Illusion

Sports Festival

Chapter 8

Clove; Meaning: Undying Love

Cleaning was probably the easiest part of living here.

Occasionally, I would be sent to help the Bolts after a rough night. Of course, it wasn't like she could say no.

So when Pa pushed me into the room, with a deep "Go help them" I ran in heavily. I knew everything was horrible, so much going so bad, but I couldn't care, not when Mei was just across the room sweeping.

Skipping up the steps onto the elevated stage, I navigate around hanging silks, hoops and poles.

A hand through silk sends it swinging and falling between my fingers. They're as soft as usual.

I haven't learned enough about silks to go out on stage with them, but I'm getting better, instead, my lessons have focused more on hoops and pole.

Continuing my run towards Mei, I see a hoop beside where she sweeps and orders people, standing unbelievably tall in her platform heels.

"Mei!" I pull myself up quickly, hoop swinging forward with my force.

Mei stands up straight, holding up the broom and looking me over. I notice that she'd always do that when I'd come. She'd check me over for something. What she was looking for, I couldn't tell.

"What's up Blue, how are you, sweety?"

I make myself ramen and try to ignore the world by sitting outside, trees framing the sunset as the breeze makes the leaves flutter and gets my ramen just a tad cooler.

I guess after all this time, I just love going outside.

The breeze, the trees, the leaves, the grass, the entire atmosphere, all of it.

I scoop up more noodles with my chopsticks.

I guess after staying inside the same building for 5 years straight makes you a bit claustrophobic.

I put down my bowl of noodles and open up my napkin, wiping my clean hands and placing the napkin on top of my bowl so no bugs get into my food.

I walk off the cement patio and hop into the grass, feeling the blades tickling against my feet.

Just like that day, back then.

All those years ago.

I walk down the small hill in our backyard and reach the flat ground, where the soil is dark and wet from being watered. The plants and flowers grow up from the ground as if they'd grown there from the very seed. The leaves a bright green and the petals are booming in color.

Small stone and cement pathways trail through the plant life, allowing segments of garden and walkways.

I absolutely love our garden. Celeste works so hard to make sure that both Seiko and I can be happy, and she invested so much time and effort, and money, into the garden.

Another thing I surely have to pay her back for. She deserves the world.

I step onto the beginning of the pathways, pushing the small gate closed. I round past our huge "Rainbow Of Life and Love", as Celeste calls it. It's a bunch of flowers together to form a rainbow across the large garden segment, I smile at it.

On the other side of the pathway from the Rainbow, I pass the veggie garden, filled with small budding plants or large curls of life.

I round to the back of our garden to find the fruits, small little strawberries and blueberries growing from growing bushes. I round around the small garden to find the herb garden.

In the garden corner, a large plant, one of our biggest ones, sits, growing more and more every day.

Our mint plant.

I lean over the fence wall and pick leaf after leaf, stuffing them in my hand.

With one full handful mint, enough for a large glass of tea, I walk back through the pathways and past the garden segments, all the way up the hill and up to the patio. I step back onto the grass and let the cool blades sweep back against my feet.

I grab my ramen bowl and balance it on my arm, saving my free hand for opening the door. I click the handle for the door and slide it open, the cool rush of air blowing into me, filling me with the familiar smell of vanilla from all the candles Celeste likes to burn.

Kicking off my outdoor shoes, I walk over to the kitchen island, placing down my ramen bowl and walking over the cabinet by the sink, grabbing a strainer and putting the leaves in.

I fill up the kettle and set it on the stove to heat up, mint leaves waiting in the strainer.

I hunch over my ramen bowl and stare off into the distance, all in autopilot.

I'm so tired…

Seiko is out training right now.

I must look so high and mighty to him… Not even needing to train…

It's not that way at all…

Then what is it, because, truly, you should be training now.

I know that the Sports Festival is, like, a huge opportunity…

But…

I don't really want to be-

My thoughts are cut off the by the screaming of the tea kettle, and I shuffle over to it to turn off the heat.

Then I get out a glass from the cabinet, grabbing a spoonful of sugar and pouring it in.

I grab the kettle carefully, making sure not to burn myself as I pour the steaming water into the cup.

Filling it near the top, I put the kettle back and grab my leaves, dropping them into the cup.

I sit and stare away at it.

I don't even want to be a hero.

The tea left a perfect taste on my tongue.

I walk upstairs towards my room, my tea cup discarded, finished, and put into the sink.

I look out my window and see Seiko running down the street, no doubt pushing his limits.

Seiko looks back at me.

His face scrunches up, eyebrows furrowing and mouth turning into a frown, and he looks away from me.

Hate…

I'll just study for finals, for now.

The basement floor is cold under my feet, but I ignore the feeling.

This feels too familiar.

The treadmill is dusty and pushed all the way into the corner, but it's there, hidden in the basement, where nobody ever goes.

Everyone seems to have forgotten there's even something down here.

But I guess that means it's perfect for me to use.

I drop my gym shoes to the ground, slipping them on.

I shiver, thinking maybe I should go put on more than just my shorts and t-shirt.

I decide against it, walking over to the treadmill and kneeling, half pulling and half wheeling it to the middle of the room.

Going into the basement bathroom, I grab a paper towel and wet it a bit, going back to the treadmill and wiping it down.

Testing it, I turn on the power button. The screen in the center blinks to life.

I step onto the treadmill, and part of me wants to get off right away.

But another part is pushing me to run, run, run, just like old times.

I sigh, turning it on and starting at a brisk walk.

My mind echos with old memories, all running and running and treadmills.

Cuts, rugburns, bruises, breaks, concussions.

All of the pain.

All of the yelling.

All of the screaming.

All of the tears.

All echos in the back of my mind.

I turn the treadmill up a few levels, my legs picking up in a jog.

I really wonder sometimes.

I turn it up another level.

If he loved me so much.

I put the treadmill on a hill, and put the level up to maximum, enough to make anyone stumble over their own legs and fall painfully.

It's happened a few times to me too. The rugburns from those falls never left scars like certain cuts would, but I still remember them.

But I can keep up.

Why did he enjoy my screams? My pain?

But even with that…

He still loved me?

Yeah, he did…

And he'll be back for me, won't he…

No doubt.

When I go back to the main floor, sweat covered, I expect nobody to be there, so I keep my head down, looking at my phone.

"Oh hey Blue, how are you?"

The voice sends me looking over frantically, almost stumbling over my feet in shock. Mei?

"Oh Shit, sorry I startled you" Akane hisses, shedding her jacket and hanging it up and untying her black hair from its bun.

I sigh and stare at her blankly as her wavy hair cascades down to rest at her normal shoulder length.

The nickname sure brings up memories. I don't have the heart to tell her though.

"Well, what's up?" She asks, brushing her hands over her blazer.

Burying my phone in my pocket, I twirl a strand of my hair in my fingers, frozen in place, "I dunno.."

"You coulda at least come up with some smartass comment like 'The sky' or something." She sighs, putting her purse down on the counter.

She wants me to be snarky, well fine then.

"Well I certainly know what's up now…" I deadpan.

"And what would that be?" She asks, hoping I'll come up with something good

"The sky."

There's a moment as Akane stares back at me, a dead look in her pale blue eyes.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that and head right on to tell you that I want to go out for dinner but I'm lonesome. Would you and Seiko like to accompany me?"

Oh fuck. She has no idea about the tension between us.

Shit shit shit shit.

Oh, wait.

"Seiko's training for the Sports Festival."

"OH MY GOD I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT WAS COMING UP AND YOU'RE GONNA BE IN IT I'M SO EXCITED!" She exclaims, hands on my shoulders as she rocks me back and forth.

I wince at the volume and keep letting her rock me.

"This is definitely dinner worthy!"

"But we have to train."

"Then what the hell are you doing now?"

"I just finished."

"Well then it's you and me for dinner then, I'll make it up to Seiko later, go take a shower we leave in a half hour."

Walking off slowly, a thought comes to mind.

"That rhymes!" I shout as I begin to run up the stairs and away from her strangled scream.

Stepping into line, Akane stands next to me, hair tied back up, now in more casual clothes. It's just us.

It's nice.

I can still feel the looming weight of everything crushing my shoulders.

Good thing I've had so much weight training.

Seiko is trying so hard to be good. He is already so good and strong. There are just things he can't understand. Not right now.

Things that he cannot know.

I shiver and bounce on my toes, hands tingling on instinct before curling into fists.

Why would Seiko forget anyways, there's no way he could just forget everything. There have to be things lingering.

Right.

A bright smile, black swishing hair.

Frantic hand signs as she bounces up and down.

I wince silently as my head instantly burns into a splitting headache, and I press my teeth together tightly.

What even was that. Who even was that?

I try to dig deeper, thinking about this girl in black hair, closing my eyes lightly.

I open my eyes, staring right into bright violet eyes.

She smiles at me brightly as I look at her with confusion.

She leans down, picking something up from the ground. She grabs a marker and writes on it frantically.

Lifting up the board after a few seconds, she shows the word "Hi!" in sloppy handwriting.

She holds it up to me expectantly, waiting a few seconds. I look her over. She's a thin girl with the palest skin I've ever seen. Like she hadn't been outside in years. She was very thin.

Her hair was a silky black that went down just below her shoulders. She had the brightest smile, and her eyes were a brilliant wide violet.

"Hi," I say lightly, "Can you understand me?"

Her smile somehow gets brighter as she quickly wipes her hand across the board - a whiteboard - and begins to write on it again.

'I can perfectly understand! You have a really nice voice! I'm Kai! I know you can't move that much from all the work you've been doing, but Mr. Illusion sent me in here to be friends with you! He said that you need someone your age to talk to.'

She manages to cram all the words in small print towards the bottom, beaming at me as she holds it up, bouncing on her toes.

"Okay, that's cool," I say, trying to sit up but my muscles scream in pain and go weak, giving out. Kai frantically catches me by my back and helps me sit up against the backboard of the bed.

Once I sit up, she quickly turns to her whiteboard and wipes it off, writing a quick 'Are you alright!' and showing it to me with a worried expression.

"I'm fine…" there's a few moments of silence as she sighs and cleans off her board slowly.

"Tell me about yourself." She looks up at me with surprise, as if nobody has ever wanted to know about her. She lets out a blinding smile before going to write on the board again.

She shows it to me proudly.

With a blink, dizziness spins within my head, and I sway in my seat.

How did I even sit down?

I blink through eyes full of tears and see Akane kneeling in front of me.

"Are you alright hun?"

I take a moment to blink and breathe. Nausea spins and stirs though my stomach as if my very body was telling me to never fucking do that again.

Note taken.

"I'm… Okay" I say, and almost as quick as I felt whatever happened, it's dispersing, my head clearing.

"I got you a glass of water," Akane says as she hands me a plastic cup filled with cold clear water.

I take a deep breath, blinking hard and taking a large sip of the water.

After a moment she asks "What was that about"

What was what?

"I, dunno? I think I'm good"

"Okay, well let's go home and eat."

"Okay."

Kinda a bit of a filler chapter, I know, but I really want to segway into the good parts that are coming up. What could happen at the sports festival, good question, to which we will figure out soon! And yes, I apologize for kinda, disappearing for a good 2 months. Life kinda bitchslapped me, you know, and I had finals, and they were just such a great time. But don't worry, I've got so, so much planned for this story. I've been obsessed over this story, these characters, for over 2 years, so let me tell you, this is an honestly too developed plot. I also love this story way too much to ever let it die. (I have everything up to the manga planned in perfect detail, so I'm not letting all my planning go to waste dammit) Writing commences, and I plan to get up to the anime by the end of the summer! Thanks for reading and please review, because then I can see your comments and cry.