The Other Takino
Not-as-Thrilling-as-Advertised
10. Gifts from Asagi
Rated: M - English - Humor/Drama - Reviews: 77 - Updated: 11-02-10 - Published: 05-09-08 - id:4246838
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On her way out the door, Torako stuck her umbrella into her bag; Forecast says it might rain, her mom had said. As if she needed a forecast to tell her it was going to rain, a single glance up at the increasingly hostile sky was enough to convince her of that. As she got out her lighter she breathed in through her nose and smelled moisture on the air, carrying an undercurrent of energy just shy of tangible. What was that, again? She seemed to remember hearing it had something to do with negatively charged ions preceding a thunderstorm. Or was it positively charged? I'll look it up later, she thought as she flicked the lighter.
As she smoked she looked up at the clouds and wished again that she could afford a decent camera. There was an empty patch of sky near the horizon, and the clouds on the far side glowed brilliant white with the sun's reflected rays. Torako's style tended more towards urban landscapes, but she had to admit that it would make a very nice picture with the right equipment. She considered taking a shot with her phone's camera, but decided against it. She'd need some serious zoom to adequately capture something that far off.
She was about halfway to Asagi's when she got out her phone.
"Torako!" Asagi sounded cheerful as always.
"Hey. I'm on my way."
"Did you bring your homework?"
Torako suppressed a sigh and glanced down at the bag at her hip. "Yeah, I got it."
"Great! Oh hey, have you got an umbrella? I heard it's supposed to rain."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah."
"Okay, I won't bother bringing one then."
"Er . . ." The image of her and Asagi sharing her umbrella flashed through her mind, followed immediately by passrersby getting the wrong idea.
"What?" Asagi asked. "Is that a problem?"
Torako shook her head, even though there was no way Asagi could see the gesture. "No, it's fine."
"Okay!" She could clearly see her satisfied I just got my way smile in her mind's eye. "I'll see you soon."
"See you."
Either Torako needed to pay more attention in English class, or Magnetron Humburger's owners should have, because she was pretty sure that wasn't the proper spelling. As she and Asagi took their booth and set down their trays she glanced around at the yellow M logo emblazoned across every available surface and wondered why this place hadn't been sued into oblivion yet for copyright infringement.
"I can never eat here with Tomo," she said as she unwrapped her teriyaki burger. "She always insists they use cat meat."
Asagi's burger froze halfway to her mouth. "They don't, right?"
Torako scoffed. "Of course not. They'd get shut down. This isn't Korea."
"Ooh, look who's being racist," Asagi teased.
"What?" Torako said mildly. "It's true. When my uncle lived over there his cat got kidnapped and eaten by a family in his neighborhood." She took a bite and shrugged. "It was a pretty poor neighborhood though."
"That's horrible," Asagi said, looking a little queasy.
"Yeah. And of course there's places they eat dog." Torako swallowed. "I've also heard about people eating human fetuses in China, but I don't think that's true."
"You sure do know some weird things," Asagi said as she took another bite.
Torako chewed and swallowed.
"Would you mind if we changed the subject until we're through eating though?" Asagi asked. "Oh, have you read your letter yet?"
Torako shook her head. "Nope."
"Oh, come on."
Torako licked sauce off her finger. "Why are you so interested, anyway? Didn't you say you wanted me all to yourself?"
"Well I do," Asagi said, straightening in her seat, "but that doesn't mean I can't feel happy for you that you're getting some attention." She pointed at her. "If you do start dating somebody though, just remember your bony ass belongs to me."
Torako sighed as a mother and her son looked at them as they passed by their booth. Should she be worried that she was starting to like it when Asagi talked to her this way?
"Ah, it's starting to rain," Asagi said, changing the subject yet again.
"What are you doing this weekend?"
"Probably nothing, why?" Torako looked over at Asagi where she sat at her desk.
Asagi shrugged as she copied answers. "Felt like seeing a movie or something."
Torako stretched her arms and looked out the window at the rain. "Yeah, I'd probably be able to go." She lay down. "I figured you'd probably try to rope me into something anyway."
Asagi glanced over at her. "Tired?"
"A little," Torako said, eyes closed.
"You can take a nap there if you want."
She opened her eyes and shook her head. "I don't know if I feel safe sleeping around you."
Asagi laughed. "Don't worry, I wouldn't get out the strap-on unless you wanted me to."
"That's very reassuring." She put an arm over her eyes. "I hope that thing doesn't turn out to be a Chekhov's gun," she mused.
"Huh?"
"Writing device," Torako explained, "where something is introduced early in a story but its significance isn't revealed until later on when it suddenly becomes crucial to the plot."
"Oh, like foreshadowing?"
Torako shook her head under her arm. "Not quite, more like a rule about not including any unnecessary elements in the story."
"Ah," Asagi said. "So you're saying you wouldn't want me to use it on you?"
Torako chose not to take the bait.
"Or in you, I guess I should say."
"Do your parents know you're such a perv?" Torako asked.
She shrugged. "Well, my mom says I'm a demon child."
"Can't argue with that."
Asagi sat back from the desk and began gathering up Torako's notebooks she'd brought. "Okay, done."
Torako just made a sound to indicate that she'd heard. Asagi got up and went to the door before turning back. "You wanna watch some TV?"
Another noise, this one negative-sounding, so Asagi left her there to doze. A little while later she returned to find her asleep, so she got out her phone and took a picture.
That night, Torako sat down at her own desk with the new envelope from her locker. Okay, let's see what you are, she thought and tore open the flap. Inside was a single sheet of paper folded in half, and written on that sheet of paper was a single sentence. In English.
"What the hell?" she said out loud.
I do you schoolbus.
"'I do you schoolbus'?" she repeated. What did that even mean? Who would send this sort of . . . wait a minute. She recognized this handwriting. Torako shook her head. "Yeah, real funny, Asagi," she said to her empty room. Then she got out a notebook and began writing.
Knowing her luck, someone had probably seen Torako leaving the envelope in her friend's locker before homeroom that morning and the entire class would be abuzz with rumors by lunchtime. When Asagi arrived in the classroom she gave no indication of having found the note, but that didn't surprise her. As she'd long suspected, and had since confirmed, Asagi was quite used to envelopes showing up in her shoe locker. Though she downplayed how many she'd received so far, either to spare her friend's feelings or out of her own bizarre form of modesty, Torako wouldn't have been surprised if she'd gotten one from every unattached guy in the class by now. It was probably a good thing for them that she hadn't accepted any of the offers yet, she thought. As attractive as she was, and as sunny as her personality may be to someone who only knew her in passing, Torako could definitely see Asagi making a very pushy and high-maintenance girlfriend. She steadfastly refused to admit to any feelings of jealousy.
As she watched Asagi approach her desk she wondered absently if Oikawa had gotten any notes in her locker. Though very quiet and unassuming Torako had to admit that she was very cute, though her apparent fascination with blood and guts was a little worrying.
"Hey!"
Her reverie was interrupted as always by Asagi's enthusiatic greeting. "Hey," Torako said quietly, looking up at her through the ever-present overhang of her hair.
"Where were you just now?" Asagi asked. "You looked a little spacey there."
Torako shook her head. "Just thinking about stuff."
"I usually try not to do that too much," Asagi said. "It makes life easier."
"Now you sound like Tomo."
"Did you just insult me, uke?" Asagi asked without an ounce of hostility.
Torako shrugged. "Probably."
Asagi drummed on her head with a pen. "Tut tut, you better remember your role, Torako."
"You're not beating her now, are you?" They both looked up to see Oikawa walking up. Though she was smiling, she looked like death warmed over.
"You look like hell," Torako said.
Oikawa rubbed her forehead with her hand and groaned, and Asagi and Torako both made surprised noises.
"What happened to you?" Asagi asked.
"Did you put your hand through a window or something?" Torako asked. She remembered when Tomo had done that, and they'd both learned the hard way that smashing through glass was never as bloodless as it was in the movies.
"Oh, this?" Oikawa looked at her right hand and forearm, wrapped in gauze halfway to the elbow. "A cat."
"You got mauled by a cat?" Torako sounded a little incredulous.
Oikawa nodded. "Yeah, apparently she doesn't like strangers much." She flexed her fingers and winced slightly. "I'm just glad I didn't need stitches."
"Yuko-chan has a much more eventful life than we do," Asagi said to Torako.
"Apparently," Torako said, staring at her bandaged hand. "Does that hurt?"
"God yes," Oikawa said.
"Please don't unwrap it."
"Why would I?" Oikawa asked and looked at it.
Torako shrugged. "I don't know, just don't."
"Are you scared of blood, Tora-chan?" Asagi tousled her hair and asked teasingly.
Torako waved her hand away. "Not really, I just don't want to see any right now."
"Blood's not that scary," Oikawa said. "It stinks though. I can't stand the smell of it. Especially when it's mixed with other things."
"What do you do at that clinic?" Asagi asked.
Oikawa scratched at her bandaged hand and leaned back on the empty desk next to Torako's. "Mostly custodial stuff right now, like cleaning cages and cleaning up after surgeries and stuff." She laughed. "I've seen some pretty nasty stuff there." She looked like she was thinking of some disgusting example when the bell rang, signalling it was time to take their seats. As everyone got settled Torako sighed and looked out the window at the trees outside and the fence beyond. Another two months until summer vacation? Sometimes it was life's little injustices that were the most unbearable.
"I ran into Watanabe's secretary on the way back from the cafeteria," Asagi said as she handed Torako her sandwich and sat down. As bossy as Asagi often acted, at least she did her own little favors too. "She said Ohzawa won't be back for another three weeks."
Torako sighed. "Do we have to talk about her every day?" She began to unwrap her sandwich. "It's starting to get monotonous."
Asagi shrugged. "No, but I just thought you might like to know." She giggled. "And we don't talk about her every day. Anyway, apparently it was only supposed to be a week but her parents requested a longer time so they could make her go to anger management classes."
Oikawa pressed a peeling strip of bandage tape down on her hand. "Guess that rules out a bad home life for the root of her behavior."
"You've never met her parents?" Asagi asked. "They're actually really nice. Ikue's just an unholy bitch."
Torako suppressed a laugh. Then she thought of something and turned to Oikawa. "Hey Oikawa, Asagi and I were going to a movie this weekend."
Oikawa opened her mouth, then closed it when Asagi shot her a disapproving look. "Ah, thanks, but I can't go. Work."
Torako nodded. "Okay." Then she looked at Asagi. "What was that look?"
"What look?"
"I thought I just saw you glare at her for a split second."
Asagi and Oikawa both shook their heads obliviously and concentrated on eating.
"So what's showing, anyway?" Torako asked. Asagi shrugged.
Torako had almost forgotten about putting the envelope in Asagi's locker when a piece of paper was stuck in her face as she was getting ready to leave at the end of the day. Sure enough, it was the note she'd left, written in English: In the minds of the mattering men the slow-down before the speed-up will add to the art of this artifice.
"What is this supposed to be?" Asagi asked.
"Looks like a note," Torako said blandly.
Asagi looked at it. "Well I know, but what's it mean?"
Torako shrugged and stood up. "I don't know, what's yours mean?"
"I don't know, I read it on the internet somewhere."
"Ditto."
They started down the hall towards the doors. "You shouldn't be leaving notes in my locker," Asagi said. "You might give people the wrong idea if they see you."
"Look who's talking," Torako said. "Pretty much everything you do could give people the wrong idea about us."
"Oh yeah, name one thing."
"Just one?"
"Anyway, you like it, so what's the problem?"
"Says who?"
"Have you told me to get lost yet?"
Torako didn't say anything until they got to the doors. "Would you if I did?" she finally asked.
"Would I what?" Asagi asked.
"Would you leave me alone if I told you to," Torako repeated.
Asagi laughed. "Oh, you wouldn't do that, you know you love me." She shrugged. "But to answer your question, probably not."
"I didn't think so," Torako said as they crossed the street and got out a cigarette.
"I'd probably see it as a challenge," Asagi said and clenched her fists dramatically. "I would have to win you over!" She lowered her hands and turned to her. "Why, do you want me to go away?"
Torako shook her head. "No, I was just curious."
As usual, Oikawa walked home alone. Though she liked walking with Asagi and Torako, she had to take a pretty big detour to do it, so it wasn't something she did often. Besides, she was never sure if she was in the way with those two or not. What's going on between them, anyway? She wasn't sure even they knew, half the time. It's probably nothing, she thought finally, but they're both putting out some pretty weird vibes sometimes. Oh well, it wasn't her business anyway.
She glanced down at her bandaged arm and thought it was a good thing she was left-handed. Asshole cat. She was usually pretty good with them, too. Oikawa had lived around cats her whole life, so she could usually interpret their body language well enough to know how to get in their good graces. Sometimes, though, there was always that one cat that was just mean. She wondered if its owners were more used to dogs. Dog people tended not to know how to treat cats, in her experience.
"Hey, Oikawa!"
She looked back over her shoulder. Shit. It was Mifune, running to catch up with her. Though they lived in the same neighborhood, they'd never interacted much outside of school.
When he was alongside her Mifune slowed down. When he'd caught his breath, he asked, "Hey, you're friends with Takino, right?"
"Yeah, why?" He wasn't coming after her too now, was he? She was pretty sure he was all fluttery over Hagiwara, so she didn't see any reason for him wanting revenge for getting Ohzawa suspended.
"I was on the phone with Ohzawa last night," he said. "She said if she ever caught Takino outside of school she was gonna put her in the hospital."
"So she's mad at her, so what?" Ohzawa made threats like that all the time.
"She sounded really serious this time," Mifune said. "I know she's usually all talk, but I thought I should probably warn Takino anyway."
"So why come to me instead of her?" Oikawa asked. "You're not afraid of her too, are you?" Given how everyone in school had to have seen Torako being treated as a sidekick by Asagi for the last month, Oikawa couldn't imagine that a lot of people could still find her all that intimidating. She certainly didn't anymore.
Mifune shrugged. "No, I'd just have to go out of my way," he said. Oikawa wasn't sure she believed him.
She just nodded. "Well, thanks for the warning," she said. "I'll let her know." As Mifune waved and went off his own way Oikawa found herself forming a slightly better opinion of him. Of course, he had just saddled her with the role of go-between, and she hated that. She rolled her eyes and got out her phone. Better to do it now than put it off and forget.
Torako looked up at the cloud-dotted sky as she finished her cigarette before going inside. So Ohzawa was talking about coming after her, huh? She looked down at the cigarette between her fingers. Well, let her. She'd tussled with too many ghetto kids to be afraid of some pampered snot from the suburbs. She only hoped if they did end up throwing down that it would end with that. She was getting seriously sick of this shit. No more feuds, Torako thought to herself. Next time someone decided they had a problem with her, that would their concern and not hers.
"Tora-chaaaan!"
Torako waved to her sister as she and Yomi approached from up the street. "Hey," she said when they were close enough.
"Yomi's coming over," Tomo announced.
"Okay," Torako said and took a drag. "How's that news?"
Tomo reached up and smacked her across the head, almost knocking the cigarette out of her mouth.
"Hey!"
"Hey!" Yomi echoed.
Torako finished her smoke and flicked the butt into the street. "You're lucky Yomi is here," she said.
"You want me to hit her for you?" Yomi asked.
"Nah, that's fine." she pushed open the gate and led the way inside.
"Why are we doing this again?" Oikawa asked as she and Asagi headed down the street to where they were pretty sure the Ohzawas lived.
"Because we need to put Ohzawa in her place," Asagi explained. "We have to make sure our victory is absolute."
"But she's already suspended," Oikawa said and glanced down at the shoulder bag she was carrying. She hoped the plastic bags inside didn't start to leak.
Asagi shook her head. "That's only the beginning. She's down, but not out." She pointed at her. "That's where we come in."
"I think I'm beginning to agree with Torako," Oikawa said, "this is starting to get out of hand."
Asagi jabbed a finger at her. "Hey, you gave me this idea, so don't go trying to weasel out of it now, missy."
Oikawa sighed as they reached the Ohzawa residence. Why had she even agreed to this? She knew Torako couldn't be here because it was critical that she have an alibi (Oikawa wasn't sure if she even knew this was happening), but she was pretty sure Asagi could easily do this on her own. Torako's spinelessness wasn't starting to rub off on her, was it? God, she hoped not.
They stopped by the gate and Asagi surreptitiously checked for any potential witnesses while she pretended to shake a pebble out of her shoe. When she was satisfied that they were alone she pushed open the gate and hurried into the yard. "Okay, let's do this," she whispered to Oikawa as she followed.
Though it was well into the evening, there were no lights on that they could see, meaning there probably wasn't anyone home. Perfect. "Okay, you got the gloves?" Asagi asked as they knelt down under the wall cutting the yard off from the sidewalk.
Oikawa nodded and got out two pairs of thick dishwashing gloves. She winced slightly as she put hers on.
"You okay with that hand?" Asagi asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, it's just sore."
Asagi nodded and looked around the yard. "Okay, how do we do this . . ." she muttered to herself. She held out a hand. "Gimme something."
Oikawa got out one of the plastic bags and untied it. She pulled out a guinea pig that had died from heatstroke and put it in her hand. Asagi looked at it, suddenly queasy.
"This was your idea," Oikawa pointed out.
Asagi nodded and crept forward to stuff the dead rodent up into a gutter spout. She gestured for something else, and Oikawa came out of the shadows to hand her a dead hamster. Asagi giggled as she looked around before hucking it up onto their roof.
Oikawa couldn't help giggling herself. "This is really stupid," she said.
Asagi was grinning. "I know." She put a hand out and Oikawa pulled out a severed and half-rotten cat's tail. "Eugh!" Asagi gagged as the smell hit her.
"A lawnmower ran over its tail and it got gangrene," Oikawa explained. "We had to amputate it."
Asagi held it gingerly and looked around. Finally she dropped it into a flower pot. "What else is there?"
Oikawa carefully brought out the second bag. "The guts."
Asagi held up a finger. "Ah! Perfect." She tiptoed over the little garden running along the edge of the yard and looked for a part that looked like it would get the most sun. Finally she bent down and parted two bushes. "Okay, dump 'em." She looked away and gagged again as Oikawa untied the bag and emptied its contents into the dirt with sickening wet plops.
Asagi was giggling again as she stood up and took off the gloves. "Okay, now lets get out of here."
Torako yawned and stretched her legs, poking her toes above the water. Ahh, quiet. After Yomi's visit that afternoon had degenerated into yet another argument about her weight, a quiet bath felt even better than usual.
I swear, those two sound like a married couple, she thought to herself. She wondered if she was the only one that wondered about them sometimes.
Not like I can talk anymore. She didn't know what she should worry about more, that Asagi was treating her like her own personal property, or that she was starting to enjoy it when she did. It was true that Torako let herself be pushed around too often, but she didn't think it was because she was spineless. She just didn't like conflict. She didn't see how a desire to avoid arguments with her family could have turned into an unconconscious desire to be dominated, though.
Maybe I'm just reading too much into this, she thought as she closed her eyes and let her arm hang over the edge of the tub. It's not like I enjoy being bossed around by anyone else. Okay, so she only liked it when Asagi did it. What did that say?
"TORA-CHAAAN!"
Torako was saved from answering the question by the bathroom door banging open and Tomo barging in carrying a hair dryer. She'd barely opened her eyes when Tomo drew back her arm, shouted "SPECIAL DELIVERY!" and tossed the dryer into the tub right in Torako's lap.
Torako shrieked and scrambled away from the hair dryer, diving out of the tub onto the floor as Tomo watched her and laughed. "Are you trying to kill me?" she shouted when she'd gotten to her feet.
Tomo held up the end of the power cord. "What? It's not plugged in or anything."
Torako snarled and made a grab, but Tomo was already out the door. "Get back here, you coward!" Torako yelled and chased after her through the living room and up the stairs. She reached her bedroom door just as the lock clicked. She was grabbing the knob and getting ready to start pounding when Torako realized that she was still naked from the bath.
"What's going on up there?" Their father's voice, and footsteps coming upstairs.
Torako grabbed the knob on her door and found that it was locked too. "DAAAAD DON'T COME UP!"
-Author Notes-
One of the complaints I received about this story was how the pranks never really went beyond shit going in lockers. To be honest I wasn't really happy about that either, but when I first wrote it I'd gotten kinda sick of the whole prank war so I ended it before things really got as far as I'd originally planned. I also really didn't like how it just jumped from Torako getting home from school to her taking a bath, so I used the opportunity to address both of those problems.