01: Kurisu Makise

"This is soooo unfair!" Kurisu Makise is drunk. She wobbles as she walks down the corridor of the hotel she is staying, trying in vain to search for her room. Now that she thinks about it, she doesn't even remember her room number. How silly of her. No, how stupid of her. That's exactly right. She is stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Well, at least she is not old like the others in the panel. That's right. She is still in her early twenties. At least she's got that going for her. But what's the use of being young when you don't have a life beyond a laboratory and university and –argh! she is so done with using her brain tonight. She is drunk and it hurts to think. All she can do is rage to the rotten dead fish eyed guy who was nice enough to bring her back to her hotel. "You know this is not the first time this has happened right?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Hachiman Hikigaya states.

"You were working security right?" Kurisu states. She takes a good look at him. He was dressed in black and white and wore dark glasses like most individuals who worked security. He wasn't actually buff and didn't look threatening but he had a stoic demeanor and a serious face. But from what she could tell, he had something close to a brain. He was the only security personnel who seemed to be following what she had to say in the event. She thought even some of the people in the crowd, those who paid to show up and see her and listen to her talk about the latest discoveries in science didn't understood half the things that were being said on the stage. It made her fume. "You saw the line-up. Out of all those people in the panel, my so-called esteemed colleagues, I was made to go last." She scoffed in derision. "By the time I took the stage half the audience were not even paying attention. They were tired, bored or asleep. I actually saw a cameraman nodding off!"

"I think you did good." Hikigaya reasoned. "You held your own against some of the best people of science. Most of what you had to say was grounded on established facts and the theories you put forward made sense. Though I have to say talking about time travel in front of that bunch took some serious balls." He crinkled his nose at his own choice of words, but didn't apologize.

Good, she was young, but she wasn't a prude. She could listen to people curse and say balls without blushing. No, her cheeks were turning red not out of embarrassment. They were turning red out of sheer rage. She inserted the key and turned but the door remained unlocked. Another wrong turn, another wrong door. She seethed and gritted her teeth. "The people who organized the show, what were they even thinking?!" She turned around, abruptly coming to face him and put up her index finger. "Bulma Briefs." She produced her middle finger. "The Doctor." She tried not to grimace as she popped the third finger. "And Rick freaking Sanchez!" she hiccupped. "Pardon my French."

Hikigaya chuckled. "I never understood that particular turn of phrase. Is it just a way for the British or Americans to make fun of the French?"

"I think it is. They don't get along rather famously." She slurred and stumbled upon a funny observation about the countries he just named. The alcohol in her system made her bold enough to say those words out loud which didn't really make much sense. But she felt like saying them nonetheless. "Foreign languages are really funny. The British add an 'r' to ass. They say arse." She pointed at her own hips and swung them for emphasis and really growled the 'r' sound and a little bit of spit came out of her mouth. Eww. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. He didn't look away in disgust. As a result she felt more confident to continue. "The French roll their 'r'." she smiled up at him. "Merci!" She really rolled her tongue. "It means thank you." She repeated once more for emphasis. "Merci, Hikigaya-san for bringing me back to my hotel." And then she fixed him with a stare. "Now you say it."

"Okay." He reached for her hand and grabbed the keys of her hotel room from her loose grip. "Merci."

Kurisu felt warm. She couldn't really believe it was because of this small touch. She coughed into her fist and tried to continue in the same vein. Though she lost her original train of thought. Yet, she was able to make the point. "And the Americans don't pronounce their 'r'." Out of nowhere she struck a pose and started to shout. "This is my Mastaaa Piece!" Then in the next moment she turned coy and fidgety, bringing her hands together and jiggling her shoulders. "Can I take ya out fo dinaa?" She made a face, scrunching up her nose, blushing a little and then finding the confidence to say it. "She's a hoe!"

"Okay, that's enough." Hikigaya looked at the key and found that the key chain had a number. Room number 008. Huh. What a coincidence. He reached out and grabbed hold of her hand and started to lead her down the hallway to her room. To stop things from getting awkward, he tried to keep up with the conversation. "And I'm pretty certain Rick Sanchez called Bulma Briefs a whore."

Kurisu laughed. And then in the most adorable way tried to compose herself by covering her mouth with both her hands. But her shoulders still shook. As she followed him, letting him hold her hand, she tried to think back on the drama which unfolded on the stage. "Don't forget, he puked on the stage."

"And then he asked The Doctor to clean it up with a wave of his magic wand."

"I hope you mean sonic screwdriver." Kurisu giggled. "The look on his face. Oh, I will never forget it. But you know what? I think he deserved it."

He sighed. "Still won't let that slide, huh."

Kurisu Makise took her hand out of his grip, crossed her arms over her breasts, accentuating her curvaceous figure and glared at him "He actually said that time is like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey…stuff."

Hikigaya inserted the key and turned. There was a faint click and the door opened. He looked back at her with a faint smile. "Well, he is an alien."

Kurisu walked in with a flip of her red hair. "So much for being a Time Lord."

He chuckled. "Hey, the guy never said he was a public speaker."

"You just like him because he let you inside his blue telephone box." Kurisu said. "Tell me, was it really because you had to do a security sweep or were you geeking out like a ten year old science nerd."

"I'm not a science nerd. And no, I was not geeking out." A beat. "Okay. Maybe a little."

"Aha! I knew it." Kurisu exclaimed. Then she turned on her heels and landed face first on her bed. Afterwards her voice came out really muffled because of the mattress and the pillows. "I will show them all. I will build the best time machine ever!"

Hachiman thought about it. Then, he took out a slip of paper and wrote down a number. He placed it next to the pillow. Kurisu looked at it. "Are you giving me your mobile number?"

Hikigaya shook his head. "No. But it's something better." He had a conspiratorial grin on his face. "That's the number of a mad scientist."

As he left her with the parting advice of drinking a ton of water the next morning and getting some ibuprofen to deal with her hangover, Kurisu Makise thought he must have been joking. She didn't need the number of some mad scientist. Though, if she could somehow get ahold of this rotten dead fish eyed guy's number, maybe it wouldn't be all that bad.

She fell asleep with a small sigh.

She fell asleep while blushing.

Yeah, like that would happen.

A/N: This will be a collection of unrelated one-shots set in Ikebukuro. The animes and characters this will cover will be NOT from big shonens, harems, slice of lifes, shoujo or romance animes. The rest are fair game.

Here are the options for the next chapter:

Option 1: Violet Evergarden.

Option 2: Motoko Kusanagi - Ghost in the Shell.

Option 3: Tokyo Ghoul.

Option 4: Plastic Memories.

Option 5: Nadeko - Bakemonogatari.

Please pick any of the above options or suggest a character in the review.

Hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter.

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Won't betray your dreams.