A Girl from Someplace Sweeter

10 – Adaptation

"So tell me a little about yourself," Yuuki said conversationally. The two were putting brightly colored dango in the front of the display to attract the younger children who came in during the after school hours. Tsukushi paused after she put away her empty metal tray and prongs.

"Well, there's not much to know. I live with my brother," she said, thoughtfully tapping her chin, "and I go to the worst kind of school—Eitoku, do you know it?"

Yuuki blinked at her. "Do I ever!" she exclaimed. Tsukushi nearly jumped. "That's a real rich school. You can afford to go there?"

Tsukushi laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "No, not really. I actually lived in Hiroshima for a while with... my cousin. But his father was transferred to London, so I had to come live out here with my brother." She sighed. "I'm only going to Eitoku because his—er, our mother wants me to."

"Wow," Yuuki murmured.

"Yeah," Tsukushi drummed her fingers on the glass display counter. "I'm not used to this life. Eitoku is a really strange school, too. Every one is rich and snobbish." She laughed. "But there are some good people, a few. You have to look hard for them, though."

Yuuki nodded and smiled at her. "I can imagine. I wouldn't know how to act around them."

"I don't!" Tsukushi said dramatically. Yuuki giggled. "They're so prim and proper on the outside, but on the inside, they're worse than riff raff."

"Where do you go to school?" Tsukushi asked.

Yuuki shrugged. "It's a regular school, near my house. It's nice, though, because all the people there I've known since elementary."

"Ah!" Tsukushi grinned at her, "My school in Hiroshima was like that. We had such good times there together." She sighed then.

"It's hard, isn't it?" Yuuki asked. However, they were interrupted when the bell rang and the door opened.

"Welcome!" both girls said in unison. They looked at one another, and laughed. Maybe there is some good here, Tsukushi thought, and Yuuki grinned at her.

Tsukasa walked onto school grounds early Friday morning, his hands in his pockets and his eyebrows drawn. Though he couldn't be sure if Tsukushi had outright avoided him the night before, she certainly had managed to escape him. She was gone all afternoon and early evening, Tama told him, and when she came home she had eaten and then left for her bedroom, asking not to be disturbed. By the time he had found his way upstairs and peered in her door, she was sleeping fitfully.

He stopped and sighed, clenching his fists in his pockets. It infuriated him, the bind he was in; she would—no, she could never understand his dilemma. Her words had stung him more than her mere slap ever had the opportunity to. She didn't know anything! Tsukasa growled. He was at a dead end with nowhere to go, and it frustrated him; he always spoke his mind, and having to keep his tongue at bay was more difficult than anything he could have imagined.

Tsukasa nearly burst when he saw Tsukushi chatting merrily with Akira as they walked by on the other end of the main path into the school and neither of them noticed him. "I still can't believe you crawled out a window!"

"Oh, I've done it a few times—once I was naked, even!"

"That's simply awful!" Despite her revulsion, Tsukushi laughed.

Tsukasa restrained himself from walking over and telling her everything; the desire dissipated when she and his friend disappeared behind a building. They looked rather chummy, he thought with a grimace. The last thing she needed was a playboy like Akira toying with her. He sighed and left to the main entrance, deciding it would be better to escape to the F4's hallway before he had any unwanted run-ins with Sakurako. At the moment, simply avoiding her was his optimal solution; however, he knew he would invariably be forced to confront her and deal with her once and for all.

Despite his undoubted promiscuity (he often tried to deny it, saying, "But I do love them, even if they are already married!"), Akira was a fair conversationalist and had a good sense of humor to boot. Tsukushi found herself running into him for the second time and he had her smiling in mere seconds. He was the only good thing she saw in the lot of them, with their street clothes and complete irreverence towards their educations. Though she thought that it might have to do with the fact she'd finished her homework early the night before and gone to bed much earlier than usual, so she woke up refreshed and energized.

The day was looking brighter as it went; she left for class and found her seat, taking out her things and waving to Makiko as she came in. They talked and laughed, and Tsukushi felt gratified when her three obnoxious stalkers left her alone and went about their own business.

"How's your job?" Makiko asked.

"It's wonderful, I work with a nice girl and I get paid well for just selling sweet dumplings." She laughed. "It's good work."

Tsukushi was ahead of the game: she stopped by the nurse's office with her lunch and Urara-sensei ushered her in. She found out the older woman was very intelligent and philosophical; on all her problems, she always had something wise to say.

"I don't know what to do about Tsukasa," Tsukushi said with a sigh, "he's always saying such ridiculous things. How horrible I would feel if he had told me everything he told poor Sakurako."

"Well," Urara-sensei said thoughtfully, holding her chopsticks apart, "did you hear the whole conversation?"

Tsukushi furrowed her brow. "Well, no, I guess not... but she couldn't have done something to deserve that kind of language."

Urara-sensei shook her head and told her, "Never jump to conclusions. Though your actions may be justified to you, you cannot judge him until you've heard everything." Tsukushi sighed.

"I suppose you're right. Still, I wish he would talk to me about it. Then maybe it wouldn't have happened at all. He's so irrational!" She put her bento down on the table. "He's always treating other people so poorly; I couldn't just stand idly while he told off some poor girl."

Urara nodded her head and smiled. "You've got your heart in the right place."

Tsukushi pondered the nurse's words as she left the building and, without thinking about it, found herself at the emergency exit. She only leaned on the wall and propped her head up with one hand when she saw Rui sitting on the stairs through the corner of her eye. Neither said a word for some time, when she finally turned around and came to sit at the top of the stairs, slightly above him but at eye level.

"So," she addressed him. "You play violin." Tsukushi wasn't going to mention her flight the day before. It was Friday, she reminded herself. The weekend starts, don't ruin it. Don't ruin this good day for me, Hanazawa Rui, she thought.

"Yeah."

"What song was it you played yesterday?"

"Just something I made up." They were quiet for some time before Tsukushi said, "You play well." She covered her mouth instantly; she hadn't meant to say that. Whether it was true or not wasn't an issue, it was that she didn't want him believing for any amount of time that she liked any part of him.

"I guess," he replied quietly, non-committed. He hardly bothered to look at her.

Suddenly, she stood up. "You know, Hanazawa Rui," she said, leaning down. He looked at her then, and she tightened her lips and narrowed her eyes. "I hope I never have to talk to you again. I find you to be a very unpleasant person." With that, Tsukushi turned and walked to the door leading back into the school. She was pulling it open when he said, "Does that mean you aren't coming here any more?"

"If I have to do that to avoid you, then yes," she replied, rather impassively.

"So be it," he said. She opened the door once more and almost let it go to slam on her fingers when he said, "Though I do rather enjoy your imitations."

Unable to respond, Tsukushi went inside and the door closed loudly behind her. Rui held his hand to his mouth and laughed.

It was only so long that Tsukasa could stay out until nearly midnight; he knew Sakurako would make her move, and soon. He just didn't know how she would go about it. So he kept a close eye on Tsukushi, watching her interactions from a distance and cringing every time she chatted with his girlfriend in the hall. Something terrible was coming: he could feel it in his bones.