Iris
Salty- To make up for my insolence, I started this chapter almost immediately. I'll try to edit this time! 3 And, oh gosh. It's been a while, but you should know that I gave up updating fan fiction for lent. My insolence! By the way, if anyone notices that Katsumi had a huge obsession with American pop culture...then...oh, hey, let's start the story!
Chapter 15. A bit of hysteria and heartbreak
The whole trip to the mountains passed by really quickly. Like, seriously, all I could remember about it was that Suzuyama Kei wanted me dead because she was a HUGE fan girl, that Fuji-kun solved a lame mystery and that Eiji-kun was now calling me Tsumi-chan. Pretty soon, we were driven back to the bus station and went home. Eiji-kun, Fuji-kun and Raki-chan lived near the bus station, so I was the only one who had to take a train back.
"Bye you guys," I waved to them. They waved back before turning to walk to a burger place.
"Ooh!" Raki-chan suddenly stopped and ran back to me. She then dug into her pocket and brought out an adorable turquoise cellphone. "What's your number?" she asked. "I wanna keep in touch during the summer."
"A-ah! Yeah..." I felt so...accepted and happy! My hand shook as I brought my cell phone out of my pocket and exchanged numbers with Raki-chan. "T-there you go!" A couple of tears came down my cheeks.
"Tsumi-chan!" exclaimed Eiji-kun as he and Fuji-kun ran over.
"What's wrong, Saitou-chan?" asked Fuji-kun. I felt a little bad that I made them worry, but noticed that I felt less guilty towards Fuji-kun.
"D-did I do something?" asked Raki-chan, starting to tear up a little herself.
"Why are you crying?" asked Fuji-kun to Raki-chan, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm a sympathetic crier!" Raki-chan exclaimed.
"Sorry. I-I've never had friends as good as you guys before," I said, choking up a bit. And then I was bombarded by something incredibly heavy and red furred(or something.) It was Eiji-kun hugging me.
"Group hug or something!" said Fuji-kun. He hugged Raki-chan instead. And then I understood something I should have understood quite long before. Maybe it was the sudden combined heat temperature of Eiji-kun's hug and my natural body temperature, but my mind suddenly felt a little clearer. Eiji-kun eventually got off of me after Raki-chan's surprisingly powerful tug. We all shared phone numbers.
"Promise to stay in touch, everyone?" asked Eiji-kun. He looked to each of us seriously. Fuji-kun, Raki-chan and me all nodded, though I had a difficult time not laughing. It was surprising to see all of them so serious. But it meant that they actually liked me. They wanted to stay in touch with me. I'd felt more accepted than I had in probably ever.
~I~R~I~S~
We didn't talk much over the next month. I watched a ton of Eiji-kun and Fuji-kun's team's games over the summer. They won all of the ones I went to, though I wasn't sure about the ones that I didn't get to see. Then, like it was meant to be, I had to go to work right after their games so I couldn't talk to them.
At home, Kazuma was finding friends at his cafe job and in school, so he started hanging out with them. I was left alone at home, like I'd reverted back to my schedule without friends or family(aka Kazuma.)
Then came the festival at the end of summer.
~I~R~I~S~
When it came to that day, I found myself in freaking hysteria.
"Oh God? WHAT AM I GONNA WEAR? CRAP! THIS IS BAD! SO SO SO SO SO BAD! I HAVEN'T SEEN THEM IN A WHILE, WHAT IF THEY'VE FORGOT ME? THIS IS BAD!"
"SHUT THE EFFING JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE HELL UP, SAITOU KATSUMI!" cried a horse old lady from next to my room. But then I remembered that there was no old lady living next to my/in my apartment. I lived at the edge of the second floor, so to my left was Ren-chan and on the right was just a wall. Next to my room was Kazuma's room, and he had been infected with an awful disease which made me take care of him and feed him and stuff. It was called the common cold.
Normally that wouldn't be such a big problem, but in my family, if you get the cold you tend to become delirious and unable to take care of yourself. It had to do with us having high blood pressure or something. People say that I've gotten it but I usually couldn't remember a thing afterwards. Sometimes, after my colds, I wonder what I had done. If I was anything like Kazuma, then certainly a lot of damage, mentally and physically.
Quickly, I changed into the best clothes I could attain when worried. The reason for such was the fear that Kazuma had escaped his bondage. You see, whenever either of us had colds, we tended to rampage or make trouble in some way, or lose friends after making them uncomfortable(Kazuma once punched someone in the face because he thought that they were Hannah Montana and wouldn't kiss him)so we had made a pact several years before that we would tie up one another in blankets.
If Kazuma had escaped before Ren-the only one who could command us when we were sick and rampaging-had arrived, the end of the world would come early. So I waited on the couch in the living room, looking down at the floor at my little brother's face-the only thing I could see through the blankets. He looked like a fat butterfly cocoon. And, like Akira. Akira was my twin brother. He died when he was seven when he got sick.
Kazuma looked just like him, but with lighter hair. It was a bit unnerving, really. And sad. Not wanting to deal with old memories that I'd gotten rid of when I was ten(with lots of therapy) I looked down at my clothes. My shirt was a baby blue strappy top and I wore a frilly white skirt that went about to my knees. My shoes were regular tennis shoes and my socks were white and blah blah blah. I'd yet to do my hair.
"I'm here!" I looked up and saw Ren-chan open the front door. She was dressed in her regular uniform-a white t-shirt, jeans, a yellow apron with a chicken on it and a yellow cap that said 'Best Chicken in Japan!' "Has he woken up yet?" she asked. I realized that her hair was in a bun that day.
"No, not yet." I looked at her. She looked at me. Several seconds of awkwardness passed by. I hadn't talked to her for months. Either her crazy schedule or job or some other thing had been preventing me from seeing her. "I think...I'll be going then,"
She nodded and I stood up.
"Your aura's changed," Ren-chan said suddenly. "A lot. It used to be all gray and dark. Now it's a lot lighter."
"Yeah," I said. Though I had no idea how to actually respond.
"Has something really good happened? It's like, your in love?" I thought about it. In love? I loved my friends but that was just about it. I didn't know any boys well enough to be in love-except for Fuji-kun and Eiji-kun-and I was straight. Unless I was in love with Kazuma. But that was incest and just plain wrong. Hadn't I thought about that earlier?
"Crazy...confused chicken lady..." mumbled Kazuma. I took that as my sign to go.
"I'll be back in a couple of hours." I grabbed my purse, keys and umbrella in one scoop and hurried out of the apartment while putting on my trench coat. I then boarded a train and sat impatiently, waiting till I reached my friends and wondering whether they still wanted to see me and whether I still wanted to see them. "And I'm not in love!"
~I~R~I~S~
After about an hour or two, I reached the temple where the end of summer festival would be taking place. It was not yet night time, so none of the hanging Chinese lanterns had been lit. Still, the place was bustling with people trying to enter the temple and from the people already in playing games and buying things at booths set up just about everywhere, which varied in size. Some booths were about the size of a small closet while others were the size of a Hannah Montana concert. One, in particular, looked like an amphitheater.
My friends had agreed to meet at the Fuji family's booth, which was a fortune telling booth titled 'Fuji Yumiko's Impressions'. After some time of searching I found it near the entrance(for once, the angels had served me well in my direction-less-ness!) Not many people were around it. On the outside, it looked like a fortune teller's tent. On the inside, it was. Purple draperies were lined up around the room. Strange signs and sayings were painted on white pieces of paper taped around the room. In the middle was a woman that I at first thought was Fuji, but then I saw that she was older, had longer hair and was a female.
"Welcome," she smiled at me mysteriously then gazed at the crystal ball in front of her, stroking the air around it and swishing the hems of her purple robes against the table. "You are...Saitou-chan, yes? You are...looking for Syusuke?" She looked up and smiled at my look of shock.
"W-well, yeah. Actually, yeah. Wow. You really are psychic."
"It's not that I'm psychic," she said. "but the universe chooses to tell it's secrets to a select few. I am merely one of them. And Syusuke told me that you were going to be looking for him. They're back there." She pointed behind her, to where a room seemed to be behind several white curtains. I started walking, but she barred my way with her arm. "Do not be mislead by what you see today. You shall be disappointed but don't give up hope, Saitou-chan."
I noticed that she sounded oddly like Ren-chan when she was in one of her trances. Her arms went down and she looked shocked at her actions.
"Oh my, I'm sorry." She smiled at me. I could think of nothing to do so I nodded at her.
"It's okay. Just another message from the cosmos, right?" She nodded with a closed eyed look that mirrored Fuji-kun's exactly.
"Exactly, Saitou-chan." We shared a smile that made me feel more grown up than I was before she turned away from me. I walked behind the curtains and vaguely remembered a scene from the Wizard of Oz.
Inside of the room, Eiji-kun and Fuji-kun were playing a card game while Raki-chan was balancing on one hand on a wooden box in a kimono. She was the only one to look up as I walked in.
"Hey," she groaned with the effort. "Saitou!" In one swift movement, she did a back flip and landed on her feet about a foot away from me. "Not bad, eh?"
Eiji-kun and Fuji-kun looked up from their game but looked like they had no intentions of putting their cards down.
"Hey, Tsumi-chan!" Eiji-kun waved his free hand.
"Hello, Saitou-chan," with his usual calm demeanor, Fuji-kun smiled then went back to his game with Eiji-kun.
"I wouldn't bother to be mad," said Raki-chan. "They've been playing that game since six in the morning."
"Wow, really?"
"Yeah, I suppose it's one of those dumb boy things," she grimaced in their direction. "But a gentleman would puthis cards down and escort a lady through the fair. I think Saitou would enjoy it."
Both Fuji-kun and Eiji-kun sighed and stood. Both of them were wearing jeans and t-shirts. Neither of them had done anything special with their hair.
"We'll escort you two then," said Fuji-kun, smiling like he had already been thinking of this idea. I could tell he still wanted to play, though. Eiji-kun too.
"Well, you don't have to..." I said. Fuji-kun answered with a smile and hooked his arm with mine.
"I insist." He smiled, and for once I thought he was a little less annoying.
"Okay then." Eiji-kun and Raki-chan hooked arms as well. Then, in twos, we walked out of the tent while waving goodbye to Yumiko-san. She made me promise to take care of Fuji-kun and shared a very serious look with me, like we knew something that no one else knew. But I didn't. At all.
Outside of the tent, we saw a large crowd in front of some concert hall.
"Okay, let's go!" said Raki-chan. "If we split up, we'll meet at the fireworks hall in three hours." We all agreed.
~I~R~I~S~
Sure enough, we were separated in the large crowd. I was with Raki-chan, which was a little uncomfortable because we had never been alone together, really. Where were Eiji-kun and Fuji-kun?
"Ugh," Raki-chan leaned against a tree while I attempted to escape the rush of the crowd. We had somehow gotten to the far end of the festivities, the part near the trees and away from the banners, the lanterns and the shops. The sun had long since gone down. We were likely about to be filmed for some ax murderer horror movie scene."Where'd those two go? It's getting dark."
"You sound like one of the horror movie heroines," I said. She grinned at me.
"I sort of feel like one right now..." She stared up at the moon and gave a loud, dog-like howl. "I'd give anything to be a wild dog right now."
"That's a bit weird," I lifted an amused/weirded out eyebrow involuntarily. She shrugged.
"I get a bit weird sometimes. The entire earths a bit weird, really," she smiled. "at night, especially."
"Correction. You are weird."
Raki-chan giggled. "More or less."
"I don't think I've ever seen you like this."
She looked at me. In the light of the one Chinese lantern, I noticed her light makeup and her dark blue kimono decorated with a falling hot cherry blossom design and a matching pink sash across her waist. And for some reason I remembered what had happened after we got back from our field trip. What I had seen between Raki-chan and Fuji-kun, I mean.
"Hey..." my voice came out quieter than I meant it to. I wondered how to phrase my question without possibly giving Raki-chan the wrong idea or something. "Are you and Fuji-kun..." 'Breath, dang it! Breath! "Dating?"
Raki-chan stared at me. She looked surprised but I couldn't read anything else in her expression. Was I right? Was I wrong? Was she angry, happy or depressed? Could she have been jealous? Why wasn't she answering?
Then she started laughing as though the prime minister of japan had fallen into a rather large pit of lard-oddly descriptive, I know.
"N-no!" She clutched her stomach, tugging on the sash, and her recently cut, short black hair covered her face. When she finally looked up minutes later, I could tell that I was wrong. "What'd make you think that? Me and Fuji?" Raki-chan stopped laughing and looked at me thoughtfully. Her gaze made me nervous. "Why? Do you wanna go out with him? I could give him a good recommendation or something?" And she had the wrong idea.
"Ew," I shook my hair and frowned as I felt the bun in the back of my head come loose. "No. I just thought I saw something."
She looked thoughtful again and leaned against a tree.
"He used to-back when we were first years. But he doesn't any more. I can tell," she shrugged. "Besides, I like Tezuka now." I immediately dismissed the thought of a relationship out of my head. But still...I saw the way he looked at her. Something careful and tender, like he was afraid she would break. "So, yeah, and I heard that he liked some freshman." I didn't believe it. Not at all.
"Wanna go on that water ride we passed?"
"Heck yeah! I've been dying to go slide-surfing from a fifty foot slide with on coming rapids for a while!"
"Not that one..."
~I~R~I~S~
Three hours later, an exhausted pair of drenched girls were walking back towards the center of the festival. Both had broken the record for most rides down the Rapid Drive, a fifty foot slide with oncoming rapids on which you had to slide/surf down. One had a towel around the waist due to their drenched white skirt. Three guesses who.
"Oh god, that was fun!" yelled Raki-chan, although my stomach was still whirling. "We have to do that after the fireworks."
"I'm fine-" Something warm threaten to come out of my throat and I coughed it down. "Thanks..."
"Sucks about your skirt though. The guy who collected our surf boards was blushing like crazy. He was kinda cute, wasn't he?"
"Uh, yeah...I thought you liked Tezuka?"
"Don't change the subject-and yes, I do like Tezuka, but single girls are still allowed to oggle hot guys, aren't they?"
"Oh god, I don't even know you today."
"Come one, like you've never checked out a hot guy."
I thought about it.
"Define 'checked out'," I said. And I meant it. I'd heard it but never thought about it's real meaning enough to assign it to a real life something.
"I dunno," her cheeks turned a faint shade of pink and she nearly tripped over a rock. "Um...I dunno...you look at his butt...try to see how cute he is from one to ten...look at his muscles, I guess."
"Ah," I tried to remember a time when I did any of those things. "Yeah, I suppose I have checked out guys a couple of times." Raki-chan looked at me with renewed interest.
"Really?" She edged closer to me. "Who is it? Who? Who?" Her eyes widened. "It was Fuji-kun, wasn't it?"
"I told you, I don't like him like that," I rolled my eyes. "I just checked out this guy from WacDonalds once...and..." My lips formed a straight line.
"Who else?" asked Raki-chan, obviously curious. "Who else?"
"I just...sort of...might have...checked out..." my voice grew lower in volume. "Ei-Eiji-kun..."
"You what Eiji?" I screamed louder-way louder-than I should have. Mostly because the face of Kikumaru Eiji's best friend or something, Fuji Syusuke, was right in front of me.
"N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no-n-n-n-no-n-n-n-n-n-n-no-"
"Girl talk," said Raki-chan, smiling coyly. "Don't wanna be that pervy guy listening to girl's conversations, now do we, Fuji Syusuke?"
Fuji-kun smiled, though I thought I saw a hint of disappointment. "Not in the mood for it today."
"Today?" I exclaimed. I thought that I overreacted but didn't correct myself.
"Where's Kikumaru?" asked Raki-chan, looking around.
"Over there with Oishi," Fuji-kun pointed off to some place in the crowd. Raki-chan rushed into said crowd and made a path from the people that she bumped or knocked down. I wondered why she would be in such a rush but then realized...I had told her that I liked Eiji-kun. Had I mentioned that I liked Eiji-kun a really long time ago? Was she...going to tell him?
"She won't," said Fuji-kun evenly, staring off at where Raki-chan had disappeared. He saw my look of surprise and said, "Tell Eiji that you like him, I mean."
"Ah...H-how did you-"
"Know?" he looked off at the sky and smiled mysteriously. The first signs of stars started to show and the moon came out of the clouds, highlighting portions of his face. "I don't really know. You just seem to."
"I used to like him..." I admitted quietly. "I haven't liked him that way since...May, I think. Or April." I couldn't quite remember as much about Eiji-kun since I didn't like him(as a crush)anymore. "But, now we're friends. And actually talking. I think...that that's much better than a one-sided crush."
"Yeah," said Fuji-kun. Maybe he was thinking of the time when he liked Raki-chan and how they became friends as well. Or maybe something else.
"Is it..." I paused and gulped. The clouds covered the moon again. Confidence...I needed confidence. "Do you still like Raki-chan?" I blurted. He looked down at me. The moon came out again and the light shined in his bright blue eyes. His mouth was slightly aghast. Did I surprise Fuji-kun?
The moon disappeared, and so did Fuji-kun's surprised expression. He was smiling, but his eyes were open.
"Yeah," he put a finger over his mouth. "But it's a secret, okay?" I nodded. We both looked to where Raki-chan had run off. What I saw made my blood run cold(not really, but let's say it did for dramatic effect)and my breath get caught in my throat. It was Eiji-kun and Suzuyama Kei, holding hands and laughing about something. Suzuyama-san saw me and winked evilly. I smiled back because I knew it would annoy her, but I was still bothered.
"Are you sure you don't like him?" asked Fuji-kun, with an obvious undertone. I swatted the idea away.
"Of course. She just bothers me." Fuji-kun raised an eyebrow.
"Why is that?" he asked. I thought about it-not about why she annoyed me but how to put it into words.
"Well...she's all obsessed about him and possessive, I guess. She just supposed that I was trying to go out with him and..." That I'd get my heart broken...I got mad because she thought that Eiji-kun didn't like me... "Okay. Maybe I do like him. A little." I frowned. "Sort of?"
He turned his head towards Eiji-kun and Suzuyama Kei and waved. They both returned the wave with full enthusiasm. It just sort of annoyed me further.
"Would you like to sit down?" asked Fuji-kun, gesturing to a nearby bench. It was not until I sat down that I realized how exhausted I was. For what felt like a few awkward minutes, Fuji-kun and I watched while Eiji-kun, Suzuyama Kei, Raki-chan and Oishi-kun (who I'd yet to speak to) played some small booth games. "Hey, Saitou-chan?" I realized then that I had fallen asleep, and was leaning against Fuji-kun's shoulder.
"OHMIGOSH! SORRY!" I lifted my head immediately and felt my face heat up a million degrees.
Fuji-kun smiled pleasantly. "Oh, no problem Saitou-chan. You should know that our friends have wandered quite a ways by now, though. It's also getting a bit late..." I glanced at my leather wrist watch, one I had received from my parents some years before I left the house, and then thumbed the blue sea glass necklace that Eiji-kun had gotten me for my birthday just a few months(or so?)before. I felt...betrayed. But why? Eiji-kun hadn't done anything bad...except fraternize with my first ever enemy. Was that why I was so angry and sad? Or...was Fuji-kun right? Did I really still like Eiji-kun?
But...how could that be? Wouldn't a person know if they liked someone? Or...could my like have been a different one? Like...love or something? Ew. Ew. Ew! No! I was only fifteen. There was no way that I was in love. My life wasn't a shojo manga or some kind of fan fiction. Maybe I just admired him before and now I liked him. Or I was over thinking the entire situation. Fuji-kun was probably wrong. A hand waved in front of my face.
"Saitou-chan?" I turned to Fuji-kun, feeling emotionally drained for some reason. "Are you alright? Did you hear what I said?"
"Ah...no. Could you please repeat it?"
"Sure," he smiled. "I was asking if you would consider going out with me-"
"Okay."
"Excuse me?"
"I said," I grinned at him wickedly, feeling somewhat mutinous. "Okay. Let's go out Fuji-kun."
~I~R~I~S~