Yukiko's POV
"You're going out with Marui-kun later? Don't do anything inappropriate for your age, it'll be filled with people and children today," Arisa said helping Aikiko with her makeup. It's almost time for the festival to open and everyone was busy making sure every detail was perfect. It's annoying, people are yelling over the tiniest of things. Who cares if the cups are apple green instead of emerald green? Green is green!
"Again, what do you mean by that? We're just hanging out. You're overreacting too much like Aikiko did last night," I said standing a little ways away from Arisa and Aikiko.
"I still think that it's a date," Aikiko said stubbornly.
"We're just hanging out." There's not really a difference between hanging out and having a date. The main thing is the relationship between the two people. We're just friends so that mean that we're just hanging out together. It's not that hard to understand "I don't understand why you two are like this. It's like when we hang out together and annoy Shou."
"Really? Aikiko, you were right, they're really slow." I was about to say something, then I decided it's better if I don't know. They've both been so weird lately. Then someone accidentally bumped into me and spilled several glasses of soda on me. It was cold and sticky and I just felt like a mess.
"I'm so sorry about that! Are you alright?"
"Fine, just sticky," I said as I helped him pick up the glasses. There's no point in getting angry, it's not like he meant it on purpose. "I'm glad that nothing broke."
"I am really sorry. I'll go reflect on this right now," he said running away. That was... weird. Who was that guy again? I wiped my hands, trying to get rid of the sticky feeling, but it just stayed. My uniform's all sticky now, what should I do now?
"Aikiko, can I borrow your uniform?"
"Sorry Yukiko, I'm getting it washed. I accidentally spilled some stuff on it too," Aikiko said in an apologetic tone. Great, now I'll just have to go around in this outfit since I can't get to my jersey.
"I have an idea!" Arisa said with an evil glint in her eyes. I don't like where this is going.
"So, how did I end up in a maid costume?" I asked, looking at the pure white dress that was made to show my collar bone and it was shorter than the uniform skirt. And during the time I got forced into this dress, at some point someone took my glasses and replaced them with make up. Then they took out my braid and put it into a ponytail.
"You look so cute!"
"I feel violated and my face feels fake. Why do you have a extra maid outfit, Arisa?" I'm glad I don't have to wear the fairy wings that go with it.
"Just in case. Until your clothes are clean, just go around wearing that. There are plenty of people who are going around in costume today so you won't stand out that much. Come on Yukiko, smile. You look great," Arisa said pulling my cheeks trying to force a smile on my face. I just kept frowning.
"Then why do I feel like a clown?"
"But you still look pretty," Aikiko said. "I'm sure a lot of people will say that you look pretty. Like Bunta-san." What does he have to do with anything? "Where is Bunta-san anyways?" I do not want him to see me like this.
"What are you guys doing?" Gah, he's here. I went to the window to open it. I wonder if I can jump out the window, before- "Yuki-chan, why are you wearing maid a outfit?" Darn it, he noticed.
"Do you want to wear it instead? I think it would look a thousand times better on you than on me," I said, kind of hoping that he would say yes so I could switch clothes with him.
"Sorry, I don't like wearing skirts," he said blowing a green bubble. So close! But I don't think that I would want to see him a dress."Besides, it looks great on you. Anyways, people are coming in already. Do you want to go and play some of the games that the other classes set up?" I nodded. "Then let's go," Marui said taking my hand.
"Don't do anything weird, it's still daylight!"
"Stop saying that Arisa!" I said before Marui dragged me out of the classroom. Why does she always do that? Even though she knows that we're just friends. Then a pirate treasure hunt caught my eye. That looks like fun.
"Do you wanna try that?"
Was I staring at the sign for too long? "If it's okay with you." We walked in and were explained the game.
"It's very simple, you just need to find the item hidden somewhere in the school campus using the clues from the treasure map that we give you. It's 400 yen per try. If you succeed, then you get to pick from our treasure chest of items," someone in a pirate costume explained. "Would you like to try?"
"Sure," I said searching my pockets for some coins. Ah, here they are. I put four 100 yen coins in the guy's hand at the same time Marui does. "I'll pay for it."
"No, I will."
"No, I'll pay for it," I argued back.
"Just let me pay for it," he said taking coins out of the guy's hand and handing them back to me.
"But I insist," I said pushing the coins back into his hand. "Just let me pay-"
"Okay, here's 200 yen back for both of you and here's your treasure map," the pirate person said, obviously annoyed with the two of us. "You have until the end of the day to find the item. Now go out and search. Good luck and don't come back until you find it."
"Let's see..." I unraveled the parchment and read. In order to find the golden treasure, you must first find the place where dreams gather. After finding that place, inside there is a pathway that leads towards an enchanting place. Full of light and color. Only at the highest cliff can you find the missing treasure chest. "A place where dreams gather would mean the school... but there's a lot of roads that lead to different places."
"Then we go looking for an enchanting place of light and color."
"Which is... everywhere," I said not being able to narrow things down. The booths outside are in the sun and are decorated. Then inside there's light and colorful costumes. In a way, everything seems enchanting.
"Then we'll go everywhere," he said simply. I don't think I have enough energy to do that... but I still owe him for last night, so I'll try anyways. "Wanna go try that one Yuki-chan?" he asked pointing to a classroom that had a game where you try to shoot the prize that you want.
"Sure," I said, eying the bunny plush doll. Aikiko would love something like that. It's so cute. 200 yen per 3 tries, I think I can get it. I put a few coins in someone's hand and they gave me a gun with corkscrew bullets in it.I aimed and shot the plushie down. Yay, I got it! What else should I get?
"Can I try it one time?" Marui asked. I nodded and handed him the gun. He carefully aimed and hit another bunny plushie. Then he handed it to me. "Here."
"Do you want me to carry it?"
"No, I want you to keep it. It matches the one that you got Aikiko-chan."
How did he even know that I was going to give it to Aikiko? Regardless, I took the plusie with a cream ribbon. "Thanks."
I took the gun back and looked for something that I could give Marui. A huge doughnut cushion! I immediately aimed for it and it fell down when the bullet hit. I handed the cushion to Marui. "Now we're even."
"If only they could make sweets this big," he said looking at the cushion.
"Only you could finish something that big yourself. Where to next?" We spent our time playing around and eating some random things along the way. But we still couldn't find the treasure chest. "They did mention cliff, so would that mean that it's in a really tall place, maybe?"
"Hm... Light, colors, and in a tall space..."
As Marui pondered, I heard someone's conversation. "Look at that girl. Isn't she the same person from that cafe?"
"I don't think it is... but she's pretty cute. Let's go ask her around." I took a step so I was slightly closer to Marui. Please don't let those guys come any closer.
"Yuki-chan I think I know where it is. Let's go," he said grabbing my hand again. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I said as I watched the guys back off. "So where is the treasure chest?"
"You'll find out when we get there," he said, winking. He's really an idiot... I felt my lips curved into a small smile. Why do I suddenly feel so happy? Marui lead me to... the rooftop garden? Is the treasure chest really here? "Look over there Yuki-chan." On the bench in the middle of the garden, there was a chest.
"Eh... you actually figured it out," I said, picking up the chest with one hand since I was still holding onto the rabbits. Huh? It won't open.
"Of course, I'm a genius after all. Here, let me open it." I handed the box to him and he opened it very easily. Well, he is a boy. "Let see. Congratulations, you found the correct treasure chest, please go back to the boat to claim your prize."
"Boat?"
"The classroom."
"I know that, but why can't they just write classroom instead of boat? They don't know that we already know where to go? They told us when we got the riddle." Then Marui started laughing. "What?" He just laughed even harder. "Seriously what?" Did I say something weird?
"I was just thinking how interesting you are Yuki-chan."
"Is that suppose to be a compliment?" It sounds like an insult somehow.
"Let's head back and get our prize." As we walked back towards the classroom, I occasionally glanced at the girls that were fangirling over Marui. What is it about him that girls like? I admit that he's attractive and he's a great tennis player... but is there nothing else? Do they only like him for superfical reasons like that?
"Congratulations, you may both chose a prize from our treasure chest," the person from earlier said pointing to a huge trunk that was filled with shiny things.
"Marui, you can just choose something. I don't want anything." It's all too flashy.
"Is that so?" He stepped forward and picked something out. That was fast. What exactly did he pick? Then my stomach growled. Ah... it's about time for lunch. I guess all of those snacks didn't fill me up enough. "Do you wanna go eat something now?" I nodded. We walked out to where the tennis club booth was. Apparently, they're making yakisoba.
"2 orders of yakisoba," I said handing a tennis club member money.
"Here you go, Kanzaki-san," Yagyuu-san said, handing me the containers.
"Thank you, Yagyuu-san." I looked at the two containers then noticed that Niou-san was there. "Um... Niou-san didn't cook these did he?"
"Please do not worry. I double checked to make sure nothing strange has been put in," Yanagi said. "Percent that Niou put something strange in, .245%"
"I see, thank you very much." I'm still kind of worried. Should I eat it? I went to go sit down where Marui was and saw that Arisa and Aikiko were there too. "Aikiko, is your shift done for today?" I asked as I handed Marui his yakisoba. Aikiko nodded as she was ate her cotton candy. "Oh right, here. I got this for you earlier."
"Usagi-san! It's so cute, thank you Yukiko."
"What a nice sister relationship. If only my idiot brother was a girl... well can't pick your siblings. Oh right, did you do that horoscope booth yet? Don't speak when you're eating. Nod or shake." I shook my head. "Then we should all go do it. It'll be fun to see what we get."
"A horoscope booth? Girls really like that sort of stuff," Marui said picking up his chopsticks. "But do you guys actually believe in what those things say?"
"I don't. It's just something fun. It's not like any of it is true." If they were true, I would have been able to go my own way a lot of times and I wouldn't have been stopped by my parents. It's stupid to believe in them. It's better if all of my hopes are nonexistent. Ah, I shouldn't think about this stuff now. Today's suppose to be a fun day.
"Arisa-chan, how about we go somewhere private later?" Niou-san is trying to harass Arisa again? Really, is it normal for people to hit on people who pranked them? Or is this just a huge prank that Niou-san is playing? "And we can play your favorite game of pain."
"I am not a machoist. Just give me my freaking yakisoba. I'm hungry," Arisa said grabbed the yakisoba from Niou-san. "Yukimura-san, how much is it to kill this ponytailed pervert?"
"I'm sorry, all I can say is that you can kick him a couple of times or do something similar to that," Yukimura-san said with that same smile on his face.
"Fine," she said pulling out a red button. Hm? Please don't tell me that's- Then I heard an electrical shock and a yell of pain. Again this happened? When did she even... on second thought, I don't wanna know."Seriously, will he ever stop being a pervert?"
"That's impossible. You interest him too much," Marui said. "Thanks for the food."
Suddenly a guy with curly orange hair ran up to our table and hugged Marui. "Marui-kun! Marui-kun, it's been a while!" Who is this guy? From Hyoutei?
"Jirou, get off me," Marui commanded. "This is just creeping me out."
"Sorry, Marui-kun!"
"Bunta-san, you've really got a lot of strange fans," Aikiko said, finally finished with her cotton candy. "So... who are you exactly?"
"I'm Akutagawa Jirou, a big fan of Marui-kun's! And a Hyoutei regular," he said sitting in between Marui and me. A tennis player from another school. Is he showing admiration? Or perhaps it's love? Well, he doesn't seem like a bad person. A little loud and annoying though though...
"I see. Well, we're about to go to one of the booths, if you'd like-"
"I wanna go where Marui-kun goes!" Somehow that sounds really weird. "What kind of booth is it?"
"It's a fortune telling booth." As expected of Arisa to stay calm in this situation. "Ah, after that you can change back into your uniform, Yukiko. It should be dry by now."
"Why can't I just change now?" She gave a smile that meant,'Do you really want to know?' That smile normally means, I will regret it. "Fine. Then let's hurry up and go. Wearing this is annoying."
"But you still look pretty." I threw a mask that I won at her. Sheesh Aikiko... "Wah, you're so mean Yukiko."
"Yeah, yeah, let's just go," I said, standing up. We soon got to the booth and the whole way there, Marui and Akutagawa-san were talking. Well, it was more of Akutagawa-san praising him. Either way it was really loud. I picked the fortune for Scorpio and read it. Your life is filled with gates and tunnels. There are many hard things that you will have to choose for. The hardest decision will be the most precious one. Be sure to treasure even simple times. Weird... it's pretty accurate.
"Yuki-chan you're a Scorpio? When's your birthday?"
"My birthday?" Now that I think about it, he doesn't know. "It's November 6th. Don't forget that it's Aikiko's birthday too. When's your birthday, Marui?"
"April 20th. Make sure that you don't forget it," he said as his green bubble popped. April 20th... That's after graduation. "November 6th, huh?" he said, looking somewhere else. It's like they were looking somewhere far away, but that could just be my imagination.
"I'll never forget your birthday Marui-kun!" Akutagawa-san said loudly, snapping me back into reality.
"Well, I'm going back to the classroom to change," I said walking away quickly. "Aikiko, you need to change too. Hurry up." Aikiko nodded and quickly followed me.
"Hey, Yukiko." I looked at her as I buttoned my shirt. "Did you have fun with Bunta-san today? By that I mean, did you enjoyed being with him?"
"I guess. But my answer still hasn't changed about what you said that time." Then my phone rang and I picked it up. It's from Marui. He wants me to meet him at the rooftop? And alone? "Aikiko, I've got something to do. Go meet up with Arisa," I said putting my phone in my skirt pocket.
"Have fun."
Then my phone rang again. This time it's from... Arisa? My eyes widen a little in shock. "I'll see you in a bit." Why would that guy... Ergh! He's confusing! I slammed the door to the rooftop garden open. "Marui, can you explain exactly what this means to me?" He looked clueless until he finished reading the text.
"Damn it Jackal."
"That's the reason why you worked so hard with preparations? Why would you do that and exhaust yourself? You don't have that much stamina and yet you helped me after wearing yourself out!"
"Woah, stop. Calm down," he said making a time out sign with his hands. "I'm not weak and it's not like I died or anything. I just wanted to spend the day together with you, but Buchou told me that I had to help out a lot with preparations if I didn't want to serve customers."
Spend the day with me? "Why did you want to spend the day with me?"
"Yuki-chan, you're good with school but bad at stuff like this." What's that suppose to mean? "I just wanted to spend the day with you. That's it. Oh right, the firework display is going to start." That's it? Could it really be so simple? No twists? No extras? Nothing attached to his words? There are people like that in this world?
Then a huge explosion was heard and I immediately looked up. A beautiful, bright firework busted into the autumn air and my feelings of confusion were blown away. "Pretty!" The continued to shoot up, bursting into sparks of color. It was just beautiful. "They're all so beautiful!" I heard whispering and then turned to Marui. "Did you say something? He shook his head.
Music started. I looked down towards where the bonfire was. People were dancing. Marui held his hand out to me."Come on, you need to dance with your master."
"When did I say that you were my master?" Still I took his hand. It would be a waste not to dance tonight. "I will step on your feet by accident."
"By the way you say that, it makes me think that it won't be an accident," he said in a laughing tone. Surprisingly, he's a pretty good dancer. Then no surprise, I stepped on his feet at least 5 times. "Yuki-chan, did you have fun today?"
"I had fun."
"You're smiling." I noticed that my lips were curved upward. Ah, it's true. The music soon stopped and he let go of my hands. It feels lonely all of a sudden. I clenched my fists and released them. I wonder why. "Let's hurry back. Before certain people start misunderstand again."
"Yeah." Something in my chest feels really weird. It's like loneliness, but there's something else. Suddenly, I remembered what Arisa told me after Marui looked at my drawings. No, no, no, no, I am not in love with Marui! ...But then why do I have so many confusing feelings inside of me right now?