Wow. Why didn't anyone tell me Highschool gave you so much homework that prevented you from writing o.o
Anyway, Chapter 2 is here.
This chapter originally had an entirely different plan, but I threw that all out in the last second and wrote this
Now that I think about it, the other chapter plan would've been way more excepted by the general audience than this chapter. Oh well. You guys will live.
Anyway, enjoy Umi Chapter 2
"Houko! Houko!" a teenaged boy yelled as he ran down the stairs of his apartment and into the lobby. The woman standing next to the automatic doors smiled at him.
"It took you long enough Kojirou" Houko said to the boy, leaning on his knees to try and catch his breath.
"Sorry Houko! I got a little distracted when talking to my girlfriend on the phone" He laughed. Houko smiled again and started to walk out the door. Kojirou caught his breath and ran after Houko as the two headed towards the small shop they owned by the seaside.
Kojirou had known Houko ever since he was four. He had seen Houko, only seventeen at the time, walking down the road next to the beach. He had thought nothing of her until she stopped and stared at the ocean. Not for just a minute like some people might, but for a full 10 minutes. Being the curious and out-going four year old at the time, he walked up to her and asked what she was looking at. Houko had snapped out of her day dream, knelt down to his height and asked him where his parents were, he simply replied they were still swimming, and added that he was getting tired of waiting for them to come back after 5 days. Houko bit her lip and asked him if he wanted dinner at her place. Not have had the proper 'stranger danger' education that he should've, he accepted. He was very glad that he didn't have that education, or else he would've been stuck on the streets and grown up like a wild thing.
"So Kojirou, how's your girlfriend?" Houko asked while walking down the rubbish free streets of their small town.
"You mean Atsuna? She's a little tired after her highschool exams, but otherwise fine" Kojirou said, looking at the woman next to him.
"She's changed so much…" he thought, looking her up and down.
When he had met Houko at seventeen, her dark blue hair was down to her waist and often done in a long, think braid. Her skin had been beautiful and tanned ever so slightly to perfection, her eyes were lively and friendly, coloured a deep chocolate brown and she was in a great, fit shape. Now that she was about thirty, you could tell that she's undergone lots of changes. Her dark blue hair has gone lighter and she tries to keep it no longer than her chin these days. Her skin has been worn out from all the travels and labour she had been doing for two people until Kojirou had been old enough to pull his own weight. Her cheerful eyes have retained its beautiful brown colour, but they've grown a tired look, like she's seen too many awful things in her life time, and she's no longer as skinny and fit as a super model. Despite all these changes from her age and poor lifestyle, she's still gained the nickname from Kojirou's friends 'Milf', short for 'Mother I'd love to f---'.
As the two neared the beach, Houko looked over to Kojirou and frowned.
"You forgot your hair tie today" she said simply as Kojirou slapped his head in embarrassment.
"Can I borrow yours?" He asked Houko, pointing to her hair tie that was keeping what little of the hair she had back out of her face. The older woman sighed.
"Just this once Kojirou" Houko said, taking off her hair tie and letting her short hair fall out in front of her face, it's waves perfectly framing her facial features. Kojirou tied his light blue, mid-neck length hair back and tried not to blush. He had told his friends plenty of times that if Houko wasn't his mother figure, and if he didn't have a girlfriend, he'd definitely tap her.
"So, how many clients do we have today?" Kojirou asked as the two walked down the ocean road to the cake store he and Houko owned. Houko held up two fingers as she inserted the store key into the key hole and turned, opening the store.
"Cinnamon Blossoms …" Kojirou read out loud as they entered the store "...is now open!" he finished, turning the sign that read 'Sorry, we're closed' over to read 'Welcome! We're opened!". Houko smiled at Kojirou's habit of announcing when the store opens to no one in particular and walked behind the light green painted door.
"It's your turn to be at the counter!" Houko called out from behind the door. Kojirou nodded and walked behind the glass counter that displayed some of the cakes the store sold and pulled up a stool, grabbed the small notepad and started to doodle as he waited for customers.
Kojirou had suggested the idea of a cake shop years ago when Houko had been fired from her current job and was having money problems. When Houko's friend sent a few thousand dollars to Houko for support, Houko used most of it to buy a photo shop that was losing business and remodelled it to be suitable for baking cakes. It was a fairly popular shop, since Houko was well known in the town, but lately it had been losing business. None the less, Houko and Kojirou plodded on with their jobs.
Kojirou, having served no customers, had almost fallen asleep on the counter when the phone rang.
"Hello! This is Cinnamon Blossoms! How may I help you?" He asked, trying to sound as natural as possible.
"Is there a chance that someone called Mayumi is there?" someone at the other end of the phone asked impatiently. Kojirou shook his head, despite how he knew that the caller wouldn't be able to tell whether he was shaking his head or not.
"I don't think so, but my boss might know someone called Mayumi…" Kojirou told the caller.
"Don't bother asking them, it's not worth your time" the caller said as they cut through his sentence and hung up. Kojirou looked at the phone, and set it back down on its holder. He sighed and lent on the wall next to him. He could hear the irritating sound of the blender behind the wall separating the kitchen from the shop.
"I swear either Houko or Atsuna knew someone called Mayumi…" he said out loud to no one in particular, watching the sun ascend through the sky, ever so slowly.
"Hiromu, did you get any reply?" The young Princess asked the person next to her who was hanging up a phone.
"Of course, since I was obviously talking to someone, but they didn't have any good information about Mayumi" the person called Hiromu replied to their Princess. She frowned and looked out the window of the airport.
"I guess this calls for a Mermaid Princess meeting, right Hiromu?" the Princess asked her servant, crossing her arms.
"What else would we do…Seira?" Hiromu said, earning herself a grim smile from her Orange haired Mermaid Princess.
Cliffhanger again. Ayup.
Absolutely nothing happened except character introduction/development.
Expect this fic to be longer than my expected 10 chapters by the way its going folks!