FIC: The Best Damn Thing (or not), Jackal/Marui, PG
Title: The Best Damn Thing (or not)
Author: Ociwen
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 7600
Disclaimer: Konomi owns all.
Summary: Marui doesn't like Jackal's girlfriend.
Author's Notes: Written for Marui's birthday-Happy Birthday, Marui!
She shows up one day.
She hangs off Jackal's arm during tennis practice. It's spring time. They have just started high school. Marui's at the bottom of the pecking order picking up balls and sweeping courts and it sucks that the seniors don't recognize his genius yet.
It sucks even more that Jackal has some blonde thing groping his arm and squealing. He waves and beams at Marui. "Oi! Bunta! Come over and meet Orivia!"
Marui scoffs. Orivia is the dumbest name he's ever heard. Even for a Gaijin. Avril, sexy. Miley, cute. Leah Dizon, smoking.
Orivia? Lame.
Marui pops a bubble. He scans the area and runs off the court. The senpais don't seem to notice Jackal and his Gaijin girl standing near the clubhouse. Marui slicks back his hair and smooths his shorts. Mostly, he just frowns as Jackal grins from ear to ear.
Jackal says, "Bunta, this is Orivia." Then, in Portuguese, he says something else. Orivia's eyes go wide and she nods. Her blonde hair bounces. She has brown skin and nice tits. Marui narrows his eyes.
"My name is…Orivia," she says. Her Japanese is broken and her accent is off.
Marui looks at Jackal. Jackal shifts his weight and looks back at Marui, anxious and blinking. Well, he seems to say.
Marui sniffs. Well what?
Orivia's hand starts to flag; when Marui doesn’t shake it, she finally pulls back. Her smile falters a bit, too. A spring breeze stirs her hair and the light catches it, turning it golden. Marui is practically blinded. He chucks his chin up and mutters, "Haro". Then he shuffles off. Duty done.
Stupid Orivia, he thinks. He spends the rest of practice picking up balls by himself. Normally Jackal helps out. They work as a team. One holds the basket, the other picks up balls. Next court, switch! Normally Jackal chats up a storm and sings along to Avril and enka and Orange Range with him. They're a perfect, working unit, even as high school freshmen.
Now, the silence grates Marui's ears. His knees hurt from crawling around the clay and having to strain to reach the basket. Senpais keep slamming balls around him, behind his ear, behind his ass, even into the basket, knocking the whole lot over in a rolling mess. Marui glowers behind their backs. Orivia is still there by the stands, wide-eyed and staring as Jackal points things out on the court.
He's been the one with girlfriends in the past and now it's Jackal's turn. Still, he's bitter and alone and no one but Niou speaks to him in the locker room after practice finishes.
"Hey Fatty, did you see that girl's ass?" he asks. When Marui doesn't answer, Niou whips his towel at Marui's thigh. Marui jumps and yelps and slips on the slick floor. Niou laughs at him until Marui lunges. Getting his hands around Niou's and squeezing feels good, at least until Niou knees him in the stomach.
They each get twenty extra laps during afternoon practice, but at least Marui doesn't have to speak to Orivia again.
***
Vaguely, Marui recalls Jackal talking about her last week on the phone.
Of course he was busy pulling two little brothers off his legs and trying to also hold off that one girl named Erika-chan who kept texting him messages. She's cute, but her snaggleteeth are nothing like Miley's.
Marui has standards.
Jackal went on about some girl. Marui grunted and pulled a brother off his right leg.
"She's awesome. You'll really like her," Jackal said. Marui snorted and pulled the other brother off his left leg. His brothers launched another attack and Marui lost his balance. He stumbled backward and stepped in something squishy and moist. He cringed.
"Hang on," he told Jackal.
Jackal kept talking about this girl as Marui peeled the cheese sandwich off his heel. He made a face, then flung it at the closest brother. It hit Jin square in the forehead, then the kid started to holler. His mom yelled and Marui had the perfect excuse to end the phone call.
Looking back, Marui still doesn't know what to make of it all. He eats lunch with the bleached freak (who Marui doesn't like, but it's better than being a loner) on the rooftop. Sanada and Yukimura and Yanagi are off…doing tennis. Yagyuu is at a meeting for a school club, probably. And Jackal is with her.
Marui saw them near his locker.
He turned heel and walked the other way before Jackal noticed. The sight of Orivia on Jackal's arm, pawing at his shoulder, made Marui queasy. Of course, not queasy enough to skip lunch-even if eating with Niou is unappetizing. Niou belches and flicks bits of hangnails and rice awfully close to Marui's lunch. It's the special from the cafeteria, spring omelet with mushrooms and scallions and mystery fish rolls. Marui thinks about sharing his lunch with Jackal, and the omelet sticks in his mouth, tasting sulfurous and ashen. He swallows hard.
Niou picks another finger. He picks at a bento he brought from home. Marui eyes the sakura mochi-it's perfect, with a little shiso leaf on top too. The freak doesn’t deserve to have such nice food made by his mom, not when he accidentally drops one on the school pavement.
Marui shifts his eyes. When Niou turns, he reaches for the mochi and swipes it. On cue, Niou catches him in the act.
"Bottom feeding?"
"Shut up," Marui says. He pops the mochi in his mouth (after brushing it off first, he's not uncouth or anything). It tastes salty and vaguely floral. It should taste better. Marui sighs and chews. It's not the same without Jackal here making some crack about tennis practice or senpais or the girl in Marui's gym class with the huge tits that bounce when she dribbles basketballs but who also has hairy legs. He misses the feeling of one of Jackal's iPod headphones in his ear blasting enka. Marui rubs his ear. It's not the same at all.
"Something up, fat man?" Niou asks. He sets his bento down. His fingers bleed. Marui shrugs his shoulders. He can’t be bothered to care the way he should.
"You seen that chick Jackal's hanging around?" Marui asks.
Niou nods. He whistles. "Blonde and buxom. Just my-"
Marui blows a raspberry. "Lamewad. You said Yagyuu was your type."
It's Niou's turn to flush. The sun is warm, but not hot. Marui can feel the light beating down onto his back. He scrunches his knees closer to his chest and hugs them. It makes his chest tight. He's not very flexible, but Niou doesn't need to know that.
"There goes my free Starbucks," Marui mumbles. He fakes a laugh. Niou clears his throat and raises an eyebrow, but his cheeks are still as pink as the sakura trees on the canals near the school campus.
"That's what it's about?" Niou asks.
Marui shrugs.
Niou keeps staring. Marui can't muster up enough caring to swipe another mochi. His stomach growls until the class bell rings for the afternoon. He sighs. A crow comes along and starts to pick at Marui's abandoned lunch. The crow ruffles its feathers-they shine like Jackal's forehead after a tennis match.
Marui sighs again.
***
Akaya calls on a Saturday. Marui's been sleeping in. He's been moping around the house. His brothers ate the last of the pastries from the shop in Ginza that his mom bought yesterday.
"Damn you," Marui hisses. He glares at Dai-chan. Dai-chan sticks out his tongue. Just for that, Marui locks him out of the bathroom. The sounds of his brother whining that he has to get his toothbrush out or mom will be angry are music to Marui's ears.
The kid mentioned something about the arcade, their favourite arcade. Marui's cool with that. It will be nice to go out-he hasn't seen Akaya in a few weeks, not since spring break. The sun shines. The air is filled with pollen and petals. Marui breathes it in deep, then he sneezes. Cool dew hangs off the tips of budding vines that drip down cement walls. Marui skips along. He hums an Orange Range tune from that Narutard show his brothers watch. He'd never admit that Sasuke is actually kinda awesome.
It's just a couple subway stops away. Marui has a pocket full of change and a swelling heart. His fingers itch for a games controller. His toes tap on the carriage floor, the rhythm of the song still playing in his mind. He hops off the train and races up the stairs to the exit: the arcade is just two blocks down the road from exit six. His watch says 12:23. Akaya said to meet at noon. Perfect timing.
Marui hops, skips and jumps across the zebra crossing. His steps are easy and the blinking signs of electronic shops are enticing, but nowhere near as much as the blaring Lucky Star theme that blasts out of the arcade. Marui grins. He can see Akaya's messy hair already.
Akaya turns and waves and then Marui stops in his tracks. Out from the corner of the entrance into the arcade, Jackal and she step out too.
Marui's blood runs cold. Orivia clings to Jackal's arm-only now, it's worse. Their hands are entwined! Marui can feel his body swaying in the spring breeze, like a sakura blossom about to fall to the ground and be crushed underfoot. His stomach sinks. He sees Jackal lean into Orivia's face and their cheeks brush. Marui feels ill. It's just so…gross!
"Get a room," he hisses under his breath.
Akaya bounces up to him. The kid has grown again. Marui feels shorter than ever. He swallows a wad of bile and scowls at Akaya. "I thought you said it was us," he says.
Akaya blinks. "Uh, yeah, senpai. And Jackal-senpai and his-"
Marui scoffs. "Well!" He sniffs and tries to think of something eloquent to say, but all he really wants to do is go back home. Orivia walks up to him-sidles up to him-and says hello. In English! She asks him how he is. Marui curls his lip. While he may be a genius, how the hell does she expect him to have conversational skills when his mind has been busy learning past participles last week.
Marui narrows his eyes. "No English," he says.
Orivia's smile falls. Her lips are shiny with pink lipgloss. Her teeth are perfect and small. She has cute hairclips in her hair-hearts with unicorns. On any other girl, they might look cute. On this Brazilian harlot, they look wrong.
"I see you enjoy crashing our guys' days out," Marui says. In Japanese.
Jackal looks at him and frowns. "Why are you being like that?" he asks.
Marui crosses his arms over his chest. He's not being like anything. It's Jackal who has ruined things by bringing his girlfriend along. But when Marui opens his mouth to explain, his tongue gets tied up and his throat closes off. "Never-mind," he says. His voice breaks.
This is awful.
Orivia keeps looking at him. Her eyes are pale and grayish and vaguely almond-shaped. Her blonde hair reflects the blinking red lights of the arcade sign. Akaya keeps making weird faces and Jackal shakes his head. No one speaks. Marui's insides twist up. Everyone is looking at him.
Finally Marui says, "I have things to do."
"But…you came all the way to the arcade for nothing!" Akaya says.
Jackal sighs and rolls his eyes. He turns to Orivia and murmurs something in Portuguese. The sight of their closeness, their bodily familiarity the way Orivia's boobs press awful close to Jackal's arm makes Marui shake inside with fury.
He inhales and puffs his chest up. "Whatever," he mutters.
Marui walks all the way to the opposite subway stop and has to pay twice the fare home. He stomps to his bedroom and slams the door. His brothers paw at the crack underneath until Marui cranks the volume on his iPod loud enough to drown them out.
His listens to Jero on repeat, by himself. Enka never sounded so lonely before.
***
Asking Yukimura to play a tennis game is something akin to suicide. Or seppuku. There's a ritual involved in phoning Yukimura up, listening to him complain to his mother about his pills and medicine and general constitution, then the actual asking. Marui dances around the issue, dropping clues about the weather being nice and his Genius feeling sharp today.
Yukimura finally gets it.
"Wanna play a game at the streetcourts?" he asks.
Marui doesn't need to say anything except, "Sure, I guess."
The courts are damp from last night's rain. Marui's sneakers leave prints as he walks across. There is mud splattered on the back of his calves from the walk here. Yukimura looks pristine. Marui narrows his eyes. He scratches at his belly. There's a bit more extra skin there than last year. It rolls over the waistband of his shorts. Marui frowns.
"Have you done laps yet?" Yukimura asks. He stretches his arms above his head. His stomach peeks out from under his jacket. Smooth and taught. Marui hunches his shoulders. His skin hangs over his shorts more.
"No," he says.
"Stretched?"
"No," he says.
Yukimura's lips thin. Marui starts to run. It's a workout before he finishes. He huffs. He puffs. He's glad as hell that Niou isn't here to see him wheezing by the fifth lap. Marui had a big breakfast. He has an excuse. Three omelets and five pieces of toast (plus that leftover box of four chococros sitting on the counter…) don't exactly sit light in his stomach.
Yukimura claps his hands. "Pick up your pace!" he shouts.
"Not. Tennis. Practice." Marui says through his teeth. His ribs burn. His lungs are going to explode. He trips to a stop near Yukimura, and then his knees wobble.
"Ready?" Yukimura asks. He beams. The light catches his face, bright and beatific. Marui curls his lip and grimaces.
At least there's no Jackal and his girlfriend here. Marui returns Yukimura's lob. The ension rises. The temperature increases. His Genius ascends when Yukimura begins to rally, Marui's favourite game style. He wiggles on the spot. He twists his racket around. The ball arcs in the sky, a perfect parabola toward the metal post.
Ha! Take that, Orivia!
The ball lands on his side.
Marui's jaw hangs open.
"That was interesting," Yukimura says. "I haven't seen you do that since we played at that elementary day camp together. Remember?" He laughs.
A fly buzzes into Marui's mouth. The bubble he'd been chewing falls onto the ground, pink with the black speck of a struggling insect. His stomach turns. Marui takes a deep breath and sniffs. The air smells like exhaust from traffic and spilled oil. It smells like dusty clay from the courts and teenage sweet, mixed with saccharine apple-scented bubblegum.
In other words, it stinks.
"Something bothering you?" Yukimura asks. He walks to the net and picks up the ball. "You'll make the team next year, I'm sure. Probably." Yukimura pushes his headband up. He isn't sweating at all.
Marui's face is on fire. His back is soaked. His sneakers are squidgy inside and his socks crawl on his feet. "Yeah," he mutters. With the toe of his shoe, he kicks at the bubblegum. It skips along the ground, growing grey and gross.
"Uh," Yukimura says. He scratches his head. "If it's about chicks, maybe Jackal can help-"
"I'm not asking him anything!" Marui snaps. Yukimura's face falls. Marui balls his fist and stomps around in a circle. Then he turns around and stomps in the other direction. "I don't speak to traitors like him!"
"Traitor?"
Yukimura is awfully dense about anything not tennis. Or houseplants. Marui grunts. "You seen that…that…Orivia?" he spits.
"Jackal's c-"
"Yes, her!" Marui sucks in a breath. He puffs up his chest and looks up at Yukimura. A pair of crows sits on the top of the fence surrounding the courts. Beady black eyes stare at him. Marui shakes inside. He thinks about Jackal leaning close to her. He thinks about her tits brushing Jackal's arm. He thinks about her blonde hair, so pale compared to Jackal's brown, shiny head.
Marui grinds his teeth.
"He's not my friend anymore," he says.
Yukimura stares at him for a long time. A crow flies off, cawing at Marui as it coasts on the spring wind, sweet and cherry-scented. Marui sneezes. Pollen swirls in whirlwinds around the court. His racket hits the ground-he didn't even realize it fell from his hand.
Yukimura's stare makes him uncomfortable. "It's my serve," Marui says at last. "Be prepared to see some Pure Genius at work."
His words are hollow.
Yukimura trumps him 6-0 anyway.
***
He's completely innocent.
Marui doesn't spend class breaks in the corridors, sneaking up to the stairwell near class I's room. He doesn’t pop bubbles and sneak peaks through the large windows, searching out one brown bald head and another blonde. He doesn't mutter "how the hell can she even be admitted to school here when she doesn't understand Japanese at all? Stupid Nikkeijin."
No, he doesn't do that at all. Marui gulps his Pocari Sweat and shifts his eyes. Just a bunch of cute girls clustered outside 3-I today. He sighs. He hops down a step and sighs again. His gum falls into the PET bottle. "Damn," he mutters.
"Excuse me."
Marui peers down the throat of the bottle. His gum settles to the bottom. He frowns, then looks down the stair well. No one nearby, except Niou, who doesn't count as a real person. He glances up and-
"Argh!" he shouts.
Orivia blinks at him. She smiles-no bowing her head in apology, no. She doesn't get Japanese manners. Marui scoffs. He looks down at the tin she carries. There's something of the smell of cookies in the air. Chocolate chip and peanut butter. Marui's stomach rumbles. His mouth waters, just a little.
"Excuse me," she says, shoving the tin into his chest. "Please…accept this."
The tin pokes Marui in the nipple. It tingles. He backs up into the wall. Orivia keeps trying to pass off this…this thing to him, saying garbled words like, "Please" and "You I like" and Marui just shakes his head.
"Gerroff!" he says.
Orivia shakes her head. "I'm sorry," she says. She repeats herself and makes hand motions, smacking her lips in some unintelligible Portuguese way. The tin is covered with Johnny Depp's face. Marui's stomach tightens-there's a Pirates of the Caribbean skull-and-crossbones pattern on the top of the tin. His favourite movie. For a moment, he's tempted to take the tin and run, but then he hears his name called.
"Bunta!" Jackal stands at the top of the stairs, just past the door to his classroom. "What are you doing?"
Orivia squawks something in Portuguese. Jackal laughs. His white teeth catch in the fluorescent lighting and Marui's chest squeezes. He looks to Orivia, who smiles and blushes at Jackal. Instead of finally accepting the tin, anger gets the best of him. Marui pushes her out of his way. He clenches his jaw and stomps off.
"Don't you like cookies anymore either?" Jackal yells. His voice is hard and angry. Marui glances back up the stair well. Orivia's face is crestfallen. Jackal curls his lip up, then he reaches out to her and wraps an arm around her shoulder.
"I'm not a fucking third wheel," Marui hisses.
Jackal doesn't hear. He's too busy patting Orivia's back. The tin she was holding is now in Jackal's hand, like she intended all along, a present for her boyfriend. The girl was an idiot for trying to share a present for Jackal with Marui.
And Marui feels like an idiot for considering accepting the tin. The miscommunication seeps under his skin and makes his body prickle all over. His nipple still hurts from being prodded like that. Stupid Orivia's true intentions were lost in translation. Fortunately, his Genius is smart enough to get the fact that she's sobbing in Jackal's arms now and Jackal is enjoying it, sending dirty looks to Marui until he's out of sight.
***
In afternoon classes, Niou munches on peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies under his desk. He waggles his eyebrows at Marui. "Some chick made these," he says. He holds one out to Marui. The edge crumbles to the floor.
"Want one?"
***
Because Jackal skips tennis practice to go on a date (or whatever, Marui assumes) with Orivia the best friend stealer, Marui gets stuck with Yanagi and Yagyuu after practice ends. Joy of joys. The two least interesting people on the face of the planet. Apart from Sanada. And Niou-but Niou is more annoying than boring.
There's a chill that comes with evening. Marui rubs his arms. He's low on cash and without Jackal around; he scuffs his feet and feels even lower.
No one else is around. Sanada and Yukimura stay late to practice with the ball machine. Marui cranes his neck and he can just peak over the rise and see the top of Sanada's ball cap. Balls shwook across the court. Yukimura yells at Sanada, telling him to hit harder so he can smash. Marui shakes his head. Looking down at his hand, his palm is red and shakes. High school practice is tough.
It sucks that Akaya isn't here. Marui could have played him, or dragged him to an arcade or Starbucks. Instead, he hangs around the locker room until Yagyuu offers. Marui nods. It's not like he has anything better to do.
Yanagi and Yagyuu have their own little in-jokes. They talk as they walk. They talk in line at Starbucks. They talk as they sit down at the café table. It's only lame things, like tennis menus and the literature exam coming up in June. Marui sucks on his frappuccino (Azuki Bean, seasonal special). No one appreciates the noises he makes. Marui slurps louder. Yagyuu stops talking. He looks up and glares over the top of his glasses.
"Marui-kun, do you mind?" he asks.
Marui slides down in his seat. His frappuccino starts to melt, mixing into a conglomerate milk with bean bits. It doesn’t seem as appealing. Marui chews on a fresh stick of gum. Bean chunks get stuck in between his teeth. Marui sighs. He plays with his straw and stirs his drink. Yanagi forgets about his tea when Yagyuu asks about haikus and tanka poems.
Yanagi raises his eyebrows. "Willow is a nice, tree blowing in the spring time wind. Marui is mad."
Marui snaps his face up. "Eh?"
"He and Jackal-kun, are having issues right now-a girl causing strife," Yagyuu says.
Marui groans. He smacks his forehead. "You guys are such nerds," he says. "Haiku battles are so old."
"What is up losers? You guys need some new lives soon. The fatty is pissed."
Niou wedges himself into the seat next to Marui. He swipes Yagyuu's black tea and chugs it down, wiping his chin when it dribbles. Yagyuu bristles. Yanagi frowns. Marui narrows his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he snaps.
Niou snorts. "Nothing much. Bonding with my favourite dudes." He reaches across the table, hands Yagyuu his tea back and instead cups a palm over Yagyuu's hand. "Eh, partner?"
Yagyuu blinks like an owl. Niou leers like a drunk tanuki, complete with waggling eyebrows and a bushy tail. The frappuccino starts to curdle in Marui's stomach.
"The last line of your haiku was wrong," Yanagi says. "Pissed should be two syllables."
"If you pronounce it like Yagyuu maybe," Niou says. He fakes a yawn and whacks his elbow into Marui's side. Marui hits Niou back in the ribs. Yagyuu tells them to stop before they get kicked out.
If Jackal was here with Marui, like he is supposed to be, this wouldn't be happening. Jackal would have bought Marui one of the nice seasonal cherry scones and maybe a chocolate chip tofu cookie too. They would have a laugh over Sanada's underpants waistband hanging out from his shorts at practice today and talk about important things, like the new Avril poster Marui saw at HMV in Yokohama station, or Miley's new single. He downloaded the PV onto his cellphone last week, but he hasn't watched it yet.
It's something they would do together. By himself just isn’t the same.
Niou starts to bother Yanagi and Marui reaches into his pocket. His fingers brush the edge of his cellphone. For a second, his leg twitches, a reaction to a buzzing message, but it's nothing. His imagination is playing tricks. He sighs and stands up, moving to grab his frappuccino but his hand hits the cup the wrong way and knocks it over. The lid spills open and milky half-melted cream oozes all over the table.
"Way to go, Genius," Niou says. Yanagi curls his lip. Yagyuu flags down a barista. The barista, who looks oddly like Sanada in a Comme ça du Mode t-shirt, glares at Marui when he leaves.
"Tarundoru," he mutters.
"I know," Marui whispers.
***
On Sunday morning, Marui blows all his allowance on candy at Familymart: crunchy doraemon tube sticks, and green tea breath fresheners, Lotte green gum and bean paste erasers, cucumber Pepsi (special deal!) and fifteen boxes of Pocky.
He feels like shit.
The candy sits in his stomach and he feels worse. Marui undoes the top button on his jeans and flops out over his bed. Candy wrappers crinkle under his back. He belches. The unpleasant aftertaste of cucumber Pepsi tastes like he drank a litre of the cleaning fluid his mom scrubs the toilet seat with after Dai-chan's aim is off.
Kiwi Kitkat rises in his throat. It was creamy and fruity and disgustingly sweet, but now it mixes with bile into a milky mess at the back of his mouth. Marui tries to gag. Instead, he belches again.
The Leah Dizon calendar on his wall stares back at him with vacant eyes. She looks so empty and contrived, posed there for the camera. This morning, there was a text message on his cellphone from Miley's official fan club. An announcement that she would finally be coming to Tokyo in three months. Marui should have the date circled and written on his calendar, under the bikini shot of Leah in July.
Now, there's no one to take. Jackal was his buddy, his best friend, his tennis partner. They did everything together before: concerts, idol events, Starbucks and hotel buffets, the arcade, the bus home. Marui rubs his roiling stomach. The loneliness is overwhelming. The Kiwi Kitkat coats his throat and chokes him. He can hear the sounds of his brothers playing with the Wii-the cheerful music and their shouting just makes Marui squeeze his eyes shut.
All he wants to do is roll over and puke. And then crawl under a rock.
Why did Jackal have to go and get a girlfriend? Why? he thinks. Wasn't I a good enough friend?
Marui sniffs. He moves on his bed. A Pocky box pokes his butt. He groans. His stomach sinks deeper and the bile rises higher. He squeezes his eyes shut, then swallows hard. In retrospect, the candy was an awful idea, especially combined with the omelet he had for breakfast. Marui groans at the thought.
He could go outside. He should go outside. It's a beautiful spring day, warm enough for a t-shirt and capri pants, warm enough to grab his racket and go play a few rounds with a friend. Except he can't. Jackal is probably on a date or something. Marui imagines Orivia and Jackal at the theatre, or even DisneyTokyo. Jackal would hold her purse and Orivia would cling to his arm and heave her tits. They weren't even nice tits, like Leah Dizon. They were pointy and weird and wrong, but Jackal probably doesn't mind because Orivia has brainwashed him with her Brazilian voodoo.
Yeah! Marui thinks. Voodoo!
It would explain a lot. Like her funny smell. She smelled like peanut butter cookies the last time, the day she tried to offer her poisoned goodies to Marui. He narrows his eyes and nods to Leah. She winks at him. He turns to his posters of Miley and Girlfriend-promo Avril. They grin back at him.
The song plays in his mind. Marui hops off his bed and starts to hum along, singing under his breath. "Hey hey you you I don't like your girlfriend!" he sings. Then he turns around and points to his window and the cooing pigeon outside. It stares at him and cocks its head as Marui keeps going.
"No way no way I think you new one! Hey hey you you-"
I could be your girlfriend?
"No way," Marui mutters.
***
In times of need, Marui would usually avoid sinking so low as to fraternize with the enemy. But he's bored. And lonely. The stomach ache from candy has been replaced by a general emptiness inside. He still feels like shit.
He rummages around in his tennisbag. The kid gave him his info last year, during the Regionals, if Marui remembers correctly. It's a Sunday, neither of them have school, but the kid might have a school club or cram school. Marui doesn't do anything. The paper is crumbled and found in the bottom of his bag, along with a dozen other wrappers. They are sticky and dog-eared. Marui squints to make out the numbers.
Jiroh answers on the first ring. "OH MY GOD!"
Marui's temple starts to throb.
***
They meet at the Mister Donuts in Shinagawa Station. "My treat!" Jiroh says. Marui doesn't say no. He eats the doughnut in three bites. It sits like a stone in his belly. Jiroh keeps flapping. Marui closes his eyes. There's a reason he doesn't hang out with Hyoutei-if they act like this. His Genius slithers out his ears as Jiroh demonstrates, with his hands, just how much he thinks of Marui's tightrope ball.
"I'm not here for advice," Marui says. He licks his fingertip to sop up the crumbs on the tiny table they sit at. Jiroh nods his head furiously. His eyes are roughly doughnut-shaped.
"Because, obviously, I don't need advice," Marui says.
Jiroh keeps nodding. "Of course!"
"And I'm not gonna teach you my moves, either," Marui adds.
Jiroh's face falls.
Marui sighs. "It's just…" He sighs, blowing a raspberry. He pops a new stick of gum into his mouth. Fresh taste and sweetness blooms on his tongue. "You ever just…feel shafted by someone? Like…" Marui frowns. This is beyond awkward talking with Jiroh. He practically vibrates as he looks at Marui, mouth hanging open and eyes so huge he looks like he's smoking something. Marui offers a stick of gum.
Jackal would accept, always.
Jiroh shakes his head. "No thanks," he whispers. His voice is breathy. He hangs off the edge of the table, then his hands clamp down on Marui's arm and twist. "Yes, Marui-kun…?"
"Like say you wanted to go to a concert, but you had a friend who decided a chick was more important than the most important concert ever with you-wouldn't that suck?"
There. He said it.
Jiroh just blinks. Marui's shoulders sink. The bubble he was trying to form deflates mid-blow, gone flaccid as it hangs from his lips. "Well…" Jiroh says. "Never had that happen."
Marui blinks this time. "Are concerts below Hyoutei's standards?" he asks. He curls his lip up. Jiroh sits back in his chair and curls his lip up too. They stare at each other for a long moment. A salaryman buys two chocolate dips at the counter.
"We have school concerts," Jiroh says. "But nobody goes together, except Shishido and Ohtori." Jiroh starts to snicker. His bright and innocent eyes narrow. Marui doesn't get it. But he's not about to let that on.
"I see," he says. He strokes his chin. "Interesting," he says. It's not. "And are…Shishido and Ohtori…girlfriends…?" he asks.
Jiroh smirks. He leans across the table. He clings to Marui's arm, but his fingers start to play with the wristband Marui wears, like he's trying to pull it off Marui's wrist or-
"Oi!" Marui shouts. "Give that back!" he holds out his hand. Sheepish, Jiroh hands the wristband back.
"Sorry," he says.
Right then, as Jiroh pouts, a woman buys the peanut butter special edition doughnut at the cash register. Out of the corner of his eye Marui can see a flash of blonde. A flood of anger rises up inside, like heartburn in his chest. He stands up. He's too creeped out to stay.
"Don't call me," he tells Jiroh as Jiroh starts to run after him through the station passageways. Marui cups his hands around his mouth and yells louder. "I'll call you!"
On the train home from Tokyo, Marui has a burst of Genius. He remembers who Ohtori and Shishido are. His iPod begins to play the latest Jero release he downloaded.
The doughnut in his stomach gives him bad gas. No one sits near him on the train. Marui curls up into the seat. He feels like an outcast. Just to spite him, his iPod shuffles to Avril next. Listening to When You're Gone just makes the bubbling, pressing gas worse. Marui closes his eyes and winces.
I miss you, he thinks.
***
There is pollen in the air, and the stink of Niou's hair wax. Plum blossoms drift like little white ghosts, dancing all around the courts. Marui chews his gum furiously, and refuses to blow a bubble. He could get bugs in it like he did the other day.
His heart is restless. His grip is too tight on his racket. Yagyuu announces that he's going to serve, Marui-kun, are you ready?
Marui narrows his eyes at Jackal, who's playing with Yukimura and Niou. There is no Orivia in sight, just like it should be, because it's morning practice. The sun is shining, but there's a chill of spring on Marui's skin. The hair on his shins prickles. The ball skims the net. Marui turns just in time to hit a backhand. It's a shitty shot and Yagyuu scores on the return.
"Fuck," Marui hisses. He shifts his eyes back to Jackal. Jackal smiles weakly and raises a hand in a wave. Marui scowls at him and flips his hair back. To Yagyuu, he shouts, "You wanna piece of my Genius, megane boy?"
Yagyuu blinks.
Across the courts, Marui can hear Jackal ask what's wrong.
Yukimura says, "He's just being Bunta."
Marui sniffs. He chews his gum harder. The sugary taste is dissolving too quickly. He'll need a new piece before the end of the game. "Gimme a sec," he tells Yagyuu as he grabs a fresh piece from his pocket. It's covered in lint and smells a bit like sweaty crotch, but the sweetness melts over his tongue when he chews the two wads together.
Much better, he thinks.
He tosses the ball up for a serve, when she appears on the ridge above the tennis courts. Marui's eyes flash to Jackal, who glances up to her, and waves with a hell of a lot more enthusiasm than he showed Marui earlier. Orivia waves back. Her hair flutters up, all blonde and long and her tanned skin glows under the morning sun. Her skirt flips up, too, and Marui gets a panty shot.
On any other (cute) girl, he'd enjoy seeing pink polka-dots and milky thighs. On her, it just makes him feel ill because he can see Jackal blushing at the sight.
God, it makes him sick.
Marui drops the ball. He throws his racket down too. He spits out his wad of gum, then he stomps across the courts. His heart flaps, like the crows in the zelkova trees by the clubhouse. "Go away!" he shouts.
Orivia looks at him. Jackal does too. Marui sucks in a breath, but the press against his chest doesn't stop. "G-go away!" he says. The stutter in his voice is horrible, echoing in his ears. Marui grinds his teeth. The gum leaves a bitter aftertaste as he slams the door of the clubhouse.
Jackal follows him. The door slams a second time, and the walls shake to a silence. He can hear Jackal's breathing, his footsteps padding across the floor, then nothing. Marui stares at his locker door. Avril winks at him with a saucy smirk and pink highlights in her hair. Miley's crooked teeth, so cute and endearing before, and blonde Hannah Montana wig do nothing but make Marui's stomach sink lower.
Jackal grabs his shoulder and digs his hands in. "What the hell is your problem?" he snaps. He pulls Marui to turn him around. Marui lets his body flop like a ragdoll.
Something inside bubbles up and out. Marui looks up into Jackal's eyes-they're dark and deep like chocolate. Marui's knees shake. He breathes through his nose, once, twice, as he tries to find his voice. Then, he balls his fists. "I don't like your girlfriend!" he yells. "Okay? I don't like her! I think you need a NEW ONE!"
Jackal's face twists. He shakes his head and his hand drops from Marui's shoulder. Marui rubs his shoulder where it burns.
"She's not my girlfriend," he says. His voice is simple, his tone low and just a little brittle. Jackal's words hang in the air for a moment before he adds, "Olivia is my cousin."
Marui's mouth hangs open.
Oh.
His shoulders slump.
Oh.
His eyes blink three times.
Oh.
Jackal touches Marui's chin. He closes it with two fingers that skin the underside of Marui's jaw. He can't help a shiver. The clubhouse is cool and shady. It's quiet, too, when Jackal leaves.
Marui sits down on the bench until Sanada finds him. It creaks under Sanada's weight when he sits down beside Marui. Sanada looks at the wall, just like Marui, but he takes his ball cap off and twists the brim. Without looking at him, Sanada mutters, "Maybe you like Jackal. Maybe you were jealous of his cousin."
"That's gay," Marui says. "I'm not like you and Yukimura."
Sanada turns a shade of red, then he leaves. But there is no Jackal to close Marui's mouth for him this time.
***
"Miley, am I gay like a fruitcake?"
"Bunta, you're you. Just be yourself. Don't hide behind a Hannah Montana like me."
Marui nods.
"Avril, what do you think?"
"Che. Like, you're not a skater boi, duh."
"Yeah, duh."
"But like, my husband is a troll, and I still love him."
"That is true."
"So like, if being a Genius is what you are, then chicks are gonna dig you. They'll think you're sick."
"Do Americans say 'sick', Avril?"
"Che. I'm a poster, I can say whatever you want me to say. Don't be so complicated. And I'm not American, remember?"
Marui nods.
"Leah, what about you?"
"I love you all!"
Marui frowns. Leah smiles back at him with vacant eyes. She's no help, she's just a gravure idol. He looks at his Avril poster, then he turns to his Miley one. Avril flashes him a victory sign. Miley grins with her snaggleteeth. Marui glances down to his dresser. Amid the clutter of candy wrappers, the sticky remains of a popsicle, some old notes passed to him by chicks in junior high and the new tennis wristbands he had to buy after that creepy Jiroh incident, is a picture of him and Jackal. His best friend, who smiles back at him from under a pair of big sunglasses and a bowler hat. Seeing Jackal, tanned and laughing and his face shiny with sweat makes Marui swallows hard.
His cellphone buzzes.
This time, he picks it up.
***
They meet at the Starbucks by the school. It's after supper, but just before sunset, when dusk casts the street in an orange glow and the streetlamps have just come on. Marui is there first. He plays with his cellphone charm and pretends to text a message. He orders a frapp to go and he sits at a table facing the front window. Jackal walks in from the direction of the train station, past the road toward the elementary school and the Familymart.
He nods to Marui when he walks inside. Marui nods back. Jackal orders a double-shot vanilla espresso to go. Marui says nothing, he just nods and agrees when Jackal says, "Let's walk by the canal."
His stomach is in knots. Marui sips his frappuccino. The cream is too sweet and too thick in his throat. Instead, he starts to stir it with his straw as they walk. Their footsteps crunch on the cracked pavement and the concrete stairs as they descent toward the canal. A sliced crescent of the moon reflects off the canal's flickering surface. Marui stuffs his hand in his pocket and he thinks about Avril's music video, the one where she walks around at night and feels empty and depressed. He feels sort of the same way. Every time he opens his mouth to apologize, he freezes up and he can't speak.
Way to go, Genius, he thinks.
Finally, Jackal stops and leans on the canal barrier. He looks up at the sky. The moon is in his eyes and his espresso steams where he sets it down on the concrete ledge.
"Olivia's my cousin," he says. "I thought you knew that, Bunta."
Marui hangs his head.
"Like, I know Yanagi thinks she's hot, but…I'm not into weird incest stuff," Jackal says.
Marui forces himself to nod. "Yeah," he says. "Yeah, cool. Forgot you Brazilians are all touchy-feely."
Jackal laughs. Marui doesn't.
A late evening bird chirps somewhere. The light is nothing but a sliver in the west, hidden by the apartment buildings and schools and the train tracks nearby too. Marui leans against the ledge, next to Jackal. Jackal taps Marui's sneaker with his toes. He's already in sandals. He's crazy.
"She…liked you, you know," Jackal says.
Marui sucks on his bottom lip. The lump in his throat keeps growing. He nods, because he can't do anything else. The touch of Jackal's foot to his sneaker makes him shiver. If he'd worn a jacket, Jackal wouldn't see his arms all goosepimly like this.
"We made cookies together for you. She's better at baking than me."
Marui's stomach crawls out through his navel and flops onto the ground. It bleeds on the pavement. His head hangs even lower and he watches the mess of his frappuccino hitting the ground, spilling open and mixing with the slithered innards. He frowns. It feels like a wad of gum is stuck in his throat, too.
"She…I…" Marui shakes his head. He can't do this. He exhales. Jackal touches his arm.
"Hey," he says. "It's cool."
Marui huffs. Jackal's hand is hot and sweaty. Feverish shivers run down his spine and Marui can feel his dick twitching, the same way it did when he got his Leah Dizon calendar. "No it's not!" he says. "I think I- I think…" He shakes his head again. "I can't do this," he mumbles.
"Go from friends to something more?" Jackal asks.
"No- what?" Marui stares at him. Jackal forces a laugh and he rubs the back of his neck. He exhales a breath. It smells like vanilla and coffee. It smells good.
"What?" he says.
Jackal leans toward him, but he looks away, out toward a cement wall covered in the first green vines of the year, crawling and dripping with new shoots. Marui can almost make out the shapes of flower buds on the tips. Something new out of something old.
Jackal nods.
A rush spreads through his body, an overwhelming feeling of something indescribable that makes him tingle, from his toes to his fingertips that reach out, inching toward Jackal. Like Pure Genius, only better. Marui nods once, too. Jackal takes his hand. It's weird and clammy and Marui isn't sure if he should spread his fingers or not. That's too girly, so he doesn't.
"Did you hear," Jackal mumbles, "that Avril's coming back to Japan?"
Marui shakes his head. Jackal squeezes his hand a little tighter. Marui's head fills with blood, rushing and roaring and deafening, the way a concert would pulse through his mind and body. It's the same sensation, but magnified a hundred times when Jackal looks at him.
"She's coming to Yokohama this time. Three weeks after the Miley concert."
Marui holds his breath.
Jackal's eyes are shiny. They crinkle at the edges, even more than they would when Orivia was hanging off his arm.
"I'm gonna get two tickets," he says. "You wanna come?"
In the distance, fireworks explode in the sky. It's off-season, but the bang and hiss and then a bloom of white and pink, like spring blossoms, bursts into the sky above the tops of apartment blocks.
Marui grins.
"Do you think I should dye my hair blond this time to be like her? Did you see her latest spread in Seventeen? It was so fucking hot!"
Jackal swats him on the ear. Marui ducks and shrieks as he runs off. He runs backwards. "You're so fine I want you mine you're so delicious!" he starts to sing at the top of his lungs. His pitch is off. His tune is shaky and he nearly trips over a bump in the pavement.
Jackal laughs and chases after him. "You're a mother-fucking princess!" he says.
Marui yells, "Hey hey!"
His laughter makes him stumble over, but when Jackal stumbles into him, it's like the best damn thing.
Yet.
Notes for the culturally-challenged:
Avril Lavigne is a Canadian "punk"/pop singer extremely popular in Japan.
Miley Cyrus is an American singer and actress, who stars in the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana.
Leah Dizon is an American gravure idol in Japan.
Jero is an American enka singer.
Author: Ociwen
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 7600
Disclaimer: Konomi owns all.
Summary: Marui doesn't like Jackal's girlfriend.
Author's Notes: Written for Marui's birthday-Happy Birthday, Marui!
She shows up one day.
She hangs off Jackal's arm during tennis practice. It's spring time. They have just started high school. Marui's at the bottom of the pecking order picking up balls and sweeping courts and it sucks that the seniors don't recognize his genius yet.
It sucks even more that Jackal has some blonde thing groping his arm and squealing. He waves and beams at Marui. "Oi! Bunta! Come over and meet Orivia!"
Marui scoffs. Orivia is the dumbest name he's ever heard. Even for a Gaijin. Avril, sexy. Miley, cute. Leah Dizon, smoking.
Orivia? Lame.
Marui pops a bubble. He scans the area and runs off the court. The senpais don't seem to notice Jackal and his Gaijin girl standing near the clubhouse. Marui slicks back his hair and smooths his shorts. Mostly, he just frowns as Jackal grins from ear to ear.
Jackal says, "Bunta, this is Orivia." Then, in Portuguese, he says something else. Orivia's eyes go wide and she nods. Her blonde hair bounces. She has brown skin and nice tits. Marui narrows his eyes.
"My name is…Orivia," she says. Her Japanese is broken and her accent is off.
Marui looks at Jackal. Jackal shifts his weight and looks back at Marui, anxious and blinking. Well, he seems to say.
Marui sniffs. Well what?
Orivia's hand starts to flag; when Marui doesn’t shake it, she finally pulls back. Her smile falters a bit, too. A spring breeze stirs her hair and the light catches it, turning it golden. Marui is practically blinded. He chucks his chin up and mutters, "Haro". Then he shuffles off. Duty done.
Stupid Orivia, he thinks. He spends the rest of practice picking up balls by himself. Normally Jackal helps out. They work as a team. One holds the basket, the other picks up balls. Next court, switch! Normally Jackal chats up a storm and sings along to Avril and enka and Orange Range with him. They're a perfect, working unit, even as high school freshmen.
Now, the silence grates Marui's ears. His knees hurt from crawling around the clay and having to strain to reach the basket. Senpais keep slamming balls around him, behind his ear, behind his ass, even into the basket, knocking the whole lot over in a rolling mess. Marui glowers behind their backs. Orivia is still there by the stands, wide-eyed and staring as Jackal points things out on the court.
He's been the one with girlfriends in the past and now it's Jackal's turn. Still, he's bitter and alone and no one but Niou speaks to him in the locker room after practice finishes.
"Hey Fatty, did you see that girl's ass?" he asks. When Marui doesn't answer, Niou whips his towel at Marui's thigh. Marui jumps and yelps and slips on the slick floor. Niou laughs at him until Marui lunges. Getting his hands around Niou's and squeezing feels good, at least until Niou knees him in the stomach.
They each get twenty extra laps during afternoon practice, but at least Marui doesn't have to speak to Orivia again.
***
Vaguely, Marui recalls Jackal talking about her last week on the phone.
Of course he was busy pulling two little brothers off his legs and trying to also hold off that one girl named Erika-chan who kept texting him messages. She's cute, but her snaggleteeth are nothing like Miley's.
Marui has standards.
Jackal went on about some girl. Marui grunted and pulled a brother off his right leg.
"She's awesome. You'll really like her," Jackal said. Marui snorted and pulled the other brother off his left leg. His brothers launched another attack and Marui lost his balance. He stumbled backward and stepped in something squishy and moist. He cringed.
"Hang on," he told Jackal.
Jackal kept talking about this girl as Marui peeled the cheese sandwich off his heel. He made a face, then flung it at the closest brother. It hit Jin square in the forehead, then the kid started to holler. His mom yelled and Marui had the perfect excuse to end the phone call.
Looking back, Marui still doesn't know what to make of it all. He eats lunch with the bleached freak (who Marui doesn't like, but it's better than being a loner) on the rooftop. Sanada and Yukimura and Yanagi are off…doing tennis. Yagyuu is at a meeting for a school club, probably. And Jackal is with her.
Marui saw them near his locker.
He turned heel and walked the other way before Jackal noticed. The sight of Orivia on Jackal's arm, pawing at his shoulder, made Marui queasy. Of course, not queasy enough to skip lunch-even if eating with Niou is unappetizing. Niou belches and flicks bits of hangnails and rice awfully close to Marui's lunch. It's the special from the cafeteria, spring omelet with mushrooms and scallions and mystery fish rolls. Marui thinks about sharing his lunch with Jackal, and the omelet sticks in his mouth, tasting sulfurous and ashen. He swallows hard.
Niou picks another finger. He picks at a bento he brought from home. Marui eyes the sakura mochi-it's perfect, with a little shiso leaf on top too. The freak doesn’t deserve to have such nice food made by his mom, not when he accidentally drops one on the school pavement.
Marui shifts his eyes. When Niou turns, he reaches for the mochi and swipes it. On cue, Niou catches him in the act.
"Bottom feeding?"
"Shut up," Marui says. He pops the mochi in his mouth (after brushing it off first, he's not uncouth or anything). It tastes salty and vaguely floral. It should taste better. Marui sighs and chews. It's not the same without Jackal here making some crack about tennis practice or senpais or the girl in Marui's gym class with the huge tits that bounce when she dribbles basketballs but who also has hairy legs. He misses the feeling of one of Jackal's iPod headphones in his ear blasting enka. Marui rubs his ear. It's not the same at all.
"Something up, fat man?" Niou asks. He sets his bento down. His fingers bleed. Marui shrugs his shoulders. He can’t be bothered to care the way he should.
"You seen that chick Jackal's hanging around?" Marui asks.
Niou nods. He whistles. "Blonde and buxom. Just my-"
Marui blows a raspberry. "Lamewad. You said Yagyuu was your type."
It's Niou's turn to flush. The sun is warm, but not hot. Marui can feel the light beating down onto his back. He scrunches his knees closer to his chest and hugs them. It makes his chest tight. He's not very flexible, but Niou doesn't need to know that.
"There goes my free Starbucks," Marui mumbles. He fakes a laugh. Niou clears his throat and raises an eyebrow, but his cheeks are still as pink as the sakura trees on the canals near the school campus.
"That's what it's about?" Niou asks.
Marui shrugs.
Niou keeps staring. Marui can't muster up enough caring to swipe another mochi. His stomach growls until the class bell rings for the afternoon. He sighs. A crow comes along and starts to pick at Marui's abandoned lunch. The crow ruffles its feathers-they shine like Jackal's forehead after a tennis match.
Marui sighs again.
***
Akaya calls on a Saturday. Marui's been sleeping in. He's been moping around the house. His brothers ate the last of the pastries from the shop in Ginza that his mom bought yesterday.
"Damn you," Marui hisses. He glares at Dai-chan. Dai-chan sticks out his tongue. Just for that, Marui locks him out of the bathroom. The sounds of his brother whining that he has to get his toothbrush out or mom will be angry are music to Marui's ears.
The kid mentioned something about the arcade, their favourite arcade. Marui's cool with that. It will be nice to go out-he hasn't seen Akaya in a few weeks, not since spring break. The sun shines. The air is filled with pollen and petals. Marui breathes it in deep, then he sneezes. Cool dew hangs off the tips of budding vines that drip down cement walls. Marui skips along. He hums an Orange Range tune from that Narutard show his brothers watch. He'd never admit that Sasuke is actually kinda awesome.
It's just a couple subway stops away. Marui has a pocket full of change and a swelling heart. His fingers itch for a games controller. His toes tap on the carriage floor, the rhythm of the song still playing in his mind. He hops off the train and races up the stairs to the exit: the arcade is just two blocks down the road from exit six. His watch says 12:23. Akaya said to meet at noon. Perfect timing.
Marui hops, skips and jumps across the zebra crossing. His steps are easy and the blinking signs of electronic shops are enticing, but nowhere near as much as the blaring Lucky Star theme that blasts out of the arcade. Marui grins. He can see Akaya's messy hair already.
Akaya turns and waves and then Marui stops in his tracks. Out from the corner of the entrance into the arcade, Jackal and she step out too.
Marui's blood runs cold. Orivia clings to Jackal's arm-only now, it's worse. Their hands are entwined! Marui can feel his body swaying in the spring breeze, like a sakura blossom about to fall to the ground and be crushed underfoot. His stomach sinks. He sees Jackal lean into Orivia's face and their cheeks brush. Marui feels ill. It's just so…gross!
"Get a room," he hisses under his breath.
Akaya bounces up to him. The kid has grown again. Marui feels shorter than ever. He swallows a wad of bile and scowls at Akaya. "I thought you said it was us," he says.
Akaya blinks. "Uh, yeah, senpai. And Jackal-senpai and his-"
Marui scoffs. "Well!" He sniffs and tries to think of something eloquent to say, but all he really wants to do is go back home. Orivia walks up to him-sidles up to him-and says hello. In English! She asks him how he is. Marui curls his lip. While he may be a genius, how the hell does she expect him to have conversational skills when his mind has been busy learning past participles last week.
Marui narrows his eyes. "No English," he says.
Orivia's smile falls. Her lips are shiny with pink lipgloss. Her teeth are perfect and small. She has cute hairclips in her hair-hearts with unicorns. On any other girl, they might look cute. On this Brazilian harlot, they look wrong.
"I see you enjoy crashing our guys' days out," Marui says. In Japanese.
Jackal looks at him and frowns. "Why are you being like that?" he asks.
Marui crosses his arms over his chest. He's not being like anything. It's Jackal who has ruined things by bringing his girlfriend along. But when Marui opens his mouth to explain, his tongue gets tied up and his throat closes off. "Never-mind," he says. His voice breaks.
This is awful.
Orivia keeps looking at him. Her eyes are pale and grayish and vaguely almond-shaped. Her blonde hair reflects the blinking red lights of the arcade sign. Akaya keeps making weird faces and Jackal shakes his head. No one speaks. Marui's insides twist up. Everyone is looking at him.
Finally Marui says, "I have things to do."
"But…you came all the way to the arcade for nothing!" Akaya says.
Jackal sighs and rolls his eyes. He turns to Orivia and murmurs something in Portuguese. The sight of their closeness, their bodily familiarity the way Orivia's boobs press awful close to Jackal's arm makes Marui shake inside with fury.
He inhales and puffs his chest up. "Whatever," he mutters.
Marui walks all the way to the opposite subway stop and has to pay twice the fare home. He stomps to his bedroom and slams the door. His brothers paw at the crack underneath until Marui cranks the volume on his iPod loud enough to drown them out.
His listens to Jero on repeat, by himself. Enka never sounded so lonely before.
***
Asking Yukimura to play a tennis game is something akin to suicide. Or seppuku. There's a ritual involved in phoning Yukimura up, listening to him complain to his mother about his pills and medicine and general constitution, then the actual asking. Marui dances around the issue, dropping clues about the weather being nice and his Genius feeling sharp today.
Yukimura finally gets it.
"Wanna play a game at the streetcourts?" he asks.
Marui doesn't need to say anything except, "Sure, I guess."
The courts are damp from last night's rain. Marui's sneakers leave prints as he walks across. There is mud splattered on the back of his calves from the walk here. Yukimura looks pristine. Marui narrows his eyes. He scratches at his belly. There's a bit more extra skin there than last year. It rolls over the waistband of his shorts. Marui frowns.
"Have you done laps yet?" Yukimura asks. He stretches his arms above his head. His stomach peeks out from under his jacket. Smooth and taught. Marui hunches his shoulders. His skin hangs over his shorts more.
"No," he says.
"Stretched?"
"No," he says.
Yukimura's lips thin. Marui starts to run. It's a workout before he finishes. He huffs. He puffs. He's glad as hell that Niou isn't here to see him wheezing by the fifth lap. Marui had a big breakfast. He has an excuse. Three omelets and five pieces of toast (plus that leftover box of four chococros sitting on the counter…) don't exactly sit light in his stomach.
Yukimura claps his hands. "Pick up your pace!" he shouts.
"Not. Tennis. Practice." Marui says through his teeth. His ribs burn. His lungs are going to explode. He trips to a stop near Yukimura, and then his knees wobble.
"Ready?" Yukimura asks. He beams. The light catches his face, bright and beatific. Marui curls his lip and grimaces.
At least there's no Jackal and his girlfriend here. Marui returns Yukimura's lob. The ension rises. The temperature increases. His Genius ascends when Yukimura begins to rally, Marui's favourite game style. He wiggles on the spot. He twists his racket around. The ball arcs in the sky, a perfect parabola toward the metal post.
Ha! Take that, Orivia!
The ball lands on his side.
Marui's jaw hangs open.
"That was interesting," Yukimura says. "I haven't seen you do that since we played at that elementary day camp together. Remember?" He laughs.
A fly buzzes into Marui's mouth. The bubble he'd been chewing falls onto the ground, pink with the black speck of a struggling insect. His stomach turns. Marui takes a deep breath and sniffs. The air smells like exhaust from traffic and spilled oil. It smells like dusty clay from the courts and teenage sweet, mixed with saccharine apple-scented bubblegum.
In other words, it stinks.
"Something bothering you?" Yukimura asks. He walks to the net and picks up the ball. "You'll make the team next year, I'm sure. Probably." Yukimura pushes his headband up. He isn't sweating at all.
Marui's face is on fire. His back is soaked. His sneakers are squidgy inside and his socks crawl on his feet. "Yeah," he mutters. With the toe of his shoe, he kicks at the bubblegum. It skips along the ground, growing grey and gross.
"Uh," Yukimura says. He scratches his head. "If it's about chicks, maybe Jackal can help-"
"I'm not asking him anything!" Marui snaps. Yukimura's face falls. Marui balls his fist and stomps around in a circle. Then he turns around and stomps in the other direction. "I don't speak to traitors like him!"
"Traitor?"
Yukimura is awfully dense about anything not tennis. Or houseplants. Marui grunts. "You seen that…that…Orivia?" he spits.
"Jackal's c-"
"Yes, her!" Marui sucks in a breath. He puffs up his chest and looks up at Yukimura. A pair of crows sits on the top of the fence surrounding the courts. Beady black eyes stare at him. Marui shakes inside. He thinks about Jackal leaning close to her. He thinks about her tits brushing Jackal's arm. He thinks about her blonde hair, so pale compared to Jackal's brown, shiny head.
Marui grinds his teeth.
"He's not my friend anymore," he says.
Yukimura stares at him for a long time. A crow flies off, cawing at Marui as it coasts on the spring wind, sweet and cherry-scented. Marui sneezes. Pollen swirls in whirlwinds around the court. His racket hits the ground-he didn't even realize it fell from his hand.
Yukimura's stare makes him uncomfortable. "It's my serve," Marui says at last. "Be prepared to see some Pure Genius at work."
His words are hollow.
Yukimura trumps him 6-0 anyway.
***
He's completely innocent.
Marui doesn't spend class breaks in the corridors, sneaking up to the stairwell near class I's room. He doesn’t pop bubbles and sneak peaks through the large windows, searching out one brown bald head and another blonde. He doesn't mutter "how the hell can she even be admitted to school here when she doesn't understand Japanese at all? Stupid Nikkeijin."
No, he doesn't do that at all. Marui gulps his Pocari Sweat and shifts his eyes. Just a bunch of cute girls clustered outside 3-I today. He sighs. He hops down a step and sighs again. His gum falls into the PET bottle. "Damn," he mutters.
"Excuse me."
Marui peers down the throat of the bottle. His gum settles to the bottom. He frowns, then looks down the stair well. No one nearby, except Niou, who doesn't count as a real person. He glances up and-
"Argh!" he shouts.
Orivia blinks at him. She smiles-no bowing her head in apology, no. She doesn't get Japanese manners. Marui scoffs. He looks down at the tin she carries. There's something of the smell of cookies in the air. Chocolate chip and peanut butter. Marui's stomach rumbles. His mouth waters, just a little.
"Excuse me," she says, shoving the tin into his chest. "Please…accept this."
The tin pokes Marui in the nipple. It tingles. He backs up into the wall. Orivia keeps trying to pass off this…this thing to him, saying garbled words like, "Please" and "You I like" and Marui just shakes his head.
"Gerroff!" he says.
Orivia shakes her head. "I'm sorry," she says. She repeats herself and makes hand motions, smacking her lips in some unintelligible Portuguese way. The tin is covered with Johnny Depp's face. Marui's stomach tightens-there's a Pirates of the Caribbean skull-and-crossbones pattern on the top of the tin. His favourite movie. For a moment, he's tempted to take the tin and run, but then he hears his name called.
"Bunta!" Jackal stands at the top of the stairs, just past the door to his classroom. "What are you doing?"
Orivia squawks something in Portuguese. Jackal laughs. His white teeth catch in the fluorescent lighting and Marui's chest squeezes. He looks to Orivia, who smiles and blushes at Jackal. Instead of finally accepting the tin, anger gets the best of him. Marui pushes her out of his way. He clenches his jaw and stomps off.
"Don't you like cookies anymore either?" Jackal yells. His voice is hard and angry. Marui glances back up the stair well. Orivia's face is crestfallen. Jackal curls his lip up, then he reaches out to her and wraps an arm around her shoulder.
"I'm not a fucking third wheel," Marui hisses.
Jackal doesn't hear. He's too busy patting Orivia's back. The tin she was holding is now in Jackal's hand, like she intended all along, a present for her boyfriend. The girl was an idiot for trying to share a present for Jackal with Marui.
And Marui feels like an idiot for considering accepting the tin. The miscommunication seeps under his skin and makes his body prickle all over. His nipple still hurts from being prodded like that. Stupid Orivia's true intentions were lost in translation. Fortunately, his Genius is smart enough to get the fact that she's sobbing in Jackal's arms now and Jackal is enjoying it, sending dirty looks to Marui until he's out of sight.
***
In afternoon classes, Niou munches on peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies under his desk. He waggles his eyebrows at Marui. "Some chick made these," he says. He holds one out to Marui. The edge crumbles to the floor.
"Want one?"
***
Because Jackal skips tennis practice to go on a date (or whatever, Marui assumes) with Orivia the best friend stealer, Marui gets stuck with Yanagi and Yagyuu after practice ends. Joy of joys. The two least interesting people on the face of the planet. Apart from Sanada. And Niou-but Niou is more annoying than boring.
There's a chill that comes with evening. Marui rubs his arms. He's low on cash and without Jackal around; he scuffs his feet and feels even lower.
No one else is around. Sanada and Yukimura stay late to practice with the ball machine. Marui cranes his neck and he can just peak over the rise and see the top of Sanada's ball cap. Balls shwook across the court. Yukimura yells at Sanada, telling him to hit harder so he can smash. Marui shakes his head. Looking down at his hand, his palm is red and shakes. High school practice is tough.
It sucks that Akaya isn't here. Marui could have played him, or dragged him to an arcade or Starbucks. Instead, he hangs around the locker room until Yagyuu offers. Marui nods. It's not like he has anything better to do.
Yanagi and Yagyuu have their own little in-jokes. They talk as they walk. They talk in line at Starbucks. They talk as they sit down at the café table. It's only lame things, like tennis menus and the literature exam coming up in June. Marui sucks on his frappuccino (Azuki Bean, seasonal special). No one appreciates the noises he makes. Marui slurps louder. Yagyuu stops talking. He looks up and glares over the top of his glasses.
"Marui-kun, do you mind?" he asks.
Marui slides down in his seat. His frappuccino starts to melt, mixing into a conglomerate milk with bean bits. It doesn’t seem as appealing. Marui chews on a fresh stick of gum. Bean chunks get stuck in between his teeth. Marui sighs. He plays with his straw and stirs his drink. Yanagi forgets about his tea when Yagyuu asks about haikus and tanka poems.
Yanagi raises his eyebrows. "Willow is a nice, tree blowing in the spring time wind. Marui is mad."
Marui snaps his face up. "Eh?"
"He and Jackal-kun, are having issues right now-a girl causing strife," Yagyuu says.
Marui groans. He smacks his forehead. "You guys are such nerds," he says. "Haiku battles are so old."
"What is up losers? You guys need some new lives soon. The fatty is pissed."
Niou wedges himself into the seat next to Marui. He swipes Yagyuu's black tea and chugs it down, wiping his chin when it dribbles. Yagyuu bristles. Yanagi frowns. Marui narrows his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he snaps.
Niou snorts. "Nothing much. Bonding with my favourite dudes." He reaches across the table, hands Yagyuu his tea back and instead cups a palm over Yagyuu's hand. "Eh, partner?"
Yagyuu blinks like an owl. Niou leers like a drunk tanuki, complete with waggling eyebrows and a bushy tail. The frappuccino starts to curdle in Marui's stomach.
"The last line of your haiku was wrong," Yanagi says. "Pissed should be two syllables."
"If you pronounce it like Yagyuu maybe," Niou says. He fakes a yawn and whacks his elbow into Marui's side. Marui hits Niou back in the ribs. Yagyuu tells them to stop before they get kicked out.
If Jackal was here with Marui, like he is supposed to be, this wouldn't be happening. Jackal would have bought Marui one of the nice seasonal cherry scones and maybe a chocolate chip tofu cookie too. They would have a laugh over Sanada's underpants waistband hanging out from his shorts at practice today and talk about important things, like the new Avril poster Marui saw at HMV in Yokohama station, or Miley's new single. He downloaded the PV onto his cellphone last week, but he hasn't watched it yet.
It's something they would do together. By himself just isn’t the same.
Niou starts to bother Yanagi and Marui reaches into his pocket. His fingers brush the edge of his cellphone. For a second, his leg twitches, a reaction to a buzzing message, but it's nothing. His imagination is playing tricks. He sighs and stands up, moving to grab his frappuccino but his hand hits the cup the wrong way and knocks it over. The lid spills open and milky half-melted cream oozes all over the table.
"Way to go, Genius," Niou says. Yanagi curls his lip. Yagyuu flags down a barista. The barista, who looks oddly like Sanada in a Comme ça du Mode t-shirt, glares at Marui when he leaves.
"Tarundoru," he mutters.
"I know," Marui whispers.
***
On Sunday morning, Marui blows all his allowance on candy at Familymart: crunchy doraemon tube sticks, and green tea breath fresheners, Lotte green gum and bean paste erasers, cucumber Pepsi (special deal!) and fifteen boxes of Pocky.
He feels like shit.
The candy sits in his stomach and he feels worse. Marui undoes the top button on his jeans and flops out over his bed. Candy wrappers crinkle under his back. He belches. The unpleasant aftertaste of cucumber Pepsi tastes like he drank a litre of the cleaning fluid his mom scrubs the toilet seat with after Dai-chan's aim is off.
Kiwi Kitkat rises in his throat. It was creamy and fruity and disgustingly sweet, but now it mixes with bile into a milky mess at the back of his mouth. Marui tries to gag. Instead, he belches again.
The Leah Dizon calendar on his wall stares back at him with vacant eyes. She looks so empty and contrived, posed there for the camera. This morning, there was a text message on his cellphone from Miley's official fan club. An announcement that she would finally be coming to Tokyo in three months. Marui should have the date circled and written on his calendar, under the bikini shot of Leah in July.
Now, there's no one to take. Jackal was his buddy, his best friend, his tennis partner. They did everything together before: concerts, idol events, Starbucks and hotel buffets, the arcade, the bus home. Marui rubs his roiling stomach. The loneliness is overwhelming. The Kiwi Kitkat coats his throat and chokes him. He can hear the sounds of his brothers playing with the Wii-the cheerful music and their shouting just makes Marui squeeze his eyes shut.
All he wants to do is roll over and puke. And then crawl under a rock.
Why did Jackal have to go and get a girlfriend? Why? he thinks. Wasn't I a good enough friend?
Marui sniffs. He moves on his bed. A Pocky box pokes his butt. He groans. His stomach sinks deeper and the bile rises higher. He squeezes his eyes shut, then swallows hard. In retrospect, the candy was an awful idea, especially combined with the omelet he had for breakfast. Marui groans at the thought.
He could go outside. He should go outside. It's a beautiful spring day, warm enough for a t-shirt and capri pants, warm enough to grab his racket and go play a few rounds with a friend. Except he can't. Jackal is probably on a date or something. Marui imagines Orivia and Jackal at the theatre, or even DisneyTokyo. Jackal would hold her purse and Orivia would cling to his arm and heave her tits. They weren't even nice tits, like Leah Dizon. They were pointy and weird and wrong, but Jackal probably doesn't mind because Orivia has brainwashed him with her Brazilian voodoo.
Yeah! Marui thinks. Voodoo!
It would explain a lot. Like her funny smell. She smelled like peanut butter cookies the last time, the day she tried to offer her poisoned goodies to Marui. He narrows his eyes and nods to Leah. She winks at him. He turns to his posters of Miley and Girlfriend-promo Avril. They grin back at him.
The song plays in his mind. Marui hops off his bed and starts to hum along, singing under his breath. "Hey hey you you I don't like your girlfriend!" he sings. Then he turns around and points to his window and the cooing pigeon outside. It stares at him and cocks its head as Marui keeps going.
"No way no way I think you new one! Hey hey you you-"
I could be your girlfriend?
"No way," Marui mutters.
***
In times of need, Marui would usually avoid sinking so low as to fraternize with the enemy. But he's bored. And lonely. The stomach ache from candy has been replaced by a general emptiness inside. He still feels like shit.
He rummages around in his tennisbag. The kid gave him his info last year, during the Regionals, if Marui remembers correctly. It's a Sunday, neither of them have school, but the kid might have a school club or cram school. Marui doesn't do anything. The paper is crumbled and found in the bottom of his bag, along with a dozen other wrappers. They are sticky and dog-eared. Marui squints to make out the numbers.
Jiroh answers on the first ring. "OH MY GOD!"
Marui's temple starts to throb.
***
They meet at the Mister Donuts in Shinagawa Station. "My treat!" Jiroh says. Marui doesn't say no. He eats the doughnut in three bites. It sits like a stone in his belly. Jiroh keeps flapping. Marui closes his eyes. There's a reason he doesn't hang out with Hyoutei-if they act like this. His Genius slithers out his ears as Jiroh demonstrates, with his hands, just how much he thinks of Marui's tightrope ball.
"I'm not here for advice," Marui says. He licks his fingertip to sop up the crumbs on the tiny table they sit at. Jiroh nods his head furiously. His eyes are roughly doughnut-shaped.
"Because, obviously, I don't need advice," Marui says.
Jiroh keeps nodding. "Of course!"
"And I'm not gonna teach you my moves, either," Marui adds.
Jiroh's face falls.
Marui sighs. "It's just…" He sighs, blowing a raspberry. He pops a new stick of gum into his mouth. Fresh taste and sweetness blooms on his tongue. "You ever just…feel shafted by someone? Like…" Marui frowns. This is beyond awkward talking with Jiroh. He practically vibrates as he looks at Marui, mouth hanging open and eyes so huge he looks like he's smoking something. Marui offers a stick of gum.
Jackal would accept, always.
Jiroh shakes his head. "No thanks," he whispers. His voice is breathy. He hangs off the edge of the table, then his hands clamp down on Marui's arm and twist. "Yes, Marui-kun…?"
"Like say you wanted to go to a concert, but you had a friend who decided a chick was more important than the most important concert ever with you-wouldn't that suck?"
There. He said it.
Jiroh just blinks. Marui's shoulders sink. The bubble he was trying to form deflates mid-blow, gone flaccid as it hangs from his lips. "Well…" Jiroh says. "Never had that happen."
Marui blinks this time. "Are concerts below Hyoutei's standards?" he asks. He curls his lip up. Jiroh sits back in his chair and curls his lip up too. They stare at each other for a long moment. A salaryman buys two chocolate dips at the counter.
"We have school concerts," Jiroh says. "But nobody goes together, except Shishido and Ohtori." Jiroh starts to snicker. His bright and innocent eyes narrow. Marui doesn't get it. But he's not about to let that on.
"I see," he says. He strokes his chin. "Interesting," he says. It's not. "And are…Shishido and Ohtori…girlfriends…?" he asks.
Jiroh smirks. He leans across the table. He clings to Marui's arm, but his fingers start to play with the wristband Marui wears, like he's trying to pull it off Marui's wrist or-
"Oi!" Marui shouts. "Give that back!" he holds out his hand. Sheepish, Jiroh hands the wristband back.
"Sorry," he says.
Right then, as Jiroh pouts, a woman buys the peanut butter special edition doughnut at the cash register. Out of the corner of his eye Marui can see a flash of blonde. A flood of anger rises up inside, like heartburn in his chest. He stands up. He's too creeped out to stay.
"Don't call me," he tells Jiroh as Jiroh starts to run after him through the station passageways. Marui cups his hands around his mouth and yells louder. "I'll call you!"
On the train home from Tokyo, Marui has a burst of Genius. He remembers who Ohtori and Shishido are. His iPod begins to play the latest Jero release he downloaded.
The doughnut in his stomach gives him bad gas. No one sits near him on the train. Marui curls up into the seat. He feels like an outcast. Just to spite him, his iPod shuffles to Avril next. Listening to When You're Gone just makes the bubbling, pressing gas worse. Marui closes his eyes and winces.
I miss you, he thinks.
***
There is pollen in the air, and the stink of Niou's hair wax. Plum blossoms drift like little white ghosts, dancing all around the courts. Marui chews his gum furiously, and refuses to blow a bubble. He could get bugs in it like he did the other day.
His heart is restless. His grip is too tight on his racket. Yagyuu announces that he's going to serve, Marui-kun, are you ready?
Marui narrows his eyes at Jackal, who's playing with Yukimura and Niou. There is no Orivia in sight, just like it should be, because it's morning practice. The sun is shining, but there's a chill of spring on Marui's skin. The hair on his shins prickles. The ball skims the net. Marui turns just in time to hit a backhand. It's a shitty shot and Yagyuu scores on the return.
"Fuck," Marui hisses. He shifts his eyes back to Jackal. Jackal smiles weakly and raises a hand in a wave. Marui scowls at him and flips his hair back. To Yagyuu, he shouts, "You wanna piece of my Genius, megane boy?"
Yagyuu blinks.
Across the courts, Marui can hear Jackal ask what's wrong.
Yukimura says, "He's just being Bunta."
Marui sniffs. He chews his gum harder. The sugary taste is dissolving too quickly. He'll need a new piece before the end of the game. "Gimme a sec," he tells Yagyuu as he grabs a fresh piece from his pocket. It's covered in lint and smells a bit like sweaty crotch, but the sweetness melts over his tongue when he chews the two wads together.
Much better, he thinks.
He tosses the ball up for a serve, when she appears on the ridge above the tennis courts. Marui's eyes flash to Jackal, who glances up to her, and waves with a hell of a lot more enthusiasm than he showed Marui earlier. Orivia waves back. Her hair flutters up, all blonde and long and her tanned skin glows under the morning sun. Her skirt flips up, too, and Marui gets a panty shot.
On any other (cute) girl, he'd enjoy seeing pink polka-dots and milky thighs. On her, it just makes him feel ill because he can see Jackal blushing at the sight.
God, it makes him sick.
Marui drops the ball. He throws his racket down too. He spits out his wad of gum, then he stomps across the courts. His heart flaps, like the crows in the zelkova trees by the clubhouse. "Go away!" he shouts.
Orivia looks at him. Jackal does too. Marui sucks in a breath, but the press against his chest doesn't stop. "G-go away!" he says. The stutter in his voice is horrible, echoing in his ears. Marui grinds his teeth. The gum leaves a bitter aftertaste as he slams the door of the clubhouse.
Jackal follows him. The door slams a second time, and the walls shake to a silence. He can hear Jackal's breathing, his footsteps padding across the floor, then nothing. Marui stares at his locker door. Avril winks at him with a saucy smirk and pink highlights in her hair. Miley's crooked teeth, so cute and endearing before, and blonde Hannah Montana wig do nothing but make Marui's stomach sink lower.
Jackal grabs his shoulder and digs his hands in. "What the hell is your problem?" he snaps. He pulls Marui to turn him around. Marui lets his body flop like a ragdoll.
Something inside bubbles up and out. Marui looks up into Jackal's eyes-they're dark and deep like chocolate. Marui's knees shake. He breathes through his nose, once, twice, as he tries to find his voice. Then, he balls his fists. "I don't like your girlfriend!" he yells. "Okay? I don't like her! I think you need a NEW ONE!"
Jackal's face twists. He shakes his head and his hand drops from Marui's shoulder. Marui rubs his shoulder where it burns.
"She's not my girlfriend," he says. His voice is simple, his tone low and just a little brittle. Jackal's words hang in the air for a moment before he adds, "Olivia is my cousin."
Marui's mouth hangs open.
Oh.
His shoulders slump.
Oh.
His eyes blink three times.
Oh.
Jackal touches Marui's chin. He closes it with two fingers that skin the underside of Marui's jaw. He can't help a shiver. The clubhouse is cool and shady. It's quiet, too, when Jackal leaves.
Marui sits down on the bench until Sanada finds him. It creaks under Sanada's weight when he sits down beside Marui. Sanada looks at the wall, just like Marui, but he takes his ball cap off and twists the brim. Without looking at him, Sanada mutters, "Maybe you like Jackal. Maybe you were jealous of his cousin."
"That's gay," Marui says. "I'm not like you and Yukimura."
Sanada turns a shade of red, then he leaves. But there is no Jackal to close Marui's mouth for him this time.
***
"Miley, am I gay like a fruitcake?"
"Bunta, you're you. Just be yourself. Don't hide behind a Hannah Montana like me."
Marui nods.
"Avril, what do you think?"
"Che. Like, you're not a skater boi, duh."
"Yeah, duh."
"But like, my husband is a troll, and I still love him."
"That is true."
"So like, if being a Genius is what you are, then chicks are gonna dig you. They'll think you're sick."
"Do Americans say 'sick', Avril?"
"Che. I'm a poster, I can say whatever you want me to say. Don't be so complicated. And I'm not American, remember?"
Marui nods.
"Leah, what about you?"
"I love you all!"
Marui frowns. Leah smiles back at him with vacant eyes. She's no help, she's just a gravure idol. He looks at his Avril poster, then he turns to his Miley one. Avril flashes him a victory sign. Miley grins with her snaggleteeth. Marui glances down to his dresser. Amid the clutter of candy wrappers, the sticky remains of a popsicle, some old notes passed to him by chicks in junior high and the new tennis wristbands he had to buy after that creepy Jiroh incident, is a picture of him and Jackal. His best friend, who smiles back at him from under a pair of big sunglasses and a bowler hat. Seeing Jackal, tanned and laughing and his face shiny with sweat makes Marui swallows hard.
His cellphone buzzes.
This time, he picks it up.
***
They meet at the Starbucks by the school. It's after supper, but just before sunset, when dusk casts the street in an orange glow and the streetlamps have just come on. Marui is there first. He plays with his cellphone charm and pretends to text a message. He orders a frapp to go and he sits at a table facing the front window. Jackal walks in from the direction of the train station, past the road toward the elementary school and the Familymart.
He nods to Marui when he walks inside. Marui nods back. Jackal orders a double-shot vanilla espresso to go. Marui says nothing, he just nods and agrees when Jackal says, "Let's walk by the canal."
His stomach is in knots. Marui sips his frappuccino. The cream is too sweet and too thick in his throat. Instead, he starts to stir it with his straw as they walk. Their footsteps crunch on the cracked pavement and the concrete stairs as they descent toward the canal. A sliced crescent of the moon reflects off the canal's flickering surface. Marui stuffs his hand in his pocket and he thinks about Avril's music video, the one where she walks around at night and feels empty and depressed. He feels sort of the same way. Every time he opens his mouth to apologize, he freezes up and he can't speak.
Way to go, Genius, he thinks.
Finally, Jackal stops and leans on the canal barrier. He looks up at the sky. The moon is in his eyes and his espresso steams where he sets it down on the concrete ledge.
"Olivia's my cousin," he says. "I thought you knew that, Bunta."
Marui hangs his head.
"Like, I know Yanagi thinks she's hot, but…I'm not into weird incest stuff," Jackal says.
Marui forces himself to nod. "Yeah," he says. "Yeah, cool. Forgot you Brazilians are all touchy-feely."
Jackal laughs. Marui doesn't.
A late evening bird chirps somewhere. The light is nothing but a sliver in the west, hidden by the apartment buildings and schools and the train tracks nearby too. Marui leans against the ledge, next to Jackal. Jackal taps Marui's sneaker with his toes. He's already in sandals. He's crazy.
"She…liked you, you know," Jackal says.
Marui sucks on his bottom lip. The lump in his throat keeps growing. He nods, because he can't do anything else. The touch of Jackal's foot to his sneaker makes him shiver. If he'd worn a jacket, Jackal wouldn't see his arms all goosepimly like this.
"We made cookies together for you. She's better at baking than me."
Marui's stomach crawls out through his navel and flops onto the ground. It bleeds on the pavement. His head hangs even lower and he watches the mess of his frappuccino hitting the ground, spilling open and mixing with the slithered innards. He frowns. It feels like a wad of gum is stuck in his throat, too.
"She…I…" Marui shakes his head. He can't do this. He exhales. Jackal touches his arm.
"Hey," he says. "It's cool."
Marui huffs. Jackal's hand is hot and sweaty. Feverish shivers run down his spine and Marui can feel his dick twitching, the same way it did when he got his Leah Dizon calendar. "No it's not!" he says. "I think I- I think…" He shakes his head again. "I can't do this," he mumbles.
"Go from friends to something more?" Jackal asks.
"No- what?" Marui stares at him. Jackal forces a laugh and he rubs the back of his neck. He exhales a breath. It smells like vanilla and coffee. It smells good.
"What?" he says.
Jackal leans toward him, but he looks away, out toward a cement wall covered in the first green vines of the year, crawling and dripping with new shoots. Marui can almost make out the shapes of flower buds on the tips. Something new out of something old.
Jackal nods.
A rush spreads through his body, an overwhelming feeling of something indescribable that makes him tingle, from his toes to his fingertips that reach out, inching toward Jackal. Like Pure Genius, only better. Marui nods once, too. Jackal takes his hand. It's weird and clammy and Marui isn't sure if he should spread his fingers or not. That's too girly, so he doesn't.
"Did you hear," Jackal mumbles, "that Avril's coming back to Japan?"
Marui shakes his head. Jackal squeezes his hand a little tighter. Marui's head fills with blood, rushing and roaring and deafening, the way a concert would pulse through his mind and body. It's the same sensation, but magnified a hundred times when Jackal looks at him.
"She's coming to Yokohama this time. Three weeks after the Miley concert."
Marui holds his breath.
Jackal's eyes are shiny. They crinkle at the edges, even more than they would when Orivia was hanging off his arm.
"I'm gonna get two tickets," he says. "You wanna come?"
In the distance, fireworks explode in the sky. It's off-season, but the bang and hiss and then a bloom of white and pink, like spring blossoms, bursts into the sky above the tops of apartment blocks.
Marui grins.
"Do you think I should dye my hair blond this time to be like her? Did you see her latest spread in Seventeen? It was so fucking hot!"
Jackal swats him on the ear. Marui ducks and shrieks as he runs off. He runs backwards. "You're so fine I want you mine you're so delicious!" he starts to sing at the top of his lungs. His pitch is off. His tune is shaky and he nearly trips over a bump in the pavement.
Jackal laughs and chases after him. "You're a mother-fucking princess!" he says.
Marui yells, "Hey hey!"
His laughter makes him stumble over, but when Jackal stumbles into him, it's like the best damn thing.
Yet.
Notes for the culturally-challenged:
Avril Lavigne is a Canadian "punk"/pop singer extremely popular in Japan.
Miley Cyrus is an American singer and actress, who stars in the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana.
Leah Dizon is an American gravure idol in Japan.
Jero is an American enka singer.