"Kasumi-chan, are you sick?" Sae-chan comes running up to me at the school gate. "You're awfully pale. Daijoubu?"
"I'm fine, Sae-chan." I reply. "Just a little tired."
"You sure?" She asks. "Your lips are even a bit blue."
She wasn't going to leave me alone about this! "I'm coming down with a cold."
Sae-chan frowns at me. "Just don't push yourself, okay, Kasumi-chan."
"I'll try." I give her a faint smile. "We have that festival to plan, I can't just sit out."
"You're a tough one, Kasumi-chan." Sae-chan gives me a hard tap on the back.
I gag. I was still a little sore from falling over backwards on that gravestone. Sae-chan apologizes and we walk together into the shoe locker room. She was talking my ear off as usual when Naoko-chan came in. She had the same concerns for my appearance, but it was easier to convince her that I was fine.
Who knew an encounter like I had last night would leave me so sore? Then again, how many people live through that to tell? My symptoms I'd consider normal. Pale; very tender neck; tired, and a very aghast expression. But hey! It happened in the past. I should try to simply forget about it. Though how do you forget something like that? To me, it seems nearly impossible. It was such a glorious evening and it ended so sudden and strange. Show could someone forget?
We, the girls, were walking to class when I heard Sae-chan and Naoko-chan giggling to themselves. I look around, but there was nothing funny around. What could they be laughing at? So, I turn and ask them.
"What's so funny?"
Naoko-chan truly looked contrite. "Sae-chan is talking nonsense."
"May I hear this nonsense?" I ask.
Sae-chan chuckles and walks up to me. "Kasumi-chan. Is that a hickey?"
She was pointing at my neck.
A bit of color finally rushed to my face. "No!"
I never even checked to see if my vampire wound had gotten a scab. I cover that part of my neck with my hand as I run to the nearest girls' restroom. My eyes set on the mirror, I take off my hand. I groan nervously. A nice round red mark sat on my neck, right where Hanako had her mouth. The mark slowly turned to a bruised color at the center where the two teeth dots were hardly visible anymore. Sae-chan was right. It looked like a hickey.
"This is just great." I sigh as the other two girls come into the bathroom.
"Don't worry." Sae-chan smiles. "We won't tell anybody. Just…who's it from?"
She truly looked devilish.
"If I told you," I say. "You wouldn't believe me."
"Of course I would." Sae-chan replies.
I was getting a bit frustrated. "It happened when I took a walk to the graveyard last night. I ran into Satoshi-kun and—."
"Satoshi-kun?!" Sae-chan exclaims.
I gape at her. "You didn't let me finish! I didn't say that he—."
"It was Satoshi-kun?!" Sae-chan continues to rant. "You two were necking?"
I slap both hands over my mouth. I was stupidly about to say that it wasn't him; that it was his mother. To put it bluntly, I was in deep shit. I could see Naoko-chan tightening the grip on her hand bag as if she'd clobber me with it any second. Why do these things happen to me? Why can't I be better with words? Ah! I just want to get out of here before Naoko-chan murders me and then goes on a rampage.
Wait a minute! This really wasn't a hickey, so I had nothing to worry about. Naoko-chan had no reason to be mad at me. It was all Sae-chan's fault for no letting me finish. But, if she did let me finish…how would I have twisted the truth to hide Satoshi's secret? I've dug myself a huge hole; yes I sure did. Maybe, in the smallest way, it would have been better if Hanako sucked me dry last night.
"We weren't!" I whined. "You don't understand, Sae-chan. Satoshi-kun and I did nothing."
"We aren't saying you did." Naoko-chan finally spoke up. Her voice was very low and shaky. It scared me.
Sae-chan opens her bag and takes out some foundation make-up. Tilting the bottle onto her finger, she starts to rub it across my mark. She tried to be serious, but you could hear her snickering under her breath.
"Shimpai nai, Kasumi-chan." Sae-chan says. "Naoko-chan and I won't breathe a word. Be it true or not."
"Arigatou gozaimasu!" I give Sae-chan a hug and we all leave the bathroom to go to homeroom.
******
"Oh, that looks good!" Sae-chan sticks her face next to my lunch box. "You made that yourself?"
"Yes, I did." I reply. "Since my parents are on vacation, I have to fend for myself."
"May I taste?" Naoko-chan sticks her chopsticks in.
"Go ahead." I say.
It was a typical lunch hour. The
girls and I were sitting under one of the Sakura trees on campus, comparing
lunches. So far, since Sae-chan pulled out that foundation, nobody has noticed
my neck mark. For that, it's true, I'm grateful. The whole hickey theory didn't
make sense in the long run. I've never had a boyfriend; I've never been kissed,
so why would I suddenly come to school with a make-out bruise? Haha!
Joudan-desu, ne?
Only two weeks left until the
festival. I promised Sae-chan and Naoko-chan that I'd help them practice
battling after school today. I didn't really know how to brake it to them that
they didn't have a chance of winning against Satoshi. Satoshi's Gousu was
outstanding! That power…it's amazing that it hasn't evolved into Gousuto yet.
He's going to be a hard one to beat in the tournament.
"Kasumi-chan." Sae-chan whispers to me as I pop a shrimp in my mouth.
"What is it?"
"Look who's coming over." Sae-chan points with her chopsticks.
I look up and see that black form. Those dark glasses hiding those beautiful brown eyes. I felt frozen again. He slowly walks up and stops a few feet away from the tree. He nods at Sae-chan and then Naoko-chan like a tiny courtesy bow. He then looks at me.
"May I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure." I reply.
His eyes must have darted from Sae-chan to Naoko-chan. "Alone?"
I stand up and set down my lunch. "Okay."
Satoshi starts to lead the way from the tree. He was heading toward the dodge-ball courts where we also had a few gardens built by the agriculture club. There was no doubt in my mind what he wanted to talk about. Even though I knew what was coming, I felt goose bumps crawling up my arms and legs. He stopped in a small grove and then turns to me once more.
"Um, Satoshi-kun…I, uh," I had no idea what I was trying to say.
Satoshi comes to me and wipes the make-up off with his finger. "Good. It's healing well. It's good that it didn't get infected."
"Uh, yeah." I agree.
"Those two girls…"
"Sae-chan and Naoko-chan?" I ask.
"Yeah," Satoshi nods. "What did you tell them? Did you say the truth?"
"I would never tell the secret!" I say straight to his face. "I hope you'll trust me. I won't tell anybody about it!"
"I believe you, Kasumi-san."
Ah, he said my name again. It always makes my heart jump.
"What did they think?" Satoshi asks.
I blush a little. "They thought it was a hickey." I try to laugh. "Doesn't make much sense, does it?"
"Depends." He says mysteriously.
My blush deepens. Suddenly, there was a hand resting on my shoulder. I jump and scream, swinging my book bag around and bashing the person right in the side. He groans loudly. I then noticed who it was. Ryu, my lab partner. Why was he here? Had he heard everything that Satoshi and I had said? Oh, crap!
"Kasumi-sempai," He gasps. "Why'd you do that?"
"I'm sorry." I reply. "I didn't know who you were. You scared me."
"I just needed to talk to you about next hour."
I furrow my brow. "Don't tell me you didn't finish your part of the project!"
"It's not quite that, Kasumi-sempai." Ryu puts his hands together. "I just need a teensy bit of help…with the whole thing."
"You didn't finish it." I say bluntly. Great, another failing grade in Chemistry.
"You won't help me on it?" Ryu asks.
"No. Just tell Mizuho-sensei that you screwed up. She's an understanding teacher so I don't think she'll fail you right on the spot. She might give you another chance to complete the project." I say.
"Kasumi-sempai! O-negai! I beg of you!" Ryu pleads.
"I said no, Ryu-san. And quit with the 'sempai'! We're in the same class."
Ryu suddenly grabs me by the shoulders. "Kasumi!" He had this horrible look in his eye for some reason. Gosh, kid, calm down! It's just a Chemistry project.
Then, another hand gently rests itself on Ryu's wrist and lifts it off my shoulder.
"When she says no, it means no." It was Satoshi. I had forgotten he was there for some reason.
My worst nightmare happened afterwards. Ryu noticed the mark on my neck, since Satoshi smeared the make-up. His eyes widened as he looked from me to Satoshi.
He opened his mouth, lost for words, and then finally said, "I was interrupting something, wasn't I? Whoa." He laughs.
I go the brightest red imaginable.
Satoshi, on the other hand, pushed me softly out of the way so he was facing Ryu. He extends his arm so that the palm of his hand was a few inches in front of Ryu's chest. Satoshi's fingers jerk wider apart as a sudden ghastly wind erupts and blows Ryu half way across the grove. Fear-stricken, he gets up off the ground and runs back to the school building. Not even looking back. What had Satoshi done? What sort of power was that, I wonder? I had no more time to make pathetic guesses. Satoshi collapsed to his knees and his shoulders drooped.
"Satoshi-kun." I gasp and go to his side. "What's the matter? Are you alright?"
He coughs a few times and looks at me through the dark lenses. "I'll be fine."
"Were you…defending me?" I ask. I was a little afraid to ask, for I could not even start to presume the answer.
Satoshi stands and steadies himself. He walks over to another Sakura tree and rests his hand on it for support. "I said that I didn't hate you. That's why."
He left again. Just like that. It was like his trademark.
"Arigatou." I whisper to myself.
I walk quietly back to the main building and up to my Chemistry class. Ryu wasn't there. I hoped with all my might that he wouldn't even show up for the rest of the hour. Satoshi must have not liked it that he was assuming such things. Well, neither did I. But, it flattered me to think that Satoshi would go up to using some sort of his half-vampire-blood magic to defend our relationship. It wasn't much of a relationship, but it was something. And I was glad that it was slowly growing. The only problem was…I wasn't sure if I could stop my heart from crossing Naoko-chan's path. Things could turn out very good, or very bad. Oh well, I have a while to find out.
Wait…
I stop in the middle of the hallway. I was just talking to myself about how I might fall in love with Satoshi. Was it possible, that I already have? Is that why I'm thinking this way? Oh, no. I don't believe I tried to, so, is it still my fault? He says he doesn't hate me. I supposed that's a start…wherever I'm going.