Quote:*throws*
That'd be interesting, since these two pieces are only collaborative inasmuch as we throw various fragments at one-another to make the other guy want to write more of his own.
"Is this yours?" came a furious voice from behind me, and I stopped leaning on the railing and turned. Needless to say, I hadn't been expecting Mai herself to come up and talk to me - we hadn't been introduced, after all, and I didn't stand out in a crowd nearly as much as she did.
On the other hand, the way she was dragging Shiho behind her as she stormed towards me - and expression of mingled guilt, triumph, and defiance on the latter's face - provided at least a clear guess as to the reason. "'Fraid so. What has she done?" I asked, with no little trepidation but a surprising absence of panic.
She glared at me for a moment, then blinked. "You really don't know."
"Uh... No?" I offered.
"So you didn't send her to ask me if, if..." She spluttered to a stop and blushed furiously, then leaned forward and up a bit and hissed a short phrase or two that made me completely forget how close together the position had brought our bodies.
For a moment, my jaw just sagged, then I put myself back together enough to tell her, "No. I said no such thing." I stepped back a little and bowed, politely. "I'm sorry that she's bothered you - I'll talk to her about it, I promise."
She gave me a narrow-eyed look for a moment, then relaxed a bit and turned loose of Shiho's wrist. "You can't control if she's spreading rumors, so please, don't worry about it."
"Someone has to," I sighed. "But, thank you, Miss...?"
She smiled, and rolled her eyes, and the expression made my breath catch. "Tokiha Mai. Pleased to meet you."
"Tate Yuuichi, and it is very much mutual," I told her, with my stuffiest voice and the most formal bow I could manage. It didn't win the laugh I had been aiming for, but the wave she gave as she turned to rejoin her brother was friendly enough, so I couldn't count the effort wasted. I watched her go for a moment, trying to fight down a wave of bleak, tired, and all-too-familiar lonlieness, then turned to Shiho. "Are you really that dumb, or were you just trying to find a way to get me talking to her?"
She glared at me. "I saw those notes! You're mine! I won't let her take you away!"
I wasn't really surprised that she had gotten ahold of my notes - in fact, in retrospect I think I'd almost planned on it, since I could just as easily have made them a collection of cryptic phrases in English as structured Japanese paragraphs - but the idea that she could actually read through them, and obviously give them credence, yet still be more concerned about... "What the hell are you thinking?"
"Well," she said, as though it were the most reasonable thing in the world, "if she knows that you're mine to start with, then she won't try and steal you away, so you'll live and we can be together and she'l-"
"WILL YOU GROW THE FUCK UP?!"
She flinched at my volume, and looked about ready to cry - which was the last thing I needed when our - my - outburst had distracted pretty much everyone on the promenade deck from the bridge going by overhead.
With an effort, I got my temper back under control. "You've read all of it?" I snapped.
"Yes, Oniichan," she said quietly, looking at her feet.
"Then help me look for Mikoto - and hope you haven't killed us all."
...Y'know, I actually haven't got a clue what she said to her?
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."