Chapter 9: A Lavender Blossom Blooms and a Deuce Quits
Adrienne arrived home carrying both her and Takehiro's angels saying, "I'm home dad…" She noticed no one answered and went to the refrigerator where a note was posted and read, "Adrienne, I had an extra shift added tonight at the café, I will be home late! Save dinner for me." She sighed. "Very well." She went upstairs and placed both Lara and Aerial on her dresser and went back downstairs to start on dinner.
Takehiro, why are you quitting at a time like this? She thought.
Meanwhilee at the Sano home, Takehiro was lying on his bed listening to his headphones when there was a knock on the door.
"Takehrio! Takehiro, dinner is on the table! Come on!" his sister's voice came through the door. She kept on knocking. "Damn it, why are you always ignoring me like this when you go emo?" She left and went downstairs and sighed.
Takehiro was listening to his music as he had flashbacks of his victorious fights and then remembered Jing's statement from when he was fighting Knight.
"You were always a loser in my eyes, Sano! Always!" Jing yelled in his flashback.
"Damn you…why did I have to lose to him? I won't care when I am no longer on the layer." Takehiro said with tears in his voice.
Later on that night, Adrienne was examining Lara and her arm and noticed that there were cracks in it and some of the skin broke off. "Ouch, that is one critical injury. I wonder if I-chan can fix you." Then she looked at Aerial and picked him up and examined him for any injuries and saw none and she sighed in relief. She placed Lara back into her canister and said, "Takehiro…"
Takehiro was asleep on his bed and said in his sleep, "Adrienne…"
The next day in class, Adrienne noticed Takehiro wasn't in class and sighed when she heard someone call out.
"Hey, you're Adienne Stone right!?"
She turned and saw Jing Samamura, "And you're the guy who tried to break Lara."
"Hey now, don't blame me for trying to destroy Sano's loser angel!" Jing snapped. He noticed Lara next to Aerial. "So, you decided to take it away from him."
"No, he left it at the stadium after he ran off and I kept her safe that's all." She told him.
"Like a loser should do in the first place." Jing said.
"Hey! He's not a loser! Takehiro is a really cool guy and lay off his angel all right!?" she yelled.
"Whoa there, a little testy, huh?" Jing asked flirtingly.
"Jing, get away from Adrienne, she's taking care of Takehiro's angel because it's injured and she's going to get new parts to repair it." Nanaka yelled.
"Yeah…that's true." Adrienne said.
"Very well." Jing said as he started to leave and then turned to her. "By the way, once Lara is fixed, tell Sano to quit right away. He doesn't deserve to return to the layer after a defeat like that."
Nanaka watched him leave and turned to Adrienne asked, "Is he really okay?"
Adrienne shook her headand said, "I didn't see him after he said he will quit."
"No way,I can't believe he would do that. So how's Lara?" she asked.
"Look at her arm for yourself." Adrienne said and shown her the nearly destroyed arm.
Nanaka gasped and said, "He never would do this to her."
"Yeah, I bet, if it was Aerial, I would fix his arm right away." Adrienne told her.
Nanka giggiled and said, "Even though you used to hate Angelic Layer but it seems to me you care about these dolls."
"Yeah, I do, it's like having one when you were young or like Kaede's angel…"
"Oh you mean, Kaede Saito and Blanche? I guess you're referring to how she treats Blanche like her daughter. I guess you are taking care of Aerial like he's your son." Nanaka said.
"Yeah, I guess." She responded and thought, Can I be like her towards these two angels?
After school, Misaki and her friends, Tomayo and Kotarou were walking out of the junior high area when they heard the bushes ruste and a sound come out of them.
"Psst! Psst Misaki!"
"Huh?" Misaki asked and ran over to the bushes.
"Miss Suzuhara?" Kotarou asked and both he and Tomayo followed.
Misaki came over to the bushes and said, "Hello, anyone in here?"
"It's me." Adrienne said as she came from inside the bushes.
"Ah! Adrienne-chan! What are you doing here!?" Misaki asked.
"I came to find you because I have a bit of a small problem." Adrienne answered.
"Misaki-chi are you okay!?" they heard and they saw her friends come over and they noticed Adrienne and Tomayo screamed, "You're the girl who beat Hatoko with her angel!"
"Yeah, just shout it out to the whole world already." Adrienne said as she came out of the bush.
"Why are you here? Came for a rematch against Misaki-chi!?" Tomayo asked.
"No, it's not that, can we go somewhere so I can explain the problem I'm having?" Adrienne asked.
"Sure, I think I know where." Misaki said.
They all went to the Piffle Princess and sat in a snack bar as Adrienne said, "This is one last place I expect."
"Well, it seems more convenient." Misaki said as she set Hikaru down with Tomoyo next to her.
"Tomoyo seems to be fine and is that Hikaru?" Adrienne asked.
"Yeah, she's my first, so why did you hide in our bushes anyways?" Misakia sked.
"Well…" Adrienne started and explained about what happened in Takehiro's fight against Jing and how he left Lara with her injury and him quitting. "Since you mentioned that we will be going against each other I wanted to know if there is a way if you could help me get Lara a new arm?"
"How bad is Lara's arm?" Kotarou asked.
"See for yourself." Adrienne answered as she took the canister with Lara and shown them the arm.
"Ouch, that is critical!" Tomayo exclaimed.
"Why didn't he fix her befor his fight witth Jing?" Misaki asked.
"Well, he wanted to wait until the new parts come in and I tried telling him it will get worse if he waits that long. He's such a stubborn idiot for doing that."Adrienne said.
"I quite agree with you Miss Stone, so Miss Suzuhara, can you help?" Kotarou asked.
"I'll try, can I take Lara with me?" Misaki asked.
"Sure, just return her in one piece okay?" Adrienne asked.
"I will, I promise! I will have that arm repaired in no time!" Misaki exclaimed.
"Thanks Misaki, you're great." Adrienne said and then turned to Lara. "Lara, she will take care of you now. I promise that your deuce will take you back because he doesn't deserve to quit now."
Wow, I never knew she is so determined to help him. Misaki thought to herself.
Later on, Misaki was explaining the same story to I-chan and her mother, Shuko. When she was done, "Please dad, can you help?"
"Well, I-chan?" Shuko asked.
"Even though we won't be releasing the parts for a while but Lara needs to be repaired before Takehiro Sano's round against Adrienne Stone and Aeriel, I will hoook Lara up with the new arm."
"Thanks dad!" Misaki exclaimed as she handed Lara to him.
I-chan took her and examined the arm and said, "No wonder our censors picked up "critical" during that fight." I-chan said.
"Really?" Shuko asked. "I didn't know that the main control room could do that."
"Oh, it can, since we were recording the whole thing as research. Knight was and still a brutal opponent and I think Aerial can beat him with the silver wing mode." He explained.
"What are you thinking?" Shuko asked.
"After the Lara and Aerial battle, as her last fight, Adrienne is going against Jing. I will see if Knight will have a major brutality on Aerial." I-chan answered.
That night, Adrienne knocked on Takehiro's door and his sister answered and said, "Hi, is Takehiro here?"
"Yes, you must be Adrienne, come in." Kagura said as she stepped aside to let her in. "Hey bro, Adrienne's here! He will be right down, take a seat."
Adrienne sat down and noticed the pictures of the Sano family and saw one of their parents in uniforms, "Are your parents in the military or something?"
"Yes, since they are away so much, I am practically his guardian." She answered. They heard footsteps and Takehiro came down. "I guess I will leave you two be."
Adrienne waited until she left and turned to Takehiro and asked, "What the hell were you thinking? As in leaving me with Lara and a false pretense of quitting!?"
"I was serious Adrienne, about quitting I mean." Takehiro answered.
"You can't be like that Takehiro. What happened to the guy I first met and the one who cared for Lara, huh?" Adrienne asked.
"He's gone, he's nothing but a loser." Takehiro answered.
"Cut that crap Takehiro! You are not a loser! What Jing told you on the layer is a sack full of bull!" Adrienne yelled.
"No it's not! It's true! All I do is lose!" Takehiro yelled and suddenly he felt her slap him.
"Listen to yourself Takehiro, the guy I know never quit under pressure and plus you took down the guy who bullied you during junior high and you won before that and plus you are getting another chance. No matter win or lose on the layer, Angelic Layer is a fun thing to play and you taught me that. Besides you got me more into it after I created Aerial and I got to the top." Adrienne told him.
"A-adrienne…."
"Takehiro please don't quit especially with the next fight because we are versing each other." She told him.
"What?" he asked.
"Yeah, they put us against each other and if you lose against me or not we can still fight."
"I don't know…Lara is…"
"She's going to be fixed I know it, because I believe in Misaki Suzuhara that she will be fixed." Adrienne said.
"I…I…I don't know Adrienne, I can't get back up there after losting to Jing." He told her.
"Forget about him, he's nothing but a jerk. I will kick his ass if I get a chance to go against him." She told him.
"Will you?" he asked.
"Of course, like you and Lara, Aerial and I are a team when we are on the layer. You know after I lost against Misaki's new angel I never quit and you shouldn't either. Please Takehiro, think about it." Adrienne told him. "I better be going."
"Thanks for coming Adrienne…I will think about it…" Takehiro said.
She nodded and then they said their last goodbyes and Adrienne left. She thought, Oh Takehiro…please don't quit after what I have said.
Takehiro went back to his room and lied on his bed as he said, "Could she be right? " He covered his head with his pillow.
