Reaching for the Stars

Part II, Chapter 11 – Finale

Prologue

A short girl with long locks of hair stands in the driveway of a prestigious school in the heart of Tokyo, Japan. The black sailor-style uniform she wore flapped calmly in the wind as she stood there impatient yet silent. Just then, a convertible sports car drove by and stopped right where the girl was standing. An older man, her father, waved and greeted the girl with a smile but the girl didn't mind him at all. She just got onto the car and slammed the door shut, prodding the man to start driving again. At the back of the car were a number of articles of luggage, all of which were labeled 'Taiga Aisaka'.

The car left the school and made it's way through the busy Tokyo streets to the central train station. All that time, neither of them said a word. The only thing the father and daughter shared was their silence.

The Two-Story Rent House

The uniform of Ohashi High, along with a pair of refurbished leather shoes, was laid out on my humble futon bed (which was barely a bed at all…) one fine morning in early April. I had specifically woken up about half an hour earlier than usual to arrange those things. Now that it was before me, a wide smile grew on my face. Today was the opening ceremony at Ohashi High and once I walk through the school gates in that uniform, I would officially begin my life as a high-schooler – just thinking about it brought shivers up my spine. Good shivers, that is – there's a difference!

'What would it be like?' I would ask myself every now and then, thinking of every possible scenario… though I tried to think positively as I put on the uniform in that barely furnished room I was renting. Now that I was on my own two feet, where would I go from there?

Just then the sound of a parrot struggling to say something resounded from the apartment upstairs. The poor bird sounded so strained that it would have brought a zoologist to tears. Alongside that sound of struggle, another voice seemed to be prodding it on; a person's.

"Come on Inko-chan!" The voice cheered, "You can say it! Say 'Inko'..."

"Iiinn~ kweh…"

The struggle stopped followed by an audible sigh,

"Not today huh…" the voice continued, "I guess it can't be helped."

That was my neighbor, Ryuji Takasu and his pet parrot Inko-chan. Such strange sounds from the bird were common in the mornings, saying short incomprehensible words or phrases in its waking moments. Perhaps it was trying to speak English instead of Japanese. I'll never know.

Anyways, Ryuji lived in the second floor of the two-story rent house with his mother Yasuko Takasu – a co-worker of mine in Vaisravana's heaven who has a stage name of 'Mirano'. Judging by the constant shuffle of feet from upstairs, I could tell that he, just like I was supposed to be doing, was preparing for school. I had learned from Mirano-chan that he was going to study at Ohashi High as well, but other than that I didn't really know much about him. Though we had been neighbors for about four days, we rarely ran into each other, let alone speak to each other. Today would be no different, I thought, as I readied myself to head on out. Fate, however, seemed intent on breaking that silence.

"Satoshi-kun!" Called Yasuko from above, "You up already?"

"Mom!" Ryuji argued, "You shouldn't be so loud in the mornings. Our neighbors are gonna complain!"

"Eh?" Yasuko said in a clueless voice, "Satoshi-kun's our only neighbor, so…"

"I'm awake, I'm awake." I responded, heading out the door to hear them more clearly. Once I was outside, the window opened and mother and son peered out. "What's up?"

"Satoshi-kun, I was wondering if you wanted to have breakfast with us this morning." Yasuko said, "Ryu-chan put in an extra half-cup of rice in the rice cooker you see…"

"Actually, you asked me to put in that extra half-cup, mom." Ryuji countered, "You said that you felt like having seconds but ended up not finishing your share…"

"In any case Satoshi-kun, would you like some breakfast?" Yasuko offered a second time, "Unless you've already had breakfast, that is."

Come to think of it, I didn't have any breakfast that morning since I was planning to just buy food at the convenience store. My grumbling stomach seemed to value homemade food more than convenience store food too, so I was compelled to accept.

"Is it really alright?" I asked, fixing the collar of my uniform

"We still have about an hour before the opening ceremony." Ryuji said, "Besides, we got off on the wrong foot last week. Call this a peace offering if you will."

Right… remembering our first encounter at the rent house, there was no wonder the two of us never spoke to each other even once till now. Since we were going to be going to the same school, we might as well make amends.

"Thanks. I'm coming up." I replied, heading up the stairs to join them for breakfast. After a good serving of fried fish and miso soup, along with the half-cup of rice I had been offered in the first place, I was quite thankful I didn't go on ahead. The traditional Japanese breakfast trumps instant noodles any day after all!

"This is really good!" I praised, "I didn't know you were a good cook Mirano-chan. I'm sure that if you brought food like this to the bar, the boss and the bouncer might be a little less grumpy!"

"They might," Yasuko said with a smile, "but the thing is, it's Ryu-chan who makes the food around here."

"Whoa, really?" I asked surprised

"Yeah." Ryuji said with a slight nod, "A handful of home economics skills comes in handy, especially when you're living on a tight budget."

"Is that so…Thanks for breakfast by the way, I appreciate it Takasu."

"No problem."

After this meeting, I came to realize that Ryuji Takasu wasn't exactly the fierce person I had thought him to be. Quite far from that, he was a gentle domesticated giant. Young guys my age who knew how to cook, and as I would later learn, clean around the house were rare. This positive facet however was seemingly outweighed by his looks. From a distance, his eyes were a little awkward and the slightest crumple of the brow translated to apparent fury. Up close like this though, that wasn't the case and he seemed like a regular fellow.

Anyways, as soon as we finished breakfast, I heard a bike stop at the front yard of the rent house. Taking a look out the window, I saw that it was Yuusaku headed for my apartment.

"Satoshi-kun." Yuusaku said as he knocked on the rickety old door on the first floor, "Are you up yet? We're going to be late for class if we don't hurry, you know."

"Kitamura!" I called, "I'm up here."

"Up?" Yuusaku said lifting his eyes, "Oh."

"Hey there." Ryuji said greeting Yuusaku, "You're from Ohashi High student too?"

"Yeah." Yuusaku said, seemingly unaffected by Ryuji's eyes, "I'm Yuusaku Kitamura, incoming freshman."

"Ryuji Takasu." Ryuji replied, "How do you do?"

"Are~ are~?" Yasuko hummed as she looked out the window, wondering what was going on, "Oh, it's one of Satoshi-kun's friends."

Not wanting to continue our conversation through the window, Ryuji and I came down to meet with Yuusaku where the two introduced themselves properly. Talking there, we decided to walk to school with Ryuji instead of biking as originally planned. We would just pull our bikes along with us – it wasn't that big of a deal. It was the first day of school after all – it was only natural for people who lived close by, much more the same rent house, to walk together.

We bid farewell to Ryuji's mom who saw us off till the driveway. We then started walking down the road to Ohashi High. On our way there, Yuusaku and I found out that Ryuji, no thanks to his eyes, was socially estranged. It wasn't because he told us he was socially estranged – that would make for an awkward introduction after all. It was because of the way other people acted around him. We had passed by a number of people in the Ohashi High uniform on the way to school, but every single one of them avoided Ryuji like the plague. There were even people who, when bumping into Ryuji, would desperately beg for forgiveness after seeing his eyes. They would then offer him their wallets then run away for dear life. Ryuji would just keep on walking, muttering silent curses to some phantom of sorts.

"This happens to me a lot, you see." Ryuji said dejectedly, "It happened all throughout Middle School… I guess it's going to happen again in High School. Everyone I meet is afraid of these damn eyes…"

"Well, I guess this year you can make two exceptions." Yuusaku said with a smile

"Actually, the first time this guy saw me," Ryuji said, "he curled up into a ball too."

"I told you, I'm sorry." I apologized again, remembering the incident all too clearly.

"But I appreciate it." Ryuji said with a faint smile. Just then, the school chime rang through the air. The three of us quickened our pace, left the two bikes at a bike park and headed straight for the auditorium for the opening ceremony. Unlike outside, it was rather dark in the auditorium with only the stage being brightly lit. This meant that no one really saw the fierce eyes of Ryuji. There, no one really avoided him, save for the few who glanced at him every now and then from afar. He seemed to feel much more comfortable here. Clearly, his eyes seemed to cause him a lot of trouble so he was more than happy to disappear like this from time to time. After the ceremony though, the avoidance began anew as we stepped back into the sunlight. Out there, someone was waiting for us.

"Kitamura-kun, Tanaka-san!" Called Minori, waving to us as she ran to where we were. Yuusaku and I turned and saw the usually plain and boyish Minori Kushieda wearing the red-coated Ohashi High girl's uniform. As if that wasn't enough to grab our attention, she even unflinchingly did a turn or two to show Yuusaku and I the uniform (in exchange for turning around ourselves – but we could live with that). As pretty as whe was though, the passionate monologue she gave us about dry cleaning and laundry reminded me that she was still most energetic, strangest and most eccentric girl I knew… second only to Yui-senpai perhaps. What a waste. Ryuji however seemed to think otherwise.

He stood there behind us as we chatted with the strange girl, enthralled by the mere presence of her. His heart then raced when her eyes happened to meet with his for one fateful moment. All of the sudden a fit of panic overcame our estranged companion, remembering the consequences he had to face whenever anyone saw those eyes of his. As if it were a defense mechanism, he dug his hands into his pockets and turned away. Minori however did not.

"Ah, and who might this be?" She said, looking at Ryuji with interest. "Is he with you guys?"

Yuusaku and I gave her a nod and Minori immediately approached Ryuji with a warm smile.

"Hey there, the name's Minori. Minori Kusheida."

This seemingly simple introduction struck a chord in Ryuji's heart. Never before had he felt this way in his life and his heart beat faster and faster. It was rare for people to be unfazed by his looks, let alone approach and talk to him like Yuusaku did earlier today but this was different. The fact that a girl like Minori, as topically strange as she might seem, saw past his eyes made it all the more special.

"Ryuji…" he replied shyly as he looked back and forth between Minori and the sky, "Ryuji Takasu."

"Nice to meet you." She said with a kind nod. "A friend of Satoshi-kun's I suppose."

"Yeah." I confirmed, "We live in the same rent house – he lives on the second floor."

"Dorm-mates huh!" Minori said happily, "That must be nice."

Yuusaku and I then dutifully explained to her the circumstances of our meeting earlier that morning. All that time, an air of brightness was about Ryuji and he seemed to be a little bit kindlier than before. He seemed happy.

Just then, one of the students called out to the rest saying that the class lists were finally being posted out on the courtyard. Looking at each other, the four of us walked on over to the lists to start looking for our names. We saw them listed together under the class 1-A. Minori, Yuusaku, Ryuji and I were going to be classmates! My first year in High School was going to start surrounded by friends I had made – everything was going smoothly. One quirk in this seemingly perfect situation however would tarnish that immaculate outlook.

The four of us had found the 1-A classroom and were duly welcomed by the homeroom teacher – an elderly music teacher who seemed just about ready to retire. Immediately after introducing himself to the class, he told us that he wasn't going to be our teacher for much longer since he was going to retire. In a few weeks time, he was going to be replaced by another music teacher – a music teacher transferring in from a school in Osaka; a teacher whose name made me cringe. She was Sawako Yamanaka – a soon-to-be-former teacher in Sakura-gakou; Ritsu's school.

End of Part II

Epilogue

Ritsu Tainaka sat with her legs crossed on the floor of her brother's former room in their house in Osaka. She sat there in the same spot Satoshi used to sit when he was troubled in the past and she slowly scanned the now empty room ponderously. Innumerable questions flowed through her head as she sat there, remembering the seemingly short time they had spent together. Holding the drumsticks the same way Satoshi used to do when she first taught him the drums, she wondered how he was doing now.

"He's probably eating instant noodles for breakfast." She thought to herself chuckling, remembering how much her little brother loved instant noodles. If he really didn't die in that frozen river, she reasoned, then he might die of sodium overconsumption. The thought made her giggle for a while, but warm as soon as she calmed down. Standing up from where she sat, she dusted her skirt and put on the school blazer she had set aside on the doorknob. Once it was on, she fished through her pockets and took out a metal flower-shaped pin painted gold. She pinned it onto the collar of the blazer and smiled.

"See this Satoshi?" She said, showing the phantom Satoshi the golden pin, "I'm going to graduate soon. When I do, I'm going to be free to find you. Yui, Mugi, Mio and Azusa, all of us are gonna find you!"

Just then, she remembered that Azusa wasn't graduating yet.

"Hmm... I didn't think about that..."

Dejectedly, she stuck her hands into her skirt pocket making a loud crumpling noise.

"Eh? What's this?"

It was a sheet of paper that read 'Sakura Gakou Senior's Future Questionnaire'. The sheet was supposedly a declaration of the kind of college or university they wanted or the field or profession they wanted to pursue. The one in Ritsu's pocket however was notably empty.

"Didn't think about this either..." she said with a heavy sigh, "I wonder if Yui already answered hers?"

Author's Notes: So, Part II of Reaching for the Stars is finally done and I am very much satisfied with the story as a whole. Keep in mind though that the story is not finished - not by a longshot! Part III will be something I hope you all will look forward to in the near future since I am looking forward to writing it myself! Now that I am in 1st year University though, I am declaring a temporary hiatus. If I can handle it, I'll try to update once a month like before :D. Thanks for reading Reaching for the Stars - Part III will come soon :)