Michiru tried to move her legs faster, but she still found it hard keep up with her mother. She was almost running now.
"Come on, Michiru, we'll be late if we don't hurry," her mother said. Michiru felt her shoe rubbing against her heel, making it even more painful to be walking this fast. She didn't understand why it was so important to be on time. They were only going to meet her grandmother at a café.
"Can't we stop for a while? My feet hurt. I want to sit down," Michiru complained. Her mother tightened her grip on Michiru's hand as they entered the park.
"Don't whine, Michiru. You can sit down when we get to the café," she said. Michiru could see that her mother was stressed. Whenever they were going to meet grandmother, Michiru's mother would become very tense and easily irritated. Luckily it didn't happen too often, since Michiru's grandmother lived outside of Tokyo and hated travelling. Not that Michiru really would have wanted to see her grandmother more often. Every time they met, grandmother would comment on how Michiru wasn't standing straight enough, how her hair looked wrong or how her new dress didn't look elegant enough.
As they rushed through the park, Michiru felt the cool autumn breeze against her skin. For a moment she thought she was hearing quiet whispers, but she knew it was just the wind. Suddenly she found herself letting go of her mother's hand and stopping completely. Her feet refused to walk forwards. It was as if she was under a spell.
"What are you doing, Michiru? We need to go," her mother sighed and tried to take her hand again.
"I need to go back," Michiru said quietly and looked back over her shoulders. Her eyes kept searching for something, but she wasn't quite sure what.
"Why? Did you drop something?" her mother asked, and Michiru could hear she was getting irritated.
"No. I just… need to go," Michiru answered, still looking around.
"Well you can go back later. Right now we need to hurry," her mother sighed and started pulling her along. Michiru kept looking back at the park, trying to figure out what she had lost or forgotten.
"I can't believe you got into a fight at school!" Haruka's mother sighed. Haruka kept kicking the small rocks in her way.
"It wasn't my fault! They were being annoying so I-"
"That's not an excuse to hit someone, Haruka! You should always just talk things through," her mother said.
"But they were being stupid! And annoying!" Haruka tried to defend herself, but her mother just shot her a cold look.
"People are stupid, Haruka. That doesn't mean you can hit them whenever they annoy you. You're grounded for a week for this."
"But-" Haruka started before her mother cut her off.
"No buts, Haruka. I had to leave work for this!"
Haruka didn't say anything else. The fight really wasn't her fault. At least not in her opinion. Besides, she had won. She had only gotten a small bruise on her arm, and it didn't even hurt that much. She should have gotten a reward for being so brave!
"Can we have ice cream?" she asked as they entered the park.
"What? Of course not! You're not getting any sweets for a while," her mother said. Haruka was about to protest, when suddenly chills ran all the way down her body. She felt like she had forgotten something.
"Haruka? Come on, we need to go home," her mother said. Haruka hadn't even realized she had stopped walking.
"I forgot something," she mumbled. She tried to look around to see what it was that she had forgotten.
"What did you forget?"
"I don't know." Haruka's mother grabbed her hand and started pulling her along.
"I'm sure you didn't forget anything. Come on now," she said. Haruka looked back once more.
Haruka was walking with her hands in her pockets and her eyes on her shoes. Her friends were talking and laughing, but Haruka wasn't even listening to what they were saying. She hadn't been able to sleep properly for a while now, and it was all because of those strange dreams she had been having. The dreams felt like memories, but each of them were short and right as the dreams ended, Haruka always woke up. One night she had had at least ten different dreams. She tried to blame it all on puberty, hormones and other weird stuff that happened to teenagers, but none of her friends seemed to have weird dreams that kept them from sleeping.
"So what do you say, Haruka?" one of her friends asked, making her come back from her thoughts.
"What do I say about what?"
"We were talking about going to the arcade. Is that okay with you?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. I just-" Haruka's words were cut short by a strange feeling inside her. It was like a lightning had struck through her. It wasn't even cold, but there were chills going down her spine. On top of that, there was this strange feeling that she had forgotten something. It all felt familiar, but Haruka wasn't sure why. She looked around, trying to figure out what she'd forgotten.
"Haruka. Are you okay?" one of her friends asked. Haruka just blinked and stared at her.
"Huh? Yeah. I think so," she replied. She was still feeling like she had forgotten something.
"Good. We decided to go to that café instead. The one where your girlfriend works," another friend of hers said, nudging her with his elbow.
"My who?"
"Your girlfriend, that waitress. What was her name? Aiko?"
Haruka felt her cheeks burning.
"Her name is Akemi. Besides, she's not my girlfriend. I don't even like her anymore!" Haruka tried to defend herself.
"Sure, whatever you say!" her friends laughed. Haruka looked over her shoulder and hoped she hadn't forgotten anything important.
Michiru was sitting on one of the benches outside her school, trying to finish the sketch she was supposed to do for her art class. The environment wasn't the most inspiring since all of the students were leaving school. People were looking for their friends to go somewhere after school. Michiru didn't have anyone who would go somewhere with her. Everyone thought she was a bit weird.
It wasn't that she didn't get along with anyone. She could always find someone to do group assignments with, but the people she might consider her friends were only her friends in school. Outside of school, she was the weird lonely girl. And how could she blame her? All of the other girls were having crushes on boys and some of them were even dating. Meanwhile Michiru kept having dreams about kissing a girl. It was always the same girl, and she couldn't get the dreams out of her mind. Sometimes she found herself wondering what it would be like to have a girlfriend, and it had only taken a while before she realized that she would much rather have a girlfriend than a boyfriend. Not that either situation seemed very likely – she had no friends outside of school and she didn't know any other girl in her school who would have dreams about kissing girls.
It was as if the universe was mocking her; two very enthusiastic girls walked over to her.
"Hey, Michiru! What are you doing?" one of them asked as they sat down on the bench next to her.
"Sketching," Michiru answered calmly. The girls giggled at each other, and Michiru felt like she was missing something.
"Oh, that's nice. So you don't have a boyfriend, right?" the shorter one of the girls asked. Michiru sighed and hoped the girls would soon leave her alone.
"No, I don't," she answered coldly.
"I see," the other girl giggled, "so do you have a crush on someone then? If you tell us, we can help you get his attention. That way you could have a boyfriend and not always be alone."
Michiru wasn't sure if the girls were mocking her or if they were genuinely trying to help. Either way, she felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She closed her sketchbook and started packing her bag.
"Thank you for the offer, but I do not need help," she said coldly before rushing away. From the corner of her eye she could she the girls immediately leaning closer to each other to start whispering.
When she was finally outside the school grounds, Michiru let out a sigh. She would have to just finish her sketch at home. She tried to clear her mind of the girls' words, but she couldn't help but feel horrible. Did the whole school laugh at her behind her back? Did they talk about how she didn't have any real friends? Did they somehow know about her dreams that involved kissing another girl? The logical part of her knew it was ridiculous, surely everyone had better things to do, but she couldn't help thinking about these questions.
She passed a group of kids that were about her age. She wondered if people from other schools knew about her, the weird lonely girl. She only managed to take a few more steps before she stopped. A strange yet familiar feeling washed over her body. She turned around to look at the group she had just passed, but they had already walked around the corner. Michiru felt like she had lost something. She just didn't know what.
Michiru walked along the side of the park, enjoying the warm breeze on her skin. Her hair was getting tangled in the wind, but at that moment Michiru didn't really care. For some reason, she felt unusually peaceful.
Suddenly chills ran down her back. A familiar feeling of having lost something filled her chest, and Michiru's eyes started to automatically scan the park. She couldn't quite remember when she had last had this feeling, but she knew she had felt it before. But this time she was sure that she would find whatever she had lost.
Her eyes looked through the whole park, until she saw someone standing at the other side. The person was too far away for Michiru to see what they looked like, but for some reason she felt like she had finally found what she was looking for.
On the other side of the park, Haruka was walking along the tree line, her jacket thrown over her shoulder. She was enjoying the breeze on her face, when suddenly she felt like a lighting had struck through her whole body. Familiar feelings of having lost something filled her chest, and her eyes were drawn to a figure standing on the other side of the park. Despite not being able to see the person's face, she knew they were looking right back at her. Before even realizing it, Haruka found herself walking towards the person.
Michiru saw the person walking closer. Her heart started racing, and she felt like her feet were glued to the ground. The woman – no, girl, she had to be the same age as Michiru – had long legs, and it seemed like it only took a few steps for her to reach Michiru. The two of them stared at each other. Normally two strangers staring at each other would have been awkward, but Haruka and Michiru felt like they were under a spell. It was as if time had stopped, and the world around them no longer existed. Memories, feelings and emotions washed over them, finally giving explanations to everything.
Then suddenly the spell broke. Michiru blinked, and she could finally see the girl standing in front of her. She wasn't just seeing her destiny, she was seeing a handsome girl, who immediately made Michiru's heart race.
Time started moving again. Haruka stared down at the girl in front of her. The girl's parted lips and curious eyes took her breath away. She tried to get words out of her mouth, but none of them seemed right.
"I… uh… I'm Haruka," she said, extending her shaking hand.
"Michiru," the girl breathed out, taking Haruka's hand into hers. They didn't let go, even after the proper amount of time for a handshake had passed.
"I have been looking for you. I think," Haruka said, unable to look away from Michiru.
"Yes. It seems we finally found each other," Michiru replied quietly. In Haruka's eyes, she could see their shared destiny.