Here's to you, sapphi-chan. Sorry it didn't come out the way it was originally planned. My first one-shot for GetBackers. It got too long so I had to chop it into three segments, therefore this story is already complete. Dialogue-intensive, but I hope you like it.
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"Let's see………I ate two sandwiches last Monday, then one last Tuesday," Ginji stared into space, a hand raised and opening up one finger at a time. "That's one, two, three, three sandwiches. Then we had no sandwiches Wednesday, two sandwiches Thursday, and three today. That makes……" he raised more fingers, then counted up the fingers. "Eight sandwiches!"
"Eight sandwiches," Natsumi scribbled on a piece of paper. "A sandwich is 200 yen each, so that makes 1600 yen….."
"Not fair!" Ginji pouted. "How come you could do that so quickly?"
"Which part, Ginji-san?" the girl asked as she looked up.
"That! Eight sandwiches cost a total of 1600 yen!"
"No biggie," she answered. "That's simple multiplication, 8 times 2."
"Huh?"
Natsumi looked at him with disbelief. "Oh, come on, Ginji-san! Don't tell me you don't know your multiplication table!"
But the terror of Mugenjou Lower Town just looked back with disbelief. "There's a table you can multiply things with, really?"
That was one of the problems with Amano Ginji. He could count up people in his head, and know if he was outnumbered. He could estimate correctly how much charge it would take to fell the enemies present at any given time. He could mentally calculate the force and distance of an electric attack to be effective. But ask him to add numbers beyond ten on a sheet of paper, and he would immediately take out the paper fans and wail. Never mind multiplication: Ginji would simply go into tare mode and croon, "Oh, Ban-chaaaan………"
"Don't even try, Natsumi," Ban puffed out a stream of smoke and smirked. "I've had fist fights with him already, making him learn the times table."
Ginji pouted all the more. "I know I'm not as smart as you, but you don't have to rub it in!"
Natsumi agreed with the blonde young man seated next to her, scratching his head over her paper filled with accountings of the famous GetBackers tab. "He just needs a good teacher, that's all!"
"Are you sure, Natsumi?" Ban tapped out the ashes off the end of his cigarette. "There are people that can be taught. There are people that teach themselves. And there are people like Ginji."
Ginji put on the power gloves and began sparking.
"Oooh, like I'm scared of a little electricity?"
Ban was now in full taunting mode, giving his most condescending smile. This set off his friend even more, and thus began some good-natured knuckling and sparking and name-calling. Natsumi stayed safely behind the counter and giggled as the two continued to toss and tumble. The ceiling lights were reacting to the power fluctuations and flickered.
"Any damage to the Honky Tonk will be taken out of your next job's payment, with interest," Paul calmly but firmly spoke behind a newspaper. It stopped both sparker and heckler in their track. They dusted themselves off, and sat down at the counter.
Ginji sulked as Natsumi handed a glass of water to them. "My life is weird, you know that. I learned how to read, but not much else. It's not my fault I don't know a lot of math……."
"But Ginji-san," she said kindly, "knowing how to add and multiply is basic. You have to learn it, like reading. Consider it a matter of survival, especially outside Mugenjou. What if Ban-san isn't around and you have to compute things?"
He sniffed. "I get your point, but Ban already tried and it didn't work. You're too busy with the dishes and the cooking, and your own homework, to do that for me. Hevn-san won't have the patience."
"Not to worry," the girl smiled at him. "I bet there's a tutor listed in the classifieds who would be willing and able to teach you."
"If you can find a person who can teach Ginji the times table in one week, I will wash the dishes for a month." Ban smiled with much contempt and whistled a happy tune. Poor Ginji sniffed again, like an abandoned puppy
Natsumi was game. "And if I don't find a person, the Boss can take out the sandwich bills from my paycheck."
"And the pizza and the iced tea and the……."
"JUST the sandwiches, Ban-san!"
"Not a fair deal, Natsumi."
"Alright. The sandwiches, the pizza, the coffee, and the iced tea for this month, if I don't find a tutor." She held out a hand.
"You're on," Ban shook the given hand. "One week. 1 times 1 up to 12 times 12, with no mistake. He should be able to answer problems in random order."
Ginji could only sweatdrop as the two made a wager, without consulting him or asking his permission! In himself, he was starting to wail already. Natsumi had to find someone crazy enough to teach him math. Even Teshimine-san had given up on that.
Who would take up the challenge?
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Ban went out for a long stroll, sincerely wanting to give Ginji a chance to win at the bet without his undue interference. He knew that if he stuck around, he would likely tease his friend incessantly, so he took off. Paul took a text message, and went down to the basement.
Natsumi tried it herself as soon as the café was deserted after lunch.
She took some peanuts and lined them up on the counter. Two peanuts, plus two peanuts…….is one, two, three, four peanuts, Ginji understood. Now then. Two peanuts, plus two peanuts, plus two peanuts………is one, two, three, four, five, six peanuts total. He was made to observe that they just added two peanuts three times. That's what multiplying was: adding stuff several times. Thus, 2 times 3 is 6. Ginji smiled. He really understood! Natsumi clapped in satisfaction. The bet was going in her favor.
They started. 2 times 2. Ginji took out two peanuts, then two peanuts. Natsumi nodded, that was right. Then he counted them, one, two, three, four. 2 times 2 is 4! Natsumi asked him to repeat 2 times 3. He repeated what she did, lined up three pairs of peanuts, counted them up, and got six peanuts. Then 2 times 4. Then 2 times 5, all the way to 2 x 12 24. By then Ginji was ready to give the girl a big, big hug. He really wanted to do this right, and so far, he was.
"Now that we got that, let's see if you can recite it for me," Natsumi said.
"Recite?"
"You have to memorize it, so you don't have to count it up all the time," she explained.
Ginji waved her off. "Naaaah, I don't think that's necessary, thanks."
Natsumi shook her head, and asked Paul downstairs if she can open a new bag of peanuts. "I'll give you the biggest number in the multiplication table." Given permission, she got one from the kitchen, and started to pour out twelve peanuts in twelve groups on the counter.
"That's twelve times twelve, right, Natsumi?" he asked, and she nodded. "That makes, um, let's see……..one, two, three, four, five……."
Natsumi giggled as he desperately tried to count up the peanuts, lost his place by the thirtieth peanut, counted again from the beginning, and lost count again.
She put her hand on his shoulder, after the sixth attempt. "That's enough, Ginji-san. 12 times 12 is 144."
"That BIG!" he wailed. She smiled. "HOW do you know so quickly?"
"That's what I meant, Ginji-san. I know it, because I memorized it in elementary school. So it just takes a few seconds. I don't have to count it all out." She collected the peanuts, placed them in little bowls, then spread them throughout the café. She returned, and took out a piece of paper, and started writing down the table of twos.
Meanwhile, Ginji slumped onto the bar counter. This would require more headwork than he was used to. And he still did not know how this would help him in the future.
"Now, Ginji-san, repeat after me," Natsumi prodded. "2 times 2 equals 4."
"2 times 2 equals 4," he parroted.
The process was repeated until 2 times 12. And the entire table repeated three more times. So far, Ginji had gotten it right.
"Now, Ginji-san," she turned the paper face down, hiding the equations. "What's 2 times 6?"
Ginji scratched his head. "Let's see…….. 2 times 6 is 10?" She shook her head. "11?" She shook her head again. "12?" She finally nodded.
"What's 2 times 11?"
"I know this! 2 times 11 is 18!"
She shook her head.
"I can't do it, Natsumi-chan!" Two little fountains spilled by the side of his face, as he turned into a cute little stuffed toy. Poor Natsumi was almost inclined by now to agree with Ginji, but did not want to show it.
That was when another, and sinister, voice was heard just above them.
"The table of twos. Interesting dating subject."
"We are NOT on a date!" Ginji shouted back as he blushed and looked up, but not at Ban. His eyes bulged wide.
Natsumi also moved back somewhat. She had gotten used to most of the people from Mugenjou, but not this one. She bowed and greeted. "Hello, erm, Dr. Jackal. Coffee?"
"How can I not consider you two on a date?" the man in the black trenchcoat continued. "A boy and a girl seated close to each other, laughing and enjoying themselves. Do continue and just ignore me." He sat down a few stools away. Of course, Dr. Jackal was a man who was hard to ignore. Natsumi shyly went to the kitchen.
"Akabane-san? Wha-wha-wha-what are you doing here?" Ginji quivered from under a bar stool.
The doctor of death smiled as he held his black, wide-brimmed hat. "I was just looking for Hevn-san, that's all. Things are rather slow. And I hate it when things are slow."
"Hevn-san won't be around until tonight, unfortunately," Ginji explained, still under the stool in tare mode. "I think she's on a date."
"Oh?" He settled himself comfortably at a stool. "I'll wait for her then."
"Um, um, just give Hevn-san a call, Akabane-san! Here, I'll give you the number……"
"What I have to tell her cannot be discussed on the cellular phone. I have to talk to her personally. So I hope you do not mind if I wait."
Yes, they did mind, but what could Natsumi and Ginji do?
Both independently decided to ignore him, for now. Ginji emerged from under the bar stool and sat again beside his teacher. Natsumi came back from the kitchen and flipped over her paper with the table of twos. "Let's try again, Ginji-san."
"That's enough, Natsumi-chan," he said rather firmly. "I know I'm bad at memorizing and reciting. Let's go on to the next one."
"The table of threes, then," she smiled and laid out the peanuts.
"I wager that Ginji-san can be taught the multiplication table in two hours," Akabane chirped from his seat at the far end of the counter, as Natsumi kept grouping.
"Two hours! That's too fast!" Ginji cried, as he stared at the groups of peanuts.
"Just enough for the Thunder Emperor, don't you think?" Akabane tipped up his hat.
Paul came up to the café again. He saw Dr. Jackal but not say anything. He opened up his newspaper again and hid behind it.
"Give us at least four hours!" the blonde sparker pleaded.
"Denied," the doctor said. "I will take a small piece off your khakis for every minute you exceed two hours."
"But, but, Akabane-san!" Ginji kept pleading, fearing that Natsumi would see more of him than she should, from all the shreds by the sharp daggers.
"I cannot believe this, Raitei backing out of a challenge," Akabane shook his head, and faced the manager. "Wan Paul, are you sure that this is the man to take the place of…….."
Paul put down the newspaper. He lowered his glasses and gave the Transporter a terrible piercing glare, one that the other two did not see. Then he covered his eyes again.
"Point taken." He smiled ever so slightly. "Someday we'll all know why, won't we?"
Paul angrily opened his newspaper again. Then he spoke behind it. "You're taking the bet, Ginji." "Paul-san! You gotta be kidding!" Ginji pulled down the newspaper and cried.
"And Natsumi will help you," the manager added.
"Sir?" the girl's eyes bulged wide.
From under the counter, Paul took out the egg timer and wound it. He put his hand over it, then declared. "Your time starts now." He released the hand, and the timer started ticking.
……………………………………end of part 1.
For those who are wondering, yes, I know what is currently the biggest GetBackers spoiler so far. I'm a big fan of Paul-sama now. Also, I am moving between words (two) and numbers (2) to delineate actual computing and just thinking. Thanks for understanding.
