoshiki thinks to himself.
Then Asuka hands Yoshiki a tanzaku, "Celebrate with us, I'm sure it'll make Ayumi happy," she says with a sympathetic smile.
Yoshiki takes a glance at the piece of paper in his hands. Make her happy, huh? I'm not even sure if I'm even capable to do that anymore. He clenches the paper with his fist.
Asuka notices Yoshiki's hand start to tremble, "Kishinuma, are you alright?"
No matter if I'm here today, tomorrow or even for years, I don't think she'll ever come back to us… no to me. Unknown to Yoshiki, teardrops run down his face. Is it selfish of me to ask for one day with her, just a day to have her back as the girl I fell in love with?
"Yoshiki!" Ayato shouts which snaps the blonde boy back to his senses.
"I'm sorry, I must have dazed away," he tries to lie.
"Dazed away? Kishinuma my boy, you were crying and shaking," Ayato reports to the young man.
"H-Huh?" He stuttered as he wipes his tears to find the truth behind Ayato's words. How embarrassing to cry in front of Ayumi's parents.
Asuka approaches Yoshiki and gently pushes him towards the stairs, "You're obviously not feeling well. You're spending the night here and that's final."
Before Yoshiki could retort back, he recalls how stubborn Ayumi is. At least I know where she gets her stubbornness from. Finishing up his thoughts, he heads up the stairs. As he reaches towards the room, which the Shinozaki family had lent him in previous nights, stops in front of the door. He looks behind to see the room that lies on the other side of the hallway. The door has a sign on the front, decorated with a floral pattern and labeled 'Ayumi.' Obviously it was her room but as for Yoshiki.
Just for today, I want to feel her presence within me.
With that in mind, Yoshiki marches towards her room and opens the door. As he steps inside the room, it is neatly clean and had large amount of space. To everyone, it would seem like an ideal room but for Yoshiki, even if he's never been in Ayumi's room before, he felt it in his gut that this very room was nowhere similar to Ayumi's true room.
Where are all her things that revolved around the occult, her art supplies or even her computer?!
He had the urge to yell but decides against it. He didn't want to throw a tantrum in front of her parents, especially in front of Ayumi. Disgusted, he flops atop of the bed and rests his eyes.
…
…
Moments later, Yoshiki could hear the door open but his eyes still remain shut. It's probably her parents checking up on me or something.
Whoever was by the door shuts it and enters the room. Although the bed made no noise, Yoshiki could feel the bed shift its weight for the newcomer. Curious to know who was in the room with him, he rolls onto his side to face the visitor. As he slightly takes a peek, he sees a smile no, an evil wide grin and with a murderous aura behind it. Spooked, Yoshiki rolls away but accidentally falls off the bed and bumping his head on the floor.
The figure begins to laugh which sounded quite feminine, familiar and yet new to his ears.
"Just how long do you plan to sleep in someone's bed without their permission, Kishinuma-kun?" the figure questions.
Yoshiki recognizes that voice but he couldn't believe it until he saw it with his own eyes. Slowly he lifts his head up to look at the figure in on the other side of the bed. His eyes spread wide open, there she was. The blue haired, short girl stood there with a slight frown.
"Honestly, Kishinuma-kun, I've thought your manners would improve rather than worsen over time," the girl speaks with her arms across.
Quickly, he stood himself up and paces towards the girl. "Shinozaki?! Is that really you, Shinozaki?!"
"Who else do you think is standing in front of you?"
Yoshiki takes another moment to get a full glance at her. She had the same hairstyle as Ayumi, the clothes and eyepatch as Ayumi, and she surely had the same personality as Ayumi. Once he clearly identified this girl was Ayumi, he rushes in and wraps his arms around her.
"Wh-What do y-you think you're doing y-you idiot?!" Ayumi flusters as she struggles to get out of his grip.
"Shinozaki!" Yoshiki cries out.
"What?" Ayumi responds as she continues to struggle.
"Shinozaki!" Yoshiki cries out again but this time tears start to flow out of his eyes.
At this point, Ayumi stops struggling and instead wraps her arms around him while placing the side of her head to his chest.
"Sh-Shinozaki!" By now, Yoshiki was just crying out her name.
"It's alright, Kishinuma. I'm right here with you," she says calmly.
"I've missed you so much, Shinozaki!"
"And I've missed you too, Kishinuma," she says as she wipes his tears away. "So no more tears."
As he finishes up crying the last tears, he chuckles. "I can't promise you that."
"How about you promise me to tell me everything?"
"Everything? Like what exactly?"
"Don't you act dumb on me; I want to know exactly your reason behind saving me and staying behind with me?" She questions as she jabs her index finger at his chest.
"Sure thing Shinozaki, but before we do, how about we take a seat?" Yoshiki says as he takes a seat on the bed and signaling her to sit besides him.
Surely enough, Ayumi sits down but retorts, "Also stop calling me 'Shinozaki,' it feels weird being called that in my own household." She then, with a slight blush on her face, pushes a piece of her hair behind her ear and says, "Besides, we're close enough to call each other by our first names, right?"
Given the permission to call each other by their first name, it was something that Yoshiki would blush and even faint over the very idea but at the moment, he was appreciating every moment he had with her.
"As you wish Ayumi," he says with a gentle smile.
"Thank you Y-Yo-Yoshiki," she stutters to say his name.
"What's wrong, a bit embarrassed to say my name?"
"Shut up! Just tell me already!"
"Fine, so where do I start? How about, when we've first met back in Kisaragi Acadamy?" Yoshiki begins to tell Ayumi his tale, going through their school life to the events at Heavenly Host. He left no detail out, even telling her his true feelings towards her.
Giving Ayumi a moment to take all the information in and comes with a response, "I never knew you felt that way about me."
"It's okay; I already knew you didn't share the same feelings for me–"
Ayumi interrupts him, "Please say it."
"What?"
"Please say you love me," she pleads as their faces grew closer.
Hesitant at first, Yoshiki gives in and says, "Ayumi, I love you."
Ayumi closes in and kisses him. "Again," she pleads.
"I love you." Another kiss was given.
"Again."
"I love you," he repeats again.
Ayumi kisses once more which Yoshiki kisses back. Their lips connect together passionately, leaving heavy pants after each kiss. Eventually they lay their bodies on the bed.
"Yoshiki…" she pants. "For tonight, please make love to me."
Yoshiki stops, "But Ayumi, what about–"
"Once all this is over, I'll give you my response," she sweetly tells him. Then she raises her arms towards him, like a baby wanting to be held. "Please, Yoshiki."
Giving into the woman of his dreams, he let's go of all his love and desires because to him, what matter the most to him was the woman in front of him.
…
…
The morning sun starts to rise and peak through the curtains of the room, disturbing Yoshiki from his slumber. As he turns around to greet his love of his life, she was nowhere in sight. In fact, Yoshiki was still wearing the clothes he had before passing out.
Tsk. Of course it was only a damn dream. How fucking pathetic am I to fall for a stupid dream! Frustrated, Yoshiki slams his fist on the bed.
As he gets up and head downstairs towards the dinning table, he stops by the living room to see Ayumi sitting in her wheelchair and staring off into space.
I guess things weren't meant to be but…
Before Yoshiki could continue with his thoughts, he recalls Ayumi's smiling face and ends up with a smile on his face as well. Or maybe I just have to be a little bit more patient. With that, he enters to greet Ayumi's parents.
"It seems like someone got a good rest," Asuka says after she greets Yoshiki. "You almost had us worried."
"As you can see, I'm just alright."
"Well if you're feeling all better, I guess you'll be joining us with the celebration," Ayato says with a cheerful grin.
"You bet your sorry butt I'm all in," Yoshiki announces.
Both Asuka and Ayato both laugh. Then Asuka interferes, "But before we can celebrate, Yoshiki you still need to write a wish."
She hands Yoshiki another tanzaku, "This year we're having the bamboo in the living room. It should be next to Ayumi."
"Thank you," he nods before heading back to the living room.
Pulling out the tanzaku, Yoshiki forgets to ask for a pen to write his wish with. So looking around the living room, he tries to find one only to spot one besides Ayumi's feet. As he picks the pen off the ground he notices a piece of paper in Ayumi's hand. Curious, he slips the paper out of her hand without causing her any harm. The paper was a written tanzaku which read:
'I wish to no longer see Yoshiki sad; instead I want to see him smile.'
–Ayumi Shinozaki
On the back, it read:
'P.S. I promise to give you my answer next time.'
Once again tears begin to flow out of Yoshiki's eyes, but instead of sadness these tears were out of pure happiness.
"Don't you worry Ayumi, I'll be right here waiting for your answer and thank you," he whispers to her before giving her a hug. She may not seem like the same Ayumi I know, but she still is the same Ayumi I fell in love with.
A/N: Sorry, I totally missed to deliver the story before the end of the 7th. Oh well, better late than never. So this story is heavily influenced by the folklore behind the Tanabata Festival.
The story goes that a young woman and man fall in love, only for the woman's father to disapprove of their relationship. So he separates them by a wide river. Only once every year on the 7th night of the 7th month are they allowed to meet each other.
Since knowing the news of Blood Drive's localization, I knew I had to make another story centered around the ending. So I had an idea of what if Ayumi was able to come out her 'coma state' once a year, how would Yoshiki do? Either way, this story turned out great, hell, it even made me cry three times and I wasn't even typing. I was just brainstorming until my mind decided to let go with the flow and make me cry. I had people come up to me and ask if I was fine. How do you explain it to a person that your own mind made you cry?
Now I'm just rambling on. So I hope you enjoyed your Tanabata and got to hang your wishes.