'A meteor shower?' I asked Tsubasa-sama, as we were taking breakfast together the next morning, together with the boys.
'Don't you ever watch the news?!' Gōjun muttered at me. 'It was on the news during the whole week!'
I giggled in embarrassment.
'Yes,' the blonde woman told me, excitedly. 'There's going to be one tonight and I'm impatient to see this!'
'Me, too!' I declared, with great eagerness, clasping my hands in front of myself. 'I'm sure that it's going to be absolutely magnificent!'
'And do you know what would be even more magnificent?' she asked, as she got out of her seat and moved to place herself behind me, putting her hands down onto my shoulders. 'It is to watch the meteor shower from the mountains!'
My eyes widened at her, and I held my breath, absolutely mesmerized just by the idea.
'As such, we're all leaving for Ichibangase on the spot!' she exclaimed, ecstatically, putting her forefinger up. 'And this time, we're taking my car! My bags are already in the boot! We're going to spend the whole weekend there!'
'Yosh!' Shunsui exclaimed, jumping to his feet, with the same enthusiasm. 'Let's go for it!'
Gōjun was grinning widely too, absolutely in for it. And so was I.
I didn't wait to hurry up to do my bags, but just as we were about to leave, suddenly, I remembered my mother and I hesitated.
'Don't worry!' Tsubasa-sama told me, with a gentle look, taking hold of my shoulders again. 'I spoke to Katsura this morning. She told me that she would visit her every day during our absence, so as to keep her company.'
Oh Katsura-san…
I felt extremely touched by the brown-haired woman's solicitude.
'I had called to ask Kenren and her to accompany us, but they won't be able to make it as they're going to be very busy due to the wedding. But, they do intend to watch the meteor shower tonight from the roof of their house together.'
We both blushed at the thought. It's going to be so romantic!
It was on this that we took the road for Ichibangase.
The region of Ichibangase was only plain wilderness for kilometers and kilometers round, with a chain of mountains in the middle. It was very far away from Kokubunji, but we were sure to arrive there by dusk even if we made a few stops. There exists a small Ryokan on top of one of the mountains and this was where we were headed.
By noon, we had made through half of our journey to our destination and we decided to make a stop at a small village named Jinmei to take lunch there. It was the first time that we were hearing of this village. The Village of Jinmei was very big and modern, and it was full of animation.
'Look! Apparently, they have a public aquarium!' Tsubasa-sama exclaimed, pointing at the board just outside of the door of the restaurant as we came out of it. 'Since we're here, let's go have a look!'
I nodded, eagerly. It was the very first time that I was going to have the chance to visit a public aquarium, and none of us was disappointed. The building was very large. It was like walking in a tunnel. The walls and the roof were made of glass, and through them, we could see several different aquatic animals, many of whom, I had only seen on television. It was like being under water.
'Oh my god! There's a live show with seals over there!' I heard Tsubasa-sama exclaim, at one point, and I looked at her over my shoulder where she was standing in the distance with Shunsui. She was pointing at the hall at the end of the corridor. They began to make for it together, and Gōjun- who was holding himself a few feet away from me- called out to me, 'Are you coming, Princess?!'
I nodded and hurried up to him for us to make after Shunsui and Tsubasa-sama together.
'Ne, ne, Gōjun, why don't you ever call me by my forename?' I asked the latter, a little complainingly, as we were walking. 'You called me by my name the other day.'
'Che! I'll call you by your name when you grow tall enough for your head to reach my shoulder!' he muttered.
Feeling a bit vexed, my eyes tightened at him, and I found myself grumbling, 'Why are you talking about my height all suddenly? You're trying to change the subject!'
At this, he came to a stop, and turning to face me completely to cock an eyebrow up at me, with his face scrunching up a little, he bent into my face and began to scratch me under my chin as if I was a cat, to ask me, 'And you, why are you getting so unnerved, huh? Ah, right! I forgot that your height is a taboo subject! You know, when I look at you, I wonder if Hasegawa was not right when he said that you should have drunk more milk when you were kid! This would have allowed your bones to grow!'
Aggravated, I reached out for his hair to pull at it without thinking, having come to a stop too.
'Why do you have to be so mean?!'
'Let go of me, you idiot!' he shouted back at me, and he began to pull at hair too. 'I'm only telling the truth!'
Shunsui and Tsubasa-sama returned by that moment to ask us to hurry up to join them, but they both jerked to a stop a small distance away to stare at us with a staggered look.
Letting go of Gōjun's hair, I flung around and flounced away, totally unnerved against him.
***
'Aren't you going after her?' Shunsui Shigeizumi asked his friend.
'Why would I do that?!' Gōjun muttered, turning his face into a different direction from the one the dark-haired girl had taken and crossing his arms over his chest, sulkily. 'I don't care about that girl!'
He began to make for the hall, flouncing his feet under him.
The reddish-brown-haired young man and blonde woman exchanged a look with each other. They both wanted to go after the dark-haired girl, but they believed that if they waited long enough, Gōjun would end up going after her himself. As such, they decided not to do anything.
They had watched the show for a quarter an hour when Shunsui pointed out to his friend, 'That's strange! Hime is not back yet?! It's so sad! She's missing the show!'
Upon this, Gōjun took a look over his shoulder towards the entrance door of the hall.
Shunsui could read some anxiety on his face now.
'Ugh! That girl, I tell you!' Gōjun groaned, and raking his hand through his hair, irritatedly, he started to make for the door, informing the reddish-brown-haired young man and blonde woman that he was going to fetch the girl.
Shunsui and Tsubasa looked at each other's face again to giggle.
When Gōjun had come out of the building, he was a bit surprised that he didn't find the dark-haired girl waiting for them there in front of the entrance.
Is she waiting for us in the car? he asked himself, and raking his hand through his hair once again in irritation, he began to head for the location where they had parked the vehicle. But when he didn't find the girl there either, his irritation became replaced with mild alarm.
Where is she gone?
She had never been to this village before.
Is she visiting around? What if she gets lost?
He knew just how distracted the girl could be. He had noticed that she had forgotten her cellphone on the backseat of the car.
As he began to search for the girl around the village, he grew more and more alarmed as he realized that he couldn't find her anywhere. He decided to go back to the aquarium, hoping to find her there, perhaps waiting for them on the side of the building. In effect, he had not searched for her properly there. But he didn't find anyone on the small alley on the side of the building, except for a group of delinquents.
'My god! She was so petite! Exactly, my type of girl! I had great fun with her!'
Gōjun froze into place. He had turned around and had been preparing to go search for the girl inside of the building itself when, he overheard this. He felt his stomach twist with something that resembled dread, but which was even more powerful than that.
'Same for us here!' another one of the guys seconded. 'We were very lucky to fall on her! I don't remember the last time we had so much fun all together!'
All rational thoughts left Gōjun's head at that moment. He saw red.
Flinging around, he surged at the three delinquents and started to beat them up brutally, roaring at them, 'WHERE IS SHE?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!'
'What are you talking about, man?!'
'I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU BA******!'
***
I froze into place; my heart skipping a beat.
'Gōjun?!'
I was puzzled.
At the sound of my voice, his head snapped around at me and he went very still.
'What's going on?' I asked him, blinking in confusion. 'Who are these people?'
'Oh my god, Hime!' he exclaimed, and jerking to his feet, he dashed at me to grab me by one of my shoulders and pull me against him in a hug, his other arm closing around me.
I was even more puzzled.
What's happening?
Who are these guys?
He had beaten them to the ground. They were covered with blood, and I had no doubt that they had several broken bones.
'Where were you?' Gōjun demanded at me as he released me, and cupping my cheeks with his two hands, he kissed me all over my face, causing me to blush.
'I- I was in the shop next door. I didn't have the time to prepare anything when we left home. I have bought tons of candies for tonight,' I answered, still very much confused. 'But Gōjun, who are these people?'
He looked down at the two bags I was carrying in my hands, his expression turning awkward.
Letting go of my face, and turning slightly around, he mumbled, 'W-Well, I thought that they… you...'
My eyes widened at him.
Can it be that-
'Dammit! Can't you keep your phone on you?!' he shouted at me, angrily, in all of a sudden. 'How can you be so distracted as to forget your phone in the car?!'
But I was not really listening. I was staring at his face, without blinking as I began to understand what had happened.
'You're going to pay us for this!' one of the thugs muttered at him, and Gōjun took a look at the wounded man over his shoulder, making a small grimace, before he began to usher me away. 'Let's get out of this village before we have any problems!'
Eh? Are we going to leave them like this?!
Just as we arrived at the mouth of the alley, Shunsui and Tsubasa-sama came out of the building, and Gōjun began to usher them away too. They were at a loss as they took a glance down the alley at the three thugs.
'Can you tell me just what happened?' Shunsui declared, and I thought I saw Gōjun's cheeks reddened a little.
'It was just a misunderstanding!' he grumbled, casting at me an upset look.
Gōjun…
I didn't know what to think anymore.
Is it really only a mere physical attraction that you feel for me?
We hurried up to jump on the car and leave the village, before we would have any problems with the authorities.
We reached the Ryokan by dusk.
As we came down from the car, Shunsui made a grimace at the sight of a certain red-haired male who came outside of the building to greet us.
'What is he doing here?!' the reddish-brown-haired young man groaned.
'It's Hime who asked me to invite Saien,' Tsubasa-sama told him, cheerily, and immediately, Shunsui turned to face me, his eyes narrowing at me.
Scratching the back of my head nervously, I giggled.
The red-haired male made a grimace too as he looked at Shunsui.
But I knew that it was only a pretense; that they were both just being stubborn again.
When we had grabbed all our luggages from the boot of the vehicle, we entered the Ryokan all together and an attendant showed us to our sleeping quarters. The Ryokan was very small and single-storied, but the rooms were quite big. We decided that the males would sleep in a single room, and Tsubasa-sama and I would sleep in another.
Apart from us, there were only two other guests- an old couple who had come to watch the meteor shower too.
Sometimes after we had taken dinner, we left the Ryokan to climb our way a little further up the mountain to head for the small clearing that existed there in the woods. It was from this clearing that we were going to watch the meteor shower, while the old couple preferred to watch it from the back-yard of the building.
The sky was absolutely clear tonight; there was not a single cloud in the horizon. We had brought large torchlights with us to lighten the place up, and laying a cloth down on the grass in the middle of the clearing, we took a seat there to watch the meteor shower together for hours and hours.
It was even more magnificent than all that I could have imagined. I was utterly captivated by such splendor; completely absorbed in this magical moment. I had the impression that we had been transported to another realm. The wind was so agreeable. The sky was so wide, so impressive, with countless shooting stars flying across of it. I was like hypnotized. Every one of us was. And at one point, Tsubasa-sama took out her phone to capture this moment forever, taking a selfie of the four of us, and we all made a V sign with our hands as we smiled at the camera.
Okā-san... Ojii-san… Obā-san… I am happy.
When we returned to the Ryokan, I was still smiling. I knew that we had just lived another unforgettable moment.
'I would never have thought that you know so much about the stars and Greek mythology!' Tsubasa-sama was saying to Saien-sensei as we were entering the lobby, and I took a glance at the two of them while they were chatting with each other, before my eyes shifted onto Gōjun to see him take his packet of cigarette out of his pocket to bring one to his mouth.
I held my breath in anticipation, biting my lower lip to prevent myself from laughing.
The moment he brought his lighter to the tip of his cigarette, it was only to pull the latter out of his mouth, and shout, 'What is this?! Chocolate?!'
I couldn't stop myself from laughing now. His expression was worth watching!
He looked at me instantly to demand at me, 'Is it you who did this?!'
'Yes,' I laughed, closing my eyes and putting my forefinger up at him, cheerily. 'I have replaced all your cigarettes with chocolates earlier! I have to thank the person who has had the ingenious idea to create chocolates in the form of cigarettes! That was a lesson for having been so mean with me earlier!'
'You're going pay me for this!' he roared, and immediately, he took after me as I began to run away, still laughing at him.
As he was about to catch up with me in the corridor, I skipped inside of the room he was going to share with Shunsui and Saien-sensei, but he didn't allow me to escape. Sending his arm around my waist from behind, he threw me onto one of the futons on the floor to tickle me playfully. Laughing even louder, I managed to get my hands on a pillow and I hit him with it softly on the head.
'Ah, you should never have done that!' he declared, picking a pillow up in his hand too, only to be hit by a flying one from behind.
Shunsui, Tsubasa-sama and Saien-sensei had followed after us and they were all holding several pillows under their arm-pits. And from there ensued, our pillow battle against one another. But within a few minutes, Tsubasa-sama, Gōjun and I had stopped playing to stare at Shunsui and the red-haired male cynically, the two having taken each other for sole opponent. They were throwing the pillows at each other with so much force and were smiling so viciously that it didn't resemble a game anymore.
'I'm quitting,' I declared, letting go of the pillow in my hand and cringing backward a little. 'It's becoming too dangerous!'
'Same for us,' the blonde woman and Gōjun stated together, letting go of the pillows in their own possession.
Soon we had put an end to the pillow battle, and Tsubasa-sama and I headed into our own bedroom.
As I lied down into my futon, another smile came to my lips and I gazed at the ceiling, my heart filled with contentment.
Tsubasa-sama had sent me the picture we had taken earlier. Once I was going to get back to Kokubunji, I would get it printed and add it to my collection. The fire had destroyed the picture Tsubasa-sama had given me of the boys when they were kids, as well as the picture Shunsui, Gōjun and I had taken in the Higanbana field during the Golden Week. But the reddish-brown-haired young man and the blonde woman had both offered me another copy, and we had placed them in a photo-frame on the furniture of the living room by the side of the picture I had taken during my last night with Ojii-san and Obā-san.
The picture we had taken tonight was going to find its place there too.
Okā-san... Ojii-san… Obā-san... I am really, very happy.
Thank you for reading!