New People, New Places

Mamoru awoke the next morning feeling relaxed. He and Emiko had talked until after midnight. He had then called Usagi and chatted into the early hours of morning. He hadn't slept much, but somehow that little bit of his home culture made him feel less homesick. He headed down to the admissions office to pick up his class schedule and a map for the classes. He found the map in a PDF format and sent it to his Palm Pilot. To make sure he wouldn't get lost later, he decided to give himself a quick tour. English: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; Biology: Tuesday, Thursday, and a lab on Friday afternoon; Art: Monday evenings. He wasn't too keen on the Art class, but it had been Usagi's idea to do that as his elective. Maybe you could paint an expression of our love.

"Oof," He bumped into a person in the hall.

"Sorry about that, I didn't see you."

"It's alright, I should have been looking where I was …wow, your hot!" replied the girl before him.

"Um…thank you? My name is Mamoru; I'm the new Japanese student."

"Watashi wa Crystal. Hajememashite. Dozo yurochiru. Which classes are you taking? I might have to bump into you again sometime."

"Um, well, I, err…"

"Chill out, I was just kidding. Although, it might be nice to see you again. I'm in the student directory; you should look me up sometime. Ja Matte," and she was gone around the corner before he could respond.

He wandered the campus and checked out all of his other classes. They were all pretty close to his dorm so he knew he should be able to get to his room when he was between classes without having to run to make it to the next. The last class to check out was the Art Lab so he wandered that way to see if he could meet his instructor. When he arrived, the door was closed and locked, but the light was on. He knocked gently, but received no answer. He knocked again a little louder hoping for an answer, but still received none. Giving up, he wandered to the cafeteria to grab lunch. He decided to try a gyro and took it back to his room. Greg and Gaia had resumed their positions on the couch and were watching Full Metal Alchemist. Emiko was no where to be found, but he knew form their conversation the night before she had friends in other rooms she would often visit. He passed the rest of the evening browsing through his books, watching anime with the twins and killing time until he could call Usagi without waking her at some god awful hour of the day. When 10 finally did roll around, he called only to be told Usagi had already left to go shopping with her mother and would not be returning for several hours. He left a message with Shingo that he had called and he would call again tomorrow.

That night Mamoru dreamed of another man whose face he could not see kissing his Usa-chan. I don't need you anymore Chiba-san. You are much too old for me and you left me alone too often. Leave me to my happiness.

He awoke the next morning feeling as though he had been run over buy truck. He quickly showered, dressed and went to his English class. When he walked into class he was not surprised to see Emiko saving a seat for him. He was however surprised to see her chatting with the girl he had "run into" the day before.

"Ohayo, Mamo-chan, genkidesu ka?"

"Ohayo, Gankidesu".

"This is Crystal. She's one of my friends from way back"

"Hello again handsome," Crystal breathed at him. Both girls laughed to see him blush ever so slightly.

"She's not serious, she married. She's just like that sometimes."

He took his seat next to the two girls and waited for the teacher to arrive. After about 5 minutes, and middle aged man walked in, went to the board and wrote in huge letters "I AM MR. WICKER. NO CLASS TODAY. READ CHAPTERS 1-10 AND PREPARE FOR A QUIZ ON WEDNESDAY." He then walked out of the room without so much as looking at his students.

"Well that's that," muttered Crystal as they walked the teacher walk out. The three of them went to the cafeteria as none of them had had breakfast in order to get to class on time. Emiko reminded Mamoru of Ami very much at the moment. She selected French toast for breakfast so that she could read her English book and eat at the same time.

After breakfast he went back up to the room alone as Emiko and Crystal both had another class. Looking at his watch, he saw that it wasn't too late in the day at Usagi's house and decided to try again and call her. He was greeted by her sweet yet groggy voice and was rewarded with a 15 minute conversation with her that was not nearly as satisfying as he felt it could have been. But he understood she was tired and had had a long day shopping with her mother.

Several hours later found him in front of the door to his art class. He took a seat close to the front so to better see his sensei's examples and waited. As he sat waiting for the sensei to arrive he glanced around the room at all of the pieces on display. Something about them felt very familiar and he began to become more intrigued by each image he saw.

"Sorry I'm late everyone, busy day today, very busy," a familiar voice said as he was looking at the pictures in the back of the room. He turned around so quickly he felt the vein in his neck strain. Walking into the classroom was Jessica Stewart.

"I don't want you all to start off with something too hard, so we'll be doing a little finger painting. I hope you all plan on getting a little dirty." She finally looked up at her class and locked eyes with Mamoru. "Don't expect me to go easy on any of you though. I can be a real slave driver."

Jessica had all of the students take a large sheet of paper and stretch it out somewhere on the wall. They were then asked to select four colors, close their eyes and start painting. Many of the students started to giggle, but it was quickly stifled as she glared at each of the gigglers in turn. When all of the students has closed their eyes and turned towards their sheets of paper, she turned on her CD player. Punk Rock filled the classroom and she wandered around checking the students' work.

Mamoru had selected cool blue, purple, deep green and black. However he was finding it hard to paint with songs like "Almost" Blaring in his ears. He tried to find his center and pictured in his minds eye and image that brought him peace. With his eyes still closed he dipped his fingers into a color and let his hands trace the lines her saw in his mind. A sweeping arch here, a fine line there, he filled the canvas with color. Keeping his eyes closed became harder and harder as he wanted to be sure it was perfect. Several times he would hear someone growl in frustration or gasp in surprise when Jessica scolded them for not keeping their eyes closed or for not being "Large enough" as she put it. Finally at the end of an hour, the music suddenly stopped. Mamoru opened his eyes and looked for the first time at the image in front of him. It was not the vision he had seen in his mind's eye. Instead it was an image of a city underwater. The lights were still on and shadows of people danced in the windows. But lurking in the background was something dark and brooding.

"Very good Mamo-chan. I never would have guessed you had it in you."

Mamoru could not speak through the fear that suddenly choked him. He knew this city, but it was never meant to be underwater. And what was that thing that lurked ready to pounce on the city. He needed to call his Usagi and quickly. This could only be bad news.

He left the class and went straight to his dorm to call Usagi. He knew it was still early morning and she would still be in bed, but he had to talk to her and know everything was ok.

The phone ringing in his ear was like a siren as he waited for her to answer. When she finally did answer she muttered something about rotten apple juice and dancing with the Stars. When he asked her to explain, she woke up completely and said it was nothing. She, the inners, and the Stars had gone to Kokkou Burasamu Farms to pick early season apples and have some cider. She somehow managed to get the only spoiled cider and hallucinated for most of the after noon. When she had collected herself, they went to dinner with the Stars and ended up going dancing. He could tell that there was something she wasn't telling him, but didn't want to push her.

"Usagi, I just wanted to make sure that you were alright."

"I'm fine Mamo-chan, why? What's the matter?"

"I had a vision just now. Well not so much a vision as a manifestation of one. I was I art just now and I painted Crystal Tokyo. But something was wrong. It was underwater, and there was something dark and foreboding watching the city. Usagi, I want you to be careful. Something is brewing that can effect us. Our future, my love, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand. I'll tell Amy and have her look into it. Other than that, how is everything there? Are you making friends?"

They stayed up late into the night talking about the people he had met and the classes he had taken. Finally around 11 or so, they got off the phone. Mamoru took a quick shower as he realized that he was still covered in paint. He made himself a bowl of Undon and added a few peppers, onions, lemon pepper, fried garlic, and some bits of ham he had purchased. By the time he had finished making the Undon "edible" his roommates had returned home and were watching him with puppy dog eyes. He made them each a bowl as well and they settled on the couch to eat.

They had settledon a kind of routine during the week. Whoever came home first got to pick the anime and whoever was home last got second choice. If you were home before 8 and alone, you were expected to make dinner, but if it was after 10, you were on your own. Most meals were taken in the cafeteria though. But it closed after 7:30, thus the dinner rule. Seeing as Mamoru had gotten home first and had made dinner, he could decide what to watch. He picked up his Sailormoon DVDs and put in the Ail and Ann Season. They wandered off to bed and Mamoru slept soundly for the rest of the night.

Ok, so the long awaited Chapter 11 is complete. I've been really busy with work and school, but I have become inspired once more. Hopefully chapter 12 won't take as long to come together. Until later, Matte!