Note: Here it is, the first chapter! As I said in one of the updates, this story will have character centric chapters (starting off with Tomoko). If you have any ideas for the story, any special romantic stuff that you want me to write (because I'm not so good at romance, but I try), let me know. Anyway, enjoy!
I don't need sad songs, because I can't feel that way.
"I'm hungry..."
Just getting out of grade school for the day, five friends walked aimlessly around on the sidewalk. All they knew was that they wanted to get away from the school building, as if a teacher would come running out to say that class was starting again. Heads turned to the girl who spoke those words, Kaicho Hisomeru looked back at them with a slight pout.
"You didn't eat the school lunch, Kai?" Twirling a strand of hair around her fingers, Tomoko Sasshihara gave her a questionable expression. She received a head shake from the other girl.
Crossing her arms, Takeshi Akamatsu frowned deeply and glanced at Tomoko. "Who could eat that lunch?" She asked, idly kicking a nearby rock with her foot. "What was it anyway? Mushy rice and unknown meat?"
Continuing on their walk, Tomoko couldn't help but agree. She mainly snacked on a bag of chips that she had bought, because the meat was questionable. It was too soft, she couldn't tell if it was pork or beef..or real meat at all. But, usually their friend Kaicho would eat the school lunches. It must've been foul indeed if she didn't bother to eat it. "Hm..Then what should we do? We don't have to go home yet." She swung her school bag back and forth, thinking of different food places.
Kaicho groaned, clutching her stomach dramatically. "I think anything will be better than that lunch..."
A smirk coming across Suzu Kimura's face, she rushed ahead to jump in front of the other girls. The action caused the unsuspecting girls to jump, Tomoko stumbling when she nearly lost her footing. The dark haired brunette just regained her composure and glared at Suzu.
Their rather shy friend, Azumi Osaragi, helped the older girl stand straight with a still frightened expression. "Suzu...that wasn't nice."
Suzu rolled her eyes and turned to keep walking ahead of them, glancing back at them from the corner of her eye. "Jeez, you guys. I was just going to suggest we go to a ramen stand or something."
"Did you have to jump in front of us like a madwoman though?" Takeshi fired back, hating that she was taken off guard like that.
Kaicho was the only one who didn't seem to mind, perking up at the mention of a ramen stand. "Great idea! C'mon, let's go!" Dragging Tomoko and Takeshi along, with Azumi following behind, she pulled the other girls ahead to Suzu.
"Do you think they have sushi? With avocado?" Tomoko pipped up randomly, not minding being dragged whereas Takeshi looked a little annoyed with their hungry friend.
"I don't know, but I sure know that I don't like my hand being dragged." She pulled her hand from Kaicho's grip and held her wrist in her other hand. "You might've pulled something..." Shrugging it off, she put her hands on her waist and stopped walking. This caused the other girls to stop as well, their attention on her now. "How about instead of dragging us along, we have a race?" She proposed, feeling particularly competitive at the moment. "Last one to get to the ramen stand chips in the most money. Deal?"
"Deal!" Suzu agreed for the other girls, a usual grin on her face.
"I didn't plan on running today..." Was all Tomoko said with a wave of her hand, trying to dismiss the idea.
It didn't take much to coerce the oldest girl into doing something, as she usually gave in once Kaicho gave her puppy dog eyes. With a reluctant look in her eyes, Tomoko weakly nodded her head and the four girls stood next to each other. Suzu looked back at Azumi, motioning for her to join them. "Let's go, Azumi! You're in on this too."
Azumi stopped for a moment, hoping her silence had gotten her out of the bet. But, sadly, it wasn't so. She sighed and kept walking, wondering what else Suzu had up her sleeve.
The result of the race was somewhat predictable, Takeshi and Suzu were close but Suzu ended up pulling the old 'look over there' trick and got ahead. Azumi took a shortcut and got there third. And, Kaicho and Tomoko showed up last, the latter letting Kaicho get there first because she knew that she had slowed the both of them down by stopping to look in the window of a Hello Kitty store. They all chipped in for the food, but Tomoko had ended up paying the most – just like Takeshi had bet. Suzu paid the least as the first person to get there, much to her delight.
"Ah, they have avocado pops!" Tomoko's face brightened as she looked at the menu of the ramen stand, the others making her faces at her weird love for avocados.
Suzu grinned and pointed to something else on the menu, squid kabobs. "And look, they have squid! They're cheap too." The young girl pulled some more of her allowance money out of her pocket, flashing it at the other girls. "I'll buy them for us. What do you say?"
Being the big eater out of the group, Kaicho was intrigued by the possibility of eating something new. Tomoko and Takeshi exchanged looks with each other.
"I don't know..." Takeshi scratched the back of her head. "Is that a challenge or something? Do we get something if we eat them?"
"Ugh..." The oldest girl touched her hand to her neck in a dramatic fashion, side-eyeing the money as if it were the squid itself. "I've never had squid before, it looks icky."
"C'mon, Sasshi!" Suzu rolled her eyes at her senpai and friend. "Be adventurous for once. It's cool to try new things!" Not waiting to hear anything else the girls would say, she gave her money to the old chef and ordered five squid kabobs. "I already ordered them, so it's too late."
Wincing, the purple-haired Azumi felt sick at the thought of eating squid, but she kept her feelings to herself. So, this is what Suzu had planned...
It was always like this. After school, they would gather and look for something fun to do, because none of them really wanted to go home right away. Suzu would want to do something outrageous and they'd end up going along with it, whether they wanted to or not.
When the squid was ready, the elderly chef set down a large plate with the kabobs in front of them. "Here you go, girls." Giving them an amused smile, he went back to taking other orders.
All except Suzu, who had an even wider grin now, the four of them eyed the plate warily.
"Who's going first?" Tomoko asked, glancing around. She sure wasn't going first, even if she was getting hungry from only chips at lunch.
Takeshi pushed the plate to Suzu, giving her a challenging look. "How about you? You wanted them in the first place."
Shooting her a look of her own, the silver haired girl picked up a kabob. "Don't mind if I do." Suzu opened her mouth and dramatically took a bite out of the squid, eating it with gusto. When she finished, she rubbed her stomach teasingly. "So yummy! You guys should try it."
Not wanting to be showed up, Takeshi grabbed a kabob herself. Kaicho also took one, as she was getting hungry and would eat a horse right about now. Azumi decided to bite the bullet and take the next one, leaving leaving the last for Tomoko. The prissy girl just stared at it, like she was face to face with her worst enemy.
"It can't be that bad, Sasshi." Kaicho tried to reason with her, laughing lightly.
"No...That's not it." Tomoko mumbled, clutching her fists.
This brought Suzu's attention away from Takeshi, the child wondering if she took things too far. "Sasshi?"
The oldest girl frowned, starting to seem as if her cat just died. "I...I just realized that I forgot my favorite pencil at school."
The rest of the girls nearly fell off of their stools.
"Just eat the squid, Tomoko!" Takeshi shoved the last kabob in Tomoko's hand and bit into her own, face contorting into a disgusted expression after a moment. "Blech...I'm sooo gonna hurt you, Suzu!"
The silver haired Suzu just laughed.
Sighing dramatically over her avocado pop, Tomoko kicked her legs as she and Takeshi ate ice cream in the park. "I'm bored..." She looked over at her friend, a small smile that signaled that she wanted something. "Take-chan~"
"Don't call me that."
The twelve year old brunette just smirked at the reaction. "Do you want to go shop-"
"No."
"Do you want to go to the ma-"
"That's practically the same thing. No."
"...Wanna go to the arcade?"
The other girl turned to look back at Tomoko. Now, that was something they could agree on. In contrast to the older girl's girlish personality, she liked to play video games. In fact, their mothers – who were friends themselves – took them to an arcade for their first play date some years ago. Although, Takeshi didn't really like them until her brother got her into them by pestering her to play with him. "Alright, let's go."
The two girls finished their ice cream and headed for the nearest arcade. On the way, Tomoko couldn't help but notice a group of girls passing them. They had on matching friendship bracelets made out of beads. Pursing her lips, she watched the girls with envy, wondering if she and her friends could have something like that. "Hey." Tomoko tugged on the sleeve of Takeshi's shirt.
"Hm?" The younger girl wondered why her friend suddenly sounded so serious. Tomoko just discreetly pointed to the group of girls that passed them.
"They have friendship bracelets." Was all she said, making Takeshi raise an eyebrow.
"And?"
"Annnnd~" Tomoko gave her look of expectance. "I want us to have some too!"
Takeshi nearly slapped her hand against her forehead. Tomoko was in a mood now, something that the kouhai couldn't talk her out of. "Why couldn't we just go to the arcade?" She grumbled to herself, with a shake of her head.
The brunette scanned the area like a girl on a mission. "Let's go to that shop, maybe they have something cool!"
Tomoko seemed to have forgotten about the arcade all together and brought Takeshi to what looked like a pawn shop. It was full of trinkets that were old and new, the game section getting the younger's attention. To their child minds, it gave an adult-feel with it's darker interior. Not like the superstores or the malls they went to when they wanted to buy stuff. Were kids even allowed in here? Maybe Tomoko's mother should've kept a more secure reign on her daughter. But, then again, they weren't in the city. She supposed the girl's mother trusted no one to abduct her or anything.
Browsing around, Tomoko seemed to be drawn to the watches on display. Well, the Hello Kitty watches.
Takeshi gave her friend a glare. "Don't even think about it. You, Azumi, and Kaicho may like that stuff, but Suzu and I don't."
The other girl pouted. "It wouldn't hurt to be a little girly now and then, would it?"
"Tomoko..."
"Alright, alright.." Giving one last longing gaze to the Hello Kitty watches, Tomoko went on to the next watch display.
The two young girl must've attracted attention, because a clerk came up to them. It was a woman, dolled up with makeup and an amused look in her eye. A lot of people gave the girls that look. They supposed it was because girls as young as them usually didn't walk around much without their mothers. But, with a mother who worked a lot, Tomoko was raised to be independent and went about as if she had a right to do as she pleased. Just like a princess. At first, it made the other girls nervous, but they did have fun being by themselves and not under the watchful eye of their parents. Plus, she was almost a teenager. Almost.
"What can I do for you little ladies?" The woman asked with a grin, not passed trying to sell something to preteens.
"Um..." Takeshi let Tomoko do all the talking. She wouldn't realize it until she was older, but despite going around so confidently, the older girl did get nervous around adults all the same. "Do you have any watches meant for younger people? Like, not so serious watches."
The woman – Yuko, her nametag read – chuckled at Tomoko's choice of words and nodded. "I think I have something that you girls would like." She led them to a case of watches that were meant for girls, not all of them girly like the Hello Kitty watches. Most of them were simple and not as large as the regular watches.
Tomoko took her time looking at the watches, seeming to give some serious though into the selection. "Hm..." Finally, she pointed to a group of silver watches that had a stretch band and shiny rhinestones around the band. "What about this one? It's not pink or anything." With a laugh, she looked back at Takeshi.
The younger girl studied the watches as well. It was practical, and would probably last them for some years. Tomoko was right, it wasn't very girly and it also wouldn't be much of a hassle to put on. "Alright, looks good to me."
Smiling brightly at Takeshi's agreement, Tomoko looked back up at Yuko. "How much would five of those watches cost?"
"Well..." Yuko started, taking off the key that was on a string around her neck to open the case. She took out one of the watches and showed it to the two girls. "The price for one of them is $20, but I suppose for you girls, I could part with them for $15 each. So, $75?"
An adult would haggle lower, because the watches would probably go for $15 at department store price, but the girls didn't quite understand the worth of such a thing yet. So, Tomoko thought that it was actually a good deal. "Okay..." She pressed a finger against her chin, thinking hard on something. "But, I don't have enough allowance money for that."
As if expecting her to say that, the sly woman smiled. "It's okay, hun. Tell you what I'll do? I'll just hold onto these for you until you can buy them." Putting the watch back with the others in the display case, she continued. "But, I can only hold it for ten days."
The brunette's eyes widened. "That's not very long at all!"
"Hm.." Takeshi thought on the idea. It would be fun to raise money and the watches would be even better if they had earned it with their own money. She turned to Tomoko, involving herself in the conversation now. "We could do it though. I'm sure amongst all of us, we can find something that we can do."
Hearing this, Tomoko had to agree. With two of them, they probably couldn't find much that they could do for money. But, amongst the five of them, their chances of finding something to do would be heightened. Maybe even their families had something for them to do.
With a newfound mission, she gave a nod to Yuko. "Okay, we'll have the money in ten days then!"
"Alright, girls." Yuko patted the watch case with her manicured hand. "These babies will be waiting for you."
"Hey, what's up with you?" A thirteen year old Tomoko and the rest of the girls eyed Suzu when the girl refused to go to the arcade with them.
"What's up with me?" The usually cheerful and hyper girl gave them a look of disdain, not looking as jovial anymore. The eleven year old had her hand on her waist, looking at them like they weren't even worth her time. "What's wrong with you guys? All you want to do is play around and goof off! Don't you have anything better to do? I'm tired of that..." A sad expression crossed her face for a moment before she regained her composure again, her face now steeled and angry.
"B-but...We're friends. We hang out to have fun." Azumi tried to reason with her, a bit scared of her friend's sudden change of face.
Suzu shook her head. "I'm tired of having fun and pretending everything is great and dandy! I'm tired of being the 'crazy' old Suzu! I've grown up, don't you get it? And, I don't want to spend my time playing around anymore. I'm not like that anymore!"
Crossing her arms, the oldest girl stood her ground. It wasn't often that Tomoko used her influence as the oldest girl, but she wouldn't be yelled at. "What are you like then?" Her tone was firm, but a small crack in her voice was heard at the end. She was hurt by her friend's change as well. Suzu didn't have fun with them anymore? She didn't like their company?
"This!" The silver haired girl brought her hands to her chest, hating that the other girl seemed to be talking down to her. "This is the new me! Take it or leave it...I'm not going to be all fun and cheerful for you guys anymore."
With that, the girl turned and ran away from them, not leaving room for more argument. The others just stared at her retreating form, not knowing what else to say after the first from their little group left them.
"I can't hang out with you guys anymore..."
Tomoko, Takeshi, and Kaicho exchanged glances with each other as Azumi told them those words.
"But, why?" Kaicho gave her a confused look.
Azumi just brought her gaze down to the ground. "My parents..."
They were all standing on the front porch of the quiet girl's mansion, coming there at first to ask if she could come with them to the beach. Azumi's family was very well off, her parents being business moguls and such. They never did like their daughter being around any of the girls, preferring her to be around girls whose families were as wealthy as they were. But, they had never put their foot down until now.
"My parents don't want me speaking to you all anymore." Voice becoming increasingly distant, Azumi didn't meet their stares as she spoke. "I'm transferring to a different school as well, so we won't be going to the same junior high school. I'm sorry."
"But..." The eldest girl started to speak, but the sound of the front door creaking open got her attention.
The tall figure of Azumi's father looked down on them with obvious disgust, like the little girls were unwanted pests on his porch. "I apologize, but Azumi is very busy right now." He readjusted his glasses, the glare of them in the sun making him seem even more intimidating. "Why don't you girls find something worthwhile to occupy yourselves with besides asking her to tag along for your little adventures? She has better things to do."
None of them wanting to argue with an adult, they said nothing as the man ushered the silent Azumi inside and closed the door in their faces. Another girl had walked out of their lives.
Kaicho frowned in frustration as she looked through her backpack for a textbook that she needed for her next class. Where was it? She had asked Tomoko and Takeshi to go ahead, so they wouldn't be late. They offered to share one of their books with her, but she was pretty sure she'd need her own book this time.
"Heh, it's not often you see her without the other two stooges."
A voice perked her attention and she saw two boys speaking out of the corner of her eye, both of them discreetly looking over at her. She said nothing and acted like she didn't hear them.
"She just their third wheel anyway, so it's no surprise. I see the other two together more often."
"I guess you're right. Do they even need her around?"
"She probably needs them. I don't think she has any other friends."
Those words hurt her. Did everyone really see Kaicho like that? Did Tomoko and Takeshi not need her around? She let those words sink in as the boys left to get to class themselves. Tears began to slip down her cheeks involuntarily and she clutched her backpack in her hands. That wasn't true, right? But, Tomoko and Takeshi did spend a lot of time together. But, maybe it was because they lived closer together? Nevertheless, what the boys said made her think that this was what the whole school thought about her. She couldn't let them think that. She had to do something!
A thought came to her head. Maybe she needed to become more independent, branch off from the other two girls for a while.
Sniffling, Kaicho nodded internally at the idea. That's what she would do, she'd talk to the other girls less and maybe her reputation would get better. She didn't want to be known as a third wheel. But, little did she know the impact that the idea would have on their friendship.
It was deja vu for Tomoko when she found herself and Takeshi on the same bench they had sat in a year ago, eating ice cream. This time, they weren't eating ice cream and Takeshi wasn't in the best of moods. About two months after that day last year, Takeshi's brother died from a drowning accident. The girl had put on a brave face for a long time, at least in front of others, but now Tomoko saw that it was taking a toll on her friend. The younger girl was quiet, staring down at the ground for the longest time. It was brought on when Tomoko accidentally mentioned her brother when they were talking about video games. Takeshi had gone silent and they had been quiet like this ever since.
"I'm sorry..." The sympathetic girl placed a small hand on Takeshi's shoulder. "I didn't mean-"
"Don't be." Takeshi shrugged her hand off, not feeling like being pitied. She finally glared up at the older girl, wondering how she could be so stupid. Tomoko was always absent minded like that and she was beginning to hate it. "That was really dumb, you know."
Tomoko gave a helpless look back, she didn't know what to say. It was mistake and she had stopped herself from saying anything more. What could she do other than apologize? "I know, and I am sorry. I understand that you're hurting, but I didn't-"
"No, you don't understand!" The angry girl cut her off again, practically seething as she stood up from the bench. "You don't understand what I'm going through! You don't know what it's like to lose someone!"
At that, the older girl was speechless. Her eyes were wide, staring back at Takeshi for a few moments before they took on a furious glare. "I don't know? I really don't know?" She stood up as well.
It was dangerous territory that Takeshi was treading in, but she didn't care. "No, you don't."
"What are you talking about? I know exactly what it feels like to lose someone!" Tomoko wasn't very good at being angry, or yelling. Her voice cracked and she always cried when she shouted, but it was something that the younger girl had never seen before from her friend. Or maybe it was ex-friend now...
"It's not the same! You don't under-" It was Takeshi's turn to be cut off as the palm of Tomoko's hand hit her right cheek, turning her face to the side.
Both girls were in shock. Takeshi couldn't piece together what happened, while Tomoko gave a wide-eyed look at the hand she slapped the girl with. Before anymore words were said, the older girl just shook her head and ran past the younger. When the girl left standing there finally pulled herself back together, she brought her gaze down to the silver watch around her wrist and pulled it off with force. Takeshi shoved it in her pocket before running off to her own destination.
They wouldn't see each other again for four years.
An alarm clock went off, causing a sleepy hand to raise up and try to turn it off.
Seventeen year old Tomoko Sasshihara stretched out on her bed, not wanting to get up. It was just another day. Why couldn't she just sleep forever?
She sighed, finally opening her eyes. "Time to get up."
The girl I was when I was little, who dreamed wholeheartedly, seems so silly now.
Note: This isn't it for the girls' childhood, so watch out for flashbacks. But, regarding present time, the rest will be them in high school from now on. I don't know if all the chapters will be long like this. I had a lot to cover in this chapter, but I'll try to make it long again ^^ And, I hope I got everyone's characters right. The chapters are going to begin and end with lines from the actual song, 'Silver no Udedokei' by Morning Musume. Tell me if that's a good or bad touch, I just thought it was a nice idea. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the first chapter!