My Fourth story!
Lovely Emiko
Being a real estate tycoon sounds amazing but it wasn’t always my dream job. I had to get a job after graduating as valedictorian of my university but the market was horrible given the Asian Financial Crisis. I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity to work at a real estate firm for my first job. After working under a kind and helpful boss, I decided to set up my own firm after his unfortunate passing. My recent projects include tearing down my hometown (don’t worry, I kept the trees alive), an old education institute and redeveloping an abandoned military base.
It has been great achieving such success amidst the current economic downturn we were able to breakeven in a short span of time with multiple contracts. I was then informed by my trusted henchman that my alma mater invited me as a guest speaker for this year’s convocation. I wanted to turn them down again but my henchman insisted that I went as turning a fourth invitation down was bad luck. I reluctantly obliged to give a speech there and asked him to write me some talking points.
The reason why I was hesitant in speaking there was quite complex. I loved my college, it was the best four years of my life as it equipped me with the relevant skillset to succeed in the real world. However, there have been some unspeakable things that happened in the past. Let me bring you guys back to the good old 1990s where phones mainly consisted of the indestructible Nokia and chain letters ran rampant across the country.
College life in the 90s were simple times with two kinds of people in the campus – the socialites and the nerds. Me being a nerd meant that I tend to overemphasize the need to maintain my high GPA and turning down many opportunities to participate in college parties. I would often immerse myself in studying and join the occasional LAN parties to play StarCraft with my mates. I soon learnt that I must eventually join some activities that have female participants or I will really die a virgin.
It was not hard to find activities to join but planning overseas field trips and organizing volunteer trips to the old folks’ home did not really appeal to me. Ultimately, I settled on joining the organizing committee for the annual Halloween party as this meant as little commitment on my part while being able to meet everyone in the hostel. During the first meeting we were assigned into different groups and I was drafted into the logistics group. My enthusiasm for organizing the event died down when I realized the team members consisted of nerds and unpopular folks. University taught us the harshness of reality as popular people with higher power liked hanging out in their own circles while isolating us less popular folks.
I made an excuse to leave the meeting early and exited the meeting room. As I turned the corner, I felt a huge bump on my chest and felt down onto the floor. As I gained my composure, I could see an attractive female dressed in dated clothes slumped on the ground. She had ebony black hair, beautiful face with pouty lips and a slender figure. I apologized profusely as I helped her up onto her feet. She patted herself down and told me that it was her fault in rushing for the meeting. I asked her which group was she assigned to and coincidentally she belonged to the logistics group. We then went back into the meeting room and I could still remember my heart beating rapidly that day.
Emiko was a bubbly young lady that never failed to brighten up my day. She turned my world aflame as I enjoyed listening to her blabber about her daily activities and realized we were both from the same faculty. We began to attend lectures together and we progressed from just friends to being romantically involved. However, Emiko always told me to treat her just as a friend in front of others which I found weird. Couples back then were brazen and would often kiss and make out in the middle of lectures. I felt that maybe she was just being old-fashioned and I respected her wishes. We did not participate in any hanky-panky in front of our classmates or in public places. Our afternoons and evenings would be spent in my room as she listens to me rattle on about StarCraft and Gundam. Emiko had this charming smile and I would often admire her elegant figure as the last rays of sunlight fell through our window before she returns to her room.
It was Halloween soon and meetings amongst the organizing committee became more frequent. It led to lesser time for me to study but I was willing to give up my academic pursuits just to spend more time with my lovely Emiko. Compared to hanging out with me, Emiko was not really contributing to discussions and was willing to go with the flow most of the time. I would often ask her if she’s feeling alright and she would just say that she’s not comfortable talking to so many guys at the same time. This shy and awkward side of her just made me appreciate her more as I was easily the luckiest guy in the world to score such a ravishing girlfriend.
A night before the party, the logistics team were still undecided on what costume the entire team should wear. One of the guys suggested dressing up as different Gundam robots but it was shot down immediately as we did not want the rest of the hostel to view us as complete nutcases. Another person suggested dressing up as army personnel to show off our macho side. Incredibly, this idea was supported by majority despite my complaints on how to obtain a female costume for Emiko. They just simply laughed me off and told me to either dress up in my old army uniform or show up naked.
I tried finding Emiko to tell her about the costume suggestion by the guys but I was unable to find her that night. I could not even call her as Emiko was living in an archaic world and did not own a cellphone. That was a frustrating night as I felt useless. I could not even stand up for my girlfriend in getting her an appropriate costume. With these depressing thoughts swirling in my head, I soon fell into a deep slumber.
I awaken to rapid knocking on my door as I stumbled to the door half awaken. Standing in my hallway was Emiko with tight and worried eyes. I asked her what’s wrong and she took my hands and pulled me out of my room. In my semi-conscious state, I followed Emiko as I constantly questioned her on where we were heading to. The hostel was decorated for the party later with crimson balloons lining the streets. The organizing committee spared no expense as cobwebs were strung between naked trees with fairy lights running parallel. As we walked past the gigantic jack-o-lanterns, the light within began to flicker and I heard shrieking sounds in a distance.
Emiko brought me towards a shed that I have never noticed in my years of studying here. Emiko explained that since I spent most of my time in the room studying it wasn’t a surprise that I did not know of many school amenities. I noticed gravestones and severed body parts along the pathway up to the house and felt pleased. But just how much money were we exactly spending on Halloween to have such realistic props! The door was open and inside stood a hooded figure holding a revolver at the table. He was dressed in old green fatigues and he welcomed us earnestly as he gave each of us a hug. He pointed to the dresser at the corner of the room for me to change into the Halloween costume and even handed me a rifle which looked authentic.
Soon enough, I was in my Halloween costume and I decided to look around the shed as I waited for Emiko to return. The room was spruced up to look like an old army bunk. There were multiple cupboards which had some army uniforms hanging in them. Most probably, the whole logistics team have not arrived to change into their costume yet. The room was illuminated by a single light bulb which gave poor visibility of people around the room. I should feedback to the organizing committee on brightening up the props area to make it more realistic. I walked towards the man who handed me my rifle and asked him when we were heading for the party.
“Party? No party, only marching.”
This guy was beginning to feel like an eccentric psycho. I decided to play along and asked him where we were going to march to. He stared at me for a moment before ordering everyone to fall in to count strength. Take a chill pill man, we’re not in the army!
I stood in lines as I did not recognize the people positioned beside me dressed in this strange uniform. The logistics group was massive so there’s a high chance I did not get to meet everyone during the planning phase. The hooded man shouted at the top of his lungs in some strange language and everybody began to face right. I was the only one that was still facing him and I embarrassedly turned accordingly.
Being a typical shy person, I falter under immense peer pressure and would just follow the crowd. We then began marching towards our hostel where our Halloween party was about to begin. As we inched closer to the party site, I could hear the familiar sounds of the snobbish popular kids and the awful Halloween music the sound team have picked for the event. However, we did not stop for the party and the whole contingent marched past the campus.
I tried to protest about us treating this costume parade too seriously and not stopping for the real party but the men beside me simply pushed me along and shouted at me in another language. It finally struck me that they were not the logistics group that I had planned the event with. They were not even students in the school to begin with. It was a surreal feeling as I was both puzzled and fearful of this peculiar situation.
A part of me knew that there were not locals and another part of me wanted to know where will the march eventually end at. As we advanced onwards, I was looking around and I spotted a familiar alluring figure following the group at the side. I tried calling out for Emiko but I got jabbed by my counterparts beside me as the shouted at me and gestured for me to look in front. The people beside me kept calling me “bureina” as I laughed along and called them bureina too.
We emerged out of the dense forest and the scorching sunlight hit me on the face like fiery arrows dropping from the skies. In an instance, it had turned into daytime as I could see our destination. We were heading for the municipal building and a weird tune was being played by a military band. The music was filled with hope and seemed celebratory but the people marching seemed solemn and bitter. The hooded man shouted another command as we begin to march on the spot. The guy beside me pointed to his own ears and repeated teiko. I was confused as to what was happening as the drums went dum-dum, dum-dum, dum, dum, dum. On the last note, everyone stopped marching and luckily, I could react fast enough to avoid embarrassment.
We were standing far away from the municipal building and I could barely see Emiko opening the doors of seven different cars. The people emerging were highly decorated officers with mutiple medals hanging from their uniforms as they entered the building. Triumphant music was being played by the English troops as I saw the streets lined with people from all walks of life; children and adults alike was waving our country’s flag with ecstasy written all over their faces. I could hear artillery firing over the marching tunes as a charismatic figure dressed in navy blues inspected the parade. He stopped by the English troops and paid homage to them while he simply walked past our marching contingent with a look of disgust. After a total of 17 artillery shots, the commanding figure proceeded into the building. I noticed that there were not just locals in the streets but also marines and sailors waving the Union Jack.
The wait for something to happen began as I started shaking my body slightly to reduce the weight of rifle on my shoulders. The people beside me shook their heads loathingly as I tried squeezing out the sweat from my shirt. How could people just stand and watch nothing happening without refreshing themselves occasionally? The cheering and whistling sounds started to get on my nerves. Fortunately, people started streaming out of the municipal building with the British commander holding up some sort of document jubilantly.
The rising sun flag was replaced with the Union Jack as the cheering became louder and louder. The sounds soon became thunderous as I could see our marching contingent dispersing. I was trying to figure out where Emiko was I felt a touch of tenderness on my hand. Dressed in an old uniform was Emiko who clasped my hand tightly in hers as we ran towards the blinding light.
As we walked into the light, Emiko told me that she loved me but we can never be together. Her soul was trapped in this vicious cycle since she died with dishonor. She had let her country down my losing the war and will need to repeat the parade annually to avoid distortion in the field. I had so many questions to ask her but she was hugging me tightly, not allowing me to say a single word. Tears began streaming down my cheeks as I knew the end was nearing.
I will never forget you Emiko
That was the last time I saw Emiko as my logistics team denied the involvement of any girls during our entire planning phase. They even felt that I was being a weirdo as I sat alone during lectures while talking to myself. My hostel neighbors also pointed out that I made loud noises alone in my room on most days and did not turn up for the Halloween party that we spent such arduous effort on. Apart from being heartbroken, I felt really confused and rattled. I spent many days in the library researching on any female officer’s participation in the Japanese Occupation and I came up with nothing. The search for more information soon became tiring and took a drain on my soul. After some time, I decided to divulge all my energy into studying as Emiko soon became a memory of my childhood, a memory of my past.
“Now before we begin our convocation ceremony, let us welcome esteemed alumni member and CEO of Alan Incorporated, Alan!”
I stepped onto the platform with notes on one hand and I waved at the students with the other. The applause was thunderous as I did a basic mic-check. I stared at the massive number of students standing in the hall all draped in their graduation gowns. I remembered that I had once stood in their shoes thinking that the world was my oyster back and I reflected on my accomplishments in nearly two decades after graduating from here.
As I began my speech, I could not help but notice a familiar elegant white figure emerging at the back of the hall. She was still so angelic looking after so many years and time never took a toll on her. I had to resist the temptation of running down the hall to hug her as I held back my tears. I stopped reading from my notes and I began telling them our story.
A story about nerds and weirdoes.
A story about curiosity and discovery.
A story about Emiko and me.
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