July 1, Tuesday
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The weather was doing its best to dampen Mai's high spirits.
Tokyo's morning sky was still depressing and miserable and sullen with fat clouds hanging low, seemingly taunting Mai with the prospect of drenching her with it's ever-flowing pee. All this did not particularly bother the girl anymore, for she has been desensitized. Still, what she was really pissed about was the fact that -
"Dammit, why the hell is it so humid?!"
For the first time in forever, Mai was free of any neck-wringing school work. Her exams had gone and passed recently, so teachers were giving the students a short period of lax. Predictably, Mai was thrilled. She had no assignments to worry about, no quizzes to study for. She was supposed to write some lecture notes in advance, but she thought, To hell with that. Freedom!
Oh, but no. No freedom for Mai. The weather just had to pick that day of all days to start getting humid. Yes, Mai hated rain, but she abhored being sweaty even more. Being sticky and smelly never appealed to her. Just thinking about it made her shiver with disgust.
Hapless little Mai did not have the luxury of simply 'thinking about it' though. She was living it.
Mai was at the bus stop, pondering whether swishing around for any form of breeze was better than standing still so that her sweat would stop gushing from her pores. She kept her umbrella upright with one hand as she rummaged around her school bag for a piece of paper tough enough to provide her with a break from the muggy air. She found one after a while, but bus number 42 screeched in front of her just as she was about to lift it to her face.
Splashed with sweat and rainwater, she ran to the airconditioned bus. Thank you so so so much, Willis Carrier, Mai thought, silently thanking the great inventor as she gave her payment to the operator. She shuffled to her seat with her arms held high, trying to catch the cool air from the overhead magical humidity-go-the-hell-away machines.
The teenager sighed as she sagged down her seat, relishing the comfort of no-stick atmosphere. After a long moment of utter bliss, she pushed herself up to fiddle with the air conditioner above the window beside her.
A young man in dark clothes found Mai like that. He sat down beside her without her noticing, arranging his papers with one hand as he clutched a manila envelope with another. As soon as he assumed an acceptably comfortable position, he then observed the screen that tracked the bus' route, as he always did.
"Ah, much better," Mai said after she finished fixing the air conditioner's direction to make the whistling air go to her face. She lowered her hand to the seat's handle, but immediately pulled it back to herself as if she was scalded with the broth of the ramen she always ate.
Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh.
Mai's hand had accidentally landed on the young man's for a slight instance, and now, she was freaking out. Inside, mostly. Her whole face already looked like it was dumped in a vat of toxic Kool Aid.
Her mouth opened for an apology, but it never came out. She stayed like that instead, looking like the fool she believed she was. Her heart pounded against her chest so hard that she thought her ribs would get bruised.
With her hand clutched to her chest, she looked away from him to catch her scattered thoughts. She glanced at the window, to her dripping umbrella, to the old couple seated at the seats before her, and then to the hand that nearly melted hers. It was tightly holding a distorted brown envelope, unopened and ignored; just as he was ignoring Mai and everyone else.
False courage within her now, Mai counted backwards from ten and sucked in a large breath.
"I - I'm so -"
The operator cut her off, calling twice as the bus stopped for the third time. Her lips closed shut, her teeth clanking together as she did so. Her broken apology turned into a messy jumble of words, but her neighbor undertood what she meant anyway. He shifted to give way for her, and Mai was off into the unforgiving humidity of the plum rain.
Mai fanned herself with her piece of paper to get rid of the heat, half of which was the weather, and half of which was her stupidity.
Like the masochist she was, she replayed the moment in her head like it was a never ending loop of a short film. After the heaviest of embarrassment had passed, she remembered what she saw on the envelope the young man was holding. To her sheer curiosity, the package seemed to have come from abroad. The letters were of the English alphabet, after all.
It said: 'Lue - '
Mai didn't know what came next. The owner's pale hand had been in the way.
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A/N: I couldn't help but sneak a line from 'Frozen' in there. I watched it again yesterday. Hehe. Thanks for reading! :D