Tamayo's Journal: Of Underwear and Relationships
By me-chan
WARNING: If you have not seen, did not like, or do not want spoilers on volume 5 of Angelic Layer, you probably don't want to read this. This idea stemmed from the entire page 172 of my Angelic Layer Volume 5, translated into Chinese by Tohan Boy Comics Ace, and don't you dare e-mail me about reading it wrong because there's picture proof that cannot be refuted. And surely if the CLAMP ladies say it is so, it must be true. After all, they wrote it, drew it, and finalized the decision; the anime wasn't even written and drawn by CLAMP. If you think the pairing I chose (TamayOujirou- [giggle] my own invented name for the pairing) isn't true, don't tell me because I won't care (it's called FANfiction for a reason, after all); contact Apapa-sama, Ohkawa-sama, Igarashi-sama, Nekoi-sama, and their cats and see if they do.
DISCLAIMER: Believe me you, if I owned Angelic Layer, I wouldn't have authorized the making of that god-awful (my opinion) anime that made all the assumptions that caused the relationship facts to be wrong (I saw a really cute picture of Tamayo and Koutarou, and have come to terms with that one, but Misakichii and Oujirou-sama?). For the record though, I don't hold the ownership and publishing rights to Angelic Layer or any of the characters portrayed in aforementioned series. All I write is a work of fan fiction, which is FICTION written by a fan, and is illegal in no way, shape, or form according to the guidelines set out by CLAMP in regard to their works.
DISCLAIMER #2: "Not the rose, but next to the rose" is a phrase taken from L.M. Montgomery's Anne of the Island, and does not belong to me. "Let he who is free of sin be the first to cast the stone" is from the Bible, which also doesn't belong to me unless you count the copy of a King James on my bookshelf. My theory on Oujirou's theory about underwear, however, is entirely MINE because I've scoured the internet and have yet to find a fic based on the manga, so I am assuming very few people know about the sport of underwear-guessing.
A/N: You'll see many more of these scattered semi-randomly throughout the work. Umm, for right now, it's just to mention that Tamayo-chan, being a semi-demi-major character, didn't get many appearances during which she could actually speak her thoughts, so she might seem a little OOC here. She's definitely more decisive than I made her. Anyway, I thought that if Ogata-chan and Misakichii both got their own little spaces for their journals, why not Tamayo? One of the more stereotyped characters in the series. So this is just my little step into her thoughts.
Oh, and there is also a little list of definitions at the end of Entry#3 to help with the Japanese terms just in case.
ENTRY #1
It all started sometime last year, or maybe sometime before that, when a girl named Suzuhara Misaki first arrived and proceeded to get lost at Tokyo Station, where she watched an Angelic Fight, was accosted by a strange man in a white lab-coat who called himself Icchan, and went on to spend her savings on aiding the creation of a tiny thought-controlled robot known as an Angel.
Or maybe it started many years before that when a man named Mihara Ichirou turned a failed attempt to help a friend into a multi-million-dollar-making empire called Piffle Princess.
Depending on what "it" is to you.
To me, "it" is . . .
"It" is . . .
Actually, I have no idea what "it" is, and consequently can't make any inferences to when "it" all began.
But let me introduce myself first.
My name's Kizuki Tamayo, thirteen years old turning fourteen this April 17, Second Year Eriol Middle Academy, Class 2-D, douzo yoroshiku.
Kizuki's too distant-sounding. Calling me Tamayo's fine.
I always told Koutarou that in order to be with our darling Misakichii, he had to be able to beat me first. And though it may have seemed absolutely harmless whenever I said it, it was truly an act of pure malice, of selfishness: I knew that though Koutarou may have been stronger, and possibly more skilled than me, he was such a marshmallow, he'd never think to hurt a girl, regardless of whether or not she could defend herself adequately. In his mind, it was all in the mere thought of going against a girl; strength, power, and skill had nothing to do with it. Kind of sexist, but it was so old-fashioned, so quaint that it was cute and I loved him for it.
Of course, that did nothing to prevent me from practicing on him.
Actually, that was kind of setting him up for a fight. In my heart of hearts, I wanted him to beat me, to prove me wrong and finalize it, just so that my conscious mind would be happy that Misakichii and Koutarou-chan's relationship was legit according to the pact I made with Koutarou.
If you want to be with Misakichii, you first have to beat me. Then we'll talk about it!
In my quest to make him prove me wrong, to have him prove to me that he did deserve Misaki, I even tried to make a few risqué comments about Misakichii, comments that leaned more towards a yuri relationship than I was prone to. Of course, that's not saying that I was totally free of that sort of inclination. After all, who is entirely spotless in that sort of thing? Let he who is free of sin be the first to cast the stone. I believe that if love is blind and it can't see shape, size, or color, it definitely can't see gender.
Still, I don't tend to lean towards that sort of thing; I leave that sort of stuff to the manga and anime characters. But as we became closer friends, I found myself loving Misakichii like Koutarou did.
Okay, so maybe I didn't like her quite as much as Kou-chan did, or in quite the same way either, but I did love her and still do. She has and radiates such passion for living, is so very vibrant, so sweet, so innocent, so sincere, so absolutely adorable that who could resist? Certainly not I.
I of impulsive decisions, I of attacking everything at full speed ahead, I of vim and vigor, of spontaneity and thoughtlessness, I resist the sheer magnetism of Suzuhara Misaki? Hardly.
My love was more of a wish than anything else. She was everything I wanted, everything I wished for myself but destiny had not deigned for me to be. If not the rose, then at least I was next to the rose. I didn't realize this at first. Proof of this was
Seto Ringo.
She was so beautiful, in my eyes, the absolute epitome of the kawaii pop star she was. And she had it all: charisma, good looks, voice, popularity and fame, and to top it all off, she was an impressive Deus dominant in the world of Angelic Layer. I wished I could be like her, that if I had what she had, maybe Koutarou would notice me and acknowledge me as more than a friend.
But upon our second meeting, I discovered that she had one more thing, the one thing that made me withdraw: Seto Ringo had Doubt.
And that was one thing I despised.
Now don't get me wrong- Ringo and I occasionally bump into each other, and are on reasonably friendly terms, but I just don't feel a love for her as I do for Misakichii.
This is simply because Misaki didn't have Doubt- she trusted everyone wholeheartedly: some that probably no sane person would, such as Icchan, Oujirou, and myself; and trusted others that everyone else had all but lost faith in: Hikaru, her mother, anyone and everyone. But most of all, Misaki trusted herself. And that was what made her strong.
They say you can't love anyone if you don't love yourself. And don't they say the first step to building love begins with trust?
Well Misaki had that trust. She had that strength. And she knew how to love.
And love she did. Misaki loved life, she loved Angels, she loved everything there was to love. She loved Koutarou. And I could feel it.
I didn't want them together: I wanted them each for myself, for them to be devoted to me, and to me only. In that way, we could all be together, and there would be no leaving me out. I guess that's what I feared the most: being left out of what they had. I had spent too much time and effort on getting to know them to suddenly have it be whisked away. I'd heard of people who would rather leave their friends than leave their boyfriend or girlfriend. Of course, now that I consider it, it was quite ridiculous to think that way: Misaki could never do anything that malicious whether she wanted to or not, and Koutarou was the exact same way. They're perfect for each other, you know.
Or at least I think so. And my opinion's as valid as the next person's. (A/N: Tamayo-chan's words express my thoughts perfectly, so anyone who decides to oppose me on that matter can just read the sentence over until it it's understood.)
I've even acknowledged the fact that I didn't really love Koutarou romantically, which was the way I thought I loved him. Sometimes I would make him buy me food, or have him treat me to whatever event we were attending, just to give myself the illusion that he was doing it of his own free will. Of course he complained often enough about it, but he always did it anyway, simply because I was a girl. It was just his way. And he put up with it because I was his friend. I realize that now. In fact, I recognize what I feel for him is more of a platonic love than anything else, something more akin to the love of the brother I never had. It's hard being an only child.
Speaking of brotherly love, I've taken it upon myself to be Misakichii's self-acclaimed "big-brother", seeing as she doesn't have one of her own. Misakichii is too trusting of people, and sometimes, there are people out there who just aren't to be trusted. Any hentai out there that messes with my little Misakichii will find their face inexplicably magnetically-attracted to my foot.
I just want her to be happy, and have taken it upon myself to preserve her happiness. When my friends are happy, I'm happy as well, and believe me you, I like being happy. But sometimes- a very rare sometimes, mind you- I used to get a little sad just to see them so comfortable in each other's presences, to share those secret little glances that neither of them admits to doing. It reminded me that I didn't have someone like that and being your average, hormone-influenced teenage girl, I wanted one too. Badly.
So badly that I almost regretted my decision to let the two be.
But after Misakichii's big bout with the Angel Athena, I managed to find my own special niche: with a Deus named Mihara Oujirou.
ENTRY #2
I hadn't meant to fall in love with him, I hadn't meant for it to be anything special (A/N: I swear, the Japanese are supremely serious about osana najimi [childhood loves]. Ever seen X? Kotori and Kamui are prime examples). All I had wanted was to play reporter, to interview him, to know how he got his guesses for . . . for Misakichii's underwear. It shouldn't embarrass me so much to say it, especially considering how I usually act; but when I'm not screaming it out like it was some joke, it does.
But to pull aside a powerful Deus and ask it was more than enough to make me feel lightheaded with the blood that pounded to my brain. Let's not forget that this certain Deus was the possessor of the only male Angel (A/N: Have you noticed that Oujirou seems to be the only male Deus in the series?), younger brother of the creator of Angelic Layer, and the second most powerful Deus in the Angelic Layer world. And a pretty damn fine bishounen too, to put the icing and maraschino cherry on the proverbial cupcake.
But I wasn't the only embarrassed one either. Oujirou had quite a story to tell about it too.
Apparently- or the way Oujirou puts it, at least- the younger Mihara had never intended to guess at Misakichii's underwear color and pattern. Suzuhara Shuuko- Misakichii's mother- was the main reason Oujirou became interested in the "sport" in the first place. According to him, Shuuko-san wore the exact same ones as his guesses on those days and he speculated that Misaki, as Shuuko's daughter, followed in the exact same footsteps in everything from the way she acted to the path she took to becoming a champion at Angelic Layer, and the results would be identical. Of course they weren't, but it was quite notable of him to come up with the theory.
Supposedly, Shuuko-san, knowing he had quite an infatuation with her, told him right before each practice battle to throw him off. Pretty good tactic, I would think, and amazingly observant of ways to throw off hormonal teenaged boys. But this is Misakichii's kaasan that we're talking about. Suzuhara Shuuko, Deus of the Angel Athena, and possessor of one of the faintest hearts around. I mean, hello, this is the lady that keels over and falls unconscious whenever her own daughter hugs her.
This is the same Shuuko that reveals her underwear to her opponent? Uh-huh. Yeah right.
But he explained to me that this was also Suzuhara Shuuko, champion of Angelic Layer, and she hadn't gotten there simply because of Athena's trademark attack, the Light of Soul.
Of course, I have my doubts about Shuuko-san telling all her opponents what type of underwear she wore, but it's his story, not mine.
Even though his crush on Shuuko-san has ended already- he stopped when he realized that she loved his brother, Icchan, and vice versa, as he found out right before Misakichii's battle with her mother- that tradition between them has continued, more as a joke than anything else.
I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! That one time I was eavesdropping- I mean, when I accidentally overheard- his conversation with Misakichii after she and Hikaru beat Wizard, I knew I heard a sort of wistfulness in his voice when he mentioned Athena! I never would've thought that he had a crush on Shuuko-san; I always thought he was Koutarou-chan's rival for Misakichii's devotion. After all, what else is a person to think when he was always guessing here and there about Misakichii's tidy whities?
Or tidy whities with colored butterflies on them?
He was actually quite surprised to hear that I held the longstanding record on correct guesses for Misakichii's underwear. He wanted to know how I knew, but I really couldn't tell him how. It was just something obvious to me. I just knew. Just like you know unconsciously what underwear you yourself wear that day. Of course, sometimes I knew simply because I asked. This reason seemed to baffle him the most, so I told him that this was very rare. He seemed to accept it and left it at that.
He still guesses at Misakichii's and for the most part, he still gets it wrong in an almost-but-not-quite-correct way. Sometimes, he gives a guess or two at Koutarou-chan, but I set him straight. I've known Kou-chan since we were in diapers, and since he stopped using the disposables, he's always had the same kind: jockey shorts with his name, the little crown insignia of the Eriol academies, and the day of the week embroidered on the inside rim of the back. Occasionally, they might even have his address, age, birthday, or school and class sewn in, depending on which set he wore that week. The result of an unusual hobby of Koutarou's mother. I know she did the exact same thing to the front of Hatoko's camisoles too.
Hatoko's so cute that I'd just love to squeeze her. Unfortunately, that the last thing she wants anyone to do, so I comply with her wishes. Sometimes though, she'll let me hug her like she's some stuffed doll; after all, I've known her since she was no bigger than a stuffed doll- I'm allowed that right. She and I, we're partners in crime, especially when it's against Koutarou-chan, and it's been even more fun ever since Misakichii made her appearance in our lives. So of course it hurt when Koutarou didn't let me console her upon her loss to Sai and Shirahime. But I guess it's understandable, and Koutarou even sounded wise when he told me that my presence would be of no help to her.
Only one who has gone through the bitter taste of similar experiences will know what she is going through.
But I suppose it was a good thing that Hatoko-chan lost to Shirahime. Otherwise, Misakichii wouldn't have been able to grow in strength and experience. And she would have never had the chance to battle Wizard or tell Oujirou about her desire to battle Athena.
Oujirou still marvels at the entire chance-and-happenstance of it all: that the mother Misaki had never known was the inspiration that led to their fateful meeting. Sometimes he spends an eternity of our meetings trying to figure the probability of that happening, but we still haven't figured it out yet.
He ends each meeting with a guess about my own underwear color, but it's always wrong in the same way as Misakichii's- that is, the almost-but-not-quite-correct way- and I make sure to tell him so. Then to prove him wrong, I proudly state what color and pattern it really is. As we became closer friends, I'd sometimes give visual proof, but that was an occasion that ranked pretty rare to nonexistent. It was a game we played, and I found myself looking forward to that part of our meetings with great anticipation. Though it may have made it seem to any casual observer that we were both incurable hentai, in actuality, it was quite harmless, really.
Really.
Actually, it was a way to tell how well we knew each other. He had a theory that to fully know a person, it wasn't enough to know what they were thinking, like some sort of mental rapport. To truly know a person, one had to know them entirely, in every aspect, to know even their most unconscious thoughts. In his opinion, this most unconscious thought took form in the very hint and hue and design of one's underwear. When he wanted to know someone personally, he would accost him or her- usually a "her", he remarked- with the guess and wait for a result, watching for the effect it had on the person. He would then gauge their compatibility with him based on their reaction: facial expression, body posture, verbal response. The outcome was that you were labeled friend, foe, rival, or an intriguing possibility. With a friend like him, who needs those "How-well-do-you-friends-know-you?" self-help quizzes in fashion magazines?
He even went so far as to explain how compatible people were on certain days, merely based on their underwear. Sometimes he'd even do the fortune-telling underwear, basing how a person's day would be or had been on which pair had been randomly selected to be worn. Like it was some obscure form of astrology or something.
A little weird, but okay.
After all, this is one of the most powerful Deuses in the world. All geniuses are strange in one way or another. It comes in the job description.
I guess it runs in the family too. I mean, think about it: his older brother may be the creator of Angelic Layer, but the exact same guy runs around in a white lab coat and glasses. (A/N: I think it's hilarious that people think Icchan's a pervert because he runs around wearing a white lab coat and glasses) How normal can your family be if your oniisan does that?
It kind of disappoints me that he gets it wrong so often, though. I guess we still don't know each other well enough yet, then.
Once, he actually got it right, but he then proceeded to confess that he'd seen them on accident when I was running. Koutarou and his family were out of town for that week and I hadn't expected to get any practice because of it, so I left the ever-present bike shorts I wore at home- there was really no point in wearing them if I wasn't going to pull any moves that might have shown them. I found myself strangely disappointed that he didn't know me well enough to correctly deduce the color and pattern of my underwear. Well, at least he was being truthful about it: I don't think I could stand to be in a false relationship with anybody, which is why I wanted so badly for Koutarou to just beat me up and get it over with.
Still, just one day, I'd like for Oujirou to be able to know what color and design are on my underwear, instead of always trying to guess.
At least he's getting closer. On his first try, he guessed navy blue with the Eriol Academy crown pattern. I couldn't possibly seem that boring to him, could I? The Angelic Layer logo on a light pink ground. One of my favorites.
A week later from him, the suggestion of daisy-sprinkled green. Nope, pale yellow with white feathers. Not even close.
And so it went. Pale blue with ruffles guessed, white with pink sakura worn. Blue stripes on white offered, Angelic Layer's Angel egg over purple on.
Et cetera.
And as time went on, the guesses started to get closer to what I was actually wearing. Okay, so bright green clovers on pink is no where near the pink hearts on white that he guessed, but at least he got one of the colors right.
But he was improving. Once, he guessed Suppi-chan on white, and I had Kero-chan on blue. He was getting better: the characters were at least of the same anime/manga series.
Then it started getting scary. Mokona-on-red was guessed Mokona-on-blue, and Mokona-on-blue was guessed Mokona-on-green. And so on.
Of course, the way I put it, you'd think that we don't talk about anything else and are a pair of incurable hentai, but that's not true. Oujirou's quite the expert on everything about Angelic Layer. I guess it helps that he's one of the biggest celebrities in that field, and being the younger brother of the person who developed the technology doesn't hurt either.
Speaking of Icchan, Oujirou and I often see him trying to spy on us whenever we go out together. Apparently, Icchan still feels the need to protect his otoutochan even though he denies it most vehemently. He gives us the third-degree on every single one of our "dates" which he still doesn't believe are entirely harmless.
Of course, we can't just tell him that it's of the utmost importance that we go out alone- meaning without Koutarou and Misakichii- since it wouldn't do to talk about Misaki's underwear in front of either of the two: their heads would explode.
So we just put up with it.
It's not easy to find him either, especially since he's such a master in the art of foliage-espionage, but since we always see Ogata-chan's badly-hidden head, we know Icchan's close by. It also helps that Oujirou has a knack to discovering his brother's hiding places. This is especially helpful when he notes that Icchan is in a tree, particularly since aforementioned-oniisan has a penchant for shooting out upside-down from the lower limbs.
Let me tell you, it's not a good thing to startle me from a tree. I stay away from the trees in the park now and poor Icchan complained of a sore neck for weeks afterwards.
Then again, I think his complaining was merely taking advantage of the fact that he had Ogata-chan, Shuuko-san, and Misakichii on hand at all times to cater to his every whim. But I think he got restless when he found that he couldn't escape to pop up on Misakichii or spy on Oujirou and I- Ogata has got to be one of the worst spies ever- if he had everyone fussing over him constantly.
Of course, getting back to those usual activities meant getting back to work, and if Oujirou didn't assure me that Icchan actually adores his work, I'd think that Icchan's grousing was really sincere. But Icchan really loves his work, and I love his work as well.
Which brings me to the subject of Oujirou still not being able to grasp the concept of why I don't get my own Angel, seeing as I love Angelic Layer so much. I can't help it if I'd feel jealous of the Angel since it would be the one with all the action-packed moves while I'd have to sit stock still so as not to clue in more advanced Deuses such as Hatoko-chan of my motives. Plus the fact that I'm excitable enough in the stands, much less in the little egg-chairs. I think that if I were to battle in one of those, I'd fall out from jumping up and around too much.
Besides that, I don't feel it'd be quite fair, the Angel getting all the practice while I let my joints become rusty with lack of exercise and training. No thank you. I'd much rather be in on the action myself than to let some mind-controlled robot have all the fun.
But for those who don't have the body or the skill to do the moves in real life- such as Misakichii, whose normal coordination is just a little under that of the average person's- the idea is phenomenal: I still get to watch astounding moves and incredible fights. And no one gets hurt.
Which is a good thing, especially considering that there are people like Misakichii in the world, people who can't even stand to see robots hurt, much less humans.
She still thinks I'm hurting Koutarou whenever I attack him, but I know he's just faking it.
Although I'd really like to know how he manages to force that choked purple color on command. Some people are just talented like that, I guess.
I still jump Kou-chan occasionally, just to keep myself in practice- after all, practice makes perfect- and to make sure he's always prepared. I can't keep on helping and favoring him like this forever, you know. After all, not all his challengers will go as easy on him as I do.
But my attacks on Koutarou-chan have become increasingly less frequent ever since I realized I didn't need him to prove to me that he didn't like me in that sort of way. And you know what? I'm okay with that. Because now I've got Oujirou and if that isn't enough . . .
ENTRY #3
We met today at the park and a thorough search of the park revealed neither hide not hair of either Icchan or Ogata, or anyone else we knew, for the matter. That is, unless you count, of course, that strange little kimonoed girl that we always saw sitting in trees playing her flute. (A/N: Keeping up with CLAMP tradition: having as many crossovers as possible. Nagisa from CCD, anyone?) But we didn't really know her anyway, so technically, she didn't count.
We were supposed to be doing something that was somehow related to ghosts and death, but I don't remember too well what it was. I think I have a flyer on it somewhere; I know brought it to the park with me when I went, but I have no idea whether or not I brought it back. It doesn't matter anyway. I don't think we ended up doing whatever it was that we planned to do anyhow.
He came up and smiled at me with that smile that seemed to make all the girls at Angel competitions swoon. It was his trademark "Posterboy of Angst" smile, you know, the melancholy, tiny, oh-so-unsure one reflective of the dismal times they've been through. Every official bishounen has one. I think he may have a copyright on his as well.
He only said on thing: "Fluffy white sheep on sky blue. Plain."
Oh.
Kami.
Sama.
I think I may have looked like a fish.
And for the first time in my life, I saw him smile wholeheartedly. No wistful, little smile, no calm "all-knowing" smile, which was merely a slight upturning of the mouth, but a real, sincere, truly happy one empty of all longing and regret, one that actually reached his eyes this time.
"You know, I think I may have to get a copyright on this one too. You'll be seeing it more often, after all."
Wait.
Did he just read-
"Yes."
-my mind?
He smiled.
I smiled.
Hell, we even began to laugh, and I've determined that his chuckle is definitely one of my favorite things to hear. Even tops "Hikaru WINS!" on my list.
I had reached it. We had reached it. That final, total, absolute understanding of each other. The kind that brought on true happiness. We'd finally done it.
This was Success.
End.
douzo yoroshiku: pleased to meet you/make your acquaintance; I hope we have many experiences together, etc.
yuri: girl/girl relationship
kawaii: cute/adorable/loveable
hentai: pervert
bishounen: a beautiful male
kaasan: mother
oniisan: older brother
otoutochan: little brother
Kami-sama: the Japanese version of "God"
And now, time for my Rent-a-Muse™ to put in a word:
Today's Rent-a-Muse™ is . . . Masaharu Ogata?
Ogata-chan? What are you doing here? I thought I requested Yama-sama from Digimon . . . stupid paperwork people, always get things wrong . . .
Yamato-san is in your other work. The poem (Live to) Regret.
[grinning] Ah yes, shameless self-promotion. Just like the Japanese. I've got you now Ishida, think you can hide from me in there . . . I'll go find him later. Meanwhile, how come I have you? After all, I know how busy you are with errands . . .
I stumbled into your brain during Mrs. Simpson's class about a month and a half ago, remember?
Oh yeah . . . something about Icchan wanting to know what his otoutochan was up to or something. [sheepish grin]
It's my responsibility as your Rent-a-Muse™ to stay with you until type it all out. So I had to sit all that time in your mind. You have some very interesting alter-egos in there, you know- [loud coughing cuts him off]
Right, *anyway*, sorry it took so long to dig it back up, though- you know how lazy I can get about typing things out. Tell Icchan to make me a computer that types down any stories I think of. And don't come back with any excuses from him- if the guy can invent super-speedy robots like Suzuka and Hikaru that move just as quickly as the Deus's thoughts, he can definitely make me a thought-computer thingie.
[Ogata-chan cringing] Go to confront Icchan? I'm still wanted on his To Kill list, though . . .
Oh, that's right . . . [nervous chuckle] Eh, sorry I kept you from your errands for so long. ^_^;; Umm, how about I make it up to you by telling you to forget what I said about asking Icchan to make that telepathic-computer thing, okay? Now get back to work or Icchan will really kill you this time.
This time? He's been threatening to kill me *every* time . . .
It's already past lunchtime, and if you don't get him his Piffle Princess Cup Noodles, *he'll* die, and his ghost will come back and haunt you!
[Ogata-chan runs for the hills]
Darn it- didn't get to use the Closet this time. Oh well. It's still empty- I'll force Yama-sama into it instead. [shrug] But on to more important matters. Today's Squishable™ is . . . the fluffy CLAMP sheep plushie! (every CLAMP fan should have seen this at least once- it's the ones in the machine Icchan pops out of in AL manga #1, Battle 4! It also makes a guest appearance in CardCaptor Sakura! Sakura gets buried in them in the Dark and Light Cards episode. I think it was that episode)
[glomps the 100% wool sheep] "Squishie!!!"