Breaking the Sound Barrier [Update: 2/26]

[Dr.Worm]

Chapter 2: No One Knows My Plan Part 2
”Why the dancing, shouting, why the shrieks of pain? The lovely music? Why the smell of burning autumn leaves?”

This is bad. This is bad. This is bad.

I glance over my shoulder for the hundredth time as I head down the hall. I don't want Shizune or Misha seeing me panicking like this. It was bad enough I have seizures in front of them every so often, but this is worse. My lungs aren't working. My heart is threatening to burst out from my ribs and leave this hallway looking like one of those weird abstract expressionist paintings with the splatters and the dripping.

Miki's room is too far away and I don't know if she'll be any help now.

The door to Molly's room flies open after the first knock. And it isn't Molly that answers it like I would normally expect it to be. It is her room after all.

"G-Good. You're h-here too." I stutter. Another glance over my shoulder. Nope. No one else in the hall.

Miki leans against the door frame. With her arms crossed, she smirks at me. Wonderful. We'll be having the usual here. "Is that sarcasm I hear in your voice, Yuuto?"

"No. I'm actually happy to see you for once." I run my hand through my hair. Another glance down the hall to make sure Shizune hasn't sent Misha after me. They said I was supposed to leave the girl's dormitory after our meeting.

"For once?" Miki holds her hand to her chest. I can't tell if she's faking being offended or is actually offended. I hope she's faking it. I don't have time to deal with it.

"Miki, will you let me in please?" I indicate into the room with my hand.

Miki steps out of my way and waves me in. I shut the door behind me and finally let out a pent of sigh of relief. First problem tackled. Now to get onto the bad problem. The one that's got my chest tightening up and has each breath getting shorter and shorter.

Molly's room is kind of like Shizune's, if you were to take all the blue I just saw and replaced it with yellow. A bed with pale yellow sheets. Desk, with two of those little handheld videogame systems that she's always playing. A school issued lamp. Some books. It kind of smells like oranges. One of those air fresheners, probably.

"Y-Y-Yuuto!" Molly's currently sitting on her bed, prosthetics leaning against the wall. She pulls against the hem of her skirt, trying to hide as much of her thighs as possible from me.

"Uh... yes?"

Oh. Right. Embarrassment. I can count the number of times I've seen Molly without her prosthetic legs on one hand.

Miki waltzes past me and flops backwards onto Molly's bed. She lets out a puff of air, blowing her bangs from her face.

"Molly's embarrassed cause we were gonna lotion and massage her bits." She explains.

...

"Her what?" My face heats up. Great. Now I have to be embarassed on top of panicking.

"M-M-Miki!" Molly swats at the other girl on the bed.

"What? Oh," Miki sits up and waves the thoughts away. "Her leg stumps. Or whatever. Get your mind out of the gutter, Yuuto."

I shake my head. There really isn't time for this.

"So what brings you to Molly's room? You've been here, like, never." Miki falls back again.

Okay, Yuuto. You've got this. Deep breath. Just let Miki know that you're about to throw a wrench into her plans and that also there's the other thing that Shizune asked you to do. Just try not to think about it so hard because maybe that's how people get seizures to start too.

"I talked to Shizune and Misha today about coming to the restaurant." I try to get comfortable in the school's manufactured "non-comfort" oriented desk chairs.

"Really?" Molly scoots closer to me on her bed. "What did they say?"

"Man, I told you to do that ages ago. What's taking you so long?" Miki stretches her arms over her head and pops her back. "At this rate, we'll have graduated before you ask her out."

"Well I've been busy." I sigh. Funny. I really have been busy and it's running me ragged. I don't know how I am going to last at the restaurant when I'm so tired all the time. With my luck, I'll have a seizure while on the ladder, cleaning the ceiling tiles in the kitchen or something.

"That's what we call an "excuse" in the business of getting shit done, you lo-Ow! Molly!" Miki's remark turns into a yelp of pain.

Molly smacks Miki on the back of the head again, pouting at her.

"Yuuto has been busy! We haven't even seen him since Tanabata!" She scolds.

Miki covers the back of her head with both hands, fending off more attacks from our usually reserved friend.

"Stop!"

Whack.

"Molly!"

Whack.

"Seriously! Cut it out, Molly!"

"Stop picking on Yuuto then!"

Miki grabs both of Molly's slender wrists in one hand and holds them up, above their heads. Molly glares up at her and I have to force laughter back down my throat. Molly can't do mad. She just looks like we grounded her.

"Thanks so much, Yuuto, for making Molly all feisty and demanding." Miki groans, rubbing the back of her head.

"Me? What? How did I do that?" Are we seriously going to start this now? I came here to talk to them and try to calm myself down. But no, Miki's going to be Miki and annoy the shit out of me, Isn't she?

Miki shoves Molly back and the small girl tumbles back onto her bed with a shriek. Her hands shoot down to her skirt to keep it from flying up. But her whole body bounces up as Miki plops back down onto the bed.

"Well, it sure wasn't me. So it had to be you."

"Or her boyfriend." I add.

"Please. Molly won't even call him her boyfriend, even though he totally is her boyfriend." She shoots Molly a smirk. Wonderful. She's going to pick on Molly too.

She grins at me.

"And, by the way, I totally walked in on him grabbing her butt the other da-"

Molly rockets back up into a sitting position and starts swinging open palms at Miki's head again. Laughing, Miki fends off the attacks until Molly slows down and drops her hands.

"You're such a jerk, Miki!" Molly shrieks.

Miki shrugs.

"Why? You should be proud, Molly. Yuuto here can't even ask a girl out and you're getting felt up." She pokes Molly in the forehead. The girl, not balanced at all on her shortened legs, falls back onto the bed.

I turn away from them, as to not see anything of Molly I don't want to see.

"Gotta live vicariously through at least one of you. And Yuuto here is dragging his feet at the edge of the dating pool."

I sigh.

"You could get a boyfriend of your own." I suggest.

Miki groans, her head drooping down as the noise escapes her. "Puuuuh-lease, like I have enough time for a relationship of my own when I have to make sure Molly is being treated right and having to hold your hand through this Shizune crap."

Crap. Right. There's the sour feeling in the pit of my stomach again. Amazing how Miki can annoy me enough in a few minutes to just forget about it. I pull Molly's desk chair out and sit down in front of them.

"Right. Speaking of that, I-" Miki cuts me off before I can get any further.

"Got them to come to the restaurant. Yeah. You said that already." Miki waves her hand at me.

I can feel my temper flare up for a brief moment. Digging my fingernails into my palms manages to get it back down into the pit of my stomach.

"A-Actually, he just said he talked to them about it, Miki." Molly pokes her in the shoulder.

Miki tilts her head to the side, frowning. "Yeah, but they said yes. Otherwise he would have come into your room in a bad mood."

"Oh. I guess that's true." Molly removes her finger from Miki's shoulder.

"I mean this could be a bad mood, because it's Yuuto, but-"

GAH! Forget this.

"As I was saying, they agreed to come help us for my parent's anniversary. But I have to leave a day earlier with them-"

"What? Leave early? Why? Why do you have to leave early?" Miki sputters out, eyes widening. "You better be joking. I hate riding the train alone."

I clamp my hand over Miki's mouth.

"Because we're going to Shizune's home first."

Molly gasps. Miki rocks from side to side in place until I move my hand.

"That's exciting!" Molly claps her hands together.

"That's... dude. Ugh." Miki scratches the back of her head. "That's not good."

I cover my face with my hands and groan into them. That was what I was afraid Miki would say. And it isn't even the worst thing I have to tell them.

"It's just meeting her family. What's so bad about that? Yuuto's met your family before." Molly looks between the two of us for answers. I sigh and hold my hand out to Miki for the explanation.

"It's bad because Yuuto makes really, really strong first impressions." Miki explains to Molly. "Not the good kind of strong impressions either."

"Oh." Molly frowns at me.

"I'm pretty sure that'll be okay." I hold up both my hands in an attempt to reassure them. Or me. Not too sure who it's for at this point. "I'm more of an excuse for Shizune to not spend time with some family that's visiting. Apparently she doesn't get along with her cousin."

Miki snorts.

"Have you offered punching them?"

Molly hits Miki over the back of her head.

"Quit it, Mol-Mol!"

"Stop being such a you then." Molly crosses her arms over her chest and tries on her best stern look.

Miki sort of shrinks into herself.

"Actually, the worst thing is what she wants me to do tomorrow." I press on.

Miki perks up again. Even Molly looks excited for whatever I'm about to tell them.

"Shizune wants me to take her shopping. For presents for my family." My chest feels lighter now that I finally get that off of it. Now just to see what these two can whip up with it.

"So?" Miki rolls her eyes. "It's not like you'll be alone with her. Misha's gonna be there."

"Misha isn't coming." And that's the bad part.

"That's surprising. Shizune's little translator is staying behind? Why?" Miki raises an eyebrow.

"Because Shizune told her that she needs to fill in for me. I was supposed to finish up some stuff with Satou for her class paperwork before summer break and check back in with the Newspaper club and their new computer. But because she needs my help to decide what gifts to buy my family, Misha got volunteered to pick up the slack."

"Got volunteered?" Molly asks.

"Yeah. It's Shizune, Mol-Mol," Miki pats her on the shoulder. "It's more of a volun-told sort of deal with her. Like when we volunteered to help with the stand-building."

"So, once again, as I was saying, that means I'm technically going on a date with Shizune." It does, right?

"Y-You're just going sh-shopping, Yuuto." Molly says.

"Soooo yeah, you kind of are." Miki crushes the ease in me to crumbling nerves.

"Craaaaaaap." I place my face in my hands.

"And that's not really a bad thing, so relax, you moron." Miki pushes herself off the bed and paces back and forth in front of me. Molly watches us in silence, fingers tracing the hem of her skirt.

"You'll be alone with Shizune, which you said you don't get to do very often." Miki starts and turns on her heel. Back the other way.

"Right. So, are you saying that I should-"

"So this is what you do." Miki places her hand on the top of my head and squeezes. I wince and cringe, waiting for the bad news or the painful ideas to come flowing out of Miki's mouth. "You go shopping with her. Get some lunch and ice cream or something and you have a good time."

That's it?

"What? That's it?" That can't be it. There has to be more.

"That's it man. It's just shopping. You're not taking her to a love hotel or anything."Miki wheels around and points her stumped wrist at Molly.

"Don't hit me. I'm making a good point." She warns.

Molly lowers her hand.

"Uhm, that's really it?" I ask. It certainly doesn't sound like that's it.

"Yeah. Just have a good time. Maybe buy her something cute." Miki waves her hand at me again. Dismissing me. Dismissing me when I'm obviously worked up about something she started.

"But it's a date, right? Do I tell I like her or anything?" There's got to be more.

Miki squeezes my head harder.

"No, you do not tell her, you giant moron." She lets go of my head and flicks me in the temple. "That's stupid and would ruin the flow of my super awesome plan to get you two together. Besides, you could just be going shopping. And for gifts for your folks, too. Bad timing."

"Speaking of your plan, do you think it might be time to tell me it?" I massage my temple with two fingers. Right. The plan. The plan that only Miki knows.

"She h-hasn't even told me, Yuuto." Molly pipes up. "And Miki tells me everything."

Miki nods and circles behind me. Both her hand and wrist are placed on my shoulders as she leans down next to my ear. It takes a lot of willpower to not shove her off me.

"Step one was you working up the balls to ask the girls to your place. And despite you almost messing up the delicate balance of my plans by going to Shizune's house first, we're moving onto step two."

"Which is?" I'm worried about all the steps in this plan.

"So, step two is that you three come back to the restaurant, we work for your parents and and I'll sweet talk them into letting us initiate step three." Miki holds up three fingers.

"And step three is-"

"Step three is the most crucial part of the plan." Miki grabs my hair and pulls my head back. I'm forced to stare up at her chin as she throws her stump in front of us.

"And that is?" Let go of my hair, Miki. Let it go. Let it go. You're making me mad.

"After your parents leave that evening, we throw a party." She waves her missing hand in a wide arc.

I suppose she wants me to be impressed. Pretty funny. I don't know what part of this sounded like a good idea to her.

"So, basically, I ask you for help and you turn it into an excuse to throw a party." I get out through my clenched jaw.

"No. I'm helping you."

"By throwing a party?"

"Yes."

"Molly, is Miki helping me?"

"W-Well it sort of s-sounds like..." She tugs on her braids.

Miki lets go of my hair and sighs.

"I am helping you. And a party just happens to be the best thing for that."

Yeah. No. Nope. I'm done getting mad. I'm mad now.

"Well forgive me for thinking that you're being selfish!"

"Selfish?!" Miki roars. "I'm doing this for you!"

Alright. Time for a shouting match! Good. I haven't been able to have one of these all year so far. Miki and I have been too busy. At least this time there's a good reason and it isn't because Miki thinks I'm taking her underwear from the laundry. If anyone was taking clothes from anyone else, it was probably the girl wearing one of my spare uniform shirts.

"Right, sure. Because what I want is to throw a party at my parent's restaurant." I stand from the chair and try my best to loom over Miki. It's difficult since we're practically the same height.

"Uhm, g-guys..." Molly squeaks.

"Well maybe if you got your head out of your ass and listened to my plan-" Miki gets on her tip-toes and practically butts heads with me.

"Why don't you pull your head out of your ass and actually help me instead of fulfilling your own selfish desires?" I actually knock my forehead against Miki's.

"Please. If it weren't for me goading you, you would be sitting in your room right now, eating your insides out because you don't have the balls to ask out a girl!" Miki jabs me in the chest with two fingers.

That's it. We're past mad now. We've moved onto the territory of being "pissed". I shove Miki back. She stumbles back and growls at me.

"I wouldn't be worrying about it, Miki, if you hadn't been such an idiot at Tanabata and-"

One of Molly's pillows hits me in the face. I fall back into the chair, completely caught off guard by the attack.

"Do you two do anything but argue?" A little shrill voice breaks the silence.

Molly holds up her other pillow and shakes it at Miki.

"I'm t-tired of hearing it every day! We b-barely get to spend any time t-together anymore and the two of you just spend wh-what little time we scrape up picking on each other!" Molly howls at me.

"Well, if Miki would just actually help me instead of-" I shoot a glare at the girl standing.

The other pillow hits me in the face.

"Miki and I don't have to h-help you! So stop being a j-jerk!"

"You know what?" I stand up again, throwing both pillows from my lap as I do. That's it. I'm done with this. Miki isn't helping me and now Molly's taken her side and-

Molly glares at me from her spot on the bed. Fists clenched. Jaw locked. Her face is red and she's shaking.

Shaking.

Oh man.

This is new. I was wrong. So wrong. We just never got there before. But Molly totally does know how to do mad.

I slowly sit back down in my chair.

Miki flicks me in the temple again.

"Ha haaaaa~" She teases.

"And you're no better, M-Miki!" Molly rounds on her. Good. I didn't want to be the only one in trouble with Molly here.

"Me? What have I done?" Miki takes a step back and holds her hand over her chest.

Molly scoots to the edge of her bed and grabs her prosthetic legs. As she starts strapping them on, Miki ducks behind me.

"You keep goading him into arguments!" One leg on. Molly moves to the next one. "And you relentlessly pick on him and call him names. Of course he's mad at you!"

"He's mad at me because I'm hilarious?" Miki shoots over my shoulder.

"You're annoying!" Molly corrects her. And second leg on. "And your j-jokes aren't funny! They're mean and h-hurtful! I think that the reason Y-Yuuto is so mad all the time is b-because he has to p-put up with your... your..."

Molly's face twists in concentration. She thrusts her arms down at her sides and opens her eyes again.

"Your crap!"

She hops off her bed and picks up her pillows from the floor. Miki ducks further behind me, putting as much space as possible between her and our small friend in this cramped room as possible.

"And the only reason Yuuto is so d-discouraged with talking to girls is because you're always telling him he's ugly and m-mean and and..."

Molly tugs both of her braids and whines. It's long and putters out at the end as she shrinks into herself. Molly doesn't stay upset for very long, does she? It's like a sudden eruption and then back to her old self.

Huh.

We finally did it. We pushed Molly off the deep end. Honestly, I thought it would be Miki's fault alone but Molly's made it pretty clear that I'm to blame too. And it only took almost three years for us to do it too.

"Well, shit, Molly..." I chuckle quietly.

"W-What?" Molly asks.

The rage is gone. Molly's still upset but she isn't threatening to pop anymore.

"I always thought that Miki and I would settle it all with a sword fight."

Molly frowns.

"In an empty field."

The corners of her mouth twitch upwards.

"At sunset."

Her frown shakes.

"Is...Is it raining? Because I always pictured it raining." Miki asks quietly from behind me. She sounds like she's choking on the words.

"Yeah. It's raining. Why wouldn't it be raining?"

Miki flicks me in the back of my head.

"Son of a-Why?" And she's already trying to piss me off?

"Well what... what if I'm wearing white? In the r-rain, Yuuto? How dare you." She sniffles. Miki drags her arm across her eyes, wiping something away.

Was she- Was Miki crying? Noooo. It couldn't be. Miki doesn't cry.

"You're the idiot who wore white to our sword fight in the field of honor at sunset in the rain. That's not my fault." If she was crying, I think she's elimiated all trace of it now.

"You two are impossible!" Molly laughs, picking up her pillows from the floor.

Miki stops hiding behind me. Her hand squeezes my shoulder.

"Maybe I could stand to pick on Yuuto a little less." Miki wipes her nose with her wrist, pointedly not looking at me.

"And I should at least hear out your plan," I admit. "Even if it sounds stupid."

Molly sits down again and sighs.

"And you sh-should both be nice to each other because we're supposed to be friends." Molly runs her fingers across the hem of her skirt. "And because I'm tired of listening to you two fight."

"Alright alright. We're sorry, alright?" Miki lets go of my shoulder and sits down on the bed next to Molly again.

"Sure thing, Molly. And I'm sorry you had to yell like that." I never, ever want to see Molly do that again. I'd take dealing with Shizune's tyrant stare any day of the week over that.

"I'll do it again too if you guys start being toddlers again." A grin breaks over our friend's face. Good. I'm done with being mad today. I'm too tired.

"Miki. Your plan? What's with the party?" I ask, against my better judgement.

"Man, it isn't even a party. It's just gonna be us, Shizune and Misha and your sister-"

"Because you need her to make the food?" I give her a small smile.

"Well, yes, and because with the way that Misha gets over food, I figure that having the chef there will help with the distraction."

"Distraction?" Molly asks. Ha. I guess she's just as interested as I am.

"The party is just a way to set the mood and get Misha away from Shizune. I'll drag her away and you and your lady can get some alone time." Miki explains.

"And a party, not that I'm not grateful for the help, is the best way to do that?"

"Well, it's the easiest way to get your sister to make cookies." Miki shrugs.

Ahhhhh. I knew there was a Miki angle in there somewhere. I guess it isn't totally awful. It would get me the alone time Miki promised with Shizune. And it's further off than tomorrow, so I have time to try working up the nerve to actually ask her.

"Okay. So... what do I have to do in the meantime?"

"Not fuck it up? I don't know man. Business as usual." Miki shrugs.

"What about when I'm at her house? Is there anything I should do while I'm there?"

"Don't piss off her family?" Miki rolls her eyes. "Honestly man, it's not going to be that bad. I don't think her dad can be any bigger of a hard-ass than your own father. So just try to be on your best behavior, I guess."

"D-Do you know anything about her family, Yuuto?" Molly ventures. "Like does she have any siblings?"

"She doesn't get along with this cousin that's going to be there..." I drum my fingers on my knee. "And uh..."

What else? Her brother?

Oh. Yeah. That.

"She has a thirteen year old brother that wears tights."

Molly covers her mouth and looks away, trying not to giggle. Miki nearly falls over in laughter. I let it die out naturally. It takes about a minute longer than I think it should.

"Oh god. Okay. Definitely don't do what I just did when you meet him." Miki wipes the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"I'll keep that in mind, Miki."

Miki grins and pats Molly's leg. "Well, come on. Let's get these suckers off."

Molly glances at me and then back to Miki. Ah. Yes. She'll be uncomfortable with me here to witness the lotion thing.

"Alright. I'll head out then." I stand up from the chair but Miki extends her arm to keep me from walking past them.

"When are you going shopping?" She asks.

"After class tomorrow. I'll probably have enough time to change out of my uniform, but I'm supposed to meet Shizune in front of the Shanghai."

"Do your laundry and I'll come pick out something nice for you to wear before you go, okay?" Miki pats my chest.

"What? Why?"

"Because you wore your gross jacket and a shirt with a hole in it to Tanabata." Molly mutters. "And w-we don't want you to look b-bad."

"It's sort of embarassing," Miki adds, removing her hand from my chest. "And while it's technically not a date, it totally is, so you should, no, need to look good."

Ugh. Okay. Fine. Apparently I can't be trusted to dress myself.

"Okay, since I apparently dress like I'm homeless. Can you just do one more thing for me tomorrow?"

"We're already doing a lot of stuff for you, but hey, what's one more thing, right?" Miki says only a little sourly. "Fire away."

"Actually I was hoping Molly would do it. You're not the right person for it." I give Molly my best "Please?" smile.

"What? Why? I'm amazing." Miki leans one of Molly's prosthetics against the edge of the bed.

"It involves Hanako." I start.

Miki lets out a low whistle.

"Yeah. Okay. Molly's turn." Miki waves me off and starts unstrapping Molly's other leg.

"W-what am I doing? And with H-Hanako?"

"Not really Hanako, like directly. But the girls from the newspaper club, Natsume and Naomi sort of scared her today and I told them to apologize to her." I rub the back of my neck. "So if you could make sure they do that."

"Dude, it's Hanako." Miki scoffs and tosses Molly's left leg onto the ground. "It might be better for them to just let it go."

"Well, yeah. I'd normally agree with you, but Hanako seems to know about computers and the newspaper club might require my attention less if they had someone who could use one in the club with them." I explain to them. It's not a lie. It's true.

And also because they upset her and I'm trying to do the right thing by closing the book between them. But admitting that would be subjecting myself to more ridicule from Miki. Sure, we've buried the hatchet for now, but it's still Miki and I'm still Yuuto.

Old habits die hard.

"Now who's fulfilling their own selfish desires?" Miki smirks.

Ugh. Point proven.

[Mirage_GSM]

Wow, it's been some time, hasn't it?
But it seems the #1 fic for snarky dialogue has made a comeback with a vengeance.
Magic Words and duels in the rain - good to see you're back.

[Mader Levap]

Yeah, good to see that hilarity again.

[AntonSlavik020]

Nice to see Miki and Yuuto start to treat each other better. And we know from Hanako's bad ending that its the cute, quiet ones that can be the most terrifying when they get angry, maybe because it's so unexpected.

[vdawg1337]

Nice to see this updated. I wonder if Jigoro will like Yuuto because of his assbutt tendencies.