Chapter 38

Mitsuru was true to her word when she said she would help Ryuichi study for exams. She kept his nose deep into his books with one hand while she studied with the other, where Ryuichi would be begging for a break. They would study after school in the library, up on the third floor of the dorm, her room, his room, the command room, the lounge—depending on whatever wasn't too crowded, too noisy, and especially where Ryuichi wouldn't get too distracted.

After school on Wednesday, Ryuichi prepared to head over to help take care of Megumi when Mitsuru stopped him.

"I've already informed your family that you were concerned for your grades and arranged for Kimura-san to come in today in your stead," she told him while he packed his bag.

For the first time in his life, he was actually anguished that he couldn't go to his parents' house, if only for a few hours without cramming schoolwork and lessons into his head. He felt ill when he realized another problem.

"But, I already told them that I couldn't come in next Wednesday because of the break," he uttered, going pale. "They're gonna be furious I'm missing two days!"

"Your mother was understanding of the matter and agreed to having you focus on your studies," Mitsuru said. "And I see no problem, so long as someone is there to help watch over your niece."

It felt like Ryuichi was losing either way. If he went in to help with his niece, he would be losing a whole day of studies. With the nanny substituting for him, he had to deal with another day of Mitsuru's grueling tutelage. And lately, Mitsuru had been hounding him more than usual about his studies, but it was only recently that she became almost merciless. She had been fine the previous week where she would let him take a break or two and learn at his own pace, but after the episode with Yukari's discovery of the Kirijo Group's sins, she was more on edge than usual.

They stopped by the library after school to study, but every table was already occupied. One table was taken by two students with two empty seats across from them, but they were too busy whispering to each other that Mitsuru deemed it too distracting for Ryuichi. She made the decision to just return to the dorm and study there, and all Ryuichi could do was follow obediently, knowing that he did get distracted pretty easily, especially while burnt out.

At the dorm, they found Junpei and Minato studying at the long table on the second floor. Junpei kept asking Minato for help, always popping up from his seat to lean over the table. Whenever Minato helped him, he would loudly express his gratitude, confusion, or panic with various groans, squeaks, and obnoxious yelling.

They tried the third floor where Yukari and Fuuka studied. The second Mitsuru's and Yukari's eyes met, Ryuichi quickly yet gently pushed Mitsuru up the stairs while Fuuka called to Yukari's attention for their studies to make her look away.

Up in the command room, they found Ikutsuki sitting in front of the bank of consoles with some of the screens flashing black and white snow. The static was so loud that Ryuichi had to stick his fingers in his ears.

"Ah, Mitsuru! Ryuichi!" Ikutsuki called to them over the noise. "There seems to be something wrong with the computer!"

"What?" Ryuichi yelled.

"There seems to be something wrong with the computer!" he shouted back, exaggerating his lip movements. Ryuichi carefully studied his words as he formed them.

Without saying a word, Mitsuru turned to Ryuichi with a piercing look that he took to mean "We're leaving". As they started for the door, Ikutsuki turned back to the console and began messing with all the buttons, knobs, and switches.

"Don't worry!" he called over his shoulder. "I'll have it fixed in snow time!"

He giggled to himself as he pointed to the static on the screen. "Get it? Snow! Haha!"

Ryuichi barely had time to roll his eyes when Mitsuru dragged him out of the room. With everywhere else full, they agreed to study in Ryuichi's room for the day.

While Mitsuru went to get some of her study materials from her room, he prepared his for another long day of books, notes, and information he was sure would be useless after exams. He turned on the air conditioner and set the temperature a little lower, taking a moment to stand in the rush of refreshingly chilly air. He set his low table atop his blue rug, then went to the kitchen to get fresh tea and the cake he prepared the night before. When everything was ready, he sat down at the low table to rest his back against his bed, grateful for the respite before another study session.

The tea went cold, and the cake slowly staled. Both remained untouched on Ryuichi's desk while the two sat across from each other on the rug, deep into their studies. It had been two hours of them being hunched over the table, where every muscle in Ryuichi's body had cramped up. Even his brain seemed to have developed a cramp or two that wouldn't let him absorb information, where Mitsuru had to repeat herself two or three times for him to understand something for just a few moments, only to lose it seconds later.

Mitsuru sat back from the table with a look that Ryuichi knew all too well. It was a look that his entire family had a tendency to use with him more often than he would like. To see it on Mitsuru's face meant that he was really screwing up.

She got up from the table. "I have another study guide that might help," she said on her way to the door. "I'll go get it. For now, take a break."

When his door shut behind her, Ryuichi stood up and stretched. He had been overcome by the need to play his keyboard, as long as it meant that he could get away from studying, even if only for a few minutes. He just needed something to distract him and give him something fresh to think about.

After a moment's hesitation, he rolled his desk chair over to his keyboard and began to play songs from old video games that he remembered watching his older cousins play. The story for one particular video game was lost to him, but the music ingrained itself in him, became a part of him, and now flowed from his fingertips.

The song was beautiful in its melancholic tone, filled with a joy as distant as the stars when all the sky was nothing but darkness. It started off with just a few simple notes—solitary yet hopeful—that were soon filled up with passion and longing as the phrases repeated. It kept building and building, until all the chords and all the accompaniments dropped out to allow the single melody shine through, suspended and exposed for just a few notes before converging with a harmonious voice likened to bell tolls. The song crescendoed like stars colliding in a celestial war, ending with the final glimmers of starlight falling, weary from battle, and burning out as they fell to their final resting place.

Ryuichi sat back in the chair as he came down from his high. For a moment, he stared blankly at the keyboard, not wanting to take another breath, lest he frighten away the euphoria the song brought him.

A soft applause startled him. He swiveled around to see Mitsuru seated on his bed, smiling in approval.

"When did you get back?" he blurted out, horrified that he had been caught while deep into the song.

"Not as soon as I would have liked," she replied, not moving from her spot. The book she went to retrieve lay next to her, forgotten for the time being. "What song was that? It doesn't sound like anything modern, nor have I heard any classical music quite like that before."

His face grew hot as he turned away in shame. "It's from an old video game," he admitted, nervously touching the keys without playing any notes.

"A video game? I never would have guessed that such a beautiful song would come from a video game, of all places."

He bashfully scratched his scalp and reached for the off switch. "Y-Yeah. Some of the best songs I know came from video games."

"Play another."

He nearly choked on his breath from astonishment. "Huh?"

"Play another," she repeated. "That is, if you don't want to."

After that first song, he definitely wanted to play more. He played a random, relaxing series of notes that he made up on the spot, eventually turning into a cheery melody from a favorite childhood movie. He played through it without a word from Mitsuru, but he could feel her presence the entire time. Even in the coolness of the air conditioned room, perspiration formed on his skin just by having her listen to him play.

"That song was on the CD you made for me," Mitsuru said after the song had ended. "You play it much more beautifully now than what you recorded. You must have been practicing, haven't you?"

The warmth in her voice made him relax just a bit. "Shizue often asks me to play the piano for Megumi, so I got a lot of practice whenever I had to help out," he replied, discovering just how parched he had become. He didn't dare to face her just yet and started a new song.

"Does she?"

"Pretty much every time I'm there. Sometimes she asks for the guitar, other times she has me read to the baby."

"I can understand why." He heard bed springs squeak beneath Mitsuru. "Whenever I needed a moment to relax, I would listen to the CD you made for me."

His fingers fumbled on the keys. "R-Really?"

"Really. Is that so surprising? The intent of your gift was for listening, after all."

Ryuichi kept playing, but softer now, more self-conscious of how the songs came out. "I guess, huh?" he murmured. "I didn't think I did a good enough job on it, with my hand and all."

He finished out the last song before the two returned to their studies. There was a change in the both of them, where Mitsuru wasn't quite so tense when she explained concepts and Ryuichi was able to retain and understand the information better. As he worked on some English grammar quizzes that Mitsuru prepared for him, he noticed how much more at ease she appeared.

"Is there something on my face?" she asked when he held his stare on her for too long.

"No, nothing like that," he replied, squirming from getting caught. "It's just, I guess these past few days have been pretty rough on you, huh?"

It looked like he had guessed right. Mitsuru's pencil finished writing out a word before she set it down. Her frown appeared weighted with the truth of his observation while she fixed her gaze on the table.

"Does it seem petty of me to still be bothered by what happened last week?" she asked.

He shook his head. "It's not petty if she dug up stuff from the past like that," Ryuichi said softly. "The way it looks to me, even from the beginning when she first moved in, she just didn't seem to like you at all without even getting to know you first."

Her sigh breathed a heaviness to the room. "I've been thinking the same thing," she told him, lifting her eyes to his. "At first I dismissed the possibility, but now it seems as if she has a grudge against me."

"A grudge? More like a vendetta." Ryuichi rested his jaw against his fist. "Whatever it is, does she just have something against you, or the whole Kirijo Group?"

"That, I cannot say."

"So, what are you going to do?"

Mitsuru didn't answer right away. "I intend to maintain the peace as best as I can and continue to be civil towards her," was her solution. "I know it's not ideal, but I have nothing against her, and I have the others to consider."

The mood in the dorm remained tense from anxiety over exams and from Yukari's accusations the previous Saturday evening. If Yukari made an appearance, all conversations died. If Mitsuru appeared, the same thing would happen. When the two were in the same room for even just a few seconds, the tension threatened to crush the other residents of the dorm. Some tried to lighten the mood with small talk or jokes, but their attempts always ended in failure. Neither Mitsuru nor Yukari made an attempt to talk to the other, leaving the rest to tiptoe around them the rest of the time.

Despite the drama in the dorm, Ryuichi was at least grateful that Mitsuru was talking to him. He had become the thing that she poured her energy into to ensure that his grades would remain aloft, offering her just enough distraction from Yukari during those few hours a day they spent studying together. He made sure to play piano for her every now and then if they studied in his room so that she would have a few minutes to relax. She never stopped him from doing so.

The following Sunday before exam week, Ryuichi learned that he was supposed to take the day off from work at the restaurant. It was after he had just come out of the shower that he found his phone practically smoking from all the fiery voicemails and scorching emails his father left for him. As he listened to his father's barking voice cursing at him, he quickly dressed and dashed up the stairs to Mitsuru's door to ask about it, taking his phone along with him.

"Your mother was the one who insisted that you take Sunday off from work to study," she told him. "I believe I mentioned this the other day, but I think you were too busy with your flashcards at the time."

"But, but, but..." Ryuichi couldn't process what he just learned. He just stood there dumbstruck, his phone still playing the lengthy messages from his father.

"—how many days now, Ryuichi?" came his father's raging voice. "You're neglecting your duties to your family! You know how much it costs to have Kimura-san come over those extra days? And you're expecting us to pay half when you aren't even coming in to work today? Your lazy ass is costing us big time! When I was your age, I wasn't dicking around like you! I worked two jobs while I was in school to pay for my college tuition—"

Ryuichi quickly deleted the message, only for the next one to start playing. He frantically deleted all the voicemails as sweat poured down his face and collected on his upper lip. Even without the voicemails, he could still hear his father's voice, the grit in his tone like a cheese grater to his back.

"It seems I've put you in a difficult spot," Mitsuru noted of the situation. "I was concerned more for your education but failed to consider your family's needs."

She took out her cell phone and began to dial a number.

"Wait." Ryuichi rubbed his thumb over his phone's number pad before snapping it shut. "If Mom was the one who said I should take today off, then it's not your fault. Besides, Dad always gets a little psychotic when things don't play out his way."

"The least I can do is apologize to your parents for the inconvenience," Mitsuru said, and her phone screen filled with the rest of Ayumi's number. "But, that could mean that you will have to go into work today."

"You don't have to apologize for anything," he told her. "Like you said before, Mom was the one who wanted me to take today off. Dad just needs to learn to trust the other workers with cooking the burger patties."

The guilt stained Mitsuru's face. Ryuichi slipped her phone out of her hand to clear the screen before handing it back.

"Hey." He gave Mitsuru a determined look. "Mom's depending on you to help me score high this time, so you'd better tutor me good."

At first, Mitsuru's bewildered expression made him worry that he upset her more. She surprised him when she returned his challenge with a solid nod.

"After your mother went through the trouble of getting you the day off, we mustn't disappoint her," she agreed.

Ryuichi grinned. "Good! Now, top ten's a good target, but if we're really gonna make Mom proud, I better get the number one spot."

Mitsuru's eyes shot a cold, steeled look at him. "We can aim for number one, but I don't intend to give it to you easily."

Ryuichi could only grin even bigger to hide his fear and unease of what kind of tutoring he was about to receive that day. Only an hour into their study session, Ryuichi was begging Mitsuru to let him go to work at the restaurant.

At the end of exam week, Ikutsuki messaged everyone in SEES to meet him outside the school gates after their final exam. Mitsuru had to leave right away to return to the Kirijo mansion, and Ryuichi had to hurry over to the restaurant, leaving the meet up to the others. On his way back to the dorm, Ryuichi sent a hasty message to Ikutsuki to apologize for not being able to make it.

The moment he arrived at the restaurant, his father bore down on him with a repeat of his complaints and criticisms from the voicemails Ryuichi deleted the week before. Ryuichi could only apologize over and over again while agreeing with his father that he was a lazy idiot who was only wasting Mitsuru's time and efforts in helping him study.

Thankfully, he was so burnt out from all the study sessions with Mitsuru that he could barely absorb anything his father had to say. He found contentment while standing over a hot grill, relieved to be on his feet and keeping his hands busy while letting his mind go blank for a few hours.

When he got back to the dorm late that evening, Akihiko was waiting for him in the lounge with a mixture of mourning and shock on his face. He got up to meet Ryuichi by the back door.

"We might be getting a new member," he said gravely while Ryuichi smoothed back his helmet hair.

"Okay, but you make it sound like a bad thing," Ryuichi pointed out. "Something wrong with the newbie?"

Akihiko wouldn't say until they were inside Ryuichi's room to speak privately. There, the air was thick and wet with summer heat. Ryuichi turned on the air conditioner, but it would take a little while for things to cool down.

"So, what's wrong with the new person?" Ryuichi asked again as he stripped off his vest.

At first, Akihiko hesitated. Whoever it was obviously troubled him to the point where he couldn't speak of the person out in the open. He leaned back against Ryuichi's desk and was about to say something when they heard one of the bathroom doors outside open and shut.

"Do you remember what happened to Shinji two years ago?" Akihiko asked uneasily.

"Yeah. It's not something you just forget, but what does that—"

"The kid. Do you remember him?"

Ryuichi felt something like ice crack in his chest. "You mean, he's—?"

Akihiko nodded. "Yeah. His name is Ken Amada. Ikutsuki's gonna have him move into the dorm for the summer, since he has nowhere else to go. He said it's fine, since he's got the potential."

Ryuichi's heart thudded in his throat. "But, he's only a kid!"

"I know, and nobody likes the idea of having a kid fight alongside us."

"Then why push for it?"

"I guess because we still need more people."

"Says who? Don't tell me Mitsuru agreed to it?"

"She didn't," Akihiko grunted, giving Ryuichi only momentary relief. "Ikutsuki's the one pushing for it because he knows we need more people, even if Ken's only a kid."

Ryuichi sank down onto his bed, unable to comprehend the cruelty of the man who cracked a hundred puns a day. "So, does he remember anything?" he asked in a small voice.

"I don't think so. Ikutsuki told me he only remembers that his mom died in an accident," said Akihiko. "I don't think he remembers any of us from that night. He only knows me as the captain of the boxing team."

"An admirer of yours?"

"You could say that, but I don't feel right having him look up to me after what happened back then."

Everything Akihiko told him made him dread meeting Ken. He practiced in his mind how to speak to the boy, reminding himself not to act suspicious or overly sympathetic for his circumstances. He lost sleep over it, fearing that Ken would remember everything the second he saw him.

The next morning, as Ryuichi prepared to head to work, the front doors opened and in walked a little boy with light, brown hair wearing an orange hoodie vest carrying a duffel bag that was far too large for him. Ryuichi recognized him immediately as the boy Akihiko had told him about.

"You must be Ken Amada," Ryuichi said kindly to him with a welcoming smile. "Hi. I'm Ryuichi Okazaki."

Ken set the bag down on the floor and looked up at him in amazement. "Okazaki-san? The captain of the kendo team?" The boy's face lit up while Ryuichi felt shame clench his heart. "You live here, too? I heard you can take on three guys all by yourself and never get hit!"

"Well, uh, I was the captain, but some circumstances came up and I had to quit kendo," Ryuichi admitted to him. He could see the disappointment on Ken's face.

"That's too bad," Ken said to him. "I'm sure you had your reasons."

Ryuichi couldn't believe the boy's maturity. He was like an old man in a small boy's body with his sage-like understanding. Through their brief chat, it appeared to Ryuichi that Ken might not remember him at all. He had been pleasant to speak with, but his maturity had been alarming to him.

He was so stunned by Ken's response that he almost forgot all about work. During the first few hours of cooking burger patties, Ryuichi found that he didn't know how to talk to the boy. He had been expecting a rambunctious little squirt, but Ken turned out to be the complete opposite, and probably more mature than half the dorm.

"Quit daydreaming!" Toshio came over and wrenched the spatula out of Ryuichi's hand. "If you've got time to daydream, then go cut some fries!"

As he shoved potatoes into the slicer, Ryuichi realized that he just needed to survive a few more hours of work before he could enjoy some time away from his family. He would be on a far off island with no exams to study for, no schedules to keep, no cooking or cleaning, and best of all, no angry family to deal with!

A real vacation. Ryuichi actually smiled at work for once.

End of Arc 1