Disclaimer: The absolute undeniable fact that cannot be doubted is this: I do not own Slam Dunk. Pero pwede pa rin akong tumingin diba?
Kalyope Medina Burato: I know, Hagino just kinda disappeared, and of course I couldn't end it without her concert, because well it'll be weird… lol… meeting with Jin… hmm.. LOL.. thanks for reviewing! The answer is in this chapter…
Simmic: whaha.. thanks… yeah, it's like the big decision thingy.. Lol.. hope you like this chapter too…
The Writing On The Wall
The finger he laid on my lips kept me silent. I could not say anything, could not move from my spot. "I'll be waiting." The words kept repeating on my head. Then there was the blinding light.
I opened my eyes to realize it had all been a dream. I saw the sun striking directly at my face and closed my eyes, still not used to the intense light. My hand felt through the table for the alarm clock, until it fell down the floor and I began to scan the carpeted surface with my fingers. Once I had held it in my hands, I brought it close to my face, and slowly opened my eyes.
10:35 a.m. it read. I forced myself to get out of bed, walked over to the window and covered it with the pale coloured drapes, which blocked out some of the sunlight.
I returned to lie back down on my bed. I stared into the ceiling as I could hear the clock with its unchanging tick tock, tick tock. I tried to close my eyes, and go back to sleep, but after tossing and turning for more than enough of what I could put up with, I slowly got out of bed and walked downstairs to find something that would satisfy and muffle the sounds my stomach was making.
Everywhere I looked, it seemed that the first thing I would ever notice was the clock, and then my eyes would unconsciously search for it's hands, pointing to the numbers, and when it would all connect together, it had already been 12:40 p.m.
I sat down on the couch and switched the T.V. on. "Another new artefact from the Kamakura period was added into the list of artworks and historical artefacts that can be found in the Kanazawa Bunko Museum, located right beside the Shomyoji Temple." At that moment I turned off the T.V.
Shomyoji Temple once again came to my mind. It was as if everything that I saw reminded me of the impending decision that I had to make. I rested the back of my head at the couch, my arm covering my face for a few moments, before I decided to go back to my own room.
I sat there at the foot of my bed, staring at nothing. I thought about what would I do. What should I do? What do I want to do? Everything was floating in the air for a moment.
I asked myself a few questions. Why am I scared? Why am I hesitating? What is there to be afraid of? I couldn't answer them, for I myself did not want to submerge myself to face them.
Maybe… I don't know. I tried again. Maybe I was afraid, because, I was not yet ready. I was off to a great start. Maybe I was afraid that I'd, be hurt again. Maybe, I was just afraid to take risks. Maybe it was all of the above.
But the most important of all questions, what am I going to do now? I saw the sunlight behind me dimmed a little, and as I turned to look, the clouds were beginning to turn grey.
I glanced again at the clock. 1:15 p.m. The Shomyoji Temple wasn't exactly near our apartment either. I figured that if I was planning to arrive on time I better start preparing, right about now.
I didn't move from where I sat. What was still keeping me in here? Cowardice. I saw a flash of lightning, and after that, the thunder roared in my ears. I held myself together. After a few minutes, the first rain began to fall. And then, it was all the sound that I could hear.
I opened my eyes for the first time realizing that I had slept. The rain still poured in the background. I looked at the clock. 2:45 p.m. it looked as if I had only taken a little nap.
I finally stood up and stretched my legs; staying in one position for hours produced some really bad cramps. I looked outside and back to the clock, and whispered to myself. I didn't want to regret that I didn't go on this day. As soon as I said that, I ran to pick the time from where I had lost it.
I was already running to the train station, almost missing it if not for a kind lady that held the door open for me. I climbed inside, closing my umbrella, and kept on looking at my wristwatch. 3:30 p.m.
I tried dialling his number on my cell phone. It rang once, before the sound died. I looked at my phone. The batteries were dead. I placed it back inside my bag. I knew that I would not be able to make it. I just hoped that he would wait. That he was willing to wait.
As soon as the train stopped, I hastened my steps and found out that I still had to take a bus to get there. As soon as I arrived at it's gates, I hurried to the front of the temple. But he wasn't there. I looked at the time 4:10 p.m.
The place did not attract so many people because of the rain. I tried to search for him, but my attempt at had turned futile. I could not find him. I did not find him.
I decided that it was best that I head home. I was walking back to the apartment, half drenched from all the physical running involved, with the wind blowing on my face, bringing the cold tears in contact with my skin.
I finally reached the apartment, and upon opening the door, my aunt came to me. "Karin? Where did you go? You're all wet." She went to get a towel as I stood by the doorway. She started to dry off my hair when she said something to me.
"What did you say?" I asked. "I said Jin, I think that was his name, visited and asked for you. I told him that you had gone, and –" I didn't let her finish her explanation. "How long ago was that?" I held onto both of her shoulders, looking at her directly. "Not that long –" She was unable to finish her words as I dashed out of the house, forgetting to bring my umbrella, running towards the station.
I passed by the park, and then saw someone with a basketball not being able to get any of the shots in. He was clearly frustrated and taking it, he sat under a tree, the basketball held tightly in his arms.
I slowed down as I neared him, and finally stopped in front of him. His head looked up. Behind the hair that was plastered to his face, I could still see a small glimmer of hope in his eyes.
"Karin." He stood up, and now it was I that found myself leaning a little bit higher to look at him face to face. "You came." I could barely hear his voice as the rain continued to pour.
"I'm sorry I'm late." I couldn't think properly at the moment. He slowly took a step towards me. "I've been wanting to tell you this," He said, and his voice was getting farther and farther away from me. "I've waited, because I could see that you weren't ready. But the longer I waited, it seemed as if you weren't getting anywhere. As if all you wanted to do was stay in the present, and not move anywhere. And I figured that we were both coming to a point in our lives that would really cause some big changes. We're both going to colleges, and start to build our future. And I wondered about us, where were we supposed to go?"
He paused as he saw me taking a step away from him. "Please don't ask me that question." I struggled against the cold. "Why?" He took two more steps towards me. "What are you so afraid of?" I could no longer step back. He held out his hand towards me. "Why is it that I should not love you?"
He reached out for my hand and pulled me into an embrace. "Tell me, what are you afraid of?" I started to cry. "I was afraid because I liked you, and that the only person who can hurt me are the people that I let into my heart!"
He held my face with both hands, and looked straight into me. "I once told you, that only you know yourself better than anybody else, and that you should listen to what it tells you. Now Listen. What does it tell you?" The rain began to subside.
We stood there for a few moments, listening to each other's heartbeats. Finally opening my eyes, I smiled. "It wants to open up to you." I looked up at him. "I wanted to." I shortly added. He smiled back at me, and kissed my forehead, moving down to my eyes, my cheeks, and lastly, to my lips.
"Thank you." He whispered to my ears. The rain had finally stopped falling. I broke away from him as the sunlight produced a crack in the cloudy skies, and watched as a rainbow was forming. He placed his arms around me from behind, and smiled upwards.
"Can I-" I placed my hand to hold his arms wrapped around me. "Can I call you Souichiro?" He laughed softly. "What do you think?" He said as he angled his head to look at me. "Um-" I blushed slightly. "Of course you can." He answered for me.
"Sou – Souichiro." I said. "Souichiro. Souichiro. Souichiro." I repeated over and over again. "Hmm?" He asked. "Nothing." I smiled back at him.
We were silent once again, just taking in everything,when I sneezed. "Excuse me." I blushed, feeling embarrassed. He started to laugh. "That just ruined the moment." He joked. I pinched him on the nose.
"Let's go back to my house so we could dry ourselves off." I suggested. He nodded and took my hand in his and his basketball resting in his other arm. "And later, we'll practice your shooting skills, I saw you, you were horrible!" I complained. It was his turn to blush. He began to dribble the ball with his left hand. "That was just because of the rain." I smiled yet again, looking back at the rainbow. I looked back at his face. He noticed this and looked at me, returning the smile. He stopped the rain from falling in me.
LOL.. okay.. the end! Um.. yeah.. hope it was good… um… yeah.. that's all I can say right now.. lol… it's a happy ending! At last! LOL.. hope it wasn't too mushy… … lol… thanks for reading The Writing On The Wall…