Tea Time with Miki

[Oddball]

You know, there's just stuff you never expect to happen and when it does, it just completely leaves you dumbfucked. I mean, I'm no stranger to unexpected stuff happening. I've got an arm that doesn't have a hand attached to it to back that up, but, you know, there are unexpected things and there are things that … well, just do not happen. Ever. On the unexpected scale, I'd rate this just above "big ape on top of the school batting down airplanes." But here I am, living the unexpected.. Hanako has just walked right up to me and struck up conversation.

It's not like she's GOOD at conversation or anything, but she's trying.

"So … umm … w-would you like to -to …umm… have lunch with us … MeHisaoandLilly." She manages to say in a combination of awkward pauses, stuttering, and blurting out rapidly. Still, it's way more than I had expected. I figured she'd never talk to me again after what happened at start of this year. I mean, she's a nice person and all and nobody else ever seemed to talk to her, and frankly, I thought she was a lesbian. My bad. Boy did that not work out like I expected. I've never heard anybody yell that loud. Actually, I suppose I have once, but I'd rather not think about that anymore than I have to.

There's a few other people that have had similar run ins with Hanako, apparently. Every once in a while you hear somebody say they were trying to do something for her and she just blows up on them, and of course, nobody else ever buys it. It's rare but it happens and if you haven't seen it, you aren't likely to believe it.

I guess I was standing there a bit too long without responding. Like I said, it's just not anything I had ever expected. And now she's starting to tremble.

"umm… yeah. Sure." I say more on instinct that conscious choice. After thinking about it a bit, it's not like I could say no anyway. How often does she even talk to anyone, much less invite them for anything? I couldn't exactly refuse her without feeling like the queen jerk of the world.

She seems to relax a bit when I agree, which just drops her from "verge of nervous breakdown" mode to "uncomfortable with everything" mode. Normal enough for her though.

She mouths the words "thank you", or maybe she just says them so quietly I can't hear them. Either way she doesn't say anything else and just takes her seat. Come to think about it, her not showing up late or right at the bell is odd too. Was the Twilight Zone theme playing this morning when I woke up and I just missed it?

So as you can pretty much guess, I wasn't able to pay attention in class. Not that I usually do or anything, I just kept batting ideas around in my head trying to figure out what was going on. When the bell rang for lunch it was actually a relief.

Hisao walked over to Hanako's desk and now they're talking. I wasn't sure what to make of that guy at first, but after talking to him a time or two, he's a nice enough guy, a bit on the geeky side but not one of those geeks that, you know, just screams "I'm a geek." More of a subtle geeky. It works for him and is actually rather attractive. There's a few better looking or more talented guys around, but I wouldn't exactly kick him out of bed or anything. Anyway, he and Hanako make a cute couple. God only knows those two both needed somebody to cheer them up.

Hanako walked over to my desk and … I think she said "follow me." She doesn't exactly talk very loud at the best of times. The reaction from Hisao is priceless. He probably looks every bit as confused as I was.

Hisao looks at me, smiles, and says "Hey," before looking back to Hanako and saying to me, "umm.. What's going on here?"

"I guess I'm eating lunch with you," I say with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Hanako?" he asks.

"I-I invited her to lunch with us," Hanako says. She gets that sad apologetic look to her and lowers her head. "You said I needed to be able to talk to other people, and … and she was nice to me."

Yeah. Let's go with "nice." Much easier than "tried to put the moves on me." I'd hate for people to get the wrong idea. I mean, I've experimented a bit and don't mind girls, but it's not exactly my thing. I was making an exception that time. I swear.

Well, at least I know why I'm invited.

…and apparently Hisao and Hanako were still talking while I wasn't paying attention.

"Well, I guess you're having lunch with us today." Hisao says smiling and holding out is hand for me to shake. Hey, asshole, wrong hand. I put my wrist next to his hand and he apologizes so many times that even I feel embarrassed by it. With that, we're off. I guess I'll have to explain to my normal pals why I skipped out on them later. They'll understand.

On second thought, they probably won't believe me. I'll make something up. If I tell them it's something to do with my period, they'll be so quick to change topics that heads will spin. Or something. I never quite got that "heads spinning" phrase, but one of my buddies likes to use it a lot.

Hisao and Hanako lead me to some small unused room. Not much small talk on the way, but they seem happy together. I wonder if Hanako is usually this guarded around him or if it's me that's making things odd. Hard to tell when you're dealing with somebody that's off kilter at the best of times.

"Hey, Lilly, we've got company," Hisao says opening the door. The blonde amazon is standing pouring some tea or coffee or something. "Hanako invited a friend."

For a split second there's a confused look on her face, but to her credit, she quickly covers it up with a smile.

"Hello, Lilly," Hanako says taking a seat.

"Hey, what's up!" I announce being the last one into the room. There's a weird look on the blind girls face like she's trying to hard to think of something.

"I'm sorry..?" she says in a way that suggests I need to introduce myself.

"Miki Miura but call me Miki. I'm in class with Hisao and Hanako." I explain.

"I invited her to join us," Hanako's words say, but her tone of voice sounds more like "please don't hurt me."

"Ah, I don't believe I've had the pleasure," Lilly says.

"Yeah, I guess we tend to hang out in different circles, anyway, Hanako invited me so here I am." I'm a bit stiff talking to her. Normally I'm gesturing stuff left and right as I talk, but it feels wrong doing that for somebody hat can't see you. Or maybe it's just her. I've got another blind friend I do sprints with and I never feel quite this out of touch with him.

"I suppose we need another cup of tea then," she says as if she's pleased by me showing up and gets up to pour another cup of tea.

"Go ahead, sit down, relax." Hisao says. "We're all friends here." Did I really look that nervous. I mean, I don't get nervous usually. I just feel completely out of my element here.

"Oh, excuse me. I'm being rude, aren't I?" Lilly says, but her tone is far from rude. If anything, it's a bit too polite for my tastes. "My name is Lilly Satou. Class 3-2 representative." The introduction was more of a formality than anything really needed. I'd already heard them call her 'Lilly' a several times by now.

"Yeah, I've seen you come to class a few times," I say. No idea why I say this. Probably just to fill the silence.

"I'm sure you have," she says with a bit of a giggle. I'm not sure why that was funny but I let it go.

"I've got sandwiches." Hanako says softly. Ah. Good news. All I brought for lunch today was a small bag of chips and an apple. I was in a hurry and figured I'd just bum food off somebody else. Free sandwiches and tea didn't seem like a bad deal right now. Even if I am normally a soda person.

"Thanks" I tell Hanako as she places the sandwiches on the table. About that time Lilly puts a cup of tea in front of me. "and thanks." I add.

I grab two of the sandwiches and immediate shove half of it in my mouth. Hisao takes the next one, then Lilly, then Hanako. I don't know if they were each waiting for the other to go first or how that works, but there's none of the first come first serve mind set I'm used to. When there's free food in my normal group, you act quick or you don't get any. I feel like I should apologize or something.

"Hey, this is pretty good," I say once I've swallowed enough to talk. Compliments work just as good as apologizes, right? Right. "What is this?"

"Do you like it? It’s turkey," Hanako says. "The dressing on it is something I made by mixing some spices, with some mayonnaise, mustard, and a few other things and I cut the vegetables myself."

"Awesome. I didn't even know you could get turkey around here," seriously. I don't think I've ever even had it. "This mayo stuff you whipped up is pretty cool too." Hisao and Lilly take their bites after I've voiced my approval like they were they waiting for me to give the okay or something.

"T-they sell it at the store in town," Hanako says. She seems a tad proud of herself.

"That's cool. I'll have to remember that." I say taking a somewhat smaller bite out of my sandwich and chew it longer this time. Savor it. This stuff is pretty good.

"So, care to tell us a little bit about yourself?" Normally that sort of thing would sound more like the start of some kind of interview or interrogation, but Lilly says politely enough to sound casual. I can't say I blame her a bit for wanting to know a bit more about me. She's probably just looking out for Hanako anyways.

"Eh, what's to know? I'm in class with them, my grades are mediocre at best, and I run track. Not exactly the most exciting life there is." I say. "My life is kinda dull, I guess. Outside of school, I mostly just hang out with friends."

"We're kinda fine with unexciting here," Hisao says with a slight smile. "I know I've had enough drama to last me a few years in these last few months." Lilly frowns at this and Hanako blushes slightly. I guess he's probably talking about relationship stuff and whatever it was that brought him here. I can understand wanting to cut down on the drama if his condition is still fresh. It's kinda like how I haven't watched horror movies since seeing my own blood splattered all over the walls.

"So, you're on the track team," Hanako says, emphasizing it far too strongly to be casual interest. I confirm this with as close to a 'yes' as can manage with a mouthful of turkey. She looks over at Hisao like she wants to say something but doesn't. Hisao doesn't seem to even notice. "How is the track team?" she asks, again emphasizing it. I hold up my hand to let her know to give me a minute to finish swallowing. That last bite was a bit too big. Normally, I wouldn't care, but for some reason or another, I really don't want to look like a pig in front of these people. Do manners rub off?

"I'm no slouch or anything, but mostly it's just something I do for kicks. The fact that it helps burn off my primarily junk food diet doesn't hurt either." I say casually. I may be one of the better runners on the team, but I'm not here to brag.

"Sounds like the track team is lots of fun," Hanako says again. It wasn't my imagination. She actually elbowed Hisao in the side that time. He looks at her with a completely confused expression and mouths something like 'what do you want?' back at her.

"My, you certainly seem curious about the track team all of a sudden," Lilly says with a slight giggle. She raises her hand to her mouth to try to conceal her expression. I can't help but wonder how she learned to do things like that. It's not like she knows what it looks like.

"I-I'm not the one that was wondering…" Hanako speaks again, and it's back to that tone of voice that always seems to trail off, like she's afraid of speaking and assumes that if she doesn't complete her sentences it won't count. "H-Hisao was." You can almost see the light bulb go off over Hisao's head when she says this.

"Oh. Oh yeah. Um… earlier this year Emi offered to do some running with me to help me get into better shape. I quit on her, but me and Hanako were talking and decided maybe I should give it another shot." Hanako smiles and blushes a little bit when he says her name. Man,. She's got it bad for the guy. I almost hate to admit how cute it is. "So, if you see her again, could you pass a message along for me?"

Yeah. I'm not doing that. Emi isn't the only runner around. "You looking to be a track star or something? Run marathons?" I ask.

"No. I just need to get a little bit of exercise. You know, to get my heart pumping better. I have a bit of a condition." He's not really saying anything, but I can still tell that he doesn't like talking about whatever it is. I wonder if his condition was obvious like mine, Lilly's, or Hanako's if it would be easier for him or if he'd just be worse off.

"Gotcha. Work off some of that fat the delicious hospital food put on you, tone the muscles back up, improve your stamina, that sort of thing, right?" I've already made up my mind what I'm going to say next and I hope I'm not crossing the line, but these guys could use a bit of good natured teasing.

"Pretty much, yeah," he says.

I lean over towards Hanako "I'm sure you're not going to object to him having a bit more staying power, are ya'?"

Lilly was taking a sip of her tea when I said this and she ends up choking and spitting the tea all over the table. If nothing else, coming here was worth it to see that alone.

"Lilly!" Hanako cries out in shock.

"Are you okay?" Hisao asks trying to sound concerned but barley able to contain his laughter.

Lilly steadies herself and tries her hardest to maintain her dignity, but it's already a lost battle. "I'm fine. I was just coughing."

"Went down the wrong pipe?" Hisao offers as an explanation. Lilly nods her head a bit, still somewhat shaken Me, Hanako, and Hisao all look at each other. Okay. We'll let her have that. She wouldn't last a minute with my normal crew

I take some paper towels and try cleaning up the mess we both made. She takes a paper towel and dabs some trying to clean up the bit that spilled on her shirt. It's not something you could see if you weren't looking for it and she certainly won't be the only one that comes back from lunch with a few new stains, but I get the feeling that appearance is important to her for some reason. She just strikes me as that type.

"Look. if you're not looking for anything major hardcore, Emi might be the wrong running partner for you." I say trying to get the conversation back around to where it was. "Hell, she's liable to push you until you drop from a heart attack first time out." This gets a bit of a reaction from the crowd, but I'm not exactly sure why.

"That does sound somewhat like her," Lilly says obviously not wanting to insult the girl, but having those same thoughts herself.

"That and she'd probably bug you until you agreed to one of her stupid diets. You know the type where you can't eat anything but flavorless vegetables and baked notebook paper." This gets more of a chuckle.

"How about you and me go at it instead?" I say to Hisao. "Our friends here can watch. Hell, they can join in if they want."

"Excuse me?" Hisao says. They're all giving me an odd look. Except Lilly, who isn't actually looking at me, but still has a strange expression on her face anyway.

…

Oh. Oh! I get it. I guess what I said was messed up on several levels.

"I mean running. You can join me after school. We'll do a couple of laps and may be a bit of sprinting. Nothing too harsh." I hope they can't tell I'm blushing.

"A-after school?" Hanako stutters a bit.

"Yeah, I like to do my running a the end of the day. The heat helps you sweat off a few extra pounds and gives you a reason to want to get it over with."

"That does make sense." It's obvious in his tone that Hisao doesn't want to commit to anything yet.

"Are you certain that wouldn't be too hard on you?" Lilly says with a tone that makes me think every word there was thought out in advance. I'm also assuming the question was meant for Hisao and not me.

"I don’t want to inconvenience you or anything," Hisao says.

"I think you sh-should try it," Hanako says with a look in her eyes that's almost pleading.

I reach over to my cup of tea for another swallow. "Shit!" I say as the cup is knocked over and the contents spill across the table. "Shit!"

"Is something wrong? What happened," Lilly says with a concerned, almost panicked tone.

"N-Nothing! It's nothing." Hanako replies just as quickly.

"Miki just spilled her tea," Hisao tells her in a much calmer voice. Thanks for the save there, pal. God, I feel like such a loser. You'd think I'd remember by now that arm doesn't have a hand at the end of it anymore. All my confidence and bragging and I just up and forget I'm crippled.

"Do you want me to pour you another cup?" Lilly says. It's the tone of a person that has no idea what to say and is just trying to be nice.

"It's okay." God, I feel like such an ass. I can practically hear a voice mocking me. A squeaky annoying cartoon voice. 'You can't pick things up if you don't have a hand there anymore, darling,'

"So, when do you want to meet to run," Hisao asks me.

"Two … three times a week? Tuesdays and Thursdays good for you?" I look down at the plate. There's one last sandwich. Is there some rule about who's supposed to get that?

"As long as it's not the weekend, I'm cool." Hisao says.

"We go shopping on Mondays though so…" Hanako weakly adds.

"Okay, Tues and Thurs it is." Man, I really want that last sandwich. Nobody else is taking it. Maybe it's up for grabs, or is the host supposed to get the last bite? Okay, take your mind off it, get the confidence back up. Fake the funk. "How 'bout we make it a group thing. Get all four of us out there."

"O-Okay." Hanako says, which surprised the hell out of me.

"I really don't think that's a good idea," Lilly says taking another sip of tea.

"Ah, come on. Don't be like that." Let's see if taunting her any works.

"No. I'd rather not." She says a bit more firmly.

"Just once. All I'm asking." Let's shake it up a bit and try the 'nice' tone of voice.

"It could be fun," Hisao says nonchalantly.

"I've grown to accept that I have certain limitations in what I do." Was that a dig at me knocking over the teacup? …Nah, couldn't have been. She can't see that stuff. Right? "Running track seems firmly in the category of things that are a tad outside of my range." She talks with the fine cultured voice of a person that's used to getting her way. "Hisao, are there any more sandwiches left?" She adds in a much more pleasant tone.

Dammit. That was supposed to be my sandwich. No way am I letting her get out of the running now.

"You're not afraid are you? Don't be. I've got a blind friend that does sprints with me. He's never had any trouble." He's wrote BLIND on his gym shirt in big letters and has somebody watching him with a whistle the whole time, but he manages. I think I could do that for one of Hanako's buds.

Before we can settle the matter, the bell rings signaling the end of lunch. I fill my teacup one last time and gulp it down in one single swallow and we all head back to class with the matter between us unsettled.


....


I don't know how they did it, but they managed to talk her into it. A few days later, they were all there a the track waiting for me. Me and Lilly were the only ones in actual gym uniforms. Hisao looked like he'd just grabbed something out of his closet an thrown it on. Hanako was wearing the gym's winter uniform, a green sweat suit with hood.

The first time I saw her wear it, I commented something along the lines of "You've got to be burning up in that thing." She didn't say anything, but after I realized what I'd said, I felt like an asshole for the rest of the week.

Lilly ended up joining us once to run around the tracks. Only once. A few weeks later you couldn't even tell she broke her nose running straight into a goal post. She never outright blamed me, but her voice had one of those "I told you so" tones to it for the longest time. I still feel horrible about that when I see her.

Hisao does pretty good these days. Surprisingly, Hanako seems to be quite the runner. I could probably make a track star outta her if I could get her to actually show any real interest in it. Her heart just isn't in it though. Mostly she just comes down to watch us rather than joining in. Personally, I think she just likes seeing Hisao in those little shorts, but good luck getting her to admit it.

The bad part about all this was having to listen to Emi whine that I'd stolen her running partner, but fuck Emi. Everybody always talks abut how she's the track star, but that's only because we tend to focus on speed runs rather than distance. Anything over five miles I blow her out of the water and she's pretty much useless when it comes to cross country. Guess who dominates that stuff? Me.


...

And that was basically our routine. Twice a week me and Hisao would run. Sometimes Hanako would join, sometimes she'd watch, sometimes she wouldn't show up at all. For my part, I joined them for lunch about as often, once or twice a week usually. Although if I'd been fighting with anyone on the track team, I'd show up more.

After a few weeks, they invited me to some kind of part-pajama-party/part-tea-party thing. It was a bit too girly for my tastes so I avoided it when possible. Also, I sleep naked, so I'd always show up in my gym clothes, instead of my non-existant PJs. It's things like that that made me feel like I never felt I fit in there, not that they ever held that against me.

After a month of two, Hisao pulled me to the side and asked me about my earlier encounter with his girlfriend. After blushing until I thought my face was going to burst, I assured him that nothing happened which was mostly the truth. More or less. Partially because I went to grope with a hand that wasn't there, but I felt no reason to mention this, and he was fine with that explanation. No use causing my friends any more drama than I had to.

In all honesty, though the more I hung out with them, the less they felt like just some people that were friends or dating or anything and more like some kind of family, and it was nice to be part of a family where I wasn't 'the dumb one'. ... Well, I suppose I was still the dumb one, but they never said anything. None of that "Why don't you study harder so you can be a doctor or a lawyer like your sisters?" So screw you mom and dad, I've found a family I like better.

And it's not like I'm worthless to them or anything either. Hell, if Lilly hadn't have had to butt heads with somebody every bit as stubborn and opinionated as she was, she probably would have ended up moving back to Greenland or where ever the hell she said her mom was from, and then we would have all been miserable.
Her included.
Probably.
Pretty sure.

So, I suppose if there's a moral to this story, it's okay to have weird friends, your family is what you make of it, never take big bites out of anything Hanako gives you until your sure it's safe, and that they all lived happily ever after.

So, you know, we've got that going for us.

[LOL WUT]

I was going to say something clever, but then I forgot.

So... Uh...

Good Story?
Yeah I will just leave it at that.

[Brogurt]

It certainly lives up to its title
For a while, then it stops living up to its title

[Scissorlips]

I enjoyed that quite a lot, a nice little slice of life peek at a post-good end Hanako's relationship, and Miki's perspective added a lot of flavor. I loved how Miki and Lilly bounced off eachother, they're so different that it's a great combination. Little bits, like the sandwich, Miki's multiple faux pas', the reference to their slumber party-like hangouts, they really added a lot of flavor.

[Mirage_GSM]

Some typos:
"She doesn't exactly talk very loud at the bets of times. He reaction from Hisao is priceless."
"I'd hate for people tog et the wrong idea."
"Well, at least In know why I'm invited."
"but it feels wrong doing that for somebody hat can't see you."
"Free sandwiches and tea didn't seem like a bad deal right now."
"If nothing else, coming her was worth it to see that alone."
"That and she's probably bug you until you agreed to one of her stupid diets."
"He's never hand any trouble."
"...listen to Emi whine that I'd stolen her running part,..."

That out of the way, I have to say I had a lot of fun reading this story

[BlackWaltzTheThird]

In addition to Mirage's notes, there's a few places where you're missing punctuation marks or have used the wrong ones. I can't be entirely sure, but I believe questions that run into a speech tag should use a question mark in place of the standard comma. There were also one or two places where you slipped into the wrong tense mid sentence, "Hisao walked over to Hanako's desk and now they're talking" being an example. Perhaps you could use "I notice Hisao walking over to Hanako's desk, and start talking with her" or something of the like. I forget where but there was also a place where you should have used "X and I" in place of "me and X".

Anyway, not a bad read. I find it a little hard to imagine Lilly running fast enough and the others being so careless as to allow her to break her nose on a goal post, but hey it's not my story. I liked seeing the interactions of Miki and the group. I find she's such an intriguing character, an amalgamation of Rin's apathy, Emi's fitness and Lilly's healthy adolescent sex drive. Of course, that last one is never shown to be canon but I think it's a generally accepted trait. Back to the story, I feel like you didn't know how to end it, and resorted to those old He-Man PSA announcements. There's potential here to turn a good read into a great one, if you work at it.
Cheers, BlackWaltz.

[spirizu]

Yeah, Miki POVs are always good.

Just a small few observations.

"I-I invited her to lunch with us," Hanako says.

Hisao looks at me, smiles, and says "Hey," before looking back to Hanako and saying to me, "umm.. What's going on here?"

I think this scene would read better if you reversed the above two sentences. The whole Hanako, Hisao and Miki all trying to work things out at once is a little confusing.

Hisao and Lilly take their bites after I've voiced my approval like they were they waiting for me to give the okay or something.

I liked this.

She takes a paper toll

Not sure if typo?

The first time I saw her wear it, I commented something along the lines of "You've got to be burning up in that thing."

I really liked this.

[Bagheera]

I liked it well enough, but it kind of fell apart at the end. It would have been nice to see all of that fleshed out rather than delivered as a summary. The earlier part was solid though.

[Helbereth]

Oddball, you need an editor or a second pair of eyes at least.

The ridiculous number of tiny mistakes aside, I enjoyed this post-Hanako tale. I especially liked your use of Miki's head-butting personality to knock some sense into Lilly before she flew back to Greenland (lol, Scotland).

Hanako in a sweat-suit burning up... so, so wrong; yet so, so right.

Also, Lilly breaking her nose on a goal post made me giggle. Perhaps it's just my twisted sense of humor, but she'll have some humility on her face forever now.

[Oddball]

Fixed a few things, probably fix more later. I suppose this is what happens when I force deadlines on myself and end up posting late at night.

I think this scene would read better if you reversed the above two sentences. The whole Hanako, Hisao and Miki all trying to work things out at once is a little confusing.

I see your point.

"Hisao walked over to Hanako's desk and now they're talking" being an example. Perhaps you could use "I notice Hisao walking over to Hanako's desk, and start talking with her" or something of the like. I forget where but there was also a place where you should have used "X and I" in place of "me and X".

I don't consider those errors. That's just how she talks/thinks.

Back to the story, I feel like you didn't know how to end it, and resorted to those old He-Man PSA announcements. There's potential here to turn a good read into a great one, if you work at it.

Nah. The "epilogue" bit ran a bit longer than I thought it would once I started writing it out, but I ended it pretty much how I wanted to end it.

[uwa]

I like this, it's like Shower Scenes (the first three parts, at least) in that it's a little wackier than the original game without going completely off the rails.

My favorite parts were the implication that Hanako blowing up at people is a semi-regular occurrence (but nobody believes it), and Miki being bisexual-ish with Hanako right in her strike zone. It's perfect for Miki the Bro.

Maybe Hanako got the idea for how to convince Hisao she wasn't just someone to protect from what Miki tried.

[Brogurt]

My favorite parts were the implication that Hanako blowing up at people is a semi-regular occurrence

I'm not so sure about that. It's a bad end for a reason

[Oddball]

The idea wasn't that she blows up on people all the time, just that's it's happened a time or two or three in the past.

Maybe five people have pushed her that far. Tops, and that's over the course of a couple years.

[uwa]

Maybe five people have pushed her that far. Tops, and that's over the course of a couple years.

Yeah, I just liked the idea that it wasn't an unheard-of event, and that one person's devastating Bad End was another's confused shrug.

[Total Destruction]

It certainly lives up to its title
For a while, then it stops living up to its title

This is a good story. It's got that perfect mix of hilarity, awkwardness, humility, and genuine d'awwwwwww.

What have we done, guys. I think Miki's become the KSF's collective waifu.

EVERYONE IS WRITING MY STORY BETTER THAN ME AND I LOVE IT