Thanks to that stupid glitch, it really threw things off. Things are working again, so I should take advantage of it while I still can. Here's the fourth chapter.
"It-su-ha!" Wabisuke banged on the bathroom door with each syllable that was spoken on that bright, sunny Saturday morning. "Be done with it already! Your hair looks fine. It's not like you have anyone to impress!"
Itsuha glared at the closed bathroom door before she sprayed another round of hairspray. Guys were so clueless on fashion.
"IT-SU-HAAAA!"
"For the last time, hold your pee! I'm almost done!"
"That's what you said ten minutes ago! I've had it. Where's that screwdriver?"
He wouldn't dare! Wabisuke threatened in the past that he would unlock the door if she took more than fifteen minutes in the bathroom. What a jerk! What if she was still on the toliet? There were a few things a guy should never interfere with, and interrupting a girl's sacred morning bathroom ritual was one of them!
The middle child hurried to spray her perfume and check her appearance one last time. She then ran to the door and yelled out as she unlocked it, "You're so annoying! How can you be the most annoying person in the morning and then so chill the rest of the day? What are you? Some Dr. Jekyll and Mr.––"
She paused after opening the door to find her brother standing there. His arms were crossed––his face scrunched in agitation––and he held the screwdriver in one of his hands.
"Jerk!" she yelled. "I can't believe you'd actually do it!"
"Guys!" Mitsuha reprimanded from the kitchen. "Calm it down."
"Nah," Wabisuke sighed at his sister after hearing their mother, pulled her away from the door, and entered the bathroom. He placed the screwdriver on the counter. "It worked though, didn't it?"
Itsuha jumped when the bathroom door slammed shut. "Next time get in there before me!"
"Don't have to. I'll keep the screwdriver. Gross! Why is all this hair…"
Itsuha smirked as she walked to the kitchen, leaving her brother to gripe about the loose hair she left behind after brushing it. Not her fault that he rushed her. She considered it her payback.
She looked at the clock. Nine-fifteen in the morning. Perfect timing.
"Bye, Mom!" Itsuha grabbed a piece of toast from the kitchen table and ran towards the front door. "Hanging with Hikari all day today!"
"Hold on there, sweetie," Mitsuha called out.
Itsuha paused from turning the doorknob and hung her head. She knew what was going to happen. She remembered this past event well. Hopefully she could change it this time around.
"Come on, Mom. This is Golden Week. You can't stick me with Sayaka the whole week. That's not fair."
"Not the whole week," her mother assured. "Just two days. Wabisuke has one day."
The middle Tachibana child marched into the kitchen upset. Her younger sister waved hello from her booster seat. There had to be a way to change this.
"That's so totally not fair, Mom! Why does he get only one day?"
Mitsuha sighed, placing the last serving dish for breakfast on the table and sat. "Your brother already told me of his plans a while back. He's going to Odaiba with Taiga and Noriyuki today. I'm just hearing of yours now," she said. "Honey, work with me please. I know most places are closed for Golden Week, but my job only gave me half the week off. Take Sayaka with you wherever you want to go. It's not like you have to stay home."
Sayaka smiled and waved at Itsuha again. "Yay! I love you, sissy! Where we go?"
Itsuha groaned and looked at the clock again. She had to get going or she was going to be late. It was the next day, Saturday, after yesterday's trip to the shrine and being sent to the past. She knew what was going to happen in a few days: Wabisuke would end up twisting his ankle by accident on the day that he was supposed to babysit, and she would be stuck babysitting Sayaka for three days instead of two. She had hoped if she rushed out before her mother caught her, she could tweak the past. The future was still hard at work to stay the same.
Looks like she'd have to prevent her brother from twisting his ankle on that third day. Shouldn't be too hard to do.
Besides, Hikari was going to help her this whole week in trying to get Tohma and she to talk. This didn't happen in the past, so she was eager to see it happen.
"There are my princesses," Taki announced.
He walked into the kitchen with messy bed hair, a white tank top and green shorts. Wabisuke followed behind––Itsuha noticed how he looked just like their dad––and sat at the table. Taki hugged Sayaka and gave her a loud kiss on her cheek. The youngest Tachibana child squealed in delight.
Itsuha looked at the clock, bouncing where she stood. She couldn't stay. She had to get going. "Why is everyone eating this late?"
"Sit, Itsuha. Let's eat as a family," said her mother.
"It's not late," Wabisuke frowned while reaching for his pickled vegetable salad. Mitsuha smacked his hand. He winced and finished his thought. "It's too early. I should still be in bed."
A sharp exhale escaped Itsuha's mouth and she shook her head. She took a bite of her toast and rushed to slip her shoes on near the front door.
"Sorry. I'll be home for dinner."
"Where you heading?" Taki asked from the table. "Come on. Let's spend the day as a family."
"Can't," she waved as she opened the door and left. "Today's the day I'll make Tohma notice me!"
Hikari and Itsuha sat on a bench as they watched people enter and leave a crépe shop across the street. This particular one was special to Itsuha. Tohma's family owned it. It opened three years ago, around the same time when Tohma first appeared as a new student in her classroom in fourth grade.
How Itsuha wished she could say it was love at first sight, but it wasn't. The best she could describe it was curiosity. She never saw anyone with light brown hair and light green eyes before, unless it was anime. When Tohma introduced himself to the class, he said he moved from America and that he was half-Japanese from his father. His mother was American.
Hearing that made him fascinating to watch. She couldn't figure out why for a while. He held a pencil the same way; he spoke just like them; and he ate the same foods. All the kids were drawn to him. His laughter was infectious and his personality clicked with everyone. That's when she decided to investigate what made him so special.
In fourth grade, Itsuha and Tohma would talk about mangas everyday at lunch and he showed some drawings he did of the popular heroes at that time. Itsuha would say, for his age, he could draw better than she ever could with her stick figures. He offered to teach her how to draw and that's when she noticed his gorgeous smile.
She was hooked.
There was no way she could be next to him after that. Any time she tried, her words were jumbled and she could do nothing but laugh nervously. To this day, she could still see how hurt he looked when she said that drawing was stupid. It was only so she could have an excuse to avoid Tohma after that at all cost.
She regretted that to this day.
Hikari attended her class that same year, but a few months after Itsuha shunned Tohma. She never told anyone her secret. She was too ashamed as she admired Tohma from afar year after year. Despite telling Hikari she thought Tohma believed her to be a snob, she knew that's exactly what it was. That's why Itsuha always chickened out whenever she tried to gather the courage to fix their friendship. That's why she never fought back whenever one of his friends cut in. She didn't deserve his friendship.
Tohma smiled at her when they cleaned the classroom a few days ago and it gave her hope that he had forgiven her. It was so nerve wracking, and the guilt was never so real before then. She could see the worry on his face too until he caught her watching him. That gorgeous smile appeared again, his brown bangs falling over his light green eyes, and she smiled back. The rest of the time was spent in silence, but at least the air felt lighter.
That was part of the reason why she sat with Hikari on the bench watching the crepe shop. The hope that laid in her heart like a flame threatening to extinguish as if the last bit of wick was just about to be burned away, grew brighter knowing that she didn't have to do this alone. Hikari waiting next to her until she was ready was the support she never knew she needed.
The other reason was she truly wanted to believe that Tohma would overlook the past. If a few days ago was sincere, at the bare minimum, Itsuha hoped he wouldn't turn her away without at least saying hello when she ordered a crépe for the first time––at least the first time in person. She always made Hikari order for her whenever she had a craving for crépes while she waited on this same bench. She wasn't worthy of entering the shop.
Scratch ordering a crépe. Baby steps were all she could handle today.
Itsuha stood to her feet in the blink of an eye. "I'm gonna do it!"
Hikari shouted with glee and stood while clapping her hands. "I'll come with you!"
"Yep! I'm gonna march right in there, ask where he is, and then tell him hi."
"I knew you could do it! What are you gonna order?"
Itsuha looked at her best friend like she had two heads. "Why would I order something if I came to say hi?"
Hikari paused in confusion. "Why would anyone walk into a shop and not order something?" she shot back.
Shoot. She had to order a crépe. Forget baby steps. Bad idea. This was turning out to be a bad idea!
Hikari pulled Itsuha's arm as she marched to the crépe shop. "Okay, I'm taking charge here. I see that you're talking yourself out of this and I'm starving. I skipped breakfast to have a crépe. So get your act together because we're going in."
"No, no, no!" Itsuha cried trying to pull herself away as they crossed the street. "Hikari, please!"
"We're going to do what that spirit said to do."
"It could have been a dumb dream, Hikari! Stuff like that does happen, you know!"
"And spirits communicate to make important things happen! You believed it was true yesterday and I'm not about to make any spirit angry. So," she opened the door and pushed Itsuha inside, "get your act together and buy something!"
"Welcome to Crépe Shirukashi!" called a middle aged woman in perfect Japanese. Her light brown, curly hair was tied back under a bandana, but still went to her shoulders. What stood out to Itsuha were her light green eyes. She suspected this woman to be Tohma's mother. "Would you like today's special?"
Itsuha grasped her chest, waiting for her heart to fall into her stomach. Her eyes wouldn't sit still as they quickly scanned the shop for Tohma. For a split second, she thought another worker was Tohma until he turned their way.
Crisis averted.
"What's today's special?" Hikari asked.
"I'm glad you asked!" The woman stepped away from the cash register and stood beside the nearby sign that gave several options. She motioned to the top option. "This one seems to be everyone's favorite so far. Banana strawberry chocolate with chocolate whipped cream. Or, for more of the savory taste buds, white truffle sage scrambled eggs topped with a spicy hollandaise - "
"We'll take two of everything on the board!" Itsuha squeaked with nerves.
Hikari turned to Itsuha shocked, then back to the woman trying to soothe the situation with a smile. "Uh, I'm sorry. She's nervous. Two of the banana strawberry chocolate with chocolate whipped cream, please."
"Coming right up," the woman bowed and told the kitchen the order.
"Girl!" Hikari turned to Itsuha in a stern tone.
"I know! I'm sorry."
"Get it together!"
"I'm trying!"
"Why? He's obviously not here. Relax."
"I'll relax outside," Itsuha said as she walked outside ignoring Hikari's calls to return.
What was she doing? She didn't deserve to be here. It looked like there was an entrance to the upstairs area where she could only assume his family lived. It was like she was entering Tohma's home without apologizing first.
Before her family moved to Hokkaido, Tohma made an effort to speak with her. In fact, it would start happening when she returned to school after this Golden Week passed. She crossed the street to the bench while lost in thought. Why mess with the past too much?
The mistake she made last time when this miracle happened was running away any time he did so. She couldn't believe he would want to reach out to her. As soon as she decided to take a step forward and accept his friendly gestures, her father dropped the news that they were moving. She could only reason as to why Tohma tried to reach out again. It was because they had that moment cleaning the classroom.
She should just sit on the bench and wait for Hikari. Forget about Hikari's plan on trying to get Tohma's attention this week and wait until they go back to school. Wait until Tohma tried to speak to her and then, this time, actually work the nerve to say 'hi' back. Yeah, that was easy. Don't mess with the past too much. That's what all the movies said to do.
Itsuha felt her hair barrette pop off her hair. Her long black hair flowed down as she turned on instinct and watched it tumble into the middle of the street.
As she headed mindlessly to get it, she heard a car horn blast to her left and she froze on sight. Her legs wouldn't move. Before her mind registered what was about to happen, someone yanked her away as the car slammed on its brakes. They pulled her onto the safety of the sidewalk next to the bench.
"Itsuha! Are you alright?"
Light green eyes. Light brown hair hanging over his eyes. Those gorgeous lips. That sleeveless workout shirt.
Her face turned bright red in embarrassment.
"Tohma?"
"Are you nuts? Didn't you hear the car?" His tone was of desperate concern as he took his bluetooth earbuds out from his ears and placed them in one of his workout shorts' pockets.
The car? Itsuha's arms shook as everything started to hit her at once. Her breathing became shaky. She was almost hit! She sat on the bench stunned, staring at the ground as the person in the car that slammed on their breaks yelled obscenities to her before driving away.
"Why don't you pay better attention?" Tohma shouted after the car before grumbling, "Jerk."
Tohma sat next to Itsuha, his concern growing. "My family lives above that crépe shop. Did you want to come up for a bit? I can give you some tea to calm your nerves. That is," he rubbed the back of his neck, "if you want to. I'll understand if you don't want to hang out or anything."
Hang out? She turned to him, that flame growing brighter with his words. By coming to the crépe shop, she changed history already. Her breathing slowed as she watched his uneasy body language. She didn't want to forget Tohma. She wanted to keep him close for the short amount of time they had left.
Itsuha lowered her eyes and a shy smile grew. "I've always wanted to hang out with you."
Tohma's eyes widened in shock as he turned to her. His mouth hung slightly open until he shook his head in perplexion.
"Always? For how long?"
She tucked some hair behind both of her ears as the guilt rose. She couldn't look him in the eyes. "Ever since I called your drawing stupid. I lied. I've always liked seeing you draw. Inuman was my favorite."
He laughed. "Wow! You remember Inuman? I think that was what you asked me to teach you how to…"
He trailed off.
Of course he'd trailed off. Inuman was Tohma's own creation. Inuman was a half–human, half–dog demon that lived in the present day. His sword was huge, yet was able to shrink to the size of an eraser and be kept hidden on a necklace until it was time to be used. Any time an evil creature would attack, Inuman would save the day with ease.
Itsuha was obsessed with Inuman. It reminded her of Inuyasha––in fact, Tohma said before that Inuman was based on Inuyasha. She wanted to learn how to draw and write her own mangas like Tohma. She wanted to show off her new talent to her friends and family. She wanted to even co-create a manga with Tohma. She never found a way to tell him this because that was when she pushed him away.
"I'm sorry," Itsuha barely whispered in shame. "I always wanted to say that, but I didn't know how."
She couldn't see his expression, but the last thing she expected was for Tohma to invite her upstairs.
"Come with me."
She felt him rest a warm, inviting hand on her back. When she looked up to meet his gaze, that same warm feeling she felt on her back was expressed on his face. She waited to hear where they would go.
"Let's have some tea upstairs. I have something I want to show you."
As she accepted his invitation, she stood to her feet only to find Hikari standing nearby eating her crépe and holding Itsuha's. She was listening to their conversation like she was engrossed in a wonderfully made romance movie.
"Don't mind me!" Hikari announced after seeing Itsuha and Tohma pause.
Itsuha could smack Hikari for not making herself scarce at a time like this.
Hikari held out Itsuha's crépe with a wink. "Just here to give you this."
A sheepish smile appeared on Itsuha's face. She took the crepe and looked at Hikari with a look that told her to leave.
Hikari gave them a peace sign and walked away. "Have fun, you two!"
Tohma chuckled as he led the way to his home. "She bought our crépes?"
"Yeah," Itsuha took a bite, grateful to have something to fill her stomach. "She's always looking out for me."
"Everyone needs a best friend like that." He held the shop door open for her.
She entered and smiled at Tohma. "Yeah. I'm lucky."
Lucky was an understatement. If it wasn't for Hikari, there was no way this encounter would happen today.
Thank you, Kami.
A hot cup of matcha tea, known to calm anxiety, sat on the kitchen table for Itsuha as Tohma sat next to her with a standard size sketch pad. He flipped a few pages and waited until Itsuha took a few sips of her tea.
"Ready?"
"Yep. What is it?"
He lowered the pad before quickly hiding the content against his chest. "Promise me you won't laugh."
She grinned. "Promise. Show me."
Nostalgia filled the air as the drawing was revealed. It was Inuman, but not the fourth grade version. An updated version of the character. The details were more refined and even looked like Tohma. She was mesmerized flipping the pages, taking in the different poses and outfits. Eventually she came across the first page of what looked like an attempt to the first page of a manga about Inuman.
"No way," Itsuha exclaimed, reading the panels and taking in his artwork. "There's only two pages. Are you trying to write this for Shonen Jump magazine?"
He scratched his head with an embarrassed grin. "I was thinking about it. Maybe when I get to high school. That way I can take my time trying to develop the story. School and the crépe shop keep me busy enough as it is."
Itsuha nodded in agreement and went back to scanning the pages again. She flipped to the beginning, realizing she hadn't seen those yet.
"Wait!" Tohma grabbed the sketchbook away.
It was too late. Itsuha already saw it. That flame threatened to grow taller.
"Is this the love interest for Inuman?"
Tohma cringed seeing he was caught. He answered, but in a way that he was unsure on what she'd say. "Yeah?"
"Is that…"
Itsuha snatched the sketch pad away to get a better look. It was just as she thought––the love interest looked exactly like her. Hold on. If this was her, and Inuman looked like Tohma…
She looked up at him, having a hard time understanding what was happening. Did he like her? This whole time, Tohma liked her too? Was this the reason why he drew her? It was a misunderstanding that he thought was one-sided as he pined from the sidelines? That flame was so tall by now that it was a fire hazard.
"Yeah, it's you," he looked away abashed, most likely from being caught.
"Why?"
Itsuha didn't want to get her hopes high, but why else would Tohma draw her?
Tohma looked over his female character and smiled fondly at it. "I missed how we were before everything changed. I couldn't draw Inuman for a long time after what happened. It was similar to writer's block. Then when you finally acknowledged me a few days ago while we cleaned the classroom, I guess I figured you weren't mad at me for whatever it was I did and we could start over again. The ideas came after that."
She nodded her head catching on. "And just about every shonen manga needs some kind of love interest."
"Yeah." Tohma pressed his lips together with a worried look. "Are you okay with me using your face?"
That flame shrunk to a flicker. He wasn't pining for her like she was for him. In reality, that would be too much to ask after how she treated him all this time.
"It's fine. I think it's cool," she responded, sipping her tea again.
It was a shot in the dark, but even though apologizing got her this far, there was this nagging thought that he was still hurt. Itsuha was the type of person that needed to hear things black and white or those nagging thoughts would keep haunting her.
"Tohma? Can I ask you a silly question? I'd totally get it if you don't want to."
"What's up?"
"Can you teach me how to draw like you?"
Tohma stilled, then looked away with an uneasy expression. It was like he wasn't sure how to take what was asked.
She grimaced while cupping her hands around her mug. Just what she thought. "Earlier you mentioned that you thought you said something to make me push you away, but I need you to know that you didn't do anything wrong. I wish I could take it back. I've always loved your drawings and wished we could spend time together. I hope you could find a way to forgive me one day."
It was like all awkwardness and doubt left Tohma and life danced in his eyes. "When do you want to start?"
"Really?" Itsuha leaned forward excited.
"Sure!" he laughed. "How about Monday?"
"Yes! Oh, wait," she slumped in her chair. She forgot she had to babysit her sister. "I have to babysit my sister on Monday and Tuesday." She thought back to Wabisuke's future injury to his ankle. "Most likely Wednesday too. My mom was only given half the week off."
"Then how about I come to you?"
To her? With Sayaka involved, that was the best way.
"Good idea."
Tohma took his cell phone out and motioned for her to do the same. "Great! I'll text you in the morning then."
Itsuha was leaping for joy as they exchanged numbers. It was happening! She was finally going to spend time with her crush instead of running away. Taking the last sips of her matcha tea, she turned the pages until she reached the second page of the ongoing manga. This storyline had potential. The drawings were eye-catching. Hopefully, she could act as a sounding board for him. Hopefully, their friendship could grow. Hopefully, she could help him see her the way she saw him before she moved.
Hopefully, she wouldn't be left crushed as she left for Sapporo, because she will always stand by how crushes left you at the end.
Well let's hope that does not happen. Hope you guys all enjoyed that. If you remember, Taiga is Tsukasa and Ms. Okudera's son. Noriyuki is a new character I came up with for this––he's the son of Tessie and Saya.
Again, all the credit goes to Music Chick for writing this. She's awesome.
However long this temporary reprieve from the glitch lasts, I may get chapter 5 up soon.