Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who are continuing to support this story, you guys are the best!It was rather hard to write this, since this story is now transitioning to a new level of drama. Would like to tell everyone that since things have been still quite busy, my priorities are my Mimato stories. Though, I am preparing another Taiora one-shot, soon. Enjoy this chapter!
Salad Days
Chapter Nineteen
Friday
.
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The brunet gripped his vibrating mobile phone, very much tempted to throw it on the wall. Taichi shut his eyes hard, hoping he'd go back to slumberland before this dreaded day.
"Onii-chan," Hikari stood on front of his brother, damped and cladded in a pink towel. "We're going to be late,"
Of course, Taichi wasn't moving, pretending he was still asleep.
"Onii-chan," she called out again. Hikari checked her fingertips for any residue of dirt, then combed her hair. And when her brother did not budge, She reached for the curtains and pulled them to the side. Light beamed through the windows, illuminating the dark, crammy room. She was rather surprised at the reams of paper on his study table.
"God! Hikari!" cried out Taichi as he pulled over the covers to protect himself from the blinding lights. He was panicking internally, remembering he had recitation on his Political Theory 1 class today. It was the start of a love-hate relationship with Fridays.
Hikari swore she jumped a little, slightly frightened on this very rare occasion in which her brother blew up on her. Nonetheless, she continued on.
"We promised mom we'll bring over some of the pie to grandma today," she said, exiting the room. Before closing the door, she added, "Mom won't be happy when she comes up here to fetch you,"
He sat right up from his bed, eyes squinting as he closed the curtains. He looked at his phone, got a message from Sora telling him to return her sports knapsack he borrowed; saw that he had set an alarm for another power study before going to school. He had failed to wake up on the set alarm.
It had been a month since college life had started. Taichi was accepted at Tokyo University, and now pursuing Political Science, just as he planned. Things have been bearable, but some particular subjects made him wish he was taking Archaeology instead. Todai was known for its humanities department, and the faculty of Political Science was packed with famous professionals – lawyers and former government officials, specifically. Most of his instructors seemed to take a fancy at him – always picked on him randomly. He didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
Taichi stood up, did some warm-ups and brief exercises before heading to the bathroom as he recited some random terms along with their definitions out loud. He couldn't help but throw in a few curses, too. If there was any consolation for the day, he'd see Mimi later.
Stepping out of the shower, he dressed himself like a respectable liberal arts man – suit and tie as obliged by his professor during recitation day. He gathered all the clutter in his desk, surprising himself a little that he actually reads now – and started questioning more about his surroundings and society than he did. Things back then were only black and white, now he was seeing several shades of gray. Since when did I become so pensive?
Slightly paranoid he might get sued for saying the wrong answer (or anything politically incorrect), he was mastering the art of tiptoeing around people as well.
'What to do for today?' was the daily challenge Sora was facing since she graduated from high school. Despite passing Economics, she didn't join Taichi in the liberal arts at Todai. Grabbing the half-full carton of milk from the fridge, she poured some for herself on her mug and settled on the couch as she opened the television. After a satisfying gulp from her mug, she also dipped some whole-grained biscuits with it. This has been her breakfast for almost a week and a half.
The weird diet started from the beach-and-barbecue vacation last month. Since then, she had lost control of pigging out 'til one of her favorite pairs of shorts started to feel a bit too tight. She wasn't really one to follow a diet since she had tennis to burn calories – but no longer having her own court to play on, she diverted her interests to sewing, kendo, flower arranging, yoga, baking (which Sora refuses for a second attempt due to an oven accident), and recently, trekking.
"Sora," it was none other than her dear mother, whom Sora ought was just behind her. She always had a knack for sneaking up on people.
Here comes the dreaded question, "what are you planning to do today?"
"I don't know," it was always her answer, and it was the truth. Not knowing what to do for the day 'til noontime was the new normal for her. From her peripheries, she felt her mom, cladded in a vintage yukata, sit beside her.
"Do you want to call your dad to pick you up?"
Turning her attention from the TV to her mother, Sora, with groggy eyes, politely shook her head, trying her best not to show a hint of irritation. She just wanted to enjoy her breakfast, goddamn it. "No need for you to send me off to Kyoto, oka-san."
Mrs. Takenouchi felt otherwise, but decided to hold her concern. "Well, at least do something productive later, okay?" Mrs. Takenouchi insisted, slightly worried. "I'm going to the shop. If you don't have anything else better to do.."
"I know.." she cut off, already knowing what her mom will say. A morning like this one was becoming a usual scene for her. "I will,"
Mrs. Takenouchi left the house to tend the shop downstairs, leaving the ginger back in her zone. Biting off of her biscuit while watching the morning news report, her mind wandered off to find her agendum for the day.
Something physical? Maybe try kickboxing – karate even? Stretching her resting body on the couch, she felt a slight pain on her lower back, a sign that she was yet to recover from her adventure at the Five Lakes of Mount Fuji last weekend. No to sports, then. Sora didn't regret though; conquering the mountain was her greatest achievement yet.
She thought of continuing the sweater she was knitting, or try to paint something which hopefully won't turn out to be a Pollock painting again. Carefully sitting up from the furniture, the ginger groaned out of frustration. Things weren't going according to plan.
Checking out her phone, she received a message from Mimi, who was hoping to meet up with her tomorrow; a message from Taichi said he'd drop by their flower shop this weekend; there was also a message from Jyou, whom had apologized for sleeping in on her last night. Letting herself fall back on the couch, Sora let out a deep sigh.
Maybe she should have just went to Todai, and wouldn't have to worry about her future like she's doing right now. She was fairly smart and good with numbers and money, too. But no – here was the class salutatorian, being a complete bum while everyone else continued on with their studies.
But, she thought, I'd hate myself forever if I end up on a corporate job. Not for long her thoughts drifted to Taichi and Yamato, and how initially, the three of them were supposed to go to Todai together. Maybe things would have mended between her and Yamato, either patch up or become friends – or maybe she and Taichi might just find the right timing again. Maybe she wouldn't have felt so alone, for caring a great deal.
The battle between her heart and her head continued on for a while, until she decided to take it out on her sewing kit instead.
It was always in Yamato's belief that there is no rest for the wicked. He could no longer enjoy Fridays like he used to, and appreciated Tuesdays instead due to his schedule. Here he was, stuck in the library early Friday morning.
He was relaxing his head on the counter, waiting for the very slow clerk-also-student-assistant to bring his five-pages-long essay to him.
"Who took this kid to work here?" Yamato heard a croaky and irritated female voice from behind. He looked over his shoulder, noticing that the queue was seven persons long, and he was the first in line. He checked his newly-acquired wristwatch that came from his mom as a graduation gift; it had been more than five minutes since he gave his USB drive.
As soon as the clerk returned from the machine with the freshly printed paper, Yamato sped out of the library, hurrying for the first coffee shop he'd see on the way. He barely had enough sleep since Monday, having been bombarded with assignments from the only non-course related class, Philosophy 1. He had just finished cramming his Maoism essay which he admittedly enjoyed writing amidst the three math and two science classes he was currently attending.
Passing by his building, Yamato couldn't help but let out a sparse breath, slightly not too fond of Natural History or Physics 1. He wasn't so sure if it was the too-serious subject, or his very monotonous associate professor that made the class almost unbearable. Yamato, like most of his classmates, learned more about how she got her master's degree than the Newtonian tale of the apple.
He had to admit, he became distant since he got into Todai, barely spending time with friends, even with Jyou and Taichi whom shared the same campus with him. But it wasn't because he was brooding which Mimi and Taichi kept suggesting.
I'm just so busy.
Somehow, he could now fully understand what Jyou had been going through last year.
Arriving at the said shop, he threw himself on an empty couch, along with his things, savoring the empty space before it gets crowded. The soft guitar music playing at the café made him miss playing with his band, especially with the new songs they made this summer. He remembered Mimi commenting on how sentimental his new songs were; especially the six-minute song which she (and Takeru) reckoned was all about her. Some of the lyrics, like "girl in pink with a green thumb", "wide-eyed dreamer devoured by nightmares in a city that never sleeps", "she came home to find herself" probably gave it away, but of course he denied their rather correct assumption.
It was just that writing about Mimi's life from an onlooker's perspective amused him so; much more interesting than his former relationship, or his personal issues. Surprisingly, he spent time with her this summer a lot. They even almost got stranded on their way back home from Nagano, if not for Jyou picking them up from the highway. And weird enough, it did bring him back to Takeru's favorite question –
No, of course not, silly. It's Mimi. It's just Mimi.
Like a little sister that he never had, or a girl best friend that he platonically loved. God, with the way things are going so candidly between them, he reckoned he had seen more faces of her than Sora or Taichi ever did – and some sides of her can be really off-putting. No, he will definitely not be Mimi's summer fling.
It was just Mimi. Of course, that won't stop him from asking her to go with him somewhere. Taking out his mobile phone, he greeted her good morning, followed by a request to accompany him to the music bar later. Maybe she'd help him with this burning out phase he was going through.
No, he wasn't feeling guilty about it. He had no motives. Taichi knows this, and so do Sora and the others. Him and Mimi? No way.
Impossible.. No way.. Right? He shook his head, groaning over the ridiculous thought. He was way over that.
Well, to his defense, each of the songs he wrote was actually about every one of them, and that doesn't make Mimi any more special than the others. Stupid Takeru.
The longest song was probably about his subtle psychoanalysis on Takeru; the weirdest and most experimental one was about his relationship with Sora and Taichi, and the hardest song he had written was about himself (pre and post-jumping on Tokyo Bay), which also turned out to be the best. Yamato couldn't help but yearn to hold his guitar, and probably use the fountain pen he was holding for writing songs than doing Advanced Algebra 1.
He couldn't help but question. Why was I here, again?
Now with his textbook spread wide on the table, he mindlessly switched on his calculator, and started to solve some equations while imagining Koushiro being enthusiastic with this kind of thing. None of them were really that hard, he just found – all of it – tedious.
He was about to cram in his homework when Mimi replied that she can't go with him; that she promised to meet up with Taichi later. Though a bit disappointed, he smiled, happy that things seemed to be going well among his friends.
Oh, well. Sighing, Yamato toyed with the gadget, wondering for a while if he'd eventually be able to find beauty in whatever he was doing. Like an answered prayer, his train of thought was put to a stop when his drummer messaged him about an emergency gig for tonight.
"Well, isn't this painful," muttered Jyou's seatmate, who goes by Akiyoshi Kira. The dark blue-haired lad nodded out of politeness, already used to her bluntness. She reminded him of Mimi a lot.
He turned his eyes back to the screen, as they were all watching a short documentary about introductory microbiology. It was something even kindergarteners would understand, sometimes the narrator becoming too silly for using words such as "germs".
"This video sounds more of a soap commercial," whispered Jyou to Kira. The brunette giggled at his remark, started to draw random paisley patterns that looked similar to microorganisms on her notebook. He admiringly watched the blot of ink turn into a doodle, impressed with the accurate illustration of the common flu virus cell.
His eyes turned back to the screen, somehow found a weird connection between water-bred viruses and his last summer vacation. Mimi's beach-outing-also-birthday-bash had made him realize Mimi and Yamato's friendship increasingly and peculiarly becoming intimate, just as his own friendship with Sora.
It had troubled him a bit, since usually Sora would mostly be at Taichi's or Mimi's sides.
Yamato, too, though they've broken up for good, he thought. Though, Jyou did assume that the two would still have remained friends even if the relationship has ended. That's sad..
But the last time the group hung out, the ginger sat beside him instead of Mimi. He had heard of the breakup, but it didn't really matter to him 'til last month. And Taichi, what on earth was going on between Taichi and Mimi, was something Jyou found worrisome. He thought maybe it was just because he wasn't there to see it bloom - but being kept in the dark (although Jyou purposefully did it to himself), was something he did not like. Things between his friends have increasingly changed, and he had not even noticed while all of it transpired.
Probably, what kept bugging him since his the beginning of his term was the distance between everyone else. Takeru and Hikari, Mimi and Koushiro, Taichi and Koushiro, Taichi and Sora – he may not be there with them when all of those things happened, but this was the first thing he noticed since they first met that summer.
Shaking his head, Jyou turned to look at Kira, who had already finished drawing the rest of the empty corners and edges of the page.
"Looks good, isn't it?" she whispered proudly.
Jyou smiled, thought she'd do great in their illustration class next term. She nailed every muscle and sinew of the human anatomy, something he still couldn't get right.
"Do you want to grab some lunch later?" Friends. New friends, friends he'd see, friends he'd be able to talk to about amoebas, white blood cells, and homework – he needed them more than ever.
She smiled back, nodded her head. She was the first addition of Jyou's newly-found friends. "Okay."
Looking at the mirror, she thought how washed out she appeared in the sky blue uniform. Putting a small plastic clip on the side of her head, she went out of the lavatory to join Mimi and the others for lunch.
High school was tolerable for Hikari, so far. She had been well-acquainted with everyone in class, except for some of the girls. She reckoned it might be because the boys in class were very friendly with her.
Apart from planning to join the newspaper club as photographer, she didn't set any other goal for herself, just wanting to focus on studying and getting into a prestigious university. In other words, a boring and drama-free high school. But the peace she was seeking out was slowly slipping out of her hands, especially with her weird relationship with Takeru right now.
Their trip to the beach last summer proved to be difficult to be around each other. But she and Takeru knew better – and had to fake that everything between them was all right, before their brothers or Sora might start noticing. The change does not become noticeable, not until when they're left alone together.
That their duo was inseparable had been finally disproven. Takeru was at the other class, surprisingly with Ichijouji Ken, while she and Daisuke shared the same one.
She smudged her lip balm across, then smacking her lips. Just because they were in different classes now didn't mean she wouldn't see him every day – and thank God for Mimi and Koushiro, who were both were carrying on the tradition.
Arriving at the canteen with her own packed lunch, she scanned the room to look for the others; saw Mimi waving at her.
"Hikari-chan," the longer-haired brunette called Hikari out, signaled her to their table as Koushiro, Takeru, Daisuke, Ken, and Miyako sat with her. Accidentally meeting Takeru's subtle eyes, she awkwardly smiled, and went her way towards the group, sat beside Mimi.
"Hikari-chan, do you want to come with me later?" Mimi muffled from her sushi.
Before Hikari could reply, she took a huge bite from the raw fish. "Aren't you supposed to meet onii-chan later?"
The older brunette glanced at Koushiro eating his lunch, and he remained quiet as usual, uninterested of whatever they were talking about.
"Ahhh.." Mimi couldn't help but gape, as nothing but dry air came out of her mouth. No, she didn't forget she'd supposed to meet with Taichi later – rather, something else was on her mind. It had almost been two months since they both decided to give a test run, but the anxiety never left her. In result, she had been secretly sneaking out to the bar; loosening up a bit, minus the nicotine and stuff – already well-acquainted with the local bands around.
Of course, only Takeru knows this secret life of hers. It happened just one summer night, when he was merely accompanying his brother to their gig. He saw a poorly-disguised Mimi talking to a female bartender. Surprisingly, Mimi took her alcohol well that night. Of course, after she found out he was there all along, she panicked when he told her Yamato's band will play – immediately leaving the bar. Which now comes to Takeru's mind..
Is Mimi planning to take Hikari there?! Subtly glancing at the older brunette across the table, their eyes met for a while, as if passing a wordless secret.
Averting her eyes from Takeru to her lunch, Mimi let out a reply in a small, quiet voice. "I do.."
"Hmm. I hope you don't take this wrongly, Mimi-san," MIyako said while biting off of her cracker. "I always thought Taichi-san liked Sora-san."
"Gee, Miyako, not all people should end up with their first loves," argued Daisuke. He felt unusually emotional over his statement.
"I'm just stating the obvious!"
"It was obvious. Now it isn't." said Ken, whom had his hair recently trimmed.
Mimi watched Daisuke and Miyako argue about first loves, second loves; heard Taichi's, Sora's, and Yamato's names mentioned. She wondered, if all of this would come to eventually pass, if everyone would forget, if she would eventually believe that Taichi does have feelings for her –
"You should all stop talking about this," piped in Koushiro with a stern yet friendly tone. He had just finished his lunch. "Mimi-chan's here."
To Mimi, one thing was for certain – she didn't deserve Koushiro's feelings. So how can I deserve Taichi?
Koushiro stood up from his seat, leaving, while Daisuke and Miyako muttered their apologies. Ken, Takeru and Hikari, whom both sensed it was an awkward topic over lunch, focused on eating their food.
Mimi tried to eat hers as well, but had lost her appetite halfway. Now she felt guiltier, having been reminded of dear Koushiro's feelings. She drifted, with the little voice in her head whispering things that made her want to run away and forget.
Author's Note: I don't know if medicine students really have an illustration class, but I personally thought it was such a cute idea. Hehe. Will appreciate your reviews, and I'll try my best to reply to all your PMs this weekend. :)