ちびまおう - たなか きみこ：daniha!

chibi maou – tanaka kimiko:＃2

The school bells chimed to signify lunchtime.  The children sighed in relief and took their lunches from their bags. Miko shuffled through her hers, looking increasingly annoyed by the second.  Finally, she gave up and tossed her backpack back on the floor. "Not.  Again." She put her head down on her desk.

Sakura and Tomoyo gave her a questioning look. "What's the matter, Miko?" asked Tomoyo politely. Miko sat up. "I have an Onii-san, Kitoshi-san. He makes my lunch for me, because I'm not allowed to go in the kitchen since last October.  Anyway, Onii-san made my lunch, but as usual, my LITTLE brother, Niko, stole it!" She rolled her eyes and banged her head on the desk. Her muffled voice went on. "He could have just taken the dessert, but noooo... little pig had to take it all.  Lardball."

"Hoe? Why can't you make your own lunch?  Is your kitchen dangerous?" asked Sakura. Miko snickered, and pulled herself up again, looking Sakura right in the eye.  "When I'M in it, it is!" she laughed. "Last October, my school had a science fair, and since I knew I couldn't get one of the top prizes like 'Best Scientific Method' or something nerdy like that, I decided to go for 'Best Presentation' and 'Most Original Idea."

Tomoyo nodded. "That's good. What was your project?" Miko placed her hand on her chin thoughtfully. "I think the title was, 'What is the Best Temperature for Exploding Plastic Soldiers in a Microwave?'"

Sakura and Tomoyo looked at each other with wide eyes, then turned back to Miko with the same expression. Naoko, Rika, and Chiharu also heard the last sentence, and walked over to listen.

"I was so sure I could win with that. And it would be killing two birds with one stone! I could win the science fair, AND get back at my dumb brother for throwing my CD player out the window.  He really likes his plastic soldiers, you see." she added, making a face.  "And I would have the coolest presentation, I could make a poster with all these pieces of melted soldiers glued all over it! And my idea was so original, it was practically guaranteed I would win!" she said, clasping her hands together.

"Sounds reasonable to me." nodded Chiharu.

Sakura stuttered. "B-but, um..."

Miko didn't seem to notice her. "But then it all went wrong... or should I say, it all went too well!  Turns out, that almost ANY temperature is good enough to explode army men, as long as you leave them in for about 10 seconds.  And I put in the whole box, because I was afraid my little brother would find me before they were all melted."

Tomoyo was making a very uncharacteristic wide-eyed expression. "And...what...what happened then??"

Miko grinned.  "Well, since I had to be next to the experiment and record all that scientific data stuff, I had my face pressed against the oven to see how they would melt.  At first it was really cool, they started to bubble and then kind of crumple and shrink and ooze around the bottom of the microwave..." she paused and reflected back on the cool-ness. "I wish I had made a video of it..."

Once again Sakura and Tomoyo gave each other a sideways glance.

"And then, all of a sudden, I heard this huge crackle like a lightning bolt, and the microwave just blew up in my face! My hair caught on fire! I woke up in the hospital a week later.  It was so cool! I had this bandage on one side of my head, and since I had a weird bald spot, my Dad let me get a really cool haircut!  I looked like Rei Ayanami the cancer patient!"

"Wow!" exclaimed Naoko.  "Did you hear any voices while you were unconscious? Did you see a white light?" Miko shook her head.

"No...that was when I fell off the 10 foot ramp at the Skate competition. The voices told me to wear a helmet next time. I mean, I had to get so many stitches on my forehead, I looked like Frankenstein."

Tomoyo's white skin looked paler than ever. "Oh...my..." She gave her best friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Sakura looked a little green.

Miko shrugged. "Too bad I didn't get any scars from it.  It would have looked kind of cool."

Sakura looked uneasily at her lunch. "Um...You can have my lunch if you want Miko, I'm not really hungry."

"Really!? Wow, you're so great! Thanks!" All the other girls quickly donated their lunches as well.

Miko was amazed. "Wow, I never knew people in Tomoeda were so generous! Or are you all anorexic?"

Naoko wanted to hear another story, but Rika reminded her that the bell was about to ring soon anyway, so there was no time. 

Sakura was in a genki mood again, because they had P.E. next, her favorite class. She and Tomoyo walked outside together with Miko. "It's a nice day." sighed Tomoyo, looking at the cherry blossom trees above them.

"Yeah, beautiful." said Miko, looking at Tomoyo with a smile. "I like how you braided your hair, Tomoyo-chan, it really suits you." Miko reached out a hand and stroked her hair. Tomoyo blushed a little. "Ah, thank you, I'm glad you like it." Sakura gave Miko a quizzical look.

"Miko-chan…Where in do you live? Do you live near to the school?" asked Sakura. The other girl seemed to notice Sakura for the first time. "Oh, yeah, about four blocks.  I go pretty fast on my board.  The sidewalks here are a lot cleaner and smoother than where I used to live.  Then again, a dirt road would have been cleaner and smoother than where I used to live…"

They arrived at the field, where the rest of the class was gathering for the lesson. The teacher cleared his throat.

"Alright kids, today we're starting on soccer.  Please get into groups of two and get a ball.  Practice kicking back and forth." He blew his whistle and the children scattered to grab their preferred partners and get the best balls.

Sakura and Miko both grabbed Tomoyo's arms at the same time.

Miko made a growling noise. "Meep!" said Sakura. Tomoyo grew several large sweatdrops. "Um…Let me go with Sakura-chan on this exercise, Miko…I'll do the next one with you, ok?" said Tomoyo.

Miko let go, crestfallen. She looked up as some shouts from across the field floated to her ears.

"Shaoraaaaaaaaan!! What's the matter with you!! I want to be your partner! Why are you so SHY all the time!!" wailed Meilin. She was dragging Shaoran away from another boy by his leg.

"Let….go…of…me…" Shaoran gasped. Meiling tugged his foot one more time and his shoe flew off, sending her sprawling backwards head over heels.  She landed on her bum in the grass. As soon as he saw his chance, Shaoran sprinted away. "Ooooooooooohhh!!!!" growled Meilin. She grabbed handfuls of grass from around her and threw them in the air.  "Someday, you'll stop denying!"

Miko jogged over to her. "That flip was wicked!! Uh, I meant…are you ok-?" She got a mouthful of grass and gagged. Meiling stood up and noticed her.  "Oh, oops…I didn't mean to throw grass all over you.  You're the new kid, Miko, right?"

Miko gagged and nodded, pulling bits of grass out of her mouth. "Ptu! Gah… Yes, I'm Miko.  And who are you?"

"I'm Meilin. Hey, wanna be my partner?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." They both off ran to get a ball.