Author Notes: Call the presses! Eliya Shirwood is Back!
So, just for that, I'd like to do extra-honor to this wonderful anime. It feels so good! And how better then by putting in the extra mile to get a Kirino chapter up? Anyway, this chapter contains genuine plot movement (hazza!) and things of that nature. Remember, reviews make everybody happy!
To answer my review questions:
GreenandBlue: All will be revealed later.
Eliya Shirwoods: I am such a fan... it is an honor
Yes, I will be using western-style for names. It's the way I've always known them, and to do it otherwise would be strange. However, I agree I need a beta reader. Thanks for the advice.
Chp III: His Little Sister Can't Think Little Sisters Are This Cute!
He wasn't sure why, but Drake was almost sure Kirino already hated him.
She seemed to stomp every step they took up the stairs, sulking like... well, an angry middle school girl. Drake, on the other hand, tried to keep as proper a profile as he could, no longer standing stiff and straight, but still silent and composed. It seemed to have gotten him on Kosaka-san side; why mess up a good thing.
"I really appreciate your generosity," he tried to thank her, looking down at the way her lips scrunched, liberally applied lipstick shimmering slightly. "I understand this is going to be hard for you."
"Ya ya," she interrupted, snorting as she unfolded her arms, the hallway at the top of the stares merely one long path, with doors on either side. "The bathroom is the first door on the right. The first on the right in my perverted aniki's room... he doesn't do much." They continued walking, each step she took visibly forced. "And here we have MY room," she shifted open the door, revealing what appeared to be an ordinary girl's room; pink bed with throw-pillows, a full body mirror, a few posters I didn't recognize, and a small corner with a computer set up. All and all, nothing he couldn't understand. She went into the room first, Drake standing their politely, while she tapped her foot and stared. "Well, stupid boy, are you coming in?" She half demanded.
"Geeze," he mumbled in English under his breath, face looking a little ticked. "Let up on the anger a bit. It's not like I'm trying to kill you." He took a few steps into the chamber, walking around to examine it. Could Kosaka-san really have been serious about renting him half the room? This place was big enough for one person, but two would make it extremely crowded... and, to be honest, being crowded with an angry middle school girl wasn't something he was looking forward to. Kirino plopped herself on the bed while he explored, her knees swinging in her short-shorts, scowling to the ceiling. "Why do I have to be stuck with you? All I did was get a C on one stupid test..." she ignored her guest as he kept exploring, looking over the room critically.
"So where exactly am I going to..." then he noticed it, his sentence stopping as his eyes stopped on it. There ,behind the shadow of the bookshelf, was the tell-tale shape of a sliding, Japanese-style door. It must have been remodeled to a western-style he reasoned as he started to take down the books from the shelf, only to be greeted by a swift kick to the rear.
"Don't touch my stuff!" Kirino winced, sending Drake smashing into the bookshelf with the force she applied. " Get off it now."
Drake, of course, felt his torso get shoved into the wood, the blunt force causing his gut to coil slightly. However, the furry quickly subsided, and he was able to regain his footing and turn around, his face scrunched up as he tried not to yell. The dull ache on his back felt like it would be there for days. "A simple no would have worked," he instructed her, placing the book back in place. " It's just a book you know." He turned back to get a look at her face.
What he saw wasn't exactly what he'd expected. What he'd heard was rage... and he'd expected to see it. However, though her face was scrunched and teeth clenched, her eyes where wide with what looked like fear, starting to get a little moist. " You wouldn't understand," she growled, settling herself back onto the bed. "You just wouldn't."
"Alright," he felt a little bad being forceful now, twiddling his thumbs to keep his hands busy. "But... where exactly am I supposed to be staying? I mean, its not like I'm going to sleep on the floor."
Kirino's eyes dropped as she pulled up on the neckline of her blouse, brow curling as though she was deep in thought. "Alright, you can stay." She said finally, as if it was under her authority. "Just don't do anything ecchi alright? Or I'll scream!" Her voice was a little threatening, but she never looked Drake in the eyes, always staring down at that floral bedspreads.
He paused for a moment, waiting for her to continue. "I promise I won't," he stated simply and honestly, leaning back against the bookshelf, taking on a slightly more relaxed attitude now that she wasn't being so actively hostile. "But you still haven't answered my question. Your father said I was to sleep here; where am I going to sleep?" The last part of his sentence was more forceful, but still kind Look at me... talking like a brother already he laughed a bit in his head as he watched her look around, as if for an escape, before opening her mouth and closing it again, bereft of an answer.
"Oh, why won't you just leave me alone!" She whined, pulling herself off the bed and moving over to the bookshelf, leaning back herself but at a much steeper angle. "You're not making it easy to tell you to go away." Drake smiled at how silly she sounded, only to be greeted with a slap to the face, which didn't even phase him. "What's so funny?" She demanded, looking right up into Drake's face, standing on her tippy toes to get a bit of a better position.
Drake felt the red mark glow on his cheek, warm, but it didn't really bother him. He just couldn't stop smiling. "Nothing..." he shrugged. "You're just a little funny right now, making such a big deal over nothing. He took a step back away from the shelf, right into the middle of the room."So, what exactly do you do for fun?"
Kirino seemed taken aback by the comment, immediately straightening out and the anger flushing from her system. "What exactly do you mean?" She was blushing and startled, shying a few steps away.
"You know, what kinds of hobbies do you have? Games you like to play? Anime you like to watch?" He tried to make small talk, looking perfectly normal as he did so
Each and every word seemed to bring a greater and greater redness to her cheeks, her fingers gripping tightly to the end of the bookcase. "Of course not," she stuttered somewhat unconvincingly. "What kind of idiot, hentia otaku enjoys things like that?" Drake looked at her with a mixture of confusion and concern as she appeared to be trying to hide herself behind the bookcase, body trembling with what might be a subdued fury.
"Um, no." he stated bluntly, helping himself to a spot on the bed. "I take you for a normal middle school girl. Back in America, its pretty normal for girls to go ga ga over the stuff." Gently, he picked a piece of lint from his pants and tossed it to the side, watching as Kirino pulled herself out a bit more.
"What kind of nonsense is that?" She asked warily, her eyes on edge, with just a hint more anger under the caution. "People who like that stuff are soulless perverts with no self-respect or future. How dare you try to play tricks on me like that." He saw one hand leave the side and clench into a fist, poise to fly in his direction should he come any closer.
However, this time he couldn't stop himself from just laughing out loud. "What are YOU talking about?" he asked after he caught his breath, Kirino mortified by the display. "Take me for example; I'm an anime and manga fan, and I play video games. A- average, left forward for the school soccer team, Netherlands for the mock United Nations, and with friends to boot. Does that sound like a soul-less, future-less kid to you?" He asked the question plainly, more of a statement then anything else, his laughter ending as he watched a tear start to well up Kirino's eye.
"Really?" she asked, taking a step forward, fist parting. "Does that really happen? You'd better not be messing with me or I swear," I could still hear the hardness there, the threat real, but she sounded more curious now, finally at a point where no part of her body was poised to kill him.
"Um, ya..." Drake was a bit confused by her reaction, looking with concern at her face. "Um... Kirino-san, you've got something in your eye." he pointed to the moistness there, as she set herself down in the bed next to him, looking straight into his face.
"Deikmann-san... let me show you where you'll be sleeping." She asked, looking up with an odd mix of pleading and commanding. For a moment, they just sat there, making him feel somewhat awkward. Her face was tight, eyes downcast, as if a great pressure was building up inside of her. At this point, he started to recognize a scent... orange-smelling perfume, sour and earthy. Then, he felt something, soft and warm wrapping itself around his ring finger, only to see her hand there, trembling as she looked into his face. " But..." she struggled, trying to meet his eyes with her own. "Are you really serious?" She looked so weak at that moment, so helpless, the situation half-begging to be misunderstood.
This is what brothers do best... right? he thought, half-remembering the boy who really was her brother, sitting completely unawares just a room over. He gave her a comforting smile, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Yeah," he said, trying to sound like this was something really big. What he managed to get back from it was a stiff lip, Kirion looking like she wanted to say something, but not. She stood up, turning her back to him and her orange hair swatting him in the face as she went over the bookshelf, and started taking the contents out one at a time. "Well, are you just going to sit there? Help be!" She insisted, the feeling of her weak grasp still tingling on his finger. Drake lifted himself off the bed, and started to assist, each level getting empties systemically of school books, old dolls, and light novels, the small pile rising up against the foot of her bed until the frame was finally bare.
"Well," he finally asked, after standing their for a moment. "Are you going to show me or not?"
Kirino took a deep breath at that point, letting it out in an exaggerated fashion, running a hand down her face. "Alright, just... I'm putting a lot of trust in you, alright?" She asked the question rhetorically as she started to push the bookshelf to the side, blocking the door. "This isn't something I've shown to anybody else before." Drake was starting to feel a little uncomfortable now, the way she was saying things, his face suddenly starting to grow a little hot.
"What?" He asked, voice getting a bit hurried as the bookshelf tapped against the wall, hiding the door from view.
"I just... I just can't keep it a secret anymore." she stood there, blocking his view of the room behind. "They can't know... Mother, Father, Aniki, my friends... I know I can't trust any of them. You, you..." she stopped, swinging her arms in unbridled rage. "You taking my room was the last straw. There's no way I could hide of all this if I had to move it out, so I might as well just tell you now." She seemed so emotional about what was going on. Dozens of scenario's swirled through Drake's head; drugs, porn stash, a shrine to a boy she liked... none of this was going to be easy.
Then, she stepped to reveal her dirty secret.
At that moment, the whole conversation started to click. Anime box sets, game boxes, character statuettes, posters and cartridges. It was a venerable treasure trove of Japanese media... scratch that, a treasure trove of Shojo media. The general theme seamed towards cute-faced girls, looking out with simple smiles, kiddy hair, and assorted flashy outfits. He just stood there, half dumbfounded, while Kirino shuddered, fists clenched and face beet red. "You hate me now, don't you?" She whispered, the embarrassment stuttering her voice.
"Hate you?" Drake looked over, head cocked and eyes wide. "You like anime and gaming... what's so wrong with that?" To be honest, Drake could remember a closet of one of his female friends looking a lot like this a few years back; though it had been more pretty boys then cute girls.
"I knew it..." she cursed to herself, tossing a strong punch in his direction. However, she opened her eyes just in time, pulling the blow back as she stared, almost in awe. "Wait... stop messing with me!" Her whine was really starting to get annoying.
"You still think I'm joking?" Drake responded, slightly bewildered at how long this had gone on. "For the fifth time, this really isn't a problem for me." Well, besides the space issue. There really wasn't going to be room for him to sleep in there AND keep all this material.
This time, Kirino fought the defensive urge, instead picking up one of the game containers that had been so carelessly left on the floor. "So, you're telling me that when you see this," She held it with both hands to his face, the cover art a young girl and snagglepuss teeth, clipped black hair parted into two pigtails and pinafore dress hidden behind a bundle of white flowers. "You're not disgusted. You think it looks good, right?" He could see her peeking out from behind the container, watching his eyes carefully.
"Well," Drake dragged out the word, trying to work through the feelings that where tussling for dominance in his mind. "It's good in its own kind of way. Cute, really." The sentence started out unsure, but ended on a very natural note, Kirino's eyes widening and lips shifting from a frown to a smile.
"You're so right!" she shouted giddily. "Little sisters are just the sweetest things in the world aren't they?" He could tell she was flying into a speech, the way the spark lit in her eyes and the muscles loosened on her face. " I mean, with their pretty hair, and so happy! Following you around like a fluffy kitten or puppy, always wanting to help you feel better? They don't judge you, or ever try to hurt you. You can just sit down and give them a great big hug!" She spun into her own little hug on herself, her voice rapid as she listed off their assorted virtues. Wow... I never knew sisters where so wonderful. He was enchanted by the massive change she seemed to have gone through, all that tension transformed into a cute, girly rant. " I just... can't get enough of them."
Just then, three knocks were heard at the door. "Hello?" the flat voice sounded. "Kirino, Deikmann-san, are alright in there?"
Kirino underwent a major shift again, tightening up as she turned to the door. "Leave me and the nice man alone, stupid Kyousuke!" She shouted with practiced anger. "I'm laying out the rules he'll have to follow if he's going to live in my room!"
"Alright, alright," he sounded indifferent, stepping away. "Just make sure to clean up when you're done alright? I don't want to be smelling that tomorrow." The sound of his footsteps fading away down the hall. The two meet their eyes once again, Kirino cradling her game.
"Well, I haven't played that type of game before." He admitted, picking up a few of the containers and reading them silently. Sister Maker 4, Sisocolypse, 12 Fallen Sisters, Sister Bride... and, on at least half of them I noticed the universal symbol every boy comes to both love and fear; the 18+ badge, sitting their in black and white.
What the... that really through him for a loop, eyes opening wide and heart starting to beat fast. Wait... they actually make this kind of stuff? I thought it was just a myth! BUt it couldn't be... it was right there in front of him.
Kirino, of course, was to distracted with a look of shock. "Never played them?" Her face dropped, almost sad. "Oh... so in America its a girl thing, right?" She asked, genuinely curious.
"Sort of," Drake grasped on the opportunity, still searching for a way to change the subject. "Guys tend to be more action oriented. Still," he shifted the topic, starting to move the assorted boxes from the half-room. "If I'm going to sleep here, we're going to have to move these things out. I don't want Kosaka-san to get the wrong idea about me."
As he continued moving though, he felt Kirino's light touch on his arm once again. "Promise me," she looked straight into his eyes, both serious and needy. "Promise you won't tell anybody."
Drake didn't even need a moment. Despite what he felt, this was obviously something important to her. "Alright, I promise." He lingered in her eyes for a moment, before starting to shift the larger statuettes out. "Now, come on, you and I have a lot of work to do."