Sixteen Going on Seventeen
Come to the dorm. It’s an emergency. Please hurry.
-Shizuru
That was the message I had received on my cell five minutes ago. That was the message that had effectively caused me to abruptly cut my meeting with Yamada short, run out of the bar and go speeding down the road, through red lights I might add, towards the school. I had tried calling the girl at first, but when she didn’t pick up I began to get worried, that anxiousness leading me to where I was now.
I’m almost there, Shizuru…
A few minutes later, the dorm building came into sight. I pushed my bike even faster to close the distance, and nearly flipped myself when I made the turn into the parking lot. Cutting the engine, I ignored removing any of my gear as I ran into the building and up the small flight of stairs to Shizuru’s floor. I didn’t even bother with knocking on the door when I came upon 208, I just burst right through to see…
Shizuru. Sitting on the couch. Casually reading a book.
“Ara, that was fast.”
My helmet was off in a second, “Y-You’re perfectly fine?!”
“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?” the Kyoto native questioned as she closed her book and placed it on the nearby table.
“You just sent me a message that—I thought you were—“
“Yes…?”
“I THOUGHT YOU WERE HURT OR SOMETHING!”
“Is that why Natsuki came so quickly?”
“Well, yeah!”
“How sweet,” Shizuru smiled.
“NO! Not sweet! I was freaking out! Not to mention I was in the middle of something important. I don’t have time for these dumb jokes,” I snapped back, turning to make my leave.
The chestnut-haired beauty was quick to stop me, grabbing me by the arm, “Wait! I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but I did call you here for something very important, and that isn’t a joke.”
“What?” I curtly asked, my tone full of irritation.
“Do you know what today is?”
“Huh?”
“Do you know what today is?” she pressed again.
I squinted at her, “A Wednesday? Maybe? I don’t know…”
“So you really don’t know…”
“Would you just get to the point already?!”
Retreating to her closet, I watched as Shizuru retrieved a box, came walking back over, and promptly held the thing out to me.
“Happy Birthday, Natsuki.”
I raised an eyebrow at her, our gaze fixed even as I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone. Sliding the thing open, I peered down at the small screen that revealed to me that it was indeed August 15, the very day I had been born on seventeen years ago.
“How did you…” I began as I met burgundy eyes once again while placing the device back into my pocket.
“Did Natsuki forget? I am the President of the Student Council…I have access to all the student’s records…So what do you think I did when I first received my computer?”
I blushed at her words, “Um…pulled up my profile…?”
“Correct!” Shizuru chimed with a tilt of her head, her smile broadening. “Now, are you going to accept my gift or not?”
“S-Sorry…” I stammered as I took the box, allowing the girl to lead me over to the couch to sit down.
After setting my helmet on the floor and slipping out of my gloves, I began to remove the blue wrapping paper that was delicately covering the box. Once it was discarded and the box was opened, I pulled out a few pieces of tissue paper before holding up the black sweater that was inside.
“I actually got it for you when I went to Kyoto last year, but I never got the chance to give it to you,” Shizuru noted, leaning in a little closer as she spoke.
“Thanks.”
“There is more, you know.”
To my baffled expression, the girl merely chuckled before pointing at the box. Removing a few more pieces of the thin tissue paper, the next items that I laid my eyes upon were quite an odd pairing: a video game, Final Fantasy XII, and a midnight blue knee-length negligee. My expression must have intensified tenfold since Shizuru began laughing at me yet again.
“The guy at the store said it was a new release. I don’t know too much about games, so I hope that you’ll like that one. And as for that,” my friend pointed to the unmentionable, “it’s for your new collection. I know that your old one was stolen during that whole lingerie burglar mess.”
More like DESTROYED…
Ignoring the dreadful memory, I smiled, “Thanks, Shizuru. But you really didn’t have to get me so much…”
“I wanted to,” came the honest reply. “Now, try it on.”
My eyes widened, “Wh-Which…one…”
Shizuru jiggled her eyebrows at me, and my jaw slackened.
She laughed, “The sweater, silly. I want to see if it fits.”
I sighed in relief as I stood, placing the box on the couch before I removed my jacket and unzipped the top half of my suit, “It’s not like you could return it after all this time anyway.”
“I know, but I want to see how keen of an eye I really have,” Shizuru answered with a wink.
I rolled my eyes at her before slipping the article over my head. After properly situating the sweater on me, I turned back to Shizuru.
“It’s…perfect.”
The buyer beamed and gave me a triumphant nod, “Of course.”
“And you figured out my size just by looking at me?”
“Hm, well, I guessed that we were about the same size, so I judged it that way.”
“I see…”
“Well then, you don’t happen to have a change of clothes with you, do you?”
“No…Why?”
“Because we have a dinner reservation at seven,” came the calm response as Shizuru made her way over to her closet.
“What?! Where?”
“Da-Carlo’s.”
“That Italian place downtown?”
“Mmh. You do like pasta, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but…Well, I figured you’d want to go to some high-end place.”
The brunette pulled out a white and lilac summer dress and began walking towards the bathroom, “Oh I was, but then I figured that you wouldn’t be too comfortable in a place like that.”
“How considerate of you…” I replied, my words laced with sarcasm as Shizuru disappeared behind the door.
As Shizuru changed, I packed my gifts back into their box and suited up for the ride back into town. It didn’t take her too long to prep herself after she had come back out, and in just a few minutes we were heading out the door. After our belongings were secured in the back compartment of my bike and helmets were properly in place, we straddled my Ducati.
“I’d make sure to tuck your dress under you pretty tightly…unless you just feel like flashing everyone we drive by.”
I received a playful slap on the shoulder, “Natsuki! Promise me you’ll drive slow.”
“If I drive slow we’ll never make it in time, especially since we’re having to stop by my place first.”
“Then at least driveslower than usual for my sake, please?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I assured her before revving the engine, and after I felt the girl snake her arms around my waist, we took off.
“I wonder why Natsuki loves this thing so much…” I mumbled to myself as I shifted the bar, causing the front wheel to turn back and forth.
“Don’t tell me you want to drive…”
I snapped my head in the direction of the voice and was met with amused emerald orbs. I watched as Natsuki trotted over to me, now adorned in a pair of light denim blue jeans and a simple black form-fitting t-shirt, slowing down to a walk once she was close.
“I don’t think you would let me even if I said yes,” I said, handing the raven-haired girl her helmet.
“Heh, yeah, not until you’ve had some lessons,” Natsuki stated, swinging her leg over the bike after I had moved back on the seat.
I wrapped my arms back around her waist, “Is Natsuki offering to teach me?”
She glanced over her shoulder, “Do you really want to learn how?”
“I don’t see why not,” I replied with a small shrug.
“I’ll think about it…Another time though, we’d better hurry.”
The two of us took to the road again, but the traffic slowed us down quite a bit. Once we reached the restaurant, Natsuki dropped me off to claim our table while she parked. It didn’t take long for me to be seated, making sure to keep a lookout for my friend. A couple of minutes later Natsuki entered, and I immediately stood and waved her over.
“Did you find a close spot?”
“Relatively,” she answered as she sat down.
Before our conversation could continue, a waiter came up to our table, “Good evening, ladies, my name is Toshiro and I’ll be your server tonight. May I ask what you’d like to drink?”
“Water, please,” I told the young man who probably wasn’t much older than myself.
“I’ll have the same,” Natsuki followed.
“Alright…” the waiter stated, “And would you like an appetizer?”
I looked across the table expectantly.
Natsuki straightened, “I don’t care.”
“Neither do I.”
“I guess not then?”
“Okay. I’ll be back in a moment.”
In an instant, the man disappeared. Picking up our menus, both Natsuki and I remained relatively silent as we scanned the things. Every now and then I would glance over the top of mine to gaze at the biker, her expression of absolute concentration entertaining me to no end. She really was quite adorable with that little frown on her face.
Eventually I set my menu back down on the table, which inevitably alerted the other girl, “You’ve decided already?”
“I think I’m just going to get a salad,” I told her, “What about you?”
“The fettuccini, or maybe the rigatoni…I can’t decide…”
“Well, you’d better hurry,” I commented, spotting our waiter returning with our drinks.
After setting our glasses down, the man proceeded to pull out his notepad, “Have you decided on what you’d like?”
“Yes, I’ll have the Caesar salad with vinaigrette,” I requested, handing the menu to Mr. Toshiro.
The waiter jotted down my order before turning to Natsuki, “And for you?”
“Eh…I guess I’ll have the rigatoni…” she weakly responded.
After taking the girl’s menu, the man bowed politely, “You’re food should be out shortly.”
The rest of the evening was filled with good food, casual conversation, one very serious debate about my “addiction to tea”, as Natsuki put it, and my small victory of getting the girl to feed me across the table without her being even remotely aware of what she was doing. I was certainly thankful for my masking abilities since otherwise my broad smile would have surely given me away.
Once we had both finished and I had paid for our meal, which brought up the topic of Natsuki still owing me dinner, we exited Da-Carlo’s and began making our way to where the girl had parked her bike.
“Why didn’t I just pay for tonight so we could be even?”
“Because tonight was a special occasion. You still owe me though.”
“Yeah, yeah,” the emerald-eyed girl waved me off, “So, do you have any other plans for tonight that I’m unaware of?”
“No, not really,” I replied, swinging my purse to hit her on the arm repeatedly.
Natsuki gave me a weird look, but chose to simply ignore my childish act, “So, are we going back to your place?”
“Already? But it’s still early…”
“Hmm…Fine, I know where we can go.”
“Oh?”
“There’s this park just outside of town. I’ve never actually stopped by, but it seems like a nice place to just relax.”
“Lead the way.”
I sat myself down on one of the colorful swings, pumping my legs to gain some momentum as Shizuru stood leaning against one of the metal poles holding up the swing set.
“So, has Natsuki had a good birthday?”
“Yeah, for once.”
“What do you mean?”
“I guess I just don’t have too many fond birthday memories like most kids.”
Shizuru took a seat in the swing to my right, looking at me curiously as she began to swing her legs, “Not even one?”
I pondered the question for a moment and let out a small laugh at one particular memory, “Well, maybe one…When I was four, my parents got me a dog…Duran… He was my best friend growing up…That was probably the best one. I couldn’t have asked for a better gift than him.”
“You were really attached to him, huh?”
“Mmh. I never really knew too many kids my own age, so Duran was the one I spent the most time with.”
“You never befriended anyone else?”
“Not really…Well, not until I met you anyway.”
I didn’t have to look at Shizuru to know that she was smiling; I could plainly hear it in her voice, “So how come I got to be the lucky one?”
“I...I don’t know…I guess I just felt like you actually cared or something…”
“Natsuki really is too sweet…”
“Oh, shut up,” I shot back, my cheeks flushing slightly.
Shizuru chuckled as she continued to swing back and forth, but a few seconds later, I watched the girl launch from her seat, her dress and honey-colored tresses fluttering in the air, landing gracefully on the ground, but releasing a sharp gasp in the process.
“You okay?” I asked, jumping from my own swing, stumbling forward a bit upon impact.
“Y-Yes, I just landed kind of funny,” the burgundy-eyed girl proclaimed, but her limping over to the nearest bench told me otherwise.
I jogged over, and kneeling in front of her, I took her ankle in my hand, but when the girl hissed quietly at the action, I immediately let go, “You liar.”
“Really, it’s nothing,” Shizuru insisted.
With a sigh, I pivoted around, “Get on.”
“What?”
“I’m carrying you back.”
“Natsuki—“
“No arguing this time, Shizuru. Get on,” I ordered again.
Complying, the brunette laced her arms tightly around my neck, and after I had a secure grip on her, I lifted us both and began the trek back to my Ducati.
“Honestly…you’re such a troublemaker…” I playfully teased.
“Kanin na…I didn’t mean to…” Shizuru pouted just as lightheartedly.
When we made it back to my motorcycle, I gingerly set Shizuru down next to it, and once she had slipped back into her shoes, we left the park, heading back towards her dorm.
After we had made it inside my room, Natsuki sat me down on my bed, “Alright, now that we have some light, let me take a look at your ankle…Hmm, well, it doesn’t look like it’s swollen—”
Busted?!
“—That’s a good thing,” she added, looking up at me.
Phew…Close one.
“Even so, do you want any ice?”
“No, that’s okay,” I told her.
“Alright,” she replied, sitting down next to me, “Huh?”
“What is it?”
I watched as the girl got up, reached into my closet, and pulled out my violin case, “This yours?”
I nodded.
“I didn’t know you could play,” Natsuki said, returning to her spot beside me on the bed.
“I took lessons when I was still living in Kyoto.”
“Did you stop?”
“When I moved up here, yes.”
“But you can still play, right?”
“Yes…”
The girl promptly shoved the instrument at me, “I want to hear you play.”
I laughed somewhat skeptically, “Really?”
“Yeah, really. It is my birthday after all…And this is a birthday request.”
Taking the case from her, I laid it on the bed as I removed my old violin and positioned myself to play.
“No laughing if I mess up,” I ordered before pulling the bow across the strings.
Closing my eyes, I played what had to have been the shortest version of Kanon-D there ever was. I hit a sour note here and there, but even so, once I had finished, a soft sigh sounded from the girl beside me.
“That was…beautiful, Shizuru.”
I placed the instrument back into its case, “You’re just saying that—“
“No, I’m not. I could never do something like that. You’ve certainly got a talent for playing.”
“Ookini, Natsuki, but it’s been such a long time since I’ve had any lessons.”
“Have you thought about taking some here?”
“A couple of times,” I admitted.
“Then you should. Most definitely,” the girl replied as she stood.
It thrilled me to no end that Natsuki appreciated something that I myself cared about very deeply. She even supported me to continue playing, confidence that I was in need of to actively pick up my violin again after all these years. If she believed that I could do it, then how could I doubt myself?
“Well, I think it’s about time I headed back home,” the girl interrupted my thoughts.
“Mou…but I had planned on this being a slumber party…”
A single eyebrow on my friend’s beautiful face was raised, “Oh, really? I thought you said earlier that you didn’t have any further plans.”
“This was merely overlooked earlier,” I argued, tugging at the girl’s hand.
Natsuki huffed, “I guess I can’t object then…So what now?”
“Movie time!” I declared before pointing across the room, “To the couch!”
“Hai…” came the less than enthusiastic response as the girl scooped me up in her arms and lumbered over to the aforementioned piece of furniture.
Once I was in my usual seat and had taken command of the remotes, I continued with my instructions, “Natsuki can pick what we watch.”
“But I picked last time,” she protested as she opened the movie drawer.
“But it’s Natsuki’s birthday.”
When the girl’s shoulders drooped and she turned back to the drawer, I knew I had won.
“Seriously though, you have no taste in movies…”
“I didn’t buy any of those, thank you very much.”
“You didn’t buy asingle one of these…?”
“Nope.”
“They were gifts then? From who?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
“Eh…never mind…No wonder they’re all romantic comedies, sheesh.”
Once the girl had finally, more like reluctantly, chosen one of the DVDs and placed it in the player, she crawled back over to the couch as I took over the rest of the necessary set up, and once everything was ready and I pushed play, Natsuki and I settled in for another lazy night spent together.
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