Crimso here! Soooo It's not letting me upload Chapter 7 so I'm going to write Chapter 8 now. Obviously by the time you're reading this Chapter 7 has been uploaded but.
Once again, I apologize for the delay. Blame FF.
Ack. I'm having a slight Writer's block at the moment. Let's see if I can overcome it. I hate Writer's block so much. Eh, it probably won't last too long. I'm honestly just too excited to write the rest of this fanficition. Is that strange?
Oh well. Camping trip time! Enjoy Chapter eight.
~~~X~~~
It was Sunday when all of the club members plus the Ohba siblings showed up at the watermill carrying backpacks stuffed to the top with clothing and any other supplies they had found necessary. Poor Shion had been ordered to carry most of the tents and was now beginning to wobble over from the weight of the package. Her twin sister, Mion, was carrying the other tents. Unfortunately for Shion, Mion had dumped her with the packages containing the snacks and was also being forced to carry that on her aching back.
"Kei-chan, help Shion with the bags," Mion ordered as she too struggled to balance the weight of both her clothing and the two tents she was carrying in packages.
Keiichi threw his arms up. "Why is it always me, Mion?" he growled. "Go get someone else to carry the bags. I'm sick of doing it for you all the time!"
Mion wagged her finger. "Tsk tsk. You're a man. That's no way to treat a girl," she scolded with a smirk across her face. "Besides, it's just some of the bags. Didn't your dad say he'd help us carry some stuff over to the woods and then leave?'
Keiichi paused and scratched his head. "Well, I guess he DID say that," he muttered. When Keiichi had informed his dad that he was going on a camping trip, he had insisted on helping them carry their things to the site they would be camping on. He had accepted his offer. After all, his dad wouldn't hinder him in any way, right?
"Hello everyone~!" a voice called out to the eight of them. Keiichi instantly recognized the man running down the pathway to them as his father.
Keiichi gave his dad a wave and smiled. "Hey dad! We're over here!" he yelled to him. It took about a few seconds for his dad to reach the club members. When he did, he bent over and placed his hands on his knees and began to pant heavily.
"Whoa! I had to run here as fast as I can. Your mother was having some trouble with the cooking supplies and-" he began to explain in a rush.
Keiichi raised his hand to tell him to stop talking. "It's alright, dad. We understand. We're not in a huge rush or anything after all," he told him. They were planning on hanging out at the site for the first week or two of June. They were to return to the village about a week before the Watanagashi festival as Mion needed to help her family prepare for it.
Mion began to inspect Keiichi's father with her eyes narrowed and a smirk across her face. She then looked over to Keiichi and continued to switch her gaze between the two of them. "Hm… you two look alike. I thought it was impossible for a parent and a child to look that alike. I wonder if you two are similar in personality, too?" she said.
The brown-haired boy sighed and shook his head. "Mion, we don't look that alike. I don't have a goatee," he said. Then he paused for a few seconds and crossed his arms. "In fact, I don't think we look alike at all!" he added on.
Mion let out a large laugh. "Of course you two don't look alike in your vision! I've noticed that kids can't really see the resemblance to their parents," she responded. The green-haired girl suddenly began to walk in circles around Keiichi and his father as she started to talk once again. "For example! When Rika's mother was still alive, I'd always say she looked just like her! But Rika always said that she didn't."
Rika stiffened at the mention of her mother. The young Furude miko and her mother had never been on quite so good terms. As Rika had had to repeat her life many times, she always acted solemn and rather bored as a child. Rika's mother did not like this. She thought it was strange behavior and hated it whenever someone brought up that Rika was the supposed reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama. As Rika had known that she was to die on the third year of Oyashiro-sama's curse, she refused to grow close to her mother so it wouldn't be painful when she died. In truth, she just didn't want to hear Mion say that she and her mother looked alike. It wasn't because she hated her mother; it was simply because she didn't want it to hurt when she died. Hanyuu, in her spiritual form, instantly sensed her uncomfortableness. After all, Hanyuu had been the influence of some her bad habits. When she was little, Rika had no idea that no one else could see Hanyuu. She was convinced that she was a part of a four-person family and was very curious as to why her mother would never feed Hanyuu or talk to her. Guilt began to fill her stomach as she faded away from Rika's view.
"However!" Mion said as she continued her lecture, "there are times when people say a parent and child look exactly alike when they look nothing alike! For example, everyone tells me that I look exactly like my mother when I don't look like her!"
"Mion," Keiichi murmured as he resisted the urge to hit himself in the face, "you just proved your point about children not being able to tell when their parents look like them."
Rika frowned as she looked up at Mion. "You look exactly like your mother, Mii…" she informed her. After hearing this, Mion pointed directly at Rika.
"See! Everyone always says it and I have no idea why!" she yelled as if she hadn't heard Keiichi's comment at all.
"ANYWAYS!" yelled Keiichi's dad, interrupting the heated conversation between the three club members. "My name is Maebara Ichirou and as you already know, I'm Keiichi's dad!" he introduced himself with a bow.
Rika walked up to Ichirou and looked into his blue eyes; the same color as Keiichi. "Mii, it's nice to meet you, sir! I'm Furude Rika of the Furude shrine! Nipah!" she beamed.
Ichirou grinned and waved to the blue-haired girl who was about as tall as his legs. "Wow, Keiichi. You have quite the group of friends," he marveled as he glanced about the club members. "Though I must ask, which one of them is your girlfriend?" he asked.
Keiichi punched his dad in the face upon hearing his comment. "I already told you a thousand times, I don't have a girlfriend!" he yelled.
Fake tears began to stream down the older man's face in a cascading waterfall. "I'm sorry Keiichi! Your father just wanted a cute daughter-in-law!" he apologized as he dramatically fell to the ground on his knees. The fake tears stopped as he glanced around at the group for a second time. "Wait, so you're not dating Rena-chan? I was sure that you two were-"
"We are not dating!" Keiichi yelled as he delivered another strong punch to his father's right cheek.
Ichirou looked upset at his comment. "Aw! But the two of you would make such a cute couple! Your dad approves!" he said giving his son a thumbs up and a wink.
The brown-haired boy looked angry and opened his mouth to respond, but was then cut off by a hand being placed on his shoulder. "Your dad is kind of weird, Keiichi-kun," commented a feminine voice he soon identified as Ohba Etsuko's.
Keiichi turned to face her purple-eyes, which currently lacked a defined emotion. "Yeah, he's quite… eccentric. Him and I are close, however," he said glancing over at his dad who was busy greeting Satoko and Rika.
"Oh?" she murmured as she too watched.
It took a little over five seconds for Ichirou to notice Etsuko and Keiichi standing side by side. "Oh, are you new? I haven't seen you walking with my son before," he asked as he walked over to the pink-haired girl.
Etsuko's expression changed from rather emotionless to happy. "Yup! I just moved in a few days ago~! My name is Ohba Etsuko!" she introduced herself excitedly.
"It's nice to meet you, young lady!" he responded as he shook the girl's much smaller hand. Ichirou then looked at Keiichi with a slight smirk. "Hey Keiichi, if you aren't interested in the other girls over there, then maybe you should check out this new girl," he suggested before giving him yet another knowing wink.
Etsuko's face suddenly turned as pink as the color of her hair at Ichirou's remark. "Um… that's kind of-" she began to say before Keiichi's voice overpowered hers.
"No no no! Dad, you need to stop assuming that everyone here is my girlfriend! None of us are dating and I don't like anyone here!" he yelled at him in protest as he flailed his arms.
Ichirou gave his son a frown. "You don't like anyone?"
Keiichi crossed his arms. "No one. We're all just friends here."
"Alright then, son! If you say so!" he said.
Keiichi sighed and shook his head. "This is kind of an awkward conversation to have in front of all my friends, dad," he pointed out before gesturing to the staring club members.
Ichirou turned to look at the five girls who were all trying to ignore their conversation. It was most definitely strange to hear their male friend talk about his love life, especially when it involved their relationships with him. "Oh, I'm sorry, girls! Now just give me some packages to carry and I'll carry them to wherever! I might even help you guys set up a little," he said as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
Shion, who had completely forgotten about the load she was carrying on the back, nudged her sister in the stomach. "Hey Onee, give him the packages," she muttered. Mion was staring blankly at Keiichi, seemingly in deep thought. When she didn't react at all, her sister elbowed her in the stomach again. "Onee, give him the packages," she repeated nervously.
Mion suddenly snapped out of her stupor. "Huh? Oh, packages. Here," she said as she handed a rather heavy and large package to Ichirou who took it in his arms without any problem. After doing so, she glanced at all the club members, as well as Etsuko and Hisao, and spoke loudly, "Alright! Are we all ready to go?"
"Yes! We're ready, club leader!" cried all the club members in unison. Instead of responded, Hisao hid behind Etsuko's back, scared at the thought of what was to come.
"Gee, I told you you shouldn't have come," Etsuko scolded Hisao as he clung to the back of her rather fancy shirt in fear.
"Let's go, everyone!" yelled Mion as she gestured for everyone to follow her. She turned around and began to walk down the path of Hinamizawa to the thick woods located near the Saiguden. As the passed by the Furude Shrine, Rika gave it a good look. After the Saiguden had been raided, she feared that someone would attempt to destroy the Furude Shrine or do some other act of vandalism. Of course, Rika and Hanyuu had never succeeded in figuring out who had broken into it and why. However, it was important that nothing else got ruined no matter what the person who had broken in was plotting.
The ten of them (including Hanyuu) ventured further away from the Saiguden and even deeper into the woods. Rika cringed as she found a very small clearing with a circle of thick trees surrounding it. She recognized this place as the place all her friends had been killed in the second to last Hinamizawa. She remembered the scene all too well. Takano had tied up her, Satoko, and Shion and had dragged the dead bodies of Keiichi, Mion, and Rena to the clearing as well. Shortly after, she had shot Shion in the head and Satoko not even a minute after that. If she were to look at the clearing long enough, she could visualize the Yamainu chasing the club members and Takano shooting them one by one.
Rika shook her head to get the memory out and concentrated on the path ahead. Luckily, this wasn't the spot Mion had chosen for camping. If it had been, Rika was sure that the trip would be a living nightmare for her.
At the front of the group, Mion was struggling to carry the huge box as well as the giant backpack she wore on her back. However, the weight of the supplies was the least of her concerns at the moment. She was still thinking about the conversation Keiichi and his dad had had about an hour ago. He said he didn't like anyone, she thought. Ichirou had insisted that Rena and Keiichi were dating and then suggested that Etsuko and Keiichi should if he wasn't interested in any of the girls over there, to quote his dad. He hadn't even given the idea that Mion and Keiichi were dating a thought. Why? Was it because she was too much of a tomboy for Keiichi to even consider her as a possible romantic partner? Or was it because she didn't seem to be as cute as Etsuko or Rena? Ichirou had also said that Rena and Keiichi made a good couple and that he approved of the two of them dating (if they were to ever date at all). This caused her to wonder. Did Rena like Keiichi? Mion had never asked Rena about it as she was too embarrassed, but it was entirely possible. No, that was untrue. The reason why she never asked was because she was scared that Rena also liked him. Mion turned her head to watch as Keiichi and Rena engaged in a conversation. Keiichi had seemingly just told a funny joke which caused Rena to giggle adorably. But then again, Keiichi had said that he didn't like anyone. Including me. She continued to watch the two as Keiichi patted Rena on the head and ruffled her orange hair. Rena instantly blushed as Keiichi's hand came in contact with her head. This scene was enough to convince Mion of something. She definitely likes him!
Perhaps Keiichi would fall for Rena's girly personality and adorable looks. Didn't all males prefer a cute girl to a crude, tomboyish one? Mion's gaze began to focus on Etsuko, who was trying to comfort her nervous brother. She had rather cute looks as well, didn't she? As she passed a trickling, clear river, Mion gazed at her reflection. She was wearing her usual yellow t-shirt and jeans along with her holstered gun located by her chest. Her emerald-green hair was tied up in a long ponytail that reached down to her waist. Her eyes were of a slightly darker color than her hair. She placed her hands on her hips as she observed her body with a frown. Rena and Etsuko are much more attractive than me, she thought with a sigh. She shook her head at the thought and continued down the old road tattered with splotches of dirt. She tried not to think about the subject as she focused on carrying the hefty package stuffed to the top with tools for camping.
"Mion, I'll help you with that," a masculine voice said to her. She whipped around to meet Keiichi's smiling face. He was standing very close to her, about maybe a foot and a half away. Mion opened her mouth to accept his offer but was cut off by her own thoughts. His sapphire blue eyes were staring right into her emerald ones, shining with pride and confidence.
"S-Sure," she muttered an acceptance before handing over the heavy box she was carrying. As she did so, Keiichi's hand touched hers and pulled it away gently. He held the box without any problem in his strong arms and looked at it.
"I'll carry it for the rest of the trip. You just go on carrying that backpack, okay?" he instructed as he gave her a light smile.
Mion tried to respond but no words would come to her mouth. Instead, she nodded ever so slightly. I never knew he was so strong, she thought as her eyes scanned his muscular body.
"Mion, is there something wrong?" he asked sounding rather worried when she didn't respond with words.
Mion quickly shook her head in attempt to hide what she had been thinking. "N-Nothing! It's nothing at all! This old man is just kind of tired Gahaha!" she responded with one of her large laughs. Keiichi raised an eyebrow, not entirely convinced.
"Mion, you don't look good," he commented as he placed his hand on her forehead to check her temperature. The green-haired female instantly grew red at the feel of his warm hand pressed against her forehead. Keiichi noticed this and looked alarmed. "Mion! You're all red! Are you sick?" he asked.
"N-No I'm not sick! I'm just… just! ARGH!" Mion responded before she began to run away from Keiichi as fast as a cheetah. He blinked in puzzlement as he watched her run off.
"Gee, I sure hope she isn't sick," Keiichi murmured as he went back to join in on helping Rena get Hisao to be a bit less nervous around them.
~~~X~~~
The ten of them eventually arrived at the camping grounds. The area they were at was a clearing like the one Rika had seen before, however it was much larger and did not bring any bad memories to her head. The periphery of the circle was decorated with green grass that swayed slightly in the wind while the rest of the campground was covered with dirt. There was a small pit located in the center that Rika automatically assumed was for building campfires as there were four logs placed around it in a circle. Rika had seen this area one or two times before. She had recognized this area as the area she had gone camping on before. When she had been a little girl, Mion had dragged her along to go camping with her and Shion. Of course, at that time, Rika had no idea Shion actually existed so she thought that she was just going camping with Mion. The two of them were very good at keeping Shion's identity hidden at that time. During that trip, Rika had never encountered the two of them standing next to each other or even in the same area.
"Alright! Where shall I set up the tents?" asked Maebara Ichirou who was carrying a box on his shoulder as he observed the landscape.
Mion pointed to the area around the small pit used for campfires. "Please set them up around there," she instructed him before turning to the club members. "I hope you all remember who your partners are! You can choose whichever tent you like. They're all different colors so you don't forget which one is yours."
Ichirou instantly went to work on setting up the four tents while the eight children sat around the pit. Two people sat on each of the rather uncomfortable wooden logs as they discussed various stories.
"Mii took me camping here many years ago with Shii," Rika told the group, "but I didn't know that Shii existed at the time. Sometimes I would talk with who I thought to be Mii and she wouldn't remember our previous conversation. I thought she was weird for that."
Mion laughed at the memory. "Oh yeah! I remember that! Shion and I played a bunch of mean tricks on you too. We'd tell you that if you could catch me we'd buy you anything you wanted and you would never be able to catch us!" she reminisced.
Shion sat next to Mion on the wooden log as she chomped on some trail mix. "Oh yeah, I remember that. Onee and I had a blast tricking you," she said with her mouth still full of trail mix. She finished chewing what was currently in her mouth and then tossed some more in the air and attempted to catch it in her mouth. Her attempts to do so were a complete failure as the pieces of trail mix fell on top of Keiichi's head.
"Hey Shion! You failed horribly!" yelled Keiichi in a rage as he brushed off the trail mix on his brown hair.
Shion waved her hand dismissively at the brown-haired boy who was acting rather immature. "Thank you for informing of my epic failure of which I am already aware of," she replied sarcastically. Shion once again dunked her hand in the bag of trail mix and fished around in it causing the bag to make annoyingly loud crackling sounds.
Rena dove into the backpack Shion was carrying and searched around for a snack she could eat. After a few moments, Rena's eyes suddenly lit up as she held the opening of the bag apart. "Hau! This snack is adorable!" Rena declared as she pulled out a bunch of crackers shaped like animals. She quickly tore of the top of the package and pulled out the various crackers. "This one is shaped like a bunny! Rena's favorite animals are bunnies! Hauuu!" she cried out as she held up a cracker shaped like a baby bunny.
Satoko blinked at Rena. "My my, that looks delicious! Can I have some, Rena-san?" she asked. The blonde-haired girl held her hands out expectantly and looked up at the older girl with a hopeful expression. The only thing Satoko received, however, was a punch to the face that sent the poor girl flying cross the campgrounds.
"Hau! Satoko-chan cannot eat the animal crackers! The animal crackers are too cute to be eaten!" yelled Rena as she hugged the box of crackers to her chest protectively with an expression on her face that made her look as if Satoko's acts were a threat to her.
Hisao ducked down instantly as Satoko went flying over him and crashed into one of the nearby trees. All eyes except for Rena's focused on the blonde-haired girl who was now laying slumped against the tree with her purple eyes spiraling.
Things suddenly got a lot more violent as Mion yelled, "whoever gets the box of animal-shaped crackers from Rena wins!" Everyone besides Hisao, Satoko, and Etsuko then tackled Rena to the floor and attempted to grasp at the tiny box Rena was holding in her hand. Rena immediately panicked and held the box as far away from the club members as she could.
"Hau! Stop trying to steal the cute animals away from Rena!" Rena begged as she was crushed under the weight of all the club members on top of her.
Mion struggled to reach for the tiny box Rena was clutching with great power while at the same time trying to shove Rika off from on top of her legs. No one was really being careful with each other as the war for Rena's box of crackers raged on. Keiichi almost toppled over as he stretched out his hand to grab the animal-shaped crackers. In order to gain more support, he instinctively put his hand down on something and grabbed it to keep his balance. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know that that something was Mion's right breast.
"Gyah!" Mion cried out when she felt Keiichi's hand grab her large breast. "Kei-chan, your hand!" she yelled to him. Her words were lost under the loud protest of Rena and did not reach Keiichi.
Finally, Keiichi managed to grab the box away from Rena. "I got the box!" he declared loudly. As he did so, all movement and struggle stopped.
"Mii… Keiichi wins," murmured Rena disappointedly.
Shion's eyes drifted over to her sister and she bit her lip to suppress a laugh when she noticed where Keiichi's hand that was not holding the box was resting. Her attempts to do so were futile as she let out a hysterical laugh.
"Shut up, Shion!" snapped a very red-faced Mion who instantly knew why her sister was laughing.
Keiichi looked confused. "Hey, why are you laughing, Shion?" he asked. He was so focused on the box in his hands that he didn't notice what was in his other hand.
Rika let out a small gasp and covered her mouth with her tiny hand as she too realized why Shion was laughing. "Keiichi is a huge pervert!" she cried out in alarm.
"I don't get it!" Keiichi yelled to a still laughing Shion. "What's so funny?"
Shion continued to laugh harder and harder by the second. "Your hand!" she managed to say in between her wild laughter.
Keiichi glanced at his hand holding the small red box. "My hand is holding a box of animal-shaped crackers, meaning I win!" he said, confused. His eyes suddenly lit up with another realization. "Oh, so are you laughing because you thought I'd never win?" he guessed. "Well you're wrong! I, Maebara Keiichi, have won this war!" he declared with great pride so that the whole camp could hear him.
To his surprise, Shion's laugher did not cease. "No no, not that hand! I meant your other hand!" she explained as she held back more laughs.
The realization suddenly hit Keiichi. His eyes slowly began to travel down the length of his arm to his other hand. His face turned a bright red when he saw his other hand firmly grasping onto Mion's breast. He was too stunned to make any movements from his utter shock and did not remove his hand.
"K-Kei-chan? C-Can you possibly remove your hand from my breast?" requested Mion whose face was of an equal shade of red. Keiichi nodded and took his other hand away. This caused him to lose his support and he ended up crashing face first straight into her chest.
Shion, who had finally managed to stop laughing, started up again. "Gahaha! Kei-chan is a super pervert!" she said as she pointed to Keiichi whose face was crushed between Mion's large breasts.
Keiichi pushed himself off of her with his arms and began to chase the hooting Shion around the campgrounds much like he chased usually Satoko with a red face. Mion lay on the ground without moving, her face covered with a blush.
Etsuko watched this scene with a shake of her head as Hisao hid behind her back, scared from the previous commotion. Satoko had just regained her composure when she saw Shion run right by her with a smirk on her face and Keiichi on her tail. Satoko pulled out a few small bombs from the pocket on her shorts and threw them at the two club members in attempt to stop Keiichi right in his tracks. Pink smoke emitted out of the bombs as they hit the grassy ground. Keiichi paused to cover his eyes from the smoke while Shion sped away as fast as she could.
Once the smoke cleared and Keiichi had given up on his attempt to strangle Shion, he walked over to Rena and handed her the box of animal-shaped crackers. "Here you go, Rena."
Rena looked surprised as she stared at the box that she now held in her hands. "You're giving it back to Rena?" she said.
Keiichi nodded and ruffled Rena's orange hair. "Yeah. I wasn't planning on taking it away from you or anything. I just wanted to join in on the fun and win something for once," he spoke to her with a grin.
Rena held the small red box containing the proclaimed cute crackers to her chest happily. "Thank you, Keiichi-kun," she said with an ever so slight blush that Mion caught instantly. The green-haired girl subconsciously bawled her hands in fists when she saw Rena's slightly pink face and let out a small growl.
Keiichi blushed when he turned around and saw Mion still lying on the ground. He walked over to her and bent down, offering his hand to her. "I'm sorry, Mion," he apologized as he tried to avoid eye contact. "I swear I didn't mean to…"
Mion took his warm hand in hers as he helped her stand up on two feet. "No, it's okay Kei-chan. I know you didn't mean it," she murmured, her green eyes glancing away from his blue ones. He nervously kicked a few stones lying in the dusty ground as he tried to hide his blush.
"Okay, I'm all done here!" declared Ichirou as he marveled at the pink tent he had just set up. "This one is the last one! Now I do believe you guys just have to find your tents and unpack your stuff!"
They all nodded and sped off to claim their tents. "Rika and I will take the blue one!" Satoko decided as she ran into the blue tent with Rika following her.
"Shion and I want the green one!" Mion cried as she grabbed an unwilling Shion by the wrist and wandered into the tent.
"Hau! The pink one is the cutest! Rena calls she gets the pink one!" Rena yelled loudly before galloping into the tent carrying all her belongings. Keiichi glanced to Hisao. That left the two of them with the yellow tent.
"Well, let's go unpack our things," Keiichi said to Hisao, who was currently considering the idea of hiding under a rock.
~~~X~~~
It was late at night when Mion and Shion had finished setting up their things in their tent. They had sprawled out two dark green sleeping bags on the floor and placed an oil lamp in between them. Shion had thrown some of her manga on top of her sleeping bag and was now reading one in her nightclothes as she lay bored. Mion, on the other hand, was going through the various games she had stuffed in the bag. She was currently clad in her nightclothes and had her hair down.
"Hey Shion, wanna play cards?" Mion asked as she turned away from her backpack and to her sister.
Shion shook her head as she continued to read the manga she was holding. "No, I'm reading this manga right now. Maybe you can go play with Kei-chan or something," she suggested as she turned the page.
Mion sighed and collapsed onto her fluffy sleeping bag. She began to play with the sheets of the sleeping bag as she contemplated the events that had happened that day. She recalled the conversation Keiichi had had with his father at the beginning of the day with a sigh. The very memory of it had been bothering her all day. She grasped the top of the sleeping bag tightly as she remembered how Keiichi had claimed that he did not like anyone. Then, she remembered how Keiichi had kindly handed the box of animal-shaped crackers to Rena and patted her head. Rena had blushed when he had done so. Rena likes him… I just know it! And with her behavior… He might even fall for her.
Rena had a cute face and an overall adorable personality. She was girly and knew how to act like a girl unlike Mion. Mion didn't know how to act like a girl and was often classified as a tomboy. You don't have a chance, give up, she told herself.
Then she thought about when Keiichi offered to take the heavy box from her and then did so without a problem. Keiichi had always been kind to her and fun to be with. Before Keiichi had moved in, it was rather boring. Satoshi had disappeared, Satoko was still trying to get over the shock, and club games were never competitive. When Mion had founded the club, she was absolutely terrible at the club games and always lost. However, during the time Satoshi was still there, she had grown strong and learned how to win. So after he disappeared, she would win without much effort. Satoko eventually healed up and regained her competitive spirit but she would always win anyways. Of course they were competitive, but what she really needed was a rival. So when Keiichi moved in and joined the clubs, games instantly became more interesting. Of course, Keiichi started out like Mion. He was awful at the first games he played. Slowly, however, he gained the ability to win and his skills at most games began to rival Mion's. He cheered the whole club up. The arrival of Keiichi had given her a rival, a best friend, and someone she loved.
As she thought more about him, she began to cry a little. She was a tomboy and she would never be able to have him as a romantic partner. The very thought of him was tantalizing to her. She could look at him and marvel his handsomeness but she could not have him for herself.
"Onee, this guy in this manga is being really stupid. He-" Shion began to say before she noticed the tears that came from Mion's green eyes. "Onee?" she said as she scooted herself over to Mion's sleeping bag. Her twin buried her face into the soft covers of her sleeping bag as she tried to hide her tears. Shion reached out one of her hands and slowly touched her sister gently on the shoulder. "Hey Onee, what's wrong?"
"I can't take it anymore, Shion!" cried Mion's muffled voice as her grip on the sheets became even tighter.
Shion blinked a few times as she nudged her sister slightly. "Can't take what anymore, Onee?"
Tears began to stain the soft covers of Mion's sleeping bag. "Oh you know what I'm talking about Onee! I'm just some stupid girl who can't even get over her own feelings for a guy who won't ever like her!" she yelled.
Shion pulled her identical twin up and looked at her straight in the eyes. She was crying hard and her eyes were slightly red. As she realized how hurt Mion was, Shion's arms wrapped tightly around her sister as she pulled her close to her body to comfort her. "It's okay, On-… Mion. I'm sure he likes you too. Guys can just be stubborn at times," she told her softly.
Mion shook her head stubbornly. "No! He doesn't! He doesn't like me… he said he didn't like anyone! And besides, I bet he secretly likes Rena!" she yelled.
The younger green-haired girl pulled her sister even closer and her embrace tightened. "No. You know that's not true. I bet he loves you too. You know how Kei-chan is… he's so stupid at times," she muttered as she stroked her sister's long green hair.
"You saw how he was acting towards Rena! He was patting her head and she blushed! What if Rena likes her too, Shion? I'm sure she does!" cried Mion. Shion shifted her sister's position so that she could cry into her shoulder. She then leaned her head against her sister's and continued to stroke her hair.
"C'mon Mion. Let's think positive. There's a chance," she said.
"But Rena has a chance, too! Don't you understand? I'm inferior to her in looks! She's a cute girly girl and can act like it! I don't know how to be girly, Shion. I'm just a stupid tomboy," the older green-haired twin yelled.
Shion moved her sister again so that they were looking into each other's eyes. "Mion, do you think I'm beautiful?" Shion asked.
Mion felt slightly confused at Shion's sudden and rather irrelevant question. "Of course you're beautiful, Shion," she answered sounding slightly broken.
Shion smiled warmly at her response. "Then why are you crying? We're identical twins. We're the same, aren't we? So if I'm beautiful, that means you're beautiful too," she spoke as she stared into her twin's identical green eyes.
"But Shion! I have that ugly… thing on my back…" Mion muttered. Shion frowned at the mention of the demonic tattoo that was on Mion's back. That stupid, stupid, tattoo. The very thing that separated Mion and Shion from each other when they were little and caused unhappiness between the two of them.
"Mion… if he really loves you, then he won't care about the tattoo. Besides, your hair covers it completely when it's down like this," she told her as she glanced wearily at her sister's back. Her nightclothes currently covered her tattoo so Shion obviously couldn't see it. However, Shion had seen her sister's tattoo many times before and knew that it was possible to cover it up with her hair to prevent it from being seen.
Mion didn't respond and instead hugged Shion back tightly. At times like this, it was always comforting just to be with her sister. Shion nudged her sister slightly as she began to speak, "I swear, Mion, if he does anything to hurt you… I will never forgive him," she murmured softly. Mion nodded slightly and clutched onto her sister for warmth. Shion smiled and ran her fingers through her sister's emerald green hair. "Hey Mion, it's getting a little late. Let's sleep," she suggested. Mion didn't move. Shion waited a few moments for any kind of response from her sister but received absolutely none. "All right… let's just stay like this for a while, then," she murmured as she leaned her head on her sister's and closed her green eyes.
~~~X~~~
The loud cries of the Higurashi cicadas indicated morning on the campgrounds. Keiichi had fallen asleep rather late that night and had yet to fully wake up. He walked outside the tent and began to wander around the campground without a destination in mind. "Gotta wake up," he muttered to himself.
The next thing that greeted him in the early morning was Shion's figure striding right up to him. "Ah, hello Shion. Is anyone else awake?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes. Suddenly, he noticed that she looked extremely angry for some reason Keiichi could not point out. "Huh, Shion? What's wrong?" he asked. Shion did not respond to him using words. Instead, she responded by slapping him right across the face.
"You stupid bastard! Do you realize how much of an idiot you are?" she yelled at him as Keiichi rubbed his red cheek.
"W-Wait Shion-!"
"No waits! You're a stupid idiot! Grow up and learn to understand other people's feelings, you fucking piece of shit!" she snapped at him before storming off back to her tent in a rage.
Keiichi stood there with wide eyes, rubbing his sore cheek in shock. Did I do something wrong? He wondered. Did I hurt someone? Keiichi grew worried at the thought. I did something to upset Shion… but what?
He looked up at the sun rising in the sky. "Damn, Keiichi. You're an idiot for whatever you did. Especially since you don't know what you did," he scolded himself. Now, he had a guilt growing in his stomach. Shion was clearly angry at him, but for what reason?
Damn. I must be an idiot…
~~~X~~~
Crimso's Corner
Thank you all for reading Green-eyed Demon up to this point! I also want to thank everyone once again for the reviews. I love you all. Seriously. I wouldn't be able to write without you!
Okay, so that chapter didn't take too long seeing as how I started this one a little early. And now it's going to take forever to upload because of FF having issues. It seems you guys are having them too, huh?
It's fun to write these chapters while listening to Higurashi music. I'm really glad that they made those image songs and such. Yes, I hate Studio DEEN for cutting down Higurashi, but I'm really glad they made these image songs. Actually, Mion&Shion's songs came on when I was writing the scene with Mion and Shion in the tent. Though don't you guys hate it when one side of your earphones breaks? My earphones keep getting crushed by my laptop falling off my bed.
Please, please, please tell me that Keiichi isn't coming off as some kind of jerk. I feel like he really did in this chapter and I kind of don't want that. I think the next chapter should fix that up nicely if he did (hehe, sort of a spoiler?).
Um… what was I going to say here?
Oh yeah. Next chapter shouldn't take too long I don't think.
Damn, I hope this uploads. Oh well. If it doesn't, I hope it won't take too long. -kicks FF-
~Crimso.
