"Yaaawwwwwn" I yawn in boredom. It's been a few days since our G Quest at Star Gate, and our long summer is almost over. However, there's one thing I've neglected over the course of the G Quest and our summer…
"Chrono, do you know the answer to this one?" My green-haired friend Tokoha asks me.
"Sorry, I'm clueless…" I reply. Yep, summer homework, the worst enemy of a Japanese student. I'm stuck at Tokoha's house doing this nightmare, more like trying to keep my sanity intact… I texted Shion and asked if he was coming to help, but he never responded, and Tokoha asked Kumi, but she said she had family business to attend. So I've ended up studying alone with Tokoha. "Phew… I'm beat." I sigh in exhaustion.
"Same here…" Tokoha replies.
"I got most of mine done, how much more you got?" I ask her with a slight tone of dread think she's got a ton more.
"Same." She replies and I give a minor sigh of relief. She then gathers up her fished work and moves it to the edge of her desk and rises to her feet. "Let's take a break. I'll go put some tea on okay?" She says as she heads for her door.
"Okay" I reply as she leaves the room. Once she's gone, I scoot my chair back and stretch out to loosen up. I then see something propped up in the corner of her room, it looks like a book. The cover reads, "Elementary School Yearbook"
Being ever so curious, I get up off my chair and go to grab the book. When I pick it up, I realize how dusty it really is, so I blow some of the dust off and open the book and flip through the pages until I find Tokoha's page. "So this is what Tokoha looked like in elementary school?" The picture showed Tokoha as a cute little girl with much shorter hair than she has now and a huge smile on her face. "She hasn't changed much." Just then something catches my eye; it looks like an essay she wrote. It's titled, "My dream for the future".
It appears to be a message to the future Tokoha when she's about the age she is now. Without really thinking, I start reading it aloud, "'One day, I'm going have a boyfriend and go to a festival with him and watch the fireworks!'" A boyfriend? The thought of this make me blush slightly.
"Chrono!" I hear Tokoha's voice as she's coming back to her room, it sounds like she's running. I panic slightly and drop the book back in the corner and quickly sit back down in my chair pretending like I didn't do anything. Just as I sit down, she bursts in the door. "Chrono, I have some cool news!"
"What's up?" I ask her.
"So I was talking to my mom, and she told me there's a festival today in the neighborhood!" She tells me with great joy.
"A festival?" I question.
"Yeah!" She then turns slightly nervous, "So I was wondering, since we're pretty much done with our homework…" she pauses for a second as if trying to find the words to say, "…let's take a break and go to the festival."
"So, just you and me?" I ask her and she nods to confirm. "Sure why not?"
"Alright let's go!" She says, then grabs my arm and drags me out of her room and out the front door.
Soon we arrive at the festival held near the riverbed. "Whoa, this place is packed!" I exclaim, maybe this is because we arrive a little late.
"Come on Chrono let's go!" She grabs my arm again and starts dragging my along. We walk around checking out all the stalls for a while.
"Toki?!" We hear a voice close by and look in the general direction. We see a gaudy girl running toward us and Tokoha's face brightens.
"Aoi! Long time no see!" Tokoha calls her out as she is hugged by the girl.
"I know, I haven't seen you in, like, ever! How have you been? How's high school treating you?" the girl asks in a cheerful voice.
"I've been great, but high school has been a pain…"
Realizing I'm starting to be left out, I clear my throat to get their attention, "Akhem! Mind introducing me?" I ask Tokoha.
"Oh yeah! Chrono, this is Aoi, she was a friend of mine back in elementary school. And Aoi, this is Chrono, my friend and teammate on Team TRY3." Tokoha introduces us, but I see that Aoi is glaring at me.
"Toki, is this your boyfriend?" She asks and both Tokoha and I flinch back blushing.
"Ehh?!" Tokoha exclaims nervously.
"What? No! We're…" But before I could finish my sentence Tokoha takes my arm in hers and hold it like she's never going to let go.
"Yeah, th-this is my boyfriend." She tells Aoi.
"What?!" I'm slightly taken aback by what she said.
"Oh so this is your kind of man huh?" Aoi runs her eyes up and down me as if she's checking me out, "he's pretty cute. Looks like you caught yourself a good one."
"I know right?" Tokoha giggles. Now I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable…
"Toki I'm so proud of you! Your dream is finally coming true!" Aoi clasps her hands together congratulating Tokoha. Just then I think back to her essay from the yearbook.
"Ah! Aoi, why'd you have to bring that up?" Tokoha tells her.
"Oh right, I forgot how sentimental that is to you." Aoi falls back embarrassed, then turns on her heels and runs off, "See you later!"
"Mmmm…" Tokoha makes a small noise as she is blushing in embarrassment.
"Your friend is like a hurricane." I tell Tokoha, still holding onto my arm.
"Yeah, Aoi's always in a good mood." She then looks down for a minute, then looks back up with a more stern look. "I guess there's no turning back now." She looks at me. "Chrono, just for today, or at least until the festival's over… will you…" Tokoha seems really nervous about what she's about to say. She then shouts to me, "Will you be my boyfriend?"
"Y-Y-Y-Your boyfriend?!" I stammer. I can't believe this, Tokoha's actually asking me to be her boyfriend.
"Chrono please! I'll never ask anything of you again!" Somehow I doubt that…
I'm slightly flustered, still unable to comprehend what's going on. This is really hard for me, I'm a fighter not a lover… "O-Okay… let's be boyfriend and girlfriend." I finally get the courage to accept her request.
"Really?! Oh thank you so much Chrono!" She says hugs me tightly.
"So where to next?" I ask her.
"Well…" but just before she's able to come up with anything, her stomach lets out an adorable growl. She blushes holding her tummy.
"Maybe we should get something to eat first." I tell her making fun of her stomach.
"Yeah, good idea."
We walk around the stalls looking for anything that seemed good. Soon I spot a cotton candy stand. "How about some cotton candy?" I ask her.
"Sounds good, umm… how much is it again?" she asks.
"Don't worry I'll treat you. I'm your boyfriend remember?"
"Really? Okay, thanks." I pull out my wallet and head for the stall.
"Two please." I tell the stall owner.
"Sure thing, coming right up!" The owner says as he grabs two cones and starts making the cotton candy. When he's done, he hands us the cones. "Here you are kids, enjoy."
I give him the money and take the cones and give one to Tokoha. "Thank you." I tell the owner as we walk away.
A few hours pass and we're still walking around the festival wondering where to go next. Just then, Tokoha spots a stall that has a shooting game. It's a game where you shoot a cork gun trying to knock down prizes. "Oh! That looks fun. Wanna give it a try Chrono?" Tokoha asks me.
"A shooting game huh, that's old school." I remark.
"Two please!" Tokoha tells the stall owner.
"Alright. Good luck kids." The stall owner tells us and hands us the guns.
"Chrono have you tried these before?" Tokoha asks me.
"Not really, but how hard could it be?" I tell her, but boy was I wrong… I missed all my shots and didn't hit a single prize. I'm slightly embarrassed. "uhh…" I could hear Tokoha giggling next to me.
"'How hard could it be' huh?" Tokoha snidely remarks my earlier statement with a smug look on her face.
"Okay miss airhead, let's see you do better!" I challenge her, but all she does is swish her hair prepares to fire her gun.
"Watch a pro." She aims for a small brown teddy bear on the highest shelf. "Bang!" She fires the gun and hits the bear square in the chest knocking in down.
"Wow, not bad young lady." The stall owner tells her as he picks up the bear and hands it to her, while I'm pretty annoyed.
"I'm just getting started!" She declares. Tokoha takes more shots hitting more and more prizes with such accuracy and grace. "And for the grand finale, I'm going to bounce it off of one prize and hit another!" She fires the cork and it hits the top of one prize, bounces off the ceiling of the stall, and hits another prize, exactly what she said!
"Amazing! I've never seen anyone hit two prizes with one shot!" The stall owner exclaims and places a hand on her head.
"Eh?" Tokoha say slightly taken aback by the head pat.
"Please spread the gospel of gunning to the world with me! The owner says and grabs her shoulder with great enthusiasm.
"I… uh…" Tokoha clearly isn't going to accept. I step in and take her hand.
"She appreciates the offer. Come on Tokoha let's go." She nods and we start franticly running. "See ya later!" I say to the owner.
"W-Wait!" I hear him say, but we're already far away from the stall.
"Phew, we got away from that maniac." I sigh in relief, but I realize something, "Dammit! I forgot to grab the other prizes before we left."
"It's okay," Tokoha reassures me, "the bear is more than enough." She then holds my hand tighter, "Besides, holding hands with you is a far more precious memory." She said. I was about to say something else, but just then…
BOOOM!
The sky lights up with fireworks. "Whoa!" we exclaim. "They're so pretty!" Tokoha says in awe.
"Yeah…" I reply.
"All my life, I've been waiting for this moment." Tokoha mumbles her self holding her hands to her chest. We're look up to the fireworks together, just like her essay said. I take Tokoha's hand, "Huh?!" she looks at me in surprise. It's all happening so fast that we're at a loss for words, and just like that, Tokoha holds my hand back and giggles happily.
But soon, Tokoha's happiness fades from her face. "Hmm, I can't really see…" She says.
"Wanna go somewhere else to get a better view?" I ask her, but she looks pretty low.
"I don't really know of any other place where there's a better view." She thinks for a minute, than she looks as if an idea came to her, "Oh I know the perfect place!"
She takes me to a nearby playground. It's in the open with no trees around, so nothing will obstruct our view. "Chrono come on!" Tokoha grabs my hand and takes me up a slide into a kid's jungle-gym. The space at the top of the slide is pretty tight as it's not meant for two teenagers, but there's no roof, so we still have a great view of the fireworks. I sit down and lay against a wall and she sits down next to me and we watch the fireworks.
The two of us are silent for a while, but then Tokoha breaks the silence and climbs over me. "Chrono…" she speaks in a soft voice, "since we're a couple, can we do what couples do?" She asks me with a cute expression on her face.
"Huh?" I say, but then she says…
"Can we… kiss?" Before I can ever react to her words, I'm met by a soft sensation which I can only describe as her lips on mine. I'm at a loss for words, Tokoha's kissing me. "Mmm, mmph…" she makes small cute noises as she presses her lips against mine. Soon she pulls away. "Chrono, your lips are dry." She tells me.
"I'm sorry, did it hurt?" I ask her, still in shock of what happened.
"No, I'm fine." She reassures me. She pauses for a second as if she's going to say something else, "Chrono…" she softly says my name, "can… I kiss you again?"
This time giving me time to respond I say, "Sure." But not nervous, but with happiness, and she puts her lips to mine once again. This time, she gently places her hands on my chest and I wrap my arms around her back and we hold each other as we embrace this passionate kiss.
We kissed for what felt like an eternity, and then we finally part. She gives me a cute smile and rests her head on my chest as if she's trying to cuddle with me. "Chrono…" she whispers, "I love you." She says so quietly I could barely hear her over the fireworks, but I still made it out. Her elementary school dream had come true, and I wanted to say that, but I stay quiet because I don't want to ruin the moment. The two of us just lay there with the sound of the fireworks fading as the show comes to a close.
Even though she said we'd be a couple until the end of the festival, but I feel like it's going to last a lot longer than that. I lean my head forward and whisper in her ear, "I love you too, Tokoha." I then look at the face which is pressed against my chest, and I could seem tears flowing from her eyes. Most likely tears of happiness, happy that her dream had finally come true.