"He Said, She Said"
by Trish (MoreCowbell)


"Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it."
-Harold S. Hulbert

i. yama-kun

His name was Ishida Yamato (or, as I preferred to call him, Yama-kun), and he was in his first year of highschool at Odaiba. He always seemed to have some glop piling on the top of his head, whether it be gel or pomade, I don't know. But it was one of his defining characteristics. He was one of those guys you'd spot on the street, and you'd just know how important his hair was to him.

Yama-kun had a huge ego. Woo, boy. You don't want to get me started on that. Let's just say, there are blimps with less air than the amount he has stuffed in that head of his.

He had an after school job at the neighborhood arcade\restaurant where I also worked. A teenager's fantasy, right? Getting paid to work at the coolest, funnest place in town. That's what I thought, at least. Yama-kun never could find it in himself to stop bitching for once, and just be grateful.

But that's just the way 'children' are, I suppose.

I remember first meeting that good-for-nothing, whining, little brat.

"Motomiya," the boss had said, "This is Ishida. He'll be workin' here from now on." Then, he turned to Yama-kun, "Ishida, this is Motomiya. She'll be working here for the rest of her life."

Yama-kun smirked, and I glowered. Maeda (my boss) looked smug.

"Well, you two kids have fun, huh?" He said, "And Motomiya, I want you to show him what to do, and how this place operates, understand?"

"B-but, Maeda-san!" I sputtered, "I was thinking of taking today off early! There's a sale at the mall that I absolutely have to be at!"

Both males rolled their eyes (yeah, like they'd ever understand the importance of a sale), "Well you apparently weren't thinking hard enough." Maeda remarked, "By the end of the day, I want Ishida to know this place like the back of his hand."

Maeda walked away, ignoring my desperate pleas.

That left me with Yama-kun.

Granted, I was in a bad mood, so you'll have to forgive me if I didn't absolutely love the boy right away. In fact, I kinda thought he was a turd. It didn't help matters any when he looked at me with a decidedly unimpressed expression on his face.

"Are you supposed to be my superior?" He asked, with a raised eyebrow and an infuriating emphasis on 'you'.

I refrained from strangling him, "More or less. Why, do you have a problem with that 'Ishida-kun'?"

He shrugged, nonchalantly, looking around his new workplace, trying to decide whether or not he liked, "No." A thought came to him, suddenly. "And don't call me 'Ishida-kun', my name is Matt."

"Matt?" I echoed, condescendingly. He didn't seem to notice. "What the hell kinda' gaijin name is 'Matt' anyways?" I asked.

Well he sure noticed that. "It's a nickname, not a gaijin name," He retorted, a-matter-of-factly, "It's short for Yamato."

I couldn't be certain, but the smile on my face probably resembled something like a lit up jack-o-lantern, "'Yamato'? Your name is 'Yamato'? That is SO cute! I knew someone named Yamato in elementary school. He was a real squirrely-lookin' kid. My friends and I always called him Yama-chan before we stole his lunch money." The 'Yama-chan' part was true, but not the lunch money part. I just thought it would make the pet name all the more heinous.

"Well, you sure as hell ain't callin' me Yama-chan!" He bit back, enraged at the very idea of being called by that name.

"Of course not," I replied, "I wouldn't even dream of it." The temperature in the room returned to normal, and he seemed to lower his defenses ever so slightly. "So, shall I begin your training?" I asked. He shrugged and I smiled, "Alright, follow me...
Yama-kun."

It could have just been my imagination, but I had the sneaking suspicion he was muttering my name with expletives.


*In Japan and many other Asian countries, the sur name comes before the first name
*'kun' is a suffix mostly used for boys. You could call someone in a lower or similar status '____-kun'.
*'Gaijin' is the Japanese word for 'foreigner' or 'outsider'
*'chan' is a cutesy suffix. You'd use it with children, friends, or significant others. You can also use it condescendingly.