The difference
"Okay, Hikari." Enzan said firmly, slapping his hands down on the table in front of him. "I have noticed that you can't tell the difference between your teacher and her evil twin sister, which is simply pathetic, since it's so painfully obvious to tell which one's which. Now… wake up Hikari!" The young Ijuuin yelled, noticing that Netto was asleep.
"Huh…?" The brown-haired boy raised his head from the wood, staring back at Enzan. "Were you saying something…?"
Enzan sighed in aggravation. "Listen. I'm going to teach you how to tell the difference between Mariko-sensei and Yuriko."
Netto blinked. "But Enzan, that's easy! Yuriko always has her hair down. Besides, I don't think I've ever seen Mariko-sensei wear a trench coat…"
"Not then! When she's dressed up as Mariko-sensei!"
Netto blinked once again. "Why would Mariko-sensei dress up as herself…?"
"No, not her, Yuriko!"
Netto Hikari stared blankly at Enzan. It was completely silent in the small room, until Netto said. "Mariko-sensei dresses up as Yuriko…?"
"Augh!" The eggshell-boy started slamming his head against the wall in frustration. Once he was finished, he slumped into his chair, glaring at Netto.
"You might not want to do that Enzan, it looks like it might hurt."
"Listen," Enzan growled, ignoring Netto's comment. "I'm going to teach you how to tell the difference between the real Mariko-sensei, and Yuriko when she's pretending to be Mariko. Got it?"
"Um…" Netto glanced at his PET, and with Rockman's coaching, he nodded. "Sure thing Enzan! Is that all? Can I go now?"
"No! We've just started!"
"Aww…" Netto whined, then leaned back in his chair, placing his shoes on the wooden table. A vein on Enzan's forehead twitched, but he resigned himself to the fact that this was Netto he took on the overwhelming responsibility to teach, and this was the best he could expect.
"Very well," Enzan sighed, then pressed a button and two pictures appeared side by side on the screen. On the left was Mariko-sensei's face, and on the right was Yuriko's. "Now, Netto. Look at these two pictures."
Netto peered at the pictures before Enzan got the chance to continue, and the brown-haired boy's eyes bugged out. "Mariko-sensei cloned herself!"
Enzan took this time to bang his head against the wall once again.
"If you keep doing that, you might create a dent, Enzan-sama." Blues piped up. Enzan sighed, and sat back down.
"No, Hikari, these are both pictures."
Netto blinked. "You have two pictures of Mariko-sensei up there… why? Are you playing a prank on me?"
"No! One of them is Yuriko!"
"They look the same to me, Enzan-kun." Rockman spoke up for the first time. Enzan stared at him flatly, wondering if Netto's stupidity was contagious and had spread to Rockman. However…
"Enzan-sama, are you sure you didn't accidentally put the same picture up there twice?" A voice came from his hip, and Enzan looked down in disbelief, then turned back to the screen. No, the one on the right was definitely Yuriko. What was wrong with everyone? It wasn't like they were identical; their hair was obviously different, as was their lipstick!
Taking a deep breath, as he really didn't prefer slamming his head against the wall to calm himself (Netto was right— it hurts), Enzan decided he'd have to take this slower. This was Netto, proclaimed King of Denseness (He didn't proclaim him as such, but Netto's friends did, and Enzan had to agree, especially when Netto took it as a compliment.) that he was attempting to teach, he reminded himself again.
"Okay, Netto," Enzan slowed down, emphasizing his words. "I am going to show you a picture of what Yuriko looks like normally, then what she looks like dressed like Mariko-sensei. I want you to tell me the difference between them, okay?"
Netto's face was blank for a second, then he slowly nodded his head.
Enzan groaned, but continued on, putting the two pictures up. "Okay, tell me the differences between the two pictures."
Netto's face lit up. This one was easy! "The left one's Yuriko and the right one's Mariko-sensei!"
"No! They're both Yuriko!"
"Nuh-uh! That one's Mariko-sensei!" Netto pointed to the picture on the right (which was, actually, Yuriko disguised as Mariko).
"Netto…" Enzan growled dangerous.
Netto shot out of his chair and gave Enzan a matching stare. "Don't you think I know what my own teacher looks like?"
"Well, I would have hoped you would, but obviously you can't!" Lightning bolts passed between the human's locked eyes, and both navis sweatdropped. Enzan broke the conflict first, turning away with a "hmph."
"Fine. First just… point out some things about Yuriko."
"She's a woman."
"Okay, and…?"
"And?"
A vein on Enzan's forehead twitched. "That's her only defining characteristic?"
"Well, no!" Netto said, obviously flustered. "I mean, she's evil and—"
"I meant appearance-wise."
"Um…" Netto peered at Yuriko's profile. "Her… hair is brown?"
Enzan hit himself on the forehead, wincing as he realized he slapped the place where he had been hitting his head earlier.
"Anything else?"
"Um… her lips are purple."
"…That's lipstick, Netto…"
"…Oh. What's that?"
Enzan sighed. "Never mind… but we'll start with that. What color are Mariko-sensei's lips?"
"How should I know?" Netto asked, throwing his arms into the air in exasperation. "I'm not a pervert! And even if I was she's my… teacher…" Netto lowered his arms and gave Enzan an odd look.
Enzan raised an eyebrow at this. "What is it?"
"How would you know? Are you a pervert, Enzan-kun?" Netto gasped. "You are, aren't you! I'm a partner with a pervert, and he's trying to teach me in his perverted ways! That's what this whole meeting is about, isn't it?!" Netto pointed his finger exaggeratedly at Enzan.
Enzan twitched. Netto's arm stayed pointed at him. Enzan twitched once more, as did a vein on his forehead. Then…
"NETTOOOO!!"
"What?"
"I am not a pervert! Just because I observe my surroundings does not make me a pervert!"
"Why not? No normal person does that!"
"…"
"Well, I don't, anyway." Netto mumbled.
"Exactly."
"Huh?"
"Just because you don't do something doesn't make it abnormal."
"Oh, you mean I'm special?"
Enzan blinked, then raised a hand to his mouth, pretending to cough to disguise his laughter. "That's precisely it, Hikari. You're very special."
"Yay! I knew it." Netto grinned.
Yes, he definitely deserved his title.
"Anyway, back to the purpose at hand— teaching you how to tell the difference between Mariko-sensei and Yuriko."
"Aww, I was hoping you had forgotten." Netto whined, slouching back into his seat. "Why do I need to know this anyway?"
"Because, if you are fooled again, it could allow Nebula the chance to do something that could then cause them to completely destroy life as we know it."
Netto blinked. "Wait— there's an actual reason you're doing this?"
Enzan sighed. "Why would I try to teach you something like this without a reason for doing so?"
"Um…" Netto rubbed the back of his head. "You were bored?"
"Augh!" Enzan yelled. He glanced at the wall, then turned back to Netto.
"I'll show you their pictures again. Now, what is the biggest difference between their two pictures?"
"Um…" Netto peered at the screen intently. "Um, the lip thing you mentioned?"
Enzan rubbed his forehead. "Look at their hair."
"Enzan, their hair is both brown."
"Not the color, the style."
Netto concentrated hard, but shook his head. "I can't tell the difference."
"Listen, I'll say it in a way you can understand; Mariko's hair looks like cinnamon rolls. Yuriko's hair looks like croissants. Got it?"
"Enzan, you're making me hungry…" Netto griped.
Blues shook his head. "Did you skip breakfast again this morning, Enzan-sama?"
Enzan let out a bloodcurdling yell. Netto jumped; something about Enzan's eyes made him think the dual-haired boy was going to try and strangle something, most likely him. However, Enzan just slammed his forehead against the wall again, harder than ever before and half-muttering half-yelling things while doing so.
Netto blinked. "Does he do this often?" He asked Blues, as Enzan was still preoccupied.
Blues sighed. "More often then you'd expect…"
Authors Notes: That was fun. -smile- So yeah, this takes place during Axess, before Blues turns into Dark Blues but after some things with Yuriko happen. Yes, I know they don't know Yuriko is Mariko's twin at that point. I call it "creative license". -smile-
This was mostly poking fun at how easily all the characters are fooled by Yuriko's disguise, even though it's pretty pitiful. (Not just how easily Netto's fooled by it.)
Two more things, the choice to write this was made by listening to Cascada's "Miracle", which is something I suggest never doing if you are planning on writing angsty stuff. (Or any of Cascada's songs, for that matter.) And, of course, all the four fics I was working on were angsty. The other thing is, (even though I'm still listening to "Miracle"), I've been working on Shinigami's Angel, and it's almost done! (Er, the next chapter, not the whole story -sweatdrop-) Unfortunately, this chapter will be a little shorter than normal, but the next two are gonna be extra-long.