"Yuuma!"
Miku's shriek echoed through the dark walls, exploding in his head. Yuuma winced, lazily letting his eyes open. Her voice seemed to have ruptured his eardrums, not that it was a problem or anything. It'd be fine in a few moments.
He adjusted his tailcoat and stalked out of the bathroom, where he'd been taking a nice nap in the shower. Don't ask why he was in the bathroom, of all places to take a nap. Miku was occupying the living room at the moment, which was where Yuuma usually slept. Besides, the bathtub wasn't too bad of a place, only that it made him think of rain. Maybe that was why he had such a dreary dream.
Miku was sprawled out on the couch, stretching her arms out in front of her. She gave a yawn as Yuuma entered the room, tugging at the edges of his sleeves. He asked, "Is there something you need, Miku-sama?"
"Get me a blanket. I'm cold," Miku said tartly, flopping sideways onto the couch, her head on the armrest. Her hair was so long it trailed to the floor, though Miku didn't pay it any attention.
Yuuma stared at Miku for a moment. "Isn't it right there?" he asked, pointing to the blanket at Miku's feet.
"Too lazy. Besides, I'm sleepy. I can't waste energy on little things," Miku replied with another yawn, her blue eyes half closed.
Yuuma let out a silent sigh as he picked up the blanket off the floor and draped it over Miku. She smiled at him briefly, the sweet childish kind of smile, before closing her eyes again.
"At least say thank you," Yuuma muttered under his breath, sighing with a weary smile. Even if he tried, he couldn't get mad at Miku. She was like a child, a snobby, spoiled one at that, but a child nonetheless. She was always calling for Yuuma to do every little thing like it was normal. Yuuma wished she'd act more like the lady she should be, but perhaps it was too big of a task to ask. She was asleep in moments, her chest rising and falling softly as she drifted off into dreamland.
Yuuma found himself staring at the tiny globe made of patched cloth. That was the thing called "Earth," made by Miku, a cheapskate goddess. She'd just about given up on the ball of cloth that was called a planet. A depraved goddess indeed, leaving her creation to fend for itself. Humans and other beings were what lived on this Earth, surviving and living on their own. Yuuma noticed the cloud that was floating above the earth, rain falling over and down to where the humans must be living.
Yuuma felt a sigh escape his lips. Miku must have wanted it to rain again. Rain was such a dreary thing. She really should pay more attention to her humans instead of leaving everything to him, her secretary.
He felt bad for Earth. Staring at the small ball that circled slowly, he decided he'd visit the earth in place of his depraved master, the goddess Miku, just to see what it was like now that Miku kept forgetting to take care of the planet.
He didn't know where the idea came from. Glancing back again at Miku's sleeping figure, Yuuma tiptoed out of the room and grabbed his black coat, slipping it over his slender figure. Yuuma glanced once into the mirror. His golden eyes stared back at him, the black crosses in his eyes for pupils taking in all that he saw. He brushed back his dark hair to avoid looking like a mess.
Yuuma returned to the room silently, standing over the planet Earth. Carefully, he poked his finger at the mist-like layer around Earth, the ozone layer as Miku called it. He felt his body shrinking as he was sucked in by the gravity of the planet, slowly falling through the air. He couldn't see the dark room anymore, just gray clouds and dark skies as he lightly descended through the rainy skies and onto the cobblestone road.
No one noticed anything strange about his sudden appearance. He was just another person walking along the street. It was like it was perfectly normal to land from the skies onto the road, but Yuuma knew gods and their workers had the power to influence people. There's nothing wrong with people coming from the skies, humans might think whenever a god appeared before them from the skies. It was the kind of mind control higher beings had over humans who were stuck on Earth.
All around him were people, holding up umbrellas, wearing hats, otherwise rushing through the rain to the nearest building. There was only black and white in Yuuma's sight as he glanced around, studying his surroundings. They were dull as the rain that was pounding against him, reviving the dreary feeling he'd been feeling all day.
With a sigh, Yuuma took off his coat and draped it over his arm, swinging the handle of his umbrella in his hand. He didn't like getting pounded by the rain, but it was better than umbrellas. He had endless reasons why he didn't like it. He couldn't see the sky anymore, no matter how dreary it could be. It also separated people from each other, as they were now enclosed in their own little circles under their umbrellas. Even worse though, whenever he looked up, there was only a circle of plain color, in his case black, only adding to his weariness.
It didn't matter, of course, why Yuuma disliked umbrellas. He let out a long sigh and continued forward, adjusting his collar. Shielding his eyes from the raindrops that pelted him, Yuuma glanced out over the skyline, searching for a place where he could rest his feet and hide from the rain.
Pretty soon, Yuuma found himself in an emptier part of town, the streets echoing with the pitter-patter of the rain and void of human voices. He noticed a young girl up ahead, wearing a magenta sweater over a light pink skirt that matched her umbrella. She was alone, her tiny figure almost engulfed in the dark street and pounding rain.
Yuuma paused for a moment as the green-haired girl passed him by. Her tiny, pale hands unsteady as they held the heavy umbrella as she walked forwards, alone in the dark rain, staring at the ground covered in puddles that were muddy and unclear.
He suddenly noticed a tiny rock hidden in one of the puddles in front of the young girl. He turned and called out, "Hey, careful!"
Too late. The unnoticed rock tripped the little girl, causing her to fall on her knees with a splash. Her umbrella flew up into the air as the girl let go, surprised, Yuuma in a similar state. He ran over quickly, eyes wide in alarm and hoping the girl was all right.
As he stared down at the girl's knee, both scraped and muddy, Yuuma couldn't help but feel a hint of pain in his heart. It was all the rain's fault, for creating the puddle that hid the rock that tripped the little girls. One thing led to another, and in the end the terrible rain had been brought about by Miku's negligence of the earth.
"Are you okay?" Yuuma hastily asked, afraid to see the girl start crying.
"I got separated from my mom," the little girl sniffled, but just as quickly, she wiped her eyes and looked up at Yuuma with a bright smile.
"Oh, I, uh, I see," Yuuma stuttered, surprised that she could smile even now.
"Aren't you cold, mister?" the girl asked innocently, her wide green eyes staring up at him as she picked herself up on her two feet, the cut on her knee forgotten. She bent over and picked up her fallen umbrella, light pink against the dull colors of the town.
"No, not really," Yuuma managed to reply before sneezing. Funny, it was, that the secretary of a goddess could get cold.
The girl tilted her head to the side. Yuuma blinked in surprise when the girl suddenly reached up and held out her umbrella over him, the sound of raindrops now hard against stretched canvas.
"Now you won't be cold anymore," she stated happily, bursting into a content smile.
"My name's Gumi Megpoid. What's your name, mister?"
He hesitated for moment before replying, "Yuuma."
"That's a nice name, Yuuma-san," Gumi remarked, bursting into another happy smile. "Can you help me find my mom?"
"Uh," Yuuma frowned, troubled. It wasn't like he wanted to leave the girl here, but he wasn't used to strangers asking him for help. The girl was asking him as if she thought it was perfectly normal. It reminded Yuuma of a particular person who liked to do the same, that person being Miku. He came here to see what the earth was like, not to help a little girl find her mother.
"I'm sorry, I have something to do," Yuuma hastily made up his mind, getting up. "If you wait here, I'm sure your mom will find you."
"What if I say please?" Gumi almost begged in a sweet voice, her big eyes staring up curiously at Yuuma. "Please?"
"I…I really can't," Yuuma stammered, turning around. He started to walk off, afraid that a second more and he'd succumb to Gumi's innocence and cuteness.
He heard a pitter-patter of tiny feet running through puddles and cobbled stones. Yuuma felt his lip twitch. It wasn't hard to deduce that Gumi was trying to catch up with him. It made him feel worse about himself.
Suddenly, a pair of arms suddenly hugged his knees, causing Yuuma to stop him his tracks, surprised. Gumi's head didn't even reach his waist as she cried, "Pretty pretty please with a carrot on top?"
"A carrot on top?" Yuuma asked, unfamiliar with the phrase. He'd heard of people saying "a cherry on top," but Gumi's words confused him.
"Yep! Because carrots are the best thing in the world!" Gumi exclaimed, tugging at his pant legs. "So can you please help me find my mom?"
After Gumi's endless pleading in her sweet, innocent voice, Yuuma had to let out a sigh as he complied, "Okay, fine."
"Really?" Gumi asked, her eyes lighting up with delight. "Thank you, Yuuma-san!"
Yuuma had to bend down a bit as Gumi held out her pink umbrella for him, stretching her arm as high as it could go. He might as well go under it, Yuuma decided, seeing how he'd be with Gumi for a while.
As he walked alongside her, he looked up and noticed that a few crude and irregular flowers had been drawn inside the umbrella with colored pencils. As if noticing Yuuma's questioning look, Gumi explained with a grin, "They're flowers that only bloom on rainy days!"
Yuuma couldn't help but muse over the triumphant look on Gumi's face as she stared up at the flowers. It was a nice cheerful drawing for a rainy day, but… Yuuma mumbled, "It's a pity that they can't be seen from outside of the umbrella."
"That's okay," Gumi smiled, having heard Yuuma. "Mommy wanted them to grow big, so she planted them inside so they'd have their roots towards the rain."
"Oh," was all Yuuma said as he stared up at the cheerful drawing. That was a nice way to put it now that she explained it like that.
For some reason, it made Yuuma feel less dreary as they set off to look for Gumi's mother. They ran along the streets, calling out for her as Yuuma kept under the pink umbrella, Gumi still holding it professionally above his head. Sometimes, they'd stop and Yuuma would retreat out into the rain to ask some passersby if they'd seen Gumi's mom. Gumi would look left and right, searching for her mother. Yuuma couldn't help but notice how bright and vibrant the child seemed, a figure dressed in color that brightened the dark and rainy day.
They'd been searching for a long time by now. Yuuma left the umbrella to ask some more people, having still not lost hope. Gumi waited patiently under the pink umbrella, her head hung low as she let out a small sigh. It was so tiring to look for her mom. She wondered if she'd ever see her mom again.
Gumi glanced up at the inside of her umbrella, her eyes falling upon the vibrant flowers that her mom had drawn. Somehow, the picture gave her hope as she let a smile appear on her face. It'd be all right. It'd work out somehow.
At that moment, a hand tapped her shoulder. She looked up and saw Yuuma with a smile on his face as he pointed out in front of Gumi.
Her mother was running towards the two of them, an anxious yet relieved expression on her face as Gumi stood next to Yuuma's tall figure. Gumi's eyes widened with surprise before the umbrella fell out of her hands once more as she ran to her mother on her wounded knee, bursting into tears.
"I'm glad it rained," she cried, bawling into her mother's arms as they hugged each other. Her mother gently petted Gumi on the head, relieved and all smiles as she comforted Gumi.
As Yuuma watched the strong girl reunite with her mother, a smile appeared on his face. Gumi's mother had turned the stormy skies into the earth with her flowers, making the day all the less dreary and dull. He was glad he'd helped Gumi find her mother. To meet the two of them, two people who found happiness in the cruel rain and protected by the pink umbrella that preserved such hope, was almost an honor for Yuuma.
"I guess I'd better put up an umbrella," Yuuma sighed to himself with a faint smile on his lips. He stared down at the black umbrella in his hands and opened it for the first time in ages.
Swinging it up above him, he waved as Gumi and her mother went off in the other direction, Gumi waving with a big smile on her face as her mother held the pink umbrella over the two of them. It was still as bright and heart-warming a sight in the rain as Yuuma stood there watching the two of them until the happy girl and her mother disappeared from sight.
With a content smile on his face, Yuuma looked up at the skies, still dark and stormy from the rain. He closed his eyes and leapt into the air, feeling himself rising up into the rainy skies, floating up above the dark clouds until he found himself in the familiar living room, the planet Earth still spinning slowly under the giant rain cloud. Miku was still snoring behind him on the couch, the blanket half on the floor.
Yuuma took off his wet coat and left it and the umbrella Yuuma pulled up a chair and sat down, resting his chin on his arms as he leaned against the table. He stared at Earth, the home where Gumi lived in, before giving the big rain cloud a gently poke.
"I'm glad it rained too," Yuuma mumbled with a smile before burying his head in his arms, where sleep overcame him.
A/N: Gahh…. I found this song when procrastinating this essay… After watching the PV like ten times, I just had to make a one-shot off it (though really, I shouldn't with the work I have…)
The song is the same as the title, Rain Under the Umbrella, by Ie no Ura de Manbou ga ShinderuP. I'm guessing the god in the PV was Gumi, but two Gumi's don't work, so Miku became God (though she looks like the god from another of the composer's songs, "God's an Energy Cheapskate" I think). Go listen to the song if you haven't!
I think I might go on a Ie no Ura de Manbou ga ShinderuP song fic writing spree... or not. Thanks for reading!