Ichiiro woke up naturally with the first light of dawn. It was Wednesday, the day when you start wondering when the weekend is coming and whether someone will blow up the school so that you can get some sleep. Well, that's what Ichiiro thought anyway. He sat on his bed and wondered what exactly happened to him. It seemed as though the last two days were a sick twisted dream, but he knew he wasn't dreaming. "Wonder what's gonna happen today..." he mused. "Oh yeah!" Ichiiro walked to his desk across from his bed (noting mentally that he was getting used to sleeping in a bed) and picked up the kempo club application form. He also grabbed a T-shirt and of loose fitting shorts, since he would, presumably, need them to work out. "Next thing I know I have to practice kempo in a dress or something," Ichiiro laughed and looked out of his window to see the slowly rising sun. Indie Madnesse Presents... West Eastwood High Part 3 "It's Like Marmalade Boy...on mescaline" By: Ranma X. Upon arriving at school, he noted he had about twenty minutes before he had to be at homeroom. He decided that, instead of meeting up with Makoto or the rest of the group, he was going to walk around a bit. "I've had been here three days now and haven't even begun to explore the place," he thought to himself. Taking the exterior of the school and its surroundings in, he felt okay. "This place looks normal, at least when there's no one around. It actually is quite nice. Moku-sensei changed the color too--it's lavender, but even that's better than that puke green." He stopped and sat in the grass, leaning against a wall. He thought of the exchange he had had with Makoto yesterday. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "By the way," Makoto asked his companion, "what do you think of Aiko?" "Hm? She's alright, I suppose. Why?" "There's a rumor going around that you two used to be a couple." "_What?!_" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ He sighed. "Who would think that I used to be with Aiko? I mean, she's nice and all, but I just met her yesterday for Kami-sama's sake! Yeesh...I guess yesterday was day 1.74 more to go." Ichiiro heard the bell and stood up, tracing his steps back to a familiar hallway and walked to his homeroom. *** Elsewhere, across several dimensions of space, time, and cereal box tops... "Have you figured out anything else about the hole?" "Yes your majesty...it seems to lead somewhere." "Have preparations been made to explore the other dimension?" "Yes your majesty. We are sending two lower echelon servants to investigate." "Good. That is all, Kary." "Yes your majesty," Kary said as he walked away from the throne. *** Math class finished and Ichiiro saw Saotome-sensei leave the room. "That was weird..." Ichiiro summed up in a sentence the collective sensations and experience of the past hour. Makoto could only nod, prompting his friends in the other side of the school to wonder why she had looked so blankly out into space. Ichiiro never was the subject of much attention, even in his old school. He was just another body who inhabited the building and breathed the air enclosed and surrounding the school. Having thirty aliens, magical girls, mad scientists, and other assorted individuals stare at him was positively scary. Kyoto, on the other hand was humming and skipping down to class. Ichiiro looked at Kyoto and asked her, confusedly, "Kyoto? Why aren't you looking at me like I'm a freak?" "Well, you're not a freak, Ichiiro." She smiled blankly. "But; surely you must've heard the rumor, so why are you not even curious or surprised about it?" Makoto asked. "What rumor?" "The one about me and Aiko having been involved beforehand?" Ichiiro looked frustrated. "Oh, that rumor. I'm not surprised because I'm the one who started it!" she exclaimed in pure innocence as Ichiiro fell from shock. After getting up from the floor, Ichiiro ran up to Kyoto and asked her, "WHY IN KAMI-SAMA'S NAME WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!" "Um, It's not true?" "OF COURSE IT ISN'T!!" "Oh. I was sure I was right," Kyoto said, using her electronic resources to figure out where she went wrong in her deductions. Ichiiro sighed as Kent-sensei entered. The Texan smiled at Ichiiro and said, "Howdy, Ichiiro!" Ichiiro noted that Mr. Kent was the only one who did not just come in and start lecturing or anything of the sort. He just hung around and was very amiable to the students. Accent aside, he was a good teacher, really, and Makoto said that he did a lot for the student body. Ichiiro looked at Aiko a bit and then to his notes. "I hope this ends soon," he thought. He sat in his desk, noting the stares, but this time choosing to ignore them. "Now when y'all conjugate a verb, y'all gotta be careful not ta conjugate an irregular like a regular verb..." *** Lunch came, after much talk of verb usage and explanations on several American idioms. Ichiiro sat outside with Makoto. "Wonder what that expression 'crazier than an outhouse rat' meant..." Makoto asked. Ichiiro shrugged and said, "Who knows. I don't think I'm ever going to get the hang of the language." "You just need to be in the country a few years. Then it gets easier," Makoto postulated, scratching his chin. Ichiiro nodded and looked around at his surroundings. At the moment he saw Aiko as she was walking with Kyoto. He started unconsciously staring as Makoto babbled on about America. Ichiiro blinked as he saw Aiko turn her head back toward his direction and looked back down towards his half-eaten bento. *** Aiko was walking with Kyoto as Kyoto explained how she was the cause of the rumor and offered her apologies. Aiko was sort of angry with her, but sighed and let it go since Kyoto was just acting on her own impulses. She then saw Ichiiro look at her as if he was transfixed. She saw him duck his head down to his lunch. "That's odd," she noted. "I haven't even talked to him today. He came to Math looking calm, then a bit perturbed during English. Now he was staring at me. I wonder why. Did he hear about the rumor?" She stopped though Kyoto had kept on walking and talking about the even more recent gossip she heard about. *** Ichiiro saw Aiko stop. She was several meters away, but he could see her stop, as if in a moment of introspection. He stood up. "Ichiiro-san, where are you going?" Makoto asked. "I need to do something. Next period is Kaji-sensei's, right?" "Yeah... I'll see you there,Ichiiro," Makoto said, almost half-heartedly. "See ya!" Ichiiro smiled as he ran off towards Aiko. Makoto blinked. He saw Ichiiro as he ran to where Aiko was. This was odd. Normally, he wouldn't have really cared about any of the goings on of his friends, not because he was sullen or anything, but more along the lines that he knew they were his friends and that was that. However, This troubled him. "Could it be, I'm having feelings for Ichiiro?" he thought. In the other side of the building, Makoto stared off into space and looked concerned. Her friends looked at her, confusedly and asked, "Mako-chan? Are you okay?" "Um, yeah. I'm fine." she said and returned a smile as confirmation. *** Aiko heard footsteps approaching her. She snapped out of her thought and turned around striking a defensive pose, striking Ichiiro across the head at the same moment. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she said, kneeling down and helping him up. "No...problem...owww" Ichiiro dusted himself off and looked at her. He stammered, "Um, did Kyoto, uh.." "She did." "Oh. You're not mad or anything? "No. You can't stay mad at Kyoto for long." "Ah...that's good. I was uh, kinda worried that you might, uh, um..., have held a grudge between yourself and uh Kyoto and, uh, me..." She blinked. "Why would I do that?" she said, smiling. "I don't hold grudges Ichiiro. I only try to make friends." Ichiiro smiled at that and looked noticeably relieved. Aiko began giggling slightly. "What?" he asked. "You're funny." "What do you mean 'funny'?" Ichiiro asked, confused. "You really seem to care about others' feelings quite a bit." "Really?" "Yeah. It's kinda rare seeing that from a guy, especially from this school." "Um...was that a compliment?" "Of course baka!" she smiled and lightly hit him. The bell rang and Aiko said, "Oh! I have to get my things. See you at Kaji-sensei's Ichiiro-kun." She ran leaving Ichiiro isolated in the middle of the field, smiling slightly and feeling the warmth of the sun. *** Back in the Void... "How much have you progressed, Kary?" "Your Majesty, we've only been able to widen the hole so that two acolytes can pass through. We are sending the strongest two through so that they can observe and report back to us." "Good. I want this done by the end of today." "Yes your majesty." he said walking off muttering something about the disadvantages of being a scab in this business. *** Kaji-sensei said, "Today we are doing another lab. This time I would like you to partner up with someone." The class nodded and walked about to find a lab partner. Ichiiro was writing down notes on the lab when he noted that both Aiko and Makoto stood up to walk towards him, then look at each other, then stop. He blinked, but then a voice in his mind said, "[Do you want to work with me?]" "Hmm? Oh, its you, Uta. Wow...sorry about that. I almost kinda forgot about you." "[It is alright. I think I should work with you, at least to save you some agony.]" "Okay, sure." he stood up and walked to an empty lab table with Uta, set his paper down and walked to get materials and glassware. Makoto and Aiko blinked. Seeing as they were the last pair left and Kaji-sensei noted that to them, they moved to a table which was far from Ichiro and Uta's and began work. "[Ichiiro-san. Was that thing about you and Aiko true?]" "Nahh. Kyoto accidentally spread a rumor." "[Of course. It figures. But it does seem she has feelings for you.] "Really?" he sounded confused, but kept on working, so that he wouldn't let anyone else figure out the conversation topic. "[It also looks like Makoto likes you as well.]" This time he stopped. Makoto was a friend, so he had assumed. He was a cool guy friend that he can trust for homework and a company to go watch a Seibu Lions' game at either of their houses. He reasoned also that Makoto is a girl as well and that this inference wasn't too far off either. He stopped. "Wait...how do you that? I thought you were only able to project thoughts, not detect them." "[I'm not empathic, but their feelings are one of the easier ones to decipher.]" "Ahh. Are you sure? I really don't think so. I mean I just can't believe it. "[Guys are not usually the most observant of people in these situations.]" Ichiiro nodded and the solid melted fully. He turned off the heat and placed a thermometer on the liquid substance. Uta had a pencil and a watch. "[Now.]" "45.7 degrees." "[1-one thousand,2-one thousand, now.]" "44.3 degrees." And so it went until the solid had re-solidified and they finished collecting their data. It was when they were cleaning up and getting ready for the next class that he noted something out of place. "That's right...wonder where that Hagira guy is..." "[He's over there, not really doing much of anything. He can't play with his toys.]" Ichiiro nodded as he an angry Kyoto looking away from him. "That makes sense." He cleaned up and scratched his head a moment as he got his things. He looked confused. "Oi. Makoto... what does this mean?" "Oh, this is when we have our electives. You were assigned to a composition class now and then music, which I have the same time." Aiko approached the two. "I have composition now, so you can follow me." Aiko smiled. Remembering what Uta said and glanced at her a bit. She said, succinctly, "[Don't look at me. I have Intro to Parapsychology.]" *** The composition class was rather well done, except that the teacher, Miyamoto-sensei, was a staunch practicioner in the traditions of the past. He wore a hakama, carried a bokken and spoke in intermittent bouts of old Japanese. "By class's end I request to envision thine compositions in the cursive script." Ichiiro stopped, gave a look of confusion until Aiko placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, I'll help you." Ichiiro smiled and got the paper, ink and brushes. They found a table and began working. Ichiiro was a little clumsy, but Aiko helped him at times. "No, the 'Yume' character should be more angular near the bottom." she said grabbing his right hand and showing him how to hold the brush. He thanked her and Aiko smirked slightly and said, playfully, "Maybe you'll get it soon. Maybe." "Very Funny," Ichiiro said concentrating. "No no, Ichiiro-kun, you're putting too much force in the upstrokes..." *** The band teacher was floating in a bubble in the center of the orchestral circle. "So. Hoshino-san. Do you play an instrument?" "Eh...I played the bass in middle school," he said wondering why he was in the class. "Very well then. You can borrow Yagami-kun's things to practice." "Hai." Ichiiro nodded and borrowed the music along with the upright bass. During practice in the corner of the room, he saw the rest of the class begin playing. He saw Makoto on the saxophone. She played a long solo throughout a Yoko Kanno piece the whole class played in. "Wow." Ichiiro thought. "She really is good, though I kinda thought that he would be in the class, not her. It doesn't really matter anyways. Still, she's really good." Near the end of the class, Ichiiro returned the materials and went to talk to Makoto. "Wow, that was great!" "Really? I kinda wasn't into it." "No, no, that was really good!" he said , causing Makoto to blush a bit. Ichiiro blinked and stayed quiet until he said, "Oh yeah. I'm joining the kempo club today." "Really?" "Yeah. I felt that I might be better off if I can protect myself." "Ah. That's fine. I'll lead you there. Are you ready to work out?" she smiled. "Sure Makoto. Ready as I'll ever be anyway." "Okay. See you there." The bell rang and school ended. Ichiiro left the band room and walked outside. Seeing the various students leave the school, he noted the afternoon sun was beaming down, yet it was still cool. He stretched his arms and said, "Well, I hope what Uta said isn't true. It's kinda the last thing I need." *** In the void... "Your Majesty. The preparations are finished. We are sending Acolytes Sipherus and Nicolitus." "Very well then. Do not fail me." "Yes, my liege." *** The kempo club was taught by Teashi-sensei. "Teashi-sensei is the coach?" he asked Aiko, whispering. "Now, He really can't fight, but in his heyday he was unstoppable. It shows how great he is by his ability to coach us. Were a really good club, actually." "Looks like it. Then again...I bet the really good ones study on their own." he smirked. "Okay club members! Remember, the tournament is in three weeks! We are going to fight and we are going to beat the hell out of everyone, especially Sagami Academy and our dread rivals East Eastwood!" Teashi-sensei said followed by the raucous cheers of the club. He approached Teashi-sensei and said, "Ano...Teashi-sensei. I just joined the club and I am interested in the tournament." "Ah! Hoshino-san! Glad to have you! Let me see...Ah! Nichiko-san!" Makoto was practicing, her figure oddly looked very stunning, even through the gi. "Hai, Teashi-sensei?" "Teach Ichiiro-san here the first 5 kata. I want him to compete in that part of the tournament." "Hai," she smiled. Aiko was at the moment sparring with another student. Spinning around she saw Makoto lead Ichiiro to a freer area of the gym and was teaching him. She started losing focus on her fight as she saw them smiling and Ichiiro seem confident about himself. It was when she let the kick to the head get to her that she noticed that something was wrong. She promptly shook her head and beat her opponent to the ground in three puches. *** Makoto said, "Now, Ichiiro-kun. This is the most basic of katas. it may look and feel stupid, but you can't do anything unless you master it." Ichiiro nodded and looked at Makoto, who preformed what seemed to him to be Makoto taking odd steps, blocking false moves, and punching and kicking air, though sparingly. He was intimidated, but not too overwhelmed. "Okay, now follow my moves," Makoto said as Ichiiro moved to her left and followed Makoto, who was doing a slow version of the kata she just preformed stopping at intervals of six movements in order to make sure he was getting it all. A few hours passed, but Ichiiro finally seemed to get the hang of the kata. "So, what do you think of the club?" "It's good...I think I can handle it, if I keep practicing." "Practice helps everyone...." she looked away for a second and said quietly, "Anou...Ichiiro?" "Hai, Makoto?" "You'd come to me if you need help, right?" "Um...yeah. Of course," he smiled, though looking a bit shaken. "Good. I'm glad. Anyways, Jya!" she smiled and waved good bye. "Ah...Jya Makoto-san!" he waved back as he left the gym to get his things. *** Aiko changed clothes and showered in the gym. When she left the school, she saw Ichiiro walk slowly down a street. She looked at him as the sunset behind them left long shadows and made the sky crimson Ichiiro yawned. He knew he had more work cut out for him than he expected. "Let see. I have that story to read for Yamano-sensei, and that chapter for Takozushi-sensei too. At least I don't have math tomorrow. Kotou-sensei said I should practice that piece some more too. Now there's that tournament the kempo club is doing." He kept on walking until he heard a voice yell, "Wait up!" He stopped. Ichiiro turned around to find Aiko smiling. "Hi Ichiiro." "Hi Aiko." "Is something the matter?" she asked. "Why do you say that?" "Just now, you sound as if you're unsure of yourself." "Do I?" "Yes." "How can you be so sure?" "Well that whole rumor thing shook you up I'm sure." "That's true." "This school isn't for the weak-hearted." She said, sternly. "I can see that, but...." "But what?" "I don't feel good. Not sad, but tired I guess." "Afraid you're losing a friend and gaining a possible girlfriend?" "Well, I..." "I'll be your friend Ichiiro," she said matter-of-factly. She then whispered, "Even if you don't choose me." Ichiiro stopped and said, "What?! What did you say?!" Aiko stopped and said, "Well nothing really, unless you want to go out on a date with me..." Ichiiro looked around and found a nearby bench. He sat down and said, "A date?" "What? Is that too foreign a concept for you?" she chided him and giggled. "N,No, but..." "You've never been on one?" "Well....to put it shortly...yes." Aiko laughed. Ichiiro stood up and said, "Hey! What's so funny?" "You are." "Why?!" "You've never been on a date." "So?!" he said, flustered. "Well it seems like you were saving that first date for someone special." "What?" Ichiiro was confused. "Nothing...do you want to go on a date with me or not?" "Um...uh..." he paused and logically thought this through. Two seconds passed and all logical thought was thrown aside. "Uh. Sure." Aiko jumped up in joy and said, "I'll call you tonight then to talk about where I want you to take me." "Um...." "What?" "I'm broke," Ichiiro said, looking sullen. "Well then...be creative Ichiiro." she laughed and smiled warmly and walked off. Ichiiro stood at the sidewalk seeing the rather forward girl walk away. He shook his head and said, calmly: "I need to sit down." *** Aiko was walking through a park which she used as a shortcut to her house. She looked at the empty area and saw a merry-go-round which was floating a foot and a half off the ground.She sat down and proceeded to spin lightly around the contraption, letting her feet drag on the ground below. "Why the hell did I just do that? I sure as hell don't know why. I guess maybe it because he the only decent guy at the school besides Makoto and I'm kinda not interested in Makoto like that, but that may be my own weird ideas. Maybe I did it just to see if I can. I guess tomorrow, we'll see what happens..." "Hey lady! Mind keeping the self-examining to a minimum?" "Oh. Suimasen." she said to the talking squirrel who was sitting in a nearby tree. *** Sipherus and Nicolitus stepped out the void. They had a mission to do for their dark realm. Beyond the void could lay any danger, any hardship, but they must brave the dark in order to scrape at the edges of it with the light of knowledge. What they knew, however, could not prepare them for what lay ahead. They ended up in front of a naked, showering, nubile young girl about the age of 16. "Kyaa!! Hentai!!" Sipherus and Nicolitus immediately sweatdropped and tried to apologize in their native language, but the girl was seriously angry. Sipherus and Nicolitus cringed in fear as she raised her hand sharply and turned off the hot water valve. Immediately, the beautiful girl was replaced with a angry man of about 7 feet in height and several hundred pounds in muscle. If Sipherus and Nicolitus were of Earth decent, they would have wagered he was Russian or Scandinavian. Since they weren't, all they knew was that he was pissed as he sent two giant fists at their heads. Another woman came up and said, "Mou, Chibiko-chan! What happened?" "These two perverts just came in here... I'm sorry about the blood stains, though." the big man said as he turned on the hot water valve and regained her original form. "Really? Let me see." The other woman said as she sensed the area around Chibiko's shower. "That's funny, there seems to be some silly sort of gate here. let me close that up." The girl said as she closed her eyes. A long beam of light in the shape of a zipper came and 'zipped up' the extra-dimensional hole. "There. Wouldn't want any more hentais to come in like that. I'd bet anything that it was those otaku that did it." "Maybe Rie-chan. Come on, let's go." Chibiko said as they went to another room. They both left the showers, fully dressed, talking about guys as the sign above their heads read: [Showers: Neutral or Shifting Genders Only] *** It was getting late and the town of Eastwood was retiring for the night. Okay it was eight o’ clock and only the people who weren’t vampires, magical girls,or don't need sleep, or have different cycles, or were up late in laboratories magical or scientific or were manning 24/7 convenience stores were home. A good percentage of the city was out and about, really. The Hoshino Family, however was at home. Ichiiro was being his always studious and careful self regarding his studies by watching the latest episode of Kodomo no Omocha. Ichiiro’s father, Saburo, had just come home. It was nice to be living in this suburb, but his commute was an hour and a half long, so he felt tired. He looked at his son in the living room and smiled. "Hello son," he said. Ichiiro turned and said,"Hey pop! How was work?" "*Sana, I am your Father,*" came from the television. "Okay. Um..look. How is your new school?" "School's fine. I'm still getting used to it, but I joined the kempo club today." "Really? You never did anything that outrageous before, if I remember..." "*No! No Zenjirou! It can't be true!* "Well, I think I needed a change in my life," Ichiiro said. "I see. That's good. You were always good at knowing what you needed." "*Akito. I'm pregnant with Tsyoshi's baby!*" "Why do you ask, Pop?" "I was just concerned that we may have not done a good thing moving here to Eastwood." "*I can't belive that I, Misako Kurata, have writer's block!*" "Nono...I'm happy Pop," he said. "A little weirded out at times, but happy." Saburo smiled and walked off. Ichiiro thought about the past, now,three days. "I wonder what is going to happen now?" The phone rang suddenly. Emiko, Ichiiro's mother, said "Son? There's someone on the phone for you." "Who is it?" "A girl," she shrugged. "Okay." Ichiiro walked up to the phone and picked up the reciever. "Hello?" As Ichiiro listened to the voice on the phone, he blinked. His eyes widened. He said, abruptly, "Where? I'll be there as fast as I can!" He ran out the door yelling, "I'll be back Mom!" Ichiiro's mother blinkjed and walked to the television, where the ending theme song was playing, and promptly turned it off. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's notes: Yeesh...this was a lot more work than I thought. I think I may be overextending myself now. I hope you liked it and will have fun reading the other installments of the series. The refrenece to 75 days is that Japanese legend suggests a rumor last for 75 days. The last line about the TV is a reference is a pseudo in-joke in that all the cliff-hangers for Kodomo no Omocha happen as the end theme begins. And if youmust ask, yes the shower scene was meant to write the dark kingdom thing into the ground. I will personally @bap anyone who brings it back to life. This is the schedule I made up so that there isn't a discontinuity in that ] respect (My main irritant in stories starring high-school aged characters). Schedule MON TUE WED THU FRI Math Math Math Literature Literature PE PE English PE PE Chem English Chem Chem Music Composition Literature Composition History Composition Music History Music English History This is my suggestion, though Aponar Kestrel and Eslington have fashioned other ideas for this element in the story Speaking of those two, thank you very very much for pre-reading. For my next trick I will write what no one thought would or could be written(okay apprently no one cared enough to write it): Genie #2. Girls with Guns 54 is in my hands(dear gods, what have I done...) and I'll have a least one starter for the sweepstakes. Ranma X. "Formating errors can be adressed by making your hand into a fist, then moving that hand as far away from you as possible, then, keeping that hand stiil, quickly and forcefully run towards your hand."