Back to Stump One
Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening
Is she awake yet? It's Spring 1st, it's been three days!
Sssh.
You idiot. Would you call snoring a sign of someone being awake?
Children please! If you will not keep quiet, I would have to ask you to leave.
We're not kids anymore, Irene...Well most of us.
Yeah Irene, I mean look at Luna! She's doesn't even reach Akari's shoulders-ow!
Akari?
The mouse-brown haired girl started stirring, and eventually her eyes started fluttering open. A blue-haired boy pushed back a pink-haired girl and half-shouted, "Akari!"
"I'm sorry?"
"You, silly!" he playfully nudged her arm.
"Oh right, right, yes uh...how long was I out?"
"Three days, dear," calmly replied a beautiful, peaceful-looking long-haired brunette.
"Three long days! Everyone's been taking turns to watch over you—" started the pink-haired girl.
"But not me! I am here, 24/7!" cut in the energetic blue-haired boy.
"Nu-uh! I'm the first to get here, Luke, and you get out of your house at like 10 in the morning!"
"At least I'm wide-awake, unlike some people like, oh I don't know, an extremely little girl named Luna?"
As Luke and Luna continued arguing, the peaceful brunette watched them, amused.
"I see our patient is finally awake."
A black haired man in a long white coat with glasses entered the room with a clipboard. Akari could tell he was a doctor. "How are you feeling, Akari?"
"Wow, um, I...don't know, I mean—"
"She needs spinach cake! Here! I brought some!" Luke shoved a spoonful of the greenish cake into Akari's mouth.
After swallowing it, Akari said, "Why, um, thank you, I feel really great—"
"Uck, no you don't! Here, this is from Grandma, who actually knows how to cook!"
"I believe some herbal tea should do the trick," cut in the long-haired brunette, gently pushing away the two.
"Oh no, it's alright, I'm okay..." said the flustered patient as the doctor approached her.
"So far, her vital signs are normal." He turned to the long-haired brunette. "Could you help me mix up some bodigizer, Anissa? Perhaps one more night here, and then I can let Akari go back to her home."
"We made sure it's clean!"
"And I made sure Luke didn't destroy anything!"
"Renee, Toby and I took care of your field and barn."
"Wow, I...don't know what to say," said an overwhelmed Akari. "I mean the brochure described how beautiful this place was, but it never mentioned how warm the villagers were!"
"Akari, what are you talking about?" slowly said Anissa.
"Before coming here to Waffle Island, I was so nervous and scared and excited at the same time, but then there was a storm that hit the boat, and I got seasick, and I think I passed out... And then now that I wake up, I can't believe everyone actually knows my name!"
Luna, confused, said "wait, Akari, what is the last thing you remember?"
"It was...A day before Spring 1st, I think. I was talking to Pascal—you know, this guy who is the captain of the ship that brought me here? We were still on the boat, and then a storm came, and I got seasick, and I think I passed out."
A long silence followed. Everyone's faces showed horror, shock, or confusion, until Luke broke the silence and blurted out, "what?"
The doctor, who was the next to recover, gently said, "I am guessing you don't know who I am. Hello Akari, I am Doctor Jin. These are my friends, Anissa, Luna, and Luke."
"What do you mean 'your friends'? We're her friends too! Akari, don't you know who I am?" cried Luna.
"Well um, the blue-haired guy over there, I think his name is Luke from your conversation a while ago, called you Luna, I think. And I think she," Akari gestured towards Anissa, "is named Anissa?"
"You have got to be kidding me."
"Come on! Can't I just walk up to her and say 'hey! I'm you boyfriend, and I love you and you love me'?" pleaded Luke to his two companions.
"No," firmly said Anissa.
"Aww! She's been asleep for three days, and then now that she's awake, she can't even remember a thing!" Out of frustration, Luke kicked a tree stump. They then entered the Sundae Inn and sat down at a table.
"I know this is frustrating, Luke, we feel the same way too," Anissa said.
"Yeah! So why do we have to beat around the bush and complicate everything?" complained Luke.
"Because that would creep her out, you dolt!" exclaimed Luna. "Imagine you're Akari, and you think you just got on the island, then after passing out, you wake up and then a stranger that looks like you just randomly comes up and says 'hey there, we're in love, and I've been waiting for three days, so kiss me now!' ? That would creep me out if I were her. Or or or try turning things around. You forget the past three years, and then the newcomer in the village suddenly starts trying to seduce you or something."
Luke thought about it for a moment and said, "well, I'd probably think 'wow! The newcomer is extremely cute! But also extremely scary...'"
"Unfortunately, that is why we can't drop everything on her like that," Anissa sadly explained.
Luke pouted. "But I miss her... And gah! Waiting is just so hard!"
"Yes but if you truly love her, you should learn to wait for her," patiently pointed out Anissa.
"Love lasts forever, so you shouldn't rush!" Luna said in a sing-song voice.
Luke opened his mouth and then closed it again. He then shook his head wildly like a dog and then, with a bright expression on his face, said "of course! I'll wait for her! And I'll get her to fall in love with me all over again! Thanks you guys!"
He quickly hugged two of his friends and then threw open the doors of the Sundae Inn with such a force that one of the paintings on the wall fell off.
"Oops! I'll fix that!"
He quickly swiped the painting and hung it on the wall. But out of rush, he put it on backwards, and then ran back out into the street.
A grey-haired man at the back of the counter in front of the inn chuckled and said, "ah, young love."
Akari was watching the television in her hospital room at the second floor. Featured in one of the channels was a ginger-haired girl with two pigtails, teaching the audience various recipes. Akari had just started giggling when the girl in the TV accidentally knocked over an entire bowl of sugar into her cake mix, when she heard a thump on the window to her left. Looking outside the window, she expected to see a bird on the other side. However, she didn't see anything, and so she just shrugged and focused her attention on what she was watching again.
"Uh, haha, just a moment, folks!" said the girl in the television.
Thump.
"Okay, maybe a bit of..."
Thump.
"Aha! Here it is! Now next, you should..."
Thump.
"What on earth?" said Akari. She got off the bed and opened her window, just as whatever-it-was-that-was-hitting-the-window hit her square in the face.
"Oops! Sorry Akari! I'll fix that!"
Akari rubbed her nose and looked down. It was the energetic boy from earlier that day, and he was holding the end of a rope.
"Hey uh...maybe you could help me out? Can you place that loop on your end of the rope on that knobby thing on the right side of the window? No I mean your other right—there! Thanks!"
Luke started climbing up the wall using the rope. When he reached the top, he sat on the windowsill and, grinning, said, "hey Akari! Sorry about that! What's up?"
"Well, other than being shocked after finding out this morning that I seem to have forgotten the past three years of my existence, then asked by a stranger to help him get in my room after getting hit by his paraphernalia to get up here just a few moments ago, I think I'm doing great!" replied Akari. Smiling, she added, "what's with the grand entrance?"
"Uh..." Luke nervously scratched the back of his head. "Well, longstoryinvolvingacoupleofa ngryanimalsandvillagersthati snotworthhearingabout! Basically, uh, some people" cough "Irene" cough "kinda don't really want me up here, so uh, maybe we could, just, you know, keep this between us?" He gave her a pleading smile. "Please?"
Akari laughed. "Sure, why not?"
Luke grinned and said, "great! Oh and uh, sorry for the rude awakening this morning! Let's start all over again, or go back to stump one as how Pops and I say it. HI THERE! I am Luke! The bravest, the strongest, and most importantly—"
"Luke! What on earth are you doing up here?"
"Whoa!"
Before Akari could do anything, the energetic lad fell backwards out of the window. She put her hands over her mouth and looked down.
"Ow...I'm okay!"
*AN Aww... Poor Luke. Maybe things will get better for him soon? Rate and review? It will make Luke feel better... :o3