Surprise, surprise, I'm not dead yet. I'll just be posting chapters a bit less frequently from now on, because the story has started to move (albeit slowly) and my writing is embarrassingly irregular. For instance, about 10000 words of this was written in the space of about a week and a half, whereas the last few thousand have trickled out slowly over the course of a few weeks. Thus, I'll be posting slowly so that I can hopefully finish without having to go on hiatus. That still may happen, though, but I think I'll have time enough to finish this summer. Anyhow, thanks again to Hn and karina001 for reviewing. The feedback is quite helpful, and also encouraging in ways that cannot be overstated.
Aussi, pour tous les francophones qui lisent ce fic, n'hésitez pas à commenter (est-ce le mot?) en français. Ce n'est pas ma ma première langue (alors pardonnez-moi s'il y a des erreurs ici) mais je pense que je vais vous comprendre si vous aimeriez mieux parler en français.
Alors, j'espère que vous aimerez ce chapitre. Hope you all enjoy it, for those Anglos among us.
...
"What the hell is with that kid?" Kanda murmured, attempting to shove his backpack into the storage compartment. It was amazing how they expected two bags, let alone four, to fit there.
He tried shutting the door on it, but it wouldn't close properly. Time for desperate measures.
"What do you mean?" Marie asked cautiously., "He seems normal, though he is loud."
He was just standing by quietly. At least he had the grace not to try and help Kanda.
"Have you seen him? He's acting creepy. He's not even like that. He's just acting. I can't get a grip on him."
Kanda threw himself at the compartment once again, pushing in the bags and hearing the catch of the lock.
"That should be good."
He turned back to Marie, who seemed to be turning something over in his mind.
"Hmm. Perhaps he really is like that."
"No. He's just his own world. So self-centred he can even think about other people as people."
Odd words for an eleven-year-old, thought Marie. Then again…
Kanda was both younger and far older than that.
He followed Kanda back to the compartment.
…
"Daisya…"
"Hmm?"
Daisya looked up from his sketches, and felt his heart sink. The old man had a concerned look on his face.
"You've been acting quite oddly for the past few days."
"Yeah?"
The old man looked unsure of what to say.
"Is it about Kanda?"
"No, not really. I'm still working on him."
"I'm not entirely sure that that's not the problem, then."
The old man sighed, and Daisya felt it would be a good idea to pay attention. He sometimes ran out of patience. Once every three months, about.
"It's probably best if you treat him like just another person. He isn't any good at working with other people, so it's not very much use trying to crack him. It's just who he is. It's actually rather cute, sometimes, but don't tell him I said that."
The words 'Kanda' and 'cute' were irreconcilable in Daisya's mind, but he nodded.
"So, just go through the normal rounds?"
"Yes. Maybe a bit like what you did with me, after you stopped thinking I was leading you on, though you may suffer slightly heavier consequences if you bother him enough."
"So, you don't mind if I don't get along with him?"
The old man looked a bit taken aback.
"No, not really. Why? Were you trying to?"
Daisya shrugged as he did when avoiding a question. He had a different repertoire of shrugs depending on the occasion, Tiedoll had noticed over the months.
"Sort of. I figured you'd like it better if we didn't fight."
The old man smiled, and Daisya attempted to become one with his chair. He was so embarrassing, sometimes.
"Oh, so that's why you were acting like that," he said, laughing slightly, "Good. I was worried for no reason, then. I must say, Daisya, you're also quite capable of being cute."
Daisya couldn't help but redden, and he looked away in annoyance.
"Yeah, no."
…
The game this time ended 480-360 to Tiedoll and Marie as the train pulled up somewhere in Alsace. It would be difficult to secure a seat on the next train, but the general had said he had a few ideas.
And so, yet again, the twins were left on opposite sides of a bench, arms crossed and alternately glaring and grinning.
"Say, that game's actually pretty interesting."
Daisya didn't bother trying to orchestrate a sentence that was clever or kind in some way. The old man's advice was probably the best he could get involving Kanda.
"You said that yesterday."
"Yup. But most things get boring after a few days."
"Boring's still subjective."
"I know. But I figured I might as well get the introductions over with."
Kanda glared askance at him.
"Well, I was sort of trying to see if you liked it if people were nice or whatever, but the old man said it was useless to try using that on you. So basically I'm introducing myself again."
Daisya shifted position, and stuck a hand out to the other side of the bench.
"I'm Daisya Barry. Ever played football?"
Kanda was fluent in a few languages and knew a few words in many more, which was why none of the locals recognized the exact meaning of his muttering.
Daisya did, though, and giggled.
…
"Why do they always leave us here?" muttered Kanda sullenly. After Daisya's little skit and a few sentences of one-sided conversation, he'd been trying to get some sleep.
"Maybe they want us to get to know each other."
"No way in hell."
"Oh, give us a chance," Daisya said dryly.
He exhaled, and looked up at the clouds. In the upper layers of the atmosphere, cirrus clouds hung like unfinished brush strokes. One of them looked a bit like a waterfall.
Eh, but those clouds were boring compared to the fluffy cumulus clouds, that could be anything from a shark to a lion.
"So,do you know how to play football?"
Kanda let out a scoff.
"Why would I?"
"So you don't know."
"No."
"Hmm."
Daisya thought for a moment, then plunged his hand into his backpack. It was nice, not trying to be anything in particular, even though Kanda was a bit himself.
After some rummaging, he fished out the paper and pencil he liked to keep. The old man was happy that he liked drawing, so he always got a paper allowance.
"I could teach you."
He peeked over the backpacks at Kanda, who was looking as bored as he himself felt.
"Why would I want that?"
Kanda kept looking straight ahead.
"Well, it's either that or staying like this until the old man's found another train or a place to stay. And, if you get this over with now, then you won't have to deal with me later on."
Kanda's face looked curiously blank for a moment, then settled into a mask of exasperation.
"Fine."
Daisya grinned.
"All right!"
…
Marie walked back along the cobblestones, remembering the different patterns of paving slabs he had passed. He often wondered how he'd get by if he didn't have such a good memory.
Thankfully, that was rarely an issue.
Most people pitied him for his blindness, but he was rarely inconvenienced by it now. He could still see pictures, if only in his mind. He remembered the feelings of streets, he heard the echo of sounds off the figures around him, he felt the vibrations when akuma moved. He had no need of sight.
Though, on occasion, he did wonder what it would be like to see all the faces he had met since then.
As he came closer to the rendezvous point, he heard a chatter of voices he had not entirely expected.
"Okay, so, in a proper game, the offence can't go back behind the defense, and the defense can't go in front of the offence, which means you've got to rely on your teammates."
There was a light swishing noise, a pencil gliding across a piece of paper.
"And if it's not a proper game?"
"Well, you only play it like that if you've got a proper team, but if it's ever just us four the only rules we'll be playing with are the ones about kicking it out and stuff."
"You're acting like we're actually going to play."
"Hey, you can choose to do it, or I can choose for you."
Marie decided to interrupt before Daisya got carried away.
"Excuse me, Daisya."
There was a rustling of clothing as one of them presumably turned to face him.
"Found anything?"
Kanda was the first one to speak.
"There's one place we can stay, though the rooms are a bit small. Is the General back? We agreed to meet back here."
"Nah," said Daisya, "He should be back pretty soon, though. Say, you know how to play football? I'm teaching Kanda, so I should probably teach you while I'm at it."
Marie smiled. He agreed with the general — kids were rather cute when confronted with something they liked.
"I do know how to play it, yes, though it's been a while. I'll probably just listen to catch up on the rules."
There was a non-committal sound, and slight rustling of clothing that could be a shrug.
"Suit yourself."
Daisya turned back to his reluctant student.
Nothing like a filler chapter to waste time and increase word count. I have to say, I've got the athletic ability of a sick sea snail, so don't quote me on soccer rules. Most of the time I spent playing soccer back in the day was spent attempting to kick the ball just once, and later attempting to stay as far away from the offense players as possible. One soccer ball to the teeth was enough. Also, Daisya refers to it as 'football' because, as far as I can remember, most (if not all) of the European countries refer to it as football.