Enjoy the chapter! It's freakin long so…hopefully it doesn't bore you xD;; And remember to review :3
Now wait patiently as I spam all your email boxes today!
Shugo Chara! Belongs to Peach-Pit. I'd want it, but they can KEEP Amu.
The Colours of Love: Chapter 3
Exploring Tokyo, and yourself
That night, Arisa dreamt of…everything; toaster waffles, soccer, Lappy-chan, skating, Hiro, her new school, the Souma family, and strangely enough; Kuukai.
For some reason, she got out of bed willingly this morning. Before getting up, she glanced at the clock that read '8:00 AM' She sighed aloud knowing that it would be near impossible to go back to sleep now that she's awake, so she decided to go ahead and raid the kitchen.
As her bare feet came in contact with the cold kitchen tiles, she had a sudden surge of energy and dashed for the cupboards. She rummaged through the contents, until she laid her hands on a rectangular box about the size of a cereal box. But this box was much greater than cereal; this box; was a box of pancake mix.
-
Kuukai finally opened his eyes sleepily. He sat up and ran his hand through his slightly coarse, rust coloured hair, yawning. His eyes roamed over to the bed opposite to him. The blanket and pillows were in a mess, but Arisa was no where to be found. His eyes widened in realization.
Arisa was no where to be found.
He threw his covers off, after hearing the faint sound of humming and sizzling coming from the kitchen. The young Souma quickly dashed into the hallway which led to the kitchen. His eyes darted around quickly, but soon met the body of Arisa standing by the stove happily, but clumsily flipping a pancake.
Her hair was still tied in pig tails from the night before, and her bangs were an absolute mess. Over her pyjamas she wore a small blue apron that he never knew he owned. Overall, she looked cute; really cute.
Silently laughing to himself, he approached her running a hand through his hair getting the bed-knots out.
"Morning sunshine," he greeted cheerfully.
Arisa quickly twisted her body around at the sound of his voice.
"Kuukai-sempai! You're-" She interrupted herself when she squeaked in surprise at the sight of him. His hair was an absolute mess from sleeping, his pants baggy from the previous night and…simply put it; he wasn't wearing a shirt.
Her eyes widened and she darted her body back around to face the stove, with her hands covering her reddening face.
"Arisa-san, what's wrong?" He asked innocently leaning over her shoulder.
"K-Kuukai-sempai," she stuttered. "Would you kindly…please, put a shirt on?"
Her face had flushed several shades of dark maroon, and wasn't letting up one bit. She bit her lip in hopes not to make a sound. Then after a mind numbing silence he replied, "Oh! I knew something was off," and with that he disappeared into the bedroom to change.
'What on earth happened?! That idiot should've put a shirt on before leaving the room. But it's still strange; I've gone swimming with plenty of boys before. Why should this one be different?!' She wondered in her head.
As she flipped the final pancake and when she was finally able to recollect her thoughts, she was hugged from behind.
"I have a shirt on; can I have a pancake now?" Kuukai whispered in her ear.
She forcefully dismissed he blush on her cheeks and sourly replied, "Well unless you want to collapse during your game today, duh."
He released her from his grasp and walked over to the sturdy wooden table, feeling accomplished. He then noticed a note on the table.
"Went out to do errands. Your brothers are with me. –Mom"
He glanced up from the note, "Looks like we're alone for the day," he reported as a plate covered in steaming pancakes covered in maple syrup was placed in front of him.
"Enjoy," she chirped as she greedily dug into her own plate that had at least double the amount on his.
After they finished eating (which didn't take very long) they both dashed into the bedroom each snatching their clothes. Then a silence arouse and finally, Kuukai awkwardly made his way across the hall and into the bathroom to change into his soccer jersey, leaving Arisa to change and shutting the bed room door behind him.
Arisa hurriedly pulled off her pyjamas and discarded them in a small pile in the courner of the room. She then pulled on a pair of army pants and a ginger coloured t-shirt covered in golden stars. After re-tying her pigtails, she exited the room seeing Kuukai with his equipment bag hanging on his shoulder, hopping on one foot trying to tie his shoe.
As usual, she couldn't help but laugh at the sight and made her way over to him. She quickly found her own shoes in the pile and slipped them on, but not before giving him a playful push, making him tip over and fall to the ground with a laugh. Kuukai had finally put on both his shoes and suddenly declared that they were going to be late.
"How fast can you run?" Kuukai demanded once they reached the lobby.
"Pretty fast. Wh-" But before she could reply, she was grasped by the hand was dragged into a full out sprint.
With that sprint they arrived at the school grounds within minutes. Arisa playfully fell over on the ground out of exhaustion.
"That was totally wicked!" She laughed.
"Don't laugh too hard." Kuukai instructed, panting, "You'll run out of air."
Arisa sat up and brushed the dirt from her shirt, "Have a good game," she stated glancing past him at his team who was impatiently waiting for him.
He gave a look of realization, grabbed his bag and dashed over.
Watching him leave, she got up and spotted an empty seat in the bleachers and made her way towards it.
Throughout the game Arisa was filled to the brim with energy. She cheered wildly along with the crowd around her as her eyes frantically followed the young Souma along and across the field.
At the end, Seiyu's team had lost by a point that the other team had been scored at the last second, but the entire team (and Arisa) agreed that they all played a great game none the less. She got a quick picture of the team and also one of Kuukai in his soccer uniform.
After Kuukai wiped most of his sweat off his head and got a drink of water he waved Arisa over, "Since we're here, shall I show you around the school?"
Of course, she agreed and he led her across the field into Seiyu Academy grounds.
He led her to the main building and pulled the door open. The school was usually open to students who want to finish extra work. They stepped inside and Arisa's eyes widened in amazement.
The halls were long and fairly wide. There were only a handful of students roaming the halls on their day off, heading to the library or a classroom. Most of them weren't in their uniforms, but simple casual clothes with a stack of books in their arms. Sunlight shone through the windows that lined the hallways which made the hardwood floor glow a golden honey colour.
He led her around the first floor, showing where the lockers were and how not to get trampled by the morning rush of students.
Next he led her to the first flight of stairs which led to most the classrooms. As they walked down the halls, several students greeted the elder Souma with a wave and a smile; others would full out call his name across the hall and waving frantically. Kuukai responded to them generally with the same wave and charming smile.
Along one of the halls, as she glanced around she heard Kuukai call out to someone.
"Nikaidou-sensei!"
She spotted a teacher, whose carroty, orange hair was tied in a low ponytail and glasses were just about to come off. He was carrying a monstrous pile of books and once he reached them he fell over dropping the books, which scattered all over the floor.
Kuukai laughed and bent down helping the teacher and Arisa followed suit.
Both Nikaidou and Kuukai noticed that whenever Arisa picked up a book, she examined it's contents before placing it into a pile. When they finished, they handed Nikaidou their piles of books and he smiled warmly at them, thanking them.
"So what do you think of your future homework, Hoshiwa-san?" Nikaidou asked.
Her cheeks tinted red, and she suddenly became uneasy; she was always uneasy when talking to teachers.
"Well, it's all pretty new to me…" she muttered.
Arisa looked up nervously at her future sensei's face. His eyebrows had creased together and his eyes looked extremely focused on the ceiling. She was guessing he was thinking about something.
"Well I'm sure you'll do fine, but if you don't I'm going to contact your parents and see if I can assign you a tutor, alright?"
All she could think of doing was nod in response.
'A tutor? I've always had pretty good marks, but that's probably because the lessons in Tokyo are much harder than homeschooling. If the work is as hard as I actually think it is, I'll never pass, and never get to that school…' She thought. Arisa was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't realize that Nikaidou had bid them farewell and continued to his destination.
Kuukai took her by the arm and they continued on the tour.
In one hallway, several groups of students whispered to each other as the duo walked by them. Arisa was able to catch several words like, "together," "girlfriend," and "couple." But once she heard 'love' she snapped and turned to the hall of gossiping kids.
"We're not together. I'm not his girlfriend. We're not a couple, and most defiantly," she paused, "We aren't in love."
After sending fearsome glares at the groups in the hallway, she felt a grip on her arm.
"Let it go. Rumours around here are as common as breathing. You'll get used to it eventually." Kuukai told her in a hushed voice, attempting to calm her down.
She took several deeps breaths and swiftly turned her back to the crowd and walked away, bumping her shoulder with the Souma.
When they walked into an empty hallway, Kuukai audibly sighed and approached her. Her bangs were hanging over her eyes, and her pigtails drooped lower than usual.
"Arisa-san…?" He asked. His voice was so careful, like if his voice was too loud, or harsh she would shatter into a million pieces.
Suddenly, she tossed her head back, and groaned loudly which echoed throughout the empty hallway.
"I hate being gossiped about. It's the single most annoying thing ever." She groaned.
He stared at her and sighed. "How about we get out of here?" he suggested.
After Arisa swept her bangs away from her face, she smiled somewhat weakly at him and nodded.
They made their way down the same flight of stairs near the main entrance. Arisa noticed someone familiar to her. What was her name again? Sayo? Soota? Saayot?
"…Saaya-sama?" On of the girls around her had whispered.
Saaya; that's what it was.
From her spot on the stairs, she over heard the conversation going on with Saaya and her cronies. Some stuff about hair, shoes shopping and other pointless gibberish that Arisa could have less time for.
Saaya and her group were moving up the stairs, and she and Kuukai were going down, so she was doomed to hear at least part of their non-stop, incoherent chatter.
She tried keeping a straight face, but as they passed, Arisa heard one word that caught her attention.
"..Kuukai-sama…"
This caused her eyes to widen for a fraction of a second, but quickly composed herself. Sadly, her shoelaces were conveniently untied. Kuukai had already slid down the railing carelessly and land with a thump when his feet came in contact with the ground.
She decided to try sliding down the railing herself, forgetting about her laces. But as she dashed for the railing, her shoelace was caught on something making her crash down the stairs, landing on her stomach.
As she tumbled down the steps, she heard a shrill scream. It wasn't from her that's for sure. Arisa used her arms to push herself off the ground and looked around her.
Several feet away, was the group of girls crouched down around something exclaiming shouts of concern.
Kuukai frantically rushed over to her, helping Arisa up on her feet.
"You good?" He asked.
Brushing off the imaginary dirt off her pants she replied, "I'll live."
Suddenly they heard a shout coming from the crowd of girls.
"What is the matter with you?!" Saaya demanded, fuming. Her clothes have been wrinkled and her hair had become a mess thanks to the fall.
"Sorry 'bout that…I didn't think you'd step on my shoelaces." Arisa replied sheepishly.
"You better be sorry! You...you…BITCH."
Arisa's eyes widened at this statement. Either she was calling a female dog (Parents are animal experts) or that…bad one. Her guess was on the bad one.
"Calm down. It was an accident," Arisa responded putting her hands up, thinking it would shield her from Saaya's ever-growing anger.
"I bet you did this to me on purpose! As revenge for last time!! Why are you still with Kuukai anyway?! He's supposed to be mine! All mine!" She screamed.
Arisa stepped back, with a look of fear on her face. She's never made anyone this mad before in her life.
"I wish you could just die! Boys will never like you and never will. You're going to die a lonely, sad, single death!" She exploded, "And hopefully, it'll be soon," she muttered under her breath before stomping away with her cronies following closely behind.
"Arisa-san?" Kuukai asked unsurely.
Her mind was racing with thoughts that were strange and new to her. 'Single? Alone? What about Kuukai?' She had thought she full out lost her mind at that thought. Suddenly she heard Kuukai say her name.
When she turned her head up, and smiled weakly at the Souma.
"Are you-"
"I'm alright. Just forget about it." She interrupted.
The two of them walked to the entrance of the school in silence. Suddenly Kuukai burst out, "You like skating, don't you?"
When she looked up, she looked completely different. Her chocolate shaded eyes shone with excitement and she had an eager smile on her face. "Hell yeah I do!"
He suddenly took her by the hand and pulled her forward, making her run, once again. "Then you'll love the next stop on the super awesome; Souma tours!" He called over his shoulder to Arisa who was still beaming.
After running for a while, they were forced to stop at one of the crosswalks. Arisa really wanted to ask where they were going, but they were too busy catching their breath. When she finally caught her breath, she was about to ask, but the crossing light turned white and she was pulled into another sprint.
After many crosswalks and even more running, they finally arrived at the front of a large arena, with a huge sign at the front that read 'Tokyo Arena'
"I go here to practice other sports, and sometimes I come to visit one of my friends," he explained as he pulled the door open and ushered her in.
The inside of the stadium was even larger than it looked on the outside. There was a basketball court on one side, with glass walls, an indoor swimming pool at the end of the hall, a large snack bar with tables, chairs and stools that went along the counter, a booth where they sold tickets and most importantly; the ice rink.
"Stay close," he instructed. All she could do was nod as her eyes ran around the large room leading to others. A lot of things she had never seen before. Like a large snack bar with pink and blue puff balls being sold, large neon lights and even stairs that moved.
Eventually, Kuukai led her through the door at the farthest end of the building. When they entered, Arisa shivered in delight, finally knowing where he had taken her; the ice rink.
Even though she would normally wear at least a sweater when she is skating, she felt right at home with the temperature that surrounded her.
Her eyes darted around curiously, taking in the bleachers, the rink and even the soda machines.
As they walked along the top of the bleachers, Arisa curiously asked Kuukai monstrous amounts of questions about the things that surrounded her.
"How would they keep the ice frozen inside?"
"What are the benches for?"
"What on earth is that?"
On her last question, she pointed at a van sized vehicle gliding along the ice, leaving strips of the ice shimmering and smooth.
"That's a zamboni. After people skate on it making it rough and stuff, it drives over the ice to smooth it out." He explained leaning against the ledge of the walls surrounding the ice.
Arisa's eyes had widened in shock at this.
"Wow…that's awesome," she said breathlessly.
He smiled brightly. That smile never ceased to amaze her. No matter how many times she's seen it, and will see it, it's just as dazzling and charming as the last. And just for the record, unknown to her knowledge, it made her heart suddenly beat faster and butterflies arise in her stomach.
Then from the other side of the rink, she heard someone call out to them. Well, to Kuukai.
"Kuukai-kun! Over here!" The person called.
At the sound of the girl's voice, she noticed Kuukai smile, which made her stomach churn strangely. He lead over to the girl who was sitting behind a counter that was next to a wall with 'Skate Rentals' painted on it in large blue and orange bubble letters.
She looked about 15, long teal hair that was tied in a low, messy ponytail and indigo eyes.
"Hey Kuukai, what brings you to Tokyo Arena today?" She asked casually.
Kuukai shrugged, "Not much, but I'm showing my friend around town and I figured she'd like it here."
Arisa watched her brows shoot upwards in surprise. "Does your friend have a name?"
"Hoshiwa Arisa; nice to meet you!" Arisa chirped at the older girl, raising her index and middle finger into a peace sign.
"Arisa's here for school for a year and she'll be staying with me.
"Well the fact that she'd like it here is an understatement! You'll love it here." She announced proudly. "The name's Sachiko Ashidana. Welcome to Tokyo!"
She stretched her arm out and offered to shake hands, which Arisa delightfully accepted.
The walls of the arena were painted with numerous designs that looked 'messily stylish' as Sachiko called it. And wooden benches line the walls along with hangers and small lockers.
"Sachiko-san, do you work here?" Arisa asked after watching the zamboni clean the ice for a bit.
"Only when my dad's busy; this is quite often now. But it's alright. I like spending time at the rink, but I should warm you…" She leaned forward and glanced from side to side making sure no one was within ear shot (besides Kuukai.)
"Watch out for the figure skaters. They may look like perfect princesses on ice, but on land," She shuddered. "They're horrible."
Arisa couldn't help but wonder what 'horrible' was.
"Sachi, is the ice free?" Kuukai asked, leaning against the counter.
She swiftly spun around on the rolling chair she was sitting on and pulled out a piece of paper from under a pile of even more paper. Sachiko's violet eyes quickly scanned the paper before looking up at the duo.
"Well, it's actually fun skate right now. So anyone who gets a ticket would be aloud to skate. Are you guys up for it?" She reported, shrugging her shoulders and leaning back on her chair.
Kuukai glanced worriedly at Arisa, who in turn looked at him, "I'll take a pair of size 7 hockey skates." Arisa said cheerfully.
A smile broke out onto Sachiko's face and she darted up from her seat.
"Size 7 hockey skates, coming right up!"
They watched Sachiko whiz through and door and come rushing in with a pair of two pairs of skates in her hands.
"Arisa-san's size 7's and Kuukai-kun's usual." She said, placing the skates on the counter. "And since its Arisa's first time, it'll be on me."
Kuukai smiled brightly, "Thanks Sachi."
The zamboni left the ice, and Kuukai and Arisa went over to go tie their skates.
As Arisa began tying her second skate, a group of 4 girls walked in from the bleachers.
They each walked with their heads held high, and hips swayed from left to right as they marched.
There were four girls in the group; one had bright, pink hair and clear, peach skin, with a lot of eye liner surrounding her eyes and a pair of stylish pink and black skates slung behind her back. The girl next to her who looked like she was babbling to nothing, leaning over with a bright smile on her face, had light emerald hair tied in a sloppy bun and a pair of sky blue skates in her arms and was wearing, what looked like random clothes, but looked really cool together . The third was wearing a rainbow coloured skating outfit, complete with rainbow streaks in her hair and paint splattered skates who was staring at the rink with a longing look on her face.
Finally the 'leader' was dressed all in a shimmering gold skating outfit and a matching gold skating bag with; you guessed it, gold skates. She was golden-haired, had ember eyes and her skin was perfect. In Arisa's opinion, she was the definition of perfect. She stood proudly in the middle of the group around her, practically ignoring them all.
She noticed Sachiko, who was sitting behind the counter with her feet up, glance up boredly from her magazine, and then looked back down. She then turned her head to the left of her and looked at Kuukai, who gave, vividly, the same reaction as Sachiko.
After the zamboni gates closed, Sachiko jumped over the counter of her booth and jogged over to the gate to the ice. After undoing the lock, she tugged at the door harshly and after several tries it banged open.
Arisa had quickly finished tying her skates. She was a natural at it after all. She's been skating for as long as she could remember, but her memory wasn't that great anyway so we have no idea where that'll go. But one thing she always hated about skating; learning how to stop.
Her favourite memory of all time was learning how to skate when she was little. Since her parents were always working, Hiro stepped in and tried teaching her. Tried.
They always practiced on the pond outside her house which froze over perfectly every year.
Sadly Hiro wasn't the greatest teacher at the time, being only 9, and herself being 6. After he caught a cold, his parents forbade him from going outside for weeks; even after he got better.
But luckily for her, in time, she was able to do almost every basic skating skill perfectly, but could never stop no matter how much she tried. And that usually lead to her either tripping over her own feet, crashing into a tree or falling head first into a pile of snow.
Eventually, she got it, but fell over for one last time after jumping up and down in joy on the ice.
Back with our present Arisa, Kuukai had finished tying his skates, and so had the group of girls. There were a handful of other people too; all of different ages. From a small group of little kids, and a group of girls who seemed to recognize Kuukai, and a couple sitting in the bleachers.
Kuukai stood up next to her and they walked over to the gate which had been opened.
Arisa's first step on the ice was clumsy and careful. She even had to hold on to the ledge, which surrounded the ice. For a moment she wondered if she had forgotten how to skate. All of her hard work (and bruises) would've gone to a horrible waste.
Kuukai, who was gliding around with ease, glanced over at her struggling. Her lips were in a thin line and her arms were clenched onto the ledge for balance. After considering his options, he swerved around to face her.
"What ever happened to being a natural?" He joked, with his hands in his pant pockets.
She smiled sheepishly to his question and replied, "Well I can only skate during the winter since we never really had an indoor rink. So, it's been a while…" She trailed off at the end of her sentence, trying to regain her balance which looked like she was just about to lose.
Just then, her legs gave out from under her and she slipped backwards.
'Just like old times…' she thought awaiting the impact of the rock hard ice. But it never came.
Instead, she was captured in strong arms that held her protectively making her breath hitch in her throat and her heart beat to accelerate. Arisa's tanned eyes had squeezed shut, then after hearing the reassuring voice of Kuukai she opened them once again.
"Are you alright Arisa-chan?" He asked in a worried tone.
He was sitting on his knees which could've shown that he had slid to catch her fall. Her back was against his strong chest and his arms were rested around her waist.
His voice had wisped past her ear. The slight breeze caused her to shiver and slightly squirm in place.
Arisa could notably feel the crimson blush creeping through her skin and into her cheeks. As she struggled to compose her mind, she was suddenly picked up by his strong arms and lifted to her feet. Kuukai held her close, next to him.
"Take it easy will you?" He asked her after re-adjusting his grip around her stomach.
The blush on her face darkened (if it was possible) and her flustered mind couldn't grasp what was happening. Her vision was slightly blurred and as it began to focus once more, she watched as little, blurry blobs of colour dance around the ice gracefully.
When Arisa finally regained her sight, the previous 'blobs' cleared to reveal the group of girls that she had seen walking into the rink before.
They swerved every which way, jumping, spinning and gliding with grace and, as Arisa puts it 'pretty-ness' But honestly, they looked pretty cool; each with their own style.
"They're pretty good aren't they?" Kuukai suddenly asked, pushing forwards on his skates gently, making her glide with him.
Arisa simply nodded in response and gazed at them for a long time and eventually, she focused back onto figuring out skating again.
Then finally, after about twenty minutes of small pushes and very, very sad cross over's (A/N: Basically, it's when you cross your legs over each other to turn on corners when skating.) her strides were strong and she was even able to out-skate Kuukai.
They chased each other around the ice, laughing and occasionally yelling. But their fun only lasted so long, before Arisa crashed into the worst person at the moment.
They each yelped in surprise, and fell to the ice. Our own Arisa had just crashed into the 'golden' leader of those girls.
She screeched, shot several angry glares at Arisa and quickly stood up and composed herself before anyone really noticed. Her three friends skated over, and surrounded her, making sure she was alright and such.
The leader looked her up and down with a look of disapproval.
"I see you're new, and we were never introduced. I'm Yame Rika, and this is my group, and this is my ice. So please let me know what you're doing with Kuukai, and why are you such a klutz." She boldly stated, scoffing.
Arisa's eyes widened, but squinted together after hearing this 'Rika' person insult her skating. Before she could voice her come-back, the rest of the group's voices pitched in.
"I'm Hope (A/N: Pronounced 'Hoh-pay') Mei, just stay out of my way and we'll…maybe get along," stated the girl with bright pink hair, a long black long sleeved shirt under a pink t-shirt, black shorts and socks that reached her knees. She scowled and turned to the side, rolling her eyes.
"And I'm Lila-chan!" exclaimed the girl with light emerald hair, waving both her hands eagerly.
"And I'm Hanasora Kiki," finished the rainbow splotched girl, raising two fingers into the peace sign, smiling brightly.
Arisa glanced at each of the girls. Her gaze landed on the leader, Rika. She could feel the dark aura surrounding her. She shoulders her hunched up with her hands balled up into fierce fists.
"Didn't I tell you guys to not talk unless it's absolutely necessary?" Rika snapped at the group, "You're voices can be so annoying…"
Mei scowled at the leader and skated away. "Whatever…" Lila's eyes lost their energetic gleam as she skated away dreadfully and finally Kiki shot a quick glare at the leader before skating off.
Arisa cocked her brow at the golden clad, teenager in front of her, "That's not a cool way to treat your friends." Rika laughed dryly at this. "They're not my friends."
By now, Kuukai had left the crowd, and was skating around, making sure to keep his eye out for Arisa in case she gets herself into trouble…again.
"Our parents are friends and force us to hang around each other just because we're all girls about the same age." Rika continued, rolling her eyes.
Arisa nodded in sympathy, "Well, you all seem nice enough…"
"We're too different to be friends. When we stand next to each other, we don't even want to be there and nobody ever suspects we're friends. Lila's too hyper, Kiki's too 'out there', Mei is too tough and punk, and I'm too…well Mei really, really doesn't like me."
There was an uncomfortable silence then finally Rika said something, "Whatever, just make sure you stay out of my way you got it newbie?" Then with that she skated off.
After a while Arisa began skating around the ice also. Each of the girls were skating in different parts of the ice, with their I-pod ear phones in their ears. She watched in awe as they all spun, jumped and turned to their own beat. After a while, she caught up with Kuukai and announced that she was going to get a drink.
She skated over to the exit of the ice and hopped onto the solid floor. Stumbling forward, she reached into the pockets of her pants and pulled out several coins, inserting them into a nearby vending machine. She selected her favourite-est drink ever, orange Fanta. (A/N: Why Fanta? Cause the Prince of Tennis loves it too~)
Hearing the thump of the plastic bottle, she eagerly fell to her knees and reached into the mouth of the machine. Her hand roamed around the bottom, until it came in contact with the chilled bottle of wonderfully, artificially flavoured drink.
The vending machine was one of the things in the city she actually understood. She had used this machine countless of times at her school after playing sports. A bottle of water from home can only last so long.
She grasped the top of the bottle, squeezing it tightly and turning with all her might. After hearing the satisfying cracking of the lid, she released the lid and smiled brightly.
But right when the top of the bottle came in contact with her lips, her eyes caught sight of something that made her stomach lurch.
Kuukai was standing by Rika with a small smile on his face as he watched Rika present a small performance of twirls, jumps and twists around him. As she skated Arisa felt a sting. But it wasn't a sting of anger, sorrow or any of those emotions. Honestly, she had never really felt anything like this before.
'Well….maybe once.' She thought. 'That one time was when Hiro had creamed me in Monopoly…3 times in a row. Then after that he told her I was…what was the word? Right…jealous. I was so not jealous. Envious is a better word!'
She couldn't help herself. Rika just looked so graceful on the ice. 'Too graceful,' she thought bitterly.
Finally her performance was over. Rika skated over to Kuukai, who had given her a thumbs up which made her smile widen, if it was possible. Arisa threw the bottle in her hand over to her things and went on the ice once more. As she approached them, she caught a bit of their conversation.
"Are you sure you don't want to try figure skating? It'll be so much fun! I can coach you and everything, then eventually, you'll have enough skill and we can perform together!" Rika explained, practically jumping up and down with joy at the thought. But from Arisa's point of view, it looked pretty one sided on Rika's part.
Kuukai smiled somewhat uneasily at her and replied, "I already told you Rika, I'm not all that interested in figure skating."
Rika, whose eyes had lost their gleam after Kuukai's statement, said, "Well, think about it! I have a really good feeling about this time." And with that she smiled brightly, and skated off to join the other girls who had gathered at the edge of the ice.
After Rika left Kuukai's side, Arisa skated up to him, "What was that about?" she asked, giving him a curious look.
He turned to look at her, "Oh that? Rika and I go way back and she just asked me to become her figure skating partner again." Arisa gave him a strange look, "Again?" He sighed and stared ahead, "Skate with me."
As they made their rounds around the ice, Kuukai explained to her how they used to be childhood friends, but stopped hanging out in the middle of elementary school, how they visited only on holidays and how Rika eventually stopped seeing him altogether because she was so busy with school and competitions. And that lack of free time never gave her the chance to make any real friends, besides Kuukai. As he spoke, Arisa couldn't help but glance at Rika every so often and think about how much it would hurt to not have any friends at all.
"She told me that school is getting so tough that if she doesn't keep her grades up, her mom is cancelling all her competitions, practices and anything related to skating." Arisa's eyes widened at this. It was probably equally-if not more horrible than having no friends at all.
From the courner of her eye, she watched Rika attempt a jump and fall. 'It's probably bothering her too…' She pondered.
When their skating time was up, and they returned the skates to Sachiko they walked home. The sun was already setting. The two of them walked home in silence lost in their own thoughts.
'Everything in Tokyo isn't just bigger, it's harder too. I can barely skate compared to people here, the school work is equivalent to alien languages to me and even the people are more complicated. Why do I even care if I'm feminine or not?! That Saaya girl is probably just trying to mess with my head anyway. Tokyo isn't going to be as great and easy as I thought…'
"Hey Arisa-chan; we're back."
The sudden statement brought her mind back into reality; the ever so complicated reality.
They entered the building and walked into the elevator. Arisa had gotten a bit more used to it by now, but she still clung onto Kuukai just in case it pumbled down and crashed into the ground, bringing her to a sad, horrible death. 'Yeah…thanks for thinking positive Arisa-baka.'
He guided her back into the apartment, where they were greeted by the family lazing about the apartment. All the Souma siblings lazily waved at them, and his mom voiced a quick greeting before returning to the book she had in hand. They each returned their greetings with a quick smile, then disappeared into their room to get ready for bed.
As Arisa fell asleep, she thought she heard small voices in her head, but dismissed them. She wanted sleep, and sleep is exactly what she got, along with another great surprise to greet her in the morning.
