Swampie's Stories : Writings of a mad-man 3

[HoneyBakedHam]

Gotcha

[swampie2]

Iwanako's week off:

Tuesday morning:

Lilly left shortly after we finished our drinks and her sister dropper her off at the airport, or so I'm told. Hisao seemed okay but Hanako was really torn up, we did our best to comfort her but I think she depends on Lilly quite a bit. At least Hisao won't be alone with her for a week, she doesn't conversate much, but that could be because I'm around.

Sleeping in somebody else's room is strange. You feel like an intruder no matter what, even if they encouraged you to stay there. I discovered that Lilly is indeed blind by the stacks of books in braile and the rather plain look of her room. I guess you don't have much need for posters and the such if you can't see. I also discovered that the beds here at Yamaku are like heaven, I'll have to ask Lilly if I can steal her bed when I leave. While looking for new sheets I found some of Lilly's uniforms last night, they'd be huge on me given how tall Lilly is. They catch my eyes when I wake up... well I've already looked at them, and I've always wanted to see what I'd look like in a different uniform...

No. Nope. I can't wear this uniform, even if I'm just trying it. It'd be disrespectful to all the students here, for someone with no problems to wear their uniform just for kicks. I mentally shelf the idea and begin unpacking my bag onto one of the empty shelves. That bow that the girls uniform has was adorable. Before long I realize that I need a shower and that I have no clue where the shower is. I shrug on a different t-shirt and don some loose shorts and set out to find Hanako's room, shouldn't be far? In fact it's next door, lucky me for nameplates.

"Hanako? It's Iwanako." I knock, then check my watch to make sure I'm not waking her. 10am, most people should be up? I'm left standing for a good half minute before she answers my calls and cracks the door open by a hair. I can only see one of her eyes through the door, she looks paler. Perhaps she uses darker foundation?

"Hey, I uh..." I rub the back of my head in thought. "I don't know where the showers are... That is if I can use them, of course." I sputter my addition and wait for an answer.

"J-just a s-second." She stutters before closing her door. Suppose I should grab my things if- Crap. I didn't bring any bathing stuff. Would it be too much to ask Hanako for hers? I could run into town later, but that means I still don't get to shower before seeing anyone. Ugh. She opens to door again, now she's wearing a cut little denim jacket over a shirt and some jeans. She steps from her room and closes it behind her before gesturing for me to follow her and stepping away. She's completely different today? Perhaps it's Hisao that makes her nervous? Lilly?

"Y-you can use the sh-showers, just say that y-you're a s-student." She talks while I follow her, gesturing with her hands much like Hisao does. "B-but..."

"Mhm?" I prompt her to continue.

"Y-you were only p-planning to stay for a day, r-right?"

"Right, though I can't refuse another night in that bed." I daydream about marrying Lilly's bed.

"Y-y-you're welcome t-to use m-my s-stuff." She stutters, that must have been hard for her to get out. In her hands rest a small tub filled with various shampoos, conditioners and soaps.

"R-really? Thanks Hanako! Hopefully I can get my hair to look a pretty as yours." I wink while she passes me the emergency rescue package, causing her to blush and turn her head in an attempt to hide it. She must use all of this to get hers as beautiful as it is, thought I've never seen this brand before.

"T-thanks Iwananko... I o-order it so I can g-get the best stuff." She explains while twirling a lock of hair in her hand, seeing me eyeing up her conditioner. She's still not willing to meet my eyes though. Luckily our hairs seem pretty similar lengths and colors, so this should work.

"Thanks again Hanako, I'm gonna jump in." I point a thumb towards the tiled room behind me.

"S-sure... s-s-see you l-later." She frowns slightly. With that she gives a nod and turns on her heel before making her way back to her room.

---

Tuesday lunchtime:

"How was your night in Lilly's room?" Hisao asks as he sets up a chess board with matching pieces.

"Probably the best sleep I've had in a month." I let slip, hopefully he won't want to know anymore.

"Yeah they have some comfortable beds here, I'm told it's for people with bone conditions." Phew, he didn't ask- "Stressful month?"

"That's one way to put it." I sigh while grabbing the kettle, now boiled. We fall into silence while Hanako and Hisao begin a game and I finish up with the tea. I'm glad I remembered how to make this stuff, I haven't made any since the hospital.

"HISAO!" a scream comes from my right, a scream that chills me to the bone. I turn slightly and lay my eyes upon the person, a short girl with blonde hair tied up into pigtails... and she's also missing both of her legs. Don't stare. Do anything but that.

"Where were you today?" The girl stomps into the room, though it sounds less like stomping and more like clacking.

"E-emi!" He exclaims, so scared that he looks like he's about to fall off his chair.

"You promised me!" She squeals, both hands raised and ready to beat him to a pulp.

"Hello." I step forward and bow slightly. She seems to melt as soon as she realizes that there are other people in the room.

"Oh! Hi! I'm Emi." She introduces herself and glares at Hisao.

"I'm Iwanako, and old freind of Hisao's." He shifts in his chair as I introduce myself, trying to play chess with shaky hands. Hanako seems to have retreated to the corner of the room.

"Really? was he always this lazy?" She questions, anger seething in her voice.

"What did he do?" I step forward and match her glare, hoping to get him to speak up. I kind of feel bad for helping to get him this scared.

"He promised to come running with me in the mornings."

"I-I'm sorry Emi, I had a long night!" He responds.

"You should have called me then." She retorts, part of the anger in her voice fading away.

"How about you have lunch with us? So I can make it up to you."

"Hmm, that's a good offer." She ponders, her finger resting on her chin. "Can I bring Rin?" She adds, and he winces slightly.

"Of course." He lies.

"Then go get her from the art room." She smiles, a smile that says 'if you say no then I'll castrate you.'. He sighs and stands from his chair before making his way out of the room. I rescue Hanako and let her know that everything is all right and she returns to her seat at the table, though looking a thousand times more uncomfortable. The Tea is finished and served shortly afterwards, Emi decided that she'd rather drink an energy drink instead.

"Sorry we had to be introduced that way Iwanako." She smiles sweetly as she seats herself opposite myself and Hanako.

"Don't worry about it. And to answer your question, he was." I giggle, remembering the time he scored a nine out of a hundred on a mock English test.

"The nurse told me to get him running so he could strengthen his heart, but he-" She stops herself, panic all over her face. To her, she's just revealed Hisao's problem to some random person.

"I know, don't worry."

"Really? He told me he doesn't talk to any of his old friends anymore." Ouch. That hurts. I thought he was just too depressed to talk to us, but it seems otherwise. "You okay?" She continues.

"Fine, my tea is a little hot." I lie as I place it back onto it's saucer. Hanako looks like she's about ready to explode, and I can't blame her.

"So how do you know Hisao?" She changes the topic.

"We went to the same school before he came here." I offer with a smile that probably looks forced.

"Oooh, were you there? I heard it happened to him in the middle of school grounds."

"I was there, yes, but I'd rather not talk about it." Who is this girl? Why is she doing this? Can she not see both myself and Hanako are uncomfortable? Ugh. I thought I was done dealing with people like this.

"That's okay." She smiles, and the room falls into silence. I hope Hisao returns with this "Rin" soon.

"So what do you get up to around here, Emi?" I offer, hoping to distract myself from her presence.

"I run!" She exclaims. What?

"But you...?" I sputter. You've got no legs!

"The fastest thing on no legs." She grins. This girl is confident, to stay the least. I don't like her.

"She always says that." Comes a voice from the doorway. I look over and see a girl with no arms. I suppose that's the usual around here.

"It's a good name Rin!" Emi retorts. Rin simply shrugs and makes her way into the room, shortly followed by Hisao, who looks completely mentally exhausted.

"Hello, I'm Iwanako, nice to meet you." I introduce myself to Rin as she sits next to Emi while Hisao pulls over another chair.

"I'm Tezuku. Rin Tezuka." She shrugs. "I won't shake hands with you, but at least we know who we are now." She continues, her deadpan tone making her emotions hard to gauge. I guess this is why Hisao looks so tired.

"Nice to meet you." I give a small bow before Hisao sets his, and now Emi's and Rin's, lunches on the table. It doesn't look like there will be enough for all three of them so Hisao states he's going to find a vending machine.

"I'll tag along." I grab my bag and stop myself from looking at Hanako, I can imagine what kind of face she's making right now, being left with these two. The door slams shut behind us and we both let out a long sigh.

"She seemed nice." My voice is dripping with sarcasm.

"That's one way to put it." He sighs, rubbing the back of his head.

"Did you sign your soul to her or something?" I joke.

"Seems like it sometimes." He chuckles as we reach the vending machine. "The nurse wanted me to get some light exercise for... you know." He points to his chest. "So, Emi made it her life mission to get me running every morning."

"And I'm guessing you don't want to?"

"Mhm." He nods while examining the food through the glass. "Six laps a day would kill me."

"Why don't you just tell her you don't want to do it?" I ask, now eyeing up the food as well. Doesn't look too appetizing, but I skipped breakfast.

"I have. A lot, actually. She never listens though." He explains. That only makes me like her even less. After a can of coffee drops from it's shelf, he continues. "I was hoping I could avoid her, at least for this week."

"Well you can't run if you're keeping a guest." I wink.

---

Author notes: Originally I was going to go with "VN Emi", but writing "Bitch Emi" was far too much fun.

[Sharp-O]

Eh, I don't think Emi is too bitchy in this. A little more aggro perhaps but not bitchy. I'd recommend another run through to deal with the SPaG errors when you have time. Otherwise, another great chapter

[swampie2]

Eh, I don't think Emi is too bitchy in this. I little more aggro perhaps but not bitchy. I'd recommend another run through to deal with the SPaG errors when you have time. Otherwise, another great chapter

Will do, I did publish this at 1am

Thanks bud!

[Sharp-O]

Don't have to tell me pal. I want to get this latest one-shot done but I'm flagging. Migraine doesn't help matters...

[swampie2]

Don't have to tell me pal. I want to get this latest one-shot done but I'm flagging. Migraine doesn't help matters...

Any huge errors that stood out to you? I know that feeling all too well, this chapter just didn't want to be written

[Sharp-O]

Ummm, 'cut little denim jacket' I think was meant to be 'cute'. Maybe a couple instances of 'freind' and some other general grammatical errors. I'm sure you'll catch them

[AntonSlavik020]

I'm glad Emi isn't too bitchy in this since I don't find bitchy characters fun to read, just annoying. I don't think she came off as to bad. A little aggressive maybe, but not bitchy.

[swampie2]

Iwanako's week off: ohmigod update

Wednesday morning:

"So this is 'keeping a guest' huh?" Hisao ponders as he lays eyes on the large blue building before him.

"Right, they have nothing like this nearby Kajiyama." I spin around, taking in the sights and smells. "So you can show me around, riiight?~"

"They don't have an aquarium back home?" He ponders, skipping over my request.

"It's all bowling alleys, remember?" I sigh, remembering how many games I've been pulled into by Tomoko. She always loved bowling, I'm sure she'll find someone that shares her passion for ten-pin someday. Perhaps someone who can see the pins without glasses, unlike her.

"Yeah, I think I've played enough bowling for a lifetime." He sighs, once again eyeing up the brochure while shifting his backpack into a more comfortable position.

"This should be fun though." He smiles. No pressure or anything, jeez.

"Come on, lets go." I instinctively grab his hand and start leading him, then realize that I'm holding his hand. I can't let go now though, it'll look like I don't want to hold hands with him? But if I keep holding on and he doesn't want to then the rest of the day will just be awk- Oh god he's squeezing my hand.

"Are you okay, Iwanako? you seem flustered."

"Yeah, I... uhhh.... I just love sharks! Can't wait to see them!" I exclaim, hoping he believes me.

"Sharks..." His brow furrows in concentration. "Huh..." He musters.

"Yep, sharks!" I continue dragging him through the crowds, hoping to distract him from everything that just came out of my mouth. Before long we arrive at the toll booth and pay for our entrances. Luckily Hisao stays silent most of the time, most likely pondering my sudden liking for aquatic predators.

"Want to see the sharks first then?" He questions, and my mind takes a second to click.

"O-Oh no! S-save the best for last!" I manage to stutter.

"How about we just wander around and see everything." He smiles sweetly.

"That sounds good, actually." I sign in relief, lucky that Hisao has overlooked this white lie that has been snowballing out of control for the last fifteen minutes.

"So where is Hanako today?" I ask, refraining to mention that Hisao and Lilly seem to be her only friends. But then I have only known her for two days, so I could be completely off the mark.

"Studying." Hisao air-quotes heavily then follows with a chuckle.

"Studying?" I mirror.

"With the guy she's got the hots for." He casually mentions, then winces. Why did he- the hots, right. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something.

"Go on?" I goad, seems like I'm only asking questions in this conversation. Sigh.

"Did you... talk to her about that?"

"I don't follow." I shrug.

"Like... girl talk or something? She seemed really optimistic about spending time with him. More than usual." His gaze wanders up the wall sized tank and lands on the rather tall ceiling.

"I talked to her about shampoo?" I giggle.

"Mystery solved." He clicks his fingers and finishes inspecting the school of clownfish right in front of him before nodding his head behind him in a 'let's go look at some more' motion. Then my brain kicks in.

Am I on a date with Hisao right now?

My heart grows warm at the though, as does my face. It seems my feelings for him never got killed off. I'm honestly unsure of what to think of that.

"Come on! Shaaarks~" He jibes in a sing-song manner, something that I'd never seen him do before. It seems his time at Yamaku has truly cheered him up. Why couldn't I?

---

Wednesday lunch:

Hisao has slowly taken over the 'lead' role of our little outing, slowly leading me around the place while we gawk at manta rays and jellyfish. Not that that's been bad, it's taken my mind off the awkwardness that's been stewing in my mind since that one winters day, and has only gotten worse since I've visited. It'll go soon, I'm sure.

"How about some lunch? I'm starving." Hisao asks, placing a hand on his stomach for emphasis.

"Sounds like a great deal to me." I give a big cheesy thumbs up that draws a stifled laugh from my partner in aquatic observations. "I just didn't know fish could be so ugly." I giggle, and Hisao spins on his heels.

"Hey! Fish have feelings too, you know?" He jokes, promptly returning to his previous orientation while I skip over and fall into step with him.

"Pah! Lies." I wave my hand in the air for effect.

"Those fish will never be the same after what you've done, Iwanako." He attempts to guilt trip me. I suppose that's what I did to you, in a way, Hisao.

"They'll be fine, I-" My sentence is cut short when I realize that Hisao isn't next to me any more. I look to each side and hope to find him, but can't see that little bit of hair that refuses to cooperate poking up from the crowd. Spinning an extra ninety degrees lands me facing back towards the Jellyfish area, where we had just come from.

My fingers begin to numb as I see Hisao, now sprawled out on his back with both hands grabbing at his chest through his leather jacket.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Please no. Anything but that, please!

He writhes his body on the ground, his face contorted as if he were underwater, unable to gasp for air. The crowd slowly begins to disperse as the situation unfolds. A rather tall man in loose hoodie pulls himself from the ground next to Hisao before offering a hand to him without even looking. Upon laying eyes on him he jumps back in fear and quickly retracts his hand.

All I can hear is the beating of my heart, all I can taste is the cold taste of winter even though it's the height of summer. I need to shout but my chest won't let me, I need to move but my feet are pinned the the ground. I need to do something.

---

Wednesday afternoon:

I stare into space, idly sipping at my drink that I didn't really want in the first place but was offered so many times it was getting annoying. The lanky man felt guilt for his previous acts and decided that shovelling money towards the problem would solve it.

"Sorry about that Iwanako." Hisao offers as he adjusts his position in the rather uncomfortable seats.

"Iwanako?" He questions again, snapping me from my reverie.

"You scared the life out of me." I use the last of my emotional energy to try and lighten the mood a bit.

"You look alive to me." He pokes at my free hand with a chopstick, examining it for rigor mortis.

"Very funny." I give him a light slap on the hand, my mood feeling slightly better now he's cracking jokes. But it just doesn't feel right. He almost just died and he's already joking around and looking at his lunch like a ravenous animal.

"How do you do it Hisao?" Slips out of my mouth without thinking.

"Huh?" He mutters through the french fry dangling from his mouth. I sigh, I suppose I have to elaborate now.

"You almost died, you had to be carried here, and now you're just eating lunch like it was no big deal."

"Quite the opposite." He wolfs down the last of his fry and continues. "I'm gonna' die when I'm young, I've accepted that, so I'm just trying to enjoy as many days as I can." He gives a sweet smile that betrays the words he just spoke.

"That's just..." Heavy.

"It's a bit crude, yeah, but it keeps me happy. I don't wanna' be one of those people who mope around all day because they got a bum ticker, right?" He poses a question, but it's more of a statement.

"You have a very optimistic way of looking at it, I suppose." I ponder, still staring out of the window behind Hisao.

"Have some food, you'll feel better." He gestures his hands down to the small platter before us, made up of various western dishes presented on tiny plates and dishes, all paid for by the man that almost killed Hisao.

"Don't feel bad, this is a great deal." He winks, placing a small pastry into his mouth before grimacing at the flavour and choking it down before regaining his award winning, heart stealing, smile. It's strange how he can say that, almost dying for some food? How can he say it like he doesn't care? It worries me.

"I don't understand you, Hisao." I muster as I finally give into the temptations for food, digging into a piece of fried egg.

"I just like food?" He questions rhetorically before stuffing his mouth with the nearest non-pastry food item available and grinning widely.

---

Author notes:

Kajiyama Academy is the name I came up with for Hisao's old school. Not sure if that's how schools are named in Japan, so this could be wrong, but I like the sound of it either way.

This chapter kind of cemented the OOC Hisao here. He doesn't really care for his condition in this fic, just wants to live life to the fullest while he still has the chance. I wrote him this way because otherwise both he and Iwanako would just be wallowing in pity for a week.

[Sharp-O]

"So where is Hanako today?"
"Studying." Hisao air-quotes heavily then follows with a chuckle.
"Studying?" I mirror.
"With the guy she's got the hots for." He casually mentions, then winces.

I see what you did there. I liked it.

Another fantastic chapter, Swamp! I recommend going through again to grab some SPaG errors, (I can help with that if you want, sir) and apart from that, I really dug this chapter

[Alpacalypse]

Eh, I'm okay with OOC Hisao - IC Hisao's a boring little so-and-so roughly 90% of the time.

Either way, I'm actually enjoying this quite a bit. Is this going to be an Iwanako romance at all, or is Hisao on somebody's route already? I can't quite tell at this point, especially since Iwanako doesn't seem like the most reliable of narrators.

Anywho, keep it up!

[AntonSlavik020]

To be honest, I only notice Hisao bring OOC if he's being an asshole or something. Probably because his personality is so basic.

[swampie2]

I see what you did there. I liked it.

Another fantastic chapter, Swamp! I recommend going through again to grab some SPaG errors, (I can help with that if you want, sir) and apart from that, I really dug this chapter

Glad you're liking it, I was having trouble with it but I'm pretty happy with this chapter now.

Eh, I'm okay with OOC Hisao - IC Hisao's a boring little so-and-so roughly 90% of the time.

Either way, I'm actually enjoying this quite a bit. Is this going to be an Iwanako romance at all, or is Hisao on somebody's route already? I can't quite tell at this point, especially since Iwanako doesn't seem like the most reliable of narrators.

Anywho, keep it up!

Thanks Alpaca! Will there be romance? We'll see, won't we

To be honest, I only notice Hisao bring OOC if he's being an asshole or something. Probably because his personality is so basic.

This Hisao was very fun to write, much more than VN Hisao.

[Skeeve]

I gotta say, I like your Iwanako. She seems like a sweetheart, if a little overwhelmed (which is, you know, to be expected).

[swampie2]

So recently I've been watching Shokugeki no Souma, and also had a great Idea for a one shot; So I've written this!

=====Molly=====

"Wow... That was great..." Hisao compliments me and I feel my cheeks begin to grow hotter.

"Don't mention it, {I'm a master of the craft.}" I retort, feeling my hands begin to ball up in the sheets as Hisao shuffles closer.

"You'll need to teach me then." He chuckles before a quiet buzzing distracts him. He reaches down and pulls his phone from his discarded jacket that's been balled up on the floor since he arrived. "But it seems you'll have to teach me another time."

"Lilly?" I question, feeling my mood dip slightly.

"Mhmm." He nods while standing from the bed, adjusting his belt as he does.

"Wait, wait, your hair is all messy." I stretch out my arms and run my hands through his hair, attempting to make it look as close to normal as possible, and of course, failing spectacularly.

"Don't worry about that, It's always messy. Besides, how would she know?" He chuckles, he's not wrong either. "I'll be by later, okay?" He questions after a couple steps towards the door.

"Sounds good to me, I'll have some tea waiting." I smile as sweetly as I can given that's he's leaving. He offers a short wave before stepping into the hallway and closing the door behind him with a click.

---

=====Hisao=====

"Hey Lilly." I offer a greeting as I make my way into our little tea room.

"Good afternoon, Hisao." Lilly returns cheerily, almost a little too cheerily. "Would you care for some tea?" She continues.

"That'd be good, thanks." I sigh while straightening out my jacket and pulling out a chair.

"I hear that you've been spending time with a mutual acquaintance of ours." She continues while filling a teacup with some amber colored tea.

"R-right, Molly wanted some help with her homework." I stutter, almost falling off my chair.

"Homework..." Lilly mirrors, her face taking on a harsh edge. "Drink up." She returns to the cheery mood that she greeted me with. What's going on here? Taking the cup into my hands carefully, I raise it up slightly and take a deep breath through my nose. Doesn't smell poisoned, in fact it smells pretty damn good. After taking in the caramel fragrance I decided to take a sip.

Oh god.

How?

The tastes dance lightly over my tongue, mingling carefully and creating a intricately crafted texture and taste that I've never experienced before. Each droplet glides through my mouth slowly, depositing varying flavors of warm caramel, tiny specs of cinnamon and chocolate with depth I couldn't imagine before my palette was graced by this tea. Low moans escape from my mouth as the drink makes it's way downwards, warming my whole body on it's journey. As the soft liquid reaches my stomach, my legs begin to shake slightly as a whole new taste begins to fill my mind.

"This is... It's incredibly, Lilly."

"Would you expect any less?" She retorts cockily while a sly smile grows across her face, half obscured by the teacup raised to her lips.

"O-of course not, Lilly!" I stutter again, remembering the delicate yet strong flavor of the drink I hold in my hands. "What is this?"

"Oh, nothing special." She retorts, pride saturating her voice. "Just one of my specialties, you can't find it anywhere else." She continues. So that's what this is about? To stop me from drinking tea with Molly? "I hope you understand what I'm getting at, my dear Hisao." She inhales deeply before sipping at her cup.

"A-ah... Of course Lilly! I'm sorry If I made you mad." All I'm doing today is stuttering. I raise the cup to my lips only to have my heart shattered when I find it empty. My eyes slowly follow the table and rest on the teapot now residing in Lilly's grip.

"You can have another if you promise." Her grin only increases.

"I promise! I promise a thousand times over!" I almost scream as my tongue begins to complain about the taste of the air being ranked far, far below that of the tea.

"Then you can have as many cups as you like." Her smile returns to it's regular size as she refills my teacup, I can feel my legs jittering at the mere thought of some more of that tea.

---

So X by 2 is... That makes this 15... and then this is-

"Hey Hisao!" Molly greets cheerily as she saunters up to my desk. "Math, huh?"

"Mhmm." I nod while keeping my eyes concentrated on the paper in front of me. "Lilly says I'm going to have to do better if I want to be a teacher." I sigh, surely a B is a high enough mark?

"Same here, though it's my parents in this case... want a drink?" She continues, resting her bottom on the side of my desk while dancing a finger around her collar.

"Sure, thanks." I reply without thinking, still concentrated on my work.

"Great, one sec." She holds up a finger as she speaks before skipping back to her desk and retrieving something from her bag. After a second she spins back around and holds it forward; A thermas flask. Detaching both ends of the thermas to use as cups, she places both on the desk and begins to pour. Each cup steams away as she slides one over to me and takes her own into her hands before taking a deep breath through her nose.

"Drink up." She smiles sweetly, tilting her head slightly in an all too adorable fashion.

"Thanks." I return, taking a cup in my hand while still keeping my eyes on the page. Detaching my gaze for a second, I bring the cup up to my lips expecting it to be your usual hot drink; but find otherwise. The aroma of the drink drifts upwards slowly, transporting me to the middle of a field of blooming flowers, each swaying in the wind and caressing my whole body. Molly stands up from her desk and steps behind me, placing both hands on my shoulers.

"Smells good, huh? It's my special mix; Can't get it anywhere in Japan." Her voice winds around my head slowly as the aroma continues to fill my brain. "Take a sip, It won't kill you." She continues, her sultry invasion of my personal space becoming the last of my thoughts. Raising the cup to my lips, my whole brain is assaulted by the gentle aroma of flowers gently absorbing the mid-day's sun.

The first sip almost blows my mind; A flavor I can't comprehend instantly floods my mouth and thoughts, once again reminding me of the carefree days I spend in the fields behind my house when I was younger; chasing after my freinds without a care in the world, having so much fun it seemed to go on forever. My mothers face when she came to find us relaxing under a tree, enjoying the gently swishes of wind cooling us every time it passed before dragging us back into the house for a wonderful home-cooked dinner; Pork roast with the special secret ingredient that reminds me why I'm on this planet.

"This is just... I can't... This is incredibly, Molly."

"Don't sweat it, want some more?" She questions and I ponder her question before raising the small plastic cup again to find it empty.

"No, he does not." An authoritative voice explodes from the doorway, sending shocks up both of our spines. "Molly, we will settle this like true english-women, no more of this... this mockery of the art of tea-making."

"Oooh, so you think you can beat my tea, huh?" Molly stands proudly, the thermas lifted above her as if she's wielding excalibur.

"I do not doubt my own skill, however I refuse to compete with tea from a flask. If we are to compete, we are to compete fairly." Lilly continues, her stance now akin to a king addressing his knights.

"Sounds good to me, how about next weekend?" Molly returns to her usual stance, as does Lilly.

"It's a date." She winks before turning her back to both of us. "I think that Hisao should abstain from either of our teas before then." She continues.

"No... No please... anything but that, Lilly! I thought you loved me!" I drop to my knees, dropping the small plastic cup and the drippling of tea beside me. I flop forwards, my face hitting the ground with a dull thump. I can't feel pain anymore.

---

=====Misha=====

"A tea competition?"
"I hear it's the two English blooded girls."
"Why do they need a competition, isn't all tea the same?"

The sound of the crowd begins to build as the designated time arrives, and I take a step up onto the small crate we're using as a stage.

"Roll up! Roll up! See two masters of their craft compete for the number one title!" I announce proudly, before spotting someone curled up in the corner. After finishing my announcements, many people start to pour into the kitchen and I make my way over to the possibly dead student laying in a fetal position in the corner.

"Hey Hicchan, what's up?"

"The tea... the tea... It's all I can think about... the smell...." He takes in a deep breath before contiuing his rambling. "The smell is so gooood... I need some... The tea... The tea... It's all I can think about..." He rambles incoherently while rocking slightly.

"Awhh, don't worry, you're just tired Hicchan, get some rest!" I give him a hearty pat on the back before mingling back into the crowd, it seems that both contestants have finished their teas and are ready to be judged. Shicchan snaps her fingers loudly and the crowd parts like the sea before she strides though confidently and seats herself at the small breakfast bar, now only topped by two delicate teacups. I quickly make my way to the other side and begin to state the rules.

"So here we have two cups of tea, one prepared by Lilly, and the other prepared by Molly!~ They've been mixed up so we don't know who's is who's until we flip over the coaster! Shicchan will judge first, then everyone is welcome to try!~" Finishing my spiel, I take out the small notepad provided by Shicchan, now marked with various categories to grade each tea on. With my pen at the ready, I give our judge the go-ahead. Carefully taking the tea into her hands, she takes a deep breath in through her nose. Her face grows slightly red as she takes in the smell that's been filling the room. Taking a tentative sip, she leans her head back.

"Oh christ, this is good." She mutters.