"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. It was girl in a floral print dress and her dark black hair was in perfect curls. Her stormy gray eyes were filled with concern. "Something… I mean someone pushed me."
Even though his glasses were on the ground, Yukio could tell how no one was around. Everyone else was in class and he just finished his class in the Cram School.
The girl picked up his glasses and placed them back on his face. "I broke them," she muttered.
There was a crack at the edge of the lens. He had plenty of spares back in his dorm, and the crack wasn't that big despite the fall. Yukio got a good look at the girl, who was staring off into the distance.
"It's fine," he replied. "I have a spare back in my dorm."
"Is it far?" she asked. It was an odd question to ask someone you just bumped into.
"It's quite a ways but I'll be fine," he answered. He did have the keys after all, he could use those.
"It's going to start raining soon," the girl added. "And it looks like you're not prepared for the weather…"
Yukio looks at the sky with white puffy clouds, nothing dark or threatening. "I'll be fine," he said. "No worries."
He began to walk down the large steps when he heard a rush of footsteps. She was opening an umbrella, and by the time she caught up to him, the yellow shade was over his head. The light tap-tap-tap of the rain drops slowly fell against the yellow canopy. The rate of it falling was becoming rapid.
"How did you know?"
She paused for a moment, hesitating to answer. "I don't know if you'll believe me… It's not a crazy story but not a lot of people believe me when I talk about it."
"I've seen everything," Yukio said.
"Spirits," she answered. "The one who pushed me was a Rain Spirit… She's an old friend I guess, but when she's around, it rains. She promised to visit me a few days ago, so I know it was going to rain today."
"Have you been seeing them since you were a kid?" he asked.
"Yes," she nods. "My mother was a Shinto priestess and raised me in the temple. But when she passed, I grew up with my aunt and uncle, raising me like the little heiress of the company. Anyway, I never really let go of the things my mom taught me about spirits."
"I never got your name," he added. "I'm Yukio Okumura."
"Erika Takahashi," she answered. "Okumura-kun, do you believe me? About my story that is…"
"I see them too," he replied. She just smiled, not asking why or how. "And, just Yukio, please."
Although it was silent for the next few minutes of the walk, it was nice. The soft pitter patter of the rain dropped on the umbrella softly and it was kind of relaxing.
"May I ask why you're not in class?" Yukio began.
"I'm hiding from a certain purple haired freak," she grumbled. She was referring to the Academy's director, Mephisto Pheles. "Why aren't you in class?"
"I have special honors class that lets out early," he lied.
"Sure," she said with a stifled laugh. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone you're skipping either."
"I'm not the kind of person," he argued.
She just smiled even more. It was warm and bright; sincere and kind. Her curls bounced as each step is taken and her smile didn't waver.
"My dorm is over there," he said, pointing across the bridge. "I can run…"
"Don't be silly," Erika began. "I broke your glasses, at least let me protect you from the rain."
Yukio didn't want to argue with her. She looked like the kind of girl that would continue to fight for whatever she wants or what she believes in.
They reached the covered steps of the old building. "It looks like no one lives in here… It's a little old for such a prestigious school," she said, examining the old architecture.
"Thank you, Erika," he said. He ignored her previous comments, not wanting to get into the facts that it was just him and his brother Rin in the large building.
"I'll see you around, Okumura," she said and turned the other way. Her bright yellow umbrella was easy to spot.
When he got to the building, he couldn't help but watch the yellow umbrella move through the paved streets. It was easy to spot since there weren't so many colors that were as bright as that umbrella.
