Chapter 4:
Hideki sighed as he walked out of the inn, relieved from the ordeal tonight. It was really difficult, but at dusk he finally slipped out of Chii's grasp and hurried back to the refuge of the woods. Hopefully, Shinbo wouldn't notice-
"You're late."
Damn.
His eyes went to the origin of the voice and they rested on a man slightly shorter than him. He has scruffy, black hair and twinkling eyes and he was looking at Hideki with a smirk on his face.
"Where were you? I didn't see you at the usual spot," Shinbo spoke casually. He was sitting on a giant, arching root.
"If I did you would probably make fun of me," Hideki replied as he sat down next to him. He knew Shinbo for as long as he remembered when he first came to the secluded town.
"Oh really? Try me." Shinbo playfully answered.
After a long silence, Hideki took a long breath and then spoke in a slightly hesitant voice. "This girl collapsed on me."
"Oh? Was she pretty?"
"What has that got to do with anything?" Hideki jerked his head to him with narrowed eyes. A sudden image of Chii's sleeping face appeared as he recalled how he had to painfully extract himself from her legs locking unto his waist and he blushed furiously at the thought. Hideki quickly turned away, but Shinbo noticed and took note of it.
"Uh, nothing. But don't you find it odd that a random girl would see you in the middle of the night and then fall on top of you?" Shinbo asked with puzzlement.
"Yeah, but she did anyway and…she could…touch me and I could touch her back," he said slowly.
Shinbo now looked very interested and confused at the same time. "How is that possible? I know some people can see us, but touch us?"
"I don't know. The whole thing was weird." Hideki kicked a small pebble on the ground and watched it bounce into a small stream. The whole incident disturbed him and he didn't know what to do about it.
"So what're you going to do now? Are you going to see her again?" Shinbo prodded.
"I don't know, maybe or maybe not." Hideki replied plainly.
"I see." Shinbo had an annoying smirk on his face and it gave Hideki a sudden urge to violently wipe it off his face, but he held himself back.
Several hours passed by as they just watched the town lights turn on one by one like a Christmas tree.
"Before I leave, are you going to tell me whether she's cute or not?" Shinbo asked slyly. Hideki glared at him, but then his face softened when he remembered Chii's imploring face when they had first met.
"Well, she's about this high," Hideki indicated her height with his hand, hovering at his chest, "was wearing a white dress, has ivory hair, and brown eyes." Hideki paused for a moment, remembering that look of yearning in her eyes as she ran to him when he turned his head back from her sudden call. Shinbo waved a hand in front of his blank face.
"Erm, well I better get going before you start going all mushy on me," Shinbo mocked, feigning caution. Hideki rolled his eyes at his friend's comment and then asked with a reserved tone, "Any luck finding her?"
Shinbo shook his head rather sullenly but then said, "I'm not giving up though."
Hideki nodded and replied encouragingly, "I'm sure one day you'll meet her."
"Thanks." Shinbo said with a smile and stood up. "I'll see you next week as usual right?"
"Don't you always come here?" Hideki replied with a raised eyebrow. Shinbo laughed out loud. "You know it," he answered playfully.
Shinbo walked to the dirt road and strolled off, showing a hint of ease in his posture. Hideki watched his fading back and he saw him give one last wave before he disappeared in the direction of the rising sun.
Hideki yawned from weariness so he turned around and passed the trees and bushes toward the shadowy heart of the woods.
His eyes blinked and looked around his surroundings aimlessly. He never had a dream for a long time. He always felt that the moment he closed his eyes he needed to open them again and hours had already passed by. Hideki pulled himself up from the loam he laid in and brushed off the leaves from his chest. With another yawn, he started his personal routine that consisted of wandering around in search for an empty patch of land.
After an hour or so in a seemingly purposeless route under the twinkling stars, Hideki found a dry, brown and rather unattractive piece of earth. There were scatterings of ugly, yellow weeds poking out from different directions compared to the wide, waves of emerald grass he walked through earlier.
Hideki squatted down and stared at the scrap of ground like a mathematician staring at an exceedingly difficult equation. He turned his head left and right nervously; making sure that Shinbo wasn't around despite the knowledge that he personally saw him off last night, but he was not fully comfortable with sharing his secret yet. Shinbo might start joking about whether he should be a gardener or a florist in the later life.
His right hand emitted a faint, azure glow as it hovered over the ground and little sprouts burst out from the dry soil and rapidly grew into long, healthy blades of grass. Soon, the unattractive, brown plot Hideki stood in transformed into a vibrant, emerald lawn.
Hideki sat with his legs crossed and then with his still glowing hands, he waved in several intricate motions. Among the thick grass, a winding stem inched out and one by one, yellow petals popped out. Hideki's concentrated gaze and waving hands resembled a sculptor working precariously on a fine work of art as he made gentle sways with his palms. Under the emitting cerulean radiance, the stem grew taller and became thicker, leaves unrolled and lay open as if the plant itself was stretching its arms. As more sprouts popped out of the soil, he heard a faint voice.
"…Pretty…,"
A sudden yelp came out of Hideki's throat as he whirled around and fell back in shock crouching next to him, admiring his creations.
"Wha-, How'd you-, whe-," he stammered, staring with eyes wide as saucers at the stealthy intruder. Her head cocked to the side, looking back at him innocently.
"Did Chii do something?" Chii asked curiously.
"Er, well um, It's just…wait, you can really see me?"
She nodded in affirmation. Unfortunately, his brain was screaming that this was impossible. Nobody should be able to physically spot him other than Shinbo, who was a special case. Yet this mysterious girl was unmistakably meeting with him eye to eye.
"So, your name is Chii right?"
She nodded again, happy that he said her name. "Chii is Chii! Is your name Hideki?"
"Yeah…and how did you know that!?" He watched her with a raised eyebrow as Chii tilted her head left and right in a pondering fashion until she clapped her hands childishly and spoke aloud,. "Chii heard Hideki when Chii asked in a dream!"
"How is it possible to remember things like THAT in your SLEEP?" His mind screamed in exasperation. Chii proceeded to watch him curiously as he grabbed fistfuls of his hair as he silently cursed at the sky for his carelessness.
"A-anyways, you should go back home and forget everything that has happened here!" Hideki commanded with a raised arm, pointing in the general direction of the town.
"Chii?" Chii looked at him questioningly, clearly indicating that she held no knowledge of the directions back. Hideki could only stare back in with a dumbfounded expression across his features.
"All right, how about I show you the pathway?" She immediately beamed and trotted happily next to him.
It was an odd feeling. This girl had absolutely no common sense whatsoever. She probably wouldn't understand the concept of danger if it smacked right in front of her face. The idea of accompanying an unknown stranger did not ring out any warning bells in her head and she took his offer in stride with no sign of caution.
"You know, you have to be more careful when you talk to strangers. Not all of them will be nice or helpful, understand?" He began to lecture, like a parent to a child.
"But Hideki knows Chii's name and Chii knows Hideki's name."
"…Well, that's true, but you need to know more than that."
"What does Chii need to know?"
"Er…," To be honest, he never knew the fine line of how much knowledge is necessary to determine whether a person is no longer a stranger. "you need to know um, their hobbies and interests and stuff like that."
"Does Hideki like making flowers?"
"Huh? Uh, yes I do."
"Is Hideki still a stranger?"
"No. Wait yes! Ah, hold on, wha?"
"Chii doesn't understand."
"No, I er, whuh?" Hideki sputtered, his brain spun around in circles.
"Chii lives there!" Here finger pointed to a familiar building off in the distance. Hideki was wiping his eyes with the palms of his hands, still trying to sort out the conundrum he dug himself into.
"Well, never mind. Just don't come here okay? It's dangerous and you can get hurt herer. I'm not always going to be around to help you." He turned around and began to leave. After taking several steps, he felt a tugging sensation as light as a feather from his sleeve. He twisted his head back and saw a tinge of sadness written all over Chii's face.
"Does Hideki…hate Chii?" He could barely hear her speak. Chii stood as still as a stone statue, her gaze aimed at the patch of dirt he was standing on.
"No," he muttered in a voice equally soft. "Um, it's not that I don't like you. It's just that we only met twice and I really know nothing about you."
"Chiiii…," Chii looked even more pensive than before as Hideki forced his brain to think of something to say to remedy the situation.
"How about…we meet again tomorrow?" Truthfully, he was too used to isolation and mindless idleness so tonight already wore him out. He wasn't even sure if he would be able to muster the strength for another night, but the moment the question came out of his lips, Chii turned up to him with hope in her eyes.
"Really?" She asked, her demeanor completely changed to one of great anticipation. Her arms wrapped around his and squeezed it against her bosom.
"WAAAAHHHH!"
"I-Uh-Whuh-Er-Y-Y-Yes!" She finally let go and his hand clutched unto his chest, gasping like he was about to have a heart attack. "W-When the sun sets, I'll be at this signpost," he said halfheartedly while gesturing to the rotting street sign next to them.
What he didn't prepare for was Chii's oncoming assault as he felt the wind knocked out of him and he stumbled one step back as she gave him a bone breaking hug around his waist.
"Chii will be waiting," She murmured happily and before he could blink, she scurried off back home.
"Ah well, maybe it won't be as bad as I thought," Hideki pondered to himself as he steadily went back to the dark curtain of trees. "She's definitely an odd one, but she can really tire a guy out." He looked around and saw that the sky was a swirl of orange and red. Dawn was approaching and it was almost time for him to go into another dreamless sleep. Hideki briefly wondered whether the strange, amber-eyed girl would have enough rest, but then shrugged it off. She never seemed to run out of energy even though they only met twice now.
After a while, Hideki reached to his usual resting spot and fell upon a bed of leaves. With a final sigh, he spread his legs and arms out as his mind drifted off to slumber and his body slowly faded away from sight.
This was a bit of a short chapter, but I'm warming myself up back to writing fiction after writing essays about multiculturalism and stuff for college. Anyway, the ending seemed a bit rushed to me, but I couldn't help but make Hideki appear more mysterious than he really is. XD