Midori was skipping back and forth of the bridge until she suddenly dropped sideways onto the floor, her hands spread eagle. I laughed at her antics and approached her on my knees. Maybe I should try it her way in the future… I thought. I peered over at her, her face was pale and her red eyes were wide open with a blank expression. Her chest was rising and falling slowly at an abnormal pace. My breath stopped suddenly as a placed my hand over her face; it was cold.

‘M-Midori? Please don’t frighten me like that…’ I mumbled softly, not knowing what to do. I pushed her body lightly, but she had no response. I was shaking uncontrollably, my breath was choking my throat and lungs as my eyes started to tear up. My mind went blank all of a sudden, an image of a dead Knight on the battlefield flew into sight. Flash. Mr. Yoshinobu’s family members were weeping as they stood by his bedside at the clinic, his legs were permanently handicapped. Flash. I was crying over Midori’s dead body, the village people were pointing their fingers violently at me, calling me names and blaming me for all the bad things that happened…

‘Please… stop all of this…’ I pleaded. A dagger appeared by the side of my feet, my hands unconsciously grabbed onto its hilt. I never learned how to use a knife before, but I knew how to bring the blade to my neck, and to steadily make a cut.

‘Hirei! Snap out of it!’

I blinked, finding myself back on the bridge over the little pond, kneeling over at Midori’s motionless body. There was no dagger in my hands, no blood down my neck, no dead Midori. It was just me, unconscious Midori, and Mini Hirei who was hanging down the edge of my fringe.

‘Stay strong, kid! You’re the only one who can help Midori now,’ said Mini Hirei sternly at the tip of my nose. ‘There’s only the two of you in this secluded area. Bring her to the centre of town, shout, get help or something! Prove that you’re not worthless and unlucky!’

Mini Hirei then used his free hand to wipe the tears off my eyes before I could do it myself. I had a sudden surge of gratefulness for Mini Hirei, carrying him up with the back of my hand and placed him on my left shoulder. ‘Thanks, little guy… I’ll trim the hair on the right side for you.’

I pulled out all my hidden strength to carry Midori up. I placed her arm over my shoulders and had my arm around her waist to support her. As I slowly heaved her down the bridge, I breathed in deeply and yelled at the top of my voice.

‘Please help! Anybody?’ I shouted. I took another mouthful of air before attempting to call for help. It was taxing on me as I have never carried a person before, nor cried louder than the time I used to be a baby. I have always walked this way whenever I wanted some alone time at the bridge. But as I walked with Midori’s weight resting on me, it seemed as if the path became more rocky, more distant, more harder for me to return back to the centre of the village.

I can’t do this… I’m too weak… too useless to anybody to help at all…

‘Oh, stop having such negative thoughts!’ Mini Hirei barked angrily. ‘You can do this, trust me! You’re much better than you think you are. You just have to do your best!’

I stopped for a moment to catch my breath. Once I was ready, I pushed myself once again to its limits. Eventually, I managed to attract the people’s attention. A few of the worker’s at the Lord’s Residence ran towards me to assist me, carrying Midori off my shoulders before I keeled over and lost my consciousness.


***

I felt myself coming back to my senses as I slowly forced my eyelids up. I found myself resting at home on my warm bed, Mini Hirei slowly materializing on my abdomen.

‘Oooh, it’s so good to be back,’ Mini Hirei stretched his arms as he yawned. He crawled up to my face and gave me a bright smile. ‘I’m proud of you that you managed to go through that! Don’t forget what you promised me two days ago!’

Two days? I’ve been sleeping for two days now? I pushed myself up into a sitting position, and then I was taken into an embrace, a curtain of fine white hair caressed my face.

‘Oh Hirei, I’m so glad to see that you’re alright!’ came Midori’s voice, her hands around my shoulders. I gave a sigh of relieve knowing that Midori was alive and fine. ‘I’m so sorry to have frightened you the other day. I’m okay now so you don’t have to worry.’

‘I’m just happy that they managed to save you,’ I replied weakly as we came apart, Midori looking at me closely with her red eyes to confirm that I was alright. She scowled and pushed my forehead lightly at my statement.

‘You moron! You were the one who saved me!’ said Midori, Mini Hirei drawing an imaginary question mark for me on my sheets. ‘If you weren’t there, I could’ve been comatose, or even lose my life! Don’t you understand? Your white hair killing people, that’s not true! After all, you’ve just saved my life.’

Midori heaved a sigh, holding my hands tightly in her cold, nervous ones. ‘I thought that I was prepared for death, that I wouldn’t mind dying the next minute,’ she said. ‘But now, I realized there are so many things I still want to do before I leave, like, getting to know you better and to be your friend. I’m thankful to still be breathing today, and to able to speak with you now. All this because I’ve met you two days ago. Thank you…’

Midori’s words made me realize that I was not just “the Unlucky White Boy”. I was capable of achieving more than I imagined. I have saved someone’s life, and better, I have made someone’s life worth living. After our chance encounter that day, Midori and I became friends, my first one ever. It became the talk of the town, how the two white haired children met, how “the Unlucky White Boy” saved the girl’s life, and that they were both inseparable. The people started gossiping more, throwing us deadly glares when we were together. But with Midori around, she would defend us in a comical manner and it made me feel, literally, light-hearted. It was also easier for me to be myself and converse more than I usually would, much to Mini Hirei’s pleasure.

‘Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Kusano!’ said Midori as she bowed deeply to my parents at my doorsteps one day. She was holding a bucket with fishing bait and two homemade fishing rods.

‘Hello there Midori,’ smiled otosan as he scanned her equipments, okasan on the other hand pushed me out of the sliding door, throwing my backpack over my shoulders. ‘Are you bringing Hirei fishing today?’

‘Yes sir! It’s just an idea I thought of when I saw the Samurais carrying off some fish to the battlefield. I think it’s supposed to be rations for their army,’ said Midori, my parents finding the last statement worrying. ‘Oh, don’t worry! I didn’t get into any harm. Two hands, two legs, see? I have relatives with the Samurai Guild actually, so I’ll be fine.’

Midori paused for a moment with her finger on her lips, suddenly feeling that it might have been the wrong thing to say. She threw her hands in the air, disregarding the thought and made a little noise before pulling my arm, dragging me towards the wharf. ‘Well then, Mr. and Mrs. Kusano, ittekimasu!’ she yelled.

‘Come back early and we can make sushi and sashimi with your catch!’ okasan called back while I waved her goodbye. ‘Itterasshai!’

It was just a short walk from my house to the wharf that faces the vast seas. There was a number of fishing boats along the horizon, still making a living even during these times of trouble. After setting up our fishing equipments, we sat around the edges and dipped our legs into the cold water, patiently waiting for any movements from our fishing rods.

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Current Word Count: 34,969

Labels: NaNoMadness, The Eminent Guardians