The Other Takino

Not-as-Thrilling-as-Advertised
17. A New Semester

Rated: M - English - Humor/Drama - Reviews: 77 - Updated: 11-02-10 - Published: 05-09-08 - id:4246838

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Torako dumped herself back into her usual seat. The first day back from vacation was always the worst. She folded her arms on top of her bag and put her head down with a tired groan. No point getting settled, the seating arrangement would be changing once homeroom started anyway.

She looked up the row at the back of Ohzawa's head. You're here awful early, she thought. Should be interesting how things go there from now on. She turned her eyes and watched Hagiwara arrive and head for her desk. Her nose seemed to have healed nicely from its collision with Torako's parietal. Good thing too, because being small and cute was about all that little dunce had going for her. She didn't see the third member of that little group anywhere, but he was habitually late anyway.

She stopped caring when Asagi arrived in the room. She was a little comforted that she looked about as zombified as Torako felt. As she moved through the rows of desks for their usual morning meeting she acknowledged greetings with grunts and lazy half-waves. Then she was plopping her ass down on Torako's desk with a tired sigh. "Urrrgghhh, I am way too tired to be here today," she said with her eyes closed.

"Join the club," Torako mumbled into her arms.

"Do you think it's too late to skip?" Asagi asked and looked down at her.

"Probably."

She nodded and made a disappointed sound, then said angrily, "Where do you get off?"

Torako looked up to see Oikawa coming over to them. "What?" she asked.

"You should be just as tired as us," Asagi said.

"Oh right, sorry," Oikawa said as she leaned against the desk next to Torako's. "I hope I get a window seat this time," she said as she looked outside.

"I want a seat in the back," Torako mumbled.

"I want a seat in the back," Asagi said down at her. "You can have a seat one row up from the back."

"Why can't we both sit in the back?" Torako asked.

"Because it's easier to pass notes if we're single file," Asagi explained as though it were painfully obvious.

"Right, of course," Torako said as the bell rang. What kind of notes did she have in mind? Probably trash-talk about teachers and classmates, knowing Asagi.

"Okay goobers, siddown, siddown," Okabe called out as he strode into class. "Just because the arrangement's changing doesn't mean you can just hang out when the bell rings."

Asagi hmmphed and got off Torako's desk.

As soon as everyone was seated Okabe laughed. "Okay, everybody up for the new seating arrangement. Ha ha!"

Five minutes later Torako was sitting in the exact middle of the room, watching Ikue Ohzawa hesitate at the desk behind her. Okabe, you son of a bitch.

"Problem, Ohzawa?" Okabe asked.

"Um, no," she said as she finally put her bag down and sat.

Torako sighed and turned forward. Asagi was two rows over and two rows ahead of her, and Oikawa was in the front row next to the door. So much for optimism. She started slightly as she felt something jab her shoulderblade. She turned her head to see what Ohzawa wanted. "Yeah?" she asked, doing her best to sound disinterested.

Ohzawa looked at her a little nervously. Guess I really put the fear of God in you, huh, Torako thought. "Truce?" Ohzawa asked.

Torako looked at her for a second, then nodded. "Yeah, okay," she said, then turned back around. Well, guess that was finally settled. She looked over at Asagi inspecting the skin on her elbow. Please don't tell anyone about the fight, she pleaded silently.

"Okay," Okabe said once everyone was settled in their new places. "I won't bother asking if you're all ready for the new semester, since I know most of you would probably drink molten lead if it meant you'd get out of here." He leaned heavily on the podium. "Hell, I know I would."

"Hey Okabe, how's Kumiko-chan?" Asagi asked.

Okabe cast an annoyed glance at her. "She's fine, thanks for asking." He turned back to the class. "Anyway, anyone do anything fun over your break?"

"Sensei!" came a girl's voice from over by the windows. "I spent three days at an inn by the beach!"

"Sounds fun," Okabe said.

"The rest of the time I played video games," she said.

"Shut up, Izumi. Anyone else?"

"I went to Hawaii," someone said.

Okabe pointed at him. "I still maintain that I hate you, Shima." He held up a hand. "Change of subject! I suppose since it's the new semester, we'd better decide on a new class representative. Let's hear some names, people."

As the nomination process began Torako tuned them out and rested her chin on her hand as she looked out the window and wished she didn't have to be here on such a beautiful morning. The fact that she'd probably just spend it in bed otherwise didn't seem to matter; it was the principle of the thing.

Torako couldn't help but notice that their seating arrangement for lunch had changed too. Whereas Asagi had previously always sat across from her, now she'd moved over to sit at her right side. As they opened their lunches and got ready to eat Torako glanced over at her. Beats a PDA, she thought.

"So Yuko-chan, did you have fun working all month?" Asagi asked.

"I think I'll let Rei carry on the family business without me," Oikawa said.

"Why, what happened?" Torako asked.

"Apparently my mom thought it would be a good idea for me to fill in when one of the vet techs went on vacation." She made a queasy face. "I had to be there for three surgeries and a necropsy."

"What happened to not minding seeing blood?" Asagi teased.

Oikawa shuddered as she remembered. "Well I'd never seen that much of it before. Once they nicked an artery and it splashed all across the wall. And then there were the organs and the broken bones. It's a lot different when they're still in the body."

Torako looked down at her chicken and meatballs. Suddenly they looked a lot less appetizing. "Are you really qualified to do surgery?" she asked as she forced herself to eat.

Oikawa shook her head. "No, but I was just handing people instruments and holding legs out of the way, stuff like that." She took a sip of her milk tea. "What did you guys do?"

"We mostly just hung out," Asagi said. "Oh, and we went to the beach."

Oikawa nodded. "Sounds relaxing," she said, then looked at her with a curious look on her face, then at Torako.

"What?" Torako asked.

"If you're wondering," Asagi said, "no, we haven't done it yet."

Torako slapped a hand over her eyes. PLEASE tell me nobody heard that!

"I . . . wasn't wondering that," Oikawa said, not very convincingly.

Asagi gave her a knowing look and then mercifully changed the subject. "So Torako, how do you like the new seating arrangement?"

"Sucks," she said as she chewed.

"Aww, but you get to sit in front of your best friend!" she teased.

Torako narrowed her eyes at her.

"So does she still hate your guts?" Oikawa asked.

"Why does every third conversation we have seem to become about Ohzawa at one point or another?" Torako asked.

Asagi shrugged. "Well, she did nail you in the head with a rock and then use you for kickboxing practice."

"And then you beat the crap out of her and two of her friends," Oikawa added.

"Anyway, we've decided on a truce," Torako said as she picked up her last meatball.

"Good," Oikawa said. "I don't know if they could survive another tangle with you."

"Oh shut up," Torako said as Oikawa and Asagi giggled.

"We should see a movie," Asagi said as they were leaving school for the day.

"What, today?" Torako asked.

Asagi nodded. "Yeah. Is anything good showing?"

"I have to go grocery shopping with Tomo," she said. "Our parents are both working late tonight so we've gotta make ourselves dinner."

Asagi grimaced. She'd tried Torako's cooking once, and had wished she hadn't. "What're you making?" she asked.

Torako shrugged. "Probably something simple like chicken or hamburgers. I'm not much of a cook and Tomo's too impatient for anything complicated."

"Yeah, you are pretty terrible," Asagi said.

Torako glared at her for a second but didn't say anything. Well it's true, she thought, but you're supposed to say something like 'Oh, no, your cooking's fine.' They crossed the street off of school grounds, and she immediately lit a cigarette.

"How many of those do you go through a day?" Asagi asked her.

"Too many, probably," Torako said as she held it between her fingers and looked at it.

"It's a wonder your parents haven't noticed that you always smell like smoke when you get home from school," Asagi said.

"My dad smokes too, so we're all pretty used to the smell by now. Maybe they just don't notice."

"So why'd you start, anyway?"

"What's with all the smoking questions?"

Asagi shrugged. "Curious, I guess."

"I heard it relieved stress," Torako explained. "Living in the same house with Tomo can get on your nerves pretty quickly. Besides, I always thought it looked cool."

"Ahh," Asagi said, "your obsession with being cool."

"I am not obsessed with being cool," Torako said, a little defensively. "I just don't want to be a spaz like my sister."

"Don't worry, you pull it off," Asagi assured her. "You're the cool twin, Tomo-chan's the cute one."

Torako felt like she should say that she was cute too, but she had to admit that "cute" wasn't how one would normally describe a tall skinny girl who smoked like a chimney and frowned all the time.

"So you still haven't told her yet, I take it," Asagi said.

"Hm?" Torako made a questioning sound.

"About us, silly," Asagi said and bumped her with her shoulder.

Torako sighed. "No, I haven't told her yet."

"You're gonna have to sooner or later," Asagi reminded her.

"Have you told your family?"

Asagi shook her head. "No, why?"

"Then why are you so interested in whether or not I tell Tomo?"

"Well you guys are twins, aren't you? I thought twins were supposed to share everything with each other."

Torako scoffed around her cigarette. "Well I can tell you right now that aint true."

"Oh, so I don't get a three-way with you two?" Asagi asked, and laughed at Torako's grossed-out reaction.

"... and then that little runt Chiyo-chan got more votes than me, so now I'm only vice president of the class."

Torako couldn't help but wonder if that wasn't a good thing. "So how many votes did you actually get?"

"Three," Tomo said as they walked to the grocery store.

Torako fought the urge to laugh. "Let me guess, two of those were you and Yomi?"

Tomo shook her head. "No, Yomi voted for Chiyo-chan. Traitor."

Torako couldn't blame her. She'd never met this Chiyo-chan, but she sounded pretty smart. Besides, she couldn't help thinking anyone would make a better class president than her sister.

"I bet you didn't even get nominated for your class," Tomo taunted her.

"Does it really count as a nomination if you do it yourself?" Torako asked. "Anyway, I wouldn't want to be class president anyway."

"No, you like taking orders, not giving them," Tomo said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Tomo swiped her hair into her eyes and lowered her voice in an approximation of Torako's. "I don't want to do that, but since you told me to do it Asagi, I guess I will go buy a bunch of sex toys for you."

Torako smacked her shoulder. "That's exactly what you made Yomi do, you hypocrite."

Tomo shrugged and brushed her hair from her eyes. "At least Yomi put up a fight." Not much of one, but she didn't bother getting specific.

Torako just blew smoke and walked forward.

"But hey, if you like being her uke, who am I to judge? I think it's a little kinky actually."

She glared at her but didn't say anything. So now you're going to start with that too?

"Seriously," Tomo said, "you two should just make out and be done with it."

"I could say the same of you and Yomi," Torako said.

"Who says we haven't?"

"Who says we haven't?"

Tomo began peering at her.

"What?"

Tomo said nothing, just rubbed her chin and opened one eye real wide in a comical parody of close inspection.

"What," Torako repeated, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Tomo's eyes lit up and her mouth spread in a grin. "You have, haven't you?"

Torako shook her head and tried to say something, but couldn't think of anything. What do I do now, deny it? Or fess up?

Before she could make up her mind Tomo began laughing and dancing around her. "Tora-chan's a lesbian, Tora-chan's a lesbian!"

"Hey . . . I am not!"

Tomo stopped. "Oh, so you're bisexual?"

Torako looked down the street. She couldn't help but notice they'd stopped walking. "I thought we were going to get groceries," she said.

Tomo ignored that and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry Tora-chan, I won't tell mom and dad."

"Can we just get moving? I'm getting hungry."

"So are you two going out now, or what?" Tomo asked as they started back down the street.

"We don't really know." She was taking this a lot better than she'd expected. She should have expected that, really. Life usually had a way of doing exactly the opposite of what she thought it would.

They got about a half a block before Tomo suddenly turned and punched her sister in the arm as hard as she could.

"Ow, what was that for?" Torako asked angrily as she rubbed her arm.

"That's for getting some action before me!" Tomo said and punched her again. Yep, there was the reaction she'd been expecting.

"What, Yomi wasn't interested?" Torako laughed painfully as Tomo punched her a third time, then took a swing of her own. Tomo squealed and took off running, laughing as Torako chased after her. They got two blocks before Tomo's energy ran out as it always did and she lost her lead.

"No! No, Torako!" She laughed as her sister caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist. "What're you doing? Stop it!"

Torako grunted as she lifted Tomo off the ground and lugged her over to a half-empty trash can. Tomo yelled as she was dumped unceremoniously into the garbage, ass first. Torako dusted off her hands and stepped back as Tomo tried and failed to extricate herself.

"Hey, help me out of here!" Tomo tried to sound angry, but she was laughing too hard. "This . . . this isn't funny!"

Torako shrugged. "I don't know, looks pretty funny from where I'm standing."

The can started bouncing as Tomo tried to straighten her body. "When . . . erf . . . when I get out of here . . . WAAAUGH!" She yowled as the trash can fell onto its side with a loud BANG and she popped out onto the street.

When Tomo rolled on the ground holding her arm instead of leaping to her feet Torako knelt down beside her. "Hey . . . you okay?"

"My elbow fell off!" Tomo cried.

" . . . What?"

"My elbow fell off!" she repeated. "You gotta help me find it!"

Torako sighed and shook her head as she stood up. "Do you really expect me to fall for that?"

Tomo was quiet for a few seconds. "My arm bones exploded!"

Torako nodded and turned to start walking again. "Yeah, okay." She got ten steps before Tomo's fist slammed her in the back. "Daaah!" she yelled and bent backwards.

"Wa-CHA, surprise attack!" Tomo said triumphantly as Torako put a hand on her spine and dropped to her knees.

"You little . . ."

Tomo put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue. "Serves you right, ya pervert."

Torako growled and grabbed for her as she got to her feet. Tomo yelled and took off down the street, laughing as she ran with Torako in pursuit.

-Author Notes-

And this concludes the revision. All new material from here on out, which probably means there won't be a new chapter for a while. I say this not because I assume that you're all waiting breathlessly, endlessly refreshing your browsers in hope of an update, but because I just like keeping my readers (however few of them there may be) up to speed.

Well I suppose somebody might be doing that. I probably would not want to meet that person.