TRACK 6
A hard day's night – The Beatles
Hiyori turned on her bedroom light, tossed the school briefcase aside over her desk and plopped on her bed, wrinkling her ruffly duvet. With the face agains her pillow, she yelled. Once she calmed herself down a bit, she thought about those last few busy days.
When she arrived at home last night, her mother had hugged her, crying her heart out. After a couple uncomfortable questions and warnings from police officers, Hiyori's parents thanked the officials driving around the neighborhood after the little miss perfection Iki Hiyori getaway was announced on her home over the phone, directly from the school main office. Hiyori was at the kitchen table, with a hot chocolate mug in front of them and the severe look of her parents fixed on her bangs. She couldn't dare to raise her eyes off her mug to face them. Her father spoke first.
"I think you owe us an explanation, young lady."
Mrs. Iki pushed further, seeing her daughter's nervous silence.
"We will have to see the headmaster with you tomorrow to provide an explanation of what is really going on here, Hiyori", and added, with an afflicted tone, "to think our daughter, our little treasure, a role model student, is out there on the street with a complete unknown person…"
Hiyori's father took Mrs. Iki's hand in a cherishing gesture to calm her down. He looked straight to his daughter, who was sure she was a few inches shorter.
"We just want to know what's happening, princess."
Hiyori sighed, containing a sob. "Role model student", her mother had said. That was exactly the problem! She had always made an effort to be clean, to be good, to be correct. Hundredths of times she thought on doing the complete opposite, but she hadn't; the problem was that the first time she had actually done it, it was so surprising that it had to be a complete scandal. It was so hard to feel that everything you do, everything you want, has to be thought and re-thought at least three times before you said it! "And then, you realize you never actually said what you wanted", Hiyori thought, closing her eyes shut. Her mind was running wild everywhere without finding a clear answer. What should she answer to her parents? This two people had been worried about her wellbeing during all 16 years of her life, plus a few more from his brother, and now they were lost, worried and concerned about her, who had just acted by pure instinct. What should she say? She couldn't just go with "turns out I found out the guy I almost break my skull in two for is a debuting Rockstar with no sense of personal style and a way too strange attitude", she had to think something else. She would have liked to have the cold nerve of her brother, taking extra shifts on E.R., making really hard decisions in record time. But of course, her brother probably had never ran away from school like her, he was always perfect, always an example, the ideal son…
Hiyori opened her eyes and smiled. The answer was right there!
"I'm sorry I worried you, mother, father", and she added, after a brief pause and a slight reverence, "actually this was supposed to be a secret for both of you". Her parents traded a tense look. "It was a surprise… but I actually have never done something like this, so I think I was being way too clumsy to not catch attention."
Hiyori let out a nervous laugh. Her parents shared a face of complete confusion.
"S-surprise?" muttered her mother, "honey, what are you talking about?"
Hiyori sat straight on her chair, and filled her lungs. "Your anniversary will be in a few months, remember?"
For a short period of time, the time at the kitchen froze. The couple's faces were a mixture between washed out anger, absolute surprise and an almost hilarious confusion. Mr. Iki cleared his throat.
"25 years of marriage, true… it's true…"
"Hiyori, baby, you…!" her mother couldn't came up with no coherent statement, and placed her fingers over her lips.
"We were trying to organize it without you noticing..."
"So then, the "man" the headmaster saw you running with…?" Mr Iki began.
"It was brother, father. I'm really sorry to have worried you like this."
Yet another lie. Hiyori felt as if her heart was made of lead for lying so many times throughout the day, but fortunately she seemed to be good at it – "what kind of a talent is that, Hiyori?", she scowled herself – so good that at least for the time being her plan was working really smoothly. Her parents never spoke to Masaomi unless he called first, that was the agreement they did once he started working at E.R. They understood he was always packed up with work and it would be way too unfortunate if they had searched for her with him too. She heard the comments of her parents with a bitter taste on her tongue. They seemed happy. Because of a lie, but humans use to do that regularly, right? Happiness, however, tends to be ephemeral.
"I need to speak with Masaomi this time. You shouldn't have bothered in making all this fuss in secret, you both can get into serious trouble", said her dad, taking the kitchen phone and dialing a number. With each button, Hiyori was losing all the color on her skin, and a shiver traced all the way down her spine when she realized he was actually dialing her brother's number. It had been too good to last long. After a few seconds, her brother picked up.
"I'm glad you answer, Masaomi! Your sister already told us what is going on, you really made us extremely concerned!", Hiyori was trying to hide her panic and watched intently her dad's change of expression. He was taking too long to explode, why did they delayed so much her agony? "You could have planned things in a much subtler manner! Appearing at her school without any notice, the teachers were honestly really scared!" Mr. Iki made a pause to listen. Hiyori waited, sure that her end was close. Weirdly enough, her father's face didn't show any changes. "Thank you for all of this, son, you know both are everything to us, and for you to be organizing this kind of event makes us really flattered!", yet another pause; what the hell was going on? "Ah, sure, we will see you tomorrow at the hospital. Sure, here she is," her father turned to look at her, smiling. "Masaomi wants to speak with you, Hiyori."
The girl took the phone, crushed it between her hands and stepped back a bit, smiling nervously, before sprinting all the way to her bedroom. She closed the door behind her.
"Brother?"
The silence at the other side of the line was a clear sign that Masaomi was furious. His loud sigh confirmed it.
"So you finally lost your mind, huh?"
"L-listen, Masaomi, tha…"
"I don't know what you are about to thank me for, but I really don't want to hear about it…"
"Thank you for lying for me", she said, boldly, with a hint of desperation on her voice about to begin to break. The line stayed silent again. Hiyori leant herself against her bedroom wall and let herself fall slowly until she finished up sitting on the floor.
"Anything you have said or done," he spoke again, trying to be completely clear, "I'm sure you had a really good reason to do it."
Hiyori let the air she didn't know she was holding on her lungs. She relaxed so much that she could swear she was about to vomit. Her brother was so good that even when he didn't understood a thing their father had said, he simply played along, just because it was about her.
"How can I pay you for this? You seriously just saved m…"
"Let's just leave this matter aside, sister, before I begin to want to know more about why the hell you ran away from school and with whom, but if you really want to pay me…" He raised his voice, because Hiyori couldn't stop stuttering, "then let me suggest this: you involved me in a supposed celebration for our parent's wedding anniversary. You would have to do that by yourself, and you will give me part of the credit for that, just as if we were doing this together. Not a word to mom and dad, what do you think?"
Hiyori doubted.
"Masaomi, I have absolutely no clue on how to organize a wedding anniversary party."
"I told that as a suggestion, but actually you don't have another option, Hiyori" he said, leaving her frozen. At the end she wasn't being as blessed as she thought. "This was all your idea."
"…leave it on me…" she muttered.
"Stay out of trouble, understood?"
"Yes, brother."
"I'm going back to work, this phonecall already took too much of my time."
"Take care."
The line disconnected with a quiet crunchy sound. Hiyori dropped the phone as if it was made of lava and hugged her knees with her arms, burying her head on them. She tried to breathe, to calm herself down. The velvety black from the inside of her eyes turned into the clear image of a smiling guy, sitting on the bench of a park with the snapback hat placed backwards and wearing a jersey with bots. She immediately stood with an exasperated huff and threw herself over the bed. "Not now!", she complaint. To her brain, maybe. Or to him.
She didn't noticed falling asleep.
Her dad left the house early, so the one standing on the hallway next to her beside the door to the teacher's room, was her mother.
It was just as terrible as she thought it will be. Miss Kamishiro was standing as a crow on a branch next to the headmaster, who had Hiyori's file over the desk and began turning the pages once they were both seated in front of him and the secretary had closed the door behind them.
"Iki Hiyori", he began, and in his square face a disappointed expression was beginning to form, "excellent notes since always, an outstanding sports participation," he looked at her dead in the eye, "having all the assets of an elite student. I can't believe you simply chose to put your university future at risk to escape, in the whole extension of the word, halfway the school schedule, with that young man."
Her mother spoke.
"I can explain this, sensei." Hiyori somehow felt bad about her lie had been successful; adjectives like "beautiful children" and "really touching" came out as bullets from her mother's mouth, leaving the headmaster perplex.
"Well, the fact this man is her brother actually turns this into a less unfortunate situation," he admitted. Hiyori dared to take her eyes out her file, and swiftly looked at the literature teacher, who again seemed to be tasting a piece of lime zest. The rest of the school year was about to turn into a complete nightmare. "But there are proper ways to do things, miss Iki." Hiyori lowered her head.
"I'm so sorry."
"I guess a lot of this comes out from the fact that you, young lady, have no activities on clubs or something similar after school hours", continued the headmaster. He did have made his research on her file. "Social activities are extremely important in a good citizen education. There is no use in having outstanding grades if you can't work as a part of this society."
"Sensei, regarding that, Hiyori has lessons almost every afternoon, with its exceptions." Said her mother.
"Oh, well, but I meant social activities inside the school. There is two or three good lessons a young miss her age can learn chatting and involving with her school mates in any after-school activity. I recommend you to reduce the number of lessons Iki-san goes to, if possible."
"Yes, sensei, of course"
Hiyori, once again, had to sit tight while her life was being decided. She remembered Yato's scene the day before, yelling and stepping out to Kofuku's house garden. She reminded his thin frame, curling up in a corner like an angry cat before throwing a blow. Bad kitty. But I can't be mad at you, kitty, you have a pair of eyes like that…
"Not now, Hiyori! Goddamni it!", she scolded herself again. It was weird to have this urge that made her brain go running full speed to places where it shouldn't.
The headmaster had already stood up and looked outside through the window, hands behind her back.
"There won't be any punishment for Iki-san", he finally said. Miss Kamishiro jumped a bit. "However", he continued, "she will have a limit of two weeks to return to my office with a club form properly filled out. Pick one you like, Iki-san, you will surely find something to help you develop your social skills."
Her mother returned home a bit after that. Hiyori took a little longer to return to her classroom, and passed in front of a cork board in the hallway. She stopped to look at the big amount of posters and announcements pinned to it: notices of all kinds, an announcement about the bathrooms on the third floor being broken, requests for volunteers to sport clubs, tutorings, the kitchen club, the music club, the club of space enthusiasts…
Hiyori sighed. She had to stop her brain again of thinking every decision she had to take: "What would my mother pick?" She couldn't just simply pick one randomly and sign in. Mrs. Iki would consult in all possible manners all the options her daughter had and would pick the one that gave the better looks for society. "But what do I want? Why I don't have any idea? Who am I?" Giving up, she dragged her feet to her classroom. There was the door. She put her hand in the tin plaque to slid it, but she just stood there, frozen. "Why do I do the things I do?".
The bell took her out violently from her thoughts. The first period had already ended, and her teacher would soon come out to the hallway through the other door. Hiyori took a big mouthful of air and opened the door with confidence; confidence that faded away as soon as she noticed the stares of every single of her classmates fixed upon her. It couldn't be true that the whole school had seen her the other day, could it?
Nervously, she approached to her desk and slid the chair, making much more noise than she expected. The stares of everyone had followed her throughout the way. The silence was almost absolute, disturbed only for the voices of the other students changing classrooms outside. It couldn't be possible that everyone had seen her jumping to the street and running away hand to hand with Yato, could it? She wondered if it was actually possible to feel this small, this many times in one single day, just like Alice would. "Take me with you, Cheshire Cat", she thought, and wondered why this Cheshire Cat on her mind had big bright blue eyes, and at the same time two figures stood right beside her spot.
"Well, Hiyori?" Yama spoke, "don't you think forgetting to tell us the fact that you have a boyfriend is kinda big of a deal?"
Suddenly Hiyori completely forgot about the fact everyone was staring silently at her. She went tomato red up to the tips of her hair and yelled.
"WHAT?!"
"Aw, c'mon, absolutely no one jumps like that and runs away from school for just any random person." Ami added.
"Y-you're wrong! T-t-that was…!" Ami y Yama emphasized the fact they were trying to pull some sense out of what she was saying, raising the brows. "He's my brother!" she could finally let out. Of course she didn't felt any relief when her friends showed in their faces they didn't believe a word. But what was she supposed to tell them? "SHRINE's guitarist came to look for me at school to thank me I jumped to the street to save him the other day and I ended up spending the entire day at the band's house, and just by chance meeting their producer"? She would surely end up at some psychiatric hospital, and it was pretty clear she was not insane. The blue-eyed Cheshire Cat at the very back of her head let out a tingling laughter, "we're all crazy here", and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Ami and Yama insisted again during recess, on the changing rooms and at the end of school day.
"There's absolutely nothing to tell!", Hiyori snapped, finally, completely exasperated, "we wanted everything to be a surprise to my parents so we simply didn't tell anyone we were planning this stuff!"
Yama was already halfway upset, and the tone Hiyori used ended up breaking the little composure she had. "Whatever you told your parents it's not gonna work on me, Hiyori."
"Yama…" called Ami, concerned, trying to hold her friend from one shoulder.
"I wouldn't dare to assure that guy we saw matches anything you've told us about your brother, Hiyori, I'm not going to fall for that!"
"Yama, that's enough…" said Ami, almost in a whisper. Hiyori reached her limit. The classes had ended and she didn't had any other reason to stay there.
"I don't see why you should be falling for something, Yama-chan! That's the reality and in the case I was telling you a lie, I have the right to keep my secrets to myself, I have enough just with my mother sneaking into my life and I don't need to be spitting out explanations to my friends also!"
"Hiyori-chan!" Ami tried, but Hiyori was walking quickly to the gate already.
Her afternoon class had been a complete disaster. Ballet made Hiyori felt like a monkey on a tutu, and adding up the fact she was already mad wasn't making it better. Her classmates looked at her angrily when raising up her leg suddenly became a kick to the ribs of one of them, and the teacher decided to interrupt the class to give her five minutes to go to the bathroom to fresh up her face and recover the focus. Hiyori turned the handle of the faucet so hard she ended up with it on her hand and spent 10 minutes trying to make it fit in place again.
When she came back, the teacher sent her home right away. It wasn't like she was too bothered about it. Actually, Hiyori knew for sure she didn't had any kind of talent for any form of art.
She arrived home with her head low, almost didn't touched her food, and went straight up to her bedroom. This had been, without a doubt, the hardest and most tiring day of her life. However, no matter how much she wanted to fall asleep for the rest of the night, she still had to do her homework. She took her blazer off and placed it on the chair of her desk, took her briefcase and carefully took out its contents, spreading it over the top of the desk, more on routine than on intention. She suddenly looked around, interested, to all her belongings, clean and organized on her desk; despite sitting there every night during most of her life, somehow suddenly wasn't right. She couldn't recognize the meticulousness the person using that desk had for organizing absolutely every book and binder and notebook she needed, the pens, the stationary, the planer. All clean. All almost new. No notebook had any sign of use, no personal embellishment. Her pencils and pens were simple, sober, standard. Who lived in that room?
"Hiyori", she answered out loud, leaning on her chair's back, which felt aggressive against her back. "Hiyori lives here", she sighed, staring over her stuff, deciding where to begin. She knew that just one quick look to her planner would be enough to know that, but right when she was about to take it, a candy wrapper sticking out of the front bag of her briefcase took her attention away. She took it between her hands, and let out a small laugh. It was the wrapping of a banana flavored KitKat bar, that Hiyori thought until now nobody on this world ever bought and repeatedly before she had thought it didn't made any sense they even sold it. At the back, hurriedly written with spidery signs, was an email address.
"You do know how to use email, don't 'cha?", he had said. She scoffed. Tomorrow she would show that dumb guy that used movie quotes, whose aspect didn't made any sense and whose mood changed every 0,3 seconds, that she could send properly an email. She placed the wrapper on her wallet carefully, stretched out her arms interlocking her fingers, and opened her planner.