Stars Fell on Tokyo | ✓

09 | todoroki valley

      AS THE DANCING ensued, Louanne found herself alone at the dinner table, pricking at the loose fabric on the skirt of her dress. She never danced aside from hula but this seemed it would be in her alley. The corners of her lips are almost lifted when she sees Kohei slowly walking toward her.

     "You're not dancing?" he asked.

    "No, not really but this is a really great party," she answered. "Are you excited?"

    He takes a seat next to her. "I mean, I'm happy for my big brother but sometimes I wish I could be like him,"

     "I don't think I could ever know what it's like to have a brother or sister. Marriage is one of the most beautiful things that this world has to offer... some of them take you out of the bad things that happen. I'd figured that's what it was like with my parents,"

     "They were in love, weren't they?" Kohei asked, looking at his hands and then back at Louanne.

      "I can only imagine that they were deeply hearty eyes for each other," Louanne giggled.

     Kohei raked his fingers through his hair, trying to process something to say or ask. "H-hey, I know that this may seem out of the blue but do you maybe want to do something tomorrow? I'd figured that since you're new to Japan and I-I think that I might have-" he pauses and continued, "-I mean, I would like to show you all the places here and the foods that may be to your liking."

    "Really?"

    "Y-yeah, if you want to,"

     "I-I'd love to and thank you for the kind offer," her heart was beating faster again, fluttering with hope. In retrospect, she did want to see him again and there was something about this city that made her start to fall in love with it. She could never understand why her father would leave all of this behind-except for the fact he mentioned the second world war.

     "Wonderful! Let's say at noon then?" Kohei began to grin like a Cheshire cat.

    "Yeah! Yeah!" she answered excitedly.

    "Great! Good talk,"

     For a while, they didn't speak another word nor looked at each other without even blushing. The signs were clear as day and it probably was too early for Louanne to begin a summer romance. She had to remember why she came here in the first place but also learning about her father's world might broaden her horizon.

***

       By the next day, Kohei and Louanne had met up in the alley between their houses, just as they scheduled. There was just something about him asking her to "hang out" without making it sound like a date. As much as she likes to believe that it is one, it's only been a couple of days since they first met.

       "You don't mind taking a train, do you?" Kohei asked her as they walked.

       Louanne shook her head. "Not at all. It just depends on where you're taking me?"

        "But then what would be the fun in spoiling it,"

         She laughed quietly at his remark as they reached the station or better named the Todoroki station by the native Japanese (Tokyu-Ooimacho line) and she was fine for a while until they boarded the train, it was crowded. Too crowded for her to handle. Louanne placed her mind at ease by breathing slowly and counting to ten then to twenty-and then upward. Figured that's what people with claustrophobia would do.

         The ride itself was only twenty minutes to get there and the walk afterward wasn't long either. Soon, they were surrounded by trees of green and a crystal clear stream up along the concrete pathway. The ambiance of nature was comforting with the birds singing from every treetop. Her breath was immediately taken away by every detail that she noticed.

     "Wow," was the thing that came to mind.

      "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Kohei's eyes wandered through the trees.

      "Yes, it is,"

      He looked up at the blue sky and closed his eyes. "My mom would take Haru and me here when I was a kid. Every other day as I got older, I'd come here to get away when I needed to,"

     "From what?" Louanne asked.

      "My brother, of course," he opened his eyes and looked at her, "sometimes I can handle him teasing me but not when it's all the time. It gets old real fast and the things he says may ring true,"

        "Why?"

      "I-it's silly to say," Kohei turned away from her, feeling ashamed as his cheeks were red again.

       "Just tell me!" Louanne demanded, "it can't be all that bad, Kohei."

       He was still for a moment and then the boy stared at the moving clear stream. Obviously deep in thought, Kohei caressed his arm to soothe himself when he looked back at her. His cheeks were still flushed with red and there's no doubt that he'd be still embarrassed to reveal the reason to her.

     "Well, it's because... it's because I sometimes choke when I talk to people. Girls in particular and Haru thinks I'm weak for that. I don't talk to many people because of my social anxiety. With Haru, it just comes easy to him. He knows how to charm someone even with a simple greeting," he explained, "it's not like I don't want to talk, it's just hard to start. I've had a crush or two in high school but I've missed those opportunities."

      Louanne furrowed her eyebrows. "But you seem to not have a problem talking to me and I'm a girl,"

      He chuckled softly, "that's true,"

     "And you're not the only one in the world to be picked on just for these anxieties. I sometimes have trouble talking to people too except for my parents," she placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him comfort.

      "You do?" he asked.

     Louanne nodded. "Yeah, every single one of us has a flaw that we don't like. It's just part of who we are and you're not weak,"

      "You really mean that?"

      "Of course, I do! You deserve to know that much,"

        Kohei was tongue-tied by her words and he couldn't think of anything else to say to her except he pulled her into his arms.