The Last Leaves Falling (27 page)

61

It is Monday, less than twenty-four hours since I saw my friends, but I miss them already. As I wait for them to finish with their days and reappear online, I imagine us walking through school hallways side by side, sharing jokes, swapping notes. My chair wouldn’t matter. Nothing would. It would be so obvious that I belonged there with them that nobody would bat an eye.

I wish.

At least we have the Internet. And today, Mai cheers me up the second she appears.

Hiiiii! Before we do anything else, I just want to say . . .

You guys are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. <3 <3 <3 (-:

:-) Me too.

HI GUYS! DID I MISS ANYTHING? SORRY I’M LATE, I WAS AT A CLUB MEETING!

You’re not late.

What club?

I JOINED THE COMPUTER CLUB! :D

Oooh, look at you, Mister Programmer.

I KNOW! THE SOCIETY OF GAMERS KICKED ME OUT, SO I NEEDED TO FIND ANOTHER CLUB.

Ah, I’m sorry.

I’M NOT. THEY’RE RIGHT. I HAVEN’T BEEN PLAYING MUCH. AND THERE’S NO POINT BEING THERE IF I CAN’T ARGUE ABOUT NEW RELEASES OR BEAT THEIR SCORES.

Haha, okay. So. They kicked you out and you joined Computer Club instead?

YEP.

How was it?

I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE TERRIBLE. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FULL OF AWKWARD NERDS AND NOBODY WOULD TALK TO ME AND THEY’D ALL THINK I WAS DUMB.

hehehe

WHAT? O_
O

Well, it’s just . . .

You ARE kind of a nerd, K. <3

YEAH, BUT THESE ARE SERIOUS NERDS. NERDS WITH QUALIFICATIONS. THEY CAN DO STUFF. BUT THEY’RE SO COOL! AND NONE OF THEM MINDED THAT I’M ONLY A BEGINNER. AND THEY’RE GOING TO SHOW ME HOW TO MAKE BETTER THINGS!

That’s brilliant!

ANYWAY, MAI’S RIGHT. IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU BOTH, I WOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT TO GO IN THERE. NEVER HAD THE CONFIDENCE TO EITHER.

Awwww ^_^ <3

That’s great, Kai.

YEAH :D :D :D

OH, ALSO . . . LOOK:

USERNAME

TAGLINE

AGE

GENDER

INTERESTS

I THOUGHT IT WAS TIME TO LET THE WORLD KNOW WHO I AM.

62

To: S . . .

From: O_K_H@ . . .

Subject: I AM S E NDIN G YOU THIS MESSAGE SITTING in the hAllway wearing my pajamas. Not even dressed! I HOPEYOUA re well.

Ojiisan/.

To: O_K_H@ . . .

From: S . . .

Subject: Your first reply!

Dear Ojiisan!

You did it! I’m e-mailing you from my room. I’m not in my pajamas, though. You win.

Now that you’ve figured out how to e-mail, we can take over the world much faster. Brilliant!

Sora

P.S. Have you tried the mah-jongg yet?

To: S . . .

From O_K_H@ . . .

Subject: MAH-JONGG

WOW! SO FAST! I THINK MAYBE THESE ELECTRONIC MAILS ARE ACTUALLY CARRIED BY RAIJIN. THEY ARE QUICKER THAN LIGHTNING!

AND YES BUT YOUR GRANDMOTHER KEEPS YELLING THAT THE COMPUTER DOES NOT KNOW ALL THE RULES AND THAT IT’S CHEATING IN MY FAVOR. SHE’S JUST JEALOS BECAUSE I ALWAYS WIN.

OJIISAN

“Hey, Mama, Ojiisan’s entered the twenty-first century!”

“What?”

“It’s true, look.” I pull up the e-mails on my phone and hold them out to her.

“Oh
my
! Your grandfather? On a computer? On the
Internet
? Do you realize what you’ve done, Sora? The world’s a thousand times less safe than it was yesterday!” But beneath the shock and horror, I think that’s a grin.

“Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Sure, if you like your in-box filled with questions about the air pollution and whether you’ve asked for a raise yet.”

“It’s okay, I told him how to search, too. He can find at least half of it out himself. He’ll never have to ask you!”

She smirks. “Did I ever tell you about the time your grandfather took out the whole street’s electricity?”

“No!”

“Oh yes. He bought a new electric saw for his shed. It was fast and shiny and it
whirred
when you switched it on. Absolutely lethal. But your grandfather loved the idea that he could do six times as many projects for the same amount of time . . . but that wasn’t enough. He found out a way to make it
faster
.”

“Eeee!”

“Exactly. So he tinkered, and it
was
faster, but when applied to actual wood, when it had to
cut
things . . . it exploded. Took out the power for a week.”

Whoa.

She sighs. “This is going to be like that. He’ll probably break the
Internet
.”

Is she joking? I can’t tell.

“Oh, and Sora? I am fielding any and all tech queries to you.”