A Goddess Wears Orange

Chapter 3

“My sister is such a pain,” Yumi grumbled. She and Ren were walking to the convenience store two blocks away, after making a quick stop at his house so he could change his shorts. 

“That may be, but she’s really just watching out for you, Curly-Top.” 

Of course you’d say that. She bit her lips to keep the words in. Silence fell between them, and when she snuck a glance at him, she found him staring grimly straight ahead. Good grief, say something already, you dummy. “S-so what do you think about our booth theme for the school fair?” she asked. 

And regretted it instantly. Of all the stupid things to bring up… Sure enough, Ren gave her an enigmatic look. “The truth? I voted for Option A.” 

“I know, I saw you,” she replied sourly. “So which is it? You don’t like me casting witchy spells on innocent people? Or you don’t believe a freakish dork like me can be a Goddess of Love?” 

“No, I think you—watch out!” He threw an arm around her and pushed her to the side of the street, shielding her with his body as a tricycle roared past, nearly sideswiping them. Ren glared over his shoulder at the tricycle. “Freaking maniac.” 

Yumi had gone as stiff as a board, one hand clutching his arm. When he looked at her, she gasped and pulled away from him, nearly tripping over a hedge, then stuffed her hands into her pockets for good measure. “Um, thank you,” she muttered without meeting his eyes. 

“Yumi.” 

“Yeah?” 

He was staring at her with an almost angry expression that sent a little chill through her. “Nothing. Let’s just go,” he answered, turning away and stalking off. 

The convenience store was crowded, which was normal for that time of the evening. A group of college students sat chatting over chips and coffee at one of the tables. A small family stood at the candy aisle trying to coax their toddler to release his death-grip on a candy bar. Two high school girls were browsing through the magazine rack. A middle-aged man and a couple of ladies in office uniforms stood in line at the cashier. And a young man in jeans and a T-shirt stood in front of the freezer, staring at the selection of beer and liquor. 

While Ren perused the store’s selection of donuts, Yumi moved past the young man to get to the dairy section. She found the brand of butter her mom liked, and was checking the price tag on the way to the cashier when the man suddenly stepped backward, colliding into her and making her drop the stick of butter. 

“Sorry,” she murmured, crouching down to pick it up. But the man got there a scant second before she did, and her fingers closed around his hand instead. 

Her vision dimmed, the light draining from her surroundings, colors and shapes fading into dull, gray blurs. All the sounds grew muted as well, as though somebody had turned down the volume inside her ears. Her stomach flipped, the way it felt when she was going down in a Ferris wheel, and she knew a moment of vertigo as her mind unmoored itself from all her senses except one. 

All feeling was directed to her hand—specifically, to the point of contact between her and the young man. His skin felt dry and hot but there was a chill underneath, as if he was turning into stone from the inside out. He was hurting; she felt his pain like a serrated edge on her nerve endings. 

And the threads. In her mind’s eye, she saw him as the center of a tangle of glowing threads—a breathtaking, unbelievably complex web of a myriad colors and textures that were impossible to describe. Some of the threads were as thick as cords and were brighter and more vivid, and Yumi knew these connected him to the people who were most important to him and the ones who thought him important. Other threads were finer, more like cobwebs of shimmering light, and these connected him to every other human being, including the rest of the people in the store. The threads either radiated from or attached themselves to him. Each one was spun from memories, thoughts and emotions, each color representing the predominant emotion of the connection—a tender rose, a cheery yellow, an angry crimson, a faded, nostalgic indigo, and plenty of deep, sad blues and grays.