So, last week, you finally got your cast off, we have nothing to do this week, and next week, we have to go back to school. I mean come on, could get any lamer?”

August had arrived; it was the last week before summer brake ended. Both Shiki and Eri had had gotten there stuff ready early, the guys however, hadn’t caught on and waited until last minute. Which is why now, Shiki and Eri were waiting for them to be done buying school supplies.

“Well, we could find something to do.”

“Like what?”

“Um.”

So the boys came out from office max, the week went by quickly and junior year arrived.

“I don’t how this school can throw a welcome back dance, but they can’t give us a dance when the school year ends? Seriously, the seniors get one!”

“I’m pretty sure that’s due to the fact that there done with high school.”

“It was the first Thursday of the school year, and the ‘welcome back dance’ was the next day on Friday. Shiki and Eri were discussing this, among other things, while they waited for Neku and Beat to show up for lunch.

“So, put any thought about taking some one else besides Blake to the dance? Eri asked, adding a hateful emphasis on Blake’s name.

“Well, I might’ve put some thought to it, I guess.”

“Anyone who might be joining us for lunch?” Eri asked playfully.

“I, um, well. Oh! I-I left my lunch in my locker, I’ll, um, be right back.”

Even though Shiki had forgotten her lunch, Eri knew that it was more of a way to escape the conversation. Also, as if on cue, the boy Eri had been thinking about was walking towards their lunch spot. When he was close though, what could be considered worst-case scenario happened.

“Hey, Sakuraba!”

Neku turned his attention to Blake, having been called out to for the second time.

“Thought I told you to stop hanging’ around Shiki so much.

Neku sighed

“No, you told me to stop carrying Shiki when she hurts her ankle.” Than, under his breath, he said,

“I guess jocks really don’t have good memory.” Neku turned to leave, but before he could, Blake grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

“Wha-”

Before Neku could finish, Blake punched him with enough force to cause Neku to fall back into a trashcan behind. The courtyard fell silent as everyone watched the scene continue.

“Hey!” Eri was now running over to where Neku and Blake were.

“What is your deal? You can’t just do that to him!” She shouted at Blake. Blake shoved her aside, and her lack of balance caused her to land harshly on the ground.

“Your not my problem right now, Sakuraba is!” With that, He grabbed Neku by the collar of his shirt and got ready to punch him again.

“Stop it!”

All three of them looked over to where the desperate cry had come from. A fear shaken Shiki was standing at the steps to the school building, clenching her lunch bag so tightly that it turned her knuckles white. Blake Dropped Neku to the ground,

“I-, Uh”

Shiki ran over to where they were and knelt down beside Neku.

“W-Why, would you do that?”

Blake’s gaze was now firm.

“We are not talking about this now.

Shiki finally got angry in front of him, after months and months of keeping it in,

“Fine, we’ll talk about it tomorrow, and everything else!”

Blake walked off without a word more. Shiki was left standing there, watching him leave. She just couldn’t handle him anymore; He was a jerk, a big flat out jerk. She broke down, and starting crying.

“Shiki,” Neku started,

“It’s okay.”

Neku wrapped his arms around Shiki, holding her and stroking her head soothingly until she stopped crying.

“It’ll be okay, Shiki.”

Maybe, Shiki thought. Neku said it again,

“It’ll be okay.”

--

Fabric and thread was crowding Shiki’s desk and floor space. She had already come up with the design for the dress she was going to wear, but making it was taking longer than it usually did. She was probably just stressed, from the events of the day. She looked out her window, people where moving back and forth on the ground below her second story bedroom window.

It’ll be okay, Shiki.

She smiled.

Maybe, she thought. Maybe it will be okay.

Chapter five: The dance

It was already half an hour into the dance, and Shiki still hadn’t arrived. Eri was getting worried, especially after the events of the day before. She was currently with some of her other friends and it had taken three of them to hold her back from storming up to Blake when she saw him flirting with another girl. As it turned out, the wait was worth it to see Shiki come in the doors to the gym. When she arrived, she was wearing a dress that even made Eri feel at least a little unfashionable. It was obvious that the dress hadn’t been bought in a store, as it wasn’t similar to any brand that Eri knew.

It was one dress, but here was a section of pink in between the black torso and skirt areas of her dress, making it look like she was wearing she different articles of clothing. It had spaghetti straps, but her arms were kept warm in the gym by two long black arm warmers. There were also belts on pink at her waist, the top and bottom of her arm warmers, and the end of her skirt.

What surprised Eri the most though, was that Shiki didn’t come right over to her as she had expected, instead she grabbed Blake and dragged him outside to the school gardens

--

“So what is it that you wanted to talk about anyway? What are you mad about?

Shiki couldn’t believe him.

“What I’m mad about is you and how you’ve been acting lately. You’ve been a total jerk!”

“ME? What about Neku? He’s the one trying to break us up!”

“How? He hasn’t done anything wrong!”

“Get real, he’s been hanging around you way to much!”

Shiki was very annoyed right now, not only with Blake, but also with herself. Maybe she didn’t like Blake as much as she thought she did.

“You’re acting like I can’t have any guy friends!”

“Well, maybe you can’t!”

Shiki looked up at his face. In his eyes wasn’t a look of sadness of hurt or sadness, as one would expect when someone’s girlfriend was leaving him. Instead, there was a look of bitterness. Similar to when you lose a contest or someone steals your trophy or Television. Was that all she was to him, a trophy or a television?

“No,” She said.

“I can have guy friends, but I can’t have a boyfriend like you.”

She turned and walked away.

--

Neku looked out the window of the WildKat café, He was supposed to be working on a history report, but his mind kept drifting back to Shiki. He kept trying to tell himself that she would be fine, but that didn’t help. There wasn’t anyone to talk to; Mr. Hanekoma was in the back working on something, and there were no customers coming in at all. Since his focus on his report was dwindling, he packed up his stuff and left.

--

Shiki’s shoulders were getting cold, her arms were kept warm by her arm warmers, but her shoulders were left out to suffer. She could’ve gone back into the gym, however she didn’t want to see Blake flirting with another girl, already moving on to a different television model. Her only alternative was wondering around Shibuya with particular destination in mind, Her wonderings led her to Hachiko, where She and Neku had first met. Maybe she came here while subconsciously looking for Him, Shiki sat down in front of the famous loyal dog, giving her feet tired feet a rest after walking so much.

Shiki felt a coat gently slide onto her shoulders. Shortly After, Neku sat down next to her. He wiped right below her left eye with his thumb.

“What’ve you been crying for?”

Shiki hadn’t even realized she had been crying.

“I-I broke up with Blake.” She answered quickly while whipping her eyes.

“Hmm? I thought it was usually the dumpie who cried?”

Shiki giggled a little.

“I guess I was crying because I feel so stupid. I didn’t realize what a jerk he was.”

Neku wrapped his arm around Shiki’s shoulders, which were now warmed up by his coat.

“Well, we’ve all made stupid decisions in out lives”

“Gee, that makes me feel better”

Now they were both smiling.

“Well, come on, I’ll show you something that’ll cheer you up.”

--

Shiki didn’t know where they were going, but being with Neku was better than going back to dance, where she would be bombarded with glares and questions, and being in Neku’s midnight blue convertible, which he had gotten for his birthday over the summer shortly after Shiki hurt her ankle, was much more comftrable for her feet than just walking around Shibuya.

“Alright, we’re here.”

Neku got out and sat on the hood of his car. They were on the top of a hill now, which provided a spectacular view of the Shibuya skyline.

“Wow.” Shiki exclaimed quietly as she got out of the car and joined Neku.

“This is nice

“Yeah.”

They sat there in silence for a few moments, and when the silence seemed endless, Neku moved his hand over Shiki’s. She didn’t pull her hand away, like she did on her first date with Blake when he did the same thing. Instead, she scooted closer to Neku and leaned her head against his shoulder.

“Oh, look! I think that’s your apartment building.”

“Hmm, I think your right.”

That was how it went for a while. As the dance was winding down to a close, and people were saying goodbye, Shiki and Neku were enjoying some well-appreciated alone time. They talked and pointed out things they noticed in the skyline. After a while, Neku softly cupped Shiki’s cheek in his hand. They stared at each other for a few moments and then Neku started pulling her face towards his.

When there lips met, it didn’t feel like ‘just a kiss’, which might’ve been the way Blake thought about it Shiki wasn’t even sure how to describe it. It just felt right, and that was all she needed.

--

The following day was a welcome break from school. Everyone would be wondering where she had run off to, mostly due to that she had last been seen with Blake, who came back fine. The heavy make-up cheerleader prom queens would probably try to spread the rumor that she ran off crying after Blake dumped her, even though the rumor wouldn’t last long if intercepted by Eri. People from miscellaneous social groups would give her stares of amazement from the fact that the ‘wall flower’ had actually dumped football star Blake. Her friends would just be glad about her decision.

Shiki hadn’t talked to Eri yet. She knew she would have to though. Eri always called at noon on weekends. It was usually about an hour after she got up, and about an hour before she actually had anything to do. Even if she did forget to call, they had made plans to go shopping on Sunday. Shiki wasn’t sure about what she should say. After all, she hadn’t even acknowledged Eri at the dance; she had just broken up with Blake, ran off, and met up with Neku. Even though she had been thinking about it since she went to bed last night, Shiki hadn’t thought of a word of the explanation. What Shiki was mostly worried however, was not hat she was going to say, rather what Eri was going to say. Would she be mad about Shiki blowing her off? Shiki flopped down on her bed

Of course not, deep down, Shiki knew Eri would never truly be mad at her over something like that. A little confused maybe, but not mad. The worry was probably more from the fact that Shiki still sometimes wondered how such a popular and pretty girl, would be such good friends with a boring and plain girl like Shiki. When they first started hanging out, Shiki was on her toes, watching out for a backstabbing in progress, a hidden agenda. Three years later, there had been no evidence to support that thought. No backstabbing, no set ups, and no hidden agendas. There was just friendship.

The phone rang; it was now twelve o’clock. Shiki swallowed her fear and answered the phone.

“Hello?”

--

It rained the next day, but that didn’t keep Shiki and Eri from meeting. They met right in front of 104, one of Eri’s favorite shopping places.

After they had exchanged hugs and hellos, Shiki and Eri made their way to the shoe department, where Eri brought up an old but sore subject.

“Hey, Shiki?”

“Hmm?”

“About, you know, when I said, you weren’t meant to be a fashion designer, I’m sorry. I honestly was trying to make you feel better, not hurt your feelings.

“Is that what this entire shopping trip was for?”

Eri nodded, and despite the somberness of the moment, Shiki started laughing,

“You could’ve just told me over the phone you know.”

“I-I could never to that, it’s so annoying!”

Eri, with her many past boyfriends, had a strict policy against any over the phone/ text/ e-mail apologies.

“Be sides, I already knew you didn’t mean it”

--

Eri had always liked the color white, but now it was one of the saddest colors she had ever seen. The white of the hospital room, and the white of the IV machine her best friend was hooked up to. The only sound outside her headphones was the steady beeping on the heart monitor. Eri was thankful for every small beep of sound and every spike of the green line on the screen, both representing the pulse of life still in her friend Shiki.

When she first heard the news, she was speechless, than mad at her self. Believing the stupid thing she had said the day before had something to do with it, like some terrible, terrible form of karma. Now she thought it was the stupidest things she had ever said.

Than, even though her eyes were downcast, she caught the slightest movement on the hospital bed in front of her. After her full attention was on her friend, Shiki opened her olive green eyes.

“Shiki! I-”

Before Eri could say anything else though, Shiki started crying. For what, she wasn’t sure. Was it for the past three weeks, was it for the fact she was alive again, or was for Neku?

“Shiki?”

Shiki did hear her friend, but she didn’t even know what had happen to him. Another hard thing was that she had to explain her reason for crying. It was difficult, to say the least.

“Oh, Shiki,” Eri started, trying to comfort her friend.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, I mean, from what you’ve told me.”

Shiki remained silent.

“Listen, I’ll go get us some snacks from the vending machine downstairs, and then we’ll talk about it. Ok?”

“ . . . Okay.”

Shiki heard than ding of the elevator arriving, and the click clack of Eri walking inside it. Shortly after, she heard another familiar sound, and it was one that surprised her.

“Nii-san! Nii-san! Hurry up!”

“Ah, Rhyme I told you you’re not supposed to be running with that sprint on your leg!”

Rhyme? Shiki was now in utter confusion.

Wasn’t she, erased?

The clacking of energetic feet on linoleum flooring stopped in front of Shiki’s room.

“Ah, Nii-san! Nii-San! This sign says that Shiki’s in this room!”

“Rhyme, wait up a-”

The door to Shiki’s room clacked opened. After entering, Rhyme’s look of joy was replaced with a look of mild confusion.

“Are you . . . Shiki?”

“I-”

“Rhyme, I told you to wait up, besides, I think you have the wrong room.”

“N-no! I mean, you do have the right room. This is, what I really look like.”

“What you really look like what do you mean?”

While Rhyme was asking, Shiki had put on her glasses, and now clearly saw how many bandages both of them had. After that it took her a moment to respond.

“When I was playing the game, they took my appearance as my entry fee, so I looked like my best friend, but know I know it was stupid to think that was most important to me.”

Despite the odd explanation, Rhyme’s face lit up.

“So you are Shiki!”

Than Eri came back from getting the snacks, meeting Rhyme and Beat, and the next day, when Shiki went to Hachiko, Beat and Rhyme were there, along with Neku. It had been the first time he saw her outside the game, but he didn’t treat her any differently. Now, looking up at the gray and rainy sky, Shiki wondered if she really thought he would. Like many things, it had probably been something she had thought too much about, making herself worry for no reason.

It didn’t matter now. Now she was different. She was no longer selfish of Eri, even if she hadn’t discovered her full self worth yet. As Shiki arrived home at the end of the day, She made a small mental note to be more thankful for everything she had. She knew it could slip away in the blink of an eye.

Shiki was on the dot with her guesses about the reactions of everybody at school. Prom queens whispered in the circles, with glances in her directions, followed by loud giggles. Anime-watching-video-game-players ignored the situation, most like either having not been informed, or just not interested. And others were awed that the wallflower had broken up with childhood-friend-now-quarterback Blake. Her friend’s reactions also seemed fitting; Beat was generally lost and confused as to what had happened, Neku stayed relatively quiet, and Eri was the one talking the most, and might’ve broken the record for taking quickly. The speed, most likely brought on by her Mountain Dew sugar high was making Shiki and Beat more confused.

The only thing that surprised her was her mother’s response. Even after the stories of how Blake had been acting, which made Kyoko stop eating her favorite ramen in surprise, their mother still looked rather skeptical at Shiki’s decision. It was quickly cast out of Shiki’s mind and classified as ‘motherly concern’, especially after Kyok

Kyoko and their mother, Honoka, had different views on almost everything. Everything with them was an obvious contrast. Honoka kept her home in neat and tidy order, while Kyoko’s house was littered with scraped interior designs, plotlines, random doodles, and wrappers to granola bars, which were her food of choice for all-nighters. Even there energy levels were different. Honoka was perfectly fine after a good night sleep, however, Kyoko absolutely could not get through the day without at least two cups of coffee. Despite their obvious differences, Shiki had once asked why Kyoko didn’t try to act friendlier toward their mother. Kyoko’s answer was simple,

“It’s because I wasn’t the perfect little girl she wanted me to be.” The way Kyoko said it, along with her emotionless expression as she did, still chilled Shiki to this day.

Kyoko was right about one thing though; she was far from perfect.

She was an author, a struggling one, and even with three best selling books under her pen name, ‘Aya Mitsukii’ most of her income for living expenses came from her career in interior designing. Sometimes, though, she got aid from an un-named friend.

Her interior designing skills also came in handy at her own place, which had started out being a plain cookie-cutter house. After countless remodeling and designs, she now had a house that seemed to scream ‘Kyoko lives here!’

“So, how’s your life going?” Her abnormalities also continued into her greetings. Instead of the usual greetings that everyone used, Kyoko branched of and made her very own. Shiki’s answer however, ‘fine, just fine’ was much more average.

“So, what kind of homework you got today?”

“Algebra.”

“I always hated algebra.”

Sometimes, Shiki and Kyoko’s conversations were short and boring, sometimes they hardly talked at all. Other times they talked for a long while and no homework got done. Today was one of those days.

There were complaints about not being paid enough for an interior design job, strange and shocking tales about what they had seen around the streets of Shibuya and discussions about their favorite subjects in school, and really random conversations brought on by whatever was on television at that moment.

--

Now though, as her digital clock neared eleven thirty, Shiki wished she had gotten more homework done. She was almost sure taking a walk would help. So, even though it was very late, and she was indeed in a large city, she grabbed her favorite green sweater and slipped outside.

--

It was very relaxing out, just the right amount of wind to cause a pleasant chill, and the stars seemed a little brighter then usual. Usually Shiki enjoyed nights like this, now however, the peacefulness and stars were making her feel strangely out of place, as if something dreadful was just around the next corner, looming on the horizon. Even when she had returned home, the feeling was still there, and only left after she had fallen asleep.

Chapter 8:The piano song

Author’s note: Okay, I like this chapter much better then the last one, seriously. Most of it was inspired, hence the title, by ‘the piano song by a cursive memory. I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but all the chapters of part two have been song names. Last chapter before part three!

--

Grey storm clouds had found their was to the top of Shiki’s notes, which were few, since she wasn’t listening at all to her chemistry teacher. Later, in the evening, her mother would be having one of her fancy block party dinners. Shiki, even though she didn’t by any means have to attend, she was still uneasy. She had made plans to go bowling with everyone, and then to a movie with Neku. However, this required for her mother to at least see Neku when everyone came to pick her up, since she herself had not gotten her license yet. For some reason she didn’t know, Shiki was very much dreading her mother meeting them.

Shiki looked up from her notebook, Eri and Neku her only two friends in that class with her. In the back, Eri was reading the notes she found in her locker every passing period. She had six, which was extra from the usual for chemistry class. Neku was in the second row, next to a window. He was doing his best to try and take notes, but his attention kept drifting out the window, his thoughts headed elsewhere.

Shiki looked back down at her notebook. She was never good at art, but she still liked her doodles. Beside the clouds on both sides were black and white dots of various sizes, smiling and frowning electrical socket faces, and several hearts, one of which had a crown on it.

So chemistry ended, with a test the next day and no information taken in. The rest of the day was rather similar. Normally, Shiki would’ve talked to Eri about it, but she seemed distracted by something. She didn’t think she could talk to Neku about it, what was she supposed to say? ‘I think my mom’s going to hate you.’

Her stressful and confusing thoughts were interrupted by a pat on the back.

“Hey what’s up? You seem really distracted.”

Of course Neku was the one she wound up talking to.

“It’s nothing, just thinking.”

“Well than, what’re you thinking about?”

“Nothing important.”

“It seems important.”

Neku kissed her on the forehead

“I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

“Okay.”

Neku walked down the to his remedial English class, his last class of the day. As Shiki watched him go, she smiled to herself, and at the next class, she was finally able to take some notes.

--

Later that evening, Kyoko was still fussing with her hair in front of the mirror, trying to get her bangs to hang down the sides of her face in an Azula like style. Shiki didn’t like messing with her hair; she just kept it in a short, simple style. Both Kyoko and Shiki were heading off somewhere, as they didn’t want to have anything to do with the boring dinner party. Neku, Beat and Eri, arrived shortly after had Shiki had managed to find her missing shoe, after putting said shoe on, she climbed in to the back of Neku’s car, next to Eri. As she drove away, she caught a glimpse of her mother looking out the front window of the house, with what Kyoko called her ‘judgment look’ Shiki choose to ignore, and she watched the road ahead.

--

The bowling had been fun, with Shiki getting a 180 the second best, next to Eri who Shiki had always known to be good at bowling. Now She and Neku were at the movies, and Honoka had been completely forgotten.

Sadly she didn’t stay forgotten, while watching the movie, a scene came up, an argument scene, between a mother and a daughter, about the daughter’s boyfriend. Shiki abruptly rose from her seat.

“Shiki?”

“I-I need to go outside for a moment.”

So she did, out the theater pass the concession stand, through the lobby, to a bench close to the asphalt of the parking lot. Once again, the stars seemed a little brighter. She still felt sad though, and she didn’t know why.

“This is so stupid!”

“I would agree with you, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Shiki turned around in surprise. Neku had followed her out.

“What’s so stupid anyway?

Shiki turned back toward the parking lot.

“Myself.”

“Oh really? If you’re so stupid than how did you make it all the way to high school?”

Shiki giggled a little.

“Hey, Neku?”

“Hmm?”

“Why do you care about me so much? I was just some girl you met, and then was forced to spend an entire week with as part of some stupid game.”

Neku sat down to Shiki and kissed her on the forhead.

“Because Angel, I love you.”