(04 /28/10)
Saturday…
It was the afternoon classes, Ms. Toriumi's Composition 12.
We listened as she taught us all about subject-verb agreements.
"…And that's how it works. Hey, Junpei! You better pay more attention to your school work!" she said, "I know that you have a long weekend ahead of you, but that doesn't mean that you can slack off… why, after Golden week, you have exams!" Ms. Toriumi said.
Minako, who was fast asleep beside me, suddenly awoke.
"Whoa!" she said as she rubbed her head.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I had a bad dream… We were at class and after Golden week, there would be exams… thank goodness I woke up!" she said.
"Er… that wasn't a dream…" I said.
"What do you mean…?" she said.
"It means, Minako, that you have exams." Ms. Toriumi said.
"Eeek!" she squealed and everyone laughed, especially me.
"It's not funny!" she yelled at all of us.
"It IS funny!" Junpei said, amid laughing like a madman.
"You know what's funnier? The word 'Stupei'… it's the combination of 'Junpei' and 'Stupid', which are both synonyms of stupidity!" she said.
Everyone laughed harder.
"Aw, gimme a break!" Junpei yelled.
"Wow… twenty points for that, Minako! I have a feeling you'll ace the exam." Ms. Toriumi said as she notes it down, "And I guess you can consider your reputation as a class clown broken, Junpei…"
"Noooo!" Junpei moaned.
"Haha! Good one, Minako!" Rio said.
"Right on!" Quan said.
Of the four bullies from earlier, only Quan and Pink are in our class… they also seem pretty reasonable…
Then, when we were dismissed for the day, I walked Minako to the Beef Bowl restaurant, where I treated her to a mega monster meat bowl, since chewing on a slab of meat seems to always calm her down…
I ordered two beef bowls and she hardly touched hers.
"Why are you so downcast?" I asked, "You're making me feel insensitive."
She seemed dazed.
"Oh… sorry… I could only imagine what can happen… I'll fail… There's no doubt about it…" she said.
"Aw, don't say that… you're the smartest girl I know…" I said.
"Really?" she said, eyes glinting.
"Well, I know two girls, but I'm not gonna go there… the point is, you're giving up before you even study! I mean, believe in yourself…" I said.
That got her thinking.
"I promise to study harder!" she yelled as she mauled a piece of meat.
"I will pass the exam and be the smartest person on the planet! I will rule the world!" She yelled.
Everyone looked at her.
"Kneel before me, slaves!" she hissed to a couple as they scurried off.
"Alright, your majesty, I think you just chewed on tainted meat…" I said.
"Have not." She sniffed, "I'm going to study!" she said.
"Sure."
We went home and I studied for a few hours before going to sleep.
Before that, however, I observed Minako was dutifully studying, writing notes, which made me smile for no reason, until she saw me and smiled as she eagerly showed me a drawing of Yukari as a human-dragon hybrid.
I shook my head and went to sleep.
The next day, I studied as well as I saw Minako asleep.
Then, I took a study break, I saw Minako asleep.
I ignored it and studied again and when I took another break at 2:20 PM, she was still asleep!
So, I gave her a call.
A very sleepy voice answered.
"What?"
"Minako, why aren't you studying?" I asked.
"Huh…? Wha-what are ya talking about? I'm studying here…" she lied.
"I'd be more convinced if you weren't lying on your back in your bed…" I said.
"Hey, it's true." She said.
"Well, if you want me to help you study, then you're free to come over." I offered, expecting her NO.
"Sure thing, bestie…" she said as she stood up, wore a shirt and shorts, popped four Double Mintsand marched off.
She arrived with a backpack.
She looked so good… wearing large black glasses and a big red shirt and denim pants…
Her wild, red hair and pasty white skin made her look like a Celtic tribe princess…
"Let's go…" I said.
"Sure…" she said and we went to my room.
Junpei, usually dead asleep, which came as a surprise that he was holding a book.
Minako was surprised herself.
"Junpei? Holding a book? When he doesn't have to? Am I still asleep?" Minako muttered.
"Shhhh!" Junpei said, looking around.
"What the?" I said.
"It's Leah! She forced me to study! Go away or it'll get worse!" he said with raw fear in his voice.
Akihiko passed by, holding a book in one hand and a protein shake in the other.
"We should've hired Leah AGES ago…" he snickered.
"Thanks, Aki!" a voice said from downstairs.
"We'll get moving…" I said.
We went to my room and studied.
"Well, here's a doozy! Who was the scientist who invented the Richter scale?" I asked.
"Dunno." She said.
"Okay… moving on, who is the Mongol leader who united the Mongol horde and invaded China?" I asked.
"Mongolio?" she said.
I fought the overwhelming urge to slam my face on the desk and moved on.
"Who is the writer of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer?" I asked.
"Tom… Huckleberry?" she said, wincing as if there was a -slight- chance she'd be right…
"Wrong…" I said.
"Man…" she said.
"Alright, here, listen to this…" I gave her the complete annals of The Renaissance literature.
I gave such a nice talk about how Shakespeare made several works, all good ones.
Then, I spoke of the Industrial Era poets, who highly opposed of the Industrialization period.
Then, I talked about the poets.
"I especially liked John Keats and Lord Byron… But my favorite one of all is J. R. R. Tolkein."
Then, I looked at her, and I FINALLY noticed her sleeping.
I had a bad habit of just reading without looking at the audience… probably why we should always look at the audience every time we read…
I fought the urge to cold cock her with the book for ingloriously making me read my heart out.
Instead, I ran my hands on her hair, planning to yank it.
But when I did, I felt how immaculately soft and lush it was…
I kept touching it, until she awoke.
"What are you doing?" she said, narrowing her eyes.
"I- Uh… I was reading to you and you fell asleep!" I yelled.
"Sorry."
"It's worse than I thought… you're worse than Junpei…" I said.
"Hey! That ain't true!" she said.
"Oh yeah? Here's a question: Who was the greatest Japanese Warlord in the Sengoku era that subjugated and nearly conquered all of Japan?" I said, really sure she'd get it wrong.
"Hah, super easy, that'd be Nobunaga Oda." She said, scoffing in my face.
"Huh?! How did-"
"Of course, when you have an entire genma army and demon allies, it'd be easy to-"
"Who assassinated him?" I asked.
"Mitsuhide Samanosuke Akechi."
"Who was the Emperor of the Meiji era?" I asked.
"Emperor Mutsuhito." She said.
"The unifier of Japan?"
"Hideyoshi Toyotomi." She said.
"The Leader of Russia in the World War II?"
"Joseph Stalin."
"Amazing… the president of America during the World War II?"
"FDR." She said.
"How did you know?!" I asked.
"Well, Nobunaga Oda used his Demon army to conquer Japan, but Samanosuke Akechi, whose name was Mitsuhide, killed him with the Demon Gauntlet."
"How about the next question?"
"Well, Auntie's car is named Mutsuhito, so…"
"How about the other question?"
"Hideyoshi is my favorite general from Kessen." She put simply.
"As for the-"
"Who doesn't know Joseph Stalin? He's the coolest Dictator in the world!" she said, "For the FDR thing, I have an axe named FDR."
I had a wicked idea.
"You have an idea…" she said, "And I don't want any part of it!" she said playfully as she tried to escape.
I caught her as she went out and threw her to my bed as I pinned her down.
"I have an idea… and you WILL be a part of it."
I glared at her as she cringed.
"You look good with those glasses." I said, still pinning her to the bed.
"Thanks…" she said.
"Why don't you use contacts?" I asked.
"Oh, I have contacts…" she whispered.
"Well, why aren't you wearing them?" I asked.
"Oh, well, they're gold colored… one's at my house and the other one is lodged at the back of my skull." She said.
"Oh… awesome…" I said, whispering in her ear.
Then, the door flew open.
It was Leah, Akihiko, Rio and Kenji.
"Hey, you two have visitors…" Akihiko said.
"Yeah, a first class hottie and her pet scarecrow…" Leah said.
"Hey!" Kenji complained, "I'm in shape!"
"In shape?! I'll make you a meal, boy, fatten you up…" Leah said.
"Hey you tw-" Kenji said as his eyes flew wide open.
"Uh… are we bothering you two…?" Kenji said.
"What's going on here?" Junpei said as he barged in, "What?! Leah forces me to study, but allows you two to play Catch me, rape me?! Totally unfair!" Junpei said.
"We are not-" I said, before being aware of what it LOOKED like.
I let Minako go.
"We weren't doing anything…" I said.
"I see…" Rio said.
"Sure…" Akihiko said.
"Oh to be young…" Leah said as she pulled Akihiko and Junpei out.
"So… what are you two doing here?" I asked.
"Well, I'm tutoring Kenji and we're done, so we thought it'd be nicer to study together." Rio said.
"Alright, come closer you two…" I said.
"Okay…"
I taught them the trick of associating test answers to objects and notable games.
Then, the next day was Showa day again, so we met at Rio's house and studied again, using the same method.
Then, we went to Kenji's house, right next door, where his little sister, Sachi and his mother fix us some homemade food.
Sachi kept teasing Rio to Kenji.
To be honest, I never thought about it, but those two would make a beautiful couple.
Then, Wednesday, we had some review classes, which we found too easy and then Minako and I faced Rio and Kenji in a doubles game.
We ended in a 20-20 game, making it a tie.
We went home, hoping to celebrate at Greenery day or something…
The next day, Thursday, was Constitution day, so we studied at Minako's house and had lunch at Rio's, where her mother gave us Brazilian food and her father made us great juice, made with purified river water.
Then, we went home and we rested.
The next day was Greenery Day, so we studied for a while, and then Minako and I took Rio and Kenji on Badminton at the Park, where Ms. Toriumi was spending her afternoon.
We played a rigorous game, until Kenji had a leg cramp and Rio kept yelling at him for being out of shape, while Kenji was yelling at Rio to help him.
To make him happy, Rio bought him a Hagakure bowl.
We went home.
Children's day, Saturday.
Instead of studying, we went out on a shopping spree, where Rio and I bought Badminton stuff, hand wraps, grips, shoes, caps, polo shirts, visors, the works.
Minako and Kenji just ate out.
Rio and I talked while she chose a visor.
"You know, I've never really met you, but you seem like an okay guy…" Rio said.
"Thanks…"
"Kenji kept yapping about you and I was curious…" she said, "Were you a couple? You know, with Yukari-san…?" she said.
"Yeah… but I'd rather not talk about her…"
"You're so lucky…" she said.
"Lucky for what?" I asked.
"You have Minako now… while I have no one…" she said.
"Aw, don't act that way… what about Kenji? You look at him differently." I said.
She made a face.
"Is it THAT obvious?" she said.
"As obvious as Kenji's love for Ramen…" I said.
"Ugh…" she said.
"Why not ask him? He seems pretty frank…" I said.
"He obviously likes older girls… we played scrabble last Thursday and I spelled LOVE, and he made a triple point by spelling OBLIVIOUS…" she said disgustedly.
"I'll talk to him… you're too pretty to be ignored…" I said.
She smiled, "If you weren't with Minako-chan, I'd totally be into you…" she said.
"Nah…" I said.
"Any problems?" she said.
"It's just that… Minako is perfect… very pretty, clean, nice, funny, unique and spunky… her being in love with a loser like me? Get real… if I'm lucky… then I might be lucky enough to get a girl half as good as her…" I said.
"You will. I'm still available." She said.
"I must be lucky, then…" I muttered.
Meanwhile…
Kenji and Minako were eating.
"Hey Minako… do you find me attractive at all?" he said.
"Nope." Minako said, slurping at her Ramen.
"Aw!" he said.
"Rio seems to like you…"
"Rio? She's just a friend." He said.
"Just a friend…"
"It's true!" Kenji said.
"She likes you and you like women who are old enough to be your grandma!" she said.
"Okay, FINE, I like Rio, but she's not into walking scarecrows, so can we please drop it?" he said.
"Whatever." She said.
"What about you and Minato? You two seem good together…"
"Ha! What would Minato see in me? He's the kind of guy that girls drool over for… girls WANT him and guys want to BE like him…"
"You have low self esteem, you know that, right?" he said.
"I'll talk to Rio for you if you'd shut up." She said.
Then, we went home awkwardly for some reason...
(05/06/10)
The next day, I decided to go talk to Kenji for Rio's sake.
"Hey man!" Kenji said.
"I need a word with you." I yanked him and brought him to the Hagakure.
We ordered a few bowls.
"So… what do you want to talk about?"
"I need to understand something…" I said.
"What?" he said.
"Rio likes you."
"She does?" he said looking up.
"She does." I confirmed, "And she doesn't think you feel the same way." I said.
"I like older women." He said.
"But Rio is better." I said.
"Rio? Why is it about Rio? I like older women!" he said.
"How did that work out for you?" I said.
He bit his lip.
"Granted. But why look for women who aren't coming, if there's a girl right there who'll love you?" I said.
He seemed at lost for words.
"You know, Junpei liked younger girls, to the point where calling him a pedophile would be a compliment, but he finally found a girlfriend… whose 24." I said.
He looked at me, "Really?"
"Yeah… so, maybe fate likes to mess with you, but you can reply by going with what they day. And Rio really likes you." I said.
"How would you know?" he asked.
"She told me." I said.
"Goddamn…" he muttered.
Then, he spent the entire time asking me about what Rio said.
Then, we went home.
(05/07/10)
The next day, we answered the exams.
Science…
Who was the founder of Newton Balls?
[] Galileo Galilei
[] Albert Einstein
[] Isaac Newton
[] Balls Newton
Is this a joke?
What is Kenji's pet newt named?
Isaac New Ton.
[x] Isaac Newton
Minako kept snickering.
(05/08/10)
More exams.
P.E….
What is the dance used in the Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty?
[] Ballet
[] Dougie
[] Tango
[] Cha-cha
What's a dougie…?
This is too easy…
What rhymes with fillet?
[x] Ballet
(05/09/10)
Who is the author of "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer"?
[] Mark Twain
[] Robert Lewis
[] Jules Verne
[] Morpheus Prince
What is Minako's profile name in Jaws?
Shark Bane.
What rhymes with Shark Bane?
[x] Mark Twain.
(05/10/10)
Who assasinated Nobunaga Oda?
[] Mitsuhide Samanosuke Akechi
[] Hirohito Takehide
[] Altair
[] Toshii Maeda
Tch… who's the MC in Onimusha 1?
[x] Mitsuhide Samanosuke Akechi
(05/11/10)
Who is the Emperor of Japan who brought its Golden Age?
[] Emperor Scorpion
[] Emperor Mutsuhito
[] Emperor Hirohito
[] Julius Caesar
What's the name of Minako's 1969 Dodge Charger?
[x] Emperor Mutsuhito
(05/12/10)
Who invented Geometry?
[] Pythagoras
[] Euclid
[] Chandragupta
[] Renee Descartes
What rhymes with Lucid?
[x] Euclid
I answered everything with relative ease.
Then, Minako and I celebrated with Rio and Kenji at the Hagakure.
Rio went to me.
"Help me talk to Kenji next week, okay?" she said.
"Sure." I said.
Then, we went home and awaited next week.