Disclaimer: Koko wa Greenwood is the creation of Yukie Nasu, and all characters and situations therein are the property of her and Hakusensha Inc., Victor Entertainment, and the Pierrot Project. No infringement is intended.

**track twenty-one**

"Look, Shigeru, it wasn't like it was bothering us or nothing. Let's just go back and deal with it. We can't stand in the rain all night." Ogata-sempai's trying to convince his roommate to head back into the dorm after we discovered a ghost in there. He doesn't seem to be having much success.

"Aw, leave him be, sempai. He'll come in when he wants to. Besides, it's a little cooler out there with the rain and all." It's actually quite refreshing. Not to mention that out here, there's none of the chaos of all the guys running around frantically, trying to get themselves and their rooms together as best they can in the dark.

Ogata-sempai shrugs helplessly. "Okay, fine." As he and I head back into the dorm, he tosses a quick warning over his shoulder: "Just remember that you're gonna have to come in before curfew, Shigeru."

I don't think he even acknowledged us, but I've got other things on my mind. Like the other half of the first floor that I gotta count… darn Mitsuru-sempai.

I'm surprised 'Brother' Kinichii isn't trying to hold a séance in his room, what with the dark and all. He does have a few candles lit, but that's all. "Ah… if it isn't 'Sister' Kisaragi. Services start in half an hour, if you're interested."

"Thanks, but unless you're calling up Osamu Tezuka, no thanks." He actually looks offended, but I just check him off on the clipboard and go on. I don't even have to worry about a roommate in his case — no one wanted to stay with him this year.

I turn to leave 'Brother' Kinichii to his… whatever-it-is he does, and almost trip over a fellow sitting in the hall. "The hell…?"

Good grief, the guy's shaking. "What's the matter?"

"G-g-ghosts…"

Mm. "Okay, so there's ghosts in here. It's an old building. Did they do anything to you?"

He looks up at me, and as dark as it is, I can see fear in his eyes. "I felt something c-cold around my ankle… I tripped and fell…"

Whoa… first ghosts, now poltergeists. Much more of this and maybe we will have to enlist Kinichii's services… assuming he does exorcisms…

"Uh… can you stand up, ah…?"

"Kuroda. Yoichi Kuroda." He's too nervous for a James Bond delivery, but it's all I can think it sounds like. Sorry if I'm being callous, but as long as it's not me, and it's not serious, it's funny.

"Kuroda-kun… you'll be alright?" I can feel his gaze on me. Okay, so he doesn't see the humor in it. But I'm not about to suggest he stand in the rain with Shigeru-kun. "Look, it was out in the hall, right?" He nods. "Well, you'll probably be safer in your room. That's where Mitsuru-sempai wants everybody to be, anyway…"

"Uh… okay…"

"Let's see…" I consult my clipboard. "Kuroda… Kuroda. Room 122, ne?" Another audible nod. "Right, then. Let's go." I'm starting to feel like I'm still at the ryokan. Let me show you to your room, sir…

"Arigatou, sempai." Well, at least that's different from the ryokan. I could get used to this.

Drop Kuroda off, check him and his roommate off on my list, and it's back to making sure everyone's in.

Out in the hall, Ogata-sempai taps me on the shoulder. "Ne, have you seen Furusawa?"

"Furusawa-sempai? How should I know? He's on the third floor… that's not my department. Come on, sempai, he's a big boy," we both chuckle at that, "he can take care of himself, ne?"

"Yeah, well…" and his gaze drifts outside, "this isn't the sort of night I'd want to be riding my motorcycle out in."

Hmm. "No, me neither. And what with all that wet metal, it'd be a wonder he doesn't get struck by lightning."

Ogata-sempai shudders. "Don't even suggest that…" and heads back to his room.

Boy, he's awfully worried about sempai…

Anyway, where was I? Have to check my clipboard; that little adventure with Kuroda threw me off completely. Okay, looks like I've got everyone except for room 117 — Fujikake-sempai and Yoshiki-sempai.

I knock on the door. "Sempai?"

No answer.

Just for the heck of it, I try the knob. It opens, much to my surprise. "Sem—?" and the word catches in my throat.

Oh, they're there, all right. And it'd probably be the most prudent thing for me to back out, check them off, head upstairs, hand the clipboard to Mitsuru-sempai, and act like I haven't seen anything. But it's the old deer-in-the-headlights thing… I can't pull away as I'm watching Fujikake-sempai bounce on top of Yoshiki-sempai (at least, I assume it is… those grunts are too deep to be from a girl) Finally it dawns on me that, even though they're facing away from me right now, if I don't get out soon, I still run the risk of being discovered… and that would be an embarrassment to us all. I duck out.

It takes a while, but I finally pin down Mitsuru-sempai and hand him the clipboard. He takes it but he doesn't even notice me, as he's too busy chewing out a couple of girls. Seems they made a bet about which of them could run through the dorm fastest without being noticed… I'd say they both lost.

Not that they're going to go down without a fight. "Well, what about her, then?" one of them asks, pointing at me.

"Hmm?" And sempai finally turns and notices me. "Oh, hey. Everyone accounted for downstairs, Shun?" I nod: Kami knows I'm not about to mention Fujikake and Yoshiki, who I'm really not sure of now.

"Shun?" The girls are incredulous.

"Yeah, I'm a student here." They just look at each other, as if to ask how they could apply to attend Ryokuto, if I can. "Don't even think about it, girls…"

Before they can ask "Think about what?" as if they don't know, Mitsuru-sempai starts in on them again. "This wouldn't happen to be yours, too…?"

"Yeeee!! No way! Why on earth would we…?" My thoughts exactly… what girl would even so much as touch a snake, much less think to set one loose in a boys' school dorm as a prank? Then again…

"May I see, sempai?"

"Humph. Be my guest." Mitsuru-sempai lets the thing slide from his arm to mine. It's not slimy, like I expected… but it is cool and leathery. Meanwhile, the girls are looking at me like I've grown a second head. And I guess, considering who and what they think I am, I have.

The tableau is shattered by a reedy voice: "Hey, has anyone seen my — oh, there you are, Fluffy," at which point, a skinny pair of arms gently lift the snake from mine. I offer no resistance — I'm too stunned to react.

"'FLUFFY'?!" Apparently, so is everybody out in the hall that's aware of the snake.

"Hey, is there something wrong with naming a snake 'Fluffy'?" The kid sounds a bit defensive; you'd think he'd be used to such a reaction.

Mitsuru-sempai recovers faster than the rest of us. "No, but there is something wrong with keeping 'Fluffy' here. I assume you know the rules: no pets allowed in the dorm."

"Yeah, and I'd been keeping them at home. But when I went home for the summer, all of them were dead except for Fluffy."

"Ewww! You had more than one?" the girls chorus.

He continues as if he'd never been interrupted. "I figured I'd better take care of Fluffy myself; my folks obviously couldn't do it. Come onnn, sempai… it's not like it barks, or bites, or sheds, or causes any damage to the place."

"Look, rules are rules, Kuriyagawa-kun. Today it's a snake, tomorrow, somebody's going to want to bring something else, maybe something bigger. Besides, it's already gotten loose once, and it's only the first day back."

"That's because someone bumped me while I was moving him in during this blackout. I dropped the case, and it broke open."

My turn to flinch. "A glass case?" And I'm standing here barefoot, too.

"It was in the doorway, it was only one pane, and me and Hideo picked it all up. It was only a couple of pieces it cracked into…"

"Be that as it may, you still can't keep him here — especially now that your case is busted."

"We've stuck a board in it — Fluffy won't be able to get out again…"

"That's not the point, Kuriyagawa-kun. I'm going to give you two weeks to either send that thing back, find another home for it, or release it into the fields where it belongs. Got it?"

He nods sullenly before heading back to his room, taking — I still can't believe it — 'Fluffy' with him.

If they were still here, Mitsuru-sempai would turn his attention back to the girls. But between the diversion created by the snake, plus the fact that it WAS a snake, they seem to have taken the opportunity to beat a hasty retreat. So, he turns to me instead. "You said everyone was accounted for?"

"Mm-hmm. Ogata-sempai was asking after Furusawa-sempai, but that's it, really…"

Mitsuru-sempai flips a page on his clipboard. "Hmm… no, Furusawa hasn't gotten back. Probably still out joyriding." What, in this weather? "Well, we've done what we can — I'm not going out and looking for him on every highway in Japan. It's his loss if he misses class tomorrow." What can I do but nod?

I'm pretty sure Suka-chan's awake by now — it'd be a wonder if he wasn't, considering all the commotion that's been going on. Girls running through the halls, a snake loose in the dorm, and Mitsuru-sempai yelling for everyone to keep calm… no way he could've slept through all of that unless he were in a coma.

Still, it looks like he's asleep… but all the same, I'd better change with my back to him. And sure enough, there's a tiny 'gurk!' as I unclasp my bra (damn, these things are uncomfortable when they don't fit — wonder if I should stuff it with tissues or something?). I quickly refasten my bra, and look over my shoulder, innocently as possible. "Suka-chan? You awake?"

"<gulp> Now I am…" he mumbles. The poor kid still sounds pretty groggy, and his next sentence sounds particularly pained: "You want me to step outside while you… do that?"

I hold my nightgown (yes, I wear a nightgown — you have a problem with that? Mou, the things I do for this role…) over my chest as I approach him. He scoots further back into his berth. "That's okay, Suka-chan… I can just toss this on over my head," and I proceed to do so, "and I'll take everything off underneath later so you can't see. It's all right." His hand is up to his nose again. "Can I get you something? Glass of water? Tissue?"

His voice is muffled, but I can understand it. "Yeah, a tissue would be nice. Thank you." Polite to the end… he's so sweet.

I hand him the tissue, and pull the curtain around his berth. "Oyasumi nasai, Suka-chan." He murmurs a reply as I finish undressing and climb into bed myself.

It's been a long day… time for some hard-earned sleep. I close my eyes…

…and they immediately spring open again. What was that? I try again, and realize that I'm watching Fujikake-sempai and Yoshiko-sempai going at it in my mind's eye. No wonder my eyes won't stay shut. There but for Suka-chan's sorely tested restraint…

I hope I'm not being judgmental but it just doesn't look like fun. Especially for Yoshiko — in fact, that looks rather painful, if you ask me. So why does everyone get so obsessed about it? Is that what it's really like to be a girl… or rather, a woman? And if so, why would any woman go through with that? Brrr…

And you know the thing that really galls me? I never suspected those two. How the heck did they get away with that for so long, anyway? It's not like they were being discreet about it — come on, the door was unlocked. Anyone could have walked like that. But no, it had to be me.

Meanwhile, rumors keep flying about Suka-chan and me; and at the same time, Suka-chan's convinced about Mitsuru-sempai and Shinobu-sempai being 'that way'; as usual, he can't tell when someone's playing a joke on him. I'm starting to wonder a bit about Ogata-sempai, myself. And then, of course, there's Suka-chan's brother…

Which is another problem entirely. See, Suka-chan hates Dr. Hasukawa because — among other things — he doesn't mind all those rumors about himself. And yet, now that people talk about Suka-chan and me, Suka-chan's doing the same thing that he despises his brother for, isn't he?

Kuso… now I've got a headache, too. I'm not going to get much sleep tonight, am I?

And I don't. Morning comes, and I am so not ready for it. On the other hand, Suka-chan's completely recovered, and is annoyingly chipper. "Ready for classes, Shun?"

Didn't I just say I wasn't?

Anyway, I do manage to drag myself out of bed and get dressed (Suka-chan's already left for classes, so no fear there). When I step outside, it turns out that I'm not the only one. The blackout really threw everybody off, between all the confusion, and the simple fact that electric alarm clocks didn't work. So I feel a little better… if the teachers grade on a curve (but who'm I kidding here?), I'll be okay.

Certainly better than Furusawa-sempai. He's just driving up on his motorcycle, and he's smoking! And no, I'm not talking about a pack of Cabins. I mean honest-to-Kami smoking. His face looks like some art student assaulted him with a charcoal stick, and there's smoke rising from his clothes and his bike.

I couldn't have been right… could I?

Either way, I'd better make myself scarce. Ogata-sempai's gonna either seek me out for a prophet, or rip me apart for jinxing Furusawa-sempai.

Besides… Oh wow, am I late for class, or what? Bye!

To be continued.

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: May 21, 2007