Dancing in the Rain

Kamio Akira, for the twenty-eighth time, heaved a long sigh. It was almost the end of school, yet the bell seemed never to ring. As the math teacher explained something Kamio did not care, his thought flew away to three days ago, when he was on the way home from school. Drops of rain poured down from the sky, and he was running as fast as he could under it.

    'Ah, there's a bus shelter, yokatta...' he thought and quickly ran to it. He wiped his face by hands and sat down.

    "I don't know since when..."

Kamio blinked his eyes. 'This song...'

    "I started to think about you..."

He stood up instinctively, searching where the song came from.

    "Your beautiful voice, your sweetest smile..."

He finally caught a glimpse of a girl dancing to the song at a park next to the bus shelter. His eyes narrowed.

    "Your dazzling moves, your everything..."

    'She's so beautiful...'

    "Mm... I can't do it..." she suddenly stopped. She shook his head before turning off the tape and sat down on the field. "I will NEVER be able to dance like this..."

Kamio fell silent, not able to speak. Her moves were perfect. But why did she stop?

    "This is hopeless," she said as she took the tape and went away. Kamio watched her back as she ran.

    'She's so beautiful...' Suddenly, sounds of falling raindrops shattered his thoughts, and just then the last bell rang.

    'It's raining again…' He sighed for the twenty-ninth time that day. 'I wonder if I can meet her again today…'

Not caring his classmates' calls for him, Kamio went out of the classroom. He ran to the bus shelter rapidly with his rhythm.

    "Your dazzling moves, your everything..."

    'She's started…'

Kamio sat down as he watched her and listened to the song carefully.

    "Everyday I always have you in my mind
    I want to approach you, but I'm too scared…"

Again, the song stopped when he just started enjoying it.

    "Hhh… Finally, I've started to understand the song…" her lips curved a small smile. A smile Kamio's eyes could not be taken off from. "Ah, it's this late already? I should go home now!"

And for the thirtieth time that day, Kamio sighed.

Since that day, Kamio started to think about her all the time. Her face, her hair, her moves, her smile, everything. If only he could go and talk to her… If only he had enough courage…

Now, every time it rained, Kamio always rushed over to the park. Sometimes he could not find her anywhere, but most of the time, she was there, dancing. And Kamio would be there, too, watching her every move. But it was all the same, she had never finished her dancing. She had always stopped the song at some point, then went home. This had made Kamio felt a bit depressed. He really wanted to see the dance to the end—badly.

And today, he just decided to show himself to her.

It was raining quite hard, which, for Kamio, was a good thing. He hummed the song he had been hearing a lot of times lately—the one that the girl Kamio saw danced to.

    "Kamio!"

He did not—or even could not—hear the voice that had been calling him.

    "Kamio, for the fourteenth time!!"

He still didn't respond.

    "Kamio Akira!!" the math teacher—Yamaguchi-sensei—hit Kamio's desk.

    "Wha..." Kamio looked up, only to find Yamaguchi's red face that seemed to be blowing any moment. "Out. NOW. And come to my office after class."

After being lectured around half an hour about "You should pay attention to a teacher in class!" and "Don't daydream while you're in class!", Kamio finally got his punishment from Yamaguchi: write an apology letter to him, and should be returned that day. That meant he should stay at school until it was finished.

While playing with his pencil and scratching his head (Because he could not think of anything to write), Kamio cursed himself for doing such a dumb thing that had made him stay at school like that. He had been piling his courage just for that day, and now it all ruined.

    "Kamio-kun," a voice startled him.

    "An-chan...?"

    "Has something bothering you these days?" she asked to the point.

    "Huh? Well... Not really..." he replied. "Why?"

    "You haven't been yourself lately... And I heard from Shinji-kun that you're punished by your math teacher, so I came here right away." she said. "I was worried..."

Kamio blinked. An was worried about him? Now, that was what you could call a news! If only that Momoshiro was there to hear it...

    "No, I'm okay An-chan. Thanks though," he smiled. "I'll just have to finish this letter..."

    "Kamio-kun, there really is something wrong about you!" she demanded.

    "H-huh?? W-what? Why do you say so?"

From behind her, a blue-haired boy appeared. "I can't believe he's really forgotten about today..." Shinji mumbled.

Tachibana and the rest of the regulars appeared. "Akira, don't you know what day is today?" the captain asked.

    "Eeto..." he thought for a moment. "Friday...?"

    "Baka!" An frowned. "It's August 26th! Your birthday!"

    "My..." he narrowed his eyes. "What?"

    "He is what you can call a pain, you know," Mori grinned.

    "Akira, if that girl had been bothering you, just tell us," Tachibana said.

    "W-what?! What girl?!" he blushed.

    "Aah, Kamio-kun's blushing! Kawaii!" An giggled.

    "An-chan!"

    "Kamio, don't you think you can hide her from us!" Uchimura uttered.

    "Yes, because we were worried about you, we followed you home yesterday," Ishida spoke up.

    "Now we all know where you've been on rainy days lately," Sakurai smirked.

    "N-no, guys, re-really!" Now his blush was out of control.

    "You can go now if you really want to see her that bad," Tachibana voiced.

    "H-huh??" Kamio blinked. "But I have to finish this letter..."

    "Leave it to us!" An smiled.

    "Yeah, go and talk to her, Kamio!"

    "B-but I..." he still looked unsure.

    "Akira," Tachibana called. "Just think of this as your birthday present from us. Ah, and here," he handed him an umbrella. "Take it in case you need it."

Kamio's eyes widened, but then he received the umbrella and said. "Hai! Thank you, guys!" With that, he ran away quickly.

    'Please let her still be in there... Please... Please... Please...' he speeded up.

    "I want to approach you, but I'm too scared..."

    'Yokatta...' sighed in relief. His eyes looked around for her. 'Ah! There she is!'

    "Though it's always been raining
    When the two of us meet
    For me, it doesn't matter
    Because you look beautiful under it..."

    "Konbanwa," he greeted rather shyly.

The girl turned her head. A slight blush appeared on her cheeks. "Err... Hi... I suppose you didn't see me dancing...?"

    "I did. No, I mean, I have," Kamio answered quickly.

    "You have? What do you mean?"

    "I've been watching you dancing here for some time now," he smiled and handed her the umbrella. "Take it. You can catch a flu practicing your dance under the rain almost everyday."

    "Aa..." she took the umbrella from Kamio. "Errr... My dance is really bad, isn't it?"

    "No, it isn't," he said truthfully. "In fact, it's beautiful."

    "Aa..." she looked down to her feet, blushing.

    "And today, we meet again..."

    "Ah, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Kamio Akira, Fudoumine Chuu-gakuen second year," he offered a hand to the girl.

    "Under this heavy rain tonight..."

She smiled and gently shook hands with him. " ."

    "Let's start a brand new page together..."

[ owari ]
// ichigo akira 2005.08.26

Note: Lyrics of the song was written by me, modified from the song "Something 'Bout You" that I made together with my classmates ^_^