Chapter the First: The Festival

“Wow…” I whispered, awestruck by the mammoth yamagasa. Ichi and I arrived at Asou Park a bit later than I’d planned but still on time for the festival.

At sundown the cyochin-yamagasa come out and are paraded. Cyochin-yamagasa are massive pyramids that are brilliantly lit with various colors. There are eight of this style yamagasa, four large ones and four small ones.

“Its sooo cool...” Ichi whispered back.

The yamagasa were accompanied by chanting of the spectators and the primal throbbing of the taiko drums.

“Yeah…” I murmured

We stood there amidst the throng of people, staring in awe at the beautiful floats passing us by, silent in our reverie. The yamagasa eventually passed and the people were suddenly moving

“Come on Aiko-kun, the fireworks are about to start” Oichi said, grabbing my hand and pulling me in the direction of the fireworks.

“Ichi! Don’t pull me!” I cried, stumbling a bit before getting my footing back and allowing Ichi to haul me down the streets of Tobata.

“Hurry up!” she yelled

“I hope you fall and break your nose” I muttered under my breath

“Well then I’m taking you with me” she countered, spinning around and letting go of me, never stopping; sending me careening into a body.

“Ah, sumimasen, gomen nasai” I muttered, blushing in embarrassment.

What, you say, Aiko blushing in embarrassment?

Despite my outspokenness when Ichi is around, when I’m on my own I find it very hard to talk to people. We never really got out of that twin stage, you know; when we sleep in the same room, finish each others sentences, hold hands, and all that stuff.

While we never left that stage, she can function outside of it…I can’t

“Not a problem” I heard a low voice reply. I looked up at the person who was currently holding me up by my arms.

It was a kid I knew from school; Saito Anzu, I believe. Anzu is in my economics and psychology classes. He’s failing economics and the teacher hates him, but he has the third highest grade in psychology.

“Inoue, right?” he asked

“Hai” I mutter, my face turning even brighter red

“Economics and psychology right?” he queried

“Mm-hmm” was my reply, the blush still there

“You have the highest grades in both classes” He said

“I have the highest grades in all of my classes” I replied

“Really now?” He countered

I merely nodded

“Then what’s a smart little boy like you doing running into strangers at night?” he asked. He then moved his head down to my ear and whispered “You might just get yourself hurt”

I shuddered a little at his proximity and told him to back off. He did so and let go of my arms.

“Aiko-kun!!” I heard Ichi yelling

“I-I-I h-h-ha-have t-t-to g-go n-n-no-now” I stuttered, blushing furiously. I backed away from him quickly and ran off to my sister.

“Hey, Aiko!” Anzu yelled at me

“H-h-h-ha-h-hai?” I stammered back

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow” he said and winked at me. I was stuck somewhere between swooning at that piece of hot badness and being furious at his presumptuousness.

Fury is easier to deal with.

“Where were you, the fireworks are starting!” Ichi yelled at me

“If you hadn’t dropped me onto Saito Anzu and left we might have been on time!” I hissed

“I thought you two needed some alone time” she replied casually

“Nani?” I asked bewildered

“You and Anzu have wanted each other since you were like ten” she replied

“Liar! I do not want Saito Anzu in any way shape or form. He is irritating, a troublemaker, too mean, bad at math, too tall, too muscular, too handsome, too nice, too…I hate you Ichi-kun” I grumbled

“I love you too Aiko-kun, now let’s go!” she cried, hauling me off yet again.

The fireworks were incredible, illuminating Tobata with an array of different colors. They lasted for a while and when they were over Ichi and I were ridiculously hungry.

We then started our walk to Tobata Station, being herded along with the rest of the festival-goers. We got back to Kokura Station and ate at a restaurant there. We then walked the ten minutes back home, stopping beside Kokura Castle to admire the castle and the sakura that were surrounding it.

“So what’re you going to do about Anzu?” Ichi asked delicately, the moonlight illuminating her face.

“Nothing at all, he doesn’t like me in the slightest. We’ve spoken two words to each other aside from tonight. If he wants anything from me it’s a quickie, and he’s not going to get it.” I replied

“You never know” She said softly

“I suppose not, but it’s illogical to think otherwise. He’s slept with over half of the school and no one has ever been interested in me. I think that speaks for itself” I replied

“That’s a very fatalistic point of view” Ichi said

“Realistic, not fatalistic” I replied

“Potato, potahto” she countered

I merely smiled a bit “Let’s go home, I’m tired and we have school tomorrow”

“Okay” she said quietly

We then finished the walk home and I immediately went to my room, changing into pajamas and getting ready for bed. Her head soon poked into my room for her goodnights.

“Oyasumi.” She said

“Oyasumi, aishiteru” I replied. She then walked over to me and hugged me before leaving to go to her bedroom.

I then got into bed and found I couldn’t sleep. I sat there tossing and turning for what felt like hours before I finally gave up and turned my light on.

I got out one of my notebooks and my charcoals and leafed through it to try to find a blank page. I draw when I can’t sleep. I have six notebooks filled with calligraphy, still-lifes, sketches, and various stuff. I’m quite talented according to my sister and my mother, but father won’t hear of it. A proper young man doesn’t become something as flighty as an artist…but then again a proper young man doesn’t like other young men does he?

I start drawing without realizing it and I let my hand do the work for me, paying very little attention to the drawing, totally focused on the movements of my hand. I continue like this for quite some time until I’m satisfied that I’m done. I then look at the drawing to see the smirking face of Anzu staring back at me.

He’s gorgeous: eyes steel-grey in real life, inviting lips, a masculine jaw line and nose, black hair that’s normal length except the bangs, which are chin-length, colored crimson, and frame his face.

But Idon't think of him as gorgeous…not at all…

Blame the hormones…

Damn elephant-sized hormones from hell…

I then grumbled incoherently about stupid charcoals and stupid hands before falling back onto the bed and looking at the clock

Five am…

I have to wake up in an hour…

That sucks…

And then I’m out like a light.

--

A/n: I’m not sure if I like this. Aiko is too hot-and-cold for me, and I wrote Anzu a little ooc, but I’ll fix those soon enough. In lighter news, my busy schedule is un-busy now as the 4th of July parade is over. It was reasonably fun, if not hotter than four hells outside.

My mom almost got into a fight with some woman too. My mom was following us as we marched down the parade route and she ran into some woman who sassed her (I’m Georgian, sassed is a word here). My mom is really outgoing, so she didn’t say anything and kept walking, but the other woman said:

“That’s right, keep walking. I’m from New Jersey, I can deal with you people down here.”

And then my mom turned to her and said

“Lady I don’t give a damn if you’re from hell, if you talk like that to me again I’ll knock you into next week.”

And thus the other woman shut up….have I ever mentioned how awesome my mom is?

Anyways, review replies:

Graphiti Skies: I know, and three more new ones will be posted by the end of the week. But you know what they say, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…or insane…meh

Xanthofile: Really? I don’t think I have much of an individual style, I think I’m a conglomerate of my favorite authors. I sort of pick and choose what I want, so to me I’m bits of others. And it’s good to know that there’s someone on the site other than myself who doesn’t speak Japanese. I hope you liked!