The Quiet Life of a Living Shadow

Noisy New Year's

Ah, well, it's December now! WOO! It's christmas time babyyyy I so hope that it snows out where I am. I feel like it hasn't snowed all too much, and I love snow. 

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THIS WAS BY FAR THE LAST PLACE that Akari would want to be. Celebrating the season is fine, New Years is a pretty nice holiday. However, to come to the shrine and be surrounded by so many people was not something that she enjoyed at all. Completely relatable, I'm sure quite a few of us can agree on that. Though it's not like she had much of a say in it. Every holiday, without fail, the Watanabe family and Saiki family spent time together. With that being said, the majority of both families wanted to go partake in the celebration.

It's so crowded. Too noisy. Akari would love nothing more than to be embraced by shadows to relax in their cool loneliness. She could feel that Saiki felt quite the same as her, for the scowl on his face. Then again, he usually has a permanent scowl on his face. Even with the usual expression, Akari knew exactly what he was thinking. They were on the same wavelength most of the time after all.

Neither of them wanted to be at the shrine. Though due to social conventions and family priorities, they were forced to come. To partake in society, much to their dismay. Though we all love getting to read about all the wacky adventures that ensue, right? Because I sure do! Shame that we have to suffer through this terrible writing, but I'll take what I can get.

Despite being at a shrine, Akari didn't necessarily have a belief in any sort of deity. When one is born with some supernatural abilities they tend to really consider the existence of a higher power. Add in the fact that she then has a best friend who has abilities that could literally be considered that of a god and she really couldn't pinpoint if there was a celestial power out there. She came to her own conclusions eventually, which were that if there was a god, they certainly had a horrible sense of humor.

She had been labeled a demon by her paternal grandparents at birth. Thanks to the abilities that she was born with, they came to their own conclusions about her. Akari didn't think that her striking yellow, cat-like eyes really helped her case back then either. Though from what her father tells her just about all the time, she was quite the cute baby back then. She believed it since there were a plethora of photos of her growing up. Really, mountains upon mountains of scrapbooks from her life.

Then again, she never knew her paternal grandparents, and really didn't care too after the stories her mother told her about them. She could understand being unnerved by her abilities at first glance. However, her parents didn't leave her like they did, her brother wasn't scared of his big sister having shadow-manipulation, so Akari didn't think her grandparents had much of an excuse. Perhaps if they stuck around longer they would have realized just how harmless Akari was to everyone.

Though she wondered, if she was a demon, who would be an angel? Maybe Teruhashi, with her desirable amount of beauty, constantly being favored by the universe or god to get what she wants, and never having real misfortunes could be considered an angel. That seemed like it would make the most sense. Still, not that Akari thought that she really deserved the title. After learning about how selfish and rotten Tsukishima could be in her own thoughts, Akari had to think that she wasn't 100% an angel as she tried to be.

"It's so crowded." Kuniharu complained. There really were a lot of people out today. Just looking at it seemed tiring.

"Of course it is." Kurumi said, "It's New Year's Day."

"Good grief," Saiki mentally grunted, "I would rather spend my New Year's quietly at home."

Akari shuffled herself in her slightly larger black sweater, "You and me both." Not only was it crowded, but things were quite loud with so many people talking around them. She hated that her family wanted to go out and participate in society like this. At least there was one upside to this which was that she could spend time with her mother, since Miku took this holiday off to spend with family. Getting to spend time with her mother was always a lovely time for Akari since she rarely gets to see her most days.