Hana's Dark High School Days

Chapter 19: Tanabanata (part 1)

(A/N: To those who don't understand what a Tanabanata is. It's a festival where people write their wishes on tanzaku papers or colorful or designed papers and tie them on bamboo branches.)

July 7th, 2009 - Tuesday - Tanabanata Day

{Hana's P.O.V.}

We didn't have classes today, but our school held short programs in order to celebrate today. There were small booths that held games or sold local delicacies. It was so much fun hanging out with my friends and spending time with them. But what really excited us was the name of the festival, the Tanabanata Festival.

Around 5:00 pm, they started handing out tanzaku papers for us to write on and hang on the bamboo trees on campus. There were four bamboo trees located on the school grounds; so, there had to be four booths located where the bamboo trees were located.

Me and my girl friends decided to hang up our wishes on the bamboo tree by the school's garden, because it was far from the program area and only less people were in line and hanging up their wishes on the tree...

I just wished for something simple, it was, 'I wish for me and my family to remain well, and for all negativeness from others towards me to fade away.'

I also saw some wishes that made me smile, like...

'I hope me and my girlfriend will get along well and our love will be eternal.'

'I wish to become the richest man in the world that I can buy anything thing I want.'

'I want to be so smart that I'll make all the geniuses look bad.'

Wow... Those are some wishes... Hehe...

But something caught my eye, 'I hope Hana will approve of me and feel the same as I do for her.' a wish written on a yellow-green tanzaku paper.

I felt my heart skip a beat, and he filled my thoughts. I began to blush at what I had thought about. Suddenly, someone placed their hand to cover my eyes. When I took the hand away from my eyes, I glanced at the person, it was Takumi! He hung up his light blue tanzaku paper above my pink one, which wrote, 'May things turn out better for me, my family, and my friends for this year and the rest of the years to come.'

That's a pretty good wish. But wait! If he didn't hang that yellow-green tanzaku paper, then who did?  Nah! For all I care, it may be another Hana...

{Unknown P.O.V.}

I must speak now, or forever regret not speaking at all. I need to tell Hana now...

{Hana's P.O.V.}

Walking around the garden with my girl friends, I saw a navy blue handkerchief flew stuck on my face from behind. Was somebody trying to kidnap me?! I held the person's arms and checked the height. It was a guy.

He was tall and had a little muscle to him. I was afraid, so I called out, "Ami-chan! Help me!" The guy had quickly tied up the handkerchief to keep me from seeing anything, and he held me tight so I wouldn't break free and take the blindfold off.

I couldn't see anything. What was weird was when I called out to Ami, my friends started giggling. What's so funny?! I'm scared here!!! "Don't worry Hana-chan, it's only ---" I was confused when she immediately cut off.

"It's only who?" I tried to ask.

"Scratch that... I think it'll be a surprise~!" replied Ami with a cheery tone.

I was thinking the guy motioned to Ami to keep his identity a secret, and when she said she thinks it'll be a surprise, I felt a little giddy at the thought. "Just follow him and don't take off your blindfolds. He wants to lead you somewhere..." I heard Kaiya say.

"Yeah... And we assure you that you are in no form of danger. Promise. He's a nice guy..." I heard Naomi say.

I just trusted what my friends said, so I chose to trust the guy too...

I felt on the ground that he led me from the garden to the school building, cause I felt the smooth tiles upon my shoes. He gently guided me and carefully made me dodge obstacles. It made me thought, 'I wonder what's the surprise? More importantly, who's the guy?!' I couldn't stop blushing. I've never been in this situation before.

He closed a door to a certain room and we stopped. The silence was deafening. It scared me when he poked the blindfold which was aligned to the middle of my eyes without me noticing. I asked, "D-Do you want me to take the blindfolds off?" I heard a faint "un" from him. I guess it was a yes, so I untied them and breathed in and out before taking them off...

I took the blindfolds off...

I couldn't believe my eyes! I didn't expect it to be him!

I-Is he blushing???!!!