"Is there anything I should know before meeting her?"
Koji and Hana are going to Tokyo to take their entrance exams tomorrow. They passed their test to graduate from Yamaku, so now their focus is a series of entrance exams, with Tokyo the most important to them both. It's the ideal school for both of them, and it will make it very easy for them to stay together. Koji is also meeting Akari's mom during the visit. That way, if Koji stumbles a little, she will be more likely and able to help. We're with Koji in a private room in the library having a meeting about it. The three of us are seated at a large table.
"Well…first sh-she is less scary than she seems."
"So…she seems scary, huh?"
Akari looks at me, I guess she wants my input. "She does. Although…I didn't think she was that scary until I got into an argument with her. So, as long as you don't do that…you're okay."
Koji raises his eyebrows, "You got into an argument with your girlfriend's mom?"
"Luckily we were only friends at the time. But…yeah. I don't think there's another human being who would succeed in a verbal altercation with her."
Koji's eyes get wide like saucers, "You're not exactly a shrinking violet. That does sound scary."
I laugh, "Don't worry though. I don't think she'll be scary at this meeting. She's a little cold and aloof maybe, but honestly because you like English literature so much, you may not even notice. She loves talking about that."
Koji smiles, "That's mostly what we will talk about so that's good to hear."
"Speaking of English, th-there's a good chance she'll just switch languages with you. I know she d-does that with her students."
Koji nods, "I think I can handle that. I will make sure to read a lot in English that day to have my brain ready."
I add, "I would recommend sticking to fairly formal speech too, in both languages I guess. She likes that."
He nods, "I can do that." He looks at his phone and sighs. "I guess I better get back to cramming for the exam."
The three of us stand up. As we're heading for the door he turns around and says, "Hey, Akari…it really means the world to me that you did this. It makes me feel a little less stressed, and right now that is really important."
He hugs Akari and she hugs him back.
"I'm glad I could help. You and Hana g-go show that exam who's boss, okay?"
They break the hug, and he laughs, "That's the plan. Thanks for your help too, Kayoko."
I smile, "No problem. Have a good trip and an even better exam."
He nods, "See you in a few days." Then he leaves the room.
I turn to smile at Akari, but I'm surprised to see some serious signs of anxiety on her face.. Her eyes are wide, and she looks like she wants to cry. Her breathing is becoming fast and shallow. I have no idea what triggered this. This has never happened when she is alone with me. By reflex I put my arms around her and rub her back.
"Akari?" She doesn't respond, so I just keep doing what I'm doing, and I start humming our song to her too. After a few minutes, she starts to come out of it. Her breathing slows to normal, but her entire body is still tense.
Suddenly, she quietly says, "I d-don't know how I will handle n-next year."
"You mean…examination hell?"
I feel her nod.
"I'm stressed about it too."
"Wh-what if I have a lupus flare when I'm supposed to take an exam? I'll be s-so stressed it will be very p-possible."
"That's a good point. We should talk to Ms. Hamada. Ai has mentioned that you can take entrance exams here if you have a disability or condition that might complicate things."
Her body loosens a little.
"We'll look into that, okay? In fact, it probably isn't a bad idea for me either. If I need a wheelchair at the time, dealing with getting to Tokyo doesn't sound fun."
Her body loosens a little more.
"I bet your mom and dad can help too in a pinch, at least with Tokyo."
Her body loosens all the way, she slowly exhales and then hugs me. "Y-yeah, hopefully it won't be too bad. B-but it is scary. Especially b-because if we don't get in together somewhere" She starts hyperventilating again. "I…I…I…don't-"
I gently put my hand under her chin and angle her face up to look into my eyes.
"I think we will. But even if we don't, we want to be together forever, don't we?"
She nods and her breathing starts to slow.
"So…we'll figure it out if it happens. But nothing can stop you and me from being together. Certainly not some silly tests."
She smiles and puts her arms around my neck, and I bend down to kiss her.
"Y-you're right." She frowns. "I think…I am going to have lots of trouble with this. This is s-something everyone gets anxious about, so I don't know what it will do to me. I'm scared."
"We still have lots of time to plan. It's good to think about this now. You can talk to your therapist about it, and I'll do whatever I can to help you, okay?"
"Yeah." She exhales and looks up at me. "If you're stressed about it you can talk to m-me too."
"I know. I'm sure I'll need to. We'll help each other, like we always do."
—-
Hana and Koji just got back from Tokyo and are meeting the rest of us in the cafeteria for dinner tonight. We don't know too much about their trip. We didn't want to pester them during it, but we are all anxiously awaiting an update now. The four of us have our food but we are too distracted to start eating. We are just making small talk with an eye towards the entrance. I think we are genuinely concerned about them, but we also see our future selves when we look at them. If they end up not able to go to school together, it wouldn't be great for our morale.
Finally, the two of them come into the cafeteria hand in hand with smiles on their faces. Even this is enough to make me relax a little. They wave to us and go through the line. It feels like it has taken an eternity when they finally come and sit with us.
They both laugh at having our rapt attention.
Hana says, "You all know we won't have our results for a while, right?"
Carsten says, "Well…yeah, but how do you feel about how you did?"
They look at each other and Hana says, "We both think we did pretty well, Koji is a little more confident than me."
He nods, "I bet we'll both get in. Still, we have other exams in the next two weeks so we can't really rest for long."
"How was m-my mom? She said she met you but was vague about the details."
He smiles, "She was really nice."
"Nice!?" I feel my face flush, embarrassed at my outburst. I meant to say that in my head. Koji and Akari both laugh at me.
"Yeah. She said she was very impressed with my English, and we talked about a lot of classical literature. We hit it off, I guess. She wasn't scary at all. If I get in, she said she'd be happy to mentor me."
I mutter, "Maybe I should like English more."
Akari giggles and gently pokes me. "Stop that. I know you two had y-your…problems but you get along now."
I smile, "I know. I'm still a little jealous of Koji, though."
Koji laughs, "I'll put in a good word for you, okay?" I stick my tongue out at him.
Ai says, "Well anyway, I'm glad you feel like you did well. We have our little tests coming up too…I feel less worried about them than normal. You two give me some perspective."
Hana laughs, "I'm glad our misery is helping you, Ai."
She smiles, "Me too."
—-
Later that evening, Akari and I are reading manga together in my bed. When I finished Bloom into You, I told her I wanted to read another one that was important to her. She handed me the first volume of Koma Can't Communicate. The main character is a girl who suffers from severe social anxiety and has a hard time talking to people. She only has one friend, a guy who does his best to help her and understand her despite her inability to speak. They haven't gotten together yet, but there is clearly a romance bubbling beneath the surface.
It makes a lot of sense that this would appeal to a socially anxious Akari when she was stuck in the hospital and on dialysis at age 13. Just as I'm about to comment on this, Akari's phone rings and she answers.
"Oh…h-hey, Ai…sure you can come down." Akari blushes and giggles, "N-no, we're just reading manga. Okay, see you soon."
I raise an eyebrow. "This is a weird time for her to come down. Shouldn't she be with Carsten?"
"Yeah…that's true. I w-wonder what's up?"
We don't have to wonder for long because Ai knocks on the door a minute later. When I let her in, I notice she doesn't appear to be in high spirits. She's frowning and has a thousand-yard stare, like she's really thinking something over.
After we exchange hellos, she's quiet for a little while, but I grow impatient.
"Everything okay, Ai?"
She sighs and tugs on her braid, "I don't know. Carsten has been…different since he came back. I'm worried he wants to break up."
Akari and I look at each other. We've noticed this a little bit ourselves. It hasn't been alarming, but he seems less happy than he used to be. It's like something is weighing on him. But…we didn't think it was this bad.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
She frowns, "Well…the biggest thing is he doesn't stay with me every night anymore. He comes up with some excuse not to do it half the time. He just went back to his dorm for the third night in a row."
That is alarming. That would be like if me and Akari stopped sleeping together. I would certainly think it meant something bad.
"What kind of excuses?"
"Like his stomach is upset, or his head hurts or he has to stay up later to study."
I frown. "That does seem…flimsy, especially because he didn't used to make those excuses. Have you talked to him about this?"
"If I try to bring it up, he just dodges the question,"
Akari frowns, "You're r-right…it doesn't sound good. But…he still tells you he loves you? You're still intimate? All that stuff?"
Ai nods, "Yeah. Lots of things haven't changed but…this one thing is really bothering me."
"Well…I think there's definitely something going on to make him act differently. But if most stuff is the same…I don't think he wants to dump you."
Akari nods, "I think she's right. You still s-seem really happy together."
Ai smiles, "Yeah. I am happy overall. But…I wish he would tell me why this has changed. That's all I want to know."
"Yeah…the fact he won't really answer you is kind of messed up. I think you just need to keep asking. Be relentless."
Ai giggles. "I can do that, I think." She breathes a sigh of relief. "I feel better just talking this out. Thanks, you two. Sorry if I interrupted anything." She winks at us.
I laugh, "Do you think all we do in here is have sex?"
Ai giggles, "Wellllll, not all…but…I know some things."
She looks at Akari who blushes.
I widen my eyes and turn to Akari. "Wait…what!? You talk about our sex life with her?"
"S-sometimes. Is that bad?"
I forget that they are so close. They don't spend that much time together just the two of them, but they are constantly texting each other. There was a time when Akari was in love with me and could only talk to Ai about it. That's what really brought them together. With that in mind, it does make sense that they talk about our relationship.
I shrug. "I guess not…I just didn't know."
Ai grins and says, "Oh, don't worry about it. I don't know all the juicy details, as hard as I try to get them out of her." Akari laughs, "But I do know you two are… quite active and that you're really good, Kayoko."
I blush about what she knows. But I'm thankful she doesn't tell her every detail. Ai knowing what I liked in the bedroom would be pretty awkward, especially because some of it is kind of weird.
Ai frowns, "Sorry if I shouldn't have said anything."
I wave my hand at her, "No, it's fine. We do have a lot of sex and I am good." This makes them both giggle.
After Ai leaves, we lay back in bed, and for a moment we settle back into reading. But then Akari puts her manga down and kisses my cheek, then my ear, then my neck. I put my manga down too and smirk at her.
"Did Ai plant the idea in your head?"
She laughs. "A little. I was kinda thinking about d-doing this before she called anyway."
I roll on my side, outstretch my arms, and in my best sultry voice I say, "Well, come here then."
She scoots as close to me as she can, and we wrap our arms around each other, firmly pressing our bodies together while kissing passionately. We break the kiss, and Akari helps me pull my shirt over my head. As she's removing hers, my phone rings.
Akari frowns and I say, "I'm not answering it, don't worry." She smiles and takes her top off before removing my bra. She slides herself down and starts kissing my breasts while her arms are wrapped around my waist. I put my hand on the back of her head and stroke her hair. Then my phone rings again. Akari stops what she's doing.
"Hey, don't stop…just ignore it."
"What if it's your m-mom, though, and she needs you?"
I sigh, "What are you doing being rational at a time like this?" Then I roll over and look at my phone. I'm too late for the call, but I see that both missed calls were from Carsten.
I inform Akari of this, and she says, "W-well…call him back. That's…weird."
It really is. I can count on one hand the number of times Carsten has called me in the last two years.
I sit up in bed and call him back. To my surprise, Akari starts kissing my breasts again while I do. I want to object for a moment, but then it feels too good. How am I supposed to talk on the phone, though?
Carsten picks up, "Hey, Kayoko."
I respond, "Hey…C-carsten."
"You sound…strange. Everything okay?"
Now she's kissing one of them and squeezing the other one. She definitely heard that he could tell something was up, and this is how she's responding. It's like she WANTS it to be obvious to Carsten that something's going on. This is torture. Torture that feels really good, though.
"Mmmostly…yeah. I…sssaw that you…called?"
"Yeah. I am having a really hard time with something and want to talk it over. Can I stop by?"
Akari stops what she's doing, frowns, and then nods. Like me, she's realized this is probably something we need to do now, based on what Ai told us earlier. We can put off our amorous activity for this.
"Yeah, sure. We're in my room."
"Okay, see you soon."
Akari and I reluctantly get up and put our bras and tops back on and not long after there's a knock at the door. Carsten's face looks similar to Ai's from earlier. He is lost in thought. He takes a seat at the desk chair, and then for a little while he's quiet. Unable to wait any longer I say,
"Shouldn't you be with Ai right now?"
He sighs, "Probably. But that's what I wanted to talk about. She's…different than she was when I left. It's hard sometimes."
I have a pretty good idea what he means. Her depression changed her. She isn't always the happy go lucky girl she used to be. She's still Ai of course, but she has some struggles she didn't used to have. But I'll let him say it.
"What do you mean?"
He runs a hand through his hair, "She's still really depressed sometimes."
"It's not too bad, though, right? Not like it was?"
He frowns, "No. I guess not, although…I never really saw it before."
"Well, she's still going to class and spending time with friends, so I would say it is better."
He nods, "I guess it is then. I just…I didn't think she'd still be struggling once I came back."
Akari, who has been quietly observing so far, snaps at him, sounding more than a little bit like her mother. "Y-you really thought you would come back and cure her like some hero?"
He frowns. "From your tone…I can see that I shouldn't be thinking that way. I thought she was upset because she missed me. I thought me coming back would help."
I shake my head. "It has helped, I'm sure. But she wasn't just sad you were gone. That was kind of the trigger. She really has it under control for the most part…but her depression is part of who she is now."
"Y-yeah, like my anxiety."
He puts his elbows on his thighs and cradles his forehead with his hands. "I just don't know what to do. It's hard to be around her sometimes. She gets depressed most often at night. She usually cries at some point when I stay over and…I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do."
I cross my arms and scowl at him a little more than I meant to. "...what are you saying, exactly?"
He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I don't know. It was just…never this much work before. I mean she was self-conscious but-"
Akari snaps at him again. "If y-you don't love her enough to work through this and support her, you may as well dump her now."
He recoils at Akari's words. "I don't think I'm saying that. I do love her. I'm not going to dump her. I guess…I'm just saying it's harder now. It weighs on me some. I wish she was as happy as she used to be, I guess."
"We get that. It's okay to feel that way. It's okay if sometimes you need time to yourself too. You probably need it, in fact. But like Akari is saying…if you love her, you'll support her through all this stuff."
He nods. "I will. Clearly…I didn't understand everything about this."
"You should talk to her about this, by the way. She has noticed you're acting differently too. You both need to clear the air."
He nods, "You're right. I'm going to go talk to her now. Thanks for helping me without being too mean about it." He winks at Akari.
She smiles, "S-sorry if I was mean…it just hits close to home for me, I guess. You reminded me of Michi a little."
He grimaces. "That makes sense. And puts things even more in perspective for me, because I thought he was a jerk when he struggled with your anxiety." He sighs, "So, thanks for that."
He gets up to leave and Akari stands up and hugs him.
"Y-you're not Michi. Now that you understand better, I know you'll be good to her."
He nods, "I will. You're right."
I smile at him, "If you ever need to talk about this…we're here."
He lets go of Akari. "Okay. Thank you both. I'll let you two get back to…whatever it was you two were doing when you called me."
Dammit Akari!
Akari giggles and I feel my face flush. Then, I throw my capybara at him and yell, "See you later, Carsten!"
—-
Koji and I are meeting for what will be one of our last chess nights. He's in between entrance exams this week, so we had time to play for the first time in a while. The closer it gets to time for Koji and Hana to move on, the more I realize how terribly I'm going to miss them. But I can't focus on that now because we're in the middle of a game. Koji has gotten really good at chess. He still hasn't beaten me, but every game is a challenge that takes all my attention. It's kind of amazing. I've been playing chess a lot longer than him, and at this point he's close to being my equal. He's good enough now to exploit a minor slip up, so I can't have those. We don't even talk very much when we play anymore, because the games have gotten so intense.
I heave a sigh of relief, as I wriggle my way out of a trap that he left for my Queen. Now that I've dealt with that, I should be able to win this one. A few moves later my assumption proves correct, and I heave a sigh of relief. I look at Koji and notice a few beads of sweat on his brow.
He sighs, "Damn, I thought I finally had you."
"Me too, for a minute there. You're really good now."
He laughs, "It's funny to hear that from someone I've never beaten."
"Well, I'm really really good, so it makes sense. Seriously though, you're amazing for someone with so little experience. Do you just pick up everything quickly?"
He raises an eyebrow at me, "What else have I picked up quickly?"
I scratch my head awkwardly, mulling over whether I should say this. It's kind of an awkward topic, but we're close. I'm just going to go for it. "Oh um…well…Hana told me once that you get better in bed every time you two sleep together, and it kind of made me think about how you are with chess. You get better every time."
He blushes a little but also looks very proud. "I do pick things up quickly. I learn them faster, too. I honestly don't think I'm that smart, but I realized recently that I have a much better memory than most people. It gives me certain advantages."
I raise an eyebrow at him, "You're one of those people who can remember every game of chess we've played, aren't you?"
He smiles, "Pretty much, yeah."
Good things he's leaving. He has a massive database of games at this point, he's going to find a way to beat me soon and then get way better than me after that.
I laugh, "And every time you have sex too, I guess?"
He laughs awkwardly and the nods, "I can remember what worked and what didn't pretty well. My memory helps with English too. It seems to just stick in my head better than most people."
"That's pretty cool." I sigh. "I'm going to miss you, Koji."
He shakes his head at me like he's embarrassed by me. "This again? I'm still here for several more weeks."
"I know. But I can't help but look ahead. I'm a crybaby, you know that. It's not going to be pretty when you two graduate."
He laughs, "We'll keep in touch, promise. And if we're in Tokyo, it seems likely we'll see you every now and then because of Akari's parents."
"I know…but it won't be the same. Sorry if that's negative but…my cousin and his boyfriend went off to college there too, and we see them sometimes and it's great when we do. But he used to be one of my best friends and while we're still close…it's hard to say we're best friends now. I'm going to miss things being exactly how they are here at Yamaku."
Koji nods, "Things change, I guess. I can't deny that." He sighs, "I'm trying to be all thick-skinned about it, but I'm really going to miss you too, and this place." He looks around the room fondly. "It really saved me. I think I'll always love it."
"Really? The girls' dorm common room saved you, huh? Chess with me that important to you?"
He clicks his tongue at me, "I have loved playing chess with you, but you know I mean Yamaku."
I nod, "I know. But I had to make a joke so I wouldn't cry. Mission accomplished."
I'm leaving the nurse's office this evening in a very good mood. I got my sling off, and while my elbow is stiff – far stiffer than it would be from a dislocation – I also don't have any pain in it. Physical therapy should fix the stiffness and I should be able to go right back to playing piano. However, my good mood can't last for too long. We find out today how Hana and Koji did on their Tokyo entrance exams and I'm about to go join them and anxiously wait for their scores to get posted.
….
All six of us are crammed into Hana's dorm room anxiously watching her refresh the screen on her laptop. Their scores should be posted any minute now.
They both already know they got into other schools, but all the other options involve them living at least two hours apart by train. Getting into Tokyo is the only way they can live together after Yamaku.
Right now, she has Koji's profile pulled up. We figure his will be posted first because his last name comes first alphabetically. All of us look equally anxious, as if our own futures are all riding on this. We're just waiting around in silence with the rhythmic clicks of Hana's mouse the only sound in the room.
"Oh, it's posted!"
"Did I get in?"
"It's loading."
"Then how do you know it was posted?"
"Because it didn't need to load before."
"Okay, well can you wait to announce it's posted until you actually see it?"
Hana slaps his arm and then holds onto it with her eyes fixed on the screen. "You got in! Easily, too. Only a few points from a perfect score."
Given what I recently learned about his memory, that isn't too surprising. I have to imagine a memory like that is useful when taking exams.
We all congratulate him, and then Koji excitedly shakes Hana's shoulder and says what we're all thinking, "Check yours now!"
She nods and logs into her profile. Her screen takes some time to load too, and the suspense is even worse now somehow. My eyes are fixed on her face, and I see a shadow pass over it. Then she frowns.
"I…didn't get in." She starts to tear up and her body crumples into her chair. Koji puts his arms around her and pulls her close. "We'll make it work, babe."
A moment ago, we were overjoyed for Koji, but now the mood in the room is noticeably darker. We all have grim expressions on our faces. Except for Akari, who turns the laptop around and raises an eyebrow at what she sees.
Ai and Carsten have approached the couple and are trying their best to comfort them.
I'm about to join them, but then Akari takes my hand and says, "We're gonna g-go. You probably want to be alone anyway."
What? I guess maybe leaving them alone is better, but she didn't even say sorry or express any sort of empathy for them.
Akari starts leading me out of the room. "Um…I'm really sorry Hana, I think you two will be okay, though."
She nods but doesn't really seem to buy it. I don't blame her. I was too flustered by Akari's behavior to say anything more supportive than that.
Once we're in the hallway I say, "You weren't very polite. Don't you feel bad for them?"
"No."
"No!?" I take my hand back from her, stop walking and cross my arms. "You still haven't forgiven Hana, have you? I can't believe you! We're going to go back in there right now and support them. At least I am. You do whatever the hell you want."
Just as I'm starting to turn around, she laughs at me. Not exactly the reaction I was expecting. I look back at her, trying to figure out what's going on. She says "J-just come in my room with me. I'll explain."
I sigh and follow her in.
She sits at her desk and writes something down. "I d-don't feel bad b-because I'm not gonna let it happen." She gets out her phone.
"Okay, hold on, what are you doing exactly?"
"I'm calling my parents."
"But…she isn't in their faculties."
"I know, but she barely missed a passing score. I think… maybe they c-can do something."
"Oh. That's what you were looking at on her computer?" She nods. "Okay…well why didn't we tell them that?"
"Because I'm not completely sure it will work. If I told them I might be able to do s-something and then couldn't…"
I nod, "Okay. Let's call them then." I give her a kiss. "This is really sweet of you…sorry for accusing you of still being mad at Hana."
She laughs, "I understand why you thought that."
She calls her mom,
"Hello Akari, how are you?"
"HI mom, Kayoko is with m-me, you're on speakerphone. "
"Oh…Good evening, Kayoko."
"Good evening, Mrs. Yoshida."
"Mom, are you with dad? We need to talk about something with both of you. It's k-kind of urgent."
"Umm…yes, he's with m-me. I will switch to speakerphone too." She sounds flustered. I didn't think that was possible for her.
We exchange greetings with Mr. Yoshida.
"S-so, you m-may not like this, but just hear us out, okay?"
Her mom's voice sharpens, "Akari, I think I know what this is about, and the answer is no, not yet. You're both too young. I can't imagine Emi is okay with it either."
What does my mom have to do with this? Me and Akari exchange a confused look, and then we both realize what she must have thought we were going to say and we giggle.
When she hears us laugh Mrs. Yoshida says with a hint of shame in her voice, "So…you two weren't asking permission to get married?"
I didn't know she was capable of shame either.
"No. N-not yet. One day, though."
Mr. Yoshida says, "So, what's this about then? You have us both very nervous."
"Well, we just found out that Koji got into Tokyo."
Her mom's voice gets a lot brighter, "That's wonderful. I had a feeling after meeting him that he wouldn't need my help. He's a bright and lovely young man. I'm looking forward to teaching him."
Still feel a little jealous of how much she likes Koji, but let's move past that for now.
"R-right, well his girlfriend…didn't get in."
"That's too bad. She isn't doing English too, is she?"
Akari sighs, "No. She's doing music education."
There's silence for a moment, "Akari…I know you care about your friend, and that's wonderful…but there isn't much we can do. I'm very sorry."
Akari grabs the paper she scribbled on earlier. "She g-got an 84.9, mom."
There's silence again and Mr. Yoshida responds, "So…she missed passing the exam by a tenth of a point?"
"Y-yes."
"I might be able to do something."
"Seiya, I know you want to help, but are you sure? You could get into trouble."
"W-well…if it gets you in trouble, dad, don't do it."
He scoffs, "It will be a slap on the wrist if anything. I have tenure, they can't do much."
"Excuse me, Kayoko here, why would you get in trouble?"
Mrs. Yoshida says, "They don't like it when people meddle with things in other faculties. Everyone is supposed to stay in their lane."
"Right, but I will be doing this informally. I won't be the one saying she should get in even though she didn't pass the exam. I have a friend in the music faculty. If I can just convince him, he will be the one to advocate for her. I don't think he'll turn me in to his faculty head or anything."
Mrs. Yoshida says, "Okay. That's a good idea. It's worth a try."
"Akari, text me your friend's number, my friend will likely want to talk to her before making a decision. And what's her name?"
"Hana Tanaka."
"Okay. I'll do my best. I can't promise anything, though."
"Th-thank you dad. I really appreciate this."
"Yes, thank you both."
We say our goodbyes and hang up. Then Akari texts Hana's info to her dad.
"We should go tell them now…she might get a call tonight for all we know."
Akari nods and we leave her room and go back down to Hana's. I knock on the door. Koji says, "Who is it?"
"It's Kayoko and Akari."
There's some quiet conversation on the other side of the door and then Koji says, "We don't really feel like company right now…sorry. We'll talk to you tomorrow."
Akari loudly says, "Th-this can't wait!"
There's another quiet conversation on the other side of the door. Then Koji cracks the door and looks at us in confusion, "Is one of you hurt or something?"
Akari says, "No. B-but I wanted to let Hana know she might get a call from a Tokyo music professor tonight or tomorrow."
Hana lets out a bewildered "Huh?!" We hear her getting off the bed, and then she opens the door the rest of the way. She has very clearly been crying. I don't blame her.
She lets us in and Akari says, "I c-called my parents. That's why we left so abruptly. M-my dad is going to try to help."
Hana sits down on the bed with a confused look on her face. "But I thought he could only help if I studied history?"
"That's m-mostly true, but your score was literally the highest it could possibly b-be without a passing grade."
She scratches her head, "It was? I just saw that I didn't pass, and sort of shut down."
"It was. M-my dad has a friend in the music faculty, and he was going to try to convince him to talk to you. He could get you in."
"Really?!"
I nod, "Yeah, it's not a guarantee, but Mr. Yoshida is doing what he can. You will have to have a little interview on the phone."
"Wow…you're amazing, Akari." She stands up and gives her a very warm hug. "Thank you so much…just for trying. I was…a little hurt when you both left how you did. It makes sense now."
She breaks the hug and takes a deep breath. "I need to pull myself together and think about what I'm going to say if they call."
Koji nods, "I'll help."
Just then, Hana's phone rings. She grimaces and picks it up. "I-it's a Tokyo number. So much for preparing." Koji gives her a quick kiss, "You'll do great, babe. Do you want me to stay?" She nods, takes a deep breath and answers the phone. Akari and I see ourselves out.
In the hallway I say, "Your dad works fast."
She giggles, "Apparently."
We go back down to Akari's room and try to distract ourselves with conversation, cuddling, music and manga, but none of it works. We're both incredibly anxious and can't stay still. We just end up alternating between pacing and fidgeting, largely in silence.
It's been 45 minutes since the call started. Are they still talking? Did she not get in and they don't want to talk about it tonight? Or did she get in and they are having a celebratory lovemaking session? I guess I wouldn't blame them, I would just like an update first!
Just as I'm about to suggest we go listen outside her door to see what's going on, there's a knock on Akari's door. It makes me and Akari jump, then she dashes to the door and swings it open. No time for 'Who is it?' right now.
Hana is standing there and there are tears in her eyes. Her face is just ambiguous enough that I can't determine whether they are happy or sad tears at first. But then she smiles and throws her arms around Akari.
"I g-got in…the conversation was long and stressful…b-but at the end he said I was a promising student, and he'd make sure I got into the program. Thank you so much, Akari."
I smile and join in on the hug. We stand there for a few moments, reveling in Hana's achievement.
Eventually, we separate and I ask, "Where's Koji?"
She smiles and closes the door, "He went to procure a little something to celebrate."
I raise an eyebrow as Akari and I take a seat on the bed, "Like a sex thing?"
She giggles and sits down in the desk chair, "No. Although I'm sure that's coming later too. He went to get some wine. There's a guy on his floor who sells it."
I nod, "Oh, well that will be nice."
"We wanted to share it with you two, it's the least we can do."
Akari says, "I've never had alcohol, m-might be nice to try a little."
I smile, "I can't have any, but I will join you three while you do."
Hana raises an eyebrow at me, "You…can't? On a medication or something?"
I see the light bulb go off in Akari's head. "It's because you could g-get hurt, isn't it?"
We've never talked about alcohol before. Neither of my parents really drank and I always knew I couldn't, so it isn't something I even think about very often. It's nice that Akari understands my condition well enough to figure out why I can't have it.
I nod, "Everyone gets a little stumbly when they drink. For me that's bad. I have to be really careful with how I move my joints, and that will be harder to do if my senses are dulled at all."
Hana frowns, "Oh, sorry. I should have thought of that."
"Don't worry about it."
Akari takes my hand. "I won't have any either, then."
I smile at her, "You're sweet. But you don't have to do that."
"B-but I will feel bad if you can't enjoy it too."
"Okay, if that's what you want to do, I won't object. But…do you really never want to drink? You don't have to give it up on account of me."
Akari thinks for a moment, "It wouldn't hurt your feelings?"
I squeeze her hand and smile at her. "Not in the least. There's lots of things I can't do that you can…I don't want you to miss out on all of them just because of me."
There's a knock on the door, followed by "It's Koji."
Hana is closest to the door, so she opens it. In steps Koji with a huge smile on his face. He greets us and gives me and Akari quick hugs before he puts his backpack down and pulls out a bottle of red wine and some plastic cups and puts them on the desk. He gets out a small tool that has a corkscrew on it and opens the wine.
"You two haven't had alcohol before, so be careful."
"I won't be having any because of my condition. But I'll make sure Akari is careful." I wink at her.
He nods and apologizes to me, which I try to tell him isn't necessary. Then he abruptly leaves the room.
I look at Hana, "What was that about?"
She laughs, "I don't know. Sometimes the man disappears without cluing me in on what he's doing. Usually, it's because he's doing something nice, though."
Akari says, "I think I know. I w-was going to do it, but he beat me to it. He probably didn't say anything because he didn't want to f-fight with me over who would do it."
I raise an eyebrow at her, "What do you think he's doing?"
She shrugs and smiles at me, leaving me frustrated. It doesn't last long though, because Koji comes back carrying a bunch of drinks from a vending machine. He puts them down on the bed next to me. There's soda, juice, sparkling water, and two kinds of tea to choose from.
He smiles, "Sorry, I didn't know what your favorite was, so I kind of got everything."
"Thank you, that was very nice of you." I go with the soda. I drink it the least often of all of these, and this is a special occasion after all.
He pours the wine in three cups and hands one to his girlfriend and one to Akari. He sits down on the floor and Hana gets out of the chair and sits down next to him. He puts his arm around her.
He raises his cup and gestures towards me and Akari. "Cheers to you two, for working just as hard as we have to keep us together." He and Hana push their cups together. Akari and I do the same. We all take a drink of our beverages. I look at Akari, whose face indicates she doesn't appear to have loved her first taste of wine.
"Thank you…we are happy to have helped, but that can't really be true, can it?"
Hana taps her pointer finger on her chin and says, "Hmm…you two introduced us, convinced me to confess to him, stayed friends with me and helped us reconcile after the incident with your arm…"
Koji chimes in, "Kayoko convinced me to tell the truth about my feelings, Akari got her mom to help me with Tokyo…"
Hana says, "And then Akari got her dad to help me tonight."
I laugh, "Okay…when you list it all out like that it does sound impressive."
Akari laughs, "W-we did it for you…but maybe it isn't as selfless as you think."
Koji laughs, "What are you possibly hoping to get out of helping us?"
"N-nothing." She takes my hand. "B-but we want to follow in your footsteps. So…seeing it work out for you…m-makes me feel better about our future."
Hana nods, "That makes sense. But it was all still very sweet of you both." She looks at me with sad eyes, "Kayoko, I–"
"Hana, If you apologize again, I'm going to have Akari dislocate your elbow."
She laughs softly and bows her head.
"We really are very happy for you both. Cheers to you two for accomplishing what you did." We push our drinks together again. Then I sigh and bow my head. "I'm really going to miss you both."
Akari says, "Me too." I notice her speech sounds a little funny. Her cup appears to be empty. I guess it didn't taste so bad after all.
Hana stands up, refills her own empty cup, and then kneels in front of us and smiles.
"I know we haven't really known each other that long. But you two, and Ai, are the best friends I've ever had. I didn't know…friendship could be like this. Before I came here…friends were just people I got along with and that I liked spending time with. But with you three…" Her voice cracks. "...there's a real bond. We help each other with serious things and really care for one another." She smiles at me. "I teased you once about how much you love Yamaku, back when I first got here. But…you were right. It's a special place. I'm happy my parents sent me here." She frowns, "I'm really going to miss you both. I know…things will change, but I'm going to stay in touch, and you two will always be very special to me."
By some miracle, I managed to hold back my tears until the very end, but now a steady torrent of tears is issuing forth. Akari has some tears too, which makes me feel a little better about losing my own composure. Hana stands up and we make space between us for her. She sits down between us and puts an arm around each of us and we each cry on one of her shoulders. She's tearing up too, though not nearly as much as us crybabies.
Koji, meanwhile, looks very uncomfortable.
He stands up and says, "Um…should I…?"
Hana laughs, "If we're making you that uncomfortable, you are free to go. I'll head to my room in a little bit."
Koji nods, "Thanks again, Akari, Kayoko….I know I'm not crying, but I'll really miss you too."
We wave to him, and he leaves. Hana lets us cry on her for a little while longer, but she has her limits too. Eventually she laughs, "Well…I better get to my boyfriend." We nod and let her stand up. She looks at the bottle of wine. "Do you want the last of it, Akari? Koji and I already had two cups." Akari nods.
Hana pours the last of it in Akari's cup and then pats both of us on the head and says, "See you two tomorrow."
After she leaves, we both pull ourselves together.
"Hopefully that's all the crying I'll do about that."
Akari scoffs, "Doubt it."
I cross my arms and pout at her. "You make it sound like you aren't a crier too."
She takes the last drink of her wine and says, "I am. I will denifitely cry about it again, but I ditn'd say I woultn'd "
Her speech is more relaxed than it ever is. Normally, even when she's just with me she usually stutters a little. I guess alcohol has really relaxed her. Of course, her words are getting jumbled, and her speech is getting slurred, but it's pretty cute.
I laugh, "So, you enjoyed the wine, then?"
She nods, "Tatsed bad at frist but it grew on me."
I laugh, "That a fact?"
She nods, "I feel kidna funny, but it's kidna nice."
I laugh, "Good, I'm glad."
She smiles mischievously and crawls toward me on all fours, when she gets close enough she lightly pushes me, her signal that I should lie down. I do as she instructed, and then she gently straddles my waist and bends over to kiss me passionately. I'm a little surprised by how quickly her tongue gets involved, and how aggressive it is, but I suppose that's the alcohol. I like it once I adjust to it.
She breaks the kiss and sits back up to take her top off. I'm excited to have access to both my arms for the first time in a while. I immediately roll up her bra and start touching her breasts. She starts grinding herself against me as she enjoys my touch. After doing this for a little bit, she helps me take my top off and then removes my bra. She caresses my breasts while straddling me and grinding herself on me, sometimes squeezing quite hard. Normally that's something she saves for when one of us is close, but I'm not complaining. It draws some loud moans out of me. Then she climbs off me and lays at my side. She starts kissing my neck, and then my collarbone, while she continues to stimulate my breasts. Then she starts using her mouth on them too. She's making me squirm and my eyes are closed from all the pleasure. But then…she stops. I expect to feel her mouth somewhere else, or for more of my clothing to be removed, but it doesn't happen. I start to hear a familiar sound. It's the rhythmic breathing that indicates she is asleep. I open my eyes and see a cute Akari completely passed out on her side.
I am a little hurt that she could fall asleep in the middle of this, but she did have a long day and she had alcohol for the first time. That's a recipe for sleepiness. She'll apologize in the morning anyway, and probably feel far worse than she needs to. I get up and turn out the light, before undressing down to my underwear and climbing back in bed with her. I put my arms around her and as I drift off to sleep, I think about how amazing it will feel when we find out we get to go to the University of Tokyo together. That day is only a year away.
