Boys and girls, children of all ages (what are you "children of all ages" even doing here?) I thank you for sticking with so long and having patience. Now, it's time to end this.
I'm going to make one quick complaint about my own work here, the whole reason that this story was written in past tense was because of an ending I had planned that ended up not working no matter how I tried to write it. So, for the final chapter, I'm dropping that. Sorry.
Now, I present you, the ending... or rather... MULTIPLE ENDINGS!
CHAPTER THE END
The events of the last few days play through my mind, bringing me back to where I am now. Asking Misha out to eat had just been a random thought, sort of a joke that I told myself, but now that I think more about it, it does seem like it's the right thing to do. Maybe. I don't know. My thought process over the last few days has been decidedly skewed.
I weigh my options for a moment and eventually decide not to even bother with Misha. I mean, she didn't really help me out that much. I guess I just got the idea in my head to ask her out as a joke and somehow it stuck in there. Now that I actually stop and think about it, I just want to put this entire incident behind me. I got a few pleasant memories out of it; that should be more than enough.
I walk back to my room. Hopefully everybody involved would just try to pretend it never happened. I can't imagine anybody actually wanting to dwell on this embarrassment.
…
(point of view change!)
…
…
Five days ago, Hisao came to my room to get his uniform and to return my things to me. Now I'm standing here with a very different companion and a package that isn't quite so different.
"T-thank you for taking me shopping," I tell Akira. "I really didn't know … exactly what I was looking for." It's only half a lie and even that makes me feel like I've betrayed her trust. I just needed somebody with me or else I would have ran out the first time anybody looked at me. Even with her, it wasn't easy.
"No sweat. It's not exactly my thing either, you know. I just figured that you've helped my sis out so much, I'd at least try to give you a hand," Akira says.
"P-promise y-y-you w-won't tell anyone?" I stutter badly, even for me, as I clutch my bag close to my chest. "Not even L-Lilly."
"It's your business," Akira shrugs. I can tell she's curious but she's nice enough not to pry. "Anyway, next time you see Lilly, tell her I'm sorry I missed her."
"W-Will do!" I say back, hoping I sound more confident than I am. A silence follows out short exchange. I stand there waiting for her to say something to officially end the conversation. I think she's standing there hoping that I'll tell her more. Akira gives in before I do. I never had any doubt of that. I hate leaving her in the dark, but her finding out the details, would be even worse.
"Catch you later then," she smiles and walks off. I start to wave, but hesitate. I don't want to take my hands off this bag. In the end, I just give a little halfhearted slight lifting of the hand. It's almost a wave. I just want to get back in my room before anybody sees me. The bag I'm holding is light, but the knowledge of what's inside makes it feel like it weighs a ton. I feel a bit sorry for just ditching Akira like that without inviting her in. I'll have to cook her dinner later to apologize.
Once safely inside my room, I lock the doors, close the windows. I double check the doors one more time just to be sure. It feels so good to be back in the safety of my room, out of the crowds, out of the mall, and especially out of that place .
That place. I look down at the bag again. "No. This is okay." I say it out loud, but it's still so quite that even I barely hear it. Everybody else got worse than this so it's only fair and … and this was the kind of thing he liked, I think.
I opened the bag and peer inside again. They had been a tad more expensive than I expected, but … Oh, god. I can't do this. This whole thing was a horrible mistake! Why hadn't Akira talked me out of it? … Probably because I hadn't trusted her enough to explain…Why didn't I …
No. No I need to get a grip. This would work out. I could do this. Maybe..
No, I could do this. I just have to figure out how to get Hisao in here without alerting his suspicions… Or better yet, how to get Hisao to walk in on me by "surprise".
Hmm… Next time he's over for tea, I'll be late. There's nothing unusual about that. Then Lilly will send him over to see if I'm okay. He'll knock. I won't answer. He'll try the door…
That … that might work.
As long as Lilly wasn't the one to check on me. … which she probably would be… unless Hisao insisted… which Lilly might not accept anyway.
This is harder than I thought it would be. It's not like a need a plan right away, I guess, but waiting too long would be a bad idea too. I'll try to have at least have a plan by the end of the week.
Wait. No. First I need to find out his favorite color.
I reach into the bag and pull out my new purchases, giving them a look over before I find a place to hide them. I can't believe I bought these. I wonder if Akira really believed me when I told her I was just trying to work on my self esteem? She was probably just humoring me.
No. She knew. She might not have know exactly who it was for, but she had an idea as to why.
I've picked them up and now I'm holding them in my hands. I don't remember doing that. These things are so … unlike me. Maybe that's a good thing. Hisao brought something like this into my room, thinking that the lacey red bra and panties were mine. He couldn't have possible been picturing me wearing something like that, could he?
Well, if he thought they were mine, I guess he did, but why would anyone want to see me in something like this. My body isn't exactly pretty, and red? I look horrible in red. It blurs into my scars too badly. Blue is usually much more my color. That's why I bought a second set in dark blue … but what if he just liked red better?
It's okay. I can do this.
I'll have a plan by the end of the week.
Wait. No. I can't have a plan by the end of the week. I'll figure out what color he thinks looks better on me by the end of the week. Then I'll figure out a plan.
Two weeks is a good time frame to come up with something.
Or should I wait a while after asking about the colors so he has time to forget about it? That does sound like a safer option…
So maybe three weeks.
End of next month at the latest.
I mean, I'm the only one he didn't see undressed, so it's only fair, right?
Last edited by Oddball on Thu Aug 23, 2018 12:04 am, edited 7 times in total.
[* ] -- See if Misha wants to go get something to eat right now.
I knock on Misha's door. I might as well see if Misha wants to go grab a bite right now.
"Hicchan!" Misha says as she answers. "We sure are seeing a lot of each other recently." She's still wearing the "crazy girl" shirt and the jeans from earlier. "Is there something else you need?"
"Maybe, um… hey, are you doing anything right now?" I ask. I really should have took a few minutes to think what I was going to say before I knocked. If she says she is doing something, I'm not exactly sure how to respond.
"Homework then sleep, nothing too interesting. Oh, and I have a bag of dill pickle potato chips I was going to finish tonight!" She says that with far more enthusiasm than a bag of potato chips could ever deserve.
"Cool. So you're free," I say as much to myself as I do to her. She just stands there and looks at me with a puzzled expression.
"So, you do need help with something." There's a look on her face that seems to be a mixture of confusion and curiosity.
"It's nothing like that. I just thought I'd do something nice for you. Grab your shoes." I haven't exactly known Misha that long, nor have I spent much time with her. In truth, I have tried to avoid spending time with her. It would just give her and Shizune more opportunities to snag me into doing student council work. One thing I have noticed though, was Misha's expressions. No matter what she's saying or doing, she always seems to exaggerate her mood. I've gotten used to that as her normal personality, but looking at her now, she seems remarkably normal.
And confused.
"Why are you being nice to me?" she asks.
"It's going to sound kinda silly, but… writing your name your name on your clothes was a huge help when it came to sort things out. Then you helped with Shizune, and … well, honestly you’ve just been calm about this entire thing. I thought that maybe I could buy you something to eat to make up for it…" I'm so taken off guard by her remarkable normalness I think I answered much more honestly than I had intended.
"Alright," she says with the kind of smile that seems both very honest and very not-Misha. "Let's go get something to eat."
…
It's not anything special, just another meal over at the Shanghi. Still, with the more embarrassing aspects of the past few days behind me, it feels nice just to relax like this in the presence of a cute girl.
"What'cha thinking about?" Misha asks, interrupting my wandering thoughts.
"Oh, just thinking about everything that's been going on and being glad that it's all behind me." I say calmly.
"I'm with you on that one. Not that it didn't have its good points mind you," Misha says with a bit of a sly smirk.
I'm not going to argue that either. Not every guy gets to have a bunch of naked women show up in his room. You could almost say I was pretty lucky, once you get past the nearly dying and total humiliation parts. I try my hardest to conceal a bit of a blush and a smile, but I'm fighting a loosing battle with that one.
"I know what you're thinking now, Hicchan. You're thinking naughty things, aren't you? Naughty naughty, Hicchan." Misha teases.
"No, it's not like that. It's… I…" she's got me. No way I can deny that. There isn't a person in the world that would believe me if I told them my room was full of naked girl and I handled all their underwear without once thinking anything naughty about it. "Maybe a little."
Rather than push he issue further, Misha turns back to her soup, finishing the bowl and calling Yuuko over to the table. I silently thank her for that. "Can I have another bowl?" Misha directs towards Yuuko.
"Certainly if that's what you want to order. I would be derelict in my duties as a waitress if I refused to get you what you wanted--oh! I should be getting that right now, or at least writing it down!" It never ceases to amaze me how quickly Yuuko can go from trying to hard to total panic.
"I can have another bowl, right, Hicchan?" Misha turns back to me to make sure.
"And another sandwich," I add. "And a refill on the tea." You can actually see Yuuko tense up a little more every time we add to the order.
"Oh! I'm dreadfully sorry. I didn't realize that you were out of tea. I should've come back to check before that happened. I'm doing a horrible job, aren't I?" Yuuko winces and bites her lip as she finishes speaking.
"It's okay. You wouldn't have known if you had come by sooner. I just now finished it so I'm just now letting you know. You didn't do anything wrong." I explain softly and calmly. Between her and Hanako, I think I'm getting lots of practice talking down people from their panic attacks. Maybe I should look into psychiatry.
Yuuko looks at me as if she still isn't completely convinced, but writes down our orders anyway, bows, and then … just stands there.
"Is something wrong?" as I ask, Yuuko looks around the room a few times and even glances out the window.
"Is it just you two tonight? I thought… isn’t there usually another student with you?" She directs the question to Misha.
"It's just me and Hicchan tonight," Misha says with a smile. Yuuko looks at us as if to ask, "Is that even allowed?" but instead just bows one more time.
"Oh, of course. It's not my place to say who you can and can't keep as company. I'm just the lowly waitress." Yuuko bites her lip bows yet again and dashes away to retrieve our order… or hide from embarrassment. Possibly both.
"She's fun." Misha says once Yuuko was obviously out of earshot.
"She's pretty nice. I just wish she'd relax a little sometimes," I say. I regret not counting how many times she bowed to us in the last few minutes.
We exchange a bit of irrelevant small talk as we wait for our food. When it arrives, we turn our attention to the small meal before us. It's somewhat surprising seeing, or rather hearing, Misha this quiet and relaxed. Without Shizune around to push her, Misha could be a very calm person. It's actually really nice. This was even starting to feel like a real date. I wonder if maybe I should ask her out like this more often. Of course, if I did, I would have to insist she not invite Shizune along. I'm not sure how she would take that.
"Remember when I said you were probably thinking naughty thoughts?" Misha said, with a playful yet devious grin. I nod an affirmative and she leans over to the table and whispers to me. "So was I. Don't tell anyone." The only thing I can do is sit there in shock and confusion looking at her. Is she coming on to me?
I can almost hear the gears in her brain click as she tries to figure out my strange expression. "Umm… you do know I like girls, right?"
This does very little to get rid of my sense of shock. "No. Actually I had no idea."
"Oh. OH! You thought I was … bwahahahaha! You are thinking naughty thoughts aren't you?' Her voice returns to normal and her smile as wide as ever. "I didn't think I was actually hiding it. You really didn't notice?"
"I had no idea." Looks like I just barely dodged a bullet there. I was actually about to really ask her out. Maybe. I was at least thinking about it. Something else occurs to me though. "So, wait. That means … in the shower …"
"You do catch on quick!" she responds with genuine amazement. "There are certainly advantages to, … well, Let's just say that I think we both enjoyed it a tad more than we're willing to admit to others."
"Really. That's … interesting." I have no idea what to say about this revelation, but I feel the need to say something.
"I keep forgetting you're new here sometimes. You've done a really good job at fitting in, but it's, what are those things called…, a well known secret?" Misha being a lot more frank about this than I would have expected from her.
"It is? And … Thanks? For the fitting in comment." I stumble over my words.
"No. Thank you really. I don't get along too well with most of the other girls that are into that here, so it's nice to have somebody I can talk to about this stuff. I can talk to you about this stuff right?"
"Anytime you want to. I'll try not to think too many perverted thoughts when you do," I joke, but as soon as I do, I wonder if I'm allowed to joke about that kind of thing. Did I just over step my bounds? Perhaps I should just move the conversation along before she has time to say anything. "Does the school really have that many gay girls?"
"Oh, quite a few. You know Komaki right? In our class?"
I try to put a face to the name. This is the kind of thing I've always been bad with. If I don' talk to somebody often, I tend to have a hard time remembering their names. "Is she the one that sometimes come to class in the wheelchair?"
"She's the one that sits next to Miki. Anyway, she's gay. Maybe gay isn't the right word. She's like, really gay. Any girl anywhere gay. And the newspaper girls? They claim they're just good friends, but …,"
"Really. I had no idea." I try to keep my expression flat and hope that I'm not blushing too much. It feels weird talking to another Misha about girls being into other girls. Even talking with other guys about this would embarrass me, honestly.
"You honestly didn't notice?" She asks in disbelief. "Oh, and I don't like to think of myself as gay. I prefer potentially bisexual with a tendency towards other girls. That's sounds nicer."
"Guys are terrible at picking out these sorts of things. It doesn't matter that much in our imaginations anyway, as long as we're being honest." I have no idea why the hell I just said that. All I can do now is wait for Misha to finish her current mouthful of food to mock me again.
"Bwahahaha! That's certainly something we have in common!" She could have at least waited until she swallowed. That's just gross, Misha.
The rest of the meal is spent with more teasing from Misha. I'm actually surprised at how quickly I adjust to finding out Misha's secret. The walk back even turns into a little game of 'who do you like more'.
"Suzu or Molly?" She asks, bending over to pick up a small rock and tossing it across the street.
"I really don't know either of them that well…Molly. Don't ask me why. Just first one that pops into my head." I say. It's my turn for the question. "Miki or Emi?"
"Tough one. I like my girls small. They're more adorable and huggable that way, but Miki just has so much more confidence," confidence is one way to put it, I suppose, "and confidence is a big turn on to me…sooooo… Miki. But it's close."
"I'll agree with you on Miki, but I'm not into small girls anyway. It's much easier to kiss somebody that's closer to your own height."
"Speaking from experience, are we?" Misha says with a suggestive grin.
"I refrain from answering that on the grounds that you'd just make fun of me about it," I say in my best official voice
"Would I tease you?" Misha tries her best to look cute and innocent.
"Yes. You would," I say flatly.
"Only because you probably deserve it. Or because it's fun. Either explanation works." Misha says that in her seldom used 'official' voice. "You blush a lot. Did anybody ever tell you that?" she adds.
"Whose turn is it?" I ask, trying to get the conversation back on track.
"Mine. Okay… tough one. Lilly or Hanako?" She asks.
"Again, refrain from answering." I tell her flatly.
"Awww. You can't keep doing that. It's no fair."
"Ask a different question then. Promise I'll answer the next one."
"Okay. Shicchan or … me?"
"Hmm…" I mutter pretending to give it lots of thought. "Well, Shizune doesn't bother me with trap questions al the time…"
"She does too!" Misha says. I can't quite tell if she's actually offended or just acting.
"… and her hair isn't quite so loud …"
"Aww… You don't like my hair?"
"It's very noticeable." I try to think of a positive spin on it. "But it suits you."
"I try to be noticed. It helps Shicchan." She says somewhat wistfully.
"You do a good job at it." I think I'm starting to pick up on something here, but it might be over stepping my bounds asking about it.
Our little conversation made the walk uphill pass by faster than normal and we arrive back to the dormitories all too quickly. "You know, if you ever feel like Shizune is working you to death and you need a break, you could come eat lunch with us sometime," I offer to Misha.
"Thanks, but I couldn't do that. Shizune doesn't care much for Lilly … or Hanako by extension so she'd never let me live it down if I ditched her to hang out with them. I appreciate the offer though." We gone back to calm serious Misha it seems.
"Well, the offer is open anytime you like. I'll talk it over with them, but I'm sure they won't mind." At least, I hope they wouldn't. Lilly has never indicated that she has anything against Misha, just Shizune. Hanako … okay, Hanako might be a problem, but as long as Misha stays in her calmer and less hyper mindset it could work.
"I appreciate it. Oh, and Hisao…," Misha looks shyly at her feet as she kicks the ground.
"Yeah?" I prod her into continuing.
"Look… I kinda have some videos. Anime. Of a certain type. If you ever wanted to come over and watch some of them with me. I hate watching movies alone, but it's not exactly things that I can invite anybody over to see and most other girls don't appreciate it anyway, but …," Misha nervously dances around her words.
I pat her on the back and grin. "Sounds like fun."
Misha turns and walks back towards her dorm and I to mine. This could be the start of a … weird … friendship.
Then again, "normal" doesn't quite have the appeal to me that it had a few months ago.
Last edited by Oddball on Thu Apr 12, 2018 9:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
[*] -- Figure out exactly what I'm going to say, and then go talk to her so I don't end up looking like an idiot.
I pace back and forth in the hallway of the girls' dormitory, starring at my shoes, and trying to avoid eye contact with anybody that might pass by. Hanako makes this look so much easier than it actually is. I've almost stumbled into people twice now.
Part of me feels I owe Misha something. She was a big help, sort of, even if things hadn't quite gone right after that ... or before that. … during that… actually, I couldn't remember the last time things had gone right. It's depressing now that I think about it.
Anyway, I just need to make sure I don't mess this up and make it sound like it was more than it is. "Let's see…" I mumble to myself softly. "What would be the best way to say this?" I'm not quite sure how long I pace back and forth. I know I end up doing a couple of laps around the floor before I finally have a basic idea of what I'm going to say but just to be sure, I stop a few doors down from Misha's to practice. Yeah, I'm probably making a much bigger deal out of this than I need to. I know this; I just can't help myself.
"Look, I'm sorry about everything that happened. I just felt that maybe I should do something to make it up to you, so I was wondering if maybe I could buy you dinner or something, M--."
"Ah, all right. Let me just go get changed," a playful voice answers.
"Miki?" I look up to see her standing there. I guess, she was rounding the corner where I leaned against the wall to practice. She nods her head at me quickly and turns to go back to her room. I just stand there dazed and bewildered …
… Screw it. Why the hell not? Taking Miki out isn't exactly the worst fate in the world. Sorry about that, Misha. Maybe next time.
I find a spot on the steps outside the dorms to wait for her. Deciding along the way that I'll leave the 'walking around looking at your feet' thing to Hanako from now on.
About twenty minutes later, she comes out wearing a black and white t-shirt that stops just above the navel and pair of tight jeans so low on the hips you can see her underwear. I actually recognize those. I'm not sure whether to be embarrassed about that or not.
"You didn't tell me you were going to be outside," she says.
"Sorry about that," I give her a meek apology.
"I spent ten minutes just waiting outside my room for you before I started looking around." She puts her one hand on her hip. As usual, she just lets her other arm dangle.
"I was starting to feel a bit nervous." I tell her. "There are a few people around that I want to avoid as much as possible right now. Things are a bit strange and everything at the moment." I suppose that's about as nice as I can put it. It does seem silly when I say it aloud though.
"Gotcha. So, where we going?" She says with a playful wink. I silently thank her for dropping the subject.
"I don't know. The Shanghai? I hadn't really thought about it." Actually, I hadn't thought about asking her out at all, but I'm not going to bring that up.
"That place is lame. Everybody in school goes there. If you're up for a bit more of a walk, there's a great place that sells Chinese food a bit further in town." That doesn't sound like a horrible idea. I haven't actually seen much of the town. Whenever I go to grab something to eat, it's usually at the Shanghai. Trying someplace new could be good.
"A bit more of a walk" turns out to be about half an hour's trek. Remarkably, my heart doesn't seem to be in bad a shape by the time we arrive. I'm sweating and more tired than a person my age should be, but nothing fatal. I guess some of those long walks I've been taking were starting to pay off. I half-expected Miki to tease me about being out of shape or old before my time, but she doesn't say a word about my heavy breathing.
"Okay, here we are," Miki announces as we walk through the door. The place doesn't seem that fancy, but it does have character. It feels like one of those places that's been around forever and has seen plenty of use. "You can have anything you want because you're the one that's paying for it." Miki informs me.
"Your generosity knows no bounds," I say in my most sarcastic tone.
"I'm doing my part. I picked the place. The date was your idea." She punches me in the arm to punctuate her statement. I know she was probably just doing that playfully, but even then it smarts a bit. She punches harder than I do, that's for sure.
"Hey, just because I asked you if you wanted to get something to eat doesn't make this a date." I clarify.
"Jeeze, a girl shows up in your room naked and you can't even get the nerve to ask her out." I look around the room expecting to see people starring at me. Thankfully, I don’t think anybody heard that.
"Don't say stuff like that out loud. People will get the wrong idea," I try to quiet her, blushing heavily. It's a wonder my heart had any blood left to pump with all of it rushing into my cheeks.
"You know, most people do that the other way around anyway. First is the date, then getting to see the girl naked." She laughs, obviously having fun at my expense. I'm glad one of us can joke about this sort of thing. "Anyway, what do you want?"
I take a minute to look over at the menu having above the counter. Nothing really stood out and quite frankly, I'm not that hungry anyway. "I guess I'll just have some dumplings."
"When are you ever not lame?" She says with a hit of exasperation. I give her my best pouting face. "That's just the sort of sucky answer I expected from you. Live a little," she continues. Nope. Apparently, the pouting thing works better for Emi and Lilly than it does for me. "I'll have the Ma Po Tofu and some spring rolls," she says putting her handless arm on my shoulder before realizing what she's doing and quickly jerking it away. I look to find the items on the menu and thankfully sigh when I realize how low the prices actually are here.
"So, no dumplings? Okay, what do you think I should have?" I ask her.
"Fried Beef Pancakes." She says without a pause.
"I've never had those," I'm not even sure if I want them. It doesn't exactly sound that great.
"You've gotta open yourself up to new experiences. Trust me they're good, but hey, you're buying, get what you like," she smiles and pats my shoulder.
"No. That sounds fine," I step up to the counter and wait for the old Chinese man to finish what he's doing and take my order.
"What can I serve to you today?" He asks in a thick accented and tired voice.
"Spring rolls and … what was it you said you wanted?" I turn to Miki. She rolls her eyes at me then steps up to the counter, nudging me out of the way.
"I'll have an order of spring rolls and Ma Po Tofu. Fried beef pancakes for the guy who saw me naked." My face turned bright red. I'll have to ask Nurse later if it's medically possible to die of embarrassment.
"As long as you don't do that here, it's none of my business," the man says back, his bored expression never even flinching. Either he knows her and knows what a handful she can be, or he's just used to weird guests. "And to drink?"
"Two large cokes," Miki tells him. I would have asked for tea myself. Having Chinese food without tea just seems wrong but I let it slide.
The food come surprisingly quick and in larger portions than I expected. Miki picks out a booth for us in the back and I carry for tray of food and my drink, leaving her just her own drink to carry.
I never much liked talking while eating and I've grown used to my normal lunch companions being the same. Miki seems to be the opposite. She swallows each bite of food quickly, eager to get back to sharing her stories, gossip, and opinions on every little thing.
Eventually the last bite of food is consumed and the last refill of the drinks finished off. The food wasn't too bad. It wasn't too good either. It was just kinda there. It was probably the most mediocre meal I have ever eaten. Still, That's better than I expected the pancakes to taste so it's not like I suffered. It's not like I ate all of them either, with Miki claiming about half my order for herself. The girl can eat. Nobody can deny that.
"You've been awfully quiet this evening," she says in a way that's half question half statement.
"I just don't talk much when I eat," I tell her.
"Whatever works for you, I guess," she says. She takes a moment to suck the last of her drink through the straw, making that horrible bottom-of-the-cup slurping sound before she continues. "You know something? You're actually a pretty decent guy."
"Thanks," I say, not having any other idea how to take that compliment. I hope that was a compliment anyway.
"Considering everything that happened, I mean, you could have made life just really suck for all of us, but you were cool about it. That's the kind of thing most guys would die for. Hell, you could have instantly become the most popular guy on campus, but you didn’t tell anyone." Miki pauses. "You didn't did you?"
"Not a soul," I say.
"That's what I thought. Rumors would have been flying all over the place if you did. The only thing I've heard where that a few girls were trying to get your attention by adopting your style." She picks up the chopstick she hasn't used once tonight and points at me with it as she speaks.
I laugh a bit at this. "Oh, trust me, by that point, they'd more than gotten my attention."
"Oh, we noticed. Love you choice of pjs, by the way, nice thin material." Suddenly this part of the conversation isn't funny anymore. "Anyway, like I said. You were cool and I appreciate that. I'm not just saying that, that means something to me." There's a certain sincerity I don't think I have ever heard in her voice before. Things are starting to feel a bit too serious here for my tastes.
"Aww. You're just saying that because you're the only one that showed up --" ah crap. How am I going to put this? "You know, completely uncovered." I gave her my best cheesy smile. At least, I tried to. I might have been blushing too much for it to come across right.
"Yeah, just don't go spreading that around, alright?" Funny how she gets serious when talking about people in school finding out, but out here she's got no problem openly making jokes about it.
"I wasn't the one telling the guy behind the register about it," I say, mainly just to see how she reacts.
"Nobody here knows us. They don't care." She shrugs and takes another slurp from her straw, looking irritated when she remembers there's nothing left in her cup to drink.. "It's not like school."
"You say that now, but wait until next time I bring somebody here and they ask about that girl I saw naked." There's a look on her face that suggests she hadn't considered the possibility. I don't think she really puts thought into much to be honest.
"Point taken," She says far more humbly than usual.
We chat a few minutes more, mostly to give our food time to settle before taking back off. Eventually, we set off back to the dorms feeling a few pounds heavier, but content with how the evening went.
------------------------------------------
"---closer to the truth to say you can't get enough ---" I sing to myself, bobbing in as good a rhythm as I can muster while the shower sprays its steamy hot water down on me. I hum where my memory of the lyrics fail me. The sound of the door opening provides my cue to stop. Just as well, I suppose. I couldn't remember what came after "running at a different speed," anyway.
"Kenji, that you?" I call out. He answers in something that sounds like it might be an actual word, almost. I don't know what Kenji's views on singing in the shower are and I'm afraid he might tell me, so I switch to humming to myself, letting the sound of the water drown out the noise.
There's some rustling of clothes and then I hear the water turn on a few showers down. "Dammit! Forgot my shampoo," a voice that is undoubtedly not Kenji curses. There's a brief pain in my chest, but it quickly goes away.
"Miki?" I ask.
"Yeah?" she answers.
"What are you doing here?"
"Eh, the girls' showers are always too crowded," she says far too casually. I really don't have any response for that. "So, got any shampoo I can borrow?"
Okay, she just wants some shampoo. I can just hand it to her and that's it. Just think unsexy thought. Think unsexy thoughts.
I grab my bottle of shampoo, wrap the towel around my waist, and go a few stalls down to her shower. "I've got some shampoo for you," I say holding it out. She doesn't take it from me. Instead, I just stand there dripping water.
"Well?" she asks.
"Well what? Umm … am I supposed to ask if you need help washing your back or something?" Real smooth there, Hisao.
"What kind of girl do you think I am anyway?" she playfully laughs. Considering she's in the boys' shower naked, it's probably best that I don't answer that. "I meant-- oh." She pulls back the shower curtain and leans out, exposing herself from the shoulders up. "I was actually asking about the shampoo. Didn't know you'd already got it. Thanks." She looks at me oddly for a second. It's not until she starts fiddling with the curtain that I understand why. She tries switching arms to hold the curtain open with her unbandaged stump so she can take the bottle with her sole hand, while still keeping herself covered. It's not working that good for her.
"I'm not looking," I say to reassure her. While my arm is still holding out the bottle, my head is turned completely away from her. She gives up on holding the curtain and simply takes the bottle with her hand before pulling the curtain back into place. Thank God for mirrors that face the shower stalls.
"Anyway, all the parts of me that could be considered 'dirty' and you choose the back? I'm seriously going to have to get you straightened out," she says slyly. "Oh, and thanks for the shampoo."
I turn back to my shower when I suddenly feel my towel jerk away from my waist. "Forgot my towel too," she says playfully.
I swear the girls at this school are going to be the death of me.
But what a way to go.
Last edited by Oddball on Thu Apr 12, 2018 9:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
[ ] -- Invite Misha to get something to eat later.
I make a quick stop by Misha's room and invite her to join me for lunch tomorrow, clarifying that I'm buying. She seems rather enthusiastic about it. We end up chatting for a few minutes about nothing of consequence. Eventually a text message interrupts us and Misha excuses herself to see what Shizune needs. I head back to my room feeling better about everything.
Remarkably, I manage to get a good nights sleep without my medicine interfering. On top of that, I had a really nice dream. In the dream, I didn't own any towels or bed sheets. Needless to say, I wake up in a really good mood.
That mood lasts until I meet Misha at the Shanghai. She's standing there waiting for me with Shizune… And Miki. And Lilly, and Hanako, Emi, Rin... I look around to see if they had brought anybody else with them, like Suzu, or Molly, or that girl in Lilly's class with the eye patch. With my luck, the entire deaf class was standing right around the corner just waiting for me to buy them lunch.
Misha and Emi waving at me and calling my name prevent me from just turning around and hoping they don't notice me. Running isn't an option either. They have two track team stars, Hanako is also pretty fast, and none of them have heart problems. I'm not coming up with anyway out of this… Wait…. Nope. I'm not able to vomit on cue either. There goes that idea.
I have a feeling that just trying to explain this as a misunderstanding isn't going to end well. I'm already on thin ice with several of them as it is. Slowing my pace a bit, I do some quick calculations. I might just be able to afford this, but it'll drain my finances dry. I'm actually glad now that mom insisted on giving me an emergency prepaid credit card. It'll be gone by the end of the day and I'll have to explain it to mom later, but it's nice to have now.
Maybe I'll get lucky. Maybe everybody will order small meals … or maybe the earth will suddenly shift and the Shanghai will fall into the ocean.
A variety of voices greet me as I approach. Every step tells me that this is going to be a huge mistake. "It's incredibly kind of you to treat us to make up for that little bit of unpleasantness," Lilly says once she's sure I'm close enough to hear her.
"I suppose that's the least I can do," I tell her. I'd actually planned on less but …
"It's reassuring to know that some people can support their fellow students and take responsibility for their actions," Misha translates for Shizune. I'm sure that was meant as a dig at Lilly, but it loses its impact when said with Misha's jovial tone.
"I'd consider it less a matter of responsibility and more an act of good will, a trait others could stand to discover," Lilly says, taking time to choose her words carefully.
"Why be nice when forcefully taking charge will get you quicker results," Misha translates back to Lilly. I wonder if that means I could just forget the 'goodwill' part, take control of the situation, and leave.
"That would work, as long as one doesn't mind having miserable subordinates. I've always preferred contented helpers that would willingly assist if asked again." Lilly speaks in the type of tone one would use when explaining the obvious to a child. I'm not sure if Misha can translate that into sign. I doubt she would even if she knows how.
"Does it matter when the results are the same?" comes the reply from Misha. Lilly looks like she's ready to retort when Emi puts herself between the two of them.
"Could you two not be buttheads today?" She says crossing her arms and trying to look as tough as possible. Physically she doesn't manage to pull it off, but the message comes across. Lilly appears somewhat embarrassed although, I have to admit, her pouting expression is really cute.
Shizune on the other hand has turned her attention from Lilly to Emi, pleased at having another challenger. "If you’re going to issue demands about the behavior of others, you should learn to be less disrespectful yourself," Misha translates. Shizune adjusts her glasses, looking rather smug.
Emi straightens herself up, as if to appear taller. She manages to come across as almost as tall as Shizune. "First, we're not in school. This isn't class. This isn't a school trip. Nobody's in uniform--"
"I'm wearing uniform pants," Rin says. "They're comfortable." Emi's expression grows sour for a second, but otherwise everyone ignores Rin's statement.
"Emi, please…" Lilly says.
"No. It's cool. I got this," Emi says to Lilly before turning back to Shizune again. "Anyway, all that means I don't have to listen to you." Emi waves her finger to emphasize what she's about to say. "This brings me to my second point. Which is 'Bite Me'."
There's an odd smacking sound. When I look over, I see Miki slapping her one good hand against her stump with a satisfied grin on her face. So that's the sound of one hand clapping. That answers that age-old question.
Once Misha translates, Shizune looks surprised, but quickly tries to cover it up. She's obviously not used to arguing with anybody that wasn't at least pretending to be civil.
"Juvenile and crude, exactly he type of response I would expect from one that can't even follow the basic rules in the hallway." Misha again translates for Shizune.
"At least I'm not an asshole!" Emi snaps back.
"No. You're dim-witted, infantile, inconsiderate --," Misha starts struggling to keep up with Shizune's rapid fire signing.
"Yeah, and you're still an asshole!" Emi returned. She's seriously going to have to work on her repartee. Misha continues to translate Shizune's side of the battle of wits, when Emi interrupts her by putting both her hands on Misha's shoulders and looking directly into her eyes. "This next part, I'm going to sign myself, okay? Tell her that."
Misha looks confused, as does Shizune when she translates the message. Frankly, I think we're all a bit curious. Emi walks over to Shizune. She holds up one hand and makes a fist, shaking it right in Shizune's face.
"I'm pretty sure that's not sign language," Rin says.
Shizune backs down. She tries to play it off, but there's obviously some fear in her eyes. Picking a fight with somebody that's willing to hurt her seems to be an experience she's not used to. I sense that the student council is going to be paying a lot more attention to complaints about the track team from now on. Or maybe less. I guess that all depends on how afraid Shizune really is of Emi.
"Maybe we should just go inside now," Miki says. Damn. I was hoping something would happen that and everybody would forget about that part. It's not that I want to see Shizune or Emi hurt, I don't. I just really don't want to blow all my money buying lunch for everybody.
The bell announces our presence as we enter. Yuuko shoots right up from the booth she had been sitting or, more likely, napping in. "Hello, Welcome to theohmygodno." The tone of her voice drops with considerably when she sees the size of our group. The last of it is little more than a whisper as it leaves her mouth. I think she might actually cry.
"Hello, Yuuko," Lilly greets her.
"Welcometotheshanghai," Yuuko shouts out managing to somehow make it all sound like a single syllable. "I'll be right back." Yuuko runs to a table and pulls the chairs away from it. I can't tell what she's doing a first, until I notice her trying and failing to move the table up against another one to give us a space large enough for all eight of us.
"Let me give you a hand with that," I say dashing over to help with the table.
"You really *grunt* don't *umph* need to. It's *arghh* my responsibility as host." She manages to say as she tries lifting the table up to move it.
"Yeah, but it's my group," I tell her. "I'll arrange the seating and you can start taking orders." Yuuko seems torn between being relieved that she doesn't have to move the table and upset that she isn't doing her job properly. Eventually taking orders wins out over struggling to move the table.
Once she's turned her attention back to the other girls, I grab hold of the table and pull it into place. It really isn't that heavy. Yuuko must be really weak. I pull the chairs into place while the group rattles off an order that's too long for my liking. Yuuko looks moments away from flinging herself into oncoming traffic, so it's probably a bit too large for her tastes as well.
Rather than joining them in ordering, I take a seat and wave them over. I can just takes bits and pieces from their plates. I'm paying for it, so they really can't object to that. They better not, anyway.
After they give her their orders, they each make their way over to our table. Miki and Emi are the first to take their seats. Hanako leads Lilly over to us next. "Let me get that for you," I say pulling the chair out for Lilly.
"Ever the gentleman, aren't you?" Lilly says with a giggle as she takes her seat. "Thank you." Hanako, on the other hand, just stands there with an odd expression on her face, as if she's waiting for something.
Oh. I get it now. "and for you," I say pulling out Hanako's chair for her. She smiles adorably and takes her seat. I end up getting Misha's seat for her, then Shizune's, then Rin's. I pull another seat out and stand there for a second before realizing there's nobody else in our group. It seems a waste to have to extra chairs like that. Who else I can invite as long as I'm blowing my life savings on lunch? Maybe I should see If Akira is doing anything right now.
"Nobody got my chair," Emi pouts.
"You got your own damn chair," Miki laughs.
Yuuko slowly shuffles back into view. For reasons that would only make sense to her, she's put everybody's drink on the same tray. Now, with a fear of God expression on her face, she's trying to balance all of them at once. We all watch, waiting for the inevitable disaster, but it doesn't happen. I think Yuuko actually whispered a prayer as she finally makes it to the table.
"Here are your drinks," she says in a noticeably relieved voice. The fact that she wasn't putting them out in front of each of us suggested she couldn't remember whose drink was whose. "I hope that's okay," Judging from her expression, she doesn't think it is. She's just waiting for one of us to complain.
"Where's mine?" Emi asked. Yuuko looks panicked as she pulled out the pad she'd taken their order on. "Oh. Wait. I see it now." Emi said, taking the only pink drink on the tray. She also takes the only drink that has a straw in it and puts it in front of Rin.
Misha and Shizune take the two coffee cups; Miki takes a tall glass of something dark with ice in it. That just leaves two cups of tea. Hanako takes one of the last cups of tea and sips from it. I probably should have ordered something to drink. Taking people's food is fine, but taking their drinks just seems weird.
"I th-think t-this one is yours," Hanako says setting the teacup down against Lilly's fingers.
"Thank you, Hanako," Lilly says and takes her own sip.
"It's okay," Hanako says back to her. "I should have … let you … check it… first…," she says meekly.
Lilly says something back to Hanako, but my attention is drawn to Shizune and Misha rapidly signing back and forth and looking far too pleased with themselves. Now Misha's laughing. She's trying to look stern and disapproving, but she's still laughing. Nothing good can be happening there.
Rin also appears to watching Misha and Shizune's conversation rather attentively. "I think I might be missing something. I miss a lot of thing. Why is that funny?" Rin asks. She turns to Emi and repeats herself. "Why is that funny?"
"How should I know?" Emi shrugs. "I've got no clue what they're talking about."
'They're just saying that they probably sleep together too. I don't see why that's funny," Rin says. "Them," she adds with a gesture towards Hanako and Lilly as if it needed clarifying.
Misha stops signing and stares in shock, leaving a confused Shizune sitting by her. She tugs on Misha's sleeve and Misha quickly signs a few things to her. It's so quiet that even Shizune could hear the pin drop now. Eyes dart around the table from Misha and Shizune to Hanako and Lilly, and then back to Rin.
"Umm... Rin, how exactly do you know what she's saying?' Miki asks leaning past Emi to where Rin was seated. Rin took a drink from her straw before speaking.
"I understand the finger wavy thing," Rin says. "I just can't do it." She raises her foot up to the table and wiggles her toes. "My accent makes it too hard to understand," she adds with a lazy grin. Nobody says anything else. Shizune seems rather nervous, as does Hanako. Rin takes everybody's silence as an excuse to continue. "I'm not good saying the things that I feel I want to say when I think them. I thought maybe Japanese was a bad language for that, so I've studied other ones. I know that hand wavy thing, French, and some Russian." She pauses long enough to take another drink. "It really hasn't helped. It just gave me another way to not know how to not be able to say what I think. I want to learn to speak the one they write with pictures on pyramids. I think I'd be good at that." Rin pauses in her explanation and smiles. As always, it's almost impossible to tell exactly how much of that was a joke and how much is just Rin being Rin. "So why is it funny that they probably sleep together? Me and Emi --"
"Not what you think!" Emi shouts out. Hanako has been teetering on the brink of a panic since Rin's first declaration. With Emi's outburst, she has all the incentive she needed to flee.
Lilly sighs. "I should go find her."
"Do you want me to help," I ask.
"I appreciate the offer, but she's most likely run to the ladies room. I'm afraid you can't follow us there." Lilly said. She reaches for her cane.
"Need any help?" Miki asked.
"I'll go," Misha said standing up. "It wasn't funny and I want to apologize for myself and Shicchan." Lilly seems to ponder this but Misha doesn't wait for her to make up her mind. She just takes her hand and leads her towards the restrooms.
"I'm still not seeing how it's funny," Rin says again.
"Damn. Am I the only girl at this table that's straight?' Miki directs her joking comment to nobody in particular.
"I said it's not like that!" Emi shouts.
"She gets lonely some times," Rin continues.
"You're not helping," Emi says, plucking the straw out of Rin's drink. Rin turns her head from the cup before her to the straw Emi's holding in her hand and back again.
"Umm… excuse me, but should I wait for al the food to be prepared for the group at once or do you want it as it's finished? I know I should know what to do here but…," Yuuko's arrival and interruption is well timed. I tell her just to bring it as it's done. We'll work it out from there and she quickly departs again.
With Rin, Emi, and Miki busy with their own friendly conversation and Lilly, Hanako, and Misha missing, I turn my attention to Shizune. She's slumped down in her seat looking fairly glum. She glances towards me and shrugs her shoulders as if to say, "How was I supposed to know?"
"I'm sure you didn't mean it," I say to her. She gives me an irritated look. I try saying it again slower, hoping that maybe she can understand it. She just rolls hr eyes at me and points to her ear.
Looking around, I spot something that I can work with. I take a container of toothpicks from a nearby table and start setting them in front of her. She looks at me curiously, unaware of what I'm doing until it's finished. With toothpicks, I've spelled out "It's OK". She looks at me and smiles graciously. Then she pulls out a small notepad from her pocket.
"You're very inefficient," she writes and hands it to me with a forced grin.
Borrowing her pen and pad, I write back, "I didn't know you had pen and paper." She adjusts her glasses and smiles proudly, but makes no written response.
When the pad is handed back to me again, there are several marks where she's started to say something but instead scribbled over it. "I was just joking," it says at the top. Below several scribbled out comments she's added, "I don't think the others like me." When I look over to her, her expression seems partially embarrassed at having written that and partially disappointed with herself.
It takes me a minute to think of what to say to this. Over the last couple of days, I'd probably been somewhat rough with her too. At the same time, I really don't want to side with her against Lilly. Then there's the small chance that she's just using this as a way to turn me against Lilly. While I don't think she's that manipulative, she can be hard to read sometimes.
"It wasn't a funny joke." I write, and after skipping some space on the paper, I also write, "You have a very forceful personality. It's not something everybody can handle." She reads over it a few times before looking at me and nodding her head. She seems to take that as a compliment.
"Writing love notes to each other?" Miki says. She and Emi both are looking at us rather amusedly.
"Come on. Cut us some slack," I say to the two runners.
"What fun would that be?" Miki says with a smile.
"What are they saying?" Shizune writes to me. I take the pad and jot it down real quick. Maybe that was a mistake, but it wouldn't be the first I've made. Shizune returns their look with an irritated glare of her own. "I will have to kill them now. I hope you realize this." Shizune writes back to me.
"Later," I write to Shizune.
By the time Misha, Lilly, and Hanako returned from the restroom, the rest of us were eating from a tray of sandwiches and some breadsticks that Yuuko brought over. I'm not quite sure who ordered them. I think it was either Miki or Emi. Whoever it was, they weren't complaining about having to share their meal.
"I'm … sorry if I made a s-scene and …" Hanako started to apologize before taking her seat.
"Don't worry about it," I cut in. I didn't see anything that would indicate crying so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Still, I'll have to ask about it after everybody else has left.
Shizune rolled her eyes back in her head. Making clear and obvious movements, she stood, pointed to Hanako, shook her head 'no' and firmly pointed to herself. She followed this up by slowly bowing to Hanako.
"Shicchan, if you have something to say, you could have just told me," Misha says looking at her. Even if Misha doesn't get what Shizune was trying to say, I do, and I think Hanako does as well. This wasn't something she could have had somebody else say for her. Hanako gives her a soft a meek forced smile in return.
"I feel I'm missing something," Lilly says with a curious look on her face.
"I think Shizune is just miming an apology," Emi says back to her.
"Well, Hanako?" Lilly prods her to accept the apology, not realizing that she'd already responded in her own quiet way.
"Hey! I've got an idea! Let's all just shut up and eat." Miki's voice comes out more of an announcement than a statement.
"I'm not a mime," Misha said indignantly. "I mean, Shicchan isn't a mime."
"Nobody likes me ideas," Miki mumbles to nobody in particular.
"Misha, you don't want your soup to get cold, do you? It's already been sitting there for a few minutes while you were away," I offer as an extremely obvious attempt to change the subject and avoid more fighting. Misha takes a moment to ponder her soup, and glances over at Shizune as if to ask permission to use her own mouth. Shizune has her hands full picking at a pasta dish, clearly having already put the conversation behind her. Shizune and Hanako coming to an understanding and becoming friends would have been too much to ask for, I suppose. I also suppose I could use another bite of something to eat.
"Hey! Hose are my calamari rings!" Emi says as I reach over and take some food.
"Hey! I paid for them!" I sarcastically tell her.
"Well, sure, when you're going to put in that way and be a jerk about it." Emi mumbles.
"Umm... Hanako, you want some calamari?" I ask. She hasn't eaten much since she got back, but mostly it's a transparent excuse to try to say something to her and see if she's alright.
"O-kay," she says and takes a single ring off my plate.
"You know what you people are? You're a bunch of calamari thieves," Emi growls at me. " I Wanted those, you know." Hanako stop chewing as Emi and speaks and just sits there holding half a ring in her hand and another half a ring partially chewed still in her mouth. I hear something that sounds like a slap under the table and Emi glances over at Miki. Miki gestures over at Hanako and tries her hardest not to be obvious. "Eh… I guess it's okay this time. You like those?" Emi asks. Hanako nods slightly and begins chewing again.
Yuuko returns a few more times. Each time she does, she apologizes for not having all the food ready at once.
Finally, the part I've been dreading most occurs. Yuuko arrives with the bill. Yuuko's forehead scrunches as she tries to do the math in her head. Why she hasn't used a register or at least a pocket calculator, I simply don't understand. It takes her a moment, but finally she stops writing and rips the page off. "It all comes to --" Yuuko starts.
"Hanako?" Lilly says, signalizing Hanako to reach out and grab the bill. "The gesture was enough. If you don't mind, I'll cover this. I wouldn't want to put you in the poor house on our account," Lilly says.
"Are you sure? It was my idea. I'd feel bad about having you pay for it all." What I'm saying is mostly for show. I feel I should at least pretend to object.
"My finances can handle something like this better than yours, not that I mean to brag, of course," Lilly says with a smile. She does have a point there.
Before I can say anything else, Misha rips the bill out of Hanako's hand.
"If Hisao isn't treating, then I can cover my own purchase," Misha says for Shizune.
"Very well, you can cover Misha and yourself, if you like, and I'll handle the rest of the bill." Lilly says. There's a hint of challenge in her voice, but it's lost on Shizune.
"You do quite enough, Miss Class Representative," Misha translates. "Consider this meal on the Student Council, although we won't object if you still feel the need to pay your own way."
"And here we go again," Emi sighs.
"This is one of those things were you're trying to act nice so you can hold it over our heads later and say that we owe you, isn't it?" Miki grumbles.
"I always ignore people that tell me I owe them things I don't remember owing them," Rin says.
"I know. You still owe me 2,000 yen from the weekend before last," Emi says.
"Don't remember it," comes Rin's reply. I knew it was coming, but I still chuckle anyway.
"Wahaha! She's got you on that one!" Misha laughs loudly and enthusiastically, like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. Rin just stares at her as though she can't figure out exactly why that warranted the reaction it got.
"Perhaps a compromise? A 50/50 split?" Lilly suggests.
"Umm… Did you want separate bills? I'm sorry. I thought you were paying as a group. I know. I should have asked first, I thought I heard one of you say something about that," Yuuko stammers, nervously looking at the pad she took orders on.
"It's okay. We can handle this ourselves, don't worry about it." I tell her. It doesn't seem like it did anything to relieve her worrying though. "Just give us a few minutes to figure this out." Yuuko bows and hurries to greet an older couple that has just entered the building.
"Anyway, you do that. I'm heading to the bathroom. Don't do anything interesting while I'm gone," Emi says, practically jumping out of her seat.
"She's gone. We should do something interesting," Rin says with a slight smirk.
"Any ideas?" I ask.
"Yes."
"…Okay, so what idea do you have?"
"Many ideas. Plenty of them," she says. I should have known by now to be more specific when talking to Rin.
"So, what ideas do you have for interesting things we could do while Emi is gone?" I say.
"None of the ideas I had are interesting things we could do," Rin says flatly. Well, I wasted those few seconds of my life. Rin looks down at a plate of fried potatoes slices and then back up. She nudges Miki and gestures to the food in front of her. Miki, getting her point, bites down on her sandwich and holds it hanging out of her mouth. She stabs a few pieces with a fork and holds them up for Rin to eat, a job that had previously gone to Emi.
"So, did you want me to pay for more people or a larger portion of the bill?" Lilly says to Misha, who quickly translates it. It seems their still discussing payment, which just leaves me and Hanako as the only ones not actually occupied. She's lowered her head and is trying her best to stay out of the conversation. I'm actually somewhat impressed she's stayed with us at all.
"Having fun?" I ask.
It takes her a minute to confirm that, yes, I am talking to her. "S-sure," she says softly.
"Glad one of us is," I say. She looks shocked by my statement.
"You… Y-You're not …? I'm sorry." she stumbles over the words.
"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault," I tell her, but it doesn't seem to comfort her any. Just being here is an accomplishment for her. Conversation would probably be a bit too much to as for.
"So, they way we've divided it, I'm paying for more people, but you contribute more to the cost. Is that satisfactory to you?" Lilly says. Shizune ponders it for a minute and does some quick figures on her notepad.
"We should try redividing it so we each pay closer to an equal share. How about if I, and I mean Shicchan, pays for Me, Misha, and Hanako, and Rin while you pay for Emi, Miki, and yourself." Misha says. "Oh, and when I said me and Misha, I meant Shicchan and Me!"
"No, I don't much care for that idea," Lilly says with strained irritation on her face. "Let's try one more thing…"
So, they're still discussing payment, both determined that the other wouldn't come across as having contributed more. Emi is still in the bathroom. Rin is eating. Miki …
"Doing alright today?" I ask her.
"Sure, why not?" she says as she take another forkful of food up for Rin.
"Well, that's cool," I say.
"How about you?" she asks.
"Not bad. I'm doing better these days than when I first started here, at the very least," I say.
"Good to hear. You were kinda moping around your first week."
"Well, you know. Life changing experiences and all that."
"Yeah. I know. Tell me about," she says holding up the bandaged arm that ends without a hand attached. One of these days, I'm going to have to ask her about how that happened. Right now, it just doesn't seem like we know each other well enough for any real conversation.
"I'm doing good," Rin says, deciding to join out pitiful attempts at conversation. "Better than two days ago. I'm not sure about yesterday. I don't remember it that well. Defiantly better than last Thursday. Or maybe it was the Thursday before that. It was a Thursday though. I felt like one. Unless it just felt like a Thursday and really wasn't. Have there been any days that felt like Thursdays recently?"
"Not that I know of." I say.
"Probably a Thursday then." I can tell any attempts to get a decent conversation here are just going to be doomed to failure.
At some point Emi comes back. At some point Hanako leaves for the restroom, comes back, and leaves again. At some point, I run out of those little sandwiches that I enjoy so much. At no point does Lilly and Shizune arrive at an agreement to who pays for what and how much. I wasn't aware there were that many ways one could actually spit a bill, but apparently they've managed. I excuse myself to the restroom. Not to use it, but just to sit in there a few minutes away from the table.
I've never actually been in the restroom of the Shanghai before. It's really nice. It's spacious; it has that fake wood paneling wallpaper, and one of those automatic air fresheners that spay potpourri into the room at certain intervals. What it doesn't have is a working hand drier or paper towels. I always feel like such a slob when I have to dry off my hands on my shirt, but that's what I eventually do.
I get back in time to see Rin, Emi, and Miki saying a few words to Yuuko before leaving. I kinda wish I could do the same myself. Lilly and Shizune look ready to go for each other's throats. Hanako has sunken about as far down in her seat as possible without hiding under the table. Misha also looks like she'd rather be anywhere but here.
"I can pay, you know. I'm okay with it." I'd really rather not, but I don't want to see them fighting either. This might be the only way to handle it without bloodshed.
"It's okay," Lilly says.
"We insist," Misha translates at almost exactly the same time.
I sit there for a few minutes toying with the last little scraps left on the plates and help myself to what's left of Rin's drink. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it's really fruity. Shizune have reached the point where their debate is more an exchange of insults than any attempt at trying to reach a compromise.
Looking over at Hanako, I get an idea.
"Lilly?" I whisper after tapping her on the shoulder. "I think Hanako needs to leave. I'm going to go walk her back to the dorms. Okay?" For once, I'm thankful for her remarkable sense of hearing, since I have to whisper it soft enough where Hanako can't hear me, despite the fact that she's sitting right next to Lilly.
"Thank you," Lilly says back. "I can manage my way back myself," she says before resuming her argument with Shizune. I hate taking advantage of them both like this, but this is getting us nowhere.
"Come on, Hanako. Let's go. Lilly says she'll catch up later," I tell Hanako taking her by the arm and leading her towards Yuuko and the door. "Hey, Yuuko. About the check, Shizune and Lilly said they were going to cover it."
"Umm.. Thank you, but your other friend, I'm afraid I didn't catch her name, the girl who doesn't have arms. She already paid. I hope that's okay." Yuuko says before panic sets in again. "I'm sorry. Was she not supposed to? I didn't know. Nobody tells me these things."
I pause and look back over at Lilly and Shizune, still caught up in their argument. "Do you think we should tell them?"
"L-let's just go." Hanako says.
Last edited by Oddball on Sat Nov 10, 2012 6:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
[ ] -- Wait until I see Misha in class next and ask her then. No sense going out of my way for this, right?
After thinking about it for a bit, I decide that I've already had enough interaction with Misha to last me the day. I can offer to buy her a meal next time I see her in class. She's probably just happy to get her clothes back anyway. It's not as if she's expecting anything.
I arrive early to our next homeroom so I can talk with Misha before class starts. Of course, she and Shizune don't arrive until right before the bell, so that plan is wasted. I keep waiting for group work, but I'm let down on that front too.
A few minutes before the bell, Mutou finally finishes his lecture. Having said everything he intended to, he gives a defeated look at the clock. Unceremoniously, he takes his seat and begins to grade papers leaving us all to our own devices. It doesn't take long before the whispering in class turns into a dull roar.
Maybe I'm putting in more thought into this than I need, but just by her labeling her clothes, Misha managed to help me immensely. I lean over in my seat to try to get her attention but that doesn't exactly help. It's not until I flick an eraser at her ear that she actually turns to me.
"Hicchan! How are you doing?" Misha responds to me happily, ignoring the unpleasantness from before and the eraser to the head that just happened.
"Oh. I'm cool. Hey listen--" I stop myself as I notice her signing everything to Shizune as usual. "Could you not sign for a minute?"
She looks at me curiously, and signs a few things to Shizune, who signs back. Shizune seems a tad aggravated but Misha laughs at whatever it is she's signing. "Shicchan has agreed to give us our privacy," Misha says with another joyful laugh. Shizune must have an odd definition of privacy. While Misha isn't signing anymore, Shizune is still sitting there glaring right at me. I'm fairly sure she can't read lips, so she's either trying to stare me down until I let Misha sign again or she's trying to make my head explode.
"You were a big help the other day," I decide not to mention exactly how she helped. This is hard enough as it is. "So I was thinking, maybe I could pay you back somehow. How about I treat you to a meal?"
"Are you asking me out, Hicchan?" Misha replies. Much of her normal bouncy energy is missing from her face. She seems both curious and confused.
"No. No. Nothing like that. I just thought we could do something as friends." I answer a bit too quickly. Shizune has picked up a book and is trying to make it seem like she doesn't care what we're discussing, but it's obvious she's not reading it. She keeps peering out of the corner of her eyes at Misha and me.
"Oh! I get it. This is just a friend thing because of the things!" She pinches the fabric of her blouse and rubs it between her fingers to clarify. I notice a slight nod from Shizune. Even without signing, Misha apparently can't help but give her clues. "Miki, Hanako, come here!" Misha yells.
Oh no. I have an idea where this is going and it is not good.
Mutou looks up from his magazine for a second. If he intended to say anything, the lunch bell cuts him off. Miki springs over and takes a seat on top of an empty desk nearby, which earns her a displeased look from Shizune. "What's up?" she asks.
"I'll tell her that in just a second, Shicchan," Misha says in response to Shizune's signing. Hanako slumps further down in her chair and looks around nervously. She might not be sure whether to stay or flee, but she certainly isn't coming over. Not that it matters. Misha talks loud enough to be heard all the way across the class anyway, especially now that everyone has left class or is in the process of leaving. "Hicchan has just agreed to buy us all dinner!"
"What?"
I had expected Misha to call them all over to brag that she was getting a free meal and they weren't. This… this might actually be worse. I'm not sure how she jumped from me just wanting to talk to her alone to thinking I was taking them all out for food, but that's Misha for you, I suppose.
"Awesome. Free food," Miki grins widely. "So, when are we going?"
"Shicchan and me have reports due tomorrow, so it'll have to be the day after," Misha says. "No. Those reports aren't due until next week. We are free of all normal obligations this week. That's even better!" It takes a moment for Miki to catch that Misha went from talking for herself then for Shizune and back again. Misha seems to have gone back to signing and Shizune seems quite enthusiastic about the meal. Well, that's one way to make a bad situation worse.
"I'm good for tomorrow," Miki replies back. "Any idea where we're going?"
"This is a special occasion. Really, Shicchan? Of course, you're right! Whenever anybody offers to take you out to eat it's a special occasion. We're going to have to pick some place nicer than the usual dining est-ab-lish-ments we frequent." I watch Miki's head turn from Misha to Shizune as she tries to figure out which one is 'talking'. She doesn't seem to be able to follow Misha's sudden personality changes well.
How did I end up excluded from this conversation anyway? I look over at Hanako. Even she seems interested in what's going on, although she still isn't getting up from her seat to join us.
"Whoa, hey, hold up," I try to cut in, but despite being the one that's supposedly paying for it, nobody pays me any attention. There's no way I can afford taking them all out to eat even if I did intend to do so. Which I don't.
"We just need to pick out a nice place to spend Hicchan's money. It needs to be something special." Misha says. Shizune and Miki both have contemplative looks on their faces. It looks completely out of place on Miki.
"How about--" I start, but when I realize nobody is listening to me, I don't even bother continuing. It's okay. I was just going to suggest NOT going anywhere.
"Maybe Rin or Emi have some good ideas," Miki says thoughtfully before quickly amending her statement to, "Maybe just Emi. Hmm… What about--" Miki points to Shizune.
Misha and Shizune quickly sign back to each other. "No good. Shicchan mostly eats fast food. She doesn't know any good actual restaurants in the area, but she's okay with just about anything. Just no healthy places. … No. That was no health food places."
"Guys?" I try to interject again. "Hello?"
"Oh, you have some ideas?" Misha asks. From her expression, it seems like she already forgot I was here.
"No, but --"
"Then let us figure this out. That's the least we can do!" Misha exclaims happily. I don't understand how Misha can do it. She almost makes it sound like they're doing me a favor picking a restaurant that I hadn't even asked them to.
The sound of a book slapping down on the desk a little too hard to be casual startles us all. "I'll be back in a little while," Mutou says as he gets up from his seat and heads to the door. "I'm going down the hall to the vending machine. I need some … vending."
He gives us a look that either means, "Was that obvious enough?" or perhaps, "It's the best I can come up with." Reading his face and tone of voice was always hard. It's like he's a robot. Or an Alien. Or a robot alien. Something that only vaguely understands how human interaction is supposed to work and is doing his best to fake it. Regardless, he noticed our discussion and this is his way of letting us know that he wants nothing to do with it.
'"You do realize that --" I try butting my way back into the conversation as the door closes behind Mutou.
"Don't worry about it, Hicchan. If anybody asks we'll just say the reason we're hanging out together is official student council business," Misha cuts me off managing to both incorrectly guess what I was going to say as well as providing an excuse that nobody is likely to believe.
"Not what I wanted to say. I was --"
"We're teasing. Mostly. Don't worry. We're not trying to pick out a place that will break your wallet or anything." Miki takes her turn at interrupting me.
For the next few minutes, they discuss restaurants. Every time I try to cut in, I just get shut right back out. Each time my frustration grows just a little bit more. I mean, it's my money their talking about spending. Even if I had wanted to buy them all dinner, which I most certainly didn't, I should at least get some say in where we'd be going, but talking to this group is like talking to a wall, a wall that keeps telling me to shut up.
Maybe it's Misha suggesting we go to the city to eat and I pay everybody's bus fare. Maybe it's Miki asking if she can invite an extra friend. Maybe it's something else or maybe it's all of it, but before I even realize I'm doing it, I feel my fist slam down against the desk and hear and my voice yelling.
"I'm not taking you all out! I never said I was! I was going to ask Misha to get something to eat because she wrote her name on her clothes! That's all! Somehow, I got it into my head that I owed her! I don't even know why!"
"What about us?" Miki asks.
"Forget it. You've all caused me enough trouble. Hell, you've nearly killed me several times already. I think I've been more than considerate. I don't think I owe you anything more than I've already given you!"
"It's at least partially your fault, you know," somebody says. It might have been Misha. It might have been Miki. It might have been the third Emperor of China's Ghost. I don't know. I don't care. It's like there's a filter of pure anger that disconnecting me from everything going on around me.
All the rage and frustration I have felt over the last several days was coming out and it felt good. "In fact. In fact, I'm glad! You were all naked, and in my room, and I saw just about everything! And I was still nice to you. You were completely at my mercy and didn't say or do anything! I was nice. I was a decent guy! And I've been given grief ever since for it. Can you give me one good reason I shouldn't go to the cafeteria right now and scream about you all running naked from the boys' showers into my room?" A painful spike in my chest punctuated my statement, telling me I was getting myself too worked up, but I wasn't done yet. "So rather--,"
"Hey!" a tired voice announces her presence, cutting me off. Suzu's hand was in the air, although she didn't bother to lift her head from the desk. Apparently, she had chosen to stay in class while everybody else left us to our discussion. Shit. "For the record, I didn't hear anything about your kinky sex games. I don't want to know and I don't care. Just keep it down, okay? If I don't get my lunch nap, I'm not going to be able to stay awake for afternoon classes." Shit. Again. "Oh, and anyone of you that tries taking my clothes while I'm asleep gets a punch in the face." There's a slight grin on her face that suggests the last comment was at least partly a joke, but I don't think there's a single one of us standing here that doesn't have a red face… except maybe for Hanako. She seems to have ran off at some point when I wasn't looking. "Thanks. Appreciate it," Suzu adds in response to our silence and quickly goes back to sleep.
"Think anybody would notice if we took her off into the woods and 'lost' her?" Miki whispers.
Through the rest of the day, I noticed Shizune giving me some dirty looks. Considering how much Misha was laughing, I'm sure she was making fun of me as well. I went a bit too far with some of those things I said. Somehow just saying I'm sorry doesn't seem good enough. My hand still hurts a little bit from hitting the desk too, which only makes it worse.
Somehow, I manage to make it through the day, but the next couple of days don't improve. They're all avoiding me. I see them whispering and giggling to each other, but they clam up when I get close. Even Hanako and Lilly seem a bit uncomfortable around me, which really hurt.
A few days pass and suddenly it's over, just like that. Emi brings me a bag lunch that she personally made, Misha and Shizune apologize, Lilly invites me back to the team room for lunch again, and generally everybody is just really being really nice to me. Really really nice. It's so sweet it's almost creepy. I think I might actually prefer them being mad at me.
Either way, I feel guilty. Even after trying to say I'm sorry, it feels like I haven't done enough to make it up to them. Of course I don't have the slightest idea what I'd have to do for it to be "enough," anyway.
The final bell rings, ending the day of overly sugary kindness and I cannot wait to get back to my room. Maybe in a few more days that will die down too and things will actually be back to normal again. I suppose I could also got to the supermarket and pick up some stuff to make a picnic out of. It's not exactly taking them all out to eat, but at least it'd show them I'm trying to put forth some effort. Plus, unlike taking them all out, it's affordable.
As I walk back to my dorm, I see Hanako, who had skipped class that day, sitting on the stairs out front. "Hey, Hanako," I say walking up. I can only hope she's not acting as "sweet" as the others are.
"Oh. Umm… Hello, Hisao." She says trying to decide whether she should look at me or not and changing her mind several times.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"Oh. N-nothing," she stammers. She quickly gets to her feet as she speaks. "I-I have to be going. Now."
"Well, have a nice day," I wave to her as she walks away.
"Take care." She says as she waves back. Well, that felt somewhat close to normal. Although from her nervous way of talking, it almost sounded more like a warning than a goodbye.
I walk up the stairway towards my room. I just want to take a shower, go to bed, and get this day over with. Judging by the ruckus coming from his room, Kenji is either practicing his slam dancing again or playing his own unique brand of in-door one-man dodge ball. Either way, I want nothing to do with it. I just hope he's done by the time I'm ready to turn in.
A short while later, there's hot water spraying across my body as I bob my head and sing about doing my little turn on the catwalk. After the last several days of stress and embarrassment, things are on the road to getting back to normal. It's a good comforting feeling and I needed that kind of thing, even if I am too sexy for this song.
I stop singing for a moment as I let the refreshing shower water beat directly against my face. The way it water splashed across my face almost sounds like laughter.
… No. Wait. That is somebody giggling, followed by a "shhh" sound. I freeze. There's some grunting and a loud thump, then nothing. There's nothing I can do but stand here waiting with nothing but a washcloth to cover my enormous package. … Nothing happens. … I guess I'm just being jumpy. Thing have been hectic lately. Maybe my nerves are playing tricks on me.
I continue my shower without singing. A few minutes later, I step out and immediate wish I hadn't. There are two things wrong with this picture before me. One is the lack of anything that could be considered "my clothes" the other is the unwanted presence of Kenji tied, gagged, and wearing nothing but his briefs and socks.
There's a look of total abject terror on his face. I pull the tape away from his mouth and he immediately starts screaming. "Code Epsilon! Pink Alert! Wonder Woman is in the Batcave! I repeat, Wonder Woman is in the Batcave!" I put the tape back over his mouth and decide to untie him first.
Whoever had done those knots did a good job, but I eventually manage to loosen them. Naturally, the first thing he does when his hands are free is to rip the tape back off his mouth again.
"Worst case scenario, man! It's begun! It has begun!" Kenji has stopped screaming, but the panic is obvious in his voice. "I knew it. I knew it all along and they still caught me off guard!"
"Kenji, just shut up for a moment," I say. For a second, I'm about to ask him what happened, but I'm not sure I want to hear his take on it. I'm afraid there might actually be some truth in it this time. "Just give me one of your socks." I say.
"What?" He says as he looks at me. Looking at me covering my massive endowment with a small washcloth, he finally understands. "You're not sticking your dick in my sock!" He exclaims. "I don't know what you've been doing with that thing! If I let you do this, my foot will never feel clean again." Way to make this feel weird, Kenji.
I turn my back to him and walk over to the door. "Not funny!" I shout. "Joke's over. Come on now." I can hear something on the other side of the door but they aren't answering.
"Are you ready to make like Butch and Sundance?" Kenji gravely puts his hand on my shoulder. I have no clue what he's talking about. I just know that male bonding feels much more uncomfortable when neither of you are wearing pants. The talk about being butch and dancing isn't helping things
"Please don't touch me." I brush his hand away. We stand there in silence for a moment before moving to the door. I push it open with one hand; the other hand keeps the washcloth in place over my impressive well-endowedness.
Shizune, Misha, Miki, Rin, Emi, and Lilly are standing there in the hallway. Smiling. "It's all about revenge, Hicchan!" Misha announces.
"I'll kill you!" Kenji screamed. "I'll kill you and all your favorite daytime soaps! I will personally rape everything you have ever loved. Do you realize how much rape that is? By the time I'm done, you're going to look at my dick and feel sorry for me!" Realizing what he said, he quickly adds, "You know what I mean." I put my arm up to hold Kenji back. Unfortunately, I use my washcloth-holding arm. I quickly apply my free hand to cover my exposed somewhat-above-averageness. "Come on, Hisao. There are only six of them and two of us. We outnumber them."
Hmm… what are the chances we can overpower them and making them gives us back our stuff? Let's see… If anybody hits me, I'll probably die. That leaves Kenji. Looking at Kenji's scrawny body, I'm not even sure he could even beat Rin in an arm wrestling contest. Yeah, I'd say the odds are not in our favor.
"We were talking after your outburst the other day, and we decided that if you had your own embarrassing story, you'd be less likely to blab ours to anybody." Miki says.
I'm having some doubts about her use of the word "all". They seem to be missing somebody. At least Hanako was still on my side. It didn't help me now, but it was something.
"In truth, it was Hanako's idea. She thought that would make everybody even. Regrettably, she couldn't bring herself to take part in the fun," Lilly says. I hate Hanako so much right now.
"Come on. Please? Fun is fun. You've had your laughs," I plead with them. They just keep smiling and watching me squirm… Wait. "Lilly? Come on! You can't even be getting anything out of this!"
"Hmm… I suppose you do have a point. I would have to use my hands to 'see' you." She smiles mischievously.
"Next person that touches me pulls back a stump!" Kenji shouts. Immediately, he's slammed against the wall by Miki and Emi. "Oh come on. What do you want? Did you honestly expect political correctness at a time like this?"
Rin walks over and stomps on his foot. "I didn't want to feel left out," she says, never dropping her deadpan expression.
"Turn about is fair play!" Misha exclaims doing a decent job matching Shizune's smug expression with her words. "Still glad it happened?"
"We have an embarrassing story, now you have an embarrassing story. Now neither of us has any reason to talk." Emi's voice sounds cute, but her expression is another story. I didn't even know she could look that vicious.
"Fun is fun, but I really do have things I have to do today," Lilly directs the words more towards her group than towards Kenji and myself. The girls huddled together. I can only make out what Misha is saying and it's not enough for me to grasp the conversation.
"It's a good thing you're holding me back, Hisao, or things could get nasty!" Kenji growls softly.
"I'm not holding you back," I say flatly.
"Yeah, but you would," he replies.
"Oh by the way, your clothes are back in your rooms. If you're done being ogled by cute girls, you can go get them whenever you want," Misha says.
"It's all in good fun, you understand," Lilly says as she walks off.
"Yeah. Nothing personal," Miki adds.
Kenji and I both race away from them without another word. As I run, I realize I'm doing nothing to cover my bare butt. Somebody whistles at me. I look back but they've already started to depart. There was no way to tell which of them had been my 'admirer'.
Well, I guess we're even now, or at least even from their point of view. I suppose that's about as good as it's going to get.
The End?
…
…
…
"Hey… My door is locked. You got the key to your room?" I say shaking the knob.
"Yeah. I keep it in the secret pocket of my underpants." When I don't respond, he continues. "… That was sarcasm by the way." It's so hard to tell with him sometimes.
"Oh." There's an awkward pause between us. The kind of awkward pause that can only happen between two men locked out of their rooms and naked. "You can't by any chance pick locks, can you?"
"What? Yeah, of course I can pick locks," Kenji says seemingly disgusted at me questions his abilities.
When he doesn't do anything, I try to prompt him. He can't be that clueless. "Okay. Then go ahead. Pick the lock."
"I can't," he says.
"You just said you could."
"What you think I can just use a hairpin or something? That's how girls pick locks! Too unreliable. What would I be doing with a hairpin anyway? I'm not one of those pretty boy dresser-wearing guys. Nah, guys can do better than that. If you're prepared, you'll have a full kit of lock picking tools, like I do." I try to prevent myself from groaning as he talks. The only thing more unsettling than a Kenji explanation is a Kenji explanation when you're both naked.
"Okay… so, are you going to use it to pick the lock then?"
"Can't. It's in my room." He says dully, taking a seat by his door. I'm almost ready to cry when I see another figure lethargically moving down the hallway towards us, a figure wearing nothing but light blue panties and a matching bra.
"They got me too." Suzu says. "Here." She holds out her hands and drops two keys into my hand. The numbers on them match the numbers on our rooms.
"Where did you get these?" Kenji asks. He seems to be debating with himself whether he's more worried abut somebody having a key to his room or more relived that he could put clothes on again.
"Miki gave me these just after she jumped me." She said with about as much energy and enthusiasm as I'd ever seen from her, which is none.
"She did what?" I asked to clarify.
"She loves her pranks. Why do you think my hair is blue? Although I have a feeling that you and your freaky sex games have something to do with this one." Suzu says leaning against the wall. "I'd rather be left out of them next time, if you don't mind."
"Yeah. Um… sorry about that. I'm really really sorry. You can borrow some of my clothes," I say.
"And I've got a bottle of lukewarm whiskey in my room. I think we could all use that just as much." Kenji said. I could not agree with him more.
"I just want you to know, this wasn't my idea. I had nothing to do with it. You're a nice girl and I don't have anything against you…," trying to apologize seems to be a new favorite pass time of mine.
"Let's save the flirting until after we get clothes on," she says with a yawn. "And stop pointing that thing at me."
Oddball wrote:[* ] -- See if Misha wants to go get something to eat right now.[/b]
I loved this end.
I liked the Miki route too, but Misha's route was more likely to happen.
I discovered some minor typos in the "Everyone is waiting at the Shanghai route", but not serious enough to be quoted. ^^ That one is my favorite btw.
I also loved the "Feminist attack" in the "Revenge route".
And with that being said, would you mind putting links to all chapters in the first post of this thread? It would save a lot of time when I want to read it again.
Last edited by OtakuNinja on Sat Nov 10, 2012 10:10 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Emibro, Hanabro, [Lilly Lover], Rin Kin, Feminist, Two-timer
(Passively working on my KS YouTube series. Someday...)
All things must end, my friend. Just remember the good times you had with it, like that one time when you read it, then that other time when you read some more, and that other time when you read some of it.
And it'll still be here anytime you want to come back and read it again.
I also want to say that the "Feminist attack" in the "Revenge route" was hilarious. You really should write more stuff like that. A realistic Kenji vs feminists fanfic would be awesome to read.
Emibro, Hanabro, [Lilly Lover], Rin Kin, Feminist, Two-timer
(Passively working on my KS YouTube series. Someday...)
