Endless Summer

*"Summer is a time for making memories. We craft these memories carefully, painting them with the calm blue of the ocean and the soulful glitter of laughter and carefree joy. However, the memories made during summer are temporary. After summer ends, they stay tucked away in a box beneath our beds, never to be forgotten but never to be relived. This is a story about a time when the line drawn between summer and real life...was crossed."*

**Endless Summer** is the second seasonal novel written by Ariella Nikolai. This time, it follows a love that came to be during the hot months of summer, between a third-year high school student named Natsumi Tomoka and her history teacher, Takeshi Yoshiro. Natsumi has always been an outcast. Forced to grow up on her own from a young age, Natsumi is wise for her age, hard working, studious, responsible and mature as a result of having to practically raise herself and her younger sister Yuri since the age of ten. Takeshi was a delinquent in high school, but his first love, the class president, changed him into a gentle, caring man and encouraged him to become a teacher. Takeshi's wish as a teacher is to change the lives of his students for the better. He gets the chance to do just that when he meets the mature, kind but cynical Natsumi, whose tough lot in life has stripped her of her youthful innocence from a young age. But the two first do not meet as student and teacher. Their worlds collide first when Takeshi rescues Natsumi and her injured sister from a group of drunk gansters after Natsumi goes to rescue her sister, Yuri, after she is drugged and ends up at a red light district near the end of summer break. In that same fateful night, Takeshi discovers the truth of Natsumi's broken family, and becomes determined to help her, creating a bond between them.

The two are shocked when they meet again the first day of school, this time as a student and a history teacher. Despite their circumstances, time and time again fate seems to throw these two people together, until they fall into a rather unconventional and forbidden love, realizing they are the people whom the other needs most.

## Plot

The novel has three parts, titled: Before, After, and Finally. Each is a different length, with Before being only one chapter as the prologue, After being 25, and Part Finally being only one chapter as a sort of Epilogue.

### **Part 1- Before**

The novel opens with Natsumi Tomoka cutting through the thick crowd at a night club in Kabukicho. She leaves the club and begins to run through the red light district of Kabukicho, searching for her sister in clubs, bars, and even love hotels, anxiously checking her phone for messages. It is revealed that she got a message from her younger sister, named Yuri, asking her for help.

Natsumi gets a text message from Yuri that is tracked to a love hotel nearby. In the alley by the hotel, she finds Yuri's purse on the ground, and her items scattered everywhere. A muffled cry comes from the back door in the alley. Natsumi suddenly sees Yuri collapsed on the ground, intoxicated and half naked. Natsumi picks her up to take her home, but a group of older teenage boys appear and surrounds them. She attempts reason with them, but when that fails, she uses force to beat up some of the boys. One of the boys, however, points a gun at Yuri's head, forcing Natsumi to freeze. As she does, another boy grabs her and presses a knife to her throat. The boys begin to say that Yuri led them on, then stole their money, and tried to run away, so they need to at least get back the money she stole through using her body. Natsumi offers to reimburse all their money if they let them go. The boys refuse, saying that Yuri is "too beautiful" to pass up, and begin to tear at the girl's clothes.

Natsumi cries out and fights back, but the boys punch her, and one even cuts her with the knife as a threat. The boy says if Natsumi screams, they'll shoot Yuri, so Natsumi remains silent. Fortunately, as the boys begin to finish tearing off her shirt, a voice calls out, "Isn't it too late for kids?" A young man appears, exclaiming that he has the police with him, and easily takes the boy's weapons and knocks them out with the help of the police man.

The policeman takes the boys away to the station while another officer appears to question Yuri and Natsumi. Overwhelmed, Yuri begins to cry while being interrogated. Natsumi calms her down, but the man cuts in and says an ambulance is on it's way and to let the girls rest. Natsumi promptly panics, begging not to go to the hospital or her guardian will be called. The man and police officer reject her refusal. The man gives Natsumi his jacket to cover her ripped clothes, as she gave her jacket to Yuri, and gives the two girls quick first aid. As they wait for the ambulance, Yuri blacks out, making Natsumi panic again. The man calms her down, then in an attempt to distract her from the dark situation, he - who introduces himself as Takeshi Yoshiro - asks her about her favorite color, foods, music, etc.

At the hospital, Yuri is identified as having alcohol poisoning and

They arrive at her house, and Natsumi insists on carrying Yuri home herself. On their way in, their mother, Mitsuko, storms out. She angrily slaps Yuri, then Natsumi, calling them disgusting disgraces who are no longer her children, before driving off in a car. Takeshi panics and goes to help a bleeding Natsumi inside. They take care of Yuri, and Takeshi questions if her mother is abusive. Natsumi negates this, then explains her mother usally ignores them, but she hates Yuri because she was born from an affair that Natsumi's father was having with his secretary, Sango, who died after giving birth to Yuri. Due to money and scandal reasons, Mitsuko won't divorce Retsuko, but she takes out her anger on Yuri. Natsumi tries to protect her, and usually, Mitsuko isn't home and leaves them alone. Takeshi nearly cries, and Natsumi gently tells him that they're fine because her and Yuri have each other. She thanks him profusely, and they say goodbye, parting ways.

As she goes to sleep, Natsumi clenches her fist. A phone begins to ring in the darkness of her bedroom. Ignoring the phone, Natsumi narrates, "...that's love. Not being afraid for my own life, but fearing only my sister's. That night, I wanted to cry. I was scared. The world was dark, and I was drowning in that darkness. But I couldn't cry. That made me want to cry too- that I wasn't crying, even though I wanted to. Love... is painful."

### **Part 2- After**

The next day, the school year begins. Despite the pain in her body and her lack of sleep, Natsumi forces herself and Yuri to go to school. She arrives a minute late, and the teacher - who turns out to be Takeshi - begins to reprimand her. Both Natsumi and Takeshi are shocked to see each other as student and teacher. Knowing her situation, Takeshi allows her to sit down without punishment. Through the day, he continues to cut her breaks- when she falls asleep at lunch on the roof, he finds her, covers her with a jacket, and doesn't mark her abscent. After class, she apologizes, and begins to do the class duties, being the class representative. Takeshi stops her and takes her to the nurse, saying he'll do the work for her and take her summer homework late. She asks why he's giving her special treatment, and he answers, "There must be a reason I was there to help you that night. I was meant to know, right? So that means I was meant to help you, also. I'm just helping." She says he doesn't have to bother, but he cleans her wounds and ices them again, and kindly answers that helping others is never a bother, but he will be a firm teacher the rest of the year, so she should rest and get well. He offers to let her sleep in the nurse's office until he finishes work and then he can drive her home. Natsumi remains quiet. When he asks if she's okay, she answers, "I don't really know what to do. What you're doing...taking care of me. How do I react to it? I feel lost."

Confused, he asks if she's not used to her family taking care of her- when she's sick, or hungry, or needs help. Natsumi explains that her parents were always busy fighting or working, so since she was little, Natsumi was always the one in charge of herself and Yuri. "But lately...somehow, I feel out of control. My sister's trying to create her own world, without me. I've always taken care of her, and handled her. But lately she's trying to go somewhere I can't follow. I'm desperately trying, but someday, she'll be too far gone. Suddenly I'm not in control anymore. It's...honestly, I'm a little scared sometimes." The two remain quiet for a while, and Takeshi pats her on the head and says that what she can do in response to him taking care of her is get better and stay out of trouble, since she's his student. He also claims that what Natsumi feels is normal, and comforts her: "It's okay, you know. Being scared, feeling lost, even loosing control- that's all normal. Being scared is okay. We're humans, after all." Natsumi quietly asks him if it's really okay. He smiles quietly and says yes. The sun sets, and they sit together but don't speak.

Natsumi goes to work, and on her way home at night, notices someone follow her to the train station. She ignores it, however. The next day at school, a bunch of girls corner her during lunch, calling her ugly and making fun of her wounds. Natsumi ignores it, until one of the girls begins to insult Yuri, calling her a slut because she's always at love hotels. Natsumi tells the girls calmly to stop, but they begin kicking at her and talking about how they all know Yuri is a bastard child and was born from an affair. Takeshi walks by and witnesses the bullying. The girls say, "You and Yuri are both dirty. Poor girls- is there anyone who wants you?" Takeshi angrily moves to interfere, but Natsumi stands up, glaring at the girls with burning anger, and coldly answers, "Say what you want about me, but leave me sister alone" and leaves. Takeshi witnesses hides his anger and smiles, saying, "Oh? Calling her dirty, unwanted, an ugly- all those lies, sound like bullying to me." The girls are embarrassed since he heard the entire thing. After class, he asks if she's fine, and to tell him if she gets bullied. She answers that it doesn't matter to her as long as they don't hurt her sister, because, "Nothing they say is true, and even if it was, that doesn't change anything. Nobody is worthless. Nobody deserves to live more than someone else. We all sin. We're all dirty, but we're also all good. In the end, just because they dislike me, doesn't mean I have any less of a right to live or be happy. They won't take that right for me." She accidentally gets a paper cut, and he gives her a cute band-aid with little bears (which he always carries), and she laughs, saying it's cute. He remarks that she hadn't smiled since they met, and says she should do it more often, making her blush.

That night, Natsumi discovers that Takeshi left his cell phone in the coat he gave her. She washes the coat and resolves to give it back to him the next day. She sees him on the train, and is shocked that they take the same route to school.She returns his items to him. He comments happily that her sounds are healing, and she suddenly asks him where the concept of 'age' originated. They talk on the way back to school. Several days pass, and Natsumi and Takeshi talk every day after school, as he helps her with her class representative work. The two have similar tastes and points of view, and Takeshi's kind childishness makes Natsumi laugh. She admits she has trouble with math, and he offers to help her because it was his favorite subject. The two grow increasingly close.

A catalyst appears when one day, Natsumi gets off of work late after taking an extra shift. It is ten at night, and she has to walk home. On her walk home she begins to notice someone following her. She goes into a convenience store and calls her sister, who is busy playing karaoke. Having no one else to call, Natsumi buys a pocket knife and goes on her way. The stalker turns to grab her and she fights back, but he grabs her arm and begs her to go with him, attempting to hug her. Before Natsumi has time to react, Takeshi appears, claiming to be her boyfriend and telling the stalker to leave or regret it. Natsumi thanks him and he reprimands her, saying it could've been dangerous if he wasn't walking by here after going shopping for food. She says she understands, but would've been fine. He is a little angry, and asks why she didn't call someone. She shows him her empty contacts and says her sister didn't answer. He then puts in his number, saying that she is his duty as a teacher and that she should always call him in case of an emergency. She cheerfully thanks him and offers him some chocolate she bought. He sees her dinner in the shopping bag and asks if she always eats this badly (ramen, soda and bread). She laughs and denies it, saying she cooks for her sister, but if her sister isn't home then she eats whatever. He takes her to eat a proper meal, and reminds her of the homework, which she asks him about. They end up talking and doing homework for two hours. When he walks her home, he reminds her that if she doesn't call him when she's in trouble, he'll make her clean the classroom and gym every day for a month.

On the day after the midterms, Natsumi gets her report card, and gets 100 in every exam except for math, in which she scores a low 70. During lunch, her mother appears and seeks out Natsumi. Takeshi follows them, as teachers must regulate visits on school grounds, and sees Mitsuko berate Natsumi for getting a low grade in math. Natsumi quietly takes it, but Takeshi steps in after Mitsuko raises her hand to slap Natsumi, and stops Mitsuko from hitting her daughter. He smiles and politely tells Mitsuko that violence isn't tolerated on school grounds, and he will report her for intrusion if she doesn't leave. He warns her not to return and mess with his students. Mitsuko, outraged, exclaims, "Intrude? She's my daughter!" Takeshi says with a cold smile, "She's more my student than your daughter. And this is school, therefore, I have the right to regulate this." Mitsuko leaves angrily. Takeshi examines Natsumi's face for bruises or injury, and is surprised when Natsumi states, "She didn't mean it. If my own mother says I'm a disgrace...if she wishes I didn't exist...I'd be hopeless, right? She... can't have meant it." Despite her smile and calm face, Takeshi senses she's in tears. He stops his examining, and on a whim, hugs Natsumi. He whispers, "Yeah. She didn't mean it. Not at all." During math class that day, Takeshi calls Natsumi up to do a problem. When she gets stuck, he gives her tips, and she is able to complete it. Throughout the week he helps her with math by explaining it in a way she understands during class, and giving her a special notebook with teacher's notes to help her learn it.

One day when Natsumi arrives at home, she finds Yuri gone, and begins to panic. After Yuri's cell goes to voice mail, Natsumi goes to search for her. In her frenzy, she stops and calls Takeshi, remembering he told her to call if she was in trouble. She admits that Yuri is missing again. He offers to help and shortly arrives at the downtown area to help search. Takeshi finds Yuri with some friends and tells Natsumi, who collapses with relief. He asks if Yuri goes missing often, and Natsumi confesses that on Yuri's sixteenth birthday, she ran away and went to a club, got drunk, and ended up getting in an accident that sent her to the hospital. Since then, Yuri constantly goes out at night to clubs and drinks, smokes, even does drugs and all sorts of dangerous things. "Ever since, I'm afraid that she'll do something terrible, and I'll get a call at two AM- not from her, but from the police telling me she's gone. Every time she disappears, I'm afraid it's for good this time. When I ask her, she shuts me out. The more I try to stop her, the bigger the gap between us gets." Takeshi says Natsumi and Yuri need to have a heart to heart confrontation, and he goes inside and gets Yuri. Yuri admits that their father promised that he'd spend Yuri's birthday with her. However, he never came. After three hours of her waiting, he called her and apologized half-heartedly, then left her alone. Yuri felt depressed because her sole living parent didn't care about her. As a cry for attention from him, she began to do wild, scary things. "I wanted him to feel bad. When I was in the hospital that night, and he saw me, I wanted him to be shocked, scared, and feel guilty. That night was the first time he visited me all year. He was so scared, and I was happy- because for a few minutes, I felt important, like it mattered to him that I was okay. He always calls me a good girl, saying it's fine because I'm so good. So what if I wasn't a good girl? Would he worry more then?"

Natsumi says, "I'm sorry. I see you like my own child- I've raised you, and loved you, and done everything I can. I would give me life for you. I thought I could be a parent, but now I know, even though I tried my best, I'm not a mother, or a father. I can't be your parent. I can't do anything for you even if I try. I understand you need a parent, not a sister, even if I love you enough for every parent in the world combined. But you're just a kid. You need a parent and I can't be one. I'm so sorry." For the first time, Natsumi begins to cry, stunning both Yuri and Takeshi. This makes Yuri cry, and the two hug, as Yuri admits that she's grateful to Natsumi but she just felt upset her biological father didn't care. Suddenly, a voice calls out, "That's not true." It's their father, who was orchestrated by Takeshi to come, and is stunned and hugs Yuri, confessing that he always felt guilty because he never married Yuri's mother. "I loved Sango. I loved her so much, but when she died, I was broken. I couldn't give you the family I wanted for both of you. So I avoided the issue. I thought I wasn't fit to be a father. I'd done so terribly raising my first child that I didn't think I could do it right without Sango. I'm sorry." Yuri and her father embrace. Natsumi is hurt by her father's words - which confess he didn't love Natsumi's mother, and gave up on raising Natsumi - but hides it. Takeshi notices, and squeezes her arm.

It is decided that Yuri will live with her father Fridays and on weekends, and the two leave together. Yuri squeezes Natsumi goodbye and tearfully thanks her for being like a mother, and a wonderful sister. Takeshi offers to walk Natsumi home. She thanks him for what he did, and says it'll be lonely without her sister, but she's happy Yuri is okay. Natsumi laughs about eating junk food now since she doesn't have to cook for her sister often. Takeshi remembers her father's words, about not raising Natsumi, and how Natsumi always had to take care of herself and was essentially alone her whole life. He stops walking. After a long moment of silence, he asks, "Can I...take care of you?" Confused, she laughs, asking what he means. He earnestly tells her, "When you asked for my help today, I was happy. Will you let me help you from now on? Will you rely on me? You don't have to be alone anymore."