Joe's Return

Note: For those of you that don't know (or don't remember) the kotatsu is the warming blanket that Osaka was obsessed with in the anime

…

Timeskip: December 20th, 7:00 pm

…

Chiyo, Tomo, Yomi, Osaka, Kaorin, and Sakaki all sat in Chiyo's house. Kagura and Heiko had gone over to Germany to visit Heiko's parents.

"So, you guys want to go out to Karaoke?" Chiyo asked.

"Yeah!" Tomo yelled, pumping her fist up into the air. "So long as Yomi doesn't have to go."

"Shut up!" Yomi yelled. "Last time, as I remember it, you didn't get a perfect, either!"

"At least I scored better than you did!" Tomo yelled, in a taunting tone.

"Would you please stop fighting?" Chiyo asked. "C'mon, it's getting close to Christmas!"

"Yeah, christmas…" Osaka said in a dreamy state. "yeah… kotatsu…"

"Anyway, off to Karaoke!" Tomo yelled.

As they all left, Kaorin and Sakaki lagged a little behind.

"Sakaki-san?" Kaorin asked.

"Joe's been gone for more than two and a half months now. Do you think…he'll still love me?" Sakaki asked.

Kaorin just smiled.

"He be insane not to still love you," Kaorin said, and she walked out the door.

This made Sakaki feel better, and she walked out the door with the rest of them.

…

Everybody was walking to the karaoke building.

Sakaki heard a small 'meow' come from an alleyway.

That sounded like a kitten, Sakaki thought.

She blushed, and followed the sound, despite everybody else walking away; too involved in the songs they were going to choose.

The meowing continued, and Sakaki continued to follow it.

Suddenly, someone jumped out from the shadows. They grabbed Sakaki's hands, pushed her up against one of the buildings, and pulled her hands above her head, and had them pinned up against the building.

"I-I don't have anything on me!" Sakaki said, her eyes closed, her head turned down, trying to get her hands unpinned.

"You mean you weren't after that cat?" the guy asked.

Sakaki opened her eyes in surprise, and looked up at the face of her attacker.

Joe stood there with a big smile on his face. He was wearing contacts, but he had big bags under his eyes. It was obvious he was tired.

Sakaki smiled.

"You're wearing contacts," Sakaki pointed out.

"Yes, I am," Joe said. "So I can do this better…"

Joe kissed Sakaki in a very romantic way. Without his glasses getting in the way, he could get much closer, and give more lip contact (and so his glasses wouldn't fog up, if you know what I mean ;) ).

He came back from the kiss, and both he and Sakaki let off a breath. The steam from both of them could be easily seen.

Joe let go of Sakaki's hands.

"I really missed you," Sakaki said.

"I really missed you, too," Joe said.

The both of them let off into a very romantic kissing spree.

The snow around them began to melt as they continued.

After a few minutes, Sakaki pulled Joe slightly back, and cleared her throat as she looked over in the direction she had come from. Joe looked in that direction.

Every last one of the Azu-girls was standing there with an almost laughing face.

"Missed her that much, huh?" Chiyo said.

"The snow's completely melted around you two," Yomi said.

"Things getting a little hot over here?" Tomo asked

Kaorin just stood there with a smile. She finally understood what Sakaki meant by a nice guy.

"Hey guys. Been a while," Joe said, as he pushed off the wall.

"A really long time, by the looks of it." Yomi said.

"Ha ha. Very funny," Joe said. "So, you guys were going to go sing Karaoke? Mind if I join you?"

"Not a bit. Just keep the heat down." Chiyo said.

"Kissy, kissy," Tomo said, and made a puckered up face.

"At least I have a girlfriend," Joe said.

"Ouch," Chiyo said.

"Burn," Yomi said, with a big smile.

"Jerk." Tomo said, as she crossed her arms, and looked away in irritation.

"Well, shall we get going?" Kaorin asked, who had been silent all this time.

…

At the Karaoke building

…

Chiyo had actually managed to get a decent score of 87.

Kaorin scored a 92.

Sakaki got a 98.

Osaka scored a 75 (surprising for Osaka)

Yomi scored a whopping 12.

Joe, singing Fighting Dreamers, scored a 52 (his timing was off, and his singing wasn't all that great.

Then up came Tomo. She had an evil smile on her face that made Yomi a little nervous.

Before the song even began, Tomo said into the microphone: "A, B, X, Y, L1, R1, X, Triangle, Left, Right, Down"

The screen displayed "Cheat Code Used!"

"Tomo, you cheater!!" Yomi screamed.

"Don't worry, it's only to play a different song." Tomo assured her.

Joe would have to check later, right now, he was just going to let Tomo get away with it.

The song that started up was:

"Hardware Store?" Joe asked. "By Weird Al Yankovic? Since when did you start listening to Weird Al?"

"Since I illegally downloaded some of his songs," Tomo said.

Joe snickered as he remembered the song "Don't download this song"

"But I highly doubt you can sing this song." Joe said confidently.

"Really?" Tomo asked, sounding like it was a bet.

"Joe, what are you guys talking about?" Chiyo asked. "I completely missed most of it."

All of the other Azu-girls also missed it.

"Weird Al is a parody singer in America," Joe said, as he watched Tomo start the song. "And Hardware song is a very fast paced song."

"I think you're underestimating Tomo's energy," Yomi said, sitting back.

"hehe…we'll see," Joe said, still feeling pretty confident.

…

Tomo made it easily through most of the song. But Joe still wore that confident smile.

"Here it comes…" Joe said.

Tomo took deep breaths. She had listened to the song multiple times, and knew precisely what was coming.

The song went: "Would you look at all that stuff…"

Tomo took in one last breath, and began singing again: "They got…"

As Tomo sang through this part of the song (perfectly), Joe's smile slowly disappeared, and was replaced by a face of pure shock.

All of the girls also got a shocked expression on their faces as well, as the song really picked up in pace, and Tomo was singing it perfectly.

"…generators, matching salt and pepper shakers."

As Tomo finished this part, and then finished the song, everybody's face remained stunned.

The screen displayed Tomo's score: 100

"And that," Tomo said in a taunting tone, with an evil smile on her face, "is that's how it's done."

Joe would check the cheat later. It only unlocked the song, nothing else.

…

Author's notes: I always thought of ways to stretch out Tomo's energy to the max. I was listening to Hardware store, and I can sing every part, except for the point in which he lists the stuff. I can't get anything.

Another note: Tomo's English is bad. We all know this. But to sing a song, you don't need to know what the words mean (Prime example: I still don't know what half of the words mean in the Japanese songs I listen to, but I can sing them perfectly, after looking up the lyrics)

Also, I have no idea if you can activate cheat codes on Japanese Karaoke machines. (But it would be funny if you could)

Next Chapter: Christmas Day