Upside Down

Chapter Five: Autumn Festival

September 18...still…

So anyways, I went home to dig out my kimono for the Festival.

It took me a while, but I finally found it. My kimono was a deep purple color, so deep, that sometimes it glinted like black. It had white edges, and it was embroidered with golden dragonflies along with a violet obi. I have always liked dragonflies as a child, and Oka-san embroidered them onto all my kimonos. It seemed like a childish thing to do now, but it was the last kimono Oka-san made for me before she found out she had arthritis on her fingers, making her unable to sew anymore.

I arrived at the Festival, wandering aimlessly until Shindo called me over. Then, Kyshima-san pounced around me and started studying my kimono. Talk about freaky. It turns out she was "checking" out my kimono. After that she begs me to win a doll for her, claiming that she was "terrible" at it. So I did, and she was all googly-eyed at her doll, claiming that she was going to name it Yoshi-kun, after me.

I don't know about you, but that's pretty disturbing. For one, the doll doesn't even look remotely like me. It has really dark brown hair, almost black, and it isn't even poofy like mines. I don't know what Kyshima-san sees in that. And for another, it reminded me of voodoo dolls. I can so imagine her laughing evilly, like this: Muhahahaha!!! She would also be jabbing random pins in that doll of hers. Or even worse, she could be rubbing things like the evil makeup onto that doll. Aargh! So, we continued to walk and then I spotted Isumi and Nase together, trying to win a stuffed animal.

Shindo apparently, never found out that they were going out, and started teasing them about it. I never told him about it, because I knew that he would blab it out loud, plus Isumi was sensitive and shy to these types of things. Then, we started arguing until it almost got out of hand. Afterwards, nothing much really happened as we walked through the Festival.

September 20

It was a typical day at the Go Institute, nothing of particular interest. How long has it been since my life ever felt this normal instead of spinning upside down? Whatever. Little did I know, that the day had gotten worse, and all because of a phone call. (A/N: for typing purposes, I'm going to be typing Myuki instead of Kyshima-san, because it's shorter, but Waya still calls Myuki, Kyshima-san at this point.)

"Yoshi-kun…" Myuki sang through the phone.

"Ah…er…Kyshima-san?" I echoed into the phone.

"Yes, how did you manage to guess?" she said brightly into the phone. Who else would call me Yoshi-kun? Other than Shindo, who says it for fun…and in an annoyingly girly way too.

"Pure luck," I lied. Then, she got into total "designer" mode.

"Anyways, I have talked to your Go Institute people…" she began. Hey, they're not my people…and what…she talked to them. Oh god, this isn't going to be good.

"…and I told them about your situation…" she continued. Oh my god, they know about my job! I'll never live this down. If there is a god, please strike me down with lightning before I have to hear about my peers' comments about my job. I can just imagine Shindo going, 'Yeah, Waya has been getting in touch with his inner feminine side lately…why just the other day, I caught him wearing make-up!' It took all my will power not to scream crazily and drop my phone. Instead, I played it cool.

"Yeah…so?" I said as calmly as I could muster.

"…and they have agreed to have your matches rearranged…" she rambled on. Rearranged? For what?

"…so that you can go on a camping trip with me for the photo shoots!" she finished oh-so-happily. What the hell?

"What?" I asked, not believing what I just heard.

"That's right, you get to go on a 1 week camping trip with me for the photo shoots!" she repeated cheerily.

"Wait…this wasn't part of the contract…" I started.

"I knew you were going to bring that up, but on the contract you signed, there's this small part that said that the designer has the power to arrange trips to diverse locations in order to make a photo shoot." she informed.

"But I know nothing about camping!" I argued.

"Well, I suggest you read up about that, for the day after tomorrow, we're off to the forests!" she replied happily. Day after tomorrow? That's too short! Heck, "never" is even too short.

"So I guess that's it, bye bye for now, Yoshi-kun!" she said, and hung up, leaving me to hear the dial tone hum in my cell phone. I swear, she has a way of making me feel as if I just went through a hurricane every time I talk to her.

Thus, now, I am at a café, recording today's happenings down, and unfortunately, planning my camping gear. I was so absorbed in writing, that I failed to notice someone come up behind me.

"HEY, WAYA! What'cha writing?" a loud voice boomed over my ears. Yes, it was none other than Shindo. He always manages to catch me on a bad time.

"Nothing," I hastily replied, closing my "journal". Hikaru peered over, looking at me weirdly.

"Right…so how's your Go matches coming along?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Ok…I don't have any scheduled for next week…" I said, lightly. His expression looked suspicious.

"How very strange…it almost seems as if you're taking a vacation or something…" he said slowly.

"Yeah well, you know me, all I ever do is go home and play 'net Go or something…it's not as if anything interesting ever happens to me…" I trailed off, silently thinking, 'Nothing interesting ever happened to me before, but that was before I met Kyshima-san'.

"Yeah…us Go players really don't have lives…" Hikaru agreed. I let out a sigh of relief silently in my mind, thankful that my secret wasn't discovered. Thank the gods! I can make it out alive! In my head, I imagined myself dancing a jig. I've been imagining things a lot lately…its just the voices in my head won't stop leaving me alone…

"You can say that again…" I replied, feeling much more lighthearted.

"Anyways, I gotta go now, see you later!" Hikaru said, getting up to leave.

"See you!" I called back, resuming my plans for camping.

A/N: My deepest apologies for neglecting to update sooner!!! I'm hoping to pick up some speed on this story, because the time frames are edgy and I need to make both sides of the story fit. But anyways, thanks for reading once again, and please review!!!