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Ahaaaaa!

I see what you did here. Clever!

ShizuneFan2019 wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 9:23 pm

“Gozen-yen o-azukari-shimasu. O-tsuri-wa 460-yen desu. (I receive 5000-yen, the change is 460 yen.)”

I’ve gotten so used to the honorifics that, even when spoken reflexively, I’m not putting “kara” (from) after the “5000-yen” any more.

"Kara" does indeed mean "from", but why would you put it after the "5000 yen"? She receives the money from the customer, so if anything it would be "okyaku-sama kara..." but I'm not sure that phrase is in use...

Also, are there Pokemon fans who don't know what a trading card game is? In Japan?

Chapter 77: Wind Air Track Ground

After changing into my sports outfit, I stuff my belongings into the locker and begin my exercise routine with the stretching, which is almost exactly what I’ve been doing every day. The only exception is, today I’m covering new ground. I’m hitting a different sports field.

Looking at the actual track, it doesn’t look any different from Yamaku’s; I mean, it’s still brown oval shape. I guess all the track fields in the world should look the same – they are all standardized. But the view beyond the track is different – just green fields with nothing notable in sight, the running experience might not be the same.

It doesn’t matter. Track is always fun, whatever the view is. The track of Midori University, here I come!

Today I’m going to start a new adventure, right here on this track. Practically speaking, I’m not doing anything different from what I’ve been doing for the past few months, but my clients won’t be Yamaku students.

I’m a little worried about my new clients. Well, “worried” shouldn’t exist in my personal dictionary, so I should change it to “slightly concerned”. Most of the Yamaku students are disabled – with the notable exception of a certain pink blob – but I’ll be facing normal students today. In order to hide my running blades from them, I’m now wearing trousers, socks, and shoes. It was the order from the training center. The extra cover hinders my running experience by quite a bit, but I got used to the new outfit already.

The Nurse warned me about a possible discrimination the other day, and this is the exact reason he insisted me to participate in this program. Like Hisao and my fellow Yamaku graduates, I need to go outside and learn how to deal with my disability in front of others. I can’t stay in Yamaku forever. Well, I guess I could, if I was willing to stay in the same position in Yamaku for the rest of my life, assuming that they have a job opening for me. But I don’t mind exploring the rest of the world while I’m still young.

While I probably won’t see a friend in this school, I’ll be joined by Hisao and his President girlfriend in Kasshoku in the afternoon. It’s always nice to have someone in my social circle around. This is another reason I accepted Nurse’s offer.

I was delighted to see the two of them last week in the former President’s birthday party. Witnessing how devastated Hisao was in the hospital after his girlfriend’s car accident, I’m happy to see the two of them conquering their physical and emotional problems and become a star couple of the university. And I’m glad to be a friend of them.

Speaking of friends, maybe I can get myself a few friends in these two schools during the training program. Even though I’m an adorable sports star who gets along with pretty much anyone, I’ve had very few close friends throughout my life. (And I know the reason why.) My ex-boyfriend and Rin were, other than Mom and Nurse, closest to becoming my confidantes. Yet I still put them at arm’s length. My ex-boyfriend parted ways with me because I stonewalled him from my family matters. As for Rin, even though we’ve been pretty close since the day we met in school, our lack of contact since she moved to Tokyo indicates that we can live without each other just fine. And then Hisao, the track captain, Miki, and my other schoolmates, they are merely friends, or even affiliates, at best.

Maybe in another parallel universe, Hisao would become my second boyfriend and a close friend. But I’m dealing with this universe, with this Hisao.

Who knows, perhaps I can finally find myself a friend, or even a boyfriend, here in Midori. Or in Kasshoku.

Enough thinking. We’ll see who’s going to befriend the adorable Emi Ibarazaki.

Done with the stretching. Onto the track we go! Let’s clear my mind with a fantastic morning run!

air . . . wind . . . ground . . . track . . . . . . . . .
. . . will . . . not . . . hold . . . back . . . . . .

Focus on the rhythm! The form! The track!

. . . . . . hear . . . smell . . . feel . . . see . . .
. . . . . . . . . set . . . these . . . thoughts . . . free

Left, right, left, right! Way to go!

wind . . . air . . . track . . . ground . . . . . . . . .
. . . one . . . more . . . time . . . round . . . . . .

Keep up with the breathing! Don’t drop my form!

. . . . . . time . . . space . . . form . . . flight . . .
. . . . . . . . . all . . . shall . . . be . . . light

Ten full laps and a final dash, I’ve officially completed my first morning run of Midori University. I’m going to follow the same procedure for a whole month before going back to Yamaku.

I already miss Mom! Damn! It’s only been two days since I came here, and I’m already homesick! The long distance from home probably has something to do with it. I should go back for a visit in two weeks.

Water bottle, bathroom, shower, tidy up my hair, change my clothes, breakfast, and then I’ll meet my clients.

During the train ride from Yamaku, I went through the instructions delivered by my exchange program supervisor through the Nurse, as well as the tentative list of clients of my program from both universities. For Kasshoku, I’m glad that Hisao, Shizune, and Naomi Inoue applied. And for Midori, I know none of the names except Noboyuki, a Yamaku graduate who’s on a wheelchair. Hopefully I can make a few friends in this exchange program without running into any discrimination issues.

---

Making sure I’m good with my ponytail, I leave the bathroom and walk towards the booth I’m supposed to be in. My exchange program supervisor, Mr. Nagazaki, is already sitting in the booth waiting for me.

“Miss Ibarazaki, are you ready for your job?”

I energetically jump up and down with my running blades, covered by shoes, to show my supervisor that I’m in top form.

“Yes, sir. I’m ready!”

“Good. You should be fine. But this is a real job, so don’t let me and the Nurse disappoint. I’m counting on you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Look, she’s probably one of your clients. Go.”

I turn around, and in front of my eyes I see a tall (well, taller than me) long-haired girl who looks a bit like Hanako Ikezawa, without the scars. More importantly though, she looks familiar. Have I seen her before?

She approaches our booth and starts her enquiry before we can greet her.

“Good morning. Is this the health training program?”

My first client! Let’s greet her with enthusiasm, as I always do.

“You’re right! Welcome!”

I retrieve the name list from the table of the booth to start my first day of work by identifying my first client.

“Your name?”

Instead of telling me her name directly, she unexpectedly peeks into my name list and points to the row that says “Iwai Nanako”.

“Here.”

“Okay, so Iwai N-”

“No. Just call me Iwanako.”

This is… awkward. Again, where did I see this girl?

“Uh… Okay. Welcome!”

Just then, I hear the rolling sound of a wheelchair approaching; I’ve been on it for a while, so I’m familiar with its sound. This must be my ex-schoolmate. Even though I have no interest in him, I should still greet him energetically, as he is my client after all. And my supervisor is behind me.

“Good morning!”

The boy in wheelchair looks a little surprised to see another former Yamaku student in Midori University school grounds.

“Good mo-, hey, aren’t you Ibarazaki?”

“Yup, it’s me! I’ll be your physical trainer for a month!”

Noboyuki, two years younger than me, just graduated from Yamaku a few months ago. I didn’t know him until the first day I had to stay on my wheelchair in Yamaku school ground; I remember coming across with him in front of the administration building, both in wheelchair, and we briefly shared our experience riding on that stupid metal car.

“Holy crap! I can’t believe seeing you again here!”

“Yeah, what a coincidence!”

Nurse orchestrated this exchange program for me after I passed my CPR combined test four months ago. He wants me to obtain more experience in physical training, especially for the non-disabled. At first I argued that I could have stayed in Yamaku treating the disabled forever, but he asked me to think twice, claiming that my talent deserves a bigger market. After sleeping on it for a night and talking to Mom, I said okay to Nurse’s plan. I must thank him for facilitating me by finding two schools with Yamaku graduates. The program is simple: I work in the schools for a month, Midori in the morning and Kasshoku in the afternoon, and in return each university will send a student trainer to Yamaku for practical training.

For the training, I will be one of the so-called course tutors of the school’s mandatory health course, which every student must obtain a pass in order to graduate. There are multiple ways to pass the course, and the requirement is simple: Perform 80 hours of exercise through any means, as long as the hours are registered into the system. So you may elect to play 2 hours of table tennis for 40 days, or 1 hour of basketball for 80 days. Taking my physical training course counts as one hour per attendance, and if you attend for a whole month, you will get 20 hours, which is one-fourth of the total requirement, plus a small gift. Mr. Nagasaki told me that this scheme was designed and first implemented in another university, and it grew really popular so other universities follow the practice.

“Hey there, good morning!”

It looks like Iwanako has got herself a companion in this course. Wearing a black beret and a pair of white trainers, this cute girl with brown hair and green eyes is about the same height as me.

“Good morning, Kai!”

“Your name please?”

“Good morning! I'm Kai Fushiharu!”

A short namelist means I can find the entries easily. With Fushiharu ticked off, we only need to wait for seven more trainees.

“How was the test?”

“It was fine! Dropped a couple of questions but should get at least 70.”

“Great! Now you can relax yourself with some running!”

“Exactly. That was the plan.”

This Fushiharu girl reminds me of Misha, the loyal sidekick of the former Yamaku dictator. Both are bubbly and loud. If there’s a world in which they meet, everybody around has to wear an earphone.

“Oh yeah, about tomorrow. Let’s meet at 4:15, school gate. Okay?”

“Sure! I’m so excited about it!”

For the arrangement, I will be on duty for two morning sessions in Midori, from 10am to noon. There will be afternoon sessions conducted by other trainers. After lunch I will then travel to Kasshoku for two afternoon sessions from 4 to 6pm, before returning to Kanagawa prefecture (where Midori is in) to spend the night in a hotel. Basically, my work in this exchange program is similar to what I’ve been doing in Yamaku, except that this is a formal program, and I’m always supervised in person. An interesting difference is, after attending my running tutorial session, trainees are not limited to running in the track for the remainder of the hour. If they wish to do something else in the track field, such as soccer, long jump, or even vault box jumping, it’s okay as long as my supervisor agrees. So, I won’t be surprised if, for example, Iwanako decides not to run with me. But hey, who doesn’t want to try out the track with this cute little ponytail Fastest Thing on No Legs?

While waiting for the other trainees, I should start working with the three in front of me. Accordingly, after allowing them to register themselves into the system with their student ID cards, I provide them with the documents for the course, and then, using the equipment in the nearby room, I measure their heights and weights with the help of my supervisor (had to help Noboyuki out of the wheelchair for a bit). I’m glad to see that both girls are as fit as me.

Eventually, all trainees have arrived. I repeat the above procedures for everyone, then calculate and analyze their BMI values, giving them a short talk on ideal BMI values along the way. After that, even though I hate to do so, I’m obliged to deliver a short speech on the food pyramid due to job requirement. Luckily, none of the students fall asleep during the lecture. Which means I’m attractive enough!

“So, any questions about BMI values and food pyramid?”

As expected, nobody in the class wants to prolong the theoretical session. Unfortunately for us, there will be short theoretical sessions every other day. The next lecture, on Friday, will be about shoulder pain management. But that will be a very practical lesson, so the trainees may be more interested.

“In your folders, there is a table for recording your health diet and exercise. You need to fill in the table every day and let me take a look the next time you see me. Follow the instructions at the back of the page on how to fill in the healthy diet part. As for exercise, for each day you come, I will tick this column off for you; for the days you don’t see me, you will need to fill in what exercise you have done, and for how many minutes. You will obtain a special gift from the school if you follow through this scheme and complete the table by the end of the course. Any questions?”

No hands, and no interruption from my supervisor, which means I’ve been doing my job well! Good work, Ibarazaki.

With all those formalities behind me, let’s move on to the fun part: Stretching, followed by track!

“Next, I’ll lead you guys to do the stretching, then we’ll hit the track for a little running tutorial, followed by a couple of laps. Afterwards, it’s not necessary for you to continue running on the track with me, but you’ll have to tell me, obtain my supervisor’s consent, and borrow the necessary equipment in the amenities center over there.”

Without further ado, I begin my favorite job by leading my ten students to the side of the track where there is more space for stretching. After checking and making sure everybody is wearing a suitable outfit and a pair of running shoes, I start the exercise by turning my head. Noboyuki won’t be able to complete the stretching; he’ll only be able to do a part of it. Specifically the upper body part.

---

Even though I’m half-expecting this, I’m still very delighted that the three of them stay behind at the finishing line until I’m done with my final lap.

“Hey, enjoyed your final dash?”

It’s already five minutes past six o’clock, so the other trainees have already signed out and left the field. Before my dash, I already finished the administration part of my job with my supervisor, who waved me goodbye when he left the booth a few minutes ago.

“Sure did!”

The four of us take a cooldown lap together with our hands resting behind our heads (well, my companions have already cooled down, so it’s essentially just me). The blonde journalist is the first to break the silence.

“So, you’re now a physical trainer in training, huh? Is it tough work? Do you have to pass a lot of tests? Are you planning to work in a gym, or are you staying in schools?”

No wonder she’s called the verbal machine gun. But I don’t mind. My stray-haired friend, though, looks mildly annoyed.

“Hey Naomi, didn’t I remind you not to raise so many questions at the same time?”

Naomi sticks out a tongue to indicate she isn’t intentional.

“Oops. Sorry, that’s my habit kicking off!”

“It’s alright! I love my job! I guess you really need to love sports to enjoy working as a physical trainer! But yes, I do need to pass several exams in order to get my license, like the CPR combined test I passed a few months ago.”

“CPR, huh? Oh, wait!”

The epileptic throws me a mischievous wink that I usually make when I tease my friends.

“Soooo… Did you guys have to practice mouth-to-mouth breathing? On each other? And did your teachers do it?”

Her amusing comment manages to throw me off guard, despite me being a girl who isn’t shy talking about obscene stuff and profanity. Even her two schoolmates fail to suppress a chuckle. I can imagine such an inane suggestion surely would have completely surprised her classmate Hanako, causing her eyes to grow wide in disturbed shock as she struggles to figure out a response.

“Nah, we have practice dummies for them. Anyway, I’m still open about my future workplace choice. For now I’m leaning towards staying in schools, but I won’t be surprised if I become a private physical trainer in a gym a few years from now.”

[…]

Contrary to Naomi’s playful questions, the trademark frown from the Kasshoku Student Council Vice-President means she is all business. She hasn’t changed a bit; since the first time she scolded me for running in Yamaku hallways, this mean authoritarian has been strict and serious to everybody around her.

“Working in a school and in a gym are two completely different concepts.”

She might be bossing everybody around, but I know she means well. Luckily I don’t need to face her every day, unlike her boyfriend who’s currently translating her words for me. Even though I’m glad to see them as a couple, how anyone could happily endure her dictatorship is beyond my imagination.

“What do you mean?”

[…]

“You don’t know? Working in a school gives you a steady salary with normal office hours; you can be physical trainer or, if you can become a registered teacher, you can become a physical education teacher. Working in a gym can potentially net you a better income, but you probably need to work the evening hours and the weekends. So, it largely depends on what kind of lifestyle you want to live.”

I don’t want to admit it, but the former President’s words of wisdom are a helpful piece of advice in my career choice. I’ll think about it later tonight. Maybe. I mean, I don’t think about future too much. I think more about tomorrow’s run.

“I didn’t know about that! Thanks for your advice.”

“Man! I envy you so much! Whichever of the two choices you make, you’re definitely going to attract a whole lot of guys!”

While I do want to make a few friends, or even a boyfriend, here if possible, I certainly never thought about my job in this perspective. Indeed, working in a school will allow me ample opportunities to get in contact with male teachers; while a gym trainer will inevitably cause a lot of physical contact with clients from the opposing gender, including some handsome and muscular guys that I’m sure every girl would like to date at some point in her life.

On second thought, a gym trainer probably has to deal with sexual harassment issues. I’m now leaning closer towards working in a school.

“I never thought about that either! I guess I’m a lucky one!”

“Well, I doubt either of you will have trouble finding a boyfriend. But if you want one, I can introduce my classmates to you, Naomi. You know, the gender ratio in my Faculty is like 9 to 1, and most of my friends are dying for a girl right now.”

In the Yamaku Festival last year, Hisao confided to me that his social circle was dominated by females. Being in the Science Faculty must have balanced out his friends circle gender problem.

“Nah, I don’t feel like ready to start a relationship just yet. Perhaps in a few years.”

The only boy in the group seems to suddenly remember something, and he hurries to exchange a few signs with his girlfriend while we’re finishing our cooldown lap. The sun is setting, the orange rays shine beautifully on the brown track field while caressing Naomi’s blonde hair like a mother touching her daughter. The Vice-President walking in front of me is wearing a pair of shorts for her run, which I can’t wear as doing so would expose my running blades to other trainees. Owning a pair of envious breasts and amazing curvature, Shizune is one hot lady in the evening sunshine! But, of course, I’m not bad either!

Haven’t made a friend today. It’s fine; today’s just the first day.

“Hey Emi, do you want to have dinner with us? I’ll have JUSC practice at 7:30, so I’ll have to start dinner pretty quick.”

I don’t see why not, and I’m hungry anyway.

“Sure!”

Accordingly, we quickly finish our cooldown lap (well, we don’t exactly finish, as we go straight to the changing room instead of walking to the finish line) and get ourselves cleaned up. Then, as we head towards supposedly one of the university’s cafeterias, I hear the buzzing sound of a phone. Looks like someone’s calling Hisao.

“Hello.”

Lunch in Midori University was okay, but not spectacular. I hope I can get a better meal in Kasshoku.

“Yes. Good evening.”

It will be the first time I eat in a Kasshoku restaurant, because my supervisor treated me on Monday away from campus, and yesterday I had dinner near my hotel.

“Something important?”

I’m curious what Hisao and Shizune were discussing during our cooldown lap. Doesn’t look like they were flirting with each other. Probably none of my business.

“Uh… Okay. Yeah, Shizune’s here with me. Where are you two right now?”

Looks like Hisao’s engaging in a serious conversation, possibly related to his girlfriend. Without her translator, Shizune goes silent, and neither Naomi nor I feel like starting a talk that may obstruct the phone call.

“We’re coming out of the sports track. Do you think you can go to News Café? It’s closer to my Faculty. I have JUSC practice at 7:30 there.”

“News Café, huh.”

“Emi, that’s the one in our faculty. A couple of minutes’ walk from here. Food is okay, but not as good as the one in English Faculty.”

In the Faculty of Journalism, huh. Makes sense that the restaurant’s name is News. Oh well, I guess I can only get a better dinner tomorrow.

“I see! Thanks!”

“Okay, then. Oh, sorry, by the way, Emi’s actually here with us. And I promised to treat her dinner. Do you think she can tag along? And Naomi’s here too.”

In fact, he never promised to treat me! He’s such a nice guy! But who’s there on the other side of the phone?

“Okay? Alright then. See you in a minute.”

Switching off his phone, Hisao turns around to declare whatever he decided with the other party during the phone call.

“Hey girls, just now it was Lilly calling. She and Akira want to tell us a big news. Are you all okay with it? And yeah, Shizune, she wants you to be there too.”

The Satous, huh. I saw them in the birthday party too.

“Really? What is it about? Is little Satou getting married? Or is big Satou coming back for good?”

Come to think of it, Akira told us during the party that she came all the way from Scotland where she’s currently working. She shouldn’t be coming back just to attend a birthday party, should she?

“If I have to guess, it’s much more likely that Akira is getting married, and they’re probably going to invite us to join their wedding ceremony, and maybe help making some preparations. But still, this alone doesn’t sound like big news to me. There must be something else along with that. And I’m as clueless as you, Naomi.”

“How about BOTH of them are getting married then?”

“Nah, Lilly only starting dating Tatsuya for three months. They’re still students. I don’t think there’s an urgency to marry in such a hurry.”

I never knew Lilly’s now dating! Oh man, I’m so slow in the news department!

“Family business, man. Upper class stuff. We’ll never know about their world.”

Hisao shrugs and gives his journalist friend a smirk.

“We’ll see. But I’m willing to bet it’s something else.”

“But what would it be? Ah, maybe just as I suggested, big Satou’s moving back to Japan with her husband!”

“Could be. Which would be great, as Hanako would have more company. By the way, Emi, are you okay with the arrangement? Lilly and Akira, her elder sister. You met them last week.”

“Yup! Alright! I get to see Lilly and her sister again! This will be fun!”

And so Hisao’s going to have dinner with five girls, which means his gender problem continues. If he was alone with me, I would’ve teased him already. But since his girlfriend is here, I’m not in a position to do that.

The short walk towards News Café continues with speculations about the big news, but without figuring out another real possibility. As we enter the relatively small restaurant that has, amusingly, all kinds of journalism related decorations like cameras and newspapers around the walls and the tables, Hisao immediately spots the sisters sitting at the big round table at the corner. The “boy” sitting next to the tall blonde waves to us. Wearing a black suit and a tie, Akira looks just like a businessman. How in the world is she the elder sister of Lilly Satou?

“Yo, how’re ya doin’, Hisao?”

“Great! Didn’t expect to see you in Kasshoku again, Akira!”

“And you too, Shizune! I saw your brother yesterday and brought him to the nearby arcade center.”

[…]

“Shizune says good to see you again and thank you for taking care of her brother.”

The “boy Satou” turns to me and bows as if she’s meeting a client for her company, followed by a handshake offer, which I happily accept.

“Good evening, Miss Ibarazaki. I believe we have met last week.”

I’m not that comfortable with these business kind of stuff, but I’ll try to be as polite as possible because she’s a senior after all. Nurse did remind me the other day to mind my manners when I’m out of my comfortable home of Yamaku.

“Good evening, Miss Satou.”

Normally I would have asked the other party to address me by first name, but since Satou is a senior, I’m not in a position to do the invite.

“And yo! Inoue! Great to see you too!”

“Hey there Satou! And you too, Satou.”

“Let’s sit down and talk, shall we?”

Accordingly, we take our respective seats: I sit next to Lilly, Shizune next to me, then Hisao and Naomi. Most of the tables around are squares; I think Akira picked a round table for us specifically to show that we’re treated as equals.

“Sorry, but I suggest we order our food first. I’m kind of in a hurry.”

“Alright. Let’s pass the menu, then. Lils and I have already decided. Here they have a combo set meal for two. Appatizers, main dishes, desserts, and drinks. Quite a bargained price of 1200 yen. Lils and I will share one.”

“That’s new. Hey, Shizune, maybe we can share one as well.”

Looks like I can choose from either sharing a set meal with Naomi or ordering my own food. I’m not sure if Naomi is comfortable with it though.

“Hey Emi, how ‘bout we share a set meal then?”

Well, that’s convenient.

“Sure. Let’s pick our choices.”

To accommodate Hisao’s schedule, Akira calls the waiter over and orders for the Satous. Next in line is Hisao, and after he finishes ordering, I choose salmon as the main dish and cupcake as the dessert. Given my dinner partners’ previous comments, I don’t have high hopes for the food, but with such a crazy low price I can’t complain.

“So, Ibarazaki, I heard about you from Lils. You are a sports star, aren’t you?”

Yup, I’m the Fastest Thing on No Legs! But nope I can’t say that. And “Lils” must be how she addresses her younger sister. I expected Akira to immediately drop whatever bombshell news she has to offer, but she probably wants to make some small talks with us first to soften up the atmosphere.

“I was in the track team before I graduated from Yamaku, and now I am studying to become a physical trainer.”

“Yeah, and the reason she’s here in Kasshoku is because she’s now under an exchange program. She’s currently conducting a health training course for the university, and all three of us are her trainees. This afternoon was the first day of the training.”

When we briefly met a week ago, I didn’t tell Akira about staying in this area for a month; I joined the party as Shizune’s former schoolmate, not as a physical trainer. I don’t find it necessary to mention my exchange program to her, but Hisao just spoiled it for me anyway.

Unfortunately Lilly didn’t sign up for the course. With her glaring disability, I can see why.

“Ah, that explains why you’re around in this area. Trainees, huh. I hope you aren’t disappointing your trainer, Hisao. Did he do well today, Miss Ibarazaki?”

She’s still addressing me by surname. I can feel her respect towards me though.

“Yes, he’s been doing well! And I assume he’ll be coming tomorrow too, right, Hisao?”

“Yeah, but I’ll do it at four o’clock instead. I’ve an appointment afterwards. Shizune and Naomi will be with you at five.”

[…]

[“Oh yeah, I didn’t tell you about the appointment. It came last night. Sorry. You have a class at four, right? I’ll run with you on Friday instead.”]

“So, are you enjoying your exchange program so far?”

“Yup! The trainees are awesome!”

“Attagirl! Lils, I think you should consider joining the program.”

“Hmm… I admit that having Ibarazaki as the trainer does make the training program highly intriguing. But I’ll have to talk to Hanako about it.”

I’m slightly amused that even Lilly is addressing me by surname, despite us being former schoolmates. But have we ever formally introduced ourselves in school?

“Hanako?”

“Yes, Hisao. Hanako and I had a discussion the other day on how to fulfill the 80 hours requirement. We have limited options due to our respective conditions. The conclusion was that we would go to the gym at around seven in the evening when everybody either has left school already or is having dinner. We would then ride on the gym bikes because there’s no risk of falling or colliding with anything. We tried a couple of times, and it worked pretty well. So, I’m not sure if Hanako would like to change what we’ve been doing.”

“Well, you can always do both.”

“That’s a good idea, Hisao. I’ll talk to Hanako, and maybe Tatsuya about it. I’ll tell them Ibarazaki is the trainer, and see how Hanako reacts to it.”

Of course I’m glad that my presence makes the training a better experience!

“Sure, and Hanako is welcomed too. But make sure you get the correct time. I’m here from four to six. The other sessions are conducted by other trainers.”

“Thank you for the reminder. Four to six. We’ll try to join if it’s feasible.”

“Attagirl. Isn’t it great to have a Yamaku reunion in the Kasshoku sports field?”

“It’d be awesome, Satou! Try to join! I’ll help you persuade Hanako when I meet her in class tomorrow.”

Looks like Lilly’s not getting away from this one.

“Alright. I promise I’ll try my best.”

The waiter arrives with the drinks, which takes some of the heat off the blonde.

“By the way, sorry to interrupt, but I don’t have much time left. What’s the news you two are telling us? I suppose it’s about some kind of marriage arrangement?”

The small Satou covers her mouth with her hand to suppress a giggle while giving her sister a playful wink.

“Oh my! Didn’t I tell you Hisao would be spot on with his predictions?”

“Man! You’re right! Yup, Yuichi and I are getting married.”

The only boy in the group immediately stands up to congratulate his girlfriend’s cousin by offering a handshake; throughout my years in Yamaku, I never learned that Satou was Hakamichi’s cousin, so I was shocked when I got the information from Hisao the other day.

“Congratulations! When will the ceremony be?”

Akira accepts the handshake, and we all follow Hisao’s etiquette to give our blessings to her upcoming marriage.

“It will be in two months. You’ll get the invitation later. And you too, Ibarazaki; you’re invited.”

Being not exactly close friends with any of the group, I’d choose running on the track over attending this wedding ceremony any day of the year. But it seems like I have no other choice now. Perhaps I should not have come to this dinner gathering. But looking from a different angle, it would be a perfect opportunity to make a few new friends in the ceremony.

“Sure. Congratulations, Miss Satou!”

“By the way, you can call me Akira. Both of you. I’m not much older than you guys anyway. And you can call her Lilly too, am I right, Lils?”

That’s more like it! I’m so glad she finally makes the offer as Lilly nods in enthusiasm. This makes things much less awkward.

“Yes, of course, Akira! And Emi here.”

“And Naomi here!”

“It is nice to know both of you, Emi and Naomi.”

After the handshake exchanges, everyone sits down, and, with the drinks already served, we naturally make perfect use of the glasses on the table.

“Well, Akira, wish you a delightful and longlasting marriage in Scotland!”

Unexpectedly, the elder Satou wags a finger instead of raising her drink.

“Nope!”

“What do you mean?”

“Hehe… This is the second piece of news I’m going to tell you guys. We’re actually…”

Hisao’s prediction of another bombshell coming is once again accurate as Naomi hurries to make her own prediction known to others.

“Are you going to move back to Japan and stay with Lilly and Hanako?”

Naomi cleverly avoids mentioning her other guess of Lilly getting married. The elder Satou is about to reveal the answer when her sister stops her with a pat on her right shoulder.

“Hisao, what do you think?”

“Me? I don’t know. She could be right. How about you, Shizune? What do you think?”

I haven’t heard anything from Shizune since we greeted the Satous in this café. Being deaf makes group discussions that much more difficult for her, although she doesn’t seem to mind too much. By the way, we’re not officially on first names yet; In Yamaku, she’s always translated by her sidekick Misha, who always uses first names. Today is the first time I’ve seen her using an interpreter other than Misha.

[…]

“She says maybe your family is moving back to Scotland. I doubt it though, dear. Ah, I just got an idea. Perhaps you’re also dragging Hideaki into your company? You said you met him yesterday.”

Lilly replies him with an amused smile and turns towards my general direction.

“Great guess, Hisao. How about you, Emi?”

I don’t know much about the Satous, so I’m pretty much blank. I’ll give my best shot though. Of course I’m smart enough not to fall into the Lilly marriage trap.

“I don’t know. Maybe you get hired into your company?”

The Satous share a smile and nod to each other before revealing the answer.

“None of your guesses are correct, although a few of you got it really close.”

“The truth is, my parents, my husband and I will move to America.”

“WHAT?????”

Both Hisao and his girlfriend reel in shock from that bombshell while Naomi and I don’t look as shocked. Probably because we’re not familiar with the Satou history.

“B-B-But why America? And your parents too?”

“Lils, I guess we never told any of them about the America stuff, haven’t we?”

“I guess not.”

“I’ll put the other two into the loop first. Emi and Naomi, you know our family business, Satou Medical Technology, or SMT?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard about it. Barely though.”

“SMT is a company that specializes in producing medical products, like ECGs and AEDs. We also have another branch in Scotland, where my parents worked in for many years. A couple of years ago, our company made an crucial strategical decision to expand our business to the United States. My dad was a cornerstone in the acquisition project. However, due to health issues, he was forced to retire from his job in Scotland and move back to Japan. Our company tried to send somebody to the States to manage the business there, but without the key man, things didn’t go that well. Moreover, rumors started among the Americans that the Satous had a family argument and purged my dad. So, after several months of discussions, a decision was made: I’ll represent the Satou family as the director of the US branch, with my parents and my future husband as consultants. That will resolve all the rumors and hopefully restore our public image.”

I feel like I don’t belong to this conversation, but at least it’s nice to hear about some news from my former schoolmate.

“What a shocker, Akira! Man! You’ll be managing a huge business! Perhaps you’ll even hit the headlines!”

“Probably not the headlines, but could be in a corner of a newspaper.”

“It’s double congratulations then, Akira. Are you nervous about all the changes?”

“To be honest, a bit. Luckily I’ll have three family members by my side, and my parents are obviously the real ones who make the big decisions. The fact that the Americans are more open to female leadership also helps.”

“I’m sure your parents are going to support you all the way. But then Lilly will…”

“Yeah, she’s gonna be without her parents for a while. Again.”

Lilly pats her sister on her shoulder to show that she’s fine with the arrangement.

“Akira, I told you I’ll be fine. I’m glad that we reached this conclusion. Father and Mother deserve a leadership role in the company, and you’re the proper future heir to continue the business. With Tatsuya and Hanako around, I can manage things on my own. Not to mention I also have all my friends here.”

“I guess there’s no point persuading you to come to America with us, huh.”

“I guess not, Akira. I’ve a boyfriend, a roommate, a cousin, and so many friends. I’m not giving them up just to selfishly accompany my family, especially with work cut out for you all.”

“Understandable. I’ll miss you, Lils.”

“Me too. Good luck to your new job.”

“And take care of Hanako for me, she’s yours.”

“I will. But when are you leaving?”

“In around four months, I suppose. They’re arranging everything for the four of us. We need a new home, our offices, and we also need to sort out the immigration stuff. It’ll take a while.”

“That’ll be after the summer holiday then. Well, maybe we can come visit you all during the winter break.”

“Yes, I will bring Hanako and Tatsuya with me as well.”

[…]

“Shizune says she’ll tag along and visit Misha on the way.”

“That’s a great idea. You can bring Misha to see us. Mother will certainly love to talk to her.”

The waiter returns with our food. Now that the news have been spread, we can finally enjoy our meals in peace.

So much around me has happened in the first five months of the year. Shizune’s car accident, Lilly finding a boyfriend, Hanako and Naomi into university, Hisao’s girlfriend, Shizune’s birthday party, and now Akira’s wedding. But for me, let’s eat my salmon and go back to my hotel, then I’ll begin the next day with a superb run!

Chapter 78: Fastest Thing on...?

Mirage_GSM wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 8:03 am

"Kara" does indeed mean "from", but why would you put it after the "5000 yen"? She receives the money from the customer, so if anything it would be "okyaku-sama kara..." but I'm not sure that phrase is in use...

This refers to her mistake back in Chapter 55. And yup, that phrase doesn't make any sense. Please refer to that chapter.

Also, are there Pokemon fans who don't know what a trading card game is? In Japan?

She doesn't recall immediately the short form, then she doesn't know the rules because she has only played the handheld games. It's also extremely hard to play TCG with just one hand; (spoiler) the issue will be mentioned in a later chapter.

Chapter 78: Fastest Thing on...?

“See you in the afternoon. 4:15, okay?”

“Yup! See ya!”

Waving Kai goodbye, I can’t help but smile at my energetic friend as she almost literally bounces herself into the shuttle bus towards the other side of the campus.

Looking at my watch, it’s now 8:40. I should get myself ready for class. The area is getting busy with students as they flood into the campus. The weather is getting really warm, as quite a few of my schoolmates are wearing sleeveless. I can see a few couples holding hands. I really hate showing off love in campus, but the couples remind me of my boyfriend, whom I’m going to meet in the evening.

“Hey there, ‘Nako!”

Only one boy in the campus would use this nickname, although I’m surprised to meet him here. I turn around to greet my former classmate.

“Good morning, Takumi! Why are you here?”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t tell you. I finally managed to swap my tutorial session to the afternoon, so I’m now free on Thursday mornings.”

Takumi, or Takuya formally, is the only other high school friend of mine besides Kai who entered Midori University. With a slim build and rather long hair for a boy, people watching him from behind would have easily mistaken him as a girl.

“I see! So you’re now able to fit all the classes in the afternoon, right?”

“Yup. And now I’ll have some free time to spend before attending the health session with you. By the way, how did yesterday’s session go?”

Since Takumi has a full day of classes on Wednesday, he couldn’t attend yesterday’s session. He’ll join me at 11am today though. As for me, I joined the training at 10 o’clock yesterday as I had a class at 11.

“Pretty good! We did some stretching, then ran a few laps around the track with the trainer. The trainer runs really fast! She’s even faster than the boys!”

“Wow. Hey, hold on. Are you saying the trainer is a female?”

“Yup. Short figure, pink shirt, ponytail.”

“I thought physical trainers are always, you know, those muscular men who are always trying to hunt down pretty girls in the gym.”

“To be honest, I was surprised too.”

“Well, that certainly makes things better for me.”

“What do you mean?”

My schoolmate leans closer towards my ears and whispers something I never expect him to say, at least to me.

“Hey, is she pretty?”

As a girl myself, I probably view feminine beauty from a different angle, but I guess giving my opinion doesn’t hurt.

“I think she’s cute. Pretty cheerful. Why ask? You’ll see her in a few hours!”

But I’m very surprised he would ask me such a private question, given the strange nature of our history.

“Sure. Alright then. I’ll think about attending the full course.”

Last time Kai and I persuaded him to take the health training course, he was pretty lukewarm about it. Eventually he reluctantly agreed to register, but he kept saying he reserves his rights to drop out any time. His impression of gym trainers always being perverted guys probably discourages him from joining.

“Are you sure? You’ll be running the track for a whole month. And I don’t think you can outrun her. She’s really fast. And I never heard of you as a runner.”

“Why not give it a try? It will keep me healthy for at least a month. And I can make a friend as a bonus.”

“Well, you can always choose other sports activities. I’ll be running though.”

“Sure. Hitting the track with a couple of cute girls? I can’t complain.”

“Okay, then. See you in a couple of hours.”

As Takumi waves me goodbye, I approach my mailbox in the Faculty while trying to recall as much as possible my physical trainer for the month. Yeah, pink shirt, ponytail, full of energy, runs like a cheetah. To be frank, I didn’t focus on her much yesterday – I treated her as merely a staff member. One thing I never figured out was that I seemed to have met her some time before, but where?

And what’s her name? She mentioned it a couple of times, but I forgot! Iba… what?

Anyway, she could be a good match for Takumi. If he wants to hit the track every day, that is. And, being a staff member, the trainer is probably older than my schoolmate. Will he accept a girlfriend older than him?

Takumi, my former classmate who never showed his feelings towards me until half a year after we both went into university. Unfortunately for him, I already had a target at that time. I have no feelings for him anyway. He was probably heart-broken, although he didn’t show it, but he has continued to be a friend of mine. I’ve been hoping to introduce him a girlfriend if possible to reduce our embarrassment whenever we talk to each other, so today could be a potential chance.

But maybe that trainer already has a boyfriend, and Takumi’s hopes are dashed.

Anyway, let’s go to the mailbox. Oh yeah, some classical music won’t hurt. Let’s take out my music player.

I need to record a music piece with my boyfriend this weekend when he comes over to visit. It will become a favorite in my playlist.

Speaking of my boyfriend, the last time I saw him in person was in our mutual friend’s birthday party last Wednesday. Of course the main topic there wasn’t the birthday; we was especially overjoyed that our friend Hisao finally gets the girlfriend he’s been dreaming of. Hisao invited us to join the party a couple of days after he officially started dating Shizune. Due to shortage of preparation time, we decided the birthday present in a hurry: A puzzle photo frame containing a group photo we’ve taken during our Hong Kong trip. Luckily the shop made it just in time for us. It wasn’t a big gift, but the birthday girl welled up in tears when she received our present. It was the first time I saw her cry.

Wait, did I see the physical trainer in the party? I think she might have been there! If that’s the case, this implies the trainer is a friend of Shizune! Which means I’ll have another matter to talk to Hisao when we meet in the afternoon.

So, what do we have in the mailbox? Hmm… Graded homework. 85 points. Not too impressive. Pharmacy is tough!

And I still hate seeing my official name written on the top of the page. I was able to stop the physical trainer from reading my name out loud yesterday, but similar situations will arise over and over again. Sigh… Maybe I really need to start accepting my official name.

It’s almost time for class. Let’s head to the classroom.

---

After changing into my sports outfit, I exit the girls’ changing room to see Takumi waiting for me already. Wearing a set of sports clothes that look suitable for running, it seems like he’s ready to meet our physical trainer.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Of course I am! I can’t wait to see, no, start exercising!”

Alright, here we go. Let’s see if our trainer meets his expectations.

“So, have you applied for the full course yet?”

“I decided to try it out for once first. I can always apply afterwards in the school intranet; I’m visiting the computer room this evening for homework anyway.”

“Makes sense. Hey, there’s our trainer.”

Walking towards the same short ponytail girl I saw yesterday, I can see the wheelchair guy and a few boys already talking to the trainer. It’s five minutes until eleven, and already so many guys arrive early to chat with her. Talking about popularity!

“The girl in the middle? She looks fantastic!”

Upon noticing us, our trainer jumps and waves enthusiastically with a grinning face. She’s such an energetic girl. Around her stands five tall boys, making the trainer look even shorter. Takumi, looks like you’re going to get a lot of competition!

“Hi there, Iwanako!”

“Good morning! Did you enjoy your morning run today?”

After the session yesterday morning, I briefly chatted with her before I left for class, and she told me that she’s been doing morning run sessions alone here before work. And I was stupid enough to not ask for her name.

“It was awesome! Can’t wait to run a few laps with you again! So, is he your friend? What’s your name?”

“Good morning. Takuya here. But you may call me Takumi.”

The fast-runner makes a scan from her list and successfully locates my schoolmate.

“Takuya… Yes, found it. Welcome!”

“How about you, what’s your name?”

“I’m Ibarazaki! Nice to meet you!”

So her name is Ibarazaki. I think I can remember it. My friend offers a handshake, which the trainer isn’t shy to accept. Way to go for a first impression!

“This is your first time, isn’t it? Take these documents, and pay attention to the dietary form. I talked about them yesterday, so I’m not going to repeat, but you can go back home and read them. Now, please come here so that I can get your height and weight recorded.”

As Ibarazaki goes over the same procedure as yesterday’s, I keep thinking back to Wednesday’s party. Was she in the party too? I can’t confirm. Well, now that I know her last name, I can simply ask Hisao.

Wait! Was she a previous schoolmate of Shizune? Then she must have a disability! But I can’t see anything visible from her. She looks totally normal.

“Hey Iwanako, how about your other friend? I don’t see her in the namelist.”

She must be referring to Kai.

“Do you mean Kai? She has a class in the morning, so she’ll join the afternoon session instead.”

“Aww… The afternoon session is not conducted by me. Oh well, I’d like to see her again. I love racing her.”

Of course, running with the short bubbly girl is way more fun than with me.

“Yes, she’ll come tomorrow morning.”

“Great! Oh, welcome! Your name please?”

As Ibarazaki continues to scan her namelist, I take the chance to nudge Takumi with my elbow and give him a wink towards the trainer. He replies with a thumbs-up.

Maybe he’ll go for it? We’ll see.

---

This is the second time of the day I see the bubbly Kai off, this time bouncing towards whatever faculty she’s interested in. We’ll meet again later in the evening.

I’m done escorting my best friend. Onto my next mission.

Looking at the directions, I should head north where the Journalism Faculty is. He’s supposed to be waiting for me in News Café.

It took me a couple of minutes to finally locate the small cafeteria. Right after entering the restaurant, I see my friend waving at me from one of the side tables.

“Hey there, Hisao.”

“It’s been a while, Iwanako.”

I like the amusing design of the restaurant: Cameras, newspapers, notebooks, computers, everything is related to journalism. Even the clothes of the waiters are specially designed.

“But we met on Saturday, didn’t we?”

“I guess you’re right. We didn’t really talk though.”

But we met last Wednesday in the birthday party too. Anyway, promptly taking the seat across him, I try to waste as little time as possible to bring up today’s agenda.

“I’ll head straight away, okay? You said you’re in a hurry.”

“It’s okay. Librarian duty at seven.”

“An hour and a half left, huh.”

“Yeah, and still need to have dinner.”

“Do you need to order first? I’ll wait for Alvin.”

“Nah, I still have time. Let’s see what you wanna ask first.”

“Alright then.”

Taking a deep breath to prepare myself mentally, I fire off my first question. This won’t go poorly, but the next one might risk him running away from me.

“Let’s get the easy one off first. Do you know Ibarazaki?”

Hisao raises an eyebrow in surprise, perhaps confused by why asking such a simple question requires us to come face-to-face in private. The truth is, this question only came up this morning, but it’s kind of related to my real agenda.

“You mean Emi?”

“I don’t know her first name. But short girl, ponytail, runs fast.”

“Yup. You must be talking about Emi. You know her?”

“She’s staying in Midori for health training.”

What I just said seems like a huge revelation for my former crush as he gasps and puts his hands above his head.

“Ah! So THAT was what she meant by ‘another school’!”

“Another school?”

“Yeah. I’ll fill you in. Emi’s now under an exchange program to become a physical trainer. She comes to Kasshoku for a couple of sessions in the afternoon, and she told me she goes to another school in the morning for what I suppose to be another couple of sessions. It turns out by ‘another school’ she means Midori University!”

“I see! This makes so much sense! No wonder she said that the afternoon sessions, for my school, is conducted by another trainer.”

“She must be traveling from Midori to Kasshoku after lunch to conduct the training here. And I assume you took her training course?”

“Yes. She runs really fast.”

“Of course. She’s the Fastest Thing on… Oh wait. No, never mind.”

“Fastest Thing on…?”

“It’s her nickname, but forget about it. I can’t mention it without her permission.”

“Uh… okay. Well, but there’s something about this girl I need to ask you about.”

My colleague pauses, stares at me suspiciously, and answers carefully.

“I think… I see where you’re coming from. But… you can go ahead.”

I don’t know what he’s considering, but I shrug and continue my inquiry.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her last week. Especially now I know that you’re referring to her by first name.”

“Yup. And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she’s my former classmate, is this what you’re trying to say?”

“That’s right. And my next question must be obvious, mustn’t it?”

Hisao puts up a finger as if he’s a teacher delivering a class to his student.

“Certainly, Iwanako. And that’s the question I need to tread carefully.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… Okay, so the thing is, even though Emi and I are on first name terms, we’re not that familiar with each other.”

“So you don’t know…”

“If you’re asking about her disability, I can responsibly tell you that she DOES have a disability. Which actually contributes to the nickname that I almost spoiled. But I’m not sure if I can reveal this information to others without her consent. That’s why I’m so reluctant to share this piece of info with you.”

Ah! This makes a lot of sense! I can see how different, or mature, Hisao is handling matters around his social circle. Shizune definitely changed him a lot.

“I understand. Okay, you’re right, protecting your friend’s privacy is important.”

“Sorry, Iwanako. Even though we’re close friends, I can’t afford to tell you about… what do they say? Patient confidentiality, that’s the phrase used by the medical staff.”

“It’s alright. At least I’ve already got what I need to know. But do you want to know why I want this piece of info?”

“If you’re asking out of curiosity, that would be shame on you.”

“Nope. I’ve got a reason, and I’m asking on behalf of somebody else.”

Hisao shifts to a more formal sitting position upon my claim.

“Okay? I don’t know if I need to hear about it, but you may go on.”

Now the important part comes, and I can’t help but start fidgeting and sweating.

“Do you want to know? Uh… Well, I think you NEED to know. At least… I think you should know.”

Hisao’s pair of suspicious eyes have me sweat even harder.

“Now I’m even more curious, Iwanako. But take your time.”

Given his maturity, I trust that he’s able to handle what’s coming his way without triggering a heart attack. Hopefully!

“Do you remember… Takumi?”

Upon mentioning the name of his former classmate, Hisao freezes on the spot as if hit by a beam of ice. He has his mouth wide open for like a minute before finally relaxing on the chair and producing a bitter laugh.

“Man, I can’t believe you bring this name out to me. But go on.”

“Takumi is now studying in Midori as well. And today he met Ibarazaki in the health course for the first time.”

My former classmate reduces to another bitter smile as he pauses, possibly considering my true motive for the evening. But he hasn’t heard everything yet.

“He fell for Emi?”

I give my former classmate a thumbs-up.

“Bingo, Hisao.”

“And that’s why you’re asking me if she’s got a disability, so as to warn him in case he wants to go after her.”

Now it’s time for me to share a smile with him.

“You’re a great mind-reader, Hisao.”

The “psychic” scratches his head in amusement.

“Nah, it’s simple logic, isn’t it? Hmm… Yeah, sorry, I still can’t violate patient confidentiality. You’ve got to ask her yourself later. Actually, she’s probably coming by after six. If you’re lucky, you may run into her.”

“Alright then. I’ll see if I can look for an opening.”

“In my opinion, she doesn’t mind. You’re probably safe, but I can’t be 100% sure.”

“Do you think Takumi will mind?”

“I don’t know. He might. But I can see why he falls for her. I never knew you two entered the same university. You never mentioned.”

Taking another deep breath, I’m now ready to fire off my second bullet. This time it’s much more powerful. Can you take it, Hisao?

“And this is the reason why I’m here.”

“Oh yeah, you suggested that Takumi met Emi for the first time this morning. And you called me last night…”

He finally realizes as he looks away from me towards the camera on the wall.

“…Oh my gosh, I know what’s coming my way. Oh dear…”

I’m sorry, Hisao. But I need to do this. He sinks further into his chair and puts his hands behind his head in despair.

“…I knew this day would eventually come, Iwanako. I guess… I’m not getting away from this, huh.”

“I guess not, Hisao.”

“Yup. I knew it. I’ll have to face it one day…”

Taking a deep sigh, my miserable friend reverts back to formal position, then sticks his elbows on the table and hangs his head on them. I’m sorry, my friend.

“…Alright then. Go ahead.”

“Are you sure?”

“…Well, sort of. Yeah… (mumbles to himself) This is going to go so poorly…”

“Actually, well, first of all, you’re not alone.”

My former crush nods in agreement, with his head still hanging.

“Not alone, huh. Yup. Yeah… I owe you a lot too.”

“Don’t worry about me. But I’m here to talk to you about Shin and Mai.”

The names of his former classmates don’t surprise him one bit as he replies with a mechanical voice, possibly awaiting his destiny.

“Yup. Knew it. Are they both in Midori too?”

“No. They’re in Tokyo. They failed to enter a university, so they’re both in a vocational training center.”

“I see. Just like… a friend of mine. Go on.”

“Actually, they talked to me about you the other day. Well, long story short, but they want to meet you.”

“Sorry to intrude, Iwanako. I don’t want the short story. Please tell me everything. I’m curious as well.”

I’m partially relieved that he at least still cares for his former friends.

“Um… Okay then. Well, let’s start from the phone call earlier this year. Hmm.. Maybe I should start from earlier than that. The truth is, we didn’t talk as much after we went our respective ways. You know, the distance, and new life, everything. We obviously avoided talking about you, as it would mean even more arguments.”

“Arguments?”

“Let’s drop that for now, okay? Then, remember earlier this year, when I became Alvin’s girlfriend? I told Kai about it. You know Kai Fushiharu?”

“Fushiharu… you mean Shrimp? Oh… sorry, that’s how I called her.”

“Yup. She’s been my friend for a long time, and she also entered Midori. Actually, Takumi, Kai, and I are the only three from our… former class who’re now in Midori. Naturally I told Kai about the happy news. Of me and Alvin. Then somehow she leaked the news to Shin and Mai. And, you know, I haven’t talked to them for a long time, and I didn’t think of telling them the news. But then they called me and congratulated me. I was pretty surprised to receive the call.”

“Uh huh. Come to think of it, did I congratulate you? I forgot.”

“You did. But remember, at that time Shizune was in the hospital. And during the call, well, they were at the same place so the three of us were talking, they asked me about you. I told them about how you won the JUSC championship, and apparently they didn’t watch the program because they aren’t in a university. And because I now have a boyfriend of my own, they thought maybe Hisao would finally be ‘at rest’. You know, like, the relationship is over…”

“Yeah, I get it. Go ahead.”

“…And maybe Hisao would be open to talk again. But then I told them Hisao is now dealing with an issue because a friend of his is now in hospital, so it’s not the appropriate time to bother him. You know, actually they didn’t sound like hating you any more. It’s been like two years already. And Mai certainly isn’t angry with you. Shin might still be, but he has a reason for it, that’s for another day.”

“Shin, huh. Do you mind if you give me a short version about it?”

“Well, I’ll tell you the longer version later, but basically he took a few blows. Physically. He actually did it for me. But I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Man, sounds like a long story.”

“Indeed. But what I wanna say is that, your relationship with Shizune is finally settled. You should be in the happiest mood ever. If there’s ever a time to reunite with Shin and Mai, and possibly Takumi, now is probably the time.”

Hisao slides back into his chair in agony as if meeting his old friends is equivalent to going to hell.

“Well, I admit I’m very happy now, but do I really have to do that?”

“Think about it this way, Hisao. As long as you’re not leaving this area, you’re going to run into them eventually. Maybe not in school, but could be in work, or in your neighborhood after you graduate. Your home is like fifteen minutes’ walk from Shin’s, right? Now that they seem to have put down the past, it’s the perfect chance for you, no, for both of us to finally tie up the loose ends. At least I’d like to get that thorn out of the way as soon as possible.”

Hisao spreads his hands wide and heavily sighs helplessly.

“I don’t want to admit it, but your train of thought is infallible, and I must respect your standard of morality.”

“Hmm… Your girlfriend should be a much better expert to consult in that regard. Anyway, I promise, I’ll stay by your side, okay? We’re… the two subjects of that accident after all.”

He looks away from me again towards the same camera on the wall.

“Man… This is going to be so bad…”

Considering that his heart hasn’t acted up, his response has already met my expectation. I’ll give him more encouragement though.

“Don’t be so dejected… Everybody still misses you.”

Hisao immediately switches his sight back to me.

“Are you serious?”

I’m not gonna flinch; rather, I feel the need to pretend to be angry.

“Yes. You’d think everybody has already forgotten about you. If you really believe so, you’re such a jerk.”

He facepalms to express his regret about his misjudgment of the situation.

“That was exactly what I had been thinking. I’m so sorry.”

Folding my arms to mock anger, I’m actually not angry with him. Rather, I sympathize with him.

“And that’s why you need to make your amends. We still care for you, Hisao. Although I admit that by ‘we’ I mean only the four of us. Even though I don’t quite contact with Shin and Mai regularly, each of us knows clearly there’s something missing in our links. You know, the elephant in the room. But none of us want to talk about it, because it’ll only cause more arguments.”

Hisao raises a hand to stop me from further rambling.

“It’s okay. (Sigh) I got your message.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No. I should be glad that you’re sharing the burden with me. I appreciate it. I promise you, I’ll sleep on it, okay? Just… give me a bit of time to prepare mentally.”

“I’m happy you’re taking it seriously.”

“You’re right. We need to make amends. I want to restore the friendship as well. I learned it in Yamaku. Friendships are precious.”

“Friendships are precious, huh. Well, actually, not sure if you’re open to it. You have a chance to warm up. You can meet one of our former classmates right now.”

Hisao sits up straight as soon as I mention a former classmate.

“You mean Takumi is here?”

“No, it’s Kai. She’s visiting Kasshoku. Or more like sightseeing. We’re having dinner together, along with Alvin. I already introduced Kai to him months ago, but this is the first time Kai visits his school.”

“Ah, I see. I mean, I didn’t really talk to Shrimp before, so meeting her should be fine. I’m okay with that.”

“Alright? I’ll text her then. We can have dinner together. The four of us.”

“We’ve already talked for, how many? Twenty minutes already. I’m hungry too. Yeah, let’s have dinner. Shizune should be coming soon. We can all have dinner, or we can split into groups. I’ll let her decide.”

“No problem. Let me text her.”

Accordingly, I open my phone, go to the instant text page, click on Kai’s name, and type my message.

{Kai, Hisao says he’s okay to meet you. Come to News Café in the Journalism Faculty, that’s north of the campus, near the sports field.}

Then I click on my boyfriend’s name and type.

{Hisao and I are in News Café. Kai will be here too. See you.}

After closing my phone, the two of us await our friends’ arrival while the waiter comes to change the menu. It’s dinner time.

“While waiting for everybody, can you tell me a bit about what happened? What about Shin’s blow? And what’s about the argument? I kind of need the info to formulate an apology to Shin.”

Retelling my terrible experience in my own words is something I’d never like to do for the rest of my life, but I’ll do it just once if it means we can finally put everything at rest.

“It was pretty bad, Hisao. You’ll never expect.”

“(Sigh) How bad?”

“Very bad. For starters, after that… accident, the rest of the class had split into three groups. One group blames you for the accident, and that group consists of two boys. One group says everybody should take some responsibility, and it consists of one girl. The third group blames… me. For the accident. And that group includes… pretty much the remainder of the class.”

A deep sigh, followed by a facepalm, is his expected response.

“The first group is Shin and Takumi. The second group is Mai.”

“Correct. And you can already see why things are so bad. The four of us were already outcasts of the class. Now we’re even more isolated. And then, that was where things went terribly wrong. The leader of that third group started to turn on his bully boy mode…”

“Who is he? Oh my gosh don’t tell me he insulted you.”

“I’m not naming that guy, but the word ‘insult’ is far away from describing…”

My friend lifts his head in shock as he finally catches a glimpse of what happened.

“Don’t tell me he beat you up. Oh no, and then Shin… No way…”

That memory was painful, but I’m desperate to tell him about Shin. Also, it’s been like two years since that happened, it doesn’t hurt as much any more.

“I got a scratch from one of the guys. Shin knew about it. Confronted the leader. Took some blows in return.”

The realization of the nasty events his classmates were suffering (and you haven’t even heard half of it yet, Hisao) while he was venting his anger in the hospital dawns over him, as his eyes well up in tears in response.

“Oh my gosh that didn’t happen… And it’s my fault…”

“No, Hisao. I don’t think that’s your fault. That guy is responsible for his own actions. But you owe Shin an apology, and perhaps a gratitude, for his bravery.”

“Did he fight him back or anything?”

“That’s a reason why I also want to tie up all the loose ends. He had the endurance of not fighting back and instead reported it to the teacher. That guy got expelled from the school as a result.”

My former crush takes out a piece of tissue from his bag to wipe his eyes with.

“Thanks for telling me all these, Iwanako.”

“And to give you a heads-up, in case you run into that ex-classmate in the streets, he might taunt you. I advise you not to get into a fight with him.”

“Thanks. Without your warning, the fight might really happen, and that could send me into the hospital again. You know what’s a better reaction if he ever taunts me? I should counter his words with my achievements. You’re expelled from school. I’m the JUSC champion. With scholarship.”

Having my burden released, I can finally share a smile with the boy who I once loved. I still like him, but the fact that we each have a soulmate has made things much less awkward.

“Way to go, Hisao. Now, I’m not forcing you or anything, but I’d really like you to meet our former classmates if possible. I’ll be on your side.”

He puts his hands on the back of his head again.

“I’ll sleep on it, okay? I’m leaning towards writing a letter to them first.”

There are some details in the aftermath of our accident that I hid from him. I’ll let him ask Shin in the future. Especially about the penalty he received.

“Take your time. A week or so isn’t going to change much anyway.”

“I guess you’re right. And hey, isn’t that Shrimp at the entrance?”

I turn around, and surely, the beret girl with white top, beige jacket, and short black skirt has found her way here.

“Hey there, ‘Nako!”

“Hey, you remember him, Kai?”

“Of course! Nakai! Great to see you again.”

My friend collects himself after our heavy talk and stands up to greet his former classmate with a handshake offer.

“Good evening, Fushiharu.”

My green-eyed schoolmate accepts Hisao’s handshake energetically.

“Good evening, Nakai. Call me Kai.”

“Likewise then, Hisao here. How d’you find Kasshoku?”

“Great! Well, isn’t that different from Midori, but I like the diversity of faculties and the sheer number of clubs. And I see your girlfriend’s posters everywhere.”

“Oh man, she’s putting Student Council ads around the campus again.”

“By the way, your girlfriend looks cool. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, I guess. We… went through a whole lot of tough moments.”

“I heard some of it from ‘Nako. But your bond gets stronger, doesn’t it? It’s so romantic! Going through all the ups and downs, entering the hospital and everything, finally winning her heart, and the couple will live happily ever after! What a love story! That’s exactly how I’d like to write a novel!”

Kai always reminds me of Misha, Shizune’s best friend, whenever she talks.

“I never thought about it that way, but thanks for your compliment. How ‘bout you, Kai? Any…”

“Nope. Haven’t found one that I like yet. Not that in a hurry.”

“Gotcha. By the way, ‘Nako, huh.”

“Yup, that’s how we’ve been calling her since, like, high school?”

“Now that you mentioned it, I vaguely remember hearing this nickname. It’s a bit awkward to me as her boyfriend and Misha call her Iwa-chan, so having two nicknames seems funny. Are you okay with it?”

“Well, actually three. You forgot that ‘Iwanako’ is already a nickname.”

“Oh yeah, that makes three. By the way, I still don’t know why you’d use that nickname instead of…”

“That involves a bit of history, but I’m telling nobody except my family and Alvin. Sorry, Hisao.”

“It’s alright. So, how do you want me to call you?”

“You should call her ‘Nako! We came from the same high school after all.”

“Hmm… What about you?”

“I’m fine with anything! Just use whatever you feel like the best.”

“Alright then, Kai’s right. ‘Nako it is. And ‘Nako, there’s your boyfriend.”

I reflexively turn around, and sure enough, my lover waves at me from the entrance of the café. But as he steps into the restaurant, he carelessly trips over the umbrella case next to the entrance! Luckily he manages to find his balance after taking a few steps, and disaster is avoided. But in the process he also reveals several more students behind him, including Hisao’s girlfriend, a blonde girl carrying a Faculty of Journalism bag, and my physical trainer. My boyfriend ruffles my hair as Hisao walks past me to grab hold of his girlfriend’s hand, while Ibarazaki greets me with a handshake.

“Hey there, Iwa-chan! I ran into the group at the faculty entrance. Turns out we’re heading towards the same spot.”

There you go, my third nickname.

“Great to see you here, Iwanako!”

“Nice to meet you too, Ibarazaki.”

“Done with your discussion, dear?”

Display of affection in public is not my style, but here in this café surrounded by so many friends, I think it’s okay to wrap my arm around my boyfriend’s waist.

“Yup, we’re done. Hisao’s kind of in a hurry, so maybe we should have dinner.”

“Yeah, and this is Kai Fushiharu, my former high school friend.”

Oops, forgot about introducing my good friend to the rest of the group. She doesn’t know any of them except Emi.

“Nice to meet you guys! Just call me Kai!”

“Nice to meet you too!”

It looks like we’re going to have dinner together. The introduction is going to be long. But it’s been a while since the last time I had a meal with so many friends around me (the birthday party doesn’t count). Hopefully I’ll have another one in the near future with my high school friends, and I can finally put everyone back together. But Hisao, the ball is on your court now. Please don’t disappoint me.

And perhaps I can figure out Ibarazaki’s disability during this dinner meet, then I can warn Takumi when I see him tomorrow.

Chapter 79: Master of My Fate (Part 1)

Chapter 79: Master of My Fate

As the professor keeps droning on without a break, I try to write as many notes as possible on my textbook in attempt to get a better score in the next exam while preventing myself from falling asleep. Unfortunately, the ink seems to run out, and I haven’t brought myself a substitute. I try to write with the fading ink, but the words inevitably become increasingly invisible.

“(Trying her best to whisper) Here you go.”

Luckily, my neighbor has brought help in the form of another pen. I’ll demonstrate to her the correct way to whisper.

“T-thanks a lot!”

My classmate twirls another pen with her left hand and proudly preaches me with her own standard volume of whispering.

“As a journalist, you need to bring extra pens!”

No doubt she’s right. I’ll take her advice.

“T-thanks for the r-reminder. I’ll take a f-few more next t-time. But don’t you n-need to write n-notes?”

The loud girl points to her brain, or more accurately, her blonde hair while still twirling her pen across her fingers.

“Nope. I can remember everything. And I’ve got the textbook!”

I doubt she can really remember everything the professor has said, especially knowing that triggering an episode might wipe out all of her recent memories. Luckily, I’ve never seen her short-circuiting her brain during class. As for after-school times, at least she’s never told me if she had one.

I give my neighbor a shrug of “have it your way” as the professor finally reaches the end of his lecture. I know it because the Powerpoint shows “Any Questions?”. I don’t, and I doubt the remainder of the class has one.

“For the upcoming course project, you will form groups of two. You will research and write several articles about health products, from various stances. The details will be announced in the e-mail this afternoon.”

Upon hearing the phrase “groups of two”, I immediately turn my eyes towards my neighbor. She responds by giving me an assuring grin and a nod, followed by grabbing my left arm. Thanks, pal, for sticking with me.

Even though I have attended university for more than a month, I admit I’m still pretty skittish during classes. While Naomi has already made a few friends in class, I only talk to Naomi and haven’t even attempted to start a meaningful conversation with any of my classmates. To address this issue, my namesake counselor, after consulting Miss Yumi in Yamaku, gave me an assignment of making at least a friend before the end of the first term, with the option of doing it through introduction by Naomi, but I haven’t had the courage to start the mission yet. I still have several weeks to work on the assignment, but I know I can’t run away from it. I intend to do that after getting myself more accustomed to university life.

“That’s all for the class. See you next Monday.”

If possible, I’d like to leave class five minutes early, like what I had been doing in Yamaku. But the environment here is less accommodating, and seeing a counselor regularly isn’t an excuse to violate school rules. Luckily I still have Naomi with me.

“Hey there, Naomi! Wanna form a group with me?”

Oh my gosh! A classmate is threatening to take away my project partner! I immediately stare at Naomi in horror, knowing that disaster will struck if she betrays me.

“S’ry, I’m sticking with Hanako.”

Whoosh! I breathe a heavy sigh of relief as my white (or blonde?) samurai declines the offer. If she had taken the offer, I probably would have quit the university.

“Alright. I’ll find another one then.”

Naomi grins and sees off her classmate (technically should be our classmate, but in my world there are only two students in the class, at least for now), then turns towards me with a thumbs-up.

“Alright! Project time! I always enjoy working on a project with you, Hanako! Can’t wait to read the details!”

I have received three project assignments so far, and unsurprisingly I’ve teamed up with Naomi for every single one of them. I still haven’t encountered a project that requires three or more teammates; I expect one to arrive some time in the future, though that will be a problem for future me.

“M-me too.”

“What d’ya think? What kind of product d’ya want to write about?”

“S-shouldn’t we first r-read through the e-mail before d-deciding?”

“We can always speculate, can’t we? Is it going to be food? Or machines? Or even a training program? That counts as a product too.”

“I t-think food is a good t-topic to write for.”

“Food is okay, but is too boring. Man, I’m getting so excited!”

“I’m h-happy that you’re excited about the p-project.”

“Yup, and we’re getting good grades for this. Don’t disappoint me, Hanako.”

“Okay, I’ll t-try my best.”

“Good. So, you’re coming to run with us, aren’t you?”

Lilly told me about her plan of joining the health training program two days ago, with the incentive of Emi Ibarazaki being the trainer. I immediately discovered two major problems with her plan, both related to our respective disabilities. For Lilly, I’m worried that she might trip over something on the track. For me, I’m concerned about my scars overheating my skin during the run. But Lilly persuaded me to try at least once, and she even asked her boyfriend to join us. Then Naomi also brought up the plan the next day, claiming that it was awesome. Having no other excuse to reject, I reluctantly agreed to give it a day’s trial.

“Y-yes. I’m not l-looking forward to it t-though.”

“Nah, it’ll be fine. We’ve got so many of us here. Lilly, Hisao, Shizune, and Emi. A Yamaku reunion of six! What a rare opportunity!”

No, a reunion of six consisting of Lilly, Akira, Naomi, Karla, and Hiroyuki would be my preferred option. Especially given that three of them will move to America soon.

“Uh huh…”

“Not uh huh! Don’t be so down! You don’t want to become a party pooper, do you?”

If I can exit the sports field unscathed, I’ll call this afternoon a success. I’m probably not doing it again.

“I’ll t-try to c-cheer myself up.”

“Alright. Hey, I don’t think I’ve ever heard from you. How was your experience in the Chess and Bridge Club? Good? Are you staying late at night playing chess? Found yourself any friend? Or boyfriend?”

The definitive verbal machine gun is again firing off questions as if she has infinite amount of ammunition. I’ll make things generic for the moment.

“I l-like it. I usually j-just go there, t-take the corner seat, and w-wait for an opponent. They just c-come and sit opposite to m-me and s-start the clock. I usually s-stay until Lilly c-calls me when she’s done with the l-library.”

A detail I deliberately hid from her was that I’ve played a particular opponent at least twice every time I went there. He contributed to more than 70% of my games. Nonetheless, we’ve made almost no verbal communication throughout the sessions.

“Some quiet time after classes, huh. That’s a good way to relax yourself.”

Before she has a chance to nudge the conversation towards the dangerous zone of boyfriends, I need to deflect our chat towards her own club experience.

“How about y-you, Naomi? H-have you enjoyed the Newspaper C-Club?”

“Yup! We’re about to distribute our first issue! And I’ll bring you a copy in advance once we’ve finalized the print.”

“You’re n-not the Editor in C-Chief, are you?”

“Nah, I’m still a freshman. In a couple of years maybe.”

Come to think of it, Naomi did once tell me that she was the Editor in Chief only in her third year. Anyway, my goal of swaying the conversation away is a success.

“But… Now that you mentioned Newspaper Club… (Sigh)… boyfriend…”

Or maybe not.

“W-what’s wrong?”

Unexpectedly, my classmate sighs deeply and lowers her head as if she were the one who was forced by her friends to join the health program.

“I’m getting worried.”

“W-worried?”

“Yeah. You know what? The Newspaper Club only started for six weeks. I mean, the Newspaper Club for this term. Already two new couples, all freshmen.”

“R-really? Do t-they get along so f-fast?”

“Not expecting it, huh. Me neither. And look, we’ve a few pairs in our class already.”

Naomi points a finger towards the exit where students are filing out of the lecture hall, and among the crowd, I do see a few couples holding hands, completely neglecting the taboo of public display of affection.

“Uh huh.”

My meek response is met by a light pat of frustration on my left shoulder.

“Not uh huh, Hanako! Don’t you think it’s time to worry about finding a boyfriend?”

“I n-never t-thought about it.”

“I knew you wouldn’t! The other day Hisao was with me in the health program. He offered to introduce me to his classmates. I told her I wasn’t ready to start a relationship and would like to wait a few more years. I was so stupid!”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Then yesterday, a clubmate told me she just started dating with her classmate! Oh my gosh! Hanako! If we keep on being so oblivious, all the good boys in the university will be gone!”

All the good boys will be gone. What a terrifying statement.

“B-But you can s-still find one when y-you go out to work.”

“That’s when things get worse. Your elder sister was right the other day. In the society, people turn their attention towards money and social status. Women choose their spouses based on how much they can satisfy their financial desire, and men look for either beauty or a management position in a high profile company, or both. No more of those pure love you see in high school or university. Well, you’re probably better as you now have a rich father. I don’t, and who wants to marry an epileptic who can soak her pants and the bedsheet without a warning?”

What she just said is enlightening and alarming. Ever since my fateful accident that lost me my parents, I’ve been merely existing in the world, without a clear goal in sight or a long-term plan for my life. Everything has slowly changed since the day I met Hisao accidentally on my last school day (of my third year), but one thing that remains the same is that I never thought beyond my school years. Perhaps it’s time to put some consideration into it.

If what Naomi just said is true, I’m not in a better position, in terms of finding a boyfriend, than her. My new dad is rich, that’s true, but I’m also horribly scarred. I’m meek and shy, stuttering constantly. Who would like to marry such a disabled girl carrying severe post-traumatic stress disorder?

“Y-You’re p-probably right…”

“Yeah. I’ve made up my mind. I’ll pull Hisao aside after the run in the afternoon and secretly ask him to introduce me some boys.”

“Uh… B-but isn’t it t-too impulsive? And early? Y-you can still find one in our c-class.”

“It’s never too early, Hanako! I’ve got to expand my friends circle and allow more opportunities! And you should do the same!”

The crowd around the exit starting to thin out is the clue we should leave the hall towards the next classroom.

“I’ll t-think about it. Let’s go to the next c-class.”

Unwilling to risk the corner seats of the next classroom being occupied, I yank my friend on her arm and swiftly head towards the exit.

Is it finally the cue for me to make a move on my chess opponent?

---

“Checkmate!”

Moving the Gold General one square forward, my opponent announces the win as I find my King trapped with no way of escaping death.

“C-congratulations.”

“Good game, Hanako. And it looks like there’s nothing else special during these couple of days.”

Today’s session with my namesake counselor consists mainly of the shogi game, as I find nothing of interest to report to her. We already discussed about Akira and my new parents on Monday, and these two days are pretty much routine without anything major. I did tell her about the upcoming health program.

“I g-guess not.”

“Alright then. I won’t keep you any longer. Enjoy your run. No worries, you’ll be fine.”

The encouragement she offers won’t change my regrets of making such a poor decision to run with Lilly, but I don’t want to keep complaining about it. I, however, have something to ask her before I leave.

“E-excuse me, m-may I ask you a q-question?”

“Sure. My supervisor had me reserve a thirty-minute time slot for you after all. Well, not only for you, but for every patient in general.”

There is a thirty-minute time slot reserved in her timetable? I never thought their work would be micro-managed like that. Was Miss Yumi working under such strict regulations too? And is playing chess or shogi with me written in their guidelines as part of their work agenda as well?

The adult world is so different from school!

“Um… Naomi told me this m-morning… She’s w-worried about being unable to f-find a b-boyfriend. She said that w-when we go to work, people only c-care about m-money and s-social status, and there will be no p-pure love. I just w-want to ask if what she s-said is true.”

My question doesn’t seem to surprise my counselor one bit as she shrugs with a neutral expression.

“You’re sitting across a typical example here, Hanako.”

For a second I don’t quite catch what she means, but then I realize, to my horror, that she’s referring to her own relationship. I cover my hands with my mouth at once and blurt out the only apology I can muster.

“I’m s-s-sorry!!”

She quickly waves away my apology, wags a finger, and continues.

“Nah, it’s alright. But may this be a warning. What your classmate said does have some degree of truth in it.”

“So it’s t-true…”

“True to some extent. True love still exists in the adult world, but there’s no doubt that as people grow older, they tend to turn more of their attention towards material. The higher you can offer in terms of assets, like money or beauty, the better options you can choose from. That’s the reality.”

“I s-see…”

“Remember we talked the other day, I think it was the day of your Entrance Ceremony. I was disappointed that you weren’t trying to get yourself a boyfriend. I wasn’t only referring to my own experience.”

“W-What do you m-mean?”

“My parents used to ask me not to engage in a relationship before I came out to work, stating that I should focus on my studies in school. I followed their instruction and never accepted a confession until I eventually met my boyfriend in the university. I trusted my ability to keep up with my schoolwork while dating. I don’t regret my decision.”

Now I find it extremely hard to keep up with her seemingly contradictory thought process.

“B-But didn’t you b-break up with your b-boyfriend?”

“That’s true. In fact, we broke up because his parents asked him to continue their family business in the Kansai area. We could continue our relationship only if I moved to their hometown and learned business along with him. I didn’t want to give up my family and friends here, so we parted ways. You see, very often true love is sacrificed to accommodate family matters.”

Her story sounds a bit like Akira’s previous fallout with her fiancé.

“But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt to get yourself a happy marriage by preparing in advance while you’re relatively free in the university. Sometimes it may not work out, as in my case; but sometimes it works, and your so-called ‘puppy love’ brings into fruition. But if you don’t try now, you’re giving yourself no opportunity, and you might regret your non-action in the future.”

Her words echo Naomi’s opportunity talk this morning as I continue to digest my counselor’s advice.

“I didn’t take my parents’ words back then, and I maintain my stance. The society has changed a lot from the previous generation. In my parents’ days, high school dating was a serious taboo that would cause students to be expelled. Nowadays people are already debating on whether dating is beneficial for primary school students. The society is not only more open, but also encouraging development of interpersonal skills, especially towards the opposing gender. If this trend continues, I’m afraid all the good boys will be occupied before they come out to work.”

All the good boys will be gone. Even my counselor agrees with that warning.

“T-then what about y-you?”

“Hmm… I’ll tell you another day, okay?”

“O-okay.”

“So yeah, I hope that answers your question.”

It does, and I think my thirty-minute time limit is up. But now that I’m given a double warning by two girls in a row, I feel the need to bring up my secret to her. Her advice could be useful, and even potentially life-changing if I speak up.

But I’m hesitating. Do I really have to face this situation now? Is it that important? I still don’t know much about…

On the other hand, many of my friends are already settled. Akira is marrying. Lilly has a boyfriend. Hisao and Shizune are bound. If even Naomi finds herself a soulmate, possibly through Hisao, I’ll be the only one left single.

I’ll keep things vague for the moment. Test the waters.

“Um… I’d l-like to t-tell you one more thing, b-but is my t-time over?”

Miss Ibuki takes a look at her watch and shrugs casually.

“You’re lucky that my next client won’t be here until five. Take your time.”

“T-thank you…”

But how am I going to start?

My namesake must have noticed my fidgeting, as she changes into an even more casual sitting position and shifts her sight towards the table.

“While you’re getting yourself ready, perhaps you can help tidying up the table for me. My next client doesn’t play board games with me.”

I follow her suggestion and remove the shogi pieces from the board, then flip the board over and put the pieces into the empty space at the back of the board, arranging them according to their types. Then I fold the board, close the lock, and hand the game back to my counselor.

Keep things vague, Hanako.

“In the Chess and B-Bridge Club. A b-boy has been p-playing chess with me f-for a month.”

My host’s facial expression remains calm.

“Did he talk to you before or after the games?”

“N-no. He only t-talked to me when I first j-joined the club.”

“Do you know anything about him.”

“N-not much. I s-speculate that he might be L-Lilly’s classmate, and he p-probably played online chess with me before I c-came here. L-Lilly told me that a c-classmate of hers has been s-secretly going after me.”

Miss Ibuki puts her hand under her chin and ponders for a couple of minutes while playing with the lock of the shogi board. She finally makes her comment, but not before releasing a deep sigh.

“You should’ve told me about it much earlier, Hanako.”

I reflexively shrink into my seat and blurt out an apology without knowing why she would blame me for hiding private information.

“I’m s-s-sorry!!!”

“You don’t apologize to me. You should say sorry to yourself instead. But I would’ve heavily preferred it if you had informed me a few weeks ago. Anyway, I’m going to be a bit direct for a while, if you don’t mind.”

This is the first time I’ve seen her being so serious, and it’s a bit scary. I think I can still put my trust on Miss Ibuki though, for the time being.

“N-no.”

“First of all, that the boy is probably Miss Satou’s classmate implies a lot. I never met Satou, but I happened to watch the recording of last year’s Open Day, and it looks like Satou is quite a lady, if you know what I mean.”

“Y-yes.”

“You mentioned that he played online chess with you before you came here. So, assuming your speculations are correct, this means he’s drawn to you because of Satou. Now you’ve come across with each other, face-to-face, and he keeps playing chess with you. Do you know what that implies?”

“He… doesn’t mind my scars?”

“That’s a distinct possibility. At least he sees you as a worthy opponent. But after over a month he still hasn’t initiated a talk with you. This can mean one of two things. Either he obtained information from Satou that you’re a shy girl and doesn’t want to scare you off until you’ve warmed up to him, or he’s hesitating because he doesn’t know much about you. Or maybe both. The bottom line is, he doesn’t outright run away from you after seeing you face-to-face. This is a good sign.”

I tried to keep the details from her, yet she’s able to deduce so much with so little information. The adult world is really different!

“I… I h-have to agree.”

“And this is why I would have preferred to have more preparation time with you. You need to make a good impression in front of strangers, whether you’re attending a job interview or trying out a date. From what I saw in your first day of school, you’re able to improve your appearance through decorations and makeup. But the way you speak will undoubtedly hinder your interaction with, well, no offense, but the non-disabled. Sorry to be blunt.”

“I u-understand.”

“Speech therapy. This was one of the potential action items Miss Takawa, your former therapist, asked me to consider for your case. But I agree with her point of view that your stuttering is most likely due to a lack of self-confidence. Hanako, occasional stuttering is fine, as everybody gets nervous in unfamiliar situations. But constantly messing up with your words would be an unacceptable behavior in the society, to the point that it could be regarded as a disability by itself.

A meek nod is the best I can offer. I’ve had about twenty sessions with my counselor, but this is the first time she talks about the technical aspect of her job. I’ve been treating the counselor job too lightly.

“But, you’re a brave girl, Hanako. And throughout your visits and your shogi games with me, I’ve identified quite a few positive qualities from you. Hanako, your beauty should not be diminished by your lack of self-confidence. Or your scars.”

The sudden flatter catches me completely off guard as I struggle to find a response. That said, I’ve heard a similar comment from Miss Yumi during my mini graduation party.

“T-thanks.”

“Now, if you’re okay with it, we’re going to have to work more on your self-confidence. Starting from next Monday. Did you remember my assignment the other day, to make a friend in class before this term ends?”

“Y-yes. S-sorry that I haven’t s-started working on it yet.”

“Well, if you manage to get yourself a boyfriend, I can probably give you a pass too. But anyway, we don’t have much time for today, so we’ll start our project next week. But I’ll give you one piece of advice for the weekend.”

Miss Ibuki pauses, and I realize I’ve been lowering my head more and more since the moment I told her about Kozuki. She could be waiting for me to face her before she continues, so I hurry to sit up straight and make some degree of eye contact with the Kasshoku graduate.

“If you want others to accept you, you must first accept yourself. You’re a fantastic woman. Believe in yourself.”

“B-but…”

“No but. See you on Monday.”

Without waiting for my reply, my host stands up and swings open the door. Cue for me to leave. I hurry to rise from my chair and greet my counselor with a bow.

“Take care. Wish you well in the weekend.”

After getting kicked out of the counselor’s office, I take a look at my phone (it’s almost always in vibration mode ever since... well, that incident), and it shows 16:35. I only have twenty-five minutes left! Luckily, I’m now in the building opposite to the Journalism Faculty, which is pretty close to the track. Let’s hurry and change my clothes so that I can meet Lilly in time.

---

“Hey there, Hanako. You look great!”

“T-thanks. And you too.”

For my sports outfit, I decided to go plain. Purple T-shirt (long sleeves obviously to hide my scars) and black trousers. Pure colors, no fancy drawings or decorations. This is the first time I wear this outfit in front of anyone other than Lilly, who obviously doesn’t care. And the only times I’ve worn this were in the gym.

Naomi’s wearing a white T-shirt with a brown running figure in the middle. Suits the theme quite well. Paired with light yellow pants, she’s a girl of yellow and brown.

“Hanako, is that you?”

“Yes, L-Lilly. And good evening, T-Tatsuya.”

Tatsuya has visited my shared apartment with Lilly several times. We usually take time to relax ourselves after a heavy day of school, like playing board games and talking about school in general. I’ve slowly gotten used to Tatsuya, to the point I can address him by first name.

“Ready to go, Hanako?”

I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for this activity, but just one hour of this is acceptable. Barely.

“Y-yes.”

“Let’s go then.”

Wish me luck!

Tatsuya proceeds to escort his girlfriend towards the booth some fifty meters away from us, and, taking advantage of their heights, I hide behind their shadows along with Naomi.

Emi Ibarazaki. The pink-haired sports star who always ran across the hallway, zooming past me before I got the chance to greet her. But since she’s the trainer today, she’s not going to run past and ignore me this time. How ironic is it that the first time I formally greet my former schoolmate is in a university, not Yamaku. And she doesn’t even study in a university.

“Hey there, Kozuki!”

!!!

Tatsuya’s mention of the familiar name freezes me right at the spot.

“Hi, Tatsuya. Didn’t know you’re in the training too! And you too, Lilly!”

“Good afternoon, Kozuki. It is nice to meet you too.”

“Yeah, we’re joining for the first time. To test the waters. I’ve heard that the trainer is really good.”

Still shielding behind the two tall figures, I reflexively attempt to hide behind Naomi upon knowing my potential target is right in front of me behind Lilly, but then I realize that if I hide now, Naomi might get suspicious.

For a second I considered running away, but that would cause a scene and Lilly would lose face, not to mention what would happen if Miss Ibuki found out about it – I might receive an unfriendly visit from Miss Yumi herself.

What should I do?

“Good afternoon, Lilly!”

The familiar energetic voice, undoubtedly from the trainer, pulls my mind back into the training. At least momentarily.

“You must be Emi. Good afternoon.”

“Thank you for the meal the other day. I enjoyed it.”

“You’re welcome.”

While I’m still considering how to either greet or escape from Kozuki after my shields eventually move, two of my friends come over to greet me. They are standing diagonally across Lilly, probably next to Emi, so they’re able to spot me.

“Hey there!”

Hisao waves to me with an affectionate smile as his girlfriend delivers her greeting with her signature business etiquette: a handshake. Still worrying about Kozuki’s presence, I mechanically return Shizune’s handshake, but she unexpectedly pulls me into an embrace – she could be trying to calm me down for my upcoming encounter with Emi. The difference in height makes this hug quite awkward, and the way she clings onto me is really funny. I can’t help but let out a light smile. I guess the hug does settle me down a bit, just not in the traditional way.

“I bet you’re overweight, Tatsuya.”

“No, I’m not!”

Meanwhile, I get to hear some banter from Kozuki and his classmate.

“Don’t wanna admit it, huh.”

“I’m sure I’m not! Wanna wager on it?”

“Sure. Bet you 500 yen your BMI is higher than 25.”

“Deal. We’ll see.”

So one of my shields moves, and I’m relieved that Kozuki is now having his back against me.

“Good afternoon, Naomi, Hanako!”

!!!

The innocent bubbly voice of the trainer would normally be a great start to a successful first greeting (even though she addresses me by first name, probably because we’ve “known” each other for a few years), but now is the worst time for it, as it draws the attention of my chess opponent, who reflexively turns around to discover my presence!

“Hey there, Emi!”

Naomi, who obviously doesn’t know about my issue, waves hi to her trainer energetically as I find myself at the center of attention of two people. My first response is to mechanically return the greeting.

“G-good afternoon.”

But then I start to feel dizzy. My mind goes blank, and I feel my muscles tensing up. This is bad, very bad!

I’m about to start a panic attack! Please, anybody, save me from this situation!

As if my prayers have reached him, Kozuki simply nods to me with a smile, then turns around and follows Tatsuya into the room beyond.

“Lilly, Hanako, since this is your first time…”

“Wait a minute! Emi, may I have a word with you? Naomi, quick, take her to the bleachers! Lilly, you… follow Naomi. Go!”

“W-what is happening… Gasps Oh no!”

“Keep quiet, Lilly. Naomi, quick! Emi, come with me. I’m sorry, would you all please wait for a second?”

A dumbfounded journalist obeys Hisao’s orders and escorts me towards the bench nearby, with Lilly closely following. The bleacher is just some ten steps away from where I was standing, and Naomi helps me sit down to deal with my emerging panic attack. Lilly wraps her arm around my shoulder as Naomi puts her hand on my leg.

“Hanako, take a deep breath. It’s okay.”

The girls probably realizes what has happened by now. Lilly’s arm of comfort and soothing aura manages to settle me down a bit, and I keep taking deep breaths to lower my heart rate.

“It’s alright, Hanako. You’re safe.”

Keep breathing. Relax. Do as Miss Yumi said.

Continue to breathe. Calm down.

Lilly uses her other hand to gentle ruffle my hair. So soothing.

Relax. I’m safe. Kozuki is out of range.

I feel my heart rate dropping. The tension has stopped too.

Luckily I got help from everyone before the panic attack happened. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have recovered so soon.

Thanks, Hisao, for saving me.

After a couple of minutes, the dizziness has subsided. Naomi hands me a towel to wipe my face with. I lift my head. It looks like Hisao’s discussion with Emi is over, and the trainer is now orchestrating her class, with Kozuki and Tatsuya listening.

“Are you feeling better now, Hanako?”

“Y-yes.”

“But what just happened…”

“Ssh! Naomi, no.”

“Uh… Okay.”

Thanks, Lilly. We both know that we cannot spoil my secret to Naomi.

“Naomi, would you please go back to the training? I’ll talk to Hanako.”

“Alright. If you need me, I’m ready.”

“Thank you.”

So Naomi returns to the crowd. Hisao notices her return and briefly turns his head around to check my situation, then turns back to Emi.

“Hanako? Can we talk?”

“Y-yes, Lilly. S-sorry for everything.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sorry that I didn’t know about…”

“It’s o-okay.”

Lilly continues to comfort me with her arm. She probably doesn’t know what to say, so we just sit on the bleacher and watch Emi lead the group to warm up exercise.

Well, what an impression I just gave to everyone!

Miss Ibuki was right. I should’ve told her about Kozuki earlier.

But really, thanks Hisao for rescuing the situation. He probably doesn’t know about Kozuki, but he could make that action so quickly only if he had predicted something to go wrong in the first place.

And thanks Kozuki for simply nodding and smiling to me and not causing any trouble after that.

Of course, I have to thank my two schoolmates Lilly and Naomi as well. Without them, even with Hisao’s quick judgment, I could’ve been in the hospital now.

But now, what to do?

I can quit, and Lilly will probably accommodate me. I can lie to Miss Ibuki that nothing has happened, and life goes on. I might have to quit the Chess and Bridge Club, but I’m still in the university.

But will quitting solve the problem? I’ll have to tackle the issue eventually. How about a panic attack during a job interview?

Naomi’s words echo in my mind: All the good boys will be gone.

I need to be brave. Miss Ibuki says I have a lot of good qualities, and bravery is the first one she mentioned. I apologized to the lecturer the other day, and the result was fine.

Hisao is here. Shizune is here. Lilly, Naomi, Tatsuya, and Emi are all here. This is the best controllable environment for me to address the issue in.

Believe in myself, said Miss Ibuki.

“So… if you want to leave…”

“I am the master of my fate! I am the captain of my soul!”

“Hanako…”

“Let’s go, Lilly!”

Taking a deep breath, I take hold of Lilly’s hand and approach the crowd that is in the middle of the stretching. First, I need to greet my trainer officially.

“Good afternoon, Emi!”

“Good afternoon, Hanako! Do you want to stretch with us?”

No stuttering. Smiling. Best first-name formal greeting ever!

“Yes.”

Turns out talking to Emi isn’t scary at all.

“Okay, can you lead Lilly to stand there? And just follow me.”

“Okay.”

I’m about to escort my sister when her boyfriend comes over.

“Leave Lilly to me. You do the stretching.”

Leading a blind person to do stretching exercise is tough, so I hope Tatsuya is up to the task. Anyway, one more thing to do before exercising. Taking deep breaths to control my heart rate, I approach my chess opponent, who notices my approach but keeps a neutral expression while stretching his arm.

Give the best impression I’ve got!

Er… I don’t even know his surname! Doesn’t matter.

“Good afternoon, Kozuki!”

No stuttering. Smiling. I’m a fantastic woman, said Ibuki.

“Good afternoon, Hanako!”

We’re on first name terms already!

Let’s do the stretching. But not before releasing a big sigh of relief.

(Part 2)

(Chapter 79 continued)

“Phew! What a great dash!”

“Glad that you (pant) enjoyed it, Hisao.”

“How about you, (pant) Tatsuya, Lilly?”

“Yup. I had (pant) fun. How ‘bout you, dear?”

“Yes. I (pant) never knew (pant) running would be (pant) so fun!”

As I cross the finish line along with Naomi, I can’t help but smile at both the funny panting exchanges of my friends and my great running performance.

“How about you, Naomi, Hanako?”

“Yup, running (pant) is the best!”

My worry of running might overheat my skin turns out to be obsolete. The cool evening wind makes the whole experience an enjoyable one.

“I enjoyed (pant) it too.”

“Alright, let’s take a (pant) cooldown lap together. Don’t (pant) worry about Emi.”

So the six of us follow Hisao to cool ourselves down while our trainer speeds up for several more laps of satisfaction.

After the stretching, Emi gave us a brief tutorial on how to run correctly. Then, after running for a couple of laps, she gave us the choice of either continuing the run or doing something else. Hisao persuaded us to take the first option. So, he and his girlfriend went after Emi; the English Faculty students behind them, with Lilly sandwiched between her classmates to protect her from swaying out of the track; and the Journalism Faculty was further behind. The star couple eventually pulled ahead, and the five of us took our time jogging behind.

“So, you are Lilly’s classmate, I suppose. Hisao Nakai here. Nice to meet you.”

Now I confirm that Hisao doesn’t know about the chess fan.

“Kosugi Ibuki from the English Faculty. Kozuki is my nickname. Nice to meet you.”

Ibuki? That’s the same surname as my counselor’s. Is he related to her, or is it just a coincidence? And it’s worth noting that Kozuki is not his real name.

“Dude, sometimes I wonder why you’re choosing English. You’re a computer expert! You should have gone for Computer Science instead.”

“Nah, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in front of computers. I like teaching more. And actually, you don’t really need a degree in Computer Science to work in software companies. All you need is a bunch of programming certificates, plus experience.”

“Teaching, huh. I like teaching too. I’m going to teach science.”

“That’s great! Maybe we can teach in the same school.”

“That’d be awesome. And I believe Lilly is also into teaching.”

“Yes, Hisao. The three of us are already talking about entering the same school as teachers, and they will be helping me out with tasks that require eyesight, in exchange for other duties.”

“I’ve heard that couples cannot work in the same school after they marry. Not sure why though.”

“Is it true? This is the first time I’ve heard about it. Oh well, I guess Kozuki will be helping me out then.”

“It’s my pleasure. By the way,”

Kozuki turns around and extends a hand towards Naomi.

“Kosugi Ibuki. You may either call me Kosugi or Kozuki. Nice to meet you.”

“Naomi Inoue. Journalism Faculty. Call me Naomi. Nice to meet you.”

Wearing the same neutral expression, the computer expert wearing glasses who’s just a little shorter than Lilly turns towards me.

“And Hanako…”

I shouldn’t expose my secret new surname of Satou towards strangers, even though we’ve played countless chess matches already.

“Ikezawa.”

“Nice to meet you.”

I nod mildly. This is the first time I take a closer look at this boy, even though we’ve sit across the chessboard so many times for the past few weeks. Pointed face with glasses, short hair, slightly taller than me, and wearing a full dark green sports outfit. He does resemble Miss Ibuki a bit, but I’ll be shocked if they are siblings.

“Nice to meet you.”

No stuttering. Smiling. Great second impression.

As I return Kozuki’s handshake, I find our trainer zooming past us at great speed, and, after lapping us, she turns into a blur as I struggle to train my eyes on her.

“She’s really fast, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

I’m still trying to watch Emi’s run, partially to avoid facing Kozuki directly lest my face might turn red. Then Tatsuya’s stomach growls, and everybody shares a light smile (Shizune needs Hisao to translate the sound to her).

“Getting hungry huh, Tatsuya.”

“Yeah. Quite exhausted after the running. Where to go for dinner, Lilly?”

Upon mentioning dinner, Lilly suddenly stops walking and raises up a finger like she remembers something important.

“Sorry everybody, I forgot about something. Akira called me just before the training. She wants to have dinner with us one last time before she goes back to Scotland for work, and she’s driving a seven-seater. Do you all want to come?”

I am officially Akira’s younger sister, and there’s no librarian duty for me this evening, so I have no excuse to be absent. I’m not sure about the others, but if all seven of us are going, we’re leaving out on Emi.

“Sorry, Lilly. I have an appointment tonight, and it’s too late to cancel it now. How about you, Shizune? …Er… Alright then. Shizune says she has an important Student Council meeting as well.”

Well, their unfortunate absence will provide space for the health trainer.

“Understandable. I am sorry for the late notice.”

“It’s alright. You all have fun. Please tell her we’ll see her in her wedding ceremony.”

“Yes, I will. And I should thank both of you for your attendance in advance. Are you coming then, Tatsuya?”

“Of course. How can I miss out on this? She’s my girlfriend’s sister after all.”

“How about you, Naomi?”

“I’m sorry. I have Newspaper Club meeting for the evening.”

Club meetings. It’s unsurprising that most of the club meetings are held on Fridays, as there is no school the next day. The Chess and Bridge Club also holds executive meetings on Fridays, but I’m not interested to become an executive member, so I don’t go. I reserve Fridays for my family. New family.

“No worries, Naomi. And Hanako, I suppose you’re coming too.”

“Yes, Lilly.”

With a satisfied smile, Lilly turns back towards her two classmates. Hisao is signing to his girlfriend, and Emi is zooming past us again, so fast that by the time I remember to ask Lilly to invite her, she’s already on the other side of the track.

“And how about you, Kozuki?”

I still don’t know whether Kozuki is an executive member of the club. He could be, judging that he welcomed me on my first day of school. But he could be a volunteer.

“Er… I don’t know. Isn’t it like a family gathering or something? I only met your sister like only once, maybe twice.”

From behind the three schoolmates, I can see Tatsuya slightly gripping Lilly’s hand as if he’s delivering her a message. I wonder…

“I don’t see why not, Kozuki. You’re Lilly’s classmate after all.”

“Yes, Kozuki. You should join us if you have time. If you don’t, Akira’s seven-seater will have many empty seats.”

The boy who might be my counselor’s relative spreads his hands and shrugs. It looks like I’m going to have a dinner gathering with my clubmate. Or even possibly a date with him, if Tatsuya wants to set us up.

“I mean, if you insist then I guess I’m fine with that.”

Well, if Tatsuya is indeed plotting something, he has succeeded the first step. My elder sister claps her hands in excitement.

“Excellent! We’ll have at least four then. I’ll ask Emi when she’s done.”

“Have fun, you guys. And please tell your sister I’m attending as well.”

“Thank you, Naomi.”

Now halfway through our cooldown lap, I should think about my upcoming gathering. I can’t believe this supposedly routine Friday has become so eventful, and it all started with Naomi’s seemingly spur-of-the-moment boyfriend talk. If her speech turns into something else, I might have to buy a present for her.

But I’m shocked. Why am I excited about this? Do I really like this boy? I barely know him, even though we’ve gone through quite a lot of chess openings. I don’t even know if he’s interested in me, or if he’s simply accepting Lilly’s invitation out of courtesy. But Miss Ibuki’s words echo in my ears: If you don’t try now, you’re giving yourself no opportunity.

I’m kicking myself for not wearing a new dress for this occasion!

Nonetheless, I should reciprocate Naomi’s help by tapping her right shoulder.

“Hey, Naomi!”

The blonde hair moves her attention away from the soccer match occurring in the grass field that is circumscribed inside the track we’re running on.

“Yes, Hanako?”

Instead of saying it out loud, I lean towards my classmate and secretly point a finger towards the JUSC champion who’s almost done with the cooldown lap. My friend realizes she forgot something important and puts her hands on her head.

“Oh yeah, I forgot! Thanks for reminding me, buddy.”

I smile and pat her back as my buddy does the only thing she can do by running towards my benefactor, leaving the four participants of Akira’s gathering behind. Good luck finding yourself a boyfriend, buddy.

With Naomi gone, I’m half expecting my clubmate to slow down to talk to me, but he, possibly not wanting to trigger another episode for me, stays next to his classmates for the rest of the walk. On second thought, he might still be fulfilling his bodyguard duty for Lilly. I’m fine walking alone behind them, as I can give myself more buffer time to mentally prepare for the dinner.

After cleaning myself up and changing into my school outfit of a plain green T-shirt plus a pair of denim trousers (and hitting myself again for not being able to wear better), I exit the bathroom only to see all the English Faculty students waiting for me outside. Naomi and Shizune are both gone. Did I really spend so much time in the bathroom thinking about my potential date?

“Are you ready, Hanako? Let’s go.”

Nodding in response to Tatsuya’s invitation, I follow my three dinner companions out of the sports track towards Akira’s seven-seater. I’m about to ask Lilly whether she has forgotten about Emi when I spot my androgynous elder sister waving to us at the end of the path, close to the Journalism Faculty entrance. Tatsuya responds to the wave and informs his girlfriend.

“Akira is in front of you. About fifty meters away.”

Lilly nods graciously, and I straighten up my T-shirt to meet the future director of the US branch of SMT.

“Yo, Lils!”

“Thank you for walking the distance to pick us up.”

“Lils, I won’t have much time to see you after moving to the US with the folks.”

Sad, but the family arrangement is a necessity. Akira is fortunate that she doesn’t need to sacrifice love for family business. Her future husband, though, will have to make the sacrifice of leaving his family behind.

“I agree. So, where are we going?”

“Somewhere.”

I try my best to stifle a chuckle at my elder sister’s playful response.

“Thanks for the information.”

“You’re welcome. By the way, is everybody here? Where’s your cousin?”

“Shizune has Student Council meeting. Hisao has an appointment. Naomi has Newspaper Club meeting. And Emi needs to meet Rin in Tokyo. So, the four of us.”

That answers my question about Emi. I’m glad that she’s still tagging along with her Yamaku’s best friend, who left the school without graduating.

“Fair enough. And I believe this is Ibuki?”

“Good evening, Satou. You have great memory.”

“Thanks. There are a lot of colleagues in the company I’m working for, so I must learn to recognize faces if I want work to go smoothly.”

“I see. And I heard that you are getting married?”

“Yup. Feel free to join my wedding ceremony in a couple of months.”

“Yes, I will try my best to reserve time for your ceremony.”

My sister seems satisfied with the polite response, and turns to face me directly.

“And yo, Hanako!”

I wonder if she knows about my special “relationship” with the Ibuki she just talked to. I’m definitely not spoiling anything.

“Good evening, Akira.”

For some reason, my stuttering has gone for the past hour ever since I recovered from my panic attack. Let’s hope that my speaking will stay the same until the end of the day.

“Did you enjoy your run?”

I won’t tell her about the panic attack for now, but the run was better than expected. I think I’m joining the course for at least one more week.

“Yes.”

“And how about you, Lils?”

“I have to admit, the experience was beyond my expectation.”

“Attagirl. Let’s go, everyone.”

Accordingly, the four Kasshoku students follow Akira’s lead to her red car which is parked next to the Journalism Faculty. Then, with a driving speed that might get her several bills to pay, we head to the city. From the car window, my eyes are moving constantly from the bright electronic screens glowing high in the night sky, to the street lamps piercing the darkness with their light, to the businessmen enjoying themselves after work and the busily talking couples on dates. I can’t help soaking in every aspect of the city, where I seldom visit due to obvious reasons.

We stop at “somewhere” – well, definitely far from unrecognizable, as shops of famous brands and big malls scatter around the area, but I’ve never been to such a busy place. After finding a spot to park her car on, Akira steps out of the car and invites us to walk along with her. In order to avoid embarrassment of walking next to either Lilly’s boyfriend or my clubmate, I elect to stride next to Akira, while the English Faculty students follow us closely.

I’m reminded of Akira’s earlier comment about not having much time left. I should talk to her more.

“Everything looks so pretty at night…”

I accidentally catch someone’s gaze, and I quickly turn my head towards my sister.

“Yeah, it does.”

In front of us is a Chinese restaurant. I thought Akira was leading us there, but she walks right past it.

“You have work tomorrow?”

“Yup. Meeting in the afternoon. Yuichi will be there too.”

How about a Korean barbecue? Nope.

“When are you coming back for the wedding?”

“Probably next month. I can’t control my own time, you know.”

Or European grilled steak? That’s not it either.

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Just for these few months. After getting married, I’ll focus on my new family.”

We walk past a sushi restaurant as I continue to speculate Akira’s dinner choice.

“Any plan for kids?”

“Maybe in a couple of years.”

“Then I’ll become an aunt.”

“Yup. Aunt Hanako.”

We share a smile as Akira leads me through a set of traffic lights. Having a relative in the US doesn’t sound too bad.

After a couple of times when I’d thought we had arrived at Akira’s destination, we reach our target. By now we’re below the elevated walkways, and past the most garish and brightly-lit places. I’m a bit surprised. The average age of those around us is distinctly older, and the smell of cigarette smoke is pretty thick. While it’s masked by the low talking of those around us, jazz music can be heard emanating from inside. Looking up at the dimly-lit sign, it becomes obvious why.

“A jazz club?”

“Yup, not what you expected, huh.”

Lilly gives an amused snort and a smile.

“Somehow I feel like I should have known it, Akira.”

“Hey, c’mon. Aren’t you adults already? Certainly you can have a taste, right?”

I’m not officially twenty yet, but…

“I don’t mind the music, if that’s what you mean.”

“I don’t mind it either. Right, Kozuki?”

“I’m fine.”

Flashing a smile in response to our consent of her dinner suggestion, Akira strides in with me tagging along and our friends following behind.

I had expected my eyes (well, “eye” is a more accurate word, as I’m having my right eye behind my lock of hair) to need adjusting to the light inside, but it’s not much brighter than outside. The music we’d heard is clearer now, mixed in with the sound of glasses moving on the tables and counter, and the husky chatter of the patrons. Looking to my right reveals the music’s source, a jazz group playing beyond some tables. The patrons seem to be mostly men, and though there’s a handful of women, nobody looks under thirty. Aside from us, of course. It feels a little like we’ve stepped into the 1920s, and the atmosphere is quite agreeable. I’m not completely comfortable simply because of my age, but were I older, I would probably feel quite at home. I feel a bit more relaxed now because nobody is looking at me. Everybody’s talking between themselves, drinking, or watching the band.

My host casually takes a seat at the counter without even glancing around. She’s probably come here before. Lilly retracts her cane, feeling out the bar stool and the edge of the counter before taking a seat beside her elder sister. Instead of taking seats, Tatsuya and Kozuki are standing a few steps behind the ladies watching the surroundings. It looks like Tatsuya is already drawn to a soccer match playing on the television. The bartender takes a brief break from polishing a glass to watch her, before putting it down and coming over.

“Good evening, ladies. What’ll it be?”

“Just a scotch, thanks. Lilly?”

“May I have a glass of champagne, please?”

I’m fairly sure that if this gathering had happened last year, a black-suited elbow would have hit her side, and Lilly would have changed her choice into orange juice.

“No problem, coming right up.”

The bartender starts to pour their drinks. A couple of seconds pass before Akira suddenly remembers that there are three more members here, and turns around to us.

“You three want anything, or are you just gonna stand there?”

So, a drink before dinner huh. I don’t like that idea too much, but Tatsuya is ready to sit next to his girlfriend. Looking around, there’s a games section to our right. A couple of billiards tables can be seen in the corner, and nobody’s using them either.

“Hanako?”

Kozuki’s voice reminds me I’m potentially on a date.

“Yes?”

He shifts his sight towards the billiards table. It looks like he doesn’t want to sit in front of the bar either.

“Do you want to play pool with me?”

Some private time with Kozuki? It’s a godsend opportunity! I’m getting nervous; I hope my body doesn’t trigger a panic attack!

But playing pool with Kozuki will cost me some final moments with Akira before she returns to Scotland. Should I accept the invitation?

On second thought, she’ll prefer me finding a boyfriend of my own over spending time with her.

“Yes.”

“We’ll go play pool over there.”

Akira leans back to see us before shrugging and sitting back up.

“It seems you’ll have to put up with only me and my boyfriend for company before dinner begins. How unfortunate.”

“Have fun, you two.”

We turn and set off for the abandoned corner, with Kozuki taking the lead. The prospect of a nice, quiet game away from everyone makes us walk noticeably faster. The table’s full-size and well-lit despite the surrounding darkness, thanks to the bright overhead lights. A huge painting of… something… covers the wall. There aren’t many people milling about this corner of the club, and I feel a little tense as a result. Of course, my heart is still pounding hard because of Kozuki.

“You… kn-know how to play?”

Oh no, my stuttering has returned! Take a deep breath.

“I’m no expert, but yeah, I do.”

“Then um… eight-ball?”

“Sure.”

Kozuki gets the chalk and two cues from a set of hooks against one of the walls, while I fetch the balls from the table’s pockets and grab the rack from a shelf underneath. He patiently waits as I get the table set up. After slotting the final ball into the rack and doing some last adjustments, I step back and take my cue from Kozuki’s outstretched arm. I carry out a quick inspection of the tip before I’m satisfied that it’s in good condition. Of course I’m doing all these in order to calm myself down, or my fingers will quiver when I play and my aim will be completely off.

“So you’ve played before?”

“Once… or twice. I j-just kind of… know the rules.”

Stuttering again! I’m so frustrated with myself. Kozuki probably feels the pressure too as the air between us feels a little awkward, especially now that we’re not sitting across each other in front of the chessboard. Eventually the silence becomes too much for me to bear.

“Wh-who’ll… b-break?”

Kozuki thinks for a moment before reaching into his pocket and drawing a coin.

“I’ll take heads, you’re tails.”

After a nod of agreement from me, he flicks the coin up in the air, and attempts to catch it. But the coin somehow slips out of his hands and hits the ground with a couple of clinks. It then rolls towards the other table as Kozuki hurries to follow it. A few moments later, my clubmate stops chasing and stares at the ground, then puts his hands on his head in disbelief.

“WHAT? Oh my gosh!”

Curious about what’s going on, I approach the chess lover to discover that the coin is sitting vertically in a tiny groove between two partially broken floor tiles.

“Look, Hanako! That has to be a one-in-a-million occurrence!”

I can’t help but produce a smile on the rarity that will most certainly break Hisao’s probability calculator.

“Indeed.”

My schoolmate shrugs and picks up the coin from the groove.

“Well, it looks like I’ll have to flip the coin again.”

“Yes.”

With the atmosphere slightly relieved thanks to the coin, my date for the evening flicks the coin up in the air again. This time he manages to catch it, and flips it over onto the back of his left hand.

“Looks like it’s you that gets to break.”

“Okay.”

I nod and take up my position at the end of the table. After taking aim, I smack the cue dead into the center of the cue ball with a thud. The white ball skates across the smooth green expanse before smashing into the carefully-arranged balls at the other end. Balls skitter across the table at high speed. The break was good, with the balls being nicely distributed around the table, but none of the balls went into the pocket. Kozuki briefly assesses the situation before picking out the easiest candidate, Ball 14, to pocket.

“Well done.”

The words come out of my mouth so naturally that I didn’t really think about them. Playing games seem to loose me up a little.

Again, believe in yourself, said Miss Ibuki.

“Guess I’m stripes, then.”

The other Ibuki takes another shot, but Ball 12 bounces off the side rail into the open area, and it’s my turn.

The easiest target is Ball 5, and after careful aim, I have no problems potting it.

“Great job, Hanako.”

I try my best to suppress a proud smile, and proceed to find my next target. The best choice seems to be Ball 2, but it is too far away, across the whole length of the table, from my cue’s reach.

“Here you go.”

The gentleman hands me a cue rest, which I’m happy to take. But when I extend my hand to grab it, I’m too focused on the cue ball that I accidentally touch one of his fingers, and I reflexively retract my hand.

“I’m s-sorry!”

Contrary to my nervousness, my clubmate keeps a calm expression and gives me a light smile, his hand not even moving an inch from the cue rest.

“No worries.”

For some reason I can relate his calmness to Lilly, his smile is so affectionate and soothing that I feel a bit like my sister is next to me. Even though I don’t know about him much yet, having a boyfriend like him isn’t that bad of an idea.

Taking the cue rest from him, this time being careful not to touch him, I place it on the table and use my free hand to aim at the ball with the cue. The strike is off, perhaps because I haven’t used a cue rest before, but Ball 2 bounces off the side into Ball 3, which rolls into the opposite corner. Lucky shot for me. I give him a “sorry” smile as he simply shrugs.

“Go ahead.”

The next target is Ball 6, but this time my luck runs out as the ball rims off the side of the middle pocket, continues to roll, and stops right on the edge on the other side of the table. This ball is going to be a tough work for me later.

Kozuki successfully pots Ball 11 before hitting a wayward shot on Ball 9 which misses the corner pocket by quite a few centimeters. It’s my turn again.

Not worrying about Ball 6 for now, I take quick care of Ball 4 before missing Ball 2 again by a fraction of an inch. Kozuki then scores Ball 9 and 12 before missing Ball 15 by a couple of centimeters.

Before hitting Ball 1, I hesitate. I can continue hitting balls and finish the game with him, then we’ll probably go back to Akira, and I’ll spend some time chatting with her before going back home. But Miss Ibuki’s words once again echo in my head: “Did you remember my assignment the other day, to make a friend in class before this term ends?” “Well, if you manage to get yourself a boyfriend, I can probably give you a pass too.”

“What’s up, Hanako?”

Kozuki notices my hesitation. I should take the cue to speak up, no matter how poorly I’ll do.

“It’s just… you had a nice smile. Do you like playing this?”

I almost want to kick myself for asking such a silly question, but my playing partner doesn’t seem to mind.

“I just like playing games. And playing with a beautiful girl? I’ll take it every day of the week.”

The unexpected flatter catches me thoroughly off guard, and I touch the scar on my face reflexively while hurrying to deny.

“B-Beautiful? B-But I… I…”

Well done, Hanako. Now you have spoiled the date completely.

For a moment, neither of us know how to respond to my act of stupidity, and the silence grows increasingly unbearable. But Kozuki tries his best to remain calm and look at my general direction without staring at the scars that I just touched. After what feels like a few minutes, it’s my date who breaks the silence.

“Well, I guess… if you don’t mind, I mean… we’ll have to deal with the elephant in the room… before we can finish our game.”

No, I don’t want to “deal with the elephant in the room” if possible! I never really talked in detail to anybody about my past, not even to my two sisters. Lilly touched my scars once – she caressed my whole face on the day after I moved into her apartment; she claimed that it was the way she “sees” a person – but I never told her the details, and she never pried. Akira… I’m impressed that she’s able to just see through and completely neglect my scars as if they were transparent. As for the others, strangers usually outright avoid me, and none of my affiliates ever asked me about my disability. Lilly comes closest to know about my past; I told her I lost my parents at a young age because of a housefire, and was bullied by the kids in the school, but that’s all.

So, the only ones who know more about me than Lilly are Miss Yumi and the orphanage staff. And maybe Miss Ibuki, if Miss Yumi passed my information on.

Most of my affiliates are former Yamaku students who are used to deal with disabled friends. It’s natural for them to avoid talking about others’ disabilities. But I’m now talking to a normal person, and it’s understandable he wants to address the “elephant in the room” before he makes friends with me. But how do I start?

“First of all…”

I reflexively brace myself a little anticipating him to fire off whatever question he wants to ask, and perhaps run away towards my sisters if he asks anything about my scars. Please, can you not mention the word “scar”?

“I’d like to apologize to you, Hanako.”

Huh, apologize? Why?

“A-apologize for…?”

Kozuki puts his hands on his chest and gives me a light bow.

“Hanako Ikezawa. Did you forget about me? Kosugi Shimizu. This is my real name.”

“Kosugi… Shimizu… AH!”

I reel in shock as I finally realize the true identity of my schoolmate.

“You… You’re…!!!”

“Yes. What a coincidence. We come from the same orphanage, and attended the same school for a while.”

“B-b-but... w-why…??”

“I speculated it would be you when I heard about you from Lilly. And when I received your club application form after seeing you in person, I immediately confirmed I’ve run into one of my former affiliates. It’s a small world, isn’t it?”

I’m shocked to complete silence as he continues revealing secrets of his identity.

“You’re wondering about Ibuki, huh. This is my new surname. Lost my parents from a car accident. Sent into an orphanage. Stayed there for a year. Picked up by another family. Adopted their surname.”

The brutal flow of information has completely overloaded my brain, forcing me to make nothing more than mechanical replies.

“I s-see…”

“I want to apologize, because… I saw you got bullied in the school. I didn’t join them, but I didn’t interfere either. I was too modest. I was afraid that if I said something about it, I might have gotten bullied too. (Sigh) Too small at that time.”

Expecting the young boy to help me out in that situation would be asking for too much. I don’t blame him. I’m glad that at least he didn’t bully me.

“I understand…”

“But you gave me a heck of an impression in the orphanage. You were already quite pretty, and you were constantly helping out the younger children. You have a kind heart. That’s what I most remembered about you. And that became my motivation, you know. I like kids. This is how I got my nickname Kozugi (kid lover) from. One of my high school friends created it, and I’ve been sticking to it ever since, to remind myself of my dream: I want to help out kids, especially ones in the orphanage. I want to build my own orphanage in the future, one in which kids can feel genuinely safe. But I need money and experience. This is why I study English as opposed to Computer Science. I want to become a teacher, preferably of an elementary school. I want to teach English there, maybe Math too. Computers are for high-schoolers, they’re not my target. And I’m actually going to study social science as a minor, to get a master’s degree somewhere in the counseling realm. Sorry, that’s a lot of info, but this is basically me.”

My brain is still overheated, but I’m so glad he’s told me so much about himself. I also have to thank Hisao and Shizune for declining Akira’s invitation; if they were here, we wouldn’t have this conversation.

“You’re… a person full of dreams.”

“And that’s because of you. Your kind acts in the orphanage inspired me. This is why I say you’re a beautiful girl.”

And this is the “elephant in the room” he was talking about. He didn’t even mention the scars.

“T-thank you…”

“So… let’s complete our game, shall we?”

He’s revealed so much information about himself. I’m obliged to return the favor.

“I’d like to… tell you about myself too.”

Rubbing his cue with the snooker’s rubber, Kozuki’s facial expression remains calm. Reminds me of my counselor.

“I don’t want you to replay your terrible past memories in your brain. Maybe you can talk about how you met Lilly.”

“O-okay… Hmm… I think I should tell you something that nobody knows… I’m officially… Lilly’s sister now.”

He has opened his heart to me so much that I’m now pretty relaxed. Perhaps his calm demeanor helps too. I find myself not stuttering any more.

“Really? I suppose Lilly’s father adopted you then?”

“Yes.”

Kozuki puts the rubber down onto the table and extends a handshake.

“Hanako Satou, then. Congratulations. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Kosugi Ibuki.”

“You can call me either way.”

“I think Kozuki is fine. I admire your dreams.”

“I guess I never told Lilly or Tatsuya about my full story. But anyway, please don’t randomly tell anybody. Be it a little secret shared between two orphans. Well, former orphans.”

I know enough about this boy already, but there’s one more detail I’d like to confirm.

“My lips are sealed. May I ask you a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you know the school counselor, Hanako Ibuki? Sharing the same surname.”

“Oh, you’re talking about my cousin? Yup. She’s the reason I’m in this university.”

My hunch was correct after all.

“I see…”

“She shares the same dream as mine. This is why she’s a counselor. Maybe in ten years’ time there’ll be an Ibuki Orphanage.”

This explains why Miss Ibuki broke up with her boyfriend: If she had moved to the Kansai area with him, she would have to give up her dream. Also, she refused to elaborate when I asked about her future boyfriend choice; she could be waiting for one who shares the same dream as hers.

“You both have the same dream… I wish you two good luck.”

“Thanks. But how do you know my cousin?”

He told me so much, so I have to give him something back.

“I’m actually one of her clients.”

“Clients…”

Instead of asking me more about myself or continuing the pool game, Kozuki stares at me for a moment as if my scars finally caught his eyes. Then he unexpectedly closes his eyes and covers his mouth with his left hand in mental agony.

“Oh no… Oh no… Yeah, this makes total sense now.”

???

“Oh my gosh, I’m feeling so guilty right now.”

“W-what’s the matter?”

My clubmate tries his hardest to pull himself together to face me.

“Yeah, I need to apologize to you again. For not helping you out in the school.”

“But you don’t need to…”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? Lost your parents at a young age. Bullied in the school. If I were you, I would have had to see a counselor too.”

“That’s not your fault…”

“You’re still seeing a counselor, which means things have gone really poorly for you. Sorry, no offense on you, I’m just ruing over my own incompetence. That damn school… hurt you so much…”

“It wasn’t… all that bad…”

“Hanako, I’m just kicking at myself because you didn’t deserve those treatment. You’re a beautiful girl. With a kind heart. You deserve… a better life. And I could’ve saved you from all those trouble. All I had to do was to keep reporting to the school officials. But I didn’t. I was so useless. I ruined a girl’s life! Oh no…”

My chess partner is now leaning on the pool table, hand still covering his face in agony. Seeing him mourning over something that isn’t his fault to begin with is painful to watch. But haven’t I done the same to myself when I was locking myself alone in my Yamaku dormitory? I was constantly lamenting on my accident, blaming myself for surviving the housefire while being unable to save my parents. I kept ruing over my bad luck without looking for a way out, even though Miss Yumi had provided me with so many words of encouragement.

Suddenly, a bold idea flashes across my mind. Everything is lining up perfectly in front of me. All the events I’ve come through today, starting from my talk with Naomi, then my appointment with Miss Ibuki, followed by the health training, and now my pool game with a boy who comes from the same orphanage. This boy appreciates me. He shares some interests with me. He doesn’t mind my scars, probably because he’s seen my face already in the orphanage. He’s almost as calm as Lilly, even in unexpected situations. And he has a big dream. Now he’s in trouble. If I can speak the right words, we can move a huge step forward in our relationship. True, we still don’t know each other well, but once again I hear echoes from Miss Ibuki: Give yourself opportunities!

Naomi could already be chatting with Hisao’s classmates. I can’t fall behind!

I am the master of my fate! I am the captain of my soul!

With a slightly shaking left hand, I gently touch Kozuki on his right shoulder. He’s apparently surprised by the sudden body contact, and he removes his hand from his face to look at me. I’ve never been so close to a boy. I’m nervous, and a part of me wants to run away. But I won’t turn back.

“No, Kozuki. I’m so happy to have met Miss Ibuki.”

I feel a bit guilty because I’m about to praise Miss Ibuki for her two months’ work rather than Miss Yumi, who has spent more than two years digging me out from my rut. But I’m not telling him about Miss Yumi until our relationship has leveled up.

“What do you mean?”

“I met her today. She told me to believe in myself. I’ve learned a lot from her. It’s true that I’ve been seeing counselors due to my loss of parents and the bullying, but they have given me very useful life advice. True, I admit that for the past several years, I had been constantly lamenting over my bad luck. But I’m determined to change that trend. Now I’m a university student. I’ve a new family. You just said both you and Miss Ibuki have a dream. I want to have a dream too. I want to have a future. I should put everything in the past behind and work towards my goals. This is what I learned from Miss Ibuki and other counselors.”

I can’t believe I can make such a speech, in front of a boy.

“Are you sure you’re not blaming me?”

Moving my hand away from his shoulder, I put my left hand on my chest and share him my favorite quote.

“I’ll never blame you, Kozuki. Remember what Lilly said in the Open Day? ‘I am the master of my fate! I am the captain of my soul!’ It has become my personal motto. I control my own fate.”

I close my eyes to continue speaking my heart.

“All the events that happened to me… make me stronger. I’ll survive and live to tell the tale. The scars on my body… will define me, in a positive way.”

Did I unintentionally take some super medicine to be able to speak like this? Without stuttering too!

“This is what I’ve been admiring you, Hanako. Living without your parents, carrying a disability… You’re a brave girl. By the way, what’s your goal right now?”

After delivering a crazy speech, I’m caught off guard by his inquiry of my goal, which hasn’t been formed yet. I can only give him a bitter smile.

“Hmm… Actually I haven’t thought too much about it yet. My short term goal is to become a content writer.”

Surprisingly, my lame answer causes Kozuki’s eyes to sparkle with excitement.

“You have experience in an orphanage. You’re a kind-hearted girl. You’re really well-suited to run an orphanage. How about we share the same dream, Hanako? Build an orphanage with me and my cousin. How does that sound?”

Suddenly this becomes a business meeting? Aren’t we supposed to be on a date?

“Um… I haven’t given it any thought…”

“No worries. Sleep on it, okay?”

“Uh… okay.”

“Yeah. I’m so glad to have met you, Hanako. I think it’s time to go back to the game, shall we?”

“Yes…”

“Where are we? Oh yeah, it’s your turn.”

It seems like he’s done with the conversation. I never get to tell him about myself, but I already revealed some information to him. Before I take another aim at Ball 1, I want to ask him a final question.

“Kozuki?”

“Yes.”

“Can we be… friends?”

The agony in his face already gone, the boy who’s holding a cue gives me a broad smile on the other side of the pool.

“What are you saying, Hanako? We’re friends already.”

“T-thanks!”

He’s not my classmate, and he’s not my boyfriend. But I hope it counts as Miss Ibuki’s assignment.

It’s a good start. I still need to know this boy more. But I can now look forward to more chess sessions with him. And I think I’m joining the health training too. Before that, though, I need to spend some time with Akira tonight. I won’t tell her about today’s talk with Kozuki, but I’ll tell Lilly about it. And I need to think about how to face Miss Ibuki when we meet again on Monday. But her words really helped.

Thanks, Miss Ibuki. Oh, and I need to text Hisao to thank him for everything he’s done in the afternoon.

Speaking of phone…

“May I have your phone number, Kozuki?”

“Sure, why not?”

Chapter 80: True Sense of Security

Chapter 80: True Sense of Security

“How many minutes again, Hicchan?”

“It’s three-three-two.”

“Got it. How about the vegetables?”

“I’ve rinsed them. Will cook them in a minute.”

When I asked my girlfriend the other day what food she wants for today’s lunch, her reply was short: healthy. That offered me a wide range of options. I ultimately decided on another single word: simple, as it’s said that simple is best. Vegetables, pork chop, udon noodles with dried shrimp pieces, and Chinese soup. Easy to cook, enjoyable to dine, and good for the body. I tried out cooking all the dishes before without issues, so I’m pretty confident in the quality of this lunch.

Pour oil onto the cooking pot. Turn on the flames. I’m not flunking this meal!

“I’m flipping the pork chop now.”

“Thanks.”

I really hope everything, including the food, will turn out fine today.

“Are you picking her up at the bus stop?”

“She says she wants to come here on her own instead.”

“Okay. I’m sure she can find her way here.”

“Hopefully.”

The last time Shizune visited here was a year and a half ago, along with Misha, for a Christmas party. So much has happened afterwards, and today she’s back, alone, to see my parents, this time as my official girlfriend. I’m a little nervous bringing a girlfriend home for the first time, but my partner said last night she was fully prepared.

Given her combative nature, I don’t want to even imagine what she means by “fully prepared”. The best thing I can do is to keep my fingers crossed.

The pot is steaming. Time to add in the vegetables. A huge sizzling sound ensues. I wait for a few seconds, then stir the content inside the pot. The sound subsides after a while. I grab the lid and cover the pot.

After that wonderful evening with my newly acquired girlfriend in her apartment, I’m left with the question of how to reveal the news to my parents. Unable to think of any feasible alternative, I resorted to the direct approach of sitting on the sofa waiting for them to come back from work, and then, plainly, “Welcome back. Tell you a good news. I just made myself a girlfriend”.

The last time my parents saw Shizune was in the Yamaku graduation ceremony. Since then, I never gave my parents any update about her until this January. After she went into the hospital, I devoted to visiting her every evening, thus returning home late with an exhausted look. My parents noticed, and, after telling them about Shizune’s hospitalization, they offered to visit her. But I declined, claiming that their visit wouldn’t help. Obviously I didn’t tell them about my fallout with the patient. Luckily my parents didn’t insist, but instead wrote her a “get well soon” letter. I told them nothing since, not even after she was released from the hospital. Then, suddenly, I have a girlfriend.

Open the lid. Add salt and sauce. Stir well.

Mom knows me well. Her immediate response was “Shizune?”, which I was happy to confirm. Mom pulled me into a warm embrace, then the three of us had a long talk well into the midnight. Following our secret talk during the Christmas Party, Mom once again raised her concern about my girlfriend’s disability, but nevertheless blessed my relationship. She, however, gave me an important advice: I need to know more about Shizune’s family. She’s right: I only met her parents a few times.

The noodle is ready. Turn off the flames for that pot.

The next day, I told Shizune about my talk with my parents. She responded by providing me with a brief rundown of her family situation, including but not limited to her parents’ jobs, other properties in Japan her family owns, her relationship with Hideaki, and their history with Lilly’s family. I already heard a bit of these when I stayed in Shizune’s apartment overnight around eight months ago; we weren’t officially dating at that time.

In addition to all these, she also told me about her father’s psychological issue, and how it has been affecting the state of her family. No wonder her father treated me and Misha so poorly when we visited him two years ago.

“Alright, the pork chop is ready now.”

“Thanks a lot. I’m almost done as well.”

“I’ll prepare the dining table. You should go out and wait for her after you’re done.”

“Sure.”

Taking my apron off and turning off the flames, I head out of the kitchen towards the front door, passing by Dad in the process; he’s preparing the chessboard. After wearing my shoes, I head out and look around, expecting my girlfriend to show up any minute. I offered to pick her up at the bus stop last night, but she declined, stating that she wanted to test on her memory.

Shizune’s birthday was last Wednesday, and her family held a celebration party on Sunday. She invited me, as her new boyfriend, to join. But after some discussion, we decided that I shouldn’t go because her family is still in an unstable condition, and my presence might spoil an otherwise superb chance of the Hakamichis’ getting back on good terms. We had another birthday party in Kasshoku three days after anyway. She told me afterwards that Sunday’s party was a mild success, although her parents still have a long way towards moving back and living together.

But eventually I’ll have to face my girlfriend’s parents. Her mother should be easy to deal with, and we’re planning to visit her next week. We’re bringing Hideaki too. About her father… we’ll talk to her mother first, then formulate a plan together.

I’m now officially dating a member of the upper class. This fact makes me nervous.

From afar towards the end of the street, I see a tiny figure wearing a white dress approaching me fast, riding on a golden cyclone. She didn’t tell me she’s coming with her bike instead of taking the bus!

Both Kasshoku and my home, despite located in Chiba, are actually pretty close to Tokyo. This is why, after she got her bike as her twentieth birthday present from her family, she has been riding it to school every day. Since her golden bike is so eye-catching, she unfortunately has to buy two anti-theft locks for it.

As she dismounts her bike, I finally get to know what she means by “fully prepared”: A white one-piece with short sleeves and trimmings, and a pair of black high heels that makes her just a little bit taller. More importantly, the outfit does NOT show off her cleavage or anything that can be deemed as sexy. And not even a hairpin or necklace that will put her into the cute category. A rather conservative look, which is quite out of character for her; she must have planned things out for this specific occasion. And she’s carrying a fruit basket in the front basket of her cyclone.

Mature. The best word to describe her outfit today.

[Good morning! You look great!]

My lover takes a brief look at her golden wristwatch, which I’m planning to buy one to match hers. It’s a few minutes until noon. My greeting is technically correct.

[Good morning!]

[I can’t believe you could find your way here so quickly!]

After double-locking her cyclone, she adjusts her glasses proudly, then grabs hold of my arm and signs with the other hand.

[The new bus stop helped.]

The new bus stop, established just a few months ago, on the main road across the end of the street, and merely half a minutes’ walk from here. The surrounding area had changed quite a bit during my Yamaku stay, with more high-story buildings built along the main road, and this year the area has become even busier. I’d prefer a more tranquil environment like the area around Yamaku, but life has also become more convenient with big shopping malls around the corner. In addition, the value of our house has increased by quite a bit due to city planning, and the government might reclaim the land one day in exchange for some attractive compensation. Given how close this area is to Tokyo, there’s a very good chance this house will be dismantled in a few years.

[Great! And fruit basket, huh.]

[This is one of the most popular greeting gifts. Or so I heard.]

I seriously doubt if buying the same thing for her parents next week is going to work. I hope my girlfriend can assist me with the upcoming task.

[My parents will be pleased. Lunch is ready. Let’s get in.]

Taking out the key from my pocket, I unlock the front door and open it, allowing my girlfriend to enter first. My parents are already waiting for us.

“Welcome, Shizune!”

Instead of using sign language, my girlfriend passes me the basket and retrieves, from her bag, a rectangular product that looks like a small computer. With the press of a button, she turns on the monitor, then after touching it several times, a female voice comes out from the machine.

Talking about “fully prepared”!

“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Nakai.”

I see! So she’s using this computer thing to talk to our parents! They look amused by her use of technology. We probably can’t afford this stuff.

Yup. This is a first-hand experience of dating a member of the upper class. I’m fortunate that she doesn’t mind our family’s mediocre wealth.

“Thanks for visiting. Lunch is ready. Please take a seat.”

Accordingly, the four of us head towards the dining room. Mom, Dad, we’re going to make this a warm welcome for my rich girlfriend. Please don’t disappoint.

“Shizune, do you want the soup first, or the noodles first?”

This time there’s no need for my girlfriend to use her technology. A gesture of using chopsticks is enough to convey her choice. Reminds me of the traditional Japanese “rakuga”, an opera in which the performer sits on a small table acting as various characters alone, using different gestures to represent different actions.

Mom promptly enters the kitchen and serves us with the noodles as requested. She probably already prepared a couple of bowls of noodles beforehand.

[See, healthy meal, as you requested.]

[Pork chop. Is it really healthy?]

Three-three-two. The cooking method that never fails me. Here are the detailed steps: First, obviously, buy the pork chop, preferably thinner ones, as they’re easier to cook. For today’s case, I’ve bought eight pieces. Then, use the blunt side of a knife to tap the meat lightly to “loosen” them. Next, preserve them with a combination of salt, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, water, and, most importantly, an egg. The purpose of the egg is to lock down the juice inside of the meat, such that it won’t become dry when cooked. I also added some corn starch to further make sure the meat won’t dry up. Store the preserved meat in the fridge for at least half a day (I left mine there for one day). Use the frying pan. Pour in oil. Heat the pan up until light smoke comes out. Put the pork chop in, along with some of the preserving sauce if you like. Three-three-two refers to the amount of time: First cover the lid of the pan and cook with medium heat for three minutes. Then flip the meat and cook for another three minutes. Then turn off the flames and leave it for two minutes. Done. This method is simple and effective, to the point that even if you store the leftovers for a day the meat still won’t dry up. For thicker meat, you may want to do four-four-two instead.

[Yes. Even though it’s pan-fried, we used smaller flame to cook it. Try it out.]

[Okay. And udon noodles. I like it.]

For udon, I pick the ones with best quality. In Japan we have a lot of udon to offer, but I always choose the “Sanuki” brand. I once chose a cheaper brand (like half the Sanuki brand’s price), but when I put the noodles into the pot of boiled water, they kind of “melt” into non-noodle form, and the result was a messy pile of “carbohydrate goo”. I learned a lesson that day: Don’t always buy the cheap stuff.

“What are you two doing? Dig in!”

“Sure.”

I stop signing with my girlfriend and try out some of the udon. Great stuff. Sanuki udon never disappoints. Our guest looks satisfied too. As I mentioned, I’m confident with this meal. Though I’m still slightly nervous.

“How was it?”

Instead of answering my question, she elects to try out a piece of pork chop first. The way she easily bites through the meat tells me the three-three-two method is a success. Let me try it out… Thanks Mom, you didn’t flunk your dish.

My girlfriend gives me a thumbs-up, then goes back to her eating. Yup. I know she’ll approve of my choice. Again, I’m so fortunate that my upper-class girlfriend doesn’t mind my average-looking meal. Something like, I don’t know, sashimi will be way out of my ability. (The fact that I can’t even name an expensive dish tells me how incompetent my family’s financial situation has been.)

If her approval wasn’t enough to validate the meal, then the fact that everything on the table gets wiped out within fifteen minutes will. None of us really talked (well, we made some small talks but that’s it); we’re just enjoying lunch.

Mom serves us the soup. The recipe actually comes from Miki, after she treated me in her home. Pork ribs, carrots, and corns. Amazing combination. I’m feeling a little guilty that the recipe is now used to treat Shizune, not the originator. I’ll have to deal with her another day, but for now there’s a more important task in front of me.

“May I ask, Shizune, what is your father doing?”

Expected question from Mom. I’ll save her some signing time.

“I’ll answer it for you, okay? If I miss something, you can correct me.”

After getting my girlfriend’s consent, I fill my parents in with her situation.

“The Hakamichi family is owning the business named ‘Hakamichi Security Limited’, or HSL in short. The business provides various protection related services such as bodyguards for important persons, airport security, and bank security. The company has retail shops scattering around Japan offering security goods such as safes and locks. Recently HSL has acquired a company that specializes in anti-virus protection for computers.”

Security. Probably the last word you can think of when you enter the Hakamichi residence and face the bear man himself. Although, on second thought, you do feel kind of secure if you have a katana man protecting you from adversities. Just make sure you don’t get betrayed and stabbed from behind.

“I see. Safes, huh. I recently watched a television program that introduces an extremely sturdy safe called ‘White Guardian’. It takes four two-digit codes and a specialized key to unlock it. Was that your company’s product?”

I don’t know how to answer Dad’s question, so I relay it to my girlfriend and translate her reply to my parents.

“She says she doesn’t know. She’ll have to check with her dad.”

“Makes sense. You’re a business major after all. So, what subject are you pursuing right now?”

This I can answer for her, and I’m very proud to have such a competent girlfriend.

“She’s now majoring both Accounting and Finance, and she’s attempting to get two degrees in four years.”

I don’t know how she can do it, but she’s been the master of time management. In terms of school rules, as long as you have taken and passed all the required courses, and have completed the mandatory projects in your final year, theoretically you are eligible for obtaining as many degrees as you can. But there’s a limit on the number of credits you can take in one term, and if you overload yourself too much to the point that your grades get dropped, then the faculty will lower the limit. As far as I’ve known, no student in this school has ever received more than two degrees in a span of four years.

“Wow. You’ll be very busy then.”

Busy is an understatement, considering that she is also the Student Council Vice President. Sakura knows that, so she’s delegating some of Shizune’s workload, especially trivial tasks, to the other teammates and even volunteers. “So that she can spend more time with you,” Sakura told me. The President believes that having a boyfriend makes the Vice President a “more complete person”, “a better clubmate”, and “your presence can save us some translating time”. My reply was “I feel so used,” and she made me a face in response.

“I need to be as competitive as possible if I want a better job in the future. And so far I’ve been handling schoolwork just fine. I think it helps that business students have relatively more flexible school hours than, say, science students because we don’t have that many long lab sessions to attend. Being good at math helps out a lot in both of my majors, and my previous knowledge in accounting also alleviates a lot of the otherwise intimidating calculation-heavy assignments.”

Shizune told me that she self-studied accounting a few years ago and obtained a certificate after passing an exam. This was the reason she was employed as an accountant in Tanpopo Education Center. She resigned her job after our fallout, and since then Mr. Nagase was unable to hire a long-term accountant as her substitute; the replacement girl worked for a couple of months before resigning, then another one took her place for another two months, and since May the accountant table has been left empty. Now that she’s resumed her romance with me, Sakura demands her to return to the education center to spend more time with me. Shizune duly obliges, displaying incredible amount of obedience towards her superior, and she’ll resume her office starting from June.

“Well, I would be worried if you were anybody else, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Thanks, Dad, for displaying confidence towards Shizune. My girlfriend is the definitive multi-task taskmaster.

“But you’re also the Student Council Vice President, aren’t you? Are you sure you can juggle around so many things simultaneously?”

Mom’s question is legitimate, and she’s more of the worrying type, unlike Dad.

“Please do not worry, Mrs. Nakai. I will make sure to spend enough quality time with your son.”

A really nice response, to the point that you can legitimately doubt if I’m translating properly. But I am.

“Thank you so much, Shizune, for taking good care of our son. He’s… (sigh) he’s…”

Mom pauses mid-sentence for some unknown reason, and then, while we’re politely awaiting her continuation, she unexpectedly gets emotional. She starts to sniff, and her eyes well up in tears. She lowers her head and grabs a tissue to wipe herself clean as we’re left uncertain what to do. Fortunately Mom pulls herself together quickly enough that we don’t need to give her a hug of consolation. At least for now.

“I mean, he’s just not the same without you around, you know?”

Her potentially sensitive comment catches me off guard, as I suddenly find myself in a difficult situation. I thought I could hide all the truth of the fallout from my parents. Turns out she already figured it out. Well, maybe not the details, but she must have known something had gone very wrong for us.

The way my Mom sobbed like this, in front of Shizune…

She’s been so worried about me during that period of time, despite working long hours and never being able to see me much…

I never told her anything… That didn’t help her cause…

I feel so ashamed of myself treating my parents like this. I lied to them that I’d be staying in a friend’s home overnight but instead I drank with Kenji, and almost died without letting them know afterwards. I visited the hospital every evening, putting my health at risk in the process, without uttering a word to them. If I were Mom, I would’ve been terribly worried too.

I lower my head in shame, not sure what to say to Mom. But I forgot about the fact that Mom is talking to Shizune, not me. My girlfriend grabs hold of my arm and leans against me, drawing my attention away from my reflection. Apparently she has taken out her mini computer from her bag. Then she presses a button, and a synthesized female voice is generated by the device.

“I sincerely apologize for my absence during these couple of years, as Hisao and I were focusing on public exams and coping with university life. With matters now largely settled down, I am looking forward to improving my grades alongside my boyfriend and hopefully visiting both of you more often.”

This sounds like a speech prepared beforehand, but nevertheless it suits the current occasion perfectly, especially with the gesture of leaning against me like this. She dodges mentioning the fallout with an apology and made a promise to all three of us. Her “preparation” is really something else.

“Thank you. Well, as parents, we’re most delightful when you two are happy like this. We don’t need to ask for anything more.”

Usually it’s not a good idea to display romantic affection in front of parents, but in this occasion I think it doesn’t hurt to reassure them of our relationship. Accordingly, I return my girlfriend’s gesture with an arm around her waist, and look directly at her blue eyes. We share a sweet smile. Okay, no need to kiss in front of them.

“Honey, I think we shouldn’t bother them any longer. Shizune comes all the way here not to waste time with old folks like us.”

Upon lip-reading Dad’s comment, Shizune immediately breaks away from me and signs in a hurry.

“Er… Shizune says she wants to play a chess game with you. She saw it on her way to the dining room.”

“Are you sure? I think you’re better off going on a date with your boyfriend.”

Dad’s probably excited to have a chess match with my girlfriend. I respect his choice of leaving the two of us alone, but I don’t mind if Shizune elects to take a seat in front of the chessboard, because…

“I’ll go out with him after we finish a couple of games.”

…we won’t be spending much time outside anyway because she isn’t in her best physical condition, because of… well, girl reason. For the same cause, spending private time in my bedroom isn’t an option either.

“Alright then. Let’s go.”

The board game lover promptly rises to her feet and puts her mini computer back into her bag. Makes sense, as your main source of communication on a chessboard comes from the chess pieces.

“I’ll help out with the kitchen.”

Gaining consent from my guest, I head towards the kitchen to clean everything up with Mom, entrusting Dad on entertaining his potential daughter-in-law.

The consensus between me and Mom is always detergent for Mom, and rinsing for me. Looking at the sink, she has already finished a couple of bowls. I put on my apron and turn on the tap.

“So, Accounting and Finance, huh. Interesting options. I didn’t expect her to be so aggressive in schoolwork.”

During the long talk after I revealed the girlfriend news to my parents, I told them about the Hong Kong trip and Sakura’s party, the two events that brought us together. We also discussed briefly how to deal with her disability. But I forgot to mention Shizune in school.

“Both subjects heavily focus on calculations and documentations. She’s choosing the subjects that a deaf person is most likely to excel in. Alvin told us that an accountant in Hong Kong can potentially earn millions of Hong Kong dollars a year. One million Hong Kong dollars is around 14 million yen.”

Putting down a plate onto the sink, Mom nods at me with an approving expression.

“I see. Smart choice. So, is she going to work in Hong Kong?”

I hope not! Definitely don’t want a long-distance relationship.

“We haven’t thought that far yet, but she is interested in buying an apartment in Hong Kong as an investment tool.”

“But if you apply a mortgage, you need to have a job in Hong Kong, right?”

I put away a plate and pick up another one. Being not a finance major, I know very little about mortgage and related stuff. My girlfriend can help me out on that.

“I never considered that. I’ll ask Alvin when I meet him tomorrow.”

Mom is now working on the soup pot. Everything inside has been consumed, leaving Mom the simple task of applying the detergent.

“Hong Kong is an international financial center. Theoretically she has the best career prospect over there. Although you’ll at least need to know English, and probably some Chinese too.”

Work in Hong Kong, huh. Away from family. I never thought about that. But, of course, I’d rather not go there, even though the Victoria Peak view was amazing. My English still sucks, and I know zero Chinese, especially the verbal part.

“Mom, we really haven’t thought about things that far. We’ll discuss these when we graduate, okay?”

Mom now starts working on the frying pan as I wash the soup pot.

“Sure. By the way, sorry for the fit just now.”

Yeah, about that, good job Mom, for making such a first impression to my girlfriend. Luckily our guest is smart enough to avert a potential crisis.

“It’s alright. I should be the one to apologize.”

“So, did something happen between you two before you get together again? Or is it top secret that I shouldn’t know?”

It’s the latter, and I should protect my girlfriend.

“Nah, she was in the hospital, and we were both in a bad mood. You know, two whole months without Student Council! It’s like the end of the world to her!”

Mom probably won’t buy my attempt of brushing things off, but at least she’s sensible enough not to pry further.

“I can understand. At least things have finally worked out for you both. I’m genuinely happy for you.”

With our joined effort, the kitchen is getting close to being done. We’ll need to collect the garbage and clean the table too.

“Thank you. How do you feel about Shizune today?”

Mom’s done with her part, and I’m almost done too. We plan to eat out tonight, so no need to prepare for dinner.

“To be honest, I’m surprised! She obviously treats today as an important occasion. I guess I need to be frank with you, son. When you told me about your relationship with Shizune last month, a part of me was expected it to be short-lived. You know, Shizune has been in and out of your life for almost two years. It seemed as if she wasn’t that serious with you. But seeing how she latched onto you like that and was willing to spend time with you despite her packed schedule, I feel more secure about your relationship.”

Again, a legitimate doubt. Grabbing a cloth to clean the kitchen table, I feel the need to reassure Mom of our current situation.

“No, she’s always been serious. Like I said, it was on me. I made an error. Anyway, I can tell you that she’s already considering our marriage.”

Mom is unsurprisingly shocked hearing about the Shizune bullet train.

“Really? Are you serious? You’re still second-year students.”

“Yeah. She was the one who started that topic. If I remember, these were her exact words: ‘You already got my mom’s approval. And Hideaki will welcome you.’ Oh, one thing I never mentioned to you was that I met Shizune’s mother during one of my visits to the hospital. We had a nice talk.”

Mom looks amused. University students talking about marriage must be very funny in the eyes of the middle-aged.

“How about her father then? Have you met him before?”

Facing my potential father-in-law is a terrible prospect that I don’t want to think about. And I don’t think I’m ready to reveal Mom about his mental issues.

“Yes I did. He is… quite a character. But Shizune assures me that he’s not going to be a problem.”

We’re done with all the work here, but we prefer leaving our discussion here in the kitchen even though Shizune is deaf.

“Are you going to visit them soon?”

“Yeah, we’re working on it.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m ready to have my son married before he even graduates, but you’re adults, and we respect your decisions. But please tell us as soon as possible if the two of you have decided on anything.”

“Sure, although I agree that I’m not ready for marriage just yet. The appropriate time for that is probably a few years after I enter the work environment.”

“Yup, that’s a more sensible time. Just don’t make your girlfriend pregnant, okay?”

Mom gives me a playful wink. I’ll deny having had sex with Shizune and distract her attention with the ongoing chess game.

“Nah, that won’t happen. Let’s move over to the chessboard, shall we?”

“Sure.”

I’m certain the two in the living room will entertain us with a fierce fight in one of the oldest battlefields of the world.

---

Using a calculator in an arcade center is a bizarre act even for a science major like me, but I’ve gotten used to it already. My girlfriend is always right. And don’t even think about arguing with her if you want a good date.

[So…]

One advantage of using sign language is that we can still communicate without problems even when the surrounding noise level is as high as 90 decibels.

[It seems like the game that provide the best return of investment is the coin-dropping machines in front of us. So, theoretically, we should sit here for the whole afternoon if we want to get as many of the prizes right there as possible.]

The “coin-dropping machine”, or officially “coin pusher”, is a two-platform mechanism filled with coins, with the bottom one longer than the top one. Both platforms move back and forth, and when they move back, the coins on them will be pushed towards the edge. The objective of the game is to drop coins onto the top platform such that the pusher will push them towards other coins, creating a chain reaction that drops coins off the bottom platform into the payout slot. But sitting here just inserting coins is a boring way to use an arcade center. I’d rather play some of the fighting games or try out the dancing booth, although they don’t give out any payout.

[I’m fine dropping coins for the whole afternoon, but you’re probably bored. We can try out the air hockey table over there, even though it doesn’t give any payout. There’s a machine on the other side that looks a bit like a tic-tac-toe game, and it pays relatively well.]

When I play in the arcade center, I never think about the payout. I just enjoy myself. Dating Shizune has the unfortunate side effect of having to think about return of investment even in a game. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised, given how seriously she treated board games in the Yamaku Student Council.

[You’re the boss. I’ll go wherever you go.]

Not only is my girlfriend the boss, she is also holding all the coins, so I have no say in the date.

[Let’s try out the tic-tac-toe machine for a bit first.]

On the other hand, you know you can relax and sit back when you date her. She decides everything for you, and things will turn out alright. A true sense of security, I have to say.

[Sure.]

A few steps later, we arrive at the redemption game (i.e. a game that provides payout rather than eating your coins for nothing), which consists of nine circular holes at the bottom, four of them having a yellow ball each on them. There is a screen on the top introducing the game and the payout, and below it are several white buttons. The payout section reads: Four corners, 100 tickets; Diamond, 50; Diagonals, 11; Tic-tac-toe, 9. I wonder how it works.

My girlfriend, who’s still wearing her white dress, grabs a coin from her bag and slots it into the machine. The game registers, and commands us to press the big white button that is blinking yellow. She obliges, and, at the bottom, metal pieces stick out from each of the nine holes forcing the balls to bounce around. After a while, the metal pieces retract, and the balls land on four of the holes: One on the middle of the top row, one on middle left, one on the center, and one on the lower left corner. Now Shizune has to decide which of the balls to keep in the same position by using the white button matrix next to the big button. She chooses the center and the lower left ones, then presses the big button again. The two unselected balls bounce around and land again, and one of them lands on the top right corner, forming a diagonal.

[That’s eleven tickets! See, good payout!]

I see. The rules are simple enough.

[Try it out!]

She gives me a coin, and I slot it into the machine. After pressing the white button, the balls land on top middle, middle left, middle right, and bottom left.

[Let’s try a diamond this time! Just leave out the buttom left unchecked.]

I don’t know, it’s a risky strategy. I get the diamond formation only if the ball lands on bottom middle. If it lands on the center I get a tic-tac-toe, and if it lands anywhere else it’s game over. But I guess the ball has a higher probability of landing on the center than anywhere else.

Yeah, you gotta take risks when you play Shizune. No matter whether you play with or against her.

So I do as instructed, and this time I actually luck out. The ball lands on the bottom middle slot, and I earn 50 tickets for the team. Shizune is ecstatic.

[Great job! Let’s do it again!]

After spending 20 coins on this machine, we have garnered 280 tickets, which is okay. We hit the four corners once, and a diamond one more time. An average of 14 tickets per coin is decent. And it’s fun.

[Let’s try out some other games!]

So we proceed to play a few more redemption games before trying our luck on the coin pusher; it took like 50 coins but we finally succeeded and obtained a lot of tickets in return. We then played an air hockey match before heading towards the prize redemption counter to spend our tickets on. Shizune got herself a nice shopping bag, and I received a headphone.

Having spent all our coins, it’s time to leave the arcade center and head towards our next destination. She wants to visit a furniture shop with me. Before that, though, I take a final look towards the game center. There are a few games I didn’t play today. I didn’t check out the dancing booth because Shizune is wearing a dress and is physically unfit for the activity. I didn’t play the Street Fighter machine either; I used to play it a lot with Takumi. I skipped the shooter games too, which I used to play extensively with Mai. Bringing Shizune into the arcade center is so different from playing with Shin, Mai, and Takumi.

My friends from Before Yamaku. Sigh…

Got to write a letter to them, and I’m not looking forward to it. The huge pressure that has been bugging me throughout the weekend is coming back.

[Hey,]

I can’t blame ‘Nako though. She’s right. I can’t get away from this.

[Let’s go.]

I even met Shrimp in the gathering last week. She might tell them about me.

[What’s wrong?]

The biggest difficulty is how to start. How am I supposed to write to a former friend who took several blows for my classmate while I was ranting in the hospital? “Sorry for neglecting you in the last couple of years. I’m back.” “Thank you for helping out with ‘Nako. I can’t believe our former classmate was such a bully.”

Yeah, it’s pretty bad.

[Are you alright?]

‘Nako said she’s supporting me, but I can’t even figure out how to start. I don’t think I have the correct mindset to do so.

[Hey! What’s wrong with you?]

HUH!

A fierce pat on my shoulder brings me back from spacing out. I can’t believe I can process sign language while thinking about other stuff.

[Sorry, I was considering something else.]

[What’s wrong?]

I thought about discussing the issue with my girlfriend, but I fear she might blame me, both for what I have done in the hospital to my Before Yamaku classmates and my inability to write a letter of apology. I intend to ask Misha for help instead, for even if she might scold me for the same reasons, at least she can’t blame me in person, and I won’t risk hindering my relationship with my girlfriend.

[Nah, let’s go.]

Still troubled by my upcoming daunting task, I put my hands behind my head as we head towards the furniture shop. As a result, Shizune is unable to hold hands with me.

[You really look troubled. Does it have to do with your meeting with Iwanako?]

Man, she’s so good at deductions. But I’m not going to spoil anything.

The furniture shop is two floors above, so we take the escalator twice to reach our destination. Neglecting my girlfriend’s question, I continue spacing out during the short trip, trying to figure out something that works.

But when we reach the fourth floor, Shizune instead heads towards a drinks shop. I naturally follow her, and we sit down opposite to each other. She grabs the two menu books from the side of the table and hands me one.

[I’ll pay. What do you want?]

Yeah, I’m thirsty too, after spending a couple of hours in the arcade center. We didn’t plan to spend so much time there; you forget about the time when you play games. Fortunately Shizune doesn’t look physically drained.

[Hmm… I’ll have iced lemon tea. And I’ll pay.]

[No, you treated me already. I’ll pay for this one. And your choice sucks.]

[Why?]

[You can drink lemon tea everywhere. Heck, you can even make one yourself. You should try something more special. Like cappuccino.]

[But I don’t want your purse to be emptied.]

My girlfriend adjusts her glasses and gives me a big smile.

[Thanks for the care. But a couple of drinks won’t hurt.]

[Well, didn’t somebody claim that if you save a cup of coffee each day, you can buy an apartment? Some famous guy in the television.]

[Yeah, heard about it from Akemi. But that’s quite a bit of an exaggeration. You only save like 500 yen for a drink, which converts to around two hundred thousand per year. Five years would be a million yen, which is not even one-tenth of an average property in Japan. I do see his point though. But it’s not like we’re buying drinks every day, so we can afford a couple for today.]

[Alright, if you say so. But I don’t want coffee.]

[How about hot chocolate then?]

[No! It’s summer! I’ve have fresh orange juice. Healthy.]

[Okay. Then watermelon juice for me.]

[Alright. I’ll call the waiter.]

After ordering drinks for both of us, I turn to my girlfriend. I am about to ask her if she enjoyed the arcade center when she pre-empts me.

[So, what’s bothering you just now? Is it related to Iwanako?]

Sigh. Seriously? Can we not talk about it please? I want a break from that!

[Nah, it’s nothing.]

Shizune frowns hard and crosses her arms. I’m trapped.

[I don’t think we’re leaving this place until you tell me what’s wrong.]

It looks like she brings me here specifically to talk about this, not to quench our thirst. In this scenario, the only way not to spoil our date (remember, we still have dinner with my parents in a couple of hours) is to tell the truth.

[Alright then. But promise me you won’t blame me or anything like that.]

My date ponders for a few seconds before nodding.

[Okay. Go ahead.]

Well, here we go. With a deep sigh, I reluctantly start to make the signs.

[Well, it’s about my former high school friends. That was what ‘Nako and I were talking about the other day.]

Shizune was in the gathering that evening too, so she should remember the three nicknames of Iwanako.

[Your former high school friends. I never heard you talk about them.]

[That’s because I never contacted them since the transfer.]

[Did something happen?]

[Well, it’s my bad. You know, back in the days I was alone in the hospital, I was very dejected. I couldn’t get over with the fact that I am now a disabled person. As a result, I didn’t treat my visitors very well…]

[And you got into a fight with your former schoolmate?]

[I didn’t have the strength to start a fight or anything, but I did act as a jerk back then, and nobody visited me after a few weeks. Except ‘Nako. But she also stopped visiting after some time.]

[And now you need to make amends to your former schoolmates?]

[Pretty much. ‘Nako persuaded me to write a letter to Shin, Mai, and Takumi. The problem is, I don’t know how to start. How are you supposed to write a letter of apology that was due two years ago?]

An expression of annoyance and anger flashes across Shizune’s face, but she brushes it off with another adjustment of her glasses. She probably realizes that there’s no point scolding me for the past, plus she just promised me not to do so.

[Then how did you reconcile with Iwanako?]

I don’t want to mention the snowfield incident that redefined me. This is the biggest secret in my life that I’m not sure I’ll ever tell my girlfriend.

[I didn’t initiate it. She did. She wrote me a letter after seeing me in the JUSC competition. It was super awkward. It took us a whole evening to finally break the ice and get back on friend terms. You know, she’s the ultra pro-active type.]

[That I can understand. So, you just treated them poorly in the hospital? It wasn’t that bad, right? It’s not like you punched them in their faces or sworn to them.]

[I didn’t, but perhaps they felt like that. ‘Nako told me Shin was angry with me. Mai probably not as pissed. But they were also frustrated that I never contacted them after the transfer. Like we never met in the first place.]

[Yeah. I can see the issue. That’s… going to be a problem.]

We both cross our arms trying to figure out a solution, if it exists. I don’t expect her to be able to help me out, but at least I’m happy that I’m being honest with her. After all, she’s going to be my best friend for, hopefully, the rest of my life.

[Well, if it’s so hard for you to write a letter, you might as well not do it. Whatever product you force yourself to make isn’t going to be of good quality anyway.]

She has a point. Might as well not spend time on a task that is destined to fail.

[But then what?]

[Maybe we try a different angle. Yeah. How about this? You guys have been friends for quite a while, haven’t you? You just need to break the ice, and maybe exchange a few apologies, right?]

[Well, yeah, I suppose. I don’t know, sorry.]

[No worries. I think we can hold a gathering instead.]

[Gathering? I can’t even write to them. How am I going to face them in person?]

[I know. That’s why I’ll be there. Steal some of the spotlight away. We can talk about how we met, and all the stories we’ve come through in Yamaku. They’re probably interested in your experience as well.]

[Really? You can help?]

[Why not? We’ll have to face the public as a couple in the future anyway.]

[But how are we making the invitation?]

[Yeah, about that. No. Iwanako will be doing it. She’s the one who initiated this reconcile thing, right? We’ll ask her to hold the gathering, and tell them I’ll be there. They must be curious about your girlfriend, am I right?]

[I guess you’re right. Okay then, that really helps. I’ll talk to her tomorrow.]

Our glasses of juice arrive. Just the right time.

[Can we share?]

[I don’t see why not.]

It’s probably the first time we share a drink. I think we only joined lips three times. The first time was in her apartment. The second time was in the Kasshoku Student Council room and her apartment afterwards. The third and last time was after her birthday party. (Did we kiss when we made love the first time?) Anyway, being in the shopping mall next to the new bus stop, we probably won’t have time for any intimacy today, so sharing our drinks is the closest thing to kissing that we can do.

[Cheers!]

So we take a few sips of our respective glasses before exchanging them. With the Before Yamaku problem settled down, we should be able to visit the furniture shop with relative ease. Then my parents will come and, hopefully, share some of our family warmth to the girlfriend that is still lacking in this aspect.

Tasting the watermelon juice and the indirect kiss, I’m feeling more secure than ever with my girlfriend, knowing fully well that I’ll have, besides ‘Nako, my lover standing beside me when I face my former friends later.

Chapter 81: A Magical Touch

The most unexpected thing in the KS fanfiction is the pork chop recipe in the middle of the chapter.

And the whole first part of the chapter felt like an unnecessary filler, sorry.

Otherwise it's good. And Hisao still keeps some secrets from Shizune, huh. It won't get him any good in the long run.

hdkv wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 10:50 am

The most unexpected thing in the KS fanfiction is the pork chop recipe in the middle of the chapter.

And the whole first part of the chapter felt like an unnecessary filler, sorry.

Otherwise it's good. And Hisao still keeps some secrets from Shizune, huh. It won't get him any good in the long run.

I take inspiration from Sisterhood in quite a few aspects, and one of them is to insert some relaxing scenes between tense moments. And I really love the idea of making surprise content (which surprises even myself when I read my work again after some time) that won't be spoiled even after reading the chapter title. Quoting Emi, my "unpredictability is pretty predictable".

The main theme of this whole Part 3 thing is "When Love Meets Family", and the first part of Chapter 80 builds a solid foundation for what's coming up later, so I won't say it's an unnecessary filler. Quoting Sisterhood in its Final Chapter, "Karla's stories about her own family situation reminded [Hanako] how fortunate I am to have supportive 'in-laws'."

Since Part 3 focuses more on characters such as Emi and Miki, I don't yet have a plan to expand the plot on Hisao's relationship. But, hey, I always surprise myself, so who knows?

Chapter 81: A Magical Touch

Sitting on a bleacher watching my trainees continue their exercise while nursing my wound, I’m currently experiencing a mixed emotion of excitement and fear.

Excitement, because I just made physical contact with a boy for an extended period of time. For around two minutes. It wasn’t initiated by me, and it wasn’t supposed to be an act of intimacy, but it was the first body contact with a member of the opposite gender since I broke up with my boyfriend. Well, the occasional pats towards Hisao and the Nurse don’t count, of course.

And the subject in question, the one who volunteered to touch me, carrying me from the other side of the track all the way here, is the one I’m now staring at. He’s apparently not a regular runner, but his running form has improved since he joined the training last Thursday. He looks cool, and it’s pretty obvious he’s interested in me. Boyfriend material. Great. Only four days into the program, and I’ve got myself a real chance to change my single status.

Fear, because if my wound doesn’t heal fast, I might have trouble conducting the rest of the training program. I’m probably going to risk it in the afternoon, but I might not be able to do my morning run tomorrow. Which sucks. I could still gamble and run despite the wound, but I’ll be open to the worst case scenario: wheelchair. I need to make the decision by tonight. Do I stop my morning run? Or do I go for it and pray that there is no infection?

Scanning the field once again, it looks like I’ve got myself another problem to tackle.

“Are you feeling alright?”

The wound still hurts, but I’ll pretend to be fine in front of my supervisor.

“I’m feeling better now. But the trainees in the basketball court are talking instead of exercising.”

“Okay, I’ll remind them for you. Take your time.”

“Thanks!”

So, while Mr. Nagazaki leaves towards the naughty trainees, I continue to stare at my potential boyfriend, who’s now running with his two female friends.

Iwanako and Kai. We had dinner together, along with our other friends, last Thursday, once again in News café. (I’d like to have dinner somewhere else in Kasshoku tonight please!) The main topics of that dinner were the two couples. Apparently they were in a trip to Hong Kong together last Christmas, and Iwanako’s relationship with her boyfriend pretty much started there. By the end of the dinner gathering, I couldn’t help but fantasize a journey to the Chinese speaking cities. I told mom about it on phone that evening, and she promised to think about it. Maybe we can go there during the summer break.

Noboyuki’s wheelchair slowly rolls across the track. I don’t want to be on one this weekend.

Takumi runs by, passing Noboyuki in the process. He keeps glancing at me, and I can feel myself blushing. Behind him, the soccer match is still ongoing. The blue team is on the attack. A pass from the left baseline towards the goal is intercepted by a red team player, heading for a corner. The ball rolls towards the other side of the track. This time it doesn’t hit any of the track runners.

The wound still hurts a little.

It all happened during the running tutorial. I was leading my trainees on the other side of the track, near the 200 meters mark, when a soccer ball hit me on my left leg, right at the junction that connects my amputated leg and my running blades. The ball hit me at high speed, causing me to fall and scratch my knee. My left blade fell off from my body and the trousers. Takumi, Iwanako, and Kai immediately helped me sit upright and called my supervisor over. A couple of trainees, who are now in the basketball court, were shocked by the blade to the point that they froze right on the spot, unable to say a word or move a muscle. A few blue team members in the soccer match approached me and apologized. I ensured everybody, including my supervisor, that I was okay but needed simple medical treatment on my scratch. Since I couldn’t walk without my left blade, Takumi and a blue team member helped carry me to the bleacher I’m now sitting on, with Takumi holding me from the back and the soccer player lifting my right running blade.

And that was where the body contact came from.

It looks like Mr. Nagasaki is engaging in a talk with the trainees. The revelation of my disability must have shocked them so much that they’re not running with me for today’s session, and I bet the talk probably has something to do with it.

Discrimination. Nurse told me about it. I hope I don’t have to deal with it, now that my disability is exposed. At least the ones on the track seem to take it well.

Especially Takumi, who grabbed the first aid kit for me and elected to stay behind for a few minutes after my supervisor instructed everybody to begin their exercise of choice. Out of courtesy I apologized to him about the accident, but his primary concern was whether I could walk properly after the training. I insisted that I would be fine. But I won’t be surprised if he asks his two lady friends to escort me to the restaurant, and possibly have lunch with me.

Despite hurting my leg, I’m so glad to have gotten myself three acquaintances in this school after coming here for merely a week. They’re so nice to me too.

---

After sitting here for the rest of the session letting my wound heal, it’s about time to finish the training and go for lunch. Before doing anything, I need to put my left blade back on. It hurts a little on the wound, and there’s a good chance I’ll limp a bit throughout the rest of the day. I’ll put on my best show to appear fine. Just as I’m about to get up, my supervisor has returned. I didn’t realize he stayed in the basketball court for so long.

“Miss Ibarazaki, may I have a word with you after dismissing everyone?”

I’ve got a bad feeling about this, but I can hardly say no.

“Okay.”

So, after everyone gathers around the two of us, I perform the signout procedures and end the training. My supervisor then leads me into the booth.

“It looks like we have got ourselves a problem here.”

Well, here we go.

“Yes, sir?”

“It seems like several trainees of yours are traumatized by the accident that happened a while ago.”

“Oh. Is it really that bad?”

“I understand that, to you, the… metal equipment on your legs… is as normal as wearing a pair of glasses. But for someone who has not encountered something of this kind, a metal leg suddenly thrown out from a person’s body can be an exceptionally scary experience.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I know that it was not your fault to begin with, but I still apologized to those students on your behalf. A few students said they felt a little cheated. They did not expect their health training to be conducted by a… well, disabled person.”

Oh no.

“Uh huh…”

“But I argued, on behalf of you, that as long as she’s not engaging in a competition, she has not cheated. And the fact that she’s missing some body parts does not affect the health training at all. Well, other than what just happened.”

“Uh huh. What did they say?”

“They argued that we should have stated in advance that the training would be conducted by a disabled person. And I rebuked, how would the trainer feel being labeled like this in public? And they went silent.”

The topic I fear the most, discrimination. It’s so unfortunate that my disability got exposed like that. But, can’t do anything about it. I mean, if they don’t want to accept me, so be it. I can still live my own life.

“We exchanged a few more words, but they didn’t look too happy no matter what I said. In the end, they said they would think about it for a day before deciding whether to continue the training. So, you may expect to see less trainees tomorrow.”

At least I’ll have my several affiliates with me.

“I see…”

“But my bigger concern is whether you can continue with your duty in the next couple of days.”

Uh oh.

“I’m fine! Just need a day’s rest and I’ll be A-okay tomorrow!”

“Then how about the afternoon sessions?”

I guess I have no choice but to give him a satisfactory answer.

“I think… I’ll take it easy. I’ll just tell the class I’ve got a little sore knee. I should be able to handle a couple of laps.”

Mr. Nagasaki’s suspicious stare tells me he doesn’t really buy it, but he decides to play on.

“I know you are a cheerful, optimistic girl, but please don’t push yourself too hard. And don’t you think you should report to your college about this incident?”

If the Nurse hears about it, he’ll definitely forbid me from my morning runs!

“Hmm… It’s not a big deal. If the wound gets worse I’ll inform them, okay?”

Which, of course, I won’t.

My supervisor shrugs and gives me an expression of “I knew you would say that”.

“Alright then. Well, it looks like your trainees are waiting for you. So I won’t bother you any further. Enjoy the rest of your day, and wish you a speedy recovery.”

I turn my head around and, not surprisingly, standing behind me are my three new friends, all having their clothes changed already.

“Thank you, Mr. Nagasaki.”

And unsurprisingly, once I turn towards them, their unanimous first greeting is…

“Are you alright with your leg?”

I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine.

“It’s alright now, thanks!”

To prove my point, I bounce up and down with my blades to show my activity. The third jump hurts a bit, and I have to force myself to hide a slight wince. Boyfriend material frowns slightly, indicating that he notices, but then returns me a smile without another word. Thanks for not saying that out loud.

“Great! Let’s have lunch together, shall we?”

I see no reason not to know more about these people. And I don’t really need to shower since I haven’t run much in this session.

“Okay. Let me change into my other legs in the bathroom first.”

---

Unlocking the room door with the key card, I enter my room, sit on the chair, and immediately remove my prosthetic legs. It still kind of sores, the condition worsening a little on my way back here.

Stupid wound! I demand you to heal up at once!

Sigh… if only things were this simple!

At least Hisao and the other trainees didn’t seem to notice anything suspicious during the training in the afternoon. I told them I had a sore knee, but they will never be able to deduce that I had an accident this morning.

Should I run tomorrow? It’s so hard to decide!

My mind goes back to the body contact earlier today. Normally I wouldn’t allow a boy to touch me like that. In fact, part of me wanted to reject his offer of carrying me back to the bleacher. But then I realized the dim prospect of crawling a distance of a whopping 200 meters with my hands only (unable to go across the soccer field because of the soccer match). The contact was much more pleasant than I initially thought. At first I didn’t realize he was interested in me, but I knew when he stayed behind afterwards. The most amazing thing is he doesn’t seem to mind, or feel shocked at, my disability. Definitely boyfriend material.

On the other hand, I’m staying here for only a month. If I develop a romantic relationship here, I’ll have to deal with long distance very soon. And I don’t feel like transferring to another college.

But, not going to think that far. I’ll let things happen naturally. We’ll see.

I can’t sit here forever. I need a shower. Let’s crawl to the bathroom and take a seat. The hotel receptionist was kind enough to lend me a stool to sit on, so I can take my shower without keeping my prosthetic legs on; otherwise I’ll have to risk them not drying enough for tomorrow.

The wound still hurts. I’ll need to pay extra attention during my shower. The ointment I’ve bought for myself on my way back here is going to be necessary.

I really don’t want to sit on a wheelchair. But not being able to run is even worse. Okay. I’ll run a little bit. I’ll stop when it hurts.

Carefully cleaning up my wound and finishing up the shower, I get myself lightly dressed and crawl back to the bed. I should take a look at tomorrow’s namelist given by my supervisor and go to sleep early.

Huh, I’ve a missed phone call. Who is it? Mom? Or Takumi.

Nope, neither of them. I’m surprised it’s him! Why? Shouldn’t you be dating your girlfriend at this hour?

Anyway, he might have something important to ask me about. Probably not a health related issue though. He’s not asking me what to, or what not to, eat this late in the evening, is he?

So I dial his number and he picks it up after a few rings.

“Good evening.”

The background is pretty noisy over there. He must be away from home.

“Hey there, Hisao. You called me earlier?”

“Yeah. Sorry for calling at this hour. No, it’s actually Shizune who wants to call you, but she obviously can’t, so she’s making me phone you instead.”

“Oh. And what would it be?”

“Um… So, how should I phrase it? I mean, you told us during the training that you have a sore knee. We just want to ask if you’re doing okay. She’s worried about you.”

The former President is worried about me? Why? A sore knee is pretty common, isn’t it? It’s not like I’m in the hospital or something like that.

“Yup, I’m fine! Hey, Hisao, I think you two should focus on your date, not me.”

“Nah, she’s right next to me. We’re asking because Shizune says your running form is really awkward today. Seems like more than a sore knee, almost like you’re hurt or something like that. I didn’t notice that, but, you know, the President’s kind of pushy, so yeah. If you say you’re alright, I’ll tell her. But if you need anything, feel free to ask either of us for help, okay?”

The former President’s eyes are so sharp! I thought I did a great job concealing the accident, but she saw right through it. I can keep denying it, and I’m going to do that, but I’m sure she’s going to stare at me with a pair of analyzing eyes through her glasses during tomorrow’s session.

But thanks, you two. Even though I’m never telling you the truth, I feel the warmth coming from both of you. Precious Friendships, huh. That’s the phrase he claimed to have learned in the one year of his Yamaku life.

“Thanks! But I’m fine. So, see you tomorrow?”

“Yup. Hope that your knee can heal up as soon as possible.”

I don’t think he, like my supervisor, believes my words either, but at least he’s sensible enough not to pry. I should end the phone call as soon as possible before Shizune can chip in another inquiry.

“Yeah. Enjoy your date then. Bye!”

Hurrying to cut off the phone call, I take out the namelist and confirm that all the names for tomorrow are those I’m familiar with, including Takumi, Iwanako, and Kai. In other words, no new students. And I don’t care whether the trainees in the basketball court continue their training or not.

Come to think of it, Iwanako has witnessed today’s accident. Isn’t she a friend of Hisao? If she tells Hisao about the accident, my cover will be blown apart. That will be pretty bad. Anyway, if that happens then I’ll admit.

But why am I feeling so happy tonight? Is it because of my attraction towards Takumi, or the care from all my friends? I’ve been pretty independent, so I don’t expect myself to be moved by their kind words. Perhaps I just got a taste of what’s meant by Precious Friendships. Despite today’s accident, I’ve been enjoying this training program so far. I’ll miss my friends when I return home after the program, perhaps even more than Yamaku graduation day. But, not thinking too much ahead, I should treasure every moment of this short trip.

Which starts from tomorrow’s morning run! Go to bed now! Wound will heal!

Chapter 82: Thanks, 'Nako!

Chapter 82: Thanks, 'Nako!

Sitting across my schoolmate, I grab several decks from my bag (man, they’re heavy! But I wanna have fun!) and lay them on the table between us.

“Today I’m showing you one of the most powerful decks I have assembled. But first, pick one of these. You may look at them.”

My playmate checks each of them very briefly before deciding her choice.

“This.”

“Alright. Lemme grab the racks.”

I have them in the front pocket of my Eevee bag. Two plastic racks originally used for resting game tiles on. I took them out from another board game. Due to her condition, she has to use these in order to enjoy our game.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks, boy.”

“No probs. I’ll shuffle the deck for you.”

Accordingly, I help my playmate shuffle her deck of choice and hand her seven cards. She then puts them onto the racks and selects one to place onto the imaginary battlefield, and another one onto the bench.

“As demonstration, I’ll just put down two prize cards.”

“Okay.”

I put down two cards, face down, then place the remainder of her deck onto the table.

“Now, here comes this super deck. Watch.”

From the inner pocket of my bag, I retrieve my secret weapon deck and shuffle it. I then draw seven cards and, after confirming that this is a pretty ideal draw, select Squirtle as the starter and a Lapras on the bench. I take out a coin and flip heads.

“My turn. Well, you’ll see it’s power very soon.”

I attach a Water Energy to Squirtle, then use the attack Bubble and flip tails. Her Machop receives 10 damage. Doesn’t matter. That thing is going to get destroyed next turn.

We’re using the original Generation One cards for our game. There are a lot of new cards now, but ever since I got my pocket money cut down after almost failing an exam in middle school, I haven’t been able to afford too many new cards. I actually own a few new decks, but I like the fun of the old ones.

Using her lone hand, my schoolmate attaches a Fighting Energy onto Machop and deals 20 damage to my Squirtle. Again, it doesn’t matter.

“Now, watch.”

I draw a card, an Articuno. Doesn’t matter one bit. Slamming down a Pokemon Breeder card, I evolve my Squirtle directly into a Blastoise.

“Look, this Pokemon Breeder card allows me to evolve directly into a second-stage. And after evolving, this Blastoise has the ability Deluge, which allows me to attach as many Water Energy as I like to Water type Pokemon. And I can just keep attaching like this.”

I attach all four of my hand’s Water Energy cards to Blastoise, put down the Articuno as bench, then use a Professor Oak to refresh my hand to seven. I attach another three Water Energy cards to Lapras.

“Hydro Pump. This does 40 plus ten times the number of extra Water Energy attached to Blastoise, with a maximum of twenty damage. I have five Water Energy, so this attack does 60 damage. Your Machop is knocked out.”

“…”

She’s, as expected, speechless.

“Yeah, and now you’re staring down a 100 HP Blastoise that does 60 damage per turn without drawback, plus an 80 HP Lapras on the bench fully set up. It’s pretty broken.”

“…”

“Of course, such a powerful deck…”

I pick up all the cards, shuffle it a few times, and hand it to her.

“…I think you should try it out.”

“Is it okay for me to use this deck, boy?”

“Of course. You’re my guest, you know.”

For the next hour or so, we keep playing Pokemon TCG in the park. The deck in her hand is really powerful, as despite being a relatively newbie in the game, she is still able to destroy me several times when I’m using less competitive decks. But this deck does have its shortcomings. The Lightning weakness is a big one, and if Squirtle gets knocked out by, say, a Pikachu before it can evolve, it’s very bad with the Pokemon Breeder and the Blastoise stuck in the hand. Also, Mr. Mime’s ability to block any attacks that do more than 20 damage shuts Blastoise down completely, forcing it to use up three Energy cards to retreat. My opponent really has talent in the game though, as she is able to use Switch cards to retreat during key moments and make use of Lapras’ Confuse Ray attack to confuse my Mr. Mime, shutting down its ability. Overall, I love playing with her.

“So, did you enjoy today’s games?”

“Yup. Had a lot of fun. Blastoise rocks.”

“Yeah. It’s gettin’ late. Should escort you home.”

“Thanks a lot, boy.”

Packing up the cards, I put everything, including the racks, into my backpack and rise to my feet. Looking at my watch, it’s already 9:30 in the evening. If I don’t return before eleven, I’m going to be late for school tomorrow.

Playing with her is so fun I can’t control the time.

“So, you’re living with Suzu, your best friend, huh?”

My playmate nods her head. Under the dim lamplight of the park, her brown skin looks more attractive than ever. The evening wind blows, and the fresh scent of her long hair sweeps across my face.

I think I’m in love with this girl already, even though we’ve only met for three weeks.

“Yeah. She’s probably asleep already.”

“Asleep so early?”

“Yup. She’s a narcoleptic. Can fall asleep anywhere.”

“Whoa! Is she alone at home now? Isn’t it dangerous?”

“It’s alright. She’s controlling herself really well now. Whenever she senses a warning sign from her body, she’ll go to bed immediately.”

“That’s a relief. D’you think I can meet her someday?”

“Sure. I’ll invite you to our apartment soon.”

“Thanks a lot.”

Leaving the park heading towards the river, we walk in relative silence, enjoying the tranquility of the surroundings and the evening wind. After escorting her, I’ll have to come back across this river on my way home. So I’m going out of my way to accompany her. But I love it.

Since the evening we met in the dumpling restaurant, we’ve grown pretty close to each other, often discussing schoolwork and comparing designs in the vocational training center. We’re even partners of a school project now. I can say she’s already my second best friend in this area, only behind Mai. However, I still don’t know much about her; in school we primarily talk about fashion design, and when we play in the evening we usually just focus on the games. This is the second time I escort her home; the first time I did that was last Friday, and we mostly talked about school. So tonight is a great chance to know more about her.

And if she wants to play with me again next week, maybe I’ll have the courage to confess to her.

I probably should speak up first if I want a conversation.

“So, how’s work? Didn’t you tell me about a new colleague yesterday?”

“Oh yeah, about Yōko. Boss asked me to teach her the ropes. I’ll be in the boutique a few more days per week; Boss apparently has to take several evenings off in the upcoming weeks, leaving me with Yōko. Will be busier for a while. So yeah, won’t be able to play games with you as frequently, boy.”

“She’s leaving you with a new colleague in her own shop? Isn’t that risky?”

“Yōko has some experience already; she once worked in Uniqlo as well. But yeah, still gonna be a big challenge for me.”

“At least your boss trusts you. That’s a good sign.”

“Indeed. I’m actually quite proud of myself. But I’m curious what she’s up to.”

“Did you ask her?”

“Nah, probably private matters I don’t want to pry into. But her action to hire a new colleague does make me suspicious. But it could be just logistic work for the upcoming summer break, when the shop presumably goes busier.”

“Gotcha. Man, how unfortunate! I just swapped my workdays from Mondays and Wednesdays to match yours! And I also swapped my tutorial sessions away from my new workdays! All those efforts are now going to be for naught.”

My crush spreads her arms apart as we take the stairs leading to a bridge.

“Sorry, pal. Got the news yesterday. Can’t help. Perhaps you can visit my shop when I’m working? I can recommend you a few products with a discount.”

“Will your boss mind?”

“Probably not. Especially if she’s not around.”

Good. I think I’ve made one more step towards a relationship with her.

“That’s great! D’you mind if I come, say, on Friday?”

“Sure. I think even if Boss is with me, she won’t mind giving you a discount if I say you’re my friend. And you can give some comments to our designs after the shop is closed.”

Thanks, and I hope that in the near future, you’ll introduce me as your boyfriend in front of your boss. And I also have to thank our vocational training center for allowing us a relatively loose schedule similar to a university, in which you can pretty much make up your own timetable, so we can take part in work even during weekdays.

“I’ll mark down on my calendar. By the way, I never asked, but why did you choose fashion design? Instead of, like, entering a university?”

The wink she gives me is so charming that I almost want to confess to her right on the spot, especially that we’re on a rather romantic place of a bridge above a river.

“Good question, boy. The thing is, I hate studying, you know. English makes me puke, and Math is like Mars language to me. And I hate honorifics.”

“So you couldn’t enter a university?”

“Nope. And don’t want to enter one either. No interest.”

Wow. I didn’t expect her to hate studying so much, given that she looks so happy in the vocational training center. But that’s exactly what I want as a mate.

“Are you serious? I can’t believe we’re of the same kind!”

“Seems like we are. And you? Why no uni?”

Part of me still wants to blame that guy for it, but I know deep down in my heart that even if that didn’t happen, I probably still wouldn’t have cut it anyway.

“Somethin’ happened during my Center Test year that… well, got me into a detention. But, seriously, that wasn’t an excuse at all. I’m just bad at studying. Like you.”

“Detention, huh. You don’t look like a violent trouble-maker, boy.”

I’ve never shared this story with anybody in the vocational training center. She’s the first one who’s managed to open me up. This girl gives off a different vibe than many other girls; talking to her feels more like talking to a guy. She’s my cup of tea.

“No. A classmate of mine got a nasty scratch on her arm. I knew who did it. Called him out in the middle of the class. Called him ‘a coward and a p*ssy’.”

“’Her’, huh. Your girlfriend?”

I don’t want to reveal the whole story. Even though that guy still pisses me off whenever I think about him, I want to protect his privacy.

“Nah. She was interested in somebody else at that time, and somethin’ happened that caused her to get bullied in school. Notes on her desk, writing on her locker, snickering in the hallways, things like that. Called her all sorts of dumb-ass nicknames. Poison, witch, grim reaper… It was bad enough, but I never expected things to get physical. So when that guy scratched her, I had to defend her.”

“Sheesh! What the hell! But that sentence alone put you into detention?”

“Yeah. I’d say the school was corrupted, but those assholes did expel one guy, so in retrospect they weren’t as unfair as I initially thought.”

“Wow. What a tough break!”

“Yeah, and after the detention, I just lost interest in schools in general, you know. Anyway, I’d say I feel better designing shirts with you, Miki.”

My crush pats me lightly on my shoulder with her lone hand, causing me to blush. I hope the lights around are dark enough for her not to notice my blush.

“You’re welcome, boy.”

“Thanks.”

After crossing the bridge, we’re now standing in front of a road, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. I could’ve breached the rules, but in front of a girl I like, I want to behave better.

“I can share a story with you, if you don’t mind.”

Getting my crush to tell me a story? Awesome! I’m sure she’s feeling comfortable with me around. Otherwise, she wouldn’t allow me to escort her back home.

“Sure.”

“Actually, in almost all of my high school days, I was merely sitting in the classroom doing nothin’. I was pretty much givin’ up on myself. Always failing the exams and requiring supplementary classes and re-tests for a passing grade.”

The traffic light turns green, and we can go.

“Uh huh. So, what happened?”

“There’s a boy. An exchange student. He kept cheering me up. Gave me lots of exam tips and shortcuts. I studied super hard for like three months. Then Bam! I passed my Center Test! First try! Still can’t believe I pulled it off.”

Wish I had such a classmate! (Mai, you’re definitely not one of those.) Even though I also passed my Center Test, if I had tried harder, (and perhaps no detention,) I probably would’ve been in uni already.

But if I were in uni, I wouldn’t have been so happy doing fashion design here and meeting such a wonderful girl.

“Exam tips and shortcuts?”

“Yeah, like, how to use your calc and protractor to find answers without doing any math. How to cross out two wrong answers in multiple choice. Somethin’ like that. Thanks to those tips, I passed math, my worst subject by far.”

Protractor!? Are you serious? I never used that since, like, primary school!

“You really got bailed out. Is that boy in uni now?”

Her response of a deep sigh catches me totally off guard.

“That guy…”

Crossing another road, we arrive at the area her apartment is in. We only have like five more minutes to talk. I guess we can always find a couple of chairs to sit down and talk. But why is she hesitating and sighing when I ask about that boy? Is she…?

She tilts her head and makes a slight glance towards me before facing her apartment, seemingly looking through her home into the night sky.

“He is. And…”

Another sigh before she continues.

“…Shin, did you remember the first time we met in the dumpling restaurant?”

Of course. It was after school, in the evening. I saw her entering the restaurant alone, ordered something, then suddenly broke down.

“Yeah.”

“You remember me, like, crying?”

“I do.”

“You know why?”

“No. Must be something terrible. …You got dumped by that boy?”

“Dump, huh. Not exactly, but pretty close. The truth is, I had a crush on that boy, and he liked me too. But he liked another girl more, and eventually he chose her instead of me. I don’t know if that’s called ‘dumped’.”

Man, really tough break indeed. If I were her, I probably would have cried too.

“Whatever it’s called. Really bad luck for you. You didn’t confess?”

Miki lowers her head as we inch closer to her apartment. Obviously this is a sensitive topic to her, but since she’s willing to share it with me, I figure she wants to spill it to someone she trusts. I’m happy to be one of those she puts her trust on.

“Well I didn’t say it out loud, but he knew. He told me he wasn’t ready because he was dealing with another matter. Then… one day… I don’t know, he didn’t tell me much except that he chose the other girl.”

I guess dealing with love loss, or whatever variation of it, is an assignment everybody needs to go through at some point in life.

“You know what? I had a similar experience too. Not exactly the same, but… might be enough for me to understand your feelings.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Well, nobody knows it yet, and I’ve been reluctant to tell others about it. But you shared with me your story, I feel obliged to speak my part. If you’d like to hear about it. I mean, we’ve arrived, so if it’s too boring for you…”

“Nah. I’d like to hear.”

Thanks. We find a bench nearby and sit down.

“Alright then. It’s actually kinda short. Remember I told you about Mai? We’ve known each other for a long time.”

“Yeah. Your best friend.”

“Best friend. And if you’re that close to someone of the opposite sex… It doesn’t take a genius to figure out…”

“You’ve a crush on her, haven’t you, boy?”

“That’s right. But I never confessed. I know even if I confessed, she wouldn’t say yes anyway. So I gave up.”

“Why? How d’you know she wouldn’t?”

“Our other high school friends often joked on us, saying that we should try on a date. Mai always rejected the idea immediately, denying any feelings towards me.”

“I see. But could she be just acting?”

“I thought about the possibility, but I don’t want to risk losing a best friend if she ever knows I secretly have a crush on her. In retrospect, I probably should have sent Takumi to coax some info from her. Takumi is one of our friends, by the way. But then I would have risked Takumi spilling my secret to others. We’re now living in different cities, so I can’t take that route anymore.”

“Yeah, what a dilemma. Can feel for you.”

“That’s what happens when you like somebody but they only treat you as a friend.”

Putting my hands behind my head, I enjoy another evening breeze as both of us allow the info we’ve just got from each other sink in. Actually, this is a good time for me to confess. Do I have the courage?

“So, what are you gonna do? Continue to be her best friend, and wait until maybe one day she’ll realize your heart?”

I don’t think so, since Miki is a much better girlfriend candidate than Mai.

“Nah, I wanna move on. She’s my childhood friend, that’s all. And I think you should move on as well, if in case you haven’t.”

Mimicking my gesture, she also puts her hands (i.e. a stump and a hand) behind her head as a few residents enter the building next to us.

“You’re right. Dwelling on that won’t change anything. I’m moving on. It’s tough, but work in the boutique is a great distraction. And TCG too, great help. Thanks for the Blastoise deck. It was great fun.”

“I’m glad I’m of help. You’ve been helping me out as well.”

She gives me another charming wink. I think I should take action soon.

“You’re welcome, boy.”

Yeah, this is it. I know I’ve only known this girl for a few weeks. I might be a bit too hasty. But this is the best chance for me to finally get myself a girlfriend.

But she could still be licking her wound from the love loss. Is it appropriate for me to attack her weak spot like that? And if she accepts me only because she’s yearning for somebody to love, is our relationship going to stay? I don’t want my love to be a brief explosion that ends in shatters; I want it to be stable.

Perhaps I should wait for a few more weeks. Let her get over with the loss first, and wait until her boss finishes her matters so that she doesn’t need to worry about work. If we’re still interested in each other, then I’ll confess.

But she’s so charming! So lovely! And if I don’t speak out now, maybe someone else will confess to her. Time doesn’t wait. You never know.

You know what? I’m gonna do it. If she rejects me, so be it. If she wants me to wait for a little while, I’ll wait; if she thinks it’s not the time, then we’re not meant for each other. Let her decide.

Alright, here we go. I take a deep breath, and spill my heart to my crush.

“Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing, Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing…”

Oh no! It’s my phone!

I immediately grab my backpack from the floor, rummage through it for a while (my bag is messy due to all the decks), and finally have my hands on the damned phone. I answer it. Another girl. But not the one I expected.

“Hello.”

“Good evening, Shin.”

“Hey there, ‘Nako. What’s up?”

“Sorry to bother you, but may I have a word with you?”

Seeing that I’m on the phone, Miki rises to her feet, waves me goodbye, and heads towards the front entrance of her apartment. I immediately stand up and chase after her, but the glass door is already closed, and she waves goodbye to me again before entering the elevator.

Thanks, ‘Nako! You just ruined my confession!

“Hello? Are you there?”

Oh. Well, Miki’s gone. Might as well hear from ‘Nako. Why is she calling at this hour? Is there an emergency?

“Yeah. Sorry, I was caught with something.”

“I’m sorry! Did I bother you?”

“Nah, that’s fine. What’s up?”

“Um… I’m actually calling for a reunion for all of us. Takumi, Mai, Kai, and… Hisao. Everybody else has agreed already. It will be in two weeks, the Sunday after the next one, 31th of May.”

…

Are you serious?

…

“And Hisao’s girlfriend will be there too.”

Oh. He’s got himself a girlfriend too, and she’s not ‘Nako. How did that jerk manage to do that? I haven’t gotten myself one! (Although if not for the phone call, I could’ve found one this evening.)

…

“Hello?”

“Yeah. Just… shocked.”

“I know this must be a surprise for you, but are you coming? We’d like to see you again. Hisao included.”

I can’t believe he actually wants to see me. I thought he forgot about the three of us already!

The last time ‘Nako talked to me was several months ago, when Mai and I congratulated her for finding herself a nice boyfriend. Then at some point during the phone call Mai mentioned the name of Hisao. ‘Nako revealed to us that she has reunited with him after a university competition that neither Mai nor I watched live. Mai then suggested the cursed idea of wanting to see him again. Of course I don’t want to, but I didn’t love ruining the phone call, especially since it has been so long since I heard ‘Nako’s voice. We didn’t get to see Hisao anyway, because his friend was in the hospital, and he wasn’t in a mood for a reunion. I secretly thanked god for avoiding an awkward encounter with that damned jerk. I can’t believe ‘Nako is raising the idea up again.

“To be frank, ‘Nako, I need to think about it.”

“Hmm… Okay. I don’t want to force you or anything, but we’d love it if you could attend. Even Takumi said yes. Oh, and my boyfriend will be there too.”

Yeah, I can’t believe Takumi’s okay with the idea. Damn! Did everybody already forget what happened after that accident? I guess I was the only one in the group who got a detention. I have a reason to hate Hisao, but Takumi doesn’t. And ‘Nako… I don’t know, she took so many hits, and she’s still fine reuniting with that boy.

I guess everybody truly has moved on.

This evening, Miki and I have reached the consensus of moving on from a potential love loss. Perhaps I need to move on from the accident two years ago as well.

“I’ll give you a reply later, okay? I need to sleep on it.”

The sleep is not going to be fun, I’m pretty sure.

“Alright then. I look forward to hearing from you soon.”

“Thank you. Good evening. See you around.”

We say our goodbyes, and I put the damned phone back into my bag.

With Miki already back in her apartment, I set off my return trip back home, which is the apartment I’m renting near the vocational training center. I’ll be crossing the bridge over the river again. Perhaps I can plan a confession to her at that spot.

Now what? See him, or not? Everybody’s there.

I kind of hate him mainly not because of the detention, but of how poorly he treated us during the hospital visits, and the lack of contact afterwards. I used to blame him for the accident, but over the years I’ve cooled down enough to realize it’s not really his fault; he actually suffered as much as, if not more than, ‘Nako. Sure, ‘Nako got bullied and was even dealt physical blows, but he became permanently disabled. Anyway, he shouldn’t have been such a jerk in the hospital – that pissed me off so much. And then two years without any contact. Yeah, you forgot about us already, you’re still complaining your disability, and you now have a girlfriend, that’s fine. But now you want to see us? Like nothing has happened?

But again, if even Takumi opts to forgive him, I should too. I haven’t met Takumi for some time, as we’re separated by distance. Kai is there too, so I should go.

And I’m really curious what kind of girlfriend that damned jerk has managed to find.

If I go, I want to bring Miki too. In case he’s showing himself off in front of me, I’ll show him he’s not the only one holding hands with a girl.

But first I need to get Miki.

Okay, it’s settled. If I can get myself to confess to Miki and she accepts, then I’ll go. Otherwise, no.

Now, I need to make sure the next time I meet her, there will be no more phone calls or what-nots that can stop my confession.

Chapter 83: Welcome to Yamaku!

Chapter 83: Welcome to Yamaku!

Let’s double check my backpack. Wallet. Games. Lunchbox. Clothes. I should have everything I need. Let’s check the time again. 8:30.

Check the hotel name again… should be the correct one. Why is she not coming out yet? Is she not going home today? Or did she avoid me on purpose and already exited through a rear door?

I’ll wait some more. If she doesn’t appear in fifteen minutes, I’m going to the train station. Maybe I’ll find her there.

Despite still early in the morning, the sun is already shining brightly. Luckily there’s a bench under the tree in front of the hotel entrance, so I’m not getting scorched. Summer is approaching, and I should probably plan my summer break soon. That will be after the exams though. Depending on how today goes, my upcoming summer may go from extremely boring to fabulous.

I hope she’s alright with her leg.

Through the glass door of the hotel entrance, I can see somebody wearing a backpack approaching the hotel counter. She’s a small slim figure wearing a pink shirt and a pair of white trousers. Her trademark golden ponytail pretty much gives away her identity. I’m happy she’s at least in my sight.

A moment later, the bubbly girl leaves the counter and, thank god, she exits through the front entrance. Time to show up and give her a surprise.

“Hey there, good morning!”

It actually shouldn’t be a surprise, because I promised to pick her up this morning and escort her back to her hometown. But she probably treated it as merely a joke, as her shocked expression tells it all: I knew she wouldn’t think I would follow up with my words.

“T-Takumi! B-But why?”

“I promised. You forgot already? I didn’t.”

“I thought you were just kidding!”

“No, I’m not.”

The shock starting to wear off, my physical trainer changes into a dazzling smile. I love that smile.

“Damn! I owe Iwanako 500 yen now.”

“I can’t believe you made a bet with her on me.”

“Yeah. I thought you wouldn’t go to such great lengths to come all the way here and stalk me. I should’ve trusted Iwanako’s judgment; you two knew each other since high school after all!”

“Yup, and I’m here to pick you up. Ready to go?”

The ponytail pouts and stares at me with her pair of green eyes for a while before delivering me a lovely grin.

“Okay then, you earned it. Some accompany won’t hurt.”

“Let’s go.”

Yes! I want to breathe a huge sigh of relief for being able to collect Emi from the hotel, but I can’t because she’s right next to me.

“By the way, how’s your leg doing?”

Yesterday I had lunch with her, ‘Nako, and Kai after the physical training session (only me and ‘Nako attended the session, and Kai joined lunch afterwards); during that session, we saw, besides Emi’s supervisor, another two staff members watching over her work. During lunch, Emi revealed to me that they were the director of the Student Affairs Office (SAO in short) and his assistant.

“It’s doing great! The wound should be fully healed by the weekend. Then my training will resume!”

After Monday’s accident that exposed Emi’s prosthetic legs and caused several students psychological issues, the students complained to the SAO about the trauma they’re suffering after witnessing a leg suddenly dislodging and flying out from a person. The SAO met with Emi on Wednesday to discuss the issue. After conducting phone interviews with other trainees, including the three of us, the SAO concluded that Emi has been doing her job very well despite that accident. The director decided to head to the track in person to supervise Emi the following day (which was yesterday); he and his assistant hid somewhere else to prevent being spotted by the trainer. After the training, the SAO held another short meeting with Emi, and concluded that she can continue the training program, but, for other students’ sake, they will insert a notice in the computer system that the trainer is wearing a pair of prosthetic legs. However, Emi was still limping a little bit after the accident, so the SAO decided to give her a mandatory day off to go back to her hometown and have her leg checked. As a result, there is no training today; the session will be postponed to a later date.

“We don’t need to rush. We can walk slowly if you want to.”

After Emi told us about all these during lunch, I reacted quickly enough to spot a perfect chance to get myself closer to my crush by offering to travel with her. It turns out she shares a hometown with my cousin. Taking advantage of Emi’s limping leg, I promised to escort her and show up in front of her hotel today (she revealed to us the hotel name on Monday), claiming that I’m visiting my cousin along the way. Apparently Emi didn’t believe me, but I shocked her today.

Of course I had to call my cousin yesterday afternoon to see whether he is available to play with me. Despite the short notice, the result is yes, and I’ll be staying in his place for a couple of days after escorting Emi. If my cousin rejected, I probably would have followed up with the escort plan anyway; a one-day round trip in exchange for a girlfriend is still an amazing bargain.

“Nah, I don’t like slow walk. I’ll tell you if it hurts, okay?”

I’m taking a leave from school for the day, claiming a family matter. I’m not lying; getting myself a girlfriend is a family issue.

Okay, I know that’s stretching things too much. But everybody would prefer a chance of finding a girlfriend over a boring day of school, right?

“Sure.”

I was a little surprised when I saw Emi’s prosthetic legs popping out on Monday, but I don’t mind her lack of flesh legs at all; the prosthetic legs make her pretty much like a normal person. Her cheerful character is what attracts me the most, and her grin of focus and determination on the track captures my heart. I’d like to see her during a competition!

Staying with her must be the most joyous thing in the world! (I wonder how good her sex technique is, haha!)

“By the way, nice haircut, Takumi.”

Part of my preparations today was a rather expensive haircut in a shopping mall. When I finally got myself to reveal my crush towards ‘Nako last year, I was told the disappointing news that she already had another target, who eventually became her boyfriend. Needless to say I was dejected. Kai saw me alone in the canteen, and I told her about the rejection. She commented on my shortcomings, and among them was my hair being too long, making me look more like a girl. I decided to finally cut it short after spending all of my secondary school years with shoulder length hair. But I was never able to attract ‘Nako again, and after she finally got the boyfriend she was yearning for, I left my hair long again.

But now that I’ve got another target to aim for, it’s time to change.

“Thanks. Got it done yesterday evening. Summer is approaching, so it’s better to keep my hair short for a while.”

“You’ve got a point. Makes me want to have a haircut of my own soon.”

Please, for God’s sake, no! Your ponytail is one of your major attractions!

“Really? Your hair looks really cool. I like the ponytail. Don’t cut it off!”

“Nah, I want it just a little shorter.”

Phew! What a relief!

“That’s better. So, Emi, are you sure you have everything? Your backpack looks pretty light.”

Her cheerful grin tells me she’s in a great mood. Probably because she’s going back home today.

“Yup. I don’t need to bring much. My mom’s got everything I need!”

I love traveling with this adorable Fastest Thing on No Legs. This is her nickname; she told the three of us when we had lunch yesterday.

“That’s great! So, do you live with your parents?”

“I live with my mom.”

No father? That’s kind of strange, but I feel like I should avoid asking about that if I want a pleasant journey with her.

“I see. No siblings?”

“Uh huh, no.”

“Your mom must be very lonely then, without you around.”

“That’s why she’s delighted to hear that I’m going back! Thankfully I only come here for one month. I did live in a dormitory during high school, but I went back home every weekend, so she still had my company every now and then. How about you?”

The way she avoids mentioning her father implies he either passed away or is divorced. The lack of a father around should theoretically make her an easier target for me, assuming she doesn’t have a boyfriend yet.

“Me? I live with my parents and my younger sister. Midori university is a thirty-minute train ride from my home.”

After crossing a bridge, we enter the train station and buy our respective tickets. Since today is Friday, there are less passengers than weekends, and we’re able to buy tickets for the next train, which will be in twenty minutes.

“I’m going to buy ekiben (train lunchbox) over there. Do you want one?”

Her inquiry induces a big smile from me. Ha! You think I come here unprepared?

“Hey Emi, no need. I’ve prepared lunch for both of us. Dessert included.”

My companion holds her mouth wide open, her green eyes glittering in admiration, as I reach my bag and reveal two lunch boxes and a cake box.

“Thank you SO much, Takumi! Especially the cake!”

Dessert is a girl’s best friend. Works for every girl in the world.

“You’re probably not hungry yet. Let’s eat them during the train ride.”

The ponytail gives me two thumbs-ups for treating her stomach with sugar.

“Awesome! You’re the best!”

I can’t believe things went so smoothly for the morning. All my preparations came to fruition today. Let’s hope for the best in my remaining journey, and that the skipping of classes today will be worth it in the end.

---

Walking up a mild slope along with my travel partner for the day, I find myself breathing in the fresh air of a countryside area far away from the city. At this hour, the sun is radiating directly above us like a powerful stove, but I’ve brought an umbrella that we can share to block a significant portion of the heat. Still, since we’ve been walking for more than ten minutes after a bus ride, both of us inevitably start to sweat.

That I’m currently sharing an umbrella with my crush makes my heart thumping hard, generating more heat that makes me sweat even harder. Fortunately I’ve got my water bottle filled with cold water supplied by the train, so I grab it from my bag and cool myself down with it.

Constantly looking around the nearby houses, I keep speculating which one of those Emi’s home is while she keeps going straight. Eventually curiosity gets the best of me.

“So, which one of those is your home?”

Emi looks surprised by my natural inquiry.

“Home? No, we’re heading to my former high school! I’ll have my leg checked there!”

I thought she’s dropping by home before visiting a local doctor! Oops, that’s my bad. I never asked her about the destination.

“Oh I see! Wait, is there a school high up in the hill?”

“Yup! We’re getting there in a minute.”

“Alright then. Sorry, I thought I was escorting you back home.”

“Nah, my college has referred me back to my high school for the health check, and I’d rather do it today as I don’t want to bother the Nurse during the weekend… Oh, there it is. Right there.”

Finally, after a grueling walk under the sun, we reached our destination! So, Yamaku Academy, huh. What an interesting name. A gate between two pillars of red bricks is in sight. Emi rushes towards the gate and swings it open. I’m mildly surprised: there seems to be no security at all.

Anyway, we step into Emi’s high school and head towards supposedly the main building. The surrounding looks more like a park than a school, as there are trees everywhere and the smell of fresh-cut grass is soothing. A few big buildings loom behind the leafy canopies, too big and too many for just a school. Everything seems off; it’s different from what I thought about high schools.

“You can take a look around. After I visit the Nurse, I can give you a small tour of the school and visit the track too. Thanks for escorting me all the way. See ya!”

She gives me a charming grin, turns around, and darts towards a small building, her ponytail swinging around as if waving “see ya in a minute” to me.

Even though she just said that I can take a look around, I shouldn’t loiter around the building area too much because I’m not wearing a uniform, or else students or staff might get suspicious. I just saw a garden near the entrance. Let’s head there.

I come across a girl riding a wheelchair. She shoots me a couple of glances before going on her way without a greeting. Nearby, I can see a boy walking slowly with a crutch. Sitting on a bench is a girl seemingly reading a book with her hands touching what I assume to be Braille symbols, with a cane leaning next to her. Probably blind.

Yamaku has to be a disabled school. Makes sense, as Emi is also disabled.

Reminds me of a certain high school friend. I haven’t seen him in ages.

Another boy enters the building with limping legs. His leg damage is visibly much more serious than Emi’s. I cringe quite hard at the way he walks.

A girl passes by me and enters the building nearby. Doesn’t look like there’s anything wrong with her. But then I instantly know when she meets another girl and the two communicate using their hands. They have got to be deaf.

Both are quite pretty too. At least on par with Emi. How unfortunate.

Staying in this place for a prolonged period of time watching all the disabled students passing by is, I have to admit, kind of disturbing.

Now I kind of see why my former high school friend was so frustrated when he knew he became a disabled. I forgot the name of the school he got transferred to; if he happened to have studied in a school like this, his mental health could become a huge concern. But obviously he went through it, because we’ll see each other soon.

‘Nako called me a few days ago for a surprise reunion with this high school friend at the end of the month, and he will bring his girlfriend to the meeting. I’m still a bit pissed that he didn’t contact us after so long, but as ‘Nako suggested, he couldn’t bring himself to face us. Anyway, he doesn’t call for the reunion to get scolded, so I might as well give him a friendly welcome. Blaming him for something happened two years ago is kind of naïve. I’m not sure about my other two friends though.

But I’m really curious about his girlfriend. Is she disabled too?

Man, looking at all those cripples gives me goosebumps. I know that’s discrimination, but I can’t help. Another boy with only one arm passes by. Oh gosh, I can’t look any more. At least Emi doesn’t look as bad with her prosthetic legs.

I never asked why she lost her legs.

What a quiet garden here, so tranquil, I can even hear the sound of bugs. So different from the city. This town is great for the retired like my grandparents.

I wonder how the teachers look like. Are they disabled too? Emi’s nurse probably isn’t, or else how are they going to check on Emi? Well, I shouldn’t say a disabled person can’t be a nurse. My bad.

I see a pair of female students approaching me. They look normal, so I can’t figure out their disabilities.

“Who are you?”

I’m not wearing a uniform, so I’m technically trespassing.

“Uh… I’m an acquaintance of Emi. Emi Ibarazaki. She’s a graduate of this school. She comes back for a health check on her leg, and I am here to escort her in case something goes wrong.”

One of them stares at me with a pair of suspicious eyes. Yeah, I’m not an official staff member to escort Emi. I’m just a volunteer. Given the way she greeted me, she could be an important representative of the school. She might have the power to expel me from this place.

“Given that you’re able to name Ibarazaki and her first name, you’re probably not a suspicious person. Since this is school property, please try not to loiter around too much, okay?”

She doesn’t sound as harsh as her eyes look, so I should adhere to her warning before she gets angry with me and reports me to the staff.

“Okay, I hear you. I will be on my way once she returns.”

Luckily they know Emi. My crush must be a very popular figure in this school. And I praise myself for remembering her somewhat rare surname.

“Alright then, have a nice day.”

The pair, who are apparently bringing some construction tools along with them, walk past me towards a free area on the other side of the campus. From afar, I can see them building what looks like stalls. I wonder what the stalls are for.

Since I’ve just been issued a warning, I stay in the garden under a tree and wait until Emi comes back.

The few board games and the trumps I brought for my cousin visit turned the long train ride into a fabulous date with Emi. Turns out this girl is very talkative, and chatting random topics with her is really enjoyable. Lunch was fantastic too when we don’t need to eat takeout food, and I certainly don’t mind her stealing a couple of cupcakes from my share, using her “feminine wiles”, as she claimed.

But one critical detail I haven’t yet got the courage to ask her is whether she already has a boyfriend. Or girlfriend. The reason is simple: Asking this question is pretty much equivalent to confessing, and we’ve met for only like a week. I also don’t know her age yet; she could be older than me.

In retrospect, my escorting mission has been a pretty daring one. I hardly know this girl, and even though I’m still traveling within the country, it is still a five-hour train ride to an unfamiliar place. Not to mention that accompanying a disabled girl is by itself a risk; if something goes wrong during, say, the uphill walk we just took, I don’t know what I can do beyond calling for an ambulance.

But hey, may it be a valuable experience. I never had high expectation on this trip in the first place. If I fail to get Emi, that’s fine, I’ll use the experience I’ve got when I encounter the next girl I like.

“Hey there! Thanks for the wait!”

Where does she come from? I didn’t even see a trace of her!

“How was the check?”

Her charming smile gives me enough motivation to go after her, whatever it takes.

“Pretty good! Got my wound professionally treated. Should be fit for work very soon!”

“That would be great! I’d love to run on the track with you soon. By the way, what are those stalls over there?”

“Oh, must be the Yamaku Festival. It’ll be a few weeks from now. I’m definitely coming back for it. Some of my former classmates should be returning as well. Great chance for a reunion.”

“Festival, huh. Looks fun. Can I join too?”

“Of course! It’s open to everyone. Although it means you’ll have to take another long train ride and walk all the way up here.”

“I don’t mind. Please invite me.”

“Sure, if you say so!”

“So, are you going to give me a little tour of your high school?”

“Of course! Well, first of all, Welcome to Yamaku!”

“Thanks! And I suppose this is a school for the…, no, sorry, forget about it. Yeah, pretty nice garden over there! Studying here must be very relaxing.”

I’m kicking myself for almost mentioning the word “disabled” in front of a disabled. Even though I abruptly stopped mid-sentence and hurried to distract her, the message must have been delivered across.

“It is! In fact, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the busy environment on my first days in the exchange program, and I’m still getting used to it.”

Emi carefully avoids confronting me about the potential insulting words I just implied. Even though she seems to take no shame from being a disabled person based on the several lunch meetings I’ve had with her, I should try not to bring the topic up to the best of my ability.

“I can understand. The sudden change of pace, especially from slow to fast, will take a while to adjust. But it looks like you’ve been adapting quite well.”

“Thanks. By the way, here is the main building. We have our classes here. And the smaller one next to it, the one I just entered, is the auxiliary building. The head nurse, or we usually just call the Nurse, is on the first floor.”

She points up towards the top of the main building.

“And that is the roof! I loved having lunch with my best friend Rin!”

“Lunch on the roof, huh. Pretty interesting.”

“Haven’t you done that in your high school?”

“No, I don’t think the roof was even accessible back then.”

Emi shows me an intriguing grin followed by a mischievous wink.

“Actually, we’re not supposed to go there either. There’s a sign on the door that says ‘OFF LIMITS’, but we usually neglect it, and since the padlock is missing we kind of assume we’re invited in.”

“Unable to resist the temptation, huh.”

“Yeah. Plus, it’s a really cool place! I used to buy lunch for Rin and myself, and after lunch we could take a break enjoying the occasional breeze and the fresh air. Rin would lie down in various angles, sometimes roll around, watch the clouds move, and make use of her crazy imagination to formulate her next drawing.”

“Your friend surely is interesting. Fortunately it looks like there are fences installed around the roof, or there might be a danger of an accident.”

“That’s true. I never heard of an accident on the roof though.”

“Man, that sounds fun! Perhaps I should’ve breached the school rules too!”

The energetic trainer’s grin is so attractive. Man! I really hope she doesn’t have a boyfriend!

“Too bad it’s too late to go back to your high school now! Maybe you can try adventuring the roof of Midori’s academic building.”

“Great idea, Emi! But I’ll need to locate the entrance first.”

“It won’t be too hard, right? Just find some stairs and climb them. You’ll eventually reach the top.”

“Yeah, but the roof door is probably locked. I’ll need to find a door that isn’t locked. At least unlocked in certain times of the day.”

“Oh yeah, you can’t unlock the door if you don’t have access to a key.”

“Perhaps we can stalk a guard and follow them when they unlock the door during one of their patrols. And you can use your feminine wiles to attract a potential male guard and provide me with an opening.”

The golden hair physical trainer of mine frowns in mock anger.

“Hey! I never said I’d be joining you on the mission!”

During the train ride, I found out that she’s quite a teaser. Now is a great time to give her my own dose of teasing.

“But I don’t think I can pull it off alone. Well, I can always do it with ‘Nako and Kai instead. You don’t need to join. We’ll tell you about it after we succeed.”

She puts her finger on her chin and gives me a little charming pout.

“Hmm… Okay, I’ll think about it.”

I can’t believe she plays along with the crazy idea. If she’s the daring kind of girl, maybe an adventure to the Midori university roof is exactly what I need to find myself an opening to hold hands with this cute runner.

“Great! I’ll make some preparatory work first. By the way, are you bringing me to the track?”

“Of course!”

The mentioning of the word “track” immediately lights up the graduate, who, despite carrying a leg on probation, skips ahead of me towards her dreamland. As I follow her footsteps, I can’t help but appreciate the cute pink ball of energy in front of me. It’s so tempting to wrap my arms around her waist right now.

“By the way, that is the dormitory.”

It makes sense to have a dormitory here, as disabled students might need professional medical attention from time to time.

“And this mural is drawn by Rin.”

“Your good friend, huh. This mural looks… interesting. Sadly, I’m not that into art. Can’t say I appreciate it. Sorry about that.”

The ponytail responds by sending me a playful grin.

“In fact, I can’t either. Plus, there aren’t many visitors around to see this mural. It was completed just before the Yamaku Festival two years ago. During the Festival, Rin pretty much sat here the whole evening until we came to see her. I doubt she had anyone to introduce her work to.”

I know that Rin is an artist, but I didn’t expect her to be the abstract type. Obviously not as abstract as some famous painters who just draw random shapes and colors and can somehow sell their products for unreasonable amount of money. But I expect a school mural to consist of something like joyful students doing projects or going for an excursion, not a bunch of weird faces and monsters.

“She must be crushed by the lack of visitors then.”

“Nah, I don’t think she minds it. She doesn’t like telling people about her work. She’s… kind of in her own world, I’d say.”

“But then why did she draw this mural? She could’ve stayed in her room. Drawing on a wall isn’t exactly easy.”

“I think the President made the request. The Student Council President. She’s… a very intimidating figure, to say the least.”

“President, huh. The two girls we saw making stalls. One of them confronted me with quite an air of authority, asking about my identity. Could she be the President?”

“I… actually don’t know if she’s the current President! But the President two years ago already graduated. Yet I’ve heard that she’s on good terms with the current Student Council. I won’t be surprised if they’re of the same type.”

“I see! Yamaku is certainly interesting. I can’t wait to join the upcoming festival!”

Imagine visiting this place again with the new identity of the boyfriend of the school’s hottest girl, who’s also probably a sports star!

“Sure! Hey, we should move on.”

Oh yeah, Emi’s dreamland.

“Lead the way.”

With a walking pace almost comparable to running, we reach the track in no time. It doesn’t look too different from Midori’s, a standard brown oval shape with white lines and a green field inside. There’s no soccer match in the field today, so we’re not risking another accident similar to the one last week.

“And tada! This is the track!”

My host bounces up and down with her prosthetic legs at the sight of her favorite spot. Considering how much she loves running, I won’t be surprised if she spent more time on the track than all the other students in the school combined.

“I’m willing to bet this track holds a lot of fond memories for you.”

“You’re right! I’ve won countless medals in the Track Meet!”

“Medals, huh. What events did you run?”

“I ran the sprints for the team! Mainly the 400 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 100 meter dash, and the relay. In fact, I took Gold in all the events in my final year!”

So she’s indeed a sports star, as I anticipated! And four gold medals on her neck in a day. Very impressive! I recall last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, China: A swimmer from America won a whopping eight gold medals! It was the world record!

“Awesome! Was it an internal event, or a school-based contest?”

“We raced against another school of the disabled!”

I wonder if my former high school friend entered either of the schools.

“Ah, I see. So, I supposed your school won?”

“I don’t know! We never compared the total number of medals. Well, at least I never cared. I only cared about my own races.”

Competing against another school of the disabled makes sense, as athletes from normal schools have a decisive advantage over the disabled. Even though I most likely can’t outrun Emi, I’m sure the top athletes from my high school would easily outpace her. After all, she’s the Fastest Thing only on the No Legs realm. But the topic does bring up an interesting question.

“Hey Emi, d’you mind if I ask, so you say you were racing against another school of the disabled?”

“Yeah, what’s the matter with it?”

“I noticed a few of the students here after you went to the Nurse. Only a few of them have leg problems. I’m curious, are you racing only girls with leg disabilities? Or do they put everyone with whatever disability into the same race pool?”

“Good question, Takumi! In proper races, I can only run against girls with similar disabilities. But in the Track Meet, since we didn’t have that many same type of runners for both schools, they just put everyone together! Miki, one of my schoolmates who lost a hand, was in the same race too!”

“Yeah, I figured that there may not be enough athletes of the same kind for a race of, say, eight runners. But then wouldn’t it be unfair? You’re racing against students without leg disabilities! Yet, impressively enough, you still won the gold medals!”

“Thanks! I’m the Fastest Thing on No Legs after all! Although I didn’t win by a lot. Like the 400 meter race. I only won by 0.3 seconds. Miki was second, by the way.”

Regardless of winning margin, the fact that she can outrun normal people with a pair of running blades is astounding. I wonder if she is secretly a Paralympic champion.

“Impressive! So, did you participate in the Paralympic Games last year?”

I’m half-expecting my crush to show me a gold medal from her bag, but instead she spreads out her arms in mild disappointment.

“Unfortunately no. In fact, I do reach the minimum eligible time for several events of the Paralympics races. But I couldn’t enter because I never joined any international races, which was one of the mandatory requirements for the event.”

“What a bummer. I’m sure if you had entered the event, you would have earned at least a few medals!”

My host gives me a pout with a wistful expression.

“Takumi, answer me a question honestly, will you?”

“Of course, bring it up.”

“Did you watch the Paralympic Games on television?”

I want to say yes to impress my crush more, but the harsh truth is I didn’t. Perhaps I shouldn’t have brought this topic up from the start.

“No, Emi. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s normal. The Nurse actually discussed with me and my mom about the idea of turning into a full-time athlete to compete in the Paralympic Games. The thing is, even if I were to become a champion, I still couldn’t make a living out of it. Yeah, medals would be awesome, I would become a hero, but nobody watches those Games anyway.”

“Like an unsung hero, huh.”

“Yup, exactly. So we arrived at the consent that I’ll be studying to become a physical trainer instead, trying to make a living first. Then maybe I can go ahead and pursue my personal dreams. Although… actually I haven’t thought about that far anyway.”

“I see. You’re trying to enjoy every day without thinking too much ahead?”

“Yup, that’s pretty much me! Plus, worrying about later things won’t help!”

“I… guess so. But I mean, now you’re already training to become a physical trainer, perhaps you can think about joining the next Games.”

“Hmm… I’ll think about it later, okay?”

But still… that would be a waste of her talent! Getting medals in the Games is no small matter! It’s a trophy of a lifetime! Yet, I’ve a feeling that dwelling on this matter won’t bring us anywhere. If anything, it might destroy everything I’ve done so far to impress her. She’s already shown reluctance talking about the future.

“Sure! So, are you going to run a few laps here? You don’t get to see this track much during this month.”

“I’d like to! But that damn Nurse took my running blades for closer inspection! He said he had to make sure they’re in good shape!”

“Oh no. Does it mean no running for the weekend?”

“That would’ve been the end of the world for me! But he promised to finish the inspection by this evening, so I can take it back soon!”

“And I suppose, after you grab your treasure back from the nurse, you’re going to go down here and run with them right away, despite the wound?”

An amused grin tells me my guess is right on the spot.

“Don’t tell anyone about it. Iwanako included. Okay?”

“Yeah, your secret is safe.”

“Thanks! But I’ll have to wait until the evening. Aren’t you going to your relative’s place? Maybe I should drop you off at the bus stop first.”

No, I come here not to spend time with my cousin! Well, playing games with him isn’t bad, but I have a better way to use my precious time stolen from the university.

“Nah, I’ll wait with you.”

Emi looks utterly shocked by my determination.

“What? Are you sure? It’ll be like another two or three hours!”

“I don’t mind spending time hanging out with you. Plus, I actually want to race you for a bit.”

“Are… Are you sure? You wanna race against your physical trainer?”

“Yeah! I know I’m gonna lose regardless, but I’ve come up with the idea of challenging you since the first day we met. But no, I almost forgot about your wound though, so maybe we just jog for a bit.”

“Thanks for the challenge. Yeah, we should probably just jog together and leave the race for another day. But it’ll be pretty late into the evening though, like 6pm, and I didn’t ask my mom to cook food for you, so you’ll be having dinner with your relative pretty late.”

“Nah, that’s fine. I’ll just grab a sandwich on my way to my cousin’s place.”

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

“Yeah. I just had a heck of a lunch with you, so I’m not hungry.”

The ponytail’s eyes sparkle in excitement upon my suggestion of jogging together. Guess what, I do think I’ve got a decent chance of holding this girl’s hands after today’s performance. Perhaps I can invite her to run with me in the evening after the weekend.

“Okay then. Thanks for sticking around. But where should we go during the wait? It’s still pretty hot outside.”

Yeah, we shouldn’t be exposing ourselves under the ultraviolet radiation for too long, even though we’re standing on Emi’s beloved place.

“Maybe you can continue showing me around the school? Inside the academic building perhaps? School should be finished when we arrive there.”

“Great idea! Let’s go!”

As my crush once again skips past me, towards the academic building this time around, I smile and jog in hot pursuit of the girl, knowing that I’ve managed a much better score than my previous attempt against Iwanako. When I return home, I’ll read more about leg disabilities and the Paralympic Games. I still hope that Emi could go to London for the next Games, and I’m willing to sponsor her with whatever little amount of money I have. She can become a Paralympic medalist, a national hero, and I can become her partner. But, of course, I need to win her heart first.

Chapter 84: Door Close, Door Open

Chapter 84: Door Close, Door Open

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. See you next time.”

Handing the woman in front of me her items and waving her goodbye, I’m glad that, without Boss around, I don’t need to use formal language in front of my customers.

Three girls come in and immediately head towards the “Latest Trend” section, where some of my designs are on sale. Meanwhile, there are customers in almost every corner of the shop. I’m surprised the shop can get so busy on Sundays.

With the sound of a bell at the entrance, another woman enters the shop and heads straight at me. This one looks familiar. Of course. She’s our regular customer. I need to pay respect to her.

“Good afternoon, Miss Yoshida.”

“Hey there Miki! Never see you on Sundays! Where’s your boss?”

Boss, huh. Nope, she’s not around. Not sure what she’s up to, but I don’t mind being a substitute for the day. I do have plans for the evening though. A big one.

“She’ll be back in around half an hour. I’ve been substituting her since this morning.”

Clapping her hands in amusement, Miss Yoshida follows up her enthusiastic response with a gentle pat on my shoulder. We’re familiar enough for me not to mind this physical contact with the customer.

“Wow! How does it feel like to be the shop manager?”

“Great! (Whisper to her) I can drop those stuffy honorifics for now.”

“(Whisper to me) Yeah, I like your style.”

From the corner of my eye, I can see the three teenage girls getting excited to try out some of my designs. I’ve a feeling that dropping the honorifics and putting trendy designs on the shelf can attract customers of the younger generation. And I think one of the major reasons Boss wants me around instead of favoring a more polite shopkeeper is to draw more attention from that age group.

“Thanks. So, what do you need today?”

“Um… Today I kind of want to shop around first.”

“Sure. Take your time.”

“Thanks! See you in a minute!”

While Miss Yoshida heads towards also the Latest Trend section, I can’t help but keep thinking about Shin’s comment after he visited here on Friday. After the shop is closed, he suggested me to include a section for kids. He discovered that there’s an increase in demand of kids’ clothing, not only the casual ones, but also those for role-playing purposes. In schools, especially kindergartens, children are often requested to wear special clothing to suit teaching needs. So they’ll need uniforms for, say, policemen or firefighters, which are usually hard to come by. Shin, who decided to specialize in the design of children’s clothing, said that we can provide rental services of those uniforms and make advertisements on such service. That would attract a lot of children and their family members, who would then stay in the shop selecting our other products.

I find his idea pretty interesting, but I also think he might have rushed too quickly to tell me about it. It’s his business idea, and he just sold it to me for nothing. Yeah, it’s pretty obvious he’s fond of me, but still, I’m not yet his girlfriend or anybody. I could’ve made a business out of his idea, possibly along with Boss, and shared no money with him.

But I’m not gonna do that, because I’m fond of him too. If he’s willing to share such critical information with me, I’d like to implement it with him.

“Excuse me, do you have a smaller size for this color, please?”

Enough daydreaming. Back to work!

“Sure, I’ll search one for you.”

Accordingly, I call Yōko over and ask her to search for our customer’s request in the store room while I stay here monitoring the shop. Even though Japan has a very low crime rate, I still need to do my job of making sure none of the goods are stolen, or Boss would be pissed.

Imagine becoming a shop owner in a few years! I’m so excited!

For now I’m leaning towards opening up my own shop after I graduate from the vocational training center, but I’m also okay working as a branch manager of a chain store like Uniqlo. As for the partnership option if I do own a shop, I’m fine working alone, which will allow me to transfer most of the profit into my bank account; yet handling the business with someone else isn’t that bad of an idea either, especially if I have too much work to do for only one hand. And it’s even better if the partner is my boyfriend.

The bell at the entrance rings again as a mother enters the shop with her kid. The mother starts picking her dress as her son hides in a corner playing video games. It would be perfect if we had a children’s corner to attract his attention.

I’ll keep Shin’s idea in mind.

Yōko has brought what the customer needs, which means I should stand by the cashier. Boss should be arriving soon, so I probably need to switch back to formal language after Miss Yoshida leaves.

After collecting money from the customer, I take a quick look at my phone, which buzzed a couple of times when I was working with the cashier. Moving past the unlock screen, the phone shows my newly set wallpaper of a Blastoise TCG card, along with the unread message notification. It’s from Suzu, saying that she’s ready and I don’t need to worry. I quickly give her a thanks, then return to my job of shop monitoring with Yōko.

Blastoise is awesome. Deluge is a fantastic Power. Shin is a terrific playmate. Suzu says she’d love to play TCG with Shin too. She probably plays better than I do.

“Hey Miki, can I get a pink color of this? D’you have it?”

Ha! That’s one of my newest designs! Thanks, pal, for acknowledging my work!

“Sure! You’ll have it in a minute!”

Since this is Miss Yoshida requesting, I’d like to serve her personally instead of relying on my colleague.

“Yōko, can you help watching over stuff? Need to go to the store room.”

After getting an “okay” reply from Yōko, I turn around towards the inner room for the pink item requested by my familiar customer. I’m still grateful for her kind act of handing me a soda the other day after I got rejected by my crush.

Now that I’m alone in the store room, I can’t help but start thinking about tonight’s gathering. I’ve been keeping it at the back of my mind all day, and several times Yōko caught me daydreaming and complained that she’s been doing all the work. I need to make up with her the next time we work together.

I still remember drinking soda with Shin the other day in the dumpling restaurant. Sure, it was probably the worst day of my life. But, now that I think back to it, that moment could be a disguised blessing, depending on how I perform tonight.

Tonight is a big night. I’m getting nervous!

Help me, Suzu!

She just said she’s ready. I hope she’s indeed up to the task.

Okay, I’ve got the item required. Let’s focus on my job right now, and we’ll see what happens. Stay calm, Miki. It’s going to be alright.

---

Staring impatiently at the elevator screen, I wish I could be a magician who can make the “1” in the “12” vanish, so that the elevator door could open at the next instant. Even though Suzu told me everything is fine, I still want to be home as soon as possible. I can’t afford to mess up!

After like an eternity, the elevator door finally opens, and I waste no time hopping myself into the silver box. For some reason, I’m the only one waiting for the elevator despite today being a Sunday. I certainly won’t complain, and I’m taking full advantage of it by spamming the Door Close button after choosing my floor number.

“Door Close”

Looking at my phone, it shows 5:45pm. He’s supposed to arrive after fifteen minutes. I really hope I’ve got enough time to prepare myself. Unfortunately I probably won’t get to shower. All thanks to Boss.

She was supposed to show up at 5pm to replace my shift, but arrived fifteen minutes late, claiming that she had something to take care of. Of course I wasn’t happy that my preparation time got cut off like that, but since she’s Boss I can’t grumble. Not to mention that grumbling does nothing but wastes more time.

And she hasn’t given me the slightest of ideas what she’s up to.

Anyway, enough rambling. I should get my mentally ready to welcome my guest with a joyful smile.

“Door Open”

Grabbing my keys from my brown crossbody handbag (after hanging out with him several times, I’ve found that this outlook suits me the most; with my tall stature, the bag doesn’t make me look like a kid, and, arguably more importantly, the sling across my chest gives me the best appearance of my often underestimated breasts that my two friends in Osaka often tease me for having none of them.

Makes me wonder whether the two members of the "Large Cup Size Association" have found themselves girlfriends of their preferred type.

Approaching my room, I’m about to insert my keys when I hear music inside. Specifically, a dance song from my famicon.

Why the heck is Suzu dancing in this important occasion? Oh gosh…

Well, standing here doesn’t do anything. Might as well get in and see what my roommate is up to.

So I unlock and open the door, and what I see in front of my eyes shocks me so much that I drop my keys onto the floor.

The television is on. There’s a song going on; that’s not surprising, given the music. Suzu is on the right side, still hitting arrows like a pro. But I can’t believe that it’s Shin on the left side, dancing as good as, if not better than, my roommate!

“Welcome back, roomie!”

“Hey there, Miki!”

Both of them greet me without moving their eyes away from the screen, keeping their combos intact in the process. The scene immediately raises several questions. Why is Shin so early? How did he get in? Why didn’t he tell me he’s so good at this game? And how about dinner?

And, a couple of perhaps more alarming questions come to my mind: Do they know each other from the past? And has Suzu already…

Before figuring out the answers to each of these questions, I should pick up my keys and close the door. The music might be loud enough for my neighbors to complain, which would ruin Shin’s time here.

As I put my handbag on the sofa (I don’t think there’s a need to seduce him right now), the last note has been stepped on, and the song is finished. It looks like Suzu has won this by a small margin. That’s not surprising at all; she’s the host and the owner of the game after all. The two dancers approach me, and, Shin’s gesture delivers me another big shock.

“’Sup, girl!”

He raises his right hand, expecting me to high-five him. And he greets me with the phrase I’ve been using pretty much every day.

He must have learned the gesture from my roommate.

Well, regardless of what Suzu is planning in mind, I should greet my guest with a happy face. So I give him a big smile and return the high-five.

“’Sup, boy!”

“Surprised, huh. Yup, Suzu taught me the high-five. Let me guess, Miki. You invented it, didn’t you?”

Dude. He met Suzu only once before, on Friday when we picked her up in the train station (she had an activity that day) after closing the boutique, and the two of them are already on first names. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised, as like me he’s the casual type. We’re calling each other first names too in the dumpling restaurant.

“Uh… Yeah, I suppose…”

“And I know exactly where this come from. The anime, am I right?”

So I was supposed to come home, take a quick shower if time allowed, then prepare dinner and pick him up downstairs. Now he’s greeting me from home and delivering me all sorts of surprises while not allowing me any time to organize myself.

“How d’you know?”

“Yeah I watched it too. Pokemon. Diamond and Pearl Series. Ash and Dawn.”

Of course he’s right. I watched it extensively in the common room during my Yamaku years. With my condition I can’t play games any more, so, besides visiting the track, I spent most of my evening time in front of the television. The anime series Shin just mentioned was indeed the one that inspired me to high-five my friends whenever we greet; the two protagonists in the cartoon always do this when they have accomplished something together. I think it’s called Hi-touch in the anime.

“You guessed it right, boy. But aren’t you supposed to come at six?”

My crush scratches his head in mild embarrassment.

“Well… I ran into Suzu like an hour ago when I was around the area. I was actually getting something for you guys for the visit. You see? Yesterday I found a restaurant nearby selling healthy mealboxes, both raw ones and cooked ones, for a reasonable price. I eavesdropped several customers talking about it, and they said the taste was really good. So I figured instead of a fruit basket, I can bring a few of those raw mealboxes instead, so you guys can have a free dinner tomorrow. But the shopkeeper told me it takes some time between ordering and having your mealboxes ready, usually like half an hour on weekends because it gets really busy. I felt like I’m fine with the wait, so today I came early to make the order. And while I was shopping around the mall waiting for the food, I came across with Suzu.”

Yeah, I think I know that restaurant too. On the second floor of the mall. But I never visited there because there’s always a long line. Shin must have spent a long time waiting in the line this afternoon.

“I had everything ready, but we had no more salt, so I had to come down.”

“Yeah, we talked for a bit, and she invited me home after getting the mealboxes. They were faster than usual today though, only took us ten minutes.”

Ah, that’s why Shin came so early. And it explains how he’s able to get into my home.

“And don’t worry roomie, dinner is ready! Thanks to his help.”

Suzu started calling me “roomie” a couple of months ago, when that boy visited along with my two Osaka friends. At some point during the gathering, we talked about our Yamaku days, and he shared the story of the strange boy living next door calling him “roomie” despite them not living in the same room. Suzu immediately got hooked on the term, and she seems to enjoy finding applications for it to no end, much to my dismay.

“Geez. I’m supposed to treat you dinner, and now you’re treating me instead!”

“Nah, Miki. You had work on Sunday. You should be tired and hungry. C’mon, let’s eat. Suzu, let’s help serve your roomie.”

Even Shin is eager to pick up that term.

“Sure, I’ll go get the soup.”

Unable to stop the two dancers, I’m stranded in the dining room while they serve me dinner. I guess there’s nothing I can do except sit down.

I don’t know why they had the time to play on the dance mat while managing dinner. Did they dance while waiting for the veggies to cook?

This is certainly not the first time I invite a member of the opposite sex back home alone. Last time I did it, the boy almost confessed to me before deciding that we should stay as friends. Will history repeat? Or will I finally find myself love?

In either case, I feel so guilty for Suzu. She’s the third wheel on both occasions, trying to play matchmaking for me. Even though it seems she doesn’t mind it (and I think she actually enjoys it), I can’t help but think like I’m somewhat responsible for finding my roomie (ha, two can use this term) a boyfriend. Perhaps one of my classmates in the vocational training center? Or a friend of Shin, like the Takumi guy he mentioned? And if both of us are able to find ourselves boyfriends, are we keeping on living together, or are we moving out to live with our soulmates instead?

I’m thinking way ahead of myself. Need to bring out my best performance against my classmate tonight.

“Miki, please enjoy.”

Being served a bowl of pork rib soup (a simliar recipe from two months ago, but this time with tomatoes and potatoes instead of carrots) by my crush, who’s acting like a waiter, in my own apartment, I can’t help but suppress a giggle.

“Thanks, boy.”

The two servants proceed to sit down with their own bowls of soup, my roomie next to me and our guest opposite to me. I should make the welcoming speech.

“Shin, thanks for coming. I hope you enjoy the visit and the food, even though you prepared it yourself.”

What a poor performance! Sorry, I’m not good at constructing a welcoming speech!

“Nah, I’m really happy to be here. The soup smells good! Suzu did it. I did nothing.”

“It’s actually Miki. She bought the ingredients and prepared the recipe for me to follow. I’m happy it turned out alright.”

The matchmaker is flattering me. She just loves pushing me towards a boy.

We each take a sip from our respective bowls and confirm that the Chinese soup, once again, lives up to its standard.

“By the way, Shin, I’m amazed. You’re able to recognize Suzu in the mall, even though you only saw her once.”

“Grayish blue hair with a knee brace. It’s the easiest outlook to spot.”

It’s true that not that many girls dye themselves grayish blue hair. And the knee brace does make her stand out even more, as long as she’s wearing a skirt.

“The knee brace is actually to protect her from hurting her knee if she happens to fall asleep in the middle of a street, which she did several years ago and injured her knee quite badly in the process, requiring a few weeks to heal. But since you haven’t fallen asleep while walking since last year, I think you can ditch it for good.”

“I’ve gotten used to it already. But you’re probably right. I’ll stop wearing it if no more accident happens in the second half of the year.”

“Makes sense. But regardless, I would’ve recognized you anyway. Your hair is just too eye-catching.”

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah. It does look pretty cool. Actually both of you have beautiful hair. I like the brown color on you as well.”

It’s both good and bad to hear that Shin is attracted to both of us. Let’s change the topic quickly.

“Thanks, boy. Are you guys done with the soup? Let’s move on to the main course.”

---

“Man, I still can’t believe you got along with Suzu that well.”

“She’s a funny girl. And so good at dancing too. I can’t believe I lost to her.”

Sitting on the sofa drinking soda and chatting with the boy I’m fond of, I can’t believe I’m so relaxed despite the occasion. The games we played with Suzu were of great help.

“I mean, she’s usually a shy girl. For her to open herself up like that, it’s no small matter. And you did it.”

My prediction was correct: Suzu loved playing TCG with us. After dinner, we first played an hour of TCG, Suzu getting the hang of the rules while I once again demonstrated how to destroy my guest with a Blastoise deck. Then we danced for another hour before Suzu’s body decided to call it a day. Right before I closed the door to her room, she gave me a wink and a thumbs-up. I think it means she approves of my potential new boyfriend and is encouraging me to go ahead.

“She told me about it too while we’re cooking. She said she wouldn’t even think about letting me in if you didn’t tell her so much about me.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. She said you’ve been talking about me non-stop these couple of weeks.”

That’s embarrassing. Damn you matchmaker Suzu!

“Did I? I can’t recall… I mean, I didn’t talk so much, did I? Well, I guess playing games with you is an enjoyable activity to share my experience with.”

“I had a lot of fun too. You know, Mai isn’t that fond of this kind of stuff.”

“It’s great to know more new friends, boy.”

“Yup. Oh, by the way, the main reason I accepted her invitation to come here early is because I’m afraid she might fall asleep either during her shopping trip or while cooking for us. I was actually quite nervous about it.”

Being so caring to my friend whom he’s only met once, he’s a really nice guy.

“Nah, don’t worry. She’s taken medicine.”

“But still, you know, I ain’t no doctor. I don’t know much about those conditions and stuff. If she were to fall asleep when the flames were on…”

He’s right. Even though nothing bad has happened ever since we lived with each other, I still need to be on guard in case our disabilities kick in.

“It would’ve been a disaster. Yeah, and that’s why I was hurrying to come back. I intended to return by 5:30 to help cook everything, but Boss didn’t show up until 5:15, and obviously I can’t leave the boutique unattended.”

“I see! I bet you were utterly surprised by my presence then.”

“Absolutely, boy. You scared the heck out of me.”

“Nah, you didn’t, did you? I’m not that scary, even with my explosive hair.”

“Nope, you did scare me.”

Of course I’m joking, and we share a smile as the clock ticks nine o’clock. He seems to have noticed the shortage of time too.

“So, how’s work today? Your boss isn’t around…”

“Yup. ‘Twas great fun. Tiring, but happy. Miss Yoshida came again, and chatted with me for a while before Boss appeared. Many girls were looking at the Latest Trend session, while gives me a lot of pride.”

“You have a great talent to be a shop manager, girl.”

I give my crush a broad smile as my sixth sense tells me what I say next is going to decide whether tonight’s party is going to be an absolute success or a disappointing loss. In other words, it’s make-or-break time. And I’d better do it now because time is ticking.

“Thanks. Hey Shin, there’s something I’d like to tell you about.”

“What is it?”

“Didn’t you tell me the other day the idea of creating a children’s corner for my boutique? I think it’s a brilliant idea.”

“Yup. Do you guys have any plans for that?”

I lean a little towards my classmate who’s, for a change, not wearing his trademark sleeveless black shirt below a light brown zip-up jacket, but a much more presentable outlook of a dark blue polo shirt and a pair of brown trousers. He also apparently combed his hair so that it doesn’t look as explosive. I appreciate his gesture of respect towards Suzu and me.

“Silly boy. Of course I’m not telling Boss about it.”

“Why? What do you mean?”

If I don’t manage a shop with him, he’s going to suffer so much from plagiarism.

“Mr. Kuzuhara, don’t you realize that you already sold your business idea to me without any compensation?”

Shin, taken slightly aback by my use of his surname and the sudden change in the tone of the conversation, freezes for like half a minute before letting out a chuckle. He then stands up from the sofa, walks a couple of steps forward, and puts his hands behind his head while facing away from me towards the television.

“It’s so true, Miss Miura. I guess I didn’t think about the consequence at that time. Now come to think of it, I probably wouldn’t have spilled it if it were not you.”

“What d’you mean?”

“You alone, Miki. I feel so comfortable around you that I’m willing to let my guard down, speaking from my heart in front of you. Even though we’ve only met for a month, I feel like I already consider you a confidant of mine.”

Confidant, huh. That’s disappointing. I thought we could be more than that. Standing up and slightly closing the distance between us, I let out a short question with a wistful tone.

“I’m your confidant?”

Possibly picking up my emotion, my crush pauses for a few seconds before turning around to face me directly. Looking into my eyes, the future fashion designer considers for a while before making his reply.

“Actually no. Now that I’ve revealed my business idea to you, my correct course of action is to try forming a partnership with you.”

Now we’re business partners, huh. That’s obviously great, but I still want more. Yet I give him a broad smile in response to his trust towards me, at least in the working aspect.

“So we’re managing a shop together, you say?”

“I… think so. Actually…”

My classmate puts his finger across his mouth and plunges deep in thought. Is he thinking about whether to confess to me or not? I’ll make his decision easier by caressing and tidying up my long hair with my lone hand.

“Miki, may I see you stump, please?”

An unexpected request, but I oblige anyway. He carefully lifts my left arm and takes a slightly closer look at my wrist, which is covered by bandages. He nods, slowly puts my stump down, turns around for a minute, and turns back to me while I stand still waiting for my guest to make a move.

“Yeah, it’s decided. Miki, I’m going to open a shop with you, and I’m going to use the money we’ve earned to buy you back your left hand.”

We had a similar discussion when we first met in the dumpling restaurant. I can’t believe he wants to implement this idea. And he sounds determined too.

“Really? You really want to do that?”

“It will be a robot, not flesh, but I hope it will be adequate. I want you to have two hands to… to… um… manage our shop with me.”

He’s so nice that I can’t help but shed a few tears. I’ll be eternally grateful to him if he fulfills his promise.

“You don’t mind me? As your business partner? I’m just a hopeless girl with a disability. I don’t have an economics degree, and I can’t even speak formal language properly.”

I do speak from the bottom of my heart, but the question also doubles up as a charming request for putting his hands on me, which he duly fulfills by resting both of his hands on my shoulders, thus further closing the distance between us.

“Of course not. You’re a beautiful woman. With a great ambition. You know, when I first talked to you, I felt like I was talking to a guy rather than a girl. But after getting to know you more during this month, I’ve discovered that my classmate and project partner is actually a charming young woman with a cheerful personality and a caring heart. The way you’ve been taking care of Suzu says it all. Your roomie told me quite a bit about you while we were cooking.”

He’s praising me so high up that I can no longer hide my tears. A couple of months ago, another boy also appreciated me at the exact same spot, though ultimately he went in the way of his other crush. Now that history repeats itself, albeit with a different boy, I’ll make sure not to let this chance slip by my lone hand.

“Thank you… so much… Shin! You’re… such a nice boy…”

My guest pulls out a tissue from the tissue box on the table to wipe away my tears meticulously, but within seconds my eyes are welled up again. Even in this emotional state, I’m not going to forget making one last push to wrap things up.

“Shin, actually, I don’t want to be called your confidant. Or business partner.”

I remember that Mutou took a few minutes from his precious time to talk to me on my graduation day. He reminded me that, since I’m a disabled young woman about to enter the society, I must grab whatever chance I can get in order to survive. Recalling his initial impression on me as a hopeless student who didn’t care about my future at all, he complimented me on my timely comeback and advises me to continue on this fighting spirit and create my own future. That probably was the only of Mutou’s speeches that I fully take in my heart. Now I’m able to proudly tell my former homeroom teacher, in the upcoming Yamaku Festival, that I’ve been following up with his advice. And I certainly won’t mind seeing him again while holding my future business partner’s hand.

“You want to be called a girlfriend, don’t you?”

I don’t feel the need to say another word, so I answer his question with a dazzling smile and a tearful face, knowing full well that it is going to be sufficient.

“I…”

My classmate unexpectedly frowns for a couple of seconds before closing his eyes and reassures himself by a couple of nods.

“I’d like you to be my girlfriend too.”

Unable to control my emotions any longer, I find my newly acquired boyfriend’s left shoulder and rest my head on it. I wrap my arms around him as I soak his polo shirt with my tears and sob until I calm down.

A door closes, another door opens.

Despite him breaking my heart, I still thank that boy for all the encouragement and support. If not for him, I wouldn’t have passed the Center Test, entered a vocational training center, found a career that I love, and met my future business partner and soulmate. He always told me how Yamaku has changed the way he perceived friendship. Thanks to him, I’ve gained myself a precious friendship in the training center. That the friendship elevates into love is cherry on top.

Suzu, if you’re not asleep, I’d like you to witness this precious moment with me.

It takes like five minutes for my eyes to dry up. I think if I don’t send him back home soon, he’s going to show up in the classroom with a pair of exhausted eyes. I’ll just spend five more minutes with him.

“S’ry I ruined your shirt.”

“Nah, that’s totally fine. But I feel guilty making you cry.”

Still holding onto him, I lift my head to face my boyfriend’s face directly. Even I myself can’t believe I can behave so girly. Having a member of the opposite sex closely around me certainly brings up all my hidden feminine genes to work.

“I just got emotional, that’s all. But unfortunately it’s probably all the time we have tonight. We have classes tomorrow.”

“It’s fine. I don’t think I can sleep anyway. In fact…”

He tenderly caresses my face and looks directly into my eyes. My face must be bright red right now.

“Your lips look amazing.”

That’s a funny cue for some intimacy, but I’ll take it. Again, I don’t feel the need to say a word. Just a broad smile plus closing my eyes is enough to send the affirmative message across.

Are we going too fast? We’ve known for less than a month.

I recall reading articles about “miai” (marriage meeting). They say that for a miai, it is typical for a pair to establish a relationship within one month of dating. Any dating process that takes more than two months without a definitive result is not normal, and the boy is advised to give up and find another one. We did establish a relationship within one month of dating, although age-wise we don’t necessitate a miai. Anyway, if we can stay like this for years, we shouldn’t need miai-ing.

Now that I have a soulmate firmly in my arms, I don’t mind facing Hisao as much. We can probably congratulate each other before a high-five, just like the old times. Best friends forever.

And I can also ask Shizune for emotional advice in case things go south. She isn’t the easiest girl to talk to, but she’s wise enough to obtain advice from.

Of course, dealing with that pair will be for another day.

He pulls away from the wonderful first kiss that he kindly offered me and, still looking into my eyes, brings up another unexpected request.

“May I look at your stump, girl?”

“Didn’t you already look at it?”

“No. I mean, the stump hiding below your bandages. I don’t think you really need them any more, do you? That accident happened years ago.”

He’s right. Similar to Suzu’s knee brace, the bandages I’ve used to cover my stump are now mostly for decoration purpose only. In my case, I just don’t want to show others the flat surface, lest they get scared.

“I don’t know if you can take it.”

“How can I be your boyfriend if I don’t accept your disability fully?”

He’s true. Just like Hisao’s case, he can’t be Shizune’s boyfriend if he doesn’t accept her deafness and the quirky personality that stems from her condition. I must learn to allow my boyfriend to adjust to my disability too if he wishes so.

“Alright then.”

Releasing him from my embrace but still clinging my head onto his shoulder, I slowly remove the bandages that cover my disability until… I don’t want to describe it. Instead of outright puking, Shin takes a close look at my healed wound and nods.

“I see. Okay. I have a request. It’s fine if you don’t want to show it to others, but you mustn’t cover it in front of me. At least when I’m visiting your home.”

Allowing my condition to be completely exposed is something I have only done to Suzu and the Nurse (that’s because, obviously, he needs to check on it). He’s the third one. I accept his request by simply nodding on his shoulder and lifting the barrier that I blocked him the other day after he picked up a phone call.

“The password is 2612.”

“Ah, 2 times 6 is 12. I can remember it. I’ll visit often.”

“Thanks. And thanks for accepting my disability.”

“Buying your hand back has just become my primary objective. But for now, you’re stuck with one hand.”

“By the way, I saw it. You frowned for a few seconds.”

“Uh… Yeah, I guess I did. Nah, I’m completely fine with your condition. It’s just… I’ll tell you about it later, okay?”

“I hope it has nothing to do with Mai.”

My boyfriend chuckles at my worry of a rival in the love department.

“Of course not. I promise you, it’s nothing, and I’ll tell you if it ever becomes a problem, okay?”

I feel like I shouldn’t pry further. Tonight has been a huge success. Let’s not ruin the joyful mood.

“Alright then. S’ry for making you lend me a hand until I get a robot.”

“We’ve got three hands together, so, what is it? Like, 1.5 hands for each of us? I’m fine losing 0.5 hands for such a wonderful girlfriend.”

I give him a light hit on his stomach with my stump before wrapping him into an embrace again for one last time. We have school tomorrow.

“I don’t speak math. It’s Mars language to me.”

“How can you become a shopkeeper without knowing math?”

Another shove to his back, but I’m, of course, smiling all ears. I feel like a tiny cat clinging tight onto my master.

“I have the cashier to rely on.”

“How about setting the price? It’s essential to know how much profit you can earn.”

“Then I’ll have to rely on you. S’ry, pal.”

My partner helplessly shakes his head as I pretty much announce that I’ll put all the financial workload onto his shoulders when we open our own shop.

“Okay, if you allow me to kiss you once more.”

As I close my eyes again anticipating another moment of intimacy before I send my guest back home, I feel like I’ve been incredibly lucky in the last couple of years. The hit I took last month turned out to become a disguised blessing, as I’m able to find a partner that not only suits me, but can also help me out in my career. That said, since we decided to enter a relationship so quickly, I’m fairly sure there will be a lot of challenges ahead of us. Luckily for me, I have friends around the area to fall back on. Obviously Suzu is the first one, and I must give her a huge thanks for setting everything up for me tonight and encouraging me all the way. Next, though it could become awkward for a while, but I’ll make sure to contact Hisao and his girlfriend again after we settle things down here. I should also try to reach out to my former classmate Hanako, who apparently has entered the same school as the couple. And, last but not least, I’ll tell the Osaka duo about the good news.

And I’m going to bring my new boyfriend to the Yamaku Festival to see Mutou. But before that, perhaps I need to schedule a visit to my dad. I’m going to get so busy!

Chapter 85: Back to the Old Days