It had been a week since Kamui fell off the stage. Aiko supposed that Kamui should be done with his training by now — since she had trained for a week, earth time — and she can’t wait to see what Kamui can do. But what had been bothering Aiko was the fact that there was still no word from the Stars. For some reason, Ran got Yuki to fetch Kamui instead of Aiko, and would not have the latter see the new Star whenever she was at the palace. And probably for the same reason, Kaji and Yuki had been avoiding her. She had not seen their shadow the whole week: they were never at their apartment, they were nowhere near the cafeteria at lunch hour, and the second the dismissal bell rings, they’re out of the grounds (or rather, out of Aiko’s sight) already. Hikaru says he never got to get any word out of Kaji, and the same went for Rei with Yuki.
Aiko felt very much left out. After all, she had been a Star for nearly 2 months, not counting the year she trained. She didn’t really expect that she would be teaching Kamui or anything, but she wanted to at least know what’s going on. Wasn’t it she who asked (begged) Ran to make Kamui a Star? She deserved to be updated, didn’t she? Aiko had promised herself that she was going to trust Ran. After all, if it hadn’t been for him, she wouldn’t be here today. But in the light of the recent events — her sensei not telling her what he knew of Kamui, and now this — Aiko felt bad that Ran won’t trust her with the truth.
Deciding not to dwell too much on that sad fact, Aiko shook her head slightly and turned her attention to the friends she was with.
“It’s ironic, isn’t it?” Midori was saying. “Kamui’s accident seemed to make him controversial.”
Great. Just what I need to hear right now, Aiko thought sarcastically.
“Did you see how many people watched and totally enjoyed the exhibition games even if the soccer team didn’t have their captain?”
“And the real goalie,” Rei added.
“Who would’ve thought they would sign up for next year’s soccer team?”
“I know. I wonder why Aiko’s accident didn’t have the same effect on the track team.”
Aiko shot a sharp look at Rei, and would have said something rebuking when Midori laughed, then lowered her voice. “Maybe the truth was…they don’t like Kamui that’s why, seeing him invalid, they signed up…Maybe they thought he wasn’t gonna come back—”
“Midori, that is MEAN!”
“Kidding, kidding!” Midori laughed again.
Aiko just rolled her eyes, though she was smiling. She had sort of missed Midori and Rei, since she had been a bit preoccupied with Blue Star business the past two months. Now, hanging out with them, and (oddly) not sensing any attacks, she remembered life as it was before her accident. Not that that was so long ago.
“I think the people liked the fact that Toriyama trained the team so well that, even without him around, they were great,” Rei said thoughtfully.
“Hm.” was all Aiko said.
Rei and Midori looked at each other. The two nodded in silent agreement, then Rei cleared his throat.
“I’m gonna go and take these streamers back in the stock room, ayt? I’ll just come back for the others.”
“OK,” Midori replied. Aiko, on the other hand, just nodded. When Rei was out of earshot, Midori turned to her friend.
“Hey, Ai-chan?”
“Hm?”
“Are you all right?”
Aiko blinked, then laughed. “Yes, Midori, I’m OK… I was just… thinking about stuff.”
“Like?”
“Like Kamui, for one. Hold this a minute, will you?”
Midori took one end of the streamer, while Aiko went to remove the other end.
“Like Kamui…” she echoed.
“About the accident and all.”
“I see…” Midori said, sighing. “You know, Ai-chan… Rei and I… We’ve…”
A pause.
“Started going out?”
“What?! NO!“
Aiko laughed at Midori’s crimson cheeks.
“Mattaku, Kazetenshi! I’m trying to be serious here!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…I just couldn’t resist the opportunity.” Aiko said. “What were you going to say?”
“Honestly,” Midori huffed, her cheeks still pink.
“You and Rei have…?” Aiko supplied, trying to get Midori to get back on track.
“Rei and I, yes, well, we’ve been discussing things. Things about recent events and our recent…observations.”
Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed at this. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s just we noticed that you’ve been disappearing a lot recently. I mean, we totally respect that there’s something going on that only you and Kaji and Yuki know about. And I’m not going to pester you to talk about it if you don’t want to. But, I’ll have you know, though, that if you DO want to talk about it, we’re here, OK?”
For a moment, Aiko just looked at Midori, absorbing what she said. Then, she smiled.
“Thanks, Mi-chan. You’re the best.”
“Kazetenshi-san,” came a voice below the two girls. They looked down, and saw a middle-aged, bespectacled man, who wore a serious face as he looked up at them.
“Itsuki-sensei!” Aiko greeted him. “Konnichi—”
“May I have a word with you, Kazetenshi-san?”
Aiko blinked, then nodded. “Of course, sensei, I’ll be right down.”
Midori took the streamer Aiko had been working on as the other girl ran down the stairs. The teacher went ahead of her towards the bleachers.
“Kazetenshi-san,” the teacher said when Aiko had sat down. “The Board would like to congratulate you for your good work as the administrative officer this Sports Fest.”
Aiko, who had been feeling uncomfortable, beamed instantly. “Why, thank you, sir!” she said. And here she thought she was going to get reprimanded! “I couldn’t have done it without—”
“I, however,” Itsuki interrupted, “don’t agree with them.”
Aiko blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“I think your work this year was unsatisfactory.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Aiko said, trying to be as polite as she could. “Why…why unsatisfactory? I mean, if it was, then why would the Board—”
“The Board will praise everything you do, Kazetenshi. You are, after all, their pet.”
When Aiko wasn’t able to respond, the man continued. “Don’t think for one second you’ve wooed everyone with that innocent, model girl act of yours, Kazetenshi. A lot of people may have joined the bandwagon, but some people actually see through your saccharine smile.”
The grey-eyed girl was rendered speechless. A pet?! “Model girl act“? Saccharine smile?!
“Good day, Kazetenshi.” was what Itsuki said before leaving Aiko frozen in the bleachers.
————–
“He could’ve said something while we were preparing…”
“I say it was a smashing success. And I think the majority will agree with me, if not the whole school. Itsuki’s just plain weird.”
“My sentiments exactly.”
It was exactly 6:46 on Aiko’s watch, and she and Hikaru were walking home. It took Aiko’s committee two hours to clean up the sports fest grounds after the closing ceremonies, and she was exhausted. Even more so because of Itsuki’s discouraging comments.
Aiko frowned. But was that how it was? Was she a…a pet? What if Itsuki was right? What if everyone just praised her because all the other people were? Aiko sighed. She already knew that not everyone was pleased with her… But this was the first time a teacher actually confronted her. And it was the first time someone ever said it pointe blank.
“Oei,” a voice broke through her thoughts. “Don’t frown like that, you’re scaring me.”
Aiko looked at Hikaru, who was feigning fright, and smiled weakly.
The older Kazetenshi shook his head. “No, no, no. You did it wrong.” He put his hands on Aiko’s cheeks and squeezed them, making her look like a fish. “See, you’re supposed to smile like this, and put on an ugly face and say…” Hikaru paused, then exclaimed in his most shrill voice: “Oniiiiiiichan!!!”
At this, Aiko frowned again. She then pinched Hikaru’s nose HARD.
“Owwww…” Hikaru wailed, letting go of Aiko’s face.
Smirking, Aiko said in a shrill voice: “Oniiiiiichan!!!” before she let go of her brother’s nose.
Hikaru held his aching nose and glared at Aiko, who smiled.
“Like that?”
“Yes, like that.”
“Ah…”
Aiko smiled as she brushed past Hikaru (who was still nursing his red nose). Then, she felt someone whiz past her, and heard Hikaru’s familiar voice say, “Race you home!”
“Wha– HEY!” After 2 seconds of processing the new information, Aiko ran after her brother, protesting. “That’s not fair! You had a head start!!!”
“You’re the fastest runner in school! Live up to that!” Hikaru challenged.
“Watch me!” Aiko shouted back, gaining on her brother.
Laughing, Hikaru turned on a corner, then, with a horror-striken face abruptly stopped and turned around, jumping on Aiko, making them fall to the ground.
“Oniichan, what—!” Aiko exclaimed, before her eyes widened as a bunch of vines shot through the alley, piercing the air where Hikaru should’ve been.
“C’mon!!!” Hikaru yelled at her, scrambling to his feet. He grabbed Aiko’s hand, and ran for it.
One second they were talking, the next the were racing, and the next they were running away from (obviously) Haruna’s vines. Aiko’s mind was whirring. Did Hikaru know about the Stars and Roses?! If he did, then would that mean he’s actually a Star! But if he wasn’t…
Pulling herself out of thinking and into action, Aiko glanced back and saw new vines were going after them. Risking her abilities to be seen by Hikaru (not to mention tripping), she willed sharp wind to come forth, effectively disabling most of the vines.
“LOOK OUT!”
Hikaru suddenly jumped sideways, pushing Aiko roughly to the wall, icicles missing them by mere centimeters. Aiko’s vision blurred as she hit the concrete. Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed as she faintly saw Hikaru land on his knees and grab the shinai on his back. Oniichan? She was about to get up on her feet when everything suddenly went black. Aiko froze. What on earth was going on? She blinked several times, but nothing happened. She was still staring at the same endless darkness. Don’t panic, she told herself as she crouched down again, body tense. Be ready for any kind of att—
“ARGH!!!!!!!”
Aiko’s eyes widened. That was her brother!!! What happened to him?! Aiko bit her lip, forcing herself not to call Hikaru, or do anything rash. Her jaw clenched. Whoever did that was gonna go down!
Then, she heard something whizzing through the air, followed by a gasp of pain from — as Aiko recognized — an airborne Maya. There were running footsteps, and a muffled thud. The whizzing and the running footeps came again, there was another yell and a muffled thud to Aiko’s left, and a sound resembling something wooden falling on conrete. Aiko grit her teeth. She so hated not knowing what was going on!!! Of course, she had already figured out that there was fighting going on despite the lack of sounds of REAL struggle. But who was fighting the Roses? And why the heck was it dark?! She closed her eyes and tried to detect anybody’s ki. But she sensed no one. There were footsteps again, but this time it wasn’t running. Whoever it was, he was walking towards her! Aiko stood up quickly, facing where she guessed her opponent was, and assumed fighting stance.
“Who’s there?!” she demanded.
Suddenly sensing a weapon going towards her, Aiko instinctively did an upward block, which was not a second late. Indeed, something wooden came in contact with her left arm. She then tried to grab the weapon with her right hand, but she got no such luck. Instead, she got a handful of air. The moment a hand grabbed her right wrist, Aiko knew she had made a wrong move. Her feet were uprooted from their place as she was pulled to her left, and in the next painful moment, she gave out a choked “GAH!” as something hard hit the back of her neck. The darkness blurred (if that was even possible), and Aiko waited to hit the grund. But instead, a pair of strong arms caught her.
Who…
Aiko didn’t have the chance to finish the thought as her eyes closed.
————–
She was lying down somewhere soft.
Like, duh. A bed, maybe?
Aiko drowsily opened her eyes. She saw a moonlit ceiling. Turning her head to her side, she saw that she was in her own room. Her light curtains were still, and the full moon shone outside her window. She sat up slowly and massaged her temples as a gazillion questions bombarded her brain. How long has she been sleeping? What time was it? How did she get in her room? The last thing she remembered was she was walking home with Hikaru, then—
Aiko stopped, her jaw dropping.
ONIICHAN!
She jumped out of bed and burst to her brother’s room. No one was there. She turned on her heels and ran downstairs, almost tripping. The whole first floor had its light on. Comforted by the light, Aiko became a bit relaxed, but still anxious to see her brother. Was he OK? When she reached the kitchen, her question was answered. Hikaru was sitting at the counter, eating a bowl of noodles, and was looking at her curiously. Aiko flinched as he loudly slurped the noodles hanging from his mouth. Hikaru and his eating habits…
“So you’re up!” he said, smiling at her.
“Yeah…” Aiko said, taking a seat across him.
An awkward silence followed, save for Hikaru’s slurping sounds. Every once in a while, Aiko glanced at her seemingly normal brother, happily eating a bowl of hastily cooked noodles.
“Want some noodles?”
Aiko gave no reply, and just looked at him instead. Her brother was smiling widely at her, his bowl of noodles held in his outstretched hand. If he knew anything, he was hiding it well. Hikaru cocked his head and raised his eyebrows, but was smiling nonetheless.
“Nah.”
Hikaru shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
After a few seconds, Aiko took a deep breath.
“Oniichan…”
“Hmm?”
“What happened?”
Hikaru looked up from her, noodles in his mouth. He blinked once, then slurped the noodles. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what happened?” She paused, thinking if her strategized script wasn’t lame. “I don’t remember walking all the way home…”
Hikaru put his bowl and chopsticks down, and Aiko braced herself for interrogation. Or a revelation, maybe. Aiko had a mental image of Hikaru clasping his hands in a serious manner. He’ll close his eyes, and then he’ll say…
“Aiko, I am a Blue Star, even before you became one. I never told you because you’re such a pitiful Rookie—”
“That’s because you didn’t walk all the way home.”
Aiko gave a start, and was pulled back to earth.
“I didn’t,” she said uncertainly as she found her voice.
“That’s right. I carried you home.”
“You did.”
“Yeah,” he paused. “What do you remember about this afternoon?”
“I remember our race.”
“Oh.”
“What about you? What do you remember about this afternoon?”
Hikaru didn’t reply at once. But when he did, “Well…I remember the race, too. And I was winning.” he said with a grin. Aiko just raised an eyebrow. Hikaru grinned even more, then, with a shallow sigh, his face was a tad more serious. “We were racing, and then…”
“And then?” Aiko urged. To her surprise, Hikaru shrugged.
“I don’t know. The next thing I know I was lying down on the ground…And so were you. I don’t know what happened in between. It’s like a huge chunk of time was gone.” He paused, looked at her, then continued slowly, “I vaguely remember something about vines and icicles,” — Aiko froze at this — “but, I don’t know, maybe it was just a dream. Do you remember anything like that?”
The Star resisted sighing in relief. “No, I don’t.” she said firmly.
Silence fell on the siblings again as they both stared at the counter. Aiko’s thoughts was in a huge jumble in her brain. No, Hikaru can’t be a Star. If he was, she’d have felt his ki way before. Aiko suddenly gave a mental start as she realized: Maybe Hikaru was a potential! If that was the case… Aiko looked up at her brother, who was starting to eat his noodles again, and decided: no minor nor Rose will be able to lay a hand on him. No way.
But in the meantime…
“Want me to cook you some REAL dinner?”
————–
Next on Blue Star
After one week of being in the dark, Aiko finally asks her questions. So, now that that’s settled, why is she still acting strangely when Kamui returns to the ground? Things just got more complicated.
“Oh, man, Hino is going to KILL me!”
Episode13: Prodigy
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Glossary:
shinai – bamboo sword
