Second chapter! Hope you like it!
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The next day I woke up early in the morning. With nothing else to do, I decided to see how much content my phone had from my old world. I checked out the photo section first, panicking when the only picture I had was a screenshot.
Enlarging it, I read, {To access •OLD WORLD• data, please have your pet touch your phone. Your pet will not do so, even if you tell it to, if you are being forced by a third party. It will turn off one minute after you stop touching it. Other people will be able to see the screen, but not control the phone.}
"Natsu, come open my phone for me," I whispered and Natsu padded over to nudge the top of my phone with her nose. My phone froze for a second, then, like the 'mail sent' thing where the letter flies into a box, all my old photos flew into their respective albums.
I scrolled through for several minutes, then tried to open crunchyroll. Durarara was still there. Excited, I went to manga bird and pintrest and found that all the Durarara content was there as well.
"Now I can check up on when things happen. But I wonder if it's the manga or the anime plot..." I mumbled. "And does it update, or only what I've already saved?"
After breakfast, Celty helped me find an apartment. It came with furniture and had a kitchen, a master bathroom, a bedroom, a walk in closet, a living room, and an office. It also had a sort of balcony that looked over the greater part of the city.
"You weren't kidding when you said you had plenty of money!" Celty typed, surprised.
"Hehehe. Yeah," I grinned awkwardly at that statement and added silently, 'Through no work of my own, though. And a few days ago the idea of me having any money would have been ludicrous.
"Well, now that we have that covered, do you want to go there first or do you want to go shopping?" Celty asked.
"I think I'd rather go to the apartment first. I'd like to see where everything is before I start dumping stuff there," I laughed.
"Good point. You'll also need to pay the owner. Let's go now, I've got time," she said, glancing at her watch.
It was a ten minute ride to the apartment, but it took a whole hour to pay the owner. "Why must it take so-o-o long?" I sighed dramatically as we walked to the elevator in the lobby of the building. Celty seemed to laugh, but it was hard to tell.
As soon as the elevator door opened onto the twentieth floor I sprinted down the hallway, searching for my apartment. Natsu yipped behind me, but I was too excited to slow down. Reaching my apartment, I shoved the key into the door. I pushed the door open roughly, practically falling into the next room, which I knew at once was that front room where Japanese people take off their shoes.
There was a coat rack, a shoe rack, and the floor was a step lower than the hallway in front of it. Forgetting that Celty was following behind me, I flung my shoes off and started to rampage my new domain.
There was a door right after the front room on the left, so I flung it open first and dashed in. It was clearly the office and to the right of the door there was an oversized armchair that I promptly jumped onto. It was very soft and the seat cushion part went out further than normal. 'Perfect for curling up with a good book,' I thought, 'or some late night studying.'
From my squishy throne, I examined the rest of the room. Across from me there were 2 large bookshelves and opposite the door was a desk with a large, comfy looking rolly chair. The desk had drawers built into its sides and there were cubbies above the desk top. But suddenly my view was blocked by something near my face.
As my eyes refocused, I saw that Celty was scolding me. "You really shouldn't just leave your apartment door completely open."
I laughed, "But then you would have had to knock and I would have had to let you in!" I grinned, then dashed out of the office. Almost directly across the office was a door slightly to the left. 'And that,' I decided, 'is the next region I'll conquer.'
It was my bedroom. There were 2 doors inside it, as well. One was directly to the left of me and turned out to be my walk-in closet. I walked in, hehehe, and saw a kind of wrap around wardrobe. It had drawers on the bottom, clothing racks of varying heights in the middle, and cubbies on top.
I was confused for a moment because I wondered where I'd put my shoes but then I remembered that this is Japan and shoes are taken off in the front room. I walked out of the walk-in closet, I'm sorry I can't help it, and through the door next to it, knowing it must be the master bathroom.
It was. There was a fancy counter with a sink to the left of the door and right in front of me was a large, deep bath tub. The toilet was along the wall on the right. There was also a shower head attached to the bathtub that was flexible.
Back in my room, to the left of the bathroom door, was a large tv facing my bed. My bed was big and right against the wall, like the tv was, and at the foot of the bed was a cushy ottoman. There was a nightstand next to the top of the bed and next to the nightstand stood a large floor length mirror. There was a rug next to the bed, in front of the mirror and nightstand, and it was unbelievably fluffy. I twirled in front of the mirror for a bit, giggling. My hair whipped around me in what I viewed as a tornado.
Having conquered the Land of Sleep, I continued my crusade elsewhere. After my bedroom door the hallway opened up into a living room. There were 2 bookshelves along the wall against the bathroom, and in the center of the room was a large corner couch. The curved side was at the other end of the room by the windows, and there wasn't an arm rest on the bit that stuck out.
There was a small table at the end nearest me, and a soft, giant, fluffy rug between the couch and the second tv. The tv was massive, with a large video cabinet below it. There was a shelf on its left that appeared to be for games, and another bookshelf on its right.
I ran across the room and ripped the two sets of curtains open. Sunlight shone through and I could see the greater part of Ikebukuro spanning out in front of me. I was mesmerized until I felt something tug on my leg, and, looking down, I saw Natsu. I giggled as I picked her up. She yipped and scrambled out of my hands to sit proudly on my shoulder. Laughing, I ran out the glass sliding doors on my right and went straight to the edge of my balcony, looking over the edge at the street so very far below me.
A few minutes later, I stopped watching all the little people go by, and went back to rampaging my palace. On the balcony, there was a small table with 2 chairs set next to the railing, and a window opposite them that connected to the kitchen. There was also a hammock at the farthest corner from the door with a little glass stand next to it.
As I walked back into the living room, Celty came over to me. "Pretty neat apartment you've got yourself," she said, and I'm sure she would have been grinning if she had had a head.
"Yeah, thanks to you," I told her, rubbing the back of my head, "Sorry, I'm taking forever, aren't I?"
"Just a little bit, but that's okay," she typed, "It's already been an hour, so you might want to hurry if you want to have lots of time to buy clothes."
"An hour?! I didn't realize! I'm sorry for making you wait so long-"
"I already said that it's fine, so relax."
"Alright... I just want to check out the kitchen, then I'm ready. Is that all right?" I asked worriedly, shuffling my feet a little.
"Sounds good," she nodded and walked over to the sofa, plopping down on it.
Hurriedly, I started on the kitchen. It was to the left of the sliding doors, and faced the middle of the living room. It was separated from the living room by a high counter sticking out of the walls with a large gap in the middle to walk through. There were 2 tall stools for the counters on the side facing the kitchen.
A square table was pushed up against the far left wall with 4 chairs, 2 on each side. The window looking out over the city and my balcony was between the counter and the table, and it could open, apparently, but I didn't try it right then. I was too worried about the time it would take. Along the right side of the room was the sink, oven, and dishwasher. There was also a large cabinet with counter space that was sandwiched from above and below by drawers.
I told Celty that I was ready and ran back down to the parking lot. As we went, Celty suggested a few places to look for clothes.
"Wherever you think," I told her, not actually hearing her suggestions. I had more important things to think about. 'What style should I wear? I can literally get anything; I don't have a single limitation!' I thought ecstatically as we zoomed down the freeway. 'I could try Lolita, to go with my childish appearance, but I don't like frills and such. Not punk, possibly a couple nerdy outfits, not party girl for sure. What was that one...? Ah, that's it, mori style! But I want all types of styles! Oh, right,' I giggled, 'I'm rich! Alright, so I'll just get as many outfits as catch my fancy! Hope that doesn't make me spoiled...' I giggled again.
The first store Celty took me to was a ball gown store, so it seems I know more about clothes shopping in Japan than she does. I asked where the nearest mall was, and she ended up taking me to a very large department store. That's when her phone beeped. She spent a few minutes messaging whoever it was, then showed me the screen.
"I've got to go, sorry. Would you like me to drop you off somewhere?" I read.
"Umm, how about west gate park?" I asked. I planned to find my own way to the nearest clothing mall, since I didn't think Celty would actually know where one was.
"You mean Takiguchi Park? Sure, I can drop you off there," She typed.
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The second I got off Celty's bike, she took off. I found a city map, and located the largest mall in Ikebukuro. It was too far away to walk, so I decided to take a train. When I finally found my way to the mall -I took the wrong train once and missed my stop too- I just stared at it for a second. I had never been to a mall. I didn't have any money at the orphanage, and no reason to just 'hang' at a mall.
Stiffly, I walked through the front doors. Food stalls lined the walls, and there were masses of people swarming in and out of the tables and chairs crowding the room. 'I want some,' I thought, but berated myself. 'Snap out of it! It's just after breakfast! I'll come back for a snack or lunch later. And desert... and a drink... and everything.'
I forced myself to stop staring at it all and started down the largest hallway. 'I'm here for clothes!' I reminded myself, 'I can get toys and books and games and nail polish and- OMG I WANT THAT!' I stopped, staring at a window behind which was the fluffiest blanket I had ever seen. 'Well, it is a blanket, and that's made out of cloth. And, anyways, I'll need a blanket for the apartment. Sure, it has one already, but I'm only allowed to keep that for a couple days or so,' I ran in, and bought the blanket in a light green color. I bought sheets and pillows too, and stuffed all of it into a large bag the salesperson had given me.
I spent an entire hour jogging from store to store, getting random necessities. Finally, my arms, not able to hold anything more, helped me remember that I had come here for clothes, not forks.
I ran to the nearest salesperson I saw and asked, "Excuse me, is there anywhere that I could keep all of this safe?"
"Of course sweetie!" she smiled down at me. I cringed, the whole child thing was losing its humor. "There is a spot right over there," she pointed out a small store, "They will keep your things safe while you shop. It costs a little, but you look like you need it," she laughed, looking over all of my stuff, and then at Natsu.
"Thank you-" I began to say, but she interrupted me.
"Where are your parents sweetie?" She asked, clearly thinking that a little kid wouldn't be buying sheets, detergent, towels, a broom, etc. Not to mention, carrying a little white fox around.
"They aren't alive," I deadpanned, "But don't worry, I'm actually 16 contrary to my appearance and already have something of a guardian. Thank you for the directions," and I walked off.
After entrusting my load to the next adult, who assumed I was 5 this time, I went to get some clothes. For reals this time.
I made my way through the entire store of the Japanese version of {Justice}, and found very few items that I liked. I am 16 after all. Natsu helped though, and she actually found more things than I did. I went to the changing room, but as I looked in the mirror I was distracted.
I noticed that it was high time that I dealt with my hair.
For the past three days I'd kept it up in thick braids to shorten it to a couple feet long because I didn't have time to deal with it. "I'm ready," I whispered to myself. I set Natsu on the floor and unbraided all of my hair, letting it fall into its natural position, and gasped.
A 5 foot fiery red cape draped over my shoulders, down my back, and all the way to my feet had covered my head. The bangs and framing surrounding my face brought out the lines of orange in my ash gray eyes. It was marvelous. It wasn't just pretty either; I noticed that with my hair down, I looked older. "About, 12, maybe?" I asked Natsu, and she spun in a circle yipping. I giggled. "If only I could get rid of this voice," I moaned.
"Excuse me, miss? Almost done?" Asked a lady from behind the door.
"Yeah, sorry! A few more minutes!" I told her awkwardly. I tied my hair into double braids, which took more than a few minutes, and tried the first item on.
Well, I lost track of time, only remembering to check my watch when my arms couldn't hold anymore, again. I found out the time from a stranger, since I couldn't see my watch through all the bags, and learned that it had been 4 hours. I had missed lunch.
Hurriedly, I deposited my load at the same place as my first load, the lady looked completely flabbergasted, and I went to the food court. Standing in line for potstickers, I let my mind wonder. 'I want to meet Masaomi and the others soon, but I think I'll wait till school to meet them. Wait,' I froze, 'I didn't. I couldn't have. I-I did. I FORGOT SCHOOL STARTED 3 DAYS AGO!'
On autopilot, I paid for my potstickers, and went to a booth to eat. I couldn't think about anything except that I had missed the first 3 days of Japanese high-school. 'I have to wait till tomorrow, but maybe I should go to the school today and apologize for being absent since I was moving and all but would they believe me? Even if they did it would just be an excuse and I'll be in trouble and-'
"Shut up! Don't overthink!" I ordered myself. 'I said that aloud, didn't I?' I glanced around. Nobody seemed to have heard me, or at least, no one was staring. I looked back at my food and, not wanting the rest, pushed it towards Natsu, watching her gobble it down eagerly.
After I threw the plate away, licked clean courtesy of Natsu, I decided to end my shopping trip. I had no idea how to get all my stuff home, and ended up having to buy 2 large suitcases and a backpack.
'At least I can use the backpack for school, unlike these suitcases,' I thought, playing with my braids on the train.
Even with the suitcases and backpack, I was still carrying many bags as I wobbled my way to the apartment. After wrestling with the door for a few minutes, I sort of fell through when it opened unexpectedly. Growling, I brought all the stuff in to the living room, and promptly flopped down onto the couch. I turned the tv on and watched some anime for a while. It's really nice not having to use subtitles, in case you were wondering.
After that, I separated the clothes from everything else and chucked them indiscriminately into my closet. Then I spent the entire afternoon, which wasn't actually a very long time as I had spent a lot of it at the mall, putting things where they belonged and listening to music.
Shampoo, toilet paper, soap, etc. to either bathroom. Sheets, pillows, and blankets to my bedroom. Paper towels, bowls, silverware, etc. to the kitchen. Realize I have no food to eat. Run to the nearest convenience store and walk out with lots of junk food because it's not a grocery store and the veggies taste terrible so what's the point?
So, by the end of the day, I had everything in the right room. Not to boast, but a couple things were actually in the right place, too. I was interrupted from finishing the job when I got a text from Celty.
C(Did you get all that you needed?)
T(Yeah, and then some.)
C(Good. Are you set for dinner or would you like to come eat with us?)
I thought for a moment.
T(No thanks. I really appreciate the offer, but I'm trying to put everything in order and I want to stay on track.)
C(Okay. Good luck!)
T(Thank you!)
'That reminds me. I need to get to school tomorrow, so I need to set an alarm,' I thought. I set the alarm for 6:30 so I'd have time for all the mistakes I was bound to make.
That done, I chucked my phone onto the couch and went to the kitchen. I rummaged around and got a pack of Oreos, a hot pocket, and a can of orange soda. Placing the hot pocket in the microwave, I stared out the kitchen window, bored. Then an idea struck me.
"Come to Taiyo's restaurant! We serve all types of mass produced food! We guarantee you the tastiest calories around! Come now, and try our fancy chips with brand names and our gourmet meals that take 3 whole steps to prepare! Act now, and get the first bag of air and chips free!" I laughed. "What do you think Natsu? Sounded just like a real ad didn't it?" She jumped and yipped, and I continued making lamer and lamer ads till my hot pocket finished cooking.
I ate my fill of the gourmet mass produced calories on the balcony, and then I went back to putting stuff away. I finished sometime around 11:00, with a long list of things I still needed to buy.
I went to change, but when I opened my closet door, I quickly shut it. I had forgotten about all my clothes. So, I chose the most logical solution my exhausted brain could think of. Finishing my "chores" by taking all the tags off, and staying up till 3am washing everything. Then I organized my clothes in my closet. By this point, I was basically sleepwalking, so I didn't bother with pajamas, I just unknotted my over large shirt, letting it fall just above my knees, and kicked off the pants. Crawling into bed, I instantly fell asleep.
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At 6:50 I blearily opened my eyes and wondered why my head hurt so early in the morning.
At 6:56 I realized it was probably because of the incessant beeping right by my ear.
At 7:00 I remembered that the beeping was the alarm that I had set the night before and started looking for my phone.
At 7:03 I turned the alarm off.
At 7:07 I jolted out of bed when I remembered that I had school today, but I promptly tripped on my hair and crashed to the ground, not awake enough to even break my fall.
Luckily, the rug next to my bed was very soft, but even so, my head was not happy about being whacked so early in the morning. Not to mention I already had a headache. I moaned as I grabbed onto the nightstand next to my bed to pull myself up. I stumbled over to my walk-in closet and felt something brush against my leg as I opened the door.
"Morning, Natsu," I mumbled as I followed her into the closet. I looked around and made a mental note to never organize when I'm tired. Last night, it seemed, I had had the brilliant idea to organize all of my clothes by color in piles on the floor. Without separating out the pants, shirts, socks, etc. I had never been that tired before.
"How'm I s'posed to find my school outfit in this mess?" I groaned, resting my head against the door frame.
I had no idea what to do about the clothes because I was still half asleep, not to mention very grumpy because of my headache, so I decided to brush my teeth before I underwent the task of getting dressed.
I stumbled back to my bathroom and then just stared at the pile of items on the sink.
"Guess it was stupid to think that I had done more than just chuck everything into rooms yesterday." I began sorting through the pile of stuff and found the toothbrush and toothpaste quickly, thank goodness, and shoved the minty brush into my mouth.
I left the bathroom as I brushed, thinking I could do things more efficiently if I did them at the same time. I went back to the closet and found Natsu, who yipped sleepily. He was sitting next to what appeared to be my school uniform. 'He must've sorted through these piles to find them,' I thought dumbly.
"Natsu, you're just great, you know that?" I gargled through my foam and rubbed his ears with my free hand. I scooped up the clothes and put them on the ottoman before going back to the bathroom to spit and get my hair brush. I came back out, put on the clothes Natsu had gotten for me, and grabbed my phone to check the time. I had 5 more minutes before I had to leave, if I sprinted all the way to school.
"Damn!" I grabbed my purse and ran to the kitchen. I chucked another hot pocket in the microwave and then grabbed a pack of chips and a soda. I sprinted back to my room and stuffed my purse in the backpack I had bought yesterday, it had the words "Proud Otaku" in English on it, and then realized I didn't have anything for school. I didn't even have a notebook, much less textbooks.
'Nothing I can do about that now. I'll just tell them, tell them that I, uh...' There was a ding from the kitchen and I swung my backpack, which was very light, onto one shoulder as I went to get my hot pocket.
At the door I sat down to put on my school shoes. It was somewhat difficult, since I was still holding my hot pocket. When I was done, Natsu yipped and I picked her up, bringing her close to my face.
"I'm going to put you on my shoulder, but if they say you can't be there I'll need to hide you in my backpack, okay?" I tried to scratch her ear but she turned away. "I'll get you something tasty~ anything you want from that convenience store~" I coaxed, and eventually she looked back at me and yipped begrudgingly. I put her on my shoulder and walked out of my palace.
"Alright, time for the first day of Japanese High-school- or, third day, of, of Japanese High-school. With, no textbooks," I moaned "This is going to be fun... not," Natsu growled in agreement.
On my way to school, I took out my double braids to brush them. I started with the right side first, since Natsu was on my left, beginning at the tips. I was prepared for it to take a long, long time, but was amazed when the brush went through smoothly. I grabbed my hair and dragged my fingers through it in astonishment.
"Transported to an anime world is one thing, being made unlimitedly rich is another, but having five foot perfectly wavy red hair that doesn't tangle just crosses the line," I deadpanned.
'GOSH DARN IT! Why can't I shut my mouth and think inside my head!' I paused at a street to look both ways, then crossed. 'Maybe it's not tangled cuz it was in braids?'
For whatever reason, it only took me a minute to brush it all out, and I decided to put it into two half ponytails on top of my head. Even though I have never been that great with hair, it only took a couple minutes to tie it up including making the parts even and everything.
"I'm sorry to all the girls out there with real hair. Mine is magic though, so don't feel too bad about it," I joked to Natsu as I finished tucking in the last few strands.
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When I got to Raira, I saw a huge crowd of people milling around in front of the building. I walked through the front gate and then just stood there, not sure what I was supposed to do. I hadn't ever been to Japanese High-school, all that I knew about it was what I had seen in anime and manga. Although that was a good start, it definitely did not show all about real school in Japan.
Just like American cartoons show school often, but if a foreign friend wanted to know about school in America you wouldn't say, 'Oh, just go watch some cartoons and copy the characters. Don't forget to bring a banana peel and your pet dog!' Or something.
Just then, a hand tapped my shoulder and jolted me out of my thoughts. "Hai! Ah, I mean- what?" I backed up a little and looked at who had tapped my shoulder. It was Anri.
"Um, I-I'm sorry I startled you," she said shyly.
'She's so cute!' I thought. 'Like a little sister!'
"I, uh, you just seemed to be staring of into space, and uh, well everybody's already inside, so I was worried you'd miss the ceremony and I wanted to help," she didn't look at me, instead she was staring at the ground fidgeting. "You do go here right? You seem young, but you are wearing a uniform so-"
"Wha-? Oh yeah! I do go here and- Wait, the ceremony?! I thought I had missed that!" I glanced around frantically, there were a few stragglers but the yard was mostly deserted.
"What do you mean? Today is the ceremony, and then tomorrow starts school. We'd better hurry for the ceremony now," she suggested and turned to leave, but I grabbed her hand.
"Hold on! Uh, can I come with you?" I mumbled. "I just, I'm a transfer student and, er, well, not a transfer student exactly. I'm from America and I haven't a clue what's going on! Please help me!" I asked frantically. I had managed to keep the panic down till now, but the dam had broken, and I didn't want to drown.
"What? S-sure... let's hurry okay? If you'd follow me," she turned around and I followed her into the building.
"Thank you so much! I'm Taiyo Shimo, by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Shimo-san. I'm Anri Sonohara," her voice was so quiet that I barely caught her words.
"Nice to meet you too, Sonohara-san. So then, I haven't missed any school? I thought I had missed three days..."
"Oh no, you're just fine," she laughed softly as she led me down another hallway. I could hear people chattering nearby.
"Um, could I sit next to you? I'm sorry, I seriously don't know anything about Japan except things like anime and manga," I sweat-dropped.
"Huh? O-of course. If you need to, you can ask a teacher for help," she told me as we entered a large auditorium filled with people.
"Thanks a bunch, Sonohara-san," I grinned sheepishly as we sat down in seats at the very back.
"Um, if you want, you could call me by my first name. It's- it's just, it's more natural that way. I-It's okay if you don't though!" She stuttered a little and lowered her voice.
"Sure, I'm sorry for making you feel awkward. Um, would it be normal to say you can call me by my first name too?" I whispered.
"It would, Taiyo-san. Do you understand honorifics then? I don't mean to insult you, it's just I, I know that Americans don't really have that kind of system so... I'm sorry!" She mumbled shyly.
"Why do you say sorry? You're just trying to help me, so I thank you. And I kind of understand it, 'san' is what you start with when you meet someone new, and it's respectful, like 'Mrs' and 'Mr' in English. Then 'kun' is for friends and 'chan' is for really good friends or little kids right?" I listed them off, and Anri nodded.
"Yes, and 'sama' is extremely formal."
I forced a smile and nodded. I already knew what 'sama' was used for, but I had forgotten to list it and that annoyed me a little. Then the lights in the room began to dim down.
"Shhh. Now just sit and listen," Anri instructed out of the corner of her mouth.
After 30 minutes, however, I just couldn't do it. I had ADHD and whatever was being said was exceedingly boring. I played with my hair at first, but as I pulled my fingers through it I ran into Natsu, who had been hiding inside it. I decided that petting her would be much more fun than playing with my hair so I dumped her into my lap.
For a few minutes I scratched her belly before being interrupted by a tap on my shoulder. It was Anri and her eyes were a little wide with shock. When she knew she had my attention she uncovered her mouth and pointed at Natsu as she mouthed 'What is that!?'
I waved my hand against my lap trying to calm her down and breathed back, 'it's my pet.' She looked totally bewildered, but didn't question any further during the ceremony. She even patted Natsu's head a little.
The droning continued for 25 more minutes and then everyone stood up. Fortunately, Anri had tapped my shoulder and mouthed that we would be standing soon, otherwise I would have nervously jolted up and Natsu would have flown off my lap to who knows where.
We all bowed, and then started filling out. I followed Anri through the hallways into a cafeteria where we sat down together at a table. I noticed that she was very preoccupied staring around at all the faces and remembered that she was missing Mika.
"Um, Anri-san? I don't know where to get school books or anything, and I don't know which class I'm in. Any ideas?" I asked, but she didn't seem to hear me. I waved my hand in front of her face, and she twitched before turning back to me.
"I-I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"It's fine. I don't know what to do to get school books or what class I'm in," I said slowly, "I was hoping you had an idea?"
"Y-yeah. We are about to get assigned to classrooms and, uh, then you'll be told by your teacher what you need. They, uh, provide the textbooks, I think," the entire time she was talking she continued looking for Mika.
"Okay. Hope I get the same class as you, Anri-san," I said as Natsu jumped off my shoulder and nudged my hand.
"Oh, I forgot. Is that a fox?" Anri was staring at Natsu with a little apprehension.
"Oh yeah. Her name is Natsu. Don't even," I put my hand up to stop her asking, "I know Natsu is a boy name, but I, ugh just don't even ask," I face planted onto the table and the conversation ended.
Eventually a teacher came in and started assigning rooms to people. She was reading off of a list. "Masaomi Kida, you are in room 1-b. Anri Sonohara, you are in room 1-a. Mikado Ryugamine, you're in room 1-a. Taiyo Shimo, you're in room 1-b. Ruruda Kuragata, you're in room 1-b. Yoppiku..."
"I guess this is good bye, Taiyo-san," Anri bowed as she stood up. I whistled to Natsu and stood up too.
"No need to bow. See you later, Anri-san!" I waved as I followed Masaomi out of a door.
As I trailed along behind Masaomi my mind wandered, 'How in the world is today the day of the entrance ceremony? It should have already happened when I saw Anri and Mikado run away from Shizuo's fight 2 days ago! This timeline doesn't follow the anime or the manga. So how did they know each other if school hadn't started? They both sign up for class rep. and that's why they interact at first! Then Mikado tries to save Anri, and-'
"Oof!" I grunted as I fell to the ground. I heard an indignant bark and a shout above me as I scrambled to get up. Unfortunately, my hair got in the way and I tripped over it, again. "Ow... What the heck?" I brushed the hair out of my face and looked up. Natsu was jumping around Masaomi barking angrily. I scooped her up and glared at Masaomi.
"Is that a friggin fox?" He asked as he brushed himself off.
"Yeah, it is. Why did you walk into me?" I demanded as I stood up.
"Huh? You walked into me, little miss. You should probably watch where you're going next time. By the way, how do you have such long, pretty, red hair?"
"Huh? Because I do, that's why," I grumbled.
"Well, why are you following me?" He asked, his tone falsely light.
"Following-?" I looked around and saw that we were back in the auditorium. "How'd we get here?!"
"Because you're bad at tailing people, I guess."
"One, I wasn't trying to spy on you or something, so drop the accusatory tone. Two-"
"You nearly followed me into the men's bathroom, but I didn't think that was a good idea, so I came here instead." Masaomi pointed out casually.
"I-What?" I blushed. "Well, you're right! That wouldn't have been a good idea! I was following you because I don't know where the classroom is! I'm from America and I don't really understand what's going on, jerk!" I stuck out my tongue.
"Really? I guess you don't look Japanese do you?" An honestly goofy tone had returned, and he bowed, gesturing towards the door. "This way, my lady! I shall show you to the classroom, and then we can get coffee afterwards."
I sighed and shook my head. "Of course this is the dunce that I choose follow."
He laughed and led the way to the classroom.
|^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^|
We were the last ones to enter our classroom, and the 2 seats left were right next to each other. I groaned as we sat down.
"This must be fate! First an adorable girl with supernatural hair follows me blindly, then we get seated next to each other! You must see it, my dear, so will you date me?" He nearly sang, and I opted to just ignore him.
Instead, I took in the classroom. It was pretty normal, lots of desks, a blackboard behind the teacher's desk, and a couple short bookshelves in the back. As the teacher walked in I sat up a little straighter.
"Hello. I'm Takanori Yugarashi, your home room teacher," he said and wrote it down on the blackboard. Somehow, I could read it, even though it was in Kanji and I've never studied that. Hope it's that way for all my lessons. I'll be a straight A student without even trying. "We are going to do introductions now. Starting at the front right," he pointed, and the first person stood up.
"Ruruda Kuragata. I'm an otaku, but I have a life. I really like school, so I'm something of a nerd also. Nice to meet you all!" She bowed and sat back down. Then the next person stood up. After Masaomi went it was my turn and I stood up nervously.
"Hello. I'm Taiyo Shimo. I just moved here from America. I love anime and manga, but I have lots of other interests too. I don't know much about Japanese culture, so please tell me if I'm coming off rude," I began to bow, but remembered I wasn't finished yet and stood up straight again. "That's what I mean, sorry. It's nice to meet all of you," I said very sweetly and bowed, causing my hair to fall forward.
"Wow, you're really cute. I'm glad we're getting coffee later," Masaomi whispered to me, but I just rolled my eyes and watched the next person stand up.
When everyone had introduced themselves, Yugarashi started again, "Next we'll select the class representatives. Any volunteers?"
I had decided this beforehand, and I wanted to go through with it. I would do it. I had to do it. Three, two, one-!
"I'll do it!" I heard the chair next to me creak as Masaomi stood up.
"Alright, uh, Kida-kun. Come forward please," Yugarashi beckoned him as he wrote 'Masaomi Kida' on the board.
"Me too!" I said determinately as my hand shot up. Masaomi grinned.
"Alright then, Shimo-san, come up," Masaomi called and winked as I walked forward.
"Alright, that was quick. Thank you Masaomi Kida and Taiyo Shimo," Yugarashi said as he finished writing my name down.
"We are about to bow, by the way," Masaomi whispered to me.
"Thanks for the warn-!" But he had suddenly bowed and I awkwardly followed suit. As I straightened up, I giggled sheepishly and put my hand behind my head, discreetly stepping on Masaomi's foot as I did. He made a face and I smirked.
"Little late, don't you think?" I mumbled out of the corner of my mouth.
"Now hand out these papers please, Kida-kun and Shimo-kun. There are two per person and each one has the person's name on it," Yugarashi explained as he handed a stack to me. Not waiting for Masaomi, I walked down the aisles, finding the people that corresponded with the names on the papers.
When that was over, I sat down at my desk with two pieces of my own. They were a list of necessary materials and my schedule for classes. I had read mine as I handed the others out, so I just shoved them into my backpack and ignored them.
'I wonder who in the world set all of this up?' I thought, absentmindedly twisting a strand of hair around my finger, 'I mean, who had the power to bring me here, and then just set up all of this randomness, even changing my appearance, and giving me excessive amounts of money? And the timeline changed from the anime and manga. Oh! I should probably pay attention...' I refocused onto the class, and saw that most of them had finished arguing about something or other. Whoops, guess I missed that.
"Thank you, Kida-kun. Is that alright with you, Shimo-kun?" the teacher asked. I stared, completely clueless of what I was being asked.
"Uh, yeah. That's just fine," I agreed hesitantly, "um, what is it that I just agreed to?" I asked Masaomi, but he just smirked at me. Suddenly, everyone else had stood up and I copied them hastily.
"Class dismissed, see you all tomorrow morning," Yugarashi inclined his head, and we all bowed back.
"Well, let's go get that coffee then, Shimo-kun," Masaomi poked me as we all filed out.
"I do not remember agreeing to that, Kida-san," I purposely did not use the 'kun' honorific to annoy him.
"You're so cold, Shimo-kun! And you agreed to have me as your buddy while you're getting used to Japan!" He grinned widely as I stopped dead.
"That's what I agreed to?! I didn't mean to do that!" I whined.
"Yeah, you were totally spaced out, ya know? Just so you know, like, all of the guys were arguing over who got to help you, but I won out in the end. It must be fate my love!" He ran in front of me and did that thing he does where he bends on one knee like some stupid prince or whatever, but I just did a flip over him and just kept on walking. There were several gasps.
"Waaait! We are still getting coffee, right?" He called as he caught up with me.
"Sure, whatever. But I don't want coffee, I want a sundae. A fancy, Japanese sundae! Like the ones in anime. Those do exist, don't they? Not just in anime right?" My eyes shone and I giggled, then silently cursed. I hated giggling so much!
"But please, we are fated to- wait what? You said yes? And, yeah, Japanese sundaes are real. They are better than anime, though, because they are edible," he stared at me. "You seriously going to go out with me?"
"No, I'm not going out with you. But I will get ice cream with you," I corrected him.
He ignored that and continued with gusto, "Well, great! I know the perfect place. So just follow me, Taiyo-kun!"
"When did I say you could call me by my first name, Kida-san?"
He laughed and totally brushed me off. So I stepped on his foot again.
"Yowch! You're so mean for a girl!"
My eyes narrowed. Quick as a flash I grabbed his hand and turned him around, putting my finger in his face. "I don't know about Japan, Kida-kun, but you are not going to say things like 'for a girl' to me," I told him harshly.
He put his hands up in surrender and I let go.
"Alright, your majesty. Do you threaten people often?"
"Nope. Only when they patronize me," I laughed. "Don't worry though, I won't hurt you. But you just might find some bugs in your soup."
"You are mean though," he pouted, quickly adding, "regardless of you being a girl or not!"
I giggled again, "Well, Masaomi-kun, where is this sundae shop you speak of? I want some now! I can pay, by the way. I'm going to get an extra large so..."
He laughed, "You're so cute, Taiyo-kun, so I can't let you buy me anything! I can call you cute, right?"
"Course you can. But I will pay for ice cream, alright?" I had unlimited money, so I wasn't going to let anybody pay for anything that had to do with me.
"I can't make a girl-!" He started, but snapped his mouth shut as I glared at him.
I ran ahead and turned around to face him putting 2 fingers up as I went. "Come on, it's no big deal. And I'm rich, so just let your majesty treat you!" I laughed as I turned forward again and started running.
(ÞϘV Masaomi)
'This girl is so strange," I thought. I was walking down the street with a girl that topped my list of potential girlfriends, and we were going to get ice cream. I love my luck.
"So, are you a gymnast then? You flipped over me like a fairy queen," I asked her as we stopped at an intersection.
"Er, kind of. I don't really practice it anymore, but I used to. In America," she explained as she played with her hair.
"So why'd you move here? Oh, but I know. It must be because fate pulled you to me!"
"Oh yeah, totally. Actually, I moved here from the land of fairies that exists in the earth's' core. That's why I'm so agile," she said, rolling her eyes.
"I knew it! This really is fate! So, my queen, why'd you listen to the pull of true love?"
"Idiot," she said and then stared at the ground, silent.
"Hello?" I poked her. "Earthling to Fairy Queen?" The light turned green and we hurried across the street. She didn't speak again for bit.
Then she said, "Well. I- my parents aren't around anymore, and I guess, I guess I just needed a change of scenery."
"I'm sorry about that." I said, but I was confused. 'Why'd she pause for so long? Maybe it happened recently and the wound is still sore?' I mused.
"Yeah, well. I'm moving on. So, what about you? Were you born here?" She prompted, petting her fox, Natsu.
'Another weird thing about her!' I thought, 'Who has a pet fox?!' I answered, "You mean in Japan? Yeah, I was. I moved to Ikebukuro just a few years ago, though."
"Cool."
"So, why do you have a pet fox?"
"Because she's adorable, don't you think?"
"Not as adorable as you are!" I reached my hand out to her, but she ignored me and sped up a little.
"So are we almost there yet? I can't wait to try one! I've always wanted to!" She squealed as her fox yipped in unison.
"Kawaii! I didn't realize that American Otakus were this cute!"
"Yeah, yeah. Just tell me how much farther before I ditch you and get my own."
"But you won't find a better sundae in all of Ikebukuro than where I'm taking you! And it's only one more block. Speaking of anime, what types do you like?"
She hummed. "Well, I mostly like shonnen, but I have, like, 2 or 3 shoujo that I like. And fantasy! I watch mecha sometimes, but I don't like horror," she grimaced.
"Shonen is for-," I began but she interrupted me.
"People who like good plots and no stupid sparkles and fighting your way to the finish line? Yeah I know," she glared at me, clearly challenging me to finish what I had meant to say. 'Shonen is for guys, usually.' She continued, "So what anime do you like, Masaomi-kun?"
"Shonen, mostly, but some mecha occasionally. Oh, and here we are, your majesty," I bowed towards the cafe door.
"Thank you, peasant," she grinned and I laughed.
"I know this place is kinda cramped, but trust me, it has the best sundaes in Ikebukuro," I said as we walked to a small table and sat down, "but since you're so chibi I guess you don't mind, do you?"
"What?! I'm chibi?! I never realized!" she drawled sarcastically as she examined the menu. Her annoyed face softened as her ashen eyes zoomed across the page. "Oh my gosh, there are so many choices! You were right, this is so much better than anime!" She squealed as she looked up at me.
"You really are adorable. Hey, you ready yet?" I grinned slyly. Not waiting for a response, I called a waitress over.
"Eek! I'm not! I'm-!"
"What would you like, sir and miss?" The waitress looked at Taiyo curiously. She was holding the menu an inch from her nose, crouching over it almost protectively.
"I'd like a medium coffee with two sugars and just a bit of cream," I poked Taiyo in the shoulder, pulling my hand back quickly when Natsu tried to bite me.
"I would... would like... I would like, a large chocolate sundae deluxe, please," she asked and patted Natsu to calm her down. She tossed her menu back to the middle of the table.
"O-of course Miss," the waitress stuttered, apparently shocked by the sudden appearance of a fox. She walked away, subtly pointing us out to the other waiters.
"You are such a jerk," I looked back at Taiyo, and was met with a hard jab on my nose.
"I'm sorry, your majesty. Really. I don't know what came over me."
"I do. You're letting your flirty attitude down and showing me your true colors," she smirked, and I was suddenly reminded of Izaya.
I shook my head to clear it, 'This girl is not like Izaya! Don't compare them!' I frowned. 'But, she switches moods so fast and... and the reason she came here... she probably didn't tell the truth, at least not the all of it... But not wanting to talk about whatever really happened doesn't mean she's like Izaya!'
"Something wrong? You're shredding that napkin like you despise it."
I snapped out of my reverie, quickly rearranging my face into a relaxed grin. "Oh, I just thought of someone I'd like to shred for real," I watched closely for her reaction, but she was completely unfazed.
"Yeah? So you have enemies that deserve that? You must be involved in something besides just high-school."
"Why-?" The waitress came up just then and I stopped, waiting for her to leave. She set my coffee on the table and then put a massive sundae in front of Taiyo. Before she had even walked away Taiyo practically attacked the sundae. The waitress smiled awkwardly and left.
"Why would you think that, my fairy queen?"
Before she had the chance to answer, Mikado arrived. 'Oops. I forgot about him,' I thought.
"Masaomi? Who's this?" Mikado asked me. He was gaping at Taiyo, who had already devoured a quarter of her sundae, and Natsu, who was helping her.
"This is Taiyo Shimo. But she doesn't mind being called Tai-chan," I whispered to him.
"He's lying, just so you know," Taiyo looked up from her sundae, her face miraculously clean. "Please call me how you would normally, without this idiots input."
"I'm sorry, your majesty. Taiyo-kun, this is Mikado Ryugamine. Mikado, this is my new girlfriend!" Using her spoon as a catapult, Taiyo flicked a bit of ice cream at me. I dodged dramatically, nearly knocking my coffee over. "Help! She's going to kill me! She's going to kill me with an ice cream catapult!" I cried, throwing my hands in the air.
She stuck out her tongue at me and turned to Mikado. "I am not his girlfriend, uh, do I call you Mikado-san? Sorry, I don't know Japanese culture very well," she giggled.
Mikado blushed a little. I glared at him. 'Stay away from her, Mikado! You get Anri!'
"That's alright, Taiyo-san. So you're not from Japan then?" Mikado asked as he sat down next to me.
"Yeah. I'm from America. The only stuff I know about Japan is from manga and anime. Not a very accurate guide, I'm guessing."
Mikado laughed. "Yeah. I suppose it isn't. But then, how do you speak Japanese so well?"
'I hadn't even thought of that,' I realized, casually taking a sip of coffee. 'And she seems to be able to read Kanji just fine.'
"Well, I kind of vacationed here a lot in the past, and since I love anime and stuff, I wanted to learn the language too. Back in America, I took lots of classes."
"Cool. So are foxes-" Mikado began, but I suddenly remembered something.
I jolted forward. "But you said you'd never had a Japanese sundae! If you vacationed here a lot, then why haven't you ever had a Japanese sundae?"
Taiyo looked startled. "Oh, uh. Guess I never got the chance too before... doing other things." She attacked her sundae again.
"So, uh, I was going to ask, are foxes common pets in America?" Mikado broke the awkward silence.
Taiyo's head popped up from behind her sundae again. "Oh. Not really, no. I, um, I stumbled across her in a forest on a camping trip. She was injured, and I couldn't find her mother so, ya know. Figured she'd been abandoned. And I wanted to helped her," Taiyo paused for a large bite of ice cream.
'How'd she fit that entire scoop into her tiny mouth?' I thought, bewildered, as Taiyo licked a piece of ice cream off her fingertip. 'But she's still so cute!'
"I took her home, nursed her back to health, and we've been together ever since."
"That's really cool. Did you train her?"
Taiyo didn't answer as the waitress came up again, and Mikado ordered a small tea.
"Yeah, she's really well trained," Taiyo resumed as the waitress walked away, "but she only listens to me. She usually bites anybody else."
Mikado laughed very awkwardly and inched away from Natsu, who was still licking Taiyo's sundae.
"Guess what, Mikado?" I poked him hard in the side. "I'm her cultural guide! We get to spend all semester together! Plenty of time for her to realize how awesome I am!" Taiyo facepalmed, and Mikado actually apologized to her. "Not to mention that we are both class reps! Of course, she only wanted to do that to be with me! And she was following me around before class started. She even almost followed me into the men's bathroom!"
Mikado blushed a little and began examining a bit of fluff on his shirt.
"I did not mean to do that! I didn't know where my class was so I decided to follow somebody else to it!" Taiyo pouted, turning red. I noticed her ice cream was all gone. "And I decided beforehand that I wanted to be class rep. You just beat me to it."
Mikado kicked me under the table as the waitress placed a steaming cup in front of him.
(ÞϘV Taiyo)
"Well, that was a fun outing!" I shouted, walking to my abandoned building with Natsu on my shoulder. "You know, it was a fun day, too. I got to meet Anri-kun, Masaomi-kun, and Mikado-san. Not to mention, I wasn't late for Japanese high-school. I didn't even miss the entrance ceremony." I shivered, imaging what could have happened.
'Should have happened, actually. How was I not late? I should've missed three days! I know that the storyline in the manga and anime both have Mikado meet Anri after the ceremony. And I saw them together the day before yesterday running away from Shizuo, just like the original story line.'
I gazed at the sky, it was blue and peaceful, with a couple fluffy white clouds swimming around, and the sun was hiding behind a very tall building. I began braiding my hair, I would be training after all, and had just finished when I heard my phone ding.
I looked at the message, and saw that it was Shinra and Celty. They said that they wouldn't be here today, but they didn't say why. I sighed and went back to my thoughts.
'So half of the storyline applies, and half doesn't? That just seems wrong. Maybe whoever brought me here changed the timeline? Would they be able to do that?'
I stopped at the front of my abandoned building. It was the same as before, a two story building with all its windows broken, holes in its floors, bars hanging from the ceiling, and just about everything bent out of shape; a perfect playground.
"Ssqquuiirrtt!" I heard a voice call from behind me. Filled with spontaneous dread, I turned to see Shizuo striding towards me.
"H-hey, Shizuo-san? You're not gonna, kill me, are you?" I asked hesitantly, prepared to escape into my building if need be.
"I'm not going to kill you, I just want to beat you up, since I didn't get the chance to before!" He roared and started sprinting. I dived into my building, thanking my lucky stars that this was my playground. "SQUIRT!" I heard a crash behind me.
Fortunately, I had learned my lesson two days ago, so I didn't waste my time glancing back. I grabbed onto a thick cable hanging from the ceiling and used it to swing myself up through a gaping hole nearby. I landed gently, and peered down through the hole. Shizuo has disappeared.
'The stairs.' I thought as I waited with baited breath, hearing a loud crunch from below where I could see. "You realize you're a jerk for holding such strong grudges over dumb things-!" I yelped, seeing his head appear, and sprinted to the closest window. I grabbed the top rim, and flung myself out and to the side.
"Get back here!"
I hissed as I felt something scrape my leg. Looking back, I realized Shizuo had tried to grab it but couldn't quite reach. "I'm not dumb, you know! If you catch me, you'll just beat me to a pulp!" I grabbed a loose rock and chucked it at him, but all I managed was to anger the beast.
He roared, and punched the wall opposite of where I was holding on.
"Are you crazy?!" I shrieked, scurrying up the side of the building.
"Freaking-! Come back here!"
When I reached the roof, I popped my head back over the side and paled. Shizuo was climbing the wall, digging his fingers into the concrete. "You can't run forever, squirt!" He was three feet from the top, and with a grunt he flung himself over the ledge.
I snapped out of my fear and into motion, barely avoiding a strong punch. Natsu started barking as I tried to get back to an edge of the building so that I could swing through a window below, but Shizuo blocked my path every time. I couldn't go behind me because there was a broken chain link fence and there were sharp spikes sticking out in all directions. There was a stairwell but the door for it was hanging off its hinges and I couldn't see any way to open it.
"Somehow, you really piss me off! Just like when I first met Izaya!" Shizuo lunged at me.
Seeing an opening, I darted left, opposite of him, but he aimed a kick that I barely avoided. Natsu growled and jumped off my shoulder, charging at Shizuo.
"NATSU!" I shrieked, darting forward.
"DAMN SQUIRT!"
Natsu was at Shizuo's feet, biting his ankle ferociously. I watched Shizuo bring his free foot up to kick her away, and didn't even think as I lunged for her. I grabbed Natsu roughly and curled into a protective ball around her as I felt something hard slam into my side, along with immense pain.
I whimpered as I heard a surprised shout above me. Making sure Natsu was safe, I looked up. Shizuo had backed away and he looked shocked. 'Suppose he didn't think that someone who reminded him of Izaya would want to save their friend. Gotta get away now...'
I glanced around and noticed I was near the edge of the rooftop. I glanced at Shizuo, who was still standing still, then rolled myself over the ledge, swinging myself into the window below.
There was another shout, but I ignored it. I wobbled to the stairs, and just managed to reach the first floor before Shizuo caught up with me.
"Squirt, hold on!"
I ducked under his extended arm and ran to the other side of the room. I heard a loud cracking above me and Shizuo jumped towards me. Before I knew what had happened, I was lying on the floor, covered in dust. I glanced over my shoulder and shouted in surprise. A large iron bar had collapsed where I had been, and Shizuo had taken the hit.
'He must've shoved me out of the way.' I realized. "Sh-Shizuo-san? Shizuo-san! Shizuo-san, say something!" I bolted over to him, pausing nearby. Blood was soaking through his vest in large splotches.
"I'm... fine... damn squirt..." He panted as he shoved the metal beam off himself.
"No, you're not! I need to take you to a doctor-!" I gasped. 'Shinra isn't here! But if I take him to a normal hospital, Shizuo might be arrested for attacking me! So... the only place is my place!' I decided. "Can you stand?" I asked, holding out a hand to help him up.
He glared at me. I didn't say anything and, as my arm grew tired, he lifted himself up without my help.
"Show off," I commented as he leaned against a wall.
"Why would you help? I just tried to kill you."
"You did not, actually, you tried to beat me up. You didn't even try that hard, either," I sighed, then came closer to him. Natsu yipped and bit hold of one of my socks, trying to pull me away. "It's alright, Natsu. Calm down." She yipped and waited behind me.
I stood an inch from Shizuo. His eyes widened as I grabbed hold of his side and heaved. "... what are you trying to do, squirt?" He asked, standing up a little straighter.
I let go of his side and raised an eyebrow. "I'm trying to help you stand, you dunce. Clearly, though, I can't support your weight at all. I'll help you balance instead."
He nodded and I grabbed his side again. Slowly, we hobbled our way out the door and down the street to my apartment. Natsu rode on my head, and none of us made a sound the entire way.
|^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^|
"We have to stay hidden from people, what with you bleeding like that," I said as we approached my building.
"Right. How?"
"Umm, the back stairs? Any security cameras won't be able to see blood on your black vest." I led the way around to the back of the building and hastily entered the password to get in.
It was easy enough getting up to my apartment, although I wasn't sure whether to take the elevator or the stairs. I ended up taking the elevator because I figured more exertion wouldn't be good for Shizuo. Or me, for that matter. My leg was stinging and my left side throbbed horribly.
It was a tense moment as the doors slid open on my floor, but I breathed a sigh of relief that there was no one on the other side. We trudged down the hallway to my room.
"Don't get blood everywhere, alright?" I said, fumbling for my keys while supporting Shizuo. Natsu ended up getting them for me and I swung the door open awkwardly. I took Shizuo all the way to the couch in the living room before going back to shut it.
"This is where... you live?" I heard him pant from the other room.
"Yeah! Pretty neat, huh? Now where'd I put the medical supplies?" I scurried around, gathering this and that, pretty much ignoring Shizuo. Natsu tried to help for a while, but ultimately just watched Shizuo, growling lightly every so often.
"Here we go! Found all I could, but I wasn't exactly expecting to have a bleeding person who just beat me up in my living room today. Or any day, really," I smirked as I dumped a small pile of bandages and antiseptic next to him.
"Your smirk is just like Izaya's," I heard him growl, but I disregarded that.
"Okay, I have no idea what to do now. I'm guessing you do, since you get into so many fights."
"Yeah..." and to my total astonishment, he began to take his shirt off.
"Wh- what the-!" I stuttered. 'Right, he's injured on his back, so of course he needs to take his shirt off. Stupid...'
"Pay attention. You're going to need to treat your own wounds." He pointed at my side, where there was a small blood stain on the shirt, and then at my leg, which had a long cut running down it.
"Damn it!" I checked myself over, finding many scrapes and bruises. "How do I even wash blood out?" I moaned, pulling at the hem of my shirt.
"I just said to pay attention."
"What? Oh, yeah, sorry," I watched as he took off his shirt, don't even, and treated his wound. He showed me how much antiseptic to put on, and how to apply the bandages.
"You get it?" He asked as he finished tying his bandages together.
"Yeah, I think so," I murmured, trying to remember it all. "Back in a bit, Shizuo."
|^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^|
I walked to the master bathroom and slowly tugged my shirt off over my head. My entire left side was black and blue, and there were bits of blood trickling from where Shizuo's kick had broken the skin.
'He really wasn't going full strength,' I thought as I cleaned the damaged areas. 'He must have been trying really hard to hold back, if a kick from him didn't even break a bone. I fought Shizuo and only got off with lots of scrapes and bruises, ha!' I snorted.
After my haphazard job of bandaging, I searched through the color sorted piles of clothes in my closet, looking for something big enough for Shizuo to wear. I found the stuff Shinra had given me and set it in a heap outside the closet door. Then I looked for something I could wear. It took five minutes, but I managed to find a decent set of clothes; a light green tank top, a red hoodie with black fox ears, and grey shorts.
I heard a loud bark from the next room over, and then a barrage of angry barks. Hurriedly pulling everything on, I grabbed the clothes for Shizuo and rushed into the living room. It was deserted, but I quickly found the pair in the kitchen.
It was a very comical scene, to be honest. When I saw what was happening before me, I just kinda gaped for a bit. Slowly, I started to giggle, and I then slumped to the floor, crying with mirth.
Natsu was barking aggressively as she jumped up and down, occasionally climbing on top of something tall and flinging herself at Shizuo. But, because of her size, she looked like an angry cotton ball, which is not, after all, very threatening. Meanwhile, Shizuo was covering his head with one hand, calmly ignoring Natsu, as he put things away in cupboards, unwashed dishes from the mall in the dishwasher, and other random chores.
As I watched, Natsu flung herself again at Shizuo, but this time she missed her target. She hurtled instead into a large bottle of soap, which seemed to fall to the ground in slow motion. Shizuo tried to grab it, but missed. It hit the ground and exploded, plastering the floor with the slippery stuff.
At that point Shizuo noticed me and started towards me, but slipped on the soap. Natsu, who had climbed up onto another tall thing, flung herself again at Shizuo. Unfortunately, Shizuo was too focused on trying not to fall or spill his armful of chips, sprinkles, and hard candy to notice the dive bombing fox. He shouted in shock as Natsu crashed into his face and they both tumbled to the floor, Natsu barking frantically and Shizuo groaning.
The sprinkles bottle broke open as it hit the ground, and rainbow colored chocolate pieces covered the kitchen. The chips burst open, slightly crushed by Shizuo, and shot salty projectiles all over the floor. The hard candy was completely squashed under Shizuo. As he tried to get up, I saw that they were plastered to his bloody shirt, which he had apparently opted to use instead of walking around half naked in my apartment.
"Na-Natsu! Get-get off him n-now!" I gasped from the ground, wiping tears from my eyes. Natsu didn't seem to hear me, and I was worried that Shizuo would start destroying things accidentally if this didn't stop. So, fighting the urge to just continue watching, I maneuvered my way through the mess and grabbed Natsu by the scruff of her neck, swinging her onto the counter.
"Natsu, stay!" I ordered. Natsu whined, but didn't move an inch.
"Squirt-chan, your fox is nuts," Shizuo moaned. He had given up trying to stand, and was lying on his back in the soapy disaster. I blinked at him. 'Chan?' I wondered blankly.
"Er, she is not nuts, she is just very strongly and somewhat overly protective of me." I bent down and grabbed his ankles.
"What're you doing, Squirt-chan?"
"I'm sliding you out of all this soap. Want a bath, now that-ha- that you've been- been covered in- haha- in soap- ha- oh I just can't!" I started laughing again as I dragged him to the master bath.
"A bath? I'll just go home." He said as we entered the bathroom.
"Idiot! You're wounded, and tomorrow I'm going to take you to Shinra. Along with me, dang it," I muttered and turned on the water.
"I'm fine. I'm just going to- hey, you know Shinra?" He asked, startled, as I rummaged through the pile of stuff sitting on the counter.
"Yep. I know Celty, too. They helped me out a lot when I first got here," I hummed as I stuck my hand in the tub, feeling the temperature of the water. It was somewhat cold, so I tweaked the knobs a bit.
"Oh. Got any more bandages?" He began to slowly tug off his shirt again.
I grinned. 'So he finally decided to let me help huh?' I thought, almost smugly, to myself.
"Nope. At least, not nearly enough. I'm going to go to the store while you're in here. I have lots of things to get anyways."
"You're really weird. I just beat you up, and now you're helping me and leaving me alone in your house."
"I'm weird, but not 'cause I'm helping you. And," I added brightly, turning off the faucets for the tub, "I already told you that I know you were holding back. A lot."
He just grunted. I set a towel and the clothes Shinra had loaned me by the sink. "These clothes are the largest ones I have. They are probably too small for you, but it's the best I could manage. And, speaking of weird, you were cleaning my kitchen! Or trying to, at least." I smirked again.
"You helped me out, even after I got mad at you, so I wanted to repay you. Your fox went crazy, though, when I started putting things away," he sighed exhaustedly.
"Right, well. Try not to destroy anything while I'm gone, and drain the tub when you're done with it. I'll be back in an hour." I stood up and left Shizuo to his bath.
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As I walked down the medicine aisle of the nearest grocery store I could find, I wondered what I was supposed to buy, besides more bandages and antiseptic. 'Maybe gauze? Cotton balls? Painkillers for sure. Ugh, I'm just going to grab anything that catches my eye.'
I grabbed some real food too, and also replacements for the junk food that Shizuo had ruined. I bought some fancy fish for Natsu, as she was still pretty riled up. She was growling softly throughout the whole trip.
As I dumped my load onto the checkout counter, I noticed the cashier's bewildered expression, but was slightly bewildered by it. "Um, paper or, or plastic, Miss?" She stuttered as she began scanning items, glancing at Natsu every couple of seconds.
'Oh,' I thought, amused. Then I noticed she was also looking at me, reminding me that I looked about five or something to her. 'Oh.' Then, I noticed her staring in bewilderment at some of[AJ1] the items I had gotten: a bucket load of gauze, stitches -look, I didn't know what to get, ok?- antiseptic, massive band-aids, a hot glue gun, extra strength pain medication, and other random things that five year olds probably shouldn't get, but then also a can of fish and candy.
"Plastic, please." I fiddled with my hair, which was still up in tight braids, until she had finished. I paid her and left.
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"I'm back! I bought anything that looked relevant to major wounds!" I called as I entered the apartment.
"Thanks. I, uh, put more stuff away while you were gone and cleaned up the soap."
'What an airhead.' I grinned. 'Just couldn't help himself, huh?'
He took the bags with medicine out of my hands and I put the food away in the kitchen. It was cool how the fridge and mini freezer were built in as part of the cabinet. Then I grabbed some stuff to make rice, and a few other things to mix into it. As I cooked, Shizuo came in. The shirt really was too small, but somehow it was on. I knew that Shinra wouldn't want it back, though, it would be too stretched out.
"What's that?" He asked as he sat down at the table.
"It's a mix of rice and veggies. Sorry, but I don't have a cookbook. I'm not from Japan, so I don't know what else to do." Natsu growled from my shoulder. "Chill, Natsu. He isn't going to hurt me," I scratched her chin.
"Do you need help with your leg wound?"
"Nah. It wasn't even that bad. How about you?"
"I'm fine."
There was an awkward silence as I stirred the rice. "So, where are you from, then?" Shizuo asked awkwardly.
"America. I'd tell you the story, but I don't know if I can believe that you won't talk about it. Shinra and Celty know, but no one else does."
"I wouldn't, Squirt-chan. But whatever," he said, resting his head on the table.
"Promise?" I asked as I poured the rice onto two plates. I grabbed some veggies and butter, chucking them into the pot.
"Yeah. But I don't want to know, 'cuz it sounds like I'll get dragged into a huge mess."
"Yeah, you would. I'm going to have a hard time of it, though. Allies might be nice." I commented. 'Why am I saying all this?' I wondered. "I haven't even told Celty that a secret organization is after me. Why would I say that I'm going to have a rough time and need allies? What should I do? Tell him? Not tell him and laugh it off? Dang it, I don't know what to do!'
"Um, I think it's burning, Squirt-chan." Shizuo broke me out of my reverie.
"Eep! No, no, no!" I slid the pot off the stove, swiftly turning off the heat. The veggies were steaming, and the ones on the bottom of the pot had little bits of black on them. "Geez, more work," I grumbled as dumped the veggies onto a larger plate and grabbed a knife from the dishwasher. I cut off the burnt bits and poured the clean pieces on top of the rice, then got two pairs of chopsticks.
"Thank you, Squirt-chan." Shizuo said as he took a plate from me.
"No problem. Sorry for burning it, though." I sat down, but jumped up again quickly. "Right, salt and pepper. And I need to give Natsu her fish."
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After dinner, I got some blankets and pillows for Shizuo, setting him up on the couch in the living room. I said goodnight, and closed the door to my bedroom. I sighed and slumped to the ground against my door. Natsu yipped and nudged my arm. I patted her.
"This was quite the day, huh, Natsu?" I groaned as I stood up, and went to the closet. "And now, another thing to deal with."
I spent an hour and a half organizing my clothes and Natsu helped me. When I had finished, I changed into a very loose, long white shirt with ruffles at the bottom and grey knee-length leggings.
'And now to order school books,' I thought despondently. I ordered what I needed via phone, as I didn't have a computer yet, and then slid into bed. 'I wonder what'll happen tomorrow.' I thought, staring at the ceiling. I fell asleep quickly.
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'Stupid ringing noise... go away... I'm trying to sleep... I'll get a headache again...'
"Up! Up, I say!" I ordered myself sleepily, bolting upright in bed. There was a startled yip and I realized that Natsu had been sleeping on my chest and had been flung unceremoniously across the room when I had sat up. "Sorry, Natsu! I still have some fish, so don't be mad!"
She yipped pitifully and sulked away into the closet. I followed.
"Right, I do have school today, so I'm supposed to wear the uniform. But I wanted to wear something new again!" Nevertheless, I did wear it. I brushed my teeth and then my hair, pulling it up into a high ponytail.
"Morning, Shizuo," I yawned as I left my room. There was no response. I searched around, and eventually found a note on the floor almost hidden beneath my couch.
I read it aloud, "Thanks for the help, Squirt-chan. Sorry I kicked you. See you, Shizuo." I giggled, dropping the note, and went back to getting ready for school. "Does that mean we're friends now, Shizuo?"
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Yay! Shizuo's here! I wonder who we meet next time~? Thanks for reading!