Sutegobana

Chapter 2: Lingering Warmth

It came almost naturally, my first interaction with Yuu. I felt like I was speaking to a dear friend who I'd known my whole life, and it seemed as though he felt that way, too; there was a rhythm we fell into quickly. Asking questions and giving answers, genuine interest, it was so smooth. I went from violent sobbing to vibrant smiles and excitement in a matter of minutes, thanks to Yuu.

"Do you like music, Kaede?" He pulled out what I had come to recognize as a mobile phone, opening something, probably a music app. "Because I think playing music is a nice way to celebrate things."

As I watched him operate the phone, my eyes widened with excitement. "I love music!"

He scrolled through songs and tapped on one – immediately, a contemporary song with traditional Japanese influences began to play. I was mesmerized. I had heard a few songs like this in the time I spent learning about today's culture, but this one was new, with a lovely melody.

I must have been making a silly face because Yuu spoke over the music: "You like it, huh?" I looked up at him from where I'd previously had my eyes fixated on the phone.

"I love it..." I did. It was gorgeous. I was amazed at how someone could put together a song that blended both styles perfectly. As far as I could tell, it was sort of a lighthearted song. I couldn't understand all of the words, though, so I could be wrong.

"I can put on a playlist of songs like this, if you want. I have a lot of them."

I nodded a bit too enthusiastically. "Please!" I exclaimed, and Yuu laughed, tapped a few more buttons and then a constant stream of beautiful songs began to play from his tiny phone. We just sat there, listening to the melody of the second song for a while, thoughts stirring around in my head before I decided to speak up.

"Why did you decide to come sit with me?" I was still a bit confused by it, although grateful. He didn't seem surprised by the question at all. I actually thought it was pretty fair, because he had asked why I was crying in the first place.

Yuu thought for a moment, a pondering look on his face as he glanced around, as though he were looking for an answer somewhere in the general vicinity. "I don't know. I had actually told myself that I would keep walking home if the crying was coming from a spirit, but for some reason I was kinda... drawn here, I guess." He said. I smiled a little bit at that, and if I had flowing blood, my face would've flushed. "I mean, if I didn't help out the spirit of a young girl like you, I'd just be a dick."

Oh... Suddenly the hope I felt in meeting Yuu began to diminish. He was probably only talking to me because he thought I was a girl. If I told him I was a boy, he might run away.

It was a toss-up between honesty and continuing to lead him on just for that feeling of connection, but my conscience got a hold of me before I could be manipulative. "I'm a boy, actually..."

"Whoa...!" His reaction was immediate, and not pleasant. He jumped backward a little, not standing to leave but still increasing the distance between us. That broke my heart. I felt my eyes beginning to well again... Somewhere in the back of my mind, a voice was shouting that I had known this was too good to be true. "You look like a girl, though... You're wearing a girl's yukata..."

My heart sank further and further until it was in the pit of my stomach. There was a moment of extremely awkward silence between us, and I kept my gaze averted as I whispered: "... wakashu."

"Huh?"

"Wakashu. You don't learn this in school, but when I was alive wakashu were androgynous adolescent boys." I paused, unsure of how to follow that up. "I was a wakashu. I was told I'd grow to be a beautiful man, but..."