The Hunger Games: Mashup

Chapter Ten

District 9

“Ginko, you've got a new customer,” said Holo to her best friend. Ginko looked up from his work and gave the woman coming in a smile.

“Hello. What can I help you with?” he asked her. She gave him a nervous smile.

“Um...well, you see...” she began. “I don't actually know why I'm here,” she told him. “I just sorta...came in here,” she admitted. He smiled at her.

“You and me both,” he told her. She gave him a small smile.

“Well...I was just wondering...what do you actually do here?” she asked. Ginko heard footsteps behind him and he turned to see his business partner, Yuko. She gave the girl a thin, mischievous smile.

“We are a shop that grants wishes,” she said to her. The girl gave her a curious look, but Yuko simply grinned at her. Holo stood by, watching them with peaked interest. Holo's auburn hair shone in the sunlight magnificently and her ears twitched every couple of seconds, adjusting to hear every sound around her. She wore a waitress outfit, having worked down the street at her friend Lawrence's restaurant. When she smiled, her fangs showed, but everyone knew they were only for self-defense. Ginko had one eye and one empty socket. He had snow white hair and pale skin that could challenge an albino's. Surprisingly, his remaining eye was startling green and had the look of being able to see right through you. He smoked, much to his parents' disapproval. He looked like he should be in his thirties, but he was really eighteen, much to the surprise of everyone. He liked wearing plain T-shirts and comfortable pants while preferring to walking around barefoot. Yuko was in her late twenties, but she looked about 21. Still, she wasn't young enough to be in the Games—something she was forever grateful. With long, black hair and sharp eyes, Yuko made it a point to show off her mysterious side to the customers.

“What wish would you like us to grant?” asked Yuko. The girl with shining red hair gave her a curious look. “I don't know what you mean...I don't have a wish,” she said to her. Yuko raised an eyebrow at her.

“Are you quite sure of that?” asked Yuko. The girl raised and eyebrow at her. “If you're so sure I have a secret wish, why don't you tell me what it is?” she asked Yuko arrogantly. Yuko smiled charmingly at her.

“Well, for starters, I know that you want the man you love to notice you,” said Yuko. The girl flushed a bright pink. Maybe Yuko was just testing the girl, but she obviously didn't like it.

“How do you know that?! Have you been stalking me?!” demanded the girl furiously. Yuko gave her another smile.

“Oh no. Nothing like that,” she told her. The girl glared at her, and Yuko's smile turned dark and business like. She pulled a bracelet out from the inside of her sleeve. She presented it to the girl, still smiling.

“Wearing this bracelet will give you the courage to talk to the man you desire,” she promised him. The girl looked at it like Yuko had just offered her a jar of dog slobber. “If you wear these jewels, you will grow confident, and you should be able to just walk up to him and talk to him like normal,” directed Yuko. The girl gave a look at Yuko that plainly stated that she didn't trust her. Yuko took her hand and dropped the jewelry into her palm without waiting for her reply.

“If all goes well, return to me in three days’ time. I will take your payment then as well,” said Yuko. The girl's eyes went wide, but she turned her head away from Yuko.

“I don't need your trinkets, you psycho,” said the girl.

“Is that any way to treat a friend who is trying to assist you in your ventures?” Yuko said to her coldly. “Besides, don't you want the man to love you?” she asked her curiously. The girl bit the bottom of her lip in temptation. Slowly, with a shaking hand, she took the bracelet from Yuko. She put it on her wrist, and she looked back up at Yuko, her eyes scared.

“I—I'm actually a very cowardly person. I—I can't talk to guys without stuttering...that's why I try to appear standoffish...so I can seem like a really confident person,” she whispered to Yuko. Ginko and Holo were surprised to see the girl so suddenly frightened.

“So, what you really want is more confidence,” stated Yuko. The girl nodded, and then she suddenly bowed.

“I'm sorry I was so rude to you before, ma'am,” she said quickly. Yuko excused her with a kind nod and a smile.

“You need not worry. I must warn you though...” The girl looked up at Yuko's ominous words. “No one is truly confident. There are always those insecurities that lurk in the shadows of our hearts. The difference between the two people who have the same insecurities are those who let them control their lives, or those who accept and try to make themselves improved from them. The first person dwells on it until the day they die, constantly reminded of the traits they despise the most about themselves. The latter may find it difficult to change such a trait, but even if they die, they die happy, knowing they at least tried to do something about it.”

“This bracelet is not perfect. To be able to talk to the man, you have to approach him yourself, do you understand me?” asked Yuko. The girl nodded, her bottom lip shaking. Yuko touched her face gently, giving her a true, genuine smile—one that didn't look too evil.

“Just be yourself. The bracelet will assure you that things will be alright—I promise, my friend,” she told her.

The uncertain girl gave Yuko a final bow and disappeared into the evening. Holo looked up at the smiling Yuko with interest.

“That bracelet...does it really give you more confidence?” asked Holo curiously. Yuko gave her a mischievous smile.

“No. It's a lure for the girl to be more direct in her social life. I could tell her real personality was more upfront and loud. She locked it away though...and I'm pretty sure that was because of a past trauma,” explained Yuko. Holo just looked more confused than before. So was Ginko.

“So you tricked her,” he said bluntly, staring at her in his usual, neutral attitude. Yuko waggled her finger at him.

“I did tell her to return to me in three days’ time, didn't I? Besides, all that bracelet has is worthless pottery jewels and a soothing lavender scent. All I'm really trying to do is to help her make the step. The rest is up to her. If all goes well, I shall take my payment, and she will go through life with the knowledge that she has had her confidence within her the entire time,” said Yuko. Holo watched the two of them with keen eyes. Ginko stood up after he and Yuko had finished their glaring contest. Ginko didn't approve of her methods, and Yuko didn't approve of his. Still, because they were so different, their business worked because they had more than one way of doing things.

“I'm returning to the fields. Holo, are you coming?” asked Ginko. She nodded at him. “I must oversee the grain process,” she told him. He waved goodbye to Yuko. She watched him pull on his shoes.

“Are you really going? You know that fieldwork isn't your expertise,” she told him. He shrugged on his uniform jacket and turned back to look at her.

“I don't have a choice. Besides, the more exercise I get running between the rows, the better chance I have at escaping the people in the Games. Yuko jumped down from her shelf to stand by him. She touched his back, as though having him close enough to touch was reassuring enough to promise her that he wouldn't leave.

“You shouldn't talk like that. Who shall help me in the store if you die?” she asked him.

“You have Hideki. He's a nice boy,” said Ginko coolly.

“Hideki is nice, but he's clumsy and too pure for me to tease,” she told him. Ginko grinned at her.

“And I'm not?” he asked her. Yuko looked away from him in worry, and Ginko took a rare moment to take her hands in his own. He kissed their fingertips in reassurance. It wasn't romantic, it was a promise between friends.

“I swear to do my best in the arena to make it back alive, if I am picked for the Reaping,” he whispered to her.

“Promise?” asked Yuko, refusing to let herself cry—or rather, her eyes wouldn't let her anyways. They were dry, just like always.

“Promise.”

I'll always promise.