Kapitel 69: Music to my Ears
"Erina… Where are you?" Arata was stuck looking for her. Not that intensely though, partially because he wasn't sure of what was going to happen when he saw her. From the way she was acting, he would've thought he caught her doing some heinous act.
He might not have been putting his best effort towards finding her, but it definitely appeared like he was looking for something, which led to a certain pair of people showing up.
"Did you lose something?" Misao asked him. She was with Misei as well, the both of them wearing very elegant, and definitely expensive, kimonos.
"I didn't lose anything." He answered. "I was just looking for Erina."
"I see."
"Actually, since we're seeing you now." Misei added in. "We ran into Yogi earlier, and he was with another girl. Your sister, specifically. Why weren't you with them?"
"I just needed to talk with Erina about some things." That was the truth. "But then we got separated by all these crowds." That was the lie.
"Shame, but I'm sure we'll run into her sooner or later." Misao didn't seem to concerned about it. If anything, this was to her advantage.
"I guess we can look for the others." There was going to be a fireworks showing at the end of this whole event. Even though he had never been to this before, Arata knew about it. You could hear the noise from his house.
"So, how's your family?" Misao started up some small talk. She was going to try and get some conversation between the pairing she was working with.
"They're fine, my sister made a bit of a surprise visit. So I'm glad about that." He didn't want to mention what his parents were doing. Mostly because he didn't know, nor did he want to find out. "And yours?"
"Mine are actually working a stand around here." Misao answered. She nudged Misei, who was remaining quiet between the two of them.
"My parents are on a business trip, so they couldn't make it."
"Really? That's a shame." Arata was glad his father was able to take time off for this event. Even if he was only going to see him for a little bit tonight.
"It's okay." She responded. At this point in her life, she was used to it. "You shouldn't pity me."
"I just remembered something." Now that she got the girl talking. It was time to enact the only other step in her plan. The exit. "I need to get going and help out at my family's stand." That wasn't a lie, though they weren't expecting her for a little later than this. "Don't worry, I'll be back before the fireworks start. So we can watch them together." With that, she dipped out on the two of them.
"Well…" This was awkward for him. It wasn't like the two of them didn't spend time alone together. Just that most of the time, it wasn't leisurely. There wasn't that many topics that he could think of to converse with her. "Where did you get your kimono? It looks very elegant."
"This?" She never really thought much about it. However most people would be dazzled with its sophisticated design and warm colors. "My family got a personal tailor to create it for the event."
"Wow." That was impressive to him. "That must've been very expensive." Even renting one was hard for a highschooler to cover, so having it personally made must've taken a lot out of the purse.
"It was… I think it was 500,000 yen?" She pondered the value. Hearing that number floored Arata.
"Half a million yen!" All he had was a hand-me-down in comparison.
"It's a bit odd that you're wearing a Yukata though." That was normally reserved for females, whereas both genders wore kimonos.
"I was hoping that people weren't going to noticed." He responded embarrassed. Misei regretted saying that. She was only trying to come up with something to talk about him, but ended up saying something mean to him.
"I'm sorry, that was rude." She apologized. "I didn't mean to say that you were cross dressing or anything." That wasn't what he assumed her intention was.
"It's no big deal. But if you're wondering why I'm wearing this, well it was my dad's old outfit from when he was our age." Arata would never forget the story about why his father got this.
When his parents were younger. They were about to go to their first fall festival together, along with friends of course. His mom got a yakuta, but she was too embarrassed to be wearing it in public. She was concerned that her mean girl image might be negatively impacted.
What did his dad do to solve this? Well he went out and bought his own yukata. Despite what everyone else told him, he still put it on. When she asked him why he was doing this, his answer was simple.
"If you're embarrassed by what you're wearing, then so will I. That way, we can be embarrassed together."
"It's sweet, but I'm not too sure how much of that was actually true." Arata didn't think his parents were liars. However, some of their stories felt like something out of a shoujo manga.
"It does sound nice..." The way she was moving her hands. Arata noticed that it seemed like she wanted to ask him something, but for some reason. Didn't want to pull the trigger.
"Did you want to ask me something?" He pressed the issue, trying to encourage her to say something.
"Actually…" She paused for a moment, as if she was not sure how to continue. "I was wondering if you got a new phone yet."
"My phone? Oh right, well I got a phone." He pulled it out to show her. "But it's just my dad's old one. Luckily I was able to get my old data onto this thing."
"So then, does that include your music?"
"My music?" He remembered the time they were stuck in the classroom. "Right, because you were curious about my music."
"Yes, if it's okay. Could I listen to Arata's music?" He felt it strange to be referred to in third person, considering he was talking with her.
"Since you now that you all know I'm an otaku, I'm sure you could figure out the type of music I listen to." It was filled with many different op and ed of various shows. Along with some idol songs.
"...But, I'd still like to listen to what Arata listens too." That way she was talking. It was bothering him, like she was trying to pretend it wasn't him that she was asking. When he looked at her, she appeared calm as still weather. But on the inside, she was nervous. More accurately, a complete and utter mess. She was jumbling up her words, but she was glad he didn't seem to notice.
"I guess you can. You got some headphones with you?" He relented. Not much could really hurt him here, pretty much everyone knew now.
"I've got some right here." She produced some headphones from her purse, along with her phone.
"Great, I'll just hook up…" He realized the problem with this situation. "Um… My dad's phone is kind of old."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that, it's doesn't connect with these type of headphones." She had the latest in smartphone technology. Unfortunately that also means having the models that don't have an aux port. The only way to listen to his current phone.
"That does sound like a real problem."
"Yeah, well I guess we can just do this at school or something later." He was about to walk away, when she grabbed him by the arm. This was the boldest action of her life.
"Follow me." She told him. With some resistance, he came with her. She took him away from the main part of the festival into the woods. Soon they reached a small clearing, with a few logs sat around a tree trunk.
"What's this?"
"It's a secret place, I don't think anyone will disturb us here." He wasn't really sure what she had planned for him. With the way that sounded, he thought he might be killed or violated. However, that clearly wasn't what she had in mind. Misei sat down on one of the logs.
"Is this fine?" She motioned him to sit right beside her, Arata complied.
"Yes. Now, you should put you phone down here." She put her hand down on the trunk. "And play what you want."
"What? Play it on speaker right out here in the open?! What if someone comes by?"
"I already told you, no one's going to come here. Not when there's a festival here."
"...Fine." He relented, placing his phone down. He didn't want to pick one of the more embarrassing songs, so he picked a simple ED. One that sounded more like a lullaby.
Having to hear it play like this. He was feeling very self-conscious. Arata felt like she was judging him harshly for this.
"It sounds nice." She said simply.
"You don't have to pretend to like it."
"I'm not lying, I think this song sounds really beautiful." She looked him in the eye. He had never seen them like this, usually she had a glare to her. But this time, they felt so much more inviting.
He was almost lost in them, but sooner than he expected. The song ended, taking him out of his trance.
"I guess we're done here!" He grabbed his phone quickly, so that she didn't have to hear the next one.
"Not yet." She stopped him, pulling out her own phone. "It's only fair that I let you listen to the music I like."
"Yeah, that would be fair." It wasn't on his mind, but it was okay with him. He was expecting her to pull out her headphones, since they were hers so that he could listen to it. When she placed it on the tree trunk, that surprised him. "Um, I can just listen to it with the headphones, right?"
"You could." She found a song to play. "But, since I embarrassed you, then it's only right that I get embarrassed as well." Arata didn't expect her to bring up his family's story, nor did he get the chance to argue.
She pressed play. What he heard wasn't what he thought she'd be into. A J-Pop song? More accurately, was this an idol song? He was certain that it was, hopefully he'd be one of the people that's recognized this music given his tastes.
"You don't think it's silly, do you?"
"It's a pretty popular song." He replied, even if it was mainly people within his circle. "I just didn't think you were into this music."
"So then you think it's unbecoming of me." She was about to press pause on her song, but he grabbed her hand. Stopping her.
"I didn't mean it like that." He quickly responded. "The song's good, and if you're into that type of music. Then that's fine too."
"That's…" She didn't finish her sentence. Instead, in relief, she leaned her head over his shoulder. That caught him off guard, almost wanting to back off. However, he wanted to play it cool. Arata placed his arm around her back, grasping her shoulder. "A-Arata?" She was placed on edge by his move.
"I thought you were tired, so I'm just doing this to support you." He explained. What he didn't realize, was that this was considered a romantic gesture. Apparently the anime he watched usually had an arm over the shoulder for more of a friendship bond than anything else.
"Right… That's why you're doing that." She sounded disappointed. Soon, her song ended and she closed out of her music.
"We should get back to the festival." He got up, stretching out his body. "You know, before any of the others go look for us." This was an odd experience for him, though far from the worse. Either way, he was ready to head back and rejoin everyone else in the festivities.
Reentering back where they got into the forested area. The pair were spotted by the last person he wanted to see this.
"Arata? Is that you?" It was Matsu, who had been searching for him. "And President Jingu?!"
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein