Tsukiyo was ANGRY.
No, angry's too gentle a word.
She was FURIOUS.
Who the HELL does he think he IS?!
Takao was bowing again and again as soon as they were out of The Grillery a little while later and Kai had driven off on a taxi to his house. "Please Tsukiyo, I'm sorry! Well…errh…for Kai. He's always been that way…"
"He DIDN'T need to CUT me off DOWN LOW!" Tsukiyo had cried indignantly. "I wasn't doing anything to him, why does he have to single me out for his INSULT FEST?!"
Several flashbacks.
***Gee, I didn't know microbes can EAT.***
***Why am I stuck sitting right next to a PIPSQUEAK?!***
***Pass the catsup please, disease.***
"Errh…maybe he has had a bad day at WORK?" SD Takao bowed again. "Sorry, so SORRY! He's just so unusually vile today, I don't know why…"
"That's because he hates me. But what the HELL did I EVER do to HIM?!" SD Tsukiyo had turned into a burning ogre. "Next time I see that Woodstock reject I'm going to KILL HIM~~~!!!"
She has slammed the shoji screen door so hard it sent the owls rattling and hooting off into the night a little while later. Takao, Professor, and Lei all regarded her with huge sweatdrops over their heads.
"Errh…heh heh heh…Kai Hiwatari does it AGAIN." Professor sighed, then looked over at both Takao and Lei. "Uhmm…see you guys tomorrow morning. Be careful."
"It's not like a bunch of rabid zombies would suddenly jump out at US," Takao told him. "Tomorrow, then."
"G'night Lei, g'night Takao!"
"G'night."
The two young men were soon walking down the 2nd street from where Tsukiyo's house was. Lei was looking over at Takao, his expression embarrassed. "Sorry about this Takao, I'm doing a great hindrance to you."
"Nah, don't mention it, Lei, what are friends for? Besides, I just can't take it how you would spend several days or so in a ramshackle hotel before returning to China. It's not that you can't afford to lodge in a decent hotel, it's just that…well, for once, let us take care of you, Lei." Takao nodded. "Enough of your world-wanderer bit and enjoy your stay! It's hard enough to live with my Grandfather without anybody about my age to talk to. And we can finally Bey Blade all we want! Tell me about ALL the things you've seen and experienced!"
"I could honor that one request, Takao," Lei said slyly, "but I'm a far more different Lei than what I was before I undertook my 'scholarly Bey Blade' wanderings."
"You're on!" Takao grinned. "So, when do we get to start?"
Takao pulled back a shoji screen door and smiled apologetically. "It's not much, but I do hope you'll enjoy your stay."
Lei's eyes were wide. "But this is already TOO much! Thanks, Takao."
"Anytime, anytime!" Takao gestured down the hallway. "The bathroom's just right down this hallway, make a left turn towards one of the hanging calligraphy scrolls. Is there anything else you need?"
"No, everything's fine now, Takao."
"Good. I'll wait till Grandfather takes his sake trip, then we'll go sneak out into the backyard. That OK with you?"
"Umm, yes." Lei bowed. "Thank you for everything, Takao."
"My pleasure!" Takao grinned, and for once he was that 13 year old boy again. "Later, Lei!"
Lei shut the shoji screen door behind him and surveyed the room. It was sparsely finished in the manner of a traditional Japanese room, although in place of a futon there was an ordinary bed. There was a desk that faced the window looking to the backyard, along with a small reading lamp and a chair at the side.
Lei put all his things by the fusuma-enclosed cabinet, then pulled out a pyjama suit with frog closures and matching trousers, and rummaged around for his other toiletries.
"I have the o-furo hot and steaming for you!" Takao yells from down the hall. "You shouldn't leave Japan without at least enjoying a traditional hot bath under the stars!"
"Huh…?"
"Don't worry about the towel and all the other important bath things, I've laid them out for you by the o-furo," Takao yells again. "And yeah, the nagajuban would be taken to you a little while later."
"O-OK…" Lei got his pyjamas then went out of his room. Takao was standing at the end of the hallway, holding a long bamboo blowpipe.
The Japanese youth grinned.
"Alright, let's all get TOASTY!"
"Lei, you have GOT to try IT!"
Lei blinked, holding his grilled fish with his chopsticks, his amber eyes wide and innocent looking.
"I'm SERIOUS! Anyway, as your official caretaker here in Japan, it is my sworn duty, as one of the proud and noble samurai of the Kinogu Clan, to assist you in every way possible to make your stay here as wonderful as it can BE!" SD Takao was holding his frying turner in a death grip, a million sweatdrops exploding about his head. "Come on, Lei! You said so you'll return to China after 10 months…that's ALMOST a YEAR…"
"But I really can't study HERE," Lei told him. "I'm becoming too much of a bother already! Besides, I still have those home study classes my teacher had so willingly given me for FREE…"
"But what can you possibly LEARN on such short NOTICE?! It's not that you don't have a good head on your shoulders, but, missing HIGH SCHOOL is missing HALF your whole LIFE already!" Takao was already pleading. "Please Lei! Say YES!"
"Errh…Takao…"
"Don't rush him too fast, Takao," his grandfather told him without looking up from the newspaper he was reading at the breakfast table that morning. "He still needs to get his bearings back, and he needs to rest."
"B-but…"
"Lei, I understand how much you want to know about EVERYTHING on this wide, wild world, right?"
"Y-yes, sir. More than anything."
"…" Grandfather Kinogu put down his newspaper with a steely glint in his eye. "Alright, that's settled, then. Takao, fetch my money box, enroll him at that school of yours right this morning. And take him with you. He needs to know everything that goes beyond these 4 walls, and we must have NOT a second to WASTE! Did I make myself CLEAR?!"
SD Takao fell on top of his head, his right leg twitching. SD Lei's eyes just turned into tiny beads.
"Well?"
"Yes, Grandfather." SD Takao stood up, his eyes thin lines. "I can't BELIEVE I'm related to HIM. What did I EVER do to deserve THIS?"
"Lei, from now on, you're officially a member of the Kinogu family, even if just for 10 months!" Grandfather Kinogu told him. "I don't want any slacking-off on your studies, you hear?"
"Y-yes, sir!"
"Good." Grandfather Kinogu held out his bowl.
"Could you pass me the tofu, please?"
"What, you're going to STUDY here?!"
SD Tsukiyo was staring at him with round, gold-brown eyes. Lei started to sweatdrop.
"Errh…Takao's grandfather was too insistent…and…I really can't refuse him…I mean…they took me in and ALL…"
"Wow, that's GREAT!" SD Tsukiyo grabbed him and hugged him tight. "I wish we'd get to be classmates, I'll show you ALL the ropes around HERE!!!"
"So try tying yourself around the neck and go hang yourself by the willow tree, you microbe. Or have the germs finally eaten through your infinitesimal BRAIN?"
SD Tsukiyo froze and turned into a petrified stone block. Takao smiled uncertainly back at the speaker. "Errh…hi, Kai."
Professor blinked. "Uh…you…"
"Yes, I'm studying here, TOO." Kai was standing there in his politically correct Sendouji Senior High School uniform (typical all-black military type uniform for junior high and senior high school boys) with the school seal pin on the left side of the standing collar and his name plate on his hidden left breast pocket. He had his signature black Jansport hanging casually from his left shoulder, festooned with many button pins, and his Sony MP3 player earphones stuck in his ears.
He was frowning.
"Are you planning to swing around Lei like Tarzan's Jane or are you planning to asphyxiate him to DEATH?"
SD Tsukiyo turned into a burning ogre. SD Lei had a helpless expression on his face, a huge sweatdrop on his head.
"You…vile…detestable…uncouth…vulgar…idiotic…"
SD Kai sighed, a small cloud popping out of his mouth. "Yes, that's SO just like YOU."
SD Tsukiyo had turned into a full-blown ogre, her teeth jagged fangs, tiny ogre horns srouting on either side of her head. "WHAT is WRONG with YOU~~~~?! Do you HATE ME~~~?! Do you find me REPULSIVE~~~?! Why are you ALWAYS taking potshot INSULTS at ME~~~?!"
"Uh…all of the above," Kai replied unflappably.
"…" There was a tense moment of silence.
"That's IT~~~!!! Let me AT him, TAKAO, I'm GOING to RIP him from LIMB to LIMB~~~!!! I DON'T care HOW I'll just DO it~~~~!!! LET-ME-GOOOO~~~~~!!!!!" SD Tsukiyo was yelling, her arms flailing wildly about her head. SD Takao and SD Lei were holding her back from actually leaping at the still unperturbed Kai.
"…" Kai blinked. "Oh, and one other THING. Lei's not going to BE your classmate, he happens to be 3rd year level ALREADY. Can't tell how much THAT makes a difference in your AGES? Well, I guess it was a little too much for your hole-riddled brain to digest. Umm…see you tomorrow."
He walks off into the dazzling early afternoon sunlight. SD Tsukiyo was huffing and snorting and as FURIOUS as one can be.
"Um, Lei, you've got your books here, and your registration form," Takao whispered, handing him his things. "It was a breeze taking care of all your records at once, considering you're a pretty good and conscientious student. It took us all morning, though…and we STILL have to see to your other school stuff."
"Grrrrr…"
"I'll meet you over at the bookstore?"
"GRRRRRRR…"
"…then we'll head on home. Got it?"
"TTTTTAAAAKKKKAAAAAOOOOO~~~~~~!!!" SD Tsukiyo looked like a berserker on steroids. "That's IT he's DEAD~~~!!!"
"Uh…"
"GAAAAHHHHH~~~~!!!" She grabbed Takao by his arm and practically pulled and dragged him off his feet. "Bust a MOVE I've GOT to GET to ONE~~~!!!"
Lei ran after them.
"H-hey…wait…I DON'T want to get…"
"…LOST?!?"
Tsukiyo looked up, stupefied, from sipping her 3rd coffee crumble shake 2 hours later. SD Takao was very panicky.
"We LOST him to that tsunami crowd by the TGIFriday's a while BACK!" He was wobbly-eyed. "I told him not to stray too far AWAY from us and now…and NOW…"
"We really can't do anything about it, this mall is BIG." Now it was SD Tsukiyo's turn to become wobbly-eyed. "If that Kai didn't manage to insult me BIG time Lei would still be with us NOW~~~!!!"
"Oh no, this is Lei's 1st time in Tokyo City's big crowds CENTER!" SD Takao wailed. "We're DOOMED!"
Lei looked around, his slanted amber eyes wide and blinking. "Wow, so many PEOPLE…this beats ANY place on the face of this planet BIG TIME…" he whispered, awestruck.
People here, people there, people EVERYWHERE. If there was an uncanny human representation of what a megalithic sardine can would look like inside out, this was IT. And everybody was in a rush to get somewhere, it was really dizzying trying to look at them all.
Lei found himself drawn deeper and deeper into the crowds of the huge mall, then, for a split second, found himself outside of it. Lei was slightly worried for Takao and Tsukiyo, they looked like they were arguing over something a while ago, and when he turned to look at a Chinese deli stand and turned to look at them again…they were GONE.
He tried to look for them in that huge edifice, but, his efforts were futile. They must've left for their houses already. And Lei was stuck right in the center of one horrific people jam somewhere in the middle of Tokyo City.
Is there any hope of finding his way back?
Lei clutched his purchases closer to him, then watched anybody, ANYTHING, that might help him to get out of this urban jungle and into the quieter suburbs. He found out that he was in a slightly thinner part of Tokyo City where the streets were all lined with weird looking colorful shops filled to the rafters with men of all ages and sizes, laughing and talking loudly among themselves. He could hear the distinct noise of zaps and buzzes over the din.
He walked around, looking for somebody who could help him. The young men he encountered didn't look quite friendly enough, and they were eyeing Lei suspiciously as if he was some sort of criminal out to shoot them all. Lei gulped. They were giving off one heck of a disturbing surge of reiki enough to wake the dead from their graves.
***Why are they staring at me? Did I do something that offended them?*** Lei wondered. ***I'm just passing THROUGH. I do wish I could see Takao and Tsukiyo SOON enough.***
After walking around a good 30 minutes or so, Lei decided his feet were already ahving a mind of their own, so he sat on one of the benches lined neatly outside the strange shops and strange people. Posters were stuck on every inch of available space on the glass windows, and Lei stared at them blankly, as if the posters were sent down from Heaven to guide him out of this Hell.
They were good artwork posters. Cool posters. One even showed a guy with a burning black flame he held on top of his head, glaring at anyone who might be passing him by (;] go IORI~~~~!!!). The lower portion of the poster proclaimed KOF 03.
"Wow…" Lei said, awestruck. "I wish I could get to draw something like THAT…"
There was a hiss, and he heard a guy yell from inside the shop right in front of him.
"Get LOST, Ninomiya! You're ruining my home team's REPUTATION! Go play with your dolls or something, this is only something for BOYS to handle!!!"
"You're just SORE you lost Ceresia (uhm, this is just a make-believe mech from my make-believe RPG mech game, Arcandia)!" a surprisingly clear and soft gentle voice called back, that of a girl's. "And mind you, my Kula Shaker team could beat your home team even with my eyes CLOSED!"
"Ah, SHUT UP!!! Iori's a SISSY!!!"
"If he was, why did he make your K' look so HOPELESSLY bad?"
"Just don't come near my home team again, you'll be seeing STARS! Get it, you anemic little pipsqueak?!" The door hissed shut again.
The girl, her back to Lei, stuck out her tongue at the closing glass doors. "Loser!"
Lei blinked, then stared. The girl, seeming to sense somebody was looking at her, turned to look at him.
Lei can't actually believe he was seeing HER. She looked too frail and too pale to be a mortal, yet...she was THERE. A Faerie.
Her long lightest brown hair fell way past her back and hung down to almost down her lower thighs, tied back with a semi-coronet braid and held in place by a fluffy ice blue ribbon. Her eyes, a clearest shade of amethyst, so pale they looked like glass, stared back at him, fringed with lashes thick and long enough to curl upwards gracefully as if by some artist's loving hand. And she was PALE. VERY pale.
She held a small parcel in her arms, tied in a fluffy white ribbon. Her uniform, a maroon one with an ice blue bow at her neck (like Rayearth OVA school uniforms for the trio except it had a mini redingote), had a full sweeping skirt that swept about her lower body gracefully, its 2-pleat scheme seeming to look as if it was ironed in place. Her bag, an ice-pink Jansport one festooned with many hanging keychains of ALL the mechs from Arcandia and 3 button pins on the top panel hung about her slender shoulders, and a small crytsal pendant hung from a fine gold chain about her neck.
She blinked, then she smiled easily at him.
"Are you lost?"
"Uh…"
"You LOOK lost." She laughed lightly, her laughter as delicate as a thousand silver bells tinkling in unison. "Sorry, I wasn't meaning to laugh at you…it's just…" She gestured to the shop in front of them. "Ueda-kun sure didn't take his loss well…and…hee…that was pretty embarrassing."
"It's alright…"
"Oh, thanks." The pale Faerie blinked. "Oops, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself." She held out her small pale hand, smiling so gently at him.
"Asaya Ninomiya at your service. I'm PLEASED to meet you."