Shoko Komi's Ultimate Challenge

by Ulquiorra9000

Communication 37: within these walls

Shoko Komi was only half-watching as she and her brother watched a documentary about Antarctica on the TV one Friday evening. She also had her eye on her mother Shuko, who was busy with the overflowing downstairs closet.

"Oh! Oh, my! Haha!" Shuko cried good-naturedly as an avalanche of blankets, pillows, and sweaters buried her. Shoko sprang to her feet and took hold of her mother's exposed arm, pulling Shuko free of the fabric apocalypse.

"I'm just doing some spring cleaning," Shuko explained, dusting herself off. She beamed. "We have so much stuff packed into our closets by now, and your poor father has already lost a toolbox and a wristwatch in that mess! As you can see, Shoko, we've also collected more blankets and pillows than I know what to do with. Oops!" Shuko knocked on her head.

"Just throw 'em away, mom," Shosuke muttered on the couch.

"Oh, don't be silly, Shosuke! See this one?" Shuko held up a flower and crane pattern blanket. "Your father and I went stargazing in the summer of 1995 while laying on this blanket. It has fond memories imprinted into it!"

Shoko gaped with delight and saw happy sparkles shine all around her. How nostalgic! She loved finding little tidbits from her parents' lives, in the years before she and Shosuke had been born. It was like peeking into another world.

"And this one..." Shuko held up another blanket. "Shoko, when you were seven and came down with the flu, you snuggled up in this. Remember? You were like a daughter-burrito!"

Shoko cocked her head and tried to remember that. Funny, she couldn't actually recall it happening! So, she pointed out another blanket.

"Ah yes, this one. Yuiko gave this one to us when we visited her house not long after you were born, Shoko," Shuko said fondly as she held it up. "Your father and I were nearly broke back then! And it was a cold winter that year. So we spent the coldest week at the Komi estate, and what a cozy time it was! Such memories..."

Shoko wished she could see what her mother saw with these blankets, or at least snuggle up in them one more time. She wanted to be in these blankets, watching the memories go by...

Well, there's one way Shoko Komi can be inside these blankets! What fun!

"Oh? I know that look, Shoko," Shuko said with a crafty grin. "You thought of another challenge?"

Shoko went "hmph!" and pointed at the pile of blankets and pillows. She made her intent loud and clear.

"What a fantastic idea, Shoko! Feel free to invite your friends over for that on Sunday evening. I'll make sure the house is ready for them," Shuko cried happily. "Shosuke, did you hear that?"

I'm pretty sure I'm not invited to that party, Shosuke's exasperated face said.

Shoko hopped up and down in place. She couldn't wait to invite people!

*o*o*o*o*

Saturday was another half-day, so Shoko made the most of her limited time and sought out some girls to invite to her newest party. But first, someone else had some gossip to share.

"It's the weirdest thing, Komi," Hitohito Tadano mentioned in homeroom. "For the last week or so, Hitomi's been talking about who likes who in her class. She never brings that up around me. But just last night, she mentioned how two different boys in her class might be into her, and when I asked, she said 'Of course, big bro! Everyone likes a Tadano.' And then she winked." Hitohito made a slow shrugging motion. "What's up with that? Do you have any ideas?"

Shoko gasped and hid her face with her communication notebook. She knew exactly what was going on, but how should she tell Hitohito about it? Or should she? Eeeeeek!

"Hitomi started talking about love gossip the day after she hung out with you for that sister outing," Hitohito added. "Did she tell you anything about that, Komi? Any fun gossip I should know? I'm all ears."

Shoko couldn't stop blushing behind her notebook! She had no idea that Hitomi, her little sister for a day, was dropping subtle hints to Hitohito like that! Well, in all fairness, Hitomi loved to chat and gossip, and Shoko didn't blame her for being excited about the latest personal news. Still, this meant Shoko had limited time to face her final challenge, or things would be spoiled ahead of time!

It's settled, then. Shoko could complete three more fun challenges, then begin her endgame. She can do this!

But in the meantime... hee hee...!

Hitomi's growing up. Of course she's thinking about boys and love, Shoko wrote on her notebook, adding a few hearts around her text. Oh, and I'm about to host another party at my house this weekend! But with special conditions this time.

Hitohito grinned. "This oughta be good..."

*o*o*o*o*

"Welcome, girls! I'm so glad you're here! Who wants snacks? Who wants a massage? Who wants to be my BFF? Raise your hand!"

Shoko Komi squeaked in alarm and waved her arms frantically that Sunday evening to make her mom knock it off already. Why did Shuko make everything so weird?!

"Heeeeeeey, girl! So glad to be back! #besties!" Rumiko Manbagi cried, and she threw her arms around Shuko in a tight hug. "And that's a yes on the snacks!"

"Good, because I have more Choco-Pies than I know what to do with. Tee hee!" Shuko patted Rumiko's head.

"I'd like a Choco-Pie too, pleeeeeease," Kaede Otori said dreamily as the girl squad got comfortable in the Komi household's living room. "Any left for meeeeee?"

"I swear, Kaede, you've gotta eat a vegetable sometimes," Nene Onemine commented with amusement, hands on her hips. "A steady diet of desserts... I dunno about that."

"Heck, I'll take a Choco-Pie, too!" Sasaki Ayami cheered, raising a hand. "Actually, Mrs. Komi, give me two!"

"Three for me!" Nakanaka raised her gloved hand.

"U-um... I'd like some tea, please," Himiko Agari said, raising a trembling hand.

Shoko went ahead and rolled with it, raising a hand to score a Choco-Pie from her mother before moving on to tonight's lovely challenge. She might as well fuel up on that sugar.

She ended up eating four Choco-Pies, with Kaede personally stuffing the fourth one in her mouth. Oopsies! Sugar high!

Then it was go time! Shoko led the girl squad upstairs and to her room to get changed into their sleepwear, and to Shoko's surprise, Shosuke's bedroom door was half-open.

"Ooooooh! There's Shosuke!" Kaede cheered in that goofy voice of hers. She barged right into the room, arms outstretched. "Come here, baby. Let me love yoooooooou...!"

Shosuke, who was doing something on his laptop, took one look at the incoming Kaede and scrambled under the covers of his bed, forming a Shosuke-sized lump under the covers. He was like a tortoise in it shell!

"Ooooooh. Where did he gooooooo?" Kaede wondered, a finger on her lower lip. "Gone!"

Rumiko, snorting with laughter, took hold of Kaede's shirt collar and gently yanked her back. "Come on, little lady, let's get the party started."

Kaede pouted. "Fiiiiiiiine. But one day, Shosuke will be mine!"

On that note, the girls got changed into their favorite pajamas in Shoko's room (everyone had brought theirs). It was the perfect uniform for the mission ahead.

Built a blanket fort!

"Gosh, I haven't done this since I was... uh..." Nene commented as the girls marched back downstairs with a few extra blankets from Shoko's closet. She blushed.

"Eight? Nine?" Sasaki guessed.

Nene made a bashful smile. "Last year."

Nakanaka almost tripped on the stairs. "What, for real?"

"It was for my little brothers and sisters!" Nene added quickly. "They wanted to play make-believe! I swear!"

"Um... I've never done this before," Himiko admitted, nervously toying with her fingers. "What if I do it wrong? I apologize in advance!"

Shoko gently patted a hand to Himiko's head and gave her an it's-all-right expression. Himiko cheered up at once.

Then it was time for work!

"Sixteen, seventeen... exactly twenty blankets to work with," Nene announced after she took stock of the comfy inventory. "Then fourteen pillows, and plenty of sturdy strings and other goodies to hold everything in place. So, how are we gonna design this thing? Like an igloo, a cube, a cave, or what?"

"Let's just improvise," Sasaki offered, raising a hand. "I'll go first!"

Shoko watched, fascinated, as Sasaki held up a red and yellow pattern blanket from the downstairs closet and strung it up, forming a decent fabric wall near the TV.

Rumiko contemplated Sasaki's accomplishment, eyes narrowed, a hand on her chin. "Hmmmmm... yes... I've got it!" She grabbed a second blanket and strung it up at a 90-degree angle to Sasaki's. Then, Nakanaka set up a blanket to start the fort's roof, and Himiko set up yet another wall, then Shoko took her turn, then Nene, then Kaede... add some pillows here, a couch cushion there...

"What do you think, Komi?" Nene asked, hands on her hips again as the seven of them admired their handiwork.

Shoko pointed. Only one way to find out! she thought.

It was cramped in there. And dark.

"Ow! Who's sitting on my hand?" Rumiko cried in the tangled mess of girls inside the badly designed fort.

"Me. Sorrrrrrry," Kaede said.

"My legs... were not meant to bend... this way...!" Sasaki grunted, squished up next to the coffee table in the fort.

"Sorry to whoever I'm poking with my elbow," Nene said, her voice oddly muffled.

Shoko went "hmph!" to say "It's me!"

"Crap. Sorry, Komi!"

"My dragon force... can't fit in here. Must... release it...!" Nakanaka grunted.

"I'm sorry to whoever has their face in my chest!" Himiko cried out.

"I don't mind that much," Nene's muffled voice commented. Well, that explained why she sounded so odd!

It was too much. Nakanaka tore off two of the blankets to let the girls breathe free air, and they spilled out into the open, laying atop one another as the rest of the fort collapsed into a mess of blankets. That was when Masayoshi Komi came downstairs, and he froze at the sight of seven girls in a pile in his living room.

D... dad! Shoko cried with her facial expression. We're not doing anything bad. I swear!

Masayoshi merely nodded once and gave a thumbs-up before wandering into the kitchen to get himself a snack.

"Forgive me, Komi, but your dad is so foxy," Nene bravely admitted.

"I think so toooooo," Kaede added dreamily. "So that's where Shosuke got it from..."

"He's way cooler than my dumb dad," Sasaki added.

Shoko frantically waved her hands in the air, blushing. Can we not salivate all over my dad?!

"Okay, okay, I'll stop," Nene conceded. Then she grinned. "But I'm not taking it back, either."

"Me neitherrrrr," Kaede added happily.

"Your mom is so lucky, Komi," Rumiko added.

Shoko was tempted to crawl under those blankets and form lump #2. Shosuke had the right idea!

But seriously...

"Okay, let's plan this thing out first, girls," Nene declared a few minutes later after Shoko retrieved some extra blankets, going right into big sister mode and organizing the team for round two of Operation Comfy Blankie Fort (the name was Nakanaka's idea). "Komi was generous enough to provide some extra blankets from her own bed, so let's make the most of it! Who would like to submit their design first?"

The girls tried Himiko's idea first, but it felt a bit... generic? Himiko apologized deeply until Shoko hugged her to cheer her up. Then Nakanaka submitted her own design, which was basically a blanket igloo with a chimney to release the dragon force.

"It's an important design consideration!" Nakanaka cried as everyone else vetoed her idea. But it wasn't to be, and Shoko gave Nakanaka a hug, too.

Sasaki's idea sounded downright dangerous, creating a blanket fort that hung from the walls like a giant hammock, and Rumiko's ambitious idea would basically take up the entire house! A few more ideas got shot down, until finally...

"Hey... what's your idea, Komi?" Nene asked. "Go ahead, show us!"

"Yeah, bestie. Show us what you got!" Rumiko cheered her on.

Shoko gasped and held her face in her hands. What if the girls didn't like her own blanket fort idea? It wasn't even that inspired! But maybe...

Shoko drew the blueprints on her communication notebook and, with trembling hands, showed everyone.

"It looks comfy," Kaede commented warmly. "I wanna make that fort and sleep in iiiiiiiiit..."

"Um... I... I think it's good, too!" Himiko cried, raising a hand that trembled even more than Shoko's.

"Wow, bestie. I love it!" Rumiko cheered, throwing her fists into the air.

"You've outdone yourself, twilight dragon princess," Nakanaka declared.

"There might even be enough room to swing around a yo-yo in there," Sasaki added.

Nene beamed. "I think we have our winner, Komi. Let's build your fort! Grab a blanket, everyone!"

Shoko was half-convinced that this wouldn't really work out. She was no architect! But then again, what if her friends were right? She had to believe in the friends who believed in her!

Half an hour later...

"Woo hoo! Give me the lease to sign, 'cause I'm moving right in!" Nene joked when the girls admired the finished product. "Me first!" She crouched and eased her way into the blanket fort, a large, cozy igloo-shaped one with ample room inside and a neat arrangement of pillows and couch cushions in a circle for the group. And don't forget the strings of white lights inside!

Shoko took her seat with the council of pajama girls in the fort, and she raised her last Choco-Pie to declare: success!

"Cheers!" everyone cried, and they all got out their favorite snack as their inaugural feast in the finished blanket fort.

That was when Sasaki suddenly swung around her yo-yo, nearly hitting Himiko in the face.

"Eeeeek! I'm sorry!" Himiko yelped by instinct.

Nene caught the yo-yo and tugged the string right out of Sasaki's hand. "I'll be taking that."

Sasaki shot her a dirty look.

"So! Now that we're all in here, it's time for some serious talk," Rumiko said dramatically, looking around the group with a certain look.

"Oh, yes. Talk about our favorite weather channel," Kaede said dreamily, clapping her hands.

Nakanaka made a face. "What planet is she from?"

Rumiko beamed. "The only forecast I need is for everyone's blossoming love lives! Come on, Komi invited us over, gave us snacks, and designed this fine establishment. Now let's party!"

"Whoo!" Kaede said vaguely, pumping her fists. "Wait, what are we doing agaaaain?"

"Of all people, I'll go first," Nakanaka declared, spreading her arms wide and grinning wickedly.

"Got yourself a crush?" Nene asked brightly.

"N-no! I mean..." Nakanaka went pink and gestured wildly. "It's you, Sasaki! I think that boy in class 2-4 has a crush on you! The one with the glasses?"

"Which one? That class has three," Nene pointed out.

And Shoko didn't know any of them. Oops!

Nakanaka cocked her head. "I dunno, I think it's the one... with his hair parted to the right? He looks like a dork."

Sasaki scowled and stuck out her tongue. "Ugh, I'm already rejecting him!"

"At least Sasaki is already in love with someone else," Kaede added. Everyone stared at her.

"WHAAAAAAT?!" Rumiko cried. "No way, Sasaki! Who is it? You gotta tell me!"

Even Shoko was curious to hear this!

"I'm not in love! What gave you that idea?!" Sasaki snapped at Kaede, going bright red. "Jeez!"

Kaede giggled. "Whoops. I must have been thinking of someone else..."

"Well, I think Netsuno has her eyes on someone," Nene added with a crafty grin. "How many degrees do y'all think that is?"

"Oooooooh!" Himiko finally cheered up and raised her hand. "Perhaps it's..."

Back and forth it went, with Shoko hearing about who might be in love with whom, or who broke up with whom and why, or who's going after the soccer team captain... until finally...!

"Ah yes, time for the big one," Rumiko said triumphantly, leaning forward and giving her bestie an expectant look. "I'd love to hear more, Komi! Got a special somebody in your heart? Who earned the favor of Itan high school's campus queen?"

"She likes the man from the weather channel," Kaede said happily until Sasaki gently pushed her over to shut her up.

Shoko gasped and hid her face behind her communication notebook, going right red, her heart beating passionately in her chest. She knew it was coming, and it was fair for Rumiko to ask, but even so...! That was a challenge for another day!

"S... someone," Shoko whispered behind her notebook.

"Yes? Was that a yes?" Nakanaka asked excitedly.

"Totally was!" Sasaki cheered.

"This is getting good," Nene commented.

"Light showers predicted for tomorrow afternoon," Kaede reported. She giggled.

Shoko squirmed in her seated position on a large pillow. After all these challenges, she felt braver and stronger than ever, and these girls were good friends whom she could trust. Could she go ahead and lay her feelings bare for the blanket fort squad? Maybe she could!

Shoko lowered her notebook and took a deep breath. "Um... the truth is, I...!"

"BOO!"

Shuko's head erupted from between two blankets, and all the girls screamed and thrashed around in terror, bringing the comfy blanket fort crashing down on them. Bummer!

Shoko burst free of the blankets and pillows, shaking her head to clear it. "M... mom...!" she yelped.

"Ahahaha! Sorry, Shoko!" Shuko crawled free of the blankets, stood up, and spread her arms wide. "I just wanted to take a peek at what everyone was doing. What were you talking about? Gossip? New hairstyles? Love?"

Shoko gasped and hid under the blankets again. Why did absolutely everyone bring that topic up?!

"Aw, crud. Well, it was good while it lasted," Nene admitted when the girls finally emerged from the blanket fort's ruins. "We should do this again sometime!"

"Yes!" Kaede cheered. "We can set up a TV in the next fort and watch the weather channel with the handsome meteorologist -"

Sasaki draped a blanket over Kaede to shut her up. "Lots of blankets predicted later this evening! Bundle up, folks!"

Everyone shared a laugh over that. Then, to Shoko's relief, the girls changed topics while they gathered the blankets, and then they cozied up under those blankets to watch a few episodes of a popular sitcom (with even more snacks). Eventually, the girls retired to Shoko's room, where Shoko provided futons for them all, and it was lights out. Kaede didn't even comment on this week's weather before drifting off to sleep.

Shoko, meanwhile, lay in her bed, marking tonight's challenge as complete (even if the fort didn't last long), and wondered something else. The next time Shoko and her friends decided to talk romance, would Shoko have the scoop of a lifetime for them? Or not?

So much to think about!