“I think my name is mentioned around me too much for my own good recently…”
“I refuse to believe you’re still not used to it.”
“Midori, you of all people know I don’t like it when people talk about me…”
“Right, right…”
“And everything was just beginning to be normal…”
“I never thought you not paying attention in class was normal.”
“That’s enough to make them talk?”
“Apparently.”
Aiko sighed dejectedly as she burried her head on her arms crossed on the table. She, Midori, Kamui and Rei were once again in The Spazio after class. Rei had gotten Kamui to help him with Physics, while Midori and Aiko’s conversation had wandered to their classmates.
When Aiko had “returned”, students in the school were naturally talking about her. But then, as Aiko had put it, everything had returned to normal. That Monday, though, Aiko was not being her usual self.
Aiko, no matter how great a student she was, is still a teenage girl. A human being. That means she also had her off days, when she just didn’t feel like listening in class. When she felt that watching the clouds change shape was more interesting than the lesson. But the amazing thing about her is she has this uncanny ability to give the right answer (or one close to the right answer) when she’s called in class during those days.
But during that week, though she was still able to answer intelligently, it was evident that Aiko was thinking of something. Everyone noticed.
“I think you should wash him out of your hair, Aiko. Sooner or later your grades can get affected, y’know,” Midori was saying. “I say you break up with him.”
“It’s not like he’s my boyfriend yet, Midori,” Aiko said, slowly lifting her head. Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as she saw Midori staring at her. Rei and Kamui had even looked up from their work, and were looking at her as if she had spoken in a different language.
She raised her eyebrows. “What?”
“What…what did you say?” Midori said in an giddy whisper.
Totally confused, Aiko turned to Kamui for help. But Kamui had already returned to physics, with an amused grin on his face.
“Uh…”
Kamui glanced up at Aiko, his grin growing wider.
“Your mind really is elsewhere these days, isn’t it, Ai-chan?”
When he didn’t see the bewildered look leave Aiko’s eyes, he put his pencil down and leaned on his elbows. “So tell us, who’s the lucky guy who managed to catch Kazetenshi Aiko’s eye?”
Aiko blinked, her eyebrows once again furrowing. Then, realization hit her.
Super duper MAJOR oops…
“So you finally decided to date, hm?”
“A–?! No! You guys know I decided not to date until I finish school!”
“Right, right… But you said yet, Aiko. Tell me, is he a worthy candidate?”
“MIDORI!”
“But that WAS what you said, Aiko.” Rei pitched in.
“You haven’t answered my question yet! I wanna see him, do you have a picture with you?”
Great. How on earth am I going to get out of this one?
“Do you? Do you? Do you?” Midori’s excited face was now VERY close to Aiko’s, pushing her to say something, and at the same time, nearly pushing Aiko out of her seat.
Aiya…
“Hi guys!” came a cheery voice behind the group.
In her mind, Aiko jumped and punched the air. I’m SAVED!
“Hao na, Sara-chan!”
“Ai-chan, I saw Hikaru-kun, and he told me to tell you that he needed to run home and do something on his computer…”
“Oh…OK,” Aiko said, gathering her things. “I’d better go, then.”
“But, Ai-chan—” Midori started as Aiko stood up.
“Midori.” Aiko said pointedly, her eyes narrowing. “You of all people know I don’t like it when people talk about me.”
Midori just sunk into her seat, while Aiko smiled at everybody. “Bye!”
Sara looked around the students at the table. Midori was grumpily staring out the window. Rei seemed to be thinking of something. Her brother, on the other hand…
“Aha!” Kamui suddenly exclaimed, making everybody else turn to him.
“I’ve got it… the answer is 4.5 meters, not 45. You should’ve divided the velocity, not multiply it,” he said, erasing the writings on the paper in front of Rei.
Sara facefaulted. Oniichan…
Rei cleared his throat. “Toriyama.”
“Yeah?”
“Answer me this, and answer me honestly…”
Kamui nodded.
“You don’t care?”
“About what?”
“That Aiko’s dating someone.”
“She is?” Sara asked, taking a seat.
“She said she wasn’t.”
“That doesn’t automatically mean it’s true, Kamui-kun.”
“I trust she isn’t lying, Midori. Don’t you?”
“No, really, Toriyama, you don’t care?”
Kamui sighed. “Yes, Yokaze, I do care. She IS my best friend, after all.”
“And you’re not going to do anything about it?”
“Any reason why I should?”
Sara looked from one boy to the other. What was Rei-kun driving at?
“Why, don’t you like Ai-chan?”
“Of course I like her.”
“You hide it well, though.”
“H- Hide…?”
Kamui blinked several times, then started to chuckle. Sara raised an eyebrow at her brother who was now laughing out loud.
“You…you think I like Aiko that way?” Kamui said between laughter and breaths.
Sara, who has caught on by now, laughed silently in her hand.
“Shouldn’t I?”
“Yokaze, do you know me at ALL?”
“You said you liked her, Kamui…”
“But we practically grew up together!”
“Thats what makes it so perfect!” Midori countered, her eyes twinkling. “It’s like a promising couple from a shoujo manga…”
Kamui rolled his eyes. “Look at this way…Let’s face it: she’s nice, intelligent, sporty, fun to be with and downright gorgeous, but…” he paused, trying to think of the right words.
“It’s chemistry, guys. Sure, we do lots of things together, we’re neck and neck in things we compete about, and yes, we ARE a great pair. But the chemistry we have…it’s just not romance. It’s kinship. Our bond is strong, and it’s the same kind of bond I have with Sara. I love her to death, but there’s just something missing in her for me to love her any other way than I love my sister.”
Silence ensued as the rest of the group took in what Kamui just said. Midori was the first to speak.
“But if.that something you mentioned suddenly turns up in Aiko…”
“Hehe…I’d definitely ask her out. After we graduate, that is.”
“Let me get this straight,” Rei started. “You’re practically the closest guy to Kazetenshi— save her brother and father— and you’re the envy of a whole lot of guys in our school for it, you know her inside and out… and you’re NOT in love with her.”
“That’s right.”
“Yet.” Midori added.
“Yet.”
“You win.”
Taking a deep breath, Rei grabbed his pencil and looked at the papers on the table.
“What was that again about velocity?”
As the boys returned to their work, Midori sighed and looked out the window.
He’s right, she admitted to herself.
For a long time now, Midori had been trying to get Kamui and Aiko together. Why? Because they look great together! But she hadn’t been successful, though. The first “obstacle” was Aiko’s strong decision not to date until she finished school. Midori found it very impressive for Aiko to have kept that promise to herself, especially since nearly everybody else around them seemed to be in a frenzy to have a girlfriend or boyfriend. The other “obstacle” was that Kamui totally respected Aiko’s decision, that he decided to do the same thing! Talk about self-control.
But what made it even harder was Midori herself. As Midori knew that the two looked great together, she also knew that what they had right now was definitely not romantic love. She could see it in the way they looked at each other. They were definitely close, there’s no denying that, but, as Kamui had told them, their bond was that of siblings.
They still look great together, though…
Pushing that thought aside, Midori decided to ponder on the situation at hand: Aiko was NOT being herself. And it was obvious that it was because of this boy… Aiko had never been a boy-crazy girl, and she had never liked anyone this much before. And so, the question remained: Who was this mystery guy?
————–
“Good afternoon, Kazetenshi-san.”
Aiko looked up from her keys to see Tanaka Sakura standing a few feet to her left.
“Good afternoon, Tanaka-san,” she replied. “Long time no see! How are you?”
“Quite fine, thank you.” Sakura glanced at the Kazetenshi house. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you come home with your brother recently. Are you not in speaking terms?”
“Nonono!” Aiko quickly answered, smiling, shaking her hands in front of her. “We just… have different schedules recently, that’s all.”
“I see. Well, I’ll be seeing you around then.”
Aiko nodded.
I hope she’s not sick again… Aiko thought to herself as she opened the gate.
Sakura was Hikaru’s classmate when he was in junior high, and she lived a good 20 minute walk away from the Kazetenshis. That being the case, they see each other often on their way home, even if Sakura attended another school. Sakura was a bit silent in nature, but recently, she had become quiter than she already is. It was because several months ago, Sakura’s mother had suddenly become sickly.
.
.
Hikaru paused from his typing when he heard the door downstairs close.
“I’m hoooome!” came his sister’s voice.
“Welcome back!” he called back as he continued typing. “Sorry I didn’t wait for you!”
“That’s OK!” she replied as Hikaru heard her go up the stairs. His eyebrows furrowed and he stopped typing again. Heavy feet meant “tired sister”.
“Sara told me anyways. And besides—”
There was a pause.
“Besides wha–”
“Igottagooutforawhile!”
“Eh? Did you forget something at school?”
Silence.
Hikaru stood up from his chair and walked out of his room. “Aiko?” he called.
No reply.
Odd. I didn’t hear her running down the stairs, or the door close… And what the heck is the window… he thought as he saw that the window near the stairs was open. Surely his sister didn’t jump out of it… He looked outside (just in case) and saw that the shrubbery below wasn’t damaged.
It’s not like she can fly, right? Maybe I just didn’t hear her leave…
Right, that’s gotta be it.
————–
Kaji swiftly flew in the window, charging at the minor preparing to swipe the person on the bed. But the minor suddenly faced him, taking Kaji by surprise. It grabbed Kaji’s collar and threw him to the wall.
“Ggkk!!!”
Kaji gritted his teeth as he hit the wall HARD.
Dammit!
Recovering instantly, he lunged to the nearest minor and pinned it to the ground. At the corner of his eye, he saw the other minor moving towards the bed. With a battlecry on his lips, he thrust his flaming palm on the back of the pinned minor. The minor disappeared, defeated. He turned quickly to attack the other minor, but the said minor suddenly flew across the room, just as he heard someone yell a shrill “YAAA!!!”
The minor hit the wall and promptly dissappeared. Kaji looked at the window and saw Aiko jumping in and taking a fighting stance. She looked around, and the next instant, Kaji found himself staring into two furious dark grey eyes.
Aiko’s breathing calmed a bit when she saw that there weren’t any more minors, and it was just Kaji crouching on the floor. But then, she sharply turned when the bedrom door opened, revealing a smiling Tanaka Sakura.
“Hello, okaasan, how was your day?”
She walked to her mother on the bed, and held her hand. Then, she froze.
“Okaasan?”
There was a sudden “thud” behind Aiko as Yuki held on the windowsill, probably for momentum to jump in.
“Oh…You guys’re done already?” she asked with a relieved huff. “Sorry I’m late. There was another atta—”
“OKAASAN!”
Aiko turned to fly out the window, and saw that Kaji already had.
Kaji’s eyes frantically looked around, but there wasn’t any sign of minors. No. Way. How did it happen? Aiko arrived just seconds after he did, and the target was still alive then! When the heck did they take her?!
“No way …” came Aiko’s voice behind him. She started to fly again when Kaji caught her wrist.
“It’s no use. It’s impossible to find them now.”
“Can’t we at least TRY?”
“It’s impossible to find them, Rookie! We should go and report to Ran-sama instead.”
“But…” Aiko started again, sadly looking back at the house, from which Sakura’s sobbing could be heard. Kaji, on the other hand, was losing his patience, doubled with his frustration about the situation.
“C’mon, let’s go,” Yuki said, taking Aiko’s hand.
“But—”
“For goodness’ sake, ROOKIE, stop stalling already!”
Aiko whirled around, glaring at Kaji, so sharply that Yuki lost her grip on her.
“Why are you being so heartless?! She’s a FRIEND!”
“WHAT?!”
“Oh, I forgot you wouldn’t know what it’s like to feel sad for a friend, ‘coz you don’t HAVE any!”
That hit a cord.
Kaji gritted his teeth. “Friends or not, we have work to do!”
Aiko opened her mouth to retort to that, but Kaji beat her to it.
“Face it: Life is short! Don’t waste it on sentimentality!”
Aiko’s jaw dropped.
SLAP!
Yuki didn’t know what to do as she looked at the scene before her. To her left, Aiko was VERY close to tears, her right arm raised in front of her face. She slowly let it fall to her side, but kept glaring at Kaji nonetheless. In front of Aiko was Kaji, his face turned to his right, his left cheek was painfully red. His maroon hair hid his eyes, and his jaw was clenched shut. The wind was blowing…it didn’t help at all to ease the tension.
Not moving from his position, Kaji spoke.
“I’m going to report to Ran. I advise you to go home.”
Having said that, Kaji flew off. Aiko quickly wiped the tears threatening to fall. After a few moments of silence, Yuki turned to Aiko. “Much as I hate how he said it… He was right, y’know. It IS very hard to chase a minor once you lose sight of them,” she said. “I know you still want to find them, but it’s not even close to finding a needle in a haystack. It’s trying to find one when it’s not even there.”
Aiko turned her gaze to the horizon. Only a fourth of the sun was can be seen.
“C’mon… You should get home, it’s starting to get dark.”
Aiko sighed and finally nodded lightly. She looked back at the Tanaka residence before starting to fly towards her house. She hadn’t gotten far when she heard Yuki’s voice.
“AIKO!”
Aiko whipped around, her eyes widening as a shuriken missed her face by millimeters. Taken totally off-guard, Aiko was nearly hit as a minor charged at her. Stepping sideways, she avoided its attack, and hit the back of its neck. The minor was not defeated, but was obviously “hit”. Aiko prepared to fight other minors as Yuki flew to her. With their backs to each other, the two Stars went to make a plan.
“What say we split it?”
“All right. You take one, I’ll take two.”
“I say two and two.”
“No!” Yuki hissed. “Your arm hasn’t healed completely yet.”
Aiko didn’t reply as the minors moved to charge at them. Aiko punched one minor, and unleashed a wind wave at the other one. The latter minor was thrown several meters, but, to Aiko’s surprise, it hasn’t disappeared yet. She charged at it, shooting wind spheres at it as she did.
That GIRL!!! Yuki thought in exasperation as Aiko flew off, following the minors. Yuki was pretty sure Aiko’s stubborness can get her in a pretty bad fix one of these days, if that wasn’t today already.
Yuki jumped backwards as a minor kicked at her. Yuki drew her hands back and threw icicles at the minor. As soon as she did, though, another minor grabbed her from behind.
“HAAAAAAAAA!”
Yuki grabbed its collar, and with all her might, did a judo throw, making the minor hit the Tanaka roof HARD. Still holding its collar with both her hands, she head-rolled over it, pulled it over her, and made it a shield against the other minor’s punch (which was, of course, supposedly for her). Narrowing her eyes, the Ice Maiden materialized her sword from her left hand.
“Take this!”
In one grueling second, the ice sword made shishkabob out of the two minors, and they disappeared. Combing her fingers through her bangs, Yuki stood up, took a deep breath, and prepared her sword as the minors kept arriving.
Oh, yes…This is one LONG afternoon.
.
.
This is SOOOO Deathrose. Aiko’s opponents didn’t seem to have an end to them, even if she already finished 5 minors, and counting. That just meant that more and more minors were arriving. Her breathing getting ragged, Aiko felt exhaustion spreading from her arm. Yuki was right, her wound WASN’T fully healed yet. Aiko spun around, her eys widening as she came face to face with a minor. She tried to jump away, but it was too late; the minor grabbed her injured arm and hit her right on her wound. Aiko suppressed a scream as sharp pain waved over her. Grunting, Aiko kicked the minor’s gut with all her might, making it double over.
Yes, Aiko was definitely the type to put other’s welfare before her own, but she wasn’t one to stay and get beaten up when she’s already hit. Aiko flew fast, hoping to lose the minors. Her vision was getting dark, and she knew that she might pass out in a few minutes. She blinked several times, trying to keep her focus. She looked back, and saw that minors were still trailing her. Aiko extended her hand, and prepared to shoot wind spheres again. If she was going to pass out, she might as well use her remining energy to get rid of these pests.
Nothing happened.
Aiko’s eyes widened in horror, but she tried again.
Come on! Her mind and will screamed.
Still nothing.
Aiko landed heavily on the ground, stumbling to her hands and knees, and nearly hit a wall. She looked up behind her, and she saw the minor flying slowly to her. Refusing to give up, Aiko propped herself against the wall, raised her hand, and attempted to shoot again.
And again…
and again…
Blinking back the tears in her eyes, Aiko saw the minor charging at her, hand ready to swipe her. There was no way out now. She’s going to be hit, and she’ll be stuck in Ran’s place for another year or so…
Thank God I’m a Blue Star.
Aiko shut her eyes tightly, waiting for the blow, silently praying that somebody…ANYBODY would come.
Kaji…
Aiko’s eyes snapped open when she heard a loud thud beside her. She saw the minor lying there for a moment, then it disappeared. Looking up, she saw Kaji crouching, fire sword in hand, breathing heavily. Worried maroon eyes locked gazes with surprised grey ones.
Blinking back to reality, Aiko tried to get up from her position on the ground. Kaji promptly ran to her and helped her stand up. But Aiko pushed him away and held on the wall for support. Kaji went to help her again, but Aiko spoke up.
“Don’t.”
Words like that have never stopped Kaji, but Aiko’s angry glare told him better. It was then that Yuki arrived.
“Goodness! You’re alright!” she said in evident relief as she went to Aiko. “I KNEW we shouldn’t have split! I should’ve followed you!”
“It was unavoidable, Yuki,” Aiko replied as she tried to walk. “I’ve got to get home. ‘Niichan should be wondering where I ran off to…”
“Can you walk home on your own?” Yuki asked.
“Yeah, yeah…My house is very close, anyway.”
“Aren’t you going to Ran’s to check your arm?”
“No, I’m fine. Why don’t you go and report to Ran?”
“Are you—”
“I’m fine.” Aiko said firmly. She pushed herself from the wall and squared her shoulders. Yes, she was feeling better. Though she all she wanted was to flop on the bed and sleep, she had enough strength to walk home.
“Rookie—”
“Save it.”
Yuki watched Aiko walk off until she left the alley. When she turned to Kaji, though, he was gone as well. Yuki sighed and made her way to Ran’s…
————–
Next on Blue Star:
A new student arrives at Kobayakawa High. Who is this new student, and what’s his connection with Aiko? Apologies, arrivals and new acquaintances. Life in Kobayakawa High just started to get a bit more exciting!
So you DO know each other!!!
Episode 7: Friends
————–
From the Author:
Yeah! Yuki kicks butt! Only for a short while, yeah…but… Yuki kicks butt!
A few points I’d like to make:
1. As of Episode 6, it is made clear that Kamui does not like Aiko romantically. Does this rule out the Kamui-Aiko Pairing? Not really.
2. As of Episode 6, it is clear that Aiko does not want to enter a romantic commitment. Does this rule out the Aiko-Anybody Pairing? No.
3. As of Episode 6, Kaji is NOT Aiko’s favorite person in the world. Does this rule out the Kaji-Aiko Pairing? Absolutely not.
Oh yeah…Remember the cafe everybody was in in Episode 3? I finally gave it a name!
