Lucky Legacy
Chapter Eight
Leftovers Still Have Value!
Tarou stretched his arms behind his head, brushing the eraser scraps off his paper as he took stock of his latest sketch. The fight scene he had been dreading since Monday had actually turned out easier than he expected and with any luck, he would be able to finish the dialogue before he had to back to school on Monday.
"That should be enough…" Tarou said to himself, setting his pen down. The editor didn't need the chapter until Tuesday but "Mr. Aizawa" never failed to make a deadline. It bothered Tarou that he couldn't take credit for his own work but money was money. Besides…this was one of her conditions.
"TAAAAAAAAAAROU!!!" Tarou winced as his bedroom door slammed open. Pushing his glasses farther up his nose, he turned to the doorway as Persephone bounced lightly in the room.
Persephone…ah, Persephone. The ditsy, blonde double-edged sword that had simultaneously been a source of inspiration and aggravation since her arrival in his bedroom some months ago when she claimed to be his personal "muse" assigned to him by the gods. Naturally, Tarou had been a little skeptical at first but if he wasn't convinced by the seemingly endless inspiration for his manga, it was hard to ignore-
"TAROU!" Tarou felt the air leave his lungs as Persephone leapt across the room in one step and threw her arms around him in a (almost literal) bone crushing hug. Supernatural abilities were hard to ignore.
"Per-Persephaaaaackk!" Tarou struggled to breathe as Persephone continued to snuggle him like an oversized teddy bear.
"Hmm…oh!" Persephone let Tarou go. "Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods! I'm sorry Tarou!"
"It-ack…It's fine Persephone…" Tarou wheezed, massaging his bruised stomach.
"Nooooo it's not!" Persephone huffed. "I keep forgetting how soft you humans are!!!"
"Well…you're new at this thing, right?" Tarou did his best to smile at the distraught deity sniffing by his side.
"Yeah…but I'll probably be the first muse to kill her artist." Persephone said morosely.
Tarou chuckled, collecting his drawings from the table."Hey, I'm sure it's not that b-ah!" Tarou fought to keep from dropping his newly inked pages as Persephone suddenly fell sideways into his lap.
"Mmm…glad that's okay then…"Persephone said, rolling over and burying her face in Tarou's stomach.
"Wh-what're you doing?" Tarou said, mouth suddenly dry.
"Mmm…sleepy." Persephone mumbled, wrapping her arms around Tarou's waist.
"Uh…y-you can sleep here if you w-want just let me get-ah!" Tarou tried to get up, only to have a half sleeping Persephone pull him down again.
"Don't go…" She mumbled sleepily. "Stay…"
"I-I should probably go before my mom get-" Tarou trailed off as he realized that Persephone was staring at him intently, sleepily smiling.
Oh god…or, gods apparently…something about Persephone's eyes just bewitched him. The combination of their otherworldly blue color and the intensity with which they looked had an unusual effect on mortals (or so Persephone had once said (like he needed her to tell him that). Despite the fact his mother and brother would be home any minute, he couldn't find the will to pull away from her.
"Say Tarou…" Persephone asked. "How long have we been working together?"
"Uh…g-going on a y-year or s-so by n-n-now." Tarou gulped, fidgeting with his glasses nervously.
"Hmm…I was just thinking…you haven't tried to kiss me."
Tarou felt his brain effectively stop working as he fumbled for an answer. The most intelligent response he could think of at the time amounted to something that sounded like "Ahhehmngherrwha?"
"Well it's just that most normal teenage boys would have tried to initiate some kind of romantic action by now…" Persephone paused thoughtfully. "Unless you're a perfect gentleman…or like boys."
"Gah!" Tarou felt himself turn red. "Per-Persephone."
"Or you're a unic…I haven't checked yet." Persephone said, looking down as she scooted up so that she was eye level with the paralyzed artist. Tarou thought he could hear an orchestra cuing up but he chalked it up to the effect Persephone was having on him. Her short blonde locks were brushing against his cheek and her flimsy tunic did little to hide her voluptuous curves.
"Do you want to kiss me?" Persephone asked, smirking slightly.
"I…I…"Tarou froze. The calm rational part of him that told him to get up was being drowned a chorus of "DO IT!" from the irrational parts of his mind.
"I…I…" Tarou stiffened as Persephone leaned in.
"Libera me…domine…" She whispered, full orchestral score playing behind her. "De morte…aeterna…"
Tarou licked his lips, closed his eyes as whispered the most romantic thing he could think of at the time.
"Do the impossible, see the invisible."
ROW! ROW! FIGHT THE POWAH!
"Nngh…" Hiyori's eyes shot open as her phone buzzed across her nightstand, playing her rousing, inspiring ringtone as it went.
"Nngh?" Hiyori repeated, rubbing her eyes to check the time. 5:12 in the morning. Who was calling her this early?
Hiyori cut off the rapper mid phrase as she flipped open her phone. "Nngh." She spoke into the receiver.
"I think Kuroi-sensei has a secret lover." Patty's chipper voice came over the other line.
"Nngh? P-Patty?" Hiyori blinked hard to make sure she still wasn't dreaming. "Why are you calling me so early?"
"Because…I think Kuroi-sensei has a secret love!" Patty said exasperatedly. "Duh! Mimi called me last night as said she saw Kuroi with a guy in… "
"Wha…why are you calling me at five in the morning?" Hiyori mumbled, pinching her thigh to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
Patty sighed exasperatedly. "Be .Cause. Kuroi. . Has. A. Se. Cret. L.O.V.E.R! Keep up, Hiyorin!"
"But…why are you calling me now?" Hiyori said, sure she wasn't dreaming. "You couldn't have waited another," Hiyori looked back at the clock. "Two hours to tell me this?!"
"Huh…probably." Patty admitted.
"Then that takes back to my original question, Patty-chan." Hiyori growled. "Why. Are. You. Calling. Me. At. Five. In. The. Morning?!"
"Huh…I guess I was just bored…"
Click
Hiyori glared at her phone. "I'm going to kill that girl." Before Patty's ill timed phone call, Hiyori was sure the characters from her manga were about to kiss. Shaking her head, Hiyori got up to write what she remembered about the scene down. She would kill Patty after she was finished recording her dream
"AND THEN HE TOOK HIS SHIRT OFF!!! OH…MY… GOD PATTY HE WAS SOOOOOO HOT!!!!"
"Yeah, Stacy …that's great I-"
"OMIGOD Patty you should have been there!!!"
"Well that sounds great and all but-"
"I mean we waited for thirteen hours to get the tickets and it was all raining and cold and raining and stuff but IT WAS SOOOOO WORTH IT!"
"I-I hear ya Stacy but could you-"
"I mean your dad would've flown you in, right? You guys flew off to see that Evan-what's-it-called in eighth grade, right?"
"It's Evan-you know, never mind…"
"I should have been studying for my History final instead of reading the second book again but who cares? I JUST SAW THE GREATEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!
"Stace, uh, could you…maybe keep your voice down a little"
"I'm hopped up on Mountain Dew and teenage hormones: how do you expect me to KEEP IT DOWN?!"
Patty's held her phone at arm's length, sheepishly smiling at the staring passengers and offering apologetic little bows while the other end of the line continued her tirade. Next to Patty, Hiyori crammed the edges of her sketches into her ears, wincing every other shriek as her makeshift earplugs failed.
"Uh Stacy, I'm really happy for you and I'm gonna let you finish but-"
"BEYONCE HAD ONE THE BEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME!!! OF ALL TIME!!! Aw…instant classic!"
"Uh…what?"
A loud sigh came over the other end of the phone. "I forget you're not up with the times back home…listen, the movie's starting so-"
"Wait, you're not seriously watching it AGAIN are you?"
"Call you later, babe!"
Beep!
Patty stared blankly at the phone while Hiyori gently tugged the paper from her ears. "I get that your friend's excited and everything but does she have to be so loud?" Hiyori whined, rubbing her aching eardrums.
"Well, that's Stacy…" Patty said softly. "She gets this way about certain…things…"
"So this was the movie of the book you despise so much?" Hiyori asked, smoothing her drawings out on her lap.
"Mmph." Patty said, still staring vacantly at her phone. "Man, what happened back home since I was gone?"
"I'm telling you, there's something up with our beloved homeroom teacher." Patty said, nibbling her sandwich thoughtfully, looking at a cheerfully chatting Kuroi.
Minami, Yutaka and Hiyori shared a glance before indulging Patty. "Okay, since you can't seem to stop talking about it," Hiyori sighed, closing her book. "What exactly are your theories surrounding Kuroi?"
"Patty-chan called Hiyori-chan early this morning." Yutaka whispered to Minami who looked lost for a moment. "Apparently Hiyori-chan was still sleeping."
"As most sane people are at five in the morning." Hiyori sighed. "But Patty-chan felt the need to share her troubling theories with someone."
Patty hmmphed, taking a sip out of her juice box. "Not my fault I couldn't contain it any longer…you were the only person who would get it…"
"So tell me why you didn't call Minami-chan or Yu-chan!"
Patty shrugged. "Well that would've been just plain rude…" Patty said, waving off Hiyori's indignant protest. "But back to my theory-"
"Sure, since we're on the subject," Hiyori mumbled, grumpily erasing a few lines.
"You think Kuroi-sensei has a new boyfriend?" Minami said, looking back at their teacher who was giggling like a schoolgirl, twirling the phone chord with her pinky finger. "Well…I guess she has been in a better mood than usual…"
"I haven't seen her this happy in a long time; nee-chan always said Kuroi was one of her grouchier professors." Yutaka said thoughtfully.
"She's got a maaaan!" Patty sang gleefully. "Look at her; you know it's true! She's got a boyfrieeend!"
"Or girlfriend." Hiyori said before she could stop herself. "Kuroi could be into girls."
Bang!
Everybody jumped slightly as Minami's leg banged against the edge of the desk, spilling her milk on the table.
"Gah!" Hiyori shrieked, swiftly gathering her pages off the rapidly flooding table.
"A-are you alright, Minami-chan?" Yutaka asked, wiping the milk up with her handkerchief.
Minami blushed scarlet, dabbing the sides of her skirt with her own napkin. "Um… s-sorry about that…"
"Good God, Hiyori!" Patty moaned, wringing the corners of her shirt. "How tight do you have those yuri goggles screwed on?!"
"What?!" Hiyori said, indignantly. "It's a possibility!"
"Well, yeah but…" Patty trailed off. There was an awkward silence as Patty poked at her meatball awkwardly. Then-
"What're "yuri goggles?" Yutaka asked.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time but looking back on it, I probably could have handled the situation a little better." Minami admitted with small sigh.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Minami-chan!" Patty said, earnestly. "It sounds like you really kept your cool in that situation."
"Well, even though I'll probably never see that person again, it feels good to know that-" Minami was interrupted as the class door slid open with a sharp bang! Announcing the arrival of Yusaka Ko. She gave the room a once over, settling on Hiyori's table with a feral grin. "Found you." She said.
"Oh, h-hey Ko-sempai." Hiyori said nervously as Ko made a beeline through the crowd of students, tailing a few members of the Manga Club as she went. "Hey guys, I was just going to find you to talk about the new-"
"Scuse me, Tamura." Ko said, sliding on the table until she was leaning down nose to nose with Patty.
Patty gulped, shooting a nervous look at Hiyori. "Uh…c-can I help you Ko-sem-"
"Shh." Ko hushed Patty with a gentle push on each cheek. "Let me just…" Ko leant back over the desk, startling Minami as she suddenly had a face full of sandy blonde hair. The two boys that had followed Ko stood on either side of their president, looking over her shoulders
For once in a very long while, Patty found herself at a loss for words. All she could do is stare as the three seniors nodded in agreement. "I see what you mean, Daisuke." The boy on Ko's left said. "I think she'll do nicely."
"D-do I know you two?" Patty said, looking back and forth between the two boys.
"I told ya, I have an eye for these kinds of things Kensuke-kun." Daisuke said, turning to Ko. "What's the word, chief?"
Ko bit her lip, cocked her head to the side as if considering something and then, with the same predatory grin she had when she arrived she said. "You…are perfect."
"Yes!" The two boys said, high fiveing each other behind their leader's back.
"Umm…excuse me…" Minami said meekly from behind Ko's back. "Could you please-"
"In a second, in a second." Ko said. "First, I'd like a word with your friend here…" Patty gulped as Ko's grin spread wider.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Hiyori gently pulled Patty's chair back, slipping between her and Ko. "Before anybody has words with anybody, somebody is going to tell me why they're eyeing Patty-chan like a piece of steak!"
Daisuke clutched his chest in a wounded gesture. "A piece of steak?! Really Hiyori-chan, we've been in the same club for almost two years now! I thought you knew me better than that!"
Hiyori rolled her eyes. "I know you well enough to keep my friends an arm's length away from you, Dai-sempai."
Kensuke shook his head. "To think that our beloved junior mistakes us for ragtag gang of perverts and neckbeards!"
"Have I seen you somewhere before?" Patty said, staring intently at Daisuke
"The Manga Club maintains the highest standards of personal hygiene! All male members must adequately care for their facial hair! There are no neckbeards in my club!!!" Ko said earnestly spreading her arms out so that Yutaka had to duck under her sweeping gestures.
"Perverts on the other hand…" Hiyori said.
"We welcome with open arms!" Ko said. "But our perversion is completely club-related today!"
"As opposed to all the extracurricular perversion you seem to love?" Hiyori said. "So I take it you have a legitimate reason to be gawking at my friend."
"Indeed!" Daisuke said, hopping up on the table in front of Yutaka who was quickly pulled away by Minami.
"What's going on, Minami-chan?" Yutaka whispered fearfully as Minami pulled her into her chair.
"I'm not sure," Minami said, scooting back as Kensuke joined his clubmates on the desk. "But I think Ko-sempai wants something with Patty…"
"Indeed!" Daisuke repeated, causing Minami and Yutaka to jump as he addressed them. "We wanted to-" Daisuke paused, regarding Minami and Yutaka with a questioning look before turning to Hiyori. "Are these the girls who-"
"L-like you were saying Dai-sempai!" Hiyori stuttered quickly. "Y-you wanted Patty-chan for…"
"Well, Hiyorin, you remember what happened last Winterket? How our circle was outsold for the first time in three years by our rival circles at South High?" Ko asked.
"South High…" Kensuke and Daisuke growled darkly, clenching their fists.
"Well, yeah…" Hiyori admitted. "But that was because you said they had a "spruced up ten-cent bimbo pedaling their glorified pornography"
"Precisely." Ko said. "Basically our circle had higher quality material but the vulgar unwashed masses of Winterket were lured by a moderately attractive hussy in an E-A plugsuit!" Ko spat angrily. "It was outrageous!"
"Disgraceful!" Daisuke added
"Shameful!" Kensuke said
"But profitable." Ko admitted, leaning back lazily until she was looking at a perplexed Yutaka. "Hello Princess…" she said dreamily before snapping back up to resume the conversation.
"P-Princess?" Minami asked, looking down at Yutaka.
"I don't know! They won't tell me!" Yutaka pouted, earning a small chuckle from her taller friend.
"So this year…" Ko began
"We were thinking…" Daisuke continued
"To keep up with the changing marketplace, we should-" Kensuke started before Hiyori emitted a strangled squawk as a look of dawning horror crossed her face.
"Y-you…." Hiyori pointed an accusing finger at Ko before turning back to an innocently perplexed Patty "H-her…"
"Yes, yes, work it out…" Ko said with a smile.
"Oh no!" Hiyori said blushing and waving her hands. "No, no, no, no, no! Uh-uh! Absolutely not! No way, no how!"
"Oh c'mon Hiyorin! Just look at her!" Ko turned Hiyori around and forcibly pushed her face into Patty's until their noses touched. Hiyori gulped as she was suddenly eyes to eye with Patty's baby blues. "You know we have better material…your original work alone is leagues above the two bit hentai doujin our rivals pedal but the ignorant Comiket goers are dazzled by cheap fanservice."
"So your answer is to use cheap fanservice in return?" Hiyori demanded as best she could while pressed against Patty's face
"Hey!" Patty said indignantly pulling away from Hiyori's face. "Who're you calling cheap?"
"Ooh, I…" In the confusion, Hiyori forgot that Patty was sitting right there.
"Besides we'll make sure any, ah, incentives we use will be tasteful." Daisuke said. "After all, Patty-chan cosplays at work every day."
"That's where I know you from!" Patty crowed, pointing at Daisuke. "I knew I'd seen you at work before!"
"Figures." Ko and Hiyori mumbled darkly.
"So let me get this straight." Patty said, crossing her arms. "You want me to accompany you to Winterket to help draw buyers in with…incentives?" Patty quirked an eyebrow at Daisuke.
"That's the gist of it." Ko said. "That's our proposal, take it or leave it."
"What's in it for me?" Patty asked, now totally ignoring the others and focusing on Ko. "True, I'm used to cosplaying, but I'm also used to getting paid for it. So if I'm breaking out the A-suka outfit-"
"Sweet." Kensuke said.
"Or the maid costume-"
"Sweeter." Daisuke said.
"Or the cheer uniform I used last year for the culture festival-"
"Sweetest." Kensuke and Daisuke agreed.
"Then I expect something in return." Patty said. "After all, why should I hang around your booth when I can be hitting up the multitude of other booths? Comiket comes but twice a year and some of us happen to like glorified pornography."
"Patty!" Hiyori gulped, adjusting her glasses nervously.
"Oh don't tell me you're surprised; you've seen my doujin collection!"
"No, it's just…"
"So, chief, what can you offer me?" Patty said.
Ko stared back at Patty, biting her lip thoughtfully. "For an hour before Comiket starts and after the vendors set their booths up, there is a grace period where the artists and the booth workers browse each other's wares in shifts." Ko said. "As part of our booth crew, you would have unrestricted access to commodities usually unavailable to the general public due to limited resources." Ko smirked. "That is my offer. One hour free of pushing, shoving, yelling and screaming. One hour to buy whatever you want."
Patty did her best to keep a straight face but the glimmer in her eye told Hiyori that Patty was onboard. Still Patty closed her eyes and tilted her head as if she was deeply considering it. Finally, she said. "Deal."
Ko's feral grin returned. "Excellent." She said. "I'll trust your superior cosplay eye to pick an outfit that will best serve our goal."
"I think I have a few in mind." Patty said thoughtfully. "If all else fails, I have the maid costume I can fall back on but you can talk to Hiyori. She pretty much knows what I have."
"M-me?" Hiyori squeaked. "W-why do I have to be involved in this?"
"You'll be our organization's liaison with our lovely spokeswoman here." Ko said, hopping off the table. "Help her pick out something and then report back to us. Maybe use a princessy, medieval theme or something like that. I know a few of the others are doing Z-ro no Ts-kima doujin and you've got that Greek 'muse' thing going on. Just use your instincts."
"Don't worry about it." Patty said, waving Ko off. "I'll talk with Hiyorin and we'll finalize any costuming arrangements. Just make sure I get my pass and we won't have any problems."
"Deal." Ko said shaking Patty's hand.
"Excellent! I'm happy everything worked out, Patty-chan!" Kensuke said enthusiastically.
"So glad you saw things our way, Patty-chan!" Daisuke said, standing up and curtseying theatrically. "The Manga Club will owe you a great debt of gratitude for this magnanimous sacrif-umph!" Daisuke was cut off as Ko grabbed his tie and dragged him out of the room, trailing Kensuke behind.
Once they were gone, Hiyori turned to Patty with an indignant "Patty!"
"What?" Patty said, starting to pack her things up.
"What, you're okay with being used as a booth babe?" Hiyori said, frantically waving her arms.
"Well, yeah…" Patty said. "Else I would have said something, right?"
"But…but…" Hiyori stuttered. "Just like that?"
"Yeah, for free access to Comiket?" Patty took a sip from her iced tea. "Like I'd be dumb enough to pass up that opportunity."
"But…but…" Hiyori repeated, losing her argument.
"That reminds me, you have to help me pick my costume out. Something that goes with circle's theme…I'm pretty sure I have white summer dress I could take up a couple inches…maybe knee high sandals for a passable attempt at a zettai…maybe I should go strapless…" Patty got a faroff look in her eye while Hiyori continued to gape at her friend.
"Buh…buh…" Hiyori gulped like a fish out of water, looking around for support. "Back me up here Minami-ch…hey…" Hiyori looked around to see they were alone at the table. "Where'd they go?"
"Ooh! They always do that!" Yutaka huffed stomping down the hall in an attempt to look cross. Though as Minami trailed behind her, she thought she looked more adorable than enraged.
"Every time we have lunch they always go off on their little anime tangents and we're just left out of the loop!" Yutaka said, trying to throw the door open in disgust but only succeeding in pushing it open a couple of inches until Minami pushed it the rest of the way. "It's like having lunch with some kind of secret society or something!"
"Well…I don't think they do it to leave us out." Minami said, trying to keep a smile from tugging at her lips. "They just find it easier to talk about what they know."
"But, but, but!" Yutaka pouted, childishly. "Ooh! I'm tired of not getting their little games!" Frustrated, she kicked a pebble off the steps.
"Well…maybe we should do something about that…" Minami said.
"What do you mean?" Yutaka asked, curious.
"Well…" Minami scratched the back of her head. "They w-were talking about some kind of convention that they go to…"
"You think we should go with them?" Yutaka said. "But they'll be stuck in the booth all day!"
"So we'll go by…by ourselves…" Minami said, an idea suddenly coming to her. "If you really want to understand our friends better then maybe w-we should see what they're talking about…" Minami said, blushing as she suddenly felt self conscious. "I mean…it's just an idea so-"
"No, I think I like it!" Yutaka said with an excited glint in her eye. "Yeah! We'll totally infiltrate their secret organization!"
"Ah…I don't think it's quite like that…" Minami said sheepishly.
"Well whatever it is, we'll go in disguise and totally catch them off guard next time they're talking about their games and stuff!" Yutaka bounced excitedly. "We'll sneak in and totally learn up on everything they do!"
"Well…okay, I'll look into it. I think we still have some time until the convention so I'll see what we have to do. I think we're supposed to dress-"
"Shh!" Yutaka froze as she peeked her head around a corner. "I-I think Kuroi-sensei is t-talking to h-her b-b-b-b…"
Minami peeked around the corner blushed as she saw Kuroi leaning up against a car door and talking to a dark haired man fastened in a ponytail.
"I…I guess Patty-chan was right…" Yutaka said, chancing another look around the corner.
"Yeah…looks that way…" Minami said. "Well, we should go before-"
"Thanks for picking me up today…" Kuroi said.
"Oh, no problem. No problem at all!" The man said, scratching the back of his head. "It is my solemn honor and sacred duty to- er I mean, it's no problem!"
"Oh, Mei," Kuroi laughed. "I love how dramatic you get sometimes." She said, patting his cheek. "It's so cute."
"There you are!" Patty said, coming up behind Minami. "Where have you two-"
"SHH!" Yutaka shushed Patty as she pointed to the scene around the corner.
"I guess it'll be a normal and completely ordinary night, huh?" The man chuckled.
"Oh, my God!" Patty gasped quietly. "I was right! I was right!"
"Hey, what's going on?" Hiyori said, coming up behind Patty. "What's with all the-ah!"
"Yeah, I got tons of papers to grade but after that, I guess I could cook something up for the two of us…" Kuroi said with a wink.
"Ah! Excellent! That will be most magnific…Uh, yeah…th-that'll be fine!" The man chuckled nervously.
"Wait…where have I heard that voice before?" Patty whispered. "I think…I think I know him from somewhere…"
"Yeah…I think you're right…" Hiyori agreed. "But…but where from?"
"I hope you're okay with leftovers tonight…" Kuroi said. "I know they're pretty plain but I can try to make the best of-"
Suddenly the man took Kuroi's hands between his own. "Don't be ridiculous! Even though they may be leftovers, LEFTOVERS STILL HAVE VALUE!"
"Oh…" Patty and Hiyori said simultaneously as the same horrific realization dawned on both of them.
"What…what is it?" Minami said, concerned that her friends had turned an interesting shade of purple. "Who is he?"
"He's…well, that is to say…" Hiyori gulped.
"Yep…I'm afraid our teacher is dating
"Oh Meito…" Kuroi said, blushing. "You always seem to know what to say…
AN: Yay crackship!! Just had to stick this in for the lulz…So the first part of the chapter was a scene from Hiyori's manga which will have bearing on the story as it progresses. Yes, everything in the manga means something in the story so PAY ATTENTION!
Next up is Comiket so that'll probably be inaccurate and confusing ^^; but I'll do my best to keep it real. Now is the turning point on which the rest of the plot will spin on like a big…plotty…wheel…thing…
The plot arrives in the next chapter!
ARE YOU READY GAIZ?!
PUT YA GUNS ON!!!
And please review!
