Note: This was first drafted before NagiAsu ended, so it's slightly AU-ish and follows the same AU as the last chapter. You'll see what I mean as you read along.
Growing Pains 4
Chisaki found the sea hidden in one of the trunks: a turquoise sea to compliment her eyes, with creases like ripples in the water, netted with a quarry of corals and a banner of fishes.
Chisaki found, under the careful instructions of Grandpa Isamu, the sea hidden in one of the trunks: a turquoise sea to compliment her eyes, with creases like ripples in the water, netted with a quarry of corals and a banner of fishes. The first time she unfolded it and hugged its length close to her body in front of the mirror, she could not picture how it would look on her. The length fell a handspan below her knees, so she needed to adjust the hem to make it longer. Today, Chisaki wore the sea, fitting her arms into the sleeves, breathless, not because the obi was wrapped too snugly around her waist, but because all kinds of feelings were welling up and yet she could not put any into words.
"Chisaki-chan, your eyes are watering."
For the past fifteen minutes, Chisaki had been fighting the urge to blink her eyes. "Sorry, Akari-san. I'm just not used to make-up."
Akari paused to pay Chisaki a smile and a kind look before she resumed tracing the pencil over Chisaki's lashes. "Just a little more and this 'torture' will be over, okay?...There, we're done!"
Akari stepped back from Chisaki and taking her gently by the shoulders, spun her about to face the mirror. Chisaki was speechless, but the other girls gushed over her. Her midnight-blue hair, grown out up to the middle of her back, was twisted into an eloquent bun, held fast by an ornate white pin that contrasted well with her hair and furisode. The furisode draped beautifully, its turquoise shade was the splendid blue of the sea on a cloudless, sun-bright day, so brilliantly captured by whoever designed the cloth. It could mesmerize; it could beckon.
"Wow. Chii-chan, you look like a bride!"
Chisaki's red-tinged cheeks grew even redder.
"Silly Manaka. Today is Chisaki and Tsumugu's Coming of Age," floated off a voice just beyond the screen door.
"Hii-kun! You're not supposed to peek while Chii-chan's dressing up!" Manaka glared at the door, her brows dipping like a valley.
Hikari, his arms crossed casually behind his head, sauntered in without as much as a by-your-leave. "You girls were so noisy we could hear everything next door."
"It looks pretty on you, Chisaki. You look pretty," commented Kaname, appearing at the mouth of the room.
"Peety!" imitated Akira, jutting out his chubby arms at Chisaki and the only thing stopping him from clawing her robe was Miuna keeping a tight lease. "Akira! Don't touch the pretty robe, okay? You don't want to ruin it, do you?" she scolded. After a while, the indomitable toddler at last gave up on breaking away from the prison of his sister's arms and settled down in his "cage" sulkily.
"May we come in?" Kaname entreated, even though Hikari had already invited himself in.
Chisaki nodded. Earlier, there was still room yet to maneuver, even with Akira milling about restlessly, in her constricting furisode with its hanging sleeves, but now there appeared to be less space with the addition of two boys, one quiet, the other rowdy, as rowdy as ten combined. Somewhere along, Akira was somehow liberated of Miuna's guard and it only took three pairs of hands bearing down on him to contain the little bundle of chaos, saving Chisaki's robe from ruin.
Meanwhile, Manaka bounded towards Chisaki and snatched up her hands, Manaka's smaller ones encircling her bigger hands. Manaka stared up at her, eyes bright with innocence. "Chii-chan, you're going to be a grown-up now?"
Chisaki could feel the advent of tears pooling in her eyes. "Yes," she breathed out, the rest of her words choked up in her throat.
"But Chii-chan will still be Chii-chan, right?" Manaka continued, smiling as if nothing else mattered.
Chisaki could only nod at first, but it was not enough and so, taking all effort to get her voice to work again, she managed another "Yes."
"Chisaki, are you ready?"
Chisaki's eyes flickered to the door, to the tall figure standing there, and the rest of the room followed, but while they could sing pretty praises for Chisaki, they could not do the same for Tsumugu, because they could only stare in silent awe.
Let it be said that they had never ever seen Tsumugu wearing a suit. They eyed him from top to bottom: from his black jacket over a blue dress shirt and plain-white tie, down to his black trousers and polished black leather shoes. The most striking in his appearance today, anybody would agree, was his ashen hair brushed back. A few locks of hair strayed on his forehead, but he was, without a doubt, a different-looking Tsumugu.
Hikari's mouth hung open, as if he was going to say "Wow" but the word would not flow out and Manaka beat him to it. "Wow, Tsumugu-kun looks very handsome!"
"You look very proper, Tsumugu," Kaname added, nodding sagely.
"Swoon-worthy!" Sayu exclaimed, her thoughts drifting to a different image, of a certain sandy-haired boy wearing a similar ensemble, and she expelled an airy sigh that did not escape Kaname's attention and made him hoard a secret chuckle.
"You can really see the difference now, huh?" Hikari murmured to himself and then, recovering from his stupor, he broke into a grin. "Tsumugu, looking good there!"
"Thank you," returned Tsumugu, a ghost of a smile on his lips. He shifted his gaze. "Chisaki?"
Neglected for a few seconds, now all eyes reeled back to her, for which she was unprepared for, but before she could process what to say, she was already being nudged from behind–by Hikari or was it Manaka?–her zori going clack-clack-clack on the wooden floor as they jostled her forward. She made a wrong step, losing her balance, and tilted over in her wooden sandals...
"...Oof," grunted Tsumugu, who had moved, quicksilver-fast, to catch Chisaki in his arms.
Chisaki slowly raised her head, instantly arrested by his deep purple gaze, and was reminded of another seascape, that of the night sea. A calm sea. A calm gaze.
"Are you alright?"
Chisaki startled. "I-I'm fine," she stuttered and so did her heart. Abruptly, in panic, she let out a hiccup of a gasp and released her fingers clutching his sleeves. "I'm sorry! I'm wrinkling your coat!" Chisaki stumbled back, wooden sandals clacking against wooden floor, sleeves swinging at her sudden movement.
"I don't mind," Tsumugu admitted, straightening up.
A throaty sound came from behind and the two twisted around to find Grandpa Isamu standing there in the hallway.
"It's time for you two to go."
Isamu contemplated Chisaki's appearance, the plains of his face immutable. Chisaki tried her best not to fidget under his heavy scrutiny. After a while, he nodded, a subtle flick of the head. "Ayane will like it."
Chisaki blinked, her brows creasing at the name's mention. She turned to Tsumugu, posing a silent question in her eyes.
"It belonged to her," Tsumugu explained.
But still, this did not erase the crease on her brows. Chisaki chose not to dwell on the answer or–more aptly–lack of and turned towards the interior of the room to tumble out her thank you's and farewell's. Then, they made their way down the stairs and out of the house. They had already left the hilltop, the descent down the slope slow, when Tsumugu revealed, "Ayane is my grandmother's name."
"I see." Chisaki assumed as much, that such a precious and carefully kept article of clothing must have belonged to an important family member.
"She did not alter it, hoping she could preserve it for a daughter."
Chisaki, for some reason, felt her heart squeeze. "Did you...?" she started to ask, but broke off.
"No. Sadly, Grandma Ayane died before I was even born," Tsumugu replied quietly.
Chisaki trained her eyes downwards, her voice small and contained as she said, "I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's okay. I didn't know her enough to mourn her loss, but it's different for grandpa. His wife hasn't been by his side for more than half his life. His son left Oshiooshi as soon as he graduated from high school. Since then, grandpa's lived alone."
There was something, in the sandpaper-rough candor of his voice, in the way he worded his grandfather's story, as if Tsumugu was an outsider detached, no, it was something else.
"You felt his loneliness," Chisaki intuited. "That's why you chose to live with your grandfather."
Tsumugu lifted his chin and angled his head towards Chisaki, who also did the same.
"He's lucky to have you," she finished.
The corner of Tsumugu's lips hinted a semblance of a smile and he stared into Chisaki's light eyes. "The same goes for you."
"Huh?" Chisaki stared back in confusion.
"We're lucky to have you too."
Chisaki let out an "Oh" halfway between genuinely surprised and pleasantly surprised and then, bowed her head to hide her embarrasment and the flushed heat that bloomed on her cheeks.
"Chisaki, Tsumugu!" They heard a voice cry as they reached the bottom of the slope. They raised their eyes and there, standing on the hilltop in a haphazard row, were Hikari, Manaka, and the others.
"Chii-chaaan! Tsumugu-kuuun!" Manaka, cupping her hands over her mouth, yelled after Hikari, who was brandishing his hand vigorous as a flag fluttering to the tune of the wind.
As one, the group on the hilltop belted out a symphony of, "Happy Coming of Age!"
Shun Sayama sat in a row with his other high school friends–Takeshi Egawa, Kaori Akiyoshi, and Yuu Seiki–engaging in idle chatter while they waited for the ceremony to begin.
"I can't wait to get out of this stifling costume," Shun grumbled under his breath, tugging on his necktie like it was an elastic spring for the last half hour.
Kaori barked out a laugh. "Costume?"
Shun scowled. "What? Do I need to wear a coat and tie while manning the counter at Saya Mart or when I'm delivering goods with the pickup truck?"
"Point taken," Kaori conceded, leaning back in her seat and producing a pocket-sized mirror to inspect her appearance.
"After this, we'll truly be full-fledged members of society," murmured Takeshi in an undertone of awe. Unlike Shun who was restless with his hands, Takeshi rested his fists on his lap and remained that way since he first sat down.
Yuu smiled, all red lips, and bumped shoulders with Kaori. "You still look perfect," she whispered confidentially and then, in a louder voice, "You have it easy, Egawa-kun. You already have a job and a wife." The fact of Takeshi Egawa's early foray into adulthood was well-known in Oshiooshi. Who would not be privy to the news when, literally, everybody shopped at Saya Mart and brought home not just groceries, but gossip as well?
"And a cute daughter to boot," chirped Kaori, snapping the mirror close and replacing it in her pouch.
Shun, leaving his mangled tie to rest, joined in. "He's not obliged to provide for his family because the girl's family is well-to-do."
And Kaori added, "If he does well enough at his job and earns the favor of his father-in-law, he has a shot at taking over the business!'
"You guys talk like I'm not here." Takeshi winced. "You don't know how scary my father-in-law is!" He shuddered at the thought.
"Scarier than Tsumugu's grandpa? You don't say!" Shun managed in between fits of laughter. He was finally starting to be comfortable in his adult suit and nothing could unseat him from his good mood, he was sure.
Yuu roamed her eyes over the sea of heads in the hall. "Which reminds me, where are those two?"
"There they are! Over here, you two!" Shun wave his hand in an arc to draw the attention of a newly arrived pair–one fair-skinned woman donning a beautiful aquamarine furisode, the other a tan-skinned man in a black formal suit.
The hall was not so big, holding no less than a hundred twenty-year old youths at the moment, but Shun's row was third from the front stage, so the two had quite a ways to walk down the aisle and people could not avoid not looking. Together, they appeared eye-catching–a sea shade and an earth shade. Here was another well-known story in Oshiooshi–of how Chisaki Hiradairi came to live with Tsumugu Kihara and his grandfather and of practically growing up together almost like siblings. But 'siblings' was a gossamer-thin label for describing what existed between them because it was more than just sharing a roof or meals, or displays or non-displays of familial or friendly affection. The truth was a pounding heartbeat or a quiet stirring in one's breast–it breathed solely between them.
"Where have you two been?" Shun asked as soon as they settled down on the empty seats to his left. He took in their slightly but not too disheveled appearance and his mouth split into a cheshire grin, his eyes glinting. "Don't tell me you two–?"
Chisaki's cheeks burned and she shook her head. "–No! It's not what you think, Sayama-kun."
"We went to offer respect at the Fish shrine," Tsumugu said without embellishments.
The Fish shrine was what they called the little shrine in a grove of trees on a bluff overlooking the sea. Long had it been since it was left untouched by man until, recently, sea and land folks alike started coming by more and more often. Sometimes, there were sightings of Uroko-sama, yet he never appeared for more than a flicker of the eye. Chance a blink and you would miss him.
Shun was curious. "Did you...see Uroko-sama?"
And I leave you hanging there! This story was going to be one big sprawling chapter but I decided it would be best to split it into parts (about 2-3) because it just keeps writing itself, lol.
As for the Coming of Age, it's a celebration in Japan for those who turn twenty, which is the legal age. On this day, the women wear long-sleeved traditional kimono called furisode. The furisode can also be worn on other occasions like festivals, but it's basically worn by unmarried women. The men may either wear hakama pants or a western suit. Chisaki's furisode was inspired by a picture I found on flickr (remove the parentheses to open the link properly): (pinterest).com(/)pin/396527942163466504/