Young Writers Society

I was fine until gym class when it happened. We were playing volleyball with the 3-C class girls. I was about to bump back a volley ball over the net, when I slipped and fell backwards. I must of hit my head on the hard cold floor. The world tilted and blurred in and out as if it couldn't decide what it wanted to do. I could hear cries of "Tsukiko-san, are you alright? Can you hear me?" from Yukari-Sensei before it all blacked out in all.

I was in a dark place, but when my eyes got use to it, there appeared to be many lanterns hanging above me. A blueish-white moon hung above me. It almost like there wasn't gravity holding me down, the wind blowing around me. Suddenly cries from unseen people broke the silence.

"Kaguya-hime, its almost time for you to return to us. Just wait a little longer."

"Wait, what do you mean?" I asked the voices. I didn't know where I was. I didn't know what was going to happen to me.

Then another voice cried out in the darkness. "Tsukiko-san, please wake up!" By my common sense, I followed the cries of the more familiar name. I forgot all about the other cries and ran towards the direction of the familiar cries.

When I opened my eyes for real this time, I was laying in a bed in the nurses office. There was a hand clasping onto mine. As I stirred to get up, my hand was released as the stranger woke up.

"Oh.....I'm sorry, Yukari-sensei asked me to carry you here from the gym once you fainted." The boy was medium build, about 5ft 8in. He had medium brown hair that fell at half way down his neck and he had the most common brown colored eyes. He was still in his gym clothes. I had never seen him before, so he probably was a new student. When I opened my mouth to say something about the situation, he interpreted me.

"I'm Hidenori Ichiru, I’m in class 3-C. I just transferred here last week from Osaka Public High School."

I knew how he felt, transferring schools as I had gone to a private academy for girls before I came here. It was because when I was little I always wanted to wear the school uniform when we passed the store. I had finally persuaded Father and Mother that a girls only private academy wasn’t for me. So he transferred me to Kakitsubata Academy which was co-ed.

I turned to find a clock. "What time is it? I can't miss the train!" I asked getting worried that I would class and the train.

"The school bell went about five minutes ago." he looked down and checked his watch.

"Ok. I really got to go." I said as I pushed the sheet aside and pushed myself off the side of the bed. I put the sheets neatly back on the bed and headed back to the change room so I could get out of my gym clothes.

A few of my classmates were still in the change room. Otomiya-san came over to me and asked "Are you ok, Tsukiko-san?"

"Yeah, you looked really pale." Motomiya-san commented too. She placed a hand on my forehead.

"I'm fine, really. It’s just a little bump." I persuaded them. As I changed into my uniform. It had a sky blue plaid skirt. There was a white top under the blue vest with short sleeves. There was also a tie, thigh-length socks and black loafers. It was really cute, I thought.

"What's better is that the new attractive transfer student, Hidenori-kun carried you to the nurses office. I'm jealous." Otomiya-san giggled as she obviously daydreamed about him.

"I wish he could of carried me. It would been so romantic!" Minamasa-san said. I laughed. It was cute to see a bunch of girls giggling about their shared crush.

"Well, I'll see you monday. Kay?" I told them as I left the change room. I stopped at my locker to switch my school slippers for my loafers. In the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of short wavy brown hair.

When I turned the corner, Sakura was waiting for me outside the school gates. "Hey, I heard you blacked out during gym class while I was in the bathroom. You sure you're ok?"

"Yep, I feel perfectly fine." I smiled. Sakura was my best friend in the world. She lived next to my house. We both lived in huge houses because our fathers were company presidents.

We chatted about school as we walked down the street on our way to the train station. Unlike some other wealthy kids, we liked to walk home from school inside of getting rides like some other kids too.

"Hey, lets stop for some keitai straps at the near outside Idol store, heard that their gashapon vending machines just got restocked!"

"Sure, that sounds fun!" I told her as I raced forward to get there first.

The store wasn't that big, but there was a large collection of idol products waiting, ready to be bought. There many girls of all ages crowding the store. Sakura and I pushed our way to the keitai strap machines. There was for AKB0048 and one for Love Live. I pulled Sakura over to the AKB0048 one. We both pulled out 200 yen coins. Sakura went first, slotting the coin then turning the crank all the way. A pink capsule came out the bottom. Sakura picked it up and passed it to me.

“Who is it?” Sakura asked me as she covered her eyes with her hands. I laughed as I took the keitai strap capsule in my hand. I opened it and let the strap drop into my hand. Holding it up to my eyes I looked at it.

“It’s Atsuko Maeda the 14th or in other words Nagisa Motomiya.” I told her as she turned back to me, uncovering her face. She took it from me and attached it to her keitai phone.

“Ok, it’s your turn!” she said as she played with the strap, twirling it around with her fingers. I pushed the coin into the machine and turned the handle till it came back to the place it started. The capsule dropped into my hand, that was waiting for it.

“Ok, you tell me what it is this time.” I covered my eyes with my hand. My ears waited for answer of what character I would get.

She held it up in her hands. “It’s Chieri Sono, Kaguya!” She called back to me, as she was looking at some other pictures of the maid cafe from down the street, when they had a karaoke themed day.

“That’s awesome, Chieri and Nagisa are best friends!” Sakura smiled and twirled as we walked to the train station entrance. We waved our student train passes over the scanner and headed down the steps, to the train we’d catch to our stop.

When the train arrived, we got on and sat by the doors. “The train is really full today, isn’t it?” Sakura commented on the amount of people getting on the train. I listened to her as I stared out the window even though there wasn’t anything interesting to look at as the trees rushed by.

Two stops from our station, the guy who carried me from the gym to the nurse’s room got on the train. He looked around for a spot to sit. Our eyes met, and he started towards me.

“Hidenori-kun, was it? I didn’t know that you go on this train,” I asked as Sakura and I moved over so he sit down next to us.

“I guess I should be asking the same thing, Tsukiko-san, was it!” Hidenori-kun asked as he laughed, trying to hide the embarrassment of it.

“Kaguya-chan, I’m getting a bad vibe from him,” Sakura leaned over and whispered in my ear. I could tell that she was squirming next to me, but I couldn’t get what she was telling me so I passed it of as one of her weird vibes.

“Oh, Hidenori-kun, this is Suzumasa Sakura, she’s in my homeroom and my very best friend. We have been friend since before I can remember.”

Sakura just nodded and turned to the window. I guessed she just wasn’t in the mood. Hidenori-kun went to shake hands but when he saw her face he stopped. We sat in silence till we got to our stop. As we chatted, we found out that Hidenori-kun lived only a few blocks away from us. We walked down the street to the corner that connected our two streets together.

“See you tomorrow, Tsukiko-san” Hidenori-kun yelled from across the street. I turned and waved to him and went to catch up to Sakura, as she had continued down the street without waving goodbye. We keep walking down the street to the side street that connected our driveways together. We said our goodbyes at her driveway gate. I went on to my driveway. At my gate stood our part-time guard, Souta-kun. He opened the gate and I said my good afternoons to him and walked up the driveway. I opened the front door and walked in.

A bunch of maids dropped everything they were doing and came over to greet me, “Good Afternoon, Kaguya-Sama”

“Good Afternoon, too,” I replied to their greeting. It was always nice to hear that being said to you everyday.

A brunette maid came over to me. “Kaguya-Sama, your father and mother are waiting for you in the main room, upstairs,” she told me as she bowed and left to do her other work. I wondered what Father and Mother wanted to talk to me about. I pondered on that thought as I made my way to the main room.

When I opened the door, mother and father were sitting on the left couch in the middle of the room, holding a file folder.

“Kaguya, theres something we need to talk to you about. Both of us.” Mother said slowly. This whole time I am thinking that there is something bad, at least thats what it sounds like it. I walked over to the couch across them and sat down on the right side. While I waited for them to start talking, I played with my fingers. Tapping with them, pulling on the frayed strings on the couch and even biting my nails. The mood was scary serious.

“You have reach the age of sixteen and we, your father and mother think that now is an appropriate time to start looking for a fiance. So we have been looking around for a suitable match for you.” Mother and Father were obviously happy about it and smiled like it was best thing in the world.

“WHAT?!” I stood up and yelled at my parents. “Did you ever think about me in your choice. Do you think that I want to get married?! I only started high school this year. I want to graduate then fall in love and then get married to that person. I don’t want a arranged, a forced marriage!” I was fuming and turned around to leave the room. I was almost to the door when Father grabbed my hand.

“Kaguya, sit down, this is not a matter of decision. This was going to happen soon or later. Nothing you say will affect our choice. We want to know that you are in safe hands when we pass away. Your mother and I are old and may not live for much longer.” Father told me as I sat back down, still fuming. I pouted as Mother explained why it was important to start looking for a suitable husband now and not later.

Later after we had stopped fuming and yelling at each other we went to our own rooms. I only stopped at my room to pick up a jacket, a red leather one. Then I went outside for a walk in our garden in the backyard, trying to calm my anger towards my parents.

The night was chilly and soon the goosebumps slowly but surely appeared on my arms. I fingered the velvety red rose petals as I walked along in the cold, dark night. I tried to forget the conversation from before, but my memory didn’t want to listen to me.

“Why......... Why would they want me to get married, I’m not even out of high school yet. Do they not want me in the house anymore?” I whispered into the quiet, still night. Deep down inside of me, something told it wasn’t true but my brain, my common sense was fighting it, saying the opposite. When I could not take the cold anymore, I headed back inside. The house welcomed me with the heat of indoor heating.I left my jacket with a maid that was posted at the door.

Dinner was really slow. No one really wanted to talk about our heated conversation that afternoon. It was a quiet meal, the only noise was coming from the maids and butlers bringing and taking away dishes for the meal.

When it was over, I went back upstairs to my room. As I turned on the light, I noticed that my bed was covered in purple irises. They were the same color as my room walls which were paler than lavender purple. They were beautiful. I reached down to touch them when I flinched and brought my hand back up. I turned to a maid that had opened and entered the room quietly.

“Are these from my parents?” I asked impatiently.

“No, Kaguya-Sama. A student from your school left them for you. He hopes you’ll feel better,” the maid answered.

“What was his name? Did he say?” I inquired of the maid, wondering who would leave me flowers. I didn't know of anyone who really liked me or had confessed their love to me.

“He said his name was Hidenori Ichiru,” the maid replied.

“Ok, thank you, you are dismissed,” I thanked the maid and turned around to gather up the flowers. “Can you get a large, but short vase for these?”

“Yes, Kaguya-Sama. I’ll only be a minute,” The maid bowed and left the room.

I leaned down and smelled the flowers. They were recently picked, I could tell by the scent. It was fresh and elegant. I laid on my bed and counted the irises. There was sixteen. They were for me, it seemed so unreal.

In a few minutes, the maid came back with two short, wide white vases. “He must really like you, to send you this amount of flowers,” The maid commented on the amount of flowers.

“No, we hardly know each other, we just met today. He carried me to the nurses office when I fainted in gym today.” The maid rushed forward to see if I was ok, but I waved her off. “I’m ok.” I really felt fine.

The maid seemed at ease with that answer.

“By the way, what’s your name?” I asked her. I didn’t want to be calling her “You” or “Maid” or any other name than hers. It was so disrespectful. She was also my personal maid and I didn’t even know her name.

“It’s Akane Sho, Kaguya-Sama,” She answered politely and slowly. It was if she thought she was going to get in trouble for telling her name.

“Akane, you can just call me Kaguya, ok?”

Akane looked confused as she asked, “But, is that ok for me, a maid to call you by your first name?” She seemed easily scared, wondering if she would make a mistake.

‘Of course, it is if I ask you to call me that” I smiled to her and Akane smiled back.

“If that is all, I’ll be leaving, Kaguya,” Akane said as she left the room. It felt good to be friends with Akane. I smiled to myself and I changed into my PJs. For a long time, I just laid there in my bed, thinking, wondering, hoping for a bright future. Soon I fell into a sleep that could capture anyone.

I slowly opened my eyes, then I opened my mouth to speak. Bubbles cascaded from my mouth. I quickly closed it then opened it again and more bubbles came out. Oddly enough I could breath. I looked around to where I was. It was a traditional shinto temple. There was lanterns hanging everywhere, that made the lighting dim and almost scary.

My arms felt heaving, as if someone had taped weights over them. I looked down to see what was weighing them down. I was wearing a beautiful kimono, it was a velvety shade of purple, it was long and it look like a princess-worthy dress. Stop that fact - why was I here? What was I doing? I meant to ask, but as I opened my mouth to say it. A group of people dressed like the heian era people, came into the room.

“Kaguya-Sama, we have to come to tell you, that you have to come back with us to Tsuki-no-Miyako”

That’s when I blacked out. I woke up with sweat covering my face. Akane was dabbing my face with a cold cloth. “Oh my gosh! Kaguya are you ok? You were panting really hard. I was really worried about you!” I could tell that she was trembling.

“It’s ok, I’m ok. It was just a bad dream, that’s all it was,” I smoothed her, patting her back. We sat like that till we fell asleep. By the time I woke up the next morning, she was gone.