Shoko Komi's Ultimate Challenge
by Ulquiorra9000
Communication 8: every last page
Shoko Komi was busy watching TV on Sunday, a favorite pastime of hers, when she saw her mother step downstairs with a large cardboard box in her hands. It seemed heavy.
"Shoko, dear," Shuko called over with a smile. "Goodness, you've been watching TV for hours! Why don't you come over here and take a look at these?"
Shoko cocked her head as though to ask Look at what now?
After hesitating for a second, Shuko joined her daughter in the living room and set the box on the coffee table, then sat next to Shoko on the couch. "These are some old goodies from my closet," she explained happily. She started rustling through the contents. "I can never decide if I want to get rid of all this stuff. It's clutter, and we don't have much spare room... but oh, the memories! Can I really throw all this away? Some of it dates back to my elementary school days!" She sighed and held a hand to her cheek.
Inspired, Shoko shut off the TV and sat up straight, peering into the box. Sure enough, Shuko had put all kinds of things in there, from a few old books to empty photo frames and even a pair of gloves, an old hina doll, and much more. Shoko curiously poked through the stuff, then found something incredible: her mother's old diary! It said "Shuko Niimi's diary, 1992" on the cover in faded characters. No... way!
"Eeeeeek! Not my diary!" Shuko cried cheerfully, now clapping both hands to her cheeks. She squirmed nervously on the couch. "Oh, the thoughts and emotions I recorded in there...!"
Shoko hesitated. "Should I not look inside?" she asked quietly.
"Don't be silly. Read it to your heart's content!" Shuko said, motioning with a hand. She made no sense sometimes. "Just remember that I have no filter, Shoko. Oh my, if your father read even one page of this..." She blushed.
Shoko didn't like nosing into other people's business, but she knew her mother. Shuko was playing games as the eternal 17-year-old, gleefully challenging Shoko to look in there and discover what lay inside. Was this a good way for mother and daughter to come closer together? Let's find out!
With trembling hands, Shoko cracked open the diary and beheld her mother's innermost thoughts from way back when. The first entry was, of course, on January 1st.
Dear diary,
Hello! I was so sad to say goodbye to the 1991 journal, but new year, new me, new journal! So, hi! Hahaha! So, anyway, Asumi, Kyoko, Chiyo, and I totally went to the local shrine on New Year's day, and it was crazy packed! People kept stepping on my foot, and it hurt! But the good news is I got a super good fortune, and prayed to find true love this year. I'm sure it'll happen! Maybe I'll meet someone big and strong with a personality to match! I like confident and outspoken guys, you see, like someone who could take me on an adventure and laugh with me during the good times. Kind of like Takumi in class 2-3, but single. He's going out with Hiyori, you see...
It kept going for a while, and Shoko looked up at her mother with astonishment. Big, outspoken guys? she wordlessly asked.
"That's right. Back then, I was into the macho type," Shuko explained casually. She made a crafty smile. "That is, until I met your father, and I've never looked back."
Fascinating! Shoko browsed the rest of January, which was tamer than Shoko expected. Then she hit February, and things got a little... um...
Mom! I'd get in trouble for that! Shoko mentally cried, pointing at the diary's most scandalous entry yet. And I'd lose all my friends if I did that other thing! And that's really R-rated! I'm not old enough to try that!
Shuko chuckled. "Oh, my poor, innocent daughter," she joked. "Just wait until you hit March."
Shoko did, and she nearly hit the ceiling. She went bright red, nearly dropped the diary, and then shoved it right back into Shuko's hands.
"It seems we have a very different idea on what the ideal high school life is like," Shuko said, still chuckling. She motioned with the sizzling-hot diary. "In that case, how about you? Why don't you start your own diary, Shoko? It's never too late to start."
Shoko opened her mouth to decline, then thought it over. She had heard a few classmates in middle school mention their diaries, and the girls had even read each other's entries. Shoko had the impression that if you wrote in a diary, you could share all of your innermost thoughts and get them in order, or just have fun venting about stuff.
A new challenge was born!
Shoko pumped her fists and imagined her dog ears on her head. Ten minutes later, Shoko was at the bookstore, where she bought a diary with a lovely cover, and took it home. She marched right upstairs, past her brother's bedroom door, and pulled out her desk chair. Then she sat down, opened the diary to today's date, got a mechanical pencil, and gently pressed its lead to the first line.
Shoko froze.
What the heck should she write in here? It was easy for Shuko to write about her colorful life and her bubbly thoughts as a high schooler in the '90s, but this was different. Shoko had had a boring day today, and her last week at school hadn't been terribly interesting, either, aside from that ninja boy throwing a kunai knife and knocking a bird's nest out of a tree when Najimi dared him to. But that had nothing to do with Shoko's heart and soul.
Shoko kept staring at the paper, repeatedly hitting that mental wall, until she put everything away and went back downstairs to find something else to do. The diary could wait. For today, buying it was enough.
*o*o*o*o*
The next day, at homeroom, Shoko slid a paper note onto Tadano's desk while everyone loudly laughed and joked around them. Tadano, do you ever feel overwhelmed with thoughts? Like, you need someone to talk to about it all?
Hitohito blinked. "Um... not exactly, Komi. I live a pretty ordinary life, after all. I can't remember the last time I had an in-depth discussion with anyone about anything. And I'd end up boring them, anyway."
What if the other person always listened, and never got bored?
"Who would that be? I mean, I'm comfortable talking to you, Komi, but..."
I bought a diary. What if you had a diary, too?
Hitohito made a small grin. "But you're not sure what to write in there? It's OK. Everyone gets writer's block sometimes."
Shoko gasped. How did Hitohito understand so easily? It was almost scary! She shakily nodded and managed a quiet "thanks" soon before class began. With Tadano backing her up, Shoko could do anything!
So, Shoko spent the day watching and listening to everything around her, from Najimi's weird idea to open an adult candy store to Ren Yamai throwing an empty milk carton at someone's head at lunch, but none of this really spoke to her. Hmmmmmm, Shuko had had something personal to say every day in her own diary... how did she do it? It helped that she was the ultra-social type, like Najimi.
"Huh? Naw, I've never had a diary, no way," Najimi said when Shuko asked about it after school. "Why talk to a piece of paper when you can chat with your friends?" Najimi stuck out their tongue and flashed a sideways peace sign, which was funny but not very helpful. Shoko also asked Nokoko, Nene, and Kaede about it, but none of them had ever written in journals or diaries, either. Bummer! This was going nowhere fast.
That evening, after some homework and light reading, Shoko got out her blank diary again and cracked it open, willing herself to write something in there, anything. She had to get the ball rolling, after all. So, she timidly started writing about her classmates' antics today while also mentioning a funny joke she had overheard at the shoe lockers. She also noted how her father had bought a brand-new necktie for work.
Shoko shut the diary, stood up, stretched, and wondered if her future daughter would read this diary and fall asleep in boredom. Better not let that happen!
*o*o*o*o*
Shoko kept her ears and eyes open at school the next day for anything noteworthy for her diary, but aside from a dirty joke from Najimi and Ren throwing a wadded-up paper napkin at someone's head at lunch, nothing of note took place at school. Shoko's life was too ordinary! True, she was grateful for all her new friends and her cozy life, but nothing felt truly memorable. Would Shoko spend an entire week, then a month, then a year with nothing to look back on? What would Shosuke write in a diary, if he had one? Maybe he'd make notes about those video games he liked or keep track of how many girls asked him out.
Shoko ended up writing more generic stuff in her diary, then shut it and cuddled up with a stuffed animal until going to bed.
The next entry was pretty boring too, and the next after that. Then Friday arrived, and Shoko had four forgettable entries in her journal. Not good! Her mother had had an adventure every day, but not Shoko. She mentioned this to Hitohito in homeroom, expressing her disappointment that she couldn't think of anything more exciting to write.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Hitohito said kindly. "These are the best years of our life. Anyone would want something to remember them by, something to bring up fond memories when they're older."
Shoko nodded. Hitohito was much wiser than people gave him credit for.
"So," Hitohito added with a smile, "no matter how your diary turns out, I promise I'll always remember the good times we've having in high school, Komi, and treasure them. I'll never forget a single moment of this."
They stared at each other.
"Wh-whoa!" Hitohito went red and clapped his hands over his mouth. "W-w-was that too much? I'm sorry! I shouldn't get carried away like that..."
Shoko felt her face flush, her heart racing as she held up a note: you said exactly the right thing, Tadano.
Hitohito sighed with relief. "Thank goodness."
That evening, Shoko was in a good mood as she ate dinner with the family, and she raced upstairs and into her bedroom. She scrambled over to her desk, opened her diary to today's date, and immediately wrote something down.
Dear diary, I had a little chat with my friend Hitohito Tadano and I was reminded once again why I just might fall in love with him someday. I don't ever want to forget this feeling. And to whoever's reading this, I hope you feel that way about someone someday, too.
Shoko shut the journal and marked the challenge as complete in her head. She couldn't stop smiling.
