Beautiful Stranger
A Seiya/Usagi alternate reality fanfiction
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0.o I really hate writer’s block. Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out – I was attacked by a grotesque and evil creature called final exams. Yeah, I know, excuses, excuses.. This chapter turned out different from what I expected.. well, I’m not really satisfied with it. It’s kind of choppy. We’ll see how the next one goes. Oh, and thanks again to everyone who’s given me their comments!
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Yaten was taking forever in the bathroom, as usual. I pounded on the door and yelled at her, and in response got a shampoo bottle or some other projectile hurled against the other side of the door. “Give it up, Seiya,” Taiki said as she passed. “Have breakfast. I made eggs and toast.” Of course Taiki always got the shower first, and never had to fight with me and Yaten over it.
By now the eggs were cold. I wasn’t about to complain, or else I would get a lecture about sleeping in until ten o’clock. For god’s sake, what were Saturdays for?
Then again, today wouldn’t be a usual Saturday. I hadn’t gotten a chance to speak again with Odango-Head after school yesterday, since her friends appeared and dragged her off before I could catch up with her. I had managed to catch her eye, though. She would show up. I had been pretty straightforward in asking her, and hadn’t given her much of a chance to say no. I didn’t think about what I would do if she wasn’t there at the park. She hadn’t refused, so I naturally took that as a yes. She would show up.
Yaten sat down in the chair across from me, wearing a fuzzy blue bathrobe and combing out her long wet hair. “The bathroom’s yours now, Seiya,” she said. I dumped the rest of Taiki’s eggs in the wastebasket and headed for the shower.
************
“Enjoy your date,” Yaten said half-sarcastically, without looking up from the newspaper.
“You two aren’t going to be spying on us, are you?”
“Please, Seiya,” Taiki put in. “Even if it is a Saturday, do you think we have nothing better to do?”
“Whatever.” I snagged a baseball cap and pulled it down over my head. The last thing I needed was for some crazed fan to recognize me on the street. “Sore ja!” I said to my companions as I left the apartment.
It was late spring in Tokyo, and although there were clouds that wandered across the sky, the sun still shone through. I came to the Ichi-ni-Hashi, a perfectly manicured little park with a small pond in the center and a playground for the neighborhood children. I stepped around a little kid as he ran past me. In addition, there were a lot of couples, young and old alike. I hadn’t expected to see so many people here today. It didn’t make a difference, though.
I scanned the area and let a wry smile turn the corner of my mouth upward when I spotted a blonde head with a familiar hairdo. She noticed me when I approached and jumped to her feet.
“Hey, you’re late, you know! You said eleven o’clock.”
“Sorry. You know, if sit out in the sun too long like that, those odangos might fry.”
“What?”
“It’s a joke. Anyway, I want to take you someplace. Follow me,” I said, walking the other direction.
She skipped to catch up with me. “Where?” she inquired curiously.
“You’ll see!”
She followed beside me, taking two steps for every long stride I took. Now I needed to think up some special place to take her. The truth was, between now and yesterday, I hadn’t even thought to consider where we would go on our “date”. I’d have to come up with something in the next few minutes. Now where…?
The tall, metal structure that rose above the skyline caught my eye. So it wasn’t the most creative of ideas, but maybe I could pull it off anyway. “Have you ever been to the top of the Tokyo Tower?” I asked.
“Um-hmm,” she nodded, to my disappointment. “Is that where we’re going?”
“No,” I said quickly. Okay, I’d try Plan B. Now I had to think of a Plan B.
“I went up there with my mom and dad once when I was little. I can still remember, you can see the whole city from the top of the Tower. On a sunny day, you can see the ocean. It’s beautiful, don’t you think?”
“I wouldn’t know.” I’d never had a chance to climb the Tower since I’d been in the city. Never really thought about it; I just wasn’t the sightseeing type.
“You’ve never been up there on a sunny day?”
“I’ve never been up there.”
“Then, let’s go!” And she turned and starting leading us in a different direction toward the Tokyo Tower. I shrugged and followed her. I hadn’t thought of any better ideas yet.
*************
“Whose idea… was it… to take… the stairs!” she gasped, twenty flights up.
I couldn’t help laughing, and she glared at me. I wasn’t even winded. “You wanted to climb the Tower, Odango. Don’t tell me you’re giving up already. You can’t be that out of shape.”
She made a little growl in her throat at that, but when I asked half-jokingly if she wanted me to carry her the rest of the way up, she got a funny look on her face and declared she was fine.
We kept climbing the stairs, and I was beginning to wonder how many of them there actually were, because by now my legs were starting to protest. The Tokyo Tower was about the same height as the Eiffel Tower, or was it higher? I couldn’t remember, but Taiki would probably know. All I knew was we should have taken the elevator.
She collapsed at the top. “Aaaah! My legs are about to fall ooo-off!!”
“Hey, are you okay?”
She rolled over and groaned melodramatically.
“If you lie on the floor, how do you expect to see the view?” I laughed. I walked over to the railing and looked out over the city, and the view was pretty impressive. We were higher than any building in the city.
Odango joined me after a few moments. “Suteki…” she gasped. “Look, look,” she pointed. “You can see the ocean!” She was excited, like a little child. She continued to point out various landmarks. “Look at the birds,” she said as two pigeons dipped and spiraled in the air. “They can fly this high whenever they want. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“I’d rather stay on the ground.” I really don’t know why those words came out of my mouth. “But the view is pretty, you’re right.”
We stayed up on the tower platform for a while longer, then took the elevator back down again.
We sat at the white table of a little sidewalk café a few blocks away. I’m sure the café owner, when he opened his shop, was trying to imitate the whole Paris-copycat theme of the Tower. (The Toyko Tower was built to resemble the Eiffel Tower) Tacky, I thought, but his scheme apparently worked, because I could spot several tourists, like the American couple at the table a few feet away. The place was humming with people.
I had a tall fudge sundae in front of me, and Odango was already working on her second, in addition to the banana cream pie she’d ordered first. (Did she have black hole for a stomach, or did her parents just never feed her??) Whichever the case, she seemed to be enjoying every bite.
“Ne…” she spoke up after wiping chocolate from the side of her mouth. She put two elbows on the table and wagged a sticky finger at me. “What if someone recognizes you? Like a reporter who wants to take pictures.”
“I suppose someone might,” I said, then added, “But really, I don’t mind being seen dating a pretty girl. And it can’t hurt my public image, don’t you think, Odango?”
“Don’t call me Odango,” she murmured with an annoyed look. “And who’s dating?” All morning she seemed to have forgotten I was “rude”, and I had now reminded her of that fact again. She was just too easy to tease, though.
“You wouldn’t want to date an idol, Odango?” Not that I was planning on a long-term relationship or anything… three dates would suit me fine. I was curious as to what she would say. She had acted so indifferent yesterday, but she had shown up this morning. That counted for something, and I’m sure I could get her to admit it if I tried. “I’m glad that you came today, anyway.”
She looked at me, then shoved another spoonful in her mouth, muttering something about Ami-chan and Mako-chan talking her into it. “As a matter of fact,” she said suddenly, sticking her nose smugly into the air, “I already have a boyfriend, and we’re deeply in love.”
I really couldn’t tell if she was serious or not. I decided to go along with it and grinned back at her. “Well, he must not care that much if he’ll let me take you out, even for a day. Doesn’t he know I’ll steal you away?”
She was looking at me with a frown written across her face; her expression was sad… or upset? Was it because I was making jokes about her boyfriend? The more time I spent with this girl, the more of a mystery she became.
Finally she scooped her last bite into her mouth and licked the chocolate from her lips. “That was so good I almost want another one.”
“You aren’t serious, are you?” I asked. “You’ve already had two.”
“Hee, hee, hee…I guess you’re right.” She stood up. “Are we going?”
“Going where?”
“Window shopping! Why else did we come to this district?”
I thought as I paid for the sundaes, these three dates might not be as easy as I thought. No wonder men complained women were impossible to figure out, and I thought I had an advantage because I was one. Well, if anything, it wouldn’t be boring.
~~Notes: suteki means nice or pretty
For the record, the Tokyo Tower tops the Eiffel Tower by 109 feet, or 33 meters. (or so says my Encarta Encyclopedia). I’ve never been there, so I’m just guessing that you can see Tokyo Bay from the top of the tower.