A/N: I lied. HAHAHA. This just kept nagging at me, so I just wrote it. This story overlaps with the first chapter, although told from the point of view of Noriko's roommate, Kate. Kate Brandt and the Brandt family are my little characters. They're cute :) Many instances in this story are from the first chapter, but I just thought it would be interesting to view Noriko from the outside. I may write one last chapter from Shimako's point of view, I dunno. We'll see.
Okay, enjoy kids!
I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend
You could cut ties from all the lies
that you've been living in
--Jumper, Third Eye Blind
A tired song keeps playing
On the tired radio
You could hide beside me
Maybe for a while
And I won't tell no one your name
--Name, Goo Goo Dolls
"Kate! I wanna see!"
"Andrew, shut up."
"MOOMMMMMMM, Kate told me to shut up."
Kate glared at her twelve year old brother as her mom chastised her from the kitchen downstairs.
"Ooh. I wanna see too!"
"Oh my gosh," Kate turned to her younger sister, who was two years younger than her, "not you too, Spencer."
Kate's younger siblings continued to pester her—Andrew, being the unusually tall twelve year old that he was, locked his oldest sister in a bear hug while signaling Spencer the go sign. The younger girl hurriedly scrolled through the pictures.
Kate sighed in defeat. When did these two, who used to hate each other, start ganging up to make fun of their beloved older sister? She shook her head and smiled at nothing in particular. She knew this was their way of coping with the fact that their Kate was going to be gone soon—off to college, and, soon, the real world. They knew that despite Kate being home for breaks and summer vacation, she was never going to come back and live there anymore. It was the end of this phase of their life, no matter how they looked at it. That was why Kate let the two scoundrels tickle her and embarrass her and harangue her. This was a celebration of an end and of a beginning.
"What exactly is going on here?"
The three Brandt children turned to the door in unison, where they saw their mom and dad looking at them with confused looks.
"Oh," Andrew started, "we were just showing Kate how much we love her."
"And we're also stalking her roommate."
Kate saw the light bulbs go off in her parents' eyes. It was over. Before she knew it, the two of them were hovering over Kate's laptop, as childish as their two children.
"Is that her? She looks like such a sweet and nice girl."
"She's an international student isn't she? Why don't you bring her home for Thanksgiving?"
Kate would have smacked her head if she could, but her arms were still slowly losing blood from Andrew's death grip.
"Okay, OKAY," Kate started, glaring at her brother to make him let go. He laughed nervously and let go. Despite being a head taller than his oldest sister, there was no denying that Andrew was still scared of his sisters.
"Stop harassing me. I'll show you the pictures and the whole enchilada."
Kate looked around at her family as they crowded around her and almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. Shaking her head, she pulled up the pictures her assigned roommate, Noriko Nijou, sent her in their daily emails.
Kate Brandt applied for housing late. She also applied for financial aid late.
It wasn't that she was a procrastinator (well, she is).
She was accepted to an Ivy League school, and till the last minute she and her family fought for it with all that she had. In the end, they simply couldn't afford it. With Spencer going to college in two years, and with Andrew still up, there was no way.
That was one of the first few times that Kate realized how unfair life was. The perfect bubble that she lived in burst before her eyes in a split second. It made her sad to know that life was more than who she was.
She hated the school she had to go to now. Hated it. And when she found out that because she applied to housing late she might be placed in temporary housing, she hated it even more.
But then, one sunny June morning, she opened her email account and found an email from a certain Noriko Nijou—her assigned roommate.
That started their daily ritual. Kate would check her email in the morning and reply to Noriko's email, who in turn would reply during the night, when it was morning in Japan. Their emails were pretty interesting, and filled with very thoughtful and intelligent conversation. They talked about everything: religion, life, their majors, ice cream and food, their different cultures and lifestyles, their schools, families and friends, their plans for the future—everything. Kate had been obsessed with Japan ever since her trip to Ritsmeikan High School in Japan for the International Student Science Fair. How lucky was she to be assigned to an international Japanese student?
And Noriko was actually a really cool person, at least from her emails. She was undoubtedly intelligent, but she was also funny on the side. Kate was expecting a demure girl, but Noriko was incredibly open-minded and she spoke her mind. She seemed to have a borderline obsession with Buddhism, which was great, since Kate was looking into learning about different religions when school started.
Before Kate knew it, she started looking forward to going to this school. She actually found herself dragging her mother around to go dorm shopping.
She bought Noriko a snow globe of the city of Chicago and Chicago Bears jersey, and Noriko promised to bring her something authentically Japanese, not like the souvenir-y things Kate got when she went to Japan.
Tilting the snow globe upside down, Kate watched the fake snow descend on the city, hoping that Noriko would like her present.
Noriko was a hit with Kate's family. She had the slightest Japanese accent, but her English was perfect otherwise. She said her school emphasized learning the English language well. She bowed a little when Kate and her family walked into the dorm on move in day, and later she told Kate that it was hard to shake the habit off. Kate's mother was overcome at the sight of the bowing Noriko and she almost hugged the girl, were it not for Kate yanking her away and giving her the eye.
Noriko had arrived a day earlier, and when Kate arrived, she couldn't help but kick the door open to scream "NORIKO-CHAN!!!" as she said she would in her emails. Noriko laughed out loud and called out to Kate. Noriko helped Kate and her family move all of her stuff that they crammed in the family van (the tank, as Andrew dubbed it). They had laughs as Noriko and Kate switched off telling each other funny stories.
When they were all settled in, Kate's family dragged Noriko, despite her insistence, out to lunch with them. They went to the local Wal-Mart and bought more supplies. Kate's dad saw Noriko looking at the bikes, which Kate knew was a big mistake. Her dad was an intense biker, and she knew he would not leave Noriko alone now that she showed the slightest bit of interest in biking. Prepared to save Noriko, Kate went up to the two of them. She saw, however, that Noriko was actually listening intently and that in the end, with the help of Kate's dad, she decided to buy a bike to help her get around the acres and acres of campus.
Before leaving, Kate's mother insisted that she take a picture of the two roommates. Kate could feel a vein popping, but she relented, knowing that her parents were trying their hardest to hold it all in as they let their oldest child, their baby, go.
Holding up peace signs next to the room number on their door, Noriko and Kate took their first picture together.
"Hey, look!"
"Hmm?"
"It's our first picture together! From our freshman year"
"What? Where did you find it?"
"Inside my lovely 'Kate's box of memories.'"
"Haha. Seriously, Kate? You have a box of memories."
"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. Stop hating. You're just jealous."
"Uh-huh."
"I'm going to frame it!"
"Haha. Okay, then make me a copy."
"Awwwwww. You want a copy? I'm going to commemorate this day on our friendship calendar!"
Kate laughed after recalling the conversation she had with Noriko earlier that week. It was the beginning of junior year, and it was her third year rooming with Noriko, who had now become one of her good friends.
Closing her book, Kate leaned back on the tree and took the music in. She was listening to her iPod while enjoying the lovely autumn day on the quad. Everyone was rushing to get to class, but Kate had an hour until her next class, so she decided to sit down and enjoy the atmosphere. There was a guy wearing his lab coat and goggles running on the grass to avoid the crowds, a girl on a fluorescent pink bike nearly ran over two chatty girls who weren't paying attention, and group of friends were throwing Frisbees to each other. She loved this university. She couldn't imagine herself anywhere else.
Noriko had a box too. She couldn't fool Kate.
Underneath her desk, Kate knew Noriko kept a black box. She had paper cranes in it (she had a habit of folding the newspapers she and Kate read into paper cranes, it was her idea of recycling) and Kate was also sure that she had a picture in it, and a bunch of rosaries.
Something was up. No, scratch that, something's always been up.
Noriko would sometimes stare outside the window, at nothing in particular. She got particularly quiet every time Kate tried to drag her ice skating, and she had never gone back to Japan. Not even once. She spent most of her time during breaks and vacations researching or travelling abroad and across America or visiting Kate's family.
Noriko also had a habit of turning her alarm off every morning and just letting herself hang halfway off of her lofted bed. It had become a gag reel now, a habit between the two friends. Kate would say something clever about head injuries to Noriko, who still got scared after three years of living with Kate. She was in such deep thought every single time, as if she had the world on her shoulders, and Kate could only imagine what Noriko was thinking about.
Once, when they were cleaning, Noriko knocked her box over and the contents spilled out. Always the slow one, Kate didn't notice until a picture flew to her feet. Looking down, she picked up the picture and saw Noriko with another girl. They were both wearing dark colored school uniforms and they were both smiling like nothing else mattered in the world. Noriko had longer hair in the picture, and the other girl had wavy brown hair. Kate only had a few seconds to ponder about who the girl was and why she had brown hair when she was Asian (Kate can be random at times) before Noriko called her name.
"Kate?"
"Huh?"
"The picture?"
"…Oh. Oh yeah, here, sorry."
"Thank you."
"So…who is she? I don't think you've mentioned her before."
Kate didn't mean to pry, but she had to do something. Noriko was losing whatever internal battle she was waging, and Kate felt instinctively that this may be a step towards the right direction.
"Oh, uhm, she was a friend. But that's all in the past now."
Kate merely nodded, and deciding to change the topic she perked up.
"Gee, look at you rocking those bangs. I never would have thought that you had your hair Lady GaGa style."
"Hahaha. Wow. I have never heard that one before."
Something had always been up, and Kate couldn't help but be sad that she couldn't do anything about it.
"I cannot believe people sometimes. How can some people be so self absorbed and so inconsiderate and just plain stupid?"
"What's with the self-righteous, self-satisfied indignation?"
Noriko's eyes narrowed. Whoops. Kate quickly grabbed her slice of strawberry cake to pacify her friend.
"Cake?"
Her question momentarily halted Noriko, who stared at the strawberry cake. Kate forgot that Noriko was strangely anti strawberry cake. No clue why. She put the cake down and waited for Noriko to finish.
"Someone decided to lock their bike on mine at the bike racks this morning."
"Maybe they were just in a hurry and they failed to notice. The person will probably remove it by tomorrow."
"They better."
Kate knew that Noriko was not going to go home for Christmas break. She never did. Freshman year, she studied abroad for a month in Italy, and sophomore year she stayed in campus to do some research. Kate was going to change all that this year. She couldn't just stand by anymore.
"Are you staying here for winter break again?"
Noriko had saved her before—she had saved Kate from hating the world and life for snatching away what Kate then thought was her future, her Ivy League ticket to the world. She helped Kate realize that she had to make the most of what she had, which was a lot in comparison to the many unfortunate people in other parts of the world, and just keep moving forward with it. Kate realized that everything happened for a reason and that in the end, it was all going to work out. Kate owed it to Noriko.
"Yeah."
"Well, you should come home with me! I know going back to Japan may seem like a hassle, so why not come spend the holidays with me and my family? I promise they're not as crazy as me."
"No one can be crazier than you, Kate."
"Hey!"
"Thank you Kate, I think I would like that."
"Perfect!"
Hiding her right hand behind her back, Kate had her fingers crossed the entire time.
Kate was walking back to the dorms after her four hour lab class when she saw Noriko standing by the bike racks, staring at nothing in particular. She absent mindedly replied to Kate's "Hey, what's up?" before turning around to go back inside. Following suit, Kate waited for her friend to talk about what just happened.
Apparently, the bike owner was a girl (what? Just because it was pink didn't automatically make the owner a girl). A dead girl, to be exact.
It was daunting, to say the least. It kind of freaked Kate out, but she knew that Noriko was going through something else. Her Japanese friend was moved by what just happened—about the fleeting and fading sense of life.
And when Noriko turned and told Kate that she wouldn't be joining her family this Christmas season, Kate knew that Noriko won. Kate knew that Noriko won the internal battle, and that for the first time in three years, she was going home to face what she was running from.
Perhaps it was the lesson about life's fragility that woke Noriko up. Whatever it was, Kate was glad. This was a fresh beginning for Noriko, who had a bright future ahead of her, and she could not be happier for her friend.
Tearing up a little, Kate hurriedly made her way to her closet to hide that she was wiping her eyes. She pulled out a metallic silver envelope with a gold bow on it. There was a small piece of paper attached to it—one of the tea bag papers that Kate collected. The papers on the end of the tea bag strings in their dorm had quotes on them. This one read:
"Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit"
--Henry David Thoreau
There was also a card with Kate's miniscule hand writing scrawled all over it.
Noriko,
I lied. You're not welcome at my house this year. You're being mean :P
Take these instead.
Merry Christmas!
Wishing you all the happiness in the world,
Kate :)
"In that case here is your Christmas present…Now, where's mine?"
"Hahaha."
Kate was never planning on taking Noriko home with her for Christmas. Unbeknownst to Noriko, Kate had bought her round trip first class tickets to Tokyo for Christmas.
Lugging her clothes back to her room, Kate dodged all the students returning to the dorms after winter break. She was dead set against using the elevator—she firmly believed that the only reason she did not gain the freshman fifteen was because she always took the stairs to her floor.
Opening the door, Kate found Noriko unpacking.
"Hello, sunshine."
"Hello, you creep."
Laughing, Kate put her bag down and hugged Noriko. Noriko went back to unpacking and Kate hauled her duffel bag over to her closet. She babbled about the amazing stock of Japanese food that Noriko brought back with her from the motherland, jokingly referring to Japan.
"Hey, Kate?"
"Hmm?" Kate said without turning round.
"Thank you."
Looking over her shoulder, Kate saw that Noriko still had her back to her while she unpacked. Kate also saw that the old picture that Noriko kept in her box was now framed, sitting on Noriko's desk right next to the framed picture of Noriko and Kate that Kate's mother took when they met for the first time. The girl with wavy brown hair smiled softly at Kate, and so did teenage Noriko, her eyes seemingly brighter than before.
"No, thank you."
