Chapter 6: When She Found the Answer
Mihari and Kaede wasted no time in racing away from that park. Both of them hadn't eaten anything for several hours, so Kaede suggested that they go over to her place for a snack and Mihari agreed. Before long, the two were entering through the front door of the Hozuki apartment and let out long sighs as they did.
"Well, that was quite the experience." Mihari said.
"Yes it was." Kaede said.
Kaede soon reached down and took off her high-heels. The bright smile that she gave as she rested her feet on the floor made it seem as if she had removed fifty-kilo weights from both of her legs.
"I don't think that I've ever walked that much in these heels before." she said. "I knew how far away the park was, and yet I decided to wear them anyway. I really should've just worn sneakers instead."
"If you knew this might happen, then why did you choose to wear them?" Mihari asked.
"To see if I could handle them." Kaede answered. "Turns out that I could, but just barely. It's clear that I need more practice wearing these ones for long periods of time."
Mihari chuckled at this.
"There you go again with your commitment to beauty." she said. "Even if it kills you, you always want to find a way to make yourself look as drop-dead gorgeous as possible."
"What can I say, that's just who I am." Kaede said.
Both girls chuckled at this as they entered the kitchen area.
"Does popcorn sound good to you?" Kaede asked.
"Yeah, that's a good choice." Mihari answered.
"Awesome." Kaede said. "I'll heat it up. You can help yourself to any drinks in the fridge."
"Okay." Mihari said.
Mihari opened the fridge and looked around for something cool and refreshing to wash down the popcorn with. She eventually settled on a large bottle of green iced tea and removed it from the fridge. Knowing where the glasses were kept, she took one out and filled it with the tea. Kaede indicated that she wanted the same, so Mihari poured another glass for her. As soon as Mihari put the bottle back in the fridge, the microwave beeped and Kaede took out the bag of popcorn. She opened the bag and poured the contents into a large bowl. Soon after, the two carried the bowl and their drinks to the living room and set them down on the coffee table. Both of them quickly sat down on the couch afterwards and leaned back onto the back cushions with relaxed expressions.
"This is the life, huh?" Mihari asked.
"Yep." Kaede answered. "Nothing quite like relaxing on the couch after a day of fun with your bestie."
The two clinked their glasses together and took several long sips from them. They both sighed with delight as to how refreshing the drinks tasted and remained silent for a few minutes.
"So did you manage to get everything you wanted?" Kaede asked.
"Huh?" Mihari asked.
"Was today productive in getting you all of that valuable data that you were looking for?" Kaede asked. "For your project I mean."
"Yeah, it was. I got a lot of useful data." Mihari answered. "Though I'm not certain that I'm going to end up using any of it."
"Why's that?" Kaede asked.
Mihari closed her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing.
"After what happened before, I'm starting to think that pursuing my experiment any further is a bad idea." Mihari answered.
Kaede was completely caught off guard by this statement and nearly choked on her drink.
"What? Why would you want to abandon your project all of a sudden?" Kaede asked. "You were acting so enthusiastic about it before."
"I know. I know." Mihari answered. "It's just that after what happened, I'm just not sure that I should follow through with it anymore."
Kaede didn't say anything for a few more seconds.
"Does this have something to do with what happened with Yume?" she asked.
"Is it that obvious?" Mihari asked.
"Well, considering how uneasy you were acting around her, as well as the fact that you two were alone together for some time without me, it's not very hard to draw that conclusion." Kaede answered. "Now tell me, what happened between you and her that ended up making you feel this way?"
Mihari sat up slightly and stretched a bit before answering.'
"Yume, and Iori-kun to a lesser extent, told me something that shook me to my core." Mihari answered.
"And what was that?" Kaede asked.
"They pointed out a lot of similarities between her and me." Mihari answered.
"Well of course you're similar." Kaede said. "I mean, did you see the lab coat she had on like you? Plus, the technical way that she was speaking makes her come off every bit a scientist as you are. What's so bad about that?"
"That's not what I was talking about." Mihari answered. "Did you wonder why she was so fixated on me before? I certainly was, and I found out the reason why after we fell down that hill."
"And what was the reason?" Kaede asked.'
"The reason was…because several years ago she performed an experiment nearly identical to my own."
"For real?" Kaede asked with intrigue.
"Talking with her and Iori-kun, I was able to see a version of my project with only a few key differences that had already been performed and finished, unsuccessfully I might add. Granted my project is unique enough to have a different intended outcome, but the parallels between them cannot be ignored. And on top of that, no matter how much good may have come out of Yume's project, I cannot get over the idea of people comparing me to her."
"And why does that bother you so much?" Kaede asked.
"Because I'm afraid that they might be right." Mihari answered. "Sure, I'm doing my project out of love instead of a desire to fulfill some kind of perverted fantasy like she did. It's true that I've only arrived at doing a similar project as her by pure coincidence. And yes, I know that I am not her. What bothers me though is that I'm afraid that going down this project could end up turning me into someone like her. I look at her and see not only a dark reflection of my present self, but also a template for what my future could look like. Am I really going to end up as some kind of pervert who does things purely for selfish reasons. I don't want to believe it, but even the cops mistook me for her today because of how similar we come across as. I just don't know what to do anymore."
Mihari pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. A few seconds later, she felt Kaede hugging her from the side.
"I really wish that I had a way to help you solve this conflict you're feeling, Mihari-chan." she said. "Unfortunately, this is the best that I can do to cheer you up. Hope it helps."
Mihari looked at Kaede for a few seconds before smiling.
"You're right that this won't help me make up my mind, but it is a start." she said.
Mihari put her feet back on the floor.
"At least we take some comfort in remembering all of the adorable sights that we saw throughout the day." Kaede said.
"Yeah, that's true." Mihario chuckled. "Seeing all of those kids playing almost makes you wish you could go back to that point in life and join in on the fun."
"Not for me." Kaede said. "At those ages, you're not allowed to use makeup to doll yourself up. Instead, you have to do the dolling up on actual dolls. It does suck losing the innocence of childhood, but there are a lot of other things to gain that more than make up for it."
"I guess that applies to different age groups as well." Mihari said. "I collected down everything that you, Mikuru-chan, Tomo-chan, and Akiko-chan said and used it to weigh the pros and cons of each. Each one has a lot of benefits that can sometimes be outweighed by unexpected obstacles. We saw babies, toddlers, and elementary schoolers playing at that park. You even mentioned the pluses and drawbacks of high schoolers to me. I will admit that the elementary school-age demographic came the closest to what I was looking for, but after seeing that there are people like Yume out there, I'm just not so sure anymore.
"Well what about middle-schoolers?" Kaede asked.
"Middle-schoolers?" Mihari asked.
Mihari suddenly put two and two together and started to panic.
"Oh no, I completely forgot about them." she said frantically. "I got so angry at what Yume and Iori-kun told me that I threw my list into the water. Plus, we left in such a hurry that it didn't even occur to me that we still had one last group left to observe."
Mihari's head sank once again.
"Yet another thing that I've managed to mess up on." she said.
"Well don't worry about it too much." Kaede said. "As it just so happens, there's a free chance to still observe that demographic that should be back home at any moment."
"Huh?" Mihari asked.
Mihari and Kaede heard the front door to the apartment opening.
"I'm home, Onee-chan." a female voice called out.
"Speak of the devil." Kaede chuckled. "I'm in the living room, Momiji."
Mihari lifted her head back up just as Momiji made her way into the living room.
"Oh, Mihari-chan good to see you again." she said.
"Yeah, likewise." Mihari said, somewhat dryly.
"Excuse me, have you completely forgotten all about your wonderful onee-chan?" Kaede asked playfully.
"Of course not." Momiji giggled.
Momiji went in to give Kaede a hug, who quickly reciprocated.
The two broke off after a few seconds and smiled at each other.
"So, did you have fun today?" Kaede asked.
"You bet." Momiji answered.
"Well why don't you take a seat and tell us all about it." Kaede suggested.
Mihari and Momiji's mouths both fell open in shock.
"Oh, I don't want to intrude or anything." Momiji shrugged.
"Nonsense." Kaede said. "Mihari-chan is feeling a bit down in the dumps since she forgot to collect some important data for one of her projects while we were out today. This might help cheer her up just a bit. C'mon, take the spot between us and tell us everything you did today."
Mihari softly elbowed Kaede and leaned in close to her.
"What are you up to?" Mihari whispered.
"Trust me on this. You'll thank me later." Kaede answered.
"Well…okay then." Momiji said before sitting down.
Mihari scooted over slightly to give Momiji some room to sit down.
"I know that I should trust you Kaede, but I honestly cannot see any reason why you think this is going to somehow be helpful." Mihari thought.
"So anyway, just after you two left this morning, Asahi and Miyo-chan came over…" Momiji started.
Momiji proceeded to explain to Mihari and Kaede everything that she had done with Asahi and Miyo over the course of the day. One the latter two showed up, Momiji had gone out exploring with them. Asahi was in one of her adventurous moods, which forced Momiji and Miyo to follow her to parts unknown as they raced through familiar and unfamiliar parts of the city. Momiji had no problem keeping up with Asahi, but they had to stop several times so that Miyo could catch her breath. After several hours of this, the three of them were feeling hungry and decided to try a takoyaki stand that happened to be close to where they were at the time. Only Momiji and Miyo had any money to pay for their food, but they were more than willing to share some of theirs with Asahi. Momiji mentioned how Miyo turned bright red and almost fell backwards off her chair when Asahi took a bite of one of Momiji's takoyaki, as well as how funny the whole thing was to see.
Hearing about this caused Mihari to chuckle as well.
"You know, I haven't really heard all that much about Momiji-chan's friends." she thought. "Who would've thought that she'd wind up with someone who swings that way."
After lunch, the three had decided to take a nice leisurely walk alongside the canal to let the food digest. This continued on for a while until they came across a series of trees. Seeing them made Asahi want to play hide and seek, and she ended up tagging Momiji and Miyo so they would have to find where it was that she was hiding before she ran off into the trees. Momiji and Miyo didn't really want to, but they knew that they'd have to since Asahi would otherwise stay hidden until they did. They searched around the area for almost forty minutes before they found Asahi hiding on the upper branches of one of the trees. When Momiji began to climb the tree to get Asahi to come down, Asahi ended up slipping and fell right on top of Momiji. Luckily, neither one of them was hurt and Asahi apologized right away. Miyo on the other hand simply looked at the two with a bright smile across her face, giving thanks for this wonderful scene. This caused Momiji and Asahi to laugh at the ridiculousness of their situation as well. Miyo had a few strange quirks to her, but she never failed to amuse or be amused by the two. It was one of the reasons why they became friends in the first place.
As the entire story unfolded, Mihari felt herself growing more and more relaxed. Hearing all of these amusing anecdotes was brightening up her attitude, just as Kaede had suggested that they would. In addition to this, Momiji's tale was providing her with the exact kind of data that she had forgotten to pick up while she was out with Kaede. Momiji's wild adventures with Asahi and Miyo provided the perfect types of interactions between middle-school aged girls that she had hoped to see before, and she was starting to think that Kaede was well aware that this would be the case. A quick glimpse at Kaede where she winked at Mihari and smiled caused Mihari to smile back.
"Kaede, you sly fox." she thought. "Just when I'm ready to kick the bucket, you always think of a way for me to get exactly what it was that I was missing. And you even managed to make it interesting for me since you knew that I would fail to think of something so obvious. What would I ever do without you?"
"…and once we had browsed through a few issues, we decided to go our separate ways." Momiji continued. "It was such a blast. I always have fun hanging out with those two."
"It sure sounds that way, doesn't it Mihari-chan?" Kaede asked.
"It certainly does." Mihari answered. "Thank you, Momiji-chan. And thank you, Kaede. You were right, this did make me feel a lot better."
"Glad to hear it." Momiji said. "I'm going to hang out in my room until dinner."
"Okay, have fun." Kaede said as she waved Momiji off.
Momiji smiled and soon disappeared down the hallway, leaving Mihari and Kaede by themselves once again.
"So then, are you feeling a bit better about your project now?" Kaede asked.
"I certainly am." Mihari said. "That was very clever of you; tricking Momiji into giving me the data that I was missing."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kaede said playfully.
Mihari chuckled at this.
"Okay, play dumb if you want, but you really helped me out big time, and twice in the same day." Mihari said.
"So, after all of this have you made your ultimate decision?" Kaede asked.
"That…is a little more complicated." Mihari answered.
"I don't understand." Kaede said.
Mihari leaned back on the cushions again.
"Even before I crumpled up my list and threw it in the pond, I had already crossed multiple age categories off of it." Mihari explained. "I was trying to find one that best fit what I hoped to accomplish with the project, and the most logical option seemed to be the elementary school category. Yume's experiment involved that exact age group, and even though it didn't have the same outcome I would've wanted from my own project, a lot of good ultimately came out of it nonetheless. On top of that, it had practically every positive element that I could've asked for with very few cons. Even if people like Yume exist out there like that, it means very little in the end when you have a large group of friends to back you up and keep you covered."
"Well it sounds to me like you have your choice right there." Kaede said.
"That's what I thought as well." Mihari said. "That is, until Momiji-chan gave me that story about her day."
"Huh? Why would that make you confused about your choice?" Kaede asked.
"Because so much of that story overlapped with a lot of things we saw exhibited by the elementary school kids we saw at the park." Mihari answered. "Sure, Momiji and her friends were a bit older, but not by much. I was expecting significant deviation in behavior between elementary schoolers and middle schoolers, but much of it in Momiji-chan's group was very much the same. I just can't seem to think of a reason why that would be the case. Unless there is a legitimate reason, choosing between the two groups would be moot."
Kaede smiled and took a long sip of her tea before setting the cup back on the table.
"You know, I think that I may know just what that reason is." she said.
"You do?" Mihari asked.
"To put it simply, it's because there is supposed to be a lot of overlap between elementary and middle school, especially at the age that Momiji and her friends currently are."
"Really?" Mihari asked.
"C'mon Mihari-chan, it wasn't too long ago that we were still in middle school." Kaede laughed. "Surely you must remember how things were for you during the time that you made the transition."
"For me, everything changed for the better." Mihari said. "My first year of middle school was the age when my grades began to skyrocket, when I first joined several sports teams, and when you and I became friends. It was such a change that I can't even really remember what it was like to be an elementary schooler."
"Okay, maybe that's how it was for you." Kaede said. "For the rest of us though, there isn't too much significant change, at least not right away. Middle school is appropriately titled as such because it marks the transitionary point between childhood and teenagedom that perfectly merges the best of both worlds. There's a lot of things that happen during that period that have a great impact on how a person turns out later in life, but not all of those things happen at the same time or rate for everybody. Some don't even happen until they get to high school."
"Such as?" Mihari asked.
"Well, I'd say the most significant thing is puberty." Kaede answered. "Some girls start before or after, but the vast majority always start when they reach middle school. Although it is a scary and terrifying time, the fact is that most everyone else ends up going through the exact same thing. This has the effect of creating a type of shared agony that brings everyone together and creates a support net to help any stragglers push through should they fall behind."
"I never thought of it that way." Mihari said.
"In addition to that, the fact is that middle school represents the point when a lot of the stuff you learn goes from being necessary for you to succeed in life, to instead optional so you can end up enjoying life." Kaede said.
"I'm sorry?" Mihari asked.
"Think about it." Kaede said. "Why do you think that our parents' academic knowledge tends to stop after middle school? I think that it's because after middle school, we start to decide the kind of person we want to be once we graduate from high school. It's because of this that we go to different high schools that meet our personal preferences and take classes that are catered more towards the kinds of things that we want to learn. Sure, there are still core subjects that we're forced to learn, but they factor into our future lives far less than the stuff we learned from those subjects in middle school. I mean let's face it, you didn't even need to go to high school for more than a few weeks. You just skipped ahead to college and turned out just fine. You may be the slight exception to the rule, but I think that my point still comes across."
Mihari didn't say anything, as everything coming out of Kaede's mouth came off as very intriguing.
"That's the wonderful thing about middle school: anything can happen." Kaede continued. "You can choose to play like a youngster or start preparing for your future. You can start developing early or late and you're still accepted into the fold. It's also the period where you can really start to make friends. I mean, elementary school is usually the place to do that, but not everyone gets lucky in that department. Neither of us made any friends until we met each other in middle school, and apparently neither did Miyo-chan. Now look where all of us are today. You and I are still friends all these years later, and now my little sister has yet another friend to add to her growing circle. If elementary school is the place where you can simply get away with plowing the field, and high school is the place where the flower truly blossoms, middle school is the place where you plant the seed and watch it start to bud. You never know how it might eventually turn out, but you have every opportunity to make it the best that it can possibly be by the time that it has a chance to bloom."
Mihari continued to think about all of this for a few more seconds before suddenly she burst out laughing, much to Kaede's surprise.
"Hey, why are you laughing?" she asked.
"I'm sorry." Mihari answered between laughs. "I'm just laughing at the irony of this entire situation."
"What irony?" Kaede asked.
"The irony of the fact that it wasn't necessary for me to go out and obtain all of that data." Mihari answered.
"I don't understand." Kaede said.
"What I mean is that I had a front row seat to someone who could give firsthand accounts of every single age group and it never once occurred to me. You've always been the older sister, Kaede. Therefore, you've personally witnessed every way that Momiji-chan has behaved growing up from the time that she was born. Even when we were observing all of those children, you added onto what we had learned by bringing up stories of Momiji when she was in the same age group. We didn't need to go through all of that stuff with Yume, I just needed to ask you for a few of those stories. You even filled in the high school category for me since it was the only one that Momiji-chan is yet to experience. It was all you Kaede-chan. You've always been there to help me out, and now you've become the key I need to officially begin my project."
"Wow, I feel so honored. I had no idea that I could be of so much help" Kaede said. "So which one did you end up choosing?"
"Ask me again once I tell you that the project is completed." Mihari answered. "You may have to wait quite awhile, but I promise that it'll be well worth it in the end."
"You can't even give me a tiny hint?" Kaede asked.
"Given how helpful you've been to me today, maybe you'll end up figuring it out on your own." Mihari said.
"Yeah, maybe." Kaede said.
Both girls laughed at this for a few seconds.
"Well, maybe I have to wait a bit longer to find out more about your choice, but I don't want to wait to eat the rest of this popcorn." Kaede said. "Let's finish it up before it gets too late."
End of Chapter 6
9/14/2024
Special thanks to my Patrons: Homura VanRoyen, sudowiki
Hi Everyone. Here I am at the sixth chapter of this story. Similar to the previous chapter, the length of this one is on the short side. I'm not disapointed by this though as I previously stated that the story lends itself to a shorter form of storytelling. I could've combined it with the previous chapter, but I wanted to keep each chapter centered around a specific theme to fot with this alternate storytelling style.
This chapter is a very crucial one as it was always intended to be in the story long before I ever thought of making it a crossover. I previously gave you a glimpse of how the story would've turned if it had simply been Mihari and Kaede observing different age groups, and this chapter was meant to carry over some of those ideas. Even without the references to the incident with Yume, the outcome of this chapter wouldn't have changed whatsoever. Although I give the idea of the entire driving plot of the last few chapters having been unnecessary, I think that's what makes it exciting. Mihari has a brilliant mind that won't turn off, and as such she sometimes overthinks when trying to come up with possible solutions to any problems she encounters. At the end of the day though, her one saving grace is Kaede. Kaede is, unbeknownst to her, responsible for Mihari doing everything she's done over the last few years, as she was the one who gave Mihari the idea for the project in the first place. She is meant to play a similar role here, as she acts as the wise sage who unintentionally gives great advice when needed and sometimes unknowlingly helps others arrive at the answers they seek. This is why she is such a great character, because she can always be counted on no matter what the problem is. It was not necessary for the two to go to that park, but it's funny what kinds of things can end up happening because they chose to do so. Mihari got some data, learned a dark truth about the drug, almost quit the project, and yet in the end still found the answer she had been seeking. Necessary or not, everything worked out, and I feel that this is the core theme of the story.
Besides that, nothing has changed in terms of my plans for the rest of the story. There are two chapters remaining, both of which will be released on the three-day schedule. This means that the remainder of the story will be posted within a week. As for The Oyama Project, I am basically done with the next chapter, it just requires a bit more editing to finalize it. Therefore, the best case scenario will have me post it by tomorrow, so stay tuned. Writing that chapter was extremely hard, but I expect the next one to be much easier and it will this not take up nearly as much time to come out.
Please be sure to like and comment on this chapter as any feedback you give me is extremely helpful to me as an aspiring writer.
If you enjoy what you've seen so far and you're interested in seeing more, consider supporting me on my (instructions on how to reach it can be found on my profile). Your support will give me the resources to write more often, and anyone who contributes will be have their name appear in a 'special thanks' section of all future stories that I write.
I'd like to thank you all for your encouraging likes, follows, and comments, and stay tuned for Chapter 7, coming soon.
