Yěhuā
A Xiān Kè Lái Extras Collection
By: Aviantei
[Shibuya Operation – Story Storm]
9. Lotus (7)
The gap between the Chinese and Japanese school systems has left me restless. I took a few online courses to keep busy on the in between (Jun huffed and called me a workaholic, as if that were anything new), but the time has come to start physical classes again. I managed to reduce my belongings for oversea travel, and they sit in the truck behind me as I stare at my new lodging for the upcoming year.
Funbari Onsen rests behind a stone fence, the sloped roofs looking more like a historical site than a boarding house. The street is empty, and it would take at least five minutes to reach the next building. If anything, the isolation was a bonus when I searched the place up, and it has a decent travel distance to school. Since I'm here to focus on my studies, I don't need much more than a roof over my head.
Finished sizing up my surroundings, I push open the gate. A stone path winds up to the entrance, surrounded by fresh spring grass. A few flowers poke their stems up from the beds lining the building. I cross to the entrance and knock.
No immediate response.
Taking into account the size of the building, I knock once more, this time harder.
Several minutes pass. Birds chirp in the morning air. The truck's faint rumble, still on in the street, reaches my ears. Not even a fraction of movement comes from the inn. I know I informed them of my arrival. I even confirmed the details before my flight. Someone should be here to let me inside.
I give one last knock out of politeness, but my patience is running thin. I haven't swapped out the SIM card in my phone yet, so calling isn't an option. I have plans for later in the day, like getting acquainted with the area and letting my family know I made it safe. Moving in is the priority, and I don't plan on just sitting around.
I give in and open the door, revealing a sleepy looking guy, his hand raised up to where the door handle was a second ago.
The only words coming to mind are in Chinese. They're not very polite, so it's for the best. The person I can't associate with a name yet blinks at me, opens his mouth to say something, and yawns in the place of words.
Unimpressed is putting it lightly.
"Oh, hey, you must be Ren, right?" I recognize his voice from speaking over the phone. This is Asakura. "Sorry for not answering right away. Anna left a while ago and I didn't wake up. I was still sleeping when you knocked at the door."
It's pushing on ten o'clock. Even barring my flight, I'd have been up five hours ago. "Aren't your end of trimester exams approaching?" I ask, once I piece the words together in my head. Speaking in real life is different from study, but I'm sure emersion will fix the problem.
"Huh?" Asakura looks stunned by my greeting. "But it's Sunday…"
This is going to be a long year.
I shake my head. Mother told me to be polite. Jun warned me I should knock off my foul attitude if I intend to make friends. Grandfather said there was a turning point in my future. Father didn't even bother to show up, let along give me parting advice.
"Never mind," I dismiss. Without time to style my hair on the plane, the locks brush against my neck. "If you don't mind, I'd like to move my belongings inside. You should—could you direct me to my room?"
Asakura blinks once more. His eyes are the color of liquid honey mixed with cinnamon sugar. He leans to the side, catching sight of the truck behind me and the driver—hired help sent along by Mother to help with the move. Asakura grins and waves. I don't bother to look back to see the response.
My host's brain catches up with his mouth. "Sure thing," he drawls, sounding every bit like he could fall asleep in the doorway. From what I've observed so far, I wouldn't be surprised. Just annoyed, really. "You're gonna be upstairs, but there's lots of space." He steps back into the hall, waving me to come along. I gesture to my driver, and follow.
The stairs creak as we walk up them. I guess it's meant to be part of the charm. Or, then again, this is just a boarding house now instead of an inn.
Asakura points to doors as we pass them, naming off the owners. "This is mine and Anna's. Tamao's is over here. Ryu and Horohoro are here and here, across from each other. And sometimes my family visits and uses those, at the end of the hall. Oh, I bet the guys are still here. Wanna meet them? Might have to wake them up, though."
"I'll pass for now." I grimace at the thought of meeting more people with Asakura's lackadaisical habits. Just dealing with one for now is annoying enough.
"Well, I'm sure you'll see them. Anyway, my family sometimes comes and visits, and they use those rooms at the end of the hall. But this one—" He stops in front of a door, just a few off from the guys he offered to introduce me to "—is gonna be yours. Uh, it's not locked, but I can get you a key from downstairs…"
I ignore his blathering and head inside. There's plenty of open space, just like one would expect from an inn. It's spacious for the price, which is part of what drew me here in the first place. Tatami mats line an empty floor, with no furniture to speak of. For being an unused room, there's no dust, and the scent of cleaning supplies stings my nose. I cross the floor to open the window, letting fresh air in. An outcropping of rock peeks around the backside of the building, sheltering the hot springs. The same style of wall out front surrounds the entire building.
Asakura pads up to my side, grinning at the outside. "Not bad, huh? Not the best view in the world, but still nice for being in the city, I think."
I chose not to tell him about the mountain-scape visible from my home in China, or the view of the night sky. "What about the stars?" I ask, switching back to Chinese before I can stop myself.
Asakura's face scrunches up in confusion. "What was that?"
"Sorry. Still code switching." The foreign apology feels stiff on my tongue. I turn around and lean against the windowsill, surveying the room. Its wide, rectangular shape leaves me enough space and then some. I start to piece together furniture arrangements, though things will change once I get my belongings upstairs. "This place will do just fine."
"Ehehe." Asakura chuckles, looking all the world like a schoolboy who just got praised. "Glad you like it. Need help with getting your things inside?"
10. Lotus (8)
Summer provides a short reprieve from classwork, but I spend most of my time in review. It's with great pains that I'm dragged downstairs one evening by the rest of my housemates. I go, both because I need the bath after exercising and to stop their shouting outside my door.
Despite myself, I stay seated on the front porch afterwards. Horohoro and Ryu refused to let me go back upstairs. I managed to get out of playing with sparklers, though. Those two run around like idiots, and even Asakura dangles a sparkler between his finger, showing Tamao how to draw patterns in the air with the light trail.
Being farther north than home, the summer air in Tokyo feels almost temperate. It's even nice after a bath. I sip at my milk bottle and contemplate how much longer I'll have to hang around before I can get to bed.
"You better not," Anna huffs, like she can read my mind. I'm sure Grandfather Zhang would love to have a chat with someone like her. The inn's self-proclaimed hostess sits down on the porch, though she leaves a sizable distance between us. "If you run away they'll make a ruckus all night. I don't wanna hear that."
I snort at her self-serving request, but make no move to leave. It's not something I want to hear, either. Anna shoots me a sideways glare, but doesn't physically retaliate. The evening seems to have put her in a good mood as well.
"You know that fiancé of yours would be part of that racket, right?" Even though I feel relaxed, the memory of Asakura neglecting his studies right before the break still has me on edge. He passed off with decent enough grades, and that just makes it more infuriating. I may be smart, but that doesn't mean I don't work to maintain my scores. "He's just as bad as the rest of the lot. I don't get what you see in him."
I prepare myself to dodge as Anna lifts her hand, but she just folds it into a fist to rest her chin on. Hunched over, the indistinct pink and white pattern of her post-bath wear shine in the light coming from the window behind us. Her gaze follows across the yard to Asakura, and I think I see her smile.
"You're right. He is an idiot."
Her harsh words crush the mood.
"He's also lazy and a pain in the ass," Anna continues, not lost for insults to her fiancé as she is to the rest of us. "Some days he makes me wanna tear my hair out." I find that less likely than her tearing Asakura's hair out in frustration. "But, when it comes down to it, he knows how to do what he needs to do. He just does it at his own pace." Anna tilts her head back and gives me a smirk. "You don't see it do you?"
"Not in the slightest," I retort. I doubt I've ever seen that man work unless Anna's cracking the reigns at him. I've lost sight of the number of times I've stumbled across him dozing in the middle of the day or lying around with headphones attached to that old record player of his in the past four months. And those are just the start of his lackadaisical hobbies. "You're so ambitious it's like you're trying to make up for both of you."
Anna lets out her own short, soft chuckle. "Maybe," she allows. "But that's the thing. Yoh is just…flexible. No matter what, he adapts things to his own rhythm. And because of that he's always himself.
"He bends but he doesn't break. That's what I admire about him."
I let the words sink in as I take another drink of milk. Flexible. That's a rather positive way of looking at it. Once he gets into the working world, that attitude's going to give him more trouble than not. Then again, the thought of Asakura in a traditional workforce doesn't fit his image at all. He's going to college for Anna's sake, not his own.
Out in the yard, Tamao manages to draw a star in the air, and Asakura draws one to match it, just before their sparklers fizz out.
11. Aster (3)
There are all sorts of different kind of greenhouses, depending on where you go and what they're for. I've been in my fair share. Big florists with ground space tend to have rows of greenhouses, all set for different plants across different parts of the year. Some folks, like one of my high school classmates' aunts, have personal greenhouses for their own use. Research facilities can even have major biomes, a way to recreate nature conditions for study.
I haven't been in one of those, but the rooftop greenhouse at the university I'm touring is like the quaint, younger sister of that major biome, and I'm in love.
Outdoors its winter, the air spiked with just enough chill to make the street side trees wither. Plenty of flowers can thrive in an environment like that, but nothing beats spring. The artificial climate inside the greenhouse replicates the feeling of a warm breeze and sunshine perfectly, and I tug off my jacket. Tying its sleeves around my waist to free up my hands, I step along the open path, the familiar brush of leaves meeting my fingertips.
Bursts of color stick out from every corner, and I lose track of the plants as I list them off—Orchid, aster, gladiolus, cactus, larkspur, marigold, acacia, lotus—
"I'm going here," I declare.
My tour guide (whose name I've forgotten amongst the flowers) stumbles over a pot from my words. It takes them a few moments to right themselves, and even then they're left stammering.
I spin around to face them head on. "How much longer does the tour usually take?"
"Huh? About fifteen more minutes from here…"
"Great! Then we'll spend the rest of our time here, and when we're done you can take me back to the admissions office. I'll fill out an application, and things will be hunky dory!" I grin. This place already feels like home. "Hey, you wanna take a seat? You look winded."
My tour guide does just that, and I enjoy the first of many afternoons as one with the plants.
12. Lotus (9)
"I'm going to study abroad."
A stunned silence floats over the dinner table. Even my sister, in mid-sentence while talking to Mother, stops. The server by Yúan's side finishes refilling his drink and tries her best to not look like she's running from the room. Knowing this sort of reaction was coming, I take a fresh bite of my plate of jiāng mǔyā, rolling the taste of duck across my tongue.
"See here, boy," Grandfather Zhang says, recovering the fastest. I put my chopsticks down to listen. This makes it look a bit less likely that he'll toss something across the table at me. "You can't just spring this sort of thing on us. Start from the beginning!"
"Yeah," Jun agrees, a stern pout already forming on her face. "You start school in, like, two weeks. When were you planning on saying something?" She sounds more hurt than angry. She wouldn't hesitate to kick me under the table if it were the latter.
I hold back a sigh, catching Mother's careful gaze on me. "I just sorted it out today," I offer as an explanation. "I'm not going this year, but next. There's several sister schools affiliated with my University. Since I've passed the language qualifications, they can send me to Japan, Britain, and America."
Mother holds a hand to her mouth in surprise. "So many…" she remarks. I nod. There are more, but those are the ones I can speak the language in, and even then that's pushing it. I have the year to practice my Japanese; I need more work on it to sound fluent than I do on my English. "Have you chosen which one you'll be going to?"
"All three."
Jun swallows her drink the wrong way, and coughs to clear her throat. "Are you serious? Even you don't have enough time for that!"
I keep my gaze even and tick off the numbers on my fingers. "The first year here, the second at Japan, Britain for my third, and America to finish off what's left. That's four, sister dear."
Jun gives my hand a playful shove back to my side. "Show off."
"Hmmm." Grandfather considers for a moment, then nods. "Well, we do have the means to give you kids the best education possible, so money isn't an issue." With a house far bigger than most apartment buildings, I would say so. "It'll take a lot of work to stay up on your studies in a foreign place, but you've always had good fortune in your future. I'll have to do another reading to make sure, but I encourage it. Ran?"
Mother blinks at the sound of her name, as if she's forgotten what it sounds like. "Well, Lián's already done all the work to get approved. There's no sense in stopping him," she allows. She's also correct. I have no intention of backing down. "Yúan?" Mother hesitates, like she's expecting an argument.
I, on the other hand, came to dinner prepared for one. I glare at my father, who sits at the head of the table in near silence. His consideration takes far longer than Grandfather's. "I suppose you'll go even if I say otherwise," Yúan rumbles. Jun tenses up beside me. I'm not scared anymore. "Then let me ask you. Why do you want to go?"
To get away from home sounds like a pathetic answer. I'm fortunate enough that's just part of it. "With the field I plan on entering, I'll need to be able to work on a global level," I start, arms crossed. I keep steady breaths to hold my center. "I'll improve my language skills and gain an understanding of other cultures. Both of these will be valuable skills, and I will use them to my advantage."
It's almost word for word of the essay I wrote while applying to the abroad program. Not that it's what I say that matters here. It's how self-assured I am, that I can show my confidence in what I'm doing. I've been told my arrogance would one day be my downfall. Here it's my strength.
Yúan doesn't say anything for a while. I click my tongue. "You're right about me in one way, Father," I grit out. The word sounds stale after years of disuse. "I'm going regardless of what you try to tell me. So you might as well accept it."
Both Mother and Jun's eyes flick across the table. Jun's even chewing her lip. Grandfather surveys the situation from the seat across the table to me, but I can detect the shift in his old body to the ready combat stances I learned as a child.
"I have no objections to the matter," Yúan says, and a collective gasp releases across the table. My father turns back to his food, Jun attempts to pick up her previous conversation with Mother, and the hired help eases back into the room once the area is deemed safe.
My sureness doesn't fade once I'm back in my room and can reflect on what I've just done.
Progress.
[Author's Notes]
One of my major weaknesses in writing is establishing setting and description. I'm very much a character driven writer, so I tend to get caught up in internal dialogues or even character interactions that I completely forget about establishing the setting. Since this was a drabble project, I used it to crank up the descriptions all around for some practice. Covering it again, I'm proud of some of the descriptions I turned out. Hopefully they were enjoyable to read as well.
This set of extras we have:
9. Lotus (7) - Ren's arrival at Funbari Onsen and first meeting with Yoh.
10. Lotus (8) - Summer in Japan. Since Ren uses the "He bends but doesn't break" line in Xiān Kè Lái, I needed a place for him to first hear it. Anna seemed like a good way to make that happen.
11. Aster (3) - Bai's first experience with the greenhouse at her University. As you can see between this and the cafe, she's very much the type to get attached to things on a strong first impression.
12. Lotus (9) - Ren announces his intentions to study abroad to his family. The way the Tao family dynamics work without Shamanism to drive them is something we'll cover later on.
With all that in place, that finishes up this chunk of extras. If you're looking for more of what [Shibuya Operation - Story Storm] has to offer, might I recommend EeveeGen9988's The Fallen? Part of last year's [SOSS] this Undertale fic shows a very interesting take on the children that entered the Underground before Frisk, plus literally improves from chapter to chapter at a rate that's almost scary. Don't miss out.
And don't miss out on next week's extras, either, coming to you Saturday! Please look forward to it!
-Avi
[01.08.2018]