Well, I'd forgotten to pass this onto
the MLs after I had written it (probably because I was busy working on
my other fics at the time...*scratches head absently*). Anyways, I
hope you enjoy it. I have plans to pick it back up after I get a little
more situated with these other fics I have going on - probably in
another couple of months (gomen ne! don't lynch me, please). Any
constructive criticism is highly appreciated!
Oh, I forgot the standard disclaimer at the bottom, so here it is:
**"Marmalade Boy" is the property of its original writer and publisher.
All other characters and situations are the property of this fanfic
author, 1998. Please do not copy or replicate this work without
permission. For all the fans of MB, this is dedicated to you!**
- Rena/Maigrey (Jennifer)
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Marmalade Boy: College Days"
Part 1: Growing Up?! Facing the Challenges of Adulthood!
by: Jennifer L. Mondazzi
orig. written: February 16th, 1998
July 9th, the summer after Miki's High School graduation
Chiyako Koishikawa looked up from her spot in front of the television
when the phone began to ring. Next to her, her husband, Jin, was
absorbed in the program in front of him, and so paid little attention
to the other noises in the house. She turned to see that one of her
housemates, and incidentally her best female friend, Rumi Matsuura, had
her head stuck in the refrigerator door searching for a snack, while
her husband, Youji, was scrounging through the cabinets with the same
purpose in mind. Neither one seemed particularlly inclined to stop what
they were doing at the moment either.
Knowing that none of the four of them planned to answer the phone,
which had just hit its third ring by that time, she called upon the
only other person in the house to do it for them. "Miki, could you get
the phone please?"
"Yes, I'll get it!" came the shouted response, from some other region
of the house. Heavy footfalls flying down the stairs at top speed
confirmed that Miki was on-top of the situaiton, and Chiyako promptly
returned her attention back to the Sunday afternoon special, giving the
mild disturbance no further thought.
Running down the hallway on slippered feet, Miki dove for the phone,
praying that it was Yuu. He had gone back to America soon after Meiko's
wedding to pack-up and collect his things from St. Andrews', where he
had recently graduated from, and while he was there, he wanted to check
out some universities. It had been eight days since he went back to New
York, and in that time, she had missed him terribly! Almost sliding
past the table, she grabbed the edge and stabillized herself before
picking up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Hi, Miki!" came the response on the other side. Instantly, Miki
recognized the girl's voice belonging to her best friend.
"Meiko! Hi! How's the honeymoon going?"
There was a pause, before the other girl spoke again, and Miki could
hear the blush in her friend's voice. "It's going wonderfully! Hawaii
is just like your parents said it would be. The beaches are so
beautiful, and it's so warm and tropical. Just like a dream come
true!"
Miki squealed in delight, which caused the four grown-ups in the house
to all look up questioningly from their various preoccupations briefly.
"Oh, Meiko, I'm so happy for you! Umm...maybe someday Yuu and I could
go too."
Again, there was another pause. "Miki, I just wanted to let you know
that I picked something up for you that I thought you might like.
Actually, that I thought Matsuura-kun might like on you. We should be
returning to Japan before he does, so you can try it on and see if you
like it ahead of time."
"I'm sure whatever it is, Meiko, it'll be beautiful! You always have
such stylish tastes in clothes." She sighed. Her 'hunny' would be back
in only five more days! "I'll wear it for Yuu when I go to pick him up
at the airport?"
Meiko started giggling, and in the background, she heard her new
husband, Sin-nichi, supressing his own laughter. "Oh, Miki, I don't
think it would be decent to wear this out in public. It's more for
private use."
It was Miki's turn to blush. "Uh.... oh.... um... ah! Thank you,
Meiko. I'm sure it'll be... nice." More snickering from the other side
of the phone made her face turn almost purple from embarrassment.
"Miki, you're so cute. Anyway, I have to return to my parent's house
to collect my things before moving to Hiroshima, so will you meet me at
the airport when we come back? I'd like to give you the present right
away."
"Oh, of course! When's your flight arriving?"
After jotting down the necessary information, the two friends said
their good-byes and Miki hung-up. She then went back to her room and
put the piece of paper with Meiko's flight number and arrival time in a
secure area on her desk, and sat down on her bed to think. Hugging her
pillow close to her, she finally had time to absorb everything that had
happened as a result of this last year:
Her two sets of parents were as happily oblivious as always, and she
knew that it would continue to be that way even when Yuu and Miki moved
out in September, when their first semester of college started. They
were even making plans to have two more exchange students come live
with them once their children left home, one from France and one from
America. That would total three of them, since Michael Grant was still
living there.
Even though he had been accepted to a good university close to home,
Yuu was considering transferring to a college specifically for
architectural majors in America. Miwa's father had made the
recommendation... again, and despite Miki's initial disappointment, she
promised herself that no matter what Yuu decided, she would support
him. His dreams were as important as her own.
Secretly, though, she prayed that he wouldn't like any of the schools
in New York, and would choose to stay in Japan with her!
Miwa Satoshi still had not gotten over Meiko fully, despite the fact
that, on her wedding day, he had attended the small gathering, and had
even wished the new couple the best of luck. Miki supposed that it was
because Meiko had been the first "real girl" that Miwa had shown
interest in. Most of his past dates, asccording to Yuu, had been mostly
shallow girls who had wanted the prestige that went along with dating
the "handsome class president." Personally, Miki hoped that someday,
Miwa would find a nice girl to settle down with. He was such a great
guy! Surely, someone out there would appreciate him.
Ginta Suoh and Arimi ? were talking of moving into an apartment
together, since they had both been accepted to the same University.
Ginta had received a tennis scholarship, and Arimi had received a
scholastic one, so their actual tuition was covered for them
completely. They only had to worry about the cost of living, which
their parents would probably help them out on until they could take
care of it themselves. Both seemed excited at the prospect.
In addition, Miki and Arimi had quickly become very good friends. It
probably had to do with the fact that they both thought Ginta was a
fabulous guy! The two often called each other, and Miki had even begun
sharing her diary with her one-time rival. Meiko actually approved as
well, and before the wedding, the three would often taking shopping
trips together, or hang-out at cafes and talk.
Since the last time she saw them, young starlette, Suzu, had become
enamored of Kei Tsuchiya's magnificent piano playing, and had attached
herself to him as a result. He didn't seem too unhappy about it, but
Miki wouldn't considered them 'officially' dating. With Michael
creeping around, trying to get Suzu's attention as well, nothing was
decided yet. Suzu tended to blow where the wind took her, and both Kei
and Michael were beautiful in her eyes.
Tsutomu Rokutanda, Ginta's cousin, and his girlfriend, Yayoi, had been
dating steadily now for a few months, and that relationship looked
good, at least on the surface. Miki didn't know all of the details,
though. Also, the same could be said for Akira and Momoi-sensei, who
had even gone so far as to begin looking at engagement rings together.
Miki hoped that all of them stayed together. They deserved a little
happiness.
Yuu had told her that Doris ? and Brian Grant had finally begun dating
about a month ago, and that the two actually seemed happy together.
Doris' intuitive understanding of Brian's personality, and ability to
deal with his occasional emotional outburst was an effective deterrent
to him straying. Meanwhile, his unpredictable penchance for finding
mischief kept Doris from avoiding fun situations. They complimented
each other prefectly - she made up for his lack of maturity, and he
made up for her lack of thrill-seeking. As a result, Brian no longer
seemed to pine-away after Jinny... much to everyone's relief.
Speaking of which, she and Bill tried dating for a few weeks, but it
hadn't worked out. Jinny was too frivilrous, and even Bill's patience
wasn't eternal. Since then, Bill told Yuu that Jinny had found another
love-prospect. It seemed that 'bouncing-back' was one of the girl's
strong points.
Actually, things had worked out for the best in that situation, since
Bill has since expressed an interest in Anju Kitahara, Yuu's childhood
sweetheart. The two had become good friends since she'd moved to New
York, and he often visited her in the hospital. Her operation had gone
well, but she was still recovering. The doctors told her not to push
herself too hard, so they'd recommended that she stay under their care
for a few weeks. To keep her boredom at bay, Bill often arrived at her
bedside with magazine to read or with games for them to play together.
Yuu was quite surprised to find out that Anju was really a chess
prodigy!
Perhaps the biggest shock of all for Miki, though, was that Meiko was
no longer an 'Akizuki'. She was now a 'Namura'. She was a married woman
at barely eighteen, who was moving from Tokyo to Hiroshima with her new
husband in a few weeks. She had even confided to Miki on her wedding
day that she was considering becoming a mother in a few years.
From Miki's point of view, her friends had all grown-up, in every
literally and figurative sense of the word, and she was beginning to
feel a little left behind.
It was silly, she knew, but she coudn't help but perceive that
everyone around her had somehow gotten a little older, a little more
mature over the last year, and that she was still no further along than
she had been when she had started her senior year. For example, she
still hadn't done... that... with Yuu yet. Their relationship hadn't
had much of a chance to progress that far, with all of the constant
interruptions. Yet, she knew that Meiko had, and surely Ginta and Arimi
had...
She blushed, and stopped that line of thinking before it went any
further.
Well, at least she and Yuu had discussed that aspect of their
relationship before he went back to America. As a result, she had gone
to see an OBGYN, and had even begun taking birth-control pills.
Sometimes they made her moody, and she had gained a little weight as a
result, but her doctor had assured her that this was a normal
side-effect.
Of course, she had discussed such an important decision with both of
her mothers ahead of time, and, despite her great embarrassment and
fear, they actually surprised her by offering her advise and helping
her to set-up the appointment. They had seemed very understanding, but
they did forbid her from actually having sex in their house, and wished
for her to wait until her wedding night to do it. She had assured them
that she would talk more with Yuu about it.
Perhaps the strangest thing in her mind was that her parents had
actually _wanted_ her to get together with Yuu. They'd been "banking on
it" all along, purposefully leaving them alone often in hopes that
something 'magical' would happen. They must have expected what that
would one day entail, if the relationship got serious enough, so her
request hadn't really fazed them as unnatural or surprising.
Unfortunately, Miki hadn't guessed that, and so had worked herself up
into such a frenzy before asking Chiyako and Rumi for help, that she
had physically made herself ill - which had them jumping to the wrong
conclusion that she might already be pregnant. It took a lot of
convincing to explain to them that this wasn't the case, but for a
short while, Jin had wanted to kill Yuu every time he stepped into the
room.
Of course, Yuu had been unaware of the entire affair, since the
discussion had really only involved Miki, Rumi and Chiyako, and the two
fathers were told, in no uncertain terms, to keep their noses strictly
out of it and not to say a word to Yuu about it. They kept their
promise, but it was a little hilarious (in retrospect) to see Jin bury
his nose behind a newspaper each time Yuu spoke to him.
Miki sighed.
In a few months, this room would no longer be hers. She'd live closer
to the inner city, where the sounds of cars passing by would be louder.
It would certainly be exciting, but she'd miss the peace of the
suburbs. Currently, at night, she would sometimes hear the crickets
chirping, or the wind blowing. It was calming, sweet, and often helped
to lull her to sleep. She knew that in the city, there would be no
crickets, and the noise of passerbys would drown out the sound of the
wind.
Well, everyone should try new experiences at least once. Moving to a
new place might not be so bad. Besides, she'd have housemates at the
small apartment-dorms, similar to the arrangment at St. Andrews, and
that meant a chance to make new friends!
From downstairs, the phone rang again.
"Miki, could you answer that please?" Chiyako called out once more.
"Yes, I'll get it!" she called back at the top of her lungs, then
jumped up, and practically threw herself down the stairs, knowing that
this time, it HAD to be Yuu calling. Running down the hallway, she dove
for the phone, and almost slid past the table yet again, but saved
herself for the second time by grabbing onto the edge and stabillizing
herself before picking up the receiver.
"Hello?" he huffed, out of breath.
"May I speak with Miki please?" came the response on the other side.
Instantly, Miki recognized the girl's voice.
"Oh, hi, Arimi! What's up?"
There was a long pause, and for a moment, Miki thought the connection
had been severed. Finally, Arimi spoke again, her voice filled with
tears. "Am I bothering you, Miki?"
"Oh, no, not at all. I was expecting Yuu to call, but that's ok," she
stammered, picking up on the sadness in her friend's voice. She tried
to be calm, having picked-up a bad feeling. "Are you alright, Arimi?
You don't sound good." Arimi's sobs grew louder over the phone, and
that icky feeling in her stomach intensified. It felt as if a million
butterflies were dancing in there now.
"Oh, Miki... Ginta... he's been acting strange for at least a week,
and now... he says he doesn't want to see me anymore!"
"EH?!? But... why?"
"I don't know!" Arimi cried, genuinely broken up. "He won't talk to
me. He refuses to take my phone calls, and when I went to his house,
his parents sent me home, saying he doesn't want to see me. I don't
know what to do."
Miki considered her options, and immediately got fired up. Ginta
better have a good excuse for treating Arimi like this! "Ok, I'll find
out what's going on, Arimi. Leave it to me!"
Arimi's weeping quieted down, trailing off to sniffling. "Really?"
"Of course!" Miki confirmed with gusto. "Ginta's going to tell me
what's going on, if I have to beat it out of him!"
There was silence on the other end, then a sniffle, and finally a
sigh. "Thank you so much, Miki. I knew I could count on you. You're
such a good friend." Miki blushed, then shook her head.
"Well, I'm going to see him right now. I'll call you later and let you
know what I find out!" The two hung-up, and Miki collected her sweater
and put her shoes on just as Rumi came around the corner. "Going out?"
Miki nodded. "I have something I need to take care of." She tied her
laces, and headed for the door, keys in hand. "I'll be back for
dinner!" With that, she was gone, heading down to the bus stop.
Half and hour later, she reached the corner across from Ginta's house.
Crossing the street, she opened the front iron gate, climbed the steps,
and rang the bell. Ginta's mother answered. "Oh, Miki! Hello there.
It's been such a long time since I last saw you. How have you been?"
Miki's impatience had grown on the bus ride, but she showed remarkable
restaint outwardly. "Hi, Mrs. Suoh. Is Ginta home?"
For an instant, there was a long pause, and the two just stared at
each other. Miki could see the struggle across the older woman's face,
as if she wanted to tell her something important, but just couldn't
seem to get the words out. Finally, she opted for an obvious lie.
"Actually, no, he's out at a tennis lesson, and won't be back until
later."
Miki narrowed her eyes in thought. Normally she wouldn't have argued,
as it was considered very bad manners, but something was surely wrong
with Ginta. "It's Sunday, Mrs. Suoh. There are no tennis lessons
today." The older woman blushed, knowing she'd been caught.
"You're right. I'm sorry." Mrs. Suoh sighed and stepped to one side.
"Please, Miki, come in. We can wait for Ginta together, and he can tell
you himself what's happening."
That sick feeling came back, and this time, Miki actually had trouble
keeping back the shudders. Something horrible must be wrong. She came
in, removed her shoes and sweater, and sat down on the couch. The
hour-long wait seemed like torture, but she endured it in silence,
gazing across at Ginta's mother, who was on the verge of tears the
entire time. Finally, the front door opened, and the sounds of two men
talking in low voices came to her ears. When their figures moved into
the living room, what Miki saw shocked her so thoroughly that she stood
up, tears flooding her own eyes, and gaped openly.
Ginta was leaning against his father, looking sickly and pale. A
baseball cap covered his now-bald head, and there were terrible dark
circles under his eyes. He looked as though he had lost a little
weight, and his clothes draped over his painfully thin frame. He stared
across the space at her, horrified that she had seen him.
"Oh, Ginta..."
TO BE CONTINUED....