Author's Notes:
I was on the fence about rating this. I decided to go with T, but be aware of the following warnings: There are mentions of sexual behavior and sexual behavior is implied. But nothing graphic or explicit. (If I should still rate it as M, please let me know.)This is a sequel to Tobio's Girl. It's definitely more josei than shoujo in the genre. After all, they are grown up now (if 20-somethings can be called grown-ups ^_^), and their problems have changed a bit too. It might be hard to fully engage with this if you don't know and like the first installment. If someone tries to do so, please let me know how it went.In all cases, please let me know how it was. I love reading your reviews and comments. I want more.
8i8
It was the VIII Annual Robotics Conference in Rome, October 2019. Giana Aliberici, a second-year student of the MSc program at Biorobotics Institute at Sant'Anna, was listening to her professor talking on the stage.
" ... Our first and foremost goal is to end all disability. And thanks to new developments in bionics, we're one step further on this road. Thank you for your time today."
Giana clapped her hands avidly with the rest of the audience.
"Thank you, Professor," the announcer was now speaking. "With this inspiring lecture, we end the official part of our conference. But if you still want to share ideas, you will have a chance to do so at our farewell banquet this evening. Thank you for your attention."
The audience started to disperse. Giana stood up from her chair and looked around.
"Giana, Giana..." Dino, one of her fellow students, waved at her. With a sigh, she came over to a group that formed around him.
"Good, you're here," he said, "and where's Reina? Wasn't she with you?"
"Reina was under the stage, taking pictures for the Institute's newsletter."
"Anyway. Listen, everybody. We're going out. I'm taking you all to party in the city. We cannot let such a chance go to waste."
"Wouldn't you rather attend the banquet?" Mario, one of their more serious friends, said. "It's a rare chance to mingle with some of the greatest minds—"
"Ummm... No, thank you," Dino interrupted him." We've been doing that for three days already. Oh, come on! We're in Rome! It's my city. I want to show our international colleagues places that no guidebook has been written about. Giana, you're in?"
Giana liked this idea. She's been trying to loosen up and live a little. "Ok, but I need to go and secure the prototype." She pointed at the stage.
"So let's do this. You go do your thing and get Reina. Then call me, and I'll let you know where we are." He turned around and stretched his arms around other students. "Alright, everybody. Avanti! The tour begins!"
Giana finished her duties and went to find Reina in the lobby, as they agreed in the meantime. She spotted her friend and stopped to look at her from afar. Reina was wearing a feminine dress in dark burgundy color. It was one of those flawless dresses: with a silhouette that accentuated her figure in just the right places while loose enough in others to be worn comfortably, with interesting details but not overdone, so you could be both casual and formal with it. It made Reina look neat and professional at the conference, but now, paired with a vintage biker jacket and utterly fabulous high-heeled ankle boots, it gave off a completely different vibe. It was a wacky combination that should never work, and yet... Reina pulled it off. Along with her delicate features and the storm of her long black hair let loose, it was such a beautiful motley of contrasts that it just made you stop and stare. Reina turned heads wherever she went. Even now just sitting at the hotel bar with a glass of sparkling water, apathetically watching some volleyball game on the bar TV. An enigma that men couldn't help wanting to solve. Well, too bad for them.
Giana saw that some random guy, stranded in the bar, had decided to take up the challenge. He moved closer to Reina to chat her up. "Oh man, what is this blocker even doing? You see that guy jumping with his hands over the net?" he asked Reina directly. She looked at him with her indifferent, ice-cold eyes. She didn't say anything, but it encouraged the man enough to keep on talking. "That's a middle blocker, he's supposed to block those hits and slam them down, but they keep on hitting around him. His stats are terrible. You'd think someone playing pro at the highest level should do a better job."
"Hmm... I don't know." Reina graced him with a reluctant response. "He indeed didn't get many kills, but if you analyze the stats of those two attackers he's been pitted against—they should show those stats on the screen at some point—you'll see their success rate has decreased significantly since the last set. So, I guess he must be doing something right."
Giana thought it was typical for Reina to summon knowledge in an obscure subject to roast a guy. She wasn't just a pretty face. As a daughter of a world-famous physics professor, she was basically STEM royalty. And although she wasn't at the top of their class, that claim would probably go to Dino, she was good enough to be in the elite of this already elite program—a group of students that got invited to conferences and were chosen to continue Institute's innovative research after graduation.
And she did all that with effortless confidence and grace. As if nothing could shake up her nonchalant demeanor. Reina was that perfect girl you love... to hate.
And Giana was subconsciously hostile toward Reina when she first met her. So it was even more surprising that now, a year later, Reina was one of her most favorite people in the whole world. Their friendship started when Giana was going through a long and painful breakup; the relationship with her long-term boyfriend went to shit when she managed to get into this MSc program, and he didn't. It was reassuring to have someone like Reina by her side when she was tackling that whole concept of being single again after following a guy for so long. Also, it turned out that Reina, an ice queen at first glance, was actually laid-back and fun to be around once you got to know her better. Not only girls but even their male colleagues, after realizing they had no chance to hook up with her, were becoming friends fast.
Now, when Reina, apparently done with that random guy, looked around and waved at her friend, her eyes turned from cold to warm, which suited much more their lovely hazel tint. Giana came over to her.
"Wow, Reina, I didn't know you were into sports. Who would have thought you're a volleyball fan." Giana realized that she didn't know much about Reina's likes and dislikes. Thus far, their conversations revolved around studies and Giana's problems. I need to fix that. Reina was an enigma not just for the guys.
"A fan? Actually, I kind of hate it." An unusual, painful grimace showed up on Reina's face. But she shrugged it off and smiled at Giana. "Anyway, are you ready to party? Dino texted me the address."
Following Dino's instructions, they landed in one of the less touristy suburbs of Rome. On a street with no ancient architecture but instead loaded with fun bars and clubs. After wandering about for a while, the girls found their friends in a place with a carefree atmosphere, artisan cocktails, and local rock bands playing on a small scene. Dino knew his stuff, as always.
Because they didn't yet match up to the merriment of their group, which had been partying for over an hour, the girls decided to sit on the side for now. Giana noticed that Reina turned some heads again while carrying their cocktails from the bar. She fell a slight sting of envy. It wasn't that she wanted to be like Reina. They were quite different, both in character and in looks. And since the breakup, Giana realized that she was, in fact, a much cuter girl than her ex led her to believe. It was just that...
"Reina, I want your dress so badly... It's so pretty..." she confessed.
Reina laughed gracefully. "Oh, thanks. But I'm not sure if this particular model would be the best fit for your...um..."She awkwardly gestured at Giana's shapely cleavage, "... undeniable advantages. And this color might clash with your skin tone."
"I know. It's just that you look so stylish."
"You think so? I owe most of my style to my best friend. She's a model and a total fashionista. She always dares me to try clothes that I would never choose for myself but end up loving."
"I'm envious. I stick to basics because it's easy. But it ends up being so plain."
"I would rather call it professional and elegant."
"Yeah, but recently I thought that elegance is not something I should go for at 23."
"I know what we should do! You should join one of our online shopping sessions. I tell you, she's so good at this. She always finds some gems in those little online boutiques of independent designers. She'll figure out your soul and your style in no time. Wow, it's so weird you don't know Eri yet. Well, she lives in Japan, but we talk almost daily. That reminds me," Reina took out her phone, "she asked me where we party tonight, let's take a picture. I'll send it to her."
Giana was eager to take one. Somehow she looked her best when Reina was taking a picture. She had a real knack for this.
Suddenly they were joined by Dino accompanied by some other guy they didn't know.
"Mie belle ragazze, are you having fun? Reina, this is my friend Matteo. We go way back. He said he wouldn't give me peace unless I introduce him to you," Dino said, with a conniving smile on his face.
"Hi." Reina waved at Matteo with much reserve.
"The moment I saw you, I was set on getting to know you better. Will you let me buy you a drink?"
"Sorry, I already have a drink. And I'm in the middle of a conversation with Giana here. So.... Later?" She gave Matteo a critical look. "Maybe."
Dino burst out laughing. "I told you, you didn't have a chance. But now you owe me shots!" He pushed his friend toward the bar and then winked back at the girls. "Thanks, Reina. You never disappoint."
Reina looked at their backs with some disdain. "I have to say... Dino—he's brilliant. So creative. I love working with him. But he sure is the work-hard-party-harder type. He morphs at the nightfall."
"Yeah, his IQ drops by 30 points somehow. But I guess you're popular with guys wherever you go." Giana commented with a sneer.
"Oh, it just that thing—when any decent-looking Asian girl goes to the West, she suddenly gains so much male attention. My friends warned me about it, even my Mom, but you don't quite believe it until you experience it first-hand. It seems flattering until you learn how shallow that all is. If one more guy calls me his Asian persuasion, I'm seriously going to slap him in the face."
Giana chuckled. Before she met Reina, she thought of Japanese people as timid and extremely polite.
"But aren't you capitalizing on that? It seems you're dating someone new all the time. I don't think that I would be comfortable sleeping with so many guys." Giana immediately regretted saying that. She had a habit of saying whatever was on her mind with no filter. It helped with brainstorming and stuff like that, but it also inspired resentment in many of her former friends. But the thing that she appreciated in Reina the most was that she was immune to taking offense no matter what you said to her. She said she was used to blunt people. This time she just laughed it off as well.
"What?! Did you actually think that with all those guys I... Not that I care what people think of my sex life, but let me clarify that just for you. I only ever slept with three guys. The first one was my boyfriend for quite a long time. The second one was, well, a desperate attempt at a rebound. And it was..." She shrugged with disgust. "Let's just say that forcing yourself to have sex is not a good idea. The third one was a somewhat better experiment. I kind of enjoyed it, but afterward, I was just thinking how pointless it all was because I didn't care for that guy much. I don't know what I was trying to prove with it and to whom, and I realized then I'm just... not cut out for casual hookups. I mean, I'm not even comfortable undressing in front of people. I decided I should wait till I find someone special again. And I never was in an actual relationship since then."
"But you go on dates, right?"
"Yeah, I guess. One can't blame a girl for trying to find someone."
"Oh, didn't you go out with that flashy guy from the economics department recently? How was it?"
"Well, he gave me flowers, then we drove to the coast, there was that restaurant with a sea view. Very nice. They even had live jazz music."
"Sounds like a dream date."
"It was so boring that I wished I had stayed in the lab and worked on my thesis. I shouldn't agree to go out with him in the first place. Seafood was good, though."
"He wore you down with his persistency, I guess. A lot of guys can try hard for a girl that is hard to get."
"Yeah, but I was thinking... there is something fundamentally wrong with that concept 'hard to get.'"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, being hard to get apparently turns up the guys' interest, but isn't the reason you're hard to get that you don't want to be... got? Because if you're into the guy in the first place, you can't help being nice to him, right?"
"That is... profound. I'll drink to that." Giana realized she never saw Reina being overly nice to a guy that tried to chat her up.
"I should stop wasting time on romance and focus on work. It gives me more satisfaction. Bionics are the future!" Reina raised her glass and got a cheer from their fellow students. For all of her glamorous looks, Reina was as nerdy as the rest of them. Once she sat down to work, she would go on for hours. She said it was the only thing that gave her peace of mind.
"It kind of confused me, though. And I always wanted to ask you. Isn't Japan the ultimate destination for a career in robotics?"
"Um, I don't know? I decided to come here after hearing the professor talk about the LifeHand project at a conference. It just seemed so cool that I wanted to be a part of it. I care more about doing what I want to do. I was never fixated on being the best or whatever."
"Oh, I know. Isn't it fun? It's like making sci-fi real. Cyborgs and stuff."
"Actually, I was more inspired by the use of robotics in the medical field. Before, I was studying engineering because it was enjoyable enough and took my mind off things. But when I found out that I can make people feel normal again, it was like... It just clicked for me."
"And you decided that you need to come to Italy to do that?"
"Well, it's such an innovative project... Ok, to be honest, I just wanted to get out of Japan. It became so suffocating for many reasons. Like I didn't fit there anymore. I guess I wanted a change of scenery. To live in Europe again. Have an adventure or something. So when I saw a chance for getting a scholarship here, I just grabbed it."
"So, as an adventure, you decided to sit in front of a computer in Italy instead of sitting in front of one in Japan. Wow, how exciting."
"You make me feel I failed at life somehow. It's not how I imagined my life would be when I was younger. Like I wanted to do all but sit shut indoors in front of a screen all day. But hey, we're in Rome now, right? Partying. Living our lives." Reina failed to bring enthusiasm to her face. She seemed rather moody today. But she was also more honest and talkative than usual, so Giana kept on asking.
"How did you get into robotics then? Was it because of your dad? I guess with such lineage is hard not to end up in STEM. I went once to his guest lecture. He's amazing."
"Well, going into my mom's footsteps and diving to the seabed for work would definitely be an adventure, but not something I can do. My dad, huh... It was a factor, I guess. I was so well-versed in science and math because of him that it seemed an easy pastime for me. Something to occupy my head with. I started it on a whim. I only got serious when it became difficult, and I had to put in the effort. But the reason why I got into this... might have been my boyfriend in high school."
"Oh, did you also fall for the president of the robotics club?" Maybe she and Reina were more alike than she thought.
"No, that's your story. And I told you before, if a guy cannot handle a woman surpassing him at something, he's got issues. You were right to dump him. Anyway, the president of my robotics club when I joined was... well, a good guy, and we went through a lot together, but he had the ambition to build himself a robot girlfriend, so I don't think he was interested in human girls. And vice versa. My boyfriend was an athlete. A volleyball player."
"Seriously? Dating some jock helped you get into robotics? Counterintuitive, I would say. Didn't you want to spend time with him instead of playing around with robots?"
"I don't think you get it. He spent a lot... and I mean it, a LOT of time in the gym. He would train for hours. Every. Single. Day. We wouldn't go out that much. So I had to find some other interests to explore. Or maybe... when you spend time with people that give something their all, you start to feel that you should try to do something seriously as well... Or I just needed an excuse to stay at school till he finished practice, so I could at least walk home with him. We had been together for a few years, but we went on a bona fide date, like, 6, no... 7 times in total."
"Are you sure you can call that dating then?"
"Well, we did hang out more often, at school or home, studying... or doing other things. Luckily we lived not far from one another."
"Other things? What kind of things were you doing with your high-school boyfriend?" Giana raised her brows knowingly.
"What can I say? As an athlete, he was keen on physical activities." A mischievous smile showed up on Reina's face." And he was... persuasive. He had very skilled hands... Also, it was all too easy. His parents were almost never at home."
"I see... But wait, how did you differentiate hanging out from a date."
"Easily. If he was wearing something different than a school uniform or a tracksuit, it was a date." Reina chuckled unwittingly for a second. Who would have thought this usually emotionless girl could act so cute talking about a guy? Intriguing.
"And where is that guy now?"
"Mmm, I don't know. The national season must have ended already, so he probably went back to playing in Vleague. It's the Japanese Volleyball League. Actually, I deliberately haven't been following news about him since I moved here. You know, for my own mental health."
"So he went pro... Wow! I guess all that training paid off. But why didn't it work out with you two? You didn't last after high school? Or did you break up with him when you moved here?"
"I'm not sure if I want to talk about it." Reina's face became distressed all of a sudden. She tapped on her already empty glass nervously. "Damn! Sometimes I wish I could just get wasted. But I guess one more can't hurt. You want something?" She went to the bar.
Giana knew Reina wasn't the one to go wild and drink till morning in general. It was one of those traits that seemed to make her an annoying girl that got it all together. Until Giana learned that she was strict about it mainly because she didn't want to jeopardize her fragile health. Yet another misconception.
And right now, Reina didn't seem like someone who got her life under complete control. She took a sip of her new cocktail and signed heavily. "I shouldn't have watched that match before. It made me remember things. You know what? I am going to talk about it after all. If you want to hear it."
Giana was eager to listen. She wanted that whole origin story.
"We were still together after high school. We managed to end up in the same city, but it proved to be much more difficult to spend time together when we didn't live 10 minutes away from each other. Still, whenever we did meet, it was worth it. And it wasn't just me that cared. He would often come all the way to my place, just to sleep and be gone in the morning."
"So basically... you regressed to booty calls?" Giana had a tendency to cut through the bullshit with her logic.
"Wow, now that you say it like that... Although no, he would come to my place to literally just sleep next to me. He was very into that because we couldn't stay overnight together as high-schoolers."
"Aww, that's actually sweet."
"But I was studying, and he was a rookie in the league, so he was training even more than before and traveling all over the place. Then he was drafted for the national team, and it was the Olympic Year, so he became practically unreachable at some point. But—"
"Wait, you dated an actual Olympian?!"
"Mhm."
"And it was right after high school, so he was what..."
"Nineteen."
"An Olympian at nineteen?! In volleyball?!"
"Well, he wasn't a starter then, but he still had his moments to shine as a relief server. He's notorious for his serves. Last year he ripped 5 service aces in a row against France. You can find it online, probably." Although Reina was kind of boasting, her face scrunched as if she remembered something painful.
"Didn't you say you stopped following news about him?"
"Well, I failed at it sometimes... I guess I'm a masochist. But I truly didn't since I moved here. That was the last match I ever saw. I refuse to be an ex-girlfriend turned into a mere fangirl. And it's not good for me. I cannot watch him play. It makes me all kinds of messed up."
"But you didn't say what happened!"
"Right. After the Olympics, he had some time off. And his first thought was to come and stay with me. Surprisingly. And it was a weekend like no other. I couldn't remember when was the last time we spent so much time together, basically flowers and rainbows."
"Did you leave the house at all?"
"What for?" A grin showed up on Reina's face once more, but it turned serious immediately.
"But he was so agitated after the Olympics, talking about the walls that were there to climb. I didn't think much of it at first. I was just...too happy to be with him. Actually, I thought of it as a new beginning. In the meantime, I moved closer to where his club was training, and I hoped it would be easier for us in the future. How naïve."
Reina took a deep breath and started to talk faster, as if she didn't want to dwell on the meaning of her words. "The last day, just before leaving, he told me that he signed with a different club. He changed for a club in a different city, a few hours away by train? And he said it so casually as if it wasn't a big deal. I kind of lost it. We went into this huge fight. And it wasn't about that he changed clubs. No, it was always like this with him. Volleyball comes first, and it was a great opportunity. But that he didn't think to tell me he was even considering it? Like it wouldn't change things between us. Just stated it as a done thing. And I chose a different university a year earlier to be closer to him. Anyway, he left angry. And I should have known by then that something was up because normally, he wouldn't leave before things were right between us... It was just that weird thing we had... well, whatever... I was mad also, yet I still hoped we could work this out. But later that day, he called me with some bullshit, that he was putting off telling me because he didn't want to make me upset, that it was better for us to stay apart, that he should focus on volleyball as if he wasn't focused on it already. That he cared about me too much to make me stay in such a haphazard relationship as if I hadn't anything to say in the matter. That I deserved better. I'm not quite sure what else he said. That was the last time we talked."
"Oh..."
"Yeah..."
"That's... um... so it ended, just like that...."
"The worst thing was... I should have known it would happen eventually. I mean, I knew from the beginning that volleyball... Yes, he was a jerk and a coward to break up with me over the phone after four years together, but I always knew that volleyball was the most important to him. It's just that... I was silly to believe I was important to him too."
Giana didn't know what to say, so she awkwardly stroked her friend's trembling shoulders. It was the first time she saw Reina getting emotional about anything.
"I just wish I could think more calmly of him. He was my first love. I wish I could cherish those memories. And then everyone tells you, that's just puppy love, that the real deal comes after that, but for me, everything afterward was just... so... bleak."
"Actually... I think it would be ok for you to hate him instead, even just a little bit." Giana stopped herself from saying bluntly that the reason Reina couldn't find someone new and why she went on dates at a whim but wouldn't treat any guy seriously was because she was still very much in love with her ex-boyfriend. Like, the only ever flaw Reina found in the guy was that he left her.
Reina surely didn't want to admit to that herself. "But that's in the past now. It's no use to linger over someone that cut you off like that. And even though it didn't... work out between us," Reina's voice was breaking slightly, "I still think he's a terrific athlete, and I wish him all the best."
Giana realized now why Reina was so great at cheering her up after a breakup. Saying things like "if you got over him, if you can see it was not good for you, it can be only better now." Reina seemed almost envious when saying that. It would be a lie to say that back to Reina, but she had to say something. "Who... who needs a guy anyway? You're great. We're great. Enough with the sad talk. We came here to party! That band sounds pretty good. Let's go under the stage! To dance or bang our heads or something."
Reina finished her drink and put on a daredevil face. "Let's do that."
Either the band was good indeed, or two pretty girls on their own were a natural magnet for male attention, but soon they were surrounded by a few clearly interested guys, including the one that tried to talk to Raina before. He was getting a tad overbearing, and Giana wondered if she might see some actual face-slapping tonight, considering the mood Reina was in. But then something weird happened.
A new guy appeared behind Reina. Unmistakably a Japanese, but quite tall and muscular for one. He was well-dressed and not at all bad-looking, but he seemed so intimidating that he scared all other suitors with just one look. The weirdest part came when he hesitantly touched Reina's shoulder, and she turned around to look at him. A whole array of emotions flashed through her face. Then, ignoring him completely, although he started to say something in Japanese, she turned to Giana.
"I think I'm not in the mood to party after all. I'll just go back..." Reina said with the fakest of smiles, but she was so stirred that her body was trembling. "Are you ok to stay here?"
"Yeah, I mean, the night's still young, and it's not every day we get to party in Rome." Giana suspected it had something to do with that mysterious guy. She decided not to pry... well, at least till tomorrow. "Besides, I guess Mario will need some help getting those party animals back to the hotel." She pointed at their fellow students. "But you go."
Reina nodded mindlessly and started to the exit, completely ignoring the handsome Japanese. He hesitated for a second and followed her outside, nonetheless.
Giana bent her head, wondering what this was about. She must ask Reina tomorrow. That intimidating guy... Does she have some ties with Yakuza or something? Impossible, right? Although after that story she told her today, Giana wouldn't be so surprised. A have-it-all girl helplessly in love with one that got away. Sacrificing love to pursue excellence. It all seemed too sensational to be true. But Giana felt that Reina didn't lie. She was sorry for her friend, but... it was also so exciting! An international-level pro athlete?! Giana wished she knew what his name was. She wanted to check him out. What did Reina say... "5 service aces against France"? Worth a try... She took out her phone and googled it. It yielded results. Giana pressed play on the video impatiently. Then she gasped in shock when she saw the closeup of the player. It was the same guy she just saw chasing after Reina.
Disclaimer : There is such entity as Biorobotics Institute at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA, Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento Sant'Anna in Pisa). It was heavily involved in LifeHand projects (also a real deal), and it has a MSc program in Bionics Engineering. However, I know nothing more about it than what is written on its website. All characters and actions connected to it and mentioned in the story are purely fictional. I just needed a place for Reina to end up in. As I found such a cool one, I decided making a fictional substitute for it would be redundant.