Getting to know you

"Hey, Shiori! No!"

"Woof! Woof!"

"Come on, come on." Kioshi tried to keep Shiori from barking his head off at a few girls who was passing by. Picking him up, Kioshi went into the building and headed straight for the receptionist desk.

"Sir, can you please page Room 432 for me," said Kioshi to the old man sitting behind the desk.

"Hohoho! Just call me Anzai-san. They have been calling me Anzai-san for 52 years," said the man jovially. Kioshi paid no attention to him as he was still trying to keep Shiori from wriggling free from his grasp.

"432, please come to the reception. 432, please come to the reception," Anzai-san called into the intercom. After a couple of minutes of no response, he turned to Kioshi. "She seems to be out. Right, what's the dog doing here?"

"The dog belongs to 432. I'll leave him here. Please give him to her, ok?" said Kioshi quickly, eager to get rid of Shiori. He put the dog on the desk and was about to leave when Anzai-san stopped him.

"Hohoho! No can do, son. Dogs are not allowed here. It's against the rules you know," said Anzai-san, as he handed the dog back to Kioshi.

"I don't really care. I've enough trouble as it is, you know?" retorted Kioshi.

"Young man, relax. I'll figure it out for you, ok?" Anzai-san tried to assure Kioshi. "Rules are sometimes meant to be broken. Take the female residents in the past. After midnight…"

"Anzai-san, please page 432 again. Come on now," Kioshi cut him off, not wanting to listen to his tales of the past.

Anzai-san looked at him curiously. "What's the hurry? You must be courting 432."

"What's that?" Kioshi scoffed.

"Hohoho! 432 is the daughter of she who used to be 403. And 403 was an even more popular girl. 613 and 809 of Shohoku hall went up to the roof all the time to teach her play ball. At least, that's what they said. 613 is now a Legislative Council, a fence-sitter. Hohoho! That was already 20 years ago."

Kioshi rolled his eyes as Anzai-san went on and on about Kiori's mother (Hanamichi). 613 is definitely not Dad. Dad's an architect.

Anzai-san looked at his watch. "Ah, it's dinner time," he exclaimed. Getting up from his chair, we went over to a gong situated at the foot of the stairs and banged it three times, before pausing for a while and then repeating the whole process. As he watched the girls come down from their rooms, he muttered to himself, "Dressed like that for High Table Dinner? How time's changed! Hohoho!"

-Flashback-

A lone figure could be seen cycling along the corridor of Shohoku Hall. The boy had fine features; black hair, blue eyes and pale skin. Even though he was only wearing a t-shirt with a denim jacket on top and a pair of faded jeans, he still looked handsome. Only thing was, he rarely smiled. If he did, he would probably make the entire female population on campus swoon at the very sight of it.

But Kaede didn't care about other girls. The only one he cared about was Hanamichi, and right now, he was on his way to see her. At the front of the bicycle, a single stalk of red rose was attached to it, meant for his do'aho.

Meanwhile, Hana and her friends were getting ready for their High Table Dinner at the Shoyo Dining Hall. She sat at the last table, her back facing the glass door next to it. At the front of the hall, the dorm supervisor was introducing the guest speaker of the evening.

"The dilemma of a modern educated woman in an ever changing society is often reflected in the difficulty of forming any positive orientation…"

As the speaker droned on and on, Hana's friend, Matsui, spoke in a low voice, so as not to be heard. "Comprehendeth I not a single word of yeh banana's utterance. It giveth me fright stupendously."

Her words made the other girls, including Hana, giggle. Hana cleared her throat. "Fear thee not, for she be nought but a stupendous stupid one."

At around the same time, Kaede reached the dining hall. Leaving his bicycle outside, he entered the hall without so much as batting an eye and crouched down low beside Hana's chair, hidden from view by the table.

His sudden appearance surprised Hana and her friends. She was even more surprised when he lifted the rose and handed it to her. "For you."

Hana blushed, but she didn't take it from him. Nevertheless, she said, "Arigatou."

Matsui leaned towards Hana and teased, "What gift doth young man present?"

"It be a thorn-less rose," answered Hana, still blushing. The rest of the girls continued with their giggling fit.

Kaede tugged at her hand to get her attention. "Barn dance on Saturday night."

"Call me and we'll talk about it later," Hana replied. She kept on looking towards the front, afraid that the dorm supervisor would find out that Kaede was there.

"Do'aho, the Shoyo Hall phone is always busy." For no apparent reason, he snapped his fingers. Half the hall turned their heads to look at Hana.

"Kitsune!" Hana began to panic. "Go first, hurry!"

Not one to give up so easily, Kaede held up the rose, high enough above the table for everyone to see. Hana quickly pushed it down. Kaede held it up again. Hana pushed it down again. This went on a few more times, until Hana herself couldn't resist giggling at Kaede's persistence.

Seeing her smile was like heaven to Kaede. He smiled himself, and said, "See you Saturday. This flower is a pledge."

Hana glanced to the front before replying, "It's only Wednesday. How can it last until Saturday?"

"Put an aspirin in the water everyday and it'll last."

Hana pouted a little. "I don't believe it. The Medic boys taught you that?"

"The English Literature boys did." He took her hand and placed the rose on her palm, closing her fingers around it. "It's a deal?"

Hana didn't answer, but the smile on her face was all the answer he needed. Smiling back, he said, "An aspirin a day, while he's away," before taking an apple from the table and biting into it.

The sound of the bite caught the attention of the guest speaker and the people in front of the hall. To cover it up, Hana's friends stood up and clapped, prompting the rest of the students to do the same (the talk was over anyway). The distraction was enough to give Kaede the chance to slip away unnoticed, and with the apple still in hand, he cycled away.

-End of flashback-

It was already night, and Kioshi was still waiting for Kiori at the receptionist desk. Just as he was about to give up and leave, Kiori finally emerged, wearing an oversize chequered long-sleeved shirt over a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, while her hair was tied back in a bandanna.

It took Kioshi a while to recognise her, and when he finally did, he hurriedly grabbed the dog and ran over to her. "Kiori! Hey Kiori!"

Kiori was surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"To give you back the dog," said Kioshi, at the same time shoving the dog into her hands.

As quick as the dog was shoved to her, she shoved it back to Kioshi. "Nuts, it's not mine." She turned to leave, but Kioshi pulled her back.

"He belongs to both of us. Shiori was kept by my Dad and your Mum. He belongs to both parties," reasoned Kioshi.

With one hand on her hip, Kiori reasoned back, "Listen, man's belongings to the man, woman's to the woman. This dog is male. So, he goes to the man."

Annoyed, Kioshi said, "How can you tell it's a male? I can't even tell if you're a boy or a girl."

Kiori flared up at once. "What??! You having male menopause or something?"

"Take him back." Kioshi shoved the dog to her once more.

"I don't want him." Kiori shoved it back.

"Take him back."

"I don't want him!"

In the middle of all the shoving and 'take it back' and 'I don't want him', Shiori began to whine and struggle. In the end, it managed to free itself, and falling to the ground, it immediately ran away.

"Shiori, come back!"

Kioshi and Kiori chased after Shiori, and were just in time to see him run across the road. Just then, a few bikers passed by, and one of them, not being able to brake in time, ran over the dog.

Kiori shrieked. "Shiori's knocked down!"

As Shiori lay whimpering on the road, Kiori and Kioshi ran to his side. Kiori started panicking.

"Shiori's bleeding! What are we going to do?!"

Kioshi, being the calmer one between them both, asked the bikers if there was a vet nearby. They told him that there was one down the street. Kiori jumped to her feet.

"Taxi, I'll call a taxi!" With that, she ran up the street, searching for a cab.

Kioshi called after her. "It's just downhill. It's faster to cycle."

Too much in a panic to hear him, she tried to flag down a passing cab, but the cab didn't stop. Kioshi, on the other hand, had already borrowed a bike from one of the bikers, who were more than willing to help.

"Wait for me!" shouted Kiori when she saw Kioshi cycling down the road without her.

"Come on!" He stopped to let her get on the bike before cycling off again.

"Help! Are you sure you can handle this?!" asked Kiori, as the bike began to go downhill. She didn't wait for Kioshi to answer; she had already started screaming.

"It'll be alright. Just shut up!" Kioshi had to shout back to get his voice heard over her screams.

"I'm scared!!"

"Don't worry!"

In the end, she screamed all the way downhill.

---

At the vet…

While Kioshi was inside the vet's room with Shiori, Kiori waited outside anxiously.

"There, it's come to. Everything's alright now. Bring it back tomorrow for follow-up," said the doctor.

"Sorry to have kept you so late," Kioshi apologised.

"It's ok. Tell your girlfriend to make it rest."

Kioshi turned to look at Kiori for a while, before saying, "She's not my girlfriend."

"Ooops, sorry. Your sister?"

"She's not my sister either."

The doctor shrugged. "Well, whatever."

"Anyway, thank you," said Kioshi.

"You're welcome."

Kioshi went to join Kiori, who was already holding Shiori in her arms. As she stroked the poor dog, she said, "Shiori baby. You must me obedient. Your masters are gone, and are never coming back. If you're disobedient, nobody will keep you, you know? Now you're left on your own, you hear?"

Hearing her words, Kioshi felt sad as well. He knew what she meant; after all, both of them had lost a parent at the same time.

Later, when they were walking back to her campus, with Kioshi pushing the bike, he asked Shiori, "Shiori, why did they go just like that? Without even saying goodbye. They didn't love you, so you've got all those hang-ups."

"Is everything they keep so weird?" Kiori wondered.

"Why do you say that?" asked Kioshi.

"Well, I feel that Shiori's just like me. Ask him to go east, he goes west. Ask him to eat, he sleeps. Ask him to sleep, he pees. Rebellious and obstinate," said Kiori.

Kioshi pondered on her words for a while. "Come to think of it, he's a bit like me too. Cool, tough. Zero EQ, but full marks in IQ. And always challenging the existing system."

Kiori laughed at his words. "Enough, enough. Don't you know you are exaggerating?"

Kioshi smiled, despite himself. Looking at the girl beside him, he asked, "Is he heavy? Let me carry him for a while."

Kiori nodded her head, and slowly handed the dog to him. "Careful with his leg. It hurts."

Tbc...

---

Ok… now let's see… in case you didn't get it, Kiori is studying in the same university as her mother. Also, the road that they were using to get to the vet, it's kind of like a hill-slope, as the campus is situated on a hill. It's also the same road used by Hana and Kaede back in the third chapter; you know, the part where Kaede cycled Hana back to the campus. Lastly, EQ means Emotional Quotient, while IQ means Intelligence Quotient.