“You’re here earlier than yesterday.” A familiar voice called out from beside her. Turning towards the sound Mei found herself facing the same boy she had met yesterday busily tying what appeared to be some sort of wire around several small vines. Her eyes travelled along the wall, marvelling at the splendor of the roses, before returning to watch the boy. She remained frozen in place as he completed his task, turned around and faced her directly.

“Not the talkative type are you?” He asked casually, his curious blue eyes studying her face as she stared evenly back. After a moment he seemed to reach a decision, sighed and averted his gaze. “OI COMMONER! What are you doing gawking there? Say something! Do something! Just don’t go running away like you did yesterday. I’m not an ogre you know!” He hollered suddenly, looking back at Mei hoping to find a reaction.

Mei started suddenly at his sudden outburst but otherwise made no other movements. Wh-what’s with this person? She wondered startled. Before she could open her mouth to respond she watched as the boy suddenly burst into laughter.

“Wh-what’s with that reaction? That’s the best you can do? Or are you already astounded by my brilliance?” Striding over to the nearby bench as Mei pondered his last comment, the boy took a seat and motioned for her to do the same.

At a loss of what to do next, Mei complied but chose to remain standing. After a brief moment the boy rose to join her. Now that they were standing next to each other, Mei noticed that the he was only slightly taller than she was and, assumedly, around the same age.

“So…” the boy looked at her uncertainly before answering in a sudden outburst again. “ARGH! I’m not good with being sensitive about my way of speaking and all. I’m Takaaki. You can just call me Aki for short.” He waited again for a response.

Mei simply stared at him. Takaaki? That’s certainly a Japanese name. She realized, her own lavender eyes scanning over his gentle blue eyes and silver-blonde hair. Judging from his preference for conversing in English and his British accent, she wondered how the boy in front of her could possibly be Japanese. Then it dawned on her. It’s because I don’t look like I’m Japanese either.

“Mei.” Aki blinked as he realized she had just spoken.

“I’m sorry, wh-”

“Mei. I’m Mei Yamauchi.” She replied evenly in English. Now it was his turn to look at her in surprise.

“Yamauchi… but then you’re Japanese?” He asked her uncertainly.

“Three-quarters Japanese.” Mei said with a shrug. “My mom is half French. I take after her.”

“Interesting.” Aki said for a lack of other words. “I guess that makes you similar to me. My mother is British while my father is Japanese.”

“uchi… Miss Ya…?” “Yamauchi-sama!” “MEI!!”

A panicked look spread across Mei’s face as she heard the sounds of people calling her from through the open windows and, of course, the door in which she had come from. Oh no. If they find us here not only will I be in big trouble, but he might be too! She realized. She glanced back at Aki to find him staring back with an unreadable expression.

“I absolutely must leave now… goodbye.” Deciding that she had no time left to question him, Mei gave him a stiff bow and turned to leave.

“W-wait!” Aki called, snapping out of his daze as she reached the door. Mei turned back to glance at him. His eyes were hesitant. “Will we meet again?”

“I’ll try.” Mei replied softly, flitting through the doorway as swiftly and stealthily as she could.

- – -
Aki = a kid with uncontrolled mood swings. I didn’t want it to be like that, but apparently that’s how it turned out. I really hope it will become clearer later… this entry took me over 4 hours to write so I can’t exactly scrap it and start over…

~Tsuki

What did it matter that she’d messed up one test? What did it matter that she’d messed up a bunch of them?

Plenty, she told herself with a sigh. But not quite enough to live the rest of my life in regret.

The evening sky was just perfect. A cool but refreshing breeze formed slow, gentle ripples on the serene river surface in front of her. Overhead the stars twinkled brightly in the clear, moonless sky.

Even the moon has days when it’s not there, when it loses its light.

A figure nudged her gently and pointed to the open river in front of her. The city of lights winked dazzlingly at her from the other side of the river. “Look, it’s starting!” her brother exclaimed.

Suddenly, the dark center of the lake was illuminated by a blinding, white glow. Kanna watched in excitement as yet another beam of light cut through the darkness. She heard a grunt of surprise from behind her accompanied by her great-aunt’s call. “Oh, isn’t that something!” She exclaimed, turning to Kanna’s grandmother to discuss the scene before them.

“I wish they could have at least colored those lights.” Her mother muttered quietly beside her.

“But then you wouldn’t be able to see them as clearly as this.” Her cousin responded from nearby.

All at once the beams began to move, their light leaving the faintest trail as they repositioned themselves in a new formation.

Kanna heard the shutter of a camera click, accompanied by her father’s triumphant cries. “Yes! That’s a good one for sure. Come see!”

As her family gathered around the tiny, pitch black screen to wait for the image to develop and be displayed, Kanna took a step back from the group to look around her. She felt overcome with feelings of contentment.

Amae.

That was the word. Although there was no single English word to describe her feelings, Kanna felt that the Japanese equivalent fit the situation quite well. She smiled. Amae: a feeling of acceptance; a feeling of belonging. To Kanna, that was the only thing in the world that she needed.

Edit: Finally got the image to upload it~ Hope whoever reads this enjoys it!

“Hold your tongue.” Her father interjected sternly. He continued to stare at a pristine stack of papers rather than at his own daughter standing in front of him. “I have not given you permission to speak. Where are your manners? I was told that you excelled in your etiquette class.” He paused briefly for a moment, letting his words sink in. “Yes, as I have just said, you will be getting married around this time next year. The candidate is the son of my good friend and business partner in Japan. He comes from the noble Shijo family, Shijo Hiroyuki, heir to the Shijo enterprises. Like  yourself, he is extremely well-bred. He will be completing his university degree in business at the University of Tokyo this coming spring. There’s no need to make such a forlorn face.” Her father interrupted, glancing furtively in her direction to take in her reaction before returning his gaze to the papers in his hand. “You may think that the age difference between yourselves is great, but in fact, Mr. Shijo is only 17 years old. A genius by all standards.”

Great, Mei thought unenthusiastically, I’m destined to marry a rich and uptight genius at the age of 16. ‘wonder what else my father has in store for me?

He regarded her carefully with a pensive expression before continuing in a softer voice, this time in Japanese. “For the past few years I have been coming and going between England and Japan on many business trips. I have met with and befriended the heads of many world-renowned companies and searched for one with a son suitable to be your suitor. You are my only child and heir to the Yamauchi estate and business.” He hesitated for a moment, “This may sound selfish of me, forcing you into marriage with a person that you have never met before but, believe me, it’s all in your best interest. It’s what your mother would have wanted…”

Mei could draw no connection to how her sudden marriage could be the most beneficial to herself, nor how it was related in any way to what her mother would have wanted, but she didn’t dare voice her doubts for she knew she would be rebuked yet again. Her gaze drifted to the large bookshelf at the side of the room. How on Earth could Father really be saying these things with a straight face? She wondered in amazement.

“Right about now you probably can’t see why I would say that this is all for your own sake,” her father continued in response to her unvoiced question, “I know you’ve lived your past few years… differently from how most people in this world would. Cooped up in this secluded building with only stories of the outside world.”

Mei’s attention snapped back to focus on her father. Was he serious about what he had just said? Her father, noticing that he had just gained her undivided attention, nodded his head with one stiff jerk. “Mr. Shijo will be able to take you away from this house and into the outside world. He can give you many of the things which I have failed to as a father.”

Was that regret in her father’s voice? Mei was taken aback by this sudden unbusiness-like conversation from her father.

“Anyways,” he replied, shifting gears back into an English conversation, “the Shijo family will arrive in two weeks’ time. See that you are prepared and ready to receive your new husband. Carry on with your studies.” After uttering this statement, her father turned his chair to face the opposite direction, signaling to Mei that the meeting was over and there was no chance for debate. Unable to find anything more to say, Mei quickly turned and exited the room.

Well, if you do come by, give me a holler. It might be motivating in some way…

“Enter.”

The voice from the other side of the door boomed. As slowly as she possibly could, taking as much time as she dared, Mei turned the large brass handle of the door and slowly entered the large study. The room, much like the entrance-way leading to it, was significantly large. The walls were lined with bookshelves that looked very much like the reference section of the library. Had this room always been so large? Mei couldn’t remember the last time she had set foot in it. Her father summoned her so infrequently that she could hardly remember and describe his appearance to people even if she tried.

At the other end of the long room Mei’s father, Yamauchi Hisao, sat at the large desk. His back was to her as he was reading some papers. When she entered he didn’t look up or give any signs of awareness that he was no longer alone in the room. “F-father, I have arrived.” Mei stammered nervously. Her mind was still reeling with questions. Why had her father summoned her now of all times? What did he want from her? Had she done something bad? Was she going to be punished? What was he thinking?

“Ah, Teimei. Good. Come closer.” Her father beckoned. Mei flinched at the sound of her full name. No one, not even the servants, called her “Teimei”. Whenever she met someone new, she made sure to introduce herself as “Yamauchi Mei”, rather than Teimei and correct anyone who called her that. In turn even the servants corrected new visitors by calling her “Mei”. Her father was about the only person that no one ever dared correct.

Luckily, her father was still hunched over the papers and did not see her grimace as she advanced. At last when she was standing in front of her father’s large study desk, messily scattered with papers, her father turned to face her. His vaguely familiar pitch black hair and luminous brown eyes gazed at her, evaluated her, and assessed her worth in mere seconds. Mei didn’t even know how old her father was, but she suspected that he was in his late forties. For as long as she could remember, he wore a permanent frown with his brow knitted tightly together every time he saw her, making the few wrinkles that were appearing on his face seem much more obvious.

“Needless to say,” he began in a business-like tone, “you have come here with absolutely no idea why I have summoned you. How long has it been since I last met my own daughter? Probably when you were ten. You’re fifteen now?”

“No Father, I will turn seventeen next April.” Mei answered politely, trying not to let the fact that her father had forgotten her own age get to her.

“Ah, has it already been seven years? As it seems, time flies by without one noticing these things. Soon you will be a proper lady.” Mei said nothing as she waited for him to continue. “Good. Since you are already turning seventeen we won’t have to wait as long. I have good news for you. Next year you will be getting married.”

“Well Yuko?” her friend Haruka asked mischievously, “When’s the breaking news story about Tsukino-kun going to be made public? Everyone’s waiting for it. You have to have something for us.”

Yuko gave a light laugh. “I don’t know, you’ll just have to wait and see I suppose.” The only thing was, for the moment Yuko was in an uncommon situation. Normally she would never think twice about exposing a person’s deepest darkest secret to the school audience. She didn’t care what other people thought of her for being nosy. However this time, whenever she thought about writing the article, she just didn’t find the resolve to do it.

‘I’m not answering any of that miss president-of-the-newspaper-team. I don’t want any of this as headline news in the next release.’ was what he had said to her during their last encounter. It was hard to forget the menacing look of his cold eyes the moment he said that. It was unnerving seeing such anger on the face she least expected to show anything but smiles. Could she really publish a news article against his specific request while he was away from school?

“Hayashi. Do you really have information regarding Toshio-kun’s absence?” Yuko turned to find the grumpy face of Akemi, one of Toshio’s most distinguished admirers towering over her. “I’ll bet you’re just crying wolf. There’s no way Toshio-kun would tell you anything before consulting us. I’m not waiting for the next issue of the school paper to find anything out. If you know anything about him, spit it out right here and now.”

“I don’t have anything to tell you Izumi-san” Yuko replied, struggling to keep her voice in a friendly tone. How dare you ask so rudely? Is that any way to get someone to share information with you? Such an insolent person. She thought to herself angrily. “If it was any of your business I’m sure Tsukino-kun would personally have told you about it. As it is, the situation is none of my business either. Maybe there will be an article about this case, maybe not. You will just have to wait and see.” Taking Haruka’s arm, Yuko spun on her heel and exited the classroom.

However, as things turned out, neither Akemi nor Yuko had to wait long for Toshio’s return. As Yuko was about to enter the classroom near the end of lunch, she could already hear that something had changed from the excited murmurs of her classmates. Above all of that, Akemi and her friend’s voices could be heard squealing above all the rest. Whatever has gone wrong with the class in the 20 minutes while I was away? Yuko wondered. Pulling open the sliding door to her classroom, Yuko found herself gazing at the customary group of friends surrounding Toshio’s now-occupied seat.

Moving towards her own seat, she continued to observe the group, noticing that something seemed to be a little different from usual. Was there always this much whispering going around? Through the crowd Yuko caught a glimpse of Toshio’s face. Having been gone for only a few days, he still looked like the same person, but in other ways he seemed to look like a person who had faced many hardships recently. Gone was his bright and cheerful smile that accompanied him everywhere throughout the day, replaced with a vacant and passive stare. His bright violet eyes seemed to have lost just a little bit of color and his skin seemed just a bit paler. The faint shadows of black under his eyes led Yuko to believe that he hadn’t had much sleep over the past few days.

“Toshio-kun! Where were you? How have you been? Did you get sick? Are you feeling better now? Why didn’t you call any of us?” Akemi cooed worriedly. Toshio, however, gave no signs of acknowledgment to her questions. He listened to the questions of his friends with an impassive look before slowly closing his eyes. Yuko could see his lips moving, muttering something perhaps. She saw several of his friends stop their questions and lean closer to hear what he had said.

“I said it’s nothing. I’m fine!” He cried angrily, making to get up from his seat.

“Toshio-kun, where are you going now? Are you still feeling unwell?” Akemi called.

“Bathroom.” He muttered as he departed, oblivious to the twenty-nine other pairs of eyes following his figure as he walked across the classroom and out the door.

“Sure!” Toshio replied cheerfully with a smile. It was amazing to Yuko that he could still act so normally after what she witnessed the day before. Had it all been her imagination? As if he sensed her thinking about him, Toshio looked towards where she was sitting. Yuko felt a chill run up her spine.

What was with that look? Fear? Resentment? Worry? Anger? It was difficult to tell the meaning behind those darkly colored eyes. Yuko found that she could do nothing but avert her gaze. She wondered whether she should confront him about it later. Reporter rule number 1: the interviewee always feels more open to share answers when they are alone instead of in a group. Already she was planning their ideal meeting conditions.

“Hey, Toshio, are you sure you’re okay?” Looking back up at the crowd Yuko noticed the worried looks on several of Toshio’s friends. Toshio’s eyes were tightly shut.

“Ugh, I’m fine… just another headache I suppose. I’ll go get some medicine.” He answered cheerfully. His reaction seemed completely controlled, but Yuko could sense a slight strain in his voice as he attempted to keep his voice casual. “It’s okay, you guys don’t need to follow me.” He said, managing to shake off his friends who were volunteering to go with him. Without another word he got up and headed for the classroom door, glancing at Yuko as he left.

Was it a trick of the light, or did he look scared this time? Yuko wondered. She contemplated chasing after Toshio, but knew that she would be of no use to him anyways. He probably wouldn’t even end up going to the nurse’s office.

“I wonder if Toshio-kun is okay…” She overheard one of his friends say.

“Yeah, he hasn’t been feeling well for some time now. Hasn’t he been having headaches just a little too frequently lately?”

“I don’t think so. He’s been to the nurse’s room several times this week, but every time I ask him what’s wrong he says it’s nothing but a common headache.”

“Well whatever it is, I hope he gets well soon.” The group murmured their agreement before changing subjects, leaving Yuko once again to contemplate on the mystery…

An image of her remained firmly implanted in his mind. Her china doll-like face seemed to glow in the moonlight, casting off an almost other-worldly presence. Just as he’d wondered if she was really human, he’d noticed the tear streaks left on her cheeks. He couldn’t imagine why such a beautiful girl would be crying at this hour of the night.

He shifted his gaze back to the flowers growing along the wall, his flowers. The days were getting shorter and the temperature was quickly dropping. He would probably need to bring something to cover and preserve their vines over the winter.

But wait, am I even allowed to be here? He asked himself, running his fingers gently across one of the flowers. I never thought that people lived in this building.

Anyways, he said to himself, looks like there’s nothing more to be done tonight. I should probably get back before Granny realizes that I snuck out. It seems impossible… but I wonder if I would be able to meet that girl again another time. It would be nice to have a chat with someone up here.

And with that, he walk towards the terrace railings and hoisted himself over to the other side. Being careful not to slip over the edge and fall what seemed like five stories down, he moved along the ledge to the place where the roof sloped elegantly downwards.

The early autumn breeze brushed playfully around the building, rustling the leaves in its path and sending them soaring for the sky. Now at only one story above the ground level he encountered yet another railing (a slightly redundant one in his opinion). Placing one hand on the rail he nimbly vaulted over the edge, accompanied by the fiery gradient of the leaves as they fluttered to the ground.

As she sat through her “natural world” lesson, she found herself wondering for the billionth time why she wasn’t allowed to simply venture outside on her own to learn things first-hand. In this lesson, various travelers from around the world arrived at her home to retell the tales of their journeys into the most amazing parts of the world. This lesson interested Mei, seeing as she had never had any of these experiences for herself, but due to her presenters’ poor style of presentation, much of the excitement from their tales was lost in monotonous droning and endless slideshows. She gazed blankly at the screen in front of her, feeling as though the very essence of her life was being drawn from her as she sat there.

A sudden familiar image came on the screen causing Mei to sit bolt upright in her seat, her attention focused ahead of her. If she wasn’t mistaken, that image definitely looked like…

Seeing her sudden reaction the presenter smiled. “Ah, so this one caught your attention didn’t it? This is picture is of a rare and beautiful flower that was hard for me to come across. The species isn’t common because, it is a hybrid, a mutation of the musk rose if you will, it is also extremely hard to grow. There are very few conditions in which they will grow, but the botanist at the place I was visiting made sure he took good care of all the conditions to raise just this single one. I’ve heard that it shimmers brightly in the moonlight casting off a magical glow which makes all the extra effort worthwhile.”

Unable to hold her silence as she had in the rest of her other lessons, Mei had to ask: “So what is it called?”

Startled by her sudden enthusiasm, the presenter regarded Mei curiously. “It’s called the Autumn Moonlight Rose. Isn’t that a beautiful name? It’s a rightly named flower too, since, unlike most flowers, it only blooms for the first two weeks of autumn. It was such a treat for me…” But Mei’s thoughts had already turn inwards and she didn’t bother to pay attention to the rest of his explanation.

The Autumn Moonlight Rose. So that was what it was called. But wait, extremely hard to grow? An expert botanist only managed to grow one? Mei was sure that she had seen at least a dozen last night on the rooftop. The picture and descriptions had matched it perfectly. It had to be.

“Wow! Would you look at the time. Looks like the lesson is over for today.” Her instructor concluded abruptly, “I will be here for the rest of the week, but after that, I’m off to Tibet. A new presenter is set to see you next week. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know Ms. Yamauchi.” Mei thanked her instructor as usual and proceeded to the dining hall for lunch, still thinking of the rose.

As she sat enjoying her lunch, she decided that she would have to find a way to sneak out and have a look at the roses once more before they wilted. She wondered if she could sneak out for a few minutes right after eating. Encouraged, she decided to finish her meal as quickly as possible.

However her plans were not meant to be. As she was finishing up one of the maids hurried into the room looking slightly flustered. “M-ms. Yamauchi, you have been summoned by your father, Lord Yamauchi, for a meeting as soon as possible. Your afternoon lessons have been canceled for today.”

Mei frowned. Canceled? That has never happened before. And what about a meeting with her father? As long as she could remember, he has done everything in his power to avoid meeting with her. When was the last time she had met him? Two years ago? Maybe three? Whatever it was that awaited her that afternoon, she knew it wouldn’t be a casual conversation…