Part Five: A Secret Exposed
Chapter Five: Talk
The rest of the winter break had evaporated and the days since school resumed had been slipping by and blurring into one, as the date of Tai's university entrance exam drew nearer. Each new day had followed the same pattern as the one that preceded it. Wake up, load up on caffeine, study all day with the occasional break for food and more caffeine, then go to bed. Subtleties, such as whether he was in school or his bedroom, were virtually irrelevant. Today was one of those where he'd been required to go to school.
Robotically, when the chime to signal the start of morning break sounded, he packed away his things, rose from his chair and filled towards the exit. As did every other member of the class. Their collective behaviour was almost synchronous.
"Tai," a voice said softly from beside him; Sora.
"Hey," he replied as they filled out of the room into the busy corridor.
"How are you holding up?" she asked as she gave him a smile.
"I don't even know what day it is anymore?" he said as he involuntarily yawned. "The only reason I know it's a school day is because I see Kari dressed in her uniform at breakfast." He let out a light chuckle. "If she figures out that's how I'm telling my days apart, she'll probably wear it on a Saturday and quietly giggle to herself as I head off for school."
Sora let out a laugh, but it sounded forced. The joke hadn't been that bad, had it? Or was she, like everyone else, so ground down by the constant studying that she'd forgotten what humour was? Either way, she quickly moved the subject on. "Are you getting much sleep? I know I'm not."
Another yawn escaped his mouth and conveniently served as an answer. The girl's light laughter sounded genuine this time. They walked to one of the social areas and sat down. Tai reached into his bag and pulled out an energy drink and a large bar of chocolate. He'd been chugging the former at a ridiculous rate recently. In fact, they were probably the only thing keeping him going. The latter he had found lurking in the kitchen cupboard on the discovery that he was out of energy bars. The call of the empty calories had been too much for him to resist, so he'd taken it instead. He caught sight of Sora's gaze linger on the chocolate bar. Given the current state of affairs with her mother and the fact she was saving every last yen, he had a sneaking suspicion that she'd been deprived of all comfort foods since he'd taken her to that burger bar; that had been well over a month ago. Sighing internally, Tai broke the bar in two and offered half of it to her. He watched Sora's gaze linger on it and could see the conflict between her manners telling her to politely decline and her desire to gobble it up.
Tai gave her a warm smile. "Take it," he said with a light chuckle.
Hesitantly, Sora reached out a hand. It hovered mid-air for a moment, before deftly plucking the piece of chocolate from his grasp. He watched in amusement as the girl broke off a piece, put it in her mouth, then closed her eyes and savoured it.
"Oh my god, I've missed chocolate so much," she said after finally swallowing.
"You must really be serious about Kyoto if you've given it up completely." It was only then, when he mentioned her desire to go to Kyoto, that Tai recalled the proposition she had made when they had been in the burger bar… going to Kyoto together as friends or perhaps, in time if needs be, a couple. Even though he was in love with Kari and had made his choice so he could be with her, he could not help but feel a slight sadness that he would need to turn down Sora's offer. Perhaps in another life, where he had not fallen in love with his sister or the girl had chosen him over Matt, he would have readily accepted it. But not in this one. And he would need to tell her so, sooner or later.
Sora nodded her head, "mhmm. I'm counting down the days until I start work at the Ai-Mart with almost the same level of importance as those until the exam. I'll be working two nights during the week and all day on Saturdays and Sundays until we finish school. After that, I should hopefully be able to work full time until I'm ready to go to Kyoto… assuming I get what I need on the entrance exam."
"You will," Tai said firmly as he opened the energy drink and took a sip. "You're studying harder than anyone for that test." He held the can out to her.
She gave him a small smile as she took it from him. "What about you," she asked, then took a mouthful from the can. "Assuming you get over seventy-five, what are you going to do? Have you made a decision yet?"
As Sora spoke, Tai quickly took a bite out of his chocolate. He could see the mix of anticipation, desire and trepidation in her red eyes. She was desperate to hear him say that he was going to Kyoto. That they could go together as friends… or more. And part of him wished that he could tell her what she wanted to hear. Only that ship had sailed the night he and Kari had gotten back together. As much as he liked her as a friend, or perhaps even loved her, he could not fulfil her wish. He was in love with Kari and Kari would be here in Tokyo.
"I'm sorry, Sora," he said softly. "No matter what the result of my entrance test, I'm staying in Tokyo."
The moment the words left his mouth, he saw the girl's face fall. The anticipation and desire vanished from her eyes, replaced by sorrow and longing. "But Kyoto has a better sports program and soccer team. Not to mention it's the best university in the country at present," she said in disbelief. "Wouldn't it be the better choice for your career, if you scored enough on the test?"
Tai sighed. So, she'd looked into the sports program and the soccer team. Bang went any chance of him lying to her about Tokyo being better for him. He could try pedalling the same lie to her that he'd told his father, but she'd see straight through that. He'd have to tell her the truth. "My girlfriend and I had a long conversation before the new year and we decided that we want to be together, so are both going to stay in Tokyo."
The sorrow in Sora's eyes intensified slightly and they darkened slightly as her lips thinned. "I understand," she said softly, though he could hear a slight hint of resentment. "She must be really special if you're basing your future on being with her."
"She is," he affirmed.
Sora said nothing as she finished her chocolate, took another quick drink from the can and passed it back to him. "Thank you for the chocolate and energy boost," she said politely.
He took the can back and watched her stand up. "I'm sorry, Sora," was all he could say.
"I'm sorry too," she replied, her tone laced with sorrow and regret. She walked away.
Tai's gaze followed the ginger-haired girl as she disappeared into the crowd. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. After her breakup with Matt, she must have pinned a lot of hope on him accepting her offer. Indeed, he was certain that she now desperately wished she could go back in time and change the choice she made eighteen months ago. He ate the rest of his chocolate and drank the last of the energy drink in silence. When the chime to signal the end of morning break sounded, Tai, like all the others trudged back to the grindstone.
##
The school day had lapsed and had reached that grey area between late afternoon and early evening. Inside Odaiba Middle School, Kari Kamiya sat at a study table. Across from her, separated by a Berlin wall-esque stack of cold war textbooks, was Yolei. Up to this point, it had very much been an all work and no play sort of study session. Their cold war report proving to be somewhat challenging.
Absentmindedly, Kari started to hum the tune of Pink Floyd's Us and Them. Her subconscious clearly deciding that a song about war and human conflict served as a perfect soundtrack. Indeed, she wasn't really aware that she'd been doing it, until Yolei commented, "you seem awfully cheerful today."
Kari looked over the top of 'the wall', "am I?" she asked in amusement. She'd not told Yolei about having gotten back together with Tai, owing to the agreement she had with him about not telling anyone. However, none was the condition on her confirming it should her best friend figure it out. And Kari had been intrigued as to how long it would take her.
The lavender-haired girl gave her a speculative look. "You only hum when you're happy," she paused and Kari could see the gears turning inside her head. "In fact, you've been humming a lot recently. Come to think of it, you've been in a rather good mood all week."
Kari laughed, "me? The depressed girl who can't get over having broken up with her boyfriend. In a good mood? The world must really have gone to hell if my mood is to be considered good."
"You're not going to weasel your way out of this one, Kari. You've been far too happy of late for a depressed girl. Which means you've finally gotten over your breakup, or…"
A thin smile danced on Kari's lips.
"No fucking way!" Yolei exclaimed, causing heads to turn from other tables and stare at her disapprovingly.
Before Kari could say or do anything, books toppled like bricks from the Berlin wall in '89, as Yolei forced them aside. Talk about tear down the wall, she thought in amusement; the relevant part of Pink Floyd's The Wall playing in her head. Her eyes met with those of her friend as the girl practically lay atop the now cleared table surface.
"Details," Yolei said excitedly, albeit with enough force to have toppled the books with her voice alone, "now!"
"Sorry, Yolei," she said, her eyes drifting down to her page, "we've got a report to write."
Out of the corner of one eye, Kari saw the look of horror spread across her best friend's face and she had to stifle a devilish grin. There was one other reason why she had been keeping this particular secret to herself. Given how much the lavender-haired girl would want all the juicy details, of which there were many, Kari knew she could extract a high price for them. And she had decided over the holidays exactly what it would be.
"Screw the report!" Yolei practically yelled at her; drawing more reproachful glares. The girl lowered her voice, "if you and Tai are back together, I want to know all the details, now."
"If you blow up like that again, you're going to get us thrown out," Kari said as she wrote a line."
"I do…" the girl started to yell, before somehow managing to lower her voice back down to an acceptable level. "I don't care. There is no way you are keeping this from me. Now start spilling the beans, Kari."
Kari sighed, deliberately sat down her pen and finally met her friend's gaze. "What's it worth to you?" she said with an evil grin.
"Since when did we start charging for girl talk? the lavender-haired girl hissed at her.
"Since you got the munchies and demanded I buy you that crepe back in the autumn."
A look of horror spread across Yolei's face as she said, "that was…"
Kari gave her a no-nonsense look.
"…fine," her friend growled, "name your price."
"Well, first off, now that I mention it, I'm feeling slightly peckish myself…" Kari said, letting her words hang.
"Fine, fine. We can pack up here and I'll get you a stinking crepe."
"…However, that only gets you the bare-bones facts of the matter. The meat is going to cost you more… much more."
Outrage covered Yolei's face, but Kari could see in her eyes that the girl was desperate to know every little detail. "I really hate you sometimes, Kari," she said in resignation. "Fine, name your terms."
"I've got a new outfit that I need a model for," she replied with a devilish smile.
Yolei rolled her eyes as she stood up and started shoving books into her bag. "Somehow I get the feeling that I'm going to regret this."
Kari followed suit and the pair quickly packed away their things. Before long they were on their way out of the study room and heading for the main entrance. A thin smile danced upon her lips as they began trudging through the snow to the crepe shop. Unbeknownst to her best friend, Kari was as desperate to talk about the events of the past two weeks, as she was to hear about them.