The Book Of Letters

Since I have never been there before, I got lost at the streets where the supposed centre was. I walked around with my broomstick and its half-empty canister, looking for its sign. Then, I saw Hibiki flying on his broomstick as he pa.s.sed by. He noticed me waving him down.

"What"s the matter?" he asked.

I showed him the package. "I think I"m at the right street but I don"t see the sign."

"That"s because they moved a week ago," Hibiki replied. "My cousin who worked there told me about the new place. I"ll show you."

Hibiki led the way to a new building two streets away from where I was. There was a huge sign with "Special Needs Centre" written on it, wondering why I didn"t notice this before. I asked Hibiki to take care of my broomstick while I went in to deliver the package at the receptionist desk. After a quick chop and sign from the receptionist, I was officially done with my deliveries.

"Hey Hibiki!" I called him out as I went out the doors. "Do you want to go somewhere after we clock out?"

"You mean, hang out during the festival?" he asked. His face looks red, probably because I left him standing under the sun for too long.

I nodded. "Esuke hates the crowd so he prefers staying at home. What about you?"

"I like to go out and see the festival," he said. "Besides, Sora"s Street Food would be vending today. I can"t miss it."

Hibiki was excited for the festival. We went back to the headquarters to clock out, along with Esuke. While the three of us were walking towards the exit, Esuke talked about spending his home alone moment by finishing his favourite romance novel with his cup of cocoa and marshmallows.

"I might sleep halfway through but hey, that"s also not a bad thing," said Esuke.

"Well I hope you manage to finish the story before you sleep," I supported him.

"Sadly, Midori won"t be joining us," said Hibiki.

"She said she have to catch up with her old friend," I told them. I couldn"t tell them that Midori and Safaia had a charm magic showdown and Midori lost by one point, resulting her having to go on a fancy dinner date with Safaia.

When we stepped out of the building, there was a red carriage waiting outside. A familiar man dressed in suit opened the carriage door, revealing Miki, the little mafia boss that I helped before. She was wearing a floral summer yukata and holding a doll that looked like me.

"Aoko!" she shouted, hopping out of the carriage just to hug me. "Let"s go to the festival together."

"But I already asked my friend out," I said, looking at Hibiki. "Can I bring him along?"

"Sure," said Miki, sounding disgruntled.

"Miki, this is Hibiki," I introduced her. "Hibiki, this is Miki. Let"s be friends."

"Yeah, friends," said Hibiki, giving the stink eye at Miki. "But Aoko, we can"t go out with our work clothes. We have to go home and change first."

"Uh, I better go and start reading," said Esuke, realizing how weird the atmosphere was, awkwardly fled the scene.

"Then we go shopping!" Miki shouted. She pulled me into the carriage. Her coachman took my broomstick and handed it to Hibiki. Miki shut the carriage door, leaving Hibiki outside.

"Miki, it"s not nice to shut the door in front of their face," I counselled her. "Now, open the door and tell him that you"re sorry. Miki is a good girl, right?"

Miki pouted and opened the door, apologized Hibiki with insincere tone. Hibiki smiled smugly at her and accepted her apology. He handed the broomsticks to the coachman, went inside the carriage and sat opposite to me. Miki sat beside me too, hugging my arm. Hibiki crossed his arms and glared at Miki. The coachman closed the door and got on the front of the carriage, flicking the reins to get the horses moving. As we started moving, I asked Miki what she has been doing lately.

"I did a lot of nice things!" she said excitingly. "I helped the children from my area to go to schools by giving them school supplies, invest in businesses that support good causes, and even built a new centre for the special needs!"

"You mean that brand new building? That was you?" I was impressed. "You"re a prodigy businesswoman!"

"I find that hard to believe," Hibiki scoffed. "There"s no way you did all of that."

I forgot that Hibiki didn"t know that she"s a mafia boss. "Oh, come on, Hibiki. I believe that anything is possible, even if you"re this young to do it."

We stopped by at the nearest clothing store. Miki dragged me out and Hibiki followed. She asked the saleswoman to bring the best yukata designs to a fitting room that has a larger s.p.a.ce than the others. The saleswoman brought an entire rack of their best-selling designs, and on her way in, she blocked Hibiki from entering, telling him that it was for ladies only. He glared at Miki, who only snickered at him. I couldn"t understand why they suddenly have a rivalry on their first meeting, but it appeared to me that they were getting along well.

The yukata I picked for myself was dark blue with subtle isometric designs, fitted with a white obi. The saleswoman also braided my hair and twisted it into a bun, fixed it in place with a hair ornament. When I went out, I saw Hibiki had changed to a purple yukata with white obi. When he looked at me, he immediately turned his face away.

"You look pretty," he said, still not looking at me.

"Thanks, and you look handsome too," I complimented him.

"I b-better pay for this!" he fl.u.s.tered. I saw a glimpse of his ear turned red.

Miki grabbed my hand. "Come on, Aoko! We"ll be late for the festival!"

When we were standing at the cashier, the saleswoman stated that the total for all of my clothing and accessories was three hundred dollars. I was too stunned to say a thing, but Miki snapped her fingers and asked her chaperone to take out her wallet.

"It"s okay, Miki," I felt bad to see her paying for me. "I can pay for myself."

"No!" Miki shouted, slapping three one hundred dollar bills on the counter. "I am treating you today! You deserve much more than that guy!"

Hibiki looked offended, giving the stink eye to Miki again. I only shrugged since her chaperone also insisted to let Miki pay for me. I felt immense guilt inside me that I could only think how to repay her later. Miki also asked the saleswoman to deliver our work clothes back home. I wrote down the house address and thanked the saleswoman for the hard work.

The opening festival was set in the middle of the biggest crossroads of the city, so the roads within the radius were blocked off. Miki"s chaperone dropped us off by the road barricade to another Miki"s chaperone that was waiting. This chaperone wore sungla.s.ses and black yukata, carrying a black bamboo umbrella. As we walked down the road, the chaperone followed us from behind. The evening float parade had already started and the four of us rushed to see it from the sidelines. We got to be in front of the crowd so that Miki could see the floats.

"I heard Postal Headquarters also made a float," said Hibiki. "Post officers who signed up for Special Task Post Officer Examination were asked to be partic.i.p.ated, so maybe there"s going be Sachi."

"I also had a part back when I was an examinee," I said. "They made me perform a traditional water dance on top of the float. The robes and accessories were so heavy that I almost fainted after the parade ended."

"I remember seeing it too," said Hibiki. "I"ve always wanted to know who the dancer was under the mask. I didn"t think it was you. The dance was beautiful, Aoko."

I thanked for the compliment. Miki gave a stink eye to Hibiki, but he only smiled at her smugly. The float parade featured many of the government sectors, and the one leading it was the royal family, waving at the crowd with the replica of their tall palace behind them. Then, the military force presented us with five performers dressed as heroes in different coloured outfits, fighting against a lizard monster. Miki clung onto me when the performer in the monster suit breathed out fire, terrified by the sight of it.

"It"s okay Miki," I patted the little girl"s back. "It"s just magic."

Her chaperone handed the umbrella to Hibiki, and lifted Miki up to comfort her. Miki dug her head on his chest, wiping her tears. "Miki is afraid of fire. She burnt her hand once."

"Oh dear," I empathized with her. "Don"t worry, Aoko is here. Fire is nothing compare to you. You are much stronger, brighter and fiercer than it, so keep your chin up, Miki Haraka."

Miki looked at me. "Really? Am I stronger than fire?"

I nodded.

"Brighter than fire?"

I nodded faster.

"And fiercer than fire?"

"Even fiercer!" I exclaimed.

"I am stronger than you, fire!" she cried out. Even though her voiced was drained by the incoming drum float, she looked quite pleased with herself. Looking at her with her chaperone, reminded me the time my father comforted me when I cried during the festival. As we watched the float full of performers playing the taiko drums pa.s.sing us, Hibiki leaned over to whisper to my ear.

"Fire is nothing compare to you too," he said, then looked away. I wanted to say something but I got distracted by the incoming float, which apparently was Postal Headquarters". I was so sure it was Sachi"s idea for the float, because there was a gigantic envelope with a heart-shaped wax seal, referring to the superst.i.tion she told me. Also Sachi was on top of the envelope, yelling my name and Hibiki"s, being the center of attention.

"Hey, you two! Watch this!" she said. With her alchemy magic, she splashed a potion on the float, and commanded life-sized paper dolls of postmen and postwomen to rise. The paper dolls danced in pairs, and the performers on the float also danced too. As their senior, I felt really proud of them.

Later on, Hana Botanical Garden appeared before us, and their float was a tower full of glowing flowers. Surprisingly, in the middle of it all, was Uta playing her piano, alongside with Tanka waving his wand, conducting his orchestra of musical flowers to accompany the song. Uta saw me and waved at me with her left hand, and I managed to see a ring on her finger. I cheered for her, and reminded myself to visit her sometime to know her full story.

After the parade ended, the streets were lit up with floating lanterns. We got hungry so we started looking for food to eat. Miki insisted in getting candied apple but Hibiki wanted to get cheesy chicken tenders.

"Come on, Aoko!" Miki urged as she pulled my sleeve.

"I"m sorry, Hibiki, but let me accompany her for a while," I apologized to Hibiki.

"I understand," he said, though he looked sad. "I better go before the line gets long. I"ll buy another one for you."

Hibiki went off on his own. Miki dragged me to get in line for the candied apple. We later on sat on a bench so Miki could finish her festival sweet. Hibiki haven"t return from Sora"s Street Food yet. I figured that he could still be stuck in a line. Every minute pa.s.sed by, I grew more worried, and guilty. After all, he probably have been looking forward to have fun at the festival with me.

"Miki, let"s find Hibiki," I said.

"Why?" she asked, finishing her apple.

"To be honest, I was the one who asked him out," I admitted. "He must have felt sad that I didn"t spend much time with him. Of course I do love spending time with you, and he would have loved it too."

"I understand, Aoko," said Miki, getting off the bench and signaled her chaperone to pick her up. "He has been patient with me, so I suppose it"s his turn now. After all, I need to get home and brush my teeth or I"ll get cavities."

Miki pulled out two small plush straps. One looked like me, and the other was Phantom Wolf. She said it was handmade by her chaperone. She wanted to give the Phantom Wolf one to Phantom Wolf, but decided that Hibiki should have it. After she said that she would be sending the broomsticks back to our house, I thanked her for everything and waved goodbye as she left. I turned and started running, hoping Hibiki still queueing to get the cheesy chicken tenders. When I saw he wasn"t at Sora"s Street Food booth, I panicked. He must have been looking for me, I thought. There were too many people that I couldn"t figure out which direction he went.

I kept running, pa.s.sing through the street games area, the souvenir area, and the dark alleys in between. Still, I couldn"t find him. I removed my hair ornaments to lighten my head, and kept on running. Eventually, we found ourselves in the middle of the crossroads. Hibiki looked tired as well, carrying two containers of cold cheesy chicken tenders in his hands.

"Where have you been?" I asked, gasping for air.

"I got lost," he panted. "Then I panicked when I didn"t see you at the bench. Where have you been?"

I laughed. "Same as you. Shall we find somewhere to sit?"

We ended up going to the park. There were a lot of hanging lanterns strung from tree to tree, and Hibiki chose to sit on a bench in front of a fountain. There was a stone arched mural behind us as well, and a full moon shining upon us. We refreshed ourselves with cold juices that we bought on our way here,

"Did you always know there was an arch here?" I asked, taking a bite on the chicken.

"Yeah, I sometimes come here when I need to cool my head off," he answered. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," I said, nodding my head.

"When you first met your boyfriend, Kurai, did you fall in love with him in first sight?" he asked.

I chuckled. "No, it was like argument in first sight. Then we ended up liking each other."

"Would you have loved anyone else if you haven"t met him?"

"Maybe I would platonically. I think, I wouldn"t be able to love others the same way I loved Kurai. It is as if I was fated to love only him, and I wouldn"t have it any other way."

"Then, if we had met long ago, would you have loved me instead?"

I looked at him, too stunned to react. Those exact words that I once heard before. When the first firework flew up and exploded, it shone upon Hibiki"s sad and yet solemn expression, as dark purple aura surrounded him. The fireworks continued on, but our eyes didn"t look away from each other. I stared at the familiar wolf mask enveloping his eyes, and his yukata changing to white. His wolf familiar appeared, nuzzling his master before disappearing again as Hibiki reverted back to normal.

"You were Phantom Wolf," I finally spoke. "But I thought familiar users can only have one."

"I"m a hybrid familiar user," he said, feeling relieved. "I inherited these two from my parents. I developed enough trust and love from my wolf familiar so it can be summoned when needed."

"Is that why you"re a phantom thief?"

"I was chosen and trained because of it," he admitted. "Being Phantom Wolf was the only time I feel true to myself. n.o.body knows who I am under this mask. n.o.body, except you now."

I still had a lot of questions to ask, but I stuck with the important ones. "How long have you been liking me?"

"Ever since my first day in that house, I fell in love with you. For so long I"ve been wanting to confess, but after knowing you have a boyfriend, I was so afraid to say it. The longer I didn"t say anything, the more painful my heart gets."

Hibiki wiped his tears with his sleeve. "I thought I could change your heart by being someone else, by being Phantom Wolf, but I realized that was a cruel thing to do. When I kissed you on the forehead, I felt guilt and regret, thinking what would your boyfriend felt if he saw it. It hurts me so much that I have to come out and tell you the truth."

Seeing him crying made me teared up too. He pulled out a letter from his sleeve, sealed in heart-shaped wax and handed it to me. Hibiki continued. "Sachi told me about the superst.i.tion, and I wanted to believe that you would return your feelings, but that"s already impossible. Even so, I wrote everything I wanted to say, so you would know how I"ve been feeling up to this day."

I smiled. "Thank you for your honesty, Hibiki. Sorry that I didn"t notice it earlier."

"I should be the one to say sorry," Hibiki insisted.

"It"s okay," I patted his back. "I accept your apology, and though you know the answer already, I should say it with my own words. I can"t love you the same way I love Kurai, but I can like you as a friend. So, friends?"

Hibiki nodded his head while his tears ran down his cheeks. "Friends."

❤︎

「I handed the handkerchief and the gift that Miki left for him. He was happy to receive them. When I was about to open his letter, he got embarra.s.sed and asked me to read it in private.

When we got home, Esuke was lying on the couch, crying. Apparently the novel he read didn"t have a happy ending that he was expecting, that we have to console him with our takeaway sweets and souvenirs. Midori came back later, saying that she found out Safaia actually cheated during the showdown, so the tables have turned. I don"t know what she plans to do with Safaia, and I don"t even want to know.

Natsu Festival was fun, and I hoped that you"ll come back soon. I"ve attached some souvenirs for you and your housemates too. I hope they like them.

Love,

Aoko」