'Sugoi!' Katsura-san exclaimed, excitedly. 'Hime, look at this! Isn't this superb?!'
I cringed away and paled as she picked the plastic skull up from the table to put it in front of my face.
It's- It's too lugubrious!
'It would serve as a beautiful decoration in my living room!' she said to Gōjun and I in the same beaming tone. 'And I already know exactly where I am going put it! It shall have its place on the low table in the living room, next to my laptop, so that I can admire it as much as I want!'
I cringed further away.
She has doubtful tastes!
'Mister, I'm going to take this!' she declared at the vendor, cheerily, and hurried up to pay him for the skull, before she took in the other gimcracks that the man was selling, her eyes filled with stars. 'Ah, I see that there are many other pretty things!'
She had been about to pick up something else from the goods on display when, a female voice called out her name abruptly.
We all turned to look at the old woman, who was standing behind the stall opposite of this one and waving into our direction. The woman was selling books.
'Ah, Otonashi-san!' Katsura-san exclaimed, and Gōjun and I tagged along with her as she ran up to the said-woman to greet her properly.
'Katsura-chan! It's been a few weeks since I haven't seen you at the library! I think I've got something that would interest you!' the old woman declared, and picking a book up from her stall, she showed it to the brown-haired woman, telling her, 'I'm sure that you're going to like this manga! The lead male character of the story is a vampire!'
I flinched, breaking into cold sweat. A- A vampire?!
'The story tells about a human girl who meets with an accident with his car and his abducting her from the place of the accident to take her to his house and hold her captive there, in order to drink her blood every day. Of course, he ends up falling in love with the human girl, and there are a few other characters who appear to coarse the story! It is short, but quite entertaining!'
Eh?! Isn't that story a little too blood-filled? Who could have written such a perturbing story?
'Wah! With just the information you've given to me, I'm already dying to read it!' Katsura-san cried, enthusiastically, and taking the book from the old woman, she went through its pages rapidly.
I almost fell flat to the ground.
Katsura-san…!
She really has doubtful tastes!
She was a bit of the Queen of the Underworld!
Shunsui caught up with us by that moment, to inform us that he was leaving.
'Where are the girls who were with you earlier?' Gōjun inquired, and the reddish-brown-haired young man replied, with a cocky smile, 'They're already waiting for me in the car!'
I flushed up, having no doubt about the place they were going to spend the rest of the night.
'Well, well, see you tomorrow!' he declared, and giving us a small sign of the hand, he turned around and walked off.
'I think I'm going to leave too, now!' Gōjun announced, and turning to me, he said, 'Come, Princess! I'm going to drop you to your home on my way!'
'Alright, thank you!' I replied, in a murmur, blushing with shyness.
'Katsura-san,' he said to the woman, then, 'Can I drop you to your home equally?!'
'Ah, no!' the old woman- Otonashi-san- exclaimed, grabbing hold of the Katsura-san's forearm, 'She's not going anywhere! I want her to tell me about the latest novel she has been writing and that, in every single detail!'
Katsura-san chuckled, and told us, 'I guess that I don't have the choice! But please, don't worry about anything! Otonashi-san lives close to my house. We'll return home together at the end of the funfair!'
'Yes! You can count on my husband and I to take good care of her safety!' the old woman asserted, with a solemn nod.
'Not to forget that I've got my eyes on a few other things that I'd really want to buy!' Katsura-san added, cupping her chin and grinning widely, her eyes set on the stall where she had bought the plastic skull.
I closed my eyes and giggled awkwardly, my face going pale again.
'Alright,' Gōjun replied. 'See you later!'
And on this, we both headed for the Shamusho to recuperate my clothes, before we left the premises of the shrine.
I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get the chance to ask Katsura-san the name of the young man whom she had known in high school, but I said to myself that I'd certainly have other occasions to ask her about it.
I could only smile after we had left the funfair. We had all spent an agreeable time.
Kami-sama… I hope that it has pleased you too!
'Princess,' Gōjun said, in all of a sudden, just after we had entered the car, his driver preparing to drive us to my home.
The very second I turned my head around to look at him, unexpectedly, he put something in my mouth. I went still, my eyes widening at him in surprise, my cheeks reddening.
It was something mall and round.
'It's sweet!' I murmured, touching my lips, blushing harder.
'It's normal! It's a sugar candy!' he replied, bluntly, and taking my other hand, he turned my palm upward and placed in it, a small, beautifully-decorated bag which contained more of these candies.
'Gōjun...' I whispered, my face completely red now.
He watched me out of the corner of his eyes for a second or two, before he turned his face completely away to gaze out of the window.
Lowering my eyes, I smiled, shyly.
'Thank you...'
***
A few hours later…
'Ah, the night is so fresh! The air so pure at the shrine!' Katsura Hiō exclaimed to herself, as she started to make towards the staircase of the shrine, with the intention to sit there for a moment to appreciate the beautiful night sky. Most of the stalls were closing now and the crowd had diminished considerably.
Her heart was filled with joy; the funfair has been a real success. And she was convinced that after this night, the shrine would attract more visitors. What the brown-haired woman, however, didn't know yet was that this night would not only mark a memorable turn for the shrine, but also for her life. The wheel of destiny had already started to turn.
As she arrived under the torii and had been about to plump herself down to sit there, she jerked to a stop, her heart skipping beat, as her eyes fell onto the face of the man who was climbing the staircase. The said-man, who had reached half-way up the stairs, jerked to a stop too- his heart skipping a beat just equally- the moment he caught sight of her.
They both stared at each other, breathlessly, voicelessly, the whole universe blurring around them. For the matter of an instant, time seemed to come to a standstill itself!
And then, a small wind rose. It blew the brown-haired woman's hair in her face. Her eyes closed on themselves, and she reached up automatically to brush them gently away. When she opened her eyes again, she had thought that she would see no one standing there- the dream would have vanished. But this was no dream.
There, mid-way down the staircase of the shrine, stood the one and only man that she has ever loved in her life, the only person that she could ever think about spending her existence with.
When the two had found their voice again, it was to whisper each other's name with astonishment and indescribable emotions.
***
The following day...
'She's leaving already?' Gōjun asked Shunsui, in bewilderment, as he watched the dark-haired girl make her way out of the front door of the house.
'Yes!' the reddish-brown-haired young man answered, without looking up from his newspaper, and picking his cup of tea up, he brought it to his mouth to take a sip at it. 'She had only come to return the Kanzashi that my mother has used decorate her hair yesterday, so that I can give them back to her! But also, she informed me that she's taking half the day off because she's got something important to do, but that she should be back by the afternoon.'
'I see,' Gōjun said, still looking towards the door. 'And did she tell you exactly what that important thing is?'
'She talked about a rendezvous with someone.'
Gōjun's breath caught. 'A romantic rendezvous?!'
Shunsui looked up from his newspaper in that instant to stare at Gōjun, wondering what's making him think so.
'I heard her speaking on the phone earlier with someone. She was talking about a romantic rendezvous. And she seemed pretty excited to me.'
Shunsui put his cup of tea and newspaper down on the table now to jerk to his feet.
'Now, that I think about it, she mentioned her grand-father when she told me about the rendezvous, but I was not really listening to her. An arranged marriage, you think?!'
Both young men's heart skipped a beat.
They stared at each other's face for a minute, breathlessly, before they both started for the door, declaring, 'I need to go buy some cigarettes!'
Both males had spoken together, and they jerked to a stop to look at each other's face once again in surprise, but only for a second, before they rushed out of the door.
***
A short while later...
'Yeah, we say that we're going to buy cigarettes but, we're actually following her!' Shunsui noted, as Gōjun and he paused down behind a large tree and crouched down to discreetly observe the dark-haired girl, who was standing a good distance away from where they were, down the pavement, apparently waiting for someone.
'You forgot to take your spectacles off!' Gōjun pointed out, and it was only then that the reddish-brown-haired young man noticed it. He took them off to hook them to the collar of his shirt.
'Shunsui, look!' Gōjun exclaimed at him, out of the blue, gripping him by the front of his shirt. 'She's with a guy!'
Instantly, the reddish-brown-haired young man followed Gōjun's eyes onto the young man who has approached the dark-haired girl now and was speaking to her, making her chuckle.
The young man in question was thin and measured average height. He wore spectacles and had short, light-brown hair, with a conservative look. He was around twenty-two of age.
They both glowered at him, but that was nothing; their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when they saw him bend down to place a kiss on either side of the girl's cheeks!
'I'm going to kill that bas****!' they both shouted together, in blazing anger, but Shunsui managed to stop himself- as well as Gōjun- from jumping out of their hiding place to pounce onto the young man.
'I have to remember that we've also kissed her on the cheek yesterday! Maybe there's nothing romantic in it!' Gōjun grumbled, as if trying to convince himself about it.
'Yes, but it's not the same thing when it comes to us!' Shunsui pointed out, in a growl.
They were both leering at the young man now.
'Look! They're moving! Let's see where they are going!' Gōjun declared, and the two followed the dark-haired girl and the young man up to a shop, which had to turn out to be none other than one which sells wedding gowns!
All color drained out of their faces. Not only was it a Sunday today, but it was also still the Golden Week, which meant that most commerces were closed. And of the few that had remained open, it had to be this one for them to visit!
'Hime cannot marry a guy that she hardly knows! She has met him only today!' Shunsui shouted, the idea of the arranged marriage really starting to take shape by this instant.
'Do you think he knows a friend who works there and he's just making a small jump to say hello?! Let's move a little closer to see what they're doing!' Gōjun said, and skulking their way up to the shop, they took a peek inside of the bay window.
The brown-haired young man was standing at the reception, going through the different catalogs, while Hime was holding herself deeper inside of the shop, in front of a mirror, the girl trying a veil on her head and blushing madly!
Their heart skipped another beat.
There could be no mistake now! It's her wedding that was being planned!
They backed up against the side wall, holding their hearts with their hands, their breathings coming out rapidly.
A few minutes later, the dark-haired girl and the young man came out of the shop and their two stalkers rushed into the shop next door to hide themselves there. They came out onto the street again only when they were sure that the dark-haired girl and the young man had reached a certain distance away.
Shunsui and Gōjun both continued to the stalk the two of them, wondering where they could be going now, only to see them enter a cinema hall!
'Well, it seems that they have decided to try to get to know each other!' Gōjun stated, both Shunsui and he staring after them in cold displeasure. 'Let's wait here for them to come out! If we enter the building with them, they're sure to see us!'
And thus, Shunsui and he took a seat there on a bench of the plaza, and resting their elbows over their knees and intertwining their fingers in front of their face, they scowled at the entrance door of the building for some two and a half hours. Now and then, one or two people passing by would look at the two clearly unnerved young men, out of curiosity. And at some point, one kid would even draw up to them to amuse himself to play with Gōjun's face by making him do all kind of grimaces. This further unnerved the young man.
'Mister, Mister, why are you both sitting still like this, without talking to each other, while fixating that building with that angry look? Did your girlfriends leave you?'
'Oi, stop that!' Gōjun groaned, pulling the boy's hands off his face. The kid's mother arrived at that moment, and ushering the kid away with her, she told the little boy not to bother the two young men, because they were clearly unnerved by something, before she laughed a little at their faces.
'Is it me or she was mocking us?' they both wondered to themselves.
A short while later, they finally caught sight of the dark-haired girl again, as she came out of the building with the brown-haired, spectacled young man; the two busily talking to each other.
Even if they were at a good distance away from where they were, Shunsui and Gōjun immediately jumped to their feet and turned around to ensure that the dark-haired girl doesn't see them, hiding their faces with the collar of their jackets.
'What are they looking at? Can't they just ignore us?' Gōjun muttered to himself, testily, as several passers-by stopped to watch them with an intrigued look.
When they checked over their shoulders, it was to see that the dark-haired girl and brown-haired young man had already gotten quite far away. They hurried after them in order not to lose sight of them, while maintaining a certain distance.
As they continued to follow the dark-haired girl and young man with her, they saw the two enter into a restaurant together!
'Cinema, and then, restaurant! It's the great classic! I see that they've decided to go fully into it!' Shunsui grumbled, both Gōjun and he bitting their own thumbnails in agitation.
They drew closer to take a peek through the glass-door.
The dark-haired girl and spectacled young man have taken seat at a table in the middle of the small restaurant, having a meal together! Shunsui's stomach groaned. It was already noon and he was hungry. He bit his forefinger with a famished look.
'They really seem to be enjoying it!' he moaned.
Gōjun's stomach was groaning too. But both were too scared to leave the door of the restaurant even once of the eyes to go buy themselves something to eat for fear that they might miss the girl and brown-haired young man when they would come out of the building.
Instead, they went to plump themselves down on a bench at a distance away to wait for the two to come out, and when they finally did, Shunsui and Gōjun continued to stalk them, wondering where they could be heading after this.
Their breath caught when they saw the girl and brown-haired young man enter a big hotel.
The lobby was extremely large and they entered the hall after the two of them to stand in a corner, being careful to pick a brochure up to hide their faces with it.
An attendant of the hotel noticed their action and he paused down to look at them and had been about to ask them if they needed anything, but then shrugged and walked away.
The dark-haired girl and the brown-haired young men were holding themselves at the reception. They spoke to the woman there for a minute, before the latter left them to go somewhere.
From this distance, Gōjun and Shunsui couldn't hear exactly what the dark-haired girl and young man were talking to each other, but their hearts shook when they managed to pick up the words: "reception hall of the hotel" and "wedding venue".
The two young men stared at each other's face for a whole minute, their eyes huge, before they clenched their jaws and crossed the lobby to fling the dark-haired girl roughly around by her arms, to firmly state, 'YOU CANNOT MARRY THIS GUY!'
Thank you for reading!