Covered Court

Chapter 9: "The Okinawan and Jamaican"

Rei tried calling her back but her phone couldn't be reached. As he was about to drink his fifth glass, he received a text message from his grandmother.

"See you tomorrow, Kurogane-sensei."

At that time, he realized that he had to stop drinking for the sake of his reputation. So he placed his glass on the table without finishing the brandy and then he laid down on his bed. Before he could shut his eyes off, he heard footsteps coming towards the door. He struggled to stand up, but his body seemed heavy after drinking alcohol.

His vision gradually blurred to a dim and then, the footsteps sounded cleared, louder, as it drew closer to him.

"Rei-kun..."

A voice echoed over the area. Despite a bit tipsy, Rei was certain that it was the same voice he heard from a dream he had a month ago. It was the silhouette of a woman wearing a wedding dress.

Rei's thoughts were filled in with a lot of questions, but he was not stable enough to ask her. The woman giggled and extended her hands touching his face. Her right hand caressed his wavy brownish hair while her left hand held his face.

"Your face is all red, Rei-kun..." she whispered.

He tried opening his eyes, but he just couldn't. The woman breathed slowly as she slowly took her hands off of him.

"I love you, Rei..." then she stole a kiss on his forehead and then vanished afterwards.

These were the last words Rei could remember as he woke up and realized that it was just a dream like before. He was sweating a lot when he got up. Seeing the sun rising made him sigh, "That dream again..."

He scratched the back of his head and felt a sudden sting inside. He moaned in pain and thought, "This must be a hangover..."

After washing his face and drinking hot water, he prepared for school despite his condition. He didn't want to disappoint his grandmother, after all.

Outside the red gates of Todai, a man wearing a flashy silver jacket, tattered jeans, and high-cut rubber shoes stood still. Sparkly as his appearance looked like, his golden brown complexion defined a person living from the south region, particularly he was an Okinawan.

"Todai, huh? Long time no see-ya."

He tried walking past through the guard but his attention was called for his clothing.

"Those jeans are prohibited, sir." said the guard.

The man swayed his eyes and mumbled, "Just like the old times..."

He walked a few steps away from the red gate and thought of a solution to get in, "If that passage was still there-ya..."

He strolled further and saw a pile of bushes along the walls of the university. He smirked as he shove them and found a hole behind it.

"I see they still haven't fixed this yet-ya..." he thought.

He then crawled through the hole to enter the university premises. As he snuck his self in, he saw a big cherry blossom tree from a distance and said, "That big fella's still standing-ya..."

Taking a closer look at it, he saw a man resting under its shade. They may have a similar skin tone, but their nationality is different.

"Lyle!!" shouted the Okinawan guy.

Lyle was sound asleep to bother responding. The Okinawan guy dropped his jaw in disappointment with Lyle's reaction. He approached his friend and sat beside him.