Yup, you know the drill
Chapter 8: Meeting (1)
It was Wednesday morning, three days since Motoko left Hinata-Sou. She was in her room when she woke up and was still wearing the clothes she changed into when Yuki spilled water all over all just to hide her from Keitaro. But remembering Keitaro looking at her body made her a little irritated since she did have to hold back on hitting him for doing that. But besides that it made her feel good that they still cherished her to the point where they're willing to bust into any home.
"Are you going to train Motoko," Fuka jumped out from behind her.
"Yes," Motoko answered. "But I'll have to change first. These clothes aren't exactly for training now are they?" Fuka simply nodded before running ahead to the roof.
Motoko took off the one's she was wearing and started putting on the training clothes she was used to. And not before long, she took her wooden sword and also made her way to the rooftop. But on her way there, she passed by the kitchen where Sakura was busy preparing their food.
"Oh you're awake are you going to the roof to train, Motoko," Sakura greeted the kendo girl. "I saw Fuka running there earlier."
"Yes I am," Motoko nodded. "But are you always up this early cooking?"
"Not always," Sakura said. "I'm only awake this early if the food needs to be prepared first before being cooked."
"I see," Motoko said. "Then I'll be going. I'll be expecting a good breakfast from you." Motoko left the young girl with a smile and headed to the roof. There, she Fuka starting off with swinging practices. She chuckled as she saw the small mistakes the girl was making with every swing.
"Oh, you're here Motoko," Fuka reacted as she felt someone holding on to her hand correcting her stance.
"There were mistakes in your swing," Motoko simply replied as she corrected Fuka's every swing, guiding her with the first few. "You'll only make yourself tired if you continued like that."
Fuka grinned as she corrected her self with Motoko's instructions. Motoko on the other hand prepared to start her own set of swings. After which training kicked of to its usual phase, after practicing all the basics and a few harder moves, Motoko thought Fuka some of the easier moves. This took around an hour before Sakura came from the door to tell them that breakfast ready.
On the mean time, in Hinata, the residents were having they're regular breakfast. After last night's confrontation, they decided that it would be better to put the search on hold, since something like that could happen again.
"It looks like Motoko's avoiding you guys," Kitsune said as she are the piece egg that's on her fork. "If your description of the girl was dead on then there's no mistake that's her."
"But she didn't sent me lying when I saw her almost naked," Keitaro retorted but only earned the glare from Naru and a teary eyed Shinobu. "Wait Shinobu, it's not like I did it on purpose."
"Keitaro," Naru hissed. "You're just going to make her cry again."
"I won't cry," Shinobu said trying to get the thought her sempai just saw someone else besides them in their underwear. "But what if she's just holding it in."
"That… I'm not sure," Keitaro replied. "Maybe I'll try to searching for her again later today. But Suu, are you sure this thing only recognize Motoko's DNA?"
"I'm positive Keitaro," Suu shouted as she stuffed a spoon full of red liquid into her mouth. "I've used a hair from her room, so it should only track Motoko."
"Well I guess we should leave after breakfast," Naru suggested but was stopped by her manager.
"Sorry Naru, but I think I should go alone this time," Keitaro said.
"I see," Naru replied only to earn the shocked stares of her friends.
"Naru didn't complain," Kitsune said in shock. "What did you do to her Keitaro?"
"No Kitsune," Naru said in a panic. "He's right."
After saying that, Naru decided to confess what she did to the whole Hinata residence. Of course all of them got mad at her but it's not like them to hold a grudge. They've known each other for a long time now and understood that none of them would do anything foolish such as this without any reasons. They tried to ask her why but it seems like the reason behind it is still too hard to tell. Keitaro on the other hand has a guess on what the reason could be. "I guess it has something to do with her friend who died," Keitaro thought to himself.
"I just don't know what to say," Naru said starting to feel the weight in their looks.
"Well, what's done is done." Kitsune said in carefree manner before looking at Naru with her eyes open. "We just have to find her right? And maybe then, you can tell her that reason of yours." Everyone knew right away that Kitsune was serious since she only opens her eyes when she's either incredibly serious or incredibly worried.
Naru on the other hand nodded agreeing to Kitsune's words. Keitaro smile at this scene as she walked out of the room and to the streets of Hinata. He was going back to Akihabara since Motoko is definitely there.
Motoko just finished eating breakfast and was changing into her new clothes. Yuki gave them to her last night, suggesting that she should at least wear new clothes while staying over since that who knows when she'll bump into Keitaro again. She was a little hesitant on the idea since it would be her first time wearing anything besides her kendo outfit and her school uniform but she didn't want to return so soon so she went with it in the end.
"Thank God it looks good on you," Yuki sighed as she watched Motoko come out of the room. She was wearing a violet tank top with a black vest on top of it and a pair of blue jeans with a few cuts for design. Her hair was then tied the same way when Keitaro saw her. "So? Want to take a walk out at Akihabara? I got some errands to run anyway."
"Sure," Motoko nodded. "And can you call me Tomo while were out. I don't think 'Motoko Aoyama' would be caught dead wearing such clothes."
"Sure Tomo-chan," Yuki teased with an emphasis on '-chan'. But this way it would be better, since with that tracker of theirs it won't be odd bumping into those guys again. And if that happens, with the practice, calling her by her fake identity wouldn't be so hard anymore.
They reached the main streets of Akihabara around ten. It was already buzzing with life as the different pedestrians came in and out of the shops that were scattered in every corner. Yuki even explained that most of these people haven't slept yet and made Motoko worry about what kind of people they were. But she was able to calm her down, as she didn't want her friend's first trip around Main Street a bad experience.
"Hmm, why don't we visit the mall first," Yuki invited as she pulled Motoko- wait Tomo by the hand and started running towards the mall. As they walked through the lobby, they're eyes glanced through the different merchandise sold in the shops. Most of them were branded and buying them was totally out of the question. But there was one shop that caught Yuki's eyes. "Hey, let's go in."
"But," Tomo tried to protest but failed.
"Oh come on, why don't we complete your transformation," Yuki teased as she looked through the different necklaces on the counter. "Didn't you saw those stares from the guys outside? You already have the looks and the clothes we just have to find you the right accessories, and maybe one of them might actually ask you out."
"But I'm not interested in finding a boyfriend," Tomo replied. "And aren't these things expensive?"
"That can't be true, here try this," Yuki ignored her friend's comments handing her a necklace with a cross. "Maybe you just like someone and you don't know it yourself."
"Someone I like," Tomo asked herself as she pondered on the thought but hard as she may think she can't remember any boy at her school that she may have a crush on. "I don't think I have anyone like that. Actually, it was only last year did I have the chance to befriend some boys since I always hated the opposite gender."
"That's kind of harsh," Yuki said with a sweat drop, she was removing the necklace from Tomo's neck and they we're going into another shop, this time, there was some punk stuff such as chokers. "Then how about Keitaro, you said he only came to Hinata two years ago, right, How about him?"
"Keitaro," Tomo started to think about things again. Surely the first few months he stayed at Hinata weren't that pleasant since he was always being beaten up by Naru and her but by last year they should have already grown to see each other as family. And she would surely be lying to herself, if she herself didn't admit that he was most likely the reason why they became like. She herself had lots of her problem solved by Keitaro. She even got the chance to become closer to her sister. "But what do I really think of him?"
"Oh, this one would surely go great with your outfit," Yuki shouted as she helped Tomo wear a black chocker. It wasn't exactly the gothic style but t definitely complimented the clothes she wore. "Perfect," she commented before removing the item and going straight for the counter.
"As an older brother perhaps," Tomo continued to ponder ignoring the fact that Yuki has already bought her a choker. She continued to think of anything that could answer her answer but it only took her back to the time when she challenged him to a duel in his first few weeks. When she was practicing on the veranda, Keitaro came up and she got angry but then Suu surprised her making her slip but luckily Keitaro was able to save her and from their position they almost kissed. Tomo thought for about a moment before blushing.
"Hey are you ok," Yuki asked the girl worried, they were already at an ice cream parlor with out her noticing. "Your face suddenly turn red, are you sick?"
"We almost kissed," She started replaying the image on her head ignoring her friend's worries. "But that was a long time ago surely that doesn't amount to anything now, but our faces were still so… close. But there was that time when he found out about my hobby. Surely most people would laugh or insult me but he said it was nice."
"Hey," Yuki started shouting. Tomo wasn't in any way answering her and it looked like she was looking at blank space for quite a while now. "Are you listening? Earth to Tomo!"
"Keitaro…," Tomo was able to say weakly but was loud enough for anyone a sit from her to hear.
"Did anyone call me," a man asked from behind her It was Keitaro and he was eating a Sunday. "Oh, Ishinari-san it's you. I'm sorry for what happened last night and I hope we could start over. And you look really nice in those clothes."
Chapter 8 is done and it's the first part of a two-part event. And if you have noticed I have started calling Motoko 'Tomo' in this chapter. This is in response that she's going to act as a totally different person rather than the usual Motoko and will play a drastic role in the following chapters. You'll see what I mean in the next chapter. I hope you appreciate the last two since Chapter 10 would mean the end of the introduction arc and they're practically the start of the romance part.