As the Bell Rings

- Chapter 10: December 22-

The door made a squeaky croak as I moved it. I stood there gawking at the sight of my assigned dorm room. If I imagined the room filled with photos and other random junk, the pale prison-like walls and dreary atmosphere before me would be an exact match to the photos online.

I limped, dragging one of the bags on my foot, and tossed it over one bed. "I guess this one is mine." I said aloud, then turned around, and read the name on the for next to mine on the door. "Koushiro," I read. "I hope this guy doesn't mind I took this bed."

I spun around, then crashed on my bed. I sighed as my hand dug in my jean pockets for my cell phone. I flipped it open and gazed at the background image of Mimi.

"I think I should let you know I got here safely." I said to her picture. "Otherwise I'd never hear the end of it, huh?" Even when you're not next to me, I like to tease you.

As I stared at the picture, I remembered how I spent the last few hours with Mimi. It was blissful, passionate, and very bittersweet. I could tell she didn't want me to leave, but she never told me to stay. Now that I think of it, she did not want to see me off either. She did not want to look sad during an exciting point in my life. She did not want to put a fake smile either.

In a way, I think not coming to see me off was Mimi's way of saying goodbye.

"Excuse me." I heard someone say. I looked up from the bed and saw a short redhead walked in. He had a backpack strapped and his share of luggage trailing behind him. He looked at me and cocked his head to the side.

"Are you Yamato?" He asked in English.

"Yessu," I replied. I hoped my English didn't sound weird.

The man smiled and extended his hand to me. "I am Koushiro, your roommate." I stood up and shook his hand with a small bow. "Ishida?" He said with his eyebrows knitted closely. He pulled his luggage closer to the other bed on the other side of the room and asked in Japanese, "Are you Japanese?"

I nodded curtly.

He beamed brightly as he cupped his own chin. "I see." He sighed as he threw his bag on his bed and pulled out his laptop. "I was wondering if you were Japanese. You have blond hair, so I was unsure."

Unintentionally, I ran my fingers through my scalp. "Well, I think my grandfather is french." I watched him place his pineapple laptop on his study desk. "Are you from Japan too?"

"Yes," Koushiro replied, "I'm from Odaiba." He flipped the top of his laptop.

"Me too." I scrunched my face. "How is it possible that we never met?"

I waited for his response for ten minutes. He seemed preoccupied with that laptop of his. I rolled my eyes. That answers my question."So what are you doing?"

He feverishly typed on his keyboard. "I am going to video chat with my parents and let them know that I arrived safely." Koushiro's laptop illuminated as his background image of himself and — what I assumed were — his parents appeared.

I shrugged and put my focus on unpacking. As I unzipped my luggage, my phone vibrated. I flipped my phone. "New email?" I said as I opened the message.

Yamato! (heart)(heart)

Did you land safely? I hope you're okay. Email me back! I miss you. School and everyone around here seem so boring without you.

Mimi (star)

I bit my lip. I haven't really thought of how she'd be without me. We always hung out together, and she normally hung out with my friends. Maybe she is that lonely.

I closed the phone and said over my shoulder, "Hey, Koushiro. Do you happen to know what time is it in Odaiba?"

"Ishida-san? Ishida-san? Are you awake?"

Yamato hummed in a reply. He slowly opened his eyes as the brightness of the room seeped in. When his blurred vision cleared, he saw a man hovering over him. He had a sad smile on his face, and short moss-colored hair. He stared at Yamato up and down with his glasses slipping from the bridge of his nose.

"Good evening, Ishida-san." He greeted. The man glanced at the nurse and made a curt nod. He accepted a clipboard from her. "I am Dr. Kido Shin. Allow me to take care of you." He introduced himself before skimming the papers on the clipboard. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a pile of crap." Yamato wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "Where am I?"

"Hospital." The doctor jotted notes. "Do you have any recollection what happened?"

Yamato closed his eyes, trying to recall any event. "I... I was at a cemetery. It was kind of late and with... Oh shit!" Yamato immediately sat up. His hands clenched the sheets as the pain took over his head. "Yuuto! Where is he?" He asked, massaging his temples.

"He's fine." Mimi said from behind the doctor in a placid tone. Her arms crossed over her chest and sighed. "Just answer the doctor's questions."

Embarrassed, Yamato nodded and turned his attention back to the doctor. "I'm sorry, Sensei."

The doctor made an amused smile. "You don't need to worry. He's a smart kid. He was the one who called for help." The doctor read the file off the clipboard. "He said you were yelling, clenched your chest, then blacked out." He said flipping through the pages on the clipboard. "At first, I thought you suffered from a heart attack, but I do not see any side effects of one. If possible, I'd like to run some tests to be sure," he finished.

Yamato nodded.

"Okay, I'll be back in a few minutes." Shin reinstated his small smile and handed the clipboard back to the nurse. "Meanwhile, relax." Yamato gulped download and made himself comfortable in bed again.

The doctor exited with the nurse quietly, leaving Mimi and Yamato to stare at each other. Mimi lifted herself from the wall and advanced toward the stool near Yamato's bedside. She sat quietly and sighed. Her mouth twitched into a smirk. "Hey, you." She whispered.

That crooked smile refrained Yamato from responding. If he learned anything from the past couple of days, he knew it was not wise to get on her bad side especially if Yuuto was involved. Yamato groaned, laid back down, and covered his eyes. "Before you say anything, Yuuto said he already told you about taking a detour—"

"I know." Mimi interjected, causing Yamato to remove his hands and opened his eyes. She looked down and twiddled her fingers. "He told me everything as soon as I got here. There's no possible way he could explain this without the truth."

Yamato scoffed. "Every time I get involved with that kid, I always end up in trouble." His eyes scanned the room before they landed on Mimi, who happened to look around the room herself. "He's okay, right? His asthma didn't act up or anything else serious?"

"As I said, he's fine. A little shaken up, but fine. He wanted to stay here until you woke up, but it was late, and he should get some sleep." Mimi said as she looked down on her hands. "Everyone took shifts waiting for you to wake up."

"So you're here because you had to? I thought you came because you were genuinely concerned about my well-being. " Yamato smirked towards Mimi, teasing her again.

Mimi stammered a failed response. She looked away, attempting to hide the obvious blush on her cheeks. "Y-Yuuto would've been upset if I didn't help out." She mumbled.

Yamato laughed seeing her riled up. "Thank you for being here."

Mimi gazed up and stared at Yamato. She blinked repeatedly and looked away again. "W-well, you were asleep for more than 24 hours. It does address some concern."

A-asleep for...

"What?" Yamato yelled, raising his upper body to a sitting position. His hands pounded firmly on the mattress as his body vibrated from the shocking news. The immediate action caused pain to erupt throughout his body, especifically his head (again). He muttered a string of curses as his hands grasped his arms.

"Good heavens! Calm down!" Mimi coaxed as she pushed Yamato's body back down on the bed. She laid him flat, planking on the mattress. "What is wrong with you?" She asked, looking down at him as strands of her hair fell off her shoulders.

Yamato panted loudly, as his body tried to keep a steady heartbeat. Shit. More than 24 hours?! That's a whole friggin' day! He thought to himself as worry began to flow through his thoughts. I wasted a day of my shortened life lying on a hospital bed unconscious?

Yamato's fingers framed his face and aggressively slid down his face while releasing a frustrated groan. His fingers stopped on his cheeks and gave it a small but firm squeeze. He released his face and breathed slowly. "I... I um..." Inhale. Exhale. "I am on a timed schedule... sort of." Yamato He scratched the side of his head. "What time is it? What's today's date?"

"Time?" Mimi looked at her watch. "It's 10pm. The 22nd of December."

"The 22nd, huh?" Yamato repeated. That's less than three days till Christmas. Yamato stared at his hands as they opened to him. He tried to recall the last memory he had before he blacked out. The last he could remember was yelling. He couldn't remember at whom, but he knew that he was unhappy about something.

Jou! Yamato snarled in his thoughts. He gripped his hands into fists. He was the one who did this to me. I thought he wanted to help me change, not make me die faster!

"Yamato, are you okay?" Mimi's voice pierced through his dark, murderous thoughts. She cleared her throat. "Your heart rate started to go up again."

"Eh?" Yamato just noticed the frequent beeping noise. He looked down at his hands and unclenched them slowly. "Sorry, I ... I just thought of something bad."

Mimi made a small smile, but it dissipated after a second. "Is it because you're in this hospital?"

Yamato sharply turned to her as she adjusted herself on the chair. She leaned forward and said in a low voice, "This is the first time you've come to this hospital since your father passed away, right?"

Yamato turned his attention away from Mimi again. He breathed through his nostrils loudly. "Can we not talk about my father?" He said sternly.

Mimi covered her lips. "Sorry." She looked down. "I suppose that was inappropriate."

Minutes passed and Yamato kept that wrinkled brow on his face. "Why does it matter?" He asked earning Mimi's interest. "My old man, how do you even remember that? And why are you even here if you hate me so much?"

Mimi made a smother laugh and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Even though we're not dating anymore, it doesn't mean..." She sighed. "… It doesn't mean I could pretend to hate you forever. The truth is …" She paused to gather her thoughts, "You and I have history."

She looked down, avoiding his face again, "It's hard to say I don't care about you."

Yamato dazedly stared at the cream-colored wall before him. Her words sunk into his head. His chest felt tighter as she spoke every word. His stomach twisted itself into knots. He could not understand why he was feeling this way. Then, in the back of his head, he could replay snippets:

Feverish clacking on the keyboard. A sip or two of Starbucks coffee. His eyes shifting side to side as words appeared onscreen.

Yamato quietly laughed, scratched his glabella, and bit his bottom lip. "In retrospect, it was a terrible idea."

Mimi tilted her head. "What was?"

"The letter." He simply said. Judging by her reaction, he knew he didn't have to elaborate any further. "I really was a stupid kid." He looked into her eyes and sincerely said, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you bringing this up?" She crossed her legs. "I thought we already passed this."

Yamato was unsure himself. He couldn't think of any reason to excuse the words coming out of his mouth. "I... I think I want to know where we are now."

"I think we're acquaintances, maybe friends, who just dated in the past, and I think it's going to stay like that." Mimi said without a moment in between. "Yuuto is... he's very important to me. I wouldn't trade him for anything in this world. What we had before was great, but..." Mimi looked down and played with her fingers. "In a way, I think it was better that we drifted apart."

She looked at Yamato with sincere eyes. "I learned from that relationship. I found who I am. I grew up. I fell in love and..." Mimi's voice trailed away. She bit her lip and took a deep breath. "... and I was happy."

Oh right. Him. Yamato looked away. He said in a quietly, "Yuuto told me about his father. My condolences." Yamato looked at Mimi. "He must've been a really great guy."

Mimi stayed silent. Her shoulders hunched closer as if she was about to curl herself into a small ball. Yamato didn't have to verbally say what she was thinking. "May I ask you a question?" Yamato looked at her then continued. "Do you miss him?"

"I do," Mimi replied as a whisper. She proceeded with a shaky voice. "Every time I look at Yuuto, I remember him." Mimi made a placid smile. "The way Yuuto speaks, acts. I see his father." She said as her voice became raspy.

Yamato watch her eyes full up with tears. When a tear pooled in the corner of her eye, she rubbed her eye. She laughed. "I shouldn't be crying."

"I'm sorry I brought it up." Yamato unknowingly said, gazing at her. "I wanted you to be comfortable with me, like how we were before. I wanted us to start over."

Mimi laughed at Yamato. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

Before he even realized it, Yamato held her hand and gave it a small squeeze. He added, "I promise. I won't mess up this time." He joined her laughing.

Yamato felt the glowing warmth in his hands. As if she was reading his mind, the former lovers looked down and noticed their touching hands. Just in time, they heard Sora's voice. "Excuse me." In tandem, Yamato and Mimi retracted their hands and looked in opposite directions bashfully.

The Yagami mother slowly opened the door. She made her usual smile and bowed slightly. "Good evening." She unraveled her pink scarf from her neck and turned towards Mimi. "I can watch him, Mimi. You can go … to … work." She finished with a slowed-down tempo of words. Her eyes shifted from Yamato to Mimi before her smile got broader. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No!" Mimi immediately stood up, knocking her stool over. Embarrassed by her actions, Mimi pretended to pat something off her skirt and picked up the fallen stool. "I-I will leave him to you." She bowed respectfully to Sora. Mimi grabbed her coat and tote bag and ran. She stopped in front of the door.

She turned. Yamato noted her lingering stare before she bowed. Still jittery from embarrassment Mimi tucked her hair behind her ear. "F-feel better." She said loud enough for Yamato to hear. She exited the room and left nothing but a faint click from the door closing.

When Yamato heard the feet of the small stool squeak against the floor, he remembered Sora's presence in the room. She had that small smirk on her face, that mischievous grin, that so-that's-how-it-is expression.

"Don't look at me like that." Yamato turned away and rolled himself away from Sora, avoiding the girl's gaze and hiding the red on his cheeks.

"You should relax." Sora advised. "If you're always angry, nothing good will happen." He heard her giggle as she extracted a magazine from her purse.

Yamato's sour expression on his face softened. Two days. That's all the time I have left. No matter what I do, I just may end up dead. Yamato groaned. Maybe this is it for me. Maybe Jou's trying to tell me that no matter what I do, unless I change, I'm really just going to die. He gripped his head tightly and clenched his jaw. So what can I do?

"Sora," Yamato waited for her to make a small sound (which she did), "do you feel like you're stuck, unable to escape?"

He heard the crackling pages of her magazine from behind as she moved it down. "Unable to escape?" She repeated.

"You know, like … " He pondered with a wrinkled brow, "no matter what I do, lately I cannot escape ... something... who or what, I'm not sure." He lied and ad-libbed the last part.

Sora hummed. "Sometimes." She replied quizzically, "But I think realizations like that are good."

Yamato's ears peaked with interest. He looked over his shoulder. "How so?"

Sora tilted her head and looked up as if her thoughts were visibly swimming in the air. "To me, it could be the universe's way of giving us many chances until we get it right."

"Chances, huh?" Yamato turned back and yawned.

Sora rested a gentle hand on Yamato's shoulder. "You should get some rest." Sora smiled. "Mimi's not here to distract you." She said with a giggle.

Yamato snarled at his ex-girlfriend and pulled his blanket over his face. He looked at his hand, the one that held Mimi's. Since I came back, I run into her everyday. Almost everyday she is there. No matter what I do, she is always there. She's ... always there. And I ...

He suddenly remembered Sora's presence, the light snickering in the room. He closed his eyes shut and tried drifting to sleep.

Exactly how does one end such an email?

I tapped my chin as I leaned back on my chair in the dorm room and leaned forward again. I usually like to sway forward and back on the chair. At least I did until I had that small heart attack-like panic as the chair leans further back than I expected. As the chair leaned further back, I quickly grabbed the desk's ledges. Someone should design a safer model than this one.

The door of the room slammed closed. I saw my red-head roommate, Koushiro, come in from my peripherals. He took off his shoes and neatly placed it aside, as he always did when he entered the room, and made a cross between a sigh and a groan, just after every evening class. He laid his backpack on the bed and pulled out his laptop and brought it to his desk with his bag of takeout.

"Yo." I greeted as he took his desk seat behind mine. "Did you just come back from class?"

"Yeah," he yawned, "I'm not a fan of night classes, but it's the only one that could fit my schedule." He stretched in his seat and turned his pineapple laptop on. "I prefer to have 8 o'clock morning classes. The day is fresh, and my mind is fresh." He sighed as he opened the foam container containing his dinner.

I shook my head. Same old Koushiro.

My focus directed on the email draft before me. Seriously, what do I say? I continued to stare at the screen and didn't notice Koushiro staring over my shoulder.

"So what have you been up to?" Koushiro asked with a mouthful of his dinner.

"I'm writing an email." I said with crossed arms.

Koushiro laughed. "Is it to Professor MacDowell? Don't waste your time." Koushiro swiveled around in his chair and clicked a program on his desktop. "I told you to write the term paper instead of going to that party."

"You missed one hell of a great party." I sighed as my mind began to recall the events of that event.

"And get caught by the R.A.? Ha!" Koushiro rested his chin on the palm of his hand waiting for the program to start. "Stop complaining and just write the stupid paper."

Geez, all he's been doing is nagging lately.

"I'm not emailing the professor. I'm emailing my girlfriend."

"Oh?" I heard a change in tone from Koushiro. "Why don't you just video chat with her like you usually do?"

My lips tightened. "I'm going to break up with her."

Koushiro was quiet after that. I thought he dropped the subject until I heard him speak. "I know its none of my business, but why? I thought things were going great."

Sigh. Oh, Koushiro, always curious.

"It's gotten to that point, I guess." I shrugged, not knowing how to describe the reason exactly.

"And you're going to break up with her? Via email?" He must've stared at me hard enough because I felt his eyes practically burning on the back of my head.

Naturally, I turned to him and blankly stared in return. "What?"

"Nothing." Koushiro shook his head, "it's not my relationship."

I stared at Koushiro a while longer, hoping he would give some type of hint. Instead, he turned back to his computer. I went back to my laptop and leaned forward to type a sentence or two. All this occurred while a ringing sound chimed from Koushiro's laptop. After two clicks, I heard Koushiro say, "Otou-san, good morning."

"Koushiro, good evening."

Woo! Another chapter! It's not as long as the recent ones, but I've been busy lately and I feel like this is a good spot to end. The next arc (ish) of the story is going to be a doozy one. Please look forward to it! As always leave a review! I appreciate them!

Till next time...!