It was a normal cloudy day. Overcast days always filled Shujinkou with a sense of tranquility.
However, that was not the only thing that evoked such a feeling. Just the fact that it was a normal day was somehow comforting to Shujinkou.
And yet, at the same time, it made him feel like he was forgetting something. It didn't upset him; in fact, the fact he felt like that in the first place-
"Something on your mind?"
Those words spurred Shujinkou to shift his attention from the sky above to his left. Lying right next to him was Kiyoko.
"You got the look on your face," she continued.
"Well…"
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. Normally, he would feel very hesitant to voice such strange feelings, however-
"I don't know. It's just ever since yesterday, I've been feeling like I'm forgetting something important, but I don't really know why."
"Ah. Well, everyone has those moments," Kiyoko sympathized.
"Yeah, but the thing is… It's not really bothering me. I mean it sorta bothers me that I don't know what it is, but just the fact that I feel like I'm forgetting something actually makes me happy."
"Huh… Sounds like to me that nagging feeling is your own way of remembering something that you can't."
"You think?"
Kiyoko sat up, yawning as she stretched her arms. "That or you're just having that kind of feeling that comes and goes. Only time will tell."
"I guess… If it's not really upsetting me, then I guess I shouldn't be concerned about it."
"There's a better way of looking at it," Kiyoko chuckled.
Suddenly, a bird perched itself on top of her baker boy cap. Without saying a word, she raised her left index finger towards the sudden visitor, allowing it to perch on top it. She then slowly brought it towards her face and gently petted its head with her remaining index finger.
Just like the first time he saw it, Shujinkou could only watch in awe. "You're really good with animals."
"I told you it's not that I'm good with animals or anything."
"Then maybe it's just that birds can probably sense how tranquil you are."
"'Tranquil'?"
Curiosity floated on Kiyoko's face, wordlessly asking for an explanation.
Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. "Well, I mean, you do kinda have a calming effect. It's like your casualness if contagious… or spreading… or atmospheric… I don't know what the right word for it is right now.
"Huh. Guess I just never thought of using the word tranquil to describe myself. Not like I'm consciously trying to be tranquil."
Shujinkou could understand that. He knew what it was like to do something and not realize the kind of effect it would have on how others viewed him.
Soon after that thought, Shujinkou noticed the bird slowly inch closer to him. He could tell just by looking in Kiyoko's eyes what she was proposing.
However, He wasn't sure if he should even try. All he could think about was the last time he tried and how he hasn't really tried anything to make the bird.
"Don't think about it," Kiyoko reminded him.
"Right."
Shujinkou slowly extended his left index finger towards the creature. To his surprise and utter delight, the avian creature jumped on it.
I did it!
Kiyoko curiously observed Shujinkou happily scratch his right cheek.
"Something happen to you, Shujinkou?" she asked.
"Hm? Um… The only notable thing that happened to me was really something that happened to Monika. Why?"
Kiyoko casually shrugged. "I don't know. You seem pretty different."
"I do?"
"Yeah. You seem less hesitant and, honestly, you don't seem as upset as you usually seem."
Hearing that filled Shujinkou with both surprise and amazement; He had been trying his hardest not reveal the negative feelings he held for years after summer ended. But despite his efforts, Kiyoko could still see he was struggling with something.
Shujinkou solemnly scratched his cheek. "Yeah… I kinda know what you mean. That's also something that's been going on since yesterday."
"Really?"
"To be completely honest, I've kinda hated myself for something that happened a long time ago, but suddenly I'm not. I just woke up and one of the things that upset me the most no longer bothered me.
It's like I accepted it and moved on, but I don't really remember doing that or anything that would at least subconsciously make me do that. It was just something else that happened when I just woke up yesterday."
"Hm. Well, at least it's not bothering you anymore. Whatever caused the change in you must have been good, right?
Shujinkou thought about what he was told. He didn't know what caused the change but, like his feelings of forgetting something, the strangeness of the situation made him happy.
I think I'll figure it out one day.
Shujinkou then extended his left hand forward and watched the bird take off.
"Oh wait; did you want me to pass it back?" Shujinkou asked.
"Nah. Wouldn't really mean much if he/she didn't want to," Kiyoko replied in a nonchalant manner. "Plus, I think it's time we do what you wanted to do while out before it starts getting late."
It was only at that moment that Shujinkou recalled ever wanting to do something else. "Right."
…
Shujinkou's eyes sifted through rows of colorful and distinct CD covers.
"There they are."
Shujinkou reached for two specific CDs, one depicting the familiar image of Hatsune Miku and another with the name "Yoki" on it.
"Miku and Yoki, huh?" Kiyoko noted aloud.
"Yeah. Giving Yoki more of a try," Shujinkou replied. "Hey, Kiyoko, you ever thought about getting in the music business?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. I bet you could be a really popular guitar player."
"Mmmm… You know, being a popular musician seems like it would be a lot of tedious work. Probably wouldn't have much free time either."
"That's true... I guess it wouldn't be as fun as Miku makes it seem. Maybe being anonymous makes life easier for Yoki."
"Huh."
"What about the internet?"
"You mean try and become an internet personality?"
"Yeah."
"Hm… I don't think so. What about you?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. You going to do anything with your drawing skills?"
Shujinkou contemplatively scratched his right cheek. It was only recently that Monika suggested he do something with his artwork.
"I am thinking up something for Halloween for school. Other than that, I wouldn't really know what else to do."
"I get that; you do one thing and you never know when the next opportunity will show up. But as long as you keep your eyes open and remember that they'll show up anytime, you'll be fine," Kiyoko encouraged.
Shujinkou purchased the CDs and walked towards the exit. The moment he stepped outside, a strong force violently knocked him off his feet.
"Ow…"
It was like he was hit by a speeding train .Working through the pain, Shujinkou slowly opened find a girl with freckles in a similar position.
"Omigosh, I'm so sorry."
Her long red hair snapped back and forth like a whip as she scrambled to gather everything she dropped in the collision.
"Sorry to hit and run, but I'm seriously late for something," she apologized as she jumped to her feet. "Really sorry, again."
With those parting words, she took off like her life depended on it., leaving Shujinkou to wonder what exactly just happened.
"You okay, Shujinkou?"
Kiyoko's hand floated in front of him. He accepted the hand and was helped back on his feet.
"Yeah. I just wonder where she had to be in such a hurry… Hm?"
His eyes were suddenly drawn to the ground. Resting next to his feet was a book.
Does this belong to that girl?"
Shujinkou reached down and brought the book towards his face.
"A sketchbook?"
He then turned it over to the other side and read aloud, "Property of Nakité."
That wasn't the only thing that was there. There was an address under right under it in case she ever lost it.
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. At the speed Nakité was moving and the overall fact he had no idea where she was going, trying to catch up to her would be nearly impossible.
Still this has to be pretty important to her if she bothered to fill out the return info…
Guilt slowly crept into Shujinkou's heart as shifted his attention. "Kiyoko, I'm sorry, but I got to go and return this."
"I get," she assured him with a smile. "Let's go."
"You want to come along?"
"Why not?" she shrugged.
"Okay. I guess it won't be that long of a detour anyway."
…
Shujinkou looked on in awe as he beheld the mansion that lied beyond the gates the two were standing in front of.
"Nice place," Kiyoko complimented.
Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. I was not expecting this…
"You ready?"
"Y-Yeah."
Right next to the gate was an intercom. Shujinkou pressed the button alerting whoever was on the other side of his presence and waited.
"May I help you?"
"Um…" Shujinkou raised the sketchbook he found into the camera's line of sight. "We found this sketchbook and are here to return it."
"Stay right there, please."
The two waited in that very spot until the gates slowly opened. Soon a cart drove by and its driver flashed the two a smile.
"Allow me to escort you to the entrance," she said.
Shujinkou and Kiyoko stepped into the cart and sat down.
"Are these… sparking water bottles?" Shujinkou gasped.
"Refreshments just in case," the driver responded.
Sparkling…
However, that was not the only sight he would marvel out. Throughout the short ride through the relatively large front yard, Shujinkou would marvel at sights like intricately designed bushes and a large water fountain.
Once they reached the front of the manor, the driver cut the engine and escorted them inside. Shujinkou's amazement continued to grow as he took in the sheer scale of the interior of the building.
Everything was neat and tidy, something he was sure was due to the combined efforts of the numerous individuals running about.
"This reminds me of when I was living with Granny Hisa," Shujinkou thought aloud.
"How so?" Kiyoko asked.
"You know, basically sharing a house with a bunch of people."
"This way please," the driver requested.
Shujinkou and Kiyoko were escorted up a nearby set of stairs. He half expected a cartoonishly long trip, but they only needed to travel up two flights of stairs and walk through one of the nearby doors.
In a relatively spacious room filled with an assortment of different fabrics, Shujinkou and Kiyoko found a girl calmly reading a book on a nearby couch.
"Huh."
Shujinkou's eyes were drawn to icy blue stripes of hair that contrasted darker variant of the rest.
It wasn't mind-blowing to him; he just found it oddly intriguing to compare the bespectacled girls multi colored to Kiyoko's.
He then began to wonder exactly when his classmate dyed part of her golden hair purple. He was sure it was sometime after they first met.
He the shrugged the thought off just as their escort announced, "Lady Nakité. You're sketchbook has been located."
"Really!?"
Suddenly, a familiar face jumped from behind the couch. It was the girl that Shujinkou had a literal run-in with.
"Oh, you're that guy I ran into earlier," Nakité recalled. "Super sorry again."
"It's fine," Shujinkou assured her. "I just came by to return this."
Nakité's eyes sparkled as she beheld her coveted sketchbook.
Shujinkou expected her to accept what she had lost back; however he was instead embraced by Nakité.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
Shujinkou imagined awkwardly scratching his right cheek. He thought Nakité would be happy to receive her sketchbook back, but he didn't think that he would receive a hug for his good deed.
He also tried to process how sudden it was. She closed the gap between them at the speed he'd expect from an athlete.
"Wait…" a look of horror firmly planted itself on Nakité's face. "You didn't look inside, did you?"
"No."
Nakité sighed in relief as she released her grip on Shujinkou. "That's good. Thanks again."
"It's no big deal," he assured her. "Um… Can I ask you a question?"
"Go for it."
"What is this room? Is it a storage room for fabrics?"
"Um… Sorta-kinda."
"Huh?"
"Mmm…" a look of uncertainty floated on Nakité's face. "Well… I guess I can give you the full story since you went out of your way to return my sketchbook."
Nakité nervously opened said item. Watching her flip through the pages, Shujinkou and Kiyoko noticed a myriad of notes and numbers surrounding stick figures in a variety of different shapes.
"Is this a math notebook?" Shujinkou asked.
"No… this is my designer sketchbook…" Nakité winced.
"Wait, those are…?"
"Yeah…"
"Sorry! I didn't mean…!"
"No, it's okay. I know I suck."
Even with her assurance, Shujinkou still felt like he made an incredibly insensitive comment. It seemed as though, the awkward atmosphere created by his mistake would have remained if Kiyoko didn't speak up.
"So, you're a fashion designer?" she asked.
"Aspiring," Nakité happily corrected.
"And you're already making outfits?"
"Yeah."
"That's pretty cool," Kiyoko complimented.
"Thanks. I just wish I didn't have to waste so much material every time I work on something…" Nakité sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"I got a lot of ideas in my head, but since can't draw and work out some of the kinks on paper; I have to do that while working on it. I kind of learn too late what works and not a lot of the time when it's too late to do something about it."
"That's gotta suck…"
Shujinkou sympathized with that statement. He could remember all the times when he made an error in his drawings and could do nothing about it.
It was times like those he had someone who could help him before it was too late and not just learn from experience every time.
Soon after that thought, Kiyoko approached him and quietly asked, "You think you'd be willing to tutor someone, Shujinkou?"
"I've never really done it before… Unless I count my mother."
"But you're a pretty good artist and this could be an opportunity to put yourself out there while helping out a fellow artist."
"You think?"
"Mm-hmm."
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. He never imagined himself teaching others, but if he could really do two good things at once-
"But I don't really know how to offer my help," he admitted.
Kiyoko smiled a smile that calmed his nerves. Speaking a little louder, she said, "You're a pretty good artist, Shujinkou. Think you can tutor her?"
Nakité's eyes lit up interest. "You tutor people?"
"I only mentored my mother and it was in sewing…" Shujinkou added.
Kiyoko chuckled at his response. He says that like it doesn't make him sound more qualified to help.
"So you can sew and draw? You have to-!
"Shouldn't you look at a portfolio of his work before suddenly asking that; if he wants to in the first place," the other girl interjected.
"You have a point there, Somiye…" Nakité admitted.
Shujinkou then noticed a change in Nakité's demeanor as she shifted her gaze back to him.
"Would you please show me examples of your work?"
Shujinkou was taken aback by her more refined and professional manner of speaking. It wasn't an intimidating change like Fuyu's Presidential Mode; it seemed more akin to how one would speak at a high-class event.
As per her request, Shujinkou pulled his phone out and showed off a few photos of past drawings.
"Omigosh, these are so good!" Nakité gushed. "Please tutor me!"
"Um... Sure. I'll help you as best as I can."
"Great! Oh, wait… What would you like to get out of this?"
"Like a price?"
"Yeah. I can't ask you to take time out of your day to help me without you getting something out of it."
Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. "I don't really know if I can take anything for just that..."
A conflicted look rested on Nakité's face. "Wait…"
Her face quickly lit back up and she asked, "Hey, do want to be my partner?"
"'Partner'?"
"Partner/Tutor. You can teach me to draw and help me make the outfits if you want; paid of course."
"Um…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he pondered that offer. "Sure."
"Great! I can't wait to start working with you, um…"
"Shujinkou."
"Shujinkou… That's an interesting name," she complimented.
"You think?"
"So, when do you think you can start?"
"Um… I don't know, maybe we can work something out tomorrow?"
"That's right, it is starting to get late…"
Nakité quickly shifted her gaze to Somiye and asked, "Are you staying over tonight?"
Somiye nodded her head and Nakité returned her gaze to Shujinkou. "Would you guys like a ride home?"
"Um…"
Shujinkou glanced at Kiyoko who simply shrugged.
"Sure?"
…
"I seriously can't believe I'm getting a ride home in a limo…" Shujinkou marveled.
"Definitely not the way either of imagined the day ending," Kiyoko shrugged. "But at hey, at least you got a job."
"Yeah. Thanks for keeping an eye out for me."
"No problem. You'd do the same."
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. Perhaps now they were-
No, No… I shouldn't think that. Or at the very least, I can consider her a friend, right?
He continued to scratch his right cheek as he once again took in his surroundings.
"You don't think we're taking advantage of Nakité in accepting a ride in one of her family's limos do you?" Shujinkou asked.
"Not really. Plus I kinda get the feeling she would have insisted," Kiyoko assured him. "Kind of a reverse of the usual social stigma."
"I guess…"
Perhaps it was because of that burning question distracting him or maybe it was the simple fact they were riding in such a luxurious vehicle, but the ride seemed very short to Shujinkou.
Once the vehicle stopped in front of his home, he stepped outside and waved goodbye to his classmate.
"See ya, Kiyoko."
Kiyoko tipped her hat and smiled. "See ya."
Shujinkou then watched the limousine drive away until it was finally out of his sight.
"Still can't believe I got to ride in limo…"
He turned to walk to the front door where he immediately ran into a surprise sitting on his front porch.
"Natsuki?"
Natsuki looked up at him with sorrowful eyes.
"Are you okay?" he instinctively asked.
"Yeah… I just… I just needed to go somewhere where no one would ask a bunch of questions?"
Shujinkou noticed her struggling to maintain eye contact with him, increasing the worry he felt for her.
"Can…" Natsuki's cheeks grew bright pink and she bit her lip. "Can I stay over for the night?"