Boys Before Flowers
V.
Because Ishida was in his third year, and Tachikawa only in her second, no one could be sure when the war would officially begin. Consequently, students would sporadically disappear and appear between classes, in hopes of catching word of progress. By lunchtime, half of Seiwa Academy stood outside Class 3-B, and the other half waited outside of Class 2-E. But nothing happened.
Eventually, it was Suzuhara who called Mimi's attention to the bustling crowds behind the door when school ended. Mimi set down her reading, and sighed.
"What a boring book." she yawned, and leaned on her desk, "But I am learning something new."
"Mimi-chan." said Yumi, pointing at the door. Mimi looked over, where she could see people starring apprehensively through the window. She shrugged.
"Who cares?" Another sigh, and she stood, packing her homework securely in her tote. As routine, Mimi quickly brushed her hair and reapplied makeup, then walked out of the room with Suzuhara Yumi and Ikeda Nanako following worriedly in tow. The degree of maturity (and by maturity, they meant indifference) Tachikawa had taken over the matter surprised even they.
"But...Mimi-chan," said Ikeda timidly, "When are you going to talk to Ishida?" Maintaining military silence it seemed, they walked wordlessly out of school, down the steps and towards the street. Mimi sighed a relenting sigh, like a mother who grudging gives her child a cookie.
"Now, I guess." And with that, she turned away from them and towards the courtyard, where they now saw Ishida working atop a portfolio. Yumi stopped dead just after Nanako, either watching their friend go towards, they felt certain, her doom.
"What do you think she's saying?" asked Suzuhara, not daring to go closer than her current standing. Mimi and Scary Upper Classman Ishida now conversed privately. She sat beside him, close, as if they were old friends.
"I don't know. Mimi-chan...is a brave person." Ikeda replied, "But Ishida is too scary."
They nodded together in agreement.
VI.
"Oy, Yamato!" called Reiichi, the drummer. Yamato set down his instrument case and dropped into a chair, a swift wave in response to his band mate's greeting. One of the other band members, Keitaro, did not waste time with greetings, usually. He had already warmed-up on the keyboard, and now worked with the second guitar.
"Can you stay late tomorrow, Ishida?"
"Sorry, I can't." He brandished his bass, plugged it in and began tuning. Toru, first guitar, appeared from the bathroom while wiping his hands. He was the only one who also attended Seiwa, and grinned.
"Second year's got you down, eh?" He guffawed, and collapsed in the chair beside Yamato. "Tachikawa is pretty cute though."
"What's her name?" asked Reiichi, practicing a drum solo without hitting the drums.
"Tachikawa Mimi." Yamato responded quietly, distractedly, while he re-tuned and ran through his chords. Reiichi stopped suddenly, and blushed.
"She's so cute..." He groaned, "Are you going out with her?"
"They're at war." Toru interjected enthusiastically.
Reiichi went still, then crackled with laughter. Even Keitaro, who usually remained serious, snickered wildly.
"Dealing with Tachikawa has made you too tired to practice long hours." said Keitaro, struggling to speak clearly. Yamato let his instrument rest; he leaned back on his fingers, and closed his eyes.
"She wants to meet tomorrow night." Silence replaced laughter, as the three other band members ogled.
"Tomorrow!" Reiichi sputtered, "After rehearsal!"
"Are you jealous?" asked Yamato indifferently. Silence again. Keitaro restarted his warm-up with the second guitar.
"Make sure you use protection."
"Idiot." said Yamato.
VII.
Yagami and Takenouchi walked home together on Thursdays.
"Tomorrow?" asked Taichi incredulously. Sora nodded, a great sweatdrop resting over her head.
"Hai..."
"Well..." he reeled, "What are they going to do?"
"Hi-mi-tsu." Secret, said Sora, still looking exasperated, "She wouldn't tell me."
Taichi sweatdropped in turn.
"Tachikawa..." They sighed, simultaneously.
VIII.
School, as usual. Friday, 7:37 AM. Before class. Slipper room.
"She didn't even tell you, Nanako-chan?"
"No, or Yumi either." Sae's eyes widened considerably, "But...what do you think she is planning?"
"Strangely, she won't tell me anything. All she said was...somewhere in Shibuya."
"Shibuya?"
8:21 AM. Morning assembly.
"That's right." whispered Sae affirmatively, "Somewhere in Shibuya."
"There's a lot of hotels in Shibuya..." Aiko whispered, exchanging glances with Rika. "Maybe she's not telling anyone because they're secretly going out...?" They giggled excitedly, but where quickly stifflled by a glance from Katano-san.
9:04 AM. Five minute break. Class 2-D.
"Yeah, they're going out in secret!" Rika nodded while she spoke. Nao and Kiyomi gave her bewildered glances, while Kano sighed dreamily.
"I hope not. Ishida-kun is so handsome..."
"Where's this place?" Kiyomi asked again.
"A hotel in Shibuya."
"Really?" exclaimed Nao, amidst the excited glances. "Oh, do you want to order bread? I'm taking the orders today."
10:18 AM. Ten minute break. Class 2-A.
"Tachikawa is sleeping with an upperclassman?"
"Yeah, I heard it from Miyada Nao when she took the bread order in." Kazu grinned, "Why? Are you jealous, Hiroshi?"
"No." Hiroshi spat defensively, then eagerly asked, "Who's the upperclassman?"
"Don't you know? Ishida Yamato. I hear they're meeting at a hotel in Shimane."
"Shimane? Isn't that in the country?"
11:54 AM. Lunch. Class 3-H.
"Yugi, you know Ishida, right? Is he sleeping around with Tachikawa?"
"She's a second year right? One of the cute ones..." Yugi stroked his chin and laughed, "That wouldn't surprise me. I see them talking all the time, even before their big fight or whatever. Hey, Toru, didn't she sing with the band once?"
"Yeah." said Toru, "for a concert or two."
"Hey, if they start dating, she's pretty cute. She would spice up your act."
"You think it's getting old?"
1:03 PM. Ten minute break. Class 3-B.
"Hey, Yamato." Yamato looked up from his math, where Toru lounged on the desk before him, some of the girls giggling and starring as he did so.
"Don't you have class?" Yamato asked with a half grin, and let his pencil fall atop his desk. Toru leaned towards him conspiratorially.
"Hey, since you're so close to Tachikawa-"
"What makes you say that?"
"Aren't you...you know...bed mates?" Toru grinned, "You don't have to keep it a secret from me."
Yamato resisted the initial urge to punch Toru for even saying those words, and the second to openly deny their relations. Instead, he offered a confused 'what?' and inwardly congratulated himself on holding his temper. Toru shook his head skeptically,
"You can't tell me you haven't heard. Everyone's talking about it. Inoue's girlfriend...what's her name? Honda Chihiru? She gave us all full details like you told her yourself."
Yamato groaned irritably, and let his head fall onto his desk.
"What did she say?"
"You didn't want anyone to know and...you meet every Friday at a hotel in the country...Shimane, I think she said."
"Shibuya." muttered Yamato, suddenly able to grasp how the gossip chain grew. Toru's eyes widened, "So you are bed buddies! Hey, can you ask her to sing for us again? Spice up our act?"
"I'm not sleeping with Tachikawa." Yamato exacted solemnly, "Go back to class."
Toru looked mildly disappointed as he hopped down from the desk and left the classroom. Soon, the teacher settled them back into their seats to begin Japanese. The guy sitting behind Yamato, Toriyama Koji, leaned down with a grin.
"Hey, does that mean Tachikawa is available?"
"Idiot." Yamato whispered back, more fiercely than even he expected.
IX.
"Going out, Mimi-chan?" Satoe, Mimi's mother, inquired pleasantly. A woman with bright eyes and a happy smile, and a kind of blind happiness at that, where her daughter was concerned. Smudged across her nose, a dot of white flour rested from the dumplings she prepared. Mimi had stopped to powder her own nose in the foyer mirror, looked over, and nodded.
"Hai."
"Oh. Well, you look very nice. I'll wrap some dumplings for you if you're not home in time."
"Okay. Thanks, mom."
She checked her watch, "Oh, father will be home soon."
As it happened then, Keisuke opened the door, good-natured as usual when he came home.
"Tadaima."
"Okaeri!" Coursed Mimi and Satoe almost musically. He slipped off his shoes with automatic ease, and rested a hand on his daughter's head while she zipped her boots.
"You look pretty. Are you going to Sora's house?"
"Iie, I'm going to play with Yamato."
"Ishida Yamato?"
"Yes." Keisuke gave a lop-sided smile, and ran a hand through his hair. "Doesn't his father work at the television station?"
"I think so."
"Don't stay out too late with him." He crinkled his nose, "He's in a band, after all."
"Dad!" "Kei-kun!"
Keisuke laughed, half-seriously. "Just a warning. Did you finish your homework?"
"Yeeeeesss." Mimi whined.
"Are you still having problems with English?"
"Nooooo." She said again, "Michael explained it over the phone."
"That's my girl." Again, her father patted her head. Mimi stood, flicked her hair over her shoulder and scampered towards the door.
"Itte kimasu!" she called, waving. And her parents responded, "Itte rasshai!" with the kind of similarity between them, as people deeply (and a bit oddly) in love. Satoe wiped her eyes nostalgically, as the door clicked lightly shut. Keisuke shook his head.
"Is it normal to be out this time of night? At seventeen, I mean?"
"Mimi is growing up, darling. Growing up is part of...well...growing up." Satoe giggled lightly at her own kind of joke, and turned back into the kitchen. Her husband leaned on the door, not satisfied.
"And this...Yamato...is he trustworthy?"
"Don't you remember, Kei-kun?" Satoe looked quickly over her shoulder, "He was one of the nine children. We owe him a lot."
"But when she said play...do you think she meant play...or...play?" He made a gesture then that made Satoe say 'Kei-kun!' in a loud, embarrassed voice. Satoe, still blushing, ran her fingers under her eye that left another smudge of flour.
"Suzuhara and Ikeda speak often of him..." She laughed, "They seem terrified."
"Maybe he's a bully!" said Keisuke excitedly, "I should...I should go and stop her right now." Before he could march back out the door as he intended, Satoe grabbed him by the ear and dragged him back in the kitchen. In the light struggle, they now bore identical flour markings.
"Keisuke," said his wife more seriously, "Our little girl can hold her own against the big bad boys."
He shrugged, relenting and irritable and apprehensive at the same time.
"Alright, I have faith in her." he said finally, "But I'll have to keep a close eye on this...this...Ishida Yamato..." And to a degree, he puffed, "I used to be one of those boys; frightening girls with my mercilessness."
"Of couurrsse you were, dear."
Keisuke hmphed.
X.
At the Camellia Plaza in Shibuya. Eight o' clock. We can meet outside.
All the way to Shibuya on a Friday night. Yamato scuffed his shoe against the ground as he leaned on the doorway, waiting for Tachikawa. Currently, she was eight minutes late to her own challenge (which remained still unknown to him), and he had an inkling that the activity would bruise his ego on some level.
"Konbanwa, Ishida." She had come around from behind, and peaked over his shoulder. Cute, Yamato thought; he almost smiled, but didn't with the after thought.
"You're late." He said instead as she swung around to face him. Smiling as always, she shrugged.
"I didn't make any plans. Let's go inside, okay?"
Tachikawa had not had the same feelings or thoughts as Yamato had, he decided. Perhaps beneath his image, he felt embarrassed, for evaluating the number of hotels around the Camellia Plaza. It seemed almost impossible to miss, though for Tachikawa it seemed likely these things could pass over her head. But then, he had to wonder...
His wondering stopped there, and quite short actually.
For they had arrived at a place of bright color and neon light, that had previously been a building under construction the last time he had visited Shibuya. Vivid pink and purple lighting, dramatic shadow, with electrical use that put Akahabara to shame. He shivered, and Tachikawa must have seen, for she smiled.
"Happy...Love...Love...Karaoke...?"
"High score to win." said Tachikawa pleasantly, "And I choose your songs."
End of Act II.