Nicole's Book! ( ^ω^ )

Summer

The midmorning sky is flushed and pale. The sun hangs droopily to the sky with fatigue, like it wants to let go and fall down and bounce off the water. Clouds are plastered to the sky in a sticky fashion, like they might peel off and land on the earth like paper. It is cold and warm at the same time, and the wind feels like people's breaths blowing as hard as they can against your skin.

Thin, sickly trees spring out of the ground in a scattered fashion, holding onto thin leaves that are losing their color. A few leaves are bright orange, some red, some yellow, and some still green or pale green. It is the middle of a summer day, not a hot summer day in July, but a summer day towards the way end of summer, with autumn whispering in.
You sigh at this day, the end of summer, the time at the end. Soon, everything will change, and you will go back to school. When will you see the others again?

You stare at a tree in front of you and focus really hard, so hard your head hurts. You then laugh.

"Kido, what are you doing out here?"

The taller, masculine female gains a little colour, and stares off into the distance. A swallow sits in a nearby tree, singing softly. Its face is orange, and its eyes beady black. Its breast is a creamy white, and its deep blue wings curve in the most elegant fashion, sharply pointing back at the end.

Its song was a mixture of squeaks and clicks, sounds hard to describe with words. It truly was a song; the bird's cries were arranged in a quick, rhythmic, pattern. The song moved up and down softy. The swallow looked around itself quickly at its surroundings, at Kido, and at you. You wonder if Kido's abilities work on animals.

"N-nothing..." Kido murmurs, glancing at the swallow quickly. You just smile and nod her head.

"Where are Kano and Seto and Mary?" you ask her casually.

You had long since admitted to yourself that you had a little crush on Kano. That would probably never happen; he probably liked Kido.

She looks relieved. "I don't know where Kano is... you should ask Seto. Seto is over there."

She points to the north. You smile sweetly.

"Thank you, Kido-nee-chan~" you say, bubbly and cheerful. She giggles at the honorifics and nods to you.

You run for about ten minutes. The wind feels cold as you run, and warm when you stop. A stream rushes by. My, how lovely it must be to be a stream. You get to run free all day, going wherever you want to go. You never tire, and you don't need to be concerned about everyday things like people. You don't need to be around others, you can be alone for as long as you like, you think.

After a while, a feeling of contradiction grows inside of you. Now that I think about it, a stream bounces off rock for the whole of its life, it never gets to be with others and it cries forever. It must be so lonely to be a stream.
It is not long before you hear the clucking of chickens and mooing of cows. The bark of a dog pierces through the rest of the sound. A few seconds after, you hear the laughter of a young boy. It makes you smile. You push through the brush and past the waterfall that flows into the stream.

"Seto!" you giggle, as the older, taller boy turns around. He carries a puppy in his hands. The small brown puppy wiggles and whines, its fluffy brown fur soaking wet.
He smiles to you. "Good morning [Name], I just gave this dog here a bath. He's whining, but just wait till' he becomes a big strong dog! He'll thank me because all the nice lady dogs will like him!"

You chuckle at Seto's seemingly pointless explanations of his day. Not really pointless, but unnecessary. Seto laughs with you. He sets the puppy down on the ground, and it shivers. He wraps it in a blanket.