H o s h i – g a – h o s h i i – d e s u
"I want the stars"
by Lucathia
chapter 38: bank in Shibuya
Oblivious to his fiancée's struggle to find his brother, Yoh rested his head on his hand as he gazed into space. He was listening to his favorite music through his orange headphones. Normally, he enjoyed being able to do nothing, to not think. It was part of his dream of being lazy after all. But somehow, he felt a bit restless at the moment. Just standing there doing nothing felt...wrong. His little cousin might have been able to keep him company, but the little boy had found staring into space quite boring and had bounced to the kitchen to help his mother instead.
Yoh sighed.
This was, as Tsuki so nicely put it, beyond bo-oring.
They had so little customers that he really had no need to stand behind the front desk. Maybe he should have installed a bell at the desk that the customers could ring. Then he could head off to his room and do something else instead, such as fixing the earrings.
Hm...that actually sounded like a good idea!
Just as Yoh was about to go off to look for a bell, the front door opened.
Yoh stayed rooted to the spot, presenting a lazy smile. It felt as if he was caught in the act, but it wasn't as if he was doing anything bad.
"Welcome to Funbari Onsens. Have you reserved any rooms?" Gah, he hated having to sound professional. He sounded more like a talking machine.
He noticed that the customer was a neatly dressed young man who seemed to be on a business trip. Yoh himself would never wear the blue dress pants and the stiff button-up shirt that the young man was wearing. The young man had been studying the room before turning his attention to Yoh with a warm smile instead of a lazy one like Yoh's.
"Yes, I reserved a room for one person. I have a business trip around this area and one of my friends recommended this inn to me."
As Yoh flipped through the accounts looking for the young man's name, the young man furrowed his eyebrow.
"Have I met you before?"
Yoh paused in his flipping as he glanced up at the young man.
"Nope, not that I know of," replied Yoh offhandedly.
The young man frowned.
"You seem so familiar though. Did I meet you on one of my business trips? I went to Shibuya just two days ago and Asakusa the week before. Maybe I met you there? Strange...I don't usually forget things so easily."
Yoh shook his head, continuing his flipping.
"No, I haven't been to those places recently."
"Really..."
The young man didn't look convinced, but he remained silent as Yoh searched for his name.
"Ah, here's your name! You reserved a room for one day. The room number is 101. It's down the left corridor. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner can be ordered at the window to the kitchen, and the hot springs are available at all times except from 1-3 A.M. Anything else you want to know?"
The young man listened intently to Yoh. When Yoh reached up to tie his hair back, a sudden realization dawned upon the neatly dressed young man.
"I remember now!"
Yoh blinked.
"Remember what?"
The young man looked at Yoh hesitantly.
"I met you at the station, and we both took the Subway to Shibuya together..."
Yoh slammed the book close. His words could only mean one thing.
"You met my brother?"
The young man shook his head.
"Your brother? What do you mea-"
He paused in his question, instead opting to stare at Yoh. A second realization dawned upon him.
"No wonder I didn't recognize you and you didn't remember me. Your hair is shorter too. Are you twins?"
Yoh nodded.
The young man's face broke into a smile. "What a coincidence to meet you here then when I met your brother at the station! Is he staying here too?" He looked towards the inner door, as if hoping to find Hoshi standing there.
Yoh shook his head. "No...he's not staying here. I wi-"
Yoh stopped himself before he said anymore.
The young man looked slightly disappointed at Yoh's answer.
"Ah, I was hoping I'd meet him again. Your brother caught a man who was harassing a young girl on the train. I really admire him for that."
Yoh didn't care that Anna might scold him for leaving the inn in someone else's hands. He was wasting time standing there. Precious time that he could have spent looking for Hoshi instead.
Maybe that was why he felt uncomfortable with "doing nothing."
It was such a coincidence that the young man had met Hoshi and it was such a coincidence that the very same young man was now staying at Funbari Onsens.
He wasn't going to let such a rare chance pass him by!
His heart soared when he heard that Hoshi had caught one of the perverts on the train. Hoshi truly was kinder than the old Hao. Yoh wasn't saying that he didn't like the old Hao or anything, but hearing about Hoshi's ventures only strengthened Yoh's desire to find him. He had to find him and bring him back to the family that needed him.
Yoh quickly asked Tamao to take care of things.
"W-where are you going, Yoh-sama?" stuttered Tamao nervously. She had come to the front of the inn at Yoh's request.
Yoh put on his shoes and stood up.
"To Shibuya."
With those words, he walked out of the inn and into the cold outdoors.
Anna had left behind a confused and bored Yoh. Yoh, in turn, left behind a confused and nervous Tamao. Of course, he didn't know that he left behind a wide-eyed Tamao, who has wondering how Yoh had found out about Shibuya. She hadn't told him anything about her predictions...
Tamao fidgeted. What was Anna-sama going to think?
Wearily, she trudged out of the last bank. None of the bank employees had seen Hoshi. She had asked and asked and asked, and no one had said yes to her question.
Where in Shibuya was he?
She glanced up at the now dark sky, seeing the faint, glimmering stars.
If only he were as easy to find as the stars in the sky!
All she had to do was look up and she could see stars. Granted, it was harder for her to pinpoint a specific star, but nonetheless, the stars were still there. She thought that all she had to do was look in the banks in Shibuya and she would see Hoshi, but she hadn't had any luck at all.
Where there any banks that she hadn't visited yet?
While still preoccupied in her thoughts, Anna suddenly found herself being shoved against the wall as a blur of orange and black ran past her.
"I'm late! I'm late!" yelled a young, female voice.
Anna grimaced as she pushed herself away from the wall. She glared in the direction the voice went, but was only granted with a glimpse of the retreating back of a girl with a head of orange hair tied in two ponytails. The girl soon disappeared into the crowd, leaving Anna with no one to vent her frustration.
She really, really needed to slap someone, or else.
At that thought, she stared down at her hands, which were lined with dirt from the wall. Nasty. She glanced around and then trudged wearily towards the public bathroom. She turned the faucet on and began washing her hands.
The sound of the water was unbearably loud to her ears in the silent bathroom.
Water.
Bank.
She was suddenly struck with a thought.
Bank...bank in Shibuya...
Water.
It didn't have to be a bank for money!
What if Tamao's prediction...
Anna watched the water from the faucet.
What if Tamao's prediction had referred to a riverbank instead?
Quickly drying her hands, Anna ran out of the bathroom towards where the narrow river should be. She ran until the crowd dispersed. She ran until the bright lights from the buildings faded from view. It was then that she finally found herself walking along the river that she had in mind.
Anna quickly ran forward along the side of the river, following the long riverbank, her heart starting to beat faster. She didn't know if her heart was beating faster because of her running or because of some strange anticipation that she didn't know about.
She almost tripped over a clump of grass, but she didn't let that stop her.
She ran and ran and ran, and finally slowed down.
It wasn't Tamao's predictions that were wrong.
It was her interpretation of them.
How stupid of her. She could have saved herself a lot of frustration and useless searching.
For lying there on the riverbank with his arms behind his head, under the sky of stars far away from the busy parts of the main Shibuya district, was Asakura Hoshi.
It was about time that she found him.
to be continued
A/N: bank...money bank, river bank...two ambiguous words in English. Er...anyway...anyone saw that coming?
By the way, I have begun emailing people when I update, so if you want me to email you, please make sure that I know your email! I think a few people's email bounced back at me, so if you have reviewed before but have never received an email from me, then please make sure that I know your correct email address. Of course, this is for people who do want me to email them. :D If you have never received an email before, please look in my bio regarding review responses.
College is a killer, but my goal is to finish this fic before February 21, because that's when I started the fic last year! I'm hoping to finish this fic in under a year, so I'll be updating quite often in the next few weeks.
next chapter: to trust
Please, please review! And thanks so much for the reviews for the previous chapter!