"Taki Haginosuke." the teacher called. Not hearing any replies, he looked up and looked around the classroom. "Taki's absent again..."

's eyes took a quick peek at the empty seat beside her.

    'I wonder what's wrong with Taki...'

Of new year's hopes and wishes

DING! DONG!

    "I'll get it!" said a voice from inside, followed by sounds of running feet towards the door. "Hai?"

    "Yo," greeted the girl standing in front of the door, smiling. Taki looked a bit surprised.

    "?"

    "I'm here to deliver you this," she handed him a white envelope she was holding. "Ueda-sensei wants your parents to read it. Ah! I almost forgot—" she looked up a bit, searched briefly in her backpack and took out another envelope, which was somehow looked expensive. "From your tennis buchou."

    "Oh," he replied stiffly as the word 'tennis' reached his ears. As an expression of anger and disappointment appeared on his face, he asked, "This is all, right?"

    "Well—actually..." looked at his eyes. "I came to ask you... Why are you skipping school? You look so healthy."

There was a pause before he responded, "I just feel like it."

    "Eh?" she blinked. "But—"

    "This is all, right?" he repeated his question, gave her a stiff look, and closed the door quickly.

---

    "Game and match, Shishido! 6 – 1!"

    "Taki is dropped out from the regulars. Hiyoshi will be replacing him in the regulars' team."

    "But coach, the one defeated him was me!"

Taki shook his head. That scene seemed to be stuck in his mind since the second Shishido had beat him. It took him two whole years with unimaginable practice menu before he finally made it to the regulars' seat.

    'This is so unfair!' he threw the nearest pillow to the wall. Why had Shishido chose to beat him, of all people? Why not someone else—like Hiyoshi or Mukahi? Why him? Was he the one looked the weakest among the regulars? Okay, let's say that he was. But they had made an agreement with the coach, didn't they? Whoever lost in an official match should be kicked out from the regulars. Two reasons why Taki should still be a regular: One, Shishido had lost against that Tachibana from Fudoumine. Two, the match between him and Taki was not official. See how this world could be so unfair?

    "Hakkun?" a voice from outside of his room called.

    "What is it, Kaa-san?"

    "Your classmate is here to see you."

He narrowed his eyes. Classmate? Could it be...Akutagawa? 'Should be the end of the world if it's really him,' he rolled his eyes of his own foolishness as he got up and walked to the door, wondering who on Earth could care enough to visit him, Taki Haginosuke. He was the most ignorable man in the class, after all (though he had once been the all-great tennis club regular, that did not make any difference). He opened the door with a disturbed look. "What do you—"

    "Yo," greeted with a wolf-like smirk on her lips. He blinked in disbelief. Okay, so she came two days ago to deliver him some letters from school. But what was she—one of the well-known people in Hyoutei—visiting him? "May I come in, Hakkun?" she smiled teasingly with a sparkle in her eyes.

His face reddened n embarrassment. "Don't call me that."

She let out a soft chuckle. "Why, it suits you pretty well, Hakkun."

    "Anyway," he looked up, trying to change the topic. "What are you doing?"

    "It's not something to ask before someone lets a guest to come in, y'know."

    "Fine, come in," he said with a frown. The girl smiled in winning as she did as she was told to. "Now, what are you doing?"

    "Isn't it obvious?" she replied the question with yet another one, as she sat on the floor. "I'm visiting you."

    "C'mon, I knew that. But exactly why are you visiting me?"

    "Is it wrong for someone to be worried about her friend who had been skipping school for two whole weeks?"

    "Well—" he looked down.

    "Not only me. Akutagawa's worried too. He was going to go here with me, but he fell asleep on the way so I dragged him to his house and left him there. And so I came alone," she explained as her eyes wondering around the room, admiring how it could be so neat, remembering she was inside a boy's room.

    "Don't even try to lie to me, . Akutagawa doesn't care 'bout anything."

    "Y'know, the Taki I knew was a much nicer boy two weeks ago," said the girl, feeling a bit annoyed by the cold tone he was using towards her. "Something happened?"

    "Well—a lot of things," he responded, somehow looked sad. "And don't even ask me what. I don't want to talk—"

    "Y'were kicked out from the regulars didn't ya?"

Pause.

Oh great. This was just great. So people knew?

    "Hn."

sighed. "I heard it from Akutagawa. And rumors spread pretty fast."

Taki frowned. "If you don't have anything else—"

    "I know how it feels," she cut. "I was kicked out from the regular team when I was in sixth grade."

Taki blinked. "You?" As mentioned, was well-known all over Hyoutei as the captain of girls' basketball team, as well as the best player in the court. "If you're trying to cheer me up, it's not working."

    "Hey, I'm telling you the truth," she said, staring straight at Taki. "I was only 138 cm."

    "That's so a lie."

    "That's so not a lie," she uttered, slowly leaning her back to the bed. "I was really pissed off when the coach told me to be a substitute. I might be short, but I knew I was good, yet he wouldn't listen. 'Don't you dare to talk back to me like that!' he said. I was pretty mad, but I wasn't a kind of person who could just sit and cry after something like that. I tripled my practice—those days were like hell to me. And the hardest thing I had to do was to drink two litres of milk every single day, though I hated milk to death. But it finally paid off, I was chosen to be a regular again in my first year of middle school."

Taki fell completely silent. This girl—she was an exact opposite of him...

    "So, what I'm saying is," she stood up and tapped his shoulder slowly. "Never give up. Ryou-kun didn't give up though it was almost impossible for him to be a regular again, did he?"

Okay, so she was kinda right...

    "Ah, it's this late already!" she voiced as she looked at her watch. "I'm going home. I'll be expecting to see you tomorrow!"

Unconsciously, he grabbed her hand. "—"

backed a few steps, startled at the sudden touch. "What is it?" Taki looked at his hand, confused at what it just made him to do. "Taki?"

Say something, say something, baka!! "Errr... I..." He paused. "A...arigatou..." he finally said. only laughed.

    "Now now, I didn't do anything did I?" she smirked. "But in any case you wanna say thanks to me, say it tomorrow at school, 'kay?"

And she left.

---

    "Ohayo minna," greeted cheerfully as she waved an entered the classroom.

    "Oooii -chan!!" an even more cheerful voice called, followed by two hands wrapping the girl from behind. "How was yesterday? Sorry I fell asleep."

She laughed. "No worries, Akutagawa."

    "Don't call me that~ You sound so cold~" he pouted. "Call me Jirou, 'kay? I'll call you !"

    "Okay, Jirou-kun," she patted his head.

    "No '-kun'! Ji - ro - u," he said, looking childishly angry at his classmate.

    "Jirou-kun."

The happy-go-lucky boy frowned. Feeling this conversation would not go as he wished to, he changed the topic, "Anyway, how was Taki? I was really worried. I didn't get enough sleep last night because of him."

    "'Didn't get enough sleep' means you only got ten hours of sleep, ne, Akutagawa?"

The two classmates turned their heads in surprise.

    "Taki~!! I missed you!!" Jirou hugged his dearest teammate, getting all attentions from people around them. "Ne, ne, Taki! Didn't you know we were worried? And not to mention you skipped two weeks practices! I can't imagine what coach would tell you to do. No—what he would he make you do"

    "Sorry, I wasn't feeling good," he lied.

    "Shishido looked really mad," Jirou said, winking his eyes a couple of times. "He said, 'Oi Jirou! Tell your classmate that a coward like him shouldn't even be here!'. It sounded like he was mad to me, though I didn't do anything wrong! Okay, maybe I accidentally hit him with my ball when I played against him, but…"

Taki blinked. "He did?"

    "Ooh, Ryou-kun cares a lot about you doesn't he?" laughed.

    "How do you know?" he asked in a bit curiosity.

    "Well, isn't he that type of person?" she smiled. "Shishido always says something like that to show that he cares. The meaner it sounds, the more he cares about it. After all, he knows how it's like to be kicked out from the regulars."

He frowned "Since when are you that close to him?"

    "Hey, I sat next to him for two straight years. I know him pretty well."

Some wrinkles appeared on his forehead, as soon as an expression of dislike appeared on his face.

    "Oooh~! Taki's jealous??" Jirou grinned.

    "S—shut up! I'm so not!!"

    "Ahahahahaha~! Wait 'til the others hear bout this~!"

    "Akutagawa!!"

could only laugh. 'It's good that he's back to normal...'

---

    "Cottage?" the two boys in front of questioned her when she mentioned the word.

    "Yep," she nodded excitedly. "Every year I go to my aunt's cottage to celebrate New Year. She said I can bring a friend or two this year, so I was wondering if you guys wanna come..."

    "Hmm...cottage...sounds interesting...I haven't had vacation for such a long time..." Taki looked up, imagining how the place would look like. "Oi Jirou, what do you think?"

No response.

    "Jirou?"

Still no response.

    "Jirou, are you—"

    "Zzzzz..."

Taki and sweat dropped.

    "Don't sleep!" Taki slapped his back.

    "Huh?" the orange-head blinked his eyes a few times. "Hagi...wassup...?"

    "Don't 'wassup' me, sleepyhead!" he frowned. "So will you go or not?"

    "Mm?" Jirou asked as he placed his head on the desk and closed his eyes. "Maa...okay..."

beamed. "It's decided then!"

---

    "Cottage...?" Taki blinked as he pointed his finger to the building in front of them.

    "Yes."

    "Cottage?!"

    "Yes."

    ", this is NOT a cottage, for Heaven's sake! It's a mansion!!"

    "So that's how you think of it, eh?" sweat dropped. "Thanks for your compliment, but this really is a cottage."

    "Uwah! Right! This is almost as big as Atobe's!!" Jirou yelled energetically with starry eyes. "Sugoi! Sugoi!!"

    "Heh, don't even compare it. I'm sure his is ten times bigger than this."

    "Ara, -chan!" a middle-aged woman came out from the door, smiling. "I missed you sooooo much!! How have you been?" She hugged the poor girl tightly.

    "Kagura...-san...can't...breathe..."

    "Ara~ Gomen!" she let go of the girl, but then pinched her cheeks. "You are too cute, -chan!"

The girl frowned. Her cheeks were getting red, either it was because:
    (a) They were pinched; or
    (b) She was embarrassed.

    "Kagura-san, not in front of my friends please," she whispered.

Option (b) it was.

    "Ah, -chan's friends?" 's aunt—apparently named Kagura—turned her head and smiled to the boys. "Your names?"

Jirou raised his hand zestfully, with the most adorable smile of his. "Akutagawa Jirou!"

    "Jirou-kun, eh?" She glanced at Taki. "And you are...?"

    "Taki Haginosuke, 's classmate," he bowed politely. Kagura narrowed her eyes.

    '...?'

    "Ne, Kagura-san, second floor as usual right?"

    "Eh? Hai..."

    "Let's put our bags in our room first," she said, taking her bag from the ground. "Oi! Don't sleep! You were excited just a minute ago," she dragged the sleeping Jirou inside. "Let's go, Haginosuke."

    'Haginosuke, eh...' Kagura smirked. 'Not bad, -chan...'

---

    "Me? With Haginosuke? You're kidding."

    "But," Kagura smiled mischievously. The two of them were having a conversation in Kagura's room while the boys were playing ping pong in another room. "You two are already on first name terms without suffix. I don't remember you let anyone else call you by just ''. That second grade classmate of yours—Shishido Ryou, if I remember correctly—called you '-kun' and you called him 'Ryou-kun'."

    "Jirou calls me ''. And I call him 'Jirou'."

    "But this Taki guy is different for you, isn't he?"

    "I—"

    "Kagura-sama?" a voice from outside called. "Dinner is ready."

    "We'll be there in ten minutes," 's aunt replied. "Now, back to topic. What were you saying about Taki-kun?"

    "I—I'm going to tell them dinner's ready," she got up abruptly and walked rather quickly to the door. "And don't talk nonsense, Kagura-san," said the third-grader as she ran off to the ping pong room. Kagura caught a slight blush on her cheeks.

    'You're too cute, -chan...'

---

    "Oi, Haginosuke, wake up!"

The called boy opened his eyes slowly, only to find 's face an inch from his. His sleepiness was gone instantly. "W—WHOA! ! W-what do you think you're doing?!"

    "Heh, what do you think I'm doing?" she stared at him with half-moon eyes.

    "Errrr... N-nothing," he responded, looking aside, blushing. "A-anyway, what are you doing here? It's only..." he peeked at his watch. "Five am."

    "We're going to see the sunrise!"

Taki raised an eyebrow. "Sunrise?"

    "Yes! Haven't you done it before?"

    "Done what?"

    "Go to the rooftop, watch the sunrise, and make a wish for something to happen on the new year! I do that every year."

    "Hm? Ah, yes, I've heard of it but I've never done it before. I'm not a morning person," he said in response, replied by 's giggle.

    "Shall we go then?"

Taki pointed the sleeping boy beside them. "Shouldn't we wake him up too?"

    "Don't bother him, he was up until one to watch the fireworks, remember? He must be exhausted. He fell asleep the second the fireworks ended."

He slowly nodded. "Sou, ne..." Suddenly, an uneasy feeling rushed through him. "So... it's only the two of us?"

    "Eh?" a flush crept over 's face. "Well—yeah..."

    "I...see..."

The two of them fell silent, both looking aside, turned all red.

    'Kami-sama... What is this feeling?'

    "Errr... So..." said, breaking the awkward silence. "Let's go then?"

    "Aa... Yeah, let's."

---

    "Uwah! It's so beautiful!" yelled merrily as she sat on the rooftop, beaming brightly. Taki sat beside her, looking at her face.

    "Yes, beautiful indeed..."

    "You agree too, ne, Haginosuke! The landscape looks so perfect from here!"

He blinked quickly as his mind was back to reality. "Yes! Right! The landscape is so beautiful!" 'What on Earth was I thinking?!'

She glanced at her watch. "The sun should be rising around now..."

Just after finished her sentence, a white dazzle slowly came into their sight, an occasion of the sun's first appearance. Taki's eyes widened in amazement. "So pretty..."

    "Quick, Haginosuke! Make a wish!" said as she clasped her hands and mumbled something under her breath. He gazed at her, blinked his eyes a few times, and did as he was told to do.

    "Done!" she beamed as she looked up.

    "You're done too?" he smiled. "What did you wish for?"

    "Me?" she gazed at him, her smile widened. "I wished for you to be a regular again this year!"

He blinked, startled at the unexpected answer.

    "You've worked so hard, Kami-sama should grant my wish!" she said as she patted his head slowly, causing him to turn scarlet red. "What did you wish for, Haginosuke?"

Taki looked aside, his face reddened. He opened his mouth, but then shut it before he said anything.

    "What did you wish for?" she repeated her question.

    "I—" he mumbled sheepishly. "I... I'll let you know someday."

    "Eeeeh?!" she cried. "That's not fair! I told you my wish!"

Taki only laughed. "Really, I'll let you know someday! I promise!"

    "Really?"

    "Really!"

was still frowning, but then her lips curved a beam. "Promise me, okay?"

Taki nodded. "Okay."

He stared at her face and smiled.

    'I wish to be by your side... Forever.'

[ owari ]
// ichigo akira 2005.01.02