The Alpaca Dump: Another One-Shot Thread - Story #5 21/6/15
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 3:54 pm
Welcome, one and all, to the Alpaca Dump, where I post crap!
Yes, I decided to convert this into a one-shot thread, because shitting up the forums with this stuff is probably a bad idea. Table of Contents is below, if I ever have the inclination to create a multi-part story, it'll be posted in its own thread. Thanks, and happy reading! Hopefully
FYI: Update notices will be using the British date (day/month/year)
Story 1: Reaching the Summit (this post)
Story 2: A Curious Meeting
Story 3: Monologuing problems
Story 4: A Personal Inferno
Story 5: Sour Note
**********
So, apparently I write fanfiction now. Not really sure how I feel about that.
Anyway, since the last piece of creative writing I did was for my English GCSE controlled assessments, this may not be great.
Massive thanks to Rhodri for a) Letting me use his idea and b) reading this before I posted it to make sure that the quality was above the point where people would get brain haemorrhages from reading.
So, without further ado, here is a thing I wrote. Any and all criticism welcome even if I'm not much of a writer, it's nice to have something creative to work on besides failing at Starcraft II
Please send any death-threats you may wish to express via PM.
Edit: As per Mirage's feedback (and post on the Tips thread), I fixed the line spacings to -hopefully- make the story a little easier to read.
***
Reaching the Summit
Curious.
That’s how I’d describe my situation. A kid from the city gets diagnosed with a dormant heart condition after a confession in the snow, gets sent to school in the countryside, makes some decidedly odd friends and joins a club for an activity he’d never really had any interest in before – photography.
To be honest, I’m just lucky that Misaki found it in her heart to take in a kid as lonesome and depressed as me. I cringe just thinking about how surly I was when she initially introduced herself in class. At least I’ve got something to do with my time now. The camera that now constantly hangs around my neck is proof of that. I’d never really fancied myself as a photographer, but I’ve found myself idly taking pictures of things that interest me over the past few days.
Strange, the influence that Misaki’s enthusiasm can have on people. I may have to ask Kenji to keep an eye on her, make sure she’s not brainwashing me.
On second thoughts, that’s a terrible idea, bad Hisao.
There’s also the thought of that girl from the festival. We may have only talked for a few minutes while she was working a stall set up by the art club, but she somehow managed to stick to my brain like a limpet.
Saki Enomoto… The girl who lives on a countdown.
And the second person to have found out my condition.
Somehow - probably owing to my obvious exhaustion at the time, and my newfound propensity to grab at my chest while tired - she managed to guess at my condition – and told me hers, as well. Spinocerebellar Ataxia. A degenerative motor disease that will slowly digest her brain – or so she says.
It’s probably less dramatic than that.
However, I have no reason to doubt her sincerity as to the end result – a slow death, mired with difficulties in doing just about anything, breathing included. Just the thought makes me shudder.
All the same, for whatever reason, the memory of that brief conversation sticks with me:
“I guess your life might be kinda short too, then. But that’s not so bad. I always liked to think of it like this – the less you have of something, the more precious it is. Every day is a gift, every hour is golden and every minute is a diamond. You might not have long here, sure, but that just means that you’ve got to make sure that you do the best you can with it, ‘kay?”
I smile as I think back to those words. She’s probably right. I may have a small amount of time on this Earth, but I should try and make the most of it. Do what I can to enjoy it.
Speaking of which, I have a feeling that there won’t be much left to enjoy if I don’t make it to photography club on time.
Misaki’s going to kill me if I’m late again…
---
As I walk in through the door to the club, I’m – surprisingly – not greeted with a death-glare from Misaki. Instead, there’s a discussion going on between the other eleven members of the club. The odd thing is that there are no pictures laid out on the tables like normal.
It isn’t long before I’m finally noticed, though, and Misaki calls me over.
“Hey, Hisao, glad you could finally make it,” She calls out sarcastically, looking only slightly like she’s about to murder me. Small improvement over last time, at least.
“Hey,” I respond, “What’s going on here? I didn’t think we discussed ideas for pictures, only ones that were already taken.” Misaki grins at me, clearly amused by my lack of knowledge about the situation – or something like that.
“Well, we would normally be doing that, but we’ve got an interesting proposition from Nomiya. Care to listen?” I nod my consent and join the huddle.
“Ok, apparently Nomiya is going to try and get the art club members to try and give photography a go. In his words, ‘photography is an integral part of the visual arts and it should be considered a viable method for artistic expression’.” She rolls her eyes at that, probably more so at Nomiya’s overly sophisticated justification than at the suggestion that her favourite activity is an art form, “Either way, he wants our help in showing the guys there how to do it properly, so I decided to get the opinion of the club on it. Everyone else is on board, but I won’t force you into it.” I shrug, not able to come up an excuse to skip out on what might end up being an interesting way to spend my time.
Or a complete waste of said time spent telling a stranger how to work what would probably be considered a pretty simple-to-use device, but hey, positive attitude, right?
“Sure, I’ll do it. No harm in trying new things every once in a while.”
“Great!” Comes the enthusiastic reply, “It’s scheduled for after-school on Saturday, in the art room. You know where that is, right?” I nod, “Cool. Be there ASAP once class is over, and it should be fine. Anyway, let’s start of this week’s meeting on the Yamaku Photography Club!” She trills.
As I start flipping through the photographs on my digital camera, a small thought passes through my mind:
Will Saki be there?
The moment is fleeting and I’m soon caught up in yet another meeting of the club I had no idea I’d enjoy.
***
“Alright, club members, let’s get this sorted out!” Nomiya bellows out to the congregation in the art room. There’s actually quite a few people here – even Rin decided to show up, although she appears to be taking greater interest in her feet and whatever she can see outside the window alternately.
“Now, I understand that this is a bit unorthodox,” Nomiya continues, “but I think that it will be a great opportunity for you all! It will not always be possible to carry a canvas and paints, or charcoal, or other materials, and so, for those of you that pride themselves in painting what they can see, a photograph may be all you have to copy from.” I really don’t have much interest in what the fat, poorly dressed art teacher has to say about the role of photography in painting – something that I know for a fact I’m terrible at – so I scan the modest crowd again, hoping just a little that I’ll see a flash of honey-coloured hair in there, somewhere. Sadly, it looks like she’s decided to skip out on this little project.
Oh well, it was done on a voluntary basis, so it’s not like she’s obligated to be here…
And then the door to the art room bursts open, revealing a very bedraggled and tired-looking Saki. I guess I was wrong.
“Sorry I’m late, Mr Nomiya!” She manages to blurt out in between gasps for air, “Got caught up in discussing my English marks with Ms Miyagi.” Nomiya nods slowly, shutting his eyes in what could be considered an attempt to appear wise, but just makes him look a little bit out of sorts.
“Of course, Ms Enomoto, just join in with the rest of the crowd and pay attention. No harm done, no harm done…” Saki nods and walks over to join the rest of us, quickly regaining her composure as she does so.
“Now then, we’ll be splitting into pairs for this little activity. The members of the Photography club will be showing the members of the art club all of the functions that they’ll need to take pictures exactly the way they want them. Then we’ll have a practical demonstration of those features, using some of the older artworks in the storage cupboard. Let us continue.” I look around for anybody to partner with, but it looks like everyone is just going with friends or the nearest available club member. I almost lose hope for going with anybody but Rin, but then Saki notices me and walks over, wearing a slight smile.
“Hey,” She greets me, “Hisao, right? Good to see you, again!”
“Yeah, it is Hisao,” I clarify, smiling back, “It’s good to see you again, too.” She nods at that, and I think her smile widens, just a little.
“Well, I assume that, since there’s nobody else from the art club standing here and you’ve got a camera around your neck, you’ll be happy to show me how to take pictures?”
“Sure.” It’ll be nice to have somebody familiar to teach, at any rate.
I start by showing her all the basics, stuff which she should probably know already, but still listens to avidly. I then go into a little more detail and start talking about how to adjust the contrast and brightness of the photo and show her a few basic filters to use, which takes about an hour to fully explain. Once that’s done, Nomiya announces that the practical demonstration can start. We spend another hour taking some pictures of some old, albeit still mostly impressive, pictures that previous incarnations of the art club had made, talking and making a few little jokes here and there. It’s strange, but I really enjoy the time I spend with this girl. She seems to possess an energy that I can’t hope to match, but it doesn’t explode out of her like it would with someone like Emi. Instead, it seems to permeate everything she does – the way she moves, the constant fidgets and brushing back of a few stray locks of hair, even the way she smiles all seem to have a sort of spark behind them. As though she genuinely enjoys every little thing she does. A few minutes before we’re due to end the session, she stops me and smiles again.
“You know, you seem like less of a grump now than you were a few weeks back.”
“Huh?” I reply, not really sure how to respond to that. She chuckles softly to herself before continuing.
“When I first saw you there, at the festival, you seemed like you had no drive to do anything, like it just didn’t matter to you that there were other people here. And, to be honest, I felt a little sorry for you, seeing you like that.” She’s right about that. When I first arrived at Yamaku, the only thing I wanted to do was think about how unfair it all was, that I had arrhythmia, that I had lost all my friends and that the girl I’d liked for so long had abandoned me in that hospital because she didn’t want to shoulder my burden.
Truly pathetic. Really and truly. I can do better.
I’m about to reply, but Nomiya decides that we urgently need to listen to him speaking that that precise moment.
Dammit…
“Alright, that’s going to be the end of our session today, people. However, having discussed this with Ms Kawana, we have decided that we will be continuing this as a joint project over the next few weeks. In order to allow club meetings to happen normally, we will be carrying out these sessions at the same time as this one – an hour after school ends on Saturday. Make sure that you can attend them, as having people missing might just make things very difficult. Are there any objections to this idea?” Nobody makes any move to object.
“Excellent! We shall see each other again next Saturday, then,” he says before smirking and looking straight at Saki, “And might we be on time next week, Miss Enomoto?” The poor girl looks down at the floor, failing miserably to hide the blush spreading across her cheeks.
It looks kind of cute, actually…
“Yes, sir, I’ll do my best to get here along with everyone else.” Everybody immediately starts filtering out of the room, Rin meandering along in her arrhythmic way. I turn to Saki.
“You okay there?”
“Yeah, just kind of embarrassed at that. I think he enjoys doing things like that just to annoy people,” her expression sours a little, before brightening again, “Anyway, I guess it’ll be the same time next week, right?”
“Sure,” I reply, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She giggles at the cliché line.
“Of course. I’ll see you then.” As she turns away, I suddenly remember what I was going to say before Nomiya went on his spiel.
“Hey, wait a sec, Saki.” She turns back, looking slightly puzzled.
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to thank you… for setting me straight at the festival. It… helped.” She breaks out into the largest and brightest smile I’ve seen from her yet.
Jeez, I think I felt my heart skip a beat there… or several. Oh well, nothing new there, I suppose.
Probably.
“You’re welcome! I’m glad that it helped. I was a little afraid that that little speech on having a short life would get you even more depressed.”
“Nah, it really did help there. I think you’re right about it – I’ll do my best to enjoy things from now on.”
“Good to hear, Hisao,” she says, “I hope I don’t have to see that surly face from the festival again.” I wince a little at the mention of the face I ended up seeing in the mirror when I arrived at Yamaku.
“You and me both, Saki.” She grins back at me and starts walking out the door. I smile at that.
I’ll be looking forward to next week.
***
Two weeks later, and we’ve reached the conclusion of another session of taking photos and explaining camera functions – this time, going outside to get photos of whatever took our interest. While walking all over the grounds tired me out a bit, I’m still happy about the ones we’ve taken. It’s a satisfying feeling, having lots of photos on your camera’s memory, even if not all of them are particularly good.
My near-permanent partner is probably responsible for that…
Saki has taken to sticking with me for these sessions, something that I’m more than happy to accommodate. I have no idea why she does it, but it seems like she’s got some sort of mandate to keep an eye on me, having dragged me to lunch with her and some of her friends on more than one occasion in the past fortnight. It’s almost a little disconcerting that she takes such an interest.
Not that I’m complaining at all.
The occasions where Saki has commandeered my company for lunch are welcome – she’s an easy person to talk with and she quite clearly enjoys helping me make friends within her own little clique. Even if I’ve never been the most social person, I won’t be sad to have a few more friends around Yamaku.
Suddenly, my reverie is interrupted by a certain pink-jacketed art teacher.
“Alright, then, students,” Nomiya calls out, “it appears that we’ve reached the conclusion of yet another joint session. Please make sure that you get some of those pictures printed out – I’d like to have some physical evidence of our achievements in these little lessons.” I suppose he’s right – these are more lessons than club meetings, but that doesn’t lessen my enjoyment of them any – it’s nice to be able to impart my knowledge, especially when the recipients are as ready to listen as Saki seems to be. Of course, that might just be her attempting to make me feel welcome, but it does look like she’s genuinely interested in my instruction; something that isn’t lost on my ego.
“Now, we’ll be continuing this next week, as before. It will probably be our last session, though, as I think that we have all learned everything that we will need.” Noticing Misaki’s withering look, I think she’d have a thing or two to say to Nomiya about the finer points of using a camera, but before she can say anything, Nomiya dismisses us with a wave of his hand and an absent-minded “off you go!”
Not having any reason to stay, I turn to Saki.
“So next week will be our last session, huh?” For some reason, she grins at that and I think I hear a soft giggle emerge from her lips.
“Yeah, by the looks of it. You’re looking a little depressed about that.” I suddenly feel my cheeks going red and look away. That only causes her to giggle more loudly. “What’s wrong? Is it me? Am I really-“ she moves closer and whispers in my ear, “-that important to you?” I immediately step back and look down at the floor, feeling my face go completely crimson. Apparently, my expression is hilarious, as Saki starts doubling over in fits.
“Oh god, that face is priceless!” she cries out in between bursts of laughter.
“Y-yeah, well, it’s just that… this whole thing has been sort of fun. It’s nice to actually teach people instead of just talk with people who already know what they’re doing.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” she replies, her expression softening into a normal smile, “Hey, you want to take a walk with me?”
“Huh?” I mentally stumble, not quite understanding what she’s asking. She grins again before replying.
“It’s a nice afternoon and you’re fun to talk to. It’s not a problem is it?” I breathe a small sigh of relief.
Ok, not going where I thought it was going. Good.
“No, no problem. Just thinking it over.”
“Riiight, sure you were,” she smiles knowingly, “Anyway, let’s go!”
Saki leads me out of the art room and we walk out of the main building side-by-side, exchanging idle banter as we do. It’s all inconsequential stuff, really, she goes on a little about some gossip from her friends, which I intersperse with a few questions and the occasional bad joke, which she has the curtesy to laugh at. It’s a nice day and the good weather we’ve been having recently only exacerbates the relaxed atmosphere that our conversation seems to have generated. However, the walking from earlier and the heat are starting to take their toll on me, and I start breathing heavily as we pass near the edge of the grounds. Saki frowns at me.
“Hey, you doing ok there?” She tentatively asks.
“Yeah, just a little tired is all,” I reply, sitting down on a nearby bench. She closes her eyes and nods.
“I gotcha. Heart problems, right?”
“Might be. Not in the best shape right now, either.”
“Stays in hospital tend to do that, don’t they?” I nod in reply, not really questioning how she figured it out. Guess it’s the only place I could have been after being diagnosed with a heart condition.
We sit there for a little while, mostly silent aside from a few pieces of idle chat. After about twenty minutes, I feel rested enough to stand, which Saki smiles at.
“Ready to keep going?” She says, not waiting for an answer before starting down the path. I move to follow, but she suddenly stops. Saki turns to face me, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Actually, I’ve got an idea for something to do!” She starts moving again, this time heading for the rear of the grounds and moving surprisingly quickly for someone who walks with a cane.
“Wait, where are you going?” I ask as I scramble to follow.
“You’ll see~,” she lilts over her shoulder, not even bothering to look back at the poor kid with a heart condition.
I follow her to the area around the back of the school grounds, where we pass through a gate that leads onto a dirt path through the woods behind the school. Saki starts down the path without hesitating, although moving slightly more slowly due to the less even ground. As we pass under the trees, I wonder why she decided to drag me out here.
Let’s hope that she’s not planning to feed me to the wolves that no doubt live in the forest here.
Wait, wolves are extinct in Japan, right?
She stops at the edge of the tree line and I find myself at the foot of the large hill behind the school.
“What are we doing here, Saki?” She finally turns around and flashes me a mischievous grin.
“A little challenge for both of us – climb the hill in one go!” I balk at the suggestion.
“What brought this on?” Now she looks just a little sheepish before reverting to her normal smile.
“I’ve been meaning to do this with someone for a while, but there’s nobody else I really know that can do this and understand that this can actually be hard for some of us.”
“So, essentially, you picked me because I’m unfit and you wanted somebody to make you feel better about this?” She burst out laughing again.
“Yup, more or less! So, do you accept my little dare, Mister Nakai?” I ponder it for a moment. Sure, it’s probably not the best idea I’ve ever heard – but, then again, what’s the point in even being at Yamaku if I don’t try and challenge my limits? I may only be a kid with a broken heart, but I don’t want to spend my whole life in fear of triggering my condition; if I were to do that, I’d just wrap myself in bubble wrap and hide in my room for the rest of time.
You’ve just got to make sure you do the best you can with it.
I give a single nod and grin at my partner in crime.
“Yes. I accept, Miss Enomoto.” She gives an airy laugh ad starts walking up the steep incline.
Nurse is going to flip if he finds out.
I start following Saki up the hill. Initially, there’s no problems – the weather’s fine and I can’t say that the whole thing seems too strenuous. After a few minutes, though, I can feel my legs start to ache. The sweat on my brow is starting to drip down and my chest is starting to tense up in that tell-tale way it does.
Dammit, not now.
Shrugging it off, I try and keep going. I can feel my shirt starting to stick and the school trousers feel unnecessarily heavy, but I press on. About three-quarters of the way up, however, I don’t think I can do it. I stop walking and double over, putting my hands on my knees.
Oh well, nice try, Hisao. Guess I should just lie down here and rest for a while…
“Hey, are you giving up already?”
I look up and see Saki standing a few meters ahead of me up the hill, looking back at me with a stern expression. I can see the sweat pouring down her face and she’s taken off the ribbon around her neck in order to let herself breathe more easily, but she’s still standing.
“Come on, Hisao. He who dares, wins!”
She’s not going to give up.
Why should I?
I straighten up and give it one last shot. My legs ache, my chest feels like it might give up on me and I’ll probably regret this whole-heartedly later, but I can’t give up now and let her down. I wouldn’t forgive myself.
Staggering the last few steps up the hill, I finally reach the summit. I collapse, exhausted and immediately start pawing at my chest to try and get the rhythm under control. There’s a tense few moments as my erratic heart refuses to cooperate, but the tenseness in my chest slowly subsides.
Thank god.
I can hear laughter over to my left. Sitting up, I see Saki sitting down on a rock a few feet from where I collapsed, laughing with giddy abandon.
“We did it!” She says, letting out an airy whoop for good measure before starting to pant. “Thought you were going to give out on me there, Mister Nakai.”
“I was,” I start, before stopping to pant, “but your little speech got me moving again. Where did that line come from, by the way? ‘Who dares, wins’, wasn't it?” She lets out a little giggle before replying.
“No idea! Probably just a line from a movie or something. Sounded like the right thing to say, anyway.”
“Yeah, probably.” I turn my gaze out towards the school. From here, I can just about see the other students wandering around the grounds, a few on the roof doing… something… and nobody walking this way to share in our achievements.
Or report us to the Student Council
The sun is just beginning to set over the hills in the distance, making the sky look like a sea of shimmering gold.
We stay like that for a little while, just sitting and trying to catch our breaths. Suddenly, Saki stands up and takes a few steps towards the slope we just walked up before stopping. Then she throws her arms up above her head and whoops again, laughing as though she just won the lottery.
“I fucking made it, world! How do you like me now, huh?” She shouts to the sky, a huge grin plastered across her face, whooping and cheering with the light of the sun dipping low behind the hills setting her hair on fire. I’m left speechless watching and I can feel something leaping in my heart at the sight of this girl, screaming her defiance for all the world to hear and not regretting a second of it.
Beautiful…
I suddenly remember the camera around my neck and quickly snap a picture of her.
No sense letting the moment go to waste.
Unfortunately, it looks like she heard me take the picture and turns to face me, ending the moment.
“Was that really worth wasting the memory on your camera for?” She asks, a playful smile replacing the reckless grin. I blush a little at the comment.
“I’d say so. Not every day that you see someone screaming at the top of her lungs on a random hill in the countryside.” She chuckles this time, a much softer sound compared to the defiant mirth she was unleashing just a second ago.
“Well, it looks like it’s gotten late. Guess we should head back, now.” I nod my assent and stand, following her as she starts back down the hill.
---
We don’t talk for most of the walk back to school. However, as I can just make out the fence around Yamaku through the tree line, Saki suddenly speaks up.
“You know, there’s one thing I always thought would be the ultimate test for me.” I stop for a second, puzzled.
“What do you mean?”
“One day, I’m going to climb a mountain,” She states, smiling wistfully, “It doesn’t have to be Everest or K2 or something, but I’m going to climb a mountain one day and damn any doctors who tell me I can’t do it!” I smile back at her.
“Sounds like you’ve got plans for yourself, then.” She nods.
“No point in just feeling sorry for myself. I’ll do my best to enjoy what I’ve got.” I nod, recalling her little spiel at the festival.
“Every minute is a diamond, right?” She bursts out laughing again.
“You remembered that, then?” I nod and she smiles back before starting back down the path to school.
We part at the dorms, Saki giving a little wave over her shoulder before passing through the door to the Girls’ one. I stand there for a moment, smiling to myself before heading upstairs to my own room.
After collapsing into bed, not even bothering to take off my uniform, I can feel sleep starting to drag me down almost immediately. Before I fall unconscious, though, one last thought flits through my exhausted brain.
I’ll see you at the summit of that mountain, Saki. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Yes, I decided to convert this into a one-shot thread, because shitting up the forums with this stuff is probably a bad idea. Table of Contents is below, if I ever have the inclination to create a multi-part story, it'll be posted in its own thread. Thanks, and happy reading! Hopefully
FYI: Update notices will be using the British date (day/month/year)
Story 1: Reaching the Summit (this post)
Story 2: A Curious Meeting
Story 3: Monologuing problems
Story 4: A Personal Inferno
Story 5: Sour Note
**********
So, apparently I write fanfiction now. Not really sure how I feel about that.
Anyway, since the last piece of creative writing I did was for my English GCSE controlled assessments, this may not be great.
Massive thanks to Rhodri for a) Letting me use his idea and b) reading this before I posted it to make sure that the quality was above the point where people would get brain haemorrhages from reading.
So, without further ado, here is a thing I wrote. Any and all criticism welcome even if I'm not much of a writer, it's nice to have something creative to work on besides failing at Starcraft II
Please send any death-threats you may wish to express via PM.
Edit: As per Mirage's feedback (and post on the Tips thread), I fixed the line spacings to -hopefully- make the story a little easier to read.
***
Reaching the Summit
Curious.
That’s how I’d describe my situation. A kid from the city gets diagnosed with a dormant heart condition after a confession in the snow, gets sent to school in the countryside, makes some decidedly odd friends and joins a club for an activity he’d never really had any interest in before – photography.
To be honest, I’m just lucky that Misaki found it in her heart to take in a kid as lonesome and depressed as me. I cringe just thinking about how surly I was when she initially introduced herself in class. At least I’ve got something to do with my time now. The camera that now constantly hangs around my neck is proof of that. I’d never really fancied myself as a photographer, but I’ve found myself idly taking pictures of things that interest me over the past few days.
Strange, the influence that Misaki’s enthusiasm can have on people. I may have to ask Kenji to keep an eye on her, make sure she’s not brainwashing me.
On second thoughts, that’s a terrible idea, bad Hisao.
There’s also the thought of that girl from the festival. We may have only talked for a few minutes while she was working a stall set up by the art club, but she somehow managed to stick to my brain like a limpet.
Saki Enomoto… The girl who lives on a countdown.
And the second person to have found out my condition.
Somehow - probably owing to my obvious exhaustion at the time, and my newfound propensity to grab at my chest while tired - she managed to guess at my condition – and told me hers, as well. Spinocerebellar Ataxia. A degenerative motor disease that will slowly digest her brain – or so she says.
It’s probably less dramatic than that.
However, I have no reason to doubt her sincerity as to the end result – a slow death, mired with difficulties in doing just about anything, breathing included. Just the thought makes me shudder.
All the same, for whatever reason, the memory of that brief conversation sticks with me:
“I guess your life might be kinda short too, then. But that’s not so bad. I always liked to think of it like this – the less you have of something, the more precious it is. Every day is a gift, every hour is golden and every minute is a diamond. You might not have long here, sure, but that just means that you’ve got to make sure that you do the best you can with it, ‘kay?”
I smile as I think back to those words. She’s probably right. I may have a small amount of time on this Earth, but I should try and make the most of it. Do what I can to enjoy it.
Speaking of which, I have a feeling that there won’t be much left to enjoy if I don’t make it to photography club on time.
Misaki’s going to kill me if I’m late again…
---
As I walk in through the door to the club, I’m – surprisingly – not greeted with a death-glare from Misaki. Instead, there’s a discussion going on between the other eleven members of the club. The odd thing is that there are no pictures laid out on the tables like normal.
It isn’t long before I’m finally noticed, though, and Misaki calls me over.
“Hey, Hisao, glad you could finally make it,” She calls out sarcastically, looking only slightly like she’s about to murder me. Small improvement over last time, at least.
“Hey,” I respond, “What’s going on here? I didn’t think we discussed ideas for pictures, only ones that were already taken.” Misaki grins at me, clearly amused by my lack of knowledge about the situation – or something like that.
“Well, we would normally be doing that, but we’ve got an interesting proposition from Nomiya. Care to listen?” I nod my consent and join the huddle.
“Ok, apparently Nomiya is going to try and get the art club members to try and give photography a go. In his words, ‘photography is an integral part of the visual arts and it should be considered a viable method for artistic expression’.” She rolls her eyes at that, probably more so at Nomiya’s overly sophisticated justification than at the suggestion that her favourite activity is an art form, “Either way, he wants our help in showing the guys there how to do it properly, so I decided to get the opinion of the club on it. Everyone else is on board, but I won’t force you into it.” I shrug, not able to come up an excuse to skip out on what might end up being an interesting way to spend my time.
Or a complete waste of said time spent telling a stranger how to work what would probably be considered a pretty simple-to-use device, but hey, positive attitude, right?
“Sure, I’ll do it. No harm in trying new things every once in a while.”
“Great!” Comes the enthusiastic reply, “It’s scheduled for after-school on Saturday, in the art room. You know where that is, right?” I nod, “Cool. Be there ASAP once class is over, and it should be fine. Anyway, let’s start of this week’s meeting on the Yamaku Photography Club!” She trills.
As I start flipping through the photographs on my digital camera, a small thought passes through my mind:
Will Saki be there?
The moment is fleeting and I’m soon caught up in yet another meeting of the club I had no idea I’d enjoy.
***
“Alright, club members, let’s get this sorted out!” Nomiya bellows out to the congregation in the art room. There’s actually quite a few people here – even Rin decided to show up, although she appears to be taking greater interest in her feet and whatever she can see outside the window alternately.
“Now, I understand that this is a bit unorthodox,” Nomiya continues, “but I think that it will be a great opportunity for you all! It will not always be possible to carry a canvas and paints, or charcoal, or other materials, and so, for those of you that pride themselves in painting what they can see, a photograph may be all you have to copy from.” I really don’t have much interest in what the fat, poorly dressed art teacher has to say about the role of photography in painting – something that I know for a fact I’m terrible at – so I scan the modest crowd again, hoping just a little that I’ll see a flash of honey-coloured hair in there, somewhere. Sadly, it looks like she’s decided to skip out on this little project.
Oh well, it was done on a voluntary basis, so it’s not like she’s obligated to be here…
And then the door to the art room bursts open, revealing a very bedraggled and tired-looking Saki. I guess I was wrong.
“Sorry I’m late, Mr Nomiya!” She manages to blurt out in between gasps for air, “Got caught up in discussing my English marks with Ms Miyagi.” Nomiya nods slowly, shutting his eyes in what could be considered an attempt to appear wise, but just makes him look a little bit out of sorts.
“Of course, Ms Enomoto, just join in with the rest of the crowd and pay attention. No harm done, no harm done…” Saki nods and walks over to join the rest of us, quickly regaining her composure as she does so.
“Now then, we’ll be splitting into pairs for this little activity. The members of the Photography club will be showing the members of the art club all of the functions that they’ll need to take pictures exactly the way they want them. Then we’ll have a practical demonstration of those features, using some of the older artworks in the storage cupboard. Let us continue.” I look around for anybody to partner with, but it looks like everyone is just going with friends or the nearest available club member. I almost lose hope for going with anybody but Rin, but then Saki notices me and walks over, wearing a slight smile.
“Hey,” She greets me, “Hisao, right? Good to see you, again!”
“Yeah, it is Hisao,” I clarify, smiling back, “It’s good to see you again, too.” She nods at that, and I think her smile widens, just a little.
“Well, I assume that, since there’s nobody else from the art club standing here and you’ve got a camera around your neck, you’ll be happy to show me how to take pictures?”
“Sure.” It’ll be nice to have somebody familiar to teach, at any rate.
I start by showing her all the basics, stuff which she should probably know already, but still listens to avidly. I then go into a little more detail and start talking about how to adjust the contrast and brightness of the photo and show her a few basic filters to use, which takes about an hour to fully explain. Once that’s done, Nomiya announces that the practical demonstration can start. We spend another hour taking some pictures of some old, albeit still mostly impressive, pictures that previous incarnations of the art club had made, talking and making a few little jokes here and there. It’s strange, but I really enjoy the time I spend with this girl. She seems to possess an energy that I can’t hope to match, but it doesn’t explode out of her like it would with someone like Emi. Instead, it seems to permeate everything she does – the way she moves, the constant fidgets and brushing back of a few stray locks of hair, even the way she smiles all seem to have a sort of spark behind them. As though she genuinely enjoys every little thing she does. A few minutes before we’re due to end the session, she stops me and smiles again.
“You know, you seem like less of a grump now than you were a few weeks back.”
“Huh?” I reply, not really sure how to respond to that. She chuckles softly to herself before continuing.
“When I first saw you there, at the festival, you seemed like you had no drive to do anything, like it just didn’t matter to you that there were other people here. And, to be honest, I felt a little sorry for you, seeing you like that.” She’s right about that. When I first arrived at Yamaku, the only thing I wanted to do was think about how unfair it all was, that I had arrhythmia, that I had lost all my friends and that the girl I’d liked for so long had abandoned me in that hospital because she didn’t want to shoulder my burden.
Truly pathetic. Really and truly. I can do better.
I’m about to reply, but Nomiya decides that we urgently need to listen to him speaking that that precise moment.
Dammit…
“Alright, that’s going to be the end of our session today, people. However, having discussed this with Ms Kawana, we have decided that we will be continuing this as a joint project over the next few weeks. In order to allow club meetings to happen normally, we will be carrying out these sessions at the same time as this one – an hour after school ends on Saturday. Make sure that you can attend them, as having people missing might just make things very difficult. Are there any objections to this idea?” Nobody makes any move to object.
“Excellent! We shall see each other again next Saturday, then,” he says before smirking and looking straight at Saki, “And might we be on time next week, Miss Enomoto?” The poor girl looks down at the floor, failing miserably to hide the blush spreading across her cheeks.
It looks kind of cute, actually…
“Yes, sir, I’ll do my best to get here along with everyone else.” Everybody immediately starts filtering out of the room, Rin meandering along in her arrhythmic way. I turn to Saki.
“You okay there?”
“Yeah, just kind of embarrassed at that. I think he enjoys doing things like that just to annoy people,” her expression sours a little, before brightening again, “Anyway, I guess it’ll be the same time next week, right?”
“Sure,” I reply, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She giggles at the cliché line.
“Of course. I’ll see you then.” As she turns away, I suddenly remember what I was going to say before Nomiya went on his spiel.
“Hey, wait a sec, Saki.” She turns back, looking slightly puzzled.
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to thank you… for setting me straight at the festival. It… helped.” She breaks out into the largest and brightest smile I’ve seen from her yet.
Jeez, I think I felt my heart skip a beat there… or several. Oh well, nothing new there, I suppose.
Probably.
“You’re welcome! I’m glad that it helped. I was a little afraid that that little speech on having a short life would get you even more depressed.”
“Nah, it really did help there. I think you’re right about it – I’ll do my best to enjoy things from now on.”
“Good to hear, Hisao,” she says, “I hope I don’t have to see that surly face from the festival again.” I wince a little at the mention of the face I ended up seeing in the mirror when I arrived at Yamaku.
“You and me both, Saki.” She grins back at me and starts walking out the door. I smile at that.
I’ll be looking forward to next week.
***
Two weeks later, and we’ve reached the conclusion of another session of taking photos and explaining camera functions – this time, going outside to get photos of whatever took our interest. While walking all over the grounds tired me out a bit, I’m still happy about the ones we’ve taken. It’s a satisfying feeling, having lots of photos on your camera’s memory, even if not all of them are particularly good.
My near-permanent partner is probably responsible for that…
Saki has taken to sticking with me for these sessions, something that I’m more than happy to accommodate. I have no idea why she does it, but it seems like she’s got some sort of mandate to keep an eye on me, having dragged me to lunch with her and some of her friends on more than one occasion in the past fortnight. It’s almost a little disconcerting that she takes such an interest.
Not that I’m complaining at all.
The occasions where Saki has commandeered my company for lunch are welcome – she’s an easy person to talk with and she quite clearly enjoys helping me make friends within her own little clique. Even if I’ve never been the most social person, I won’t be sad to have a few more friends around Yamaku.
Suddenly, my reverie is interrupted by a certain pink-jacketed art teacher.
“Alright, then, students,” Nomiya calls out, “it appears that we’ve reached the conclusion of yet another joint session. Please make sure that you get some of those pictures printed out – I’d like to have some physical evidence of our achievements in these little lessons.” I suppose he’s right – these are more lessons than club meetings, but that doesn’t lessen my enjoyment of them any – it’s nice to be able to impart my knowledge, especially when the recipients are as ready to listen as Saki seems to be. Of course, that might just be her attempting to make me feel welcome, but it does look like she’s genuinely interested in my instruction; something that isn’t lost on my ego.
“Now, we’ll be continuing this next week, as before. It will probably be our last session, though, as I think that we have all learned everything that we will need.” Noticing Misaki’s withering look, I think she’d have a thing or two to say to Nomiya about the finer points of using a camera, but before she can say anything, Nomiya dismisses us with a wave of his hand and an absent-minded “off you go!”
Not having any reason to stay, I turn to Saki.
“So next week will be our last session, huh?” For some reason, she grins at that and I think I hear a soft giggle emerge from her lips.
“Yeah, by the looks of it. You’re looking a little depressed about that.” I suddenly feel my cheeks going red and look away. That only causes her to giggle more loudly. “What’s wrong? Is it me? Am I really-“ she moves closer and whispers in my ear, “-that important to you?” I immediately step back and look down at the floor, feeling my face go completely crimson. Apparently, my expression is hilarious, as Saki starts doubling over in fits.
“Oh god, that face is priceless!” she cries out in between bursts of laughter.
“Y-yeah, well, it’s just that… this whole thing has been sort of fun. It’s nice to actually teach people instead of just talk with people who already know what they’re doing.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” she replies, her expression softening into a normal smile, “Hey, you want to take a walk with me?”
“Huh?” I mentally stumble, not quite understanding what she’s asking. She grins again before replying.
“It’s a nice afternoon and you’re fun to talk to. It’s not a problem is it?” I breathe a small sigh of relief.
Ok, not going where I thought it was going. Good.
“No, no problem. Just thinking it over.”
“Riiight, sure you were,” she smiles knowingly, “Anyway, let’s go!”
Saki leads me out of the art room and we walk out of the main building side-by-side, exchanging idle banter as we do. It’s all inconsequential stuff, really, she goes on a little about some gossip from her friends, which I intersperse with a few questions and the occasional bad joke, which she has the curtesy to laugh at. It’s a nice day and the good weather we’ve been having recently only exacerbates the relaxed atmosphere that our conversation seems to have generated. However, the walking from earlier and the heat are starting to take their toll on me, and I start breathing heavily as we pass near the edge of the grounds. Saki frowns at me.
“Hey, you doing ok there?” She tentatively asks.
“Yeah, just a little tired is all,” I reply, sitting down on a nearby bench. She closes her eyes and nods.
“I gotcha. Heart problems, right?”
“Might be. Not in the best shape right now, either.”
“Stays in hospital tend to do that, don’t they?” I nod in reply, not really questioning how she figured it out. Guess it’s the only place I could have been after being diagnosed with a heart condition.
We sit there for a little while, mostly silent aside from a few pieces of idle chat. After about twenty minutes, I feel rested enough to stand, which Saki smiles at.
“Ready to keep going?” She says, not waiting for an answer before starting down the path. I move to follow, but she suddenly stops. Saki turns to face me, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Actually, I’ve got an idea for something to do!” She starts moving again, this time heading for the rear of the grounds and moving surprisingly quickly for someone who walks with a cane.
“Wait, where are you going?” I ask as I scramble to follow.
“You’ll see~,” she lilts over her shoulder, not even bothering to look back at the poor kid with a heart condition.
I follow her to the area around the back of the school grounds, where we pass through a gate that leads onto a dirt path through the woods behind the school. Saki starts down the path without hesitating, although moving slightly more slowly due to the less even ground. As we pass under the trees, I wonder why she decided to drag me out here.
Let’s hope that she’s not planning to feed me to the wolves that no doubt live in the forest here.
Wait, wolves are extinct in Japan, right?
She stops at the edge of the tree line and I find myself at the foot of the large hill behind the school.
“What are we doing here, Saki?” She finally turns around and flashes me a mischievous grin.
“A little challenge for both of us – climb the hill in one go!” I balk at the suggestion.
“What brought this on?” Now she looks just a little sheepish before reverting to her normal smile.
“I’ve been meaning to do this with someone for a while, but there’s nobody else I really know that can do this and understand that this can actually be hard for some of us.”
“So, essentially, you picked me because I’m unfit and you wanted somebody to make you feel better about this?” She burst out laughing again.
“Yup, more or less! So, do you accept my little dare, Mister Nakai?” I ponder it for a moment. Sure, it’s probably not the best idea I’ve ever heard – but, then again, what’s the point in even being at Yamaku if I don’t try and challenge my limits? I may only be a kid with a broken heart, but I don’t want to spend my whole life in fear of triggering my condition; if I were to do that, I’d just wrap myself in bubble wrap and hide in my room for the rest of time.
You’ve just got to make sure you do the best you can with it.
I give a single nod and grin at my partner in crime.
“Yes. I accept, Miss Enomoto.” She gives an airy laugh ad starts walking up the steep incline.
Nurse is going to flip if he finds out.
I start following Saki up the hill. Initially, there’s no problems – the weather’s fine and I can’t say that the whole thing seems too strenuous. After a few minutes, though, I can feel my legs start to ache. The sweat on my brow is starting to drip down and my chest is starting to tense up in that tell-tale way it does.
Dammit, not now.
Shrugging it off, I try and keep going. I can feel my shirt starting to stick and the school trousers feel unnecessarily heavy, but I press on. About three-quarters of the way up, however, I don’t think I can do it. I stop walking and double over, putting my hands on my knees.
Oh well, nice try, Hisao. Guess I should just lie down here and rest for a while…
“Hey, are you giving up already?”
I look up and see Saki standing a few meters ahead of me up the hill, looking back at me with a stern expression. I can see the sweat pouring down her face and she’s taken off the ribbon around her neck in order to let herself breathe more easily, but she’s still standing.
“Come on, Hisao. He who dares, wins!”
She’s not going to give up.
Why should I?
I straighten up and give it one last shot. My legs ache, my chest feels like it might give up on me and I’ll probably regret this whole-heartedly later, but I can’t give up now and let her down. I wouldn’t forgive myself.
Staggering the last few steps up the hill, I finally reach the summit. I collapse, exhausted and immediately start pawing at my chest to try and get the rhythm under control. There’s a tense few moments as my erratic heart refuses to cooperate, but the tenseness in my chest slowly subsides.
Thank god.
I can hear laughter over to my left. Sitting up, I see Saki sitting down on a rock a few feet from where I collapsed, laughing with giddy abandon.
“We did it!” She says, letting out an airy whoop for good measure before starting to pant. “Thought you were going to give out on me there, Mister Nakai.”
“I was,” I start, before stopping to pant, “but your little speech got me moving again. Where did that line come from, by the way? ‘Who dares, wins’, wasn't it?” She lets out a little giggle before replying.
“No idea! Probably just a line from a movie or something. Sounded like the right thing to say, anyway.”
“Yeah, probably.” I turn my gaze out towards the school. From here, I can just about see the other students wandering around the grounds, a few on the roof doing… something… and nobody walking this way to share in our achievements.
Or report us to the Student Council
The sun is just beginning to set over the hills in the distance, making the sky look like a sea of shimmering gold.
We stay like that for a little while, just sitting and trying to catch our breaths. Suddenly, Saki stands up and takes a few steps towards the slope we just walked up before stopping. Then she throws her arms up above her head and whoops again, laughing as though she just won the lottery.
“I fucking made it, world! How do you like me now, huh?” She shouts to the sky, a huge grin plastered across her face, whooping and cheering with the light of the sun dipping low behind the hills setting her hair on fire. I’m left speechless watching and I can feel something leaping in my heart at the sight of this girl, screaming her defiance for all the world to hear and not regretting a second of it.
Beautiful…
I suddenly remember the camera around my neck and quickly snap a picture of her.
No sense letting the moment go to waste.
Unfortunately, it looks like she heard me take the picture and turns to face me, ending the moment.
“Was that really worth wasting the memory on your camera for?” She asks, a playful smile replacing the reckless grin. I blush a little at the comment.
“I’d say so. Not every day that you see someone screaming at the top of her lungs on a random hill in the countryside.” She chuckles this time, a much softer sound compared to the defiant mirth she was unleashing just a second ago.
“Well, it looks like it’s gotten late. Guess we should head back, now.” I nod my assent and stand, following her as she starts back down the hill.
---
We don’t talk for most of the walk back to school. However, as I can just make out the fence around Yamaku through the tree line, Saki suddenly speaks up.
“You know, there’s one thing I always thought would be the ultimate test for me.” I stop for a second, puzzled.
“What do you mean?”
“One day, I’m going to climb a mountain,” She states, smiling wistfully, “It doesn’t have to be Everest or K2 or something, but I’m going to climb a mountain one day and damn any doctors who tell me I can’t do it!” I smile back at her.
“Sounds like you’ve got plans for yourself, then.” She nods.
“No point in just feeling sorry for myself. I’ll do my best to enjoy what I’ve got.” I nod, recalling her little spiel at the festival.
“Every minute is a diamond, right?” She bursts out laughing again.
“You remembered that, then?” I nod and she smiles back before starting back down the path to school.
We part at the dorms, Saki giving a little wave over her shoulder before passing through the door to the Girls’ one. I stand there for a moment, smiling to myself before heading upstairs to my own room.
After collapsing into bed, not even bothering to take off my uniform, I can feel sleep starting to drag me down almost immediately. Before I fall unconscious, though, one last thought flits through my exhausted brain.
I’ll see you at the summit of that mountain, Saki. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
*inception bwah*