On the other side of the news, my one-man ComiPa fandoming has come to a new point... someone on Ebay is selling off the entire stock of Comic Party plushies from Japanese UFO catcher games. I already bought Chisa, Reiko, and Emi and I'm bidding on Aya. I'm also going for the Minami and Reiko keychains... I already have Chisa, Emi, Mizuki and Yuu. If anyone wants to get your friendly neighborhood ComiPa fanfic writer a Chanukah present, just get what I don't have already... ;;
A recent reviewer called my work "brilliant" and said I should feel proud at having written what I've written. Thanks for the complements, Purple Dragoon! I really do appreciate the complements, but the only thing I feel proud about is that there's Comic Party fanfic out there for people to read.Even crapfests like Special Dojinshi Unit help to proliferate the greatness that is ComiPa. I don't think I'm that great--if you want great, read Lirillith's Good Enough or Cendrillo's take on Aya, Silence-- and you'll really see the breadth of wonderful writing that's out there. Also, check out my Favorite Authors and Stories list if you want to see some really great stuff. I try my best to weed the wheat from the chaff.
We're going into the final act here. Deeper Water has really become one of my absolute favorite things that I've ever written. The Nameless Grace has a very special place in my heart and it's something I love deeply, but Deeper Water is the Comic Party fanfic that I really wanted to do in the beginning. It really explores all the characters, not just an unconventional pairing, and it's been so much fun to write it. I hope to keep writing well throughout the rest of the life of this fanfic.
On with the show!
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7: I Take the Dice
January 29thIchidai Public High School
Ichiguro, Tokyo
3:15 PM
The massive cloud of white smoke had drawn a crowd to the arts section of Ichidai High. Coupled with a squeal of pain and panic familiar to them, most of the first-year students were looking at each other with concern.
"What's going on?" a first-year asked as she and her friends were heading past the arts wing to go home for the day.
"Tsukamoto from 1-D is in the kitchen," a student on the outlying edge of the crowds said, beckoning the new group closer. "It's pretty scary. We're not sure what she's doing in there, but the entire hallway is starting to look like it's snowing."
"Tsukamoto? The one who's always tripping and falling in the cafeteria? She's cooking?!"
"Yeah, we could all die! Why are you guys going home? Come and watch!"
The five students joined the crowd as another cloud of smoke emerged from the kitchen.
"Nyaaaa!" a cry resounded from the kitchen as a massive white cloud emerged from the door. "Chisa now knows all too well the struggle of an everyday loaf of bread!"
The terrified squeal echoed through the hall, catching Yuu's ear as she was going home.
"Maybe we should help her?" Yuu overheard as she edged her way through the crowd.
"There's nothing that can get through all the flour that she's kicked up. We'll need an industrial-size blower to even clear a way through the cloud."
Just as the student said that, a massive gust of wind blew through the hallway, staggering the first-years closest to the door. The flour blew in all directions, clearing a path for Yuu and scattering the crowds.
As the smoke and flour cleared, the shadow of Yuu Inagawa showed through the fog; she had reared back and let fly with a two-handed grip on her harisen. One powerful swoop of the oversize paper fan had blown the entire flour cloud out of the entrance to the kitchen.
"Aren't you first-years supposed to be on cleaning duty for this hall?" Yuu shot over her shoulder, her harisen suddenly no longer anywhere to be seen, invisibly holstered in hammer-space.
"Yes, sempai," the small crowd lamented in unison.
"Better get to it, then. Chisa-chan, are you okay?" Yuu walked into the kitchen, smelling the distinctive pang of burned baked goods.
"Oh! Inagawa-sempai, thank you so much! Chisa couldn't see through the sudden fog that the weather forecasters failed to predict for this time of day." Chisa had fallen to her knees by the oven, liberally covered in a thin white flour layer.
"You're lucky that flour is cheap, Chisa-chan." Yuu helped Chisa to her feet, brushing powdery dustings off of the younger girl's school uniform. "What were you trying to do? Re-enact a snow cooking scene?"
"Actually," Chisa reached for a saucepan full of burned materials, "Chisa was practicing making Valentine's chocolates."
"Valentine's chocolates? This early?"
"As you can tell, Chisa's ability to work with Mr. Stove and the Cookware Family aren't up to par with being able to work with Mr. Ink and Mr. Paper..." she smiled shyly, blushing. "Chisa has a lot of chocolates to make for next month, and it's best to practice new skills as much as possible." She tilted the pan over an open garbage can. "Oh no... Mr. Chocolate seems to have oxidized, much like the surface of Mars..."
Yuu scratched her head. "Why not just buy chocolates? I mean, you're probably just going to exchange giri-choco with clients and your classmates, so it's just really the gesture that's important..."
Chisa shook her head as she rolled up her sleeves and started to scrub the pan with a steel wool pad in a sink. "Giri-choco is fine for obligations and casual friends, yes," she wiped off some sweat from her forehead in between scrubs. "But Chisa plans on giving someone honmei-choco this year."
"Really? Good for you!" Yuu nodded approvingly. "I never thought you had a boy you liked. Is he in your class?"
Chisa looked over her shoulder as she scrubbed, back towards the entrance, blushing. "There's nobody out there right now, right?"
Yuu stretched her arms behind her back. "Nobody in here but us Kansaijin," she remarked. "Who's the lucky guy? Don't tell me you've fallen for Kazuki..." she grinned wryly.
It'd be cute, but I doubt he would... well... then again... I don't know his tastes... and it's not even that much of an age gap... but still, Chisa and Kazuki? Eww...
"His name is Jun Komiyama," Chisa blushed as she rinsed out the copper pot. "He's Chisa's lab partner in Chemistry, so we already talk a lot every day. He's really nice, he's a good listener, and for some reason, I seem to trip a lot less when I'm around him."
"You've got your guard up," Yuu remarked. "You're trying to keep yourself from being clumsy even more so. I guess that means you're trying to be a proper woman for him and everything, huh?"
"Something like that, but he doesn't make fun of me when being careful fails," Chisa giggled, finishing off with drying the saucepan. "He helps Chisa up and everything, like a real European gentleman."
Yuu nodded. "Japanese guys are seldom like that," she said with a smile. "You're lucky to find a guy like that, especially at your age, Chisa-chan."
"Seldom? Not true. Kazuki-sempai is just as nice. Chisa's making a really special giri-choco for him as well."
Chisa went over to a large brick of pure baking chocolate, using a pick and cooking mallet to chop off several chunks. "Chisa's father got this chocolate when he was in Switzerland for an international printing conference," she explained, "and he let me use it for our clients. I'm just using a little bit of it for myself."
"Really?" Yuu tilted her head, examining the big brick of chocolate. The size of a large cereal box, it was unusually dark in color. It had a smell unique to other chocolate; it was rich, mellow, and somewhat bitter. Picking up a small fragment and tasting it, Yuu was surprised that it was completely unsweetened; it was, however, intensely chocolatey in flavor.
"It's meant for baking and it has no milk whatsoever. Just a little bit will make a lot for everyone, but I know that Komiyama-kun doesn't like sweet things too much." Chisa smiled thinly to herself. "I really like sweets, so it's a big challenge for Chisa to make something less that. That's why I'm starting off now."
Wow. She's really putting in an effort. This Komiyama kid sounds like someone really special to her. Does she normally go to this level of work? Does she normally practice this much?
"You really are going through a lot to do something special for him, Chisa-chan."
"Komiyama-kun is very special to Chisa," she said as she dropped a few chunks of the chocolate into the copper pan. Slowly tilting the saucepan counterclockwise over the flame, the chocolate melted into a dark brown mass. "Chisa wants him to know that she feels that way whenever she's around him."
Yeah... I've done things like that, too.
"Are you going to tell him how you feel?"
"That's the plan..." Chisa smiled at Yuu as she stirred in some confectioner's sugar. "Even if he doesn't accept Chisa's feelings, she'll at least have had the chance to tell him that he's someone very special."
"So you're not afraid of being rejected?"
"Well... I am a little afraid," Chisa thought for a moment as she stirred the chocolate. She dripped a few drops of the mixture onto a clean spoon, tasting it. "Chisa would like to be more than friends with Komiyama-kun, and losing that friendship would be difficult... but Chisa is willing to take that risk."
"You're a lot braver than most, Chisa-chan."
"Oh, Chisa's not that brave!" she waved her hands, deflecting the complement with a blush. "It's just that leaving the question unanswered hurts more than rejection..."
"You want some help?"
"Um... Inagawa-sempai, I'm supposed to be able to confess my feelings on my own..."
"I meant with the chocolate."
"Oh! Yes, of course! Chisa thinks she burned this batch, too..."
"Let me taste..." Yuu dipped another clean spoon into the chocolate mixture, which had already started to bubble and exude a carbonous smell. Bringing the spoon to her lips, Yuu began to have visions of taking a bite of coal.
"Chisa-chan... let's go see if the Cooking Club has a cookbook you can borrow..."
January 30thSendoh Residence
Meguro 12-14-47, Tokyo
3:47 AM
Kazuki's normally neat room had turned into the post-apocalyptic state known to most dojinshi authors as "deadline hell." Empty finger-sized bottles of potent herbal and energy drinks took the place of shell casings; boxes of Pocky and Pretz took the place of spent artillery rounds amongst the rest of the debris on the floor. Only two of the people in the room were still conscious, one having succumbed to fatigue from the drawing session that had been going on forfourteen hours so far.
"Aya's dead out of it," Kazuki moaned. "She's far enough ahead of us, but this isn't a good sign."
Yuu flipped the cap off of another energy drink and downed it in one fell swallow. "Hah!" she exclaimed in a quiet voice as not to wake Aya. "This is nothing. Kazuki, you've never lived until you've done an entire release in the 48 hours before a convention—oh, wait, never mind, you've done that."
"Yeah, and I never want to do that again. Even you couldn't take that pace, if memory serves me right."
"Hey, it takes a lot to support you, y'know," Yuu joked, tilting one of the impromptu-moved lamps towards her layout board and away from Aya. "At least we're far enough ahead that Aya can take a break."
"You say that, but we still have a lot of plot to synchronize."
"We do, but it's nothing that can't be done. That's why we're getting together now. The art is finished, but some points of our dialogue need to mesh with each other. There's not enough clarity that Izumi and Kenshiro are related." Yuu heard Aya stir gently and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I'd still like to have an actual page of the dojinshi that shows them interacting, but we're running pretty high as is at forty-eight pages total."
"What about raising the price to cover the costs a little better?" Kazuki whispered back, twirling his pen as he wrestled with the proper form of an unfamiliar kanji character.
"Well, we are stretched pretty thin... it was hard for all of us to pool together the sixty thousand yen for forty copies. It's not like we're going for profit on these; we worked too hard together to make this happen." Yuu rested her left arm on the table, propping her chin up limply in her free hand. She stifled a yawn, already feeling fatigued.
"That's true. I've been working really hard on everything here. I've never really considered a dojinshi centered on romance... I had to do a lot of research to make it happen."
"Research? On romance?"
"I read a bunch of manga and asked people as to how they defined love, that sort of thing. Which reminds me: never, EVER ask Taishi about stuff like love. Best-case scenario, he'll just go into a speech."
"What about the worst-case scenario?"
"He'll answer your questions," Kazuki muttered with a shudder. "I felt really, really dirty."
Yuu patted him on the shoulder, lingering for just a moment. "It's okay. You'll survive. We'll purify you back eventually."
"There's nothing that can save me now, Yuu."
"Just let me sketch the two of you guys when you start doing the yaoi."
"We are NOT going to make out for you!" Kazuki growled as aggressively as he could while still whispering.
"It's only a matter of time, y'know!" Yuu folded her hands together, propping her chin up and grinning at Kazuki. "Gender ambiguity is a powerful force in Japan. Besides, you'd look cute on the spontaneous flower backgrounds that permeate yaoi manga."
Kazuki blushed at that line. "Yeah, yeah."
"Well, hopefully Taishi hasn't spoiled your attitudes forever. He may pollute your thoughts with the idea of hot boy-boy love, but I'm sure you'll be back on the hetero path soon enough."
"Oh, there's no need to worry about that. Trust me."
"Ooh, such confidence. Are you sure you and Taishi aren't an item?"
"Yuu, cut it out! I am NOT in love with Taishi!"
"Oh? Is there someone else then?"
Let's hear it. This is when I make it happen. I won't have a question left unanswered anymore.
"Actually... yes, there is."
"Oh? Who is it?"
"Sorry, I can't tell you."
"Is she asleep right now?" Yuu evilly grinned, trying desperately to mask the curiosity in her voice and to ignore the rapidity of her heartbeat.
"What? No! Aya-chan? No way!" Kazuki sputtered a little bit louder than a whisper. "She's a really nice person, but..."
Please, no. Please tell me the truth or don't tell me at all.
"Well? Who is it?" Yuu leaned in a little closer to Kazuki, eyebrows raised in mock intrigue.
No! Dammit, stop pressing the issue! Back off or you'll scare him off!
"I'd rather not say," Kazuki crossed his arms. "But you can rest pretty well assured that it is NOT Taishi."
Okay. Don't push him. Let him do it at his own pace. You'll find out eventually. When you get a chance, you'll find out. No... when you make that chance, you'll find out. Keep it together, Inagawa. You know how to pull it off from here on out.
"Well, good. Nice to know that some of us still have a chance."
WHAT?!?! Did I just say that?!
Kazuki shook his head. "I think the fatigue is getting to you, Yuu."
"Yeah, be careful. I might want to use you as a pillow if you don't watch yourself."
"Hey, at this point, I might want to use you for the same purpose."
YES! By all means. Please. Lie down. I'll sit like a proper Japanese woman, right on my ankles all night long. I don't care if my feet—no, I don't care if my legs fall asleep. Please, Kazuki, do that... by all means, rest yourself on me. I may not be the most feminine woman in the world, but hopefully you'll find a place soft enough for you someplace on me.
"C'mon and do it, then," Yuu said with a smile. As best she could, she forced away every instinct that had her wanting to make a joke or a wry comment; she slid herself back from the table, settled at her knees, and patted her lap, which was mostly bare from the skirt that she wore. Vandalize Couture had indeed been kind to her as of late.
"Seriously?" Kazuki looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. "I might take you up on that. I don't know if I'd make it to my bed in this state."
"Be careful, Kazuki, I might not be that comfortable."
"I really must be tired," Kazuki shook his head. "I can't tell if you're serious or joking."
Damn fatigue... next time, we're doing this fully conscious. I'd rather here the truth after you're rested rather than a grudged response out of sleep deprivation.
"Kazuki, go get some sleep," Yuu giggled. "You live here. I'll tilt the light away if you don't want the glare."
Kazuki yawned deeply as he sketched at a frame. "I'll be okay. Don't worry about me."
Yuu shook her head. "You had your last energy drink a couple hours ago. Go on, get some sleep. We've got plenty of time and all day to work on the rest of this. I need to get some more work done. Move it. Get to bed, mister."
"I can't do that; we're all supposed to be working on this together!"
"Kazuki, we may be burningly passionate dojinshi artists, with love for our characters running abreast of everything we do, but we're still human and you're exhausted. You're not used to this. Neither is Aya." Yuu tossed her head in Aya's direction to indicate the sleeping girl. "Go rest. We'll get some breakfast when you wake up. I'll have caught up by then."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Sleep."
Yuu narrowed her eyes as best she could behind her glasses at him. Kazuki met them, stifled a yawn, and nodded grudgingly. "All right. But wake me up if you need me."
"I won't need you, so I won't wake you up.You want meto tuck you in myself?"
"Lay off; I'll sleep."
"Okay. Good night."
"Yeah, good night. Oh, and Yuu?"
"Yes, Kazuki?"
"Thanks for coming."
Yuu blushed as she grinned. "Go on, get to sleep. You're starting to get delirious."
Kazuki walked quietly to his bed, a luxury in Yuu's eyes considering she had a futon back at her aunt and uncle's place, and pulled the covers over himself. Of course, he wouldn't bother changing into pajamas with two girls in the room.
4:49 AM
It was the last page of her portion, the end of the second act of their dojinshi, when Yuu finally erased a guide sketch under the final pen work on her page. She had fixed her dialogue, the energy drinks were long since gone, and her stomach had a twinging ache of indigestion from the massive amounts of junk food that had been consumed throughout the night.
"They're both such quiet sleepers..." Yuu said to nobody in particular, too low to be heard. Aya had simply fallen asleep sitting up, still kneeling in a very proper Japanese style. Kazuki had conked out on hitting the pillow, sleeping on his back.
She watched him breathing, idly twirling her pen with one hand. She leaned down on the desk, propping her chin up on folded arms, and yawned deeply.
Good night, Kazuki ,she thought as she crawled over to his bed on her hands and knees. You've worked your butt off. I don't know anyone else who can keep up with how you feel about your art form. I want only one-fourth of your passion in the hopes that it'll fuel the rest of my days.
Yuu paused at his bed, sitting on her knees and leaning on the edge of his mattress.
Wouldn't it be great if I could wake you up one of these days? Just like some cliché manga or anime. It's so domestic of me, but if it's you, Kazuki, I'd like to be that way sometimes.
Listen to me. I'm back to rambling about your passion again. See what you do to me, Kazuki? Do you see?
I sure hope you're asleep. I don't want you seeing me like this.
He didn't move a muscle in the least as he slept. She watched his chest move under his warm-looking blanket, his mouth partially open. Without a noise, with barely any motion, Yuu leaned over, just inches from Kazuki, and lay her head down gently on his chest.
I don't even know what I'm doing anymore... I know I'm fatigued as well. I should get some sleep... but I don't want to leave...
Yuu almost jumped up as she felt movement below her. Brushing just below her neck on her back, Kazuki unconsciously wrapped his right, then his left, arm around Yuu, mumbling something barely comprehensible. Her eyes shot wide-open, suddenly fully awake and alert, as her heartbeat kicked up again.
Okay. I don't know if I should be worried... I feel kind of like a stalker... but I don't care. This feels really nice.
Yuu managed to easily slip out of Kazuki's loose, unconscious embrace, and sit back up on her knees. She smiled at him as he mumbled again in his sleep.
"Kazuki, I..." she whispered, reaching out a hand to him, then pulling it back. Slowly. "I really like you, Kazuki. I mean it. I don't just want to be your friend anymore."
Smoothly and quietly, she leaned down to his cheek and kissed him gently, pressing her lips against the smooth, unblemished skin of his cheek. Drawing away relatively quickly, she felt an incredibly strong blush creep across her own cheeks.
"Good night, Kazuki," she whispered, falling back over near the table, dead asleep to the world.
Tsukamoto Printers
12-24 Ichiguro-cho
Ichiguro, Tokyo
11:45 AM
The opening and closing of the print shop's doors were easily drowned out by the noise of the large offset printing machines running at full tilt. Early orders for the winter Comic Party had hit Tsukamoto Printers hard, and Chisa had happily started work earlier that Sunday morning to ease the load on her parents.
"Anyone here?" she heard a familiar male voice ask.
"Oh! Kazuki-sempai!" Chisa exclaimed, dropping five reams of bond paper on her right big toe.
After Chisa had recovered the use of her right foot, she brought out three mugs of green tea for her clients. "I'm so happy that you were able to finish your work!" she exclaimed, flipping through their sample copy. "Chisa swears on her father's print shop that nobody will catch word of how wonderful this dojinshi is until it comes out. It really works well on every page!"
"We did work hard on it," Yuu said, openly yawning and covering it with her hand. "Hey, Kazuki, look alive!" She elbowed Kazuki, who had nodded off.
"Um... are you three okay?"
"We're fine," Aya said quietly, blinking away the tears from the eyedrops she had just put in. "We were working a little late this morning."
"This morning?" Chisa tilted her head. "Oh, deadline hell..."
"Yes. Deadline hell." The response from all three of the dojinshi artists at once put Chisa at a bit of a nervous tinge.
"Well, there's no need to worry. Please leave the rest to Tsukamoto Printing. Chisa will be sure to deliver your books to you on the day of Comic Party." She bowed at the waist, a gesture that was returned by all three dojinshi artists. This time, it was Yuu who didn't recover from the bow, falling forehead-first into the table.
"We must apologize for our rudeness," Aya quietly yawned, "but we're suffering heavily from fatigue. If you don't mind, we'll have to be on our way to rest."
"Oh, of course! Please be careful on your way." Chisa helped Yuu up. "Oh! By the way, Inagawa-sempai, thank you for all your help the other day."
"Huh?" Yuu yawned. "Oh, no problem. Let me know if you need anything else."
"We really did finish far ahead of time," Aya commented, smoothing down the brown sweater she wore under her tan dress. "It turned out quite nicely."
"Yeah, except for the marathon all-night drawing session. I could have sworn I was hallucinating during the night; it felt like I was grabbing a pillow that I didn't really have."
"You were probably just hallucinating from the energy drinks, Kazuki. I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you."
"I am not doing this again, Yuu!"
"That's what you said last time we were up all night working on dojinshi," Yuu teased. "Are you sad that Mizuki wasn't here this time?"
"Mizuki is the last of my worries right now. Do you realize how much homework I have to do today?"
"We've all got homework to do today. That's part of creating dojinshi, right, Aya-chan?"
"I finished mine earlier, before we started..."
"Way to back me up, Aya-chan. Hey, let's all celebrate before Comic Party actually happens!"
"Yeah, sounds like a good idea. What did you have in mind?"
Yuu dashed a few steps ahead, gesturing westward dramatically. "Hot springs trip!"
"Hot springs trip?" Kazuki and Aya looked at each other.
"A deluxe weekend stay at a classic hot springs ryokan, all expenses paid! What do you think? A nice long soak in the mineral-rich hot springs of Kobe prefecture?"
"Oh! That's right! Your family runs a ryokan! That sounds really cool; I've never been to one before."
"Well, now's your chance. You'll both come, right?"
Aya nodded silently, a trace of excitement sneaking its way onto her normally impassive face.
"You bet I'm in. After a weekend like this, I'll need to relax."
"Great. We'll go this coming weekend so there's time enough before ComiPa."
Yeah. Back on my home turf. Let's see Mizuki linger in the back of your mind then, Kazuki.
Worst comes to worst, he is a guy... I can just walk in wearing nothing but a towel.
I hate the fact that my life is turning into Love Hina, but I think it'd help a little...
December 31st
Kobe
"So where are we?"
"You don't even remember? This is about the only place in the city that's up after 10 PM."
"Even on New Year's? Aren't pandas supposed to be diurnal creatures?"
"You wanna be ditched, Emi? I doubt you can navigate this city since you left in first year of junior high school..."
"Fine, so what are we doing here?"
"Hanging out. Exploring. Nothing in particular. Here, Eimi, is where we normal people go. Nor-mal," I said, knocking on her skull.
"Fine. So what do normal people even DO, then? I should be back home working on my next release. These trends don't research themselves, y'know."
"Well, let's go in there." Truth be told, I always wanted to see what these underground club places were like. I pointed to just one of the random places where a bunch of young-looking people were hanging out, mostly smoking cigarettes.
"Why there?"
"Why not?"
I didn't mind the fact that we stood out a little, but nobody seemed to be hostile toward us. One thing's for sure, we probably needed a lot more bleach and a lot more gel in our hair to fit in.
It was definitely loud, and definitely packed. A guy with tons of nose piercings was working the bar, tossing drinks in all directions to the crowd at the old metallic corner where he worked. The stage was empty but for a drum set and enough speakers to bring down a small airplane.
"So what now?"
"I hope you like loud noises."
Eimi moaned in terror. Oh man, that was sweet.
"Relax. Let's get something to drink."
"We just had beer with dinner, though!"
"Oh? Is the great Eimi Obaka a lightweight?"
"Hey! I can drink you under the table, panda!"
"That's the spirit! Two gin and tonics!" I yelled to the barkeep. He grunted in response, sliding relatively water-spotty but clean glasses down the bar to us.
I heard a really loud cheer as the band took to the stage. I managed to slam down my drink before Eimi could finish hers. "You're buying that round, O losing drinker," I scoffed.
"Dammit! One more, and I'll—" she turned toward the stage, back to me, and double-taked back to the stage.
"What?" I asked.
Eimi let out a giddy noise. "That..." she pointed up towards the stage.
To be continued...
A/N: Just for cultural reference, giri-choco indicates chocolates given at Valentine's Day to friends, business associates, and acquaintances; these are usually store-bought. Honmei-choco indicates chocolates given to people who you really care for, and are often less of a chocolate but more of a representation of one's feelings. Nevertheless, real honmei-choco is mostly homemade from scratch. It can be cake or actual solid chocolate, usually very elaborately decorated. Take my word, it's tricky to make. The fact that Chisa intends to make her own giri- and honmei-choco shows that she's REALLY making an effort.
