Meet the New Class – Student Number 28 – Urashima Taro


"Uuuuuuaaaahhhh," I yawned, stretching. Taro smirked as she sat on the front of the desk.

"Heh, that was an amazing yawn, Possum," she said.

I couldn't help but grin back at her. "Just catching flies. So, whatcha wanna do today?"

Taro shrugged. "Dunno. We could play some games, or..." she trailed off, having already run out of ideas. Heh, good old Taro-kun. Her idea of fun consisted of two things: beating up troublemakers and playing videogames. Poor girl didn't even know how to act like a girl. But then, that's what I'm for, right?

"Or we could go flirt with Negi," I said with a casual ease I didn't feel. I could tell by the weird horrified/hopeful look on Taro-kun's face that she was feeling pretty much the same way I was. GAH, just thinking about it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Okay Possum, that's enough of that! Straighten up! We can't go flirting with the teacher, right? Right! Even if he is only a couple years older and...and...

Dammit!

Okay girl, that's enough.

"I just picked up a copy of the first Street Fighter game yesterday," Taro said idly. "I couldn't test it in the shop, though. Want to see if it works?"

...well, it's not as if I have anything else I wanted to do. "Sure."


The walk to the dorm room Taro lives in by herself is quiet. As usual, people get out of our way quickly. I can tell Taro's gotten so used to it she barely even notices anymore, but I can't help but be annoyed at it. As expected, we go right past the station. Taro doesn't like to use trains or anything like that; the way people stay away after she boards definitely bothers her, even if she won't admit it. As usual, I don't remark on it as we pass by, even though riding it would save a lot of time on the trip to the dorm.


I don't complain when Taro stops at a vending machine to get a drink; she's so awkward that it's just ridiculous. I can't help but feel bad for her when she's like this; I wonder...am I her only real friend?

"Want some?" she asks, holding out the can of cola. I shrug and take the can from her and drain what's left of it in one go. Hey, I've gotta show off once in a while, right? Even if it does leave me coughing afterward, I can at the very least say I can chug half a can of coke. Taro laughs, like usual, and I grin a cocky grin at her, as always.


We walk along, side by side, up the path to the dorm, and go inside. As usual, the few other girls in the lobby quickly look away; they're scared of Taro, and by extension, me. It's really annoying; they shouldn't treat her that way! If it was just me, they'd all say hello. But when Taro comes along everyone clams up and act like a bunch of idiots. So annoying.

The stairs are too narrow to go side by side, so I let Taro lead. We run into one of our classmates, Miyoshi Youko, on the stairs; she grins at us and goes on by. I wish I could feel better about her not being afraid of Taro, but I just can't bring myself to trust her at all. She hurt Taro's feelings with one of her pranks a while back and even though I tried to get Taro to demand an explanation, she never did. She's so awkward I just can't stand it...I ended up secretly inquiring (with the help of a baseball bat) about an apology from Youko myself behind Taro's back. She apologized when she saw I was serious, but we almost came to blows before she would promise not to do anything to Taro again. She doesn't know how fragile Taro is, no one does! They should all stop ostracizing her!

Eventually we made our way up to our floor, and Taro unlocked the door and let us into her dorm room. Inside, it's packed with boxes, and a dozen or so old videogame consoles are stacked up in the corner. She's the only one in this room, so she can do pretty much whatever she wants. I know most of the boxes have old games or game magazines in them, but she's got a stash of baseball bats in here too; she goes through a lot of those, what with going out at night to beat up criminals. It takes her a minute to find the correct console, but she's a pro at this and has it hooked up and started in moments. I pick up a controller and wait.


"Oh wow these graphics are so bad!"

"I know, right? And why is Ryu wearing ballerina slippers?" As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I can't help but burst into giggles. He looks ridiculous...! I can tell by the look on Taro's face that she's trying not to laugh herself, but it's a losing battle, and soon we're both rolling on the floor laughing.

It takes a few minutes to play ourselves out, but we soon find ourselves sprawled out on the floor, staring up at the ceiling while the cheesy music from the game plays. Taro doesn't have a carpet in her room so the floor is nice and cool.

"I like your room."

"Tch, you're the only one," Taro quickly replies. I can tell she's joking, but something in her voice that she probably doesn't even know is there makes her sound lonely, so I roll over on my stomach and look at her. She's looking up at the ceiling, the corners of her mouth quirked up the way they are when she's amused by something. She senses me watching her and turns her head to look at me. "What?"

"Staring contest."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Making faces isn't fair," she says. Ha! All's fair in love and war and staring contests.

"Okay," I say, pushing myself up. "You lost, so...punishment time!" She groans and rolls over onto her side away from me, so I scoot over and drag her upright.

"Ugh, fine...so what's my punishment?"

"Hmm...tell Negi you think he's hot!"

From the horrified look on Taro's face, I can tell my joke's gone too far. Needless to say, though, I snap a quick picture with my cell phone for posterity. Heh. She tries to grab the cell phone away, and we wrestle for it. I lost...eventually. But not before I sent the picture to my other email address! Muahaha!


Later that night, up on the roof of the dorm, we sit back to back, looking up at the stars, which are only just visible here on clear nights; the lights of the city and campus usually hide them, so this is a rare chance, one that Taro has always taken as long as I've known her.

I feel her shifting her position behind me, soI lean forward to give her enough space to lie down with her hands behind her head. I glance down at her and can't help but grin. "You're still wrapping them, aren't you? That's not healthy for a growing girl," I say, mimicking the headmaster. She swats at me, but I duck away, laughing, and lie down too. She'd be really pretty if she fixed herself up. One of the best in the class!

We lay there in silence for a long time; we understand each other, me and Taro. Better than either one of us understands anyone else, anyway. We don't really need to say anything in a situation like this; it's just...comfortable.

"Hey, Possum?" Taro says. Something in her voice doesn't sound right, so I push myself up a little and look over at her. She's got a little moisture in her eyes, almost hidden by the darkness of this moonless night, but I know better than to point it out.

"Yeah?"

"...thanks."

"Yeah." I don't know what she's thanking me for -spending time with her, being her friend, just being there, or something else- but she means it.

I lie down again, and that's that. Taro's so strange; I can't help but wonder what made her this way. Is this heartbroken little girl the same one I watched taking out a twenty-man street gang alone with a baseball bat two nights ago? It seems impossible, but...it's true. I want to help her, but I don't know how. So I just do what I can, which is...this. I know she needs something, but I don't know what, and that's always bothered me. I guess we'll figure it out eventually; but for now, this is fine. I'll just be there for her; we've been friends for so long now that I can't really imagine abandoning her, not at this point.

The door to the roof opens up and I looked back to see Shizuna standing there, looking annoyed.

"Er...hi, Shizuna-sensei!" I say. Taro sits up and looks around.

Shizuna gives us an odd sort of half-glare that doesn't hold any anger; she knows about Taro too. "Come on you two, it's past curfew, and Kara's worried that you haven't come back yet," she said, the last part directed at me; Kara is my roommate.

Taro is on her feet in an instant and has taken my hand to pull me up almost before I even realize she's moved. I grin crookedly at her and she smiles back, one of her rare ones, a real one.

"Come on, let's go in," she says.

"Yeah."


Urashima Taro

Born - 4/18/1994

Height - 5'5"

Fighting Club

Likes – Kanako-nee, Keitaro-nii, Justice

Dislikes – Criminals, Lawbreakers

Roommate - none

Little Known Facts – Pretty attractive if she took the time to clean up

Titles: Student Number 28, The Street Sweeper

Close Friends: Possum Cade, Nakamura Sachiko, Mochizuki Kagami, Every Street Gang Member in Mahora (whenever someone new shows up looking for trouble)

Enemies: Every Street Gang Member in Mahora (when they're trying to act like street gangs)


Notes: Urashima Taro, the girl with the boy's name. Of course, the joke is lost if the reader doesn't realize that a girl named Taro is like a boy named Sue, but that's a risk I'll have to take. Anyway...if you can't tell by this point, Taro is a distant cousin of Keitaro and Kanako from Akamatsu's earlier work Love Hina. Her mother died minutes after she was born, insisting she be named Taro and that she be given the turtle medallion she herself had carried since childhood. Taro's father is unknown, and since her mother died, she was shunted from house to house among the Urashimas, becoming more and more angry and troublesome as she went, until she spent some time with Keitaro and Kanako at the Hinata Inn. It was only for a short time and she was still very, very young, but Keitaro made a big impact on her and she changed for the better. She ended up spending a lot of time with Kanako, training and traveling around, and eventually ended up at Mahora, where she regularly beats up street gangs and troublemakers of every sort. She's a very up front sort of fighter who prefers to charge in and keep swinging until there's nothing left to swing at. As for the design aspects of her character, she sort of resembles Subaru from Nanoha Season 3 (that would be Strikers), only with black hair and less prone to happy smiling. She's very pretty but doesn't know how to act like a girl at all, so her beauty rarely shows through. If someone took the time to fix her up, she would easily rival her classmate Kara Stride in physical beauty.

Appearances: First Appearance: Chap 1 (New Beginnings 1)


Kamo's Negi Love Chart

Motherly - 0

Sisterly - 8

Friendship - 15

Crush - 16

Love - 13

H - 1

Kamo's Comments: "Aww, how cute. I bet her idea of flirting is smacking you around, aniki. Go for it, teach her how to love!"


Haruna's Stat Chart

Friendliness - 10

Courage - 20

Attractiveness - 20

Intelligence - 14

Athleticism - 16

Instincts - 15

Anger - 20

Loner - 20

Outgoing - 8

Popularity – 2

Attributes – awkward, lonely girl, black hair, defensive, scared of relationships, kicks a lot, hand to hand combat, thought to be a bully

Haruna's Comments: "Wow, this one's got a temper...! She is, however, freaking beautiful! Oh, and a good fighter, too. Give her a year of training and she'll have surpassed half your combat partners with ease. I'd go after her right away if I were you, Negi."


Comments From The Rest

Young Male Street Gang Member: "Oh! You mean Taro-kun!" *blushes* "She's amazing...did you hear about that thing with the biker gang that came after her? She beat up a hundred and fifty guys all by herself, and she was barely thirteen!"

Jailed Yakuza Enforcer: "Urashima Taro? Yeah, you want to stay away from that one; she's bad news."

Kagurazaka Asuna: "Taro-kun's my star pupil. Did you know she picked up the basics of using ki in combat by herself? She's got a great sense for that sort of thing...I can't wait to see how she grows."