Anything but Normal

Come on, TK! We’re gonna be late! Where ARE you???

My footsteps echoed off of the deserted buildings as I sprinted along the streets, glancing at my phone just long enough to read the message from Ruri, as well as the angry fox sticker she added.

My fingers mashed together every button on the keyboard when I tried to type out my reply, but after a few typos I managed a simple, OMW!

Admittedly, I had overslept. My first day back to school had taken more out of me than I had realized, and one ‘ten more minutes’ had easily turned into a half hour! But, I was determined to keep my promise to walk Ruri to school, and more importantly, so was she.

Eventually I found her, waiting for me on a streetcorner, and she frowned as I stopped in front of her to catch my breath.

“Geez, TK. You’re the class rep, you know? You should be more on top of things than this,” she joked, patting the back of my bowed head.

I fell into step beside her as she started moving and responded breathlessly, “Come on, Ruri, it’s my second day back! Give me a break, already.”

“Hmm,” she mused, holding a thoughtful finger to her lips, “I don’t know…but I guess since you kept your promise, and we’ll probably be able to make it on time, I’ll go easy on you.”

“Thanks,” I said wryly, and we continued on for a time in relative silence, broken only by the ambient noise of the cityscape around us, and the rhythmless tune Ruri began to hum as she skipped along beside me. Even if we didn’t have much to talk about, she seemed elated simply to be able to spend some time alone with me.

“Oh, look there!” She suddenly exclaimed, pointing towards a sign in a nearby shop window, “That reminds me of the time…” She trailed off, a troubled look crossing her face before she slouched forward and muttered dejectedly, “Actually, nevermind. It’s nothing.”

This is a bit awkward, I thought, the silence between us suddenly growing tense. It was obvious that she wanted nothing more than to reminisce and try to jog my memories, but had suddenly remembered our argument at the zoo, and had decided against it.

As thankful as I was for her consideration, I also felt a twinge of guilt. It’s not like I wanted her to stop trying entirely. I was just overwhelmed, before. I wish I knew what we normally acted like with each other. Without any shared experiences, I don’t really know what to say. I wonder how we even started dating in the first place?

I was about to ask, when I noticed Kaori and Yoichi up ahead, just in time to watch Kaori deliver an expertly-aimed jab at Yoichi’s ribs, which he deftly caught with a hand. After seeing her physical abilities the day before, I was sure that whatever was going on, if she had really meant to hurt him, he’d already be on the ground.

“Hey, you guys!” Ruri excitedly exclaimed, waving frantically to get their attention. I sighed in relief, Hopefully these two can help break us out of our funk.

“TK, get this,” Yoichi said, stabbing a finger towards Kaori as the two fell into step alongside us, “Kaori here thinks that rice balls filled with pickled plums are better than ones with tuna mayo. Can you believe it?”

“That’s because they totally are!” the girl shot back, rolling her eyes. “Nothing beats that salty and sour kick. You just like tuna mayo because it’s exactly like you; bland and boring.”

“I’ll show you bland and boring!”

“Whatever, tuna mayo.”

When I chuckled lightly at their interaction, the two turned on me and in unison asked, “TK, which do you like better?”

“Well…” I began, and paused as I struggled to recall what either of them tasted like. That’s strange. I’m sure I’ve had both at some point in my life. Ugh, I can’t even remember what food I like, anymore!

“TK’s favorite is grilled salmon,” Ruri replied matter-of-factly, proudly holding her chin high. Raising a finger, she added, “I used to make it for him sometimes, and he always told me they were the best!”

The others huffed at her response, and decided to let the matter drop, changing the subject to some television program they had watched the night before instead of studying.

I relaxed a bit, thankful to have run into the two of them, and Ruri’s mood also seemed to brighten back up significantly as they idly chatted. I hope we can manage to work things out soon, I thought, glancing at Ruri out of the corner of my eye, I have to figure out some way to interact with her more naturally. But how? I have no idea what to say to her when we’re alone!

The others continued to chat as we rounded a corner, and it was there that we were greeted with a sight so unbelievable that we all simply stopped and stared.

The street in front of us was filled with deer, the herd stretching out into the distance for as far as I could see. There had to be dozens of them; no, hundreds!

They slowly meandered along the street without any sense of urgency whatsoever, completely ignoring the honking of horns as they leisurely weaved their way around vehicles. Whatever was happening, it must have been going on for a while, as police officers patrolled the area, urging pedestrians to turn back and find alternative routes to their destinations. I noticed several booths set up along the sidewalks, the vendors manning them shouting their wares while holding up signs and t-shirts that read things like, ‘I saw a deer!’ or ‘Obihiro Deer Uprising.’

“What’s going on?” I wondered aloud, and shared a confused glance with the others.

“I have no idea,” Ruri mumbled, “Deer are seen pretty often on the outskirts of town, but they don’t normally wander into the center of the city, let alone in a giant herd like this!”

One of the onlookers, an elderly man standing nearby, had apparently overheard us, and offered, “I heard that they’re calling it a mass migration event. Although, no one really seems to know what might have triggered it.”

“I see,” Yoichi mused, then suggested, “Well, deer are normally pretty docile creatures, you know? I think they’ll move out of the way if we try to muscle our way through. Come on.” Stepping forward, he gently tried to urge one of the smaller deer aside.

No sooner had he gotten close, however, than a massive buck appeared, snorting at him and stamping its foot. “Huh?” he grunted, the only thing he had time to say before it bent down, tangled him in its antlers, and tossed him into the air, somewhere out into the center of the herd.

“Yoichi!” Kaori exclaimed, “Don’t worry, I’ll save you!”

Before Ruri or I could try to stop her, she leapt into the air, completely clearing the first row of deer in the lineup. She landed backwards atop a tall doe, mounting it like a horse, and the beast turned its head to look at her with a dangerous gleam in its eyes. It was clear that she had not thought beyond that point, and as the deer broke into a gallop, she stared at us with tears in her eyes and a helpless expression on her face.

“Ruri…!” she cried in a quavering voice, as she was spirited away out of sight.

Ruri and I shared a look of disbelief and confusion, and she cupped her chin in thought, musing, “Well, Yoichi’s dead. And Kaori’s probably being taken to their leader. What do you think we should do, TK? We’re definitely going to be late at this rate!”

“D-dead!” I spluttered in response. How is she so calm about all this?

With a dismissive wave of her hand, she said, “Relax, I’m joking. Those two have been friends forever, and she’s been pummeling him since they were kids. He’s practically indestructible by this point. And I’m sure she’ll figure something out, she always does.”

“If you say so…” I replied weakly, and started as I heard another of Yoichi’s yelps from somewhere deep within the herd. “And wait, what do you mean, always? Does this happen a lot?”

She shook her head, “Not this, exactly. But we’ve been through our fair share of…unique…experiences over the years. You get used to it.”

“Right,” I said slowly, glancing around. I guess I’ll just have to trust her on this. It’s not like we can do anything about them, anyway. For now, we need to figure out a way to proceed, ourselves.

No matter how I looked at it, there was no way around the herd, which stretched down the street as far as I could see. Then, an idea dawned on me. If we can’t go through it or around it, then…what about under it! Grabbing Ruri by the elbow, I told her, “Come on, if we want to make it in time, we’ll need to run!”

Pulling her along with me, we sprinted to the nearest subway station, only to find that everyone else must have had the same idea as me. The terminal was so packed that we couldn’t even enter, let alone get on the train itself!

“Darn it!” I spat in frustration, the two of us taking a moment to catch our breath while we came up with another plan.

“TK,” Ruri panted, pointing a finger in the air, “It was a good idea, but what about instead of going under the herd, we go over it? There should be a skybridge nearby.”

Adulation washed across my face as I exclaimed, “Ruri! That’s a great idea!”

I whipped out my phone, pulling up the map while Ruri’s face turned bright red from my praise. Finding the nearest bridge, I grabbed her hand without thinking, and we resumed our sprint though the city streets, pushing our way through the crowds and across the bridge to the other side.

“We made it!” I laughed as we ran, doing my best to ignore the growing ache in my side, stumbling to a halt as it seemed Ruri’s stamina had finally run out.

“TK, we got past the herd, but…I’m spent! There’s no way we’ll be able to make it in time.”

I considered our situation. So what do we do? She’s right, it isn’t like we can run the whole way there. I’m reaching my limit, too. We could try a bus, maybe, but that’d mean a detour to the station, and we’d have to wait until one shows up. At this point, we can’t afford to waste that much time.

Before I could come up with any ideas, the rhythmic sound of hooves pounding pavement reached my ears, and we both glanced up to see Kaori and Yoichi, each of them riding a massive stag straight towards us!

“Hey, you two! Grab on!” Kaori yelled as they approached, holding out a hand to Ruri while I grabbed Yoichi’s. They pulled us up with ease, and turned the beasts towards our destination.

“See?” Ruri laughed to me, clutching Kaori for dear life, “I told you she was being taken to their leader!”

I started laughing uncontrollably in response. This is so ridiculous! Never would I have imagined that this would be how our morning went!

As ludicrous as it was, the deer were much faster than running, and people leapt out of the way wherever we passed, giving us an unobstructed path to school. Naturally, we got plenty of incredulous looks from those we passed, the students cheering us on the closer we got to the front gates, where a tall, bald-headed man stood guard. I recognized him as the homeroom teacher of class 2-1, Eiichiro Ogawa. He looked up as he noticed our approach, and his eyes went wide, a look of genuine horror on his face as he yelled out, “Oh no! Insanity!”

He ran off into the building as we pulled up into the courtyard and came to a halt. Dismounting, Kaori thanked the two deer for their help, gently petting each of their flanks. “Thanks, Mr. Deer! And Mr. Deer’s friend! We really owe you guys! If we ever meet again, I’ll buy you both some tasty deer biscuits.” As if they understood her, they bowed politely and trotted off, most likely going to rejoin their herd.

Well, we made it, I thought wryly, checking the time on my phone, and we’re even a little early, somehow.

As I followed the others into the building, I was beginning to realize that my normal life might have been anything but normal, after all.