Hello again! I know I said that I would try to speed up chapter production, but school has been getting in the way. That, and cold weather really bums me out… If you recall, the original Love Hina Next was done during Spring-Summer, and this one started in Late Summer, going into mid Autumn. My right hand is really cold right now, and cold weather altogether makes it really hard to write. In fact, I wrote 'write' incorrectly twice in a row while writing this chapter.
Anyway, I'll see what I can do…
---Kouji Tamino
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Love Hina Next: Second Phase
Chapter 31: Back to School. (Naoko's School Days, Part 1)
Naoko slowly opened the door, peeking into the living room/ball room. She sighed sadly and walked in, closing the door behind herself and kicking off her shoes. She sniffled sadly and quickly ran upstairs, went into her room, slammed the door closed, tossed her bag to the side, and jumped onto her bed face first. She buried her head into her pillow and burst out crying. "Why?! How could someone do something like this?!"
"Do something like what?" Kairi asked, appearing in the room.
"Eeeek!" Naoko yelped, falling off of her bed. "Kairi-neesan… What are you doing here?"
Kairi giggled. "The walls have eyes, dear… So to speak…" She frowned. "You looked so upset when you came home, I just thought that I would come up here to cheer you up…"
Naoko looked away. "Well… I hate to be rude, Kairi-neesan… But could you please leave me alone? I really want to be by myself for a while…"
Kairi nodded understandingly…. "All right, then… I'll leave you alone. For now… But you'll have to tell someone what the problem is eventually…" She then floated away.
Naoko sighed, getting up from the floor and sitting on her bed. "She's right, though… I can't keep this bottled up forever…"
"Keep what bottled up, sister?…" Junko asked, walking up to her.
"Ack!" Naoko yelled, once again falling off her bed. She got up and glared at her older sister. "Junko-neesan! How did you get in here?"
"I've been in here since before you got home…" Junko replied, helping Naoko up and sitting on the bed with her. "Now, tell me what the problem is…"
Naoko sighed, looking to the ground. "You promise you won't get angry and hurt anyone?…"
Junko raised an eyebrow, a look of amusement appearing on her face. "Now what could you tell me that could get me angry?…"
The younger Sagawa sister sweat dropped. 'A lot, actually…' "Um…" She began, looking over to her sister. "Well you see… today after school… a boy… he… he… he flipped up my skirt!! Waaah, that was so messed up!!!" She gasped as Junko began to twitch violently. "Junko-neesan? Are you getting angry?"
Junko smiled a demented smile. "Angry? Oh no, no, no… I'm beyond angry!! I'm freakin' pissed!! Tell me where the little bastard lives, Naoko!! I'll go over there and teach him not to mess with little girls!!"
Naoko shook her head. "Please don't, Junko-neesan… Besides, I have no idea where he lives…"
Junko chuckled manically. "Ooohhh, that's okay…" She began to rub her hands together. "I have a plan…"
Naoko frowned. "Junko… Please don't…"
Junko smirked, walking towards the door and opened it. "Don't do what?" She laughed under her breath as she walked out and closed the door behind her.
Naoko shook her head, looking back to the ground. "Oh, Junko…"
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The next day, as Naoko arrived in her class room, she walked over to her seat as witnesses to yesterday's 'panty shot' began to giggle and talk amongst themselves. She turned red as a beet and silently sat at her desk. The boy who caused the incident grinned, standing up. He had brown hair that was tall and spiky, and he had dark blue eyes, filled with mischief. The teacher was late this morning. "Hey everyone, it's pink bunny girl!" He flinched as he was suddenly pounded in the head. "Ow! What the hell?!"
Junko, dressed in the Middle School uniform, chuckled. "I hear that you've been messing with my little sister… Is that right, punk?"
The kid rubbed his head, holding back tears. "Shit! That really hurt, you stupid bitch!"
Junko's eyebrow twitched. "What was that?… Did some snot nosed kid just call me a bitch? Ooohhhh no, I don't think so!" She grabbed his head and picked him up, glaring at him. "You'd better take that back or I'll hit you so hard your ancestors will feel it! I don't know why my sister hasn't slapped you with a sexual harassment charge, but it won't matter when I'm through with you! I'll--"
"Ms. Junko, put the poor kid down…" Shinichi said, walking in with the others. They were all wearing the middle school uniforms. How they found ones in their size, I do not know.
"Poor kid?!" Junko yelled, furious. "What about poor Naoko?! The embarrassment she went through, and is still going through today! This punk has got to pay!"
"Junko-neesan…" Naoko muttered.
"What?" Junko sighed, annoyed that everyone seemed to be against her.
"Please put him down…" She smiled at the boy brightly. "Kenji, I forgive you… Just… don't do it again…"
Junko growled, dropping Kenji to the ground. "Fine! Damn it, everyone is always against me, aren't they?!"
Kenji cried in relief, bowing down low to Naoko. "Thank you! Thank you so much for saving me from that crazy woman!!"
"Hey, don't push your luck…" Junko muttered. "Hey, what the hell are you all doing here, anyway?"
Kairi, who of course, no one else could see, giggled. "Ms. Naoko told us that you were acting strange, so we decided to intervene…" She pouted. "But I do so wish that I could wear one of those school uniforms… They look so cute!"
"What is going on here?!" the teacher screamed, walking in. He was very clean-cut looking. He wore a green suit, black pants, and short, neatly trimmed black hair. He also had a bit of facial hair going on, and wore triangular shaped glasses.
Junko walked up to the man raised an eyebrow. "And just who the hell are you?!"
The man gave her an amused look, then quickly became serious. "I am Takamoto-sensei… The English teacher of this class… And may I ask who you are?"
Junko began to stammer. "Um… Heh, heh, heh… I'm Naoko Sagawa's sister, Junko… Oh, but don't let my actions today affect your grading of her! Please!"
Takamoto chuckled. "Of course not! Ms. Sagawa is a very good student. In fact, she's number three in the list of students with the best grades."
Naoko blinked rapidly. "Oh, she is?! That's awesome!" She ran over to Naoko and gave her a noogie. "Why didn't you tell us?!"
Naoko blushed. "Well, it didn't seem important to mention… And I don't like to brag…"
Ami squealed. "Aww, that's so cute! You're so modest!"
Naoko blushed even harder, managing to break out of her sister's death grip. She glared for once, which surprised and even frightened the others. "Everyone please! You're embarrassing me even more than I was! Get out! Now!"
Shinichi looked at Naoko in shock, then sighed sadly. "All right, Naoko… Actually, we shouldn't be here, anyway… Let's go, everyone…" He looked to Takamoto and smiled. "Please forgive us interrupting your class, Takamoto-san…"
"Now wait there… Aren't you Shinichi Suichi?" Takamoto asked, adjusting his glasses. "Naoko told us all about how she was living with you, but we didn't believe her at first… How about you tell us a few things about your father's business?"
Shinichi turned around and stared at the wide-eyed Middle School Class. He chuckled nervously, then cleared his throat. "Well, um… About my father's company… You see, I… have absolutely no idea what my father does and how he got so freaking rich!"
Everyone face faulted. Takamoto stood up and chuckled, patting Shinichi on the back. "Heh heh heh… Get out of my classroom."
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The group traveled down the hallway, still wearing the uniforms. Shinichi scratched his head in confusion. "Where are the locker rooms? I want to get out of this uniform…"
Megumi frowned. "I really have no idea… This is a pretty old school… A lot of the signs are either faded, have missing parts, or are gone all together…"
"I'm going to try and find the males locker room by myself…" Shinichi muttered, walking down the hallway. He wondered around the school for a while before finding what looked to be a locker room. Too excited to think about which locker room, he quickly walked in. "Whew, finally! I--" His eyes widened as he realized that he had walked into the girls locker room. He waved at the half naked girls. "Um, heh heh… Hi…"
The girls screamed, throwing anything they could get their hands on. They then pounced him, bit and punched him, then tossed him out of the locker room. "And stay out!!"
Shinichi groaned, getting up from the floor, continuing down the hallway in a wobbly manner. "Screw it, I'll wait until I get home…"
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"Well, I think it's safe to say that we actually made the little squirt sincerely angry…" Sakura said in a bored tone. Everyone except Naoko was back at home in their normal outfits.
"Well, these last couple of days have been stressful for her, okay?" Junko yelled, in Naoko's defense. "So shut up…"
Ami nodded. "Yeah, poor girl… She already had an embarrassing moment yesterday, and our intrusion didn't help matters…" She gave Junko a look of blame. "…and it was partially your fault…"
Junko snorted. "Fine, put all the blame on me… See if I care…"
Soon, Naoko came home. "Hi everyone! I'm back! Wow, the rest of the day just went really smoothly!" She pouted guiltily. "I'm so sorry for blowing up at you all at school… I was totally out of line…"
Everyone sweat dropped. "…That was blowing up on us?" Sakura asked, whispering over to Junko.
Junko sighed, whispering back. "Look, this is Naoko… She could look at us in the wrong way and start apologizing like crazy afterwards…"
"Anyway…" Naoko said softly, changing the subject. "Naoko, Kenji wanted to know if you would be interested in being the new baseball coach…"
Junko gave Naoko a 'are-you-serious-you-can't-be-flipping-serious' look. "Me, coach the team of that brat?! No way!" She crossed her arms and looked away. "Hey, wait…" She began, turning back around. "Why does he want me as a coach, anyway?"
Naoko chuckled nervously. "Well, actually…"
---Naoko's Flashback---
After school, Naoko began to pack up. She gasped as Kenji walked dup to her. "Iwata-san!"
Kenji rubbed the back of his head. "Relax, I'm not going to flip your skirt again… Look, I need to ask you a favor, Sagawa-san…"
Naoko nodded. "Yes, what is it?"
Kenji coughed. "Um, could you ask your sister if she wants to coach the baseball team? The new one bailed again…"
Naoko gasped. "Again?! That's the third one this week!" She frowned. "But why Junko-neesan?"
Kenji's cheeks suddenly turned red. "Because… No girl has ever handled me like that before… She was just… wow…"
Naoko sweat dropped. 'I should hope no other girl has handled you like that…' "So… You want my sister to coach the team because you have a crush on her?"
Kenji's blushed disappeared as he cleared his throat. "Ahem… Actually, that isn't the only reason… You see, someone as tough as her is what the team needs! They're a bunch of assholes! Worse than me! And that's bad! But if we had someone like Junko coaching us, I know we could improve!" He sighed. "So… ask her… please?"
Naoko nodded again. "Okay, I'll ask… I don't think she'll like it, though…"
---End Naoko's Flashback---
"So, um… That's the story, Junko…" Naoko said softly.
"Ew!!" Junko screamed, flinching. "That little punk has a crush on me?! Ugh!!"
"So will you do, it, Neesan?" Naoko asked, a bit of hope in her voice.
Junko raised an eyebrow, calming down. "I'll think about it…" She then walked away from the group, walking upstairs.
Naoko watched as her sister walked off, then to the others. "So, what do you think will happen?"
Megumi sighed. "Who knows? That Junko can be pretty unpredictable when she wants to…"
To Be Continued…
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Geez, finally got this one out… I think my run of writer's block is over. I have so many ideas now that I don't think I'll be able to use them all at the moment!
---Kouji Tamino
