Chapter 2: Lucky
Disclaimer: I am still poor. Nothing has changed. I wish I had money. wistful
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Thank you.
Mitsuo Yoshitaka [1] grinned as he ran out of his family's apartment, eating the last bit of his breakfast on the go. It was going to be a great day. No major assignments were due and baseball tryouts were to be held that afternoon.
He was going to make the team.
Just the night before, he drank some tea that had a tea stalk floating upright in it. [2] Even the gods were on his side! Proof positive that baseball is a holy sport.
Yoshitaka sprinted down the stairs of the four story building, managing to avoid the others on the stairway, rushed to the front of the building, and waited. He was twitching impatiently within ten seconds.
Yoshitaka continued to twitch for another minute and forty-six seconds. And kept twitching. How much longer?
"Oi! You're early!"
Yoshitaka's head spun to the right. He ignored the muttered comment from a little old lady about how loud brats were these days.
"You're late, moron!" He turned fully to the sound of pounding feet. "Try being on time for a change."
The newcomer shrugged off the comment and looked warily around. "So what's the hold up?" he asked.
"Nothing. Let's go!"
The two boys trotted out the main doors of the yellow apartment complex and headed off to school. While Yoshitaka's excitement about the upcoming tryouts hadn't diminished in the least, he noticed something was off with his companion. The teen was walking in an extremely rigid manner, and repeatedly jerked his head around to glare at passersby.
"Uh, Hasunuma?"
"What?" A glare into a green grocer's window display.
Did a carrot insult him or something'? "What are you doing?"
The question jolted Hasunuma into normalcy, and he laughed nervously. "Nothing! Nothing at all."
"Ya sure?"
Haunuma blinked. Then he trotted faster. "Hurry up! Don't wanna be late. The last thing you need is to get detention and miss the tryouts!"
Yoshitaka grumbled then laughed as he eagerly followed. Hasunuma always was a worrywart. Good thing he doesn't play baseball. He'd worry himself inta losin.' He snorted at the inane thought, and ignored the weird look sent at him from Hasunuma.
They actually arrived early for school. Will wonders never cease?
Now to hold out until the afternoon. Tryouts. Definitely something worth waiting for. Too bad about the waiting part. Yoshitaka's grin seemed almost permanent.
Nothing major occurred during the morning. Wait—one thing happened. A new sensei was introduced. Tsuzuki-sensei, of the history department, was introduced to the school. And his little brother, whose name Yoshitaka couldn't be bothered to remember. The Tsuzuki brothers were now a happy part of the Kaibara High School's academic "family." Odd timing about it, though. The school year had started three weeks previously. [3] No one shows up three weeks into the year!
And that lil' brother's a jerk, actin' like he's smellin' shit everywhere. [4]
…maybe he should count the brothers as two oddities.
Through it all, Hasunuma kept twitching. Nor reason for it. In the end, he spent most of the day trying to avoid people. He totally freaked when the jerk of a pretty boy tried to strike up a conversation. Weird, since Hasunuma usually warmed up to newbies.
No loss with that newbie.
Yoshitaka couldn't worry himself too much over Hasunuma. Whatever was wrong would eventually fix itself. It always did.
And worrying might affect his game.
Lunch reaffirmed Yoshitaka's belief that it was a good day. Uotani-chan made a lunch for him. She's gorgeous! Lucky!
It was a damn good lunch, too.
Uotani-chan…
…Wait a minute. She's starin' at Pretty Boy! That can't be right. No way. She's not part of that crowd over there. It couldn't be—
Uotani-chan finally managed to both get and hold the attention of her best friend, Sakakibara Natsuko. Oh.
"Natsuko-chan!" She gave Yoshitaka a quick smile and scurried off to join her friend. She didn't even glance at Pretty Boy, and even went so far as to scold Sakakibara for ganging up on the poor boy.
Yoshitaka gave a happy sigh and plowed his way through the delicious boxed lunch. The luck was still with him. Life is good.
His luck continued to hold. That history quiz from two days ago that he had agonized over turned out not to have the bad score that he expected. In fact, he got a score of ninety-six! Sure, it wasn't the top score of the class, but it was still considerably better than most. Hey, an A is an A.
Good thing Mazaki-sensei didn't realize that Yoshitaka had fabricated several of the answers.
According to the ever-active rumor mill, Tsuzuki-sensei was even more air-headed. In the course of one day, he hadn't taught according to the preordained lesson plan even once. Sure, it was nice to take a break from dry book learning and lectures, but that didn't mean the students wanted or needed to know about the socio-political atmosphere of the early twentieth century!
Going to school is expensive. No point in wasting your money.
Yoshitaka counted himself lucky that Tsuzuki-sensei's class wasn't one he would have to attend.
Finally, classes ended. Yoshitaka took his time leaving, since he wasn't going far. Just to the baseball field. Tryouts!
Look out, world! Here comes Mitsuo Yoshitaka!
On the way, he almost collided into a very annoying Pretty Boy. That nuisance was rushing headlong through the hall, not even bothering to spare a glance to the people he was barreling over. He didn't even stop to apologize. Jerk.
Man. That guy's faster than he looks.
Yoshitaka shook his head to rid it of pointless distractions brought on by stupid Pretty Boys and returned to the task of walking—yes, walking—to the baseball diamond.
"Oi! Honda! You tryin' out, too?"
"No, I'm getting a tan. Of course I'm trying out!"
"Why didn'cha tell me, eh?" Yoshitaka trotted the last few meters to join the queue.
Heh. And the fun begins.
Yoshitaka couldn't stop grinning. Neither could Honda. But it was Yoshitaka's lucky day.
When Yoshitaka was about to step up to the plate, the scream started. No one thought much of it—the drama club was setting up for a horror show, and it was coming from the right direction and all.
Yoshitaka did well. He made the team. Second baseman.
He made the team.
He made the team!
He barely contained his excitement long enough to be dismissed and scoot out of Kogawa-sensei's sight before expressing his exuberance. He and Honda did a short happy dance together, right before jumping apart in embarrassment.
Did a sempai [5] see? Did anyone see?
After that little scene, Yoshitaka discreetly said his goodbye to Honda.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, you go on ahead. No one's expecting me back yet, anyway."
Honda left.
Yoshitaka was glad, and so was his bladder. It was time to pee!
He hurried to the restroom.
After finishing his business, he opted to leave through the north exit. If his luck got him through tryouts, maybe it would get him through a few rounds at the arcade! There was only one way to test this theory.
He trotted happily through the halls, envisioning the games he was going to win. He had more than enough money to—
What is that?
No.
It can't be. No way.
Yoshitaka looked around like he was expecting someone to pop out of some hidden place, perhaps with a camera. It couldn't be real.
Hasunuma's corpse lay next to the exit.
[1] Names are written in the Japanese style—surname first. But Mitsuo Yoshitaka thinks of himself by his personal (first) name, "Yoshitaka."
[2] Having a tea stalk floating upright in your tea is a sign of good luck. I have no idea why. puzzled
[3] The Japanese school year begins in the spring.
[4] Hisoka is rather aloof…
[5] Upperclassman.