Location: School hallway
Time frame: Friday Afternoon
Point of View: Sakura

While summer vacation is well and truly over, and the last day of the first week of school comes to an end in an hour for some and two for others, the excitement of the last week of summer vacation extended beyond it and through to this week for me: last week had been the best days I've had in the whole of summer vacation.

I had at one time casually thought about a possible career in being a professional model, but it being an actuality had surprised me when a phone call came through early Tuesday morning of the last week of summer vacation. A modelling agency (one that Tomoyo tells me is a top agency in the country) informed me that I possess the look that many of their clients were looking for. My reaction was like anyone who hadn't expected such news: I was shocked; then overjoyed; then disbelief; and then finally—elation and celebration! A wonderful dinner the next day at an extravagant restaurant with family and friends was held to celebrate the news. (Having gotten the phone number from Eriol,) the best part was that, after all of summer vacation of not seeing him, I was able to personally invite Kansuke and have him come. Later that night, while my family retired after dinner, my friends and I went to the movies. It was the most perfect activity to end the night because the entire time at the movies I was in Kansuke's arms! The following day, I had my first photo shoot for a spread in a high fashion magazine. I was nervous and stiff at first, but towards the end of it, I was enjoying it all. The photographer noticed it too, as he told me that the sets at the end looked more natural and more beautiful because I was relaxed. He also informed me that I can expect to receive a copy of the magazine in a few weeks.

All good and fun, but it had its displeasures: having spread around the school, the news attracted some unwanted attention throughout the school week. Presently, a male (of whom I have to say is not unknown to me) "escorted" me to Calculus class.

"Calculus, huh?—how's that going?" He was responding to the answer I had given to his question of my heading.

This guy had a personality I've never particularly liked; only a forehead taller than when I wore heels; sandy hair; somewhat lean—one could say he was good-looking face on, but if one stands beside him, his side profile reveals the bridge of the nose to protrude half an inch too much for the male to be flawless. Nevertheless, a player; lazy; and only did anything that benefited him in some way. He had been trailing behind me since I entered the building and had not taken my hint to leave even with my curt and sometimes non-existent responses.

"Yeah, right—you find how I'm doing in calculus interesting." A sarcastic response was what I had chosen to give him this time as I walked on, not paying him any real attention.

"Sakura—"

"Don't call me Sakura."

"Kinomoto—"

I interrupted him; no longer was I able to suppress the frustration his presence was causing me to feel—"Hey," I began; then with gritted teeth—my way of holding back the verbal abuse I had wanted to give this guy—I completed: "you know what I wish for you to do, Arakaki?"

"It's Jiro. What can I do? I can do anything for you, Sakura."

He continues to test me by calling me Sakura when I had not given him permission to:—"For God's sake, transparent jerk, stop stalking me!" I had wanted to scream at him; but I only said, "Leave!"

It was the last thing I said before I hastened my pace towards the Calculus class. I quickly walked in; slammed it shut on him; before indicating to him further that I no longer appreciated his infuriating presence with a glare through the small glass window on the door.

He got the message and finally left.

"God damn annoying male," I mumbled to myself. It was also at this time that Tomoyo's smiling face appeared on the other side of the glass door to which the annoying male had a few moments ago looked through. I realised I had still been guarding the door when she gave me a strange look. Quickly, I moved myself away from the door. She then walked through as she asked—

"Hi Sakura: why were you standing near the door?"

"Nah—it's nothing important to mention really," I replied as we made our way to our seats. She raised a brow. I responded to the import of her raised brow:

"It's just another guy wanting to talk to me." She nodded understandingly as she required no further explanation; then replied with—

"Right—so it's now four?" She was referring to the number of guys that had come up to me throughout the week.

"No, it's one less; but however many, why bother?"

"I believe it is Sakura." Both brows rose as I asked for an elaboration. "They can't resist your beauty!"

I laughed heartily at Tomoyo's reasoning as I responded—"I really doubt the reason for my recent jump in popularity with the guys is because of my beauty. It's not like I've changed the way I look. So that can't be."

I paused. We both took a seat at our respective desks. I placed the straw tote handbag I used as my school bag on the lap before I began once more: "It's like they think I'm some well-known supermodel."

"But Sakura, you will be!" Tomoyo said enthusiastically. "In a few years, you will be a desirable and successful supermodel. No doubt about it!"

"Tomoyo..." Embarrassment filled me. She only gave a small laugh though; in turn, I responded with a slight smile: Tomoyo will always be Tomoyo. She's an eccentric girl who always has enough confidence in me for the both of us in things such as these.

My attention then shifted to the classroom as I unpacked my gear: an unusually empty classroom I was sitting in at the moment. I counted only six others here with us.

"Where do you think everyone is?" I asked, querying my thoughts aloud. "It's one-thirty-five and there's still hardly anyone here. Chiharu's not here yet, either. Do you think there's something on that we don't know about?"

"I'm not too sure; I didn't hear anything; but Mr. Hisamatsu's often tardiness to this class could be one reason for most not being here?" Tomoyo thought.

"Could be," I said.

Mr. Hisamatsu was often late to the Friday class—never Mondays. He was always on time for the Monday classes. I'm not one to complain though; only surprised to have found such a pattern.

The thought exited my mind when the calculus textbook I expected to be in my straw tote handbag was not found.

"Damn," I said thinking aloud, "I forgot to get the textbook out of my locker again. I'm going to have to borrow one from the front." Tomoyo acknowledged with a nod before I moved in the said direction.

Nearing the front row, my eyes caught onto Natsumi who sat under a window. She seemed to have sensed me when I saw her remove her attention from what I believed was a magazine. Kind eyes then greeted me. "Hey Sakura, how's it going?"

I smiled, "Hey, Natsumi." I indicated a finger towards the bookshelf. "I'll just get a textbook from the front and I'll be back." I waited for her nod before heading to the bookshelf located below the whiteboard's edge. I reached for one of the four textbooks on the second shelf before returning to Natsumi. I took the empty seat in front of her. Natsumi began before I did as she asked,

"You got a calculus textbook from the front?"

"Yeah, stupid me I left mine in my locker."

She smiled. She then closed her magazine before saying, "Oh, I haven't congratulated you yet—I heard that you got scouted by a modelling agency: congratulations, Sakura!"

"Yeah, thanks, Natsumi." The magazine cover caught my attention: I recognised it to be the one I was going to feature in. I pointed to it: "Do you like reading that magazine?"

"Mm, I like the sophisticated fashion styles and life stories in it."

"Oh that's really good then. I'll be getting the next issue sent to me for free. That magazine there..." I once again indicated to it with my eyes—"it's the one I'll be appearing in. When I get it, I'll give it to you."

"Really?!" She stood the magazine up as it was her turn to point at its cover. "You're going to appear in this one?!" I nodded affirmatively. She gave me a wide smile. "Wow, so cool!—and thank you, Sakura!"

"No problem, Natsumi!"

Although talking to her was an occasional thing, I have always enjoyed talking to her. I found that her unique cheerfulness always transferred into me when I did. At the moment I also felt cheerful.

"Anyway, what did you think of the calculus test on Monday?" I then asked.

"Mr. Hisamatsu put some hard questions, but I think I will do okay. How did you go with it, Sakura? I hope you went well with it, too."

"I got some help, so this time it wasn't too bad for me either!"

"Oh that's so good!" A clapping of the hands together before the corners of her mouth lifted and spread into a wide smile. Again her contagious cheerfulness rubbed off onto me: I widely smiled before small laughter escaped me. A moment later, though, Natsumi's attention left me as I had seen it to look upon Li who was making his way to his seat across the one I occupied.

He had not noticed our gazes—he seemed to be busy replying to a message on his phone as his fingers moved all around the phone. After a few more moments, his phone was out of sight, placed into one of the pockets of his messenger bag, before his head lifted.

"Hi, Li," again, a cheerful tone Natsumi had said it in.

"Kojima: good afternoon," he greeted her. A brief moment before he spotted and greeted me also: "Good afternoon." I dipped my head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Li: Sakura's going to appear in this magazine—isn't that so cool?"

I stiffened slightly upon the announcement by Natsumi. That knowledge was only supposed to be known by my family and several of my friends at this stage. I was already struggling to cope with the additional attention I received this week. I could not handle the possible undesired attention I'd get when the magazine came out if those who would make my life hell were to know. Li was not one to make hell out of the knowledge, but I hadn't thought to let him know.

After Li set his bag down and pulled a chair over to seat himself between Natsumi and me, he took the magazine Natsumi held in her hands into his own. He looked at the cover, but did not go look at the insides—he didn't flip through the magazine to survey the contents like I believed most people would. A few seconds later, a kind smile formed on his lips as he directed his attention towards me. Using the word that Natsumi had previously used to describe my being in the magazine, he said:

"Uh, it is definitely cool."

I only nodded; for my mind supplied me with little else to respond with. He continued—

"How was the photo shoot? Did you have fun?"

"Yeah—I had fun."

"What did it feel like wearing all those stylish and expensive clothes and being made up and styled by professionals?" Natsumi entered.

In the presence of Li, I modulated and subdued my responses. "Yeah, I liked it. All the clothes were beautiful. There were a few things I wanted—some of the shoes I got to wear especially."

"I've always loved the shoes that the models wore in each of the issues. You're so lucky to have been able to try them on."

"Mm, I liked a lot of them, too, but they are too expensive for me to own them."

"Mm, I don't think I could ever spare several hundred dollars on a pair!" I smiled. Natsumi's eyes then beamed: "Oh!—where did you go to take the photos? What theme is it this time?"

"Well, the photo shoot was inside a café. It's one in town—I can show you which one if you want to see it."

She happily nodded—"I would love to see it."

"I can show you after school one day."

"That sounds good. We can also just hang out at the café. It'll be so fun!" Natsumi said with excitement. She had indicated 'we' with a circling motion of the hand to mean: Natsumi, Li, and me. Natsumi and me going together—I had no problems with; but the addition of Li—I wasn't too sure about that. But not wanting to be rude, I replied with:—

"Umm, yeah. Sure."

My attention was brought to Li when I heard quiet laughter coming from him soon after I had said that. My brows creased as he continued to take pleasure in whatever thought his mind supplied him with. My eyes then narrowed in curiosity a moment later: What was so funny? I thought. I was about to query that aloud when someone behind me interrupted. The person asked—

"What's going down over here?"

I turned to the voice: it was Kansuke. He crouched down between Li and me; he used my table and Li's chair for support as he placed an arm on each of them.

Natsumi answered him. "We were talking about Sakura and her modelling début." I had found Natsumi's tone to be polite. However, it lacked cheer.

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to see it come out!" There was eagerness in his tone. There was something else in there too which had made me uncomfortable—the way in which he said it came at me so uncomfortably. He then continued with another which left me feeling the more uneasy—

"Where are you appearing Sakura? I'm going to get it for sure." He pulled me in; placed an arm around my shoulder; before squeezing tightly and saying, "I want to let my friends see what a looker you are!" He looked at me; and usually his gazes would make me flighty; but not this time. I was having trouble meeting them.

"Hey: stop with that shit," Li said; but rather than anger—as those words would normally have portrayed—they were spoken with sternness. But moving my gaze towards him, there was a pair of eyes that looked into Kansuke's with such emotion.

Kansuke's expression changed accordingly as his good mood transformed to an unpleasantness. He broke the tense stare first—rather—he broke the stare but not the tension I felt in the air as he intensified it further. He articulated, "Shit?—" A pause. A smirk then spread across his lips and a brow cocked high in smugness. "What?—can't stand that this hot lady is mine, Loner?"

My own thoughts of Kansuke's possessive comment was pushed aside as I continued to observe the increasingly heated confrontation between the two: no change was found in Li's expression, nor had words escaped from him, only a steely stare continued to look into Kansuke's pair of eyes. He then stood; a turn saw him close the distance between him and Kansuke, entering into the space between Kansuke and me. Kansuke followed his actions as he rose from his seat also.

"Move," Li commanded. He seemed to have chosen to leave rather than respond to his question. Kansuke, however, didn't yield to his command. Instead, he stood firmly in his position and countered—

"You move."

I stole a glance towards the door: still the teacher hadn't arrived. I was glad. However, a larger group of people had directed their eyes in this corner of the room.

Finally, after a couple of seconds, Li took hold of his seat and moved; but a colliding of shoulders further irritated Kansuke and saw him shove Li hard at the chest with his hands. A clank of a descending chair, a screech of table feet, and a clap of hands on table and chair eventuated before I found Li's neck meeting my left shoulder. The push had caused Li to seek for Natsumi's desk and my chair for support.

I was shocked; but that did not make me miss the expression of shock also in Li's eyes. Apologetic eyes then looked at me before they filled with a kind of rage. He got back up and turned his attention back towards Kansuke. I expected him to confront him again, but after a moment of standing there (presumably glaring at him with extreme dislike (for his back was all I could see), he took hold of his chair and walked past him—no words said or make the previous mistake of body contact. He only sat down at his desk and carried on in preparing for class. Li had ignored him.

I turned to look for Kansuke's reaction: he was still standing, appearing to look unsatisfied with the unexpected ending.

What's... that all about...? I thought.

A few seconds more had Kansuke stayed there. Then, without further words or a look in my direction, he removed himself from this scene. He made his way towards his seat at the centre row.

And just in time had all this ended as well: Mr. Hisamatsu entered the classroom presently.

Waving a bewildered Natsumi goodbye, I made my way back to my seat. I took a glance at Kansuke for a response from him, but yet again, he didn't acknowledge me as he kept his attention to the front of the class. Whilst passing him, I was also met by Hisa's witchlike glare. I ignored it as I continued in my way. Upon reaching my desk, a couple of questioning faces from Tomoyo and Chiharu waited for answers. I took my seat.

"Sakura, what happened over there?" Tomoyo asked—a worried expression now on her face. It was here that Mr. Hisamatsu entered—

"Sorry for the delay. We've lost fifteen minutes already, let's start immediately: I haven't started marking the tests yet so I don't know how you all did. But what did you think of it? Easy?"

Moans of unhappiness came from all corners of the class before a few responded to his question.

Meanwhile, Tomoyo and Chiharu were still waiting for my response as their eyes looked at me, still puzzled. I told them that I would tell them after class when there was more time before joining the rest of the class and listened in on more responses from the class.

An hour passed and calculus finally ended. Nothing but the usual teachings of the subject occurred after the discussion of Monday's test. Straight after the class, before Kansuke disappeared out the door, I tried once more to talk to him; but he seemed to not have wanted anything to do with me. He ignored me and exited the room with Hisa. I had been slightly irritated at first, but I calmed down afterwards when I reasoned that he probably needed some time to cool down. After that, I walked Tomoyo and Chiharu to their sixth period classes whilst I retold the events that had led up to the confrontation between Kansuke and Li. Chiharu had found the entire thing strange while Tomoyo still believed that Li was Kansuke's competition. Even after the second time Tomoyo had said that I still didn't see it that way. However, her suggestion had made me play with the idea in my mind for a moment—Kansuke being taken over by the green-eyed monster because of another guy's attention towards me was something that my ears liked hearing and my mind filled with such thoughts.

Several minutes had passed since I saw Tomoyo and Chiharu off to their classes. Unlike Tomoyo and Chiharu who had classes in the sixth period, my sixth period was a study period—or rather—"home time" as I had called it.

The school ground was a peaceful quiet as sixth period was in session. I peered through a few windows to classrooms as I made my way out of the school. Upon reaching the school's courtyard where a basketball court situated before me, my eyes caught sight of the basketball hoop in the distance. I felt like pretending to be a basketball player in this moment. I walked up to the three-point line. My eyes stayed focused on the hoop's rim. I visualised the path that the ball I imagined to have in my mind would take in order to make a successful shot. Ready to take the shot, I adjusted the positioning of my bag, mimicked the stance of a basketball player then released the imaginary ball into the air. The ball neither entered nor missed the hoop as a voice from behind interrupted me from my play. The words spoken were—

"Shooting some hoops?"

I turned to look in the said direction—"Li."

He seemed to be doing that a lot these days; frequently he appeared out of nowhere and everywhere—at the library, at the fields during lunchtime, at the lockers, after school like he had now; and not to mention the times we bumped into each other during summer vacation all added up to an unusual amount of times I bumped into him. Sometimes I wondered how we managed to bump into each other so often.

He walked up to me, before he asked another question. "Going home?"

"Yeah."

"Me too. I'll walk you."

Leaving the basketball courts, the usual silence accompanied us as we walked together.

"Before. in calculus class." Li began moments later. I turned my head in his direction when he hadn't continued. "I'm sorry about that," he finished.

I looked at him, confused. "Sorry—for what?"

"Sorry for my falling on top of you."

I shook my head once: "It wasn't as if it was your fault." Kansuke entered my mind. Speaking more to myself than anything, I said—

"Actually... Kansuke was a little strange today. He was... kind of freaky."

"That guy's always 'freaky'."

I winced—a disagreement on my part with the implication within the matter-of-fact tone he used to speak those words. I understood Kansuke was, at times, rough, especially with some of the guys—Li being one in particular—but I didn't see Kansuke as being as terrible as he implied him to be.

I provided no answer to Li's comment as we exited the school gates and entered the suburban streets that greeted us. Not long after, however, did a block of silence began to accumulate; awkwardness was entering; I decided to ask:

"Do you live close to the school?"

"It's about twenty minutes from here."

"This is not out of your way?"

"No. My apartment is several streets from where your house is." I nodded.

Another patch of silence entered. Finding the need to find something my mind could focus on, I settled on the approaching block of shops, looking into each of them casually. After a couple shops, I reached the large window to the small and intimate dry-cleaning place I worked at. My boss would most likely be in the back doing some dry-cleaning, nevertheless I peered through the window and searched for her.

As expected, she wasn't there; however, there was a young businessman standing with his back against a wall beside the counter. Something about him was familiar: the way he held himself, the aura he exerted. Several more moments before I recognised him to be the customer I served last Saturday; I didn't like him much: he was an unsavoury individual. He caught my gaze then gave me a smutty look—a twist and turn of my guts signaled my disgust.

I hastened my pace to disappear out of sight—but my desire for a speedy disappearance from the man's line of vision hadn't been too successful as I slammed harshly into something that clanged like metal and inflicted sharp pain to my bare shins.

"Ow!" I cried; before annoyance settled in—"What the hell?!"

The person I had forgotten was walking beside me laughed momentarily. Then, hand and arms hovering over me, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"Why are you laughing? This is kind of painful, you know," annoyance with the A-frame footpath sign I had collided with continuing to pass through me. I bent down to rub both my shins to alleviate the pain.

Apologetic, he said: "I'm sorry."

With the laughter gone, and a seriousness that baffled me, he came to meet up with me on the ground. He extended a hand then began to rub over the injured area with his thumb. I said nothing as my eyes transfixed onto his gesture.

"It's a little grazed, but it looks okay." He removed his attention from it and back onto me. I found myself matching his gaze; nothing particular in my mind—only the neutral look in his eyes captured my attention for some moments; then I rose; he followed and rose also. I spoke after this:

"M-Mm—it doesn't hurt anymore." I paused. "Let's keep walking."

Several more blocks were spent in silence. My mind engaged in trivial thoughts of the weather, passing landmarks, people in the vicinity, and what I hadn't thought would enter my mind—Li. He scattered in between those thoughts, popping in once in a while; here and there—and yet again, at this present moment, he occupied my thoughts. I watched him in my peripheral: even with my eyes already at its most upper-right, I could only see just below his chin. He was definitely taller than Kansuke. His physique appeared to be similar too—

A muffled but sharp sound entered. I recognised it to be a ring tone of a phone. It was Li's. Presently, he answered it:

"Hey."

Several seconds of silence from Li as he listened; a nod followed; then silence for another several seconds before he spoke again:

"I can get online in about ten minutes; I'm making my way home." He listened again; a gesture of acknowledgement before he ended the call and placed the phone back into his bag.

I can't say that I can ever get used to his phone always going off. It is strange how he's often talking or messaging on that thing. Maybe Tomoyo was right when she said that he had a lot of people around him—either that, or he knew a few who seemingly loved to talk.

"Sorry. That was Jinwei," Li explained.

I acknowledged his explanation with a nod—although, it wasn't particularly necessary for him to: his phone calls and who he was talking to were his business. Nevertheless, finding that filling the remaining block with conversation rather than a continuing silence, I continued it:

"Jinwei: she's doing well?"

"She caught a cold. She needs help on some assignments."

"So you are helping her with them?"

"Uh."

"That's..." I paused momentarily as the next bit seemed somewhat hard to get out for me, "...very nice of you." He smiled.

I stopped walking as we finally reached my house. "Here's my house." Li nodded. I unlocked the gates and walked through. I turned to address him again. "Um, thanks for walking me home."

"No problem. Have a good weekend."

"Yeah, you too. And also, thanks for that night you dropped me off." He showed an expression of puzzlement on his face. I further explained: "Thanks for the night that you took me home when I had too much to drink." His expression no longer held puzzlement; he seemed to have understood as he acknowledged with a nod.

"Well—see ya." He said a "see ya", and that was my cue to leave; but I didn't. I stood there, caught by his eyes.

They always... see me.

A slight movement in them snapped me back to the present. Embarrassment filled me. I sheepishly smiled; nodded once; quickly closed the gate; before, in a stumbling manner, I made my way into my house.

Two Mondays later, the magazine I promised to give to Natsumi arrived and I was finally able to see the eight-page photo spread in the final product. I had found it a beautiful and artistic eight pages, containing images that flattered me. On the same day, the calculus test was returned. When Mr. Hisamatsu handed them out, I had expected some mark in the 50's range—or possibly below that like the previous test—but when it was placed on my desk, my utter happiness couldn't be contained within myself: "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh—a seventy-seven percent!!" I had said as I showed Tomoyo and Chiharu.

The day after that, it passed with little significance; and so had the school hours of today: Wednesday. The last class of Wednesday always ended at 2:30 P.M. to make way for an afternoon of sports competitions. Up until grade ten, I had been in the cheerleading squad; and every Wednesday afternoon, I also participated in the afternoon's sports competitions as I went out to the school fields to cheer on our school teams. But in the last two years, I had given up that sport and chosen to use that extra time elsewhere, such as going to the shops to gather necessities—as I was doing this afternoon.

I had spent a good forty minutes in the shops looking for foodstuffs, toiletries, and a couple quad paper pads for calculus before walking down this quiet suburban street to head for home.

A light wind and grey clouds with patches of blue sky had accompanied me this afternoon. It hadn't been like this earlier today. This morning, the sun had shone magnificently in a sky which sported the most brilliant blue; there was summer-like warmth; and any form of wind was non-existent. No doubt was the current existing weather incomparable to the magnificence of the morning, but it was still enjoyable to walk in.

Little traffic existed in this part of the town I was walking in. The usual calmness and tranquillity existed here—so much so that it was the soft and pleasant sound of leaves rustling in the light wind that caught my ears' attention: it brought about images of a mosaic of colourful autumn leaves falling to the ground. However, in this September month of autumn, my senses felt and saw little sign that such season had arrived: the air was still somewhat warm; trees still hung onto their leaves; and their leaves still held onto a lively and vibrant green hue.

Suddenly, a shrilling chirp came from my tote handbag: my cell phone. I rested my shopping bags on the concrete footpath as I tended to it.

Taking it out from my bag and then bringing it to sight, I read the notification on the display screen: Kansuke. I pressed a button; it switched to the message. It read:

"Hey, Sakura. Doing anything tonight? You wanna hang?"

I smiled upon reading the message. Since that incident in calculus class, Kansuke seemed more approachable for some reason. Rather than being just classmates who hung around the same circle of friends, I felt like we were actually friends now. It's strange actually—he's been contacting me more these days. I wonder what has changed.

Happily, I messaged him back:

"Hi. What were you thinking of Kansuke?"

After the message sent, I returned my phone back into my bag before picking up the shopping bags and resumed heading home. Several properties later, another shrilling chirp sounded again. I once again stopped. I placed my shopping bags on the ground, took my phone out, and read the message.

"I just wanna hang out with you."

As I began to text him back, without warning, a sudden gust of wind blew me off balance. A shriek escaped me upon such force. Where a post box was situated on my left, I leaned on it for support.

The strong wind continued to come at me. I shielded my eyes from the onslaught of such force with one of my hands. I looked through the spaces between the fingers: what I saw was a whirlpool of whatnots of a size no smaller than the width of the road hovering over the concrete ground. My head instinctively tilted upwards: overhead was a frightening, and almost claustrophobic, dark blanket of low-lying clouds closing in and covering over the remaining blue in the sky.

Replying to Kansuke's message will have to wait: getting home was my primary concern at this time. I quickly put my cell phone back in my bag, took hold of the shopping bags, and briskly walked.

It had only been seconds before an onslaught of rainwater came pummeling down onto me and into my front.

"Damn it!" I shouted—frustrated; but I had barely heard my own voice as the thunderous roar of heavy rainwater smacking against all that it touched did nothing but drowned most of it out.

My hair and the material of my summer dress clung uncomfortably to my skin; arms tired from the added weight of water in the shopping bags; and legs buckled in the strong wind. The need for a brief moment from a weather which had gone from pleasant to something ugly in a matter of minutes saw me searching for a suitable retreat, but my eyes saw nothing—there was no hiding from such a strong wind or from such a volume of water. My only option seemed to have been to push on until I got home.

The wind reduced in strength several moments later, but the torrential rain that continued coming down at me still held a bit of wind power. I fiercely battled with the rain and wind, but with each step, I had found it to be a loosing battle—all was too much for me and I lost grip of my shopping bags and my balance: buckling and cold knees and wrists met harshly and ungracefully with the ground; but I had felt no pain in them as the constant drenching of cold rainwater numbed all feeling.

I attempted to return to my feet seconds later. It was at this time that my ears had the displeasure of hearing a string of low rumbling sounds in the sky before a couple flashes of blue light lit the gloomy skies.

With that, I was more determined to reach the safety of my home. I put more power into my strides.

Only another few seconds did I hear something faint in the background, in the direction behind me—a sound that was indefinable by my cold ears; but I had found a slight curiousness in it. Maybe it had been my subconscious calling out for assistance that I wanted to see what the noise was.

I turned my head in that direction. Though the image was blurred, my eyes saw a male individual: he wore a dark-coloured t-shirt and pants; the ends of his pants were fluttering against the wind while everything else clung to his body; like me, he held a hand over his eyes; and he was walking in the direction I was. When he further looked up a moment later, it was at this time that I recognised him. Something in his expression told me that he had also recognised me.

I waited; several slow and awkward strides before he finally reached me.

"Kinomoto?—what are you doing out in this weather?!" Water was spat as Li spoke. Streams of it were also flowing down his face—he didn't look too good; his hair pasted all over his face in an unattractive manner. But I shouldn't be judging: I most likely looked just as bad as he did. I replied—

"I was shopping for some things. But I can ask the same thing to you, too!"

"Jinwei and Meiling—" Li was cut off by a cough. He continued: "They left some things—" He cut himself off as he shook his head: "Never mind about that—let's get inside first. My apartment is only a block away. We can both head there. I'll drive you home when this dies down!"

Even though his offer would get me out of this unsightly weather (my shopping probably would have appreciated it as well—that is, if all hasn't been spoiled by the weather yet), I still hesitated to accept it straight away. But Li seemed to have found my hesitation a frustrating one. He told me off, saying:

"This is not the time to be stubborn! Let's go!!" He took both of my shopping bags before he yanked me into his arms and pushed me on.

I could only comply. He shielded and guided me down the footpath as we both picked up our paces to head for the safety of Li's apartment.