Why did Akari give a present to that women? Gill wondered– his mouth dropping open and his unease exponentially increasing; And why a lily, of all things? Was it some kind of forbidden girl's-love code? Did this mean that Akari existed in a separate realm from his own? Was she now out of his reach?
Just like that, the kingdom in his diary was crumbling and not even the tangible images of the festival around him made sense anymore. Slumping over slightly, he began mumbling quietly to himself.
Akari watched Gill's pallid face with equally increasing unease (which was beginning to be way too much unease). Wha… what is going on with Knickerbockers? she wondered, her teeth grinding as she witnessed his rapid descent into complete madness. He looks so devastated… Like a pathetic kid who didn't get a single New Year's greeting card due to a lack of friends or any social contacts… Stricken by this depressing thought, Akari herself went limp in devastation; she was once that pathetic kid.
Wait, that's right… Akari shuffled through her rucksack, pulling out the last known object she'd scavenged from off the ground. "I… I have a gift for you, too," she said, cautiously holding out a whole clam to Gill; "Please accept it as an apology for the trouble I caused yesterday. I found it on the beach today, so it's very fresh." It was also going to be my meal for tomorrow, but this is… more important. As Akari thought this, she held back tears of starvation and poverty, and her stomach inwardly wailed along with her soul.
Surprised, Gill snapped from his funk and gingerly took the clam in his hands. The feeling was indescribable. Well, the clam itself was cold and slimy (something that made him want to run home and wash his hands) but the feeling now inside his chest was warm, gentle, yet somehow pressing. "Wow," he said, tightly holding the clam in his hands (the same hands that also enjoyed knitting sweater vests by firelight), "this is actually a great gift! Thank you very much." Instantly, he felt so much better. He even literally glowed with happiness!
"Oh. I'm glad you like it." Akari slightly bowed, the muscles in her arms and face relieving of tension.
Akari. What a silly girl you are, Gill thought pompously, tucking the clam away in his pocket; You should know better than to randomly gift crap to people– they just might start getting strange ideas about you!
You. You really lack foresight and you're way too weird to understand. But yet I… I think I…
"I…" Gill froze up. What was he about to say to her?
"Are you feeling OK?" Akari asked, closely staring into Gill's face. Though her brown eyes were wide and deep like a mirror, they reflected nothing but sunlight. Why didn't they show him anything? For a moment, he desperately wished she would giggle, smile, twirl her hair, touch him, or give any other typical girlish reaction– anything that he could pass off as interest. But Akari was more like an ancient fish than a girl. For all he knew, the answers to the universe lurked behind those deep, unadulterated eyes– and maybe even esoteric magical knowledge– like the Akashic records. Interestingly, this was his least exciting delusion he'd had all day.
Could it be… that Akari's actually concerned about me? Gill wondered, deeply flustered by this abrupt thought. Flinching away, he tightly crossed his arms over his chest– Akari's hungry eyes boring into the back of his shoulders for an answer (and possibly a decent meal).
"I must get back to what I was doing," Gill said forcibly, his eyes quivering in their sockets. "Since there's a festival today, we have a social game."
"A game?" Akari said, finally showing a discernible expression; an open-mouthed smile of awe. It was an expression more suitable for a four-year-old, not a young woman of marriageable age.
"It's the Bug Catch game!" Gill went on to explain irately, bothered by her for some reason. "How about a go?" Anything to distract him and her– anything would do. "Do you want to play Bug Catch?"
Akari stood and stared absentmindedly. It was impossible to know if she was arriving at a viable conclusion or not, but at last she said "Yes!" and stomped her right leg with a fist pump (for emphasis). Was she trying to imitate Luke? And did she really think she stood a chance against Gill, The Prince of Bug Catch?
Gill scoffed at her eagerness. "Hm, OK. Can you beat me?" This would be entertaining.
"I'll try." Akari nodded enthusiastically, clenching her fists as Gill lead her over near Darren's Tree. Reaching into a nearby planter, Gill pulled out an extra-long bug net and deftly spun it in his hand. Akari's enthusiasm faded away when she saw it.
"Here is your net." Gill stuffed its pole into her unresponsive right hand. "And your cage." He ceremoniously hung a purse-like, neon-green bug cage across her shoulders– as if it were an honor to be wearing one. "We'll start when we can get two more players. Ah. Here are some now."
Walking in on the scene, Craig and Kathy glared at each other before badgering Gill for their own nets and bug cages.
No longer enthusiastic, Akari remained immersed in gloomy disbelief. Holding the extra-long pole in her hand, she checked out the EXTREMELY tiny hoop net on its end. Yes, unbelievably, the entire size of it was no bigger than her cupped hand. Using this thing was impossible. It was the equivalent of catching bugs with a thimble attached to a javelin.
"This net," Akari said truthfully, "is very dumb." She held it tightly in her hands, as if she were contemplating snapping it in two upon her leg.
Gill– having designed these dumb nets himself– jolted at her horribly insensitive statement and nearly let out an outraged gasp. "The bad carpenter," he mouthed off, holding his breath, "blames his tools."
"Yeah, well I never blame my axe," a familiar, disembodied voice commented from SOMEWHERE. Akari searched for its source but found nothing.
"Hey, it's all part of the challenge," Craig retorted, nodding once at Akari. "This is a competition to see who can catch the most bugs… with these incredibly dumb nets."
Snorting at Gill's ensuing expression, Kathy forced herself to face Craig and don a super serious glare. "Don't forget, Old Man! I'm winning this year," she said confidently.
"Give it up, Girly. This year I'm aiming for first place, so don't think I'll settle on simply beating your rank."
"I climbed over a huge boulder to get here and bring you down, so don't take our rivalry so lightly, Geezer~"
"OK, Scamp. It's on."
Battle auras erupted from the heads of Kathy and Craig. So intense was their energy, that Akari buckled under its pressure and forgot all about the familiar but disembodied voice she had heard earlier.
"Hey new girl," Kathy said, winking at Akari; "Anticipate their movement patterns. That's the key!"
"Huh?" Akari emitted. "You mean the bugs?"
Before anything else could be said, Gill shouted, "Ready? Go!" and raised a starter pistol in the air– shooting it off with a bang and startling Akari half to death. Clutching her net and shivering in fear– partly due to an innate kappa-born aversion to loud noises– it took her an encouraging shout of "Come on, weakling!" from Craig before she could even move again. Waving her unwieldily net around, Akari struggled and failed to net a dragonfly.
"Aha, gotcha," Craig growled, grabbing up the dragonfly instead.
Kathy, holding her bug net close and moving as proficiently as a feudal warrior, spun around and netted three bugs in three swift, sword-like movements.
Whoa! Akari thought, her mouth falling open in disbelief. That was so fast– it almost looked like one complete movement! And not only was Kathy being impressive, but Gill was whipping out some serious technique as well. Akari never knew that these three could be so agile and focused about something as frivolous as bug catching.
Consistently during the contest, Gill, Craig, and Kathy would be tied– but then Kathy would leap ahead in points with her warrior-like movements. As Craig lingered behind her in points– swinging around wildly while trying to keep his cap on, Gill stepped up his pace and swiped up a giant moth– a monstrous creature which went into his ridiculously tiny net against all reason.
While the others were busy fighting over another swarm, Akari gazed at the cloudless sky and noticed a lazily hovering dragonfly overhead. Reaching up gently, she netted it, and coaxed it inside her bug cage. Intimidated by its thick, stick-like body, she gulped as she watched the dragonfly grab onto the cage bars and rattle its vibrant wings before resting. I wonder if Gill would let me take you home with me, she wondered, curiously touching the cage. She was interrupted when Craig let out an exasperated shout and Kathy cackled with delight.
"Just try to catch up now!" Kathy yelled victoriously, running after Gill but throwing her comment at Craig.
"Crap," Craig grumbled, running through the trees and twirling his net– effectively grabbing a few small moths. Akari ran after him– but slowed down when her bug cage began slapping against her waist. Panting, she checked to see if her dragonfly was ok, and once she ensured that it was, she steadied her net and managed to snag another dragonfly in-between a mysterious swirl of moths. As peculiar as it was– it was as if they were all flying in on the far-reaching ocean breeze.
Carefully introducing the second dragonfly into the bug cage, Akari watched them hover around each other. There, now they have each other, she thought contentedly, closing the cage door. They're so lucky… that they're so alike.
At this point in the contest, Gill had impressively managed to overcome Kathy's momentary lead in points. His cage was even visibly shaking with the giant insects he had already captured.
After another half minute, a loud digital beep rang out and Craig groaned, leaning over and wheezing.
"Time up!" Gill said, pulling out a pocket watch and clicking it. After leading Kathy, Craig, and Akari back into the square, Gill investigated their bug cages and scribbled on a score pad before addressing everyone. "Winner is player 2," he said gravely, holding up the score pad for all to see. It was a roundabout way of claiming himself the winner.
"Second place, in your face!" Kathy sang happily, rejoicing with a victory dance.
Craig (who had gotten third) huffed shortly– as if he couldn't be bothered to give a damn– and looked the other way. "Yeah, well. Second place is the first loser," he said matter-of-factly, repressing a smirk when Kathy stomped and raged at his retort.
Ignoring the two rivals' tiff, Gill glanced Akari's way and frowned when he saw that she was looking down at her bug-cage– her shoulders drooped and her face completely turned toward the ground. No doubt she was feeling all mopey about losing– but there was a way to deal with that.
"Well, that's too bad," Gill told her flippantly, trying to rile her up instead. "Better luck next time."
When Akari lifted her face, however– instead of flashing anger– there were tears gushing from her eyes. "It ate…" she managed out slowly; "It ate its friend."
Gill blinked rapidly. "Excuse me?"
Akari held the cage up with her shaking hands and silently stared into it– her eyebrows pinched together and her eyes glazed over. "The dragonfly. It ate the other dragonfly." She bit her lips and sucked them in completely, an expression which was indescribably funny by itself. "I didn't know– they did that." More tears plopped down from her eyes, but she didn't appear to notice they were there. She was absolutely traumatized. It was as if her dog had been ran over by a fruit cart or something.
It was so stupid.
But somehow, so cute.
Gill couldn't help it– right then and there– he royally laughed in her face. "UWA ha, ha ha HA–" Holding his stomach, he rubbed his forehead in an attempt to ease an emerging headache. He hadn't eaten lunch yet, so this unexpected fit was crushing his brain. After another unbridled and self-entitled howl, he doubled over and quivered in further pain and hysterics.
Akari– continuing to bite her lips (but now in frustration)– averted her eyes and tore off the bug cage. Swiftly, she chucked it at Gill's convulsing face. "You'd also eat a friend! WOULDN'T YOU?" she yelled senselessly, full of fury and indignation. Sniffling, she ran off, soaking her sleeves through with her wet face, and forcing herself to appear as fierce as possible. Escaping to the other side of the square, she vanished behind the numerous flower displays and booth canopies.
Gill himself was crying now; crying with sheer mania. He hadn't laughed this hard since that time his father got too close to a bonfire and set his butt alight. That was three years ago.
Managing to calm himself down, Gill bent down and picked up Akari's bug cage. Opening it, he released the cannibal dragonfly and shook the cage, half-expecting the remains of its cellmate to fall out. But there was nothing. The first dragonfly had devoured every bite.
Man, you people sure are eager to "cut to the Chase!" He doesn't show up until after Darren's rainbow, guys. (At least in Tree of Tranquility. Dunno know about Animal Parade.)
But no fears, some Chase backstory will be mentioned next time in an important scene...