A/N: Hey, people. I am back. This time, I have not much to say, so I'll make this fast. Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, Ken Akamatsu does. If he or anyone who owns it asks me to take this down, I will because I don't have any money. Alright, now, I have decided to only do those silly author's notes only when I have something to say other than the disclaimer, and it'll be serious. Maybe. Anyway, STORY START!
August 5-Hey, everyone. School is starting for me next week, so updates may take longer until I get a break, which I'll mention in the author's notes.
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Kitsune woke up the next morning. 'Oh. I'm in my room. Hmm...maybe that was all a dream. After all, Kei-kun beating a giant robot? Yeah, right. Unlikely. Now, I wonder what I can do today...' she thought, taking the covers off and seeing her hand. She stared at it for a couple seconds. 'Well, only one way to find out,' she thought skeptically, using the telekinesis she learned in her 'dream' on a sake bottle on the shelf in her room. She was completely surprised to find that she could lift the bottle from where she sat in the futon. She gasped, dropping the bottle that was floating in midair. It landed and shattered, the purple sparkle gone.
That's when Naru showed up in her doorway.
"Kitsune-san? What's wrong? I heard breaking glass," she asked, concerned for her friend.
"Oh, it's okay, Naru-san. One of the bottles I put on that shelf the other day fell off of the shelf, so now I have to clean that mess up," she lied, swiftly figuring out that it was bad to tell her friend she lifted that sake bottle from the futon after what the manager had showed her.
Naru scoffed, shaking her head at her friend. "You know, Kitsune-san, you need to be more careful," she warned. "By the way, I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamt that there was a giant robot that almost destroyed the hill," she said.
"Oh. You don't say," she replied, trying her best to sound believable. And she remembered the rest of the story that Naru wasn't admitting, unbeknownst to her.
"Yeah," Naru said.
"Well, good thing it was only a dream, then, right?" Kitsune said.
"Yeah, I guess," Naru said dismissively. "See you down at breakfast," she waved.
"Yeah," Kitsune replied. Once her friend was out of range, she looked at the floor where the bottle of sake had spilled. 'Great. Now I have to tell Kei-kun to clean that up,' she thought with a sigh, putting on daytime clothes.
...
"Mmm! Your food is as great as usual, Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro complimented the small chef.
"Thanks, Sempai," Shinobu said gratefully, blushing from the praise.
"You really fo have a talent for food!" Naru said.
"Thanks, Naru-sempai," Shinobu said, blushing a little redder.
Kitsune remained quiet the whole time, which was quite unusual for her. Her friends only noticed this when she would usually compliment Shinobu's food but remained silent again.
"Hey, is something wrong, Kitsune-san?" Naru asked her friend.
"N-No, I'm okay. Uh...your food is good, Shinobu-chan," she stuttered.
"Thanks, Kitsune-san," Shinobu replied with a smile.
Her friends, however, were not so convinced. 'Hmm...seems odd. Why would Kitsune-san stutter? She never stutters, even in the mornings,' Naru thought.
'This is very odd. Kitsune-san seems preoccupied this morning,' Motoko observed.
'What's making her so spacey?' Mutsumi wondered.
Kitsune was no fool, however. She could see her story wasn't very believed. "I was up all night," she added. This did nothing to get them off of her case, though. 'I'll just stop talking now,' she decided.
Her friends just shrugged and went back to enjoying their breakfast.
...
After breakfast, everyone went different ways. Motoko went to the roof to train, Naru went to the hot springs, Shinobu went to the kitchen to clean the dishes, Su and Sarah went to explore the hidden passages. Mutsumi went to the living room to watch some TV, and Kitsune went to Keitaro's room to ask him about the previous night to make sure she wasn't just dreaming. Keitaro, meanwhile, was studying.
That's when he heard a knock at the door.
"Come on in," he said. That's when Kitsune slid the door open and walked to stand in front of the manager of the dorm. "Oh, hey, Kitsune-chan. What can I do for you?" he asked, turning to look at her.
"Listen, about last night...Did you really show me how to use this purple energy?" she asked.
"Yeah, I did. Don't worry, I'll teach you more. You'll become better with it. And, don't worry, I'll clean up that sake mess in your room after dinner. Also, I know you're wondering how I'm answering your questions before you ask them. I can read your mind, too, remember?" he said.
"Okay. Well, can we start right now?" Kitsune asked.
"You want to learn now?" he asked.
"Well, It would probably be better to learn how to take advantage of this ability than to ignore it," she explained.
"Well, okay. I can teach you," he agreed.
"Great. What do I learn first?" she asked.
"Well, first, we've got to get somewhere where nobody can watch or listen to us. Remember, we have to keep this a secret. We don't want the world to find out about this, either. I don't think the world is ready to discover these powers. People will try to abuse it or take advantage of it for themselves, especially gangs. Which reminds me, don'T use these powers in public. It's just too risky," he answered.
"Alright, how about the forest behind the hill?" Kitsune suggested.
"That'll work. Now, let's go," he said. "Come on. I can get us there faster," he added, gesturing for her to grab his wrist. Once she did that, he pointed two fingers down at the ground. Kitsune watched in fascination as the world sped by in an instant. The wind turned her short hair into a mess that was windswept behind her. Then she looked around to see that they were in the forest behind the Hinata hill when they were in the manager's room just a second ago.
"Whoa. What just happened?" Kitsune asked.
"Well, I just ran us to the forest behind the hill. See? There's the house," he said, pointing to the back of the HInata-sou.
"But how did we get back here so fast?" she asked in amazement.
"Well, lets just say that psI energy isn't the only 'mystical energy' that exists," he replied enigmatically.
"So, you used some other 'energy' to move us to here in one second?" she asked amazedly.
"Yes. But I can't tell you any more than that," he said.
"Okay. Just start my training," Kitsune said.
"Wow. You seem eager," Keitaro observed.
"I guess you rubbed off on me," she responded.
"What part of me seems eager?" he asked.
"Well, you were eager to work here and do all the cleaning," Kitsune pointed out.
"Well, alright, then. Fair enough," he said. "Now, first, you need to learn the secret to this energy...light."
...
Naru was in the hot springs, thinking of her odd 'dream'. 'Wow. What a dream. Keitaro-san beat a robot without breaking a sweat. I can't believe I dreamed something like that. I mean, I think I like him, but there's no way he could do all that. Sure, he's indestructible, but how could he even do anything besides keep getting hit by the robot? That was really unrealistic for a dream,' she thought. 'And what was Kitsune-san doing with all that power? How come I had this crazy dream? It seems too realistic to be a dream, but there's no way that was real. Seriously, This is too confusing,' she thought, sighing and relaxing into the steamy water. She heard water moving around her and looked to see who it was. "Oh, hey, Motoko-san. I thought you were training," she said.
"Well, I could not clear my mind. I had an absurd dream last night," Motoko explained.
"Really? I had a crazy dream, too," Naru responded.
"Oh? What was it about?" Motoko asked, sounding intrigued.
"Well, our manager was a hero for some reason and Kitsune-san started getting these weird...powers," Naru said.
"What? But...But that was my absurd dream, too!" Motoko responded.
"What? Then that means we had the same dream! Which means...it was real? Keitaro-san really destroyed an enormous robot?" Naru asked rhetorically.
"It was real?!" Motoko shouted.
"Wait, how could this be real? That idiot can barely do math. How could he possibly beat a giant robot?" Naru reasoned.
Just then, though, a purple ball came hurtling into the hot springs, gaining the girls' attention.
"What was that?" Naru asked.
"I do not know. Let us go check it out," Motoko said, Naru following her to the spot where they heard the splash. They saw a glowing purple ball.
"Huh? What is this?" Motoko asked, picking up the purple ball.
"I don't know. Who's is this?" Naru asked, turning it around.
"I do not know. Although it looks like it belongs to Su-chan," Motoko observed.
"Yeah, it looks like it. Who else creates weird and often dangerous inventions every day?" Naru asked, sounding very annoyed.
"Wait, should we not be careful with this mysterious object? If Su-chan made it, wouldn't it be dangerous?" Motoko asked.
"Oh. Good point. You know, we should give it back to her," Naru pointed out.
"Yes," Motoko agreed.
After the bath
Naru just wiped her face with a towel. Tama flew into the room and landed on the back of her neck. She was drying herself off before she got changed. Motoko was turned away from her on the other side of the changing room, doing the same.
"So, should we ask him right now?" Naru asked.
"Yes. I believe Urashima-san has much explaining to do on this subject. If this absurd reality is indeed real, he has been hiding this from us from the start, and he needs to reveal it. How dare he try to hide this from us!" Motoko swore.
"I know! It just doesn't make any sense! I mean, we're his friends! Why would he hide something like this from us?" Naru asked indignantly.
"Well, according to the dream, he hid this secret from us to protect us from something," Motoko pointed out.
"But what could he possibly protect us from?" Naru asked.
"Hmm...I have heard tales of men who became power crazy upon discovering powers like those we witnessed yesterday. These men were vengeful people who would use their full effort to find a way to receive these powers, starting with finding out about any people who knew of their existence. These people were often very different from one another, but they were all often very stupid in one way or the other," Motoko explained.
"Oh. Is that all?" Naru deadpanned.
"Yes. Although I don't know how wimpy little Urashima-san could protect us from them. They often got extremely powerful from their ambition. My sister told me about them. Basically, they teamed up and relentlessly searched for people possessing these abilities. I believe the Shinmei-ryu called one of these gangs 'Fūrisshu• Doragonzu (The Foolish Dragons)'" Motoko said. "Anyway, shall we go?" she asked.
"Yeah, let's go," Naru said, turning for the door. Motoko was about to walk behind her when she froze in place. Naru noticed that Motoko stopped following her and turned around. "Come on, Motoko-san. Why are you just staring at me like I'm the devil or something?" she asked, confused.
"T-T-T-T-TURTLE!" Motoko yelled, pointing to Naru's neck and fainting.
"Hmm?" Naru said, turning to look where Motoko was pointing. "Oh, Tama-chan! Don't scare her like that!" she scolded.
"Myu..." Tama voiced sadly, bending his(her?) neck.
"Beware, Tama-chan! I'm coming for you!" came the cheerful shouts of Su, followed by the footfalls of her and her friend, Sarah.
"Mi!" Tama said, flying away from them.
"Get back here, Tama-chan!" Sarah shouted after him, chasing him with Su.
Naru chuckled slightly in spite of herself. "Oh, those girls!" she said, rubbing the back of her head and smiling. "So much energy. Where do they get their stamina?" she asked rhetorically, heading over to Motoko to drag her unconscious body to her room. ...Nope, no way to make that not sound creepy.
...
Three hours later, at eleven forty-five
"You seem to be understanding this a lot faster than I thought, Kitsune-chan. You already know how to use psi for telekinesis, geo-leaping, energy shields, psychic fire, energy blades, and super-senses. You learn fast, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro complimented, staring at some of the fallen trees and charred leaves.
"Well, I guess I have a great teacher," she said back.
"Uh, thanks," Keitaro said, smiling.
"So, can I learn how to read other people's minds?" Kitsune asked.
"You already know how, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro told her.
"What? I do? When did I learn?" she asked.
"Well, you're a very clever person, Kitsune-chan. You can read a person by looking at them. All you need to do is learn to use psI and you can read people's minds. Try analyzing me the same way you normally do, only use some of your psi energy in the process. Try to read what number I'm thinking of. Then we'll take a break for lunch," Keitaro instructed.
"Okay. Let me try," she said. She focused for a second. "Uhh...I'm seeing sushi, not a number," she asked.
"Hmm. That's odd. Try again," Keitaro suggested.
"Okay, umm...What the heck? I'm seeing ramen! What is this?!" she asked, clearly frustrated that she had trouble.
"Hmm...you seem to be having trouble with this. It's okay, though. It took me a while to master that, too. Try practicing later," Keitaro suggested.
"Okay. Man, this stinks. I know how to do anything with psi energy except reading minds!" Kitsune groused, clearly still fazed by her trouble. Changing the subject, she asked, "So, wait, how do you know so much about this stuff, anyway?"
"I can't say much, but...I mastered a few energies, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro said enigmatically.
"Okay. Can you explain that more?" Kitsune requested, sounding annoyed.
"I will, but later, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro answered.
'Great. I got nothing out of him,' Kitsune groused mentally.
"I heard that, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro said.
"Heard what?" Kitsune asked.
"I know you were trying to get something out of me," he said, smiling.
"I was not," Kitsune stuttered a protest.
"Admit it, you were," Keitaro said jokingly.
"...Dang it, caught me," she groused, getting Keitaro to chuckle. "How did you catch me, anyway?" she asked.
"Well, I can read minds, can't I?" he joked.
"Hey, no fair!" Kitsune laughed, playfully shoving Keitaro. They were laughing all the way back to the Hinata-sou, apparently forming a better friendship. You know, one without lots of painful jokes or unpaid loans. (sorry, Kitsune fans :(. Well, for the insult.)
'You know, he actually looks kind of...manly...like that time he was really focused in his studies and he didn't fall for my charms. Hmm...maybe I can have a shot at him,' she thought, blushing slightly.
...
Shinobu was busy cooking lunch in the kitchen. She tasted her soup. 'Hmm. Needs some salt. I seem to be less focused and making more corrections after we all saw Sempai beat that robot. He really was heroic...Auuuuu! Stop blushing, Shinobu! Someone could see!' she thought, scolding herself for blushing about Keitaro while not having total privacy.
"Hiya, Shinobu-chan!" Su yelled, hanging from the ceiling right in front of Shinobu, startling the poor young chef.
"Gyah!" was Shinobu's startled noise as she backpedaled from being startled so fast again. 'Speak of the devil,' she thought.
"What's for lunch? And why were you blushing? Are you thinking of Keitaro-san?" Su asked innocently, the goofy grin that was a Su trademark plastered on her face.
"AAAH! No, I wasn't thinking of Sempai! I-I was blushing because...it's hot in here!" she replied, fast and flustered. "Oh, and I made miso soup, shrimp tempura, and smoked salmon teriyaki," she added, cool as a cucumber.
"Ooh! Sounds good!" Sarah said, popping up right next to Shinobu as fast as Su.
"Gah! Stop doing that!" Shinobu yelled in protest, again arching her back backwards, away from Sarah, in surprise.
"Oh. Whoops, sorry! Heheh," Sarah apologized meekly, rubbing the back of her head.
"So, Shinobu-chan, what did you think of Keitaro-san's little show?" Sarah asked.
"Wh-What do you mean, Sarah-chan?" Shinobu asked, blushing a little more.
"Well, that dork has these cool powers all of a sudden. What do you think of that?" Sarah asked.
"W-Well, I think he's even cooler now. Wait, did I just say that? Auuuu...please don't tell anyone!" Shinobu responded, pleading for discretion.
"Relax, Shinobu-san. I won't tell anyone," Sarah said. Yet, in her head, she said, 'Wow. She still seems a little shy talking about the dork, even though all she's doing is saying he's "cooler"'
"Don't worry, Shinobu-chan! I will say nothing about this!" Su promised.
Shinobu sighed with relief. "Thank you," she said gratefully. "How about you, Sarah-chan? What do you think about this?" Shinobu asked.
"Well, I can't believe that it's the dork that gets superpowers, but I guess it's still kind of cool he got those powers in the first place. Plus, I have never read a comic book from America where the hero beat the villain that easily," Sarah explained.
"I like this a lot! It means I can test my most dangerous inventions on Keitaro-san and he can survive! And not get launched to Kyoto! Three perks in one deal! AWESOME!" Su yelled, jumping around like a crazed man.
"...Ooookay," Shinobu awkwardly responded.
...
Five minutes later
Naru was studying in her room with Mutsumi, who had joined her not five minutes ago. She was still a little shocked that wimpy little Keitaro could beat a robot as big as the hill and the house with a few crazy and seemingly-impossible actions. This was the reason she was not nearly as far into the practice problems as usual. This was something Mutsumi noticed.
"Ara, ara, Naru-chan. You seem distracted. What's wrong?" she asked.
"Hmm? AAH! Mutsumi-san? When did you get here?" Naru asked.
"I came in five minutes ago," she answered.
"How come you didn't tell me?!" Naru asked indignantly.
"I thought you knew I was here," Mutsumi said.
"How would I know that?" Naru asked.
"Well, I was coming up here and I saw Shinobu-chan walking up here with a tray with snacks and tea and I said I would bring the tray up to you. Then I decided I would start studying with you," Mutsumi explained calmly with a smile on her face.
"Oh," Naru said, noticing the tray for the first time.
"So, why are you so distracted?" Mutsumi asked.
"I'm not!" Naru denied.
"Yeah, you are. Wait...you're still shocked that Kei-kun could do what he did, huh?" Mutsumi asked.
"W-What? Where would you get that?" Naru asked. 'Sh-She's right!' she thought.
"Hmm...Huh. Where would I get that?" Mutsumi asked. Naru facefaulted at this.
"Why are you asking me? I wouldn't know!" Naru yelled incredulously.
"Huh. Oh, well," Mutsumi shrugged. 'Where did I get that?' Mutsumi asked herself.
'I don't know. It's like I could see it without trying,' a voice in her head told her.
'Yeah, and it felt so easy, too,' another voice observed.
'Hmm...maybe I should ask Kei-kun tonight,' the first voice decided.
'Hey, who made you the boss?' the second voice asked the first indignantly.
'Our mother,' the first answered happily.
'Oh. Okay, carry on,' the first voice responded.
...
Motoko awoke in her room, on the futon. She sat up, rubbing her head. She had a headache. "What happened?" she groaned. That's when the memories came back to her. 'Oh, yeah. I was going to follow Narusegawa-san when I saw the monster on her back. Then it overcame me with its death stare and I passed out,' she concluded from the memories she had.
Suddenly, she got a knock on her door. She also heard a slight ripping sound. "Yes?" she asked alertly.
"It's me, Shinobu. I just want to tell you lunch is about ready," the Hinata-sou's second-youngest resident told her.
"Okay, thank you, Shinobu-san. I will be there in a minute.
"Okay. Oh, by the way, sorry for the rip in the door. I don't know how I did that," Shinobu responded.
"It is okay, Shinobu-san. Besides, it's not my job to fix the door," she said, staring at the hole in the paper door with a sigh, making a mental note to change out of sight of the hole in the door. Also, to tell the manager she made mental note number one for about the hole in the door.
Meanwhile, Shinobu was still blushing lightly from embarrasment. 'I don't know how I did that, but now I'm afraid to hug people,' she thought. Then Su ran by with Sarah. Only, Sarah was running on the wall while Su was running across the ceiling. "Hey, hey, hey, Shinobu-chan! Let's go! I want to study something using missiles and lasers! Want to come?" Su asked, still standing on the ceiling.
"Uhh...as fun as that sounds..." Shinobu said cautiously, "...I have to tell everyone that lunch is almost ready."
"Oh, okay. Oh, hey, Motoko-chan, thanks for the ball, by the way. My new chimpanzees love it!" she commented.
"Su-chan, I gave that to you could find out what it is, not to give it to some monkeys! And where would you even get those, anyway?" Motoko commented, getting a sweatdrop, just like Shinobu.
"Well, I couldn't figure it out for the life of me, so I just gave it to the chimps. Which I bought from the store. Anyway, bye!" Su answered. Then she literally started running on the ceiling from where she left off, just like how she came by, while Sarah kept up with her on the wall again.
Meanwhile, Shinobu and Motoko's eyes were wide as drums. They stayed that way for a moment.
Finally, after that moment of silence, Motoko spoke up. She said, "Even though I have known those girls for a while, they still shock me. How are they running on something other than the floor?" Motoko asked.
"Well, I guess they have lots of energy," Shinobu pointed out, smiling.
"I suppose you're right," Motoko said, looking in the direction that they ran. Which is why she was staring at the door to Su's room, even after Shinobu left. (A/N: Motoko's room is right next to Su's in the manga and anime) 'Where do they get that stamina?' Motoko asked herself.
...
Keitaro, meanwhile, was sitting in his room, trying to study even though he had so much mental rush-hour traffic. Finally, though, he saw that it was getting him nowhere to do both at the same time and put down the pen he was holding.
'Well...now that I think about it, those girls wouldn't just be able to forget something like that show yesterday. Or the one where Kitsune-chan scared that wolf away with the psI wall she put up. *sigh* I must tell them. I may have been lying about who I was, but there is no way I can let them go by like this without knowing what's going on. In fact, if I don't train them now, they might do something foolish and awaken or summon something too powerful for me alone. Then I'd have to call the other Kami no Hogo-sha (Guardians of God) for help. And all of them hate helping people!' he thought.
'Alright, it's settled then. We'll tell them tonight. Call a meeting in the living room and confess just what we are,' another voice in his head spoke out.
'I guess that's a good plan,' another voice said.
'Yeah, definitely!" another voice in his head said cheerfully.
'Ara, just where did all these voices come from?' another voice asked.
'Well, think about it. We live with seven completely diverse girls, all of which tolerate us. Not to mention, these are our friends you're talking about, you baka!' another voice said.
'Well, doesn't that make you the baka as well? After all, you are me,' another pointed out playfully,
'And yet there's a you that's not me that's a baka,' the overly confident voice zinged back.
'Oooh!' six of the other voices replied.
'You going to take that?' one of the more childish voices said.
'P-P-Please just stop fighting! We look like one massive idiot right now!' the shy voice pointed out.
'Myuh!' another agreed.
'Oh, sure. Agree with the turtle!' the voice said.
"Ehh, Kei-kun...what is going on?" a voice came from the door. All of the Keitaro voices focused attention on Kitsune, as they were all in a visible thought bubble for some reason.
'Oh, hey, Kitsune-chan. This is just how I imagine my mind,' one of the voices replied.
"Oh. I see," she replied, talking like the person on the other side of the conversation was a total loon. She sat down to join Keitaro at the kotatsu, sitting on his left. Then the thought bubble disappeared and Keitaro's eyes came back into focus.
"So, how much of that conversation did you hear?" Keitaro asked.
"The whole thing," Kitsune said. 'Yeah, Kei-kun. It's not hard to spy on people here,' she added mentally.
"I know it isn't. Anyway, want to talk about it?" Keitaro asked.
"Wait, how did you...? Oh, yeah. You could start with why you plan to tell them even though you insisted on keeping it a secret yesterday," Kitsune replied.
"Well, I figured that they would figure it out sooner or later just with what they saw yesterday and the news reports of the falling robot. So, I'm prepared to tell them everything they need to know so they at least don't do something stupid like raise the dead," he explained
"I see. Wait, raise the dead?! Is that even possible?" Kitsune asked.
"Well, technically, yes, but it turns the one who tries it into a sort of 'zombie king'," he responded. Kitsune just blinked twice. "What? It's happened!" he added.
That's when Naru poked her head through the hole between the rooms and saw her friend in his room. She asked, "Uh, Keitaro-san, what is Kitsune-san doing in your room?" she asked.
"We were just talking about something," Keitaro said.
"What was this 'something'?" Naru asked skeptically.
"Something secret," Kitsune responded.
"Ooookay...Well, I need to ask you a question, Keitaro-san," Naru said, dropping through the hole and taking a seat across from Kitsune, visibly trying to reign in her temper. Keitaro took a drink of his tea and put the cup on his right on the table.
"Sure, Narusegawa-chan, what is it?" he asked gently.
"I need to ask you about-" was all she could get out before Keitaro put his hand up to stop her for a second.
"Wait, Narusegawa-chan, is this about-?" was all he could get out before he realized that his hand swung into the tea cup, knocking it over and spilling all the tea into...
"AAAHHH! You spilled tea all over my skirt!" ...Naru's lap.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Keitaro said, desperately looking around for the napkins he knew he put on the table. He found them and reached to wipe her skirt off.
"What are you doing?!" Naru yelled, smacking Keitaro out the window and picking up the napkin he dropped. Kitsune was only chuckling half-heartedly this time, though, instead of laughing like she was in a craze.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side of Tokyo, a man by the name of Keitaro Urashima was flying to the junkyard. You don't even want to know what he landed in, but let's just say that it left his clothes ripped, dirty, and smelling like manure, rotten bananas, and a blender.
"Oh, man! Shinobu-chan is going to faint when she sees my clothes in this condition!" he comments.
"Oh, hey, Keitaro-san! You need a lift?" the man in the garbage truck asked.
"Yeah. Thanks, Koichiro-san," he said, getting onto the garbage man's truck.
"Anytime, kid," he responded, driving towards the Hinata-sou.
...
Lunchtime, noon
Everyone was gathered at the lunch table, the meal on the table. Everyone was sitting and talking to each other, waiting for the one missing person. But someone was getting impatient.
"Awww! Where is he? It's lunchtime! I want to eat!" Su whined.
"Oh, Naru-san launched him again. How many yen are you willing to bet that he landed in the junkyard again?" Kitsune asked, chuckling.
"What did that lecherous male do this time?" Motoko asked, sounding annoyed.
"He tried reaching for my lap after he spilled tea on me!" Naru said indignantly.
"Actually, he had a napkin," Mutsumi said calmly.
"How do you know that?" Su asked.
"Uh...yeah, how do I know that?" she asked. Everyone facepalmed at this.
"Again, how would we know? Why are you asking us?" Naru asked again.
"Oh, Sempai's back!" Shinobu said as everyone heard the front door close.
Sarah sniffed the air. "Aw, man! Who farted?" she complained,
"Um, actually, that smell is the blender I crashed into," came the voice of Keitaro from the door. Everyone's gaze focused on the burnt-brown man in the doorway of the kitchen and immediately realized that was the very mucky Keitaro that landed on the remains of a stupidly-destroyed blender and the closest farm's trash. Everyone gasped, then coughed at the loss of clean air. They were waving their hands in front of their faces like something blew up.
"Aw, Kei-kun! Man, that's nasty! Where did you land?" Kitsune asked, voice nasally.
"A junkyard," he answered.
"A junkyard in a swamp?" Naru asked incredulously, voice nasally from covering her nose.
"Worse," he said.
"What could be worse than a swamp? Oh, never mind!" Motoko said, voice as nasally as everyone else.
"Yeah, I'll just go bathe now. Shinobu-chan, could you save me some lunch? Thanks," he asked, thanking her after she nodded her head.
Once he was out of the room, the girls released their held breath.
"Great. Now it stinks in here," Sarah whined.
"I can fix it. Stand back, everyone," Motoko said, gesturing for everyone to get behind her. Then she shouted, "HIKEN: JAKUZANKŪSEN!" (A/N: that means Hidden Sword Technique: Lesser Air Cutting Flash. This blows objects far away, according to the wikia page of Shinmei-ryū on the Love Hina Wikia page). Everyone heard a loud gust of wind and noticed that the air was clear of the stench and that the table was clear of napkins, chopsticks, and silverware. Hearing all the clatter of the eating utensils slamming into the wall and falling to the floor all at once-and pushed by air-made them all jump back in surprise.
"Gah! That was loud," Sarah said pointedly.
"How did you do that?" Naru asked.
"Did I not already explain it? Oh, I can see that I did not. Well, you see, I have trained myself to be able to manipulate ki energy," Motoko explained.
"Ki energy? Is it good to eat?" Su asked innocently.
"Well, you don't eat it, Su-chan. Ki energy is the force of life. It is why the heart does not tire out like the muscles in our arms do.
"Members of the Shinmei-ryū discipline learn to channel their ki energy to their environment. I learned almost every sword technique the senseis had to teach us," Motoko explained.
"'Almost'?" Kitsune asked.
"I ran away before I could master them all. Plus, the elders were still deliberating my request to learn the last secret of ki energy," Motoko explained.
"I see," Naru said.
Cue the long silence.
"Umm...should we pick up the utensils and start eating lunch?" Shinobu asked after the silence passed.
"Uh...yeah," Naru said, joining everyone in picking up all of the utensils off the floor, rinsing them in the sink, and grabbing new ones from the drawer.
...
After lunch
'Aw, man! That was one of my only good shirts! Oh, well. I guess I have to buy more new clothes now," Keitaro sighed. He was checking his closet to see if he had any presentable clothes left. His old shirt got torn in places and all dirty from the manure and radioactive blender he landed in. He grabbed a shirt and a pair of pants and grabbed his wallet.
He headed downstairs through the living room to the front door, where Kitsune was watching horse races with some sake and Mutsumi was playing with Tama using Kitsune's empty sake bottles.
"Come on, Tama-chan. You can get a strike," she said encouragingly. Tama started flying towards the ten sake bottles on the other side of the couch.
"Did he get a strike?" Kitsune asked distractedly, still paying attention to the TV.
"Nope. She got a spare," Mutsumi said as they heard glass breaking. They both looked over to see Tama flying out the window.
"Can we please not play indoor baseball with Tama-chan?" Haruka's voice requested from the door.
"I thought she was Tama bowling," Kitsune said confusedly. Mutsumi just shrugged.
"Oh, hey, Kei-kun, where are you going?" Kitsune asked, turning to look at him.
"I have to go to the store to get some new clothes. Most of my old ones are either beaten up, too dirty to clean, or very torn up," he answered.
"Ooh, can I come? I need some more sake," Kitsune asked.
"Okay," Keitaro consented.
"I wanna come, too! I wanted to pick up some more watermelons," Mutsumi said. This caused Haruka to raise an eyebrow.
"Uh...sure, Mutsumi-chan," Keitaro said. Kitsune turned off the TV and got up with Mutsumi to stand next to Keitaro. After they grabbed their purses, of course.
Then Naru came into the room, looking for Keitaro. "Oh, hi Haruka. When did you get here?" Naru asked.
"Oh, I needed to give Keitaro-san a fax," Haruka asked.
"Do you know where he went?" Naru asked.
"Yeah. He went to the mall with Kitsune-san and Mutsumi-san. He needed new clothes," Haruka answered.
"Oh," Naru said. That's not what she was thinking, though. She was thinking more along the lines of, 'WHAT? Kitsune-san and Mutsumi-san? Is he going to try something?'
...
The trio just mentioned, meanwhile, was walking out of the mall with their purchased items in hand: clothes, sake, and a wagon with watermelons. Keitaro also bought a chili dog for each of them from an international food cart, which he was happily eating. (A/N: I don't know if that's actually a thing or if you can actually find it in Japan. Maybe someone could tell me in a review? I'm only eight, I wouldn't know.)
"Mm, this is good! What was it again? A 'chili dog'? I like it," Keitaro said, impressed.
"I know, right?" Kitsune said, also eating her chili dog.
"Have you ever eaten one of these things before, Kitsune-san?" Mutsumi asked, also chewing on a piece of her chili dog.
"Well, my dad used to work at one of those food stands and he got to bring home all the leftovers from the day. One night, he brought home a chili dog and I had a chili dog that night," Kitsune explained.
"Oh. I'm sorry for your loss," Keitaro said.
"Hmm? Oh, he's not dead. When I said 'used to', I meant that he now has a very successful job as a talented designer," she said.
"Oh. Cool," Mutsumi said. Then nobody spoke for the longest time.
"Ya know, I had the weirdest dream. I could see what people were feeling without trying and we went shopping at the mall," Mutsumi said.
"Huh? Mutsumi-chan, that's not a dream. We are shopping at the mall right no-wait, what was that about 'seeing what people are feeling'?" Keitaro asked.
"Oh, yeah. Somehow, I can see people's emotions as if it painted them different colors. It's like I just know what people are feeling. Like that guy over there-" Here she pointed to a man sitting on a bench, studying from pocket flashcards. "-is trying to get into Toudai, and he's second-highest ranked in the nation, but he's still very unsure of his life. Plus, the girl he likes is waiting for a reply to her confession of love from him, but he just can't bring himself to admit it. He's apparently too obsessed with the notion that becoming her boyfriend meant doing 'it', as he put it," Mutsumi said.
"You could tell all of that about a sitting man studying from flashcards?" Kitsune asked incredulously.
"Yeah," Mutsumi replied curiously.
"How?" Keitaro asked.
"I don't really know," Mutsumi responded.
'*gasp* "Seeing people's emotions"? She's showing the sign of having emotion psi energy! Wait, if she has emotion psi, she would be able to comfort anyone,' Keitaro reasoned with himself. 'Well, only one way to check,' he thought, turning to Mutsumi.
"Hey, Mutsumi-chan. Why don't you try and comfort that man that was studying just now?" Keitaro requested.
"Huh? Why?" Mutsumi asked.
"Well, I need to know...if...you...knew how to comfort someone. I'll only know if you try it, so...could you try?" he explained.
"Well, okay. I do enjoy comforting people," Mutsumi agreed, going over to the man sitting at the bench. She sat down next to him, causing the man to look up from his book.
"Uh...can I help you, miss?" he asked.
"Oh, hi. My name is Mutsumi Otohime. What's your name?" Mutsumi greeted, holding out her hand for him to shake.
"I'm Jin Takahashi," the man said, shaking Mutsumi's hand.
"I know I don't know you very well, Jin-san, but you look troubled. Is something bothering you?" Mutsumi asked.
"No, everything's fine!" Jin said, suddenly alert.
"What's bothering you?" Mutsumi asked calmly, seeming to not have heard him.
"Nothing!" Jin shot back.
"Oh. Okay. Well, if you need to talk, I've been told I give great advice, so feel free to talk if you need to," Mutsumi said, almost maternally.
After a moment of silence, Jin sighed. "Well, Mutsumi-san, it's about a girl I like. She confessed to me the other day that she likes me, but I just ran home without giving her an answer. I'm sure that I like her too, but I don't want to do 'it' right now. I'm not ready to...to...to become a father," Jin explained, the blush growing redder slightly at the mention of not being ready to become a father.
"Oh. Is that all? Well, don't worry. I'm sure she's just as nervous about it as you. Not giving her an answer might make her worried. I'm sure she'll agree to go slow if you ask," Mutsumi said in a comforting tone.
"But what if she doesn't?" Jin asked fearfully.
"Don't worry. If she likes you, she probably will," Mutsumi said encouragingly.
"Really? You really think so?" Jin asked hopefully.
"Absolutely," Mutsumi replied definitively, smiling.
Jin sniffled. There were happy tears coming from his eyes. He suddenly hugged Mutsumi and broke out into sobs.
"Ara. You needed a hug, didn't you?" Mutsumi commented.
"Thanks for the kind words, Mutsumi-san. And sorry for the sudden hug. I was just so happy and relieved when you said that," Jin said between sobs.
"You're welcome, Jin-san. And it's alright. You seemed like you needed that," Mutsumi said, hugging him back.
Keitaro and Kitsune, meanwhile, were staring at the teary display slack-jawed. "Wow. She did it. She actually did it," Kitsune said incredulously. Keitaro remained silent and slack-jawed.
"Kei-kun?" she asked, waving her hand in front of his face. "Say something, man!" Kitsune yelled.
"...She...comforted him," Keitaro said slowly. Then he suddenly grabbed onto the lapels of Kitsune's shirt. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!" he yelled. (A/N: As the author, I feel obligated to explain that lapels are like the edges of the shirt that make a V shape, like in karate gI or some business shirts).
"Actually, no, I don't. What is it?" Kitsune asked.
Keitaro moved his head closer to whisper. His urgent whisper was, "Kitsune-chan, Mutsumi-chan is making lots of emotion psi energy!"
"What? You mean the other kind of psi energy?" Kitsune asked, voice in a whisper as well.
"Yes, that one," Keitaro whispered.
"WHAT?" Kitsune whispered, albeit rather loudly.
|\/\/|
And that's the new chapter, everyone. I hope all of you readers out there enjoy this story, because I don't exactly know about that. Is everyone enjoying the story? Please tell me. Also, I know this is kind of sad, but this is the first time that I revised a chapter, so it may be better than the chapters before it. Anyway, don't forget to review! Later!