Summer's End

Chapter 2

Hibiya's eyes fluttered open. He glanced at the clock, which had burning red numbers on it. 12:30. He really needed to work on fixing his sleeping schedule.

He grabbed his phone and saw that Hiyori has texted him a few hours ago, asking if he was awake. He began typing a reply: "sorry!! i slept late again."

Jumping up out of bed, he readied himself for another long day. He rushed to get dressed and he attempted to comb his messy hair but gave up half-way through. Why did it matter? He wasn't going out at all today. He was just going to spend another pointless day in his house.

His phone buzzed and Hiyori informed him that she was standing outside of his house, waiting for him. He threw on his white hoodie and quietly snuck out of the house where he saw Hiyori standing by a tree.

"Hey you dummy!" she called out, "I thought you'd never wake up! How can someone even sleep for that long? You must have slept for thirteen hours, more than half your day!"

Hibiya smiled and shrugged. He suddenly felt embarrassed by his tangled hair as he looked at Hiyori's perfectly brushed pigtails. She didn't seem to notice Hibiya's messy hair, or at least if she did she didn't point it out.

"What do you want to do today?" Hibiya asked. Hiyori always had something exciting to do to take their minds off of the events of their shared summer. They usually stayed near or inside of Hibiya's house, but sometimes they went to the park or grabbed some food at the bakery.

"I was thinking..." Hiyori started, "We should go into the forest today. It's so peaceful. Maybe I could help you learn how to use your eye ability?"

Hibiya's face lightened up, "Would you really help me?"

"Of course!" Hiyori replied almost instantly. "Why wouldn't I?"

The two kids started walking towards the forest near their houses, twigs and leaves crunching beneath their feet. Birdsong filled the air and bugs hopped around happily. A single white butterfly landed in Hibiya's hair and he tried hard not to freak out.

Hiyori laughed at him and put her hand in his hair, urging the butterfly to crawl onto her instead. She lifted her hand away from him, the bug perched on her fingertips. She carefully lowered her hand to the ground and placed the butterfly on a flower.

"I'm sorry," Hibiya laughed, "I really don't like bugs, even if they're just harmless butterflies!"

The kids arrived at a fallen log and took a seat. They were in a lovely little clearing within the forest. The grass was green, the sun was bright, and little animals were enjoying the wonderful weather all around them.

"So," Hiyori started, "If you try really hard you can sometimes use your power?"

"Yes," the boy said, "But I can't always choose what I see, and sometimes my power seems to just turn on all by itself and then- well, I end up being in a concert when I should be in class!"

"We just need to work on getting you calm enough to use your power. You always strain so hard trying to get it to work! All of the others in the Mekakushi Dan can use their powers so effortlessly," Hiyori began talking again, "I think there's just too much going on in your head. I know how you feel- we're both still upset about the summer- but you need to clear that all out of your mind if you want to be able to do this."

Hibiya nodded, "I-I know. It's just so hard to forget. I'm sorry, Hiyori! I'm just not good enough for this. I can't do it!"

Hiyori grabbed his arm and looked him directly in his eyes and shouted, "Believe in you, because you're you!"

Suddenly Hibiya found himself back in the city. He saw the hideout, all of the Dan members were spread around and hanging out together. Kido was cooking, Shintaro was talking to Ayano, Takane and Haruka were asleep together on a couch, Kano and Seto were playing cards, and Marry was reading manga with Momo.

Hibiya felt very warm inside as he watched his friends from afar. How he wished he could see them in person again, but for now it was enough just to know they were alright.

Red eyes faded into brown eyes and Hibiya was back in the forest again with Hiyori. He was smiling, and felt happier than he had in a long time.

"You did it! You did it!" Hiyori cheered, "I knew you could do it! What did you see? Tell me, I want to know! Did you see our friends?"

"Yes! I saw all of them! They were all hanging out together. It looks like they're having a lot of fun without us... Those meanies don't even miss us!" he joked.

The two kids talked happily for a few minutes, they were truly happy for the first time since before summer.

"What should I try to look at next?" Hibiya asked excitedly.

"Oh!" Hiyori exclaimed, "We should test how far away you can see! I wonder if you can see outside of Japan! Try to find something famous, like Paris or try even farther, like New York!"

"I'll try..."

Hibiya concentrated his thoughts. He wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. He cleared his mind and focused on what he wanted to see.

He was inside of his own bedroom. Not exactly what he wanted.

"Ahh, it didn't really work," he sighed as he returned to the forest, "I ended up back at my house."

Hiyori smiled, "It's okay! You tried and that's what really matters. You even got to see our friends again! That's way cool, Hibiya!"

"Can we do this again?" the boy asked, "It was really nice. Your words, just you being here, it helped me a lot! I've never been able to control it as well as I could today."

"Yeah! It was fun for me, too!" Hiyori was still smiling, "I haven't been this happy in a while... It was really nice."

The two kids stood up and started walking back to Hibiya's house.