Author Foreword
This is a story reboot. There is another story called Love Hina: Distress! on my profile. I recommend not reading it, but it is there if you want to. It was a lame attempt at the idea of Keitaro being a girl instead of a guy; however, the story was a carbon copy of the original. The reactions of the girls didn't make sense.
In this story, the female Keitaro is named Kokoro. Keiko was uninspired and cheap for a female name, so I put a lot of thought into an appropriate name for her. Kokoro means "heart" in Japanese and I thought this name fit her so much better. She is a girl looking for love, after all. Also, don't go into this story expecting her to have the same personality because she doesn't. In that, she actually has a personality unlike Keitaro.
That said, please enjoy the story.
Dear Diary,
You're my new diary, so let me introduce myself! My name is Urashima Kokoro. I'm a nineteen-year-old ronin; unfortunately, despite getting really high scores on the mock exams. If my chances of getting into Toudai are one hundred percent, then why do I keep failing? It's because I'm a terrible test-taker. I get so nervous that I freeze. I got so frozen on my last test that I forgot to even fill out any of the questions!
That's only my recent history. In my 19 years of life, I have never been on a date or fallen in love. Not that it matters because not a single guy has ever looked in my general direction. There aren't that many guys that are interested in nerdy girls like me. Not only do I study a lot, but I love to draw. In fact, the way I earn spending money is drawing doujinshi; however, such a small amount of money can't support me, so I still lived with my parents.
I stress lived because my parents just threw me out. They wanted me to try to get into a different school. An art school, maybe? They know I'm a good artist, so they think that going to an art school makes more sense. I never argued about this, either, because they're right. It makes the most logical sense for me to go to a school that I have talent in; however, they don't know the reason I'm striving so hard for Toudai. It's because of a girl. I know that's strange because I'm also a girl, but we promised each other fifteen years ago that we would go to Toudai together. The reason why is pretty simple: she was my only friend. I've never had any other friends in my life, so I'm desperate to meet her again.
I'm back in Hinata, where this all began. I'm hoping that my grandmother will be willing to take me in at least until I find a better way of making money. Oh, Grandma Hina, I hope you're not too disappointed in your granddaughter.
Kokoro looked up from her diary and found that the bus was nearly there. She tossed the book into her khaki shoulder bag and waited for the bus to come to a stop. She was wearing an ordinary t-shirt and khaki shorts. This outfit, like all of her outfits, were not really complimenting to her features. It was something that she rarely thought of and it showed. Her glasses covered a lot of her face. Due to this, people were always shocked when they saw her without them on because she was actually fairly attractive. Her black hair was long and shiny and it fell down to her back as she stood up as the bus squealed to a stop and hissed.
As Kokoro stepped off the bus, she took a few moments to look around and admire the architecture. She has lived in the city most of her life, so she did not get to see such fine structures very often. She nodded and pulled a handheld camera out of her bag and took a few photos. Her hobby was photography. Unfortunately, she has always been poor, so she could only afford a cheap digital camera. It was better than nothing. What else would she use? Photo sticker booths? She spent roughly about a half an hour wandering around, snapping photos of the nostalgic scenery.
"It hasn't changed at all since I was little," She commented as she snapped a photo of a bridge that led into the area Hinata Sou was. Hinata Sou was the name of the inn her grandmother ran. This was the place of her childhood. The old playground where she made her promise to that girl is by the inn too.
As she walked across the bridge, she caught the glimpse of what looked like a moving truck. She turned to see a little girl waving back, but then it vanished. She sighed. Of course, not all the memories that would return would be good ones. Her promised girl left shortly after that and she never saw her again. She didn't remember her name or her face, but she knew that when they met again it would be fate. She would just know it was her.
During this time, she was not paying attention to where she was going. Her toes hit uneven concrete and she tripped. She laid there, sprawled out on the ground, quivering in pain for a few seconds before recovering into a kneeling position. As she attempted to stand, a jolt of pain shot from her knee and she fell back down.
"Owowowow…" She whimpered, looking at her knee, which was bleeding.
"Are you okay?" A female voice asked from above her.
Kokoro looked up and saw a beautiful girl with long amber hair looking down at her in concern. Kokoro noticed her gorgeous brown eyes and blushed a bit. She shook her head a bit and then said, "My knee. I think I hurt it."
The girl knelt down, put Kokoro's arm around her shoulders and lifted her up. "Don't put weight on it, just lean on me. My dorm isn't far from here, so you can rest there until you feel well enough to go where you need to."
Kokoro waved her hand in front of her and said, "Oh, no, I don't want to intrude."
"Sorry, but I can't just leave you here, either." The girl said simply and they started to walk.
For some reason Kokoro could not stop blushing, she did not understand why. She scratched her cheek nervously and then pointed at herself as she said, "My name is Urashima Kokoro. Nice to meet you."
The girl smiled at her and replied, "I'm Narusegawa Naru. I hope we'll get along."
It was at this time that Kokoro noticed that Naru was walking a familiar route. She had been too distracted by Naru to notice before now. Wait, why was she so distracted anyway? Naru was just another girl. Hey! I'm still getting distracted! Once again, Kokoro shook her head to clear her mind and focused on where she was. This is familiar…
They fumbled their way up the stairs. After a few steps, Naru seemed to realize that it was no good with Kokoro's hurt leg. She looked down at Kokoro, Naru was a bit taller than her, and said, "Don't panic, I'm going to pick you up."
Naru's face got serious as she placed her hands on Kokoro's back and just below her butt. In one sweeping motion, Kokoro was being cradled in Naru's arms. A deep blushed covered Kokoro's face. She could feel her heart racing against her chest. What is this? What is this girl doing carrying me in such a way?
A surprised look appeared on Naru's face and she bounced Kokoro in her arms a bit. "You know, you're really light. Those clothes make you look big, but you're actually pretty small."
Kokoro thought that she noticed a twinge of a pink tone arise on the girl's cheeks, but she could have been seeing things. But seriously, this kind of thing usually doesn't happen in real life, right? She scooped me up like a princess! I always wondered what it would be like for this to happen, but I never imagined that it would be a girl who would do it.
Naru made it up the stairs with little trouble and then a large traditional Japanese-styled structure lay before them. Kokoro's eyes widened at it and she remembered! "Hi-Hinata Sou!"
Looking down at her, Naru asked, "So you've heard of it?"
Nodding, Kokoro added, "My grandma runs it."
"Your grandma?" Naru exclaimed incredulously. She stopped and thought about it. "Oh, yeah, you did say your name was Urashima, didn't you?"
Naru continued to carry Kokoro down the stone path, but set her down gently to open the door to the inn. Once inside, Naru helped the limping girl to the lobby and set her down on the couch with her leg up. Taking a step back, to give Kokoro her space, Naru said, "I'll go get the first aid kit and some ice."
Kokoro gave her a nod and watched her disappear somewhere in the back of the front desk. Looking around, she marveled at the legacy of the old building. It was the same as she remembered it. Except for one thing: guests. She looked around the room and the images of guests gathered in the lobby talking and laughing appeared, along with the always busy bellhop running up and down the stairs. Where was everyone?
The sound of footsteps snapped Kokoro out of her day dream. Stepping back into the room, Naru held up the items and said, "You'll be good as new in no time!"
"I thought you were taking me back to your dorm," Kokoro said. She rubbed the back of her head as she added, "Seems kind of weird that you knew where I was going."
Naru knelt down in front of Kokoro's knee and said, "This is my dorm. You wanted to come here? Are you going to be living here too?"
"Eh? This is your—kyaa!" Kokoro began to say, but the sudden sting of the peroxide cut her off.
Looking back at her from the knee, Naru said again, "This is my dorm. It used to be an inn, but Hina-obaasan turned it into an girls-only dorm before she left on her trip."
Wiping away her tears, Kokoro echoed, "Left on her trip? Where was she going?"
Naru shrugged and answered, "She said she was leaving to see the world or something like that."
Kokoro sunk into the couch, depressed. There goes my safety net. I guess I have to go out and find my own place after all. Haruka-obasan probably still lives near here, I wonder if she knows of any places. She sighs pitifully. I seem to only have bad luck.