I got up, changed and was down stairs by 7:15am. I walked down to the dinner hall, I could smell the scent of german pancakes in the air. Mother and Father were already seated at the table, halfway through their pancakes. I excused myself for being late, sat down and began eating my pancakes.We ate in silence not wanting to talk about the conversation from yesterday and frankly I didn’t want to think of arranged marriages ever again. The pancakes were more buttery than I like but I couldn't complain, I love eating them. I wiped syrup off my mouth and excused myself when I was done.
“I’ll be on my way first. Breakfast was amazing. see you after school.” I bowed to Mother and Father. Then I turned around and left the room. When I reached the door, I slipped on my shoes, grabbed my bag and headed off into the morning. Sakura-chan was waiting for me at the gate. I said hello to Souta-kun.
“Good Morning, Kaguya-chan,” Sakura called out to me from the sidewalk as I stepped through the gate opening.
“Ohayo, Sakura-chan,” I called back to her as we started up the street. Cherry Blossoms fell around us as the wind blew through the trees. The walk to the station was quiet till I heard my name being called out from behind me. As I began to wonder who was calling my name, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I reacted to to it and flung my hand out at the person who had grabbed me, I slapped him before I realized who it was.
“Ow...That really hurt, you know. You girls have a lot force behind your slaps.” It was Hidenori-kun. He told me as he brought his hand up to the place where I had slapped him. There was a red spot.
“Oh my goodness, I am so sorry Hidenori-kum. I didn’t mean to slap you. It kinda was a instant-reflex, I can’t believe I just did that.” I apologized. I brought my fingers up to his face to check for any bruising.
“I’m fine. I am a man, this is nothing, but you have a good force behind your left hand. Just by looking at you, you can’t tell that,” Hidenori-kun laughed it off and removed my hand from his face. He turned to Sakura-chan and greeted her,” Ohayo, Suzumasa-san.”
Sakura-chan only nodded to his “Good Morning” and kept going. We walked to the station. Sakura-chan who seemed upset by the situation, trying to keep the frown off her lip, and tried to make the whole thing seem like it didn’t happen. I didn’t want to get into her personal space, so I left her alone.
Within five minutes, we were at the train station. We waved our student passes over the scanner and walked through. Suddenly, we heard a beeping noise behind us. When we turned to see what it was, we saw Hidenori-kun looking confused.
“Tsukiko-san, Suzumasa-san, go on without me. It looks like my card has expired. I’ll go renew it and catch the next train. There’s no need for you to be late too. Now go get on the train!”
“Ok, we will be leaving first then. Thank you, Hidenori-kun” I smiled and waved from the bottom step. Sakura-chan and me ran down to the platform and got on the train before it left. We waited in seats till our stop, which was two stops away. Sakura-chan spoke up, “Kaguya-chan, are you sure that Hidenori-kun is a good guy? I know that he carried you to the nurses office when you fainted in gym, but he gives off a weird vibration, like he’s going to be a big factor in your future and not me.”
“Oh, Sakura-chan. You’re my best friend, if I had to pick between you and Hidenori-kun. I’d choose you over him. I couldn’t stand to lose you, It would unbearable for me!” Sakura-chan smiled and I could tell that she was happy with what I told her. What was troubling her had gone away. I felt relieved.
The silence between us ended when the intercom came on.” Next stop is
, If this is your stop, please prepare to exit to the left.”
We gathered our bags and pushed out the door when the train stopped and they opened. When we walked out of the station, the sun was shining. A bunch of kids rushed by us, running towards the kindergarten. We continued on our way, as we chatted about homework and etc... When we reached the school gates, the bell rang. We hurried in before the teacher closed the gate on us. We ran in and exchanged our shoes for the school issued slippers. When I opened the shoe locker, a bunch of letters floated down from it. I bent down to pick them up when I heard a voice from above me call out my name.
"Tsukiko-san, looks like you're pretty popular with the guys." I turned around to see who it was. Standing before me was Motomiya-san. Today she had curled the ends of her inside and was twirling a strand of it in her fingers. I had to say that it looked good on her.
"Oh no.. It's not really my thing to keep all of these love letters. I usually throw them out." I gave her an apologetic look as I waved her over to the garbage can to throw out the letters.
"Tsukiko-san, why do you throw out your letters?" Motomiya asked with a look if confusion in her eyes.
"Well, one time I kept a letter from a guy I had a crush on and he turned out to be a person I didn't know. It was scary and think that was why I don't reply to the letter. Why I don't have a boyfriend. I'm scared it would happen again."
"Oh, I get it. I'm sorry that I picked into your personal life. See you in homeroom, kay?" Motomiya said as she left me standing in the hallway.
Sakura-chan came up behind me and pushed me into walking towards the class. Yukari-Sensei was talking with the principal outside the staff office as we walked into the class. We sat down in our seats as she came in and started attendance. I didn't pay attention till she called my name.
"Tsukiko-san?"
"Here!" I replied and as she called out my name.
After she finished the attendance, she got down to business. “Today we have a new transfer student.” She told us she called out to the student to come in. “You can come in and introduce yourself.” She nodded to him to introduce himself. The student stepped in and walked to the middle to turn towards us.
“I’m Sakai Akira, I transferred from Akita Boys High School, last week because of my fathers job. I am in your care.” Sakai-kun bowed to the class. The girls obviously thought he was good looking because all you could hear was them whispering about him. Things like “Does he have a girlfriend?” or “I think I am in love with the new transfer student!”
“Sakai-kun, you can take the empty seat by Tsukiko-san.” She told him as she pointed in my direction. I waved to him and he came over. He sat down in the seat next to me.
He was about 5ft 10in, which compared to me was tall. He towered me. He had orangy-brown hair and brown eyes. When he smiled his teeth where blinding white. He looked very intelligent and smart. he wore black rimmed glasses and carried his bag on his shoulders. I had to say that he looked attractive, maybe not as much to as to the rest of the girls in the class.
I nudged him and whispered, “Sakai-kun, I’m Tsukiko Kaguya, but you can call me Kaguya. It’s nice to meet you.”
"It's nice to meet you too. Tsukiko-san." Sakai-kun held out his hand and I shook it. I smiled. Sakai-kun turned back towards the teacher as she talked about the school festival.
"Ok, Class 3-B. We need class representatives for this year don't we? Any nominations?"
"I nominate Tsukiko-san!" Minamasa-san said.
"I second that!" Motomiya-san called out with a hand in the air.
"Ok! Any other nominations?" Yukari-Sensei asked the class.
"I nominate Sakai-kun!" I said as I raise his hand. "How about it Sakai-kun?"
"I don't know. I don't think I would be a class rep."
"No way! I think you would do a great job, Sakai-kun. I'll second Tsukiko-san's nomination," Otomiya-san said.
"So we have Tsukiko-san and Sakai-kun as class reps. Any objections?" Yukari-Sensei asked the class.
There was a chorus of "No!" Everyone agreed with who had been picked.
"Ok. Tsukiko-san, Sakai-san, please by my desk in the staff office after school. I will tell you what needs to be done in detail there. Don't forget!" The rest of our classes went by smoothly as the minutes ticked away. When the bell rang, I quickly put my things in my satchel and hurried towards the staff office.
As I turned the corner, I spotted Sakai-kun up ahead and ran to meet him. "Sakai-kun, let's walk together! Ok!?" I patted him on the back.
"Oh! Tsukiko-san, I didn't see you," Sakai-kun said as he turned around to the touch of my hand.
"We have to go see Yukari-Sensei, Remember?" I inquired.
"Oh. I totally forgot, but you will have to show me where the staff office is because I don't remember." He slumped his shoulders helplessly.
"That's ok. It is your first day here so it would make sense. We just need to a left up ahead!" I said as we walked down the hallway. I could see the office door down the hallway. "See? There's the staff office!"
We entered and walked over to Yukari-Sensei desk area. "Yukari-Sensei! What did you need to tell us about being class reps?"
"Well for the school festival that's coming up soon, you need to help the class find a idea for what we are doing. And plan it with everything ready for the festival. Things like the budget and what we need to do individually.
"That sounds fun. Right Sakai-kun" I say as I turn to him, who hadn't said anything from the time we walked into the office.
"It seems like an ok job"
"Whatever! You know it's going to be a lot of fun. Right?" I nudge his shoulder. "Ok? I'll see you tomorrow! Bye!" I call over my shoulder as I left the office. I could see Sakai-kun leaving the office as I looked back as I ran towards the entrance.
I slipped off my school slippers and tucked them into my shoe locker, taking out my regular shoes to put on. I headed out when I saw Sakura-chan at the gate. Waiting for me so we could walk home together.
"Sakura-chan, didn't you go home?"
"No. I thought I'd wait for you to be finished talking with Yukari-Sensei. So we walk home together like how we did when we were little."
"Oh! Sakura-chan you didn't have to. Well it's better to walk home with friends. Don't you think so too?" I asked her and in response she smiled.
We walked to the station. There was less people there than usual. We got in with a only a few other passengers. Sakura-chan turned to me and took my shoulders by hand, looked me in the eye and asked, “So, about Hidenori-kun, I really get a bad vibe around. You shouldn’t hang around him. I think he’s very dangerous. And I don’t want to get caught in anything that would be bad for you. I’m your friend so I know you better than Hidenori-kun.”
Her words puzzled me. What was so bad about Hidenori-kun? “What do mean by that? Sakura-chan?” I asked as a cold, chilly feeling ran over me.
“I always get this cold chilly feeling when he’s near. Like the temperature has dropped just around him. It’s really uncomfortable to be near him.
“I think you're just getting cold feet,” I said as I tried to shake off the cold feeling. There was no way something like that could happen around someone. It was too supernatural to be true.
“You just don’t get it, Kaguya-chan!” Sakura-chan said as she slumped to the window and laid her against it.
When we got off of the train at our stop. It was raining really hard. I was really surprised when Sakura-chan pulled an umbrella out from her bag. “Sakura-chan, how did you know it was going to rain?”
“The weather network.” She answered as we walked down the street under her umbrella, safe from the rain.
When I had to leave her, we exchanged our goodbyes and parted. As soon as I got into my room, Akane ran up to me and brought a towel to dry my hair from the rain that had soaked it as I had ran up to the door. She took my coat and sweater off of me and took them away. “I’ll get those cleaned and dried for you so don’t go outside again till they're ready, Ok?”
I peeked out the door and saw Mother up ahead in the hallway, but I hide from her as she passed my door. I collapsed into my bed and fell asleep without even turning the light off.
That night I could get to sleep completely. I would fall asleep then wake up ten minutes later just to repeat the whole process again. After awhile I felt like I was actually falling asleep, except for the feeling that I was getting hotter and hotter.
I felt something heavy being on top of my forehead. I opened my eyes, Akane was standing over me with a cold cloth pressed on my head. “Oh, Kaguya-chan. You’re awake. I found you with a raging fever. You have been asleep for three days. Your Mother and Father have been worried sick that you wouldn’t see the light of day again, or that’s what they say at least. That aside. Are you alright?" Akane peered into my face.
I checked my arms, legs, hands and face. I felt alright. There was nothing that really stood out that felt weird or out of place.
"Yeah, I look and feel fine. Thanks for looking after me. Akane." I patted her head amd smiled. Her cheeks were rosy and thanked me for caring about it, but made me promise to not do anything that would cause my health to decline again.
I took naps during the day and by friday, I could go back to school. I rubbed my eyes open on friday morning. I could feel a light weight by me. When I sat up, I could see that Akane was laying by my side, sleeping. I moved slowly and slouched off the bed, making sure that I didn't wake her.
I pulled the sheets up and tucked them under the sides. Now that I looked at her up close while she was asleep, she was really skinny. She was also cute and small looking.
I turned off the light and left my room. Mother stood outside of the room. "Suzumasa-san is waiting for you in the tea room," she said as she turned and began walking down the hall.
I ran to the tea room, to see that Sakura-chan was sitting on the couch like a perfect lady. When I opened the door, her eyes darted to the door to see who it was. When she saw it was me, she ran forward to me and hugged me. Her fingers were shaking along with her body. I hugged her even tighter.
"Are you ok? You were asleep for three days because of your fever. I was worried that you wouldn't wake up." She held my face in her hands and searched my eyes for any lingering signs of my fever
"I'm fine. My maid Akane took good care of me. I am very grateful to her. She was so exhausted from watching after me, so I put her in my bed to sleep."
"Oh. That was kind of her to do that for you. You're mother said that you didn't have to go for school so we can go out and enjoy the time we have today. So let's go have some fun!"
"That sounds fun, I'll go get changed so just stay here!" I said as I left to go get changed in my room. Within ten minutes I was changed and we were out on our way. I had put on a navy tank-top on with a semi-sheer flowy tank-top with a tiger on the front. With blue jeans with various fashion rips on them. I wore star earrings and a wallflower locket around my neck. Matched with a pair of converses.
We had gotten on the train and transferred at the last stop. From there we rode to the second stop and got off. We walked around till we found a small but unique cafe called Cafe Prince. When we went in and were seated, we were amazed. The tiled floor was white. The wallpaper was a striking tangerine with gold swirls all around. The tables where white with orange spots. The cafe had two floors. It was breath taking. I could smell vanilla in the air when the kitchen doors opened and closed. The decor was very modern. I ordered a green tea and ramyun, while Sakura-chan ordered Okonomiyaki and tea.
As we waited for our meal, we discovered that all the waiters were all really, really, really good looking.
"Hey, Sakura-chan! Do you think that they call it Cafe Prince because all the waiters are really good looking?" I asked in a hushed whisper.
"Maybe or they want a unique name for their cafe?"
When the meals did come, we eat and chatted about school and so. When we were finished we headed back towards the train station to get home.

It was monday morning and we were walking into the genkan of the school. Sakura-chan and I pulled off our shoes and put on the school slippers that were mandatory for school. I heard my name being called and when I looked up, I saw Otomiya-san. She was standing in front of me.

“Oh, Otomiya-san, Good morning!” I greeted her.

“Yukari-sensei told me to tell you that she needs you to see her in the staff office. You and Sakai-kun for some class-rep talk, before class.”
“Thanks for telling me. I thanked her and started off towards the office. Sakai-kun and Yukari-sensei were already there.”
“Tsukiko-san, there you are. You and Sakai-kun for homeroom, need to come up with ideas from the class to see what they want to do for the school festival. The budget and the wants of the students.”
“Ok, that sounds like a lot of fun to me. what do you think, sakai-kun. I looked at him to see his reaction.”
“It sounds like a good thing, so we can even get what the classmates want to do.” he answered.
“Ok, lets go to class. Sakai-kun.” I said as the bell rang,
We hurried down the hallway to the classroom. ùwhen we entered the classroom, we set our books down on our desks and walked to the front of the class.



“So the school festival is coming up and we need to decide on what we are doing as a class. Those of you that have a suggestion, put your hands up.” Sakai-kun asked.
A few hands went up, I pointed to the one closest to the front. “What would you like to do?”

The boy stood up and said. “How about a cafe?” Then sat down. I wrote cafe on the board.
“Otomiya-san.” I pointed to her hand.
“How about we cosplay as heian court ladies and maids for the ladies and crown princes and servants for the boys?” I wrote heian era cosplay next to cafe.

“Kids could take pictures with us then eat”

“That sounds good. anymore ideas. nobody else put their hands up. Put your hands up if you agree with what we have.?” All the hands went up.
Otomiya-san do you want to handle the costumes?”
“Otomiya-san smiled and said. sure you can count on me! Tsukiko-san.” Otomiya-san smiled as she gave me two thumbs up and sat back down.
“Ok, now that we have the theme down and decided, is there any food suggestions?”
“Sweets,” one girl piped up.
“Coffee” said another.
“Okay, other than sweets is there anything you want to make. like sides or main dishes.” It seemed like everyone want to have only sweets. I write sweets down under cafe.
“Ok, does anyone want to lead in the cooking part of the cafe?” I asked. Motomiya-sans hand went up.
“I do, my family runs a tea house so i know a lot about food and appearance of the food along with the appeal.”
“Ok, Motomiya-san. can you pick some items and then finalize what the price would be if we wanted to make some of it and get your family's teahouse to carter for the rest of it. You can also teach some of the students how to cook”
“Hai, I can do that tsukiko-san. count on me.”
“Thanks, Motomiya-san.” I thanked her and turned to Sakai-kun. The bell rang and we sat back down in our seats and waited for our math teacher to come. The rest of the day went by fast. Classes were as always boring when you didn't like them.

When I got home. i was once again directed to the main room. I entered and crossed the room to the couches, sitting across from Mother and Father.
“If this is about the arranged marriage carp, i am not listening to it, no matter what you tell me about the guy and if he’s good-looking or not.” I said. i didn’t want to be as it was.
“We were going to tell you this when you were eighteen but because of putting you into an arranged marriage, we thought that we should tell you now,” Mother said. The atmosphere was intense and serious. What the heck did she want to tell me that she hadn’t already? My mind was swimming around in circles. i just couldn’t see why it was such a serious subject.

I looked up at them from the floor to see their expressions they wore were deadly serious.
“You see........it was around sixteen years ago. We were in Arashiyama and were visiting the bamboo forest were your father and I first met. It was also right before my business took flight into the world of great success. We were walking down the trail, when we saw a light from within the forest. I went to see what it was and the cause of the light. I came upon the area where the light was. And there in a tight white bundle was a baby, ready to cry and let japan know of it’s existence. I picked it up and with your mother rushed to the nearest police station. After a few days and no one came for the baby, we decided to adopt the baby. The baby we gained that day, was you, Kaguya!!” Mother said.
I blinked a few times and said “What? Theres no way I was adopted. Why are telling me that?” Now the tears were overflowing. It didn’t make sense to me. I looked like my parents. I couldn’t be adopted. I wouldn’t believe such nonsense. My parents weren't my real parents? Nothing made sense, nothing fit together. Was all of my life a lie? A puzzle that would never be completed because the pieces didn’t fit together. How could my parents not be my own. We looked like a family. I looked my family. Things just didn’t make sense.
“What did you say?” I asked hesitantly. in a small voice as I slowed turned towards them.
“You're adopted, Kaguya.” Mother told me again.
“That’s not true, you’re my real parents. you have pictures of me as a baby. No one would leave me in the middle of a forest. Please tell me that it’s not true. I know it’s not.
By then I was screaming loudly and the tears were streaming down my face. There was no way that these people weren't my parents.
Mother and Father tried to comfort me but it wasn’t working. I ripped away from their embrace and raced out of their room. I grabbed a coat and flew out of the front door, I couldn’t stay here. I ran out of the front door.
I clicked the intercom on her houses gate. It rang about two times before she picked it up. “Kaguya-chan, what’s wrong? Why are you over here?”

“I need to talk you please. Maybe a sleepover too.” I said between sniffles. i was on the verge of crying again.

“Ok, just wait a minute,” sakura-chan said as she went to tell her guard Yamada-kun to open the gate. As soon as the gate opened, i ran to the door and raced in her arms.

“It was horrible,” i managed to get out before the waterworks began again. Sakura-chan put her arm around me and ushered me to her room. She sat me down on her bed. She turned to her maid.
“Yuuki, can you bring us some hot cocoa, please?”
“Yes, Sakura-sama,” Yuuki bowed and left the room.
Sakura turned to face me and asked, “What’s on your mind? The thing that made you like this. What happened after we parted after school?” Gently she hugged me, then smoothed my back. By then I wasn’t a nervous wreck.
“My parents told me that I was adopted.” Just the sentence started a chain reaction of tears. I cried into her shoulder.
“How is that possible? You look exactly like your parents.” Sakura said. She was absolutely puzzling over the situation as much as I was.
“I can’t go through their plans of arranged marriage when I don’t know who my real parents are. How will I know if they will mind if I marry a man that they wouldn’t approve of?” I said as she looked just as puzzled as me.
“Don’t you think that your real parents may of left you so you had the best chance you could have?” Sakura asked in a quiet small voice.
“No, my real parents wouldn’t do that to me, Sakura-chan,” I said. “Can I stay over tonight? I don’t think i could go home now after that conversation.”
“Of course you can, Kaguya. Why wouldn’t you allowed to? you’re my best friend!” Sakura said as Yuuki came in with our hot cocoa. Sakura took them from her and handed one to me. As I peered into it, Sakura asked me. “Have you calmed down, a bit?”
“Yeah, I guess I have....” I sighed. “I just don’t see why they want me to get married right now and I don’t see why they didn’t tell me about being adopted when I was little. I guess I got little hints over the years that they weren’t my real parents, but I didn’t want to believe them. What do you think about all of this Sakura?”
Sakura stirred beside and put her hands to her chin. I could tell she was thinking about what he was going to say very carefully. “I think...” She began. “That your parents have a good idea to have you in good hands so they don’t have to worry about you not being provided for when they are gone. They are about 70. They are getting old.”
We sat in silence as we thought about what the other had said. Then Sakura decided to broke the silence. “For now let’s not talk about this subject, ok?”
It was like that for the rest of the night while we talked and watched dramas. We ate popcorn and watched Ikemen Desu Ne. It was about a girl whose twin brother has to go to america because of plastic surgery on his face. She has to dress up as him and become a member of the famous boy band, A.N.JELL. While she falls in love with the band leader who rejects her in the band at first.
I love the drama as does Sakura. She even cut her hair to look like the main girls’. Her hair was short and blonde while mine was a jet black down to my knees while bangs that fell to my eyes. We were as different as the sun and the moon, yet that didn’t make us hate each other but it just made our bond stronger.
We had first meet when my father’s company got it’s kick start. We had a company party in our house. Sakura’s father was also a CEO of a company that helped ours get on it’s feet. I was bored at the party, all I could see were adults and older parents. Mother had bought me a purple lacy dress with matching clips for my hair. I wandered around the mingling adults, I made my way to the food table. I was probably nine years olds at that time. I tripped over a man’s foot and went crashing down.
I closed my eyes and waited for the impact of the ground against my face, but after a few seconds it didn’t come. I opened my eyes and looked around. There was a girl holding onto the back of my dress, holding me suspended over the ground, mere inches from it.
I thanked her and introduced myself. “My name is Tsukiko Kaguya, thank you for saving me from hitting the floor.”
“It was nothing. Anyone should help someone in need,” She answered. her eyes focused ahead. On Mr.Suzumasa, the CEO of Inku+Ando+kanpani, an advertising company that was very big and popular during the time I lived. They were advertising my father’s company. Take Kaisha, a department store, on it’s way to becoming really big and at the moment we really needed the extra push that their company was going to give us.
As the girl was about to leave, I grabbed her arm and turned her to face me. “What is your name? You already know mine. i would like to know yours!” I asked with curiosity burning in my eyes.
She looked down for a minute the raised her eyes to meet mine. “I’m Suzumasa Sakura. My mother is Shizuka and my Father is Tsuyoi. The daughter of Inku+Ando+Kanpani.”
I blinked once and then again. Her father’s company was the one helping mine. I put out my hand out. “I am the daughter of Hiro and Chiyoko. Daughter of Take Kaisha.” We shook our hands. “Do you want to my room and ditch this party?” I asked.
Sakura nodded and waited for me to show her the way to my room. We played in there in the rest of the night. We became best friends and never wanted to be parted. I was overjoyed when we sold our house and moved into the one next to Sakura’s in a rich neighborhood. We went to the same elementary, middle and now the same high school.
When we woke up on tuesday, it was raining hard. We could hear the patter of rain on the windows. I sat up in the bed and stretched. Sakura was already up and dressed. Slowly I got up and out of the bed, walked to my bag and let my hands grab the extra pair of clothes, I phoned my house to ask Akane-chan for.
Getting up on my feet was hard, but after I did I was ok and not asleep anymore.
Fastly, I changed into my uniform.
Sakura was outside the door when I was finished changing. Quickly I grabbed my bag and followed her out the door and down the hallway. We walked down the hallway to the dinner room. Bowls of rice sat on the table. Sakura’s family was very traditional as my family was not. We did not eat rice in the morning.
As we ate, Sakura asked we about what we were planning for the school festival as she was in the bathroom as we discussed it in class.
“Well we are thinking of doing a heian era cafe, kinda like a meet and eat event. We will dress up like people in history and take pictures with them. Girls can dress up like court ladies and maids while the boys dress up as lords and samurai. We will have japanese treats like mochi ice cream, kompeito and dango,” I told her.
“That sounds great!” Sakura said as she finished her rice.
I scooped out the rest of the rice into my mouth and swallowed. I dabbed at my mouth with a napkin. “Are we ready to go?” I asked as we got up and pushed our chairs under the table. After that we grabbed our bags and left for the station.
We hurried down the street to the station, dodging people left and right on our way. Luckily we didn’t hit anyone. We scanned our student cards and walked through. Quietly hurried down the stairs and towards our train. Hopped on before they closed the doors with a whoosh.
I let out a sigh of relief as soon as we sat down. “Ah, I never thought we were to get on it on time. I feel like I just ran a marathon.”
“That’s because you don’t really run a lot, Kaguya! You’re not in really in a lot of clubs. You’re maybe in tea ceremony. Not that you have been going recently though.”
“Well you’re in kendo, that’s crazy. I could never do that! It would be too hard on me!”
We laughed and we could tell that people were giving us some weird looks.
Our stop came and we got off the train. Quickly we ran to school before they closed the gates on us. We parted in the genkan as Sakura had to go to the bathroom.
The bell went as soon as I sat down in my seat. Yukari-sensei came in and did the attendance. The only kid missing was Sakai-kun. First class, all I did was wonder why he wasn't there. It was weird since I was worried about a kid I had only known for about a week.

After attendance was taken, Yukari-sensei nodded to me. Telling me to come up and talk to the class about the school festival preparations. Quickly, I got up and walked to the front of the classroom.
“Ok, so last time I asked some of you to help out and I would like to hear your responses!”
Motomiya-san held up her hand and I let her talk.
“Tsukiko-san, as you know that my family run’s a tea house and I am really good with what kind of food should be served at a cafe. For food, I was thinking of..” She said as she grabbed a sheet of paper from her bag. “Mochi Ice cream, Kompeito, Melon Bread, Wagashi, Hakuto jelly, Anpan, Castella, Namagashi and Amanatto.” She finished then carried on, “Soda, Iced tea, Green tea, Darjeeling tea, Coffee, Latte, Juice and Oolong tea for drinks. Does that sound good?”
“That sounds amazing, Motomiya-san” I told her my honest opinion. I liked most of those choices and it was a wide variety for the younger kids to the older adults. “How about you, Otomiya-san? What did you find out about the costumes?” I turned my attention to her.
“My uncle that runs the costume shop said that we could rent them for cheap if they returned in the same condition and since it’s for a school event we can get a discount. There were a lot of historical costumes in there too. There should be enough for everyone.”
“That sounds good. Now we have to think of a design for the cafe. we will have to ask to use one of the home ec rooms. Is there any suggestions for the layout decorations?” As soon as I said that Minamasa-san’s hand went up. I nodded to her.
“I can help that with that. My mom’s a interior designer and I want to be one too. I bet we could come up with a few great ideas.”
“Ok that seems fine. Is there any ideas you have right now?”
“We could have the low tables and seat cushions to seat on. We could get some painted panels and we could ask the calligraphy club if they could paint some characters onto some sheets that we could hang up. We could have some lanterns up and wooden trays, bamboo cups and chopsticks?!” She finished with her face flushed and a great smile across her face.
“That’s amazing, I wouldn't thought with such great detail and attention to everything we needed. That’s good, Minamasa-san. Is there any objections to Minamasa-sans Idea?”
No one put there hand up, so everyone was in agreement and it was approved. Now I was really pumped for the school festival.
“When Sakai-kun comes back, I will get him to talk to you who are doing the various tasks about the budget and how much you have to spend. Minamasa-san will get the decorations, Motomiya-san will get the costumes and Otomiya-san will get the food. I think we have covered everything on the task list.”
The bell rang and I hurried back to my seat. We had math first with Yamada-sensei. At the moment we were learning about linear systems. It made no sense it just seemed that X and Y went in one ear and came out the other side. I probably going to get very bad marks. Math, though was my only bad subject.

Today I finally went home after catching the very last train of the day. I didn't want to risk staying in a “Love Hotel.” As I got off the train, it started to pour. I hurried to the nearest convenience store. I bought an umbrella and opened it as I waked out the door into the rain.
The moment it reaches the rain, the pattering of the rain is all I hear as it pounds against the fabric of the umbrella. I didn't want my shoes to get soaked so I started to skip around puddles, here and there. When I neared to the end of the street, I rushed up to the crosswalk, the walk sign was red. I pushed the button and waited for the sign to change. As I waited another person came up beside me, also waiting for the light to change.
Next moment, He was wrapping his arms around me. I was standing there with my face against his chest.I could his chest rising moment with his breath. My face was mere inches under his. His breath came out in little puffs of white smoke. He smelled of cologne, with a combination of musky and sweet. I stood there frozen with surprise. Slowly I looked up into his eyes. His eyes were swirling pools of endless darkness the color of coal. Just threatening to spill over. I thought his eyes would burn through me. As he moved slightly I pulled away.
“Why did you do that?” I almost shouted at him. I was so confused by this whole thing. The look on his face was a look of hurt.
“There was a car that drove into a puddle and I jumped in front so you wouldn't get wet.” He told me, his eyes pleading with mine. I could tell that he was telling the truth. My anger calmed and I went back to being my regular self. Now that I looked, his whole back side was dripping wet.
“Ok, It wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry that I yelled at you without knowing the situation.” As I said that the lights changed and we began to walked across the crosswalk. Then we parted on the other side. I waved to him as I yelled, “I’m Tsukiko Kaguya!” I turned around and began to run towards my street. I turned around to see him, but he was gone.
It was about nine when I walked through the front door. I was tired, wet and in need of some extreme sleep. I waved off the maids when they tried to take my wet jacket and shoes. I tossed the jacket on the dresser and threw the shoes into my closet. I slugged to my bed and collapsed onto it. Falling asleep in less than thirty seconds.

In my dream, I was in a room filled with some of the most traditional things you could dream of. Then came the knock on the door. I turned around to see who it was. There was traditional sliding doors. I had to tell them to come in if they wanted to.
“Come,’ I said to the unknown guest. The door opened and in came a boy, not much older then me. He have black hair like me and darker violet eyes than mine. We looked alike, you could say if you saw us together.
“ Little sister, it’s almost time for us to go to the party. Mother and Father will get mad at us if we don't hurry up and accompany them.”
This boy knew my name and was calling me his sister. The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that i was very comfortable around him. Unconsciously a name slipped into my mind. “Bother Makoto, What are you saying, I don’t see why I have to go to the party. Mother and Father can entertain themselves.” I pouted and crossed my arms. Knowing the heaviness feeling of wearing a kimono. I fingered the fabric, It was such high quality. My obi was a deepest shade of purple with a print of shy sakura blossoms fluttering around the hem. The outer kimono has a lighter purple shade with silver trees decorating the bottom. Twirling around them were modest pink blossoms on the branches. It was beautiful and a gift from Father and Mother for my 16th birthday.
Brother grabbed my hand and pulled me out my room and towards the room Mother and Father always entertained guests in. He lightly knocked on the door. Shortly after we heard a reply of “Come in.” Smoothly he opened the door and entered, pulling me along with him. He quickly took his place on the right side of Father. I sat on the left side of Mother, kneeling on a cushion place at my feet. In front of me was a short wooden table with a glass of wine placed at the right top corner. Though as I was not thirsty I simply just wet my lips and pretended to drink the wine. After dinner I was finally allowed to go back to my room.
I sat before my mirror, and studied my image. My jet black hair cascaded down my back to my knees. My skin was like any other skin tone in my people’s history: porcelain white. Eyes that stood out as pools of drowning violets in a winter evening. My bangs lingered not even an inch from above my long eyelashes. Eyebrows like any other girls, plucked and painted in with black. Thickly outlined were my eyes in kohl, a powdered eyeliner that originated in the middle east. Making my eyes the center of attention on my face. My cheeks were finely brushed with a pink powder, appearing as blushing white roses. My lips painted the color of the leaves that blew in the wind, a deep crimson red. They almost stood out as much as my sharp eyes.
My reflection stared at me as I stared back into it. I began to reach out as if to see if the reflection would do the same. Suddenly I felt the presence of someone behind me. As I raised my head to see who it was, the intruder brought something hard down on the back side of my head. The world swirled then blackened from my view.



As soon as the dream had come to me, it was carried swiftly away from me and was almost forgotten. As I sat up, my head pounded as I could only remember the boy from the dream.

“Brother?.....” That word flowed over the tip of my tongue. There had been a boy that called me his sister. I called him my brother as well. I could only remember those cold violet eyes, porcelain skin and black hair that made us look so alike. What kind of dream had I been thinking about? Was it a past life or a fragment of the person I was before I came to Mother and Father? It looked like I was in the past, everything about it was so mysterious and historical. The dream brought such unrest. I pushed those thoughts out of my head and closed my eyes. I turned over in the bed and went back to sleep.

It was sunrise when I woke again. Thoughts of my dream still lingered in my head, making me rewind all that I could remember over and over again. I changed into my uniform as I tried to forget about the dream. I didn't even stay for breakfast, I just walked to the door and left the house. Sakura wasn't up at this time so I headed to the station without her.
As I walked down the stairs, my foot slipped on a puddle I hadn't seen. Suddenly I was falling, the rushed up to meet my head and I closed my eyes and tried to forget that I was falling. To pretend that the pain wasn't going to be there when I hit the stairs.
An arm shout out and caught me before I could make contact with the stairs. I was pressed up with my back against my saver’s chest. His hand had slid around my waist and I had landed on him in a sitting position. I was so embarrassed, quickly I pushed away and turned around to thank the person who saved me. Standing before me was the same guy who had saved me at the crosswalk last night.
“You...!” I pointed my finger and said at the same time.
“Oh...you’re the girl from the crosswalk, right?” He put his hands up as if surrendering.
“Thank you from saving me today and last night at the crosswalk,” I bowed and smiled.
“It’s fine. I felt like it was the right thing to do,” he answered and turned, leaving me in the midst of the crowd. he was lost in the sea of people. When my train’s last call was announced, I ran to not miss it.
I sat near the door, but when I saw a pregnant lady without a seat. I offered it to her. She thanked me and took the seat.
When the door opened, I stepped out with the flow of people. I started towards the school when I heard my name being called out.
“Tsukiko-san?!”

I turned to the person who had called out to me. Brown hair swept past the shoulders and huge brown eyes of a fawn. “Minamasa-san?” There she was standing in front of the sakura trees that lined the sidewalk. “What are you doing here?” I asked as soon as I got within talking distance.
“Walking to school, silly!” She answered with a smile on her face. Her fingers flew to her mouth as she tried to suppress a laugh. Though her laugh slipped through. It sounded like bells ringing. I could see why the boys in our class liked her.

“So have you talked to your mom about the school festival?” I asked her.

“Of course I did. She thought that it was a great idea.” She said as she flipped a strand of hair off her check. Before we noticed, we were in front of the school. As we entered the genkan, Motomiya-san and Otomiya-san were there talking off their shoes. Minamasa-san called out to them and they came over as we slipped our school slippers on.

Ayako-chan, Tsukiko-san! Ohayo!” We said our hellos and chatted about things like what happened yesterday and who the boys in our class liked. Though all the girls agreed that most of the boys liked me but just didn’t show it. I decided to ask the girls if they knew the boy who had saved me.

“Do guys know a guy about five foot six. he has coal black eyes and has the darkest black hair to match his eyes?” I asked them hoping that they would know him.

“No I don’t,” Minamasa-san said.

“I don’t either,” commented Otomiya-san.
“Why do have a crush on him but you just don’t know who he is? Tsukiko-san?” Motomiya smirked and nudged me with her elbow.

“No, he just saved me from falling down the stairs at the station this morning.” I didn't add the crosswalk incident.
“Who fell down the stairs?” Hidenori-kun said as he came up to us. I could tell that the girls were super happy that he was talking to them. They were blushing really hard. Sometimes I wonder why girls were attracted to a certain type of guy and not to others. I didn't want a boyfriend. There was no one that really made me think “Oh my gosh, he is super hot,” kind of thing.
“I almost did this morning at the station, but some guy pulled me back before I could do some serious damage to my head. I wanted to give him a proper thank you but he disappeared before I could.”