Pluviophile

Chapter 6

Indra left the school, the sky still pouring onto the earth. She opened her own umbrella and noticed another person in the school courtyard. It was a freshman that she had seen a few times before, but she didn't know their name. They were playing in the puddles, jumping in them and sending the water elsewhere. They were also holding a stick, occasionally poking at the mud between jumping in puddles. They were wearing a large, grey raincoat and blue rain boots. They were wearing leggings with red, orange and yellow plaid. Indra watched as the little person splashed around, and it soon became aware of Indra's presence. They turned around, and Indra saw her face. It was a young girl. She looked to young to be in high school, and she had low pigtails that rested over her shoulder, dampened at the ends by the rain. Her eyes locked on Indra. Indra blushed a little, kind of embarrassed being caught staring. 

"Sorry!" She called out. After a moment of silence, Indra had an idea.

"Hey! Can you do something for me?" 

The girl acknowledged the statement and walked forward, and Indra stopped her, waving her hand, "Wait, I want to take a picture of you to put on my blog!"

The girl looked excited and giggled. She posed, ready for a photo shoot. 

Indra laughed and motioned for the girl to stand up straight. She did, smiling excitedly.

"Now splash  to puddle again, like earlier."

The girl did as she was told, and Indra took a bunch of pictures at once, deleting the ones that weren't quite right. She got the perfect one with the water droplets suspended in the air. Indra showed it to the girl. She nodded excitedly, "I like that one!"

It was the first time Indra had heard her voice, and it sounded odd, like it wasn't quite hers. Up close, Indra was able to get a good look at the girl's face, and she noticed that though it was girl and rounded, it seemed ever so slightly boyish. Indra suddenly realized she didn't know the girl's name, and introduced herself.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry. I'm Indra," she said, smiling.

"It's nice to meet you! I'm Alex," the girl said enthusiastically. The two stood up from looking at the picture. 

"What grade are you in?" Alex asked, "I'm in the 10th grade." Indra looked at her, shocked.

"Really? But you look so young!"

"Teehee~ thank you!" Alex blushed.

"I'm just a year above you."

"So you're like my senpai, or sunbae!"

"What?" Indra recognized the first work from her manga collection at home, but not the second one.

"It means 'upperclassman.' Sunbae is just the Korean way of saying it."

Indra nodded. She smiled a little, "Yea, I guess I am like your sunbae."

"Indra-sunbae!"

"And you would be....Alex-kohai?"

"Or Dongsaeng! It means younger sibling! Wait, instead of calling you Sunbae, can I call you Noona? It means older sister."

Indra nodded. Alex was so lovable that she could hardly feel anxious around her.

Alex suddenly looked at her phone and gasped, "Gosh, I've gotta get going! Bye-bye, Noona!"

Alex ran off, opening her umbrella. It stood out like a rose in the world of rain and grey. Indra started to head home herself, curious of her new acquaintance. Indra wondered for a moment, but dismissed the thoughts; thinking them to be rude. 

When Deene got home, he looked around the empty house. Dropping his 'costume and mask,' he brought himself into the kitchen. A Tupperware box was on the cluttered counter. A lonely sticky note sat on the top of the steamed box. Deene peered down at it.

Be home late. -Mom 

Deene  looked out the window, staring off into the busy city. He looked back at the box and stuck it in the microwave. Unable to look at the note any longer, he threw it away. He sat and stared down at his ankles. His socks were a little damp were his shoes couldn't reach to cover. He reached up and felt his hair, playing with the blonde locks that were out of the beanie. A few strands stayed with his hand when he brought it back down to his lap. He brushed them off into the floor, stood up, and opened the microwave. He ate in silence and went up to his room. He felt a little hungry, he had just ate. It was a painful hunger that was to be ignored. For Deene, it was hard to ignore. He sometimes focused on it, trying to determine its source. Then, he thought about other things-

His phone rang in the silence. Deene picked it up and saw it was a message from Indra. He smiled, feeling a little satisfied. When he unlocked his phone, he saw that it was an image of a young girl playing in the rain. Indra had done such a great job that it seemed that the picture was took in a well-lit place rather than in the rain. The angle from which the camera was took made the girl's happy expression take over the picture, infecting all that surrounded her. There was also a link below the picture. 

I: It's my photo blog! Check it out!

D: Yea! I'll be sure to! :P

He smiled and put his phone down.

Tomorrow, he'd be back at school and another performance would start.