The Four Seasons of Michael (Princess Diaries Fanfic)

September (3)

Things got easier in the upcoming days. Maybe I was so overwhelmed with anger that I suddenly couldn't feel it any longer. It didn't evaporate – but it became manageable, leaving me with time and space to let my life back on, though shaky, tracks.

I started exploring Tsukuba, and given it is a home to so many universities, it had a cosmopolitan feeling to it. Globalization, Americanization, whatever, I had no doubt the real Japan was much different. But I liked it, seeing McDonald's and Coca-Cola made me feel more at home.

I tried to reach Lilly, but she wasn't returning my phone calls. Every time I talked to Mom or Dad, she was mysteriously in the bathroom or out.

Boris didn't have much to tell me, either. Mia wasn't in school. He said he and Tina went to visit her, and she had a bad case of bronchitis. I saw no reason why he would lie to me.

And as days were slowly passing, I found myself missing my New York life, and, especially, Mia. As much as I hated her for throwing everything away the way she did, I discovered I missed her much, much more than I could ever resent her.

On Wednesday I couldn't take it anymore. It was late at night, after midnight, but sleep was nowhere in sight. I poured myself a drink and sat down behind my laptop, opening my email account.

As much as I wanted to talk to her again, I had no idea what to write to her.

I dismissed most of my thoughts. I couldn't demand an explanation. I couldn't tell her what I really thought of her actions. We were friends now. I had to move past that, in my email.

After an hour and another drink, I only had the first paragraph written.

Hey, Mia. It's me. Well, obviously. Just checking in to see how you're doing. Lilly tells me you haven't been in school all week ... hope everything is alright.

Her immune system crashed because of me. Of course, she was not alright. Keeping a friendly tone without showing how desperate I was, well, making that damned prototype was easier.

I looked at the time. I had to be back in the lab in five hours.

I'm settling in here in Tsukuba. This place is a little nutty – they really do eat noodles for breakfast! But fortunately you can still find egg sandwich most places. Work is what I expected it to be – hard – but I really think I have a solid chance of actually getting this thing off the ground. Although who knows if I'll still feel that optimistic after a few more weeks of this.

I refrained myself from saying most mornings – or days – I didn't even bother looking for sandwiches. Whatever McDonald's had to offer was more than alright for me.

And while the work might be difficult, it felt like a remedy for me. Under artificial laboratory lights, with no windows in sight to tell me whether it was night or day, I managed to focus on the robotic arm solely. As hard as the work was, it got my mind off her.

I reread what I had written. It was so cold, so impersonal, like an email I would send to, I don't know, Doo Pak or Felix. Yeah, we were friends – or at least attempting to be – but, come on, I couldn't treat her like some girl I went to high school with! She was so much more, as my heart kept reminding me. Even without the love aspect, we just matched.

And we needed to keep that, if one day, maybe, we would get a chance to rewrite our story.

I scorned myself for getting my hopes up. Nothing she had done since I left showed any indication that was what she wanted. Quite the opposite, really. And yet I was still pining for her, the random commoner I was.

I really knew how to make my life complicated.

Then I remembered something I had read just before I left for Japan. I never got a chance to mention it for her.