Chapter Fourteen – Can You Feel The Love Tonight
We wait until the others have left. Emi tries to linger behind a bit to eavesdrop, but she's dragged away by the nurse.
Please tell me what my punishment will be! Shizune's 'voice' doesn't show any anxiety, but her lips are pressed tightly together.
Akane looks confused for a moment. “Punishment? Oh right, I almost forgot. You're grounded for a week.”
She must have noticed our incredulous looks. “What? You thought I'd have Makoto turn you into a giant toad for a few days? Just for failing to control more magic than most students wield after half a year?” She continues in a conspiratorial whisper. “Besides, I kind of see where you're coming from. He really is a cutie.”
I feel the blood going to my head again, so I'm glad when she changes the subject. “But let's make it formal in case Kozo follows up on this. Shizune, you are not to leave the school-grounds without permission until the end of next week!”
The violet glow emanating from her shows me that Shizune probably couldn't disobey if she wanted to.
Akane winks at me. “If you decide to remove that geas from her, you'd better not let Kozo find out, or you'll really be in trouble.” Then she turns back to Shizune. “And the two of us are going to have a remedial lesson right now. I'm going to show you a trick or two so something like today doesn't happen again. You don't usually learn those until much later, but... heck, I never liked being bound by a curriculum anyway.”
With that she grabs Shizune's arm and drags her away towards the student council office.
***
Suddenly Misha and I are alone in the corridor. As the day's tension leaves me, I realize just how tired I really am. I look at Misha and realize she is close to exhaustion as well. No surprise, as she has the effects of the chemotherapy to cope with in addition to all the other stress.
She leans against a wall, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. I take her hand and press it reassuringly. “Tired?”
She nods weakly. “Yes, very. Let's get back to the dorms.”
I put my arm around her waist and together we make our way out of the auxiliary building. By the time we reach the school-yard, Misha is leaning heavily on me. She must be even more exhausted than I thought she was. When we finally arrive at the dorms, I am breathing hard as well.
As I start to say goodbye, she interrupts me. “Please don't go. I don't want to be alone right now. Will you come up to my room for a moment? Just until Shizune is back.”
It's still before curfew. Shizune probably won't be back before it begins, but what the heck... I nod and together we enter the girl's dorm.
***
The girl's dorm looks exactly like the boy's dorm on the inside. Misha's and Shizune's rooms are on the second floor. We both eschew the stairs and ride the elevator instead. Living in a dorm for disabled people has it's benefits.
Misha unlocks the door to her room and lets me in. “I'm sorry, it's been some time since I last tidied up my room.”
I enter the room and look around. Pink is the prevailing colour here. On the walls, there are a few posters of some pop group. A nightdress is carelessly thrown onto the ruffled bed. A small cupboard holds a stereo and a large collection of CDs.
The desk is a mess of schoolbooks, notebooks and CDs with some papers spilling over onto the floor. The wall above the desk is papered with photographs. Most of them show Misha together with Shizune or Misha with a middle-aged man and woman, probably her parents, some show our other classmates and a few show Misha playing with a large Golden Retriever dog. None of the photographs seems to be older than two or three years...
God, there's so much I don't know about Misha... Actually I really know next to nothing about her. But I do know that I love her and that I want to learn all the rest.
I turn around. Misha has closed the door behind her and plops down on the bed, sighing in relief.
I sit down on the chair, taking a deep breath as well. I try to find a subject other than magic and illnesses of any kind to talk about and remember my resolution to learn as much about Misha as I can. “You have a dog?”
Misha breaks into a smile. “Yes, that's Ribati. She is about four years old now. It's too bad Yamaku doesn't allow any pets, but it probably can't be helped.”
“Has she been with you very long?”
“A few months after I was released from the hospital, my parents took me for a vacation to California. We found her tied to a post at a highway. She was almost starved... She looked a lot like I did back then. We took her to the next town and on the way I begged my parents to let me keep her until they relented.” She chuckles. “I think they would have given me a pet alligator if they thought it would make me happy. I remember it was a huge mess getting the necessary papers to take her with us back to Japan.”
“Isn't Ribati a strange name for a dog?”
That was my mother's idea. Ribati's an American, and apparently one of their presidents or car manufacturers or whatever had a dog just like her that was also called Ribati. I liked the sound of it, even if I didn't know the meaning. What about you? Do you have any pets?”
I shake my head. “No, my father is allergic to anything that has a pelt and a good many other things as well. And my mother would throw a fit, if a dog salivated all over her carpets. She's really into having everything clean. Might be because of dad's allergies – I don't know. Don't you miss her?”
“Ribati? Yes, I do, but I don't live very far from here, so my parents usually take me home for the weekends. Shizune usually comes as well. Her parents are very busy even on weekends and they don't have much time for her. At the moment, mum is caring for an aunt who has fallen ill, so they didn't come to the festival last sunday.”
She frowns. “Of course, I don't know if that will be possible, if I have to do this chemotherapy thing every day from now on.”
No. That is a topic I don't want to breach tonight. I move over to sit on the bed next to Misha and put my arm around her. She leans her head on my shoulder.
“So, who's that band on the poster?”
“Orange Range. You don't know them?” She sounds surprised.
“I've heard from them, but I rarely watch the Music Video Channel, so I didn't recognize their faces.”
Time flies by, as we talk about our respective families and hobbies. Soon I notice Misha getting more and more sleepy until she finally falls asleep in my arms. Carefully, so as not to wake her, I lay her down on the bed and pull the blanket over her. After a brief kiss to the forehead, I sneak out of the girl's dorm and back to my own room, where I soon fall into a deep sleep as well.
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Please look forward to chapter Fifteen:
Supercalifragilisticexpialigocious
Anyways, nice chapter as always.
