Everyone is the Villain
(Based on 'Arthur's Big Hit'...yes, THAT Arthur episode. Here's to hoping I made a better version of it)
One day, at the Amamiya Residence, 9-year-old Minato and 5-year-old Kimiko were seen playing video games in the game room with 7-year-old Riku Mishima, who they invited over. He had just gotten the new Tarantula-Man video game and he wanted to show his two friends. As the three friends played their game, Ann came walking in carrying a package.
"Minato, mail for you," Ann said, causing the three kids to pause the game and turn in the blonde woman's direction.
Minato practically leapt over his seat and took the package from his mother.
"Oh boy, it finally came!" Minato exclaimed as he took the package to his room, "Thanks mom!"
"Wait for us, Minato," Riku said as he and Kimiko gave chase.
Upon arriving in Minato's room, Riku and Kimiko saw the black haired boy open the box up to reveal another box containing a model plane kit. Minato took the plane kit and placed it on his desk.
"What kind of a game is that?" Kimiko asked her brother.
"It's not a game," Minato explained, "It's a scale model of the Nakijima J1N plane. You know, the planes Japan used in World War II?"
"I'm five, I don't know anything about World War II," Kimiko said, "I didn't even know there was a World War I."
"Why did you get this, Minato?" Riku asked.
"I sent away for it when I found an advertisement in the back of one of my comic books," Minato answered, "That was almost a month ago. I guess good things really do come to those who wait."
"Not good enough," Kimiko said as she examined the contents of the box, "Look, the plane is all smashed up."
"It's supposed to come like that, Kim," Minato explained, "I'm going to build it."
"Oh, cool," Kimiko said, "Can I help?"
"Sorry, Kim," Minato said, "But this is real big kid stuff. You wouldn't understand."
"Aww," Kimiko frowned.
"Look if you really want to help," Minato said, feeling bad that he hurt his sister's feelings by denying her help, "Can you get me something to drink while I get ready to assemble this?"
"Okay!" Kimiko said, perking up, "What do you want?"
"I'll take a Tropical Punch flavored Elba-Moon (Capri-Sun) if we have any," Minato answered.
"Already getting it," Kimiko said as she ran off to get her brother a drink.
"Well, now that we got rid of the half-pint, let's get to building this bad boy," Riku said as he stood next to Minato.
"Sorry, Riku, this is kind of a one person thing," Minato said.
"It doesn't have to be," Riku replied.
"I don't mean to be rude, but doing this requires a lot of patience," Minato said, "Something that you don't have much of."
"I like to think I've gotten better as the years go by," Riku said.
"I appreciate your willingness to help, Riku, I really do," Minato said, "But I think I'm better off doing this by myself."
"Fine, have it your way," Riku pouted as he made his leave, "I don't need you or Kimiko to have a good time. We've got seven other friends waiting in the wings. I'm sure one of them would like to hang out with me. So I'm just going to get my Tarantula-Man game and get out of here!"
With that, Riku stormed off with Minato staring after him.
"Yeesh, what a drama king," Minato said as his attention was shifted back to his model plane set.
Riku's first stop was the Tanaka Residence where 7-year-old Kasumi II 'Kas' lives with her parents Sumire and Ichiro. Unfortunately, Kas was seen laying on the couch with an ice pack on her head and her nose is a bright red. Poor thing has come down with a very bad cold. Kas was seen trying to take a nap to shake off this cold, but unfortunately for her Riku managed to sneak his way inside and he gets on top of her.
"Hey, hey, Kas!" Riku whispered, "Hey, Kas, wake up!"
Annoyed, Kas woke up and stared at the blue haired boy on top of her.
"Oh good, you're awake!" Riku said happily, "You want to hang out?"
"I have a cold," Kas said, annoyed.
"So, is that a yes or a no?" Riku said, obviously not taking the hint.
The next thing we see is an outside shot of the Tanaka Residence's front door, and Kas kicking Riku out of it for him to land on the driveway face first.
"Alright, I'll come back later," Riku said as he got up and walked off to another one of his friend's houses.
Riku's next stop was the Watanabe Residence where he was seen in the living room with 6-year-old Kaito.
"Why Riku, I'd love to hang out with you," Kaito began, "But not today, sorry. My father and I were all set to go kite flying today."
As if on cue, Daisuke comes from another room carrying a kite.
"Ready to go, son?" Daisuke asked.
"Yes dad," Kaito said as he made his leave with his father, "Why don't you ask Nariko, Riku? I'm sure she'd like to hang out with you."
"N-Nariko?" Riku blushed, the thought of spending time with his crush giving him butterflies.
Once again, as if on cue, 8-year-old Nariko came from another room to see Riku standing in the middle of her living room.
"Hey, Riku," Nariko said in a cheery tone, "What's up?"
Riku's heart almost stopped when he heard Nariko's voice. He turned around to face her, and his lips began to move as if he was about to say something.
"Everything okay?" Nariko asked.
"N-Nariko…" Riku began, "W-Would you…would you…*sigh of defeat* would you kindly get the door for me so I can leave?"
"Oh, uh, sure," Nariko said as he got the door for her friend, and Riku walked out of the Watanabe Residence, angry at himself for not manning up and asking if Nariko would like to spend time with him.
After that embarrassing display, Riku was then seen at the Kitagawa Residence where he had just asked 7-year-olds Mana and Mitsu if they'd like to hang out with him. The twins were seen shaking their heads, turning down his offer, before explaining why.
"Mitsu and I have to finish our school project on the solar system before we even think about hanging out with any of our friends," Mana explained.
"We would've been halfway done by now if someone would actually help out and not leave me with all of the work," Mitsu said, glaring at her sister.
"Hey, if I did any work, you'd be kissing that 4.0 GPA goodbye," Mana said, "I'm doing you a favor by letting you do all of the work."
"Boy, aren't I the lucky one," Mitsu said, sarcastically.
Riku left the Kitagawa Residence, his options very limited as the only people left to ask to hang out with him are Hotaru and Himari. The former person being who he goes to see next.
At the Yajima Residence, 8-year-old Hotaru is seen in the living room, situated in front of the T.V with some snacks, beverages, and a whole stack of movies next to him.
"Alright, it's time to get this Flixar Movie Marathon started," Hotaru said happily as he grabbed the remote and prepared to turn the television on, "First up, Toy Tales!"
Hotaru clicked the power button on the remote, but instead of his movie, he found Riku on the T.V screen.
"What?!" Hotaru said in shock, "Riku, how did you get in my T.V?"
"That's not important right now," Riku said from within the T.V, "What is important is what I have to ask. Do you want to hang out with me and play the new Tarantula-Man game?"
"You had to invade the T.V and ruin my movie marathon for that?" Hotaru asked, annoyed.
"Losing daylight here, Hotaru, I kind of need an answer," Riku said.
Hotaru's answer to Riku's answer is as follows: First, Hotaru unplugged the T.V. And second, he took the T.V and pushed it out the front door for it to break in the driveway, freeing Riku in the process.
"Well you'll be jealous when Himari tells you about the fun time we had today," Riku shouted before running off, but before he did, he had this to say, "Oh, and have fun explaining to your parents why you broke the T.V."
As Riku runs off, Hotaru gets an 'Oh crap!' expression on his face, realizing that he'll soon face the wrath of his parents for his action. Quickly, Hotaru takes out his phone and starts looking something up.
"I wonder if there are any flights heading for Antarctica in the next 20 minutes," Hotaru asked himself as he continued looking at his phone.
Finally, Riku made it to the Sakamoto Residence. But when he gets to the front door, he finds a note. He takes it off the door and reads it aloud.
"Dear whomever it may concern,
Himari, Ryuji, and I took off for a two-week long vacation, and thus we won't be appearing in this story. I apologize for the inconvenience. Have a nice day.
Signed, Makoto"
Annoyed, Riku crumples up the note and tosses it aside before going back to his home.
Back at the Mishima Residence, Futaba, Yuuki, and Mai were seen in the living room watching T.V when Riku trudges in and falls face first on a bean bag chair.
"Why the long face, buddy," Mai asks her twin brother.
"No one wants to hang out with me," Riku lamented, "All of our friends are too busy with other things."
"You know, sport, you always have the three of us to hang out with," Yuuki said.
"I know," Riku said, "Pardon me for being rude, guys, but I like hanging out with my friends more because I feel like I can do and say things around them that I otherwise couldn't do or say in front of you guys."
"Such as," Futaba asked, raising a brow.
"Nothing important," Riku said, not wanting to get grounded while he's already feeling down.
"You can't rely on your friends to hang out with you all the time, Riku," Yuuki told his son, "As you've seen today, they'll sometimes have other plans."
"So you're what you're saying is I gotta make more friends?" Riku asked, "A second tier of potential playmates for when the first tier is unavailable?"
"Well actually I was going to say either hang out with us or find a way to entertain yourself that's legal, but I guess you can do that too," Yuuki said.
"Awesome," Riku said as he got up on his feet, "I'm going to go set up a list of potential candidates for my second tier!"
Riku ran off to his room to whip up a list of potential new friends.
"I hope he picks good people," Futaba worried, "Riku isn't exactly the best judge of character."
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Yuuki said as he, his wife, and his daughter went back to watching their program.
We then cut to a montage that shows Minato making his model plane throughout the week.
We first see him reading the manual so he knows in what order he should assemble the plane.
The next shot is of him wearing a black tank top (a la Tony Stark from the first Iron Man film) as he carefully glues the pieces together. As he works, however, Mana and Mitsu are spying on him from outside, and they're seen blushing as they stare at Minato in his tank top. When Minato turns to face the window, the twins duck beneath it to avoid being detected.
The third shot is of him back in his regular clothes and wearing a painter's smock as he paints the plane a nice dark green color.
We finally cut to the end of the week where Minato is seen in his room placing his completed plane on its stand before putting it on his desk.
"Beautiful," Minato said as he smiled at his finished work.
"What's beautiful," Kimiko asked as she entered her brother's room having overheard him. It was at that moment when she saw his finished plane, "Hey, is that the same smashed plane from earlier?"
"Yup," Minato said pridefully, "Only now it's now one whole, complete project."
"It looks amazing, Minato," Kimiko said as she eyed the model plane, "So, when are we going to send this baby on its first flight?"
As she said that, Kimiko reached out to touch it, but Minato stopped her.
"It's not meant to be played with, Kimiko," Minato said, "It's meant to be displayed."
"You mean you spent an entire week building this plane only to just have it sit there and collect dust?" Kimiko asked.
"That's the point of a model plane, sis," Minato said, "Anyway, I'm going to grab a snack. You're welcome to come join me if you wish."
"No, I think I'll stay up here and look at your plane," Kimiko said, "You really did a good job on it."
"Thanks, Kim" Minato said, "Just remember, it's not meant to be played with. Can I trust you?"
"Yeah," Kimiko said.
"Alright," Minato said as he flashed a thumbs up and made his way downstairs.
When Kimiko was left alone, she just looked at Minato's finished plane, taking in every well-crafted facet of it.
"I don't understand why this plane isn't meant to be played with," Kimiko thought to herself, "It's just a toy. Toys are meant to be played with…Hmm, Minato said I couldn't play with it. But he didn't say that I couldn't hold it."
With that, Kimiko took the plane off of its stand and held it in her hands. She then walked around Minato's room, still holding onto the plane, and she made engine noises to make believe that the plane was actually flying through the air. She stopped walking around to continue looking at the model plane in her hands.
"It feels like a toy, and it can be treated like such," Kimiko thought to herself, "Minato doesn't know what he's talking about when he says that it's not meant to be played with. He probably just wants to keep it all to himself."
Suddenly, Kimiko looks over at Minato's open window as a light breeze can be heard outside, and she comes up with an idea.
"I wonder if this thing can actually fly?" Kimiko wondered as she walked over to the window, threw her arm back…and tossed the model plane out the window!
Kimiko could do nothing but watch as she saw the plane plummet to the ground and shatter on the driveway below. When that happened, her gray eyes widened in horror and she realized that she messed up royally.
"Oh, that's not good," Kimiko said meekly, "Oh, man, what's Minato going to say when he sees his plane broken? What's he going to say when he figures out that I'm the one who broke it?!"
She then let out a sigh, realizing that there's no way out of the mess she made. "I have to tell him," she said as she made her way out of Minato's bedroom and downstairs.
In the dining room, Minato was seen eating some cookies that Ann had made earlier in the day. As he ate, Morgana was seen next to him eating fatty tuna from his bowl. Kimiko enters the room to confront her brother about what she did.
"Hey, Minato," Kimiko said, nervously.
"Hey, Kim, want a cookie?" Minato asked.
"I'm good, thanks," Kimiko said, "But I want to talk to you about something. What would you say if I 'did it'?"
"If you 'did it'?" Minato asked, "What's 'it'?"
"You know, 'it'?" Kimiko said.
"What are you talking about, Kim?" Minato asked.
"Well you see, Minato, I have this friend named 'Himiko'," Kimiko began, "And she has a brother named 'Misato'. And Misato just finished making a plane that he told Himiko not to play with. So, stupidly, she plays with the plane and in doing so ends up breaking it by throwing it out the window thinking that it could fly like a real plane. So, what advice would you give to Himiko when telling Misato about his broken plane?"
…
…
…
"Did you throw my plane out the window, Kimiko?" Minato asked in a mixture of shock and anger.
"Yes," Kimiko squeaked out nervously.
And just like that Minato went running outside to see the damage done to his plane as Kimiko followed after him.
Outside in the driveway, Minato saw his broken plane, and he gasped upon seeing it. A whole week's worth of work, gone in an instant. He slowly walked up to the broken plane and kneeled next to the mess. He stared at it with eyes wide open and jaw agape as Kimiko meekly came up next to him. She watched as Minato picked the pieces back up and tried to put them back together in vain, only to drop them back on the driveway.
"So…" Kimiko asked nervously, "You mad?"
"I gave you one rule," Minato said, anger quickly building inside of him as he stood back up to face his sister, "I gave you one, simple rule, Kimiko. Don't touch my plane. And what do you go ahead and do? You go ahead, and throw it out of my window!"
"N-N-Now, calm down, Minato," Kimiko said, very afraid of her brother at this moment, "T-There's no reason to get mad. And in my defense, you said I couldn't play with your plane. You said nothing about touching it."
"You knew what I meant!" Minato growled.
"It's just one plane," Kimiko said, "I didn't know it meant that much to you, Minato! I mean, you were just going to let it sit there and get dusty! I didn't think you'd care so much! Why don't we just talk this out and maybe we can-"
"I told you…NOT TO TOUCH IT!" Minato bellowed as he put up both hands, and then…
SHOVE!
Minato pushes Kimiko hard, and she begins to lose her balance. At that moment, time slowed down for both Minato and Kimiko.
In this moment, Minato looked and saw a look of shock and betrayal on Kimiko's face as she started to fall backwards from his push. Kimiko looked back at Minato and saw his look of anger turn into a look of regret as he slowly started to realize what he had done. It was too late to try and save her though. The die had been cast and there was no going back.
As time went back to its regular pace, Kimiko fell down hard on the driveway, landing on her elbow. She looks on her elbow to find a scrape on her skin. Kimiko then looks up at Minato and the guilty look on his face, tears slowly welling in her eyes.
"You…you pushed me…" Kimiko meekly said.
Minato gasped at the realization of what he did before talking, "Kimiko, I'm so sorry. I-I just lost my temper, that's all. Are you okay?"
Kimiko didn't say anything. With tears pouring out of her eyes and lips quivering, she let out a series of heartbroken, betrayed wails before getting up and running into the house, leaving a very scared and guilty Minato in her dust. When Ann heard her daughter's cries of despair, she immediately called out for her son.
"MINATO AMAMIYA! GET IN HERE NOW!" Ann yelled.
"I am so dead…" Minato said to himself as he grabbed the pieces of his plane and went back into the house.
A few minutes later, Ren is seen in the bathroom with Kimiko as he tends to the scrape on her elbow. After cleaning his daughter's wound with a warm, wet cloth, he then puts some disinfecting ointment on it before placing a bandage on it. To top it all off, Ren gives the bandage a kiss to, as most parents call, 'kiss it better'.
"There we go," Ren said, happily, "All better."
"Thanks, daddy," Kimiko said, "I can't believe Minato would push me. Why would he do it?"
"I mean, I'm not saying I agree with what Minato did or that I'm taking his side," Ren began, "But you did touch his property after he told you not to. So I don't really blame him for being at least a little mad at you."
"But that's no excuse for him to push and hurt me," Kimiko pouted.
"I know, sweetie," Ren said, "Your mom is talking with him right now upstairs. I just hope she's going easy on him."
From upstairs, Ren and Kimiko heard Minato panicking about something. He says, "No, no, no, no, no, no!"
SMACK!
"OOWWW!" Minato yelled. Hearing Ann smack his son made Ren wince.
"Nevermind," Ren said.
"He deserves it," Kimiko said bitterly.
Ren turns to face his daughter, shocked at not only what she said, but how she said it.
"Kimiko, look," Ren said, "When you see Minato in a few minutes, I want you to apologize for disobeying him and breaking his plane."
"He doesn't deserve an apology," Kimiko said, angrily.
"Minato feels bad enough already," Ren said, "I'm not saying that you don't have a reason to be angry with him, you really do. But for right now, just try and apologize to him. He's going to apologize to you, so it's only right that you do the same."
He then takes his fuming daughter into the living room so they could hash things out with Minato. Minato and Ann came downstairs and entered the living room not long after Ren and Kimiko did. The eldest Amamiya child had a red mark on his remorseful face from where his mother smacked him, and he was seen rubbing it.
"Kimiko, I believe Minato has something he wants to say to you," Ann said as Minato stepped forward to face his enraged younger sister.
"Kimiko, I'm sorry I pushed you," Minato said sincerely, "I just lost my temper, that's all. But even still, that's no excuse for doing what I did. Can you forgive me?"
Kimiko thought for a few minutes before looking at her brother, with hatred in her eyes.
"No," Kimiko said bluntly.
"But, Kim…" Minato said.
"Don't 'But, Kim', me!" Kimiko snarled, "That push was totally uncalled for, and I will get my revenge! You're not going to know where or when, but it's going to happen soon!"
"Kimiko, that's enough!" Ren scolded, "Now, apologize to your brother for breaking his plane."
"He doesn't deserve an apology," Kimiko said, "Not after what he did."
"How many times do I have to say that I'm sorry," Minato frowned.
"I'll let you know when you get there," Kimiko responded.
"Alright, kids, that's enough!" Ann shouted.
"Right now your mother and I are both in agreement that you two did each other wrong," Ren chimed in, "So, you're both being punished. No T.V for either of you for the next three days."
"Understood," Minato said.
"What?!" Kimiko exclaimed, "What he did was way worse than what I did! Make his punishment longer!"
"Kimiko, right now you need to cool off," Ann scolded, "Go to your room. Your father and I will be up to talk to you in a few minutes."
"Hmph!" Kimiko huffed as she stormed off to her room.
"You guys think Kimiko will stay mad at me for long?" Minato asked.
"She'll come around, son," Ren said, "She just needs to calm down first."
"I hope you're right," Minato said.
The next day at school, Riku is seen sitting on the front steps leading to the school as he looks at a piece of paper while holding a pen in his hand. The piece of paper turns out to be a list of potential new friends for him, and he's already crossed out a fair chunk of them. As Riku sighs in defeat, his sister Mai comes up to him to see what's wrong.
"How's the friend search going?" Mai asked.
"Horrible," Riku answered, "I've tried befriending just about every person on this list, but I just don't feel myself clicking with them the same way that I do with our actual friends."
"Well, you gave making new friends the old college try," Mai said, "But I guess it just wasn't meant to be."
"Did I hear that, correctly?" a voice came from the bushes, "You're in the market for a new friend?"
"Who's there?" Riku asked as he and Mai looked around, "Who said that?"
"Right here," the voice said.
A shady looking boy with long black hair that drapes over his left eye and wearing a black jacket with some black pants comes out of the bushes and approaches the Mishima children.
"The name's Kouga," the boy said, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Kouga?" Mai asked, "Aren't you this new kid who got transferred here under 'mysterious circumstances'?"
"That would be me, yes," Kouga said, "But which one of you said that you were looking for a new friend?"
"Right here," Riku said as he raised his hand.
"Hmm, let me get a good look at you," Kouga said as he got up close and personal with Riku, eyeing him and down and walking circles around him in order to get a good look at the boy, "You seem harmless enough. A perfect candidate to be my new friend."
"You mean that?!" Riku said excitedly, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Hold your horses there, Peppy," Kouga said, "I'll only be your friend if you do something for me, first."
"Riku, this kid doesn't sit well with me," Mai said, "If he really wanted to be your friend he wouldn't ask you to do a thing for his friendship."
Ignoring his sister, Riku says, "I'm desperate Kouga, I'll do anything!"
"Hmm, alright," Kouga said, "I'm going to pick a random student from the crowd, and when I do, I want you to walk up to him/her and sock him good!"
"Say what now?" Riku said, the idea of punching someone intimidating him.
"Let's see now," Kouga said as he looked into the crowd of students passing by them and entering the school building. He sees Kaito Watanabe walk into the school with his sister Nariko and Kouga points his finger at him, "Him…" Kouga says with venom in his voice.
"But Kouga, that's my friend, Kaito," Riku said, trying to reason with him, "I can't hit him. Especially since I kind of have a thing for his sister, Nariko."
"And by thing, he means a not so small crush that he'll never act upon because he's too scared to make the first move," Mai teased as Riku glares at her before turning his attention back to Kouga.
"You're not going to hit this Kaito?" Kouga asked in a mocking tone, "I thought you were desperate for a new friend? What's the harm? Kids hit each other all the time. Boys will be boys after all."
"I…I don't feel like it, that's all," Riku said.
"Well you'd better feel like it if you want my friendship," Kouga said as he walked into the school building with the rest of the crowd, "The next time you see this Kaito person, give him a nice big knuckle sandwich with lots of mayo. And if you don't hit him…I'll just come and back and hit you."
As Kouga walks into the school with the last of the crowd, Riku and Mai are left alone on the school steps to take in the events that just occurred.
"The next time I see Kaito I have to hit him," Riku lamented, "What do I do now?"
Riku thinks for a moment before coming up with a solution.
"I know," Riku said with a snap of his fingers, "What if I never see him!"
"Or, you know, you could lie to Kouga by saying you did hit him," Mai said, "Or, even better idea, say no the whole thing, realize that this creep is trying to make you hurt someone to get his jollies, and tell an adult."
"What, and ruin the plot?," Riku said, "Besides, if I don't hit him, he'll hit me, and I do not look good bruised."
As Riku runs into the school building, Mai stares after him, shaking her head and saying, "Why are the pretty ones always so dumb?"
Elsewhere in the school, Kimiko is seen enacting her first plot of revenge against her brother by pouring bowlfuls of green jell-o through the vents of his locker. She's seen standing on a stepstool so she can reach the vents. Her intention here is for Minato to open it up, resulting in him getting covered in the jell-o inside. As she finishes up, Mitsu passes by and sees her.
"Hey, Kimiko," Mitsu said, "Have you seen Mana anywhere? We have to present our solar system project today and I can't find her anywhere."
"You know how she is," Kimiko said as she finished pouring the last bowl through the vents of Minato's locker, "She always gets nervous in front of a crowd."
Mitsu watched as Kimiko steps down from the stepstool and collects all of the empty bowls.
"So, whatcha doin'?" Mitsu asked.
"Pulling a little 'joke' of sorts on my brother," Kimiko said.
"Why?" Mitsu asked.
"What am I, on trial?" Kimiko asked, "I'm just in the mood to prank Minato. I filled his locker up with bowlfuls of green jell-o. He's going to open it up, and it's going to pour all over him, hopefully with a lot of people watching!"
"This isn't like you, Kimiko," Mitsu said as the blonde girl looked behind the blue haired girl to see Minato approaching, "Are you angry with Minato about something?"
"Ssshhh, here he comes!" Kimiko said as she grabs Mitsu and takes her behind a nearby trashcan to hide.
Mitsu and Kimiko watch as Minato approaches his locker so he can put his bookbag away and go to his next class. He stops, however, when he sees the stepstool in front of the locker.
"What's this doing here?" Minato asked himself as he moved the stepstool out of the way so he could enter the combination to the locker door. But before he could do anything, a teacher comes up to him to talk with him.
"Ah, Minato, glad I caught you," the teacher said, "The principal gave the green light for your locker reassignment. It's just this way. Please follow me."
"Great, thanks!" Minato said as he followed the teacher.
"They reassigned his locker!" Kimiko said in shock.
"So, who get Minato's old locker now?" Mitsu asked herself as Nariko approached, holding a piece of paper with her new locker number, giving her her answer.
"This looks like the one," Nariko said to herself as she took the backpack off of her back and entered the combination so she could open the door.
"NARIKO, NO!" Kimiko and Mitsu cried as they ran out from hiding to try and stop the eldest Watanabe child from opening the locker, but it was too late and pounds of green jell-o came pouring out from within the locker, covering Nariko in it. Even worse for her, some students caught the sight and started laughing at her.
"Seriously," Nariko whined as she looked at her jell-o covered self.
Before Nariko could realize it was Kimiko who pulled this prank, both she and Mitsu ran out of the area like bats out of hell.
Meanwhile, Riku and Mai are seen entering the classroom when they see Kaito among their classmates. Kaito is supposed to be in a different class since he's a year younger than them, so seeing him was a pleasant surprise for Mai, but a very unpleasant one for Riku.
"What's Kaito doing here?!" Riku asked.
Overhearing Riku, his teacher says, "Mrs. Aoyama's classroom is getting its floors waxed so we're sharing the classroom with her and her class today." Riku and Mai's teacher then calls out to all of the kids presents, "Alright, everyone, butts in the seats, class is about to begin!"
All of the students make their way to their seats, with Riku holding a book up to his face to avoid 'seeing' Kaito so he doesn't have to hit him. Mai just looks at her brother with an unamused look that reads 'I can't believe we're related'. Riku and Mai make it to their seats, with the former making sure that his back is facing Kaito so he doesn't have to look at him.
"You're being ridiculous Riku," Mai said, "What, are you going to go through the rest of your life without ever seeing Kaito again?!"
"If I have to I will," Riku said, causing Mai to groan.
45 Minutes Later
"And those are the three states of matter," Riku and Mai's teacher instructed his class.
As his teacher concluded his lesson, Riku took a glance at the half of the room where Kaito and his class was before taking a look at the clock to see it was almost time to leave for the next class. As soon as the bell rings, Riku jumps out of his seat and makes a beeline for the door. Once he's out in the hallway, the first person he sees is Kouga, who looked at him with a mischievous grin.
"You punch that kid's light's out yet?" Kouga asked.
"Nope, I haven't even seen him," Riku said as he walked away, happy that his plan is working out for him so far.
Fortunately for Riku, the next few classes he had didn't involve running into Kaito at all. And whenever he had to walk through the halls to get from one class to the next, he made sure to keep his head down and stare at his feet, taking an occasional, second-long glance upwards to see where he is.
Unfortunately, his luck was about to run out as the school's lunch hour was about to take place.
As Riku stepped into the cafeteria with his sister, he sees Kaito sitting at a table with Nariko, who is now in a clean change of clothes (After the incident with the jell-o, Nariko went to the Nurse's Office to avoid being seen, and she called Daisuke to request said change of clothes) and eating a sandwich.
"Uh, I think I'll eat lunch outside today," Riku said as he ran away from the area.
Mai gave an impatient sigh as she walked into the cafeteria and sat with her friends.
In another part of the cafeteria, Kimiko is seen sitting with Mana and Mitsu as they ate their lunch together when Minato enters carrying his lunchbox.
"Oh, Minato's here," Kimiko said wickedly, "This is going to be the best."
"Still trying to prank Minato?" Mitsu asked.
"Prank Minato?" Mana asked, "What's going on?"
"For a reason that has yet to be properly explained to me, Kimiko has it out for Minato," Mitsu explained to her sister.
"Nevermind the reason," Kimiko said as she continued to watch her brother.
"What did you do, Kim?" Mana asked.
"I managed to find Minato's new locker and get his combination," Kimiko explained, "One of his new 'locker neighbors' gave it to me for a price. All it cost me was a Holographic Scorchizard Card (Charizard). Anyway, once I got his new locker combination, I slipped inside and stuck a little something in his tuna sandwich."
"You didn't poison him, did you?!" Mana asked with worry.
"No, not poison," Kimiko said, "Well, not lethal poison anyway."
"What did you do?" Mitsu asked.
"I may have snuck in just a little bit of ex-lax," Kimiko admitted, causing the Kitagawa Twins to gasp.
"Where did you even get ex-lax?" Mitsu asked.
"I found it," Kimiko said.
"What?!" Mitsu asked, nonplussed.
"Look, where I found it is not important," Kimiko said, "What is important is that in just a few seconds, Minato's butt is about to become a fudge factory!"
Kimiko and the Kitagawa Twins look over at Minato, who just took a seat with Kas, who was sitting alone.
"How are you doing today, Kas?" Minato asked as he opened up his lunchbox.
"I'm doing fine, thanks," Kas answered, "My cold finally cleared up so I could eat my ham and cheese sandwich with extra mayo."
"Cool," Minato said as he reached into his lunchbox to pull out his tuna fish sandwich, catching the attention of Kas.
"No way, is that tuna fish?" Kas asked excitedly.
"You bet it is," Minato said, "And it looks like dad made it with extra onions and carrots too. He knows what I like."
"Oh, man, I love tuna fish," Kas said, practically salivating from the mere site of Minato's sandwich, "Can we trade, please?"
"I don't see why not," Minato said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Kimiko, Mana, and Mitsu watch in horror as Minato and Kas exchange sandwiches. As soon as the tuna fish sandwich gets in Kas' possession, she wastes no time in eating it before Kimiko and the Kitagawa Twins had a chance to even warn her about the ex-lax within the sandwich.
"Oh this isn't going to end well," Mitsu said with worry.
Kas finished the tuna fish sandwich about as quickly as it was handed to her, and she was licking her fingers clean.
"Ah," Kas sighed, "Fishy with the perfect amount of onions."
As Kas continued to revel in the aftertaste of her sandwich, her stomach started to make an unpleasant growl as she held her stomach and groaned in pain.
"Hey, Kas, are you alright?" Minato asked.
"I don't know," Kas said, "My stomach suddenly feels kind of funny. Oh! I think that tuna went bad."
"Really?" Minato asked confused.
Kas' stomach pains quickly worsen as she gets up to exit the cafeteria and run for the nearest bathroom screaming, "AAAAHHH! MOTHER OF MERCY!"
Having seen Kas storm out of the cafeteria in pain, Kimiko groans in annoyance before saying, "This calls for drastic measures."
With that, Kimiko leaves the cafeteria in a hurry.
"Where's Kimiko going?" Mana asked.
"Don't know, don't care," Mitsu says as she goes back to eating her lunch.
After that, we cut to a brief montage that shows how the rest of Riku's school day went while trying to avoid seeing Kaito.
In the elementary school's library, we see Riku looking for a book on one of the shelves when out of the corner of his eye he sees Kaito approaching. Quickly, he runs to the other side of the book shelf to avoid having to see him.
Later, on the way to his next class, Riku decides to swing by the snack machine to grab himself a bag of chips. Just as he approaches the snack machine, he sees Kaito come out from the hallway next to it, causing Riku to turn the other way while Kaito gets himself a snack from the machine.
Finally, Riku is seen pacing back and forth outside the boy's bathroom, hands over his groin as he tries to hold in his 'business', when a male classmate comes out and sees him.
"Is Kaito in there?" Riku asks his classmate.
"Watanabe?" the classmate asks, "No."
"Oh thank you," Riku said as he ran into the bathroom, "Thank you! Thank you, so much!"
At long last, the school day has ended and everyone is leaving the front entrance to go home. Riku and Mai are seen leaving with the crowd.
"Well, congratulations, you made it the whole day without seeing Kaito," Mai said teasingly, "How do you feel?"
"I feel pretty good, sis," Riku said, "One day down and only…the rest of my life to go."
Mai groaned in annoyance before putting a hand around Riku's shoulder, "Come on, bro," she says, "Let's go blow off some steam at the arcade."
Riku and Mai leave the scene as Minato exits the school building shortly after them. As Minato walks off for home, however, Kimiko is seen hiding in the shadows staring after him alongside none other than Kouga himself.
"I gave you my Green Eyes Gray Dragon card, Kouga," Kimiko says to the shady boy, "Now I expect you to follow through on my request?"
"Of course," Kouga says, "You'll be watching right?"
"Yeah," Kimiko said with a devilish nod, "I want to see this for myself."
"Excellent," Kouga said, "We're about to fade to black!"
Kimiko and Kouga follow after Minato until they're sure they're far enough away from the school so Kouga can help Kimiko in getting her revenge on her brother. Once they are far enough, the blonde and the shifty character stop as the latter turns to face the former.
"Hang back here," Kouga said, "You're going to want to see this."
Kouga quickly sneaks up behind Minato as he continues on his way home, and when he gets close enough, this happens.
"Yoo-hoo," Kouga says, causing Minato to turn around, and then…
POW!
Kouga hits Minato hard, right in the nose, causing the black haired boy to fall to his knees as he holds his nose in pain. Kimiko sees this from where Kouga told her to stand and wait, and to her surprise…she doesn't feel an ounce of satisfaction. In fact, seeing her brother in pain horrified and saddened her, and left her feeling completely empty on the inside. Getting revenge on her brother for hurting her was less fun than she thought it would be, and now she regrets ever wanting to see Minato hurt.
"Mission accomplished," Kouga said as he runs off, leaving Kimiko to walk up to her brother. When she makes it to him, she stares down at Minato with remorse on her face.
"Kim…" Minato said as he saw his sister.
"I'm sorry…" Kimiko said in a heartbroken tone.
As that was going on, Ren was driving home from work when he sees his two children on the sidewalk. He pulls over to see what's wrong, lowering his window to talk to them.
"Kim, Minato, what's going on?" Ren asked.
"Minato's hurt, daddy," Kimiko said as Minato removed his hand to show his father his bleeding nose.
"Oh my God!" Ren said in horror as he grabbed some tissues from the glove compartment, "Kids, get in! Minato, put these tissues in your nose to soak up some of the blood until we get home."
Minato and Kimiko get into their father's car and Ren speeds off for home so he can get proper care for his injury. Meanwhile, in the backseat, Kimiko just stares down at the car floor in shame over her actions.
Meanwhile at the arcade, Riku and Mai were seen leaving. They only had enough money between the both of them to play a few games, but they looked like they had fun nonetheless. Just as they left the arcade however, Kouga sees them and walks up to them.
"Well if it isn't my new potential friend," Kouga greeted Riku, "So, tell me, have you punched that kid's lights out yet?"
"I haven't seen Kaito ever since you pointed him out to me earlier today, Kouga," Riku said, "Probably never will. So I think we can forget about this whole episode and call it a day."
Suddenly, the trio heard someone calling, "Hey, Riku!"
Kouga, Riku, and Mai looked and saw Kaito approaching with his sister Nariko. In Kaito's hand he had a book which he tried giving to Riku when he got close to him.
"I almost forgot to give you your book back," Kaito explained, "I wanted to give it to you today, but I couldn't find you."
"Now's your chance, boy," Kouga whispered to Riku, "Sock him!"
Riku, breaking out in a nervous sweat, looked over at Kouga and then back at Kaito. Nariko, who overheard Kouga whispering raised a brow, giving her an expression that reads 'What is that kid talking about?' Mai, meanwhile, looked at Riku staring at Kaito, shaking her head and quietly mouthing out 'Don't do it!'
"Aren't you going to take your book back, pal?" Kaito asked Riku.
"I'm sorry," Riku whispered to Kaito.
"Sorry?" Kaito asked, "Sorry for wh-"
POW!
Riku had hit Kaito square in his upper arm, knocking him down the ground as he holds his arm in pain.
"Riku, what the heck!?" Nariko shouted as she knelt down to tend to her younger brother. Mai meanwhile just stared at Kaito in disbelief over what happened.
"Excellent job, Riku," Kouga said, sounding most pleased with what he had done, "I think this is start of a beautiful friendship!"
Kouga turned to face Riku so he could shake his hand…but to his surprise, Riku had run away, quietly sobbing to himself in shame.
"Riku?" Kouga asked, "Hey, where are you going?!"
"Riku, come back!" Mai said as he chased after her brother.
After Riku and Mai left, Kouga took that as a sign to leave the scene as well, leaving Nariko and Kaito to walk home by themselves, making sure to take Riku's book with them so they can give it to him later.
At the Watanabe Residence, Nariko, Kaito, and Daisuke were seen in the kitchen, the latter giving Kaito an ice pack for his arm. The two children already told Shiho when they got home, but she disappeared in a huff the moment Nariko told her that it was Riku who punched her son.
"So what happened again?" Daisuke asked his children.
"I was just going to give Riku his book back when out of nowhere he punched me square in the arm," Kaito said as he put the ice pack on his arm, "The next thing I know I'm on the ground."
"Oh, I'm sorry son," Daisuke said as he hugged his son.
"Something's telling me that Riku didn't want to punch Kaito," Nariko said, "He looked very nervous before he did it, and this Kouga kid whispered something to him, probably egging him on."
"So you're saying Riku gave it to peer pressure," Daisuke asked his daughter.
"Sounds like it," Nariko said.
"We'd better go ask Riku then to make sure we got the whole story," Daisuke said, "Where's your mother?"
As if on cue, Shiho comes walking into the kitchen, very upset and displeased knowing that someone hurt one of her children. As a victim of abuse, courtesy of Kamoshida, she made a vow to herself from the moment Nariko and Kaito were brought into this world. A vow that says that if either of them gets hurt in any way, shape, or form, Shiho is going to make whoever hurt them forever regret it.
When Shiho enters the kitchen she goes for the refrigerator, but not to get something to eat. She reaches for something behind it.
"Uh, mom, what are you doing?" Nariko asked.
"No one hurts you kids and gets away with it!" Shiho said, not aware of the full story and basically blocking out everything after Nariko told her that Riku punched Kaito, "I thought Riku was a good kid, but I guess he decided to be bad. Well that's a decision that he's going to soon regret. Oh he's going to pay! He's going to pay the ultimate price!"
From behind the refrigerator, Shiho pulls out a wooden spanking paddle.
"Babe, let's think about this now," Daisuke said, "If you go over there and disciple Riku, you're basically creating a rift between us and the Mishimas that I'm not sure will be healed."
"Forget that," Shiho said, "When one of my babies are hurt, I'm going medieval! Don't try and stop me!"
Shiho storms out of the house and makes a beeline for the Mishima Residence with Daisuke, Nariko, and Kaito quickly chasing after her.
"Mom, wait!" Nariko yelled after Shiho, "We have to talk to you!"
As that was going on, at the Amamiya Residence, Ren and Ann had just finished up with taking care of Minato's bleeding nose while Kimiko watched from afar, that guilty look having not left her face.
"At least your nose isn't broken," Ann said, "Don't take those tissues out of your nose for at least a few minutes."
"And put this ice pack over your nose to reduce potential swelling," Ren said as he handed his son an ice pack, which Minato took and put on his nose.
"Thanks, guys," Minato said.
"So, what happened?" Ann asked, "Who did this to you?"
"This kid named Kouga," Minato said, "He's nothing more than a big bully around school. I managed to avoid him for the most part over the course of the year, but I must've done something today that got me on his radar."
"Do you know if you did something that would make Kouga punch you in the nose?" Ren asked.
"Does a bully really need a reason to hurt someone?" Minato asked his father.
Hearing Minato talk with their parents about his altercation with Kouga made Kimiko feel more and more guilty. Eventually, it got to the point where she just shouts, "IT'S ALL MY FAULT!"
Ren, Ann, and Minato look over at Kimiko with confused looks.
"What do you mean, Kim?" Ren asked his daughter.
"I was so mad about Minato pushing me yesterday that I went out of my way to try and get revenge on him," Kimiko confessed, "I filled his locker with jell-o, only for Nariko to open it up when she switched lockers with him. I put ex-lax in his sandwich only for Kas to eat it instead. And to top it all off, I told Kouga to punch Minato in the nose and hurt him!"
At this point, the guilt was becoming too much that Kimiko was sobbing as she talked.
"I hurt my brother and Nariko and Kas accidentally got caught in my crosshairs," Kimiko continued as she walked up to her brother, "I didn't realize how awful getting revenge would make me feel. I hate this feeling, and I hate what I've done. I'm sorry, Minato! I'm sorry for breaking your plane! I'm sorry for hurting Nariko and Kas! I'm sorry for convincing Kouga to punch your nose! And I'm sorry if I'm the worst sister in the world! I…I'm so sorry…"
With that, Kimiko broke down into a weeping and sobbing mess as Minato wrapped her arms around his sister to bring her into a hug.
"It's alright, Kim," Minato said calmly, "I'm not angry, and I don't blame you for having Kouga punch me for what I did to you yesterday."
"I can," Ann said, "Kimiko, your father and I taught you better than that! It was very wrong of you for having someone punch your brother in the nose."
"Babe, relax," Ren said as he put a hand on his wife's shoulder, "Kimiko has been through enough today. Go easy on her."
"I guess you're right," Ann said, disappointed in herself that she was about to reprimand her child when she's already feeling down.
"What matters here is that Kimiko learned her lesson on how revenge is almost never worth it," Ren said, "And that she apologized to Minato and the two of them are on good terms again."
"I am grateful for that bit of news," Ann said as she and Ren continued to watch Minato and Kimko hold each other, the former sibling successfully calming the latter's cries.
Meanwhile, at the Mishima Residence, Riku is seen sitting on a chair across from his parents and Mai, who are looking at him with disappointment on their faces. The blue haired child had just told his parents about what happened between him and Kaito, and how Kouga was involved.
"Oh, Riku," Futaba said as she shook her head, "Riku, Riku, Riku. I thought your father and I told you not to give into peer pressure so easily."
"I know," Riku said as he hung his head in shame, "I just didn't know what to do so I guess I cracked under the pressure and hurt one of my closest friends. I shouldn't have done that. I should've told an adult, or outright refused Kouga's request. Then maybe I wouldn't be in this situation right now. I don't even know if Kaito or Nariko will ever forgive me."
"Once you explain to them the circumstances I'm sure they will," Yuuki said to his son, "We should go over there right now and talk with them face-to-face. Tell them everything that you told us."
Suddenly, the Mishimas heard their doorbell ring.
"Who could that be?" Yuuki said as he went over to the front door. When he made it to the front door, he opened it and saw Shiho waiting there, and wearing an angry look on her face, "Shiho?"
"Where is he?" Shiho asked as she raised up her paddle.
"What's the paddle for?" Yuuki asked, nervously.
"Your son hurt my son," Shiho explained, "I'm going to teach him a lesson!"
Before Shiho could fight her way into the Mishima household, Daisuke, Kaito, and Nariko appeared behind her and restrained her, with Nariko taking the paddle away from her mother.
"Get off of me!" Shiho yelled.
Her yells caused Futaba, Riku, and Mai to come to the front door to see what the commotion was about.
"Give me back my paddle!" Shiho yelled, "Riku is mine!"
"We're sorry we had to do this, Shiho, but we have to talk to you," Daisuke said.
"Riku didn't want to punch Kaito," Nariko chimed in, "This kid named Kouga, he put him up to it!"
Hearing that made Shiho stop struggling to break free from her family's grip on her, and she looked over at the Mishimas.
"It's true," Riku said as Mai nodded along with him, "I never wanted to hurt your son, Auntie Shiho. But I guess I just cracked under the pressure. I was stupid in doing so, and I know now that I should've stood my ground. I'm sorry, Auntie Shiho, you too Kaito."
"It's fine, Riku," Kaito smiled, "We're still friends."
"Wow, you seemed to have gotten over getting punched by Riku fast, Kaito," Futaba said, impressed.
"It's easy to do so when you know that someone else was pulling the strings here," Kaito said.
"So what do we do about this Kouga brat?" Nariko said, "We can't let him get away with this."
"I might have an idea, everyone," Mai said.
The next day, Kouga is seen walking to school by himself, whistling a tune to himself, when Kas comes out from an alleyway to face him.
"What's this now?" Kouga asked as he stared at the red haired girl.
"So, you like making people hit other people, do you?" Kas asked in an almost menacing tone, "What's wrong? Too afraid to hit others yourself?"
"I'll have you know that I just punched a kid square in the nose yesterday," Kouga said defensively, "His younger sister asked me to."
"Oh, you take requests," Kas asked, "What a coincidence! I just got a request to beat you up for making one of my friends hit another one of my friends. And I just so happen to be a people pleaser."
As Kas cracks her knuckles, Kouga just laughs.
"You really think you can take me in a fight, little girl?" Kouga scoffed, "Get rea-AGH!"
Without warning, Kas tackles Kouga to the ground and starts beating him up. As Kas wails away at the bully, Kouga is heard screaming and yelling as he tries in vain to get Kas off of her. Meanwhile, the likes of Riku, Mai, Nariko, Kaito, Minato, and Kimiko are standing on a nearby rooftop as they watch Kas go to town on their tormentor.
"It's always good to see a bully get what he deserves," Nariko said.
"Amen to that, sis," Kaito concurred as they continue to watch the display of violence unfold before them.
END
(Well, that's that. What did you all think? Did I fix 'Arthur's Big Hit' and make it better? Did I make it worse? Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments. Have a nice day, everybody.)