Pfft, I haven't even touched this in ages. Still, it's fun.
Reviews? What, I actually got some?
Sylph Writer: Nice to hear from you again so soon, Sylph-sama. I'm glad I'm forgiven, and yes, Zelda is indeed classic. An avatar of the Keyblade... hmm. Thanks to BBS I think I know just how to do that... (smirks evilly) And I haven't played Final Fantasy VIII, so I know nothing of the original Squall Leonhart (except that he's broody.) Fortunately his dialogue and actions in Kingdom Hearts have given me a good idea as to how to write him. Laughing like an idiot at the mention of Kaito? Now why is that, I wonder...? XD
kenegi: You'll see. ^ ^ And yes, I noticed that.
Natsuki Ayaka: Glad you liked the reaction and the Vocaloid-ness. ^ ^
The Ghost Reviewer: Your username makes me wonder if you've ever been exorcised... um, anyway, yes, the T-chan is insane. You will have to see, darling. ^ ^
And here we have a picture of Emiere, the avatar of Hammerspace! Remove spaces: htt p : / / www . fa nart -ce ntr al. net/ pi c- 81 28 45 . ht ml
Reversed Reality
Chapter Three
Roommates and Settling
My first reaction was to gape stupidly at the singing robot man standing before me. Many questions whirled around in my mind, a few of them being: What the hell is KAITO doing in Hollow freakin' Bastion? How does he know the Restoration Committee? When the hell did he learn English? I didn't have the courage to voice these questions aloud, so I merely waved a hand and smiled weakly.
"Uh... it's nice to... meet you too... Kaito-kun..." Oh holy fuck, please don't go all Uninstall on me... For some reason, Kaito's face lit up and he grinned like an excited child. Yuffie snickered, apparently satisfied that Kaito and I were already getting along.
"Ahh, so you're familiar with honorifics! Do you speak Japanese, by any chance?"
"O-only a little..."
"Then you must be from the same world as me! It explains why you seemed to recognize me, anyway. Hmm, are you American? I've always wanted to visit America! After all, they're the ones who invented the hamburger! Genius, it was..." Since when is Kaito so chatty...?
"Umm, Kaito-kun, I'm not from the same world as you. In my world, you're just a computer program. You never had a physical form..." At Kaito's astonished expression (and Yuffie's confused blink) I elaborated. "My world is similar to yours but not quite the same. You and Hatsune-san and Meiko-san and the others are famous, but only to the select group of people who know of the Vocaloid program..." Please don't let him go all Uninstall on me...
Oh, stop making such a bloody fuss. It was just a song.
Black Rock Shooter was just a song too, and now look at where it's gone.
"Ah, I see. Which of my songs is your favorite, Temari-chan?" Kaito asked, still grinning despite what I'd just said. I don't think he was depicted as quite so cheerful in the Hatsune Mix manga... maybe it's just because he's glad to meet someone who knows of him.
"I-I really liked your cover of Take On Me..." I confessed with a slight blush. Kaito laughed as if I had told the best joke of the decade; Yuffie merely blinked again, confused as ever. She finally spoke up when Kaito stopped laughing.
"Uh... so, what's a Vocaloid?" she asked, inclining her head. I pointed wordlessly at Kaito. Yuffie just narrowed her eyes, expecting a better explanation.
"In my world, synthesized singing program. In Kaito's world, humanoids that are very good at singing." I rubbed my head a bit. "The worlds are all connected, apparently. I just never thought that Kaito would exist as an actual person... this day is so freakin' trippy..."
"Am I your favorite Vocaloid, Temari-chan?" Kaito asked eagerly.
"Um, no... Megurine-san is... but you're just as cool as Kamui-kun and Kagamine-kun a-and Hiyama-kun-" I stopped suddenly. "Oh shitcake, Kaito-kun... did your world scatter too?" Kaito and Yuffie both gave me strange looks for my original swearing before Kaito replied easily:
"Nope, I just stumbled across this strange gem and the next thing I knew, Aerith-chan was asking me if I was all right. Such a nice girl, not a mean bone in her body... by the way, Yuffie-chan, has Merlin-sama finished analyzing the gem yet?"
"I dunno, I'll have to go ask him. You can show Temari around in the meantime!" Yuffie suggested eagerly, to which Kaito immediately agreed.
"I'd love to! Is that all right with you, Temari-chan?" Kaito asked, kneeling to my eye level (damn my lack of height.)
"Can you handle the Heartless around here by yourself? I'm... weak. Really weak and pathetic..." I mumbled as I looked away in shame. Kaito grabbed my arm and led me out of the room, followed by Yuffie. They both neglected to close the door, so I awkwardly kicked it shut.
"Leave it to me, Temari-chan! I'll protect you with all my might!"
You sure are getting chummy with this Kaito bloke.
I'm going to be living with him for who knows how long. I'm trying to adjust, here.
I'm more interested in the gem he mentioned. Sounds a helluva lot more convenient than a gummi ship and I sure as hell can't drag you through interspace again, so it's the best way for you to travel to different worlds.
When did we establish a need for me to travel to other worlds?
You want your home and family back, don't you? Get off your bum and earn it, you bint.
Gee, thanks for the encouragement, Emmy.
"...and this is the training ground! Be sure to get here by 6 A.M. tomorrow to meet your teacher," Kaito derailed my train of thought by showing me an absurdly large arena-type area with wooden targets scattered about. There was also a rusted stand thing that had several wooden swords propped up against it. Kaito caught my stare and waved a hand. "Oh, you won't be using those, Temari-chan. In order to learn to wield your guitar weapon, you'll have to practice with it."
"I'll have to invest in rubber bullets, then..." Unless Emmy dear can conjure some for me...
Not bloody likely. You have to do SOMETHING for yourself for once, dear.
"I'm not sure, but I think they'll be asking Harley to teach you. He's a master of the sword... Temari-chan, are you listening?"
"S-sorry, I'm kinda distracted... worried about my family and all..." I rubbed my head a little and examined the training grounds a bit more. "...And, uh, now I'm getting kinda nervous about the whole training thing. I need it pretty badly, but yeah..." Kaito squee'd and glomped me, spinning around.
"Awww, you're so KYOOT! You'll do fine, Temari-chan, I know it! Lemme go buy you some food!"
We only managed to explore a small part of Hollow Bastion before Kaito got so excited about cooking for me that we HAD to go back to his apartment. I was a little scared of how peppy the man was, but assumed it was due to him being bored of living alone. I was also rather anxious of what the man planned to make (he bought a lot of fish and I really don't like fish). Feeling guilty, I spent the trip home and some time sitting at the table thinking of ways to hide the food instead of having to eat it. Then, after about a half hour of Japanese swear words and chaos, I found out...
Kaito can cook.
Holy SHIT, Kaito can cook.
He always breaks at least one appliance or plate (or, in one case, a chair) in the process, but his food is amazing. At first I was a little uneasy about trying Japanese food (I'm American, never been to a Japanese restaurant) but it was very good. Kaito could make me eat fish. The man was a miracle worker. He made an amusing face when I ate most of the manju he made, too...
Um, anyway, after devouring my weight in Japanese food it only took me about an hour to settle in to Kaito's apartment. He already had a spare futon and blankets and all, and he only had to clear a (very) broken karaoke machine from the spare room. It probably wouldn't have taken as long if Kaito didn't have to stop to sing (and kept having me request stuff.) Soon after that he tossed some of his spare clothes at me and said something about 'shower there OMG MUST SING MORE NAO'.
Yeah, wearing a man's spare clothes. A bit awkward, especially considering that I barely come to said man's shoulder. I had to use bandages to keep the pants from sliding right down to the floor and my hands were hopelessly lost in the sleeves. Emiere could not stop laughing obnoxiously in my head. Kaito thought it was cute, and he had the decency not to laugh at me.
"Sorry, T-chan, that's all I have for now. I'll ask Aerith-chan to find you some better clothes later, 'kay?" I nodded and cringed inwardly. Aerith was the average girly girl and would probably get me some bright frilly dresses or skirts and I can't stand that stuff. I shop in the same clothes section as my younger brother, enough said. Still, I was NOT going to be a selfish whiny twit for once in my freaking life and I would NOT complain about what Aerith got me, even if it was pink.
I looked up to see Kaito had been ranting about what kind of stuff I should wear and decided to shift the man's attention in the easiest way possible:
"Kaito-kun, can you sing The Black Rose by L'Arc-en-Ciel?"
"Absolutely! Wait just a second..."
I don't know if it was part of his programming, but you could distract Kaito from ANYTHING with music. Of course, it was becoming increasingly difficult to think of Kaito as a program seeing as he was now happily blaring the lyrics I'd requested. Technically speaking, he WAS a program, though... maybe he could be of some help to Sora and Tron in the Space Paranoids world.
Ahh, Space Paranoids... that place kicked my ass on my first playthrough...
Anyway, it took another four hours to get Kaito to calm down and retire to his room. I flopped down on my cot shortly afterward, staring wistfully at the ceiling that was not my own. Once again my thoughts wandered to Earth; I closed my eyes and pictured my room. Then the room I'd had before that one, though that was more difficult. Then I brought up an image of the group photograph I'd been bullied into in eighth grade, of me and a group of friends that consisted mostly of people that had denied my existence at the beginning of freshman year. I thought of Chiikaku, remembering the weird look I'd given her when she first sat with me at lunch and tried to rouse a conversation from me in seventh grade.
Neon, also known as Eriku, the biggest pervert but one of the nicest girls in the eighth grade. She'd hauled me out of my anti-social shell against my will, but it had done me quite a bit of good.
Prosser, who I had met through Neon in freshman year. She was a lot more mature than me despite being four years younger. Baaah.
My mother, who had told me, "The dead ones are lucky." She was pretty feminist and wouldn't take crap from anyone.
My dad, who had thrown me in a pool and smashed a raw egg on my head. Him and his warped sense of humor.
My oldest sister, how she used to spit at us if we weren't quiet while she watched Dragon Ball Z.
My second oldest sister, who was quiet, obedient, and overall lacking a personality until she met Onii-chan.
Onii-chan, introducing me to Kingdom Hearts. How he scared the bejesus out of me when I first met him because he was tall and had spiky blonde hair at the time.
My younger brother, that obnoxious little bastard with his superiority complex. We grew up together pretty closely since we were 'the little ones' and were grouped separately from our older sisters and our cousin, who was practically a sibling to us.
...People say you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone. I realized that first night just how horribly right they were.
I hate mornings. Nothing good ever comes of them.
Naturally, thanks to my shitty luck and puny little brain, I slept in. Sure, it was only 5:45 a.m., but that left me with fifteen minutes to make a forty-five minute trip. Being late on the very first day of training was the last thing I wanted to do; I had to make my teacher believe I was worth teaching. Mom always said a good first impression works wonders, but I'd never had to worry about it until SOMEONE summoned Heartless to Earth and turned my life into a big ol' pile of Clusterfuck.
So I had to run like my ass was on fire first thing in the morning. I'd only had the time to run my fingers through my hair, frantically scrub my teeth, and shove my shoes on before hurrying out the door. No breakfast, despite Kaito's protests as I tripped down the short staircase outside and rolled to my feet. So, yeah, running full sprint for a preeetty good distance. Sixteen years of secondhand smoke makes that VERY difficult, believe me. Thank you, Mom, Dad, Grandma, and every other freaking adult in my family. Gaah.
Of course the fact that I was lazy didn't help the effort at all. I was always decently fast, but I ran out of steam in approximately thirty seconds. Again, this makes running frantically over a good few miles very, very difficult. If not for my bike riding, I probably would've dropped dead after the first quarter of a mile. I actually kept myself going by reciting lyrics in my head. I had a rhythm to run to, and it honestly made me forget how my lungs felt all shriveled up and the size of marbles and how my legs felt like heavy blocks of lead.
I almost trampled poor Scrooge McDuck and offered a breathless apology over my shoulder without stopping. I had to swerve to dodge a huge tall guy in black (Cloud...? Nah.) and tripped, scraping my left knee as I hit the cobblestones. It took me a few seconds to reestablish a rhythm and start running again, but I managed to do so somehow even though I was honestly forgetting what it was like to be able to breathe by that point. I briefly wondered if that was how people with asthma sometimes felt and gained new appreciation for people who have to live with that disease. You people are awesome. I salute you.
I collapsed into a heap of breathless, exhausted T-chan when I finally reached the training grounds, not noticing the man glaring down at me as I tried frantically to make my damn lungs actually WORK. The coughing didn't help, so I forced myself to sit up and put my hands behind my head, lifting my diaphragm and making it easier to breathe.
"Oh, so you know that trick? Good, one less thing you have to learn. Just so you know, you're two minutes and forty-eight seconds late. I expect better from you. Off your ass and give me a lap around the training grounds." I didn't even turn to glare at the man who was apparently my teacher as I hobbled to my feet and coughed some more. Again, damn secondhand smoke. I groaned inwardly and started on the lap around the training grounds I'd been ordered to run. I thought back to P.E. in middle school and freshman year and resisted the urge to roll my eyes; I could already tell that this guy was worse than all of those teachers combined, and the teacher I had in seventh grade was a BITCH. She didn't even give a kid with asthma a break.
Another ten minutes later, I finished the lap and resisted the urge to collapse in front of the man who was supposedly my teacher; I decided that I was going to treat him like my seventh grade teacher, who would make you run more if you dropped after finishing instead of WALKING another lap. I took the chance to actually get a good look at him and was actually mildly impressed; he looked like he was once in the military. He was roughly middle-aged with blonde and gray hair in a low (greasy-looking) ponytail, had a LOT of scars, wore kinda generic black and green clothes that looked like a tattered uniform of sorts, and had these harsh icy blue eyes.
"Te-Temari Haruhara," I choked as means of an introduction; I offered my hand, but the man didn't take it. I started to wonder if he maybe wanted me to salute or chirp "Sir!" at him like a cadet, but he merely squared his shoulders and grumbled.
"Name's Harley. Now let's get started, mouse."
Gaah, this is so short...
Oookaaaay! To explain a few things!
About Kaito going all Uninstall... well, he did a cover of the song Uninstall from the anime Bokurano. However, the lyrics were heavily edited and involved him brutally murdering all his fellow Vocaloids to earn the sole attention of the infamous "Master." Granted the T-chan is not a Vocaloid, but Kaito killing people... yes, even HE has one of those songs. In a way, Uninstall is Kaito's Fear Garden.
"Manju" is... basically, a cake filled with red bean paste. It's sweet. This is a horrible comparison, but think of manju like it's a Japanese Twinkie.
And yay for Birth by Sleep. I was honored when a friend offered to let me borrow the game AND his PSP to play it. To think he'd trust me with that... (needless to say I treated it like precious stone... precious FRAGILE stone...) Beat Ven's story, beat Aqua's, couldn't beat Terra's because he's so friggin' slow... gave up after barely scraping a victory against the first boss... yeah. Anyway, I found out that Mickey used a Star Shard from Yen Sid's place to get around the worlds and I was all "That's PERFECT! Ha ha ha!" I'd been fretting how to explain the whole gem-transport thingy. But yeah, the T-chan of the story has not played BBS (started this before I got to play it) so yeah. She/I won't be all 'OMIG YOU'RE VEN' at Roxas or anything. And yes, I know Roxas isn't Ven, DON'T TRY TO EXPLAIN IT PLEASE.
And a little note, I have also played and beaten 358/2 Days. Pfft, playing as Roxas... it's absurd how many times I died on purpose just to hear Jesse McCartney scream. Same as Ven's story on BBS and for Roxas on KH2. Don't like Jesse McCartney. Mostly my little brother's fault for not being a real man.
Also played and beat Re:Coded, so I FINALLY found out what that DAMN letter said!
In other news, I havta live with my aunt for about a year. House got foreclosed. Damn shitty economy. Weell, I don't HAVE to live with my aunt, but I wanna graduate with my friends, so yeah... I'll probably be babysitting the resident four-year-old a lot...
Holy crap, ranting. Well, thanks for the faves and reviews I got but don't deserve. ^ ^
