Hyotei and the Happy Panda

Chapter 6: In which everyone deals with acrophobia in their own special way

A/N: Much love to all my reviewers. Hope I manage to live up to some of the ideas I've heard and that my concept of Ohtori isn't too far out for most. So everyone knows, I'm basing the SkyDrop loosely off a standard Tower of Doom type ride, but with four different faces. It's creative engineering and not a plot device ... I swear.

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"Yuushi, this is dumb. I want to go home," Gakuto sighed. Stupid Atobe and his stupid mandatory field trips. Gakuto wanted a shower, possibly in hot disinfectent after his run-in with those creepy kids. But no, had to wait for--

"Mukahi-senpai, could I talk to you for a minute?" Ohtori's congenial face appeared above his.

Gakuto rolled his eyes. "What?"

Ohtori glanced at Yuushi. "I have a message for your mother from mine."

Gakuto's eyes narrowed immediately, only barely registering his double's partner's confusion. Stomping away from the crowds, Gakuto snapped at Ohtori. "What?"

"Senpai, would you please ride with Taki when we go on Atobe's ride," Ohtori asked meekly -- as if he was actually asking.

Gakuto still felt it necessary to put up a fight. "What? Why?"

Ohtori gave an innocent blink. "I suppose you don't have to, senpai. Anyway, did you know our mothers are meeting for mah-jongg again this Thursday? Don't you hate how much they talk about us? I heard they were thinking of inviting Oshitari-senpai's mother to join."

Gakuto gritted his teeth. Damn upstart kid. Of course, if Gakuto helped him now, Ohtori'd probably nab Shishido. And if Ohtori had a boyfriend too, he couldn't exactly use Gakuto's for blackmail anymore. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad ...

"Fine," he growled.

Ohtori bowed deeply. "Thank you so much, senpai."

"Whatever." Gakuto stomped back towards Yuushi as Ohtori darted away, probably to avoid being seen by Taki, who was returning with two overpriced bottles of water, looking around perplexed. Honestly, this dating stuff wasn't that hard, Gakuto thought to himself. If someone as socially clueless as Yuushi could handle it, he assumed just about anyone could figure it out.

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Shishido sauntered with as much dignity as he could manage towards the SkyDrop, determined not to talk to Ohtori. He'd ride the stupid ride, then make a break for it. Besides, Ohtori looked busy, chatting amiably with the ride's attendent. Ohtori was unique at Hyotei in that skill: he could talk to anyone, no matter who they were or how much money their parents made or didn't make, and in a few minutes, they'd be friends. Shishido, on the other hand, managed to offend people regardless of race, religion, or financial status -- usually in under five minutes. He'd grown perversely proud of this characteristic, actually.

"You do realize you're staring," Atobe said from behind him, making Shishido jump.

"I was just wondering when we can get on with this so I can go home," the shorter boy snarled.

Atobe raised an eyebrow, smirking. Then he raised one hand in the air, snapping his fingers. The Hyotei members turned to face him, out of practice if not awe. "We will begin," Atobe announced. With limited rolls of eyes, the regulars filed towards the ride, which had been cleared of all other occupants for the occasion. The SkyDrop was divided into four sections, each on a different side of the five story pole. Taking a seat in an empty quarter, Shishido was half-relieved and half-disgusted to see Taki snag Ohtori's arm. That meant he'd probably end up riding with Kabaji or something. At least he wouldn't have to worry about making conversation.

Suddenly, Gakuto's shriek cut through air. "You're such an idiot, Yuushi!"

Oshitari, for his part, looked a mixture of stunned and baffled.

Gakuto rolled his eyes. "I can't stand listening to you anymore. I give up! Taki!" Gakuto grabbed the arm of a very wide-eyed Taki. "I'm riding with you instead. Let's go!"
Taki started to protest, but was no match for the red-haired steam roller that propelled him away from Ohtori. Crap... that meant.

"Shishido-san, can I ride with you, then?" Ohtori beamed, hopping into the seat next to Shishido and pulling the safety bar over both their heads before Shishido could answer. Fair enough, since the only syllable Shishido felt capable of at the moment was "...er."

Oh, he hoped this ride was a short one.

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Atobe supposed he should be focusing on Jirou and whatever the hell that kiss meant. However, at the moment his mind was preoccupied by the thought: We should have reached the top by now, shouldn't we?

However against all definition of logic and thought, the damnable contraption kept moving up. The agonizingly slow motor hummed, punctuated by occasional jerks for no reason Atobe could discern. He craned his neck up, his stomach twisting as he could still see a fair distance of height to be gained. And below him ...

Atobe's neck snapped up abruptly. Right. Not looking below him.

"Mou, Atobe, are you okay?"

"Ore-sama is fine."

"Close your eyes," Jirou suggested. That, however, only meant Atobe's imagination would provide the distance between his glorious self and and the very hard ground. Atobe instead chose to stare at one of his hands gripping the orange plastic safefty bar. He should schedule a manicure if he lived through this.

And then, the machine clunked to a sudden stop.

"Atobe, did you just ... squeak?"

"No."

Atobe refused to look at Jirou, watching his knuckles turn whiter and whiter. He braced himself to not shriek like a five-year-old girl.

He waited. Thirty seconds passed.

Then another thirty.

Then a full minute.

After two and a half minutes, Atobe finally snapped, "Is this thing actually going to move!"

Jirou yawned. "I heard it gets stuck sometimes. They should--"

"Stuck!"

"Well, it's a newer ride. They might still be getting the bugs out."

"Bugs! There should be no bugs! Ore-sama does not ride rides that contain bugs!"

Jirou sighed. "They'll get it running in a minute." Jirou's head started to tip to the left, using the safety guard as a pillow.

"Don't you dare fall asleep!" Atobe warned, though he could already hear the other boy's snores. He'd try to shake Jirou awake, but that would involve relinquishing his grip on one of the handles.

Atobe felt his pulse double, his breathing coming more and more rapidly. This was no way for the heir to the Atobe empire to die.

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"We're going to die!" Taki shrieked for about the fifth time in the last ten minutes.

Gakuto had given up responding, since Taki wasn't listening anyway. He was going to kill Ohtori for this.

"God, can't they just get us down? Don't they have a safety or something?"

"Well if they do, screaming isn't going to turn it on."

"How are you so calm!"

Gakuto sighed. "Look either we get down alive whenever they get this thing working, or we crash to our deaths. I don't want to spend the last minutes of my life with a headache cuz you can't stop screeching." Also, Gakuto could afford to be calm. Getting stuck up here was undoubtedly a trap; either Ohtori's or Jirou's. He wasn't sure which yet.

"God, can't you be serious for once?" Taki huffed, throwing his head back against the padded headrest. "You don't want to die before you make up with Oshitari, do you?"

"Huh? Oh, right."

"What do you mean, 'oh right'? What'd he do anyway?"

Gakuto supposed Ohtori hadn't mentioned anything about a code of secrecy. "Nothing. Ohtori just asked me to ride with you so he could molest Shishido or something."

"What!"

Gakuto shrugged.

"Why'd you listen to him!"

"Because I thought it would be funny. Your face is a really funny color right now."

"You ... you suck," Taki eventually spat out.

"Yeah?" Gakuto raised an eyebrow. "In 3rd grade you knew I liked Yuki-chan, and you pushed her off the swings and then she wouldn't talk to us anymore."

"Well, she was a real brat--"

"And in fifth grade you told the girl I liked that my parents adopted me from a traveling circus--"

"That was the week you said--"

"And then last year you told me Yuushi only dated guys who were taller than him!"

"Only cuz I used to think he was kinda hot!"

"Oh that makes it so much--" Gakuto stopped. "What do you mean 'used to think.'?"

Taki looked uncomfortable. "Well, you have to admit he's let his hair get a little weird. It used to be nicer and--"

"There's nothing wrong with Yuushi's hair!" True, the series of high speed rides had blown most of it behind him so that he looked permanently like he was zooming at fifty miles an hour, but today was an exception.

"I have some really good conditioner that might work. I can show you where I --"

"I'm not fixing his hair! It's fine!"

"Suit yourself," Taki sighed. The drama seemed to have calmed him down considerably. He kicked at the bottom of the car. Gakuto, meanwhile, refused to look at him, preferring to contemplate how to send a moonsault into Ohtori's chin. Or Shishido's chin, maybe. This was all his fault.

Eventually, Taki asked, "So you want to come play video games this weekend?"

Gakuto let out a huff. "You got that new 2D fighter?"

"Hissing Cockroach, Flying Monkey."

"Yeah, I'm in."

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Oshitari could hear just enough of his neighbors' conversation floating downwind to be insulted. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his hair. And as soon as today was over he could brush it back into some semblance of normality. Till then, he considered the situation hopeless.

Similar to his chances at engaging in some sort of conversation while waiting for the miserable excuse for a staff to fix this death trap.

He started talking, more to pass the time than anything else. "This is ridiculous. I have much better things to do with my time. You know, my sister offered to take me to a concert with her today. There's an orchestra from St. Petersburg touring Japan right now. They play a phenomenal selection of Stravinsky pieces."

"Uhs."

Oshitari wasn't sure Kabaji knew any other words and continued as if no one had spoken. "They have a guest pianist in. You might not be familiar with most of his works, but his grasp of technique is flawless."

"Rachmaninov."

Oshitari blinked, peering over his glasses at his seatmate. "You ... heard the performance?"

"Uhs."

"Oh." He hadn't predicted that one. "Ah... what did you think?"

"Flat."

Oshitari couldn't quite help the elitist smirk on his face. "I suppose somone unfamiliar with the genre might have that opinion, but if one pays attention to the details. His stacatto for example is --"

"Stilted."

"Precise."

Kabaji shrugged, seeming to indicate he didn't care what Oshitari thought, which was not satisfactory because Oshitari was right. "Well, what about his control of dynamics during the andante portions?"

"Controlled. Forced."

"It wasn't forced! That piece is the standard to which great pianists aspire. Few can manage to pick up the subtleties--"

"Nothing new."

"Nothing new? What did he need that was new? As if you've heard it performed better."

"Zhang."

Zhang? "You mean Boa Zhang? That prodigy from Beijing? Please, she's a fad."

"Talent."

"Hype." What was it about talking with Kabaji that made him start speaking in one word sentences. "In a few years no one will have ever heard of her."

Another unconcerned shrug.

Oshitari glared, adjusting his glasses and getting his fingers tangled in the damn strap. "Next you'll be telling me you enjoyed that amateur performance La Boheme last spring."

"Uhs."

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The EllipsesBandit...'s continuing inside jokes and commentary

1. Don't ask about the origins of the Hissing Cockroach, Flying Monkey video game. Just. Don't. Ask. Also hope nobody minds me making Gakuto and Taki friends. Everybody has at least one friend they don't really like but can't really ditch at this point. Gakuto won the prize this round.

2. For the record, I think there's a lot wrong with Yuushi's hair, but everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

3. My knowledge of classical music is limited to old high school band classes. I just though hearing Kabaji say "Rachmaninov" would be cool. All names are quite made up.