Internet Introspection

Summary: Ms. Toriumi mulls over her relationship while talking to Tatsuya, which gets interrupted by his friends.


Class wasn't the same after she realized who Tatsuya was. It was a strange mix of hot and disgusting. Why it couldn't have been Kaz, or at least somebody who cared a little more about school, and why did it have to be Iori of all people?

Every night, Isako drank more. She had to, because Ms. Toriumi knew it was wrong, but Isako wanted more. It was a strange dichotomy, and she never imagined having thoughts like this filling her head. The more she drank, the less weird it became.

"roflcopter ur so funny tatsuya xD"

"ye ye! we should call sumtime, u seem hella fun :)"

Isako froze. Well, there was enough alcohol running through her blood so that'd be impossible, but the shock of Junpei initiating anything after all she ranted to him was incredible. He really did care about Maya. But would he if he knew Maya was Isako?

'Those are sober thoughts. Drunk thoughts should be more fun,' Isako concluded.

They spent hours together weekly, they went on basically online dates, and they told everything to each other. This was so strange. Isako was basically dating an online guy, who just happened to be her student, who didn't know that she was his teacher.

"srry gtg, my friends are at the door. have a good sunday :)"

Before she could think of a response, Tatsuya went idle. Isako would never admit it, but she dreamed of what happened if she just told him.


"Wake. The. Hell. Up," Yukari screeched to the chestnut of Junpei's dorm door. Minako laid her back against the hallway and considered their options. The two ladies could just go to the mall together, but who would carry their bags? Who would pay for their Chagall? It was worth the wait.

After a solid minute of screaming, another door opened. Akihiko had a less than pleasant face being woken up by the dorm's banshees. He admitted such, saying, "Can you two be any louder?"

"Junpei promised to take us to the mall 15 minutes ago."

"Hey, meathead!" Akihiko walloped the door with the rage of a sleepless teenager, and Junpei reacted in no time. They heard him grunt from through the door, so it was clear he was awake this whole time.

"Junpei, when will you ever have two ladies waking you up in the morning? Open the damn door."

Yukari followed with a resounding, "You heard us this whole time, get out here!"

Junpei mumbled an apology, and finally moved away from his computer. Tearing the earbuds out, he quickly put his tank top on and scrambled to his pants. It was the middle of winter, so he quickly put on the lined jacket that sadly reeked of cigarettes. 'Never gonna forget this at Dad's ever again. It reeks,' which was a rude awakening for him. After he brought it up with Maya, she admitted that adults love vice. It's difficult to separate a smoker from his pack, an alcoholic from his bottle, a workaholic from his career.

It's weird, being friends with someone so much older. Maya talked like she could be one of his teachers. Still, older women just had a certain charm to them: they had stability that no adult in Junpei's life ever had. Maya made reason to his dad's vice where he just blamed him for all wrong ever done to him. She made sense of all the senseless violence, and Junpei appreciated Maya for everything she had taught him. What a good friend.

"Get off your stupid game and come out, Stupei!" Yukari was never bad cop with anyone, except for Junpei. He made it too easy to go hard on him, plus he never cared. Fun person to be around, but she'd never admit that.

When Junpei finally closed the door behind him, Minako and Akihiko were all smiles. Not Yukari. She always gave him a hard time. Not that it was a problem: she was his best friend, or one of them at least.

"Sorry Yuka-tan! Maya just really loves me," he announced, smirking.

"I can't wait until you learn that Maya is a fat middle-aged dude that just loves preying on kids. He's not a girl, I swear," she responded, rolling her eyes. Why did he have to talk to some chick online when he had friends in real life that could do the same thing but better? Yukari just didn't get it.

"Somebody's jealous," Akihiko casually mentioned, turning back to his room. Yukari's face lit up, Junpei chuckled, Yukari slugged Junpei, and Minako just enjoyed the free entertainment.

"Normally, I wouldn't mix business and pleasure. But..."

"Stop thinking that, Stupei. Never in a million years."

Everyone shared a laugh at Yukari's anger, and started the way down the hallway. As he walked out, Junpei looked to his lonely computer, the blinking dot calling back to him. He could barely make out Maya's words of "haha ill miss u ^_^," and all he wanted was to charge back in and hang out with her. But a promise is a promise, and Junpei escorted the ladies to the mall.


'Damn,' Isako thought. 'Teens are out having fun on a Sunday afternoon, and I'm left here drinking beer and looking like I came out of a damn dumptruck. Damn it.'

After spending half of her sleeping time grinding for Tatsuya's Christmas present, Isako ran her shower warm and stepped in. Envious of the NEET life, Isako contemplated quitting her job and spending every minute of the day with Tatsuya.

Wait. He has to go to school.

Wait even more. He's a teenager.

'Get your shit together, Isako. I miss you? What was that? Ugh. Why am I in love with Junpei Iori?' And Isako thought, and thought, and thought. Thought about whether or not the girls in his grade liked him, whether or not he'd end up with a girlfriend. She thought back to the pre-semester reports: Iori had familial issues, and one of his middle school teachers suspected he was being abused at home. And yet he comes to class everyday with a smile, wanting to make people laugh, and even willing to be the butt of everyone's jokes.

'He's a kid, Isako. Stop thinking about him.' But she couldn't stop thinking about him. In fact, she didn't stop thinking about him until the shower finally ran cold.

Looking at the sad excuse of a wardrobe she still had, Isako decided to go to the mall to get some new clothes.