AU Yeah! August 5: Laundromat AU

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

While she was completely annoyed that she had to launder her shirt and vest — and, yes, looking at it, her tie — on an emergency basis, Nishikino Maki liked the idea that she was doing things on her own. True, she was hoping to have the laundry do it, but since she wasn't quite thirteen, going there in just a tee-shirt and paying for it, then rushing to her recital, pleased her desire for self-sufficiency. She hadn't said anything in anger when the customer next to her in the family restaurant she'd stopped into because she forgot to get lunch spilled mustard on her. She had just set her mouth into a thin line and stalked away, leaving her food uneaten.

Unfortunately, when she got to where she planned to have her outfit cleaned and pressed on an emergency basis, it turned out it was a laundromat, not a laundry, and even the attendant was away.

While she stood there, completely fazed and a little panicky, she noticed a little group of children doing laundry. Their parents didn't seem to be around. The oldest girl, who Maki pegged for being around ten years old, was directing the other three, two of them quite tiny, as they sorted their laundry. They all helped her get it in to the washers without any balking or not paying attention. At that point, the oldest child brought out two pocky sticks. She broke them in half, and each child got a half- pocky. Somehow, she turned around and looked at Maki, standing there holding her ruffled white shirt and black vest.

"Do you know how to hand-wash and press?" she heard the girl say. It took her a few moments to realize she was being addressed by the child.

The girl, who had reddish eyes that looked at her quite intensely, came towards her. She pointed at Maki's garments. "You just need to buy the wool soap. This one." She pointed at one of the boxes in the soap vending machine. Just to do something, Maki bought it. However, it became clear to the little girl that Maki had no idea what to do now.

"I have a little time, let's use that sink." The girl pointed at the nearer of the two in the laundromat. "The shirt can be the hardest part," she said. She tugged at the shirt gently and Maki relinquished it, though not without some hesitation. The girl oh-so-gently placed it in the sink and diluted the wool soap with some water and poured it on the shirt. She then very gently worked it into the shirt, and ran a great deal of lukewarm water over it. After she was satisfied, she hung it on a small rack near the sink. "It will dry mostly okay, and it's under your vest anyway, though we can press it a bit."

At the word "press," Maki looked at the girl, puzzled. She pointed to a small alcove near the manager's office. Maki could now see an ironing board leaning against the wall there, and an iron on the shelf. While she stared at it, the girl added, "We'll give you one of our towels to use after they've dried a little. That should do the trick."

In the meantime, she showed Maki how to gently hand-wash her vest. With the same gentleness as before, she held Maki's hands and moved them until she was confident Maki could do it on her own. Maki had a strange feeling as she did that, and she really was not fond of having strange feelings before a recital. But she wanted to be polite, so she didn't shrink back from the girl's touch. Besides, frankly, being intimidated by contact with a small child didn't suit Maki's self image.

The girl gently laid the vest on the rack and invited Maki to hand-wash her tie. She smiled when Maki did a reasonable job with it. After they opened the sink drain, the girl turned to Maki.

"What's your name? I'm Nico, and my sisters and brother are here with me, doing the family laundry. What happened with your clothes? They look like you're playing a concert or something?"

Maki didn't really want to say anything, but she also didn't want to be rude. It was quite a struggle.

"I'm Nishikino Maki. I am trying to get my clothes in shape before my recital. Someone spilled mustard on them."

"Ooh, music!" the girl said with enthusiasm. "Nico is going to be a school idol, you know. Dancing *and* singing."

Maki actually knew what that was, thanks to two girls who had been bothering her at her junior high entrance examination. Well, one of them. The less annoying one was a huge fan of school idols, but Maki considered them a travesty of music. The girl was so innocent and vulnerable, she'd never been able to say what she thought. This girl was like a younger version of Hanayo, obviously.

That said, the fact that she, at around nine or ten years old, was shepherding her siblings around to the laundromat without any adult help *was* a little impressive. Nico insisted Maki meet her siblings, who were, in truth, rather cute. They clearly adored and looked up to their big sister. The feeling Maki got was almost like a bunch of orphans, with the oldest sister taking on the role of the parent. That made the whole thing just a little sad. It would be worse if the little urchins were dreaming their big sister would drag them out of poverty — she suddenly realized that a half-pocky had seemed like a real treat to all four, and that spoke volumes about their status — with her idol fantasies. Realistically, that was all too likely.

The girls took their laundry out. They made a small load for cool drying and a larger one for hot drying. After a bit, Nico stopped the dryer and took out one of the towels, still a bit damp. She led Maki to the alcove, showed her how to set up the ironing board, and placed the towel on it. She told Maki they'd have to wait until the iron got quite hot to press the tie and vest, and perhaps the shirt.

When she decided the iron was hot enough, Nico put Maki's tie on the towel and folded it over. She then ironed the towel, which caused steam to come off it. She bore down with all the weight her little body could muster, and ironed the contours of the tie very carefully. When she was satisfied, Nico took the tie out, folded it carefully in a loose loop, and put it by Maki, on top of a washer. She then assisted Maki in doing the same thing with the vest. Again, Nico's fingers guided Maki's, and, again, Maki had a strange feeling as she did it, that made her uncomfortable.

"The shirt might be tricky, they have a lot of folds and seams and angles," the girl suddenly said. "I make shirts, so I know, nico."

After she put Maki's vest next to her tie, without folding it except to close it, she concentrated on the shirt. The precision and care she used really impressed Maki. No wonder her siblings looked up to her. She was already *making* her own shirts? That was phenomenal. Although she knew it would make the girl look at her quizzically, and would probably even annoy her, she suddenly said, "I need to get something," and dashed out. Not far from the laundromat, Maki bought a box of Pocky from a vending machine, and rushed back in. She handed the box to Nico, blushing furiously, for some reason. She really struggled to not take her embarrassment out on the girl, who had been extraordinarily helpful.

Nico looked surprised, but apparently the girls didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. She took out a pocky and offered it to Maki. Maki put it to her mouth, and absent-mindedly took her hand off it to reach for her shirt. Suddenly, with no warning, she saw Nico put her mouth on the other end. Was a child playing the pocky game with her? How was that even possible? Maki's face went completely red. But then, Nico reached out and snapped the pocky. Two-thirds of it was still in Maki's mouth, and the other third in Nico's. That girl winked at Maki. Then she took out another pocky, broke it into three parts, and gave a piece to each of her siblings. Aha. That was her solution to fairly dividing pocky among five people: She gave Maki the remainder.

After Maki threw on her shirt and vest, and Nico helped her with her tie, she headed off — after all, she would barely make the recital at this rate. She thanked the girl, who simply winked at her and made a little horn sign with one of her hands. The middle girl said, "As expected of Nico-nii."

A couple of years later, she saw the girl again, probably a middle-schooler by now. They happened to stand next to each other, watching the marquee at UTX, where Maki planned to attend high school. To her chagrin, after she recognized her, she noticed the girl was visibly less eager, and far less happy, than before. It could be she was already realizing her school idol fantasy wasn't going to help her or her family - Maki was still not sure they weren't all orphans. If so, Maki could take no pleasure in being proved right. Irrationally, she wished that the odds had been better for the girl. That she recognized her was evident when the girl turned and said, "How did your recital go." It sounded wistful. It sounded sad.

Maki was too startled to speak until the girl looked her in the eye. "Umm ... it went fine. I was very grateful for your help." The girl smiled. It wasn't much of a smile, but it was there. "Ah, what, no Pocky?" she said, teasingly. Actually, Maki had bought pocky for the first time in ages, for some reason. However, shaking the box gently, it felt and sounded like only one was left. Wordlessly, she shook it out and handed it to Nico, who put one end in Maki's mouth and bit on the other end. Since Maki remembered what Nico did before, she looked her in the eye and nibbled on the pocky. Nico did the same, and neither of them panicked before Maki's first, chocolatey kiss was stolen by a little girl.

AN:

In this story, Maki simply has no clues to tell her how old Nico is. Just like in the regular story, Nico is actually two years older than Maki, she just thinks she's a little girl. Also, I didn't really intend to make this such a sad story, but that's just how it flowed.