Author note: guys, you know I hate being a reviews whore, but you're kind of upsetting me. The amount of updates is directly proportional to the number of reviews. 0 reviews, 0 updates, dearies ]:/
Anyway, I came here with an offer you won't be able to reject. I'm putting up a new poll for a Christmas gift for you all: you get to choose one of the following extra chapters:
a) A non-canon Christmas episode, which would be like a lot of WAFF sprinkled with… Japanese Christmas-y stuff, if you know what I mean.
b) Some kind of hilarious UFO ending, completely non-cannon.
c) The Shirakawa Boulevard Ship Tease version I intended to write before changing it to the actual one… Don't worry, this one doesn't have anything non-consensual. If you know what I mean, again.
Friday, 21st of August… The summer vacations were slowly coming to an end… But there were more interesting things than that happening at the moment…
"Hamuko, hey, open up… Come on, I'll let you play Innocent Sin Online… I'll let you talk to Maya!" Minato insistently knocked on her door, trying to prompt an answer from the girl behind it, to no avail. "Don't be like that… You just misunderstood what I said!" …No answer. "If you don't say something, I'll… barge in! …Well, it wouldn't be barging in since the door is actually unlocked, but you get the idea." … "Three, two, one…" He pushed down the handle of the door, and opened it a bit. He fully pushed it opened seeing that there was still no response.
Minato stood at the doorframe, an amused smile decorating his face; apparently his- most likely still peeved- girlfriend wasn't neglecting to answer on purpose. He found her sprawled all over her bed, her trademark bushy ponytail was gone, letting her auburn hair tumble off her shoulders. Her long wavy hair almost completely hid his blue pajama shirt, as it appeared to have been accidentally rolled up by the friction with the mattress, leaving really little to the imagination. However, he was surprisingly more attracted by his shirt than her lingerie, as she seemed to have developed quite a liking towards it… So much that he was yet to decide if hearing an explanation along the lines of 'it's because it has your scent' would be creepy or incredibly arousing. Probably the later, if it was she who said that.
Before his mind began wandering into exponentially less innocent matters as he finally took note of her dressing situation, his cobalt eyes detected a grey item in Hamuko's arms. Koromaru. And the dog seemed to acknowledge his presence as well; nonetheless, he was just staring at him with sleepy red eyes, either realizing that he needn't bark at the boy, or being plain too tired from playing catch all night with Hamuko to do so. This allowed Minato to realize that he'd never even thought about where Koromaru slept before…
In any case, 'fascinating' as the scene was, the bluenet couldn't avoid feeling a tad bothered by the fact that it wasn't him in the bed with her. He could easily disguise this feeling later by simply teasing her about 'sleeping with a dog', but… disregarding what happened in Shirakawa, to which he was still trying to find an explanation, he was still only a boy wanting to go a step further with a girl who'd manage to destroy his wish to be alone completely, amen of a few neurons lost by love's thought-overshadowing action. Then, he shouldn't feel so bad thinking of her that way… she'd forgiven him, right…? So… Maybe he could wake her up with a kiss or something. Couples do that… and they were a couple or something now, no matter what Koromaru opined.
"Minato-kun?"
There were not enough swearwords in the dictionary to describe what Minato felt when he turned around, only to find Yukari behind him, a disbelieving eyebrow almost meeting her hairline, wrinkling her usually perfect skin. Oh crap; we'll use that to define being caught- by a person who obviously liked him, as he'd observed by the glances she'd given him the few times they'd seen each other at the dorm during the vacations- leaning in towards a sleeping girl and her dog with the intention of stealing a kiss.
"What the hell are you…?"
"I… e-eh…" Minato stammered. He rarely stammered. For once in his life, he didn't have an excuse ready to explain the situation.
"Huh…?" The sound of crumpling blankets behind him only managed to make the situation even worse. Hamuko looked in his direction, rubbing her eyes lazily. "Minato…?"
Alright, that was it, he'd made a big goof, and Hamuko would think the wrong thing, and Yukari would do so too, he'd have to respond to Mitsuru's endless interrogations, Hamuko would tell them what happened at Shirakawa, Akihiko would beat him to a pulp, and he'd lose any chance he'd ever had to get in her p—to regain her trust.
And then Signs of Love began blaring all over the room.
Hamuko reached out for her mobile phone. "…Yeah? Oh, Theo…" She yawned. "You want us to go to the cinema together…? Sure, I'll tell Minato…" She hung up and stared at both teens in her room, now fully awake. "What are you two doing in my room?"
"That's what I wanted to know." Yukari retorted, looking expectantly at Minato.
"Ah, well, y-you see…" Minato's mind was working at full speed. "Elisabeth called me, asking if you wanted to go to the cinema!" He lied. "That's why I came here… to tell you!" If Koromaru teeth-baring was anything to go by, he could probably thank the fact Hamuko couldn't speak doggish– and convince Aigis not to translate anything for a while.
"Couldn't you have like… waited for me to get up or something? Oh well…" She sighed. "What's your excuse, Yukari?"
"What? …Why do I even bother…?" Yukari seemed quite… whatever she was, it looked like a mix of surprise and annoyance to see that Hamuko didn't have any problems with him being in her room. However, she refrained from commenting on it, mumbling something under her breath instead. "…So who are these 'Theo' and 'Elisabeth' you guys are talking about?"
"Uhh…" The red eyed girl looked at Koromaru, who in turn tilted his head in confusion. "They're… Bebe's… cousins."
"Bebe? The foreign guy?" She blinked, maybe a bit surprised at the fact that she hanged out with him.
"They, uh, came to visit, and we're showing them the city." Minato continued Hamuko's excuse. "So yeah, we'd better not make them wait…"
Yukari only stared at them as Hamuko sat up and Koromaru began bouncing on her bed. "…Cover up." And with that she left.
"…You should do something about all that tension between you two…"
"Whatever, just close the door." She yawned again and stretched her arms as she left the bed and Koromaru. "So why did she—oh." A quick glance downwards told her everything she needed to know. She looked up to see Minato's slightly blushing face. "You did this?"
"Of course not." His words were answered with a cocked up eyebrow. He choked a bit as Hamuko began removing the blue clothing, as if it was usual for her, perfectly fine with his presence.
"Are you sure?" She… probably wasn't doing it on purpose, but… bending over to pick up a tank top from a pile of clothing on the ground while scolding Minato made the former action a tad less effective.
"I'm positive." He managed to keep an uninterested face for as long as she had her eyes on him. "What would I do to you, Hamuko?" Maybe that wasn't the best way he could have said that phrase, considering past experiences.
"Oh, I dunno, you're the one who fantasizes about me." She shook her cut-and-sewn and slowly slid into it, proceeding to observe the bluenet in front of her a bit more thoroughly from a closer distance while she lowered the orange shirt. "What's wrong, hon? Am I giving you a hard time?"
Minato arched his eyebrows. She was definitely doing it on purpose– testing him, maybe? "I really came here only to wake you up… except not because of a call from Elisabeth. But, if you want me to leave, then I'll leave you alone."
"H-Hey, I was kidding!" She desperately grabbed his hand as he approached the door. "I've broken into your room a thousand times, yanno you're free to get in mine whenever!"
"Seeing the state this room is in, I highly doubt I'll be doing that any time soon." The bluenet smiled deviously. "I'll help you clean up for a kiss."
"You're cheap, hmm?" Hamuko surrounded him with her arms and leaned closer to the taller boy, until their bodies met. "Oh! Um… D-Did I really…?" She giggled awkwardly, pulling away. She looked at him, a bemused smile on her face as her eyes scanned him from top to bottom. "I'll… put my skirt on first…"
"Must you…?" He groaned.
"S-sorry about that…" She forced a smile, but it looked more like a wince. They remained silent while Hamuko finished dressing and Koro kept rolling on her bed.
"So… aren't you going to give me a hand…?" Minato's sudden question was accompanied by a quick glance down and a smile.
"I'm sure you can help yourself." She exited her room, not before giving him a rather strong backslap. "Try to make it sound more suave next time, will you?"
"…I was talking about cleaning your room, idiot." Minato mumbled as he slowly followed her out, having to bear Koromaru's growls behind him in the way.
"I have been wishing to visit one of these cinemas for a long time! Images moving at own will, as if they were alive, only restricted by the screen's power…" Elisabeth spoke to herself while they waited in the queue.
"Maybe we should obtain one of those screens! They could be able to restrain Shadows as well, if they hold the power to use fantastic creatures to entertain people!" Theo joined her in her crazy imaginings. "Furthermore, these 'films' should provide a nice explanation to our current feelings…"
The Fools were a few meters ahead, about to get their tickets.
"So what are they playing…? …Tearjerkers?" Hamuko asked in disappointment as she looked at the billboard.
"Countless hours of drama. But alas, it's for them." Minato pointed at the assistants, who were now busy throwing coins at the fountain by the cinema. The bluenet was tempted to ask for 'two adults and two children' tickets at the counter, when he noticed Hamuko had run to the fountain with them to 'save the money'. "Three children and an adult."
The cinema was way more crowded than the previous day- drama, it had that effect on people- so the Fools had had to sit on a couple of seats to the left of the room, separated from the main line, which offered a rather poor sight of the screen. Hamuko and Minato were trying to decided whether having had to be separated from the Velvet Room assistants was a good or bad thing… Oh well…
Hamuko had been sighing during the whole film, earning more than a weird look from Minato. "It's boring", she'd said, "and that bed scene sucked, bed sheets don't work that way" she added a little sniff, "but that story's sooo pretty... I think I'm going to… c-c…"
"That's pretty much the point of tearjerkers." Minato comforted her.
"B-But, why didn't anybody think of using a Phoenix Tail?"
"Eh. The best you can do is just give up trying to look into logical things. That's what I did, and things are looking up."
The second film had been somewhat more intense, and the ending, in which the protagonist has to leave his best friends– and… harem…- to go on with his life had managed to make Minato tear up a bit.
"Aww…" Hamuko sneered as soon as she realized this. "Yeah, nobody should leave eight girlfriends behind, hm?"
"Some of us are happier with one." He grunted.
"You didn't ask your girlfriend if she's happier with you." She whispered.
Minato turned his head to her and smirked. He quickly left his seat and leaned over her, propping himself up on the armrests. "Isn't she?"
"She is. When you're not being a creep." She frowned.
"Huh? What do you—" Before he could do anything to prevent it, Hamuko had pushed Minato away from her and back into his seat, sitting on his knees. It was her turn to be towering him.
"She doesn't trust you being on top." She stated with a innocent smile as she pressed herself against him. She lowered her head towards his with parted lips, ready to get up-to-date with an activity they hadn't engaged in almost two months.
"Minato-sama, Hamuko-sama!" Two yelling voices called out for them, earning hushes all over the room.
Hamuko reluctantly got up and sat down again on her own seat, just in time to see the assistants arrive. "'Sup, guys?"
"We ran out of these… imploded salty corn seeds!"
The glares the Fools were giving them could melt glass, but the blondes in blue didn't even seem to notice.
"Okay, I'll get you some more popcorn." Minato sighed as he got up and led the assistants out of the room.
A few minutes later he was back with two people carrying king-size popcorn packs.
"Well, then…" Hamuko assumed he previous position.
"You know, that… kind of killed the mood."
"Now you say it… what if they come back again?" Hamuko furrowed her eyebrows.
"Maybe if you sit a bit… closer to me…" He flashed her a seductive grin seeing that she seemed a bit doubtful. "…I'm just trying to set up the right mood."
"Set up which mood, Minato?" She teased him.
"This one." He pulled Hamuko towards himself..
"We need some more caffeinated drinks."
Hamuko and Minato stared at both assistants with a blank face.
"…Is your seat inadequate for you, Hamuko-sama?" Theo inquired innocently, seeing the girl was sitting atop Minato.
"Gosh…" Hamuko got up and dusted her skirt. "Y-you want some more Cielo Mist? This way…"
…Maybe extra large refreshments would keep them busy for a while, but...
The Fools exchanged awkward glances. "So you wanna… try again?"
"You know they're going to come back." Minato ran a hand through his hair.
"…Right, and we agreed to keep it secret." She sighed. "Um, how many films are there left?"
"Two."
"Yay." Hamuko slouched on her seat, resigned to keeping her lips busy with her soda. She could feel Minato's gaze on her. "What?"
"Oh no, n-no, nothing." He rubbed his nose.
"Hey… is that… blood on your fingers?"
"…Popcorn?"
Man, what a long film.
"So that is love." Elisabeth spoke to herself. "What a extraneous feeling! The people in the screen began doing senseless things as a result of experiencing that euphoria!"
"Love makes people crazy." Minato explained.
"Some more than others." Hamuko remarked with a hint of bitterness.
"It seemed indeed a slightly familiar feeling…" Theo mumbled. "Well then, I'm glad we have obtained some food for thought. Let us head back…"
The Fools were walking back to the dorm, when they found a beloved young Social Link buying takoyaki at Octopia.
"Guys!" Maiko exclaimed as she ran towards them, almost throwing her pack of dumplings to the ground. She embraced Hamuko tightly.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I… I was afraid I wouldn't have a last chance to see you…" She sobbed against her shirt. "I made a decision… I'm staying with my mum, because she's the one who needs me the most and… We're leaving tomorrow night…"
"W-What?" Hamuko's mouth fell open as she stared at her with a expression full of sorrow. "But… What about your dad?"
"He'll be fine without me…"
"T-then… W-what about… us?" Minato was about to comment on how selfish Hamuko was sounding, but he decided to abstain from doing so. He felt rather sad as well, but, he knew that as soon as they leveled up a pair of levels more, she wouldn't matter anymore, and THAT was sad.
"We'll… we'll still be friends, right?" The girl was tearing up a bit.
"You…" Hamuko kneeled on the ground to return the hug. "You're more than a friend to me… You're like my sister… My daughter even."
"Like your daughter?" She echoed, laughing as she tried to hold back her tears. "Then him…"
Minato had never been someone who appreciated group hugs, but he could make an exception just that time. "We'll miss you, Maiko-chan."
"You can't ever forget about me. Promise, okay?" She pulled away and extended her pinky finger.
"Promise." Hamuko extended her pinky as well.
"…Promise." The bluenet agreed reluctantly, completing the triple pinky swear, similar to one they did with the same girl months before. With that, the Hanged Man Social Link reached level 9.
"...I need to get ready to move, so I'm going home now." Maiko beamed at them. "See you tomorrow at the shrine!"
"Hamumko." Minato grinned in a mocking way.
"G-got any problems with that?" She huffed.
"…I find it very sweet." He stroked her cheek softly as he kissed the trace left by a stray tear.
She giggled as she relished on the caresses. "Maybe you wouldn't make such a bad dad after all." The brunette took a deep breath. "C'mon, let's go back…"
Hamuko seemed rather down the rest of the afternoon, so Minato decided to help her cheer up doing one of her favourite things…
"More vodka! Woo!" Yeah, she couldn't remember sadness past a certain amount of alcohol in her blood. What? It was more amusing than whispering nice things until she fell asleep, and he got to talk to a Social Link of his. All profit.
"Yeah, that's a good thing to wish for!" Mutatsu laughed heartedly. "But you kids got enough money?"
"We're full of debts." Minato brought Hamuko closer to him as he took a big glop of his bottle of brandy. "But, whooo cares?"
"Tsk, you'll do when you get my age, kid! ..Do you know what the average lifetime income of a white-collar worker is? ...Including a retirement fund and an annual pension? 250,000,000 yen! Hmph, that's not even close to a lottery jackpot!"
"Eh, we don't hafta give back so much money! Only errrrrrr… Half a million isn't so much!" She pouted. "Hon, you done yet?"
"Level five, yeah." He got up and pulled Hamuko up as well. "Well, later Mutatsu-san."
"See ya kid…" He slouched against the sofa. "Oh, and kid…"
"Yeah?"
"Don't waste time…"
Minato walked downstairs, led by Hamuko. A song they had never heard before began blaring through the speakers; it was definitely Risette's voice.
"Man, you friend's sooo fun! Crazy old man…" Hamuko laughed as she leaned against Minato and poked his chest. "And you sir? You're the best boyfriend eveeer."
"Yeah, I know." He snickered while he reached out for Hamuko and put his hands fairly low on her back.
He couldn't quite decide whether Hamuko was trying to be menacing and failing when she smiled at him or… "No one to interrupt us now, right?" Or that.
"Taking advantage of a drunken boy…?"
"I'm a horrible person, I know…"
"…And that was True Story by Risette!" A male's voice echoed throughout the club. "We'd like to use this moment to remind you all that Risette will be visiting us on Saturday fifth of September! Buy your tickets for the concert before they get sold out!"
"SAY WHAT?" Hamuko pushed Minato away. "Risette is coming HERE? THE Risette? TO GIVE A CONCERT? AIEEEEEEEE!" She squealed gleefully. "OH! I hafta go buy tickets! Screw the money! Tickets for everyone! RISETTE RISETTE RISETTE!"
Well, that was… something… And by the time she was back, the club was already about to close. …Oh well.
"…Shines peacefully tomorrow, TRUE STORYYYY!"
"…Done trilling?"
"Yep." Hamuko removed her headphones and smiled. "This song is just so awesome!"
"Yeah well. It's Maiko-chan's last day here. You'd better not scare her like that…" Minato sneered.
"Hey, you shouldn't be mean to your girlfriend!" Maiko laughed as she clasped Hamuko's hand.
"I'm not being mean, I'm being realistic!" The three burst into laughter. "So, what do you want to do today, Maiko-chan?"
"I want to play with everything!" She yelled as she dragged the Fools towards the playground.
They spent a delightful afternoon together, sliding once and again down the slide, trying to be the one to jump higher on the horizontal bar– Hamuko and Maiko versus Minato, ruh roh!- and playing King of the Hill on the jungle gym. As dusk arrived, Maiko jumped down the metallic structure, followed by Minato and Hamuko, who fell rather unceremoniously.
"Whew, I'm tired…" Maiko huffed. "We've played enough for you to remember me, right?" She fell silent as she contemplated both of them.
"We will always remember you, Maiko-chan." Hamuko smiled warmly. "Don't forget us either, okay?"
The younger brunette nodded. "…Dad said, even though we're apart, we're still family… An' I think that goes for you and me, too. So, I don't have to be sad."
"Maiko-chan…" Hamuko's eyes were getting all glazed.
"Family is very important." She grinned. "…You think I'll have a family of my own one day?"
"Of course." Minato patted her head. "I'm sure you'll find someone nice and have a happy life together… Maybe you'll even have children…"
"I sure will!" She agreed. Silence took over again. "…Will you two have a family too?"
"H-Huh?" The brunette blushed crimson red. "W-well, ah… That's… Actually… I-I'd like to…"
"I'd… like to too…" The male Fool glanced away, kicking the sand of the playground softly while Hamuko looked at him wide-eyed.
Maiko seemed delighted with these answers. She reached into one of the pockets of her jacket –one had to wonder how could she wear that, hot as it was in the place- and brought out two bead rings, shoving one into each Fool's hands, while they just looked at her, confused. "C'mon! What are you waiting for?"
Minato looked at the ring on his palm and then at Hamuko. He smiled as he understood what Maiko wanted; he took the ring and slid it into Hamuko's ring finger, who, although she didn't seem to understand the gesture, mimicked it.
"Alright, and now close your eyes!" The child demanded, and so they complied. There were clanking sounds inherent of climbing on the jungle gym which ceased when Hamuko was pushed against Minato, her lips accidentally– or not so- landing on his. Their eyes flew open at the touch, and they turned around to see Maiko beaming at them. "When I'm old enough, I'll buy a plane ticket and come back to meet you and your children!" Her words died down a bit. "S-So don't forget me…"
The Hanged Man card appeared in their minds. "Thou art I... And I am thou... The bond thou has nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Hanged Man Arcana hath been set free. We bestow upon thee the ability to create Attis, the ultimate form of the Hanged Man Arcana..."
Minato had already experienced that in two previous occasions, but this was something new for Hamuko, who blinked in confusion.
"B-Bye!" Maiko ran away, trying to hide her sadness.
"Maiko!" Hamuko yelled as the girl disappeared in the distance, but she couldn't hear her anymore…
"Well, welcome to the Max Social Links experience…" Minato sighed. "How do you feel now?"
"I… I feel happy." She furrowed her eyebrows.
"Happy?"
"Yeah, I mean… She's gone but… But I feel like we'll never be apart… or something…" Well, that was… unexpected. Minato only felt a bit disappointed at himself for still being unable to care… or wait, did thinking that he should care count as caring? "…Has she just… married us…?"
"Indeed." He smiled at her. "Hamumko."
She turned even redder. "She forgot to say… 'you can kiss your wife'."
"We need to repeat, huh?"
"I was just sayi—" Minato grabbed her shoulders and captured her mouth with his own, leaving no space for banters as they finally got away with the kiss they'd been meaning to share for a while… or maybe a bit more hungry than the one they wanted. Not like either Fool was going to complain. Because you know, they couldn't complain with their tongues busy. Or something. But they still were in a public place…
"Wow…" She pulled away, running her fingers over her lower lip. "That was… intense…" A smirk appeared on her face. "Much better than I remembered. You've gotten better at this, huh...?"
"Only for my wai-fu." Minato rubbed her nose against hers prompting some giggles. He wrapped an arm around her as they walked back to the dorm. "So does this mean we get a wedding night?"
"Keep dreaming." She tapped he chin with a finger, thoughtfully. "Better yet, don't."
And so the day went on… With a few glares from Yukari, who seemed a bit irascible at the fact that he Fools were acting a bit more playful than usual that evening. Eh, Akihiko seemed a bit upset as well; he still seemed to have some problems coping with the idea of 'those two being together' for some reason… probably several, which as Hamuko reproached Minato, he shouldn't even need to ask.
This chapter is like dumping a bunch of innuendo in a cauldron, then dumping some sweetness, stir them up, and you get something like diabetes if it was an STD.
Now review or I'll be mad :I
