Voices of the Present
Perspective: Part III

The Physician

Tamao watched as her beloved roommate walked around the corner, wearing a light pink knee-length bathrobe. She had just flipped her long, wet red hair forward and was bringing it back to towel down. Long red hair? Nagisa? Tamao raised her hand and started slowly advancing. The girl before her only then showed her face and it became obvious that, while nearly the spitting image of Nagisa with identical voice and eyes, this girl was not Nagisa. She was a touch taller, hair longer, face slightly sharper. Details around the edges- this girl exuded Nagisa's aura, for want of a better word.

Uchida-san broke Tamao's trance. "Dr Aoi, I believe you may nearly have killed the main course. You really must work on your bedside manner. I had thought you had outgrown dramatic entrances. Should I believe you now that you're not in truth living out the amorous parts all those silly medical dramas?"

Dr Aoi? "Aunt Hiromi?" Tamao blurted out.

"Ah, my dear niece saw fit to speak of me despite my request that she not?" the apparition before her responded as she began to brush down her damp mane. The smile she flashed reminded her again desperately of her best friend.

Aoi-sama's manner of speech and movements are more concise, more confident, more mature than Nagisa's. Damn, why does it feel like Nagisa? "Um, actually she just mentioned she had an alumna aunt who had gotten her into Miator. She never said anything else, and honestly I never thought to ask."

"Oh good. I never talked about Miator with her, and I didn't want anyone dredging up my past and hanging it on her."

"What part of the past do you mean, Hiromi-chan? The lurid, illicit, lascivious, or just plain lusty parts?" Uchida-san and Aoi-sama looked at each other and locked eyes. Tamao thought for a moment they might really be going at each other...and then laughter ensued as all three adult women in the room broke down in unrestrained laugher.

"We have got to get together more often," they all said in perfect unison, followed by even less controlled laughter.

Tamao wasn't sure how to respond to it all, feeling almost like an interloper in a conversation between old friends based entirely on cherished frames of reference unknown to her. She chose to accept the blessing of an opportunity to recompose herself. She sat and poured herself some coffee to help relax until the women returned to the present. At least Oosaki-sensei was right, it certainly is distracting. Moments ago I was about to enter a fit of hysterics, and now I feel like the only adult in a room full of teenagers.

The laughter ended abruptly when Uchida-san exclaimed "Oh, Oww" and started holding her stomach. The other two women immediately attended to her, paying attention to nothing else until Aoi-sama had announced that it was just a stitch from too much laughter, nothing more. The intense care, compassion, and concern Aoi-sama and Oosaki-san showed their friend made absolutely clear their feelings for each other. Aoi-sama and Oosaki-san would do anything for her.

"I'm sorry, Hisoka-chan. Lord knows too much excitement has never been a good thing for you even without pregnancy, and now we add all this. Are you sure you're up for tonight?" Oosaki-san said with continued worry on her face.

"Keiko and Hiromi, you'd have to tie me up somewhere to keep me away, and trust me I wouldn't forgive you for it. I have a role to play in all this, and don't you dare try to use "my condition" to exclude me from it."

"Fair enough," Aoi-sama said as she stood up from her kneeling position in front of Uchida-san. "I think dinner and some 'conversation lubricant' is in order. Hisoka has prepared a fantastic Mediterranean feast, I'm only the messenger. I'm not sure how she knew we were having company tonight given she started everything before the E'toile election, but she did. Suzumi-san, I'd suggest red wine with pasta, but everyone's different. Do you have a preference?"

"Wine?" squeaked Tamao. "Um, I'm 15!"

It was Oosaki-sensei who spoke next, and her words weren't what Tamao was expecting. "Tamao, occasionally as an adult you will channel your childhood for brief moments of sheer, unadulterated joy, much as my friends and I just did. When that happens, your adult self will be shamelessly stealing today...a day when adulthood forced itself brutally on an unsuspecting child. Tomorrow, you will be a child again, and I will be Oosaki-sensei and you will not forget that." An uncharacteristically stern look briefly graced Oosaki-san's face, then softened. "Tonight, however, you are an adult, among adults, speaking of adult things. You proved your maturity this morning, an impressive display of the adult you'll become some day and whom I hope will call me friend. Tonight, I am simply Keiko or even Keiko-chan. Keiko-senpai or Keiko-oneesan if you absolutely must. These are our good friends Hisoka and Hiromi. You are Tamao." Keiko's featured softened further and she smiled again. "Now that we've settled that, do you want white or red wine? I'd suggest white myself, but as Hiromi-senpai explained, that's a personal preference. If you've never had alcohol before, though, I'd suggest moderation, especially until you've had something to eat. I suspect our conversation will easily see the dawn and alcohol generally makes the uninitiated sleepy."

Tamao was at a loss for oh so many reasons. Adult or child. Red or white. In desperation she looked towards Hisoka. "You're looking at the pregnant woman for wine advice? Oh the irony. Well, since I suppose it could be said you're drinking in my stead, you'll want to drink white. I'd suggest something fruity and sweet, like a gewurztraminer. I know we still have some of that from Oregon in America. Never could stand the red stuff much, although Keiko did introduce me to some lovely cherry-based wine when we visited California last year."

"A trip you conveniently forgot to bring me on," Hiromi added with a pouty look.

"It's not my fault it was your last year of medical school and you were aiming for, and getting, a premier residency in Tokyo. You always were an overachiever, whether it was seducing half the damned school or apparently now vamping the entire profession of psychiatry in Japan. You'd think they of all people could see through you," Hisoka responded with renewed vigor.

An imp born of a childhood watching younger siblings took Tamao for a moment. Let's see if they're serious about me being an equal. "Girls, do I need to place you in time out in separate corners?"

Hisoka and Hiromi turned to look at Tamao as if they just really saw her, rather surprised expressions on their faces.

Arms came from behind Tamao and surrounded her shoulders, hugging her neck and a voice whispered loudly in her ear for all to hear, "I think you're the first one to ever shut Hiromi-senpai and Hisoka-senpai up quite like that. I certainly never managed it. I'm jealous."

"Oh wonderful, the two kohai are a unified front. I know when I've lost. So, two whites, a red, and a big glass of milk for okaasan over there." Hiromi winked at Tamao as she headed assumedly for the kitchen. The look from someone so like to her beloved pulled yet again at her heart and she found herself staring at the empty space the redhead had just occupied. Empty like my heart.

"If its any help, this whole situation is making her just as uncomfortable as it's making you," Tamao's brief reverie was broken by Hisoka. "You'll understand more by morning," she added cryptically.

Sounds of preparation emitted from the kitchen, but silence took over the living room. For the moment, each girl became lost in her own thoughts. Tamao found herself entranced by the waning flames in the fireplace, the hiss and crackle of the coals was hypnotic.

Nagisa's...no Hiromi-senpai's...voice interrupted Tamao's contemplation. "Dinner's ready. Shall we just eat in here or use the dining table?" Hiromi appeared back around the corner and she and Tamao both looked to Keiko and Hisoka, ostensibly the ladies of the house.

"I'd suggest we just eat in here," Keiko suggested while looking at Hisoka with a questioning expression. "I think it's more intimate, not to mention more comfortable for beachball-san here."

An exaggerated 'long-suffering' look was Hisoka's only direct response, a look then taken over by an evil twinkle. "I'll be glad when she's out where you can deal with her."

"You know I'm looking forward to it, Hisoka-chan." Tamao had seen before the look the two women shared at that moment and any doubt of their relationship was dispelled.

Hiromi couldn't help herself. "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it."

Keiko turned and stuck her tongue out at her friend. Hiromi reciprocated.

Tamao took the initiative again, "Shall I go and bring things in here? Is everything ready to bring out?"

"Oh, it's mostly ready. If you don't mind being alone with me a little bit, you're welcome to come in and help me with that part. I only have so many hands." Hiromi mimed juggling as she started back into the kitchen.

Alone with Hiromi-senpai. She does understand the effect she has on me. Tamao felt two sets of eyes on her, and she started to understand how the pregnant Hisoka-senpai must feel. To be seen as fragile, only to be handled with the utmost care. Liable to break at any moment if you let her stand on her own.

I'm a big girl and I can stand on my own.

Tamao resolutely rose and, steeling her confidence and clamping down on the heart beating in the back of her throat, strode into the kitchen containing Nagisa-chan's doppelganger.

***Author Notes***

First off, I want to make it absolutely clear I do not advocate underaged drinking. Nothing in this story is meant to encourage it. That said, I believe Americans create teenage alcohol abuse by our unwillingness as adults to introduce our own children to mature alcohol consumption in the controlled and safe environment of our own homes. Dr/Aunt Aoi and her conspirators apparently have somewhat similar views. Imagine that. ;-)

Hiromi (裕美) in this usage means "abundant beauty". It is also the name of a dearly loved friend of mine who I lost contact with when she returned to Japan many years ago.

Dr Aoi, not surprisingly, is also 25 years old like her former roommate, Uchida-san. She just started her psychiatric residency and fellowship after completing college through her MD in a not at all unreasonable 7 years. Obviously, she's a busy girl and in no position to care for a 15 year old neice with expatriate parents, hence why she suggested Miator for Nagisa. When she was informed Nagisa was up for E'toile, she arranged for the weekend off to come and see what would happen. As someone who has been a resident, that's not an easy feat and Nagisa should damn well be grateful! :p

I'm not interested in any quibbling about Hiromi's similarities to Nagisa. We're dealing with a terribly emotionally raw Tamao right now. I've also seen remarkably similar looking second degree relatives, and plenty of women who don't change a whole lot between 15-16 and 25. Keep in mind also that this is anime we're talking about, and we all know SP is a fantasy. It really does fit Hiromi's character to a tee. She's the kind of sensual, ageless woman most of the rest of us females want to hate intensely...hence "abundant beauty". If you don't know the type now, you will in your 30's I promise. :-/

The next two chapters are presenting me a bit of a challenge. Tamao and I are having a disagreement with the good Dr Aoi, and she's winning. I hope to have the two out as a set for next weekend. It has become clear they need to be released together.

***Reviewer Responses***

XxRin-sanxX

I'm undecided on the whole Nagisa vs Shizuma debate, perhaps because I have an unconventional take on Shizuma which will unfold over time. I'll just say I do hate the SP ending and feel Tamao's treatment by Shizuma was horrible. I cried for her the first time I watched it, and the ending still leaves me with an empty feeling. I think my writing is getting that across. One thing I'll promise you, Tamao and Nagisa will get far more 'together screen time' over my story arc than will Shizuma and Nagisa.

ZIIIX

Cookie for your speculation being right. Thank you for reading my material. I hope it is worth the investment of your limited time. :-)

xXLiStLesSXx

Yay for vocabulary! I admit I have a deep one, something I get teased at work for regularly. Every year when we graduate the outgoing residents and welcome in the new class, the graduating residents do some skit related to the "Gwen Vocabulary Challenge". I never knew the word 'misogynist' was obscure. :-/

I appreciate very much the adjectives you pulled out. :-)

kaizer20

I appreciate the comment and hope my writing continues to please. :-)

N and T 2gether 4ever

Yes.