Latest instalment below. *bows deeply*

Chapter 35

Mejiro was a nice restaurant with piano music and everyone there seemed to be there to enjoy themselves and mind their own business. I found Sho and Chiaki already there when I reached the place and they waved to me to ask me to sit with them. After we all placed our order for pasta and other things that I weren’t sure of (because Sho let Chiaki did the ordering for the drinks and the other things), we fell quiet like we didn’t know what to say. I did know what I want to ask, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to say it.

Sho seemed to know that because he immediately rested his elbows on the table and began with what he did know. “Between the three of us, I am confident of piecing together this story. Let us start with what we know. You two know what I have learned about Morimoto Kaoru-san in the course of the research for tonight News Zero’s report. Chiaki revealed on the way here that she is acquainted with Morimoto-san. She wouldn’t tell me more. Now, would someone be so kind as to tell me what’s going on?”

“I want to know that too,” I said, drinking the glass of water in front of me. “How did Chiaki know Kaoru? I know how Kaoru knows Alys because Nino knows about Kaoru too and we let them meet and everything, and they get along really great because Alys likes art too.”

“Let’s rewind for a bit,” Chiaki breathed out a sigh and rubbed the corner of her mouth. “You mean to tell me that: one – you and Kaoru-chan are actually a couple, and two – the Ninomiya-Teng pair is privy to that information?”

I nodded slowly and looked about the decoration of the restaurant to get a sense of the air in there. I didn’t see what was so surprising about that. I knew Kaoru and me were together, and Nino and Alys knew it too. Why was Chiaki so surprised? Ooh! I could smell bread and pizza and some kind of sauce. Smells delicious, I wonder if they will put bonito flakes on my pasta.

“Eh?” Sho cried out, blinking twice very quickly like he didn’t believe it. “Why I haven’t figured it out? Wifey, how did you know?”

Chiaki put a hand over his to tell him to be quieter and patted it softly to calm him. “Elementary, Sho. Ohno-kun just mentioned that Nino is acquainted with Kaoru because he had introduced them. It follows that if Ohno-kun made the introduction to Nino-kun, he would have also done the same by Alys. Those two ladies are sly things. They didn’t breathe a word about it. To think that I had been consorting with them because I thought Kaoru-chan was Alys’s friend.”

“They didn’t tell you?” I asked when the pasta came. I was really surprised. Alys was really good at keeping secrets, and she never told anything I told her about Kaoru to anyone, and I always thought Kaoru was too shy to tell anyone else. But I didn’t know that they would actually not tell anyone. They were really great women, ne? I was really impressed with them.

Sho gave a low whistle and passed Chiaki a napkin. “Just how long have Nino and his better half known?”

“Since the time Jun wanted to follow Nino to Todai to see his mysterious girlfriend,” I answered, biting into the pasta. “Umai! I should bring Okaasan and Kaoru here!”

“And how long as this thing between you and Morimoto-san been going on?’ Sho asked, poking at something on his plate.

“Since we got back from the ‘Time’ summer tour.” I looked up at him. Why was he asking so many questions? Couldn’t I ask a few too? I was about to when Sho burst out laughing very hard.

“You’re truly superb!” he laughed so hard that Chiaki had to wipe the corner of his eyes and poke his arm to get him to stop. “You’ve kept your girlfriend under wraps for so long with none of us the wiser. To think that Nino and Alys would be privy to this too. I’ve always guessed that you would have a wife stashed away someway, but this is too hilarious.”

“But I’m not married – not yet!” I said, taking another bite from my plate.

“And you got together with the woman who designed the set for your butai?” Sho asked like he was hurt. “That was unexpected. Does manager-san know?”

“No one else knows – just Okaasan, Otousan, Nino and Alys,” I said. “She’s not the set designer. She’s really just a postgraduate student or something like that at Geidai.”

“Toyomi Hoshina’s doctoral student in oil painting to be precise,” Sho pointed out. “The dazzling deaf beauty of the Japan’s Art Circuit – that’s what a few art galleries have christened her. And she’s your girlfriend? I’m still flabbergasted by that connection.”

“There are always wheels within wheels in anything to do with the drizzling boys,” Chiaki commented, shaking her head. “I didn’t suspect anything throughout the time I’ve known Kaoru-chan. I saw them on the train one day while going to Ueno Park for sap samples and Alys introduced her as a friend from Geidai. We got off at the Ueno stop where Alys was accompanying Kaoru-chan for an afternoon stroll and sketching session, and we started talking. It was incredible how we just clicked, and before long we were going out for tea and to Butler cafés and whatnot. Ohno-kun, you weren’t mentioned at all, not once.”

Sho used his thumb to wipe the corner of Chiaki’s mouth where the sauce had flicked up on. “I did tell you Alys is discreet. I just didn’t know she could be as silent as the grave. Morimoto-san’s pretty circumspect too. Ohno-kun has chosen well.”

“I think so too!” I grinned. “But what I don’t understand is why Chiaki is modelling for Kaoru. I know Alys did so because Kaoru asked her too”

“That’s simple,” Chiaki explained, putting her straw in with Sho’s drink. “Part of the ‘Reflections’ series encompasses reflections of the ordinary modern woman. Kaoru-chan spoke of wanting to demonstrate that modern women had a lot more going for us than we thought. Her vision of the modern female embraces both the nurturing aspect traditionally associated with womanhood as well as the masculine aspects of the modern woman’s mind. So in the ‘Reflections of Women’ sub-series, all the works therein sought to emphasise the new Athena-Aphrodite hybrid or the new Hera-Artemis hybrid that she thought women should be. Just because we work hard at our careers and can out-think men with our superior intellectual capability doesn’t mean we’re de-sexualised. It was a novel concept and I supported it by agreeing to be her model when she asked me a little before the summer. While you drizzling boys were away cavorting with fangirls, I helped with ‘The Birth of Nature’s Protectress’ piece. I’m very proud of how that turned out.”

Sho smiled tenderly at her and sipped at his drink. “Very entrancing, very tasteful,” he agreed with a nod. “Instead of the birth of Venus from the sea, we have the birth of nature’s protectress from a Sakura tree crushing a tractor with a foot and dissolving half-constructed buildings with a glare. I’m buying that painting as soon as the exhibition allows bids. When you told me you were posing for an artist who was Alys’s friend, I didn’t think that the world would be this small.”

“Kaoru-chan’s work is deeply symbolic and powerful. I enjoyed working with her,” Chiaki added, wiping Sho’s mouth with a roll of her eyes. “As previously mentioned, I did not know she was your girlfriend. If I had known, I would have likely not posed for her. Imagine if word gets out, and the drizzle boys are discovered to have girlfriends tucked away in a corner. Alys is another story altogether. She has strong feelings and would do anything to help a friend and weather all consequences as they came.”

“There’s no need to fear on that account,” Sho declared confidently. “There will be no mention of Ohno-kun in the news report tonight because Morimoto-san made no mention of him in the interview. I will not be so indiscreet as to bring embarrassment to my friend by making a tactless remark on his private life. This is a purely artistic venture that will be frequented, I have no doubt, by the true artists and not the motley crew of plebs who know nothing about the value of art. There will be no censure on either the artist or her models, and there is next to no chance of anyone discovering that two of the models are intimately acquainted with us.”

“Then it’s okay then!” I beamed cheerfully glad that things were all cleared up. Almost everything was cleared up. I was still curious about the painting of the baseball cap entitled ‘Satoshi’. I wanted to ask Sho, but that would only spoil the surprise. I think Kaoru would prefer it if I saw it for myself. It wasn’t so bad now that Sho and Chiaki knew. They wouldn’t go around telling other people about Kaoru and me either.

“While all that’s going swimmingly, I don’t think it’s fair for Morimoto-san that you’re keeping her away from your friends. She might get the impression that you’re ashamed of her because she’s almost deaf,” Sho warned me, just as Chiaki gave him a glance that seemed to say ‘mind-your-own-business’.

I shook my head and smiled while looking at the poster at the back of the restaurant with strange English words with even stranger markings on top of them. “I don’t want anyone to know. It’s just between Kaoru and me. Why should people know? I trust Nino and his sensei; I trust Okaasan and Otousan; I trust Morimoto papa and mama; I trust you and Chiaki. It stops there. I’m not ashamed of her. I just don’t want her to go through what we go through where people look at us like animals in a zoo wondering what we’re like. Kaoru doesn’t need that kind of looks. No one does. I think I can keep everything quiet. I think Kaoru likes it like that too because if there were people looking at her like they look at Arashi then she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on her art anymore. I won’t do anything to take that part of her away from her. So I’m not going to say anything about her. She has her friends too in Geidai and. I’ve seen some of them but never talked to them. They look like nice people. Even Toyomi sensei’s pretty nice. Kaoru has Chiaki and Alys as friends too, so that’s okay. Chiaki and Alys can look after her too.”

Sho looked like he wanted to say something but he didn’t make a sound. He chose instead to wave the waiter for the bill. That only made Chiaki laugh out loud as she poked his arm. “Thank you for shutting him up!” she laughed in approval. “He deserved that. I perfectly understand your admirable sentiments and applaud you for them. There is, however, one residual question I have left.”

“Which is?” Sho asked, suddenly finding his voice again after he paid for the meal.

“The question’s not directed at you,” she waved a hand at him, pretending not to care. “Does Nino know about Alys’s nude?”

“He does.” I firmly nodded. “He wants to see it. Is it good? I’ve not seen it.”

“Neither have I,” Chiaki said, and we both stared hard at Sho who was the only person among us who had seen it.

“What?” Sho opened his eyes widely and backed into his seat. “It’s as tastefully done as Chiaki’s, only a little darker thematically. Nino would appreciate it precisely because it is contrary to the image that we usually have of Alys as a proper no-nonsense professor. You’ll see it when you do,” he grinned when Chiaki lightly pulled on his earring in gentle scolding for not telling her more about the painting. “Anyhow, I must be off. The News Zero studio awaits. Well, Ohno-kun, Chiaki and I will be at the launch tomorrow to loan my support to your girl on our day off. Is Nino going?”

“I’m going with him tomorrow,” I said, not quite sure why Sho was asking so many questions.

“Excellent! Then wifey and I will see you tomorrow.” Sho then hooked Chiaki’s hand on his arm and they both waved goodbye to me.

Now I was really curious as to what else was at Kaoru’s exhibition. I really couldn’t wait for it.

~~~~~more to come shortly~~~~~

Welcome back!!

Gah! So now 2 out of 4 members of Arashi know about Kaoru! It was a very wonderful chapter. I liked when Chiaki and Sho wiped each others mouths.

I think that Sho is the kind to settle into domesticity very easily, so it comes as an extension that he looks out for his 'wifey', slightly hen-pecked though he may be.

This incident did occur in Sho's epilogue; now it's just from Ohno's perspective. Well, you'll see how the rest to react to Kaoru by and by...

heh heh

Dear Shoko,

I hope you won't mind my attitude, but...

finally~ i think we get to see more of the story now, more plot~ hmmm,

i can't wait for more story to reveal and renee-caroline is still not appearing....hmm~ interesting

take care.

cheers
jl2020

Even in my chapters where readers believe 'nothing' happens, there are events hinting at the over-arching plot, or contribute to the thematic structure of the plot, or as a foil to another event that has happened or will happen, or to provide insight into probable situations befalling others. When I write, not a word is wasted, as I intend for every tiny detail to convey a meaning. I never say anything to abandon it.

If I say something in, for example, a certain chapter of Sho's story, it will have a bearing somewhere in the over-arching plot whether in his story or another. This type of literary device is a Chekov's gun. In one of Chekov's plays, he mentioned a gun/rifle kept in a cupboard close to beginning of Act I (only in passing in one line said by a minor charater). Everyone thought it was unimportant and just an unnecessary detail (and Chekov has details for everything), but wait till the very last scene of the last act, and it's importance becomes clear. And people who don't know the play find it boring because it seems to be about the conversations of the people who live in the same house with random references to things they think are just filler.

If you read Samuel Beckett's plays which non-literature students often find boring because 'nothing happens', you will get the 'nothings' are actually somethings, most obviously seen in his Fin de partie. This is especially seen in Waiting for Godot where Godot never appears and Act II repeats Act I but with very small, subtle and nuanced differences and a slight shift in perspectives. But to non-lit students, especially the ones I have had the misfortune to lecture to, they find it a bore, a chore to read, and complain that nothing ever happens. Even more complex are plays like Strindberg's Miss Julie where there are only two characters on stage talking about things, and throughout the play there are a pair of gloves and boots on stage that do not belong to either Julie or her servant, but they serve as a symbol. Symbol of what, readers/playgoers have to figure out for themselves. And when I lectured on the play, most of the students also complained that nothing ever happens until the end. But even then at the end, there is not resolution.

I do not write stories that are 'action-packed' from the first chapter to the very last chapter. It is not me. I develop things slowly, and it is up to the reader to pick things up. I have dramatic irony, analogies, literary mirrors to every situation and foils to every character - all within a very specific and tightly controlled timeline and carefully planned plot. Even domestic scenes of conversation has a meaning and a role to play that goes beyond character development and being 'filler'. However, the subtle nuances are often missed by readers although I have taken pains to make sure they are obvious enough to be noticed but not enough to overshadow what is happening in a specific scenario.

However, I can understand your comment as to the 'plot' that you feel is 'stagnating'. When I lecture at night colleges, I have had students who complain that nothing happens in Plato's Republic. They complain why we have Socrates talking to an old man about death, and hell and making sacrifices to the gods when I keep telling them that the Republic is about justice. Then there are students who complain that nothing happens in the Republic because all everyone does is sit around and talk while observing the festival of some non-Greek peoples as they hold a procession from the harbour to the city centre. But what they don't see is what is written in between the lines. Justice or living a just life means different things to different people, and Socrates talks to othersto get what others' sense of justice is before coming up with a 'just city'. The talk with the old man about gods and making sacrifices is considered just by many Athenians, but the old man is just going through the motions because it is expected of him. More importantly, it mirrors the religious procession of the non-Greeks that is going on in the background. And then there's the fact that the old man is a metic (like a permanent resident, not a citizen) who had assimilated into greek culture. And the fact that the non-Greek religious procession is marvelled upon and indeed tolerated in Book I of the Republic, but by the end of the Republic in Book X, you realise that one of the interlocutors of Socrates who opposes the made-up "just city" Socrates proposes is one of the people who will take over Athens and kill off Socrates. How does Socrates die historically? he was tried in court and accused of corrupting others by "bringing in new gods" into the city. The irony of which is (1) philosophy, a field of study long regarded as essential to greek education is considered a new religion of new gods when socrates go around talking about just etc to others, (2) non-greek religions are welcomed and allowed to have processions but socrates' so-called 'new religion' is condemned and he is sentenced to death, (3) the guy who disagrees with socrates form of a just city later becomes a tyrant in Athens, (4) the old man who is really a permanent resident and not an athenian citizen practiced greek religion to assilimate so that he would not be discriminated on, which is exactly what happens to socrates, (5) socrates is very religious in the traditional greek sense, but he is held to have corrupted those practices. We get a sense of all this but my students still persist in thinking that nothing happens in the Republic because to them, it is boring, has no action because to them, it's just a bunch of guys talking while a procession occurs in the background.

See what I am driving at?



If Renee-Caroline hasn't appeared, there are good reasons. The most obvious reasons are (1) her psychological make-up, (2) her profession. There are at least two additional reasons the readers will have to find out for themselves. She has not been mentioned by name in any of the stories, and if you notice, neither has Jun's novelist. The name given in passing in Nino's story is her nom de plume, and even in Sho's story, it was blink and miss. Only in Ohno's story do we see her properly, even then it is her professional face, not her private face. But we get just a very tiny hint of her uneven temper in Ohno's story. It too is blink and miss, and the readers are supposed to pick this up. The reader is also supposed to pick up on the machination behind the scenes of what actually happened before the rest of Arashi met the novelist. It is not just filler. It foreshadows, it anticipates, it mirrors some aspects of one of the boys' plot (which one, you have to figure out yourself), and it is intended to be a foil to another boy's story. By foil, I mean Plot X mirrors Plot Y but it diverges into something different as a what could have been for Plot Y had things gone this way instead of that.

Think of it like a piano impromptu by Chopin. It sounds like something he just got from his head and started playing. But an impromptu is difficult to play technically because of the calculation that goes on behind it to make it seem like it was gotten off the top of his head and made up on the spot.

Similarly for Renee-Caroline, there have been hints already in Sho's story and indeed in Ohno's story, but she has not been mentioned by name, and no one knows of the connection between her and Aiba as yet. Whether the readers pick up on the hints or not is another matter. I have already stated her profession somewhere, and given a few hints, but whether readers just treat it as "nothing" or "worthless extra information" is something I do not know.

Dear Shoko,

Thank you for your reply. To be honest, this is my second time typing my messege to you, the previous being accidentally deleted without saving. So, at the moment, I am a bit annoyed at my own carelessness. Anyway, returning to the subject.

May I thank you for going through so much detail in explaining your style of writing. I am embarrassed to say that the above mentioned literature works are all unknown to me. I find they have interested me greatly and intend to seek them after my university entrance exams are over. Thank you for introducing them to me and to the other readers. Strangely, I do not know if this is due to your interest in Harry Potter, but your style of writing reflect more or less the same if not similiar as that of J.K. Rowling in her multi-million dollar masterpiece. I'll be reading your stories again to look for the 'hints' you so emphasised numerously then. So far I think Renee-Caroline is someone who is either is or was suicidal or deals with people who are, a social worker perhaps? If so, her profession and the connection with Aiba.......hmmm...... well, I guess what follows is my imagination. Forgive me of my past attitude, I guess my impatient side took over me slightly then and I believe it's because I've been reading too much fluffy fanfic that I lost focus of yours since they are as you noted are more 'action-packed'. Before I excuse myself, may I repeat myself that I feel very happy, yes very grateful to be able to read your work which has brought me so much delight as well as new vocabulary and knowledge. Please don't feel discouraged about your readers not being able to pick up the hints you left in your stories.

Take care and may health and fortune be with you always.

Your faithful and happy reader,
jl2020

My dear jl2020,

I personally feel my style is more stilted and formal than Rowling's works, and I tend to experiment with different narrative voices. I only pay homage to Rowling through fanfiction, and even then, my style varies from murder mysteries, fluffy romances, tragedies, a Jacobean (16th C) style play in verse, and psychological drama.

In day-to-day life, I write letters (snail mail) and the language is very 18th-early 20th century), which does influence the stylistic nuances of how I plan my stories. My verbal language tends to be dated, as many will tell you. Language-wise, I tend to be very academic in first drafts as it comes with the job description of what I do.

From what I gather in various reviews of my writings as a whole, my style tends to be philosophical (unintentionally, I assure you) and harkens to the formality of the 19th C to early 20th C writings while adapting the irony that is frequently highlighted in the plays written in the 'theatre of the absurd' genre.

Perhaps the similairity (real or imagined) is due to more "English" as opposed to "American" style of phrasing and grammar rules. I have noted from experience, that the manner of sentence construction, paragraphing, wording and even word definitions vary (I personally believe) greatly across the two forms of English.

[Believe me, I have had very strange experiences with the clash of English forms, lately the more humorous forms of Americans at a local pub watching football (EPL) and asking why don't the men pick up the ball and them loudly saying "tyre" is wrong and should be "tire" but that is another story for another time... Or email and if I can find the time, I may entertain a correspondence.]

Story ends at Ch 41 and omake to follow. I'll post when I can but the exigencies of editorial/translation and being "in the can" for ghostwriting takes a lot out of me.


Chapter 36

The next morning, I woke up fresh and excited to go to the gallery for Kaoru’s works. I would have gone straight after waking up if Okaasan didn’t shout for me to remind me that I was still in pyjamas.

“Satoshi! Do not think of going out of the house like that! You’re not even wearing underwear under your pyjamas!” Okaasan yelled from the kitchen. I looked down at my pyjama pants and felt my butt. Hey, she was right! Oh yeah, I never wear underwear to sleep anyway.

Dragging my feet back in the house, I sat down at the table and grinned at my mother. “It’s still too early, ne? The gallery only opens at eleven.”

Okaasan shook her head at me and put down breakfast in front of me. “Eat, brush your teeth, shower, and wear the suit I pressed for you. When you’re ready, tell me and we’ll go pick up son and daughter-in-law number two.”

“Why are we going to pick up Nino and Alys? Aren’t they coming here?” I asked while eating. “Nino doesn’t have to work today either. We all have the day off.”

Okaasan removed her apron and lightly smacked the back of my head. “Daughter-in-law number two has work! She teaches until noon today. We’re going to pick her up with Kazunari-kun. Have some consideration! Not everyone has the same schedule you do!”

Oh yeah! I forgot that Nino wanted to go to the exhibition with Alys, and I forgot that she had to work too. I forget things like that a lot of the times. Never mind. Okaasan knows what to do. If she says we go later, then we go later. But first, I need to finish breakfast, wash up and then pick Nino and Alys up from where they are.

It didn’t take me long to get ready, and I even checked that I had sunglasses on and everything I needed in my pockets. By time I was okay, Okaasan was waiting with the taxi. She kept reminding me to behave myself because Kaoru’s exhibition meant a lot to her and all her professors would be there and it wouldn’t be nice if I said something silly or played a joke there while with Nino. I just nodded at everything she said until we came to the Todai building where Okaasan said Alys’s office was. As I couldn’t see them anywhere, I thought it would be better if I called Nino’s keitai.

Two rings later, he answered sounding like he was annoyed, “What is it, old man?”

“Okaasan and me – we’re downstairs Alys’s office in the taxi,” I explained, wondering where he and his girlfriend were.

“She’s trying to tabulate the student scores for a test before she leaves,” he said like that was something I should understand. The marks were already there on the test, deshou? Why should they be tabulated?

“Eh? Does that mean you’re not coming with us?” I asked, just to make sure.

“Don’t be facetious!” Nino snapped and then laughed because Alys said something like ‘less jabbering or I’ll throw you out’ in the background. “Come up to her office. She won’t take much longer. Follow the signs and take the lift up. Philosophy department. You can’t miss it. It’s so idiot-proof that even Aiba would succeed.”

“Okay then,” I said and hung up.

Thinking that maybe Alys needed help with tabulating her students’ marks, I told Okaasan I was going up to fetch Nino and Alys and followed the signs until I came to the Philosophy department. The door with her name was easy enough to find and I just thought they would be in there because I could hear them talking sarcastically to each other about numbers, so I just turned the handle and went in. The door didn’t make much noise and she didn’t seem to notice or care.

“74,” Nino said, looking up at me to close the door and take a seat.

“Next, 34, 0, 45.5. The mean stays the same,” she said, without looking up at me as I sat down and tried to smile at them.

Her office was cramped with books on shelves nearly everywhere. Not all the shelves had books, some had books and CDs and photographs with her and two other older women in them. Alys’s desk was rather messy with a computer to one side, stacks of papers bending this way and that, three files of different colours labelled with a combination of alphabets and numbers, and a penholder. She was seated facing the door, looking down at something at her desk and tapping her pen at something there and looked like she was mumbling something. Nino was seated by the side armrest of her chair, with a calculator in one hand and his other hand resting at the top of her chair. They seemed to be working on something to do with money, I think, seeing how Nino had a calculator in hand. They were usually talking about money. I once heard them say that houses in a certain district were too expensive to buy. I didn’t see why they were talking about houses, but I could never really keep up with their talk about money anyway.

“81.3. Round it down to 81,” he answered, looking down at the something she was writing on and running a finger down her neck. Ah, that was normal for them. I was used to that. But there was something strange. So, while they were like that, I took a closer look at them.

It wasn’t surprising to see them like that with him almost leaning over in her chair and she busy at work. That was normal for them. Sho always said that for all their insults, Nino and Alys respected each other’s work. I was more surprised that they had decided to dress kind of alike. I didn’t know whether it was Nino’s idea or her idea. But they were dressed alike – they were both in black jeans, boots and long sleeved white shirts – his had no collar, but hers did, and that was not really surprising because Alys liked collars and she liked to teach in pants although she sometimes wore long skirts, and she liked wearing low heel boots sometimes because she said it was easier to kick Nino that way. What I found unsual was that they were dressed like how Nino liked to dress when we went for shows on television. Strange, ne? She had a kind of longish dark grey cardigan-ish thing on with a long, thin black scarf loosely hanging around her neck. Nino had a purplish-greyish cardigan long-ish cardigan on (with pockets, I saw) over his white shirt and a light grey long, thin scarf thing around his neck.

“51 for Ueda,” he said, giving me a quick smirk as she wrote something at her desk. Ah! So it wasn’t money. It was student marks. Nino was helping her with it. No wonder he sounded annoyed just now.

“How did he do that well?” Alys sneered, her voice sounding very cross. “He doesn’t come for class, and dares to sit for the test without studying. I thought I failed him.”

“You did,” Nino said, putting down the calculator and pointing at something on the paper. “But he passed here – barely, but still a pass.”

She made a ‘pfft’ sound of dislike and flicked her hand in front of her. “I hope he never takes my courses again. He’s pulling down the curve for my students.”

Nino gave a sarcastic laugh and pushed the stick in her hairbun. “Everyone wants to be in Teng sensei’s class because she’s good. The philosopher’s philosopher, ne?”

“Whoever coined that sobriquet should be drug out into the streets and clubbed to death with a heavy bottom saucepan. The pressure on my head because of that is driving me mad,” she complained, tapping her pen on the paper.

“No one will say bad things about you, Manager-san promised, ne? No one can possibly despise you as much as I do.”

“Not if I grind your bones first, freeloader. Next name?”

“Okay, Yamada – last one – 74,” Nino said, and chucked aside the calculator on the desk. “Oh-chan’s here, by the way.”

“I heard the door, freeloader. Hey there, Ohno-kun, sorry to keep you waiting. However, this thing couldn’t wait,” Alys smiled at me in apology as she got up and waved the sheet she had been writing on.

Nino put on a beanie and sunglasses, took her briefcase and passed her the handbag. “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

“If you’re not there, I’ll hunt you down and kill you,” she warned with a smirk, pushing up her glasses as we stepped out of her office. “Lock up and wait,” she told Nino, giving him the keys as she walked quickly down the passageway and into the main office.

“It’s my chance to flee from you, cynical little witch. You’ll never see me again!” he called after her.

“Good riddance!” she hissed with a flick of her wrist without looking back.

“Don’t fight with her. I don’t like it,” I pouted.

“Nah, this is normal for us. It only means she’ll meet us at the lift,” Nino explained as he locked the door.

“Why are you and Alys dressed alike today?” I asked when we walked towards the lift with our arms on each other’s shoulder and Nino swinging her briefcase lightly.

“I lent her my clothes. The only things belonging to her on her person today are her underwear and trousers,” Nino shrugged and pressed the button for the lift.

“Eh? I thought you leave clothes at each other’s place.”

“The only things she’s left at my place are clean underwear, pyjamas, stockings, and that half bottle of her eau de toilette.” He shrugged again and then smirked when we saw her come out of the main office. “Besides, I like dressing her. Kami-sama must have a sick mind – why do women look better in men’s shirts than we do?”

“Eh? But Alys in your clothes? Okay, nevermind that. Why did she stay over? It’s not nice to tell your girlfriend to stay with you when she has work and you don’t,” I pointed out with a pout, shaking my head at his treatment of Alys.

Nino snorted to swallow a laugh. “Matter of honour, Ojisan. She stayed over last night to play latest Warhammer expansion pack on the PS2. Would you believe, she believes her drow was better than my dwarf! Elves are overrated for these kinds of games I tell you.”

“That’s because you prefer melee weapons over long range ones,” Alys scoffed as she stepped into the lift with us and tried to roll up the sleeve of the cardigan thing she had on.

“Like you did any better with your chaotic good character,” Nino returned when the lift went down, and folded one side of the sleeves for her.

She tucked the rest of his hair under his beanie and shook her head with an evil smirk. “Your true neutral dwarf wasn’t making headway in the quest last time I checked.”

“Yeah, we’ll see who completes that side quest first,” Nino smirked back as we got out of the lift and dashed into the taxi where Okaasan was waiting.

“Sincere apologies, Obaasama,” Alys said with a thin smile and a very, very faint blush. “The department wanted the scores in by the end of the day, so I figured that…”

“Since she was taking off for the day anyway, she might as well do everything she was supposed to do before leaving,” Nino continued for her and dragged her hand over to Okaasan. “Could you please help with this sleeve? I couldn’t get it to fold right.”

Okaasan threw her hands up with a small sigh when the taxi drove in the direction of Geidai. I knew what that sigh meant. Okaasan was probably wondering what’s wrong with Nino and Alys. The guys all did – I didn’t though. They were very normal to me, or maybe that was because I was used to Nino. I couldn’t and didn’t pay much attention to Okaasan gently chiding Nino for spoiling his eyesight by playing his game in the taxi or nagging at Alys to have a plastic bag on standby in case she got carsick (and she did – she had what Sho called motion sickness). I was thinking about the exhibition and whether Kaoru would be as proud of her work as I was already proud of her.

~~~~~more to come shortly~~~~~

Dear Shoko,

Thank you for your update as always. I understand the pressure you are currently in and to my dismay, I have my trial exams this coming week and so I think I have to refrain myself from stalking this forum. Ohh, how it pains me!

Good luck with everything and take care.

Cheers
jl2020

I just caught up with the series now.

Aiba-chan's appearances seemed to have lessened, but then, he's not in this part of the story, right?

Wonderful chapters, as always! <333333333333

Loved this chapter as well, especially because of the wonderful Alys-chan/Nino interaction!

Goes to show that even Nino and Alys do have their moments of normalcy. heh.

Chapter 37

It was a very strange feeling to know that my girlfriend was a real artist with everything going for her and that I had helped her there by accident. I mean, I didn’t really think about anything for her artistic future when I asked the Amatsukaze butai people to credit Kaoru for the design of act two. I had only thought that I should give her the acknowledgement that she was owed. She did read the script with me and draw some designs that she thought would help me get into the mood of things in the play. I didn’t know that it would launch her as an artist, but I was happy that I did so. Kaoru’s talent was something that everyone should see for themselves. That was the feeling I got when we arrived at the Geidai University Art Museum.

It wasn’t a very popular museum. Not many people went to serious art museums to look at art. That’s what Kaoru once told me. The moment Okaasan paid the taxi man and we stepped in, I saw that it was true. There were people around, but not that many. When we got to the Founder’s Hall where the exhibition was held, there were more people but not really a crowd like at my exhibition. Everyone there looked like a serious artist. They didn’t quickly go through one display to the next like some of the fans did at Freestyle. But these visitors were taking their time. The security person took our tickets and scanned them and we went in to find Chiaki and Sho staring at the photo section of the exhibit. Sho was looking rather bored and Chiaki was trying to find out the deeper meaning behind the piece.

Toyomi sensei said hello to Okaasan and took her to the section holding the chalk and charcoal sketches. That left us alone to talk, which was good because I don’t really think Okaasan wants to move about with us. It would look really suspicious, ne? Anyway, Nino, Alys and me just waved to Sho and tried to see what Chiaki was staring at.

“What do you think that says?” Chiaki said, tilting her head to the side to look at a large photo installation.

“The message is probably known only to the artist. Can we sit now or at least go see the paintings proper?” Sho whined, waving to us as he mouthed ‘save-me’ and smiled weakly. “Ohno-kun and the Ninomiyas are here.”

“Don’t call us that! I do not intend to give up my surname,” Alys said coldly, looking like she would have smacked Sho at the back of his head if Nino had not put a hand on her butt.

“In Todai or any university, you can stay Teng sensei, but I like the thought of us being the Ninomiyas – makes us sound noble, ne? Cheaper than buying a title,” he smirked, squeezing where he had just put a hand.

“No, it just links my name with a contemptuous worm’s,” she hissed, slapping off his hand. “Stop that! I did not give you permission to do that.”

“I’m not doing anything,” he smirked, putting his hands in his pockets and slouching.

“What did you do this time,” Sho sighed and gave Nino a warning look.

I explained and looked at the photo Chiaki had been studying. “He groped her behind.”

“You shouldn’t be doing that in public,” Sho warned with a sigh and a shake of his head. “Why are you two dressed like that? It’s going to draw attention to you. People might think you’re demented fraternal twins.”

“It’s a matching couple outfit – his and his,” Nino smirked as he tried to get Alys to turn around to face Sho by whispering something in her ear that made her push up her glasses. I think he wanted to show Sho how well-matched they were. I didn’t think that was a good idea because Alys never liked to be interrupted when she was in the middle or reading, writing, playing games or studying something.

“Surely, you mean his and hers. Freudian slip, freeloader?” she asked in a tone I didn’t like.

I almost warned him that tone was trouble when Nino jumped back and covered his face with his hands. Eh? What happened? Nino only did that when he was embarrassed. Did Alys do something or say something to him?

“Tell me you did not just do that, conniving witch!” he snapped at Alys but without sounding angry.

“Oh, but I did, darling,” she purred, making Chiaki turn her head and look strangely at Alys. It was never good when Alys used that tone on Nino. It only meant he was going to get kicked, hit with a bag, beaten with a book or something equally bad.

“What did you do?” Chiaki and Sho asked after exchanging looks of worry. I was worried too. Nino and Alys sometimes scared the people around them. Jun would only say that it was how they showed love, but I think it’s not very nice to frighten their friends.

Nino uncovered his face and squeezed her behind again, making her turn to whisper something to him that made him laugh. “She grabbed the delicate parts where I occasionally molest Riida.”

I looked down at myself at the mentioned parts and looked up again in shock. “You mean?”

“Revenge is always sweet,” Alys purred before stuffing her hands in her pockets.

“Can the two of you be better behaved?” Sho complained and shook his head.

Before anyone could say anything, Chiaki repeated her question on the photograph and what it meant. I was about to tell her what I thought it meant when Alys interrupted.

“While time does not wait for any man, time for the true pleasures of life may always be found,” Alys answered, placing an arm around Chiaki’s waist. “It’s poetic – observe the discordant colours and the way everything in the background moves too fast to be seen, and then it hits you when you see that single half rotted apple.”

Chiaki seemed to agree because she paused for a while and nodded. “Has your hubby been taking liberties with you again? You really should lay the ground rules with him,” she suggested playfully, putting an arm over Alys. Their boyfriends and I just stared at them. I had no idea they had become so close. I knew they had struck up a friendship because they read the same kind of josei manga. But then again, Alys read Nino’s manga too because he sometimes complained that Alys took the latest volume of Bleach or D.Gray Man or something. I could only stare and blink a few times at them. The two of them reminded me of something.

“That worm of no consequence?” Alys snorted with a careless wave of her hand.

“I resent that!” Nino said, resting his head on her shoulder.

“You should, Maggoty Freeloader!” she hissed, flinging him away and I saw that she had on the pearl pendant necklace Nino asked me to design for her.

I noted that while Alys didn’t like being referred to along with Nino as ‘the Ninomiyas’, she didn’t say anything about Chiaki’s joke that he was her husband. That was very strange. But then again, Nino and Alys were very strange together.

“You could have told me about Kaoru’s true relationship vis-à-vis you and your hubby,” Chiaki sighed as the two of them moved to the next photograph, their arms still around each other.

“Please do not make it sound like a ménage a trois! I wouldn’t marry, not in this lifetime. Philosophy is all I need,” Alys laughed one of her rare laughs and I saw that it made Nino smile instead of smirk.

“It just comes out that way, but you know what I mean,” Chiaki said as they pointed at something in the photo. I wonder what they found interesting there. But I was too busy trying to see if Kaoru was around somewhere.

“I’m as silent as the grave when I have to be – comes from experience and observation, necessary for survival and whatnot,” Alys said seriously, pushing up her glasses. It was a habit I think. Sometimes I think she doesn’t have to push them up, but she always pushes it up every now and then.

“Imagine the secrets between you and Nino about Kaoru, and not a word to me…” Chiaki pretended to complain.

“Enough with the ménage a trois jokes,” Alys laughed and then her voice became serious again. “If I ever find out he has a bit of fluff stashed on the side…”

“You’ll kill her, yes, I can see that you’re capable of that,” Chiaki agreed, patting Alys’s shoulder as they stopped to tilt their heads together at the photo.

“You’ve got it wrong. I’ll kill him and stop the rot there. Much more effective, you understand,” Alys commented seriously.

Sho and I looked at each other and did not dare blink. That sounded very violent, and I know Alys had a temper because Aiba said he once saw Nino and Alys fighting over money. She was really as bad as Nino sometimes. But Nino – he didn’t seem surprised at all. He only smirked like he was proud of himself, like she had just told him she loved him or something, which she didn’t. She just threatened to kill him if he was unfaithful. She even made sure that we could hear it – that he would hear it. So I didn’t understand why he was happily smirking in such a smug way.

“Is it me or is my Alys-chan and your Chiaki as Ohmiya as me and Captain?” Nino asked Sho, leaning on my shoulder, still happily smirking.

Sho groaned, covered his face with a hand, and shook his head. “Your girlfriend just threatened to kill you if you have a mistress and you’re not bothered?”

“Why should it? I don’t have any one else. That’s the kind of woman we should have – a woman who knows what’s hers and keeps it that way. I know she won’t take my shit, and she knows I won’t take her shit. We are very open about these things.” Nino smirked and stepped forward to take Alys’s briefcase as they walked to side-by-side to the painting section without actually touching. He said something to her and I saw her hit him several times with her handbag, which only made him laugh.

I just stared at them and then looked at Chiaki and Sho, who only shook their heads at each other.

“They’re possessive about each other even though they deny it.” Chiaki shook her head again with a laugh as she stuck her chin out in the direction of Nino and Alys. “Well, Ohno-kun, where’s your artist of a girlfriend?”

“I don’t know,” I pouted sadly. “I’ve not been able to spot her anywhere. Maybe she’s not here and having a class.”

“There, there,” Chiaki comforted, taking Sho’s arm as she always did – I think it was a habit with them; it was exactly how Nino and Alys liked to say nasty things to each other. “If we circulate for a little more, we might find her. There’s still the oils section. I want to see how the nudes turned out under these lighting conditions.”

Sho immediately grinned on hearing the word ‘nudes’. I couldn’t be surprised with that. I once saw him doing nothing but watch porn all day while we were on tour, and he still does from time to time. I don’t really like the porn Sho watches. They weren’t very good. When Nino and I found Sho watching it again in our latest summer tour, we took one look and went ‘Eh? That’s interesting? How?’ I don’t think it’s natural to twist in some positions and certainly not at funny angles. It looked painful. Nino said that it only led people to think that women didn’t have fuzzy bits when they actually did. We didn’t tell Chiaki because I didn’t think it’s nice to tell her that Sho actually watches porn, but then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chiaki knew. She once came to JE Central to pick Sho up for their date and found Aiba watching porn in our room with Jun shouting at him that it wasn’t nice if the management found out about his office lady and dental nurse fantasies, and me trying to ignore them and draw something. Chiaki only said something like, “Ah, men and their porn! Don’t over do it or it will give you unrealistic expectations or you could masturbate yourself to death, which has been documented to happen.” Aiba didn’t dare to watch porn for a long while after that.

So, we went to see the oils. I found all of them very modern, and a lot were very depressing, especially one with a female death reaper knocking off the masks of salarymen who had no faces under their masks. I wonder who posed for that one because it was nude from the front. But that wasn’t important. We found Chiaki’s nude next and it was better than Sho described. It looked like one of those old Italian paintings Kaoru once showed me in picture books she had in the postgraduate art studio. The makeup was very heavy and it emphasised the angles of Chiaki’s cheeks and her strong chin. I liked how Kaoru had used a lightning bolt striking the Sakura tree and Chiaki’s pose to cover the important places while bursting out and stomping on a tractor and melting a half-built building with a glare. After a nude entitled ‘Writing a blank history’ where a woman was writing a book on her lover’s back with his blood, and another nude called ‘Walking on broken glass’, we came to Alys’s nude. It should be her nude because the pose of the back was the same as the sketch that had been sent to Nino. Where was Nino? Didn’t he want to see this? There was a little sticker next to the title of ‘The Philosopher’s Secret’ that said: Not for sale. Ah! That must be because Alys was buying it for Nino; her letter while we were on tour said so.

It was a lot more depressing than Chiaki’s nude, Sho was right about that. There wasn’t a lot of light in the painting. The room and the background and everything except the model was made up of books that twisted around like spiral staircases and right at the back there was a shadow with a hand stuck out towards the subject. The shadow was all black and grey except for the hand that was stretched out. There was a deep looking cut there and although the wound looked fresh, it wasn’t dripping with blood. The injured hand was stretched to the subject like it was begging for help. I didn’t really think the subject was Alys if I didn’t know her. It was different. The makeup was as heavy as Chiaki’s makeup in her painting and her hair was very wild like she had let it loose and just woken up in it, and her eyes were both taunting and warning at the same time. I didn’t know Alys could look at people like that. It was the kind of painting where you thought the eyes were following you. That scared me a little, but then, Alys did scare me a little sometimes just like Nino scared me sometimes. Her lips were blood red and you could tell that the finger at her lips was also smeared with red lipstick or was it blood? It could be blood – Kaoru liked to depict blood in her work. Chotto matte! It was blood! I could see a thin trail of blood coming down the finger on her lips and a few drops on the book she had in her other hand. I thought this painting was about the philosopher’s secret – that Nino was Alys’s secret. If so, why was there blood? Then Sho gave a kind of laugh like he was trying not to.

“Xenophon’s Anabasis,” he pointed out to Chiaki with an arm around her shoulder. “The first book he bought her.”

“That means he’s the shadow and she’s sucking his blood?” Chiaki looked at the painting, frowned and then shuddered. “Alys as a vampiress? She wants to suck him dry and leave him an empty shell? That’s a mental image I rather not have. It reminds me of La belle dame sans merci.”

“I told you it was much darker than yours, and that image is something that could be Alys. She does some rather perverse streaks in her,” Sho grimaced.

I didn’t understand what Sho and Chiaki were saying, but I did know that the painting wasn’t as depressing as they made out to be. “Iya,” I said with a pout as I turned my head to look at the painting from a different angle. “Not a vampire. The wound isn’t bleeding anymore. It means she stopped it from bleeding. I think it means to say that the woman philosopher knows her stuff – that’s why there are all these books, and that she only believes in things that come from suffering, that’s why the book she holds has blood on it. But it also means that the woman philosopher’s secret is that she knows how to take the suffering from the one she cares for and make it better. That’s her secret.”

Sho stared at me like he didn’t believe I just said what I did. “That’s very insightful, Ohno-kun, a very refreshing interpretation.”

“I know,” I smiled, glad that someone thought so. “Now I want to find Okaasan and Kaoru. Any idea where they are?”

“We’ll find them eventually. Don’t you want to see the painting she titled after you?” Sho asked, steering me and Chiaki away from the nudes section to another part of the gallery where there were just ordinary oil paintings. I didn’t like being steered around when I wanted to find Okaasan, but when I saw the first piece in that section, I couldn’t do anything else. I just had to look it.


Notes

La belle dame sans merci is a poem by John Keats. For more information on its symbolism, meaning, please refer to

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Then make the connection between the poem and the portrait.

The pictures sound gorgeous! Annddd....I kinda have a couple guesses about the other people in the paintings, but, Hee!
An excellent chapter! I can really see the portraits in my head! My favorite would probably be the Grim Reaper one though.