Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Skye. Nothing else in this story is mine…not even that anime DVD from a while ago…that was just imaginary…And I don't own Borders.
Gah, I'm so bored and I think I'm getting sick…like…with sickness DX I was so bored and sick-feeling that I decided to write this…moooo… And it's December 14, 2007…just to give you an idea of how lazy I've been lately;
Blah blah blah I'm so bored and if you're still reading this and not reading the story yet then you must be bored too! XD
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Communicating was not as difficult as I thought it would be. It was even more difficult.
On top of being unable to speak or understand anybody, there was also the problem of being completely illiterate in Japanese. There were certain characters that I could recognize because they had been in anime names before, but Katsumi, Kira and I couldn't read any actual words.
"So, are you transfer students?" Mion asked while I was busy studying a sign with one familiar character in it.
"Huh?" I said, jumping and looking up at her. Waaay up at her, since I'm kinda small.
"Well, you're obviously not from Japan," she said, looking waaay down at me. I felt even smaller than I actually was. "Are you foreign transfer students? I didn't know our school let transfer students in this late in the year."
I don't know if it does either! I thought frantically. If it didn't, how could we explain our reason (or lack thereof) of being here?
"I-" I started, but was cut off by Katsumi.
"No, we're not transfer students, formally, at least," Katsumi said. "We recently moved here from the United States. Do you think that your school will let us transfer in?"
"I don't know. If not this year, definitely next!" Mion said cheerily. She and Katsumi started to chat pleasantly while I slowly inched away, awed that Katsumi could carry on friendly conversation with a Keiichi-killer-to-be.
I shifted uncomfortably and shuffled towards Kira, who was walking along quietly. The whole situation was very awkward. Everyone felt our presence, yet didn't know what to say.
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I sighed instead and decided to concentrate on walking, but soon felt something tugging on my sleeve. I looked down and saw Rika was there, looking concerned.
"Nipa!" she said, when she had my attention, and pulled my face into a smile. Any uneasiness I had felt before melted away, and I laughed, saying "Nipa!" through giggles.
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"Well, this is it," Mion said, gesturing toward the school. It looked exactly like it did in the anime, and I struggled to contain my excitement.
"I'll go ask Chie-sensei if you can join our class," Mion said, running into the building while shouting something in Japanese over her shoulder.
"Mi!" Rika squealed in response, then grabbed Kira's sleeve and half-drabbed her into the building. Kira screamed something about "THE CUTENESS, IT BURNS!" but allowed herself to be led inside anyway. Rena and Katsumi followed.
Keiichi started to follow, then realized I was not moving. He stopped and turned around, and our eyes met. I looked at him, taking in every detail of his face, his hair, his clothes, everything. There was something about him that made me automatically trust and like him, something about him that made me really not want him to die. Well, I didn't want anyone to die, but him in particular.
On impulse, I skipped forward, grabbed his arm, and pulled him towards the building, feeling suddenly very, very hyper.
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I groaned, staring at the piece of paper before me. Chie-sensei was happy to let us join her class, and her welcome gift to us was a math test. I looked over at Katsumi and Kira, who had already finished their tests. How did they do it?
Chie-sensei called out something in Japanese that apparently meant something along the lines of "pencils down," as everyone was putting down their pencils. She started collecting the tests, still talking, and Mion explained that she was saying that we could pick up our tests at the end of the day.
The end of the day could not come soon enough. Lessons passed in a blur, and by the time the last bell rang, I was ready die. Academically, not physically, just to be clear.
My returned math test sported an 85 percent- not the percent I was wishing for, but at least I had passed. Shrugging, I sat down next to Katsumi and Kira, who were chatting with Mion while Keiichi and the other non-English speaking people were talking amongst themselves.
"How did you do?" Kira asked, looking over her test.
"85." I sighed, flipping through mine. "It's hard to do when it's all in a different language."
"Huh?" Katsumi said, looking up from her test. "What do you mean?"
"Katsumi-chan and I both got perfect 100s," Kira explained, holding up her test.
"But…how…?"
"Math is math, no matter what language it's in," Katsumi said, holding up her test. "It's just numbers."
"How are you people so smart?" I groaned, while Katsumi, Kira, and Mion (why Mion too…?) laughed.
"I'm sure you'll get it eventually," Mion said. "By the way, would you like to join our club? We were only going to let Kei-chan join today, but we could let you join if you want."
So this IS the first arc, I thought. "Okay, sure, we'd love to-"
"Sorry, we've got something to do today," Kira said, grabbing my arm in an offhand way of suggesting that we had to leave. I was bewildered. What did we have to do?
Katsumi looked confused too, but quickly caught on. "Yeah," she said. "Sorry, maybe another time."
"Oh, that's fine," Mion said, then quickly explained to her friends in Japanese. "See you tomorrow!"
"Bye!" Katsumi and Kira said, waving goodbye while dragging me away.
--
"So what exactly are we doing?" I asked. Kira, Katsumi and I were walking along the path home.
"Katsumi-chan and I were discussing some stuff when we finished the math test early," Kira said, and I grumbled about the math test. "We decided that before we do anything else, we have to learn to speak Japanese."
"Why?" I asked. "I mean, we seem to be getting along well enough with Mion. Why do we have to bother?"
Kira gave me the "look." "Why does a fish have to learn how to swim?" she asked.
"'Cause it does?"
"No, you idiot, because it needs to survive. And we have to learn Japanese to survive here. If Rena-san comes after us with a cleaver, how can we call for help?"
"We won't be able to protect ourselves, let along Keiichi-san," Katsumi added.
"Okay, okay, I get it. So how exactly are we going to learn Japanese?"
"I bought one of those Learn Japanese in a Short Amount of Time books at Borders back before…this…thing…happened.," Kira said. "But there's only one, so we'll have to share."
"Instead of us learning Japanese, why can't they learn English?" I grumbled under my breath, but was silently agreeing.
--
"Katsumi-chan, look!" I said, pointing. Kira had been studying for several hours straight, refusing to share the book with Katsumi when asked. "Kira-chan fell asleep…again."
"Well, it is midnight. She's been studying since we got home." Katsumi, who had been sitting on a pillow, stood up and gently removed the book from Kira's hands. "I guess she fell asleep because she's so small. Now we can finally use the book."
Kira frowned and stirred in her sleep, but didn't wake up.
Katsumi leafed through the Learn Japanese in a Short Amount of Time book, then stopped on one page in awe. "Looks like we're going to have to rely on Mion and Kira for communications," she said.
"Why?" I asked. "Is there something wrong with the book?"
"Well, not wrong, per say, but it's all in Russian and Japanese," Katsumi said. "I guess that's why she wouldn't let us borrow it. It wouldn't have been any use anyway."
I flopped down onto the tatami mat. "Well, that sucks. I'm going to bed."
"Goodnight," Katsumi said, opening the Learn Japanese in a Short Amount of Time book to page one and trying to read.
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If you thought that this chapter was boring, you're probably right, but keep reading and trust me that it will get better. If you thought that any honorific titles were incorrectly used, please tell me, I'm always looking to better my very limited not-Japanese.
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Review Answers
Teh Future Mrs. Kyo Sohma- YEEESSS! That's exactly the response I wanted for that line! Yay, you've totally made my day!
Ayumi Elric- Inspired by Reincarnations, not exactly based on it. Still, if it wasn't for you, this would never have happened. If this turns out to be really bad, you're probably gonna regret writing Reincarnations XD; So, that's why I have to make it good! XD
Kira35- Alright, alright, I'm writing, see? Seeeee? Can you see my fingers moving over the keyboard? ME WRITE!