The long awaited and excited morning had finally arrived. I woke up before the birds as planned while I still couldn’t believe it myself. It really was two days in a row. Miracle does happen sometimes when we wished for it earnestly. I readied myself up with just some casual outfits. But I rechecked and repacked even more clothes and other miscellaneous things as it could fit into my travelling bag which I should have already prepared last night. I was very nervous. Couldn’t imagine really. Yesterday, I was still lazing around this time.

After everything really-really-really was set, I locked my bedroom and went down to the first floor carrying my overloaded gears as silently as possible. Seemed like the others were still in the sleep. I already told them last night. But as a devoted family member, I still left them a note on the dining table with a brief ‘I had gone to my middle school reunion. Don’t worry about me. ‘kay? Have a nice week too!’ before I went to the outside of the house.

Looking up into the stunning immature sky before closing my eyes to enjoy the most of a deep breath from its still fresh moist air while stretching my arms out as long as possible, really was the most beyond words feeling ever. The weather and atmosphere were so good that made today looked really like had been specially set just for me. I was filled with gratitude.

I went to the rendezvous point by taxi and stopped at the left side walk of the fountain park. There was still 30 minutes to go before the bus’s arrival time. But I had found three should be fellow participants who were even earlier than me. I instantly recognized the two youngsters who were standing together and nearer to me. To be honest, I didn’t know why I almost let out some tears. How embarrassing. Luckily I managed to hold up before anyone saw it.

A good-looking young man with dark brown hair in cool style was the first one to be aware of my holy presence. Fujioka Kazuki, my best partner in middle school period, was one of the gang member who I mostly missed for. He was wearing a typical teal T-shirt with jean coat and trousers, and only carrying a small baggage, I supposed. He immediately gave an awe expression and called out for me, almost like shouting, while waving vigorously.

“Yo, Yoru, come on. Quickly, quickly!”

And the others were alerted of me as well. His overreacting over anything was the nature of him since we first acquainted. But we really hadn’t met for 6 years even though we were like real brothers back then. So now, even I would be as sentimental as him.

“Yeah,” I shouted back at him as I ran impatiently to regroup with them.

He didn’t change at all and shouldered me passionately. But I was still in an awkward mode.

The one who stood beside Kazuki was a modern young woman with middle length of orange hair and a right bun, called Sasaki Kaede. Even though, she was kind of not this charming back then with long hair, I could still recognize her by that same pair of spirited eyes. She was wearing a pink modish shirt with black hot pants to make her appeal stood out even more. She was also one of those few who was willing to become a best friend with me. I mean, that kind of friend who could casually talk to each other like Kazuki. As one of our accomplices, she welcomed me.

“Hi, Yoru-kun. Gain some height, I see?” Said Kaede while comparing with her hand seriously.

“Ye … Yeah,” I answered real short again.

Please wait. What am I doing right now? Why am I still so nervous? This is very strange. They were all my buddies back then who could joke around to each other almost shamelessly. But now, even a formal talk got my tongue almost twisted.

The boy who usually got his hair cut by the teachers for trying his current style, punched me lightly on the chest by using his right fist and pointed over to the other side of the park with his other hand. He grinned indecently.

“Hey, remember that cutie over there?”

“Huh?”

I slowly traced his left hand’s pointing direction and landed my sight on the back of a sole young woman. That was a rather small figure even for a female of our age. As she was backing against us, I could only see her white long dress with blazer and an ‘x’ shaped accessories that tied on her nape-height for the shining black hair that flowed from her also white hat, slightly waved down to her small waist. It was reflecting the early sunlight and the sparkling of fresh water, which had made it felt so fascinating. She was modestly clasping her hands forward in a lower position and standing harmoniously in front of the spraying circle fountain’s sitting area. It seemed like she was keeping an eye for the other’s bags that sat on the place that was supposed to be her seat. It was impossible for such a delicate young lady to bring so many things alone, right?

“Isn’t she … Elena?”

Although I hadn’t seen her face, but I instantly recognized the young target that Kazuki was referring. He was shocked for a while for my complete wisdom.

“What a pity, eh,” Kazuki sighed.

He continued after closing his face with his hands lamentably, shaking his head.

“If only I can predict the future. I … I couldn’t believe that at first. Just curse my ignorance. A woman could change so much in her growing up stage. Puberty has done right! Such tomato has slipped from my radar.”

“Yes, I couldn’t believe it either,” I was referring to my friend’s advanced radar detection failure. It seemed that Kazuki was thinking that I must have had the same thought as his. But there was no point to hurt him more.

“Then what are you waiting for now?” I joked and gave a laugh.

“Isn’t that your one and only talented skill, I suppose?” Kaede jumped in so suddenly to tease Kazuki further. But it was supposed to be for male’s conversation only. We were stoned like being caught on talking dirty stuffs, but we were actually very innocent.

Kazuki laughed bitterly.

“Now it isn’t as easy as back then.”

I wondered what he meant by that. Maybe Elena had behaved coldly toward Kazuki when he greeted her before I arrived?

“No innocent women will fall to your devilish hand as long as I am here,” joked Kaede while making a defensive stance between them. The three of us laughed together. They really were like a couple. At least that was what I had always been teasing them back then.

Of course, the young woman who we were talking about was aware of my addition into their group. There was no way for anyone wouldn’t after that roaring call-out from our cool as hell Kazuki earlier. Actually, my gang has four members. And the fourth, guess who? All of them had been presented already, right here, right now. Seiriya Elena, I really wanted to meet her. But I didn’t know why she was behaving like nothing happened at all, treating us like some strangers. We had been pretty close before, especially since our 9-2 class. I didn’t know how much her appearance had changed, but I still didn’t believe if her personality really had changed that much.

As the fate had arranged me to bump into the three persons who I mostly eager to meet first at the rendezvous area. She turned to me just as I wished to see her new differences. A doll-like white face under a white hat, and a white head band with ribbon on top of her matching wavy hair, but straightly cut front and side bangs, were gracefully facing to me. A pair of big pure black eyes had struck into my heart for a second when she looked directly at me. Her thin lip was … faintly smiling? Was I thinking too much? She wasn’t as cold as I had imagined.

I was the only one who could see her right now as Kazuki and Kaede were backing against her. The world felt like just the two of us who were in colors. She has such an enigmatic aura and seemed to be able to read the other’s mind like a psychic. Maybe, it was this feeling that made me could recognize her even without seeing her face for 6 years.

After a few moments of that fanciful world of mine, I was woken up by the horn of a luxurious car which stopped at the far right-side of the park. A rich and hot looking young lady could be seen from the back seat after her driver had opened the door up for her. She was wearing an expensive and too flashy yellow formal dress with branded handbag for a reunion. Her name is Takagami Megumi, the richest ex-classmate, or her parents to be precise. I was surprised. She should be the second most difficult one to be invited to the reunion considering her status and personality.

“What a hot day.”

The rich daughter was complaining as soon as she came out of the car’s comfy shelter. Covering her eyes with her left hand though already wearing an upper class straw hat, and dragging her baggage fashionably with the other one, she came toward us. She straight passed Elena without any kind of greeting, but immediately smiled to me when she met my eyes. Kazuki and Kaede turned to face her.

“Hai, Yoru-kun, you know? I am just coming to this reunion because of you,” said Megumi with an uncomfortable intimate tone.

“O … Owh? Th … Thanks,” I was still not very close with her.

This golden-blonde woman with an even more gorgeous long hair than her past, was certainly like to tease me since the middle school times. If I wasn’t remembering it wrong, the second mail already said that all members had agreed to come, with or without my participation. Or just let me check it again …. And why did I have to analyze that so seriously? It wasn’t as though I had never known her before.

The good-humored lady was still smiling playfully at me before I diverted my eyes.

Coming from in front of Elena across the road, were the two people with dignified yet eccentric gesture walking toward her. They are Kaigo and Ringo from Shōhō family. Could I just say that I was lucky? Since it was an extremely rare chance for a person to have the experience of ever being in the same class with a pair of twins. Seemed that they had already arrived before me and just returned from buying something. Kaigo was drinking blue soda while Ringo was drinking red soda and bringing a bottle of iced coffee. They carried nothing else, meant that they were the owner of those bags which the poor female was watching for.

From far ahead, Ringo shouted and followed by Kaigo.

“Catch ….”

“… this.”

Hey, hey, hey, hey, from across the road? That was somehow inappropriate and you could be caught by many kinds of authorities for such dangerous attempt.

Kaigo received and hit the drink from Ringo’s set like a volley ball elegantly to their watcher. She barely caught it. But it slipped through from both of her small hands, falling, but then she quickly caught it again before it hit the ground. That really killed her steady stance before. She gave a rather unsatisfied expression to them.

Kaigo and Ringo, no matter what they wore, they still looked as classy as usual. Though they were wearing an almost identical long sleeve, long trousers pajamas like suit. Making Kaigo looked a bit feminine and Ringo a bit masculine. And in different colors that matched their hair and eyes. Kaigo in the blue, Ringo in the red. The splits on their hairstyle also needed to be emphasized. Kaigo on the left, Ringo on the right.

Just like some poems.

The twins were guffawing as they crossed the carless road as though a busy one, and returned to Elena. They patted her head when she was sipping the drink and saying something that maybe in the region of thanks to them. In fact, the twins weren’t patting her head. Kaigo was just rubbing his hand out of the pain for hitting the bottle before. And why was Ringo rubbing her hands on Elena’s head too?

Our eyes met. They quickly fixed the shorter woman’s hair.

“We meet again, someone, our main character,” Kaigo greeted us warmly yet kindly grinned at me for a second.

“We recognize you, somebody, our main character,” Ringo greeted us hospitably yet kindly grinned at me for a second.

They brought up their own jumbo-sized belonging and ushered Elena to join us as well. She seemed to be slightly reluctant at first. But she still carried her half-body-sized travelling bag and regrouped with us behind the twins.

“Drinking all by yourself, huh?” joked Kazuki to them.

“We arrived first, too early it seems,” explained by the female twin.

“We forgot to breakfast, too careless it seems,” added by the male twin.

“All of us really seems to be impatient,” smiled Kaede.

Maybe she was trying to act like the third member of the twins. Too cold of a joke, as always, it seems.

We formed a bigger community now from seven people. No more strayed one. The feeling of the reunion was taking into place already. We talked to each other while waiting for the bus. But I noticed, Megumi wasn’t really fancy to talk with Elena. I wondered if I was too sensitive. I braved myself to greet the last lost member of my middle school gang when the others seemed to be on their own conversations.

“How are you these years, Elena?”

I tried to ask as normal as possible. But she was still startled too much when I called her name. Her black eyes twinkled as she was looking left and right. Is she worrying about something? After hesitating for some moments and wandering about something that I didn’t understand. She finally spoke in a very low voice without really looking into my eyes like previously and slightly red faced.

“Fi … fine, re … really looking forward to this kind of re … regrouping ever since a long time ago.”

She seemed a little embarrassed. And the speech looked like had been carefully arranged for an exam but still failed to be fluent for the right time.

“Yes, me too,” I replied normally with a smile, tried not to make her even more awkward. I restrained myself from laughing too evidently. My bad. I was like that too at first.

A scream of shock was heard. Kaede? What happened?

Now let us welcome the celestial Lolita in green frilly costume of cuteness. The little girl was so full of surprise to hug her sister from behind like that and wailing her name in a voice decibel not losing to Kazuki’s for me earlier. There were 2 undeniable differences though. The first was a heartbreaking cry from a cute voice by an innocent girl wasn’t something that we could get to hear in everyday life. And the second was if it was Kazuki or me who acted spoiled like that, no matter how cute we are, we may not be able to reunite again in another 80 years or so in another dimension.

The Lolita is named Enrin Chika. She had an orange flower shaped accessories clipped for the independent thin stroke of hair on the left of her black and wavy short one. Minus that one, just like her name, one thousand of flowers, implying she really had those 999 worth of flowers of lovable characters forever. She was completely adorable. Nothing changed as there really was nothing to be change. Perfect.

But as I suddenly reimagined that clause number one from Kazuki’s example, I felt the need of washing my brain with some holy water.

“Kae-neeee!!!”

The big sister she called quickly turned and hugged her hard in tears. Kazuki and I were left in blank staring at them, enviously. Not sure if our point of view was the same though.

“Chika-chaaan. Long time no see. I am so happy to see you coming too! Where have you been all these years? Ah, you have become even cuter than ever. So jealous.”

“He-he-he, I am very happy to see you too, Kae-nee.”

The girl who looked like not in the same generation as the rest of us really was missing her Kae-nee for years. Maybe this was also the first time they met each other after the graduation just like me. After that little emotional reunion between the foster sisters, Chika greeted us all in one go. Obviously, Chika was very close with Kaede that she even called her as an oneechan. Kaede was also very fond of her too. Maybe because of Kaede’s nature to protect the others especially the delicate and cute one.

Me too. But nobody knows. Maybe my perverted brother knows.

The twins looked like going to kidnap our symbol of innocence soon. No, that was the last thing I would ever want to see. I was actually going to stop them, but Kaede had quickly stood spread-armed in front of her little sister first before I could deploy my superhero cape. I skipped a beat because the Lolita had so suddenly smiled innocently to me for some unknown reason before laughing at the poor act of the twins. But she stopped when she met Elena’s eyes. She indecisively looked away and became a little discouraged.

Elena replied with a bit forced of smile. Megumi also looked at the little girl, but with a discontented look and smirk.

Seriously, what was wrong with Elena actually? She seemed so awry.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, look at those … four, man. There are four, man,” Kazuki was suddenly hysterical in silence at me. I almost jumped out of his unnoticeable creepiness.

I replied in silence too.

“What? Four women you mean?”

I was only judging based on my previous basic knowledge of understanding about my bro’s adult thinking. Did he count the number wrong? His math shouldn’t be that bad though it usually was. I tried to look into his eyes to find out more about his meaning and the result was quite astonishing.

“Wait, are you excluding Kaede-chan?”

“Not girls anymore. They are ladies, ha-ha,” he didn’t seem to be listening at all.

“Really-really can expect no less from you.”

“Just pick one, all right? From my ultimate mind reading technique about the ladies and of course also about the normal being but still a little pervert like you …,” he stopped and gave a very serious looking. Oh, please, not again. As though not convincing enough, he said with an exaggerated gesture and pointing to one of those four ladies or whatever. He decided my future as though a holy prophet.

I gave a straight face.

“You want to be with Chika-chan thus I can only be with Elena, right? My friendo?”

Yes, and I am so deep in love with you as well … if you could only stop that.

But as his buddy before, I understand just about anything he was thinking and continued to give a straight face to show that there really was nothing wrong about me when the others were looking at the ruckus he made.

“Yeah, yeah, how much should I thank you for that heavenly secret of future you just leaked to me?”

“Not much, he-he-he.”

Kazuki grinned contentedly with his right hand making a peace sign, or two sign, or two million? Too much! Just when I wanted to ask about it, Kaigo remarked while looking at his wristwatch.

“The bus is late.”

“Twenty-five minutes late,” continued Ringo while checking at their exact same one.

I didn’t really realize that because I was in so much fun chatting with my old friends. But they were right. They were indeed always right, and left.

That is odd. Where is the rest?

“Speak of the devil,” uttered Megumi.

We saw a silver bus approaching and stopped at its station in front of the park. All of us brought up our own belongings and moved toward the ride enthusiastically. The bus’s door opened with a hiss. A thin looking, black-haired young man in courteous wearing and glasses appeared from the entrance and greeted us politely. He was the one who had sent the invitation and the leader of this reunion party, Araki Ryouta. He had grown to be so tall.

“Hello, it is so nice to have all of you here. Sorry for the late coming. Unexpected thing happened and delayed us. Now, please come in.”

After all of us who had been waiting on the park greeted the newest fellow warmly, we were now getting into the vehicle after having our baggage placed on its bottom storage area. The bus was designed for its passengers with two seats on each side multiplied by ten or more rows with extra seat on the most behind that was as broad as the ride. Besides Ryouta, there were three more reunion participants inside. Two young men were looking busy with their phones and sitting together with their big belongings taking up all space on the most behind seat. And a single prestigious young lady with chignon hairstyle who sat alone in the third most front seat of the right side by the window. She was reading a book on her lap expressionlessly.

Let me introduce them since it seems like they aren’t the type to do that themselves. The big and strong looking one with polished bright yellow mohawk is called Yamao Ken. He was hearing some loud music through his earphone, and wore an armless shirt that revealed a weird tattoo on his brawny upper left arm. And the black-haired one who was sitting next to him and reading something in a serious countenance is Nakano Takuma. Looking more decent maybe. At least he had shown a bit more well-mannered and wore eyeglasses with presentable attire that made him seemed like an educated one.

The last and might also be the last person who I could have ever imagined for being in this reunion, was the contrasted white lady in dark one-piece of laced shoulder-less long-arm dresses. She has the most unusual but natural purple shaded hair and eyes which make her felt so special and mysterious among the others, while also an elegant smell of certain flower never left her. She was currently longing down a perfectly balanced front and two very straight side bangs that was still matching her overall coldness, instead of her old slightly curved style. Fionna Lilacein, if I am not wrong, not sure if there is an ‘s’ or not at the end. She was born from a foreign family of Europe, was what I heard back then.

A rather weird eyeglasses girl at that time, but now ‘only’ left layered by heavy contouring makeup, smokey eyes with mascaras and deep dark lipstick. She only transferred into our class during the last grade near the final exam. I never saw her much. Maybe she spent most of her time in library to read every book in there and almost never talked to me nor the others. As far as I know, she was always alone and didn’t like to make friends. At first, I thought it might just because she was still not very fluent in our language. But in fact, she knows far too much than any of us when we were taking native language class. No need to further explain about what happened in foreign language schedule. We were no more than infants for her.

She glanced at me for a second with that exact same appearance as back then, minus her classic round eyeglasses. But then quickly threw that gaze away and continuing her reading. She is always like that, so unpredictable cool. But I think that was only on her outside poker face. Her aura seemed a bit different already. If not, why would she even come to this reunion, right?

Still, my heart was kind of hurt when you do that, you know?

We placed our other smaller bags on the top shelf of our seat that we chose as we liked, and made our formation as there were so many empty seats inside. I quickly secured the seat on the middle of the left side and by the window while Kazuki was still unaware. Though he still chose to sit beside me because we are just that inseparable, he had been nagging over it for quite some time already. Elena and Kaede then chose to sit in front of us. The four of us really were looking to be closer to our long lost precious relationships, or at least that was what I thought.

Everything was set and ready, Kaigo and Ringo was shouting out of the excitement followed by the others like a bunch of children ready to go to a long awaited yearly school trip. Even I couldn’t restrain my feeling to cheer along with them.

But sincerely, in the name of all that is holy, could you please keep it down to a little more human like, couldn’t you? Huh? Kaigo and Ringo? Mini sized moving zoo?

Ryouta smiled to us like a real tour guide, looking extremely relieved and contented to see that we were so spirited and enthusiastic. After finished with the headcount, he instructed the driver to start escorting us to the real and already arranged but still unknown reunion location, The 13 Patrons’ Mansion.