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-'I can't be late today. Or else, what would a surprise be without me there?' -Kouji

-'What did he just say? Junpei?' -Kouichi

-'"I missed you guys." I have wanted to say that for ages.' -Junpei

Chapter 5: Reunion (part 2)

Kouichi

I sat in my seat near the window. I knew almost all the students in the class since they all came from the same elementary school, so there wasn't much to do on the first day.

Kouji's at the office now. They haven't decided which class he'll be in yet. So is Junpei. I silently wished he'd get in to my class.

"Hey, Kouichi, nice to see you." One of my old friends, Kai greeted me. "Mind if I sit in front of you?"

"Sure" Kai's a good friend, but he's kinda noisy sometimes.

Kai sat down in the seat in front of me, and started talking the instance he sat down.

"Hey, I heard that there quite a lot of new students this year. I saw one just now. Quite a pretty girl. And there was a few guys. Hope they'll get in our class." I smiled in response to Kai.

"By the way, there was this guy I swear looked so much like you. The same eye color, the same hair color, except his was longer. You got any relative new here?" Kai now got my full attention. What was I suppose to reply? He's my long-lost twin brother?

"Are you listening to me, Kouichi?" Kai was standing before me, shaking a hand in front of my eyes.

"Er…ya...I- " I thought fast. What should I say?

"Morning class." Our class teacher walked in at that same moment. Kai sat back to his seat immediately. Guess I was saved-for now.

I looked up at the teacher. Miss Manaka was still our class teacher.

"Welcome back all. Hope you had a nice holiday. Now, before we start, there's someone I will like to introduce. We have a new student in our class this year." Miss Manaka waved a hand towards the shadow standing outside our classroom. "You can come in now."

I crossed my fingers. Could my wishes come true?

I stared at the figure walking in. Instead of the long dark hair boy I thought-or hoped- I would see, a blonde hair girl showed up in my eyes.

Yet she seemed so familiar…

"Izumi." I didn't realized that I had said that out loud. Everyone turned to look at me, even the new student.

Her green eyes met mine. Disbelieve flashed in those emerald eyes. Then a smile shone on her face, shining like a sun in the darkest days.

I rubbed my eyes. Was she who I thought she was?

Not taking her eyes of me, she went and stood next to the teacher.

"My name is Orimato Izumi. I'm 15 this year and I just came back from Paris. I hope we can all be good friends." Even while saying, or rather memorized her simple introduction, her eyes never left mine.

I didn't dare to look away either. I was scared even to blink and open my eyes to see her gone, to find that this was all a dream, that it was just something in my head.

"Well, thanks you Orimato-san, so now we'll have to find somewhere for you to sit-" Miss Manaka was cut off as Izumi ran straight towards me, and before I knew, she had her arms around me.

"Kouichi…is this really you?" I heard Izumi say and I slowly nodded my head.

I could see that Izumi was unaware of all that was happening around us, but I couldn't bear to stand the staring of my fellow friends and teacher anymore, especially the one sitting in front of me.

"Er…Izumi…do you mind getting off me? We're in class now, if you didn't notice." I whispered to Izumi. Much as I loved the feeling of her hugging me, I had to control my feelings here, in the classroom.

"Oh, ya…Sorry" Izumi muttered as she let go of me. Her face was as red as a tomato, but was that-was that tears in her eyes?

"Good going, Kouichi, you've got the new girl at your knees already!" Kai shouted to me, making me turn red also.

"Yoshida-san, why don't you offer your seat to Orimato-san and come sit here?" Miss Manaka suddenly said, pointing to the seat in the most front row "Seeing that you have so much interest in Orimato-san. I'm sure you be most happy to do so."

"I-But-what-" Kai looked from me to Izumi, then from Izumi to Miss Manaka, speechless.

"Thank you, Yoshida-san is it?" Izumi smiled a sly smile. "Thanks you so much for helping me, the new student. I am so grateful." She dropped her bag on his table. In other words, she was forcing him to go.

Finally Kai had to agree to change places, and Izumi sat down with victory on her face.

She just doesn't change, does she?

I felt myself smile, like the sun outside, shiny and bright.

--

Izumi

I took a few deep breaths. What was I thinking, hugging Kouichi in front of the whole class? Now the whole class must think I'm a fan girl or something. I didn't plan on this kind of first impression at all.

"Pss" I felt something touch my back. It was Kouichi, handing me a piece of paper.

I snatched it from his hand and took a glance at the teacher in front before reading it.

Why are you here?

Why can't I be here? I wrote back.

Aren't you supposed to be in Paris?

Didn't you hear my intro just now? I CAME BACK from Paris. I think he didn't hear me say anything at all.

OIC. It's just so unbelievable, seeing you here, in Japan, in my own school, my own class. Its almost like a dream come true. To tell you the truth, I was expecting Kouji to walk in instead of you.

KOUJI? I doubled read the note. My eyes didn't fail me.

KOUJI? He's here too?

Ya, and Junpei also. We're in the same school.

Kouji is here? In the same school as me now? OH MY GOD. I nearly fainted when I saw that note.

WOW. Is today a reunion day or what?

Haha. I'll bring you to see them later during recess.

I crumpled up the note after reading it. Kouji was here. After years of thinking of him, I finally get to meet him. Has he changed? Does he remember me?

Most importantly, does he feel the same way as I do?

I could feel my heart bumping faster and faster as the recess bell rang. The thought of seeing Kouji after all these years made me anxious.

Has he changed a lot? Seeing that Kouichi is still the same old look, I doubt that he has. But even being twins, the two of them had a lot of difference.

"Izumi, come on." Kouichi pulled me out of the classroom, to somewhere I didn't know. I was still new here, for god's sake.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to keep up with him.

"To see them, of course. I asked them to wait for me here." Kouichi stopped under a large oak tree that was right in the middle of two buildings. "This is my favorite place in school."

"But, where are the others?" I panted. Kouichi legs were too long compared to mine, and one step of his equaled two of mine.

"They're coming. See, there comes Kouji." I glanced up in an instance. I don't know what I was hoping to see, and my mind was totally blank.

A long dark haired boy stood before me, his dark eyes staring at me. The eyes were so hard to read, and I couldn't guess what he was thinking.

I searched my mind for things to say. But before I knew, tears were trickling down my cheeks. I covered my mouth to stop myself from making any sound.

The vision before me blurred. A hand came up to my face and a thumb gently rubbed away one of my tears.

"Hi, Izumi."

--

Kouji

I was shocked. I wanted to punch myself. If it hurt it'll mean that this is all real, won't it?

I was even shocked when she started crying. In my memories, Izumi never cries.

I had so much to ask, so much to say, but all I could manage were these few words.

"Hi, Izumi."

Her tears were still hot on my thumb.

"Izumi, what's going on?" Kouichi rushed to her side as I silently took a step behind. "Are you ok?" He offered her a tissue.

"Nothing. Its just that I'm so happy to see you guys. Where's Junpei?" Izumi sniffed and rubbed away her remaining tears. I wanted so much to rush forwards and hug her. But, I clenched my fist- I couldn't.

"He has a different recess time." I answered simply. Kouichi finally turned to me. Some kind of brother he is.

"So, how's your class, Kouji?" He looks like he's in a good mood.

"Nothing much." I replied him. "Izumi's in your class?"

"Ya. Great isn't it? We're all back together." Kouichi pulled Izumi near us as we sat down on the roots of the tree.

"Except for Takuya and Tomoki. Where are they?" Izumi asked, looking around. She must be hoping that they might jump out of somewhere and surprise us.

"Tomoki's in Canada and we just couldn't find Takuya." Kouichi grabbed a leaf on the ground and slowly tore it into half.

"You know, I finally got my New Year wish come true." Izumi stood up and swirled around on the green grass.

"What was your New Year wish?" I didn't need to ask to know the answer. But I wanted to ask anyway.

"To meet you all. Again."

Me too, Izumi. Me too.

Thank you all for ur reviews. I will try to correct the things tat i have done wrong in this story.. like the age n Izumi's origin. Hope that they weren't a big problem for u all when reading this story. I'll try to update as soon as i get these problems clear.

Hope u like tis chapter.

Read n Review plz )