Sumiko waited nervously in her seat until the rest of the class had all left. She certainly wasn't afraid of Keiko, but still she had no desire to run into the girl outside.
"Mendou-san," Onsen-Mark called out to her from the doorway. "Is everything all right?"
She jumped as if startled. "Yes, sensei. I'll be leaving in a moment."
"Ok," he replied. "See you tomorrow then." He was halfway out the door when he stopped again. "By the way, how is your father doing these days?"
An odd expression flitted across her face. "He's doing fine," she answered. "He's been really busy with work though."
"Ah," Onsen-Mark replied, not sure what else to say to her. The poor girl had sat there looking miserable the entire class period, but thankfully she hadn't started any trouble.
With a sigh he leaned back carefully against the wall. "You know, your father used to give me a lot of trouble back in the day. "
"So I've heard."
"Him and that Moroboshi boy, between the two of them they nearly drove me nuts," he continued. "Day in and day out they were always fighting over something."
"They still argue a lot," she pointed out.
"I'll bet they do," he chuckled. "But they still get along pretty well. I wonder why that is?"
She shrugged. "I have no idea, sensei"
He nodded reflectively, looking almost sad for a moment. "I was a lot younger back then," he mused. "I don't know if I could deal with another year like that one."
"I'll try not to cause you any trouble," Sumiko promised.
"Don't worry about that. Just try to have some fun," he sighed as he pushed himself back up straight. "High school will be over before you know it." He smiled and left the room without another word.
It was a few more minutes before Sumiko turned out the lights and stepped out of the empty classroom. She never noticed the green-haired girl watching quietly from just outside the window.
"Stupid piece of junk."
"Are you sure you don't want a ride home, young mistress?" The chauffeur scratched his head nervously as he watched the girl deliver another fierce kick to the jetpack lying on the ground.
Sumiko shook her head. "Just go on back for now," she replied. "I'll call if I need you."
"Ok," he replied. "I'll be in the area if you need me."
She watched in silence as the vintage Mercedes pulled slowly away from the school gates. This was just great. As if her day hadn't been bad enough, now the stupid jetpack wouldn't start up. After all her boasting about the stupid thing, it would be humiliating to have to be driven home.
With a frustrated sigh she plopped down on the ground and started digging her small toolkit out of her pocket. She prided herself on always keeping the essentials close at hand.
In just a couple of minutes she had the outer casing off and was diligently inspecting the internal mechanisms. Most likely a wire had just came loose somewhere when she had crashed that morning.
This stuff was just all so primitive. The oni had tiny little belt thrusters that could out fly her clunky contraption without even trying. She wished for the thousandth time that access to alien technology wasn't so tightly controlled.
A shadow suddenly appeared over her shoulder. "Busted, huh?" a familiar voice asked.
Sumiko didn't bother to look up. "I'll have it fixed pretty soon," she growled. "Assuming you stop blocking my light."
Keiko quickly darted around to the other side of the jetpack and settled down on the ground. "What do you think is wrong with it?"
"I'm not sure yet," Sumiko admitted reluctantly. "Everything looks ok."
"It's not out of fuel is it?"
"No," she groaned. "I'm not an idiot."
"I didn't say you were," Keiko replied. An uneasy silence fell on the two as she watched Sumiko fiddle with the electronics.
"Sorry about earlier."
Keiko looked up in surprise.
"It's just been a long day," Sumiko continued, her eyes never leaving her work. "I'll try to be nicer to everyone from now on."
"I'll hold you to that," Keiko promised. She grinned. "I really hope we can have a fun year together."
A loud tortured whine from the engines drowned out whatever Sumiko was about to say. Her tools were violently flung out of her hands as the jetpack suddenly shot off like a rocket down the street.
The two watched in shocked silence for a moment as the jetpack quickly receded into the distance.
"Oh crap!" Sumiko yelled as she leapt to her feet and sprinted after it.
"You'll never catch it that way," Keiko shouted as she zoomed past.
Sumiko kept running, but despite her best efforts both the jetpack and her friend were soon out of sight.
"Damn it," she cursed as she slowed to a fast walk. She could only pray that the stupid thing ran out of fuel before it hurt someone.
She quickly dialed up her chauffeur's number. "I need a pickup now," she informed him, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.
"On the way," he replied as he checked her location on his car's GPS screen.
It was nearly a half hour before they found what was left of the jetpack. It had ricocheted around and damaged a couple of walls before the remains of the engines had ended up embedded in the side of a parked car almost two miles away.
Keiko looked relieved as Sumiko's Mercedes roared around the corner. "See, I told you she was coming," she told the car's furious owner.
Sumiko hopped out as soon as the driver came to a stop. "I'm really sorry about this," she apologized as she looked over at the totaled car. "Nobody got hurt, did they?"
"Sorry nothing, are you prepared to take responsibility for this?" the elderly owner demanded. He shoved a finger in her face. "I saved up for years to buy that car." He huffed. "I knew as soon as I saw this demon girl poking around that something was up."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll fix everything," Sumiko replied hastily. Turning away from him, she briefly tried to wrench one of the engines loose from the frame of the car. She gave up after a couple of unsuccessfully tries and turned her attention back to the owner. "Give me just a moment and I'll make all the arrangements."
He watched suspiciously as she stepped back into her own car to make some calls.
"What a pain," he muttered after a couple of minutes. "These rich brats just think they can do whatever they want and there won't be any consequences."
Keiko discreetly rolled her eyes, having already listened to the man's griping for a while now. "I already told you it was an accident."
"Accident nothing, you teenagers are a menace!" He shook his head. "And your kind are the worst. I remember back when you blasted aliens tried to destroy the whole city."
She decided to just ignore that one. It was hard to get offended over something that happed before you were born.
He was about to open his mouth again when a shiny black tow truck came screeching up. A slender man in a crisp black suit and sunglasses stepped out and sized up the situation in a glance.
"This is the car that got damaged?" he demanded.
The owner nodded nervously. "Yeah, but who are you? You with the government or something?"
"Not exactly," the man replied. He looked at the ruined car for a moment. "Did you have any personal effects in this car? "
"No," the owner answered, looking confused.
Ok, let's get it out of here."
The tow truck driver expertly wheeled the truck around to the front of the car and threw it in park. Hopping out, he expertly started attaching tow chains.
"Wait just a minute," the elderly man protested. "What are you guys doing?"
The man in black stepped up close and peered down at the owner. "There are proprietary trade secrets of the Mendou Corporation lodged in the side of this vehicle, sir. It is imperative that we retrieve them as quickly as possible. I'm sure you understand."
The owner stumbled back a step. "You can't just take my car," he protested. "What are you guys, Yakuza or something?"
"We can, and we will," the man replied, his voice betraying no hint of emotion. He snapped his wrist up and checked his watch. "And no, we are not the Yakuza. You will be well compensated for your trouble."
The engine of the tow truck started up just as a car nearly identical to the damaged one pulled onto the street. It pulled neatly into the space left by the departing truck and the black suited driver stepped out.
"Your keys, sir," the driver said, pressing them firmly into the old man's hands. "The Mendou Corporation apologizes for your inconvenience. I hope this replacement will be satisfactory. It has less than four thousand kilometers on it, it runs great, and both the interior and exterior been freshly sanitized."
Sumiko rejoined them with a wry smile on her face. "I want to apologize once again," she said briskly. "Please accept this gift as a sign of good will from the Mendou Family."
The first black-suited man thrust at the stunned owner an envelope with a crisp stack of 10,000-yen bills peeking out. "I trust that you will keep this whole unfortunate incident to yourself."
"Sure, sure," the old man promised greedily as he snatched the envelope. "Whatever you guys say."
"I believe we're done here, young mistress," the man announced. "Moroboshi-sama, do you require an escort home?"
"Oh no," Keiko replied, trying hard not to laugh. "Thanks anyways though."
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Keiko-chan," Sumiko called out her as she headed back to the Mercedes, her entourage in tow. "Thanks for all the help."
"No problem," Keiko yelled back as she took to the air. "See you later."
"So, how was your day, honey?"
Sumiko gave her mother a wary glance. "It was ok."
"That's good," her mother replied. "Did anything interesting happen?"
"Not really."
"You didn't wreck that jetpack?"
Sumiko flinched. "Sorry," she muttered.
"You weren't injured, were you?" he father asked, setting down his chopsticks for a moment.
"No, Father, I'm fine," she replied.
"Try to be more careful from now on," he admonished her. "Your mother told you she wasn't done testing that thing."
"Sorry," she repeated. "I just wanted to try it out."
"I understand," he replied. "We just don't want anything to happen to you."
"I think we'll have to start over from scratch," her mother mused. "There wasn't much to salvage." She shook her head. "Obviously there were some flaws in the design, so it's really my fault."
Shutaro grinned. "I never thought I'd hear you admit one of your designs wasn't perfect, Sayomi."
"It was a good design," her mother retorted. "I'd like to see you do better."
He frowned and went back to eating his dinner.
"Keiko-chan's in my class," Sumiko announced, breaking the silence.
"Is she still chasing after boys all the time?" her father asked.
"Pretty much."
"How disgraceful," he replied jokingly. "She's definitely a Moroboshi."
"You weren't any better than Ataru," Sayomi scolded him. "You two were always fighting over girls."
"I was just trying to keep them safe from that wolf," he protested.
"I was watching," Sayomi reminded him. "Every single day."
He blushed. "Voyeur."
"You're the one who put me up there."
"I swear, I have the weirdest parents on earth," Sumiko muttered.
"There are plenty of people weirder than us," Sayomi replied. "Believe me."
"I'm certainly not weird," Shutaro insisted. "I've always been the normal one in the family."
"Speaking of that, have you seen Ryoko lately?"
"I think she's off on a trip in Europe again," he replied. "She just loves those old castles."
"Doesn't she have enough of them yet?" Sayomi sighed. "Oh well, I guess it keeps her out of trouble."
"Anything that keeps her out of my hair is a good thing," Shutaro insisted.
"It may be true that Miss Ryoko is a troubled spirit, but one should not be so cold to his own sister. Family is the most precious treasure one can have."
Shutaro regretfully looked over to his right. "When the hell did you sneak in here?"
The diminutive monk Cherry glared back from his seat on the edge of the table. "That is not important," he replied as he snatched a dumpling from Shutaro's plate.
The familiar rasp of Shutaro's sword sliding from its sheath was very conspicuous.
"Would you really begrudge a poor old man a meal?" Cherry asked, his eyes glistening.
"Come on, dear, put your sword away" Sayomi rebuked her husband. "It's not like you can't afford to be nice to the little monster once in a while."
"Your kindness is heartwarming," Cherry replied, his words distorted by the two dumplings he was eagerly stuffing in his mouth.
"If family is so important, how come you aren't with your own?" Shutaro demanded as he begrudgingly settled back down in his seat.
"Did they kick you out again, Cherry-sama?" Sumiko asked.
"I am a traveling monk. I go where I am needed," he proclaimed proudly.
"So that's a yes then?"
"Indeed."
"Why is it that you always end up here?" Shutaro demanded.
Cherry gave him a sharp look. "Because the food is always the best here."
"At least he's honest," Sayomi pointed out.
Sumiko suppressed a giggle. Though she dreaded lunchtime at school, dinner at home was always fun.
"I'm back," Keiko announced as she kicked off her shoes.
"Hey, kiddo," her father called out from the living room.
"Hi, Daddy," she called back. She looked in and found him glued to the TV. "Where's Mom?"
"Good question," he replied without taking his eyes off the screen.
"What are you watching?"
"No idea."
She watched for a moment. It looked to be in some kind of monster movie, but the dialogue was incomprehensible.
She shook her head. "There's like a million channels, why do you watch stuff you can't even understand?"
A shriek rang out as the monster advanced on an attractive alien woman in a skimpy swimsuit.
"Honestly, Daddy."
Ataru grinned. "Shhh, this is a good part."
"Fine," she replied. "I'm going to go find Mom."
"Ask her how long until dinner's ready," he called out as she left the room.
After finding the kitchen empty, Keiko headed upstairs. "Mom, are you up here?"
"Yes," her mother answered absentmindedly.
"What are you doing?" Keiko asked as she flew into her parents' room.
Lum peeked out of the closet. "Have you seen my yellow blouse? I just know it was in here."
"No, I haven't seen it" Keiko replied nervously.
"Darn it," Lum muttered as she resumed her search. "Did you have a good day?"
"Pretty good, I guess."
Lum nodded. "I remember my first day of high school was a lot of fun. I used to follow your father to class every day, even before I enrolled there."
"I'll bet Daddy just loved that."
"I'm sure he appreciated the attention," Lum replied. She sighed. "I don't think it's in here."
"I'm sure it'll turn up," Keiko assured her. She made a mental note to return the blouse as soon as she figured out a way to remove a rather large soy sauce stain. "Anyways, Daddy wanted to know when we would be eating."
"I haven't even started dinner yet," Lum realized. "Is he still watching that weird movie?"
"Yep."
"Good, that'll keep Darling quiet for a bit longer while I throw something together."
"Why don't we just order some takeout again?" Keiko suggested. "It'd be faster, and you wouldn't have to cook."
Lum pondered for a moment. "We really shouldn't do that so much...."
Keiko shrugged as she out into the hallway. "It's up to you, Mom. I'll be in my room if you need me." Not hearing an answer, she went into her own room and closed the door behind her.
"What a day," she moaned as she sprawled out across her bed. "I hope tomorrow's better." Hopefully Sumiko would remember her promise and be nicer from now on. It would be much more fun in class if everyone could get along.
She thought about her new classmates carefully. That Saotome guy certainly was cute. And after class Azumi had managed to discover that he was single as well. So far he seemed like the top choice.
Then there was the blonde-haired guy that sat on her left. He wasn't bad looking by any means, and he had a nice voice. On the other hand, he was pretty short for a boy.
And there was that guy sitting up front. If she remembered correctly, Ririshii was his name. He was very handsome, but she had heard in the past that he was pretty stuck up.
She sighed. There were several interesting candidates in the class. Making a choice of which ones to pursue would be difficult.
She wondered for the thousandth time why it was so much work finding a decent guy. Every time she found one that was cute, he turned out to be either a jerk, utterly boring, or already taken. She guessed that it didn't help that she had a bit of a reputation for dumping guys at the drop of a hat. But it didn't make any sense to keep going out with a guy who didn't fit the bill.
Oh well, tomorrow was another day.
A sharp rap on the door woke Keiko up from her nap. "Food's here."
"Ok, Daddy," she replied sleepily as she hovered out of bed. Yawning, she made her left her room and floated downstairs after her father.
"So you ordered out for noodles after all," she noted, seeing the take out boxes sitting next to the table.
"It was faster," her mother explained as she doled out a hearty serving on their plates. "We really should start eating healthier though."
"What's wrong with Chinese noodles?" Ataru asked as he took his seat and eagerly eyed the food.
"You're getting fat again," Lum pointed out bluntly. "We need to get you on a diet. And you could really use more exercise."
"Who has time?" he muttered. "Anyways, what's the point of living if you can't enjoy life?"
Lum shook her head as she settled down next to him. "I'd like to have you still around when I'm old and gray."
He frowned, his expression suddenly serious. "I'm not going anywhere, Lum."
"You'd better not," Lum growled. "I'll chase you all the way to hell if I have to."
Keiko rolled her eyes. "Can't we have one meal without you two arguing?"
"We're not arguing," Lum protested.
"Do you think I'm fat?" Ataru asked his daughter plaintively.
"Yes, Daddy," Keiko retorted. "You should listen to Mom."
"You always take her side," he muttered.
"That's because I'm always right," Lum replied sweetly.
"Uh huh," Ataru mumbled. "Obviously I have no allies here."
"Pass the hot sauce, please," Keiko interrupted. She took the bottle from her mother. "Did you want any, Daddy?"
"You know better than that," he retorted.
She giggled. "Poor Daddy, you need to toughen up."
"Now now, don't tease Darling."
"Where's the respect?" Ataru muttered as he started eating.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Lum scolded him.
"Daddy, guess who my English teacher is." Keiko demanded. "It's someone we know."
"You're kidding," her father replied. "Onsen-Mark? Seriously?"
"Yep."
"Wow, you'd think he would have retired by now," Ataru mused. He suddenly laughed. "You have to give him hell for me."
"Darling!" Lum shot Keiko a stern look. "Don't listen to him," she scolded. "You be on your best behavior."
"I will" Keiko promised. "I like Onsen-Mark-sensei."
"Are you sure that she's really my daughter?" Ataru asked.
"Quite sure, Darling," Lum retorted irritably.
"How can you say something like that, Daddy?" Keiko demanded, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Hey, don't cry. I was just kidding!" he protested anxiously.
She stuck her tongue out at him and grinned. "So was I."
He glared at her a moment before he resumed eating.
"You two are exactly alike," Lum pointed out.
"I don't see it," Keiko protested.
"Came by car today?"
Sumiko nodded. "Yes," she answered regretfully. "My mom said I have to for a while. Plus she said I have to start getting up earlier so I'm not almost late."
Keiko suppressed a giggle. "Too bad you can't fly on your own."
"That would be nice," Sumiko admitted. She knocked the heel of her shoe on the floor, making sure it was on securely. "Physical education starts today, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, I think so," Keiko replied as she trailed along towards their classroom. "Did you bring your gym clothes?"
"Yes, of course I did."
"I'm already wearing mine under my uniform."
Sumiko stared at her friend for a moment. "Are you still in grade school?"
"It'll be faster to change this way," Keiko protested.
"I hope you're at least planning to take them off after gym class. You'll never get a guy if you stink."
Keiko sighed. "I know that much," she replied. "You're lucky, you don't have to worry about that."
"I'm not worried about getting guys anyhow," Sumiko retorted. "Even so, I like to keep myself presentable."
"Just remember to keep your personality presentable," Keiko advised. "You promised."
"Yeah, yeah." Sumiko slid open the door of the classroom. "Here we go again."
"Try to have some fun today."
"Try to pay attention to the lectures today," Sumiko retorted. "I'm not going to let you copy my notes all year."
"So stingy."
Sumiko put her bag on its hook and sat down. "I wonder if the teacher will be late again."
"Hi, my name is Moroboshi Keiko! But you can just call me Keiko-chan, ok?"
"Huh?" Sumiko glanced around, only to find her friend trying to strike up a conversation with the boy next to her.
"Uh, hi," the blonde-haired boy stuttered. "I'm Len."
"Nice to meet you, Len-kun," Keiko said with a wide grin. "I don't remember seeing you in junior high."
"Oh, well, we just moved into the area," Len explained. He looked a bit nervous. "So you wouldn't have seen me around here before."
She flipped out a small notebook and started jotting something down. "I see. So, what do you like to do for fun?"
"Oh, um, I really like to sing," he admitted.
"That explains that headset your wearing," Keiko commented. "So you do Karaoke a lot?"
"Um, sometimes," he admitted. "Me and my sister go sometimes."
"Ah, so you're close to your sister," Keiko noted.
"I guess so," he replied. "I mean, we're twins and everything, so we kind of have to be."
"Very interesting." She was writing at top speed now. "So when's your birthday?"
"December twelfth," he answered reluctantly.
"Oh wow, that's just one day before mine," Keiko pointed out. "What are the chances?"
"It's still pretty cold in March," Sumiko commented to no one in particular.
Keiko blushed. "Anyways, I think that's enough for now. We'll talk more later."
Len looked confused. "Ah, ok."
Carefully filing away her notebook in her top, Keiko turned spun around in her seat and poked her friend in the back. "Don't say unnecessary things."
"Eh?"
"Sorry I'm late again!" their homeroom teacher announced as she rushed into the room.
"Sensei, you're not late," the girl sitting at the front of Keiko's row pointed out. "The bell hasn't sounded yet."
"Oh, it hasn't?" The teacher looked abashed for a moment. "Well, I'll be right back then." She rushed back out of the room just as quickly as she had entered.
"Honestly," Sumiko muttered. "This is what public school is like?"
"Not usually," Keiko protested. "Modoki-sensei is just weird."
Sumiko shook her head. There was a lot of weirdness around her. Something about that Len boy seemed off, for example. And then there was that girl in the front row, Kobe Edy. There was something very odd about her, though Sumiko couldn't quite pinpoint it.
Kinuka came slinking into the classroom at that moment. Without a word she crossed the room and settled down in her seat next to Sumiko.
"Hi, Kinuka-chan," Keiko greeted her.
"Morning," Kinuka responded without looking.
"Hello, Inutaisho-san," Sumiko politely. She had promised to try harder today.
Kinuka simply nodded in reply.
"I wonder where Azumi-chan is," Keiko piped up. "Have you seen her today?"
Kinuka shook her head.
"She's usually early," Keiko mused. She abruptly forgot about her friend as anther student stepped into the classroom. "Oh, it's Saotome-kun," Keiko whispered.
"You're awfully familiar with someone you haven't even talked to yet," Sumiko pointed out.
"Details," Keiko declared dismissively.
"Good morning, Kenma-kun," one of the girls on the far side of the room called out.
The boy looked surprised, but simply nodded and continued on to his seat.
"Ugh," Keiko bit out quietly. "That Hidemi-chan. I can't stand her."
"How come?" Sumiko asked.
"She's always stealing all the guys that I like," Keiko hissed in her ear. "Just because she's so pretty and her parents are rich, she always acts like she is the queen of the school or something."
"Your family isn't exactly poor," Sumiko reminded her.
"Yeah, but we don't flaunt it."
"That is true," Sumiko agreed. "What about me?"
"You're a Mendou, so it's in your blood to be a little haughty," Keiko pointed out. "But at least you don't go around bragging about it all the time."
"Haughty?"
Before Keiko could reply, the bell rang. Azumi came sprinting into the class a moment later, followed closely by their returning teacher.
"Takamura-san, no running," Mako scolded her as she slammed the door shut behind her. "Also, you're late!"
"Sorry, sensei," Azumi apologized as she took her seat in the back of the room.
"I'll look over it just this once," Mako replied. "But really class, by the time that bell rings, everyone needs to be in their seat and ready for roll call.
A hand shot up in the back corner.
"Yes, um, Yoshito-san, what is it?"
"Does that include you, sensei?'
"I'm doing the best I can, so lay off!" Mako responded heatedly.
"I respectfully withdraw my question," he replied with a deadpan expression.
Mako quickly scanned the room. "It looks like everyone's here again except for Rokudo-san," she announced. "Does anyone know why he hasn't shown up yet?"
There was a bit of murmuring, but no one appeared to have any information about him.
"Oh well," Mako said with a shrug. "I guess he'll turn up. Now let's get started.