June30/Without Stars/PG/Open

[mellie427]

Character(s): Anyone who cares
Time: 7 PM
Location: Rooftop
(btw her glasses are off)
Hiromi took in a deep breath and looked at the city below her. She could see...well everything. The dull lights of the campus proved the residency of the other students and their busy nights, and the rest of the town wasn't so far off, with shining lights of all colors. It was becoming so dark though, she could barely make out the shapes of the buildings. She felt an ecstatic joy rise up within her and she clung to the railing and leaning over it.

She wasn't much of a night person, but she still thought the night was beautiful and regretted the fact that she was more of a morning person. That being said, she wouldn't stay long out here, because of her tendency to fall asleep easier at night, and her inner clock that woke her up at 5:30 AM.

She sighed. Why couldn't the campus look this cool in the morning? Well it did, but there was a more mysterious and exotic air surrounding everything when dark contrasted with the light.

Then she remembered that the night also held the key virtue of fear, many bad things could happen at night. In fact, she could get killed on this very rooftop if some random murderer appeared out of nowhere. But she refused to show fear and kept smiling, looking at the world below her.

She looked up a little, to the rest of the sky, and realized the clear dark blue night barely had the frantic light blue/white stars that stuck to it in little bits, as if tears or holes in the fabric of it. She frowned a bit, but she loved stars!
Astronomy fascinated her, it was very interesting, combining that with History, it made her want to hear every story the stars held. She sighed and looked back to the town, exasperated.

Well, the only thing now was to stand there and enjoy the night.

She smiled, it was beautiful, but without stars, it seemed empty and it wasn't the same.

[Erik]

Rei enjoyed the beauty of the night and there was no better place to view it than on the rooftop. As he emerged out onto the rooftop, notebook in one hand, the other gripping a pencil in his pocket, he realized he wasn't alone.

As he approached the person he thought he recognized her. "Ms. Komachi...?" He asked, slightly bewildered. When he realized it was her, he laughed for a brief moment. "We really need to stop bumping into each other so much." He smiled and walked over to the rail, propping his elbows and one leg against it.

He spoke in a rather hushed tone, as though he didn't want to break the silence of the night. "I was hoping the rooftop would have more light than this so that I could write, but I guess it will have to wait. What brings you out here, Ms. Komachi?"

[mellie427]

At the mention of her name, a slight look of surprise crossed her face, as she turned her head around to find the sight of her teacher. Okay, maybe it took her a minute to figure that out, in the darkness. She smiled and waved at him, taking her hands off the railing and steering herself away from the view, leaning her hip on the railing to balance herself, her direction turned to him.

"Ah! It's you, Mr. Renjiro!" She said and smiled. Her quiet voice easily blended to a volume that was bearable to honor the calm silence, however loud and audible at the same time. An easy feature due to her shyness and naturally quiet voice. She nodded and laughed along with him. "It's not a bad thing, I would enjoy company, at the least."
Which was true, sure it's beautiful to watch the night, but it's more sad when lonely.

"And flashlights would kill the moment." She added, nodding, understanding what he meant. "But what would you want to write? Maybe find the area of a star?" She asked and giggled jokingly.
"It's the night that brings me out here. The mysterious and exotice air that makes it night. The fear that turns into courage from standing outside in the dark. And the beautiful view you could observe of the city up here." She says and points to the small lights emitted from the rest of the academy and the city below them. "I only regret not being a night person." She says and frowns a bit, sighing before picking up her friendly smile.
"Well, there's nothing I can change about that. I heard it's from genetics, and my dad was a morning person." From what her mother told her at least.

As he began to talk to her, she hoped he would not take it as a rude gesture, but she would occasionally look out to the dark cityscape below them as he spoke, it was addicting to look at and she never got tired of it.

[Erik]

He laughed at her idea of what he should write but the rubbed the back of his head and spoke with a bit of an embarrassed tone. "I actually...am currently writing a novel, the peace of the night air helps me think clearly."

As she described what night was to her he couldn't help but stare at her. She spoke so passionately that he was impressed. He looked in the direction she pointed and stared in awe at how beautiful the view truly was. Rei chuckled as she said she wasn't a night person. "Ironically, I'm more of a night person. I can't stand the morning without a cup of coffee."

He noticed how she would look off into the distance as he spoke and he followed her line of sight to the city and smiled, closing his eyes briefly. "It truly is a beautiful site to behold, isn't it? To be honest, I can't tell if I like the city or the countryside more, both are so beautiful at night."

[mellie427]

Her eyes widened in amazement. "A novel, [sensei]?" She asked, half-curious and half-happy. "That's amazing! I surely don't have the writing skills...what is it about?" She barely re-learned her Japanese too. I mean, sheesh, she can forget the languages as easily as she learns, except for Chinese, because she would practice it in her spare time. And believe me, Chinese and Japanese are not the same to practice with.
And then she began to wonder..."Mr. Renjiro...do you teach Literature/Writing too...?" She hadn't learned her English class yet, as her schedule was in pieces, well more like blocks. She would take some classes on some days until it was finally sorted out.

When she was easily excited or caught up in the beauty of the moment, she would easily go to talk passionately about anything, especially acting.
She smiled at his laughter, good to see they could talk about something freely.
"Aha...I honestly don't know how I do it, I just wake up and feel fresh and ready to go." She smiles. "But if I could, I'd prefer being a night person, like my mother..." She says a little solemnly at the end, but doesn't stay too much on it.

"Ah...yes." She said and nodded. "I think I'd prefer the city at night, and the country by day. I actually grew up in a small town, in the south, by the countryside." She said and smiled. "Aozora and the city are both so big...it's kind of overwhelming...but when you're up here and you look below to them...It's very relaxing, to know that you can watch them all work together to make up what is a city."

[Erik]

When he saw how interested she was in his novel he got a little more embarrassed about it. "It's nothing really...I'm just starting. It's a bit of a sci-fi about alchemy and how the world would be had it been real." He looked away from her, embarrassed and worried that she would think he was some kind of nerd for wanting to write about that.

It took all he had not laugh at the thought of being the English teacher. "No, I'm sorry, I could never teach English, I like to write, don't get me wrong. But I don't care enough about the history of literature to teach it to someone else, unfortunately."

"Oh and please, you can call me Rei when we're not in class." He looked at her and smiled. "I see no reason for such a formal approach when we're talking as equals here...Just don't let anyone else know, I have to keep an aura of authority somehow, right?" He chuckled and winked at her.

He frowned when Hiromi spoke of her mother in a solemn tone but didn't question her about it. She seemed to be in a good mood and he didn't want to ruin that for her tonight. Besides, she didn't stay on the subject long enough for him to comment.

"South, 'eh? I always lived in the city, due to the fact that my parents were military officials. So after I went to college I traveled around a lot, I wanted to see all of Japan." He leaned back and stared into the sky remembering his travels fondly.

[mellie427]

She, on the contrary of what he thought, was completely interested in it. And more.
"Alchemy?" She asked, a bit confused, but giving a curious stare with the tone 'oh do go on' "It only turns common stones into gold, right? You have to tell me more, because it must be more interesting than that...Ah but I'm happy for you! When you publish it, and it becomes famous, give me a call! I'll ask my agent to start spreading the news, and maybe I could make it into a movie and act a character in it!" She finished excitedly, the ideas spouting off her head and into words, her hands clasped and looking at him with an ecstatic face, if you could see that through the dark.

"Ah okay, I see." She smiled and nodded. "But can I read your novel when you finish it?" She asked happily.

She smiled. "Oh really, can I?" She felt as if she gained some certain trust with him. She never had much of a good relationship with her old teachers from her old high school, because she was too young, and most of her teachers deemed her too young or incompetent to talk to. "Okay, Rei!" She said, with a little emphasis. Then she giggled and blushed, she was being weird, huh? "okay, well I have to get used to that...Oh and you can just call me Hiromi, too." She giggled when he said his last sentence and winked. "Of course, of course. And I suppose you would want me to keep your novel a secret until it's finished, huh?"

She decided to thank him later, for helping her getting her medicine, and ultimately saving her life. If he didn't help her, she would have never lived past that day. But now, she was happy, she didn't want to bring up the grief that made her depression possible. And frankly, she honestly didn't remember what she told Mr. Renjiro, or the fact that she had delusioned him into being him being her mom.

"Ah the city must be nice...travelling is fun too! I sure get my deal of trave--I mean, I've always wanted to travel...!" She said and laughed nervously, mentally slapping herself. Surely, he wouldn't recognize her as an actress, but she still had her doubts. And she felt that she would be bragging if she had a more glammourous career. Then she shook her head and gave him an apologetic stutter. "O-Oh! I'm sorry, Rei." She said and bowed her head. "I forgot to mention that by South, I meant in China." She smiled a little, a bit afraid of his reaction. As she recently found out, most people didn't really like her for being Chinese. "I'm used to live in China with my parents, but then we moved to Japan. I lived in the Shibuya district here."

[Erik]

Rei sighed, she was being relentless. "Well...yes alchemy was believed to be turning common stones to gold, but if it were real, what else could we have been learned from it? Maybe we could learn to mold other things as well. Such as water to wine as the Christians believe Jesus did. It would have destroyed several religions, making the war over Jerusalem to never have occurred." He stopped, realizing he was rambling, and looked away, embarrassed again.

Rei smiled at her amusingly as she said her idea. At first he thought she was being sarcastic but as she finished, he could just barely make out the ecstatic expression on her face. He laughed when he noticed it. "I don't know about it becoming famous and turning into a movie and all that, but if it does, sure, you've got yourself a deal." He laughed once again at how far fetched the idea sounded. "Of course you can read it, you'll be the first, I swear." He said with a wink.

"Well, Hiromi, I would truly appreciate it if you kept my novel between us, most people would think I'm nuts until it's published and...becomes famous." He said the last part with a chuckle, still not believing the idea could become true.

Rei looked at Hiromi suspiciously when she quickly changed from having traveled to wanting to travel, but he wouldn't pursue her about it, she would tell him when she was ready to, he supposed.

His eyebrows raised slightly when she told him where she lived. "China, huh? I don't think I've ever met someone from China before. My parents always talked down about the place, but I decided I would have to visit before I would agree with them or not. So whats it like there? Is it anything like here in Japan?" He asked curiously.

[mellie427]

She thought about it for a while, but couldn't understand the bigger idea and the whole science behind it. She didn't really think much besides the water to wine idea.
Creativity levels > low.
"Water to wine...so everyone would be God, then? What would be their source of power...or...ah, I guess it would make more sense if I read it, huh?"

She smiled. "I'm sure it will, it's a new idea compared to vampires and wolves. Everyone should be tired of that by now..and open up to a new idea, like alchemy." She smiled. "But if it does become a movie, don't be surprised if an attractive young man plays the main character, if it's a male at least..." She paused at his laughter. Gosh, he was laughing quite a bit, she sort of made it out as either embarrassment or just pure amusement. "Why are you laughing so much?" She asked, curiously. Surely, he didn't think it was unreal for him to ever get such success.

She automatically brightened again at the mention. "Really? I can't wait!"

She nodded. "Of course, Rei." She said and smiled. "But it's just a novel, you're not nuts." So reassuring. And then he chuckled again. "You think your novel won't make it?" She asked disappointed.

Actually, from her ramblings as the withdrawal of her medicine had caused her to go delusional, Rei should have at least understood a little, that she traveled a lot, under her title as an actor. She still didn't know about the time that she went delusional and Rei helped her.

She nodded. He didn't hate her so far! Acheivement! "Yeah! And my mom talked about Japan a lot. I honestly didn't think it would be so small." She said and giggled, she wasn't trying to be offensive, but it was her honest observation. "China's way different, you can tell just being there that it's nothing like Japan. They've got different food, obviously, but it's a little more westernized since I lived there when I was a kid. It's more quiet on the countryside and much more peaceful." She really didn't know where to start. Neither did the narrator.

[Erik]

"Not necessarily God, God could create things from nothing. Alchemist can alter objects to make them something else entirely." He paused for a moment debating the best way to describe it. "Yeah, you're right, the book can make better sense of it then I can...ironically." He chuckled a bit.

"Oh my main character...is...a uh...girl...actually." He rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, once again embarrassed. He froze when she realized he was laughing so much, not wanting to throw off her excitement. "I just, never really thought about what I would do with the book after I finished it. It's just kind of funny to me that it took bumping into one of my students for me to see what I should do."

She reassured him that he wasn't crazy and he smiled a little. "Yeah, you're right, it is just a novel." Repeating her made him feel even better and his smile widened.

Then Hiromi questioned his thoughts on the book and sounded disappointed, he felt terrible that he didn't share her thoughts. "No, no, it's not that I don't think it will make it. I just don't know, I mean, the idea of it making it that far just...I couldn't see myself being famous for anything." He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Then again...I never thought I would be a teacher, that seemed impossible for me, but look where I am now." He grinned at Hiromi.

As she spoke of China, he nodded and smiled. "Well, you've made up my mind, I will visit China one day. Who knows? Maybe I'll do it for a vacation this summer. If we're not both famous from my novel, you should come with me, you can be my own personal tour guide." He laughed briefly and smiled.

[mellie427]

She gazed at the city in her curiousity. "So...there's still a God..?" Then when he said the book would explain it better than him she turned back to him and waved her hands nervously. "O-Oh no! I'm not trying to say you're bad at explaining things, I'm just new to the concept, you know? Maybe the book would make more sense to me."

A girl? That made it all the better! She just hoped she looked somewhat like her. "Really? That's amazing! Most of the books' main characters are guys, so that's really nice." Thanks for giving the girl's a chance to save the world/whatnot for once. "What does she look like?" She asked curiously.
At the mention of help, she smiled. "That must mean I'm special." She said jokingly. But she wondered if she was, honestly. "Everyone needs a little push in their life to help them, sometimes. So it's not that crazy. If I weren't here, maybe a plant would have helped you." She laughed at that idea.

She smiled, her eyes adjusting to the light and seeing, if not hearing, the assurance in him. "It's fiction." She stated and nodded. She wasn't trying to encourage him that the beauty only stayed within the pages, and the emotions would not be as emphasized in real life, but the story itself was bound inside the paper where no one could touch or influence it.

She pouted. "Hey, if you can come up with something as brilliant as it sounds, I haven't read it yet, so I can't completely judge it...I mean, alchemy is original! I'm not saying that someone didn't think of it befo--but like I was saying!" She continued, getting off topic easily. "I think you'll go really far. If you're this passionate about it." She giggled when he told her he didn't think he would become a teacher. "Really? Why not? Is it that hard? Or maybe you wanted to become something different than you thougth?" In all honesty, she was about to become a teacher in Aozora. She was elgible, since she finished high school already, and finished a vocational college.

She smiled happily, her mouth extending. "Really?!" She nearly-screaming. But then blushed and looked down, embarrassed for shouting. "S-Sorry...but I'm just so excited! You'll have lots of fun, I'm sure!" She almost exploded with excitement at the idea of coming with him and being the tour guide. "Oh my God that would be so great!" She could have hugged him with all the joy she had. She was just really excited that she could actually share her culture with someone else. At least, someone that cared enough. And she hoped she wasn't scaring him off. "I'll be sure to take you around everywhere! If you go to Guangxi, at least. And I'm the most familiar around Nanning." She finished with a confident smile.

China was a huge country, she could easily get lost anywhere else.

[Erik]

"Yes, of course, even in fiction, I wouldn't feel right removing God." He said, sounding a little distant while staring into the sky. He looked back at her and smiled amusingly when he saw how flustered she was. "Of course, I can understand things better when I read it rather than when I hear it. I guess because I can read it in my own way over hearing it someone else's."

When she got excited about his main character he chuckled. "Well, lets see..." Trying to remember all of her descriptions, he put a finger on his chin and stared back into the sky. "She's about 18, medium length dark hair, she has glasses, but their only for reading, so she doesn't wear them very often, unless studying her alchemy and such. Hmm...She's average height and she's rather skinny due to the fact that she spends more time working on her alchemy then she does taking care of herself."

She joked about being special and Rei chuckled. "Yeah, special, that's a good word for it." Then she suggested that a plant would be his inspiration and he laughed for a good while. "I don't know about a plant helping me in anyway but...thank you, for...being here and being that little push that I need." He said a little awkwardly and looked away.

Rei sulked a little from what she was saying about his idea for the story. "Yeah, I get it...it's not the most original idea, but it's better than twinkling vampires." Then she spoke of his passion and his eyes lit up like a fire. "You think so, huh? Well, I'm glad you do."

"It's not that being a teacher is hard, you just have to not mind attention and be good enough at something to teach it someone else. I just saw my teachers and always thought, 'nah, that would never be me'." He laughed a little at how naive he was when he was younger.

He nearly died with laughter from how excited she was about the idea of going to China with him. "Of course, I wouldn't lie to you. I wasn't sure if you would have liked the idea, but after that performances, I guess you do." He smiled, happy with the way she reacted. "We can go wherever you'd like to, I want to see it with my own eyes." He said with stars in his eyes, he was truly fascinated by the beauty of places.

[mellie427]

"I suppose." She said and nodded. In all honesty, she didn't believe in God. She just never had time to do anything besides remember her name and remember her lines. Until she came to Aozora, her schedule had toned down to the max. "They say that 30% of what you hear you never truly listen to. And I actually have to agree with that. If I read it, I would listen to it better."

She nodded seriously and took in the description. Then she smiled. "Do you think I could fit the description in a few years?" She asked and pointed to herself. Movie magic was amazing and brilliant, and she would surely grow bigger in a few years. "She sounds really dedicated to alchemy. A bookworm for sure. I like her already...hey you didn't tell me her name."

"I hope." She nodded and laughed along with the plant thing. She smiled at his sentimentalism, if allowed to be called that. "Ah thanks, Rei. I'm glad you're here too." She smiled happily, not being awkward herself. "You really help me in my life too." She said, having no idea whatsoever what she told him. She only remembered him apologizing for something and handing her the medicine.

She shook her head and sighed at her incompetence, she could pick up the slight disappointance from his voice. She was an actor right? "No no, I did say it's not the most original. But the way you're using it...it's definitely original! Way better than twinkling vampires." She groaned and rolled her eyes. Don't ask her about the Japanese movie "Bite Me". She hoped that would convince him. "Yes, I do." She smiled.

"Really...?" She voiced a loud a little quietly. She leaned her elbows on the railing and looked towards the sky again. "If you refused the opportunity to be a teacher and went to do what you wanted instead of teaching it...would you come back and teach it again?" She asked a little solemnly. She looked like she was debating something. She would have laughed at how naive she was...two months ago, if she was still willing to teach a bunch kids that might never respect her.

Meanwhile she was dying of happiness and excitement. Still she couldn't help but pout. "Doesn't sound like it from all the laughter." But she wasn't a killjoy. "But ahh! This'll be awesome! Maybe I'll still find..." She wanted to say her friends, relatives, teachers. But she couldn't find anyone to point out. She barely had friends as a kid either, she sucked at gymnastics and singing, people thought she was like bad cheese on legs. Her parents were only children and both her pairs of grandparents had died before she graduated from high school. And all her coaches made sure to keep her away from major performances. Basically, her childhood sucked too. "...never mind." She shook her head. She made a bow at the mention of performances. "I am an actor after all." She giggled. "Guangxi it is then!" She announced happily, with the excitement and power of a little kid. "I won't ruin the surprise, I promise." She said and winked.

[Erik]

"30% huh?" He said, thoughtfully. "I never knew that, I guess ya learn something new everyday." He laughed at the irony of the teacher learning from his student.

When she asked if she looked like his character, he was baffled, he never really thought about who looked like her, or who she looked like more of. He stared at Hiromi for a moment. "Well, now that I think about it, yeah, you do look like the way I pictured her." He looked back toward the city thinking that those word came out differently than he had hoped. He blinked a few times and looked at her, he did forget her name, didn't he? "Oh right, her name is Akira Ume."

He smiled as she tried to cheer him up. "Well, so long as you think it's better than twinkling vampires, that's all that matters." He pondered for a moment before answering her other question, would he go back to teaching? It was either that or some form of engineering or military. "I've been a teacher for one year. Now that's not a long time considering the whole 22 years that I've been on this Earth, but I've come to love it. I don't think I would have as much fun doing anything else. So to answer your question, yes, I think I would come back to teaching." He heard how solemnly she asked her question and he turned to look at her and he could tell something was troubling her mind. "What's wrong?"

When she pouted he frowned. "No, I'm not laughing because I'm not serious about it. It's just that I didn't expect you to react that way. It was a surprise to me, that's all. Sorry." She went to mention finding something but after a moment changed her mind. He remembered she told him how hard her childhood was from her delusional speech to him, he was almost glad she didn't remember any of it. He still couldn't sleep well from remember that night, that was one of the other reasons he was up on the roof. "Perhaps you can show me where you use to live? It sounds like a beautiful place." He said trying to put her mind on the place itself rather than the people.

"I always love a good surprise." He said with a chuckle and winked back.

[mellie427]

"Yeah." She agreed in a tone that sounded like she recovered from a laughing fit. "Maybe you should start repeating things twice." Joke. It's a joke.

"Really?" She asked, a little surprised above all. She was going to think she had blonde hair and was super tall. Something far-fetched that would never look like her. "Akira? Ahh what a nice name!" She honestly didn't wonder if it meant anything rude, offensive, secretive, or special in Japanese, but she liked it for at least the fact that it started with an A.

She laughed a little. "Way better." She agreed nodding. Now onto the answer of her question, she turned to him as he pondered, and then looked back at the nightly cityscape. She took his advice in. But maybe it was too late to turn into a teacher now? Maybe when she got older. Maybe she would take that opportunity and try teaching again.

"What's wrong?"
She hadn't heard those words, especially directed to her, in such a long time. She looked up with her mouth hanging from a bit of shock. I mean, no one really cared about her. And hearing these words, she didn't really want to hide it like some people did until they pryed the answer from their lips. She was just being honest, it was her nature after all.
"I was just thinking, well..." It sounded really awkward didn't it? "I'm an actress, but I was originally invited to Aozora to become an acting teacher. And I refused and became a student instead..." She explained a little slowly, since it wasn't like she hadn't explained any of her secrets to anyone besides her mom before. And she knew she could trust Rei, because she had the same amount of trust with him and Rieke. "And then I realized how young all the teachers were...and I found Ryuuji Ichinose in the courtyard, he's as old as me," Has a third of my recognition, she thought bitterly. She knew he could be much more famous, maybe even more widely recognized than her. "A really good actor," She didn't want to say as good as her in acting. "And he was invited to Aozora on the same purpose..except he actually accepted the teaching position." Now that she thought about it, maybe they invited him onto teaching to replace her, because she didn't accept and he did. Great, now she felt replaced and unwanted.

She laughed a little and waved her hand. "I'm kidding, I just hope I'm not freaking you out with my excitement..." She said a bit jokingly, but underneath that, she really was serious. She soon forgot about the people she met in China as he mentioned he should show her where to live. "Oh yeah! It was!" She said happily. "I had a fairly big house. My parents were always scared I was going to hit my head on something or fall down the stairs." She laughed. Notice how she said parent plural. "When I was five, though, my mom was worried I was going to break my neck or head on the ceilings or the walls. Becuase by then I was flipping all around my house. I tried to become a gymnast, but I really sucked at it." She laughed. "It's just one of those things I was never meant for, you know?"

"Good." She nodded.