Ryou was almost crying. He had wanted to see Ishizu again after Monday – but why, why, why, did it have to be in a cemetery? A cemetery!
It was past dark when he opened the front door of his house. He half expected his father to be there – but as usual, he wasn't. The house was empty.
Ryou's father was often away on business, and his mother had passed away several years prior. More often than not, Ryou was home alone.
It had been easier to cope with before Amane had died. It had been just the two of them together.
But now, there was nobody. Nobody to cry to. He rubbed his eyes, determined not to cry. He made his way up to his room, and slumped onto his desk chair.
If their meeting had occurred anywhere else, Ryou would have been laughing with happiness. But their presence in the cemetery had been inescapable. It had hung over their heads like some kind of cruel shadow.
Ishizu…despite everything, Ryou still found himself smiling as he thought of her. She hadn't changed at all. She was still the kindest person he had ever met. She had come with him to see Amane. He hadn't asked her to, but she had somehow known that he needed company. She had just lost her grandfather, but she had still found the time to go with Ryou.
And even the reason she had come back; to take care of her grandmother. What kind of person would do that? Only Ishizu.
Ryou rested his cheek on his hand. How on Earth was he going to concentrate on anything at all this weekend?
He stood up again, stretching. Worrying about it would do him no good now. He went downstairs again and took out a packet of two-minute noodles for his dinner.
It was Saturday.
Ryou had been seated at his desk for nearly an hour, absentmindedly finishing his homework. His father had come back home around midnight, and left again in the morning. Once again, Ryou had the house to himself.
His workbook only had a few lines of writing. Various drawings of inanimate objects lined the edges of the page. As predicted, Ryou's mind was wandering.
He hit himself on his forehead. His teachers would kill him if he didn't have his homework finished.
Frustrated, he got up from his chair. He needed a breather.
One thing he loved about living in a small town was how closely knit everything was; there was nowhere that wasn't in walking distance. It was almost possible to get by without a car, unless you lived or worked out of town, like his father did.
He remembered that Ishizu had used a car to pick up Marik on his first day of school. But she hadn't had one when they had met in the cemetery. Why was that? Maybe she had just been taking it for a test drive, or maybe she was just used to driving. Why had she even been picking him up? Was she worried that he would get lost?
He smiled to himself at this obsessive thought process as he set off down the footpath away from his house. It was no mystery why he hadn't been able to focus on homework.
He didn't really know where he was going. He had just needed to get outside for a while. Maybe that was metaphorical of his life. He certainly had no idea where that was going.
It wasn't long before he found himself at the lake.
He stared out across it. This was where he had met Ishizu.
It hadn't frozen over yet, but its beauty was still breathtaking. The grass which sloped gently down to its banks was lush and perfect, covered with a thin scattering of golden leaves. A few of these leaves floated delicately on the still surface of the water, small splashes of colour on a plateau of crystalline purity.
The shop which usually sold hot drinks and rented skates was tucked inconspicuously to one side. When the lake wasn't open as a skating rink, is served as a small café.
Ryou made his way down towards the water's edge, recalling all the hours of his life he had spent there. A tiny white-haired boy, sitting by the lake, waiting for his love to return.
He sat down, dipping his fingers in the water. It was chilling and icy, but he didn't withdraw them. Maybe it would help shock him back to reality.
He had accepted by now that Ishizu wasn't going to remember him. For all it was worth, their meeting by the lake hadn't even happened.
But Ishizu was still real. He wasn't going to give up on her. Because, if he was honest with himself, he was still in love with her. And he had been for eight years.
A slight nipping at his fingers pulled him from his thoughts, and he noticed that a particularly bold duck had approached him and was looking at him expectantly. Ryou sighed, pulling his hand away.
"I don't have any bread."
The duck just looked at him. Of course it did; it was a duck.
"It must be a tough life, being a duck," Ryou said, turning his eyes back to the lake. "Everyone always says they think it would be easy to just swim about and get fed by tourists and little kids on picnics, but it's not that simple, is it?" he asked. "Because not everyone has bread. You have to go up to every person you see on the off chance that someone will have something to feed you. And if they do, they have to be nice enough to give it to you. When it comes right down to it, there aren't that many people out there who feed ducks. Some can't, some don't want to. And when you finally find someone who can and does, and suddenly everything seems so easy and perfect, that person won't necessarily come back again." He rested his head on his knees. "Or if they do, they've forgotten that there were any ducks there in the first place, and didn't bring anything to feed to them."
The duck still just looked at him, before letting out a loud quack and returning to the lake to wait for some better stocked picnickers.
Ryou smiled sadly. "It left...because that's what ducks do. If they don't get fed, they move on and find someone else. They don't waste their lives waiting for the one picnicker to remember the bread."
Ryou lay on his back, staring at the clouds. "The difference is that I'm not a duck."
Ryou didn't know how long he stayed there. He thought he dozed off at one point.
When he finally sat up again, it was still mid-morning. He stood up, brushing grass off himself.
He yawned. This expedition hadn't helped him focus his mind. Now, all he wanted to do was sleep. Pushing it aside, he turned back towards the footpath, casting one final glance at the lake.
"Hi, Ryou!"
It took a moment to recognise the voice, but he spun around when he did so. "Hey, Marik. What are you doing here?"
Marik had been passing by on the footpath. He was still several feet behind Ryou, and quickened his pace to catch up.
"Just getting to know the neighbourhood. What about you?"
"Procrastinating." He hesitated. "Um…Ishizu told me about your grandpa. I'm...really sorry."
Marik's face saddened. "Oh…yeah." He bit his lip. "Thanks. It's okay; I didn't know him that well, since we lived in Egypt and he lived in Japan. I'm just really worried about Teta; they were together for nearly fifty years."
Ryou's heart clenched. "She must miss him."
"She does…a lot."
Before an awkward hush could fall over them, Marik changed the subject. "Anyway; when were you talking to Ishizu?"
"Yesterday afternoon. We ran into each other. She didn't tell you?"
Marik shook his head. "Nope." He suddenly kicked at a fallen leaf. "It's so cold here, and it's not even winter yet."
Ryou laughed. "Yeah, wait until it snows. It must be really hot in Egypt."
Marik grimaced. "I hardly noticed it until I came here. The snow took a bit of getting used to last time."
Ryou nodded. "I can imagine. But snow can be a lot of fun, too. There's ice skating, and snow tubing…"
Marik grinned. "I remember snow tubing; I loved it! I'd go snow tubing for hours. Ishizu was more into skating. She picked up on it really fast."
Ryou smiled to himself.
They had reached at corner, and Ryou stopped. "Which way are you going?"
Marik checked the time. "I have to go home; I've got a ton of homework to do." He pointed in one direction.
"That's too bad; I'm this way." Ryou pointed in the other.
"Oh, well. I'll see you on Monday, maybe!"
Ryou smiled, and nodded. "Yep, definitely." He grinned. "Have fun with your homework!"
"You too!"
"And, um, tell Ishizu I say hi."
"Will do." Marik waved him off and set off down his street.
Ryou watched him go, his smile fading into a sad shell. Somehow, the only thing he remembered from his conversation with Marik was that Ishizu hadn't hold him about meeting Ryou.