Friends Forever

Author: Lariat

I uncover yet another package from the pile of stuff on Haru's side of the room, again. Another box that's labeled "Childhood Memories". Sheesh, you'd think a girly-looking guy with 'spring' in his name would know the meaning and ritual practice of the term "spring cleaning", but noooo, he has to have hoarding disease instead.

"Ack! Wait, don't touch that one!" aforementioned girly spring guy pointed and exclaimed. "That's—!"

"Important?" I finished his sentence. "Just as 'important' as the rest of your twenty-something boxes we're going to either pawn off or donate to charity?"

"It's my childhood memories! It clearly says so on the box, see?" he attempted to justify.

"Like it clearly says so on the eight or nine boxes that you hid all around the room until you ran out of room to hide them in so you put some in Ryuu's room too?"

"Well, that particular childhood memory box is the very most important one!" he said.

"…Just like—"

"I'm telling the truth this time!" he whined. "Please, please, pleeee---aaase don't throw whatever's in there away!"

Against his wishes (as per usual today of our spring cleaning), I opened the box and examine the contents. I closed my eyes and blindingly reached my hand into the box, singing "And the lucky little toy is going to toyless orphan number 108 is~!" grabbing the first thing I touch. "…This!" I said as I raised the object in my hand in all of its glorious selflessness.

"What?! No, no, no! Not that one!" Haru complained.

"Too late~" I sang. "This little thing is going to—…huh?" I examined the object I acquired from one of Haru's worthless treasure chests and found it quite familiar, just in the wrong structure. "Is… Is this a God's Eye?" I asked.

To me, it really did look like one, except it had six points and the 'handle' point was the one with Cross's name on it. On the rest of the points were Haru, Bean, Kaizu (probably her twin brother that they talk about  sometimes), and Ryuu's names on them. The top point seems to have broken off at some point.

"It, um…," Haru said. "It kinda sorta is, but its real value is more important than what we made it out to look like."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, yes, of course, I'm so sorry for forgetting your mantra for these things."

"It's true!"

"Haru, one of the points is broken off," I said, emphasizing my point by literally pointing at the broken point. "This thing's as worthless as it is useless."

"No it's not!" he said. "You don't understand, that really means a lot to me. All of us made that together, we put our names on the ones we made, don't you see?!"

"Yes, I do. Junk, like all the rest," I said, getting ready to throw it to either the 'pawn off' or 'charity' pile.

"No you don't!" he whined again. "Don't you know about that kind of stuff? You know, you and your friends get together, make something, write your names on it—that kind of stuff?!"

"You say that like it's a superstition thing or something."

"It is!" He paused. "I-I mean it's not! I mean, okay, it sorta is—look, what I'm trying to say is is that there's a lot of sentimental meaning behind that! Look, let me explain—"

I gasped dramatically. "An explanation! For a piece of junk! Amazing, let's hear it!" I said in half-hearted joy.

"Stop that!" After giving the toy glare for the billionth time today, he ahem'd and proceeded to tell me his urban legend. "See, we street kids had a pretty strong thing for sticking with your allies and friends and stuff, you know?"

"Okay…?"

"Well, one of the things that symbolized our comaraderie was getting all the friends together and then pitching in to make something together. It didn't really matter what the little rascals made, all that mattered was that you all made it together."

"Uh huh…," I said with piqued interest. "Go on…"

"When you're done making your part of the thing, you carve your name on it before you attach it to all of the other pieces that your friends made. Are you starting to get it now, the whole friendship thing?"

"It… has something to do with… connecting bonds, right?"

"Right!" He pointed with glee. "You and all your friends made this little piece of yourselves and then you all attach it together; so all of those little pieces of you and your friends, they become a part of this whole big thing that stands as your friendship and connections with each other!"

My eyes became big with awe and realization. I looked back down at the broken, six-pointed God's Eye in my hand. "W-Wow, I… I didn't know it really meant that much…"

"Yup," Haru said proudly with hands on his hips. "And that's why I'm keeping it."

"Say, Haru," I started, "what happens if one of the pieces is broken off? Does that mean that the connection is broken off too?"

"Yeah," he said. "Just ask Nobu." He paused. "Don't ask Ryuu. He'll get mad at you."

I looked at him in curious confusion. "Why?"

"Um… Just trust me," he said. "Anyway, it's really important how the piece was broken off. Manari's piece got broken off because of this really bad storm this one time. It's really important to know because that's how you know how the person will end up later in life, in relation to the other pieces."

"Like how Manari died during the siege because it was a disastrous event that broke off the connection?" It took me a while to realize what I just said before Haru's face looked troubled and said nothing. "Oh, I mean… Look, Haru I—"

"Yes," he said automatically. He paused. "…The thing kind of… decides fate for you, in relation to the others that was attached to it," he repeated. "The person will die if they don't attach the piece back to it. Manari was really stupid like that, being all lazy and stuff."

Attempting to drive the subject away from Manari, I said, "That sounds pretty harsh, for a superstition to do that to a group of friends."

He shrugged. "Eh, it happens. The longer the pieces stay together—how many days have passed are equivalent to how many months it will stay together—the longer the group stays friends, you know?"

My friends felt around the God's Eye, particularly around Naebi and Kaizu's points; it looks and feels like it was re-attached. "What happens if you put the broken pieces back together?"

"Bean and Kaizu, huh?" he said, spying what I did. "It depends; if you put your own piece back together, then your group might split apart someday, but you all remain friends. If you put someone else's piece back, then there's no more friendship anymore, at least from the guy you were helping get back together."

"How do you know?"

"About?"

"Both."

He shrugged again. "Experience. Oh and just ask Nobu, too."

"Again?"

"Don't ask Ryuu."

"He'll get mad at me?"

"Right…"

"So you're just basing all of the effects based on your experiences alone?"

"Well," he said, "what I said all fits into what happened, right?"

"I guess…" Then a thought hit me. "Hey, does this have to do with why Nobu's mad at Ryuu all the time?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said automatically. "…Anyway, don't throw that out."

I laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I won't." I looked at it again and said, "Hey," calling out to him, "do you think, maybe… we could do this too?"

He blushed. "W-What…?"

"You know, with everyone in the Ginsenkei (except Nobu and Ryuu). It'll be nice."

"Oh… right." Silence. "I dunno Gin… you might break your piece before you even attach it to the thing!"

"What?!" I exclaimed in disbelief. "I know how to control my own strength!"

"Haha, right, sure you do. Oh! Which reminds me, make sure not to break that thing in your hand either. I don't want anything bad to happen to us."


I looked at him incredulously. "Haru, it's a miracle both you and Ryuu are even alive at all, being in the Ginsenkei for almost a year now. Even if I did break this, I doubt any one of you on this thing will die. You guys are pretty hard to kill."

"Still...," he said in a sort of depressing tone. "I... don't want to take that risk. Not after what happened to Manari." He paused. "Not after what happened to the entire family."

I looked at him and sighed in resignation. "Alright, alright," I said, "I won't throw this stupid little superstition treasure of yours away; it obviously means a lot to you."

"Gin...," he said, his face lighting up, then falling into a scowl. "Wait, what? Superstition?!"

"What?" I laughed. "It's true, isn't it?"

"What about you, Mister I-like-to-tell-tall-tales-all-the-time?!" he exclaimed.

"Exactly! And that's the difference Haru," I pointed out. "I know that they're not real!"

I laughed again when his face fumed with petty anger as I put the broken treasure back into his "Childhood Memories" box.

Desire

Author: Lariat

"It's not that I don't want to apologize, it's just…"

"Just what?" The young prince demanded. "What in the world is stopping you?"

"I—"

"It's just three—no, two words and three syllables you have to say! 'I'm'," one finger, "'sorry'," two fingers. "Is it that hard for you, Ryuu?!"

The lazy boy on the hammock gave him a pained look. "It's not hard—"

"If it's not that hard—!"

"Shut up," Ryuu interrupted. "I wasn't done yet. I'm not saying that it's a hard thing to do, I'm saying that it's not just as simple and easy as you think it is."

"According to your brother and your mentor, that translates to 'It's probably too hard for me and that's why I'm not going to do it, before I even try.' Did you know that sort of logical fallacy has a name, Ryuuto?"

"Shut up," he said with rising anger. "Don't get started on me with that. That has nothing to do with this. I'm not saying that either."

"Yes you are!" Taiki exclaimed. "You always do this, you always run away from your problems you think that you can't deal with, even though you can—!"

"Shut up, Taiki!" he yelled at the prince, sitting up, glowering. "It is a problem I can't deal with! It's not something I can solve as easily as you think I can! You don't know what happened, you weren't there, okay?! So shut up and leave me alone about it, okay?!"

He let out sharp, quick breaths, looking at the shocked face of his superior for a moment before sighing in realization of what he had just done.

"Look…," he choked. "…Look, it's—it's not that easy, alright? You don't know what happened… You can't relate…," he trailed off his words as he looked away, averting his eyes, seeing visions of that fateful day  with all of the memories before it. "…I," he muttered, but loud enough to hear for the boy before him. "Just… just don't bring that up again, alright?" he said weakly.

A brief silence passed before Taiki mustered the courage to speak again. "Have you… at least, tried to apologize before…?"

Ryuu did not answer at first, organizing his thoughts and memories of all that conspired. Then he said, "Yes… lots of times." He slowly laid himself back down on his hammock, hands behind his head as his pillow, and his eyes wandered again. "I told you, it's not that easy. If it was, then there would still be a Unit 8, right?" He sighed.

Simple Pleasure

Author: Lariat

"Why do you do that?"

I looked at him in confusion. "Do what?"

"That," Taiki said, pointing to my hands. "Those hand motions you do in front of your stomach while you crouch over a bit and then go, 'Hurumph huru huru huru rururu' or something like that."

"W-What…? You mean this?" I proceeded cup each of my hands, quickly alternating them in an up and down motion then make eating noises as if my mouth was full but decided to stuff my face anyway.

"Yes, that. You always do that when you're annoyed," he said, annoyed himself. "I've seen your brother and Cross do it sometimes as well, when they are annoyed or in some similar emotional state. I've seen Nobu do it as well."

"It came from Nobu, this thing," I declared, briefly doing the motion again.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Nobu did it, then I did it, then Nii-san did it, then Aniki did it, then the rest of our crew did it. Before Nobu, I think his crew leader started it." I paused. "At least, as far as I can guess."

"I see…," he said. "And?"

I looked at him in confusion again. "And what?"

"Why do you do that?" he said. "You never answered my first question."

"Don't you know?" I replied, "Many of us commoners eat when we're sad. Haven't you noticed?"

"Ah, yes," he caught on. "That unhealthy eating habit Iroki told me about, common amongst commoners and some nobles, at least from what I hear from Tel. What about it?"

"You know how we poor kids love to eat because of our malnourishment, right?" He nodded. "It's like a combination of both. We're eating both to make ourselves feel better and to not starve to death. Killing two birds with one stone."

"You have such a horrible temperament, Ryuu," Taiki said, ignoring my glare at him. "How could you have possibly been able to acquire such food every single time you were angry, sad, or annoyed?"

Begrudgingly ignoring his previous statement, I replied, "I didn't. I mean, we didn't. I don't have food on me now, right? But I'm pretending that I do anyway. See, when I do this," I proceeded to do the motion again, "I'm pretending that I'm overindulging myself on a pile of food set in front of me. The food's not there, but I'm still acting like I'm eating just to make myself feel better anyway. Understand?"

He squinted his eyes, not in an expression of skepticism, but in deeper confusion. I guess he doesn't understand. "I'm just repeating what Nobu told me when I asked him about it, okay? So… think about his mindset, kind of," I told him. I sighed when Taiki's face didn't change immediately and said, "You know what, never mind…"

"I think," he said suddenly, "…I think I understand somewhat."

"Good."

"Since you do not have food whenever you do that," he explained his findings, "you eat this sort of imaginative 'air food' coming from the hope in your mind that you'll still survive and that you'll get through that  seemingly hopeless state you're in right now, somehow. Similar to a dying soldier clinging to the hope that he'll be able to survive and eat his favorite crablette dish when he gets back to home base, so he imagines the taste and makes himself feel better, giving himself a state of contentment in mind. Right?"

I stared at him in silence.

"I read a scene like that in a novel," he then declared.

"Um…," I said, unsure of what to say in response of… that. "Uh… yeah, sure, it's kind of like that."

He leaned back in his chair and smiled in response to the approval. "I see. I'm glad I could understand."

"Yeah…" To be honest, I know what he said was more or less wrong, but he put it in such a way that I don't know how to prove that he was wrong.

"Well, Ryuu, since you're not in the state of near-death, I think you should just stop whining and get back to your paperwork already."

"Yeah… Wait, what?" I double-taked. "I just taught you a valuable lesson."

"A lesson you are not practicing properly," Taiki scolded, wagging his finger at me in shame. "Now get back to work, you whiny baby."

I glared at him, begrudgingly and reluctantly walking back to my work station, muttering, "Hurumph huru huru huru rururu" to myself.

Wishful Thinking

Author: Lariat

"You're the only one here who knows him the longest. Yet you don't even know his real name??"

I sighed. "Just because I'm the one who's known him the longest, that doesn't necessarily mean that I know his real name." I shrugged. "I mean, he never told me, or anyone else, not even Manari. How would I know?"

The purple haired heiress crossed her arms and sighed in disappointment in her seat. "Great…," she said tiredly. "So much for that…"

I raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you lost a bet or something." I paused. "Wait… hey, Shion, did you actually—

"N-No! No I did not!" she denied, waving her hands in front of her face, very badly hiding her intentions. "What kind of person do you take me for?!"

"A mafia princess who practices her future career of money extortion on her own friends," I immediately replied, earning me a sharp glare. "What? That's your specialty, remember? It's right on your résumé that you wrote up yourself."

"And what the heck are you sniffing around my papers for?!"

"And what the heck are you doing, making a bet that requires you to sniff out information that's not supposed to be available to you."

She sighed again, with more anger in her voice. "Of all the times you won't act stupid, it has to be now?"

"Yes."

Another glare.

"Yes, I had to answer that rhetorical question," I said before I could let her speak. "It's because Ryuu's not here, and you know how moody I get when he isn't around, so to compensate, I'm acting like a total smartass who throws subtle insults that belittles everyone's intelligence like a million steaks were falling out of the sky." I paused. "Aw, now I made myself hungry," I said to myself, pitying my conveniently empty stomach.

"WellitwasnicechattingwithyouShiongottagonowreallyhungryneedfoodandstufflikethatyouknowthethingwithachinghungerandall—Buh bye!" I quickly stood up from my chair to escape as fast as possible, ignoring her yelling at me to come back to her. Either she forgot that she was in the town library, or thinks that her status as both a wealthy person living it up and member of the law enforcement lets her have that kind of privilege.

Or both.

On the way of my awesomely fantastic daring escape of the boring museum of books, I spied with my little eye Senma, who came with Shion, in one of the aisles facepalming and shaking his head back in forth. Most obviously, in a place like the library, he couldn't help eavesdropping on my lovely conversation with Shion and couldn't help being witness to another one of his girlfriend's crazy antics.

As I successfully get out of the library and into the streets, I couldn't help but recall my conversation with the purple midget who claims to be older than I.

It's always like this; for some reason, whenever she wants to find out something, she always puts it in ways that piques my curiosity and have the same kind of desire for that particular, yet to be obtained knowledge. I both love and hate spending time with her.

Anyway, because of her self-imposed mission, now I kind of want to know it too.

Aniki's real name.

I wasn't lying when I said that I didn't know it, or at least as far as I can remember my life with him. I can only remember one instance where I first met Aniki in my early childhood, and that was when I was watching the passing of the Shark Comet. I've only come to know him ever since a bit ever I met Manari, when I was eight. I can't remember when I started calling him "Cross" or "Aniki", but that's all I remember calling him as.

At the very least, Aniki is honest with the fact that "Cross" is just a nickname given to him a long time ago. But unfortunately, Aniki being Aniki, whenever someone asks him, he just answers them in riddles likes he usually does, either because he enjoys frustrating everyone around him or because it's a big secret.

Or both.

I don't think even me or Ryuu could ever get a straight answer from Aniki about what his real name is. After all, Ryuu and I have and will always remember Aniki as Aniki or Cross during official matters. Wherever it came from, he wouldn't say… Er, what did he say again?

Wherever it came from

I won't say

You just have to remember that one afternoon

In the middle of May

Or something like that. Whatever the heck he meant by that. What does "one afternoon in the middle of May" have to do with his real name?

…He has a middle name and it's "May"? Pfft… Okay, too ridiculous… right?