Part 5

Lilly bumped into what could only be described as a mountain of man. Her hands were only on him for a minute, but she could feel the ripple of muscle stretching against the fabric of his clothes, as well as some wetness.

Oh, no. That must have been her drink.

Lilly pushed herself off of him, "I'm so terribly sorry, sir. I hope I didn't ruin your..."

A booming laugh assaulted her ears, followed by a baritone voice, "It's just fine, Satou! Besides, you should know something like that wouldn't really bother me all that much anyway!"

Lilly cocked her head to the side, trying to place the voice. Then it hit her. The deep voice, the mass of muscles..., "Uncle? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

"Uncle?"

Lilly sighed, "Please, you're not going to have me refer to you as Mr. Hakamichi, are you? We're both too old for that now, so please don't."

"Um, no, you shouldn't call me that, either."

Lilly took a step back, with her one foot hitting the ground in what could almost be classified as an angry stomp, "Well, I'm not calling you 'sama.'"

"While it would be flattering for such a beautiful woman to call me such a thing, that would be a bit chauvinistic. Besides, what would my wife think?" Another booming laugh.

Lilly was now generally confused, "Oh, I'm sorry, but I believe I have you mixed up with someone else. Might I ask who you are?"

The voice now sounded shocked, "Really, Satou? You don't recognize me? We were in the same class, and you were our class rep! Third year!"

"Uhhhh...," Lilly was frantically burrowing through her memories. She had remembered every single one of her classmates from that year, or at least she thought so. Sighing in defeat, "I'm afraid I don't recall."

"Setou! Kenji Setou!"

Lilly was hit with a sudden strange feeling. It was if all of her body warmth had been draped over her like a blanket, and in that second, it was whipped off of her. She felt naked, and she almost started shivering, as if there were a strong icy wind blowing against her.

"Se... Setou..."

"Why yes! Though, now that I think about it, I was a bit of a recluse back in high school, ha ha! I really shouldn't be surprised if it took you a minute for you..."

Lilly couldn't help it. She held up her hands to his face, "May I?"

"What? Oh! Um, sure!"

Lilly ran them all over his face, and was a bit rough about it. It was another thing she couldn't help, and the reason was because it was all there. Everything. His nose. His cheekbones. But now his skin was rough, his features chiseled. His jaw seemed to jut a bit more somehow, and there was a prickly feeling denoting a chin-strap beard. Gone was the little weaselly boy, and now stood a strong man. She lowered her hands,"I... I can't believe it. It's really you, Setou."

Kenji's response was another booming laugh. "Wow, I've been getting that all night, but to be honest, I never thought I would fool you too, Satou! You have always been such a good judge of people, I dare say it's almost supernatural! I really must have changed quite a bit!" He clapped his hands together, causing Lilly to wince, then continued, "I guess I never noticed how much I changed, with everything that has been going on. No time to stop and reflect, I'm afraid! It's a bit tragic, now that I think about it. But no matter, everyone here has been telling me plenty of stories of my antics, and we've been reliving them together! What an exciting night, wouldn't you say? But where are my manners, are you okay, miss? I hope our collision did you no harm."

Lilly rubbed her face with her hands.

What.

The.

F... uh oh, if she completed that three word phrase once, it would probably start an infinite loop in her mind. She dropped her hands, "No, no, don't worry, I'm just fine. Besides, I'm the one who ran into you."

"Nonsense, my dear! It was nothing but a freak occurrence, think nothing of it. Besides, like I was saying before, I wouldn't even notice it if this shirt was ruined anyway, wouldn't I?" Another laugh. "So! Satou, how have you been all this time?"

Lilly gave him the rundown that she gave everyone else. She was getting good at it; it was now as easy as handing out a card. "And what about you, Setou? How have you been?"

"Me?"

Lilly just stood there, waiting, before she realized that had been an honest question. She tried to think of a response, but all she ended up doing was standing in front of Kenji with a nice polite smile. At least she got halfway there.

Kenji cleared his throat, "Well, and I mean no offense, but it's pretty clear that you don't pay too much attention to what's on television. Still, no one you knew said anything?"

What.

The.

"No, unfortunately. Why?"

"Ha! Well, let me give you the pitch. I've been doing it all night, and I will certainly do it for the lovely Miss Satou."

"Pitch...?"

Kenji suddenly managed to get louder, "Hi! Kenji Satou here, and I'm back to tell you about our amazing new product...!"

There was the sound of a sudden pattering of footsteps, and then a light girly voice jumped into their conversation, "Oooh, honey! Do the one about the stain remover!" Judging by where the voice was coming from, whoever it was had clung onto Kenji's arm.

"Anything for you, honey," Kenji said with a tender love and care that Lilly never would have even thought possible.

The woman, presumably his wife, squealed with glee, and excitedly to Lilly, "I love this one!"

Kenji launched into the pitch, and his voice thrashed Lilly like a hurricane force wind. When it was all over, he spoke with a triumphant tone, "So! How about now?"

Lilly could barely hear her own voice amongst the ringing in her ears, "I'm sorry, but I still can't say I know anything about that."

"Ha ha ha! It's alright, Satou!"

Resisting the urge to play with her ears, Lilly asked, "So, you do that for television?"

"But of course! I'm the spokesman for the Squeaky Cleaning Company, a chemical company a few friends and I started when we were still in university! Out of all of us, I was deemed the best to present our case to investors! I had gotten my voice back after getting back in shape..."

"Wait. You got your voice back?" Lilly wasn't usually the type to be so boorish, but could ya really blame her?

"Why yes, this is the way I talk normally! It's just that when I went to Yamaku, like I said, I went into a reclusive phase, and let myself whither, so to speak. It was a very difficult adjustment for me. But never fear! I am back!" He patted himself on his chest roughly, and his wife let out a happy sigh. "Luckily though, while I was in Yamaku, I was able to work on showmanship and presentation! I had all sorts of charts, graphs, and even a little cute puppet show that me and my friends had our children perform for us!"

"Puh... puppets?"

"Yes! We had everything! Needless to say, we got our starting capital, and we also made a killer product!"

Smooooooke.

Smoooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooke.

A waitress walked over, "Do any of you need anything?"

Lilly nearly hit the waitress in the gut when she handed over her empty glass.

"Um, did you want a re-fill...?"

"Whiskey." Lilly's speech had the sharpness and force of a hatchet thrown with murderous intent. She could feel everyone's look on her.

"Miss...?"

"Yamazaki, 18-years-old, no ice, and no water. Do you have cigars?"

"N-no, we don't..."

"Then just the whiskey."

The waitress asked the happy couple if they would like anything, but they didn't, so she left to fetch Lilly's drink. Kenji turned back to Lilly, "Satou, are you alright?"

Lilly didn't know if she was trembling or not. She was just going to have to hope that she wasn't. With a smile, "Yes, yes I'm fine. I just... I just need a second. A lot has happened in ten years, hasn't it?"

"Why yes, I see where you're coming from. It can be hard to take in everything all at once."

The waitress came back, handing Lilly a rocks-glass full of false hope; the stuff dreams are made of, if you will. Lilly thanked her, and after she left, said to Kenji, "Then you'll understand if I excuse myself momentarily. I will be back soon, I plan on all of us in that class to get together for a toast."

"Of course! What a wonderful idea! I'll tell you what, while you go get some fresh air, I'll round them all up! They should be able to hear me easily!"

"I would be most appreciative of that, Setou. Thank you."

"Not at all! Come on honey!"

"Yes dear!" she happily squeaked back, and the two of them headed out for the main floor, while Lilly nearly drowned herself in her drink and made for the bar, weaving through the crowd and occasionally asking for directions. After a few minutes, Lilly heard her targets from quite a distance away. She couldn't see them, of course, and there was also the question of whether or not she would even want too.

Misha was holding up a glass, staring at it, "So I shee we meet again, Miiiistah Cuervo."

"Cue-Cuervo." Hanako almost nodded off.

Misha slapped Hanako hard on the back, "Once more with feeling, Hanachan~!"

Hanako sat up and raised her glass. "F-feeling."

Misha waved her arm, gesturing to the room, "Ohhh maaaan, I love you guys soooooooo much. This school was soooo awesome. And like, and like, and like the Student Council did so much. Shicchan was such an awesome friend. Oh man, I love her. I love her this much." She spread out her arms, spilling a bit of her drink.

"T-this m-much." Her glass hung pathetically in the air.

"But I used to like her this much," Misha spread out her arms a even wider, "But that was too much, ya'na'mean?"

"M-mean."

Misha kept her glass up but stopped waving her arms around, "Now I only like Yuki that much. Or I did. Cheatin' bitch."

"B-bad word. T-timeout, over in the c-corner. Satou-sensei is gonna be mad."

"I wish Mutou was here. I miss that guy! He was so awesome."

"I-I have a drink, but it is not drunk." Hanako laughed. It was a sad sound.

"Okay, Hanachan~! Salud!"

"S-salad. Whatever."

"Hanako! Wait!" Lilly hurried over, but it was too late. There was a thunk on the counter, and then Misha and Hanako tossed back their current round. All Lilly managed to accomplish is to run straight into the aftershock.

Misha turned to Hanako, "Very good, Hanachan~! But your English pronunciation needs work." She tried to sling an arm around Hanako (In a friendly way. Go take a cold shower.), but Lilly got in between the both of them, "Hanako! Hanako! Can you hear me?"

Hanako turned to her, "Heeeeeey, Lilly." *hic* "You're hair is so pretty." She managed to get a few fingers lightly tangled in Lilly's hair, and Lilly took her hand gently and pulled it out. Hanako played with her own hair, "M-mine's so flat. L-look at this. It just kinda h-hangs there. I can't do anything with it," she whined.

Lilly reached out to her, "Hanako, please, try...," Her hand had brushed the side of Hanako's head, and she swore she felt..., "Hanako, is that... is that a tie around your head?!"

Hanako giggled. "I-I decided that, that I needed to be proper about this and w-wear the ne-neccessary attire. T-This is a formal outing."

"Where did you get a tie?!"

...

"I d-don't know," she said matter-of-factly.

I mustn't have a cig, I mustn't have a cig, I mustn't have a cig...!

"Hanako, come on, I think you've had enough."

"Nah," Misha butted in, "Sheee'sh fine~! Right, Hanachan?"

*Thunk!*

Hanako's head was on the bar. "Ch-check, please..."

Lilly pointed her frowning face at Misha, who started to stammer, "W-well, we were, like, talkin' n' stuff, and then the first one came..."

"How many of those do you do?! There's usually two shots apiece in those!"

Misha cocked her head at Lilly, "For such a conde... conde..."

"Condescending," Hanako mumbled.

"...condescending tone, you seem to know a lot about this."

"What I do in my spare time...! And it was Akira's idea... and my birthday... and... and..."

"Ohmagawd is she here?!"

"How many?!"

...

Simultaneously, they both said, "I don't know."

Lilly gritted her teeth. How could have this gotten to this point?

The bartender walked over and shook Hanako's shoulder, "E-excuse me, miss? May I have my tie back?"

Hanako's head shot up, and the glare she gave him was enough to make a bullmastiff cry like a chihuahua pup. "No," she hissed.

The bartender started to back away with his hands up, "T-that's okay! Yeah, just fine! I'm... I'm just gonna go over here now... Yes! You, over there! You need help, right?!" Hanako's eyes followed him until he was a fair distance away, then she dropped her head right back on the bar, letting out a contented sigh. "He's cute," she said with a dreamy expression.

"Ah," Lilly said, and rubbed her temple. So that's what happened.

Hanako was getting so much better with people.

Misha nudged Lilly over, "Go for it, Hanachan!"

Hanako stood up, and Lilly tried to steady her. Hanako spoke, "T-that's right! I'm a young, independent woman, and I want...!"

A voice crackled over a loud-speaker, "Ladies and gentleman, we will be hosting a karaoke contest in the secondary conference room! Come and sign up!"

Hanako flung her arms in the air, "... and I wanna shing!"

Misha was now up, "Heeeeeeeeeeell yeah! Let's go, Hanachan~!"

Hanako started to croon like a torcher, "Alcohol, why do you do it? Why do you do this to meeeee..."

They both started to walk... in a way, but Lilly put a hand on the two of them, "Now wait just a moment! Just sit down for a minute...!"

A drunken man pushed the three of them apart and thumped his fist on the bar, "Yo, I wanna sing. Do I... do I do the sing-y time thing here?"

The bartender stood a way off, "N-no, sir, that's in the other room."

Hanako pushed the man's shoulder roughly, "Hey. I wanna sing."

The man looked right back at her. "All I want is more beeeeeer..."

"Now lookie here mister, I got up first...!"

"All I want is more beeeeeer..."

"Get outta my way, or I'll tear off your shirt!"

"All I want is more beeeeeer..."

"Go get a six-pack, and leave me alone!"

Misha slung an arm around the drunk man, and together, "All I want is more beeeeeeeeeeer-ah~...!"

Lilly stepped up, "Enough!"

They all shut up, their heads pointed towards the floor but their eyes on her, like they just got caught by the teacher. The bartender walked up, "Your beer, sir." The drunken man took his glass, mumbled an apology and an, "Excuse me," softly, then practically tip-toed away.

Lilly's face was red, but she kept her voice low, "I walk away, for only a half-an-hour, and I come back to this? I expected so much more from the two of you."

"We're sorry, Miss Satou," the two of them said.

"Hanako, you're lucky you didn't drive here, and the train probably still isn't a good idea, not like that. And Misha! I know you were just looking to have fun, but at the very least, you could have counted your drinks!"

"We're sorry, Miss Satou."

Lilly sighed, "Now, I want the two of you to march right back over to that bar and order some coffee."

"Yes, Miss Satou." Their shoulders slumped, they did as they were told.

"And give that poor man back his tie!"

"Y-yes, Lilly."

Lilly stood there, her fists clenched, and then that monotone voice was suddenly behind her, "Nicely done, if not a little forceful, for you, at least."

"Now's not a good time."

"No, it is not. Why don't you step away?"

Lilly turned to the translator and Shizune, "That didn't work out so well last time."

"Please calm down. Look..."

"Look?"

"...I know you are upset, and I know you don't want pity, but please. You're very tense, just walk away for a minute. Go outside if you need to. We can handle this. They'll be... somewhat reasonable in a minute or so. Trust me, they aren't as bad as some of the people here."

"That's pretty bad."

"Yes. Besides, I know how to handle Misha. I haven't seen her yet, on top of that."

Lilly sighed, "Fine."

Her hand was suddenly grabbed, and some paper was placed in it. The translator spoke, "You left these before."

Lilly's hands closed around her notes. She gingerly placed them back in her purse, and spoke in a soft voice, "Thank you. I don't know what came over me."

"I have a sneaking suspicion I did."

Lilly smiled. "Excuse me, could you tell me where Shizune is standing?"

"She is just to my right, er, your left."

"Thank you."

Lilly stepped up to Shizune, and she heard her take a step back. "Could you please tell her to stay still?"

"I shall." Lilly heard Shizune take a step back forward.

Lilly hugged Shizune. There was a moment of tension in Shizune, and then she relaxed and returned the embrace. After a moment, they parted, and Lilly thanked her again.

"Think nothing of it."

Lilly gave them both another smile, and started to walk away.

Over her shoulder, she heard, "SHIIIIICHAAAAAN~!"

She then heard some gasping.

She walked faster.