Title: Cosmic Love
Author’s note: I was inspired by the Japanese adaptation of the story of Vega and Altair. Vega and Altair are two stars that represent a star-crossed relationship between a seamstress and a cow herder. Vega’s father only allowed her to see Altair once a year. She had to cross the Milky Way in order to meet him. In the Japanese version, Vega is known as Orihime (Oh-ree-hee-meh) and Altair is known as Hikoboshi (Hee-koh-boh-she). Instead of the Milky Way, Orihime has to go through a really long river to see Hikoboshi who lived at the very end of the river. The reason why I choose this folktale as an idea is because I want the two characters as a symbolism for my story.
Street lights lit up the city of Osaka. The night sky reminded me of an Obsidian; the volcanic rock’s glossy black surface could be a rare material to make jewelry. People walked past me with smiles on their faces, the perfect emotion for Tanabata, the Star Festival. The pedestrian lanes on both sides of the river were embellished with colourful yukatas, which were a loose and simpler version of a kimono. Buzzing chatters and clicking wooden clogs were the background music.
I made a bee line through the crowd, hoping to find a bamboo tree. The tall bamboo trees arranged in a neat row by the lanes were clumped with countless rectangular paper strips. Each strip had Sharpie writings of different languages. Everyone in the festival loved the Tanzaku, the tradition of writing wishes on paper and tying on bamboo trees. I may be a local, but I still find it fascinating. We all may have been working hard to achieve our dreams, but we also hope that we will be given at least a tiny miracle when things go downhill.
I was about to give up searching when suddenly a tree shorter than the rest caught my eye. A thin, bare branch was sticking out of it. I unzipped my satchel, pulled out a paper strip that matched my violet yukata, and made a bow around the branch with the ribbon that was attached on top of the paper. My wish was written in blue ballpoint pen; it said “I wish that love is like a constellation.” It sounded weird at first, but I knew that it was a message I hope the spirits can help me with. All I wanted in my life was a chance to love a guy. If only the gods can give me a person to love to the fullest, my life will be as wide and bright as the stars.
“Nomi!” a voice made me jump. I turned to see my friend, Hana, coming over. From the look on her face, I felt bad for letting her to walk all the way from the shrine in wooden clogs. She preferred sneakers and heelless boots. I could imagine her searching frantically for me in those traditional Japanese shoes which made her feet ache like hell.
“Where have you been? I thought you went to buy your Tanzaku paper. ” Hana frowned.
“Sorry! I’m not gonna calm down until I’ve found a tree to tie my wish.” I replied.
“Well, you could have called me or texted me where you’re at.”
“I should have done that. I’m sorry…again.”
She sighed and looked up to see the paper with my handwriting which was hung around the tiny branch. “Don’t you think the wind’s gonna blow it away? You tied it way close to the end.”
“I’ve tied it securely. I’m sure it won’t be carried away.” I replied.
“If you say so,” she shrugged, “anyway, I think the light show is about to start. Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah! Let’s go!” I nodded. I took one last look at the tree before following her further down the river. A large crowd gathered at both sides of the river. They stood in several long lines. Each of them was holding a baseball-shaped LED light. The first rows of people moved forward and slid their balls through a row of long wooden slides attached to the fences of the river.
Hana tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a light ball. I looked at her in surprise.
“What?” she asked as she raised one eyebrow.
“When did you get it?” I pointed at the other light ball she was holding in her right hand.
She blinked before letting out a laugh. “I just bought them! What? You didn’t see a woman coming by with a bag of light balls just now?”
“Oh! Really?”
“Gosh! Nomi! You should be more alert!”
“Whatever.” I shook my head, “By the way, I wonder why you all have to drop these balls into the river?”
“It’s an Osaka tradition.” she replied, “Every year, we create a Milky Way pattern on river water with these light balls. I guess this tradition is inspired by the festival’s folktale.”
“You mean the story of Orihime and Hikoboshi?”
She nodded. “You know that they were in a star-crossed relationship, right? Orihime’s father allowed her to meet her lover once a year. But she doesn’t get to meet Hikoboshi every year because if it’s raining, she couldn’t cross to the other end of the river to meet him. And so, we throw these balls to represent the Milky Way. The stars are like a guide for lovers to find each other.”
“Wow! That’s cool!” I exclaimed.
When it was our turn, I placed my ball on top of the wooden structure and gave it a little push. It rolled down the slide and plopped onto the water. After everyone else had thrown theirs, the light balls shortly lit up in bright blue. They were scattered all over the river, like watercolour splattered on the world’s longest canvas. I looked at the beautiful view in awe; it definitely looked like the Milky Way. A galaxy of artificial stars on water.
I was about to take pictures with my phone when suddenly a silver twinkle between two of the glowing blue spheres caught my eye. I realized it was a reflection from the sky; I looked up and saw a couple of stars much bigger than the others. To my surprise, one of them peeled itself away from the sky and fell down like a meteor. It came closer and closer. I quickly turned back to run, but I felt something really heavy collided against my head. Everything went black.
* * *
I was welcomed with fluorescent lights that nearly blinded my vision. I recognized Hana who sat by the bed. She immediately got up from her chair.
“Oh! Thank goodness! I thought you’re dead!” she smiled in relief.
“W…where am I?” I asked.
“The hospital.” she answered, “You passed out all of a sudden. I thought you’re suffering from claustrophobia or something.”
“I don’t think I remember what happened.” I said. I was about to sit up when I immediately felt dizzy. Hana gently placed her hands on my shoulders and pushed me back against the pillow. “Don’t get up! The doctor said you had a concussion.” she explained. I sighed and stared at the ceiling. “I’ll get the doctor, okay? I’ll be right back.” she patted my shoulder and went out of the ward.
Unlike my house where I usually chase after my 6-years-old twin brothers, Toya and Taki, and give them lectures on not to leave a single grain of rice in their bowls, the hospital room was more of an empty barren with neither books on the shelf at a corner nor TV in front of me. Now I know why many people hated hospitals. The atmosphere was pretty much lifeless. I shielded my eyes with my left arm while thinking of going back to sleep when suddenly I spotted small black letters written on my forearm. I squinted my eyes to take a closer look.
I will search for you in the stars.
My eyes widened. I reread it for what seemed like three minutes. Who the heck wrote on my arm? Writing on a piece of paper would be just fine. I got out of the bed and slipped into a pair of slippers Hana had left behind. Great…even the slippers were white. I peeked through the door; luckily, no one was lingering around or passing by. I made my way to the washroom which was just a couple of doors away. Once I stopped by one of the porcelain sinks, I quickly wet my arm with cold water and rubbed the writings with a thick layer of soap that smelt like cheap perfume. I rubbed and scratched my arm for about five minutes. Unfortunately, not a single letter disappeared. What did the writer use? Permanent marker?
I turned off the tap and frowned at the mirror in front of me. Scenes flashed in my head. I remembered looking at the strange star that fell towards me. Wait a minute…could it be I really got hit by the star and now I’m under some sort of curse? The words on my arm must have something to do with it.
“Nomi! Come on! The doctor says he wants to do a checkup on you.”
“Oh…okay.”
* * *
“Nomi? Nomi!” a male voice called me. I opened my eyes and found myself standing in the exact spot by the river. I was surprised when I saw that I was wearing my yukata again. Wasn’t I at the festival last night? How come I was in my yukata again? “Nomi!” it called again. I searched for the people that were admiring the ornament-like lights from the other side of the river. I finally saw a guy who looked around the same age as me. He was wearing a sky blue yukata and he was cupping his hands over his mouth, calling my name over and over. I didn’t think I had seen him before. He had bangs that nearly covered his big, dark brown eyes.
“Are you calling me?” I shouted back.
“Yes, I am,” he replied.
“Why?”
“I want to ask…”
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
My body was all tangled by my bed covers. I grabbed my phone from my side table to turn off the alarm. The reminder shown on the screen said:
Art Sale at cafeteria! Be there before 9am!
“Looks like I’ll be on campus the whole day today.” I mumbled to myself. As I got myself off my bed and did my morning routine, I couldn’t stop replaying my dream in my head. His words were like a clue to something I was to look for. Even when I walked my way to the train station, I couldn’t concentrate listening to One Republic songs I shuffled on my iPod.
* * *
“Good morning, Nomi!” Hana chirped.
“Good morning!” I waved.
“Thanks for coming to help! Lee, Rini and Kiyu will be here in five minutes. In the meantime, can you help to set up these paintings?” she asked, “I’ll do the ones over there.”
“Sure.” I nodded.
It took fifteen minutes to arrange the paintings on portable racks. I didn’t know how Hana find the time to host such an event. As an art student, she had a tremendous skill in creating watercolour and oil pastel masterpieces. Some of her artwork won first place in Osaka University’s art contests. And when she was offered this opportunity to be in charge of a 3-hours sale of second-hand paintings donated by her professor’s art shop, she wouldn’t say no.
I was about to hang the last painting when suddenly my left foot tripped over the bottom of a rack. I was expecting that my whole body would crash onto the tile floor, but to my surprise, a firm hand grabbed onto my right wrist. I turned my back and saw a guy pulling me back onto my feet. He was around six feet tall and his dark brown eyes stared into mine with worry.
“Are you okay?” he asked. His voice was deep but gentle. My heart did a somersault. He was by far the most attractive guy I had ever seen. I quickly pushed my girly thoughts to the back of my brain and cleared my throat. “Yeah! Yeah…I’m okay. Thanks.” I nodded.
He relaxed and let go off my wrist.
“Ah! Kiyu! You’re here!” Hana beamed.
“Hi Hana!” he waved.
“Oh! This is my friend, Nomi!” she patted me on my right shoulder, “She’s helping me out with the sale today.”
He looked at me with his mouth slightly open. I couldn’t tell why he had such an odd expression. He quickly switched back to a smile. “Nomi-san, huh? Nice to meet you.” he said as he put out his hand.
“Nice to meet you too…Kiyu-san.” I replied. I shook his hand; his palm was smooth as if he applied a good amount of hand cream every day.
“Lee and Rini are getting the cashier counter ready over there. Let’s do our best to sell as many paintings as we can, okay?” Hana pumped her fist in the air, “Ganbatte!”
“Yeah! Ganbatte!” Kiyu agreed.
“Nomi! You can help assisting customers and resorting the paintings with Kiyu.” she suggested.
“Sure. Okay.” I nodded.
I thought that the whole morning was gonna be really awkward when I was working with Kiyu, but it turned out that he was actually a comfortable person to be with. We took turns sharing our interests and brief funny stories whenever we had no customers to help with. He welcomed customers with a friendly wave and high-fived children who came with their parents to look for cartoon portraits for their rooms. Whenever I glanced at his side profile, I could feel my heart stirring with curiosity and excitement. There was just something about him that made me want to know him more.
The sale ended at around 5pm. Hana was impressed with the total number of paintings that were sold. I had to admit, this was actually fun. I wasn’t much of a painter but I liked the fact that there were still people who appreciate traditional art.
“Would you be helping out in next year’s sale?” Kiyu asked. He seemed to have read my mind.
“I think I would.” I smiled.
“That would be wonderful!” Rini, the girl with a French braid grinned as she came towards us. Lee, who wore a green oversized shirt with a happy Pikachu in the center, walked beside her and gave me a thumbs-up.
“Hana told me that you’re more of an aspiring writer, but she also said that you have a good taste in art.” Lee chipped in.
“I totally agree with them.” Kiyu said.
“Gee…I’ve never received such compliments before. Arigatou!” I bowed. From my peripheral vision, I noticed dark letters peeping out from his right forearm. The colour of the wordings looked so familiar. It immediately dawned at me. I was having a good time until memories from last night and the dream this morning came back to me. It was a good thing that I was wearing my favourite black silk cardigan so that no one could see the spontaneous tattoo. Even my parents would freak out because they didn’t want me to look like a rebel.
“Nomi? Nomi? Are you listening?” I realized that Hana and the others were staring concernedly at me. Kiyu’s lips were in a tight hyphen, but his eyes seemed to tell me something else.
“Is everything alright, Nomi?” Hana asked. I shook my head and forced a smile.
“Nomi-san,” Kiyu said, “you live near Sakuranomiya station, right? I live around there too. Maybe we can take the train together.”
“Sure.” I nodded.
* * *
Come on come on come on hurry up hurry up hurry up! How much longer?
Kiyu and I were sitting two seats away from each other. I scrolled through the photos and notes on my phone just to keep myself distracted. Unfortunately, I kept feeling chills crawling down my spine because I could sense Kiyu’s gaze fixed constantly on me. Oh God! Everything turned out well until I saw the words on his arm. I shouldn’t have done that! Did I do something wrong? Why can’t he just look at his phone like everyone else?
Finally, the train arrived at the station. I got up from the seat and paced through the doors of the train. I could hear Kiyu’s sneaker footsteps behind me. I stopped and turned back which startled him.
“I…uh…I’m actually going to the park for a bit. I…it’s nice meeting you, Kiyu. Good night.” I stammered and bowed.
“Wait!” he pleaded, “can…can I say something?”
I paused and slowly turned back.
“I’m sorry.” he blurted.
“For what?”
“I think I’m making you feeling uncomfortable.”
“What? Why would you say that?”
“It’s just that…there’s something about you…that I can’t seem to get off my mind.”
“That is?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes wandered to a distance; he looked like he was searching for the right words to say.
“I…I don’t know. I think I’ve seen you somewhere before, like in a dream or something.”
I gave him a blank look.
“How about this? We’ll go for a walk in the park and I’ll tell you all about it.” he said.
“Okay.”
* * *
The park was the exact place when the star festival was held. Unlike the lively atmosphere last night, the lanes on both sides of the river were empty and quiet. The river was in its usual, calm state. The wooden slides were gone. The only thing that remained was the paper strips that were tied on every tree. I watched the street lights casting white shadows over the earth; paper strips that were tied around the bottom branches of the trees could be seen.
“I think I was here last night.” Kiyu said.
“I was here too,” I replied, “It was the last day of the star festival.”
“No wonder it was really crowded.” he nodded.
“I know right?” I agreed, “I even had to find a tree to tie my wish.”
“So was I!” he chuckled.
We decided to stand by the river. As my attention shifted to the starry sky above, the falling star incident came back to me.
“You know,” I said, “when I watched the light show that night, I looked up to the sky and a star fell down onto me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was looking at a couple of stars that was slightly bigger and brighter than any other stars. Suddenly, one of them literally dropped from the sky and hit me at the back of my head.” I explained, “I know it sounds ridiculous but it’s actually true. I woke up in the hospital right after and I found that no one but me saw the falling star.” I waited for a laugh or even a gasp, but as I turned to him, his eyes were glued intently onto mine.
“That’s not ridiculous at all.” he said, “because I saw them falling from the sky too.”
My eyes widened. “Y…you saw?”
“Yeah,” he replied as he waved his fingers in the air to draw a slanted line, “I was standing at the very front of the river bank when it happened. One of them zoomed to this side. The other one went to the opposite side where I was standing and hit against my forehead. The next thing I knew, I was in a coma for a few hours.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. How come he had a similar story to mine? Was he following a script or was he telling the truth? And then, I remembered the black ink patterns I saw on his arm earlier. Could that be the answer to this mystery?
“I also woke up to this some sort of tattoo, but I had no idea who wrote it.” he gradually showed off his right arm. The quote was in curvy handwriting, yet it looked so familiar. It said:
I wish that love is like a constellation.
“That’s my wish!” I exclaimed.
“Huh?”
“I wrote this on my Tanzaku paper last night! My wish must have been copied onto your arm!”
“But do you know who actually did it?”
“Hmm…it couldn’t be Hana because I was with her. Plus, no one could possibly copy my handwriting.”
“What about yours? Do you have something like this?” he raised his arm in front of him.
“As a matter of fact, I do.” I answered and raised mine next to his. His face lit up with amusement.
“I will search for you in the stars” I read the words, “This is your wish, isn’t it?” He smiled in agreement. He reached his hand out and drew an imaginary line underneath the words on my arm. This touch of his caused my heart to beat irregularly, just like the time when he saved me from falling. Unexpectedly, the tattooed wishes slowly faded and disappeared off our skin like ashes. Kiyu and I stared at what we just saw. In the blink of an eye, a glowing star the size of an actual diamond hovered in front of us.
“Is it UFO?” Kiyu gasped.
“I don’t think so.”
The star bounced lightly in midair and flew away. We seemed to read each other’s minds instantly because we chased it down the lane. It finally stopped in front of one of the bamboo trees. From its brilliant light, I recognized the violet, rectangular paper, which was still intact. What was new to me was a light blue paper tied at the end of a branch next to mine. Both of the papers apparently touched each other like magnets.
“How come our wishes are next to each other?” Kiyu questioned.
“Could it be this star?” I guessed.
“I mean,” he glanced at the sky, “Since we both got hit by a star, I wonder if it has something to do with a ghost.”
“Or,” I added, “it could Orihime and Hikoboshi.”
Kiyu raised one eyebrow as if I were insane. I laughed and pointed at the guide star that was still floating at our faces, “They’re right here! Both Orihime and Hikoboshi are joined together into this star to get us together.”
Kiyu stared at the star for a good minute before he finally snapped his fingers. “Ah! Hikoboshi must be the star who is after me and Orihime must be the one who is after you!” he realized.
“That’s right,” I giggled, “I guess they see us as something more than just acquaintances.”
“Something more, huh?” Kiyu smirked.
My cheeks burned. I quickly looked away. The star shortly flew up back into the sky and turned back into the two special stars in their exact positions, just as Kiyu and I remembered. It was cool to see that the cosmic lovers used such magic to tell us that we will find one another to love for the rest of our lives. Somehow I wished Orihime, the seamstress, and Hikoboshi, the cow herder, were still alive, because I wanted to thank them for making me believe that destiny in love does exist.
As Kiyu and I left the park together, I could never forget how his almond-shaped eyes twinkled in the moonlight, how his smile made my heart go crazy, how his inquisitive aura never failed to amuse me, and how his vision on creativity expanded my views on life. There was so much more I wanted to know about him. I wanted to get closer to him, just like how the Milky Way led the two long-lost characters to eternal love.
No comments:
Post a Comment