Ukyou Kuonji continues with
a Here Is Greenwood fanfic
EXTENDED PLAY
==========
Koko wa Greenwood is the creation of Yukie Nasu, and all characters and
situations therein are the property of her and Hakusensha Inc., Victor
Entertainment, and the Pierrot Project. No infringement is intended.
==========
**track twenty-one**
"Look, Shigeru, it wasn't like it was bothering us or nothing. Let's just go
back and deal with it. We can't stand in the rain all night."
Ogata-sempai's trying to convince his roommate to head back into the dorm
after we discovered a ghost in there. He doesn't seem to be having much
success.
"Aw, leave him be, sempai. He'll come in when he wants to. Besides, it's a
little cooler out there with the rain and all." It's actually quite
refreshing. Not to mention that out here, there's none of the chaos of all
the guys running around frantically, trying to get themselves and their rooms
together as best they can in the dark.
Ogata-sempai shrugs helplessly. "Okay, fine." As he and I head back into
the dorm, he tosses a quick warning over his shoulder: "Just remember that
you're gonna *have* to be in by curfew, Shigeru."
I don't *think* he even acknowledged us, but I've got other things on my
mind. Like the other half of the first floor that I gotta count... darn
Mitsuru-sempai.
I'm surprised 'Brother' Kinichii isn't trying to hold a seance in his room,
what with the dark and all. He does have a few candles lit, but that's all.
"Ahh... if it isn't 'Sister' Kisaragi. Services start in half an hour, if
you're interested."
"Thanks, but unless you're calling up Osamu Tezuka, no thanks." He actually
looks offended, but I just check him off on the clipboard and go on. I don't
even have to worry about a roommate in his case - no one wanted to stay with
him this year.
I turn to leave 'Brother' Kinichii to his... whatever-it-is he does, and
almost trip over a fellow sitting in the hall. "The hell...?"
Good grief, the guy's shaking. "What's the matter?"
"G-g-ghosts..."
Mm. "Okay, so there's ghosts in here. It's an old building. Did they do
anything to you?"
He looks up at me, and as dark as it is, I can see fear in his eyes. "I felt
something c-cold around my ankle... I tripped and fell..."
Whoa... first ghosts, now poltergeists. Much more of this and maybe we
*will* have to enlist Kinichii's services... assuming he *does* exorcisms...
"Uh... can you stand up, ah...?"
"Kuroda. Yoichi Kuroda." He's too nervous for a James Bond delivery, but
it's all I can think it sounds like. Sorry if I'm being callous, but as long
as it's not me, and it's not serious, it's funny.
"Kuroda-kun... you'll be alright?" I can *feel* his gaze on me. Okay, so
*he* doesn't see the humor in it. But I'm *not* about to suggest he stand in
the rain with Shigeru-kun. "Look, it was out in the hall, right?" He nods.
"Well, you'll probably be safer in your room. That's where Mitsuru-sempai
wants everybody to be, anyway..."
"Uh... okay..."
"Let's see..." I consult my clipboard. "Kuroda... Kuroda. Room 122, ne?"
Another audible nod. "Right, then. Let's go." I'm starting to feel like
I'm still at the ryokan. Let me show you to your room, sir...
"Arigatou, sempai." Well, at least *that*s different from the ryokan. I
could get used to this.
***
Drop Kuroda off, check him and his roommate off on my list, and it's back to
making sure everyone's in.
Out in the hall, Ogata-sempai taps me on the shoulder. "Ne, have you seen
Furusawa?"
"Furusawa-sempai? How should I know? He's on the third floor... that's not
my department. Come on, sempai, he's a big boy," we both chuckle at that,
"he can take care of himself, ne?"
"Yeah, well..." and his gaze drifts outside, "this isn't the sort of night
*I*d want to be riding *my* motorcycle out in."
Hmm. "No, me neither. And what with all that wet metal, it'd be a wonder he
doesn't get struck by lightning."
Ogata-sempai shudders. "Don't even *suggest* that..." and heads back to his
room.
Boy, he's awfully worried about sempai...
Anyway, where was I? Have to check my clipboard; that little adventure with
Kuroda threw me off completely. Okay, looks like I've got everyone except
for room 117 - Fujikake-sempai and Yoshiki-sempai.
I knock on the door. "Sempais?"
No answer.
Just for the heck of it, I try the knob. It opens, much to my surprise.
"Sem-?" and the word catches in my throat.
Oh, they're there, all right. And it'd probably be the most prudent thing
for me to back out, check them off, head upstairs, hand the clipboard to
Mitsuru-sempai, and act like I haven't seen anything. But it's the old
deer-in-the-headlights thing... I can't pull away as I'm watching
Fujikake-sempai bounce on top of Yoshiki-sempai (at least, I assume it is...
those grunts are too deep to be from a girl) Finally it dawns on me that,
even though they're facing away from me right now, if I don't get out soon, I
still run the risk of being discovered... and that would be an embarrassment
to us all. I duck out.
***
It takes a while, but I finally pin down Mitsuru-sempai and hand him the
clipboard. He takes it but he doesn't even notice me, as he's too busy
chewing out a couple of girls. Seems they made a bet about which of them
could run through the dorm fastest without being noticed... I'd say they both
lost.
Not that they're going to go down without a fight. "Well, what about her,
then?" one of them asks, pointing at me.
"Hm?" and sempai finally turns and notices me. "Oh, hey. Everyone
accounted for downstairs, Shun?" I nod: Kami knows I'm not about to mention
Fujikake and Yoshiki, who I'm really not sure of now.
"Shun?" The girls are incredulous.
"Yeah, I'm a student here." They just look at each other, as if to ask how
*they* could apply to attend Ryokuto, if I can. "Don't even *think* about
it, girls..."
Before they can ask "Think about what?" as if they don't know, Mitsuru-sempai
starts in on them again. "This wouldn't happen to be yours, too...?"
"Yeeee!! No way! Why on earth would we...?" My thoughts exactly... what
girl would even so much as *touch* a snake, much less think to set one loose
in a boys' school dorm as a prank? Then again...
"May I see, sempai?"
"Hmph. Be my guest." Mitsuru-sempai lets the thing slide from his arm to
mine. It's not slimy, like I expected... but it *is* cool and leathery.
Meanwhile, the girls are looking at me like I've grown a second head. And I
guess, considering who and what they think I am, I have.
The tableaux is shattered by a reedy voice: "Hey, has anyone seen my - oh,
*there* you are, Fluffy," at which point, a skinny pair of arms gently lift
the snake from mine. I offer no resistance - I'm too stunned to react.
"'FLUFFY'?!" Apparantly, so is everybody out in the hall that's aware of the
snake.
"Hey, is there something *wrong* with naming a snake 'Fluffy'?" The kid
sounds a bit defensive; you'd think he'd be used to such a reaction.
Mitsuru-sempai recovers faster than the rest of us. "No, but there *is*
something wrong with keeping 'Fluffy' here. I assume you know the rules: no
pets allowed in the dorm."
"Yeah, and I'd been keeping them at home. But when I went home for the
summer, all of them were dead except for Fluffy."
"Ewww! You had more than one?" the girls chorus.
He continues as if he'd never been interrupted. "I figured I'd better take
care of Fluffy myself; my folks obvoisly couldn't do it. Come onnn,
sempai... it's not like it barks, or bites, or sheds, or causes any damage to
the place."
"Look, rules are rules, Kuriyagawa-kun. Today it's a snake, tomorrow,
somebody's going to want to bring something else, maybe something bigger.
Besides, it's already gotten loose once, and it's only the first day back."
"THAT's because someone bumped me while I was moving him in during this
blackout. I dropped the case, and it broke open."
My turn to flinch. "A *glass* case?" And I'm standing here barefoot, too.
"It was in the doorway, it was only one pane, and me and Hideo picked it all
up. It was only a couple of pieces it cracked into..."
"Be that as it may, you still can't keep him here - especially now that your
case is busted."
"We've stuck a board in it - Fluffy won't be able to get out again..."
"That's not the point, Kuriyagawa-kun. I'm going to give you two weeks to
either send that thing back, find another home for it, or release it into the
fields where it belongs. Got it?"
He nods sullenly before heading back to his room, taking - I still can't
believe it - 'Fluffy' with him.
If they were still here, Mitsuru-sempai would turn his attention back to the
girls. But between the diversion created by the snake, plus the fact that it
WAS a snake, they seem to have taken the opportunity to beat a hasty retreat.
So, he turns to me instead. "You said everyone was accounted for?"
"Mm-hm. Ogata-sempai was asking after Furusawa-sempai, but that's it,
really..."
Mitsuru-sempai flips a page on his clipboard. "Hm... no, Furusawa hasn't
gotten back. Probably still out joyriding." What, in this weather? "Well,
we've done what we can - I'm not going out and looking for him on every
highway in Japan. It's his loss if he misses class tomorrow." What can I do
but nod?
***
I'm pretty sure Suka-chan's awake by now - it'd be a wonder if he wasn't,
considering all the commotion that's been going on. Girls running through
the halls, a snake loose in the dorm, and Mitsuru-sempai yelling for everyone
to keep calm... no *way* he could've slept through *all* of that unless he
were in a coma.
Still, it looks like he's asleep... but all the same, I'd better change with
my back to him. And sure enough, there's a tiny 'gurk!' as I unclasp my bra
(damn, these things are uncomfortable when they don't fit - wonder if I
should stuff it with tissues or something?). I quickly refasten my bra, and
look over my shoulder, innocently as possible. "Suka-chan? You awake?"
"<gulp> Now I am..." he mumbles. The poor kid still sounds pretty groggy,
and his next sentance sounds particularly pained: "You want me to step
outside while you... do that?"
I hold my nightgown (yes, I wear a nightgown - you have a problem with that?
Mou, the things I do for this role...) over my chest as I approach him. He
scoots further back into his berth. "That's okay, Suka-chan... I can just
toss my this on over my head," and I proceed to do so, "and I'll take
everything off underneath later so you can't see. It's all right." His hand
is up to his nose again. "Can I get you something? Glass of water? Tissue?"
His voice is muffled, but I can understand it. "Yeah, a tissue would be
nice. Thank you." Polite to the end... he's so sweet.
I hand him the tissue, and pull the curtain around his berth. "Oyasumi
nasai, Suka-chan." He murmures a reply as I finish undressing and climb into
bed myself.
It's been a long day... time for some hard-earned sleep. I close my eyes...
...and they immediately spring open again. What was that? I try again, and
realize that I'm watching Fujikake-sempai and Yoshiko-sempai going at it in
my mind's eye. No wonder my eyes won't stay shut. There but for Suka-chan's
sorely tested restraint...
I hope I'm not being judgemental but it just doesn't look like fun.
Especially for Yoshiko - in fact, that looks rather painful, if you ask me.
So why does everyone get so obsessed about it? Is that what it's really like
to be a girl... or rather, a woman? And if so, why would any woman go
through with that? Brrr...
And you know the thing that really galls me? I never suspected those two.
How the heck did they get away with that for so long, anyway? It's not like
they were being discreet about it - come on, the door was unlocked. Anyone
could have walked like that. But no, it had to be me.
Meanwhile, rumours keep flying about Suka-chan and me; and at the same time,
Suka-chan's convinced about Mitsuru-sempai and Shinobu-sempai being 'that
way'; as usual, he can't tell when someone's playing a joke on him. I'm
starting to wonder a bit about Ogata-sempai, myself. And then, of course,
there's Suka-chan's brother...
Which is another problem entirely. See, Suka-chan hates Dr. Hasukawa because
- among other things - he doesn't mind all those rumours about himself. And
yet, now that people talk about Suka-chan and me, Suka-chan's doing the same
thing that he despises his brother for, isn't he?
Kuso... now I've got a headache, too. I'm not going to get much sleep
tonight, am I?
***
And I don't. Morning comes, and I am *so* not ready for it. On the other
hand, Suka-chan's completely recovered, and is annoyingly chipper. "Ready
for classes, Shun?"
Didn't I just say I wasn't?
Anyway, I do manage to drag myself out of bed and get dressed (Suka-chan's
already *left* for classes, so no fear there). When I step outside, it turns
out that I'm not the only one. The blackout really threw everybody off,
between all the confusion, and the simple fact that electric alarm clocks
didn't work. So I feel a little better... if the teachers grade on a curve
(but who'm I kidding here?), I'll be okay.
Certainly better than Furusawa-sempai. He's just driving up on his
motorcycle, and he's smoking! And no, I'm not talking about a pack of
Cabins. I mean honest-to-Kami *smoking*. His face looks like some art
student assaulted him with a charcoal stick, and there's smoke rising from
his clothes and his bike.
I couldn't have been right... could I?
Either way, I'd better make myself scarce. Ogata-sempai's gonna either seek
me out for a prophet, or rip me apart for jinxing Furusawa-sempai.
Besides... oh wow, am I late for class, or what? Bye!
==========
And that's it for now, folks.
This is where the translated manga leaves off, somewhere in the middle of the
first volume, as I understand it. What I'd like to do for future episodes of
Extended Play is to get further episodes translated and put Shun's particular
spin on them. There's a lot of the canon that I (and everyone else who
doesn't speak Japanese) know nothing about. For instance, what makes Nagisa
tick (and more to the point, what makes her go cuckoo every half-hour or so)?
But I'm gonna need help getting the manga translated. And the scary thing is
that this could turn into a meta-project of its own, with me making scans of
the manga volumes I have and sending them to anyone who's willing to
translate the stuff, and then the translations should be put on the web (and
anyone who's visited the Ucchan on-line knows how often I get around to
updating THAT)
Still, this has been the most well-received piece I've ever worked on, and
I'd really like to keep going on it. Besides, there's enough Greenwood fans
out there to make this worthwhile. Anyway, I've already had a few tentative
offers, too, and maybe you'll hear more from Shun-chan after AnimeCentral -
it all remains to be seen.
In the meantime, there is gonna be ACen to deal with (those of you that are
coming, look for 'Natsu-chan and I in our purple delivery shirts); we're
gonna turn the Ucchan into a B&B for the duration (y'can make reservations if
ya wanna, and bring sleeping bags!), not to mention that we're hoping to do
some live recording for Fanfic RadioPlay Productions, too... so things are
gonna be busy around here, and not much of it will be due to Greenwood.
That doesn't mean that the ML will be ignored. Between the con report (which
will have a unique perspective on the whole affair, so I hope someone else
intends to take notes on the stuff *I* miss - and there will be plenty) and
what I hope will be a transcript of 'Whose Line is it (Anime)', y'all will be
hearing plenty from me over the next month or so.
Anyway, till next time, ja!
Itsu mo,
Ucchan ^_^