***
Noda’s neighborhood had been just two communities over from Eiichi’s. She was kind of surprised they never saw each other going to the grocery store, or on their way to school.
She told Reiko, Sumi, and Ryoko that she could make the walk herself. However, they insisted they stick together, even if it took more time. Not arguing with this logic, they thanked Eiichi and Torio for their hospitality and said their goodbyes.
It was still in the early evening when they left Eiichi’s house, since it had been a half-day at school.
They stopped at her house, and she changed, told her mom where she was going, and was off with everyone. Next up was Ryoko, who actually lived within walking distance of the school. She stepped back out with her backpack, in a hoodie, baseball cap, and a spiffy pair of jeans that hugged her legs.
“Wow, Ryoko! That look is totally you!”
“Ya think so? I just threw a few things together, is all.”
They made the trip back across their part of the city to Sumi’s house, where she changed as well and grabbed her console and games.
“Oh good!” Ryoko exclaimed. “I brought some, but I never thought to bring my console.”
“Yeah, Rei-chan doesn’t own one. It’s been a while since we’ve done this, huh Rei-chan?” Sumi smiled at her friend, who returned with shy glee.
Noda pondered to herself, ‘Hmm...so Takahashi is a gamer...’
The final stop was, of course, Reiko’s house. Her mother had already returned from her shopping trip, and had bought some things for Reiko’s new friends.
“Wow! Cheesecake!” Noda’s eyes sparkled.
“Alright!” Ryoko marveled next to her.
The girls thanked Reiko’s mother and set about the evening’s plans. Sumi and Ryoko hooked the system up to the television in the living room and went nuts.
‘KO!’
“Aw! That’s the seventh time in a row, Ryoko!” Sumi cried.
Ryoko grinned. “Heh-heh! You’ve gotta’ be better than that to beat me. I own this game, so I know every character’s special moves.”
“That is totally cheating!” And then Sumi got a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. “I wonder what Kozuka would say if he knew you played these so much?”
“Uh, uh...” Ryoko flustered, and then chuckled nervously. “Kozuka doesn’t need to know that, not that I care. H-How about we play one of yours, Sumi?”
“Hee hee, ‘kay~! I’ve got a shooter we can do co-op on.”
Reiko and Noda sat by on the couch, partaking of the snacks on the coffee table and talking between themselves, or reading some of the manga that Noda had brought along.
After Noda got up and went nuts with her camera, recording the evening’s events, and threatening Ryoko with showing them to everyone at school, she showed them a series of images she had brought from when she went on vacation with her family.
The group had a movie marathon well into the evening, where Noda and Ryoko made occasional cracks about the dialogue that had Reiko and Sumi reeling on the couch in uncontrollable hilarity.
At roughly two in the morning, Reiko invited everyone to sleep upstairs in her room, and futons were laid out.
“Wow Noda!” Sumi eyed her. “You look so beautiful with your hair down like that!”
She definitely had to be recalling the night before.
“U-Uh, well...I never thought much of it. You really think so?”
“Yeah! You should wear it like that all the time!”
“I agree, Noda.” Ryoko placed a hand on the hip of her night shorts. “You look really mature like that, you’ll probably get a lot of requests for digits.”
“Well...I kinda’ like it the way I put it up, it stays out of my face better, but I’ll keep that in mind.”
They sat down in a circle amongst the futons and talked some more.
“So Ryoko, I’ve heard that you and Omura-san have a thing going.”
“Omura? I barely know the guy!”
“Who’s Omura-san?” Reiko asked.
“Oh, he’s the star player of the soccer team,” Sumi answered.
“Oh yeah, I remember him. I did a shoot of one of his games. He’s pretty good,” Noda threw in.
“And totally cute!” Sumi squeaked while clenching her fists. “I’m so surprised you haven’t met him, Ryoko. I think you two would be perfect together!”
“Mm...I dunno’. Not sure he’s my type. You can have ‘em.”
“But someone told me they saw you together!”
“He was just asking directions to the student council room!”
Once each one was tired out, they turned in for the evening.
Everyone settled into their chosen spaces, and Reiko turned out the light.
Noda placed her glasses in their case and pulled her thick blanket up to her chin.
This day had been pretty eventful and exhausting. Although, it was nothing like the night when she and Eiichi had busted those tech thieves. Sometimes, when she looked back on it, it was still a wonder to her that it had really happened. Things had taken a scary turn, and then straightened out again, as if nothing had happened. They had saved the school without anyone knowing about it. It would have been nice to receive a reward or some kind of compensation for this, but she was still satisfied with it. And then they met Reiko, which caused things to veer off again, only now she felt like everything was a bit more familiar to her. And before, she had to exert all her energy and wit just to get Eiichi to budge some, knowing she couldn’t do it alone and that he had been the most likely candidate to help out. Back when she had only thought it was something worth looking into and was not aware of the true danger. It seemed once things got dangerous enough, that was when he responded. And with Reiko, it was almost immediate, as if he knew just from looking at her how much trouble she was in. He was crazy intuitive in that way.
She blinked in the dark and sighed. ‘He can be so exhausting...’
She closed her eyes and sleep came quickly...
Her eyes flitted open. How long had she been out? It was still dark outside. She could just barely see the fuzzy, blue glaze shining from the edges of Reiko’s curtains. She turned the screen of her phone on and set it within breathing distance in front of her eyes. It had only been an hour.
Before she could drift off again, she thought she heard movement over by Reiko’s bed.
Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Noda pushed herself up and looked. She really couldn’t see anything, and made the effort to put on her glasses. When she did, she could see Reiko’s barely visible figure had sat up as well and she seemed to be staring at her bedding.
“Reiko, are you alright?” Noda whispered.
Reiko’s head focused on her and she muttered, “I’m afraid to fall asleep...”
She stood. “Even with all of us here?”
“Mhm...”
Noda walked over to her bed, being careful to step over Ryoko, who was lightly snoring against her pillow.
Reiko moved her legs to create space while Noda sat cross-legged in front of her.
“What’s bothering you? Is it what happened earlier today?”
“Kinda’...”
“Was all this too much?”
“No.” She saw Reiko’s head swivel. “It’s been wonderful. I’m grateful you all took the trouble to spend time with me...”
“It wasn’t any trouble at all. We’ve been having fun, if you haven’t noticed. You’re not a burden, Reiko...”
Cypress stood up and joined them, curling up in Reiko’s lap. It was so dark, Noda barely noticed him.
“This is all temporary,” she said. “It’s good that you’re all here now, but after you’re gone, I’m going to be alone again anyways.”
“Don’t think like that.”
“There’s just so much going on, I’m just not sure how to deal with it...”
“Well, how about we talk for a while until you start feeling sleepy?”
“Okay...”
/> “Ya know, I haven’t done this for a while myself. I think I’ll call my friends sometime and see if we can do this again.” She looked over at Ryoko and Sumi’s sleeping forms. “If you’re okay with that.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you. We could go to my house next time. Though you may have to watch out for my little brother. He can be pretty nosy.”
“O-Okay...” Reiko’s voice sounded like she was smiling.
“I think this is a great way to start the year, after everyone has adjusted.”
“Yeah, it’s been great getting to know you and Ryoko. I think Sumi and her really found a lot in common.”
“Yeah, I never thought I’d find myself hanging out with thee Ryoko Takahashi. She’s surprisingly footloose for as strict as she appears at school.”
“Um...what about Kozuka?”
“Hm?”
“You both seem to know what you’re doing.”
She saw Reiko’s hand smoothing Cypress’ back.
“Eiichi and me? Well, maybe...sometimes I feel like I’m just along for the ride. It’s weird. Sometimes I feel like I have to force him to do things, and other times, he just goes off without my efforts at all. I don’t know what Sumi told you, but to be honest, this is only the second time we’ve done this...”
“What do you mean?”
“Well...helping someone. Although, last time I guess we weren’t really helping someone. It’s a bit of a secret, and it might sound crazy if I told you.”
Reiko didn’t say anything for a while.
“You said he’s a nice guy. Why do you think he’s that way?”
Noda began twiddling a strand of her hair. “Um...I don’t know...it’s hard to say...”
“I’m sorry I was afraid of him before...I heard a lot of bad things about him...”
“Don’t blame yourself. People say stupid things. I guess he’s the prime example that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
“What do you like about him?”
“Me!?” Noda nearly blurted this out loud, but remembered they had dozing company. “I-I mean, there’s stuff I like about him. I wish he would quit acting all avoidant and open up a little...”
She pressed the tips of her fingers together. “He’s courageous, and at the same time, pretty wise about stuff. He doesn’t make a decision about something unless he’s considered all the angles. He sounds like he really knows what he’s talking about a lot of the time, and yet, even when he doesn’t look it, he seems to always be listening. I guess that might be how he knows so much.”
“Did you believe some of the things people said about him?”
“Yeah, I guess I did for a time. Really, when I met him, I didn’t know who he was. Not a lot of people really know what he looks like.”
“Do you...do you think...the two of you can really help me?”
Noda peered through the dark at her silhouetted friend. It looked like she was staring right back at her, even though she probably couldn’t see her.
“Of course, Reiko...I know that we can help you. You are not alone in this. We’re going to track down whoever has been bothering you, and Eiichi will give them the thrashing they deserve, believe me, I’ve seen him do it a couple times.”
The silhouette sat motionless for a while, Noda could hear Cypress’ purring, and then its arm began moving, petting him.
“Thank you...” Reiko’s voice flourished. “This feels good. I can’t remember the last time I’ve talked with anyone like this.”
She smiled, “I’m glad Eiichi and I could help you out this far, but I don’t want to stop. Just stick close to us, and we’ll figure this out.”
“I will. Sleep well, Noda...”
“You too, g’night.”
Noda found her way back to her futon, being careful to avoid the snoring Ryoko. She put her glasses away, and curled up under the covers.
If it were just her, she wouldn’t be sure of what to do, but she knew, with Eiichi by her side, just like before, they would find out who was stalking Reiko, and set her life back to the way it was.
Afterword
I have always been curious about the sensations that can be delved into more with the right application of circumstantial manipulation…
I mean—Hi there!
A conversation that I have had with a mentor of mine, more than once – and something I have spoken with other random parties about – is the topic “have we written all there is to write?”
I suppose the truth to that question, or as it is perceived subjectively by myself and other like minds, is that the number of stories within fiction, and anything else, is infinite. It’s the subjects that get recycled, but this is not a bad thing. The motto is that you’re telling the same story over again, only in a different way – your way. There are plenty of stories out there about romance, but not all of them involve a guy having to deal with a group of rowdy girls day-in and day-out, or a person that has been locked away in a suspended reality for a millennia. There are plenty of zombie stories out there, but only so many involve specifically the reanimated corpses of our favorite pets, or mutants from a nuclear emulsion spill, or long dead warriors summoned by a cabal.
It’s like writing a song. There is a chord structure known as the 1-4-5 progression. Hundreds upon thousands of blues songs have been written on just these three chords – the going joke is that a rock star plays three chords for a thousand people, while a jazz musician plays a thousand chords for three people (Yukichi is a hybrid of those, so I’m sure he can relate). It matters more with a change in melody and the lyrics sung to that melody, that is what makes a song unique. And even when we get into the lyric matter, we see a change in style, but the subjects tend to be the same old ‘my baby left me’ or ‘can’t make the rent’ or ‘I’m a ramblin’, gamblin’ man’. Modern pop is another example. I can’t make sense of all the tech sounds and computer voice correction, but I can understand the subject matter. They all present something people can relate to, with just a little something different.
So, if I’m going to make any sense with all this, what I’m saying is not everything is entirely original. If it were, we would have a tough time understanding all of it, because it would consist entirely of matters that have no relation to anything we perceive in reality, and only the individual that created it would understand it in full. This goes for everything, not just my two favorite subjects, literature and music.
On a different note, I originally wrote this first volume between November of 2015 and January of 2016. Back then, I had various misunderstandings about the light-novel business, including the word count. I made the mistake of never looking up exactly what the average word count was for a standard light novel, and so in those two months, I overworked drastically without realizing it and wound up writing both the first and second volumes, believing they were both one volume. It was some months later, while I was looking for an artist, when I realized I made a big mistake, and would have to cut the stories in half. The upside was, I had two volumes instead of one, and I knew it would take me less time to write a single volume, but I did have to change my style of story construction drastically for the future.
Working with Kate has been a blast. I never thought I would meet an artist that turned out to also be a qualified editor, she has really been a Godsend. I hope things continue to smooth out for us as we progress into the next volume, and later volumes.
I have to say, I have been in major need of a camping trip. I always hear I need to get out more, and I don’t disagree with this, but I’m not a shut-in by choice (not entirely…), and I do get to visit my favorite pub (yes, it’s a pub), or some old friends here and there. Actually, I run a lot of errands. I really miss living in Flagstaff. It was so great to have a market area that was only a twenty minute walk from the dorm and getting to see the San Francisco Peaks every time I stepped outside, but I don’t miss having to rush to classes. However, if I could afford a place in Flagstaff, I would like to live t
here to do my writing, for a while.
Anyways, that’s all I have for now. It’s been a sheer joy writing this volume, and I plan to write many more, as well as many more series. Thank you very much for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope to see you in Volume 2! Here’s wishing good health to you!
The Creators
James K. Penn is the author of the Eiichi P.I. series and the short story The Fray. He currently lives in Arizona with his family.
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jkpennauthor/
twitter: https://twitter.com/jkpennauthor
WordPress: https://jkpennauthor.wordpress.com/
tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/wolfmanjimstuff
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLKL2gJgJZwuTWsd_WWR1Q
Kate Taylor is an artist and writer based in Canada. Eiichi P.I. is the first major published project she has worked on.
Tumblr: https://k8bit.tumblr.com/
deviantART: https://k8bit.deviantart.com/
Eiichi P.I., Vol. 1 Page 35
