Author's Note: Chapter Two is dedicated to Electric Eclectic. Ask, and ye shall receive.
Part Two: "Bitter Tea and Sweet Kisses"
I had awoken the next morning to the smell of breakfast cooking in the adjacent room. The bed I found myself in was not the cardboard mat and ragged newspaper blankets I had grown accustomed to my whole life, and the feel of the silk sheets on my body and soft pillow at my head was a most welcome change. Lazily looking over, I spied the empty void in the bed that looked as though it once held a person. I ran the events of last night though my head as clearly as I could, small little visages of the night before started playing slowly in my mind. An invitation from an upperclassmen... delicious cake and tea... and...
"Oh my stars..." I spoke to myself, remembering her fingers caressing my skin...
"Are you awake in there, Binbou-san?" Came the voice of the aforementioned upperclassmen from the adjacent room, the sound of eggs cooking a soft ensemble to her angelic voice. My heart skipped a beat and tried to jump out of my chest through my throat at her call. Steadying myself, I responded in the most dignified manner possible.
"Y-yea... Yea, I'm up." Okay, not dignified at all, I know, but it was a confirmation in the slightest.
"Well, stop lazing around in bed, and come get some breakfast, silly." Came her voice once more. Breakfast... the word itself was alien to me, but not the meaning. Food. Something to settle my stomach. Throwing the covers off of me, I stood, planting my warm feet on the cold floor, causing a little shiver to course up my spine. Pushing up, I struggled to a standing position, fighting the cracking of my bones and shuffling into the other room. Instead of the dull, cold steel of the slums I had grown so accustomed to, I was surprised to see a small little table decked out in all manner of food for the morning meal, a cute blond with bed-head and baggy pajamas setting the meal upon the table, a smile hanging lazily off her lips. "Good morning, Binbou-san." She grinned to me as she noticed my arrival, motioning me to a cushion next to her on the floor. "Come, have a seat next to me." Sitting herself on one of the pillows, she took a plate from the stack and placed one before herself, and one before the spot next to her. Still waking up from my sleep, I shuffled over and knelt on the cushion, situating myself next to her.
"Good morning, M-Mami-san..." I groaned, rubbing my eye with a lazy hand, banishing the sleep from them. Giving a great yawn, I stretched in place happily. "How'd you sleep?" Mami gave a content smile and poured us tea from the pot before her.
"I slept really well, with your heartbeat as my pillow." She responded coyly, small wisps of smoke rising from the scalding liquid that was poured into the intricately decorated cup before me. Placing the tea pot back upon it's coaster, she put her head on my shoulders, sighing. "How'd you sleep?"
"Better then I have in forever. Thank you... for everything." Giving a chuckle, she returned to the food, serving it upon my plate first with a nod.
"Think nothing of it, Binbou-san." She answered, picking up the chopsticks at the side of my plate, putting them in my hand. "Eat up, you'll need your strength for school today." Nodding, I started to pick at the food on the plate, not wanting to shovel it down into my stomach, restraining myself like last time. I glanced over at the clock mounted just over the window before us, the hands staring taunting me with no knowledge how to read them.
"M-Mami-san... what time is it?" Mami laughed a little and turned her own attention to the clock.
"How about... I teach you how to read it, hm?" She responded, pointing to the spherical demon upon the wall. "The short hand there is the hour hand... and the long hand is the minute hand. Each number on the clock face represents an hour in the day, and when the minute hand passes them, it's five minutes." She spoke slowly, instructing me with her patient, caring voice. With this information, I struggled, the numbers starting to form in my head.
"Seven... eighteen?" I asked, the smile on Mami's face adding to my resolve.
"Very good. Yes, it's seven eighteen. We'll have to leave for school by eight twenty to make it there by nine." She turned both of our attentions back to the warm food before us. "Which means you need to eat up! It'll get cold before you know it." We spent the next twenty minutes passing with idle conversation, broken up by the occasional introduction of food into our mouths.
The tea that filled our cups was one from a distant land, England, Mami told me. Expensive to import, but very much worth the cost, as she put it. It had a unique flavor, slightly bitter, that much I could tell you, but perhaps of a bit an acquired taste in itself. Filled from breakfast, I moved from my seat to see if I could collect my uniform.
"Need something, Binbou-san?" Mami mused as she collected the breakfast dishes, placing them in the warm water in the sink to soak.
"Did you ever get around to fix my uniform, Mami-san? Hate to sound selfish, but I can hardly go to school like this."
"Of course. It was a simple fix, one that required little time to correct. Here, let me get it out of the dryer for you."
"You... washed it, too?"
"Of course, silly!" She responded, the sound of water running punctuating her sentence. "It was smelly and filthy, what was I supposed to do?" Returning to watch her, I protested the best I could.
"Mami-san, you didn't have to do that! I... don't mind wearing it like that! You shouldn't have to do more then you need."
"You know, you're right." She opened a small hatch under the counter, taking my school uniform from within, handing it to me. "I've not done as much as I should have, Binbou-san. Here, go get changed, then I'll change after I do the dishes." As a second thought, she spoke up again. "Oh, one moment, Binbou-san. Since I noticed you lack certain... appropriate clothing, I found something I think you can make use of..." She retreated to her room, the same bedroom I had awoken in earlier, and returned moments later with her hands behind her back. "Tell me, Binbou-san..." She started. "Blue?" From behind her back, in her left hand, was a pair of blue and white striped panties and a half-top bra, dangling lazily as if they belonged there. "Or pink?" From behind her back once more, in her right hand, came a matching pair of panties and half-top bra, this one pink. I felt my cheeks flash red in embarrassment as I stared at the underwear present.
"M-M-Mami-san!" I blurted out, taken aback by the sudden presentation. "Now you really didn't have to!"
"You know... I think you'd look cute in the pink... wouldn't you agree?"
"Mami-san, you're embarrassing me!" I stumbled about for words for a few seconds, my cheeks still hot with an unneeded blush. "Just... just give me the pink..." Mami smiled at my hurried response, handing me the pink underwear from her right hand, her lips broadening at the state of my face.
"I'll just put the other sets in the bottom drawer for tomorrow, or whenever you feel like wearing them." My blush deepened.
"'Sets'? As in... more then the two?"
"Of course, silly. I can't have you going to school ever day commando style. Yes, 'sets' as in more then one. You're going to be coming back here after school, I assume?"
"Well... no. I hadn't planned on it. Why would I do that? I don't want to burden you farther, Mami-san."
"Burden?" Mami sputtered, hardly believing what her ears were telling her. "Binbou-san, you are NOT a burden, why would you think that?"
"Well... I'm a useless person, just living off your generosity..." Mami's face turned sour at this, her trademark smile vanishing for the first time since I met her.
"Binbou Marisa, you are not useless, alright? I will not suffer that kind of talk in my presence." She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug, rubbing my back in a motherly fashion. "You hear me? You are not useless." Her last words were spoken more out of kindness then anything, my being this close to her brought a smile to my own face.
"Okay... okay, I admit it. I'm not useless." Mami gave a confirmatory nod of her head and a little 'hmph' of approval.
"Good. Glad to hear it." She turned me around and gave my butt a light slap. "Now, go get changed for school." My blush deepened at the introduction of her hand to my rear. Slipping into the bathroom, uniform and underwear in hand, I slowly stripped off the sleep clothes I had worn previously, folding them nicely upon the cabinet. Dressing slowly, I had paused several times to take in the feel of freshly laundered clothes upon my body. The introduction of a bra was... disturbing at first, but I suppose I could get used to it. I don't have what one would call 'large' breasts, but sometimes it was tricky to keep them contained, a job I no longer had to concern myself with. I spied myself in the mirror, my hair a right mess.
"M-Mami-san?" I called out through the door, still staring at my reflection.
"Hm?" Her response came very close.
"Do... do you have a brush I could borrow? My hair looks horrible..." I pulled at my golden-brown locks with a finger, feeling the dirt and grime between my fingers, I mentally swore to myself for not thinking of this last night. I can't believe I let Mami sleep so close to me with a veritable colony of refuse practically multiplying in my head.
"Yes, there should be a few lying on the counter there, just pick one." She answered slowly, her words punctuated by what sounded like sipping. Stripping my clothes off once more, I snatched the shampoo bottle from the tub, turned the water on the bath faucet, and thrusting my grimy head under the water, grumbling to myself as my hands rubbed the water through my hair vigorously. Sitting up, I uncapped the bottle of shampoo as water cascaded down my back and chest, rolling with a cold chill down my legs and butt. Pouring a generous amount of the shampoo into my hands, I started massaging it through my head, pretending to hear the dying cries of millions of tiny dirt particles as they are washed clean in my righteous frothy rage. After I was convinced I had washed most, if not all of the dirt from my hair, I stumbled and felt about the bathroom (I was temporarily blinded by the water) for a towel to dry my hair. Stumbling across one, I threw it over my head and rubbed hard, scrubbing the soap and last bits of grime away.
Looking back at my reflection, I was taken aback by what was presented before me. My hair, once a dirty blonde, damn near brown, was now a shimmering, glistening yellow gold. I had so much dirt and grime in my scalp, that my hair had quite literally changed colors. I redressed and then took the hair brush to my hair, keeping it tidy and straight across my head. Satisfied that I looked better, I exited the bathroom feeling clean, refreshed, and dressed.
"Much better!" Mami greeted me, pouring a cup of tea into my porcilain cup once more. "You sit here and have a cup of tea, and I'll go get changed myself." She looked up at the clock and gave a satisfied nod. "Right on time, too." I sat myself down where I had eaten breakfast and started sipping my tea slowly, happy to have something to sooth my dry throat. Mami had spent no more then a few minutes in the bathroom before emerging fully dressed, her hair pulled into those cute drills I loved so much.
Love. It's rather hard for me to believe that I had fallen for this woman after such a short time knowing her. I mean... I know girls are supposed to like boys... but boys were always mean to me, calling me 'Smelly-chan' and 'Grime Girl' all the time... Mami was the first person who was ever nice to me, ever thought that underneath all that dirt... and past all that sadness, there might be a person under all that, who needs all the same base things everyone else does, and among those base needs; perhaps the most base of all, is love. Mami had told me last night that she had no friends. At first, I couldn't believe it; a beautiful, rich, reserved girl like her, having no friends? But now I see how it's possible. Money can't buy friends, and when you're as pretty as she is, you have to choose who you associate with. Or maybe she doesn't care about what others think of her? After her conversation with me yesterday, I'm more likely to believe that.
"Binbou-san?" Her question broke my train of thought once more, the beautiful blond staring at me with those lovely amber eyes. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yes... yes, sorry. I was... thinking. Did you need something?"
"I just asked how you thought I looked."
"Divine." I responded, the blush returning to my cheeks.
"Oh..." Mami answered back, sharing a bit in my cheek coloration. "W-well... thank you." I had managed to make her stagger in her speech... should I be proud of that? Is there anything in that to even be proud of? Mami was always so sure of herself when she spoke, almost like she anticipated every outcome of every conversation she'd ever had. Did my answer not fit in with her little script? I smiled at the thought. "Well... anyway... is there anything else you'd like before we go to school? If we can leave early, we might beat the rush..."
"Could I... be selfish for just a moment?" Mami smiled and nodded to me, her cheeks returning to their usual pale. I stood and dusted my rear off politely, walking slowly to her, running through my head the course of action I was going to take. 'Just kiss her and get it over with, Binbou-chan...' I told myself, trying to work up the courage. I was mear inches from her when I stopped, staring at her with a mix of determination and uncertainty in my eyes. "Mami-san..." I started, my eyes darting from hers, to her mouth, and then back. "I-" Closing my eyes I sighed. "Can I kiss you?"
She looked at me a bit like a movie director who had just seen a scene play out exactly how he wanted it, her lips curled into a smile while her eyes retained their cute roundness as they studied my everything. Her response came slow and methodical, just like I would have expected. "Why are you wasting your time asking?" She took the initiative and wrapped her arms around me. "I'm not letting you go until you do it." That wasn't something I could abide by, now was it?
One hand migrated behind her back, taking a light hold onto her blouse, just so she couldn't pull away, while the other hung onto her waist lazily, my eyes closed as I inched forwards ever so slightly, feeling her warm lips against mine, the lingering taste of her bitter, foreign tea still hanging onto her upper lip ever so slightly. I didn't want this to end, I wanted to stay here until my death, holding onto her and kissing her warm, tea-hinted lips for as long as I could.
Screw society. Screw the school. Screw EVERYTHING. I was in love with Tomoe Mami, and I couldn't give any less to what others thought. I was poor, deal with it. I didn't have a laptop like everyone else, deal with it. I love girls, deal with it. I would go to school with Mami today, and just before we parted ways to class, I would give her a goodbye kiss, right on the lips, and HOPE everyone saw.
Eventually, Mami pulled away, the sounds of our lips finally parting breaking my concentration. "Binbou-san... we're going to be late." Nudging forward again, I gave her a glancing kiss once more.
"Five more minutes... I don't want this to end..." Mami chuckled a little at this and complied, giving me another five minutes in heaven (Although it felt more like fifteen).
-Mitakihara Middle School; 8:54 AM-
Mami and I had walked to school, hand in hand, spending the trip talking about what interested us, finding common ground in pasteries and food in general (Lack of it for so long refines one's palate after a time), as well as our love of literature (I had taught myself to read and write years ago). We didn't break grip as we walked in, talking and laughing to one another, holding hands like boyfriend and girlfriend (With Mami's collected, more refined demeanor, she'd probably be the girlfriend), and not stopping to justify the stares we were met with.
"Well..." Mami finally spoke as we reached our respected classrooms, right across the hall from one another, the glass wall offering no obstruction to the classes inside to watch us with dinner-plate sized eyes. "See you after class, Binbou-san?"
"You can count on it. Can I meet you for lunch on break?"
"I'd be insulted if you didn't." She adjusted my ribbon a little, smoothing out some wrinkles on my shoulders. "I'll have a nice lunch for you when you get here, so don't tarry too long, alright?"
"And miss lunch with an angel? I'd be a moron." Mami nodded and smiled once more, her loving smile already a welcome sight. "See you in a few hours." I leaned forward and gave her a kiss, which was reciprocated instantly, her hand rubbing my side idly as we kissed for what felt like hours.
"Go on, don't be late." She finally spoke as we broke away, feeling the eyes of both classes upon us. Nodding, I took a few steps away from her and walked through the door to the classroom, everyone's eyes upon me as I entered, the same for Mami across the way. As the stares of the boy in front of me came to my attention, I gave him a crass little smile.
"I love her. Deal with it." I spoke simply, tossing my blond hair with my left hand.
-Everywhere, and Yet Nowhere-
An ethereal figure watched the scene playing out before her, a soft smile upon her infinite lips. She had been watching the older blond woman for some time, her new life playing before her like a movie with no pause or rewind function. Folding her forever arms at her chest, the woman gave a nod.
"I'm glad for you, Mami-san, to have found someone who loves you for who you are." Looking over the woman's ringless hands, she gave a slow nod, the force of which would have sundered the planet. "The life of a Puella Magi isn't for you. So full of love, so full of life as you are, Mami-san. I wanted to be selfish, to bring you into Heaven with me... but you can do so much more good down there... Leave the fighting to Kyouko-san and Homura-san... to Sayaka-chan and Hitomi-chan... leave all the death and destruction to those who've got nothing to live for. As for you, Mami-san?" Opening her celestial hand, she blew a hurricane into it, thousands of sparkling particles wrapped around the woman, draping her in a starlight twinkle. "You have something more important to do... Let those under Contract spread happiness to everyone... you've just got one person to make smile. And make her smile, Mami-san... just as you did for me all those lifetimes ago. Make her smile and never forget that she loves you." As she watched, the blond woman looked up to the ceiling of the classroom, past the tile ceiling, past the florescent lighting, past the roof, past the clouds, past the atmosphere... and her eyes met with her heavenly angel... the angel named Kaname Madoka.
Ending Author's Note #1: In case you all haven't picked up on things yet, I retconned Part One to fit with this one. It was originally Madoka and Sayaka talking, but I changed Madoka out with Hitomi to fit with the context of this part.
Ending Author's Note #2: If you're not fluent with Japanese, 'Binbou' means 'Poverty', so in essence when she says 'It's true', it really was. Also a little joke with the title of Part One, basically it's 'My Name is Poverty', shown by how broke-ass-poor Binbou-san was.
Ending Author's Note #3: A note about Binbou's striped panties. Shut up. I like striped panties.
