Marmalade Mercury: Ep 1a

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	*_* MARMALADE MERCURY *_* EP 1a: TROUBLE BEGINS... A VISIT FROM OVERSEAS <opening theme>

"What? A Canadian exchange student?" Ami inquired, startled.

"You're sure I didn't tell you?" her mom wondered. Ami shook her head. Mrs. Mizuno sighed. "I'm sorry dear, I guess it slipped my mind because of the big medical conference I've been organizing," she explained.

Ami rested her head in her hands from where she sat at the kitchen table. Her mother wasn't usually this forgetful about such important events. She must be too deeply engrossed in her work. Ami paused and made a face. Then again, she herself became too involved in studies sometimes. She looked back up at her mother. "So what exactly is the whole story here?" she asked.

"Well, your father was in Canada last month on a trip," she began. "He was asked to do some paintings of the Capital region, and while he was there he made friends with this woman. Turns out she has a son who was looking to further his studies abroad, but was having trouble finding a place to live here in Japan. So your father called to see if we still had that guest room and asked if we had any objections to housing someone for a couple of months.

"With housing costs in the area these days, I figured it would be all right if he stayed here for a while… and I've always been willing to support educational ventures," Ami's mother continued. "So I told your father I'd bring it up with you and call back if there were any problems. You weren't home that night and I guess it's since slipped my mind… I'm really sorry but it's really too late to back out now, he'll be arriving next week."

"No, no, that's all right," Ami said, pressing her hands to her temples as she tried to assimilate all of this. "What do you know about him?" she inquired.

"Sorry, not much," her mother admitted. "His name's Greg… your father said he seemed like a nice, well behaved individual… I think he's just a little older than you actually."

Ami nodded absentmindedly. Actually, she now remembered her father mentioning something about meeting a woman on a trip abroad in his last letter. If she remembered, he'd mentioned her son too; Ami hadn't been quite sure what to make of it at the time, but now she knew. She'd have to find that letter again to check…

"Anyway," her mother continued. "As I was saying, we need to make up the guest bedroom for him… if you have some free time…"

Ami nodded again. "I'll get to it," she said, as she tried to sort though the confusion in her mind. Pushing herself away from the table, she stood up. "I'll be in my room for now if you need me," she concluded. Her mother nodded.

Ami walked up to her room, thoughts whirling through her head. 'A guy staying in the same house as me??' she contemplated. This was something she hadn't planned on worrying about until she was married. Ami paused and shook her head to clear it.

'What made me think that thought?' she wondered. 'This is just a friend of the family, staying over. Like how Yuuichiro stays at Rei's temple. Of course,' Ami admitted, 'the temple is a larger place. What weird twist of fate has brought him to my house?? If people find out, they might talk… but could this sort of thing be kept a secret? Should it be kept a secret?'

"My head hurts…" Ami moaned. She found her father's last letter and reread it, but didn't learn anything new that was of great importance. The guy was apparently a pretty good student… her father thought they might get along… but overall this Greg just seemed to be an average person. At least, on paper.

Ami sighed. Well, her father was a pretty good judge of character. She wouldn't worry about it now; maybe working a bit further ahead in her studies help would clear her head. She paused as she pulled out her mathematics text. No real reason to tell anyone yet either, she decided. Anything could happen in a week.

*****

Yet the week passed with no incident. The situation was still the same the following Saturday night.

Ami walked back and forth in front of the TV in her room. She knew there was no real reason to pace, but for some reason she just felt nervous about the guy arriving. Call it instinct, call it intuition, call it whatever you want, she just felt nervous, so she was pacing.

The whole thing still seemed sort of surreal… like it wasn't really happening. Maybe if she just ignored the situation… suddenly the phone rang downstairs and she jumped. Leaving her room, she walked downstairs to see what was going on. She got down just as her mother hung up the phone.

"I'm afraid I have to hurry to the hospital," her mother said.

"Now???" Ami gasped, a little louder than she'd intended.

"I'm sorry, but something's come up… I shouldn't be gone long. But please greet our guest if I'm not back before he arrives," she added as she put on her jacket.

"Um… okay," Ami acknowledged, as her mother waved good-bye. Ami stood behind the closed front door, head spinning. It was as if things had been going too well for her recently, and the world had suddenly decided to throw a bunch of curve balls at her. Had she done something to deserve this?

The doorbell abruptly rang and Ami moved to open the door. "Did you forget someth--," she began, but her voice trailed off as she realized it was no longer her mother on the other side of the door.

It was a guy, slightly taller than her, with brown hair. Ami felt her heart hammering in her chest as she processed this. Despite the week of preparation, she still hadn't really been ready for him… 'Say something!' her mind finally shouted at her.

"H-h-hi," she managed to get out.

The guy blinked back at her. He paused and took a deep breath. "Ummmm…. is this the Mizuno residence?" he finally got out.

Ami nodded. "Er, I'm Ami," she clarified, offering her hand. "Pleased to meet you," she added.

He took her hand carefully, as if afraid it would abruptly disappear. "Greg," he finally introduced himself, shaking enthusiastically. "And believe me, the pleasure is mine." Greg beamed at her with a wide smile.

Ami felt as if she was about to blush, and hastily changed the subject. "I'll help you with your things," she offered.

"Thanks, it's okay," Greg replied, picking up his suitcases. "Just show me where I can leave them."

"Your room's up here on the right," Ami indicated as she shut the door behind him and led the way up a short staircase. "Bathroom's just down the hall." She watched as Greg went into his room and dropped his luggage.

"Nice," Greg commented. He turned. "Which is your room?" he asked.

"Uh, second door on the left," Ami said, forcing herself not to react with embarrassment what was, she supposed, a rather reasonable question. Greg nodded, continuing to look at her. Ami began to feel somewhat flustered again.

"Er, have you had anything to eat?" she asked. "Airline food isn't all that good, I could make something if you want…," she offered.

"You cook?" Greg asked, surprised.

"Of course," Ami replied. "Why wouldn't I?"

Greg shrugged. "No reason. You just didn't seem like the cooking type," he responded.

"Well, my mother isn't always home when I am… and she goes away to medical conferences too," Ami explained. "So I've learned some tricks. Of course, it's probably nothing as good as one of my friends, Makoto, can do but…" Ami shrugged. "I get by."

"You mom away right now?" Greg mused.

"Oh… yes, something came up at the hospital where she works. She should be back shortly though," Ami added.

"Does your father stay here too?"

Ami paused. "They're divorced…," she finally said.

Greg winced. "Oops… sorry… he never told me that," he apologized. "I didn't realize…"

"Don't worry about it," Ami said, shaking her head. "It was a couple of years ago… I've gotten over it. Besides, my father still sends me letters and things."

Greg nodded. "Hm… hope he hasn't been spreading any rumors about me in them," he commented.

"Nothing we can't deal with," Ami quipped.

Greg raised an eyebrow and Ami blushed as she realized what she'd said. He smiled. "You're cute when you do that," he teased back.

Ami felt herself growing even more red as he turned away to look at his luggage.

"Well, I think I'm okay for now… I need to get unpacked anyway," he said.

Ami nodded. "Okay, well, just tell me if you need anything then…," she responded as she backed out of the room. Back in her own room she closed the door and sank to the floor behind it.

'I don't believe this,' she thought. 'I almost felt comfortable with him back there… the situation is too weird for me to be feeling like that. I can't be so accepting.' Ami paused in her thoughts. 'Still, he seemed nice… and was sort of good looking… and none of this is his fault, after all. And it has been a while since I've felt that comfortable around a guy; not since Urawa…'

"No, best not to remember that…," she whispered, breaking her train of thought.

Ami stood up with a sigh and went over to her desk. Perhaps some studying would take her mind off of this crazy situation. Studying always tended to help.

<commercial break; Ami, Greg and Urawa skating, they trip over Ami's computer>