The morning sun shone brightly; white, fluffy clouds drifting in the clear, blue sky. He thought about her. 'She hates mornings… and things that are soft, cuddly and warm. She hates everything that other people love. Weird girl.'
He paced around, trying to get rid of the numbness in his feet. How long has he been standing there?
'She passes by this path everyday, what is taking her so long? I look like an idiot standing here alone.' Sounds of footsteps nearing him snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Ya, Ohayou," he half-heartedly greeted the girl with long, auburn hair.
"Yuta-kun!" Tateishi Ayu was surprised. It was as if Yuta was waiting for her, standing there at the park entrance.
"Looks like you're all love-love with Kaji-kun. Congratulations." He gave out a forced smile.
Ayu blushed. "You need something? You didn't come here to say that, right?"
Yuta didn't feel like making fun out of anybody today. "I thought I'd give you a nice present."
He took a white envelope out of his pocket. "Here." He handed it to Ayu. "Inside are two pairs of tickets."
"Two pairs of tickets?" she asked for confirmation. She was thinking that it was another one of Yuta's magic pranks.
"One pair is for you and Kaji. The other is for Nina and…"
"Nina and?" Ayu asked, trying to force Yuta to say something. But then she realized it made him feel awkward. She asked another question. "Did you know that Nina is a candidate to marry-"
"Yeah. I know. Since a while back." He blinded her with a toothy smile.
"It must hurt…" She had a look of genuine concern.
"Not at all. It really doesn't. I gave up a long time ago." He turned his back from Ayu and began walking away.
Even though she couldn't see his face, the tone of his voice suggested that he was happy. Shouldn't he be sad about it?
"I'm sorry, Yuta-kun. I'm a little lost for words now…"
"Oh, look! Maya-chan's over there." Just the person he was waiting for – the source of his instant mirth.
Orihara Maya was riding a bicycle in the park. She looked around, saw no one, got off the bike and snapped her fingers. In that second, the bike was gone. Unbeknownst to her, two her so-called friends were hiding behind the nearby bushes.
"Orihara-san can do magic without transforming!"
"Yep. Just like me." Yuta was watching Ayu's amazed expression.
Maya was walking toward the park entrance now - the exact same place where Ayu and Yuta were standing minutes ago. She was going to go on her way, but something caught Maya's eyes: a birds' nest lying on the ground. She pointed at it and it levitated into the air and onto the tree branch where it belonged.
"Wow."
"She's a really nice girl when you get to know her," Yuta said with a hint of laughter in his voice.
Ayu looked at Yuta with eyes full of questions.
He answered before she could ask. "Maya-chan has been gifted with magic ever since she was a little girl. She was my rival in school. She finished early and I would have left the school too if it weren't for Nina. The people in Magic Kingdom say it was foolish of her to meddle with black magic since she was already a powerful witch herself. Maya-chan told me she wanted to master all forms. Now, she's perfecting the dark arts. "
"Oh." Ayu couldn't think of anything else to ask.
"Ohayou, Maya-chan!" Yuta greeted Maya who was already behind Ayu.
Maya scowled at her childhood friend. "You two talking so loudly defeats the purpose of hiding behind those bushes. The reason for you two hiding there – I don't want to know."
"Ohayou. I didn't even feel you come near me, Orihara-san," Ayu laughed nervously. "I have to go now. I promised Nina that I'd meet her early today." Ayu made up that instant excuse. There was always something about Maya that made normal humans – and even magical ones – get away from her. "See you at school, Orihara-san." Ayu ran.
"What do you want, Yuta?" Maya asked with her trademark glare.
He gave her a smile that would have made a hoard of girls faint. "Now, now, Maya-chan. Why can't you be kind to me like with those poor birds you helped a while ago?"
She crossed her arms in front of her.
"Oh, okay. You got me. Can you go out with me tonight for a short ride?"
Yuta knew that it was more likely that Maya would turn him down and act as though he never existed. She was like that. Their last trip to the amusement park didn't turn out exactly as Maya had expected.
It would be hard to convince her since he didn't have a promise of data to give Maya concerning the Holy Stones. He wanted to help both princess candidates but Nina needed him more. Deep inside, he wanted Nina to win so he could have Maya all to himself. 'How selfish of me.'
He never thought that things would go his way… so easily.
She just nodded.
Tsujiai Hiroki's voice could be heard. "Hey, Sakura! What are you doing? Hurry up and get on."
Sakura Nina was looking around the place. Everything looked different in the night, with just the lampposts to light the streets."Oh, okay." She got on the magic couch when she contented herself that no one else was there. She was wrong.
The two carriages took off.
"They're gone. Let's go now. These leaves are making me itch." Maya was standing on a tree branch, Yuta sitting on the opposite branch.
"Aww, Maya-chan, let's have a little fun. Why don't we follow them around?" Yuta was now floating in front of Maya with pleading eyes.
"I don't want to," she said, arms crossed, eyes closed, head tilted away from him.
"But I insist!" He got a hold of Maya's hands.
"I said no-oooo-!" Yuta pulled her out of the tree branch she was standing on. He caught her and they landed on Yuta's spaceship.
Soon they were flying in the night sky.
"You look beautiful tonight, Maya-chan" Indeed she looked stunning. Her pale skin contrasted her ensemble. She was wearing a black sweater and a long, dark denim skirt that swept the floor when she walked. Her long, blonde hair was waving gently in the wind. Her angelic face was devoid of emotion. He was lost in her charming green eyes that were looking somewhere off in the distance.
Those eyes made him wonder what shade they were. Bright emerald green? Bottle green? Light jade? Deep olive? Yuta never did fathom what hue they were, because it was the look in her eyes that intrigued and captivated him. Her soul's mirror reflected determination, detachment, controlled intensity, coldness, gloom, ambiguity – he was the only person that saw those in her.
"Shut up, stop looking at me like that, and let's get this over with," she said in a strong, bossy voice but in reality she felt very uneasy with him sitting so near her.
He tried to sound hurt. "Shouldn't you say 'Thank you' or 'You look great, too, Yuta-kun'? I wore this burgundy sweater because I thought you'd like it, Maya-chan. You always liked dark colors." And he has always been trying to impress Maya (it started while they were in the Academy), but always ended up annoying her. She branded him as a show-off and interpreted Yuta's actions as competition.
His attempt at a decent conversation failed. Yuta sighed and looked at somewhere else. Tsujiai and Nina's carriage was in front of them.
"I gave her a love seat and everything and they're not using it. Something has to happen." He pointed his finger at the carriage.
Tsujiai and Nina's screams got Maya's attention.
"What did you do, Yuta?"
"Nothing, Maya-chan." He waved his hands. "Just a little nudge."
Maya was now standing in front of him, her hands on her waist. "What if they see us? What would they say if they saw us-"
He interrupted her sentence. "…together?" He was smiling like the Cheshire cat. "Well," he tipped his chin. "They would think that we're on a date, too. Just like them."
"What! No, we aren't!" She looked scandalized. She was about to strangle him when she heard Nina scream again.
"Nina!" Maya was ready to cast a spell, not black magic but an instant one, but Yuta's hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"Maya-chan, I feel jealous. How come you care for Nina so much but you don't care for me? I'm your friend too, right?" Yuta pointed a finger at the carriage and it shook violently again.
A quick flashback ran in Maya's head. Yuta caught her hand and saved her from falling before in that ride in the amusement park. She was saved, even without magic. Maybe Tsujiai could save Nina, too. But still, doubts couldn't leave her mind.
"Urusai! Nina will fall! That guy with him is just a human; he can't do anything to save her with them being so up high in the air!" Maya took his hand off her shoulder.
"Are..." It was Tsujiai's voice. "Are you okay?"
Nina was dangling at a very dangerous height with only Tsujiai's hand to keep her from falling.
"Yeah, for now," Nina said with a nervous smile.
"Did you hear that, Maya-chan? Nina said she'll be okay."
Maya wasn't paying attention to him. She yelled, "Nina, use an instant movement spell!" even though she knew that they couldn't hear her. Yuta had cast something on that flying saucer so that they couldn't be seen nor heard. (He conveniently didn't tell Maya that. It was so fun teasing her.)
She saw Nina transform, then disappear.
"Nina!" Maya teleported to where Nina and Tsujiai were with a quick envelope of light.
"Aw Nina, how can you mess up this much?"
"Mount Choumo Langma! Why would anyone want to teleport here?" she asked sarcastically, her hair flying in every direction that the icy wind blew.
"Nina isn't that good with her magic, Maya-chan." He got near her and enveloped her in an embrace.
"Hanase, Yuta! This isn't the right time to be hugging me now!" She was struggling to get him off.
"I know you feel cold. Let me hug you for a while 'til Nina gets things fixed."
She couldn't fight him off. He was warm. It was okay for now.
The two saw the witch in red disappear into white light.
"Good job, Nina." Yuta said, letting go of Maya before he could go deaf with her yells. But in his mind, he thought differently, 'Aw, Nina, you should have given us more time.' He snapped his fingers and they were gone.
They were over the ocean now. He was sitting comfortably with the back of his head resting on the palms of his hands, observing the couple hovering before them.
"You're smiling, Yuta."
"Finally, you notice my handsome face, Maya-chan." He grinned broader.
"Are… Are you trying to set Nina and Tsujiai up? I… I thought you were planning to drown Tsujiai in the water or something like that. I thought you… loved Nina." Maya was surprised with her own realization.
A flash of light and they were in another place again. They were above the ocean too but Maya could tell that this place was different – not a trace of the other hovering coach could be seen from miles around.
"It must hurt…" he remembered Ayu saying that to him earlier.
'Yes, it does hurt. It hurts me to see Nina like that. She already has three Holy Stones and that's the minimum number for a sure win. Nina will be marrying the prince but I know that she loves that Tsujiai. I don't want her to force herself into this.' Melancholy was in his smile as he was thinking.
What hurt him most was that the person he truly has feelings for loves somebody else… and that person was yelling at him now.
"Yuta? I'm talking to you!"
"Yes, you are, Maya-chan," he said with playful eyes. He could see her irritation reach its peak and her glare was deadly as ever. "Yes, I do love her, Maya-chan."
Maya was about to say something but Yuta was quicker.
"At least I thought I was. I gave up on her a long time ago. It doesn't hurt me much as I thought it would. Because I realized I loved Nina as my little sister. She needed someone to watch over her and I did."
He saw her face soften into worry but he could read that she felt somewhat suspicious.
He smiled reassuringly. "We're blood relatives, for goodness sake, Maya-chan. I'm practically her brother.
"But you know what, Maya-chan? When I was telling myself not to worry much and that Nina could do well on her own…" he paused to see if Maya was listening. She was. He continued, "I couldn't stop thinking about you."
"Me?" she forced a laugh. "Are you kidding? I do not believe any of it."
He placed his hand on hers that made Maya look at him.
"No, really. I'm being honest for once. I've been missing you since you left."
Everything felt… real. Real to Maya. 'What is he trying to say?'
Did she say that out loud? Because the next thing he said was,
"What I mean to say is that," his grip on her hand became tighter. "It's you that I love, Maya-chan."
She quickly withdrew from him.
Yuta sighed. 'So this is what rejection feels like.'
He knew somehow that she'd flee from him once he confessed what he really felt. 'Here comes plan B.'
"I'm going home, Yuta. You should, too. You're starting to dream," she said in the tone of an insult.
He felt hurt but he smiled at his own cunning.
"You won't go home without this, won't you, Maya-chan?"
"Give that back!"
It was her spider-shaped pendant hanging on a chain that Yuta was holding. 'He must have gotten it while we were on Choumo Langma.' "Curse you, Yuta! Give that back!"
"Come and get it, Maya-chan," Yuta said, teasing in a singsong voice.
He knew that that pendant was Maya's most prized possession. He hated it. It was the symbol of Maya's love that he will never receive from her.
She charged towards him. He caught her securely in his arms in an embrace even warmer than before, in a kiss that he knew would be his first and last. They were lost in each other for a moment.
But that moment didn't last long.
It was the early sunlight that woke Maya up the next morning. She touched her lips.
'It was just a dream.'
She got out of bed, looked at the mirror and saw her sleepy self. Then she saw that she wasn't wearing the necklace.
'Where is it?'
Her panic instantly vanished as she saw it lying on her bed's side table beside a small pot of flowers and a note.
The note felt heavy. There was something inside it – a ring with emeralds around it. The note with a familiar style of handwriting said:
Ohayou, Maya-chan!
Do you like the flowers? I can't send you dark-colored flowers, 'coz they're usually all dead and dried up. I can't send Maya-chan dead flowers now, can I?
I'm sorry for making you come with me. Though you don't believe me, everything I said was true. I love you, Maya. I really do.
Please accept my little gift as my apology and sign of love for you. It has emeralds - green like your magnificent eyes and mine – an affinity we share.
Yuta
Maya folded it, and then saw something written at the back since it could not fit the other page.
Oh, yeah.
Maya shielded her eyes from the room's alien light.
I fixed your curtains so that you'd get up early. Lulu said you were scheduled to brew a potion today when I brought you here last night.
He was watching Maya from her open window. He saw her placing the ring in her necklace chain. She wore it and it sparkled in the morning sun. Yuta smiled.
Even though he was with her for only a short period of time, he felt like it was enough to last him an eternity.
How he wished that he was that emerald ring – placed so delicately near her heart.
'Maya, I'll still be…'
"Yuta!" Maya called, her head poking from her room window. She felt his aura was there seconds ago.
But he was gone.
'…loving you, even from afar.'
The Rest of the Wonderful Night
Ultra Maniac
published 05-25-06
edited 07-22-11
written for F. Slayther