The Sum of All Parts: Cyan
Nobuyuki Muyo!
Episode 1: No Need For Commitment
"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'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.
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 fell. 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 could run no 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," Kobayashi continued. 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 high school. 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, the Masaki family
did!"
"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 cut the count down to 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 things to eat that were actually edible.
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 or 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, so 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 apron-wearing old man 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 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'd 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?"
"I'm 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 her lips. "I only said that because you were getting all
messed up over 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 yawned. "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 into his dreams, where
it would be lost upon his waking.
To be continued...
=====
w.o.m
TimeRunner's Web Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482
=====
Theory of Diminishing Fanfic Returns:
Actually, as a universal rule, the longer a series runs, the
less C&C it gets. This does not reflect on quality or popularity,
it merely means that it's now taken for granted. Ask any author
of long-running series, and a majority will tell you that their
C&C has dropped off since beginning their project.
In other words, it's business as usual.
-Rod M.