There are days when Nandaba Naota misses the robots growing out of his head. He'll never admit it, but sometimes, he pauses when he takes out the trash to look up at the night sky. Late, when he's supposed to be sleeping, he thinks he can hear bass chords. Most of time, it's just the wind.

It's getting harder to remember if it was all a dream or real. His father doesn't talk about it, just laughs while elbowing his son and asking about perverted things that he actually understands now. His grandpa rolls his eyes, before muttering about the lack of work that's being done around the house.

He thinks about Mamimi sometimes. He thinks about the times she kissed him under the bridge. Naota remembers how much he hated it then, and he thinks about how lonely it is without her.

And (this part he tries not to think about) he's starting to notice that he isn't getting many letters in the mail anymore.

There will be an occasion, when he's walking to school alone that he expects Haruko-san to pull up on her Vespa, and entice him with bad ramen and dangerous speeds by the coast. He misses that feeling of having nothing in his head, and the wind blowing his hair back.

He's starting to get the hang of the hyper flight Vespa, his fingernails don't get ripped off as often. His fingers hardly hurt, with all the calluses and blisters. Sometimes, late at night, he thinks about the kiss Superior Raharu gave him, and he thinks about how her bunny ears tickled his face. Then, for the sake of cleanliness, he stops, rolls over and goes to sleep.

However, and this he will admit, most of the time he's glad that he doesn't have to worry about being hit by a guitar or eaten by robots. Even though he's starting to have trouble with recalling all the details, he's glad that he can think with wrinkles. Thinking smooth isn't worth it.

end

I don't own FLCL... and I'm not sure where this came from. I'd like to think I kept it a little in the style of the anime, but I'm not sure. Thanks to Kurama'sFanGirl24, because she pointed out the fact that Mamimi left... I haven't seen the show in ages, so I forgot that detail. Thank you!

The part about the Vespa is taken from the manga, not the anime. So, don't go calling me on that... I have the book right next to my keyboard to prove it.