Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater
(featuring the Kikukawa family houseplant)
The two women caused heads to turn as they walked through the dormitory lobby.
They looked very similar to one another: blonde hair; strong, confident expressions; busty figures; bold, striding walks. Though one was an eighteen-year-old college freshman and the other twenty-five years older, the similarities far outweighed the differences.
Particularly in voice.
"I'm still not certain that this is the best decision for you, living in the dormitory."
"I thought we discussed this already, Mother. A Suzushiro has to earn her money by her own merits. How can I be expected to lead if I use my parents' wealth to escape the challenges of education?"
"That's certainly true," the older woman said, "and your father and I agreed with you. What kind of example would you set for the other students if you relied on our family's money to live in a comfortable apartment away from your classmates?"
"A quieter one?" a boy sitting in the TV lounge joked to his friends. The other two freshmen snickered, and two blonde heads swiveled towards them with steel in their eyes even though there was no rational way they could have actually heard what was said. The three boys developed an intense interest in the television, and the righteous wrath of Haruka Suzushiro and her mother passed them by. This time.
Ordinarily, Haruka would have walked up the stairs to her fourth-floor room; she did it constantly to keep up her leg strength. Since her mother was her guest, though, she pressed the button to call for the elevator.
"Even so," Mrs. Suzushiro continued on her theme, "we must remember that it's your education that's the most important thing. Looking out for the well-being of your fellow students and practicing for assuming a leadership role are also important, but not if they interfere with your ability to learn."
The elevator doors swished open and the women stepped inside. Haruka selected her floor and they started to rise.
"What do you mean, Mother?"
"The environment."
She gestured around herself; Haruka assumed she meant the whole dormitory and not just the elevator.
"Loud music, drinking or worse, shouting, crashing, to say nothing of slovenly personal habits and a rejection of personal responsibility. There is a complete lack of proper discipline here, and I fear for what it might do to you."
"I'm ranked second in my class, Mother; that's actually better than I did in high school."
"I know, and that's why we haven't objected. But as parents, we can't help but be afraid of the possible consequences. Can you properly concentrate on your studies in such an environment?"
"Of course! Do you think I'm so teak-minded as to be distracted by little things like that?" She was still laughing brazenly when the door opened. They walked down the hall, and Mrs. Suzushiro couldn't help but be less than impressed by what she saw. A discarded pizza box sat outside one door, another door was all but vibrating from the bass output of the music coming from the other side, a pair of underwear was knotted around a doorknob, and there was a large, wet stain from a spilled beer on the hall carpet. Haruka stopped at her own room and knocked.
"Come in!"
They went inside. Unlike the chaos outside, Haruka's dormitory room was spotless. The two beds were made, the bookshelves orderly, the open closets showed clothes and shoes in orderly rows, and the only thing on the floor was a rug. One desk was cluttered with papers, but that was because a freckled, short-haired brunette with glasses was working at it.
"Yukino," Mrs. Suzushiro said in surprise. "I hadn't expected to see you here." Haruka's best friend and sidekick, Yukino Kikukawa, was a second-year in high school, so lived in a different set of dorms.
Yukino rose politely.
"Haruka was going to help me with my statistics homework, Mrs. Suzushiro."
"Ah, good! Well, then, I'd better let you girls get to it, especially since I can see that my worries were unfounded. You should come home this weekend, Haruka, and bring Yukino. We're having a party to celebrate your cousin Yuji's engagement."
"I'll try to make the time. Thanks for stomping by, Mother."
"It's 'stopping,' Haruka."
Mother and daughter hugged, and then the elder Suzushiro left. Haruka let out a big sigh.
"That was close. Thanks, Yukino!"
"We were glad to help. Now?"
"Hm...maybe wait a couple of minutes in case she forgot something."
Mrs. Suzushiro didn't return, though, and Yukino said, "All right, Diana, you can let it go." The air seemed to shiver, and a half-dozen flower-like spores fluttered to the ground. The illusion dropped, and the room was revealed for what it was: posters of underdressed guys on the walls, wastebaskets filled just short of overflowing, beds a tousled mess, and clothes strewn everywhere. Haruka's roomate's lamp was half-covered by a pair of tights, and Haruka had to move a cricket bat and the remains of lunch out of the way before she could drop onto her own bed.
"I owe you, big-time," she told Yukino. "If Mom had seen this sty like it really is, she'd have lost it completely. Did it ever occur to her that getting a chance to relax is why my grades have gotten better? If it wasn't for that bubuzuke woman, Shizuru Fujino..."
"Haruka, remember, relax," Yukino chided gently, and Haruka sighed again.
"Right. Relax. Anyway, thanks to you, that's one thing I'm saved from for now."
"It was all Diana's doing." Yukino gently stroked the fronds of the potted plant sitting on the desk and the vines wriggled happily.
"I guess it's true what Mom's home destruction magazines say."
"It's 'decoration,' Haruka. Anyway, what do they say?"
"A houseplant can really make a room look better."