First of a series. Enjoy ;) It was Mei's 20th birthday, not that that meant a whole lot in Japan. At least not for her parents: they'd congratulate her next January, on Coming of Age Day. Her father, as usual, was working late; his sole congratulation had been a terse 'Oo tanjoubi omedetou' text message. Her mother had simply said, "You're 20 now! Almost an adult!" After a short pause, she'd continued, "I expect you'll be going out with your friends tonight?"
"Well, Mom, it is my birthday...."
"Just make sure you get some studying done, first, then. University entrance exams are soon, and...."
Mei rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mom, I know. I have to get into a good university if I want-"
"To have a good future," her mother nodded. She softened it with a smile. "Now, then. Don't stay out too late."
In truth, Mei was worried about getting into a good university, but not in the way her parents thought. Oh, her marks were high. She'd get into a good university if she wanted to, there was no question of that. Her whole life, she'd been studying, studying, studying: school, cram school, English lessons, Chinese lessons, piano lessons, more school, judo, volleyball, prep school.... Sometimes, sitting in class, copying out endless kanji or having arcane mathematics drilled into her skull, she thought she'd implode from the pressure, crumpling inside her uniform as though it were made of lead. But somehow she always managed to keep going, hour by hour, day by day, closer to the freedom of college. The short reprieve before she entered into the soul-crushing work environment that was slowly consuming her father.
Unless, of course, she got into a top university. If that happened, the pressure would never end. Her whole life would be one endless grey nightmare.
She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, as she always did, and concentrated on memorizing the sequence of biochemical reactions involved in photosynthesis, at least for another hour or so, until she couldn't take it anymore.
She picked up her cell phone and called her friend, Yui. "Hi, babe!" her friend said brightly. "Happy birthday!"
"Thanks," Mei said. "Hey, are you ready to go out? I'm so sick of studying."
"Give me a half hour to get ready," Yui said, "And I'll meet you outside the station."
"Great! See you there!"
Mei rushed through her makeup. Unlike most Tokyo girls, who could spend hours making sure everything was just right before venturing into the outside world, Mei had always been a minimalist type, impatient to get on with it. Besides, she thought as she powdered her face, no amount of makeup was going to make a plain girl like her attractive. Oh, she was pretty enough. She knew that. But she seemed to lack that spark, that sparkle of personality, which would make boys notice her. Too much time spent with books had dulled her, or at least, she'd convinced herself that was the case. She was always the quiet, shy girl, the one hanging back from every group, nervously biting the inside of her lip, silently wishing she was somewhere else whilst simultaneously wishing she could screw up the courage to actually talk to someone.
Of course, she arrived at the station before Yui ... Yui was always late: she took her appearance somewhat more seriously than Mei did. So she waited, sitting on a concrete garden slab and pretending to be checking non-existent messages on her cell phone. If anyone looked closely, they'd see that her phone was on camera mode, and that she was watching people walk by through it. Not taking their pictures. Just watching.
It was the usual early-night crowd: salarimen just getting off work, heading towards the bars in tight little knots; teenagers just out of school, hanging out with friends, some still in their uniforms, others having discarded them already for ripped jeans and t-shirts baring slogans written in bad English; and university students, dressed in the latest fashions, joking and laughing and smoking as they met up and made for the bars.
Yui ended up being fifteen minutes late, which was pretty much par for the course, for Yui. Mei didn't think she'd ever seen her on time, for anything. She'd put the time to good use, of course, with a very carefully selected outfit that showed off her (padded) breasts and (also padded) bottom to maximum effect, and plastering her face with enough makeup to finish an art project.
Yui hadn't used to be like that. As recently as a few months ago, she'd been like Mei: plain-dressing, conservative, studious. But her 20th birthday had been a few months before; she'd gotten a part-time job at a convenience store, and used the money to begin a slow metamorphosis into a giggling fashion butterfly. Mei wasn't sure whether to be appalled or thrilled, but whatever, Yui was still her best and oldest friend. Clothing didn't change that.
"So what are we doing tonight?" Asked Mei, not bothering to reprimand her for being late.
Yui grinned. "We're going drinking, birthday girl!"
Mei blinked, not sure what to say. "But... I've never...."
"No, you haven't. But now you're 20, so you can do it ... legally!" She laughed. "This day only comes once in a lifetime, girl. You have to enjoy it while it lasts, which is only for a few more hours. So lets go!"
"I don't have much money...." Mei protested weakly. Her parents wouldn't let her have a job - not until after entrance exams, they said - and the allowance they gave her wasn't a lot. She was an only child, they said, and they wouldn't see her spoiled like so many other only children they saw.
"No problem," said Yui. "It's on me. My birthday present to you!"
"Great!" Mei beamed. "Thank you, so much. Really, really thank you."
"You're welcome. Now let's go!"
The bar they went to wasn't far, only a five minute walk from the station, a place Mei had passed many times but never entered. It was favored by a younger crowd, catering to university students more than stuffy salarimen, and when they went in they were greeted by the rollig thunder of incomprehensible American hip-hop. "It's so loud!" Mei yelled, and was immediately embarrased. Yui just grinned at her and led her to a table, then left her there to go up to the bar.
Mei watched the people: sitting in close groups, their conversation inaudible and somewhat subdued, she thought. A few boys in baggy pants and sideways baseball caps were playing pool in the corner; another small group was throwing safety darts at an electronic board. It was strange, she thought: everyone looked a little bit bored.
Yui returned a few minutes, with a pair of martini glasses containing some sort of electric blue liquid. Mei looked at it askance. "What is it?" She asked.
"A sea scorpion!" Yui said, smiling. "Try it ... it's really good. You can't taste the alchohol at all!" She demonstrated, taking a big sip.
"Sea scorpion ... that's not exactly a reassuring name," Mei said, but mimicked her friend anyways, taking a tentative taste. It was sweet ... tasting of blueberry and coconut. Maybe too sweet. She could taste the alchohol - or at least, she thought she could - but it was very faint.
"How is it?"
"Tolerable."
"Such ingratitude," Yui said, shaking her head theatrically. "Drink it slow, now," she cautioned. "It's your first time, and you don't want to get sick."
Mei nodded, agreeing; getting sick was the last thing she wanted, on her birthday. Not that she'd ever been sick on alchohol before, but she'd heard stories, from more adventurous students (Yui amongst them.)
They talked together for the next hour or so, about clothes and movies and TV and boys, and Mei found herself surprised when the sea scorpion was finished. She'd taken her time with it, taking a small sip every minute or so, but even so, she had no tolerance: she was already giddy, giggling at almost everything her friend said. When Yui stood and announced her intention to get another drink, she just nodded happily.
Another hour, another drink, and Mei suddenly found she had to go to the bathroom, very badly. Yui nodded, said she'd get another drink, and when Mei returned her friend was sitting there, glass in hand and a mischievous smile on her face.
"What's so funny?" Mei asked, slurring her words a little. The trip to the bathroom had been wobblier than she'd expected, and she'd bounced off a couple of boys on the way there ... probably accidently. Mei thought that Yui might be laughing at her for that.
"Well," said Yui, "You're birthday's almost over. So I thought now, I'd give you the second part of your birthday present."
"What's that?"
Still smiling, Yui opened set her drink down, opened her purse, and took out an unopened packs of cigarettes, and a pair of small disposable lighters.
"Smoking's bad for you!" Mei blurted.
"Really?" asked Yui, in mock astonishment.
Mei could only stare. "Yui ... did you start smoking?"
"Not yet," Yui said. "I thought we could start together." She extracted a second pack - the same brand - and an identical lighter.
"I can't smoke!"
"Why not?" She grinned, and began taking the cellophane off of the pack.
"It's unhealthy ... and it makes you smell bad ... and only bad kids smoke. My parents would...."
Yui just giggled, opened the pack, and slowly extracted a long, white cigarette. She rolled it back and forth between her fingers for a bit, catching Mei's eye. "You know, I've been meaning to do this for a while. Try smoking, I mean. But I thought, well, I started working without you ... and drinking ... it wouldn't be fair to do this first, too. So I thought I'd wait until you could start."
"Yui...."
"Mei...." her friend said, imitating her tone perfectly.
"My parents would be furious."
Yui nodded meditatively. "Yeah, I suppose they would."
Maybe it was the fact that it was her birthday, or the drinks that had gotten in the way of her better judgement, or simply the delicious thought of finally doing something at odds with the persona her parents had forced her into, a persona that she hated more every day. Whatever the reason, the decision was made instantly, at a level below conscious thought. Mei reached out, plucked the unopened pack from the table, and decisively ripped off the cellophane it.
Yui was waiting for her, cigarette still held unlit in her hand. "At the same time?" Mei asked.
"At the same time," Yui nodded.
Mei took out a cigarette, looked at it for a second, a part of her warning her not to do it, the rest of her thinking simply, 'Wow. My first every cigarette.' Then she looked up at Yui, caught her gaze, and nodded. In unison, they lifted their first cigarettes up to their mouths, placed the filters between their lips, and held up their lighters. "On three," Mei said.
Yui nodded. "One..."
"Two..."
"Three!" "Three!"
They fumbled with their lighters, trying to make the fire come, and both burst out in fresh giggles. "Okay," Yui said, cigarette still dangling unlit from from lips. "That was just practice. This time for real. One ... two ..." Flame jumped up. "Three!" They touched the flames to the ends of their cigarettes, sucked inexpertly, and released clouds of diffuse, uninhaled smoke.
"Gross," said Mei.
"Yeah," said Yui, and brought up cigarette up to her mouth again, taking a quick drag and releasing another smoke-ball. "You're not backing out now, are you?"
"Of course not!" said Mei, giggling, taking another drag of her cigarette.
"Wow," said Yui. "You look so different with a cigarette. So pretty! And cute!"
"Thanks," Mei giggled, blushing a bit. "You do too!"
Neither of them finished their first cigarettes; Mei felt a little funny, about halfway through, even without inhaling, and Yui put hers out at the same time. They waited for half an hour or so, working on their drinks, and then Yui announced it was time to try again. Mei nodded, and they lit up in unison one more time, pretending to smoke: taking short, small drags, and releasing tiny, almost invisible balls of smoke. Mei could tell she wasn't really smoking - she could see everyone else in the bar, blowing long streams up into the air to punctuate their animated conversation - but she decided she should take it slowly. It was enough that she finished her cigarette without feeling sick; she was happy to have made that much progress, and she sensed that Yui silently agreed.
They smoked another, just before they left, as they finished their final drinks. "We should do this again!" Yui said, as she stubbed out her cigarette.
"Definitely!" Mei agreed, taking one final, beginner's drag before putting out her own.
"Tell you what," Yui said. "Whenever we're together, we'll smoke together. For every cigarette you smoke, I'll smoke one."
Mei giggled. "And for every cigarette you smoke, I'll smoke one."
Yui laughed. "Deal! So ... how about tomorrow? Why don't we meet and," she grinned, "Study together. At a coffee shop."
"Okay!" Said Mei brightly.
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