Mei Hana by Mark Lauck (guided reading books .TXT) 📖

/> "I don't know! Everything looks fun!" Mei says excited.
"How about I choose then?" Tsuniga insisted.
Mei nodded her head. "Alright, you choose first then," she replies.
Tsuniga looked around for his favorite game stand. It wasn't before long that Tsuniga had found the game stand he was looking for. The game he enjoys most, when he comes to the Summer Festival, is a complex ring toss game. The game consists of a person standing ten feet from a one foot pole. The objective of the game was to throw a disk into the pole, and the game is completed. However, Tsuniga perfers more challenging games then a simple ring toss as, in this game, the tosser must angle the projectile to avoid colliding with two platforms that lay in between the tosser and the pole in an attempt to reach the destination the disk must fly into.
"This looks pretty challenging," Mei tells Tsuniga.
"It really is. I do enjoy playing this game though. It's a great way to spend time," Tsuniga informs Mei and gives her a smile.
"I want to attempt to complete this," Mei says determined.
"Go for it," Tsuniga tells her.

Mei steps up to the person running the stand. Tsuniga notices that Mei was handed three disks. She walks up to the tosser's spot, which was an "x" on the floor made of tape. She raises the ring up from to hear head and gripped the disk with her index finger and her thumb. She tosses the first disk, but then hits the first platform. She tosses her second disk, but she had hit the first platform once again. She tosses the third disk and fails to reach the goal as well.
"Aw," Mei says disappointed.
"Nice try. Perhaps another go?" asks the owner of the game stand.
"Let me have a go," Tsuniga tells Mei.
Mei nods her head.
Tsuniga receives the three disks. He looks down the lane and focuses on the target. He rises his arm and lowers it. He takes his first toss but fails upon hitting the second platform. He tosses the second disk and hits the second platform as well. He tosses the final disk and manages to avoid hitting both platforms and manages to catch the pole.
"Congratulations!" the game owner says surprised. He reaches into the far back of the stand, which wasn't that far from where he had already been standing and pulls out a giant stuffed bunny. "I have never seen someone complete this game before, so here's a reward for your work."
Tsuniga didn't really want the reward, but accepts it just so he doesn't seem impolite. He stuffed it right into Mei's arms. She was surprised.
"You're seriously giving me this?" Mei said while looking interested in the massive bunny.
"I don't want to tote it around nor do I really want it," Tsuniga informs.
She was very joyed and happily screams because of the new object she just received from him.

"Tsuniga?" says a voice familiar to Tsuniga.
"Huh?" Tsuniga looks up to see a friend he knows from school.
She was an up-coming junior like Tsuniga. She stands five foot four inches, just two inches below Tsuniga. She has wavy, brown hair that reaches her shoulders. She was one of those cute girls that look popular, but she was also quiet. She enjoys being alone. Ayame doesn't have many friends, but the friends she has are close to her.
"Ayame?" Tsuniga responds.
"It's been a while," Ayame says with a gentle smile.
"It's only been a few weeks," Tsuniga says trying to get a laugh out of her.
Ayame chuckles a little bit. She notices that Tsuniga was looking at Mei, who was cuddling with a giant stuffed bunny just a short distance away from where the two were talking at.
"Is she a friend of yours?" Ayame asks.
"I guess you can say that," Tsuniga says.
Mei walks over to Tsuniga. "Hey, we should continue so that I can set down the bunny when we get home," Mei tells Tsuniga.
"Eh!?" Ayame yells surprised, "You guys already live together?" Ayame begins to blush and her face ended up turning red. "What... What... What about us?" she questions while badly studdering.
"What? Wait, huh?" Tsuniga says confused.
Ayame ran off.
"What was that about?" Mei asks.
"I have no idea." Tsuniga replies.
"Are you dating her?" Mei says her hands on her waste and the bunny by her right arm.
"No," Tsuniga answers still confused and faced his attention towards Mei.
"Do you like her?"
Tsuniga looks at Mei, "I... I don't know."
"You don't know if you like her?"
"Yeah, I honestly don't," Tsuniga finished while grabbing Mei's arm and walking her to a food stand.

Tsuniga bought himself a hamburger, and, by the demand of Mei, he buys her some cotton candy. As they were sitting around near the food court of the park, Tsuniga notices his parents wondering around the park as well. They spot him from quite a distance and made a hassle trying to get over to where the two were eating at.
"Hey, mom. Good evening, old man," Tsuniga says smiling.
"Cute," Tsuniga's father said giving his son a rub on the head.
"What are you guys doing here?" Tsuniga asks.
"It's not like we don't live around here! This is Keito's Summer Festival!" Rachel shouts proudly.
A few people in the background all woo'd after she did to show that they cared about their city's festival as well.
"Excuse me," says a female voice behind Tsuniga.
He turned around to find himself getting slapped in the face. He shouts out loud from the pain that had been put upon him and looks up to the one who had assaulted him.
"That hurt you know," Tsuniga says rubbing his face and squinting his eyes, "Who are you and why did you do that?"
This young lady had long blonde hair that went down to her upper thighs. She was just about the same size as Tsuniga. She was a pale color; it wasn't very pale but was getting there. She wasn't wearing any kind of accessories or makeup, but still caught his eye. She was a beautiful young creature to Tsuniga.
She looked at him with hate, "I'm Sarah Kozawa. Ayame's friend. I can't believe I placed her in your care, and you hurt her."
"What? What do you mean by that?" Tsuniga says studying Sarah's face.
Mei notices that Tsuniga was interested in Sarah, and she wasn't feeling good about it either.
"She told me that you're with someone, and she is living with you in your house," Sarah said as if she's scolding a dog.
Mei butted in, "Yeah, that's me. What of it?"
Sarah stands back surprised that someone would just step up to say it straightforward. "W... Well, that really hurted her feelings," Sarah said intimidated but became interrupted by Mei.
"Tsuniga, let's get going. I'm not feeling good around this area," Mei says rudely and begins to rush Tsuniga and his parents over to another game stand that was yards away from where they were at.
"I'm sorry, Sarah!" Tsuniga yells while being pushed.
Once they got over to the game stand Tsuniga turned around and looked at Mei directly in the eyes, "What the heck was that for?"
"I don't like her," Mei said.
"What? What's wrong with her?" Tsuniga complains.
"That's the point," Mei said looking away from Tsuniga.
Tsuniga gasped, "I get it! You're jealous; aren't you?"
"Shut up. I just really need your help to help me get back to who I was before, and it's not right if someone were to interfere from reaching that goal."
"Just admit it, Mei. You're jealous," Tsuniga teases.
"No, I'm not! Can we just finish today with you not teasing me so that we can get home."
"Fine, fine. By the way, you forgot your bunny back there."
Mei looks around her arms. She was disappointed that she had actually forgotten her stuffed animal gift at the food court area.
"I'll go get it," Tsuniga insisted being polite.
"No, I'll do it," Mei says stopping him.

Sarah was still there, but she was with Ayame. Ayame was still sad, and Sarah was patting her on the back trying to cheer up her friend. Oddly, it confused Mei that nobody is being bothered by a cute, young girl crying in the middle of a populated area. Mei quickly picked up her stuffed animal, but was stopped by Sarah.
She stood up looking down at Mei. "Look, I know that we had a bad start, but Tsuniga is Ayame's. I don't want you going around messing things up."
"If Tsuniga was Ayame's, then what do you have to worry about?" Mei replies.
Sarah started to get angry with Mei, "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but back off."
"How can I back off when I stay at his house!" Mei answers standing with her left hand clenched with a fist, and her other hand still holding the bunny.
Ayame enters the conversation, "Sarah, don't start any fights. If Tsuniga is fine with her being around, she must be a good person. Tsuniga isn't the type of person who would take in a stranger who is very mean."
Sarah nodded her head and sighed, "fine. I still don't like this girl, though."
Ayame took out her hand and placed it in front of Mei, "I'm Ayame. Please take care of Tsuniga."
Mei shook Ayame's hand, "I'm Mei. Please, don't get things mixed up. I don't remember my past, or how I got here. All Tsuniga is trying to do is help me figure out my past, and I'll be out of your way."

Tsuniga notices that Mei was getting along with Ayame and Sarah. He also looks around and spots the man that had been following her since the first time he spotted him. "Mom, Dad, you guys go right on ahead. I'll catch up with you guys in a bit."
His parents were already not standing by his side. They had already been playing games a little ways from him. Tsuniga walks up to the suspicious man. He had a full trench coat and a fedora that added on to his suspicion. A regular, average Joe would have thought of him as a pedophile.
"What is it that you want with her?" Tsuniga questions demanding an answer.
The man didn't notice him at first. He looks up to Tsuniga and says, "You take care of her, don't you?"
"Yeah, that's because nobody else is probably willing to," Tsuniga answers, "what about it? What do you want with her?"
"What if I told you that she comes from a family of wealthy parents," the man continues to asks questions even though Tsuniga was looking forward to asking him questions, and the man had already known.
"Wait, you know about her?" Tsuniga said.
"That's why I follow her, isn't it? I've been hired to make sure that she's safe while her family is going through some troubles, and, apparently, it looks like you're doing my job for me."
"Her family is going through some troubles?"
Mei's Past