Disclaimer: I paid good money for Mai HiME. Imagine my surprise and bitter disappointment when 'the rights thereto' were not among the DVD extras…

Here Comes the Rain

It had become clear to Chie that her allowance just didn't cover her expenses- her true needs in this life. It was also clear that her parents weren't going to fund her wooing ventures- as cool as they were with who she was, that was where the line was drawn. Well, that was fine. How awesome wasn't it to get your date cash from your parents anyway? It meant more if it had been won through your own efforts. Blood! Sweat! Tears! Boredom and minimum wage! Here she comes…

…

And here she comes back, a day of fruitless job searching later. First there were the jobs she was clearly unqualified for- which had been easily crossed off her list and moved past. When she'd made a list of jobs that 'could be done by semi-trained monkeys' she started in earnest, moving from shop to building with confidence that one of them would surely hire her. What she wondered was this: where had all of this competition for crappy jobs come from? And surely it wasn't fair that she was at the bottom of the list... and yet, there she was. There were youngish college grads who were waiting to get that 'big job' that would lead to owning homes, cars, and regular meals (a thing they had not seen since the golden age of sponging off their parents). There were college students still working their way towards that golden piece of paper that would surely lead to that 'big job' and its rewards. There were people that would never see the inside of a university, but did have an actual highschool diploma to compare to Chie's 'last terms report card' type of certification to offer. And then, most infuriating of all, there were the other highschoolers, no older than Chie, but still more "experienced" and therefore more attractive employees. She took a moment to curse- damn you, Mai, and the rest of your ilk!

There had to be something that nobody else wanted to do…

…

There was. Chie didn't want to do it either, but it was very short term and after just two days (one each week) she would have something to put on a resume as experience. If it went well, she could even get a recommendation out of it. She just had to get through two summer Sundays working at a farmer's market. The job would even utilize her gift for convincing, and some would say ceaseless, chatter. Surely busking couldn't be so bad…?

…

It was. Chie had arrived for work her first day, trying desperately to ignore the bad feeling that loomed over her- just like those suspiciously gray clouds loomed over the park and all the greenery stalls. She'd gone up to the man who'd hired her, who had looked at her blankly until she reminded him that he had hired her. To busk. He'd said "Oh!" and waved vaguely in one direction. When that had failed to be direction enough, he'd sighed and added, "Over there's good. You can get drinks from the fountain if you're quick about it. Otherwise, just keep singing."

And so she had. And those gray clouds turned darker, the air got colder, and then everything was much, much wetter. She may have also had no concept of key, but it worked out alright as none of the paltry number of people that actually came outside on this cursed day were willing to stand around long enough to complain.

~"Please just spend some money!"~

~"I bet that these guys are just dying to give you a deal."~

~"If you buy them out, we can all go home!"~

~"I bet that's worth fifty percent off."~

Some of the farmers that could hear her actually nodded, she was amused to note.

~"There's a room with a heater and a roof."~

~"Wouldn't greenery go well with warmth?"~

~"Get me out of here and I'll carry them for you…"~

Four hours later, which had seemed like only eight, the stands were being pulled down and Chie was attempting to sprint with cold stiffened legs towards the trailer she knew her boss had been hiding inside the entire time. When she got there she noted, with no small amount of wrath, that it was heated. Thankfully her tongue had suffered enough use for the time being, so she accepted her envelope of cash in silence. The man didn't even look closely enough at her to notice the scowl etched on to her face. He might have said "Good job," but frankly neither one of them cared.

Tired, miserable, but paid, Chie fell fully clothed onto her couch and hoped that next week would at least have clear weather…

…

It did. The sun was shining and there wasn't a gray cloud to be seen. At first it had seemed like such a promising sign. She'd been so pleased that she'd actually talked to some of the farmers to find out if there were any specials they'd like her to sing out on.

That was before tragedy struck. Tragedy, in this case, was a young brunette pointing merrily at her and laughing. Tragedy was also the fact that said brunette had company and… good God had all of her class mates shown up? Why would they be here? The thought that anyone even remotely close to Chie's age would attend this horror was something the gossip had never even considered. They must have found out, but in this case it certainly hadn't been her that had been the information leak.

~"What are you doing here?"

~"Stop laughing, Aoi!"~

A familiar golden haired child stopped in front of her. "You're not very good. I'd tell you that you should make better use of your diaphragm, but considering your intonation, I don't really think a bigger sound would be helping." Fuuka's Golden Angel, Chie noted, was not particularly nice.

~"Everyone's a critic."~

~"You can go now."~

There was a remarkable lack of leaving. If Natsuki and Nao didn't stop smirking at her she was going to plot terrible revenge on them.

~"If you're going to stay, buy some damn vegetables."~

They had, at least, done some small bit of shopping after that. It did not lead (as Chie had hoped) to them leaving to put the stuff away in their own domiciles, far from her mortification.

It had been awful… for part of an hour anyway. Then Aoi and Mai had a very short, whispered conversation before they'd marched to either side of her and turned to face the same direction as Chie. They'd started singing, trading off lines, occasionally even making harmony if they caught on to what was going to be said fast enough. Chie only had to come up with one line in three, and nothing was so embarrassing when two other people were being pathetic and silly right along with you. Perhaps this whole thing wouldn't be nearly as bad as she thought…

…

It hadn't been, and three hours later that had seemed like about three hours (it was still work, after all), it was time again to collect her wages and flee the scene. By the time Chie was back from the manager's trailer (which didn't infuriate her nearly as much this time), everyone but Aoi had gone their own ways, about their own business.

The brunette fell into step beside the tomboy, her arms positioned in a way that let Chie know that Aoi was about to pry. It was an oddly endearing posture, Chie thought. It had certainly won more than a few details. "So, what are you saving up for that you decided to do… this?"

How to answer, Chie wondered, "Hmm, perhaps it would be best to show you…"

…

And she did. Over dinner.

-end-

Notes: This was written for the Teaparty for MUses project at Mai Universe. Credit goes again to Crosswood, editor extraordinaire. All remaining mistakes are mine alone.

The inspiration for this silly, silly fic is a memory from my youth- when I was too young to say 'no' to the parents that wanted me to go with them to an outside bluegrass concert. The rain had come suddenly, and the girl playing electric bass (who was surrounded, by far, by the most electric equipment) had squeaked out "We're going to die!", just before the band struck up their next song: Here Comes the Rain.