A Path To Freedom [Oumasai]

The Spring Fest

"Today is The Spring Fest." Kaito explains to me. "Hm? What's that?" I ask him.

He thinks for a few seconds and then answers me,"It's a tradition where people decorate the town in spring-like decorations in celebration of spring. They play games, celebrate, and dance all day."

"Oh, okay." I say back to the purple haired boy. That made sense. I didn't think that The Town usually looked this nice. Of course our Royal Kingdom never celebrated these traditions. They just thought it was silly, and I've never questioned it.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Kaito says from beside me. "Let's go." He continues. "Hm? Oh, alright." I answer hesitantly. "Then what should we do?" I ask him. "Let's just look around!" Kaito answers me cheerfully. "Alright." I tell him.

Kaito leads me away from where we were before. I look around at all of the people happily dancing in circles. I admire the way their limbs move so freely in the air. I wonder how they learn to dance that well. They couldn't have taken dance classes, could they?

Kaito suddenly comes to a halt, making me run face first into his back. I manage to say a muffled,"Sorry," to Kaito. "It's alright!" He accepts my apology. I take a look around before asking him why he stopped. "This shop looks cool!" He explains to me. "Oh, do you want to take a look in it?" I ask him.

The shop has somewhat gained my interest by now. It looks very alluring from the outside. It has many beautiful flowers planted outside of it. There are many pastel colored banners hung on the outer walls of the small shop. Each poster says something along the lines of "Happy Spring Fest," or "It's Springtime!" The windows were decorated with stickers that had rabbits, ducks, flowers, and more spring items on them.

Kaito and I enter the shop, as I look around curiously. "Prince Shuichi!" I hear someone shout. 

I look at the person who had shouted out my name. She had light blue eyes and tannish skin. Her caramel brown hair was up in an unnatural looking ponytail. She had a white T-shirt and a red jacket, with white stripes going down it.

I look down at what I am wearing. A button up black jacket, with a white dress shirt under it. I am also wearing black dress pants with small ruffles at the end of them. I also had a pair of black shoes on.

I realise that what I'm wearing probably me stand out to most of the people here. If I could only hate one thing, that could be standing out. Standing out just makes me very uncomfortable. I wish that I had worn something a little less fancy, but It's too late for that.

I wave and smile back at the girl who had yelled my name. She smiles at me and then turns away to go manage the store again. I bet she was wondering why someone like me was here. I'm glad she didn't ask me though. That would've made me uncomfortable. Most people think that all princes are very sociable, but not me. I hate being social. (big mood)

I take a look around the store. It appears to be an antique store. There are fancy teapots sitting down on a cart. Most of the teapots have some, what appears to be fake jewels embedded into them. There are some classy plates laying down in another cart right beside the teapots. I suppose that it would be nice to drink some tea on this hot day.

I follow Kaito down an aisle in the store. This aisle contains all types of stuffed animals. Most of the stuffed animals look old and worn out. There's one in particular that catches my eye. It is a small stuffed purple bear. It has extremely fluffy fur, and a little light purple nose. The small bear has a black and white checkered scarf wrapped around its neck. It has small black eyes sown onto it. Strangely enough, this purple bear seems very appealing to me.

I walk over to the small bear and pick it up. "Ah, you like that?" I hear a voice come from behind me. I jump in surprise. Behind me is a man with long wavy, brown hair. His eyes are a light brown, and he's wearing a yellow shirt. He is quite tall. Around 6'0 I would guess. "Ah! Yes..." I answer him.

"I believe that this bear reminds you of someone you haven't quite met yet." I strange man tells me. Then, the strange man walks away, and is gone as soon as he was here. I am somewhat confused at what the man said. What did he mean the bear reminded me of someone I haven't quite met yet? Am I going to meet a purple bear, or am I taking his message to literal? Whatever, he's probably just screwing with me anyway. Some people like to play pranks on "Royalty." I guess my family screwed up that guys life somehow. They tend to do that to a lot of people.

Soon enough, I see Kaito coming back to me. "Hey sidekick, I'm back!" he announces. "Hey, Kaito." I say back to him.

I notice that Kaito is holding a bear that somewhat looks like mine, but instead of being purple, the bear is dark brown, and it has a red ribbon tied around its neck. The bear has a light brown nose, and black eyes like my bear does.

I notice Kaito looking down at my bear before asking him,"Hey, did that guy come and speak to you about a bear reminding you of someone?" He pauses for a moment, and then nods. "Yeah, did he ask you that too?" He questions me. "Mhm." I respond to him.

I shrug and then follow Kaito to the checkout. I insist on paying for his bear too, out of courtesy. Besides, I am the richest of us two. I wouldn't say that Kaito was poor though. His family owns a well known star museum. I believe that Kaito wishes to own that museum when he gets older.

"Your total will be 13.80" The lady from before tells me. I nod and take out my wallet to pay for the two bears. "Thank you." I say to her while smiling. "You too!" She says smiling back.

I wave goodbye to her, and then exit the building. After we are outside, I hand Kaito his stuffed bear. I watch Kaito examine his bear some more. I wonder if he believed in what that guy told him. I sigh to myself, and try to stop thinking about that strange man.

After a while I notice Kaito staring at me. "Huh?" I ask him. "Tag!" Kaito shouts all of the sudden, touching me on the shoulder and then running away.

I know that playing tag is somewhat childish, but I haven't gone for a good, long run in forever. Who knows what my family would say i they saw me "making a fool" out of myself here. I shake my head and tell myself that my parents aren't here anyway.

I soon start chasing after Kaito. I'm laughing ad having fun, feeling the wind roam through my hair. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. I see trees and the sky flash by me. I wonder when was the last time I ran through the woods, or even went to the woods for that matter. I try to keep track of Kaito, but he's moving quite fast.

I see a flash of purple hair and abruptly stop, making me fall into Kaito. I look down at the boy under me, realizing that it's in fact, not Kaito. I examine the boy closer. He had purple hair that defied gravity, like Kaitos, but the boy's hair wasn't sticking straight up. This boy had a black and white bandanna wrapped around his neck. He was wearing a white shirt with a few buttons on it, and white jeans. He had charming purple eyes and a cheeky smile on his face.

I would later come to know this boy as none other than, Kokichi Ouma.

And so they meet...

-Author's Note-

Sorry if I made some mistakes in this chapter I didn't take too long to look over it. Hope you like the story so far.