Sohyeon frowned as the paper airplane made contact with her head. Unraveling it, the words ‘Free Market Today!’ caught her eye. She never really understood the concept of free markets, as the objects were never actually free. Though there was something wrong with this airborne poster. The drawings were etched on with color pencils and crayon. The stick figures also aroused her suspicion.

DeeDee hissed as it hit the wrong target. She willed the girl telepathically to spread the word to her friends. “Go go!”

Fortunately, her prayers were heard. “Hey, what’s that?” JiHwan snatched the flyer from the older girl’s hands. “Oh, awesome! A Free Market!” His eyes practically bugged out of his head. “WITH STRAWBERRY MILK BOOTHS? That’s it, we’re going.” The six set off, leaving the school grounds.

“Ichigo?”

“Yes, Ren?”

“Could you stop humming to the Elmo’s World theme song? We get that you’re happy.”

▄▄▄▄▄▄

Ji-In eyed the newcomer. “Hello, Miss! Would you like some strawberry milk?”

Sohyeon, Chaekyung, Mi Na, and Soo Hyun glanced around, bemused. The young girl who was running the booth – around 15-years-old or so – wasn’t even looking at them; who else was a girl in their group?

“Excuse me?”

Soo Hyun nearly burst into incredulous laughter. “He’s not a girl.”

JiHwan’s eye twitched as he repeated for confirmation, “I’m not a girl.”

Ji-In flashed him a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, Mister. I thought you were—”

“Never mistake him for a guy,” Chaekyung cautioned the salesperson. “He’ll strap you to a set of train tracks.”

Ji Hwan humphed dramatically, posed as if to storm off. “Now you’ve lost a customer.” But he remained rooted to his spot, rage ephemeral. “You’re lucky I like strawberry milk,” JiHwan muttered, flicking several coins onto the table before grabbing his purchase with a dignified toss of his head. “Let’s go.”

Minho scratched his head. “Sorry, dude! Ji-In is a little... ditzy at times.”

“Yea yea,” JiHwan muttered, the ennui evident in his voice. “We get enough of that from Mi Na.”

“I suggest you head there,” Minho in, pointing to his right. “There’s this huge place where you can take pictures of the scenery.” Ji-In nodded enthusiastically, a knowing smile spreading on her face before a giggle escaped her lips. When everyone’s eyes drew to her questioningly, Minho wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and just to exonerate their suspicion, added, “She’s excited about this whole Free Market thing too.”

Mi Na observed the two carefully, propping up head with her palms as she planted her elbows on the stand. ( “Well, this is unnerving...,” Minho mutters with forced cheer. ) “You two seem like a couple of lovebirds, am I right?” she squealed, clasping her hands to her face with a mock swoon. Minho and Ji-In exchanged creeped out glances (“YES YES YES WE ARE!” Ji-In chimes, while Minho shakes his head firmly, almost forcibly with a “No we aren’t.” ). “Oh goodie! Let me take pictures.”

A sly smile grew on Soo Hyun’s face. “Whenever Mi Na’s at the lens, she’ll probably want her targets to get involved in an intimate position.” Minho blanched at this statement while the others chuckled.

Sohyeon brushed off a butterfly that had landed on her olive green long-sleeved cardigan with a sense of endearment – she, despite being a clean freak, was also an environmentalist. “Oh, don’t bother the poor guy. I’m sure he’s had a rough day and what-not. Hey, should we move on?”

Renzo startled. “What? What happened?” he spluttered. All this time he had been sleeping in an upright position.

▄▄▄▄▄▄

They breathed in awe as they took in the scene before them. Birds of every size, shape, and color migrated from tree to tree, twittering every now in then. A cherry blossom stood prominently in a secluded area, littering the ground with its petals. The fresh scent of dew lingered in the air. Renzo and Sohyeon whipped out their cameras in sync. Mi Na gasped in delight, heading toward the pond. “I’m going to go see the duckies!” Chaekyung drew in a sharp breath; she was strangely hyper at the moment. There was just simply so much SPACE, the tranquil landscape stretched on for miles. Soo Hyun was digging around in her bag. She conveniently pulled out a pair of rackets and a birdie ( “Yes. They fit in my bag. Problem?” Soo Hyun asks with a raised eyebrow. ) JiHwan settled on a bench, carton of purchased strawberry milk in one hand, laptop balanced on his... lap.

[Yo yo yo! It be Ichigo here! At some random free market place with my buddies. Rennie and Soybean are busy mooning over a bird’s nest or w/e, Minnie is... OH GO GO GO! FALL IN FALL IN! Aw. She was THIS close to falling into the pond. And... Shortie (don’t tell her I called her that) and Cookie are playing badminton. Watching them is amusing, as Shortie is combining in all of these random taekwondo moves for good measure. Jessica, if you’re reading this, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. :D YES. I’M HAVING ALL THIS FUN WITHOUT YOU.]

Chaekyung’s voice rang out through the clearing. “Take THAT, Cookie!”

“We should make a scrapbook of the journey we made today, Sohyeon,” Renzo suggested, taking a snapshot of the two girls involved in serious competition. He looked down at the girl, who was nestled between the abnormally long strands of grass that protruded from the ground.

“You know, that’s a good idea.” Sohyeon looked thoughtful for a few moments before she got to her feet. “Sometimes I feel content knowing that there’s someone else in this world who thinks like me. Though, you REALLY should have brought one of those obsolete cameras that spit out the photo right way. They’re hard to carry, but worth it,” she added, holding mentioned camera aloft. She captured JiHwan, relaxing on the bench in the distance, and the product slid out onto her waiting hands. JiHwan, seeing the two, sprinted over out of curiosity.

“Seems like you are having fun, eh? It really isn’t surprising; why don’t all the emo people just huddle together under this tree?” he teased, dropping down next to them. “I’m happy I have many admirers in this world.” He jabbed his thumb at the developed photo.

“Oh, shut up.” Sohyeon held it up so that the other two could see. “Here’s the almighty JiHwan, all for the world to see.” She froze in horror as something unusual caught her eye. It seemed to be a minor blemish in the otherwise perfect photograph, but Sohyeon knew it was something else. “What’s that?” she whispered, pointing with a trembling finger to a blur somewhere behind the bench JiHwan was sitting on. Even though it was blurry, she could still identify certain things – the hair, the striped shirt, the skirt, the white beanie. It was a person.

Renzo’s eyes widened, and he drew closer to the other two. “Whoever that was, she’s gone now.”

▄▄▄▄▄▄

I’M NOT DEAD!
So... who do you think that was? ;D –hint hint nudge nudge-
The remaining minors shall be included when I have room to squish them in. I’m sorry for breaking my promise. ;[ I couldn’t figure out how to include them in this chap.

♪Behave. You’re too much of a bad boy. ♫