Chapter 24

The next morning you wake up feeling extremely hungry. You look to the side of you to see Aimi asleep. You slowly get out of bed, and you walk towards your closet to put on a sweater. After putting on a sweater you walk downstairs to the bakery. Your grandmother is in the kitchen prepping baked goods. 

"Hi grandma." You softly say with a tired smile on your face.

"Wow... you're up early." She replies smiling back at you. "Are you hungry?" She asks. You nod. She pulls out a fresh pan of Anpan on it. They are round and with black sesame seeds in the center top of them and filled with red bean paste. They smell good. "You can take a few." Your grandma motions toward the pan. You grab three of them, placing them in a small cloth that your grandma uses to pack the food with. You walk up the stairs and into the living room. You pop your head into the bedroom to check up on Aimi. She's still asleep. You place the cloth on the counter, and you take one of the anpans, taking a bite from it and sitting down in front of the couch, turning on the TV. 

After eating it you lay down and continue to watch TV. You sigh getting bored. There's not much going on, on the TV. You lay on your back and stare up at the ceiling thinking about what to do.

BZZZZZ BZZZZZ 

You look towards the phone on the table. It's Aimi's phone. You pick it up to see Hana calling. You answer the phone call.

"Hello? Aimi? Hello?" Hana says in a panicked tone.

"Hi." You answer.

"...Yuki? Is that you? What happened... Is Aimi okay?" Hana asks. You stare into the distance remembering what Aimi said to you last night.

""Don't tell Hana what I told you... I don't know if she will be able to handle it."" - Aimi

"Hello? Yuki? What's going on? Hello?" Hana questions.

"Yeah... Aimi is okay." You reply. You hear Hana take a big sigh from the other end. 

"Thank god... I got worried... She called me over 20 times last night and she sent some very concerning voicemail messages." Hana sighs.

"Oh... Yeah. She's okay." You comfort Hana.

"She's with you right? Where is she?" Hana asks.

"Asleep." You reply.

"At your place?"

"Yeah." 

"Okay then, I'm coming." Hana says quickly.

"Wait what? Right now? Aren't you supposed to be the one who brings the yukatas?"

"No... that was Aimi..." Hana replies.

"Oh..." You softly say.

"I don't have a yukata that fits." Hana comments.

"So, we won't go to the festival?" You ask.

"Yes... we will just figure it out... I will see you in a bit. Bye." Hana rushed.

"Bye..." You respond. Hana hangs up. You look towards your bedroom staring at your bed. You sigh thinking about what Aimi said to you last night. You believe Hana should know too... but you respect Aimi's decision. 

Not long later Hana walks into the living room.

"Where's Aimi?" Hana asks. You point towards your bedroom. Hana pops her head in to see Aimi asleep under the blanket. "You sure she's okay?" She asks with a concerned look on her face. You nod. She nods too. She looks towards the counter that has the two anpans on it. 

"OOOOO... FOOOD" She gawks. "What is that? Anpan?" Hana asks.

"Yes... but only eat one of them. I want to save the other one for Aimi." You reply. Hana nods and takes one. She sits down on the couch and eats it.

"Eli is coming with us, right?" Hana asks. You nod. "Good... He's really good at festival games... I want him to win me a stuffed animal this time." Hana bubbles. You smile at her chubby cheeks that are filled with the Anpan she's eating. 

You hear shuffling from the distance which makes you look towards your bedroom. Aimi slowly walks out looking directly at Hana.

"SHE'S AWAKE... WOOOOW... GOODMORNING." Hana bubbles loudly.

"Goodmorning." Aimi says sluggishly. Hana raises an eyebrow at Aimi. 

"You okay?" Hana asks. Aimi looks at you and then back at Hana.

"Yeah." She answers.

"Why did you call me last night? What happened?" Hana asks.

"I just needed a place to stay for the night..." Aimi states.

"Yeah... but why did you call me multiple times...?" Hana questions.

"I- uh... It's because you were the only person I can call since Yuki's phone is broken..." Aimi replies.

"BROKEN? AGAIN?" Hana says surprised looking at you. You look down trying to avoid her eye contact. "How did it break this time?" Hana asks.

"Well... just like how it did last time..." You awkwardly say. Hana stares at you with a disappointed look on her face.

"UGH... Yuki... just don't get another phone... you never use it anyways..." Hana groans leaning back.

"I do, I just..." you start.

"Have trouble not breaking your phone?" Hana says with a disappointed tone in her voice. 

"Yeaaaah..." You say looking away. Aimi smiles hard and chuckles softly to both of you.

"I love being friends with you guys..." Aimi says giving a sad smile. Hana looks at her with a serious look on her face.

"Why are you being weird?" Hana asks.

"What? I can't say I love you?" Aimi questions.

"You can, I love you too... but why are you saying it in a sad way... are you not telling me something?" Hana questions.

"Oh... I'm just tired that's all." Aimi sighs.

"Ok..." Hana slowly says slightly narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah... anyways... lets go get those yukatas..." Aimi insists pointing towards the door to the stairs.

"Get them from where? We are going to your house to get them, right...?" Hana asks. Aimi stares down at the ground and then slowly shakes her head. Then she looks up quickly looking towards you. You narrow your eyes and sigh a bit. Hana looks at you and smiles.

"Wait, Yuki... your grandparents have a lot of yukatas, right?" Hana asks. You narrow your eyes to think about it. From Yuki's memories you remember there are a bunch of yukatas stored somewhere.

"Well... yeah... But- I don't know where they are..." You slowly answer. 

"So then let's ask your grandma..." Hana suggests.

"Okay." You smile and nod.

"Great... then let's go." Aimi says walking to the door. Both you and Hana stare at Aimi whose hand is on the doorknob.

"Don't you need to put clothes on?" Hana asks pointing at Aimi's outfit. Aimi is only wearing a bra and shorts. Aimi looks down at her outfit and smiles awkwardly. 

"Yeah... I almost forgot..." she awkwardly laughs and walks into your room, closing the door behind her.

After Aimi gets dressed the three of you walk downstairs into the bakery. Your grandmother is kneading dough.

"Grandma..." You softly say walking up to her. She turns and looks at you.

"Yuki..." She coos. "Are you three leaving? You should take an umbrella... It's supposed to rain today." She states. 

"Yeah, I know... but I wanted to ask you something..." You say.

"What is it?" She asks.

"Can we borrow a couple of yukatas from your house?" You ask. She looks at you a little confused.

"What's the occasion?" She questions.

"A Festival." Hana replies. 

"Oh, I see... Yes. There are some in the big closet at my house." She answers. You nod and smile.

"Thank you." You say softly. 

"Oh... and when you get there, ask Hikari... she should help you." Your grandma implies.

Once the three of you make it to your grandparents house you tell Hikari why you're there. She shows you to the closet that has all the yukatas in it. You, Aimi, and Hana look through the yukatas debating on which yukata you all want to wear. 

"Why does your grandparents have so many yukatas and kimonos?" Aimi asks.

"Yuki has a bunch of Aunt's" Hana replies.

"A bunch of Aunt's? How many?" Aimi questions. You think about it a bit before answering.

"Five Aunt's... My grandparents had nine kids in total." You state.

"Oh my... that's so many..." Aimi gawks.

"I could never have that many kids." Hana sighs holding up a blue yukata. "I think I will wear this one." Hana says examining the outfit. It's blue with small colorful flowers and dots. Aimi nods looking at the yukata Hana is holding up.

"I will wear this one." Aimi says holding up a black yukata with a bunch of big multicolored flowers. You continue to look through the yukatas trying to figure out which one you want.

"We are going to put our yukatas on... okay?" Aimi says to you. You nod still looking in the closet. Aimi and Hana walk away towards the bathroom. You move a bit to the right stopping at a pretty peach yukata with small light pink flowers on the top and bottom and red, white and gold butterflies at the bottom of it. There are a bunch of small designs all over the yukata. You stare at it, examining all the details.

"It's so pretty." You whisper to yourself.

"Yeah... that was your mother's favorite." A voice says behind you. You turn around to see Hikari standing behind you smiling at the yukata. "You like it?" She asks you. You slowly turn back around and nod. "You should wear it... I'm pretty sure your mother would love for you to wear it." She sooths.

"You think so?" You ask. She nods. You smile and grab the yukata. You walk into a room and put the yukata on. You look in the mirror wondering on how you should do your hair. 

Knock Knock

"Who is it?" You say looking at the door.

"Hikari... are you done getting dressed?" She asks.

"Yeah." You reply. She opens the door and walks in towards you. 

"You should put this clip in your hair too. It's your mothers." She says holding a pretty peach hair clip. The clip has a cluster of peach flowers with red designs on it. It is very pretty. "Here... sit... let me put it into your hair." She says, you nod and sit down. Hikari ties your hair up into a pretty bun with a bit of it hanging out in the back and she clips the hair clip in front of your bun. She smiles at you after she got finished making you smile.

You walk out the room and towards Hana and Aimi. They're both standing in the hall waiting for you. They slowly turn towards you and smile.

"Aw you look so cute." Hana coos.

"It's been so long since I've seen you wear a yukata..." Aimi comments. You smile and nod.

"This is my mothers yukata..." You sooth, smiling really hard.

"Yes... and you look just like her." Your grandfather softly bubbles walking towards you. "Can I take a picture of the three of you...?" He asks showing the three of you the camera in his hands. You smile and nod. He smiles and holds up the camera. The three of you pose and he takes a picture. 

After he takes the picture the three of you walk out the door, waving goodbye to Hikari and your grandfather.

"Be safe." Hikari says waving back and then closing the door. The three of you walk to the festival where you see a bunch of people.

"Is that Eli?" Hana says pointing in a direction. You look towards the direction to see Eli looking at something. You walk over towards him and tap on his shoulder. He looks at you wide eyed and smiles. 

"Wow... You look..."

"Cute?" Aimi coos.

"Beautiful?" Hana asks.

"Breath taking?" Aimi adds.

Eli looks at them and then back at you. 

"Yeah." He sooths smiling at you. You smile back.

"I know she does..." Hana says hugging you. "All my friends are pretty." She bubbles smiling at Eli then her smile disappears. "Except for you, Eli..." Hana comments rolling her eyes and walking away.

"uh-" Eli squints his eyes at Hana and then sighs. "I swear... she's always picking on me." Eli comments.

"Let's go... I want to win some games." Hana bubbles, walking into the festival. Aimi sighs and smiles, following behind Hana. Eli looks at you and then at the other two. The two of you follow behind them.

"How do you feel?" Eli asks.

"Pretty happy honestly" You answer.

"That's good. I'm glad. I can tell." He replies.

"Why do you say that?" You ask.

"Because you're smiling... a lot more than usual. Just like you used to do." He sooths smiling at you. You smile back at him. You look to see Hana dragging Aimi towards a food stall. You smile at them. Eli chuckles and then sighs.

"That girl always wants to eat." Eli comments.

"I know right..." You reply. You look around you and approaching the booth that Aimi and Hana are at, but you stop walking when you notice someone. Touya and Mika... you look at Aimi and then back at Touya.

Oh no... they can't see each other... not after what happened last night... If Touya see's Aimi he will get mad and they will argue again... and then Hana would find out... You thought to yourself.

"Are you okay?" Eli asks looking at you. He notices you staring off into the distance and turns to look but you stop him before he sees them. You grab Eli's hand, and rush over towards Hana and Aimi who are looking at the menu at the stall. 

"Hey... down there... I saw a stall selling Dangos" You say in a panicked tone, pointing towards the opposite direction of where Touya and Mika are. 

"Dangos? Really? Ahhh... it's been a while since I had some. Let's go!" Hana says pulling Aimi with her. Eli looks at you confused because he noticed the panic in your voice. You follow behind Aimi and Hana still looking back at Touya and Mika a bit. You don't know how you will keep Aimi and Touya from seeing each other... but you have no choice but to try. You can't let your friend break down in front of everyone... not after what she said to you last night.