"Hey." I said, raising my hand to acknowledge his presence.
"Hey, Carlo." Nick said, sounding more upbeat than me for certain.
Suddenly realizing I had forgot to do something, I sought to straighten that up and asked, "How's baseball? And by the way, sorry I haven't been asking that much."
"Okay." He said. "Coach says he can see me as our top second baseman in the future."
"You don't say." I said. "Nice!"
"Thanks, man." Nick replied. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah." I said, admitting, "Just some stuff I've been thinking about."
"Okay." Nick said, and I was thankful he didn't try to get the details. "Meet you this evening at that ice cream place with Brad and Olivier, okay?"
"I got it." I answered.
I
felt a little better after that conversation, but that little
water-gun-size spurt died away as I watched Shiori come into view
alone. I resolved to try asking her yet again.
If
she says no now, this will be the last time I ask her, I promise,
I thought. I can't chase her for nothing and have my mind taken
off my friends.
Oh,
come on, man, you can't give up now if she says no! Another
voice was making itself heard in my head, adding, For all you
know, she's just testing your perserverance!
The
first voice in my mind replied, I hope so…
With
that, I steeled myself and was about to walk her way when I realized
she had almost reached me.
"Hi,
how's it going?" I asked.
"Pretty well." Shiori answered. "How about you?"
"Okay."
I replied. Then, forcing myself to eke it out, I said, "I wanted to
ask you something. I'm sorry if I'm sounding out of line for
asking this, but…"
"I
wouldn't mind." Shiori said, much to my surprise. "I promise."
I
said, "Okay." Taking a breath and crossing my fingers behind my
back, I asked,
"Do
you mind if we have a walk and chat this afternoon?"
A
flicker of hope rose up inside me, but I quickly stifled it just in
case the worst happened, which I was afraid it would.
However,
Shiori smiled back.
"Sure."
She replied, adding earnestly. "I'd really like that. I'm
really sorry I haven't had much time to talk to you, but I hope it
makes up for it."
The
broadest grin of the school year so far broke out on my face as I
found my spirit launched skyward about a third of the way to cloud
nine.
"Oh,
God, thanks a lot!" I said fervently as I continued to enjoy her
smile. "I just need to do something quickly inside—just give me
about ten minutes or so and I should be out again."
"All
right." Shiori replied. "I'll be right here."
Once
inside, I waited until I was confident she was out of sight and
earshot then let it out.
"Yes!"
I
felt happy enough to yell it out for the whole block to hear, but I
managed to keep it low enough for fear of making Shiori think that
all I wanted was a one-night stand. I quickly ran to the nearest
men's room to get changed.
In
my bag that day was a change of casual clothes. Whenever school was
getting out for a break, you'd see me walking into a men's room
at Kirameki in my school uniform and out again in shorts or pants
(depending on the weather) and a shirt, plus a jacket in the case of
winter break. I don't mind my school uniform, but when I want to
seriously let some tension loose, I like to dress casual.
So when I came back
out to meet Shiori, I was in gray Gap wind pants, Nike sneakers, and
a royal blue collared Brooks Brothers shirt. Before I came out, I
said a brief prayer in the stall (my family is Catholic) for a good
afternoon with Shiori.
"Wow, you look
nice!" Shiori said when she saw what I had changed into.
"Thanks." I said.
"Do you want to start walking?"
"Sure." Shiori
answered, and she started walking once I was beside her.
"So
what are your plans after graduation?" She asked as we stepped onto
the sidewalk.
"I'm thinking of
going to Wake Forest or maybe Duke to study biomedical engineering."
"Wow, good luck with
that!" Shiori replied, looking at me with a bit of admiration—or
so I hoped. "So you're thinking of going not just home to the US,
but home to your home state?"
"Absolutely." I
said. "I think it was always in my plans to stay in North Carolina
for college. At any rate, my parents are going to be back over there
after we graduate. What about you?"
"Well, I'm
obviously considering Tokyo U., but there are some American schools
that I'm looking at too."
"Really?" I asked,
surprised. "As in Harvard?" Once the subject had come up, I could
so easily see Shiori holding her own in the Ivy League.
"Yeah." She
replied. "But that's not the only place I'm considering,
because Duke and Stanford are both appealing. But back to you—I
really like how you're still trying to go to school where you
originally wanted!"
"Really?" I asked
again. "Thanks!"
"I really wish there
were more people like you." Shiori said earnestly, looking at me
and smiling.
I felt as if I had
received a slight electric shock at those words. "I really wish
there were more people like you"? I thought. This can't
be that fast, can it?
"Everybody
has to have a dream. Everybody." She finished.
Oh,
thank God, no, I thought as the answer to my previous question.
Why is it that was actually relieved that it wasn't going that
fast, you ask? Well, let's just say I'm not the biggest fan of
whirlwind romances. Stories of love at first sight sound cool, just
not the ones about people meeting each other and ending up at the
altar within the month.
"I
really agree with that." I said honestly.
"Oh,
Carlo, look!" Shiori said, pointing ahead.
I looked and saw what
had made her act that way and found that our footsteps had carried us
to Central Park. I suddenly felt a jolt as I also suddenly remembered
that in the past month, I had dreamed about someday taking her on a
date there because we had come there often as kids.
What is this, the
biggest coincidence of my life? I thought. Must be a good
sign…
"Do
you want to keep walking or sit down?" I asked, motioning towards a
nearby bench.
"Let's
take a seat." Shiori answered. "I'd like to take it back to old
times, when we would come here together."
I
sat down on the bench alongside her and breathed a sigh of comfort.
"Just
wondering…what do you plan to do once you graduate college?" I
asked.
"Well,
I'm really thinking of joining a professional orchestra." Shiori
answered. "Classical music's my first love when it comes to
music, though I don't have many problems with pop. What about you?"
"Well,
I was going to say 'Good luck with that!'" I said.
"Thanks."
Shiori said.
"But
about the sort of music I like…I'm more of a soft rock/pop guy,
though I've started to be interested a little more in R&B." I
should have also said rap, but I didn't know the difference between
rap and R&B at the time. At a recent wedding reception that I had
attended, they had played Nelly's Ride Wit Me and I had
yelled along with the part of the chorus saying, "Hey! Must be the
money!"
"I
can understand that." Shiori said earnestly, making me sigh with
relief mentally.
"What
instrument are you playing?" I asked, looking to steer around any
potential momentum busters.
"Violin."
She answered. "It's so much fun…when I'm playing it, it's a
way of letting go of my stress. Sometimes I try to test out new ways
of performing a piece or adapting a popular song to violin, and that
always provides a stimulating challenge."
"Are
you thinking of possibly doing that as well when you get older?" I
asked.
"Yeah."
She answered. "I'd like to continue good classical tradition, but
I'd also like to get my peers to push it in new directions."
"I
really hope you're successful with that." I said earnestly.
"Thanks
again. Oh, no, I just remembered something!" Shiori exclaimed.
"What
is it?" I asked, slightly startled.
"I
promised my mother I'd be home by 3:45 today!" She said, slightly distressed.
I
looked at my watch: 3:20. Home was about twenty minutes away by the
foot-and-subway route that I used.
"Do
you need me to lend you something so you can take the subway back?"
I asked.
"No,
I've got enough. Thanks for asking, though." She said, smiling at
me and making me grin back.
Seeing
an opening, I asked, "Is it okay if I meet you back here next
Saturday at about 4:00?"
"Sure!"
Shiori answered. "I'd definitely like to see you again over fall
break—there's so much we couldn't get to today!"
"Thanks
a lot again!" I said. "Don't let me hold you up, okay? Have a
good fall break!"
"Thanks!"
Shiori called, waving as she crossed the street and disappeared. "See
you next week, Carlo!"
I
kept waving until I was sure she was out of sight, and by the time my
right arm dropped, a smile was still plastered on my face. I set off
for the nearby ice cream parlor where I would meet Nick, Olivier, and
Brad quietly singing a sort of victory song—oddly enough, the
botched snippet of Frank Sinatra's You Make Me Feel So Young
from Down Periscope.
"I'm
gonna feel the way I do today, 'cause you, you nutsy chick, you
broad, you make me feel so young…" I sung in an imitation of that
botched segment as I reached the door of the ice cream parlor. By the
way, the choice of song had nothing to do with what had just
happened.
I
walked in and ordered two scoops in a cup—one scoop of chocolate
and one scoop of mint chocolate chip. I sat eating it slowly over the
next two to three minutes, savoring the events of that afternoon.
What was also on my mind was how that time with Shiori had sent me
from towards the basement emotionally to a third of the way to cloud
nine.
Best
day I've had in a while, no doubt about that, I thought with
relish.
At
that moment, Nick, Olivier, and Brad walked in, also in casual
clothes. "Hey, Carlo, how's it going?"
"All
right." I said, trying to keep myself grounded for the moment. "How
about you guys?"
"Pretty
good." Nick said. Once he and the others had bought their ice cream, we started
talking about how our day had gone.
"Well,
of course there were the math exam results today, which we all
nailed." Olivier said, grinning.
"Yeah,
I know." Brad said, also grinning as he dug into his scoop of
chocolate chip cookie dough.
"That
wasn't the only thing we had to smile about today, though, was it?"
Nick asked. "I mean, other than the fact that it's now fall
break…"
I
decided to drop the bomb on my friends right then and there. "To
tell you the truth, no."
"Really?"
Brad asked. "What happened?"
"Do
you guys really want to know?" I asked.
"Yeah,
man, go ahead!" Olivier said, nodding.
I
grinned, put another spoonful into my mouth, chewed it for a moment,
swallowed it, wiped my mouth, and then grinned.
"I
just got here after a walk with Shiori." I told them.
My
grin broadened as I saw the shocked looks on my friends' faces and
heard the gasps before Nick asked, "Alone?"
"Alone."
I replied.
"No way!" Olivier
exclaimed.
"Oh, man!" Nick
said, starting to grin broadly.
"Whoa!" Brad
stammered. "I…just…oh, my God!"
"Wow, talk about
coming out of your shell about dating!" Olivier added, also really
starting to grin. Every one of us was smiling by now, me certainly at
least partially because of my friends' reactions to the news of
what had happened between me and Shiori.
The time seemed as a
good a time as any to explain why I had been down previously, so I
explained, "That's why I was down earlier—I've been trying to
get something like this with her for the whole first trimester, but
it never seemed to be the right time. I'm sorry I let it distract
me from you guys."
"It's okay, Carlo.
But it would have been okay if you let us know, man—we'd have
understood!" Nick told me.
"Thanks." I said
to him. "Sorry, I didn't know."
"How was it, by the way?" Olivier asked.
"Well, let me put it this way: it's the best walk and talk I've had in my life!" I said fervently.
"Are you going to go
out with her again?" Brad asked. "No, wait, that should be 'When
are you going to go out with her again?'"
I grinned at Brad and
then the others. "Next Saturday at Central Park."
"Oh, boy!" Olivier
exclaimed. "That's terrific, Carlo! That means you really had a
good first date, because she wants to do it again!"
"I actually wouldn't
call it so much as a date as an impromptu outing." I said frankly.
"Well, whatever it
was, you must have done something right to get her to want to go out
with you again! Nice job!" Nick said.
We then chatted about
what Shiori had told me about her plans, not in the least about the
possibility of her going to an American college.
"Wow…Harvard,
Stanford, and Duke?" Brad asked. When I nodded, he said, "I guess
it shouldn't really be surprising, because she can do anything
if she sets her mind to it!"
"Are you thinking
about Duke even more because she's thinking about it?" Olivier
asked.
"It's certainly
something to think about—going to Duke with Shiori." I said,
grinning at the thought and turning my eyes upward as I imagined
walking past Duke Chapel through Duke Gardens with Shiori.
After
talking some about baseball, both scholastic and professional (we had
all been savoring Ichiro's breakout rookie season with the Mariners
and I had had the pleasure of writing about it), we finished our ice
cream and left to go our separate ways for the evening.
Olivier,
however, called, "Hey, Carlo, can I speak to you for a minute?"
"Sure."
I replied just after I wished Nick and Brad good fall breaks. "Let's
head this way."
I turned us back towards Central Park, and once we
had reached the sidewalk just outside it, Olivier spoke in a tone
with some of its incredulity from before regained.
"Man, you and
Shiori? I know you knew each other before, but that's just
incredible! I still can't believe it!"
"Hey, there's a
part of me that still can't, either." I said truthfully.
"I can see that…"
Olivier said. "Anyway, when I heard about you spending part of your
afternoon with Shiori, it made me really want to make a similar move
with a girl I'm interested in."
"Who is she?" I
asked.
Olivier paused for a
moment, possibly to collect himself, and then he said, "Nozomi."
"Wow, her?" I
asked in surprise. I had heard about Nozomi Kiyokawa through
observations, the grapevine, and my friends. She, like Shiori, was a
part of the unofficial A-list of girls at Kirameki, which is saying
something considering how well the girls at Kirameki were famed for
reasons ranging from academic ability to athletics to looks. I
remember one day, us four guys discussed whether she actually ran 50
kilometers (30 miles) every morning as the word in the hallways said.
"If so," Olivier
had said, "that would explain why she's so darn good. She's the
downright best swimmer in the school, male or female!"
You would have had to
tell me about Andrea Beard beating Michael Phelps in the breaststroke
to surprise me more than that surprised me. I found myself
wolf-whistling back then and saying, "Really? Oh, my God…."
Back in the present,
Olivier said, "Yep. We've managed to become friends from working
together with her, which means I like the influence she has on me
when she's in competitive mode. Also, she looks good—"
"I guess getting to
see her in a swimsuit about two or three times a week does that to
you, huh?" I asked, chuckling slightly.
"Well, I can't say
that didn't start me paying attention to her looks, but I can
easily imagine her looking good in casual wear. As a matter of fact,
I know she does because I've seen her going out by herself on the
weekends when she's not training."
"I can see that."
I said honestly.
Olivier grinned slightly and then said, slightly anxiously, "The
thing is, I'd really like to buy something to get her when I ask
her out. The only problem is, I also really don't know what to get
her."
I thought hard for
about 20 seconds, after which I looked up.
"Why
don't you go and get her some flowers?" I asked.
"Are you sure about
that? Everything I've seen about her so far makes her seem like a
tomboy, plain and simple."
"Hey, when in doubt,
go with the flowers. If it doesn't work, you can blame me." I
said earnestly.
Olivier pursed his for
a few minutes, evidently thinking hard, and then said, "Okay.
Thanks, man."
We arranged for me to
accompany him to Nozomi's house the next day to help his nerves,
and so the next afternoon we found ourselves outside her house with
Olivier toting a dozen roses, half red and half white.
"Well, here goes."
Olivier said. "Hope this works…"
"Me too." I
replied. "Good luck."
"Thanks." He said,
and with that, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. I saw
Nozomi open it, greet him, and allow him to come inside before
closing it. I found myself saying another quick prayer for Olivier to
get the date he was looking for when the door closed.
Olivier
left the house five minutes later with no sign of Nozomi or her
reaction—except the grin on his face when he turned to me, that is.
Suddenly filled with
anticipation of news of success, I asked, "Well?"
"I got it!" he
replied. "Tomorrow night at Central Park!"
"Yes!" I yelled,
and we slapped hands before walking away down the street.
The next evening, I
met up with Olivier at Central Park. Seeing him and Nozomi
approaching while sitting on a bench, I had quickly flipped up my
copy of USA Today (The international edition) and had pulled
it close. Luckily, that tactic worked, and I was able to observe them
having an animated conversation.
"Thanks for letting
me spend some time with you today." Olivier was saying. "I had a
great time today." After pausing for a moment to think, he
added, "I think that's because you let your gentler side really
show tonight. You should probably let people see that side more
often—I think they'd like that." He turned to smile at her.
"You really think
so?" Nozomi asked, in a half-amused, half-worried tone. "Do you
think they'd think I'm weird if I stepped out of my 'tomboy'
image and went into that more often?"
"I know I
don't think you're weird when you do that." Olivier replied.
"Thanks so much for
telling me that…" Nozomi said earnestly, smiling back.
I found myself having
to use the bathroom at that precise moment, so I quickly dashed into
the nearby ice cream parlor—the same one where me and the other
guys had gone after my first outing with Shiori—used the bathroom,
bought a scoop of chocolate in a cup, and headed back out to find
Olivier still there with a broad smile on his face.
"Nice going!" I
said fervently. "I really like how you two finished that one up…how
was it in general?"
"Carlo, let me tell
you something." Olivier said. "It was crazy."
"Oh, hello!" I
whooped, wolf-whistling at the end.
Olivier asked, "Well,
that's you and me now who have girlfriends! Is it too much to hope
for all four of us getting girls to confess to us under the tree on
Graduation Day?"
I thought it over
hard. The prospect of a clean sweep of successes was alluring and
definitely seemed more in reach than it had been at the start of the
year, but I knew it might be all but an improbability to have all
four of us getting the girls of our dreams on that day.
In
times like this when I didn't know what to tell my friends, I asked
them how they felt to get valuable input, so I found myself asking,
"Do you think we're ready to take those chances?"
"I know I am."
Olivier said.
That night at a
popular arcade/mini-golf place, right before we went inside, we
bumped into Nick and Brad about to go in as well.
"Hey, guys!" Nick
said.
"Hey, how's it
going?" Olivier replied.
"All right." Nick
said, and then he said, "You've got a bit of a smile lingering.
What's going on?"
Olivier started going
a bit red, but then he said, "Carlo's got company."
"What do you mean?"
Brad asked. "You haven't been going after Shiori, have you?" He
looked slightly worried as he bit his lip slightly.
"No, he hasn't."
I said. "He just—tell them about it, Ollie." I said, grinning.
"Uh, okay." He
said. "Uh…I just got here from an outing at Central Park with
Nozomi."
"No way!" Brad
said. "How did you…I know you're both on the swim team, but I
mean…oh, man!"
"Wow!" Nick said.
"How was it?"
"Unbelievable."
Olivier said, beaming.
"Oh, man!" Nick
said, whistling and chuckling.
"Wow, nice going!"
Brad added, nodding.
"Yeah, I know!" I
said, grinning before making my tone more serious. "Now that's
two of us—half of us—who have girlfriends now. I've already
talked to Ollie about this, but I want to ask you guys about this
too. Do you think it's too much to hope for each of us getting a
girl to confess to us under that tree on that day?"
"Oh, no." Nick
said, starting to grin.
"Absolutely not."
Brad agreed.
"You guys sound like
you're setting your sights on some girls already."
"Yeah, both of us
are looking around—and I think I have a clue as to who I want to
try." Nick said, now really smiling.
"Really?" I asked.
"Oh, man." I began chuckling slightly.
This was getting too
good. In the space of two days, I had not only gone on something of
an impromptu date with Shiori, but I was due for another one in six
days, Olivier had gone out with Nozomi, and now Nick was telling me
he had a girl in his sights. The ending I had been dreaming about now
seemed so close to reality that it was frightening a bit.
"So who's the girl
you're looking at?" I asked. Then, realizing I was asking Nick
something in public that I wouldn't want someone to ask me while we
were in public, I said, "I'm sorry if I'm being too
intrusive—you don't have to say it if you like."
"No, it's okay."
Nick said a little dismissively. "I appreciate that, but…uh…well,
I was looking first at Saki—you know, the baseball and soccer
manager—"
"Oh, yeah." Brad
said. "Then again, who on those teams—especially the baseball
team—hasn't been looking at her?"
"Nobody, from the
looks of it." I said.
"Yeah, I know."
Brad said. "There's hardly been a school day when I haven't
seen a guy from either of those teams asking her out."
"Yeah, but last
week, I was passing through the tennis courts on the way to the
baseball field and a tennis ball hit me." Nick said.
"Who was it?" I
asked.
"Yukari Koshiki."
Nick answered. "You know, the calm girl with purple hair—sometimes
red—and pigtails, from Class B?"
"Yukari Koshiki?"
Olivier asked, slightly startled. "I was wondering…is she related
to somebody high up at Koshiki Properties?"
"She is." I
answered. "Her father runs it. He met Dad once at a medical fundraising event, and
that's how he—and I—found out."
"Wow..." Brad and Olivier said tremulosuly almost simultaneously.
"Holy
cow!" Nick said, sounding as if he was hardly able to believe it.
"So
what happened?" I asked. For your information, I have never known a
friend of mine to want somebody because of money, so I've never
worried about that.
"Well,
she said she had seen a bit of practice and had heard that I might be
in line to be starting second baseman in the future, which I'm told
is told to a freshman even more rarely in Japan than back home and
told me she hoped I got it."
Olivier
said, "You might want to consider taking her someplace quiet
because she's the relaxed type."
"No,
wait…" Brad said. "Have you thought about playing secret
admirer on her?"
"No,
I haven't." Nick replied. "I'm not exactly at the 'admirer'
stage yet."
"You
could sign it 'someone who wants to get to know you.'" I
suggested, struck with an idea.
"You
know what? I like that." Nick said, grinning at me. "'Someone
who wants to get to know you'—that tells the truth about where I
am and indicates I'm interested in her. That's good."
"Do
you want to write it out tonight?" I asked.
"Not
right now." Nick replied. "We've spent 5 to 10 minutes out here
just talking about this stuff—let's go ahead and get playing!"
"All
right, let's go!" I said, and I led the guys in.
A
few rounds of Time Crisis, Silent Scope, and Dance Dance Revolution
later—not to mention a hole-in-one each for me and Olivier—we
left the place in very high spirits.
"I
tell you what, not a bad day at all, huh?" I asked Nick with a
broad grin on my face.
"Yeah, you said it.
I just hope we keep the momentum going." Nick replied. I could see
that as his polite way of saying, "I hope I'm next," but I
certainly didn't blame him for it, as I could so easily see myself
saying the same thing if we were in each other's shoes.
I grinned back at him
and added, "Me too."
Shiori and I went out
once a week that fall break on average, capping it off with what
became a double date with Nozomi and Olivier when we bumped into each
other at Central Park.
"Oh, hi, Shiori!"
Nozomi called. By the way, I had just found out from Olivier that he
was teammates with Nozomi and Shiori on the Kirameki swim
team.
"Hi, Nozomi!"
Shiori called back. "Hi, Olivier! Had a good evening as well?"
"Oh, yeah." Nozomi
replied, and I caught Olivier's eye and grinned, making him grin
back. "You sound like you and Carlo have had fun too."
"We did." Shiori
said. "You don't want to stop walking right now, do you?" She
asked me, turning to me.
"God no." I
replied fervently.
"Mind if we come
along?" Nozomi asked. "We're not stopping either, are we?"
She asked further, turning to Olivier.
"Absolutely not."
Olivier said. "Let's get going."
"Oh, this is going
to be great." I said fervently, looking at the three others as we
set off.
And that it was. My
girlfriend, my best male friend, and his girlfriend…what more could
I want? Perhaps Nick and Brad as well, but surprisingly, I found
myself just wanting it to be the four of us at that moment.
"I
can't wait to see you three in action with the swim team this
spring!" I said. "Ollie's told me some stuff…he said you guys
are going to be awesome!" I quickly added, "As if I should have
thought anything else with the three of you…"
"Wow,
thanks!" Nozomi and Shiori said together.
"Yeah,
thanks, man!" Olivier said. "You know, I wonder what it's going
to be like at practice because of…you know…" He finished
slightly worriedly, motioning with his hands between himself and
Nozomi.
"I
know…" Nozomi answered, also slightly anxiously.
"More
like what it's going to be like at school in general." I said,
suddenly giving it some thought.
"Oh,
don't worry about what they'll say." Shiori answered. "If
nothing else, I've chosen to go out with you for the past few
weeks, and from what I hear about what's going on with Nozomi and
Olivier, it's been the same way over there."
"It
has." Nozomi replied, before adding earnestly. "Besides, Olivier
knows what to do and say, so why should I be worried about facing the
school about him?"
"Same
here." Shiori said, also earnestly.
When
school started back up again, Nozomi, Olivier, Shiori, and I did
indeed become more of centers of attention because of our
relationships. The news that Olivier and I had been going out
regularly with Nozomi and Shiori, respectively, was making waves in
the Kirameki pool to say the least. The idea that two of the girls on
the unofficial A-list of girls at Kirameki, much less Shiori and
Nozomi, had been going out with two of the school's Americans over fall
break had the place buzzing.
"How'd you do it?"
Yoshio Saotome asked me during our first week back in an awed voice.
"No idea." I said
earnestly. "And by the way, in my opinion, see if we're still
going out in October and then you can probably discuss it."The talk, though,
didn't stop. It was as if I was some member of Westlife who had
just gone out with Utada (a Japanese pop sensation who now has a
music video, Easy Breezy, on iTunes). People—to my relief,
Kirameki had an absolute abundance of people who could speak English
as well they as they could speak Japanese—would come up to me in
the hallways and say things from "I can't believe it!" to "You
two really look good together!"
From what I gathered
over what I heard, if Nick and Brad snagged girls of their own and
the four of us got confessions on Graduation Day, it was bound to go
down as another chapter of the Legend Tree legend at Kirameki (if you
know what I'm saying.)
Our first day
back—Labor Day back home—Nick began his anonymous letter move
with Yukari.
"'I don't much
about you and I know you don't know much about me, but I do know
I'd like to know a little more about you…'" Olivier read
Nick's first note before that day began. "Looks good! How do we
get it to her?"
"I'll take it to
her." I said.
"No, wait, I'll do
it." Brad said. "You don't want to be seen dropping a note off
to anybody but Shiori, so I'll take care of it."
"Oh, yeah…" I
said, suddenly realizing the danger of me going ahead and doing that
and thankful for Brad checking me. "Thanks, Brad." I said,
grinning.
That afternoon after
school, Nick and Brad ran back to us.
"Hey, check this
out! Yukari read Nick's note and wrote a quick reply to send to
him!" He said, once we were out of sight and earshot.
"Wow, what did it
say?" Olivier asked.
"She was basically
asking, 'Have we met? Is there something I know about you?" Nick
said.
"Okay…" I said.
"Do you know how you're going to answer that?"
"Yeah." Nick said.
"Something about 'Yes, we have met. From that, I know you'd
cheer for me if you saw me play. I also know about your family and
rest assured, I am not someone who wants to know you as the Yukari
whose father is a real estate magnate. I want to know you, plain and
simple.'"
"Cool." I told him
earnestly. "Okay, go ahead with that."
The next day, Nick
came running back to us at the ice cream parlor where we'd gone
after my first outing with Shiori.
"Wow, check this
out!" Nick said, bursting in with Olivier this time.
"Now what?" I
asked, eager to hear what Yukari's latest note was like.
"You'll like it."
Nick answered before Brad, Olivier, or I could say anything. "Listen
to this—'I have a feeling that you are someone who is not like
other people who seek my affection. The idea that I know you, that I
have seen your face, and that I have seen what you can do just on the
field, is even more exciting.' How's that?"
"Wow…" I said
almost at the same time with Olivier, only except I was also
wolf-whistling at the end.
"I know!" Nick
said, grinning broadly. "Okay, what now?"
"Well, I think she's
almost bursting at the seams to know who's writing to her, so I say
ask her out in your next note." Brad said.
"Really?" Nick
asked. "Any place you'd suggest?"
"Central Park." I
said almost without hesitation. "I think that's our lucky dating
spot. I had my first outing with Shiori with a big finish there,
Olivier had his first date with Nozomi with a big finish there, and
we had an impromptu cool double date begin there, so go with that."
"Sounds good."
Nick said, now starting to sound anxious, half from excitement and
half from tension.
That Saturday, after I
finished working on some science homework, I called Nick to find out
how it went.
Nick
picked up the phone with an energetic "Hey!" To my surprise,
Olivier followed over the line with a "Hey!" of his own.
"What's
going on, guys?" I asked, slightly puzzled. "Conference call?"
"Apparently
now, yeah." Olivier replied.
"Let
me guess…date went well?" I asked further, now feeling simply
very eager to find out.
"You
bet." Nick said fervently. "Yukari was a little surprised it was
me, but apparently, she liked the fact that it was me sending her
those notes. And get this—we did not have a slow date."
"Really?"
I asked, and absolutely nothing against Nick, but I was wondering how
on earth someone could take Yukari out on something other than a slow
date and have it go well.
"Turns
out she confided to me that even though she's calm, she likes
adventure and action, just not loud places. We ended up going through
Central Park and then all over the zoo. I think I was able to score a
few bonus points with her because we were rushing from attraction to
attraction by the end even though we were on time by good margins the
whole time."
"Wow!"
I said, ecstatic to hear the news while also jolted by Yukari's
revelation about herself.
"I
know!" Olivier said, also very happy judging by the tone of his
voice. "You know what this means…three down, one to go!"
"Yeah—of
course, assuming we don't do anything s-." My family considers
"st" a bad word, so I just say it that way.
"I
hear you. I really think we've got it so far, but I hear you."
Nick said.
"Me
too." Olivier said. "Don't worry, Carlo—I pay a lot more
attention when it comes to Nozomi than I normally do about myself!
And fortunately, there's this spillover effect that's got me
paying more attention to myself as is, which certainly helps!"
"Oh,
the crazy things love can do, eh?" I asked, chuckling and making
the others laugh.
On
the Wednesday after that, I woke up to my alarm, dressed in my summer
uniform, and headed down to breakfast. I was halfway through my large
mug full of loaded Nesquik and a S'mores Pop-Tart when I realized
Shiori was heading out of her house, and I suddenly remembered the
fact that she regularly woke up early to get to school with time to
spare. I had seen her leaving her house one morning as I had been
getting up (I didn't get to school late very often, for your
information) and had confirmed that habit after talking to the other
guys, but I hadn't had the chance to catch her until that day.
Eager to finally do
just that, I quickly polished off my Nesquik and my Pop-Tart, took my
allergy medication, hurriedly brushed my teeth, and left a note
telling Mom and Dad why I would be heading out early before heading
out, managing by running to catch her before she reached the subway
station that I used to take the subway part of the way to school.
Once we had met, it seemed as if we created an enjoyable conversation
in no time flat.
Talking animatedly
with her made me feel more ready for school than a full night of
study could. I felt as if nothing could go wrong.
Unfortunately, when
one has that sentiment, what happens more often than not is something
bad happens. And that is precisely what happened—with a capital P.
Once we were off the
train and one block from Kirameki, we suddenly caught sight of
Nozomi, Olivier, Nick, and Brad approaching the intersection we were
heading towards from the street perpendicular to the one we were on.
I
called out to them, "Hey, morning, guys! How's it going?"
They
didn't give me a straight answer, which was surprising. Even more
surprising was that upon seeing us, they ran across the street, with
Nozomi calling urgently, "Shiori! Carlo! Did you see it yet?"
"See
what?" Shiori asked. "What's going on?"
"Did
you get the chance to look at the news this morning?" Brad asked
with the same note of urgency, looking at both of us.
"Uh,
no." I said.
"Me
neither." Shiori answered.
Something
in the air and in the way Nozomi, Nick, and Brad were talking told me
it wasn't good news, but I still asked, "What's going on?"
"What
is it?" Shiori asked.
As Nick gave his
answer, his eyes moved from Shiori and me to just me.
"Someone flew a
couple of planes into the Twin Towers. They're gone, Carlo.
Both of them!"
The bottom dropped out
of my stomach at Nick's words. Not only did it hit me hard as an
American, but I also felt the impact to say the least because even
though I was North Carolinian, I was a New Yorker by birth. My mind
therefore found itself reeling as I tried to imagine the New York
skyline without the World Trade Center.
"Oh, my God." I
said tremulously as I digested the September 11 news.
Beside me, Shiori
gasped, put a hand to her mouth, and then lowered it and said in a tremulous tone not unlike mine, "Oh, my
goodness…"
As the impact of the
news began to sink in, I found myself soon saying, "Oh, Christ…are
you guys okay?" I looked up at Nick, Brad, Olivier, and Nozomi to
scan their grave expressions.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
Olivier answered.
"Me too." Nozomi
replied.
"Same here." Brad
said.
"We're fine,
Carlo. Thanks for asking, but don't worry about us." Nick
replied.
"Are you
okay?" He and Shiori asked me together, and I found myself looking
from him to her.
"Yes." I said with
newfound resolve, trying my best to make eye contact with both of
them, and then added, "I think we better get our butts moving."
I
hiked up my backpack and was about to get walking again when Shiori
said, "Hang on…do you guys want me and Nozomi to walk you into
the building?"
I looked back at her.
"I think that would
really help. Thanks a lot!" I said fervently.
"You're welcome.
All right, Nozomi, which side do you want to be on?" Shiori asked.
"I'll go on their
left." Nozomi replied.
"Okay, you do that,
then. Carlo, Brad, Olivier, Nick, you get in a horizontal line
between her and me."
Shiori's voice was
firm but not bossy—her way, now that I look back on it, of saying,
"There is no way that we are letting you four face the world alone
today."
It might have been
only Shiori and Nozomi on either side of us, but I felt as if it was
two Secret Service agents for each of us four boys. It was that
comforting. With that reassuring presence, I hiked up my backpack
again, set my jaw, and started walking with the others towards the
entrance.
When people saw us,
they were quick to run up to us, offer their condolences, and ask if
we were okay. Shiori and Nozomi were a big help in this area as well
by speaking for us and assuring them that we would be fine.
Class that day seemed
to be a cross between a blur and a haze. Some teachers went ahead
with their planned lessons, while others postponed them to either
talk about the ramifications of the attacks or to let us watch
footage from New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.
I remember seeing a
lot of somber faces in that room and personally do not remember any
of my teachers looking as somber as they did that day. Even more
unnerving was the fact that if they weren't looking at our teachers
or the TV, they were shooting concerned glasses at me, Brad, Nick,
and Olivier. During lunch, I found myself having to call my parents
just to check on them, and Megumi Mikihara was almost in tears. A
part of me felt an extremely dreadful sensation that made me think I
had lost my innocence.
Once the school day
was over, we headed over to the modern-looking school gym-style
stadium and sat on the steps. Just at the entrance at the end facing
the school was a sort of courtyard that was a place to go whenever
one needed peace, except for when there was a game going on inside.
Fortunately, that was not the case that day, so we sought sanctuary
at that entrance. We couldn't get there ourselves, though—we
found a small group including Saki and Yukari also looking to collect
themselves.
"Oh, hi, Carlo! Hi,
Nick!" Saki said, still trying to display some cheerfulness or some
semblance thereof despite the atmosphere. "Are you still okay?"
"Yeah, they're
fine." Shiori replied. "These boys have been taking it as well as
they can all day." She said, motioning towards me, Nick, Olivier,
and Brad.
"I know…" Yukari
replied as we sat on the steps. Shiori, Nick, Brad, Nozomi, Olivier,
and I found ourselves surrounded in a semicircle by Saki, Yukari, and
company. Turning to us, Yukari said, "I'll tell you
something—I'm proud of you for bearing yourselves that way even
after what happened. I was telling Nick it's terrible for us, so I
can only imagine how bad it must be for the four of you."
The four of us thanked
her somewhat simultaneously, with Nick first.
"I don't know if
any of you girls know this, but even though all of us are from North
Carolina, Carlo was born in New York." Olivier said. "As a matter
of fact, he was born in Manhattan, so whoever did this just hit his
first neighborhood."
Shiori gasped and put
her hand to her mouth again, as did some others, then looked at me
concernedly. "Oh, no…Is that true?"
"Yeah." I
answered.
"Wow…that must be
even more terrible…" Shiori said concernedly, putting her hand on my shoulder. Others were also
looking at me with worried looks.
I managed a weak grin as I relaxed at Shiori's touch and said, "Like I said, I'll
be fine. Thanks for the concern, though. You might also want to look
out for Nick—he's a Yankees fan." I motioned towards him.
"Yeah…" Nick
said as more gasps emanated and the group's eyes—mine
included—flew to him. "But like the Yankees, I'm not here—we're
not here—" He said, motioning towards me, Olivier, and Brad, and
then Shiori and Nozomi, before adding, "And I don't think any of
you are either—to lick our wounds. We're here to play hard and
work hard."
As if to punctuate his
message, he pulled out a black Bronx Bombers cap from his bag and put
it on. I felt such an upsurge of awe and pride at Nick's statement
that if it were not the day I heard about the attacks, I would have
been beaming like the proud friend that I undisputably was at the
moment. Everyone was nodding their heads and expressing their assent,
and some—including Shiori, Olivier, Nozomi, Nick, Brad, and
myself—managed weak grins.
"Oh, Nick…"
Yukari said weakly, looking at Nick with admiration and tears in her
eyes as they met his own. "Wow…"
I was almost on the
other side of the world from home and I had just heard about the
worst terrorist attack to hit the United States leveling perhaps the
most recognizable landmark in New York City…and yet, I could not
help but marvel at what my friends had done that day. My newfound
steady girlfriend Shiori had made a day-long gesture I would
never have dreamed of, Nozomi had been as much of a protector as
Shiori, Olivier and Brad had borne themselves well in the face of the
magnitude of the attacks, and Nick outperformed the other three of us
boys with his own way of handling it, as evidenced by his statement
on the steps of the stadium entrance that afternoon.
Fortunately for all of
us, it was a sign of things to come.
In the next chapter—
"Holiday Cheer":
When
Brad emerges as the surprise winner of a musical composition contest,
he attracts the attention of a girl he begins to become interested in.
Also, as Christmas
approaches and the snow begins to fall, Shiori, Nozomi, Yukari,
Carlo, Olivier, and Nick, now romantically involved, find themselves
in for a holiday season unlike any they have experienced before. Will
Brad have a girlfriend of his own by December 25th and be able to share
in it?
Author's Soundtrack Suggestions
Original Version (released before July/August 2001)
Where The Streets
Have No Name—U2
Performed at halftime
of Super Bowl XXXVI, this is a well-written and emotional song I
associate a lot with September 11.
Modern Version
Slow
Motion—Juvenile featuring Soulja Slim
This,
in my opinion, can be a reflection of how Shiori can be alluring even
when she is doing everyday things, with its mention of boys not
knowing how to act around her. It can also fit in because of how the
people who perform this ask the girls they're after to stop playing
around—which is fitting because Shiori has yet to go out on
something even close to a date before this chapter.