Please read the prologue before reading this story.
C&C is welcome.
-----
The Sum of All Parts: Cyan
Nobuyuki Muyo!
=====
Episode 1
"I think we should start seeing other people, that's all."
"But... But why? Why now?" Nobuki Nobuyuki asked.
Achika shook her head. "I don't know 'why now'. I just think
we're too young to be tied down," She took Nobuyuki's hand. "It's not
like we won't be seeing each other. We'll just be seeing other
people."
"I don't want to see other people!" Nobuyuki snapped, pulling
away. He paced around in front of the cave entrance where they usually
met ever since high school. Ever since that trip to Tokyo.
A moment passed between them, then Nobuyuki asked, "Is it
someone else?"
Achika gave a start. "What?"
"Are you seeing someone else?"
Achika raised an eyebrow. "Does it matter?"
"Of course it matters!" Nobuyuki cried, his words echoing down
the cave.
"Why?" Achika snapped. "Why does it matter?"
Nobuyuki grit his teeth. "Because you're mine, damn it!"
Achika shook her head, her topknot flowing behind her. "This is
exactly what I'm talking about, Nobuyuki. You're too possessive of me.
I feel..."
A gust of wind began to blow between them as Achika paused.
She took a deep breath and continued. "I feel like I'm
suffocating sometimes. I get restless. It's not like I'm stuck at home
like before, and it's not like I don't meet other people when we're in
Tokyo."
"But I thought we'd settle down here in the country when we got
married. I thought we had a promise that I'd become an architect and
build my dream house, and that you'd come and live with me."
Achika stood up. "I can't stay here, Nobuyuki. I guess I'm too
free-spirited, I guess." She laughed softly. "My father used to say
that the only thing that would keep me here is if I got too sick to
leave." She turned away. "I never promised you anything, Nobuyuki. I
think you're sweet, and kind, and I don't doubt that you mean well for
me, but..." She reached up and undid her topknot, letting her hair
flow in the wind, unbound. "People change, Nobuyuki. I'm not yours,
Nobu-chan. I'm mine."
She let go of her ribbon, letting the wind carry it away.
Nobuyuki did not watch her walk away; his eyes were on the
ribbon she left behind.
It flew this way and that, whipped around by the air currents
around the cave entrance before it was swept into the cave by a sudden
draft.
After hesitating for a moment, Nobuyuki chased after it into the
cave, but it flew past the iron gate that blocked further passage.
"Damn!" he spat as he kicked the gate.
The rusted iron padlock broke and the gate swung open.
He stood there for a moment, fearing the scolding Achika's
father would give him for breaking the gate - after all, he said that
an ancestor had sealed a demon inside the cave seven hundred years
ago.
Nobuyuki snorted. "Come on, Nobuyuki, There's no such thing as
demons," he told himself as he went deeper into the cave.
After passing through a narrow, descending passageway, he
arrived at a chamber that contained a small shrine and a small rock
with a ward on it. Behind that rock there was a larger rock lodged
against the wall.
"Wow," he said to himself, "these people really took this demon
stuff seriously." He looked around. "Now, where did that ribbon go?
Let's see... Aha!" It was perched on top of the warded rock. He bent
down to reach the ribbon but he slipped on a wet spot and started to
fall. He reached out to grab something to stop his fall and felt
something rip. He looked at what he clutched.
The ward was torn in two.
"Calm down, Nobuyuki, that was just a ward," he nervously said.
"This spirit stuff isn't real... It's just an ordinary piece of
paper..."
The small rock trembled, then split into two.
Nobuyuki swallowed hard. "I must have hit the breaking point on
the rock," he reasoned. "Yeah. That's it. That's all there is to
it..."
The larger rock rumbled, then split into two, revealing a
passageway leading deeper into the cave.
"Uh, there's probably a triggering mechanism in the smaller
rock," Nobuyuki said, although he was starting to break into a cold
sweat. "I triggered it by accident, and it's not my problem..."
Another draft swept the ribbon into the passage.
Nobuyuki cringed. "Why me?" he sighed.
He stepped into the passageway --
-- and immediately slipped down a slick, tiled incline.
"Gyaaaaaa!" he cried as he slid down fifty feet. He struggled to
regain his grip but hit the bottom of the passageway before he did.
"Ow..." he muttered as he rubbed his bottom. He looked around
and realized that there was light inside the new chamber he was in --
soft light emanating from the circular pool of water in the center of
the circular chamber. He looked down at the stones tiling the floor of
the chamber and saw water flowing in between the large gaps between
them.
"What's going on here?" he said as he stood up and made his way
toward the central pool.
There was a figure lying in the pool; a figure that looked like
a mummy wearing a noh demon mask.
Right next to it floated the ribbon.
Nobuyuki gathered up his courage and bent down to reach the
ribbon. "Just a little farther," he told himself, hands reaching for
the keepsake he had struggled so hard to retrieve --
-- when he felt a bony hand touch his cheek.
Nobuyuki froze as he looked up and saw the mummy's face come
closer and closer to his own. The mummy gave a dry, rattling moan as
it stroked his cheek, dark eyes suddenly glowing with a strange yellow
light.
"AAAAAAAAAAA!" Nobuyuki screamed as he broke from the mummy's
grasp and scrambled up the tiled incline, the ribbon temporarily
forgotten. He arrived at the chamber and ran for the shrine. "Oh
please let there be a switch in here to close the passageway!" He
opened the little wooden doors and saw a handle with three little
beads on the end.
"Aha!" he cried. "If I pull this, maybe the rock will close!" He
pulled at the handle and felt a disturbing snap as it broke off from
the shrine. "Oh, crap!" he cried, staring at the handle in his hands.
"I'm in trouble now!" He forced the smaller rock's halves together and
tied them with a dry vine he ripped from the cave walls. The larger
rock began to close, but he took no chances and ran out of the cave.
He ran until he couldn't run any more and then he collapsed on
the side of the road, gasping for breath. "I'm going to wake up any
moment now, and this nightmare will end..." He looked at the sword
handle he still grasped in his hand. "I guess it's just as well I'm
not stopping by Achika's place anymore -- her dad would kill me!"
He stood up and made his way to his parents' house, where he
spent the night. He packed his bags and took the dawn train to Tokyo,
taking the handle with him.
"Hey, Nobuki, I heard about your breakup with Achika. Tough
luck, man," bespectacled Kobayashi said, patting him on the back
before taking a seat. They were in the Abcb, a cozy little cafe where
they and their buddies usually met. "There are other girls out there,
you know." He motioned toward the counter, where the pretty brunette
waitress was busy brewing coffee. "Like her. She doesn't look taken.
Why not ask her out?"
"I'm not in the mood, you guys," Nobuyuki said.
"Yeah, give him a break," Godai said. "God, that must sting,
being dumped by your longtime girlfriend."
"Yeah, something you've never had a problem with, huh, Godai?"
Kobayashi said.
"Oh, shut up," Godai muttered.
"I'll bet it's some other guy," Sakamoto said, nodding. "That's
usually the reason why girls give the 'I want to be free' speech. Come
to think of it, that's the same reason guys use that speech."
"Maybe it's Aoba," Kobayashi suggested. "You know how girls go
crazy over those tall, longhaired types."
"Maybe it's a teacher," Godai said. "Maybe she's caught up in
some student-teacher thing. Some girls think that kind of thing is
romantic and stuff."
"Look., I don't need this, you guys..." Nobuyuki grunted.
"So that's why you're an education major, Godai," Sakamoto said,
"It's the only way you can bag yourself a girl!"
"Hey, quit it!" Godai snapped.
"Did you get us any presents from the country, Nobuki?" asked
Sakamoto as he grabbed Nobuyuki's bag. "Hey, what's this thing?" he
said as he opened it and saw the sword handle.
"Don't!" Nobuyuki yelled as he took the bag away from Sakamoto.
"I mean, that's an important Shinto artifact. Don't fool around with
it or you might mess up your karma, or something."
Kobayashi frowned, apparently deep in thought. "A Shinto
artifact..."
Nobuyuki swallowed. Does he know something? "What... what is it,
Kobayashi?"
"Tell me, Nobuki," Kobayashi began.
"Wh-what?"
Kobayashi pushed his glasses back quietly. "Isn't karma a
Buddhist belief?"
Long silence.
"Don't you have anything useful to say?" snapped Nobuyuki.
"Nope," Kobayashi snickered. "Isn't it a shame?"
"At any rate," Godai said, "you'll need your transcript from the
university if you're going to apply for that internship at NERV."
"Yeah," Sakamoto added, "'cause the deadline for application is
Friday."
"Three days away," Nobuyuki said. "I'd better get cracking." He
stood up to go. "See you guys."
Nobuyuki sat on the riverbank, reading his own transcript. "I
hope my grades are good enough," he said to himself.
He put the papers back in his bag and lay down on the grass.
"Maybe work will help me forget her." He sighed. "Oh, what am I
saying? She said we'd still be seeing each other, didn't she? It's not
like we're never going to see each other again - I mean, she's
applying for NERV internship, too."
He stared up into the sky and watched two crows fly past. "Am I
being foolish, though? I mean, hanging on to hope like this? C'mon,
think, Nobuyuki. If she really did want to be with you, she wouldn't
have insisted on her 'freedom' so earnestly."
He closed his eyes. "Easy for her to talk about freedom and
seeing other people; all the guys want her. Nobody else has ever shown
interest in me; Achika was the first girl who even noticed me in
class. How am I going to 'enjoy my freedom' when there's no one to
enjoy it with?" He heaved a long, shuddering sigh. "I'm so
pathetic..."
"You can say that again."
What the?! Nobuyuki bolted upright and looked for the source of
the affirmation. He looked up and saw a young woman with wild blue
hair standing by his feet. "Wh-who are you?!"
The girl raised her eyebrow. "Oh, you don't remember me?"
"No... sorry."
"You got amnesia, boy?"
"No! It's just that I don't think we'd ever met before."
She smirked. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, I'd remember if I ever met a girl with blue hair, that's
all."
"Oh, is that so? So how come you don't remember me from the
cave?"
"What ca-- THAT cave? That was you?"
She shrugged. "I don't really blame you for not remembering -- I
was having a lousy skin day."
"You're that freeze-dried mummy?"
"WAS that freeze-dried mummy. I'm thawed out now, thanks to
you."
"Then you're that seven-hundred-year-old demon Achika's dad
keeps ranting about!"
"Yep, that's me." She stretched. "Well. It HAS been seven
hundred years since I've blasted anything. I think I'll start with...
you."
"What?! Why me? I set you free!"
She struck a pensive pose. "Well, that's true. After all, it's
not everyday someone shows up and single-handedly and unintentionally
disables all the wards on a sealed demon cave... But I think I'll
blast you anyway for being so pathetic." She held out her hand and a
yellow ball of light materialized in her palm. "I'm gonna take out my
pent-up frustrations on you - right now!"
"WAAAAH!" Nobuyuki dodged just in time to avoid getting turned
into a greasy spot on the grass. "Hey! I didn't imprison you, it was
the Masaki family that did that to you!"
"You think I actually care at this point? I haven't killed
anyone in seven hundred years. That's seven centuries of withdrawal!
Besides, you mortals all look the same after a while."
"But..."
"Hey, I want some random violence, and you're as random as they
come. Besides, from that soap opera you were retelling it sounds like
you need the escape from your dreary life." She crossed her arms. "I
feel sporting today. I'm giving you ten seconds to run."
"But--!"
"One..."
"BUT--!"
"Two... Gee, should I count in base eight, just to speed up the
pace?"
"HEY!"
"Three... I suggest you get going, boy. My blasts have an
effective range of three kilometers."
Nobuyuki grabbed his bag and ran.
"FOUR!" he heard her call out. "Oh, did I mention I can fly at
over one hundred kilometers per hour?"
"Oh crap!" He ran up the riverbank onto the road.
"FIVE! One hundred on a slow day!"
"Oh god oh god oh GOD!" He raised an arm. "HEY! TAXI!"
"SIX! Now, now, earth boy. Gasoline is highly flammable!"
"Scratch that! I'm taking the train!"
"SEVEN! I don't see any trains due in the next three seconds,
you know!"
"Fine! I'll hide!"
"I'll find you! EIGHT!"
"I'll fight!"
"Yeah, right! NINE!"
"I'll... I'll cry!"
"TEN! Ready or not, here I--" She stopped. "You'll what?!"
Nobuyuki clapped a hand over his mouth. "Nothing."
The girl flew over to where he was standing and gave him a
puzzled look. "You said you'd... what?"
"I said nothing! Leave me alone, demon."
The girl threw her hands up. "I'm not a demon, I'm a space
pirate, and you're taking all the fun out of this, you know. You
should run in abject terror, or fight like a cornered rat or
something. I can't abide by this 'crying' business`!"
"Who's crying?" sniffled Nobuyuki. "I'm... not crying!"
"Yes, you are," the girl said. "This is no fun. I need to blast
something, damn it, and I need it to be screaming back!"
A long silence passed between the two of them, followed by a
rhythmic clattering in the background.
Nobuyuki's wits went back online, but only partly. "Pay no
attention to the sound of the Yamanote Line Train in the distance!" he
cried.
The girl's eyes lit up. "Oooh! A passenger train! Perfect!" She
started to float in the general direction of the sound.
"Wait! Stop!" Nobuyuki said, scrambling after her. "Those are
innocent lives!"
The girl gave the 'V' sign. "I know, ain't it cool?!"
"You can't! You mustn't!"
"Well, okay, I won't, " the girl said, "if you stop crying and
start running for your life. It's your choice. What do you say?"
"Huh?" Nobuyuki blinked. "Well... that is, I..."
The girl continued toward the sound. "Whoo! Bang bang! A hundred
lives lost in a horrible train wreck!"
"All right! All right!" He sighed. "I'll... run for my life in
abject terror."
"Really? You'll do that for me?"
"Yes, yes, whatever you want."
"Okay, then," she said, "do you need a new ten count or do we
take it from where we left off?"
"Whatever."
She sighed. "Your heart doesn't seem to in this, Nobuyuki."
Nobuyuki blinked. "How do you know my name?"
The girl twiddled her thumbs. "Err... lucky guess?"
"How you know my name? I demand that you tell me!"
The girl raised an eyebrow. "You're not in any position to make
demands, you know."
"I don't care!" he sputtered. "I'm making them anyway!"
"All right, all right," the girl said, throwing up her hands. "I
heard you outside the cave. Happy?"
"You... you heard me?"
"Yeah, you and that Masaki girl."
"How much did you hear?"
The girl tsked. "A little. A lot. Does it matter? All I know is
that what she did was low and that you are one pathetic loser."
Nobuyuki sighed. "Oh, you think so too, huh?"
Another silence passed between them.
"Um..." the girl started.
"What? What is it now?" Nobuyuki snapped.
"Oh, fine!" she said as she crossed her arms, floating up into
the air. "I was going to apologize already, but apparently you're too
good for that, huh?" She flickered briefly, then disappeared.
"Huh?" Nobuyuki said, blinking. "Apologize? W-wait!"
He stood up and looked around. "Where'd she go? Hey, wait! I'm
sorry too! Please come back!" he cried out. "I wasn't thinking! I
apologize!"
She materialized right next to him. "Do you mean it?" she asked,
raising an eyebrow.
He nodded. "I mean it."
"Oh. Good. I guess I'm sorry too," she said. "I didn't mean to
make you cry."
"I told you, I wasn't crying!"
"Fine, fine, if you say so." She looked around. "So, where do
you go for some eats in this backwater planet, anyway?"
"You hungry? My treat."
"Your treat?" she repeated. "You're planning on paying for the
meal?"
"Uh-huh."
"Why don't we just steal one?"
Nobuyuki sighed. "There are acceptable ways of behaving around
here. Besides, you should be happy I offered it at all, you nearly
killing me and all..."
"I said I was sorry, didn't I?"
Katsuhito Masaki walked alone from his temple. His daughter had
left for the city rather hurriedly that afternoon, and with no one to
talk to he decided to catch up with his exercise. Not that he wasn't
used to being alone, ever since his wife passed away.
He walked down the path to the cave, keys in tow. He sensed
something happen to the cave earlier, but decided to let whatever was
transpiring pass before he investigated. "Less trouble that way," he
muttered to himself.
He stopped at the mouth of the cave and began to clap his hands
twice as was the custom, but he stopped before the second clap. He
smiled to himself and tossed his keys away. "Looks like I won't be
needing those anymore," he said.
He walked away, chuckling to himself. "So she's finally free. It
was only a matter of time." He looked up into the night sky. "Of
course, that means that the family will be dropping by soon. Oh well,
at least this will be interesting. I always liked that Nobuyuki kid
anyway."
"Ryoko."
"What?"
"That's my name."
"Oh. Ryoko."
"Yup. Don't wear it out."
"Um, you've got a bit of noodle on your cheek."
"Oh, sorry."
Nobuyuki and Ryoko were at a ramen stand in downtown Tokyo. It
was already late, and besides the noodle and sake stands the only
places to get food left open were the convenience stores and the girly
bars, which weren't exactly the place to get edible things to eat.
Besides, Nobuyuki thought to himself, I'm starting to get tired of the
taste of instant food. Ah, what the hell. I just got my allowance, I
can splurge a bit. Besides, this Ryoko is really cute, even though
she's an alien... "Hey, you missed it."
"Here?"
"Lower."
"Here?"
"To the left."
"Here?"
Nobuyuki grabbed a napkin. "Let me get it for you." He gently
wiped the offending noodle from the corner of her mouth. "Got it."
She smiled. "Thanks."
He smiled back. "You're welcome."
Nobuyuki lifted his own bowl to drink the last of the soup.
"So, I'll be staying with you from now on, right?"
Lukewarm soup and bits of fish sausage shot out of Nobuyuki's
nose. "Wh-what?"
"Look, I need a place to stay until I find my battleship of find
a way to summon it. I can't very well go back to the cave, can I?"
"But--"
"I promise I won't be a burden. I'll rob a bank or something.
You do have banks on this planet, don't you?"
"You can't do that!"
"I already told you, I'll pay for my share of the rent or
something."
"I meant you can't go around robbing banks!"
"Why not? I've been doing it for the past two thousand years,
why should I stop now?"
"Because that's probably what got you trapped on this planet in
the first place! I'll bet you're a wanted criminal!"
"Yup! And I plan to stay that way!"
"Look," the white-haired man in an apron behind the counter
said, "I don't know what both of you are talking about, or what you're
on, but I'd appreciate it if you kept it down a bit."
"Sorry," Ryoko mumbled.
"Sorry," Nobuyuki said.
"And furthermore," the man continued, "I'd be glad to have a
pretty young thing like her live with me if I were you, young man. In
fact, if he doesn't want you, you can stay with me, sweetie."
"Really?" Ryoko began but Nobuyuki cut her off.
"Hey, old man, stop that! She's with me!"
"I am?" Ryoko asked, blinking.
"Yes, now let's go," Nobuyuki said through gritted teeth.
"Have it your way," the stand owner said, shrugging, "but there
is one more thing..."
"What? What one more thing?"
"Your tab."
"Oh. Right. Sorry." Nobuyuki hastily paid off the tab, took
Ryoko by the hand and walked off.
Long moments passed before Ryoko spoke. "So I'm staying with
you?"
"Yes, as long as you don't kill anyone or steal anything."
"Sounds fine. Where do you live?"
"In a little apartment near the university where I study. We're
nearly there."
Nobuyuki opened the door and switched the light on. Everything
was where he left it; books neatly arranged on a modest bookshelf in
the corner, dishes washed, dried and stacked, drawing materials in
their cases and on the drawing board he used for his architecture
plates, and on the wall, a rough plan of a two-floor house hung up
like a small poster.
"Do you live alone?" Ryoko said, looking over the room.
"More or less," Nobuyuki said, putting his bag away next to his
desk. "Friends come over a lot to study, but otherwise it's just me.
I'm lucky I got this place cheap -- I read about it in the paper. The
ad said: NERV Tenement Project. Since I was planning on working there,
anyway, I figured I live someplace close by."
"What's this?" Ryoko said, pointing at the house plans on the
wall.
"Oh, that," Nobuyuki said. "It's nothing you'd be interested
in."
"No, come on, tell me." She smiled. "I promise I'll listen."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure."
"Okay then." Nobuyuki took a quivering breath. "That's my dream
house."
"It looks like you worked hard on it," Ryoko said, noting the
many eraser smudges.
Nobuyuki nodded. "I did. We were supposed to live there..."
"Who's 'we'?"
He sighed. "Achika and me."
"Oh. I'm sorry," Ryoko said.
"It's okay. It's not your fault anyway."
She shook her head. "Still, I feel sorry."
"You shouldn't." He chuckled softly. "I thought you said I was a
pathetic loser."
She pursed he lips. "I only said that because you were getting
all messed up by this Masaki girl. She doesn't deserve your worry,
Nobuyuki. She doesn't deserve your dreams. And you don't deserve to be
treated that way by someone who doesn't deserve you." She paused. "Oh
no, I've said too much, haven't I?"
"No, it's okay."
"Well, anyway, I said it." She sighed. "I'm going to sleep."
Nobuyuki watched as she began to lie on the floor. "Hey, there's
a futon there."
"It's your futon."
"You can use it. I have one extra in the closet, for guests.
Besides, I'm staying up a little while longer. Got a lot of thinking
to do."
"Are you sure?"
He nodded.
"Okay, then, good night." She got into the futon and curled up
inside.
"Good night." Nobuyuki smiled, and entered the bathroom. He
undressed, turned on the shower, and let everything sink in as he
bathed.
I never promised you anything.
But I thought we had a promise...
I never promised you anything.
What about our dream house?
I never promised you anything.
We had a promise...
...never promised you anything...
...Never?
You promised me nothing, Achika. You said so yourself. That
means we never promised each other anything. That means I don't owe
you anything. I don't owe you my dreams. If you don't want a place in
my dreams then I won't save one for you.
My dreams.
My dream house.
It seems so empty now, without anyone to live in it.
...She doesn't deserve your dreams, Nobuyuki.
And you don't deserve to be treated that way by someone who
doesn't deserve you...
Nobuyuki gave a start. No one has ever said that to me before,
he thought. I've never thought of anyone deserving me. I've always
been worried whether or not I deserved Achika that I forgot myself. I
lost myself.
He inhaled sharply. I lost myself. Myself. My dreams. Mine. Me.
Nobuyuki toweled himself dry and put on a white shirt and a dark
blue pair of boxer shorts, and left the bathroom.
He saw Ryoko's sleeping face. She had the wisp of a smile on her
face, and she murmured something to herself every so often that he
would never hear and she would never remember.
Thank you, Ryoko, he thought. I needed to hear those words.
He stood up, took the extra futon out from the closet and laid
it on the floor, trying not to wake Ryoko. She stirred, then turned
over and slept on.
He entered his own futon and closed his eyes.
If you don't want a place in my dreams, Achika, then I won't
save one for you. I'm saving that place for someone else. Someone who
deserves me.
Someone like...
Sleep gently pushed the rest of his sentence to his dreams,
where he would not remember it upon waking.
To be continued...
=====
OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!
Four shards of the one mirror. Four fragments of a whole greater than
the sum of all parts.
And slipping in between the cracks are tiny little pieces of the
Nanban Mirror, changing reality by a ridiculously trivial degree.
Other shards of the one mirror. Tiny fragments of reality
substantially lesser than the sum of all parts.
TERRY BOGARD: RED AND DENIM
"Noooo!"
Terry Bogard's wail filled the night air, as another girlfriend
died in his arms. "I wasn't able to protect her! All my power, for all
my fighting ability, worthless!"
He began to cry bishonen tears. "If only... If only I could
change things... I'd never let a girlfriend die ever again!"
His tear struck a little sliver of a mirror fragment. It gave a
little twinkle, then...
One destiny slightly altered. One shard changing one reality by a
ridiculously trivial degree. One teeny tiny shard of the one mirror.
One fragment substantially lesser than the sum of all parts.
The Sum of Spare Parts : Red and Denim
"Noooo!"
Terry Bogard's wail filled the night air. "All my power, all my
fighting ability, useless! All this strength, all this techniques, and
for what? Nothing! I can't protect anybody!"
He began to cry bishonen tears. He stared at Joe Higashi's limp
form in his arms. "If only... I could change things... I'd never let a
boyfriend die ever again!"
=====
TimeRunner's Web Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482
=====
"Anyone can post messages to the net. Practically everyone
does. The resulting cacophony drowns out serious discussion.
Online debates of tough issues are often polarized by messages
taking extreme positions. It's a great medium for trivia and
hobbies, but not the place for reasoned, reflective judgment.
Surprisingly often, discussions degenerate into acrimony,
insults, and flames." --Clifford Stoll