I invited Daiki to my room today to respond to his confession. He’s going to be here any minute. I'm sitting on my bed right now tightly gripping the fabric of my comforter.

  I'm dreading doing this, but he deserves an answer. I think I feel a little something for him, but my call with Tomoya st night proved I'm not over him. And I can't ask Daiki to wait around while I try to work through all that.

  He's already waited patiently for far too long.

  Just as I'm thinking about all this, there's a knock on the door. I open it and invite Daiki in. When I turn around and see him smiling at me, I know I can't wait any longer.

  “I…I'm so sorry, Daiki.”

  He frowns, “So, you don’t feel the same?”

  I shake my head, “I'm in love with someone else. A boy from my old school.”

  He bows his head a little aI probably should have mentioned this several chapters ago when Nagisa and the drama club chose the py they would perform. Living With Father is a real py! In Japanese it’s called 父と暮せば, (Chichi to Kuraseba), which literally means, “Living With Father". It was written by Hisashi Inoue in 2001. In the west it’s often known as “The Face of Jizo,” but I liked the literal transtion of the name more for this particur story. The lines that have appeared in the fic so far are from Robert Pulvers’s English transtion. It’s a really great py that I recommend you read, especially if you’re interested in Japanese depictions of World War II. There’s also a film version that is also called The Face of Jizo in the west. More of the py will be appearing ter in the fic, so don’t read/watch if you don’t want some spoilers!nd his shoulders slump, “I see.”

  “I know how it feels, to have feelings for someone and not have them returned. I would never want to make someone feel the way I feel about him. I wish I could stop loving him. I wish I loved you instead. More than anything right now. Then neither of us would have to hurt. But…I d-d-don't feel that way….” I lose my composure and start to bawl.

  To my surprise, he hugs me. Well, ‘picks me up’ might be more accurate, since my feet aren't quite touching the ground. His arms and chest pretty much envelop me. And he's warm. It's very comforting. It brings back memories of hugging my dad when I was little.

  “Don't cry. I'll be okay.”

  I really am pathetic. I shouldn’t be crying like this. I just hurt him. The person I just rejected is comforting ME.

  I hug him back as best I can. But my arms don't really reach around him.

  He puts me down and I look up at him with a smile, “U-um…thank you. That helped. Y-you're a good hugger. Thank you for…understanding. I hope we can be friends.”

  He nods, “Of course we can.” He hands me a handkerchief.

  I use it to wipe my tears.

  He smiles at me, “I hope…even though we didn't work out, you'll remember what I told you when I confessed.”

  I nod, “I do. Y-you…said I'm…the prettiest girl you've ever known. And…that I am an amazing woman. It's hard to forget.”

  He ughs, “Good. Remember that about yourself. That's important to me.”

  I nod, “I will. I…hope you know too, that you're an amazing man. I know…you probably don't want to hear it from the girl who just turned you down, but…”

  He ughs, “No, go on. I like hearing nice things about me.”

  I giggle, “Well…you're handsome, and the smartest person I know, and so caring and sweet. Any girl would be lucky to have you. I would be lucky to have you, if I wasn't so…hung up on Tomoya.”

  He smiles, “Thank you.” He pauses for a moment with a furrowed brow. “Does that mean…you think you might feel the same some day?”

  I wring my hands, “I…I don’t know. I can't make any promises. S-so…don’t wait around for me. Please. I want you to be with a girl who feels the same way you feel about her.”

  He nods, “Okay.” There's an awkward silence for a moment. “Well…I think I'll go. See you in css?”

  I nod and do my best to smile at him, and he leaves. When he does, I sigh and sit down on my bed. Not long after he left, there's another knock on my door. I know who it is. This was the pn.

  “Come in.”

  Chiyo and Akane come in and sit down on either side of me.

  Akane puts an arm around me, and I rest my head on her shoulder.

  “Did it go as crappy as you look?”

  I sit up and frown at her, “Do I look that bad?”

  Chiyo ughs, “She just means you look…devastated. Almost like you're the one who got rejected.”

  I shrug, “I didn't like hurting him. He doesn't deserve it.” I hug myself and look down as I start to get choked up again, “H-he's a wonderful person who deserves to be with the girl he loves...”

  Akane says, “If you really think that, are you sure you shouldn't have given him a chance?”

  I shake my head, “I'm too uncertain. My feelings are all confused. I-it would be like you and Mi-...” I stop myself, realizing what I almost let slip. Chiyo knows she likes girls, but not her dating history.

  “You can say her name, Nagisa. Chiyo won't tell anyone.”

  I look at Chiyo, who nods. Then I turn back to Akane, “Misha really hurt you, by giving you a chance when she was in love with someone else, didn't she?”

  Akane sighs, “Yeah, she did. You’re right. If he's with you and then you break it off, it's worse than rejecting him now.”

  “Yeah…that's why I can't do it. I feel bad for hurting him now. But it would be worse if I was just using him to get over Tomoya.”

  Chiyo frowns, “That does sound worse. Sorry you had to deal with that, Akane.”

  She shrugs and pats me on the head with a goofy smile on her face, “I made it through thanks to Nagisa.”

  After her hand lingers a little too long, I push it away, and Akane gives me a silly pout in response.

  I turn to Chiyo, “Anyway…now that that's over, we should talk about you.”

  She gets a look of panic, “M-me?”

  “Yeah, you and Ken.”

  Akane nods, “I thought he was your boyfriend for a long time. I was surprised when Nagisa told me he wasn't. What's the deal there?”

  Chiyo shoots a gre at Akane and clenches her jaw.

  Akane looks away, “S-sorry. It's none of my business. I-if…you want to talk to Nagisa alone, I can go.”

  I look at Chiyo and do my best to calm her down with a smile.

  Chiyo sighs and her jaw rexes, “We can…maybe talk about it some time. But I'm not ready to confide in you just yet.”

  Akane nods with a frown on her face, “Y-yeah…understandable. I'll go.”

  Chiyo shakes her head, “You don't have to. I don't want to talk about it right now.” She dumps some nail polish out of her bag, “It's a boy-free kind of night, I think. So, no talking about boys again until tomorrow.”

  Akane pyfully clears her throat and looks at Chiyo expectantly.

  Chiyo looks confused and annoyed for a moment and then her eyes get wide, “Shit. S-sorry. Um…Romance free zone? Does that work?”

  Akane ughs as she gets out an impressive array of sweets from The Shanghai and spreads them out on my desk, “That works. It’s not really a big deal. I mostly just wanted to get you flustered.”

  Chiyo smiles, “I'll do your nails first, as recompense.”

  Chiyo and Akane sit down on the floor opposite one another while I start munching on a dorayaki that Akane brought. Akane picks out a royal purple color. That definitely suits her.

  Just before she gets started, Chiyo says, “Wow…your nails are really short. They didn't used to be. Do you bite them now or something?”

  Akane ughs awkwardly, “Um…no.”

  “Just like them really short these days, then?”

  “Yes. Yes I do.”

  Chiyo raises an eyebrow, “That's all you'll say? That's weird. You’re being weird.”

  Akane sighs, “Fine. But when it gets awkward, remember you asked for it. It's a lesbian thing.”

  Chiyo says, “Huh!? How is it a lesbian thing? Why would lesbians need shorter nai-” She stops for a second and then says, “Ohhhhhhh.”

  Akane ughs, “Now you get it. It's actually one of the sneaky ways to scope out if a girl is gay. There's not a 100% chance she's gay if she has short nails, but it's definitely more likely.”

  Chiyo starts painting Akane's nails, “That's kind of sad though, not being able to really gm up your nails. It would be hard for me.”

  Akane shrugs, “It's worth the trade off.”

  Chiyo ughs, “You know, I can see how it would be.”

  I pick up another dorayaki and munch on it with a smile on my face as I watch my two friends.

  It was hard turning down Daiki. I know I hurt him and it's hard for me to feel good about that.

  But it helps a lot having these two as friends.

  It's nice seeing the two of them talk so naturally. I think having someone else that Akane can be her real self with is really good for her.

  Even if I don't understand why her nails are so short. Or what it has to do with being a lesbian. Maybe I'll ask her ter.

  Drama club is very loud today.

  We finished pnning out the set design yesterday, and today we have started construction. We cleared out a long section of the room and have set up a little workshop.

  The set mostly consists of the little house where Chiyo’s character lives. Almost every scene takes pce there. So it was important for us to make sure that part of the set looks great. Daiki decided he wanted to build three wooden walls of the house, with a window looking out into Hiroshima. Right now he, Ken, and Chiyo are making the window.

  Daiki is using some sort of tool to make sure angles are straight and using a saw to cut wood.

  Chiyo is mostly there to help Ken. She’s handing him tools and guiding his hand to the spot where Daiki left a mark for a nail. Once she does that, he’s very good at hammering the right pce over and over.

  I tried to help but they shooed me away and told me to work on rewriting the st couple of lines for my character that I haven't figured out yet. I feel a little bit left out, but it's true that I need to finish. But, I think they are also worried that if I push myself too much I'll get sick.

  So far they have liked all the changes I made to my lines, with little criticism. It has been challenging to do, because the ghost of the father in the py says many things that would not make sense coming from a mother. And I also need to make sure what she is saying now is in the same tone and spirit as the original line. Some of Chiyo’s lines need to be changed too, since she’s now talking to her mother instead of her father. It's hard, but I’ve also found that I really enjoy doing it.

  For example, right now I’m struggling to find a way to rewrite the following conversation:

  CHIYO’S CHARACTER: ...you would lure as many women as you could with cigarettes and rice and take them to some hot springs resort and that's when Nobu took those secret photos of them that he showed to those officers and then you...

  MY CHARACTER: (interrupting) That very same Nobu now sells little jellies that he gets from God knows where.

  CHIYO’S CHARACTER: I know.

  MY CHARACTER: Such talent as a photographer and he wastes it peddling bck-market jellies!

  CHIYO’S CHARACTER: Serves him right for taking nude pictures in the hot springs!

  It doesn't help that I ugh every time I read it. It sounds like a conversation I would have with my dad. But that's kind of the problem.

  Maybe the mother could be compin-

  *BANG BANG BANG*

  It’s loud enough that I’m having a hard time concentrating. Just as I’m thinking about telling my clubmates I’ll go work in the library, I see a frustrated Chiyo coming my way.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She sighs, “Ken wants you and me to go to art club to see about getting a poster made.”

  “Oh. That's a good idea. Why are you angry about that?”

  She sighs, “I dunno. Felt more like he was trying to get rid of me. Both of us, actually.”

  “Maybe he wants some boy time with Daiki?”

  “Yeah. Maybe.” She thinks for a minute, “Actually, you're probably right. He mentioned something the other day about wanting to talk to Daiki about how he's doing.”

  “Oh, no. Is his knee bothering him?”

  Chiyo ughs, “No, silly. About…the thing with you.”

  Since the day I had to reject him, Daiki and I act like we always have. I still feel bad for doing it, but I was relieved to see he didn't seem upset. But, maybe he is and I didn’t notice.

  Chiyo prods my cheek, “Stop frowning. He's doing okay, I think. But it is good for him to talk about it with someone. I'm not sure he has. He's not exactly a social butterfly, you know?”

  “R-really? He seems social to me.”

  “I guess he isn’t the obviously socially awkward type, huh?” She chuckles, “Well, apart from the cat thing.”

  I frown, “I like the cat thing.”

  Chiyo rolls her eyes, “I know, me too. I'm just trying to say…he doesn't really spend time with people outside of css and clubs. I think we’re his only friends. And maybe Akane? Helping take care of you was the most I’ve ever seen him outside of a ‘school’ setting. We used to invite him to stuff and he always said no, so we gave up.”

  I frown, “I d-didn’t know.”

  Chiyo sighs, “Don't feel bad about it. Some people like keeping to themselves…I'm just trying to say, I think Ken wants to check on him. So I shouldn't be so frustrated.”

  I nod, and then stand up. “Okay…let's go to art club.”

  When we’re about halfway to the school building, I realize something.

  “Do we have any idea what we want to do for the poster?”

  Chiyo nods, “Daiki and I came up with a design.”

  “What kind of art do we need?”

  “Hmm…someone who can do realistic-looking people, I guess? A portrait. No abstract stuff.”

  …

  When we get to the art clubroom, there's no teacher in sight and only a handful of students. They are all working and don't even look up at us.

  The student closest to the door is a girl with short red hair, but that's not the first thing I notice about her. The first thing I see is that she's painting with her feet.

  She's holding a paintbrush and using it with more skill than I ever could with my hands. She’s using vibrant reds and oranges, but I can't really make out what her painting is supposed to be.

  I find myself captivated by her movements. I only stop watching when Chiyo pokes me in the arm.

  I look up at her and she mouths, “Stop staring!”

  Only now do I notice that this girl doesn't have arms. Her shirt sleeves are tied into knots. I was so amazed by how well she could paint with her feet I hadn't stopped to think why she uses her feet. I can see why staring is bad.

  Chiyo steps forward and says, “E-excuse me. Do you know where the art teacher is?”

  Without looking up from her canvas the girl says, “Yes.”

  After it becomes clear she's not going to continue, I chime in, “Can you tell us?”

  “Somewhere.”

  Chiyo replies, “...where is that, exactly?”

  “Not here. That's what makes it somewhere.”

  “Okay, but uh…what exact pce might I find him?”

  The girl tilts her head to the side and thinks for a moment, “Japan.”

  Chiyo sighs in frustration, “That's…not an exact pce.”

  “Seems exact. We’re in Japan, right? It's exactly where we are.”

  Seeing Chiyo’s growing frustration I step in, “I-is he on campus?”

  “Dunno. Have thoughts I need to paint.”

  “O-okay. Sorry for disturbing you. Thank you.”

  We step back in the hall where Chiyo says, “Well…I guess we can just try talking to students. I thought he might point us in the right direction. We aren't talking to her again, though.”

  I nod and we go back into the art room and survey things a little.

  Chiyo nudges me and whispers, “What about her? Her work looks like what we want.”

  Chiyo nods towards a girl and I'm surprised to see a familiar face. She seems to be painting a portrait. It looks like a red haired girl with green eyes and twin tails. She seems to be using a photograph of the girl as reference. It's one of the two of them together at the beach. She must be her friend.

  Why is she here, though?

  “S-Saki?”

  She curtly says, “Just a second.”

  I think I learned today that artists really don't like to be interrupted.

  She puts down her paintbrush and turns to me with an annoyed face that quickly dissipates, “What is i-? Oh, Nagisa! What are you doing here?”

  I ugh, “I was going to ask the same thing. Aren't you in band?”

  She ughs, “I am. But art club too.”

  “Wow…you must work very hard.”

  She sighs, “Yeah. Too hard.” She sighs, “Our adviser is making us all submit work to a little art show in town next weekend, but he only sprung it on us today.”

  That expins the mood in here.

  Chiyo pointedly clears her throat, making me realize I haven't introduced them.

  After introducing the two of them and expining that Chiyo is in drama club with me, I say, “We wanted to make a poster for our py. And we thought maybe we could commission someone here to do it.”

  Chiyo adds, “We don't have much of a budget…but we can pay a little. We need it in like a week.”

  Saki nods, “Well…I don't know if any of us will have time. What are you looking for, exactly?”

  I look to Chiyo whose smile looks more than a little mischievous, “Nagisa in her costume, but like…turning kind of transparent, since she'll be pying a ghost.”

  I turn towards Saki with raised eyebrows, “Wh-what!?”

  My surprise makes Saki ugh and Chiyo joins her.

  “Shouldn't it be you? Y-you look like a model!”

  Saki smirks at Chiyo and looks her up and down, “I mean…she's not wrong. I hadn't met you before, but everyone knows who you are. The guys who don't know your name call you ‘That really hot third year.”

  Chiyo blushes and then shakes her head and looks at me, “The py is called Living With Mother, and you're pying the ghost mom. Makes way more sense for you to be on it.”

  Saki nods, “She’s right, given what the py is called and who you are pying, it has to be you.” Saki pauses for a moment and taps her finger on her chin, “This is probably going to go the best for you if you use a photograph and then have someone edit in the transparent stuff and the title of the py. I think that would look best.”

  Chiyo nods, “That sounds good, but who can do that?”

  Saki says, “Well…we have cameras here and we did some photography st year, so I could take the pictures. It should just take like 30 minutes, so I have the time.” She grins at me, “We can have a little photo shoot. Sounds kinda fun actually.”

  “O-okay. But what about the computer part?”

  “You might try newspaper club. They probably have the software and the know-how.”

  After setting up a time and pce for Saki to take photos of me (this Sunday evening), we head down to the first floor of the school building to see if the newspaper club is in session.

  …

  We are in the school newspaper's club room, but it appears to be empty. It's an empty room with a few computers. A stack of this week's paper is on one of the tables.

  There are two offices off to the side, though. I check one while Akane checks the other. It seems I've found yet another computer and an empty room. The lights are even turned off.

  I flip the light switch and hear, “Mmn…trying to nap…turn off.”

  My eyes open wide and I'm scared for a moment, and then I see there's a boy hunched over the keyboard and ying his head on the desk. Just as I'm about to turn the light off and leave, he opens his eyes and sleepily says, “N-nagisa?”

  Now I see that this sleepy boy has a familiar face.

  “Ichiro? You're in newspaper club!?”

  He sits up and rubs his eyes, “Yeah. Akane have you thinking I’m a zy good-for-nothing?”

  “U-um…”

  He ughs, “I only joined this year, to be fair. Realized I’d need to if I want to go to university.” He gives me a welcoming gesture and says, “Come in, come in - you don’t have to stand on the threshold.”

  I nod and approach him. When I’m close enough he takes my hand and bows his head towards it, “To what do I owe the pleasure, fair Nagisa?”

  I feel my cheeks flush, “U-um…”

  Chiyo steps into the room saying, “Is someone actually in here?” Then she sees me and Ichiro and steps towards us and forcibly separates our hands, “Don't let this creep touch you, Nagisa. He’s the worst.”

  Whoa, she sounds like Akane. I guess they hated him together their first year.

  He grabs Chiyo's hand now and grins, “Ah, ‘tis the fairest maiden of them all.”

  Just as his lips start to move towards her hand she rips it away, “Shut up, Ichiro. And don't touch me.” Then she huffs and says, “God, you’re still this much of a creep?! I haven’t missed this.”

  Ichiro's shoulders slump, “I was just messing around. I'm not a creep anymore. Tell her, Nagisa!”

  “U-um…he's not a creep. H-he's really nice.”

  “See?”

  She scoffs, “Like I can believe her. She doesn't say bad things about anyone. Even when they deserve it.”

  He sighs, “Fine. I’m still a creep. But less of one, okay!”

  “That I can believe. Anyway, are you the only one here?”

  “That's right. We just finished the week's paper and everyone went out to celebrate but I was too tired.” He yawns and then smiles, “So…just the three of us. Whatever will we get up to?” He winks at me pyfully.

  “If you do something creepy one more time…I swear…I'm gonna…”

  Chiyo trails off so I say, “W-we'll bring Akane in here to scold you!”

  He sighs, “Damn. Bringing out the big guns, huh? Fine, fine. I'll behave.”

  Now he puts on an over the top professional voice, “How might I be of service to you two young dies today?”

  Chiyo rolls her eyes and says, “We are making the poster for our py. We need someone who can do…computer photo editing…stuff. Is there someone like that in the club?”

  He gestures for us to walk around him and look at his computer screen. There’s an article about a recent track meet on the screen, titled “IBARAZAKI SHATTERS SEVERAL PREFECTURE RECORDS.” Beneath it, there's a photo of a smiling girl in twin tails throwing her arms up at the finish line. There are several medals hanging around her neck. One says, “Women’s 100m,” and the rest list her other records.

  Chiyo says, “You did this? You added all those medals and text? They look so real. Not sure I buy it.”

  He sighs and clicks on something, and the photo without the medals appears on the screen.

  “Believe me now? I make all the graphics in the paper. Even some of the ads.”

  Chiyo goes back to the main club room and brings a paper back with her. She starts flipping through it.

  Chiyo sighs, “I hate to admit it but…you’re good.”

  “Thanks. I've been doing it awhile. Taught myself Photoshop when I was 13 so I could make pictures of hot celebrities in the n-...” He clears his throat, “...in the natural world.”

  Chiyo rolls her eyes, “Nice save creep.”

  I ask, “W-would you be able to make a person look transparent and ghostly?”

  “Yeah, I could swing that, I think.”

  Chiyo looks at me with concern, “Are you really sure you want this guy to have your picture? Sometimes these things go over your head. So I want to make sure - you know what he was about to say a minute ago, right?”

  I nod, “Y-yes…he's like the father in the original version of our py.”

  Chiyo ughs, “Pretty much. The modern version of that.”

  “B-but…he won't do that with my picture. I know he won't.”

  Chiyo shakes her head, “Look at the blind trust this pure maiden has in you, Ichiro. That alone should set you straight. But if you betray that trust…I think I know at least two people who would kill you. Both of them are in your css and know where you live.”

  Ichiro frowns, “I would never do that, okay! I did that when I was a kid. And never with girls I knew. Promise!”

  Chiyo smiles, “Good boy. Well…we’ll bring you a photo on Monday that we’ll need your help with. We can pay a little.”

  He waves his hand, “I’ll do it for free. To make up for being a creep.”

  “Well…I’m not sure that can ever be made up for, but it's a start.”

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Author's Note:

  Living With Father is a real py! In Japanese it’s called 父と暮せば, (Chichi to Kuraseba), which literally means, “Living With Father". It was written by Hisashi Inoue in 2001. In the west it’s often known as “The Face of Jizo,” but I liked the literal transtion of the name more for this particur story. The lines that have appeared in the fic so far are from Robert Pulvers’s English transtion. It’s a really great py that I recommend you read, especially if you’re interested in Japanese depictions of World War II. There’s also a film version that is also called The Face of Jizo in the west. More of the py will be appearing ter in the fic, so don’t read/watch if you don’t want some spoilers!