Welcome To Tohikayu High 4

Tomoko sighed. As boring as it was, school sure passed by fast. It was already Halloween. Even their days at the boarding house, which was preparing for a Halloween Party, seemed to rush past.

  Tomoko sat in their backyard, under a Sakura tree, staring at the sunset. "It's beautiful, just like the sunset on that day, so many years ago," Tomoko thought to herself. She was reminiscing about the good old days, when her parents where alive, when her siblings were always near her, when he was there for her.

"Tomoko!" Alyss' came from inside the house, "Where are you? The party is going to start soon."

  Tomoko snapped awake, her daydream broken. "I mustn't allow the past to interfere with me, right now," Tomoko silently scolded herself. She stood up slowly and made her way into the house.

Alyss grinned at Tomoko, as she approached her and the rest of their gang. Alyss was wearing a Soul Reaper costume, consisting of a black, ruffled, wrap dress, opening unto a dark red petticoat. She had 2 metal chains attached to the front and back of her dress. A pair of ripped fishnet stockings flaunted off her black and red platform heels. To top off the look, she had her hair in a messy ponytail, with a white, jewel encrusted skull clip, matching the white Death Scythe she was wielding.

  Tomoko's eyes fell upon Hikari, next.

  Hikari was wearing a witch costume. Her black and white dress, which had large white buttons running down the chest, reached just above her knees in the front, while it dropped off in a long train at the back. She wore black, high-heeled, buckled boots, which complimented her white stockings. Her layered sleeves were stylishly slashed at the shoulders. She accentuated the look with a black and white, spider web patterned, sash and a large, black witch's hat.

Tomoko smiled at them, feeling quite shy in her costume. Tomoko wore an elegant, brown and pink traditional kimono. It was patterned with Sakura blossoms and Sakura petals. Red accents peeked out of the soft colors, flaunting the carefully crafted kimono, and the person in it.   The silk shimmered as she walked, giving her outfit a realistic and 3-D look. Her obi belt was embroidered with blossoming flowers and delicate water patterns. To add a finishing touch, she wore a black and yellow headdress, complete with flower clips, and a beautifully carved, dark wood fan.
  
She remembered when Kanade had presented it to her the night before. Kanade had designed and hand crafted all their costumes, and called Tomoko's costume her masterpiece.

"What am I supposed to be?" Tomoko blushed while asking.

  "You'll be an elegant princess from the Edo period," Kanade had replied, giggling.

  
  As the girls gathered together, the boys gave hoots and whistles of approval. Tomoko's cheeks flushed an even more brilliant scarlet. She had to hand it to Kanade, the girl really could make amazing clothes.

"Where are they?" Tomoko asked, referring to the twins.

"They said they'd be coming," Hikari said, "Yupina designed their costumes. I sure hope she doesn't try anything retarded, or I might have to-" Her voice trailed off as she gaped at something behind Tomoko.

Tomoko turned around and came face to face with something she would never forget.

2 of the handsomest boys she had ever seen, stood smiling at them. They were twin bishounens (HOT, DAMN!!!), with blonde hair and blue eyes. They had matching, black, tailcoats, opening unto white, pleated dress shirts, black vests and dark blue bow ties. They had black dress slacks and black leather shoes. They were wearing white gloves and had gold pocket watches poking out of their vest pockets. They were really unnaturally beautiful boys, beautiful enough to pass for beautiful girls, especially with their blonde hair, petite framed bodies, large busts and-

Tomoko shook her head.

Large busts?

Really pretty, blonde twins?

Twins!!!???

Tomoko gasped and was about to speak when-

"KANADE??!! YUPINA??!! IS THAT YOU?" Hikari practically exploded.
  
  Tomoko and Alyss gasped, again. The boys behind them seemed too stunned to speak.

The twin girls (OMG!) grinned.

"Isn't this great?," Yupina asked, smiling, "we wanted to do something special, and cross-dressing for Halloween seemed fun."

"However, we weren't able to hide everything," Kanade grinned, pointing to her chest. "I thought they'd be flat enough to allow me to cross-dress."

  "FLAT??!! HOW IN HEAVEN'S NAME COULD BELIEVE YOURSELF TO BE FLAT??!! " Hikari howled.

  "Well, at least we can attend the party with a decent attempted costume," Yupina said, grinning.

  Hikari snapped. With a loud cry, she made a frenzied grab for the twins. Seizing them roughly by their collars, she dragged them back to their room down the hall, and, ignoring their protests, threw them inside, followed them in, locked the door and proceeded to change their clothes.

Shouts and yells came echoing down the hall from the room.

"KYAA!! I don't want to wear that!"

"You'll wear what I want you to wear!"

"NOO! Anything but that outfit!"

"Ouch! This is too tight!"

"Hell if I care!"

"That hurt!"

"Shut up! It won't hurt so much if you stopped squirming!"

"Help me, somebody!!"

The door opened, and Yupina was thrown out. She was wearing a Cocktail Waitress Bunny outfit. A red, backless number, with a fluffy white bunny tail, black stockings and really, really high heels. She had white, button cuffs on her wrists. Her hair was done with a bow on one of her bunny ears.

"What the &@#$ is this?" she shouted angrily, "I'm sure this is Kanade's outfit, not mine!"

  The door opened, and Kanade came out, pouting. Hikari followed her, panting and red-faced but looking extremely pleased with her handiwork.

  Kanade was wearing a Neko-Musume costume. Her pink and white top was ruffled, with bows and lace. The bodice was tight, and was trimmed with pink ribbons against the white cloth petticoat. The waist was also trimmed with lace. Her skirt was layered with white and pink cloth, ruffled and was really, really short. She had fishnet stockings, fishnet, fingerless gloves, and white and pink button shoes. She also had a pair of white cat ears, pink within, and a white cat tail.

Yupina stared at her sisters' outfit. After a while, she mumbled, "that skirt is useless. It doesn't cover anything." She glared at Yuma and Kasuka, who were eyeing them and had nosebleeds.

  Then, the Halloween Party started.

  Everyone was laughing, playing Truth or Dare and snacking on anything they could get.  A fair few of them were drunk.

Kanade had the lowest alcohol tolerance among them. To be honest, it was a miracle she was still awake. She was dancing on the coffee table, singing "California Girls", slurring and grinning.

Yupina, who was quite drunk, herself, had challenged Alyss to Pole-Dancing contest.

Hikari was in the corner, talking to a house plant.

Ochiyo, who was a wolf, was currently having a drinking contest with Shinu, who was a vampire.

Yuma, who was portraying Nura Rikuo's Night Self, and Kasuka, who was dressed as Vocaloid Len Kagamine, where arguing over the possibility of cross-dressing as girls during Christmas.

  Tomoko smiled to herself. The party was quite fun. She started humming her favorite song.

  "Tomoko," Raiko interrupted me, "Truth or Dare?"

  "Truth," Tomoko smilingly said.

  "What's the name of the song you're humming? It sounds familiar," Raiko said.

  "Inori, You Raise Me Up," Tomoko said dreamily, "A childhood friend of mine translated it into Japanese. He used to sing this with me all the time. He had the most beautiful voice."

  Raiko snickered, "He sounds gay."

  Tomoko flared up, "Hey, don't say that!"

Raiko laughed, "Do you have a crush on him. That guy is really girly! You know, he-"

  SLAP

  Tomoko had slapped him. She was glaring at him and breathing heavily. She ran out in to the garden, dropped herself under the Sakura tree and started to cry.

  Singing started to emit from the house. Somebody was drunk enough to start singing "I'm too Sexy".

  "It seems that no one has noticed my absence," Tomoko thought, bitterly.

  When she was a child and was upset, he would always be there to comfort her. He even translated that song into Japanese because she couldn't understand English back then. But she had loved the tune of the song. It made her feel better whenever she was sad. She was delighted to know that the song had beautiful lyrics as well.

Even now, when she could understand English, she still thought the Japanese version was better. Nothing made her happier than singing with the boy.

Sadly though, when she was separated from her family, she also lost contact with him, and it was so long ago that she already forgotten his name.

She had only the song to remember him by.

All of a sudden, she heard the sounds of the piano, above her on the second floor music room. Whoever was playing could play really well, and they were playing a very familiar piece. A piece that sounded just like Inori.

Leaving the mundane world behind her, Tomoko closed her eyes, and started to sing.
   
  
Urunda hitomi no oku ni
Kawaranu kimi no sugata
"Doko made sekai wa tsudzuku no"
Todaeta hibi no kotoba


She became aware of a male voice intertwining with hers'. The voice sounded familiar.


Kogoeru arashi no yoru mo
Mada minu kimi e tsudzuku
Oshiete umi wataru kaze
Inori wa toki wo koeru
Kasunda chihei no mukou ni
Nemureru hoshi no souwa
"Akenai yoru wa nai yo"


She felt a presence sit down next to her, yet she did not open her eyes.


Ano hi no tsumi ga warau
Furueru kimi wo dakiyose
Todokanu kokuu wo aogu
Kikoeru yami terasu kane
Kimi eto michi wa tooku


She opened her eyes slowly, and was shocked to see Raiko sitting next to her, eyes closed and singing. Impossible, only she and her childhood friend knew the Japanese version. Raiko couldn't possibly know it, unless…


Kogoeru arashi no yoru mo
Mada minu kimi e tsudzuku
Oshiete umi wataru kaze
Inori wa toki wo koeru


Raiko opened his eyes to meet hers'. Their voices blending perfectly, guided by the passionate strumming of the piano.


Kogoeru arashi no yoru mo
Mada minu kimi e tsudzuku
Oshiete umi wataru kaze
Inori wa toki wo koeru
Inori wa toki wo koeru


   The duet ended with a soft high note, their eyes never leaving the others', voicing out the words of longing and regret that they were unable to express all those years.


  Meanwhile, on the second floor, Kanade collapsed in front of the piano. Wind was blowing in through the open balcony, lulling her to sleep.


  "No," Kanade willed herself, "I must stay conscious long enough to do one more thing." Summoning the last of her strength, she materialized a shuriken, and flung it out the open balcony and into the Sakura tree.  Then, she fell asleep.

  
  At that moment, Sakura petals started to fall, gently fluttering to the ground. Tomoko and Raiko said nothing as they leaned onto each other's shoulders, watching silently, as the pink petals swirled around them, glittering in the light of the full moon.