ちびまおう - たなか きみこ：dagoha!
chibi maou – tanaka kimiko:＃5
Two days later, Kimiko was back in class and as disruptive as ever. The students were glad for it, but Terada-sensei was at a total loss.
"Tanaka! I've had enough! Will you DESSIST!" he cried, as he swiped the pile of rubber bands she had been shooting at various people off her desk. "You never do any work, you disturb your classmates, and you don't even seem to feel guilty about nearly giving Kinomoto a heart-attack with that lizard this morning! What do you have to say for yourself?" the teacher demanded. Everybody stopped their work to listen.
Miko looked down at her desk and blinked. "Well…You see, school is kind of a waste of time. I already have a job, so I don't need to throw away my time here when I could be out getting paid and supporting my family." The student gasped! Having a job at that age was illegal!
She gave him a dazzling smile. "But if you want, I'll try to stop annoying everybody else. I'll just sit here and mind my own business. Can I bring my minidisk player tomorrow?"
Terada-sensei gave her a hard stare. "Absolutely not! And what's this nonsense about having a job? Of course school is a waste of time if you sit here annoying people all day! Young lady, you'd better start applying yourself or I'll have to contact your parents. Then we'll see what they think of this behavior." he threatened.
Miko shrugged and gave a long sigh, as if Terada-sensei were a small buzzing insect that was pestering her. "Fine, I'm sorry, ok? I apologize. Sorry for 'disrupting you, minna. I guess I'll just sit here and apply myself to this little math problem now."
At last Terada-sensei was satisfied, and walked back to his desk. He put the rubber bands in the same drawer he put everything he confiscated from Miko…the one filled with tacks, a few spinning tops, crumpled origami animals, several bottles of glue, snacks, a straw (which she had used as a spitball launcher) and the cute little green lizard. (He had put it in a jar with holes for until he would release it after class.) The rest of the school day passed relatively free of interruption. Except for when Miko started making talking aloud to her skateboard in the last 5 minutes of class.
Tomoyo walked in between her love and her love's rival after school; Miko on her "Sukebo" on her left, and Sakura skating on her right. Meiling was also with them, walking alongside the skateboard. She shook her head, her long black hair swishing from side to side. "Miko, you are so weird." she began. "Why can't you just do what the teacher says? Even if you hate him, that's no reason to act like a 3 year old during class. I mean, I'll admit sometimes it's pretty funny, but…"
"Oh, it's not that," interrupted Miko. "I like our teach'. The dude is smart. He's cool. It's just, I dunno… being stuck in that ONE ROOM! For so many hours! I just want to jump out the window after a while, you know?"
Tomoyo gave Miko an uncharacteristically funny look. "Well, please don't jump out of any windows anytime soon, Kimiko-chan." she said with a compulsory smile. Miko was exhilarated! Tomoyo cared about her! An uncontrollable grin spread across her face.
"I would jump out of 500 windows just to walk alongside you like this, Tomoyo-chan…" Miko sighed dreamily. Tomoyo blushed slightly, not quite knowing what to say.
Sakura looked at Miko. Then she looked at Tomoyo. Then she looked back at Miko again.
Meiling rolled her eyes. "I swear… Anyway, you should at least pretend to be doing your work. If you keep acting up, you might get expelled or something. Hey, by the way…" she started, poking Miko. "Hey, are you even listening to me??"
Miko reluctantly turned her gaze from Tomoyo's lovely visage. "Huh? Wha…?" she asked.
"Oh never mind." muttered Meiling irritably. "Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out a while before going home. I've already finished my homework, and since you probably aren't planning to do yours…"
Miko thought a moment. "I'll go if Tomoyo-chan wants to go." But Tomoyo said she and Sakura couldn't, because they were both going to her house, and her mother was expecting them.
"…And when I'm late, my mom always gets really worried and calls the bodyguards. I'm sorry, maybe some other time." she apologized. The skater girl was heartbroken, but in the end she agreed to go to the arcade with Meiling anyway.
Later at the arcade, Meiling tried to cheer up her friend. "Come on, one more round of air hockey! I'll be easy on you!" But Miko had other things on her mind. "What's the point? It's a waste of time and money. I just wanna go home." she sighed, as she leaned heavily against a game machine and sipping a soda. Meiling didn't give up, though. "Come on, do you think this is as boring as school? You say the same things about everything! Tell me what's wrong."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"You're just mad because Tomoyo didn't come."
"So what if I am?" snapped Miko. "I mean… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at ya… But you know how it is…"
The Chinese girl looked confused. "How what is? Oh you mean how it is to be totally dopey like you? Can't say I do." She snickered, dodging a playful punch aimed at her head. Kimiko let out a nervous laugh. "No…Meiling, haven't you ever really, really liked somebody…but they didn't like you back?"
Meiling stopped laughing. She took a deep breath and replied quietly. "Yes. I'm starting to think everybody does." She leaned on the game machine alongside Miko. They both watched a overweight teenage boy play a fighting game across the room. He made a lot of loud grunts and battle cries, before finally yelling "YATTAAAAAA!!" with his pudgy fists pumping in the air. After his short victory, he continued onto the next level and started it all over again.
Miko broke the silence. "It's that snotty Chinese boy, isn't it? He's the one you like."
"He's NOT snotty!! He's really handsome and quiet and smart and cute and totally perfect! How DARE you call him snotty!!" she growled, pinning the other girl against the wall. The skater girl chuckled. "Well, if he was such a gentleman he could have apologized for that assassination attempt two days ago." Meiling sighed and released her friend. "I guess he is a bit…well, maybe a tiny little bit…"
"Insensitive?"
"NO!!"
"Alright, I guess I don't know him very well. You obviously have known him much longer than me."
Meiling scoffed. "Of course I have! He's my COUSIN! I've know him for ever and ever!" she noticed Miko's disgusted expression. "What?? What's your problem now??"
"OH EW! Incest!" teased Miko, carefully avoiding being flattened against the wall again.
Meiling's face reddened. "That's nothing!! Tomoyo loves Sakura and they're both c-…Oh. I mean… Oops." groaned Meiling, slapping herself on the forehead. "Don't tell anybody, ok? It's pretty obvious, but I still promised Tomoyo not to tell…"
Miko's jaw was hanging so low; it could have scraped the ground. "Tomoyo…WHAT? They're just best…NO! I refuse to believe it. You're just saying that to spread a rumor or something. Really, what a bunch of…of… garbage." She started to walk out of the arcade.
"It's true though! I wouldn't ever spread lies about Tomoyo. She's a good friend of mine. Don't tell anybody!"
Miko spun around. "WHAT kind of good friend are you if you go around spilling the beans about everybody? You're not to be trusted!"
Meiling smiled an embarrassed smile and pulled her hand behind her head. "Well, it just slipped out… I know you're a cool person, you wouldn't want to do anything to hurt Tomoyo anyway! And I'm not a dishonest person! Tomoyo really is a good friend of mine. I don't think she's weird, but probably other people would... Well, they already do, but it's a nice kind of weird…" The wheels in Kimiko's head were spinning madly.
"Meiling… would you mind doing me a little favor? I have a plan, but I'll need your help for it to work…"