Furuba
"The Piano"
Chapter 2
Vocabulary:
Ne: Say. . .
Hontou ni daigaku ni iku: I'm really going to college (This is informal. The formal way would substitute "ikimasu" for "iku," the dictionary form).
Tooru kun no okaasan: Tooru's mom.
Sensei: term of respect used for teachers, doctors, politicians, and yes, guidance counselors. I checked with my Nihongo no sensei. ^_^
Cultural note: I have read that schools in Japan have half days on Saturdays. So, Tooru and the gang attend school 5 ½ days a week! What fun!
Author's note: Yuki is back to calling Tooru "Honda san" for now, though he doesn't actually address her in this chapter. You guys deserve a sweeter moment that what I originally provided and I think that will come more naturally later in the story. ^_^
***
Monday at school, Tooru's guidance counselor stopped her in the hall on her way to class.
"See ya in class," Uo called as she, Hana and Momiji went on their way. Tooru stood near the counselor's door to avoid being run into by inattentive students.
"Hai, Kato sensei?"
He held out a few papers.
"Since you've decided to apply to college, I found a few scholarships that I think you qualify for."
Tooru accepted them gratefully, but almost hesitated. She realized that the possibility of really going to college hadn't hit her until now!
"Arigatou, sensei!" she said enthusiastically.
"Good luck with them," the counselor said and shut himself back up in his office. Tooru quickly filed them in her bag and hoped she had enough time to get to class. As soon as she jumped into the flow of the hallway, she heard a,
"Hi, To-ru!"
"Ah, Momiji kun! You startled me!"
"Gomen, To-ru kun," he apologized and took her arm. "I waited for you!" He announced the obvious looking up with his enormous, cute eyes. Tooru giggled and thanked him.
"It's nothing. In fact, I must be the luckiest guy in the whole school right now!" He smiled and Tooru blushed. It was such an easy reaction to cause, but so very rewarding.
"Ne, you seem especially happy," he commented.
"I am. It's because my guidance counselor found some scholarships for me to apply for.
Hontou ni daigaku ni iku!" she exclaimed.
"Yay for To-ru!" he sing-songed. "Tooru kun no okaasan would be sooo proud!" Well, here we are," he said, stopping in front of an open classroom door. They had arrived with a minute to spare and the classroom was mostly full, but of the twenty some students only Kyou had noticed them.
"Ne, To-ru, I have a secret to tell you," he said and motioned for her to bend down to his height. Not noticing the mischievous glint in his eye, Tooru complied. Momiji cupped his hand behind her ear, but instead of whispering a secret message, he kissed her cheek- much to Kyou's chagrin.
Tooru blushed.
Kyou growled.
Momiji waved to both of them and skipped off to class.
For some reason, Tooru could not keep herself from smiling widely. Knowing it might look odd to some and possibly provoke a negative reaction (from Kyou more than anyone else), she covered her mouth and hoped it would go away. Tooru had just barely reached her cluster of friends when, sure enough, Kyou exclaimed,
"Tooru, you baka! Why do you let Momiji do that?"
That did it. The smile faded.
"I-I didn't know he was going to-"
"It doesn't matter! If he can get away with that, just think what other guys will try!"
Tooru cocked her head to one side.
"What do you mean?"
Kyou put his face in his hand. She couldn't be THAT stupid, could she?
"Kyou kun?" Tooru asked. Before he could berate her for being naïve, Hana stepped in and whispered something in her ear.
"OH!" she exclaimed.
"I didn't realize he was talking about THAT!"
"Oi, Hanajima," Uotani exclaimed. "What did you tell her? Not enough to scare her, I hope.
"No, no. Nothing like that," she said calmly.
"Well, at least you get it now!" Kyou said rudely. At that point, Yuki detangled himself from a few of his less insane appreciators and approached the group gathered around Kyou's desk. He held the armful of get well cards that his absence from school on Saturday had generated.
"What are you being a jerk for now?" he asked Kyou as he rested his hand on Tooru's shoulder for a brief moment.
Now Kyou almost flipped out completely. Just what had happened between them over the weekend? Uo and Hana weren't particularly thrilled either, but were more successful in keeping their feelings to themselves. They would grill their friend later to make sure Yuki wasn't moving too quickly.
The sensei entered at that moment, a briefcase tucked under his arm, and the class, led by the class president, came to order.
***
That night, Tooru sat at her desk staring at the scholarship applications. She had filled out two of them, but the third remained mostly blank. She hadn't gotten past writing her name because she wasn't sure this one was for her.
Two words seemed to be blinking at her.
…Study Abroad…
Tooru had not even considered leaving the island, much less leaving the country! She didn't speak any other languages fluently and truthfully, the thought of living so far away from everything she new was more than a little frightening. Besides, she would be so far from Uo and Hana and Kyou and Shigure and, of course, Yuki. She wouldn't even be able to visit for winter break! The flight would be much too expensive. Maybe if she chose someplace close, like China or Korea… maybe. But other than kanji, she knew nothing of Chinese and even less of Korean, and there was a language requirement. The only other language she had studied was English and she wasn't terribly good at it.
This certainly wouldn't help her get to college!
'But,' she thought, 'if I am not chosen by the two scholarships… and even if I am, they could be applied to this one, if I decide to go…'
She hastily filled out her personal information. All that remained was her choice of location and the personal essay on why she wanted to study abroad. There were really only three logical choices: England, America and Australia. She ruled out Australia quickly because she knew she'd never understand the accent. It was a toss up between the United States and England. When she finally chose, it didn't come down to anything about the schools or the sightseeing. She remembered Ayame saying he had a store in New York. Of course, for all she knew, he could have one in London too, but she probably wouldn't have a chance to ask him before the scholarship's due date. At least in New York there would be a connection to home and the Souma family. She quickly checked the box and began prewriting for her essay.
***
An arm flew in front of his face and blocked the entry to the living room. The accompanying voice spoke commandingly.
"Out with it, nezumi."
Yuki was briefly taken aback- but only because he hadn't a clue as to what the cat was referring to.
"Out with what? And if you want to have a civilized discussion, why don't you get out of my way?"
Kyou did not remove his hand from the doorjamb, but leaned closer to Yuki's face, his eyes narrowing- another implied threat.
"Don't act like you're so innocent! Just what were you doing with Tooru that night she disappeared during dinner?"
Yuki sighed and wondered as he often did if Kyou ever tired of bickering all the time.
"We talked."
"Don't lie, kuso nezumi!"
"You know, you aren't very creative with your insults."
"What, are you trying to be some modern day girly Shakespeare? Cuz if so, you suck at it! Well, at the Shakespeare part, anyway," Kyou offered, knowing the "girly" part would hurt. Of course Yuki wouldn't show it, but it would.
"But 'baka' fits you so well."
"Yeah, well you're- stop trying to change the subject!" Kyou said, his fist balled tightly.
"I told you what happened." Yuki said flatly.
Kyou was less than happy. He couldn't ask what they had said without sounding pathetic. So, he opted for fuming and storming out onto the porch.
Tooru was coming down the back stairs and when she saw Kyou, one of the million questions bouncing around in her brain popped out.
"Ano, Kyou kun?"
"What?" he said, rubbing his forehead in an attempt to wipe the scowl away. It wasn't meant for Tooru and she saw it too often.
"If say, something happened… like, if Akito san got angry with me again and sent me away… would you… would you miss me?"
"What kind of stupid question is that?" he asked roughly. "I thought we handled all that. You're here and you're staying. Why would you even ask something like that?"
Tooru realized her phrasing had been, well, stupid. Imprudent. And most of all, insensitive. Why hadn't she been able to think of a better hypothetical situation?
"Gomen, Kyou kun. I-I was… It was a stupid thing for me to say. P-please forget I m-mentioned it," she said, stumbling over her words. 'Really,' she thought. 'After everyone seeing Kyou's true form… and Akito… what an idiot I am. I'll be lucky if he ever speaks to me again!' She turned and ran upstairs, tears welling up at the memory.
"Dammit," Kyou muttered. "Tooru! Matte." She paused where the steps took a turn to the left.
"I," he began, but didn't want to chance being overheard by the rat. "C'mere," he said and dragged her up the steps by the wrist. He stopped at the stop of the stairs, forgetting to relinquish her arm.
"Don't be upset okay? I didn't mean to be rude, all right?"
"I know you didn't. I thought I was-"
"Well, you weren't, so get over it. Now tell me what's up."
Tooru was glad he hadn't been upset by her analogy. But, speaking of analogies, she couldn't think of another one with him holding her wrist and staring at her like that.
"I. . . I just wanted to know if you would miss me, if I ever had to leave," she was finally able to get out, albeit rather softly.
Miss her? What was she trying to say?
"Eh, yeah. Of course. But you're not going anywhere so why ask?"
That hadn't come out quite the way he had wanted it to. He wanted to ask if she was planning on going somewhere- if her crappy family wanted her back. But no, he had to go and say it like that.
"No, I'm not going anywhere," was all she could say.
"Good," he said gruffly. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation he had realized his negligence in letting go of her wrist. He longed to slide his fingers down to hold her hand. . . she was watching him with such a soft expression. . . she might let him. Nah, he shouldn't be so presumptuous and this moment was quite awkward enough.
He dropped her wrist (but not without allowing one finger to graze it as her arm fell) and quickly descended the stairs, Tooru in tow.