Post
by Puncyclopedia » Wed Jun 17, 2015 10:10 pm
And heeeeere's Act 1, Chapter 7 - also known as the last chapter of Act 1! Act 2 will commence soon - with a frantic week of prepping for a local anime convention over last week, I can hopefully get back to a more regular writing schedule now!
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Somehow, it's Saturday, and class has been over for about a half hour.
The week was a blur, in spite of my doubts and worries and nervousness. The students are gone, and as I've just finished packing up my things and making sure I have everything, it's time for my Saturday afternoon Shanghai visit with a certain tall blonde woman.
It occurs to me that we've made no arrangements on where to meet or anything of the sort. Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I head for the door, only to find it opening as I get there.
Standing in front of me is the tall blonde woman with whom I'm meeting. I gasp in surprise, but she takes it seemingly well.
“My apologies if I startled you, Hisao,” she says. Her speech is prim and proper and perfect as always. It amazes me sometimes. “I realized that we hadn't agreed on a place to meet, so I thought it would be good to meet somewhere where you couldn't miss me.”
It's good logic, really. It's also Shizune logic, the more I think about it. The thought makes me sigh a bit as I regard Lilly with an amused smile that she can't see.
The two of them are more alike than either would ever like to admit, I think. The differences come in their mannerisms. Lilly politely comes to the classroom to make sure I don't miss her for our trip to the Shanghai. Shizune and Misha surround me the second I leave the classroom to make sure I go with them to the Student Council room.
The message of “there is no escape” is equally clear, but only one of those scenarios makes me feel like a dangerous prisoner being transported to his cell.
“Besides,” she continues, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, “you seemed a bit hesitant when you agreed to it. I wanted to make sure you remembered.”
...maybe there's even less of a difference than I thought.
“It's kind of hard to forget,” I reply. “You are my mentor after all. It would be bad for my career to avoid you for any length of time.”
“Oh? Is that the only reason you're coming to the Shanghai with me, Hisao,” she asks, in mock reproach. This is a dangerous conversation, but it's one that I've had enough practice at over the years to understand how to win it.
My goal here, though, isn't to win. Playing to win is exhausting.
“Of course not, Lilly. I mean, you're really the only friend I have here, except for--”
I cut myself off immediately. She notices, and I cringe.
“I assume that you refer to Kenji,” she asks, and I have no choice but to admit the truth. She takes it in stride.
“I am glad that he has a friend. He strikes me as someone who needs them.”
I can't really disagree with that assessment. He definitely needs friends. And therapy.
Potentially, lots of therapy.
“He's a good guy deep down beneath everything, I think,” I offer, somewhat lamely. “He's just a little...”
“Worried about a mass feminist conspiracy that holds Yamaku in its grip?” The words sound utterly foreign rolling off of Lilly's tongue, even if she smiles as she says them. Given how secretive Kanji can be, the fact that she knows stuns me.
“Something like that,” I say.
“Everyone knows,” Lilly tells me, casually. “Rumors spread around here very quickly, as you may be well aware. No one knows why, though. He has...apparently told different stories to many different people as to why he is so...adamant about his position.”
My cheeks grow hot for a moment. To think, I actually believed Kenji for a while. Though, as I think about it, if the reason he gave me isn't it, why the Hell IS he so obsessed with the “vast feminist conspiracy?”
I don't know. I don't think I want to, either.
Blind or not, Lilly can sense my unease, and neatly cuts off my thought process.
“Shall we be off, then, Hisao,” she asks, to which I give a grateful “yes.”
* * *
The Shanghai, much like Yamaku, seems somewhat frozen in time. Sure, Yamaku's technology has gotten a little better, and sure, Yuuko no longer works at the Shanghai, but the vast majority of everything else is the same. The impossibly tiny cakes remain – Lilly has eaten hers in two dainty bites, and mine remains on its miniscule plate. I know it'll take just one bite for me to finish it.
She has tea, I have coffee. The Shanghai's coffee isn't particularly good, but nor is it bad. It is average. Perfectly, comfortably average.
“Do you ever drink coffee,” I ask Lilly.
“I have tried it,” she admits, “but I don't think much of it. It is too bitter.”
“Not if you put sugar in it,” I point out. I stopped putting sugar in my coffee a few years ago. I still need a splash of milk, though.
“If I need to put sugar in something for it to be palatable,” she asks, regal as ever, “why would I want to drink it to begin with?”
It's a fair point. She drinks her tea plain, with slow sips seemingly designed to maximize the flavor and aroma of her drink. By contrast, I drink my coffee quickly, enough so that I'm ready for a refill before she's finished half of her teacup.
“What about you, Hisao,” she asks. “Do you ever drink tea?”
“Not much,” I admit. “I prefer coffee. It's not that I dislike tea, though.”
If coffee were to somehow disappear from the world, I would mourn, but tea or hot chocolate would eventually take its place. I can't imagine the same for Lilly, though, unless she happens to really like hot chocolate.
“What is it about coffee that you prefer,” is the obvious question that I expected, but I find myself struggling to answer it.
“Now that you mention it, I don't really know. I'm just...used to coffee, I guess. It helps get me through long days, maybe? Tea can do that too, though...”
I finally throw up my hands. I have nothing, which means it's my turn to ask the question.
“What about you? Why do you like tea so much?”
I briefly hope that she'll falter here, but she has an answer ready.
“It reminds me of Scotland and my family,” she says, without missing a beat. I feel silly for a moment. Of course.
“They have teatime over there, right,” I ask. “That makes sense, then, that it would remind you of your family.” I think back, and remember that Lilly was overseas before returning to Japan for our mentorship meeting. That makes sense, too. She was probably back home.
“Was that where you were before this semester,” I ask. She seems a bit surprised, but recovers neatly.
“I was, yes,” she replies. “I spent a few weeks at home with my mother and father. It was...a nice time, I suppose.”
It strikes me as an odd comment, but I don't press it. Her family is related to Shizune's. Who knows what her mother or father could be like? Maybe the relationship is bad. Maybe it's great. If she wants me to know, she'll tell me – and it's not my place to pry, considering this is the longest I've spoken to her in one sitting ever, probably.
“We've spoken about everything but school, I think,” I say, rubbing my chin a bit self-consciously. “Is there anything I should be doing that I'm not? Any horrible rumors spreading amongst the faculty about a first year teacher in way over his head?”
She shakes her head vehemently no. I'm almost flattered that she feels she has to do that on my account.
“From what you've been sending me, everything seems to be going well thus far,” she says. Friday night, I sent her a copy of my lesson plan. The school itself already had it and approved it, but somehow, I was more nervous to have someone I knew well critique it.
“Thanks, Lilly. I'm constantly afraid I'm going to screw things up, so I'm trying really hard.” It's the truth. I look comfortable enough, I think, but I don't feel comfortable. It's the beginning of the year. Everything's easy. I know it won't stay that way.
Perhaps the most infuriating and long-lasting effect of my heart attack before coming to Yamaku is that it's left me always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Invariably, it does, usually after I've finally managed to stop waiting for it. I have little reason to expect teaching is going to be much different.
“The best thing you can do, Hisao, is just continue doing the best you can. Things get more difficult, but you can handle them. I was in your position not that long ago.”
“How did it go for you?” My expected answer is 'very well,' and it surprises me a bit when a slight blush comes to her cheeks.
“Well enough, in the end,” she says, looking a bit uncomfortable. It's as if having to admit weakness wounds her, somehow. “You are already doing better than I was at the start.”
Things are getting uncomfortable. Again. Maybe it's because in spite of knowing each other for a long time, we don't really know each other? Polite talk at family reunions isn't enough to truly get to know someone.
It's for the best that I drop this train of thought, too. Something else, Hisao. Come on. Something else. Anything else.
“How's Hanako doing,” I ask, in an effort to make small talk.
She flinches at the question, which is enough to almost knock me out of my seat. By the time Lilly manages to stammer out a non-committal “well,” I realize that I've yet again managed to blunder my way into territory that I don't want to be in.
This time, though, the awkward silence is too much for her, and she speaks, saying one of the last things I ever expected to come out of her mouth.
“Hanako and I had a falling out,” she explains. “Almost immediately after I left for Scotland for what I thought would be the final time.”
That last bit sounds vaguely familiar to me, but only vaguely. If I remember correctly, Lilly left before the end of the school year. It came up once or twice at the reunions – but if she left for Scotland, why is she here now?
Now's not the time to think about that, though.
“I'm sorry to hear that,” is the most intelligent thought that comes to mind. “Do you want to talk about it?”
The mere idea seems to make Lilly wince in pain. Even so, though, her face bears a determined look, as if trying to make sure that I can't see her struggling.
“I do,” she says, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “I am not ready to, though.”
That sounds more than a little familiar to me. I can't help but say so.
“I know how that feels. Same goes for me and a certain cousin of yours. I just...want to get the whole story out, but...”
“You can't,” she concludes, a small, wry smile creeping onto her face. “That is exactly it.”
Lilly fiddles with her near-empty teacup for a long moment, before she finally smiles at me.
“When I'm ready to tell you about Hanako,” she says, calmly, about to make my worst fears a reality, “you'll have to tell me about Shizune as well. Do we have a deal, Hisao?”
The question hangs in the air as I think about it. Lilly isn't exactly an open book. She seems to weigh the merits of everything she says very carefully.
If she trusts me enough to reveal what has to be something very personal to her, shouldn't I be able to trust her enough to tell her my story? A story that I've desperately wanted to tell to someone, if only to get it off my chest after all this time.
This isn't something that's going to happen tomorrow. Probably not next week, or even a month from now. I have time.
“It's a deal,” I say, before I can change my mind, and the two of us clink cups. “Now, can we please find a non-depressing topic to talk about? It feels like everything I'm bringing up is upsetting one or both of us.”
To my relief, she smiles, and our afternoon conversation finds more pleasant things to discuss.
Characters: Shizune > Lilly > Rin > Emi > Hanako
Routes: Lilly > Rin > Shizune > Hanako > Emi
Replaying now, so subject to flux. Except Shizune. Shizune is best.