Disclaimer: I own none of the characters mentioned or used in this story, except for the one from whose point of view this story is told. Any and all of the other characters belong to Team Shanghai Alice.


Chapter 11: Apologies and Assistance

All the way down, I was pretty much shaking. I wasn't sure what to expect in the workshop, though I was pretty sure it didn't mean anything good to me if negotiations went bad. Considering Nitori had apparently managed to make a working bionic arm, I was ready to believe she had something much, much worse. Getting beaned in the forehead by a brick would be the least of my problems.

But then again, Aya had said she would help, so I tried my best to relax.

The walk took maybe a couple minutes. I could see a light at the bottom of the tunnel Aya was leading me down. At this point, she stopped me.

"I'll go in and talk to Nitori for a bit. Come down when I tell you to, okay?"

I nodded.

She went down into the doorway. I was close enough to be able to hear what they were saying.

"Ah, you're here, Aya-san!" Nitori said a little cheerfully. That was a little odd considering how I had basically just sexually harassed her a few minutes ago.

"Yes, hello, Nitori-san. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? You said I wouldn't be able to believe what happened to you?"

"I'm sure of that. It only happened just recently too!"

I sighed quietly. There it was.

Aya, however, gave no hint that she knew. "Really, now? Well, you may be right, but first, is it okay if I bring someone else in?"

"Someone else?" She seemed annoyed. Or maybe not annoyed. Maybe just reluctant. "I've told you before I'm not good with others."

"I know that, but I think you already know this person."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Perhaps you'd like to see him. Shall I?"

"Uh… I guess."

Aya's head popped back out into the doorway, and she gestured me in. I think I flinched or something, because she added a wink to it. Reluctantly, I took the first few steps, and just kept walking.

Then I passed through the doorway. The expected reaction I had imagined was almost immediate.

Nitori screamed in terror.

I winced in shame as I watched a small series of clumsy reactions as Nitori scrambled away from the doorway, occasionally knocking something or other off a table, all the while holding one hand over her chest, the other, pressing down her dress.

"Y-you…" she stuttered. "Y-you're that… that… t-that pervert!"

I stared at the floor at that single word. I really shouldn't have come here….

"A-Aya-san! W-w-why did you bring him here?"

"Calm down, Nitori-san," she said. "Please, just give Kaito-kun a chance to explain."

"Explain what?" Nitori retorted indignantly. "H-he just… jumped at me! And…."

"I know, I saw what happened, but-"

"G-get him out of here right now! I'm not going to listen to an apology from some stu-"

I didn't want her to finish the sentence, so I cut her off, nearly shouting "Please, listen!"

I wasn't sure what I sounded like, but Nitori didn't say anything in response. I continued, the words rolling out of my mouth like they were rehearsed.

"Nitori-chan, I'm so sorry for the way I jumped you like that. I'm new to Gensokyo, so I thought that you might have been a youkai that was going to attack me. I wasn't thinking when I did that, and I really should have just spoken to you instead. I had no intention of… grabbing you… the way I did. Please, forgive me!"

I didn't look up at her the entire time. My eyes were too glued to the floor out of guilt. Oh god, please let her forgive me….

Half a minute passed in silence. I tore my eyes away from the floor to look at Nitori. She was still blushing like crazy, and her arms were still in a defensive position, and if she was any more relaxed than before, then I couldn't see it. But her eyes – two beautiful pools of light blue – looked a little more passive. A little forgiving. Still embarrassed, but she looked like she understood.

After another few seconds of silence, Nitori spoke, her voice soft. "I… I-I think… I can… forgive you…" She looked away out of embarrassment.

I felt like exploding with happiness. As it was, I grinned widely and bowed, saying "Thank you so much, Nitori-chan!"

She still didn't look too sure. "A-are you sure… that you… t-that you didn't mean to… w-well…."

She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to.

"No," I reassured her. "I didn't. I'm sure of that. I would never think of doing something like that to anyone."

A couple more seconds passed, and Nitori slowly lowered her arm. "A… Alright then," she finally said.

I sighed in relief. I didn't really want to let the silence hang around again, so I tried to pick up the pace. "So, Aya-chan said you were really in to engineering and building stuff."

Truthfully, however, when I asked this, I was genuinely interested in what kinds of things Nitori may have built in a place like Gensokyo.

"Eh?" She gave Aya a strange look. Then she nodded slowly.

"Would you mind showing me some of the things you built?"

"S-sure…."

She took me on a mini tour of the workshop. It was pretty simple; cubical in shape, with tables lining the perimeter. On the way, she showed and explained several things she'd built or was planning to build some time in the future. What she showed me varied, but pretty much all of it was amazing: ultra-long distance communicators the size of pocket watches, mechanical limbs, specific tools she made for helping with future projects, and other such inventions. I couldn't believe what I was seeing; almost all of the things she had built were far more advanced than what was back home, or completely new altogether. I could hardly name all of them!

It took a little while, but as she continued talking, I could visibly see Nitori's nervousness go away. Her stutter slowly vanished. Her arms were gesturing and used for emphasis, and she was no longer blushing. Her eyes practically glowed with excitement as she showed me invention after invention. She loved what she did, and was brilliant at it. Talking with her, I simply couldn't help but be happy.

It felt a little odd being so happy, though. I suddenly felt so alive talking to her! I didn't just let things get explained to me some of the time; as I continued to understand more and more about what she was building, I threw back a couple ideas of my own, or inserted a comment or two on her inventions.

It was one of the strangest experiences I ever felt.

We lost track of time for a while, but during a small break, Aya decided to jump back in. "Sorry to interrupt, you two, but I do have an interview to get, you know."

"Oh, right, sorry. We got carried away."

I looked at Nitori oddly. She was blushing a little. I think I was too, considering how well-synchronized we were when we said that.

Wait, how the heck was something like 'speaking in stereo' embarrassing? Weird.

"W-well…" Nitori managed, "what did you want the interview for?"

Aya pulled out her notebook and a pen. "I heard that you had a brand new invention that you were going to introduce some time in the future. Would you mind telling me what it is?"

"Ah!" Nitori perked up. "I'd be glad to!"

She went over to the corner of the workshop. A large machine the size of a small tree sat there. It looked like it could have been some sort of powered-off energy core. The main part was set inside a large glass cylinder, with a control panel out the side.

"So what's this big machine here?" Aya asked directly.

"It's an electrical power generator. With this, I can fulfill Kanako-sama's wish to spread electricity into Gensokyo!"

I wanted to ask who Kanako was, but I decided that that would be better left for later.

"Electricity, huh? Amazing! But the generator looks like it's inactive. Why?"

"Well, there's a single piece missing that I need to get, but…."

"But what?" I asked.

"The last part I need is only found in the Hell of Blazing Fires. Kappa like me don't do well in places like Hell, so I was going to ask Marisa-chan to help me, just like she did last time."

"Uh…." I didn't know what she had asked for help with last time, but I wasn't sure I could bring myself to tell her about yesterday.

"Is something wrong, Kaito-kun?"

Despite wanting to dodge the question, I knew it would be better to just tell her. "Well…."

I supposed that I didn't have much of a choice, so I explained. Things got dicey when I got to the point when I… stripped Marisa… so I tried to tone it down. Unfortunately, Aya wasn't content with it for some reason, so she butted in and told the whole thing.

"I-I didn't mean to do it, I swear!" I said quickly when Aya finished. I didn't want Nitori thinking I was more of a pervert than she probably already thought. "I was just doing what I could to help Patchouli, that's all."

Nitori didn't say anything at first. It almost seemed like she didn't believe my story. Then she said, "Well, I guess I'll have to ask someone else… What about Reimu-chan?"

I winced. She was asking for exactly the wrong people. And now another explanation was necessary. "Uh… You see, Nitori-chan…."

"Are you serious?" Nitori cried out after I finished. This time, I didn't bother leaving anything out, considering how Aya was probably going to reveal it all anyways.

"Yeah… I'm sorry, Nitori-chan."

"B-but… h-how am I supposed to finish my invention now? I was supposed to have this done within the next two days!"

She looked panicked. In fact, not just panicked; she was in a borderline freak-out stage. Now I just felt like crap for being the bearer of bad news.

"I'll go."

The two of them looked at me like I was insane. I was, but I didn't really regret saying that. I wanted to be able to help her out, partially because I still felt sort of bad for jumping her earlier. That, and I wanted to be able to see the spread of electricity throughout Gensokyo. If I was going to be able to contribute to that, then I would be happy.

Also, I felt kind of responsible for pretty much knocking out Reimu and Marisa for the day, so I thought that this would help compensate.

"A-are you serious?" Aya asked.

"Yeah. I am. If Reimu and Marisa aren't able to go, then I'll volunteer to go in their place."

"Y-you'd do that? For me?"

Nitori almost sounded hopeful. I wasn't sure why, beyond the fact I was helping her realize a dream. And I wasn't exactly sure how to answer her either.

I looked her in the eyes. In the end, I settled at "Yes. I would."

I heard a sharp intake of breath, bordering on a gasp. Her face reddened a little when I said that. I wasn't sure why.

Then she smiled widely. She bowed, and said "Th… thank you so much, Kaito-kun!"

I returned the smile. "Of course, Nitori-chan."

I turned to Aya. "Would you mind leading me to the entrance to Hell?

She didn't look too enthusiastic, and made it clear. "You do realize you're pretty much completely screwed, right?"

"There's still a chance that I'm not, isn't there?" I sounded a little more confident than I felt.

Aya actually smiled a little. She shook her head. "You really are insane, but I'll take you there anyways. If you can take down Marisa in a spell card duel, then whether it's by luck or not, you might have a chance."

"Thank you, Aya-chan."


Author's Notes:

Told you it would be a short chapter, didn't I? This whole thing was only 6 words short of going over 2000 words. Kind of annoying, honestly.

Not like I can really do anything about that, though. The next chapters are considerably longer anyways, so I see no reason to complain.

And the true relationship kicks off!~ Trust me, in a few chapters, the relation between "myself" and Nitori is going to shoot up almost exponentially, but that's not for a while.

By the way, just a random question: how many people out there would actually do what I basically just did in this chapter? As in, volunteer to go to Hell and back for a stranger? True, it's a pretty stupid notion to think about, but I'm just curious (truth be told, I probably would do that in real life).

Hope you enjoyed the chapter~

(Hey, my notes actually seem pretty boring this time! That's new)