Find a way back to me: Ch. 02

[Calla Lily]

Title: Find a way back to me
Characters: Amano, Yukari
A/N: The current plan for this story ? a collection of Amano-centric snippets. Eee!

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Chapter Two



Sometimes, he feels like a bad person.

?Amano,? she would ask, ?Do you think Hitomi is okay wherever she is??

He?d look her way, make eye contact with the girl?s best friend, holding her gaze with an emotion he can?t name, before she quailed and turned her head away. They were walking to school again, and it has been almost a week since the girl?s disappearance, and within those five days of teenage confessions and fantastical hallucinations, Amano is sure that he can never see the world the same way again.

?Sure,? he says, giving Yukari a cheerful smile, ?Hitomi?s the kind of girl who can take care of herself.? He remembers the way she handled meeting that stranger from the light, and her strange ability to understand his foreign language. ?She?s a tough girl, she?ll be all right.?

?Uh, okay.? Despite their height different and Yukari?s constant need to hide her face underneath her bangs, he could see the worry in her features. Amano feels like chewing his lip ? he doesn?t like lying, especially to girls, but if it cheered her up a little, then he?d gladly do it.

The school was coming up ahead now, they could see the top half of the clock tower once they got crossed this street.

?Amano?? she whispered quietly, throwing a glance his way before hiding again. Her skin was paler than usual but her cheeks were reddened slightly.

?Yeah??

?If you could, would you have gone after Hitomi?? His answer came almost immediately.

?Yeah.? When her mouth formed a perfect ?O? in reply, he added hastily, ?I mean, I?d make sure she was safe, Yukari. It?s one thing to be brave ? but it?s different when you?re alone.? She nodded silently in agreement.

He noticed it before, but it surprised him how different the two girls were. Hitomi was always so fresh, so energetic and ready to do her best. She was friends with a lot of other student, both within and outside of her class. Yukari, if you didn?t know her well enough, was quieter in school. She was content to let someone else have the attention, placing herself in the role of the supporter. That didn?t mean she was a wallflower, no way. Several months on the track team gave him all the insight he needed to know from this red-haired, hazel-eyed girl. He?d hate to be on the receiving end of her lectures.

One thing he liked about Yukari was that she was always so down-to-earth; she had a good head on her shoulders. They stopped at the end of the street and waited for the light to change. She was looking at her shoes as if she had just grown another toe.

?Hey now,? he reached out and touched her shoulder, backing away just a little when she jumped at his touch. ?You?ve been making too many sad faces. It?s not like you.? That did the trick ? she let out a small chuckle.

?I know. It?s just hard, right? I mean,? her voice dropped down to a conspiratorial whisper, ?how do you explain what we saw last night? The police would never believe us, and even now, I still can?t believe we saw a ? a drago ??

He cut her off with one hand, acknowledging her with his eyes while the crowd around them moved forward and onto the street.

One thing Amano did know: he was spending a lot of time with Yukari. He supposed it was of their shared experience, their inner guilt of being unable to protect a mutual friend. Some part of him was glad that she was there with him.

When lunch hour came around, he came over to the freshman?s class and asked to speak with Yukari. That earned him some suspiciously giddy looks from the other girls but he just smiled at them and made nothing of it, although he did feel bad when he waited in the hallway and he could hear the excited whispers of the female student body prodding Yukari with questions. She emerged from the class clutching her books and looking extremely flustered and definitely annoyed. She closed the classroom room behind her, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath to calm the vein popping in her head. He smiled.

?Hi.? She laughed quietly.

?Hi.?

?Want to have lunch together?? She nodded, and after several minutes they made their way onto the racing track.

So what if the other students were gossiping behind her back? The school was buzzing about Hitomi?s disappearance now that the word was out. And honestly, it?s not like she and Amano were together! They were only friends, caught up in circumstance, hoping against everything they?ve seen that they would knock on her door, Mrs. Kanzaki would usher them inside, and find Hitomi sitting at the kitchen table, ravenously eating a bowl of cereal looking no worse for the wear.

?Amano, I had a dream about her last night.? She pulled on his sleeve and he sat down on the grass with her. The other track students were on the grounds, stretching their limbs and talking to their managers, but the two were on the far end of the field, so they couldn?t hear what they had said.

?Oh?? She offered him a juice box and he kindly refused.

?I felt cold, a little shivery, like I was in her skin or standing behind her shoulder. She was afraid, I could tell ? she has this way of hunching her shoulders and tightening her hands when she?s really worried about something ?? Amano nodded and her heart twinged just a little that he noticed it too, ?but she wasn?t alone. It wasn?t me that was with her, it was someone else. I couldn?t see his face, but I guess it was that boy we saw.?

He nodded and stared out at the field.

?Amano?? He looked so serious and yet so calm, as if there was an idea on his mind that he hasn?t shared with anybody yet. Yukari must have been staring really hard because he turned to her and smiled, catching her off-guard.

?You remind me of Hitomi right now,? he chided. Unfortunately, that was the wrong thing to say because got up and left him without another word.

?Hey!? She wasn?t running, just walking fast. For a track star, she hadn?t gone five paces when he caught up to her in two seconds. Believing she was offended because he dared to mention Hitomi, he didn?t think it wise to touch her lightly on the arm to stop. Fortunately for him, she stopped.

?Let?s go back,? she whispered, her eyes shining brightly with something akin to desperation. ?After school, let?s go back to that temple and see if we missed anything.? Somewhere behind them, a gun must have gone off and they heard the sound of cheering rise up into the air. Yukari looked over his shoulder, her eyes squinting in the sunlight.

?We?ve already been there. That place is empty.?

?It doesn?t hurt to look,? she insisted, placing her hands on her hips and Amano noticed with amusement that she was tapping her foot unconsciously and now Yukari had her hands folded in front of her and oh man, if he didn?t agree with her right now, he was going to experience for the first time what it felt like to be on the receiving end of her talks.

He laughed and raised his hands up in surrender. Okay, okay! They?ll go back. But first they had to visit Hitomi?s family. Yukari brushed his comment off, of course they were going to see the Kanzaki?s ? after five days, it was becoming routine for them.

?And I need to buy something before we visit the temple.? She raised an eyebrow at him. Like what? Under normal circumstances, Amano didn?t like telling lies, even if it was a white lie, but under Yukari?s scrutiny, he wished he had the ability to.

?A pendant.?

?WHY?? Feeling highly embarrassed, he scuffed the toe of his shoe against the grass and look up at the clear, blue sky. It sounded ridiculous, but if Mrs. Kanzaki believed in their version of Hitomi?s disappearance and if Yukari dreamt of her best friend, then maybe his ideas weren?t so crazy after all.

?Did you know mystics used rose quartz? Hitomi?s into that stuff, right?? Yukari nodded and he continued. ?I don?t know a lot about divination, but I think Mrs. Kanzaki does, and I think Hitomi?s grandmother did too.

I?ve been doing some research in my spare time, and I came across this book about gemstones. It said that rose quartz allows you to get in touch with your inner self, and opens the heart chakra. It?s a good omen- ?

?But Amano,? Yukari hushed him, and he had never seen her look so sad. ?Amano. You don?t know how to do that. Only Hitomi knows how to look into the future properly.?

?I know,? he replied. ?But for her, I?m going to try.?