It was Friday, and I was lying down on my sofa trying to take a nap after a long day of school. It was raining horribly outside and the loud patter of it was less soothing and more annoying as I struggled to sleep from just how loud it was, I felt the buzz of my phone in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the screen dimly lighting up my face in my dark living room, It was Hana who had texted me. It had been not too long since we had started to call each other by our first names but it still felt slightly uncomfortable to do it in person.
Yamada Hana : [Yo Masaichi, we still haven't taken a picture of anything yet, we need to or we might get booted out of the club.]
She was right, while I was screwing around with Yammy playing video games, Hana was also doing the same, figures.
Sato Masaichi : [Well we can't do it today, it's supposed to be storming all day.]
Yamada Hana : [I am not taking the picture on Saturday, We are doing it today.]
Was she being dense on purpose or was she messing with me? It was absolutely disgusting outside, the gutters were overflowing with dark murky water and the leaves that were starting to fall, It was late September so it was bound to also be colder out, and the rain wouldn't be any help either combined with the cold, it was prime sickness inducing weather.
Sato Masaichi : [Are you a masochist? The weather outside is horrible, we will be soaked and absolutely freezing when we are done finding something of slight note-worth to take a picture of.]
Yamada Hana : [Im not doing it on Saturday.]
This girl was as stubborn as a mule.
Sato Masaichi : [Oh yeah sure, let's go and do it right now, in the rain, and let's just go out with no umbrella or jacket while we are at it.]
Yamada Hana : [You really think I'm that stupid, to bring nothing for this weather?]
Sato Masaichi : [Ok, tell then Pizza girl, what are you bringing?]
Yamada Hana : [Ponchos, and hand warmers.]
I raised my brow, and stared into the screen of my dimly lit phone, what normal person has ponchos readily laying around?
Sato Masaichi : [Where would we even go to take a picture, the visibility outside is horrible.]
Silence from her end, I waited for her reply for a good while yet she didn't answer.
Sato Masaichi : [Hana, you there?]
Yamada Hana : [Im thinking, idiot.]
I waited for longer, this time deciding just to make myself a snack to try and wait out the time she was using to think.
It was not until after I was done eating when she finally replied.
Yamada Hana : [There's a creek behind my house, no doubt the water is running pretty fast, I bet it would look cool if we angled it just right, because I think nature will look pretty.]
Sato Masaichi : [Sounds like a plan, have fun taking the photo.]
Yamada Hana : [Oh no no no, you're not getting off that easy Masaichi, you're going to help me.]
Sato Masaichi : [Ugh, fine.]
Yamada Hana : [Trust me, you will love it.]
*****
I was standing outside the door of Hana's home, Umbrella in hand, the storm had gotten calmer after I headed outside to bare through the rain, I wasn't wet by any means but I definitely wasn't dry, right now I was wearing what I thought would be appropriate for this god forsaken weather, I wore a Sweatshirt, and pair of shorts, I had texted Hana that I was here earlier, and yet she hadn't come to open the door for some reason, nor had she responded to it.
I heard the door open from behind me, I quickly spun around to be met not with Hana, but by a man similar in height to me, with short cut brown hair greeted me with a confused, and somewhat aggravated stare.
"Excuse me young man, don't you see the 'No soliciting' sign on my doormat?"
I looked down and low and behind, there it was, the doormat that this man had mentioned.
"I'm not soliciting, I'm here to see Hana."
"Oh I see, so you know my daughter, and you're quite close with her given that you're using her first name."
"Yes…"
So this man was her father, she had talked about him before when we were at the arcade but that was the only time she had ever mentioned him.
The man lightened up and smiled, and patted me on the shoulder.
"Sorry about that, I really hate having to answer the door for people who only come to try and sell me something, so you're Sato Masaichi right?"
I nodded my head, and we shook hands, despite how he appeared before he seemed like a sweet, kind man.
"My name is Yamada Akira, but you can call me Akira. I'm really glad you are friends with my daughter. We moved here not too long ago and she always has trouble making new friends after we move. Over the past 10 years we have moved 5 times."
"Oh, I see."
She has moved around that much? That was strange considering the circumstances, the house of the Yamadas was in a slightly rural area, there were more trees than homes and the road was pretty small compared to the rest of my area.
Just then I saw a hand appear on Akira's left shoulder, it then violently pulled him back into the house. I watched as Akira yelped in pure panic before the door shut behind him, the person who shut it was Hana whose face was a deep scarlet.
*****
After that whole family drama, Hana apologized to me for her father for taking up so much of my time, after which I waited outside for her to fetch the poncho's we needed to take photos of her disease filled creek, I put it on reluctantly since it was bulky and I already had an umbrella on me, but Hana insisted on me wearing one.
We were standing by the side of the creek, gravel being crushed under my feet, Hana was crouching down trying to get the perfect shot of the rain hitting the water so that you could see the tiny ripples it created, though she was having trouble doing such, as she had sealed the camera in a clear plastic bag to avoid the camera from being damaged by the rain.
By the looks of it, the storm had gotten much worse than it had whilst i was home, Rain was violently pelting me to the point where it felt like the poncho was barely helping, my face was soaked in sweat and rain alike due to how humid the air was, the rain made it nearly impossible to hear each other at normal volume so we had to resort to screaming back and forth what we had to say
"Are you almost done!? I want to head back home soon!"
"Almost! Just need to take a photo!"
I barely was able to see through the mist of the rain and saw yamada press her thumb down and take a picture, a bright white flash appeared, she had left the flash mode on, she shook her head in frustration and turned it off, before taking another picture, her thumb pressed down on the same button and it had worked, she had taken a somewhat ok looking picture in my opinion.
"Alright lets head inside!"
I saw her uncrouch from her position, but her footing was off, the gravel she was standing on slid from beneath her feet, she staggered and tripped towards the bank of the creek, she quickly tucked the camera into her chest by pure instinct to avoid damaging it.
"HANA!"
In my panic I grabbed her arm to try and pull her back to avoid her falling in, but that proved to be a mistake, it only pulled me with her also and we both plunged into the cold fast running water of the creek, hypothermia inducing water quickly soaked my layers of clothing, as well as Hana, I quickly tried to stand up to no avail, and so did yamada, we were both stuck sitting there in the water.
Out of pure frustration I let out a long exaggerated sigh, cussing under my breath.
"Fuck."
I turned to Hana, who was staring at me, her mouth covered by her hand, her camera still tightly tucked into her chest.
"Pfft, Masaichi-"
Yamada burst out laughing, and for some reason I did also, all of this was so incredibly frustrating but at the same time it was all so stupid to care about, and the way she laughed was incredibly cute.
"Lets head back inside, I'm soaked."
Yamada stood up and lent me her hand, I took it and she pulled me up from the water, for her frame she was surprisingly strong.
We both started to walk our way back, we needed to dry off before we got sick, but also…
"Hey, Hana?"
"Mhm?"
"Coming with you was worth it."
A sly grin spread across her face, as she slapped lightly on the back.
"Told ya it would be, hotshot."