The final bell rang. Kokoro took as long as she could putting her books in her bag. She was not looking forward to cleaning up a river, even if it did mean getting to see Tora outside of school.

Kokoro finally trudged to the club's meeting room. It was actually just an old chemistry lab, but the good thing was that it had lots of windows, and she would spend the meeting staring out of one.

She was running late, to no one's surprise, and the president of the club, Takashi Kogane, sent her to the girl's locker to change into the spare clothes they were supposed to bring that day.

When everyone had returned to the room, Takashi said they were going to board a bus that the school provided and ride to the river. After the river was clean, they would all ride back, change into their uniforms, and call it a day.

Eww, Kokoro thought bitterly.

Everyone quickly boarded the bus, and Kokoro found a seat in the back and sat next to the window. While she was waiting for the bus to leave, someone sat beside her. She turned her head and started to tell the person that the seat was taken, but the words stuck in her throat.

Tora turned his head and smiled at Kokoro. "Hi," he said.

Kokoro nodded, and forced herself to answer. "H-h-hi."

"Haven't seen you around here much. Did you just join?"

I joined the same time as you, stupid, Kokoro thought angrily, but her cheeks betrayed her. Her blush was rivaling the color of a tomato as she replied, "N-no, I've been in the club since the beginning of the year."

Tora chuckled nervously. "Oh, uh, that's the same time I joined. Sorry."

He then turned away from her and began talking to someone else, ignoring her. The rest of the ride was incredibly dreary, Kokoro's mind plagued by the conversation with Tora. She still couldn't believe that after all the time she spent at the club, it was turning out to be a complete waste. Finally they arrived. Everyone trooped off and stood in a group around Takashi.

"Okay everyone, Hitomi will hand out trash bags and then we can all get to work!" Takashi said, clapping his hands. "Let's get to cleaning up this river!"

Kokoro was handed a huge black trash bag and then she tromped over to the water's edge. Slipping off her shoes and socks, she pulled on a pair of raggedy sandals and poked her bare toes into the water. She squeaked and jerked her foot out, her face turning red. I'm being such a baby, she thought embarrassedly. Squeezing her eyes shut, she cautiously stuck one foot into the cold water. Digging her nails into her palms, she stuck the other foot in and waded out toward a plastic bag caught on a stick.

Three hours later, the group was still hard at work. Kokoro grudgingly pulled a rusty cola can from between some rocks and shoved it into her bag. Her hands were grimy, her feet were sore, she was sweaty and tired, and she smelled like a dirty river. But at least her feet had gotten used to the icy water. Yeah, that's because I can't feel them anymore.

Deciding to take a break, she stepped out of the river and plopped down on the sandy shore. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and lifted her brown hair off her shoulders. Then she sighed. "This is really too much work," she grumbled.

As she sat on the shore, she saw a sparkle in the water. Glancing down, she saw something glitter in the fading sunlight, so she plunged her hand into the cool water and fished around. When her fingers brushed against a rock, she closed her hand and pulled it out of the water, then opened her palm. Inside was green stone, worn smooth by the river. She dried it on the hem of her shirt and held it up to the sun.

The rock was a deep green color, like an emerald, and just as sparkly. Flecks of gold twinkled inside the stone, and Kokoro smiled. It certainly was a very pretty stone.

"Hey, c'mon Kokoro, get back to work!" Takashi yelled, startling her out of her daydream. She shoved the stone in her pocket and stood up, traipsed back out into the water, and continued slaving away, hoping that her torture would soon be over.

~*~