Thanks to the first 5 reviewers, it really means a lot to me. Please give me a few moments to personally reply.
Sci-Fi Raptor:So it's a rehash of episode 1? Strangely enough, I've never even seen futakoi alternative, I've only seen the trailer (which is pretty damn good) and a few reviews on the internet. Must be one frikin' coincidence. I was trying to imagine how it might start out, so I decided to start out with a day in the lives of the trio, and that's how it turned out. Thanks for reviewing.
Wonderbee31: I was actually kinda hesitant about changing Nodoka's personality to drastically, but that's how it turned out. Glad to see someone likes it, thanks.
Keikun4283: It's great to see someone likes it, thanks a lot. +sorry for that Sarah Soujyu typo...got mixed up
BigFics2: You've always reviewed every one of my works, thanks a lot. Gotta repay the favor someday. By the way, I'm still waiting for the continuation of your Gundam Hina and Hinata maiden. Thanks for the review.
Sailor Enlil: You know, I never thought that far. I was actually thinking along the lines of Sarah (Love Hina) or Asuna (MSN)...but I decided on Nodoka based on her looks. But now that I think of it, Vivi does seem a good match...though people would have trouble conceptualizing her cause she's such a minor character. Thanks for the review and feedback, I really appreciate it.
Since I decided to continue it, I might revise chapter 1 somewhat. It was only a doodle to begin with anyway. Now the real story begins. Please continue to support the story, your reviews are certainly invaluable in motivating me to write to the best of my abilities (i.e. more reviews PLEASE)
Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, Mahou Sensei Negima, or anything else I might inadvertently refer to here…I mean seriously, this thing won't need a disclaimer otherwise, right?
"Motto Motto nani ga okitemo…." A voice sang. The faint glow from the large monitor spread a gentle marine blue glow across the dark room. A young girl, wearing a school sailor suit, sat cross legged on the floor, visor over her eyes, a large CPU balanced on her head. The monitor sat blinking in front of her.
"nyahahahaha….so…where to now?" she laughed, squeezing a banana out of its peel with one hand, the other typing rapidly on the keyboard. "hmmm? Whazzis?"
"That'll help…for now…" Narusegawa commented, watching a black haired boy in a blue overall and Keitarou put up a makeshift canvas tent over the open part of the office's second floor. Keitarou's detective agency was on the second floor of a two storied building. The lower floor used to be a restaurant called the Hinata Western, but was now closed down. Keitarou and the twins now lived in the office itself which also served the dual purposes of being their bedroom, dining room, and general lounge. There was a small kitchen on one side where they (well, actually, it's only Shinobu) prepared meals everyday.
The boy turned around and wiped his forehead. "Phew, that should keep you out of the wind and rain for a while. Tomorrow I'll come with some supplies and tools, and we can start making temporary repairs." The boy said, picking up his tool belt and putting it back on.
"Thanks a lot, Lee-kun…I don't know what we would do without your help. And you too Narusegawa-sempai." Shinobu bowed to them both.
"No worries, I'm just glad you guys are all right." Lee said, scratching the back of his head. "It's already a regular thing here in this town…don't worry about it. It was a good thing the firemen helped removing the remains of that helicopter…now that was something I surely couldn't help with."
"Hey, guys, our mugs are still intact!" Nodoka's voice floated from amongst the wreckage. She climbed some rubble to show the others three identical mugs. One was peach, with a happy cartoon face on it. Another was light blue, with a pained cartoon face. The last one was pistachio green with a leering cartoon face. (you could guess which one belongs to who)
"Ehhhh….that's great!" Keitarou and Shinobu both ran over to Nodoka. Narusegawa shouldered her broom and dustpan while Lee gathered the last of his tools. Both smiled, looking upon the warm family scene. If anything, this was something that made helping the fledgling little family worth it.
"I'm guessing you guys are gonna be sleeping on that mattress over there?" Lee asked. "I can see all your futons and sofas all got burned up…"
"I guess so…we're gonna have to share that one mattress." Keitarou nodded in the direction of the mattress in one corner of the small room.
"Hey, Keitarou…if you dare do anything…" Naru brandished a fist. The "you'll seriously get it" was left hanging in the air, unspoken, but the fiery gleam in Naru's eyes was more than enough to get the message across.
"ah…hahahaha…" Keitarou held both palms up. "Don't worry, Narusegawa-san, I'll sleep on the floor if I have to…"
"Well…you better behave, Keitarou…" Narusegawa said.
"I'm off guys, see you tomorrow." Lee hollered from the direction of the stairs.
Narusegawa followed suit, but before she left she aimed one last scowl in Keitarou's direction.
As soon as Narusegawa left, Keitarou let out a long breath of relief. "huff…I thought I was gonna die there…"
"Don't worry about it, Keitarou-sempai." Shinobu laughed, "You can sleep on the mattress too." She said, patting the mattress.
"Yeah… there's enough space on it for us to spread out a bit, isn't there?" Nodoka said, regarding the mattress.
Later on that night…
"Well…no matter what the girl's say…I knew it'd end up like this…" Keitarou sighed. The two girls, too tired to change out of their school sailor suits, had fallen asleep instantaneously on either side of him with the intention of keeping plenty of space open between them. Now they were resting their heads on his outstretched arms, snuggling deep into his sides, hugging him from both directions.
"These two…" he looked down at their sleeping faces. He raised both arms and embraced them closely. He stared up at the ceiling…well…what's left of it…and mused. "where would I be without them…?" he closed his eyes. "Shinobu…Nodoka…"
"hmmm…so your name is...Poopoo coodle whatever?" The young girl seemed to be talking to her computer for some reason.
"Correction…Program Code AX-001, Alpha 1, License Code…." Her computer seemed to answer back.
"Right…right…but all that's just too long…I'll call you Alpha-kun, ok, Alpha-kun?"
"Alpha…kun?" the computer asked, sounding slightly confused.
"Yeah, Alpha-kun. I'm Kaolla Suu, call me Suu-chan! Nice to meetcha!" The young girl said happily, "Now I've got a friend to play with! Where are you from, Alpha-kun?"
"I…come from a place far away…" The computer answered back.
"so…where are you now?"
"currently…I'm residing in a telecommunications server in a local communications hub. It's so lonely here…so I decided to see if there was anyone I could talk to.
"hmmm…hey, you can transfer yourself from computer to computer?" Suu asked, suddenly.
"Affirmative. That is function code…"
"right…right…" Suu interrupted the program's explanation. "Why don't you move here, I happen to need a chess opponent." She offered.
"Very well, chess sounds interesting…" The program said. A download screen popped up on Suu's visor.
"Goodie…" Suu clapped her hands together.
The next day…
"Hmmm…check it out guys, we're expecting another big client today!" Keitarou announced, smiling, as he put down the phone.
"Wow! Another one! We're having a really good week, aren't we!" Shinobu exclaimed, broom in one hand, dust pan in another. She was wearing an apron over her usual school sailor uniform.
"…are you sure?" Nodoka asked, almost rhetorically, looking around (she was dressed just like Shinobu minus the apron). The office was still in ruins. Part of the front wall and the ceiling had collapsed…there was even a scooter lying among the smashed remains of a large desk. Lee was by the office front, where the windows used to be. The sound of his hammer and chisel filled up the empty silence as he tried to flatten what remained of the stone work into a flat enough platform to build on. Narusegawa, meanwhile, had told them that she had to take care of the store today, but that she'd drop by later to help out.
"Well, we might as well clean up while we wait, right?" Shinobu suggested, every inch of her face radiating an intensely optimistic aura.
"Sure…not as if we have anything else to do…" Nodoka scratched her head as she started heaving a file cabinet off what remained of the desk.
"heh, those two sure do look a lot more cheerful than when they first arrived here." Lee laughed, watching the twins try and heave the file cabinet.
"Yeah…I guess so…back then, you were still staying over in the Hinata-Sou with the Aoyamas, weren't you?" Keitarou came over and started piling rubble in a bucket. "I still remember those days….that was about 5 years ago, wasn't it?"
"Your dad was still running this joint…can't say he ran it any better than you do, but he did quite a lot of things in his time. I was still a kid back then, but I loved to read up news on your father." Lee said, brushing off the last of the rock chippings off the now leveled façade. It left him with a rectangular hole in front of the building.
"Yeah…then the Maehara twins showed up…" Keitarou seemed to stare off into the distance as he relived some far off memory.
"Out of the blue, eh? Just showed up on your doorstep one day." Lee laughed, picking up a wooden board and some sandpaper.
5 years ago…
It was raining…thunder and lightning adorned the sky. 14 year old Keitarou had decided to stay in that day. He was reading a few newspaper clippings from his scrap book. "Urashima Keisuke Foils Yakuza Plans…Urashima saves the day again….Urashima Detective Agency Turns Tables on Local Gang Lord….Another Urashima feat…Urashima saves Hinata Inn…Urashima Keisuke delivers!" lightning flashed outside the window he was sitting by. A few metres away sat his father, Urashima Keisuke, (economically deprived) freelance detective and local hero, at his desk, sorting out files.
Then the bell rang…
Keisuke got up and walked over to the door. "Now who could that be?" He reached a hand inside his coat. Keitarou knew…being a good detective, good as in not corrupt, meant being a good target for 'bad' people, which meant one had to keep guns inside their coats at all times.
"Stay behind Keitarou." His father warned as he went downstairs to the front door. He slowly opened the door…and lo and behold.
Keitarou peeked from behind his father…and gasped. Two small figures, both shivering in the frosty, misty darkness under the rain…stood before them. The light flooding from the door cast awkward shadows across their sodden faces.
"Shinobu?Nodoka? Come, get out of the rain. Come." Keisuke pulled the two girls in, looked around outside the door for a moment, before locking it. He kneeled before the two and looked up at them. He noticed a note pinned to one of them. He detached it and held the damp piece of paper gingerly, afraid to rip it. Upon unfolding it, his eyes widened as he scanned down the piece of paper.
Keitarou meanwhile had run off to pick up a few towels and blankets. When he came back, he found his father was hugging the two girls tightly, shuddering. He deposited the towels and blankets on one side of the small corridor and watched…that night changed everything…
"Dad kept that old note pinned to their clothes that day…it said their parents had died and that my father was the one appointed guardian. Even the social workers didn't want to have anything to do with it for some reason…they just sent the papers and everything by mail…" Keitarou reminisced.
"They were quite gloomy back then. I remembered all Shinobu could do was cry while all Nodoka could do was criticize the office décor." Lee squinted down the board to check its smoothness and straightness. He took out a measuring tape and proceeded to measure the gaping hole. Some dust and plaster came raining down on the twins as they got the cabinet back up on its feet, turning the two soot black with small flecks of white here and there. Shinobu giggled and laughed out loud, pointing at Nodoka, while Nodoka cursed all the ceilings of the world.
"Their parents used to run the Hinata Western downstairs, didn't they? Then they moved off somewhere with the twins. If I'm not mistaken, they used to be good friends with your father." Lee said, picking up a saw and sawing the wooden boards.
"Well, whatever happens, they're my family now. They're all I have left, and I will protect them, with all my strength." Keitarou said, the fire of determination burning red hot in his eyes.
"Well…first of all…you're gonna need a proper office…" Lee laughed, hitting him with a paper fan to snap him out of his reverie. "You better help them out there, I don't think Nodoka will calm down by herself." Lee pointed at Nodoka who was now threatening to bring down what remained of the ceiling with a sledgehammer. Shinobu meanwhile was rolling around on the floor, laughing herself silly.
"What do you mean…it escaped?" A stern, monotonous female voice came out from beyond the bamboo screen.
"It…escaped…Boss…I mean…it just…escaped…" a man, wearing a black suit, was sweating buckets as he kneeled before the bamboo screen.
"I don't know much about all this new hyped up internet crap or whatever it is you do but as far as I know, when I open my e-mail, it stays there on the screen until I decide whether to delete it or print if for my goat to eat." The disembodied voice from beyond the screen said.
"But…Boss…what we're dealing with here is an A.I….a highly advanced one at that…and the moment I hacked onto their mainframe it just…just…leaped off, zapped through my computer and went loose on the internet…" the man tried to bow even deeper, doing his best to bury his head as far down into the tatami as possible.
"So…you're saying this thing is alive…well…you should be able to capture it, can you not? Cause otherwise….you won't be much use…" the disembodied female voice said. Kotarou advanced from behind the screen and looked down at the man.
"Ah…I…" The man gulped. "Yes Boss…I'll try my best…just give me time…"
"Good…Kotarou here will accompany you to…ah…give you motivational support…after all…we cannot let our friends wait now…can we?" the voice concluded. "I expect results….do not disappoint me or the mistress…"
"Heh, right, as long as you guys don't burn anything else here, that should hold up." Lee said, shouldering his saw while admiring his own handiwork.
"Sugoi…." Shinobu gasped in awe.
"It's as if we actually planned on having a wooden façade…amazing…" Keitarou commented while sorting out the remaining trash. Most of the office now seemed a lot more habitable. The rubble and dust had been cleared away. The intact furniture had been replaced in their proper places.
"Ugghghhh….uurrrhhh…." Nodoka was straining with exertion as she tried to heave the scooter off the desk.
"You might want some help…" Keitarou started, before Nodoka fell backwards as the scooter fell off the desk, onto the wooden floor…through the wooden floor, and into the room below.
More dust and plaster fell on Lee who just sighed and shook his head. "Lemme guess…more to fix…"
"Hey, let's have lunch!" Nodoka suddenly exclaimed while Lee was heading downstairs to inspect the damage. His descent down the stairs was suddenly accentuated with a couple of snaps, crashes, bangs, followed by that queer hollow sound made by falling cans (for some reason, this is always the case, even when metal cans aren't present). Some dust blew up from the landing, for added effect.
"No one use the stairs! This thing's got a life of its own! Snapping under my feet, the nerve!" Lee's voice floated up from below. There was the sudden sound of a chainsaw revving.
"I'll cook!" Nodoka exclaimed, punching a fist into the air.
"How exciting! Do you want my help, Nodoka-chan?" Shinobu offered, clapping her hands together.
"Nope, no need sis, I'll take care of it. You just rest here." Nodoka patted Shinobu before proceeding to the kitchen.
"Is it all right…to let her cook?" Keitarou asked, pointing at the kitchen door.
"No worries, she's my sister after all." Shinobu smiled serenely.
A few bangs and kabooms from the kitchen later….
"It's….purple…" Keitarou whispered.
"No…it's actually blue…." Shinobu whispered back. "Quite a bright colour there…"
"But in a stew? A vegetable stew no less…and I can't see any vegetables…" Keitarou whispered.
"Maybe…it…dissolved?" Shinobu whispered back, holding her breath. She was still wearing her usual optimistic cheerful grin.
"The ladle…it disappeared…." Keitarou whispered, lifting a ladle handle out of the stew and admiring the melted effect on the end. "Forget the ladle…I think the stew's eating its way through the floor…" He whispered, looking under the low table. There was a gaping hole from which drops of the bluish purple liquid was leaking out from under the table. Every drop incited a hiss from the floor. "It ate through the stainless steel bottom and the table…"
Before them was a large pot of some strange, alien-made concoction that was almost definitely WAS edible in some prehistoric alien planet where the only inhabitants were rock eating golems. There were sparks flying here and there, accompanied by big, wet, sticky BLUPS every time a bubble burst on the surface. Each bubble brought forth a new aroma into the room, whether it be burned rubber or wet newspaper, or even slight tinges of muddy dog.
"Hey! You guys didn't burn anything up there, did you! I spent ages on that new wooden ceiling!" Lee's voice floated up from the direction of the stairs, from where sparks flew occasionally, accompanied by a weird glow effect.
Nodoka looked from Keitarou to Shinobu's (strained in Keitarou's case) smiling faces, then sighed. "You don't have to eat it…"
"I'll definitely eat it!" Keitarou shouted, grabbing his bowl and gulping down a helping of the stew, all in one gulp.
"Hey! I'm sure you guys really burned something up there! I spent ages on all that woodwork!" Lee shouted from below. Keitarou lay smoking on the floor, his hair singed, bubbling at the mouth. Shinobu was fanning him with a small office leaflet.
"Is it really that bad?" Nodoka picked up a spoon and dipped it (it hissed as soon as it touched the liquid) into the stew. She took a taste. There was a moment's pause while Nodoka just stared off into space. Shinobu watched her with a polite sort of interest. First, Nodoka's eyes rolled, then her vomit came out in one long waterfall. Then she blew up and fell sideways beside Keitarou, foaming at the mouth.
Lee came back up a moment later, sniffing around. "So, what's for lunch?"
"Itadakimasu!" Shinobu said cheerfully, gesturing at the pot in the middle of the low dining table. Keitarou and Nodoka lay somewhere in food poison hell, both trying to decide if living was worth the agony.
"Thanks…I'll pass…." Lee said, turning slightly blue. He picked up a clothes peg, placed it on his nose, then started work on the hole in the floor.
"hey, when's that client ever coming?" Nodoka moaned, lying back on the floor.
"hmmm…a little tweak here…and probably a twist there…" Lee mumbled.
"hey, Lee-kun, sorry for interrupting, but…anou…what are you doing?" Shinobu kneeled beside Lee.
Behind them, Nodoka had started throwing a tantrum over how late the client was, flailing her fists and legs all over the floor while still lying down. Keitarou came to try and calm her down but ended up as collateral damage.
"ah, this? This here is your television set…er…or at least, whatever remains of it I could gather. Good thing is, the screen and tube aren't damaged, so with a little twitch there…." Lee explained. Before him sprawled a mess of cables and other odd and ends that probably once constituted a television set or a space satellite before Armageddon.
"You know, not only are you a carpenter, you're also an electrician and general repairman…so amazing…" Shinobu said in awe.
"Yeah…the most amazing thing is that he's still single…" Nodoka added. Lee just laughed, before, suddenly, tensing up, his hair standing on end, and blowing up, falling backwards into a singed heap, wearing a very happy and certainly lost face. At that very moment the screen flashed to life.
"Hey…man, it's ok to be single, it ain't that bad…" Nodoka said, looking down at Lee's sprawled, smoking body.
"…we interrupt this program to bring you live breaking news…" the announcer was saying, before Nodoka ran up to the screen and shouted.
"BAKA YARO! WHY NOW! SHINOBU-CHAN'S FAVOURITE LOVE HINA CHILDREN OF THE EXODUS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ON NOW!" She screamed at the set.
"He…hey! Calm down!" Keitarou ran up to the set, still being able to move despite having been sent spiraling off through the wall a few moments ago.
"Anou…Nodoka-chan…please…please calm down…the news might be important…" Shinobu tried to pull her sister off the set.
"hey…that's…Neldzen Corporations…" Lee suddenly said, getting up, shaking off the black ashes.
"huh?" Lee joined everyone else who were clustered around the set. Even Nodoka stopped trying to rip the set apart for a moment.
"…Earlier this afternoon, multinational organization Neldzen Corp. announced that a very important program, known as Alpha 1, was stolen off their mainframe earlier in the day, presumably at night. The corporation suspects it is the work of hackers. They also announced a reward of US$100.000 for the safe return of the program and the capture of the criminal." The announcer said.
"Neldzen Corp…?" Keitarou murmured.
"Alpha 1…?" Lee asked softly.
"Hackers…?" Shinobu whispered.
"…100.000 dollars…" Nodoka sighed. Then she brightened up. "hey, guys, I betcha we could really repair the office with that money…no…better…we could buy a proper one along with a proper home!"
"We might even afford proper advertising…maybe even expand our agency…" Shinobu gasped.
"hmmm…" Keitarou seemed to be deep in thought, while the twins danced around in the back ground, oblivious to reality.
"And now back to our regular program, we sincerely apologize for the interruption." The announcer said. The screen flashed back to a battle scene between a raven haired swordswoman and a monster of some sort. A mage leaped onto the screen a few moments later.
"First of all…you gotta solve the theft." Lee commented. The twins fell down with a crash as cold hard reality slapped them across the face. "It ain't bad…seriously. I mean, if you guys could actually get that prize money…you guys are detectives after all, this kinda thing should be right up your alley." Lee said, crossing his arms and looking over at Keitarou.
"Well…it sounds more like bounty hunting to me…" Keitarou said, closing his eyes. "We are a detective agency after all…"
"hey, no prob…just regard Neldzen corp. as the client…they've practically extended a request to the entire world anyway." Nodoka said, smiling.
"Anou…demou…where do we start? I mean…it's impossible…that hacker could be anywhere in the world…" Shinobu said, suddenly looking downcast. "I mean, hackers could route through thousands of computers across the world and then break into the mainframe…"
"We'd have to be extremely lucky…" Keitarou said, scratching his head, "for the hacker to be hiding out here in Japan…let alone this city…"
"Well…as far as I know, hackers love to show off…so if you guys can get onto a hacker forum, something's bound to come up…if you guys want to try your luck. And I'll bet there are a few hackers here in this city who'd know something." Lee said, getting up. "well…day's almost over, I gotta be getting back. I'll fix that new hole in the wall another day, ok guys?" A creak sounded on the steps…
"You're not staying for dinner?" Keitarou asked, getting up. Shinobu and Nodoka sat, their eyes glued to the TV screen. A quiet footstep sounded on the landing outside their door.
"Maybe not…" Lee laughed uneasily, eyeing the pot of untouched stew on the table, "got a few more things to get done at home." The door creaked open ominously…
"I'm here, and guess what? I brought dinner!" Naru came in through the door to the stairs, kicking it back shut, carrying a big pot of something that was sending delicious smells left right and centre.
"…on second thoughts…" Lee suddenly spun around and clapped his hands together, "what's for dinner!"
"I've got an idea, I could reheat Nodoka's stew!" Shinobu clapped her hands together happily. Keitarou suddenly started coughing dryly with a fit of TBC, Nodoka laughed loudly in an uneasy manner, while Lee suddenly got busy rummaging his tools in a noisy fashion.
"Irashai, Narusegawa-san, man have you saved our lives today!" Keitarou laughed, bounding up to greet Naru.
"Yeah!" Nodoka shouted. "Come in! Come in!"
"I see the repairs went well…" Naru smiled, looking about. "Hey, Keitarou, make sure you thank Lee properly…wood ain't cheap you know and he did do it for free and all." She looked sternly at Keitarou.
"ah, yes, haha" Keitarou laughed, scratching the back of his head. "can't thank you enough, Lee, hahahaha…we really appreciate it."
"heh, don't worry about it, more importantly, where's the grub!" Lee rubbed his hands together, eyeing Naru's pot of stew.
"Oh, what's this?" Naru walked up to the table and set her pot of stew beside Nodoka's. She opened the lid of Nodoka's stew and sniffed.
"N…NO! Narusegawa-san!" Keitarou ran towards her.
"WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T TASTE IT!" Nodoka screamed, charging towards the pot.
"Hmmm…" Naru had lifted the pot out of the way as Nodoka slid under it in an effort to grab it out of Naru's hands. Nodoka slid all the way down the low table, slid off, and into a nearby trash can.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Keitarou shouted as Naru took a spoonful and tasted it.
"That was…a really good meal…" Lee patted his tummy. "I'm…stuffed…"
"Yeah…can't get any better…" Keitarou said.
"Finally…the client didn't show up…" Shinobu sighed.
"But it was a really great day, wasn't it?" Nodoka laughed. "Someone even ate my stew and survived."
"I must say…it was really good though…" Narusegawa said. "You gotta give me the recipe, Nodoka-chan."
"I can't believe you finished the whole pot though…" Lee remarked, looking at the pot that was still gently smoking as the metal slowly corroded.
"I can't believe you guys let me have all that for myself…thanks guys…" Narusegawa said.
"Well…if you guys are gonna track down a hacker, you'd need to connect to the internet first…and for that, you'd need a computer." Lee said, picking up his bag.
"But…we don't have one…" Shinobu suddenly looked downcast.
"Not to worry, I'll lend you mine." Lee said, taking out a laptop from his bag and placing it on the table. "All you need is a telephone cable…like so…"he explained, as he unplugged the telephone cable from the phone and plugged it into the laptop, "connect, and voila, we're on!"
"Wow…that's easy…" Nodoka said, looking down at the screen.
"Well guys, I'll leave it all to you. Feel free to use it for as long as you wish." Lee said, packing up the rest of his stuff and standing up. "Well, I'd better be heading back. Got plenty of work waiting for me." He said, stretching.
"Yeah, I'll be leaving too…got to get up early." Narusegawa said.
"Hey…check this out." Nodoka said, after Keitarou saw Lee and Narusegawa to the door. "There's a forum of Japanese hackers here…they're all talking about the stolen program." She said, looking up at Keitarou. "it's a highly advanced A.I. of some sort… oh man…it's military technology too…some sort of highly advanced detached digital recon program."
"that sounds…fascinating…any word on who has it now?" Keitarou asked.
"Well…all these guys talk about is how they wish they had it and so on…" Nodoka said. "The idiots…"
"Oh well…I'm calling it a day…" Shinobu said, plopping down on the mattress.
"Yeah, let's. tomorrow's another day." Keitarou said.
"But…oh, whatever." Nodoka shut the laptop. Unbeknownst to her, the screen frizzled for a moment before she shut it.
To be continued…