Void Memoria

Overcast Memoria ( Yuki's Point of View Part 1 ) I panted softly, seizing my stance as the red flags went up. My opponent and I never broke eye contact as we walked to the center of the room and kneeled down with our kendo swords aiming at each other before placing them on our hips as a way to show respect after the match. I tried my best to recollect my mind and breathing. Even if I was at the top of the kendo club, going against students from other schools for the tournament was hard. I carefully pulled off my headpiece and placed it on my lap, running my gloved fingers through my hair before grabbing it again and standing up. I stood to face the crowd and smiled softly as my victory was officially announced. We bowed to the crowd and then began to walk to the changing room opposite each other. I changed back into my school uniform and tied my tie carefully before using my hands to make sure there were as few wrinkles in my clothing as possible. I grabbed my bag with my Kendo equipment and slung it over my shoulder, taking my school bag in my other hand before exiting. I saw my group of friends talking happily not too far from the door and couldn't help but grin at all their happy faces. "Ah! Yuki! Congratulations!" Den said happily as she held her hands tight to her chest with joy. "You looked so cool, Yuki!" Seina chimed in. "You really should be a Kendo teacher," Natsumi said. "Thank you," I said happily looking at all seven of them. Nyoko grinned and hugged me tightly. "Careful!" I said, reminding her not to squish my kendo bag. Nyoko pouted softly as she rested her chin on my head. "You and Isao had your final high school tournaments this week... I'm gonna miss it." "I will too, in a few more weeks we'll be in university," Hiro replied to Nyoko with a soft tone. "But let's go get dinner to celebrate, especially since both of them won!" Hiro said with a grin. "It'll be on me!" He finished as he lifted up his wallet between his left index and middle finger. "Yay!" Nyoko said happily, forgetting about why she was somewhat sad and was now excited to eat free food. That was the easiest way to distract her after all. I looked as Keiko chuckled softly and with a melancholy smile watched Nyoko hold Hiro's hand while we all began to walk off. She seemed a little off when they first started dating last year, but lately, she's been distant again. I wanna help her, but I don't want to pry if she doesn't want to talk about it. Isao was staring Keiko down intensely as if trying to figure out what was bothering her. He's usually very cheerful and talkative but when someone's upset he gets quiet and tries to figure out what's wrong as a way to plan out how to cheer them up. Isao put his arm around Keiko's shoulder and held her close as a way of comfort. As we walked Isao began to scream out the lyrics of an anime opening, and he forced Keiko to sway with him as he sang. She was red with embarrassment and gently pushed him. "Shut up!" she whispered loudly, he just laughed and kept singing. I couldn't help but just laugh and watch, at times I'd usually join in with Isao with no care of embarrassing the group for entertainment. But I was too exhausted to. So instead of me, Hiro ended up joining in with the song. He wasn't really a fan of anime, but he knew the song from the radio. I still remember the time he thought he was introducing me and Isao to a new cool song he heard while studying. Once their terrible cover of the song finally ended, we all calmed our fits of laughter. I just relaxed and enjoyed everyone's rambling about whatever came to mind. I was too tired to be talkative at the moment. "Yo, we're getting hot pot??" Isao asked both shocked and excited like a child. It was rare that most of us went out somewhere fancy. Well fancy to us at least. Most of us didn't really have money, Isao does but his money goes to helping his family so usually we'd just get snacks or cheap fast food. Hiro laughed as we entered the restaurant. "I said it was on me right?" Hiro always tried to save his money, even though he had a lot of it from his grandparents. He said you never know when an emergency is gonna call for it. "Hiro, I love you," Isao said as if he was confessing his love for Hiro. Hiro responded to his joke by blowing a kiss causing Den and Nyoko to burst into laughter. It was extremely easy to make the two of them laugh, but their laughs were infectious, causing the rest of our group to laugh with them. Although I hate thinking of it, I really am going to miss small things like this. Being with them really made the smallest things funny, and every moment felt like a clear sky. We all followed Hiro as the waiter walked us to our table. We all sat down one at a time, Den and Isao racing to have a seat next to the wall. One side in order had Den, Me, Seina, Keiko. The other side was Isao, Natsumi, Hiro, and Nyoko. We all ordered practically immediately, all but Den who was struggling to make a decision. As we all grew impatient Isao reached over the table avoiding the small stoves and rapidly tapped on the table to tell Den to hurry up. Den slapped his hand away and pouted annoyed at our childish impatience. "It's hard to pick ok?" She whined. "It's been 10 minutes of you picking girl, is there anything you like?" Keiko asked. "Well yeah but.. what if I end up not being able to finish it?" Den asked worriedly she hated wasting other people's money so the thought made her visibly sad. "It's ok, we got three people that eat anything just feed it to them," Keiko hinted at Isao, Nyoko, and I being the group's "trash cans". "That is true," Den said as she skimmed over the menu one last time. "Ok, I'll take the pork belly and squid then," she ordered, handing the menu back to the waiter. "Oh wait!" She called out, making all of us look at her quickly with wide eyes. Den just laughed at us. "I'm joking I'm joking," She said in a fit of giggles while lightly patting my arm. "You better be! I'm starving!" Nyoko whined. After about a minute of the girls talking about a drama show they watch, I closed my eyes and leaned back a bit, taking a deep breath as I relaxed. "Someone's tired," Seina teased as she gently nudged my arm to get my attention. I opened my eyes and looked over at her with the corner of my eyes and a small smile. "If you're that sleepy Yuki, can I walk you home?" She suggested. "Sure, sounds good to me," I yawned lightly, it wasn't often we'd walk home together but I don't think I could refuse her offer. "Oh yeah, Natsumi, you got that book I lent you?" Hiro asked, quite enough not to interrupt Keiko's rambling. "Oh! Sorry, I almost forgot," Natsumi said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a small yellow book. "Encyclopedia of Spirits " was written on the cover in fancy glossy black writing. "Did you finish it already? If not, you can borrow it longer," Hiro said as he was about to take the book. "No I'm good, I took notes and read all of it last night. It only takes me about 30 minutes to an hour to get through a book like that." Natsumi explained, allowing Hiro to take the book and put it into his bag. "What are you studying spirits for Natsumi?" Seina asked curiously. "Uhm... I have been having weird dreams lately, of my grandfather... So I wanted to see if it was an actual spirit, maybe he's trying to tell me something?" Natsumi said but Seina just stared at her silently. "Aw... I hope you're able to contact him then Natsumi," Nyoko said with a soft comforting smile. Natsumi just smiled back and nodded her head lightly. It was obvious she wanted a change of topic. The waiter brought over all our food on a large tray and placed it carefully in front of us. We all began to cook our food, enjoying it in silence as we all thought about what to talk about. We were always together since we were children, so a lack of conversations often occurred. Unless it was about a new episode of whatever show we watched or a new video game. "Mm!" Isao hummed loudly as he swallowed the chunk of meat in his mouth. He quickly snapped his fingers a few times to get all of our attention. "I forgot to tell you guys! I have a new tarot card set coming in the mail! We should do readings tomorrow when they come, see what university is gonna be like for us!" He always had an excited puppy look in his eyes when speaking about tarot cards or anything with oracle reading really. Even just watching the stars always brought this childish excitement out of him. "Sure! You guys aren't gonna work out?" Nyoko said excitedly, hoping no one notices her sneaking a cut of meat from Keiko across from her. Keiko stared at her silently before lightly slapping her hand away, making Nyoko pout in defeat. "Get sneakier and maybe you'll be able to steal food," Keiko teased as she put the cut of meat Nyoko tried to steal onto her pot with a smirk. Nyoko jokingly mocked her and Keiko lightly kicked her leg under the table. "Me and Yuki are taking a break for a weekend," Isao explained, we both discussed it prior together that since this was our last week in our clubs that we were just gonna relax. The two of us worked out together once a week since high school started, Hiro often tagged along but he just played on his phone or did his own thing while Isao and I actually exercised. "I wish they gave more ribeye than this..." Seina said disappointed as she pulled her last bit out of her pot. I grabbed a slice of my own ribeye with my chopsticks and placed it on her tray that held the uncooked ribeye. I couldn't help but smile as her blue eyes lit up, my chest felt warm at the sight of her so easily happy. "Thank you, Yuki!" She nearly sang with joy. "Do I get one?" Isao asked trying to do a puppy dog face to beg, pinching his chopsticks as if to ask if he can grab one off my tray. "Yeah sure," I said, and right before he grabbed one I pulled it off to taunt him. "In your dreams, you can," I grinned. "Meanie," Isao said with a pout, going back to his food that was practically done. If it was anything else I'd share it with him, but ribeye? I looked at Den confused when I noticed her staring at me in my peripheral vision. "Yeah?" I asked curiously. "Nothing, nothing..." She said softly before continuing to eat the small bit she cooked. Did I do something? Once we all finished eating, Hiro paid for all of our meals and we all exited the restaurant. "So we're meeting up at Isao's tomorrow?" Natsumi asked to double-check the plan. "Yup!" Isao said with a wide grin. "I gotta go quick though, I promised to spend time with Chie today, see ya, everyone!" Isao said quickly as he waved and ran off at full speed, it was already getting late so I'd imagine his little sister Chie wouldn't be happy with him. "See ya!" we all called to each other as we all split up to head home. Before I and Seina could take the turn to separate from Den and Keiko who often walked home together since they lived close to each other, Den grabbed my arm to stop me. I looked back at her and she whispered in my ear. "Have fun," She teased before quickly letting go and walking off with Keiko. I watched her confused not understanding what she meant. "What did she say?" Seina asked, looking between me and Den. "Not really sure honestly," I answered before continuing to walk the way back to my home. Seina stayed close next to me and we both enjoyed the silence of the night. Although I loved being around everyone else, it always felt like a different kind of peace with just us. A cold wind brushed against our faces, reddening our cheeks. I glanced over at her to see her fixing her long brown hair, tucking it behind her ear to prevent it from blowing in her face. I looked away quickly to observe the opposite side of the street, cupping my hands over my mouth and blowing into it to warm myself up. I tried my best to think about something, anything. But for some reason, today it was hard to change my thoughts. I've always thought she was pretty... But I can't let myself get hurt falling for her.