Capture the moment (Hisao/OC) Chapter 3 posted 5/9/13

[Jestarr]

Hello all, this is my first time posting here so if i've done anything wrong just let me know and ill do what i can to fix it. As for the story in question it is told through the eyes of my OC Yumi Goto, a second year student at Yamaku academy who upon meeting with a new transfer student finds her quiet life slowly spinning in a new direction.

Act 1, Chapter 1- Silver Linings

Beep. Beep. Beep.

No. Just no.

Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep.

It’s a Sunday today; Sunday is when I get to lie in. Why would you ruin this for me?

With my eyes still firmly clamped shut and refusing to accept the light of a new day I clumsily grasp for my unlucky alarm clock, ready to hurl it across the room to its untimely demise. Unfortunately the beeping only grows from a dull annoyance to an incessant drill as my fumbling hands fail to find it. Cursing silently to myself I resign to opening my eyes, admitting defeat to my inanimate enemy. Shielding myself from the morning light and still subdued from my deep sleep, it takes me a few seconds to rally the strength to lift myself off my pillow but once my head is up my mind feels a lot clearer. Apparently in my vain attempts to shut down my alarm I managed to knock it off my nightstand and into my pile of clothes from yesterday. It currently sits beeping to itself inside a rather lovely blue bra that I had cast aside before dropping into bed last night. Groaning at the extra foot or so I have to stretch to stop the scathing sound I silence the alarm and set it down roughly where it was on my night stand before proceeding to fall back into bed staring up at the ceiling. I let out a long sigh.

There goes my nice lie-in then, guess I forgot to turn it off last night.

Twisting onto my left shoulder to try and check the time brings a few strands of my pitch black hair over my face that are quickly swept away behind my ear. I’ve been meaning to get a trim for a while now; my hair always gets a bit messy once it reaches my shoulders but luckily it doesn’t seem to grow any longer. Concentrating on the small black box in front of me I bring my focus back onto the digital display and whisper the time to my self in disbelief.

“Eight thirty in the morning?”

I groan again and bring my hands over my face, trying to rub some sleep away. Why am I even up this early? No one should be up at this time on a day off; anyone who voluntarily gets up this early should have their head checked. A short, sharp tone from the pile of clothes on my floor cuts through my inner monologue and I gingerly split the fingers on my right hand and peer through the gap. The offending noise was not my alarm clock this time, but my phone that I apparently also threw aside as I climbed into bed last night. Conceding to the notion of waking up I reluctantly let go of my last thoughts of going back to sleep and remove my hands from my face. I dig around through yesterday’s clothes until I feel a cold, hard object and remove it from the heap. The small blinking light on the outside confirms that I have a text and as I flip it open a familiar name greets me. I fail to contain a scoff as I see the message is from Rika, damn morning person. I press the confirm button and read the message that springs onto my screen.

“Yumi Goto get your ass down here, you’re already half an hour late!”

Half an hour late… oh crap! The festival.

The Yamaku festival comes round only once a year but for the two weeks or so preceding it the school goes into a state of panic and disarray. Usually I do all that’s within my power to stay as far away as possible from the preparations, I guess I don’t have much school spirit. But this year my albino friend managed to twist my leg enough that I agreed to help set up and run the class stall, at least for a couple of hours. Well that was the plan anyway, I’m running a bit late.

Kicking my duvet off I leap out of bed and launch myself at the chest of draws in the corner of my room. Phone still in hand, I pull open the draws of my dresser one by one and pick out seemingly random pieces of clothing to change into, thankful for the brief seconds I saved by sleeping naked last night. Once my modesty is covered I stand in front of the mirror and quickly take in my appearance. What I’ve picked is a light blue tank top that compliments my average breasts nicely and a pair of black jeans that extenuate my slender legs and firm behind. I must remember to thank my mum for gifting me this body some time. My hair on the other hand is still an utter mess with black spikes sticking out and messy waves hanging just above my shoulders. I contemplate trying to copy Rika’s braid to keep it under control but quickly give up and simply tie it up into a short, messy ponytail tucking my shorter fringe behind my left ear. I smile briefly back at my mirrored self before frowning as I notice one missing element of my outfit.

Slowly I bring my hand up to my left eye, careful not to misjudge the distance and unintentionally hurt myself. I edge closer to the mirror as my hand arrives at its destination and I gently pull down on my lower eyelid.

Yep. Still fucked up.

I pivot my head to look at my eye from different angles but it’s still the same mess it was eight years ago. There’s still a blank, grey iris staring back at me, devoid of a pupil and unable to take in the world around it. It’s an ugly, permanent reminder of the bullying and jokes from a time before Yamaku and the event that caused it. Sighing deeply, I retract my hand and lean back away from the mirror. I don’t want to spend anymore time looking at it. My energy from the rush to get ready all but sapped from me, I drag my feet over to my bedside table and pick up the plain white eye patch left there for safe keeping. With practiced agility I slip the piece of material over my head and position it in roughly the right place, glancing back at my mirror to finalise its position. Although I hate this eye patch the one positive thing it does is make my already vibrant emerald eye stand out even more against my pale skin and black hair. Silver linings.

Pocketing my phone, I take a long look around my room for anything I’ve forgotten and shove a handful of notes and coins I keep by the door in my other pocket. I’ve never really been one for bags or purses, they just get in the way and looking through a packed bag is harder than you’d think when you cant judge distances. The gentle chime of coins knocking against each other accompanies me as I leave my room and start on my journey to the festival. It seems I’m not the only one being forced out of bed at this time on a Sunday as a procession of weary faces accompany me out of the building, mumbling something about coffee and missed breakfasts. This is why I leave the organising to other people.

Outside the air is crisp and warm with the occasional bird singing to its neighbours filtering through the sound of Yamaku setting up for its festival. Everywhere I look there are people busily stapling last minute decorations onto stalls, teachers trying to keep their student workforce in check and many different varieties of food being cooked up in all manner of ways. My stomach growls as I pass by a particularly delicious looking noodle stand but I cant afford to be any later, Rika might end up stapling me to the booth as some sort of punishment if I am. I tear my eyes away from the mouth-watering delicacy and stride further into the festival, trying to remember where Rika said our class stall was going to be. After a bit of searching and backtracking I managed to find it nestled in amongst the other festival games. The stall for class 2-3 is fishing, a pretty standard booth for the Yamaku festival and this year it’s our honour to do it. I couldn’t be more thrilled.

“There you are!” My sarcastic thoughts are interrupted by the loud yell and accompanying finger of Rika who is now pacing over to me wearing a less than impressed scowl. The girl approaching is my best friend, Rika Katayama. She’s an inch or two taller than me with what she claims is an almost identical build but we both know I’ve developed slightly faster than her. A long, pure white braid hangs down over her left shoulder and ends just above her belly button. Being an albino her features are dainty and fair, which contrast greatly with my striking eyes and lips.

“Uhh Rika, hi.” I say cheerily with a smile trying to mask the fear growing in me as her face grows clearer the closer she gets. Maybe I should take a step back.

“I made you set an alarm, how are you this late?” I open my mouth to answer her but she continues ranting at me before I have a chance to respond. “Do you know how hard it is to put fish in a bag of water by yourself? They struggle. A lot.”

Despite her serious expression I can’t help but smile and giggle to my self at the image of Rika fumbling, trying to get a goldfish in a bag. She does not look impressed.

“Sorry is my discomfort funny for you? And another thing-“ She is interrupted mid flow by a loud bump from the stall behind her followed by a string of whispered curse words. So much for being by yourself Rika. This time it’s my turn to frown at her as my white haired friend fidgets uncomfortably under my gaze, smiling sheepishly.

“By yourself huh?” I question, resting my hands on my hips in an over exaggerated way. Rika’s resolve breaks and she lets out a stifled laugh, her face returning to its usual mischievous smile.

“Ok so maybe I wasn’t all alone. I managed to rope in some extra help from around the festival.” Rika doesn’t give me time to think about whom she may have convinced to help her as she grabs my hand and pulls me over to our stall almost at a run. “Hisao you can come out now, you ruined it.”

Hisao? I don’t recognise that name.

After a second or two a boy rises up from under the table at the front of the stall, rubbing his head and smiling apologetically at my pale skinned friend. I was right not to recognise his name, I’ve never met him before. I don’t think I’ve even seen him around school, which begs the question how does Rika know him? He stands a couple of inches taller than Rika so he must be three or four taller than me and he looks a bit older than both of us. Maybe he’s a third year, but that puts even more questions about their meeting in my mind. There usually isn’t much overlap between the different years at Yamaku; each one normally gets on with their business by themselves. Curiouser and curiouser. As for his appearance I cant say there is anything spectacularly eye catching about him, that is to say that he isn’t missing and arm or a leg. He is smiling but his face looks drained, like he isn’t use to being up this early either, or he hasn’t slept at all. His light brown hair messily frames his face with the exception of a single stubborn cowlick that pokes out the top of his head.

“Sorry Rika, there isn’t a lot of room under there.” Hisao continues to smile and rub his head as he sidesteps out of the booth and comes round to stand in front of Rika and I.

“It’s ok Hisao, I don’t think I would have been able to keep the charade up much longer anyway.” Rika replies with a shrug of her shoulders before turning to me. “Yumi, this is Hisao Nakai, he’s just transferred in. Hisao, this is my friend Yumi Goto I was telling you about.” My eyes narrow as I hear that. What has she been saying about me? Hisao on the other hand though wears an expression somewhere between embarrassment and fear; it’s an odd emotion to see as you are introduced to someone but he bows none-the-less. I return the gesture and cant help but catch his lingering gaze on my eye patch before his cheeks redden slightly and he looks away. That look is a much more common thing to see on people’s faces when I’m introduced to them for the first time and yet I still cant help but feel self conscious. Subconsciously I move my hand to cover my left eye but when I realise what I’m doing I cover it up by pretending to tuck my fringe behind my ear, not that it fools Rika who gently taps my foot with hers to grab my attention.

“Come on Yumi, Hisao has been good for the manual work but we could use your creative side for the final touches.” She smiles at me warmly as she speaks and pulls me into the booth by my arm, leaving Hisao to awkwardly stare at our backs as we walk away… or our behinds as the unusual sway in Rika’s hips may be suggesting. As we walk she pulls me close to whispers in my ear, making sure Hisao cant hear us.

“I’m sorry about that Yumi, I forgot to tell him before you arrived so don’t take any notice of it. He’s a nice guy though honest; plus he’s really cute.” She winks at me slyly and that mischievous grin springs back onto her face. We glance back towards Hisao who’s running his hand through his hair and smiling nervously at us. I can’t help but agree with her. A nudge from Rika’s elbow brings me back to earth. “Just remember who saw him first.” She says with another wink.

Rika doesn’t give me a chance to respond with more than a raised eyebrow as she bellows over her shoulder for Hisao to hurry up and join us. Looking sheepish at best he does as instructed and regroups with us inside the stall, presumably waiting for Rika’s next assignment.

“Ok Yumi, what I want you to do is simple really; make the stall look pretty.” Rika sweeps her arm across the width of the stall and beams at me, apparently content with her request.

“Huh?” I reply, staring at her blankly.

“Come on you’re artistic, jazz it up a bit. Make it look less like a worn out shack and more like a fun festival stall.”

“Rika I take photographs, I don’t do interior design or whatever it is you’d call this. Plus I cant just magic decorations and paint out of thin air.” Shrugging my shoulders for emphasises, I take a seat on the corner of the table that isn’t covered in water.

“AHAH!” Her exclamation is so abrupt that I jump a little on my perch, causing a handful of fish to wobble tentatively. “That part I have sorted, Hisao!” Before she finishes talking our male companion retrieves two tins of paint, glue and a box of festival decorations from a hiding spot in the corner of the stall. I eye the box and it’s bearer suspiciously.

“Sorry.” Hisao apologises, again breaking eye contact and looking at the floor to avoid my stare. My glare softens at his surprisingly cute display and I let out a huff in mock indignation to show him I don’t really mind. He seems to catch on as he raises his head back up and smiles at me whish makes me feel good. Rika however makes no such cute actions and so gets the full brunt of my venomous stare.

“Well what a happy coincidence that was. Fine I’ll help you, but don’t expect anything good.” Her increasing grin only makes my stare harden but I soon crack a smile back, Rika just isn’t a person you can stay mad at.

“Thanks Yumi, you’re the best.” She pulls me in to a quick hug that catches me off guard. “I’ve got some student council stuff to be getting on with so if you two start with this I’ll be back later to add the finishing touches ok?”

Wait a second…

But before I can even raise a hand to protest my white haired friend dashes out of the stall with surprisingly nimble moves and starts jogging off towards the school, turning around momentarily to wave goodbye. So now it’s just Hisao and I. Rika has left me alone with Hisao, this boy I met maybe ten minutes earlier for an undisclosed period of time. Well I cant ever see what could be awkward about this.

[Steinherz]

I like where this is going. Your OC is good (so far) and:

[RedRover]

... and can't help but notice his lingering gaze on my eye patch...

I suddenly became more interested in your OC when I read this. What can I say, eye patches are cool.

Anyway, I think this is pretty good so far. Aside from a few grammatical things (which I may talk about later, due to being on a phone), I couldn't really find anything "wrong" with your writing. All in all, good job.

For more details, please refer to the picture above me.

[Mirage_GSM]

...a pair of black jeans that extenuate my slender legs and firm behind. I must remember to thank my mum for gifting me this body some time.

a bit vain, isn't she? That's good. OCs need faults in order not to become Mary Sues.
...I think she would "be reminded" of her bad eye instead of "notcing" it.

comes round to stand in front of Rika and I.

"Rika and me." The same happens again in the last line of the chapter.

smiles at me whish makes me feel good.

should probably be "which"

Okay, you're off to a good start; let's see where you take it from there...

[Silver]

Good start, I look forward to more.

[CaptainFalcon]

Woot, more OC goodness to feast my eyes upon! A good start so far, you certainly have piqued my interest

[Guestimate]

"Rika and me." The same happens again in the last line of the chapter.

Odd. I remember being taught in school that "___ and I" was proper, and "___ and me" was poor grammar.

[Mirage_GSM]

Both can be correct, depending on the rest of the sentence:
In your sentence

Hisao continues to smile and rub his head as he sidesteps out of the booth and comes round to stand in front of Rika and I.

"Rika and '1st person pronoun'" is the object of the sentence, thus the pronoun has to be "me".
If there were two people doing something, e.g.

Hisao and '1st person pronoun' continue to smile...

"I" would be correct.
The easiest way to see which is correct is to simply see what the sentence would look like without the second person.

Hisao continues to smile and rub his head as he sidesteps out of the booth and comes round to stand in front of Rika and I.

would be obviously wrong as would be

Hisao and me continues to smile...

[Jestarr]

Cheers man ill remember that. I've always thought it was just "______ and I" in all situations but that's a good way of explaining it, thanks

[AntonSlavik020]

I assume this Rika is a class representative? The way she said "student council business" made it sound like she was on it. Anyways, interesting start. It's nice to see a story from the perspective of someone other than Hisao, I love it when stories do that.

[Oddball]

This version of Rika seems a lot friendlier and less creepy than you usually see her written as, which is a nice change of pace.

[Steinherz]

This version of Rika seems a lot friendlier and less creepy than you usually see her written as, which is a nice change of pace.

Well there's very little information on her personality, so like every non-main character (and Misha) they're technically an OC in each fic they appear in.
But, agreed.

[Jestarr]

Act 1,Chapter 2- Third times a charm

“So… hey”

“Yeah… hi”

Well would you look at that, it is awkward after all.

Hisao and I stand a few feet apart, myself rooted to the spot by nerves, but I don’t know what’s keeping him so still. At least we have spoken to each other now and there is no longer an unbroken silence hanging between us. Now there are a few disjointed words dancing in our midst instead. This is stupid I can talk to boys normally, what’s wrong with me? Never mind, just take a breath and dive in before the sound of crickets becomes deafening.

“Uhh Hisao, for me to start making the booth look pretty as Rika so eloquently put it I’m going to need the paint and decorations.” The brown haired boy looks at me inquisitively for a second until a light bulb above his head burst into life and he fumbles for the box now sitting at his feet, a faint crimson emanating from his cheeks. Hisao sure does seem to get embarrassed easily but I cant say it’s a trait that I don’t like or understand. Transferring to a new school and meeting a whole new set of people is a pretty daunting experience, plus boys look kind of adorable when they blush.

“Oh sorry, I was a bit distracted by… never mind.” Hisao cuts himself short and swiftly picks the box of festival goodies up before handing them to me, all the while refusing to make eye contact. That isn’t an uncommon thing for new people to do when talking to me; people don’t like to stare so instead go to extreme measures to avoid looking me in the eye. If anything that is worse. I wish they wouldn’t, life would be a lot simpler if people just got over it and moved on. Feeling a little resentful after going down that particular train of thought I snatch the box from Hisao harder than I intended but it seems he would rather just ignore it and talk about something else which is fine by me.

“So Rika said you two are in the same class.” He has turned away from me now and is busying himself with the bagged fish.

“Yeah we’re both in class 2-3, although miss class representative is a much bigger part of it than I am.” The box of festival decorations seems to mainly be from last Christmas, as do the paints that come in two varieties: red or green. This could make my task a little tougher.

“You don’t normally do stuff like this then?” Hisao calls over his shoulder, still paying most of his attention to his aquatic friends.

“Nope, too many early mornings for my liking.” Just the thought of getting out of bed at this time makes me yawn and I struggle in vain to mask it, which draws a flat chuckle from Hisao.

“I hear you there, I almost went back to sleep after my alarm got me up this morning but I don’t think I know Rika well enough to test her mercy yet.” I let out a brief giggle and lift my head up to respond to the back of his head but to my surprise I find him now facing me glancing between the box of decorations and myself. The corners of Hisao’s mouth curl up into the slightest of smiles and he gestures at the box “Need a hand?”

I match his smile and brush the lawless strands of hair that have fallen in front of my face behind my ear before nodding at him. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’m still not sure what she expects me to do but I’m sure between us we can make something work.”

Ramping up his smile Hisao bends down and joins me in rummaging through the box, picking out the occasional decoration he thinks would look good.

“So how do you know Rika then?” I ask absentmindedly, still digging around for any lost treasure that I can find. There is a few seconds of silence before Hisao answers.

“We met in the nurses office.” His words carry more weight than I think he meant as his tone has dropped to a more serious one. I know that Rika has a heart condition, she told me about it when we first met, and that she regularly has to see the nurse so it makes sense that she would eventually run into a new transfer student there. I wonder if Rika knows why Hisao is here then, if they did indeed meet in the nurse’s office she may have overheard them talking. It doesn’t look as if Hisao wants to go into the subject anymore though so instead I start back up my search for decorations.

I steal a glance at my companion’s slowly growing pile of items and my eyebrows rise in trepidation, instead of gathering decorations fit for a fishing stall he appears to be amassing a small origami zoo at his feet. He must have noticed me looking as he picks up one of the cranes and holds it between us.

“I know they don’t have much to do with fishing but none of the stuff in here does either so I thought we could just dot them around the stall so we at least have something.” Hisao twirls the origami bird around with his fingers as he speaks, clearly entranced by the small folded creature. Origami doesn’t hold the same appeal for me but his idea is better than any I have come up with so far.

“Yeah sure, go ahead. I haven’t come up with anything yet so that sounds great. This sort of thing isn’t really my forte.” I retrieve a crumpled lantern from the bottom of the box that looks like it has seen better days and toss it to the side as I speak.

“Oh that’s right, you said you did photography right?” Hisao questions, carefully placing the crane back with the rest.

“Uh-hu.” I reply with a paintbrush between my teeth. I think the sign would look best in red… no wait green, or maybe-

“What sort of stuff do you take photos of?” Hisao asks interrupting my colour dilemma. I remove the wooden tool from my mouth to answer him this time and instead flick it through the air in time with the rhythm of my speech.

“Anything that catches my eye really; people, landscapes, animals. But I’d have to say people are my favourite subjects, when I can get a model that is. You can capture so much emotion in a split second of someone’s expression that it makes everything else seem dull in comparison.”

“Sounds like you’re really into it, how come you have trouble finding models?” You sure are curious about my photography Hisao.

“Well I guess that isn’t strictly true. I can ask Rika to be a model when I need her but sometimes she has student council work to do, and I don’t think she is too keen on the idea after we did that naked shoot.” Out of the corner of my eye I can see that my comment has had the desired effect on Hisao. The poor boy has frozen up completely; his face has taken on a deep red hue and his eyes have widened to the point where they look like they are trying to escape from his skull. His expression is priceless and I can’t help but stare and laugh at the shock on his face, which only makes him look more confused.

“It’s ok Hisao no need to have a heart attack, I was only kidding.” I manage to say between giggles. “I’ve never done anything like that with Rika… not yet anyway”

Hisao’s face begins to return to its normal colour and his eyes return to their regular size, if a little shaky. To my surprise he actually brings a hand up and gently rubs his chest but a smile creeps on to his face as he looks back at me. “You… you had me going for a second there.”

Matching his smile I get back to painting the stall’s sign, having decided that green will indeed look the best.

“So what do you like to do then?” I ask, not looking up from my work. “Photography is my hobby, what about yours?”

Hisao recalls slightly at my question and his face contorts into an odd expression, somewhere between sorrow and pain. Shit, Hisao is a transfer student, what if he is here because something happened to him and whatever brought him here stopped him doing his hobby. If that is the case having it brought up so casually in conversation was probably one of the worst things I could have said.

“I uhh… I guess I don’t really have one.” Hisao’s quiet stuttering voice brings me back to earth with a thud. His shoulders are slumped and instead of looking at me his eyes are now pointed at his feet. “I used to play soccer with my friends but now… I guess reading would be my hobby.”

The atmosphere between us has become awkward again and Hisao’s glare remains stuck to his shoes. I want to know what happened to him, why he can no longer play soccer and he has had to come to Yamaku but I feel its curiosity that has me interested instead of a genuine want to understand the brown haired boy. So instead I hold my tongue, if he wants me to know I’m sure he will tell me.

“I guess you’ve visited the library then.” I say in a hurried attempt to pull the conversation back into friendlier territory.

“Yeah.” He replies, almost in a whisper. This is getting us nowhere, he is still transfixed with his feet but his eyes seemed to have glazed over like he is looking right through the earth itself. I dig into my pocket and get rewarded with my phone, flipping it open to glance at the time I find that it’s only just pasted half ten. It’s still a little early for lunch but the stall is looking decent and I’m more than certain Hisao could do with a break from his thoughts. A walk round the festival is needed I feel.

“Hisao I think we’ve done enough here, if you put the sign up I’ll give one of my classmates a call and we can go look around the festival ok?” His eyes come back up to meet mine and I smile at him, hoping my plan will raise his spirits. It seems to work as a faint gleam returns to his brow eyes and a weary smile replaces his sullen expression.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” His voice has regained a touch of its former strength and his smile grows as he nods and takes the sign from me. A warm feeling grows through me at seeing him smile again, it makes me doubly happy knowing I was the one to bring it back.

* * * *

After a call to Akari, one of the other girls in my class, and a little bit of grovelling on my end I manage to convince her to turn up for her shift an hour early so that Hisao and I can have a walk around.

“Thanks Akari, I’ll make it up to you at some point.” I call over my shoulder as my new friend and I start towards the festivities. Can I call Hisao a friend yet? I mean he seems like a nice enough guy and we get along well if you ignore the odd spot of awkwardness so yeah, I think I’d like to be his friend. With this thought in my mind I turn to him to get his attention and he in turn looks back down at me, the height difference is more noticeable now we are standing next to each other.

“So what do you want to do first?” I ask holding my hands behind my back. I wait patiently for his response as the cogs and gears in his head get to work.

“Well Rika said she would give me the tour once the stall was set up but she isn’t back yet so I don’t really know.” He looks contemplatively around at the many stalls and attractions before pointing at me and beaming. “I guess you’re my guide now.”

“Well it seems you drew the short straw then because I was counting on Rika guiding me around as well, things have shifted around since last year.” I narrow my vision and quickly scan the stalls, trying to pick one that I recognise to start with. I settle on a candy apple stall and start heading towards it, noticing after a few steps that Hisao isn’t following. I turn around and start walking backwards to see him stood perfectly still, apparently lost in thought.

“Hey Hisao wake up!” I call to him with a cheesy grin, snapping him out of his inner monologue and bringing his eyes back to me. He smiles back and trots after me, quickly catching up and falling into step beside me as I turn to walk forwards again.

“Sorry about that I-“

“Got distracted?” I interrupt with a wry grin, keeping my eye forward. “I’ve noticed you do it a couple of times now, is everything alright?” I glance up at him to gauge his response but luckily he doesn’t seem as jolted as he did the last time.

“Yeah I’m fine. It’s just that Yamaku is so strange compared to my last school, everything here is so new to me and all the people are so… different.” He cringes as his use of the word; this environment definitely is new to him. There are many students here, me included, that would take different as an insult, but he quickly tries to correct himself. “I don’t mean different, that was a poor choice of words. I mean… unique?”

“You should probably stop digging a hole before you fall into it Hisao.” I tease, which rewards me with a blush and a frustrated sigh from my brown haired companion. I nudge him gently with my elbow to bring his attention back to me and smile warmly. “Tip number one for life at Yamaku; try not to use words like different and unique when describing people. Kids here just want to be seen as normal, they don’t want to be defined by their disability.”

There is a short pause before Hisao speaks again; he looks deep in contemplation but eventually his focus returns back at me and he smiles apologetically. “Thanks Yumi, I guess I never thought of it that way. Sorry if I offended you.”

“No worries, you can make it up to me by paying for my food for the day.” It’s a ridiculous thing to ask I know and I don’t expect him to take me up on it but it makes him laugh and that’s good enough.

“Ok, fair enough.”

Wait what?

“You- you don’t have to. I was only joking.” I stammer.

“No it’s ok I don’t mind, you don’t look like you eat that much and it’s what friends do.” He smiles broadly at me as he pulls his wallet out of his back pocket and counts out the correct change, swapping it for two candy apples with the student behind the desk. Maintaining his friendly grin he holds out one of the delicious sweets for me and I shyly accept it, offering a quiet thank you before taking my first bite.

The sweet toffee shell cracks beneath my teeth and the crisp flesh of the apple tears apart with a satisfying noise as I savour the delicacy. I can’t help but sigh contentedly and close my eye as the sweet and sour tastes blend perfectly in my mouth. I think this is the most satisfied a person can be without slipping a hand into their pants. As I slowly open my eyes I’m greeted by a very puzzled looking Hisao who is eyeing me up quizzically.

“Are they really that good? It looks like that was almost orgasmic.” I guess it’s his turn to tease now, but it’s ok. I wouldn’t mock him if I couldn’t take it myself.

“It’s pretty damn close. Try it.” I say, gesturing to his apple with my own. He looks at it suspiciously for a second before shrugging his shoulders and digging in. He looks un-impressed for the first few chews but then his eyes close shut and he too produces a guttural moan from his throat. He looks a bit silly actually; I guess that’s why he was looking at me odd. I feel a brief heat in my cheeks but cover it up by turning towards the rest of the festival and taking another bite of my heavenly treat.

“Ok you were right, this thing is amazing.” Hisao manages to say through a mouthful of apple as he appears beside me again. “What’s next then, I remember seeing a ring toss game that looked pretty fun on my way here.”

Ahh ring toss, not personally my favourite festival game, anything that takes a precise aim is usually something I try to avoid. I toy with the idea of taking Hisao in the wrong direction but walking around the festival was my idea to cheer him up so not doing what he wants would kind of defeat the object of it. I think the ring toss is in relatively the same place each year so I nod and start to head towards it.

“I’m not too sure but I think the ring toss will be this way. I don’t normally go to it though so I could be wrong.”

“Why’s that?” Hisao asks innocently, looking around at the nearby stalls and nibbling on his apple.

“We are sorry Miss Goto but for the rest of your life you will experience problems with precision and depth perception.” I recite what the doctors told me as I left hospital after the accident, their words still as clear as they were eight years ago. Hisao looks at me blankly for a second so instead of explaining further I simply point to my covered eye. Realisation dawns on his face and he looks away in embarrassment but I grab his arm and turn him back towards me.

“Hey it’s ok Hisao, honestly you forgetting about it is a good thing. It’s much better than tip-toeing around the subject.” I put on my most sincere smile and I am delighted to see him reciprocate with one of his own.

“Ok now lets go find this ring toss stall so I can laugh at you when you loose.” Hisao cracks into a laugh himself as I pull him by the arm towards the stall, now visible through a gap in the jostling crowd. I let go of his arm as we reach the stall and we stand in line behind a group of first years also waiting for a chance to win something. Although not lost in though, Hisao is wearing an odd expression and as he turns to me he opens his mouth but cant seem to find the words he is looking for, deciding instead to give up on his thought and face forward again.

“Something up?” I ask, his brow now furrowed as if he was frustrated.

“Well I was just wondering…” He hesitates as he fiddles with the ring toss money he holds in his palm before turning to look me in the eye. “What’s it like? Only having one eye I mean. You said you can’t judge depth well, does it ever stop you doing things?”

Now it’s my turn to hesitate. I’m not the sort of person to shy away from talking about my disability if asked but I have only known Hisao for a few hours. I’m not sure I want to start delving into the specific pains of being blind in one eye. Luckily for me we appear to have reached the front of the line. I blink my eye quickly and look up at him smiling gently.

“Come on then Hisao, try and win a bear for me. No pressure but if you fail we can no longer be friends.”

Hisao looks momentarily disheartened but a smile quickly returns to his face. He pays for three rings and readies himself, carefully eyeing up his target. As I watch him he raises and lowers his arm, I guess trying to judge how much force he needs, before letting fly with his first disk.

Miss.

“Close.” I jest with a smirk, leaning up against the front of the stall with my arms crossed. He looks over to me and I swear I see his eyes travel over my body before he turns back to the rings with a look of fresh determination.

Miss.

“Ooh it’s getting tense now.” My smirk has evolved into a full on grin with bared teeth and all. Teasing Hisao is proving to be a very fun past time. “Don’t forget, miss this one and you’ll be spending the rest of the festival on your own.”

“How exactly is that a bad thing?” Hisao asks. He keeps looking forward but I can see the edges of a smile on his lips.

“Well maybe I should just go then.” I push myself off from the stall and make to walk away but Hisao’s voice catches me before I can get very far. As I turn around I find him looking right at me and for some reason I cant seem to take another step. Something in the way he looks at me is keeping me held here.

“Wait. If you go how will I give you your bear?” Without missing a beat he tosses the final ring over his shoulder, never so much as glancing at his target. Apparently our charade attracted the attention of the surrounding students as the general din around us has died down. The wooden ring’s flight is accompanied by a dozen sets of eyes as everyone holds their breath in case somehow exhaling would throw the ring off its course. With a dull thud that in the relative quiet surrounding us sounds like an earthquake the ring hits its target, Hisao managed to get it round a peg. The crowd remains eerily silent for a second before the realisation hits them and a cheer erupts from all around us. Before I know it people I’ve never spoken to are congratulating Hisao and me with pats on the back and thumbs up. The boy running the stall gets down a small brown furred bear and hands it to Hisao who himself looks a little dumbstruck that he was actually able to make the shot. Looking a little embarrassed at the sudden attention he has garnered he makes his way over to me and presents me with his prize.

“Thanks, that was one hell of a shot.”

“Just lucky.” He says with a brief shrug of his shoulders. I think he’s just being modest. I open my mouth to respond but a male voice from the back of the crowd beats me to it.

“Just kiss her already!”

What?! Oh lord no; he’s not my boyfriend!

I can’t hide my face behind the bear quick enough and I can hear giggles coming from a group of girls at the front of the crowd. My face is bright red, and I mean bright red. I’m talking sunset red here. Hisao isn’t much better than me but he chooses to try and brush the embarrassment off with a laugh as he runs his hand through the back of his hair.

“Shall we move on to another stall?” He asks but I find myself only able to nod in reply, my face still burning and hidden behind the bear he won for me. Accompanied by a few boos and disappointed groans we walk away from the ring toss game, making sure to stay further away from each other than we were before.

[Mirage_GSM]

The final ring toss was way too cliché, but otherwise good chapter.

I think he’s just being modest.

He throws the ring behind himself without looking, and she doesn't believe him when he says it was luck?

“Just kiss her already!”

I don't think this is something you would hear anywhere in Japan. Kissing in public places is still very much frowned upon.

[Steinherz]

Rereading this I realized something: Yumi keeps using inches and feet.
If I recall correctly, Japan uses metric. I know it can be annoying to remember the conversions... which is why I have a few imperial-to-metric converters handy

Other than that, I like so far.

also:

“Well I guess that isn’t strictly true. I can ask Rika to be a model when I need her but sometimes she has student council work to do, and I don’t think she is too keen on the idea after we did that naked shoot.” Out of the corner of my eye I can see that my comment has had the desired effect on Hisao. The poor boy has frozen up completely; his face has taken on a deep red hue and his eyes have widened to the point where they look like they are trying to escape from his skull. His expression is priceless and I can’t help but stare and laugh at the shock on his face, which only makes him look more confused.

“It’s ok Hisao no need to have a heart attack, I was only kidding.” I manage to say between giggles. “I’ve never done anything like that with Rika… not yet anyway”

Hisao’s face begins to return to its normal colour and his eyes return to their regular size, if a little shaky. To my surprise he actually brings a hand up and gently rubs his chest but a smile creeps on to his face as he looks back at me. “You… you had me going for a second there.”

This reminds of that bit of trivia about the Beta/Early Script of Katawa Shoujo: Apparently Hisao was originally a Yuri Fan

I think he’s just being modest.

He throws the ring behind himself without looking, and she doesn't believe him when he says it was luck?

People usually have that reaction when someone says something is due to luck. Despite the fact that said thing is usually extremely ridiculous, the somehow often think the person is trying to be modest.