Sakamo opened the wooden door, thinking about Hangaku’s words. As they entered, Hangaku couldn’t stop looking around. The large hall they were now, where the walls and the floor were clean of any decoration, surprised her, and she then noticed that only the pillars on the four corners had engravings. She followed Sakamo through a door at the left that led to a large room with two sculptures at the back wall.
Three meter-sized sculptures of the God Izanagi and the Goddess Izanami facing each other. Long hair on both of them, God Izanagi with his beard and grabbing with both hands the spear of creation pointing down, and Goddess Izanami, looking at him with a gentle smile, as if she was approving his creation of the Island of Japan.
Right in front of the sculptures and seated on the floor with his legs crossed was an old bald monk, with his eyes closed. Sakamo approached him, and Hangaku walked right after, always looking up, to the immense sculptures.
While Sakamo Ryu was touching his father’s shoulder and calling for him in a low voice, Hangaku kneeled and made a cross with both arms over her chest, as she was lowering her head.
Sakamo Yahei slowly opened his eyes and smiled at his adoptive son. He then looked to his right because he saw someone kneeled from the corner of his eyes, and he tilted his head, wondering why there was a girl in there, in such an awkward pose. For a moment, he recalled someone from his youth in Azurath, but he shook that thought immediately because it was too much of a coincidence.
Sakamo looked to Hangaku and saw how she had her arms and head, and he also wondered why she was like that. She then opened her eyes and put her hands on her tighs, making a slight bow with her head:
“It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Hangaku Mae.”
“The pleasure is all mine, my child. That is an unusual way of paying respect to the Gods. Not to mention that you are too young to be so knowledgable about the old ways.”
Hangaku tried to explain because only at that moment, she realized what she did:
“I… always thought that this was the right thing to do when greeting the Gods. I learned in a very old book that I read when I was very young. It isn’t appropriate?”
“It is indeed the proper way, do not worry. I am only surprised because it has been a very long time since I saw someone doing it. Shinto faith evolved a little over time and nowadays is not very usual to do like you did, but I found it refreshing. Are you a believer or just curious?”
Hangaku made a slight smile as she was nodding:
“I am a believer, for sure. I always knew the Kamis were guiding my life, even if my father despised my beliefs and tried to do anything to change my mind. He failed.”
Sakamo Yahei got up and pointed with his hand to a door at their right:
“Why don’t we go to the dining room? There are a bunch of monks in there, waiting to meet the girl that conquered our stubborn Ryu. I want to know everything about you. Or at least, everything that you are willing to tell.”
Hangaku Mae walked alongside him, with her face all red:
“I am not that interesting. Many think that I am mean and a bad person because I never treated boys very well before I met Ryu.”
“You are being far too humble, Hangaku Mae. Ryu never once brought a girl to meet us. For him to decide on you, for sure you are more than you give yourself credit for.”
Hangaku made one of her most hypnotizing smiles, and Sakamo Yahei gulped:
“You were right, Ryu. Her smiles are indeed mesmerizing!”
They joined the group of curious monks in the big dining room, and they all looked at the awkwardly smiling girl that was feeling too nervous for being surrounded by Sakamo Ryu’s family. She wanted to cause a good impression, but her bumping-like-crazy heart was making things rather difficult.
…
After lunch, Hangaku Mae and Sakamo Ryu were inside the car with the serious driver riding them to the rental flats, to meet the others. She was smiling non-stop ever since she left the Shrine, and Sakamo gently tapped her arm as soon as the rental flats were in sight, with their classmates on the sidewalk.
“We arrived. Are you with me or are you still lost inside your head?”
“Oh! Sorry, but I had so much fun in there! All those stories about you growing up, they were all so funny! You were a crazy youngster, weren’t you? I could tell they all love you, you know? It seems I caused a good impression, I was kind of worried.”
“I was not. I knew they would like you. They can tell when someone has a gentle soul, and you, my sweet Mae, are one of the gentlest souls that I ever met.”
Hangaku Mae averted her look to the window and spoke in a strangely serious tone:
“I am not so gentle as I could be, for sure. But things are getting better, so I guess my soul is getting a nice cleansing.”
When the car stopped, the driver opened the door for them. Sakamo held Hangaku’s hand the moment she put one foot on the floor, only to be hugged from all sides by a group of screaming girl’s voices:
“Kyaah! Ryu-kun is here! Guys, he is really here! We missed you, you crazy!”
Hangaku Mae frowned at the two girls that were hugging Sakamo, and then she almost exploded when they both kissed his cheek, one girl on each cheek, with his surprised face in the middle. Then, a slim and tall boy put his arm over Sakamo’s shoulders and sniffed his head:
“Ah, the sweet scent of flowers on Ryu-kun’s head! Hogai-kun, come here, smell this!”
A short, chubby and smiling boy approached, and looked up at the mocking group:
“Lower him for me, he is taller than last time we saw him! What they are feeding you in that School, Ryu-kun?”
The tall boy pushed Sakamo’s head down, and Hogai took a good sniff of his hair:
“Ah! This guy always smells like a flower!”
He then grabbed Sakamo’s head and touched his forehead with his:
“I missed you, my friend. How is everything in Tokyo?”
“Everything is working out, Hogai-kun. It seems you already met my classmates.”
Hogai pointed with his thumb to the smiling Takechi Hito behind him:
“Yeah, I even met your new best friend! You had to replace me like that with another chubby guy? At least you could choose a better-looking one! But he sure is funny! He has been cracking us up with his jokes! Kino-kun even said that he is funnier than me if that’s even possible!”
Sakamo stood up again and faced the angry-looking Hangaku Mae, that was shooting daggers at the two girls that were still hugging him.
“Everyone, meet my girlfriend, Hangaku Mae. These are my childhood friends, Goya Kino is this tall, mocking guy, Asato Hogai, the chubby menace, Sando Ishi, this tall and cute girl with amazingly long dark hair, and Fujioka Ikoi, with her sarcastic humour and pretty smile.”
They all let him go and made a deep bow at Hangaku Mae, and said at the same time:
“It is a pleasure to meet you!”
Hangaku Mae retributed the bow, and when she stood straight again, Fujioka Ikoi crossed her arms over her chest and spoke with a frown:
“She is amazingly pretty, Ryu-kun. But does she really loves you or is she just infatuated by you?”
Before Sakamo or Hangaku could say anything, the frowning girl clenched her fists and everyone heard her fingers crack:
“Because if she is messing with you or if you get sad because of her, she won’t last long, because I will make sure that she regrets mistreating you.”
Hangaku frowned at her and clenched her fists as well:
“Any time, girl, any time.”
She then found herself surrounded by the once smiling group, and they were all staring at her with a threatening look on their faces. Goya Kino, the tall and slim boy spoke, and his voice sounded ice-cold:
“You may be able to take down Ikoi-chan, but she is not the only one that will go after your head if you make our Ryu-kun sad. It will be better for your future as a walking and living citizen if you don’t mess with Ryu-kun’s heart. He is far too kind to get angry at you if you make him sad, but we don’t share his kindness. None of us will rest until you regret mistreating him.”
Hangaku raised one eyebrow and spoke while looking around:
“Who told you that I was just messing with him? I love him! It’s kind of rude judging me like that when neither of you even knows me!”
They kept on staring at Hangaku Mae, and then Fujioka Ikoi relaxed her fists and smiled at Sakamo:
“I like her, Ryu-kun! She is feisty, and she doesn’t have a problem saying loud and clear that she loves you! Where did you find her? And how did you manage to conquer her like this? Because she is obviously nuts about you if she is even ready to take us all!”
“Well, she is my classmate after all. As for conquering her, I am pretty sure it was her doing. I was peacefully seated at my desk, she was the one that kept on coming after me.”
The crazy bunch laughed their hearts out, and while Hangaku Mae was giving a slight smile at them, Goya Kino tapped Sakamo’s back:
“It figures! It had to be a girl making the first, third, and fourth move on you! You were always like that, you never gave a chance to a girl! I used to think that you were in love with me!”
Sakamo caressed the face of the smiling boy:
“I used to, but you never showed any interest in me, my cute Kino!”
That granted Sakamo a punch on his head by the frowning Goya Kino:
“Stop mocking me, you damn fool! What about if we took care of showing our pretty City to your group before you make me angry and I take your head off? Girls, bring Mae-chan! Hogai-kun, with me! Let’s drag this stupid with us before he tries to run away!”
While the two boys were grabbing Sakamo’s both arms, the two girls were holding a grip on Hangaku’s arms. They all joined the laughing group at the back, and Yoshinobu Tokuga even asked if they were taking Sakamo to be sacrificed, judging by the way they were grabbing him.
Hangaku told them that she had to go meet Tomoe-chan for their meeting, so the first place to visit, was the Festival grounds. They dropped Hangaku near the tent prepared for her and Tomoe-chan and continued their walk to the centre of the City.
…
By the end of the afternoon, they all returned to the Festival and met Tomoe and Hangaku near the tent, and they all walked along the main path, checking the booths and the games. Tomoe-chan remembered something, and guided them to the lake, on the east side of the Festival, after a small field with trimmed grass. She went straight to an enormous tree and looked around it. She then pointed to an engraving above her head and exclaimed:
“Ryu-kun, it’s still there! Remember when I did that when we were little? So cool!”
They all looked to where she was pointing, and Hangaku Mae smiled at the picture of a girl and a boy with long hair, standing next to each other and holding hands:
“You did that? What does it say under the drawing? FFL? What is that?”
“It’s ‘Friends For Life’, my second best-known song that I wrote after making that drawing. I did that when I first met Ryu-kun, in this exact spot. I was crying my eyes out, because those four that are now our best friends, were mocking me. Ryu-kun saw them here, bullying me, and he beat the crap out of them!”