All With Good Intentions (part 2 of 11)
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A Friend in Need
It was late afternoon one day mid-semester when Natsuki received Shizuru’s letter. She was trying to wade her way through the Tokugawa Era for Japanese History class and wasn’t having much success in the concentration department.
“Oi! Tokiha! Mikoto-chan! Anyone around?” Tate called as he strode in through the front door of the dorm room that Mai, Natsuki and Mikoto shared.
“Mai’s downstairs in the laundry room, Tate. Don’t you ever knock?” Natsuki growled in greeting.
“Why bother? Mai and Mikoto never lock the door anyway,” he smirked.
Natsuki shook her head in frustration. “You are such a pervert. I have no idea what Mai sees in you. Honestly. Now will you PLEASE go drive someone else crazy? I’ve got to get this done before Nakahara-sensei fails me again.”
“Sure, sure. Oh, by the way,” Tate paused and handed the dark-haired girl a small envelope. “This was taped to your door. There isn’t a return address on it, though. I wonder who it’s from?”
Natsuki’s blood turned to ice in her veins. She had a pretty good idea who it was from and had a feeling that wasn’t a good thing.
“As it’s addressed to me and not Mai,” she said, giving Tate her patented death glare, “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
Tate held up his hands in mock surrender. “This is me, backing away from very upset lady. I’d better get going anyway. Chie and Aoi are waiting for us.”
“Double dating again, eh?” Natsuki asked with a barely concealed smirk. She remembered the last time that Mai and Tate went out with Chie and Aoi. Poor Mai said she was scarred for life and Tate had the silliest grin on his face. He kept mumbling something about having a front row seat for the show. Natsuki had the feeling that the couple had experienced an intimate moment between the two girls that was better left unshared.
“Well, Aoi made Chie leave her camera phone in her room after what happened last time. Have fun with your studying. See you later, Natsuki,” he waved to her and walked out the door.
“Finally some damned privacy!” she groaned. “What was I thinking when Mai asked me to room with her?”
She laid the letter on her desk, trying very hard to control the urge to rip it open and read it right then and there. But there was homework to be done and if she didn't get these last couple of chapters read now, it would never get done. Natsuki sighed in frustration and returned to her work. The slow, rather loud ticking of the clock in the living room coupled with large, flowing handwriting on the envelope's front only served to drive her to distraction. After fifteen minutes of staring at the same paragraph, she gave up all pretense of being able to concentrate.
"Bloody hell."
Using the ornate scrimshaw letter opener that Shizuru had given her for Christmas, she quickly tore open the envelope and read the note inside. Her eyes widened in shock and confusion as she scanned the contents.
“Oi…” Natsuki whispered. “What the hell is this?”
She gripped the note until her knuckles turned white. “Oh no you don’t, Fujino Shizuru. You’re not going to lose me that easily.” She grabbed her cell phone and punched in some numbers.
“I need a ticket to Kyoto flying out tonight…yes tonight. Yes, I want to leave right now, the cost doesn’t matter….fine, fine, I’ll hold.”
Natsuki settled her cell phone in the crook of her neck while she typed in the words “Doshisha University” into Google on the laptop Shizuru had given her as a present. “No, you’re not going to get away with that at all,” she murmured.
Onwards to Part 3
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