Chapter 1

Oliver

I ran after Iroha, getting fed up of her usual game. She was faster than me, always has been. And she always takes my hat, my sailor cap. She knows that gets me ticked off, so that's why she does it.

"Iroha! Stopppp!" My voice echoed after her. I looked down at the ground as I raced to her; the lush green grass, a pure sign that summer was here. My white sneakers pounded against the grass, but I couldn't get my feet to go much further into the woodsy area. I began to slow down, breathing heavily. Now that I've stopped, she would come running back within a minute or so.

Iroha and I are those kind of unlikely friends. I'm shy, maybe not that strong, but I do try hard. Iroha, however, is effervescent, loves to play games, and does what she pleases. That can either be a nuisance, or...well, it's always a nuisance, really. We were complete opposites, but that's why we're so close.

Sure enough, Iroha came running back, hat in hand. She giggled, slapping it back on my head. She wore a red sundress, with some darker stripes of almost black towards the bottom. Her long pink hair was in a low ponytail, and she wore a big red bow on the right side of her head. Her thick black boots completed the outfit, though they looked a bit worn out.

"Thanks. Now, can we go back to school already?" I asked, adjusting my cap to my liking.

"I don't really wanna go, Oliver. It's so boring at the festival." Iroha replied, with a whiny tone to her voice. "I mean, lot's of kids don't go to it. It's no big deal."

I shrugged. I liked going to our school's summer festival. It wasn't anything spectacular, but I still felt obliged to go. You didn't have to pay to get in; admission was free with your student I.D. Not like any other kids were planning some party for the last day of school, anyways.

Iroha continued to groan, but I remained silent. It was easy to just try to ignore her bickering than to argue with it.

"Fine. Let's get it over with, I guess. And I'm certainly not staying the entire time! Just for an hour, at the most." Iroha began to walk back to school, continuing to talk about how bad the yearly festival was.

"I mean, the rides are so lame! The only decent one is the ferris wheel, but you can only go on that one so many times before you fall asleep! Can you believe some people are scared of them? I mean, they really aren't that bad...some people just overreact to them. Even if nothing wrong is happening...they'll freak!" Iroha carried on and on as she walked next to me. She made dramatic facial expressions as she complained, and I tried my best to contain my laughter.

Really, I didn't care about how bad the rides were, or a person's fear of said rides. All I cared about now, was Iroha.

I had never been in a relationship before. I'm a shy boy, and that proves to be difficult, especially when trying to date. I started to like Iroha last year, but I never let that slip through the cracks. I continued going on with her as "just friends". I think it's getting obvious to everyone that I like her. A lot.

There was something special about her, I felt. Sure, she could be ignorant and somewhat uncontrollable, but she didn't mean any harm. She was silly and free-spirited. She didn't let others boss her around, which I envied. I wish I could be like that, like Iroha. That's when I realized I wanted to be more than friends with her.

I plan to ask her out tonight, at the festival. If she says yes, I-she'll definitely say yes, I thought. She has to.

What if she doesn't?

I can't think like that. I nodded along as Iroha rambled endlessly. "Those people, they jump to...conclusions? Is that it?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Right. You know, they think of the worst-case scenario. They should remember the good before they even consider the bad. It's just a ride, after all." Iroha pushed her hair behind her, and it bounced along her back as she walked.

I'm just like those people. Except it's not fear of being on a ride. I've just got to remember the good, that's all...

As we approached the festival, I started to feel the nerves becoming stronger. I tried to shake them off, because I didn't want Iroha to get suspicious. I could already hear the obsessively loud pop music coming from the festival. I don't know who chooses the songs for this, but they must think that all teenagers have bad taste and choose the stupidest of things to play. I saw a few balloons floating in the sky, and kids shouting at one another. I grimaced, suddenly thinking that coming here was a bad idea. I could ask her out anywhere, it doesn't have to be at some event...I could've just done it at her place...

I glanced at Iroha, who was actually smiling. I got scared when she suddenly grabbed my hand, and taking me with her as she ran down the tall, grassy hill.

As we grew closer, I could see why Iroha was so excited. There was a large amount of food; mostly sweets, like cotton candy, ice cream, those huge Hershey bars, and probably even more sugar filled food. I honestly don't see why the school tries to get kids to eat healthy. It's not working very well.

Iroha stopped immediately at the ice cream. "I'll have two strawberry scoops please!" She yelled into the ear of the old guy behind the counter, who looked less than jolly. He filled her request, quickly scooping out the ice cream for her.

"Are you going to have ice cream, Oliver?!" Iroha then shouted at me. I scanned the variety of flavors, uninterested, but decided to at least have something.

"Um, I'll have two vanilla scoops, please." I said gently to the man. He handed Iroha her ice cream, and began to scoop out mine. He gave me two scoops of pistachio, but I let it go. It wasn't that that mattered, anyway. The old man blinked at us, when Iroha dug into her pockets for some cash. She handed the man a wad of money, and the two of us went off in another direction, towards the rides.

Iroha was licking away at her ice cream, her tongue going up, down, all sorts of directions on the pink swirls. She seemed extremely content with it; as if all her past grudges with this 'lame festival' had subsided. I slowly worked on my own cone (even though I didn't like pistachio), anxious to do what I had been meaning to do all day. "Iroha? Can I ask you something?"

She took her eyes off the frozen treat. "Oh, sure! What's up?"

Ok, this is it...

"Irohaaaaa!"

Someone slammed right into Iroha, nearly knocking her to the ground with such force. I immediately recognized Lui, and did my best to hide my annoyance. Lui hugged Iroha tight, as she steadied her ice cream in her hand.

"Irohaaa, I haven't seen you in two hours!" Lui hugged her. I didn't really like Lui; he tried too hard to be friends with everyone. I just thought that he was pushy most of the time.

"Nyaaa, Lui. It's been a very long two hours, then." Iroha replied, still eating while Lui held her.

Lui laughed, letting go of her. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go ride the ferris wheel with me?"

What? But I wanted to ask her out...

Iroha beamed "Sounds like fun!"

Of course. But I quickly reverted back to a positive outlook. I could always ask her later...

Lui clapped his hands together. "Awesome!"

I cleared my throat, awkwardly taking another lick of my ice cream. "Um..." I rubbed my shoes together, trying to hide my embarrassment.

Iroha smiled at me. "Oh, Oliver, um..." She glanced at Lui, trying to figure out what to do.

Lui was quiet, before having a "aha!" moment. "The ferris wheel can only fit two per cart! So Iroha and I can ride one, and you and Seeu can ride another!"

I grimaced. Seeu? The transfer student from Korea? Right, she was going to be a lot of fun. She didn't understand English well at all. She stuck out like a sore thumb wherever she went, because she was always confused.

As soon as she heard her own name, Seeu appeared out of what seemed like nowhere. "Hello guys." She said, very slowly, and timidly.

Lui took her hand and placed it in mine. Seeu looked from our hands to my face, and then to Lui. He pointed to the wheel, as it made its rounds in the sky.

I waited for the girl to say something. It took her a moment to comprehend what was going on, but she eventually nodded, with a sudden giddiness. "Oh! The wheel. Looks like fun!"

I had to admit, I felt bad for her, being that she almost was like a baby, having to be constantly cared for and watched over. As we headed to the ferris wheel, holding hands, I started to feel bad for myself, too.