“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” –Ecclesiastes 3:1, King James Version
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Chapter Fifteen (Hanako): Girl Talk: Yamaku Edition
Cramming three women into a single hotel bathroom without any problems was easier to do than I had expected it would be. After lunch, resting, and showering, Lilly, Emi, and I set about changing and doing our hair for the concert. Emi’s clothing choice for me wasn’t as bad as I had expected, but it was still a bit more than I was used to. As in, more skin than I was used to showing.
While Emi brushed Lilly’s hair and fiddled with some ribbons, her own hair up in the old twin-tail fashion, I picked at my pink shirt in a vain effort to cover my left shoulder.
“I’m n-not so sure th-this outfit is a g-good idea,” I muttered, mostly to myself.
Emi turned from the wall mirror to glance down at me, as she was standing on a stool to better work on Lilly’s hair while Lilly herself sat in a stool from the closet, “it’s demure, cute, and the band’s colors. It’ll be fine.”
I glanced at myself in the mirror. She was right, and none of my scars were showing, at least not more than usual –I had been tempted to buy gloves, but had decided against it. My hair was parted over half my face as usual though, which besides covering my facial scarring added a cool chic vibe to my outfit that I liked.
“Th-thanks,” I said, looking back at Emi, “you’re right, about the outfit. I also like how it works with my hair.”
Emi grinned at me as she finished fiddling with Lilly’s hair, “that was an important requirement for the outfit.”
“You seem to have a knack for this kind of work,” Lilly interjected.
Emi grinned and nodded, “yeah, a couple of guys on the track team used to work in fashion and at a hair salon, so thanks to them I’m able to be so awesomely helpful tonight!”
“We appreciate your help,” Lilly stated, “I know I do; tying all these ribbons would have been very tedious for me.”
“Happy to help!” Emi declared. Stepping off from the stool, she patted Lilly’s head and stated, “Alright, you’re all set, Lils!”
Lilly sighed lightly and hefted herself up, carefully turning towards the sound of where my voice had come from earlier, “how do I look?”
I looked Lilly over briefly. Emi really knew what she was doing; the outfit gave off a sporty and classy look while also taking advantage of Lilly’s stature and graceful air, though she may have gone a bit overboard on the hair.
“Beautiful,” I declared, “Emi, you are amazing.”
Emi’s grin grew wider as she tapped her head, “everyone thinks I’m just a dumb jock, but I know what’s important. Now, your turn.”
“My hairs fine,” I stated, probably more defensively than I intended.
Emi smirked and reached under the sink for her bag of bathroom supplies, “not your hair, your face.”
“I beg your pardon?” Lilly asked.
“What she said,” I stated.
Emi sighed and pulled out a small cosmetic kit, “I’m painting the band logo on your left cheek, remember?”
“No…” I replied, confused and a little worried.
Emi blinked back at me dumbly for a few seconds, “I didn’t mention that? Huh. Well, it’s happening, so sit on the stool so your left side reflects in the mirror.”
“Um… are you s-sure about th-this?” I asked, even as I took the seat; she obviously knew what she was doing, or was at least confident she knew, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have reservations.
Emi stood in front of me and placed the kit on the counter, “if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be doing it. Now, close your eyes and don’t talk until I say so, okay?”
“Um… okay,” I said, and did as I was told.
I felt something press onto my face, and as I felt the first brush strokes I realized Emi was using a stencil. Realizing how serious and careful she was being reassured me a little.
“So,” Emi said as she set to work, “Lilly, how are you and that Canadian guy doing? You going to get hitched and make little quarter-breeds?”
Idle gossip to pass the time as she worked; Emi reminded me of Naomi in that way. Except if you didn’t answer Naomi, she’d move on to someone else. Emi would just chatter on half to herself if no one said anything.
“We’ve only been dating for a few months,” Lilly replied, “We haven’t even met each other’s parents.”
“I could see that being a problem, since your families are spread across three continents,” Emi said, “I bet his parents’ll love you, though.”
“Yes, though I am less sure about how my parents will react,” Lilly mused, “they’re still a little sore that I chose to stay in Japan. My father more than my mother, really.”
“Well if they don’t like it, tell ‘em to shove it,” Emi stated, “or the high-class version of that, at least.”
“If only it were that simple…” Lilly mused with a sigh, “Besides, there are other matters. I’m not sure our relationship could be long term.”
“What, cuz he’s foreign?” Emi asked.
“In short, yes,” Lilly replied, “he won’t be in Japan forever, he knows how important my family here is, and I’m not sure it’s fair to ask him to move here if things do become long term.”
Being in the middle of a conversation without being able to say anything was strange. I wanted to reassure Lilly, but I knew if I moved or spoke Emi would have a fit. She seemed to be trying to reassure Lilly herself, anyway.
“If you two love each other and can find a way to make it work, just go for it and damn the consequences,” Emi declared, “It’s only complicated if you make it.”
“A naïve view, sadly,” Lilly countered, “though a delightfully romantic one. Until we know more about how we feel about each other, the matter of marriage is academic anyway.”
“True,” Emi conceded, “almost done here, Hanako.”
I grunted an acknowledgement.
“Speaking of relationships and quarter-breeds,” Lilly said, and I felt Emi’s hand tense as she worked on my face, “what about you and Kwan? As I understand it, you’ve been dating for nearly nine months. That’s quite some time, and some might wonder what your plans are for the long term.”
Lilly was teasing Emi; whether for her barb about Lilly being part foreign or simply to pass the time was difficult to tell.
Emi sighed and responded, “There are things we’d need to work through before we could get serious like that. Right now we’re just hanging out and having fun.”
Emi’s tone had a clear “don’t pursue this” vibe to it, and Lilly evidently picked up on it, not continuing her line of questioning.
Emi continued to work, a somewhat awkward silence permeated by her humming to herself. Time stretched along as I was forced to hold still and not talk or even open my eyes. Eventually, Emi made a triumphant grunt and said I could move.
“Don’t touch it if you can help it,” she advised, “It needs to dry for a bit.”
“How does it look?” Lilly asked.
I turned to face the mirror as I stood up, analyzing Emi’s work. Overall it was very good work, though the lines between the colors were a bit ragged, but not really noticeable from afar. I couldn’t help smiling as I examined myself in the mirror.
“It looks great,” I declared, turning to Emi and bending down to hug her lightly, “thank you.”
“No prob,” Emi said, hugging me back, “glad I could help, since I kinda tagged along with you guys for the trip.”
I withdrew from the hug and looked to Lilly, who was patiently leaning against the counter, waiting for us, “should we go, then?” I asked.
“Almost,” Emi said behind me, “but first, it’s your turn; how are you and Hisao doing?”
I balked and shrugged before shuffling towards the door, “er, fine,” I managed to mumble.
“Oh come on!” Emi yelped, “That’s not fair! We talked about our relationships!”
I sighed and stopped –curse her logic, “I don’t know. We haven’t talked about our long term situation.”
“Really?” Emi asked, “You’ve been together two years and it hasn’t come up?”
I shrugged, “We have other priorities right now, and… I think his parents might be pressuring him to bring it up.”
“Huh?” Emi grunted, “They desperate to get him outta the house or something?”
I sighed and shook my head as I turned to look at Emi properly, “no, b-but s-since I’ve been living with them-”
“Wait, what?” Emi asked, “You live with Hisao’s parents? Wait, you’re living with your boyfriend already?”
“It’s not like that!” I snapped, apparently more on edge then I thought. After pausing to breath a bit, I added, “w-well, n-not just like that.”
Emi raised a finger to jab at me, but stopped when the dots clicked in her head. Like I said, I had never told her I was an orphan, but she could probably figure it out pretty easily. Especially after what I had just said.
“Oh,” Emi said, sighing, “That… wow… shit, sorry, Hanako, I didn’t mean-”
“I-it’s okay,” I declared, and it was; we both more or less knew each other’s situations anyway, firming it up just made things simpler, “and w-wow about sums it up… the Nakai’s have been very good to me, and I think they’ve been bothering Hisao to propose.”
“They tend to think of her as their own child,” Lilly interjected, “I imagine they want to make it official.”
I nodded stiffly.
“Oh,” Emi repeated, “…well, that’s good, right? Parental approval’s always nice, even in this day and age.”
I smirked and nodded, “y-yeah, but if and when he p-proposes, I want it to be because he wants to. I don’t want to pressure him, either.”
Emi grinned sheepishly at me, resembling a preteen rebelling against her parents before sneaking out for the night, considering the outfit she had chosen, “Makes sense. Sorry I brought it up.”
I shook my head, “d-don’t be. You were right; you and Lilly talked about it, so I should, too.”
“Since that’s all out in the open,” Lilly said, “perhaps we should take our leave and head downstairs?”
Emi nodded, “good idea!”
Before either of us could stop her, she dashed passed me and grabbed Lilly, who grabbed me, and together the three of us barreled along out of the room towards the elevator.
While Emi herded us along with her usual subtlety, my mind drifted back to the conversation. Hisao and I loved each other, and I believed we loved each other enough to warrant marriage, but I wondered if Hisao would be too worried to ask me. If that was the case, I might have to talk to him about it. That could wait though; we had college to worry about, after all, and while there was nothing wrong with a long engagement, dealing with marriage on top of trying to get our lives moving forward after graduation could prove overly complicated.
Still, if he asked, I knew what my answer would be. The question was if he would ask on his own, and when.
“Are you okay, Hanako?” Lilly asked when we entered the elevator.
I rolled my eyes and replied, “Yes.”
Lilly smiled nodded, “good. I’m sure the concert will be enjoyable and we’ll all have a terrific time.”
Oh crap. All that talk about marriage had got my mind worried about my relationship with Hisao. I had almost forgotten about us heading off to a concert of thousands of people. When that realization slammed into me, I groaned lightly, “m-maybe less okay then I thought. I-I’ll be fine, though. I w-wouldn’t miss this concert for anything.”
“That’s the spirit!” Emi declared, making Lilly flinch from the high pitched squeak of her voice, “nothing can stop us or ruin this evening, you hear me? I won’t stand for it!”
That last part was shouted at the ceiling of the elevator, as if Emi was trying to bully the spirits into keeping things going as planned. Maybe she was, and, outnumbered several million to one as she was, my money would still be on Emi.
Both of us nodded in affirmation of her declaration, and confidently strode out of the elevator as it dinged open at the ground floor.
“Here we go,” I whispered.
+++
Next Chapter
In case you thought I forgot about the concert.
I realize I suck at writing Hanako, and I apologize for that. I also apologize for failing the Bechdel Test twice now, although I passed it back in Chapter Three.
Next time, the concert you’ve all been apathetic for finally arrives! Will Hanako face the horde of fellow fans for the chance to rock on, or will her anxiety get the better of her? Will Misha manage to find them, and will Kenji go apeshit when the two meet? The answer to these questions and more next time!
