Once in the Moonlight: Chapter XiV

CHAPTER XLVIII1

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR SECOND CHANCES? 2

It t’was the season-when Westernized Nakajima fell under the spell of commercialism and materialism for sale’s number one season-Christmas. It always seemed rather funny (in the depressing kind of way) that a place like Nakajima that didn’t exactly celebrate the Birth of Christ would make such a big deal about Christmas. It made me wonder if I celebrated it for the right reason. Considering that I was carrying bags of hideous garland, mistletoe, and white elephant gifts, I didn’t feel like I was doing a particularly good job so far.3

“Topleaka,” Sabrina asked, trying to catch up with the Starbucks-high Topleaka, “How are you ever going to afford all of this? Scratch that, how have you afforded all of this today?” The four of us looked down at the bags we all carried, mentally adding up the numbers. I wasn’t very good at math, but I could feel the presence of many, many zeros. 4

“A-ano…” Topleaka fingered a curl, “That will come…so this just looks like a job for-“ 5

“Lemme guess,” My mind reminded me of how we got our instruments way back in freshman year, 6

“Daddy’s Credit Card!” Topleaka whipped out the flashy Visa card, shimmering in the artifictial light. 7

“You-no making your dad bankrupt,” Roxy warned with a shaking finger. 8

“Awww…” Topelaka looked down in dismay, “Darn it.”9

“Besides-“ Sabrina interjected, her long straight emerald hair in a ponytail, an unusual mark. “We’ve gotta go soon to get to the Christmas party on time!” Turning to the oblivious Topleaka, the hostess of the party, she coughed as discreetly as she could, “Isn’t that right, Topleaka?” 10

“That’s today?” I asked her in disbelief. So that was why Roxy, Topleaka and Aspen were dressed a step up, and Sabrina just always having a pretty nice wardrobe. I was left in the dark. 11

The sensible one nodded back, fingering her shopping bag of books. “But…but…” Another loss of words. Not only that, but I was at loss of an appropriate “party” outfit for said party. Whatever constituted as a “party” outfit. Topleaka had lectured me on the difference between “party” clothes and “normal” clothes, but I never let it process. I just wasn’t one to have nice party outfits floating around for no particular reason. But neither was Sabrina.12

“Oh!” Reality seemed to hit Topleaka in that moment. “Of course! We should go!” she spun on her thin heels, towards the nearest exit. Considering that she was in heels, I was surprised at how fast she could run. Either that, or I was seriously unfit, which could be true. 13

Our island was bi-polar, so declared Roxy. And I would have to agree. Being in the sub-tropics, where temperature hardly varied between the rotations of seasons, it would be expected that Nakajima would be the same. But oh, life was never able to be consistent and neat like that, now was it? 14

In summer, we had the expected summer tropical heat. But in the winter, for some reason, we could get thick layers of snow coating the ground. In spring, if the weather decided to drop down rain, we got rain. If it decided to give a nice flower-viewing day, then it would give a nice flower-viewing day. If it decided to shower from the heavens cows and dairy products, it would shower from the heavens cows and various dairy products. The worst thing was that I would not have been surprised in the least if that had happened. 15

But as it was, it was winter, and so we had a rather unusual snow storm come in, rather than a more realistic hurricane or tsunami. Even though it wasn’t the season for either, it would have made more sense to get both in one horrid clash than a giant snow storm. 16

Don’t get me wrong; I loved the snow storms. The path of sugar powder snow awoke my inner child. It was a bit comical to see the snow layered on the palm trees, a sight surely never seen by man anywhere else. And of course, I was not the only one who delighted in the sight of snow. 17

All of us were children at heart. By “us”, I mean my classmates whom I knew through Sabrina, Topleaka and Roxy, whose names amount to so many that it seems far too troublesome to count. We still enjoyed such trivial things as snowballs and snowmen and snowangels and…snow. I was slightly amazed that no one ever called the police on us for public disturbance, stealing the giant piles of snow from little children, acting once more as though we ourselves were six years old. 18

All seemed peaceful and silent, for snow seems to bring such an air with it everywhere it goes. No one lingered in the streets, and the farmer of course was gone. It was just the four of us, racing over the iced road, hoping we would have enough time to decorate Topelaka’s house for the party we were supposed to host. 19

That’s when it came-the first shot of our war. Against my back, I felt the dripping of a snowball, sinking through the polo of my uniform. Shocked and slightly embarrassed, I turned around mechanically, looking for who did that. But I saw nothing. 20

Then came the second shot, hitting Topleaka square in the back. She, unlike me, squealed high-pitchedly fromt eh sudden contact with snow. Seeing a motion in the bushes, she pounced, not caring about the fact that a pounce into snow in a short skirt and ankle socks would bring a serious chill of cold. Such thoughts never processed for my blonde friend. So, as expected, there came a scream from the fall into snow. That, or the rain of even more snowballs. Tentatively, I reached down to the ground, scooping up a ball in my own gloved fingers. I was smart and actually dressed for the cold, more or less. 21

Guessing that the culprit of this whole fiasco was said bush in the left corner of my vision, I turned around on the spot, giving the best darn throw I could, slammed the giant snowball into the dying bush. I jumped at the sudden sound that burst from it next. 22

“I think we’ve been found…” Kaio’s voice could be discerned from within the bushes. 23

“Idiot,” Adair threw back. 24

And Akihiro, being the numbskull that he was, leapt from his secret secret hiding spot in said bush, arms loaded with ammo, throwing them every which way trying to hit us. His best his was a bulls eye on a pedestrian on the sidewalk, who walked away faster, quite put out. Reaching to the ground for more, I filled my palms with balls of snow, flingin them at the one who had just emerged. 25

Finding their secret secret hideout now next to useless, Kaio and Adair jumped out rather unenthusiastically to find a Topleaka, wet with snow. She seemed like a perfect target for throws, and they were only here because Akihiro had yelled, “LETS JUMP IN THIS BUSH!”, so they began to bombard the girl with even more snowballs. 26

from my peripheral, slamming into me from behind to the snow-covered ground. No longer could my small gloves warm me. 27

The chill of snow hit me as my face planted into the snow. But realizing that Akihiro was there-practically on top of me, I instantly was impervious to any flood of snow. Looking up slowly, he had that usual grin, “Gomen, Haruka chan! I didn’t mean to-“ I noticed his face was red as well. 28

“I-its f-fine,” What made my voice so shaky-shivers or stutters? 29

He stretched a hand down to help me up, and shakily, I took it. In sync, we turned to the sound of Topleaka whimpering from the excessive snow, hobbling away for her life. Adair and Kaio seemed entertained. In such a moment of childish joy, that was how I wanted to remember the snows of Mihama. 30

But that’s when I noticed that everyone else had continued towards Topleaka’s suburbanly-nice house, which I suddenly noticed was very close now. In fact; it was somewhat funny to see her Americanized home in the middle of more traditional Nakajimian homes (including mine), usually guarded by a pair of Shisa. But in a sense, it was just another feature of Topleaka’s that made her stick out of the crowd. Whether that was a good thing or not, I wasn’t quite sure. 31

As Topleaka fiddled for the key in her pocket, we all jumped to see the door opened before us, Tien and Eurika in the doorway. Topleaka must have screamed, while Kaio and Akihiro realized they could have had an even better ambush attack if they had done the same. 32

“Gomen Topleaka, but we got here early, and you weren’t here,” Yurika (or whatever her name was) mumbled with a blush over her face. 33

“And nothing’s decorated yet!” Tien pouted, until she noticed the scores of bags under our arms. “Oh—did you bring them?”34

“Let’s get started, then!” Topleaka strode towards the stairwell, pulling out strings of tacky garland and fake mistletoe and holly, pressing play on the CD player in the hall, sending instant Christmas cheer throughout the house. Akihiro, Kaio and Adair, who clearly hadn’t come expecting to help out with the unmanly task of decorating, began to subtly shuffle towards the door. Unfortunately for them, Topleaka didn’t accept that sort of reaction. 35

Grabbing them by the ears (well, considering that she had two hands, only Kaio and Adair), she belted in a very unfeminine manner, “You are going to help us, dang it!” So was how the three men ended up helping us girls set up tacky decorations. As we did, I was sure I heard Roxy call, “Hey, Pokemon!” several times, which I had trouble not laughing at. 36

“Perfectly obnoxiously gaudy,” Tien observed once we were done, “Yet rather lovely and refined,” adjusting a silver ball dangling onth eeye-catchign metallic garland across the banister of her short-lined stairs. I was blinded by the light dancing across its faux fibers…from every corner of the house. It was a feat that deserved a place in Guinness Book of World Records: most tackily obscene Christmas (oh, excuse me…X-mas) decoration ever. 37

By this point, people were flooding through the doors. However, considering that it was only more girls, it was little comfort to the…three guys, who stood in a corner, ready to shoot themselves. Topleaka, riding over the waves of people, hugged what seemed to be hundreds of people. “My Space© buddies!” she greeted in delight. 38

Between the groups of My Space acquaintances emerged Miranda and Wef, Miranda with a look of fringed patience: the kind of fringed patience that is about to explode into a thousand pieces, maiming everyone in its path. But I could handle being maimed: I had God, right?39

“She hasn’t stopped talking for the past seventeen hours straight,” the bags under Miranda’s eyes clearly showed on her pale skin. “She had more crackhead dreams,” 40

“Crackhead?!” I took her words literally, beginning to worry. “What’s Wef doing with that stuff? Its bad! BAD! Besides, she’s already hyper as it is-“41

“Wef’s not a real crackhead, itidot,” Miranda returned sharply. “It’s a figure of speech. Figurative crack.” 42

“Oh,” I replied, feeling rather stupid now. “About what?”43

“Hyperactive bunnies!” Wef spoke for the first time before me this day. “The marshmallow people tried to eat them, for which they took vengeance upon said marshmallow people by eating them in return, and all rejoiced—“44

Without a word, Miranda pulled out a roll of black duct tape. Approaching the rambling one, she said in a haunting voice, “Wef…I think its time you settled down, dear…” she pulled off a piece of duct tape.45

“NO! Not that place again! The squishy walls aren’t as fun as they look! They aren’t squishy! No! Not there!” Wef began to pace backwards, Miranda pressing towards her. 46

“It’ll all be over soon,” Miranda continued, slamming a piece of duct tape over Wef’s mouth. 47

Her words quickly became a jumble of nothingness, which sounded very similar to:48

49

(Whatever that may sound like)50

“Miranda-don’t tell me that duct tape has any-um..” I thought, still timid, “Powers of evil, or anything-like, if it stays on too long, Wef’ll get permanent marks of black on her upper lip, making her look like she has a moustache, or will give her a consistant twitch every day at 3:12 and 8 seconds-“51

“…maybe…” an evil glint flashed through her eye for but a moment, but it was enough to make chills run through my spine.52

“” Wef muffled, which sounded to me like “CowShmurckleCheezleGoBaralloooph!”, which made me chuckle softly. 53

Miranda frowned. “Well, now we need to do something to her, I suppose,”54

“” Wef repeated, this time sounding more like “MurshCacklePeasAmpleKingDOOMMPHH!” I was amazed that no one else in the party noticed.55

“Wh-what do you think-she’s t-trying to say?”56

“It’s all in her head,” Miranda assured me. “Just a little bit of medication-“57

“!!!!!” Wef belted through her duct tape58

“You’re not going to die, fool. If anyone dies, it shall be me,” Miranda remarked darkly. But to my pleasure, and yours I am sure, no one died, or at least, not to my knowledge, and neither did the Marshmallow Men or Hyperactive Bunnies kill anyone. That is, not to my knowledge.59

I found myself at the punch table, staring at a perfectly out of place Christmas tree, glowing from its place amidst the cheese and crackers…and sushi. For some reason, it made me begin to wonder again…did we really celebrate Christmas for the right reason? When had I last thought about what it really was: not some “kumbaya” family bonding holiday, not some time to gather with friends and stuff one’s face with food, but something more—God changing a world of death into a world of hope. I guess we all forgot that part. 60

I don’t really know why I started thinking about this now, why it had taken so long for me to finally realize what that meant. It meant that nothing else mattered: just God. But did we remember? Did I remember? Looking around the party and the endless streams of heads, I wondered what could make us celebrate but that: knowing we were given a second chance from Hell? 61

That’s when I remembered where I was, seeing Akihiro’s eyes bore into mine from across the table, half in amusement, half in curious confusion. “Wow…you still haven’t blinked,” he muttered, causing me to jump, surely blinking enough times to make up for however long I hadn’t. 62

“What were you thinking about?” he asked when I said nothing. 63

“Oh—ano, I was just thinking…about Christmas,”64

“Christmas?” That must have seemed rather anti-climactic of an answer. 65

“Yah,” I leaned back, “I was just wondering if I always remember why I celebrate it, if I really celebrate Christ or if I too get caught up in the material…”66

His face grew thoughtful over a moment, until finally he replied, “I guess we all feel that way some time or another,” Looking out to the rest of the party and the insuing chaos, he grinned, “That is, those of us that actually think,”67

There was a moment where we both laughed, a moment I wished would last longer. But that’s when I observed a platter of fresh pineapple before me, and Akihiro a bowl of Alfredo dipping sauce. 68

“What’s with the fascination for crackers, Akihiro kun?” I asked, noticing him shove cracker after cracker down his throat. But who was I to speak? I was shoving pineapple after pineapple down my throat. 69

He stared at me blankly. “What-oh! Its because of the Alfredo dip!”70

Of course, the first thing to come in my mind was not the herb, but rather the unfortunate fish of Hikari’s. So, before I thought like a normal human being, I cried out, “How could you?!”71

“?” he looked at me surprised. “…Alfredo is amazing! Try some!” And with that, he shoved a cracker laden with alfredo-dip goodness into my mouth. 72

Surprised at how close he was, I jumped a little, but resorted to chewing on the cracker. Still, my mind flashed with images of the beloved fish. Holding back cries of “Alfredo! No! You were a good fish…”, I tasted in a moment of revelation, “That’s funny…it doesn’t taste like fish at all…”73

“?!” At this point, I was a little afraid to imagine what Akihiro must have been thinking. Did she have a little too much punch? What kind of a freak is she? Were a few of the questions I could just see him asking. He looked at me with worry. “Fish?! Why would it-” 74

But before he could finish, he was tackeled to the ground by a vengeful Hikari. “YOU! You were the hobo fisherman who complained about darned seagulls and TOOK MY ALFREDOOOOOOoooOOOooOoOoOoO!”75

I smacked my hand against my foreheard. If Akihiro vever talked to me again-no, if he even dared to come into the same room as me after this, and didn’t order for me and Hikari to be wrapped up in straight jackets, it would be an utter miracle. 76

“…A fisherman hobo?” Akihiro asked curiously. 77

“This is Hanazaki Akihiro, Hikari!” I frowned. “Does he look like a hobo?!?”78

“But-he defiled the name of my beloved deceased one!”79

“Hikari, you can’t just go around accusing people of being hobo fisherman. Its not nice, and its just plain rude!”80

“…demo…”81

“A hobo fisherman…” Akihiro mused. “That sounds like an interesting occupation…”82

“Wha-“ I stood in awe. 83

“…”84

“Hikari-don’t do that!”85

“I think I’ll be going now-“ 86

“Wait Akihiro!” I cried, racing after the most confused boy walking away at a rather slow pace. 87

“?” he looked back to me. 88

“Ano-“ I began timidly, falling into a Hinata-like stupour. “I-I’m sorry—about all of that,”89

He blinked, “What…are you talking about?”90

My eyes flashed wide. “What-do you mean-the whole-Alfredo thing-“91

“Oh that-“ Short term memory loss. “I just left because it seemed like an inside joke,” he shrugged.92

I poked my fingers at such a rapid pace, it would bring the Hyuuga heiress to shame. “Eto…ano…you w-weren’t—at least, a little disturbed that some random g-girl tackled you to the ground and accused you of being a hobo fisherman a-and killing her b-beloved Alfredo?”93

He shrugged again. “Happens all the time,”94

“H-honto ni?”95

He nodded. “I’m used to it.”96

I forced a smile. “W-well, I’m still sorry that happened-“97

“Don’t think twice about it,” he grinned that signature grin that words can’t describe, walking off into the rest of the party. Still, I stayed at the glorious snack table. That is, until there was a sound at the door. 98

Even though it was the weak voice of the doorbell, it instantly hushed the party all except the CD of holiday music. Topleaka, instantly understanding who it was, pouted as she raced to the door, “Rei kun’s late!”99

The first twenty or so girls to appear at the door got to answer ti. However, that was not really a priveledge, I soon learned. From being on the front lines myself, I found that we unfortunates were bombarded with a wall of snow. Snow balls lew from absolutely nowhere, and the preppy girls cried out in shock and “pain”.100

“KYA!” cried every girl who was hit with the sudden snow. Of course, Rei himself would never do such a thing. Rather, it was the remaining guys to arrive: Zane, Hyru, and some guy I had never seen before in my entire life. 101

“YOU MEANIES!!!!” Topleaka cried out angrily. “What is it with men and throwing snow?!”102

“Blame Jack,” Rei stepped out into the front, knowing Topleaka was really angry at him. “It wasn’t my idea,” Sabrina and I simultaneously jumped at the appearance of Jack and his usual smirk, probably both thinking What is that fool doing here?103

The auburn sighed. How did he put up with this girl every day for filming? How did he do it? Somehow, he resolved, By the grace of God. 104

Stepping closer to the door, and thus closer to Toplaka, who blocked it with her body, he said, “Just let us in,” 105

Topleaka’s pale thin arms were crossed as she looked up to him. “No,” she replied, trying to look tough. Of course, Rei didn’t think so. 106

Doing something rather un-Rei like (it must have been the cold getting to his brain!), he grabbed Topelaka by the shoulders, pushing her back through the door, her back bumping against the nearby wall. She looked up to him in surprise. “Thank you,” he let go of her shoulders, about to walk away, except that two teen girls stopped him. Tien and Eurika wore the signature “Dynamic Duo” smirk. Rei’s eyebrow went up, confused. Saying nothing, the Japanese and the Vietnamese pointed up, revealing for the first time the hidden mistletoe. A great “Ooooooh” went across the massive group of people. 107

And the great “Ooooohhh” was silenced by Rei’s stoic look of disbelief. This was not happening. It could not be happening. Thus, he would mentally make it non-existant through the most effective and time-stood ways—through ignoring it! Being in his nature, and following his golden rule, he continued on as though nothgin had happened. Or at least, he attempted to continue on as though nothing happened. 108

That was before a Vietnamese and a Japanese chick grabbed him on both sides, driving him back to the waiting Topleaka. “Oh no you don’t!” they scolded, bringing the most unlikely of couples together. “You won’t break the sacred tradition of mistletoe, will you?” Tien frowned. 109

NO one was quite sure what happened next. Rei had never been one to fall into peer pressure, and neither was he one to care. But at the same time, he had no feelings for his co-star, did he? There were no suspicions of it, at least. That is, until he did the most unexpected and most un-Rei-like of all things. His lips suddenly pressed against hers, under the mistle toe. 110

Someone (most likely being Akihiro) would have cheered at this point, but we were all in such shock. Since when had Rei actually kissed anyone? He seemed far too indifferent to do anything like that. Topleaka, of course, was in utter ecstasy of the moment, wondering if she was not dead in Heaven, or dreaming soon to wake up. But the moment continued shortly, and she must have been the happiest girl to live. 111

“Haruka,” Sabrina asked amid the chaos, “Is it just me or is this punch cheap as well?” I took a sip, trying to not recall the reference to the horrible dance long ago, and nearly spat it up.112

“Sabrina…I think all punch is cheap…” Turning my head, I noticed Ashton next to her. “Why didn’t you ask Ashton?”113

“I did,” she rolled her eyes, letting him answer himself.114

“It’s not that bad, really,” He took another sip of the despicable beverage, “That, or I’ve just grown immune to horrid foods,”115

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sabrina gave a playful frown, considering how many times she’d cooked for him. Her face lit up in a kind of sincere manifestation of emotion that so few got to see. The real Sabrina. 116

“Nothing!” Ashton put on a clearly fake grin, as if waiting for Sabrina to get angry at him. When she lightly hit him on the arm, the two broke into laughter. I wondered what it would be like to laugh like that with one I loved too. 117

It has always been said that the snow is so silent. Never did I realize it as clearly as I did now, stepping out into the snowy night. So silent…I was almost fearful that there was something beyond the empty background. It reminded me of the feeling I got in the full moon’s light, a feeling of being exposed. But unlike the full moon’s glow, the snow’s reflection didn’t excite me. Walking home, I felt as if it were trying to lull me to sleep, as if trying to hide the gaze of the eyes watching me. 118

CHAPTER XLIX119

GNOMES, MAN EATING KOI, HOMEWORK: OH MI!120

The sun was far closer here than on earth. Somehow, I noticed that only just now. Walking down the familiar cobbled path, I smiled, seeing the Bakery Shoppe only steps ahead of me, bathed in a glow of the magical Musicanian sunset. 121

As we got closer, we noticed that our friend Manuel was not in the Shoppe baking, but rather, she was out in the lawn, a broom in hand and an unusual frown on her face. “Manuel…?” Sabrina asked hesitantly, “What’s wrong?”122

“Those filthy gnomes!” Manuel cried in her usually sweet and cheerful high voice. We all jumped back, startled at the sudden change in her attitude. “They’ve run off with Xavier!”123

“Xavier?”124

“My butter knife,” her face drooped as though she was twelve years younger and her candy was stolen. Or that she was an American whose candy was stolen.125

“You named your butter knife?” Roxy interjected, hardly enthusiastic.126

“Those filthy gnomes!” Manuel repeated, picking up her broom in a threatening sweep, looking from side to side, “When I catch them—“127

“Manuel! Calm down!” We quickly jumped to restrain her. Who knew the petit Pastry Shoppe maid could grow so heated and violent? If she were on earth…Oh, did everyone have to be so homicidal deep down?128

“I hate to ask your help, princesses, but—would you help me catch those gnomes?”129

“Can we?” Sabrina asked, turning to us, “The gnomes, aren’t they still considered a protected being of Eden? We can’t go around killing them for stealing a butter knife..”130

“Xavier,” Manuel corrected. 131

“Xavier,” Sabrina repeated. “SO what’d you think?”132

“I could go for some Whack-a-Gnome,” Roxy threw forth.133

“But-But---“ Topleaka’s lip rounded over in a pout.134

“We aren’t going to kill them, Manuel,” Sabrina decided, “Me, working at the Nakajima Wildlife Reserve, can’t let any sort of creature die…”135

“Are you taking Smokey the Bear’s job?” Roxy asked casually.136

“….Smokey the Bear stops forest fires…” Sabrina reminded blankly.137

“But maybe we can just—degnome the garden!” I suggested, back on topic. “Kick them out of your garden, get the knife back!”138

Manuel’s bright blue eyes lit up even more. “Oh, princesses—that would be most wonderful!”139

“As I said, I’m all for some Whack-a Gnome…”140

~141

Roxy held a giant hammer in her arms. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have wondered if she were Mario on steroids. I could almost hear the theme music…Oh help me, no. 142

Then there was some home made Gnome-repellant. I made it from herbs and other plants I could call upon as a faerie…the natural way, of course. I hoped that somehow, lavender, basil and all sorts of concocted…things would repel gnomes. They seemed to detest all things pleasant and delightful. 143

The gnomes of Musicana were hideous beings. Earth makes them look far too kind with their red tipped caps and long white beards. Real gnomes were in fact quite evil looking, with purple goatees and red eyes…Well, some of them had goatees. Others had curling moustaches…which made them look even more fiersome and evil. Most of them wore green overalls, though some rebelled against the unspoken uniform, wearing the most outlandish outfits they could foster. 144

Maneul stood on the edge of her property, a dramatic look of fear drawn all across her face. “Please…” she whispered, “Destroy them all….”145

“Remove them all,” Sabrina corrected, twisting her palm ever so slightly. With that, a certain star fell into place—the one that drew the gnomes towards the light. Emerging from our dens, the gnomes’ purple heads speckled the yard before Manuel’s Pastry Shoppe. So small…yet so full of evil…146

“Its Whack-a-Gnome time!” Roxy cried, dashing towards the heads in uncharacteristic enthusiasm. The purple blots instantly ducked into our holes, missing the faerie’s harsh blows. Above, the sky darkened slowly. 147

“Roxy!” Sabrina moaned, racing behind her. “You can’t do that! You’ll never find Xavier that way!”148

“IT’S A BLASTED BUTTER KNIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!”149

As if the words themselves were summoning magic, a flicker of shimmering metal emerged from the hole, followed by the purple head of a gnome. He had a goatee and a moustache. Surely he was the most evil of them all. 150

“There it is!” Topleaka stated the obvious in a high pitched cry, pointing her finger to add to the drama of the moment. 151

All four of us looked like fools, jumping around the less-than-an-acre field of Maneul’s. We failed at Whack-a-Gnome. Manuel on the other hand, cheered like some unearthly cheerleader, terribly cute yet with a twist of violence and something terribly evil… Her eyes watched us in fascination, somehow able to keep up with our sudden darts, trips and dives. We must have looked like complete, incompetent fools. 152

“I’VE GOT HIM!!!” Roxy cried, surely having a moment of delighting in vengeance. Tackling the ground, she barely missed the tiny gnome, carrying an unholy-sized butter knife. Honestly, you could slay a yak with that thing. Or maybe two. No wonder some evil pack of gnomes wanted it. 153

Following Roxy’s tackle was Sabrina’s gentle slip of hand and my trip to the ground. Only Topleaka managed to wrap the evil gnome in a giant hug. The innocence and goodness that radiated from that hug nearly melted him, I’m sure. 154

“Go, Hinata!” Manuel cried, running towards us. Blowing her nose on a well-used handkerchief, Manuel smiled a teary smile. “Thank you so much, dear princesses, for catching the source of this…this evil!” she glared a teary glare at the purple headed goateed and moustached gnome, who stuck his tongue out at her. 155

“Now…what about the others?” Roxy’s lips curled into an evil smile. 156

“Maybe they’ll just…go away now?” I hoped weakly, wondering if then there would be no gnome bloodshed. 157

Manuel shook her head, clutching the butter knife Xavier as if it would evaporate from her fingers at any moment. “They won’t leave without…force taken upon them…”158

A hand shot up as if we were all suddenly in a grammar school classroom. “May I have the honors?” Roxy asked, no clear expression on her face. 159

“Would you?” The baker’s eyes lit up. 160

Without a second thought (or the hearing of a plea from Sabrina or I), Roxy called upon a wave of water, which wove through the pebbled streets like a group of stallions. Flooding over the holes of gnomes, the purple headed beasts struggled for our lives, not looking back once. In a moment’s time, the waves sunk into the earth, and the ground was as dry as if no water had passed. Sabrina frowned in disapproval, but as seeing that no gnomes were harmed in the writing of this episode, she smiled slightly. I for one was just hoping we would never have to deal with gnomes ever again. Never. 161

~162

Those words kept on ringing in my mind163

"Your song will free these lands to sing once more,"164

SO poetic, yet so sinisterly evil. I was determined to say that there was something evil about the royalty of Eden. Or maybe it was just Eron.165

"It is all up to you..."166

GAH! I found in my hands a broken pencil. I couldn't take this pressure. We never signed up for this magical faerie battle stuff, and so I felt no obligation to do whatever Mr. Elven Girly Man told me to do. Oh, but I was far too nice to actually say that, or to really tell anyone I felt that way for that matter. 167

If that were not enough, I had this stupid Algebra II homework lying on my desk, expectingly waiting for me to complete it. I gave it the only glare I could muster. “No….” I said between gritted teeth. “You are the straw that breaks this teen’s back,” I looked over to my agenda book, which was flooded with sporatic pen notes, bleeding through the thin pages. An hour had passed, and I still had homework in English, Theology and History. The irony was that my happy bubblegum techno Jenny Rom was playing in the background. Everything got to me in a violent moment as I grabbed my giant twenty pound history text book and slammed it against my innocent happy techno cd player. Two seconds later, I missed my fifty dollar player. 168

~169

School had this horrible way about it in that it could affect massive amounts of students at a time, draining them all of energy, replacing it with piles of stress. I wasn’t the only one with school anxiety. It was even getting to people like Sabrina, whose prime joy in life seemed to be none other than…school. 170

“I can’t take it!” she shouted uncharacteristically one day when we were walking home from school. “Musicana, school, friends, church, lives-its too much! How does anyone put up with it?” She stopped, looking down on her fingers. “We have twenty four hours in a day…eight of which are spent at school…then there’s church and youth group on Wednesday nights and Sunday…and then Musicana which comes up for days at a time sparatically-“171

“But Patience stops time for us,” I reminded in a friendly tone. 172

“You..are no help,” she muttered. I shrugged sheepishly. “Then of course we have all sorts of sacred official friend traditions that eat away the weekends and countless hours after school, which doesn’t include those times we have ‘family bonding’ and our own lives…That’s gotta add up to more than twenty four hours…”173

“That’s because Patience stops time for us-“174

“This is supposed to be a moment where our lives prove to be highly unrealistic!” Sabrina explained, exasperated. 175

“And where we earn deserved sympathy and a dramatic theme song?” I chimed in, realizing that I had watched way too many TV shows in life. 176

She blinked. “From…where?” she asked, proving herself to be the more logical of us two...177

“From…” I looked around frantically, “THAT LAKE!” “That Lake” that I pointed to was another community pond that really didn’t deserve the title of “Lake”, considering it was only fifty square feet or so. 178

She blinked once more. “Um….” she paused, not saying what she was truly thinking, while I, on the other hand, skipped to the pond-lake hybrid. 179

Somehow, our community afforded to get some koi in our pond-lake hybrid. I found this perfectly natural, since koi were fish, and fish swam in water. Naturally. But Sabrina found this particularly peculiar, since koi usually were in shallow excuses for waterways. Either way, I liked to reach my fingers in and ‘pet’ the fish. 180

There was only one problem with “petting” the fish. These koi were…not normal koi. Perhaps that was how our community had afforded them. The sorbets of orange and cream koi would swim to the surface, holding their mouths open, apparently expecting a handful of food. Naturally. But what was disturbing was that they in fact did not desire a handful of processed “koi food”. Rather, they preferred nibbling…or biting off the fingers of the idiots (like me) who put our fingers out to them. They were dubbed “The Man-eating Koi”. To prove it, there was even a little sign right in front of the man made lake-pond hybrid. It read: 181

Danger: Man Eating Koi inhabit this lake. Stick body parts in at your own risk. 182

But that is assuming too much, that one would take the time to read signs, and even more, if he read it, to listen to what the signs said. I usually actually read signs and precautions and usually obeyed what I was told, whether from a sign or a teacher, but somehow, I never noticed the giant DANGER: MAN EATING KOI one. So, in cute curiousity, I began to attempt to “pet” man eating koi. 183

“HARUKA CHAN!” Sabrina cried, running to where I was. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING??” she sounded like my mother. 184

“Look, Sabrina san! Aren’t the fish so cute?” Perhaps it was school stress, or Musicana stress, or just life stress, striking its final blow on my sanity, which shattered into a thousand tiny pieces that very moment. 185

“Haruka, get your fingers out right now!” Sabrina grasped my wrist firmly, pulling my fingers out. At that very moment, I felt a giant koi try to wrap its gaping mouth around my finger. Pulling with all her might, she fell backwards, dragging me with her. I never knew grass could hit so hard. 186

“…The Fish…” I looked into the water sadly. Then I noticed the sign for the first time in all my 15 years. “Oh-“187

“Ne?” Sabrina smirked to prove that once again, she knew best. 188

I sighed at my own air-headed moment. “Thanks, Sabrina. You really-think-at good times,”189

“At good times?” Sabrina’s eyebrow rose jokingly. “So, sometimes, I’m just utterly stupid, and then others, I’m not?”190

“No! I don’t mean like that-“ I took back the words. “I mean---you’re smart, Sabrina,”191

“Thanks,” Silence fell for a while. 192

“So, how did this even start?” I dared to ask.193

“I think with me saying something like ‘This is supposed to be a moment where our lives prove to be highly unrealistic!’ and you saying something about theme music and it coming from the lake…” she paused. “You’re easily distracted, arent’ you?”194

“…You just realized this?” I asked surprised. 195

“…Maybe…”196

More silence fell, but it was fine. We were best friends, so silence didn’t bother us. There wasn’t anything to say, so no obligation to talk. I liked that. 197

“So-what about our ‘highly unrealistic’ lives?” I joked. 198

She rolled her eyes. “We just have to keep going, like every other person who lives, no matter how impossible it seems. Life’s not easy for anyone, I guess,”199

“Still, how many people have to defend another world after school?” I asked honestly. 200

“…Even I, who hardly watch TV, know that that’s more common than you think,” she joked. 201

“…I mean seriously though!”202

“It doesn’t matter,” Sabrina got serious. “Its what we’ve been given. We’ve gotta stand strong! If this is what God wants us to do, then what else needs to be said? It may be hard, but He must think we’re able to handle it,”203

“?” I looked up.204

“That verse…it says something like I will never give you more than you’re capable of…”205

I thought about that for a minute, and I really couldn’t think of a good reply. Eventually, I just nodded with a smile. “Un,” Somehow, remembering that I was just a person, only able to see so much of what was going on, and yet there was God, who saw it all, and even better, was looking ahead for me, I felt relieved. I had never really thought about it before, but maybe that was because I hadn’t really taken the time to think about such things. Well-if Sabrina could just quote a verse like that and bring such peace, then maybe it was truly time for me to start thinking about the Bible that I still had on my desk, piled under papers.206