Because this is a fledgling work, I am not sure what direction it's going in. I expect that there will be a bit of (poorly) attempted comedy here and there, with some conflict arising eventually. I'm just not sure where or when yet. This... could end up being quite long, though I don't expect to exceed too many chapters.
Anyways, here goes.
Pastebin link.
Prologue: A Personal Invitation
It feels like any other late-winter day. A blue sky, a mildly warm sun, plenty of clouds for Rin to muse over, and a short, green-eyed girl leaning on my shoulder after scarfing down her lunch. So then what's different? I feel nervous, anxious, like things are finally coming to a head. Oh, that's right.
Graduation is fast approaching. Just a couple weeks, actually. Hard to believe it's been almost a full year since my first heart attack. Emi's workouts have done wonders for my health, though. I haven't had a scare since the incident on the track when I tried to race the school track star.
"A butterfly," Rin murmurs, motioning to a specific cloud. "A dog. A tree."
Emi lifts her head up. She still hasn't gotten used to Rin's ramblings. "Swept up by the clouds again, Rin?"
Rin doesn't respond. Emi stands up and walks over to sit beside her. "Do you think the clouds mean anything?"
Rin shrugs and looks at her dumbfoundedly. "I'm not sure. I don't think I can say for certain."
Emi turns back to me, her eyes gleaming. "Hisao, what do you think?"
I crane my neck to take a look. All I see are big balls of fluff hanging in the sky. Maybe it's my nerves. I'm just ready for graduation to be over with. There's university, Emi, life in general... graduate school, if I decide to go that route. Mutou did a pretty good job of convincing me that science was where I belonged, though I'm still not sure where. He's had me reading a lot of Hawking, Sagan, and de Grasse Tyson recently, and the astrophysics is starting to grow on me. Not sure I buy the whole string theory thing, but I'm open to anything. Mutou would be proud, I bet.
I remember I have a question to answer and return to the real world. At least I can blow off my zone-out as trying to find some kind of meaning in these airborne cotton balls. "Nope, nothing."
Emi sighs. "You two are no fun. Just because graduation is coming up doesn't mean you should be so down all the time."
"Who's feeling down?" Rin replies with a frown. "What do you think we should be acting like?"
"Excited!" Emi exclaims, jumping into the air. "This is the next big step in life, we should be happy about it!"
"I don't think we're unhappy," I respond coolly. "Just nervous."
"Well, I'm not nervous one bit!"
"Money frustrates people. You don't exactly have to worry about that." Rin's right. Emi was recruited for track and given a full-tuition scholarship. All she has to pay out of pocket are living expenses, and her mother has that covered for her. "Why do you think I'm taking some time off?"
Emi hadn't looked at it that way, and she is taken aback at Rin's harsh tone. I move to comfort her. "Hey, I think what Rin is saying is that you're incredibly fortunate. Make the most of it. Just make sure you understand everyone else's situation." She gives me an understanding nod and snuggles under my arm. Rin swings her legs out and forward, her momentum propelling her into standing up.
"This is all very touching, but I'm going to go somewhere less awkward." Before taking the first step down the stairway, she turns her head back to us. "You lovebirds should probably do the same." As if on cue, the lunch bell sounds. "Huh. I predicted the future. I wonder if I can do that again." She looks up at the sky. "It's going to rain soon."
Emi and I just look at her, waiting to see her prophecy unfold. Rin lets down her arms and Emi cuts into the silence. "Looks like you're out of luck, Rin!"
Rin sighs in disappointment. "How unfortunate. I always wanted to predict the future." She begins her journey down the stairs back to the art room. Emi and I follow suit, our fingers intertwined, trudging down the stairway as the countdown to our last day of high school begins.
* * *
Emi gives me a quick peck on my lips before she skips down the hall to her own classroom. I walk into the room and see Misha beaming at me, that goofy smile engulfing her face. Her hair has grown out a bit since she had it chopped off (something about wanting a major identity change); it's almost back to shoulder length now, definitely more suitable for her than that sudden pixie cut. Hanako is sitting quietly at her desk, immersed in her latest novel. She must have heard my footsteps, as she looks up from her book and smiles at me as she waves. She's warmed up to others a lot since Lilly left. She's been working with the newspaper club quite a bit, and she even took a trip to Hokkaido with them over the summer. Lilly entrusted her well-being to me, but she's hardly needed me.
I return her greeting and head for my seat just as the teacher comes in. He's a rather plump man, always dressed in some tacky combination of a sweater vest and slacks (and Shizune calls my fashion sense bad), his half-bald head casting the glare from the outside world into our tired faces every morning.
It was weird not seeing Mutou our first day in room 4-3. But such is life, and I still pay him regular visits after hours to talk about my readings. We never made the science club official, so he left me to join another club if I so wished. I'm kind of glad he did; if he hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten to know Misha and Shizune so well through student council. Emi was... skeptical of me being with those two at first, I will admit, but we both came to realize that they are no less human than we are. Lilly was equally impressed, and I wouldn't be surprised if my interaction with Shizune was a catalyst for the mending of that relationship (thankfully before Lilly left permanently for Scotland).
The teacher begins his lecture, printing formula after formula on the blackboard as we struggle to keep up in our notes. I'm not that worried, of course; it's only science. I'm good at it, and I definitely appreciate getting paid to tutor people just before exams. I had taken that on as my student council project, and Shizune gave me her overwhelming approval. Luckily, we were able to convince the administration to pay the tutors for their time, and people started flocking in for positions after that.
Midway through his lecture, I notice a slip of paper sitting next to my notebook. It's obviously from Misha. "Do you have any plans for after graduation?"
"Not really," I write back. "Emi and I have been trying to figure out what we want to do. Why?" I pass the note back to her only while the teacher isn't looking.
"Hakamichi-san offered to give me and Shiichan a trip to Hanami in Kyoto, and we're allowed to invite however many friends we want." Hanami. I've only been to see the cherry blossoms a few times, and Kyoto is supposed to have some pretty remarkable spots. I'd love to go again. I continue reading. "Money's no issue, he's footing the bill."
Now there's a surprise. That doesn't sound like the Jigoro I know. Maybe he's trying to recompense his daughter for being such a jackass all these years? I scribble back on the note, "Let me talk to Emi about it. I think we might be along for the ride."
"Great~! Feel free to invite any of your other friends, Hiichan~!"
Other friends... I guess Hanako and Rin might consider going. Lilly would love to go if she were here, but that's out of the question. "What about friends of friends?"
Misha turns to Shizune and flashes some signs that I don't quite catch. I don't know why I'm not just talking to Shizune myself. Oh, that's right, there's this wall of pink energy between us. Misha scribbles her... er, Shizune's response on the paper slip. "Let's just keep it to a single circle right now. If we get friends of friends, this could get out of hand. Small trip of close friends is better, right~?"
I suppose she has a point. Wait a minute....
"Who else are you two inviting?"
"Just you and whoever you want to bring along, Hiichan~. Hideaki and Hakamichi-san, too."
Whew. Not the only male on the trip. Dodged that bullet, not sure how long I'd be able to handle the excess estrogen. Still, from what little I know of the kid, Hideaki barely counts, and I'm not a fan of Shizune's father, either. Then again, no one is.
I make a mental note to mention this to Emi, Rin, and Hanako after my weekly meeting with Mutou. For now, let's just get done with class.
* * *
My eyelids are heavy. My jaw is slacking. I can feel the sleepy boredom taking over my body. Late nights in Emi's room can't be much help, either, especially when we get up so early for the morning run. I'm honestly not sure how she operates on so little sleep. Still, the teacher's lazy drawl doesn't help things. He just goes on and on and... on and... on....
"Nakai!"
I jolt awake, my head bolting up from its resting place in my palm. "Nakai, would you care to answer the question?" Ah, so that's where the gruff, agitated voice was coming from.
"I'm sorry, sir?"
The teacher sighs in frustration. "I was just asking the class about this system." I look at the board and notice his illustration. He's started with 0.25 moles of some gas at 300 Kelvin under 200 kilo-Pascals of pressure, asking us to find the volume the gas occupies. "Standard ideal gas law problem, sir." I start churning through the calculations.
He nods approvingly, beginning to write out the method on the blackboard. "Exactly." Before he finishes writing the first relation, I blurt out the answer. "3.12 liters, sir."
"Correct, Nakai," he responds with a cutting tone to his voice. "But, please, let your classmates have a chance to do the work before you just give away the answer."
Not my fault chemistry is so easy. At least physics is interesting.
There's the bell. Thank God, anything to free me from this place. I quickly shove my notebooks and pens into my messenger bag, slinging the strap over my shoulder. My attempts at speed aren't rewarded, though; Hanako is already gone. I guess that girl will never fully get over her social anxiety. I guess I can just stop by her room before I head to Emi's.
I head down a flight of stairs, back to classroom 3-2. The door is wide open. Mutou is sitting at his desk alone, working on a bit of grading, wearing a pair of small reading glasses. I rap on the door twice, just like I always do. "Come in, Nakai."
"I've told you before, you can call me Hisao," I say, setting my things down beside my chair next to his desk.
"Well, I have to keep some air of professionalism if I'm considering you a colleague." He looks up from his grading and removes his glasses, tucking them in his coat pocket. "Besides, name changes confuse me," he continues, chuckling. "Now, where did we leave off last week?"
I reach into my bag and pull out his latest reading suggestion, Darwin's The Origin of Species. "It wasn't easy finding a translated copy, but Yuuko was able to help me out. Also, his writing is really[/u] tough to follow."
"Welcome to Victorian prose. Very dry, but concise and straightforward. Perfect for science, some would say." We both laugh at his bad joke. "Anyways, what did you think? This is the first biology text I suggested, if I'm remembering correctly."
"Yeah, that's right." We devolve into a discussion about the book, Darwin's observations and analyses, and biology as a whole. Despite being rather cold to chemistry, I think biology is actually kind of interesting. Watching animals and plants change over time into new forms... okay, actually watching them sounds boring, but drawing up the family tree definitely feels awesome.
"I'm going to keep you on a biology track for next week," Mutou says as we start to close the discussion. "See if you can find some reading on the Miller-Urey experiment. It's a fairly recent development, only about 60 years old. You should find it pretty interesting." He raises his hand to chest-level, index finger fully extended from an otherwise curled fist. "Remember, always look for interdisciplinary connections. That's part of what makes science beautiful."
"Understood, sir," I respond with a nod.
"Good." He smiles a bit, about as much as anyone could expect Mutou to smile. "Now get out of my office and enjoy the rest of your week."
As I walk out of Mutou's office, I flip open my phone and send Emi a quick text message. 'Going to be a bit late, need to stop by Hanako's for just a minute. I won't be long.'
She responds fairly quickly. 'You're lucky I trust you so much or I'd be suspicious.' I smile at that one.
* * *
Comments and criticisms are welcome (the latter are expected
).
