Chapter 4: The Third Wish
"Baka Kanata!" grumbled Miyu to herself as she walked to school on Friday morning.
Kanata had appeared strangely withdrawn when she had seen him tucking into an early breakfast. (Wanya had been making a fuss about the rice, but Miyu tuned him out.) He had told her that she could go ahead of him to school since he would be staying at home until the last possible minute. He had been rather abrupt with Wanya and Ruu-kun as well.
"What is wrong, Kanata?" she had asked but instead of replying, he had merely looked aloof and told her to 'run along'! Honestly! Granted, his fan club and Christine were being a bit more rabid than was usual, but that was no reason to get grumpy with your housemates and even ignore poor Ruu-kun.
'Something else is going on' thought Miyu 'It must have something to do with Seiya-kun's letter.'
Miyu was lost in thought as she walked towards school and completely oblivious to her surroundings. Turning into the school compound, she didn't hear Nanami greet her from behind and walked inside the building. She was so absent-minded that on turning a corner, she smacked into someone who had been standing there.
"Ow!" yelped Miyu as her bottom hit the floor. The sudden jarring of her senses made her aware of her surrounding once again. Grumbling, Miyu looked around for her bag only to have someone extend it towards her while offering a hand to assist her off the floor. She put her hand in his and looked up into twinkling smoky blue eyes.
"Uh…gomen" muttered a very flustered Miyu "I wasn't looking where I was going."
She got up off the floor, but the handsome stranger still held her hand and Miyu felt her face heat up in a blush. The boy was quite tall and with his golden locks, could give even Kanata a run for his money in the looks department. Miyu was sure she had never seen him at school before. If the girls in her class even knew a guy like him existed, they would be forming a fan club for him to rival Kanata's.
"Please do not distress yourself, my dear" said the stranger "I was the fortunate one to bump into such a beautiful lady on my first day itself."
"N-nani?" stammered Miyu
"Please accept this rose as a token of my regard" said he, holding out a beautiful red rose towards Miyu "Its beauty pales in comparison to yours"
"Uh…um" Miyu blushed fiercely and did not know what to do. She had never been in a situation like this before. She did not want to hurt this nice boy's feelings, but goodness! They had just met! He was still holding out the flower to her and they were attracting strange looks from the students coming in from outside. Finally, Miyu accepted the flower purely to avoid causing a scene.
"I will find you…" so saying, the strange boy turned and walked away towards the administration offices. Miyu was left holding a red flower and a flabbergasted expression on her face.
That was how Nanami found her a few minutes later.
"Miyu-chan! There you are" exclaimed Nanami "Why didn't you stop when I called?"
"Eh! Nanami-chan!" said a very surprised Miyu "Ohayo!"
"Ohayo!" said Nanami with a laugh. "What's that?" she had spotted the flower in Miyu's hand.
"Um…" embarrassed, Miyu tried to hide it behind her back, but Nanami was faster and caught her hand and held it up to examine the flower.
"Hmm…a red rose…expertly shorn of all thorns" she said, and took a deep breath "Such a heavenly fragrance." Suddenly, she turned sly eyes on her hapless friend. "Can it be that finally…?"
But, before Nanami could complete her question, they both felt the presence of an approaching manic aura. Christine had arrived, only to spot Miyu with a red rose. To nobody's surprise, she immediately jumped to the conclusion that Kanata had given it to her and declared his feelings for her. She ran, screaming like a banshee towards Miyu and Nanami. They were rooted to the spot, but at the last second before Chris could crash into them, Miyu threw her hands over her head in a feeble attempt at protecting herself and yelled, "It wasn't Kanata! Someone else gave this to me!"
"Oh!" said Chris, all smiles, now back to normal "I didn't know you had an admirer, Miyu-chan."
"Nani?" Aya appeared out of nowhere, waving her drama notebook and looked quite outraged. "What do you mean, someone else gave it to you? It has to be Saionji-kun! My plot!" Crying fit to create a small river, she disappeared just as quickly as she had come while everyone just sweat-dropped.
"I really can't take this anymore!" Miyu burst out and ran off to class, leaving a bewildered Nanami and Chris to explain matters to Mizuno sensei who had come to investigate, hearing all the commotion even before class had begun. Chris and Nanami finally made it to the shoe lockers and were in the process of changing their footwear when Kanata walked towards them.
"Ohayo, Kanata-kun" said Chris shyly.
Kanata merely grunted and sped up the process of changing his shoes. He was NOT dealing with Hanakomachi's craziness today.
"Ohayo, Saionji-kun" said Nanami, but unlike Chris, she neither waited nor expected a reply. She simply continued, "Do you know who Miyu-chan's admirer is?"
"Nani?" Kanata asked, so surprised that he forgot he was supposed to be pretending that the girls didn't exist. "Miyu's admirer?"
"Yeah" said Nanami "Someone gave her a red rose today. Did you see who it was?"
"Um…no." said Kanata "I didn't come with her today."
"Oh."
Without another word, Kanata walked away, presumably to class. Nanami and Chris looked at each other, confused. "Are they having a fight?" Nanami wondered.
"Hmm…" murmured Chris, lost in thought.
Meanwhile, Kanata was battling a curious emotion. So far, he had discovered anger, frustration and guilt. Apparently, his repertoire of emotions was not complete yet. He had no name for this feeling. The best he could describe was that it felt like queasiness in his stomach. To say he was emotionally disturbed when he walked in to class would be an understatement. Thankfully, no fan girls were hovering today. Kanata quickly walked to his seat and settled down for class to start. He looked around and spotted Miyu in her usual chair, staring out the window beside her seat. There was a beautiful red rose lying on her desk and she was fingering it softly. He could not interpret the expression on her face, but he thought she looked wistful. The warning bell rang at the moment, and Kanata quickly faced forward as the other students filed in, followed by Mizuno sensei.
"Ohayo gozaimasu, everyone" said Mizuno sensei "Settle down please." She scowled at a few late-comers who quickly took their places and class began.
"I have an announcement to make" Mizuno sensei continued, shuffling some papers on her desk "We have a new transfer student and he has been assigned to this class."
There was a murmur as students sat up and craned to get a first look at the new student who had just stepped inside the room. Kanata heard Miyu give a loud gasp and turned around to see her goggling at the new comer.
"Everyone," said Mizuno sensei "Please welcome Nozumo Hikarigaoka-kun to class 2-1"
There was a polite applause, but before anyone could say anything, Hikarigaoka struck a pose and raised a hand and called out, "Okame-chan?"
Sensei and students looked around in confusion when, suddenly, a white parakeet flew in from outside and started dropping roses into all the girls' hands.
"Nozumo-kun, pets are not allowed in class" said Mizuno sensei.
But, the new boy simply turned around and offered her a profusion of roses and said, "Your charm and beauty overshadows all the roses in the world!"
'What a load of crap!' thought Kanata, but he reckoned without taking into the consideration that Mizuno sensei, like any other female, was partial to sweet words and pretty flowers. She raised no further objection to the roses floating around or the parakeet that now rested on Nozumo's shoulder. The girls were all exclaiming over the flowers while the boys looked around in confusion. Kanata could see some of his fan girls looking with gleaming eyes at Nozumo. Even Christine was eyeing him with fascination. However, Miyu had a vein popping over her head which made Kanata feel better about the new addition to their class.
"Arigatou, Nozumo-kun" said Mizuno sensei "Why don't you take the empty seat next to Kozuki-san?"
With one hand, she pointed out the vacant seat next to Miyu while enjoying the fragrance of her bouquet. Seeing the green-eyed beauty who had bumped into him that morning, Nozumo immediately danced over to her side. Bending down on his knees, he took her hand and raised it to his lips causing Miyu to blush tomato red.
"I told you that I would find you, beautiful one."
"Um…" Miyu was completely flustered. Nanami was blinking at this new development, but Aya was busy scribbling in her drama book.
"So, is this your admirer, Miyu-chan?" asked Chris in a whisper.
"I am an admirer of all women, my dear" said Nozumo "But, Miyu-chi holds a special place in my heart."
"Oh!" there was a collective intake of breath from the girls sitting nearby.
"Alright, class. Settle down please." Mizuno sensei called everyone to order. As Nozumo settled into the seat beside hers, Miyu saw Kanata glaring at her out of the corner of her eye. With the traces of her fiery blush still on her cheeks, she turned to look at him. But Kanata was facing forward with a bored look on his face. Yet, Miyu got the feeling that his temper had just soared once again, although for once, she was unable to pinpoint its source.
Kanata was fuming. The nerve of that guy! Fooling everyone (well, all the girls at least) with a bunch of flowers. Even Mizuno sensei was taken in! If not for years of assuming an aloof façade, Kanata would have found it very difficult to sit still and assume a bored mien when he felt like punching that idiot Nozumo in the face. And, Miyu! He could not believe how she had flirted with him so openly! Allowing him to kiss her hand in public and call her 'Miyu-chi'! Despite her naiveté, Kanata had thought Miyu to have some common sense and decency. He gripped the edge of his desk in a white-knuckled grip in anger as he thought of his housemate blushing for that pansy boy.
The day progressed in much the same vein. Nozumo was constantly surrounded by girls, all gushing forth about the beauty of his flowers and cooing over his pet parakeet. For once, his fan girls did not bother Kanata. However, he was in a black mood which seemed to be the norm for him lately. The only glimmer of normality he found in all this nonsense was that Miyu did not seem to moon about after Nozumo. But, she still held two red roses in her hand and blushed often. Even tomboyish Nanami was not unaffected. They huddled together, whispering and smelling the roses, and it was giving Kanata a major headache. During Chemistry lab, he tried to talk to Miyu who was his lab partner for the day.
"A bunch of flowers isn't everything, you know" said Kanata
Miyu, who was discreetly fingering the rose she had kept in her skirt pocket, immediately scowled.
"What do you mean?"
"You shouldn't take all this flower nonsense seriously" said Kanata as he carefully measured out sulfuric acid into a test tube.
"Because I am not pretty enough to receive flowers from a handsome guy like Nozumo?" said Miyu, dripping sarcasm with every word.
Kanata blinked as he set down the beaker of acid and said, "That's not what I said."
"Every girl deserves flowers, Kanata" Miyu whispered furiously, eyeing the sensei scowling at them. "Even ugly ones like me. But, someone like you would never understand."
"What do you mean, someone like me?" Kanata felt his temper rise again and felt like breaking something.
"You know, cool, superior, the school bishounen and a smart ass to boot!" said Miyu vehemently "You don't have a decent bone in your body! You are always bullying me for something or the other. Apparently, you can't even bear it if someone else decides to behave decently with me!"
"Giving you flowers and kissing you in public is decent behavior?" Kanata could not believe this was Miyu.
"Like I said, you just don't get it!" said Miyu and turned away fuming.
That was the last time the two spoke to each other for the rest of the school day.
"Hikarigaoka is quite something else, huh" said Santa
School was finally over, and Kanata and Santa were at the shoe locker, changing footwear.
"Okame-chan is very well-trained" continued Santa "I wonder if he trained him on his own."
Kanata merely scowled at this monologue and walked out of the building. Santa walked beside him, spewing forth comments about the new boy which he tuned out. He was in a pensive mood. All day, he had wrestled with his disbelief and anger over Miyu's behavior. The last period had been study-period, so Kanata had headed to the library with a few others, simply to escape the madness reigning in the classroom. Surrounded by books and blessed silence, Kanata's churning mind had calmed down enough for him to realize that he was not angry at Nozumo or Miyu; he was just jealous. It had not been easy realizing that he did not like Miyu admiring other boys and thinking of him as less than decent. He still wasn't ready to look too closely at the reason why he felt like this.
"Hey, Kanata, do you want to watch the new Bride of Tofu Man movie with me on Sunday?" asked Santa "I will come by the temple with the projector."
"Mmm" Kanata was lost in thought and didn't truly register what Santa was saying. But, there was a strange rapport between the two friends, so neither of them minded the other's absentmindedness very much.
"I'll see you on Sunday, then. Ja na!" Santa waved goodbye and turned and walked away.
Kanata watched his retreating back for a moment and then, he too set out for home. His legs led him automatically along the familiar route while he contemplated all that had happened for the past 3 days. Ever since stumbling (literally) over Seiya's lamp and Seirei, his life had turned upside down. He was no longer calm and collected; he always found himself sneaking about, trying to avoid his fan club and Hanakomachi. Now, there was the new guy, Hikarigaoka, driving him nuts by flirting with Miyu. Lost in thought, Kanata suddenly came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs of Saionji Temple. 'It's hard to believe that all this mayhem started here just three days ago' thought Kanata. He looked up and saw Miyu almost at the top, her long golden hair waving in the breeze and her uniform skirt flirting about her knees.
'If I could give you a flower, Miyu…' thought Kanata 'I wouldn't give you a red rose. I'd give you…' Suddenly, he shook his head at the direction his thoughts had taken.
'Baka, Kanata!' He started climbing the stairs, two at a time. He thought he should apologize to Miyu, but what could he say, really? He certainly wasn't going to admit to her that he had yelled at her because he was jealous.
Kanata came to a stop at the top where Miyu was standing, and stared at the huge monstrosity of a spaceship parked smack in the middle of the temple grounds.
"Nani…?" Kanata couldn't help but stare at the bright pink colour of the spaceship.
"I think Seiya-kun has arrived" said Miyu, in a dazed voice.
Suddenly, Kanata remembered Seirei. Nozumo and his silly antics had driven it completely from his mind. For once, Kanata could predict Seiya's actions with ease. He wanted to know about his greatest wish. And Kanata was equally certain that he did not want anyone finding out about his wish for today. But, activating Seirei was inevitable since he would have to touch the lamp in order to return it to Seiya. With grim determination, Kanata turned left and walked towards the main temple hall.
"Kanata! Where are you going?" asked Miyu in confusion "Don't you want to meet Seiya-kun?"
"If I am going to meet Yaboshi, I need to meditate for a bit first." He replied as he climbed the steps of the main temple.
"Meditate? What for?" asked Miyu, wondering if he was still mad because of their fight at school.
"So that I don't end up strangling him with my bare hands!" said Kanata and he slammed the shoji door of the temple hall shut.
Miyu stood blinking in the afternoon light and tried to understand Kanata's strange behavior. Then, she sighed and gave it up as a lost cause.
"Tadaima!" said Miyu as she opened the front door of the house and walked inside.
Inside the temple hall, Kanata listened near the door to make sure that Miyu had not followed him. Once he heard the front door of the house open and shut, he walked towards the altar and sat down on the tatami mat where his father usually sat and meditated. He removed his bag from across his shoulder and took a deep breath before opening it and taking out the Lamp of Doom. There was a soft 'zing' and Seirei was projected as standing in front of him.
"Even-song, Kanata-sama" it said.
"Erm…how do I do this?" muttered Kanata. He knew that he didn't have a lot of time. Both Seiya and Miyu would come looking for him soon. Those two weren't exactly known for their patience. "I don't want Yaboshi to find out about my last wish. Damn, I wish this thing came with privacy settings!"
"Your wish is my command" said Seirei.
Kanata felt something soft dropped onto his lap. He put down the lamp and stared at it. It was a sprig of some kind of orchid, freshly cut. Three flowers bloomed on it and gave off a subtle fragrance. The petals were a soft ivory colour that deepened into yellow towards the centre of the flower. A dash of purple starting from the centre and drawn outwards for a quarter-length of every petal gave the flower a whimsical quality. Kanata picked up the sprig and stared at his greatest wish of the day.
"So, it came true…" he trailed off as a faint blush stole across his cheeks.