AND IT'S COMPLETED!!! Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus-The lost hero and The son of neptune... RICK RIORDAN is as amazing as always!!! there were some problems intellectually but in the heat of the adventure, also the author trying to stick to his style and sense of humour even when the speaker wasn't Percy, so i decided to let go... i'm very overwhelmed and very anxious as to what will happen with Annabeth in the Mark of Athena...
WHEW! i definitely need a break! so i will delay salman rushdie's midnight's children (there's another reason for that which is - i feel to tired after being shot a rush of adrenaline every few minutes in the books... so i need a calmer mind to take in the more serious and subtle prose of Rushdie...)
the good news is i'm posting the next part of Love Sky... so here goes...
WHEW! i definitely need a break! so i will delay salman rushdie's midnight's children (there's another reason for that which is - i feel to tired after being shot a rush of adrenaline every few minutes in the books... so i need a calmer mind to take in the more serious and subtle prose of Rushdie...)
the good news is i'm posting the next part of Love Sky... so here goes...
He stopped laughing abruptly. Coming to my side, he said
“We can go to Hibiya High together!!!”
The last section of the letter already stamped itself in front of me when he said it- The Hibiya High School, Nagata-Chō, Chiyoda, Tokyo is delighted to inform the candidate that they have been admitted in the institution through the Prefectural Merit seat. Particulars of further procedure of admission, the fees structure and curriculum frame work throughout the year has been enclosed in the following envelope.
Regards,
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education.
Well it was true that Hibiya High had accepted me but we couldn’t go together… I frowned further…
“EH!!! But you’re accepted to Waseda Uni high!!!! Isn’t it better for you there? And you can’t decide that!! They’ve already accepted you in Waseda…” I added morosely.
“You really are dumb! I’m not pulling your leg, see? With my score I can get anywhere; any of the 3 is fine-in fact any school in Tokyo works. These guys have just offered me a seat in Waseda but discernibly I can choose whichever high school I want to attend!” he rolled his eyes n shook his head as if pitying my intellect.
I huffed.
“And why would I let you do that?? And why were you shocked when I found you? You’re so sly, you immediately backtracked your plan of going to Waseda after seeing my letter… I know it!!!!!! Waseda is the top high school in Tokyo. How retarded that you’re thinking of letting it go when you’ve got a seat in that school!”
I finished off by imitating his action of pity…
His lips pursed n the good humored eyebrows came down, his eyes flashing.
“Are you going to be stubborn? If you are then I’m black mailing you.
If you want to prove your love then you’ll stop this stupid line of thought that Waseda is a good Uni and I should take that seat… it might be but plainly, any school where you are is good enough for me.
And if you want to think I’m sly then GO ahead!! I wouldn’t dream of going there without you… so my moment of deception which is more like your imagined assertion is justifiable!”
I pouted stubbornly.
“I’ll be feeling guilty for selfishly making you go to the same school as me. Who’ll take responsibility for it? Will you? You have such a great opportunity but you’re kicking it away, not even thinking about it.”
I now understood his mom’s expression as she had opened the door. She was shocked that her son would abandon such a great acknowledgement. I concurred with her n knew her emotions.
“Hiro, your mom was really disappointed that you won’t be accepting this seat. What are you doing? Think with a clear head! Forget about me.”
“Oh just shut up! Do you think she would even have let me go to Tokyo in the first place?? Anyway you’re being melodramatic…
I can do my best anywhere that I want. After that entire math training for you, I practically didn’t sleep for the whole 3 or 4 months before the entrance exams or the final semester test! You don’t know how much I had to put in to score these so that I would be accepted anywhere… Anyway I gave you a leeway by scoring my butt off; I couldn’t let there be a risk of you getting admitted in a college where I couldn’t go.
Oh and as for the responsibility of your guilt, I’ll take it. Don’t fret.”
An easy n careless smile slipped on his face, as he finished…
But then, something in my expression made him grimace and he turned back with folded hands.
I knew how stubborn I was. But I also knew Hiro. He was twice as stubborn. Once he has decided he won’t budge a millimeter…
“UGH!!! FINE!!! You decided to put the guilt on me!!! You’re such a stubborn old mule, Hiro!!” I spout out, after contemplating my chances of knocking some sense into him to be a failure…
He chuckled, turning around. “Didn’t I just say that I will take all the responsibility of your moronic guilt?”
And he caught me on the waist from behind to lift me up… I protested to his unyielding grip, to no avail.….
The blue sky just seemed closer in his arms, this afternoon.
20th May 2008
Yosh! So what if I had been accepted in just one of the 3 choices of schools? I said to myself in a condescending manner.
Hiro was with me!
I knew I had a long shot to get admission in Tokyo but it had happened…
And the cherry on the pie was that I had even scored high in English! Everyone was happy hearing it.
Dad said he was proud of me!!! It felt warm…
Hiro’s matter was complicated as they had to accept his idiotic decision of leaving Waseda high’s seat but they were ecstatic to send him off with me.
A small party was held in celebration of our success, with his parents n mine as co-hosts.
It was a merry evening… as gentle breezes were flowing through the open window with Aya, Nozomu-kun n our two families.
Aya had made a banner spelling ‘Omedetou Mikan and Hiroki’. Hiro was enjoying this to the full extent…
Once again I was reminded of the precious treasures that I was going to leave in the lurch… it ached my heart n as I turned in my bed, I felt the hot tears rolling n being absorbed by the pillow, moistening it…
30th May 2008
Today between some gap in our jobs, we had discussed about the further step needed to be taken, now that we had the results of our high school entrance exams.
We concurred that finding a place to live would be the most hellish n uncooperative task. But primarily we could start looking for them on the internet. We had to do thorough research to make sure that we wouldn’t go for traps… real estate agents were a hassle and many businesses sprung up to exploit people.
I wish to find a good room to rent out, soon…
13th June 2008
Six apartment rooms. That was all that the real estate agent could find taking into consideration our budget! Of course the internet had failed us miserably because it offered either over priced rooms or ones that were falling apart in their buildings, in the category of budget priced flats…
I was the only one showing any disappointment though. Hiro kept on encouraging that he knew it would be something like this… maybe I thought it easier to rent one with help… he was being realistic about this. I was NOT. Throwing away the despair, we planned for a 3 days-2 nights trip to Tokyo to have a look at the designated desirable rooms…
Saori-nee’s flat was empty for now as she was here so we have decided to live there. We left in the afternoon. Now after travelling by the notorious Tokyo subways we’ve reached her apartment room. I’m keeping my fingers crossed about tomorrow’s round of sweep.
17th June 2008
I’m really exhausted to the point of sleeping the moment my head touches the pillow. I never knew what lay ahead for me were the most back-breaking n strenuous three days so as soon as we got home, I hit the sack n slept right through dinner.
They say that sweet success awaits in the fruit of labour. I found out what they said was wrong; to the core; period.
Cynical as it may seem, it’s nothing but the truth. In the bare six rooms that we visited, not even one of them was in order!
It would have been fine to see minor disparities; that we were prepared for as it was rooms within a budget that we were looking for. But no bathrooms?; Dingy old apartment rooms?; walls almost about to fall over our heads? Is this the kind of place supposed to be accommodated?
Hiro was calmer than me, however much the disappointment was.
He seemed to take it in his stead that as it was his suggestion, he would be mature about the challenges that we may encounter, making me regret my disparaging behavior.
When I vented off these thoughts, Saori-nee said with cold disdain,
“Of course! What else would you expect? Tokyo is one of the most expensive cities even in the world… your meager savings are of no value if you don’t find the correct person in charge.”
From her voice, it appeared to be that she was angry that we hadn’t taken her nor consulted n she didn’t like our independent ramblings. I humbly admitted that we were wrong about that n waited for her.
She thawed out at once. “Hmmm, then I will try to do something from my end. But you’ll have to wait. If I don’t get results from here, I will do better when I get there at the end of the month. Will that be ok?”
She asked with concern.
“Uh, yeah, it’s fine.” N I gave her a big smile.
One of the things about which she was unhappy with me was that nowadays I behaved rudely with everyone else except Hiro.
I relayed the message to him tonight n he felt the diminished flame of excitement rise again.
11th July 2008
It had been thirteen days since nee-chan was gone. Her efforts from staying at home could at least be seen but now that she was finally gone, I couldn’t be sure if she was trying at all. She doesn’t call up as frequently, for one thing.
I expressed my fears to Hiro n asked whether we could start looking on our own. But he snapped at me n asked to have more faith in her… I wondered who the sibling was here…
Meanwhile, our jobs are still going on which makes the time pass, for better or for worse.
3rd August 2008
Even being in anger with nee-chan, she appeared to be quite the Samaritan at the eleventh hour when she finally told us about an apartment room in Shinbashi. Nee chan herself lived in Suginami district. I did acknowledge her difficulty in finding any place to live for us as she lived in an outer ward whereas, Chiyoda was right in the heart of Tokyo… maybe her connections were strong but she found a space in the Minato ward’s Shinbashi district. It was as near as she could get to Chiyoda…It was quite better than most other places that we had seen. She sent the pictures by e mail and Hiro seemed to like the place…
Well, I thought in the solitude of my mind, it had been a lot worse when we had set out to look by ourselves. Comparatively nee chan had found a great place and it seemed the price could be talked down by her because the landlord, ah, my apologies-the landlady, was a friend of hers. Nee chan said that she generally didn’t rent out rooms to ‘live-in relationship’ couples because she thought they only caused troubles and the noise of quarrels was something she couldn’t handle. A cynic, I thought sadly.
So, nee chan had explained that we wouldn’t be any trouble at all. She seemed to trust her because she permitted to grant a flat to us at a reasonable 65,000 yen per year… one gratuity about the space was that it offered a great view being higher than most of the other buildings in Shinbashi.
6th August 2008
MOVING DAY.
Our luggage packed, I was so excited the night before that I couldn’t sleep! This could have proved to be quite disastrous if I had been in charge of the route to be taken. Thankfully Hiro was with me, quickly thinking of faster circuits through the huge web of railway networks. I gained valuable knowledge throughout the train journeys from him -how to choose the train to get on, which circuits lead faster to your destination n the works…
We had so much time on our hands. After changing three routes, we reached Shinbashi, Minato, Tokyo. But we needed someplace to kill time when nee chan said that she was going to be a little late. So Hiro scanned through the subway network, deciding to check out Hibiya High. According to the faster route it was half an hour, tops. It was a more complicated way from the Nagatacho subway station though. Hiro took it upon himself to stubbornly find the school. At least we wouldn’t get lost on the first day n be late for class, I muttered… it was in the late hours of the evening that we were enroute to the school after getting lost for an hour. After the necessary turns at the main road it was quite a straight path, really. A dark building loomed ahead of us at a stretch of about 2 miles.
The first time I saw it, a whisper of wow escaped out of my mouth as I took in the huge dark red structure with a shiny plaque of Hibiya High School on the wall of the compound.
We were both silent on our way back. I didn’t even talk back when nee chan scolded me for keeping her waiting.
After we rode the train to Suginami n settled ourselves to sleep in nee chan’s apartment, only one thing was going through my mind. “I can’t wait…”
“To start going to school!!!” came the whisper from the couch, and our muffled laughter filled the humid night time air…
13th August 2008
Time- it’s such a treasure. Back home, I never appreciated it’s value but now I’m revising my thoughts about it. However much I would have liked to think that we were prepared, just then- something new- some new problem always crept up to upset that notion. It would have frustrated me and it did but only for the first couple of days…For one thing, gradually, I found the challenges sporting and for another, Hiro was with me. it didn’t fail to amaze me that such a person was here and I was lucky enough to be with him… well I have to admit there were some times when even he would be angry or lose hope. These things were bound to happen because it was the first time for both of us…The incredible part of it was that we overcame these hurdles, provided with patience and a few hitches along the way… there wasn’t much clutter around the 6 tatami mat* room we accommodated…{In Japan, rooms are measured in terms of number of tatami mats they can occupy. A 6 tatami mat room is roughly 1800m x 5400m.} In the evenings we sat around in front of the huge French windows and sipped tea together, leaving aside the work we were caught up in…Even though this time was short, I felt the happiest in it. I got to rest in my own safe place where I could forget about the sickening worries, about any conundrums… I rested my head over Hiro’s shoulder at that time everyday and whenever we got time…
Just four days ago, I got my first job. It had been so hard to rely on the ads in newspapers, so I had to be on foot and travel to the shops in the districts to find a vacant vocation. It dawned on me that mostly people here were commercial-minded, which made it harder to find a job easily. Most of them were taken and I didn’t have much choice. So the one I got was in a fast food resto. It was behind the scenes in the kitchen. The one in which I had experience, had been a cleaning job. This was entirely new- making burgers, sandwiches and other food items, even frying French fries. But I’m getting the hang of it now.
Hiro tells me he got a job on a construction site yesterday. This worries me because it’s laborious without a good pay. He did say not to worry which was typical of him. I’m going to make a nutritious bento for him-it’ll give me some peace of mind…
School starts day after tomorrow. Apparently, senior high schools start earlier in the year than junior high schools. It’s going to be a long night tomorrow…
17th August 2008
Now that I’m getting used to school and I’ve got some free time from work, it feels like I am suspended in a limbo!
First day at senior high on the fifteenth was too blurry and passed away too fast as well. The familiar routine of finding class, getting seating arrangements, introduction to new teachers, was excitable. Unfortunately Hiro and me were separated this time by a wall… his class was next door.
I was regretful of having missed the opening ceremony held immediately after announcement of results in May…
It was also very disorienting to waddle through the unfamiliar corridors and sit amongst people unrecognizable to me…
The subjects are pretty much the same but more difficult. Work is engrossing too because there are always new things to deal with.
Hiro has been an instant hit with the girls, old and young. I should have seen this coming… what I found curious and curiouser was that on the first day itself, I was called five times outside the building-sometimes in the garden, or on the roof, by guys who confessed to me!!!! At first I thought I was being fooled by them and being filmed by people, but they persistently tried to convince me that this was no joke.
Was this a nightmare??? Or were Tokyo guys a bit strange in the head for having strange taste in women… because suddenly I was almost as popular as Hiro with the opposite sex!!!!
19th August 2008
Could small forgettable breezes stir a storm?
I had no idea that people who acted as such even existed. Such people only were in exceptional cases like the one of Junko Furuta, weren’t they??
This day was going to haunt me forever…
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