Arrangement
- Thread starter SMWhat
- Start date
"Do you think I am truly skilled enough to defeat this foe, mother?"
"Of course I do! And anyway, even if you mess up, you have the support of the rest of us, don't you?"
"I know, but..."
"Don't worry. Everything will go just fine."
"Well...alright, then."
"Come, now. Don't be so melancholy. You've done katas a thousand times harder than this in your sleep!"
"I know that logically, but this is the first time I've actually gone out to defeat something that isn't a minor demon or something. I'm just nervous."
"You, nervous? This'll be a piece of cake for you, Tsuruko. Tsuruko, are you listening?"
"The sign..."
"Tsuruko?"
"That sign...looks...familiar..."
"Sorry?"
"And that restaurant looks familiar, too. And that bus stop--are we driving in circles?"
"Don't be ridiculous! Do you really think an old master like me would get lost?"
"Well, considering that we've passed that gas station three times now..."
~~~
"Mommm...when're we going to that place again?"
"Which place, Keitaro?"
"That place you took me where I met Aoyama-san, remember? Last week..."
"Hm? You...want to go back there?"
"Well, Aoyama-san was nice, and I had a lot of fun there, so...uh..."
"Keitaro, how about I talk with your father, and we'll see if we can visit them again in a few days, okay?"
"Yippee!"
"Now, don't get so excited! You don't know whether your father will let you, yet--Keitaro, are you listening? Keitaro!"
~~~
"Hey. Bro."
"Haruka! I haven't heard from you in a while. How is everything?"
"Oh, everything's doing just fine, here. Couldn't complain. You?"
"Great! Great!"
"Hey, you want to hear something interesting?"
"Huh?"
"Guess who's staying at ol' Mom's dorm."
"Dorm? Mom owns a dorm? I thought she owned an inn."
"Yeah, she turned it into a girls dorm a little while back. You know how she is."
~~~
"Ugh! That--that pervert!" Naru stomped up and down the halls of the girls dorm, seeing everything in several brilliant, angry shades of red. Behind her, Kitsune tried to calm her down.
"Look, Naru, he's only staying temporarily, right? You wait five months, he takes the exam, he passes, he leaves! He'll be out of your hair before you know it."
Naru spun around to face her friend. "He's been a ronin for two years, Kitsune. What makes you think he'll pass this time?" she whispered loudly. "No, he'll fail again, and then he'll end up staying another year, doing his perverted--" She broke off, realizing her voice had begun to rise, and looked to the end of the hall, toward the room Keitaro was staying in. "And look! He's already gone and corrupted Motoko, somehow!"
"Oh, you heard what they said. They're old friends! Of course they're going to be all nice to each other. What, you expected her to go all psycho with her sword and chop him into ribbons, or something?"
The expression on her face showed that she clearly HAD expected such an event to happen.
"...Oy." Kitsune muttered.
---
"When did you start staying at the inn--er, dorm, anyway?" Keitaro asked Motoko, unpacking his bookbag as he spoke. He'd brought very little, considering how long he might be staying--just some books and his drawing pad.
"Oh, not too long." Motoko answered, seated at the table set up in the middle of the room, sipping a cup of cold tea as she watched Keitaro quickly leafed through the pad before setting it on the shelf. "April of this year, actually. I can't believe you didn't know this place was a dorm, though. From what I've heard, it hasn't been an inn since...1995, maybe?"
"Mom says us Urashimas are awful at communicating with each other." He sat at the same table as Motoko--not next to her, ot across from her, but somewhere in between. "So, how's your family?"
"Still the same, except for..." Motoko rolled her eyes. "Remember my older sister? She went crazy. Insane."
"She was committed?"
The girl laughed, entirely without malice. "No! Ha, you always take things literally, don't you?"
Keitaro grinned and reached for the second cup of tea on the table. "That's the other thing Mom says. What about your sister?"
"Who knows? It's like she woke up one day and went 'Hey, I'm not TOTALLY PSYCHO enough. I'd better change that'. Or maybe she changed slowly, and I missed all the signs. I don't know."
"Nice old Tsuruko-san?" Keitaro took a long sip of his tea as he mulled the idea over. "No, I can't imagine her being psycho. I can't at all. She was always so sweet. The sort of person you'd imagine giving out free cookies for the elderly."
Motoko shrugged. "Well, that was then." She set her tea down on the table and looked straight at Keitaro. "So, I hear you're a ronin, huh?"
"Yeah..."
"That's alright."
Keitaro stared into the depths of his cup, then up at Motoko, smiling gratefully. "Thank you."
~~~
The next day, Keitaro began to study. He did this by answering questions from a book, which was thick and green. It was thick because the writers had wanted it to hold many problems, and it was green because Keitaro had once dropped it in a puddle and mold had since formed around the edges of every page. Whenever Keitaro answered problems from the book, he removed the mold from the edges of the pages the questions had been on. With the mold, the book looked old and worn, ready to be thrown away. Keitaro was determined to find some way to kill the mold on the pages in order to keep straight which sections he had already done and which he hadn't. He reasoned that once he found a way to kill the mold, he would kill the mold on the pages in the sections he had already done. When he finished the entire textbook, it would be clean and like new again, at which point Keitaro would be ready to throw it away.
Naru walked into his room around one o'clock. She would not deign to knock, instead throwing open the pocket door angrily.
"I want you to stay away from the girls." said Naru.
Keitaro looked up and behind himself from the table he was seated at. He had been working on a particularly problematic math question. The reason it was problematic was that it was not problematic at all, and in fact very simple. Keitaro found it very difficult, and was unsure of how to solve it.
The problem involved an equation. It had some numbers in it, as very as a large number of x's. Keitaro could not solve it, and marked with a red felt tip marker the text of the problem with an x, larger than any of the x's in the problem itself.
"I'm sorry?" he said to Naru.
"I want you to stay away from the girls." repeated Naru. "Especially Shinobu and Su. I don't know how you've got Motoko twisted around your finger like that, but you aren't fooling me. If you even try anything perverted, I'll make you pay for it."
"Which ones are Shinobu and Su again?" asked Keitaro, scratching at his head.
Naru became further enraged in the light of Keitaro's ignorance. "Shinobu and Su ar the youngest girls who live here. Shinobu's the one you flashed, and Su's the one who was carrying the laundry basket when you ran into her. Understand?"
Keitaro turned back to his problem, trying to see around the large, red x he had drawn. "Sure." he said, writing down the correct answer underneath it.
"Good. Remember, I'm watching you." Naru said, and left.
The next day, Keitaro became the manager of the Hinata House, and Naru tried to strangle him. Kitsune and Motoko had to pry the fingers of both her hands off Keitaro's throat. It was a tiring task.
"Of course I do! And anyway, even if you mess up, you have the support of the rest of us, don't you?"
"I know, but..."
"Don't worry. Everything will go just fine."
"Well...alright, then."
"Come, now. Don't be so melancholy. You've done katas a thousand times harder than this in your sleep!"
"I know that logically, but this is the first time I've actually gone out to defeat something that isn't a minor demon or something. I'm just nervous."
"You, nervous? This'll be a piece of cake for you, Tsuruko. Tsuruko, are you listening?"
"The sign..."
"Tsuruko?"
"That sign...looks...familiar..."
"Sorry?"
"And that restaurant looks familiar, too. And that bus stop--are we driving in circles?"
"Don't be ridiculous! Do you really think an old master like me would get lost?"
"Well, considering that we've passed that gas station three times now..."
~~~
"Mommm...when're we going to that place again?"
"Which place, Keitaro?"
"That place you took me where I met Aoyama-san, remember? Last week..."
"Hm? You...want to go back there?"
"Well, Aoyama-san was nice, and I had a lot of fun there, so...uh..."
"Keitaro, how about I talk with your father, and we'll see if we can visit them again in a few days, okay?"
"Yippee!"
"Now, don't get so excited! You don't know whether your father will let you, yet--Keitaro, are you listening? Keitaro!"
~~~
"Hey. Bro."
"Haruka! I haven't heard from you in a while. How is everything?"
"Oh, everything's doing just fine, here. Couldn't complain. You?"
"Great! Great!"
"Hey, you want to hear something interesting?"
"Huh?"
"Guess who's staying at ol' Mom's dorm."
"Dorm? Mom owns a dorm? I thought she owned an inn."
"Yeah, she turned it into a girls dorm a little while back. You know how she is."
~~~
"Ugh! That--that pervert!" Naru stomped up and down the halls of the girls dorm, seeing everything in several brilliant, angry shades of red. Behind her, Kitsune tried to calm her down.
"Look, Naru, he's only staying temporarily, right? You wait five months, he takes the exam, he passes, he leaves! He'll be out of your hair before you know it."
Naru spun around to face her friend. "He's been a ronin for two years, Kitsune. What makes you think he'll pass this time?" she whispered loudly. "No, he'll fail again, and then he'll end up staying another year, doing his perverted--" She broke off, realizing her voice had begun to rise, and looked to the end of the hall, toward the room Keitaro was staying in. "And look! He's already gone and corrupted Motoko, somehow!"
"Oh, you heard what they said. They're old friends! Of course they're going to be all nice to each other. What, you expected her to go all psycho with her sword and chop him into ribbons, or something?"
The expression on her face showed that she clearly HAD expected such an event to happen.
"...Oy." Kitsune muttered.
---
"When did you start staying at the inn--er, dorm, anyway?" Keitaro asked Motoko, unpacking his bookbag as he spoke. He'd brought very little, considering how long he might be staying--just some books and his drawing pad.
"Oh, not too long." Motoko answered, seated at the table set up in the middle of the room, sipping a cup of cold tea as she watched Keitaro quickly leafed through the pad before setting it on the shelf. "April of this year, actually. I can't believe you didn't know this place was a dorm, though. From what I've heard, it hasn't been an inn since...1995, maybe?"
"Mom says us Urashimas are awful at communicating with each other." He sat at the same table as Motoko--not next to her, ot across from her, but somewhere in between. "So, how's your family?"
"Still the same, except for..." Motoko rolled her eyes. "Remember my older sister? She went crazy. Insane."
"She was committed?"
The girl laughed, entirely without malice. "No! Ha, you always take things literally, don't you?"
Keitaro grinned and reached for the second cup of tea on the table. "That's the other thing Mom says. What about your sister?"
"Who knows? It's like she woke up one day and went 'Hey, I'm not TOTALLY PSYCHO enough. I'd better change that'. Or maybe she changed slowly, and I missed all the signs. I don't know."
"Nice old Tsuruko-san?" Keitaro took a long sip of his tea as he mulled the idea over. "No, I can't imagine her being psycho. I can't at all. She was always so sweet. The sort of person you'd imagine giving out free cookies for the elderly."
Motoko shrugged. "Well, that was then." She set her tea down on the table and looked straight at Keitaro. "So, I hear you're a ronin, huh?"
"Yeah..."
"That's alright."
Keitaro stared into the depths of his cup, then up at Motoko, smiling gratefully. "Thank you."
~~~
The next day, Keitaro began to study. He did this by answering questions from a book, which was thick and green. It was thick because the writers had wanted it to hold many problems, and it was green because Keitaro had once dropped it in a puddle and mold had since formed around the edges of every page. Whenever Keitaro answered problems from the book, he removed the mold from the edges of the pages the questions had been on. With the mold, the book looked old and worn, ready to be thrown away. Keitaro was determined to find some way to kill the mold on the pages in order to keep straight which sections he had already done and which he hadn't. He reasoned that once he found a way to kill the mold, he would kill the mold on the pages in the sections he had already done. When he finished the entire textbook, it would be clean and like new again, at which point Keitaro would be ready to throw it away.
Naru walked into his room around one o'clock. She would not deign to knock, instead throwing open the pocket door angrily.
"I want you to stay away from the girls." said Naru.
Keitaro looked up and behind himself from the table he was seated at. He had been working on a particularly problematic math question. The reason it was problematic was that it was not problematic at all, and in fact very simple. Keitaro found it very difficult, and was unsure of how to solve it.
The problem involved an equation. It had some numbers in it, as very as a large number of x's. Keitaro could not solve it, and marked with a red felt tip marker the text of the problem with an x, larger than any of the x's in the problem itself.
"I'm sorry?" he said to Naru.
"I want you to stay away from the girls." repeated Naru. "Especially Shinobu and Su. I don't know how you've got Motoko twisted around your finger like that, but you aren't fooling me. If you even try anything perverted, I'll make you pay for it."
"Which ones are Shinobu and Su again?" asked Keitaro, scratching at his head.
Naru became further enraged in the light of Keitaro's ignorance. "Shinobu and Su ar the youngest girls who live here. Shinobu's the one you flashed, and Su's the one who was carrying the laundry basket when you ran into her. Understand?"
Keitaro turned back to his problem, trying to see around the large, red x he had drawn. "Sure." he said, writing down the correct answer underneath it.
"Good. Remember, I'm watching you." Naru said, and left.
The next day, Keitaro became the manager of the Hinata House, and Naru tried to strangle him. Kitsune and Motoko had to pry the fingers of both her hands off Keitaro's throat. It was a tiring task.
Besides, if Naru is a lesbian by nature and has to come to terms with her emotions and her attraction, it makes for great angst and self appraisement before she can accept who she is. From gay people I know, I understand this to be the single biggest challenge of their lives: accepting their natures. Denial makes them twisted. As Naru has long been about denial, her accepting that she's a lesbian would be a really interesting twist on her personal journey.
seems like Kei isnt as thick headed when it comes to studying, more like badly lacking focus instead or focusing too hard
And Tsuruko becomming 'weirder' according to Motoko... that's something worth expanding on, or maybe it'll be fun to see when Tsuruko comes to enforce the houses be joined XD
great update :yay:
And Tsuruko becomming 'weirder' according to Motoko... that's something worth expanding on, or maybe it'll be fun to see when Tsuruko comes to enforce the houses be joined XD
great update :yay:
"It's true, you know. It's all true."
"It's all--it's all true? Everything they said--it's true?"
"It's true. Remember the time when you were a teenager and you fell off the school roof?"
"Not really--well, yes, actually. But it wasn't too bad."
"Look. We didn't tell you back then, but you should've died, you know that? You should've broken your back and broken your ribs and cracked the back of your skull wide open. At the very least, you've should've gone into a coma and ended up a paraplegic--hell, a quadriplegic. You should've, and you would've if your ancestors had been anyone else. Hello? Are you still there?"
"Sorry--it's just--a lot to swallow, all of a sudden. Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Ol' Granny told you alongside your bedtime stories, she said. But you outgrew both at the same time--you always were too logical for your own good, you know."
"But still--"
"Why do you think so many of your relatives on your side pick such dangerous jobs? Because they're the ones best equipped to do them! The clues have been here all along, and you're just now picking up on them."
~~~
"Well, they're grandma's orders."
The words had come from Keitaro's Aunt Haruka, and they had been rather effective in stopping Naru in her tracks. Her ranting had ceased, though her mouth had bounced open and closed like a suffocating goldfish. Whenever her lips flew apart, they made a hollow popping noise that made Keitaro think of plastic bottles full of pills.
She had made a sound of wordless frustration and stomped into the House, shaking her head. Motoko looked at the yawning doorway she had gone through worriedly.
Keitaro had taken the news in a better manner than Naru, blinking dizzily as he read over the papers that informed him of exactly what he owned, and where. He flipped each of the papers over, then repeated the action so that they were right side up again, but the words remained the same.
This was A Job, dropped right into his lap where he was unable to miss it. A Job was one of the things he needed before he could Win--the other things was Finding The Promised Girl, and he could not do that without Passing The Tokyo U Exam. He was currently pouring most of his efforts into Passing The Tokyo U Exam, and had not expected to find A Job so easily.
He hesitated for a brief moment before accepting. He smiled at Aunt Haruka and she smiled back. He smiled at Motoko and she smiled back. He smiled at Kitsune and Kitsune did not smile back, choosing instead to wear a uneasy, concerned expression on her face as she looked at Naru. He smiled at Naru and Naru made a sound of wordless frustration and stomped into the House, shaking her head. Motoko looked at the yawning doorway she had gone through worriedly. As soon as he was able to assure himself that Naru wasn't looking out of any of the windows, he smiled at Shinobu and Su.
"Ah, Haruka?" Keitaro said uncertainly. "What exactly do I have to do, being the landlord?"
~~~
In lieu of studying, Keitaro decided it would be best to inspect the barely visible shadows that danced along the far wall of his room. No studying could be done, anyway. It was one of those insufferable four o'clocks, the four o'clock that suddenly strikes without warning upon every man, who stops what he is doing and becomes abruptly aware of his own mortality. Keitaro was no exception. He had been reading about Plato when the sudden urge had come upon him to throw the book across the room.
"Well," he said to himself, and threw the book across the room, where it hit the far wall and draw his attention to the shadows that danced upon it.
He reflected, as he peered through half-lidded eyes, that somebody should have shut Plato up in a cave in order to save countless college applicants. After all, nobody followed Plato consciously anymore, even after studying him.
Greek philosophy, like college, was ultimately useless, Keitaro realized. He frowned. There was something wrong with that statement. College wasn't useless at all--one could, after all, get a useful Degree in a place like Tokyo U. So, if Greek philosophy was as useless as college, it followed that it was one of the most useful things of all. With renewed vigor he fetched his book from where it lay and read the words "The Allegory".
The door slid open, and Naru burst into his room, interrupting him from his studies. "Come on," she said, and left again. It was very strange behavior, and Keitaro wondered if she was sick. He hoped she wasn't, especially when Naru reentered the room and dragged him out of it by the collar of his shirt. If she WAS sick, he would end up catching whatever illness she had unless he could get away from her.
"There." said Naru, having dragged Keitaro to the outdoor baths. "Clean it." ordered Naru, and she left, leaving Keitaro terribly, terribly confused.
"With what?"
As if an answer to his question, a small push broom flew out of the doorway Naru had entered the House through. The handle struck Keitaro's skull, making a loud cracking sound as the wood the handle was made of degenerated.
"Thank you!" he called, hoping the girl could still hear him.
~~~
When he finished, it was half past five.
"Wipe the floors!" Naru ordered. Keitaro wiped the floors, holding a cloth rag against the wooden boards as he ran.
"Wash the dishes!" Naru ordered. Keitaro washed the dishes, using the same cloth rag and a washboard that had probably been made from the same wood as the push broom.
"Repair the roof!" Naru ordered.
"I don't understand it!" Naru shouted, pacing back and forth. "I'm working that pervert like a slave, trying to get him to quit this job on his own."
Kistune nodded, biting into a fresh tomato.
"But still, he works happily without complaining!" Naru continued. "He works, and he doesn't complain, and he's happy. Happily and without complaining, he works." She turned towards Kitsune, who was swallowing the last of the tomato. "I don't understand it at all."
"I'd say," said Kitsune slowly, "that, concerning his work, he's happy and without complaint."
Naru punched a wall, and shook her hand through a haze of pain.
"Have you asked him why he's so happy about working?" asked Kitsune.
"He said he considered the work a learning opportunity."
"A learning opportunity?"
Keitaro considered the work an opportunity to learn how to work happily without complaining. He had previously noticed salarymen in expensive business suits who worked without complaint, but unhappily, and salarymen in expensive business suits who worked happily, but complained. He had met a man who had been happy and had not complained, but the man had not been a salaryman, but a hobo. The hobo had been missing two of his molars, and delighted in finding half-eaten fish in the dumpster behind the sushi restaurant. He considered such discoveries to be among the finer things in life.
~~~
When Keitaro woke up, it was nine o'clock, and he was late. He had fallen asleep on the roof, attempting to think up a way to block a small hole there without a hammer, nails, or any wood. It had been a difficult problem Naru had given him, and he still had no answer. He had looked up at the stars during the night, hoping that one of them might trigger some synapse in his brain that would allow the solution to become clear, but none had occurred. Instead, looking at the stars had suddenly become looking at the inside of his eyelids, and Keitaro had fallen fast asleep.
We woke suddenly, as he fell off the edge of the roof and onto the ground below. He was unhurt, of course, and knocked on the front door, anxious to collect his prep school supplies quickly, lest he become late.
Su opened the door. "Where were you, ronin?" she asked.
Keitaro shook his head. "I'm not allowed to talk to you." Su shut the door, and Keitaro knocked again.
Kitsune opened the door. "What?" she asked unintelligently through a toothbrush and a small cloud of lather. She wasn't wearing anything under her shirt, which was open.
"I need my bookbag." said Keitaro, and found his bookbag under the table in his room where he had placed it before throwing Plato against the wall. The trolly to the prep school was on time, which is to say that it was late, as usual, so Keitaro barely missed missing it as it passed the Hinata House.
Kitsune blinked deliberately, trying to clear her eyes without touching her face with her foam-covered fingers. "That...was odd..."
~~~
"So, how was prep school?" Motoko poured liquid from the teapot into the two teacups, smiling.
Keitaro shook his head. "Everybody was acting so weird today. Or maybe it was just me. I don't know." He took one of the cups. "Shirai and Haitani, my friends--they were looking at me all oddly, like--"
"Like you had a leaf stuck in your hair or something?" Motoko chimed in, taking the other cup and sipping at the surface of the liquid, being careful not to burn herself. Her smile widened in a way that screamed 'I know something you don't know'. Keitaro was very familiar with that smile. He always saw it moments before making a fool out of himself.
"Well...yeah, I guess..." he said, hesitantly. "What made you say that?"
Motoko nodded at the boy sitting across from her and chuckled. "You have a leaf stuck in your hair."
Keitaro blushed, embarrassed, and removed the offending object from his head.
"So, these two--Shirai and Haitani. I don't think I've met them." Motoko took another sip from her cup, which had cooled slightly by now.
"Shirai Kimiaki and Haitani Masayuki. They...mean well. They're pretty understanding too, unless a girl actually talks to them."
"What, are they perverts or something?" She used the word Naru slung about so much, laughing.
"No, not really. More desperate than anything else." Keitaro drank from his cup. "Hey, this tea is pretty good."
"It's a new brand that came out recently. So, why do you have a leaf in your hair?" Motoko finished her tea and placed the empty cup next to the teapot.
"Ah, I think...I think..."
~~~
"You FELL OFF THE ROOF?"
In the room above, Naru winced.
"It's all--it's all true? Everything they said--it's true?"
"It's true. Remember the time when you were a teenager and you fell off the school roof?"
"Not really--well, yes, actually. But it wasn't too bad."
"Look. We didn't tell you back then, but you should've died, you know that? You should've broken your back and broken your ribs and cracked the back of your skull wide open. At the very least, you've should've gone into a coma and ended up a paraplegic--hell, a quadriplegic. You should've, and you would've if your ancestors had been anyone else. Hello? Are you still there?"
"Sorry--it's just--a lot to swallow, all of a sudden. Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Ol' Granny told you alongside your bedtime stories, she said. But you outgrew both at the same time--you always were too logical for your own good, you know."
"But still--"
"Why do you think so many of your relatives on your side pick such dangerous jobs? Because they're the ones best equipped to do them! The clues have been here all along, and you're just now picking up on them."
~~~
"Well, they're grandma's orders."
The words had come from Keitaro's Aunt Haruka, and they had been rather effective in stopping Naru in her tracks. Her ranting had ceased, though her mouth had bounced open and closed like a suffocating goldfish. Whenever her lips flew apart, they made a hollow popping noise that made Keitaro think of plastic bottles full of pills.
She had made a sound of wordless frustration and stomped into the House, shaking her head. Motoko looked at the yawning doorway she had gone through worriedly.
Keitaro had taken the news in a better manner than Naru, blinking dizzily as he read over the papers that informed him of exactly what he owned, and where. He flipped each of the papers over, then repeated the action so that they were right side up again, but the words remained the same.
This was A Job, dropped right into his lap where he was unable to miss it. A Job was one of the things he needed before he could Win--the other things was Finding The Promised Girl, and he could not do that without Passing The Tokyo U Exam. He was currently pouring most of his efforts into Passing The Tokyo U Exam, and had not expected to find A Job so easily.
He hesitated for a brief moment before accepting. He smiled at Aunt Haruka and she smiled back. He smiled at Motoko and she smiled back. He smiled at Kitsune and Kitsune did not smile back, choosing instead to wear a uneasy, concerned expression on her face as she looked at Naru. He smiled at Naru and Naru made a sound of wordless frustration and stomped into the House, shaking her head. Motoko looked at the yawning doorway she had gone through worriedly. As soon as he was able to assure himself that Naru wasn't looking out of any of the windows, he smiled at Shinobu and Su.
"Ah, Haruka?" Keitaro said uncertainly. "What exactly do I have to do, being the landlord?"
~~~
In lieu of studying, Keitaro decided it would be best to inspect the barely visible shadows that danced along the far wall of his room. No studying could be done, anyway. It was one of those insufferable four o'clocks, the four o'clock that suddenly strikes without warning upon every man, who stops what he is doing and becomes abruptly aware of his own mortality. Keitaro was no exception. He had been reading about Plato when the sudden urge had come upon him to throw the book across the room.
"Well," he said to himself, and threw the book across the room, where it hit the far wall and draw his attention to the shadows that danced upon it.
He reflected, as he peered through half-lidded eyes, that somebody should have shut Plato up in a cave in order to save countless college applicants. After all, nobody followed Plato consciously anymore, even after studying him.
Greek philosophy, like college, was ultimately useless, Keitaro realized. He frowned. There was something wrong with that statement. College wasn't useless at all--one could, after all, get a useful Degree in a place like Tokyo U. So, if Greek philosophy was as useless as college, it followed that it was one of the most useful things of all. With renewed vigor he fetched his book from where it lay and read the words "The Allegory".
The door slid open, and Naru burst into his room, interrupting him from his studies. "Come on," she said, and left again. It was very strange behavior, and Keitaro wondered if she was sick. He hoped she wasn't, especially when Naru reentered the room and dragged him out of it by the collar of his shirt. If she WAS sick, he would end up catching whatever illness she had unless he could get away from her.
"There." said Naru, having dragged Keitaro to the outdoor baths. "Clean it." ordered Naru, and she left, leaving Keitaro terribly, terribly confused.
"With what?"
As if an answer to his question, a small push broom flew out of the doorway Naru had entered the House through. The handle struck Keitaro's skull, making a loud cracking sound as the wood the handle was made of degenerated.
"Thank you!" he called, hoping the girl could still hear him.
~~~
When he finished, it was half past five.
"Wipe the floors!" Naru ordered. Keitaro wiped the floors, holding a cloth rag against the wooden boards as he ran.
"Wash the dishes!" Naru ordered. Keitaro washed the dishes, using the same cloth rag and a washboard that had probably been made from the same wood as the push broom.
"Repair the roof!" Naru ordered.
"I don't understand it!" Naru shouted, pacing back and forth. "I'm working that pervert like a slave, trying to get him to quit this job on his own."
Kistune nodded, biting into a fresh tomato.
"But still, he works happily without complaining!" Naru continued. "He works, and he doesn't complain, and he's happy. Happily and without complaining, he works." She turned towards Kitsune, who was swallowing the last of the tomato. "I don't understand it at all."
"I'd say," said Kitsune slowly, "that, concerning his work, he's happy and without complaint."
Naru punched a wall, and shook her hand through a haze of pain.
"Have you asked him why he's so happy about working?" asked Kitsune.
"He said he considered the work a learning opportunity."
"A learning opportunity?"
Keitaro considered the work an opportunity to learn how to work happily without complaining. He had previously noticed salarymen in expensive business suits who worked without complaint, but unhappily, and salarymen in expensive business suits who worked happily, but complained. He had met a man who had been happy and had not complained, but the man had not been a salaryman, but a hobo. The hobo had been missing two of his molars, and delighted in finding half-eaten fish in the dumpster behind the sushi restaurant. He considered such discoveries to be among the finer things in life.
~~~
When Keitaro woke up, it was nine o'clock, and he was late. He had fallen asleep on the roof, attempting to think up a way to block a small hole there without a hammer, nails, or any wood. It had been a difficult problem Naru had given him, and he still had no answer. He had looked up at the stars during the night, hoping that one of them might trigger some synapse in his brain that would allow the solution to become clear, but none had occurred. Instead, looking at the stars had suddenly become looking at the inside of his eyelids, and Keitaro had fallen fast asleep.
We woke suddenly, as he fell off the edge of the roof and onto the ground below. He was unhurt, of course, and knocked on the front door, anxious to collect his prep school supplies quickly, lest he become late.
Su opened the door. "Where were you, ronin?" she asked.
Keitaro shook his head. "I'm not allowed to talk to you." Su shut the door, and Keitaro knocked again.
Kitsune opened the door. "What?" she asked unintelligently through a toothbrush and a small cloud of lather. She wasn't wearing anything under her shirt, which was open.
"I need my bookbag." said Keitaro, and found his bookbag under the table in his room where he had placed it before throwing Plato against the wall. The trolly to the prep school was on time, which is to say that it was late, as usual, so Keitaro barely missed missing it as it passed the Hinata House.
Kitsune blinked deliberately, trying to clear her eyes without touching her face with her foam-covered fingers. "That...was odd..."
~~~
"So, how was prep school?" Motoko poured liquid from the teapot into the two teacups, smiling.
Keitaro shook his head. "Everybody was acting so weird today. Or maybe it was just me. I don't know." He took one of the cups. "Shirai and Haitani, my friends--they were looking at me all oddly, like--"
"Like you had a leaf stuck in your hair or something?" Motoko chimed in, taking the other cup and sipping at the surface of the liquid, being careful not to burn herself. Her smile widened in a way that screamed 'I know something you don't know'. Keitaro was very familiar with that smile. He always saw it moments before making a fool out of himself.
"Well...yeah, I guess..." he said, hesitantly. "What made you say that?"
Motoko nodded at the boy sitting across from her and chuckled. "You have a leaf stuck in your hair."
Keitaro blushed, embarrassed, and removed the offending object from his head.
"So, these two--Shirai and Haitani. I don't think I've met them." Motoko took another sip from her cup, which had cooled slightly by now.
"Shirai Kimiaki and Haitani Masayuki. They...mean well. They're pretty understanding too, unless a girl actually talks to them."
"What, are they perverts or something?" She used the word Naru slung about so much, laughing.
"No, not really. More desperate than anything else." Keitaro drank from his cup. "Hey, this tea is pretty good."
"It's a new brand that came out recently. So, why do you have a leaf in your hair?" Motoko finished her tea and placed the empty cup next to the teapot.
"Ah, I think...I think..."
~~~
"You FELL OFF THE ROOF?"
In the room above, Naru winced.
Hmm, interesting and very good thought the writing style seems very...ecentric. But, regardless, I can't wait to see the conversation where Keitaro informs Shinobu that he isn't allowed to speak to her and she begins to cry wondering what she did wrong and he franticly tries to comfort her while trying at the same time not to speak with her, and hilarity ensues.
Sadly, that scene probably won't be seen--he'd just probably walk away, dismissing Shinobu's crying as "unfortunate but sadly unavoidable". Naru would yell that Keitaro was a pervert who makes little girls cry and complain to Motoko, Motoko would talk to Keitaro who would be unable to remember why exactly he's not allowed to talk to Shinobu, and the entire issue would ultimately go unsolved.
Can I write that in a funny way? Because I don't think I can write that in a funny way.
Can I write that in a funny way? Because I don't think I can write that in a funny way.
"Hold on a minute--stop the car, stop the car. Did you see that?"
"Hm."
"I think--I saw--that kid just fell out of that window! Oh, man, I'm getting out of the car."
"We're going to be late."
"I don't care. I've got to see if that kid is alright."
~~~
"What do we tell her? He's her friend, and if she just stops meeting him all of a sudden..."
"We don't tell her anything. We just stop visiting him, and they stop visiting us. That's it. I know it may seem a bit cruel and uncaring, but..."
"But it's better she stay away now, than find out about..."
"Yes."
~~~
The rain fell in buckets, or rather in and around buckets and out of buckets. The buckets were often set underneath holes in roofs which were probably made of the same sort of wood as push brooms and washboards were. They often overflowed, but few tended to notice until they actually stepped in the puddles around the buckets, at which point the buckets were emptied and set under the holes again.
Clouds of people walked underneath black droplets that hung suspended above the earth. Most had umbrellas, which were opened above their heads. The different colors of the different umbrellas gave Keitaro the impression of a rainbow that had been broken into millions of tiny, insignificant pieces, like a smashed mirror. He himself held an umbrella made of green fabric above his head as he walked alongside Shirai and Haitani away from the prep school.
"What have you got?" he asked his friends, a stupid grin adorned on his face.
Shirai peered through his glasses, blinded by trails of droplets that ran down his lenses. "What have I got?"
"For the practice exam." Keitaro clarified. "What's your chance of getting into the school of your choice?"
"Thirty percent." said Shirai.
"Twenty-five percent." said Haitani. "What about you?"
Keitaro deflated, but managed to keep perfectly still his stupid grin. It was a trick he had learned after he had become a ronin. People without stupid grins always believed that people with stupid grins were telling the truth, even if they weren't. "It doesn't matter." he lied. "Probability isn't real, anyway."
Haitani changed the subject. "Look--right ahead of us." He nodded fowards in a manner designed to indicate precisely what he was talking about. Three girls walked in the rain underneath two umbrellas. It was an umbrella-person ratio of two to three, and Keitaro wondered if it was like that in all of Japan. If so, what percent of that one-third of the population would develop head colds? He had decided to play it safe and assume that all of them would, when he realized that the tallest girl was holding the umbrella in a way that sheltered both her and the girl who had no umbrella. If two people could be sheltered with each umbrella, and there were only three people, he realized, there was an efficiency loss of twenty-five percent.
He looked up, suddenly, pausing in his gait. Shirai and Haitani were gone--no, never mind, they were only bleeding, and Motoko was staring at him sternly, her umbrella slung over her shoulder by a strap as the rain ran down her hair. "Well?" she said.
Triumphant, Keitaro nodded. "They should make umbrellas twenty-five percent smaller, of course." He resumed walking, leaving behind him Shirai and Haitani's broken bodies as Naru, Motoko, and Su looked at him incredulously.
~~~
"Motoko?" Keitaro whimpered, trying not to look at the throwing knife that was still quivering in the rail post an inch from his eye. "You're mad at me for some reason, aren't you?"
Motoko's eye twitched, and she went back to slicing each of the falling leaves in half.
"See, I know you're mad at me, because you've refused to talk to me all day." Keitaro tugged at his shirt collar nervously, trying to decide between climbing the rest of the stairs to the roof where Motoko was practicing or retreating back downstairs. Following the choice he figured was the best one was not a hard task per se--however, he could not pick one of the choices without thinking that perhaps the other choice was the better one, and picking that one, and no sooner had he picked that choice than the original one seemed preferable. He viewed his refusal to take either choice as a compromise that was entirely ruined when his treacherous feet finally became disgusted at his cowardice and dragged the rest of his body up the steps.
Motoko stared at him in a way that was not particularly nonthreatening as he stood there, no more than a few feet away from her, but she made no move to actually hurt him, so he stepped hesitantly closer. "Look, I'm not really sure why you're mad at me, but..." He paused. He'd begun that sentence in the wrong order, but continued on irregardless. "...please, could you please tell me at least why you're mad at me?" He lapsed into blubbering. "Because you're really mad at me, and when you're really mad at me you won't talk to me and when you won't talk to me it makes me all depressed and--"
The girl held up one hand, her face carefully neutral. "I'm not...I'm not mad anymore, alright? Just annoyed." He lowered the hand, then sighed. "Look...Keitaro...I think there's something wrong with you."
"Wrong with me? I haven't noticed anything wrong with me."
One corner of her mouth turned upwards. "That's the problem with self-diagnosis. Keitaro...lately you've been acting a bit weird."
"Define weird."
"Spacey."
Keitaro's head sank, and he inhaled sharply. "I was afraid of that." His dejected posture was made disturbing by his joyful grin.
Motoko moved forwards, reaching towards his face. "...Kei?" she said worriedly. "Do you...have a fever?"
Keitaro didn't answer, only looking down at his feet, and suddenly he felt her hand, cool, on his forehead. His head shot up in dumb surprise and he opened his mouth to say something, but only managed to blush and tilt his face downwards again. "It's...not that. I think--Mo-chan, I think I'm--"
"Dinnertime!" shouted Su, popping out upside down from the foliage of one of the overhanging trees.
Keitaro's face brightened. "Oh, dinner already! Wow, I'm hungry. I wonder what we're eating?" He turned around, ambling clumsily to the top of the stairs, before remember Motoko and turned his head to face her. "Aren't you coming? I know you want to become good with your sword and all, but you'll end up worse off if you go hungry so you can train longer."
"But you--you were about to--"
Keitaro blinked, confusedly. "Okay, then, I guess. Be careful, okay?" He nearly fell down the stairs, but caught himself just in time and, holding tightly to the railing, walked out of sight.
Motoko hurried after Keitaro. "H--hey, wait!"
~~~
She didn't get any sleep that night.
Keitaro had just forgotten about the conversation. He'd forgotten about what he'd been about to tell her. He hadn't even said anything like 'I'll tell you later'.
And Motoko had been left without an answer.
Something tugged at her mind. She felt as if she'd missed something important, like some great clue that would have explained the entire thing.
She didn't get any sleep that night, and was only beginning to drift off when she turned her head and looked at the clock to see that it was already time to get up. "Whatever..." she mumbled, surrendering to slumber.
The next day, she spent the entire day with Keitaro, hoping he would shed some light on his odd behavior. "What happened?"
Keitaro looked up from his tea. "What?"
"Something happened since the last time you saw me before you came to the Hinata House."
"Nothing happened." Keitaro bent his neck to the side quickly, producing a loud cracking noise. "Nothing at all."
"Hm."
"I think--I saw--that kid just fell out of that window! Oh, man, I'm getting out of the car."
"We're going to be late."
"I don't care. I've got to see if that kid is alright."
~~~
"What do we tell her? He's her friend, and if she just stops meeting him all of a sudden..."
"We don't tell her anything. We just stop visiting him, and they stop visiting us. That's it. I know it may seem a bit cruel and uncaring, but..."
"But it's better she stay away now, than find out about..."
"Yes."
~~~
The rain fell in buckets, or rather in and around buckets and out of buckets. The buckets were often set underneath holes in roofs which were probably made of the same sort of wood as push brooms and washboards were. They often overflowed, but few tended to notice until they actually stepped in the puddles around the buckets, at which point the buckets were emptied and set under the holes again.
Clouds of people walked underneath black droplets that hung suspended above the earth. Most had umbrellas, which were opened above their heads. The different colors of the different umbrellas gave Keitaro the impression of a rainbow that had been broken into millions of tiny, insignificant pieces, like a smashed mirror. He himself held an umbrella made of green fabric above his head as he walked alongside Shirai and Haitani away from the prep school.
"What have you got?" he asked his friends, a stupid grin adorned on his face.
Shirai peered through his glasses, blinded by trails of droplets that ran down his lenses. "What have I got?"
"For the practice exam." Keitaro clarified. "What's your chance of getting into the school of your choice?"
"Thirty percent." said Shirai.
"Twenty-five percent." said Haitani. "What about you?"
Keitaro deflated, but managed to keep perfectly still his stupid grin. It was a trick he had learned after he had become a ronin. People without stupid grins always believed that people with stupid grins were telling the truth, even if they weren't. "It doesn't matter." he lied. "Probability isn't real, anyway."
Haitani changed the subject. "Look--right ahead of us." He nodded fowards in a manner designed to indicate precisely what he was talking about. Three girls walked in the rain underneath two umbrellas. It was an umbrella-person ratio of two to three, and Keitaro wondered if it was like that in all of Japan. If so, what percent of that one-third of the population would develop head colds? He had decided to play it safe and assume that all of them would, when he realized that the tallest girl was holding the umbrella in a way that sheltered both her and the girl who had no umbrella. If two people could be sheltered with each umbrella, and there were only three people, he realized, there was an efficiency loss of twenty-five percent.
He looked up, suddenly, pausing in his gait. Shirai and Haitani were gone--no, never mind, they were only bleeding, and Motoko was staring at him sternly, her umbrella slung over her shoulder by a strap as the rain ran down her hair. "Well?" she said.
Triumphant, Keitaro nodded. "They should make umbrellas twenty-five percent smaller, of course." He resumed walking, leaving behind him Shirai and Haitani's broken bodies as Naru, Motoko, and Su looked at him incredulously.
~~~
"Motoko?" Keitaro whimpered, trying not to look at the throwing knife that was still quivering in the rail post an inch from his eye. "You're mad at me for some reason, aren't you?"
Motoko's eye twitched, and she went back to slicing each of the falling leaves in half.
"See, I know you're mad at me, because you've refused to talk to me all day." Keitaro tugged at his shirt collar nervously, trying to decide between climbing the rest of the stairs to the roof where Motoko was practicing or retreating back downstairs. Following the choice he figured was the best one was not a hard task per se--however, he could not pick one of the choices without thinking that perhaps the other choice was the better one, and picking that one, and no sooner had he picked that choice than the original one seemed preferable. He viewed his refusal to take either choice as a compromise that was entirely ruined when his treacherous feet finally became disgusted at his cowardice and dragged the rest of his body up the steps.
Motoko stared at him in a way that was not particularly nonthreatening as he stood there, no more than a few feet away from her, but she made no move to actually hurt him, so he stepped hesitantly closer. "Look, I'm not really sure why you're mad at me, but..." He paused. He'd begun that sentence in the wrong order, but continued on irregardless. "...please, could you please tell me at least why you're mad at me?" He lapsed into blubbering. "Because you're really mad at me, and when you're really mad at me you won't talk to me and when you won't talk to me it makes me all depressed and--"
The girl held up one hand, her face carefully neutral. "I'm not...I'm not mad anymore, alright? Just annoyed." He lowered the hand, then sighed. "Look...Keitaro...I think there's something wrong with you."
"Wrong with me? I haven't noticed anything wrong with me."
One corner of her mouth turned upwards. "That's the problem with self-diagnosis. Keitaro...lately you've been acting a bit weird."
"Define weird."
"Spacey."
Keitaro's head sank, and he inhaled sharply. "I was afraid of that." His dejected posture was made disturbing by his joyful grin.
Motoko moved forwards, reaching towards his face. "...Kei?" she said worriedly. "Do you...have a fever?"
Keitaro didn't answer, only looking down at his feet, and suddenly he felt her hand, cool, on his forehead. His head shot up in dumb surprise and he opened his mouth to say something, but only managed to blush and tilt his face downwards again. "It's...not that. I think--Mo-chan, I think I'm--"
"Dinnertime!" shouted Su, popping out upside down from the foliage of one of the overhanging trees.
Keitaro's face brightened. "Oh, dinner already! Wow, I'm hungry. I wonder what we're eating?" He turned around, ambling clumsily to the top of the stairs, before remember Motoko and turned his head to face her. "Aren't you coming? I know you want to become good with your sword and all, but you'll end up worse off if you go hungry so you can train longer."
"But you--you were about to--"
Keitaro blinked, confusedly. "Okay, then, I guess. Be careful, okay?" He nearly fell down the stairs, but caught himself just in time and, holding tightly to the railing, walked out of sight.
Motoko hurried after Keitaro. "H--hey, wait!"
~~~
She didn't get any sleep that night.
Keitaro had just forgotten about the conversation. He'd forgotten about what he'd been about to tell her. He hadn't even said anything like 'I'll tell you later'.
And Motoko had been left without an answer.
Something tugged at her mind. She felt as if she'd missed something important, like some great clue that would have explained the entire thing.
She didn't get any sleep that night, and was only beginning to drift off when she turned her head and looked at the clock to see that it was already time to get up. "Whatever..." she mumbled, surrendering to slumber.
The next day, she spent the entire day with Keitaro, hoping he would shed some light on his odd behavior. "What happened?"
Keitaro looked up from his tea. "What?"
"Something happened since the last time you saw me before you came to the Hinata House."
"Nothing happened." Keitaro bent his neck to the side quickly, producing a loud cracking noise. "Nothing at all."
Interesting reactions Kei has... seems like his 'uncertain' past is starting to catch up with him and he's afraid of what Motoko might think.
Still love those flashbacks, giving a lot of insight into their pasts, especially Kei's; adds a little bit of comedic intrigue and adds onto the desesperation to the reader. :yay:
Still love those flashbacks, giving a lot of insight into their pasts, especially Kei's; adds a little bit of comedic intrigue and adds onto the desesperation to the reader. :yay:
There is no particular "context" for the word irregardless, per se, since it has the same meaning as "regardless."
That said, even dictionary.com mentions the controversy surrounding the word as "nonstandard" speech; at least as far as English goes, however, it seems to have made its way into the language, and has become an acceptable word (hence why it's in dictionaries at all), even if it does have a black mark next to it.
That said, even dictionary.com mentions the controversy surrounding the word as "nonstandard" speech; at least as far as English goes, however, it seems to have made its way into the language, and has become an acceptable word (hence why it's in dictionaries at all), even if it does have a black mark next to it.
Well, seems that more and more words make their way in the language and dictionary...
Websters.com shows that irregardless is an accepted word.
Websters.com shows that irregardless is an accepted word.