Chapter Two
“Mom! My flowers are dying!”
The next morning, I woke up early after a surprisingly restful night’s sleep. My alarm clock had yet to go off, so I hit the “Off” button instead. I got out of bed on steady feet, unlike yesterday, but skipped getting dressed.
Heading downstairs, I smiled when I realized that it was only a little bit after six. My shift at the toy store started at nine, so I had plenty of time to get ready. I thought that since I had skipped a full breakfast yesterday, today I would feast. Scrambled eggs, toast, a gl*censored* of milk, and some fresh apple certainly filled me up. By then, though, it was only seven thirty. I made a face at the clock, and then went to survey my closet for today’s outfit.
The usual indecision began to hover about my mind as I tried to decide what to wear. I wasn’t one to like dressing up, so I chose jeans again. This time, though, I picked out a white T-shirt to go along, and grabbed my usual sweatshirt.
When I went downstairs again, it was seven fifty-seven. Wry amusement welled up in me as I reminded myself how long it took me to get dressed. I wiggled my socked toes and looked around for my shoes. The pair of purple sneakers was by the door. I grabbed them and took my time lacing them up. By the time I was out the door, it was eight o’clock.
That left me an hour to myself. I walked down the street and took a left, walking into a small coffee shop. The girl at the counter was texting as I ordered a mocha. She nodded and absentmindedly fetched my order as I waited. When she came back, she was texting again. As she handed it over, some of the coffee sloshed over the side, spilling onto my jeans. The girls didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look up from her phone conversation. I glared at her, handed over my money, and stalked out of the coffee shop, my good mood ruined.
By this time, I needed to start to make my way over to Zakyou. I made good time and arrived a bit early. Of course, Yuri was already there, looking as perky as ever. For some reason, her happiness lightened me up a bit, and I took one last sip of my mocha before throwing it away, and then entered the toy store.
“Hi, Chihiro!” she chirped, as always. I smiled back, and then took my place beside her behind the checkout counter.
* * *
“Well, I’m off for my lunch break!” called Yuri as she stepped out the door.
“Okay, bye!” I called after her, walking back to the checkout counter from the shelf I had been organizing.
It had been a pretty dull day, with the usual amount of midweek customers. A parade of kids had left about an hour ago, leaving me with a mess, but also with a nice paycheck. As I began to wipe down the counter, the same feeling of being watched tickled at my paranoid senses. I whipped around, determined to see who was spying on me this one. No one was there. I shuddered, but continued my usual c*censored*s.
It was when I had finishes cleaning up the checkout area when the doors blew open, a breeze rushing through them. I jumped around, squealing, but ordered myself to stop acting like an idiot. The doors were obviously not strong enough. The manager would have to be notified of that. A few stray leaved made it their business to scatter themselves all over the clean floor. I groaned and went to start picking them up, when one more ob
ject flew through the open doors—a note. The doors swung closed with a bang as I reached to pick up the small scrap of paper.
On it, in a tiny, neat scrawl, were three words. Meet me outside. I was about to go and discard it in the trash can, thinking that it was probably someone else’s note and not my business, when I noticed a name at the bottom of the note, written even smaller than the rest of the note. My name. Chihiro, it read. The small characters sent a chill down my spine.
But, as always, curiosity got the best of me, and I stepped out of the shop, pushing away the guilt that tore at me. I slipped back in for a moment, changing the sign so that it read “Closed”, and then went back out to enjoy the warm sunlight.
“You’re here.” The words were simple, yet a warm recognition ran through me.
I turned around, only to find the same person that had been staring through the window at me yesterday. All of the concealing clothes were off, though. The person wore worn jeans and a black T-Shirt with some rock band’s picture on it. His pale, icy green eyes held mine, and his black hair was still in a familiar style.
“H-Haku?” I stammered, shock rooting me to the ground.
Sorry for the delay. D; I hope you enjoy this chapter! <3
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