"'Morning!"
"'Morning!"
"Nice day, isn't it?"
"It is that!"
Hearing her schoolmates exchange greetings with each other as they made their way onto the grounds of Tomobiki High, Miyake Shinobu could only smile. The day was bright and sunny, the forecast predicting wonderful weather for the week to come. A refreshing way of getting back on the right foot in the wake of what had to be one of the most shocking days this town had ever experienced.
"Lum-san . . .!"
Shinobu slowed down, a tendon over her eye twitching in annoyance as that unwelcome moan echoed from somewhere off to her right. Turning to look, she shook her head on seeing the members of Lum's Stormtroopers slumped down on the ground beside a cherry tree, mournful looks on their faces as they gazed heavenward. "Idiots," she hissed under her breath as she turned to head in.
Well, maybe it was almost a good day.
"Hey, Shinobu!"
Shinobu perked, and then she waved on seeing a familiar girl in a boy's uniform approach her from the front door. "Hi, Ryuu-chan! Nice morning, isn't it?!"
Fujinami Ryuunosuke blinked on hearing Shinobu's greeting. Instantly, she walked over to place a concerned hand on her classmate's shoulder. "You okay?"
Shinobu blinked, gazing at her. "What do you mean?"
"You're sounding happy," Ryuunosuke replied. "Two nights ago, Moroboshi died. Yesterday morning, you saw him off with those Canadian soldiers who came along to take those freakin' Niphentaxians away from here. How come? Don't tell me . . . "
Shinobu jolted as the tomboy's point struck home, and then a contrite look quickly crossed her face. Big slip-up, Shinobu! Cover it now! she mentally scolded herself, and then she breathed out. "I know. It sounds a little callous of me, but . . . " She then shrugged. "I'm sure that wherever he is now, Ataru-kun would want us all to go on and live our lives as best as we can, be as happy as we can be. Even if we didn't like a lot of the stuff he did, he was pretty happy with himself."
Ryuunosuke considered that point, and then she shrugged. "Yeah, I guess ya got a point." Before she could continue, another pained moan escaped the Stormtroopers nearby. As both women gazed on their classmates, the tomboy then smirked. "Whatta bunch of jerks!" she added as she shook her head before she waved her friend inside. "Last night, they went up into the clock tower to try to summon an alien taxi to take them to Lum's home planet so they could see her. Guess what happened to them?"
"Well, if they're still here, no taxi picked them up, I suppose."
"Even worse!" Ryuunosuke emphasised as they headed into the shoe locker area where they exchanged their outdoor shoes with uwabaki. "A message appeared right between them from a taxi driver, telling them, 'You think we wanna pick up a fare on a planet with Destructo living there? Get another cab!'" Laughter exploded from her lips as they moved to head upstairs to their classroom. "When they started moaning about it all being Moroboshi's fault like they normally do, Oyaji and Nagisa both marched upstairs and threw 'em out onto the lawn, complaining they were keeping us all up!"
"Really?!" Shinobu wondered. On seeing Ryuunosuke nod, she started to laugh. "It makes you almost want to feel sorry for them!" she then sputtered out.
"Got that right!"
More laughter rocked them as they headed up to the third floor, and then they turned to go to where Class 3-4 convened. Standing by the doorway leading into the room were several of their classmates, they gazing inside the room. "What's wrong?" Shinobu asked as she and Ryuunosuke approached them.
"Look inside and see for yourself," Koi Shinjin -- who was, in the eyes of many of his peers at Tomobiki High School, only a step below Megane himself when it came to expressing devotion to Lum -- said as he thumbed inside the classroom.
Shinobu looked. Standing by the empty desk that, two days ago, had been occupied by Moroboshi Ataru, was a very plain black-haired girl, she currently in prayer. A small vase filled with lilies sat on the desk, it framed by two candles on either side. A picture of Ataru sat in the chair, a black mourning band wrapped around the upper right corner. Save for Hanawa Mitsu, the homeroom teacher for Class 3-4, no one else was in the room. "Who's . . .?!" she began, and then something seemed to lift deep inside her mind as recognition slowly dawned on her. "That's Inu Chigaiko, isn't it? The girl who's name we always couldn't remember?"
"Except for Ataru, pretty well," another boy mused. "Don't you remember? He always said hello to her all the time when we came into classes."
"How the heck did we always forget her name?" yet another boy wondered. "I mean, with Ataru, it's pretty understandable. When it came to girls, his mind was a steel trap, lettin' nothing out. Why did we forget her name? She's in all our classes."
"Us, too," Marubeya Momoe declared. "I don't think she really cared too much for Mendou-san, but she was with us all the time. This is just too weird."
Another girl shushed them into silence. By then, Chigaiko had finished her prayer. She blew out the candles, and then moved to stow them in her book bag. The lilies and picture remained in place. Seeing that she was done, Hanawa walked back to join her. "We all will miss him, Inu-kun," he declared as they stared heavenward as a spotlight seemed to shine down on them through the classroom windows. "But do not lose heart. Our friend would not want that of us. Wherever he is now, without a doubt, Moroboshi-kun wants us to be happy as he was happy. To be free as he was free. Remember that well, Inu-kun, and you'll give Moroboshi-kun the honour and respect he certainly deserves now that he's left us for the greater reward awaiting us in the next life."
"Arigatou, Sensei," Chigaiko said as she sniffed back her tears, and then she moved to head to her seat near the back of the room.
Seeing that, the remainder of Class 3-4 took it as a sign to enter. As they streamed to their chairs, Chigaiko was quick to spot Shinobu walk in. "Miyake-san?" she called out to Ataru's former girlfriend.
Shinobu stopped, looking back. "Hai?"
"May I ask a small favour of you in the future?"
"That being?"
"The next time you hit that boor Mendou, don't just break his jaw," Chigaiko said. "Next time, go for the neck. It's more permanent."
Hearing that, most of the other girls in the class shrieked out in disbelief. The guys stared wide-eyed at Chigaiko, and then many of them broke down and laughed. Shinobu gaped at her, and then she winked. "I'll remember that, Inu-san."
"Arigatou."
As most of the other girls exchanged shocked looks, many of the guys all stared anew at Chigaiko. Finally, one of them cleared his throat dramatically, and then he looked heavenward. "Ataru, our late friend and former class representative, we can only, with due humility, but thank you for this great gift you gave us."
"What gift is that?" Ryuunosuke asked.
The other guys laughed. "He gave us one girl who's IMMUNE TO MENDOU!" one of them trumpeted.
"THANK YOU, ATARU!" the others howled with delight.
Chigaiko found herself blushing as she was soon surrounded by many of her male peers, they all chanting a chorus of banzai cheers. The girls in the room stared in wide-eyed shock at this adulation being heaped on someone who had, in effect, bucked the usual trend when it came to the women of Tomobiki High School and turned away from its richest student. Watching this, Ryuunosuke was trying desperately not to fall over laughing at what she had just witnessed. And Shinobu had a thoughtful look on her face as she considered the possibilities this might present.
Tariko definitely has to know about this, she mused.
"AH-CHOO!"
Tanenobu Tariko bolted up from her bed in the guestroom at the Mihama home, a moan escaping her as she reached up to feel her nostrils. "Damn!" she muttered under her breath before a yawn escaped her. "Someone's talking about me!"
The day proceeded ahead in a relatively normal fashion. A normal fashion for places outside of Tomobiki, Shinobu soon realised as a strange discomfort seemed to settle in on her, but still a normal, perhaps even welcome, fashion.
As she made her way through each class, Shinobu was quick to pick up on snippets of conversation being exchanged between her schoolmates, giving her a rough idea of what was on their minds. While many of the boys -- hardcore Lum supporters to one extent or another -- still lamented the Oni's departure two nights before in the wake of the sudden arrival of the Chosen One, some of them were finally taking notice of the fact that there were many cute girls around them to potentially date. With Megane rendered mute, there was no opposition from the inner core of Lum's unofficial fan club. Even better, with Mendou Shuutarou temporarily out school thanks to what Shinobu herself had done to him yesterday, many of the girls were reaching out in turn.
It was a pretty good sign, Shinobu realised. For too long, too many people in Tomobiki -- especially those people her age -- seemed so absorbed into the wide gamut of events that had surrounded the relationship between Moroboshi Ataru and Lum. Shinobu was certainly no innocent in that regard, of course (even if she did have the excuse of being denied her true genetic and cultural heritage as Rampage), which made her privately more determined than ever to make things up with Tanenobu Tariko in the days to come. Yes, even if Tariko now had her sister and eleven half-sisters to fall back onto -- plus her going to the Fuuka Academy (once Tokiha Mai made the necessary arrangements), with all the adventures awaiting her there -- Shinobu felt it wasn't right for Tariko to fully cast away everything of her old life as Moroboshi Ataru.
"Hey, Shinobu!"
Shinobu jolted, and then she stared curiously at Ryuunosuke. It was lunchtime now, with everyone having gone out into the lawn to enjoy his or her noon repast. "What?"
"Cell phone's ringing," Momoe reported. "You were pretty spaced out there."
Shinobu blinked as her ear picked up the shrill noise of the device in question, and then she reached into her skirt pocket to draw it out, the cell phone having gone silent. Flipping it open, she then blinked on seeing that something had gone into her voicemail. "Excuse me, please," she said as she stood up.
Walking over to a more private location, she pressed the buttons to call up her messages. On seeing the number who had called her, she then grinned as she keyed in the redial function. A second later, the other end in Fuuka replied, "Hai, Tokiha Mai here." It was lunchtime down at the Academy; Shinobu believed Mai wouldn't have called in the middle of classes. "Is that you, Shinobu-san?"
"Hi, Mai-san. What's up?"
"You busy after school?"
"Not really. Why?"
"Think you can get Tariko-san down here to meet the Headmistress? I talked to her in my free period and passed on our suggestion to her. She's all for it."
"Did anything happen down there?"
A tired sigh. "I'll tell you about it later."
"Okay."
Meanwhile . . .
(Posted Mon, 02 Oct 2006 03:24)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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