VII: The Hundredth Paper Crane
The hours had become listlessly dull, although it was only in the middle of SeeU's first day in the hospital. Folding paper cranes had become a regular habit. Having nothing else to do, she began to do mental math in her head with each crane she folded. Now, her cranes amounted to seventy-five...Nine hundred twenty-five more.
Discouraged, SeeU felt her heart sinking. Would she ever win pneumonia over this time? The hateful disease that kept her as a heavy stormcloud over her brother's mind, prevented her for enjoying Tokyo, detained her from telling her friends what she'd saw. The seventy-sixth half-folded crane sat motionlessly in her hands. With an easy slicing motion SeeU could easily rip it apart. Dare she believe the myth? It was strange to her, a cold, fleeting darkness, a husky rumble of words. They were not like the legends she had been told that were filled with light. Stories about the moon goddess Goguryeo, the happenings in Iseung - these were filled with light and her mother's warm voice that fanned and reverberated in SeeU's head. These were the ones that she had heard since she was a young child - But I'm not in Korea, SeeU reminded herself. I'm in Japan, and Japan is different.
Would the gods of Japan, if they existed, like it if SeeU was thinking of the stories of another country? Pondering this, SeeU's hands swiftly finished the seventy-sixth crane, and ten more before she was aware that she now had eleven more paper cranes while she was thinking.
Yet again SeeU thought about Galaco. This woman had taken control of her thoughts now; around every fifteen minutes, Galaco's words that were shallowly implanted in SeeU's head slowly lassoed SeeU's thoughts back to her. Galaco and Mayu: they both were attracted to the same person, but hated each other. How could that be? It was eerie and irresolute. SeeU's head hurt just thinking about it. It was like trying to solve an algebra problem that involved way too many variables.
Now I'm starting to think like the people in the love stories, SeeU thought irritably, tossing the eighty-seventh crane onto her growing amount of cranes, taking her anger out on folding cranes. I'm not even part of it! Why should I worry about it? This is irrational. Irrational it was, but SeeU still had a nagging feeling that Galaco might sacrifice anything for SeeWoo's attention and approval. Not sacrifice anybody else; Galaco would toss something of her own into the gaping, endless empty basket of things given by desperate people, never filled and always longing. But what would Galaco give?
Still, Galaco was sensible. SeeU knew. She wouldn't do anything that was too crazy.
Love tempts people to do crazy things, she argued with herself. SeeU recalled a story her mother made up before, telling it to her at the beginning of SeeU's adolescence. "Don't you ever fall hopelessly in love," her mother had warned. "You have your entire life ahead of you, and it is unsuitable for you to spend it this way." Then she went on to tell SeeU about two girls falling in love with a man, and how one of them killed herself after seeing the man flirting with the other girl. "It is partially the man's fault, and yet the girl chose to end her own life instead of moving on. Do not be like that. Be strong."
It was slightly sad, but SeeU didn't care much for its meaning. "You have to experience it to feel it," the whispered words floating across her mind. The ninetieth paper crane landed on the tabletop smoothly.
"It's almost a hundred," SeeU assured herself, breaking the train of thoughts. "Well, nine hundred more." Sometimes looking at the glass half full gave a bare, lucid illusion that meant nothing, that hardly existed. Why was SeeU talking aloud to herself anyway? She glanced across at the blue-haired man - still delirious with fever - next to her. He was half asleep and half awake, it seemed, and staring at the ceiling with eyes half open.
The vial by SeeU's bed had been switched again, back to rosewood. When the nurse came to switch it, SeeU asked for some thread to string her cranes together. While she strung, she counted, and as far as she knew, no crane was missing. The strings the nurse gave her were long enough to fit one hundred cranes on each (or so SeeU estimated), so there were still ten strings but only nine were bare. They hung from the bedside table.
She was still troubled. Maybe it was the sky today; winter was drawing nearer, and the sky was a cloudy gray. The air wasn't damp - at least it didn't look like it would be - but it was definitely cold and chilly. The oblong-shaped window behind SeeU's bed revealed to her an amazing view of Tokyo, and as far as she could see, people were hurrying back and forth, bent like slim, young hickory sticks against the roaring wind.
Meanwhile, pneumonia was still being a jerk to her, even though she was given medicines. They made SeeU feel better for some time period, but wouldn't last more than a few hours, which discouraged her into wondering if they were nothing but painkillers.
"Ninety-one...Ninety-two...Ninety-three..." The said paper cranes landed on the table. What significance did they have? She would string them up later... "Ninety-four...ninety-five..." Five more to a hundred. She was almost surprised at her progress. But it was extremely boring to have to do nothing but take medications and fold cranes all the time. "Ninety-six."
A soft scuffling told SeeU that the nurse came again. She glanced up. The same nurse was coming, with a white-blonde woman behind her.
Mayu.
Quickly SeeU ducked her head and folded another crane. The steps were firmly etched into her mind now, and her fingers darted about with skill. SeeU wondered what Mayu possibly could want to talk about with her now. She only just met Mayu, but then, Galaco...
...Is Mayu seriously going to give me the same talk Galaco gave me?
SeeU had a fleeting thought that maybe Mayu and Galaco weren't so different after all.
"SeeU," the nurse said, "Mayu tells me that you know her."
"Which she does," Mayu supplied.
"SeeU, do you know her?" the nurse asked, frowning.
SeeU nodded, her eyes darting from Mayu to the nurse. Mayu was petite and curvy, unlike Galaco, who was slim and tall. She wore a black beret that was tilted to the side at a slight angle, and a dress that frilled and laced with dark magenta ribbons. Her gloves hugged the length of her elbow to her fingertips. Two shiny black shoes peeked out meekly, coming after her dark silk stockings. In one hand Mayu gripped a lacy black umbrella that was drenched in rainwater. Mayu's outfit was a great contrast from her bright, floaty hair, which was probably one of the factors that made her look odd. Mayu almost looked childish, but had a determination and defiance that immediately pushed SeeU to fold another crane out of nervousness.
"Hi, SeeU," Mayu said.
"SeeU, are you finished with your first string?" the nurse asked, to which SeeU shook her head. "Well, I'll leave you alone, okay?" she added hesitantly. As she padded away, SeeU heard her mumble, "So many visitors..."
"SeeU, you can fold your cranes while we talk." Mayu pulled a stool from nearby, and its metal made a sharp screeching sound on the tiled floor. "Oops." She shrugged apologetically to the people who turned to look. "Anyway, SeeU, I wanted to tell you about something. Galaco came yesterday, right?" There was a coldness to her voice as she said "Galaco."
"Yes," SeeU said.
"Go on. Keep folding. I like it when I see you fold cranes. Anyway, she talked about SeeWoo, right?" There was not the slightest hint of a blush on Mayu's face as she said SeeWoo, but her voice softened.
SeeU slowly nodded again as she folded her ninety-ninth crane.
"She talked about protecting him?" Mayu added, her voice slowly becoming steely. "Protecting, watching over, and taking care of? Being his guardian?" Mayu didn't stop for SeeU to answer. "Galaco is too overprotective; that's why I didn't promote her. Architecture is art. It is permanence. It is not protection. No, that's engineering. Architecture is design and elegance. If she does not understand this, she cannot be promoted. Oh, I know that fold. You're in the middle of finishing your crane, right?"
Startled at the change of subject, SeeU jumped and then nodded. "...Yeah. I only have a few more folds until I finish."
"I see." Mayu's gaze seemed to drill into SeeU. There was a very long pause as SeeU finished her crane - again - and began to string them up. Mayu was still silent by the time she was done. There was space enough for one last paper crane, and some extra string that SeeU resolved she could tie into a knot.
"That's the hundredth crane, hmm?" Mayu asked softly when SeeU took some shiny gold paper.
"Yes." SeeU was tired of saying "yes," but what else could she say?
"Can I help? I remember folding cranes when I was little."
Mayu's help cut the time SeeU usually used to fold a crane in half. Mayu took off her gloves to do the work. She was agile with her hands; the skin on them was smooth and soft, another contrast to Galaco. The only part that was calloused was the skin on the side of her middle finger, which SeeU guessed was from holding a writing utensil all day long.
"Thank you," Mayu said cheerfully after they finished, as if nothing really tense had passed between them. "That was some fun I hadn't had in a long time."
SeeU watched her leave.
Okay, so one day I am going to try to publish faster. Not today, though.
BREAK HAS BEGUN! ;D Officially! So I won't be seeing any of my classmates until next year (2013)~ I'm going to China for a week or so, but I'll try to keep up with the stories as usual. It's going to be snowing in China, and I really, really hope I could get into a good snowball fight with my friends (that live in China). I haven't played with snow since I was like...what?...two. I don't even remember how it's like...
Well, anyway, back to the story. You can see that Mayu and Galaco have very different personalities on the outside, but seriously, they're not as different on the inside as you'd think. They're both kind of ambitious and jealous of each other. Which is why the drama might amount to a climax point later on...
Thank you for reading/reviewing!
~Unyielding Wish
