Sorry if you got this message twice. Some people didn't get this
message due to a configuration messup on the FFML, so I'm resending
it.
----- Forwarded message from Irene <otaku220@yahoo.com> -----
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 12:21:04 -0800 (PST)
From: Irene <otaku220@yahoo.com>
To: ffml@anifics.com
Subject: [FFML] [R1/2] Clear Day #2
Hi!
Here it is--the 2nd draft of "A Certain Clear Day", chapter 2. :)
Please send all comments!
#######
Two || Fushigi na Ougi || Wondrous Mysteries
o/~
"Melodies of Life"
Alone for a while I've been searching through the dark
For traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart
To weave by picking up the pieces that remain
Melodies of life--love's lost refrain
Our paths they did cross, though I cannot say just why
We met, we laughed, we held on fast, and then we said goodbye
And who'll hear the echoes of stories never told?
Let them ring out loud till they unfold
In my dearest memories, I see you reaching out to me
Though you're gone, I still believe that you can call out my name
A voice from the past, joining yours and mine
Adding up the layers of harmony
And so it goes, on and on
Melodies of life,
To the sky beyond the flying birds--forever and beyond
So far and away, see the bird as it flies by
Gliding through the shadows of the clouds up in the sky
I've laid my memories and dreams upon those wings
Leave them now and see what tomorrow brings
In your dearest memories, do you remember loving me?
Was it fate that brought us close and now leaves me behind?
If I should leave this lonely world behind
Your voice will still remember our melody
Now I know we'll carry on
Melodies of life
Come circle round and grow deep in our hearts
As long as we remember
o/~
[ May 2nd, Tokyo, Present ]
Himeko moaned a little when the alarm clock rang. Five-thirty:
time to get out of bed, shower, eat breakfast, and run for the
office.
She wished she had gotten just a bit more sleep, and vowed to
never stay in the lab past eleven PM if she could help it.
Certainly Miyake condoned and encouraged it by his illustrious
example, but she was not sure she could handle it just yet. Her
body needed time to acclimatize itself to the modern world of
scientific research. For example, the caffeine overloads.
Stumbling out of bed, she nearly tripped over a pile of journals
and research magazines. Witnesses to her ambition: Himeko didn't
know of too many professors who kept up with discoveries the way
she did. Besides, they were mostly English publications: as soon
as she had amassed the credentials, the money, and the
connections, she was headed for America to study. Here she was
an assistant professor because she was working on two theses.
There she would actually be a professor, work on more things, and
get something done.
She mumbled something as she went to her closet, found a matching
blouse and skirt, some lingerie, then went into the bathroom for
a morning wake-up shower. She took off her silver necklace and
ring, set it in some tissue paper on the counter, and stepped
into the shower. It felt wonderful when the warm water splashed
and washed over her smooth skin, when she washed her hair with
shampoo, and she was most sorry to leave the steamy room, her
first comfort of the morning. She breathed in the hot, moist air
one more time, before she dried herself off, put on clothes and
jewelry, then opened the door to let the mist dissipate into the
rest of her room. It was about five-fifty now. She brushed her
teeth and dried her hair, then went for the kitchen.
She had almost been too busy to eat lately, a fact that she
recognized as "not a good thing". There had been one time she
nearly fainted at the lab table, when she realized she had not
eaten a thing that day, and only drank a glass of water. She
winced, remembering that she must not be so absent-minded in the
future.
After making some toast and hot chocolate, she sat down with a
stack of papers and looked at the time. Half an hour before the
bus--wonderful. She set a timer for twenty minutes. This meant
she had time to read over some unfinished papers from students,
mark a few, before she had to lock up and get out. She sipped at
the warm mug and bit into the toast. This would be a good
morning.
Her mood fast evaporated when she encountered the first paper.
The handwriting added a new style sample to her repertoire of
"chicken-scratch-handwriting". The marks were short and crooked,
and the person had pressed so heavily that she could almost read
the back of the first page right then and there. She squinted,
wondering if that character was an "o" or an "a". She read the
name. Batae Akita. . .yes, that student was very intelligent and
probably above the class, but apparently his script needed a
little work. She threw it aside; she would grade that one next
time she had trouble falling asleep.
The next, and next, were easier. She marked with a red felt-tip
pen when necessary; she wrote encouraging comments to students
who were on the right track, and she penned in equations for
students who had apparently forgotten some. When the timer rang,
she had gone through four exams.
She loved mornings like this. Himeko put the papers into her
pack, then looked out the window and heard a soft, prattling
noise. It was raining outside, a soft, early-summer shower. She
sighed and went for an umbrella from the front hallway. Then she
took everything she needed--bag, file, and purse--then left and
locked the house.
Taking in a deep breath of the sweet, rainy air, she hurried her
steps to the conveniently located bus stop. She was in luck;
within a minute, the bus showed up. She closed the umbrella and
hopped into the bus. The driver, knowing her to be regular
passenger, gave a quick smile as she walked back into her usual
seat. She leaned her head back and half-closed her eyes,
relaxing for the next twenty minutes. Rain splattered against
the glass windows, making soft sounds, soothing and gentle as
they slowly slid down the panes. When she opened her eyes and
looked outside, she looked through the streaks of rain and saw
the city bathed in water.
Himeko loved rain.
~~~
[ Monday, 4:02 PM, Kyoto ]
"It's gonna rain," the boy said, looking at Himeko. "That other
bus ain't never going to show up. Why don't we just walk into
the hotel? It's not like they're gonna kick us out and leave us
in the rain to get pneumonia."
Himeko made no reply, but she closed her book and turned her eyes
to the sky. Thunderheads had gathered; their inky masses piled
upon each other angrily, threatening, jostling each other for
space in the dark slate sky. "Maybe."
"Stupid," the boy chided, though in a nice tone of voice, "are
you *tryin'* to get sick? Come on, lets go ask the teacher. .
.look at these crowds standing outside. I ain't gonna stay here
much longer. What's the freaking problem anyway? Stay 'ere,
I'll go find out." Before Himeko had a chance to formulate a
reply, he had vanished into the misty crowd. She shrugged and
fought off a chill; the air had become damp and cold.
He came back in a flash, so fast it surprised her and made her
wonder just what had happened. "There's a problem with rooms.
They overbooked, so we hafta combine some rooms." He made a face.
"This is so stupid." His face, which Himeko judged to be fairly
good-looking, turned annoyed and slightly sulky.
"It will be fine," she offered softly. "At least we have a place
to stay."
"Yeah, whatever, always lookin' on the bright side. Good luck
finding a silver lining in *that* cloud." The boy pointed
heavenwards, just as a roll of thunder sounded. The ground
shook; the trees shivered; the first drops of rain fell.
Himeko *liked* rain and was about to make mention of the fact,
but was cut off by a stream of vile-sounding curses, mostly not
in Japanese, but in something like Chinese. She was already
shocked by the language, but then her eyes widened as the boy's
form transformed right in front of her startled eyes.
As cold water touched his black hair, the strands lightened and
turned brown, then to iridescent red in almost an instant,
melting from dark to bright. Water streaked down his face,
turning it smaller, curvaceous, into a peach-shaped face with the
same startling blue-gray eyes, but now the eyes seemed larger and
brighter. The mouth, corners tugged down, became a smaller,
slightly pouty set of full red lips. His frame seemed to shudder
and shake as bones repositioned, tendons and ligaments molded
themselves into new places, sockets ground, and muscles tugged.
The clothes sagged with the wet rain, but the shirt was not as
loose around. . .the chest area. This *girl* had a very pretty
face--beautiful, in fact, with almost glowing red hair, and a
very curvy figure. She was perhaps two centimeters taller than
Himeko was.
Himeko was not given to fainting, but she was surprised enough
that she nearly did. She took a hesitant step backward, but she
was sufficiently numb from the cold and shock that she slipped.
In an instant, the red-haired girl had a slender arm around her
waist, and had grabbed her and set her back on firm ground. The
girl smiled, and Himeko could see that she had smooth, toned
muscles, and was just as strong as the boy had been. "I'm
Saotome Ranma, sorry 'bout this mess." She gave a rather sweet
smile, somewhat feminine, but her movements and speech were
distinctly male.
"I see." Himeko did not see, not at all, but she was polite to
everyone, so long as the person did not attempt harm on her.
"Ranma?"
"Some call me Ranko," the girl added sardonically. "Same guy as
before, I swear it. It's a Jusenkyo curse. Some springs in
China. . .if you want to hear the explanation, I'll give it to
ya. But first, we get inside. I am *not* stayin' in this stupid
rain any longer. And neither should you." He--she--took Himeko's
hand and practically pulled her towards the entrance. Himeko
gave in and ran along, her shoes tapping on wet concrete and
nearly slipping more than once.
Her life had just become rather interesting, Himeko thought
wryly. Perhaps Ranma or Ranko would not object to a few tests
conducted on his or her body? Himeko banished the thought. She
might love science, but she was hardly cold-hearted or soulless.
Jusenkyo, she thought. Now where had she seen that name before?
Oh yes, in that article in "Nature" magazine--something about
legends and curses in the revered landscape. Somebody claimed it
was an elaborate hoax, but there were stories about certain
scientists--a revered naturalist, a population ecologist, and a
field biologist--who had gone *missing* on that trip. . .
Now *this* was *really* worth further investigation on her part.
The teacher nodded, almost in fear, as the red-haired girl
shouted her argument for letting the two girls into the hotel.
The teacher said something which made Ranma step back--Himeko
recognized the teacher as being from her school. Toyama-sensei
was known for. . .well. . .being a quasi-lecherous teacher.
Every girl steered clear of him--and Ranma clearly did not know
of that. Himeko winced and ran forward. Unfortunately, it was
too late, as Toyama also pointed to Himeko and shouted something.
Ranma screamed back and tried to slug the teacher, who dodged.
"Saotome-san, ignore him," she said when she had reached the
girl. Ranma turned around. "What?! The ol' pervert wants me to
share a room with you and your original room partners!"
Himeko turned to stare at the accused.
"C'mon, what's wrong with the concept?"
Ranma pulled back a fist.
*WHAMWHAMWHAM*
"It. . .was just. . .an idea. . ."
Himeko got an odd feeling in her chest.
This could not be good.
~~~
[20 minutes later]
"Tokyo University." The recorded voice on the bus called softly,
accompanied by some pleasant-sounding chimes. Himeko stood and
quickly walked down the aisle, off the steps, and hurried onto
the sidewalk. She set her things on a relatively dry bench and
opened her umbrella. The campus shimmered like a small city
underwater. Students ran about holding colorful umbrellas or
under plastic raincoats. She winced when one student slipped and
fell on his face. Two classmates helped him up, and they had a
good laugh over the incident. She smiled to see it, and started
walking towards the biology department. If Miyake-sensei was
there, they could have a good discussion on some topics before
she ran for her first class of the day.
She was engrossed in the thoughts--until someone bumped against
her from behind and sent her flying. Her arms clutched at her
books, but her umbrella went flying and she slipped, barely
keeping her balance. As she carefully stood straight again, she
looked back to see who the offender was. Himeko raised an
eyebrow. "Saotome-san?" Then she took another look. There was a
girl next to him, a girl half a head shorter than he was. She
had dark hair in a very short style, dark brown eyes, and an
athletic build. The girl was wearing a green t-shirt and *short*
white shorts, along with some sneakers. She was also clinging
onto Ranma's arm. Ranma held a black umbrella over the both of
them.
Ranma cringed as he realized what had just happened. Of course,
Yukawa-san did not know this, but Akane had give him an
accidental little push, which resulted in his stumble and
collision with her. "Sumimasen, Yukawa-sensei! Mornin'!"
"Good morning. Why are you here so early?" She looked at him
with surprise. Few students--except those who had research or
some intensive work--were up around this time of day.
Ranma gestured at the girl. "My. . .fianc?e and I go to
different schools. This is the only time we get to spend
together." The words, which were automatic to him, sounded right
to most people, but to Ranma, they were pretentious. "Darnit,"
he thought. He had not meant to say it quite that way, but the
words had just come flowing out--that was what he said to
everyone in order to stave off unwanted interest. Silently, he
berated himself. "I didn't want to make her think. . .well, too
late. Now she knows I'm engaged. So much for my thoughts
towards her. . ." At any rate, despite being joined physically,
the two were not acting quite like the typical affianced couple.
Then the girl detached herself and bowed. "I'm Tendo Akane."
"Yukawa Himeko," Himeko replied with a bow. Plenty of students
were dating each other, going steady, and she already had a
married couple in one of her other classes. She smiled at the
couple and waved. "I must be going. See you in class, Saotome-
san."
As she walked off, Akane turned to Ranma with a slightly
questioning look, then admonished with a soft "baka" for running
into someone. Ranma grunted a reply.
"She's your professor?" Akane stared after the slim woman and
turned back to Ranma. "Awfully young, isn't she?"
"She's the assistant prof, sorta, and she's also a child
prodigy." Ranma replied, fingering his umbrella. "I gotta go,
Akane."
"But *you* came to *my* campus just to find me," Akane said, her
voice slightly hurt. "What's up now?"
"We had the whole walk from there to here and then around my
campus, not like you haven't seen it before," Ranma said, trying
to rationalize. "I got homework to catch up on, and tons of
stuff to do. And didn't you say you had a chemistry test today?"
"That can wait." Akane pouted. Some days it seemed like Ranma
was more eager to pull the relationship back together, and some
days Akane was. "I haven't seen you all week. Just because
those stupid teachers gave us ten labs to do in a week." She had
barely completed the assignment, and was eager for some fun,
seeing as the torture was over. "It's Friday, and the weekend
starts Wednesday night. C'mon, you can afford to slack a little
and have some fun."
Ranma gave a dry smile. "In Yukawa-san's class, you don't get to
slack off. You have pages upon pages of homework all the time,
and she won't collect the stuff, but half the exams--and there
are many--take questions off the homework. And if you don't
listen in class, you are just *screwed*."
"And the actual prof? Where is he in all this?"
"He's nuts. If you want anything, you try Yukawa-san first.
He's. . .good, he's smart, but really hyped up, busy, and can't
explain most things. He teaches right outta the stupid book."
Ranma shrugged. He looked at a beat-up watch on his left wrist,
as if he were pressed for time. "Like I said, Akane. . ."
"All right." She gave him a light squeeze. "The umbrella's
yours. Don't want your teachers freaking out that there's a new
student in class."
"Shut up, Akane," Ranma said with a smile. "See you later."
When Akane had gone, Ranma realized that her umbrella was lying
in a muddy puddle where she had slipped. He walked up to it and
gingerly took it out. The umbrella was white, with a silver
handle. He looked at it, then at the science department
building, and smiled.
He started walking towards the building, when suddenly, a gale
blew through the campus. Ranma's grip on the umbrella was very
strong, but the rain pattern shifted and blew sideways,
effectively soaking the young man. . .turned buxom woman. She
looked at herself in the reflection of a rainwater pool. The
face was more mature now, but still beautiful, quite capable of
attracting young men on campus. The build was as curvy as ever.
Sighing, he--she--decided to find a bathroom and transform back.
It would not to do show up to class as another person. It had
happened twice last year. The first teacher had nearly had an
aneurysm form *and* explode all at once. The second had actually
fainted. Ranma did not want to cause the same things again.
Ranma in girl form did not too often go through the halls.
Usually she went to a girl's bathroom, waited until everyone was
gone, and transformed there. With this. . .should she go for a
boy's bathroom? There was a *long* line outside the girls' room,
and for some reason, none outside the male one. She took a step.
"A girl's goin' in *there*!"
"Oh, she's hot!"
Ranma turned around, pretended she had made a mistake, and went
for the long line.
Gender and rooming often caused problems.
~~~
[ Monday, 5:30 PM, Kyoto ]
"Hey, girls." Toyama-sensei grinned, a smile full of mischief, a
smile that all girls of Ichiban high had learned to fear. "You
only have three in the room, right?"
One girl nodded. "Mikihara Megumi-san got really sick yesterday,
so she's missing the trip."
"Okay then, here's your new roommate--and she's a real cutie!"
Into the room came a pretty girl, with bright red hair tied into
a perky pigtail. Her slate-blue eyes were downcast and she
looked to be blushing. The teacher disappeared.
"Your name is?" A second girl waved. "I'm Yoshikawa, Yoshikawa
Raiha." She pointed to a familiar face. "That's Yukawa Himeko."
The talking girl had shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, and
looked to be athletic. She pointed to Ranma. "Your name? I
assume you're from Furinkan High."
"Yes. I'm. . .Saotome Ranko," Ranma replied, deciding that she
might as well stay female for the purposes of the room. She
might as well also try to speak more politely--to a point: darned
if she was ever going to use "atashi"!
"And I'm Koshiki Chiyo." The tallest girl sauntered over. Her
dirty-blond hair was cut close to her face, even shorter than
Akane's, and her pale green eyes had a wicked gleam to them,
something that said more than her mouth would ever say. She
smiled warmly and shook hands instead of bowing.
"Ranko?" Himeko looked slightly surprised. "But. . .but. . ."
"But what?" Raiha looked at her friend. "You two know each
other? Ranko seems like a nice enough girl." She bobbed a quick
bow.
"Well. . .okay. . .you might as well know something about me."
Ranma stepped into the bathroom. The girls followed.
Ranko grabbed the showerhead, then turned on the hot water and
sprayed the hot liquid over her head.
[ Monday, 11:19 PM, Kyoto ]
Ranko silently vowed to beat the stuffing out of Toyama-sensei
next time she encountered the pervert.
The closet was *not* comfortable. It was clean and free of dust.
Nice. But it was cramped and small. Ranko had padded the hard
floor with some extra towels from the bathroom, but she was
sleeping in a sitting-up position, and it irked her. She had
slept in far worse during training trips, but *this* she had not
bargained for.
She had been in "bed" for thirty minutes, and was nowhere near
asleep.
Still, with two girls sleeping on the beds and one already on the
floor, and the discovery that Ranko was a *boy*. . .well, they
couldn't very well beat him up and toss him out the window, so
they settled for stuffing the miscreant inside the closet.
Raiha had mentioned that she had asthma, and Ranko could hear her
scratchy breathing even from the closet. Ranko was a little
afraid that something might happen during the night, but Raiha
assured her that she knew fully well how to take care of herself.
She looked to be quite the athlete, so Ranko knew it would
probably be all right. She knew that most normal people were
capable of governing themselves. Usually. Raiha looked
sensible.
Ranma--Ranko, for now--silently went over the events of the day.
Himeko had spent the afternoon reading. Raiha was sleeping
because she had been up all night finishing homework. Chiyo was
gone--and when she came back, she said that she had been making
out with her boyfriend. Ranko, after a while, had become bored
and went downstairs to use the workout room.
Dinner was a nice affair in a nearby Chinese restaurant. Of
course, the roommates sat at the same tables. Himeko and Raiha
chatted softly the whole time. Chiyo kept running back and
forth, probably with her lover. Ranko was completely, utterly
bored--but the food had been commendable.
Ranko sighed. Now she knew that she would probably be alone for
the trip. The girls did not appreciate having a male in their
room, and she could not blame them. Having Himeko as a partner
might be interesting. . .she was quiet and fairly shy, but Ranko
didn't mind. She also did not seem to mind that curse terribly
much. She had even mentioned reading about Jusenkyo somewhere,
and Ranko felt a little better. At least he would not be getting
in fights with her, or getting beat up all the time. No Shampoo,
no Ukyo, no Kodachi. . .and very little of Akane. This would be
a peaceful week--something he could enjoy.
~~~
"Why are you late?" Fujisawa-sensei frowned at the student.
Ranma cringed. Being late for his sociology class was simply not
a good thing. "Sorry, Professor." He took a seat and pulled out
his notebooks and pens. Not his fault that Akinori had spent
more than his allotted time in the shower.
The lecture continued, and Ranma dutifully took his notes. The
two umbrellas lay at his feet, and when he glanced at the white
one, his lips started to curve into a smile. Then he shook
himself back to reality and looked up at the projection, where
terms and a graph were trying to explain something about the
death rate in Europe. Ranma winced at the morbid topic, and took
stock of the different reactions. Some were actively ignoring
the lesson; others were studying it with indifference.
". . .while the incidence of cancer in general has changed by. .
."
Ranma winced in disgust. This was not med school!
". . .and the incidence of smoking-related deaths follows this
pattern. It covers lung cancer, emphysema, and lung disease, as
well as smoking-related pneumonia. Now we look at the reported
vs. the estimated suicide rates."
He wanted to gag. This was totally disgusting. Ranma took good
care of himself, thank you very much, and he was more likely to
die in a challenge than in a hospital room, connected to twenty
IV tubes and on a respirator. Silently, he vowed never to let
that happen.
Ranma forced himself to ignore his disgust and to focus on the
topic at hand. Then the graph switched to a "general morale and
feelings of fulfillment" poll. Ranma studied it, then made a
quick, crude sketch. The teacher started to expound on the
apparent relationship between deaths, causes of deaths, and
morale. Ranma made a face. As if it was not obvious, he
thought. Death lowers morale. Unless it was honorable suicide.
. .and even then, somebody gets hurt.
"Screw this," he thought, annoyed, as he scribbled down what the
professor was writing on the transparency. How much longer of
this did he have to take? He glanced at the watch and muttered a
soft curse. Another two hours and seventeen minutes to go.
***
"Thank you, Saotome-san." Himeko put the umbrella behind her desk
and gave Ranma a faint smile.
He looked at her. Her hair seemed slightly damp, probably
because the rain had not yet stopped, and she had to walk between
several buildings. "No prob. I thought that you'd want it
back."
"Indeed I do." She pushed some papers around, then looked at him.
Before she said anything, Ranma went to search for a seat. He
was early; few students were here five minutes before class
started. Ranma sat down in his usual seat and pulled out a paper
folder stuffed with notes and papers from class. He stole
glances at her every now and then. She was apparently engrossed
in grading some tests. He winced, remembering that he had just
taken the exam a week ago. He was also sure that he had scored
one of the lower tests. There was a generous curve, since this
*was* physics, after all, but he was a bit upset at his below-par
performance.
The bell rang all too soon, and Ranma kicked his brain into
physics mode. Ryoga sat next to him, occasionally pointing out
something or asking Ranma a question, which Ranma usually could
not answer.
Today's topics were reviewing Lyapunov functions and a quick
introduction to spatiotemporal dynamics, with a focus on fluid
dynamics. Ranma and Ryoga were completely blank--they had never
studied the aforementioned functions. When they viewed the
"review" papers, nothing made sense except some of the calculus.
This was reminiscent of his confusion last year on Gaussian
distributions--except he had eventually understood *that* topic.
This had a little less hope. Maybe. . .no, not Yukawa-san this
time. He would have to go to Ryoga, for the sake of keeping his
fianc?e. Whether or not he *felt* like keeping Yukawa-san
company like that, he had an honor-bound obligation to Akane. He
swallowed at the thought. Stupid, cursed honor. It was not as
if she wanted it much more than he did.
But they had *promised*, and that kept them together about as
much as anything else could have. He would not mind so much if
Akane simply dumped him--it would have been a nice way to slip
out of things. However, it was not going to happen. They had
too much to live up to now.
He knew that he was starting to like Yukawa-san just a tad more
than he should, and that to allow the affection to grow would
lead to, in the end, little more than trouble for him and Akane.
He did not want to go down that path any more than he had done so
already.
Ranma swore to himself. This was so *wrong*.
He should not have to suppress his own emotions to *himself*.
To deny his own wants, despite there existing no true reason for
him to do so, other than empty promises and useless words. If he
told Akane "Marry me, Akane, right now," she would most likely
say yes, then they would marry, have a kid, carry on the dojo,
and live on in a way that was dictated but detested.
They would not necessarily *die* of misery, but they would
probably wallow in it. The home would be a cold place, where
they would not fight, but neither would they kiss. A home where
none knew each other, understood each other, or felt at all close
to one another. They were already so separate and distant that
forcing them together would be as useful as forcing oil and water
to mix. Sure, if you shook things up enough, they would appear
to be together. But let time pass, and they always separate
again, unwilling to touch each other.
It was so *selfish* on the one hand, to go after his own desires
and disregard all else. But it was so *stupid* to be a slave to
tradition, propriety, and the dust-covered ideas of his parents
and future in-laws. The only question was, which one was worse?
He had no answer to *that* question. He looked up and watched
Himeko brush back some loose strands of hair as she explained
some fundamental equations and started to derive a certain set of
them. Ranma's hand moved pencil over paper, taking notes in auto-
pilot mode. His eyes were glued to her form as she moved, then
she raised her head and gestured at something she wrote.
Ryoga nudged him. "Ranma, what's that there say?"
"Huh?" Ranma blinked. "Um. . .I think it says the gradient of
something or other. Can't tell." The overhead was out of focus.
Burashu came over and adjusted it. Then he gestured to Himeko to
move. She did so, sitting down in a seat, and he took over.
Ranma winced and his hand started to cramp as Burashu fired away
at the physics concepts.
"But now, Yukawa-san knows that I've got a fianc?e." Ranma was
leaning on his chin, so that luckily, the slightly mumbled words
were audible to no one. "And I. . .can't just dump Akane. It's
gonna bring everyone in the family into a big fight again, and I
can't have that. Besides, Mom. . .what would happen to her?"
Ranma forced back memories of the Saotome matriarch. "Can't do
it. . .just can't do it at all."
"EYES ON THE OVERHEAD!"
Every student jumped and stared, looking for the offender.
Burashu pointed to Ranma with a meterstick. "YOU! EYES UP
HERE!"
"Sorry, professor!" Ranma sat up straight again and took some
more notes. Darn, he thought. That guy's sure got sharp eyes. .
.he noticed that Himeko had turned at the shout, and had given
Ranma a quick glance, before turning back to her papers or
whatever she was doing.
"And now I've given her a bad impression. Oh, well." Ranma, back
to work, sketched several graphs and labeled the important
points. Burashu paused in his ramblings and asked if there were
any questions. After taking two questions on the algebra and
calculus involved in the equations, he moved into a deeper part
of the theory. Ranma, swimming in a sea of symbols and sinking,
decided to tune out and ask Ryoga later. Just to make sure, he
turned to Ryoga. "Oi, Ryoga. I'm not gettin' this at all. You
mind helpin' me with this tonight in the library or my apartment?
After we spar in the gym, of course." Ranma and Ryoga's every-
other-day trysts in the gym attracted quite an audience every
day. "What do you say, around eight tonight?"
"No prob--assuming that *I* get all this," Ryoga said as he
nodded. "This is kinda heavy stuff. The book covers a lot of
it, though."
Ranma shrugged. "Okay." He looked up at the projector, but his
eyes kept flickering over to the large wooden desk and the girl
working there.
"Darn," he thought silently. "How can she keep this up for so
long? I'd be bored out of my mind already."
Then slowly, he forced his eyes up to the screen again.
It didn't matter. It was over. He had told her that he was
taken.
Besides, the voice of practicality whispered in his ear, who ever
said *she* was interested in the first place?
***
Akane flopped onto her bed, clad in a new gi she had bought just
the day before. In her hands were some heavy weights. Heck, it
was Friday afternoon! She was going to work off some stress and
get in better shape. She had a nice enough figure; she had to
make sure she kept it up.
Mio opened the door and walked in. She was a bit taller than
Akane, with long hair tied into a single braid to keep it out of
her way. She was somewhat bookish, and always wore her large
wire-framed glasses. She was carrying a huge text that was
written in Russian--the original text of "Anna Karenina". "Hey,
Akane! Working out?"
"Hey there, Mio-chan. Mm-hm, I need to shape up a bit." Akane
properly positioned herself before starting to pump the weights.
"What's that monster you've got in your arms? It looks almost as
heavy as this weight here."
"This really awesome book! It's the untranslated version of
'Anna Karenina'. It's a classic of Russian literature, you know?
I've read it in Japanese, but never in the original Russian." Mio
sat down on her bed.
Akane smiled. Both girls were in training to be pharmacists, but
just about every student had interests beyond chemistry and
biochemistry. "I never read that much, even in high school.
Nothing really beyond what they assigned to me. I was always
doing my martial arts."
Mio arched an eyebrow at the heavy weights in Akane's hands.
"Wow, Akane-chan. That's quite impressive."
"Ah. . .thanks." Akane, a bit unsure of how to take the praise,
kept working. She was friendly with many of the martial arts
students in the school, especially those in the kempo club. "Our
whole club works out together sometimes, but this week we're not
meeting because of Kempo Kinenbi." Constitution Day was a big
deal, especially since Tokyo was right in the midst of the entire
hubbub. "Probably, the entire school's gonna be at the festivals
tomorrow, including me, so there's no way we're meeting." She
switched positions and continued pumping.
Mio nodded as she settled onto her bed, propped herself up
against a comfortable pillow, and put the book on her knees.
"I'm definitely going with some friends."
"Mm." Akane nodded. "Actually, the rest of my family's probably
going to show up as well. Good chance that I'll wind up with
them." She half-smiled and half-winced; the mixture of emotion
reflected her mixed feelings towards the matter. "That's kind of
good, I guess."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Akane knew that Mio did not get
along particularly well with her parents. "My brother will be
there, so that's the nice thing." Mio's parents wanted her to be
in business, actually, and Mio fought years of intense pressuring
to study pharmacy. Her family felt rather disgruntled, but they
had enough sense to let their child pursue what interested her.
However, her younger brother Daio was friendlier, and she was
quite fond of him.
"I'm glad to hear that." Akane murmured. Her thoughts moved to
seeing *her* family. Well, not all of it. She hadn't seen
Nabiki for three years now--Nabiki had left just after Akane's
formal engagement to Ranma, and kept in touch using email. She
was ambitious and talented; Akane knew she was making good use of
her time. Nabiki had not had any romantic incidents; that was
only to be expected from the prudent sister. Nabiki said she
wanted to marry America--not because she was ashamed of her Far-
Eastern roots, but because, Nabiki claimed, that there was a
greater chance of the Japanese husband making her stay home and
drop her plans. Akane did not know just how accurate this
thought was, but who was she to interfere in her sister's love
life?
Email--speaking of which, Akane needed to check it. She was not
very good with technology; her use of the internet was limited to
email and occasional posting in a mailing list for kempo
enthusiasts. She ran a rudimentary web page for her club as
well, but the last captain had actually set it up. Akane's
knowledge was limited to <a href=""> and <img src="">, and even
then, she tended to mess up because she forgot to close a tag or
used the wrong extension.
After thirty minutes of working, Akane reapplied some deodorant
before going to her computer, which she had inherited from Nabiki
when her older sister left for the States. She opened her
student email account and found a message waiting. Nabiki wrote
about every week, so her emails were more than dropping a note.
Akane knew that Nabiki did miss her family to some extent, and
wrote these messages to help stem the loss.
######
Date: Mon, Apr 29 11:19:28
From: Nabiki Tendo <ntendo@ugrad.uchicago.edu>
To: Akane Tendo <takane@ug.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Cc:
Subject: hi again
Hey there, little sister! How's it going at TouDai? Bet
you're having lots of fun. . .man, I'll never get used to
Chicago weather. This is the only place I know of (so far)
where I can be wearing two sweaters in the morning and have
to switch to a tank top and shorts by noon. Winter sucked,
I was sick for, like, a month, that's why I didn't mail you
in December. I hear summer's infamous here too. . .should
be lovely, ne?
How's Ranma these days? I don't hear about him in your
emails a whole lot. Hope nothing's wrong with him. He
doesn't have my email address, does he? Tell him Nabiki
says hi.
This place is nuts sometimes; I love it! I met this cool
guy yesterday (he's already got a girlfriend, just so you
know), he's hilarious. Three of us (me, him, his gf)
talked together for about two hours before we all had to go
to bed. This was two in the morning in the library, I'm
lucky no one threw us out. Apparently, UC has this
reputation in the States for being a unique place to study.
Three years, and I love it. I'll be going to grad school
here too, I've got the money and support for it.
Spring break's over, I know, but summer's coming. If I can
pull together the funds, I'll come visit. Not sure, but. .
.what the hey. Anyway, TTYL Akane!
--Nabiki
######
Akane laughed and considered a reply. She noticed that her
sister had become accustomed to writing the family name last.
How odd. . .having a somewhat Americanized sister seemed strange
to her. But she had seen this coming for years, she supposed she
should not be surprised that after three years, the process was
finally showing its effects on her sister.
######
Date: Fri, May 2 18:42:09
From: Tendo Akane <ntendo@ugrad.uchicago.edu>
To: Tendo Nabiki <takane@ug.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Cc:
Subject: ^_^
Hey Nabiki. Nothing much is here, tomorrow's Kempo
Kinenbi, so all of Tokyo's gonna be crowded and watching
the stuff. I'll go--yes, with Ranma, I guess, if he's not
working his butt off. I can't believe he's taking a
physics elective this year. Yeah, he's in business too,
you know that. He's passing, more or less, don't worry
about him. We're doing fine. If I need any advice I'll
zip over an email to Dr. Love.
Nothing much to tell you. I hate organic chem, bio
sucked wastewater and this isn't much better. The prof is
this laid-back guy who thinks we all know what we're doing,
and basically two tests and a final are my grade. Pray for
me! I wanna graduate, you know!
Too bad the guy's taken! It's okay, there are more
out there. Sounds like you're having fun. Stay healthy!!!
I hear health insurance in the US isn't like it here. When
I get that license, we'll see what I can do for you.
Okay, I gotta go--stuff to be done, going to a party
tonight. No, I'm not a party-girl. But my friends are
throwing it; it's Nozaki-chan's birthday. No drinking! ^_^
Love,
Akane-chan
######
Akane browsed through a few more sites before she closed the
browser and glanced at Mio. Mio, true to form, had not stirred
since she opened the book-covers. Akane made a face; she had
never cared much for the language arts. She liked to hear
stories, but to read and analyze was beyond her.
She glanced at the clock. Six-forty-five, and the party was
supposed to begin around seven-thirty. Nozaki was a swimmer, and
Akane guessed that the party would probably involve some water
tricks. She shrugged. It was an all-girl party; no perverts
would be around to make things nasty, she hoped. Akane and Kasai
Matsuya, who was well trained in kendo, were to act as bouncers
for the party. They would keep things under control.
Akane noted that Mio was still deep in la-la land, so she took a
shirt and shorts from her half of the closet before running into
the bathroom. Two bedrooms shared the bathroom, and Akane
considered herself lucky that it was clean, empty, and had no
waste from previous users anywhere. She stripped off the gi and
threw it in the sink for a quick soak in water, then jumped into
the shower for a nice, cold soak.
~~~
[ Tuesday, 6:37 AM, Kyoto ]
Akane turned on the water, only to find that there was no hot
water, only cold. The schools had not gone cheap on the hotel,
had they now? Well, that was all right. Chilly water provided a
good wake-up call, and Akane was a bit sleepy.
Where was Ranma?
She knew that the room assignments were very disorganized, to put
it nicely. Since her room had an extra couch, she had four
roommates, two from Furinkan and two from Ichiban. She knew the
Furinkan girls fairly well--Satsuki and Tomomi, and the Ichiban
girls were mostly friendly. One, Tanimoto Ikuko, was an artsy
sort of girl, and she was very friendly and lively. The other,
Ogiwara Haname, was not so lively, but she was very sweet and
helped to organize the roommates. Ikuko was her partner for the
trip, and Akane looked forward to it. She felt quite lucky to
have such a nice set of people.
Perhaps Ranma would be lucky, or perhaps not. They had not sat
together on the train ride, and after they arrived in Kyoto,
every person had to find his or her partner and stick with the
person. Akane was paired with Ikuko, fortunately. She had heard
that many of the made-over pairings tried to put the partners
together.
Cool water sprayed over Akane, washing away last night's
weariness and some of the stiffness from sleeping in a hotel.
She rubbed shampoo through her hair, then soaped her body and
felt her skin turn silky under the fragrant liquid. She rinsed
the suds from hair and skin, then turned off the water, grabbed a
towel, and started to dry off. The weather was balmy, perfectly
suited for sightseeing and museum visiting. Akane would have to
check the itinerary to see just what was planned for the day.
She was the first and only person awake in her room, so Akane
shrugged, went back into the bathroom, and blew-dried her hair.
Somehow, the noise did not awake anyone else. It was surprising,
but very convenient for her. It meant she could go exploring all
over the hotel. From her backpack, she took out the itinerary.
Today was a museum visit, lunch there, continued exploration of
the museum in the afternoon, dinner, then back to the hotel.
Fair enough, Akane thought. A museum visit would not be tiring,
and she was sure that many students were slightly worn out from
the train ride.
Akane folded her items neatly, then slipped out of the hotel
room. She did not intend to catch early breakfast or anything;
she wanted to see if Ranma was fooling around with his practice
in the courtyard or something. The problem was, the hotel had
two separate "sides" as designated by the teachers and other
chaperones. For the purposes of this trip, males occupied the
first half of the building, females the other. Akane also knew
that technically, the two were off-limits to the opposite gender.
This was the difficulty: how to find Ranma? Akane was a
reasonably obedient student who did not want to break an
obviously well meant rule. Ranma was a heavy sleeper; either he
was wide awake or he was dead asleep. Her only chance was
finding him in the courtyard, or perhaps the exercise room.
She took the elevator and went down, only to find that the
exercise room was open, but only one girl, whom Akane did not
recognize, was inside, riding on an exercise bike. She went
outside the hotel and got a breath of clean, fresh air--but Ranma
was not there either. She frowned, sighing in frustration. That
jerk. . .here she was, in her efforts to find him. Then again,
reason told her, he didn't know Akane would be searching. He had
every right to sleep.
Well, it was a nice morning. Akane decided that she might as
well go back to the room and organize her things before
breakfast.
~~~
"Heeey, Akane-chan! Bouncer #1, come on in!" Nozaki was a bit
overly suspicious of males in general, but Akane understood and
therefore bore it well. Akane waved, grinned, and entered the
room. As she expected, the room was decorated in shades of blue
and silver, with some amusing paper cutouts featuring swimmers.
There were some bikini models, complete with amusing speech-
bubbles saying some slightly off-color things. Nozaki was
helping her friends set up some glasses, and some blue-tinted
drink that Akane assumed was some variant of Gatorade. Nozaki
was among the more prudent students; no boozing at this party.
Several students were connecting speakers to a huge audio set.
Nozaki had mentioned that a friend, an EE major, was coming over
as well. Perhaps this was the girl. Akane smiled, as she was
popular and loved to mingle at a party. She waved to Nozaki, who
shouted a greeting. The other bouncer, a tiny-looking girl with
shoulder-length brown hair and startling gray eyes, came over and
waved her bokken. Akane admired the wooden blade, made a few
jokes about the "bouncers", and then went to join the starting
party.
***
"No, that is *not* amusing." Himeko smiled at Raiha. "It makes
one feel unwanted when the students are clearly not listening,
but it is worse to have the student brought up in that fashion."
They were, of course, discussing Burashu.
Raiha shrugged and looked at her thick engineering textbooks.
"You wouldn't think that I'd need all this just to design what
the darned house looks like."
"Maybe they want you to stick to reality."
"Perhaps." Raiha kicked her rolling chair back, and by Newton's
Third Law of Motion, flew back against her bed. Himeko winced at
the audible crash, then hid a smile with her hand. "Was that a
physics demo for my sake?"
"Yeah. Calculate the wave nature of it, Himeko-chan." Raiha
mocked her witih a wave of her hand, laughing loudly.
"I'd rather not. It would be too small anyway." Himeko tilted
her head. "You know that as well as I do."
"Yeah, from prolonged exposure to you!"
"Is that a terminal condition?" Himeko raised an eyebrow, and
laughed as well. "Ah. . .it's the weekend, I can't wait to get
home and relax a little. Next week I actually have to start the
research project--the real work."
"Doing it?"
"No, planning it. You have to do that, or else you might end up
wasting a *lot* of grant money, and nobody appreciates that. .
.well, the suppliers, maybe." Himeko considered the point.
"Anyway, for the physics project I'm doing a study of dark matter
with three other grad students. For the biochemistry one, I'm
not sure yet--too much to consider." She leaned her head back and
said, "Someone asked me to help out on a stem-cell project.
There is also a graft-vs.-host offer. . .I don't know. It also
depends on who wants me. They're not all open to anyone, some
are filled, and not everyone particularly wants me on the team."
"Himeko, any one would be lucky to have you. Honest." Raiha
smiled.
"I'm flattered." Himeko laughed. "Half the people in there are
at least as intelligent as I am." Then she shrugged. "I was
seriously considering researching a certain class of proteins."
"Ooh, amino acids." Raiha never enjoyed biology that much.
"Well, yes, at a basic level."
"Right. Hmm. . .you lead such an interesting life, Himeko. . ."
Raiha sighed. "Then again, I'm happy with my blueprints and
photos." She smirked. "If you ever need some comic relief in
your life, you know who to call. If your work gets too heavy for
you."
"Thank you, Raiha. . .and speaking of work, I need to get going.
I'm meeting with my supervisor tonight, at his house. We have to
go over some protocol and decisions for the project."
"Nice. When do you need to deliver your actual proposal?"
"I'm working over the summer--hey, nothing else to do, and I have
until July first." Himeko grinned. "That's not too much time.
Especially since I have to teach a class--and I'm working on
*two* degrees at once. One's mostly math, the other's mostly
experimenting."
"Sounds fun. . .you leaving now? See you later." Raiha got out
of her chair and hugged her friend. "Stay safe, okay? The
rain's still falling, don't slip and break your back or
something."
"I won't. See you tomorrow, maybe!" Himeko returned the squeeze
and left.
***
"Geez." Ranma kicked the table as he slammed the telephone down.
Akinori, absorbed in replaying "Chrono Trigger", winced as the
screen image wavered. "Saotome, what's the problem?" The screen
froze, then a battle screen came on. He paused the game and
turned to Ranma. "Havin' trouble with that phone?"
"No. Akane ain't in her room." It was somewhat of a relief to
Ranma, but also annoying: now he couldn't get in his obligatory
telephone call before the festivals tomorrow. "Darnit."
"It's okay. What'cha doing tomorrow, anyway? Going to the
festivals?"
"Maybe. It oughta be somewhat fun." Ranma thought about going
with some friends. "It depends on who else is going."
"The great majority of people in Tokyo, Ranma."
"Well then, I'll round up the martial arts club and go with
them." Ranma's engagement was an afterthought to most people,
since he hardly acted like a romantic fianc? on his part. "I'll
see who I run into."
"Tendo-san?"
"Maybe." Ranma wasn't sure how much he wanted it. Akane had not
brought it up in the morning, and if Ranma was lucky, she would
not bring it up the next day. "I can't get a hold of her anyhow,
so I guess not by planning."
"She's probably out partying," Akinori suggested just as he
started thrashing a villain. "It's Friday night. What else is
there to do besides partying and playing video games? I mean,
she's not the real studious type, is she?"
"She doesn't haunt the library, if that's what you mean." Ranma
laid himself down on the bed, crossed his legs, and stared at the
ceiling. "It ain't like she always has to tell me where she's
going or anything. I ain't some control freak or obsessive
criminal."
"That's right, and it's a good thing. Hold things loosely, man--
ARGH! That stupid thing *killed* me!" He whacked himself on the
head as the "Game Over" screen came on.
Ranma watched in amusement. "Take it easy, Aki. It's just a
stupid game."
"A game it is; stupid it is not!" Akinori fired back as he
pressed "reset" and started to play again. "Ah, here it is. .
.darnit, I shoulda saved half an hour ago. Now I hafta go
through that maze again. And it's chock-full of those stupid
frickin' dungeon ghosts!" Akinori began to show the telltale
symptoms of video game rage, so Ranma tuned him out and tried to
take a nap. Sleep, however, eluded him. Then he remembered why:
the spar and Ryoga's promised help in the library. "Oops. See
you tonight, Akinori. I *know* you'll be up till about three
playin' those games of yours."
"Yeah, whatever, see you later too, Saotome!"
***
"So then," Akane continued, "Maybe we can go in a group
tomorrow?"
"Sounds good." Nozaki glanced over at the girls who were dancing
to some soft rock music. "Although I would wonder how crowded
it's going to be and everything. I wasn't planning on going,
myself."
"Hmm." Akane poured herself some soda and sipped at it. "Yeah. .
.maybe we should do something else. It's just a nice day to
hangout and do stuff, besides, the whole campus is gonna be empty
or doing stuff, and we shouldn't waste a day like that."
"Sure we should." Yukari came up to the two and offered her
suggestion. "I say, since our roommates might be gone, we get
some peace and quiet in those apartment rooms." She smiled and
made a motion with her hands. "I might actually get some
knitting done!" Yukari was fond of the handcrafts, especially
sewing and knitting, even a little embroidery. Her partner,
however, looked upon her hobbies with derision. "I won't have
that jerk laughing at me every time I make a stitch."
"If you want," Nozaki said, amused, "get Akane to beat her up for
you, then she definitely won't laugh at you anymore." Her
roommate was a nightmare; she partied way too often for her own
good and Nozaki's tastes.
"Sure she would. Anyway, she's not mean enough to deserve a
thrashing, and if she was, I'd have to do it somehow. Maybe
break the sewing table over her head?" Yukari sighed. "Anyway,
I'm staying home. I'd love to get out with you all, but it's not
gonna happen."
"S'okay, Yukari-chan." Akane played with her cup. "Hey, let's
play some games, guys!"
"We are!" Three voices chorused. Nozaki turned to see three
girls crowded around a console, while playing a video game. She
rolled her eyes. "Not like that!. . .well, okay, didn't somebody
bring that dancing game? Minako-chan!" She turned back to Akane.
"Yukari has a good point. I think I'll stay on campus and see if
I can get some extra laps done in the pool."
"I'll stay too, then," Akane decided. "You know what? Nozaki,
can I borrow your weights for the day tomorrow? I read about
this new thing in a martial arts magazine, and you've got the
equipment for it."
"Help yourself! Hey, guys! Let's go play DDR!"
***
"Hah, that barely dented the mats!" Ryoga dodged a slam from
Ranma. "I tell ya, you're aim's not here tonight--" he tried to
do a backflip, and Ranma's fist greeted his leg. Unperturbed,
Ryoga finished with his feet ramming into Ranma's back, sending
him flying.
Back in their first year, the girls on the gymnastics team or the
dancing groups used this area the most. Since Ranma's discovery
of the many padded mats, including a nice, soft sting mat, it had
become a good site for his training. The girls who did come were
better than he was at tumbling and their aerial stunts had much
more grace. Ranma had fun watching them, and once or twice, he
did speculate about changing forms and trying his hand on the
same things--but then he reminded himself that *he* was not a
gymnast. Let them do their artsy things; tumbling for him was a
last resort. He was good, sure, like how he could twist during a
fall or whirl around the uneven bars, but he could not set up a
routine like those girls did, or dance on his toes and look good
while doing it. It was just lack of training in those areas. He
knew that with his training and physique, he probably *could* do
it. . .but now was not the time to consider such silly issues.
"It wasn't supposed to break the floor, you clumsy oaf," Ranma
retorted as he came back with his fists in s blur. Ryoga was out
of range for some, dodged some, and took the rest of the hits.
Ryoga countered with a swing and a kick, managing to force Ranma
back by a slight distance. Ranma tried an aerial series on
Ryoga, and Ryoga flinched under the assault. He jumped up for a
counterattack, when they noticed that the gymnastic team was
coming in. Since *they* had the rights to the equipment, the two
stopped, bowed to each other, and headed for the locker rooms.
***
"Ah, yes. I see how that works." Himeko nodded. Miyake-sensei
was pointing out some of the nuances of researching. It was
decided: Himeko was writing up a formal proposal to study certain
characteristics of protein transport and their intrinsic
markings.
It was almost ten at night. The house was quiet, and the
fluorescent light buzzing and the two people's soft talking were
the only sounds in the area. They sat at the kitchen table,
going over papers like old friends helping each other study.
Himeko liked it here: it was so cozy, so homey, unlike her own
clean, well-kept, but empty house.
"Good. Now, the proposal can wait a little. And, by the way, do
you know how much time you have for the entire project?"
". . .seven years?"
There was a slightly painful twinge. Himeko intended to work on
the theses--after she went to America. Her offers were from
there. After she finished everything she had, perhaps after a
year or so, she was leaving Japan. And she was not wholly
certain of how often she might return to visit.
There were people she would miss, and one of them sat right in
front of her, thinking the exact same things.
Miyake paused.
"Well. Just get it done, don't worry about the time constraints.
. .I'm sure you'll manage it all. Have you discussed your other
plans with Professor Burashu? I believe he is your advisor for
physics."
"Yes. It will be on dark matter; we've already figured that out.
I don't think he grades homework anymore, he just plans out stuff
for his grad students." Himeko laughed a little. "At any rate,
yes. Now both are settled."
"That's great!" Miyake smiled at her. "Well, we can break for
tonight. You had a good week? Anything get you down?"
She shook her head. "It was good. I finished many things, so
I'm in a very good mood." She smiled, and twirled her ring a
little. Miyake noticed the silver flash around her neck and on
her finger.
"You used to be the only girl I knew who didn't wear makeup or
jewelry," he remarked. It was a well-meant enough comment--he
had known her for four years, and she was almost a daughter to
him and his wife. In all that time, she had never worn so much
as a bracelet, lip gloss, or nail polish. Himeko put her hand to
the jewelry, showing Miyake-sensei the ring and necklace, both of
which were sterling silver. "It was a gift."
Himeko smiled, her dark-blue eyes twinkling, a faint blush
creeping into her usually pale cheeks.
Miyake grinned and nodded, knowing full well what she implied,
but he couldn't quite recall who she was talking about. "Oh?
>From whom?"
Himeko laughed softly.
"I thought that you'd remember Koneru-san?"
End Two
#######
Thanks for reading. :)
---Irene
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