The Lost Fruit

Chapter 2

She disappeared.

She just disappeared.

No trails, no letters, not even one.

After the finals they looked for her all day long but they never found her. When they went to the locker, a slightly hanging door is swinging. They checked the contents and found her things still there except her wallet and the phone. They thought she went to calm her head and decided to go to city, so they give up their searching. The next day, everyone on the team needed their guardians consent to go to London so they didn't see each other. The second day, they approached the dorm lady and found out that she passed a notice of leave and went out to go see her family so they proceeded to go to her house. Arriving there, they notice an absence of light and promptly knocked the door to find it locked. Curious, Cafe, Chocolat, and Mint began finding a way inside a chimney and began their trek on the humble house. They found Ichigo's belongings inside her room and told the others what they have seen.

"I see," Hanabusa paused. "I think Ichigo-chan is with her family. Maybe we can see each other by the next week."

"Then I hold on to that. I will be visiting my uncle's chacolatier to help him before I leave Japan again."

"But I can't help but be worried about her. Usually, she will try to inform one of us through calls or messages but none of it was delivered nor send to us. Now that I thought about it, how about Vanilla?" Lemon asked.

"I don't know. The person who can contact her more often is Chocolat-senpai." Mint look at the black haired spirit.

Everyone followed the younger spirit action. With so much stares directed at her, Chocolat can't help but be annoyed at the attention. "Ahh!!Stop looking at me!! I will do it!I will do it!"

She held out her fork to send a message to Ichigo's sweet spirit. An hour passed by before a message  was passed to her.

"...she's fine...That's the message."

"It seems that she is still depressed." Cafe worriedly said.

"Seriously?!"

"She's not over it?"

"But what I am curious is that Vanilla never send me a message this long. Usually, it will be a few seconds or 30 minutes if she's daydreaming. This is the longest one." Chocolat paused and looked at her fork in a curious fashion. " she send me a message again she said.... Ichigo will call later."

"Then the problem is solved. We will meet later then."

"Agreed!" The two blondes chorused.

*****
"I just hope she will not be angry.." Vanilla glanced at her side. Though shadowed with a silhouette, she can still recognize the brunette girl she choose as a partner.

"Ichigo...."

*****
"Moshi-moshi?"

"...Kashino..?"

"Amano?"

"Hai. It is me."

"Are you still wallowing yourself in the defeat?"

"... A little bit.."

Something doesn't feel right.

"I want to inform you that the flight to the London will be next week, so meet me at the airport with the others."

Something is lacking.

"...un..."

And he doesn't like this feeling.

"Have you eaten yet?"

Conversations with her isn't awkward like this.

"...un..."

All her responses lacking the cheerfulness  that brightens his day.

"I see.." No bites were present on the teen's usual hard tone.

"...Kashino??..."

"Yeah?"

"... I'm not going to London."

"Pardon?" Hell after all the hard work the brunette gave and yet she don't want to go to her destination. "Why??!!"

"I...want to study more about Japanese customs. It seems I am lacking enough that I don't deserved to go to this trip."

"I see. Then I will stay too."

"Huh??"

The theme in the finals were wedding cakes and something related to the Japanese confectioneries. To be honest, they know they lucked it out when they won the match. Especially if the opponent is a well known shop who sell Japanese confectionaries on their daily lives.

"You can't."

"And tell me one reason that I can't?"

"... Because you earned the right to go to London."

"AND SO DO YOUU!!!" Kashino cannot take his anger anymore. Amano is a complete pain in the ass. Although she messed up with her assigned task, they still didn't know that they would win it if it weren't for her indigenous idea of designs in the cake. After all, her designs is famous for being known as the designs that can touch a heart by her peers.

"SHUT UUUUPPP!!!YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M EXPERIENCING RIGHT NOW!!!" Ichigo exploded. "I KNOW IT, I KNOW IT!! THAT'S WHY PLEASE, PLEASE LET ME HAVE SOME TIME ALONE TO THINK!!" And with that he can't hear the voice of Ichigo now.

Kashino is taken aback. This is the first time she have spoken with such hatred and anger. Although they argue with each other more times than he can count off but still, she never screamed at him with such tone as she gave him. Determined to have an answer to her unexpected behavior, he called her a lot of times before his call was picked up.

"Amano??!"

"Go here now." And with that the call ended.

The voice was familiar yet demanding. Like his...like his.....

Bolting out of his seat, he immediately headed to the bus that can take him to his least favorite place. It doesn't sound right. He knows that Ichigo knows just how much he dislikes being with them. She will not just go to the place she knows that he hates. She even experienced the time when he was kidnapped by her in middle school. It was an embarrassing incident.

Back to the topic. There must be something that happened. Something that made the once cheerful, airhead girl to give such an emotionless tone and curse him. Earlier words from Hanabusa came to him as he searched for reasons.

"I see," Hanabusa paused. "I think Ichigo-chan is with her family. Maybe we can see each other by the next week."

'I just hope that she is alright...!'

But in the end you can only hope to believe what is different from the truth.

*****