Tomoe-chan resided in a students-only apartment complex near Nishiôji Maruta-machi. Just looking at that steel-reinforced, concrete exterior, I could imagine the difference in rent from my own place. Five times as much, or even ten if you got swindled.
Mikoko-chan must have been there before because she entered the main lobby with an air of confidence. She pushed the room number on the intercom and pressed the call button.
"Yellooo! It's Mikoko-cakes."
"Yo-yo. C'mon up."
As the somewhat drowsy voice emerged from the intercom, the firmly locked glass door slid open. An auto-lock security system. Actually, maybe that's too extravagant a term. Whether that lock was there or not made little difference to anyone trying to break in.
"Come on, hurry. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry." Mikoko-chan passed through the door and beckoned for me to hurry along. "Sixth floor, sixth floor! We gotta hurry!"
"It's not like the sixth floor is going to get away."
"Yeah, but it won't come down to greet us either."
"That's true..."
I followed along as told.
"The sixth floor is the very top one. Tomo-chan lives in the corner apartment, and there's a pretty nice view, as views go."
"Mm, nice view, eh?"
That was one thing I never hoped to see where I was living. If you opened the window in my place, you got trees.
We called down the elevator and got in.
"I wonder if Akiharu-kun's here yet. Muimi-chan is pretty much a given, but..."
Mikoko-chan was incredibly excited. Seeing her carefree expression, even I couldn't help but think about how nice it must be to have friends. Putting aside the question of whether it would work for me, it must've been very nice for her.
We got off on the sixth floor. Mikoko-chan raced down the hallway and stopped in front of the very last door. "Over here, over here!" she shouted and beckoned. It made me want to ask if she was just completely oblivious to the looks people gave her.
She pushed in the doorbell.
Ding-dong.
The door opened, and a girl revealed herself.
"Welcome," the girl — most likely Tomo-chan — said drowsily, a cigarette hanging from her lips.
She was entirely different from what I had expected.
"So, Mikoko. On-time for a change, eh?" She wore her long brown hair in a Sauvage — with her hangs long and the rest cut at wildly varying lengths — and her fashion sense was impeccable: Her light jacket and jeans combo were very stylish. She was probably a little taller than me and was so sickly thin that if she said she had only one day to live, I probably would have believed her. It was the perfect match for her slightly crooked smile.
"Howdy, Muimi-chan!" Mikoko-chan greeted. "Haro haro!"
It seemed this wasn't Tomo-chan after all, but Muimi-chan. "Oops," she said, finally noticing my presence. Without a hint of shyness, she gave me a hard study from top to bottom. "Maybe this is our first time talking, 'Ikkun,' " she said with a smirk.
"Yeah," I said apathetically. "Hey."
It seemed my apathy had struck a chord with her. She let out an exaggerated laugh. It was boisterous, and not very feminine.
"Well, how 'bout that. You are an interesting guy. I think we'll get along."
"Really." It was more of a sigh than a response. Not the kind of thing that warranted such judgment. It was just about as enthusiastic as my greeting had been. "I don't think so."
"Heh, well, we don't have to get into all that. Just come in. Stupid Akiharu isn't here yet. We just called and he was still at home."
"Oh my God, he'll never change. Last time he claimed he got confused by the time zone difference. That lousy tardy-man."
Mikoko sure was throwing stones at the proverbial glass house. It was almost impressive, but I wasn't in the mood to start teasing her about it, so I stayed silent as I removed my shoes.
At the end of the short hallway between the kitchen and bathroom was a single door. It seemed this was one of those sectioned-off one-rooms. Muimi-chan went ahead of us and opened the door. The room inside was about eight or nine mats in size, but the floors were hardwood. By the window was a bed, and in the middle of the room, a mini-table covered with cake, snacks, and a row of empty glasses. So this was more of a drinks thing than a dinner-thing affair after all.
A girl was sitting daintily beside the table. This time it had to be Tomo-chan. She was even more petite than Mikoko-chan and dressed in a strawberry-patterned one-piece. Her hair was in pigtails. She gave me a little wave.
She was just as shy as I'd imagined. And yet something about her made me think she probably had a bad habit or two. It was like there was more than meets the eye — as if her simplistic form prevented you from being able to see through her. Thinking about it made me feel as though someone had asked me for the sum of all integers.
"No, wait."
That's all nonsense. Everyone feels that way when they meet someone for the first time. It wasn't technically my first meeting with Tomo-chan, but I didn't really know her, so it was only natural that I had this impression.
Hmm. Come to think of it, it did seem as though we had crossed paths a few times in our general education seminar.
I joined her at the table so that I was facing her, and tossed out a simple greeting. "Yo."
She looked at me a little crookedly, then gave me a politely deep bow.
"Thanks for going to all this trouble. Sorry to ask such a big favor." Her voice was pretty and calm, with a watery quality. "I've always wanted to have a chat with you, so I hope you have a good time today."
I was a little moved by her good manners. It was something I hadn't seen much lately (especially in the last day or two).
"Ahahaha, quick to break the ice, eh?" Mikoko-chan said as she sat down next to me on her knees. Muimi-chan, in turn, sat down next to her. This allowed enough room for Akiharu-kun to eventually come to sit between me and Tomo-chan.
"Ahhh." Muimi-chan put out her cigarette with her own finger, then deposited it in an ashtray. "So what are we doing? We've got a brand-new guest here. Should we go ahead and start? It seems stupid to sit around wasting time just because of that asshead."
"Hey, we can't do that," Mikoko-chan interjected. "For something like this, we have to all be together! Right, Tomo-chan?"
"Yup, Mikoko's right." Tomo-chan nodded. "You know he'll be here soon, so don't be so impatient. Right?"
"I don't really care, but..." Muimi-chan gestured towards me. "What about Ikkun here?"
"I don't mind. I'm used to waiting." To be sure, that didn't mean I was used to people making me wait. But it would have been too much of a hassle to start an argument about it, so I just fed her an easy line.
Muimi shot me an inquisitive look, but "Well, whatever then," was all she said. She pulled out a fresh cigarette, then shot me another look. "Are you an antitobacco kind of guy?" she asked.
"I don't smoke myself, but you can smoke all you like."
"Ah. No, I'm good." She broke in half the cigarette she hadn't even lit yet and deposited it in the ashtray. "I make it a point not to smoke around nonsmokers."
"Huh."
Did that mean Mikoko-chan and Tomo-chan were both smokers? The fact that she had asked only me seemed to indicate such. Huh. I was a little surprised.
"Hey! Muimi-chan, you'll make me sound like a smoker if you put it like that!" Mikoko-chan objected once again. She was giving us the puppy-dog eyes. For some reason, she seemed vehemently opposed to me finding out she was a smoker.
"But you do smoke."
"No, I don't! I was just going with the flow that one time!"
"Ah, right. Gotcha. My fault, my fault." Muimi-chan gave her a friendly pat as she threw her little tantrum. Meanwhile, Tomo-chan watched on in delight.
Huh. It didn't take long to notice the dynamic here. It was the good girl, the bad girl, and the regular girl. This made me wonder what Akiharu's role was. He finally showed up at 6:30, half an hour late.
"Sorry, sorry. I thought I'd be here on time, but the train was crowded and stuff," he said with good humor.
"Oh, don't worry about it," Tomo-chan said as she greeted him with a smile. The good girl.
"The train doesn't arrive any later just because it's crowded! And you live in a boarding house, so you don't even take the train anyway!" Mikoko-chan, the regular girl. She had the nerve to question his lame excuses.
"You think you can get off with a simple apology? You gotta chug three beers," Muimi-chan said, passing a beer bottle over to him. The bad girl.
"Okay, okay. Don't rush me so much, Atemiya. This is a birthday, a birthday. Not a mayday. Goddamn, I'm a clever bastard. What the...?" It seemed he had noticed my presence. He gave a problem-child sneer. "Heh heh, so you really brought him, Aoii," he said.
He sat down next to me and said, "Well, good to meet you," with a slight bow.
I did likewise.
He had an easy-breezy air about him, with light brown hair and a taste for street fashion. Maybe it wasn't uncommon for a university student to dress like that, but at Rokumeikan in particular, it was kind of unusual. Judging from his build, it looked like he was involved in some kind of sport, but I couldn't tell which one.
"Umm, what do I... Wha? Are we all supposed to just call you Ikkun then?"
"I don't mind."
"Really, really? Gotcha. You're a good guy. Don't you think so, Aoii?" He shot Mikoko-chan a meaningful look.
She shot back a flustered one. "Oh, uh, yeah."
Judging from her response, it didn't seem like she thought I was a very good guy at all. Of course, considering how much I made fun of her, that was probably the only natural.
"Well, shall we start?" Muimi-chan asked. She seemed to be the leader of the four. She pointed at me. "Umm, you don't drink, right?" she asked.
I nodded.
"Oh? What's this now, Ikkun? You can't go around being finicky all the time, you know. Alcohol is a vital component in man-to-man interactions after all, right? I mean, am I right or am I right?"
"Akiharu! What did I tell you about pushing your bullshit opinions on others?! I'll fucking kill you!" Muimi-chan gave him the look of death. Her cool, almost dazed demeanor from a moment ago had sharpened into a knife of fury. "Did you already forget what I told you last time? Huh?"
Akiharu quivered and tensed with fear. "Uh..."
"I'm not lookin' for an 'uhhh.' "
"Sorry."
"Not lookin' for a 'sorry' either. Why the hell are you apologizing to me? Huh?"
Akiharu-kun's mouth opened and closed like he was a suffocating fish. Then, he looked over at me. "Please forgive me," he apologized.
"Okay, then," Muimi-chan said with a look of satisfaction. "Sorry there, Ikkun. He didn't mean anything by it. Forgive the guy, will ya?" She had completely returned to her original self and smiled back at me. "Did he piss you off?"
"Uh, I don't really care."
Atemiya Muimi.
She was definitely an ex-delinquent. No, not even an "ex." I thought that brown Sauvage seemed a little out of date.
Maybe I should call her Boss.
Meanwhile, Mikoko-chan poured some low-malt beer into each glass and lined them up in front of everyone. She also placed a single glass of oolong tea in front of me.
"So, who's going to lead the proceedings? Shall it be Tomo-chan, our queen for a day?"
"Yeah, I believe it shall," Muimi-chan said. "Tomo, let's have it."
Tomo-chan raised her glass a bit reluctantly. "Okay then. To my twentieth birthday and our new friend."
Cheers.
I lightly tipped my glass.