Axel Terizaki
29th April 2007, 11:47 PM
Blind Spot
by Axel Terizaki <axel at teri-chan dot net>
MSN: axelterizaki@hotmail.com - ICQ: 81441376
Chapter 4 : Here comes a new challenger!
* * *
Christmas was over before I even knew it. The MP3 player I wished for
never came, probably thanks to Miyuki's brilliant comments on how I
wouldn't be able to hear stuff coming at me if I were to listen to music
while walking down the streets. Who gave me such a stupid sister?!
Sometimes I wondered if I really was from this family to begin with.
As for new year's, well, it was pretty eventless. Aoi was spending her
holidays with us, making time flowing faster than usual.
"Hey, Aya-chan, come over here! To your right!"
Aoi waved at me as she spoke. Both of us were wandering around at the
new years' festival in Nakanobu. Our district always held a festival
like this every year so people could have fun and celebrate the new year
without worrying for once about all their little problems and those of
the world around them. It was a time of peace, of rest.
I must admit, I only followed from a distance as the world's events
unfolded. Wars, the demise of the famous. Wars, the demise of the
famous, natural cataclysms were all so far away for me. I had this
carefree manner which made me insensitive to the rest of the world's
misfortunes, and I couldn't even feel reall guilty about it. I
preferred leaving those matters to more competent people who actually
believed they could make a difference, because I knew I couldn't.
I walked towards Aoi, who was clad in a distinctively dark blue kimono.
Dark blue, to be more precise. It was one of the rare moments of the
year when I actually wore traditional clothing, just to be like everyone
else I guess. Aoi was thinking a bit like I did, actually. Kimonos are
quite hard to put on after all. Mine was red however, a color I enjoyed
a lot because it was easy for me to recognize. Aoi was in front of what
looked like a merchant booth.
"Do the ladies here want some of those plushies?"
"Aya-chan, they have some cute bear ones. Do you want one? I'm going to
buy one I think!"
Aoi was all excited. Her room was filled with teddy bears and plushies.
She was collecting them, she once said to me. Well, to me they just took
too much space in her room, but it gave her room a nice, peaceful and
childish atmosphere. Aoi wasn't exactly childish though. She had purple
hair going down to her shoulders, with two bangs on each side of her
face, and was about as tall as I was. She was wearing glasses, small and
round, which gave her a cute and serious look. We had about the same
age, Aoi being four months older than me.
"No thanks, I don't need one." I waved her off in polite refusal.
"Oh, too bad."
"You know I'm not much into plushies." I shrugged my shoulders.
I brushed a hand in my hair while waiting for her to buy her plushie. I
started idly playing with the yellow ribbon that was holding my hair up.
I wasn't used to wear hair accessories, I guess it just wasn't my thing,
but Miyuki and mother insisted that I look all cute today. Oh well.
"Let's go see how oni-chan and Miyuki-nee are doing."
"Sure." I replied with a smile. Aoi took my hand to securely lead me
on, while holding a bag with her plushie inside in another hand.
And off we went through the alleys, chatting and searching for my
sister and Aoi's brother, Kenji. The two were always together during
family meetings. I guess they shared some kind of intimacy only cousins
can share together. I almost wish I had such a relationship with Miyuki,
but it just didn't go well between us. It probably was our age difference.
Aoi's topics of discussion with me were often about TV shows we both
watched. She didn't like to read much, but enjoyed music, and liked
hearing me singing. Actually, it may be her sole fault if I got into
this to begin with.
We soon caught our two siblings at a corner, holding what looked like
rifles. They probably were at one of those shooting booths.
"Miyuki-nee! Ken-chan!" Aoi waved at them as we approached.
"Oh it's you two. Having fun?" Kenji asked. He had spiky dark hair, and
was pretty handsome. He was about the same age as Miyuki, which helped
them grow up together more as time passed I guess. They were quite
close, and liked competition. When I thought about it, a shooting booth
was a perfect place to find them at.
They were wearing kimonos too. Miyuki had a very expansive one on with
butterfly patterns covering it. She got that from her boyfriend, for her
last birthday. Kenji's was simpler, like Aoi's and mine.
"We were going to try to win the music box. It's the big prize, you
know. If I win, I'll give it to you Aoi-chan!" Miyuki grinned.
What about me!? I'm supposed to be your little sister!
Kenji apparently saw my anger coming.
"If I do win, I'll give it to Ayako-chan."
"Heh, you're spoiling her." Miyuki tried to argue.
I decided to protest.
"I'm not being spoiled. It's just fair that if you want to give it to
Aoi-chan, Kenji'll give it to me!"
"Oh fine, fine..."
The two placed their rifles at shoulder level. . I could see things
moving beyond the ends of their rifles. Their targets, I hoped. Some
were moving from left to right, others were following a half-circle
pattern, or others were going up and down. The winner would be whoever
hit the most targets in the allotted time.
The booth owner announced the start, and both my cousin and sister
started firing shots, emptying their rifles in something like ten seconds.
"540 points for the lady, and 610 for the young lad there,
congratulations!"
I grinned from ear to ear, as Kenji gave me the music box. Actually, I
didn't really want it, and I didn't want to take it away from Aoi-chan,
but knowing Miyuki lost was enough to make my day.
"It's starting to get late, let's go see the fireworks!" Kenji
suggested, and the four of us started walking away from the various
booths to find a nice place to watch the yearly fireworks of Nakanobu.
I liked fireworks. They were pretty, and the dark background of the sky
allowed me to see them clearly. Ah, I wished I had a boyfriend to watch
them with, and then we'd kiss under their light and...
"Aya-chan? You're all red."
It was Aoi's voice.
"Haha, it's nothing, I'm just feeling a bit hot..."
"In winter? Are you alright?"
I laughed nervously. That was the wrong excuse.
* * *
The new year celebrations were over before I knew it... I know, I said
that for Christmas as well, but that's just the way it felt. When
everything is alright with your world, time tends to fly away. Time is
such a capricious thing, not there when you need it the most, and
cruelly reminding you how slow it is when you need it to go faster.
School was soon resuming its place in my daily routines, and with that,
the dreadful impending arrival of end-of-year exams.
Sadly, that wasn't the only disaster waiting for me.
* * *
I opened my shoe locker in order to take my school sneakers, only to
find a letter on top of them.
A love letter!
It had to be something like this!
Ah, finally, after all those years, I received a love letter upon
entering high school. Believe it or not, but I never got any before. I'd
taken a peek at some of the letters guys sent to Karen and Shizuka
before, but to receive one for myself...!
I looked a bit left and right, everyone had already left for their
classes. In my excitation, I quickly opened it and read it. The
handwriting was very nice; probably belonging to a highly sensitive and
kind guy I guessed. Lucky me!
'Come to the roof after lunch, I'll be waiting.'
And that's all that was written on it, leaving me quite unsatisfied,
expecting more.
I hoped Karen didn't see this, I couldn't imagine the complications if
she...
"Ayako! I've been looking for you! The bell's about to ring!"
...saw that.
I quickly folded the paper and put it back in my locker before closing
it. I had more than enough time to read it's entirety anyways.
"Let's go!" she said and grabbed my hand, leading me through the
hallways towards our classroom.
Phew.
Karen was always worried that I got lost, and even more since that time
where I took the wrong train. It's true I often felt embarrassed and
uneasy whenever I got lost, but I always thought she was doing too much.
I mean, school. It's not like I'm not here everyday.
* * *
My mind was preoccupied all morning long thinking about that letter
instead of concentrating on Kasuga-sensei, our english teacher. A love
letter... I still couldn't believe it! What was he like? It couldn't be
Ogata-kun for starters. He would have signed it or something. Come to
think of it, it didn't show any name, so I guessed the boy must have
been a little shy. Teehee, I was intimidating someone now, that was
certainly a heady thought.
Sadly again, our teacher tried to to bring me down by reminding me of
something of the utmost gravity.
"...and I will remind you that I'm expecting good grades from all of
you for the upcoming exams next month."
Oh right, it's already that time of the year.
The first two exams of my highschool years were just above average. I
wasn't exactly brilliant at studies, to be honest. I was always doing
what I was told, and nothing more. Teachers often told me that I wasn't
developping enough what I was writing in my exam papers. They wanted me
to expand, develop, tell more about what I learnt in their classes. I
was never too talkative anyways, so I didn't see why it should show onto
paper as well.
As long as I passed, it was okay I guess. Besides, those average grades
were a pretty solid proof that I wasn't cheating with my computer, which
comforted me in keeping it that way. I didn't want to attract more
jealousy to me than I already had. I knew some students didn't like me
much in our school.
The bell rang, signaling lunch. It suddenly reminded me of my love letter.
"Shall we go, Ayako?" I heard Karen's voice next to me, and looked up
with a smile.
"Sure."
Trying to act natural, I headed with her towards the school cafetaria.
Believe me, excitement was difficult to contain.
* * *
Right after lunch, the main problem was trying to find an excuse to get
Karen off my trail for a while.
"I'm going to take a walk around school for a bit, okay?" I told her,
trying to sound as natural as possible.
"In winter? Put your coat on, you could catch a cold, you know."
Thank you moth-- I mean, Karen-chan.
She was finishing her lunch as I said this. I brought my tray back to
the entrance so it could be washed and then headed back to the shoe
lockers and our classroom to take the letter and my coat with myself. I
wasn't sure if I was going to return the feelings or not. I mean, it was
all new for me. I wasn't even sure of who it could be. I so hoped he
would be cute, or handsome, or preferably both!
I slowly took the steps leading upstairs towards the roof of the
school. I couldn't afford arriving panting as if I just ran. That
wouldn't have been very ladylike! Besides, I didn't need to be there
first, it's always up to the man to wait for the woman to arrive at a date!
I put on my coat and my sunglasses, and opened the door to the roof.
The sun was up, and even if masked behind clouds, it was still a pain
for me to see well like this. Was I the first here?
"You're late."
A girl's voice. Coming from my left.
Wait, a girl!?
I looked at my left, and I saw a silhouette, wearing our school
uniform, back against the fence of the roof.
I approached her a little, but couldn't distinguish much of her
features outside, from this distance.
"W-Weh?"
I tried to overcome my shock first. It was a girl! I was waiting for a
boy here! Where did it go wrong? Could it be possible that someone else
had told this girl to come to the roof in another letter? No, that
wasn't possible. If that had been the case, she wouldn't have told me I
was late.
"I was waiting for you, Suzumiya."
"Waiting for me...?"
I tried to compute what was going on here. A girl left me a love letter
in my shoe locker earlier this morning and was there waiting for me on
the roof.
Wait a second...
"I-I'm sorry, I'm not into girls, you see." I mumbled out with a blush.
It was kind of embarrassing to say that, but I didn't want to give false
hopes to the poor girl.
"W-What!?" she exclaimed loudly. Oh my, did I make her mad? Did I hurt
her feelings? Aaah, how stupid can I be!?
"I'm so sorry! I'm really into guys!" I apologized again.
That's when she facefaulted.
"Are you brain-damaged or something?" she asked back. As I approached,
the first thing I noticed was that girl's hair. It was of a beautiful
blonde color. Wether it was natural or not was yet to be proven. Chances
were high that it was a nice blonde dye though. Her hair was a bit wavy,
and going down to her back from what I could see. She also wore tiny
dark blue ribbons in her hair too.
"Excuse me, but I just received your letter, I can't accept your
feelings, sorry." and I handed her back the letter with both hands.
And then, she laughed at me.
That's when I knew something was definitely wrong.
"Suzumiya, you're so funny! How in hell could you think that this was a
love letter? You're truly hopeless!"
"Heh?"
"I sent you this because I wanted to tell you in private that I'm fed
up with you. I won't let you win this, you hear? You are my enemy now,
prepare yourself."
"My... enemy? Wait a minute, I'm not-"
She didn't let me finish my sentence.
"Absolutely. And I'm not the only one fed up with how all the teachers
are head over heels for your well being, especially since you're playing
games in class or even sleeping behind your computer screen!"
It felt like an arrow just pierced my chest. A thousand times.
"This is-"
"True. All of that is true, and you know it's true, so please don't try
to deny it, you're just making it worse."
Mou! She didn't have to say it like that! And I have always been extra
careful about not being caught! Something started to just feel heavy in
my chest. At first, I wasn't too sure of how to react, and just looked
down at her chest. her skirt, then away a little when I reached her feet.
"That said, I won't let you have your way, Suzumiya Ayako. Your quiet
days are over."
She passed by me. I didn't even turn back.
* * *
It took me a while to register she had actually left, and I quickly
hurried back to the classroom to find out I was right on time for the
ringing of the school's bell announcing the beginning of the afternoon
classes.
I sat next to Karen, as usual.
"You took your time." she remarked. She sounded a bit bored, and was
resting her chin in her palm, her elbows on her desk.
"Uh, yeah, well, I guess." I tried to find an excuse, but couldn't.
Experience proved to me that when you have nothing to say, don't say
anything.
Our teacher entered and Ryukawa-san, our class representative, said the
usual "Stand. Bow. Sit." ritual. Our japanese teacher was nicknamed
Baba-sensei. She wasn't what I'd call young. Let's be honest,
Kasuga-sensei had much more fans among the male population of the school
than her.
I didn't like her much either, she was quite old-fashioned and strict.
Like that time where I had to prove her I didn't have any spellchecker
or dictionnary on my computer... Just thinking about it makes me shiver
in embarrassment. That was quite a scene
The class was getting as boring as usual, allowing me to think for a
while about what happened just now. This girl just declared war on me,
or something like that, and I realized I didn't even know her name and
which class she was in. Wait, if she knew I was sometimes escaping
boredom by sleeping behind my screen or playing games, then the only
place she could've been was in this class, right behind me!
I looked back a little, trying to be as discreet as possible, but I
couldn't pinpoint her at all from what I could see, and there were a few
rows behind me and Karen. The more I thought of it, the more I found
myself in a bad position in the classroom, with so many people behind
me, able to look at what I did. It never occured to me before that I
would have to hide things from my classmates, or that I was being spied
on so obviously.
The girl could as well be in another class too, and she could have
heard of my habits in class from a friend... Who was the traitor among
our ranks? Then again, how could I find her? I had to tell her this all
was a mistake and I didn't mean any harm to her.
I looked at my left at Karen, who was busy taking notes of what the
teacher was saying. I observed her concentration for a little bit. I
knew I could count on her. My only option would be to ask her for help
to find this person. Even though the girl was blonde with ribbons in her
hair, and thus easily noticeable, I didn't have faith in my eyes, and it
would take me some time to find her. If she were in another class, it
would be even worse.
I hated that so much. Whenever I wanted to talk to someone I didn't
know well I had to ask Karen to lead me to him or her, and I couldn't
always bother her with that. Plus sometimes I didn't want her to know...
I stopped counting the number of boys I didn't ask for a date just
because it'd be overly embarrassing to have Karen around. No hard
feelings Karen-chan, but these things are usually handled in private.
But this time, I had to ask Karen. I had no other choice, and I had to
be quick about it. During recess time...
* * *
"A blonde girl, you say? With ribbons? It's all you know about her?"
she asked me as I told her about what happened at lunch time. Well, not
exactly all that happened, actually. She just had to know how the girl
looked like.
"Yes."
"Why do you need to see her?"
Ah, the dreadful question.
"Well, hmmm, she dropped something and I wanted to give it back to her,
you see?"
She nodded.
"Well, sure I could help, but with so little information it's going to
be difficult. Blonde girls aren't very common here, that's true, but do
I have to remind you that our school is quite big? Finding her among all
the students will be troublesome. Were you able to see her uniform's
ribbon color?" she asked me.
"Yes, it was light blue just like ours."
"Are you absolutely positive of that?"
It was my turn to nod. Karen knew I had trouble with colors. She wanted
to make sure I saw the color right.
At our school, the ribbon on the girls' uniforms indicated in which
year they were. I got a light blue ribbon when I arrived here. Purple
was for second years and green was for third years. It was easier to
identify a student this way. Unfortunately for me, boys only had a small
insigna at the collar of their uniforms, which was difficult to check
out at first glance for my poor eyesight.
"Still, this is going to be difficult. But I can go check out the other
first year classes tomorrow if you'd like?"
I knew I could count on you Karen-chan. I'd have given you a hug if we
hadn't been in class. You've always been so understanding of my problems!
* * *
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I watched Karen run around
the sports field of our school with her clubmates. At first, I thought
about sneaking out while she was busy and try to search for this
mysterious blonde girl, but then I thought about the details: how would
I find her with my eyes? Where could she be? Did she have club
activities? Or had she left already? Or was she some kind of ghost? Nah,
no way, ghosts don't show up during daytime.
I kept watching Karen from afar with my monocular. I was pretty much
left alone during her practice. She looked real good like that, and from
what I could hear, she was quite skilled, ran fast, and had lots of
endurance. It made me feel warm inside, simply because it was my friend
they were praising, and I could be proud of her.
I couldn't keep that blonde girl away from my mind, even when I waited
for Karen to shower and change after her club activities, even when we
walked back home. I even told Shizuka what I told Karen: the strict
minimum, plus a little extra. Sorry Karen-chan! To my surprise, Shizuka
didn't get too nosy about it.
"You know, that's pretty normal schoolgirl behavior. Even I have
enemies at school."
"You too?" I asked, a little surprised.
We were walking home together as usual, Karen having left us a few
minutes ago to head home herself.
"Of course! School can be like a battlefield for some girls. Like they
think they have something to prove or gain from this. Boys sometimes
fight and resort to just being mindless brutes, but girls aren't that
different. In other schools you sometimes find groups that are inclined
towards violence and would do anything for let's say, a cell phone or
some smokes. Sometimes it's just because you're different. Cuter, or
liked by teachers or things like that."
I listened to her words with interest. What she said was true: I heard
a lot of stories of high school violence and bullies lately.
"But it's not like she was that hateful... I mean, she didn't try to
hit me or anything. Besides, our school is rather safe compared to
others, don't you think?" I argued.
"Beware of still waters."
"Heh?"
She lifted her finger, as if to make her point.
"What I mean is, this girl could still make your life a hell. I don't
know what kind of grudge she has against you, but... Oh well, I trust
Karen to make her pay if anything happens to you."
I blinked. I suddenly pictured Karen fighting with other girls to
protect me. It was definitely weird.
"Ano, Karen isn't exactly like that."
"I know, I know. But I also know she wouldn't let anyone harm you."
Shizuka said reassuringly. She didn't want me to worry about it,
obviously. I didn't realize until later that Shizuka truly trusted Karen
a lot.
We soon arrived at the usual crossroads where we parted ways. I waved
at her, and kept on walking back towards my house, idly waving my cane
left and right. The day hadn't been too good, and it wasn't over yet.
* * *
I thought I'd choke on my glass of water.
"A PART-TIME JOB!? ME!?"
I looked back and forth between my mother and father. We were at the
kitchen table for dinner. So this was my last ordeal for my busy day.
"Well, we think you should start to know how it feels to actually work.
You know, it's not uncommon for highschoolers to work part-time. Plus,
you need a real income of money to buy everything you want." my father
explained to me.
"But... I can't... I mean..."
"Ayako-chan, you need to learn the value of money. You mentionned to us
before that you were sorry for the monocular we had to buy for you."
I was trying to fight for words. If that wasn't a surprise attack, I
don't know what it was! I knew they were both right, but talking about
this during dinner... Oh and Miyuki being so silent wasn't exactly good
news either. I mean, I wanted a part-time job, really. But so soon, I
wasn't prepared... I wanted to earn money, to become less dependant on
my family. That's pretty normal for a student, isn't it? But then again,
deep down, I didn't want it to happen. I was scared.
Yes, scared.
I was scared of what I was able to achieve with my handicap. Most of
the girls in class were doing physical jobs...
"Your grades aren't exactly great, and it wouldn't be very wise to let
you get a part-time job, so we're putting our trust in you Ayako-chan.
You won't disappoint us, right?" my father asked me, leaving me a bit
speechless.
There was a long pause. It might have lasted a few seconds or a minute,
I wasn't exactly counting.
"But what do you want her to do? What can she do?"
Miyuki eventually spoke up. However, I wasn't too sure if it was to
help me or to push me down further with a shovel. Did she mean I
couldn't do anything and was useless? I never really thought about what
I could do in the future, and my eyesight certainly did close many doors
to me. She was going to bring up what I feared the most.
I didn't want to hear this!
The question was asked to my parents, and I looked at them now, trying
to read an expression on them, but it was pretty difficult. And Miyuki's
reaction was confusing me quite.
"That's what we wanted to discuss with her." my father replied. My
mother continued on that.
"There are clearly some jobs you can't do, Ayako-chan. You still
haven't tought of what you'd like to do in the future, and it worries us
a bit, considering that you have a handicap. Do you understand?"
I nodded a bit in reflex, and blinked.
"I don't know what I could do, I mean... Karen-chan isn't working for
example."
Bad example, Ayako, bad example!
"The Sakazaki family is pretty wealthy, Ayako-chan, it's no surprise
they can afford anything their only daughter wishes. Not that I'm
accusing Karen-chan of being a spoiled little girl though." my mother
giggled, trying to brighten the mood.
"She did try to find a job, but there was nothing she really enjoyed
doing, and since she could afford it, she preferred doing club
activities instead." I replied, trying to take Karen's defense.
"But you're not doing any club activities yourself." father remarked,
sinking me lower than earth level with the shovel from earlier. I KNEW I
was not doing anything except studying and reading and singing
karaoke... The more they brought this up, the more it was depressing for me.
"Clearly, Ayako can't do any waitress-like work." Miyuki noted. I
started to picture myself in one of those cute waitress outfits, but
then shrugged it off. Even though I still wondered on which side of the
conflict Miyuki was, I had to admit she was right here. I could trip on
stuff while holding the trays, or bring dishes to the wrong table. I had
already thought about that. Ah, I wish I could wear one of those
uniforms once.
People tend to think it's ridiculous, or that such dreams are worthless.
But for me, it meant a lot. A whole lot. Isn't it normal to dream about
the things you can't normally do?
"Delivery jobs are out of the question since she wouldn't know her way
around. I absolutely don't see her running around the city on a bike
while carrying ramen for example." she continued. We all sat in silence
as Miyuki started to enumerate all the things I couldn't do. It wasn't
very gratifying, to say the least. Did she care how low it made me
feel!? I didn't want to hear this, onee-san!
"What would you like to do, Ayako?" my mother finally asked, cutting
Miyuki short when she started to talk about public work. Again, I was
taken by surprise.
"Me? Well..."
I started to think, hard. Couldn't they give me a day or two to think
about it? I still had no idea of what I'd like to do in the future!
"I could... sing?"
I liked singing, doing karaoke, but becoming a real singer, even an
idol would do.
"Seriously, Ayako." my mother said.
I was serious here! Was she thinking I couldn't do it?
Wait, she was right, it was impossible for me. Completely impossible on
so many levels.
"Oh wait, I might have an idea..." Miyuki said with a little smile.
"An idea?" Why was I beginning to fear?
She stood from her seat and picked up her cell phone from her pants'
pocket. I was a bit worried.
"I'll be right back." she said, and left the room for some privacy. Who
could she be possibly calling? Her boyfriend? My thoughts were
interrupted by my mother speaking again.
"Anyways, it's not that we want you to exhaust yourself with classes
and a job, but we feel that you need to earn money and discover how an
active life is. That's what you wanted, right?"
"Yes but... I mean, it's sudden. And I'm scared. I'm scared I won't be
able to do anything." I said, looking down at my hands on my lap. There,
I said it.
It kind of left my parents speechless as well. Were they expecting
this? I didn't know.
I decided to switch subjects a little.
"Does this mean you'll cut off my allowance?"
Sorry, I had to ask this. My parents looked at each other a bit, maybe
they didn't think of that, or maybe they did think of it and were
searching for words to diplomatically announce it to me. Or maybe they
really didn't think about it and I just gave them a very bad idea.
"Well, until you find something, of course not, we're not tyrants."
I raised an eyebrow jokingly.
"Oh really?"
"You can stop giving her money now then, mother."
It was Miyuki's voice. I turned towards her. and heard her hum in
triumph over something. Looks like her call was pretty quick. But the
way she announced that, it just made me all the more worried.
"You like books, right?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, I mean, I like to read and write stuff..." I said, not very
enthusiastic. I still didn't know what she had in mind. It was true that
I liked to read books and manga. I also enjoyed writing e-mails to Karen
when she was overseas.
"Perfect. Perfect. Just perfect."
Oh my. The suspense was killing me. I guessed my parents were equally
curious.
"You'll see tomorrow. Right after classes, I'll come pick you up at
school." Miyuki announced.
"You? Picking me at school? But your work?"
"I'll find a way, don't worry."
I started to think about the prospect of earning money for myself.
"At least, I'll be able to buy my own cell phones every two or three
months, just like Miyuki." I said with a little smirk.
Miyuki was always changing her cell phone every once in a while for the
latest models, whenever some new feature or shiny gimmick caught her
eye. She's been doing that ever since she started working in highschool.
I was so envious of her back then!
"Are you implying that I'm frivolous? It's my money, I'm free to use it
as I see fit."
"Me? I'm not saying anything at all." I said innocently.
"Humph. Well, it's now time for a good bath."
I twitched, seeing her leave "Hey! I said I wanted one first earlier!"
I fumed a little, and then felt someone's hand on my shoulder. As I
turned around, I realized it was my father's.
"I trust Miyuki. I'm sure she has a good idea for her little sister.
She must have found something that you will be able to do by yourself."
I raised an eyebrow at that.
"I'm not TOO sure. I do remember a few years back that she changed
part-time jobs quite often."
"Well, it gave her lots of experience, at least."
...Right.
* * *
I exited the bathroom after my bath was over and quietly walked to my
room in those cute cat-shaped sneakers Shizuka and Karen bought me on my
last birthday. Even though it was still winter outside, the temperature
was quite nice. Upon entering my room, I decided to turn on some soft
music and dried my hair a little before putting on some clothes for the
night.
"Now what to read..."
I took a look at the books on my desk. Reading would surely help me
forget about such a complicated day.
First there was this girl who sent me a letter. How embarrassing, why
did I think it was a love letter? There wasn't even a little
heart-shaped seal on it to begin with. I guess I just let excitement get
to me.
This troubled me a little as it was the first time something like this
happened to me in my entire school life.
And let's not forget about the upcoming exams. High school was much
tougher than middle school, that's for certain, and it's not like I
could afford getting lazy over those exams, or I could risk not
advancing through classes. Karen surely wouldn't wait one year for me to
catch on.
Eventually, there was this whole stupid idea my parents suddenly got
about me getting a part-time job... Well, it wasn't such a stupid idea,
but I wasn't prepared for it.
"...atashi sakuranbo...!" I hummed to myself, half-listening to the
song playing in my room.
I admit it wasn't such a bad idea that I learn how to work, but I
wasn't even sure of what I'd like to do in the future, and what would be
my abilities. Come to think of it, I could become a singer, but there
would be a lot of problems since I didn't see well. On the other hand, I
sometimes saw blind people turn out to be exceptionnal musicians or
singers in the past, so why not me?
I knew, thanks to magazines, how tough this kind of business could be.
It was probably impossible to become popular since all those idols were
almost flawless. Some of them had been scouted at very young. It was
almost scary! And let's not talk about all the downsides of it.
Stalkers, obsessed fans, crazy journalists, and the like...
Heh, a horde of fans at my feet, worshipping me, wasn't such a bad
idea, when I thought about it.
Oh well, let's pick something to read before going to sleep. I looked
through the pile of books, and eventually picked Zero's Familiar. I was
a bit surprised about that one at first. It started as a funny story,
but it definitely contained some naughty bits absolutely not recommended
for teenagers below sixteen.
But who cares, I was actually going to be seventeen soon, and I was a
very healthy girl too, teehee.
* * *
The next day, Karen tried to search for that blonde girl during lunch
break and our various recess times between classes. I was a little
nervous about what Karen would think of her. if that girl was really
going to make my school life a hell, how would Karen react? It was quite
embarrassing the more I thought about it.
Eventually though, after our first period of the afternoon...
"I found someone I think, in class 1-A." she announced, coming back to
me, holding a piece of paper and a pencil in her hands. She probably
made a drawing of the girl with my description and asked around.
I stood up and followed her accross the hallway. Various students were
chatting here and there, and no one really paid attention to us.
We soon arrived at the 1-A classroom. Karen motionned a girl talking in
a corner to me. She was chatting excitedly with other girls, probably
from her class. I couldn't see her well from there, but her voice
sounded familiar. I was almost sure, and yet, there was always this
doubt, even if Karen was there with me.
Then, I saw her approach us. She must have noticed our presence.
"So, Suzumiya, asking for help from Sakazaki for stalking me?"
I could almost hear Karen blinking. But I decided to talk first.
"Of course not, I was just passing by and saw you, and..."
"...and you thought about coming and say hello? How nice." she grinned,
interrupting me. "You hear that girls?" she asked to her classmates, who
all giggled rather unpleasantly. There were three of them. One had long
dark blue hair tied in a single ponytail, one other had short red hair
and the last one had long black hair arranged in a tresse, and was
wearing rather big rectangular glasses. A bunch of sub-standard girls,
if you asked me.
"W-Well, yeah, that's right. Now we'll go back in class, right Karen?"
Why was I losing my cool in front of them? That girl was surrounded by
an aura of confidence, it forced admiration out of me.
"Karen?" I asked again, hearing no reply from her.
That's when I heard something snap in her hand. I took a step aside in
reflex and looked at her.
"K...Karen!?"
"You, misses, will regret it dearly if I ever catch you harming Ayako."
It was not her normal tone of voice. This one was low, threatening
even. I saw the girls shift a little, as if bracing themselves. The
girls accompanying the blonde one sounded a bit surprised, but she
stayed calm and composed, as a good leader should always be.
"Sakazaki, this is between Suzumiya and me." she then turned to me. "I
have no interest in fighting your little maid here."
My... maid?
I looked over at Karen and briefly imagined her in one of those frilly
maid outfits, before shaking the thought off my mind. This didn't amuse her.
"I'm her friend, and I..."
I decided to interrupt her before it got worse.
"Actually, we'd better go, the next period will start soon." and I
looked at Karen now "It's okay Karen, really."
"What's the matter here?" I heard a male voice behind me. I turned
around and blinked.
It was Ogata!
"Ogata-kun..."
"Heh, if it isn't Suzumiya, Sakazaki and Ura in the same class. I must
be getting lucky."
"Ura...?" I heard Karen say softly, a little surprised, probably as
much as I was by Ogata's appearance.
"Her name is Ura. Ura Miho. She's in my class." he revealed while
motionning to the blonde girl. I looked at Miho and her friends, who
were equally speechless.
Ura Miho, heh. Something was telling me it was quite a fitting name.
"Ogata-san, you shouldn't bother yourself with those..." Miho said, in
such a sweet voice it made my eyes roll.
Ogata-san? She called him Ogata-san? Karen humphed a bit and took my
hand gently.
"Let's go Ayako, or we'll be late!"
"A-Ah, sure."
I gave a last quick look towards Miho, who seemed all embarrassed. Was
that a blush on her cheeks? I couldn't see well as Karen dragged me
towards the exit, but a grin slowly began to spread on my face.
My sixth sense kicked in. I was now pretty sure she had a crush on
Ogata. Splendid.
* * *
I couldn't help but grin during the last period of the day. This Miho
girl had a crush on Ogata. She looked so full of herself when she talked
to me, and melted right away when he arrived. I didn't need a nobel
prize to guess what this meant.
I had to lend a pen to Karen too after she broke hers earlier. It was
funny to see her asking for a pencil from a girl who usually never
writes with one. Luckily for her i still had one, just in case.
I could tell she was pissed, but I couldn't exactly tell why. I guess
it was beacause it had something to do with Ogata, or was it because of
Ura?
What a weird name anyways, I'll just call her Miho, that's simpler.
I excused myself towards Karen by explaining to her that Miyuki was
waiting for me at the school gate and that I couldn't accompany her to
her daily club activities. She nodded in understanding and gave me her
usual reassuring smile.
* * *
"So, you're ready?"
Miyuki asked me as she came towards me when she saw me arriving at the
gate. She hadn't changed and was still in her classy office uniform.
Classy and classic, actually, with a sleeveless jacket, a blouse and
tie, and a matching skirt below.
"Yeah, but are you going to finally tell me where we're headed?" I
asked, unfolding my cane before her. She led the way, and I walked next
to her. Miyuki never did act like Karen and never held my hand or arm
when walking with me. Not that I wanted to, either.
"Might as well tell you, now that we're on our way." she said softly,
her heels clicking a little on the pavement. "A friend of mine owns a
small bookstore in the city. He's a bit old, and could definitely need a
hand."
A bookstore?
"I trust he'll pay you well, if you can do the work that is." I could
sense a hint of defiance in her voice.
"What... kind of work is it exactly?"
"I didn't get into the details with him yet, but I guess you'll have to
sort some books, help people find them, welcome customers and such."
I was a little worried about what I would be doing here and if I would
be able to do it. I didn't want this job in the first place, too...
"Oh and he said he'll pay you about 900 yen per hour."
...Okay, now we're talking!
* * *
After a lengthy train trip accompanied by one transfer, we arrived at
the Jinbocho station. I knew this place very well, since I often came
here to buy manga and novels.
Miyuki was working for the Shueisha, a big publisher company here. She
got a job at the bottom of the ladder a few years back, and was slowly
climbing the steps in the hierarchy. Miyuki never really liked talking
about her job. All I knew was that she was in charge of relationships
with bookstores. She also met her current boyfriend, Seiji, at work.
Things were going well between them from what I heard, and all they
needed was a promotion to take off and get their own apartment to live
comfortably.
We soon arrived in front of a rather old-looking building. It wasn't
very big, and you couldn't see much of what was inside from outdoors. I
looked up at the sign written in big letters above the shop.
"Tamashii Toshokan?"
"Yep, that's the bookstore."
Miyuki led the way and entered first, holding the heavy glass door for me.
The place smelled intensely of books. There were piles scattered here
and there, probably the unsorted kinds I'll have to sort. I folded my
cane and swiftly placed it in my schoolbag so not to accidentally bump
it into something. I didn't need to have my first impression be buried
under an avalanche of books.
"Heya, ojii-san!"
I saw an old man stand up from behind the counter. He was wearing a
white apron on top of his clothes.
"Oh, Suzumiya-kun..." he said in his low voice. I stood next to my
sister. The two seemed to know each other quite well.
"So you brought your sister here. Ayako-chan, is that it?" he asked me.
I nodded a bit shyly.
Miyuki then spoke again.
"She'll do fine, she's my little sister after all."
I blushed a bit, it was strange to be considered like that by
Miyuki-nee, if you think about all the teasing I get treated with at home.
"Ayako, this is Takagi-san. He's going to be your boss here." she
explained to me.
"What will I have to do exactly?" I dared ask.
The old man seemed to think for a bit before replying.
"Well, I have a few new books that I need to be sorted and placed on
the appropriate shelves."
I was already starting to fear a little. I looked over at the shelves
behind us. Some were pretty high for me. I guessed he surely had a
stepladder for the higher books, but still... Searching through the
books here would be a hell for me and my eyesight.
"You can search where the books are supposed to be located on the
computer, and input new ones. It's fairly easy. You'll have to direct
customers to the books they seek too."
I nodded, listening to his instructions. That sounded fairly easy, so far.
"Okay, I guess I can do that."
"But first, you need to change." Miyuki noted. I had forgotten for a
moment that I was still dressed in my school uniform. I only noticed now
that Miyuki was carrying a bag with her.
"Ah, that's right. You can use the backroom. There should be an apron
there belonging to my granddaughter." he said softly.
"I'll show her the way." Miyuki suggested, and led me by the shoulder
towards a backroom. How did she know her way around here?
* * *
The backroom of the bookstore was a little dark, and there was a lot of
books in there too. I didn't bother to look through them, and promptly
started to take off my uniform and place it inside one of the lockers
there. There were only two of them in here.
The place was apparently not heated well, and standing there in undies
wasn't making it any better. I decided to hurry and put the clothes
Miyuki brought with her.
"Next time you rummage through my clothes, you could ask me first." I
sighed a bit at the thought of Miyuki going through my stuff in my room.
She was my sister, but still...
"Oh, stop complaining, will you? I forgot." I heard from the outside.
Miyuki was waiting patiently for me in the hallway connecting the
backroom to the store, the door closed between us.
I started putting on the black skirt and orange blouse on. There was a
white apron like the one Takagi-san was wearing earlier in the locker.
"So, what do you think?"
"Well, I guess I can do that, it doesn't sound too difficult for me..."
I said, not very enthusiastic about the whole thing. I wanted to ask her
a few things about this job, but she spoke again.
"Are you ready yet?"
"Almost!"
I finished putting the apron on. I wasn't used to that.
I placed back my uniform and schoolbag into the locker, after having
taken my monocular with me. I placed it around my neck, and exited the
backroom, to find Miyuki in the hallway, as expected.
"How is it?" I asked her.
"Hmmm. Your collar."
She approached, and without a word, arranged the skirt then the collar
of the blouse a bit. It didn't look all right, apparently. I'm used at
my relatives and close friends like Shizuka and Karen taking care of
things I couldn't notice about my appearance.
"Better. Let's get going. You need to look good for the customers, you
see."
And with that, we returned to the store.
* * *
The old man looked at me. He didn't have much hair left on his head,
making it difficult for me to see where his face was turned at exactly.
"Looks like Maya's apron fits you well."
I guess Maya must have been the name of his granddaughter.
"Fine, I'll leave you here Ayako." said Miyuki. "I'll come back to pick
you up in one hour."
I nodded.
"Well, later then, Miyuki-nee."
I watched her leave the bookstore, and looked over at Takagi-san again.
"I'm depending on you now, I hope you will treat me well, Takagi-san."
I bowed respectfully to my first boss with this polite formula. I always
wanted to say that!
"Likewise. Are you ready? I'll show you your first task."
He took out a piece of paper with what looked like a map of the place,
and motionned for me to come closer to the computer.
"Do you see the screen and the map?" he asked me, sounding quite
concerned.
"Not really, may I take the map closer?"
"Sure." he replied gently. "How close do you need to be to see well and
read?"
"A-About five centimeters."
"Alright." he nodded, and allowed me time to get used to the map. There
were about a dozen of shelves labelled from 'ka' to 'tsu'.
"You see, each shelf has a name and each floor of a shelf has a number,
from one to five. You're probably not tall enough to get to the fifth
one, so feel free to use the stepladder. The names for the shelves are
just names, even though for example, 'ka' and 'ki' are for the romance
novels genre."
I listened to his explanations very closely. I then approached my face
towards the computer screen as he showed me how to search for a book, in
case a customer needs one in particular.
After all was said and done, he gave me my first task.
"We got a new shipment today. We get new shipments every tuesdays. Your
task is to put them in the right shelves." he then gave me a little pat
on the back.
I took the list in my hand and examined it closely. There was about ten
books here in front of me. I did take a look at the covers for each.
"How am I supposed to know which genre is everything?" I asked.
"Well, it should be written on the list you got with the shipment."
I looked again, and indeed, there was a column indicating in which
category the book belonged to. I didn't notice it at first glance.
I started placing the books accordingly, guessing I was watched
closely. It was my first job after all. I had to go back to the counter
to check the map and the computer to see where I should exactly place
each book so I wouldn't make a mistake.
"Suzumiya-kun told me about your eyesight problem, so don't worry too
much about it, okay? I'm getting old and I happen to not see everything
well all the time."
"O-Okay." I replied with a blush. It was the first time I had been
treated so kindly by someone who didn't know me. It helped me feel a lot
more comfortable around the place. I was relaxing a little.
I finished after about ten minutes. It wasn't that hard, even though I
guess it could get tiring on the long run.
"Are you done?" he asked.
"Yes, I think so." I replied softly. He didn't seem to want to check if
I did it right or not. Was he trusting me so easily?
"Good. When you have nothing to do you can take a book if you'd like
and read it behind the counter." he said kindly. "Of course, when a
customer comes in, you have to welcome him and help him out."
I nodded. it sounded pretty fair to me. Paid to read books? That was in
my line.
However, I wasn't sure of what to read here, there were just so many
books. Maybe I should think about bringing a book from home next time.
"Thank you sir." I bowed, and went with him behind the counter.
I was expecting to see a customer sooner or later, but nothing
happened, and after about ten minutes of waiting like this, the silence
was a little too much for me and I was getting bored. Apparently,
Takagi-san was reading a book himself.
I wondered how I could start a conversation, maybe. He wasn't really of
my age, so topics were going to be quite difficult to find. But a
question quickly came to my curious mind.
"Takagi-san, can I ask you one question?"
"Sure. But that makes already one, another maybe?"
It did take me a few seconds to catch the joke. That made me laugh.
"Haha... Ne, how do you know Miyuki-nee?"
Well, this was probably a dumb question. after all, Miyuki was in
charge of relations with bookstores and her company, so it was to be
expected she'd know of some owners, at least. Takagi-san slowly let his
book down and looked at me.
"Your sister worked here when she was about your age, right after my
granddaughter left to live in Osaka. She wanted a part-time job too."
"Oh?"
I never heard of that before. To be frank I was never really interested
in Miyuki's life before.
"She had the energy and will to earn money, and I liked that. I was in
need of an extra pair of hands to help me with all the books we have
here. This place isn't often visited by customers, so it's pretty easy
going, but it can be lonely sometimes too."
So I was some sort of company too? Weird. Then again, old people can
sure be lonely at times. I could understand that.
"I see. So Miyuki-nee started here before getting employed for good at
the Shueisha somehow."
"Yes, I'm a customer of hers now." he chuckled.
I was a little surprised, I discovered a little of Miyuki's past. I was
already imagining her running around and welcoming customers here. And I
was wearing the apron she wore too...
I eventually went back to the backroom to fetch my laptop from my
schoolbag and read again some of the notes I took in classes today. This
job was a real chance, I was paid and I could study and read books!
"I guess I'm going to like it there." I admitted to Takagi-san. He was
quite kind with me, and the place was calm and comfy.
"I'm glad, Suzumiya-kun." he replied. "You know how to use computers too?"
I guessed that topic would come sooner or later as I opened the lid of
my laptop.
"Well, a bit yes. I'm not an expert though." I said. It might have
sounded modest, but it was the truth.
It was my turn to explain something to him, and how I was doing at
school with this. He sounded pretty interested and asked a lot of
questions about my handicap. Strangely, I replied quite calmly and
kindly to his questions, as if I was proud of being able to go to school
almost normally. When people my age asked me those questions, I tend to
stay on the defensive because I felt like their curiosity wasn't
genuine. But this was much different here, somehow.
An hour passed before I even realized it, and Miyuki arrived with her
boyfriend to pick me up. I had seen Seiji before, of course. He came for
dinner a few times at home. Seiji was quite good-looking, with dark
short hair and glasses. Very serious, but at the same time, you could
feel he was the partying type. Quite a nice match with Miyuki if you
asked me.
I went to the backroom to fetch my uniform and place it into the bag
Miyuki brought my clothes in earlier. I took off the apron and left it
there inside the locker for next time. It was mine now, after all.
"Good bye, Takagi-san, see you tomorrow." I said with a polite bow.
"Wait a second young lady, you're forgetting something."
"Heh?"
I turned back to him again, surprised. I looked up, and he handed me a
small envelope.
"Your salary."
"A...Ah! But it's not the end of the month yet!"
I blushed a bit and took it in my hands.
"Thank you!"
"If one day you can't come for whatever reason, you can give me a call
here. The number is on a piece of paper in the envelope too. I'm just
giving you this time to motivate you to come back. Obviously I will only
pay you every last day of the month or so." he explained.
"Alright! I'll remember that! Thank you for your kind words! I look
forward to be in your care again."
My excitement was very palpable I guess. Money, my money. It might not
seem much for some teenagers, but for me it had a special meaning. It
was something I'd earned by myself and despite having a handicap.
I then left the store with Miyuki and Seiji, both dressed back in
casual clothes.
"So, how was it Ayako?" Miyuki asked as we walked towards the subway
station together.
"It was okay I guess, and I was able to study a bit too. And Takagi-san
is pretty nice."
"I told you!" No you didn't, onee-san.
"I'll leave you two here." Seiji said as we arrived at the subway
station, surprising me a little.
"Alright. See you tomorrow?" Miyuki said, coming to him for a quick
kiss on the lips. I looked away, a little embarrassed, before feeling a
strong hand on my head, ruffling my hair a bit "See you later, Ayako-chan."
It was Seiji, but before I could look back, he was walking away already.
"Alright Ayako, let's go home."
"Yeah..."
The day had been a little busy for me, and I was a little tired. I
guess a relaxing hot bath would be best once I would be home.
This job was a chance to me. I could study a little when there were no
customers and no work to do, and I really needed that. I mean, the exams
were in a few weeks, I had to be prepared. The only downside was that I
couldn't spend as much time as I wanted with Karen and Shizuka anymore.
At that time, I didn't think anymore of Miho and her friends, but I was
soon to discover that I wasn't finished with her just yet. This was only
the beginning of a very tumultuous relationship.
* * *
To be continued.
Next time...!
Shizuka: "It's been a while since we had a study session between girls,
hasn't it?"
Karen: "So true! But that Miho Ura, I hope she won't cause too much
trouble for Ayako, she really doesn't need more of that."
Shizuka: "You make a very good guardian angel Karen-chan!"
Karen: "Oh, please."
Shizuka: "And Ayako's birthday is coming up!"
Karen: "You're telling our readers too much!"
Shizuka: "Next time in Blind Spot, chapter 42..."
Karen: "No! 5!"
Shizuka: "...'Ayako's Tears.'"
Karen: "Shizuka, you're taking too much room here!"
Author's notes:
This chapter comes at about the same time as chapter 3 for english
readers. French ones will have to wait a bit, for once. (Usually, the
french version is published first.)
Again, the website isn't ready yet, but I can show you what Miho looks
like, as she has been drawn by Alice and pictured by a friend of hers
Mystical:
http://blindspot.teri-chan.net/fr/images/miho.jpeg
As usual, don't hesitate to send me comments and other goodies via mail,
I always reply to my readers. :)
Axel Terizaki
by Axel Terizaki <axel at teri-chan dot net>
MSN: axelterizaki@hotmail.com - ICQ: 81441376
Chapter 4 : Here comes a new challenger!
* * *
Christmas was over before I even knew it. The MP3 player I wished for
never came, probably thanks to Miyuki's brilliant comments on how I
wouldn't be able to hear stuff coming at me if I were to listen to music
while walking down the streets. Who gave me such a stupid sister?!
Sometimes I wondered if I really was from this family to begin with.
As for new year's, well, it was pretty eventless. Aoi was spending her
holidays with us, making time flowing faster than usual.
"Hey, Aya-chan, come over here! To your right!"
Aoi waved at me as she spoke. Both of us were wandering around at the
new years' festival in Nakanobu. Our district always held a festival
like this every year so people could have fun and celebrate the new year
without worrying for once about all their little problems and those of
the world around them. It was a time of peace, of rest.
I must admit, I only followed from a distance as the world's events
unfolded. Wars, the demise of the famous. Wars, the demise of the
famous, natural cataclysms were all so far away for me. I had this
carefree manner which made me insensitive to the rest of the world's
misfortunes, and I couldn't even feel reall guilty about it. I
preferred leaving those matters to more competent people who actually
believed they could make a difference, because I knew I couldn't.
I walked towards Aoi, who was clad in a distinctively dark blue kimono.
Dark blue, to be more precise. It was one of the rare moments of the
year when I actually wore traditional clothing, just to be like everyone
else I guess. Aoi was thinking a bit like I did, actually. Kimonos are
quite hard to put on after all. Mine was red however, a color I enjoyed
a lot because it was easy for me to recognize. Aoi was in front of what
looked like a merchant booth.
"Do the ladies here want some of those plushies?"
"Aya-chan, they have some cute bear ones. Do you want one? I'm going to
buy one I think!"
Aoi was all excited. Her room was filled with teddy bears and plushies.
She was collecting them, she once said to me. Well, to me they just took
too much space in her room, but it gave her room a nice, peaceful and
childish atmosphere. Aoi wasn't exactly childish though. She had purple
hair going down to her shoulders, with two bangs on each side of her
face, and was about as tall as I was. She was wearing glasses, small and
round, which gave her a cute and serious look. We had about the same
age, Aoi being four months older than me.
"No thanks, I don't need one." I waved her off in polite refusal.
"Oh, too bad."
"You know I'm not much into plushies." I shrugged my shoulders.
I brushed a hand in my hair while waiting for her to buy her plushie. I
started idly playing with the yellow ribbon that was holding my hair up.
I wasn't used to wear hair accessories, I guess it just wasn't my thing,
but Miyuki and mother insisted that I look all cute today. Oh well.
"Let's go see how oni-chan and Miyuki-nee are doing."
"Sure." I replied with a smile. Aoi took my hand to securely lead me
on, while holding a bag with her plushie inside in another hand.
And off we went through the alleys, chatting and searching for my
sister and Aoi's brother, Kenji. The two were always together during
family meetings. I guess they shared some kind of intimacy only cousins
can share together. I almost wish I had such a relationship with Miyuki,
but it just didn't go well between us. It probably was our age difference.
Aoi's topics of discussion with me were often about TV shows we both
watched. She didn't like to read much, but enjoyed music, and liked
hearing me singing. Actually, it may be her sole fault if I got into
this to begin with.
We soon caught our two siblings at a corner, holding what looked like
rifles. They probably were at one of those shooting booths.
"Miyuki-nee! Ken-chan!" Aoi waved at them as we approached.
"Oh it's you two. Having fun?" Kenji asked. He had spiky dark hair, and
was pretty handsome. He was about the same age as Miyuki, which helped
them grow up together more as time passed I guess. They were quite
close, and liked competition. When I thought about it, a shooting booth
was a perfect place to find them at.
They were wearing kimonos too. Miyuki had a very expansive one on with
butterfly patterns covering it. She got that from her boyfriend, for her
last birthday. Kenji's was simpler, like Aoi's and mine.
"We were going to try to win the music box. It's the big prize, you
know. If I win, I'll give it to you Aoi-chan!" Miyuki grinned.
What about me!? I'm supposed to be your little sister!
Kenji apparently saw my anger coming.
"If I do win, I'll give it to Ayako-chan."
"Heh, you're spoiling her." Miyuki tried to argue.
I decided to protest.
"I'm not being spoiled. It's just fair that if you want to give it to
Aoi-chan, Kenji'll give it to me!"
"Oh fine, fine..."
The two placed their rifles at shoulder level. . I could see things
moving beyond the ends of their rifles. Their targets, I hoped. Some
were moving from left to right, others were following a half-circle
pattern, or others were going up and down. The winner would be whoever
hit the most targets in the allotted time.
The booth owner announced the start, and both my cousin and sister
started firing shots, emptying their rifles in something like ten seconds.
"540 points for the lady, and 610 for the young lad there,
congratulations!"
I grinned from ear to ear, as Kenji gave me the music box. Actually, I
didn't really want it, and I didn't want to take it away from Aoi-chan,
but knowing Miyuki lost was enough to make my day.
"It's starting to get late, let's go see the fireworks!" Kenji
suggested, and the four of us started walking away from the various
booths to find a nice place to watch the yearly fireworks of Nakanobu.
I liked fireworks. They were pretty, and the dark background of the sky
allowed me to see them clearly. Ah, I wished I had a boyfriend to watch
them with, and then we'd kiss under their light and...
"Aya-chan? You're all red."
It was Aoi's voice.
"Haha, it's nothing, I'm just feeling a bit hot..."
"In winter? Are you alright?"
I laughed nervously. That was the wrong excuse.
* * *
The new year celebrations were over before I knew it... I know, I said
that for Christmas as well, but that's just the way it felt. When
everything is alright with your world, time tends to fly away. Time is
such a capricious thing, not there when you need it the most, and
cruelly reminding you how slow it is when you need it to go faster.
School was soon resuming its place in my daily routines, and with that,
the dreadful impending arrival of end-of-year exams.
Sadly, that wasn't the only disaster waiting for me.
* * *
I opened my shoe locker in order to take my school sneakers, only to
find a letter on top of them.
A love letter!
It had to be something like this!
Ah, finally, after all those years, I received a love letter upon
entering high school. Believe it or not, but I never got any before. I'd
taken a peek at some of the letters guys sent to Karen and Shizuka
before, but to receive one for myself...!
I looked a bit left and right, everyone had already left for their
classes. In my excitation, I quickly opened it and read it. The
handwriting was very nice; probably belonging to a highly sensitive and
kind guy I guessed. Lucky me!
'Come to the roof after lunch, I'll be waiting.'
And that's all that was written on it, leaving me quite unsatisfied,
expecting more.
I hoped Karen didn't see this, I couldn't imagine the complications if
she...
"Ayako! I've been looking for you! The bell's about to ring!"
...saw that.
I quickly folded the paper and put it back in my locker before closing
it. I had more than enough time to read it's entirety anyways.
"Let's go!" she said and grabbed my hand, leading me through the
hallways towards our classroom.
Phew.
Karen was always worried that I got lost, and even more since that time
where I took the wrong train. It's true I often felt embarrassed and
uneasy whenever I got lost, but I always thought she was doing too much.
I mean, school. It's not like I'm not here everyday.
* * *
My mind was preoccupied all morning long thinking about that letter
instead of concentrating on Kasuga-sensei, our english teacher. A love
letter... I still couldn't believe it! What was he like? It couldn't be
Ogata-kun for starters. He would have signed it or something. Come to
think of it, it didn't show any name, so I guessed the boy must have
been a little shy. Teehee, I was intimidating someone now, that was
certainly a heady thought.
Sadly again, our teacher tried to to bring me down by reminding me of
something of the utmost gravity.
"...and I will remind you that I'm expecting good grades from all of
you for the upcoming exams next month."
Oh right, it's already that time of the year.
The first two exams of my highschool years were just above average. I
wasn't exactly brilliant at studies, to be honest. I was always doing
what I was told, and nothing more. Teachers often told me that I wasn't
developping enough what I was writing in my exam papers. They wanted me
to expand, develop, tell more about what I learnt in their classes. I
was never too talkative anyways, so I didn't see why it should show onto
paper as well.
As long as I passed, it was okay I guess. Besides, those average grades
were a pretty solid proof that I wasn't cheating with my computer, which
comforted me in keeping it that way. I didn't want to attract more
jealousy to me than I already had. I knew some students didn't like me
much in our school.
The bell rang, signaling lunch. It suddenly reminded me of my love letter.
"Shall we go, Ayako?" I heard Karen's voice next to me, and looked up
with a smile.
"Sure."
Trying to act natural, I headed with her towards the school cafetaria.
Believe me, excitement was difficult to contain.
* * *
Right after lunch, the main problem was trying to find an excuse to get
Karen off my trail for a while.
"I'm going to take a walk around school for a bit, okay?" I told her,
trying to sound as natural as possible.
"In winter? Put your coat on, you could catch a cold, you know."
Thank you moth-- I mean, Karen-chan.
She was finishing her lunch as I said this. I brought my tray back to
the entrance so it could be washed and then headed back to the shoe
lockers and our classroom to take the letter and my coat with myself. I
wasn't sure if I was going to return the feelings or not. I mean, it was
all new for me. I wasn't even sure of who it could be. I so hoped he
would be cute, or handsome, or preferably both!
I slowly took the steps leading upstairs towards the roof of the
school. I couldn't afford arriving panting as if I just ran. That
wouldn't have been very ladylike! Besides, I didn't need to be there
first, it's always up to the man to wait for the woman to arrive at a date!
I put on my coat and my sunglasses, and opened the door to the roof.
The sun was up, and even if masked behind clouds, it was still a pain
for me to see well like this. Was I the first here?
"You're late."
A girl's voice. Coming from my left.
Wait, a girl!?
I looked at my left, and I saw a silhouette, wearing our school
uniform, back against the fence of the roof.
I approached her a little, but couldn't distinguish much of her
features outside, from this distance.
"W-Weh?"
I tried to overcome my shock first. It was a girl! I was waiting for a
boy here! Where did it go wrong? Could it be possible that someone else
had told this girl to come to the roof in another letter? No, that
wasn't possible. If that had been the case, she wouldn't have told me I
was late.
"I was waiting for you, Suzumiya."
"Waiting for me...?"
I tried to compute what was going on here. A girl left me a love letter
in my shoe locker earlier this morning and was there waiting for me on
the roof.
Wait a second...
"I-I'm sorry, I'm not into girls, you see." I mumbled out with a blush.
It was kind of embarrassing to say that, but I didn't want to give false
hopes to the poor girl.
"W-What!?" she exclaimed loudly. Oh my, did I make her mad? Did I hurt
her feelings? Aaah, how stupid can I be!?
"I'm so sorry! I'm really into guys!" I apologized again.
That's when she facefaulted.
"Are you brain-damaged or something?" she asked back. As I approached,
the first thing I noticed was that girl's hair. It was of a beautiful
blonde color. Wether it was natural or not was yet to be proven. Chances
were high that it was a nice blonde dye though. Her hair was a bit wavy,
and going down to her back from what I could see. She also wore tiny
dark blue ribbons in her hair too.
"Excuse me, but I just received your letter, I can't accept your
feelings, sorry." and I handed her back the letter with both hands.
And then, she laughed at me.
That's when I knew something was definitely wrong.
"Suzumiya, you're so funny! How in hell could you think that this was a
love letter? You're truly hopeless!"
"Heh?"
"I sent you this because I wanted to tell you in private that I'm fed
up with you. I won't let you win this, you hear? You are my enemy now,
prepare yourself."
"My... enemy? Wait a minute, I'm not-"
She didn't let me finish my sentence.
"Absolutely. And I'm not the only one fed up with how all the teachers
are head over heels for your well being, especially since you're playing
games in class or even sleeping behind your computer screen!"
It felt like an arrow just pierced my chest. A thousand times.
"This is-"
"True. All of that is true, and you know it's true, so please don't try
to deny it, you're just making it worse."
Mou! She didn't have to say it like that! And I have always been extra
careful about not being caught! Something started to just feel heavy in
my chest. At first, I wasn't too sure of how to react, and just looked
down at her chest. her skirt, then away a little when I reached her feet.
"That said, I won't let you have your way, Suzumiya Ayako. Your quiet
days are over."
She passed by me. I didn't even turn back.
* * *
It took me a while to register she had actually left, and I quickly
hurried back to the classroom to find out I was right on time for the
ringing of the school's bell announcing the beginning of the afternoon
classes.
I sat next to Karen, as usual.
"You took your time." she remarked. She sounded a bit bored, and was
resting her chin in her palm, her elbows on her desk.
"Uh, yeah, well, I guess." I tried to find an excuse, but couldn't.
Experience proved to me that when you have nothing to say, don't say
anything.
Our teacher entered and Ryukawa-san, our class representative, said the
usual "Stand. Bow. Sit." ritual. Our japanese teacher was nicknamed
Baba-sensei. She wasn't what I'd call young. Let's be honest,
Kasuga-sensei had much more fans among the male population of the school
than her.
I didn't like her much either, she was quite old-fashioned and strict.
Like that time where I had to prove her I didn't have any spellchecker
or dictionnary on my computer... Just thinking about it makes me shiver
in embarrassment. That was quite a scene
The class was getting as boring as usual, allowing me to think for a
while about what happened just now. This girl just declared war on me,
or something like that, and I realized I didn't even know her name and
which class she was in. Wait, if she knew I was sometimes escaping
boredom by sleeping behind my screen or playing games, then the only
place she could've been was in this class, right behind me!
I looked back a little, trying to be as discreet as possible, but I
couldn't pinpoint her at all from what I could see, and there were a few
rows behind me and Karen. The more I thought of it, the more I found
myself in a bad position in the classroom, with so many people behind
me, able to look at what I did. It never occured to me before that I
would have to hide things from my classmates, or that I was being spied
on so obviously.
The girl could as well be in another class too, and she could have
heard of my habits in class from a friend... Who was the traitor among
our ranks? Then again, how could I find her? I had to tell her this all
was a mistake and I didn't mean any harm to her.
I looked at my left at Karen, who was busy taking notes of what the
teacher was saying. I observed her concentration for a little bit. I
knew I could count on her. My only option would be to ask her for help
to find this person. Even though the girl was blonde with ribbons in her
hair, and thus easily noticeable, I didn't have faith in my eyes, and it
would take me some time to find her. If she were in another class, it
would be even worse.
I hated that so much. Whenever I wanted to talk to someone I didn't
know well I had to ask Karen to lead me to him or her, and I couldn't
always bother her with that. Plus sometimes I didn't want her to know...
I stopped counting the number of boys I didn't ask for a date just
because it'd be overly embarrassing to have Karen around. No hard
feelings Karen-chan, but these things are usually handled in private.
But this time, I had to ask Karen. I had no other choice, and I had to
be quick about it. During recess time...
* * *
"A blonde girl, you say? With ribbons? It's all you know about her?"
she asked me as I told her about what happened at lunch time. Well, not
exactly all that happened, actually. She just had to know how the girl
looked like.
"Yes."
"Why do you need to see her?"
Ah, the dreadful question.
"Well, hmmm, she dropped something and I wanted to give it back to her,
you see?"
She nodded.
"Well, sure I could help, but with so little information it's going to
be difficult. Blonde girls aren't very common here, that's true, but do
I have to remind you that our school is quite big? Finding her among all
the students will be troublesome. Were you able to see her uniform's
ribbon color?" she asked me.
"Yes, it was light blue just like ours."
"Are you absolutely positive of that?"
It was my turn to nod. Karen knew I had trouble with colors. She wanted
to make sure I saw the color right.
At our school, the ribbon on the girls' uniforms indicated in which
year they were. I got a light blue ribbon when I arrived here. Purple
was for second years and green was for third years. It was easier to
identify a student this way. Unfortunately for me, boys only had a small
insigna at the collar of their uniforms, which was difficult to check
out at first glance for my poor eyesight.
"Still, this is going to be difficult. But I can go check out the other
first year classes tomorrow if you'd like?"
I knew I could count on you Karen-chan. I'd have given you a hug if we
hadn't been in class. You've always been so understanding of my problems!
* * *
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I watched Karen run around
the sports field of our school with her clubmates. At first, I thought
about sneaking out while she was busy and try to search for this
mysterious blonde girl, but then I thought about the details: how would
I find her with my eyes? Where could she be? Did she have club
activities? Or had she left already? Or was she some kind of ghost? Nah,
no way, ghosts don't show up during daytime.
I kept watching Karen from afar with my monocular. I was pretty much
left alone during her practice. She looked real good like that, and from
what I could hear, she was quite skilled, ran fast, and had lots of
endurance. It made me feel warm inside, simply because it was my friend
they were praising, and I could be proud of her.
I couldn't keep that blonde girl away from my mind, even when I waited
for Karen to shower and change after her club activities, even when we
walked back home. I even told Shizuka what I told Karen: the strict
minimum, plus a little extra. Sorry Karen-chan! To my surprise, Shizuka
didn't get too nosy about it.
"You know, that's pretty normal schoolgirl behavior. Even I have
enemies at school."
"You too?" I asked, a little surprised.
We were walking home together as usual, Karen having left us a few
minutes ago to head home herself.
"Of course! School can be like a battlefield for some girls. Like they
think they have something to prove or gain from this. Boys sometimes
fight and resort to just being mindless brutes, but girls aren't that
different. In other schools you sometimes find groups that are inclined
towards violence and would do anything for let's say, a cell phone or
some smokes. Sometimes it's just because you're different. Cuter, or
liked by teachers or things like that."
I listened to her words with interest. What she said was true: I heard
a lot of stories of high school violence and bullies lately.
"But it's not like she was that hateful... I mean, she didn't try to
hit me or anything. Besides, our school is rather safe compared to
others, don't you think?" I argued.
"Beware of still waters."
"Heh?"
She lifted her finger, as if to make her point.
"What I mean is, this girl could still make your life a hell. I don't
know what kind of grudge she has against you, but... Oh well, I trust
Karen to make her pay if anything happens to you."
I blinked. I suddenly pictured Karen fighting with other girls to
protect me. It was definitely weird.
"Ano, Karen isn't exactly like that."
"I know, I know. But I also know she wouldn't let anyone harm you."
Shizuka said reassuringly. She didn't want me to worry about it,
obviously. I didn't realize until later that Shizuka truly trusted Karen
a lot.
We soon arrived at the usual crossroads where we parted ways. I waved
at her, and kept on walking back towards my house, idly waving my cane
left and right. The day hadn't been too good, and it wasn't over yet.
* * *
I thought I'd choke on my glass of water.
"A PART-TIME JOB!? ME!?"
I looked back and forth between my mother and father. We were at the
kitchen table for dinner. So this was my last ordeal for my busy day.
"Well, we think you should start to know how it feels to actually work.
You know, it's not uncommon for highschoolers to work part-time. Plus,
you need a real income of money to buy everything you want." my father
explained to me.
"But... I can't... I mean..."
"Ayako-chan, you need to learn the value of money. You mentionned to us
before that you were sorry for the monocular we had to buy for you."
I was trying to fight for words. If that wasn't a surprise attack, I
don't know what it was! I knew they were both right, but talking about
this during dinner... Oh and Miyuki being so silent wasn't exactly good
news either. I mean, I wanted a part-time job, really. But so soon, I
wasn't prepared... I wanted to earn money, to become less dependant on
my family. That's pretty normal for a student, isn't it? But then again,
deep down, I didn't want it to happen. I was scared.
Yes, scared.
I was scared of what I was able to achieve with my handicap. Most of
the girls in class were doing physical jobs...
"Your grades aren't exactly great, and it wouldn't be very wise to let
you get a part-time job, so we're putting our trust in you Ayako-chan.
You won't disappoint us, right?" my father asked me, leaving me a bit
speechless.
There was a long pause. It might have lasted a few seconds or a minute,
I wasn't exactly counting.
"But what do you want her to do? What can she do?"
Miyuki eventually spoke up. However, I wasn't too sure if it was to
help me or to push me down further with a shovel. Did she mean I
couldn't do anything and was useless? I never really thought about what
I could do in the future, and my eyesight certainly did close many doors
to me. She was going to bring up what I feared the most.
I didn't want to hear this!
The question was asked to my parents, and I looked at them now, trying
to read an expression on them, but it was pretty difficult. And Miyuki's
reaction was confusing me quite.
"That's what we wanted to discuss with her." my father replied. My
mother continued on that.
"There are clearly some jobs you can't do, Ayako-chan. You still
haven't tought of what you'd like to do in the future, and it worries us
a bit, considering that you have a handicap. Do you understand?"
I nodded a bit in reflex, and blinked.
"I don't know what I could do, I mean... Karen-chan isn't working for
example."
Bad example, Ayako, bad example!
"The Sakazaki family is pretty wealthy, Ayako-chan, it's no surprise
they can afford anything their only daughter wishes. Not that I'm
accusing Karen-chan of being a spoiled little girl though." my mother
giggled, trying to brighten the mood.
"She did try to find a job, but there was nothing she really enjoyed
doing, and since she could afford it, she preferred doing club
activities instead." I replied, trying to take Karen's defense.
"But you're not doing any club activities yourself." father remarked,
sinking me lower than earth level with the shovel from earlier. I KNEW I
was not doing anything except studying and reading and singing
karaoke... The more they brought this up, the more it was depressing for me.
"Clearly, Ayako can't do any waitress-like work." Miyuki noted. I
started to picture myself in one of those cute waitress outfits, but
then shrugged it off. Even though I still wondered on which side of the
conflict Miyuki was, I had to admit she was right here. I could trip on
stuff while holding the trays, or bring dishes to the wrong table. I had
already thought about that. Ah, I wish I could wear one of those
uniforms once.
People tend to think it's ridiculous, or that such dreams are worthless.
But for me, it meant a lot. A whole lot. Isn't it normal to dream about
the things you can't normally do?
"Delivery jobs are out of the question since she wouldn't know her way
around. I absolutely don't see her running around the city on a bike
while carrying ramen for example." she continued. We all sat in silence
as Miyuki started to enumerate all the things I couldn't do. It wasn't
very gratifying, to say the least. Did she care how low it made me
feel!? I didn't want to hear this, onee-san!
"What would you like to do, Ayako?" my mother finally asked, cutting
Miyuki short when she started to talk about public work. Again, I was
taken by surprise.
"Me? Well..."
I started to think, hard. Couldn't they give me a day or two to think
about it? I still had no idea of what I'd like to do in the future!
"I could... sing?"
I liked singing, doing karaoke, but becoming a real singer, even an
idol would do.
"Seriously, Ayako." my mother said.
I was serious here! Was she thinking I couldn't do it?
Wait, she was right, it was impossible for me. Completely impossible on
so many levels.
"Oh wait, I might have an idea..." Miyuki said with a little smile.
"An idea?" Why was I beginning to fear?
She stood from her seat and picked up her cell phone from her pants'
pocket. I was a bit worried.
"I'll be right back." she said, and left the room for some privacy. Who
could she be possibly calling? Her boyfriend? My thoughts were
interrupted by my mother speaking again.
"Anyways, it's not that we want you to exhaust yourself with classes
and a job, but we feel that you need to earn money and discover how an
active life is. That's what you wanted, right?"
"Yes but... I mean, it's sudden. And I'm scared. I'm scared I won't be
able to do anything." I said, looking down at my hands on my lap. There,
I said it.
It kind of left my parents speechless as well. Were they expecting
this? I didn't know.
I decided to switch subjects a little.
"Does this mean you'll cut off my allowance?"
Sorry, I had to ask this. My parents looked at each other a bit, maybe
they didn't think of that, or maybe they did think of it and were
searching for words to diplomatically announce it to me. Or maybe they
really didn't think about it and I just gave them a very bad idea.
"Well, until you find something, of course not, we're not tyrants."
I raised an eyebrow jokingly.
"Oh really?"
"You can stop giving her money now then, mother."
It was Miyuki's voice. I turned towards her. and heard her hum in
triumph over something. Looks like her call was pretty quick. But the
way she announced that, it just made me all the more worried.
"You like books, right?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, I mean, I like to read and write stuff..." I said, not very
enthusiastic. I still didn't know what she had in mind. It was true that
I liked to read books and manga. I also enjoyed writing e-mails to Karen
when she was overseas.
"Perfect. Perfect. Just perfect."
Oh my. The suspense was killing me. I guessed my parents were equally
curious.
"You'll see tomorrow. Right after classes, I'll come pick you up at
school." Miyuki announced.
"You? Picking me at school? But your work?"
"I'll find a way, don't worry."
I started to think about the prospect of earning money for myself.
"At least, I'll be able to buy my own cell phones every two or three
months, just like Miyuki." I said with a little smirk.
Miyuki was always changing her cell phone every once in a while for the
latest models, whenever some new feature or shiny gimmick caught her
eye. She's been doing that ever since she started working in highschool.
I was so envious of her back then!
"Are you implying that I'm frivolous? It's my money, I'm free to use it
as I see fit."
"Me? I'm not saying anything at all." I said innocently.
"Humph. Well, it's now time for a good bath."
I twitched, seeing her leave "Hey! I said I wanted one first earlier!"
I fumed a little, and then felt someone's hand on my shoulder. As I
turned around, I realized it was my father's.
"I trust Miyuki. I'm sure she has a good idea for her little sister.
She must have found something that you will be able to do by yourself."
I raised an eyebrow at that.
"I'm not TOO sure. I do remember a few years back that she changed
part-time jobs quite often."
"Well, it gave her lots of experience, at least."
...Right.
* * *
I exited the bathroom after my bath was over and quietly walked to my
room in those cute cat-shaped sneakers Shizuka and Karen bought me on my
last birthday. Even though it was still winter outside, the temperature
was quite nice. Upon entering my room, I decided to turn on some soft
music and dried my hair a little before putting on some clothes for the
night.
"Now what to read..."
I took a look at the books on my desk. Reading would surely help me
forget about such a complicated day.
First there was this girl who sent me a letter. How embarrassing, why
did I think it was a love letter? There wasn't even a little
heart-shaped seal on it to begin with. I guess I just let excitement get
to me.
This troubled me a little as it was the first time something like this
happened to me in my entire school life.
And let's not forget about the upcoming exams. High school was much
tougher than middle school, that's for certain, and it's not like I
could afford getting lazy over those exams, or I could risk not
advancing through classes. Karen surely wouldn't wait one year for me to
catch on.
Eventually, there was this whole stupid idea my parents suddenly got
about me getting a part-time job... Well, it wasn't such a stupid idea,
but I wasn't prepared for it.
"...atashi sakuranbo...!" I hummed to myself, half-listening to the
song playing in my room.
I admit it wasn't such a bad idea that I learn how to work, but I
wasn't even sure of what I'd like to do in the future, and what would be
my abilities. Come to think of it, I could become a singer, but there
would be a lot of problems since I didn't see well. On the other hand, I
sometimes saw blind people turn out to be exceptionnal musicians or
singers in the past, so why not me?
I knew, thanks to magazines, how tough this kind of business could be.
It was probably impossible to become popular since all those idols were
almost flawless. Some of them had been scouted at very young. It was
almost scary! And let's not talk about all the downsides of it.
Stalkers, obsessed fans, crazy journalists, and the like...
Heh, a horde of fans at my feet, worshipping me, wasn't such a bad
idea, when I thought about it.
Oh well, let's pick something to read before going to sleep. I looked
through the pile of books, and eventually picked Zero's Familiar. I was
a bit surprised about that one at first. It started as a funny story,
but it definitely contained some naughty bits absolutely not recommended
for teenagers below sixteen.
But who cares, I was actually going to be seventeen soon, and I was a
very healthy girl too, teehee.
* * *
The next day, Karen tried to search for that blonde girl during lunch
break and our various recess times between classes. I was a little
nervous about what Karen would think of her. if that girl was really
going to make my school life a hell, how would Karen react? It was quite
embarrassing the more I thought about it.
Eventually though, after our first period of the afternoon...
"I found someone I think, in class 1-A." she announced, coming back to
me, holding a piece of paper and a pencil in her hands. She probably
made a drawing of the girl with my description and asked around.
I stood up and followed her accross the hallway. Various students were
chatting here and there, and no one really paid attention to us.
We soon arrived at the 1-A classroom. Karen motionned a girl talking in
a corner to me. She was chatting excitedly with other girls, probably
from her class. I couldn't see her well from there, but her voice
sounded familiar. I was almost sure, and yet, there was always this
doubt, even if Karen was there with me.
Then, I saw her approach us. She must have noticed our presence.
"So, Suzumiya, asking for help from Sakazaki for stalking me?"
I could almost hear Karen blinking. But I decided to talk first.
"Of course not, I was just passing by and saw you, and..."
"...and you thought about coming and say hello? How nice." she grinned,
interrupting me. "You hear that girls?" she asked to her classmates, who
all giggled rather unpleasantly. There were three of them. One had long
dark blue hair tied in a single ponytail, one other had short red hair
and the last one had long black hair arranged in a tresse, and was
wearing rather big rectangular glasses. A bunch of sub-standard girls,
if you asked me.
"W-Well, yeah, that's right. Now we'll go back in class, right Karen?"
Why was I losing my cool in front of them? That girl was surrounded by
an aura of confidence, it forced admiration out of me.
"Karen?" I asked again, hearing no reply from her.
That's when I heard something snap in her hand. I took a step aside in
reflex and looked at her.
"K...Karen!?"
"You, misses, will regret it dearly if I ever catch you harming Ayako."
It was not her normal tone of voice. This one was low, threatening
even. I saw the girls shift a little, as if bracing themselves. The
girls accompanying the blonde one sounded a bit surprised, but she
stayed calm and composed, as a good leader should always be.
"Sakazaki, this is between Suzumiya and me." she then turned to me. "I
have no interest in fighting your little maid here."
My... maid?
I looked over at Karen and briefly imagined her in one of those frilly
maid outfits, before shaking the thought off my mind. This didn't amuse her.
"I'm her friend, and I..."
I decided to interrupt her before it got worse.
"Actually, we'd better go, the next period will start soon." and I
looked at Karen now "It's okay Karen, really."
"What's the matter here?" I heard a male voice behind me. I turned
around and blinked.
It was Ogata!
"Ogata-kun..."
"Heh, if it isn't Suzumiya, Sakazaki and Ura in the same class. I must
be getting lucky."
"Ura...?" I heard Karen say softly, a little surprised, probably as
much as I was by Ogata's appearance.
"Her name is Ura. Ura Miho. She's in my class." he revealed while
motionning to the blonde girl. I looked at Miho and her friends, who
were equally speechless.
Ura Miho, heh. Something was telling me it was quite a fitting name.
"Ogata-san, you shouldn't bother yourself with those..." Miho said, in
such a sweet voice it made my eyes roll.
Ogata-san? She called him Ogata-san? Karen humphed a bit and took my
hand gently.
"Let's go Ayako, or we'll be late!"
"A-Ah, sure."
I gave a last quick look towards Miho, who seemed all embarrassed. Was
that a blush on her cheeks? I couldn't see well as Karen dragged me
towards the exit, but a grin slowly began to spread on my face.
My sixth sense kicked in. I was now pretty sure she had a crush on
Ogata. Splendid.
* * *
I couldn't help but grin during the last period of the day. This Miho
girl had a crush on Ogata. She looked so full of herself when she talked
to me, and melted right away when he arrived. I didn't need a nobel
prize to guess what this meant.
I had to lend a pen to Karen too after she broke hers earlier. It was
funny to see her asking for a pencil from a girl who usually never
writes with one. Luckily for her i still had one, just in case.
I could tell she was pissed, but I couldn't exactly tell why. I guess
it was beacause it had something to do with Ogata, or was it because of
Ura?
What a weird name anyways, I'll just call her Miho, that's simpler.
I excused myself towards Karen by explaining to her that Miyuki was
waiting for me at the school gate and that I couldn't accompany her to
her daily club activities. She nodded in understanding and gave me her
usual reassuring smile.
* * *
"So, you're ready?"
Miyuki asked me as she came towards me when she saw me arriving at the
gate. She hadn't changed and was still in her classy office uniform.
Classy and classic, actually, with a sleeveless jacket, a blouse and
tie, and a matching skirt below.
"Yeah, but are you going to finally tell me where we're headed?" I
asked, unfolding my cane before her. She led the way, and I walked next
to her. Miyuki never did act like Karen and never held my hand or arm
when walking with me. Not that I wanted to, either.
"Might as well tell you, now that we're on our way." she said softly,
her heels clicking a little on the pavement. "A friend of mine owns a
small bookstore in the city. He's a bit old, and could definitely need a
hand."
A bookstore?
"I trust he'll pay you well, if you can do the work that is." I could
sense a hint of defiance in her voice.
"What... kind of work is it exactly?"
"I didn't get into the details with him yet, but I guess you'll have to
sort some books, help people find them, welcome customers and such."
I was a little worried about what I would be doing here and if I would
be able to do it. I didn't want this job in the first place, too...
"Oh and he said he'll pay you about 900 yen per hour."
...Okay, now we're talking!
* * *
After a lengthy train trip accompanied by one transfer, we arrived at
the Jinbocho station. I knew this place very well, since I often came
here to buy manga and novels.
Miyuki was working for the Shueisha, a big publisher company here. She
got a job at the bottom of the ladder a few years back, and was slowly
climbing the steps in the hierarchy. Miyuki never really liked talking
about her job. All I knew was that she was in charge of relationships
with bookstores. She also met her current boyfriend, Seiji, at work.
Things were going well between them from what I heard, and all they
needed was a promotion to take off and get their own apartment to live
comfortably.
We soon arrived in front of a rather old-looking building. It wasn't
very big, and you couldn't see much of what was inside from outdoors. I
looked up at the sign written in big letters above the shop.
"Tamashii Toshokan?"
"Yep, that's the bookstore."
Miyuki led the way and entered first, holding the heavy glass door for me.
The place smelled intensely of books. There were piles scattered here
and there, probably the unsorted kinds I'll have to sort. I folded my
cane and swiftly placed it in my schoolbag so not to accidentally bump
it into something. I didn't need to have my first impression be buried
under an avalanche of books.
"Heya, ojii-san!"
I saw an old man stand up from behind the counter. He was wearing a
white apron on top of his clothes.
"Oh, Suzumiya-kun..." he said in his low voice. I stood next to my
sister. The two seemed to know each other quite well.
"So you brought your sister here. Ayako-chan, is that it?" he asked me.
I nodded a bit shyly.
Miyuki then spoke again.
"She'll do fine, she's my little sister after all."
I blushed a bit, it was strange to be considered like that by
Miyuki-nee, if you think about all the teasing I get treated with at home.
"Ayako, this is Takagi-san. He's going to be your boss here." she
explained to me.
"What will I have to do exactly?" I dared ask.
The old man seemed to think for a bit before replying.
"Well, I have a few new books that I need to be sorted and placed on
the appropriate shelves."
I was already starting to fear a little. I looked over at the shelves
behind us. Some were pretty high for me. I guessed he surely had a
stepladder for the higher books, but still... Searching through the
books here would be a hell for me and my eyesight.
"You can search where the books are supposed to be located on the
computer, and input new ones. It's fairly easy. You'll have to direct
customers to the books they seek too."
I nodded, listening to his instructions. That sounded fairly easy, so far.
"Okay, I guess I can do that."
"But first, you need to change." Miyuki noted. I had forgotten for a
moment that I was still dressed in my school uniform. I only noticed now
that Miyuki was carrying a bag with her.
"Ah, that's right. You can use the backroom. There should be an apron
there belonging to my granddaughter." he said softly.
"I'll show her the way." Miyuki suggested, and led me by the shoulder
towards a backroom. How did she know her way around here?
* * *
The backroom of the bookstore was a little dark, and there was a lot of
books in there too. I didn't bother to look through them, and promptly
started to take off my uniform and place it inside one of the lockers
there. There were only two of them in here.
The place was apparently not heated well, and standing there in undies
wasn't making it any better. I decided to hurry and put the clothes
Miyuki brought with her.
"Next time you rummage through my clothes, you could ask me first." I
sighed a bit at the thought of Miyuki going through my stuff in my room.
She was my sister, but still...
"Oh, stop complaining, will you? I forgot." I heard from the outside.
Miyuki was waiting patiently for me in the hallway connecting the
backroom to the store, the door closed between us.
I started putting on the black skirt and orange blouse on. There was a
white apron like the one Takagi-san was wearing earlier in the locker.
"So, what do you think?"
"Well, I guess I can do that, it doesn't sound too difficult for me..."
I said, not very enthusiastic about the whole thing. I wanted to ask her
a few things about this job, but she spoke again.
"Are you ready yet?"
"Almost!"
I finished putting the apron on. I wasn't used to that.
I placed back my uniform and schoolbag into the locker, after having
taken my monocular with me. I placed it around my neck, and exited the
backroom, to find Miyuki in the hallway, as expected.
"How is it?" I asked her.
"Hmmm. Your collar."
She approached, and without a word, arranged the skirt then the collar
of the blouse a bit. It didn't look all right, apparently. I'm used at
my relatives and close friends like Shizuka and Karen taking care of
things I couldn't notice about my appearance.
"Better. Let's get going. You need to look good for the customers, you
see."
And with that, we returned to the store.
* * *
The old man looked at me. He didn't have much hair left on his head,
making it difficult for me to see where his face was turned at exactly.
"Looks like Maya's apron fits you well."
I guess Maya must have been the name of his granddaughter.
"Fine, I'll leave you here Ayako." said Miyuki. "I'll come back to pick
you up in one hour."
I nodded.
"Well, later then, Miyuki-nee."
I watched her leave the bookstore, and looked over at Takagi-san again.
"I'm depending on you now, I hope you will treat me well, Takagi-san."
I bowed respectfully to my first boss with this polite formula. I always
wanted to say that!
"Likewise. Are you ready? I'll show you your first task."
He took out a piece of paper with what looked like a map of the place,
and motionned for me to come closer to the computer.
"Do you see the screen and the map?" he asked me, sounding quite
concerned.
"Not really, may I take the map closer?"
"Sure." he replied gently. "How close do you need to be to see well and
read?"
"A-About five centimeters."
"Alright." he nodded, and allowed me time to get used to the map. There
were about a dozen of shelves labelled from 'ka' to 'tsu'.
"You see, each shelf has a name and each floor of a shelf has a number,
from one to five. You're probably not tall enough to get to the fifth
one, so feel free to use the stepladder. The names for the shelves are
just names, even though for example, 'ka' and 'ki' are for the romance
novels genre."
I listened to his explanations very closely. I then approached my face
towards the computer screen as he showed me how to search for a book, in
case a customer needs one in particular.
After all was said and done, he gave me my first task.
"We got a new shipment today. We get new shipments every tuesdays. Your
task is to put them in the right shelves." he then gave me a little pat
on the back.
I took the list in my hand and examined it closely. There was about ten
books here in front of me. I did take a look at the covers for each.
"How am I supposed to know which genre is everything?" I asked.
"Well, it should be written on the list you got with the shipment."
I looked again, and indeed, there was a column indicating in which
category the book belonged to. I didn't notice it at first glance.
I started placing the books accordingly, guessing I was watched
closely. It was my first job after all. I had to go back to the counter
to check the map and the computer to see where I should exactly place
each book so I wouldn't make a mistake.
"Suzumiya-kun told me about your eyesight problem, so don't worry too
much about it, okay? I'm getting old and I happen to not see everything
well all the time."
"O-Okay." I replied with a blush. It was the first time I had been
treated so kindly by someone who didn't know me. It helped me feel a lot
more comfortable around the place. I was relaxing a little.
I finished after about ten minutes. It wasn't that hard, even though I
guess it could get tiring on the long run.
"Are you done?" he asked.
"Yes, I think so." I replied softly. He didn't seem to want to check if
I did it right or not. Was he trusting me so easily?
"Good. When you have nothing to do you can take a book if you'd like
and read it behind the counter." he said kindly. "Of course, when a
customer comes in, you have to welcome him and help him out."
I nodded. it sounded pretty fair to me. Paid to read books? That was in
my line.
However, I wasn't sure of what to read here, there were just so many
books. Maybe I should think about bringing a book from home next time.
"Thank you sir." I bowed, and went with him behind the counter.
I was expecting to see a customer sooner or later, but nothing
happened, and after about ten minutes of waiting like this, the silence
was a little too much for me and I was getting bored. Apparently,
Takagi-san was reading a book himself.
I wondered how I could start a conversation, maybe. He wasn't really of
my age, so topics were going to be quite difficult to find. But a
question quickly came to my curious mind.
"Takagi-san, can I ask you one question?"
"Sure. But that makes already one, another maybe?"
It did take me a few seconds to catch the joke. That made me laugh.
"Haha... Ne, how do you know Miyuki-nee?"
Well, this was probably a dumb question. after all, Miyuki was in
charge of relations with bookstores and her company, so it was to be
expected she'd know of some owners, at least. Takagi-san slowly let his
book down and looked at me.
"Your sister worked here when she was about your age, right after my
granddaughter left to live in Osaka. She wanted a part-time job too."
"Oh?"
I never heard of that before. To be frank I was never really interested
in Miyuki's life before.
"She had the energy and will to earn money, and I liked that. I was in
need of an extra pair of hands to help me with all the books we have
here. This place isn't often visited by customers, so it's pretty easy
going, but it can be lonely sometimes too."
So I was some sort of company too? Weird. Then again, old people can
sure be lonely at times. I could understand that.
"I see. So Miyuki-nee started here before getting employed for good at
the Shueisha somehow."
"Yes, I'm a customer of hers now." he chuckled.
I was a little surprised, I discovered a little of Miyuki's past. I was
already imagining her running around and welcoming customers here. And I
was wearing the apron she wore too...
I eventually went back to the backroom to fetch my laptop from my
schoolbag and read again some of the notes I took in classes today. This
job was a real chance, I was paid and I could study and read books!
"I guess I'm going to like it there." I admitted to Takagi-san. He was
quite kind with me, and the place was calm and comfy.
"I'm glad, Suzumiya-kun." he replied. "You know how to use computers too?"
I guessed that topic would come sooner or later as I opened the lid of
my laptop.
"Well, a bit yes. I'm not an expert though." I said. It might have
sounded modest, but it was the truth.
It was my turn to explain something to him, and how I was doing at
school with this. He sounded pretty interested and asked a lot of
questions about my handicap. Strangely, I replied quite calmly and
kindly to his questions, as if I was proud of being able to go to school
almost normally. When people my age asked me those questions, I tend to
stay on the defensive because I felt like their curiosity wasn't
genuine. But this was much different here, somehow.
An hour passed before I even realized it, and Miyuki arrived with her
boyfriend to pick me up. I had seen Seiji before, of course. He came for
dinner a few times at home. Seiji was quite good-looking, with dark
short hair and glasses. Very serious, but at the same time, you could
feel he was the partying type. Quite a nice match with Miyuki if you
asked me.
I went to the backroom to fetch my uniform and place it into the bag
Miyuki brought my clothes in earlier. I took off the apron and left it
there inside the locker for next time. It was mine now, after all.
"Good bye, Takagi-san, see you tomorrow." I said with a polite bow.
"Wait a second young lady, you're forgetting something."
"Heh?"
I turned back to him again, surprised. I looked up, and he handed me a
small envelope.
"Your salary."
"A...Ah! But it's not the end of the month yet!"
I blushed a bit and took it in my hands.
"Thank you!"
"If one day you can't come for whatever reason, you can give me a call
here. The number is on a piece of paper in the envelope too. I'm just
giving you this time to motivate you to come back. Obviously I will only
pay you every last day of the month or so." he explained.
"Alright! I'll remember that! Thank you for your kind words! I look
forward to be in your care again."
My excitement was very palpable I guess. Money, my money. It might not
seem much for some teenagers, but for me it had a special meaning. It
was something I'd earned by myself and despite having a handicap.
I then left the store with Miyuki and Seiji, both dressed back in
casual clothes.
"So, how was it Ayako?" Miyuki asked as we walked towards the subway
station together.
"It was okay I guess, and I was able to study a bit too. And Takagi-san
is pretty nice."
"I told you!" No you didn't, onee-san.
"I'll leave you two here." Seiji said as we arrived at the subway
station, surprising me a little.
"Alright. See you tomorrow?" Miyuki said, coming to him for a quick
kiss on the lips. I looked away, a little embarrassed, before feeling a
strong hand on my head, ruffling my hair a bit "See you later, Ayako-chan."
It was Seiji, but before I could look back, he was walking away already.
"Alright Ayako, let's go home."
"Yeah..."
The day had been a little busy for me, and I was a little tired. I
guess a relaxing hot bath would be best once I would be home.
This job was a chance to me. I could study a little when there were no
customers and no work to do, and I really needed that. I mean, the exams
were in a few weeks, I had to be prepared. The only downside was that I
couldn't spend as much time as I wanted with Karen and Shizuka anymore.
At that time, I didn't think anymore of Miho and her friends, but I was
soon to discover that I wasn't finished with her just yet. This was only
the beginning of a very tumultuous relationship.
* * *
To be continued.
Next time...!
Shizuka: "It's been a while since we had a study session between girls,
hasn't it?"
Karen: "So true! But that Miho Ura, I hope she won't cause too much
trouble for Ayako, she really doesn't need more of that."
Shizuka: "You make a very good guardian angel Karen-chan!"
Karen: "Oh, please."
Shizuka: "And Ayako's birthday is coming up!"
Karen: "You're telling our readers too much!"
Shizuka: "Next time in Blind Spot, chapter 42..."
Karen: "No! 5!"
Shizuka: "...'Ayako's Tears.'"
Karen: "Shizuka, you're taking too much room here!"
Author's notes:
This chapter comes at about the same time as chapter 3 for english
readers. French ones will have to wait a bit, for once. (Usually, the
french version is published first.)
Again, the website isn't ready yet, but I can show you what Miho looks
like, as she has been drawn by Alice and pictured by a friend of hers
Mystical:
http://blindspot.teri-chan.net/fr/images/miho.jpeg
As usual, don't hesitate to send me comments and other goodies via mail,
I always reply to my readers. :)
Axel Terizaki