If you listen hard enough
Chapter Two
Thursday, 24th April, 2008
The idea to start tutoring people in maths, science and English had come from the kindly teacher who had allowed the sisters to stay with her for a little while after Taniyama Erika had passed on. Torao was always helping Mai with the subjects she didn't get, though the exchange went both ways – Mai excelled (compared to her sister) at Japanese and Home Economics.
The idea of tutoring students from surrounding schools had come from Torao's friend Fusao during a break from kendo. A lot of the students who did sports often found that they started to lag behind in some of the harder subjects – science and English studies, predominantly. Charging them only one hundred yen (A/N, roughly $1.06 AUD, $0.84 USD) per half hour, at the end of the week, after taking on more than twenty students, some for more than half an hour, she'd made about two thousand yen on average, most of which would then go to covering the costs of her kendo classes. Anything left over often went into a separate account to accrue – it was for their university fund.
To be honest, Torao did feel guilty over her sister. Sometimes Mai would come to the tutoring too, even if it was just to spend time with her sister, but lately she'd started to spend more time with her friends, telling ghost stories. So long as her sister was happy, Torao didn't mind, though she had warned Mai about the consequences of too many ghost stories and hyped up emotions. Torao doubted Mai had listened, on that occasion.
She had waved to her sister after class, leaving Mai with Keiko and Michiru, before meeting and walking with Fusao from the front gate of her school to their Dojo, which was only a few blocks away. The day had followed its normal routine after that: they had dressed into their armour and gone through multiple bouts in preparation for an upcoming tournament (most of which Torao won in her section). Following that, she had walked part of the way home with Fusao, laughing together over stories he had to share about his eccentric cousin, Osamu. In the park, the midway point between their two apartments, Torao had helped him with his Science homework, before they finally said goodbye, each heading home for dinner.
It was around about there that things started to get a little strange.
"Tadaima!" Torao called, stepping into the apartment. "Mai?" She called again with her socks half off, not hearing her sister's reply. "Oi, Mai?" She walked further into the apartment.
…
Torao stared at her sister, bustling around the kitchen with a fierce scowl on her face, muttering about a boy.
"Mai? Are you ok?" Torao asked carefully, only to start slightly when her sister slammed the pot of rice on the table.
"I'm fine!" She exclaimed loudly.
"If you're sure…" Torao sweatdropped. "How did the stories go?"
The (rather wonky-looking) sushi was also slammed on the table. "Fine!" Mai snapped again. "It was all going great! And then that stupid, good-looking liar came and made everyone all silly!"
Torao blinked. "Good-looking liar?"
"Some exchange student called Shibuya," Mai growled. "He was really tall, with a face that shouldn't be that beautiful! He scared us at the end of the story-telling, and then he goes and asks if he can join in the next time we tell stories. He smiled, but he was lying! And that Michiru and Keiko – they only go for a pretty face, so now we're telling stories with him tomorrow!"
Torao couldn't help it – she laughed. "Ah, Mai!' She exclaimed cheerfully, reaching over and ruffling her sister's hair. "Don't ever change, ok?"
Mai's pout twitched into something of a smile. "I sounded a bit like an idiot then, didn't I?" She asked with a chuckle.
"Just a little bit," Torao smiled back. "But it's ok, you're all the more endearing for it. Come on, your yummy food is going to go off."
Mai gasped. "You're right! Itadakimasu!"