Long raven-black locks stretch across the gleaming wooden floor. The silent home soaked in the sounds of late spring. Inside the wide living room a single person could be found. Her slim body lying picturesquely as she takes deep breaths and observes the particles floating into the impeccably clean house in the streams of golden light.

“Amaya!” A male voice calls out and the figure sprawled on the floor raises her torso.

“Ryuji?” The girl answers and stands.

Making her way past the airy and spotless house Amaya pokes her head to the right and catches glimpses of the familiar brown hair that showed up frequently. With white shoes on her fairy feet she walks between the roses and jasmines that lead to the pale iron gate.

“Grandpa bought some tangerines.” The teenage boy about the same age as the girl says as he lifts a plastic bag. Through the transparency of the material bright orange skins could be seen and Amaya smiled lightly at them.

As the girl opens the washed-out gate the boy steps into the property. The male figure wasn’t much taller than her but still seemed to be fully developed next to the small girl. She took the bag and peered into it with delight as the other walked up to the home. He was about to take off his shoes when he looked to the right and noticed the sliding doors of the living room wide open.

“Ah, it’s open.” He says half to himself half to the girl.

“Mmm. I was cleaning.” She says walking up to the boy with the bag in her hands.

“Then let’s sit here.” He suggests already taking his place.

Silently the girl sits a few inches to his left and places the bag on her lap. Reaching in the sack, Amaya takes out one of the vivid fruits and peels it with it.

“Here.” She says and Ryuji opens his hand and takes the plump fruit.

As he eats one of the juicy pods the boy watches Amaya peel her own tangerine. Her profile accentuated by the perfect curve of her nose appeared through the long straight hair that curtained her face that handled a peaceful expression. Ryuji was a keen observer…or maybe it was because it was Amaya that he paid so much attention. He couldn’t quite recall when the neighbor first showed up but he could remember in detail everything he had noticed about her.  The way she rubbed her hands over her thighs when she was thinking about what to say, every word minusculously checked before it came out of her lips, spoken with wondering eyes. To him it was practically an art to perceive all of her quirks that she performed to naturally that they almost seemed to be on purpose.

“Ryuji, I don’t think ji-chan is coming back tonight.” Amaya says as she bites the fruit in her hands.

“Do you want to eat over?” The boy asks simply, accustomed to the pleasantries that always lead to Amaya eating with his grandparents and himself.

“I’ve picked some carrots from the garden. I can make them tonight for everyone.” She says trying to be as helpful as possible in return for her neighbor’s goodwill. The boy besides her nods, he didn’t really care if she was going to help them with anything or not just having her next to him made him glad. Amaya looks over to him and sighs. It wasn’t a tired sigh or even a relieved sigh. She knew that she was always welcome at the Kobayashi house. Rather her sigh was one of a calm soul. Although her grandfather would be out all night in the sea fishing, she rest assured that he would return and find his granddaughter well cared for.

“Nee, Ryuji, can you tell me one of those funny jokes you know.” The girls says with a tender smile that catches the boy off guard.

“I—I can’t really remember one right now…” He gives her a yellow smile and she smiles back with a joke.

“Eh, what kind of rakugoka can’t remember at least one joke?”

“teeyande?” Ryuji kids back pulling at her cheek lightly.

“Haha! No wonder your name starts with an R! You’re 100 percent Edo-ben.” She points out and he throws his weight over her and she lies back as he looks down to her. They gaze at each other as if in a trance. His sunburned bangs hanging just over her face as his hands are on either side of the girls face. Although their hearts are pumping fast they don’t seem to be afraid of anything. Both have a tranquil aura and pure eyes stare back at each other as they smile.

“Baka, you’re Kanto too.” He says ruffling her bangs. She squints her eyes as he does this and giggles.

“At least mine is standard Tokyo-ben, yankee wanna-be.” She manages to still make fun of him as he sits back up with a smile.

“Haha.” He stands and stretches. Looking up at the sky Ryuji noticed the bright blue slowly start fading into a pink and orange.

“Hey, let’s go already. It’s getting darker.”

***

“Ba-chan, we’re home.” Ryuji announces as he and Amaya take off their shoes at the front of the house.

“Oba-san, I brought some carrots.” The girl announces with a basket full of the vegetables.

“Ah, that’s good. Thank you.” Mrs. Mako greets the two as she prepares something in the kitchen.

“Are those the one’s you grew yourself?” Mr. Kobayashi asks the girl from his arm chair.

“Yes! I hope they’re good enough.” Amaya smiles to the nice old man.

“Oi, Ryuji, did you thank her for honoring us with her own labor?” The man smiles to his grandson who nods in return. The elders could feel the difference in the youngster’s relationship and Mr. Kobayashi was always prompt to make up situations in which they interacted to see how they acted around each other.

“Thanks for the carrots.” Ryuji says towards Amaya and she shakes her head.

“It’s really nothing compared to everything you all do for me.” She says and lightly bows to the eldest of the Kobayashi’s before heading to the back porch which had another sink. Ryuji followed her and together they washed all the dirt off the carrots.

“Grandma, we’re going to peel these out front to get some air.” Ryuji says and the concentrated old woman nods and mumbles a “sure” as a response.

***

The two teenagers peel the colorful vegetables as Ryuji lowly sings some simple song and is soon joined by Amaya humming the tune in the background. In the distance a silhouette approached the two adolescents with a happy demeanor.

“Ryu!” A female figure shouts happily as she runs up to the two sitting in front of Ryuji’s house.

“Who’s that?” Amaya asks simply with no other connotations and Ryuji looks to her before shrugging.

However as the body got closer and the bright street light illuminated her face the boy instantly recognized the person.

“Ho—shiko…” Ryuji seemed to be asking himself although he was absolutely sure of who it was. Amaya felt dislocated and shot her gaze between her friend and the girl arriving. Unaware of their relationship Amaya stayed put next to Ryuji as the wonderful person stood in front of them.

“Ryu. I’m back.” The girl with a magnificently proportioned body presented herself. Almost as if she had just gone to buy some bread and was back just in time for dinner. Suddenly Amaya was the one who felt like she was intruding rather than the unannounced visitor.

“Hoshiko.” It seemed as if the only thing that Ryuji was able to pronounce was the subtle name.

“My dad got promoted to manager of the fish company in this region.” She giggled as if hurrying to explain how she had returned so that the boy in front of her was able to move on with their sudden conversation.

“You mean…you’re living here again?” Ryuji asks finally and Amaya looks up to the guy beside her. Hoshiko nods making her short coffee-colored Chanel-cut bounce in agreement. An abrupt feeling of transposition crept into Amaya’s body starting by her cold toes. If anything, all she wanted to do was run away from the scene that seemed to be about to burst into colors if only she wasn’t there. As always her dark aura killed the mood. She couldn’t interrupt anything that involved her dearest friend. Ryuji was too important for her to let herself keep him from happiness.  Silently she stood but was caught by the girl’s vision.

“Hello. I’m Fujii Hoshiko. What’s your name?”

“Takahashi Amaya.” The inhibited girl answers with her head down almost as if in reverence to the beauty in front of her. A glistening smile was thrown out in the midst of the awkward situation by the newcomer that seemed to be more than familiar with everything there.

“Nice to meet you, Amaya. Well, see you two at school, huh?” The giddy girl says looking from Amaya to Ryuji.

“Yeah, I guess we will…” Ryuji takes in still in a daze. Amaya lightly bobs her head as a goodbye and just as the girl had arrived she left.

The initial two stood there in front of the house noiselessly watching the girl leave. Ryuji stared at the figure then his eyes fell to the girl besides him. The person next to him would surely fade under the blinding light that Hoshiko radiated. He knew them both much too well. He didn’t want to lose the Amaya he had just coaxed out of hiding, besides he knew that the things that lied in Amaya’s darker side were not small things. At the same time both he and Amaya could feel that the whole town had somehow become different just with Hoshiko’s arrival. Amaya felt as if the only placed she considered free now had a ruler. And that the only person she considered her guardian would soon be under new command.

“Let’s go in.” Ryuji called out to Amaya and took the vegetables from her hands already walking in. The girl only nodded and looked down before following her most trusted friend.

“Ryu…” She replayed the voice in her mind. A sweet nickname for the boy she thought she knew used by someone she doesn’t.