Quote:Takeda. Yeah, now that you've put it in mind I'm rather looking forwards to that - especially since, unless I'm greatly mistaken, Tate is actually the senior Kendo student on campus... In canon he'd retired due to injuries, of course (both continuities - in the anime he'd hurt his leg), but here, their nature was rather different.
On which note, when does ... damnit, I keep thinking about the guy as 'True Blunder of Fuuka Academy', and can't actually remember his bloody name. Kendo-guy with a crush on Natsuki. Yeah, his reactions should be interesting.
Quote:*dark laugh* You have no clue.
Well, you know what they say: The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Fortunately, I seemed to have convinced her, since after that she just made a couple of snippy comments then flounced out of sight.
By the time I had hit the ground floor, though, I was rather wishing she had stayed.
Shiho was standing under the tree in front of the dorm's entrance, fiddling aimlessly with the bookbag she was holding in front of her legs. I was the only person I could think of that she might be waiting for, and then only if she was of a mind to at least set aside our argument the night before last.
Honestly it wasn't a conversation I was looking forward to - I didn't have the energy for it, especially after having to deal with Nao's worldview first thing in the morning - but it was one that needed to happen, between the chance of convincing her to act her age and the fact that, frankly, I owed it to her given that I was even there to talk. "Hey, Shiho," I said softly.
She looked up. "Hey... Yuuichi."
Wait, she called me what? "How are you feeling?" Yes, yes, I know it was a lame opener. I never claimed to be smooth.
"Okay... I've been thinking." She took a deep breath, bracing herself, then met my eyes. "You're not my onii-chan at all, are you?"
I shook my head slowly. "No. I'm not... though I'd... be happy to be a brother."
She nodded, and we spent the rest of the walk in silence.
* * * * *
Fuuka Academy survival tip number nine: Do Not Pet Happy Fun Freaky Monster. No matter how cute it might or might not look, attempting to snuggle up and get friendly with an Orphan is a bad idea.
In my own defense, however, I will note that I did no such thing. It didn't make any difference in the long run, of course, but for what it's worth, I treated the Lingere Critter with all the same respect and caution I'd have given its larger, merged form.
In short, I took one look and ran like hell.
Even so, I wasn't expecting a creature whose primary interests had been shown as eating lingere and molesting schoolgirls - in that order - to take it into its wierd-ass mutant-frog head to launch itself at my throat.
Fortunately, the angle it was coming at me put my left arm in its way rather than my right - if I was going to have to have a limb torn to shreds, that was the one I'd likely miss least, after all. I guess I was swatting at it fast enough that it didn't have time to react and actually bite, for which small favor I offer due thanks to the heavens, but the claws it raked along my forearm trying to get a grip were more than enough to gouge bone-deep.
Of course I screamed. Natsuki must have already been nearby - from the looks of things, she had chasing it for a while, and Mikoto and Nao were hot on her heels, looking faintly puzzled and one step short of berserk, respectively.
Boy, he's just having a heck of a week, isn't he? Two serious injuries in as many days...
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."