Reaching for the Stars
Part III, Chapter 3
Prologue
Ryuji Takasu was silent as he sat in his humble room on the second floor of the two-story rent house that night. Headphones covered his ears as he sat on his chair, diligently answering the set of homework assigned to him earlier that day at school. Having read about those topics beforehand, he breezed through the homework without too much difficulty. Once he was done, he put aside the many academic textbooks and notebooks and took out another notebook. Inside that notebook were countless pieces of poetry he had written over the past few weeks - all of them were dedicated to Minori Kusheida.
Looking at these made the young man smile, but at the same time nervous. The person he was dedicating all of these to was his friend after all, but he never seemed to be able to approach her no matter how hard he tried. His pathetic attempts to approach her were only rivaled by his attempts to distance himself from her to 'even things out' and to not look awkward - which didn't seem to be helping out his situation in the least. He had known Minori for about a month now, yet he still doesn't really know that much about her... He didn't even know whether or not she already had a boyfriend. It seemed as if his chances of turning that poetry into prose for him were getting slimmer with each day he dawdled on.
"Don't worry about it Takasu." Yuusaku would tell him whenever he talked to him, "I'm sure she'll listen to you… whoever it is you're talking about anyways."
True enough, Ryuji never once mentioned his affection for Minori. During his talks with Yuusaku, he would refer to her as a girl he liked, not giving him any details whatsoever. Despite that, Yuusaku happily advised Ryuji and this made him feel reassured and optimistic. His other friend however, Satoshi Tanaka, made him feel the exact opposite.
Though Satoshi was one of the few friends Ryuji had in Ohashi High, he couldn't help but feel jealous of him. To his dismay, Satoshi was always beside Minori and they had grown to become the best of friends. On top of that, they both had jobs at the supermarket he frequented and were co-workers of his mom. As a matter of fact, the two of them were at Vaisravana's heaven that night working until a few hours past midnight as well.
Knowing all this, he couldn't help but compare himself to his friend. In Minori's eyes, he must have paled in comparison to Satoshi. She saw him as witty, energetic and sociable – everything he wasn't. It made him feel like a ghost.
Disheartened by that thought, he put his notebook aside and hid it in the recesses of his cabinet. He then went on to bed and turned off the lights. Lying there in the darkness, he eagerly waited for tomorrow and whatever chances it brought him. Hopefully, he'll have the courage to actually take them.
The Rent House - Satoshi's Apartment
I woke up one morning after having a dream; a terrible, terrible dream... Set about a year ago, during the time of Sakura-gakou's cultural festival, it was the nastiest dream I've ever hand. The Light Music Club was scheduled to have a performance there but the problem was that my sister Ritsu and Yui-senpai were both sick. Ui, Yui's sister, and I therefore had to replace our elder siblings in the performance. 'Well, that wouldn't be too bad now wouldn't it?' you might be thinking. Sadly, that wasn't the case.
In order to replace them, Ui and I had to dress up as our siblings to the very last detail. Ui-chan had no problem looking like Yui-senpai but I had to look like Ritsu! Damn it! I had to wear her school uniform, go to the school and have a practice session with the girls before the show! I was freakin cross-dress dressing! Thankfully it was just a dream - or at least some messed up alternate universe*.
Turning over to the side, I saw the digital alarm clock flashing '6:12 AM'. Damn... I woke up too early. Stupid dream… Freud would have a field day with that*. Lamenting the famous psychologist's scrutiny, I got up and took a quick shower, hoping to forget all about that nightmare. Brought back to the real world by jets of warm water and steam, I remembered yet another nightmare waiting to happen. Today was the day the new teacher, Sawako Yamanaka, was going to arrive. I didn't know what to do.
Pondering that thought, I stepped out of the shower when a loud thumping noise from outside reached my ears. Slipping into my school uniform, I hurried to open the door to see what was going on. Out there, on the doormat of my apartment sat a copy of the morning newspaper. Raising my eyes, I saw a figure mounted on a bicycle. The wide smile painted on her face was unmistakable. It was Minori.
"Kusheida-san!" I greeted with a smile, "You got a new job I presume."
"Yup!" Minori said, "A follower of the Mysterious Files of Labor never rests (except on days-off and holidays)! And besides, I'm going to get myself a bass remember? I'll need to save up then!"
"Right…" I said rubbing my chin, "Have you picked out the model you wanted?"
"Not really." Minori said shaking her head, "Hey… why don't you go with me to the music shop later today?"
"Sure, why not."
Though I knew close to nothing about guitars, I guess accompanying her there wouldn't be bad It reminded me of when Ritsu accompanied Mio-senpai when she was choosing her own bass a few years back. She didn't really make any suggestions (since she was too busy wandering off, to Mio-senpai's irritation) but having someone there with you as you choose can help too. Before I could say anything else though, the sound of a struggling bird reached our ears.
"Kweh! Kweh! Uwe… Kweh!"
It was Inko-chan, startled by our early morning chatter. Minori, not knowing what the hell that sound was jumped off her bike in a panic.
"Argh! What is that? A spirit, a ghost? Did I dishonor any of your ancestors Satoshi-kun?"
If my ancestors were out and about haunting this crazy world of ours, they'd be roaming somewhere in Osaka, not Ohashi... Laughing a bit, I reassured Minori, telling her that that was just Ryuji's pet Inko-chan and not anything occult. Scratching my head, I jokingly asked her if she was afraid of ghosts. She just stuck out her tongue and laughed heartily. She never really gives straight answers to questions like those, so I just sighed. Just then…
"Sorry about that Satoshi… my pet is really sensitive to sounds in the morning." Ryuji then apologized, sticking his head out the window. When he saw that it wasn't only me standing outside in the front yard though, he started to panic. "K… Ku… Kusheida-san?"
"Good morning Takasu-kun!" Minori greeted, waving to the aghast Ryuji
"Kusheida-san, what are you doing here?" Ryuji asked shyly
"I just got a job delivering the morning news!" Minori replied with a smile, "Your copy's on your porch."
"Oh, I see… thanks for that." Ryuji said, timidly opening his front door and taking the paper. An awkward silence then fell upon the three of us. Ryuji and Minori just watched each other, Minori being composed and cheerful and Ryuji absolutely devastated. I was just in the middle, watching the awkwardness unfold. The sun then rose in the distance, illuminating the scene in bright light. I then came up with a plan to break that silence.
"Hey Kusheida-san." I said turning to her, "It's almost 7AM. Have you had breakfast yet?"
"Breakfast?" Minori repeated, "Come to think of it, I haven't had breakfast yet…"
"Then why don't you join Ryuji and me?" I offered with a smile, "We usually have breakfast at around this time."
"Satoshi…" Ryuji whispered to me desperately from afar, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Come on Takasu-san." I prodded, "The more the merrier right?"
"That sounds nice and all…" Minori said laughing dryly, "But I don't want to be too much trouble… you'd have to make an extra cup of rice after all and more side dishes. Are you fine with that Takasu-kun?"
Ryuji's hesitation to accept then withered away.
"It's not too much of a hassle Kusheida-san." Ryuji said with a smile, "Rice won't be an issue, and I usually make too many dishes anyways."
"Alright then!" Minori said cheerfully, "Let's go Satoshi-kun! I can't wait to try some of Takasu-kun's cooking!"
Minori and I then headed up to Ryuji's apartment and left our shoes at the anteroom. Minori offered to help the two of us cook breakfast, but we said we could handle it ourselves. Ryuji then led Minori to the family room where the family parrot while handing me an apron as he usually did. This time though, there was an air of enthusiasm about him.
"Let's make this one extra special, okay Satoshi?" He said determinedly, "We don't want to disappoint Kusheida-san now!"
"Right."
As we prepared the pots and pans, Minori put aside her messenger bag in the family room and watched the ugly parrot prance around in it's cage. Though the bird looked terrifying from afar, Minori didn't look away. She just watched it silently with a smile.
"Iiiiiin~ Iiiiiin~ ko… In… ko. Inko!"
In Minori's presence, the bird that had struggled to say it's own name was finally able to say it. Minori grinned as it started flapping its wings happily.
"You're not as scary as I thought you were." She whispered to the bird. The sound of kitchen clatter then filled the room and breakfast was underway.
Later that day, Ryuji, Minori, Yuusaku and I were seated together in the 1-A classroom, talking like we usually did before classes. As always, Minori brought out yet another interesting rant from her infinite bag of anecdotes and opinions and Yuusaku was silently prodding me to join him and Ryuji during recess and lunch in their girl-watching activities. That day though, there was another topic floating about our conversation... and it wasn't just our conversation. Everyone else was talking about it was the day of the arrival of their new teacher. An air of curiosity filled the classroom as everyone started to wonder what kind of teacher our new teacher would be.
"Hopefully she's as nice as our old one," one of my classmates would say.
"They say she has a masters degree in Classical Music Theory." Another added, "I also heard she's something else on the piano."
Comments like these were traded throughout the room as they all asked the same question; who is Sawako Yamanaka?
"What do you think Satoshi?" Yuusaku asked, "Everyone thinks she might be one hell of a teacher."
I didn't know at that time, but Yuusaku's comment was accurate in more ways than one.
"I have no idea." I shrugged, "I'll just have to wait and see."
As much as I tried to put together a picture of Sawako, all I had to build on were the scrambled bits and pieces I heard from my sister and her band mates. Other than hair color, height and the fact that she was Ritsu's former teacher, I didn't really know much about her making my anxiety way worse than I wanted it to be. Surely, she must have been close to Afternoon Tea Time... if she saw me like this then she'll probably blow the whistle. This is bad. Unable to calm myself down, I just leaned idly in my seat and watched as the minutes flew by. In a moment's time, she was going to burst into the room, introduce herself and find me out... that's what'll happen come 8:15. Anytime now...
8:15 came though, but our new teacher did not, confusing everyone in the room.
"This is strange..." Yuusaku said rubbing his chin, "New teachers shouldn't be late for their first homeroom classes..."
"Maybe she got lost." Ryuji reasoned, "She's a new teacher after all, and this is a pretty big school."
"She might still be in the teacher's lounge." I said, standing up from my seat, "I'll go look for her."
"You want us to go with you?" Minori asked
"Nah, I'll be fine." I replied with a smile. I then walked out of the room then rushed up to the fourth floor where the teacher's lounge was. I figured that the best thing to do was to confront her now rather than complicate things, but what exactly was I going to do? The moment she sees me, she'll know who I am. I'm sure of that. She will tell me to go back, I know. Knowing all of that, what was I going to say? Then, I reached the fourth floor, ready to face the music. The genre of the music I was going to face however was something I never would've expected.
The muffled sounds of an electric guitar wailing the riffs of 'Smells like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana greeted my ears the moment I got there. The sounds came from the music room, which was a few rooms away from the teacher's lounge. Since the music room was almost completely soundproof, whoever the hell was playing was playing pretty freakin' loud. With equal parts of curiosity and amazement, I opened the door to see a woman wearing a white Gibson Flying-V guitar, rocking out like there was no tomorrow. Once she saw me though, she paled up in seconds. There and then, I realized exactly what our new teacher was like. Behind all of the rumors of her classical background and piano skill, she punk to the core. Seeing her worried face, I suddenly remembered the nickname my sister made up for her when she was still her teacher. Grinning, I turned to her and said,
"Good morning, Sawa-chan."
To Be Continued
Epilogue
It was 10PM in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Francis Suzuki was seated before his laptop computer with a smile on his face. As usual, he was talking with Yui Hirasawa about the most nonsensical things in the universe. In the middle of yet another one of Yui's harangues though, another message window opened with the user name 'JSuzuki_91"
"Hey little bro!" It said. It was Jun Suzuki, her elder sister who chose to stay behind in Osaka.
"Yo Jun-nee." Francis replied, "How's Osaka this time of year?"
"Osaka is always awesome, any time of year bro!" Replied Jun, accompanied by a number of emoticons, "Seriously dude, you should've just stayed here with Auntie Katherine. Is International Baccalaureate really that important?"
"IB prepares you for college, sis, something you should look into soon." Francis countered, "You're a senior now after all."
"Like you're one to talk..." Jun replied, "You spend most of your time studying for Music class, it's a surprise you still ace the other subjects."
"Well, that's because I actually study. Unlike someone I know." Francis said
"Meanie!" Jun replied with an angry emoticon
"Just kidding."
"Anyways, how's our big brother doing?" Jun gleaned, "He's in a band right?"
"Hal's doing great, Jun-nee*." Francis replied, "His band's already famous in Nova Scotia - 'Hal Explosion'*. They actually hired me as a roadie."
"You're a roadie now, huh." Jun replied, "And if I remember correctly, you got yourself a Stratocaster too. You really like rock, don't you."
"I love it." Francis replied, "I love music in general, but rock is special to me."
"I still remember the time you played the violin though." Jun said, "Back then, you said you were going to be a concert violinist."
"Don't remind me of that..." Francis replied, "I'm a guitar person now... I've given up on that a long time ago."
"Right..." Jun said, choosing not to delve in any deeper, "Anyways, guess what? Ui and I decided to join the Light Music Club!"
"Is that so? Good for you."
Messed up alternate universe - My other story, Time Out! Substitution!
Freud would have a field day with this - Kyon's memorable line after his dream with Haruhi in the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Hal Explosion - A reference to the Halifax Explosion, an event that destroyed the City of Halifax in the past. Hal Explosion is a heavy Rock n' Roll band.
Jun-nee - A shortened version of Jun onee-san. Francis and Jun are relatively close siblings, so it's his affectionate way to refer to her. Unlike Hal who spent most of his life in Canada, Jun and Francis spent a lot of time in Japan and refer to each other using Japanese convention. Hal uses typical English convention and says 'eh' noticeably more frequently.
Author's Comments: In my profile page, there's a new character poll. Choose your three favorite heroines from K-ON and Toradora!