bhtooefr's one-shot and drabble thread

[bhtooefr]

This one's pushing the limits of one-shot, it's a 3-parter. But, I can't get it to flow with real chapters, so this format works better. And, Helbereth has been known to do 5-part chapters. Here's to hoping I got Hanako in-character. Set after Lilly's good end. Also, trigger warning: character death. I've really gotta stop doing that, but the idea came to me last night, and I decided to run with it.

----------

I hear someone knocking on the door across the hall, and my attention is jerked away from the textbook.

"Lilly? Are... you... in... there?"

It's Hisao, and he sounds... panicked, and winded.

I open my door. Hisao looks like he's about to collapse. "H-Hisao? Wh-what's going on?"

"I can't... find Lilly."

"Sh-she said she was going t-to meet you at the Sh-Shanghai."

"I know, I already went there, and Yuuko hadn't seen her, either." No wonder he's so winded. "I tried calling her, too, no answer. That's why I came here."

That's rather unlike Lilly...

"I-I can check the t-tea room... y-you stay here, c-catch a breath. I-I'll call you."

When I arrive at the tea room, there's no sign of Lilly. This is bad.

I pull out my cell phone, and call Hisao.

He immediately picks up, and asks, "Hanako, did you find her?"

"N-No. Meet me at the ad-administrative building. W-We're going to r-report h-her m-m-missing."

I try to avoid thinking about the worst, but fail. I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight.

----------

I'm surprised to see Hanako make it to class this morning. After last night, I didn't get any sleep, and based on the bags under her eyes, it looks like she didn't either.

All of the teachers were probably informed of Lilly's disappearance, so Mutou doesn't remark on my late arrival.

I try to concentrate on class, but frankly, I'm too worried about Lilly to give a damn about string theory. Looking over at Hanako, I think she's feeling the same way.

Just as I think that, Miyagi and Nurse enter the classroom. Wait, why Nurse?

Mutou speaks up. "Can I help you?"

Miyagi replies, "Mutou, could we please borrow Nakai and Ikezawa for a while?"

I exchange a glance with Hanako. This can't be good. Mutou motions for us to follow them.

"Let's find somewhere more private than the hallway," Nurse says. More private? Yeah, this is bad.

Hanako nods, and leads the way to the tea room. She gestures for everyone to take a seat.

Hanako is the first to speak up. "D-Did they find L-L-Lilly?"

At that question, both Miyagi and Nurse's faces drop.

Miyagi takes a deep breath, and says, "yes. She was found in town last night... she had been hit by a car. They think she tripped on something, and fell in the street. I... I'm sorry..." A tear falls from Miyagi's eye.

A maelstrom of emotions forms inside of me. I yell, "Wait, what? Lilly can't be... she can't!"

My heart starts racing.

Nurse says, "Hisao, please calm down. Getting angry won't solve anything."

"She was the love of my life, I almost died to keep her from leaving! I think I'm allowed to be angry about losing her like this."

As I stand up to leave the room, I see a flash of red in my vision, and my chest suddenly tightens. I put my hand on my chest, and concentrate on stabilizing my heartbeat. After a few moments, everything's back to normal.

So that's why Nurse was here. I'd be a little insulted by that, if it weren't for me actually having a flutter.

Nurse and Miyagi look at me with concerned expressions. I sit back down.

"Alright, alright, you're right. It won't solve anything."

I realize that Hanako hasn't said anything, though, and glance over at her. She looks almost... catatonic, and she isn't doing any of her normal nervous tics.

Seems Nurse picked up on this about the same time I did, as he speaks up. "Miyagi, could you please get Nakai to my office? One of my assistants will be there, and can give him a checkup. I'll stay behind."

Miyagi nods, and escorts me to Nurse's office.

----------

It's been a week since Miyagi broke the news about Lilly.

I'm still not entirely sure I believe it.

Our family's just been broken up like that, without warning.

I've barely left my room since my panic attack. It didn't help that Hisao had a heart flutter, I could've lost both members of my family, just like that. Just like... no, I won't think about it.

At least they had the foresight to send Nurse, in case Hisao was worse off.

Hisao's been stopping by every day, checking up on me, making sure I eat. Honestly, he doesn't have to do that. I should be the one checking up on him.

Yesterday, the official report about Lilly's death was released. It was the same thing Miyagi told us - she tripped on something, fell into the path of a car, and was run over. The driver wasn't charged.

Something isn't right, though.

Lilly was way too careful to trip over something. While she didn't usually go alone, she had been to the Shanghai dozens of times, she knew the way, and everything that could have been in the way. For that matter, she ended up guiding me some of the time.

So, does that mean she was... pushed?

I decide that I need to look into this. It's the least I could do for her.

[bhtooefr]

I hand the fare to the taxi driver, and grab my luggage out of the trunk.

Today's gonna be a long day.

When I got the call that Lilly had died, I cried for the first time in years. Really, the first time since our parents had abandoned us in Japan.

Our parents sent me back from Scotland to deal with Lilly's affairs. They couldn't even come to do it themselves. What great parents.

After checking in with the office, I head over to the dorms. I decide to check on how Hisao's doing. Hanako's strong, she'll get through it eventually, but Hisao... I'm not sure. I saw how he was when he nearly died trying to stop Lilly from leaving Japan.

As I knock on Hisao's door, I hear the clicking of locks on the door behind me, and that door opens. An overpowering smell of garlic wafts out.

A skinny, dark-haired boy peeks his head out. "Who's there... GAH!"

The boy ducks back in, and slams the door. The sound of locks clicking repeats. That was odd.

I shake my head, and knock on Hisao's door again. This time, Hisao unlocks his door.

"A-Akira? Come on in."

I do so, and Hisao offers me a seat in his desk chair. Damn, that's a lot of pill bottles.

I take a closer look at Hisao, and he looks like he's aged 20 years since I last saw him, and I doubt he's gotten any sleep in the past week.

I decide to break the ice. "How are you holding up?"

Hisao looks around the room, and grimaces. Looks like he's punched the walls a few times, and I notice his busted knuckles. "Not well. You?"

"Could be better."

A silence descends over the room again.

There's an elephant in the room, and both of us are avoiding it. But, this is a rather tiny room, and it's hard to avoid an elephant in a room this size. Screw it, I'm saying something.

"Does something not seem... right... about all this, Hisao?"

"What do you mean?"

"The report. I knew Lilly her whole life, and there's only one time she was ever reckless, and that's when she confessed to you. Otherwise, she was extremely careful about everything. I really don't think she tripped on something."

"Are you saying..."

"I'm saying she was pushed, Hisao." There. I said it. I don't have a clue who pushed her, but...

"But... Why? Who? I mean, it's not like she had many enemies, and why would someone want to kill her?"

"I'm wondering the same thing. Maybe we should talk to Hanako, see what she thinks. I want to check up on her anyway."

Hisao nods, and we both head over to the girls' dorm. Hanako isn't there, but a note on her door says she's at the newspaper room.

----------

"Hanako? What's going on?"

I haven't seen Hanako in class for the past week, ever since we found out Satou had died. And, she's been missing newspaper club meetings since then, too. I've had to take on her work for this week's paper, and got a couple seizures as a reward for it. Nurse gave me the third degree when he heard about that.

But, today, she barges into the newspaper room. She looks like she hasn't slept in a whole week, and she seems a bit delirious. I forget all about any anger at her, when I see her.

"I-I-I th-think we d-don't have the f-f-full s-s-story ab-about L-L-L-Lilly." Damn, she's a wreck. Stuttering is normal for her, but not like this.

I remember something about it being an accident, that she tripped and fell in the path of a car. Wouldn't be the first time an accident like that's happened, but it seems like Hanako isn't taking that at face value.

"You know we can't print anything like that..."

"Th-that's not why I'm here. I n-need a c-couple voice r-recorders, and s-some contacts for the p-p-police. A-And if y-you kn-know of any r-rumors..."

I hand her the recorders, then flip through my contact list and jot down some phone numbers. Like I said, I know we can't print anything that she finds, but she's helped us out enough, so I don't mind helping her out how I can.

"Here you go, Hanako. I don't know of any rumors about Lilly, though. Well, other than that one about you and her, but..."

Hanako's face goes bright red. "I... I... Ivegottogodosomething!" She runs for it.

Huh. Maybe there was something to it? Nah, that rumor can't be true. My gaydar's picked up nothing.

----------

Hanako goes running past us at breakneck speed. I think she might actually have been faster than Emi there.

Wonder what happened in the newspaper room just now. She wasn't crying or anything, so it can't have been that bad, at least.

It looks like Hanako was headed for the tea room, so we head there. The door's shut, so Akira knocks.

"G-Go away, N-Naomi!"

"Hanako, it's Akira and Hisao."

Hanako flings the door open, and almost tackle-hugs Akira.

"Wow, someone's missed me. How've you been holding up?"

Hanako looks like she's fighting back some tears.

"N-Not t-t-too badly... C-Can we t-talk in h-here? I'll m-make some t-tea."

We go ahead and take seats, Akira taking Lilly's usual seat. Once Hanako serves the tea, and sits down, she speaks up.

"I-I think th-there's s-s-something rotten ab-about all this. I w-w-was tr-trying to find out if N-Naomi knew anything."

I exchange a glance with Akira. So Hanako was thinking the same thing as Akira? Maybe they are onto something.

"You get anything from her? Any rumors?"

Hanako visibly shudders. "N-Nothing that c-c-can help us. But she d-did give me some eq-equipment and s-some ph-phone numbers."

Akira raises an eyebrow, but stays quiet when both Hanako and I glare at her. I think I know what rumors Hanako's talking about, and if I'm right, bringing them up will do exactly zero good.

"You know of any enemies that Lilly's made?"

"J-Just o-one. Ha-Hakamichi."

Akira shakes her head. "I know for a fact that Shizune wouldn't kill Lilly. They might have had a disagreement, but not like that. And I thought they made up, anyway."

"What about you, Hisao, know of anyone?"

"No, not really."

Wait a minute. There is one.

"Well... there is one, other than Shizune." Akira and Hanako are listening intently. "Kenji. He thought that Lilly was in charge of the feminist conspiracy, and he thought that she was a Yakuza princess, because he saw her meeting some blond 'guy' in a suit at the gate."

Akira chuckles darkly at that.

"S-So THAT ex-explains why he was acting s-so weird when we w-were p-painting that b-banner."

"And he's been oddly... happy... this past week. He's been suggesting that I go up to the roof and celebrate with him and a bottle of whiskey, and that the feminist menace has been knocked down a peg or some crazy talk like that. I punched him in the face for that. Oddly, he forgave me for that, but still..."

Hanako's eyes widen.

Akira pipes up. "Wait, didn't you say a while back that Kenji was the guy that lives across from you? Because some guy freaked out when I knocked on your door, as soon as he saw me."

Shit. It was Kenji, wasn't it.

I'm gonna kill that bastard next time I see him.

Hanako hands me a voice recorder. "I-I've got an i-idea."

What.

Hanako must see my expression of shock, as she continues. "G-Go 'c-celebrate' w-with him. I-I'll make sure y-you're safe. You m-make sure the r-recorder is running."

Huh. That's not the worst plan I've been a part of. Only slightly less likely to get me killed than running through a crowded airport to chase after Lilly. Screw it, I don't have any better plans, and it's not like I've got much left to live for anyway. Might as well make sure Lilly's killer is brought to justice.

[bhtooefr]

Yes, I reused Hisao, after using him in the last part. I couldn't get it to work with Kenji. Not in a way that wasn't comedic relief, and this is so much not comedic relief.

----------

Damnit, Hanako.

Neither Akira nor I were able to come up with a better plan, so we went with Hanako's plan.

And that's why I'm on the roof, with the guy who probably killed my girlfriend, drinking whiskey. Hanako and Akira are hiding out in the radio room, watching.

I swear, if I survive this, I'm going to get back at Hanako for using me as murderer bait. Maybe Kenji's right, maybe all of this is a feminist conspiracy.

Damnit, stay on mission, Hisao. You're a little bit drunk. And maybe lay off the bottle some, you need to be somewhat sober for this. At least it's Kenji that drunk most of the bottle so far.

"So, yeah, this 's gonna blow yer mind, man." Well, pretty much everything Kenji says does that, but not for the reason he thinks it does.

"I actu'lly had a girrfrend once." Cue that video of a guy's head exploding, from that one old American movie that Misha recommended. I'm actually legitimately surprised by this.

"But then, we had sex." Wait, can a head explode twice? Because I think mine just did.

"Afferwrds, I felt so... tired. That's not what iss suppos'd to be like after sex! That bitch drained my life force, and that's why the *hic* feminist scum must die!" Wait, what? THIS is why he's got a vendetta against women? Damnit, I'm not drunk enough for this.

I take a long swig of the whiskey, and hand it back to Kenji. He takes a swig himself, almost finishing off the bottle, and continues.

"So, 'bout a week ago, I shaw that Satou bitch comin' into town. I hid in th' bushes, as she was walkin'. Then, when a car came by, I jumped out of th' bushes 'n' pushed her. Ran for it."

Holy.

Fucking.

Shit.

He just admitted it. I fight the urge to strangle Kenji, there's too many witnesses.

And Hanako's voice recorder just recorded it. Did her plan actually work?

I see a dim light in the radio room. I know I need to keep Kenji distracted, and stay alive. I'm pretty sure what I was just told was 'I'll tell you, but then I have to kill you' territory.

"So, yeah, bro. I got ya out of that bitch's clutches. And de... demor... demoralized th' feminists, 'speshully that bacon bitch. But I did see a Ya... Yakuza earl'r t'day, ya gotta watch yer shix, bro."

Bacon bitch? Really? I clench my fists, and resist the desire to kill Kenji.

Kenji leans forward. I back away.

"Dude, you're my bro, gimme a manly hug, thank me 'n' all!"

He leans forward again. I back further away. We repeat this a couple times, and then I notice I'm up against the fence.

"Dude, look out, man, th' fence ain't safe."

Kenji sways forward, and almost falls on me. I step out of the way, thanking myself for having a little self-control with the whiskey. Kenji crashes into the fence, and it rattles ominously.

"What the hell, bro? You were supposed to catch me!"

Shit, now Kenji's pissed. He takes a swing at me.

Luckily, this is the moment when the door to the roof flies open.

"POLICE, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!"

----------

I'm actually amazed that plan worked. I didn't even think that one through, I basically blurted it out. Good thing, though, because we probably wouldn't have caught Kenji otherwise.

Hisao's forgiven me... mostly, anyway. I won't do that again, that's for sure, that was an idiotic idea to send him directly into harm's way.

Which Mutou and Nurse just had to point out to me again. Even though Hisao had screamed it at me before. I would've run if I didn't think I deserved it.

Naomi yelled at me for losing one of her voice recorders. She wouldn't take "the police took it for evidence" for an answer, and I had to go buy a replacement. I ended up letting Akira pay for it, mainly because there was no way I could afford that model.

Akira stayed with us for another week, both to make sure we were OK, and to collect Lilly's belongings. Unfortunately, she had to return to Scotland.

Kenji ended up being convicted of murder, and sent to a mental institution. He won't be hurting anyone again. I just wish this had happened before he killed Lilly. I miss her every day, and I know Hisao does, too.

And, today, it's a couple weeks before graduation. I'm playing chess with Hisao in my room, something we've been doing for the past few months, almost every day. We've been spending more and more time with one another, picking up the pieces after Lilly's death.

I've heard the rumors that we're dating. I'm not so sure I mind them. I'm just not sure if I can make them true, or if Hisao wants them to be true.

"Ch-checkmate."

"Damn, Hanako. You've been getting too good at this!"

I giggle a little at his reaction to his utter defeat.

As I put the chess board away, Hisao looks at his watch.

"6:45... yeah, I should get back to my dorm before curfew."

Not tonight, you won't. I've only got two weeks to do this, and if I'm right about it, I want to get this done as soon as possible. I won't lie, I've had feelings for Hisao for a long time, but I buried them deeply when Lilly confessed to him. Since we've been helping each other through the aftermath, they've come back. I feel horrible about this, but at the same time, I think we both need to move on from Lilly.

I grab onto his arm as he turns to leave.

"H-Hey. H-Hisao. Y-You don't h-have to l-l-leave."

Hisao looks at me with confusion all over his face.

I hope this works.

I kiss Hisao.

Let's just say he doesn't leave, and leave it at that.

Return to Table of Contents | Previous | Next

[dewelar]

Wow. That was dark. Well-written, no doubt - best thing I've read from you so far, no question. I...do have serious doubts that Kenji could do that, though. I certainly believe that he thinks he could kill somebody, and he possibly could if he got enough liquid courage into him. However, he really doesn't strike me as the impulsive type -- he'd plan the thing for months, with diagrams! and spreadsheets! and puppets! - and if he was, he'd probably end up trying to push over a stop sign instead of Lilly . Enjoyable read, though.

[bhtooefr]

I won't deny that there's problems with the murder method.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was stalking Lilly, and came up with the plan over time, though. I don't think I said anything that would conflict with that, and canon even implies that he was stalking Lilly - he's blind as a bat and was able to see Akira, for fuck's sake.

And, in his own route, he did kinda accidentally kill Hisao the same way he suggested to murder someone in Emi's route. So, I think he's very much capable of killing someone.

I'll note that the radio room was borrowed from NekoDude's story, I needed somewhere for Akira and Hanako to safely watch everything. Actually, I think I have to thank NekoDude for getting me on this path - it was a discussion of who to kill off in his story that led to me pursuing this route. (He had already decided on his character, when I came up with Lilly for the lulz, and then realized that there is actually someone who may want Lilly dead, and went from there.)

[dewelar]

I won't deny that there's problems with the murder method.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was stalking Lilly, and came up with the plan over time, though. I don't think I said anything that would conflict with that, and canon even implies that he was stalking Lilly - he's blind as a bat and was able to see Akira, for fuck's sake.

Hmmm...admittedly, I hadn't thought about the possibility that it was planned. That would make sense, but it didn't come to mind from the text. Also, the portrayal of Kenji's eyesight is somewhat inconsistent even within the game, so I'll give you that one .

Also, until about halfway through, I thought you might have been going for Hanako having killed Lilly out of jealousy .

[Kyler Thatch]

Well, that was a fun read. At least if you can believe that Kenji would be deranged enough to kill someone, but I don't think that's asking for too much.

[bhtooefr]

Hmmm...admittedly, I hadn't thought about the possibility that it was planned. That would make sense, but it didn't come to mind from the text. Also, the portrayal of Kenji's eyesight is somewhat inconsistent even within the game, so I'll give you that one .

I honestly hadn't thought much about it, either, until you mentioned it. I didn't want to give the murderer the spotlight (which is why I couldn't make a Kenji POV on the roof work), I wanted to use the murder as a plot device to make the Hanako and Hisao interaction work. And, Akira turned out to be handy to keep it moving.

Also, until about halfway through, I thought you might have been going for Hanako having killed Lilly out of jealousy .

I opened with Hanako POV, even! This isn't Katawa Yandere!

[dewelar]

Also, until about halfway through, I thought you might have been going for Hanako having killed Lilly out of jealousy .

I opened with Hanako POV, even! This isn't Katawa Yandere!

True, but I could totally see a scenario where Hanako snaps at Lilly like she does at Hisao in her bad ending, killing her by accident, then suppressing the memory.

[bhtooefr]

Let's just say that, as an experiment I will NEVER release (trust me, it's terrible - I keep it around as an example of what not to do, and it was more to see how grimdark I could go - had it worked, Suzu would've died in Like Fire and Powder), I wrote an alternate universe story in which Hanako had proof that Hisao was sleeping with Lilly behind her back (but before Hanako and Hisao actually started dating).

The goal was to get Hanako to go yandere, and kill both Hisao and Lilly.

Didn't work. They talked it out like reasonable people, and decided to shun Lilly when they figured out what she was doing.

[dewelar]

*nods* Yeah, I don't think I'd have wanted to read that - whether it had worked or not . I have no real taste for super-grimdark stuff, and the other way...just wouldn't make a good story.

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, that was a nice read - despite being kind of dark.
The only thing that had me blinking for a sec (apart from Kenji being a psycho-killer, which hasn't been done enough if you ask me) was when they got from "Lilly being pushed" to "murder" without a second thought. I'd have at least considered someone accidentally bumping into her, but admittedly that wouldn't have made for as interesting a story.

[Leaty]

The goal was to get Hanako to go yandere, and kill both Hisao and Lilly.

.
Remember the lessons of Mendacium. If you misuse Hanako, the villagers will have your head.

[bhtooefr]

Heh, I'm one of those villagers, I think. There's a reason I was never going to release it.

And, yeah, I can see how I screwed up that pacing.

[bhtooefr]

Here goes nothing. Consider this another experiment. It's Akira POV of Pajamas and Suits, with a twist (don't worry, no self-inserting as a canon VN character like my last twist), so if you don't like fics that exactly follow actual VN dialogue and events, well, that's what this is, so...

I've gotta blame an early morning conversation with NekoDude for sparking this, for what it's worth. Let's just say I was throwing ideas at the wall (including a cucumber incident) and the idea that led to this actually sounded interesting and maybe even plausible. So, I decided to experiment with the idea in a limited way before I invested any effort in anything more significant, and this was the result.

----------

As the laughter dies down, I hear three knocks on the door to Lilly's room. I quickly jump up to open the door.

"Hey, Hisao."

"Hey. Hello Lilly, Hanako."

Hisao stares just a little too long at Lilly. He might have won her heart, but I can never be too careful with my little sis... and I might like teasing people a little too much. I grin in his direction, to throw him off guard. It works, and I take my seat at the table.

Hisao soon follows suit, and speaks up. "It's nice to see you again, Hanako. You've been getting around recently."

As Lilly pours some tea for Hisao, she elaborates. "It seems Hanako has taken up helping one of the people in your class with the newspaper club. Naomi, I think?"

Hanako nods. I'm glad she's finally coming out of her shell. She was so... withdrawn when I first met her.

"That'd explain how busy you've been. Enjoying it?"

"Mm. It's... really interesting." I notice Hanako has that cute little smile of hers, and a little blush. Damn, I think that's my second favorite sight in the world. If only I could see it more often.

I take a drink of my coffee, and decide to tease Hisao some more. "You're a lucky bastard, Hisao."

"Huh?"

He's gotta be playing dumb, so I spell it out for him. "Seeing my sister in her pajamas, there's a lotta men out there who'd like to be where you are."

I've got an inkling that he's probably seen a lot more, but I really don't want to know about that. Based on his grimace, he doesn't want to tell me either.

Lilly decides to jump to Hisao's rescue. "Akira!"

"Hey, I'm just teasing."

I am a bit jealous of Hisao for something else, though, and that'd be the other girl sitting next to him. Goddamn, she's adorable. If I weren't dating Tetsuo... no, Akira, let's not go down that road. Besides, you've already been summoned back to Scotland. All you'd do is hurt her when you had to go home. And she's probably not into the ladies anyway.

Still, a little teasing never hurt anyone. I put on my most wicked grin, and say, "And Hanako, too. You perv."

"Hey, it was her idea."

It takes all I can muster to keep the grin on. I'm not as good at this as Lilly is, but if I slip now...

Hanako starts to stammer out a response. "Um, I... uh..." Argh, I wasn't trying to catch Hanako in the crossfire. Sorry, Hanako. She continues, "If... it's Hisao... I don't mind..."

Wait, WHAT? I was just teasing him, but... did he actually get Hanako, too? That-

"Um... Akira... please..."

Lilly's expression is one of disdain. Actually, she has a point, this isn't doing any good. I'm just getting angry now.

Hisao decides to change the subject. "If you don't mind me asking, Akira, what do you do for a living? I've never seen you out of that suit."

And you're never going... oh, you didn't mean it like that. Screw it, the subject change is a good idea, it might get my mind off of Hanako. "Thinking about what to do with yourself after school's over, eh? I'm a lawyer. For the most part, I work in the legal department of the Japanese branch of our family's company. The most boring possible answer, I suppose. Law's a pretty dry topic to most people."

"Kinda."

"Oi, you're not supposed to agree."

Lilly and Hanako giggle a little at that.

Lilly chimes in. "It's nice to be back. I missed you, Hisao, and you too, Hanako."

"Same goes for the both of us. I'm guessing your classmates were happy to see you back."

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

I snort at Hisao's mistake. To be honest, I've made that same mistake myself a few times, but at least Lilly's got a good sense of humor about it.

Hanako pipes up. "Did you have fun in Scotland?"

Ouch. I look over at Lilly, and she's grimacing a little herself. Just for a moment, though, then her rehearsed mask goes right back on.

"It was... nice. I... we... hadn't met our family in such a long time, so it was a wonderful reunion."

Speak for yourself, Lilly. That reunion was awful. Still, I probably shouldn't air that dirty laundry with Hanako and Hisao. "Yeah, I guess that's right. Their house being beachside was the best part, though."

"You only liked that because you finally had time to play around."

"Just 'cause I'm the better swimmer..."

"I don't take after the athletic side of the family, that's all."

"Well, you can take heart in the fact that you got the height genes at least. And the bust genes..."

"That's not really the right kind of thing to say around others..." Game, set, match. I know Lilly's teasing back, though, she's not really offended by it.

However, when I look over at Hanako, I notice she's blushing furiously. Wait... hmm, maybe she DOES swing that way.

...

Damnit, NO, Akira!

We keep teasing each other for a while, before Hanako calls it a night. Once she does, I decide to get down to business. We haven't really talked since Lilly took Hisao and Hanako to our summer home for Marine Day. Lilly did call and tell me about confessing to Hisao, but I had to run to a meeting, so we couldn't talk much. And, seeing as our parents are on another continent, this job falls to me.

"So... I hear that you two are going out now?"

Lilly and Hisao nod, and then Hisao proceeds to bow.

"I'll take good care of your sister, Akira. I promise you."

"See? He's a lovely young gentleman."

Hisao looks a little nervous, actually. I won't tease him... too much. Lilly, though...

"The old-fashioned kind, huh? Well, he's the kind of person I guessed you'd go for. I don't have a problem with it, and I wish you two the best. Even if I didn't like it, I couldn't really do anything anyway."

Hisao and Lilly visibly relax at that.

"I do wonder though... how's the rest of the family taking it, particularly the part residing at Yamaku? Have you told her?

Like I said, doesn't mean I can't tease Lilly.

"'Putting up with it' may be the best term for the situation. Don't you agree, Hisao?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right. At least she's being reasonable about it."

"Good to hear. That girl can be a handful at the best of times. We sent a few messages back and forth during and just after the trip, and she was already busting my chops for seeing my boyfriend when we came back, after leaving Hideaki for so long. She really does care for the little guy." I just wish she and Lilly got along... she might be a handful, but she's a good person at heart. "Well then, that's settled. Gotta get to work early tomorrow, so I'd better be off."

I get up to head out, but remember something just before I leave.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you." I pause a bit, and watch Hisao and Lilly's faces closely. "Use protection. Every time."

Hisao's reaction is priceless, as he gags on his tea. Lilly replies, unfazed, "We are, don't worry."

Huh. Didn't expect her to admit to it that readily. Still, good to hear that she is using protection. "'Atta girl. Seeyas."

With that, I raise my hand in farewell as I walk out of my sister's room.

Return to Table of Contents | Previous