Shoujoai ni Bouken: Adventures of Yuriko
The Story So Far: Abe-sensei hasn't yet returned, and he's
quickly fading from the schools' collective memory since one of Yuriko's old friends has
arrived to take his place. Yuriko is still stiff after a tough basketball practice.
Volume 2, Issue 12
"Don't Trouble Trouble..."
Yuriko groaned as she walked up the stairs towards her homeroom.
Each lift of the leg caused stiff muscles to protest their misuse. She promised herself,
yet again, that she'd start stretching on the nights she didn't have practice, knowing
full well that she'd do nothing of the sort. "What I'd really like is a nice glass of
white wine..." she mumbled, prompting the boy who walked beside her to turn and ask
if she had said anything.
"Uh, no, sorry." She smiled reassuringly at him, but his
puzzled expression lasted another second or two, until he was distracted by someone
calling his name.
Yuriko muttered silently to herself as she entered the class. She
was virtually the last one to arrive today. Aya's seat was conspicuously empty, however.
Yuriko put her book bag on her desk and greeted Sayaka with a grimace.
"I hear the team's really good this year." The girl
skipped the obvious commentary on Yuriko's stiffness.
"Yeah, they are," the blonde made a face as she sat down
at her desk.
Sayaka laughed at Yuriko. "I expect my kohai to be a bit more
energetic in the morning!" she commanded with a smile. "None of this moaning and
groaning."
Yuriko made a face at her.
"You're just lucky that I'm not a tough sempai - I could have
you running errands for me..." Sayaka stopped mid-sentence as if she thought of
something. "Oh, I wanted to ask you before I forgot..."
"Hmmm?" Yuriko hunted in her bag for an analgesic, but
found only eyedrops and an extra pencil.
"About Evans-sensei." Sayaka waved away Yuriko's dark
look. "Nothing personal!" she hastened to reassure the older woman. "I was
just wondering - is she really an actress?"
Yuriko pulled back from peering into her bag. "Yes, why?"
Sayaka furrowed her brow. "Because yesterday in science class,
when Sato-san asked that question about unit vectors..." she smiled at Yuriko's
blank look, "I know you weren't listening, but anyway, when Sato-san asked his
question, Evans-sensei knew the answer. I mean - she knew it! She didn't have to look it
up in her notes or the book or anything!"
Yuriko rolled her head lightly on her neck and smiled at her sempai.
"I'll tell you a secret about Shan...err, Evans-sensei."
Sayaka nodded enthusiastically.
"She's a bona-fide genius. Don't let her agent know this, but
she graduated high school at 14, finished college by 16 and has a Doctorate in Physics.
She left home to take a job at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but never made it
there."
"What do you mean?"
"She was at the airport, when a flight began to board for
Tokyo." Yuriko laughed. "This is so typical of her. Here she was, nineteen years
old and had never had a day off from studying in her life. So, instead of getting on the
plane for California, she traded in her ticket, took the flight to Tokyo - and never
left."
Sayaka blinked. "She gave up a job at JPL for an acting
career?"
Yuriko nodded with a chuckle. "Yep. Crazy, huh? She came over
here assuming she'd take a vacation before she went to JPL. She never expected to stay.
But after a week or two, she called her family and said she was staying. She didn't have a
job - or even prospects of a job, but that's the way she is. I met her about three years
ago, when we worked together on a movie. She comes off as a bubble-head, but don't be
fooled, she's as smart as they come."
Sayaka looked thoughtful. "What an interesting story - I wonder
if she's ever thought about writing it down."
Yuriko glanced at her sempai, nodding. "No, but it would make a
good story. Maybe you can write a fiction piece based on it - I'm sure she'd be thrilled
to pieces."
The door to the class slid open and Sato called the class to stand.
However, instead of the expected appearance of the teacher, Aya slipped into the
classroom, followed closely by Yamazaki Jun. Without a word to each other, Aya and Jun
made their way to their chairs. Aya nodded to Yuriko and Sayaka, but made no other
comment. Yuriko could clearly see the signs of hastily washed away tears and Aya's eyes
were red-rimmed and swollen. The door opened again a moment later and Evans-sensei
entered, asked the class to sit and wished them all a good morning.
After homeroom, Yuriko turned to ask Aya something, but the girl
excused herself and disappeared out the classroom door. Yuriko raised a questioning
eyebrow as she met Sayaka's eyes. The girl shrugged slightly, but nothing more was said.
Aya reappeared, but they had come to a silent agreement not to push the subject.
Lunchtime was a quiet, awkward affair. After the daily ritual of
checking out Yuriko's mystery lunch of the day, the three sat in near silence. Yuriko
packed away the bento box, after writing the usual note of thanks. Placing the box in her
bag, she casually gestured for the cameraman to take a break. When he had left, she then
turned back to her companions, fixed Aya with a piercing look and said, "Okay, spill
it."
"What?" The girl jumped.
"Don't insult our intelligence," Yurko said ominously.
"You and Yamazaki-kun had words this morning. Don't even try to deny it." She
held up a hand to stall any protest the girl might have fabricated. "Sayaka-sempai
and I have seen you talking to him before now. Come on, we're supposed to be your friends.
Is it love or hate?"
Aya spluttered a moment, looking wildly back and forth at her two
classmates, but her humor attempted to reassert itself. "It's both, of course,"
she said at last, trying to smile and failing miserably.
"Eh?" Sayaka and Aya asked incoherently.
Aya sighed. "It's like..." she paused in thought.
"It's not entirely unlike Romeo and Juliet. Without the obsessive passion, of
course." She gave a half-hearted chuckle at her joke.
"Are you going to be okay?" Yuriko asked solicitously.
"Yes. No. I don't know." Aya said. "I have no idea
what I'll be." Her smile dropped and Yuriko looked down into a face more haggard than
it should have been. Tears threatened to well up in the girl's eyes.
"Hey." Yuriko said softly. "I'm sorry, for what it's
worth. We'll leave you alone if you want."
"No, it's okay. In fact, it would be kind of nice to have
someone else's perspective on the whole thing." Aya took a deep breath and lowered
her voice. "You remember our "history," right?" Her audience nodded.
"Well, the problem is...Jun and I like each other." Her cheeks turned a shade of
red that belied her simple words. "We have, practically since we met. But with the
tensions between our families, we never wanted to be the cause of any problems."
Sayaka nodded to this too, but Yuriko cocked her head in question.
"So you two haven't been talking, so your parents wouldn't find
out?" the blonde asked.
"No!" Aya said quickly. "No, we've been meeting
secretly for years." Her face flushed again and she lowered her eyes. "When you
came, we had had a fight and we weren't speaking because, well, we weren't speaking."
"Oh, that clears that up." Yuriko said with a little grin.
"Carry on." She paused. "Wait a second! Are you saying that you lied to
me?"
Aya mumbled. "I didn't lie - I just omitted a few things."
Sayaka cut in before Yuriko could respond. "So you were
saying?"
"There's not much to tell." Aya looked up at Yuriko.
"He just..." she stopped, closing her mouth on the next words.
"Just?" Yuriko prodded. Sayaka seemed paralyzed, her hand
over her mouth in anticipation.
Aya looked at her hands, which she had clasped tightly together in
her lap. "This morning Jun asked me to marry him."