Masaki and the Pudding Factory - Chapter5
"Mom, I don't like being called 'Little one!'" Sho suddenly whined to his mother while grabbing her sleeve tightly. He had tears in his eyes, trying his hardest not to let them fall. Apart from the tears in his eyes, he also had messy hair, showing signs of playing outside with other kids but then suddenly being called 'little one' by other 8th graders that were taller than him.
"Don't worry too much, it's not all that bad, not everyone gets called that," his mom said in a tender voice and then fixed his hair, a gentle smile never fading away while looking at her only son. At hearing this, Sho thought about it, but then frowned, when his mom continued, "you should feel special." 'Special!? There's nothing special about this height!' He thought, still frowning looking down.
"You don't understand a single thing!" His once dried tears came back as he yelled to his mom who was only trying to encourage him. He ran towards the back door, going to the park; a place where he could be alone.
He struggled for a couple of minutes to get to the top of the monkey bars, observing the view from above. "I will never grow..." he told himself in a whisper, discouraging himself, silent tears falling down his chubby cheeks.
Suddenly, there could be footsteps heard near him, he looked to his right as saw another boy trying to climb the monkey bars to sit where he was. 'Great, now I can't be alone...' Sho thought to himself and wiped his tears with the back of his hands. In just what it took Sho to wipe his tears, the boy was already sitting down at the other side of the monkey bars. It seemed obvious how the other kid had no intention of starting a conversation, for he was giving Sho his back and was deep in thought, looking down while playing with his thumbs.
"What are you doing?" Sho finally dared to ask the obvious. The other boy turned around with a pained expression and silently responded with a stupid answer, "Thinking..."
"About what?" Sho wasn't willing to stop the 'conversation' after all, the boy's face seemed intriguing to him.
The only response he got was silence and after a couple of minutes, he asked, "Do you like boys?"
"WHAT!?" Sho was so surprised that he almost fell but luckily he could grab onto something to hold and that something was nothing other than the boy's hand. They composed themselves back in place and the boy continued telling Sho his problems, "I love pudding, so I want to create new flavors. Flavors never known to anyone in the world!" As he continued talking his face became bright, but once he started again, he started getting upset, "but..."
"but?"
"Whenever I tell someone else that, they say that it's impossible, that such a dream is for girls, that I must like boys, that I am girly, that I am gay," after the boy uttered the last word, he suddenly burst into tears.
Not knowing how to comfort him, he told him his problems, "I get called "Little one' by everyone, even by those who are younger than me that are taller," he then added a shy smile.
The boy turned to look at Sho's body and started laughing, saying that he was so tiny. "Let's get down now," Sho advised and with that, both 8th graders jumped down. The other boy landed safely, while Sho on the other hand, failed on landing safely and hurt his knee.
The boy offered his hand and Sho happily took it and got up. As he was checking if his pants had ripped, the other boy had already taken more than 10 steps. Sho could only see his back and then the boy turned around and said in a loud voice with a smile, "Thanks for cheering me up! By the way, my name is...!"
"Sho-san! Sho-san!" Masaki waved his hand in front of Sho's face, expecting a reaction. Once he touched his shoulder Sho came back to reality.
Sho looked awkwardly at his surrounding and said, "Sorry, I was having a flashback..." and then he turned around and continued walking. Behind him, there were two boys who kept looking at him weirdly, and another one completely oblivious of what had just happened.
"It's here!" Sho finally said once arriving in front of a glass door. Beyond the glass door there were trees, grass, countless of rose bushes, a river of pudding and a bridge. "What is this place?" amazed, Jun finally spoke after minutes.
His only reply was a smug on Sho's face, proud of his creation. He then took out his wallet, which was really thick and searched through it. He took one card, tried to open the door, but he failed. He tried again. And again. And Again. Behind him, Nino couldn't help but laugh silently at the man before him who failed to know which was the card to open the door of his own factory. After the 7th try, the door finally opened. Once it was open, a strong sweet smell could not be ignored. For the three men whom were strangers to this smell took deeper breaths through their nose than necessary.
Once they set foot inside, all three oblivious men turned to their feet at the sound of something cracking. In sync, the three of them raised the first feet that stepped on the grass and to their surprise it seemed as if the grass itself was made out of crystals. Sho took notice of their actions and slowness and turned back and told them, "Don't worry about it, it will grow again in an hour. Come on, lets go."
Before he even received a reply, he continued walking. He was then stopped by a caring Masaki who told Sho, "But Nino has sandals, I'm sure it hurts his feet every time he walks..." He turned back to Nino with a worried look. Nino responded with a firm answer, "Are you stupid? I'm perfectly fine," he then continued putting a strong face, showing Masaki he could perfectly walk on this "grass." "See, it doesn't hurt."
Seeing how stubborn Nino was, Masaki gave up, knowing he was a lost case. Sho continued guiding them beyond the factory, still in the same room, and as they walked more and more Masaki's excitement grew as much as Nino's pain.
Nino could no longer restrain his pain, for it became obvious in his face every time he took a step. Sho, who had taken notice of this since the beginning but never said anything, finally told him, "You see those orange with pink rose bushes?" Nino just nodded, not understanding why Sho was just asking him and Sho continued then, "Go behind them and tell him to give you what I had prepared."
"Him?"
"Just go," and following the command of the owner of the pudding factory, Nino went behind the bushes as instructed. Behind the weird shaped bushes, he found a small handle on the floor, probably leading to the basement, Nino assumed.
While the other three went back to viewing the amazing room, Nino slowly knocked. "Yes?" a voice could be heard from below. "S-Sho told me to t-tell you to get what he had prepared earlier," Nino stuttered, wondering just who was he talking to.
Quickly, the squared door opened upward, taking Nino by surprise. One surprise after another was the fact that the person who opened the squared door just now was the exact same person who had opened the front gates for them. He, without saying a single word, saw Nino and went back down, and in a couple of seconds he was there again and placed a pair of shoes in front of Nino, who was now kneeling. Nino then took it that he wanted for him to wear those shoes. And to top it, they were also his exact size, once he finished putting them on, he turned to say thanks to the mysterious man, who just smiled, pleased that it was the right size. "Thank you," Nino did his killer smile, and kissed the man on the cheek and quickly went to where the others were.
The other man stood there, not knowing what had just happened, but quickly let it go and went back to where he was.
Nino steadily walked up to the others and after Sho had finished explaining his "awesome" creation of the grass, he asked, "Who was him?" Even though Sho perfectly knew who he was talking about, he said he had no idea who he was talking about. While Nino was about to say his comeback, that same man appeared. Something seemed weird, he was seeing three of them! He rubbed his eyes, doubting his very own eyesight and opened his eyes again. Now there were five.
He turned, stunned, at Sho, "Why?" was all he managed to say.
No wonder the one I just met seemed different than the first one...
"They're Ohnoes, but I must tell you, they are somewhat air-headed," said Sho with a mysterious laughter at the end.
"Ohnoes?" The three of them said in sync.
"Imported directly from Ohnoes land."
is it just me, or is this chapter longer than normal :S??
&sorry for the lack of Aiba & jun in this chapter :P
I saw the summary (HSJ) concert today, and I found something that I HAVE to share:
(crappy screencap is crappy)
Ohno uchiwa^^♥
now, comments, critics, spam, suggestions, whatever, is always welcomed^^
"Don't worry too much, it's not all that bad, not everyone gets called that," his mom said in a tender voice and then fixed his hair, a gentle smile never fading away while looking at her only son. At hearing this, Sho thought about it, but then frowned, when his mom continued, "you should feel special." 'Special!? There's nothing special about this height!' He thought, still frowning looking down.
"You don't understand a single thing!" His once dried tears came back as he yelled to his mom who was only trying to encourage him. He ran towards the back door, going to the park; a place where he could be alone.
He struggled for a couple of minutes to get to the top of the monkey bars, observing the view from above. "I will never grow..." he told himself in a whisper, discouraging himself, silent tears falling down his chubby cheeks.
Suddenly, there could be footsteps heard near him, he looked to his right as saw another boy trying to climb the monkey bars to sit where he was. 'Great, now I can't be alone...' Sho thought to himself and wiped his tears with the back of his hands. In just what it took Sho to wipe his tears, the boy was already sitting down at the other side of the monkey bars. It seemed obvious how the other kid had no intention of starting a conversation, for he was giving Sho his back and was deep in thought, looking down while playing with his thumbs.
"What are you doing?" Sho finally dared to ask the obvious. The other boy turned around with a pained expression and silently responded with a stupid answer, "Thinking..."
"About what?" Sho wasn't willing to stop the 'conversation' after all, the boy's face seemed intriguing to him.
The only response he got was silence and after a couple of minutes, he asked, "Do you like boys?"
"WHAT!?" Sho was so surprised that he almost fell but luckily he could grab onto something to hold and that something was nothing other than the boy's hand. They composed themselves back in place and the boy continued telling Sho his problems, "I love pudding, so I want to create new flavors. Flavors never known to anyone in the world!" As he continued talking his face became bright, but once he started again, he started getting upset, "but..."
"but?"
"Whenever I tell someone else that, they say that it's impossible, that such a dream is for girls, that I must like boys, that I am girly, that I am gay," after the boy uttered the last word, he suddenly burst into tears.
Not knowing how to comfort him, he told him his problems, "I get called "Little one' by everyone, even by those who are younger than me that are taller," he then added a shy smile.
The boy turned to look at Sho's body and started laughing, saying that he was so tiny. "Let's get down now," Sho advised and with that, both 8th graders jumped down. The other boy landed safely, while Sho on the other hand, failed on landing safely and hurt his knee.
The boy offered his hand and Sho happily took it and got up. As he was checking if his pants had ripped, the other boy had already taken more than 10 steps. Sho could only see his back and then the boy turned around and said in a loud voice with a smile, "Thanks for cheering me up! By the way, my name is...!"
"Sho-san! Sho-san!" Masaki waved his hand in front of Sho's face, expecting a reaction. Once he touched his shoulder Sho came back to reality.
Sho looked awkwardly at his surrounding and said, "Sorry, I was having a flashback..." and then he turned around and continued walking. Behind him, there were two boys who kept looking at him weirdly, and another one completely oblivious of what had just happened.
"It's here!" Sho finally said once arriving in front of a glass door. Beyond the glass door there were trees, grass, countless of rose bushes, a river of pudding and a bridge. "What is this place?" amazed, Jun finally spoke after minutes.
His only reply was a smug on Sho's face, proud of his creation. He then took out his wallet, which was really thick and searched through it. He took one card, tried to open the door, but he failed. He tried again. And again. And Again. Behind him, Nino couldn't help but laugh silently at the man before him who failed to know which was the card to open the door of his own factory. After the 7th try, the door finally opened. Once it was open, a strong sweet smell could not be ignored. For the three men whom were strangers to this smell took deeper breaths through their nose than necessary.
Once they set foot inside, all three oblivious men turned to their feet at the sound of something cracking. In sync, the three of them raised the first feet that stepped on the grass and to their surprise it seemed as if the grass itself was made out of crystals. Sho took notice of their actions and slowness and turned back and told them, "Don't worry about it, it will grow again in an hour. Come on, lets go."
Before he even received a reply, he continued walking. He was then stopped by a caring Masaki who told Sho, "But Nino has sandals, I'm sure it hurts his feet every time he walks..." He turned back to Nino with a worried look. Nino responded with a firm answer, "Are you stupid? I'm perfectly fine," he then continued putting a strong face, showing Masaki he could perfectly walk on this "grass." "See, it doesn't hurt."
Seeing how stubborn Nino was, Masaki gave up, knowing he was a lost case. Sho continued guiding them beyond the factory, still in the same room, and as they walked more and more Masaki's excitement grew as much as Nino's pain.
Nino could no longer restrain his pain, for it became obvious in his face every time he took a step. Sho, who had taken notice of this since the beginning but never said anything, finally told him, "You see those orange with pink rose bushes?" Nino just nodded, not understanding why Sho was just asking him and Sho continued then, "Go behind them and tell him to give you what I had prepared."
"Him?"
"Just go," and following the command of the owner of the pudding factory, Nino went behind the bushes as instructed. Behind the weird shaped bushes, he found a small handle on the floor, probably leading to the basement, Nino assumed.
While the other three went back to viewing the amazing room, Nino slowly knocked. "Yes?" a voice could be heard from below. "S-Sho told me to t-tell you to get what he had prepared earlier," Nino stuttered, wondering just who was he talking to.
Quickly, the squared door opened upward, taking Nino by surprise. One surprise after another was the fact that the person who opened the squared door just now was the exact same person who had opened the front gates for them. He, without saying a single word, saw Nino and went back down, and in a couple of seconds he was there again and placed a pair of shoes in front of Nino, who was now kneeling. Nino then took it that he wanted for him to wear those shoes. And to top it, they were also his exact size, once he finished putting them on, he turned to say thanks to the mysterious man, who just smiled, pleased that it was the right size. "Thank you," Nino did his killer smile, and kissed the man on the cheek and quickly went to where the others were.
The other man stood there, not knowing what had just happened, but quickly let it go and went back to where he was.
Nino steadily walked up to the others and after Sho had finished explaining his "awesome" creation of the grass, he asked, "Who was him?" Even though Sho perfectly knew who he was talking about, he said he had no idea who he was talking about. While Nino was about to say his comeback, that same man appeared. Something seemed weird, he was seeing three of them! He rubbed his eyes, doubting his very own eyesight and opened his eyes again. Now there were five.
He turned, stunned, at Sho, "Why?" was all he managed to say.
No wonder the one I just met seemed different than the first one...
"They're Ohnoes, but I must tell you, they are somewhat air-headed," said Sho with a mysterious laughter at the end.
"Ohnoes?" The three of them said in sync.
"Imported directly from Ohnoes land."
is it just me, or is this chapter longer than normal :S??
&sorry for the lack of Aiba & jun in this chapter :P
I saw the summary (HSJ) concert today, and I found something that I HAVE to share:
(crappy screencap is crappy)
Ohno uchiwa^^♥
now, comments, critics, spam, suggestions, whatever, is always welcomed^^