Author's Notes
Well, not for the first time, another slow chapter, but thankfully, short. Two new characters are introduced.
No ETA for Chapter 13, hopefully Saturday or Sunday if everything goes well. A particularly dream chapter next time.
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Chapter 12
One More!
This morning, I woke up about an hour or two before I usually do, and could not fall back asleep. I had the strangest feeling about tonight. I peered at the clock (04:12), then outside. No lights were on, and I couldn't see anybody. In the sky, a full moon hung, a plane crossing it.
In the end, I decided to do a little bit of studying, before just watching television. I even made breakfast for Tadashi.
*
I don't think it's uncommon knowledge that sleep deprived people are irritable. As a result, today was near hellish, with Takamura-sensei (this was Mr. Composition, in case you had forgotten) deciding to kick classes into overdrive for the exams. Class began with an incredibly boring lecture, spoken in a rapid fire pace—enough so that I could hardly keep up with taking notes. He then moved onto rapid fire question and answer with—get this, an alarm set to 5 seconds.
The end of a composition class has never been quite so sweet.
In the halls after school, I bumped into Shichiro again, who was walking with whom I assumed to be his girlfriend.
"Ah, hey Hajime-kun!"
Jumping to that honourific already, eh?
"This is Hikari-chan. I think I told you about her before."
Taking a look at her, I found myself in utter shock that Shichiro had "landed" her, for lack of a better term. Firstly, she didn't look Japanese in the slightest—not only did she have blonde hair and blue eyes, she was perhaps half a head taller than Shichiro, and perhaps one third taller than me—and probably almost a head taller than Shinako. Next, she had round eyes, as well as a notable accent—one I couldn't pinpoint. The accent itself was a bit unnatural; it wasn't like the one a gaijin would have (my old school having had a foreign exchange program with Canada, thus giving me a bit of experience with this), but rather one that sounded like it was intentionally induced.
Beyond that, my shock was that I actually found her to be somewhat cute. I was amazed at how Shichiro had managed this one.
Of course, I gotta stay loyal to Shinako, right?
"Uh, hi, Ueyama-sempai."
She smiled. "So you're H—Sakamoto?"
For a brief second, it sounded like she was going to call me Hajime-something.
I nodded. "I heard a lot about you."
"Really? Well, nice to meet you, I suppose. Shichiro talks a bit about you."
"Really?"
"Well no, not really."
At that exact moment, Shinako decided to walk by, and gave me a strange glare. "Shouldn't we be going somewhere, Hajime-kun?"
Before I knew it, I was being dragged (admittedly, Shinako wasn't that strong, but all the same.)
*
After a short trip to the library, Shinako decided for me that we would be eating at a Vietnamese restaurant specialized in pho. Quite frankly, I don't think I've ever seen one before—though I suppose a big city does have its benefits. Moreover, I found myself wondering why we didn't get ramen instead.
"It's cheaper here. And plus, I prefer pho."
Or so she said.
After looking over the menu, I had decided I had no idea what to get, so just sprang for a bowl loaded with beef, and ordered some extra beef (admittedly, this was a lot cheaper than the place I had gone to with Shichiro.)
Shinako sighed. "I'm thinking of attending cram school now. I'm... a bit worried."
"Shinako, university entrance exams aren't for another..."
I counted on my fingers.
"...three years... or is it two? Umm..."
"Yeah, well, it'll help, wouldn't it? I gotta get ahead. Get a good job. Get into a good university." While I wouldn't consider myself an expert on judging emotions, Shinako's face was perhaps the most obvious shade of sad existent.
"Really? What job are you thinking of getting? What job takes three years of cram school to even have a hope of getting into a university for?"
She glared at me. "I don't know. Am I going to take a chance? No." The previous sadness had melted, being replaced by moderate anger.
I heard the sound of glass breaking, as time seemed to stand still.
So I apparently hit the next level of friendship by pissing Shinako off.
A giant card appeared.
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU."
The card flipped upside-down.
"THE BOND THOU HAST FORGED HAS BEEN SEVERED. OUR BLESSING BE THY CURSE."
Wait, what? That can happen?
Time started again, as I heard the slurping of noodles.
The rest of the meal was awkward. Both of us ate as fast as we could. Every attempt I had to try and reconcile failed. The first words we exchanged after the incident before was how to split the bill—we eventually settled to go dutch.
*
I wasn't happy at all today. No, I couldn't blame anybody but myself for what happened, but I maintained then—and I still do now—that Shinako over-reacted.
And so that was what my mind was stewing with as I walked into the dormitory.
The sound on the lounge television was turned up—I could hear a commercial for wasabi peas blaring loudly, over the voices of Tadashi, and someone I couldn't recognize.
Naturally, I walked to the lounge, curious.
"So yeah, we're just waiting for Hajime-san now.", Tadashi said. "Oh, well, speak of the devil."
The other voice belonged to another kid—maybe about the same age as me—sitting on the couch next to Tadashi, watching commercials intently. He was as white as Casper, and about as Japanese as a Big Mac. Notably, he was not wearing the school uniform, but rather a red t-shirt that looked like some sort of ridiculous robot anime merchandise, along with a set of black pants, that thankfully, were plain. Next to him was a small stack of bags and suitcases.
"Um... Tadashi-san, what's going on? What's up with the gaijin?"
"Hey, I'm not a gaijin!", the white kid protested. Beyond his accent—which, admittedly, was not too heavy—he also spoke with a sentence structure and choice of words that made it sound like he was the main character of a shonen manga.
"Yeah, well, you sound and look like one, get used to being called one. Anyways, what's going on here, Tadashi-san?"
Tadashi had an amused look on his face. "Hajime-san, meet Cooper Brandon, or uh, Brandon Cooper, if we're doing western order. He moved here from America, and will be staying in this dorm for the rest of the year. He'll be a sophomore, like you. Be nice, alright?"
Brandon smiled, and got up to shake my hand. "Ajibana-sempai has been telling me much of you, Hajime-san! It is nice to meet you! You will help me around here, right?"
His Japanese, structurally, was OK, besides his speaking style. There was just something about it that annoys me—something I can't quite pinpoint. "Sure, I guess."
I heard the sound of glass breaking. Time stopped, as always.
A card appeared and turned, having a picture of what I would imagine to be a priest after Picasso was done with him.
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU. THOU SHALT HAVE OUR BLESSING OF THE HIEROPHANT ARCANA."
The standards for being "friends" must really be dropping.
Time started again, of course.
*
I punched numbers on my cell phone furiously, texting with speed that I've never had before. Tadashi and Shinako were both about to go to sleep, and as was I. From the looks of it, Shinako wasn't holding a grudge—or at least not showing it for now.
And so I laid my head onto my pillow, and closed my eyes, waiting.
I found solid footing as I always did, having the strange transition directly from waking life to dreaming. Never could I believe that I would get used to this feeling. The best analogy for it is if you were sleeping on your bed, then the bed disappears. You start freefalling, but your feet are on solid ground, like you were standing up. Then, the entire world rotates, as your feet are now on the bottom. All of this happens at the same time.
There was utter silence in this dream thusfar—something that's never happened. I opened my eyes, and looked around.
I wasn't on a mountain any more.
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I tried to make it clear that Shinako reversed rather than broke. Hopefully, it worked.
This and the next chapter is where the happiness ends. For a brief while.
Since copy and pasting is great...
And as with before, please do review. Not to beg or anything.
But seriously. Please do. If you enjoy the story, please do. I'm a shallow being, and that can give me motivation.