Retracing the Shorelines
Disclaimer: I don't own SD boys, Inoue does. The events that follow are not included in the original plot but enjoy anyway.
Summary: AU. When Rukawa Kaede enters Kanagawa High, a prestigious institution for boys, his only dream was to possess a life of his own. Then he meets and unexpectedly befriends the eccentric and charming Mitsui Hisashi, and his world shifts, complicates, and swings out of its orbit. It would be too late when he realizes that neither Mitsui, nor Mitsui's best friend Sendoh Akira, could save him. MitRuMit, SenRuSen. On-going.
Note: This fic was written on crack. Trust me. I'm not sure if you'd buy the whole concept of an improvised context, but this is just as creative as I could get. It's loosely based on Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, which is the best novel I've read this year. Though this cannot possibly inherit Waugh's brilliance, which is my only warning, in which case do see through the idiocy of the characterization and focus on the plot instead. I'd be very glad if you do. That's all.
Prologue: These Ghosts
If words were to be revived the moment they die in my throat, even I wouldn't be able to tell if they really came from me. I got too accustomed to not thinking prior to doing things that at times it makes me wonder if the art of decision-making has any hand in any of my successes. At this stage, I'd still tell anyone who bothers to ask that luck never quite left my side, and believe it myself with all the contents of my adult heart.
For the same reason, I'm strolling on these grounds whose last glimpse at the sunlight seemed to have been marked at a decade ago at the very least. The soil cakes around my soles with each step I take, producing a squeezing sound that pretty much resembles the squeak of a piece of rubber skidding on a glass pane. I trod the cobbled steps toward the second building from the north, or what used to be the second building, the first one having been effaced from the map two days back. The multi-million dollar cranes, bulldozers, and manpower that had been responsible for such a large-scale destruction still rest around the vicinity, guilt-free. What was left of the walls, the blocks that used to build it, are rubbles, dust-ridden rubbles whose forms would henceforward remain as indistinct as the materials that make up the earth, until they crumble to nothing.
"Architect Rukawa, the room on the third floor would serve as our quarters for the time being. The men have set up the necessities and the instructions you'd be needing for the demolition of the old cafeteria are kept inside one of the bureaus. Shigeru will take care of the rest."
"Thank you. I'll be on my way."
"Yes, and there's coffee at the pantry, sir. It's already about lunchtime so the workers might be joining us."
"Maybe later. Thanks again."
Declining, I continued my way inside the building. The double doors have been removed to facilitate the mobilization of things, the window glasses have all been taken off as well to be delivered to some recycling house a few miles into civilization. But even with these considerations, little light is permitted to enter the desolate expanse. The structure is practically empty inside out; the walls are peeled, the chandeliers perhaps stolen, and the furniture… who knows about the destiny of those poor things? The entrance opens into a hall, where in the center a wide staircase is spread. The whole scenery gives off an air of a former, long-lost or otherwise abandoned grandeur. Life has taken flight from this place a long time ago, I could tell. I climbed the stairs and wended my way to the newly assigned "quarters". Far off the distance, labor seems to have ceased altogether, coveted by merry laughter which indicates break time. Indeed.
I came face to face with our quarters' door. On it, a makeshift sign that reads "Arch. Rukawa Kaede" hangs sloppily, covering a rectangular steel-plate that bears the name of the rightful owner of the office. I didn't bother looking at it. The door creaks open before I get to twist the doorknob.
"Architect Rukawa! You gave me a fright." My secretary, Mimasaka Shigeru, gasped, blushing.
"That's my line." I said; she frowned. "Anyway, are my things all in there?"
"Yes. Why don't you take a peek, sir? I was just about to dash outside and search for you. I figured you might've wanted to take a look around the place before you, er, completely blow it up."
"You guessed right."
She held the door open for me. Inside, a barren, 20 by 25 quadrangle greeted me. This, alone of all the rooms I have surveyed on these grounds, does not reek of vandalism. An old-fashioned mahogany desk stands at the far end, replete with a recently dusted lazy boy, a master's chair, few pieces of old potteries, and an emptied book shelf. The yellowed walls that used to carry magnificent paintings are spotted, irregularly brushed, in total contrast to the blackened floor stained by shoeprints of all shapes, sizes, and colors constantly coming in and out of the room. So many people used to be here; even a million strokes of the mop can never conceal that fact. I drew closer to my main workplace: The desk, the extravagantly majestic desk. It might've belonged to a king before, who got tired of it, decided to donate it to whatever institution this place was for, and forgot about it soon as he got a flashier one. Probably ivory. It sits here now, without the prospect of a more affectionate treatment after years of uncomplaining service, doomed to be unrewarded just the same. I almost laughed at myself for all these thoughts.
Back in the real world, Shigeru has apparently done a fine job of lining up all the papers I need in correct order. Something caught my eye just then.
"I couldn't find anything decent for a paperweight, so I just picked up that old rusty thing from the drawer and thought it quite perfect for the purpose." Shigeru explained.
I held the "paperweight" to my eye level, gradually twisting it around as if to study its features. It's a tiny trophy that has lost its glitter through harsh and barren weather, through abandonment. Amidst the rust, some of the golden spots linger, emitting a rank iron-like odor, its details nearly entirely erased. If one looks closely, he would see a sketched-out date on it: fifteen years ago. I wrinkled my forehead, unmoving. A sudden melancholy pang coursed through my system as the wind around me suddenly chilled. Shigeru went on.
"It's a rather uninteresting prospect for an archeologist. More than ten years ago some group of guys won an inter-dormitory competition and got this for a prize. Some guy, maybe he's the head of the dorm, kept it as a memento. It might've been sitting in its cage ever since, never displayed."
"Perhaps." I replied. I stood stock-still, my breath shallow, only vaguely catching the environment that a while ago just seemed to absorb my undivided attention. Lost years that didn't seem to occupy any space in my memory begin to wheel in, leaving me vulnerable to unpleasant, sublime recollections. I clung even more tightly to the trophy.
"Well…" Shigeru forced what must be a vain effort to further fill me in about the history of the piece. I didn't need to stare at her twice to tell that she found it quite strange that I should take an interest in such a tiny, inconsequential thing. "It actually says there that Shohoku Dormitory became champions of that contest about fifteen years ago. Judging from some of the papers here that were left by the former occupant, their prefect was--"
"Akagi. Akagi Takenori." I finished the sentence for her. She looked at me with an even more puzzled expression.
Our prefect was Akagi Takenori and he used to take up this room as his office. This place, Kanagawa School for Boys, would constitute an entire lifetime of happiness and disgrace, pain and glory, decadence and victory … and this room was where Akagi realized that I pretty much spelled trouble at first sight. I was taken in as a member of the Shohoku Dormitory in spite of just barely cutting through the initiation rites. Akagi right away sniffed that I wouldn't count for much, either as an asset or a functionary, but he let me through all the same. Whether it was pity, consideration, or disgust, I didn't learn what his reasons or motives were, their nature and their cause. All I understood is that, I'd be relatively freer to take the reins from then on and run my own life, away from the family that was never really there, away from a world that never received anything from me but scorn itself. I found a new home in this place in a manner of speaking, a form of independence that would become too much for me to handle with any grace. It would be much, much later when I realized that I owed Akagi-sempai a lot.
I look around me once again, as if to view the same things with a different pair of eyeglasses this time around. The barrenness departs from the place and a new light, fresh and alive, casts itself on the dreary clutter. Outside, the sky takes on a new identity; the winds hum with a far finer melody than before, echoing, it seems, from my younger eras. These buildings I'm tearing down suddenly reintroduce themselves to me, each of them notably familiar, beautiful in its own right, immune to calamities, bound to withstand changes, to remain forever, and haunt me ultimately, mercilessly. And this one, the Shohoku Dormitory, lashes vengefully at me as it stands more relentlessly solid than the rest, most eager in throwing back the past to me as though it no longer has anything to do with it.
Those years were long eaten by the incoming ones to never leave any mark of their darkness and joy until I came to stand here now. Up to then I never realized that when it really comes down to it, there's no swimming against this deluge. Kanagawa High embodies my adolescence and would go on to shape me, raise me, chase me to each corner of my personhood. I am Kanagawa High; destroying it with my hammers and trucks, or shattering its foundations with my giant spades, would never do to prevent these memories and defend me from the ache of old scars.
"Shigeru, I know this place. It used to be called Kanagawa School for Boys, and it taught me everything." I said quietly after a long and awkward spell.
Time has arrived for me to come back here, after all.
TBC