Hey there! It looks like I updated in fairly good time in comparison to my other chapters, haha. Chapter 7 is here, so please enjoy and review. (Thank you for all the reviews so far, you wonderful people!) It's more of a transition-type chapter, with the drama starting in chapter 8. Sorry for any potential typos, and thank you again!
Chapter 7- A Real Friend
The tears rolled down my face with no relent. From the fearful stares on their faces, I suspected that they wondered whether it was true. In this area, almost everyone was part of the Shinto religion and of course we all believed in the existence of spirits. I realised how stupid I had been. Of course it would have gotten out eventually.
Even with this reasoning, I couldn't control the tears that stung in the corners of my eyes. Kyoko was the one holding it, her slender hands wrapped tensely around the open pages. Ran and Hiro stared guiltily at me, but I refused to let my expression soften just because they looked resentful. My ace was bright red with the humiliation at them having gone through my private things.
"Who was it?" I muttered. Gin touched my hand but I brushed it away.
"It was Kyoko," Hiro said quickly. "We were looking at your things, when we ran across the diary and she opened it and starting reading it out loud. We're sorry, okay?" He sounded genuine, but I shook my head.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have read it…" Kyoko mumbled.
"So it's true? About Gin?" Hiro asked.
"Hey, that's her private diary," Ran scolded. "Don't ask her about it. I'm sorry, Hotaru, I should have told them to put it back. Really, I wish this had not happened."
Kyoko and Hiro got up; she left the diary down on the cushion she had been sitting on, laying it closed. They meant to leave.
"I don't need friends like you," I said quietly. Ran went to get up. "No, you can stay." He smiled a little, and sat back down with a little sigh of relief.
Kyoko swallowed. "We're sorry, Hotaru-chan." She didn't sound sincere. She sounded like a guilty person trying to appeal to her punisher. I didn't need them. Hiro sold out Kyoko straight away, just to save his own skin- that proved he was all talk and nothing else. Kyoko was a kind beauty, but with an ugly inside. Ran, on the other hand, had done nothing wrong in my eyes.
They left, and I started to cry again. Gin, who had stayed silent this whole time, held my hand again, and we both sat down opposite Ran, who took the diary and placed it back in the drawer where they had apparently found it. I appreciated his lack of words; for some situations, words are not required. He did not need to beg my forgiveness. That would be pointless. I wasn't mad anymore, anyway. I was sad, but I forced a smile, hoping it would become genuine with the effort.
"Sorry," I said, wiping my eyes and laughing. "I rarely cry, especially not in front of people I just met."
"That's fine. You had a good reason to," said Ran. "They don't believe it, by the way. The other two, I mean. They thought it was some sort of make-believe thing you did when you were younger."
"Isn't that a relief?" Gin said dryly. I could tell he was still fuming, deep down.
I nodded. "Yes, it is. But Ran does believe it, don't you?"
Ran looked at me, and then at Gin, his eyes glazing over slightly. "Well, I won't press you for details, but it seems to me like you two have been through a lot together. How old are you, Gin?"
"Too old to count. But I'm human now, and that's all that matters."
"I knew it," Ran said breathlessly. "I knew there was something odd about you, Gin, right from the start."
"Promise you won't tell anyone?" I added.
"Of course I won't! Why would I sell out a friend?"
I beamed. I touched Gin's knee and looked him in the eye. He didn't need to be angry now. We had filtered out the 'bad' people, leaving only Ran, the bespectacled, kind boy who seemed to go wherever the wind took him. He didn't go to our school, but he did know Hiro. It seemed odd that he should just appear in my life, at exactly the time where both me and Gin needed a friend to rely on.
Ran had been more than a good friend, having vowed to stay silent on the matter, and the week passed at school without much incident. In fact, Hiro would simply walk past us both in the corridors, blanking us, which was fine by me; Kyoko would occasionally smile, and talk to Gin in class, but we still hadn't recovered enough to be kind in return. Ran had disappeared from our lives since he didn't attend our school, but he promised to see us at the festival. I looked forward to it, and so did Gin. It was pleasing to see Gin happy to meet with him.
I managed to boot Gin out of the room while I got ready for the festival, just as the sun was setting. He got dressed in the bathroom, into a shiny new kimono. My father had bought it for him, so I had no idea what it looked like. I reached into my stuffed wardrobe and pulled out my own yukata, pink and embroidered with teddy bears and stars. Some might have said it was childish, but I thought it was a modern twist on an old classic. The golden swirls shimmered under my lamplight.
I slipped the white socks on and slid my feet into the wooden sandals, and began to fix my hair and make-up. For Gin, I'd make this effort. We'd make the effort together to make this a night to remember.
"I'm ready now!" I called. "You can come in!"
Immediately the door swung open, revealing my silver-haired Gin in his outfit. My breath was taken away; he wore the pale, silvery blue kimono beautifully, looking like a character out of a book with the iridescent aura surrounding him, and he was wearing a warm smile.
"You look great!" I sang, and danced into his arms. "Woops." My hair tumbled out of the topknot, and down my shoulders.
Gin laughed, but he sounded breathless. He looked unswervingly at me and I could see the reflection of my blushing face in his eyes when he went to brush my hair behind my shoulders. He slid a hand down the silk of my kimono on my back until he reached my behind, and settled it there.
"You look like an angel," he muttered into my hair. "Hotaru." He said my name slowly, like he was savouring every letter.
"Gin…" I replied quietly, aware, of how his skin seemed to feel hotter.
"I almost don't want to take you out tonight. You look so lovely, I want you to myself." He hand squeezed a little, and I squirmed slightly.
I put my arms around his waist while he then settled both of his hands over my behind. How long we stood, taking in each other's appearance, I did not know, but I could have stayed there forever, breathing in his scent. I even felt relieved, knowing that Gin could be affected in that way by someone like me. His skin burned underneath his kimono.
"How long until we have to leave?" he asked.
"About half an hour. We got ready faster than I expected."
He pulled me down onto my bed so he was leaning against the wall, and I was sat in front of him, leaning back into his chest. His arms went around my waist and he brushed back the hair from my ears and muttered, "Can we just stay like this until we go?" I nodded.
Walking through the barrier from friends to lovers was so smooth. From the moment he came back as a human, all our hurdles were taken down and we could love freely, without the risk of him disappearing. In the space of a few weeks, a lifetime's affection had been pouring out at once, and my euphoria had not faded. At moments like this however, I was reminded that Gin was not only a delicate spirit and someone I needed to care for, but a man who had not received any affection for millennia.
Swallowed by emotion again, I turned round and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. He flushed. "Hotaru..."
"What?"
"Sorry, it's just, you rarely initiate anything with me. It's usually the other way round."
"Oh, I'll stop then."
"No," he said hurriedly. "It's fun when you do that. You're getting braver."
I elbowed him gently. "Stop it, you." I looked at the clock, disappointed for some reason. "It's time to go."
We got up, and when we got outside, the air was cold but I still felt hot. The impression of Gin's hands on me had not dissolved yet. Keen to make the most of him, I grabbed his hand. "This time, we hold hands properly."
I thought of the frightful sorrow of the last festival, and my mind recoiled with grief. The dread Gin must have felt, knowing that it was his last summer alive, I could not fathom.
He smiled at me. "Yes." He squeezed my hand, and we walked the half a mile journey to the local park where the festival was being held.
Breath-taking. There was no other word to describe it. It was picturesque scene filled with golden, red and green tones, lanterns, and bustling people, laughing children, so much noise it filled my head with a blurred buzz of movement. A traditional band was playing in the foreground, right opposite where we entered, playing soothing music that sang- to me- an uplifting song of hope, hope for a new beginning once all the Autumn leaves had fallen. I was entranced by it all, even allowing my hand to fall from Gin's grip. It dangled loosely at my side before he picked it up again, and jolted me into awareness by kissing it.
"This is a proper date," I said. "Look at it all. The colours, the smells, all these people. And the best thing is, we can relax here. No worries."
"Mmmm," he said vaguely. A grin spread on his face. "Let's go, little lady."
I blushed at his pet name for me, and took his arm. We walked forward together into the light of the lanterns to enjoy the beginnings of the festival.
