Watamote: Strangeness in the Proportion

Chapter 3: Orders

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I know I don't normally post this quickly, but what the heck. Better too soon than too late.

I don't own Watamote, of course.

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Chapter 3: Orders

Earth 1213-A: Tomoko was compiling her notes. Daniel had said he should be back from his maneuvers tomorrow, and she'd give them to him either at lunch or third period.

Someone knocked on her door. "Come in." She knew it had to be family; there was no one else in the house.

Her father entered. Mr. Kuroki was a tall, lean man approaching middle age. He wore rounded, half-rimless glasses, and Tomoko couldn't remember ever having seen him in anything but his business suit. She wondered sometimes if he slept in it. "Tomoko, I need to talk to you, about something very serious." He came over and sat down on the bed beside her. He noticed the notes she'd been collating. "Are those for Daniel?"

"Uh, yes, father. He went out on some sort of maneuvers, and missed several days' classes. I told him I'd save him my lessons."

"Tell me a little about him." For some reason, her father's interest in Daniel made her a little nervous. What was all this about?

"Well, he...he's nice. He helped me the other day when I was being picked on. He's...well, he's just nice." Revelation came to her. "He's not my boyfriend or anything! Is that what you're thinking?"

He leaned forward on the bed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "No and yes. How would you describe your...relationship?"

"We're, we're friends. Nothing more. Father, why do you want to know these things?"

"Has he ever...touched you? I don't mean sexually; has he touched you in any way?"

"What! No!" Except for a couple of times when we ate out. And that time he walked me home in the rain. But something told her to keep those times out of the discussion.

More tired rubbing of the eyes. "Tomoko...this is going to be hard for me to say, and probably harder for you to hear, but I don't want you seeing him anymore."

Tomoko was stunned. A cold knot seemed to form in her belly. "What! Why?"

"Child, that is a question for another time. Perhaps when you are older...but for now, just accept that I have your best interests at heart."

Tomoko looked at her father as though seeing him for the first time. "I don't believe it. You're prejudiced."

"Tomoko, I wish it was only that. Were that the case, I could, I hope, recognize it for the irrational feeling that it was, and work through it, somehow.

"Unfortunately, my feelings, my order to you, are based on far more concrete evidence than such irrationalities. Let's just say I know some things about this young man, and I know that he's dangerous."

"Daniel? A boy who steps around bugs on the sidewalk, dangerous? Are we talking about the same person?"

"I'm afraid so. Now, promise me that you'll have nothing more to do with him. No lunches together, no late night milkshakes, no walking home in the rain. Nothing. Now promise me."

Well, thought Tomoko, I guess that is that. She was a proper daughter, and had no choice but to obey her father. She lowered her eyes. "Yes, father. I promise."

"I will contact the boy and let him know how things stand. He may hate me—you may hate me—but it will be me you hate. He is dangerous to you." Pause. "Has he told you about his parents?"

Tomoko felt like her stomach was a knot of ice. "He told me they were murdered."

"They were. Cold-blooded, premeditated murder. No foiled robbery or anything like that. They were simply...executed. That sort of thing leaves its scars on a person. It can hardly help but do so. If it didn't, then...that person wouldn't be…" here he smiled infinitesimally, "...human."

Tomoko found she had a hard time answering. That cold knot in her stomach was becoming a cold knot of rage. "Daniel has been nothing but good to me. I don't believe—I can't believe—he would ever hurt me."

"Tomoko...do you know the problem with having a lion for a pet?"

What? "Er, no."

"It was all the rage some years ago, when Joy Adamson published her book, Born Free, about Elsa the lion cub, raised by humans and returned to the wild. Many people sought to acquire their own lion cub, and create their own romantic adventure. And that's when they learned the problem.

"They grow up. They become four to five hundred pounds of hard-packed muscle, fangs, and claws. Now. Suppose your pet wanted to play-fight with you? Such an action could easily result in broken bones, torn ligaments, lacerated flesh. Mind you, the lion is not trying to hurt you; it simply does not know its own strength in relation to yours."

"So...what exactly are you saying?"

"I know he has anger issues. He can hardly help it. I don't want him taking out those issues on you in any way. I'd sooner give up my own life, than see you hurt. That's why I'm instructing you to have nothing further to do with him."

Again, nothing more to say. "Yes, father," she said, in a voice almost too low to hear, "I will do as you say."

He sat up. "Good. I'll contact the young man and tell him how things stand. That way, if he does hate someone, it'll be me. And I'll tell him...you weren't happy about the matter. Perhaps that will make a difference."

"But what, what about my notes? I promised to give them to him—*"

Mr. Kuroki stuck out his hand. "I'll give them to him." At the door, he turned to his daughter sitting crosslegged on her bed, a miserable expression on her face. I only hope I acted in time. "Tomoko? Do you know how Joy Adamson died?" At her blank look, he added. "She was killed and eaten by a lion."

…..

Later that evening, he went to a bridge overlooking the bay. So much water, he thought. The sight of the people moving to and fro was beautiful to him.

"You told her?" said a voice beside him. The blond woman who had spoken had come up on him without a sound.

"Yes. She promised to have nothing more to do with the boy."

"What was her reaction?"

He hesitated. "Tomoko is a dutiful daughter. She will keep her word."

"You did not answer my question."

He sighed. He'd tried to avoid this. "She was...unhappy about it, of course. I think she thinks I'm simply prejudiced against the boy for no real reason."

"You did not tell her the whole truth?"

Another sigh. "No. I...in truth, I felt like Daniel's true nature should be his secret unless he chooses to divulge it. And so far, he has not. I...it may sound strange, but I felt as though I had to respect his privacy, in a way."

"You are right. That does sound strange. But I understand your reasoning."

He half-turned to her. "Adriel, you know the human heart better than I do. Did I act in time? Or is she in love with this...boy?"

For a moment, Adriel was silent. Then, "I believe you acted in time. If anything, I do not think she was in love so much as in like. The two are very similar, in some ways, though. But, yes, I think you acted in time, and accordingly."

"Thank you, Exalted One." He half bowed. "I am, and remain, obedient."

…..

The following day, after school: Mr. Kuroki had called Daniel the evening before, and asked him to meet him at a small coffee shop not far from the school. Daniel hadn't been happy with the state of affairs; in fact, his unhappiness had fairly dripped out of the phone. But he nonetheless promised to meet with Kuroki.

He entered the coffee shop and scowled when he saw Mr. Kuroki sitting at a table, enjoying a Taiwanese bubble tea. He came over and sat at the table across from Kuroki. "I am here, just as I promised."

Mr. Kuroki slid a manila envelope across the table to him. "These are my daughter's notes, for the days you missed."

A deeper scowl. "I don't really need them. That was more cover...story...to get to see her...than anything else."

"So I figured. But she copied these notes, laboriously, by hand. To refuse them would be...discourteous, wouldn't you think?"

Now Daniel took a longer look at Kuroki, a much longer look. "Ah. I see now why you're playing the Montagues and Capulets."

Mr. Kuroki merely smiled. "Things are seldom as simple as they seem. I don't want to see my daughter hurt. You wouldn't either, I believe."

"I would never hurt Tomoko."

"I believe you. Rather, I believe you would never deliberately hurt her. But there are many ways one member of a couple can hurt the other, even in ordinary circumstances. It may sound cold, but you are simply a risk she does not need at this point in her life, the harm you could cause being immeasurably greater than it might otherwise be, were you...what you appear to be."

"Very well. I did promise you I'd stay away from your daughter." He took the envelope, rose, and turned to go.

"I ordered you a cappuccino. It would be very discourteous of you to refuse it."

The look Daniel gave him confirmed his suspicions. This young man had little control over his emotions. He was a wolf among sheep. But then, they all are. Grudgingly, Daniel resumed his seat, but said nothing. The cappuccino arrived, and he sipped it, his scowl remaining. Kuroki toyed with the notion of telling him his face would set like that, but dismissed it. This was not the time for frivolity. "Have you told my daughter about...yourself?"

"No."

"Don't you think you should have, before now?"

"Actually, no. I figured we'd graduate, go our separate ways, and never see each other again. There was no need to burden her with...unbelievable truths."

"But it still seems as though it should be something she should know."

"Perhaps you see it that way. I do not."

They were both silent for a moment. Then, Kuroki suddenly said, "You know, I was in America not long ago. My company had sent me there to teach cadets at a military base in Colorado how to use some new software we'd recently developed."

He noticed Daniel tensing. "A military base, you say?"

"Yes. A small, out of the way base near a small town called Twin Forks." Kuroki noticed Daniel tensing, and tensed a bit himself. If he didn't handle this properly….the lion was anything but in its cage. "But I was, at the last minute, reassigned to a commercial company in Canyon Creek, not far from that base."

"Were you now."

"The entire sky lit up. Many of my coworkers, many of the Americans, asked me what it meant. Was it the Russians? The Chinese? Terrorists? And one man asked me if it could be invaders from outer space." He chuckled. "If only he knew." Daniel remained tense, and Kuroki saw the reflection of the fires of his home in the back of his eyes, and sobered. "I knew about your parents. I knew what had happened to them." He sipped his boba. "I...always felt a bit guilty, about that."

"Guilty?"

Mr. Kuroki's face was solemn. "Yes, guilty, even though I had nothing to do with it, of course. But guilty. Perhaps if I had done something, some sort of intervention...I could have saved you. Saved you from yourself."

"Some of us," replied Daniel evenly, "are beyond what you call redemption."

"I don't believe that. No-one is beyond redemption."

Daniel shrugged. "Your belief." He finished his cappuccino and stood up. "I suppose I should be getting back." He bowed respectfully. "Please tell Tomoko I said thank you for the notes."

"I shall. And...remember your promise."

Now Daniel turned and looked at the older man very intently. It actually made Kuroki a bit nervous, even though he'd thought himself beyond such things. "You know my kind take our promises seriously.

"But know you this: if Tomoko is in danger, I will be there, promise or no promise."

"So will I."

"I wouldn't," said Daniel, "have it any other way."

To be continued…