A/N:

I get confused about Suzume Yosano's eye color. Some illustrations portray her as blue eyed or green eyed. So I don't know which is which? Can anyone correct me on this? My chapters tend to interchange her eye color because everytime I try to get inspiration from fanart I googled, I get different eye colors. And I tend to forget them in the long run. :P

BTW. That one-shot! Have you guys seen it? I both hated and loved it at the same time. I mean, seriously, I was expecting a little that the author will relent and give Satsuki Shishio some slack and finally get his chance to have Suzume, but no! On the contrary, he suffered 6 years trying to forget her. Jeez, the feels after I finished reading the translated scans. I felt like crying. Awww..

Do check out this manga if you happen to just stumble upon my work. I may be putting some spoilers here, so be warned!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my ramblings here.

Midwinter Dance Party: Turning the Tides

[Part 2/4]

For the next three or so weeks, even the threat of heavy snow and mid semester finals couldn't dampen the students' spirits on the upcoming ball. Streamers continue to pile overhead, posters appear every now and then to remind students to not forget about the dance, vote or wear their best dance clothes.

It was like a zoo.

The teachers, though amuse at the excitement, still managed to wield even more promises of detention should the students misbehave. It was a powerful tool to discipline the students, albeit a temporary one. We were all pretty sure that once the dance was over and the New Year has come and gone, we would need to be creative once again on how to discipline them and make good on our pledges to get them through the second semester without a hitch.

My fourth history class has just finished, and I felt like dragging my feet across the hall towards the school cafeteria. Maybe I should just buy a sandwich and sleep until the bell rings for the afternoon classes? I need to catch up on my sleep.

Why? Because I often stay late worrying, wondering whether she is okay.

I know for a fact that despite Suzume being quite popular with the rest of her own batch, she didn't strike me as the type who normally participates in such school events. Being nominated in the MidWinter Dance is akin to a local school's version of a beauty pageant. I thought the school was way above the others when it comes to teaching the kids about accepting universal physical beauty. Apparently, I was wrong. Hence the sleepless nights.

Was she a victim of a prank? Is that why her name was nominated in the list? To humiliate her? Was there any hint of bullying going on under our noses?

Her circle of friends has been quiet as of late since the names was announced. She's lagging behind during the weekly tally of votes. The rest of the nominated has been very active in promoting themselves all over the campus.

Thoughts of horrible prom dance movie scenes kept plaguing me. Thank goodness she doesn't have that telekinesis talent displayed by Carrie from that movie! I cringed at my own sick imagination. Would she be alright? Will I be able to help her?

"Check out that funny chick."

Roused from my momentary stupor, I barely noticed the crowd of students gathering outside.

"I heard she was nominated too." A senior tossed her hair nonchalantly and gave a giggle.

Feeling the worse, I followed the tide of students pouring out onto the courtyard even as the rest of them headed straight to the cafeteria for their lunch.

In the middle of a small crowd stood Suzume Yosano in her school uniform, standing still on top of a low platform surrounded by her friends who are busy distributing flyers. I can see Yuyuka Nekota, Nana Kameyoshi, Monika Tsurutani, Mamura Daiki and even some of Daiki's friends, Manabu Inukai and Kotetsu Sarumaru. I know for a fact that Yuyuka Nekota was nominated herself, but I felt glad she is there supporting Yosano.

"Hey! What's this about?" a freshman yelled in a friendly manner.

I waited with bated breath, unsure whether to break up the crowd or let them be. I decided to wait and see what will happen next.

Suzume Yosano gave a bow and a friendly wave.

"Thank you for whoever nominated me. I am not here to plead for more votes. Rather, I would encourage other people to vote for my friend," she gestured to Yuyuka who glared at her.

"Stop it!" she huffed, before shoving some more flyers toward a junior whose Beats earphones was slung around his neck. "I knew I shouldn't have volunteered to do this!"

There was a rumble of low laughter. Even Yosano giggled affectionately towards her friend. Standing about twenty paces away from her, slightly hidden by climbing ivy, I found myself smiling a little at her happy face.

Yosano looked content and happy. The tugging in my heart increased.

"I never wanted to participate, but I realized last night that this is the perfect opportunity to know more of you and for you guys to know more of me. So I decided to hand out some information about myself. Please feel free to approach me; we can talk and be friends even if we don't have many things in common. I'm here for friendships and not winning." Her smile is genuine, and it lit up her whole face.

"Whoa! I never met someone who is quite good in katanukigashi!" a rather good-looking senior chuckled as his eyes darted from the flyer to Yosano. "Hey! Maybe we should hang out. I have real talent on cherry blossom katanukigashi."

I felt jealousy blossom inside my chest.I spied Mamura glaring at the senior himself.

"This is funny. One of her bucket list is to go for a sushi eating contest." A pretty-looking petite freshman said. "Maybe I'll vote for her. She's way cooler than the other contestants."

And one by one, I could see some of the students come up in front and introduce themselves.

Taking a step back, I was ready to turn away and leave her be. But for some reason, our eyes met and I felt my insides melt.

We held our gazes for a long time, and I knew we would still be looking into each other's eyes if only I didn't lost the courage and broke off our eye contact.

Dazed, confused, hopeful, hurt and overwhelmed, I got my sandwich and rushed back to the teacher's office to eat my lunch away from the crowd.

I thought I was already making good progress in forgetting and letting her live the life she's supposed to lead. But gazing into her deep greenish eyes, I felt the urgency to touch her raging inside of me like a volcano.

I was wrong.

I never really went anywhere. I was still at square one in trying to forget her.

A/N: Katanukigashi means die-cut candy. This is an activity common in Japanese festivals, in which a colored mold of candy made of wheat flour, starch or sugar is carved using a needle or a toothpick in the shape of an animal, star, cherry blossoms, etc. Those who are able to skillfully carve the mold receive a prize. Though the raw materials are generally eaten, the die-cut candy is not consumed due to health hazard (probably because it was handled so much during its creation – will someone verify this?) and is particularly unappetizing.

Katanuki was once a regular good carried in carts by tekiya (peddlers) on ennichi (auspicious Shinto days when festivals are often held), but at present this is becoming less common. A long time ago, it was a side show at picture story shows.

Aside from carts, the molds are sometimes sold at small candy stores though this is rare nowadays. [Source: Wikipedia]

Let me know what you think.