A hundred little love poems
Chihayafuru crossover, for @meitanteisachi and @dreamautonomy.
The karuta club practiced in the gymnasium, on thick blue mats that smelled like sweat. A dozen or so students milled on the exercise mats, stretching, talking, their shoes lined up neatly along the edges, while the two club presidents pored over a piece of paper — the afternoon’s schedule, presumably, for today’s joint practice.
“It’s nothing like tatami, of course,” a chubby third-year girl was saying to one of the visiting students. The two of them stood close to Shinichi and Ran’s seats in the bleachers. The third-year gestured to the blue expanse. “I heard Mizusawa has actual mats and a dedicated room.”
“It’s just an old storage room, really!” said the visitor, a tall, svelte girl in her club’s blue T-shirt. “And the tatami are hand-me-downs from the Shiranami Society. Taichi and I hauled them all the way from the parking lot!”
This girl... Shinichi was sure he’d seen her before somewhere, but his normally impeccable memory was failing him. He glanced at Ran — Ran, who hadn’t touched a karuta card since elementary school. Who had insisted on watching the karuta club practice today. (“Mizusawa are the national champions, Shinichi! Won’t it be interesting?” Yeah. Bullshit.) Ran, whose eyes were fixed almost nervously on the girl Shinichi couldn’t place for the life of him.
On the other side of the mats, one of the club presidents, a boy with light-brown hair falling into his eyes, straightened up. “Oy, Chihaya,” he called, waving the paper, “come look at the matchups.”
Chihaya… that didn’t ring a bell.
Ran was still watching the girl named Chihaya. As if sensing his attention, she turned to Shinichi with a smile. “They look alike, don’t they?”
“Who?” Shinichi asked, going for the direct approach.
“We…ell, you know how Sonoko’s birthday is coming up, and there’s that model she likes? The one who acts in late-night dramas sometimes?”
Shinichi thought a bit, then laughed, his old assurance reasserting itself. “Ayase Chitose-san? If you can call it acting! A wooden board could emote better— ow!” he hissed, as Ran’s heel came down hard on his foot.
On the other side of the mats, Chihaya’s head was turning with all the surety and menace of a serpent preparing to strike. Her gaze locked with Shinichi’s.
She wasn’t pretty, she was terrifying.
And she was in front of them in a flash, looming over Ran and Shinichi in their seats, bending over the low railing. “What did you say about my sister?” she burst out, right in Shinichi’s face.
Oh. Shit. “You — you have good ears!” Shinichi babbled, flattening himself against his seat, as if an extra centimeter of distance would make a difference to this whirlwind of crazed sibling. The whites of her eyes were showing.
“He didn’t mean it!” Ran said hectically, digging a sharp elbow into Shinichi’s ribs.
Except he had. He scowled despite himself, despite Ayase Chitose’s younger sister positively crackling with malevolent lightning in front of him.
“You. You’re coming with me!” And Ayase Chihaya grabbed Shinichi by his shirtfront, pulling him out of his seat. “Taichi!” she shouted. “I’m playing this boy first!”
Shinichi didn’t see this Taichi’s reaction because he was too busy scrambling over the railing, Ayase not paying any heed to things like gates or walkability as she pulled him along. She wasn’t as strong as Ran, but Shinichi didn’t resist. He knew the smell of danger by now.
Chihaya dragged him onto a mat, both of them kicking their shoes off at its edge, Shinichi almost falling over in his haste. They came face-to-face with the light-haired boy, who looked at once alarmed and resigned.
“Chihaya… are you sure?”
“I’m sure!” Chihaya cried, her other hand closing into a shaking fist. “He said mean things about Chitose!”
“Do you play competitive karuta?” Taichi asked Shinichi.
“Uh… I learned in elementary school.”
“Chihaya…”
“Change the matchups, Taichi. I’m going to make him sorry.”
“Someone from Teitan is going to be the odd person out,” Taichi said, looking out over the assorted students, then he spotted Ran scrambling onto the mat too. “Unless… you don’t play karuta, do you?” he asked when she reached them.
“Um, in elementary school. But I know all the poems,” she added, as Taichi’s face started to fall.
Taichi looked down at his paper with a sigh. “I guess that works.”
With some trepidation Shinichi followed Chihaya to the far side of the mat and knelt down when she did, Ran and her opponent on his left. He chanced a glance at Ran. You’re dead, her violet glare said. Shinichi gulped.
Ayase had a pile of cards spread out on the mat and was shuffling them. “You need to help, too,” she said earnestly. “Or else it won’t be fair.”
“Ah — oh. Sorry.”
When the cards were mixed to her satisfaction, they each took half and began to lay them out.
When in dreams I go to you…
They would longingly await…
So my love has grown to be…
It was odd seeing the familiar poems start halfway through. Did that one begin By the wind-storm’s blast or From Tsukuba’s peak?
Agh, this was hard. He was only sure of fifteen of so out of fifty. To his left, Ran was surprisingly absorbed in the cards, her lips moving slightly as she pored over them. Shinichi sat back and stared at his field some more, and a few more poems came trickling back.
“Memorization time is up,” the pigtailed girl in front said. She drew a breath…
Naniwa Bay, now the flower blooms, but for winter. Here comes spring, now the flower blooms.
Ima—
WHAM!
Something hit the mat in front of him and something else went flying away. Ayase sprang to her feet and went running after it. Shinichi only had time to gape.
So this — this was competitive karuta. Decisive. Fierce. Unrestrained. A lot like Ran.
But Ran hadn’t gotten her card either, glancing around dissatisfiedly. Shinichi decided to risk instant dismemberment and winked at her.
She narrowed her eyes at him. You’re still dead.
Chihaya had returned to her seat. Shinichi took the card she passed him and shifted his stance a little. He was starting to understand this game. He probably couldn’t win, but maybe he could stop her from getting so many—
SLAM!
Shinichi flinched again. Okay, the next one. Definitely the next—
BAM!
Could she be a little less violent?
Several cards later, Shinichi admitted to himself that this was hard. Hard, and unpleasant, and frustrating, as Ayase took card after card. Sweat was dripping down his face, and he hadn’t even done anything.
Tak—
I like this one, it’s about sakura.
So what?
Shinichi…!
Alright, alright! It’s how we met, I know, I know, stop it!
Shinichi’s hand flew out of its own accord to slap the card down. Ayase’s hand knocked into his. They stared at each other, both surprised.
“That was your take,” Ayase admitted, sitting back, and Shinichi picked up the card.
“Good job, Shinichi!” said Ran, and he almost twisted his neck in surprise looking at her. She’d gotten the card too. Then she remembered to scowl properly at him. Shinichi grinned as he turned back to his own game.
On that far mountain On the slope below the peak Cherries are in flower.
Verse after verse, card after card, the tankas slowly crept back to Shinichi. They’d memorized the Hundred Poets together, him and Ran, and each poem was irrevocably linked to an argument, a gesture, a smile. That one was The waves are gathered. That one was If the maple leaves. And this one was From Tsukuba's peak. He fell into a rhythm with the thud of hands and the music of the reading.
Then there was only one card left on Ayase’s field now, twenty-three on his. He’d managed to take exactly two cards from her in all this time. Shinichi snuck a look to the side. Ran’s pile was much bigger than his, for all that they’d been slapping the mat almost simultaneously — her opponent was slower. Tendrils of damp hair stuck to her neck and her face was flushed with effort. It was all very attractive.
Then her eyes flashed over at him, still brilliant and intense with concentration, and Shinichi, who’d opened his mouth to say something cheeky, closed it. A bead of sweat rolled down the line of his throat and into his collar, and he gave a fleeting thought to how sticky and hangdog he must look in comparison.
Ran’s gaze finally focused on him, and for some reason she went redder than before.
Shinichi didn’t realize the next card had been read until there was a sharp smack! in front of him. Tatsuta River dyed in crimson was flying away, the last card on Ayase’s side. He’d lost, twenty-five cards to two.
Chihaya bent down elegantly, bowing. “Thank you for the game.”
“Oh, uh. Thanks,” Shinichi said, hastily mirroring her. But when he sat back up, she was still slumped over.
“Oy… Ayase-san?”
“She does this,” someone said, from above him. It was the boy named Taichi. “Don’t worry, she’s just asleep.” He knelt down and pulled Chihaya’s arm around his shoulders, hauling her upwards. Her head lolled. “Count the cards and turn them in, will you? Usually it’s the winner’s job, but…” His expression was apologetic, but his voice was fond.
Shinichi gathered the cards, but instead of returning them right away, leaned back on his palms and watched, transfixed, as Ran struck again and again with feral grace. Finally, both she and her opponent had one card each. They were the last pair left. Everyone else was watching.
The pigtailed girl in front finished reading the last card and drew the next.
Naniwae no…
Both contestants covered their own cards, and the tension went out of the room like a sigh.
After one brief night— Short as a piece of the reeds Growing in Naniwa Bay—
Must I forever long for him With my whole heart, till life ends?
It was Ran’s. The need for silence over, chatter started up as students stood up, stretched, moved around. Shinichi was standing up to return his cards when he heard, “Ehh? You’re pretty good!”
“Oh, you’re awake,” Taichi said.
Suddenly Shinichi’s shoulders were being seized and Ayase was filling his vision again, wide desperate eyes showing no hint of sleep. “You have to keep playing karuta!” she cried. “I want to play you again! I want to play you when you get stronger!” She shook him. Shinichi’s teeth chattered.
Still being rattled like an old tambourine, out of the corner of his eye Shinichi saw Ran stalking toward them. Oh, no. Double violence.
But Ran reached them, snapped, “That’s enough!” and hauled both of Ayase’s hands off Shinichi. She faltered. “I mean… not like I care, really.” Her hands slipped off Chihaya’s wrists.
Chihaya turned to Ran, completely unoffended, her eyes round. “You’re pretty good, too. Is everyone in this school a karuta genius?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say genius,” Shinichi said with a modest laugh, rubbing his neck. “In fact—”
“Excuse me, genius, you’ve never won against me,” Ran said.
“Well, you always got lucky.”
Chihaya gasped. “I know! Why don’t you play each other next round?”
“Oh — we can’t — there’s a…” Shinichi trailed off.
A round of karuta with Ran? An hour of tense, dynamic contest with a girl he’d had feelings for since preschool? Of reaching for the same love-poem? Of seeing the violet flash of her eyes again and again, up close?
“…If we have to.”
“S-sure.”
So Shinichi fetched another deck and they squared off against each other, as a short boy with glasses announced memorization time. But Shinichi couldn’t concentrate. His eyes kept flicking to Ran in front of him. Strangely, she was silent this time.
The game started.
Asajiu no—
Both Shinichi and Ran lunged at the same time, and the card rocketed away under their twin strikes.
“I got that one!” Shinichi insisted, getting up after it.
Ono no shinohara…
“No, I did!” Ran said from right beside him. They reached for the fallen card at the same time and fought in whispers all the way back to their places. The boy who was reading eyed them before he continued.
Shinoburedo…
It had been his second and last claim against Ayase — this card, this poem. The only one he’d learned at once and never forgotten. And truthfully, one he didn’t mind giving to Ran.
Amarite nado ka…
“Fine. You have it,” Shinichi said, pitching surliness into his voice, watching her face brighten like the sun.
Hito no koishiki.
Bamboo growing Among the tangled reeds Like my hidden love:
But it is too much to bear That I still love her so.