Rozen Maiden: Märchen

EPISODE 1

Will You Wind?

"Give that back!"

Jun chased Suiseiseki out of the front room and cornered her down the hallway. She backed up to the bathroom door, clutching the winding key tightly in her hands.

"Get away, you!" she shouted back, "I am so not going to let you wind up that crystal menace!"

Jun stopped. "What the heck are you getting so worked up about?"

Suiseiseki gaped at him as if he were a complete moron. "How can you even ask that? Have you forgotten what that rotten evil impostor did to us?"

Jun put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot impatiently. "Yeah, and look how that worked out for her. She'd have to be suicidal to try and take your Rosa Mystica again."

Suiseiseki shook her head defiantly. Jun rolled his eyes and took another step towards her, prompting her to squeeze even further back against the bathroom door.

"Don't come any closer!"

Jun ignored her and reached out to snatch the key from her grasp, whereupon she promptly slipped it down the front of her dress. Jun froze, his eyes widening at what she'd done. Suiseiseki grinned triumphantly.

"Ha! I'd like to see you try and get it now!"

"You..." he floundered, "You rotten little doll, I can't believe you just did that!"

Suiseiseki crossed her arms and pointed her nose into the air haughtily. "Now you have no choice but leave that evil Barasuishou as she is," she said. Jun's eyes narrowed.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that..." He reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder. She cried out in alarm.

"You ... you wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't I?"

Jun reached out with his other hand, intending to retrieve the winding key from her. Several long moments passed and he grew increasingly warm with each second, staring at the ribbon around her neck. Finally he let go of her and dropped back, blushing furiously. Annoyed with himself, he looked away.

"You're right," he said, "I wouldn't."

Suiseiseki sighed, not entirely sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. An idea suddenly occurred to Jun. "Wait a second ... I bet those keys are interchangeable. Yeah, I bet I could use yours or Shinku's and it would still work!" He got up and turned away from her, intending to head upstairs and retrieve one of the other dolls winding keys from his room. Before he could take more than two steps however, he was tackled around both legs by Suiseiseki and Kanaria, and went crashing to the ground.

"Ow! Get the heck off me you demented dolls!" he cried out, trying to shake them off. Jun saw Shinku standing in the doorway to the front room, watching the spectacle with a deadpan expression. He waved towards her. "Hey Shinku, gimme a hand here!"

"Certainly not," she said calmly, "It is not befitting of a lady to engage in such behavior."

As Jun continued to struggle against the two dolls holding him down, the doorbell rang. Nori said that she would get it and stepped past Shinku to answer the door. Before Jun could protest that doing so under the circumstances might be a bad idea, the door was already open and he found himself looking up into the eyes of Tomoe Kashiwaba.

"Hello Jun," she said amicably.

"Oh, hi there Tomoe," said Nori, smiling, "come on in."

"I came over to see if Jun needed any help with his homework," she explained, stepping in and slipping out of her shoes. She showed no reaction to the struggle going on between Jun and the dolls. Jun finally succeeded in throwing said dolls off and got to his feet. He brushed himself off and glowered at them.

"If you guys do that again, I'll hide all the snacks from you," he threatened them. Suiseiseki turned away and looked smug.

"It was for the greater good."

"Is there a problem?" asked Tomoe. Jun turned to her and said 'Yes', while Suiseiseki and Kanaria both said 'No' at the same time. Nori stepped in front of them and waved dismissively.

"I was just about to make something to eat, are you hungry at all?"

Shinku sat with Suiseiseki and Kanaria watching television, whilst Jun and Tomoe worked on their homework together around the kitchen table. Shinku watched them for some time until Suiseiseki spoke, her tone a mixture of confusion and annoyance.

"I can't believe Father would do such a thing," she said, eyeing the case in the corner of the room where Barasuishou lay, "She isn't even a Rozen Maiden, she's a fake, so why would he bring her back? And after all she did, too..."

Shinku considered the matter. "She did defeat us all at the Alice Game ... perhaps Father felt that she has proven herself worthy of being a Rozen Maiden."

"We're not going to have to wind her up, are we?" Kanaria asked nervously. Barasuishou scared her, and with good reason. Suiseiseki held up the winding key that had been in the case.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," she said smugly. "You agree, right Shinku? We should leave her in there. Shinku?"

Shinku wasn't listening. She was watching Jun and Tomoe again. Seeing them together made her feel distinctly uncomfortable, though she couldn't express just why that might be so. "Miss Kashiwaba has been visiting here quite frequently," Shinku remarked suddenly, "Has she not?"

Suiseiseki glanced over at the kitchen table for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess. Jun is obviously such a bumbling bumblehead that he needs a smart girl to help drag his flabby behind through school. It almost makes you feel sorry for her."

Shinku sighed. "They seem very close."

Suiseiseki stared at Shinku, wondering what she was getting at. Considering all that had happened with Barasuishou one might expect her to show more interest in Jun's recent package, but she seemed far more distracted than her usual self.

"Is something the matter, Shinku?"

"What?" Shinku blinked and looked around at her. "No, it's nothing..." She turned her attention back to the television, but she wasn't really watching it. Suiseiseki noticed Shinku's hands tighten as she heard Jun and Tomoe laughing together.

Jun rubbed out his mistake with the eraser and tried again, this time getting it right. It was a good thing Tomoe had come - he really was hopeless. He'd spent months working hard to catch up so he could return to school, and he was still way behind everyone else. If it weren't for Tomoe spending so much time helping him make sense of it all, he'd be lost. Lately he'd been thanking her so much that she'd flat out told him to stop, as it was unnecessary.

"Man, I feel so stupid sometimes," he muttered.

"You know you're not," said Tomoe, soft spoken and gentle as always. "You used to be top of the class. You're just less confident than you were, that's all. Try to have a little faith in yourself, Jun."

She smiled at him and he blushed. He turned his gaze back towards his workbook. "You don't need to keep coming here to help me, you know," he said.

"Don't you want me here?"

"No, i-it's not that..." he stuttered, "I just ... I mean don't you have better things to be doing than coaching me? This can't be all that fun for you."

"I don't mind," she said, jotting down her own answers. "Actually, I've been thinking; why don't you join a club?"

Jun blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"There are lots of fun clubs at school, maybe you should join one of them. You're always studying so hard and worrying about things, it might help you to relax a little. I'm sure that if you were more relaxed you'd do much better at school."

A club? Jun thought about it for a moment. He wasn't so sure that would be a good idea. Even though he was back in school, he still avoided people to a noticeable degree. He knew they were talking about him behind his back. Joining a club would mean interacting with more of the people at school, and he wasn't so sure he was ready for that. He still felt hugely embarrassed just walking through the front doors every day. The last thing he needed was to go and humiliate himself in front of everyone at some club activity. Tomoe was watching him carefully and could see the doubt in him.

"Well, it's something to think about at least," she said, "Let me know if you're ever interested - I could put in a good word for you."

"Yeah, thanks," Jun murmured, trying to focus on his homework again.

It was quite late by the time Tomoe left. Jun noticed that she was spending more and more time here when she came to visit. Even Nori spotted it, and said as much when she waved Tomoe off and shut the front door.

"You know Jun, I think she likes you."

"I don't know what you mean," Jun said defensively. Nori tilted her head to one side and smiled.

"Oh, come on Jun-kun, you don't have to be shy about it with me. I'm your sister after all."

Jun was exasperated. "Nori, I don't have any idea what you're talking about. Tomoe is helping me out with my school work, that's all."

Nori strode past him and headed for the front room, a knowing look on her face. "Well I think it's wonderful that you're both getting along so well. You know, you should invite her over for dinner this weekend..."

Jun groaned and buried his face in his hands to hide his embarrassment. "Nori, please just stop!"

He followed her into the front room, oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. On the upstairs landing, Shinku stood very still, staring off into space. She closed her eyes for a long moment before turning and heading into Jun's room. She walked over to the shelf where all her things were neatly stored and removed a small box from it. She stared at it in silence for a time, and then slowly opened it. A sweet melody filled the air as the music box began to play, and Shinku listened to it feeling very, very sad for some reason.