NERVOUS VENUS Chapter 5 (by WASEDA Chie, originally published in Amie June'97) Note: Since this chapter involves Seki's family, they all call him by his 1st name, Youji. But to be consistent with the other chapters, I will continue to refer to him as "Seki". ------------------------------------------------------------------------> Nervous Venus: June "There was a wound that would not heal...the time flows away, never to return...Seki Youji, 14 years old...from his body, you can tell." "That Idioit! Where the hell is he!?", Tomoya (Seki's older brother), is yelling. Tooru, the eldest brother, tries to tell Tomoya he's not really mad. Meanwhile, Reiji says, "And after you brought Sakura-San over and all...I'm really sorry." Seki and his friends are messing around with some firecrackers, when Seki suddenly gets the feeling he's forgetting something. "There was something I was s'posed to do today...what was it? Can't remember..." Kanda pounces on him, saying, "Then I'll _make_ you remember! Your body's mine Youji!" "Ah, Kanda-Kun, you're such a beast!", Seki says. The other guys ask if they're hungry, and Seki jokes that their display was a bit too "adult" for them (which is why they're acting like nothing happened). Then he stops..."Aw shit! My brother's lady..." "Huh?" Sakura asks, pointing to herself, "Studying?" Seki's mother says, "Youji's marks are really awful...and you said you'd quit working and you have some freetime, so I was wondering if you could do it as a favor..." Sakura smiles, "Well, if it's allright with Youji-Kun." "Then it's decided!" the mother says, then adds, "But his marks were good once. But since he started Jr. High, they've gotten worse and worse." "Although he's still smart...", thinks Reiji" Tomoya asks if Reiji wants some pudding, since there's one left. Reiji smiles as he takes the pudding, and Tomoya thinks, "He's sooooo cuuuute! I could just eat him up!" "Well, I'm sorry for bothering you..." "No, not at all! I hope the ceremony will be soon..." "Maaaaa!" While the others are saying goodbye to Sakura, Reiji sees Seki coming home. Seki and Sakura's eyes meet. Sakura claps her hands together and smiles, "Wow! So handsome! I'm surprised!" Seki imitates her, "Wow! Such a beauty! Astonishing!" Sakura looks troubled, "It doesn't really make me happy to hear that..." Tooru laughs and says Seki's in a rebellious stage. Tomoya is hollers, "Why yoooou...where d'you get off talkin' like that after blowin' off the meeting and.." "Shut up, stupid!", counters Seki. "Stupid, huh? Well YOU'RE the one who's stupid!!" Tomoya fires back. "That's the kind of thing that makes you the stupid-est!!" Seki continues. While they trade insults, their mother tells Sakura, "Don't mind them...since there alike, there's no end to it." "Huh?!" Seki's face twists in shock. "A tutor!? I don't need one!! If you're gonna get one, get it for Reiji, not me!" (Pointing at Reiji), "He's a moron!!" Seki's mother shouts, "What're you talking about? Rei-Chan's 15th in his grade!" Seki growls, "Not at that...he's a moron as a person!!" Reiji's eyes widen, he points to himself...pause...he gets mad. "Why're you always talking like that, You-Chan!?" Seki turns to his mother, "D'you see that?! He's too slow...I can't take it! I'm embarassed he's my brother! Their mother is exasperated. "I've been praised since I was a little kid...without any special effort, my tests were always close to perfect. Same with sports... "...what pretty fingers...such lovely hair...you have beautiful eyes..." They praised me so much it was ridiculous. Enough...I got sick of it... Reiji's sitting up in bed, looking over at Seki. He gets up and covers up Seiki's face, which wakes him up. "The hell're you doin'!? snarls Seki. They laugh and fight. "Hel~lo! Youji-Ku..." Sakura walks in to find Reiji wearing a sign that claims he's Youji. But Seki's mother drags him up the stairs, telling him to, "Do what Sakura tells you...she's your older brother's fiance after all! All right, work hard and out of the bottom of your grade!" She kicks him into his room, and he looks up to see Sakura holding several exams with atrocious marks. Seki grabs Reiji by the collar, and Reiji stammers "B..but she said she wanted to see your test papers..." Sakura says, "You're actually smart, huh? Cause in all your subjects, you only did the hardest problem...you only got that one right, and the rest you left blank." Sakura teases him for trying to be cool, and tells him he should save his posing for the girl he likes instead. In a rather rude tone, Seki says, "I guess then to you, Tooru's 'cool' huh?" Sakura calls him cheeky and punches him, so Seki thinks to himself, "What a bitch!" Sakura takes the exam papers and says, "Well, anyway, I've got the answer sheets, so we can start studying with these..." Seki abruptly yanks the papers away from her, writes furiously, then flicks them back at her. "I got sick of getting high marks on tests and all that in elementary school, so...I don't need _you_!" He turns around affectedly and begins to walk away. Sakura sticks out her foot and trips him. "You old hag!!" Seki screams. Ignoring him, Sakura looks over his answer sheets, "Wow, you really got 'em all right. If...you hadn't messed up the answer sheet, that is!" Seki gets a panicked expression on his face. Sakura sighs, "Guess we'll have to start from the basics. On tests, you have to wright the answers in the write blanks! And...my name's not 'old hag'. It's Hagiwara Sakura." she says with a big smile that makes Seki's eyes go wide. She continues, "And in two month's I'll be your older sister, so let's get along!" Turning to Reiji, she says, "You wanna join us, Reiji?" Reiji, who doesn't know what she's talking about, asks, "Oh yeah...where'd you go to school, Sakura-San?" "Toudai", she answers casually. (Note: Toudai is Japan's most prestigious university, not to mention the hardest to get into) Both Reiji and Seki are speechless. As he watches Sakura walking out with Tooru, Seki thinks, "Takin' my damn goggles like that..." (She was wearing them earlier in his room, and still has them on her head) Looking up and seeing Seki in the window, Sakura flaps her arms wildly, shouting "Bye b~ye!" "Man, she's cheery!" Seki says to himself. His eyes widen again...and he thinks, "But isn't she an old hag!?" Seki sits in the student guidance office and gets chewed out. "How many times do I have to tell you before you get it!? Do up your shirt buttons properly! It's cause you're so lax that your marks are so bad!" "It's not being lax, really...it's just too much trouble, and..." Seki interjects. The teacher (?) continues, "You've got no power of concentration! It's proof that you'll get the worst marks in your grade again! And you were #1 when you came here!! Your volleyball coach says so too...don't you have any..." "Oh my!" A woman walks in. "Are you still scolding him? Lunch is ending, you know." The guy says to the woman, "Ah, Nakanishi-Sensei! I swear, I don't know whether he's getting it or not!" Nakanishi says, "Don't you think he's had enough...you _do_ understand, don't you Seki-Kun?" Seki's eyes open wide as he feels her hand on his shoulder... Standing before the class, Nakanishi says, "Ok, quiet everyone! I'm going to have you come up one at a time and sing! It'll be an individual 'terror' singing test...just kidding! We'll do them in groups in the supply room. Well then, starting with group 1..." "...Seki!!" a girls voice calls out. Kanda looks over at Seki and says, "The ladies are calling, darling!" "She wants to know what song you wanna sing." The girls ask. Holding Kanda tight in feigned shock, Seki replies, "How can she come right out at ask that?!" "But, we're worried...cause when you're quiet, your hansome rating goes way up, but..." Seki's eyebrows slope slightly downward. Again he embraces Kanda, "Women are always puting a value on men...to be a man after all, is to be together as men." He looks out at the silent class, whispering and looking uncomfortable. Both shout simultaneously, "Please, someone say something!" Watching Nakanashi doing singing tests in the next room, some of the guys in the class are talking about how cute she is, how much they'd like to be with her. Seki leans over to Kanda an mutters, "She disgusts me..." Sakura laughs and slaps Seki on the back. "A 5 on your mini-test! Acting sooo cool!" Seki growls, "Will you shut up!? I told you I don't need any tutoring!" "But it's a promise to my mother in law!" Sakura replies. "Besides, if you keep messin' around like this, someday you're gonna get hurt!" Seki asks bemusedly, "You mean, I won't get into a good high school or university?" Sakura grins, saying, "You brat!" Just as Seki gets pissed, Sakura asks in a rather offical tone, "So what is the greatest thing in one's life? Answer: meeting a "nice honey"! Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!!" Seki immediately pretends to be engrossed in his math work. "Listen up!!" Sakura shouts. "Let me teach you something about getting on in life, You-Chan...with the past as your footstool, and without dreaming of the future, live your very best right now! Toudai was my "footstool" to meeting Tooru...well, we met at a combined party (of my school and Tooru's), but if I hadn't've gone there, we wouldn't've met, right? So that was just the "passing score". Instead of getting angry like this, If you're gonna be cool, find a girl you like show your coolness only to her." She folds her arms and continues, "For me, everything in the past is just a footstool, so I can live my best now..." Seki's eyes open wide, then he bursts out laughing. "That's soooo lame! An old hag's old wive's tale!" Sakura grins back, "That's cause you're showin' off like that!" (Meanwhile, inside Seki's head, he's thinking: "It's all right...funny...she's really funny!") Tomoya, Reiji and Seki are all watching as Sakura leaves with Tooru. Tomoya says, "They've been together a long time...since they were at University. That's like 7 or 8 years huh!" "I had no idea.." Reiji states. Tomoya goes on, "But if it weren't for somethin' like this, he'd never have made a move!" Seki turns to Tomoya, "Whaddya mean?" Reiji says, "Oh yeah, you weren't there." Tomoya grins and says, "'What?' you ask? A kid! A kid! Everybody had a big laugh about it. That brother of ours is havin' a shotgun wedding!" (literally a "pregnant wedding")... Eyes wide, blank stare...snap! Sound of running water...Seki throws up in the sink...the water still running, he says, "The smell..." Meanwhile, Reiji stands outside and watches with a worried look... End of Chapter 5. This text is copyright of Suka-chan: sukachan@postoffice.worldnet.att.net You can find other synopsis by her of this and other mangas serialized in the Amie monthly magazine at: http://www.swb.de/~zahara/amie/amie.html Comments are welcome! And remember this is not for profit and is meant to be a guide for the people who wants to understand the manga or read more about it! ^^