"Ehhhh!" the little girl with pigtails exclaimed, eyes wide. "Are you sure, Sakaki-san? Is he sick? Maya-chan...!"
Maya turned his head and gave his normal "mowrl", except now it was a little sadder, then went back to looking out the window. Sakaki was visibly shaken. "He has...been staring out the window all morning. He doesn't want to go out, Chiyo-chan. He hasn't eaten any of his food. Maya..."
"Maybe he's in love?" little Chiyo piped in. Sakaki looked to Chiyo in confusion...then an image blossomed into her head. Maya was at a church altar, dressed in a cat-fitted tuxedo, and there was a white cat standing next to him, dressed in a long white wedding dress...when another little white cat popped up on top of its head underneath the veil. The pastor was a cat too...no...the entire room was! Every single attendant there was a cat. A cat wedding!
Sakaki choked, blushed, and brought a hand to her mouth, hiding her eyes under her bangs, and started to shake. Chiyo laughed at what she had just said. "Hah hahh...if only cats did fall in love and pine like that." Sakaki just continued shaking.
Chiyo walked out of the room, then a minute later returned with a phonebook under her arm. "'Kayyy, we'll just find Dr. Ishihara's number. He treated Maya-chan before!" She smiled, closing her eyes and giving a "hm!" in hopes it would comfort Sakaki's fears. She sat down at her kotatsu and started flipping through the pages. Maya's ear twitched, and he slowly turned around. Without warning he suddenly leapt from the window to the floor, and with the next bound up onto the legwarming table.
"Maya!"
He skidded to a halt in front of the phonebook, and Chiyo gave him a curious look...then a smile. Maya quietly sat in front of her trying to find the correct page when he stepped forward and put his paw on top of the book.
"Maya!" Chiyo giggled. "No, no, let me look! I'm trying to help you!"
He situated himself on the page a little more, then stopped, looking up at Chiyo and gave his cry again. "Huh...? Please, Maya-chan." Chiyo went to go pick him up. "Come o--"
"Wait!" Sakaki interjected and pointed at his paw. "Maya...is trying to tell us something...!"
At first, Chiyo wondered about Sakaki. She had always been a girl to adore cats, even at the risk of her own health...and oftentimes had odd impressions of them. She thought she could make any cat her friend if only she tried to understand them...yet somehow throughout all of her love for the feline species, Maya was the only cat who ever truly warmed up to her. Chiyo was about to dismiss Sakaki's belief that cats could talk, when she spied the number.
"Huh...? ...special services...'Ichiban Tsuyoi Shoujotachi'?"
-----
...clouds.
Breeeeeep, breeeeeep.
She liked how the clouds looked, even if they were colored green through her sun goggles. They seemed so peaceful up there...so fluid-like, so peaceful, calm... Pure white splotches against the nice blue sky.
Breeeeeep, breeeeeep.
If only life could be like a cloud. It could be nice and simple. The tranquility of it all, only drifting from place to place and being as free as the wind. No reason, no obligations, nothing to worry about.
Breeeeeep, breeeeeep.
...except storm clouds. Those were different. Those were big and angry and totally ruined the metaphor she was trying to make in her mind. All hostile-looking and pouring down and being sometimes downright scary...though the thought of wafting high in the sky and throwing down torrents of rain, hard winds, and lightning bolts on the unsuspecting did make her giggle.
Breeeeeep, breeeeeep.
...if only life could be like a cloud. Just there in the sky.
Breeeeeep, breeee--click
"Morning morning!" Edward spoke cheerfully into the headset. Her whimsical and constantly amused tone never fit her age, but somehow her immaturity and outward simplicity were things that attracted folks to her and had them enjoy her company...even if they didn't always follow her logic.
"E, it's D, yo" the synthesized voice spoke into her ear. "A top priority assignment's come up. The team's being assembled. It'll be a field job this time."
"Travel travel?"
"Yep! We have transportation lined up and--"
"Edward wants to go to Brooklyn!"
There was an awkward pause on the line before "D" spoke up. "...no, yo. We'll discuss it when you get here. Where are you, how soon can you arrive?"
"Dunnooooooooo... Soon!"
"Be here soon then."
"Edward will be there soon!"
She reached over lazily and pressed a key on the laptop and the line went dead. Another assignment...and she was getting so comfortable! She slowly got up from lying down and watching the sky above her, and with one motion, removed the headset and her goggles, exposing her eyes, which were as green as the goggle lenses...then let her neck go slack, and her head lopped over to the side. Her wild firey red hair was thrown with her moment...but it always seemed to stay in the same form. She scooted over, and with skilled dexterity of her toes and fingers, she disconnected the wires to her laptop, threw it and its components into the bag, and slowly got up.
She had been lying and lounging in a satellite dish with wires drooping over the side running to her computer on top of a roof in the middle of the city. Many, many stories below, city life in the late morning was going about as usual with its normal din of traffic noises and the murmur of the people going about their lives. Radical Edward Tartatovsky Sanako Magellan Verita, II, Esquire, Twice-Removed stood against the wind blowing over the rooftops in her white tanktop and biker shorts and her computer under her arm, then smiled widely, wider than what most human beings are capable, bringing red ovals to her cheeks. "Edward gonna work!"
And with that she slid off the dish to the rooftop and hopped from one bare foot, pausing, then hopping to the other all the way to the staircase while humming a nonsense tune to herself. She had failed to tell D she was actually on top of the roof of the place they were supposed to meet this whole time...
-----
"Uh huh!" the blonde-haired and tanned-skinned girl said into the phone.
"And your specialties will be needed," the synthesized voice continued.
"Uh huh!"
"And we'll need to meet within the hour."
"Uh huh!"
"It's a bit pressing. The fate of the world might end up riding on this."
"Uh huh!" She squeezed a banana with her free hand, shooting the sweet fruit into the air, which she caught with her mouth and downed with only a few chews. It was a talent...albeit an odd one.
"You'll need to provide transportation, as well as the standard field operation equipment, plus any other gear you think would be deemed appropriate."
"Uh huh!"
"KEITARO! YOU IDIOT!" someone shouted in the background. A loud crash, and the manager-gone-college-student suddenly flew through the air down the hallway, slamming into the wall...then slowly peeling away from it and landing on his back with his glasses broken.
"You'll likely need to pick up S on the way. You've been by the store before, haven't you?"
"Uh huh!" She gave a broad smile. "And the kitty comes too?"
"Yes, Agent K...the kitty comes too."
"YAY!"
She hung up the phone, then whirled around, making the skirt on her school uniform give a little twirl. Kaola Su gave thrust a fist into the air. "All right, ha ha! I've gotta save the world!"
She bounded down the hallway, skidded to a halt, then leapt and continued on on all fours. A small black-haired girl emerged from one of the doorways. "Oh, Su-chan...are you leaving?"
Kaola Su skidded to a halt, letting the momentum take her, making her flip over then roll onto the ground, lying flat on her back. She looked up at her friend and fellow housemate upside-down. "Yep! I'm going out! I might be back tomorrow!"
"Oh...I won't make a place for you tonight at dinner then. Would you want leftovers?"
Kaola kicked her legs up, making her body follow too, and then she was on her feet again. She whirled around and spoke cheerfully with one eye closed. "Yeah! Yeah! Thanks, Shinobu-chan!"
The black-haired girl gave a shy and peaceful smile, then bowed to her energetic friend with her eyes closed, and when she opened them all she saw was a clearing trail of smoke...with Keitaro lying in the hallway with a footprint on his face.
A cry rang out. "KEITARO! Are you lying there to try and look up girls' skirts!"
"N-NO, NO! I'M NOT! I--"
Kaola didn't hear the rest of the exchange. She reached the window and jumped out with her limbs completely spread. "All right!" And with that cry she disappeared into the thick of the forest below. One would think she might have just fell to injury or her death...but not long after a rumbling was heard. A large metallic craft shaped like a turtle rose up above the treetops. There on top sat Kaola, now wearing green goggles and garbed in a dull green mechanic's suit and work boots. She was holding onto reins that went into the "turtle's" mouth.
"Okay, Tama Rocket, Mk. III!" She dramatically pointed forward. "GOOOOOOO!"
The boosters ignited, sending out a jet of flame behind the odd craft. Immediately it rocketed off into the horizon.
-----
"Hello, CD Vision!"
"Am I speaking to Sasami Kawai?" the synthesized voice on the phone said.
"Um, yes, you are!" the blue-haired, ponytailed girl said cheerfully. "Oh! D?"
"Yes, S. You don't have a lot of time to talk. We have an assignment."
"Oh! But..." She peered over the counter, then turned around, cupping her mouth with her hand and lowering her voice. "...I'm...I'm waiting for someone, though."
"Your boy escapades can wait, Agent S. This is important."
"EHHHH!" she exclaimed, her ponytails shooting out in back of her. "It-it-it-it's not like that! He's...he's a friend! He just said he would be in! ...and...and I was looking forward--"
"This assignment takes precendence over that, you should know that."
"Yeahhhhhh," Sasami said, her head drooping.
"We'll need you along so we can use your friend's assistance, as per usual."
"...but I'm--ah...I can be a good field agent too! How come you don't give me a chance?" She gave a pout.
"We've talked about this, Agent S," D said tiredly. "You're barely a middle-schooler."
"But so is Kaola!"
"Agent K has mechanical and combat expertise. Agent E is our technical and computer work technician. And you could prove your worth more if you didn't run away every single time the secret weapon arrived."
"What about Ryo-chan!" A sleeping grey long-eared creature under the counter that looked like a cross between a cat and a rabbit opened one eye and raised an ear slightly.
"Your cat also comes in handy sometimes. Now, tell your parents the usual thing and that you have to leave your shift early, and--"
There was suddenly a cacaphony of screams outside, followed by a large roar and a sudden wind that rushed into the store, chaotically tossing any loose papers about and ruffling all the posters. Sasami fell backwards onto the floor with her hands to her ears while yelling. Finally the noise and wind died down, and parked outside in the middle of the street was a giant metal turtle.
The phone was swinging upside-down on its cord from the counter. "It sounds like Agent K has arrived. She will take you to the meeting. I will see you soon." And then the line went dead.
Sasami sat on the floor with strands of hair out of place all over her head. "Sasaaaami-chaaaan! Sasaaaami-chaaaan!" a voice called from outside.
"Rehhhhh...!" she weakly exclaimed, getting a small sweatdrop down the side of her head.