Thomas Randall - Spirits of the Noh

She hadn’t been so happy in a very long time.

Late Monday afternoon, after their calligraphy club meeting, Kara and Sakura went around the back of the school to the large field that separated the main building from the dormitory. On the far side of the field, toward the dorm, the girls of the soccer club were having a practice, but Kara and Sakura were there to watch Hachiro and the other boys of the baseball club. The soccer girls always seemed so much more serious, whereas the baseball club boys grinned from ear to ear. Nothing made Hachiro smile like playing baseball-not even Kara. He had his Boston Red Sox cap pulled down snugly to shade his eyes, and he waited patiently at second base for anyone to dare hit one past him.

Kara had never been a huge baseball fan, but she was a Hachiro fan, and she loved the smile he wore while playing.

“Wow,” Sakura said quietly beside her. The two girls were leaning against the back wall of the school. Sakura wanted a cigarette, but agreed to forestall her nicotine craving for a few minutes.

Kara glanced at her. “What makes you say ‘wow’? Nothing interesting happened.”

Sakura smiled. “That’s why I said ‘wow.’ This is actually quite boring, but you’re watching with such fascination. You’re falling in love with Hachiro. Or have you already fallen?”

Kara sighed and turned her attention back to the baseball game. “We’re not talking about it. I can’t afford to fall in love with him. I’m leaving in the spring, remember?”

“I remember,” Sakura said. But she did not sound at all convinced.

Before the conversation could continue, Miho came rushing across the grass toward them, an enormous grin on her face, obviously bearing some news she could not wait to share. Kara was glad to have the interruption.

“Sakura, listen to this!” Miho cried, loud enough to draw attention. It made her blush and she turned her back to the other baseball spectators and lowered her voice. “This is going to be the most amazing few months I’ve ever had.”

Kara noticed that Miho had barely included her, even with a glance, so the news seemed exclusively for Sakura. The two girls were her best friends now, but they had been friends, and roommates, long before Kara had come to Japan. There would naturally be things that the two of them shared that did not involve her. Still, it stung a bit.

“What is it?” Sakura asked. “Wait, don’t tell me. An American high school baseball team is coming to visit and all the boys are staying in our room while they’re here?”

Miho blinked, perhaps a bit startled by the impropriety of the suggestion. Then she arched an eyebrow, face alight with mischief.

“No,” she said, pushing a strand of her long hair away from her face, “but if you know a way to arrange it, I’m in.”

Kara gave a low laugh of surprise. Miho didn’t really mean it, in spite of her fascination with American boys, but there’d been a time when she wouldn’t even have joked about it.

“All right, so what’s your big news?” Kara asked.

Miho shot her a dark look, and for a second, Kara thought the girl might truly be angry with her. But then Miho’s expression lightened and she reached out and gave Kara a light punch on the shoulder.

“Like you don’t know. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”

Sakura glanced at Kara, who only gave a confused shrug. For a second, she wondered if this had to do with Ren, if somehow Miho had her wires crossed and had gotten the impression Ren wanted to go out with her or something, even though Miho hadn’t talked much about her interest in him for months. But that didn’t make any sense.

Miho huffed and rolled her eyes. “Hello?” she said, an affectation she’d picked up from Kara, who often translated her American idiom slang into Japanese. “I just got out of a Noh club meeting.”

“Ohhhh,” Kara said, smiling. Now she got it.

“Oh, what?” Sakura asked.

Miho grinned at her. “Aritomo-sensei just announced that this term, the Noh club will be producing and performing an actual Noh play! Everything! The acting, the music, the sets! I can’t believe it. I knew she was cool, but I never thought she would let us do something like this, especially since she takes Noh theater so seriously. That she’d entrust us with an actual performance… it’s just amazing!”

“That is great news,” Sakura said. “Of course she trusts you all with it-the club takes it just as seriously as she does. Especially you, Miho. Why did you think Kara already knew about this?”

“On the way out of the meeting, Aritomo-sensei told me she did,” Miho said, looking at Kara, once again sweeping her hair back from her eyes. “In fact, she said she’d suggested you two do the same play as your next manga.”

Sakura crossed her arms. “So why am I just hearing about it now?”

Kara shrugged. “Aritomo-sensei told me about it when she came over to my house the other night. She and my father were making dinner together. That was strange enough. Anyway, she swore me to secrecy about the play until she had announced it to the Noh club, which” – she made a flourish of her hands-“she now has.”

Without conferring about it, the three of them fell into step together, working their way around the baseball field, heading back toward the dorm. Kara waved to Hachiro, who grinned but kept his baseball glove down, focused on the game.

“So what is this Noh play, anyway?” Sakura asked. “Why does Aritomo-sensei think it would be a good manga for us?”

“Apparently because you’ve already done one gruesome manga,” Miho said. “This one is a horrible story about a woman driven mad by love, who becomes a flesh-eating snake demon.”

Sakura smiled thinly. “Lovely.”

“It really would make a cool manga though,” Miho said, a bit defensive of anything having to do with Noh. She adjusted her glasses. “The Hannya is fearsome and the story is tragic.”

“Aren’t they all?” Kara asked.

Sakura bumped her purposely as they walked. “So your father and Aritomo-sensei are getting pretty close.”

Kara nodded. “Looks that way. But I’d much rather talk about anything else.”

A look of concern crossed Miho’s face. “I didn’t know it was bothering you so much.”

“I’ll be fine,” Kara said. “I want my father to be happy, and I really like Aritomo-sensei. It’s just, I don’t know, weird.”

They reached the dorm and Sakura used her ID card to open the door. She turned to Kara. “You still want to do a new manga, though, right? This awkwardness with Aritomo-sensei won’t keep you from working with her?”

Kara smiled. “Not at all. I was worried that you wouldn’t want to start a new manga right away, that you might need a rest first. I’ve got the easier job, after all. Illustrating the pages takes a lot more time than writing them. And anyway, Aritomo-sensei knows everything there is to know about Noh theater, and almost that much about manga. She’s a huge help. No, I’ll adjust. The awkwardness will go away eventually.”

“Good,” Miho said, as they walked up the stairs to the second floor. “Because I already asked Aritomo-sensei if you two could help out for the play. Noh club will be running late, so if you want, you could come down after calligraphy club and work with us. It might help with your manga.”

Sakura and Kara exchanged glances.

“I’m up for it if you are,” Sakura said.

Kara nodded. “Okay.” Then she looked at Miho. “I’m just surprised, I guess. Doesn’t it seem a little strange that she would choose such a violent play after what the school has been through this year?”

“I had the same thought,” Sakura said.

“Maybe a little strange,” Miho agreed. “But, after all, it’s only a play.”