Daikki: It’s confidiential.

Lorrie: It’s not!

Oochi: It’s not.

Daikki: Then why don’t you start first?

Lorrie: Hey! That’s not fair! You lost! You start first.

Oochi: True, this is unfair.

Daikki: So, do you wanna start first, or not?

Lorrie: Hmph.

Oochi: Erm, I’ll go first then…

—————————-This is taking too long.

Oochi: Erm. Hello, whoever you are. I’m Oochi. *Pushes his specs up his nose bridge.*

—————————-Yes, we know your name.

Oochi: *continues* I’m not older than 13 nor younger than 11, so you could say that I’m 12.

—————————-This is crap.

Oochi: *Annoyed* And please do not interupt. It is a form of impoliteness.

—————————-Whatever, just hurry up, we’re short on time.

Oochi: *Still annoyed* I’m done.

—————————-Good, ’cause I was getting bored. Next.

Lorrie: Oh, me me me mememememe!

—————————-Okay…yes, you can stop waving your hands now.

Daikki: And I thought you wanted to go last.

Lorrie: Were you deaf? ‘Cause I said I didn’t want to go first and not that I wanted to go last.

Daikki: Oh yeah?

Lorrie: Yeah? You-

—————————-Just get the f*** on with it.

Lorrie: *glares* I’m Lorrie. L-O-R-R-I-E.

—————————-Lorry. *Snickers* Lorry~

Lorrie: STFU!!!

—————————-*Shuts up*

Lorrie: *sighs*

—————————-Lorry.

Lorrie: Argh!!! I can’t take it anymore!!! *Leaves room*

—————————-So…BJ, you’re next

Daikki: You know my name. End of story.

—————————-And the moral of the story is?

Daikki: Go to hell.

—————————-Hi. I came back.

Daikki: *leaves room too.*

—————————-Hmph. No sense of humor. Hey! Oochi, don’t tell me you’re leaving too!

Oochi: Heh heh. Good bye and have a nice day. *pushes up his specs and sneaks out*

—————————-WTF. Come back!!! *runs out after them*

-End. Sorry for the crappy ending XP

We were about to start dinner.
Cousin Misaki was calling the elders to eat.
Apparently, it was a form of respect.

I was already sitting cross-legged on one of the soft cushion placed around the square table.

No, I haven’t called addressed the elders to have dinner yet.
And, no, I wasn’t going to.
It felt weird to be informing people to eat when they already know that it was time for dinner.

I’ve never done it before.
Or I’ve just forgotten that I’ve ever done it.
I contemplated if I should start expressing the so-called respect.

“Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie, Uncle, Mother, itadakimasu,” I said unsurely.
Everyone started eating.

It didn’t make a difference if I did that or not.
Of course it didn’t.
What was I expecting?
My mother to smile like I’ve just gotten the maximum marks for all my tests?

I was already ten years old.
A big girl, my mother told me.
And Misaki is only nine.
Okay, not really young but she’s still a year younger than me.

So why am I not as respectful as her?
I was trained properly from young, wasn’t I?

But to think back into the past, I was never really around my family much.

—————————————————–>

I spent a full 48 months confined in the white walls of the hospital since my birth in the solace of winter.
Wasting my time away.

And then Father passed on.
He didn’t even say good-bye to me.
I never knew him.
Mother fell into depression and sent me away to the childcare center.

It was only after two years that she had turned better.
By then, I had started to attend elementary school.

Although I was back from school early, Mother had to always work late to make up for the two years wasted on weeping and stoning.

Step 1) Take the food out of the fridge.
Step 2) After 5-10 seconds, place it in the microwave to heat it up.
Step 3) Set the microwave to 30 seconds at medium heat and start.
This was how I lived for the past 4 years.

—————————————————–>

It was the Hina-matsuri.

Me and Mother set off from our house immediately after lunch at 12 noon.
We took the train down to Kyoto from our town in Sendai.
Mother had to get me a kimono as I didn’t have one.
We shopped for a few hours at a shopping mall before heading to the residential area.
We reached Grandpa and Grandma’s house at exactly 15 minutes past 5.
About time for dinner.

I was nervous.
I had never met Uncle or Auntie, let alone their daughter.
I wondered if I would get along with them.
I hoped that they were nice people.
They were already there.
Uncle was wearing a yukata, made out of the finest silk, I thought.
Auntie was wearing an elaborate kimono.
Butterflies and sakuras.
The designs were stunning.
And their daughter, a petite girl with black ebony hair.
The colours of her kimono complimented her hair very well.
And I?
Just a plain white kimono with a pink obi.

But I was happy that I even got something new to wear.

We greeted each other.
“Hatsuri, this is your Uncle and Auntie. And this is Misaki,” Mother introduced them to me.
I greeted them with a politeness I never knew I was capable of.

Then it was time for dinner.
“Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie, Father, Mother, Hatsuri-chan, itadakimasu, ” Misaki said in her sweet sounding voice.

And for a while, I was confused.
“See how good-mannered is your cousin,” Mother said to me.

—————————————————–>

END.