Pretty Sammy OAV: Sayonara, Sammy! (part two)
by Vladimir Klaud
Nobuyuki's companion bowed to the ladies. "I am Ginji Iwakura. Pleased to meet you."
The ladies bowed back.
"It's so refreshing to see two men unafraid to express how close a friendship they have," remarked Mihoshi. "Isn't it, Kiyone?"
"Ah," Kiyone nervously chuckled. "Isn't it, though."
Nobuyuki could see that Mihoshi was having a little trouble grasping what Kiyone clearly understood very well, but was still apparently very uncomfortable with, anyhow. He decided to help.
"It's more than just a friendship, Mihoshi." smiled Nobuyuki. "I'm gay."
"And well you should be," laughed Mihoshi, putting an arm around Kiyone's shoulders. "Good friends are so hard to find, that when you do, you ought to be ecstatic about it! That's exactly how Kiyone and I feel about each other."
WHAT? Kiyone gave Mihoshi the same look that she might have given her if Mihoshi had suddenly pulled out a gun and shot her.
"That's right," continued Mihoshi, cheerfully pulling Kiyone closer. "We couldn't be more gay! Why, sometimes when we're walking together out on the street, I often hear other people say, 'there go those two gay girls'!"
Yuri said into her watch, "The blonde salesgirl just admitted to everyone that she and the other one are also gay."
"Can't say I'm surprised," said Yuki's voice from the watch.
Nobuyuki took Kiyone's hand, and began pumping it up and down. "Kiyone, I must admit that I always had my suspicions. I am so happy that you two are out of the closet, too. It takes a lot of courage, I know, but doesn't it feel a lot more liberating to just be who you are?"
"Yeah," said Kiyone, visibly sweating now. "I suppose it does."
"What about you, Mr. Iwakura?" asked Mihoshi. "Are you gay, too."
"Oh, without a doubt," smiled Ginji.
"How about that?" grinned Mihoshi. "That makes it unanimous! Right, Tenchi?"
"The blonde just strongly implied that Tenchi is as gay as the rest of them," said Yuri into her watch.
"Uh, Mihoshi," said Tenchi, "I'm not so sure that you quite get the..."
"Mihoshi! Kiyone!" called Tenchi's mother's voice from the storage area. "Have either of you seen my new karaoke microphone? It's not where I could have sworn I left it..."
Chihiro froze as she popped out beside Kiyone and realized that her ex-husband was already here.
"Nobuyuki," she said, unblinkingly.
"Hello, Chihiro!" greeted Nobuyuki. "Guess who I brought with me, today?"
Chihiro went behind the girls to open the drawbridge part of the counter in order to step in front of Ginji.
"So," she said, deceptively quietly. "You decided to bring the 'other woman' with you, hmm? Well, there's just one thing I need to say to 'her'."
She suddenly slapped Ginji. Then, she left the store through the customer entrance.
vvv
"All right, let's calm down," suggested Ryoko. "Deep breaths."
Inside Ayeka's room, Ryoko and Ayeka took slow, deep breaths.
"It's a laughable notion," Ayeka was finally able to say.
"Absolutely," agreed Ryoko. "The very idea is ridiculous."
"I mean, so what if Tenchi's father is...that way?" chuckled Ayeka. "It doesn't necessarily follow that Tenchi is."
"You said it."
"Even though it is odd that he has never gone steady with anyone."
"Or ever made a move on any girl, far as I've ever seen," added Ryoko.
"All that means is he's just shy, that's all," continued Ayeka.
"Naw, not shy," said Ryoko. "He's too cool, too mature to horse around with floozies"
"So, he resists both of us because he sees us as floozies?"
For a moment, Ryoko was struck dumb. Neither one of them ever bothered with any other guy, and everyone in the whole school knew that.
Then, "It's probably because we both come on too strong. Maybe Tenchi likes his women to be more... well...traditional?"
"We've both tried that once, remember? It didn't work."
"Well, then, maybe...maybe it's just us, Ayeka. Maybe neither one of us is his type?"
They both considered that for a very short moment.
"Naaaaaaaah," they both shook their heads. "It couldn't be that."
Ayeka said, "Suppose, just suppose for a moment that, no matter how unthinkable it sounds to us, that Tenchi is just like his father -- and just doesn't know it, yet? After all, his father was married to his mother, and they did have two children together."
"I wouldn't mind having Tenchi's babies, even if he was just like his old man," said Ryoko.
"That's not the point! If we truly loved Tenchi, we would try to help him realize who he is, instead of taking advantage of his own unsureness of himself!"
"But we don't know for sure that it's true, do we?" insisted Ryoko.
"And therein lies the problem," said Ayeka. "We must find out for certain. One way or another."
vvv
Ramia had been reading more of the forbidden book, particularly the specifics on the famous alchemist Jurai's techniques on making use of the alien substance, when Rumiya flew in with Washu's strongbox. and reassumed human form.
"Excellent," she said, taking the box from her brother and looking at the substance inside. "According to the book, this is already in its pure form. We're only going to need a little bit of this stuff to get Pixy Misa back into fighting shape -- permanently!"
"But what about Misao?" asked Rumiya.
"If this works as I expect it to work," said Ramia, "She can live out the rest of her days untroubled by any of us ever again."
vvv
"Tenchi's sister is about to enter the store," said Yuki's voice from Yuri's watch.
Sasami came in, with Ryo-Ohki riding on her left shoulder. She noticed two strangers in the store, as well as Kiyone and Mihoshi behind the counter. The man, she had never seen before, but the girl sure looked familiar to her.
"Hey!" said Sasami to the girl. "Aren't you one of Ayeka's friends? And why are you talking to your watch?"
"Who, me?" Yuri got all flustered, as she made her way past Sasami and out the door. "Why would I be? Bye!"
Sasami didn't know what to make of that girl's odd behavior, but she decided it wasn't important, anyway.
"I'm home!" she announced to everyone.
"Hi, Sasami," said Kiyone and Mihoshi.
Mihoshi asked, "How's your friend, Misao, doing?"
"About the same," sighed Sasami. "She says the doctor told her that she won't be back to school for a while."
"That's a shame," sympathized Kiyone. "Sasami, this is your dad's, um, friend, Mr. Iwakura."
"How do you do?" Sasami bowed.
"So you're Nobuyuki's daughter, eh?" said Ginji. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Your dad can't stop talking about how wonderful his kids are, you know."
Sasami blushed. She really didn't know how to respond to the man that her father left her mother for.
"Your parents and Tenchi are probably in the house, right now, Sasami," said Kiyone. After the little scene in the shop, Kiyone really wasn't one hundred percent certain where everyone was, but somebody ought to have been home waiting for Sasami.
vvv
Misao was awakened by a tapping at her window. She got out of bed and drew the curtains aside.
There was that friendly bird, again. It was staring into her eyes, intently. Misao felt something strange come over her. She opened the window.
Rumiya waited until Misao's transformation was underway before aiming a perfume bottle at her and squirting her with the alien substance. For her, that's when everything went black.
Inside Misao's mind, it seemed to her that she was inside a dark room. But not alone. She could hear someone's footsteps coming closer. Then, a strangely dressed girl stepped out of the darkness to stand before her, illuminated and smirking.
"Who are you?" asked Misao. "What do you want?"
"I think you know who I am," said Pixy Misa. "You've been repressing me for long enough."
Misao gasped.
"Ah," winked Pixy Misa. "A light came on! That's right, I'm you. The fun part of you, to be precise. The part that knows how to live. The part that fights, instead of whimping out. And all of that makes me something that you have always been ashamed of. Pourquoi? I have no idea."
Pixy Misa folded her arms. "So here's the deal. We've been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, here, but we both have to agree to it, in order to make it happen. We can become two separate people, and get out of each other's lives for good. How does that grab you?"
"Two separate people," mused Misao. Is that what I really want to become?
It was true that Misao had always put up with some part of herself that had embarrassing thoughts and desires. A part of her that did wrong things, despite knowing better. To be rid of that part would be to know true inner peace.
"Look," said Pixy Misa. "I don't like you, and you don't like me. Just say the word, and we can call it splits. People who can't stay together do it all the time, comme vous savez bien."
That did it. Being reminded of her parents drove the final spike into Misao's heart. She agreed to be rid of Pixy Misa, once and for all.
In Misao's room, the transformation ended very differently from the usual way it did. This time, Misao fell to the floor, unconscious, something Rumiya had not expected. But Pixy Misa stood in the room, looking down upon Misao with scorn, and a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
"Bye-bye, you weak loser," she spat. "You can just shrivel up and die, for all I care!"
With that, Pixy Misa laughingly flew out the window. Panicked, Rumiya looked quickly back and forth between Misao and the window. Hearing Misao's mother coming, he also fled out the window.
What have I done? he repeatedly asked himself, as he scanned the horizon for where the heck Pixy Misa may have gone.
TO BE CONTINUED