Chapter One: Soap Bubble Popped
Tohru Honda was too shocked to know how she felt.
Maybe what she felt was nervousness, or anxiety, or maybe...
"Hey, Miss Honda, we're supposed to stand up," the person next to her whispered.
"Oh! Right!"
Tohru stood a little too abruptly, and all the blood rushed from her head down to somewhere below her knees. She wobbled slightly and followed the person beside her with almost mechanical steps, like an unbalanced tin soldier.
Terrified. That must be the feeling. How else could she describe the motion of her heart: the way it fluttered like a bird against its cage one moment and froze like a snow cone the next. It was all very confusing and stressful.
"You okay?" asked one of the supervisors as he walked over and gave Tohru a quick scan, making sure that her gown and hat were on straight. Tohru recognized him as one of the art teachers, even though she had never taken art as a class in any of her years at school.
"Yes, I'm fine," Tohru smiled. "Just a little nervous."
The art teacher smiled back. "That's to be expected, I suppose."
"Yes." Tohru ducked her head slightly with embarrassment, and the art teacher moved on to help a student whose hat had fallen off.
As she stood waiting in line to walk on the stage, Tohru became aware of another feeling. She felt as though she were dreaming, she decided after a moment of contemplation, like everything going on around her was unreal.
"Oh, Mom," she thought. "I worked so hard for this, and now I find it so difficult to believe that I've finally made it here."
Here. Graduation Day. Tohru desperately needed something to put her hand on to steady herself as a wave of disbelief swam over her.
"Hanajima Saki," called a voice from the stage. Tohru jerked her head up and saw Hana walk gracefully across the stage, somehow able to make her gown billow out dramatically from a phantom wind. Amazing.
And terror and surrealism were pushed aside as Tohru wondered how she herself would look up there when her time came. Certainly not mysterious like Hana. With her luck, she'd probably trip flat on her face! How had she let Uo talk her into wearing high heels?
"Happyaku Touya."
Happyaku? So far through the alphabet? It wouldn't be much longer before 'Honda Tohru' would be called.
Tohru self-consciously lifted her hand up to pat at her hair, which was hard since her hat covered her head. So instead, she dropped her hand a few inches and played with the tip of one of her braids, twirling it around her finger.
"Hirohito Rika."
Ugh, there came the terror again as Tohru took a few steps forward in line. Her finger wound around her hair faster and in tighter circles until it was all tangled up in the hair ribbon.
"Oopsies," she thought, mentally laughing at herself as she untangled the yellow ribbon from her finger.
"Hiroyuki Tanaka."
The yellow ribbon from Yuki.
Tohru almost did laugh at herself out loud for being so silly, but she stifled it in time. Yuki was here too, waiting for his name to be called. Was he nervous, too? And poor Kyo! He had looked panicked when she'd seen him last, now that she looked back on it. Even Shigure had been acting somewhat disheveled as he hurried his three housemates, saying "You're going to be late if you don't hurry!"
"Hobiru Michiko."
Tohru wasn't the only one who was nervous, and somehow, it gave her comfort.
Not that she wanted the others to be nervous! Oh no, she shouldn't feel comforted by that; she wanted them to be excited, just like they should! They were graduating, after all, and you should be happy about graduating!
"Honda Tohru."
Tohru froze.
"Wh-wh-what?"
"That's you, get moving!" exclaimed the person next in line. He gave her an impatient push, sending her forward. Lucky for her, she caught herself before she tripped on the first stair that led up to the stage.
Tohru was graduating from high school, just like she promised her mother those years ago.
"I need you to stick with it," Tohru heard her mother's voice say in her mind. "So you can tell me what it feels like to hold that diploma in your hand."
Tohru took a deep, steadying breath and placed her right foot on the first step. Sure she wasn't going to slip or fall through the stair, she shifted her weight on it, lifted her left foot, and placed it on the next step.
"See," she thought to herself. "It's not so hard. Just a little further."
Of course, the moment she thought that, the steps seemed to grow in height, and the stage seemed to stretch on forever, the stack of diplomas a tiny speck on the horizon.
"Just keep walking," she told herself calmly. "It's within reach."
One step turned into two, into three, into four. She stopped counting, realizing that a small, timid smiled was forcing its way on her lips. It really wasn't that far at all.
There was a woman holding the diploma out to her. Without thinking, Tohru reached at it with one hand and shook the woman's hand with the other. She played a game of connect the dots by making a line to the next person, shaking his hand, to the next person, shaking his hand, to the next person, shaking her hand, and then she was walking towards the other side of the stage.
Huh? Did she miss something? No, they were already calling the next person's name.
Someone guided her by the shoulders to the side and told her to stand still while they took the shot. Took the shot?
Poof! Oh, they were taking her graduation picture.
Then she was guided away from the photographer and given a light push towards her seat. She caught the eye of Uo, who winked at her, but Tohru was still in shock and couldn't remember the correct way to respond to a wink, if there was one at all.
She sat down, blinking. The rest of the ceremony was a blur, except that she distinctly remembered cheering for Kyo, Yuki and Uo when they went up on stage to take their diplomas, and also remembered feeling guilty for not cheering on Hana earlier. She zoned out for the rest of the ceremony, and the person who had tried to shove her onstage had to elbow her in the ribs to get her to stand up at the recessional.
"How does it feel like to finally have graduated?" Shigure asked Tohru when they'd met up again, wiping away an imaginary tear on his cheek. Or at least, it was supposed to be imaginary.
"She's still in shock," Yuki said as her reply.
Kyo waved a hand in front of Tohru's face to illustrate. She didn't even blink.
"I guess it takes time to sink in," Shigure shrugged, grinning and wiping another imaginary tear. He was about to have an imaginary sob fest, but Tohru finally blinked.
Call it delayed reaction.
Looking first at Shigure, who was standing right in front of her, then to either side of her to Kyo and Yuki, she blinked again and held out her diploma in front of her.
What did it feel like to finally hold this diploma in her hands?
"Hey Tohru, Orange-Top, Prince," called Uo. She stopped next to Shigure, giving him a look that probably reflected her negative thoughts on what kind of novelist he was before turning to Tohru. Hana, who'd been following close behind, stood next to her.
"I'm in shock," Hana said quietly, trying to instigate a conversation.
"Yeah, that Orange-Top here actually graduated," Uo said at the exact same time Yuki said, "Yes, that this idiot actually graduated."
"What'd you say?" Kyo asked, bristling at the two of them, who were both smirking.
Shigure wanted to point out that they looked ridiculous arguing in their graduation gowns, but he was too busy wiping away an imaginary flood of tears and instead choked out, "My little babies are all grown up!"
Uo, Hana, Kyo, and Yuki all turned to look at him.
"What's your problem?" Kyo barked.
Shigure was instantly all grins and smiles. "You know, I invited Hatori and Ayame to watch the graduation, so I'd better go find them. You five talk amongst yourselves until I get back."
And, with a shake of his hand, Shigure scampered off, hoping that one of them carried a box of Kleenex's.
"Hey," Uo called after him.
"What?" he asked, stopping mid stride.
"I thought I saw Tohru's grandfather in the crowd, so why don't you see if you can find him, too, while you're at it?"
"Sure thing, no problem," Shigure said easily, walking away quickly as though he hadn't stopped.
"Something's wrong with Tohru?" Hana asked.
"She's in shock," Yuki said again.
"Been like this since we met up," Kyo added.
"It's because of the diploma," Hana mused outloud.
"The diploma?" Kyo spat. "It's a stupid piece of paper, so what?"
"Didn't she tell you what her goal was for school, or did you just not listen?" Uo asked, her arms crossed as she gave Kyo her most deadly glare.
"Shut up, Yankee! I don't care about a stupid diploma."
"But she did," Hana said, interrupting any further rants from Kyo.
Yuki tilted his head to look at Tohru. She was still lost in la la land.
"You said you promised your mother that you'd finish high school," he said, not really caring if Tohru could hear him or not, "that first week you lived with us."
All eyes turned back on Tohru.
"Damnit, Tohru!" Kyo shouted. "Snap out of it already!"
"Eh?"
Tohru looked over at Kyo.
"Oh," Tohru said sheepishly. "Did I zone out again?"
But Kyo didn't hear her, because Uo had smacked the back of his head.
"How dare you yell at Tohru like that!"
"It's her fault! She was ignoring us!"
Hana put a hand to her forehead. "You're electrical signals are giving me a headache.
Yuki hadn't stopped looking at Tohru.
"Are you all right, Miss Honda?"
Tohru smiled warmly.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking."
"About what?" asked Uo, pulling herself away from her argument with Kyo. Kyo reluctantly did the same.
"I was just thinking," Tohru said, hugging the diploma against her chest and looking at her friends. "I was just thinking how lucky I am, and how grateful... and how happy I feel right now."
@ @ @ @ swirly majigger page break! @ @ @ @
A note to die-hard Japanese/ anime fans: I don't have any idea how graduation ceremonies in Japan work, nor am I sure how they alphabetize, nor do I know much about common last names. So, if you're offended that I portrayed a graduation that was, in your eyes, wholly Americanized, I'm sorry.
To everyone, die-hard fans or not: Love it? Hate it? Feel indifferent towards it, or feel insulted by my apparent ignorance of the grammar/spell check button? Please take out twenty-two seconds of your day to write me why! I'd appreciate it very much. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, especially to those who choose to review it!
Tohru Honda was too shocked to know how she felt.
Maybe what she felt was nervousness, or anxiety, or maybe...
"Hey, Miss Honda, we're supposed to stand up," the person next to her whispered.
"Oh! Right!"
Tohru stood a little too abruptly, and all the blood rushed from her head down to somewhere below her knees. She wobbled slightly and followed the person beside her with almost mechanical steps, like an unbalanced tin soldier.
Terrified. That must be the feeling. How else could she describe the motion of her heart: the way it fluttered like a bird against its cage one moment and froze like a snow cone the next. It was all very confusing and stressful.
"You okay?" asked one of the supervisors as he walked over and gave Tohru a quick scan, making sure that her gown and hat were on straight. Tohru recognized him as one of the art teachers, even though she had never taken art as a class in any of her years at school.
"Yes, I'm fine," Tohru smiled. "Just a little nervous."
The art teacher smiled back. "That's to be expected, I suppose."
"Yes." Tohru ducked her head slightly with embarrassment, and the art teacher moved on to help a student whose hat had fallen off.
As she stood waiting in line to walk on the stage, Tohru became aware of another feeling. She felt as though she were dreaming, she decided after a moment of contemplation, like everything going on around her was unreal.
"Oh, Mom," she thought. "I worked so hard for this, and now I find it so difficult to believe that I've finally made it here."
Here. Graduation Day. Tohru desperately needed something to put her hand on to steady herself as a wave of disbelief swam over her.
"Hanajima Saki," called a voice from the stage. Tohru jerked her head up and saw Hana walk gracefully across the stage, somehow able to make her gown billow out dramatically from a phantom wind. Amazing.
And terror and surrealism were pushed aside as Tohru wondered how she herself would look up there when her time came. Certainly not mysterious like Hana. With her luck, she'd probably trip flat on her face! How had she let Uo talk her into wearing high heels?
"Happyaku Touya."
Happyaku? So far through the alphabet? It wouldn't be much longer before 'Honda Tohru' would be called.
Tohru self-consciously lifted her hand up to pat at her hair, which was hard since her hat covered her head. So instead, she dropped her hand a few inches and played with the tip of one of her braids, twirling it around her finger.
"Hirohito Rika."
Ugh, there came the terror again as Tohru took a few steps forward in line. Her finger wound around her hair faster and in tighter circles until it was all tangled up in the hair ribbon.
"Oopsies," she thought, mentally laughing at herself as she untangled the yellow ribbon from her finger.
"Hiroyuki Tanaka."
The yellow ribbon from Yuki.
Tohru almost did laugh at herself out loud for being so silly, but she stifled it in time. Yuki was here too, waiting for his name to be called. Was he nervous, too? And poor Kyo! He had looked panicked when she'd seen him last, now that she looked back on it. Even Shigure had been acting somewhat disheveled as he hurried his three housemates, saying "You're going to be late if you don't hurry!"
"Hobiru Michiko."
Tohru wasn't the only one who was nervous, and somehow, it gave her comfort.
Not that she wanted the others to be nervous! Oh no, she shouldn't feel comforted by that; she wanted them to be excited, just like they should! They were graduating, after all, and you should be happy about graduating!
"Honda Tohru."
Tohru froze.
"Wh-wh-what?"
"That's you, get moving!" exclaimed the person next in line. He gave her an impatient push, sending her forward. Lucky for her, she caught herself before she tripped on the first stair that led up to the stage.
Tohru was graduating from high school, just like she promised her mother those years ago.
"I need you to stick with it," Tohru heard her mother's voice say in her mind. "So you can tell me what it feels like to hold that diploma in your hand."
Tohru took a deep, steadying breath and placed her right foot on the first step. Sure she wasn't going to slip or fall through the stair, she shifted her weight on it, lifted her left foot, and placed it on the next step.
"See," she thought to herself. "It's not so hard. Just a little further."
Of course, the moment she thought that, the steps seemed to grow in height, and the stage seemed to stretch on forever, the stack of diplomas a tiny speck on the horizon.
"Just keep walking," she told herself calmly. "It's within reach."
One step turned into two, into three, into four. She stopped counting, realizing that a small, timid smiled was forcing its way on her lips. It really wasn't that far at all.
There was a woman holding the diploma out to her. Without thinking, Tohru reached at it with one hand and shook the woman's hand with the other. She played a game of connect the dots by making a line to the next person, shaking his hand, to the next person, shaking his hand, to the next person, shaking her hand, and then she was walking towards the other side of the stage.
Huh? Did she miss something? No, they were already calling the next person's name.
Someone guided her by the shoulders to the side and told her to stand still while they took the shot. Took the shot?
Poof! Oh, they were taking her graduation picture.
Then she was guided away from the photographer and given a light push towards her seat. She caught the eye of Uo, who winked at her, but Tohru was still in shock and couldn't remember the correct way to respond to a wink, if there was one at all.
She sat down, blinking. The rest of the ceremony was a blur, except that she distinctly remembered cheering for Kyo, Yuki and Uo when they went up on stage to take their diplomas, and also remembered feeling guilty for not cheering on Hana earlier. She zoned out for the rest of the ceremony, and the person who had tried to shove her onstage had to elbow her in the ribs to get her to stand up at the recessional.
"How does it feel like to finally have graduated?" Shigure asked Tohru when they'd met up again, wiping away an imaginary tear on his cheek. Or at least, it was supposed to be imaginary.
"She's still in shock," Yuki said as her reply.
Kyo waved a hand in front of Tohru's face to illustrate. She didn't even blink.
"I guess it takes time to sink in," Shigure shrugged, grinning and wiping another imaginary tear. He was about to have an imaginary sob fest, but Tohru finally blinked.
Call it delayed reaction.
Looking first at Shigure, who was standing right in front of her, then to either side of her to Kyo and Yuki, she blinked again and held out her diploma in front of her.
What did it feel like to finally hold this diploma in her hands?
"Hey Tohru, Orange-Top, Prince," called Uo. She stopped next to Shigure, giving him a look that probably reflected her negative thoughts on what kind of novelist he was before turning to Tohru. Hana, who'd been following close behind, stood next to her.
"I'm in shock," Hana said quietly, trying to instigate a conversation.
"Yeah, that Orange-Top here actually graduated," Uo said at the exact same time Yuki said, "Yes, that this idiot actually graduated."
"What'd you say?" Kyo asked, bristling at the two of them, who were both smirking.
Shigure wanted to point out that they looked ridiculous arguing in their graduation gowns, but he was too busy wiping away an imaginary flood of tears and instead choked out, "My little babies are all grown up!"
Uo, Hana, Kyo, and Yuki all turned to look at him.
"What's your problem?" Kyo barked.
Shigure was instantly all grins and smiles. "You know, I invited Hatori and Ayame to watch the graduation, so I'd better go find them. You five talk amongst yourselves until I get back."
And, with a shake of his hand, Shigure scampered off, hoping that one of them carried a box of Kleenex's.
"Hey," Uo called after him.
"What?" he asked, stopping mid stride.
"I thought I saw Tohru's grandfather in the crowd, so why don't you see if you can find him, too, while you're at it?"
"Sure thing, no problem," Shigure said easily, walking away quickly as though he hadn't stopped.
"Something's wrong with Tohru?" Hana asked.
"She's in shock," Yuki said again.
"Been like this since we met up," Kyo added.
"It's because of the diploma," Hana mused outloud.
"The diploma?" Kyo spat. "It's a stupid piece of paper, so what?"
"Didn't she tell you what her goal was for school, or did you just not listen?" Uo asked, her arms crossed as she gave Kyo her most deadly glare.
"Shut up, Yankee! I don't care about a stupid diploma."
"But she did," Hana said, interrupting any further rants from Kyo.
Yuki tilted his head to look at Tohru. She was still lost in la la land.
"You said you promised your mother that you'd finish high school," he said, not really caring if Tohru could hear him or not, "that first week you lived with us."
All eyes turned back on Tohru.
"Damnit, Tohru!" Kyo shouted. "Snap out of it already!"
"Eh?"
Tohru looked over at Kyo.
"Oh," Tohru said sheepishly. "Did I zone out again?"
But Kyo didn't hear her, because Uo had smacked the back of his head.
"How dare you yell at Tohru like that!"
"It's her fault! She was ignoring us!"
Hana put a hand to her forehead. "You're electrical signals are giving me a headache.
Yuki hadn't stopped looking at Tohru.
"Are you all right, Miss Honda?"
Tohru smiled warmly.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking."
"About what?" asked Uo, pulling herself away from her argument with Kyo. Kyo reluctantly did the same.
"I was just thinking," Tohru said, hugging the diploma against her chest and looking at her friends. "I was just thinking how lucky I am, and how grateful... and how happy I feel right now."
@ @ @ @ swirly majigger page break! @ @ @ @
A note to die-hard Japanese/ anime fans: I don't have any idea how graduation ceremonies in Japan work, nor am I sure how they alphabetize, nor do I know much about common last names. So, if you're offended that I portrayed a graduation that was, in your eyes, wholly Americanized, I'm sorry.
To everyone, die-hard fans or not: Love it? Hate it? Feel indifferent towards it, or feel insulted by my apparent ignorance of the grammar/spell check button? Please take out twenty-two seconds of your day to write me why! I'd appreciate it very much. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, especially to those who choose to review it!
