Chapter 21

"Irie-kun, Matsumoto-san is making faces at me," Kotoko complained.

"How old are you two?" he sighed. "If it bothers you, make faces back."

"Come on," she said as she turned in her chair to face him. "Why are you sitting on the back row with me?"

"It's for the sake of your English pronunciation. Very few of the people that Sensei called on this week had a good accent. I'm not going to let my hard work tutoring you go to waste."

"What are you planning to do?" she asked.

"When a student makes an egregious error, I'll tell you what he or she should have said. That way you'll improve a little more."

"Oh, that makes sense, whatever 'egrujus' means," Kotoko responded. "Does that mean you'll help me if I get called on?"

"Nope," he grinned. "But I'll certainly tell you how you messed up."

"That's what I thought," she muttered. "And you're so sure I'll make a mistake. I hope you get in trouble for talking in class."

Yoshida was waiting for her in the hall after dismissal. "Bye, Irie-kun!" she said, then leaned toward him and whispered, "Now go cool down Matsumoto-san. If she corners me and makes me mad again, I might 'Racquet Warrior' her into the next prefecture."

She skipped down the hall. "Hey there, Yoshida-kun! New shirt?"

Yoshida smiled slightly and smoothed the fabric over his slightly bulging midriff. "Yes. Does it look all right?"

She considered the matter as they walked along. "Hmm, the color's flattering and it's not too tight or too loose. I give it two thumbs up." In typical Kotoko fashion, her books tumbled to the ground as she suited her actions to words. "Sorry, thanks," she apologized as he handed them to her.

"No prob," he replied.

"Yoshida!" Kotoko stopped in the middle of the path. "Are you trying to revamp your image too?"

"Shhh!" He grabbed her arm and got her moving again. "Not so loud! And yes, just a little. Will you help me?"

"Of course I will! I'm Kotorin, the Fashion Guru Onee-chan!"

"Satomi, I'm so glad you took ballet in middle school. Otherwise, I would have had to search for those tights and leotard on the Internet, and who knows how long they would have taken to arrive."

"No problem, Kotoko. Just don't ask me to plie anytime soon," was Satomi's response as they walked into the seventh shoe store of the day. "By the way, how many pairs of boots are you going to need?"

"Just one." Kotoko scanned through the images she had already taken. "Kato-kun's the one who designed my character, and I'm hoping that by letting him make the final call on the boots he won't be too mad about the costume changes I'm making."

"Did he really think that you would wear only a swimsuit?" queried Satomi. "He didn't give any indication of being that warped when I had lunch with him."

"Oh, he has hidden depths," Kotoko assured her. "All of them do."

"You know, the latest rumor is that you have a real-life shoujo reverse harem," she teased, then yelped as she received a smack on the arm for the remark. "I've heard people comment that you must have snagged several transfer students lately. It seems that the changes haven't registered with some people."

"It's great that they're making good 'first' impressions, but I'd still like them to have more practice." Kotoko sighed loudly. "But the festival is at the end of next week, so there's not much time left."

"I have an idea on that," said Satomi. "If you'll call it quits after this shoe store, I'll tell it to you."

"All right, Kato-kun. We are down to two maybes and three possibilities. Can you please make a selection?" begged Kotoko.

"Let me see the pictures again," Kato said, reaching for her phone. "Nothing matches exactly…"

"Yes, because you made it up!" she yelled. "That's the whole problem with cosplay—you have to deal with clothing that doesn't exist in the real world!"

"Okay, okay," he handed the mobile back. "This one, then!"

"Mm-hmm, I can drop by there on the way home today," she muttered, then looked up. "Have those two finished their laps already?"

"Yes, their speeds have increased, so they're cleaning up now," he responded. "Do you have any more date sessions for us?"

Kotoko nodded. "I'm working on getting something set up for the weekend. That's really our last chance, isn't it? I'll let you know the details in a few days."

The rest of the week sped by. Yoshida was glued to the computer doing final clean-up and overlays of "Legend of the Racquet Warrior", Nishimura added flashing lights and an on/off switch to Kotorin's racquet, and Kato completed the revised poster design for outside the festival theatre, adding the Kotorin Photo-Op sessions. Meanwhile, as Kotoko sewed her modified costume, she watched Tanaka and Aoki huddle over Tanaka's laptop and wondered what they were up to.

On Friday the three makeovers brought their clothing charts, as instructed by Kotoko, and she gave them specific orders on what they were to wear on their "Triple Date Plus", as she dubbed it, the next day.

"I'm counting on you to do your best," she concluded. "We meet at 1:00 at Donny's Restaurant. You'll rotate between Satomi, Jinko and me as your primary date partners. At different times my friends Po-chan, Chee-chan and whoever else I can round up will drop by each table, so it will be like speed dating while still in the company of someone you already know."

"Eh, Kotori-nee," interjected Kato with a grin. "Didn't you say that dating all of us at once would be kinky?"

Kotoko snorted. "Once I finished clothes shopping with you guys, you all treated me like a sister and not like a girl to date. Now you almost treat Satomi and Jinko that way, so how would you get any real practice with us? This is the best I can come up with, as we are running out of time. Plus, bring money because you're paying for drinks and appetizers. I had to bribe them since it's so last-minute." She pulled a sheaf of papers from her bag. "Anyway, tomorrow will give you practice on short and long conversations with several types of girls. And here is a list of additional topics you might want to talk about. Memorize them if you know what's good for you!" she commanded while handing out the pages. "I'll see you three tomorrow. Good night, Yoshida-kun! Come on, Nishimura-kun, I promised Mrs. Irie that I'd pick up items from the market on my way home."

After they left, the remaining Anime Club members gathered for a brief meeting. "Let's have a quick update on our progress," Aoki began.

"I'll start," said Kato. "The poster add-ons will be ready Monday morning. Kotori-nee and I will attach them to the posters already on bulletin boards that afternoon. The large theatre posters will be ready by Tuesday at the latest; those will be posted at the entrance of the theatre on Festival Day. Kenji-kun and I will paint the space backdrops on Sunday. We need one for the Kotorin photo op sessions and three for the computer game stations under the tent."

"Have you received the measurements for the backdrops from Pandai?" asked Aoki.

"Yes, they emailed me this afternoon," he replied.

"Also, Pandai will assist with security and tech support for the gaming area, since they are providing the equipment," added Tanaka. "Imagine Irie-san having contacts with a toy manufacturer! If the game garners positive feedback, we could be looking at a future contract."

"Okay," said Aoki, clicking off checkboxes on his phone's list. "Nishimura has finished customizing the prop, Toru is making back-up copies of the video, and Kotori-nee promises that her costume will be ready in time. Is there anything that I'm forgetting?"

"Yo," spoke up Kato. "Have any of you noticed Kotori-nee's stalker while accompanying her?"

"Nothing besides what she herself mentioned, just a vague feeling of someone following us," said Tanaka. "I haven't caught sight of Ikezawa, except when I went to the cafeteria to make sure I'd recognize him."

"Me either."

"Ditto."

Yoshida cleared his throat. "The only time I know that he has gotten near her was last Wednesday. Remember, I told you that Irie-san took over that evening's escort from me. Since she was going to her father's restaurant where Ikezawa works, he preferred to accompany her."

"Well, compared to the rest of us, Irie-san is best able to handle that character," Aoki commented. "But for someone who doesn't want to date her, he sure is going to a lot of trouble."

Kato laughed. "Up until now she has chased him so hard that it became instinctual to run. But once she decided to get involved with us, we have kept her so busy that she has neither time nor energy to pursue him."

"It's a clear case of supply and demand," said Tanaka. "He has less of her, so he wants more."

"Not everything can be boiled down to economics, Hikaru," argued Aoki.

"Right," agreed Yoshida. "It's more like that old movie's song, 'He Grew Accustomed to Her Face,' or something like that."

"At any rate," broke in Kato, "we're an unlikely collection of Cupids. And since we are so inexperienced in love, we shouldn't try to interfere."

"All we can do is try to eliminate obstacles, like Ikezawa," added Yoshida. "Do you think he really is going to be at the festival?"

"We'll find that out next week," said Aoki, standing up to leave. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I need my beauty sleep before my 'dates' tomorrow."

"Onii-chan?"

"Yes, Yuuki?" responded Naoki, lifting his eyes from the book he was reading.

"What would happen if Kotoko fell in love? With someone else, I mean?"

There was a pause before his brother responded. "What do you mean 'what would happen'?"

"Well, Mom has been so set on you and Kotoko getting together that it's kind of scary. Now, even though she's spending her days chasing Kotoko, she still isn't back to her usual self. When she finds out anything, she normally can't wait to share it."

Naoki smiled to himself. "If she has been as dedicated as she usually is, she's probably confused right now, Yuuki."

"I bet she's wondering what she sees in him, compared to you," he muttered.

"What was that?"

"Never mind." He closed the door and returned to his room, and Naoki shook his head absently before returning his attention to the printed page.

Yuuki flopped onto his bed, eyes staring at the ceiling. "And I'm wondering what you're doing too," he said to himself. "Baka Kotoko."

Mrs. Irie's mouse clicked away as she scanned through the slideshow of photos that she had taken over the past few weeks. "Kotoko-chan, I do not understand you. Have you forgotten Onii-chan so quickly? Or are these rebound dates to heal your broken heart? What are you doing?!"

A/N: Please indulge me while I share my personal analysis of Naoki. At the beginning of Itazura na kiss, he is emotionally on the same level as his younger brother, which makes sense of a lot of his thoughtless words and actions. Due to a combination of the early cross-dressing trauma and his ability to coast through school without exerting himself, he doesn't care to expend energy developing relationships beyond those with family members. All of this changes when he encounters Kotoko, who demands attention, both consciously and unconsciously. This is most evident in the original story, which I used as my primary resource, as I am not completely pleased with any of his characterizations in video adaptations, whether anime or live action (and they're working on another!) If Kotoko had moved into the house without giving him the letter and if his mother had stayed out of the situation (counterproductive, much?), my belief is that their relationship would have developed along more conventional teenage hormonal lines. My story puts a degree of separation between the two, which allows for serious contemplation of their troubled history by both of them.