Hardly any reviews ..
Is this because the series is never brought out of japan?
Or because it focuses on Madoka - who, apparently, some think is boring due to being
a stereotypical playboy? Every guy in Girl's Side is a stereotype!
Well .. except .. maybe Amanohashi .. moustache ..
"Sis, you have a date?" Tsukushi asked in total astonishment, watching Haruka fuss in front of the mirror.
"Like it's a huge surprise to you - you urge me to date, I date." she answered, ignoring the fact that she had not
been the one to actually propose the date. She had merely reacted. "Now, get out." And closed the door to change.
About thirty minutes later she reappeared with her hair slightly styled, the denim jacket and kneelength skirt made from
the same faded out material, getting ready to put some shoes on.
"Haah? For a girl on her first date, you put up well." Tsukushi complimented her and dodged her hand the next second.
"Don't know when I'll be back." Haruka said and left, closing the door behind her.
A cool breeze was going through the air and yet the sun was warm on that day. Good weather for spending time outside,
but not too warm to leave jackets at home. Haruka took a shortcut she had found a while ago to the park and waited
at the entrance, where she would meet Kijyou. She had to think of the way he had asked for the date. Coming up to her,
introducing himself and asking her out. How very strange. Yet it impressed her. He seemed sure of himself and easy-going,
like he didn't care that much about what the future might hold.
Looking up and down the way, then at her watch, Haruka sighed. Kijyou was a bit late. Not by much, nor did she put so
much emphasis on punctuality, but it did concern her. But she already saw him running towards her.
"Yah, sorry. I was so excited, I barely slept, so I overslept." he apologized with an embarrassed grin.
Haruka just laughed it off, noticing how he looked older with the beige jacket.
They walked through the park, talking about irrelevant things. "Ey, wanna take a long way 'round the park?" Kijyou asked
her after a while.
"Sure-"
"Hey, it's the Kansai O-nii-chan!" someone called and about four or five boys started crowding around Kijyou, pulling slightly
on his jacket. "You haven't been here in a while!"
"Yah, sorry, guys. Busy and all." Kijyou said, bending down slightly from the pulling.
"Hey, Nii-chan, can you play with us? Soccer, like last time? Can you?" one of the boys asked. Haruka looked at the scene
in slight surprise. Having a little brother, she knew how to handle kids and interact with them, but being suddenly confronted
with some made her freeze for a moment.
"Ah, sorry." Kijyou said, looking at Haruka. "Been spendin' time with them and such." he looked back at the boys. "Come on,
guys, not today. I'm on a date."
The boys looked over at Haruka, apparently checking her out if she was of any good material. "Nii-chan, is that girl your girlfriend?"
"Ah, well .." he avoided answering the question directly. "Come on, go and play." The boys thankfully left after that, running to a
big spot to play some soccer by themselves. "They can be a handful at times, hm .."
"I know that feeling." Haruka told him. "My little brother gets my goat at times, too." They started on the long walk around the park,
seeing some bushes that were cut into artistic forms. Or watched the lake that was close by, the boats from the boat hire all in line,
just waiting for summer to come, so they would be used by couples again.
Hours passed and both leaned against the railings of the walk, just talking about what came to their minds. They discovered that both
were subscribers to the Habataki Watcher, both liking the fashion and event news. Both not liking school work so much ..
"Was fun today. We should hang out more often." Kijyou grinned at the park entrance.
"Of course. See you at school." Haruka agreed and they waved lazily when they split their way to their respective homes.
"I'm home .."
Surprised, Tsukushi leaned out of his room. "Sis, you're already back? I'd have expected you sneaking in at two a.m. after spending
hours talking with that guy - and doing some other things-"
"Exactly what games is it that you play? That's not how it goes in real life." Haruka interrupted him while knocking her shoes off.
Tsukushi just sighed and shrugged his shoulder, going back into his room. Haruka went into her own room, thinking of the date.
It hadn't really seemed like a date, more like pals who hang out together on a free sunday. But she didn't really expect anything
to happen - it was just the first date. Wait .. did that mean she wanted to date him again? It wasn't that the date was bad
or anything like that. Even if those kids had interrupted it halfway through. It hadn't turned out bad, after all. Kijyou had been nice
to them, managed to get rid of them fast.
If there was one thing that impressed a girl, it was a guy who could handle and get along with kids .. but she didn't think of him like that!
He was just a fun guy to hang out with - even if she had done it only once up to now. His selfconfidence wasn't something he pretended
to have and he felt comfortable with life and himself. His clothes had shown that - and if there was one thing Haruka was proud of, it was
the ability to judge a person's character by their clothes.
Getting up, Haruka walked down the hall and knocked on the light door with 'Tsukushi' written on it in colorful clay. "Come in!" Haruka opened
the door and saw Tsukushi playing a game on his computer. When she was a few steps away, though, he paused the game and was about
to turn around, when Haruka put her arms around his neck and nuzzled his cheek.
"Say, little brother, dearest .." she started.
"What do you want?" Tsukushi asked with a smile.
"About that offer you made .." Haruka said. "Would you be a sweetheart and find something out for me?"
"Okay, okay, who's your target?"
"Kijyou Madoka." she answered, wondering about the target thing.
Tsukushi sighed, as if it was unbearably hard work for him, which it wasn't. "Sure thing, sis. You'll get his data by wednesday."
"You're the best little brother in the world, Tsuku-kun." Haruka ruffled his hair with her hand before leaving his room, feeling a bit giddy and
somehow embarrassed for wanting to find out some things about Kijyou. Sure, she could ask him herself, but that would seem weird.
Asking things after meeting someone only twice.
Even if it was an open personality like Kijyou.
In school, Haruka shuffled around the halls and not seeing Kijyou a lot. It wasn't that she was trying to avoid him, she just didn't really know
how to act after a date. And since they were in different classes - and Kijyou was often gone shortly after the last bell rang - they didn't
meet each other that often, only a usual polite handwave or nod when seeing each other fleetingly in the hall. So a few days went by and
when Haruka came home, Tsukushi greeted her with a big grin reaching from one ear to the other.
"Heheehehee .." he went, waving around a notpad in his hand. "I got it!"
"What?" she couldn't figure out what he meant. "Why are you so giddy, anyway?"
"Sis, you already forgot, I can't believe it!" Tsukushi sighed dramatically. "I hold the key to your love life's luck!"
Something in her head made 'click' and she remembered what she had asked him to do.
"You got his data! Oh you're the sweetest ..!"
"However, I won't give it to you for nothing." her little brother waggled his finger all importantly.
"Yeah, yeah, you can choose dinner today. Now hand it over!" she grabbed it from him and flipped through the pages.
Kijyou was a gemini, born on June 18th with a bloodtype A ..
Her eyes flew over his cellphone number to little nitpicky information about his school life. Apparently, Kijyou wasn't in any school club,
due to working at the gasoline stand after school was out.
"Gasoline stand? Mh, rings a bell .." Haruka muttered to herself, trying to remember where she heard it before.
Then she remembered that she had applied there as a part-time worker herself a few days ago - her shopping expenses had increased ..
Pushing that thought aside, she studied the data again. His was 1.85 m .. admittingly, she wasn't very tall herself .. She had just broken
the 1.60 m line herself. And her eyes fell on the next information Tsukushi had snatched. His measurements ..
"How the devil did you get that info??" she asked, giving Tsukushi a nugging, squeezing out the source.
"Ayaiyai, when I get info, I get all the info!" he freed himself from her and rescued himself into his room, leaving Haruka to study notepad.
Well .. maybe knowing his measurements might come in handy .. someday ..
"Haruka-chan!"
Haruka turned around in the hall to see Kijyou behind her, his hand held up in a lean matter of 'hello'.
"Jo .." she muttered. She still felt a bit weird about meeting him after the date. Why were there no guide books about these things?
"Read the new Watcher issue?" he asked, not noticing - or ignoring - her slight uneasiness. "New construction finally finished."
Confused, Haruka unfolded the Habataki Watcher and leafed through the blue bordered pages. Sure enough the constructions that had
been going on at the Habataki Station close to the sea had finished.
"The 'Habataki Tower'?" she mumbled, having heard about the walk next to the lake there, but not about the planned tower being built.
"Wanna go there on sunday? If ya're free." Kijyou asked all of a sudden and Haruka lifted her head in surprise.
Once again the sudden question had stumped her, made her freeze. Once again she wasn't sure what to say or do.
But somehow her head forced her out of her mental frozen status faster than last time.
"Yeah, sure. New things are there to check out, after all." she grinned and they haggled for a few seconds on when to meet at the Station.
Not making any movements to go to their respective classes they stood in the halls, talking a bit about this and that, when the window of
the parallel class was slid open and Natsumi leaned out.
"Hey, Kijyou. Sensei wants you to hurry up and get your butt in here. The bell rang five minutes ago." she grinned with a cheeky glint
in her eyes. "Iyo, Haruka."
"Hi, Natsumi-chan." Haruka greeted her back, never having really gotten to know in which class Natsumi was. So she was in her parallel class,
together with Kijyou ..
"Fhe, fine. See ya, Haruka-chan. An' no cancelin'." Kijyou said and waved before slandering into his class.
Haruka hurried into her own class, not wanting to find out how scary Himuro-sensei might be when infuriated.
However, she couldn't quite concentrate on the upcoming lessons, her mind kept slipping back to a few minutes ago when Kijyou had asked
her out on a date. Again. Either he liked going out or he was interested in her. Well, wether it was the first or latter didn't matter.
It would seem weird, and somehow unfair, for Kijyou to always be the one to take the initiative and set up dates. She just had to overcome
that tiny shyness in her and ask him out. Or, at least, not freeze up when he asked ..
Those thoughts, and similar ones, haunted her for the rest of the school day, until the last bell made her jump out of her shell. Through the usual
post-lessons shuffle she walked, changing from the shoes that where mandatory to wear in school to her ankle boots, and took a note from her
bag. The Gas Station had called her last evening, telling her that she was hired as a student part-time worker. Two afternoons after school,
she'd spend working at the Gas Station.
Checking the paper again for the adress and making sure she knew how to get there, she set off.
"Ah, Sekai-kun, right? Glad you could make it." her boos was a bit of a hefty man, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. "Well, like I told you,
you'll work Wednesdays and Fridays from 4 PM to 8 PM. Your uniform is given to you by us, but it's your responsibility to take it home every now
and then and keep it clean. Any questions?"
"None, sir." she answered, having found the place and asked the cashier for the manager. He showed her around the gas station, where the
workers could take a break for a snack or where to leave their possessions and similar. Finally, after telling him her size, he gave her a uniform
in that size and left her alone so she could change. The jacket was orange, as was the cap, but the chest part in a blue striped fashion.
And, of course, being the women's uniform, it consisted of a skirt. Orange like the cap, but about a third shorter than the knee-lengthed school
skirts. Finished dressed, though, Haruka searched for the manager again and he pointed to a co-worker, who was just sending off a customer.
"He'll explain the ropes. Any trouble, ask him or me." he waved and Haruka approached the co-worker.
"Excuse me .."
"Haruka-chan?"
Haruka gasped almost in surprise when she saw Kijyou in front of her! True, it was hard to recognize him at first due to the uniform. And with the
cap that hid part of his hair it was harder to notice him right away. But most certainly it was Kijyou, in the orange uniform, in front of her
and her co-worker and superior.
"Eh .. Jo." she said awkwardly. Because, what else are you supposed to say in such a situation?
"Watcha doin' here? Part-time?" he asked and she nodded. "Ah, well. Here's to good co-operation!"
"Ah, yes. I'll do my best." Haruka nodded and bowed a little. "Well, the manager sent me to you to learn the works."
"Thought so. Pretty easy, once ya get the hang of it. Ya know, wipe windows, empty ashtray, stuff like that."
"And bring the change to the customer, I know .." Haruka sighed silently, feeling so uneasy again. She wasn't sure if it was because she was
nervous about the job or because of Kijyou.
"Heeeh?" Kijyou grinned and playfully pulled her cheeks a bit. "Ya bein' smarty to a superior?"
"No." Haruka grinned herself and he let go. "Just .. you know. Nervous, a bit."
"Nervous is good. Keeps ya focused." Kijyou handwaved it away and noticed another car driving up. "Watch first if ya're not sure."
He quickly stepped to the car's rolled down passenger window. "Good day, sir. Need the ashtray emptied?"
Haruka watched the short dialoge between Kijyou and the customer, how Kijyou washed the windows, emptied the ashtray and, when the
time for paying up came, walked inside to bring the change out. He even managed to swiftly navigate the driver back into the busy traffic.
It hadn't taken long, merely a minute or two and Haruka felt nervous again if she would managed to do that.
"You're good, Kijyou-kun." she said with admiration, but not looking at him.
"Just practice. Ya'll get the hang of it." he bent down to look into her face. "And no sad face. Remember the most important thing when
with a customer. The smile."
He wether he demonstrated it or really meant it, he smiled which made Haruka smile as well.
"Don't worry. Ya're not gonna be on yar own at first. Just stick with me for a while."
Mrh, I was stuck for a while. But I managed to work around it.
Well, there are going to be descriptions of the clothes, though, because later on, in manga form, I won't have to fuss about
what to dress them in. So it makes things easier for me and it gives you guys an idea on what they look like.
Things are going rather slowly or boring right now, but after a few more dates - like in the game - and Kijyou moves up to
'smiling stage' there will be several dates and more interesting things to write about. This can still be seen as part of the 'preparation chapters'.