3. Rain On A Hot Dry Afternoon

With our ice cream in hand, we both literally slipped our way towards the infamous Shindeki Park which was situated n between our school and another high school which was open to the public nearby. Nothing special worth mentioning for this park except for some swings and slides for both adults and children along with some wooden benches that were erected around the small park.

It was just a park where students would normally go for a romp right after their classes or recess time since some of the schoolboys intended to get their soulmates not from the same school they were studying but rather from the public high school.

As what they had discovered, the schoolgirls from the public high school would be more open to a relationship, more promiscuous than others, most probably they are from regular families unlike the students from private ones where the parents could afford to pay the higher than usual school fees et cetera.

In short, these female students from public high schools are much more approachable.

I looked around and guessed that this should be a good park for dogs to roam, chase, mingle, and run about as those dogs kept their owners running after them to pick after their poop..! There wasn't much grass on this particular park but rather a barren light brown sandy type of soil around the area so that the dogs' poop would be more visible for the owners to pick up. How thoughtful were these park maintenance people...

Nevertheless, despite thinking about these type of poop matters, we each sat on a swing and licked our ice creams while watching the neighbourhood going about their daily businesses from across the park. There was a row of single-storeyed houses lined outside the park and it compromises of residential as well as commercial spaces. No matter how plain the park was, it was very well maintained and there was not a single scrap of litter seen around.

Bravo...! The City Town Council must be going a great job after all...!

"You really love to hang out with me, don't you...? Aren't you feeling hungry or thinking of grabbing anything to eat right after your swimming sessions...? It's already nearing dinner time and what do you think... shall we grab something to eat later on or maybe drop by your place instead as you prepare something for us to eat then...?"

The last question was unintentionally prepared for Kagome in the previous Leap but it was somehow blurted out as I still had not gotten over her sudden demise. "DAMN...! I should have prepared mentally myself as I am in this Leap and not in my previous one. I do not know how to get rid of the foreboding memories that kept resurfacing in my mind. Sheesh...!"

I thought inwardly as I tried to bottle the emotions that were trying to creep up and distort my mind. Furthermore, I had only get to know Kagome for a short while but in that short period of time, somehow the feelings that the original Kenzo had inside of him when I body exchanged with him was overpowering and that was one of the reasons why the memories of Kagome was too strong for me to push away.

"Maji De...?!? We won't have enough time to cook you know...and furthermore our dormitory only allows cooking cup noodles and boiling tea, coffee or hot chocolate inside... Why do you suddenly ask...? Hey... Shiro, you must be thinking about other girls again am I right...? Hmmph... Hmmph... Hmmph...???"

I laughed out loud as Akira was harrumphing at me as she teased me about thinking of other girls besides her. Maybe our relationship was rather platonic and maybe in the blossoming stages instead. I was trying to mask the blunder that I made earlier and I bobbed my head up and down as I jokingly agreed that I was actually intently looking at the girls in their swimsuits. Hahaha.

Akira somehow gave me a light punch over my right shoulder and I instinctively flinched as I thought that I still had the injury that I had sustained from the last series. Watching me flinched, Akira was surprised at her own strength and I immediately feigned hurt in one way or another.

Her facial expression changed immediately when I laughed after feigning being in such an agony as Akira pouted and her face turned as red as a tomato. Hey... could someone get me the right colour code for a tomato since I knew it would not red but rather more to an orangey colour instead. However, red would the right colour for red bell pepper, don't you think so?

I noticed that girls would exude a kind of blush that would normally indicate a sort of embarrassment or shyness but when it comes to the colour red, it would normally signify trouble. So I decided to change my perspective and told her that I was admiring her gliding through the waters like a natural-born swimmer rather than raising the offensive subject by ogling at the fine contours of other swimmers that would incur the rage of my nether regions. Hahaha...!

So once again, after I had mentioned and praised her on how well she swam, she once again landed a soft punch on my chest this time. I guessed that I would end up blue and black after spending some time with Akira as it seemed that beating up their partners would be considered as one of their favourite past time. Hahaha...!

I wondered if Akira was an introvert type of person that usually kept all her emotions and thoughts inwards and rarely expresses them out, even to someone close to her. A lot of Japanese was introvert. Imagine spending time by yourself in a singled out karaoke booth meant for one, unlike the usual karaoke joints where one would be spending their time together in a group instead.

A lot of people find that expressing themselves in public would be the hardest hurdle they would overcome and they would find it to be most uncomfortable with. Ah well, guess there are issues that would need to be addressed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to look seriously into it.

My thoughts suddenly drifted off to the time when the body that I had exchanged with along with Kagome was meeting for the first time at the beach right after the abduction. I guessed they both had their first kiss there and then and the experience that the original Kenzo would have right after I made the successful Leap would leave him to be broken-hearted instead.

I wondered if he would know of what had happened after he had gotten control of his original body. The same goes to Bo in the first series after he had his nocturnal activities with Ani. For those who had skipped reading the first series because of the uninteresting and boring book cover, I guessed it would be a great time for you to pick it up since you might learn how this MC bestowed certain powers et cetera.

When an onion ninja walked past peeling the layers off, my eyes started tearing and I could not stop my emotions from getting choked up as tears were jiggling at the corners of my eyes.

"Cough... Cough... Cough..." I once again faked a cough just like what I had used to do as I tried to clear my throat at the same time and wipe away the glistening eyes that threaten to reduce me to tears. "DAMN...Why am I such a crybaby in this Leap? All I knew was I had made my heart as steady as a rock and such small issues would not even be a threat to me at all. But right now, even a single passing thought would make me choke with emotions."

I bit down on the lower part of my lips to stem the overflowing emotions as I wiped away at the tears that managed to put a man to shame for crying in front of a girl. Hahaha...!

Akira immediately patted my back a few times and held her hand there to comfort me as was nagging me at the same time as an old lady...!

"Ara Ma...! Don't eat and talk at the same time, Shiro...! I think the nuts you were eating had entered the wrong way and nuts irritate you, am I right?" Akira stood there with one hand on her waist while the other on the back of me as she nagged me for eating the ice cream too fast since I loved the Rocky Road that was topped with marshmallows and nuts. Thinking of such ice cream, I think it would be a great time for me to take a real-time break as I would love to have several servings in front of me as I compose this chapter for all to read. Hahaha...!

"Cough...Cough...Cough...You are such a devil, do you realise that Akira? I am not eating it too fast and it never went another way but instead, I was simply enjoying this ice cream, you know. Nom...Nom...Nom... Wanna have a bite as well, Akira?" I teased her as I offered the ice cream right in front of her face. This would prove to be a test if our relationship is on another level or simply platonic as I had mentioned before. Furthermore, if a girl happened to take a bite or a sip of what you are eating or drinking, sharing each other fluids would mean that the current relationship was more intimate.

Akira laughed at me as her nose was dabbed with a bit of the ice cream that I had literally shoved right in front of her face. She took out a tissue and handed one to me as she removed the smear of ice cream that was on the tip of her nose. She beckoned me to push her on the swing as she turned around and smeared my whole mouth with the ice cream she was having.

I guessed she and I (I mean the original Shiro) were, in fact, having a serious relationship and could be considered as intimate as well. I licked the ice cream off my smeared lips as she laughed lightly. "Hah... Just sit tight as I push you, alright?" Somehow when she smeared me with her ice cream on my mouth, I managed to elevate my emotions slightly.

"Pretence... Pretence... Pretence... Have to add a notch to my acting...!" I thought to myself as the emotions inside me slowly died down and simmered away.

I was kicking my legs underneath the swing as I noticed that Akira was waiting for me to push her swing around instead. "Shiro...! Faster... Help me push this swing, alright? Pretty please...." Akira pleaded to me and I laughed at her antics. I hopped down from my swing as I moved right behind her.

My eyes scanned the surroundings and I saw that in the distance, there were housewives who came out of the houses and into the porch as they welcomed home their husbands, while their children ran about and clung at their father's legs. Giggles, laughter and happy emotions drifted around the neighbourhood and it seemed that it was what Kagome had wised for right before her demise.

She wanted to settle down. Start a family. Bear some children. Let them jump around like little monkeys and run around like little donkeys. But somehow, whatever Kagome had wished for before was simply buried with her forever.

I suddenly looked away, unable to bear the overwhelming emotions once more that was trying to overpower me. And once again, the choked up feelings that are building up inside me, started to erupt like Mount Ontake.

I started to swing Akira from behind as I held on to the ropes when suddenly the damn tear that I had tried to subdue, managed to escape from the corner of my eyes and then it fell right on top of Akira's head...!!!

"OH NOOOOOO.......!!!!!" I screamed aloud in my head as I gaped and was anticipating of what would happen next...!!!

"E... Eeehhhhh... Ara ma...!!! Is it raining right now...? Hey, Shiro...I guessed we would better go back home now... We did not carry any umbrellas, you know...!!! And I don't want to get stuck in the rain with you... Bluueeekkk... Eeehhh... EEEHHH...?!?"

I did not expect Akira to look up at me before she comically pulled her face and stuck out her tongue. She immediately froze up when she exclaimed the last words halfway through her sentence.

I was unable to hold anything back as torrents of tears began to form from my eyes and started to stream furiously down my face. The emotions that welled up within me burst open like a broken dam. I was looking straight ahead, oblivious that my two fists that were holding on to the chains of the swing shook and quivered violently.

I started to sob... STOP SOBBING YOU SOB...!!! (SOB = Son of a Bitch)

Hot tears began draining down my face and it fell... drenching...on Akira's unsuspecting face as wild thoughts raced through her mind quickly...as men rarely shed tears in front of the opposite sex but when they do, it means that they are filled with so many powerful emotions that they can't help but cry.

"Oppsie... Shiro, did I say something wrong...?"