Asu Mo Furu Kana: I Wonder If It Will Fall Tomorrow Too: Chapter 3

A shonen-ai story about a boy and his tutor. Scott and James get into a fight, but they slowly heal their relationship until the day it rains...

“Here, translate this,” said Scott to James as they sat at the café booth trying to study.  It was very hard for Scott to get James to concentrate.  Since the weather had turned colder James had constantly started talking about snow.  James loved snow.  Unknown to Scott, some of James’ only memories of his father were when they played in the snow the winter before he died.  They made snowmen and had a snowball fight.  These memories were the most precious to James, and he was reminded of them whenever it snowed, which is why James loved snow so.

            “I don’t understand it at all!  It’s too hard,” said James as he looked at the paper.  He was hardly able to read the kanji.  Hiragana was easy, Katakana not so easy, but Kanji was almost impossible.  There were so many of them and James has only so much memory!

            “Okay…how about this?” Scott asked as he wrote ‘ami ga futteimasu’ on the paper.

            “Ummm, I cannot read your kanji,” James replied after studying the paper for a moment.

            “The first one or the second?” Scott asked as he rubbed his head in amazement of James’ stupidity.  Scott had thought that he had made it simple enough, using basic grammar and kanji that he had learned in year one of Japanese class.  It seemed like even that was too hard for his student.

            “The first one…and the second…” James responded cautiously.

            “… …okay, then how about this one?” Scott forced himself to reply calmly.  He wrote “yuki ga futteimasu” in all hiragana on the sheet of paper.

            James studied the paper and looked up.  “’It’s snowing’,” James replied in a low voice.

            Scott was slightly amazed that James had gotten it.  It was one of the few times that James had been able to reply correctly to anything that Scott had asked.  “How come if there is snow, you can automatically do it?”

            “No, I mean it is snowing outside…I didn’t think it would snow so soon.  November isn’t over yet!” said James before he knew what he was saying.

            “Why do you love snow so much?  Is there nothing on your mind other than that white poop?” asked Scott slightly offended and angry.

            “Well, it’s pretty, random…no two are the same…”replied James without noticing Scotts anger.

            “Your going to fail you know?  Why don’t you put as much energy into your studies as you do watching the snow?”

            “Classes are boring.  I’ve already failed, so why even try…”

 

Scott was finishing his coffee when James spoke up: “It’s falling faster now!”

Scott just looked at James angrily, and began to put his stuff back into his bag.

 

Scott had just finished putting his items into his bag when James spoke up again: “Hey, do you think it will stick?”

“No,” Scott replied with an angry look on his face as he got up to leave.  “We are done for today.  Why don’t you get you little head out of the clouds and pay attention to your studies.  Your future is what is going to be hurt the most.  Snow is definitely not that important!”

            “Wait!  Why do you hate snow so much?”

            “It’s too fickle,” Scott said as he left the café.

 

After that day, Scott and James would meet every week but most of the pleasantness of the meetings was gone.  Each time it seemed to snow.  Most of the times just flurries and James would stop and watch while Scott got up and left.

 

Finals came and went.  Mr. Brown was suspicious if James would be able to pass any of his classes.  He suggested that Scott and James meet over the break.  Neither one was in a position to argue.  If James didn’t pass, he would fail out of school, and Scott would not get his credit.  They meet twice a week, usually at a café or coffee shop.  Gradually their relationship seemed to be improving after one severe outburst from Scott.  James learned not to look so much at the snow and Scott was more lenient about James not paying attention when it snowed.

 

“Quince, I need a favor,” said Scott to the young one he had met at the bar.

            “Sure, what’s up?” said the boy as be put down his juice bottle.  “As long as you buy me dinner, that is!”

 

“The weather sure has gotten warmer lately!” said James when they meet at the café.  “I’ve never been here before.  It’s a little far from my house so maybe that is why.  It looks really good though!  Kakkoii desu ne!”

            “Wow, good job!  That is actually right.  I’m impressed,” said Scott as he looked up from his menu.  This was the first time James has used Japanese of his own free will.  Usually it was like pulling teeth to get James to speak.  “Just for that, I’ll buy you dinner.”

            “Really??  Then I’ll have the Daily Set #2!” said James excitedly.

 

Both of the boys ordered their dinners and ate talking about random things, sometimes with short sentences in Japanese.  Scott could tell that James had improved since they started.

 

“Okay, now translate this,” said Scott when he finished writing ‘kopiiki no tsukaikata wo oshietekudasai’ on a piece of paper.

            “Umm…’Please teach me how to use the copy machine’?”

            “Yup.  Good job.  You really have improved.  There is even Kanji.  And Katakana!”

            “Yeah, I have been studying.  I forgot how much work school can be when you are actually trying to pass!”

            “Yeah, it can be tough, but it is worth it.  Please excuse me for a moment,” Scott said as he got up to go to the bathroom.

            James looked out the window.  It had slowly grown darker while they were in the café.  ‘Probably because it is getting late,’ James thought as he looked at his watch. ‘Oh my gosh, it’s past 7!  I have to get home soon.  It takes about an hour by bus.  Scott, hurry up so I can leave!’

 

‘God, he is taking forever, what is he doing in there??’ James thought just before he turned to look back outside.  It had grown even darker and began to drizzle.  James looked outside and his face went blank.  ‘There had been no report of rain for the day!!  It was supposed to be sunny and fine, not rainy and drab!’ he thought as Scott returned to the table.

            “I…I…” James started.  He couldn’t get his words out.

            “Do you have to return home now, it is getting late.  And the café will close soon since it’s a Tuesday.  They only stay open until 7:30 today.  I guess we should be going,” said Scott as he grabbed the bill and his bag and stood up to go pay.

James couldn’t move from where he was.  He could hear the rain and the thought of going out into it, let alone getting into a vehicle while it was raining was unimaginable.  “I…I can’t…” said James softly as he choked out the words.

“What?” said Scott slightly confused.  “It’s only rain, it won’t kill you.  Now let’s go!”  Scott grabbed James by the arm and dragged him to the register.  Scott paid and pulled James outside.  James was too weak with fear to fight back.

‘What should I do?? This is my first time out in the rain since…since that day,’ James thought desperately as Scott pulled him into the downpour.

Author's Note

This story was made to be turned into a comic, the first chapters heavily reflect this. Feel free to ignore this when you comment. I know I need all the help I can get.

Reviews

[Chris]

The story is going great so far. I like how you drop hints with certain things (like the he they kept talking about in the last chapter, and how James is afraid of the rain), but you leave it to where the reader will be left guessing until they find out later in the story.

There are a couple things I noticed in this chapter though. First, I want to point out the end. I don't know exactly how afraid of the rain James is, but if it's a phobia, or at least almost there, I'd think he would probably be completely freaking out on Scott, like trying his hardest to pull away from him, instead of just being frozen in fear. Like I said though, I don't know how big of a fear James has with rain, but I just thought I'd point that out.

Also, it seems a bit odd when Scott asks Quince for a favor. It feels way too random since it isn't really that long, which can confuse the reader a bit. You might want to just add a little bit there to make it just a tiny bit longer so it doesn't feel real random.