Sorries and Thank-you’s Of The Girl From Those Dreams

March 2/2013 — Dream World

“Hey, Hiyuraaa,” Papa called cheerfully.
I was studying.

“What are you doing? It’s past dinner. I noticed you haven’t slept yet.”

“He has started studying extra,” Mumma said.

“Hmm? But why suddenly?”

That question felt like an arrow piercing my heart.

“Whatever the reason, it’s fine, isn’t it?” I said, pouting.

Mumma laughed. “He actually came second in the exams this time.”
Trying to hold back her mocking smile, she added, “Kamizo beat him in a single try.”

I clenched my fists, tears welling up.
It feels so helpless when you lose; even coming up with a decent dialogue seems pathetic.

I am anyway terrible at comebacks.
My tears turned into waterfalls.

“Don’t mind! Don’t mind!” Papa said, placing a sympathetic hand on my shoulder.

What! I was prepared for the worst—for him to tease me to death.
But this vibe... this aura… it felt like the aura of a man who had tasted this defeat himself, maybe even worse than mine.

My mom grinned in the corner.

“Anyway, Hiyura, let’s go to Kamizo’s house.”

“Ehh… I have no face to meet her yet.”
In another meaning too—I still hadn’t finished creating the new method of communication.

“What are you saying, son?
His expressions changed

“Is this what you learned from Dragon Ball?”
“Is this what Vegeta taught you?”

My eyes widened at the realisation.

“You see, Hiyura, in tough times, always remember the most obvious things. People tend to forget them.”

It’s exactly as my father says: this is the moment where I don’t accept defeat and go Super Saiyan to defeat the enemy.
After a long time, my father was shining for me again.

He held a serious expression, like a Super Saiyan who had become too strong for anyone to defeat.

“Yup! I will come!”

Also… I wanted to meet Arcanine. It had been a while.

Standing in front of her room,
with a serious expression on my face.

I steeled my resolve to declare war. I would tell her that next time I will be the number one in the test.

I knocked.
“I’m Hiyura. Can I come in?” I tried to keep my voice heavy.

After a few seconds of silence—and a few Bark! Bark!—footsteps approached.

Kamizo opened the door.

The instant I entered, my eyes locked onto Arcanine—and his onto mine.
Next was again like a movie scene, as if two best friends of life were reuniting after years apart, we ran toward each other in dramatic slow motion.

“Arcanine!!”
“I missed you, Arcanine. Is your trainer feeding you well?”
“Bark! Bark!”

In the corner near the door, Kamizo puffed her cheeks like a balloon, sulking.
“He’s Yukki, not Arcanine.”

Declare war… But before that…

The moment where I have to tell her that I am not yet completed with the new method.

Will she be disappointed? I don’t want her to look sad.

“Ah-hh… Umh-hh…”
I grabbed my pants, staring down.

“Actually… I haven’t completed the new method yet.”
“It’s really difficult. I really tried hard to think of something, bu-t-t…”

Words didn’t come out after that

My courage finally gave up.
I looked up.

Tears were running down her face.

“Y-yo-uu re-all-y took it seriously.”

I couldn’t hear what she said.

I was shocked by how much she was hurt because of me.

I was about to bow and apologize, but before I could—
She bowed first.

“Sorry, Hiyura-kun.”
“I didn’t mean to trouble you.”

She started crying even harder.

Wait—she’s mad because I didn’t finish it… right?

“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!” she kept repeating.

Oi oi oi! She started crying—what I should do?
At times like this, what should I do?

“Please don’t cry, Kamizo. I’m the one who didn’t know what to do… Please don’t cry.”

Watching her, I couldn’t stop myself
I started crying too.

After that, I could only hear the voice of us crying and the sound of Sorry! Unknown of the owner.

Our parents hurried into the room and made us stop.
They kept asking what happened, but neither of us answered till the end.

To me, I didn’t know what to answer, the reason why I was crying.

Papa took me home for that day.

They concluded in thinking that we might have had a fight and are refusing to talk about it.
_____________________________________________________________________________

March 26/2013 — Dream World

I kept myself away from thinking about that day. I anyway had exams to focus on.

Now that the exams are completed, even if I try thinking about it, my head gets all mixed up, and I don’t understand what to do.

“Hiyura, come. We are going to Kamizo’s home.”
I made an ugly expression.

“No, I'm not going anywhere.”

“Just come,” he said, starting to pull me.

“No, I don’t want to go, I am not ready.”

“Don’t struggle in vain. I’m going to take you, even by force. That’s what I’ve been ordered.”

“Ehh… by whom?”

And just like that, Papa and I were on the ‘not-so-heart-warming’ classic ride.
This time, both of us were silent.

Without speaking a word, we reached the destination.

Reaching the house, Papa sat on the sofa with the Kamizo Papa and Mumma.

Both of them had a serious expression on their face.
Papa just got there and joined in their expressions, shaded black.

Even Arcanine was there, with the same serious expression.

Without a word, I got the message from their expressions.

I sighed and headed toward Kamizo’s room.

Standing in front of her door…
Now that I’ve come this far, there is no turning back.

I knew it, I absolutely knew it—but I’m scared.
Papa never taught me what to do in this kind of situation.
There was never a moment like this in Dragon Ball.

What should I do…? I want to run so badly, but strangely my body won’t move backwards even one inch.
Not when… not when it knows Kamizo is just beyond this door.

I placed my hand on the door; it was open.
I know I’m not ready, but my body moved on its own.

Pushing the door, I stepped into the room.

Kamizo turned around.
She froze from the sudden shock.

I gathered the longest breath I possibly could.
I will at least say sorry.

At the release of that breath, I said,

“Kamizo! I am sorry.”

Ahh, I got it.
Now I finally understand why I was crying.

“I am really, really sorry for hurting you.”

Kamizo’s expression turned puzzled.

“Ehh, but why? Why are you saying sorry?”
“I should be the one saying sorry. I’m the one who hurt you.”

The world around me started rotating in some different dimension.

“No! I’m not hurt—why would I be hurt? I thought you were hurt!” I said out in desperation.

“No! Absolutely not, you idiot! Why would I be hurt?”

I don’t understand how much chaos is happening here.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen an aggressive side of Kamizo.

Her aura changed 180 degrees and tears started forming in her eyes.

“Does that mean… we are still friends?”

The urge to cry was up to my throat. I thought I would burst out crying while speaking.
But somehow, in a gentle voice, I answered,

“Yes. Obviously, we are friends.”

Kamizo couldn’t hold back after that—
she started crying.

“Thank you… thank you… thank…”
She kept repeating it as she cried.

Kamizo Mumma came in to calm her down.
She gave me a thumbs-up with a warm smile.

And there it was—
the moment when I finally felt relieved.

I cried my heart out too.

After when both of us calmed down.

“I am not yet completed, but next time… I will complete the new method.”
I said with a smile, the last tear still clinging to my eye.

“R-re-ally?”
She spoke while slowly recovering from crying.

“But! How can I thank you for this?”

“It’s fine.”

“No! Absolutely not, you idiot!”

Oh. I got to watch that twice in a day.

“Hmm… then how about this: I’ll make a new method for us to converse,
and you take the challenge from me for the next test.”

“Are you really fine with that?”

“Ahh, I’m fine. No matter how I look, I’m actually a Vegeta fan.”

“I don’t understand well, but yup, I accept it.”
“I will give my best in the next test.”

On the way back home—

“You made up, didn’t you?” Papa asked, smiling.

“Yup. How did you know?”

“I can see it on your face.”

Shit! Was it that obvious?
I quickly tried to make a nonchalant face.

“Anyway, you’re done now. Now that Kamizo is going to take the test seriously, you stand no chance of winning.”

He laughed mockingly.

I just clenched my fist with a waterfall of tears in my eyes.
Because you know whatever I say, it will be just being pathetic.