Dear reader,
before you start reading this little story, I would like to remind that English is not my native language and that, despite all my effort to present you a pleasant, grammar-correct text, the style may sound stiff or not so easy to understand. Please be sympathetic, knowing that I definitely accept all you have to say about how improve my skill.
Have a nice reading,
D. Rose
I think about my love
And I would like to be
Like an autumn leaf
Losing itself to
The flowing water.
.
.
Like flowing water
.
.
Chihaya's thoughts went more and more often to the semifinals and the last time she had seen Arata: the words he told her, the announcement of his coming back to Tokyo in order to attend the university, had shaken her.
I'm in love with you, Chihaya.
A part of her knew she had to answer, she just didn't still know what the answer was.
I will always like Karuta… and Arata.
That consideration went back in her mind more and more often, as if it held the key. "He was talking about my Karuta style," she said to herself at the beginning, because for her everything leads to Karuta. It was a sincere yet incomplete answer.
Chihaya waited anxiously for the finals, because she knew Arata would be there: when she had him on the phone, his voice cold-nasal and fever-weakened, she felt her stomach twists in relief and disappointment because she wouldn't see and talk with him. Relief, because it had earned her some more time to understand what she felt for him; and disappointment, because they wouldn't meet before the students' tournament in July.
Chihaya looked around herself in search of an answer, wondering about to whom she could ask for guidance: Chitose probably would give her an unfit answers and she felt, without knowing why, that she couldn't talk about such a matter with Kanade or Sumire. In the end she talked with Michiru, whom was shocked to discover that her classmate wasn't as Karuta centered as she thoughts: Chihaya looked back at her amazed, because she liked Karuta and Arata. Karuta and Arata … her mind filled with the image of the boy playing, his movements meticulous and fluid like flowing water. Arata was like flowing water, strong and impetuous as it runs down a mountain's slopes, quiet and gentle as it crosses a plain, and she realized that she wished to lose herself in that water like a floating autumn leaf – that she wished to drown in that water like Ofelia with flowers woven in her hairs.
«A childhood love stronger than distance, isn't it romantic? » Michiru sighed in the end with a dreamy face. «You have his cellphone number, so why don't you call him? Even if, if you ask me, a confession on the telephone isn't romantic at all. »
And so Chihaya started to wonder how tell Arata her feeling, writing messages that she didn't sent or a letter that she tore in pieces; by phone all she was able to do was talking about something else. The only solution she came by was to follow Michiru's advice and talk to him face to face, even if that meant waiting till July.
.
.
― • ―
.
.
«… and I suppose you'll prefer that lame game of yours than to assist to your sister's moment of glory. »
Chihaya had brought back to reality by Chitose's voice.
«Eh? What? Sorry onee-chan, I wasn't listening. »
Chitose rolled her eyes while their mother laughed, shaking the head.
«We were talking about your sister getting an important role in a TV series: on spring's holidays they'll shot in Fukui for ten days, and I think I should go to support her. »
«Oh … it'll be expensive, » Chihaya answered almost mechanically.
«That's true, but I didn't get a holiday in a long time: your father will be on a business trip, so it would be just me, and besides my boss will close the shop on this week-end, » she explained showing a date on the calendar. «If I organize the trip enough in advance, I might find a cheap train ticket and there's that friend of yours who lives there: next time you have him on the phone, could you please ask him if he knows a cheap yet decent hotel? »
Chihaya looked at her mother without seeing her, while those words sank into her: Chitose on TV? Shooting in Fukui? Asking Arata about a hotel? She heard correctly, didn't she?
«I'll come too! » she exclaimed standing up suddenly, and then she blushed. «A-Arata has won against Shinobu-chan at last year's individual tournament, he could give me some advice… a-and then it will be good for me to confront myself with a different Karuta style if I want to become Queen, right? »
Chitose snorted in exasperation as she smacked her forehead. «I knew it... I knew that all you have in your head are those stupid cards! »
In the end, it was her mother who asked about the hotel to Arata's mother, to boot, since she knew better about the city's hotels and ryokan. As the two women were talking, Chihaya was there without listening: with her stomach fluttering, she was obliged once again to think about how let Arata knows about her own feelings.
I am in love of you, Chihaya.
Michiru had told her that that was the worst confession she heard of, the times and the circumstances were anything but romantic, but that at the same time, for those same reasons, it sounded the most spontaneous and sincere: the words had been said without premeditation, in an emotionally strong moment, and that could be seen as a guarantee of the boy's feelings.
"I think I'll improvise too."
Author's note
I don't remember when was the last time I stumbled on a manga or anime that involved me so much to give me a plot bunny, but here you go: my very first Chihayafuru's fanfiction. Unlike the original Italian version, I've prefered to split the English one into two chapters.
Thanks to all who, not only will read those words, but will leave a reviews as well.
Kindest regards,
D. Rose