Okomatsa San Monologue
PROLOGUE
The orphanage reeked of sweat and mould, which was very uncommonly unhygienic for the town’s standards. The children were dirty and unbathed; their clothes more like tattered scraps. Money was scarce, and the owners were greedy. Money mysteriously disappeared from all the charity funds, but somehow Okomatsa-san got nicer clothes and finer jewellery.
The children, underappreciated and sceptical, kept their beady eyes on their caretaker.
The children looked soulless to the public eye. They got sent to school with dirty, broken uniforms; orphans routinely got punished for it. They showed up in public with less fat on their bodies; their bones more prominent. It was completely obvious that the orphans, malnourished, had only a limited …show more content…
amount of food and nobody would even bat an eye towards them.
Ivy was grateful that she had excuses to disappear from the orphanage.
She needed tutoring and had her extracurriculars. Her tutor was an amicable boy from year 5, Minami Kenjirou. He offered up tutoring her in grammar and amateur sciences. For the most of the time, she was striving, and failing, to sew up her uniform in the ' Family and the Consumer Services ' classroom, so Ivy never made it to class in time for those topics. She'd been lectured many times of how she could end up kicked out of school for failing basic courses.
As she trudged down the sidewalk towards the train station, the girl couldn't help but notice the crude stares from the bystanders. Ivy knew she looked different, light silver hair and deathly pale skin compared to black hair and pewter skin. It was easier to compare her red eyes compared to brown. She could comprehend why she unnecessarily had attention; if she saw an albino girl, she would definitely be confused.
The small ' jingle, jingle ' of the loose change in her pocket alerted her to the possibility that of which there were pickpockets in the area. Her small hand took hold of the change to stop the noise. Ten steps to the station. Nine steps to the station. Eight steps to the station Seven steps to the station. Six steps left until she faced a new crowd and faced the embarrassment related to walking up to the platform. If only she wasn't in donated clothes; an oversized tee-shirt, a pair of torn up and crudely sewn leggings, and a pair of beat-up …show more content…
sneakers.
She pulled out the change, 60- maybe 63 yen, hopefully, that was enough for a ticket from Hasetsu to the next city over.
Three steps to the box office, two steps to the box office. "Hello little girl," The ticket vendor drawled. "How many, and to where are you going?"
Ivy swallowed audibly, before whispering, "One to Hataka, please."She held out the dulled coins.
"Fifty-two yen, miss," the vendor drawls on, taking most of the money and handing her the ticket.
Ivy mutters a thank you under her small breath and walks over to the platform. The benches held many bystanders; the chatter was too loud to even hear a thought, the stench reeked of tamago sushi and sriracha sauce. The train soon pulled up and the flood of people leaving the train flowed out into the streets.
She entered in relatively quickly, grabbing a seat before anyone else boarded.
The train wasn't as crowded as it seemed; there was a seat for her and her messenger bag. The open space between the poles and the grips dangling from the ceiling had most of the populous, the seats were almost vacant. Ivy could breathe, but the stench of tamago and sriracha lingered. She grimaced, who puts sriracha sauce on
eggs?
Her eyes followed the sky as the train went off to Hataka. The light blue gaining some violet hues was mesmerizing. The sun was nowhere near the horizon, but the violet had seeped into the blue palette. The sky was soon covered with trees, regular oak trees, and eventually, replaces with the grey interior of the station.
"Hataka Station," The conductor called on the PA system. Ivy gathered her bag and clambered out of the train. She looked around for the boy, but she didn't recognize any faces. Sighing, she set off to the address on the paper.
The walk was quiet, she kept her head down and kept to the pavement that echoed the streets. As she walked down towards the intersection, she noticed glints in the pebbles. Investigating, she found some coins in the soil. 74 yen. Ivy jumped up, giddy, as she celebrated her find. Pocketing the change, Ivy kept to her route.
The walk became boring as she struggled to find the correct street. How long have I been out? The orphan wondered, understanding that Ivy doesn't own a watch, she might as well have been out for hours. The throb in her ankles had long dulled when something was revealed, the street was to her right. The albino sighed in utter joy as she turned and looked for building 541.
The house was the last on the block, much to her dismay, but it was quite memorable. It was the picturesque residence to her, small but still home-like. She walked up the steps to the front door. She felt tense- what if I got the wrong house? Her anxiety rose as she knocked three times.
The door swung open because of a man, correction - teen, who looked as if he was Kenjirou's family. She'd only seen the family twice at conferences. "Yes?" he asked with boredom to his tone.
"Um - I'm here for tutoring," Ivy whispered meekly.
"Oh, you're the girl Kenjirou is tutoring. I learned that you were a delinquent and skip class," he asked.
"What? No. I spend the morning in the FACS Classroom; I own a permanent pass."
"Still sounds like a delinquent to me, but get inside, kid."
Ivy nodded, and stepped in, hanging her head in shame. Scooting her feet out of her shoes, she looked to the elder person for where to go. He acted as if she was an all-knowing god.
"KENJIROU! THE DELINQUENT IS HERE!" whom as she guessed, the older brother shouted.
"COMING!" a familiar voice shouted back. Ivy couldn't help but grimace at the loudness; Ivy left so she wouldn't be near very loud beings. Soon enough, there emerged Kenjirou.
He motions to her to follow him and turns to his brother. "Daizou, she's not a delinquent," he clarifies.
They sat at the kitchen table, watching as his mother cooked dinner in a comfortable silence. Ivy pulls out her 'Kanji and Writing Structure' & 'Amateur Sciences' folders. She knew the symbols and where to put them in writing structure, but grammar was her weak point. She understood the basics of physical sciences, but anything involving math and chemicals was pitiful to not know.
"So, grammar and then chemical science?" Kenjirou asked. Ivy nodded and pulled out her missed assignments and notes.
He began explaining the grammar, with confusing ease, it awed her that he was easily able to explain this. She understood his explanations better than her teacher, Kisanji-san, explained it. The way he described the conjugations and where to place them, it was as if he was a teacher. Nodding along to show her understanding, she began to fill out the vacant sheets.
“How do you explain this like it’s EASY?” she asked after filling out her first two homework sheets. Seven more to go, and then the headmaster can stop nagging you.
Within the next hour, Ivy finished all of her grammar and half of her science. Everything went swimmingly, too smoothly.
"Kenjirou! Dinner's ready!" His mother called from the kitchen off of the dining room. His mother sauntered out of the area, carrying 4 bowls of donburi. Seeing Ivy, she stops and smiles. "Oh, you must be hungry too! I'll go make you a plate."
Before the small albino could counter her statement, Kenjirou's mother sat the bowls down and left to get the fifth serving for Ivy. Grumbling about something, she sat down and waited. Her pale face flushed with annoyance.
Kenjirou's mother was a nice lady, yes, but the woman made assumptions easily. When her tutor's mother brought out the food for the guest, the elder female took a good look at her. The basics about the girl were noticeable when her peripheral vision was consulted, white hair with red-violet eyes, and Ivy was quiet. The longer Minami-san glanced at her, the more the lady realized Ivy was threadlike, too thin for it to be healthy. Despite the girl's silent protests, she faced the food and would eat it.
The donburi tasted sweet, savoury, and satisfying. The beef, covered with ponzu sauce, contained a sweet citrus taste. The pork condiments contained katsudon sauce, making it savoury and salty. Ivy couldn't help but start eating. To tell the truth, this was the first time she'd eaten in a week. The bowl was cleaned in 10 minutes.
The orphanage reeked of sweat and mould, which was very uncommonly unhygienic for the town’s standards. The children were dirty and unbathed; their clothes more like tattered scraps. Money was scarce, and the owners were greedy. Money mysteriously disappeared from all the charity funds, but somehow Okomatsa-san got nicer clothes and finer jewellery.
The children, underappreciated and sceptical, kept their beady eyes on their caretaker.
The children looked soulless to the public eye. They got sent to school with dirty, broken uniforms; orphans routinely got punished for it. They showed up in public with less fat on their bodies; their bones more prominent. It was completely obvious that the orphans, malnourished, had only a limited …show more content…
amount of food and nobody would even bat an eye towards them.
Ivy was grateful that she had excuses to disappear from the orphanage.
She needed tutoring and had her extracurriculars. Her tutor was an amicable boy from year 5, Minami Kenjirou. He offered up tutoring her in grammar and amateur sciences. For the most of the time, she was striving, and failing, to sew up her uniform in the ' Family and the Consumer Services ' classroom, so Ivy never made it to class in time for those topics. She'd been lectured many times of how she could end up kicked out of school for failing basic courses.
As she trudged down the sidewalk towards the train station, the girl couldn't help but notice the crude stares from the bystanders. Ivy knew she looked different, light silver hair and deathly pale skin compared to black hair and pewter skin. It was easier to compare her red eyes compared to brown. She could comprehend why she unnecessarily had attention; if she saw an albino girl, she would definitely be confused.
The small ' jingle, jingle ' of the loose change in her pocket alerted her to the possibility that of which there were pickpockets in the area. Her small hand took hold of the change to stop the noise. Ten steps to the station. Nine steps to the station. Eight steps to the station Seven steps to the station. Six steps left until she faced a new crowd and faced the embarrassment related to walking up to the platform. If only she wasn't in donated clothes; an oversized tee-shirt, a pair of torn up and crudely sewn leggings, and a pair of beat-up …show more content…
sneakers.
She pulled out the change, 60- maybe 63 yen, hopefully, that was enough for a ticket from Hasetsu to the next city over.
Three steps to the box office, two steps to the box office. "Hello little girl," The ticket vendor drawled. "How many, and to where are you going?"
Ivy swallowed audibly, before whispering, "One to Hataka, please."She held out the dulled coins.
"Fifty-two yen, miss," the vendor drawls on, taking most of the money and handing her the ticket.
Ivy mutters a thank you under her small breath and walks over to the platform. The benches held many bystanders; the chatter was too loud to even hear a thought, the stench reeked of tamago sushi and sriracha sauce. The train soon pulled up and the flood of people leaving the train flowed out into the streets.
She entered in relatively quickly, grabbing a seat before anyone else boarded.
The train wasn't as crowded as it seemed; there was a seat for her and her messenger bag. The open space between the poles and the grips dangling from the ceiling had most of the populous, the seats were almost vacant. Ivy could breathe, but the stench of tamago and sriracha lingered. She grimaced, who puts sriracha sauce on
eggs?
Her eyes followed the sky as the train went off to Hataka. The light blue gaining some violet hues was mesmerizing. The sun was nowhere near the horizon, but the violet had seeped into the blue palette. The sky was soon covered with trees, regular oak trees, and eventually, replaces with the grey interior of the station.
"Hataka Station," The conductor called on the PA system. Ivy gathered her bag and clambered out of the train. She looked around for the boy, but she didn't recognize any faces. Sighing, she set off to the address on the paper.
The walk was quiet, she kept her head down and kept to the pavement that echoed the streets. As she walked down towards the intersection, she noticed glints in the pebbles. Investigating, she found some coins in the soil. 74 yen. Ivy jumped up, giddy, as she celebrated her find. Pocketing the change, Ivy kept to her route.
The walk became boring as she struggled to find the correct street. How long have I been out? The orphan wondered, understanding that Ivy doesn't own a watch, she might as well have been out for hours. The throb in her ankles had long dulled when something was revealed, the street was to her right. The albino sighed in utter joy as she turned and looked for building 541.
The house was the last on the block, much to her dismay, but it was quite memorable. It was the picturesque residence to her, small but still home-like. She walked up the steps to the front door. She felt tense- what if I got the wrong house? Her anxiety rose as she knocked three times.
The door swung open because of a man, correction - teen, who looked as if he was Kenjirou's family. She'd only seen the family twice at conferences. "Yes?" he asked with boredom to his tone.
"Um - I'm here for tutoring," Ivy whispered meekly.
"Oh, you're the girl Kenjirou is tutoring. I learned that you were a delinquent and skip class," he asked.
"What? No. I spend the morning in the FACS Classroom; I own a permanent pass."
"Still sounds like a delinquent to me, but get inside, kid."
Ivy nodded, and stepped in, hanging her head in shame. Scooting her feet out of her shoes, she looked to the elder person for where to go. He acted as if she was an all-knowing god.
"KENJIROU! THE DELINQUENT IS HERE!" whom as she guessed, the older brother shouted.
"COMING!" a familiar voice shouted back. Ivy couldn't help but grimace at the loudness; Ivy left so she wouldn't be near very loud beings. Soon enough, there emerged Kenjirou.
He motions to her to follow him and turns to his brother. "Daizou, she's not a delinquent," he clarifies.
They sat at the kitchen table, watching as his mother cooked dinner in a comfortable silence. Ivy pulls out her 'Kanji and Writing Structure' & 'Amateur Sciences' folders. She knew the symbols and where to put them in writing structure, but grammar was her weak point. She understood the basics of physical sciences, but anything involving math and chemicals was pitiful to not know.
"So, grammar and then chemical science?" Kenjirou asked. Ivy nodded and pulled out her missed assignments and notes.
He began explaining the grammar, with confusing ease, it awed her that he was easily able to explain this. She understood his explanations better than her teacher, Kisanji-san, explained it. The way he described the conjugations and where to place them, it was as if he was a teacher. Nodding along to show her understanding, she began to fill out the vacant sheets.
“How do you explain this like it’s EASY?” she asked after filling out her first two homework sheets. Seven more to go, and then the headmaster can stop nagging you.
Within the next hour, Ivy finished all of her grammar and half of her science. Everything went swimmingly, too smoothly.
"Kenjirou! Dinner's ready!" His mother called from the kitchen off of the dining room. His mother sauntered out of the area, carrying 4 bowls of donburi. Seeing Ivy, she stops and smiles. "Oh, you must be hungry too! I'll go make you a plate."
Before the small albino could counter her statement, Kenjirou's mother sat the bowls down and left to get the fifth serving for Ivy. Grumbling about something, she sat down and waited. Her pale face flushed with annoyance.
Kenjirou's mother was a nice lady, yes, but the woman made assumptions easily. When her tutor's mother brought out the food for the guest, the elder female took a good look at her. The basics about the girl were noticeable when her peripheral vision was consulted, white hair with red-violet eyes, and Ivy was quiet. The longer Minami-san glanced at her, the more the lady realized Ivy was threadlike, too thin for it to be healthy. Despite the girl's silent protests, she faced the food and would eat it.
The donburi tasted sweet, savoury, and satisfying. The beef, covered with ponzu sauce, contained a sweet citrus taste. The pork condiments contained katsudon sauce, making it savoury and salty. Ivy couldn't help but start eating. To tell the truth, this was the first time she'd eaten in a week. The bowl was cleaned in 10 minutes.