Chapter Seventeen
Over the next two weeks as I waited for the results for the pre-test to come out, I was legitimately terrified. This was the first time my test results were unknown to me. I wasn't confident in the work. Then again, maybe it would've been best if I didn't pass the test because then I wouldn't be able to take the Tokyo University exam and hence not go to school there. My problems would be solved. Maybe the charm had actually done good on me.
The funny thing about that charm, also, was that I'd felt compelled to not throw it away. While it was broken, I just felt as though I should keep it. It was tucked away into the desk drawer. And for what reason? Maybe I thought by keeping it, I would fail the exam. I would be able to choose what I wanted to do.
But when the results came in the mail, I had passed and with flying colors. Not even the cursed charm had found a way to fail me.
When the day came for the actual test to be taken, everyone was happy about it except for me. And again, it was as though my mother rushed me out the door so I wouldn't have the chance to go against my parents.
On the way out albeit my lingering defiant thoughts, my parents and Aihara followed me to the door.
"You don't have to make sure, you know. I'm going," I said, "Bye."
"But we're worried." My mother said.
"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?" My father offered for the umpteenth time.
"I'm sure." I slipped through the door before they could continue.
"Be safe." Aihara said.
Surely, I thought, since that thing isn't tied to my bag.
I didn't get a block into the walk before I noticed a very conspicuous figure creeping up behind me, though trying not to be seen. I let it go on for a bit as it was fun to see her dashing around to not be seen by me. She was so obvious, I wondered how she thought she wouldn't go noticed.
"Why are you following me?" I asked. Aihara stopped creeping and bounded right up to my side.
"I want to see you enter Tokyo University, and go past the gates safely." She said with an innocent half-smile. What I liked about that answer was that she wasn't following to make sure I didn't skip out on it. She was following to make sure I didn't sprain my ankle again.
She peppily walked at my side for a few silent minutes until a sound escaped her. It was sort of like a muffled whimper. I peered over at her to find that she was clutching her stomach. Unconcerned about it, I continued. Aihara slowed until she was walking a meter behind me, holding her stomach and walking with a gait. Her face was pale. If she was sick, she should've been at home, but she was too stubborn to know her limits and too dim to listen to any senses she had. And what was more, I didn't want to be taking the responsibility for leaving her to get home alone if she was ill.
I stopped abruptly and turned to her, "You don't look too well."
"I'm okay." She lied through a strained voice.
"If you don't feel good, you need to go back. Don't worry about me, worry about yourself."
"No. I want to see you through the gates and then I'll go."
"If you insist." I continued the trip nonetheless, Koto… Aihara lingering back and holding her stomach. She really didn't look well, but if there was one thing I'd learned about her, it was that she never gave up. If she wanted to see me through those gates, she would be. She wasn't going to go home just because I told her to.
I slowed some for her to catch up as we arrived at the gates of Tokyo University. Again, I looked over to her. A rare frown was set on her mouth and, still, she clutched her stomach. It was off… wrong. I began to wonder if it would be okay to leave her alone and go to this exam.
"Are you really okay?" I said. The ghost of a smile made her look only slightly more like herself.
"Of course," she said faintly, "Good luck on your exam." She waved me away. I hesitated before going in.
Not twenty feet inside the gates, I heard a gasp behind me.
"Oh no. Miss, are you alright? What happened?" I whipped my head around there she laid, curled into a ball on the ground. My eyes widened and I shot for the sidewalk beyond the gates.
A few people had gathered around Aihara.
"Excuse me." I said as I shoved past them and gathered Kotoko into my arms.
"Where is the closest hospital?" A woman pointed down the street toward a tall white building.
"Right there."
"Thank you." I said and took off carrying her. She was completely out of it. There was something so wrong with this. Adrenaline pumped through me and panic urged me toward the hospital. Thankfully, it wasn't far off.
I busted through the hospital doors and was swamped by nurses asking me what had happened.
"She was having stomach pain and then she passed out." I explained. They brought in a stretcher and rolled her away. I was brought to the front desk.
"Now, can you tell me who she is?" The nurse asked.
"Kotoko Aihara. Do you have a phone I could use? I need to call her father." She slid a phone on over to me.
"Go right ahead. We'll need a family member if she needs a procedure."
"Thanks."
I dialled her father's number. He answered on the first ring.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Aihara, it's Naoki. Kotoko is in the hospital. She passed out from stomach pain at the university."
"I'll be right there! What hospital is it?" In the background I heard my mother gasp.
"What happened?!"
"Kotoko passed out from stomach pain."
"Oh, dear. Honey! Get ready, we're going to the hospital! Kotoko is sick."
"It's Tomone Hospital." I said once I was sure he could hear me.
"We will be right down." He said in a rush. I hung up the phone and gave it back to the nurse.
For the next half an hour as I waited for them to arrive, I was shaken to say the least. I hoped she would be okay… Kotoko. There was something different about referring to her as her first name.
A nurse approached me as I waited for the news.
"Her appendix has ruptured, but we can't perform a surgery until we get consent from a family member. Do you know when someone will be arriving?" My stomach sunk.
"They should be here very soon." I said and urged them to hurry.
A few minutes later, they bumbled through the door and Aihara's father came right to me, "Thank you so much for taking care of her. I hope it hasn't been too much trouble." He said. A nurse grabbed him and he took it from there.
"Naoki!" My mother said when she spotted me, "You better go to the exam or you'll be late. We're here now, so everything should be fine."
Oh, I remembered, right.
Truthfully, the exam hadn't even crossed my mind.
"Of course." I said, almost mechanically. It was such a routine to listen to my parents. I left the hospital, making for the university but my feet dragged. I came to a complete stop halfway there. I wondered what I was doing.
When I spotted a small cafe, I realized what I was about to do. I didn't want to take this exam. Maybe I'd been thinking about college since that chat I'd had with Aihara, that I might actually want to go. But not to this one. I couldn't quite place it, but it felt wrong.
I took to the cafe. It was warm inside and smelled like coffee, something I was in need of since I'd rushed out the door this morning. I seated myself at a corner booth where a waitress brought a menu. I only took a second to choose what I wanted,
"One cup of coffee and an omelet." I told her.
She was back in a moment with a warm cup. Taking the first sip, it was bitter, nothing at all like the way Aihara made it. But it would do the job.
As I sat waiting for my omelet and thinking about what I'd just done, I pondered my next step. I was so confused about college. I knew what I wanted to do but I didn't. It was like there was a big flashing, neon sign right in front of my face but it's directions were written in a language I didn't understand.
I drank my sour coffee, running my mind over everything, weighing my options. At the moment, Tonon University didn't sound too bad. It may have only been an escalator, and I may have been the only Class A thinking about going there, but I liked the idea of it. Plus, I wouldn't have to take any exams to get in as I was the highest ranked student in Tonan High.
Yeah… that was what I wanted. To go to Tonan University. Even with that figured out, though, I felt I was missing something. I was missing the reason I wanted to go there instead of an elite university. I could have gotten in anywhere I wanted and I chose the easiest possible place in the world.
Maybe it was because I didn't need to have the satisfaction of going to an elite school, because I was fully able to learn on my own.
My thoughts deepened. I was pulled from them when my omelet was delivered to the table. I ate it rather quickly, paid, and left for the hospital.
Not wanting to face my parents just yet, I sat in the waiting area and read a book I had packed in my bag for occasions such as these. It took an hour for me to be ready to face them and tell them about my decision. For all I was concerned about their reactions, they better not have been picky because they were lucky I'd even decided I wanted to go to college. I saddled up and went to the front desk.
"Can you tell me where Kotoko Aihara's room is?" I said, assuming the surgery to be done since it had been two hours.
"One moment," She said and typed something up on the computer, "That would be room 114. It's on the second floor."
"Thanks." I said. On the way there, I prepared for my parents' disappointment and their disapproval of my choice.
At the door, I heard the voices of my mother and father, and then of Aihara. Good. She was okay.
The moment I walked in and saw her, I noticed a visible change. The color had returned to her cheeks. While she still looked tired, woozy, and sort of out of it, she looked better.
"How did everything go?"
I don't think I'd ever seen my father's head snap around so quickly.
"Naoki… aren't you supposed to be in the exam?" Shock settled over him, since I hadn't listened and taken the exam like they wanted.
"I was hungry, so I got food instead." I circled around her bed and perched myself on the window sill.
"But what about Tokyo University?!" My mother shrieked.
"I'm not taking the exam." I said. My mother nearly passed out.
"Oh no…" Kotoko looked at me like she might've been sick all over again. But this wasn't her fault. In fact, I was quite glad she'd decided to come along and give me the excuse to get out of the exam. That's not to say I was happy her appendix ruptured. I was just happy this was over with.
My parents pulled me out into the hall.
"Naoki," My mother said, "What were you thinking?"
"I'm not interested in going to Tokyo University."
"Where are you going to go, then? And don't even give me that 'I don't want to go to college' line." My father's face was red, boiling.
"Tonan." I said. Hearing it come out of my mouth was strange.
"The escalator? Why there? You could go anywhere you want." He said.
"It's close to home, I guess. And I don't have to take an exam to get in." My parents were flabbergasted. I left them in the hall that way to return to the hospital room where I again perched myself on the window sill.
Aihara looked as guilty as ever. I'd have told her it wasn't her fault if there hadn't been others there, but it wasn't worth it.
"Everything went well, right?" I said.
"Very. She can check out tomorrow." Her father said.
"Good."
