Reincarnated Into Anime World

Golden Week is the term for the week that encompasses four of Japan's 15 national holidays. It begins with Showa Day, then continues with Constitution Day, Greenery Day, and Children's Day. These holidays celebrate former Emperor Hirohito's birthday (April 29), his love of plants (May 4), and the induction of the Japanese Constitution (May 3, 1947). The Children's Day's origins (May 5), however, are far more ancient. Although it's called "children's day", it is also referred to as Boys' Day or the Feast of Banners.

This year, Golden Week is celebrated from April 29 to May 5, and it was also a special week since our parents are finally going to bring us to meet the last of our relatives from our mother's side - our grandparents.

Contrary to what I thought, our grandparents weren't dead. It couldn't be helped. After all, I have never even heard of my parents mentioning my grandparents, much less visiting them.

Anyway, I have finally started my second year of Junior High, and because I have already befriended almost everyone in my year, I had no problem ȧssimilating into my class.

The only unfortunate thing was that Shouko and Kaori were in different classes this year.

What a pity...

Almost a month has passed since the start of the new school term. After re-adjusting ourselves to the life of a second-year, it was time for holidays again.

I can't deny that I didn't want holidays. In fact, if possible, I wished school didn't exist at all. Ah, the fantasy of countless young boys and girls...

Wait, maybe holopsicon can change this? I'll change the fate of the person who invented school to ensure school never existed...

But on second thoughts, never mind. Screwing with the past is a lot more complicated than it sounds, and it would bring about a ton of paradoxes that would only screw my mind over.

I'm sorry, young boys and girls all over the world. I prayed internally for a minute before recovering.

"We'll be taking the plane." My father announced as he packed his luggage.

"Eh? The plane? We can afford that?"

"Nah~. Your grandparents are wealthy, so they'll be providing. But since they are a bit...special, they can't spare much of their wealth for us, hence our living situation. There are also more reasons, but you don't have to know them just yet." My father let out a wry smile, "Don't blame them for us being not-so-wealthy."

"Don't worry. I never blamed anyone for our poorness."

"Yay! Pwane! Pwane! Fwhoosh fwhoosh!" Uzuki raised her little cat plushy like a plane and started clambering about in her crib, imitating a plane.

"Fwhoosh!" Satsuki repeated her twin sister's last words and followed after her, raising her own cat plushy as well.

Both had just celebrated their one-year-old birthdays at the start of the year, so they still couldn't do much apart from clambering in their crib and imitating our noise. But it was this that made them adorable. Just imagine two balls of adorableness rolling about as they raised their plushies into the air.

Ah~ The serene feeling that you get...

"We shall fwoosh as well!" Raiha and Yuzuru, for some reason, decided to join in the little fun as well, raising the plushies that I earned for them a few years ago and running in circles around the table.

It was a cute sight, seeing the older sisters imitating their younger sister, but we had a flight to catch. So, our mother stopped their little game and placed the twins on a troller to ensure that they wouldn't run about, not that they could even walk in the first place. At most, they could crawl, albeit bȧrėly. The troller also acted as a "bed" if they ever felt tired and wanted to sleep.

"Morning, Kaori-chan~. I see that you have dressed up well. You look cute."

"Fuu-kun! Good morning!" Kaori went out of the taxi and hugged me, exclaiming, "I'm very excited to go to Kyoto! I missed out on the school trip in elementary school, but I'm going to enjoy my time there this week!"

That's right, my grandparents live in Kyoto. What a coincidence! Makes you wonder why I never saw them in Kyoto before.

[A/N: Indeed, what a coincidence.]

Kaori's family is also going to Kyoto, not because they wanted to visit my grandparents or anything, but simply because they decided to have their vacation in Kyoto.

Since we were traveling to the same destination, our parents opted to travel together. The more, the merrier, after all.

"I know you kids are excited, but save your excitement for Kyoto. We have a flight to catch and a meal to eat before that." My father smiled as he finished placing all our luggage into the trunk, "Let's go."

∞

"Ah~." Uzuki opened her mouth as a little "airplane" entered her mouth.

"Ah~." Satsuki followed her sister's example and opened her mouth with another "airplane" entering her mouth.

We were having breakfast at the airport before the flight, and my parents were each taking care of the twin. Though it can get messy sometimes since they were still taking liquidy food, it still had a particular atmosphere that made us feel warm and comfortable. With everyone around the long table chatting harmoniously and having their own fun, it was warm.

In fact, it was so warm that some of the other customers present were also staring at us with smiles, appreciating the sight before them.

"Mum, can you tell us more about our grandparents?"

My mother looked at me and smiled, "Of course. Your grandparents are a bit...eccentric. One is rather cold, and the other is a pervert."

"Pervert...? Is it grandfather?"

"Yes. You don't have to worry, though. He acts very toughly in front of other people, and it only a pervert to his own wife." My mother replied with a reminiscing look, "They have a whole tale of history behind them, but I'll let them tell it to their grandchildren by themselves."

Now I'm interested in their so-called story. A romantic story is always welcomed, after all.

"Is grandma pretty?" Raiha asked curiously.

"Very. My mother is a very cool beauty, always maintaining her stern expression in front of others, but very kind with her family."

"Woah!" Raiha giggled as she imagined her grandma in her head, "I wanna meet with grandma!"

"Yes, I'm sure you do." My mother rubbed Raiha's head before turning her attention back to Uzuki, who made a mess out of the food provided.

Satsuki, on the other hand, was a much more well-behaved and quiet twin in comparison. The only problem is that she tended to imitate her more naughty twin too much, causing her to make a mess most of the time.

"No, don't chew on that, Satsuki." My mother lightly reprimanded Uzuki as she took away the hard toy from her hands. Uzuki only looked curiously at her hands which were missing the toy, before turning to look at her mother. She waved her hands about in the air and let out a giggle, thinking that it was fun to see her toy missing.

Satsuki, hearing her sister giggle, started her own fit of laughing as well. I don't think she understood what she was laughing for, but it didn't stop her from feeling happy.

Such pure baby happiness, I had already lost it a long time ago.

Even my mother couldn't remain "angry" for a long after hearing the twins laugh. Following their laughter, the already-light-hearted atmosphere turned even sweeter, as I could start to see a bright yellow glow in the background of us.

What the hell?

I think some of the other customers who were rapidly blinking were also shocked at the appearance of the warm yellow glow that seemed to be visible to everybody but my family.

"Fuu-kun! There's a piano there!" Kaori's excited voice sounded as she pointed towards a certain direction, prompting me to turn to look at it as well.

"Let's go play!"

"Eh?"

"Com'on, Fuu-kun. Don't be lazy."

Lazy? How is not wanting to play the piano lazy? If I didn't want to practice, then that would be considered "lazy". But this?

But looking at my mother's expecting eyes, I just sighed.

"Fine."

"Yay!"

The piano was located at a raised platform in the middle of what seemed to be an event happening. It was a decoration where tourists could come and take photos with the background scenery, and the piano was there to just "enhance the beauty". And maybe let us play as well.

"So? What do you want me to play?"

"Let's play together! I've been trying out the piano recently, and I want to play with you!" Planting herself to the left of me, Kaori spoke.

"What song have you been practicing?"

"Howl's moving castle! Let's play together!" Taking out her phone, she sent me a copy of the score for a four-handed arrangement. Looking through the score, it seemed relatively simple.

"I'll play the accompaniment, and you play the melody."

"You don't want to play the melody?" I asked.

"The accompaniment is easier. I can't play something that complicated yet. I'll definitely mess up."

The bass isn't as easy as Kaori thought it would be, but I'll let her find that out herself. It's not like this is a competition anyway.

"If you say so."

And so, we breathed in and breathed out and started playing at the same time. We didn't need to have any words between us; this wasn't our first time playing together.

This was a relatively easy four-hand arrangement. The only main problem was the coordination must be impeccable. Still, like I just said, we were very familiar with each other.

Initially, only our families were watching at first. But as we played along, more and more people started to notice us and gathered at a reasonable distance away to watch us play.

"Fuu-kun..."

"Relax, Kaori-chan. Just breathe." I quietly muttered as we played, "Imagine them all as nothing but potatoes. This is not our first time performing."

"But this is the piano!" Kaori whisper-shouted.

"You're doing fine. Just play like how you practiced, and I'll do the rest."

I wasn't just joking when I said I'd do the rest. I have already memorized the score due to my eidetic memory. And with my almost-maxed-out proficiency in piano, I could almost perfectly play this piece for both parts.

Usually, this wouldn't do much if one person failed to do his job. But if Kaori was my partner, that was no problem.

Hell, I even know where she would mess up and slow down slightly for her. And in the places I know that she would miss out and cause an obvious discomfort for the audience, I'll also play her part for her.

It's my unique personal ability with my loved ones.

It's an enjoyable song for beginners, and seeing Kaori having so much fun that she seemed as though she had forgotten that she was playing in front of a crowd at the last minute of the song, I also smiled.

A round of applause was heard when we finally finished, and Kaori spaced out slightly before waving enthusiastically to the crowd.

"Thank you!" Kaori and I both bowed to the audience before leaving for our flight. The smiles on our faces couldn't be concealed.

∞

"This is my first time on a plane."

"Me too," Shouko replied to Kaori as both of their faces were plastered at the small windows, one seat behind the other. They were very curious about the feeling of a plane, but even when the aircraft had not taken off, it already felt so fascinating to them.

The small and uncomfortable seat, the tightly packed rows of seats, the overhead cabin for our luggage, the little table that could be extended from the back of the seat in front of them were all the little things that fascinated the younger girls.

"Sit tight, girls. You have to follow the instructions when the plane takes off. Although it's probably safe, you still shouldn't risk anything."

"Hai~!" The girls agreed, but their faces were still planted towards the window. I don't know what's so fun out there, but I guess it's just their curiosity working hard to find something out there for them to be entertained. It's still better than looking at nothing but clouds, I guess.

We weren't even leaving the country, so the entire plane flight was just less than an hour. It was also why our grandparents could afford it for us; it was really cheap (compared to regular plane flights outside the country, that is).

Really though, I wouldn't mind the bullet train, though it might take longer.

"Attention all passengers, this is your captain speaking."

And so, with the captain's opening "speech", our plane journey started.

*****************

A/N: Just search on youtube for Howl's moving castle - Merry go round of life [4 hands piano arrangement] by Piano Sandbox.

I wasn't planning to post today, but it is what it is. Enjoy~! I'm very tempted to ask you guys to guess who the grandparents are, but I'm afraid I'll have to post tomorrow again if I actually give you guys incentives.

There's no promise, but I'll try my best if you guys can really guess with next to nothing clues.