Year: 5
Season: Fall
Ib: Age 13
"We're heading in now Ib, are you sure you want to wait here?" Aiko asked, looking back at Ib, who was just leaning against the wall surrounding their school.
Ib gave the girl a curt nod, "I'll wait." Ib, Aiko, Rin, and Junichi were all standing in front of the school gates to their middle school, where many people were walking in to explore the place. The gates were wide open to the public, and inside there were a decent amount of booths and other interesting stands set up all around the courtyard, and the doors to the school were open wide with all sorts of decoration hanging from the building itself.
The Cultural Festival was held every year on the second to last Saturday and Sunday of the month, of October and while their festival wasn't as extravagant as the High School festival, it was still a fun little event for the community, and it was held a week before the High School event anyway, so there was no conflict in the schedule. In fact, many High School students visited the festival, either due to curiosity or due to the fact that they had family there.
"Alright," Aiko sighed as she dramatically placed an arm over her forehead as she leaned back slightly, "If you want to wait for your boyfriend, none of us will stop you." Ib gave her a tired glare, which only caused Aiko to laugh and head in with the rest of the art club, who didn't even give Ib a second glance before heading in.
Seconds later, Rin reappeared through the gate and she walked back over to Ib, "I forgot to tell you earlier, but if you see Yuki, tell her we'll be in the art room."
"I'll do that." Ib promised, giving her underclassman a smile, "I bet Aiko will be excited to see her again."
"Yeah, she really misses her." Aiko replied with a chuckle, "Oh! And when you see Garry, tell him I said hi."
"I'm going to bring him to the gallery, so you can say hi to him when we get there." Ib replied, looking impatiently down the road. He promised he would be here soon, so why wasn't he coming? She resisted the urge to pull out her cellphone and send a text, and instead let out a soft sigh.
Rin noticed Ib's impatient reactions, but didn't say anything regarding it. Instead, she nodded her head, "Ok then, I'll look forward to seeing him again. It's been a while!"
When she ran off, Ib leaned back on the wall and looked at the road once more, trying to spot Garry out of the crowd of people making their way towards the festivities. She made sure to tell him weeks ago that she wanted him to come, so there shouldn't be a conflict with his job. However, not seeing him was starting to make her feel nervous... What if he went in to work anyway and left her here? She shook her head, no, he wouldn't do that, he was far too nice for something like that.
"Ah, Ib, lost in thought I see."
Ib looked up and noticed Garry was standing right there, "H- Hello!" She sputtered. Practically jumping off of the wall and quickly dusting herself, "I didn't see you!"
"Hello! I saw you a while ago and made my way over. What were you thinking about?" He asked curiously, his eyes boring into her own.
"Nothing important." She lied, breaking eye contact and faking a cough to try and recompose herself quickly. "A – Anyway, It took you long enough, everyone else got bored of waiting and went in already!" She chided.
"I'm sorry! My clock was running late, and I didn't realize it til too late." He pulled out his cellphone, "I fixed it now though." He tapped it a few times to show her the current time on it.
Ib sighed, "I want to be mad at you, but that's so typical of you that I can't even muster the strength to be angry."
He openly laughed at that, "You know me too well." He pocketed his cellphone, and then looked towards the gate to try and see the stalls.
She smiled, noticing where his attention was directed, so she too walked towards the gate, "Well, let's go in! It'll just be the two of us!" She felt her heart beat faster at the thought of that, and her cheeks reddened slightly as she stepped close to his side.
"Have you always been this tall?" He asked, looking down at her as they walked through the gate.
Standing up straight, she was now able to look directly into his chest. Still a long way to go before she would be able to look him straight into the eyes without a stool – assuming that day ever came – but it was progress, "I've been this tall for a while." She insisted, crossing her arms defiantly, "You only just noticed?"
"I dunno," He sighed, "I seem to recall you barely being able to reach up to here." He put his hand down by his knee, and tried to not smile as the girl squawked out indignantly beside him.
"I was never thatsmall." She growled.
"Ah! And she grew fangs too." Garry continued to tease her, backing off a step, "I don't want to get bitten!"
She sighed, already getting tired of his antics. While she typically didn't mind it, Aiko already wore on her patience earlier that day, so this was a bit much. "Are you going to make fun of me for a little longer, or can we go in now?"
"Aw, she doesn't respond to me teasing her anymore either." She looked away, feeling hurt that he was still treating her like a child. She was much taller than she was when they were in the museum way back when, and she was well into puberty, but he still only saw her as the kid she was back then. In less than a year she would be in High School, so hopefully, she thought, he would begin to treat her like an adult then.
"Ib?" He asked, knocking her out of her thoughts, "I'm sorry if I took that too far." He already was back at her side, and looked apologetically down at her.
She mustered up a smile, and looked up at him, "No, it's fine."
He nodded slowly, and then looked towards the stands, "Was there anywhere in particular you wanted to go? The last one I went to was when I was a kid, so I might be a bit behind on the times."
"Um, I wouldn't mind getting some fried Teriyaki." Ib replied, knowing that Garry was allowing her to guide them around. It was a kind gesture, and one that she would take full advantage of.
"I'll pay for it as a way to apologize, and I won't take no for an answer." He state, noticing she was about to say something. Instead, she kept her mouth closed, and just sighed, allowing Garry to lead them over to the stall she wanted to visit. Soon enough, the two of them were walking together eating the Teriyaki. They browsed the stalls as they ate, but neither of them really want to participate in any of them, so they just watched others play the games and activities in their place.
"Ohh," Ib let out as she looked over to a fortune teller booth, "Let's go in there."
"Fortune telling?" Garry muttered, a frown forming on his face, "Do you really believe in that stuff?"
Ib directed her red eyes and looked him straight in the eye, "If we can get sucked into an alternate world, I'm sure something like fortune telling is real too."
He opened his mouth to retort, but quickly realized that it was a very good point. Instead he shut his mouth, and then opened it yet again to say, "I guess I can't argue with that logic."
The two went into the booth, and sat across from a cloaked figure who looked to be about as old as Ib was, maybe a year or two older. She was covered in a dark purple robe that concealed her face, and the room had all sunlight cut off from it, except for the little bit that seeped in from the curtain where they entered. The table the fortune teller sat at was small, with only a lantern above it to give them any sort of vision at all. Ib and Garry both sat on the two available seats, and faced the fortune teller.
The girl sitting across from them took notice, and pulled up a small crystal ball from her lap, "Hello, my customers."
Garry rolled his eyes, but played along for Ib's sake, "Hello."
Ib was already rather enthralled by the whole thing, so she nodded her head and also greeted the woman, "Hello."
"I see you don't believe this, Garry." The fortune teller spoke directly towards him, causing him to jump. He widened his eyes upon hearing her say his name.
"That's pretty cool, how'd you figure it out?" He asked, unable to resist. He still refused to acknowledge this as real, despite the point Ib brought up. Seriously, why would a fortune telling booth in the middle of a middle school festival be real?
"The ball sees all." She replied lifting it for them peer into. Unfortunately for both Ib and Garry, they couldn't see much of anything within the ball.
"I can't see anything." Ib muttered, trying in vain to peer into the ball as if something was hidden in there.
"Unfortunately, most can't." The fortune teller stated, pulling the ball back and wrapping her hands protectively around it..
"So what can you tell about us?" Garry asked, deciding to test this fortune teller.
"I see that the two of you met at a tragic event several years ago, it involved..." She paused briefly, "Another world?" She then nodded, as if she now understood the entire situation, "It appears the two of you are well versed in the supernatural."
Garry couldn't help but let his mouth drop open a little bit, "H- How in the world did you know that?!"
"Ah, but I assume that you're not here for me to reiterate the past upon you. What is it you wish me to tell you?" The fortune teller completely ignored Garry's question, and looked directly towards Ib instead, much to the man's chagrin.
Ib, who was similarly impressed, leaned forward and asked, "What is in our future – I mean, what will Garry and I being doing in say... ten years from now?" She tried to be as vague as possible in her question, hoping Garry wouldn't catch on to what she was trying to learn. Fortunately, Garry seemed just as interested by the question, not understanding why she asked it.
"Let me consult my magic eye." She lifted the ball up, and muttered something under her breathe as she held it in her open palms. Both participants of the fortune telling were disappointed when nothing happened to the ball as she held it up. She then stopped, and lowered the ball back down to the table.
"I see the both of you living out your lives in joy." She answered.
Garry, who blinked quickly at that answer, asked at the same time Ib did: "Together?"
The fortune teller smiled at that, "That would be telling. It's up to you to decide what it means. If I told you, you might attempt to change fate, or just assume it will happen all on its own, without any further input of your own. Alas, such a situation would be detrimental to the fabrics of the universe, so we mustn't expose more than this."
Ib blushed, unable to even look towards Garry, while Garry was scratching his nose letting out a nervous laugh. With her reaction, Ib had little doubt that Garry was now privy to her real objective of that question. She only hoped he would react in a favorable manner.
"I can say this, however, whenever the two of you are with each other, I can tell that you're content. Your trust in one another is something that most people are unable to share with anyone in this day and age. It is truly something to be cherished." The fortune teller continued, seemingly oblivious to the uncomfortable air between her two customers now.
Ib managed to prove that red wasn't quite red enough by blushing even harder than she was before, and was looking down at the floor as if her life depended on it. Garry wasn't making a sound anymore, instead he just looked at anything other than Ib.
"I thank you for coming," The fortune teller said, "It's rare for me to see such a unique pair as yourself."
"And we thank you for your fortune." Garry replied quickly, standing up abruptly, "Well, uh, I guess we can go now Ib."
Ib stood up awkwardly too, still not looking at him, "Y- Yeah." She answered, wincing at how her voice quivered.
Outside of the booth, both of them stood quietly, before Garry let out a short laugh, "Well. That was something, huh?" He finally looked towards Ib, "I wonder how she was able to determine who we were so easily." Ib frowned at that – was he trying to play it all off as an elaborate hoax?
"Do you think it was fake?" She asked, finally looking towards him. "I think it was a very nice fortune, don't you think so?" She so dearly wanted him to say yes to her question, but she again had to hide a pained look as Garry shrugged.
"Well, I don't know if it was fake or not. If she was guessing, she was incredibly accurate with her talking of our past, and the fortune wasn't bad I guess." He again awkwardly shrugged.
"What about the future happiness thing?" She squeaked out, her hands shaking hard against her sides as she asked the burning question in her mind. "D – D – Do you think it'll be true?"
"Heh," He chuckled, scratching the back of his head, "Well if it's true, I'm glad to know that whatever happens in the future I'll be happy."
"Do you think we'll be together?" Ib felt her stomach flutter as she asked the question she was dodging around. The butterflies in her stomach were fluttering so hard that she almost felt light headed.
Garry looked off into the distance, "Sure, we're friends, right?"
"No... I mean..."
"In thatway?"
"Yes!" Ib exclaimed, glad that he was finally getting onto the topic she wanted to discuss.
"Ib... You're just a kid." He sighed. Ib felt her stomach drop at that answer, and tears started to make their ways to her eyes. Seeing the hurt look on her face, he added, "I'm almost ten and a half years older than you, I'm in my twenties, and you're still in your early teens, that's a huge gap." He tried to remind her.
"That doesn't matter to me." She state, hearing her own heart beat in her ears. She was so nervous that she wouldn't be too surprised if others could hear her heart beating against her chest.
"I - Ib?" He muttered in surprise as he looked down at her. He knew she harbored a crush on him, he'd be an idiot not to notice, but he assumed it would go away with time, not continue.
"I'm only thirteen right now," She mumbled, her breathing becoming faster, "B- B- But, when I'm out of high school, I will be old enough to make my own choices, a- a- and then..."
"Ib." He whispered quietly, "Look, I don't know if I can ever see you that way." She felt her heart crush into a thousand tiny pieces, and renewed tears begin to well up in her eyes. "Ah, B - but," He added quickly seeing that she was hurt, "I've never looked at you as anything other than a kid. Wait til you're eighteen, if neither me or you have any commitments by then, and if you haven't lost interest in me by then, maybe something will happen, and maybe I will be able to see something more in you then."
"I- I'll wait!" She exclaimed, "I won't make any commitments! I belong only to you!" Tears were freely flowing from her eyes, and she was breathing so hard that she felt as if she was going to start hyperventilating at any second. Getting her feelings out in the open was painful, especially when Garry wasn't recuperating them, but the hope that he would one day see her as something else alone was driving her forward.
Garry sighed, "I won't say no or yes right now, but I will promise, that I will always be your friend, no matter what happens between us." He really hoped that would pacify her for now.
She couldn't help but giggle at that. He gave her a strange look, but she just smiled and said, "Ok! We'll always be friends!"
"Now stop crying," He pulled out her handkerchief from her bag and wiping her eyes with it, "You're starting to cause a scene." She laughed, and took the handkerchief from his hands, and wiped her eyes herself. She felt like she was on cloud nine right now, she had finally confessed her bottled up feelings, and while he turned her down now maybe there would be something for them in the future. She made a mental note to go thank the fortune teller for allowing her to get that off her chest finally.
Garry meanwhile frowned as Ib wiped her eyes. He could only really hope that she got over him soon. In a few years, he could imagine her feeling quite silly about how she reacted like this to her first crush. Well, at least it would be a good story for her to tell her children – assuming she had any.
XxXxXxX
A girl peeked her head into the fortune teller booth, looking right at the fortune teller, "I don't know how you did it, but whatever you said really affected them more than it has any of our other customers, how did you do it?" There was a hint of awe in her voice as she looked at the robed girl.
The fortune teller pulled off her hood, and put her glasses back on, getting her light violet hair out of the way, "They were friends of mine."
"They nearly caused a scene in the middle of the campus, what did you say to them?" The girl asked.
The fortune teller shrugged, "I simply helped them get things out in the open."
The girl looked at her incredulously, but she finally sighed, "Well whatever. Thank you for helping us out Yuki, even though you don't go to school here anymore. I was afraid of what we would do since Asuna was sick today."
Yuki gave the girl a light smile, "I had time to spare." She then got up, "I need to go to the art gallery now. I need to see how my minions fared without me this year."
"M – Minions…?" The girl muttered as Yuki left the booth from the back exit. "What a weird girl…" She shook her head, and left the booth.
XxXxXxX
Garry and Ib arrived in the art room a little later, where there was already a decent crowd wandering around, admiring the paintings and drawings on display. The art club, like last year, decided to host their member's finest works like a gallery for the visiting people to look at and admire. It was always a pretty big hit with the crowd, and it was also fairly easy to look after as well.
"Garry!" Aiko shouted, rushing over to the front door where Garry just walked in, and she jumped towards him with her arms wide, giving him a big hug. "It's been ages since I last saw you!"
"Yeah." Garry muttered dryly, patting her back, "It was almost two whole weeks ago."
"Way too much time for not seeing a friend." She huffed, crossing her arms as soon she was done hugging him, a bit annoyed with his snarky attitude.
"It's good to see you, Garry." Rin said, walking over with Junichi at her side, "Please look around, and tell us what you think of our art. We've been working on a lot of these all year, and I'm interested to hear what you have to say."
"Ib told us that you're into paintings, so be sure to tell us which ones you liked best." Junichi smirked when Rin and Aiko both gave him an annoyed look..
"Junichi!" Aiko moaned, "Don't say that! I don't wanna compete with you guys!"
"I'm kidding," He said as he laughed, "But really, I would like to know your opinion on some of them like Rin said."
"I'm not a critic," Garry muttered, feeling a bit put on the spot by the children around him, "I wouldn't even really know what the first thing to say about a painting would be, I just like admiring art."
"It doesn't matter, I just want to hear what you have to say about them." Junichi assured him, "Come on!" Pushing him forward, they led Garry through the entire gallery, showing him each painting, and relished the fact that he took a moment to examine the picture for a moment before nodding his head. He would then point out the things he liked about them, and what he thought they could do to improve the image.
"Are you sure you're not a pro?" Aiko asked suspiciously as he finished critiquing a painting done by Rin, who looked both thoughtful and impressed.
"I'm very sure." He laughed, "Unless if I'm living a double life I'm unaware of."
"What is your job anyway?" Rin asked curiously, "You've never told us."
"I'm an electrician." He replied, "Been doing it for about six years now."
"What? Really?" Aiko asked in shock, "That's your big secret?! Talk about a letdown! I thought it would be something a lot cooler!"
"Secret?" He asked, trying not to laugh.
"Yeah! Why would you hide that from us?!" Aiko exclaimed, giving him a critical eye, "Are you ashamed of it?"
"I wasn't hiding it, you just never asked." He said smiling as he looked down at the pouting girl, "And no, I'm not ashamed of the work I do."
Before Aiko could accuse Garry of anything else, Yuki walked through the door of the art room, and scanned the room. Once she spotted Garry (it was quite difficult to miss him), she walked over. "Hello, Garry."
"Yuki!" Aiko cheered running over to the approaching girl, and like Garry before, she nearly tackled the girl with a large hug, "It sure took you long enough! I missed you a lot!"
"I'm sorry." Yuki muttered, hugging Aiko back – something that surprised Garry, since he hardly ever saw Yuki do anything that could be considered 'emotional' – "I was caught up doing something for a friend of mine, and wasn't able to come and check on my dear minions because of it."
"minions?" Garry asked, giving the girl a raised brow as she and Aiko parted.
"Yes." She nodded, not bothering to explain it at all. Garry wanted to pursue the topic, but decided better of it, and just let it drop. The other children all gathered around Yuki in the meantime.
"It has been ages since I last saw you!" Aiko cried.
"It has been two weeks." Yuki deadpanned, though she did smile at the girl again, softening the blow against Aiko's ego.
"It felt like forever..." Aiko mumbled, crossing her arms and pouting.
"How are the new recruits doing?" Yuki asked, looking into the art room, watching a few first years showing people around, and even a few second years talking to guests.
"They're all interested in art," Junichi answered, "And the club will be in good hands once we leave." He nodded to Rin, who blushed a little, but looked mostly sad. In less than a year, she would be the only one of her friends still in middle school.
"Aw, don't look like that Rin!" Aiko exclaimed, hugging the girl, "We will still hang out after school! It'll be like hardly anything has changed!"
"Yeah, we can go to Garry's house again." Ib replied, looking excited at the prospect.
"Yeah, about that. People were wondering why I'm having so many kids in my house so often..." He left it hanging, "So, uh, perhaps not doing that is the better option."
Ib crossed her arms, "I think they should mind their own business." Garry internally sighed at that – Ib was as stubborn as they came, he'd give the girl that much.
"Yeah!" Aiko yelled, "Mind their own business!" And so was Aiko… These kids would be the death of him, Garry feared.
"I'm sorry." Yuki stated, bowing down to Garry, as did Rin. He was glad that those two at least understood.
Junichi just shrugged, "Eh, if they have any questions, we can just tell em off."
"Hey Garry, why do you hang out with us all the time anyway." Aiko asked, and she noticed Garry looking immensely uncomfortable at the question. She was about to take it back, but Garry spoke before she could.
"Good question." Garry laughed uneasily, "I don't really have any friends… Well, at least, not anyone I wouldn't call an acquaintance."
"What about us, aren't we your friends?" Rin hesitantly ask, pointing a finger at herself, "We do go to your house to hang out a lot."
Garry smiled at the blonde haired girl, "Yeah, I suppose you guys are friends of mine."
"Then it's settled! We can go to Garry's house once we're all done here!" Aiko cheered, "After all, we're friends!"
Ib and Junichi cheered at that, while Rin just looked sheepish having instigated it. Yuki however, was again looking at Garry. She pulled him aside for a bit and asked, "No friends?"
"No friends my own age you mean? Well, I did have some friends that I used to text from High School a few years back, but no one I'd go out of my way to be with." Garry explained, "I did go out with someone in High School too, I wonder what she's up to." His gaze darkened just for the briefest moment, but it was over before Yuki could say for certain what it was.
Yuki turned her head slightly, "You've been out with someone before?"
"Of course I have," He laughed, "I think everyone has experienced dating at least once in High School, It didn't work out though, something happened and well... Like I said, it didn't work out." He forced out a chuckle, though Yuki noted there wasn't any real mirth behind it. She would respect his privacy though, and leave his past alone.
However, she was certainly going to ask about Ib, "So... You and Ib?"
He recoiled, taking a step back and making sure the others weren't nearby to hear their conversation, "You heard all that?"
She shook her head, "No, I heard that you and Ib were causing a scene, but fortunately no one was able to make out what it was about."
Garry sighed in relief, "Thank god for that."
"Well?" Yuki impatiently asked, "What about Ib?"
"Ib is a good friend, we went through a lot together." He stated, really hoping that Yuki would stop prying into it. Unfortunately for him, the girl wasn't done with her questioning quite yet.
"Outside of that?" Yuki asked.
"I have no romantic feelings for her, if that's what you're asking." He stated, getting right out in the open. Yuki was a smart girl, but he was afraid that she might have been jumping to the wrong conclusion. It was better to just be blunt about it, rather than skirt the issue any longer.
Yuki nodded, "Good."
"Eh, good?" Now he wasn't entirely sure what she wanted anymore.
"Yes, good." She confirmed, "She's only thirteen after all."
Garry nodded slowly, "Yes… That's exactly right."
"That being said," Yuki muttered while pulling off her glasses and cleaning them, "Once she's of age, I will be cheering for her."
He flushed a little and face palmed, "So you know about that too?" How was this girl so well informed that she was aware that Ib admitted her feelings to him? Was Ib just this obvious to her friends or something?
"About what?" Yuki tilted her head in confusion.
"Ah, nothing." He waved it off, "Is that all? I think they are getting restless wanting to know what we're talking about." He pointed to the quartet looking at them. Though when they noticed that Garry and Yuki took notice of them impatience, they all looked away, finding something interesting to look at.
"Very well, there's one painting we do want to show you..." Yuki replied, changing the subject much to Garry's relief.
"Oh?" He looked down at her, "Did you help with this one? Aren't you not part of this club anymore?"
She nodded, "I helped, on my own time." The duo met up with the others, and the five kids practically pulled Garry to one last wall he had not yet looked at, and when he got there, he was in for a surprise.
All along the wall, there was a huge canvas, stretching from one end to another. The contents of the canvas was very surreal, showing himself in the middle, holding a blue rose, to his right was Ib, holding a red rose, and to his left was Mary, holding a yellow rose. All around them were the strange and abstract things they had seen in the other world. It was painted in nearly the same style as the Fabricated World painting he had seen all those years ago.
"Wow." He mumbled, unable to say anything else. It was very well done, and it must have taken them months to do, even with all five of them working on it.
"We tried to make it as accurate as possible," Aiko said, "So we pretty much dissected Ib's brain for the finer details."
Junichi laughed, "It's hard to believe that all of this could be true." Rin nodded in agreement with him
"Do you like it?" Ib asked Garry, fearful of his silence. She knew showing him something that was like a nightmare to them both might be a bad idea, but painting it was quite therapeutic in a way, so she hoped it worked the same if one were to view it.
"It's very well done." He finally spoke, "It's as if I'm looking into a portal to the other world." He reached out his fingers mere inches away from the painting, "It's very surreal."
"We put a lot of work into this." Yuki stated, "I'm glad you seem to like it."
Garry nodded, "I do like it, very good job." With that, they wandered around the middle school a little longer, and before long they were all walking towards Garry's house. Aiko was talking with Yuki, while Junichi and Rin were both in front leading the way, having been there many times now.
Ib walked beside Garry and looked up at him, "G- Garry..."
"Hm? What is it?" He asked, looking at the timid girl beside him. He knew the entire time there was something on her mind, but he also knew from experience that it was better she herself brought it up rather than trying to pry it from her.
"C- Can I hold your hand?" She asked quietly, looking down at the pavement with a large blush on her face. He knew that if he allowed it, he would only be reinforcing the imagine of him in her head, and would be prolonging her crush, but seeing her acting so shy, he could hardly say no to that.
Garry chuckled, "I don't see why not." He held out his hand, and she grabbed it shortly after, her hand was shaking slightly, Garry could feel, but as he clasped his larger hand over hers, it stopped, and he noticed the girl was smiling, despite the red hue on her cheeks.
The day had turned out to be more eventful than even he had imagined it to be, but somehow, Garry knew that it perhaps it was best this way, to let her get her feelings out. He might never return them, and she might eventually find someone else to love one day, but for now, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't content.
XxXxXxX
CHAPTER 6 REVISED: 9/3/2014 – Added in more detail, combined a lot of sentences, fixed a lot of errors, and shortened a lot of redundant sentences. All of this added in an additional 2.0k words to the chapter.