((Two chapters in one day! Yeah! I threw in a hell of a lot of references in this one, including some fanfic references. I got the chance to introduce lots of incredibly minor characters, too. And some more action for you guys too! All the characters have elements, can you guess what they are? :3
Oh yes, and my mom has informed me that not only would Ludwig not have been admitted to the hospital for his wounds, but if he had internal bleeding, he'd probably be dead. Oops. Oh well… Do demo ii, right? \(^o^)/ ))
It had been roughly one week, and Ludwig was finally sent home from the hospital. Feliciano had been ecstatic, and wasted no time in excitedly telling him everything that had happened while he had been away, in great detail.
"So then Berwald tried to disassemble the door, but it was really poorly made so he couldn't, and Elise started screaming 'cuz there was a spider and spiders are like way super scary and she said it was in her hair and-"
"Feli," Ludwig interrupted, "We're here."
"Oh yeah! We are!" Feliciano observed, nodding in agreement as they walked up the front steps of World Academy W.
"Everyone's going to be so happy you're back!" Feliciano continued, heading to his locker. "We all missed you, and Alfred and Gilbert actually kind of blew up half the science lab 'cuz you weren't around to tell them not to, or did I tell you about that already? Oh hey, look!" Feliciano exclaimed, pointing to Ludwig's locker. It had a collection of "Welcome back" sticky notes stuck to it, from his various friends and classmates.
"Oh, that's nice," Ludwig said, smiling slightly. It was a nice surprised. Slightly more cheerful than he had been before, he opened his locker, only to slam it closed again in horror.
"What's wrong?" Feliciano asked, frowning in confusion and trying to see what was in Ludwig's locker that was so terrible.
"Nothing," Ludwig replied hastily. "Don't look in there."
"Why not?" Feliciano asked innocently.
"Welcome back, West," Gilbert said teasingly, grinning at him with a mischievous look in his eyes.
"Damn it, Gilbert, what the hell is that for?!" Ludwig demanded, blushing bright red.
"Well, the others were all messing with your locker, so I figured I'd get in on the fun," Gilbert explained, feigning innocence.
"Ve, hi Gilbert!" Feliciano said cheerfully, oblivious to his prank.
"Hey Feli!" Gilbert replied, waving.
"Where did you even get all of those?" Ludwig mumbled.
"Elizabeta lent them to me," Gilbert replied. "She has a pretty impressive doujinshi collection, you know."
"You mean you stole them."
"Hey, I never said she was aware that she lent them to me," Gilbert argued defensively. Ludwig rolled his eyes.
"Ah, Ludwig-san! Welcome back!" Kiku said, nodding in greeting.
"Thanks," Ludwig replied, waving.
"Yo, Ludwig! Good to have you back, dude!" Alfred added, waving enthusiastically and grinning.
"It's good to be back," Ludwig replied, sighing.
"Welcome back," Matthew agreed.
"Hello," said a cheerful voice from behind Ludwig. Ludwig jumped slightly, turning to see Ivan, the Russian student from his brother's class, looming over him with an innocent smile on his face."
"Your brother was saying you had an injury, but I see you are all better now, da?" Ivan asked, still smiling as he held a large water pipe behind his back.
"Um, yes," Ludwig replied awkwardly, slightly intimidated by the strange boy.
"That is good to hear," Ivan replied, patting Ludwig on the shoulder roughly. He stared at him thoughtfully for a moment, then smiled again.
"Well, have a good day," Ivan said mysteriously, waving over his shoulder as he walked away.
"That guy's creepy," Feliciano whispered, scared. Ludwig nodded in agreement.
"Oh, Ludwig! You're back!" another person exclaimed. This time it was Tino, the cheerful Finnish student from the same class as them.
"Yeah," Ludwig replied, nodding politely.
"Welcome back," Toris, their Lithuanian classmate, added.
"So like, did your guts fall out?" Feliks, Toris' weird Polish friend, asked.
"Um, no," Ludwig replied confusedly.
"EDUARD! I WON THE BET! NOW YOU GOTTA PAY UP!" Feliks shouted down the hall.
"Aww, but I just had to buy Ivan a cookie! I'm not made of money, you know!" Eduard shouted back reluctantly.
"That's like, not my problem," Feliks replied, shrugging.
"Oh, Ludwig! Welcome back aru!" Yao said, waving.
"Thanks," Ludwig replied.
"Korea invented hospitals, you know," his cousin Yong Soo lied. Yao rolled his eyes.
"That's like, totally untrue," Yao's little brother Leon argued.
"No it's not," Yong Soo insisted.
"Yeah it is," Leon replied.
"You're just jealous 'cuz Aniki likes me better," Yong Soo decided, sticking his tongue out at Leon.
"Whatever," Leon mumbled.
"Don't say things like that aru!" Yao exclaimed, whacking Yong Soo on the head.
Suddenly the bell rang, indicating that it was time to get to class. The students all headed to their various classrooms, chatting amongt themselves as they walked.
Though it had been a long day, the five boys had done just fine, and were outside hanging out on the front steps of the school.
"So now that Ludwig's back and not dead and stuff, I was thinking we should go to the mall or something," Alfred suggested. "You know, since it's Friday and all."
"That sounds fun," Matthew agreed. "And I do have to find a birthday present for Juan, so the mall would be a good idea."
"Ooh, yeah! Let's go!" Feliciano decided, bouncing excitedly.
"I think that is a nice idea," Kiku added.
"It's fine with me," Ludwig said, shrugging.
"Yeah! Let's do it!" Alfred announced, racing down the steps. The others followed him, heading towards the local shopping mall instead of their respective houses (Or in Kiku's case, Yao's house).
When they arrived, the mall was busy, but not too crowded. Since they were all hungry, they first went to the cafeteria area. Alfred got his food from McDonald's, Kiku and Matthew got some generic Japanese food, Ludwig got soup, and Feliciano got Sbarro, despite insisting that it really was terrible pizza. Which it was, at least compared to his and Lovino's homemade pizzas.
"So where are we gonna go first?" Feliciano asked through a mouthful of pizza.
"Don't talk with food in your mouth," Ludwig scolded him.
"I would like to visit the manga shop," Kiku suggested. "As long as it is alright with everyone else, I mean."
"Sounds good to me," Alfred replied. Matthew nodded in agreement.
"Maybe I'll buy a bunch of girly-girl shoujo manga and put them in Gilbert's locker," Ludwig muttered darkly. Feliciano glanced at him in confusion.
"Oh yeah, how's your doujinshi collection coming along?" Alfred asked, shoving a few french fries in his mouth. Ludwig nearly choked on his soda.
"You have a doujinshi collection?" Kiku asked, confused. It didn't seem like something his super-serious German friend would be into. Then again...
"Those are NOT mine," Ludwig insisted, blushing as red as a tomato. "They're Elizabeta's. My brother stole them and put them in my locker as a prank," he explained annoyedly, extremely embarrassed.
"Ha! That's a good one!" Alfred exclaimed. Ludwig gave him a dark look.
"Oh, I see," Kiku replied awkwardly, blushing slightly. "I am sorry for misunderstanding."
"It's not your fault," Ludwig admitted, sighing.
"What kind of doujinshi does Ludwig like?" Feliciano asked curiously.
"For the last time, I do not read doujinshi!" Ludwig insisted.
"Why not? Some of them are good," Feliciano argued. "Like I read this one with Konata and Kagami where-"
"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP," Ludwig shouted, putting his hands over his ears.
"...Does he realize that not all doujinshi are dirty?" Matthew asked, smiling awkwardly.
"Huh? They're not?" Alfred asked, surprised. Kiku facepalmed.
"I wonder if anyone's made Yotsuba doujinshi?" Feliciano wondered out loud.
"Probably," Alfred replied. "Rule 34, dude."
"What's that?"
"Can we PLEASE stop discussing this?" Ludwig interrupted, rather uncomfortable with the awkward and embarrassing conversation.
"Yes, I think perhaps we should talk about something else now," Kiku agreed awkwardly, still blushing.
"If everyone's ready, why don't we go shopping now?" Matthew suggested, successfully dissipating the awkwardness.
"Sounds good to me!" Feliciano announced.
"Yeah, let's go," Alfred agreed. Standing up, he walked over to the trash can and threw out his garbage. The others did so as well, and Ludwig, being the neat freak he was, wiped down the table.
"Ok dudes, where's the doujinshi store?" Alfred asked, looking around.
"It is a manga shop, not a doujinshi shop," Kiku pointed out awkwardly, "And this way." He started walking, leading the way to the manga shop. The others followed him.
"Wait! Wait wait wait!" Feliciano shouted suddenly, stopping abruptly and causing Matthew to crash into him.
"What's wrong?!" Alfred demanded.
"I have to pee," Feliciano explained innocently. Ludwig facepalmed.
"Well hurry up bro, we don't have all day," Alfred replied, rolling his eyes.
So, after a short bathroom break, the boys resumed their journey to the manga shop. It was a modest-sized shop, family owned, yet had a fairly good selection. It even had, much to Ludwig's horror, a doujinshi section.
"Hey, this is pretty cool stuff," Alfred observed, examining a volume of Death Note.
"Ooh, Ludwig, look! Ninjas!" Feliciano exclaimed, holding up a copy of Naruto. Ludwig rolled his eyes.
"Please. Naruto is completely unrealistic. I prefer Rurouni Kenshin," he decided, crossing his arms.
"RuroKen isn't all that realistic either," Matthew pointed out. "I mean, I don't think people can really shatter rocks with their fists, two layers or not."
"At least Sanosuke doesn't summon magic copies of himself," Ludwig argued.
"I think they are both good series," Kiku interrupted.
"Yeah but Digimon beats all of them," Alfred announced. Ludwig banged his head against the wall in frustration.
Feliciano, meanwhile, was sitting on the floor happily reading a volume of Cardcaptor Sakura.
Eventually they finished arguing, chose their manga, and checked it out.
"Where to next?" Matthew asked.
"I'd like to stop by GameStop," Alfred replied. "Ha, get it? 'Stop by'? Game'Stop'? Oh man, I'm hilarious," he exclaimed, laughing like crazy at his own joke.
"Oh yes, so creative," Ludwig mumbled sarcastically.
"Alright," Matthew agreed. "Maybe I can find something for Juan there."
"I spent most of my money on manga," Feliciano admitted. "But at least I can play the demos!"
"GameStop it is, then," Ludwig announced. And so they went to GameStop. Just as they were about to head in, they heard screaming coming from the cafeteria.
"Kyaaaaaaa! Don't hurt me!" a young girl screamed.
"It's trying to destroy McDonald's!" a man shouted, running away from the food court.
"WHAT?! WHERE?! WHAT KIND OF HORRIBLE PERSON WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" Alfred exclaimed.
"That is what," Kiku replied, pointing.
Standing in the middle of the food court was a large shadow-like creature, shaped rather like some sort of incredibly curvy, pointy cat, with narrow green eyes and shadowy claws. It actually looked kind of like Mimi from Invader Zim, except bigger and more evil, and also more transparent. Sure enough, it did indeed appear to be attacking McDonald's, its ghost claws easily slicing through the countertop.
"That's unacceptable! WORLD WARRIOR AMERICA, TRANSFORM!" Alfred shouted, activating his ridiculously long and girly transformation sequence, which probably involved electric guitar background music because that is the sort of transformation music he would have.
"YOU LEAVE MY BURGERS ALONE, YOU COMMUNIST!" he ordered, running towards the monster and shooting at it.
"Al, wait! Don't go rushing in like that!" Matthew shouted after him. Sighing in exasperation, he transformed as well, with Kiku and Feliciano following suit.
The cat-demon-ghost-thing hissed, clawing at Alfred. He dodged it, but just barely.
"Flare Blitz!" he shouted. "...No, wait, that's a Pokemon move... Crap."
"Look out!" Matthew exclaimed, jumping in front of him. "Maple Guard!"
Matthew's shield went up just in time, blocking the cat-demon's sharp ghost claws. The cat-demon growled angrily, baring sharp fangs.
"Wind Whip!" Kiku shouted, pointing his katana at the cat-demon. A swift, cold wind blew from it, lashing out at the demon like a chain. The cat shrieked, swiping its huge paw at Kiku in an attempt to knock him over. Kiku nimbly jumped over it, swinging his katana downward as he did. He stabbed the cat-demon, causing it to yowl loudly, swinging its paw wildly in pain. This time it succeeded in hitting him, sending him flying into a column.
"No! Bad kitty!" Feliciano exclaimed, waving his white flag at it. The cat-demon stopped, hypnotized by the colorful waving white flag. It followed it with its eyes, then began batting at it. Seeing an opportunity, Kiku and Alfred took advantage of its distractedness to attack it from behind. The cat-demon screamed in pain before exploding into magic desu sparkles just like the giant car-smashing octopus thing.
"Well that was surprisingly easy," Alfred observed, detransforming.
"Are you ok, Kiku?" Matthew asked, concerned. Kiku nodded.
"I am fine. Just a little bruised," he replied.
"That's good," Matthew agreed, smiling in relief.
"It really was just like a giant kitty," Feliciano said, amazed. "Pookie does the same thing. Except she's smaller and less terrifying," he added.
"I guess we better head home," Alfred pointed out, sighing. "I'm tired."
"Yes, it is getting rather late," Kiku agreed.
"And I have a lot of homework," Ludwig added. "Apparently 'no homework until you recover' means 'do it all at the same damn time'..."
"Let's go home," Matthew agreed.
So, once they were all satisfied that the mall wasn't going to explode or anything, the boys finally headed home.