Free The Waking by Thomas Randall Page B

company, until finally Sakura let out a groan and stood. She walked to the window again and gazed outside.
    “I need a cigarette. Can we go for a walk?”
    Miho tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I ought to read these last few pages.”
    Sakura smirked. “The boys are outside playing baseball.”
    For a moment, Miho hesitated. Then she slipped a marker into her book. “I can finish later.”
    Kara laughed. “I thought you were only interested in American boys.”
    Miho glanced away, perhaps even blushing a bit. “That depends on what you mean by ‘interested.’ My curiosity is like a—” She said a word that Kara didn’t understand.
    “What?”
    Sakura kicked off her pajama pants and slid into a pleated skirt much shorter than the one she wore with her school uniform. She looked up. “A scientist who studies people.”
    “A sociologist?” Kara said in English.
    Miho repeated the Japanese word and Kara stored it away.
    “It’s like watching animals in their natural habitat,” Miho explained.
    Kara smiled. “Then by all means, let’s go watch the animals.”
    Sakura untucked her T-shirt, searched around for her cigarettes and lighter, and then went to the door.
    “Miho, you’re not coming?” Kara asked.
    “She’s coming,” Sakura said. “She’s just more proper than I am.”
    Kara smiled. At home, she and her girlfriends changed in front of one another all the time. It hadn’t occurred to her to wonder, but now she realized that things might be different in Japan. Probably were. Or maybe Miho was just shy.
    They waited for her in the hall, but a minute later Miho appeared in a cute blue dress from the downtown shop she’d taken them into the day before. She and Sakura put on light jackets, and they all went downstairs and out the back door.
    On a secondary field behind the dorm, a group of boys had put together a baseball game. They were wisely batting away from the building, toward the tree line at the distant edge of the school property, but Kara still thought they were risking knocking out some windows. One foul ball spun backward off a bat could easily end the game with the shattering of glass. But she wasn’t about to volunteer her opinion.
    “Baseball club?” she asked.
    Sakura nodded. “They’re not good enough to be on a team.”
    But for Kara, it was nice just to see the game played. She had never been much of a baseball fan, despite the two World Series the Red Sox had won in recent years. Earlier in the week, Hachiro had been very disappointed when she didn’t show as much enthusiasm for her hometown team as he did. He seemed to know everything about American baseball, so she wasn’t surprised to see him playing the outfield.
    Most of the boys wore caps with the school insignia, which she assumed was some sort of official baseball club thing. Hachiro wore a Red Sox cap. It surprised her. Sakura’s hairstyle was one thing, but she didn’t dare wear her pins or patches on the outside of her uniform or show her art to other students. As much as they might talk about their talents to Kara, her friends were no different from most Japanese students. They were taught that it was bad manners to stand out, except through academic achievement, and even that was frowned upon by some. But Hachiro grinned broadly out there on the field, proud of his Red Sox cap. It reminded her how much she liked his smile.
    The guy up at bat hit one straight at the third baseman’s head. The kid playing third barely had time to raise his glove but somehow managed to catch the ball. The batter was out and Kara cheered.
    Miho and Sakura looked at her.
    “You picked sides already?”
    Kara shrugged. “Hachiro’s team is on the field. I have to cheer for them.”
    The two girls shared a knowing look and mischievous smiles.
    “So you like Hachiro?” Miho asked.
    Kara arched an eyebrow. “Nothing like that. He’s very nice.”
    “Oh, I’m sure he’s very nice,” Sakura said, teasing her.
    A moment