- Chapter 5 -

The Sakura Festival!

"Misaki-san, can I borrow your pencil?" a gentle voice asked besides her, making the raven haired teen flinch and look at the person surprised.

Her grey eyes looked straight besides her at the person who had asked her that; Makoto Tachibana. His green eyes were staring into her dark ones, giving her an uneasy and awkward feeling about how close they were. "S-Sure" she replied and handed him over her pencil, watching precisely her own movements and trying not to make anything wrong.

Misaki turned her attention back to the black board, taking some notes of the lesson and watching intensively the teacher's words. She always wanted to prove that she was something in the family and she wasn't going to lose that. A small poke at her back made her lose her concentration and turn her head back where Makoto was giving her back the pencil. Taking it with a small nod of the head, she noticed a small white paper wrapped around it. She took a small glance from Makoto and started unwrapping it, making sure she didn't attract many attention from her fellow classmates. Her dark eyes read the contents of the small note and widened slightly:

"Tomorrow there is a Sakura Festival in the centre of the town. Me, Gou, Haruka and Nagisa are going to attend it. Do you want to join us?"

Misaki took a small breath as her eyes read all over again the note. Socialize yourself, Misaki. It isn't healthy to close to yourself and never open again because later, it will be far more difficult to open up to someone, the voice of her grandmother when they firstly arrived in the town displayed in her mind, giving her a small headache of hesitation. She wrote back a quick positive answer and tossed carefully the small paper back to her classmate, hoping that this would have a good ending after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The black haired girl woke up the next morning excited. She jumped off of her bed and rushed out of her room, breaking into the kitchen and giving her grandma almost a heart attack, "Misaki!!"

Misaki apologized curtly to her grandma and grabbed the bowl with her rice inside, shoving the chopsticks in her mouth rapidly every time she was taking a bite. Her grandma watched her carefully, her shocking expression showing that he had never seen her granddaughter like that. But Misaki was rushing to finish with her morning jobs so she would take her time to prepare herself for the Sakura Festival. After finishing the bowl with rice - which took her only five minutes to devour it- she tied her long black hair in a tight ponytail and started cleaning the house around.

Half an hour had passed and Misaki had finished doing all of the works around, whipping away the sweat which was dripping on her forehead. Looking at the clock she mentally cussed and ran in her room, taking out her clothes as fast as she could and rushing into the bathroom. Taking a good bath, cutting her nails, fixing her hair, brushing her teeth and many more were done before she exited the small bathroom and walked up to her closet.

Misaki opened the doors of it and started searching through all the cloths, trying to find a yukata to wear for the festival. Her tries failed utterly and she groaned, wrapping the towel again around her body and walking out of the room. Aiming for her grandma's door, she knocked softly and when she got permission to go inside, she almost broke in, receiving a death glare from the elder woman, "Misaki! What's wrong with you? Today you've been acting weird. Did something happened to school?"

The female shook her head negatively, sitting besides her grandmother. "It is just that . . . Makoto-kun invited me to go with him and his friends today in the Sakura Festival in the centre of town and I was such in a rush this morning because I wanted to finish all the jobs quickly and- I can't find a yukata to wear for the festival" Misaki admitted in defeat, purple lines appearing at the side of her head.

Her grandmother sweat dropped slightly at the young Namikaze's reaction, standing up and walking to her closet.

"I got what you need"

. . .

The bell rang after a while, signalling the arrival of Makoto and the others. The elder woman gave Misaki a push after wishing her to have a good time, the youngster stumbling on her feet until she reached the door. The ravenette opened the door, revealing the smiling faces of Makoto and Nagisa, the blunt of Haruka's while there was a strange guy with red glasses and weird blue hair who was looking at her . . . let's say non-interested.

"Ah, Misaki-san, we came to-" Makoto started saying but her was cut off when his forest green eyes observed the appearance of Misaki. She was wearing a light purple yukata with black roses drew on it, the cloth reaching down her toes. Her usually free black hair were now tied up in a ponytail, letting them wave on her back while a small blush was planted on the girl's physically pale face.

Misaki cocked her head to the side as she looked at the stunned expression of Makoto, "Makoto-kun, is something wrong?"

"No, no, it's just that" - Makoto

"Misa-chan, sugoi desu! You look incredible with those clothes on~!" - Nagisa

"Er, thank you, Nag-" - Misaki

"Haru-chan, doesn't she look cute and adorable~~? Huh, Rei-chan?! Don't make that stupid face of yours!!" - Nagisa

"Hn . . ." - Haruka

"I'm- I'm mot making a stupid face!!" - Rei

"Guys!" Makoto almost yelled, catching successfully everyone's attention, "Shall we head off then?". Everyone nodded in agreement with the leader's suggestion and followed him, taking the train for the centre of Japan.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Yata!! This is amazing, isn't it, minna-san? Muooo, they even have some handmade chocolate in heart shapes!!" the excited Nagisa exclaimed when they stepped their foot in the festival, all of them amazed by its epicness.

It had proved that Gou couldn't come due to some issues he had to deal with her brother and so Misaki was the only girl of the company. The good news was that Rei had offered to join them- after Nagisa's whining pleads of course. Though, something which was revealed to Misaki during their way in there had made her totally embarrassed: the Sakura Festival was like "Valentine's Day" for Japanese.

Makoto was ready to inform them that they had to act like a team and not separate their ways in the festival but it had proved that Haruka, Nagisa and Rei had sneaked off around the huge crowd, searching different interesting stuff. Now, it was Misaki and Makoto who were left alone. But this isn't a problem, right? Because, what can happen after all?