"You are paying too much attention to it, I am sure your ...mother? tells you!" Ah! the ever helpful shopgirl.
I'd like to say she had nothing to worry about but, actually? she was as underdeveloped as I am, and I am WAY younger!
Heard that crash? It was my hope of having at least C-cups sometime in my future.
"I feel like the ugly duckling when found by the swans..." Still ugly, and crowded! But I smile, because far be it from me to be non-polite to this nice girl that will sell not ten, not twenty, but thirty set of lingerie!
Her fingers caressed the undergarments with contained excitement. For a strange reason, she felt anxious and eager to wear those clothes, even if some of them edged in the silly side of the array. Like those pink ones with ribbons. Who wears ribbons where absolutely nobody would be able to see them? Nonetheless, she was that person, and if she was the only one, the better, more variety to choose from!
"I'd say you are A cup ..today, hai?"I almost thanked her!
"Today" "Hai!" ...there is always tomorrow!
"this is like a dream mom!" The petite girl blurted out, carrying two pink bags filled with lingerie.
"w-why are you doing this? Just a month ago you were against the idea! ...forget it. What do I care? You MUST have your reasons and it is absolutely not my position to question your wisdom. Oh no...I won't!"
Her mother laughed loud and long, both on their way out of the shop, leaving a very happy shopgirl after a big sale.
"I am always here! Remember my name!" She added, waving her hand and at times bowing.
"Very well, my daughter. So you also like shopping. See? You have many secrets...my girly girl!""Sure mom! you knew me so well all this time!" I stick out my tongue and close one eye. Funny...such a Japanese gesture...how come it came so natural to me? I shake my head and my black hair caresses my shoulders.Then, why not? I fix the red ribbon on my chest.
"Now we get you some more shoes and..." She was interrupted by her cell phone. Just-my-luck...
Couple of seconds later, she finished the call and shrugged in her shoulders.
"It was nothing really..." Oh well! then lets keep buying stuff!
"...but you need to go" WHA..?!
"The school, you know?"
"They seem to need you to sign some papers. You DO remember how to get there, don't you? Then you can catch me right here in the mall. I will be shopping with Etsuko I think, after all, your dad and me...er....I cover my ears! "Gross! Don't tell me those things mom!" She just laughed! But I know her, hadn't I silenced her, she would have continued on her un-needed explanations!
"I really MUST go to the school then!" Okay...think Elizabeth...it was just two blocks away, one to the right and one straight ahead. Piece of cake!
Two steps later I am paralized. Where the hell am I going? Hello? Like...first time in Japan and I don't even know where granny's home is? Ok, she is in Sapporo, but...we are already in it!
"Mom..."
Her finger rose, no questions, no doubts. Even in her pink cloud, she was a determined woman.
"Nothing, Betty, you need to face challenges, for Takumi and me will not be around all days. You need to learn to trust in yourself."Well, she said she would be here...
"hai" It was not a very confident hai, but what the hell...here goes nothing!!
When the cold wind of the city hit my face and my hair flew free, it felt...like as the ice cream vendor said: this place likes me. And I immediately smiled. Somehow...just somehow...all seemed SO familiar! I found the school without a problem!
"Hello?" I said to an empty hall. Then facepalmed. "Konnichiwa?" Nothing "Domo?" ...well it was worth the try!
I sighed. Then looked at a wall. Suddenly it looked so black, as if it should be black. All the school for that matter. And a cold shiver made me tremble from head to toe. And I swear I saw a japanese girl in a black sailor fuku, all curled up in a dark corner, crying; but when I went there, ...nothing.
Save for hidden part of the wall, where the paint had peeled, showing black paint under it, and some japanese writing which I could not decipher, but the traces were not those of the elegant, beautiful caligraphy of the place. Not at all. There was anger, no...hate; in them. Deep and dark like those eyes I saw in the trophy room...
Had to run from there. Fast.
And suddenly the halway seemed so long. I ran, and pushed a door open, spinned, ran...why? You tell me... I just needed to escape from those black eyes again. Black like mine.
Last door led to a back garden, and I did not stop until I was sitting under a tree, panting. Where is your resolution girl? What is it that you are so afraid of, for Buddha's sake! A pink flower, like the one on my hair, fell on my lap and made me jump, shaken in fear.
"Creepy...creepy girl...
...am I hallucinating? There is no phantom girl...there is no phantom girl.." I say to myself, mostly to see if my voice was still there!