A/N: First of all, a huge apology to all readers. I made you wait a month for this update, and I understand how annoying it is to have to wait ages for updates, so I'm sorry! At first school got in the way and when I finally had time to work on this, I found out that I need surgery and was waiting to go into hospital. Still waiting, so I bashed out the rest of this chapter! To forestall questions, I'm more of a walking wounded than a bed-ridden patient, so I'm fine :) Anyway, to those who tried to guess at the characters featured earlier: Yes. The boy is Sora and the old man is Bear, and in addition to those slightly cryptic references, you got all the obvious ones right. You're all just too good at this! This chapter may be a let-down when it comes to the "guess the character references" game, but I'll try my best to make it harder in the next few chapters! I hope this slightly longer than usual chapter makes up for my lax update schedule, and I'll try harder in future to get chapters up! To summarise: I apologise for making you wait a whole month for this chapter and I hope you can forgive me! On with the tale!
A/N 2: I've changed all mentions of football to soccer because I feel that it'd be more in-character for everyone to refer to it thus. Candy floss might be known as cotton candy to readers of other nationalities, and any spelling mistakes mean that I'm using British English (in case I forgot to mention it earlier!) Sorry for any people that are out of character and for any non-canon details that I've used, such as Ouka being someone's tutor- my excuse is that it's all AU!! And I think I should apologise for the merciless overuse of fangirl-style Japanese words scattered in here. Anyway, I'll get on with it now!
Disclaimer reiteration: I do not own anything mentioned here!
Chapter Four: Successors
Kenji had barely got through the door when his mother appeared, rounding on him,
"Where have you been? Did you forget about the party tonight?!" The boy froze, mentally berating himself. His mother was waiting for an explanation, arms folded in irritation. He apologised immediately.
"I'm sorry, 'kaa-san, it completely escaped my mind...I was at naginata club. It's been a long day..." His mother's reaction was unexpected, and a soft smile crossed her face. She then enveloped him in a hug, which he didn't have time to get out of,
"That's great! I always thought you should be going out and meeting people...after you quit football, you had nothing to do." She let him go, now grinning at him slyly. Still taken aback by her reaction, he had no defence against her teasing, "You must be a ladies' man then...is that why you joined a naginata club? Make friends with all the women?" Kenji spluttered, his cheeks turning a healthy red,
"N-no! That's not it! I-it was the most convenient club for me and it seemed like exercise!" His mother nodded cynically,
"Of course, it's the most convenient despite the fact that you're free every evening after school...and yes, fending off people with a big stick and barely doing anything is great exercise for a growing young man..." Kenji immediately glared at his mother, who acknowledged his unhappiness with the way the conversation was going...right before carrying on, "What about karate? Judo? Sumo? No, I don't want you bulking up!" She contradicted herself, "If you're so keen to fight with a weapon, even kendo! Not that I have a problem with you being a ladies' man..."
"Enough, Mother! I'll go and get changed, we can go to the party, everything will be fine!" He cried, rushing up the stairs. His mother giggled, raising a hand to her mouth. Her son was so serious nowadays that she couldn't help but relish a rare opportunity to tease him. She was glad that after that game incident, he'd stopped playing and started taking life more seriously, but he suddenly quit the football club and seemed to draw away from the world and people. Occasionally she'd lie awake at night wondering if there was something bothering him or it was just teenage behaviour. The news that he'd gone and signed himself up for something of his own accord was promising news...though she couldn't help her amusement at the fact that he'd signed up for a woman's martial art. In fifteen minutes, a showered and dressed up Kenji appeared in front of her looking unenthusiastic and she commented casually,
"You know I was joking, right?" His reply was favourable and his mother was encouraged again.
"...Yeah." He met her eyes, nodding slowly. "...do you think I should do kendo?" She regarded him, surprised. He'd definitely changed in the last few days.
"Like I said, I was only joking! If you want to take up another sport, whatever it is, then it's your choice. Do whatever it is you want to do! Just make sure you don't take on too much at once." Her son nodded and they spent a minute or so in comfortable silence before Kenji asked,
"Is 'tou-san coming?" His mother rolled her eyes,
"He's already there. He went straight there after work to help set up with his colleagues." Kenji smirked wryly. This neighbourhood New Year's Party was sponsored by his father's company and both he and his mother knew that by 'helping to set up', she meant 'your father is already there, probably quite intoxicated and swapping tipsy anecdotes with his friends'. Checking her watch, she glanced at him, "Time to go!"
By the time the pair arrived at the local park, the party was already heating up. Music blared from loudspeakers hung on posts erected temporarily for this purpose. Lights were hung on the trees scattered sporadically around the field and various marquees had been set up. The air was brisk but bearable and people milled around the field. Some of them sat on the park benches or plastic chairs, plastic glasses full of drink. Kenji turned to look at his mother, who was all made up and casting her eyes around. "Kenji-kun, can you see the drinks tent?" Kenji squinted over at a white marquee and pointed towards it half-heartedly,
"There?" His mother smiled at him, amused at the image of eventually finding her husband roaring with laughter at his friends, an almost empty glass of sake in his hand. The corners of Kenji's mouth turned upwards and she said her farewells,
"No alcohol for you for another four years yet." She then placed some money into his hand, "For refreshments. I'm trusting you to walk home alone if you want to stay out longer or if you get bored before we do." She placed the spare key into his hand atop the change and notes and he stared- did she carry the whole house's contents in her bag? She put her purse back into her handbag and parted with him, "I'm going to try and find your father. Have a good night!" She trusted the sixteen year old to be sensible- if there was something wrong with the boy, it was that he was too sensible. She waved, walking away and Kenji watched her retreating form, surprised that she wasn't going to introduce him to friends yet again. It was a change from the usual procedures of social events. Kenji sighed. He didn't know if he'd know anyone here and if he met Yasuhiko by chance, it would make the evening so much more awkward. Putting the money and key he'd been given into his jacket pocket, grumbling to himself under his breath. If he had been given a key and was allowed to home when he wanted, why did his mother even bother dragging him out here? As a pair of teenagers walked past him chatting animatedly, he shoved his hands in his pockets and wandered inwards from the edge of the park. There was a stage in the middle with equipment strewn about but no people present on it.
After a few minutes scouting out what was what and orienting himself, he made a beeline for the refreshments tent. There was a medium-large gathering of people hanging around the entrance and he dodged the occasional bystander to enter the tent. As he did, he held up his arm as the electric lights illuminating the tent's interior almost blinded him. A tall, slim man and a rather short woman stood behind the table inside the tent, staffing the refreshments table.
"Ne, if it isn't little Kenji-chan. The last time I saw you properly, you weren't very old at all." The man spoke lazily and the teenager couldn't help but cover his embarrassment at being addressed in such a way with a retort,
"And you were old then, so you must be even older now, Tsuzuki-san." The man smirked- he was another colleague of Kenji's father and had just joined the company when Kenji was young, fresh out of school. Next to Tsuzuki was his co-worker in their department (Kenji couldn't remember her name for the life of him) and she added,
"Yeah, Katsu-kun, don't embarrass the poor kid. What can I do for you?" Kenji answered,
"Got any orange juice?" The woman nodded, getting a carton from out of the refridgerator behind her and pouring the contents into a plastic glass. Kenji handed over money and once the change was given, he said his farewells to the pair and left the tent. He had secured a drink, but what would he do now? The idea of approaching someone first was unthinkable...
"Excuse me!" A soft voice called to him and he turned to see a girl about his age, with long brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a long skirt and a feminine blouse with puffed sleeves. He answered slowly,
"What is it?" Her response was shy,
"Nothing...that is...it's my first time at one of these parties...and you looked lost too..." Resisting the urge to scowl at her presumptuousness, he shrugged,
"I don't make a habit of it." That threw her off- she wasn't sure how to answer, and instead settled for a straight introduction.
"Ano...I'm Terajima Ryoko-" Kenji was rooted to the spot by horror, his limbs frozen in place. His eyes widened and her speech sounded distant as he barely heard it, "but you can call me Ryoko if you want." Her image dissolved into a short haired angelic woman with a halo, a white dress and feathery wings. At last he could feel his legs again and he stumbled backwards. This was a dot hacker! A member of his party two years ago! How could he possibly meet her by chance?! She noticed his complete and utter distraction, brows furrowed in confusion. "Are you alright?" Her concerned voice brought him back down to earth and he shakily realised that she couldn't tell who he was just by looking at him. Taking a swig of his orange juice to calm his nerves, he spoke shakily,
"Fine, it's just the cold getting to me. I'm Kenji." When it was apparent after the pause that ensued that he wasn't going to supply her with a surname, she smiled and bowed.
"Nice to meet you." He nodded in return, calculating all possible escape routes, eyes flicking to and fro rapidly. The next silence was more awkward, until Ryoko blurted out,
"D-do you play 'The World'?" Although it was simply an ice-breaker, Kenji cursed the question to hell and back.
"No. I used to, but I gave up to concentrate on my studies." She nodded, seemingly oblivious to his desperation.
"I understand! School is important. I play it...actually, when I started, I was a complete newbie and accidentally used my real name as my player name!" She laughed at her error. Kenji nodded, slowly calming down as he realised that she'd begun to talk about herself and that she was the kind of person who wouldn't stop. All he had to do was nod along- he didn't have to work hard to conceal his online identity. "I got lost in a high level dungeon somehow, I can't believe that I managed to do that!" Kenji grimaced and she read it as a smile, continuing, "Then another player showed up." The boy winced as he realised where this was leading. She had a dreamy countenance as she narrated the tale. "He had bright red clothes and these aqua eyes that you couldn't help watching...they were filled with confidence and compassion at the same time, and they were definitely intelligent...but they were also alert, you got the impression that they took in every last detail. He killed a monster and rescued me from the dungeon...Kite..." She sighed romantically and he twitched. "He was chivalrous, that's the word I'd use! Do you-" Kenji quickly poured lots of orange juice down his throat, almost choking as the sweetness attacked the back of his throat and Ryoko abandoned the question she had been about to ask- he couldn't answer if he was drinking. "Oh, never mind! Well, it turned out I was on the completely wrong server..."
"Mirei, get back here!" The shout didn't even phase Kenji, whose dull eyes were glazed over.
"Then Kite managed to get the final hit! Even though he'd destroyed his bracelet to defeat Cube- whatever Rachel said it was called, he attacked and never gave up hope for the comatose players!" Ryoko waved her arms around wildly, absorbed in the tale she was recounting. If Kenji had been paying any attention, he would have noticed that Ryoko had actually gleaned a lot of this information from players who were more involved in the events of the Twilight Incident- Kite had tried to avoid involving a newbie in such dangerous affairs, preferring to take his closest, most trusted and most skilled companions to Data Bug fields and to face other anomalies. As a result, the only adventures involving Ryoko that Kenji could recall were when he saved her from the high-level dungeon and a disastrous dungeon run where BlackRose and Ryoko had argued and left him torn between the two...and one of Kite's big traits was loyalty. So he went after BlackRose, choosing to apologise to Ryoko by email instead.
"Mirei, watch where you're going!" The mysterious call was louder now, getting closer.
"...you see, I asked Rachel who asked Nuke Usagimaru who asked Sanjuro who asked Wiseman who ended up asking Mistral..." Ryoko droned on as a blur of white and blue whizzed past the pair, snapping Kenji out of his daze and running smack-bang into a young woman who looked familiar to the boy.
"Sorry!" A high-pitched voice apologised as the woman stumbled and Kenji hurried over, catching her arm and preventing her from falling over. The culprit was a toddler with brown hair down to her shoulders and big brown eyes. She wore a playsuit of white with blue triangles on and yellow ribbons that gave Kenji a definite sense of deja vu... Then another familiar face appeared.
"Kouwa-san!" Kenji had a decent memory for names and faces, and he recognised the girl he'd served at work a few days ago. The eyes behind the glasses wrinkled in confusion before she nodded, a shy smile on her face. The toddler, who couldn't have been older than three, took the opportunity to zip off again. However, Kouwa grabbed her arm and pulled her gently back over. Turning to the woman that the toddler had run into, she bowed in apology, long hair covering her face.
"I'm sorry about this. I should have kept my eye on Mirei better." Mirei smiled innocently up at Kouwa, and Kenji let go of the young woman's arm as she stood up straight, shaking her head almost as shyly as Kouwa.
"It's okay...she already apologised to me." Then she and Kenji were surprised as Mirei nodded earnestly,
"I said sorry! It was an accident." Hearing such a big word from such a small child was enough to leave them dumbfounded and Kouwa explained, a proud grin on her face.
"Little Mirei here is a genius! I'm her babysitter, but she's so curious and inquiring that I end up being her tutor too." Mirei then asked,
"What does 'inquiring' mean?" She didn't even stumble over the new word and Kouwa explained,
"It means you want to find out things. To inquire is to ask a question!" Mirei beamed at the new word and squirmed in Kouwa's grip, wanting to run off and use the new word in conversation. "Anyway, sorry about this. Have a good New Year!" As the pair left, Kenji realised with a jolt that the playsuit the toddler wore bore a startling resemblance to the outfit that a close friend and wavemaster used to wear.
"Kenji-san! It's been a while..." Then the young woman turned to him and Kenji studied her features before he remembered who this person was. If he imagined that her short brown hair was green instead and that she had blue ribbon-like wave markings down her arm, then Natsume the Twin Blade herself stood in front of him. Kenji nodded awkwardly. Oguro Natsume, a year older than him, knew the teenager both as Kenji the unremarkable boy who used to have a penchant for soccer and as Kite, the Twin Blade hero of 'The World'. Between the battles with Magus and Fidchell, Kenji had met Natsume offline and it turned out that they went to the same school. The friendship had lasted until Natsume moved on from middle school and Kenji quit the game. At first Natsume had extended the occasional invitation to him to go out and play soccer or to go to the cinema or even out shopping. He had managed to avoid most events and the friendship had become stagnant. In truth, part of the motivation to avoid her was that she had a crush on him- or rather, she had a crush on Kite the brave Twin Blade. Kenji could never live up to Kite's pleasant personality, especially after he quit 'The World', and Natsume was infatuated with a person that no longer truly existed.
"...Yeah. It has." He answered slowly. The atmosphere was awkward and he finished off his orange juice simply to find something to distract him. Then Natsume looked around,
"I didn't expect to see you here." Kenji forced a friendly smile,
"Well, okaa-san dragged me out here because otou-san works for the company that's running this party." Natsume nodded politely and continued the conversation,
"I see! I don't suppose you know anything about the live band that are going to be playing later?" Kenji shook his head honestly,
"No, Dad didn't bother telling me much about it. I don't know whether it'll be one of those tribute bands or one of those teenage bands where everyone dresses oddly." Natsume couldn't help but giggle at this,
"You mean visual kei?" He shrugged,
"Probably something weird like that." The ice had been broken, and he felt slightly more comfortable as Natsume commented,
"So you quit 'The World' then?" He folded his arms, indicating he wouldn't accept any attempts to convert him to playing the game again.
"Yes. With everything that happened, I neglected my school work. I didn't want to fail and I had no real reason to play the game any more, so I quit and focused on studying." He spoke with a firm voice.
"Sounds like something Kite would do." Natsume's sudden reference to his alter ego threw him off and he didn't rebuke her for mentioning the past. "...but surely it wouldn't hurt just to log on every once in a while to say hello to friends?" Kenji shook his head. Suddenly, Natsume voiced some unpleasant thoughts that he had last heard being spoken by a certain hallucination and he stopped dead- "Just because the world is virtual, it doesn't mean the players you meet are the same. The exist offline too, just like you and I. You can't neglect them like that- it's just as rude as ignoring someone offline." It was a two-pronged attack as she gently scolded him for ignoring both his online friends and her.
"I'm sorry..." From her slightly confused expression, he realised too late that she meant nothing by 'ignoring someone offline' and that she genuinely didn't hold his avoidance of her against him. He stuttered incomprehensibly, attempting to backtrack and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly when two youngsters walked past.
"Why are you dragging me around here? Who said Kazu would even be here?" A boy with short brown hair that framed his face complained. The girl who was a few steps ahead of him replied, not even turning back to face him,
"Don't you remember? He said he played soccer here sometimes." Kenji absently wondered whether they were related as they looked so similar. The boy retorted,
"But why would someone who lives in Yokohama go all the way to Tokyo to play in a park?" The girl stopped suddenly, elbowing him as he walked into her.
"Baka! He goes to school here, so a lot of his friends live here! And there is such a thing as a high speed train!" The boy winced, holding his stomach where her sharp elbow had jabbed him.
"Jeez, okay, okay! So I forgot..." They disappeared in a group of people that had congregated further up the path and Kenji turned back to Natsume, who had also been distracted by the pair. His luck held as feedback echoed suddenly from the speakers and everyone around winced. Then the feedback quietened as someone spoke over the microphone,
"It's ten o'clock! Which means that in two hours, 2013 will be here! And who better to welcome it than our live band, who will be playing in just under half an hour!" Kenji quickly excused himself,
"It was nice seeing you again, Natsume-san. I'm going to go see what all the excitement is about. Ja ne."
Kenji stood with the crowd as several teenagers who looked to be a year or two older than him took to the stage, carrying various items. One carried some equipment such as wires and power supplies, another a guitar case and a third a chair. The one carrying the guitar case wore a leather jacket and stylised jeans, and Kenji's spirits fell slightly- he looked like one of those punk rockers who were insufferable posers. As he got out his guitar, plugged it into the speaker and strummed it experimentally, the crowd began to murmur excitedly. Then he played the first few chords of what Kenji recognised as the opening to a popular new anime series. The crowd cheered. The guitar player grinned contentedly, still checking his instrument was in tune and ready for playing. Then he began plucking a melody. The crowd fell silent until they all recognised it. Kenji scowled as he heard an electric guitar version of the background music of Mac Anu. The crowd clapped and whistled wildly, and one girl screamed,
"You're the best, Hagiya!" The guitar player winked at her and mouthed back,
"Thanks, Yuuko!" Then one of the other band members found the microphone, hidden in a pile of equipment and brought it to the front of the stage. It took a few tries to get it completely functional and the guitar player named Hagiya spoke into it,
"Testing, one two." It worked and the other band member gave him a thumbs up before turning everything off. The electric guitar fell silent and Kenji wandered off, muttering darkly about 'The World' being too popular. He might as well go home right now before he either bumped into Natsume again or was forced to listen to this band... Without warning, something bumped into him first and fell heavily. Looking down in surprise, Kenji noticed that it was that tiny prodigy Mirei. He knelt down as her mouth wavered and her eyes filled with tears, offering her his hand.
"Careful! Are you hurt?" He asked gently, unaware that a woman was watching him with interest a few metres away, his voice reminding her of someone. Mirei took his hand, shaking her head and he smiled. "Good, I wouldn't want you to hit your head and forget everything that you've learnt!" She retorted, tears forgotten as she got to her feet with his help,
"Hitting your head gives you concussion more often than amnesia!" Her succinct comment made Kenji laugh as he stood up, letting go of her hand.
"Good, I'm glad your mental faculty is still intact." Mirei frowned for a moment before working out what 'faculty' meant, and she poked her tongue out at him. He obligingly pulled a face back and Mirei giggled with childish laughter. Then the woman who was watching him appeared, black hair tied up in a bun.
"Sorry about that. Mirei, don't forget to use your eyes as well as your head!" She simultaneously reprimanded the child and apologised to Kenji, and the teenager shook his head charmingly.
"It's fine. We've met before, haven't we, Mirei?" The toddler squinted up and him and nodded mutely. "She's quite the smart one." The woman smiled at the compliment, adjusting her glasses as she watched the teenager.
"She gets it from her father! If she's inherited anything from me, it'll be my cooking skills." She joked and Kenji smiled. Then the woman introduced herself,
"I'm Kurokawa Mayumi, and you've met my daughter Mirei."
"Ishida Kenji. Pleased to meet you, Mirei-chan, Kurokawa-san." He inclined his head at both of them in turn. The woman disposed of formalities right away, waving her hand at him,
"Please, call me by my first name. You remind me of someone I used to know." Kenji acquiesced slightly uncomfortably, unsure about calling someone his senior by her first name.
"Hai, Mayumi-san." Her smile broadened and his misgivings eased instantly. However, as she studied his features, he felt uncomfortable once again.
"Yes, you definitely have a vague resemblance to him." Kenji asked thoughtlessly,
"Who?" Mayumi answered,
"Someone with quite a strange name, you might think. He was called Kite." As the name stopped him in his tracks and he looked down at Mirei in her playsuit, he spoke quietly, putting the jigsaw together with the pieces that had been revealed to him,
"You have a daughter that was born...it must be two years ago, because you were pregnant before then. She's wearing your Wavemaster outfit, and it suits her. Long time no see, Mistral." Her eyes widened as he correctly named her character from 'The World' and she shrieked in Mistral's high-pitched tones of excitement,
"It is you, Kite!" She hugged him suddenly and he froze, taken aback by the physical contact. As she released him, grinning as if she'd won a billion yen, Mirei asked curiously,
"Kite? But he's Kenji." She pointed at the boy and Mayumi explained,
"Remember when your okaa-chan used to play on the computer? That game where your outfit's from? Kenji here is who she used to play with and they fought lots of tough monsters!" Mirei remarked thoughtfully,
"I want to play too, when I get better at hand-eye co-ordi...co-ordna..."
"Co-ordination? You're only two, Mirei-chan, you'll get good at it soon." Kenji added, amused at the toddler. Mayumi then sent her off,
"Why don't you go find Haruko-chan? She's in the tent with the flags hanging over the entrance. Don't run!" Mirei jogged off to find her tutor and babysitter instead of tearing around at her usual breakneck pace and Mayumi turned to Kenji, seriousness etched in her expression.
"What have you been doing these two years then? You never let any of us know that you were going to stop playing the game." Kenji's usually-dormant conscience wriggled unpleasantly in the pit of his stomach.
"I...I had to stop to focus on school work," He wheeled out the usual excuse weakly, "My grades were atrocious while I was trying to wake all the coma patients up...it wasn't looking good." Mayumi nodded compassionately,
"I understand. I guess that your parents were probably sick with worry about them, and I wouldn't want them to have punished you or done something drastic." As he relaxed his guard, she hit him again hin quick succession, "It's just a shame that you left all your online friends sick with worry too. It's alright, I thought that you might have made the real world your priority, so I told them that..." She went on blithely, seemingly ignorant of Kenji's fidgeting. "...but poor BlackRose insisted on contacting you repeatedly in a short amount of time." The one-two punch was compounded with a verbal haymaker, "Then when Orca logged on that day and informed us in no uncertain terms that he'd had a falling out with you, it probably couldn't have gotten any worse." Her tone was light, but Kenji felt pinned down like a beetle at an entomological exhibition by her alert gaze. Mayumi raised her hand to her chin in thought, "That was just before you quit whatever sport it is that you used to play with him...hockey? No, it was...American football?"
"Soccer." Kenji answered miserably. He knew that she knew exactly what sport it was, but she was forcing an answer out of him to get her point across. She nodded, gestures exaggerated in order to appear innocent, unknowing of the torture she was putting him through.
"Ah, right! That's it, soccer! So after that, nobody had any way to contact you, of course...though that Twin Blade Natsume kept saying she tried to hang out with you. I didn't know she knew you in real life! Of course, I'm no genius- it's Wiseman who bears that name for a reason. He took all this information to paint a picture of what had happened, and the image that came out worried us all. He seemed to think you were turning into a recluse or something!" She laughed as if she thought that the Wavemaster's idea was ridiculous. "But that's not true, right?" Kenji opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Then a few second later he broke away from his place, transfixed by her words and insinuations, turning on his heel and storming off. As his back receded into the distance, she murmured sadly, "I'm sorry, Kite. I just wanted you to realise how worried your friends are and how much they miss you..." Then a white, blue and...pink blur appeared? Kouwa turned up a moment later and Kurokawa Mayumi, online alias Mistral realised that Mirei was holding in her right hand a stick of candy floss twice as big as her head.
"Sorry, Mayumi-san, she somehow talked the man into giving it to her for free." Mirei took a bite of it and replied around a mouthful of pink fluff,
"He liked my big words." Mayumi laughed, although still mindful of the mind game she'd just played with Kenji and Kouwa apologised again,
"If I'd have kept up with her...gomen, Mayumi-san! I know it's just pure sugar and she'll be uncontrollable after this...but I just couldn't take it off her..." Mirei mumbled,
"Discombobulation. Centrifugal force!" Kouwa sighed,
"The man also offered her a free ride on the spinning teacup ride, but it was packed with people so I thought it'd be best to bring her back here rather than lose her there." Mayumi nodded brightly,
"Wise of you, Haruko-chan. Thanks for minding her for me! It seems that the man taught her some new words...Candy floss and new words- enough of a treat for Mirei-chan for one night!" Kouwa's worried expression eased and the trio wandered off, Mayumi sparing the patch of ground where Kenji had stood one last concerned glance.
As the band played a reasonably popular hit song from a few years ago, Kenji watched them dully. After Mayumi had acted so...so unlike Mistral, his rage had clashed with his guilt and the contest was narrowly won by his guilt. He couldn't possibly answer all of her valid points and the full impact of everything crushed him, adding to the inner turmoil that had driven him to wander through the park, no destination in mind. His feet had led him to the centre of attention- the stage and the musicians, and he didn't care to move. While the music blared and his concentration was on their music, he didn't have to indulge his growing sense of self-dislike, which was threatening to develop into a full-blown frenzy of self-hatred. How could he do that to his friends? What right did he have to scare them so for his own selfish reasons? Shaking his head to forcibly clear it of the thoughts, he let the music reach his ears again. The song finished after a few moments and he applauded mechanically.
"Thank you, Tokyo Park!" Hagiya called and the crowd roared appreciatively back. "Our next song has an...interesting arrangement, so we've enlisted a guest musician for help!" A young woman stepped up on stage with what looked like an electric violin and the crowd clapped politely, not wishing to overwhelm the violinist. Next to Kenji, a young man sighed and Kenji turned to him.
"That's my ex-girlfriend." The boy spoke glumly and Kenji instantly wished he hadn't decided to humour the scorned teenager standing next to him.
"Uh...right. She's musical?" Kenji jabbed a thumb in her direction and the teenager nodded,
"More than anyone I know. You aren't gonna believe it, but her sense of hearing is so good that she could hear something I couldn't." Kenji raised an eyebrow as if to say 'so what?' "You know that online game 'The World'?" He lowered his eyebrow and almost groaned aloud. "Well, when the people fell into comas in the game, there was this sound...and because she heard it, she somehow managed to avoid falling into a coma. Apparently that sound indicated that something was about to attack a person and put them into a coma." Kenji managed to reply,
"Um, wow. Interesting claim to fame." The boy sighed once again.
"She was the only real relationship I had...I was serious about her, and she broke up with me 'cause she said I was too immature..." Kenji wondered if the boy was even listening as he ventured,
"Ouch. Bad luck." The teenager shrugged and turned back to the stage. Hagiya nodded to the drummer, and the next song began.
The crowd fell silent as Hagiya thanked them.
"You've been a great audience, but now we're handing over to Fujiwara-san, the CEO of DenCorp, thanks to whose sponsorship this evening was possible!" Then he switched off his microphone and an older voice was heard over the speaker system.
"Thank you for coming tonight!" Kenji tuned out and as the CEO spoke, he cast his eyes over everyone in the crowd. People were gradually leaving the area and a gaggle of starstruck youths hung around the stage, waiting for Hagiya and his group to pack up and descend from it. Hagiya was already engaged in a quiet conversation with the girl from earlier, Yuuko. They both paused as they recognised someone in the crowd and waved to whoever it was. Kenji ambled that way out of idle curiosity.
"Akira-chan, you came to see us!" Hagiya grinned and Kenji couldn't see who replied, although he heard a no-nonsense voice answer swiftly,
"Yeah, but don't get any ideas! I just came to support you." Hagiya nodded smoothly,
"I know, I know. In fact, I have something to say to Yuuko." Yuuko looked at him, baffled. "I can think of someone who I'd enjoy spending 2013 with. Yuuko, will you...go out with me?" Yuuko squealed delightedly and as several more people left to go get sake to toast the New Year, Akira became visible. She had shoulder-length brown hair with a gentle fringe that framed her face, and was currently smirking at Hagiya. "No offence, Akira." The young woman shook her head,
"None taken, Hagiya." The new couple left and Kenji found himself face-to-face with Akira. She frowned as he stared and he remembered that someone had once told him it was rude to stare.
"Hi." He lifted a hand in greeting before she could say anything and she nodded, acknowledging his greeting. "The band was good. Do you know the singer?" Akira nodded, reminiscing about past times.
"Unfortunately. He goes to my school, along with the rest of them. I'm Hayami Akira." Kenji introduced himself in return,
"Ishida Kenji. Are you from around here?" Akira shook her head, strands of hair falling in her face.
"No, I live in Yokohama, but my brother has friends here and I'm going to university here soon. We figured we'd come and take a more detailed look around the city and since there was a party here, we might as well go to it. That, and Hagiya bugged me about it since he got the gig here." She smiled wryly. "I guess you're a local then?"
"Yeah." They stood in companionable silence until a countdown blared from the speakers,
"Ten!" Both of them were jolted out of their individual trails of thoughts. "Nine! Eight!" Most people had gone to stand in the only space not taken up by marquees or staging, and Akira was torn between seeking out her family to wish them a Happy New Year. Kenji knew that his father would still be with his colleagues and her mother would be in the gaggle of people, sake or some other drink in her hand. "Seven! Six! Five!" Akira shrugged when she saw that Kenji didn't move, and she commented,
"Well, I guess this is how 2013 starts. A new friendship in a new place." Upon being considered a friend already, Kenji couldn't help but feel warm, and he smiled back at her. "Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!" As the bell in the nearest Shinto temple began to ring and a loud cheer rose from the crowd in the distance, Akira beamed at him,
"Happy New Year, Kenji-kun."
"Happy New Year, Akira-san."