PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.
Go to arwynl. deviantart. com (without spaces) for Hisa/Mihoko fanart. Fanart has spoilers for current chapter, so I suggest you look at it after finishing reading this.
Mihoko wrote down the date in the visitor log book.
By all reason, she should've come to Kiyosumi High School much earlier to let Ueno-san know Kazekoshi was going to accept the invitation. It was already Friday, several days since Kana and the others expressed their desire to participate, but she kept putting it off for reasons unknown even to herself. She'd been in a much better mood the last few days though, to the point where a first-year ended up shyly asking if something good happened. Mihoko dodged the question hesitantly with a smile, unsure how to answer even if she wanted to be honest, and distracted the girl with other, safer questions.
She wrote her name.
It was much easier to convince herself that they were walking down different paths when she thought Ueno-san did not remember her; much easier to walk away from her ambivalence; and much easier to deny herself the hope that comes with 'what ifs'. Although their paths may have diverged three years ago, opportunity was presenting itself again and again. First was Ueno-san deciding to participate in the interhigh team tournament in their final year, then it was the individuals, and now, a training camp invitation that she could accept without the burden of guilt.
She closed the log book and smiled at the Kiyosumi student standing by her side.
"This way, please. Follow me."
Mihoko trailed her hand along the cover of the log book as she turned and followed the girl.
After all her personal rumination on the issue, she now felt strangely excited as she was led to the student council room. Maybe, just maybe, they could get to know each other more at the training camp and move past simply being the president of their respective mahjong clubs.
"Are you from Kazekoshi All-Girls?"
"Ah, yes," Mihoko answered, startled from her thoughts.
"I thought so! I've seen the uniform before, but I wasn't sure."
"Are you perhaps interested in mahjong too?" she inquired politely.
"Oh, that's right, your school has a really large mahjong club. I don't know how to play, but my family mentions Kazekoshi sometimes, so that's why it seemed familiar." The girl looked at her curiously, as though she wanted to ask something else.
"It's very kind of you to show me the way to your president."
"Think nothing of it. I was planning on coming upstairs anyway." They walked in silence for the remainder of the duration. "Here we are."
"Thank you, again."
The girl smiled and rapped the door twice.
"Come in," came a muffled reply.
That voice — it was Ueno-san.
"Excuse me," the girl said as she slid the door open, "there's a guest for you, kaichou."
Mihoko took that as her cue. She stepped forward and inclined her head. "Pardon me."
"Welcome, come on in."
Ueno-san had an absolutely infectious smile. Mihoko walked into the room and was lost in Ueno-san's eyes, until she heard someone beside her — had he been there the whole time? — speak up uncertainly.
"Kaichou..."
Mihoko brought her hand to her mouth, flustered. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting a meeting?"
"No no, not at all." Ueno-san glanced at the young man. "Right, Morikawa-kun?"
"Kaichou, we were —"
"We were just about done," she finished for him.
"The summer club activities —"
"Oh, yes, the summer club activities. Thanks for reminding me." Ueno-san took the papers from her desk and stood. She walked past her desk and up to the young man. "I'll leave this in your hands," she said solemnly.
"Don't tell me you're going to —"
"Can I leave this to you, vice president? Every school club that scheduled club activities this summer vacation is depending on you. Can you imagine what would happen if you didn't do a final check through?"
Mihoko watched the exchange with great interest.
"But you —"
"Can you even imagine the havoc that would be wreaked if various clubs' use of rooms and equipment clashed?"
"But you were supposed to —"
"Sure, you could probably change a room or two for cultural clubs, but what about sports clubs? Can you imagine the impact it would have on their training? What would happen to their morale? Their team spirit?"
"That has nothing to do with how —"
"As the vice president, you're supposed to support me, right? You're supposed to support me in times of need."
"Yeah, but —"
"Then it's set! Thanks, Morikawa-kun," she finished blithely.
"... O-Okay."
"I knew I could count on you."
A brief silence followed.
"You can go now, Morikawa-kun, thanks."
He looked like he was about to argue, then clicked his jaw shut, muttering an 'excuse me' and left. He slid the door shut quietly after him.
They were alone in the room.
"Sorry about that," Hisa grinned.
"It's okay," Mihoko murmured. "But... what about Morikawa-san...?"
"Don't worry about him; he's used to it."
Ueno-san walked back toward the end of the room, and slid onto the edge of the table. She tucked her skirt and turned back to look at Mihoko.
"I — Will he be okay?"
"Sure. I double-checked everything already, but he was being a worrywart and insisted I look over it again." Hisa shifted and leaned back slightly. "I was staying late today, so I thought I'd humour him since he helps out a lot. Guess he's out of luck now," she grinned again.
"Ah, I see." Mihoko didn't know whether she should apologise again or not.
Hisa tilted her head a bit. "So..."
"Ah, as you probably guessed, I came to talk about the training camp."
Hisa nodded.
Mihoko smiled slightly. "The Kazekoshi mahjong club would be more than happy to accept the invitation."
"You'll accept? Thanks, I really appreciate it."
"I'm sorry it took so long for me to reply." Mihoko cringed inwardly. It took her nearly two weeks to reply, and she didn't even really have an excuse for it.
"It's no problem at all. But you didn't have to go out of your way to come here. A phone call would've been fine too."
"No, that would've been..." Mihoko wondered how well 'But I wanted to see you' would go over, and looked away. "You're the student council president, right? It's amazing you manage both the student council and the mahjong club."
Ueno-san turned away, with a small smile tugging at her lips.
"Not at all. Our club only has six members. I have nothing on the Captain of the famous Kazekoshi mahjong club."
Mihoko couldn't tell whether Ueno-san was teasing, or if she really felt that she, as the Captain of Kazekoshi's mahjong club, was somehow larger than life. She steadied herself, and made to move closer. "No... I'm not really anything like that — I fail as the Captain. To be honest, I couldn't decide on the training camp myself." Mihoko traced her hand along the edge of the table. Her palms were damp.
"Really?"
"Yes, and so some of the members actually came up to me and asked me to accept the invitation on behalf of the club." She was now an arm's reach from Ueno-san. "I wanted to participate, of course, but I was worried about them, since they can't participate in the nationals. Conversely, they were worried about me, and they wanted to train for next year, too."
"You're always thinking about others, aren't you? It's no wonder your club members are so devoted to you."
Mihoko leaned back into the edge of the table. "I don't, really..." But she smiled and said, "We are kind of close though."
"You've got good members, don't you?"
"Yes," Mihoko said with a nod.
"As are the ones in our club here. That's great, isn't it? We've both got good kids in our clubs."
"Yes, that's right." Mihoko turned her head slightly, and closed her eyes. She was feeling calmer, and being friends with Ueno-san seemed much more possible now.
"Say," Hisa began.
"Yes?"
"Do you have any plans later today?"
"Pardon?"
Hisa smiled lightly. "Do you have any plans later today?" she asked again.
"A-ah, no, I don't."
"Do you want to watch fireworks with me? Kiyosumi's hosting its 38th summer festival tonight."
"I — yes. I would love to." Ueno-san was probably going to meet up with friends or club members for the festival, and she would only be tagging along. But the idea of spending more time with Ueno-san was too hard to resist.
"I've still got one or two things to go over quickly before I can leave though. Do you think you could...?"
"Yes, of course. Please take your time. I've already intruded upon and taken so much of your time already."
"Thanks, I'll just grab a few things and see the vice president." Hisa stood and walked over to her desk and pulled out several sheets of paper from the drawer. "I'll be right back."
Mihoko watched Ueno-san leave, and let out her breath. Things were going better than she ever imagined. She glanced at the door again, anticipating Ueno-san's return any minute, even though she just left the room. Looking at the door reminded her — she didn't even notice when the girl who brought her here had left.
Mihoko ran a hand through her hair and sighed. It certainly wasn't the first time that happened. The worst was when she stared dumbly after Ueno-san when Bundou-san was crying and wracking with sobs over the lost match. No one in the club noticed her slip, or if they had, they never called her out on it. But her motives and thoughts were generally very transparent; otherwise how did everyone figure out her hesitation in participating in the training camp?
At least she still managed to hide the fact she liked girls. Or maybe not. In the last two, three years at Kazekoshi, she had found no less than three love letters in her shoe cubby. Two asked to meet her while one remained anonymous. She had gone as requested, and politely rejected them both. She felt awful either way, but they deserved an honest reply at the very least.
Mihoko realised with a start that 'politely rejecting people' was the extent of her experience and interaction with girls romantically. She was not interested in those who confessed to her, nice girls though they were, since they seemed more enamoured of the reputation that preceded her than wanting to know her. And she had always been too hesitant to do anything about any of her unrequited feelings. In many ways, it seemed sadly pathetic to her.
She shook her head ruefully, and took out her phone and looked at it for a moment. If she called home, her mother would pick up and ask why she wasn't coming home in time for dinner. She didn't want to mention Ueno-san just yet. If she called her brother, he wouldn't ask too much, but it might seem like she was hiding something by getting him to relay the message.
Home it was, then.
Mihoko dialled. She waited as the phone rang while various excuses flitted through her mind. 'Club-related activities'? 'Bumped into a middle school friend'? 'Going to watch fireworks'?
"Hello?"
"Nii-san," Mihoko said reflexively as she breathed an internal sigh of relief.
"Hey, you still at school? Isn't today the last day of classes?"
"About that... I was doing some last minute things for the club and a friend asked me if I wanted to watch fireworks. Could you tell mom I won't be home in time for dinner?"
"Sure. You want mom to save some for you?"
Ueno-san only mentioned fireworks. And she only brought her Suica with her. "Yes please."
"Right then. Have fun, Miho."
"Thanks. Bye."
Mihoko pressed 'end call' and sighed. Her cell phone chirped suddenly, and she fumbled with it for a moment. It was an unsolicited text message. Her brother showed her how to delete them awhile ago, but...
Mihoko pressed the 'cancel' and 'back' buttons experimentally. Then 'end call' again. Her cell phone only beeped uncooperatively. She pressed a few more buttons randomly, and somehow ended up locking the text message from accidental deletion. Technology.
"You doing okay?"
"U-Ueno-san!" Mihoko half jumped up.
Ueno-san was leaning against the door frame, with arms crossed, and amusement written all over her face.
Mihoko felt her face flush. "How long...?"
"Long enough to see you poke your phone," Hisa noted lightly.
"Ah... um..."
"Can I help? I can't fix electronics or anything, but if you want, I could take a look."
Somehow, admitting she was a technological idiot seemed ten times as embarrassing as usual. "I... I'm not good with... technology," she said lamely. Mihoko offered her phone wordlessly.
"Let's see..."
Ueno-san looked adorable when she was thinking. Maybe being completely useless with technology wasn't so bad.
"So what seems to be the problem?"
"I got an unsolicited message on my cell phone..."
"Yeah?"
"And... I don't know how to delete it. It said I 'locked' it, but..."
"Oh, is that it? Here, I'll show you."
Ueno-san sidled over, leaning her weight on the table, and began explaining.
"If you lock a message, it won't get deleted even if you decide to delete everything at once on your cell. The first thing you have to do now is to unlock it. You can do that by pressing 'options' right here. You can access most functions this way. Here, you try it."
Mihoko reached for the phone, taking it into her hands, and pressed it.
"Right, now go down to 'unlock'."
Mihoko pressed the down arrow until she selected 'unlock'. "I... I think I get it. Can I try deleting it by myself?"
"Of course."
Mihoko had seen 'delete message' on the list when she selected 'unlock'. Surely, if she did the same thing again...
"Um..."
Hisa peered at the cell phone. "Do you want to delete all the messages?"
"It doesn't really matter. All of them are unsolicited anyway," Mihoko admitted. What would Ueno-san think of her pitiful social life now?
"Okay, then press 'yes' here. If you wanted to delete just one message, you have to select the message first. But you basically did it right."
Mihoko flipped her phone shut with her hands. "Thank you."
"No problem." Hisa stood up. "Say, do you know how to text?"
"Oh, yes, I do, but I'm very slow," Mihoko answered self-consciously with a small smile. "Why?"
"I think it would help if you try pressing the buttons with your thumbs instead. It might be a bit easier."
"Thank you. I'll try that."
"Well then. It's pretty dark already, huh?" Hisa walked over to the desk and picked up her schoolbag. "Let's go, shall we?"
"Let's."
Mihoko followed Ueno-san out of the room and closed the door behind her. She walked side by side with Ueno-san down the now empty hallway.
"I'm pretty sure the fireworks start at seven, so we still have a bit of time."
"Are we meeting up with the others now?"
"Actually, I didn't have any plans for staying for the festival because of the student congress council work... I just invited you impulsively back then. I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all! I just thought you would've met with your club members, or..."
Hisa gave a small laugh. "I didn't want to hold everyone up. They were pretty excited about wearing their yukata, and it would've been really late if they waited for me to get into mine."
"So that's why."
"We're just going to go to the mahjong clubroom now," Hisa explained as they went down the stairs. "It's probably really crowded at the festival by now, and I'm sure we'll get a good view from the clubroom."
"Is the clubroom downstairs?" Mihoko wondered how they would see the fireworks from the ground floor. And how did the Kiyosumi clubroom look like? Ueno-san's club only had six people, but the room would have to be big enough to fit a mahjong table, amongst other things.
"It's in another building entirely. It's a bit run down, but quite comfortable. It's like our own little kingdom."
"That's really nice to hear. Our school board is very invested in the mahjong club, as you can probably imagine. It's harder to remain autonomous."
"There is that too. Small clubs aren't half bad in that regard."
"Small clubs are fun in their own way," Mihoko agreed. "I try to organise events with the club's coach where members can all participate, but it's rather hard to come up with anything other than intramural tournaments."
"Kazekoshi has over eighty members this year, right? I really wanted to get into Kazekoshi for its mahjong club back in middle school." Hisa gave a wan smile and added, "But I guess it wasn't meant to be."
Mihoko's heart thudded. Ueno-san wanted to attend Kazekoshi as she had hoped three years ago. But what had gone wrong and why did she change her name? Why did she disappear in the middle of the nationals? Mihoko couldn't bring herself to ask.
Instead, she answered softly, "No, I guess it wasn't."