The Girl Named Ai

A chance encounter?

2 years later

As the sun began to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in all shades of red mixed with blues and yellows, tinting the clouds with a hue of tangerine, while bathing the school in a golden glow. The leaves were molten red, shivering ever so slightly as the autumn wind breezed by. Our steps could be heard reverberating across the hallway as we head for one of the school exits.

"So Junichi, what should we do today? Should we head over to the arcade?" My face started to crinkle up as i began to wince

I shifted my gaze over to Umehara Masayoshi my childhood and best friend. He has like a typical Japanese person, black hair and eyes although his hair was on the shorter side of the spectrum. As usual his out-going personality causing him to brim with positivity.

I shook my head at Umehara's inquiry. 'unfortunately I spent too much money on buying my treasures' , it pained me how dire my finances are right now. So I quickly made an excuse to avoid Umehara away from asking what sorts of treasures I got. His instincts and intuition can be terrifyingly accurate when it came to these things.

"Mhmmmm, I'm a little short on pocket money right now..."

"Didn't you just get your allowance recently? Mhmm, I wonder where all of it went boss?" kekeke

'This bastard' I could see a cheeky smile starting to crept up Umehara's face as he poked at my weak spot. I quickly shifted my gaze away from Umehara to avoid anymore questioning only to be greeted Ayatsuji-san coming into view and saving my ass from having Umehara asking what genre of porn mags I got. I quickly called out to her, we exchanged greetings and per usual a vibrant smile can always be seen plastered on her face and her hair is silky as ever as it swayed with wind.

"Ayatsuji-san, are you doing committee work?

"Hello. Yeah I am, it's for the Founder's Festival planning committee."

Even though she's a really hard worker, Ayatsuji San truly is a kind soul. I wonder how she manages to cope with all that work that the school and committee keeps piling on her.

"It must be tough for you since you're also the class rep."

"Haha. thanks for worrying about me, but I willingly volunteered to be in the planning committee, and I'll only be busy for the short time between now and the festival."

'She truly is an angel' Aside from being  model student, She's Smart, diligent, honest, and to top it all off she has the looks of an angel. I bet something along the lines 'I wonder if Ayatsuji-san is dating anybody' are running through Umehara's head. But speaking of which November is coming to an end, oh how time flies.

"It's about a month until the Christmas Founders Festival, huh?"

"Thats right. Alright you two, take care getting home. Don't go loitering anywhere on your way back."

"All right, class rep. See you."

"See you tomorrow."

Ayastuji quickly left us on our own as she heads over towards the committee room. Looking around the hallway, the windows were letting through the golden rays of light while blocking out the chilly air. Allowing us to bath in the suns warmth. Thinking of Christmas reminded me of what happened 2 years ago. I can still vividly remember how miserable Christmas was 2 years ago. Ever since I've never been able to look forward to Christmas.

"It'd be nice if someone could help her with her committee work"

I nodded in agreement at Umehara's remarks "Then why don't you help her?"