Crap Phrases to be used:
This is not a traditional plot. It has NO conflict. Live onby plhuMikagami glared at the camera. It just refused to fit into the bag and sat there, staring cheekily like a baby Cyclops. "Just because I don't throw my temper at humans does NOT mean I won't do it to YOU," he growled. Cool down…Anger is one letter short of Danger. Every act of destruction has a repercussion. I must maintain my icy demeanor. He then realized that the zipper had gotten stuck halfway; when fully opened, there would be no problem fitting the camera plus his head in there. After looking for a brick to throw at the sky, Mikagami stepped out of his home. It was a nice cloudy Saturday morning where the clouds form white ranks of soldiers to combat the sun. Recently, Mikagami had taken up photography to fill the spiritual and emotional gap in his life. Not by anyone's advice; just that he felt empty after resolving his sister's death. "The theme for today … heck, I'll just photograph whatever I like." Mikagami set off to the park. He disliked the noise and pollution of the streets. The fact that high school girls and boys stared at him too much was secondary. (author: muahahaha) In the park, Mikagami came across a kid with no head. Where was the head? In the fountain. Now that's interesting. Mikagami bent to take a shot. I'll caption it "Bravery". A middle-aged woman came running up. "Good grief! Get out of there!" she scolded, lifting the kid's body out. (The kid's name, apparently, was Good Grief.) The kid was non-plussed. He looked at the waterproof G-shock on his wrist. "Three minutes! Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah!" he exclaimed. His mother freaked out. "You stop breathing for just a few minutes and everybody jumps to conclusions," he muttered resignedly. Mikagami smiled. The kid did have an affinity for water, which had now been captured on film. I was smarter. I made sure the bathroom door was locked. He continued walking and started to hum "Endless Rain." When that song was finished, he proceeded to hum "Scattered Rain". After he passed the willow planted by the city's governor, he sensed someone. Tilting his head every so slightly, he caught sight of a slender figure admist the branches of the scarlet maple tree. With long silver hair complemented by red star leaves, it was a touching side profile framed by the branches, but there was an air of loneliness and despair about the figure. Half of Mikagami wanted to go forward, while the other half respected the person's need for solitude. He angled his camera upwards. Scarlet Solitude. "I'll come back every week. Maybe one day I'll talk to you and see if we're alike," Mikagami said softly. He walked on. Soon, the resident ice-cream shop was in sight. "Mikagami-sempai!" Clear, bell-like tones cut through the nine-o'-clock air and Yanagi appeared. Alone, suprisingly. "Yanagi." Mikagami smiled. "What are you doing here? Where's Recca?" "The doctor said I needed exercise and vitamin D, so I'm coming for a walk. Recca's still sleeping; couldn't bear to wake him up." And it was true. Yanagi was actually wearing track shoes. Mikagami decided to treat Yanagi to ice-cream. The next natural step would be to enter the ice-cream shop. It was done. The attendant was a part-timer (that's what the badge said. "Juliaz - part-timer") currently absorbed in memorizing the text of Romeo and Juliet by reading it aloud. "Ay me, she speakz!" He proclaimed. The duo groaned inwardly. Yet another web-language addict… The attendant noticed their existence. Smiling exuberantly, he gestured towards them and asked, "Siblingz?" "Yez … I mean Yes," Mikagami sweatdropped. Yanagi pored over the varied display of ice-cream flavours. "Strawberry, Chocolate, GreenTea, Papaya, Beef … Beef?" She turned rounded eyes of shock onto the attendant. "dUn lukz at miz; i DiDn'Tz makez itz," he shrugged. Yanagi continued reading. "Shampoo, Pig, Egg Mint … I think I'll have a chocolate. Mikagami-sempai?" Sempai narrowed his eyes at the ice cream. "I'll pass. Ice-cream is unhealthy." Yanagi waggled two fingers at him. "Ice cream is FOOD. FOOD is ENERGY. ENERGY is the capacity to do WORK!" Mikagami wondered if Yanagi frequently topped her class in Physics and Literature. The attendant whipped out a notebook and copied all that down. (Author's note: I hereby salute all who work and study at the same time. Really. I can only imagine how hard it is. Ju2 gong1) Mikagami finally purchased a scoop of Green Tea. He sat with Yanagi on a stone bench nearby. Yanagi took a mouthful of ice-cream and asked, "Mikagami-sempai, why did you take up photography?" "To fill the gap in my life," he said, chewing his ice-cream. If he could chew ice at home, chewing 275K ice-cream was certainly nothing. "I need to move on. Something once said to me, 'The past is a ghost that haunts you from the moment it exists until the moment you don't.' I want to prove that wrong." There was steel (0.01% carbon) in his voice. Silence. Yanagi took another scoop of ice-cream and decided to tread on dangerous ground. "So you're finally taking interest in the lives of other people!" She paused. "Sempai, will you ever regret killing?" Only Yanagi, with her thoughtful innocence, could get away (and an answer) with such a question. Mikagami finished his ice-cream before answering. "Ever since I rented Rurouni Kenshin, I've been regretting," he joked weakly. I don't know. I hope I will, though. At least that means I'm still human. "Come, I'll take a picture of you. How 'bout standing next to the willow there? " Mikagami instructed. Yanagi stood amongst the leaves of her dropping namesake. He looks so much happier now, no more of that I'll-kill-you aura when I first met him. That's great. Maybe now I'll have the elder brother I never did. The camera shutters caught her expression of delight and relief. They parted after that. Walking home, Mikagami passed by the ice-cream shop. There were now two customers, their backs facing him - one obviously female, with startling red hair; the other lean and slightly taller, his arm around his companion. That's "Love & Companionship". Mikagami brought out his camera and used the last of his film. He went home to develop his roll of Fuji film. (Fuji film, unlike Fuji apples, is really a product of a Japanese company.) He arranged the photographs like the organized person he was. "This is the one I took of Yanagi," he muttered. She sure looks like Nee-chan when she found me after I had been lost. He put that aside to give to Yanagi. (yes raydance, I can see you counting the number of meaningful phrases I've used so far.) There were only the last three photographs left - the precocious boy, the despondent youth in the trees, and the couple. If time is one shackle you can't break, then a photograph is a way to situate, or look at, some of your existence outside of time. The boy. The youth. And the man with a companion. In that very sequence. Author's Notes
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