Disclaimer: I don't own Saihitei and Ryuuen.
Notes: I'm taking advantage of the fact that this is my last week of vacation and I'm trying to write as many chapters as possible before the idea slips away from my grasp.
In Dreams
Soccer practice that day was a bit boring, if you ask me. We spent the whole meeting trying to teach the new members of the club how to kick the ball just right. I don't get it, they join the team without as much knowledge about the sport as a frog watching the game from a pond eighty yards from the field. Well, at least they know that we use soccer balls and that only the goalie's allowed to touch the ball with his hands.
I thought I was exempted from coaching anyone and was about to settle with kicking the ball back and forth. And then Ryuuen arrived.
"Seishuku! Come here." Coach Burns shouted.
I ran to his side to find Ryuuen there, wearing the required T-shirt and shorts, knee-length socks and soccer shoes. He was also holding a shin guard and gloves, hmm…goalie.
"This is Ryuuen Chou. You must've heard of him. He's the new kid," Coach went on a explaining to me as if Ryuuen wasn't standing there beside him. What a jerk. I nodded and he continued, "Well, he'll be the new goalie. Teach him." He tossed a ball at me and left.
I was about to protest. I'm a striker, dang it. Ryuuen stood beside me, looking awkward with all the gears he was trying to hold up. If you ask me, he should be anything except a goalie. He's small, and thin. I'll be damned if he didn't faint when the ball hits him. Smiling down at him—yeah, he's that small, about five inches smaller than me, or so—I gestured to his gears, "Have you been a goalie before?"
He looked down at the gloves, "No. Not really."
I nodded and walked over to the bleachers. He carefully set the things and sat beside me. I turned to him, "What do you usually do?"
"I'm in midfield."
"Huh. Then how come you had to be goalie?"
He smiled and started to put the shin guards on, "I signed up late and the coach said there aren't any positions left except goalkeeper."
"Ahh," I said and waited for him to finish putting the gloves on. Then I stood up, "Are you ready?"
He smiled and stood up as well. Seriously, I wonder how he can keep smiling this much. Was he born like that or just out of habit? I mean, I kind of understand. If you were a new kid, you'd do everything to please the locals so they won't think you're strange or anything. I know I would.
We walked over to the goal and I straightened up and did an impression of the coach, "Well, son. This is what we call the goal." I said, walking in front of the goal and touching the net, "This is the net. If the opponent's ball touches this, they get a point. And it's up to the goalkeeper," I looked at him pointedly, "To keep the opponent's ball from touching the net. He will stand over here, and is not to go at any point past this line, got it?" By now, Ryuuen was clutching at his sides from laughing so hard. My god, not only does his voice sound like a girl's, he even laughs like one. He has this melodic laugh down to perfection.
Amidst our laughing, I spotted Coach Burns eyeing us dangerously and, taking that as a warning we started practicing. Ryuuen's actually pretty good. Even for a beginner. He was able to block about seventy-five percent of the balls I've thrown at him. But he still has some issues to fix, like he jumps too soon when he thinks the ball will be sent one way, giving the opponent a chance to change it, or how he miscalculates some the ball's direction. Instead of it going out of the net, in his attempts to grab it, the ball ends up in it. But, after fixing those bugs, he'll be a good goalie.
We were walking to his house after practice, covered in dirt and mud. His house was on the way to mine from the field. When we got there, he offered me to come in for dinner.
"No, thanks." I said, "I want to take a shower first, some other time, maybe?"
He smiled and thanked me for teaching him.
As I was walking to my house, I replayed the day's events. He's not really that bad, when you think about it. He's just a new student in a strange town, but from the time I spent with him, he seems almost like the rest of us. He's funny, smart, and a great halfback, if you ask me. After practice, we had a little game and he played his usual position. I mean, the guy could run! He practically swooped past the other team, as he was about to shoot some goals.
A week later, me and Jason and the others arrived on the park when I saw Ryuuen practicing with his brother, well, at least I assumed that was his brother. They had the same color hair and if I'm not mistaken, he was the same guy I saw carrying the box the day they moved in. Ryuuen spotted me and waved in my direction. I waved back, if a bit hesitantly. I know I said the guy was nice and all, but he's still somewhat of an outcast. The last thing I need is for the others to pick on me about it.
Sure enough, they did, "So, you and the new kid. You friends now?" Jason asked, throwing a hand across my shoulders.
I smirked, acting cool, "Nah. He's just in the soccer club and the coach asked me to help him."
The others laughed and they went on with their game.
I know I must seem like an ass to brush the guy off like that. I mean, Jason's my friend, he won't turn his back on me like everyone else will if he finds out I know the guy. I just…I don't know. Habit, I guess. I've been trying to fit in with the crowd for fear that they might shun me for too long that even up to now, I'm afraid they'd still do that. I mean, it's 1946! People aren't as open-minded then as they are now.
"Can I ask you something?" Ryuuen asked as we were walking to his house after practice. I turned to him to see that he was waiting for my permission. I nodded and he continued, "What do you like about this place?"
I almost tripped, caught off-guard with the question. I pondered on it for a while, what do I like about this place? "The silence."
He looked at me oddly, "Silence?"
"Yeah. You see, at night, it's very quiet here. You can easily think. We went to the city once, and I can't sleep that night because cars always pass by my window. It's too noisy."
He smiled and nodded, as if completely understanding what I meant, "I see. You know what I like about this place? The people."
This struck my curiosity. How can he like the people here when no one ever takes notice of him? I hear people talk in the hallways, and let me tell you, if you were hearing what I'm hearing, you wouldn't want to be the subject of their discussion in a hundred years. And now here I am, walking alongside this person who's the topic of almost all conversations, telling me he like the people here. Weird. "Why the people?"
He smiled that enigmatic smile, "They're nice. They give you space."
The hell they do, I thought. I wanted to tell him that what he thought was space is actually people ignoring him.
He continued, "But when you need help, they help you." He looked up at me. I tried to hide my blush; I know he's talking about me.
"Yeah." There's pretty much nothing left for me to say, right? "Well, here you are."
We stopped in front of his porch. Before he walked up to the stairs, he turned to me, "Do you want to come in?"
Unlike his other invitations, which I turned down quite politely, but firmly, I gave this one some thought. My mom's out with my dad on some business and the only thing I know about cooking is toasting bread. I doubt they left me any food, either. Smiling up at him I was about to say yes when I remembered I'm still covered in mud from our recent practice. "I'd like to, but I'm dirty."
He laughed and beckoned me in, "It's okay. You can take a shower here. My parents won't mind. You can borrow my brother's shirt, if you like."
Finally making a decision, I smiled again and walked in after him. After all, who was I to turn down a home-cooked meal?
My nose was attacked with the smell of chicken the moment we entered. Ryuuen lowered his bag by the couch and called in, "Mom, I'm home! Do you mind if Saihitei took a shower here?"
I was surprised that he used my name to his mother instead of 'my teammate' or 'my classmate', heck, he can even use 'my friend' if he wants. A woman, who I assumed was his mother, peeked out from the kitchen with a ready smile. I guess they're just a smiley family. "Well, hello Saihitei. My son talks about you a lot. It's an honor to finally meet you."
I smiled at her and looked at Ryuuen who had his head lowered and was busy picking up his bag from the floor. "Hello, Mrs. Chou. I hope you don't mind…"
"Oh, nonsense! Hurry up and take that shower, both of you, dinner's almost ready." And then she ducked into the kitchen again.
Ryuuen gave me an apologetic grin and walked up the stairs to his room, with me in tow. His room is very different from Jason's and mine. Jason's room is a jungle, filled with trophies and clothes all over the floor, mine's pretty much the same, minus the trophies. But Ryuuen's was impeccable. His books are on one shelf, his bed was made, the floor's spotless, everything was clean.
"Are you going to come in or are you comfortable standing there?"
I snapped back and stopped my keen observation when I heard his voice. "Oh, yeah. It's just…your room…"
He smirked, "What about it?"
"It's…clean."
He burst out laughing. Okay, I think I just made a total fool of myself by revealing my thoughts. Note to self: keep thy thoughts where they belong. But really, he laughs like a girl.
"You can sit, you know."
I realized that I'm still standing, but at least I'm inside now. Clutching my duffel bag to myself, I looked around. At my present state, I'm afraid to touch anything in the room; for fear that I might dirty it or something. He stood from the bed and grabbed my bag. He's…strong. I was clutching the bag very closely to myself and he just took it from me, just like that. Nah, he caught me by surprise. No way could he be stronger than me based on his size.
Anyway, he dropped my bag at the floor and pulled me down to sit on the edge of the bed. "See, no problem."
I looked at him, unsure, "B-but…your sheets."
He gave me a weird look. "That's washable." Well, seems like we got a record! Seishuku, strike two!
He disappeared for a while and I was left sitting on his bed and looking like a lost kid in his unbelievably clean room. He came back after a while with a bundle in his hands. "Here, I borrowed you some clothes from Rokou. The bathroom's over there and there are towels on the rack."
I thanked him and went to the direction of the bathroom. Like every place in the house, the bathroom also looked cozy. Now, don't ask me how that happened, it just looked cozy to me. I showered for about fifteen minutes and emerged wearing his brother's shirt and shorts. I went back to Ryuuen's room and found that he had showered also and traded his jersey for a black oversized shirt and jeans.
When we went down for dinner, everyone was already seated around the table. Ryuuen's dad smiled at me warmly, "Hello. You must be Saihitei. Come, join us."
"Thank you," I sat to Ryuuen's left. Everyone was looking at me closely. Okay, maybe not everyone, but the little girl seating across from Ryuuen was.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to do the introductions, everyone, this is Saihitei, my classmate and he's also from the soccer club. He's coaching me to be a goalie. Saihitei, this is Kourin, my little sister, Rokou, my brother, he's the owner of the clothes. And you've met my mom and dad." I smiled at them and thanked Rokou for letting me borrow his clothes.
We ate the delicious broiled chicken Mrs. Chou cooked—see, I was right—and they engaged in some trivial discussions from things like the weather to the new games invented. The Chou family is really the ultimate All-American family. They're warm and nice and obviously close. When I mentioned as much to Ryuuen after dinner, he just smiled and said, "Well, we travel a lot. And you know how it is when you're new, you have no one else to turn to except the family."
I just bit my tongue to keep from saying that no, I don't know. But actually, I'm kind of jealous. I don't have siblings so one would think that would make it easier for my family to bond since there are only three members, right? Wrong. My dad's a businessman and always has to be out of the state or something. And when he comes here, all he talks about is how I should study hard to follow in his footsteps and continue the family business. Now, don't get me wrong, I do have plans of continuing that, but every time he forces me to do better and strive harder, I always feel like I should be doing something else. And it's not like I get bad grades or anything, if there's one thing I can be proud about it's my grades. I'm not exactly top of the class, but I'm close. I could be if I want to, really, if you'd excuse the momentary arrogance. I just don't feel like striving hard. If you know you do well without exerting much effort, why bother trying harder? And then there's my mom. My mom's actually a sweet lady everyone loves her. She's like the model mom. She goes to PTA meetings; she's very supportive of my studies and my love for soccer, she's also a caring wife, always tending to my father's needs. In other words, she deserves more than my father can give. Actually, my dad's a pretty good provider, but it stops there.
I was on my way home at around 8:30. Dinner actually lasted until around seven, but we decided to do our homework already so I won't have to do it when I get home. Heh, like I'd actually do it. That's another thing about me, I know the homework, but I rarely do it. Probably because it bores me. I mean, why bother doing homework when I already know it? Tomorrow, when I turn in my work, the teacher's would have a cow. Saihitei Seishuku actually did his work! Wow.
He walked me to the street and I noticed how they fixed the broken window of the old a store.
"Yeah, my family's business is selling cloth. So when we found this old store, my dad just thought he'd buy it. Plus, it has a house on top."
I nodded, looking at the old structure, "When are you planning on opening?"
He shrugged, "When the fixings get done, I guess. There are still a lot left to fix in here. I actually don't know much about it. But my brother does."
I looked at him, "He doesn't go to school?"
"No. He wanted to help with the family business."
"I see," I said, "Well, I better go. Thanks for inviting me in and thank your mom for the wonderful dinner."
He smiled and waved at me as I was nearing the corner. I looked back and saw him walking to the back of the store. The entrance to the house is at the back, that's what they use. But from what I remember of the store—me and my friends used to go in there during Halloween, just to scare ourselves—I think there's also a staircase inside leading to the second floor.
I looked at the papers lying across my bed. College applications. I'm planning to apply to two. My dad almost threw a fit when I told him about it. Take it easy dad; it's becoming obvious you don't trust me with my life…
Actually, even my mom was worried when I told her about it. She was worried that I might not pass. Well, I don't really blame her. She's seen my grades. But, if I just pass the entrance exam and the interviews, I'll be fine. I can start over.
Picking up one of the application forms, I pondered on what major I should take. The list of majors is on the back and I skimmed over them. I could go for pre-med, but that entails too much reading, and reading's not exactly the passion of my life. I could go for business school. At least, when I take over the family business, I'm prepared. No need getting good ol' dad so worked up. Yep, business it is.
Months have passed and the next thing I know, there was a letter waiting for me at the coffee table.
"It's your acceptance letter," my mom said.
I want to be as optimistic as her, I really do, but I'm too afraid to get disappointed. It's February already and just a month before graduation, I can't find a school that fast. Besides, it's college. Slowly, I opened the envelope and the moment I read the first line, I jumped up and whooped in joy. Running over to my mom, I gave her a big hug and a kiss and I was out the door.
I have to tell Ryuuen about this
I've been hanging out with Ryuuen and his family more and more these past months, almost every night even. But this is still kept hidden from Jason and the others. I still go to the park with them after class, but after that, I head to Ryuuen's house and have dinner or something. Most of the time, we'd just hang out in his clean room.
I really thought that clean room thing was just a phase, but turned out I was wrong. The guy's a neat freak. Okay, maybe not necessarily a freak, but he's neat, that's for sure.
When I reached Ryuuen's corner, I stopped for a while to catch my breath, having run the whole five blocks from my house. When I saw their dad's car in the driveway, I started running again. Kourin, his younger sister, who I found out earlier was nine years old and on home schooling, was playing in the yard. When she saw me, her face brightened and she jumped to me. I picked her up and twirled her in the air, laughing.
"Where's your brother?" I asked, panting.
"Ryuuen's in the shop," she told me and we both went in to find Ryuuen behind the counter, attending to a customer.
"Why are you so happy?"
I guess I still have that face-splitting grin. Inching my face closer to hers, I whispered, "I have great news."
As the customer was leaving, she smiled at Kourin and me. Normally, I wouldn't let myself be caught dead with Ryuuen, but I was too happy to care. So, I just returned the smile and she went out the door.
After the customer left, Ryuuen beckoned me behind the counter with a smile, "You look happy."
My smile still not faltering, I lowered Kourin to the ground and took the envelope out of my jacket pocket. He smiled and gave me a weird look before taking the envelope from my hands and began reading, "Mr. Seishuku, we are pleased to inform you…YOU PASSED!"
I nodded vigorously, still smiling, "I know! Isn't that great?!"
He looked like he was about to cry. Another thing I found out about this family is that they're an emotional bunch.
Ryuuen grabbed my arm and exclaimed, "This is great news!" He gave me a hug and called out to his family, "Hey everybody! Sai got accepted to college! Everybody!"
Mrs. Chou—Alyssa, she insisted on me calling her by her first name, but I just can't bring myself to—came in from the house with a confused look, "What's all the yelling about?"
Ryuuen handed her the paper and she read. Then, slowly, she brought the piece of paper down, tears in her eyes, "Oh Sai, I'm so happy for you. Ohh…my baby…" She hugged me and continued sobbing. I feel like I want to cry, too. This family is starting to rub off a on me.
Ryuuen's dad also entered the store with Rokou—they were in the garage, fixing the delivery van—and looked at us. Mrs. Chou was sobbing; Ryuuen had tears trailing down his cheeks, and me on the verge of crying. "Oh guys, you look stupid. What's up?"
His wife released me and was now smoothing my hair, "Sai got into college."
Rokou ran up to me and slapped me in the back. I gave a little grunt and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned, Mr. Chou was smiling down at me, "I'm proud of you, son."
That almost undid me. I've never heard those words from my own father. It's always 'you should be like this' or 'you could've done better if you tried more'. The short time I've spent with the Chou family, they've unofficially adopted me as one of their own. Kourin teased me about being an honorary member of their household. But, you know a what? I don't remember being this happy. I mean, me and my mom, we have our moments, but this is different. With them, I truly felt like I'm part of something. I'm one of them. I'm a Chou.
"The dance is coming soon, you going?" I asked Ryuuen.
We were in my room, just hanging out and talking. Another new perspective my friendship—or secret friendship, I should say—with Ryuuen has brought me is to just sit and talk for hours on end. I've never done that with Jason or anybody. And I don't get bored. The good thing here is our talks don't even touch the topic of girls. With the others it's always 'she has better legs than her' or 'look at those ass!' Now, don't get me wrong, I like girls. It's just a sensitive topic to me.
I know what you're thinking, maybe I'm ugly or deformed or anything. Actually, no. In fact, I'm pretty good looking, if I say so myself. With eyes like my mother's, small, a amber, with long lashes; my feature like my father's, strong, clean, masculine and my fine brown hair that fell to my ears—that's as long as we're allowed to grow it. Even my built's not that bad. I could be what you called athletic, and I'm tall. So, what's my issue with girls, you ask? You see, I can't get girls. Normally, I'm pretty confident. My mother even says I'm born a leader, but when it comes to girls, I get tongue-tied. I can't seem to find the words to say that won't come off with me looking like an idiot. So, yeah. Sensitive topic. I guess it is to Ryuuen as well. Seeing as how he doesn't bring up the subject either.
Anyway, back to us in my room. Ryuuen looked a bit uncomfortable with my question, but answered anyway, "No."
"But you're coming?"
"No."
"Oh," I said, tinkering with my guitar. "So, you wanna hang out, then?"
He looked at me with a pained expression, "Can't."
I straightened up, setting my guitar aside, "Why? Something wrong?" There has got to be something if he refuses to hang out. He usually likes to do that.
He shook his head and smiled, "No. Nothing. You go, though."
Yep, something's up. "What is it?"
"It's not really a big deal, just let it go, okay?"
For some reason, I just felt angry. I mean, I tell him everything when he asks me, and now he's hiding from me? What does he take my friendship for, anyway? Throwing the pillow on my lap to somewhere across the room, I stood up and walked over to him by the window. I don't know what came over me, but the next thing I know, I was grabbing him by the arms and shaking him. "Will you just tell me what it is?!"
He winced, I don't know if it's because I was holding him tightly or because I shouted at him, I reckon it's both. I've never really shouted at him before; much less lose my cool in front of him. Actually, anyone. I don't remember being angry about anything. But that time, that moment, I just felt mad. Mad that he won't tell me what's going on. Mad that he doesn't want to hang out with me. Mad that I had to hide from everyone.
He was crying now. Abruptly, I stopped.
I hurt him. I hurt him. How can I do that? I hurt my friend…
Eyes wide, I walked over to the bed and just sat, waiting for him to stop crying. Stop long enough so I can apologize. "I…Ryuuen…"
He wiped the tears from his face and faced me, "I-it's okay…I-I'm s-sorry…"
I looked up, "Why? Why are you sorry? I hurt you! Me! I'm the one who should be sorry!"
"S-sai…"
I held up my hand as if to silence him, "No. I'm sorry."
He took a step toward me, "N-no, Sai…I…"
"Stop it, Ryuuen. I said I'm sorry so don't try apologizing anymore."
"Sai, we're leaving."
AN: Whew! Long one, huh? Well, that's a first! I just can't seem to find the right point where I should end it. So…you know the drill…
