Katsuro landed with a muted thud on the mat there stretched out beneath him by the more considerate adorers. He also happened to have one of the most confused faces anyone could make on. Just held the side of his head for a moment, replaying the crazy past minute or so in his mind again.. and again... and again. Eventually the girls whisked him away, taking Tsuki's pause as license to steal their turn with the merman prince.
"Are you alright?" asked Rin, who was one of those pragmatic few that laid out the mat in the first place. She knew when Tsuki wasn't happy--she made it her business to know these things...
There's such a fooled heart In search of new dreams, a love that will last.
I'll place the moon within your heart.
Tsuki couldn't answer immediately. The pain that had been in her chest seemed like a toxin, crawling through her veins and overtaking her organs. She felt her arm move, drift as though it was intent to fall at her side. She glanced to Rin, and her eyes didn't seem to register the closest thing she had to a friend.
Was she alright? She wasn't even sure what that meant anymore. She stepped toward the mass and silently began to shoo them away, doing so by strategically ripping away the padding and throwing it into the faces of the various fans that swarmed. She released some kind of malevolent aura as she did so, and many among the fans sensed this and instinctively moved away from her.
But even as she shooed the people away and thus freed the prince, she couldn't look him in the eye. She couldn't acknowledge him in the moment. No, she didn't want to look at him and let him see her rage and anger. Though it was not as exuberant and flashy as some expected for rage. She couldn't allow herself to lose control. Too troublesome. Too many witnesses.
Was she alright?
The answer could only be... no. She couldn't be as long as there was any doubt....
But perhaps he didn't feel the same about Maya? Perhaps he rebuffed her the same way he rebuffed all the presumptuous fans? None could hope to measure up, but Blue was different... by virtue of not being human, she could not be so easily predicted. She did not speak easily, so her culture was not understood. Why had she been so bold as to do this?
And more importantly.... why did such a frantic trifle affect her so deeply?
Her analytic eyes glanced to the doorway. Was that a camera she saw? She nudged a nearby Blue-painted fan and pointed. "Is that a reporter?"
Excited screaming ensued.
I'll paint you mountains of gold I'll spin you Valentine Evenings
Whatever the scorned lass had done to that poor free-lancer was newsworthy in and of itself, but it seemed lost on the princely prodigy who was wading through flashes of digital mania. The throwing of stuffing from the mats triggered the only logical response from the dining student body: food fight.
Much makeup was smeared and all the laughs had taken their collective toll on the diaphragms of those in the war. But after all that, there was recovery. In the climax of the battle, the hardest, most professional teacher in the academy joined the fray and hosed down the rowdy lunchroom. The Blue's and their handlers met by some faucets to reapply and, indeed, improve their costumes.
"So that was the real one, huh?" asked Kazuma, rising off and scratching his beard.
"I don't wanna talk about it..."
"Ya know, the pictures will tell if you had a chub, no matter what you say to Tsuki."
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Stamped the prince, whipping at the second banana with is towel.
There's such a fooled heart In search of new dreams, a love that will last.
I'll place the moon within your heart.
In came the water. Down went the students. The fight did reach a conclusion. Fortunately, Tsuki was out of the way for most of it when the water hit. She scooped up her bento and excused herself, her mind churning outside of her control. Protecting the alien seemed less of a priority in the moment, though it seemed as though the efforts of the school did a remarkable and fantastic job of doing so and creating very, very reasonable doubt of an alien's existence here, regardless of the quality of the initial pictures.
The smeared bodypaint, especially, would help sell the idea that this was merely a fad of the school, and even if makeup did escape the face of the blessed alien, it could be excused as what remained of her costume.
None of this mattered. Her insides still violently churned. She could no longer taste her food. She was hyperaware of her sense of balance, the roughness of her steps, and lost face recognition as so many passed her by. She was surprised when she found her bento newly empty, forgetting that she had eaten. The empty box returned to her bag. She took to pacing the hallway.
Rin asked if she was alright.... She confirmed only before that she was not, for she felt as though something had torn her apart. That her mind could no longer focus as she wished. But what could be done? What should be done? Everything had been torn apart and been thrown upside down since the arrival of the alien girl. Katsuro-san had an admirable fascination for what he did not know. He... took in the alien, rescuing her from the abandoned school. He... would have kept her at his place, but at her insistance, he didn't.
He listened to her.
Blue broke free, somehow became signed into their class, and became known as Maya. She blended in remarkably well. She was beginning to learn their language.
He wanted Tsuki to take care of this stranger. That it would mean so much to him if she had a good time.
Tsuki found her eyes staring blankly at a wall. She had left the noise and found herself alone in a corridor. She had stopped walking. Her blood seemed to pump slowly, suggesting that it was thicker than usual, especially about her sternum. Her breathing was far from calming. It was urgent. Ready for action, ready for her to move, to rend, to punch and strike. Her shoulders were tense now.
She felt sick to her stomach.
She swallowed and closed her eyes. I need to talk to him.... I need to talk to him.
She heard her voice, her thoughts, and she felt an old fear return. What if... What if...
But why would she think that? The alien was merely a stranger. Incompatible aquatic thing that came from the world that shoved a thick octopus into a freezer. She turned.
I'll paint you mountains of gold I'll spin you Valentine Evenings
All his life Kyosuke had been trying to just slip by unnoticed. This, however, was impossible. From the time he first learned to speak, he was fighting. At first it was because bullies were picking on him, but then it simply became a matter of course--a payment to the thugs who wanted to prove themselves for a moment's solitaire.
Today was no different. On the way to school seven wannabes jumped him by the pack; he made a montage out of them. Strangely, school was half Blue today. Not being one to join fads, Kyosuke stood out even more. He would've simply left, called it a day, but unfortunately he wasn't a quitter either. As he made his way through the halls he split the Blue sea before him like the prophesy had declared--"...for there will come a man whose Gung Fu is so dank that all who are wet for the fight will become dry, and all those who are dry will moisten; and where he walks a new order of aesthetics will consume them, for they are given to consumption, and will raise their athletic awareness tenfold at the sight of the Chosen son of the Fist"--only to catch a break at lunch time. Now he was free to roam the halls as he pleased, and he took on the essence of a lone (loan?) shark without restrictions.
His footsteps were profound and resonant in the halls, and it was impossible to tell from which corner he would appear as he approached. His wandering mind was interrupted, stopping his feet, as he spotted the figure of Tsuki... She was like him, he thought. She... Wasn't alright?
"Tsuki-san?" Said the tall student hovering some handful of paces from the woman who had tested his might.
There's such a fooled heart In search of new dreams, a love that will last.
I'll place the moon within your heart.
So caught up was she in her thoughts that she barely registered the incoming footsteps, save to move herself to one wall so that she could more easily avoid incoming foot traffic. Yet, what alerted her to the presence of another was that her name had been called.
She lifted her head and mechanically straightened herself. She turned and glanced over her shoulder, unable to camouflage her dour feelings from her eyes.
Yes, she recognized this one. Perhaps it was the timing of it that let her acknowledge him as she had not been quite able to back in the cafeteria.
"Yes?" She voiced quietly. He spoke to her. What was he asking her? What did he want? What did it matter? Most anyone else would have ignored her.
I'll paint you mountains of gold I'll spin you Valentine Evenings
"What're you doing on the ground (she is, right?)?" The man looked perplexed. Stretching for her next round of being awesome, she was not. Was that a redness around the eyes. Suddenly he felt a tugging at his own chest. The sinews that held up the Kyosuke that could speak as a normal human had been cut, and the assumptions fell from his crumbling mind like pyroclastic refuse. How could she! She was supposed to be the one he could trust not to be frail! For once, all the boy wanted was to find someone who wasn't so pathetic--everything else was so boring!
"Seriously though, dude," said Kazuma testing out his new makeup in the acid-test that was drinking from a fountain--no fountain, no pool!--"I think she likes you..." --to which the prince responded by becoming a noodle of himself and flapping in the wind created by is own--
"WHHAAAATT!!" caw... caw... Some of the students responded like deer to the omen of ruination that this news brought--indeed, there were those who had not heard but knew beyond the shadow of doubt and the folly of inference that this tree had made a sound.
"Okay okay... But come on. She always follows you around--more than usual--and she even agreed to take care of Blue for you..."
"--That doesn't mean...--" but Sato wasn't finished--
"Maybe you should talk to her."
"I don't know, man... She's so..."
"--You're so pathetic--" eyes narrowed, tongue tight and loose at once, Kyosuke followed through on his thought and told exactly what was in his head at the moment. --"sitting there in some hallway like some hipster washout. Somehow I don't buy it. Aren't you one of the toughest people on the planet? Can't you find something to be confident about?" Black were the kettle and the pot on this afternoon, and both seemed to reflect each other's cold sheen as the fighter locked eyes with the yandere.
There's such a fooled heart In search of new dreams, a love that will last.
I'll place the moon within your heart.
Pathetic, he said. Had she been dragging her feet? This was an accusation. Her expression hardened and she turned to face him more fully. She was not of a stature that would allow her to make her appearance more physically intimidating. A modified stage presence and control of her expression had to make due in place of the lack of stature.
Something to be confident about... This thought was one she could rally around with surprising efficiency. There was one thing she was in the moment, remarkably confident about. Her arms had not lost their strength. She could make him hurt for such a statement. It would accomplish little, logic pointed out, and he might land a hit on her.
But oh how it would feel to do something she knew she could! Perhaps that would at last clear her mind about the issue that ripped apart her guts.
She leapt in his direction, charging with all the energy of the frustration and synthesized from the emotions she couldn't give a purpose to. It was terribly frustrating. But this warrior wouldn't know anything about that, could he? The athlete that was wanted. The athlete that was a novelty to those who he graced the presence of. Surely those he wanted would give him attention. Attention that he wouldn't fear of losing to an absolute stranger.
How dare he!?
Her energy gathered around her fist and arm, channeled from her shoulder as she drove her punch at his face.
I'll paint you mountains of gold I'll spin you Valentine Evenings
"Os-sugiru!" Kyosuke seemed to move faster than one should think possible, given the circumstances. It was as though he was on a completely different level than Tsuki. The brawler was on the outside of Tsuki's elbow, holding her wrist in his rough hand. "... What's this?" said the puncher, annoyance in the disappointment in his voice. "You're a lot better than this--Now stop messing around!" Kyosuke threw the arm back to Tsuki's possession and hurled a forward snap kick at the yandere's core, holding up his guard and plowing through the motion with his legendary force.
There's such a fooled heart In search of new dreams, a love that will last.
I'll place the moon within your heart.
He moved. Proving to her that he was paying attention and that he was at least in tune enough with his muscles to respond and defensively react to the assault.
Good.
She didn't want to fight anyone weaker.
She withdrew her arm after he threw it. She used the momentum of the stop, of his throw, to plant her heels and crossed her arms in front of herself as she bent just enough to ensure her arms shielded her center. The kick struck her arms and the force of it was directed to the floor. There was something to be said about the basics of Tai Chi and a principle of fighting like sand and water.
While he was recovering from kicking her, she merely lifted her elbow, braced that arm with her opposite hand, and threw the force of her weight into driving her elbow into his stomach.
I'll paint you mountains of gold I'll spin you Valentine Evenings
First his face was surprised, learning not to speak so soon as he was struck in the abdomen by the elbow. His body caved a bit to lessen the blow; he smirked, chuckled even. The battle was on now. Kyosuke pivoted and allowed himself to scoot to safety as the attack ceased, squaring up for another attack. He was confident this time would be different.
... After ten rounds of this, the two of them would both be bruised, shaken, sweaty, but what stood now were two competitors for whom the world was muted.
"Hmph," began the amateur between pants, "now this is more like it." He gave a bow, which just seemed to highlight his long torso. "I don't wanna see that look on your face again. Later," said the man, waving as he walked away without bothering to look back at the girl. See, this was the only person he looked forward to fighting.
There's such a fooled heart In search of new dreams, a love that will last.
I'll place the moon within your heart.
The empty hallway was their only witness. They went back and forth, and at the end of the skirmish, both were satisfied. Tsuki felt lighter. She felt closer to how she should have been. Her smile was better, almost satisfied and relieved. She bowed in turn.
It was strange to hear the challenge that he left her with as he turned away. Was he going to be watching that close now? Well, either way, it was something of an encouraging comfort to find and realize that she had a reason to hone her skills and to keep them sharp. There were no other challengers worthy of the effort.
She took hold of her collar and turned in the hallway. There were none who could challenge her.... None who mattered were of any consequence. And so to would this challenge be met.
Senpai is mine. She declared and affirmed for herself, setting her heart right and forcing the doubt to cease being a memory. It was not worthy of her when there was business to attend to.
I'll paint you mountains of gold I'll spin you Valentine Evenings
Hanging out of the door of her locker, just a sliver, was an envelope. Inside, a note, a heartfelt letter from a secret admirer. So strange was the handwriting that it would be hard to place--even if the yandere had managed to catalog the styles of several students.
Tsuki-san,
You are the moon that lights my dreams Here but far, or so it seems In the crowd you were true, radiant, and I froze In the round I was blue in gradient; no eye rose
You were on top of my world, last night I couldn't feel you, I saw you as a pale reflection, but my heart knew you. Our time is a river with a delta in the stars I stretch out and I feel the world is ours I see you in the grass and hear your name every time the wind raises its sweet refrain At the bottom of my heart in my soul There is a song to sing that holds the world in its shape, soft and low... Tsuki
Your number 1 secret admirer
Meanwhile, lunch had finally wrapped up. The soldiers of the party nation were recharged and reinvigorated by their new and improved costumes. The next phase was to put them through their paces.
Several dozen of the academy's students, all Blue, lined up at the starting line of the track there--reluctantly crouched, some of them--and waited for the gun. The race, exploding like popcorn, was a decathlon/steeple chase that took them around the entire campus and included a mud crawl, an obstacle course, wrestling a panda bear, a tripod dash and of course a mad dash to the finish through field of hot coals. If there was anything to make the party people sweat, this was it.
"Katsuro got his share of rivals as we come to the start of today's Atlantis Dash," said one hairpiece to the other.
"That's right, Dan. He will have to look out for any capable athlete in the field. He's got a huge target on his back, and for one, I KNOW this guy--KAZUMA SATO!" wooo-ing all around and boo-ing too. A grin begat a glint with grazed the sky from his pearl whites, made yet more intense by the sharpness of his charcoal eyebrows. "--here's a man who's been in Katsuro's shadow since their first scrimmage match on the field last year. You can bet he's going to be gunning for the Prince the hardest here today--"
"--But will he have the firepower?? Hideaki Katsuro! He's... He's got his soccer ball?"
"Wow... I'm not sure what's going on in his head, but he is really dialing up the head games on Sato right now--his face is redder than my bank account."
"Not the best time to bring up your poor finances, Tom, but you're right. Though. How well can the prince of Montoya run the course with a soccer ball?"
The starting gun split the tense air around the area and rung out as the stampede began. Kazuma Sato and Hideaki Katsuro jostled for the lead for a moment, passing the ball back and forth, but then the school's runner-up refused to play further and took the lead with ease. Things seemed to be going smoothly, until the first turn. Katsuro, craftily, launched his ball with sonic concussion around to cut off the bend and strike the unsuspecting leader in the face.
"!!!"
"AND SATO-KUN GOES DOWN!" The rest of the track portion of the race went on in this way, the prince carefully picking off competitors from a few meters behind. "He's making this field his personal hunting ground today, Dan!"
"That's right, you cherry tomato of a man!" ("Hey!" ) "Katsuro is making it look easy. Believe it: if there's one thing he's hunting today, it's victory!"
"Right you are! And speaking of victory--be a winner and get yourself on down to Hairy Harima's Haberdashery for that champion fit--"
"HARRY'S: LOOK BETTER THAN THAT GUY WHO'S NAILING YOUR WIFE!"
"HARRY'S: LOOK BETTER THAN THAT GUY WHO'S NAILING YOUR WIFE!"
Q u o t e s
Rihenian
Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 11:28 pm
There's such a fooled heart In search of new dreams, a love that will last.
I'll place the moon within your heart.
Entering the locker room, her main thoughts had to do simply with cleaning herself up so that she could look decent at the swimming party. She knew that she was athletic, and she was proud and confident enough in her skin not to give a second thought about her ability to move within it. However, that didn't mean that she cared for anyone to observe her bare skin. Skin alone was a weakness, and because video games, manga, and anime got that concept terribly, terribly out of whack, she couldn't really enjoy any of them.
Clothes couldn't really handle bullets or weapons, either, but they differed in one major way, and that simply was in the matter of attention. One could not avoid attention altogether if they made themselves stand out in anyway. Flashing flesh attracted attention from visually-oriented people, most especially males. Attention had its place, but Tsuki preferred that it wasn't aimed at her.
The locker was different today. Few left anything at her locker... the brave enough to tease never earned a response. This was different, and she could tell from the writing on the letter. But the contents therein she couldn't have expected.
Her eyes read the letter, then read through it again. It was almost a confession, but there was no signature. This had been carefully written. If she had to guess, this was written many, many hundreds of times over before this phrasing and this particular version had been chosen. But who...?
Was it possible that it was... Her heart began to drum within her chest, pounding and beating, her nerves struggled to stay constant in their task, to keep the note in her hand. This poetry was directed to her.
She moved the letter to her heart. She knew, logically, that it had the slim chance of not being her senpai, but oh how the flavor of the words seemed so familiar to her. She knew the feeling that these words expressed. Oh that she could be so strong with language so that she could confidently express such love to Katsuro-senpai!
As these pleasant thoughts, as well as the hopeful fantasy that these words came from the same senpai she adored and worshiped from a distance, she moved the letter back into the envelope and slid it back into her locker.
She moved her bag from her shoulder and hung it on the hook in her locker. She removed the... slinky swimsuit....
It was a swimsuit. She was halfway confident that it would fit, if only because swimsuits were flexible by nature and her athletic form would allow swimsuits to fit snugly without the worry that some of the more graciously filled-out fronts felt when they were in motion. ..... It was a swimsuit.
She slowly blinked. She exhaled slowly. Then, deciding that it might have been best not to think too hard about it, she moved into the showers to rinse off the sweat of her earlier stress and workout, and then she would change into the swimsuit. It seemed the best way to ensure that she would be closest to Katsuro-senpai at the pool party. As a means to an end, that was when this costume was acceptable. But, until such time, she could simply wear this suit underneath her clothes. Simple.
She went out to figure out what the rest of the school was up to, directing her course out to the fields.
I'll paint you mountains of gold I'll spin you Valentine Evenings
"Ooh! And now we come to the mud crawl. Do NOT step to this obstacle if you're not ready to get down-n-dirty!"
"Hmm--I seem to remember saying something like to your mother last night."
"I will press chargers, you a**-wort of a man."
The racers dove and flopped into the mud a few feet from where a net just a couple heads high started. Those who did not have the drive or strength to win and struggle ahead were elbowed and trampled by their neighbors. Kazuma Sato was not one of those weak souls to be mashed under soles.
"Sato looking good now--just look at that stroke"
"I--"
"Quiet you." Sato was winding his way through the muck like a comically enraged New Year's dragon, devouring anyone in his way. Katsuro, on the other hand, was already ahead of the competition.
"AH!" "AH!' "Ka-Katsuro-kun is rolling himself along the top of the net like a lumberjack with the use of his trusty ball!"
"Is there nothing this man can't Soccer!?"
And so the trials were conquered before him and made into nothing but stepping stones. The Prince of Montoya made quick work of every competitor that approached him, all the while dazzling as a resplendent peacock. Soon they were at the last stretch of the race. Sato, who had been the bridesmaid the whole day, finally caught up on the hot coal dash.
"Oh no ya don't! I've got you right where I want you you pretty b*****d!" Shouted Sato from the other side of the field.
"'Bout time you caught up."
"Hmph." The two had been passing the ball between them while firing banter salvos at each other.
"It's just the these two now, burning up the field with their fiery competitive spirit!"
"It looks like this is going to be a war of ego--headgames abound here on the molten road!"
"Taste a little bit of m special move!" Suddenly Sato's aura flamed to life. His eyes dazzled with a white-hot fury as his whole body was coated in fire, jumping into the air and eclipsing the sun. "Grr--EAT THIS! 420 DEGREE--" 360 degree pan, zoom--"BLAZE IT... KIIIIICCCKKKKKK!!!!" Everyone gasped. With a vicious freeze-frame, the second-best of Montoya snapped his leg and ushered forth a tsunami of power. The ball itself took on the shape of a banana briefly under the pressure and glowed like a second sun as it spun, arched, and dove into the ground with incredible force. What was left, after the mushroom cloud, was a wasteland on which none but Katsuro and Sato could tread.
A smirk. "Hmph. Looks like it's just you and me, ya showboatin' fruit salad."
"Yeah... But you really need better lines."
"What will they do now? Will the race continue?"
"Look at that determination! None of these competitors are backing down now." And so, the real race began. Hideaki and Kazuma started slowly, watching each other's every step.
"I've been coming in second for a while now--"
"--then you should be used to it!"
"Damnit! My rival dialogue!" Mad sprint now, neither seeming to have a clear edge. They approached the finish line, both ready to dive, when...
"Blue~!" Blue Maya charged from the opposite side of the line. Katsuro tried to avoid the collision, but was taken down to the hot hot ground. Wailing and whining, the prince wiggled for freedom beneath the displaced aquatic creature. Kazuma walked across the finish line a disappointed man.
