NOTE: I wrote about the first third of the story, but never proceeded past that. I may work on it again soon, but I have a few dozen chapters for you all until I reach that point. Enjoy.
A Girl from Someplace Sweeter
7 – A Small Glimmer in the Dark
Tsukushi's second day of school was nearly as unpleasant as her first. Upon entering her home room, her three stalkers from the day before approached her at her desk. She held her breath and set her briefcase on her desk, looking frantically back at where the girl, Makiko, had changed seats to. When their eyes met, the other girl hastily sank lower in her seat. Tsukushi sighed and looked at the tallest girl, whose bangs were held stiff in a bizarre, horn-like hairdo. She swallowed.
"Doumyouji-san," they crooned in unison and her skin erupted in goose bumps. The curly-haired girl hastily pushed between her friends.
"I'm Ayuhara Eriko," she squeaked. "I'm so glad to meet you!" Tsukushi only sat dumbly as the girl was shoved aside by her taller friend.
"I'm Asai Yuriko, and—" The ring of the first bell interrupted her, and the three girls hastily said their good-byes and took their seats—one to her left and two to her right. Tsukushi inwardly groaned. It was going to be a really long day, she thought, as she opened her books and sighed.
After class Tsukushi dragged herself out of the room, trying in vain to ignore the large groups of students staring and pointing at her, talking animatedly, with a few introducing themselves. Most seemed afraid of her, though, and this only made her feel worse. When she reached her locker she wondered if she could somehow hide inside of it. How her brother could stand all the attention, she didn't know.
Tsukushi took out her bento box and wondered if Urara-sensei would be in her room. The day before she had enjoyed talking with the woman, finding her understanding and receptive, and she hoped she could spend at least one more day hiding out.
She hit her head on her open locker door in surprise when she heard a voice beside her say, "Hello." Recovering quickly, Tsukushi rubbed her head and turned to see the Makiko girl standing next to her. Tsukushi found herself gaping like a fish.
"He-hello," she replied, not quite understanding why the same person who had seemed so repulsed by her was suddenly approaching her outside of class. She raised her eyebrows and held her bento box with both hands.
Makiko blushed and crossed her hands behind her back. "I'm sorry about the other day. It's just, well..." she glanced at Tsukushi, looking for a reaction, and saw only wide-eyed interest. "Well, I'm sure you know the reputation of the F4, and I just really can't afford to be driven out of school..." Makiko immediately looked alarmed, as if Tsukushi would reach out and bite her.
Tsukushi laughed. "Is that it?" Makiko blinked at her, and she giggled again, and stopped to smile at the other girl. "Don't worry. I can't believe him and all of his racket! Don't you think it's ridiculous?" Tsukushi closed her locker. "The Flowery Four—could it sound any sillier?"
Makiko looked like she'd seen a ghost. "Are you all right?" Tsukushi asked. The girl seemed to have regained her wits and cleared her throat.
"N-no, it's just, no one dares to talk about them that way," she said quietly. With another laugh Tsukushi held out her bento box.
"That's because no one has the guts!" she chuckled. Makiko's smile made her feel much more confident, and Tsukushi asked her, "Do you want to eat lunch with me?"
Makiko raised her eyebrows and hastily nodded. "I'd like that," she said. The two stared at each other and then laughed, walking off towards the courtyards together, bento boxes in hand.
Tsukasa immediately looked up when he heard Tsukushi's laugh on the air. He raised one eyebrow when he saw her walking side-by-side with another girl and the two were laughing gaily. Sakurako was oblivious as she ate her lunch, but Akira followed his gaze and moved to stand up. Tsukasa quickly pulled him back down and everyone stared at him.
"Wasn't that your sister?" Akira asked, wiping off his sleeve where he had been grabbed. Tsukasa made an annoyed sound.
"Yeah. Looks like she found some little friend," he mumbled. He wasn't quite sure what he was upset about—it was good she had found someone at school, for Eitoku could be cruel and lonely to some, and he certainly didn't want her around his lecherous friends or being grouped with them. At the same time, though, he was in a way disappointed she hadn't come to him. She managed to be so independent despite the fact she was living in a world she had just been tossed in to.
Rui raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Hm. Good for her," he commented in a dry tone.
"Well, I think she should sit with us," Akira told Tsukasa, drinking some tea from a bottle. "We're much cooler than some girl friend of hers."
"Hey, shut up," Tsukasa snapped. Sakurako jumped, spilling her drink and letting out a simultaneous whine as it fell. "Leave her alone." Akira shrugged.
"No need to jump on me," he replied calmly.
Soujiro nodded and raised one finger, saying, "I don't see why we can't say hello," and giving Tsukasa a pointed look. Sakurako whimpered as she noticed a stain on her dress and padded it with a napkin. Tsukasa was too distracted to be annoyed at her.
"Just leave her alone." The conversation was abruptly ended with Rui sucking on his paper soda drink with a resounding slurp.
Anyone would be unsettled by her entire class staring at her when she answered a question correctly, Tsukushi thought to herself as she found her way out of the stifling building. As soon as the bell rang she had scrambled out as fast as she could into the open air. She had found her way to the emergency stairway, and she leaned over the edge to take a deep breath. "Ridiculous!" she cried. "Rich people are ridiculous!" Her voice echoed in the empty courtyard.
She fell back and leaned against the wall beside the door to recompose herself. There was a palpable relief and she relished it, momentarily rejuvenating the hopes she had left Hiroshima with. Maybe there was something for her here, she thought, as she reminded herself to stop by the small dango shop and ask about her application there. With some pocket money Tsukushi decided she could take herself out and find some new friends—she knew without them, suffocation by isolation was imminent. She had heard there was an all-girls school that often competed with Eitoku; maybe she could find some friends there, or even transfer. She sighed.
Her positive resolve to do well and stay spirited was already dissolving and it was merely her second day. She had found one friend among the throng, but it was difficult to move about with people constantly watching her, talking to her, and ogling her. It confounded Tsukushi because she was nothing to look at; she had never had that kind of attention before and she had no desire to deal with it—so she ran out to the emergency exit stairs.
It was a quiet kind of place, and as she slid down the wall to sit, she decided she liked it. It seemed secluded enough and isolated to boot—perhaps she'd come here more often. She dropped her books into her lap and sighed.
Tsukushi nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard steps on the stairs. She immediately recognized the boy approaching as Hanazawa Rui, one of her brother's delinquent compatriots. He was the rude, dazed-looking one, she remembered vaguely as he stopped in front of her, only half-turning his head to glance down. "Ah. Hello." He probably didn't even remember stalking her the night before. It still bothered her. He did look rather uncared for, with shaggy hair and trousers that were 'stylishly' ripped at the knees. She thought the oversized tennis shoes were rather tactless.
"Um, hello," she replied with a nervous quiver in her tone. Having obtained a response—and showing no reaction—he moved past her and opened the door, leaving inside the building. Tsukushi jolted a little as the door fell closed with a slam behind him.
For some moments she didn't move, stuck between alarmed and annoyed that someone else had been there. She thought for a while about her brother and his obnoxious friends; "What a bunch of goons!" she exclaimed. She thought of that girl Sakurako: she seemed the quiet, clingy type—but Tsukushi sensed there was far more to her. Then there was the fact all three of them joined in Tsukasa's awful antics, haranguing the school with their games and their power. She had never liked the idea of adopting the Doumyouji name, but now she thought she hated it more than ever. It was a cruel trick to play on her.
Now all Tsukushi wanted was to get on her train, go back to Hiroshima and return to the house she lived in with Kazuya and his parents: there, she was loved, she had friends, and she was happy.
Tsukushi sighed when she walked into the huge mansion to find it mostly empty. Tsubaki had left rather quietly the night of Tsukushi's first day at school with a hasty farewell to both of them. She was going to return soon, as her husband would be attending a follow-up to wherever he had vacationed on business. She called it vacationing, anyway, because he always called her telling her how warm and beautiful it was in the places he found himself. With her sister gone and her brother continually out with his friends, she wondered how often she would come home only to sit in the lobby with her books and very little else to entertain her.
However, that day she did have the chauffer stop at the dango shop, where the girl working there introduced herself and Tsukushi knew she had gotten the job. Matsuoka Yuuki, she said, and Tsukushi saw a few lights springing up in her future. First, she decided, she was going to learn the public transportation system around Tokyo—then she would have the inane pleasure of telling the chauffer, "No need, no need." It was a powerful goal.
That night, however, Tsukasa came home after a rather long night at the club to find his sister sleeping fitfully on top of a notebook full of math homework. A cough forced its way free as he stopped from laughing; she snored again and he nearly doubled over. It was ten o'clock when he lightly touched her shoulder, shaking her a little as she stumbled back into consciousness. "Hum, function..." she slowly opened her eyes and blinked the sleep from them. "Where am I?"
"In the lobby, though I can't possibly rationalize as to why." When Tsukushi blinked up at him he laughed. "I can't believe you fell asleep doing homework." He pointed at a long, red mark along her face in the shape of short lines. He chuckled again.
"Me neither," she replied drowsily and stood up, collecting her things and returning them to her briefcase. With a yawn she said, "Well, goodnight." She hardly bothered to glance at him when she hiked up her bag so she supported it with her shoulder and left up the stairs.
"Wait a second!" Tsukasa called after her. She paused and glanced down at him. "Are you doing anything tomorrow after school?"
She blinked at him, her initial response forming into, No, nothing, why would I? But then she remembered the hours Matsuoka had given her and shook her head. "Sorry, I'm busy." Some strange part of her wanted him to be crestfallen that she couldn't go out with him and his friends, or whatever thing he wanted her to do. Tsukushi just sighed when he nodded rather unemotionally.
"All right, maybe some other time." They were so genial with one another already, boringly so; she sighed to think that every day would pass like this one, merely tolerating one another. Tsukushi stopped on the stairs as he turned to walk away towards the dining room.
"Tsukasa?" He stopped mid-stride. "I want to like it here. I do. Please help me." Not wanting to wait for a response, she continued up the stairs. She heard his footsteps on the bottom of the steps.
"How about you sit with us, then," Tsukasa called to her, and she turned around to look at him as he continued, taking a step up the stair, "tomorrow at lunch. Get to know them, they'll like you."
A little step closer to something in common, she smiled and nodded at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."
