She was modest about her singing and playing. I know she was being modest because the small snippets I'd caught two days ago while I hadn't been busy sounded better than some singers I had in my own collection. Funny, I never thought of you as a modest girl but then being bold and brash doesn't necessarily mean being full of yourself either. I'd decided I liked this girl, her confidence in herself and her sharp wit appealed to me. She had shown a caring side at the party too, during that crisis, she wasn't all shouting and glaring like I'd first thought a week back.

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“You never know though, you might see me up on the stage at a culture fest.”

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Joooy tooo the wooorld, an aaangeeel's heeere...

"Oh, morning Tanaka-san," I replied nonchalantly, with a VERY heavily surpressed smile. "And thanks for not greeting me in loud ecstacy, I'm still beat."

Your dress was partly to blame, by the way, I felt like saying, but knew better. At least the formal uniform and tied-back hair surpressed the beauty, if only a little.

"Oh yeah, guess what I didn't find today. Here's a clue: Torii gate."

Last night had been lousy. I'd shut myself in my room quite early in the evening after yet another argument with okaasan. Nothing to do but watch the clock... nothing else was any more interesting that night. Not music, or drawing, the computer, the meal I missed. I didn't take any time to puzzle over the Mihariban, or anything else. I tried looking at my schoolbooks, once. No good. Sentences ran into each other, ordinary words suddenly didn't make sense.

Everything was... out of focus. Save one thing. One thing that refused to be shut away. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say… one person.

***

I skipped breakfast too and got to the station a while early. The train was a little quieter than usual, not that that made a lot of difference. It just made it easier to think, unfortunately.

I arrived at the school a little later than normal, though certainly not late enough to be worried. I passed Rakuin as I went inside the main doors and said 'ohayo', then went quickly on to A-1. I scanned the room quickly from the doorway. Sadoru, Fushida, Nagashima, Tanaka, Icchan, Tak- oh no he's here, he's here, he's here, he's here, stop staring at him you moron! I went to my desk swiftly and sat down. It's fine, it's fine, he probably didn't even see you come in. Just don't look at him and it'll be fine. So I sat still, doing my best impression of a person who wasn't going crazy over the mere presence of another person on the other side of the room. It probably worked quite well. Perhaps it would have worked better if my eyes had just not kept darting over to his desk every ten seconds or so.

The first thing I thought when I woke up this morning and rolled over to look at my alarm clock was something similar to: Eurghhhhhh.

I'd overslept thanks to being up half the night playing music to mother. She'd caught a cold and begged me to play my flute to her until she fell asleep, apparantly it makes her feel better. Its not that I mind doing it, its just everytime she was almost asleep her phone would ring or her laptop would give a little blooop and inform her of a new E-mail. When she finally nodded off it was around 1, maybe 2, in the morning.

Really, I spoil her. Shes more like my kid then I am hers...Then again she never really has taken to motherhood very well eh?

I dressed in a rush, giving my hair a few futile brushes to try and tame the tangled mess it had become but in the end just had to settle for tying the worst of it down with a ribbon and crossing my fingers for good luck. My uniform wasnt helping, with my skirt seeming to have shrunk whilst my shirt was too big. I did my best, even remembering too knot a tie loosely around my neck. All in all, a thorough mess of a person.

I was driven to school, eating a slice of toast on the way, and managed to arrive at school not too late.

I wanted to be early though, to be one of the first people there so I could prepare myself properly and not appear to be a complete idiot.

By the time I finally entered the classroom, clutching several books in my arms, my nerves were going haywire.

Calm down! They don't bite.

As I walked in through the door I managed to trip over my own feet and whilst trying not to fall over dropped all my books.

"Baka..." I growled under my breath, slowly gathering up the books and all the loose sheets of paper that had fallen out of them.

"Good morning everyone!" I said weakly from my knelt position on the floor.

What a klutz. There goes the 'not appearing to be an idiot' plan.

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"Oh, morning Tanaka-san. And thanks for not greeting me in loud ecstacy, I'm still beat."

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"Morning!"

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The class began to wake up, more people arrived. Kazuo came in and quickly sat down. I glanced over and nodded a friendly and silent hello. He kept glancing our way and looked nervous.

You're looking at Fushida aren't you? I was more and more convinced something was going down between those two. She'd turned her back to him now which I thought was significant... she was relaxed and playing it cool, obviously aware he was there.

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"Of course. And who wouldn't be after that fantastic party of yours'. Thanks for that."

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I was getting more and more tensed up. People I knew went by but none noticed me, thank the stars, I didn't want to explain myself again.

Where are you?

What if he was late? What if he was ill and didn't come in at all?

I checked my watch again, it would be time for the bell soon. I began to hop from one foot to the other with nerves but still keeping well back and hidden, just peering round the end of the locker row from time to time.

Have to go soon! Have to go! Come on!

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"That would be something to see."

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Post last edited by Maho_Fushida on 06.11.2008, 04:19 AM.

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"What's so special about this Torii gate?"

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"Here,"

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I rolled sleepily out of bed when my alarm woke me. It felt too early, but that was probably a result of the unusually taxing weekend.

Once I was ready, I made my way to school, still quite tired. Eventually, I arrived, hoping that I wasn't late after having walked so slowly. I walked on through the gate, gazing at the ground, and noticing through half-shut eyes how there was suddenly a dark patch following my feet. Oh. It's you.

I went in and wandered along to Class 1-A, then opened the door to hear a small explosion. Or is it an implosion? It's hard to tell the difference sometimes...

Looking at the source of the noise, I saw Kashikoi, sitting on the floor in a heap of books and loose paper. Why am I not surprised? It was lucky that Sadoru decided to get up and help her out, because I still wasn't conscious enough to pick up books without ending up on the floor myself.

So I walked to my usual seat, put my backside on the chair, my bag on the desk and my head on the bag. "Night night..."

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"Arigato!"

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“Personally I just think it’s good you start close to the ground, less speed when you hit the floor.”

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"Huh." I said, tilting my head whilst I thought the idea through "I think you might just have something there!" I took the last sheet with a grateful smile, tucking my bundle against my stomach with one hand and running my spare hand through my hair.

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“Oh, and by the way – ohayo gozaimasu. And it is good,”

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Whats good?

Oh the morning.

Wow, mornings really dont help me in the intelligence department.

"I think every mornings good though, I mean no matter what happened its a lovely fresh start, ne?" I said cheerfully.

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“No rain today.”

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I couldn't help blushing, my hand still in my hair I looked downwards to hide my embarassment.

He's never going to forget that now I bet, oh well...

"I like the rain, its....adventurous." I giggled, removing my hand from my hair and holding it up so my hand was level with my shoulder. I grimaced at my too-big shirt sleeves.

"Look at this!" I said, gesturing at my shirt "I am actually shrinking." I laughed, and shook my head in a "oh well!" kind of way.

Post last edited by Nausicaa_Cat on 06.11.2008, 05:19 PM.

He rolled his eyes at me, which I didn't appreciate. Especially since he proceeded to miss my point.

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"Oh come on, the only place you'd find a torii gate is at a shrine. THIS school was a shrine. You can't miss the connection."

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"I think every mornings good though, I mean no matter what happened its a lovely fresh start, ne?"

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Post last edited by Saddletank on 06.12.2008, 10:29 AM.

I was taken aback.

"Um no, I didn't say the shrines were connected to the shadows..." But it's still too early to be arguing, I thought.

"If the gate's still here, it has to be there. The side gate's too small, as is the back gate. Besides, if the shadow can't leave the front gate, that should be the boundary, shouldn't it?"

Boundary? Hmm... now there's an idea. Drag Takako or Hissori around the school to map out the boundary. I'm they'll just say "Yeah sure!" and submit themselves to me.

Yeah, right.

"Kazami-sensei has a friend at the Munakata Memorial museum. I just asked her to find out more, that's all."

"Argh, I hate mornings," I exclaimed.

"By the way, what did you do after the party? Go for another? Ah ha ha, 'course not, eh?" I joked.

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"Um no, I didn't say the shrines were connected to the shadows..."

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I blinked. "Shrine in Kyoto? What shrine?"

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"Not a party, no. I went to a concert...classical stuff. It was very... ... ... pretty."

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As usual I had got to school very early, I’m often one of the first on campus. I went to the gym, got changed and got a set of starting blocks from the storeroom. Outside I practiced my sprint starts for half an hour then packed things away, showered and went in to class. I arrived with some time before the five minute bell was due to go and went straight to my seat, not speaking to anyone, just nodding a few silent hellos here and there.