Word Count : 2363
School had just finished and Tohru and I were heading up the mountain to the house.
"Octo-sensei!" A voice rang out above us.
"Oh, Mitchan-san..." Tohru says but before she could say anything else Shigure's editor zoomed past us.
"Did she just yell Octo-sensei?" I ask looking behind me where Mitchan was running off too.
"Oh no!" Someone screams above us. We ran up to where the screaming was coming from. There in front of the house was a woman wearing a green kimono. Her hair was tied up with a bow and she had books scared across the ground. "My bag! The bottom of my bag broke!" The woman screams. Tohru and I headed over and started picking up the books on the ground.
"Oh, please let us help you." I told her.
"N-no, that's too much to ask."
"Nonsense, we help each other when we're in trouble." Tohru adds.
"I'm sorry. I always cause nothing but trouble for the people around me. I'm already sorry for breathing. And here I am making you help me. I'm terribly sorry." The woman mumbles
This person reminds me of someone. But from where?
"I'll apologize! I'll apologize to all the world! I'm sorry!" The woman starts screaming.
"Are you Ritchan-san?" Tohru asks
---
"What is your child like?" Tohru asks. The proprietress pauses before starting to yell again.
"I'm so sorry. I understand the world's condemnation, but my only child is precious to me and a deeply kind person at heart! I will apologize!"
"I'm sorry! I won't ask anymore questions!" Tohru tells but she continues to yell
"I'll apologize to all the world!"
---
"Right, the proprietress from the hot spring's kid." I gasp.
"Oh not even strangers know my name. Am I that infamous?!" Ritsu yells.
"No it's..." Tohru tries to say.
"I've been living in careless ignorance this whole time! I apologize for causing trouble to everyone who shares my name!" Ritsu panics. The door to the house opens and Shigure sticks his head out.
"Oh. Why are you here, Ritchan?" Shigure asks. There was a moment of silence before Ritsu went back to shouting.
"I apologize! Someone like me shouldn't be visiting! I'm sorry!"
---
Eventually Ritsu calmed down and we were all seated inside the house, all except the boys who had yet to arrive home from school.
"This is rare! You're usually timid, but you decided to visit." Shigure points out.
"Y-yes, I'm sorry I caused so much trouble for Tohru-san and Ami-san earlier." Ritsu apologizes.
"No, not at all." I say.
"I'm glad to meet you!" Tohru says, placing tea on the table for us.
"So what prompted the sudden visit?" Shigure asks.
"Huh? Am I intruding?"
"Yeah." He smiles.
"I'm sorry! I'll go home immediately!" Ritsu yells and is about to take off but Shigure grabs the sleeve of the kimono.
"Just kidding. It was a joke."
"That wasn't very nice." I told him. After a moment Ritsu calms down a bit.
"So why the sudden visit?"
"Well, I hear that most of the zodiac members already met Tohru-san, not to mention I've met everyone of the zodiac but Ami-san. So I thought it would be rude not to properly introduce myself." Ritsu explains before bowing to Tohru and I. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Ritsu Sohma. You met my mother before."
"Please, to meet you, too. I'm Tohru Honda."
"And I'm Ami Sato."
"Oh, it's not much so I brought this." Ritsu says
"Is it a gift?"
"Yes, I considered getting fruit, but I didn't know what you liked, so I got books on fruit instead." Ritsu explains putting the books that were dropped earlier on the table. It was silent. "Wh-What? Oh, I'm sorry, is it a bad gift? Have I caused you trouble?"
"No, not at all." Shigure says, his tone sounding angry. Ritsu panics and tries to run out again.
"I'm sorry! I'll go buy some fruit!" Ritsu yells but is stopped when Shigure grabs the edge of the kimono again.
"I'm just kidding."
"I knew it, I shouldn't have come!" Ritsu cries, before face planting on the table and crying.
"Don't say that." Shigure says, looking through one of the books.
"I actually find this helpful. You never know when you might need books on fruit." I told her.
"Yes, and I really wanted to meet you, Ritsu-chan. So the fact that you came to visit makes me truly happy." Tohru adds.
"Thank you very much." Ritsu says, lifting her head off the table.
"I see you still take after your mother, the way you panic so easily. You'll become a working adult soon, you know." Shigure mentions.
"Yes, I'm sorry..."
"Don't you also feel like you should toughen up?" Shigure wonders.
"Y-yes of course! I want to have more confidence in myself. And one day, I hope to be overflowing with confidence, like Aya-niisan" Ritsu explains.
"Ah that's impossible ." Shigure replies bluntly.
"Why? Is it an unreachable dream?"
"Aya's self-confidence is far beyond human levels." Shigure explains.
"I-I see..." Ritsu says, looking at the floor.
"Anyway, you apologize too quickly, Ritchan."
"Sorry."
"See, you did it again!" Shigure yells pointing his fan at Ritsu's face. "Let's do this: As a first step to a better you, you are now banned from reflectively apologizing."
"Can you even do that?" I wonder.
"Tohru-kun, you'll cheer Ritchan on, right?"
"Huh? Oh yes!"
"I will take on the challenge!" Ritsu says.
"I'm home!" Yuki calls out.
"Oh, Yuki-kun came home at the perfect time. Ritchan, time for your first test." Shigure says.
"But I need to prepare myself emotionally..."
"Ritchan-san, you can do it!" Tohru encourages. Yuki then proceeds to walk in the door.
"Oh, Ritsu. What are you doing here?"
"You're right. The likes of me shouldn't be here, should I?!"
"No, that's not what I meant." Yuki mumbles but it is barely audible over Ritsu's yelling.
"Ritchan-san!" Tohru calls out, and Ritsu calms down.
"Yuki-san, you're starting to look a lot more like Aya-niisan." Ritsu says and Yuki starts walking away.
"Have a nice day."
"What? Did I do something wrong?!" Ritsu panics
"Not at all." Yuki glares
"Oh, no! I'm sorry." Ritsu shouts. The sound of the door opens meaning that Kyo was now home.
"Oh, it's Kyo-kun. Ritchan, pull yourself together and try again." Shigure says
"What are you doing here, Ritsu?"
"You're right! The likes of me shouldn't be here..."
"This is starting to get repetitive." I mumble. Rintsu finally calms down once more.
"I came to introduce myself to Tohru-san and Ami-san. Um, Kyo-san, I'm glad for you. You get along with Yuki-san enough now that you can live together." Ritsu says
"We don't get along!" The boys say at the same time, glaring at Ritsu.
"I'm sorry!" Ritsu cries and Shigure starts laughing
"I take back that you get along!"
"Shigure, please stop laughing."
"I'm sorry! I'm leaving now. I knew it! Someone as worthless as me shouldn't be visiting here! I'll be taking my leave now! I apologize for staying so long!" Ritsu shouts about to run out of the house.
"Wait! Please!"Tohru says, grabbing onto Ritsu and hugging her. A pale green smoke fills the room and Tohru falls back. "B-B-But you're a woman. Why, I thought only males transformed when I hugged them?" Tohru stutters utterly confused.
"Now that I remember correctly didn't the proprietress say her son was a member of the zodiac." I say. The smoke disappears and there is a monkey standing on top of Ritsu's clothing.
"I am so sorry!"
---
After waiting a while for Ritsu to return back to normal, the situation was explained.
"Okay, Tohru-kun, here's the thing: Ritchan is male. But he's worn girl's clothes since he was young." Shigure explains.
"Oh, I see. But why wear girls' clothes?" Tohru asks.
"Wearing girls' clothes makes me feel calmer. At the beginning I just wanted to try it. But once I did, I felt more at peace that way, I couldn't stop. I'm sorry, I'm embarrassed of myself." Ritsu tells us.
"Please don't be! It suits you, really! You are beautiful!" Tohru tells him.
"Tohru-kun, I don't know if that helps much."
"You'll be working soon, though. Will you be wearing girls' clothes?" Yuki wonders.
"I suppose I shouldn't, should I...?"
"Hey, why don't you kids change clothes? No sense in staying in your school uniforms." Shigure suggests.
"Yeah, I'll do that." Yuki says and both him and Kyo head upstairs.
"Me too."
"Please excuse me." Tohru says and we go upstairs.
---
I was finished getting dressed and was making my way to the stairs. Tohru was already in the hall when we heard yelling coming from downstairs.
"That sounds like Shigure's editor." I point out. The two of us headed downstairs where Yuki was already looking outside.
"Mitchan-san." Tohru says while looking at Shigure's editor outside with Ritsu. The door leading to the porch opens and Shigure sticks his head out of the house.
"Why hello Mitchan. How are you?" He greets.
"S-S-Sensei!" She cries, running over to him. "Why didn't you just come out?!" She whines.
"Well, might you ask that." He laughs.
Eventually we got everyone back inside the house. Tohru was making tea and I was getting glasses and plates for everyone that wanted some.
"Sensei, the manuscript! Do you have it?" Mitchan asks.
"Of course I do." He says showing the stacks of paper. "Here." he says, handing it over.
"Thank you very much! It's done."
"Mitchan-san is Shigure's editor."
"What?! I apologize for not knowing you're his editor and getting in the way of his work!" Ritsu shouts standing up quickly. "I'm so sorry!" Ritsu steps back knocking into Tohru who was carrying a tray of drinks out of Tohru's hands and the go spilling on the table. Right on the manuscript. Mitchan proceeds to yell and freak out till she passes out on the floor.
"Mitchan-san!"
"Please wake up!"
"Noooooooo!" Ritsu yells running outside. Ritsu ran past Kyo who was outside stretching.
"Oi, what is he doing?!" Kyo asks as we rush outside. There on the roof of the house was Ritsu.
"Ritchan-san!" Tohru calls out.
"You need to get down! It's not safe!" I yell.
"Oh, my."
"I ruined the manuscript that's dearer to the editor than her life. Only through death can I atone for my sin." Ritsu says.
"Honda-san, calm down." Yuki says as Tohru was passing back and forth in a panic.
"Furthermore, I have let everyone down, despite the many chances they gave me. Oh, why is it that all I do is cause trouble for those around me for no good reason?"
"We're in that exact situation right now."
"R-Ritchan! No one is angry so please come down!"
"No. I've been like this since I was a child. Just having a zodiac spirit caused enough people trouble. On top of that I was a crybaby and a coward. I was clumsy in everything I did. My parents were always apologizing because of me. A person... a person like me should give up on life. But I don't even have the courage to do that. I'm utterly useless, and yet I have the extraordinary nerve to stay alive. It makes me so frustrated with myself."
"You don't need that kind of courage!" Tohru says, making her way across the roof.
"When did Tohru get on the roof?" I panic.
"Honda-san!"
"What's wrong with having that nerve? Because... Because people are alive! And that's why we can cry or worry, or feel joy." Tohru explains. She slowly starts crawling across the roof trying not to fall.
"But I'm just alive. There's probably no reason someone like me was born."
"You're looking for that reason." Tohru stands up. "Deep down, you're probably desperately searching for that reason. Looking for it on your own! I think maybe no one is born already having a reason to be here. Because I think it might be something you need to find and decide for yourself." Tohru takes a step forward and slips. She goes tumbling down the roof. She stops herself by grabbing the edge of the roof holding herself on the roof.
"Honda-san!"
"Tohru!" She slowly pulls herself back onto the roof.
"Maybe... Maybe you can find the reason in a dream, or in a job, or in others. Sometimes maybe the reason you find feels vague and uncertain and unstable." she says while standing up once more.
"Tohru please be careful." I mumble.
"But as long as you're alive, you want a reason. I get it. I want one, too." Tohru says holding her hand out to Ritsu. "Because if you have the nerve to live, you might meet the person who wants to be with you the most."
"I wonder if someone like me can find a reason. I hope I can find one someday. I agree with you, it'd be nice if I could live for someone else's sake." Ritsu smiles, taking Tohru's hand. They made their way down from the roof and we all headed back inside where Mitchan was still lying on the floor passed out.
---
It was a few minutes before she finally woke up. When she finally opened her eyes, bolting off the floor.
"Mitchan-san!"
"Are you alright?"
"Where's the manuscript?!" She panics.
"I'm rewriting it now." Shigure responds, from his office as he did his work.
"Sensei!"
"I'll be finished in about an hour. Get some takoyaki for me, will you?"
"On it!"
"Ritchan, it's dark out, so why don't you go with her." Shigure smiles.
"Huh? Oh okay."
---
Once they got back with the takoyaki, Shigure started eating the food.
"Delicious!" He cheers.
"Uh, Sensei. The manuscript?" Mitchan asks.
"Tohru-kun, open wide." Shigure says offering her some food like he was going to feed her.
"Please stop messing around."
"Sensei, hurry up and finish it!" Mitchan yells.
"Please, finish it up with takoyaki power!" Ritsu agrees.
"That's right, Sensei! Become a takoyaki warrior and zoom through-"
"Just kidding, it was a joke." he smiles showing her the completed work. "I'm already done."
"Sensei! Thank you so much!" Mitchan cheers, taking it from him.
"Isn't it great Mitchan-san?"
"Ritchan-san, thank you very much!"
"Oh no, it was my fault to begin with."
"If it's okay with you, will you be my friend?"
"Are you sure you want me as your friend?"
"Yes, please! Please teach me how to wear a kimono sometime. I want to learn how to be more feminin like you!" She smiles.
"Mitchan. Ritchan's a boy." Shigure says, interrupting their conversation.
"Wha-" She says looking back at Ritsu. Ritsu had gone red once more at the embarrassment of the truth. "O-O-Oh... I'm sorry I thought you were a girl! I'm sorry." She panics.
"I'm sorry! I apologize that my clothes are confusing." Ritsu apologizes.
"No, it's that your so beautiful, so I made assumptions."
"When will they stop?"
"I can't do much but I'll happily show you how to wear a kimono, or we can do something else together."
"Thank you! I'll look forward to it."
"I-I'll look forward to it, too!" Ritsu smiles.