A Love What?!

Ever since the incident in the park, Noel had been extra cautious as she went about her day. She finally relented to Azrath’s request to hide in her bag during school. It served the double purpose of Noel not feeling as alone as usual and mitigating the risk of Aunt Jillian or Danny stumbling onto him on the off chance they caught him off guard.

Noel had to admit that it was nice to have someone always with her. She just wished he didn’t take up so much space. Not only was Azrath pretty bulky, being about the size of a softball, but she also had to pack food so that Azrath wouldn’t cause a disturbance with a rumbling stomach.

Still, the pros outweighed the cons. And now, Azrath was her constant companion.

“I don’t know how you keep up with everything!” whispered Azrath, “They’re talking a mile a minute.”

“You can’t even understand what they’re saying.”

“Surprisingly, I can. I don’t know how, but I can understand them. It’s odd, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, odd.” She had noticed that Azrath had begun to understand things he shouldn’t. It was probably the influence of being next to her or maybe their newly forged bond. For the thousandth time, she questioned her understanding of her curse.

Her head was still full of thoughts of the curse and invisible assassins as school ended. She followed behind her friends and barely registered that they had made it to the shoe lockers.

As she opened her locker, a loud gasp from friends made her almost jump out of her skin. Noel looked at her friends in a panic. She half expected them to be bloody corpses shot dead by invisible bullets.

“What? What happened? Everything okay?”

Mugi looked stunned, as did Yui and Ai. But none of them were staring at her.

“Look, Haru.” Mugi pointed.

Noel followed her finger only to find that she was pointing into her locker. At first, she didn’t see it. Then she saw that a small, white envelope sat atop her shoes.

“What’s that, a letter?”

Without warning, Ai seized Noel by the shoulder, face stricken with outrage. “Haru! That’s not just any letter! It’s the kind of letter that any girl would dream of getting!” She buried her face into Noel’s chest, “Why couldn’t it have been me!”

“I’m…not sure what you’re getting at,” Noel said as she tried and failed to push Ai off her. Ai was sobbing into her ribbon, but it was so melodramatic that she was pretty sure the heaves were fake.

“Do they not have love letters in America, Haru?”

Noel gave a start as she felt her whole face burn, “A-a l-lo… What?!”

“My dear Haru is all grown up!” said Ai. She looked up and pressed her cheek to Noel’s. “But I won’t give her up to anyone.”

“Now you’re just being weird,” said Noel, and finally succeeded in detaching the other girl from her.

“I wonder who it’s from?” said Mugi, “I bet it’s Genkai-kun. I’ve noticed he’s been giving glances.”

“Has he?” Noel had no idea who Genkai even was. In fact, she didn’t know any boy from their class. If she was honest, she couldn’t really tell them apart with the same black uniforms and haircuts. It wasn’t a topic she felt comfortable bringing up to her friends in case they took it the wrong way.

“I’ve noticed a few boys looking at you,” said Yui. “Bet they’re thinking that they might have a shot with you because you’re a foreigner.”

“I don’t know. The only people who’ve talked to me are you guys and Ushio. Oh, and Mr. Tamayoshi,” she added as an afterthought.

Mugi’s face brightened at that. “Now, there’s an idea. What if it’s Mr. Tamayoshi? He’s pretty handsome.”

Noel scowled. “Don’t even joke about that.” She looked back into her locker. “Well, there’s only one way to find out.” The others gathered around as Noel stretched out a hand slowly like she was trying to catch a fly.

Her fingers wrapped around the envelope, and she pulled it out. All four of them took a second to look at it. It was a plain white envelope. Noel flipped it to see if a name was written on the back. Sure enough, she saw her name written in neat katakana.

Well, there was no mistake. This letter was hers.

Her fingers almost trembled as they peeled away the folded top. She could hear her friends hold their breath.

“Stop that! I’m nervous enough already.”

The others resumed their breathing as she took out the letter.

When she unfolded it, all girls’ heads crowded together to read a simple message written in the same neat katakana and then duplicated in English.

“Meet me by the sports shed after school.

I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Ooh! That means he wants to confess to you in person, Haru!” said Ai as she gave Noel’s shoulders a vigorous shake. “He even made an effort to write it in English!”

Her friends immediately began to push her back into the hall toward the track.

“Go, Haru, go!” said Ai with dramatic flair, “Live the dream of hopeful girls everywhere!”

“Alright, I’m going!” said Noel, shrugging off her friends with a small smile. “I still need my outdoor shoes.”

Yui handed her the shoes, which she slipped on and headed for the entrance. “I’ll walk around!” she said as her friends tried to push her the other way. It would save her a trip if this all turned out to be bunk.

As Noel walked out of the front entrance and made her way to the left side of the building, Azrath poked his head out of her bag. “Is all this really a big deal? You’re too young for boys, anyway.”

“I’m fourteen! And I guess. I dunno what to think.”

What if there was a boy who had fallen in love with her? What would she do? She’d have to turn him down. There was no way she could have a boyfriend with all this Darris crap going on. How could she keep any of this a secret? It’d be too much to handle. She would definitely turn him down!

Still, as she approached the storage shed, a lone plaster building like the school in miniature, her heart began to beat faster. She even took out Jillian’s compact to check that her hair was neat and that nothing was stuck in her teeth.

“You don’t know what to think, eh?” said Azrath giving her a most unpleasant smirk.

“S-shut up!” said Noel. She regretted bringing Azrath to school already. “Get back in the bag. And keep quiet!”

She took a deep breath and walked around the corner. She could feel her heartbeat in her fingertips.

But when she rounded the corner, there was nobody there. Her heart sank past her stomach. No, it wasn’t too late. The note said to meet him after school. So, she stood there, her back to the wall, as she held her bag in front of her, clutching the handle tightly with both hands.

And she waited. And waited. And waited.

With each minute that passed, Noel’s mood darkened. This was a joke, after all. No one really cared. Noel bet that one of the boys had written that note as they watched her from somewhere, laughing their asses off at her expense.

Well, she’d show them! She’d find a way to get them back. Her mind was already in planning mode. She began to walk away.

Then a noise made her stop in her tracks. It was the sound of soft footsteps.

It’s him! She didn’t know if she was excited or not. She pulled the letter from the pocket and turned to the source of the footsteps.

Her voice shook slightly as she said, “H-hello?”

The footsteps came to a stop, along with Noel’s heart.

“I g-got this letter. Were you the one who wrote it?”

There was silence from the other side.

Then a familiar giant head popped out from around the corner. “So, there you are, girl.”

“GODDAMMIT!!!” Noel couldn’t help it. She swore at the top of her voice as she clenched the hand which held the letter in her fist and threw it to the ground as hard as she could. Then she stamped it repeatedly with the heel of her foot. Darris watched her with a mix of amusement and fascination.

Of course, Darris had written the stupid letter! She should have known! She was such an idiot!

“I thought it appropriate,” said Darris emerging fully from the side of the storehouse and squatting in front of her, “to summon in as discreet a way as possible.”

“How is a love letter discreet?” asked Noel placing her fists on her hips. “Now my friends are going to ask all the details about who wrote it. What should I tell them, huh?”

Darris gave her a small smile. “Simple. The writer stood you up. Is it not common for boys to get cold feet when they express their feelings?”

“I guess…”

“Besides, I wanted a first-hand look at this most sacred of adolescent rituals. To witness a similar scenario that poor Haruka was forced to endure.”

Noel blinked. “Most sacred of what now? Who the hell is Haruka?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Darris’s smile widened as he put a hand in his pocket. “Picture it, girl: a young pure-hearted maiden with hopes of mutual love receives a letter. She hopes it’s from the boy she’s long loved, the prince of the school, Shun. But she goes to meet the writer at the designated meeting place. There is no one. The maiden holds onto hope that Shun will arrive, yet it is in vain. And just as she is about to give up and walk away in tears, her Shun finally arrives to say that he was the one to write the letter. Little does she know that Shun didn’t write the letter and only confessed to her out of pity. It may have been based on a lie, but their love will surely bloom into something pure and genuine.”

He pulled his hand out to reveal a small white book in his hand and held it up so Noel could read the title: Fluttering Sakura Kisses.

The book did not improve Noel’s mood one bit. But Azrath popped out from Noel’s bag before she could say anything.

“So, you’re not even trying to hide your shameful reading habits anymore, are you?”

Darris’s smile instantly soured. “Oh, it’s you. There is nothing shameful about the reading of young love.”

Azrath remained silent, staring. Darris stared back without so much as a twitch.

“I’ll let you borrow this. I’m already on the fifth volume, so I’ve no use for it now. And then you’ll see, bird.” He proffered the book to Noel.

Noel barely glanced at it as she continued to look at Darris in disbelief. What happened to the cold, dignified demon king? “Is this all you called me out here for? A dumb book recommendation?”

“Of course not,” said Darris.“The time has come for your first battle.”

Noel inhaled sharply through her teeth. “What, you mean now?”

Darris flashed her an evil grin, “Indeed, right now. Much like Haruka, there is a bright hope at the end of disappointment. And for you, it is your first true opponent.” Darris stood. “Come.”

Darris waved his hand, and the sickly green portal opened before them.

Azrath flew up to Darris’s face. “You can’t. I’ve barely taught her anything!”

“And whose fault is that?” said Darris, turning to raise an eyebrow at Azrath.

He said nothing.

“That’s what I thought.” Darris looked down at Noel, whose breath became shallow and labored. “It is fine to feel ill-prepared for battle. The truth is, no matter how much training one goes through, it is nothing compared to the real thing.”

That only intensified Noel’s anxiety. Why did it have to be now? She had only just started to grasp Dynamic Drift—Azrath had moved them to her next phase of training, which was to throw a ball at a wall and stand in its trajectory before it bounced back. That was nothing! She was about to follow Darris to her death.

Noel took a step back, “I-I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.” Darris’s eyes were intense, “You promised that you would—what was it? Oh, yes, ‘beat me into a pulp?’ Do you remember my promise?”

Noel’s mind was blank. She couldn’t remember where she was, let alone any promise. But Darris gave her little time to answer.

“I told you I would forge you into a warrior. I intend to keep that promise. And I would not make you fight unless I thought you were ready.” He paused as he studied Noel. “Does that mean this won’t be difficult? No. But I’m confident that you will rise to this challenge. Trust in me, girl. No one has more faith in you than I.”

She looked from Darris to Azrath, who looked mournfully at her. He had resigned her to this fate, but at the very least, he was with her.

Noel swallowed, then nodded.

“Then come,” said Darris, “your Shun awaits.”

She had no idea what that meant, but Noel took one step forward, then another, and another until, at last, the green light engulfed her.

Papa, she thought as the schoolyard disappeared behind her, please, watch over me.