Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't really need a disclaimer by the 12th chapter, do I? Hell, TV Tropes says that disclaimers on fanfiction are completely pointless in the first place.

*late April*

"Hey Tatsu-kun, it seems like you haven't been hanging out with us as much this semester. Something up?"

Tatsuke Hayama just laughed. "I guess I've just been spending more time with Makimaro-chan. It seems like she's had more time for me this year than she did last year." "Probably because her girlfriend is in high school now," he thought, though he didn't say this out of respect to Suki's wishes.

"Yes, thank you for reminding me that you're dating the most beautiful girl in our year. I'd totally forgotten."

"There's no need for sarcasm, Kengo."

"Dude, you know I hate that name!" "Kengo" was a mashup of the given name Kenichi and the family name Keigo.

"Then lighten up. You shouldn't be hurting for a date if you so desired." Kenichi barely opened his mouth when Tatsuke continued, "Yes, I know you say you want a girlfriend, but you don't actually take any steps to get one."

"Maybe you could see about setting me up with one of Makimaro-san's friends?"

"…I'll see what I can do."

CCX: Yes, this chapter just opened with a discussion between a completely new character and one that had been unnamed in all previous appearances, with no canon characters actually being referenced by name. That's where this story has gone. Besides, Suki's practically the third main character in this story.

Suzuka's little experimentations had been going swimmingly so far. Since the school year began, she had gone on five dates, with five different guys. Some had been outright terrible, while others had been okay but not good enough to warrant a second date. And then there was Kokuro. Suzuka wasn't sure if she wanted a second date with him or not. He was kind of socially awkward on their first date, but he was nice. He didn't seem interested in a second date, though, because he had come to the conclusion—a conclusion that Suzuka had also considered, hence her hesitance to ask him for a second date—that perhaps they should just be friends. And they did seem to have a lot of common interests. But "common interests" was also how Suzuka had met Hayate, who later turned out to be a touchy-feely perverted lesbian. Speaking of which…

…Shinamori. They hadn't quite started calling each other by their first names yet (well, Shinamori sometimes called Suzuka by her first name in private, but not in public), but they had begun using the "-chan" honorific. Suzuka enjoyed her company, and she managed to control herself fairly well. But not completely, which much to Suzuka's dismay led to her getting even more come-ons due to the fact that she was now perceived as kind of innocent, too innocent to realize that her friend's actions were anything other than friendly.

Arisa found this hilarious. In her opinion, Suzuka was quite devious—more ingenious than ingenuous. Certainly this could work to her advantage.

Also, it was time for club activities to start. Suzuka wanted to join the Library Club, but of course she'd been roped into being class rep so she was stuck with Student Council. Not that this was something she really objected to; at the very least, it fit with the new image she'd developed. Deep down, she still felt like the same timid girl she'd always been, but she'd spent so much time around powerful girls and diplomacy and administration were her best shot at being powerful in her own way.

She wasn't the only one taking this view. "What are you staring at?"

"I, uh, I wasn't…"

"You'll have to excuse Miki; she's a bit sensitive about her appearance. I'm Kumaya Izei from class 1-N; this is Ichirei Miki from 1-O." Suzuka thought that this seemed oddly appropriate, but was afraid to say so.

CCX: Back when I was writing Dream, I tried to come up with names that sounded Japanese but were likely completely made up. Now that I've had more exposure to a variety of Japanese names, though, I find myself trying to go with real names without referencing any one work in particular. Of course, I still find it better to go with a name that I haven't seen in any anime/manga before…but then I'm left with the task of trying to make sure the given name sounds like the proper gender. Hopefully Izei doesn't sound too feminine; I wanted to go with a Z in there somewhere though I found that my love affair with the K just can't seem to end.

Also, these two are refugees from another "situation" within my mind. Characters in these things rarely actually receive names and these two were no exception until I decided to work them into here. I apologize for being so blatant about what Miki's main defining characteristic is—namely that she looks exactly the same at age 15 as she did at age 10.

"Geez, Izei-kun, I was just teasing her. No need to rush to my defense."

"Sorry, Miki-san."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tsukimura Suzuka, from Class 1-A." She found Kumaya's choice of honorifics to be quite interesting; the two of them evidently had some history, but after initially using no honorific at all, he went to the more respectful "-san". Perhaps he was afraid that a more affectionate honorific would hurt her feelings? She evidently had a bit of a complex about her size and childish appearance. There wasn't much time to continue conversing, however, as more people were arriving and the first student council meeting was about to start.

After it was over, Suzuka approached the diminutive girl. "That was…quite an impressive display of passion there, Ichirei-san."

"I can't tell if you're making fun of me or not."

"I'm not. You remind me of one of my childhood friends; she moved away a few months ago." Actually, Ichirei's personality was more similar to Arisa's, but once she got done being defensive about her elementary-school appearance and started applying her passion to other matters, she seemed the very image of a young Nanoha.

"Don't you mean a few years ago?"

"Okay, seriously, you have to stop obsessing about your appearance. Yes, I'll admit that at first I was thrown by the sight of what looked like a little kid in a high school uniform, but by acting so immature about it you'll only make matters worse."

Ichirei laughed. "You certainly have an interesting outlook, Tsukimura-san. I guess I misjudged you."

"Eh? And what would have led you to make a judgment about me?"

She blushed. "N-nothing."

Suzuka sighed. "Ichirei-san…I get it. I barely recognize myself these days. In grade school and middle school, I was always a shy bookworm, mostly just staying with a few close friends, and suddenly I get to high school and I've become popular. I only volunteered to be class rep because nobody else was volunteering and I knew that if no one volunteered, I'd end up being the one chosen anyway. But in a way, I think this reflects somewhat well on the male half of the student body. I haven't exactly been blessed by puberty myself, you know."

"I hadn't noticed. But that could be just my own bitterness. You're…probably about as well-developed as my little sister. It's so unfair; she's 12 and she could easily pass for 14, while I'm 15 and haven't grown a bit in five years. I'm afraid I'm never going to start growing…isn't puberty supposed to cause some kind of physical change that's outwardly evident?"

"Maybe you just haven't—"

"I have. Oh, and you can call me Miki-san, or if that would make you uncomfortable, Ichi-san."

"Okay, Miki-san. Then I guess you can call me Suzuka-san. So you're not a 'late bloomer', and yet you haven't shown any other signs of maturing."

"Kind of limits my romantic options. I envy you."

"Yeah…Kumaya-san really seems to like you, though."

"Not like that. We've been friends for awhile, I guess, but just because he doesn't treat me like the little girl that I look like doesn't mean he likes me that way."

"Must have been my imagination, then."

CCX: Translating one of "those" interludes into actual fanfiction isn't as easy as it seems. This was not how it originally went.

Arisa, of course, was making herself involved with the athletic clubs. On this particular day, however, she had nothing to do with the softball team, which gave her time to swing by her former middle school and meet with a certain attractive second-year. "Ah, Arisa-chan!" Suki cried happily, bewildering a group of first-years. "I thought you'd be busy with club activities."

"Not today, Suki-tan. Geez, you didn't tell me you'd developed an entire fan club."

"It's…kind of a new development."

"Sempai, who's this?"

Suki couldn't help but blush. "Ah, this is Arisa Bannings…a very special sempai of mine. She graduated this past year, but during our one year together she really took me under her wing." "Among other places," she thought.

"Ay, surrounded by your fan club again? Maybe they can make themselves marginally useful; Kengo's been bugging me to try to help him get a girl and suggested I see if you had any friends you could set him up with." Half of the girls were swooning at the arrival of Tatsuke.

"Why do you even bother with that guy?" Suki asked.

"I have no idea."

"You two go have fun. I'll babysit these girls; I figure that after seeing you react to me the way you did they're bound to think I must be something awesome," Arisa said quietly.

"But you're here!" Suki protested. "I want to spend time with you! Uh, no offense, Tatsu-kun."

"Uh, none taken…I think." Tatsuke suddenly realized that he'd made a mistake a few months prior. He had to admit that he'd been a bit surprised when Suki had told him that her "sarcastic confession" in early February was in fact completely truthful and that she'd been getting intimate with the captain of the girls' basketball team; this confirmed that he had indeed identified the wrong girl as captain. "You take all the time you need to catch up with your sempai."

"So understanding…wah, sempai!"

"Ah, Ari-chan!"

"Sorry if that hurt, Suki-tan. Figured the best way to get away from those fangirls was to just run like hell."

"Y-you're probably right, Ari-chan…and you are a quicker runner than I am, so I appreciate the help."

"But admit it; you love the attention, don't you?"

Suki blushed. "Y-yeah…I don't really mind having them around, but I definitely don't want them seeing just how special my Ari-sempai is to me."

"So I take it that the one who was so quick to ask who I was with a tone of voice suggesting that I was some sort of interloper trying to steal her sempai away was Himiya-san?"

"Yeah, that was Katsu-tan…although she's more of a dog than a cat."

"…'Katsu-tan'? Are you sure I haven't been replaced?"

"Like I said, she's more like a fiercely protective guard dog."

"She is pretty cute, though. Surely you must be tempted to try to convert her?"

"You make it sound like I'm trying to lure someone over to the Dark Side."

"In a manner of speaking."

"I swear that I have no thoughts of 'corrupting' that sweet, beautiful little girl."

"…And?"

"…And would be willing to defend her innocence to the death," Suki conceded. "I'll have to find one of the other girls to send after Tatsu-kun's weird friend. I could tell that a lot of those girls seemed excited at the prospect of being set up with an upperclassman, and I'm sure that Katsura-chan will be unhappy if she's not chosen because she'll think it means she's no longer my favorite, but…I can't bear the thought of a boy laying a hand on that porcelain skin of hers."

"Now I know I've been replaced," Arisa said with mock bitterness.

"You have not!" Suki swore.

"Yeah, yeah. You say you don't have thoughts of trying to corrupt her, but you don't want any boys getting near her. You can't have it both ways."

"Just because I don't want to do things to her doesn't mean I don't want her all to myself. The relationship I have with her now is all I need."

"Which is?"

"Just a bit of light contact…an occasional stroke of the face. She's a bit too innocent to realize the nature of my affections."

"A bit of…petting, you might say?"

"I guess you could say that."

"And you called her a loyal guard dog before."

"That I did…" Suki wasn't sure where Arisa was going with this.

"So what you really want is for her to be your bitch."

Suki turned bright red as she tried not to laugh. "Arisa!"

"You have to admit that was pretty good."

"You're horrible."

"Still, I notice that you're already on first-name basis with her."

"Well, even she realizes that I feel some sort of love towards her. I wouldn't be surprised if she asked to call me 'onee-sama' soon, though she hasn't yet."

"It amazes me how fawning these little ones are. You were a first-year when I met you, but you were nothing like this."

"Maybe it's you who was nothing like me, Miss Brash Lesbian Jock."

"…So if I were more womanly, you might have been just like them?"

"Well, no, not me, because I have too much self-respect to be a sycophant. But yeah, you're not really the type to draw a fan club. Not that it makes you any less attractive to me."

"I'll keep that in mind. There's a pitcher on our team that I certainly wouldn't mind catching for, if you know what I mean."

"Just know that if you replace me, you will be responsible for the corruption of an adorable innocent young girl."

"Just a minute ago you said that you'd fiercely protect her innocence, and now I'm the only thing keeping you from taking it away yourself?"

"All I can say is, she's the perfect height."

Arisa looked at her ever-growing girlfriend. Suki was right; she'd merely have to approach Himiya at the right angle and hug her tight, and the first-year would get a faceful of Suki's breasts.

Suki was clearly not someone to be fucked with.

"So, Su—kimura-chan," Shinamori asked, "how was your first student council meeting?"

"Interesting. I met a girl who looks like she's about ten."

"Itty-rei?"

"You know her? Wait, people called her that? That's so rude!"

"No ruder than she is."

"Well, yeah, I kind of got the feeling that she's insecure about her lack of height and figure, but she's actually not so bad. So just what had you so hot and bothered?"

"…You could tell?"

"I've spent years around Arisa, not to mention Nanoha. I can tell when someone's been exerting themselves."

"Yeah, well, I'm a cheerleader. What? Don't give me that look! Just because I'm a lesbian, I can't be a cheerleader?"

"Well, at the very least I would think that the other cheerleaders would be uncomfortable around you."

"Like I care. Ah, how much I love seeing those girls in their cheerleading uniforms."

CCX: Hmm…now this seems oddly familiar…I do believe I've written on this subject before. Well, it's past my usual self-imposed deadline and this chapter actually ended up pretty long, so this is Cyberchao X, signing off.

CC: You know, you really should go back to Conn. A&M one of these days…