An Early Summer's Day

“Aw, come on Guy, try to keep up!”

“I’m not as fast as you Gal, wait!”

“Man, you’re slow. And what did I tell you to call me?”

“Uncle Seinen said to call you ‘Anego’ instead, but that sounds dumb. ‘Onee-chan’ is dumb also.”

Gal rested her hands on her hips, a pout on her lips. “Meanie,” she says, before her face breaks into a smile. “Well, at least we made it to the top.” Gal points to the shrine, leaves scattered on the ground, the cicadas buzzing in the air, and a light breeze. “Let’s see if we can find those Kabutomushi!” her Japanese accent slipping into her speech.

“One or the other, don’t just mash two languages together,” Guy mutters, fixing the bug cage on his hip. It’s been a day since he got Japan for the summer and while it’s not as hot as the south ever was, it’s certainly enough to make Gal sweat a bit. Guy shaded his eyes and looked at the shrine. The old building not quite looking new, but still in good shape, as if it was built in the last 10 years. Guess the shrine maidens really keep this place neat. “Alright, let’s check out the bushes. They might be hiding there.”

“Alright!” Gal quickly runs off, her feet slapping on the brick road.

“Hey, don’t make too much noise, you’ll scare them.”

“Oh, sorry.” She slows down and starts to tip toe her way the bushes, her net ready in her hand. She peers in them, fumbling around for a while before slamming her net down. “I caught one!” She scoops it up and places it in her cage and looks for another one. All Guy can do is shake his head and walk over to the trees.

A few rhinoceros beetles (he refuses to call them kabutomushi), a cicada, and is that a grasshopper? Nice. All into the cage they go. He walks back out and sees Gal chasing what must be one with her net swinging everywhere, until she stops at the tree line.

“Aww, it flew off,” her shoulders slump, her ponytail looking droopy before both it and her pep up. “Ah well, more where that came from!” She quickly turns and sees Guy, walking towards her, his bug cage full. “Oh wow. You really got a full catch, didn’t you?”

“Yep,” Guy raised the cage up to show her, the grasshopper jumping, the cicada buzzing in there and the beetles having what seems to be a stare down.

“Cool! I have to just try harder,” Gal says, gripping her net harder.

“Good luck.” Guy walked off towards the shade, sitting down for a bit as he watched Gal run, trying to catch bugs. “Man, she’s hard to catch up with,” Guy sighed, taking a swig from his water bottle. “Bah, Uncle Seinen and Auntie Athena really had to talk to Mom and Dad, huh? Was it because Grandpa Shoujo and Grandma Shonin were yelling last night? There was something about ‘marriage’ and mine and Gal’s name being thrown around. Ah, it’s probably nothing.” Guy laid back, letting the breeze cool himself off before he heard rapid footsteps come up to him.

“Hey, are you asleep?” Guy replied with a snort. There was silence for a time before he heard the rustling of clothes and felt breathing on his face. He cracked open his eyes and saw Gal, puckering her lips and her eyes closed as she tried to lean in from a crouching position.

Guy quickly rolled out of the way, coming up to his feet causing Gal to panic and nearly fall. “W-what are you doing?!”

“M-momma said do this at least once.” Gal’s lips trembled.

“D-don’t take Auntie Athena’s words seriously! You know she just likes to play jokes.”

“Muuu…” Gal looked at the ground, kicking a pebble off the ground.

“Haaaaa, let’s just go back.” Gal nodded, following Guy as they made their way down. They must have spent quite some time there as the sun was starting to dip down and the sky taking on an orange hue. The two didn’t say anything, not out of anger, but just tiredness. Despite Guy not running around as much as Gal, he still ran enough for a normal 7 year old boy. Gal on the other hand enough energy for 2 7 year old girls.
It wasn’t long before they saw the Shoujo house with Guy’s mother sitting on a hair, drinking tea. “Oh, there you are. It was getting late. I’d though I’d have to send Kit over to get you. Did you catch a lot of kabutomushi?”

Both you and Gal raised your cages, though Gal raised her with more emotion. “Yeah Auntie Josei! We caught a lot!”

Josei only chuckled, “Well, seems like you had a full day. Go inside and wash up, dinner should be ready soon.” She uncrossed her legs, stood and kissed Guy’s head, before walking inside. Gal started to walk, before stopping in front of the door.

“Hey Guy?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think every day like this summer or every summer after will be like this?”

Guy stood in silence for a while, before sighing. “I’m not sure, but we can only hope.” Gal didn’t say anything before opening the door and walking in. Guy followed and took a look at the sky, taking the clouds and the seeing the orange sky slowly turn a deeper color. “Every day, huh…”

A month after, both Guy’s and Gal’s birthdays were coming up. Both of them had saved up as much pocket change as they could (along with some help from their parents) for their gifts for each other. It was 4 days after Gal’s birthday and 3 days before Guy’s that they exchanged gifts, a late one for Gal, and an early one for Guy, but neither one minded.

Both had received a metal pendant, a silver colored one for Guy and gold colored one for Gal. And that wasn’t even speaking of the blood red ruby looking stone in the middle.

“Oh, Guy, it’s beautiful! The way it shines so pretty!” Gal clutched the pendant to her chest, tears forming in her eyes.

Guy could only scratch the back of his head, embarrassed by Gal’s praise. “I-it was nothing. U-um, thank you also.” Guy quickly put on the pendant as did Gal. “Think we’ll remember this day?”

“I sure will!” Gal says with a big smile on her face. It was infectious enough that even Guy cracked a smirk at her.

A week later, the elders revealed Guy’s and Gal’s arranged marriage. Apollo Shonin and Seinen Shoujo were indifferent as they saw the opposite child as their own, Artemis Shoujo had agreed to it, and Josei Shonin had disagreed along with Kit Bishoujo, a member of the servant family of the Shoujo clan that assisted Josei.

Later that night, the two met up secretly by the court yard. Gal was clutching the pendant tightly, as she rarely took it off during that time. “G-Guy,” she said her face red, “D-do y-you w-want-“

“Gal, we’re both 8. We’re too young to even think of marriage yet.”

“R-right, right!” She quickly turned away, about to walk away before turning her head. “T-then, what about in t-ten years? We’ll both be 18, adults. Will you give your answer then?”

Guy froze, not sure what to say. He quickly looked around, from Gal, to the small garden, to the moon and stars. “I…I guess so. Ten years when we’re 18, I’ll give my answer.”

Gal quickly turned around, a small smile there. “Okay! Ten years. Promise me!”

“….I promise.”

The marriage would cause both Guy and Gal to see each other sporadically during their years, but they still kept a friendly attitude, though in Gal’s case, it was overly friendly. Over time, Josei and Kit began to accept this, but Guy would always be uncomfortable at this topic and would constantly try to change it every chance.

8 years later, on that same night, Guy pulled out the pendant from a box and looked at it, the memories of that summer. He was in a familiar academy to some and a nut house to a few, but it was home for now. He was currently alone in his dorm as his roommate, PJ, was “seshing” it up with a classmate Dazzhite.

Guy dangled the pendant as he laid back in his bed. “8 years already….I still have 2 more years…..Two more years of this hell…” He gripped the pendant and stared into the red stone. “Till then, I have to survive. So I can give her my answer.” He looked at some more before returning the pendant and crawling into bed.

It was a day later that Guy would lose his left eye in an attack and Gal unleashed her fire demi-demon powers for the first time.