Okay, before you start reading I have something to say. This chapter is kind of part 1 of two chapters. They are both in one day. It's mostly filler stuff but has some plot in it. Just wanted to do something different then Shizu and her adventures in the academy. Cause really, that's no adventure. Enjoy~
"Are you completely flat on the ground?" Emi asks.
"Yep, I'm ready." I reply.
"Okay, I'm going to lift your legs up." Emi says as she grabbed my ankles and started lifting them.
"That tickles a bit!" I say wiggling.
"Okay, I'll try to un-tickle it then Shizu." Emi says laughing. "Now, use your elbows, and try to see if you can do it." I felt blood coming to my face, because after all, I'm upside down. Slowly, with sheer strength, I made my hands completely straight.
"Umm, Emi?" I say
"Yes?" she answers.
"I'm starting to get tired." I say sweating.
"Okay, okay. Do you think you're ready for me to let go?" she asks.
"I think so, yeah." I say as I prepare for her hands to let go.
"Kay, prepare yourself. If you drop, I'll be there. We could always go to a doctor if anything gets broken. It'll heal in n-" Emi says but Tomoko cuts her off.
"Will you just let go already? I think Shizu can handle it." Tomoko says. She just got up of her bed.
"Fine. 1, 2, 3!" Emi shouts as she lets go. My hands start to go weak, but I manage to balance them in a few seconds.
"Yes! On Saturday, May 28th, uhh what time is it?" I ask still on my handstand, walking with my hands a bit.
Emi looks at the wall clock we have in our dorm. "9:57 AM" she says.
"Okay. On Saturday, May 28th, at 9:57 AM, I Shizu Sanu, has done a handst- woah!" I shout as I start to fall. Emi manages to catch me before I land my face flat on the ground.
"That was close." Emi says.
"You think?" Tomoko says with her eyebrows raised. Katsumi comes out of the restroom and Tomoko goes in right after her to change.
"I'm done." Katsumi says fixing her glasses. "Let's eat breakfast and then to Kumi Town Square."
"Agreed." I say. "Although, I can't believe I agreed to this."
There's a story of how this all happened. Let me first start by saying coincidently, my dorm mates and I all have our birthdays during May. Mine's May 18nd, Emi's May 25th, Tomoko's May 21st, and Katsumi's May 10th. To celebrate this, we waited until the last weekend of May to hang out in the city.
It took a long time for them to convince me to ditch my weekend school cleaning, but it didn't take much for Emi to give in. So that's why I didn't wake up early in the morning to line up and clean for once. Oh well, there were times like this when I was too late to work for the school, so I'd just train with my wooden sword. Today will be different.
Tomoko just came out of the restroom changed. "Let's go!" Emi says. We all head out, not wearing our uniforms. Katsumi gave me clothes for my birthday, so I'm wearing overall shorts with a plain white sweatshirt below. I'm also wearing my sandals I kept in my cube since the first day of school. It felt nice wearing clothes like this.
We go up the school stairs and there's the E.A.. On the weekend, the E.A. is only open for breakfast and dinner. From 8-11 AM for breakfast, and from 8-11 PM for dinner. As I'm about to go in I hear a laugh. It's coming from the right, probably on the balcony. You see, the MPR and E.A. are in the center of the 2nd floor.
On the far right is the newspaper class, or as my dorm mates and I like to call it, the overdramatic club of weirdos. They will storm into your dorm room to ask a single question and invade your space. I sigh at them. The right also has the amazing library I always go to.
On the far left is the art room; the walls are filled will creative drawings. Also, there's the music room; there's always a stupid metronome going on in there- or maybe just a loud clock.
And lastly, there're three balconies, one for each side of the 2nd floor. (Of course, since you're upstairs one side is missing) It's always taken during lunch or afterschool or even the morning, but usually never on weekends.
"Shizu?" Katsumi asks.
"Huh? What? Oh." I say. "I'll be back you guys." I walk off to the balcony, because it seems I'm the only person that heard. They call my name as I walk off, but then they walk into the E.A.. I reach the right side balcony. It's Daiki and Genji. Daiki is just laughing while Genji just yawned. Daiki's- oh gosh he's taping the balcony rail.
"Don't tell me you're taping the balcony rail." I say, giving a big sigh.
"Haha, silly cousin, I am! Tape will rule the world!" Daiki says laughing.
"And you're here for?" I ask Genji.
"I'm bored, plus it's a little entertaining." Genji replied smiling.
"If this is entertaining to you, I don't want to know what's boring to you." I say.
"I was too late for the weekend cleaning so I thought I should tape the balcony, all three of them. Oh yeah~ " Daiki says. "You know tape you made by a genius named- hey! Where are you going?" Daiki shouts as I'm walking back to the E.A..
"To where insanity isn't." I simply say.
"Are you saying I'm insane too?" Genji questions.
"Well, you are watching him aren't you?" I say and now I can't hear them any more.
Daiki- and I could add myself- recently had the chance to use tape and glue. Of course we knew what it was, just never used it. Daiki immediately fell into an obsession with tape. He tapes his clothes, his school supplies, his desks, and his homework. I think he needs help. Plus, since he loves tape, he has a horrible hatred for glue. I was using a glue stick once, and he took it and broke it- with his pinky! Anyways, enough with my cousin's newfound love. (A/N: Gotta love comic relief!)
I enter the E.A., and there are a lot of people during this time. I sit on a floating chair and get a bagel with butter and apple juice. My chair floats over to my table.
"Where'd you go?" Emi asks eating an apple.
"To the balcony. I found my hopeless cousin there." I say with a sigh.
"You mean the cute one?" Emi replied smiling.
"No, I mean the tape-obsessed one." I say. Everyone laughs, even Tomoko whose holding her egg at the other edge of the table. "Why do you still have that egg, shouldn't it be in the daycare?" I ask.
"She has to take care of it during weekends." Katsumi replies.
"Oh wow, I'm so busy on weekends I don't notice." I say.
"Now that I think about it, Tomoko's is always out on weekends. I usually walk around the garden or do some art.", Katsumi states while fixing her glasses. (The school garden is in the back of the school. The back of the school is split into the school field and the garden, but the field gets more space. The garden is only open during weekends.)
Tomoko shrugs. "The city is a big place." She says.
Emi and Katsumi nod. We finish breakfast and head out. It seems Tomoko's actually going to bring her egg to the city. We walk down the stairs and outside. It's been a while since I've actually been out to the city.
"The plaza's across the street. But that's just the main plaza. There are many others. The street we're on is Kumi Street. This is the main street of the whole city. The academy, government building, and palace are on this street. The only thing between them is the royal guard houses and the guard houses." Katsumi says.
"Wow, Kumi Street, how original." I say bluntly.
"But it's also fitting." Katsumi answered.
"There are six streets connected to this long street. And so six plazas, the street are names after the plaza. And, how are we going to travel?" Tomoko asks, eyebrow rose.
"I don't know." I say simply.
"Well, I do have a private car just for my family." Katsumi says grinning.
"Oh~ A private car, let's go!" Emi says excitedly. Katsumi dials a number and talks on the phone. After 3 minutes, the car is right in front of the school.
"Thanks Katsumi." I say sincerely.
"No problem." Katsumi replies. We all get in the car. Tomoko's in the front seat and the rest of us are in the back. The driver is a plain middle-aged guy.
"Hello Katsumi and friends. Call me Jun. What's the plan today Katsumi?" Jun asks smiling.
"Well, I was thinking you could drive around all six streets of the plaza and we can tell you when to stop." Katsumi says.
"Okay, a street in particular you want to go?" Jun asks as he's driving.
"I was thinking the one nearest, Oliva Drive." Tomoko replies. Jun turns in.
"You know what?" I say to my dorm mates. Okay, I'll stop calling them dorm mates. My friends.
"What?" Emi asks with curiosity.
"I think this is my first time in a car." I say simply. Oh well, when I was in my mom's stomach, I was probably in a car, but other than that!
"Really? Well, how does it feel?" Emi asks.
"Like I'm moving." I reply. Everyone laughs. "Actually, I haven't done a lot of things. My life felt like a recurring cycle."
"Well, let's do a lot of firsts for you today then." Katsumi suggests.
"Alright then." I say smiling.
"Hey, can you stop here Jun?" Tomoko asks.
"Alright. I'll park in front while you guys can go there." Jun says. I look at where we're going.
"Eternal Music?" I question as we get out of the car.
"Yep, need to get more guitar picks." Tomoko states.
"Then you're just doing errands and dragging us along." I say pouting.
"Pretty much." She replies.
"Come on, a music shop is interesting." Emi says smiling optimistically. I turn to Katsumi.
"You're okay with this too?" I ask her.
"It's alright with me." Katsumi says politely. I sigh.
"Then I guess I'll make the most of it." I reply making a smiling.
We go inside the store as a bell rings because we opened the door. The music room is really decorated with instruments, posters, and others all over the place. I hear some music playing too. They have individual rooms and sections for different types of instruments. I see woodwinds, brass, classical strings, other strings, and keyboard.
Tomoko's walking to the guitar section and we follow her as three teens, older than us are coming towards us. "Hey there sis!" the guy with spiked up white hair says. I'm guessing that's Tomoko's brother, same white hair.
There's a guy and a girl beside him. The girl is blond with hair to the shoulders, and her eyes are plain brown. The other guy has navy blue hair that's a bit to the left, and his eyes were bright blue.
Tomoko doesn't say anything, but they exchange knuckles. So cool, I wish Daiki was like that. He'd say something stupid and then we'd slap hands.
"Who are these? Your friends?" he asks.
"Also dorm mates. I'm Emi. That's Katsumi, and that's Shizu." Emi says.
"Oh, well I'm Kyousuke, Tomoko's bro. I forgot Tomoko had a four people dorm." Kyousuke says.
"Why wouldn't she?" I ask. Kyousuke grins.
"She spends so much money on her guitar, headphones, and all the other music stuff. Oh, and here's my girlfriend, Hiromi. That's my best bud and dorm mate, Junsei. We're third levels." Kyousuke says.
"Hey Tomo, how are you?" Junsei says smirking.
"Don't call me that." Tomoko says looking the other way.
"Tomo? That's pretty creative." I say. (A/N: Tomo in Japanese means friend.)
"I know, I am creative." Junsei replies arrogantly.
"Why were you guys here?" Katsumi asks.
"Well Junsei was getting something for his piano keyboard." Hiromi says. Her voice is really soft and sweet.
"Getting something for your piece of garbage I see." Tomoko murmurs.
"At least my piece of garbage doesn't need tuning." Junsei replies.
"The guitar is easy to tune. Plus, it's lighter." Tomoko says getting fired up.
"A piano is a more favorite to the public than a guitar according to research." Junsei answers.
"A guitar sounds better." Tomoko spats back.
"By your opinion only." Junsei says grinning. Tomoko gets faintly embarrassed.
"A guitar is like the soul!" Tomoko shouts. Now people are looking at us.
"So now you're talking in figurative language?" Junsei asks. Tomoko looks away.
"Don't tell me, you don't know what that word means." he says laughing.
Everyone's just staring now. "It means not in real meaning." He's still laughing. Tomoko's still holding her egg at this moment. She goes up to Junsei, and lifts it up about to use it to hit Junsei. Katsumi, Emi, and I run to her and grab her away from Junsei.
"Don't throw an egg at him!" I say in a panicky voice.
"Resulting to anger is a sign to weakness. Oh, and the piano makes a person more calm." Junsei says. Tomoko gets loose of our grip and puts the egg down and runs to Junsei super fast. Her fist is gathering wind for crying out loud. Junsei catches her fist, woah.
"You're lucky I don't have my animal companion with me today." Junsei says while still gripping her fist. He's a savager then.
"You're lucky we're inside a store." Tomoko says, gritting through her teeth.
"Give up already, I'm a third year, you're a first year and the piano will always win." Junsei- still gripping her fist and smiling- says.
"Shut up!" Tomoko shouts as she uses more force on her punch and makes Junsei (widening his eyes a bit) bump into a wall that makes a hole in the wall! I sigh.
"And that is what happened." Kyousuke says to the store manager.
"It'll be 50 dollars for repairing. Plus 5 dollars for those guitar chips you're buying miss." The store manager says to Tomoko. Tomoko gives a big sigh and is about to take out her wallet.
"I'll pay for it." Junsei says giving the store manager a credit card. Tomoko raises her eyebrow.
Junsei shrugs his shoulders. "It was my body that made the hole. Plus, your birthday was exactly one week ago."
"Oh, yeah I forgot. Happy birthday sis." Kyousuke says smiling. I stood there looking at him. He is kind of like Daiki without the tape.
"Thanks." Tomoko says as she gives a really small smile. Junsei gives a big smile in response.
"Well, we're going to go. Nice meeting Tomoko's friends." Hiromi says.
"Stay innocent sis." Kyousuke says.
"Bye Tomo and friends." Junsei says.
"Don't call me that." Tomoko says glaring. Junsei laughs and they walk out of the store. There's a few seconds of silence and Emi breaks it.
"Well, this was an interesting visit to the music store. I learned that a hole in the wall costs 50 dollars." Emi says. We all laugh in response.
"So what time is it Katsumi?" I ask. Katsumi checks her phone.
"It's almost 11:30 AM." Katsumi says. We're all back in the car.
"Where to now?" Jun asks Tomoko. Tomoko opens her mouth when Katsumi interrupts.
"Hey, I heard of this new fashion place. I think it was called Chic-Ful." Katsumi says.
"Okay, that is on Isaac Lane, it's the street before this one." Jun replies.
"To Chic-Ful we go!" Emi says excitedly.
I know what you're thinking. What kind of store name is Chic-Ful? I'm sorry, it just came to me. Review? Yes? No? Maybe? Never? Your choice.