Tomiko
I was very happy when I learned that I'd be sharing most of my minors with Rizu, since she basically was into most of the stuff I liked, like photography and painting. She liked music that would hurt the typical Lillian girl's ears, and I guess I liked that part too.
What I didn't like, though, was that Sei Satou was in EACH AND EVERY ONE of my classes. Even phys ed. And this term it was dance. I didn't particularly care for dance to begin with, and could care even less for my 'assigned' dance partner. Every time I'd see her grin lecherously every time my teacher would start the tango music, I wanted to pull a judo takedown on her. She was a good dancer, though, and she'd take the lead and just smoothly sweep my feet into following the steps. Needless to say, the only comfort I could take in being dance partners with her was that I knew that if I just followed her lead, I'd pass phys ed this term.
There was actually this one time I thought I imagined her feeling me up, and I TOTALLY lost it. It was okay that she touched me during the dance thing, but if she thought that she could pat me on the bum when the song was done, she's got another thing coming. I grabbed her arm and pinched it. Sei flinched a bit.
"Ite-te-te-te-te… oi, what was that for?" she said, and her hurt eyes told me that I might have imagined the whole thing after all. I felt all the blood in my body rush to my head and I quickly apologized.
"Sumanai, but that was reflex. I thought you patted me on the bum. Gomen, gomen!" I said, flustered.
"Iie, iie," Sei replied, rubbing her sore arm lightly. "It's fine." Leaning in close as she always, she whispered in my ear, "I'd gladly brave any pinching if it means I can do it again."
AAAAARGH!!!
At lunchtime, I met up with Rizu at the milk hall. And for the record, they DO sell milk at the milk hall. Rizu had her head buried deep into a pocketbook, her ears isolated from the rest of humanity by good quality headphones. I could hear that new Fall Out Boy song blasting her eardrums into oblivion. I lifted one earpiece off her ear.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey," she said, not looking up from her book. "I have that new release. I'll transfer when we find a PC somewhere."
"Thanks," I smiled. "Can't wait."
I didn't really like like that band, but that song had such a catchy beat it was hard not to resist looking for it. I settled into the seat across her and got out my lunch and my sketchbook. I have nurtured a really bad habit of drawing while eating, and as with all bad habits, I find it difficult to break. Not that I tried, of course.
Rizu's eyes traveled from Terry Pratchett to my lunch.
"Mm. That looks really good," she said. Looking at me, she asked, "You actually take time to make lunch in the morning?"
"Kind of," I said sheepishly. "I'm kind of celebrating the fact that I can eat whatever the hell I want now since I'm dorming."
"That looks pretty good, though," Rizu said, running a careful eye over my food. I had made a simple omelette rice from my leftover mushroom rice this morning, chicken kara-age and a mini salad. "Not junky or anything." She looked at me suspiciously. "Are you sure you cooked this yourself just this morning?"
"Yeah, yeah," I said dismissively. "I know I don't look like I can cook, but I can."
"Ho? Then you'd make a good wife," someone cooed into my ear. I spun around, but of course who else would do THAT?
"What the hell was THAT supposed to mean?" I asked, matching her irritatingly cool gaze with one that meant business.
"Oh, nothing, really," Sei said, shrugging. "Though if you'd like for it to mean something…" She grinned at me again, that grin I've come to hate. "Oh, by the way, dance is up next. You ready?"
"If I said no would that make any difference? It'll still come anyway."
"Are? Is that dread I hear in my Tomiko-chan's voice?" Sei cooed again. I SO wanted to hit her. Before I could even move, though, she had picked out a piece of kara-age and was making a big show of savoring every morsel.
"HEY! Did you even wash your hands?" I protested, placing the bento way out of her reach.
"Ne, I was thinking," Sei mused, ignoring me completely, "I was watching this anime wherein a girl and a boy pilot had to live together for an episode to sync themselves with each other completely. Maybe we can---"
"NO! Definitely not!" I exclaimed. "I don't want to pass gym class THAT bad!"
"Ho? But won't they revoke your scholarship if you don't get at least 85 of your grade?" she said.
What the---? How the heck did SHE know?!
I suppose she read the surprise in my eyes then, because she said, "I read it off that bulletin board. You placed second in the entrance exams." Sei turned to Rizu. "And you," she grinned, "you were first. And to my knowledge, the top ten examinees get a scholarship." Turning back to me, she said, "Not to brag or anything, but I have grades to maintain too. So I'd like it a lot if we didn't screw up the tango so bad."
I started feeling a little bad then. I guess Sei had to maintain a certain grade point average too, and here I was being a tad selfish.
"Fine, fine," I said. "I'll cooperate with the dancing, but if you show up at my dorm carrying a suitcase and a pillow, expect to sleep in the corridor like a homeless person."
"Hai, hai, wakatta," Sei said. "Come to the classroom a bit early, I'd like to practice a bit more before people start piling in."
"Okay," I said. Sei smiled at me and Rizu and walked away.
Rizu smiled wryly at the departing figure. "She placed eighth in the entrance exams," she said simply.
I looked up from my om-rice. "Ah. Yappari," I said. "No wonder."
Rizu looked at me quizzically. "You don't really intend to be updated on Lillian's current events during your whole stay here, huh?"
"Not really," I said, absently poking at a piece of chicken. "I just want to concentrate on getting good grades. If anything about my grades has to involve socializing in parties or anything like that, I'll go, but nothing beyond that, I suppose. I don't intend to get into any organizations or anything."
"Well, I think a wrench has been thrown into your plans," Rizu said, putting the book down and picking at my salad. "You've made friends with the unstoppable Sei Satou."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Have you known her from somewhere?"
"I was her classmate back in high school," Rizu said. "At first she was a bit of a lone wolf, but then in our third year, she loosened up, I suppose."
"So she went from lone wolf to amorous fox, eh?" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well, you could imagine that she goes for anything in a skirt," Rizu retorted, "but I've only ever seen her flirt with just one person at a time. The last time I checked, it was someone else's petit soeur she was hugging, kissing and sexually harassing, and no one else."
"Petit soeur?" I asked her, only half-interested.
"It's this system of senpai-kouhai that they kind of started a long time ago," Rizu explained, only half-interested herself. "Never really cared for that kind of thing."
"Explain to me later," I said, picking up my things and standing up. "I have to change into PE togs and go."
"Okay," Rizu said, diving into her book again. "I'll see you in an hour."
I left her the remainder of my lunch and walked to the dance room.
Sei
Evil. That was what I was. I'd laid it on a bit thick back there, and a small part of me wondered if I'd just outdone myself. I really couldn't help it though. Tomiko was a bit like Yumi, in a way; but with one major difference. Yumi's entire face shows you what she's thinking, kind of like heaving a rock into a pool and watching the ripples. With Tomiko, it was just her eyes. Her face only moved if she allowed it to. For the most part, it did, whenever I was outrageously hitting on her, but with everyone else it was just her eyes. I wondered if that meant anything, and I also wondered if I wanted it to mean something, like I was the only one who got that kind of reaction.
The P.E. room was empty, which was exactly how I wanted it. I wanted Tomiko to myself before everyone else came along and turned what I'd be doing into PDA or something, but I did have another reason for wanting just me and her in that empty room, practicing our dance.
You'd think that by the way I went on and on about Tomiko's eyes I'd had lots of opportunities to look deeply into them, to see what really went on behind the ice-blue surface, but truthfully I'd never really been able to hold eye-to-eye contact with her for more than a few seconds. Just a few piddling seconds, and then she'd look away, look at anything except back at me. I wanted to know if she was just distracted or if she was watching the other students dance, to try and learn from them (because she was NOT a very good dancer. Every time my right foot went forward, hers would be there to meet it, never mind that it wasn't part of the dance. Ouch.)
I was sitting on a windowsill. Sitting on windowsills was my specialty. I wondered if it was purely out of the need to be rebellious that I started doing that. Ladies were supposed to sit on chairs and be all still and proper, not lounge about near windows and peer out at the rest of the world. If I ever met whoever came up with that ridiculous notion, I'd give him a good clout over the head. Yeah, it'd have to have been a guy.
After a while, I heard the sound of running footfalls in the hall outside. I couldn't help but grin. Who ELSE would run?
The sounds came to a skidding halt just outside the door (didn't that girl know it was BAD to run after eating a meal? You could get appendicitis, for crying out loud!) and I could hear some heavy panting. Then the door slid open, and Tomiko walked in.
"Okay, here I am," she said as soon as she saw me.
I gave her a winning grin (at least I hoped it was a winning grin and didn't have too much 'lecherous old man' written all over it). "What's this? Could it be that you ran all the way here, risking the inflammation of your appendix, just so you could make the most of our 'alone together' time? I'm flattered."
The earnest look in her eyes faded, replaced by irritation. "You wish." She put down her bag. "Can we just get started?"
Something told me that this was going to be a lot harder than I thought.
Tomiko definitely looked like she didn't want to be here. Her arms crossed over her chest in an almost defensive manner, and she looked at everything else but me. Maybe she was just playing hard to get, but my gut was telling me otherwise.
Still, I decided to go through with practicing. I walked over to the middle of the dance floor and waited for her to join me. When she didn't, I extended a hand. "Well, come over here, then. I can't dance with you if you're all the way over there, can I?"
Tomiko seemed to tense. I could sense it, the air was brittle with it. I was confident, though, that whatever worries she had about dancing, I'd be able to fix it.
After a moment, Tomiko let out a slow, deep breath, and then came over to me. She took my hand, and her eyes immediately dropped down to her toes.
"We don't even have music," she muttered.
I grinned though I knew she wouldn't see it. "We don't need music right now. You can count, can't you? One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight…" A thought occurred to me, and on impulse I put one of her hands over my heart. "You could even count to this if you want."
She snatched her hand away as if I'd just held it over white-hot flame. This was bewildering. It was almost as if she couldn't bear to be touched, or to touch anyone in return. "Fine, fine! You're leading, so you count it off."
So I did, and so we started dancing.
At least it had a faint semblance of dancing. It felt like I was trying to wrestle with a robotic version of one of Madame Tussaud's wax figures. Tomiko's face was like a plaster mask; her lips were pressed tightly together, her shoulders were stiff and bunched up, and she still resolutely kept her eyes on her toes. Wild horses, apparently, wouldn't be enough to lift her head.
"Oi, oi…" I began, trying to get a reaction out of her. "The tango is a very sensual dance, you know. Do you know what it's for?"
She muttered something that sounded like "I don't really care but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway."
"Well, you see, sailors would dance the tango with…ah…ladies of a certain profession, and the lady gets to choose which one she'd…hmm…accommodate for the night. Do you get what I'm saying?"
Tomiko's eyes flashed up at me briefly. "Well, forgive me, but I'm not exactly in a very accommodating mood right now."
I grinned. She dropped her eyes to the floor again.
Throughout our practice, I'd entreat her to look up at me from time to time. She never would. It was almost time for our class to start, so I decided to be more direct.
"Tomiko," I began, my tone of voice serious. "Why won't you look me in the eye?"
She shook her head. "It's nothing. Go on."
I stopped in my tracks, which made her lose her balance a little, which should have made her raise her head and look at me inquiringly, but she didn't. She only recovered herself, her eyes refusing to make contact with mine. I tightened my grip on her hand a little. "This is important. How can we know how to trust each other when you won't look me in the eye?"
My voice sounded harsh. That surprised me. I wasn't usually this impatient, was I? Even if I were, I'd mask it with something, a joke, a light verbal jab…not this. I suppose it was this impatience that caused Tomiko to wince slightly, helplessly, and blurt out, "I don't know!"
Her voice was like a slap, it rang out a little too loudly in the stillness of the room. I stared at her, noting two pink spots on her cheeks that contrasted drastically with the rest of her face. She'd grown unusually pale.
And then I saw them. In her ice-blue eyes.
Tears.
I dropped my hands, relinquishing my hold on her, and stepped back. "That's enough for now," I said, keeping my tone neutral. I couldn't trust myself to adopt any other tone.
That was when she looked up, directly into my face, her eyes betraying worry. There were unspoken questions in the air between us, but before I could say or do anything, the hallway was suddenly filled with voices, and the doors to the room slid open. Our classmates began piling in, chattering like pigeons, their annoying little voices dispersing the silence, shattering it like glass. Tomiko hesitated, as if she wasn't sure what to do, move towards me or away from me. At the last moment, just as I was beginning to hope that we'd somehow formed some kind of bond in spite of what went on, she opted for the latter and lost herself among the other students. I stood there, alone, with some voice that sounded maddeningly like mine telling me that this was all my fault.
Well, shit.