Phew-wew...sorry for the SUPREME LATE update...school is seriously TORTURING....I'm gonna get killed soon if the homework doesn't lessen. But but but...I'm not the type to commit suicide so I shall go on with the miserable life... (as usual...what can you do about it?[=.=]) but yeah, the times updating this blog will lessen to one per month? I don't know...maybe I can update more during the holidays, but for now.....*sighs* anyways, I wont be going be the avatar 'polaris_954242564' anymore...abit weird if you ask me and if you ask me why I chose this name...I seriously DON'T KNOW. (whoops sorry. Was feeling random when I picked it) so now...I'll go by the name XOXO!!!! yeahhhhh...okay won't bore you any longer...ENJOY~~~~
XOXO (fast right? [^<])
Chapter 8
Yui’s diary, before the rumours:
HOW COULD SHE? Kumi knows I like him…I’ve been with him ever since elementary school! I told her before…we were at the festival in summer. We were buying matching straps with each other…I told her while she was choosing hers, but her reaction wasn’t that big either. She just picked her strap, smiled and said “Let’s pick these!” I don’t know if she heard or anything but to ignore me like that is just unforgivable! She’s my friend…or so I thought. I’m gonna get back at her…through the NET!
Yui
Yui’s diary, the day after rumours started:
It worked! Now everybody is going after Kumi…revenge is definitely sweet! I told everyone that she seduced Rei, and forced a kiss upon him! HAHA! Who asked her to ignore me in the first place! Rei’s admirers are so many that I can hardly count them…they might be my enemies, but now they are of much help to me! Serves Kumiko right, who asked her not to listen to me during the festival?! …but somehow…there’s a really tight feeling in my chest…I can’t seem to look at Kumi straight in the eye…what’s going on?
Yui
Yui’s diary, moments before her suicide:
I can’t take this any longer…the pain in my chest…it has been building ever since I spread those awful rumours about Kumi. What is this feeling? I don’t get it. It hurts whenever I look at the class…but it hurts even more when I look at Kumi, as if a stake is thrust through my heart. It’s so bad I can’t even eat lunch in the cafeteria…there’s too many people there…the moment I look at them…I lose my appetite and I can’t smile. What is it?...is it guilt? But why should I be guilty? Kumi is the one at fault here…yes…it’s all her fault! She was the one who didn’t want to listen to me at the time I told her….IT’S ALL HER FAULT! SHE DIDN’T LISTEN TO ME…but why is the pain in my chest so hard to endure…I want to cry…I want to die…it hurts too much……what should I do?
Okies! Here's chapter 7! Sorry for the late update, but I am seriously too busy for words...school just started for me, and I'm struggling with schoolwork...(which makes me wanna cry)...but nevertheless, I'm gonna continue with this miserable life!!! (^o^) ENJOY!
polaris_954242564
Chapter 7
Half a year passed by without Rei and Kumiko talking. Whenever they saw each other in the hallways or in public, they just averted their eyes and continued to walk. With that attitude, they graduated from high school.
~********* *****~
“Here.”
Rei looked up. Kumiko was staring straight at him, her eyes unwavering with complete no emotion. She had thrust her right hand out. In the outstretched palm was a book, a dull one with an ordinary black jacket. What is she up to this time, Rei thought wearily. He stayed still, not bothering to receive the book. “What’s this?” he asked quietly.
Kumiko had asked to talk to him in private after the graduation ceremony of Takegawa High School. As she had promised everyone, she emerged the top scholar of the school, and everyone had accepted her the way she was, even though she was just a replacement of a classmate. She had led him to the school garden, where the cherry trees were in full bloom.
“Yui…Yui’s diary.” Kumiko said in a neutral tone. A storm of cherry blossoms blew up behind her, being played with the wind. It was a hypnotizing scene, where Kumiko was trying to get Rei to receive the book.
“What’s this, all of a sudden. She’s been dead for half a year now and you’re giving me her diary?” Rei asked, a voice tinged with scorn and hatred.
Kumiko lowered her stare into a glare. “The truth behind Yui’s death lies here. Are you afraid of what you’ll find?”
“Wha…?” Rei was taken aback, and he took a step backwards. “Shouldn’t that go with the police? Why do you have it?”
“At the funeral…Yui’s mother threw this at me…I managed to dry it and read through the handwriting.” Kumiko grimaced. She let go of the book and let it fall to the ground. The book landed with an ominous thud. Rei stared blankly at the book.
“It’s up to you whether you want to read this book or not. Take this as my graduation gift to you.” Kumiko turned, her right hand up as she disappeared towards the middle of the cherry blossom storm.
Rei stared at the book. He picked it up and threw it into his bag. He turned towards the way of home.
~********* *****~
Why…why am I so frightened to open the book? Rei sat huddled beneath the window of his room. He had not bother to turn on the lights, and he placed Yui’s diary in front of him.
Am I afraid what’s in the content of the book? But Yui’s death has nothing to do with me…she’s just a classmate of mine. Why am I so shaken up?
Rei reached out for the book, but he hesitated. What? Rei grasped his right hand. It was shaking uncontrollably. He looked down at his hand which was shivering. Why? What am I shaking about? NO! No, I can’t be a coward.
Rei drew in a deep breath. He released his left hand’s grip and using his right hand, he flipped open the book as he read the scrawled text.
“This is…!?”
~********* *****~
He opened the door and entered, the night breeze tousling his hair. His eyes were blank and glassy, as if he were ridden with a sickness that made people lose their souls. He was in a white shirt; part of a school uniform, half of the shirt buttons open. His pants were black, black as midnight; he started walking forward. He was not walking in any particular fashion, a normal walk that had no swagger or stagger. However, it was slow, as if his feet weighed a ton. In the loosely clasped fingers of his right hand, was a book, a normal one with a black cover.
The open space beyond the railings beckoned to him; the gusty wind had turned into a gale, as if trying to convince him to turn back. He paid no heed and continued forward. Once he reached the railings, he hoisted himself onto it and sat, his back facing the lively night city filled with bright neon colours. He opened the black book once more and glanced at the scribbled writing.
He closed his possessed eyes, rivulets of tears flowing out. He let the book clatter onto the tiles of the floor. He said something. He pushed himself off. The clock struck 12 midnight.
~********* *****~
Kumiko had climbed the ladder; she was at the highest point of the building. She overlooked the entire roof. And there she sat, and waited.
Like what she had predicted, he appeared. She sat their quietly, and watched him. He was walking like a zombie, slowly, ever slowly towards the railings. He pulled himself onto the railings and opened the book. All this time, Kumiko never took her eyes off Rei.
His lips moved. Kumiko continuously stared at his lips, reading them. He then pushed himself off the building. The clock tower struck 12 midnight.
“You finally realized what you have caused me…and what I have gone through.” Kumiko whispered to herself, the chimes of the bell drowning her voice. Warm tears started to roll down her face.
“I accept your apology.” Kumiko buried her face into her hands. “You have paid for you sins.” She sobbed for a long time as the bells continued to chime, as if ringing in celebration for this day. When the bell finally stopped its din, Kumiko was allowed a moment of silence.
She looked up into the midnight sky which was illuminated by the neon lights of the city below. She closed her eyes and uttered a single word.
“Aokigahara.”
********* ***** **** ** **** ** ***** ****** ****
*By the way, as I have mentioned in my first post, my stories tend to bend towards the Japanese side, meaning I give my characters Japanese names and such. And so, for those who do not understand what 'Aokigahara' is, (which I think it's nearly everybody [><]) it's a forest in Japan, where the suicidal rate is reportedly second in the world, the first being San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge. Er, I got all this from wikipedia.org. If you're interested in reading more about Aokigahara, here's the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara
...oh, and there's one more chapter where all the stuff is revealed...so, stay tuned!!! (^^)
Here's chapter 6! on the 31st of December, 2009! Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and to have a great year ahead! ^^
Chapter 6
“Class rep! Please collect the class’s math homework!”
“Okay!”
“Kumiko, we’ll need help in the decoration of the noticeboard!”
“Okay!”
“Kumiko! We need some of the class fund to hold the courage test!”
“Roger!”
“Kumiko, please do the class seating list…the teachers really need that.”
“Okay!”
“Class rep! Please attend the meeting after school today at 3pm!”
“Alright!”
What is she doing, Rei wondered as he watched Kumiko fly all around the place completing this and that and other various odd jobs assigned to her by both students and teachers. She had been busy all the time, not once refusing anything that was assigned to her.
ARGH, I can’t stand this much longer!!!! Rei folded his arms, creases forming on his forehead. What IS she doing? I’ll have to talk to her. He folded his arms and hunched over the table, a serious look coming over his face.
~********* *****~
“What are you doing? Do you intend to be someone you aren’t for the rest of your life?”
Rei raised his voice over the gentle wind blowing through the rooftop. Kumiko was standing opposite him, her back faced towards him so that he couldn’t see her face.
“Is that all you want to say? I have an extremely busy schedule and it wasn’t easy to make time to hear what you have to say.” Kumiko turned towards the door of the rooftop and started to move off.
“Answer my question! Do you really you can replace Yui? KNOW YOUR PLACE!”
Kumiko froze in her steps. Rei had raised the volume of his voice into a yell. She bowed her head and turned around to face him. Rei maintained his angered expression, his eyes filled with fury, his hands curled into fists.
“Fine. If you are that insistent, I shall tell you.”
She turned her body completely until she was facing Rei, and lifted her head. Her eyes were cold and glassy, as if a blizzard was in them. The aura around her was the same as the day when the girls had questioned about her ability. Rei took an instinctive step back. She…She’s completely changed…like a book with its contents changed…What did she turn into?
Kumiko opened her mouth and started talking, in a soft yet steady voice that overwhelmed Rei. “In the first place, ‘Kumiko’ had never existed.”
Rei was taken aback. “What do you mean by that?”
Kumiko gave a cold smile, one that made Rei’s tongue fall into the pits of his stomach. “I’m saying that ‘Kumiko’ had never existed. The present me, is not ‘Kumiko’ but a replacement for ‘Yui’.”
Rei’s eyebrows furrowed in, his fear all forgotten at the moment. “What are you saying? Hurry up and return back to the ‘Kumiko’ everyone knows before the old you is completely annihilated!”
Kumiko let loose a laughter that could be compared to a laughing maniac. Her eyes suddenly let loose an evil aura, mixed with insanity and cruelty.
“Do you think I can actually revert back to my formal self? I can’t return to who I was before anymore! No one cares about ‘Kumiko’! They only want ‘Yui’ and they don’t give a damn whether I am living or not! And thus…” Kumiko composed herself once more, her voice returning to the peaceful self she was before. “In order to live, I can only be ‘Yui’, or I’ll be living in a world of darkness and hatred.”
Rei broke into a cold sweat. Is she mentally unstable? He suddenly found himself shaking and shivering, but whether from fright or from another emotion, he did not know. But all he knew was, he did not do anything when Kumiko disappeared back down the staircase of the rooftop.
Here's chapter 5! This is approaching an end soon...HELP! I don't know which story to start on NEXT! >< Well, but here's a longer chapter, to make up for the super short chapter 4 ^^ enjoy!
Chapter 5
What happened to her? She hasn’t come to school for a week! Don’t tell me she really…
“REI!”
Rei jerked up, startled. His clique was staring at him.
“What happened? It’s like your soul flew somewhere else after her…”
“SHHH!!! You idiot, don’t talk about it now!”
“Yeah, didn’t you hear that legend…”
Rei smiled carelessly at his friends. “Sorry. I was thinking of schoolwork…” His voice was drowned by the eager chatter in the conversation of his friends, as well as the pelting of rain on the glass panes. The rain had not ceased at all since the funeral, as if nothing was right once Yui was gone. Rei’s gaze went back to where it originally was: the window whose view was directed at the school gates. He had been hoping to hear from Kumiko…whose last words to him were strange. Don’t tell me she really did…
A sudden silhouette he saw made him freeze. Was that…? He stood up, his chair clattering down onto the granite. The class stared at him, surprised at his sudden outburst.
“Rei, are you…”
“I’ll be gone for awhile, help me tell the teacher!” Rei said, jumping over the legs of the fallen chair and dashing out to the main gate.
“REI!”
~******** *****~
“Kumiko-san!”
The silhouette froze. Rain continued to pour as Rei’s clothes started to sag from the absorbance of water. The rain hammered down onto the 2 figures in the blur scene.
“As I thought…Kumiko…why aren’t you coming to school?” Rei shouted above the din of the rain.
Kumiko remained still. As usual, her head was bowed, her shoulders hunched forward, as if she had done something wrong. But then, she lifted her head and turned it a little way back over her shoulder. Rei saw her eyes.
I’ll come back to school tomorrow, Rei realized as he gazed into Kumiko’s eye. Her eyes were remorseful, with the sign of an emotional scar in it. But yet, there was a sense of courage and fear that were struggling within each other’s grasp. What are you up to? Rei wondered even more as the figure called Kumiko disappeared into the mist of the rain.
~********* *****~
The door of the classroom snapped open. Silence reigned as her shoes clacked against the tiles of the floor and everyone turned around just to get a glimpse of the new her.
Her hair was bundled up on the left of her head, the clover clip holding the bunch together. Chipped it might be from the fall, but still usable. The colour of Yui’s eyes were captured by coloured contacts, and her uniform was mimicked to the best of Kumiko’s ability. Kumiko had transformed herself…into Yui.
Her eyes cold and distant, her aura unapproachable, Kumiko sat down in Yui’s seat, in the exact position that Yui always liked. Eyes in the class were all fixed on her, but Kumiko did not care. She rested her head on her hand and stared out of the window at the pouring rain.
She…changed herself…completely, Rei thought, his eyes also captured by the presence of a newly changed appearance. Did she spend the entire week doing this? But…she wasn’t like this when I saw her yesterday…the reason why she didn’t speak to me…was she changing the way she speaks? What caused her to change like that?
The silence was shattered by the teacher entering the classroom. “Homeroom!” he barked and the class silently retreated to their seats. The teacher cleared his throat and said “Today we have self study. All of you take out your textbooks are start revising for your next test!” With that, he left the classroom as the students gave silent cheers.
Some of the more diligent students started revising for the upcoming English test, however, more of the students were curious about the change in Kumiko. They started to crowd around her, with questions like arrows aimed at her.
“What’s with your change?” “What happened to you?” “Why were you absent for a week?” “What’s with the way you wear your clothes and hair? It looks like…”
All these questions were either said with concern, or with scorn and disgust. Well, but knowing these students that scorned on Kumiko’s crush…it’s obvious which expression was used more.
Kumiko’s eyes were still bleak and folorn. She stared at the textbook infront of her. No one could tell if she was really concentrating on the words or listening to the questions, but finally, she spoke a sentence.
“From today onwards…” She hesitated awhile. She lifted her head, and everyone saw the strange calmness of her eyes. “…I’ll be taking over Yui’s place. From her duties…all the way to her friends.”
Everyone stared at her. Some people, astonished but satisfied by the answer, dispersed from the crowd. Others who were unsatisfied stayed put.
“Then you spent the week…”
Kumiko didn’t say anything, but turned her head mechanically towards her book, and inclined her head slightly.
“Well then,” a girl stepped forth. “Let’s see how you are going to be Yui then. She the class representative, as you know, and she’s also one of the best in grades as well as a great athlete. Can you keep up with that?”
Kumiko turned her eyes at her, and at the same moment, a flash of lighting bolted across the sky, the ear-splitting thunder coming along with it.
Her face was illuminated by the lightning. Kumiko was eerie, her aura was filled with resentment and hate, yet the voice she spoke in was filled with confidence and reassurance to the rest of the class. They stiffed up as they saw the coldness in her eyes.
