Title: Don't Bother Me
Author's Note: Just a reminder that I went ahead and changed the encounter with Hansuke a little for last chapter. There's still the tension between Hansuke and Sayaka, but I thought I'd make it a little clearer that her brother knows something about Easter and its involvement with Guardian Characters. That last chapter was really hard for me to write because it contains a lot of the Guardian Character set-up for the rest of the story. So is this chapter, I would wager, since the basic Ikuto/Sayaka dynamic is here. I hope anyone who reads it will like the interaction between the two. Oh, next chapter will be on Ikuto point of view only. I kinda wanted to do an occasional chapter to show what he's thinking.
Chapter Four
For nearly a week upon first appearing, my egg didn't hatch, thereby causing a stalemate to occur. Thus, just as suddenly as my life had rapidly centered around Guardian Characters, so, too, did the matter dissipate until it only occupied a troubled corner of my mind. I followed my daily routine with some uneasiness, fervently hoping that Ikuto character wouldn't be tempted to come around again. Not that my busy schedule supplied cat boy with much opportunity to bother me.
Except for the weekend, my fun-filled day always began strictly at 5 a.m. Within an hour of rising, I had to shower, dress, eat, and walk the mile or so to the middle school I attended for two grueling hours of practice with my rhythmic gymnastics club. Next, another quick shower and a change into my school uniform had to be completed before school started at 8:30 a.m. Five classes, two recesses, and one lunch break later, I was already ready to call it a day. Nevertheless, I had to endure two more hours of rhythmic gymnastics practice until I could finally could claim the rest of the day for myself. Normally, I would shower yet again, switch to my usual t-shirt and jeans combo, stop by the convenience store for some dinner ingredients, and make it home sometime around 7 p.m. Kukai would occasionally join me for dinner, for which I was grateful to have some company I could relax around and cut loose. By about 9 p.m., exhaustion had inflicted its toll on me and compelled me to seek my bed. What about time to do homework? I reserved my weekends and my lunch and recesses breaks for that activity, or on the road if I had a nonlocal competition.
With the new issue of my egg presently inserted into my already chock-filled life, Kukai thankfully didn't push the issue of my egg's progress, although he brought Daichi over a couple of nights later for me to meet. The experience had been, to say the least, interesting and offered me new insight into my best friend.
"Are you here to bum a free dinner from me again?" I quipped to Kukai upon answering the front door, but started at the sight of a grinning Guardian Character floating next to Kukai's own smiling face.
"Of course!" my best friend replied without shame, jerking a thumb toward the Guardian Character. "I even have a partner-in-crime to help me in my quest to steal food from you. Sayaka, this is Daichi!"
Daichi's appearance resembled that of a soccer player: white sweatband around his head with a yellow star on it, sneakers, white shorts, and a yellow t-shirt. Spiky mint-green hair and darting brown eyes completed the sporty ensemble.
"Hi! Nice to meet you!" Daichi greeted me enthusiastically. Unsure of what exactly to do, I pointed my index finger at him, and he shook it so vigorously that the physical contact left me in no doubt as to who this Guardian Character belonged to.
"Oh, yeah, I can see where you're coming from when you mentioned how Daichi can be 'over the top.' He's you times ten if you could be any more lively."
Kukai's smile merely widened in response.
"Where's your Guardian Character, Sayaka?" Daichi inquired curiously, sweeping his eyes over my apartment. Suddenly self-conscious when faced with such a personal question, I stepped aside to let Kukai and Daichi in, promptly closing the door and therefore shutting out any further public display of our conversation.
"Actually, I'm still waiting for my egg to hatch," I informed Daichi, now more at ease, even daring to withdraw the object in question from its usual resting place in the pocket of my green hoodie. "How long is it supposed to take anyway, Kukai?"
"Who knows?" Kukai guessed, shrugging nonchalantly, then appeared to ponder my question with more depth. "Maybe something else besides the wish needs to trigger your egg hatching."
What the hell more could I be doing? I thought in frustration, the words bouncing around in my head with considerable force.
What happened on that following Sunday would provide me with the answer to this question.
& & &
For the most part, Hansuke's behavior toward me hadn't changed. However, I noticed he would stay away from home more often than regularly if he could get away with it. Much as I hated this new tension between us, I couldn't do anything about it until I knew more of Easter's mysterious role in this whole Guardian Character business. Of course, my egg had to hatch first before I could even commence that mission. After all, the Guardians would take me a bit more seriously if I had a Guardian Character of my own as a sort of clearance into their exclusive club of knowledge about Guardian Characters.
Sunday was the one day in which Hansuke couldn't use work as an excuse to avoid me. Nevertheless, he managed to rise by 8 a.m. and contacted Kukai's four older brothers for a round of pickup basketball in a nearby park. A crafty move that would permit him to be alone with me as little as possible. To be honest, I wasn't even sure I wanted to accompany my brother to a rowdy game for a sport I didn't even play anyway. My interests lay more along the lines of practicing some yoga poses in an extra effort to maintain my flexibility for an upcoming local competition this week.
"Hey, you want to come?" Hansuke inquired as almost an afterthought once off his cell phone.
We were finishing a breakfast of rice, grilled fish, and miso soup. Yes, to speed things along, both the rice and miso soup were instant. I only had to cook the fish.
"I expect you're asking because you'll require a waterboy, or in this case, a watergirl," I speculated dryly. My brother simply smirked, instantly confirming my theory and dredging up that old familiar emotion of annoyance. "Can't you get Kukai to do it? He's always being suckered into doing errands and chores for his brothers when he loses to a bet he proposed to them in the first place."
Sorry, Kukai, I mentally repented a moment later. However, like I mentioned before, I didn't play basketball. Kukai did. He made the more appropriate choice than I did to be their basketball slave.
Leaning forward, Hansuke's apparent mirth in this situation seemed to increase exponentially with what he uttered next. "Kukai can't step in your shoes for what is your duty alone to do. He offered to play so we'll have the same number of people per team." He waved his hand at me, staving off the cascade of protests I'd yearned to issue forth from my mouth. "I won't take no for an answer. It's my right as your older brother to subject you to occasional torture sessions."
"Ugh, oh, all right," I grumbled.
Today would be a long day in more ways than one.
& & &
The park was like any other, a dash of lush, verdant beauty that served as an recreational escape for the residents who inhabited the tight cluster of buildings surrounding this tiny utopia. At one of the several basketball courts sprinkled throughout the park, my six companions furiously carried out their three-on-three action. On the sidelines, carefully selected to ensure no one would hit me with the wildly flying basketball, I had laid down my portable, roll up yoga mat on a soft, flat patch of grass, running through my usual yoga routine, which was punctuated by brief interruptions whenever the guys needed attending.
Since the two teams were throughly engrossed in finishing their third game as I finished my yoga routine, a solution to my boredom grasped my mind. I rolled up my yoga mat, pulled on the green hoodie that'd been set on the ground next to my mat, and walked away, yoga mat tucked under my right arm. Just like that, I thought, smirking at the simplicity. I wish I had done it earlier, but I supposed I needed to put in a nominal effort to appease my overbearing masters.
About five minutes into my slow ambling down a winding path, a violin tune drifted my way. Something about the sorrowful sound lurched my heart achingly. Intrigued, I decided to find the source of the music. I didn't have to run very far. On a low hill surrounded by trees, stood a closed eyed, violin playing Ikuto under a square, roofless white gazebo that could be accessed by a wide set of concrete stairs climbing up one side of the hill. Yoru relaxed to his owner's music on one of the nearby benches clustered around the gazebo.
This guy plays a violin? I marveled in amusement, standing at the bottom of the stairs. He's too perfect for real life! Admittedly, Ikuto was already cute in that cliché Shougo manga sort of way, and I was certain if cat boy had any fangirls, his looks would definitely be the main ingredient of attraction in an Ikuto cake. The very fact that Ikuto played such a romantic instrument was just icing. For those more daring fangirls, perhaps his pervy behavior could serve as the cherry on top.
Although I very much wanted to slip out of sight without cat boy ever having realized I'd come across him, I found my resolve to escape drown in the way Ikuto's notes seemed to be having a strange intoxicating effect on me. In fact, I was unconsciously ascending the steps toward Ikuto. The sheer tragedy that was quite palatable in his song made me wonder what was seething under cat boy's emotional boiler. I was also jealous of how accomplished he was at one very beautiful past time. I wish I could write as well as he can play. I could move so many people with my words just like him, I thought sadly.
To my shock, a muffled voice exclaimed from my pocket, "Then change that!"
Suddenly, I felt movement from the egg in my pocket. The egg floated out of its hiding place and upwards until it hovered eye-level with me. A zig-zagging line appeared around its middle and darkened as the fracture in the shell grew deeper. It's hatching! I thought to myself, pointing out the obvious. With a final loud crack, the two parts of the shell flew off and disappeared, revealing my very own Guardian Character.
My Guardian Character pretty much resembled me in physical appearance on a chibi scale, but her fashion sense deviated from mine a lot. She wore a short sleeved, white sailor blouse under a knee length, flouncy, button up black jumper skirt that ended just below the breast area. In addition, she sported black mary janes. She had a brown satchel draped over her torso. Shortly, I would learn my Guardian Character stored writing supplies in that satchel. For now, the only obvious sign of a writer I got a glimpse of was the pencil poised over the left ear.
"Hi, Sayaka, I'm Fumiko, your Guardian Character!" she greeted me with a huge smile and a wink. Before I could even react, she cheerily chanted, "From a not-so-literate girl to a literate one! Draft! Proof! Write! Character Change!"
Oh, no, the infamous involuntary Character Change! I thought with dismay. A similar type of pencil popped out of thin air to rest on my left ear along with a pad of paper in the hand holding the yoga mat. The mat dropped to the ground, forgotten. Unconsciously, I whipped out the pencil and began to furiously scribble a haiku poem on the pad as a sort of a short ode to Ikuto's violin writing. When I was done, I admired my work with approval.
"Quite well done, if I say so myself, on such short notice," I commented out loud in a voice full of confidence, quite unlike how I would usually react to anything I wrote.
The scariness of the self-assurance that this Character Change was forcing me to exhibit finally brought me to my senses, and the pencil and pad of paper vanished, leaving behind only the single page with the haiku fluttering to the ground. Fumiko's bright face didn't look the least bit recalcitrant as she swooped down to pick up the product of her quick bout of inspiration.
"Sayaka! Don't you love the haiku you wrote? I'm so glad I Character Chan-"
"I know exactly what you did to me!" I thundered at Fumiko. "Don't do that again!"
For the first time since we'd met, she studied me with some concern, though her reply was thwarted by the interruption of a familiar bored voice.
"So your egg wasn't the embryo after all."
Damn. I'd momentarily forget about Ikuto. At some point, he'd reopened his eyes, noticed me, and quit playing his violin, the most likely reason for this last action being to observe my interaction with the egg in the hopes it was the embryo. Though his face reflected a detached interest in this new development, I could still discern a hint of intense disappointment in his eyes. Huh, whatever this embryo was, cat boy wanted it bad.
"I guess not," I agreed, tempted to ask Ikuto about this embryo and thought better of it. Somehow, having a heart-to-heart with Ikuto didn't seem like a valid option. He knew how to obscure his true intentions well.
Yoru soared over to my Guardian Character and inspected her curiously. To my embarrassment, Fumiko smiled shyly – yes, shyly, for there was no other word for the nature of her smile!
"Hi, I'm Fumiko. What's your name?" Fumiko inquired warmly. She extended a hand forward to Yoru, who, surprised at her gesture of goodwill, caught himself in time from taking the proffered hand, lest he look uncool, I imagined.
"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm Yoru, nya," the cat Guardian Character provided in a offish tone. Yep, the coolness factor had come into play.
"Interesting how you told me it's not my business to know your name, and you gave it to me anyway. I bet I'll grow on you yet!" Hmmm, Fumiko's voice held no sarcasm...I did wish to be more thoughtful, playful, and confident in expressing myself, right? Thus, I got every mortification I deserved and then some with Fumiko for that stupid wish.
Yoru only looked amused at Fumiko's declaration. "What's that, nya?" he asked as if he were indulging a child, pointing at the paper in Fumiko's hands.
"A haiku. It's a type of poem. Sayaka did a great job on it!" Fumiko gushed with abandonment.
Unfortunately, a mischievous gleam shot into Yoru's eyes. "It's that special to you, nya?"
"Yes! It's her first work ever in Character Change with me!"
That last answer confirmed to Yoru how fun it would be to play his first game of trickery on Fumiko: snatch the poem and then gracefully elude my Guardian Character as she frantically pursued him.
"Don't get too comfortable there, Yoru," Ikuto advised, tearing me away from the two Guardian Characters' encounter.
Cat boy strolled over to a white violin case and kneeling down to gently – almost lovingly, I noted – place the instrument inside the case's velvet-lined interior.
Impulsively, I bounded up the rest of the stairs to seize a closer examination of his exquisite violin. "You're not going to play anymore?"
"No. Why would I? The song's over." His back to me, he closed the case lid and snapped the latches shut to firmly secure what I believed by now was his greatest personal treasure in the world.
"Stopping when you notice me here doesn't mean it's over," I pointed out, confused by his backpedaling when I assumed he wouldn't hesitate to be aggressive if need be.
"Well, it does to me. Your presence is irritating." Judging by Yoru and Fumiko's spirited yet friendly enough exchange off to the side, I wondered if it was possible for Guardian Characters to get along better than their respective owners did.
As Ikuto stood up again and faced me again, slinging the case over his shoulder by the strap, a lightbulb clicked on in my head. I almost didn't think it would be a good idea to start something, but I wasn't going to let a conversation end on a note where I was called "irritating." Plus, I wanted to show him that I could keep up in his little game of cat-and-mouse.
"Aaaahhh, I get it...you don't like to play in front of other people. I have no idea why you'd be so self-conscious, though. Your music is quite influential, even if your notes do sound depressingly sad. How do I know?"
I pointed to Fumiko, who was still engrossed with Yoru. She was waving the paper with the haiku on it, having successfully retrieved it from Yoru. Yoru, always acting like the cat he was, blissfully batted at the paper. The glazed expression of fascination with an improvised play toy had firmly entrenched itself on his face. Fleetingly, I wondered if Ikuto could be similarly provoked.
"Fumiko finally hatched because you impressed me so much with your talent and inspired me to want to improve on my own dream."
Ikuto's music, of all things, just had to be the "something else" Kukai referred to, I admitted ruefully.
For an instant, Ikuto's stoic mask slipped just a little, and I smugly witnessed his startlement as I felt my short speech hit the bullseye. The next moment, he safety ensconced himself back into his comfortable facade, a growing smirk the only indication of any affectation of emotion.
"How cute of you to compliment me...so much better than what you did to me the last time I saw you."
Flushing, I inwardly cringed at the mental image of the slap I'd administered to Ikuto's face. No, he can't make me feel guilty, I protested. He totally deserved it.
"But, really, Sayaka, are you that much of a simple girl to be affected so easily by my music?" Ikuto continued, pleased by my flustered reaction.
"Whatever, then, forget I said anything," I mumbled, weary of this conversation. I was ready to walk away from Ikuto like I had from Hansuke, Kukai, and the others.
"You know, I think I will," Ikuto concurred casually, passing me to walk down the stairs back to the main path. "It was all nonsense anyway."
Thanks for doing us both a favor by leaving, I thought coldly. What a jerk! Insulting me after I went through the trouble of praising you!
Simultaneously, cat boy flicked Yoru on the forehead with an index finger. Yoru had decided to pull a revenge prank on Fumiko by stealing her satchel and dangling it over her head while she laughingly chased after him. At being flicked, Yoru's momentary daze from the blow enabled Fumiko to reclaim the possession that was rightfully hers.
"Yoru, let's go," Ikuto prompted in a more forceful tone than I would've expected.
"Okay, Ikuto, nya!" Ironically, the rebellious Yoru acted nothing if not loyal and obedient to his own personal master, as evidenced by the cat Guardian Character quickly falling into line with Ikuto's retreating form.
Fumiko materialized by my side, ostentatiously fussing with her harried satchel. "That Yoru is a lot of fun! I like him!"
"Ugh!" I groaned at Fumiko. "Say it a little louder, will you!"
"Falling for my charms already, Fumiko, nya?" Yoru called over his shoulder, smirking as if he were the biggest playboy ever.
Abruptly, Ikuto halted, not turning around, but quietly announcing, "I've heard of your brother Hansuke at Easter. I'd be careful if I were you to not get him or yourself sucked into that place."
Immediately ensuing the delivery of such disturbing advice, he'd summoned forth the cat ears and tail, taking leaps and bounds that propelled him away from my sight, Yoru effortlessly matching cat boy's swift speed.
What a confusing guy! I screamed in my head. Why would he make fun of me, then warn me to stay away from Easter?