Maybe Next Year
Chapter 1: An Average Day
"Congratulations Mr. Takahashi, you passed the entrance exam!" I stopped walking and looked behind me, recognizing the voice instantly. It was Mr. Akimoto my statistics teacher when I was a 1st year.
"Well what a shocker huh?" I said sarcastically and attempted to excuse myself from him, but he started to talk again.
"You didn't even check the scores again, you're just a second year Mr. Takahashi, so you shouldn't get too cocky." Mr. Akimoto warned me. The first time we met in class he said the exact same thing, well almost. He said that I shouldn't be so cocky. See not the exact same words. As soon as we first met in class I was a complete jerk. I was a smartass when I answered questions and I backed talked when he argued with me. Now he just disregards my insensitive comments and focuses on my academic skills.
"I don't need to check the scores Mr. Akimoto, I knew that I passed as soon as I came to school." I started walking to my designated classroom and Mr. Akimoto followed.
"And just how do you know that?"
I stopped and sighed looking at my wrist watch to see if I had any time to explain. Just about ten minutes. I looked around the courtyard and saw a group of girls standing in a circle talking. "Follow me and you'll find out." I said to him without looking back. He did as he was told and followed me as I started walking towards the female students.
"Cheers to you Mr. Takahashi! Once again, you are one of the best!" A girl in the group called out to me as I continued walking. I waved my hand in acknowledgement. I may be a doucehbag but that doesn't mean I haven't any manners. I just don't use them all the time.
"Oh now I see what you mean." Mr. Akimoto said as we continued walking.
"Yes, but even before I arrived at school I knew." I said.
"My goodness boy, how?"
"'Cause I'm a cocky half-demon remember?" I smirked as I watched my teacher's belly shake as he laughed.
"You took the words right out of my mouth! Well hurry and get to class Takahashi, you don't want to be late." I always wondered when Mr. Akimoto laughed if his bushy mustache tickled his lip and made him laugh more. I shook the awkward thought from my head and gave Mr. Akimoto a good three pats on the back.
"I'm already here." I said to him as I pointed to the sign above the door, A-45, my demon genetics class. "But it is you who mustn't be late Mr. Akimoto; it'll leave a bad impression on your students." I laughed at the look of realization that was planted on his face. I knew that his class room was in the math department and I purposely walked to the health and science buildings to see if he noticed how far he was from his room.
"Ahh you sly dog Takahashi, you knew that I hate being late to class, especially on the first day, so you take advantage of our conversation and lead me here." He waved his thick index finger in front of my face. I smirked and bowed to him; ending discussion we had and walked into my class room with just enough time to find a seat before the bell rang.
"Shit!" was all I heard in the hallway outside my classroom. I chuckled to myself and pulled out my notebook and pen.
My first day as a 2nd year went on as usual. Class, lecture, notes, answer, smirk, and repeat. I don't really have any friends at Keio, acquaintances yes, but friends? No. It's not like I don't want any but it's the way they treat me here. The demons are always angry with me because I'm smarter than them and that I'm a half-demon, while the humans' just use me.
The first friend I made here was a girl by the name of Kikyo. She was a cute girl and averagely smart. At first I could tell that she didn't like me. She was a 3rd year when we met and she hated my guts. We only had one class together and sadly enough we got picked for partners on a group lab assignment. She slowly started to like me when I 'showed off my brains' as she liked to say. Anyways, I was actually happy. Something inside made my stomach feel weird and that's when I found out that I liked her. It was our last day for having lab partners when I asked her if she'd go out with me on a date. She said that she'll have to think about it. Three days went by and I asked her every one of those days what her answer was. On the fourth day she stopped me and asked me, "If you're so smart you should have figured it out by now. It's a no!" She switched schools to University of Tokyo at the end of the semester.
Never have I ever been so humiliated in my life. I'm not mad that I was turned down. Heavens no. But it was the connotation of her words. She used me for my brains to ace the lab project, and then left to go to a different school. I always think back to that day. Why the hell didn't I see it? She was using me for my smarts, and I fell for her. How pathetic.
"Inuyasha, you made it!" I entered a medium sized restaurant, it was the grand opening to Tabi No Sō, or as the foreigners like to call it- The Traveling Monk. I saw my best friend, Miroku Ito standing behind a circular cherry wood counter. His hair was in its usual small ponytail but he was wearing a hairnet on his head. His blue button up shirt was rolled up passed his elbows. His white apron, filled with a verity of colorful stains, was tied around his waist and placed on his shirt was a name tag that read his name and his occupation-manager.
"Yeah I told you I'd be here." I said to him as I walked up to the wooden bar. I looked around the shop; it was quite old looking, nothing like the one on the other side of town. That shop was new and hip, granite counter tops black glittering wall paper, loud rock music. A place I'd go to if I wanted to get hammered.
"It has a really old style theme don't you think? Like something straight out of the feudal era." I asked him as he placed a cup of water in front of me. Two lemons inside, just the way I like it. I took a sip of water as he started talking.
"Well that's what I wanted! An old theme you know? I'm tired of that bar downtown; it's too loud and all. Besides I finally opened my own business!" He smiled down to me and greeted another customer as they walked into the shop.
"Yeah you got what you wanted alright. You are a chef and now you have your own culinary business to run."
"You got it buddy. Hey so how was school today, make any enemies?" He laughed as he asked me. Miroku knows that I don't make too many friends at school; he's been my friend since my 3rd year in high school. He also knows about Kikyo. After Kikyo switched schools, Miroku and his girlfriend Sango Tanaka watched the American movie, The Help. Miroku told me that he wished he saw the movie before Kikyo left because he could have made her a chocolate pie, just like Minny Jackson did. After I saw the movie I was glad that he didn't.
"It was the usual. Anyways I didn't come here to talk about my school, I came here to eat. Now feed me." I can't cook for shit. If there is one thing I can't do, it is cook. I just don't have the patients for it. My food always comes out under cooked.
Miroku laughed. "Of course you did. I would say this meal would be on the house, but I need the money to pay off the loan." I smiled at him and waved my hand. He gave me a menu and just as I was about to order I heard a huge crash and a scream.
"Ahh! Oh my gosh I am so sorry! Oh sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!" I looked down the aisle and there was a girl who looked like a waiter. The females had to wear a relatively short magenta kimono printed with white lotus flowers and a turquoise band wrapped around their waist. She was standing over a professionally dressed pig demon trying to help him up. There were five empty cups sprawled out on the floor, and there were five cups of water that drenched the demon she was helping.
"Shit!" The pig cursed. "You dumb bitch, watch where the hell you are going!" By this time Miroku was already at the scene apologizing for the accident and giving him a towel.
"You're the dumb manager right? I want you to FIRE that girl! Look what she did to my new suit! Do you have any idea on how much this cost? What if that was hot coffee or soup? FIRE HER!" The pig demon snorted at Miroku while the said girl had her hands covering her face. The man left soon after throwing the towel at Miroku. The shop was quite full mixed with demons and humans alike, but it was all quiet now. Miroku bent down to pick up the fallen cups and asked a nearby busboy to mop up the mess. He placed his hand on the girls back and took her to the employee's only area.
Miroku came back out within twenty minutes, apologizing to his customers for the ruckus and to enjoy their meals. He turned back to me and placed his elbows on the countertop and his face on his hands. A deep sigh escaped his mouth.
"So what the hell happened? Did you fire her?" I asked. I couldn't help myself. I have to know everything.
"Must you know everything?" Miroku asked as if he read my mind. I simply stared at him my eyebrow raised. He sighed again and pored himself a glass of water. No lemon for him.
"No, I didn't fire her." I was shocked to say the least. A klutzy girl like that who drenched a customer with water, which could have easily been as he said, hot coffee or soup. She wouldn't even have made it to the employee's door, if I was the manager, she would have been out the front door.
"She's been Sango's best friend since they were little. She begged me to give her a job so I hired her as a waitress."
"So what did you do?"
"There wasn't much I could do. She was bawling her eyes out and she kept apologizing to me. I told her to be more careful next time and to take the rest of the day off. She'll stay a waitress unless she messes up again. If she does then I'm demoting her to dishwasher. I can't handle her being a busboy; she'd break every dish before they got to the sink. She's a cute girl, I mean I made her hand out flyers last week and when I opened the restaurant this afternoon a bunch of men asked me if that waitress girl who gave them the flyers worked here."
Of course, a girl with looks and no brain. I learned my lesson like that in high school. Don't go out with a cute dumb girl.
"Anyways, let's get off that subject it's my opening day and I already have a complaint. And a good one at that. So what did you want to eat?" He asked me and I looked back down at my menu.
"I want that Yakitori Don and Takoyaki." I said giving him back the menu.
Miroku nodded and said "You got it!" He went to the backroom where the kitchen was. "Aye, Cho, I need Yakitori Don and Takoyaki!" I heard Miroku yell to his chefs, he came back to me a few minutes later with two cups of amazake.
"Dessert first?" I asked him.
"Why not? I need a good sugar high anyways." It was true; Miroku can't hold his sugar too well. He gets extremely hyper just by eating Kasugai Litchi.
The rest of the day we drank and celebrated the opening of Miroku's dream restaurant. Sango even came by later to have a few rounds and to help her boyfriend close the shop. That night was one of the best that I had in a while. There was no questions to answer and to tests to take. Just a pure night with friends drinking and eating without a care in the world. After I got back home in my one-bedroom apartment I bathed and laid down on my bed. Throughout the whole night I couldn't stop thinking. It wasn't a bad thing, but that klutz had been on my mind since Miroku told me about her. It was starting to get annoying.