Mon Autre Vie

by Rashaka

On graduation night, a horrific tragedy struck the Sohma family. A year and a half later, Tohru must solve the mystery of the dreams that plague her, while the youngest Sohma prince starts to investigate what happened, and why. -Chpt. 7 and 8 up!

3. in which Tohru’s brain wanders

                                          Mon Autre Vie
                                                      3
                              in which Tohru's brain wanders

        Tohru's forefinger tapped soundlessly against her desktop in time with her professor's special "lecture" voice.  One of the two large lecture halls on the entire campus, it was used primarily for economics and business classes.  At the moment her Econ-01 professor was casually describing the combined effect of tariffs and environmentalism on the fishing industry in the late twentieth century.  Tohru wasn't honestly very interested in tariffs, but she was here to learn so she did put effort into following the lecture. 

        However, economics were not her strong point.  When she'd enrolled she had no idea that being a cooking major would include so many other courses for the future.  Animal biology. Chemistry.  Economics.  Business. More chemistry.  Basic art design.  More business. Introductory electronics (apparently to keep her from exploding a refrigerator or electrocuting herself with a toaster.) Chemistry. Business. Chemistry.

        Having as she did the goal of starting her own catering company, Tohru valued the business classes quite a bit; she certainly understood the need for the chemistry and biology in food preparation.  But they were merely tools to be acquired for later use—what Tohru really looked forward to every day was her array of lab classes.  And she had many.  Introductory Asian Cuisine.  Introductory Italian Cuisine.  Introductory Fish & Poultry.  She was thankful at least that her history courses would begin next semester.

        Thinking about her Fish & Poultry lab that afternoon made her think about her dream the night before, with the boy and the ocean that swallowed him up.  She could remember it with a distant clarity: she recalled the relaxed, happy surrealism of the first half of the dream, and then the fear and anxiety of the latter half.  She felt none of those things when she thought about it now, only an overwhelming sense of loneliness permeating from what she thought might be her subconscious.  She wasn't sure subconscious was the correct word—she'd never taken a psychology class.  And she suspected that even the deans at this school would have to talk abnormally fast to rationalize psychology as a necessity for culinary arts students.

         "Tohru, name three effects the end of the Cold War had on relations between Japan and China with regards to agricultural trade relations."

        Tohru jerked her head to the left with a strangled gasp began to stutter an apology.  Sasha, a playfully cheery black American transfer student majoring in Asian Cuisine, looked down at Tohru through her glasses and snickered.

        "My my, Tohru, are you spacing out again?  Lucky it was me and not our kind, understanding, and patient professor."  Tohru sunk into her seat a little further and hoped she wasn't blushing like a tomato.  Their Econ. instructor was friendly in a casual way, but not at all patient or understanding with people who didn't pay attention.  Tohru nodded her thanks to her friend, and tried again to focus.

        Dreams didn't matter anyway.  She had never met that boy and he hadn't really been swallowed by the sea for looking at her.  Tohru trained her eyes on the overhead projector screen and listened with the rest of her classmates.