A few days later
His alarm clock had been going off for nearly fifteen minutes now. Previously, LalaLulu's voice had needed to only play through once or twice before Izumi awoke and shut it off. It repeated over and over, the same tone, the same words. It was a miracle that he was sleeping through it. He slept so soundly curled around his LalaLulu body pillow, so sucked into his dreams that he couldn't hear the real world calling for him.
Rei had lost some of his patience at the delay in Izumi waking up. He rapped a knuckle on the door for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. "Izumi-san! It's morning! Do you want to be late for class?" He tried to shout through the door, but felt drowned out by the wood and the chipper voice spouting from the alarm clock. He paused for some form of confirmation that Izumi had woken up but none came.
His patience having finally run out, he slammed open the door. "Izumi! Wake up!"
Finally the boy responded, waking up groggily and turning off the alarm. After setting on his glasses, he blinked blearily at the time displayed. His mind snapped awake at once upon realizing what time it was. "Is it this late already?!" He asked in disbelief.
Rei had automatically moved to the closet where he was tossing out clothes for Izumi to wear.
"Why didn't you wake me up?!" Izumi demanded as he pulled on each article of clothing.
"I tried more than once!" Rei retorted.
As Izumi pulled on his shoes downstairs near the front door, Rei continued to reprimand him. "You've been oversleeping lately. What are you doing up so late every night?"
"What am I doing? I'm drawing manga!" Izumi said proudly.
Rei seemed nonplussed by the response. He reached into his pocket and held out an item. "In any case, Izumi-san, do you know what this is?" He held the small yellow-blue hued marble in his hand. "The housekeeper, Ichihara-san, found it while she was doing the laundry."
Izumi stared in wide-eyed surprise at the marble. "I forgot about that! It's a good luck charm I borrowed from Nishihara!"
"Good luck charm?" Rei echoed. "It looks like an ordinary glass marble to me," he held it up between is fingers to look at it against a light source. "There's even a crack in it."
Izumi took the marble and looked at it for himself. "A crack? No way." Rei was correct, atop the blue hued part of the marble there was a small hairline crack. "It must have happened when I dropped it before.." He concluded, disheartened. As he gripped the marble, it slipped from his fingers and hit the floor, ricocheting around the small entrance area several times before crawling to a stop, covered in scratches and cracks.
"Ah!" Izumi screamed as he picked it up carefully in both hands. "Wh-what do I do now?!"
Nishihara had been so kind to give him the marble, when it had belonged to her grandmother. He had promised her he would take care of it and now it's had been less than a week and it was already broken. She had been such a gentle person before, if she found out he had broken it, would she be angry? He felt a shiver rush through his body at the thought of Nishihara being angry...
"R-Rei, you couldn't go and apologize to Nishihara, could you?" He stammered. "If I went... I'd probably die."
Rei looked unimpressed by Izumi's reaction. He pushed up the frame of his glasses. "Is that the sort of person you want to be? Wouldn't someone on the path towards respectable adulthood own up to his mistakes honestly and apologize? Izumi-san, if you continue to simply run away from anything painful or unpleasant, you will never become the kind of manga artist you hope to be."
His words rang true. As much as he hated it, it wouldn't be right for anyone else to confess to the situation. "Y-you're right. How do you think I should apologize? By kneeling down?"
"You don't need to make it such a complex matter. First and foremost, you need to go find a glass marble that looks like this one."
"Eh?"
"If you return it with a guiltless expression, you should be fine."
"Eh?! What happened to the path to adulthood?!"
Rei acted as if this were some advice handed down by the gods themselves. "This is what's called 'worldly wisdom.' It is a necessity for navigating the real world smoothly."
"Adults are..."
"Do you have a better idea? Then do as I say!"
"R-roger!" Izumi agreed, taking his advice to heart before leaving the house.
"He didn't have to take the situation so seriously... He really is still a child." Rei remarked in the emptiness of the entrance way. The marble had been ordinary, he wondered why it was considered a good luck charm in the first place. It wasn't like a talisman or a rabbit's foot. And yet, it was that same marble that apparently helped Izumi through finishing the commercial.
#
Meanwhile, across town, the door to Suzuka Nishihara's room slowly opened. In entered Teiji Sasaki , her agent and assistant, holding a small cup of coffee.
"Suzuka-san, it's time to wake up," she gently called into the dark bedroom before set down the cup and switched on the light.
Lying on the bed buried under a fluffy duvet and pillows, a mound slowly moved until a tousle-haired head popped out against the white. Her eyes were half closed, the grip of sleep still holding onto her tightly. With such an expression, it was evident that she didn't exactly wake up before getting up.
Teiji was pushing open the curtains to reveal the city sky-line and allowing the dazzling sunlight to enter the room. "You have your photo shoot with Marcy's today, remember?" There was a distant sounding mumble from the bed. "Then after that a dinner date with Seb- Suzuka-san?"
The woman moved sluggishly, setting her feet on the floor, though she seemed to be moving on auto-pilot. Her expression hadn't changed as she stared at the floor.
"Is something wrong? Did you not sleep well?"
Suzuka remained quiet a long moment before she finally droned out, "...pink...elephant..."
Teiji was at a complete loss as to what she was mumbling about.
#
Once classes had ended, Izumi followed Rei's instruction. First, he had to figure out what kind of store or boutique sold marbles. The only place he could think of were jewelry stores. He searched up a list of places to check, hopefully within the area of his school or home. Luckily, most were within reasonable walking distance.
He never knew so many marbles could possibly exist in the world, varying in size and color. Some had thin ribbons of colors twisted through the middle, others were full of frozen bubbles, some had a multitude of colors twisted all around. At one point, he ended up distracted by a bin of magnetic marbles. Perhaps, he could have gotten somewhere had he asked for assistance, but any time the opportunity arose, he found he was arrested by anxiety and would vacate the store, even if he'd only just entered.
The last store he had on his list had been the only one located a train's ride away in Shibuya, a popular shopping district that was bound to have a marble like what he was looking for. No such luck.
He waited with a throng of people at the intersection. Six stores and not one had the two-tone hued marble like Nishihara's. This worried him all the more. Just how rare had this lucky charm been? If he couldn't find a replacement, he would have to apologize to her. And even if he had found one, he admitted, he was sure the guilt over breaking such an important trinket would weigh his conscience down until he fessed up anyway. It was better to be honest up front.
His wandering mind had been brought back to reality when he heard the sound of wedding bells ringing. He was convinced that sound had installed some sort of Pavlovian reaction as he felt is body somewhat cringe at the first toll.
Behind him on a large advertisement billboard inside one of the towering buildings, the Happy Wedding commercial played. Izumi realized this was the first time he had seen it officially, through the camera's point of view. Special effects of bubbles, sparkles, and a hazy golden glow were added to make the scenes much more wistful and fairy-tale like. He stared up in awe. That's me, isn't it? He asked himself as though someone would correct him.
He caught an exchange between a trio of girls were within hearing distance.
"Oh, it's that new commercial! The one that shows the kids getting married."
"How cute! Do you think they're the same actors?"
"They look the same. He grew up so handsome, don't you think?"
"He looks like a Prince."
"The girl looks like a Princess, do you think she's a model?"
"I don't know."
"I wonder if the two of them are dating?"
Izumi was grateful the light had changed and everyone started walking. He felt the rising heat of embarrassment seep into his face thinking about not only the commercial and the gossip he overheard, but everything that had happened behind the scenes right down to the very end. And to think he'd hear himself being discussed like that. And what if they had looked over and recognized him? His thoughts muddled on it all the way back on the train to campus. Truth be told, he had worried that people would make a connection and realize it had been him all along. Izumi Sena, the cross dresser who gets married in commercials, was what he was preparing himself for.
But... no such confrontations happened. In fact, no one noticed him any more than they usually did. As much as he hated the lime-light, he was a little bummed.
He didn't want to return home so early, so he went to the research club room as he did most days. Two of them were in the middle of a discussion regarding a heroine of a manga, the other, Kuroi, sat quietly reading his book. Only Izumi seemed to be doing a task involving more effort than reading. He scribbled away at the blank page, slowly sketching together an image. He only had a month before the magazine's publishing deadline. He had no time to lose.
"Sena, what are you drawing?" Kuroi asked, his attention caught by the determination on the boy's face.
Startled, Izumi tried to cover his work with bent arms. "I-it's a secret!"
Kuroi looked unbothered by the suspicious behavior. "Some kind of contest entry?" He offered, "Or a doujinshi?"
Izumi dropped his head onto his folded arms to hide the embarrassment at such a suggestion. "I said it's a secret! Don't look at it!"
Kuroi took the obvious hint and dropped all further investigation.
Izumi was horribly shy about showing others his work. It wasn't ready yet. He would keep his work a secret until he won the prize for the contest. The thought made him so pleased, so much so it was a visible expression to the others in the club, who were a little creeped out by it. They knew better than to pry at whatever was going on in his head.
#
In another district of the city, Suzuka and Teiji had arrived on the upper floor of the photographer studio. The pair entered the first of two joined rooms. It was spacious, with a high ceiling. This room could only be considered an organized mess. Racks upon racks of hanging clothes were lined against the wall, and to one side of the room, two rows were close together forming a small aisle. To the other side was a mini-salon, with a large landscape mirror, chairs, and a counter space not only for hair supplies, but make-up as well.
A few staff members were dotted about the room. One was plucking out clothing according to a list she held in her hands, another was setting up make up brushes and small compact cases on the salon counter. Voices chattered above the gentle music that was playing on a stereo.
"Good morning," greeted one of the staff members as the two crossed the room. They returned the greeting as they made their way towards a couple sitting down near a large table. Pinned behind it was a large billboard covered in photos of models wearing outfits that were presumably in the room with them.
"Ah, Suzuka-san, Teiji-san, good morning." A well, but casually dressed man stood up and gave a polite bow to the women. They returned the gesture.
"Good morning, Yahiro-san," Suzuka returned, "Thank you for having us here today."
Yahiro looked rather pleased that the day could finally get started. He clapped his hands together and paused a moment to move into the right mental gear. "Today, I'll be having you model three outfits, the same ones you tried the other day. And we finally managed to bring in the child model who will be wearing the same style. You'll be working with her for the shoot."
An older woman approached the group, at her side was the child the designer had mentioned. She looked no older than eight or nine, but her expression was very bright and excited for one so young. Suzuka's immediate impression was that this child felt fine in such an environment. Her expression made her appear much more mature. Her second impression, was that this child had an odd striking resemblance to someone. Her hair was auburn and done into two side ponytails.
Her pause in this reflection passed quickly as she turned to face the child. "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Suzuka."
"My name is Nene Miyono. Thank you for working with me today." The girl bowed forward politely.
Teiji had a hand to her cheek in mild awe. "My, what a well mannered girl."
The assistant who had walked over with Nene gestured an open palm to the other side of the room near the dressing room stalls. "Your clothes are hanging there. Please wear the first outfit on the rack. We'll see you on the set."
The set was nothing more than a large white backdrop sheet in a room slightly smaller than the first. There were two boxes, one large and one small, decorated in abstract lines of various colors. Perfect for sitting, standing, or leaning on. For something as small as this, a full staff wasn't necessary. The only other people in the room besides both outfit wearers were the photographer, designer, and two assistants.
Suzuka stood to one side, behind the large, white flash umbrella as the make up artist applied a final touch of lip gloss to her done up face. Models were praised for their natural complexion; make-up artists were praised for their ability to make foundation and concealers look 'natural', but still, even with these small touch ups, Suzuka's face looked pristine. Her hair had been blown out into voluminous curls, with very little persuasion needed as her hair was naturally rather thick.
She had changed from her long sleeved blouse and jeans into a single baby-blue dress number with a ruffled collar, no sleeves, and a layered skirt ending at her knees. Beige high heels completed the simple look. Nene was done up in a similar fashion, only her dress was much simpler, though still within the same design family.
"All right, go ahead and get on set and we'll start testing for lighting."
Suzuka was joined by Nene against the white back drop. At first, the child wasn't sure she was expected to do. She inspected the large box, knocking on it to test its sturdiness, but remained mostly stationary to observe her painfully bright surroundings.
"You don't have to do anything, Nene. He's just testing to make sure the picture comes out okay." Her assistant said.
Nene looked over to Suzuka, who had been standing in front of the larger box in a rather imposing stance with her hands on her hips, as if challenging the camera that was pointed at her. There was a bright flash from the umbrellas as the photographer snapped the photo, then smiled as he captured several more. Nene followed suit, placing her hands on her hips and looking mildly less intimidating but challenging all the same.
Suzuka broke out into a small fit of giggles at her own seriousness. She turned to Nene, who lost her confidence when she had stopped her pose. Suzuka knelt down to be at eye level with the child. Her hand had reached for a pocket that didn't exist on this dress, not that there would have been anything in it had there been a pocket anyway. She realized, with a small drop of her heart, that her marble was no longer in her possession. She had given it to Izumi. Her lucky charm was gone.
Nene had noticed the slight look of despair in Suzuka's face and looked at her curiously.
When she realized her expression had been noticed, she quickly replaced it with a smile. "Are you doing okay?"
Nene nodded with a growing, shy smile.
She had to think of something else. What was it young girls liked these days? An idea popped up. "He's still testing the lighting, so we can stand however we want. Do you want to do a Sailor Star pose?"
The child nodded with more enthusiasm.
The best photos were ones that looked like they weren't posed. Or rather, those were the more fun ones to take. Rather than standing stiffly in their attire, Suzuka distracted little Nene by striking up conversations that made them smile and laugh and made for a relaxed atmosphere. The camera flashes fired off over and over as many parts of their exchange were photographed. When Suzuka had to be photographed alone, her demeanor changed. She became much more serious, her expression monotone yet striking.
They changed into their next outfits, lacy white dresses with blue sashes and hem lines. A blue, ocean theme had been added to the set via a sky colored back faux-window, table and vase.
By the time they were in their third outfit, it was well into the afternoon. They were taking a break, not only for the models and photographer, but for the poor camera that was beginning to overheat from use.
Suzuka sat on the larger of the two boxes with Nene sitting in her lap. She held Nene's wrists and was sending her into a fit of giggles as she animated her arms to make silly gestures and poses, all the while singing silly children's tunes from commercials or shows that she remembered.
All in all, the photo shoot was a success. They would expect their photocopies to arrive for her portfolio within the next week, and the official poses to be selected and entered into the fashion catalog for the spring-summer line up.
As Suzuka waited for Teiji to fetch the car from the nearby garage, she spent her few last minutes entertaining Nene. She held onto her hand and swung it back and forth as they walked up and down the sidewalk leading to the high-rise's front doors. Once the car arrived and the door slid open, Suzuka waved the child a goodbye before climbing inside.
Finally away from the flashing lights and people telling her how to stand and where to look, Suzuka let out a small sigh of exhaustion. She pushed a small button on the console attached to the back of the passenger seat, a small mobile television screen to play something to hold her attention for the drive home.
"You've been very busy lately, Suzuka-san." Teiji remarked, glancing at her rear-view mirror towards where she was sitting. "Three photo shoots this week, plus a two days casting calls last week. I think you deserve a break."
"I've already had my break the entire month before that when I had nothing lined up." Suzuka replied idly, staring out the window at the passing buildings and trees in the hazy glow of the sunset. "It's nice to have something to do."
"There's nothing else on today's schedule, so you can take your time and relax."
Suzuka hummed a vague reply to her suggestion and returned to looking out the window. Not long into her daydreaming she heard the distinct violin of a wedding march. Her pale eyes blinked to the screen where the original Happy Weddings commercial was playing.
She stared at her younger self, her hair was cut so short, too short. That incident with the chewed gum, she remembered. Now it was past her shoulder blades and gave no clear indication that it had ever been shorter than her shoulders. Though, her heart softened slightly when she saw Izumi. His smile was infectious, she didn't remember having to act like she had been happy he caught the bouquet. His eyes lit up when he was smiling, it was quite a sight. How was the poor boy doing? She wondered.
She had left when he was in a state of severe distress and that didn't quite sit well with her. If he was mad at her for concealing her identity, she wouldn't be upset, but not knowing exactly how he felt over the whole thing was conscience tugging. Stranger still, was that even during those years in between, she had always kept an eye out for him. Her marble was a constant reminder that he had existed, at some point. But finding him again would have been a needle in a haystack the size of Tokyo, if he hadn't signed up with a talent agency, which he hadn't. Happy Wedding had certainly strung together a strange twist of fate. Still, she hadn't seen him in those ten years and this was how their reunion was going to end?
"Suzuka-san? Suzuka-san!" Teiji's voice cut through her pensive thoughts.
Suzuka realized the car had stopped moving.
"We've arrived at your house."
"I think I figured out how I want to spend my evening,"
"Eh?"
"Might we stop at the Sena house?"
"Sena? Oh, you mean Seiya-san and Nagisa-san?"
"Yes."
"I don't see why not... Oh! But don't you think that's a bad idea? They don't know you're-" Teiji looked in the rear view mirror and was met with a Suzuka staring at the window with the exact expression of a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "... You yanked the cat out of the bag, didn't you?"
In a flat tone that in no way denied this fact, she replied, "Yes, ma'm. By the tail."
Teiji gave a wry smile, but she could hardly have expected nothing less to happen with her client.
#
"Nagisa-san, Seiya-san, we should be heading out soon." Said Rei as he closed the door to the lounge room. Nagisa and Seiya were dressed to the nines, she in a lovely yellow evening dress and her hair swept up in an elegant bun, he in a black tux and sash tie.
"All set!" Nagisa trilled.
"Me, too."
"Yay! I love parties!"
"Shall we, madam?" Seiya held his hand out to his wife. "Will you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you?"
"Oh, my. Gladly!"
As they gushed over one another, the doorbell rang clear through to the speaker installed on the wall. Rei responded by pressing the receiver button to switch on the camera stationed at the door to see who it was.
"Yes?"
The small image of Nishihara appeared on the screen. "I apologize for not calling ahead. It's... Nishihara."
#
Nishihara stood in the entrance hall, not stepping over the raised platform and instead chose to bow her head.
"Ah. Nishihara-san! It's been a while since we last saw you!" Greeted Nagisa.
"Not since filming the commercial." Seiya added.
"What brings you to our home out of the blue?" Nagisa asked.
"I'm sorry for dropping by so suddenly. I was in the neighborhood. I remembered I had lent a lucky-charm of mine to Izumi."
"Oh, we're terribly sorry." Nagisa apologized. "You can feel free to wait here until Izumi gets back from school."
Nishihara bowed her head. "Thank you very much. But I don't want to impose."
"Nagisa and I have plans this evening, so we'll be stepping out, but please make yourself at home."
"Please, wait a moment." Rei interjected. "Izumi-san has club activities this evening. He won't be home until very late."
"Don't be silly," Nagisa smiled. "Just call him home early."
"But we can't have Nishihara-san waiting here by himself."
"Oh, he can handle being home alone for a little while, can't he?"
Nishihara smiled politely as he answered Nagisa. "Of course. Please don't mind me. It's like you won't even know I was here."
"That's not the issue-" Rei tried to protest. It seemed the Sena's had forgotten they were supposed to have a related 'niece' rather than a son when in front of Ryouma.
Seiya offered Nishihara a pair of guest slippers. "Well, let's not stand here talking about it."
"Absolutely! Come in, come in!"
Rei's silent protests went unheard as the three of them walked towards the kitchen to offer her something to eat. He pulled out his cellphone and sent a text to Izumi warning him of what surprise lay in store for him at home.