Maigo no Swing "The Lost Child's Swing" Originally appeared in Nakayoshi Deluxe, February 1988. Written by Takeuchi Naoko. Translated by Alex Glover. Version 1.0, June 2000. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The swing is swinging... My heart is dizzy... Somebody, take me away from this place." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A paper airplane flies through the air, landing at the feet of a young man. He picks it up. The paper is an exam belonging to student 45, Tokai Mima. The score is 45. "Crossing the sea, is it..." [That is the literal meaning of the name Tokai.] He looks up and sees a girl reaching her hand toward him. "Give it back, sensei," she says. "It's my exam." "Hey," he says. "I was just now thinking of going to your place. Getting the same mark as your attendance number, you won't be able to get into high school, Tokai Mima." "That jerk sensei," she thinks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The two of them study at a table. "Oh, of all people, why did he have to pick it up?" thinks Mima. "I was going to trash that exam. I don't get it... He's started coming to my house lately." An older girl sets down a tray of tea cups on the table. "San-chan," says Mima. "Shh," says the girl. Mima sees the teacher asleep with his head resting on the table. "Nodding off, despite being a home teacher..." she thinks. "That Maejima-sensei," says the girl. "So I hear he picked up your exam airplane? Napping... What an amusing teacher. I like him." He wakes up abruptly. "Oh no!" he says. "How long was I sleeping?" "Sensei," says Mima. "This is Sawako. She's in tenth grade. Isn't she pretty? You awake now?" "Isn't she pretty?" thinks Mima. "Yeah, I'm awake, I'm awake," he says. "I didn't know you had such a pretty older sister, Mima-chan." "A premonition," thinks Mima. "No... This is déjà vu." "So, sensei, how is Mima doing?" says Sawako. "Oh, this dummy?" he says. "No, no, she still has to study more, right?" [Note: He is not using the word to insult her intelligence, just as mild derision.] He pats Mima on the head. Sawako and her mother look at him with surprise. "Why that sensei..." thinks Mima. "Branding me dummy in front of my mom." "Sawako," he says. "You passed the entrance exam your first time, but Mima here... Especially recently, she hasn't had the will. I'm worried about her..." Mima gets up and leaves. "Oh, Mima!" "Now she'll seclude herself in her room..." says her mom. "Mom, poor Mima..." says Sawako. "Sensei, would you like another cup of tea?" Mima looks back from the stairs. "Pretty, adult, bright, thoughtful Sawako. San-chan... My older sister is nothing like me. San-chan is my idol. I might forever be... a little kid." Sitting on the stairs, she sees a pair of shoes placed askew. She straightens them. "Thank you," says Maejima. Mima is startled. "If he's behind someone, he should say so..." she thinks. Maejima looks at a photograph in the hallway. "Is this you a long time ago with longer hair?" he says. "The impression is somehow different from now. Like a Japanese doll. Keep working on your physics." "Goodbye," says Mima. She turns and goes upstairs to her room. "Like a Japanese doll..." A framed picture of a boy stands next to her bed. She turns it face down. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Quiet!" says the teacher. "All right, begin." Mima looks at her exam. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maejima looks at the graded exam, with a score of 49. "Really, you're always getting such severe marks," he says. "Do you not like physics?" "It's just that..." says Mima. "For some reason, I just don't have the drive." "It's good that you've done this exam recently," says Maejima. "I'm sure that next time you'll be able to do the problems you've done with me. You can do it if you try. Why don't you have the drive?" Mima looks at him. There is a knock at the door. Sawako enters with some food. Mima looks away. "Sensei," says Sawako, "do you like sweet food? I baked a cake." "Oh, you shouldn't have," says Maejima. "You're always putting yourself out in some way. I really do like you Tokai. Your boyfriend is lucky, Sawako-chan, with you always making your home cooking." "Oh, sensei!" says Sawako. "So is your profession physics? It seems to be your specialty." "My profession...?" he says. "I guess it's English right now." "English!?" says Mima. "Then in the future, you'll be an interpreter or something?" says Sawako. "Nah, nah," says Maejima. "My dream is to be a pilot. If I can, in the future I'd like to enter NASA. So now I'm attending English conversation classes and such. But even when I'm listening to things like the Far East Network, the English is quick and I can't understand any of it. When I'm told jokes in English, too. So listening to the same thing, over and over again, the first time I understood those jokes, I was so happy I cried." "A pilot..." thinks Mima. "He's like a kid." "Somehow," says Maejima, "you two look alike after all... When you do that." "No..." thinks Mima. "Even when saying that, those eyes are always looking at Sawako. Only Sawako..." Maejima looks at Mima. "It's the first time I've been told we look alike..." she thinks. "All right," says Maejima. "Well, let's do a little more, Mima-chan." "Sensei," says Sawako. "Where you get such power?" "Why?" he says. "When I come here, I feel full of drive. I like physics." "He just feels a responsibility to study," thinks Mima. "He's an adult..." "Well, take your time," says Sawako. "Keep at it!" A feather from her shirt falls as she leaves. Maejima picks it up. "She's like a bird's feather..." he says. "Yes, that's right," thinks Mima. "Everybody thinks that, sensei." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Sorry! Have you been waiting?" says Maejima. "I'm doing an experiment at college now, growing some E. coli and tubercle bacilli cultures, and I couldn't get away. Shall we go to Shibuya? If we're in front of the station, let's look for some reference books." "Sensei," thinks Mima. "He's talking by himself. It's kind of like we're on a date." "Oh!" says Maejima. "What?" says Mima. "Over there, it's Sawako-chan," he says. "I wonder if that's her boyfriend who she's with..." "It's... senpai..." thinks Mima, looking at the two. Sawako leaves the boy and walks toward them. "It's Mima!" she says. "What are you doing here? And with sensei, too..." "Huh!?" Mima runs away from them. Maejima goes after her. "Hey! What's wrong?" he says. "Sawako-chan took the trouble to..." "Sensei," says Mima. "I'm going to go home. You go ahead with Sawako." She turns away. "What's with me, getting mad at sensei..." she thinks. "Did something happen?" says Maejima. "Did you have a fight with Sawako-chan?" "It's nothing!" shouts Mima. "It- It has nothing to do with you, sensei!" She runs away from him. Maejima shakes his head and turns back. "Oh," thinks Mima. "Is he mad? I didn't mean it... Why... Why did I...? Sensei, I didn't mean it. Don't leave me behind. I'll be lost." She goes after him. "Sensei, you're quick..." He looks at her. "Oh," he says. "Has your mood improved?" "Sensei," says Mima, "why do you look directly into people's eyes like that?" "When I was in junior high," he says, "I crashed my bicycle into a dump truck, and as an after-effect of that... For a week, I couldn't hear anything. Since that, I became extremely impatient with speaking to someone without looking at their face." "On a clear day," says Mima, "you get dizzy, and with the high-pitched noise you can't hear anything. Wasn't it scary to not be able to hear anything?" "But, I see," she thinks. "That might be nice." "It's like this even now, without you noticing it," says Maejima. "People are always awash in 50 Hertz noise waves, and sinking to the bottom of them." "Noise waves?" says Mima. "Yeah," he says. "They're sound waves that you normally can't hear. So when I thought of that, even though I couldn't hear anything, strangely I wasn't scared." She looks at him. "Don't fight," he says. "I'm not," she says. "Sawako-chan was disappointed before," says Maejima. "When you go home, be sure to apologize to her. All right?" They walk along the street together. Mima pulls on his coat. "I feel like I'm clinging to him somehow..." she thinks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The house door slams. "Mima?" says Sawako. "What are you doing? Oh, I see. Today's a day when sensei comes. Cleaning? What a great trend." Mima turns away without speaking. "Mima," says Sawako. "Say, would you lend me your dictionary? I left mine at school." The phone rings. "Hello!" says Mima. "Oh, Mima-chan?" says Maejima. "I'm sorry, I won't be able to make it today. I lost the rock-paper-scissors in my group, so I got the most difficult experiment to do. Well, actually, it looks like it will be continuing for three more weeks, so I don't think I'll be able to go for a while. If you talk to someone in your class, they should be able to take my place." "You can't come?" says Mima. "Um, yeah, but if you talk to..." "If you can't come, fine!" She slams down the phone. "What's wrong?" says Sawako. "Is it sensei? I'm feel sorry for him being hung up on like that. Because even though you like him, you take that kind of attitude." "You're the one he likes," says Mima. "If you think it's so bad, from now on you can be taught by him." She gasps and puts her hand over her mouth. "I see," says Sawako. "Well, then why don't I switch with you seriously." "Oh no," thinks Mima. "I didn't mean to say that." "Mima," says Sawako. "Say, could it be that you're upset about the other day?" "No, it's not..." "We're not really like that," says Sawako. "I didn't know that you still liked senpai..." She picks up the picture of the boy that was turned down next to Mima's bed. "That picture!" says Mima. "I just put it there because it was bothering me. Don't touch it without asking!" "Mima, come on, don't be mad," says Sawako. "I really intended to give him back to you..." "Get out!" yells Mima. "Give him back?" she thinks. "What does she mean by that?" Maejima walks up the stairs as Sawako leaves Mima's room in tears. "Oh!" he says. "Oh, sensei, I'm sorry..." says Sawako. "They're like Japanese dolls," thinks Maejima. "The heads of the Tokai." Mima lies on her bed. "Senpai, this is Sawako. Isn't she pretty? She's the big sister I'm proud of." "Wow," the boy says. "Does anybody ever tell you your hair is like feathers? You don't look like a Tokai." "Mima, keep at it!" says Sawako. "Come to our high school! Let's go to high school together, Mima." Mima sees Sawako and the boy kissing. "I told you not to fight," says Maejima. He looks at the picture of the boy. "Is this your guy?" "Sensei, wasn't practice..." "Teaching a girl like this isn't fair to my friends," he says. "I have to go. I can't teach you, Mima." "Sensei..." says Mima. "Yes?" "You can't quit," she says. "You can't, you can't!" "Don't be surprised," she thinks. "Sensei, I don't have any drive. I can't focus. Somebody, cast a spell on me, and take me away from this place." "Well," says Maejima, "since I went to the trouble of coming here, shall we...?" Mima picks up a textbook. Maejima leaves the room. "Sensei...?" says Mima. He enters Sawako's room. "Sawako-chan?" Sawako looks at him with tears in her eyes. "Sensei..." she says. "Sawako-chan." He takes her in his arms. Mima watches them. "Mima?" says Sawako. Mima runs out of the house. "Mima!!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It's always like this," thinks Mima. "I'm no match for Sawako." It starts to rain. "I don't want to feel like this anymore." She looks at her watch. "They might be worried now. I don't want to go home. Sensei will be mad and have left already, anyway. I said unreasonable things and gave up. I'm horrible..." "Mima!!" Maejima and Sawako approach her. "You fool!" says Maejima. "You'll catch cold! Hurry... Mima!" Mima runs away from them. "I feel dizzy," she thinks. "I can't face San-chan or sensei now." She enters a phone booth and dials. "Hello? Mom?" "Mima!? Where on earth..." says her mom. "Be responsible, hurry up and come home! Sawako took sensei and rushed out of here. If you were just a little more like her..." "But mom," thinks Mima, "I'm not Sawako. I can't be Sawako." "Until..." she says. "Until sensei comes, I'm not going home!" The door to the phone booth opens. "Come on, what are you doing," says Maejima. "Your mom and Sawako-chan are at home worrying. Let's go home, okay?" Mima hangs up the phone. "Kiss me, sensei," she says. "If you don't kiss me, I won't go home." He takes her in his arms. "You shouldn't make them worry," he says. She presses against him. "What's wrong?" he says. "Sensei," she says. "Sensei, I'm sorry. You can yell at me all you want." "I was really..." she thinks. "I was really so jealous of Sawako I could die. She's not a big sister I'm proud of at all. The people in front of me were always favoring her. It was always hard and painful..." "No matter what, I can never catch up with Sawako," she says. "Sawako is Sawako," says Maejima. "Mima is Mima. Right?" "I know," says Mima, "that however hard I try, I can never be Sawako. I know how bad a girl I am." "That's not true." "I did terrible things to you and Sawako," she says. "Saying that's not true... Sensei, how can you be so kind? I know how bad a girl I am. I just pestered you..." "Maybe," says Maejima. "But you're the one I'm worried about, Mima. I can't leave you alone." "The magic is wearing off," thinks Mima. "I waited for so long. I waited, sensei. For somebody to take me away from this place..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mima!" Mima lies in bed. "Are you all right? It's ten o'clock. Aren't you meeting sensei?" "Yeah..." "Well, you're going to the high school preview, aren't you?" Mima looks up, and sees Sawako with her hair cut short. "San-chan!! That hair..." "This? Hehe..." says Sawako. "I feel somehow relieved." "Did... Did something happen? Between senpai and you..." "Oh, Mima," she says. "It has nothing to do... with...." "San-chan!?" Sawako's eyes water. "Senpai..." she says. "I'm sure he has a girlfriend at another high school. Like you, back then... A girl with pretty, long black hair. You know, when I cut my hair, mom told me I looked like you, Mima. Now she worried a little bit about me, too. Mom is always just thinking about you, Mima." "Sensei," thinks Mima. "I want to see you more..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Sensei..." thinks Mima. "Huh?" says Maejima. "Nothing," says Mima. "Just a little, more than before," she thinks, "I want to see lots of things." "Sensei?" she says. "What is it, what is it? What's the matter?" "I want to hear lots of things," she thinks. "Nothing," she says. "Like 50 Hertz noise waves, and the swaying, rustling wind that came here crossing the sea. For now, sensei will be the sea." The end. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naoko's note for "Maigo no Swing". Original manga copyright © 1988 Takeuchi Naoko. English translation copyright © 2000 Alex Glover. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Manga of Takeuchi Naoko | Miss Rain