Trials of A Heartthrob

[Alex-065]

Mr. Fukaida was an old collage friend of Jerry's father. They had gone to law school together state-side but after only a few years as a practicing lawyer in America, Mr. Fukaida felt the need to return to Japan where he later became on of the top executives in an automobile company. Currently, the company's board of directors had sent him on an overseas business trip to inspect several of their production plants. That, plus Mr. Fukaida's generosity and trust, was the whole reason Jerry now had the man's pad to himself. And what a pad it was.

Looking past all the gold-leaf and mahogany, Jerry was most grateful just the western-style bath and shower. If he had landed in some cubical-sized apartment that would mean trekking down the street to the local outdoor/indoor bath house. Even with the off chance of getting a peek at the women's side, the cost of public nudity was too much for Jerry to stomach.

So here in his swanky new digs he was able to shower with privacy and peace of mind. A genuine water bed and a plasma TV were waiting for Jerry in the master bedroom once he'd dried off and changed into some comfortable kick-around clothes. With a loud sigh of relief he flopped backwards onto the undulating bedspread and contemplated the eastern floral patterns imprinted on the ceiling.

More than anything he wondered just what sort of hiccup in the universe had caused all the nonsense he'd been through. How does a day like today happen to a guy like me? He thought. Sure, it wasn't horrible. There have been worse days in history, but it was damn strange. Just freaking impossible...

At least he was feeling better, ironically, thanks to the vibe. Jerry found the TV remote were he had left on the nightstand and settled in with a microwave dinner for an evening of anime shows that wouldn't reach the United States for another two years. The kind that were probably a little too risque and a little too Japanese for most American audiences outside of the unwashed hordes of otaku. Jerry didn't consider himself to be anywhere near that much of a nerd, but he had to admit his interest in giant robots and busty, rainbow-haired girls wasn't purely academic; despite his excuse that it helped him study Japanese culture.

With his dinner finished and his homework put off until the night day, Jerry finally hit the lights at almost one o'clock that particular school night. He'd nearly forgotten the day he'd had as he waited for sleep to take him. In fact, the strange occurrences he'd experienced thus far were only the beginning... But at least for that night, Jerry didn't know it yet...

[Ninmast]

It was the school day all over again, except it all went so much better. He wasn't suffering from jet lag, he didn't feel like such a sore thumb, even though it was still his first day in Japanese school, and the schoolwork was way easier. The whole day breezed through on easy street.

It wasn't until the day was nearly over and he was cleaning one of the rooms by himself, waiting for his cleaning partner to arrive, that she showed up. His cleaning partner was hot to say the least, and though she did fit the age of the class, it was obvious that the schoolgirl uniform was never meant to contain that many curves. All the same, she seemed completely unaware of it, her hair pulled into rainbow pigtails, much like the colors shown by the girls in the anime, as she practically bounced into the room with all of her energy.

"Hi, I'm Haruka!" this girl he'd vaguely remembered seeing in some of his classes that day introduced herself. "I'm your cleaning partner!"

[Alex-065]

Only a very small part of Jerry was aware that he was dreaming. The other part, the mental majority ruler, the one smiling at Haruka as she entered the fantasy class room, did not. Ignorance was bliss, and bliss was a Japanese school girl wearing a uniform that was two sizes too small. Jerry's words echoed as he welcomed her.

"Hey-ey, you made it-it..." Jerry wrapped his arms around her in a slow motion blur. His subconscious conjured all the sensations of hugging his new crush with surprising fidelity. There was the smell of another girl's perfume from another time and place, but then there was radiance of Haruka's hair, and the feeling of her plump chest being squeezed against his buttoned down uniform.

An ocean breeze blew across them from the open windows. It carried the taste of salt and the sound of waves as they crashed on the golden sands of Miami beach, just out side, where the bronze statue of their high school's founder stuck out of the surf instead of the courtyard green. It stoically observed Boomer as he rode atop a wave on a miniature surfboard.

In reality, Boomer could never surf. He had been Jerry's bulldog. And Boomer had been dead for six years.

"It's great to meet you... I'm Jerry-y... Irvine-vine..." The imaginary introduction was thought and spoken simultaneously as Jerry gazed into Haruka's enchanting eyes. But he frowned slightly and he glanced around his abandoned classroom; unsure, worried. The neat rows of desks were empty. The chalk board was blank. The clock was somehow unreadable, and the Florida sun hovering outside cast strange shadows on the tile floor that didn't stay in one place. Jerry dreamed he was wandering away from his busty classmate, half drifting, half walking, and lethargically searching for the faces of other students he couldn't quite remember. Something felt wrong.

"But-ut... Where is everyone-one?" he asked. Vaguely bewildered, he turned back to stare at Haruka from across the room, lost in the false reality she had created for him. "They're supposed to help us-us... This is such bull-ull..."

[Ninmast]

(Y'know, you don't actually have to do the echo, and it wouldn't really be a notable issue, anyway. When you write it out, I don't know what's an echo and what's a stutter.)

While Jerry was turned away, Haruka pouted and chewed on the end of her finger. So close, she thought to herself. But I wouldn't have thought it would've been that easy, anyway ...

When Jerry turned back to her, she was all smiles, not even a hint of the out-of-character (for the role she was playing) thought on her face. "This is one of the smaller rooms! It's just the two of us working on it. Other students are working on other ones!"

[Alex-065]

(True. I just wanted to experiment a little, but you get the idea. I'll drop the act.)

"Oh... Okay..." Jerry felt himself gravitating back towards Haruka, like she was the sun that everything else in the room revolved around. Including him. He coasted towards the front of the class between a row of desks, those nearest the windows. Jerry heard barking.

Still going with the flow, Jerry turned to look outside without stopping. Boomer was on the beach, missing his little surfboard, and staring up at the school building with sad puppy dog eyes that were half covered by the heavy wrinkles in his face. Jerry saw the bulldog's head turn as he followed him across the second story vista. Boomer anxiously spun in place once. He began woofing loudly and stamping his his paws into the sand, whining pitifully as his beloved master drew nearer to the intruder.

Jerry didn't know what the ghostly dog was trying to tell him, and he didn't really care. He turned his gaze back to Haruka. "You just be quiet now," he told Boomer. "Dad doesn't like it when you bark... We'll get in trouble..."

Boomer whined desperately, then looked back as a wave rolled up the shore and washed him away like a sand castle.

Jerry and Haruka were alone again. "We should get started," he said.

[Ninmast]

That poor doggy, she thought, but Haruka had a short attention span, an when he mentioned getting started, she turned back to him and nodded, thrusting out a broom to him. "Here ya go! I'll start cleaning off the desks, you work on the floor!"

[Alex-065]

Jerry took the broom gladly and casually swept at the squirming shadows upon the floor, not seeming to mind them, or Boomer who was still barking in the distance. Jerry glanced out the window one more time and expected to see his childhood pal back on the beach, staring up at him. He wasn't. But Boomer's whining pleas and argumentative woofing persisted and echoed off the walls. Jerry numbly tried to ignore his dog's warnings and returned to his work. As well as surreptitiously admiring Haruka's uncanny figure.

"I never had to help out like this is America," he told her. "Things are so different here. But I like it..."

[Ninmast]

Haruka was bent over one of the desks, scrubbing at its surface so that he "inadvertently" saw down her shirt, which had to have the first couple buttons undone by necessity of the mass within. "It teaches responsibility," she explained, "and it makes us have pride in our classrooms!"

[Alex-065]

"Yeah," Jerry agreed. "There's so much I can learn from this trip. I really got lucky." Jerry's hands kept the broom moving. Back and forth, back and forth, without looking. His attention was so focused on Haruka's prominent cleavage that he scarcely noticed the chalk-drawn rabbits on the blackboard until the started to hop and frolic, as if celebrating the the young couple's cleaning work. The clueless boy wanted to smile, but felt himself frowning instead. Boomer was still barking. Still trying to ruin the mood.

"Why does he keep making so much noise?" Jerry complained as he halted his sweeping. Once again he was distracted from the magnetism of Haruka's charm, and he disliked the nagging dogs determination to keep his thoughts from her. "He knows we have work to do... I can't play with him now..."

[Ninmast]

"Maybe he's worried about you," Haruka suggested without thinking. "I mean, he came all the way to the school, right? That's not usual for a dog."

[Alex-065]

"But I'm fine," Jerry replied, returning to his sweeping. Back and forth, back and forth, like a metronome. A strangely comforting rhythm. "I'm here where I want to be... Whatever he's worked up about can wait." The ethereal barking persisted. Jerry sighed, trying to be patient with his unseen hound. "We'll finish soon," he told him, staring down at the broom. Back and forth, back and forth. "I'll see you later, Boomer. Be a good boy..." Back and forth, back and forth.

Back and forth, back and forth...

[Ninmast]

Okay, now, Haruka was getting a little worried. "Um ... Jerry, don't you think you've swept that one spot enough?"

[Alex-065]

Jerry responded well to Haruka's concern. He looked to her, blinking and unsure. What had he been doing? Everything seemed... Off, some how. The class room, the barking -- it all seemed... "I don't know," Jerry answered, looking doubtful of something. He looked at the broom, scrutinizing it, then carefully set it aside against the wall. "I think I'm done with this now... Are you? We could go outside... Find my dog?"

[Ninmast]

If it were reality, they wouldn't be done, and certainly not with the floor. But instead, the room was spotless, and Haruka beamed sunnily. "Yeah! Let's get out of here! And we'll see what your doggy wants! I'll bet he's cute!"

[Alex-065]

Exiting through the sliding classroom door, which opened by it's self, Jerry and Haruka entered the upper-story corridor together, unknowingly close the end of their first evening together. Boomer was waiting for them. But he was not the dog Jerry remembered from his childhood. He had the same wrinkled face. The same sagging jowls. The same wide-set stance and stubby legs.

Only now the manifestation of once squat bulldog had surpassed the size of a grizzly bear, blocking the end of the hallway and the only exit with his imposing muscular bulk. Jerry didn't seem to notice. "Boomer," he groaned. "You're supposed to wait outside... Pets aren't allowed at school."

Boomer uttered a deep and rumbling growl. Not at Jerry. The beast dog's brown, blood-shot and eyes were fixated on Haruka. Boomer knew... His gaze harbored an intelligent and focused anger that spoke volumes -- one dream entity to another.

Trespasser... Liar...

Dead meat...