Author Topic: Dolphin Rider Koishi - The End  (Read 304495 times)

FinnKaenbyou

  • Formerly Roukanken
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Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi - AKA A Passing Joke Gone Totally Awesome
« Reply #90 on: December 15, 2010, 12:04:35 AM »
?Alright, class, start heading on home. And clean out your test tubes - you?d rather not know what nearly befell this classroom the last time someone left their work unfinished.?

Professor Yagokoro - Eirin to her fellow teachers, and even a few of her favourite pupils - offered her students leave at last, bringing the after-school revision class to an end. She was offering revision in chemistry for the upcoming exams out of the goodness of her heart, and thanks to her reputation as a teacher the class was always near-full. No-one actually knew about the incident she was referring to, and most of the older students simply thought of it as her way of scaring people into fixing things up. Either way, no-one was brave enough to risk not following her orders - the ever-present picture of an earth-shattering explosion on her chalkboard was enough to leave them washing out everything at the sink five minutes after the class had ended.

They were good students, for the most part. There had been a couple of faces she hadn?t been expecting here, though - notably, the pair currently residing at the back of the class, currently struggling to wipe a murky red mixture from the bottom of one of their test tubes. The taller girl, the one with the long black hair, was wiping something off the other girl?s arm. She was Mokou Fujiwara - a student who?d been very much one of her brightest pupils until a few months ago. It was good to see her back on course with her studies - she looked out for her favourite students, and Mokou was definitely one of them.

?There. That didn?t hurt, did it??

The shorter girl gave a proud grin in return as she shook her head.

?Not at all! I?m tougher than I look, Fuji-san!?

Mokou smiled, lifting a piece of cotton off Cirno?s arm. A 9-ball shape, presumably what had once been on the girl?s skin, was now resting on the cotton which was hastily thrown into the trash can. This little surgical procedure put the pair behind the class by a few minutes, leaving only Professor Yagokoro to approach, examining the operation from a safe distance.

?I don?t recall giving you any chemicals that would work for tattoo removal.?

?Personal mixture, brought it from home. ?Course some big company?s already got just about all the patents I?d need to sell it, so I?ve gotta settle for using it myself when I can.?

Eirin?s eyes widened. The area on Cirno?s arm where the cotton had been pressed was slightly red, but there would be no lasting damage. Her eyes looked down to Mokou?s. They had always fascinated her - brown, but such a brilliant shade that sometimes if the light hit them at just the right angle they would flicker scarlet. She?d assumed they were extensions the first time they?d met, but when Mokou told her it was natural it had only made her even more curious.

The student and her teacher stared at one another for a moment. Eirin had been in education long enough to tell that there was a question she wanted to ask, but it stayed unspoken. From the stern look she was getting Eirin figured it had to be a personal matter, and she was proven correct when a few seconds later.

?Kid, mind heading on ahead? I?ll catch up with you in a little bit.?

Cirno tilted her head, not quite understanding why Mokou needed to stay behind, but she was willing to comply. Cirno had been another student Eirin wasn?t expecting here - it was rare enough to see her in class, so an arrival from the (ex?) head Fairy had been almost enough to dislocate her jaw from hitting the floor. She seemed much more calm and willing to learn, though, which from Eirin?s point of view could only be an improvement.

Mokou was quick to close the door behind Cirno the moment she?d left. Eirin leisurely strolled towards her desk while her student pulled up a stool from the side to sit across from her.

?So, what is it you?d like to know, Fujiwara-san? Missed homework? Extra credi-?

?What can you tell me about Kaguya Houraisan??

Eirin was taken aback by the force with which Mokou asked the question. It wasn?t an unfamiliar name to her - quite the contrary, in fact.

?Oh, yes, Houraisan. I do recall her, in fact. She studied at this school a few years ago. An excellent student, in just about every definition of the word. At your level of genius, even.?

This news did nothing to faze Mokou. If anything, she?d been expecting it, but that first question was just the first test before the follow up.

?So if she was a student here, does that mean her folks came to parents? evenings and stuff like that??

Eirin nodded. She had no idea where Mokou was going with this, but from the completely serious look on her face she figured it had to be important. To an extent this was breaching her confidentiality as a teacher, but she knew the girl well enough to be sure this information wouldn?t be misused.

?...Yes, they did. It was her father, and him alone - I never heard what happened to her mother, but I assume she died young. He would attend regularly, sometimes even making extra meetings to double-check on Kaguya?s progress.?

Now they seemed to be getting to the crux of the matter. Mokou began to lean forward on the chair, her head looming above the desk.

?Stop me if this is inappropriate, but was Mr. Houraisan...memorable in any way??

It was inappropriate. It was definitely inappropriate. She was being asked to give away information on not just a former student, but said student?s immediate family. Eirin was in no position to pass on this information, and if anyone found out about it she was likely to be stripped of her position or even her license to teach. If it had been any other student, she?d have forced them out of the room with threats of cleaning up duty for the next dozen lab sessions.

Mokou was different, though. She was both one of Eirin?s personal favourites, and she had just emerged back in the classroom after a long hiatus. She?d seen the girl walking around in an absurd shirt and suspenders combination, and it was a relief to see her wearing the sensible school uniform again.

The questions about a former genius pupil, and Mokou?s sudden disappearance...Eirin couldn?t help feeling they were related, and that it was taking more courage than it seemed for Mokou to come back here and ask this of her. Given that, it only seemed fair to offer her what she needed - even without knowing a word of the story, she could tell this was of the utmost importance to the girl.

?...What I am about to tell you does not leave these walls. Am I understood??

Mokou gave a salute.

?My lips are sealed, ma?am.?

The smile on her face was only slightly forced, Eirin gave her credit for that. She sighed before her tale began, already reminiscing over times she?d rather have forgotten.

?Mr. Houraisan was...very memorable indeed. Before anything else, there was the way he dressed. I am told he ran only a small pharmacy at the time, but he arrived at every meeting in the most impeccable suit, ironed solely so he would look his best when he appeared. The stench of perfume reached me from across the table as we talked, and given the sniffing sounds that interrupted us I?d assumed it reached the members of staff besides me as well.

As a person? He was...agreeable, cheerful, looking to throw in a joke and make a good impression any chance he could get. At least, that was how each of these meetings would start, but it never ended that way. He would listen intently, nodding with every compliment I offered his daughter - and I gave Kaguya every compliment she deserved, splendid as she was - but whenever I said she had done only ?very well? his brow would furrow rather suddenly. He would ask why I had chosen not to say ?excellently? or even ?perfectly?, and I would explain to him that she had made one or two trifling errors in the last examination. They were simple slipups even fully qualified chemists would occasionally fall prey to, but hearing of even a single mistake on his daughter?s part would be enough to kill his mood.?

Eirin seemed to grow more dreary the more she spoke. She was imagining that face again, looking straight into her eyes with that pure intensity; that sheer white anger when he learned that Kaguya wasn?t the perfect little daughter he wanted her to be. Mokou found more meaning in that expression on her face than anything her words could possibly have produced.

?After that, he would listen reluctantly to the rest of the talk. He clearly was paying no attention. His mind was...elsewhere. I would not like to consider where, not with that rage filling up his eyes. It is not something I have a right to consider as a teacher, and...I?ve said too much, sorry.?

She was regretting everything she?d said now. She had been concerned back then, afraid that Kaguya?s father had punished his daughter harshly, but it wasn?t her position to interfere and she?d seen no sign of injury on the girl during class. She?d been happy to file the thought away and forget it, but now the old worries were rising back to the surface. She?d wanted to bring it up to someone official, even for the sake of being safe, but without solid physical evidence that something was going on it was out of her hands.

?No problem, ma?am. I think I get the idea. Sorry for making you think about it.?

Mokou seemed happy as she got to her feet. Eirin shook visibly, the image of the man glaring at her fading away. It was a pleasant change.

?It?s fine, Fujiwara-san. Just pay me back by not dropping out of my class again, if that?s possible.?

?Consider it done. Thanks again for all of that.?

The student offered her a quick, fervent wave at the doorway before she slammed it behind her.

Mokou let a deep breath out, feeling her shoulders slump a little. She?d heard everything she needed to hear to confirm her suspicions - the ?touching? need Kaguya had to impress her father was nothing of the sort. She needed to talk to the girl herself now, hear the whole story. Maybe they?d fallen out now, but they?d been friends once, and Mokou still felt she had the right to know.

Now, if only she could find the courage to try visiting Eientei again...

-----

OMAKE

"What's that? You say there's going to be a Siren in THERE tonight?!"

"Trust me on this one, phwee. We need to find a way in!"

"But...we're not old enough to get in there. We'd need to sneak in someho-"

"DIIIIIIIID someone just suggest sneaking in?!"

"Kyah, Kawashiro-sensei?!"

"No worries, girls. I've got a plan to get us in there tonight, no problem! But you aren't gonna like it."

Next Episode: High Rollers! Is Breaking The Bank Really Heroic?!

-----

Yeah expect a filler arc after every Siren arc. :dwi:

Drake

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Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi - AKA A Passing Joke Gone Totally Awesome
« Reply #91 on: December 15, 2010, 02:51:01 AM »
つづく!
大金を賭ける人!銀行がつぶれることは本当に英雄的なのか?!

A Colorful Calculating Creative and Cuddly Crafty Callipygous Clever Commander
- original art by Aiけん | ウサホリ -

Paper Conan

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Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi - AKA A Passing Joke Gone Totally Awesome
« Reply #92 on: December 17, 2010, 03:23:30 AM »
I started reading this, and I can only tell you one thing...
It is the BEST fanfiction of anykind I have ever read.  :o

Perfect EVERYTHING to become an anime. I love you. Keep at it~ :getdown:

Marokuu

  • Maru~ Maru~
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Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi - AKA A Passing Joke Gone Totally Awesome
« Reply #93 on: December 17, 2010, 07:54:11 AM »
I started reading this, and I can only tell you one thing...
It is the BEST fanfiction of anykind I have ever read.  :o

Perfect EVERYTHING to become an anime. I love you. Keep at it~ :getdown:
I'd add something but it feels like everything has already been said. Goooooo Rou~ :getdown:
My first attempt at storywriting, looking for critique

Avatar schizophrenia? I don't know what you're talking about.

Esifex

  • Though the sun may set
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  • It shall rise again
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi - AKA A Passing Joke Gone Totally Awesome
« Reply #94 on: December 17, 2010, 07:03:47 PM »
I started reading this, and I can only tell you one thing...
It is the BEST fanfiction of anykind I have ever read.  :o

Perfect EVERYTHING to become an anime. I love you. Keep at it~ :getdown:

:getdown: :getdown:

FinnKaenbyou

  • Formerly Roukanken
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  • blub blub nya
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi - AKA A Passing Joke Gone Totally Awesome
« Reply #95 on: December 20, 2010, 09:15:20 PM »
Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm went off earlier than it needed to - there was still a good hour and a half before school started. She only needed an hour at most to cross the city, and that was if she stopped to grab breakfast along the way.

Regardless, Koishi reached over and gave the machine a good smack to shut it up. It was cathartic, if nothing else, and the sheer force with which she hit it was usually enough to pull her out of her sleepiness. She crawled out from underneath the covers, her nightgown dragging along behind her as she went to the bathroom to wash her face.

Now that she thought about it, she didn?t have the same dreams anymore. It used to be that she would wake up in the middle of the night, either reaching out for a sister that wasn?t there or choking on water that didn?t really exist. She had been too scared to sleep properly, keeping herself awake for days on end until at last her body would force her to rest.

She still had the occasional nightmare, but it was the exception rather than the rule now. Getting back to sleep was easier too - Orin was a light sleeper, and if she heard Koishi startle back awake the cat would be on her lap within seconds, offering herself to calm down her mistress. Petting and stroking her worked wonders, and Koishi would be back to sleep within half an hour, the nightmare that had haunted her too vague to stay frightening. Her work done, Orin slumbered peacefully on her mistress?s bed in case she rose back up again, but that was rarely the case nowadays.

As such, it no longer needed the same gargantuan effort for Koishi to wake up in the mornings - in fact, as she started on her morning routine, she looked almost excited about the day ahead of her. She stepped into the bathroom to splash her face and get rid of the last traces of sleep.

As she saw Sango lying asleep in the bathtub, she was slightly disturbed by how at ease she was with her being there. The pair had come to a compromise in terms of Sango?s nightwear - namely, Koishi had needed to convince her it was a good idea to wear anything. There were plenty of things she was willing to get used to along with this whole Siren business, but waking up a naked youkai every morning was not one of them.

After some long, hard deliberations, Koishi had finally managed to teach the dolphin the concept of human indecency, and Sango was slumbering in human form when her friend entered. She found her normal clothes too warm to sleep in, so instead she?d opted for a long, pale-blue shirt with a carefully-placed slit to let her fin through, and a grey bikini bottom to cover her lower half (again, at Koishi?s insistence). Jewelery, even the water-breathing kind, was also enough to stop her from sleeping, and to avoid drowning overnight she had to float face-down in the bath with a snorkel (why this wasn?t as offputting as a ring would have been, Koishi would probably never understand). It was only slightly less unusual to look in on than a dolphin in the bathtub, but the immediate confirmation that she was wearing clothes helped to calm Koishi?s nerves.

?Morning, Sango-san.?

?Mmph.?

Sango was a surprisingly light sleeper - it would only take a few words aimed at her to wake her up. Koishi remembered reading somewhere about dolphins only resting one half of their brain at a time, so that would explain it. Sango gave off a muffled complaint from beneath the water before pulling herself up and out of the bathtub. As the carpets were once again soaked through, the Siren couldn?t help but sigh. Really, with all the restrictions, Koishi had been trying to subtly tell Sango that there was another bed for her to use and that cleaning up the soaked carpets Sango left behind her all morning was starting to get on her nerves. She?d expected Sango to pick up on the suggestion, but once again she?d overestimated the dolphin?s ability to think outside the box. Maybe tonight she?d just say flat out that Sango could sleep in Satori?s old bed.

Besides the heaving puddles left in Sango?s wake, the morning routine went more or less like that of any ordinary household. Get changed, have breakfast, feed the pets, get ready for school, and get started on that long walk across the city. Nowadays, though, they took a more scenic route, because they saw enough of the city?s main streets in the evening.

It was only after school they engaged in their more supernatural investigations, examining Gensouto?s main streets and walkways in the hope of encountering a Siren. They?d been doing it almost ritualistically for the last two weeks, but besides Mokou they?d made no discoveries in the slightest. No Sirens, no signs the Claw had managed to find one either, and not so much as a trace of a Teardrop?s presence.

Koishi was unnerved by this fact. She?d considered bringing it up a few times previously, but she didn?t want to give off the impression she had no faith in Sango?s ability to find the Teardrops. Now, though, she?d decided this had been long enough, and finally put her concerns into words.

?Sango-san, I have a question. Is it meant to take us this long to find the Sirens??

Koishi had been surprisingly quiet on their latest walk, and so Sango had been seeing this sort of question coming. She sighed before starting on her reply, seeing that no-one was around.

?Honestly? We didn?t think so when we were preparing for this. The boss figured that at least six of you would?ve been found by now - either by us or the enemy, but we?re nowhere near that. We?ve been going through every area of the city that other girls your age is likely to visit, and we?ve found nothing.?

That wasn?t exactly the illuminating answer Koishi had been hoping for, but Sango didn?t seem to be quite finished yet. She was more or less reciting what she?d been told by Professor Kawashiro, and so far she seemed to agree with it.

?The boss also said there were two big points that could be responsible for this lack of progress. The first is that there really aren?t any Sirens to be found - they were born here around the same time you were, yeah, but that doesn?t mean they?re still living in Gensouto. For all we know, the other five Sirens are scattered across five other continents. Which is a good call for us, because it means the Claw are never gonna get all the Teardrops together.?

That seemed like good news, but looking at Sango?s face suggested otherwise. She looked pained, almost frustrated.

?Of course, the boss has already ruled that option out, even if it makes a whole lot of sense.?

Koishi raised an eyebrow there. It wasn?t anger, per se, but she didn?t seem to comprehend the idea she was trying to pass along.

?Why, exactly??

?Because apparently this has all been planned out.?

A statement like that was enough to stun Koishi into silence for a few seconds.

?Wait, you mean who becomes the Sirens? Who would have planned that??

?Who else? The woman who set the whole thing up, Yukari Yakumo. Apparently not only did she work this whole thing into her magic-sealing ritual, she managed to see thousands of years into the future and choose just the right kids for the job.?

Skepticism was more than obvious in her tone, and Koishi didn?t have to guess why. She wasn?t exactly familiar with magic, but she could guess that prediction to that extent was verging on impossible.

?And you?re telling me Nitori-sensei believes that theory ahead of the simpler, more logical one? That doesn?t sound right coming from a physics teacher.?

?It?s different with Yukari. I mean, I wasn?t born until after the war, so I never knew the woman, but apparently there?s a whole bunch of weird rumours about her. Things like how she was really a super-intelligent alien who landed on the planet riding an asteroid, or how she was actually responsible for the birth of not just all youkai, but all life on the goddamn planet. If you listen to enough of the stories, it seems as if the woman?s a freaking god.?

Koishi was vaguely aware of her mouth going dry. It was hanging open as Sango spoke, unsurprisingly, as the story became more and more dramatic. Sango herself seemed undecided about how to feel - her face appeared clearly frustrated, but her voice sounded more unsure and willing to consider the possibility.

?I mean, I trust the boss. She?s the smartest woman I know, so if she?s got a good enough reason to think this is all part of some big plan I?ll believe her. It?s just...not the sort of thing you can take in without firsthand experience, is it.?

?Sort of like what magic is to people who?ve never seen it before??

Sango stood upright suddenly as Koishi made the comparison. It had clearly never come to her quite like that before, and she nodded in agreement.

?Yeah, I guess it?s kinda like that. I mean, if you just told someone that you were some kinda crazy magical girl with superpowers, they wouldn?t believe you unless you proved it, right??

Her face brightened. Koishi had picked just the right curiosity to lift her out of what could otherwise have been a rather awkward topic. As they continued down the route to school, the two girls couldn?t help but smirk at one another, giggling at a joke no-one around them could have possibly understood.

For the most part, the discussion that followed was routine by her current standards. Explaining whatever parts of human culture Sango happened to be confused about today, explaining why they were being taught math techniques that would be no use in real life, and so on. It soon dawned on Koishi, though, that one part of her old routine had been lost in the transfer. The Scarlet Bakery, where she?d always stopped by to get something to munch down fervently on the way to school - she hadn?t visited it in a fortnight now that she was making her own food rather than living on take-away. It seemed a shame to just disregard them, especially since the attendant had been concerned for her while she was at her worst. She glanced at her watch - still plenty of time to spare. They could afford a little detour, and with a few changes in direction she lead Sango backwards towards the store.

She was not expecting to see a hastily written up sign on the front saying ?CLOSED INDEFINITELY?.

?What the...??

Sango didn?t seem to understand the relevance of this fact, looking back from a distance and wondering why Koishi was suddenly so interested in this strange red building. The lights were still on inside, and a quick inspection of the door confirmed that it was unlocked, and Koishi knocked hastily before letting herself in. Immediately the bare shelves and counter caught her eye, so the note on front was deadly serious.

?Hello? Meiling-san, are you here??

Someone was hunched down on the other side of the counter, presumably taking something off the floor. She thought at first it had to be Meiling - after all, who else would be behind the counter? - but the sound the stranger gave off was one Koishi would never attribute to Meiling. It was a cough - just loud enough to be concerning, but not quite loud enough to suggest she was actually choking. A voice rose up soon afterward, quiet but angry.

?Damned Meiling. You?d think she would dust down here once in a while...?

The voice?s owner rose to her feet, the occasional splutter the only sound she made. The first feature Koishi?s attention fell upon was her skin - white as a sheet, a colour that definitely foretold of poor health. Long hair - purple, but deliberately dyed as such rather than magically so - carried down to her shoulders, multiple loose ends killing off the impression of the colour. Her jade eyes stopped on Koishi with surprise for a moment, but it quickly gave way to annoyance as she brushed the dust off her reading glasses.

?I assume you were in too much of a hurry for your breakfast to read the sign outside. We?re closed, so if you?d like to leave and let me get back to my duty??

Her word choice was archaic, overly formal, like she?d deliberately taught herself the oldest and most respectable dialect there was. Japanese didn?t appear to be her first language, but Koishi couldn?t put a finger on her nationality. European, definitely, but nothing beyond that.

?Uh, sorry, that?s not it. I just used to be a regular customer around here, and I wanted to know what the problem was-?

That was not the best choice of words, and the sickly girl grew as angry as her health would allow her.

?Used to be? I can certainly believe that, given that you haven?t noticed in the last few days! Our resident cook has gone missing, and without anyone to prepare our food we can hardly expect to sell it! Until we either find the woman or get hold of a replacement, the bakery will be indefinitely closed, so I?d rather you left me be to think of with all the money we?ll be losing in her absence!?

The anger didn?t seem directed at Koishi as much as it was pointed towards the missing cook. The girl?s rant ended in another series of hacked coughs, and Koishi almost reached over the counter to hold her in place.

?Your cook? You mean...Sakuya-san, right??

She remembered the name vaguely from Meiling?s discussions with the girl. On hearing it, the sick girl seemed to grow more interested, finally buying Koishi?s story.

?Ah, you know her??

?Uh, not really...but if you give me a description I can look out for her, if you want.?

Behind the bookish reading glasses, it was clear the girl at the counter saw a golden opportunity here. She took a handkerchief from the side, and pulling out an elegant-looking pen began to jot down details.

?Sakuya Izayoi, nineteen years of age. Dark blue eyes, pale blonde hair running in two braids down her face. Not her natural colour, could well have changed it by now, so be cautious. Jumps between being serious and being ditzy with such absurd haste that I?ve long since given up determining which is the dominant side. Should you by some miracle find her stalking the streets, inform her that Patchouli is willing to accept her back and overlook this for a measly fifteen percent paycut.?

The handkerchief was filled to the brim with various facts and details about the girl, most of which Koishi would have no use in knowing (her three sizes? Was she meant to look out for a suspicious looking chest?). As soon as she?d written down everything she could think of, she practically forced the tissue into Koishi?s hand, her eyes looking straight for the door.

?Go. There will be a voucher in it for you if you find her.?

Koishi would have done it whether or not there?d been a reward, but it was a nice bonus on top of everything else. Besides that, she wanted to get out of this building as soon as she could - not for her sake as much as for the sake of the bookworm who?d have an aneurysm if she shouted at Koishi any longer.

?Sorry about that, Sango-san! Think we might have to pick up the pace if we want to make class on time...?

Sango was staring up at the building in confusion when Koishi returned. The detour had taken them a little longer than Koishi had planned with this turn of events, so now the trip to school was going to be a little more rushed. Sango, though, didn?t respond, even as Koishi pointed downward. All she heard from Sango was a quiet, almost muttered phwee.

?We can come back and admire the architecture later, but we really need to go right now, Sango-san!?

Koishi found herself needing to haul her dolphin friend down the street, unable to pull her attention away from the building, and whispering too quietly for her to hear.

?...No, it isn?t. It?s too faint...?

-----

What's this you say about bedtime!Sango pandering to my interests? Nonsense! I'll have none of it. >_> <_<

Esifex

  • Though the sun may set
  • *
  • It shall rise again
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi - AKA A Passing Joke Gone Totally Awesome
« Reply #96 on: December 20, 2010, 09:24:42 PM »
What's this you say about bedtime!Sango pandering to my interests? Nonsense! I'll have none of it. >_> <_<

:3 Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that~

Oh and Bakery-Patchouli is kinda funny to read, too~

Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #97 on: December 20, 2010, 09:37:00 PM »
Quote
Apparently not only did she work this whole thing into her magic-sealing ritual, she managed to see thousands of years into the future and choose just the right kids for the job.”
Damn it, Yukari. I bet she was looking for teenagers with attitude, too.

So, Flandre's the next one, then? Huzzah.

Quote
What's this you say about bedtime!Sango pandering to my interests? Nonsense! I'll have none of it. >_> <_<
Yes, yes, we know about you and your snorkel fetish, stop shoving it in our faces all the time. Jeez, you weird Moroccan.  :P

Morocco, Scotland, close enough. :V
« Last Edit: December 20, 2010, 09:48:57 PM by Roukan And So Ken You »

Paper Conan

  • Productivity, all day 'erry day
  • NOPE, just kidding~
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #98 on: December 23, 2010, 05:23:27 AM »
FLANDRE FLANDRE FLANDRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :GETDOWN:

Unless it's Sakuya (>.>), but that would be too obvious, silly~
and, btw,
The handkerchief was filled to the brim with various facts and details about the girl, most of which Koishi would have no use in knowing (her three sizes? Was she meant to look out for a suspicious looking chest?).
LOOOOOOL :V

FinnKaenbyou

  • Formerly Roukanken
  • *
  • blub blub nya
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #99 on: January 03, 2011, 10:11:32 PM »
School had become something of a complicated affair. She?d tried her hand at a few of the school?s clubs - partially to search for Sirens, and partially because she just wanted something new to do with her time. She?d never been quite athletic enough to find acceptance in one of the athletic clubs, but groups like shogi and journalism had been more keen to take her in. In the end, though, the act of Siren-hunting took up so much of her time that she couldn?t hope to attend any of these groups regularly, and that was before she brought in studying.

One lunchtime a week was devoted to the study group consisting of herself, Sango, Mokou and Cirno. Mokou was the group?s go-to girl in questions of biology and chemistry, reciting facts and numbers instantly without needing any references. Unfortunately those were her only real strong points, and in every other area she looked to Koishi for guidance. [This still put her well ahead of Sango, who looked to Koishi for guidance in every subject.]

Unfortunately, earlier events had still left their mark. There were times when an awkward air rose between the three girls who knew about magic, seeing just how clueless their companion had become about her own ordeals. They?d checked occasionally to see if any memories had resurfaced in Cirno?s head, but the ex-Fairy?s recollection of the night Mokou became a Siren was completely blank. It felt as if they were keeping secrets from her out of spite, but in the end they agreed that it was best not to get her wrapped up in this mess again when they?d had to invoke a miracle to save her once before.

At least it wasn?t all awkwardness. When she made a breakthrough and got her head around a concept that had been struggling her, Cirno smiled so brightly that none of them could bring themselves to say anything that could kill her mood. She?d had a rough patch, and they weren?t going to hold her back on the way out of it.

Earlier events hadn?t just affected how Koishi saw Cirno, though. Nitori, the clumsy but well liked math-slash-physics professor, was secretly the head of some sort of magical underground sect - and Koishi had to act as if she had no idea about it. In particular, she had to catch herself from referring to the professor as Nitori in public, for fear that other students would take it as a sign of them getting...interested. An absurd theory, no doubt, but not beyond some of the adolescent males in the room.

After a day like that, Koishi was always more than happy to leave the school behind. With every moment demanding her full attention and focus, the patrols she took around town with Sango were the closest she got to relaxing outside of sleep. She was also keeping an eye out for that chef the woman from the bakery was looking for - Sakuya, wasn?t it? - but really she couldn?t do much beyond stare into the crowd and watch for a pair of giveaway blonde braids. The handkerchief gave her more information to work with, but she was hardly going to stop every girl she walked past and measure her height to see if it matched up.

?You okay, phwee??

Sango caught her staring at a random girl in the crowd, and it was only then Koishi realised she hadn?t found the time to tell her companion about the favour she was doing for the baker. She relayed the story in pieces, passing the handkerchief to Sango as evidence she wasn?t making it up as she went along.

?34, 27, 32? Koishi-san, what do these numbers mean??

?You?ll understand when you?re older, Toro-chan.?

Mokou snatched at Sango?s hand, pulling away the handkerchief to look at it herself. Sango glared at her momentarily, but got back to her duty as the group?s phwee-er.

?Man, blood type AB? How exactly did the crazy asthma chick figure THAT out??

?I don?t think I want to know.?

It was unusual for Mokou to accompany Koishi and Sango on their daily rounds, but today?s trip was something out of the ordinary. Since travelling along the usual paths hadn?t turned up any results, they were instead starting to patrol around some of the less densely populated areas. Today?s trip was set to take them into one of the more questionable areas of town, and Mokou had volunteered to come along as extra muscle. None of them were familiar with the district, but the rumours around school more or less spoke for themselves.

There were stories of middle-school students playing around there only to be robbed blind of their lunch money. Senior students heading there after dark for some adult entertainment (Sango had asked for clarification, but neither Siren could bring herself to explain it further). Stories of drunken brawls, and even the occasional murder when things got really rough. The awkward part was that the district had almost no distinctive qualities, save for one building that stood out above the rest - the Rabbit?s Foot, Gensouto?s only casino and easily the largest gambling houses in the country. Through a variety of loopholes in Japanese law, the Rabbit?s Foot had managed to get away with the sort of gambling that was otherwise illegal. Gone were the comparatively dull games of pachinko - the Foot let its customers play from dusk ?till dawn at blackjack, roulette, poker, craps, and every other Western gambling game that came to mind.

Of course, a place like this undoubtedly had a dark past behind it. The incidents mentioned in the school rumours conveniently started alongside the casino?s inception, leading to the obvious conclusion that the middle-schoolers were mugged by gamblers looking for more money to burn. There was talk of shadowy groups running with the Rabbit?s Foot as a front, a mafia-like syndicate that rigged its games and used the profits to run all sorts of unlawful goings-on. Nothing had ever been officially held against the casino?s owner - a Mr. Morichika, whose personal life was a mystery to everyone bar himself - but the police force had been trying to pin his name to something for weeks now.

Frankly, if this was the sort of area they were going to be looking over, Koishi was glad to have Mokou along. They were getting glares from passers-by the moment they entered the district - as the sun began to set in the distance, the gamblers were starting to migrate towards their hunting ground. It was only an equally venomous glare from Mokou that convinced some of the angrier looking ones to stay away - Koishi and Sango wouldn?t have made it more than two or three blocks without someone trying to relieve them of their possessions. The fact Sango?s jacket had a large bulge where her wallet was stored did nothing to help on that front.

For a while, Sango let up on her phweeing. They stood out in the street clearly thanks to being the only girls there, and man in their twenties and thirties were glaring at them without welcome. As the casino drew closer, she caught one or two girls in the street, dressed far too well for their age and looking barely old enough to gamble, doing nothing beyond telling stories about the amazing jackpots they?d won at the Rabbit?s Foot a few days ago. Koishi was impressed for a moment, but her mind drifted back to the dark rumours about the casino, and the idea these girls were being paid to falsely advertise it wasn?t too hard for her to believe. Either way, she definitely wasn?t going to try her luck there if she could avoid it.

The glamourous girls grew more plentiful as the trio approached the casino itself. It was the sort of building that seemed like it would be visible from space; Koishi couldn?t look at the gaudy lighting for more than a few seconds before her eyes began to water. The name was emblazoned above the entrance in blindingly bright red, with a four-leaf clover next to it for good luck. Maybe it was a cunning advertising ploy on the part of Mr. Morichika - make the outdoor lighting so painful that intrigued customers would literally run inside to escape from it. The same would apply for more or less everyone living within three blocks of the casino, which could only be good for business.

Sango marched on, unfazed by the tacky light display above her. Koishi and Mokou were a few steps behind, both of them shielding their eyes from the neon bombardment from on high. A red carpet ran for a good two dozen steps before stopping at the entrance, with a pair of double-doors that would have suited a palace separating them from the casino itself.

Unfortunately, there was also a rather large man in a jet-black suit who intended to do exactly the same. Sango was a few steps from the door when an arm suddenly flew out in front of her, sending her stumbling back a few steps.

?Sorry, kid. Tonight?s Mr. Morichika?s No-Limit Festival. Invited guests only.?

Sango immediately took offense to the ?kid? reference, pulling out what Koishi quickly identified as a passport. It had to be a fake, but Koishi definitely wouldn?t have realised it if she didn?t know Sango was far from an ordinary girl. The dolphin held her ID right in front of the bouncer?s eyes, as it declared her to have turned twenty-one just days prior. [Koishi wondered for a moment if Sango had several IDs claiming she was several different ages; and more importantly, what Sango?s actual age WAS.]

?Why do you call it a no-limit festival if there?s a limit on who can get in?! I?m legal, phwee!?

The bouncer was unimpressed, not so much as budging even with the passport about to smack him in the nose. He adjusted his glasses slightly, sighing.

?Very funny, kid. It?s called the No-Limit Festival because it?s the one night we lift the usual limits on how much folks can bet. You can stick a million yen on one hand of blackjack if you want, but because we?re a respectable gambling house we?re only gonna let people in if we know they aren?t gonna blow their life savings on one hand when they don?t even know how to play.?

Sango looked incredulous, pulling a childish face but not offering any sort of response as she pulled her arm back. After all, he was right - Sango knew the rules of blackjack about as well as she knew the history of the Sengoku era (in other words, she had absolutely no idea). Mokou, though, picked up the ante, a slightly disapproving look rising onto her face.

?You?re letting people put in as much money as they like? Is that even legal??

That earned more of a reaction than anything Sango had said. They couldn?t see his eyes move, but his brow furrowed in frustration.

?Girl, I?ll have you know that the Rabbit?s Foot is a perfectly legalised gambling house, and we?ve been given permission to run this event, like every other event we run, by the national government itself. If you?re going to walk up here and start spouting slander about us with no evidence or basis, I?ll carry you back to your goddamn mother kicking and screaming. You got me??

Mokou returned the glare she was given without a hint of doubt. She seemed perfectly confident that she could handle this man, and given past experience Koishi had no reason to think otherwise. For a second, she actually thought Mokou intended to go through with it, but at the last minute the health nut let off a reluctant sigh.

?Alright, alright, I got it. Sorry for wasting your time. Have fun standing there for the next six hours.?

With that, Mokou made sure to start on a quick retreat before things grew even more difficult between the pair. Sango stormed off in a huff, still offended, while Koishi bowed and offered muttered apologies about the behaviour of her friends. They collectively disappeared around the next corner, where a building was kind enough to shield them from the casino?s onslaught of light.

?...Well, looks like we aren?t getting in. Bit of a dumb place to look for a high school girl, anyway. Wanna just call it quits for tonight??

Koishi nodded. She could use a chance to relax after taking in that much gaudy architecture at once. Sango wasn?t quite as eager.

?Lemme check with the boss first. She kinda insisted we give this place a proper look.?

Sango pulled out her cellphone, hitting the speeddial option and waiting for the professor at the other end to pick up. Koishi noticed her language suddenly growing much more formal and polite as the call began.

?Agent Sango reporting. ...Yes, patrol in progress. Attempts to enter the casino have ended in failure. Requesting abort.?

Koishi giggled slightly. It just seemed so out of character for Sango to talk so seriously that seeing it couldn?t help but bring a smile to her face. There was a slight hesitation as Sango waited for a response.

Then she got one, and her face fell.

?...Ma?am, are you sure we need to go that far??

The giggling stopped. Apparently this was a more serious discussion than Koishi had initially given it credit for. The look of utter confusion on Sango?s face as the call was just panicked enough to have Koishi frightened.

?We?ve got no evidence linking a Siren to the building, ma?am! Not to mention the place is guarded pretty carefully, and there?s all the rumours about underground activity-?

Sango stopped mid-sentence. Slowly, but definitely, her face began to turn bright red.

?O-Operation Toad-In-The-Hole? You?re kidding, right??

The operation?s name alone was enough to puzzle Koishi, and the exasperated look on the dolphin?s face only served to unnerve her further. Mokou, for now, managed to keep her visible emotions down to a single raised eyebrow.

?...No, ma?am, of course I wasn?t doubting your authority! It?s just that...it?s so extreme when we don?t have any evidence, and the Sirens won?t have any clue how to-wait, no, don?t hang up, we should consider this more before we-Hello? Hello!??

Sango shook the phone in her hands, praying she?d just dropped the call for a moment and Nitori hadn?t hung up. After a few seconds of silence, it became clear that it was the latter, and Sango?s shoulders slumped in embarrassment.

?...Uh. We?d better go get something to eat, because we?ll be out working tonight.?

That wasn?t a surprise to either girl, given how the conversation had gone, but both of them had an obvious question about it. Koishi got it out of her mouth before Mokou could.

?Sango-san...what?s Operation Toad-In-The-Hole??

The dolphin didn?t answer at first, which in all honesty was more frightening than any answer she could possibly have given. All she did was blush and fidget, muttering incomprehensibly to herself.

Mokou and Koishi looked at one another briefly.

They gulped in unison.

-----

Technically, she should probably have felt good about this.

From the way Sango had responded to Nitori?s demands, Koishi had figured they would be breaking in by force, or doing something else equally likely to result in pain and loss of life. In regards to lethality, this plan was actually a good deal better than what she?d been expecting.

At the same time, it impressed her seeing just how well the professor had planned for this. Her official occupation was that of a teacher, but she ran several companies behind the scenes that existed solely for covert operations. None of these companies operated on a regular basis - they were fronts so that the Pearl could get through whatever red tape happened to be in their way. When she needed them to, though, Nitori had the equipment and the know-how to run everything from a birthday party to a golden anniversary.

Unfortunately, the only company that worked for this situation was a catering company, offering a variety of snacks and refreshments for the tired gambler. The problem with this was that Nitori needed something unique and out of the ordinary to sell the company to the casino and make sure they got in. Something that went along with the theme of the Rabbit?s Foot, in particular.

This was the reason Koishi was wearing a bunnysuit right now, and she prayed to whatever god happened to be listening that this was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime occurance. It was tighter than anything she?d ever worn, was a shade of white that made it feel like she?d turned into an abominable snow-woman, and just to add insult to injury came with a pair of rabbit ears on top.

She would have been less heartbroken about wearing this if she wasn?t surrounded by men, some of whom had been drinking rather constantly for the last hour or so.

?Hey, lady! Gimme a gin and tonic over here!?

A customer called out to the bartender, a grown woman wearing a suit matching Koishi?s but in a deep shade of blue. She winked at the customer, pulling an arm out in Koishi?s direction.

?Sure thing, buddy. Hey, Flopsy, come give this man his drink!?

Nitori pulled out a glass from behind the bar, twirling it around with impossible grace. She lifted a bottle out from below, removed its top, and hurled the whole thing upward into the air. In an effortless display of style, the bottle stopped pointing straight down, its contents landing neatly in the glass. Even as the bottle of gin began to fall, Nitori took out a second bottle of tonic water and poured it in alongside the waterfall of alcohol. Only when the gin bottle came dangerously close to colliding with the glass did the former teacher grab it with her spare hand, pulling both bottles away and leaving behind only a dry bar and a perfectly prepared gin and tonic. She found plenty of time to add a lemon for garnish amidst the applause.

Koishi had a moment to glare at Nitori as she came to the bar to collect the drink. The kappa seemed totally shameless, and if anything she seemed to be having fun showing off in front of this kind of audience. Koishi, on the other hand, was working miracles by keeping a straight face, and her cohort offered her a friendly nudge to keep her spirits up.

?Relax, Flopsy. It?s for the greater good and all that, y?know??

If the greater good involved embarrassing herself in public repeatedly, then sticking to the sidelines was becoming more and more appealing by the second. Eventually Koishi sighed, taking the glass and being careful not to spill its contents.

?Yes, profe-I mean, Cotton-Tail.?

Nitori was pleased to hear Koishi stick to the codenames she?d handed out earlier, offering her a friendly pet on the ears. Koishi stepped back as far as she could in a single step before beginning on the painful march to the man?s table. No-one spoke a word to her, but she could feel a few glares headed in her direction, and a wolf-whistle or two in the background.

To be fair, though, she was having it easy compared to Mokou - or Mopsy, as she was currently known. She filled out the outfit much better than Koishi did, and as a result she?d earned more male attention than either of her counterparts. The fact that Nitori had picked out a sultry scarlet outfit for her only served to make her even more attractive. Koishi hadn?t seen much of her during her time on the job, but the few times their paths crossed she heard the phoenix whispering words that would have probably made even their customers blush.

As for Sango, she couldn?t exactly take part in the bunnysuit shenanigans, simply because a back-fin on a bunny-girl would raise all sort of questions. Koishi looked over to a nearby pool, where snacks and appetisers were being handed out by what Nitori had titled the Mer-Maid. Sango had been set out in what was effectively a swimsuit with an apron in front of it, swimming from one side of the pool to the other to retrieve food for paying customers. The fin, she could now insist, was part of the outfit, and nothing worth commenting on. For a moment, she looked Koishi in the eye, passing on wordlessly that she was just as embarrassed by this whole facade as Koishi was.

One thing was for sure. If this ?covert operation? didn?t turn up a Siren - in fact, even if by some off chance it did - the professor would be looking over her plans and getting rid of anything that even resembled Operation Toad-In-The-Hole. By force, if necessary.

-----

Kawashiro Nitori. Physics professor. Magical cult leader. Bartender...?

Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #100 on: January 04, 2011, 07:42:40 AM »
Bunny suit Koishi... doesn't really do anything for me. Then again, bunny suits don't do much for me in general, anyways, so yeah. I'm pretty sure that Nitori working high school students and a transmogrified dolphin late at night on a school day is sort of against policy, too.

I'm not really seeing why Nitori's insisting on trying to case the casino, though, unless she just wanted to see Koishi and Mokou in bunny suits.

I can totally buy Nitori being a bartender, though I would expect some... interesting... drink combinations.

Esifex

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Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #101 on: January 04, 2011, 09:18:36 AM »
I can totally buy Nitori being a bartender, though I would expect some... interesting... drink combinations.

Extending AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRrrrrrrrrrm!
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Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #102 on: January 18, 2011, 12:08:59 AM »
The rules for the evening were simple. At the beginning of the night, every contestant would put in as much money as they wanted to bet, and they would play against each other until one lucky winner went home with everyone?s winnings. The games were solely player-on-player - the casino itself was simply sitting back and watching. That confused Koishi - how could they make a profit if none of the money was going their way?

Koishi wasn?t the sort of girl who could run a casino, now she thought about it. Maybe there was some logic to the system she didn?t understand - attracting customers through attention and fame or something. Either way, it still looked weird to the uninitiated gambler like her.

Better that she thought about that than dwelling on the outfit she?d been stuck wearing. She was better off than Mokou and Sango in that department - one of them was blushing furiously the moment anyone looked in her direction, and the other was on the verge of a genocidal rampage. Even when the crowds started to die down and the amateur gamblers were thrown out, Mokou looked like she?d snap if anyone so much as touched her.

As for Professor Kawashiro, she didn?t seem to be sharing in their embarrassment. She was clearly enjoying herself, loving her job even if it was just an act. Koishi saw her pouting like a child as the flow of customers stopped. Apparently, when there were fortunes to be made, no-one had time for her bottle-twirling, cocktail-flinging antics.

Midnight came and passed, and Koishi had to stifle a yawn or three. She found enough of an opening to sneak behind the bar, where Nitori was cleaning up in hopes of another thirsty customer. She wasn?t trying to skip work, but there?d been a question on her mind ever since Operation Toad-In-The-Hole had started.

?Um, Cotton-Tail. There?s something I was wanting to clear up with you.?

Nitori turned away from the glass she was cleaning out, still absent-mindedly rubbing at it with a cloth even as she turned to Koishi. Her face lit up.

?Sure, what?s up? Want me to teach you how to do some of these tricks? Kinda hard, yeah, took me a few years to get down, but I figure there?s no harm in trying to take on an apprenti-?

?I?ll pass, thanks.?

The smile on Nitori?s face vanished rather hastily at that. Koishi didn?t allow her to ponder it for too long, pressing onto the actual question.

?...Why do you think there?d be a Siren here??

?You and Mokou have your specialties, but neither of you are especially...practical when it comes to real-world matters. You?re talented, Koishi-san, but you?re not particularly good at anything, and Mokou-san only knows how to punch things. To balance the team out there should be someone with a little more cunning, wit, street-smarts, whatever you want to call it. Where better to look for a girl like that than a high-stakes casino??

Koishi took mild offense to being told she had no specialties, whether or not it was true. Besides that, her logic seemed awfully like wishful thinking - assuming a team of well-rounded teenagers would get the Teardrops was a big thing to ask, to say the least. A point that Sango had mentioned earlier in the day came to her, one that had seemed unbecoming of the highly scientific professor. It explained why she thought this way, but it seemed so unprofessorlike it hurt.

Koishi took a deep breath, trying to sound as impersonal as possible as she asked the question. It was harder than she?d expected.

?...Is this part of your whole ?Yukari planned it all? theory??

Nitori flinched initially, her grin shifting into a look of surprise. A second later she regained her composure, pulling a forced grin.

?I see Sango?s been talking to you.?

Koishi nodded. No reason to hide it, after all. Nitori sighed to herself, rubbing a little harder at the glass.

?She?s always been a skeptic. All the young ones are. You?d have to be - even by youkai standards, Yukari was just plain unbelievable. If I hadn?t seen her myself, I?d probably be just as doubtful as she is.?

There was a hint of nostalgia in Nitori?s voice, a hanging remembrance of times long since past. It was not a pleasant memory, and her grip on the glass grew tighter to the point where Koishi was afraid it would shatter in her hand. She made to change the subject, but from the distant look in her eye Nitori wasn?t really talking to her any more.

?We were the first to meet her. The kappa, I mean. One day she just walked into one of our caverns and declared herself a friend of our people. It would have taken her hours of walking through underwater caverns beneath thousands of feet of water pressure to get there, so she wasn?t human, but at the same time she was like no youkai the world had ever seen. Some theorised she was some sort of deep sea youkai, or that she was an alien from a meteor that crashed into the seabed, or that she was an embodiment of the planet itself. She never told, and no-one ever figured it out.?

The look in Nitori?s eyes was youthful. It was the childish look of awe that ran across a girl?s face as she witnessed something amazing that she couldn?t explain. A tinge of sorrow accompanied it, though; she was well aware what she?d seen then she?d never see again for the rest of her days.

?I only caught glimpses of her myself during breaks from my studies. We were an advanced race, but we had limits - we couldn?t, say, split the oceans or light the seabeds. Yukari was different - if someone asked her to do something, no matter how hard, she could do it with a click of her fingers. I doubt she was truly faultless, but she was so many magnitudes of power above us it seemed like her power was infinite. If she was vulnerable, if she was mortal, if she had anything that remotely resembled a weakness, she did a damn good job of not showing it to anyone.?

The glass was shivering in her hand now. The first tiny sounds of cracking were beginning to fill the air, barely loud enough for Koishi to make out right next to her. Nitori bit her lip, and anything resembling a cheerful memory from before faded away.

?...At least, not until THAT day. When the Ravager went feral and began killing our own people, we asked her to intervene. She tried, with every spell and charm she could muster, but we had simply gone too far. Its barriers and defenses were practically impenetrable.?

This was going downhill fast. Koishi could see something wash over Nitori, and it was nothing good. Her knuckles turned white as they clenched the glass, beginning to visibly break it apart. She spoke faster, and louder, almost to the point where she was louder than the gamblers they were trying to spy on.

?So she died, of course. Think of it! Yukari Yakumo, ruler of all youkai, the woman who brought the races together under one banner, the strongest creature this planet?s ever seen. Dead! And it was my fault, wasn?t it? If I?d managed to do my job and keep that, that...thing under control, she?d still be with us now! All this fighting, all this war, all this White Pearl and Black Claw nonsense, it?s all-?

Koishi wasn?t the strongest of girls, but she still slapped Nitori hard enough for the sound to silence the room momentarily. Only long enough for them to confirm it wasn?t a gunshot, but it was significant nonetheless. The moment the chatter of eager gamblers started up again, Koishi spoke with a venom she hadn?t expected from herself.

?Look, maybe you screwed up big time some thousands of years ago. But does that matter now? Right now, in this moment, in this second, is there absolutely anything you can do to stop that? No.?

Nitori looked stunned. The glass she?d been cleaning was now a pile of glass shards on the floor. The last time she?d checked, it was her in charge of Koishi, not the other way around! What gave her the right to interfere when she was-

?K-Koishi-san? Are you...??

Koishi had tilted her head down mid-sentence, but Nitori still caught the sight of something glistening in her eyes. Her voice trembled as she kept speaking.

?If you sit and worry and fret and feel bad all the time, it doesn?t make you a better person. It stops you from going out there and doing what you SHOULD be doing to fix things! Do you have any idea how bad it looks to other people if they see you do that?!?

The first tear dropped from Koishi?s face onto the floor. Nitori was stunned again, but this time for another reason entirely. Her knowledge of Koishi?s life jumped in front of her - good kid, overly attached to her sister, fell apart when Satori disappeared. The image of Koishi, lying around and moping about her state, hung in her head for a moment.

Nitori understood then. It wasn?t just for her sake that Koishi had gone to such extremes. Seeing her like that had reminded Koishi of a part of her she was trying to move on from, a part she was trying to get rid of.

The anger that had driven her before was all but gone now, and Koishi?s form slumped.

?Please...just focus on what you can do right now. It?s better, trust me. Just...let go, for now...?

Nitori needed a moment to stare at Koishi as she struggled to keep herself from losing what little composure she had left.

Finally, she sighed, placing a hand on Koishi?s shoulder.

?...Alright. I?ll do it if you go calm down for five minutes. Sound fair??

Koishi nodded, rubbing her eyes once and walking as calmly as she could towards the bathroom. Nitori watched her go, still with her head down from beginning to end. It was a shame to see - she?d thought that Koishi was above these moods, frankly. It looked as if she?d come to terms with being alone, but maybe it would still take a little more time.

And besides...she had a damn good point.

Nitori rubbed the spot on her cheek where Koishi had slapped her. Moments of weakness like that were rare, but she suffered them from time to time. Even with all the work she was doing to fix it, her old mistake still hung as a stain on her soul. Millions of lives lost thanks to her incompetence - sometimes she felt she had every right to be miserable about it.

Regardless, Koishi was right. Moping solved nothing. And if it wasn?t helpful and it wasn?t fun, why do it?

Nitori actually recovered from her little breakdown much faster than Koishi did. Perhaps it was just down to experience, the fact she?d been through this state many times over the years, each collapse a little shorter than the one before it. At this rate, maybe she?d even stop beating herself up about it sometime before the turn of the century.

?Hey, Cotton-Tail! Fix me up a scotch! Single malt with ice!?

A voice called out from the crowd. The first order for a drink in a while. It was enough to get Nitori?s attention, pulling her away from the issue entirely.

A grin rose onto her face again.

?Coming right up, honey!?

-----

Not able to stay up until 3am continuing this segment...damn, I feel old. :<

Drake

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Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #103 on: January 18, 2011, 12:50:52 AM »
This writing is delicious I must eat it om nom nom nom nom

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Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #104 on: January 18, 2011, 11:20:31 AM »
I squeed when I saw there was a new post and now I will join Drake in eating it :3

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Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #105 on: January 19, 2011, 01:45:42 AM »
Koishi came back a few minutes later, her face washed and her composure restored. There were almost no customers now, but she had to stay on guard just to make sure no-one tried to get a drink from Mokou. Now that the phoenix was both tired and humiliated, she was just about on the verge of randomly attacking someone, so Koishi took on every customer she could.

Sango, contrary to popular belief, had been doing something useful other than supplying snacks. She had been phweeing every now and again as customers approached her for food. In all that time, she?d seen nothing resembling a Siren - not even anything resembling a girl of the right age. She also asked several times to be reassigned to a job that was less embarrassing - a suggestion Nitori refused every time it was asked.

The hours passed slowly, but surely. The hall was too vast for them to examine properly without blowing their cover, but games of every sort were available here. The emphasis was on Western gambling, so poker, blackjack and the like were the big attractions here, with dealers helpfully informing beginners how to play the games. It was all very welcoming and friendly, leaving Koishi to wonder how this place could be linked to criminal activity at all.

She nearly slipped into sleep again, and had to slap herself in the face to keep herself alert. At least when there were customers she?d had something to focus on, but seeing all these men playing games she had no clue how to spectate on did nothing to keep her awake. It was only the sound of a loud bell ringing in the background that stopped her from taking a quick nap. A loud, authoritative voice boomed through the hall.

?Attention, remaining competitors! Now that you have been reduced to the final ten lucky contestants, please go to the centre table to take part in this evening?s final game!?

Ten? They were down that far already? Now that Koishi had rubbed her eyes a little, she could see the hall was almost empty now. There were only a few survivors left, and they?d all crowded around the centre table with fiendish looks in their eyes. Especially that one on the right - eyes, almost glinting red, with a cockiness and confidence no-one around the table could match-

Wait...

It couldn?t be. The odds were astronomical, weren?t they? She hadn?t seen her in years, not since that time in cram school. It had to be a coincidence, but still...she had to check. Before she was even aware of what she was doing, she?d started walking away from the bar towards the table. The closer she got, the surer she became that her eyes weren?t deceiving her.

That girl, the one sitting eagerly with the large pile of chips at her side. Her attention totally focused on the cards flying across the table, her hand absently playing with her top chip. Her dress - long, pink, just ornate enough to look elegant without looking overblown. Her short black hair, poorly kept down as if the stress was too much for it.

There was no doubting it now. This girl was Tewi Inaba, the kid who?d offered Koishi the treasure map that led her into the accident years ago.

In other words, a habitual liar.

It was very tempting to call out to her right now, but it wasn?t the time. For one, what was she going to say? ?Hi, Tewi, wanted to hear from you about why you nearly got me killed and all?? It?d get her thrown out at the very best, and she didn?t want to think about how else the bouncers would respond if she caused a fuss at the most critical moment of the night.

In the end, even being there was enough to catch their attention.

?Hey, aren?t you one of the bar girls? What?re you doing over here??

The man was at least two feet taller than her, and three times as heavy. He could probably sit on her and leave an imprint on the carpet if he wanted to. Stuttering slightly, she tried to pull out a save.

?U-Um, I was just thinking it?d be good to stand near the table so people don?t have to leave the table to order drinks...??

The questioning tone in her voice didn?t win her any favour with the bouncer, but he couldn?t argue with her reasoning. He sighed.

?Fine. But not a word to anyone while you?re at the table, y?hear? Mr. Morichika isn?t gonna have his evening ruined by some petty cheating.?

Koishi nodded, more than happy to get out of this mess without having her ribs broken.The bouncer stepped aside, standing statue-like as play began. Each player was offered two cards, examining them and betting on their worth before more cards were dealt. She stared at the table, mystified, until a hand pulled her back from behind.

?The hell do you think you?re doing, Komeiji-san!??

Mokou pulled her back almost hard enough to send her to the floor. Koishi looked behind her to see a look of desperation on the Siren?s face. She was definitely not in the mood to see Koishi take risks that could get her thrown out of the building, not after she?d had to spend hours parading herself in front of grown men.

?S-Sorry. Just recognised one of the players, and...more importantly...?

Koishi looked over to the pool, where Sango was taking a much-deserved break. Koishi?s words jumping into her head was enough to send her head snapping upwards.

Sango-san. You said there weren?t any girls visiting your stand, right?

There was a moment of pause as Sango thought the point over. Koishi could see her nodding in the distance.

Um, yeah. Pretty much. Why?

Koishi looked at the table again, this time focusing on the players rather than whatever game it was they were playing. Most of them were the typical riff-raff you could expect to be hanging out at these casinos, but there were two notable exceptions.

I count...two of them here.

The first was Tewi, looking suave and witty in her dress, but looking out onto the action with hard, steely eyes. Given that she was pulling in other people?s chips right now, she seemed to be winning. Still, her chip stack was nothing compared to the one from the girl across from her.

?Oh, these cards not very good. I be folding now.?

She had all the signs of stuck-up rich girl, wearing a denim-jacket and shorts in some sort of attempt at rebellion. Her Japanese was horribly broken and accented, and she had the blonde hair of a typical American. Koishi couldn?t make out her eyes behind a pair of sunglasses, whose purpose Koishi couldn?t quite place. It wasn?t hard to guess that she?d made it here out of sheer luck, but she was surrounded by seasoned gamblers now. Her luck couldn?t last much longer, surely.

Huh? Really?!

Sango started hauling herself out of the pool, drying herself off before she made her way to the table. She?d use the same excuse Koishi had - staying near the table so that she could offer snacks to players without forcing them to leave their seats.

By now Koishi had watched enough of the game to have a vague idea of the rules. They called it ?Texas Hold ?Em? after a state in America, and it was a simple matter of making the best hand out of your own cards and the cards laid out on the table. She couldn?t claim to know any more than that, but it was enough for her to watch the game and have at least a vague idea what was going on.

The last hand before Sango made it to the table was dramatic enough for even a beginner like Koishi to understand.

?All in.?

The man right in front of her pushed all of his chips into the centre of the table, a smug grin running onto his face. He started to run a hand through his mullet through sheer nerves - no-one could play for that much money without the pressure getting to them. From here, Koishi could make out his hand - two Aces. That HAD to be a good hand, even Koishi knew that. Other players didn?t even need to see those cards to know it was time to get out, throwing their cards into the muck.

The action finally turned to Tewi. She glanced at Mullet, examining his expression for a moment. Koishi saw her nod once, measuring out the same number of chips in her own stack. She sighed heavily.

?Eh, I?m feeling lucky. I?m gonna call that one.?

The last few players folded, leaving Tewi and Mullet in on their own. There was no point in betting anymore, so both sides simply put down their cards on the table for all to see. He laughed out loud as he placed his two aces on the table, knowing that nothing she could hold would possibly match that.

She pouted slightly, showing her own hand of a king and a jack. She would need to hit both of them to beat him here, and that was assuming that he didn?t hit an ace.

Which he promptly did, as the flop was dealt.

?Hell yeah!?

Mullet pumped his fist, seeing no need to keep quiet given that he?d almost undoubtedly just won millions of yen. Tewi?s pout grew deeper, but not to the level of disappointment Koishi expected to see from someone who?d just lost a fortune. It was almost as if she still knew she was in with a chance; true, there had been one Jack in the flop as well, which gave her a pair, but against Mullet?s three Aces that was nothing.

She reached to the carrot-shaped pendant around her neck, squeezing it a little.

?C?mon, Lady Luck. Gimme a little help right now...?

No-one was really listening to her. Unless a miracle unfolded in the next few seconds, Tewi was dead in the water. Koishi?s eyes were pinned to the table, just like everyone else?s. The fourth card was dealt.

A King.

Mullet?s celebrations came to a sudden halt. He looked down at the King currently lying on the table, blinking rapidly. Both of his hands were now clamped onto his hair, sweat dripping onto his brow.

?...No way.?

Tewi smiled. Lady Luck was on her side after all. The room was deathly silent - suddenly, Tewi had gone from having no chance whatsoever to having a serious chance of taking Mullet out of the competition. Even Koishi could feel her throat going deathly dry.

The last card almost seemed to fall in slow motion towards the table. Everyone was looking at it like it was made of solid gold - except for Tewi. She seemed uninterested in it, almost like she knew exactly what had just been dealt.

A few seconds later, everyone else knew as well.

?The final card is the King of Clubs. Miss Inaba has made a Full House and won the hand.?

Most of the players responded with shocked gasps and mild applause. All, at least, except one.

?What the fuck?! The hell is this bullshit!??

Mullet was furious, grabbing at his hair so fiercely Koishi thought he was going to rip it clean off his head. He stood up from his seat abruptly, immediately taking strides straight towards the seated Tewi. His fists clenched up, his knuckles turning white, and he looked set to punch a hole straight through Tewi?s head.

A much larger and more muscular bouncer stopped him before he could do anything of the sort.

?Alright, pal, we?ll have none of that shit in here! Get out before we have to send a stretcher for ya!?

Mullet?s face ran a series of emotions - anger, fear, guilt, hatred, bravado, panic - until finally, the survival instinct took precedence. For a moment his entire body shivered before finally he bolted for the door, trying not to let anyone see that he was crying in his last moments.

For a few seconds, silence hung over the table. Every eye was transfixed on the door Mullet had just departed from. The sound of Tewi adding her new winnings to her stack of chips pulled them back to the game at hand.

?Heh. Wuss.?

No-one could say they appreciated attitude, but the way she?d taken all of that pressure without looking scared at all was admirable. Koishi would?ve been impressed if her mental image of the girl wasn?t already locked down as ?pathological liar?.

Huh? What did I miss?

Sango showed up just as the game began to pick up again, like she?d timed her arrival to be just too late. Koishi took a moment to respond, biting her lip as she felt her heart race just at the sight of all the money at stake.

I...honestly have no idea. Tewi - that girl there in the dress fluked a win on a crazy hand.

Sango tilted her head.

Fluked, huh? Well, apparently we?re here to look for someone with real guile, not just dumb luck. This night might?ve just been for nothing...

The dolphin slumped downward at that. All those hours of embarrassment and disgrace, and there was nothing to show for it. She let out a tiny, pitiful sound as her dignity fell into the distance.

?P-Phwee...?

No-one heard it other than Koishi. For a few seconds, there was no sound in the room other than the shuffling of cards.

Then, in time with Sango suddenly standing to attention, a hurried sentence jumped into Koishi?s head.

K-Koishi-san! I...I got a response?!

Koishi?s heart jumped. Nitori?s crazy theory had turned up a result after all? It had seemed ridiculous at the time, but given what Tewi had just pulled off it was a lot easier now. Maybe Yukari had just chosen someone who luck had a habit of smiling on.

So, wait...is Tewi...?

Sango looked over for a moment, her face frozen. After a few slow, painful seconds, she shook her head.

Wait, you mean-!?

Both of them looked over to the other side of the table, towards the clueless-looking blonde girl with a stash of what was probably her father?s money.

She?s a Siren!?

-----

There was no way either of them could pay full attention to the game now. They?d hit the metaphorical jackpot - the Siren they?d gone through all that trouble to look for, and it was some blonde bimbo who looked like this was her first time in the country.

Sango-san, are you sure about this? Maybe the sleep dep is getting to you.

Sango took offense at that, pouting childishly in Koishi?s direction.

Hey! Say what you want about me in other areas, but I trained my sonar senses for years! No way I?d make a mistake not seeing a Siren right in front of me!

Koishi bit her lip. She trusted Sango, but believing that this girl was a Siren was almost too much. Where was the cunning and wit Nitori had been expecting from her? She looked like she?d lose in a debate with an inanimate object, by unanimous decision.

Still, Sango had never been wrong up until now, so she decided to run with it.

Go tell the others about this. Get them to watch as well.

Sango nodded, running back to the bar to bring Mopsy and Cotton-Tail to join the audience. They didn?t miss much of interest - Blondie folded yet again, still not happy with her cards. Slowly but surely, the chips she needed to put in every few hands started to add up, and her stack began to dwindle.

There was something wrong with this. Sango said she was a Siren, and yet nothing she did was remotely Siren-like. Koishi reached towards her eyes, making to take off her glasses, only to remember at the last moment Nitori had given her and Mokou contact lenses to serve the same purpose while in disguise. Her reasoning was that bunnygirls and glasses was something of a fetish overload, reasoning Koishi now suddenly wished didn?t exist.

It was a long wait as the four ?caterers? watched Blondie. Eventually they learned that her name was Luna Fullerton - or at least, so she said. She seemed to be perpetually clueless, and occasionally Nitori would look over at her hand, see her throwing away what would otherwise be an excellent hand to play, and sigh. Did she even know how to play this game? Koishi had caught onto the rules after a few hands, and it seemed like even she would do better playing than this girl.

?Oh, me sorry. Me thought I winning, but maybe not.?

When she did play hands, it seemed almost at random. She could play the best cards possible or the worst hand she could ever have been dealt with equal confusion, and only the sheer size of her starting stack stopped her from going totally bankrupt.

Meanwhile, Tewi was making short work of the other players. Sometimes she simply had a better hand from the start, other times she pulled out a lucky escape on the last card. Whatever it was, her stack was gradually rising.

Eventually, there were only three players left. Tewi, Blondie, and in last place a stick-like man in a pair of broad-rimmed glasses. By now, Tewi held roughly three quarters of the money up for grabs - hundreds of millions of yen, enough to live on for the rest of your life. Still she showed no sign of cracking under the pressure, sitting back in her chair as she threw away the latest crap hand to come to her.

That left Blondie and Glasses to contest over the last pot, with Glasses to act first. He glanced down at his cards, then at Blondie. He shuffled his glasses slightly to align then, then pushed what remained of his cash into the pot.

?I?ll go all in, please.?

It was a brave move, but not foolish. Koishi had been paying enough attention to notice that if anyone went all in, Blondie would remove herself from the game as quickly as possible with a frightened look on her face. This was a quick way to pick up the small amount she?d paid to enter the hand; not much, but enough to keep him afloat for a little longer.

Or at least, that?s what he had planned.

?Mr. Glasses Man. Can I ask question??

Blondie was staring at the chips. At least, Koishi thought she was - it was hard to tell behind those sunglasses of hers. Glasses gulped slightly, looking over to her.

?Why, anything for a charming lady such as yourself. What is it??

He was playing the charisma card, but it had failed miserably. The four girls spectating moaned uncontrollably as the words left his mouth without any sense of pizazz.

The moaning stopped the moment Blondie asked her question.

?Did you know you always shuffle those glasses of yours when you bluff??

There was a sudden, deathly silence. Tewi raised an eyebrow in confusion, while Glasses pulled back like he?d just been shot.

?W-What?! But how did you-?

He?d said too much. His hand slipped over his mouth, the colour slipping from his face. He?d given himself away in the worst way possible. Without a second thought, Blondie pushed her own stack in as well, calling the man?s claim. She allowed herself a more mature chuckle as she laid down her pair of queens on the table, her Japanese suddenly natural and fluent.

?Would you like to know a secret? You don?t really shuffle your glasses when you lie. I just wanted to see how you?d respond.?

Glasses didn?t offer a response, his cards falling to the floor. A four and an eight - practically useless. Sure enough, five dealt cards later, and Blondie?s queen-pair was triumphant. She reached over, pulling in Glasses? stack from in front of him without so much as a hint of remorse.

?Oh, and thank you for calling me charming. Though I assume in the hustler?s dictionary, that?s another word for ?gullible?.?

The man Blondie had just eliminated from the tournament didn?t even try to respond with words. He held his head in his hands, his eyes seeming dead as he stood up and trudged out toward the exit. Unlike Mullet, no-one needed to threaten him to leave - he shuffled along, still stuttering and moaning to himself in shock.

Koishi was only slightly more coherent, rubbing her eyes to make sure she?d actually seen what she thought she?d seen. Blondie?s stance was completely different now - she sat up straight, and the sunglasses were pulled away to reveal a pair of piercing blue eyes.

It had been a trick of the highest calibre, and Koishi had been completely taken in by it. Looking at her sides, she could see Sango and Mokou giving off the same dumbfounded looks, but Nitori simply watched on with a proud grin. This was the sort of trickster she?d been looking for, and she?d just proven herself in style.

Tewi offered the girl a small round of applause.

?Not bad. I shoulda figured you wouldn?t have made it this far without having a good idea what you were doing. I?m guessing Luna isn?t your real name either??

?Of course not. Only an amateur would see fit to use a real name along with a fictitious character. But, since I?ll be doing my best to relieve you of that fortune of yours tonight, it is only fair that I tell you who I am.?

What came out of her mouth next was enough to make Koishi?s skin crawl.

?My name is Sakuya Izayoi, and rest assured that stack of yours will be mine within the next two hands.?

-----

Sakuya: meido's in disguise.

Drake

  • *
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #106 on: January 19, 2011, 02:37:01 AM »
holy goddamn

A Colorful Calculating Creative and Cuddly Crafty Callipygous Clever Commander
- original art by Aiけん | ウサホリ -

Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #107 on: January 19, 2011, 02:39:06 AM »
Oh, wow, so Flandre isn't a Siren? That's... surprising.

Though, I'm curious as to why Sakuya bailed on her bakery job to card shark...

Fetch()tirade

  • serial time-waster
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #108 on: January 19, 2011, 03:09:51 AM »
I'm at a loss for words. This is all I can come up with.

Marokuu

  • Maru~ Maru~
  • Lurk~ Lurk~
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #109 on: January 19, 2011, 11:06:46 AM »
Everything that I could say has already been said, now hold on for a moment while I catch my breath
My first attempt at storywriting, looking for critique

Avatar schizophrenia? I don't know what you're talking about.

Kasu

  • Small medium at large.
  • This soup has an explosive flavour!
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #110 on: January 19, 2011, 11:23:15 PM »
Sakuya is now even more awesome.

Did not see that coming at all.  Thought it was Marisa for a second.

Apparently, Thomas the Tank Engine isn't one to take crap from anyone.

FinnKaenbyou

  • Formerly Roukanken
  • *
  • blub blub nya
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #111 on: January 24, 2011, 06:42:31 PM »
Nothing but false stoicism,
And half the year's already gone.
What's changed? Who did you love?

Now the dreams in my head are crumbling apart...

But I'll be fine somehow.


-----

It was the most absurd coincidence Koishi could think of. The girl she?d been sent out to look for, and not only had she found her she was a dormant Siren.

She was finding it easier and easier to believe that Yukari was planning this all by the minute.

Mokou and Sango were only slightly less shocked by this new revelation, but their attention was still focused on the game itself. Sakuya had just made a dramatic declaration, one that threatened to turn the tide of battle in only two hands.

Tewi?s eyes widened as Sakuya?s threat carried across the table. There was no way Sakuya could bring her claim to fruition - she only had a quarter of the chips in play, so to win that quickly she?d need to go all-in on both hands, have Tewi call her both times, and then go on to win them both. Tewi was in no way forced to play either hand, and if she didn?t have a hand she was confident in nothing was stopping her from folding and waiting until something better came about.

And yet, there was a voice at the back of Tewi?s head telling her not to play this cautiously. Firstly, folding a hand after a claim like that was running away, and she wasn?t ready to give some total unknown the pleasure of seeing her run away from a fight. Secondly, the odds were against Sakuya to begin with - if Tewi won either of these hands, the game was over and Sakuya would go home broke.

Thirdly, and most importantly, it wasn?t possible for her to lose a showdown when the cards were on the table and everything was on the line. There was no need to think about it any more than that.

The next hand began.*

The cards were shuffled. The dealer seemed slightly disturbed by the sudden change of events, but besides the occasional awkward cough he did what he could to keep his nerves to himself. Only slight inaccuracies in his throwing of cards across the table gave him away.

Sakuya looked down at the cards she?d been offered for less than an instant. It was enough for her to decide the hand was worth risking everything on as she pushed her stack into the middle of the table. She?d made the threat of winning in two hands, and she was sticking to it. There was an almost sadistic glint in her eyes as she looked across to Tewi, leaning over and grinning wildly.

?Well? Are you going to play or not??

Tewi was admittedly stunned by Sakuya?s actions. To put millions of yen on the line after only a moment of contemplation - Sakuya was either the bravest gambler she?d ever seen, or a complete and utter lunatic. Perhaps a bit of both? You couldn?t survive in a world like this without losing a little bit of your sanity.

It was a hard choice, one she pondered over for almost a minute. She looked down at her cards for a moment, her eyes glancing over to the dealer. There was something about that look that felt strange to Koishi - it wasn?t as formal as it should have been, given the circumstances. It was friendly, almost familiar, but the dealer didn?t react to it.

She measured out the toll in her own stack, matching it to the letter. She still hadn?t decided on whether to play, and spent a moment trying to read some sort of emotion in Sakuya?s eyes. Even without the glasses to cover them, the mysterious blonde still had enough nerve to keep her cards to herself.

Tewi grit her teeth slightly. Maybe this wasn?t mahjong, but the invisible concept of flow still held meaning to her. If she let Sakuya take a foothold by being scared off here, that was her cue to stage a comeback. Her hand was good enough to be worth playing, especially if she had a little help from her friends.

?...Well, you get points for guts, I?ll say that much. But Lady Luck only has one girl she gives a damn about, and it?s me.?

With one large, triumphant motion, she pushed her payment into the table alongside Sakuya?s.

?Miss Inaba calls the bet.?

Tewi rose to her feet. This was the good part. The rush of adrenaline that came with fortunes being won and lost. She picked up her cards and flung them upright back onto the table. A king and a jack - alone, not a particularly impressive hand, but if she were to hit either of them it would be difficult to beat.

Sakuya, almost as a deliberate opposite of her opponent, sat back on her chair as if nothing had happened. She didn?t so much as reveal her cards, and this quickly earned her stares from both Tewi and the dealer.

?...Miss Izayoi, if you?d reveal your cards, please??

Sakuya looked up, almost puzzled, before shrugging nonchalantly.

?Oh, if you don?t mind, I?d like to keep my hand hidden until the last moment. Adds to the tension, I find. And besides, the cards are hardly going to change, so it doesn?t make any difference, does it??

It was a childish - and, in all fairness, illegal - request. The dealer had every right to insist that she reveal her cards, but that would seem pedantic at best. At worst...

Koishi-san, I think she?s onto something. The boss just noticed something...

The words popping up in Koishi?s head pulled her away from the game. Sango?s eyes had been focused intently on Sakuya up until now, but they were now focused on the dealer, lifting the deck up from the table and preparing the first three cards.

Huh? What do you mean?

Watch the dealer. Carefully.

The request puzzled Koishi for a moment, but she decided to comply. She watched the dealer?s hand as he first discarded the top card on the deck - a measure to prevent cheating, apparently. He made to draw the next card in one fast, fluid motion.

She only saw it because she was looking for it. It was a masterful move, the sort that took years of practice. Rather than removing the top card on the deck, the dealer momentarily snuck his hand into his sleeve, emerging a moment later with a card in his hand. He drew another two from the deck itself, placing all three of them on the floor.

The one he?d smuggled into the deck was a king. The second, a jack; the third, a seven.

?YES!?

Tewi made no effort to hide her satisfaction, shouting at volumes that would?ve been considered offensive from any other player. Two pairs on the flop? She was pretty much won already.

No-one watching was willing to join her in her celebration. Koishi had only caught on by watching that hand closely, but there was no denying what she?d seen.

The dealer was cheating. And he was throwing Tewi the cards she needed to win.

...Of course.

It had bugged Koishi earlier that the casino was running an event like this without taking any of the proceedings, but this explained everything. The casino had already decided who was going to win the No-Limit Festival, and it was one of their own. Nitori had passed the message on to Sango and given Mokou a helpful nudge to figure it out herself, with the end result being that even Koishi could see what was happening.

Koishi cringed. Sakuya had been fighting a losing battle from the start. The group running this game had no intention of letting her anywhere near that money - now collected in one large suitcase sitting at the side of the table.

The dealer seemed certain that he?d done his job properly now, and visibly relaxed as he played the last two cards. As if to rub in the blow, the last of them was another jack, giving Tewi a Full House. She hadn?t just won, she?d dominated.

?How?s that? Bet you don?t wanna show those cards of yours now, do you?!?

There was no response for a moment. Sakuya?s head was bowed downward, covering her face from view. Koishi didn?t want to imagine what she must have looked like. She was crying, almost definitely-

?-Heh.?

That wasn?t crying. It wasn?t sadness of any sort coming from Sakuya there. It was...laughter. Tiny, smug giggles slipped out of her mouth, growing larger until she was laughing full-force. Tewi didn?t take that response well.

?H-Hey, what do you think?s so funny?! Show your hand already!?

Sakuya was still laughing, almost uncontrollably now. She had to physically stop herself by putting a hand to her face, and even that took a moment.

?Ah, sorry. When something amuses me, I have a habit of getting carried away. And really...after a display like that, I can?t not laugh at you.?

With her other hand, she saw fit to tip her cards over onto the table.

Two kings.

?Wha-!??

Tewi managed a tiny gasp as she saw what Sakuya had been hiding. The rest of the group surrounding the table couldn?t produce even that. With two kings in her hand, Sakuya managed to produce a full house as well - but with three kings instead of three jacks, hers was better than Tewi?s.

And it was all on a massive risk. If Sakuya had been holding onto any other hand, she?d have had no way to win that hand. If she?d been made to show her cards, the dealer would have just dealt around it and played enough Jacks for Tewi to win. There was no cunning play in what Sakuya had pulled off there - it was sheer, miraculous luck.

Sakuya removed her hand from her face, looking at Tewi with a devilish glint. There was something else other than happiness in that smile - she was smiling almost knowingly, like she was aware of something she wasn?t supposed to be. It was enough for Koishi to guess that Sakuya had been in on the casino?s cheating for a while - and it was why she?d hidden her cards the whole time.

?So what was that you said about Lady Luck favouring you again??

-----

Sakuya had managed to go from being miles behind to being slightly ahead in the space of a hand. She pulled in her new stack, twice as large as the one she?d put in a few minutes prior. The dealer hastily began pulling the cards back in, preparing them for the next deal. Koishi caught him slipping the fifth king in as well - he may have been able to sneak it out without much hassle, but putting it back in wasn?t quite as simple. As he picked the it up she caught a glimpse of the fifth king residing on the bottom of the deck, where it would be of no consequence for the next hand.

Tewi needed a while to regain her composure. She?d slumped back onto her chair, eyes glazed over, limp as a doll. The hand had been hers; she could practically taste it, feel the chips coming her way, and start cutting her share with Morichika. Now here she was, losing to an amateur playing petty mind games.

She gave another glare towards the dealer. The message this time was clear.

Pull no punches. This next hand is mine, and nothing is going to stop me.

It was time to stop worrying about her hands looking unlikely. This amateur needed to be put down before things got out of hand. Morichika wouldn?t be pleased to hear she had lost him all this money. The consequences weren?t worth thinking over.

The dealer nodded, and his dealing style changed dramatically. Behind the dark glasses he was wearing no-one could see his eyes, but they were examining every card with immense care as he shuffled. The fifth king remained hidden in the palm of one of his hands, but with speeds too quick for anyone else in the room to interpret he ordered the remaining cards in just the right way. He knew the top dozen cards in the deck, and they were more than enough this time. Finishing his reordering, he placed the hidden card back on the bottom of the deck where it would be no trouble.

The old tactic of throwing in new cards when they were needed was out the window. This time they had to kill Sakuya stone dead in the water - lure her into the hand, then destroy her outright.

The cards were dealt again, two to each player. Tewi was the first player to act, looking down at her hand and pretending to examine it carefully. No-one around the table was falling for it this time around. Every-one had caught onto her cheating, but they were all equally powerless to stop it.

?Well, then. You said you?d win in two hands, right??

Tewi smirked, and pushed the rest of her chips into the table. She was looking to appeal to Sakuya?s ego, lure her into a hand she had no chance of winning.

There was no need. Sakuya would have played the hand whatever she?d been dealt. The momentum had shifted in her favour, and nothing was going to stop her now. She returned the gesture - giving her cards an almost uninterested glance before offering up her own stack in return. She wouldn?t lose outright if Tewi won the hand, but with so few chips left she?d be just about dead in the water.

?Indeed, and I pride myself as a lady of my word.?

Koishi had to resist the urge to scream. She knew it was a trap. There probably wasn?t anyone around the table who DIDN?T know that Tewi was up to something with this hand. And yet Sakuya had just walked into it without a care in the world. It wasn?t like she could wait it out, true - she?d have to call Tewi?s bets eventually - but doing it so effortlessly just made Koishi?s heart shiver.

?Miss Izayoi. Your hand, if you will.?

This time, the dealer wasn?t willing to let Sakuya keep her cards hidden. It had ruined their plans once before, and he wasn?t set to let it happen again. Sakuya looked down again at her hand, finally sighing as she turned it upright. Another pair - the king of clubs, and the king of diamonds. In any other instance, an excellent hand.

Tewi turned up the ace and queen of spades. Normally, a situation like this would involve Tewi begging and pleading for an ace to come up, or for enough spades to emerge for her to have a flush.

Then again, this hand was far from normal. And the flop that emerged from it was even less so.

King of Spades. King of Hearts. Jack of Spades.

Koishi raised an eyebrow.

Wait, that means four kings. Isn?t that really really good for Izayoi-san?

Mokou was equally hopeful for Sakuya after a deal like that. After all, four-of-a-kind was really hard to get, so it had to be a really good hand.

Sango and Nitori didn?t share in their cheerfullness. Nitori?s face registered muffled disappointment, while Sango?s was one of sheer despair. They were half right - four-of-a-kind was an excellent hand in poker, almost the strongest in the game. There was only one hand in the game that could ever beat it - the straight-flush, five consecutive cards of the same suit.

A hand Tewi was one card away from.

Sakuya raised an eyebrow, but it wasn?t from confusion. She looked over at Tewi with a hint of suspicion.

?I have to say, this hand seems rather...unlikely.?

Tewi tried her best to keep her excitement locked away, but it was a physical sensation now. She couldn?t keep herself still, waiting for the fourth card to be drawn; the card that would seal Sakuya?s fate and leave her with too few chips to even think of winning. Maybe she looked suspicious now, but what did it matter? Who?d believe the word of one gambler over the reputation and standing of the Rabbit?s Foot?

?Hey, y?know how Lady Luck works. Always saves the best for last.?

She snatched at her pendant so hard it practically snapped. Every nerve in her body was trembling now through sheer euphoria. She was going to savour seeing the smile slip from this girl?s face. She?d dream about it for weeks to come, remember it for the rest of her life, tell stories about it in her old age to anyone who cared to listen.

The fourth card was drawn, slamming onto the felt table with a tiny but dramatic slam. It was exactly what both players had expected. Initially Mokou and Koishi were confused by the sudden shift in atmosphere, but the dealer was kind enough to point out what had happened.

?The fourth card is the Ten of Spades. Miss Inaba has made a Royal Flush and has won the hand.?

The near instant shift from victory to defeat was enough to make Koishi feel ill. The colour flushed from her face, and her eyes started to mist up.

Y-You?re kidding me. There?s gotta be something she can do, right?

Sango looked over to her, solemn. There was a long sigh as the dolphin shook her head.

?Fraid not. The Royal Flush is the best hand in the whole game. It?s over.

Koishi could feel her hands starting to ball up. The casino was blatantly cheating now. No-one here honestly believed otherwise. But what was there they could do, accuse the casino of cheating? If they did that, they?d just get called out for trying to cheat and help Sakuya. This was no magical villain they were up against - this was sheer human greed, and no amount of dolphin riding would help with that.

?THANK YOU, LADY LUCK! I KNEW you?d show up when things mattered!?

Tewi pulled her chair away, shouting upwards to no-one in particular. It was only half-acted - she really was so excited she needed to scream to let it out, but luck had nothing to do with it. She glared over the table, looking at Sakuya?s expression, ready to savour the look of despair that had shifted onto her face.

She was disappointed to see nothing there. Sakuya continued staring blankly at the four cards on the table, seeming mildly frustrated at worst.

?Dealer. There?s still one card left.?

The dealer looked over, seeming surprised.

?U-Uh, Miss Izayoi. I assumed you would realise that there is no way you can win this ha-?

?Play it. There?s still room for a miracle.?

Every eye in the room turned to her in bewilderment. Was she the only one who didn?t realise she was dead in the water now? No-one said a word, but the condescending look on Tewi?s face said more than any word could have.

?...Oh, why not? Put the girl out of her misery.?

Tewi shrugged her shoulders. There was nothing that could go wrong here anyway, and she gave the dealer a nod of approval. He reached down, almost deliberately hesitating as he went for the last card. There was no sound in the room other than the ticking of a large clock in the distance.

Koishi?s mind was still spinning. Why was Sakuya so insistent on this? Everyone else had told her the hand was over, and she was inclined to believe them. Mokou and Sango were about as lost, but Nitori?s eyes were focused intently on the blonde now.

Sakuya?s eyes were focused on the dealer. She glared at the cards with a look that seemed set to kill, as if trying to manipulate them with her mind. She raised a hand upward, and clicked her fingers.*

The clock stopped.

So did everything else.

What the?!

Koishi?s mind was still aware, but the rest of her body had frozen in place. She couldn?t move, she couldn?t speak, she couldn?t blink, she couldn?t breathe. The world around her had taken on an almost sepia tint, like a photograph catching the moment for posterity. At the corner of her eye, Koishi saw that the rest of the ?culinary staff? was frozen in place as well, and across from her the dealer?s hand hovered eternally over the deck. Tewi hung still, her face caught in a look of pure cruelty.

Only Sakuya moved, calmly rising up from her chair and walking towards the dealer.

I-Izayoi-san is-?!

Koishi couldn?t even pass her thoughts on to Sango any more, leaving her with nothing to do but watch the gambler?s every movement. Sakuya stopped just in front of the dealer, reaching out to the deck. She only made one change; taking the bottom card and placing it on the top.

But why would she do that? The bottom card?s the-

Something clicked in the back of her head. Now Koishi?s mind was as frozen solid as the rest of her. She was shocked, amazed, and enawed all at once, but all of those emotions were caught in place until Sakuya had retaken her seat. Nonchalantly she sat back, clicking her fingers again.

The world shifted back into colour, and Koishi had to stop herself from gasping at what she?d just seen.

K-Koishi-san! Did you just...?!

Sango turned to Koishi, her face trying to display about half a dozen different emotions at once. Koishi nodded, not doing much better in the contemplation department. They?d both seen exactly what had happened, and from the looks on their faces Mokou and Nitori had as well. Only the professor had maintained a sensible look, turning to Sakuya with something that resembled pride.

There was no doubt about it. Sakuya, consciously or otherwise, had stopped time and shifted the deck in her favour. The only two who weren?t aware of this were Tewi and the dealer, but they?d find out soon enough.

The fifth card was drawn and played.

?The last card is the Six of Di-?

The dealer?s voice cut out. He knew ahead of time which card would appear. Nothing of use to Sakuya, and nothing worth mentioning. He?d made sure of that. Doubly sure. More sure than he could ever be.

But that wasn?t the Six of Diamonds down there. It wasn?t even a diamond. It was a card that shouldn?t have existed, shouldn?t have been played, and shouldn?t have had any place down there.

It was the King of Spades. The second one.

Tewi?s face morphed within a second. The look of joyful glee shifted only momentarily to one of absolute horror, finally replaced with one of total fury.

?I...you...what...how?!?

Sakuya allowed herself a small grin at the rage that had overtaken her competitor. She spoke matter-of-factly, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary here.

?I believe that gives me a five-of-a-kind, correct? And that makes me the winner.?

Technically, she was right. In games where a joker was included, five-of-a-kind was perfectly possible, and was the true strongest hand in the game. True, there was no joker in the deck this time around, but there were five kings, and so what was there to argue about?

She stood up, no longer paying any attention to the chips on the table. Her attention now fell on the suitcase filled to the brim with money, which she saw fit to walk up to and take from its podium.

?W-W-Wait! You cheated! You must have cheated! How the hell do you expect me to believe there were two of the same card in the deck?!?

Tewi was almost in tears now. Her body was shivering again, but not in the good way. The dealer had no comment to offer, but he had slumped over the table with a look of total despair on his face. Sakuya looked back at her opponent, placing her free hand on her chin and pondering.

?I don?t see why I should be implicated in that. After all, both of the Kings of Spades were drawn from the deck, correct? If you wish to accuse anyone of cheating, it would be our dealer friend appreciating the smell of felt over there.?

With that said, Sakuya started casually walking toward the door as if nothing had happened. Millions of yen were in the suitcase she was hauling out, money the casino had been planning to take for itself all night long. Tewi?s arm finally managed to rise upward, shouting as it pointed towards Sakuya with enough volume to make Koishi cringe.

?S-S-Somebody, stop her!?

Two guards were standing watch at the entrance, and as they heard Tewi?s call for support they made their way into the casino started approaching Sakuya threateningly. Both of them were at least a foot taller than her, and much stronger to boot. For the first time all night, a frown jumped onto Sakuya?s face - maybe she was intelligent, but physically she wasn?t much to speak of.

Which is why it was a relief to see a girl in a red bunnysuit give one of them a well-placed kick between the legs.

?I saw you staring at me earlier, you goddamned pervert!?

From the fury in Mokou?s face, she wasn?t lying when she said that. The man let out a tiny whimper as he grabbed as his crotch, then crumpled to the floor without so much as a word.

Sakuya?s face registered confusion for a few moments, until two hands grabbed her from behind and pulled her away from the still-standing bouncer.

?Don?t worry, we?ll get you out of here!?

That was confusing, for sure. The culinary staff were coming to her rescue? Perhaps they just wanted a share of the money after they?d made their escape. Either way, she wasn?t going to refuse them for now, and as the white bunny and the mer-maid carried her along to the exit she saw fit to keep up the pace.

That left one guard to quickly turn and chase the four girls currently running for the exit. He spun on his heels and charged, ready to knock the block off the first girl to come into reach.

Then he felt something prick the back of his neck, and suddenly every ounce of energy in his body disappeared. He fell to the floor like a rock, unconscious within seconds.

?Night-night, tough guy. Enjoy next morning?s hangover.?

Nitori smirked, still holding her arm out towards where the man had once been. She wasn?t that impressive magically, but handy devices like the dart-firing mechanism in her cuff made up for that. What the kappa lacked in strength, they made up for in sheer ingenuity.

Probably a bad idea to hang around, though. Hopping over the fallen men like a true bunny, Nitori slammed the door behind her as she made her way out of the casino. From then on it was a matter of catching up with the rest of the group as they charged onwards out of the district, into the main square. It was coming up to morning now, and in the early-day hubbub any other guards the casino sent out would lose track of them.

By the time they?d stopped running, Koishi was convinced her lungs had actually been set on fire. She grabbed at her knees, panting and wheezing, seeing that Sakuya across from her was no better.

?You really need to get some more exercise, Komeiji-san.?

Mokou seemed unfazed other than a layer of sweat. Nitori looked a little out of breath, and Sango just seemed more frustrated at having to use these lousy leg things. It took a minute or two for them to recover enough for any sort of conversation.

?...You...you four were a great help back there. I will admit that.?

Sakuya spoke gratefully, pulling herself up and bowing towards the group. Koishi was the first to respond, still gasping as she spoke.

?Don?t...mention it. We saw...what they were doing in there, and...?

Sakuya raised an eyebrow. She hadn?t expected an untrained hand to pick up on the casino?s cheating, that was for sure.

?...I assume you aren?t an ordinary catering company.?

?And proud of it! Now, shouldn?t you be heading home before those guards catch up with us??

Sakuya?s face expressed surprise for an instant as Nitori gave her a cheerful pat on the shoulder. She?d expected them to ask for a cut of the fortune she?d managed to take from the casino, but they were pressing her to make her escape without taking a single yen. Besides that, the one in blue made a good point - hanging around wasn?t going to help anyone.

?Hm, true. In that case, I offer you my heartfelt thanks, and bid you all a fond farewell.?

Turning on her heels, Sakuya walked out into the morning crowds. Within seconds, Koishi had lost sight of her. Mokou seemed to have had as much luck keeping track of her, though her brow was furrowed in disapproval.

?Shouldn?t we have talked to her? Y?know, about the whole time-stopping thing??

?We?ll have time for that later. We have a name to work with, so after I do some research on the Izayoi family we?ll just visit her and find out more then. Right now, I think you three need to have a good night?s rest. I?ll write you up as absent on the school register, so don?t worry about that.?

Now that she mentioned it, Koishi was having trouble keeping her eyes open. They?d stayed up all night for this - had Koishi ever done that before. She didn?t think so. Either way, she was going to take Nitori up on that offer, and wrapped her arm around Sango for support.

?Sounds like a plan. See you two later, then...?

Mokou offered a thumbs up, slightly more awake than Koishi was. Nitori seemed unfazed by her lack of sleep at all - these youkai and their endurance made Koishi jealous once in a while. Even Sango, currently making sure she didn?t collapse in the middle of the street, seemed better of than she was.

Why aren?t you tired at all, Sango-san?

Uh, well, my job wasn?t that exciting, so I sorta turned my brain off. Half of it, anyway.

Koishi chuckled to herself at the sound of that. Dolphins had all the fun.

Chaore

  • Kai Ni Recipient Many Years Late
  • *
  • You Finally Did It, Kadokawa.
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #112 on: January 24, 2011, 07:02:06 PM »
...Interesting, Sakuya is actually aware of her power. That's new.

Alfred F. Jones

  • Estamos orgullosos del Batall?n Lincoln
  • *
  • y de la lucha que hizo por Madrid
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #113 on: January 24, 2011, 07:32:32 PM »
Aw, hell, you made me late for my class reading this. But I couldn't stop reading, damnit!

You have a great way of keeping the reader hooked until the very end. The inherent tension of the poker hand helped. :3

Marokuu

  • Maru~ Maru~
  • Lurk~ Lurk~
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #114 on: January 24, 2011, 07:34:16 PM »
I...I...I... I'll just be over there catching my breath *sits down in a corner*
My first attempt at storywriting, looking for critique

Avatar schizophrenia? I don't know what you're talking about.

Drake

  • *
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #115 on: January 24, 2011, 07:58:44 PM »

A Colorful Calculating Creative and Cuddly Crafty Callipygous Clever Commander
- original art by Aiけん | ウサホリ -

Kasu

  • Small medium at large.
  • This soup has an explosive flavour!
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #116 on: January 24, 2011, 10:06:11 PM »
That was marvelous.

Apparently, Thomas the Tank Engine isn't one to take crap from anyone.

Esifex

  • Though the sun may set
  • *
  • It shall rise again
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #117 on: January 25, 2011, 02:33:24 AM »
I love how Sango went to sleep during the poker game, that's brilliant

I'd meant she was half-asleep during the food serving, but :V

{Esi} Either way any time it was still funny though :V
« Last Edit: January 25, 2011, 11:06:26 AM by Psychifex »

GuyYouMetOnline

  • Surprisingy not smart for lynch dodging
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #118 on: January 26, 2011, 09:36:39 PM »
I knew Sakuya had a trick up her sleeve. Good stuff. I liked PLotSS and... whatever the first one's called, I don't remember. I didn't know what to expect going into this, but what I got is some very good stuff. There's some pretty chiched stuff here (especially the whole Sealed Evil in a Can bit, although if it turns out that Rumia is that thing, then all is forgiven), but the writing is very good. And I'm enjoying seeing your 'real-world' versions of the characters. The whole Hourai Elixir thing was great, Mystia and Wriggle in the reasturaunt business was great, I'm basically liking it all. I'm also hoping Utsuho gets some action (she's my favorite Touhou character), preferably involving going nuclear on someone's ass (she should be a Siren that Sango missed somehow, probably because she's not human. And yes, I know the Sirens are supposed to be human, but, well, who says Nitori's right about that one? It's looking like Yukari had quite a few tricks up her sleeve; that could easily be one of them).

I'm still trying to decide what role a certain character will have. I know she'll be showing up eventually, probably mind-leech-thingyed, although if not that, then she's most likely a Black Claw higher-up, maybe even the one in charge.

Anyways, this is good, you're past stuff's gfood, and I'm looking forward to reading more.

Also, this is my first post as an MotK member, so hi.

FinnKaenbyou

  • Formerly Roukanken
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  • blub blub nya
Re: Dolphin Rider Koishi
« Reply #119 on: January 28, 2011, 01:16:43 AM »
Tewi hated this room.

She?d only been brought here once before, on the day she?d been hired to join the association. It was a small room, too small, with walls built of jet-black ivory and obscure ?modern art? which she could have easily mistaken for a child?s scribblings. Maybe they were - she wouldn?t put it beyond Morichika to sell random doodles as supposed masterpieces. He had a way of appraising things, giving them more value than they really had, and selling them off to some poor sucker none the wiser.

Tewi did what she could to make herself comfortable. Unfortunately, the chair she?d been given was rickety and set to fall apart at any moment. A nicer chair sat across from her, taunting her, but it was for a man much higher in rank than Tewi would ever be. She fidgeted. Her back hurt. Maybe a different angle? No, that was even worse.

The clock ticked in the distance, slowing down to mock her. She had blown it, in the most disastrous way she could have. Millions of yen that they were looking to take in, and in two hands she?d lost it all. Izayoi had played her like a fiddle, toying with her pride and throttling her with her own ego. And that shot at the end - she knew full well that she?d lost to the fifth king planted to help her. Sakuya was manipulative, but she hadn?t broken a single rule.

The wait took longer than she could have imagined. By now Tewi was trying to interpret the meaning of the wall markings to pass the time, and was distracted when her employer finally made his way into the room.

?Tewi. Honey. Darling.?

Rinnosuke Morichika was a figure dubbed in mystery even to his own compatriots. His appearance was simple, but sharp - a tall, thin man in a light-blue suit, the make you couldn?t afford if you had to ask the price. His hair was dark brown, standing up just enough to look attentive but not to the extent of looking childish. He adjusted his designer glasses as he took his seat, his voice the epitome of calmness.

?What happened out there tonight? You were my big player, y?know? I had a lotta faith in you to win me my money, and you lose to some blonde chick we?ve never heard of before??

Perhaps it was more frightening that he was calm. Any normal person would be yelling profanities across the table right now at the thought of all the money they?d lost, but Rinnosuke was almost impossibly relaxed. Tewi was both impressed and disturbed, partially because this behaviour reminded her too much of the girl she?d lost her fortune to the night before.

Maybe they were two of a kind, Rinnosuke and Sakuya - that deviousness, that cunning, and a gentle sprinkling of insanity.

?I-It wasn?t me, I swear. I played along with the plan, to the letter. If that dealer hadn?t screwed up and played the fifth king, none of this crap would?ve happened.?

Tewi?s body was stricken with nerves, and her response was stuttered and forced. Surprisingly, Rinnosuke reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, an all-too-cheery smile on his face.

?I know, I know. It?s all his fault we lost that money. He?s a bad, bad man who made some really bad fuckups. Hey, wanna see something??

Rinnosuke reached into his sleeve, pulling out a small remote. He pointed it towards what initially seemed to be a blank wall, but with a small beep a slate caved into the side, revealing a flat-screen television behind it.

?My favourite show is on right now. Figured you?d learn something from watching it.?

Another beep, and the screen came to life. The picture was grainy, and for a moment Tewi couldn?t discern what it was actually showing, but the sounds coming from it were a hint.

There were two figures in the room. One was tied to a chair, his face bloodied. The other was circling him, slamming his fist into the other man?s jaw once every few seconds. The grunts and yells of pain coming from the speakers left nothing to the imagination.

?Ooh, that was one helluva punch, huh? He?s gonna be feeling that one in the morning.?

Now and again, the beating stopped, and instead the speakers were filled with the sound of a grown man sobbing. Desperate, almost unhearable pleas for mercy echoed into the room, but they went unheard. The breaks would only last a few seconds, and then the assault picked up speed again.

Tewi pulled her eyes away from the pummeling for a moment, looking at Rinnosuke to try and distract herself. He was grinning again, almost wildly, his eyes glistening as he watched a grown man suffer. He seemed to almost be panting, containing his pleasure and struggling to maintain his otherwise cool demeanour.

?Doesn?t that get your heart racing, Tewi? The sight of failures getting the punishment they deserve, seeing the world right itself because you will it to, the feeling of justice that hits you when you get payback on someone who?s wronged you? You said it yourself, right?! This guy?s responsible for all of our losses, and he?s getting the shit beaten out of him! Isn?t that wonderful to watch?!?

Tewi wasn?t sure how to reply. She couldn?t laugh at this. This was brutality, this was abuse, this was just like that time when-

!!!

Tewi took a sharp breath. Something was coming to her. Something she didn?t want coming out. Something that needed to stay back like the lie it was.

?Hm? Tewi, honey, you look a little distracted. This isn?t reminding you of something, is it??

He knew. He KNEW what this would remind her of. He was watching the look on her face as the sounds continued to echo through the room. She could see the sneering grin on his face, enjoying this just as he had enjoyed watching the pummeling. She was doing her best to forget, move on, act like it never happened, but he KNEW. Not just that, he was going to use that information as he saw fit, and she?d given him more than enough of a reason to toy with her head a little. She couldn?t let him do this, but it was too late now and it was coming out and she couldn?t stop it and stop stop stop stop STOP

...Papa wasn?t a bad man, just prone to grabbing the bottle a lot. She remembered the recitals and performances he missed because of ?work?, the days he?d come up barely coherent enough to speak, and most of all the days when she?d sleep hearing the sound of fists slamming against flesh. The next morning she?d talk to Mama alone, panic running across her face, wanting to know the story about all those noises she?d heard the night before.

?Oh, dear, that was nothing. Mama and Papa were just having a little argument, that?s all. ...Oh, that? I just tripped and fell down the stairs. I?ll be fine, really.?

Was it a lie? It had to be a lie. She wasn?t stupid.

But that would mean the truth was...no. It couldn?t be.

She didn?t want it to be.

So she taught herself to believe what she knew wasn?t true. It was hard, but with a few years of practice she finally pulled it off.

Fighting? What fighting? Her parents got on like any other family would. The occasional fight, but nothing worse than that.

So why were the arguments about her so often?

?It?s you spending so much time on that goddammed kid, that?s what! Why can?t a woman like you spare some time to make me my goddamn dinner?!?

It was always her name that came up. Mama was in trouble because Tewi hadn?t done her homework, Mama was in trouble because she loved Tewi too much, Mama was in trouble because Tewi wasn?t well enough to go to school today. It was Tewi this, Tewi that, Tewi everything.

One night, Tewi came home with her report card. It wasn?t great, but she?d managed to scrape a pass in subjects she?d been scared of failing. Mama had been accepting, supportive, even ready to reward her for doing well. Papa didn?t see it until he?d come back from ?work?, face red and voice slurred.

One look was enough to put him into another of his little rages.

?The fuck is this?! How do you expect to get into university with shitty grades like that!??

His eyes turned to her, smouldering with indignation. He?d have punched her in the face right there and then if he hadn?t been grabbed from behind.

?That?s enough, dear! Can?t you see Tewi is trying her best!? We should be congratulating her for how well she did!?

Immediately Mama came to her defense, seeking to reason with Papa and calm him down. All it did was cause him to redirect his anger, and he turned on her instead.

?Honey, please do-gggk...?

His hands clasped tightly around her throat, her words cut painfully short. He spoke with an anger even Tewi wasn?t familiar with, one that left her shivering even from hearing it.

?Don?t you go defending the little piece of shit! There?s no way my daughter would come home with grades that bad, got it!? So either she ain?t trying, or that?s not my kid! Which is it, huh?!?

Mama couldn?t offer a response to him. She tried to push his hands away, spluttering and choking all the while. Tewi just stood in place, the report card falling to the floor. She couldn?t look away. She wanted to, but she couldn?t. If her body would let her she?d have run as far as her legs could carry her, but she was frozen on the spot, watching and listening to Mama?s little gasps and coughs.

Eventually her struggles weakened, and she went limp in his livid hands. Even after she had passed out he clutched onto her, ready to snap her neck if she dared talk back to him. He needed a few moments for the realisation of what he?d done to hit him.

?...Honey? Honey? ...Oh, god. Oh, god.?

Tewi felt something come apart in the back of her head. She was separate from the rest of the world, isolated and left only to watch from beyond. The sounds of the world around her faded into the distance. All she could hear were the thoughts bouncing around inside her own head.

oh god she isn?t breathing she's going blue her eyes look so empty and he looks so scared now and is she going to be ok what if she isn't what if she's dead if she's dead it's because of my stupid report card which means i killed her which means she?s dead and it?s my fault

my fault

myfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfault-


?Gyaaaaah!?

She screamed - or at least she tried to, but the sound ended up trapped in her throat, coming out as a pathetic, strangled cry. She slumped back onto her chair, eyes gazing out emptily into the distance.

Rinnosuke saw fit at last to turn the television off.

?There, there, darling. It?s okay. Uncle Kourin is here for you.?

His hand rested on top of hers. He could still recall the day he met her at the juvenile centre, lying through her teeth without breaking a sweat. Something inside her had broken a little then, and lying had become so second-nature to her it seemed she genuinely believed her own lies. He took her in to his little ?family? on the spot - she had potential, and better yet she had a history she?d rather have forgotten. Tragic, perhaps, but it was a weapon he could use against her.

A leash, if you will, that he could yank at if he grew displeased with how she performed.

?Lucky for you, I?ve done my research on our friend Izayoi. If what I?ve been hearing is true, we should have our money back sooner than we thought.?

Tewi was barely listening. All she could manage was a sniffle and a light nod of the head. She?d recover in a minute. She?d forget that silly nightmare and remember what really happened.

Yes, that was right. Mama died of a terrible illness, and Papa had to leave her to do very important work. They loved each other, more than anyone ever could, and they both loved her as well...