SCHOOL RUMBLE: TWIST, TWIST, & TURN
By: Pizza Blade
PART THREE
It was another Monday, and the sky was perfect blue. The weather was nice and inviting; the wind blew softly through tree leafs making a nice, subtle, and calming orchestra for everybody's ears to hear; the birds sung with such voice that you just couldn't help but to feel happy to listen to them; all of these things made even the laziest person had no choice but feel compelled to open their windows and enjoy the atmosphere.
…
"Good morning!"
"Hi, how are you?"
"How's your Sunday?"
"This is a wonderful day, isn't it?"
…
Even amongst all the students walking on Yagamizaka road, the atmosphere was no less then perfect. Every single face appeared to be cheerful and energetic. It was one of those days when you just seemingly felt that nothing could ever go wrong. It was one of those days when you just got those good feelings inside your heart when you woke up and thinking that nothing would ever stand in your way.
…
Truly, in a day as marvellous as this, it would seem impossible for anyone not to be cheerful.
…
That was even truer for a girl called Tsukamoto Tenma.
Ever since she departed from her house, not even one second that happy smile gone from Tenma's face. It seemed that she was in a completely different place from the world of reality surrounding her; it was as if she was inside this hidden, secluded, impenetrable place where she could just smile all day without having needed to worry about anything from the outside world that could disturb her.
Even her sister, Tsukamoto Yakumo, who always walked together to school together with her, was unable to disturb Tenma's happy-happy land's impenetrable walls.
She didn't mind at all, though. Seeing her sister all happy like that was more than enough entertainment to accompany her all the way from their house to the school.
…
……
Though, Yakumo finally decided that it would probably be best for her to get her sister out from her fantasy land. Even though she was happy to see her sister smiling non-stop like that, she couldn't help but to feel worry that people all around them might think her sister as some sort of crazy person or something, grinning all like that. Actually, a few people already cast a "hey-look-that-girl-is-strange" to Tenma during their journey from their house, and the last thing Yakumo wanted was for people to think her sister as an abnormal person or something.
…
Well, Nee-san is a unique person, but certainly she's not abnormal!
……
"Nee-san…" Yakumo said quietly.
…
"Nee-san…" Yakumo said again, a bit more audible this time because her sister still hasn't got back from her reverie yet.
…
Yakumo tapped Tenma's sister gently and once again said, "Nee-san." a bit louder.
"Eh?" It worked. Tenma has returned to the real world. She turned to her little sister. "What, Yakumo?"
"You seem so happy today." Yakumo said, smiling. "What happened yesterday at the theatre during the movie must have been something wonderful."
Tenma blushed.
"Well, yes, I…I guess you can say it that way." Tenma said, a bit awkward. "I mean, Yakumo, I am finally able to see that movie together with Karasuma-kun. It's been a long while I wanted to go to the movie theatre together with him."
"Was the movie good?" Yakumo asked. Yesterday, after the double-date ended, Yakumo couldn't ask Tenma anything because her sister was still too busy grinning and blushing all by herself every ten seconds or so. She didn't want to ruin the happy atmosphere.
"I don't know…" Tenma answered thoughtfully. "I mean, I didn't really really watch it—I was too nervous sitting right next to Karasuma-kun in a dark theatre like that…"
"Oh…" Yakumo said.
Tenma's face suddenly went a bit down.
"…I guess I should go apologize to Harima-kun." Tenma said slowly. "I guess I was being rude not to watch the movie seriously after he bought the tickets and all that…"
Yakumo's mind flew backwards for a moment, recalling the time yesterday when her and Harima were talking this and that in that bench while waiting for her sister and Karasuma. Then her mind continued to fast-forward a little to the time when the double-date ended and they were all saying good-byes to each other.
From what she could see from Harima's face yesterday, he clearly was…, unhappy. He smiled yesterday when they parted ways, and she still couldn't read his mind, but even so it didn't take a genius to see from his face that he was seriously disappointed on how things went on their double-date.
Though she still a bit puzzled on why Harima accepted her Nee-san invitation, she still understands as to why Harima's face like it was at the end of the double-date.
…
"Yakumo?" Tenma enquired, snapping Yakumo back from her thought.
"What…?" she said. "Oh…, sorry, Nee-san."
"Anyway, I'd better apologize to him..." Tenma said thoughtfully.
"I don't think that would be necessary, Nee-san." Yakumo said quietly. "You don't have to apologize to him for that. I am sure it's okay. Even if he knows that you didn't watch the movie seriously yesterday, he won't be mad at you."
"You think so?" Tenma said.
"Yes." Yakumo replied.
Of course, she knew that no matter for whatever reason, Harima-kun wouldn't be able to get mad with her Nee-san.
…
Tenma gazed at Yakumo.
"…What?" Yakumo said, aware that her sister wouldn't be looking at her like that if there was no reason. Too bad she couldn't see any words spinning around her sister's head right now, so that she wouldn't be able to know.
Tenma smiled.
"Oh, nothing." she said. "Now that I think about it, I never thank you, Yakumo, for what you did yesterday. At the time when you volunteered yourself to accompany Harima-kun waiting for me and Karasuma-kun while we watched the movie. Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Yakumo replied softly. "I just did what I have to do. It would be inappropriate for me to leave Harima-san waiting alone all by himself."
"I guess…" Tenma added. "That's true, since you are his girlfriend and all."
"Nee-san…" it was like an automatic system; now, every time Tenma mentioned that Yakumo and Harima was a couple, something clicked on Yakumo's mind and 'Deny-it' mode systematically activated. "Harima-san and me…"
"But I envy you, Yakumo, really." Tenma said all of the sudden, and this effectively ends Yakumo's Deny-it mode.
"…Envy?" Yakumo said.
Tenma nodded.
"You seem to understand Harima-kun very well." Tenma sighed. "You two seemed to be in a perfect harmony with each-other or something. I wish I could do the same with Karasuma-kun like you did with Harima-kun…"
…
A part inside Yakumo wanted to deny what Tenma just said, saying about her and Harima in a perfect harmony or like that. But another part inside her, for reasons she couldn't comprehend, made her unable to do so.
…
In the end, the second part won, and Yakumo didn't say anything in reply to her sister's assessment.
"Oh well!" Tenma said, clapping her hands. "It's no use to think about this right now—this is too good of a day for me to think seriously!"
Yakumo smiled hearing her sister's comment. If there's something she envied her sister with, one of them must be her ability to just brush things aside, and instead of cowering when things got hard, she just continuously staring forward as if nothing was happening.
…
"Look!" Tenma pointed out. "It's Eri-chan, Miko-chan, and Akira-chan!"
Yakumo looked up, and there was indeed her sister's best friends walking in front of them, chatting animatedly with each other (well, 'animatedly' might not be an appropriate word to describe the way Takano-sempai conversing with another person).
"Eri-ch…!" Tenma yelled to call them, but she was stopped mid-sentence by Yakumo grabbing one of her arm.
"What's wrong, Yakumo?" Tenma said questioningly as she stared at Yakumo.
"Nee-san…" Yakumo said apprehensively. "You remember about…, what we talked back at the house, right?"
"What we talked back at the house?" Tenma said in confusion.
Yakumo nodded. Well, it was not outside her sister's nature to easily forget things.
"…Yes." Yakumo said. "About our……, um, double-date yesterday."
Tenma gave it a thought for a while, before finally clapping her hands, apparently having remembered something important.
"Oh, that!" she said. "About you don't want anyone to know about our double-date yesterday?"
"Yes." Yakumo said quietly.
"And about you don't want anyone to know about my notes?"
"…Yes." Yakumo said again.
…
The notes Tenma referring to was the notebook where she scribbled down all things and stuffs about "what to do on the next date with Karasuma-kun." Yakumo was surprised this morning when Tenma showed her the notes.
Now, usually Yakumo wouldn't mind about her sister having a "what to do on the next date" notebook. Seeing that her sister was the kind of person who even thought about using Yabumi to deliver her love letter, a notebook like that was pretty normal for her.
What Yakumo mind was the fact that at the very first page of the notebook, Tenma wrote, in a quite large writing further embellished by pictures of hearts and flowers, "Lessons I learn from Yakumo & Harima-kun about Dates." Tenma already wrote a couple of things below it too. Things that Yakumo just couldn't comprehend where her sister derived them from, seeing that yesterday for as far as she could remember her and Harima-san didn't do anything out of the ordinary, or anything that could even be classified as "things couples do."
Apparently Tenma wrote all of those stuffs right after the double-date ended yesterday. Yakumo didn't really think before that her sister was serious about the "I want to do a double-date so I can learn things from you and Harima-kun" thing, but she should have thought about it before: her sister was always serious regarding stuff like this.
Of course, Yakumo wouldn't want the notebook fall into the wrong hands, particularly when she thought about all of the consequences that might happen after that.
…
……
"Why do you have to keep it secret, anyway?" Tenma enquired. "I mean, I understand if you don't want people to know about the stuff I wrote on the notebook, but I don't understand why do you want no one to know about you and Harima-kun went on a double-date with me and Karasuma-kun yesterday."
"Ah…" Yakumo said. "It…it's because…"
…
Yakumo couldn't say it.
Tenma stared at her sister for a while, before sighing.
"Alright then, Yakumo, if that is what you want." Tenma tapped Yakumo's shoulder gently, smiling. "I guess, after all things considered, you really are still a shy person at heart, eh?"
"Shy" was not necessarily the main reason why Yakumo did not want the news about yesterday's event leaked out, although of course it was certainly a part of the reason. Nevertheless, to avoid further complications that might ensue from further conversation with her sister, Yakumo just nodded.
"Thank you, Nee-san." she said, smiling.
…
"I am going to say hi to them, okay, Yakumo?" Tenma said, pointing at her three best friends.
"Okay." Yakumo replied.
Tenma went off to greet her friends on this beautiful morning of school day.
…
……
Yakumo stared at them from behind. Her sister, Takano-sempai, Suou-sempai, and Sawachika-sempai. At Eri, her eyes lingered for a moment, before someone tapped her left shoulder softly from behind.
It was Sara Adiemas, one of her classmates who also happened to be her best friend.
"Morning, Yakumo!" she said cheerfully. "This is a great day, isn't it?"
"Yes." Yakumo replied, smiling. "Ah, but we should go to class right now." she said as she took a peek at her wrist-watch.
"It is too bad that we can't enjoy this blue sky for a little while longer…" Sara said longingly, staring at the crystal clear sky. "But I guess school is a much important matter than clouds." She smiled. "Alright, let's go, Yakumo."
"You look happy today, Tenma." Eri said as the four of them walked down the school corridors en route to their class, 2-C. "Did something good happen to you on Sunday?"
"Oh…" Tenma said, grinning. "Nothing big."
The image of her and Karasuma together inside the dark room of a movie theatre continuously playing over and over again inside her head, stimulating her face to keep smiling all the time.
"She had a date with Karasuma yesterday." Akira said.
"Oh, yeah! You told us about it on Saturday, right?" Mikoto said enthusiastically. "But you didn't tell us where you guys want to go the day after. How was it, Tsukamoto? But from the look on your face, I bet everything went smoothly, right?"
"Judging from her face, it was more than smooth, apparently." Eri said teasingly, nudging Tenma on the rib. "In fact, I won't be surprised if yesterday they share a hug or even a kiss once or twice…"
Eri's words effectively made Tenma going 'Tuuuuutttt!' like a locomotive, smoke appearing from both side of her ears, her face went extremely red.
"Eeeeeh?" Mikoto said when looking at Tenma's extremely red face. "It's true? You guys finally kissed each other yesterday?"
"No, no, no!" Tenma waved her hands frantically. "No! We're not hugging, or kissing, or anything…, we just…"
"The two of you went to a new curry restaurant called The Curry Palace near here." Akira said, interrupting Tenma before she had a chance to finish her sentence. "And after that, went to a movie theatre, watching the new popular movie called 'The Adventure of When He Lost Love and Found It Again.'"
"That's right!" Tenma said, pointing at Akira. "The only things we do yesterday were only…, but wait, how can you know exactly the places we went during our date yesterday, Akira-chan?"
Eri shook her head slowly.
"It's better if you don't ask how Akira knows about things." she said. "It's much simpler that way."
"That's correct." Akira replied shortly.
"But Tsukamoto…" Mikoto joined the conversation. "When are you going to kiss him? You'd better hurry, you know: the faster the better! A silent boy like Karasuma generally likes it when the girls act aggressively, you know."
Mikoto laughed softly when she saw Tenma's face went extremely red all over again. It was always a fun thing to tease her, since she reacted so easily and many times over the top over these sorts of things.
"Don't tease her like that, Mikoto." Eri said, smiling. "I mean, even if they kissed each other yesterday passionately, you think Tenma would spill all the details for us?"
"Eri-chan! Miko-chan!" Tenma protested with her face still in the red. "Stop making fun of me!"
Eri and Mikoto laughed together.
Finally, they arrived at the front of their class. As usual, there were all sorts of noises coming from behind the door, signifying that a lot of their classmates had arrived before they do.
But really, generally 2-C was always this noisy.
Eri opened the door.
…
And there it was, the usual sight of 2-C: the boys crumpled down together discussing something undoubtedly not important, the girls animatedly chatting with each other, Hanai was busy reprimanding some guys playing throw-balls inside the class (not that they care anyway), Imadori playing with his cell phone as usual, Asou was busy talking with Suga about basketball, and Harima leaning back on his chair doing… well, staring at the ceiling, it seems.
Only a few of their classmates haven't arrived yet, but the usual guys and gals were already here—except maybe for Karasuma, who was nowhere yet to be seen inside the class.
…
Eri and the others walked to their seats, while occasionally tilting their heads here and there to avoid paper-planes flying all over the class.
"Oh, I want to talk to Harima-kun about something." Tenma said all of the sudden, rushing to her seat that was located directly in front of Karasuma and right next to Harima.
…
"I wonder what it is that he wanted to talk to Hige about." Eri said, watching Tenma putting down her bag besides her chair and greeting Harima. "Do you think it's got something to do with the reason why she looked so happy today?"
"No idea." Mikoto answered. "But you know Tsukamoto. She's always happy and energetic like that every day."
"Yeah, but it's a bit different today." Eri said thoughtfully. "She seemed a lot happier than usual. I wonder what happened during her date with Karasuma-kun yesterday. From the way she speaks to Hige right now, I suspect that it's got something to do with him." She squint her eyes, watching Tenma chatting animatedly with Harima.
"Don't worry." Akira said as she put down her bag. "Whatever it is, it won't jeopardize your chance on getting along with him."
"And what do you mean by that?" Eri retorted quickly, her face went a little pink.
…
……
"So, like that!" Tenma said enthusiastically. "The movie was really good, Harima-kun."
"Oh, that's nice." Harima said, forcing a smile.
…Gah.
Imagining Tenma-chan and the weird turtle-head guy sitting together side by side inside a dark room of a movie theatre, watching a romantic movie, somehow made Harima's inside squirming uncomfortably; like he was being poisoned or something. If possible, he wanted to entirely avoid talking about yesterday, but since it was Tenma who initiated the conversation, he couldn't really do anything about it.
…
"Yeah… and…" Tenma said slowly. She held her breath for a while.
"Thanks, for yesterday." she said, smiling earnestly. "For the time when you waited for me and Karasuma-kun watching the movie. It was… a very nice thing to do."
-Tuck!-
Something clicked inside Harima's heart. He gazed at Tenma.
…
……
INFLATED!
Harima's heart suddenly INFLATED all over to the roof, to the sky, to the stars, and beyond!
This morning he didn't feel so well because his entire plan of becoming a gentleman during the double-date yesterday failed miserably. After all of those horrible stuffs: death-defying curry, queuing in a very long line filled with horny couples, and a movie theatre's staff who put a lot more importance on their boss' birthday than to their customers, he felt like he achieved nothing.
He felt like he failed to show his good points in front of Tenma, that Tenma didn't able to see what kind of gentleman he was compared to Karasuma, who did nothing yesterday but to eat curry, eat popcorn, and nods here and there occasionally..
But lo and behold!
At this seemingly unexpected turn of events, it appeared like his finer points finally reached the heart of his beloved after all! It seemed that Tenma-chan finally realized what kind of person this sunglasses friend of her really was!
…
"Really." Tenma said. "Thank you."
"…No problem." Harima said casually, trying to bottle down his excitement. "It was a man's job to do things like that."
"Indeed." Tenma nodded approvingly. "I must say that I am glad, though…"
"For what?" Harima asked.
"Well…" Tenma said thoughtfully while smiling. "I am glad that the person my little sister fell in love with is a nice person like you, Harima-kun."
…
……
DEFLATED!
…DEFLATED!
…
"Don't forget to always be good to her, alright!" Tenma said happily, patting Harima's shoulder. "Always be a good boyfriend for her, ok? and…, oh, Karasuma-kun's finally here!"
And just like that, with the appearance of Karasuma, Tenma's attention diverted totally from Harima and everything else to Karasuma.
"Good morning, Karasuma-kun!" Tenma said happily. "How are you today?"
"Good morning, Tsukamoto-san." Karasuma replied. "I am fine, thank you. And how are you today?"
"I am fine, I am fine!" Tenma exclaimed excitedly. Talking to Karasuma always managed to improve Tenma's mood by two hundred percents, making her even happier than her usual happy self.
"So, about the movie yesterday…"
And Tenma continued to chat happily with Karasuma, right next to the now deflated Harima.
…
Ah, well, he thought to himself, trying to lift his spirit up. Although Tenma-chan still misunderstands my relationship with Imouto-san, at the very least she already recognized my finer points as a man…
That's a start, that's a start.
And after every start, there will always be a finish line. I'll be sure to run at first position by the time I cross it! Or my name isn't Harima Kenji!
…
With this positive thought plus the fact that Tenma actually praised him just before, Harima's mood managed to stay at the positive side. Actually, by imagining him carrying Tenma throughout the finish line, saying "HAH!" while pointing his finger at the defeated Karasuma under the victory podium, Harima somehow managed to grin like an idiot.
Once he's inside his own happy-happy-fantasy-land, nothing could disturb him. Not even the eyes of a certain blonde pig-tailed girl.
…
"Look at him." Eri said from her seat, peeking at the apparently grinning-for-no-reason-whatsoever Harima. "Now he's now grinning like an idiot. I wonder if there is another person in this world capable of looking like an idiot like that."
"You seem to be very attentive of him." Akira said out of the blue, without even moving her eyes from the book she's reading right now. "Paying attention for Harima's every little detail, aren't you? Very observant."
Eri's face went extremely red yet again, and she quickly averted her eyes from Harima to her desk, pretending to write something down on her book. She didn't say anything, because she knew that arguing with Akira was something that every sane person in this world just wouldn't, wouldn't, do.
Akira was a nice person for a friend, but sometimes there are just some things that you just couldn't do in front of her, for fear of the consequences.
The formidable Takano Akira.
The next lesson after Mathematics was Art, taught by the beautiful and famous-amongst-boys second only to Itoko-sensei: Sasakura Youko-sensei. All of the students were already ready with their art tools, and Youko herself was standing in front of the class.
Everything seemed to be normal, but actually it wasn't.
If you looked carefully, there was this tense atmosphere hanging in the air inside the class room. Everybody was holding their art tools, ready to draw some pictures, but none of them were actually doing so.
Instead, they were staring at Youko, now standing in front of the class, smiling.
…
……
"…Sensei…" one of the boys sitting in the front raised his hand. "Uh…"
"Yes?" Youko replied, smiling.
"Uh…" said the boy. "Could you repeat what you just said to us before? Uh, I think we all need to listen to it once more to make sure that we're not mistaken or something."
"Of course." Youko said softly. "Now, listen carefully to what I am about to say, because I won't say it for the third time, ok?"
Nobody in the class spoke, not even one whisper could be heard. For this to happen to the usually nosy 2-C students, something major, and something awestruck-worthy must have happened to them.
…
"Now." Youko continued with her usual gentle voice. "Instead of drawing some paintings like you usually do in my class, this time we're all going to do something different; something unusual; something marvellous; with an exciting reward other than just good grades for those able to do it satisfactory."
All of the students watched her intently.
"…For your art assignment today…" Youko said, holding her breath a little. "All of you are going to make a movie."
Right after Youko said her words, buzz immediately filled the room, with students talking and whispering to each other. Even the ones who usually didn't pay any attention, such as Imadori and Harima, were staring at Youko, their face looked interested.
"Usually, when people talk about art…" Youko said, with her voice a bit raised, "They think about drawings, or paintings, or something similar to that. But, of course, you could find art not only on drawings and paintings exclusively." She held her breath for a while before continuing, "That is because it is in our nature that we like beautiful things. It is in our nature that we prefer something that is beautiful that something that is not. Since art is a way of…, shall we say, make things beautifully, we can't help ourselves if we, during our course of life, are using art in how we handle things, in how we perceive the world, whether we do it intentionally or not."
Tenma went 'aaaaa' when hearing Youko's speech; Harima had this 'Yeah that's right' look on his face although his mind was also a bit loss; Hanai was busy scribbling each and every Youko's words; and Akira stealthily took some of her classmates silly dazzled face thanks to Youko's words with her useful pocket camera.
…
"That is why I want you to express the sense of art inside each and every one of you in a different form other than drawings and pictures." Youko continued. "I want to see how your sense of art can direct you to instil that beautifulness in something that you usually don't do in my regular art class. By doing this you might be able to broaden your art instinct so that it would not be used only in drawings and pictures you usually do in my class, but also on how you wear your dress, on how you write your book, on how you talk to others—on how you live your life."
…
Seeing the faces of 2-C's students right now, you could tell that they were all confused on how to best interpret Youko's words. Her words were probably too artsy for their untrained art senses to understand. Even the smarter ones such as Hanai or Mai were seemingly puzzled by her words. Of course, you couldn't count people like Harima who tried to act all dignified by pretending they understand while in reality they were the ones who probably the most confused among others.
None of them raised any questions, however. Maybe they were all too confused to ask one.
…
Youko continued her explanation.
"Coincidentally…" she smiled. "I have a friend in Touto TV searching for new ideas for a new movie aimed for teenagers. The top brass of Touto TV has decided that they need an image change for their company—so the new movie will be used as a promotional tool to build a new image campaign that Touto TV is a station…, ah, how should I say this…"
She stopped for a moment.
"…That Touto TV is a station…"
"Funky!" one of the students interjected, and the class immediately roared with laughter.
Youko smiled again.
"Yes." she said. "That Touto TV is a station f-u-n-k-y enough for teenagers to watch. Now, my friend is usually a capable person for creating good, classy, and entertaining movies, but when dealing with the world of teenagers and the like, her usual brilliant mind becomes…, let's just say, dysfunctional…"
…
"…that's probably because of her age or something…" Youko mumbled quietly, but she quickly continued before any of the students caught what she was mumbling about, "So, my friend, knowing that I am a high-school teacher whose daily activities were to deal with teenagers, asking me for a help. Thus, I came up with this idea: how if I ask my teenagers students to make a movie about the kind of show they would like to watch on television, and then I give it to you so that you have an idea about the kind of show you'd like to make?"
Youko smiled.
"My friend was very enthusiastic about this idea." she said. "Not only that, but she went as far as to offer me this option: those whose movie she pick will be well compensated, and the movie itself along with all of the crews will be given the opportunity to appear national on Touto Television."
"Wooooooaahhh!"
"…AWESOME!"
"That's fantastic!"
Cries of excitement quickly filled the air. Excited expression filled each and every student's faces. Even the usually stoic Karasuma seemed a bit intrigued by Youko's explanation—after all, who didn't want to have a little bit of fame by appearing on a national TV, even if its only for one brief moment? The 'compensation' Youko spoke of wasn't that bad sounding either.
All 2-C's students were now busy chatting with each other, clearly very enthusiastic about Youko's offer. Tenma was chatting animatedly with her three friends, Harima was busy picking stories from one of his mangas in his mind that would probably suit the task, Imadori was immediately busy scribbling down his ideas—which centred on the word D, no doubt—on a piece of paper, and the rest of the class members were engulfed in the same excitement as well.
Seeing the students filled with vigour like that, Youko couldn't help but to smile.
…
"Now, now!" she clapped her hands. "Students, I have something more to say, Would you be quiet for a while, please?"
The buzz dwindled down fairly quickly. It was not too long before all eyes in the room were focusing on Youko once again.
"Thank you." Youko said softly. "Now, it would seem unfair if I offer this opportunity only to 2-C, which is why I am also offering it to the other class as well, such as 2-A, 2-B, and 2-D. This offer is also legitimate for all of your underclassmen and all of your upperclassmen as well. The principle has agreed with this, so there is no problem regarding this matter."
Youko coughed a little, before continuing,
…
"What I am about to say is that seeing that the whole school is participating on this thing," she said. "And as such, if this task is to be delegated to individuals, the amount of movies produced will be too enormous for me and my friend to judge and handle. That is why we've decided that this will become a group task. Each class can only proposed a maximum number of five movies. Since there are 35 people per class, including yours, I want you to divide yourself into 5 groups with 7 members each."
The buzz went up again after Youko said that. Each and everyone of the student started to look at each other to find the right person to be together in the same group with.
Youko clapped her hands again, a bit harder this time.
"I also wanted to say that this project will be considered as one of the art class projects." she said. "So even if you don't win, I will still grade your work accordingly and it will contribute heavily to your final mark for my subject. So I expect all of you to work as hard as you can for this project."
"Sensei!" Mai raised her hand. "When is the deadline?"
"Three weeks from now." Youko answered. "And since I know making movies will require a lot of time and effort, during those three weeks from now there will be no art lesson from me. When creating your movies, you may use whatever resources necessary—be resourceful. Of course, you may ask for help from other people outside of your group too."
"Will there be a specific requirement for what theme we have to use for our movies?" Tsugumi asked. "Or we may choose the theme as we see fit?"
"You are free to choose whatever theme you might think best suits this task." Youko answered. "Just remember, whatever movies all of you are going to make, they must be connected to the world of young, spirited men and women like each and everyone of you." Youko smiled. "The world of teenagers."
"Ooooohhh…" the students replied almost unanimously.
Youko stared at her students for a moment.
They were now so busy talking with each other, searching for team mates or busy finding the perfect concept for their idea of a movie.
She couldn't really tell what it was, but there was this, joyous and wonderful feeling when her eyes stared at the enthusiasm showed by her students. In her heart, she was glad to know that that enthusiasm rose thanks to something that she induced, something she offered to them. It was always a pleasant thing to see that something that came from your own mind was appreciated and greeted with such spirit.
"Well, good luck." she said.
Tenma's team has been assembled.
Naturally, the first four members were: Tsukamoto Tenma herself, Suou Mikoto, Sawachika Eri, and Takano Akira.
The other three were selected each after a relatively heated debate between the first four founding members.
The first amongst the three: Harima Kenji. This name was proposed by Tenma, and the candidate himself was very enthusiastic about joining the group. Suou Mikoto and Takano Akira were fine with the proposal, but Sawachika Eri hesitated. The reason? Something along the line of "He will be of no use." and "He's got zero percent of camera face." and "A face like that is a camera's greatest enemy." Now, reasons like those undoubtedly arouse suspicion because, well, let's face it: the reasons were utterly ridiculous. There must be another, hidden, true reason behind Eri's refusal—the true intention behind her hesitation.
Unfortunately, Eri wouldn't reveal those true reason, and kept on insisting that those ridiculous reasons were the real reasons why she refused Harima as a part of the group. It was as if she erected a huge wall around herself so that no one could penetrate her mind, to see the real truth behind her rejection.
…
……But unfortunately for Eri and fortunately for Harima, no walls were high enough for the fearsome powers that belong to a fearsome girl called Takano Akira. Harima was ready to initiate yet another battle with Eri in order for him to be allowed joining Tenma's group, but what Akira did to change Eri's mind so that she finally said 'fine' regarding Harima's inclusion to the group after she stubbornly refused, was something so simple, so unsophisticated, that the rest of the group were caught unaware by the sight of it.
Akira simply whispered something onto Eri's left ear. Eri's face went extremely red. Then when Akira asked Eri whether she would allow Harima to join the team, she said nothing but to nod, signifying a 'yes, he may join'.
Harima was too happy to wonder what it was that Akira whispered to Eri, and when Tenma and Mikoto enquired Akira about it, she simply raised her hand and said, "Let's just leave it at that." Eri certainly wouldn't answer the question; she was too busy blushing furiously for reasons unknown.
…
So, let's just leave it at that.
……
The second amongst the three: Imadori Kyousuke.
This candidate was even more controversial than the previous one, because instead of one, now there were two founding members disagreeing with the appointment—which, by the way, was made by the candidate himself when he walked to Mikoto and said confidently, "Miko-chin! Of course I'll be on your team!"
The first one to disagree with Imadori's self-appointment to the group, of course, was Suou Mikoto herself. The reason behind her refusal had something to do with Imadori kept on flaunting the word 'D' around Mikoto and her immediate response by punching him squarely at his face.
"A guy like that wouldn't be able to focus!" Mikoto said sternly, while Imadori still flying above the clouds thanks to her super-human punch. "The best he could do if I we allow him to join our team is to think a bunch of ultra-pervert movie scripts, or generally just annoy us!"
The second among the founding members disagreeing with Imadori's appointment was the supposedly chairman……, or maybe we should say, the chairlady: Tsukamoto Tenma herself. The reason? Not because she disliked Imadori or anything, and not because she felt annoyed by his presence or anything—but more to the fact that according to her, Imadori's place on the team could be used instead to make a space for another, more appropriate person. Tenma's definition of a 'more appropriate person'? Well: a flat face, likes turtle, likes spacing out, likes curry, plays guitar, and seemingly had an obsession with windows or something. The person must also be the very owner of the name Ka-ra-su-ma Oo-ji.
Mikoto approved this idea, thinking that anyone would make a better member compared to Imadori, and both Eri and Akira had no objections either. The only one objected with Karasuma's appointment was Harima, but since he was not among the founding members of the team, he didn't have the right to vote.
…
Unfortunately, however, when Tenma asked Karasuma to join her team, he immediately raised his hand and said: "I am sorry, Tsukamoto-san. I've already joined Yuuki-san's group, along with Fuyuki-san, Ichijou-san, Tagano-san, Mihara-san, and Ootsuka-san."
Tenma was very disappointed with this, thinking that if only she invited him sooner then she could make him join. But it was already in the past, and Tenma couldn't do anything about it.
With a disappointed face, Tenma returned to her friends to report that her effort to ask Karasuma to join has failed (much to Harima's relief). By this exact moment, the unbeatable Imadori crept up back to them and shamelessly self-proposed himself again as one of Tenma's group members. With Karasuma out of the picture, Tenma had no other reason to object to Imadori's appointment, and with Eri and Akira had come to a mutual agreement that watching Mikoto struggling with Imadori during the next three weeks could be fun, Mikoto didn't have much choice but to accept Imadori as one of their members.
"Yay!" he said excitedly. "I've already thought about a script—this is it!" He flaunted a piece of paper, which Mikoto immediately took, and threw out from the window, not bothering to see what was written on it.
"Aaaah! My masterpiece!" Imadori stared at his so-called script helplessly being thrown away by the wind to the horizon.
…
……
The last member for their team was none other than the class president himself, Hanai Haruki—the indomitable man with unquenchable spirit for justice and righteousness. Despite his annoying tendency to nag people around for every little thing, no one could ever doubt that Hanai was a resourceful and hard-working person. He was certainly an ideal candidate for a team-mate, most particularly when dealing with such a difficult project like making a movie for a national television.
He was accepted as the last member of Tenma's group, but his acceptance didn't come as easy as getting a candy from a baby. Being popular as a highly dependable person amongst its classmates, a person capable of multi-tasking with high efficiency, Hanai was invited to join not only by Tenma's group, but also by the other groups as well. If one should describe the situation using economic terms, he was in a very high demand.
At first he was confused as to which team's offer he should accept.
But his confusion didn't last long, because unfortunately for the other teams except Tenma's, they didn't have the formidable Takano Akira amongst their members. As the other teams worked as hard as they could to persuade Hanai to join their team, the only thing Akira did was to whisper something into his ear.
No one knew what it was that Akira whispered to Hanai—but whatever it was, her seemingly simple yet mysterious action was effective. Immediately after that, he announced to the class that regrettably he must refuse their invitations to join their group because—as he said, "My heart belongs only to Tsukamoto-kun's group!", much to the dismay of Harima.
"What did you say to him?" Mikoto asked Akira curiously as to how Akira could easily persuade Hanai to join their team when the other teams couldn't. "What was it that you're whispering to him?"
"Nothing much." Akira said shortly. "Let's just leave it at that."
"Ye…yeah." Eri added quickly. "Let's not talk about that anymore."
Clearly, she didn't want to talk about Akira's whisper to Hanai for fear that the conversation might prolong into Akira's whisper to her. Whatever it was that Akira's whispering, Eri clearly didn't want anyone to know.
…
So, Tenma's team finally has been assembled. The members were: Tsukamoto Tenma, Suou Mikoto, Sawachika Eri, Takano Akira, Harima Kenji, Hanai Haruki, and Imadori Kyousuke.
As to what kind of movie later this team would produce, only time could tell.
Tenma's team assembled themselves inside the school library, discussing this and that about Sasakura-sensei's movie project.
…
"Well, before we dive in into scripts and scenarios about our movie, first thing first: we need to think about how to acquire the proper equipments we will need in order to make a movie." Mikoto said. "The most important thing is: the camera. I don't have it, how about you guys?"
"You know that I don't have any, Suou." Hanai answered. "How about the rest of you?"
"I don't have one." Harima added.
"And so am I." Imadori said.
"A video camera is too expensive for me and Yakumo…" Tenma said slowly. "So no, I don't have one."
"How about you, Sawachika?" Mikoto turned her eyes to Eri.
"I have one." Eri answered, while twiddling a pencil on her left hand. "But it's only an ordinary video camera—the one you usually use in birthday party and such. Do you think that would be enough?"
"I think that's enough." Hanai nodded his head. "A video camera like that is used by many beginners when they want to make a movie. I think Sasakura-sensei wouldn't mind if we use equipment like that. We are beginners to this sort of thing."
"Well…" Eri contemplated. She tapped her pencil repeatedly on the table. "That might be true, but I really think instead of using a video camera like that, we ought to use real camera like the one they used during real movie-making."
"It's hard to find one if you don't have any connections." Mikoto replied. "I think Hanai is right; the usual video camera is enough for this project."
"I agree." this time Imadori spoke. It was one of those very rare occasions where he might be serious for a change. "Besides, we only have three weeks to do this, and who knows for how long before we can get our hands to that sort of equipment, Sawachika-san."
"Yeah." Harima added. "I don't want to be hassled by unnecessary thing like that. Let's just focus on the script and then we can start filming immediately."
Eri quickly cast one of her trademarked you-shut-up look to Harima.
"Look." she said stubbornly. "The whole school is going to participate in this event. That means a lot of contestants, and a lot of competition. If we don't do this thing with the best means available, chances are someone out there will beat us at this event. Now, I don't know about you, but in every competition I'm in, I always strive for one goal only, and that goal is to win."
"Wow!" Tenma said to herself as she stared at Eri. "Eri-chan is so cool!"
"Listen." Eri spoke again, ignoring the fact that Harima glared over her. "Just give me three…, no…, two days, max, to get us a proper camera for our movie. During that time the rest of you can discuss other important things such as the script, the players, the costumes, whatever. I promise you guys that I will get us that camera."
The way Eri spoke clearly indicates that she wouldn't want to change her opinion over this. Some might say that the thing she's arguing right now was trivial, but nothing was trivial for Sawachika Eri if she already set her eyes to a goal.
…
Mikoto sighed.
She should have known that Eri wouldn't change her mind, no matter what. If being friends with Eri for all this time taught her something, that must be how she was a very competitive person and her attitude was that of a very strong-willed girl.
"Fine." Mikoto said. "We leave finding a good camera for our project to you."
"Don't worry about it!" Tenma added cheerfully. "If it's Eri-chan, there is no doubt that she will get us the best camera ever!"
"Thank you, Tenma." Eri smiled.
…
"Actually," suddenly Akira spoke; making the rest of the team members turned their attention to her. "Eri, you don't have to look for the camera. I got one."
This sudden announcement put a big 'Surprise!' sign at everybody's face.
…
"Really?" Mikoto asked Akira. "You got one?"
"Yes." Akira replied.
"A real camera?" Mikoto asked again. "Not the typical birthday video camera?"
"Yes." Akira said again.
"From where?" this time Tenma asked the question.
"I've got connections." Akira answered shortly.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Eri demanded, pointing her index finger at Akira.
"Because nobody asked me." Akira answered again.
…
Mikoto and Eri both slapped their forehead nearly at the same exact moment, while Tenma was giggling a little.
…
"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Hanai said enthusiastically. "That means we don't have to worry about the camera anymore, since Takano-san can provide us with one. We can now progress to other, important things."
"Yes, yes…" Mikoto sighed. If being friends with Akira all this time taught her something, it was that Akira was a very unpredictable person. It seemed that she's always capable of surprising anyone by performing more and more feats unlike what you could expect from her.
Moreover, to save some serious headache, most of the time it was the best thing to do to just skip asking why Akira did this and did that. Just accept it, because life was certainly much easier that way.
…
……
"So, the next thing we need to do is to think about…"
"The script!" Tenma cut through Mikoto's words enthusiastically.
"…Yes, the script." Mikoto nodded her head. "Anyone got any good ideas?"
"Why doesn't each of our members contribute one script?" Tenma suggested. "Then we choose the best one among those contributed to be used for the movie!"
"Ooooh, nice idea there, Tenma-chan!" Imadori applauded.
If not for the fact that he was surrounded by six other people, one of them being his beloved, Harima would have already punched Imadori's face out to the moon. How dare he call Tenma with such a friendly manner!
Only I am allowed to call her Tenma-chan!
…
"But before that, first I think we should decide on a specific theme." this time Harima spoke out. He felt he needed to talk; otherwise his presence in the team wouldn't let off too much of an impact. In front of Tenma-chan, as much impact as possible was certainly needed.
"A specific theme?" Imadori asked. Unlike Harima, he didn't seem to be bothered by having a less than significant impact on the team.
"Yes." Harima nodded. "We first must establish a specific theme that would act as some sort of borderline as to what kind of scripts we should take for our movie. I mean, each and every one of us may contribute our own script for the movie, but the story of the script itself must not stray outside the specific theme we agreed with."
Harima coughed a little.
"So since there are 7 members of this group, there will be at least 7 scripts for our movie." he continued. "Each member proposes one script, then we choose the best among those 7, and that's the script we will use for our movie."
"Harima!" Hanai said boldly to Harima. "That's a good idea that is so rare coming from you!"
"Naah." Harima said modestly. "It's basically Ten…, Tsukamoto's idea, I just add to it a little bit."
Tenma flashed that irresistibly cute smile to Harima, and being the receiver of Tenma's cute smile, Harima at the time felt difficult to keep himself composed and calm.
Damn it! he thought. Stop smiling at me Tenma-chan, otherwise I might explode!
…
"Yes…" Mikoto added thoughtfully. "It IS a good idea, though. So, everyone, what kind of theme do you think we should take? Remember, it must be related somehow to the world of teenagers!"
"There's only one thing suitable for that!" Imadori exclaimed, with his usual over dramatization, as if he was to read some work of Shakespeare or something, "The only thing suitable for our movie!"
"And what is that?" Mikoto asked sceptically. You just couldn't expect to hear ideas coming out from Imadori's mouth and not feeling sceptical about it. In fact, Mikoto already readied her patented Smack-that-fool punch in case Imadori would say something stupid that is so typical of him.
"L-----ove, of course!" Imadori answered dramatically, opening both of his arms wide open. "What kind of teenage movie doesn't have l----ove at the centre of its story?"
Mikoto retracted her readied punch.
"Hey." Eri contemplated. "That's a good idea. Basic, yes, but logical."
"But all the others most probably are thinking the same thing." Akira commented. "That they should make a movie about love for this project."
"All the better!" Eri said pompously. "Let's us show them that although we and them are thinking the same thing, we could come up with a much better movie than them!"
"I agree! I agree!" Tenma raised her hand, the antennas on her head flipping up and down excitedly. "I think love is a very good subject for a teenage movie!"
"I agree wholeheartedly." Harima jumped into the fray. Of course, besides the fact that he would just agree with everything Tenma's agreeing with, he also felt that the theme 'love' was very suitable for a movie aimed at teenagers.
Not only that……, if he could somehow make himself to become the main actor of the movie with Tenma as the main actress…
…
Harima suddenly grinned like an idiot.
"I agree!" Hanai said approvingly. "Love is certainly the best theme ever! Imagine me and Yaku…"
"So, love, is it?" Mikoto cut through Hanai's words before he could drabble endlessly all day long about him and Yakumo. "Ok, fine. So that means, each and every one of us must come up with at least a script which story centred on love, is that it?"
"Why don't we pick up an already established story instead of making a new one?" Akira suggested. "It's much simpler that way."
"I disagree!" Harima quickly stepped in to decline Akira's suggestion. "We should come up with our own original idea for our movie—that's how we can show Sasakura-sensei our own full capabilities!"
"That's right, Harima-kun!" Tenma pointed her finger at Harima. "I totally agree with you!"
Harima grinned again like an idiot, while Akira just shrugged her shoulders.
…
Eri peeked at Harima for a split second.
Heh, she said to herself. Even though he is an idiot, there are times when he can be serious like that. That's good……
…
"It's my idea, it's my idea!" Imadori babbled. "Of course we will use it!"
"But making a good script is not something that can be done easily in one or two days." Mikoto said thoughtfully. "I think we should take a break for at least…, three days, tops, when each of us thinks of something good for the script. Then, three days later we pick the best script and use the rest of the time to focus making a movie based on that."
"Yeah, I agree." Eri said. "Because we don't have to worry about the camera anymore, I guess we could spare a bit of time for that, since script is a very important thing for a movie to be good."
The supposedly leader of "Tenma's Team", and the main character on this story, Tsukamoto Tenma, nodded in agreement.
"Yeah!" she said. "Three days!"
"I will create the best script in the world in the next three days!" Hanai said proudly while pounding his own chest.
"Love-love script, yeah!" Imadori exclaimed happily.
"Fine with me." Harima added.
I need time anyway to create a good script where me and Tenma-chan could become the main actor and actresses, he said to himself. Perhaps I could use one of my manga stories, adjusting here and there to add a little spice.
…
"Okay, then, this meeting is adjourned until the next three days!" Mikoto picked a nearby book and slam it softly on the table three times, pretending the book was a hammer of a judge or something. "Be sure to come up with nice script, guys!"
-Tsukamoto Tenma-
-Three days before the second meeting, the night after the Library meeting, in Tsukamoto's residence-
"Nee-san." Yakumo said softly.
"What?" Tenma replied absent-mindedly.
"You are not eating your dinner." Yakumo pointed at Tenma's still-full plate. "Aren't you hungry?"
"Oh, sorry." Tenma put away a piece of paper and a pencil she's been holding to for the last two hours. "I am trying to think of something."
She picked her spoon and start eating her food.
"Thinking of something?" Yakumo said questioningly. "What about?"
"Aaaah…" Tenma said, chewing her food deliberately. Yakumo's food was one of those foods that you couldn't just swallow quickly—you have to savour each and every bite to truly appreciate their taste. "It's about Sasakura's-sensei movie project. You know it, right?"
"Oh, that…" Yakumo said. "Yes, she offered it to my class too. In fact, the whole school is participating, right?"
"Yup." Tenma nodded her head. "Well, I am busy thinking of a good script to use."
"You are the script-writer for your group?" Yakumo said, a bit surprised.
"No, no, no." Tenma shook her head. "It's just that my team had this idea that each of our member must come up with a script. Three days later, the scripts are collected and we choose which one is the best, then we use that script. You see, we are trying to be original."
"Oh, I see." Yakumo said understandingly. "That's a good idea."
She had finished her dinner. Unlike Tenma, Yakumo usually didn't take too much food for her breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and therefore she usually finished them much quicker than her sister.
She picked her cup, drinking the warm tea.
"What about you, Yakumo?" Tenma asked. "Aren't you participating?"
"Everyone in our class is participating." Yakumo answered. "But we have two people in our team coming from the theatre club. We entrust our script to them, so I don't have to worry about it, Nee-san."
"Is that so…" Tenma said.
She sighed. She didn't continue eating her food.
It only took Yakumo a split second to realize that her sister was troubled over something.
"What's wrong, Nee-san?" Yakumo asked worriedly.
"Nothing…" Tenma said as she stared at the still empty piece of paper and pencil she put away before. "It's just I know that the likes of Eri-chan or Akira-chan would come up with something magnificent for our script. Most probably one of their scripts is the one that we use for our movie later."
Yakumo didn't say anything. She waited for her sister to finish her sentence.
"But I would love it if my script is the one we will use for our movie." Tenma scratched her head. "But I know that I couldn't come up with something better than Eri or Akira-chan. I couldn't even come up with something that is as good as theirs."
Yakumo put her cup down.
…
"It's not like you to give up so easily, Nee-san." Yakumo said softly. "I am sure if you try hard enough, you'd be able to make a very good script yourself. I believe it."
Tenma smiled.
…
"Thank you, as always, Yakumo." she said cheerfully. "Well, perhaps you can give a few ideas that I could use for my script?"
"What's the script must be about?" Yakumo asked, feeling glad that her sister had returned to her usual cheerful and spirited self.
"Love." Tenma answered. "Or something related to that."
Tenma's answer caught Yakumo off-guard a little.
…
Love? she said to herself.
Now this is one of those rare things that she's just not good at. She never fell in love with someone before, so she really was inexperienced with it.
She stared at her sister, who's staring at her expectantly.
"Love, eh…" Yakumo mumbled quietly. She must say something because she really wanted to help her sister on this thing—it's just that the subject was a bit difficult matter for her.
…
"Why don't you just write one of your experiences with Karasuma-kun, Nee-san?" Yakumo said the first thing that popped out in her mind. "I mean, nothing beats real-life experiences in the term of being realistic, right?"
Tenma contemplated this suggestion a bit.
…
"Nah." she finally said, shaking her head. "It's not that I don't think my experiences with Karasuma-kun were not interesting; it's just that I think it's going to be hard to make them into a movie script. I mean, I really like Karasuma-kun, but…"
She didn't finish her sentence, but Yakumo thought that she could understand the point her sister was trying to get across.
…I guess its going to be hard to translate Karasuma-san's character into a movie…, she thought. He rarely speaks, and he is a bit…
Yakumo didn't want to use the word 'weird' to describe the person her sister fell in love with. Really, she didn't want to.
But she couldn't find any other appropriate word to describe a person who wore a kappa suit to his own school like it was a regular uniform or something…
…
…Well, Karasuma-san is a bit… unique…
Yakumo decided to settle with the word 'unique' instead.
…
"Maybe…" Yakumo said slowly. "Nee-san, you should…"
"Hey!" Tenma cut through Yakumo's words. "I know, Yakumo." she said excitedly. "Why don't you tell me your experiences with Harima-kun! I know that I will be able to get many good ideas from it!"
…
Many times already her sister said something that made a part of Yakumo's brain went down for a while out from sheer surprise alone, and this time was definitely one of them.
…
"W…what?" Yakumo said slowly. "My… experiences with Harima-san?"
"Yeah!" Tenma nodded her head excitedly. "Since you both a couple, you must already have one or two lovey-dovey moments together with him, right? Who knows, maybe I can make a good movie script out from it!"
"Lovey…" Yakumo said. "…Dovey?"
"Yeah." Tenma readied her pencil and her paper. "Come on, Yakumo, tell me something nice. Don't be shy, don't be shy. You just said it before, that nothing beats real-life experiences, right?"
"Well, yes…" Yakumo answered. "But…" but not her experiences.
"Come on, Yakumo." Tenma kept on pushing. "Just one or two."
…
Yakumo stared at her sister for a moment.
…She sighed a little.
It's very hard to ran out from her sister when she already kept insisting like this. Yakumo regretted already saying those stuff about real-life experiences. She should have known better that it would eventually lead to this…
But now she must think of something…
Something…
Then, all of the sudden, something clicked inside her mind.
A story she knew……, a story about one of her friends, being in love with someone who doesn't even know that he loved her.
A story about someone she knew…
Maybe she could add a little bit of this and that to the story, things she felt that the main character of the story would do, someday, given the chance.
…
"Nee-san." she said finally. "This is not my experience, but m…my friend's."
Tenma stared at Yakumo questioningly.
"Your friend?" she asked.
"Yes…" Yakumo answered. "I…, I don't have that many interesting experiences together with Harima-san…" She thought that it would be futile for her right now trying to tell her sister her true nature of relationship with Harima, to tell her that both of them didn't have any of those…, ah, lovey-dovey situation because they weren't a couple. "But I know a story about my friend that you might find interesting."
"A friend, eh?" Tenma stared at Yakumo for a moment.
"Yes…" Yakumo said. "…A friend."
…
Tenma smiled.
Oh Yakumo! You're such a shy girl!, she thought to herself.
"Okay." Tenma said, smiling slyly. "Tell me the story of this…, friend, of yours."
"W…well…" Yakumo said slowly while her brain is working furiously in the background.
…
"This friend of mine loved someone." Yakumo said. "Someone from… his own school."
"His?" Tenma asked as she scribbled down Yakumo's words onto her piece of paper. "This friend of yours is a guy?"
"Yes." Yakumo nodded softly.
"I see, I see." Tenma smiled suspiciously. "Carry on, carry on."
"Well…" Yakumo continued. "But he didn't have the courage to confess to her. Not only because he's a too shy to do it, it's also because the girl he loved already loved someone else."
"Ouch." Tenma said. "That must be hard."
"Yes, it's hard for my friend." Yakumo said. "But my friend is not the type of someone giving up easily. He already committed to himself that regardless of whatever the hurdles are, he will confess his feelings to the one he loved, no matter what the cost."
"Such dedication." Tenma commented as she scribbled down Yakumo's explanation in short one-two sentences. "It's quite admirable."
Yakumo nodded approvingly.
"Yes…" she said slowly. "It's quite admirable…"
"So!" Tenma exclaimed. "Does this friend of yours finally get to confess to the one he loved?"
"Yes." Yakumo answered. "But he's doing it in his own, unique, way."
"How?" Tenma asked.
"Um…" Yakumo said. "This friend of mine was blessed with a gift of being able to draw pictures better than most people. It is because of this gift that his dream is to become one of the best manga artists out there."
"M-a-n-g-a a-r-t-i-s-t." Tenma noted on her paper. "Wait. Manga artist?" one of Tenma's eyebrows rose. "This isn't a story about you, Yakumo?"
"I've told you already, Nee-san." Yakumo said, she was staring at the table. "This…, is a story of my friend…"
Aw, too bad! Tenma thought to herself. At first I think that Yakumo is too shy to tell her story so she's trying to disguise herself in the story as 'my friend'. I guess it's really about her friend and not about her.
Too bad…
"Well then." Tenma said. "Continue, Yakumo."
"U…um… since he didn't have the courage to confess directly, my…, my friend has decided to confess using the manga he draws." Yakumo continued. "He will write down the fact that he loved that person inside the manga he created, and so if his manga is getting published, he hoped that the person he loved will be able to read it and then his feelings will reach her."
"That's beautiful." Tenma said slowly. "This friend of yours seemed like a really sincere person…"
"Indeed." Yakumo said softly. "Well, to cut things short, after working tirelessly for countless hours, he finally able to publish his manga to the public. The manga itself become famous. But no one seemed to realize that inside his work, there was a confession of his feelings for someone special, someone that he always loved from the bottom of his heart."
Yakumo felt a little pang in her heart as she said this—though she couldn't tell why.
She tried to ignore it, and continues,
"The thing is, this person he loved finally read his work." Yakumo said. "And somehow, just somehow, she knew that the person depicted in the manga, the person the main character in the manga confessed his feelings to, was indeed her."
"Ooooo…" Tenma said. "This is getting exciting."
"…The problem is…" Yakumo continued. "She didn't know that the person who drew the manga was actually one of the people close to her. She didn't know the true identity behind the manga artist, because he didn't use his name—he used a pen-name, a different name."
"So…" Tenma said. "Even though he finally confessed to her, and she saw the confession drawn in the manga, she still didn't know that it was him that confessed?"
"Yes." Yakumo answered shortly.
…
It seemed like for the moment Tenma was already being absorbed to Yakumo's story, completely forgotten that she wanted to write Yakumo's words onto her piece of paper.
…
"Yakumo…" Tenma said thoughtfully. "That is quite sad…, yes?"
Yakumo nodded slowly.
"Yes." Yakumo said.
"So…" Tenma suddenly remembered that she wasn't writing Yakumo's words down to her paper. Ah well, she could do it later. "What is the end of the story? Did the girl finally realize the true identity of your friend who confessed through the manga?"
…
"That…, Nee-san…" Yakumo said softly. "I didn't know."
Tenma was surprised to hear Yakumo's answer.
"You didn't know?" she said, bewildered. "How come?"
"I…It's because my friend suddenly had to move out from Japan." Yakumo blurted out the first thing she could think of. "Therefore, the story about his confession didn't actually have an ending to it… That's why, Nee-san."
Tenma slammed the table softly.
"Aw, that's just too bad!" she said regrettably. "I wish your friend would have stayed in Japan for a little while longer so that his confession didn't go to waste like that…"
Yakumo stared at her sister.
…
An intriguing question suddenly popped inside her head.
"Nee-san." she said. "Just think as if the story really did have an ending to it. What would you like to happen in the end?"
"Eh?"
"I mean," Yakumo added quickly. "Supposedly the girl finally found out that it was my friend who drew the manga and the confession inside it. What would you like to happen then?"
…
"Hmm…"
Tenma gave it a thought for a while.
…
Yakumo, who stared at her sister waiting for her answer, for some reason felt her heart thumping a little, her heart-beat moved a bit faster. Why? She couldn't really tell. She didn't understand why, but she felt a bit nervous waiting to hear the answer coming out from her sister's mouth.
…
"Well…" Tenma said finally. "First of all, I still think it's just too bad that your friend did not finish what he started. I really think that he should just wait for the girl to finally understand the situation before moving out from Japan."
Yakumo listened.
"Then…" Tenma continued. "Supposedly the girl finally found out about him behind the manga and the confession. Well, after listening to the story, I think that your friend is really sincere about his feelings for this girl and he tried very hard with his own way to channel those feelings to her. I think it was admirable, and because of that you could probably say that I prefer the happy ending where your friend finally had his feelings accepted by the girl and both of them lived happily ever after."
"Is that so…" Yakumo mumbled.
"But!" Tenma exclaimed.
"But?" Yakumo said.
…
"You said that the girl herself already has someone that she loved, right?" Tenma pointed out. "Well, no matter how I wanted your friend to be together with this girl, I really think that in the end the girl shouldn't accept his feelings before she could forget her own feelings about this someone she already loved."
"Ah…"
"Yes." Tenma nodded her head. "Because it would be unfair for your friend if she accepted his feelings before she sorted out her own feelings about the guy she loved. It seemed bitter to say this, but I really think that this girl should just reject your friend's feelings because she already loved someone else. Once a girl is in love with someone, she should pursue that feeling no matter what, right?"
"Yes…" Yakumo answered shortly. "I suppose…"
"And this girl in the story…" Tenma eyed her sister. "How's the progress between her and the guy she loved?"
"They…" Yakumo said. "They're getting along nicely…"
"See?" Tenma exclaimed. "Even if your friend didn't leave Japan, the better course for him was not to wait for this girl to forget her love for the other guy—which most probably just never would happen—but rather to find someone else that he could fall in love with! Am I right?"
Yakumo kept silent for a while, before nodding softly.
…"Yes…" she said. "I…I guess you are right, Nee-san."
"Of course I am!" Tenma said proudly. "I am an expert at this kind of thing!"
Yakumo smiled a little.
…
……
After the dinner, Yakumo was busy cleaning the table and washing the dishes, while Tenma furiously scribbled what Yakumo just told her on paper in the living room.
By the time Yakumo finished doing the chores and walked to the living room, it seemed like Tenma already had her draft for the script completed.
"This is it, Yakumo!" she said excitedly, flaunting five pieces of paper on her right hand to Yakumo. "This is the draft for my script, based on your story! I am not that good at writing, but even I am sure that I could create a nice script from the story you just told me."
She ran to Yakumo and hugged her.
"Thank you, Yakumo!" she said happily.
"You're welcome, Nee-san." Yakumo replied softly. It's been a very long while since her sister hugged her like this, that she couldn't help herself not to smile by the occasion.
It felt so comfortable for her being hugged by Tenma.
…
"Well!" Tenma broke the hug. "I'd better take this to my room and work on it!"
"Good luck, Nee-san." Yakumo said as she stared at her sister cheerfully walked to her room, carrying the draft with her while humming the theme song from the show "The Three Who Were Slashed."
…
Yakumo sat on the floor. Her eyes were staring at Iori who comfortably crumpled himself at the corner of the living room.
……
"The ending to the story…" she muttered quietly to herself. "I wish I could see the future so that I would be able to know it right now, right, Iori?"
To Be Continued