The Start of Pain

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“I’m just saying,” Hamilton started again as they continued to trek the streets of Kyoto, Japan, “Amy is not going to buy you a new phone.” He kept both of his hands on the back of his neck, gazing at the temples and shrines around them. If only that loud, auburn-haired girl back home was here, she would have exploded into endless trivia about them that he couldn’t care less about. He shrugged, looking at the many creases on his red, striped polo shirt. He would’ve gotten an earful out of that, too.

Jonah and Ian glared at him as they dragged a still sulking Dan along. They were both firmly gripping his arms. “You ready to explain yet, D-dawg?” Jonah asked and you could hear in his tone that he was trying not to get mad. Dan pointedly glared at the granny who was selling cherry blossom bookmarks and said nothing. He shuffled his scruffy sneakers on the cobblestoned steps.

Hamilton is not done with his ranting, completely oblivious to the atmosphere around him. “I mean, what were you thinking? Just because that phone of yours turned out to be all bugged and stuff, you could’ve just asked me to pummel it! Oh wait, there’s no difference,” he realized, sniffing the air as the mouth-watering smell of those golden-brown balls reached his nose. “What are those, you think?” he asked them without looking away from the small stall with a widely grinning old man as the vendor.

“We’re ready to listen to your wise explanation,” Ian said through gritted teeth, not bothering to hide his annoyance unlike Jonah, “on why in the world we’re in Japan and not in Germany as we originally planned.” Ian couldn’t believe that this kid... this –

“If you didn’t want to come, you could’ve just dropped me off,” Dan grumbled sullenly.

“I would have literally dropped you off,” Ian growled, tugging Dan along the road. The bad things in his life are now piling up into a tumbling tower of bad things that would soon topple over and totally ruin his sanity.

Jonah shot Ian a warning look. “Don’t start,” he pleaded, feeling the start of a migraine.

“What does ka-ko-ii mean? Those girls kept on saying that while looking at us,” Hamilton asked, popping one of the golden-brown balls in his mouth. “Oh wow, this – whatever the freak this is – is heaven.”

“When did you get that?” Jonah asked, turning sharply to look at him weirdly.

“While you were talking,” Hamilton said while chewing. “Want one?” He handed him a toothpick with one of the takoyaki on top. Jonah took the toothpick and finished it all in one bite, chewing with a very thoughtful expression. “Wow,” he breathed, looking at the empty toothpick in wonder and completely forgetting that he was supposed to stern and on the verge of losing it, “that is some serious snack right there!”

“I know, right?” Hamilton yelled, pumping his fist in the air happily. “You want some, Kabra?” He looked at the grumpy amber-eyed, raven-haired British boy.

But, Ian was looking at something inside the temple in front of them. Something flickered deep in his eyes, glinting in the flecks of gold in his melted amber eyes. It was gone as soon as it came though, and with a flick of his hair, he shot all of them one of his cocky, world-famous smirks. “What do you think of eating on one of those quaint sushi restaurants we passed by?” he asked them with a very out-of-character, wide and friendly smile. Dan mutely scanned the surroundings with narrowed eyes, his expression extremely bored. “We’re surrounded by them,” he said casually, pointing his lips all around him. “We have many choices.”

Hamilton stiffened at that, but Jonah was quicker to recover. He’s an actor after all. Jonah put on his thinking expression. “I’m hungry now,” he whined, rubbing his stomach. Jonah adjusted his huge, dark sunglasses and shifted the anime hat they found for him to minimize the chances of somebody screaming, “Jonah-sama!” The grey fox ears on top of his head became lopsided with his fussing that he looked like a fox listening for something. “Hey, Hammer!” Jonah slapped Hamilton on the back none-too-gently, successful in making him topple to the right just a little bit. “You bringing that lucky charm Sinead made you?” he asked in a sing-song voice, sounding like he was another ordinary teasing teenager while his eyes said otherwise.