The Unfinished Story - Chapter Eleven (Part 2)
Title: The Unfinished Story
Author: aemrith
Pairing: Yamada Ryosuke/OC, Arioka Daiki/OC, Nakajima Yuto/OC
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Family
Warnings: May take long to update.
Summary: Louise had to go back to the place she never thought she'd have to see again; while Line finally gets a chance to set foot on her dream land. What is it that Japan has for them?
Chapter Eleven - Part 2
Again, he flipped his phone open, screened through his contacts, and stopped at a name. ‘Call, or not?’ he asked and he shut it tight again.
He was surprised a little when it vibrated and when he checked, it was Chinen.
To: Yama-chan.
From: Chii
Hey! Meeting tomorrow morning, six thirty-sharp! Coach said so. Ne? See ya! ^-^
Yamada hits the reply button saying that he’s got the message and closed it again. Math test wasn’t that bad because it got cancelled, and now here’s football hitting the doorbell once again. Not to mention, should he fix things with Mariya, or is there anything to fix at all? He scratched his head. Too many to think about, it gets really tiring.
As the train arrived at his stop, Yamada started walking. It’s pretty cold out and Halloween was pretty much all over the place. He can’t really remember when Halloween has become such a great deal nowadays, he only knows he gets to have candy.
His house wasn’t too far from the station, and the street light were pretty bright, but he made a mental note to himself that he can’t really stay too late in Yokohama anymore since night starts pretty early now.
He was a few block away from his house when he heard his vibrate again, when he checked it was Keito. He sighed, out of relief. Finally, he got the info he wanted. Trying out his memory skills, Yamada tried to remember the mobile number sent to him just because he felt like doing so. In the end, he clicked ‘Save number to contacts’ and clicked on a blank message.
When he was about to start typing, a message appeared; the sender kind of surprised him.
To: Yamada Ryosuke
From: Umiko Louise
Hey! I stole your number from Yuto, haha! How was the test? I didn’t get to ask you since yeah, I was pretty grumpy today. Gomen. Well, ja!
It made him smile. He was just thinking of messaging her. Somehow, Yamada realized that Louise is probably one of those few who he felt a bit comfortable with even with just a short period of time of knowing each other. The girl is just a little too… he doesn’t even know what to put after that. He started walking again, and hit the reply button.
To: Umiko Louise
From: Yamada Ryosuke
Lucky me, it got cancelled. If I fail, it’s your fault okay? Haha! I’ll be taking it on Wednesday.
It wasn’t long till he got a reply again, and Yamada smiled, seeing how talkative she can get when she wants to be. Even he himself was surprised at how fast he seem to reply; maybe texting is different when you have something to say, ne?
Yamada was smiling when he was taking out his keys. His attention was halved so he didn’t notice the front door opening, his older sister Chihiru stood there, holding her laughter. Why does she look like she wanna laugh, because her brother’s all smiles while he texts away and soon she snapped her finger and Yamada looked up -surprised. “Ah… nee-chan.”
Chihiru shook her head, “Why are you smiling all by yourself?”
Yamada looked at her as if she said something absurd, “Pfft… Why would I do that? I’d look”
“Stupid. And Funny. Hurry up and get in, it’s freezing out here.”
“Where are you heading?” Yamada asked when his sister let him in. She locked the door and stopped on her tracks when she heard her brother’s question.
“I was about to wait for you at the station.”
“Eh?” Yamada exclaimed when he reached the dining table and only a set of plates were there. “Where’s everybody?”
“Misaki’s recital. Crazy girl didn’t even invite us. She got tickets for JUST mom and dad AND told them about it like two hours ago.” Chihiru was filling Yamada’s bowl with rice. “I already ate though, couldn’t wait for you, gomen.”
Yamada took his seat and placed his bag on a chair beside him. “It’s okay. So were you all alone here then?” his sister handed him his bowl and he thanked her. She took a seat opposite her brother -her usual spot and nodded. “Ah… you should’ve called me.”
“Oh shut up. It’s not like I’m a crybaby like you when I get left alone.” Chihiru scowled. Her brother’s being unnecessarily dramatic. “Oh yeah, and Chinen-kun called.”
He just nodded and he kept eating. “I’ll call him later.” He soon said between bites and his sister had to remind him to eat slower. Then he looked up at her when she stood up, saying she has an exam soon and she’ll study. “Oi nee-chan… I’m not a crybaby you know.”
Walking past by him and towards the stairs, Chihiru poked him on the head and Yamada complained, but all he got was an insulting gesture he’s used to get from Chihiru and she was soon running to her room.
Yamada kept eating and eating, and when he was done, he felt really full but really nice. He cleaned up all the dishes that were left on the sink too, and after washing, he slumped his bag to his back and made his way to his room. When he passed by Chihiru’s room, he knocked on the door twice before shouting, “Bang my door if you need anything!”
“Yeah, whatever!”
“OH… I’ll take a shower!!!!”
“Do what you want! Now, stop bugging me!” then he head a whack on the door. Chihiru probably threw something at her door.
Inside his room, Ryosuke felt like lying on his bed for just maybe a few seconds. He took out his phone and there was a message from Louise. Quickly he opened it and replied to it.
To: Umiko Louise
From: Yamada Ryosuke
Gomen. I washed the dishes. Haha! Don’t go anywhere, I’ll just take a quick shower and I’ll react to your question. You better be awake still when I’m done!
Upon hitting send, Yamada didn’t know why he felt a little at ease than usual. Aside from Chinen or Yuto, he hasn’t really texted anybody before. But Louise’s question was just too funny to ignore but he can’t really rant right now; he’ll do it after bath.
xXxXx
Reading Yamada’s reply, Louise closed her phone and placed it beside her laptop. Her dad’s not home yet and Suoh’s been rolling on the floor for like ten times now. The dog looked pretty exhausted and sat down for a while, and soon surprising Louise by suddenly running and chasing his own tail.
“Suoh… You’re never gonna catch that…” She uttered. Yuma’s not online. Well, what was she thinking? It’s seven in the morning at Winnipeg [Well, seven-ish]. Monday morning, what does she expect? Lately, she and Yuma can’t seem to get their clocks and schedules synchronized and they end up resorting to just leaving tiny messages offline. This time, Yuma’s message was about him being nervous for the first test in Pre-cal. Louise sighed when she read this and replied right away saying that he shouldn’t worry, and blah-blah-blah… the usual comforting words that Yuma knows Louise manages to say.
To kill time, Louise started playing random songs from her laptop, while Suoh stopped his argument with his tail and looked up at his master.
“Hey, let’s play.” Louise spoke to the dog, sitting on the ground. The beagle looked at her questioningly; you know, titling that cute puppy head to the side, with ears having a little effort to rise themselves. Louise laughed. She took out this stuffed toy that her dad bought some few days ago, and Suoh has been chewing. “Wresting!” she waved the ragged toy in front of the dog and Suoh bite onto it. “Okay, whoever get it wins!” Even before she could finished, Suoh started pulling as if saying it’s his toy but Louise made sure she irritates the dog.
After a few rounds, Louise kept winning, but in the end she lets go and Suoh starts running away from her. After he runs around her room, he’ll come back to her and give her back the toy; as if saying, ‘One more, one more!’
This has been her past time that night, while waiting for whatever else is to come. Waiting for her dad, waiting for a miraculous reply from Yuma, and yeah, last on the list was Yamada’s text, but that could count too.
Soon, while she was scratching behind Suoh’s ear, Louise heard her phone vibrate, and since Suoh’s asleep, Louise reached for her phone.
To: Umiko Louise
From: Yamada Ryosuke
Domo! Okay, so you were asking about Chinen? He’s not a snub! Ha! Honestly, I was laughing when I read your question. Chinen’s not snub, he’s just random and weird and hard to read sometimes. But I’ll tell him that he should mind his actions more. Don’t worry, he’s pretty fond of you, I can tell. And he told me. Haha
The rest was pretty much tack-tack-tack-tack as Louise reacted to Yamada’s text. One reply after the other, the two were pretty much gossiping about random stuff on text and for a moment Louise felt like her phone as a purpose. She suddenly missed her sempai, Line, whom she usually texts just because. It’s funny though, Yamada kept talking about stuff that Louise never thought he’d acutally say. Sometimes, Louise thinks she’s texting the wrong person.
xXxXx
It’s been, what? Two hours since they started texting and there was a moment Yamada thought of calling her, just because for him, it’s easier to talk that way, but he felt kind of awkward… Shy perhaps? Then again, he was pretty amazed by how long he’s been texting and not really get tired completely of it. It’s now around 11 pm and he heard Chihiru bang on his wall saying that she’ll sleep already. Their parents called and say that they were on their way home too.
To: Ryosuke Yamada
From: Umiko Louise
Next time, just say it directly. I would understand you know. Oh well, we’ll see each other tomorrow anyway, go to sleep already! Oyasumi!
Yamada grinned. Who is she to tell him what to do? But at the back of his head, he could hear himself saying he’s tired and after pondering, he finally decided to call it a day. With a final thought, he hit the reply button.
To: Umiko Louise
From: Yamada Ryosuke
Hai hai. See you tomorrow then! You go to sleep too! Oyasuminasai!
Sure their conversation was long and full of random, shallow-to-deep-to-shallow stuff but one thing… there’s one thing Ryosuke was sure of. Maybe texting isn’t so bad?
xXxXx
Tuesday morning and was Louise glad that it wasn’t like yesterday. Although it’s not sunny, the sky is clear but a little out of vibrancy. Hey, who cares, as long as it’s not raining, it’s not wet, anything’s fine. She took out her outdoor shoes and puts on her white ones; she’s gotten pretty used to this.
Today, she felt like she went to school extra early. Her dad was home at around 12, she was still awake then, just idling on the internet, looking for random things. When her dad arrive, they even chatted while he ate his supposedly dinner. It was fun because he didn’t scold her about staying up late; unlike her mom who kept ranting saying that lack of sleep will cause you wrinkles and blah-blah. Their conversation was pretty interesting, starting from Louise’s ugly day because of the rain to her finally seeing a glimpse about her dad’s nature of work. Turns out, there’s a company, he’s a pretty uh-huh figure, and blah-blah.
Remembering this now, Louise was walking without paying much attention to her surroundings. When she got inside the room, she just sat on her desk, took out her phone for no reason and just typed randomly on her calendar, putting whatever she felt like putting in there.
It was pretty quiet till someone slid open the door. She didn’t look up not until she was called, “Ruizu-chan?”
Just yesterday, he started to call her that, “Yama-chan. Ohayo.” And she started calling him like how most of his friends do.
“Why are you so early?”
Louise checked her watch. “It’s not THAT early. And what about you? Practice?” she said, looking at what Yamada was holding; it was some kind of gym clothes.
He shook his head, “I thought there was, but it was just a meeting. Bummer though…” he said, sitting on Keito’s chair [wow, they love Keito’s chair]
“Why?” she asked, resting a chin on her hand.
“We’ll be pulled out from classes, AGAIN! Argh…”
“You have a game soon?” she tried not to anger him about missing school.
“Yeah. Next week. We’ll be out for training starting Thursday.”
“When will you guys be back?” hey if he’s going away again, he should make sure he’s ready with the pile of work that’s gonna accumulate while he’s gone.
“We’ll be back Tuesday. The game’s on Monday. We have to travel to Osaka.”
“Wow. Isn’t that kind of like on the other side?”
“Yeah… hey, you’re working on your geography huh?”
Louise rolled her eyes, “No… my friend back in Winnipeg used to live in Osaka.”
“Oh…”
“But, I do study geo more so you could say that helps too.”
“Uso…”
“Uso ja nai…”
Yamada seized the opportunity to bother Louise about math again, while students started coming.
When Yuto got in, he saw Louise poke a pencil on Yamada’s head, like a rolled newspaper whack. When he walked to his chair, he heard her say, “I told you to stop relating it like that, you’ll get confused!” then as if there’s a sensor, “Good morning Yuu-chan!” she greeted in English. Once in a while, she keeps practicing it for Yuto.
“Um… morning…. Right, you didn’t get to take your test yesterday ne?”
Yamada was rubbing his head and glaring at Louise before he replied to Yuto, “Yeah. Yesterday I was happy it got moved; now I wished it didn’t.”
“Oh stop complaining!” Louise stuck out her tongue and stood up, “Washroom!” she said as if answering questions that are to come.
“Oh… where’s Keito?” Yuto asked when he took his seat.
Yamada was fixing his things and putting them to his own table. “Oh… he was here a moment ago, then he disappeared. Right! Kawashima-san was with her… You know, that girl from Chii’s class?”
Yuto looked confused, “Why?”
Yamada shrugged.
xXxXx
For a Tuesday, it was pretty boring. Despite the fact that she hasn’t seen Inoo or Daiki, Line felt a little different. Unlike before, morning was pretty loud and lazy because Daiki would complain, now its lunch time and not much has happened. To her surprise, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. Sipping from her juice, Line looked up to see Emma and Mei. “We didn’t know you each lunch all alone, why didn’t you tell us! You’ve been like this since the start of the semester!?” Mei sounded panicked.
Line reached the bottom of her juice and made a silly snoring sound before she let go. “No… I’m not emo.”
“Then, who’re you with?” Emma followed, her British accent still, “Where’s Dai-chan?” she smiled -hidden smile okay. Haha!
“Oh I’m not sure. Haven’t seen him since this morning.”
“Aww…” Mei teased and she and Emma soon turned when they heard someone call Line.
“Oh… Kei-chan!”
Emma and Mei were pretty… well.. stuck. “Konichiwa. I’ve been calling you! Where’s your phone!?”
Line felt her eyes widen and when she started tapping on her pockets, “Uwah! I must’ve left it in my room!”
Inoo was scratching his head as if in despair, “Daiki kept annoying me, telling me to check on you. He said he can’t really go to class today because his ComSci’s exam’s this evening. He’s drowning himself, studying. We were worried baka!”
Line pouted, and sip her juice. Ooops, it was empty. Haha! “Don’t call me baka, baka!” like usual, she rolled her eyes and for a moment, she remembered Mei and Emma were there. But hey, they were so mute that Line forgot that they were there; well, they stood there, pretty much looking at Inoo. “OH right! Kei-chan!”
“Huh?” Inoo was now sitting opposite Line and he just took out his lunch, with some huge book Line wasn’t sure what it’s about. Inoo followed where Line was looking and he smiled at them. “Domo… Inoo Kei…” he greeted, not sure if he should speak English, or Chinese. Then he leaned closer to Line, “Do they understand what I said or should I speak in English?” he sounded problematic.
Line laughed, “Yeah. He’s Inoo Kei. She’s Emma Birch, and she’s Mei Wong. Emma’s from England, Mei’s from China. And don’t worry, they understand Nihongo.”
“Ah… Hey!” Mei tried to sound cheerful, Line can tell she’s trying. While Emma stood a little dumbfounded still. Soon, Line felt a strong pinch on her arm and she was about to complain when Emma pulled her closer that soon Line had to stand up.
“He is H-A-N-D-S-O-M-E! How could you hog him all to yourself!?” Emma made it sound like Line betrayed them, but Line was used to this kind of tone and Inoo was pretty occupied talking to a stuttering Mei.
Line laughed and pulled Emma’s hand away from her reddening skin. “Well sorry… now you know him. Ja-jaan!” she grinned and Emma practically rested her head on Line’s shoulder, whispering…
“Seriously Line, he’s like cut out from those magazines… He’s so…”
“He’s beautiful, not hadnsome.” Line uttered and Emma whacked her on the head. “Ouch! Violence much?”
“Oh really? I’m in architecture. How is engineering so far?” Line heard Inoo spoke. He’s pretty much having a nice flow.
Mei still looks like she’s stuttering, but she’s not looking towards Emma or Line. “Well, if you wanna get to know him, I say start talking now, or Mei’s gonna beat you up to puff.” Line practically pushed her friend and since she’s kind of enjoying the scenery, Line took the seat next to Inoo.
“Oh… where were you?” Inoo asked.
“Why, need help with girls?”
Inoo looked at her murdering, “Really Line? You’re gonna be mean to me in front of them?” he was faking a cry; Line could only roll her eyes.
“You know what, let’s eat lunch! Emma, Mei, you haven’t eaten yet, right?” Line beamed, taking out the soup she bought. Mushroom soup! And then her sandwich. Emma and Mei looked like they were pretty hesistant to answer, but soon.
“I insist. It’s very rare I get to meet other friends of Line, so onegai?” Inoo smiled and the two practically just got their bums glued to the vacant seats.
Soon, all four of them were having a healthy conversation, with Inoo extremely filled up with foreign info. They even end up learning some Chinese phrases and Inoo kept repeating them; while saying some English stuff once in a while, that Line would absent-mindedly correct right away, resulting to Inoo saying that he’s being embarrassed. Nonetheless, it was fun.
“Oh, I wish Dai-chan was here, he’d be beaming with all the foreign stuff we’re talking about.” Inoo spoke, then soon he explained to Emma and Mei who Daiki is and so on, and so on.
Line felt her head wandering when Inoo mentioned Daiki. ‘Wonder where he is.’ While Inoo, Emma and Mei started talking about how the girls find Japan, Line took out her laptop randomly. She’s been taking pictures by the way, and now, she’s going to put them on her laptop, so she can blog about this interesting conversation and how Emma and Mei were starstruck by Inoo’s beauty.
It’s funny though. Line can hear her head laughing, ‘Boys waiting back in England and China, huh? You guys are melting in front of Inoo. Haha!’ she thought and turned her laptop on. She logged on her blog and she was notified that her friend Satomi has uploaded new pictures. Line opened Satomi’s blog, like she always do sometimes. And sure enough there were about some dozen of new pictures. Apparently, Mimi’s been taking advantage of the raining recently -‘So it’s raining in Toyama too, huh?’ Line thought, looking over her friends ever so excellent shots. She can’t help but stare at them for a while. Then what she heard distracted her. “DAI-CHAN!” Inoo said this pretty loud, Line looked up only to see Daiki looking a little embrassed. Can’t be helped. Sure, get your friend to announce your name on a pretty crowded eating area, haha!
“Aren’t you happy?” Daiki uttered, beaming at Line, “And where were you!?” he started and poked Line’s nose [that’s new.] “I kept calling you!”
Line grasp Daiki’s hand and shook it away from her face, “I left my phone! I left my phone! Let go!”
Daiki kept poking and he soon stopped when he saw the other two girls. “Ah…” he felt a little sheepish and tapped Line, as if asking a silent question and resting his forearm on Line’s shoulder.
“Dai-chan, they’re my friends. She’s Emma Birch, and that’s Mei Wong. From England, and China. Co-exchange students. This is the Dai-chan you’re bullying the yesterday.”
Daiki introduced himself formally and the girls giggled a little. “We thought you’re Line’s boyfriend.” Mei started and Inoo reacted.
“Eh? Him!? Not me?”
Line looked at Inoo with disbelief, while Daiki felt like hitting his friend on the head; what is he thinking? Emma and Mei looked a little off guard and Inoo pouted.
“I’d be a better boyfriend, you know…” Inoo spoke and Line was looking at him like he’s on crack.
“Urusai Kei-chan.” Daiki sounded threatening and Emma and Mei giggled.
Emma excused in Nihongo, holding back her laughter “Please allow me to speak in English.” Daiki and Inoo looked at each other before nodding and Emma went on; Inoo was paying attention. Sure enough, he could understand this; Daiki seemed like he’s been challenged. “Line, we didn’t know two guys were fighting over you. So that the reason why you hang out with us less, huh?” With Emma’s line, Mei laughed and Line looked petrified.
Inoo held a hand over his mouth and Mei looked at him as if asking something, but Inoo just winked. Line was sure enough that Inoo got the main gist of what Emma said and she rolled her eyes.
“Gomen ne, it took me a while printing this…” it was an unfamiliar voice, all the people on their table looked at the girl who just spoke. Line noted right away how fancy and well kept this girl looks. Line figured she’s wearing a plain white polo, and over that, her sweater’s sleeves a little longer, so her hands were kept under it, and she’s wearing this cute checker-skirt, with long black socks. For a moment, she looks like she’s a HS girl in a uniform, but then again, more modernized and customized.
Daiki looked at the girl for a moment and then, “Oh… gomen. Guys, this is Ginjo Asuka. These are my friends. That’s Inoo, and she’s Line-chan!”
Emma and Mei were all smiles and Asuka smiled back. Line was a little unsure how to greet her, so she nodded. Inoo was indifferent though.
“Oh… and they are… um… Emma-san, and Mei-san…” Daiki looked at them a little embrassed because he used their first names, Emma and Mei smiled at him, as if saying its no biggie.
“I overheard you guys talking in English, are you guys all exchange students?” Line looked up at Asuka and so did Emma, Mei and Inoo -Inoo with wide eyes; her English wasn’t that perfect, but let’s say it’s above average. “I’ve had special English lessons since I was a kid, so yeah… welcome to Japan I guess!”
Emma glanced at Mei slightly before replying, “Thanks. Your English is amazing.”
“Thanks!” Asuka looked at the dumbfounded Daiki and she just smiled. “You have an interesting set of friends Dai-chan~…”
Line didn’t know why but when Asuka called Daiki with that name, her first instinct was to look at Inoo. And was she glad she did because Inoo’s face was just priceless. Wanna know why? It’s simple, Inoo looks like he’s seen his lover cheating on him; and that he wanted to kill the third party. Not really sure why, Line held onto her camera, maybe because Inoo’s expression was so precious she wanted to freeze it on picture. But soon…
“Ah! Line-chan, you take pictures right?! Me too!” Asuka exclaimed, and Line looked up at her.
“Eh… awesome….” Line couldn’t really find her words. Since Asuka arrived, she wasn’t really interested in talking -she’s not sure why either.
“Oh. I told her you like taking pictures.” Daiki added, probably an attempt to normalize everything. It’s been pretty quiet you see; Inoo, who’s pretty loud, looked like he’s analyzing a crime scene and Emma and Mei were just nodding once a while.
“AH~” Asuka once again caught everyone off guard when she squealed; apparently, she saw Line’s laptop, and the pictures she was looking at. There were practically two windows open: one of Line’s blog, and the other was of Satomi’s. “Sugoi pictures~!” she went like she’s flailing and Line saw Inoo roll his eyes.
“Ah…. yeah…” still, Line didn’t know how to keep up with this girl’s…. bursts.
Inoo scooted near Line and looked at Asuka, “Ne, Asu-chan… you take pictures too?” It was weird collaborating this tone of Inoo’s to his face; it just doesn’t match. Daiki looked at Inoo as if Inoo was about to commit a crime.
Asuka for sure is blushing when she heard how Inoo called her [who wouldn’t, look at Inoo. Go figure.] “Ah… hai! I’m not that good though… ah… this one’s light is so much better!”
When Line heard what she said and saw where Asuka was pointing, she felt like a boulder should fall from the sky right now. Line practically had a cutting stare; it looks pretty sharp.
“Nani?” Inoo asked, pretending to be curious. “What light?”
“Look, this one’s picture is so much more vibrant. This one’s pretty… boring.”
Again, Line felt like a pyramid should fall from the sky, not a boulder. No actually, made that an entire continent should come crashing down right now.
Daiki spoke, “AH! Well, Asuka-chan, aren’t you eating lunch?” could it be possible that Daiki senses danger when it’s about to come?
Emma and Mei were looking at Line and Inoo, while Asuka clapped her hands, “Right! Let’s eat lunch with them Dai-chan!” she sounds excited enough, then looked at Line. “Is that okay?”
For a moment, Line surprised everyone when she shut her laptop closed. She didn’t really mean to shut it loud… or did she?
“Elle a insulté vos images. Je la tuerai.. 1” Emma spoke, and Mei looked at her as if she spoke something taboo. Inoo looked at her with interested eyes and Daiki tried to talk to Asuka just to lessen the awkwardness. ‘Haaay! Dai-chan, fail! I thought I got rid of her, now I smell trouble.’ Daiki thought to himself as he glances a little to Line while Asuka was saying something about what she wants to eat.
"Détendez Emma. Nous ne pouvons pas vraiment le rendre trop évident. Hé Jhoan sont vous bien ? Partez-vous ? Nous viendrons avec vous.2” Mei replied and at this, Inoo smiled.
This time, Line just stood up and looked at Emma and Mei as if thanking them. “I remembered, I have to print handouts for geology later. I’ll see you guys at the dorm.” With that, Line paused, looking at Daiki before she completely walks away.
“…right Dai-chan?” Asuka looks like she wasn’t really paying attention to anything but herself and was a little surprised when she saw Line leave. “Oh… Where’s Line-chan going?”
Daiki looked at Inoo, it’s like this silent talk of theirs that no one could ever understand - just the two of them. Inoo stood up, picked up his things and patted Daiki on the shoulder before saying, “Laissez à Line moi les dames. Voyez-vous autour
! 3” he winked at the two exchange students and with his words, Emma, Mei and Asuka all look dumbfounded.
Daiki shook his head; his friend’s randomness and skills sometimes really don’t match, but then again, that’s Inoo Kei.
“Did he just speak in French?” Asuka asked and Daiki shrugged. “Sugoi!”
“Well then, we’ll see you around guys. We have a class soon, so yeah. Bye Dai-chan!” Mei bid good-bye and Daiki politely replied, while at the back of his head, he’s pretty irritated. ‘Now, I’m all alone with her, AGAIN! Kei-chan… Line-chan… Kiyosukete…’
xXxXx
“Yo Line, wait up!”
Line was practically stomping. She stopped when she heard Inoo and smiled, then her face turned upside down on a frown. “What do you want!?”
“Woah… relax, it’s just me!”
The two settled on a study area outside Line’s geology classroom. Her class is at one o clock and it’s only twelve thirty. Inoo decided to sit-in Line’s geo class since he’s pretty much free for the day already. Oh, and an opportunity to whack Daiki on the head if ever Daiki’s coming to class. But he doubts that.
With Line cooling her head a little, Inoo spoke, “Dai-chan let’s eat! Dai-chan, blah-blah… She’s pretty annoying huh…”
“I don’t care.” Line spoke like she just swore. Now she has her laptop on again and Inoo felt like bugging her more.
“You hate her. Same here.”
“No I don’t.” Line replied and Inoo watched as Line opened a photo on her PhotoShop. “Not bright huh!?” Inoo was pretty surprised when Line adjusted the brightness using her keyboard, she was practically… well… ruining her key and Inoo had to grab her hand.
“Oi, don’t hate her huh?”
“Che!” Line uttered this one line that Inoo heard before and Inoo patted her back.
“Our Line’s grumpy. Haha! Cheer up! Come on, let’s look for her pictures.”
Line’s attention was back. “And how would you do that?” She made it sound like she’s half interested.
“It’s probably on her facebook, oh! Gomen, I didn’t know you weren’t signed out.” Inoo said as Line’s Facebook home popped out…. And with what’s written on her newsfeed, Line’s eyes popped out too.
“EH~?!” Line asked, basically pulling the laptop from Inoo and staring at what’s in her newsfeed. It’s a video… of Kenneth Dickson. With a title… An apology for Jhoan Line Laririt.
Inoo squinted his eyes, reading the lines… managing with his pretty okay English. “Ah… Ahpolog-ay? F-fow.. Line-chan!? Eh? Line-chan, who’s that!?”
Line was stuck. What is this!? First the flaming posts, then the boyfriend, then this. “I don’t know what’s going on anymore…” she sounded exhausted and she is. For a moment, her irritation for Asuka-chan dissolved, and was replaced by utter bewilderment.
Inoo asked for her permission and played the video. Line wasn’t really sure if she’s interested to see it.
xXxXx
“Hai! See you tomorrow!” Keito was in a flash, saying he has to take care of something. Yamada was out right after the bell because of soccer practice, and this may sound new but Yuto was called in by their science teacher a few minutes after dismissal. “Feels weird when it’s so quiet.” Louise heard herself say this out loud in English. She looked around, no one was there anyways.
Yuto’s things weren’t there anymore so Louise figured she’ll just walk home by herself.
The hallways were not that full anymore; I guess there are days where in people just wanna go home, huh? She stopped to get her change of shoes and when she opened her cabinet. “Oh… crap.”
There were about three, no five pieces of crumpled paper inside, they look practically like trash and Louise shoved them out. “Double crap.” Inside, her outdoor shoes were missing. She looked around, maybe it fell? But that’s a silly assumption.
For a moment, Louise felt like kicking whatever’s to her reach. ‘What the f*ck is going on!? What is this, am I being… bullied!?’ There was a frown on her face and she tried to calm herself down. It’s been proven that you don’t really solve anything with an angry head, but she can’t help it. Here she is, trying to fit in, and she’s happy enough to make really good friends, but ‘what’s going on?!’
She can’t be bullied, not her! With this tough façade, Louise just sighed. ‘So, is it okay to take these indoor shoes outside?’ she saw her face grinning, trying to hide the irritation but… “ARGH!” and with that, Louise kicked the nearest big trash can, the hit echoing the corridors. She calmed herself down and was lucky that no one else was around.
“Ruu-chan, you’re still here?”
Louise felt herself stiffen. She can’t really tell him something as shallow as this is pissing her off right? But then again, it’s Yuto. He worries about everything, she can’t have him worry about this now.
“What’s up?”
“Ah… nothing. I just remembered… I forgot something. You go on ahead, see you tomorrow!” Louise ran back to their room without even looking at Yuto.
xXxXx
“So she’s not tough after all…” she whispered, and the other girl just giggled.
“This is gonna be easy Aki-chan.”
xXxXx
Translations:
1. She insulted your photos. I will kill her.
2. Relax Emma. We can’t really make it too obvious. Hey Jhoan are you okay? Are you leaving? We’ll come with you.
3. Leave Line to me ladies. See you around!
Author: aemrith
Pairing: Yamada Ryosuke/OC, Arioka Daiki/OC, Nakajima Yuto/OC
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Family
Warnings: May take long to update.
Summary: Louise had to go back to the place she never thought she'd have to see again; while Line finally gets a chance to set foot on her dream land. What is it that Japan has for them?
Chapter Eleven - Part 2
Again, he flipped his phone open, screened through his contacts, and stopped at a name. ‘Call, or not?’ he asked and he shut it tight again.
He was surprised a little when it vibrated and when he checked, it was Chinen.
To: Yama-chan.
From: Chii
Hey! Meeting tomorrow morning, six thirty-sharp! Coach said so. Ne? See ya! ^-^
Yamada hits the reply button saying that he’s got the message and closed it again. Math test wasn’t that bad because it got cancelled, and now here’s football hitting the doorbell once again. Not to mention, should he fix things with Mariya, or is there anything to fix at all? He scratched his head. Too many to think about, it gets really tiring.
As the train arrived at his stop, Yamada started walking. It’s pretty cold out and Halloween was pretty much all over the place. He can’t really remember when Halloween has become such a great deal nowadays, he only knows he gets to have candy.
His house wasn’t too far from the station, and the street light were pretty bright, but he made a mental note to himself that he can’t really stay too late in Yokohama anymore since night starts pretty early now.
He was a few block away from his house when he heard his vibrate again, when he checked it was Keito. He sighed, out of relief. Finally, he got the info he wanted. Trying out his memory skills, Yamada tried to remember the mobile number sent to him just because he felt like doing so. In the end, he clicked ‘Save number to contacts’ and clicked on a blank message.
When he was about to start typing, a message appeared; the sender kind of surprised him.
To: Yamada Ryosuke
From: Umiko Louise
Hey! I stole your number from Yuto, haha! How was the test? I didn’t get to ask you since yeah, I was pretty grumpy today. Gomen. Well, ja!
It made him smile. He was just thinking of messaging her. Somehow, Yamada realized that Louise is probably one of those few who he felt a bit comfortable with even with just a short period of time of knowing each other. The girl is just a little too… he doesn’t even know what to put after that. He started walking again, and hit the reply button.
To: Umiko Louise
From: Yamada Ryosuke
Lucky me, it got cancelled. If I fail, it’s your fault okay? Haha! I’ll be taking it on Wednesday.
It wasn’t long till he got a reply again, and Yamada smiled, seeing how talkative she can get when she wants to be. Even he himself was surprised at how fast he seem to reply; maybe texting is different when you have something to say, ne?
Yamada was smiling when he was taking out his keys. His attention was halved so he didn’t notice the front door opening, his older sister Chihiru stood there, holding her laughter. Why does she look like she wanna laugh, because her brother’s all smiles while he texts away and soon she snapped her finger and Yamada looked up -surprised. “Ah… nee-chan.”
Chihiru shook her head, “Why are you smiling all by yourself?”
Yamada looked at her as if she said something absurd, “Pfft… Why would I do that? I’d look”
“Stupid. And Funny. Hurry up and get in, it’s freezing out here.”
“Where are you heading?” Yamada asked when his sister let him in. She locked the door and stopped on her tracks when she heard her brother’s question.
“I was about to wait for you at the station.”
“Eh?” Yamada exclaimed when he reached the dining table and only a set of plates were there. “Where’s everybody?”
“Misaki’s recital. Crazy girl didn’t even invite us. She got tickets for JUST mom and dad AND told them about it like two hours ago.” Chihiru was filling Yamada’s bowl with rice. “I already ate though, couldn’t wait for you, gomen.”
Yamada took his seat and placed his bag on a chair beside him. “It’s okay. So were you all alone here then?” his sister handed him his bowl and he thanked her. She took a seat opposite her brother -her usual spot and nodded. “Ah… you should’ve called me.”
“Oh shut up. It’s not like I’m a crybaby like you when I get left alone.” Chihiru scowled. Her brother’s being unnecessarily dramatic. “Oh yeah, and Chinen-kun called.”
He just nodded and he kept eating. “I’ll call him later.” He soon said between bites and his sister had to remind him to eat slower. Then he looked up at her when she stood up, saying she has an exam soon and she’ll study. “Oi nee-chan… I’m not a crybaby you know.”
Walking past by him and towards the stairs, Chihiru poked him on the head and Yamada complained, but all he got was an insulting gesture he’s used to get from Chihiru and she was soon running to her room.
Yamada kept eating and eating, and when he was done, he felt really full but really nice. He cleaned up all the dishes that were left on the sink too, and after washing, he slumped his bag to his back and made his way to his room. When he passed by Chihiru’s room, he knocked on the door twice before shouting, “Bang my door if you need anything!”
“Yeah, whatever!”
“OH… I’ll take a shower!!!!”
“Do what you want! Now, stop bugging me!” then he head a whack on the door. Chihiru probably threw something at her door.
Inside his room, Ryosuke felt like lying on his bed for just maybe a few seconds. He took out his phone and there was a message from Louise. Quickly he opened it and replied to it.
To: Umiko Louise
From: Yamada Ryosuke
Gomen. I washed the dishes. Haha! Don’t go anywhere, I’ll just take a quick shower and I’ll react to your question. You better be awake still when I’m done!
Upon hitting send, Yamada didn’t know why he felt a little at ease than usual. Aside from Chinen or Yuto, he hasn’t really texted anybody before. But Louise’s question was just too funny to ignore but he can’t really rant right now; he’ll do it after bath.
xXxXx
Reading Yamada’s reply, Louise closed her phone and placed it beside her laptop. Her dad’s not home yet and Suoh’s been rolling on the floor for like ten times now. The dog looked pretty exhausted and sat down for a while, and soon surprising Louise by suddenly running and chasing his own tail.
“Suoh… You’re never gonna catch that…” She uttered. Yuma’s not online. Well, what was she thinking? It’s seven in the morning at Winnipeg [Well, seven-ish]. Monday morning, what does she expect? Lately, she and Yuma can’t seem to get their clocks and schedules synchronized and they end up resorting to just leaving tiny messages offline. This time, Yuma’s message was about him being nervous for the first test in Pre-cal. Louise sighed when she read this and replied right away saying that he shouldn’t worry, and blah-blah-blah… the usual comforting words that Yuma knows Louise manages to say.
To kill time, Louise started playing random songs from her laptop, while Suoh stopped his argument with his tail and looked up at his master.
“Hey, let’s play.” Louise spoke to the dog, sitting on the ground. The beagle looked at her questioningly; you know, titling that cute puppy head to the side, with ears having a little effort to rise themselves. Louise laughed. She took out this stuffed toy that her dad bought some few days ago, and Suoh has been chewing. “Wresting!” she waved the ragged toy in front of the dog and Suoh bite onto it. “Okay, whoever get it wins!” Even before she could finished, Suoh started pulling as if saying it’s his toy but Louise made sure she irritates the dog.
After a few rounds, Louise kept winning, but in the end she lets go and Suoh starts running away from her. After he runs around her room, he’ll come back to her and give her back the toy; as if saying, ‘One more, one more!’
This has been her past time that night, while waiting for whatever else is to come. Waiting for her dad, waiting for a miraculous reply from Yuma, and yeah, last on the list was Yamada’s text, but that could count too.
Soon, while she was scratching behind Suoh’s ear, Louise heard her phone vibrate, and since Suoh’s asleep, Louise reached for her phone.
To: Umiko Louise
From: Yamada Ryosuke
Domo! Okay, so you were asking about Chinen? He’s not a snub! Ha! Honestly, I was laughing when I read your question. Chinen’s not snub, he’s just random and weird and hard to read sometimes. But I’ll tell him that he should mind his actions more. Don’t worry, he’s pretty fond of you, I can tell. And he told me. Haha
The rest was pretty much tack-tack-tack-tack as Louise reacted to Yamada’s text. One reply after the other, the two were pretty much gossiping about random stuff on text and for a moment Louise felt like her phone as a purpose. She suddenly missed her sempai, Line, whom she usually texts just because. It’s funny though, Yamada kept talking about stuff that Louise never thought he’d acutally say. Sometimes, Louise thinks she’s texting the wrong person.
xXxXx
It’s been, what? Two hours since they started texting and there was a moment Yamada thought of calling her, just because for him, it’s easier to talk that way, but he felt kind of awkward… Shy perhaps? Then again, he was pretty amazed by how long he’s been texting and not really get tired completely of it. It’s now around 11 pm and he heard Chihiru bang on his wall saying that she’ll sleep already. Their parents called and say that they were on their way home too.
To: Ryosuke Yamada
From: Umiko Louise
Next time, just say it directly. I would understand you know. Oh well, we’ll see each other tomorrow anyway, go to sleep already! Oyasumi!
Yamada grinned. Who is she to tell him what to do? But at the back of his head, he could hear himself saying he’s tired and after pondering, he finally decided to call it a day. With a final thought, he hit the reply button.
To: Umiko Louise
From: Yamada Ryosuke
Hai hai. See you tomorrow then! You go to sleep too! Oyasuminasai!
Sure their conversation was long and full of random, shallow-to-deep-to-shallow stuff but one thing… there’s one thing Ryosuke was sure of. Maybe texting isn’t so bad?
xXxXx
Tuesday morning and was Louise glad that it wasn’t like yesterday. Although it’s not sunny, the sky is clear but a little out of vibrancy. Hey, who cares, as long as it’s not raining, it’s not wet, anything’s fine. She took out her outdoor shoes and puts on her white ones; she’s gotten pretty used to this.
Today, she felt like she went to school extra early. Her dad was home at around 12, she was still awake then, just idling on the internet, looking for random things. When her dad arrive, they even chatted while he ate his supposedly dinner. It was fun because he didn’t scold her about staying up late; unlike her mom who kept ranting saying that lack of sleep will cause you wrinkles and blah-blah. Their conversation was pretty interesting, starting from Louise’s ugly day because of the rain to her finally seeing a glimpse about her dad’s nature of work. Turns out, there’s a company, he’s a pretty uh-huh figure, and blah-blah.
Remembering this now, Louise was walking without paying much attention to her surroundings. When she got inside the room, she just sat on her desk, took out her phone for no reason and just typed randomly on her calendar, putting whatever she felt like putting in there.
It was pretty quiet till someone slid open the door. She didn’t look up not until she was called, “Ruizu-chan?”
Just yesterday, he started to call her that, “Yama-chan. Ohayo.” And she started calling him like how most of his friends do.
“Why are you so early?”
Louise checked her watch. “It’s not THAT early. And what about you? Practice?” she said, looking at what Yamada was holding; it was some kind of gym clothes.
He shook his head, “I thought there was, but it was just a meeting. Bummer though…” he said, sitting on Keito’s chair [wow, they love Keito’s chair]
“Why?” she asked, resting a chin on her hand.
“We’ll be pulled out from classes, AGAIN! Argh…”
“You have a game soon?” she tried not to anger him about missing school.
“Yeah. Next week. We’ll be out for training starting Thursday.”
“When will you guys be back?” hey if he’s going away again, he should make sure he’s ready with the pile of work that’s gonna accumulate while he’s gone.
“We’ll be back Tuesday. The game’s on Monday. We have to travel to Osaka.”
“Wow. Isn’t that kind of like on the other side?”
“Yeah… hey, you’re working on your geography huh?”
Louise rolled her eyes, “No… my friend back in Winnipeg used to live in Osaka.”
“Oh…”
“But, I do study geo more so you could say that helps too.”
“Uso…”
“Uso ja nai…”
Yamada seized the opportunity to bother Louise about math again, while students started coming.
When Yuto got in, he saw Louise poke a pencil on Yamada’s head, like a rolled newspaper whack. When he walked to his chair, he heard her say, “I told you to stop relating it like that, you’ll get confused!” then as if there’s a sensor, “Good morning Yuu-chan!” she greeted in English. Once in a while, she keeps practicing it for Yuto.
“Um… morning…. Right, you didn’t get to take your test yesterday ne?”
Yamada was rubbing his head and glaring at Louise before he replied to Yuto, “Yeah. Yesterday I was happy it got moved; now I wished it didn’t.”
“Oh stop complaining!” Louise stuck out her tongue and stood up, “Washroom!” she said as if answering questions that are to come.
“Oh… where’s Keito?” Yuto asked when he took his seat.
Yamada was fixing his things and putting them to his own table. “Oh… he was here a moment ago, then he disappeared. Right! Kawashima-san was with her… You know, that girl from Chii’s class?”
Yuto looked confused, “Why?”
Yamada shrugged.
xXxXx
For a Tuesday, it was pretty boring. Despite the fact that she hasn’t seen Inoo or Daiki, Line felt a little different. Unlike before, morning was pretty loud and lazy because Daiki would complain, now its lunch time and not much has happened. To her surprise, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. Sipping from her juice, Line looked up to see Emma and Mei. “We didn’t know you each lunch all alone, why didn’t you tell us! You’ve been like this since the start of the semester!?” Mei sounded panicked.
Line reached the bottom of her juice and made a silly snoring sound before she let go. “No… I’m not emo.”
“Then, who’re you with?” Emma followed, her British accent still, “Where’s Dai-chan?” she smiled -hidden smile okay. Haha!
“Oh I’m not sure. Haven’t seen him since this morning.”
“Aww…” Mei teased and she and Emma soon turned when they heard someone call Line.
“Oh… Kei-chan!”
Emma and Mei were pretty… well.. stuck. “Konichiwa. I’ve been calling you! Where’s your phone!?”
Line felt her eyes widen and when she started tapping on her pockets, “Uwah! I must’ve left it in my room!”
Inoo was scratching his head as if in despair, “Daiki kept annoying me, telling me to check on you. He said he can’t really go to class today because his ComSci’s exam’s this evening. He’s drowning himself, studying. We were worried baka!”
Line pouted, and sip her juice. Ooops, it was empty. Haha! “Don’t call me baka, baka!” like usual, she rolled her eyes and for a moment, she remembered Mei and Emma were there. But hey, they were so mute that Line forgot that they were there; well, they stood there, pretty much looking at Inoo. “OH right! Kei-chan!”
“Huh?” Inoo was now sitting opposite Line and he just took out his lunch, with some huge book Line wasn’t sure what it’s about. Inoo followed where Line was looking and he smiled at them. “Domo… Inoo Kei…” he greeted, not sure if he should speak English, or Chinese. Then he leaned closer to Line, “Do they understand what I said or should I speak in English?” he sounded problematic.
Line laughed, “Yeah. He’s Inoo Kei. She’s Emma Birch, and she’s Mei Wong. Emma’s from England, Mei’s from China. And don’t worry, they understand Nihongo.”
“Ah… Hey!” Mei tried to sound cheerful, Line can tell she’s trying. While Emma stood a little dumbfounded still. Soon, Line felt a strong pinch on her arm and she was about to complain when Emma pulled her closer that soon Line had to stand up.
“He is H-A-N-D-S-O-M-E! How could you hog him all to yourself!?” Emma made it sound like Line betrayed them, but Line was used to this kind of tone and Inoo was pretty occupied talking to a stuttering Mei.
Line laughed and pulled Emma’s hand away from her reddening skin. “Well sorry… now you know him. Ja-jaan!” she grinned and Emma practically rested her head on Line’s shoulder, whispering…
“Seriously Line, he’s like cut out from those magazines… He’s so…”
“He’s beautiful, not hadnsome.” Line uttered and Emma whacked her on the head. “Ouch! Violence much?”
“Oh really? I’m in architecture. How is engineering so far?” Line heard Inoo spoke. He’s pretty much having a nice flow.
Mei still looks like she’s stuttering, but she’s not looking towards Emma or Line. “Well, if you wanna get to know him, I say start talking now, or Mei’s gonna beat you up to puff.” Line practically pushed her friend and since she’s kind of enjoying the scenery, Line took the seat next to Inoo.
“Oh… where were you?” Inoo asked.
“Why, need help with girls?”
Inoo looked at her murdering, “Really Line? You’re gonna be mean to me in front of them?” he was faking a cry; Line could only roll her eyes.
“You know what, let’s eat lunch! Emma, Mei, you haven’t eaten yet, right?” Line beamed, taking out the soup she bought. Mushroom soup! And then her sandwich. Emma and Mei looked like they were pretty hesistant to answer, but soon.
“I insist. It’s very rare I get to meet other friends of Line, so onegai?” Inoo smiled and the two practically just got their bums glued to the vacant seats.
Soon, all four of them were having a healthy conversation, with Inoo extremely filled up with foreign info. They even end up learning some Chinese phrases and Inoo kept repeating them; while saying some English stuff once in a while, that Line would absent-mindedly correct right away, resulting to Inoo saying that he’s being embarrassed. Nonetheless, it was fun.
“Oh, I wish Dai-chan was here, he’d be beaming with all the foreign stuff we’re talking about.” Inoo spoke, then soon he explained to Emma and Mei who Daiki is and so on, and so on.
Line felt her head wandering when Inoo mentioned Daiki. ‘Wonder where he is.’ While Inoo, Emma and Mei started talking about how the girls find Japan, Line took out her laptop randomly. She’s been taking pictures by the way, and now, she’s going to put them on her laptop, so she can blog about this interesting conversation and how Emma and Mei were starstruck by Inoo’s beauty.
It’s funny though. Line can hear her head laughing, ‘Boys waiting back in England and China, huh? You guys are melting in front of Inoo. Haha!’ she thought and turned her laptop on. She logged on her blog and she was notified that her friend Satomi has uploaded new pictures. Line opened Satomi’s blog, like she always do sometimes. And sure enough there were about some dozen of new pictures. Apparently, Mimi’s been taking advantage of the raining recently -‘So it’s raining in Toyama too, huh?’ Line thought, looking over her friends ever so excellent shots. She can’t help but stare at them for a while. Then what she heard distracted her. “DAI-CHAN!” Inoo said this pretty loud, Line looked up only to see Daiki looking a little embrassed. Can’t be helped. Sure, get your friend to announce your name on a pretty crowded eating area, haha!
“Aren’t you happy?” Daiki uttered, beaming at Line, “And where were you!?” he started and poked Line’s nose [that’s new.] “I kept calling you!”
Line grasp Daiki’s hand and shook it away from her face, “I left my phone! I left my phone! Let go!”
Daiki kept poking and he soon stopped when he saw the other two girls. “Ah…” he felt a little sheepish and tapped Line, as if asking a silent question and resting his forearm on Line’s shoulder.
“Dai-chan, they’re my friends. She’s Emma Birch, and that’s Mei Wong. From England, and China. Co-exchange students. This is the Dai-chan you’re bullying the yesterday.”
Daiki introduced himself formally and the girls giggled a little. “We thought you’re Line’s boyfriend.” Mei started and Inoo reacted.
“Eh? Him!? Not me?”
Line looked at Inoo with disbelief, while Daiki felt like hitting his friend on the head; what is he thinking? Emma and Mei looked a little off guard and Inoo pouted.
“I’d be a better boyfriend, you know…” Inoo spoke and Line was looking at him like he’s on crack.
“Urusai Kei-chan.” Daiki sounded threatening and Emma and Mei giggled.
Emma excused in Nihongo, holding back her laughter “Please allow me to speak in English.” Daiki and Inoo looked at each other before nodding and Emma went on; Inoo was paying attention. Sure enough, he could understand this; Daiki seemed like he’s been challenged. “Line, we didn’t know two guys were fighting over you. So that the reason why you hang out with us less, huh?” With Emma’s line, Mei laughed and Line looked petrified.
Inoo held a hand over his mouth and Mei looked at him as if asking something, but Inoo just winked. Line was sure enough that Inoo got the main gist of what Emma said and she rolled her eyes.
“Gomen ne, it took me a while printing this…” it was an unfamiliar voice, all the people on their table looked at the girl who just spoke. Line noted right away how fancy and well kept this girl looks. Line figured she’s wearing a plain white polo, and over that, her sweater’s sleeves a little longer, so her hands were kept under it, and she’s wearing this cute checker-skirt, with long black socks. For a moment, she looks like she’s a HS girl in a uniform, but then again, more modernized and customized.
Daiki looked at the girl for a moment and then, “Oh… gomen. Guys, this is Ginjo Asuka. These are my friends. That’s Inoo, and she’s Line-chan!”
Emma and Mei were all smiles and Asuka smiled back. Line was a little unsure how to greet her, so she nodded. Inoo was indifferent though.
“Oh… and they are… um… Emma-san, and Mei-san…” Daiki looked at them a little embrassed because he used their first names, Emma and Mei smiled at him, as if saying its no biggie.
“I overheard you guys talking in English, are you guys all exchange students?” Line looked up at Asuka and so did Emma, Mei and Inoo -Inoo with wide eyes; her English wasn’t that perfect, but let’s say it’s above average. “I’ve had special English lessons since I was a kid, so yeah… welcome to Japan I guess!”
Emma glanced at Mei slightly before replying, “Thanks. Your English is amazing.”
“Thanks!” Asuka looked at the dumbfounded Daiki and she just smiled. “You have an interesting set of friends Dai-chan~…”
Line didn’t know why but when Asuka called Daiki with that name, her first instinct was to look at Inoo. And was she glad she did because Inoo’s face was just priceless. Wanna know why? It’s simple, Inoo looks like he’s seen his lover cheating on him; and that he wanted to kill the third party. Not really sure why, Line held onto her camera, maybe because Inoo’s expression was so precious she wanted to freeze it on picture. But soon…
“Ah! Line-chan, you take pictures right?! Me too!” Asuka exclaimed, and Line looked up at her.
“Eh… awesome….” Line couldn’t really find her words. Since Asuka arrived, she wasn’t really interested in talking -she’s not sure why either.
“Oh. I told her you like taking pictures.” Daiki added, probably an attempt to normalize everything. It’s been pretty quiet you see; Inoo, who’s pretty loud, looked like he’s analyzing a crime scene and Emma and Mei were just nodding once a while.
“AH~” Asuka once again caught everyone off guard when she squealed; apparently, she saw Line’s laptop, and the pictures she was looking at. There were practically two windows open: one of Line’s blog, and the other was of Satomi’s. “Sugoi pictures~!” she went like she’s flailing and Line saw Inoo roll his eyes.
“Ah…. yeah…” still, Line didn’t know how to keep up with this girl’s…. bursts.
Inoo scooted near Line and looked at Asuka, “Ne, Asu-chan… you take pictures too?” It was weird collaborating this tone of Inoo’s to his face; it just doesn’t match. Daiki looked at Inoo as if Inoo was about to commit a crime.
Asuka for sure is blushing when she heard how Inoo called her [who wouldn’t, look at Inoo. Go figure.] “Ah… hai! I’m not that good though… ah… this one’s light is so much better!”
When Line heard what she said and saw where Asuka was pointing, she felt like a boulder should fall from the sky right now. Line practically had a cutting stare; it looks pretty sharp.
“Nani?” Inoo asked, pretending to be curious. “What light?”
“Look, this one’s picture is so much more vibrant. This one’s pretty… boring.”
Again, Line felt like a pyramid should fall from the sky, not a boulder. No actually, made that an entire continent should come crashing down right now.
Daiki spoke, “AH! Well, Asuka-chan, aren’t you eating lunch?” could it be possible that Daiki senses danger when it’s about to come?
Emma and Mei were looking at Line and Inoo, while Asuka clapped her hands, “Right! Let’s eat lunch with them Dai-chan!” she sounds excited enough, then looked at Line. “Is that okay?”
For a moment, Line surprised everyone when she shut her laptop closed. She didn’t really mean to shut it loud… or did she?
“Elle a insulté vos images. Je la tuerai.. 1” Emma spoke, and Mei looked at her as if she spoke something taboo. Inoo looked at her with interested eyes and Daiki tried to talk to Asuka just to lessen the awkwardness. ‘Haaay! Dai-chan, fail! I thought I got rid of her, now I smell trouble.’ Daiki thought to himself as he glances a little to Line while Asuka was saying something about what she wants to eat.
"Détendez Emma. Nous ne pouvons pas vraiment le rendre trop évident. Hé Jhoan sont vous bien ? Partez-vous ? Nous viendrons avec vous.2” Mei replied and at this, Inoo smiled.
This time, Line just stood up and looked at Emma and Mei as if thanking them. “I remembered, I have to print handouts for geology later. I’ll see you guys at the dorm.” With that, Line paused, looking at Daiki before she completely walks away.
“…right Dai-chan?” Asuka looks like she wasn’t really paying attention to anything but herself and was a little surprised when she saw Line leave. “Oh… Where’s Line-chan going?”
Daiki looked at Inoo, it’s like this silent talk of theirs that no one could ever understand - just the two of them. Inoo stood up, picked up his things and patted Daiki on the shoulder before saying, “Laissez à Line moi les dames. Voyez-vous autour
! 3” he winked at the two exchange students and with his words, Emma, Mei and Asuka all look dumbfounded.
Daiki shook his head; his friend’s randomness and skills sometimes really don’t match, but then again, that’s Inoo Kei.
“Did he just speak in French?” Asuka asked and Daiki shrugged. “Sugoi!”
“Well then, we’ll see you around guys. We have a class soon, so yeah. Bye Dai-chan!” Mei bid good-bye and Daiki politely replied, while at the back of his head, he’s pretty irritated. ‘Now, I’m all alone with her, AGAIN! Kei-chan… Line-chan… Kiyosukete…’
xXxXx
“Yo Line, wait up!”
Line was practically stomping. She stopped when she heard Inoo and smiled, then her face turned upside down on a frown. “What do you want!?”
“Woah… relax, it’s just me!”
The two settled on a study area outside Line’s geology classroom. Her class is at one o clock and it’s only twelve thirty. Inoo decided to sit-in Line’s geo class since he’s pretty much free for the day already. Oh, and an opportunity to whack Daiki on the head if ever Daiki’s coming to class. But he doubts that.
With Line cooling her head a little, Inoo spoke, “Dai-chan let’s eat! Dai-chan, blah-blah… She’s pretty annoying huh…”
“I don’t care.” Line spoke like she just swore. Now she has her laptop on again and Inoo felt like bugging her more.
“You hate her. Same here.”
“No I don’t.” Line replied and Inoo watched as Line opened a photo on her PhotoShop. “Not bright huh!?” Inoo was pretty surprised when Line adjusted the brightness using her keyboard, she was practically… well… ruining her key and Inoo had to grab her hand.
“Oi, don’t hate her huh?”
“Che!” Line uttered this one line that Inoo heard before and Inoo patted her back.
“Our Line’s grumpy. Haha! Cheer up! Come on, let’s look for her pictures.”
Line’s attention was back. “And how would you do that?” She made it sound like she’s half interested.
“It’s probably on her facebook, oh! Gomen, I didn’t know you weren’t signed out.” Inoo said as Line’s Facebook home popped out…. And with what’s written on her newsfeed, Line’s eyes popped out too.
“EH~?!” Line asked, basically pulling the laptop from Inoo and staring at what’s in her newsfeed. It’s a video… of Kenneth Dickson. With a title… An apology for Jhoan Line Laririt.
Inoo squinted his eyes, reading the lines… managing with his pretty okay English. “Ah… Ahpolog-ay? F-fow.. Line-chan!? Eh? Line-chan, who’s that!?”
Line was stuck. What is this!? First the flaming posts, then the boyfriend, then this. “I don’t know what’s going on anymore…” she sounded exhausted and she is. For a moment, her irritation for Asuka-chan dissolved, and was replaced by utter bewilderment.
Inoo asked for her permission and played the video. Line wasn’t really sure if she’s interested to see it.
xXxXx
“Hai! See you tomorrow!” Keito was in a flash, saying he has to take care of something. Yamada was out right after the bell because of soccer practice, and this may sound new but Yuto was called in by their science teacher a few minutes after dismissal. “Feels weird when it’s so quiet.” Louise heard herself say this out loud in English. She looked around, no one was there anyways.
Yuto’s things weren’t there anymore so Louise figured she’ll just walk home by herself.
The hallways were not that full anymore; I guess there are days where in people just wanna go home, huh? She stopped to get her change of shoes and when she opened her cabinet. “Oh… crap.”
There were about three, no five pieces of crumpled paper inside, they look practically like trash and Louise shoved them out. “Double crap.” Inside, her outdoor shoes were missing. She looked around, maybe it fell? But that’s a silly assumption.
For a moment, Louise felt like kicking whatever’s to her reach. ‘What the f*ck is going on!? What is this, am I being… bullied!?’ There was a frown on her face and she tried to calm herself down. It’s been proven that you don’t really solve anything with an angry head, but she can’t help it. Here she is, trying to fit in, and she’s happy enough to make really good friends, but ‘what’s going on?!’
She can’t be bullied, not her! With this tough façade, Louise just sighed. ‘So, is it okay to take these indoor shoes outside?’ she saw her face grinning, trying to hide the irritation but… “ARGH!” and with that, Louise kicked the nearest big trash can, the hit echoing the corridors. She calmed herself down and was lucky that no one else was around.
“Ruu-chan, you’re still here?”
Louise felt herself stiffen. She can’t really tell him something as shallow as this is pissing her off right? But then again, it’s Yuto. He worries about everything, she can’t have him worry about this now.
“What’s up?”
“Ah… nothing. I just remembered… I forgot something. You go on ahead, see you tomorrow!” Louise ran back to their room without even looking at Yuto.
xXxXx
“So she’s not tough after all…” she whispered, and the other girl just giggled.
“This is gonna be easy Aki-chan.”
xXxXx
Translations:
1. She insulted your photos. I will kill her.
2. Relax Emma. We can’t really make it too obvious. Hey Jhoan are you okay? Are you leaving? We’ll come with you.
3. Leave Line to me ladies. See you around!