Chapter 6 - Modern History

"Takuto!!!" 

Takuto was stirred by his sister's screaming, his body being shaken violently by her. 

"You're going to be late!" she yelled. 

Now losing the sleepiness in his body Takuto sat straight up. Stretching, he looked towards the clock, which read 9:05.

"Onii-chan! You overslept!" Sakairi sighed.

"When did I fall asleep...?" Takuto mumbled. Faint memories of his dream drifted around in his mind.

"What?" Sakairi asked.

"Nothing..." Takuto replied. Climbing out of bed, he walked out of his room with Sakairi behind him. He was walking groggily down the hallway, but then Sakairi forcefully pushed him until he was in the bathroom.

"You don't want to keep that girl waiting," she giggled. Rolling his eyes, he shut the door behind him and got ready. He casually took his bath and put on his clean uniform afterward. Takuto brushed his teeth and gathered up his dirty clothes, tossing them into the laundry basket by the door. Exiting the bathroom, he walked downstairs to see Sakairi sitting on the couch staring out the window. Takuto sighed and sat down for breakfast. Two things he noticed were that his mother had already gone to work and that Sakairi was already dressed for school. Takuto knew that his mother had to go to work early today, but he didn't know why Sakairi was up before him. Taking out his phone, he saw that it was way earlier than the time he usually woke up at.

        'Sakairi changed my clock time…'

        A deep sigh escaped his lips and he began eating his breakfast. Once he finished, he placed the dirty dishes in the sink and sank back down into his chair. "I didn't oversleep. You woke me early, Sakairi," he said with a frustrated frown.

        "Ehh? I did? I didn't know!" Sakairi secretly held a grin back. Takuto rolled his eyes and got up from his chair.

        "I'm going."

        "Going where?" Sakairi asked, turning her head to look at her older brother.

        "Outside," he replied. Running upstairs, he grabbed his bag from his room. He bounded back downstairs and slipped on his shoes.

        "Bye," he glanced over his shoulder.

        "Bye..." Sakairi stood at the kitchen doorway, resting her head against the door frame. Takuto opened the door and sat on the top step outside the door. Thoughts raged in his head like a thundercloud that was ready to send heavy sheets of rain to the earth below. He still couldn't get the memory of Okasan kissing his cheek out of his mind either… Takuto sat on the step for awhile before letting out a quiet sigh. He decided that he had waited long enough.

"Okasan should be here by now..." Takuto mumbled as walked over to the gate and looked down the street. Sighing, he turned back towards his house when he didn't see the girl he wanted to see so badly.

"Takuto-kun?"

Takuto turned around to see Okasan standing on the other side of the gate gazing at him.

"...When did you get there?" he asked, eyes wide with shock.

"I just did," she replied.

"That was fast..." Takuto mumbled. He swung open the gate and stood next to Okasan.

"Let's start heading to school. We don't want to miss the trip," Okasan told Takuto. She flashed him a smile and began walking towards the school. Takuto had to jog once he realized she was several feet ahead of him. Along the way, they spotted Hanako walking down the street.

"Hanako-chan!" Okasan called.

"Eh? Oh, hi Oka! Takuto-kun!" Hanako smiled.

"Hi," Takuto nodded.

           

"Do you want to walk to school with us, Hanako-chan?" Okasan beamed at Hanako.

"Mm, sure," Hanako replied. Smiling, she joined them on the walk to school.

"Where is the field trip to, exactly?" Takuto asked, wanting to know every detail of the trip.

"Umm...the museum," Hanako stated.

"Okay," Nodding, Takuto remembered that his literature class was starting on a mythology unit. Soon, Takuto and the others reached the front doors of the school. They walked in, mixing with the crowd of the students that also attended the Takahikaru.

"I have to get to my class," Hanako stated.

"See you later, Hanako-chan." Okasan smiled. Hanako waved her goodbyes and ran off towards her classroom. "Let's get to our class..." Okasan breathed. Together, Okasan and Takuto walked towards room twelve. Takuto opened the door for her and she entered first. "Thank you..." Okasan blushed. Takuto followed after her and walked to his seat. The teacher entered the classroom a few minutes later. Quickly taking role, he began to explain the day's agenda.

"As you all know we are going on a field trip today. You have to be in groups of two or more, and no wandering off on your own!" he boomed. The class nodded and mumbled in reply, not paying much attention. "We will be leaving in five minutes" he said, sitting down. Once he did, the class went on with their conversations.

'If I get Okasan to be my partner...'  Takuto thought.

The black haired boy closed his eyes for a while, and soon it was time to leave. The teacher lined his class up and took them down to the busses. Takuto climbed on quickly and sat down immediately, Okasan sitting next to him.

"Is Hanako getting on this bus?" Takuto asked.

"I don't know..." Okasan sighed. Other students filed onto the bus, but there was no sign of Hanako.

"Oh well, we'll just meet her at the museum."

"Yeah," Okasan nodded.

The bus began to crawl forward and it carried them to the other side of town where the museum was located. When the bus came to a stop, they filed out and began getting into groups. Looking around, Takuto spotted Hanako standing with Nami near the entrance of the museum.

"Hanako and Nami are over there," he said, pointing to them.

"Okay," Okasan stated. The two walked over to their friends and said their greetings.

"It looks like everyone's here... except for Shuya," Hanako said.

"Where is he?" Okasan asked.

"He emailed me and said he was sick," Hanako shrugged.

"Oh. I hope he gets better," said Okasan quietly.

Smiling, Takuto peeked inside the windows by the door.

"Let's all be in a group together!" Hanako suggested.

"Ooh, that sounds like fun!" Okasan said, giggling.

An attendant from the museum came outside, announcing that the students could enter. Everyone began walking into the museum, splitting up to go into the separate exhibits. Takuto and his group decided to walk around and see what the museum had to offer first.

"Hey, is there a map anywhere?" Hanako asked, looking around the area. 

"I'll go check at the service desk..." Okasan replied. She walked over to the lady behind the service desk, beginning a small conversation with her. After a while, she handed Okasan a small, folded up piece of laminated paper labeled. 'Museum'.

"I have one here," she said as she rejoined her friends. She unfolded the small pamphlet that contained the map of the museum and held it out in front of her so her friends could see it. 

"I think we should see the Legends of History exhibit..." Nami recommended. 

"Oooh sounds awesome!" Hanako cheered, 

"Let's go there first!" Okasan let out a small giggle and she folded up the map and handed it to Hanako to put inside of her purse. The group went down the west wing of the museum until they reached a large arch that was labeled 'Legends of History'. Takuto led them inside, taking in what he saw. 

"This exhibit contains all of the legends associated with this town..." Nami quietly stated.

They walked past many of the things set up there, occasionally stopping to check out some of the ones that seemed interesting to the girls. Soon, the group found a presentation that interested Takuto. 

"Guys, look at this one," Takuto said, staring at two objects resting on two stone pillars. 

"Hmmm? What are those, Takuto-kun?" Okasan asked. 

"It says they are the orbs of White and Black," Hanako exclaimed, reading off of an inscription that sat on a nearby pedestal. Takuto reached out an arm to touch the white orb, but Nami grabbed his wrist. 

"You aren't supposed to touch the exhibits unless they say it's okay to," she said seriously. 

"Oh...Okay," Takuto sighed, retracting his arm. There was something about those orbs that sent a tingling sensation down his spine. The feeling made him uncomfortable and he took a step back.

       "Umm...Can we move on now?" Okasan asked. "Nothing is really left to see in here..."

       "Yeah, I'm getting kind of hungry," Hanako said, looking at a presentation about a ghost that wanders around the park at night.

       Okasan laughed at her remark, "You're always hungry, Hanako!"

       Takuto raised an eyebrow and grinned at the two girls.

       "Let's go," Takuto glanced towards the exit noticing Nami standing there, leaning on the right side of the arch. "Nami looks impatient…"

They left the exhibit and strolled nonchalantly towards the eating area. Takuto and his friends soon reached the circular enclosure that after a two minute walk. Hanako and Okasan went ahead to pick a table while Takuto went into the nearest line to buy food. He checked his pockets in search for his wallet, but he found to his dismay that they were empty.

"I left my wallet at home..." Takuto sighed and dragged himself to the table.

       "That was fast, Takuto-kun," Hanako muttered, looking over at him.

       "As it turns out I left my wallet at home," Takuto laughed half-heartedly.

Hanako stared at Takuto with a shocked expression. Lying her head down on the table she sighed.

       "Takuto-kun, I'm going to go hungry for the rest of the day because of you,"

Okasan rose up from her seat, pushing the chair back a few inches in the process. "I'll pay for lunch," Okasan dug her hand into the left pocket of her jacket and pulled out a roll of dollar bills. She took half of the bills and stuffed the other half back into her pocket. "This will cover lunch for all of us," she said, indicating to the four of them arranged around the table. Nami gave her a slight nod and took out her cell phone, staring at it intently.

       "I'll have a cheeseburger..." she quietly spoke.

       Okasan nodded and looked at Hanako and Takuto.

       "What do you want?" she asked them. Hanako tilted her head to the side in thought.

       "I'll take whatever you're having, Oka," she nodded.

       "Alright...and Takuto-kun?" Okasan asked.

       "Cheeseburger," Takuto chirped.

       "Okay, I'll be right back guys!" Okasan cheerfully said as she merged with the other customers in line. Takuto drummed his fingers on the table, still unable to take his mind off of those two orbs.

           

       'There's something about them that just draws me towards them...'

       He drifted deep into thought for a while, and came back to reality only to notice Hanako staring at him, her face only centimeters away from his. Takuto almost fell back out of his seat due to the shock.

           

       "You had a faraway look in your eyes Takuto-kun. What were you thinking about?" she asked with a gleam in her eye.

       "Ah-Nothing, nothing important," Takuto mumbled.

       "Nothing important?" Hanako had a slight grin on her face.

Takuto broke eye contact with her and looked in the direction of Okasan. Hanako noticed his sudden nervousness and turned her gaze in the direction he was looking.

       "So Oka isn't anything important?" she giggled. Takuto's eyes grew wide and he shook his head.

       "She is very important! Because she's my friend and all..." Takuto felt himself flushing. "But I wasn't thinking about her! I was thinking about something else..."

Hanako smiled at him and gave a puzzled expression.

       "Then what?" she asked.

Takuto sighed and shook his head. "It's nothing, don't worry about it,"

       Hanako shrugged and turned her head to see Okasan heading back to the table with the food. She placed the tray on the table, handing everyone what they ordered, then she settled down next to Takuto.

       "Ummm, so where are we going next?" Hanako asked, taking a sip of her drink.

       "I don't know," Okasan replied. "Let me see the map."

       Hanako went into her small purse and pulled out the now slightly wrinkled map pamphlet. She handed the map to Okasan, and Okasan smoothed it out on the table in front of her.

       "Let's see the one about trains..." Nami said in a hushed voice.

       "Trains are nice," Okasan nodded. Takuto wasn't paying much attention to the conversation; he had a lot on his mind.

       "I have to go to the bathroom," Takuto said rising from his seat.

       "Okay, if we aren't here when you come back, go towards the trains exhibit," Hanako stated, not taking her eyes off of the map. Takuto gave her a small nod and turned away from the table. “Oh! And if you aren’t back before we leave, I’m eating your food.” Hanako added, smirking at him.

“Sure, go ahead. I wasn’t hungry anyways,” he mumbled quietly. Takuto walked in the direction of the bathroom but then he took a sharp right turn. He darted towards the Legends of History exhibit and entered silently. He noticed no one else was around.

       "Is it closed?" he whispered to himself. Putting the thought aside he again approached the area that housed the two orbs. As he drew closer he felt that tingling sensation down his spine again. Placing his hands on the barrier of velvet rope, he longed to touch the orbs to see what would happen. He looked around to check if anyone was watching him, then he slowly reached for the black orb. His fingers brushed across its surface and he felt a chilling shock enter his system. He saw a glimpse of something and the sound of a girl giggling. This caused him to step back in recoil.

       "What... just happened?" he asked shakily. Glancing down at the orb, he saw that it was slightly glowing. "Whoa..." he said quietly, the surface of the orb glowing with a color that rivaled the darkest time of night. Takuto still felt the tingling sensation but it was much "I...I think I should get back to the others now," Takuto muttered to himself. He ran out of the exhibit and towards the bathroom. As soon as he turned the corner he saw Nami, and she did not look happy.

       "Where were you?" she asked, pushing herself off of the wall.

       "I forgot something back at the Legends exhibit," Takuto mumbled, and quickly pulled out his cell phone, "My phone."

       "I see..." Nami quietly whispered under her breath. "Okasan and Hanako are already at the train exhibit and waiting. We should go," she spoke. Takuto put his phone back in his pocket and began walking to the train exhibit. Nami followed right behind him quietly. Takuto couldn't see it, but a smile had found its way onto Nami's lips.