Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi
Hello everyone! Here's another installment of Boku/Ata.
First things first...
My new reviewers are: sweetkaiser, SilverStar, Melinda, Kaizer K-chan, Jay Man, Completely Unaware, takeru takaishi, and TT examiner
To answer the question from TT examiner, the definition of the title is given below the title in the first episode (or ninth chapter).
I'm sorry for missing a post last week, school has been getting quite frantic lately, and sometimes I'm not in the mood. Plus, there was a socials project, so if you want to bitch at anyone, bitch at my socials teacher. Yes. Do it. Hopefully, I won't miss any more weekly releases, but I can't give any promises.
Less chatter now, enjoy.
I've also decided that not all thoughts will be denoted with //, but sometimes, rather, with a standard story telling format. I'm being inconsistent again, but I thought that it would be more effective in some situations.
Keep in mind that I'm not in a very funny mood, so this chapter might be a bit...different.
(Added after initial post (in response to 'reader's review (Thank you for your input)): Anything marked with * may be new to some readers, since it's not commonly used anywhere, and will be explained at the bottom of the fic.)
Disclaimer: As always, Digimon belongs to Toei.
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Episode 3: Split
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April 7, 2002 (7:30 a.m.)
"You're up early."
"So are you."
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"And so, significant figures can be determined by following rules..."
Takeru held his head up with his hand. Certainly, he was listening attentively. But he was bored nonetheless. Between this and simply sitting in a chair, he would be placed in a dilemma. It seems that listening attentively doesn't really make anything interesting.
He looked around.
Everyone was no different.
Takeru raised his hand. "Chidoki-sensei?"
"Yes..." The meek female teacher looked onto the sheet on her table. "Shiikata Takeko?"
"Can I go to the bathroom?"
Mrs. Chidoki sighed. "Go ahead."
Takeru quickly rushed out of the classroom, ignoring stares.
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//Although this life has only begun to start,
Takeru stared blankly out the series of windows on one side of the hallway, connected by thin cement frames.
//It's starting to become quite tiring. Maybe even boring, but that's just school doing its part.
Each step Takeru took modified the view he was given, slowly allowing him to see all sides of the small cement plateau outside, and the always existent, occasional Sakura trees planted at choice places. Despite how pleasant it is, it didn't have Takeru jumping for joy.
//It's only the second day. Or was it third? It doesn't matter. Nothing seems to be as I expected. Everyday it's just like every other day, except I'd have to be careful that I'm not revealed. Doing anything has its own inhibitions on me.
Takeru's eyes lightly passed the symbol of female on the door, and stopped.
//Everything has turned into some sort of obligation. Living is suddenly an obligation. Not something on the 'to do' list, but rather, 'have to fucking do' list.
Takeru gently touched the door and pushed it, but halted when he felt unusual pressure around his chest area.
"Give me your bra. Or I'll pump graphite into your neck."
"Stop joking around."
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"So was physics too boring for you?" Takeru asked casually as he washed his hands, feeling a necessity to at least do something since he requested to go to the bathroom.
"I take it chemistry for you wasn't all that great either." Ken brushed his hair around with his hand in front of the mirror.
Takeru nodded.
"What's with the goth eye shadow?" Ken asked, laughing.
Takeru blinked, and moved himself in front of the mirror.
"I just didn't get enough sleep last night, that's all." Takeru said, rubbing his eyes, trying to get rid of the black colour away from this skin.
"Funny, Koushiro said the same thing."
"Let's get back to class before the teachers start to get suspicious."
Takeru exited the bathroom, dragging his feet.
Ken frowned as he followed.
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The class laughed.
Takeru simply slumped his head down. Japanese class, he thought, seemed to be different from before. It had somehow turned into a philosophy class, not that he minded.
The teacher, Ms. Kamiya, was very kind. Takeru knew, she had occasional glances at him, but just ignored the fact that he wasn't paying attention. But aside from that, she was always smiling and was kind in general when she spoke to students.
Everyone seemed to be very happy.
His eyes wandered.
Hikari laughed.
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"You seem to like that class a lot." Takeru remarked as he walked towards his next class.
"Yeah, that's probably my favourite class." Hikari answered, smiling. "Photography comes close, but..."
Takeru nodded as he made a left turn, heading down the stairs.
"You're going down too?" Takeru asked, a bit surprised.
Hikari nodded happily. "Yep. The photo lab is downstairs too. Where are you headed to?"
"Guitar class." Takeru scratched his head sheepishly.
"Guitar, your onee-san plays guitar, doesn't she?"
Takeru held himself back before he went ahead with 'Onee-san? What onee- san?".
"Umm. Yeah. ...She's had lots of experience." Takeru carefully worded. "I've always wanted to play like...her."
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"And we'll start the introduction for the beginners afterwards. So, if you don't already have one, go to the guitar closet to get one."
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"Ne, nee-san." Takeru poked Yamato carefully, almost like if Yamato was dangerous.
"What is it?" Yamato turned around, slightly annoyed from having to adjust to being called 'nee-san'.
"How do you pick a guitar?"
"Just strum it one and see if sounds good enough." Yamato simply said as he took a quick glance, and grabbed a fine wooden guitar off of the space it was put in.
"And guitars are usually good when they look good."
"Ah." Takeru nodded. "Look for pretty guitars."
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"Who here has learned guitar before?" Mr. Norima asked, tapping a pen against his chin. "This is an advanced and beginner mixed class, so there has to be some here."
A few people, around half-dozen, stood up. Most of them proudly.
"Since I'll be teaching the advanced different things, I just don't want to accidentally teach beginner items to an advanced student." Norima explained, looking over all the students in the room.
Yamato reluctantly stood up.
"Okay." Mr. Norima clapped his hands together excitedly. "I want those standing up to perform something for us, just to know your abilities."
Takeru sighed. Somehow, he felt left out. Normally, he was a B student, sometimes A. But now he felt too C+ for words.
The few standing students each played something, each varying from chords to finger picking. Some sang while they played chords, but it was either that the chords weren't played well, or they didn't sang well, either way, un-pleasantry occurred.
"Dashii Yamako." Mr. Norima squinted at the photo on the list. It seemed like the hair was pasted on by computer graphics, but he wasn't about to argue with the photograph. "Right?" He looked up at Yamato.
Yamato picked up his nylon guitar -although he would prefer steel, but that's not available at school, despite the generous funding available to it- and held it normally, except he looked very uncomfortable, having all the weight of the guitar on his left hand since there is no strap.
Yamato took a deep breath.
Vocal: Negai Kanaeru Kagi- Digimon 02
Takeru blinked. He had seen a few of Yamato's performances, mostly concerts on video (a few of which he found to his liking, ones that included events such as beating this ugly fan of his that tried to kiss him on stage with his electric guitar). But he never saw him live. Yamato's concerts were not a rarity, hell, Yamato would have it whenever he wants (when he did concerts within single day notices, and only a few of his fans came due to most of them not even knowing about it, he would express his frustration on Hajime about the lack of audience if no ugly fan that wanted to kiss him was immediately available), but it was strange to go to a concert of someone you know closely. Seeing siblings perform was awkward.
Yamato was incredible. His hand traveled up and down the guitar neck while his fingers changed positions to grab chords instantaneously. After having to actually hold a guitar, Takeru found how difficult it was, actually, to play that, and held onto his newfound awe for Yamato. Certainly, it sounded less impressive on a wooden guitar, but it was still very nice. His voice, though, was still great, but very strange compared to what Takeru heard before. "Sekai wo hiraku no sa!" Yamato sang at the top of his lungs. Taking deep breaths, Yamato realized that he had unconsciously fell into 'concert mode' again.
Claps.
One particular girl at the back made a face and leered. "Show off."
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"But the guitar was school property!" Norima reasoned, trying to be as calm as possible.
"I'll replace the low E-string already." Yamato shook his head casually. "It's not like anyone uses that string anyway." He silently muttered.
Norima slammed the table with his hands. Peacefully.
"That's not the point!"
"What is, then?"
"You're not supposed to strangle people, much less with a guitar string!"
"Oh."
Ring.
"That's that." Yamato stood up quickly, turning to face the door. "I'll try not to do it next time."
Norima raised his eyebrows as Yamato coolly walked out, his tied long hair involuntarily swinging like a pendulum with magnets on either side, displaying unusual velocity as the hair swings past his behind.
"Hmm. That song...I heard that song somewhere. Maybe it was from television. I should check it out sometime."
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"What?" Yamato asked irritably, because, Takeru, is staring irritatingly.
"You know, you're a girl now." Takeru said, bordering on whispering.
"What?"
Takeru pressed his lips together. "You shouldn't be so violent and so obvious, you know. Who knows who might be watching us, or notice, and-"
Yamato simply rubbed the top of Takeru's head in large motions then accelerated past.
"You didn't have to ruin my hair." Takeru pouted.
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"And it's just so frustrating!" Takeru near screamed, but reverted to his normal volume level. "Everything is just...wrong, almost. And nothing good ever happens. Sometimes life just seems to pointless like this, you know what I mean?"
Gabu blinked.
"No use talking to you." Takeru grumbled and exited Gabu's room, a fairly small closet like -a large closet, but a small room- space with a small blanket formed bed, water and food dish, and a few rubber toys for the occasional chewing. And some magazines, oddly.
Takeru walked from one side of the hall to the other. Then back. Then again, always slowing down at the T shaped intersection, looking at the entrance, the door, hoping that something interesting will come by and anti- depress him, anything, mad clown parking a plane outside and threatening to take hostages, some punk walking around with an afro, some mad scientist coming through the door and blasting whatever he sees with a positron laser, whatever it was that was going to come through that door, he wanted to be there when it does.
Tap tap tap tap.
Stomp stomp stomp.
Creak.
"Oh, Take-chan." Hikari cheerfully exclaimed as she entered. "How come you're home so much earlier than I am?"
"Hikari-chan!" Certainly, Hikari was not absolutely the most interesting thing that could happen, but fairly interesting. At least more than blinking talking dogs and sadistic guitarists, he thought. "My last class is just a whole lot closer to the exit." So interesting that it seemed like they met for half a year rather than a few days.
"Oh, so that's it." Hikari nodded as she lifted her legs behind her to take off her shoes.
Blink.
Stare.
"So...you...?" Hikari unintentionally pointed. Takeru stood and stared back. It seemed there was no apparent reason he was there aside from walking past, however, it also seemed that there was no reason to dismiss that he was simply waiting for her to come back, seeing as he's just standing there, awaiting for something to happen.
Takeru smiled.
Hikari smiled back, slightly freaked out.
"Hika-chaaaaaaan." Miyako pounced at Hikari, arriving from outside just decaseconds later. "Let's go to the maaaaaaaaaall." Miyako slumped on Hikari, her hands wrapped around Hikari to keep from falling. She also made no attempt to close the door, probably due to her tiredness. She also seems horribly hyper, which somehow contradicted her being tired. But she was just leaning on Hikari in front of the entrance, not wanting to move. Maybe tired.
"Miyako-chan, you seem so tired though." Hikari bent her back a little to support Miyako.
"You don't understand. Even if I have to walk and carry stuff, simply being in the mall rejuvenates me." Miyako explained, her eyes closed, and still resting herself on Hikari. "Plus, you promised that you'd go to the mall with me everyday for a week."
"Fine." Hikari sighed, defeated.
Takeru stared. Hopeful.
"Do you want to come too, Take-chan?" Hikari asked politely.
Takeru's eyes twinkled. Although seemingly normal, going to the mall (with girls) is quite possibly one of the most relaxing activities he could do. Maybe it would help his odd mood swing, as well.
"I-"
Ken sprinted in, jumped, and used Miyako's back as an extra platform to double jump, removed his backpack in mid-air, and brutally slugged Takeru with it.
"Have to study...uh...stuff, with me." Ken completed, standing on the fallen Takeru.
"Oh, okay. Maybe next time, then."
Ken dragged Takeru towards the right.
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"What the hell was that?" Takeru rubbed his swollen cheek.
"What were you doing?!" Ken demanded.
Takeru sat on the bed, his limbs relaxed. "What?"
"You were going to go to the mall with them!"
"...And that's bad because Take-chan here rapes whoever he goes to the mall with?"
"How come you're in my bed?" Ken asked Koushiro, aggravated.
"This top bunk is the god. *All your base are belong to this bed. I like sleeping here now." Koushiro lazily replied.
Ken inflated his face. "Anyway, I was going to say that it's dangerous, not only because going to the mall with them makes for extra chances that you get discovered, but if you get friendly with them, the chances of communication and being discovered would significantly increase."
"Eh." Koushiro rolled to his side.
Takeru lied on the bed, peering at Koushiro who is sleeping above. "I know what you mean, but I need to get a time out too, Ken."
"Then go to the mall yourself!"
"Who goes to the mall themselves if they don't have anything in particular to do there? Plus, I really want to go to the mall with girls for at least once."
Ken growled in irritation. "You're being ridiculous, Takeru, I'm not going to be put in a dangerous position along with the rest of us just because of your dissatisfaction."
"I'm sorry, Ken, but it's just that..." Takeru opened his mouth to continue talking, but closed it again. "No, never mind." Takeru rolled to his side similarly and closed his eyes, ignoring Ken.
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April 8, 2002 (3:49 p.m.)
"Ne, Hikari-chan!" Takeru runs out of the 'boy's' side room. "Are you going to the mall? I want to-"
Ken quickly followed Takeru out of the room, and slide tackled him down. Immediately afterwards, he grabbed a wagon out of *hammerspace, shoved Takeru in the small thing, and wheeled him back into the room.
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April 9, 2002 (3:45 p.m.)
//[Takeru] I must succeed. I'll try to avoid all attacks this time.
"Hikari-chan-"
Ken sprints out of the room and jump kicks.
Duck.
Upon landing, Ken quickly grabs a soccer ball out of hammerspace, and shoots it at Takeru.
Jump.
Takeru was, however, blown back into the room by the electric guitar thrown at him (at 50m/s) after the soccer ball.
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April 12, 2002 (3:48 p.m.)
//[Takeru] ...I must catch Hikari-chan and them before they leave...but if Ken gets me again...
Takeru took a muted step out the room.
Ken jumps on Takeru.
Takeru's eyes widen.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! *Shinryukeeeeeeeeen!"
Takeru's eyes trailed Ken as he was blasted out of from the roof, then continuing almost infinitely into the sky.
Looking at his fist, Takeru's tears of thankfulness flooded.
And he ran towards the entrance, where Hikari and Miyako just returned.
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"So Takeru punched you, and you just flew over here." Kei repeated.
"Pretty much." Ken said indifferently, his whole body on the ground.
"You're still paying for the roof you crashed through, my LV coat that you caused to have coffee spilt on, not to mention the coffee."
"That idiot." Ken stared at the monitor from the ground, his vision upside down to the monitor. Takeru happily treading. "I know that it's fun and all, but he should have some kind of limit or responsibility to that he should know and stop certain things for it." The screen vibrated, and panned, the monitor connecting wirelessly to the electronic bug that was never spotted.
"He's just having fun." Kei's eyes similarly rested on the screen. "You're being awfully strict and uptight, Ken-san."
"Having fun, but right now, he's being so careless!"
"It doesn't matter, does it?"
"I know, but it's just that..." Ken sighed.
"Just that you kind of abandoned your parents in order to do this, so you would like it to be done well, right?" Kei's eyes are still on the screen, talking as if he was talking about anything else.
"How...how did you...?" Ken stuttered, surprised.
Kei glanced at Ken. "I've taken psychology in University, not a lot, but some. Plus, we have some background information on you."
Kei sipped the remaining black coffee in the cup, his legs crossed. "You know, Takeru is actually doing a better job than you are."
"What?"
"This is a television act, you know. Aside from being not discovered, you're supposed to be entertaining. Being all stiff and boring and simply getting past the year is just doing the minimal."
Ken kept silent.
"We won't let you go for too long without anything special happen, anyway." Kei threw the empty paper cup on the nearest table, got up from the chair, and crouched beside Ken.
"Get up now. Just go out there and have fun and that."
Pushing his upper body up with his arms, Ken sat upright.
"We'll test the new experimental cannon. It shoots people to locations." Kei grinned, his hands almost twitching, as if ready to grab Ken, run across the hall, stuff him into the cannon, and fire him away.
"Who the hell are you, Doraemon?"
"I wish."
"I understand. But I'll still keep Takeru from doing anything too extreme." Ken raised his hands to brush over the corner of his lips.
"Just don't overdo it. I'll get fired if I don't keep you guys under satisfactory misbehaviour." Kei frowned.
"So?"
"So, if that happens, I'll kidnap you all, and we'll play *Russian roulette with a full chamber. Six bullets for six people, everyone gets lucky."
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Miyako slightly leered at Takeru. The absolutely genki Takeru was reasonably genki, but still, something was out of place. Something that made Miyako rather uncomfortable. Perhaps it was just that Takeru is more of a stranger.
"I can't walk for too long today, Miyako-chan." Hikari said to her watch. "I've got to work today."
"It's alright, the café is in the mall anyway. I'll wait until you're done, like always."
Hikari flattened her lips.
"Fine, just don't come in and disturb me like always."
"What? It's not like you'll get fired." Miyako grinned.
"Well, I suppose. But still."
Boom.
Blink.
"Hey, Ken-chan. Where'd were you?" Miyako lifted her cheeks, but refrained from smiling too much.
"Oh. Nothing. Take-chan told me to come with her." Ken kindly said, sitting on top of Takeru.
"Like hell I did."
Stomp.
Takeru's eyes watered.
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"What are you doing?" Takeru breathed, walking steps behind Hikari and Miyako.
"Keeping an eye on you." Ken didn't look at Takeru.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't want you to screw us all up by doing something stupid."
"I'm not going to screw up."
[If he screws up, the ratings will be high when we air it.]
"Shut up."
"We are going there for a bit." Hikari pointed towards the store on the left side, seeing at Takeru and Ken are occupied.
Takeru had, like most Japanese people, not been very good in English. Also like most, he has to pronounce English words in explicit katakana, making them not sound like English at all. Furthermore, there were many vocabularies that he had not learned. For that reason, "*Victoria's Secret" seemingly had no meaning at all.
Ken, on the other hand, is quite fluent in English. But matters cast aside; he could tell what kind of store it is by what they sell through the glass windows.
"It's okay, we'll follow you." Takeru blankly uttered, his eyes still focusing on the sign of the store more than anything else.
Nudge.
"What?"
Elbow.
"Ouch! What?"
Slap.
"What the hell are you-"
The slap on the head had certainly directed Takeru's eyes away from the sign and into the store.
"Oh."
Embarassed and reluctant, Ken and Takeru slowly followed Hikari and Miyako with their heads down.
As always, keeping a certain distance, except this time more distance, Ken gave Takeru a death-stare.
Faintly, words travelled.
Miyako looked at Hikari, a concerned expression on her face.
"You know, lately, my...seems to have grown bigger. And my...feels tighter."
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"...my wrist seems to grown bigger. And my bracelet feels tighter..." Miyako glanced at her braided bracelet, soft colours radiating.
"Oh well. I don't seem to have anything to buy here. Take your time, Hikari."
Turn.
"Are you okay, Ken-chan?!"
Ken roughly wiped the blood dripping from his nose with his arm.
"It must be all the fried food I've been having lately. I'll go to the washroom to clean myself- my blood off." And Ken quickly ran out of the store, refusing to look back.
Takeru watched as Ken ran off. Ken has been a bit strange lately. Everyone has been a bit strange lately. Takeru himself has been a bit strange lately. Perhaps crossdressing had an odd effect on them, but it seemed not only that. The environment, the circumstances, everything has driven them, Takeru included, to desire more and more from life, taking chances and wanting rewards-
Takeru's train of thought was cut off by the sight of a spiky brown haired slightly goofy looking guy right outside of the store, walking beside a fairly pretty girl, looking straight back at him. Separating them was a large piece of glass, which could be bypassed if you walk in the entrance. Trapped was Takeru, unless he manages to drill a hole in the wall. Frantically, he looked around.
"Hikari-chan, take your time, I'll check up on Ken-chan and be back later!"
Dash.
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Takeru ran as fast as he could down the mall, bumping into various people, breaking apart close couples. Daisuke ran directly behind Takeru, having less trouble with collisions.
//[Takeru] Dammit, why is that asshat still trailing me? Doesn't he ever get tired? Why does he have to be a soccer player, having lots of training in running? Would someone please come out and break his leg with a metal pole?
The several fakes Takeru made were in vain. Faking in a large crowd of people, not to mention while running, is difficult to pull off. Not to mention no matter where he faked, he ended up running in the general direction of the crowd.
Swallowing his breath, Takeru ran on.
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Daisuke panted. Certainly that was Takeru he saw. Not only did the face look like his, but he was one of the few people that could outrun him. Daisuke suspiciously scanned the remaining hallway. A dead end with a few shops. Takeru was seen to ran in here. Maybe he's in the crowd, maybe he's in the stores. There was no escape.
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Takeru looked back slightly. Daisuke was furiously shaking his head around.
//So, he lost sight of me.
Keeping a still eye on Daisuke, Takeru walked backwards away from Daisuke's position, his hands reaching out on his backside.
Touch.
Cold. Flat. It wasn't someone's ass, and certainly not living.
Corners. Takeru's hand felt corners.
//It must be a pillar.
Takeru swiftly spun and matched his back to a side of the pillar so that the pillar blocks his presence to where Daisuke was standing. His hands remained touching the pillar. It was abnormally cold.
His mind started pondering upon what material the pillar was made from. He had not even looked at the so-called pillar, but his hands felt like it was a pillar. No matter if it was or not, it was something solid, and it should hide him. The pillar was thin beyond belief, Takeru had so squeeze himself into a stick so that he was thin enough for the pillar to hide him. Surely, if he had moved right now to check the material of the pillar, which made him curious, and got discovered by Daisuke, Ken would give him hell.
Vocal: Hai! Tension- Tokimeki Memorial 2
A pair of hands wrapped around Takeru.
"Where-are-you-go-ing-dear?" Daisuke spewed each syllable softly into Takeru's ear.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
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Takeru wiped his eyes.
"I'm sorry!" Daisuke frantically apologized.
"You didn't have to scare me..." Takeru pouted.
"I thought it would be funny...but you didn't have to go and piss your...pant...ies."
Scornfully, Takeru wish that he could crush that transparent glass pillar.
"Wait." Daisuke rolled his eyes up, as if something was missing.
Daisuke opened his mouth wide and pointed accusingly at Takeru. "You should be doing the explaining! What's with the drag!? How come you and Ken and Taichi and the others signed out of school without telling me?! You weren't even home when I phoned your house! You all had me so worried! Where the hell have you been?!"
Takeru regretfully looked diagonally down from the bench he's sitting at. "Well..."
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*"So, it's like that." Takeru sighed.
"Oh wow." Daisuke blinked. Shock to him is now an understatement. "Just when I left that day...Then you guys...that would explain it. Why you're wearing a skirt, and all..."
"Take-chan!"
Takeru bit his lips. Surprises like these better come in years, if he had a lot today, he better have a lot less for the rest of the year.
"Have you seen Miyako-chan?" Hikari frowned. "She ran off when I was still looking at-"
Blink.
Likewise, Daisuke stared back at Hikari.
"Give me a second." Said Takeru as he dragged Daisuke metres away.
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"She is...?" Daisuke glanced at Hikari that is standing impatiently, far away, then looked back at Takeru.
"One of our...roommates. You could say."
"Introduce us."
"Huh?"
Daisuke pushed his lips into a straight line. "You know, when I was chasing after you, I had to ditch this girl I just met, and we were going just fine. Now she's probably all pissed off, and went home. It's all your fault."
Takeru wrinkled his eyebrows and pointed a finger at himself.
"Yes, you. This girl...seems pretty cute. It's time to repay me." Daisuke tapped his finger against his chin.
"..."
//[Takeru] Daisuke? Hikari? Oh gosh. If I let Daisuke date Hikari, Daisuke would probably easily leak all of our secrets to her. He has no willpower when it comes to girls. Plus, Hikari may be the only compatible girl I could possibly have for the 'bonus'.
Takeru slipped a 10000 yen bill in Daisuke's hand. Painfully, it had been his allowance. Takeru pulled the confused Daisuke back to where Hikari was, forcefully.
"Let me introduce you two." Takeru exclaimed in a fake happy smile.
"Daisuke, this is my roommate, Hikari."
Courteous nod.
"Hikari-chan, this is my boyfriend, Daisuke."
"What?!!"
Takeru tugged at the barely visible paper bill in Daisuke's hand.
Daisuke shuts up.
"Umm. Yeah, nice to meet you."
Handshake.
"Anyway, do you know where Miyako-chan is?" Hikari asked, worried. "Her cell isn't on either."
"Maybe she went to where Ken-chan is."
//[Daisuke] Ken is here too?
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Ken splashed water at his face. Things like these were hard to get used to. Having gone to the boy's room in the previous twelve years of his life, plus, having only one bathroom in the school had not helped his instinctive impulse to automatically go to towards the men's bathroom (there were gasps when he entered, and some 'aww's when he exited in embarrassment). He had better develop a tolerance for things that lead to nosebleeds, too, although the thought of developing a tolerance for that is not awfully pleasant.
Wiping his face with a paper towel, he walked towards the door, then it suddenly opened and Miyako was standing there.
"There you are, Ken-chan." Miyako sighed in relief.
The trauma of being in the same bathroom as a girl is surging through Ken. Hopefully, it will be the last.
"Um-um...um...yeah."
"It's so boring with Hikari-chan. She was arguing with some other girl that laughed at her bra size when she was picking one out. They then started fighting about something like how a lot of parts of her were cuter because she was more petit, but the other girl was just saying something about it's size that matters..." Miyako shook her head in disinterest.
When Miyako looked back at Ken, he was practically tearing off paper towels from the dispenser and stuffing his face in them.
"Are you really okay?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
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"Funny. I swear she was here a minute ago." Miyako bit her nails in frustration.
"Maybe she stopped arguing with this girl about...stuff." Ken said in a small voice.
"Great. Now we've lost them, and they don't know where we are either."
"Them?"
"Yeah, Take-chan ran off sometime ago. I don't know why, though."
"Oh."
Ken brushed his locks aside. They were so long and full of substance due to being tied that it constantly poked his face. It also pissed him off that he couldn't use his locks as a weapon because it's long, but not long enough. It would be a nice poking weapon if he could detach them, but he was one of the few that had his actual hair styled instead of a wig, and he wasn't going to have them cut off. But they look pretty on him, so Ken always forgives the locks.
"Is there anywhere you're meeting up?"
"Not particularly. But Hikari does have to go to work later at the Glass Café, so she'll probably go there a bit later."
"Let's wait there, then."
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"Miyako-san, nice to see you again." The waiter greeted by the counter as he streaked on roller blades with two plates of drinks in both his hands.
"Hey. How's it going today, Takuma-kun?" Miyako waved at the waiter.
"Takuma is one of the more essential waiters here. He might not be the best waiter, but he's polite, friendly, and good looking, which attracts female customers." Miyako explained to Ken over her shoulder. "Although he sometimes attracts male customers too." She corrected herself.
"It's kind of busy, so if you don't mind, take a seat yourself as you like." Takuma rollerbladed back into the kitchen, which isn't much of a kitchen, since only drinks are made, and only more complex drinks are made inside, as the more simple ones can be made on counter, which resembles the ones in bars.
Miyako hummed positively to herself as she walked straight to a moderately large table and sat down. Quickly followed by Ken.
Flipping the pages quickly, Miyako dropped the menu and simply screamed, "Takuma-kuuuuun, I'll have the usual, please."
"Okay." was the answer that indistinctively came out from the kitchen.
"..."
Ken seems to be mesmerized by the menu, for the lack of anything else better to do.
"Ne, Ken-chan."
Ken slightly jumped.
"Wha-what is it?"
"I just want to apologize for a few days ago." Miyako scratches her cheek with one finger.
"...A few days?" Ken looks back at her, confused.
"You know. When you moved in."
"Ah?"
"I was being so suspicious and hostile to you."
"Oh."
"I didn't really mean it, but it's just that it seemed as if something was weird about you."
"Eh?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean weird in a bad way. It's just that you seem...a bit different."
"Is that right."
"I feel that you and your friends seem a bit different from the girls I used to meet and know, so, I just felt kind of suspicious and all."
"It's alright."
"I really shouldn't have been so mean that day, but I was really pissed off."
"Pissed off?"
"Yeah. This guy that I said you looked like, Ichijouji Ken, he said that he would phone me back, but he never did."
Gulp.
"May-maybe he was busy."
"Too busy for a phone call, how stuck-up can you get?"
"I-I, I'm just saying he might have been, there's probably a better reason."
"Ah, let's not talk about it. I get so mad when I do."
"Yeah, let's do that."
"So, what are you like?"
"What?"
"I like to know about people. Tell me about you. Anything. Family, background, love life, anything at all."
"Er...for family...I have...two parents."
"Any siblings?"
[Oto.]
"Oto?" Ken repeated, confused at what Kei meant.
(Oto is a short form for 'younger brother'.)
"You have a younger brother? That's nice, my brother is old. He gets so annoying sometimes."
Ken blinked. Because of Kei, now Ken has another factor, a lie, that could rip his identity up.
"Umm. Yeah. Mine is...e.r...annoying, as well."
"Ken?"
Blink.
Ken looked up beside him.
"Eh?! I...Iori?!"
Vocal: Shukufuku - Love Hina Iori scrunched up into an angry face. "What are you doing here?! How come you left school without telling me!? Why are you dressed like this? Why? Why? Why?!"
Ken nervously stared Iori in his eyes, occasionally flicking his eyes off to Miyako's direction, as if signalling for Iori to shut up in front of Miyako.
"Um...Miyako-chan, this is my oto, Iori." Ken laughed sheepishly, wanting to smash his own head into the ground so that he would die already and wouldn't have such a hard time.
Iori looked at Ken. Ken nodded.
Iori lightly relaxed his face, his mind still tangled in the odd events. It didn't matter, Ken needed help right now, being a friend, Iori has to help, even if it was telling a lie.
"Inoue Miyako. Nice to meet you." Miyako reached her hand out.
"Hida Iori, nice to meet you."
Miyako blinked. "Hida?"
Ken quickly reached his hand between Iori and Miyako. "Umm! Umm! Iori is a delinquent, he hates the family name so he changed it on his own, and umm, he calls me 'Ken' because he doesn't like to call me onee-san, but he hates names that end in ko, so he eliminated that. And he's angry because I left school because he annoys me at school and I didn't tell him so that he wouldn't follow me! And he doesn't like me dressing in anything that isn't goth!"
Ken let out a breath, wondering if his rash excuse is working.
[You really should be in improves.]
"I'm...a delinquent?" Iori pointed at himself.
Ken nods. And nods. And nods.
"He isn't dressing in goth either." Miyako observed.
"He only likes dressing me in goth!" Ken practically screamed out.
"Umm. Okay. He doesn't seem to be so bad, though."
Ken looks at Iori again, calling for help.
"Uhh. Yeah. I'm a delinquent." Iori said with a forced evil laugh. "I'm a...bad boy." Iori raised one of his feet and stepped on the chair (he would've stepped on the table for a more convincing effect if he did it on a table, but he wasn't tall enough).
//Ken better have a damn well excuse for this.
"You, uh, want to, uh, go out with me?" Iori winked. Forcefully.
Ken quickly got off his seat and pushed Iori towards the direction of the exit.
Iori looked at the group that stood in front of them, coming in from the entrance/exit.
"Daisuke? Take-mmph"
Ken grinned nerve-wreckingly as he covered Iori's mouth.
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"So you all know each other."
A series of nods.
Takeru peeked from his seat at Hikari, who was putting a simple name tag and a little waitress apron over her clothes by the counter.
"Great, so we're all acquainted." Miyako smiled. And reached an arm over to Daisuke. "Inoue Miyako."
"Motomiya Daisuke"
Shake.
"So, how are you related to them?" Miyako curiously asked.
"I'm Takeko's boyfriend." Daisuke answered as he put an arm around Takeru's shoulders. Takeru scowled. Daisuke now finding Takeru too feminine to resist and constantly hitting on him, whether it's a joke or not, is very annoying.
"Ooo." Miyako covered her mouth. "What stage are you at?"
"That, is a very good question." Daisuke raised his index finger as a 'point'. "Last year, Christmas, we went out of a date, we went to a movie, had a romantic dinner, then, afterwards, we went to the hotel-"
Takeru slammed Daisuke's head into the table.
"-with our friends to have fancy dessert." Takeru finished for Daisuke.
Oddly, from within the dented table, Daisuke somehow heard "If you try to be creative again, you fucking bastard, I will castrate you."
"Oh." Miyako nodded understandingly.
Iori shifted uncomfortably.
"You know what, I think I've got to go..." Iori politely said.
Ken stared at Iori.
"To...umm...go pimpin'."
"I think I should go too." Daisuke stood up, removing his face from the table.
"Oh, okay. It was nice meeting you two, bye." Miyako waved.
Takeru watched as Daisuke and Iori slowly walked towards the exit of the café, frequently exchanging glances, like if they can't wait to talk to each other.
And Daisuke stopped.
To talk to Hikari.
Hikari giggled at whatever Daisuke said.
Daisuke put on his goofy grin.
Takeru threw a plate at Daisuke's head.
Daisuke walked out along with Iori.
"You should really watch your boyfriend." Miyako noted. "He's a flirt cannon."
"I seriously don't know why the hell I'm dating him." Takeru sighed.
//Besides the obvious, like keeping him away from Hikari.
Carrying menus, Hikari skipped slightly to their table, beaming.
"So, what will it be for you two, since Miya...ko...orde..red." Hikari's words suddenly slowed down and became less enthusiastic. "*This looks familiar." She glares at Takeru.
Ken.
Takeru.
Miyako.
Ken and Takeru on opposite ends.
Miyako beside Ken.
In the café.
Takeru and Ken looked at each other, leaped up past the girls, and ran out the exit.
"Huh? What was wrong?" Hikari turned her head around to see raising smokes from the running.
"What's wrong with all of you?" Miyako asked, addressing the slightly edgy question to Hikari.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You were looking a bit scary back there."
"Oh. Take-chan was wearing that DKNY shirt that I really wanted. It's limited, and I can't even find it on eBay."
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"Are they chasing after us, are they?!?!" Takeru cried out, his tears forming a trail in the air behind him.
"I don't know! I don't know!" Ken ran as hard as Takeru, desperately attempting to find a way out of the dreaded mall.
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Tuduku.
BGM: Aban - Digimon 01
Yamato: On next episode of Boku/Ata: I get into trouble with various of my fangirls spotting my face out. Also, a surprise comes as I know about the Teenage Wolves' Summer Concert.
Taichi: You suck! Your next episode previews are so boring!
Yamato: Shut the hell up, Taichi!
Taichi: Suck my ass!
Yamato: *throws a guitar*
Taichi: Ow! You asshole! Watch me bitchslap you!
(Note: No actual guitar throwing is done during the next preview section. Bitchslapping, however, is another question.)
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Alright. Well, that was that. That was extra long, I guess that could probably compensate for the one week absence, since it was about double chapter long. Argh. It's 5:30 am. I'm soooo tired.
Also, one note. The Japanese teacher is named Kamiya for a reason (well, it is, after all, a legitimate Japanese name, anyone that knows Japanese or is a Rurouni Kenshin fan will tell you that), it locks in deeper to the plot than just a name, if you watch the English dub, you would know that Kamiya is Taichi and Hikari's last name rather than Yagami, and I'm trying to use that last name to relate back to Taichi and Hikari. Plus, if you add a " to the ka hiragana, which gives ga, then rearrange it, you'd get Yagami (odd, no?) =p.
(Extra Section added in after initial posting (corresponds with extra note at top):
1) "All your base are belong to this bed" refers to the joke "All your base are belong to us." from 'Zero Wing'.
2) Hammerspace refers to the 'cyberspace' or 'hyperspace' in which anime girls pull out hammers out of nowhere, the hammerspace having infinite storage space and is constantly accessible.
3) Shinryuken is the super move in which Ken from Street Fighter uses, he raises his fist and jumps to make a fiery stationary twister which his opponent will be engulfed in if hit.
4) Russian roulette is a game you play with a revolver with one bullet in the chamber and aim it at your head. You're not sure which chamber the bullet is in, so you exchange shots with whoever you're playing against and see who gets their head blown off. Exciting game, really...
5) Victoria's Secret is a lingerie store. But we all know that, right?
6) Referring to the general event. It's actually alright for Daisuke and Iori to know because they're not in the Sakura school, like stated in the agreement. 7) Reference to sitting formation in the very first prelude chapter.
Anyway. Review. I hope that I have time next week to get the chapter in as well.
Ja.
-Lumi
Hello everyone! Here's another installment of Boku/Ata.
First things first...
My new reviewers are: sweetkaiser, SilverStar, Melinda, Kaizer K-chan, Jay Man, Completely Unaware, takeru takaishi, and TT examiner
To answer the question from TT examiner, the definition of the title is given below the title in the first episode (or ninth chapter).
I'm sorry for missing a post last week, school has been getting quite frantic lately, and sometimes I'm not in the mood. Plus, there was a socials project, so if you want to bitch at anyone, bitch at my socials teacher. Yes. Do it. Hopefully, I won't miss any more weekly releases, but I can't give any promises.
Less chatter now, enjoy.
I've also decided that not all thoughts will be denoted with //, but sometimes, rather, with a standard story telling format. I'm being inconsistent again, but I thought that it would be more effective in some situations.
Keep in mind that I'm not in a very funny mood, so this chapter might be a bit...different.
(Added after initial post (in response to 'reader's review (Thank you for your input)): Anything marked with * may be new to some readers, since it's not commonly used anywhere, and will be explained at the bottom of the fic.)
Disclaimer: As always, Digimon belongs to Toei.
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Episode 3: Split
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April 7, 2002 (7:30 a.m.)
"You're up early."
"So are you."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
"And so, significant figures can be determined by following rules..."
Takeru held his head up with his hand. Certainly, he was listening attentively. But he was bored nonetheless. Between this and simply sitting in a chair, he would be placed in a dilemma. It seems that listening attentively doesn't really make anything interesting.
He looked around.
Everyone was no different.
Takeru raised his hand. "Chidoki-sensei?"
"Yes..." The meek female teacher looked onto the sheet on her table. "Shiikata Takeko?"
"Can I go to the bathroom?"
Mrs. Chidoki sighed. "Go ahead."
Takeru quickly rushed out of the classroom, ignoring stares.
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//Although this life has only begun to start,
Takeru stared blankly out the series of windows on one side of the hallway, connected by thin cement frames.
//It's starting to become quite tiring. Maybe even boring, but that's just school doing its part.
Each step Takeru took modified the view he was given, slowly allowing him to see all sides of the small cement plateau outside, and the always existent, occasional Sakura trees planted at choice places. Despite how pleasant it is, it didn't have Takeru jumping for joy.
//It's only the second day. Or was it third? It doesn't matter. Nothing seems to be as I expected. Everyday it's just like every other day, except I'd have to be careful that I'm not revealed. Doing anything has its own inhibitions on me.
Takeru's eyes lightly passed the symbol of female on the door, and stopped.
//Everything has turned into some sort of obligation. Living is suddenly an obligation. Not something on the 'to do' list, but rather, 'have to fucking do' list.
Takeru gently touched the door and pushed it, but halted when he felt unusual pressure around his chest area.
"Give me your bra. Or I'll pump graphite into your neck."
"Stop joking around."
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"So was physics too boring for you?" Takeru asked casually as he washed his hands, feeling a necessity to at least do something since he requested to go to the bathroom.
"I take it chemistry for you wasn't all that great either." Ken brushed his hair around with his hand in front of the mirror.
Takeru nodded.
"What's with the goth eye shadow?" Ken asked, laughing.
Takeru blinked, and moved himself in front of the mirror.
"I just didn't get enough sleep last night, that's all." Takeru said, rubbing his eyes, trying to get rid of the black colour away from this skin.
"Funny, Koushiro said the same thing."
"Let's get back to class before the teachers start to get suspicious."
Takeru exited the bathroom, dragging his feet.
Ken frowned as he followed.
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The class laughed.
Takeru simply slumped his head down. Japanese class, he thought, seemed to be different from before. It had somehow turned into a philosophy class, not that he minded.
The teacher, Ms. Kamiya, was very kind. Takeru knew, she had occasional glances at him, but just ignored the fact that he wasn't paying attention. But aside from that, she was always smiling and was kind in general when she spoke to students.
Everyone seemed to be very happy.
His eyes wandered.
Hikari laughed.
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"You seem to like that class a lot." Takeru remarked as he walked towards his next class.
"Yeah, that's probably my favourite class." Hikari answered, smiling. "Photography comes close, but..."
Takeru nodded as he made a left turn, heading down the stairs.
"You're going down too?" Takeru asked, a bit surprised.
Hikari nodded happily. "Yep. The photo lab is downstairs too. Where are you headed to?"
"Guitar class." Takeru scratched his head sheepishly.
"Guitar, your onee-san plays guitar, doesn't she?"
Takeru held himself back before he went ahead with 'Onee-san? What onee- san?".
"Umm. Yeah. ...She's had lots of experience." Takeru carefully worded. "I've always wanted to play like...her."
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"And we'll start the introduction for the beginners afterwards. So, if you don't already have one, go to the guitar closet to get one."
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"Ne, nee-san." Takeru poked Yamato carefully, almost like if Yamato was dangerous.
"What is it?" Yamato turned around, slightly annoyed from having to adjust to being called 'nee-san'.
"How do you pick a guitar?"
"Just strum it one and see if sounds good enough." Yamato simply said as he took a quick glance, and grabbed a fine wooden guitar off of the space it was put in.
"And guitars are usually good when they look good."
"Ah." Takeru nodded. "Look for pretty guitars."
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"Who here has learned guitar before?" Mr. Norima asked, tapping a pen against his chin. "This is an advanced and beginner mixed class, so there has to be some here."
A few people, around half-dozen, stood up. Most of them proudly.
"Since I'll be teaching the advanced different things, I just don't want to accidentally teach beginner items to an advanced student." Norima explained, looking over all the students in the room.
Yamato reluctantly stood up.
"Okay." Mr. Norima clapped his hands together excitedly. "I want those standing up to perform something for us, just to know your abilities."
Takeru sighed. Somehow, he felt left out. Normally, he was a B student, sometimes A. But now he felt too C+ for words.
The few standing students each played something, each varying from chords to finger picking. Some sang while they played chords, but it was either that the chords weren't played well, or they didn't sang well, either way, un-pleasantry occurred.
"Dashii Yamako." Mr. Norima squinted at the photo on the list. It seemed like the hair was pasted on by computer graphics, but he wasn't about to argue with the photograph. "Right?" He looked up at Yamato.
Yamato picked up his nylon guitar -although he would prefer steel, but that's not available at school, despite the generous funding available to it- and held it normally, except he looked very uncomfortable, having all the weight of the guitar on his left hand since there is no strap.
Yamato took a deep breath.
Vocal: Negai Kanaeru Kagi- Digimon 02
Takeru blinked. He had seen a few of Yamato's performances, mostly concerts on video (a few of which he found to his liking, ones that included events such as beating this ugly fan of his that tried to kiss him on stage with his electric guitar). But he never saw him live. Yamato's concerts were not a rarity, hell, Yamato would have it whenever he wants (when he did concerts within single day notices, and only a few of his fans came due to most of them not even knowing about it, he would express his frustration on Hajime about the lack of audience if no ugly fan that wanted to kiss him was immediately available), but it was strange to go to a concert of someone you know closely. Seeing siblings perform was awkward.
Yamato was incredible. His hand traveled up and down the guitar neck while his fingers changed positions to grab chords instantaneously. After having to actually hold a guitar, Takeru found how difficult it was, actually, to play that, and held onto his newfound awe for Yamato. Certainly, it sounded less impressive on a wooden guitar, but it was still very nice. His voice, though, was still great, but very strange compared to what Takeru heard before. "Sekai wo hiraku no sa!" Yamato sang at the top of his lungs. Taking deep breaths, Yamato realized that he had unconsciously fell into 'concert mode' again.
Claps.
One particular girl at the back made a face and leered. "Show off."
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"But the guitar was school property!" Norima reasoned, trying to be as calm as possible.
"I'll replace the low E-string already." Yamato shook his head casually. "It's not like anyone uses that string anyway." He silently muttered.
Norima slammed the table with his hands. Peacefully.
"That's not the point!"
"What is, then?"
"You're not supposed to strangle people, much less with a guitar string!"
"Oh."
Ring.
"That's that." Yamato stood up quickly, turning to face the door. "I'll try not to do it next time."
Norima raised his eyebrows as Yamato coolly walked out, his tied long hair involuntarily swinging like a pendulum with magnets on either side, displaying unusual velocity as the hair swings past his behind.
"Hmm. That song...I heard that song somewhere. Maybe it was from television. I should check it out sometime."
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"What?" Yamato asked irritably, because, Takeru, is staring irritatingly.
"You know, you're a girl now." Takeru said, bordering on whispering.
"What?"
Takeru pressed his lips together. "You shouldn't be so violent and so obvious, you know. Who knows who might be watching us, or notice, and-"
Yamato simply rubbed the top of Takeru's head in large motions then accelerated past.
"You didn't have to ruin my hair." Takeru pouted.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
"And it's just so frustrating!" Takeru near screamed, but reverted to his normal volume level. "Everything is just...wrong, almost. And nothing good ever happens. Sometimes life just seems to pointless like this, you know what I mean?"
Gabu blinked.
"No use talking to you." Takeru grumbled and exited Gabu's room, a fairly small closet like -a large closet, but a small room- space with a small blanket formed bed, water and food dish, and a few rubber toys for the occasional chewing. And some magazines, oddly.
Takeru walked from one side of the hall to the other. Then back. Then again, always slowing down at the T shaped intersection, looking at the entrance, the door, hoping that something interesting will come by and anti- depress him, anything, mad clown parking a plane outside and threatening to take hostages, some punk walking around with an afro, some mad scientist coming through the door and blasting whatever he sees with a positron laser, whatever it was that was going to come through that door, he wanted to be there when it does.
Tap tap tap tap.
Stomp stomp stomp.
Creak.
"Oh, Take-chan." Hikari cheerfully exclaimed as she entered. "How come you're home so much earlier than I am?"
"Hikari-chan!" Certainly, Hikari was not absolutely the most interesting thing that could happen, but fairly interesting. At least more than blinking talking dogs and sadistic guitarists, he thought. "My last class is just a whole lot closer to the exit." So interesting that it seemed like they met for half a year rather than a few days.
"Oh, so that's it." Hikari nodded as she lifted her legs behind her to take off her shoes.
Blink.
Stare.
"So...you...?" Hikari unintentionally pointed. Takeru stood and stared back. It seemed there was no apparent reason he was there aside from walking past, however, it also seemed that there was no reason to dismiss that he was simply waiting for her to come back, seeing as he's just standing there, awaiting for something to happen.
Takeru smiled.
Hikari smiled back, slightly freaked out.
"Hika-chaaaaaaan." Miyako pounced at Hikari, arriving from outside just decaseconds later. "Let's go to the maaaaaaaaaall." Miyako slumped on Hikari, her hands wrapped around Hikari to keep from falling. She also made no attempt to close the door, probably due to her tiredness. She also seems horribly hyper, which somehow contradicted her being tired. But she was just leaning on Hikari in front of the entrance, not wanting to move. Maybe tired.
"Miyako-chan, you seem so tired though." Hikari bent her back a little to support Miyako.
"You don't understand. Even if I have to walk and carry stuff, simply being in the mall rejuvenates me." Miyako explained, her eyes closed, and still resting herself on Hikari. "Plus, you promised that you'd go to the mall with me everyday for a week."
"Fine." Hikari sighed, defeated.
Takeru stared. Hopeful.
"Do you want to come too, Take-chan?" Hikari asked politely.
Takeru's eyes twinkled. Although seemingly normal, going to the mall (with girls) is quite possibly one of the most relaxing activities he could do. Maybe it would help his odd mood swing, as well.
"I-"
Ken sprinted in, jumped, and used Miyako's back as an extra platform to double jump, removed his backpack in mid-air, and brutally slugged Takeru with it.
"Have to study...uh...stuff, with me." Ken completed, standing on the fallen Takeru.
"Oh, okay. Maybe next time, then."
Ken dragged Takeru towards the right.
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"What the hell was that?" Takeru rubbed his swollen cheek.
"What were you doing?!" Ken demanded.
Takeru sat on the bed, his limbs relaxed. "What?"
"You were going to go to the mall with them!"
"...And that's bad because Take-chan here rapes whoever he goes to the mall with?"
"How come you're in my bed?" Ken asked Koushiro, aggravated.
"This top bunk is the god. *All your base are belong to this bed. I like sleeping here now." Koushiro lazily replied.
Ken inflated his face. "Anyway, I was going to say that it's dangerous, not only because going to the mall with them makes for extra chances that you get discovered, but if you get friendly with them, the chances of communication and being discovered would significantly increase."
"Eh." Koushiro rolled to his side.
Takeru lied on the bed, peering at Koushiro who is sleeping above. "I know what you mean, but I need to get a time out too, Ken."
"Then go to the mall yourself!"
"Who goes to the mall themselves if they don't have anything in particular to do there? Plus, I really want to go to the mall with girls for at least once."
Ken growled in irritation. "You're being ridiculous, Takeru, I'm not going to be put in a dangerous position along with the rest of us just because of your dissatisfaction."
"I'm sorry, Ken, but it's just that..." Takeru opened his mouth to continue talking, but closed it again. "No, never mind." Takeru rolled to his side similarly and closed his eyes, ignoring Ken.
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April 8, 2002 (3:49 p.m.)
"Ne, Hikari-chan!" Takeru runs out of the 'boy's' side room. "Are you going to the mall? I want to-"
Ken quickly followed Takeru out of the room, and slide tackled him down. Immediately afterwards, he grabbed a wagon out of *hammerspace, shoved Takeru in the small thing, and wheeled him back into the room.
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April 9, 2002 (3:45 p.m.)
//[Takeru] I must succeed. I'll try to avoid all attacks this time.
"Hikari-chan-"
Ken sprints out of the room and jump kicks.
Duck.
Upon landing, Ken quickly grabs a soccer ball out of hammerspace, and shoots it at Takeru.
Jump.
Takeru was, however, blown back into the room by the electric guitar thrown at him (at 50m/s) after the soccer ball.
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April 12, 2002 (3:48 p.m.)
//[Takeru] ...I must catch Hikari-chan and them before they leave...but if Ken gets me again...
Takeru took a muted step out the room.
Ken jumps on Takeru.
Takeru's eyes widen.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! *Shinryukeeeeeeeeen!"
Takeru's eyes trailed Ken as he was blasted out of from the roof, then continuing almost infinitely into the sky.
Looking at his fist, Takeru's tears of thankfulness flooded.
And he ran towards the entrance, where Hikari and Miyako just returned.
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"So Takeru punched you, and you just flew over here." Kei repeated.
"Pretty much." Ken said indifferently, his whole body on the ground.
"You're still paying for the roof you crashed through, my LV coat that you caused to have coffee spilt on, not to mention the coffee."
"That idiot." Ken stared at the monitor from the ground, his vision upside down to the monitor. Takeru happily treading. "I know that it's fun and all, but he should have some kind of limit or responsibility to that he should know and stop certain things for it." The screen vibrated, and panned, the monitor connecting wirelessly to the electronic bug that was never spotted.
"He's just having fun." Kei's eyes similarly rested on the screen. "You're being awfully strict and uptight, Ken-san."
"Having fun, but right now, he's being so careless!"
"It doesn't matter, does it?"
"I know, but it's just that..." Ken sighed.
"Just that you kind of abandoned your parents in order to do this, so you would like it to be done well, right?" Kei's eyes are still on the screen, talking as if he was talking about anything else.
"How...how did you...?" Ken stuttered, surprised.
Kei glanced at Ken. "I've taken psychology in University, not a lot, but some. Plus, we have some background information on you."
Kei sipped the remaining black coffee in the cup, his legs crossed. "You know, Takeru is actually doing a better job than you are."
"What?"
"This is a television act, you know. Aside from being not discovered, you're supposed to be entertaining. Being all stiff and boring and simply getting past the year is just doing the minimal."
Ken kept silent.
"We won't let you go for too long without anything special happen, anyway." Kei threw the empty paper cup on the nearest table, got up from the chair, and crouched beside Ken.
"Get up now. Just go out there and have fun and that."
Pushing his upper body up with his arms, Ken sat upright.
"We'll test the new experimental cannon. It shoots people to locations." Kei grinned, his hands almost twitching, as if ready to grab Ken, run across the hall, stuff him into the cannon, and fire him away.
"Who the hell are you, Doraemon?"
"I wish."
"I understand. But I'll still keep Takeru from doing anything too extreme." Ken raised his hands to brush over the corner of his lips.
"Just don't overdo it. I'll get fired if I don't keep you guys under satisfactory misbehaviour." Kei frowned.
"So?"
"So, if that happens, I'll kidnap you all, and we'll play *Russian roulette with a full chamber. Six bullets for six people, everyone gets lucky."
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Miyako slightly leered at Takeru. The absolutely genki Takeru was reasonably genki, but still, something was out of place. Something that made Miyako rather uncomfortable. Perhaps it was just that Takeru is more of a stranger.
"I can't walk for too long today, Miyako-chan." Hikari said to her watch. "I've got to work today."
"It's alright, the café is in the mall anyway. I'll wait until you're done, like always."
Hikari flattened her lips.
"Fine, just don't come in and disturb me like always."
"What? It's not like you'll get fired." Miyako grinned.
"Well, I suppose. But still."
Boom.
Blink.
"Hey, Ken-chan. Where'd were you?" Miyako lifted her cheeks, but refrained from smiling too much.
"Oh. Nothing. Take-chan told me to come with her." Ken kindly said, sitting on top of Takeru.
"Like hell I did."
Stomp.
Takeru's eyes watered.
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"What are you doing?" Takeru breathed, walking steps behind Hikari and Miyako.
"Keeping an eye on you." Ken didn't look at Takeru.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't want you to screw us all up by doing something stupid."
"I'm not going to screw up."
[If he screws up, the ratings will be high when we air it.]
"Shut up."
"We are going there for a bit." Hikari pointed towards the store on the left side, seeing at Takeru and Ken are occupied.
Takeru had, like most Japanese people, not been very good in English. Also like most, he has to pronounce English words in explicit katakana, making them not sound like English at all. Furthermore, there were many vocabularies that he had not learned. For that reason, "*Victoria's Secret" seemingly had no meaning at all.
Ken, on the other hand, is quite fluent in English. But matters cast aside; he could tell what kind of store it is by what they sell through the glass windows.
"It's okay, we'll follow you." Takeru blankly uttered, his eyes still focusing on the sign of the store more than anything else.
Nudge.
"What?"
Elbow.
"Ouch! What?"
Slap.
"What the hell are you-"
The slap on the head had certainly directed Takeru's eyes away from the sign and into the store.
"Oh."
Embarassed and reluctant, Ken and Takeru slowly followed Hikari and Miyako with their heads down.
As always, keeping a certain distance, except this time more distance, Ken gave Takeru a death-stare.
Faintly, words travelled.
Miyako looked at Hikari, a concerned expression on her face.
"You know, lately, my...seems to have grown bigger. And my...feels tighter."
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"...my wrist seems to grown bigger. And my bracelet feels tighter..." Miyako glanced at her braided bracelet, soft colours radiating.
"Oh well. I don't seem to have anything to buy here. Take your time, Hikari."
Turn.
"Are you okay, Ken-chan?!"
Ken roughly wiped the blood dripping from his nose with his arm.
"It must be all the fried food I've been having lately. I'll go to the washroom to clean myself- my blood off." And Ken quickly ran out of the store, refusing to look back.
Takeru watched as Ken ran off. Ken has been a bit strange lately. Everyone has been a bit strange lately. Takeru himself has been a bit strange lately. Perhaps crossdressing had an odd effect on them, but it seemed not only that. The environment, the circumstances, everything has driven them, Takeru included, to desire more and more from life, taking chances and wanting rewards-
Takeru's train of thought was cut off by the sight of a spiky brown haired slightly goofy looking guy right outside of the store, walking beside a fairly pretty girl, looking straight back at him. Separating them was a large piece of glass, which could be bypassed if you walk in the entrance. Trapped was Takeru, unless he manages to drill a hole in the wall. Frantically, he looked around.
"Hikari-chan, take your time, I'll check up on Ken-chan and be back later!"
Dash.
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Takeru ran as fast as he could down the mall, bumping into various people, breaking apart close couples. Daisuke ran directly behind Takeru, having less trouble with collisions.
//[Takeru] Dammit, why is that asshat still trailing me? Doesn't he ever get tired? Why does he have to be a soccer player, having lots of training in running? Would someone please come out and break his leg with a metal pole?
The several fakes Takeru made were in vain. Faking in a large crowd of people, not to mention while running, is difficult to pull off. Not to mention no matter where he faked, he ended up running in the general direction of the crowd.
Swallowing his breath, Takeru ran on.
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Daisuke panted. Certainly that was Takeru he saw. Not only did the face look like his, but he was one of the few people that could outrun him. Daisuke suspiciously scanned the remaining hallway. A dead end with a few shops. Takeru was seen to ran in here. Maybe he's in the crowd, maybe he's in the stores. There was no escape.
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Takeru looked back slightly. Daisuke was furiously shaking his head around.
//So, he lost sight of me.
Keeping a still eye on Daisuke, Takeru walked backwards away from Daisuke's position, his hands reaching out on his backside.
Touch.
Cold. Flat. It wasn't someone's ass, and certainly not living.
Corners. Takeru's hand felt corners.
//It must be a pillar.
Takeru swiftly spun and matched his back to a side of the pillar so that the pillar blocks his presence to where Daisuke was standing. His hands remained touching the pillar. It was abnormally cold.
His mind started pondering upon what material the pillar was made from. He had not even looked at the so-called pillar, but his hands felt like it was a pillar. No matter if it was or not, it was something solid, and it should hide him. The pillar was thin beyond belief, Takeru had so squeeze himself into a stick so that he was thin enough for the pillar to hide him. Surely, if he had moved right now to check the material of the pillar, which made him curious, and got discovered by Daisuke, Ken would give him hell.
Vocal: Hai! Tension- Tokimeki Memorial 2
A pair of hands wrapped around Takeru.
"Where-are-you-go-ing-dear?" Daisuke spewed each syllable softly into Takeru's ear.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
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Takeru wiped his eyes.
"I'm sorry!" Daisuke frantically apologized.
"You didn't have to scare me..." Takeru pouted.
"I thought it would be funny...but you didn't have to go and piss your...pant...ies."
Scornfully, Takeru wish that he could crush that transparent glass pillar.
"Wait." Daisuke rolled his eyes up, as if something was missing.
Daisuke opened his mouth wide and pointed accusingly at Takeru. "You should be doing the explaining! What's with the drag!? How come you and Ken and Taichi and the others signed out of school without telling me?! You weren't even home when I phoned your house! You all had me so worried! Where the hell have you been?!"
Takeru regretfully looked diagonally down from the bench he's sitting at. "Well..."
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*"So, it's like that." Takeru sighed.
"Oh wow." Daisuke blinked. Shock to him is now an understatement. "Just when I left that day...Then you guys...that would explain it. Why you're wearing a skirt, and all..."
"Take-chan!"
Takeru bit his lips. Surprises like these better come in years, if he had a lot today, he better have a lot less for the rest of the year.
"Have you seen Miyako-chan?" Hikari frowned. "She ran off when I was still looking at-"
Blink.
Likewise, Daisuke stared back at Hikari.
"Give me a second." Said Takeru as he dragged Daisuke metres away.
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"She is...?" Daisuke glanced at Hikari that is standing impatiently, far away, then looked back at Takeru.
"One of our...roommates. You could say."
"Introduce us."
"Huh?"
Daisuke pushed his lips into a straight line. "You know, when I was chasing after you, I had to ditch this girl I just met, and we were going just fine. Now she's probably all pissed off, and went home. It's all your fault."
Takeru wrinkled his eyebrows and pointed a finger at himself.
"Yes, you. This girl...seems pretty cute. It's time to repay me." Daisuke tapped his finger against his chin.
"..."
//[Takeru] Daisuke? Hikari? Oh gosh. If I let Daisuke date Hikari, Daisuke would probably easily leak all of our secrets to her. He has no willpower when it comes to girls. Plus, Hikari may be the only compatible girl I could possibly have for the 'bonus'.
Takeru slipped a 10000 yen bill in Daisuke's hand. Painfully, it had been his allowance. Takeru pulled the confused Daisuke back to where Hikari was, forcefully.
"Let me introduce you two." Takeru exclaimed in a fake happy smile.
"Daisuke, this is my roommate, Hikari."
Courteous nod.
"Hikari-chan, this is my boyfriend, Daisuke."
"What?!!"
Takeru tugged at the barely visible paper bill in Daisuke's hand.
Daisuke shuts up.
"Umm. Yeah, nice to meet you."
Handshake.
"Anyway, do you know where Miyako-chan is?" Hikari asked, worried. "Her cell isn't on either."
"Maybe she went to where Ken-chan is."
//[Daisuke] Ken is here too?
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Ken splashed water at his face. Things like these were hard to get used to. Having gone to the boy's room in the previous twelve years of his life, plus, having only one bathroom in the school had not helped his instinctive impulse to automatically go to towards the men's bathroom (there were gasps when he entered, and some 'aww's when he exited in embarrassment). He had better develop a tolerance for things that lead to nosebleeds, too, although the thought of developing a tolerance for that is not awfully pleasant.
Wiping his face with a paper towel, he walked towards the door, then it suddenly opened and Miyako was standing there.
"There you are, Ken-chan." Miyako sighed in relief.
The trauma of being in the same bathroom as a girl is surging through Ken. Hopefully, it will be the last.
"Um-um...um...yeah."
"It's so boring with Hikari-chan. She was arguing with some other girl that laughed at her bra size when she was picking one out. They then started fighting about something like how a lot of parts of her were cuter because she was more petit, but the other girl was just saying something about it's size that matters..." Miyako shook her head in disinterest.
When Miyako looked back at Ken, he was practically tearing off paper towels from the dispenser and stuffing his face in them.
"Are you really okay?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
"Funny. I swear she was here a minute ago." Miyako bit her nails in frustration.
"Maybe she stopped arguing with this girl about...stuff." Ken said in a small voice.
"Great. Now we've lost them, and they don't know where we are either."
"Them?"
"Yeah, Take-chan ran off sometime ago. I don't know why, though."
"Oh."
Ken brushed his locks aside. They were so long and full of substance due to being tied that it constantly poked his face. It also pissed him off that he couldn't use his locks as a weapon because it's long, but not long enough. It would be a nice poking weapon if he could detach them, but he was one of the few that had his actual hair styled instead of a wig, and he wasn't going to have them cut off. But they look pretty on him, so Ken always forgives the locks.
"Is there anywhere you're meeting up?"
"Not particularly. But Hikari does have to go to work later at the Glass Café, so she'll probably go there a bit later."
"Let's wait there, then."
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"Miyako-san, nice to see you again." The waiter greeted by the counter as he streaked on roller blades with two plates of drinks in both his hands.
"Hey. How's it going today, Takuma-kun?" Miyako waved at the waiter.
"Takuma is one of the more essential waiters here. He might not be the best waiter, but he's polite, friendly, and good looking, which attracts female customers." Miyako explained to Ken over her shoulder. "Although he sometimes attracts male customers too." She corrected herself.
"It's kind of busy, so if you don't mind, take a seat yourself as you like." Takuma rollerbladed back into the kitchen, which isn't much of a kitchen, since only drinks are made, and only more complex drinks are made inside, as the more simple ones can be made on counter, which resembles the ones in bars.
Miyako hummed positively to herself as she walked straight to a moderately large table and sat down. Quickly followed by Ken.
Flipping the pages quickly, Miyako dropped the menu and simply screamed, "Takuma-kuuuuun, I'll have the usual, please."
"Okay." was the answer that indistinctively came out from the kitchen.
"..."
Ken seems to be mesmerized by the menu, for the lack of anything else better to do.
"Ne, Ken-chan."
Ken slightly jumped.
"Wha-what is it?"
"I just want to apologize for a few days ago." Miyako scratches her cheek with one finger.
"...A few days?" Ken looks back at her, confused.
"You know. When you moved in."
"Ah?"
"I was being so suspicious and hostile to you."
"Oh."
"I didn't really mean it, but it's just that it seemed as if something was weird about you."
"Eh?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean weird in a bad way. It's just that you seem...a bit different."
"Is that right."
"I feel that you and your friends seem a bit different from the girls I used to meet and know, so, I just felt kind of suspicious and all."
"It's alright."
"I really shouldn't have been so mean that day, but I was really pissed off."
"Pissed off?"
"Yeah. This guy that I said you looked like, Ichijouji Ken, he said that he would phone me back, but he never did."
Gulp.
"May-maybe he was busy."
"Too busy for a phone call, how stuck-up can you get?"
"I-I, I'm just saying he might have been, there's probably a better reason."
"Ah, let's not talk about it. I get so mad when I do."
"Yeah, let's do that."
"So, what are you like?"
"What?"
"I like to know about people. Tell me about you. Anything. Family, background, love life, anything at all."
"Er...for family...I have...two parents."
"Any siblings?"
[Oto.]
"Oto?" Ken repeated, confused at what Kei meant.
(Oto is a short form for 'younger brother'.)
"You have a younger brother? That's nice, my brother is old. He gets so annoying sometimes."
Ken blinked. Because of Kei, now Ken has another factor, a lie, that could rip his identity up.
"Umm. Yeah. Mine is...e.r...annoying, as well."
"Ken?"
Blink.
Ken looked up beside him.
"Eh?! I...Iori?!"
Vocal: Shukufuku - Love Hina Iori scrunched up into an angry face. "What are you doing here?! How come you left school without telling me!? Why are you dressed like this? Why? Why? Why?!"
Ken nervously stared Iori in his eyes, occasionally flicking his eyes off to Miyako's direction, as if signalling for Iori to shut up in front of Miyako.
"Um...Miyako-chan, this is my oto, Iori." Ken laughed sheepishly, wanting to smash his own head into the ground so that he would die already and wouldn't have such a hard time.
Iori looked at Ken. Ken nodded.
Iori lightly relaxed his face, his mind still tangled in the odd events. It didn't matter, Ken needed help right now, being a friend, Iori has to help, even if it was telling a lie.
"Inoue Miyako. Nice to meet you." Miyako reached her hand out.
"Hida Iori, nice to meet you."
Miyako blinked. "Hida?"
Ken quickly reached his hand between Iori and Miyako. "Umm! Umm! Iori is a delinquent, he hates the family name so he changed it on his own, and umm, he calls me 'Ken' because he doesn't like to call me onee-san, but he hates names that end in ko, so he eliminated that. And he's angry because I left school because he annoys me at school and I didn't tell him so that he wouldn't follow me! And he doesn't like me dressing in anything that isn't goth!"
Ken let out a breath, wondering if his rash excuse is working.
[You really should be in improves.]
"I'm...a delinquent?" Iori pointed at himself.
Ken nods. And nods. And nods.
"He isn't dressing in goth either." Miyako observed.
"He only likes dressing me in goth!" Ken practically screamed out.
"Umm. Okay. He doesn't seem to be so bad, though."
Ken looks at Iori again, calling for help.
"Uhh. Yeah. I'm a delinquent." Iori said with a forced evil laugh. "I'm a...bad boy." Iori raised one of his feet and stepped on the chair (he would've stepped on the table for a more convincing effect if he did it on a table, but he wasn't tall enough).
//Ken better have a damn well excuse for this.
"You, uh, want to, uh, go out with me?" Iori winked. Forcefully.
Ken quickly got off his seat and pushed Iori towards the direction of the exit.
Iori looked at the group that stood in front of them, coming in from the entrance/exit.
"Daisuke? Take-mmph"
Ken grinned nerve-wreckingly as he covered Iori's mouth.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
"So you all know each other."
A series of nods.
Takeru peeked from his seat at Hikari, who was putting a simple name tag and a little waitress apron over her clothes by the counter.
"Great, so we're all acquainted." Miyako smiled. And reached an arm over to Daisuke. "Inoue Miyako."
"Motomiya Daisuke"
Shake.
"So, how are you related to them?" Miyako curiously asked.
"I'm Takeko's boyfriend." Daisuke answered as he put an arm around Takeru's shoulders. Takeru scowled. Daisuke now finding Takeru too feminine to resist and constantly hitting on him, whether it's a joke or not, is very annoying.
"Ooo." Miyako covered her mouth. "What stage are you at?"
"That, is a very good question." Daisuke raised his index finger as a 'point'. "Last year, Christmas, we went out of a date, we went to a movie, had a romantic dinner, then, afterwards, we went to the hotel-"
Takeru slammed Daisuke's head into the table.
"-with our friends to have fancy dessert." Takeru finished for Daisuke.
Oddly, from within the dented table, Daisuke somehow heard "If you try to be creative again, you fucking bastard, I will castrate you."
"Oh." Miyako nodded understandingly.
Iori shifted uncomfortably.
"You know what, I think I've got to go..." Iori politely said.
Ken stared at Iori.
"To...umm...go pimpin'."
"I think I should go too." Daisuke stood up, removing his face from the table.
"Oh, okay. It was nice meeting you two, bye." Miyako waved.
Takeru watched as Daisuke and Iori slowly walked towards the exit of the café, frequently exchanging glances, like if they can't wait to talk to each other.
And Daisuke stopped.
To talk to Hikari.
Hikari giggled at whatever Daisuke said.
Daisuke put on his goofy grin.
Takeru threw a plate at Daisuke's head.
Daisuke walked out along with Iori.
"You should really watch your boyfriend." Miyako noted. "He's a flirt cannon."
"I seriously don't know why the hell I'm dating him." Takeru sighed.
//Besides the obvious, like keeping him away from Hikari.
Carrying menus, Hikari skipped slightly to their table, beaming.
"So, what will it be for you two, since Miya...ko...orde..red." Hikari's words suddenly slowed down and became less enthusiastic. "*This looks familiar." She glares at Takeru.
Ken.
Takeru.
Miyako.
Ken and Takeru on opposite ends.
Miyako beside Ken.
In the café.
Takeru and Ken looked at each other, leaped up past the girls, and ran out the exit.
"Huh? What was wrong?" Hikari turned her head around to see raising smokes from the running.
"What's wrong with all of you?" Miyako asked, addressing the slightly edgy question to Hikari.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You were looking a bit scary back there."
"Oh. Take-chan was wearing that DKNY shirt that I really wanted. It's limited, and I can't even find it on eBay."
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"Are they chasing after us, are they?!?!" Takeru cried out, his tears forming a trail in the air behind him.
"I don't know! I don't know!" Ken ran as hard as Takeru, desperately attempting to find a way out of the dreaded mall.
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Tuduku.
BGM: Aban - Digimon 01
Yamato: On next episode of Boku/Ata: I get into trouble with various of my fangirls spotting my face out. Also, a surprise comes as I know about the Teenage Wolves' Summer Concert.
Taichi: You suck! Your next episode previews are so boring!
Yamato: Shut the hell up, Taichi!
Taichi: Suck my ass!
Yamato: *throws a guitar*
Taichi: Ow! You asshole! Watch me bitchslap you!
(Note: No actual guitar throwing is done during the next preview section. Bitchslapping, however, is another question.)
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Alright. Well, that was that. That was extra long, I guess that could probably compensate for the one week absence, since it was about double chapter long. Argh. It's 5:30 am. I'm soooo tired.
Also, one note. The Japanese teacher is named Kamiya for a reason (well, it is, after all, a legitimate Japanese name, anyone that knows Japanese or is a Rurouni Kenshin fan will tell you that), it locks in deeper to the plot than just a name, if you watch the English dub, you would know that Kamiya is Taichi and Hikari's last name rather than Yagami, and I'm trying to use that last name to relate back to Taichi and Hikari. Plus, if you add a " to the ka hiragana, which gives ga, then rearrange it, you'd get Yagami (odd, no?) =p.
(Extra Section added in after initial posting (corresponds with extra note at top):
1) "All your base are belong to this bed" refers to the joke "All your base are belong to us." from 'Zero Wing'.
2) Hammerspace refers to the 'cyberspace' or 'hyperspace' in which anime girls pull out hammers out of nowhere, the hammerspace having infinite storage space and is constantly accessible.
3) Shinryuken is the super move in which Ken from Street Fighter uses, he raises his fist and jumps to make a fiery stationary twister which his opponent will be engulfed in if hit.
4) Russian roulette is a game you play with a revolver with one bullet in the chamber and aim it at your head. You're not sure which chamber the bullet is in, so you exchange shots with whoever you're playing against and see who gets their head blown off. Exciting game, really...
5) Victoria's Secret is a lingerie store. But we all know that, right?
6) Referring to the general event. It's actually alright for Daisuke and Iori to know because they're not in the Sakura school, like stated in the agreement. 7) Reference to sitting formation in the very first prelude chapter.
Anyway. Review. I hope that I have time next week to get the chapter in as well.
Ja.
-Lumi