Hello there… Another update~~

Natsume Yuujinchou

Phantasmagoria

Chapter 2 ~ Friends…? トモダチ。。。? Tomodachi...?

"Everybody! News, big news!" Nishimura said as he burst into the classroom.

"What, Nishimura?" Kitamoto asked.

"A transfer student!"

That instantly caught everybody's attention.

"Who?"

"Is it a guy, or a girl?"

"It's a guy!" Nishimura said. "But fellow men, it seems that we would lose, because girls, it's a bishie!"

The guys groaned and the girls chattered happily. Nishimura went over and sat in front of Natsume and Kitamoto, mock crying.

"Haha, what's up with you?" Natsume said.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? The opponent's a bishie! I would never get a girlfriend! I had a crush and you took Taki away!"

"Bishie? And I told you countless times—I'm not in that kind of relationship with Taki. We're just friends, that's all."

"Bishie! Ikemen!" Nishimura said, whole-heartedly ignoring the last two sentences.

"Ah." Natsume understood. "You mean 'handsome'."

"By the way what happened to the guy we met yesterday?" Kitamoto asked.

"Ah, he's—" Natsume's sentence was broke off by the class teacher entering the classroom.

"Hey now, get back to your seats," she said. "We have a transfer student today, but it seems that Nishimura already found out and opened that big mouth of his."

Everybody laughed and Nishimura grinned, going back to his seat.

"Well then. You can come in now," she said to the person outside. A guy stepped in, standing beside the teacher.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Akatsuki Homura," he said in a voice that sounded like it had been programmed to say that numerous times, and bowed lightly. As his name literally suggests, his hair was a fiery shade of reddish-brown, as was his eyes, though they were of a brighter shade. He was slim and tall.

"So, Akatsuki-kun here has transferred quite a lot, but it seems that he would settle down here for a while. His parents work overseas, so he's currently living alone," the teacher said.

"Woah, he's living alone!"

"I'm so jealous!"

"Cool!"

The teacher cleared her throat, and the murmur slowly died down. "Now, where will I seat you…"

"Sensei, sensei! The seat beside Natsume is empty since Masuda transferred!" Nisimura announced loudly.

"I see. Okay then, you'll be sitting next to Natsume-kun over there. Our class representative is Sasada Jun; Natsume and Sasada are reliable people so you can count on them."

"What about me, Sensei?" Nishimura asked.

"Kitamoto there is reliable too, but people like Nishimura there, hmm… not quite."

Nishimura pretended to look crestfallen. "Sensei!"

The whole class laughed.

Homura walked over to Natsume's place, and sat in the empty seat beside him.

"Hi," Natsume said. "I'm Natsume Takashi."

Homura bowed lightly. "Hi…"

Natsume noticed something familiar about Akatsuki. Right, the guy that passed out yesterday and ran away when he woke up!

The teacher started teaching, and Homura pushed his desk next to Natsume's so they could share textbooks.

Natsume wrote on a piece of paper, and pushed it to Homura. He looked at it questioningly.

Are you okay already?

He stared at it for a few seconds before he finally understood. He looked at Natsume in shock. Natsume put a finger to his lips, signaling for him to be quiet, and continued writing.

Yesterday it was me, Kitamoto and Nishimura that found you.

Now that you mention it, that old lady did say something about 'Takashi-kun'. Thanks for helping me, Homura wrote in reply.

What happened back there, Akatsuki?

Homura hesitated before writing. Ah, I saw a stray dog in the woods when I was exploring. I'm bad with dogs. It chased me, so I ran. It wasn't all a lie, he was bad with dogs.

Natsume chewed his lip thoughtfully and said nothing.

It was the first few seconds of lunch break, and people started crowding around Homura.

"Akatsuki-kun, where did you live before this?"

"Nee Akatsuki, what club are you going to enter?"

"Akatsuki-kun, what are your hobbies?"

Homura did his best to answer their questions, but he was growing weary of it. Ah, this is the first time I've talked so much… I never knew 'normal' people are like this… It's kinda annoying…

Natsume wanted to get away too, but they were mostly surrounded by students. "I'm not good with people," he said quietly to Homura.

Thank God! Homura stood up, taking his convenience-store bento, and Natsume taking his. "Sorry everybody, but Natsume promised me he'd take me around." They ran away.

They stopped beside the toilet, catching their breath.

"Natsume~!" Nishimura yelled some distance away.

Oops. Natsume stepped out into the corridor, Homura following him closely. "Nishimura, Kitamoto."

"Mou, Natsume! Where did you go? ! Even though I told you to wait for us…"

"Ah, Akatsuki, you're here too," Kitamoto said. "I'm Kitamoto, and he's Nishimura."

"What, were you giving him a tour? No fair, Natsume! I wanna tag along too!"

"I thought Sensei said you weren't quite reliable," Natsume said, smiling.

"That's it, no food for you," Nishimura said, turning around.

Natsume stopped him quickly, placing a hand on his right shoulder. "Ahh, sorry. No, wait. I have my bento. You can go away if you want, Nishimura. We're not stopping you."

Nishimura instantly turned around with a teary face. "Natsume~"

Since you don't know anyone else, how about coming to eat with us, Akatsuki?" Kitamoto asked, ignoring them.

"Ah, good idea!" Nishimura agreed.

"Eh, is it okay?" Homura asked a little timidly.

"Of course!"

"Natsume?" Tanuma said, coming down the stairs with Taki behind him. "And Nishimura and Kitamoto. Who's that?"

"Tanuma, it's a transfer student!" Nishimura said.

"Transfer student?" Tanuma and Taki echoed.

"Yep, transfer student!" Nishimura affirmed.

Several seconds of silence passed.

"What nonsense are you talking about, Nishimura?" Kitamoto said.

"What~? It's true, isn't it?"

"Hey," Tanuma said. "I'm Tanuma. Tanuma Kaname."

"And I'm Taki Tooru!" Taki said, holding out her hand. "Pleased to meet you."

Homura stiffened, and Natsume noticed. He slowly shook Taki's hand. "I'm Akatsuki Homura."

"Akatsuki, huh. Well, come on. Or we won't get to eat," Tanuma said.

They were sitting outside, all eating.

"What were you guys doing just now?" Taki asked.

"Nishimura could clearly be heard from one floor up," Tanuma added.

"Ah, everybody was bugging Akatsuki," Natsume said.

"… Homura's fine…"

"Hmm?" The others looked at him.

"Call me Homura…"

"But—" Natsume was cut off.

"I don't like my family name, that's why. I like Homura better." He smiled.

"Then, Homura-kun! Once again, nice meeting you!" Taki said.

Homura smiled. "Thank you, Taki."

I made it… I got to know people… So this is how it's like being 'normal'… A determined light entered Homura's eyes. So now I just have to make sure nobody ever finds out about the former Akatsuki Homura…

Here I'll explain Homura's name. ^_^

Akatsuki Homura 赤月 炎. 'Aka' means red, 'tsuki' means moon, and 'homura' is fire. Hence, 'his hair was a fiery shade of reddish brown'.

And 'phantasmagoria' means a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination. It also means a shifting medley of real or imagined figures, as in a dream.