*catch*
What?! Of course they are!
*gooshgoosh* Wow, they really are!
*toss*
Fortunately, the thing with Mikoto went well after Shiho had gone off to sulk - I was even able to convince them to let me take charge of Miroku rather than just prying it out of her fingers, and was lucky enough that it didn't take offense. (I like my fingers on my hands, thanks kindly.)
I'd decided to do it that way, rather than letting things play out, because I was fairly certain that the absence of the delay that little incident had imposed would do Mikoto more good than a failure to involve Mai and Mikoto in each other's lives at this stage. As it turned out, my concern was mostly wasted, since none of the crewmen on hand seemed to know CPR, but the question was asked that much sooner and, for whatever reason, Mai didn't delay stepping forwards.
"You did a good job helping out with that," someone said from beside me, and from his hairstyle and height I guessed he had to be Takumi.
"I hope it was good enough," I replied. "You know Tokiha-san, right? I saw you with her earlier..."
"I'm her brother." Bingo. "Don't worry - between this and how polite Oneechan says you were after the hentai-girl came up, I have no objection to your courting my sister."
Where the fuck had that come from? I goggled at him, of course, completely lost for words. Eventually, though, I managed to actually make a coherent response. "...gueah?"
If you were very generous.
He laughed. "I saw how you were looking at her - you like her, right? Most people do, so I can't blame you."
Even before I opened my mouth, I knew that it was a tremendously bad idea, but impulse control has always been one of my weak points, and had stayed that way even with more normal brain chemistry. "Including a fellow of your accquaintance with a bit of a sister complex?"
"I don't have a complex!" he snapped, face as red as any I'd ever seen.
"I didn't," I told him mildly, doing my best to keep the grin my face wanted to make away from both expression and voice, "think you did." The joke had gone over even worse than I expected, probably because it was coming from a stranger rather than a roommate, and the frustrated note in his voice made me realize that it was a much more sensitive point than I had guessed - I'd heard that high, 'caught between murder and tears' pitch in my sister's voice, but it had always taken at least several minutes for her to get that worked up... She'd never just gone to that point with a single comment.
I didn't quite manage it, and he reacted about the same way my she always had - which is to say, he exploded. "You don't know anything!"
I held my hands up, palm out, and made my voice as placating as I could. "I guess not! I'm sorry, it was just supposed to be a stupid joke. I didn't mean to say that..." I groped for the word, but he saved me the trouble.
"You shouldn't. Oneechan is a wonderful person, and deserves better than to have people saying such horrible things about her." I breathed a mental sigh of relief - the apology seemed to have cooled his temper - but a voice interrupted us before I could respond.
"Takumi, are you bothering Tate-san?"
She was wearing a Fuuka Gakuen uniform, just like on the show, but in person the jacket - or whatever the proper name for the thing was - was noticably small, and...
Wow. That was a really short skirt.
I reminded myself forcibly that she was a person, not some object to drool over, and deserved to be treated as such. "I deserved it. I said something stupid and he was calling me to task for it."
She blinked. "Oh. What was it, then?"
"I'd rather not say?" I offered, and gave her a sickly smile. "It's best for everyone if it were forgotten, I think. Is that a Fuuka Gakuen uniform?" Well, that was smooth of me.
To my and Takumi's mutual relief, she let it drop and herded us both into a set of deck chairs - seemingly without ever touching us or even glancing our way. "Yeah. All of my other clothes are in my big suitcase, so this was the only dry thing I had. Why, do you go there also?"
"So I'm told."
She looked even cuter when she was puzzled, although I don't know how she managed it. "You don't know?"
I reached up and tapped the scar on my forehead. "Before this, everything is all... wierd." Which was quite true - after all, whether I had genuinely been swapped or was just delusional, remembering someone else's life was about as wierd as it came. "So, I know things in general, but hardly anything about the school."
"You have amnesia?" Takumi asked, sounding somewhere between incredulous and just wierded out.
"Something like. Wierd, but true."
"Wow."
Ja, -n
===========
===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
What?! Of course they are!
*gooshgoosh* Wow, they really are!
*toss*
Fortunately, the thing with Mikoto went well after Shiho had gone off to sulk - I was even able to convince them to let me take charge of Miroku rather than just prying it out of her fingers, and was lucky enough that it didn't take offense. (I like my fingers on my hands, thanks kindly.)
I'd decided to do it that way, rather than letting things play out, because I was fairly certain that the absence of the delay that little incident had imposed would do Mikoto more good than a failure to involve Mai and Mikoto in each other's lives at this stage. As it turned out, my concern was mostly wasted, since none of the crewmen on hand seemed to know CPR, but the question was asked that much sooner and, for whatever reason, Mai didn't delay stepping forwards.
"You did a good job helping out with that," someone said from beside me, and from his hairstyle and height I guessed he had to be Takumi.
"I hope it was good enough," I replied. "You know Tokiha-san, right? I saw you with her earlier..."
"I'm her brother." Bingo. "Don't worry - between this and how polite Oneechan says you were after the hentai-girl came up, I have no objection to your courting my sister."
Where the fuck had that come from? I goggled at him, of course, completely lost for words. Eventually, though, I managed to actually make a coherent response. "...gueah?"
If you were very generous.
He laughed. "I saw how you were looking at her - you like her, right? Most people do, so I can't blame you."
Even before I opened my mouth, I knew that it was a tremendously bad idea, but impulse control has always been one of my weak points, and had stayed that way even with more normal brain chemistry. "Including a fellow of your accquaintance with a bit of a sister complex?"
"I don't have a complex!" he snapped, face as red as any I'd ever seen.
"I didn't," I told him mildly, doing my best to keep the grin my face wanted to make away from both expression and voice, "think you did." The joke had gone over even worse than I expected, probably because it was coming from a stranger rather than a roommate, and the frustrated note in his voice made me realize that it was a much more sensitive point than I had guessed - I'd heard that high, 'caught between murder and tears' pitch in my sister's voice, but it had always taken at least several minutes for her to get that worked up... She'd never just gone to that point with a single comment.
I didn't quite manage it, and he reacted about the same way my she always had - which is to say, he exploded. "You don't know anything!"
I held my hands up, palm out, and made my voice as placating as I could. "I guess not! I'm sorry, it was just supposed to be a stupid joke. I didn't mean to say that..." I groped for the word, but he saved me the trouble.
"You shouldn't. Oneechan is a wonderful person, and deserves better than to have people saying such horrible things about her." I breathed a mental sigh of relief - the apology seemed to have cooled his temper - but a voice interrupted us before I could respond.
"Takumi, are you bothering Tate-san?"
She was wearing a Fuuka Gakuen uniform, just like on the show, but in person the jacket - or whatever the proper name for the thing was - was noticably small, and...
Wow. That was a really short skirt.
I reminded myself forcibly that she was a person, not some object to drool over, and deserved to be treated as such. "I deserved it. I said something stupid and he was calling me to task for it."
She blinked. "Oh. What was it, then?"
"I'd rather not say?" I offered, and gave her a sickly smile. "It's best for everyone if it were forgotten, I think. Is that a Fuuka Gakuen uniform?" Well, that was smooth of me.
To my and Takumi's mutual relief, she let it drop and herded us both into a set of deck chairs - seemingly without ever touching us or even glancing our way. "Yeah. All of my other clothes are in my big suitcase, so this was the only dry thing I had. Why, do you go there also?"
"So I'm told."
She looked even cuter when she was puzzled, although I don't know how she managed it. "You don't know?"
I reached up and tapped the scar on my forehead. "Before this, everything is all... wierd." Which was quite true - after all, whether I had genuinely been swapped or was just delusional, remembering someone else's life was about as wierd as it came. "So, I know things in general, but hardly anything about the school."
"You have amnesia?" Takumi asked, sounding somewhere between incredulous and just wierded out.
"Something like. Wierd, but true."
"Wow."
Ja, -n
===========
===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."