PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.
Before we get started, I'd like to mention I've got something up at arwynl. deviantart. com (without spaces) so please do take a look. It's a yuri art meme. For translations of the Japanese dialogue, scroll down to the comments at the bottom. The focus of the meme, of course, is on Hisa and Mihoko. So if you'd like to see some HxM fanart, please head on over there right now. I've also got Kana x Mihoko and weird crack pairings over there (think Hisa x Touka). Amongst other things, to say the least.
Enjoy.
The fireworks show soon ended. It lasted maybe ten minutes in total, but it didn't seem to sate her rather festive mood. Even so, putting on such an extravagant show was already a lavish expense as the annual Kiyosumi summer festival was only a relatively small-scale local event. Nevertheless, it was a great one, especially for the kids running around decked out in yukata or jinbei.
Originally, she wanted to take Acchan to the festival, but the little tyke already went to Tanabata in Hiratsuka with her mother a few days earlier. In addition to that, she had to stay late at school to organise the various clubs' applications and forms for the summer, meaning it was impossible to take Acchan to the festival any earlier. While Acchan's sleeping time varied, it would probably be really pushing it to take her out late. In the end, she didn't bring the idea up around her cousin or Acchan.
It was a pity, but there was always next year. And there were always other festivals; she would probably get to see Acchan for Shichi-Go-San, which was one event she definitely didn't want to miss. The festival was also pretty close to her own birthday, so she imagined her cousin would cave in and let Acchan stay over that weekend.
Hisa then glanced at Fukuji-san and wondered if she lived in Yokohama or if she commuted to Kazekoshi from a different city. If Fukuji-san lived in a populous place like Yokohama, the fireworks here would surely pale in comparison to the displays at larger festivals.
But she seemed to be enjoying herself, so...
"It's no problem, really." Hisa leaned back slightly and chuckled. She added with a small grin, "You've thanked me at least four times already."
"Ah..." Mihoko looked a bit chagrinned. "But I really enjoyed myself today. I feel bad declining your offer to visit the stalls, since..."
"And I distinctly recall saying it was fine. You're a really funny girl, you know?"
Mihoko dipped her head and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "How am I supposed to take that?"
"Hm, I wonder," Hisa teased. "How do you want to take it?"
She turned around and hopped off from her perch.
"Ueno-san..."
"Yeah?" Hisa murmured absently as she tugged on her stockings.
"Are you having fun at my expense?"
Hisa pressed a hand to her chest and looked at Mihoko innocently. "Me? I wouldn't dream of it. I bet your team would cream me if I made fun of their precious Captain." She grinned at the small frown that followed, and extended her hand. "Here, c'mon, I'll help you down."
Mihoko sighed reproachfully before she accepted the offer by taking Hisa's hand.
Helping Fukuji-san off the partition was much easier than helping her on, partly due to the fact she herself was on firm ground now. Hisa loosened her grip when she thought Fukuji-san regained her footing. Fukuji-san's hand lingered, however; perhaps she was unsteady on her feet, after all?
"It's a bit late for this, but I've come to the realisation that you're a tease, Ueno-san."
"Well, hey, I won't deny that charge." Hisa gave a small smirk, "In return though, I'll say you're maybe a little too polite."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Oh, not at all. I don't mean that — better to be polite than not, right? It just amuses me since it's so in line with your image."
"What kind of image do I have to you? I'm kind of curious."
"Hm..." Hisa walked along the deck and back towards the clubroom. "It's kind of hard to put it into words, but..."
Mihoko followed. "But?"
"Well, how should I say it..." Hisa put her hand against the clubroom door and paused contemplatively. "It may not be very accurate, but you're sort of like a modern-day Yamato Nadeshiko with your club members."
"What would a modern-day variant be like? A motherly housewife, maybe?"
"Well," Hisa smiled, "I actually meant it the other way around. More of a considerate and protective figure who fiercely stands up for people she cares about."
"Oh..."
"I've heard the horror stories about your coach," Hisa said sympathetically, "and how you stand up to her for your club members. But hey, I'm sure you'd make a great wife too."
Mihoko smiled in return. "It's just that I get 'you'd make a great housewife' and 'any man will consider himself lucky if he marries you' a lot..." Mihoko added modestly, "Though I don't think it's true, it's..."
"Ah, you don't like it?"
"I..." Mihoko paused hesitantly. "... I'm not thinking about getting a husband, at least."
"So you're looking to get a career first? That's pretty ambitious."
"How about you...?"
Hisa mussed her hair and laughed, "I'm too young to consider marriage just yet, don't you think?"
"That's true. We're still young, after all."
"We are indeed. Come on, let's get back into the clubroom. I'll clean up quickly so you can get home."
"Oh, no, please let me help —"
"Hey, you're the guest, aren't you?" Hisa reminded her lightly.
"Then let me help put the snacks away, at least?"
Fukuji-san really was too polite. Endearingly so.
"Okay, okay. I concede. You win this round," Hisa laughed. She picked up her cup and downed the last of her tea. Hisa picked up Mihoko's cup and saucer as well, and headed over to the sink to wash up.
They left the clubroom soon thereafter. They were past the old school building and in front of Kiyosumi when Hisa found herself in an argument with Fukuji-san. Perhaps 'argument' wasn't the best word to describe it, but they certainly had a difference of opinion.
"What's wrong with me walking you back to the station?" Hisa asked quizzically.
"There's nothing wrong with it; I just don't think you should go to the trouble," explained Mihoko.
"And I said it wasn't any problem. As a matter of fact, you'd trouble me more if I have to worry about someone who's technologically challenged getting lost in the middle of nowhere." Hisa added on a hunch, "And that certain someone wouldn't even be able to pull up a map from the Internet on her cell."
"Zushi isn't in the middle of nowhere," she protested.
Hisa grinned inwardly. Fukuji-san wasn't denying the allegation she couldn't retrieve a map of the city on her cell phone.
"Since the festival's going on, I doubt you'll see many people between Kiyosumi and the train station tonight."
"I know my way around. And I can call someone if something happens."
Hisa considered teasing Fukuji-san more, but settled for answering her more or less seriously. "Like who?"
Mihoko balked at the question. "Um..."
It seemed like Fukuji-san realised at the same time that the closest person who could help her was... her.
"See? And you don't even have my number yet," Hisa continued.
"... that's true."
She could almost taste victory. Just a bit more...
"Besides, we haven't talked about online mahjong yet. Unless you want to try and figure out how and where to register all by yourself..." she trailed off meaningfully.
"That's cheating, Ueno-san!"
"How so?" Hisa asked innocently.
"You know I can't do it myself."
"Well, then I guess you're stuck with me," Hisa grinned again as she began walking in the direction of the train station.
Hisa heard Fukuji-san make a small, quiet petulant sound in response before following her. Teasing the girl was more fun that she imagined.
"Hey, what's with that noise? I didn't know I made such poor company."
"You're incorrigible, Ueno-san."
"Certainly isn't the first time I've heard that," Hisa remarked. "Thanks for the compliment."
"It certainly wasn't a compliment either..."
"Haha. Well, mind handing me your phone?"
Mihoko glanced at Hisa for a moment but obeyed and handed her cell phone over. Hisa began to punch in a number.
"Are you giving me your phone number?"
"Yup. But I'm just calling my own cell from yours first." Hisa clasped her schoolbag under her arm. Pulling her own cell phone out, she saved Fukuji-san's number to her contacts list. "What's your e-mail address?"
"It's set as my background," Mihoko said timidly.
"Ah, you're right. So it is."
Hisa punched in the e-mail address and proceeded to enter her own information into Fukuji-san's contacts list.
"Just as a warning, I type very slowly on a cell phone. People usually give up on it and settle for calling me instead."
"Well, I'll need to know your e-mail address when I show you how to play online mahjong anyway. But since you have a Yahoo account already, we won't have to set up a new one. I'll just need to show you how to access the games room —"
Hisa glanced at Fukuji-san who had what could only be described as a look of incomprehension on her face, despite her efforts at hiding it.
Fukuji-san was worse with computers than she thought; normally no one would find it hard to understand she had to sign up and register to access certain features of a site. She really was something else.
"I'm sorry, I understood every individual word you said, but it just didn't mesh into anything I could understand," Mihoko started apologetically.
"It's fine, it's fine," Hisa reassured. But if it came to this, Hisa thought, she'd have to instruct Fukuji-san face-to-face. Hisa had been considering the idea of either instructing her in person or over the phone, but the latter option seemed like a poor choice now. "I think we should meet at the clubroom for this. When are you free next week?"
"Let's see... is Tuesday okay?"
She would have to finish her homework before then for cram school on Wednesday, but their informal little tutorial shouldn't take that long. There was no school either, so it should be pretty easy to work around it.
"Tuesday sounds good. What time?"
"Anytime would be fine, but how about around ten, if that's not too inconvenient?"
"Sure. I'll see you at ten then. I'll wait for you by Kiyosumi at the front." Hisa flipped the two phones closed. She slipped hers in her bag and handed the other back to Mihoko. "Here, I entered my number and my e-mail address. You can message me or call me whenever you want."
"Thank you."
"No problem." She added playfully, "This also means you can call me if you do end up getting lost around Zushi."
"Luckily, I have a fairly good sense of direction," Mihoko said wryly.
"Oh, that's too bad. I was planning on rescuing you if that happened."
Mihoko shook her head and smiled. "You have strange hobbies. But thank you for offering to teach me how to play mahjong online. I really appreciate it."
"Likewise. I appreciate you agreeing to it."
As they drew further away from Kiyosumi, the din of the festive merry-making gradually abated as well.
"It would be nice," Mihoko murmured, "if your sister came to the training camp too. Does she still play?"
"She does, though not nearly as much as before. But school doesn't end for her until next Friday, so she won't be able to make it to the training camp."
"Ah, I see."
"She could probably hold her own against the other schools, but I wonder how much she'd like being the only middle schooler there," Hisa pondered.
"Which year is she in right now? There's Bundou-san and several first-years in your club, after all."
"She's a third-year, so it's true that she's only a year younger, but..." Hisa laughed, "Well, it doesn't matter. She's coming to visit me after the training camp anyway."
"To visit?"
Hisa paused a moment. "Ah, yeah. I guess I didn't mention it? We don't live together." She scratched her head awkwardly.
"It's nice that she's coming, then."
"Yeah. Well, if you're still interested then, I'm sure she wouldn't mind meeting you. We could arrange playing online together too, maybe. Sometimes I play her online."
"That sounds lovely," Mihoko said. "But perhaps you're placing too much faith on my ability to learn how to play online..."
"Nah," Hisa joked, "I just have faith in my ability to teach you properly."
"I'll be in your care then, master," replied Mihoko politely.
"That sounded suspiciously condescending," she grinned, "but I'll let it slide this time." Hisa turned her gaze to the wide building they were approaching. "Well, we managed to find our way."
"Thank you for walking me all the way here, Ueno-san."
"It's no problem. I had fun talking with you along the way."
"Thanks again for everything. I'll see you on Tuesday then?"
"Yeah. See you then." Hisa smiled and gave a little wave. "Take care."
Mihoko gave a small nod and smile before leaving.
Hisa watched her walk further into the station. First up the stairs, and then down toward the train platform. Hisa turned to leave when she could no longer see Fukuji-san, who had disappeared down the stairs.
It would, Hisa thought, be rather fun to play against both Fukuji-san and her sister at the same time. What she really wanted to see, though, was Saki entering the fray as well — would Saki's supernatural luck with her rinshan kaihou, Fukuji-san with her calm, analytical, powerful style, her own psychological play, or would her sister's complementary style win?
She'd barely gone past the parking lot when the muffled but familiar ringtone of her phone reached her ears.
"Speak of the devil," Hisa muttered as she dug her phone out and flipped it open. "Miyu?"
"Hey."
"Hey yourself," Hisa replied easily. "What's up?"
"Nothing much. Just felt like bugging you for a bit."
"Do you really have that much free time?"
"Hey, give me a break. I've been studying for hours."
"Bet you haven't," Hisa said.
"Okay, so I've been reading some manga too."
"Miyu..." Hisa chided.
"Oh c'mon, nee-chan."
Hisa sighed good-naturedly and let it drop. "Fine."
"Where are you at? I called home and auntie said you weren't back."
"Some student congress council stuff. And there's the festival I was talking about earlier."
"Ooo. But didn't you say you weren't going? Are you on a date?"
"No. Don't be stupid. I'm heading home already anyway."
"Were you with your club?"
"No."
"Were you by yourself?"
"Well, no..."
"Did you have some quality one-on-one?"
"I don't like how you're wording it, but yes...?"
"Did you have a 'good time'?"
"Yes, but not the way you mean —"
"Then it is a date!" Miyuki exclaimed triumphantly.
"I give up. Do you have sis con or something? When I was actually dating, you were like a Little Miss Possessive."
"That was just because you had awful taste. I'll make sure you find someone good this time."
"You know, I've noticed before, but you seem overly fascinated with my love life."
"It's just so fun exasperating you. I'm sure you understand."
"Fourteen-year-olds..."
"Hey! I heard that."
"I wanted you to hear it," Hisa said sweetly.
"I'll remember that. You better not regret it," Miyuki grinned. "Anyway, I called to tell you I finally convinced dad to let me come by myself."
"That's surprising."
"... on the condition that my wonderful, ever-worldly, sophisticated sister picks me up at the station."
"Well, that's dad for you," she laughed.
"No really?"
Hisa could practically hear Miyu roll her eyes.
"At least you can tell him your ever-worldly sister said she agreed to pick you up."
"As she should, if she wants to even be considered for the position."
"Ingrate," Hisa retorted. "Now go study."
"Sure, sure. Catch you later."
"Good luck with your exams."
"Yeah, thanks. Good luck with your woefully inadequate love life." Miyuki hung up.
"Hey —"
Hisa shook her head and flipped her phone closed.
Well, Miyu was right in so far as her love life being somewhat inadequate.
Hisa slipped her cell back into her bag and continued on her way home.
But there wasn't anyone she was really interested in at the moment. That, Hisa thought, made it rather difficult to remedy the situation. It wasn't as though it were only an issue of mustering up her courage to make a confession. There wasn't anyone to confess to.
It would be nice to be in a relationship again after so long, though hopefully to a better end than her last one. Without her mother around, it seemed much more possible. In any case, Hisa consoled herself, it probably wasn't the best of ideas to get involved with anyone while Miyu was over to visit. If the girl even knew she was interested in anyone, she'd get the teasing of her life.
She'd just have to wait till her sister started showing interest in romantic relationships to tease her back. But Miyu seemed content with her circle of friends at the moment, rarely expressing any romantic interest in anyone.
Maybe she really did have sis con, Hisa grinned to herself.