What Wish?
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't deliver until 5:00 PM."
"Uh, thanks anyway."
Morisato Keiichi hung up the phone and put out his cigarette on
the makeshift ashtray. "Damn," he muttered. "What does a dormer have
to do to get a decent meal at three in the afternoon, anyway?" He
rolled up the sleeves of his yellow sweater and searched through the
rest of the delivery pamphlets stashed away by his sempai. "I wouldn't
have to order out if I wasn't talked into watching over this place for
Tamiya-sempai and Otaki-sempai, anyway! And for what? More rummaging
through the junk yard for more parts for another of their 'greatest
inventions'. As if we hadn't picked that place clean twice over
already!"
Outside, the sky rumbled.
"Just like my stomach," Keiichi muttered. He pulled one flyer
out that looked promising and dialed the number. "Hello, Shanghai
Chinese?"
"Yes, this is Shanghai Chinese Restaurant. What would you like
to order, sir?"
Keiichi breathed a sigh of relief. "Uh, I'd like your Kuchay
Dumplings and an order of Beef Brisket Rice, please."
"Yes, sir. May we have your number?"
Keiichi rattled off the dorm number Tamiya wrote down on a piece
of paper next to the phone.
"Ah, we have you on file already, sir. Your bill is 2800 yen.
We'll deliver it as soon as possible."
"Thanks."
For some strange reason, the food never arrived.
=====
Strange Interlude #1:
Mendo climbed in the Harrier hidden underneath Mach Speed Noodle
Restaurant, which was really the Mendo family panic center.
He switched on the throttle, checked the instrument gauges
(which all displayed normal readings), and nodded in satisfaction.
Switching on the radio, he placed the headset to his ears and radioed
home. "Mendo Estate! Mendo Estate! This is Shutaro! Does anyone copy?"
It crackled out a response. "Yes, this is Shanghai Chinese! Your
food is being delivered right now!"
"Fool! No one ordered any!" Mendo snapped.
=====
Keiichi clutched at his empty stomach. "Food... must have...
food..."
He dialed up another number. He waited for it to ring twenty
times, then gave up. He then dialed another number.
"Moshi moshi!" greeted a perky female voice. "You have reached
the Goddess Relief Office! You are one of the lucky mortals who
managed to call me when I'm not in the shower, so I'll be generous and
make a house call, just for you!"
"What the...? But I just want to order takeout!" Keiichi
pleaded.
"Please, let's make the requests when I get there," the voice on
the other end of the line said. "At least I didn't make you have to
come all the way to the office to pick up your prize! Be patient! Oh,
by the way..."
"What?"
"Do you happen to have some hot water nearby?"
"Yup, got a hot water jug next to the cup... er, where the cup
ramen used to be before my sempai finished them all off. (That was my
personal stash, too...) Why?"
"Pour it on the floor. Preferably a stone or tile floor."
"WHAT?!"
"Look, do you want me to get there or don't you?"
"Oh, all right. Will wood do?"
"Yes, but only for a short while. Tell me when you're through."
"Okay. This has got to be the silliest thing I have ever..."
Keiichi reluctantly uncapped the jug and poured the contents onto the
floor. (And just who do you think has to mop this mess up?) "Done."
"All right. I'll be right over!"
Keiichi sighed. (I wonder if it's 5:00 PM already?) Then it
occurred to him. "Oh, shit! The dorm is off-limits to women!"
He stood up and rushed for the door when a voice behind him
said, "And where do you think you're going?"
He turned around and saw a girl. Half a girl, to be precise,
peeking out of the hot water puddle.
Of course, he did what any sane person would do. He screamed and
ran around the room like a madman, tripped over the low table,
stumbled, and nearly tore out the shoji screen from the closet door.
The girl looked at him and stepped out of the puddle. "I wonder
if this is the right address..."
Keiichi took one good look at the girl. She walked towards him
as if she was floating, a smirk on her face; a face that bore strange
markings on the forehead and cheekbones. She wore a white and red
dress that, for all its volume and fancy twists and turns still
managed to show a hint of a slip right above her white knees. Her long
black hair was tied just a few inches above the ends, and it fell away
to reveal a curious long mallet with a little head as she knelt down
in front of him, pointing a white gloved hand at him. "You're Keiichi
Morisato, aren't you?"
He managed a nod.
The girl nodded back. "Good. Now we can get this over with." She
stood up and held out a hand to help him up, which he slowly took with
trembling hands.
When a guy who has never had a girlfriend in his life and had
been cooped up in a boy's dorm for the past two years meets a girl
like the one standing before Keiichi, trembling hands are par for the
course.
She helped him up, and Keiichi noticed that he was as tall as
she was. Which was not really saying much. At 5' 4", Keiichi blamed
his height for a lot of things, and had a theory about height being
proportional to social life. Of course, that theory was shot down
after he met the two huge lunks Tamiya and Otaki.
The girl looked to be about his age, if not one or two years
younger. To say her complexion was 'fair' was to say that the sun was
'bright', and for a moment Keiichi found himself pondering how it
would feel to run his fingers over...
"Are you just going to stare or are we going to get on with
this?" the girl said, and Keiichi got the feeling she was used to this
sort of attention.
"Uh, sorry. Get on with what?" Keiichi asked, and then a wild
thought occurred to him. (Is she propositioning me? Am I finally going
to get some, after twenty-one long years? No, of course not, Keiichi,
get a grip. She looks too nice to be that kind of... Although she did
say she was from some 'Goddess Relief Office'...)
"Get on with your wish." the girl replied, folding her arms.
He blinked. Twice. "Wish? What wish?"
She scratched her temple in irritation. "You qualified for a
wish, silly. The Heavens have decreed that you are a kind enough
person to deserve a wish - and let's face it, you seem to need it.
Unfortunately for me, my sisters were too busy to take this call, so
once again, I, the Great Skuld, have to respond to the call. It's just
not fair."
"Skuld?"
"That's my name."
"I get a wish?'
"Yup."
"You're kidding, right?"
Skuld slapped her forehead. "Why do all you mortals have to
respond that way about receiving a wish? Kami-sama gives you a wish,
and you question it?"
"Well, I..."
The door burst open, revealing Tamiya, Otaki, and the rest of
the Nekomi Tech Auto Club.
"MORISATO!" the big lunk known as Tamiya bellowed at his usual
volume. "DID YA TAKE ALL MUH CALLS LIKE I TOLD YA TO?" Tamiya looked
down, and realization dawned on his face (which usually didn't get
much dawning in the way of realization). "A GURL?! WHAT IS A GURL
DOIN' IN HERE?!"
"A 'gurl'? What the heck is a 'gurl'?" Skuld snapped.
"Well, I..." Keiichi began (feeling curiously like he was
repeating himself), but was cut off.
"Morisato," Tamiya muttered, voice ominously modulated, "article
twenty-three states..."
Keiichi swallowed hard. "Article twenty-three states..." he
repeated.
"...That anyone who violates the rules will be..." Tamiya
continued.
"That anyone who violates the rules will be..." Keiichi repeated
weakly.
"Anyone who violates the rules will be..." Tamiya finished,
cracking his knuckles, "KICKED OUT!!!"
In a sudden whirlwind of activity, Skuld, Keiichi, and a few of
Keiichi's things hastily packed into a box were unceremoniously hauled
out of the room, down two flights of stairs, and out the door.
"We'll send ya the rest of yer stuff when ya find a place,"
Tamiya growled, handing over Keiichi's helmet and dumping a jacket on
Keiichi's head. "Call when ya find one." And with that, the dorm door
closed on Keiichi.
"Oh, great, now what do I do?" Keiichi whimpered.
Skuld turned to Keiichi. "Now, you'll make your stupid wish so I
can get the heck out of here!"
"Not now!" Keiichi argued. "I still have to find a place before
it starts to rain!" Keiichi dug through his jacket pockets and pulled
out a set of keys. "Good, they're here." He put on his helmet, walked
over to a motorcycle parked by the dorm building, and searched the
attached sidecar. He pulled out another helmet and offered it to
Skuld. "Well, come on!"
A look of exasperation crossed Skuld's face for a moment. She
sighed and muttered, "Why don't I ever get the easy jobs?" She
snatched the helmet from Keiichi, put in on, and got in the sidecar.
"Fine. Let's go. I don't have all eternity."
"What do you mean you haven't found a place yet?" Skuld shouted
over the roar of the motorcycle engine. "We've been to five apartment
complexes already! The guy in the last one was happy to give me a
room!"
"Of course he was! He was giving you his room! Don't you know
what that means?" Keiichi yelled back.
"That means I would've had a nice bed to sleep in if you hadn't
pulled me out of there!" Skuld replied.
"You aren't from around here, are you?"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you seem a little..." Keiichi hesitated.
"What? What? A little what? Spit it out!"
Keiichi waved her off. "Hold your horses, I'm trying to put it
politely."
"A little naive? Was that what you were going to say? A little
naive?"
"I was going to say a little clueless, but yeah, that about
covers it."
"WHAT?!" Skuld exclaimed, nearly standing up in the sidecar.
"Clueless? I'll show you clueless! We've been wandering around the
city for hours now and you still haven't found a place to stay yet!"
"And I suppose you know a better place, Miss Goddess?"
"Of course I do, and we would have gotten there sooner if you
had only asked me, stupid!" Skuld spat.
Keiichi spat back. "Fine! Fine! You know of a place, show me
where this place is!"
"Fine!" Skuld slapped a strange round device on the handlebars
of the motorcycle. "Skuld Autopilot Device Mark I, switch on!" She
pressed a big red button on a remote control device she had pulled out
of nowhere.
"What the hell?!" Keiichi exclaimed as the bike gained a mind of
its own and wrested control from him. It sped up and made several
turns so quickly that Keiichi lost his bearings for a moment.
"Watch out for that car!" Keiichi screamed as the bike
threatened to collide with a silver Mitsubishi FTO that was straying
from its proper lane.
Skuld furiously pressed several buttons on the remote. "Agh! Who
deactivated the evasive maneuver program! I'll have to do a manual
override! Skuld Autopilot, right turn!"
They missed the offending car by the width of two fingers.
Small, dainty fingers.
The motorcycle entered a wild spin before screeching to a halt
just inches before the guardrail.
A long moment of silence passed between the both of them, broken
only by the sound of relieved gasps.
"HA! I am the greatest!" Skuld finally said, standing straight
up in her seat.
"The greatest?!" Keiichi snorted. "Your doohickey nearly got us
killed!"
"MY 'doohickey'? It was your hunk of junk that couldn't handle
high technology!"
"Hunk of junk? I built this bike from the ground up! How can you
call this a hunk of junk?"
"I don't care if you had to give your left eye to Mimir to make
this bike! It's still a hunk of junk!"
"Well, my 'hunk of junk' was doing just fine until you decided
to fix what wasn't broken!"
Skuld took off her helmet and nearly hurled it at Keiichi.
"What?! Now you're saying it's my fault?!"
"Who do you think I'm talking about?"
"HAH! We wouldn't be in this darn mess if you'd made your stupid
wish like you were supposed to!"
"Never mind that! All I care about right now is getting to
wherever we're going before it--"
For some reason, the God of the Heavens chose that exact moment
to turn a fire hose on Tokyo.
"-- Starts to rain... Just great," Keiichi grumbled. "And where
was this 'place' that you were talking about before you turned all
Doctor Wily on me?"
"The temple straight down this road," Skuld replied through the
dripping wet hair covering her face.
"A temple?" Keiichi asked, wondering why his companion was
suddenly so subdued.
"Don't complain," Skuld muttered. "It's not like we have any
choice."
"Man, this place looks deserted!" Keiichi said, looking through
the darkened front room.
"It is deserted," Skuld called back from the back rooms. "This
was the priest's living quarters, behind the main prayer room." She
peeked back out at Keiichi, who was shivering. "Are... are you okay?"
"F-fine," Keiichi managed to say. "They didn't pack too many
clothes in there," he said, tilting his head in the direction of the
box of things his sempai handed him. "You look soaked to the bone
yourself," he remarked. He caught himself trying to make out her
figure through her wet clothes. He shook his head, took off his jacket
and offered it to her. "Put this on."
Skuld blushed slightly, but shook her head and refused. "I don't
need it."
Keiichi looked at her for a moment, then shrugged, placing it on
the floor. "I still think you need it more than I do, but... If you
change your mind, it's right here, okay? I'll just slip into some dry
clothes... that is, if they packed any..." Keiichi rummaged through
the box and found a few clothes. He grabbed a set (or approximated
one) and headed for a back room.
As Keiichi took off his shirt, he called out, "Hey, there's an
extra towel in that box. And a blanket."
"I said I don't need it!" Skuld answered back.
Keiichi sighed and put on the dry clothes; he squeezed the water
out of the wet clothes and hung them next to a window. He stepped back
out to find Skuld frantically searching the walls, holding another
strange looking device. "What the...?"
"How could I have forgotten? There's no electricity in this
place!" Skuld wailed. She stomped over to Keiichi and grabbed him by
the collar.
"What? What'd I do?" Keiichi asked.
"This is all your fault, Morisato! If you'd only made that
stupid wish I'd be out of here by now!"
"There you go with that wish business again," Keiichi said
wearily. "For one thing, I don't even know if you really are a goddess
in the first place!"
"I showed you my Autopilot Device, didn't I?" protested Skuld.
"That doesn't prove a thing! Aren't goddesses supposed to know
magic and stuff? If you really are a goddess, prove it to me!"
"Yeah? How?"
"Show me the magic!"
"What?"
"You heard me! Show me the magic!"
Skuld sighed. "All right, all right! It's just that I prefer my
mecha over magic. Machines are so much more tangible." She closed her
eyes and chanted, making gestures with her hands.
wood and stone
and the spaces in-between
speak of the story of your past
and your present
I arrive to offer the promise
of tomorrow
with these dreams I revive you, restore you
to not what you once were
but to what you might be
Keiichi watched wide-eyed, as a bright yet soft light filled the
room. He watched as the dust disappeared, as the holes in the shoji
screen closed, as the boards on the walls and the floor regained the
tone of newly-shaped wood; he watched paint and lacquer flakes rejoin
the coats they were separated from by weather and time.
Then the light faded, and Skuld opened her eyes, leaning against
the wall, smiling. "You still dream. I knew you still could," she
whispered as she fell asleep.
Keiichi sat in stunned silence for five minutes. He watched
Skuld sleep for another two, then spent yet another two pondering what
to wish for before he keeled over from the combined strain on his mind
brought about by shock, greed, lust, and a forty-degree fever.
Chapter Two:
A beeping sound woke Keiichi. A rhythmic, beeping sound. There
it went, nearly every second, only slightly faster...
A hissing sound. Slower than the beeping sound. Hiss. Hiss.
Keiichi became aware of a slight crick in his neck, the kind he
always got when he slept on his side. His mouth tasted funny. The air
tasted funny.
He slowly opened his eyes. Sunlight? Was it morning already?
A green line crossed his field of vision. A green line on a CRT
screen.
Beep.
The line got this funny hitch on it, like a hiccup. Oh, there it
went again. Beep.
Wait a minute, Keiichi thought. Line. Beep. Hiss. Green CRT
screen. He reached up and felt something over his nose and mouth.
His eyes shot open, partly from realization and partly from the
stinging pain on his upper arm.
"Owwwwwwww!" He clutched at his arm and felt vinyl tubing.
"Hepatitis B vaccination complete," chimed a nasal, female, low-
sampling-rate voice. Around 11025 Hz, he noted idly. "Next scheduled
shot - Tetanus, 9:15 AM."
Oh my God I'm on LIFE SUPPORT! Keiichi realized. Consequently,
the beeping sound's rate went up to three beeps every two seconds.
Keiichi ripped off the oxygen mask. "Nurse! Nurse!" he yelled.
"Shut up! I'm trying to hook up a generator to your new home,
and I can't work well with you all shouting like that!"
Keiichi blinked, then looked up. Lacquered wooden ceiling. This
can't be a hospital, he thought. Hospitals tend to have more sterile-
looking ceilings, made of gypsum board, or Formica, or something like
that. This place is too nice to be a hospital, Keiichi decided. But if
that's so, then where the hell...
"Skuld's Deep Mantle Geothermal Electricity Generator, Switch
ON!"
Suddenly a mild earthquake shook Keiichi, respirator and all.
Then it stopped, and the whole house was suddenly filled with 250-watt
incandescent light. He heard a radio go on, as well as a few other
humming appliance-type things that he couldn't distinguish by tone
alone.
Suddenly a girl stepped in the room (which appeared to be the
main temple room), wiping away sweat from her oil-stained face with a
white towel. "Oh, you're awake," she said, and for a moment Keiichi
didn't recognize her. For some reason, he could only stare and wonder
if he had died and gone to heaven.
She smiled, softly. "I didn't know what to do, you were running
such a high fever from last night..."
"It's okay, I'm fine now, I guess." Then he recognized her.
"Wait a sec. You're that goddess, Scourge..."
Her soft, warm smile quickly transformed into a fiery scowl.
"That's Skuld, you stupid mortal. It's your own fault for not
listening to me last night."
Keiichi felt his own sheepish grin fall. "My fault? I wouldn't
have had to look for a new place if you hadn't shown up in the first
place! And what the hell is all this?" Keiichi demanded, pointing to
his upper arm. "Why am I getting booster shots every fifteen
minutes?!"
"'Cause I didn't know what sort of stupid mortal disease you
were having, so I made sure I cured each one!"
"There you go with that mortal thing again! Who the hell are
you?"
Skuld expression changed from Blame-it-on-the-mortal Angry to
This-mortal-is-impossible Furious. "What are you talking about? I
'showed you the magic' last night! How can you keep asking me to prove
myself?" She crossed her arms. "Now, will you make your stupid wish or
not?"
(Wish?) Keiichi's own righteous indignation changed into
sheepish realization. "Sorry, I was kind of disoriented. So you're
really a goddess?"
Skuld slapped her forehead and let out a long, piteous sigh.
"Okay, okay, I guess you are if you say you are. So I get a
wish?"
Skuld started to whimper.
"Okay! Okay! I get a wish! I got it! I got it! Don't cry!"
Keiichi said frantically.
"I'm not c-crying..." Skuld said, shaking, gritting her teeth.
"W-why should I cry? After all, t-this assignment is just a one s-shot
thing, right? It'll all be over w-when you wish, right?"
Keiichi nodded weakly, although he wasn't sure. "Right..."
Skuld sniffled. Then she walked up to Keiichi and grabbed him by
the collar of his shirt. "So. We're clear on this, right?"
"R-right..."
She grinned maniacally at Keiichi. "So, any questions?"
"Just one... I get ANY wish, right?"
Another long, painful silence descended upon Skuld and Keiichi.
Skuld calmly let go of Keiichi, walked over to the respirator
console, and mildly told the computer, "Reset the vaccination
intervals to five seconds."
Keiichi could only listen in horror as the mild, nasal, 11 kHz
voice replied: "Affirmative. Tetanus shot in five, four, three..."
As Keiichi sat in the newly constructed Deep Mantle-heated hot
bath (which oddly made use of the old wooden hot tub in the bathroom)
nursing his right shoulder (which was sore from receiving the inert
forms of twenty-seven different types of virii and bacteria in the
span of two minutes and ten seconds), he swore never to get sick
around Skuld ever again.
Actually, he thought, barring that little Intensive Care
incident, the past two days have been quite nice. Hectic, but nice.
I've got my own place all to myself. Well, not ALL to myself - there's
that girl who claims to be a goddess. Not that I really mind. I mean,
I have to admit, she's really cute, in a mad-scientist-sort-of-way.
Besides, she even made this hot bath for me...
His moment of peace and quiet was rudely interrupted by a
banging on the door.
"Please leave me alone," he pleaded. "Haven't you done enough?"
"No, I haven't and I'm not going to stop banging on this door
until you make your wish!"
"Will you shut up about the wish thing? I don't want to talk
about it! Just leave me alone!"
"Do you wish I would just leave you alone?" he heard Skuld shout
through the door, a strange, excited tone in her voice.
"Well, now that you mention it-- Hey! NO! No, I DON'T wish that
you'd leave me alone!"
"DRAT!"
Keiichi stepped out of the bathroom, refreshed, toweling his
hair dry. "Ah, that was some hot bath. I can't remember the last time
I had a long, hot bath like that."
"Really?" Skuld said. "I figured since you were Japanese, you'd
be used to baths like that."
"No," Keiichi said, shaking his head. "Ever since I moved into
the dorm, it's been nothing but hot showers for me. I could only have
a hot bath if I went to the public baths, and you have no idea how
cramped it can get there."
"Well. Don't you wish you could have hot baths like that
everyday?" Skuld said, a nervous grin on her face.
Keiichi opened his mouth to answer, then he caught himself. He
looked at Skuld, smirked, and tersely said, "No."
"DRAT!"
Keiichi began looking over the newly refurbished house.
Electricity, water, a TV, a radio, a strange round refrigerator, hot
bath - not bad for someone who was kicked out of his dorm just
yesterday!
"I'm sorry that it's so sparse," Skuld said, as if reading his
mind (and getting it all in reverse), "but I've only had a day to fix
the place up. Plus, you're all alone here, no friends, no sempai...
Don't you wish you were back in your dorm?"
"Not really," Keiichi replied, not biting the hook (not SEEING
it, for that matter), "it's kind of nice to have a place of my own,
even if I'm just borrowing it off you. Besides, I'm not alone, you're
with me, right? You company beats Tamiya's or Otaki's any day!" He
chuckled sheepishly. "I mean, you're a whole lot easier on the eyes
than those two lunks. I'm not sorry I got kicked out and got stuck
with you."
Skuld smiled, blushing slightly. She opened her mouth to say
something, no doubt something tender, but it got overtaken by another,
more urgent word.
"DRAT!"
Keiichi watched in confusion as Skuld stormed off. "What did I
say?"
Keiichi was on his way to watch some TV when he noticed noise
coming from an open ceiling panel.
"Skuld?" he called out. "Is that you?"
"Of course it's me!" Skuld replied. "I'm setting up the interior
wiring for the satellite dish. Since it looks like I'll be here for a
while, I might as well keep myself entertained."
"Why are you stuck here?"
"What do you mean, why am I stuck here? It's because you're too
wishy-washy to make your wish, that's why!"
"Actually, I've got a candidate for a wish," Keiichi said.
Skuld peeked out from the open panel. "Really? Good! Let's hear
it!"
"Can I wish for three more wishes?"
Skuld gave him a look that said 'NO'.
"Why not?"
"It's a safety clause to prevent abuse of the Yggdrasil coding
system. Too many wishes by one individual can seriously corrupt the
system. I mean, imagine if someone wished 'Please grant my next wish'
then wished 'Please negate my last wish'. Serious paradox."
Keiichi thought for a moment, then asked, "But what if I wished
for you not to grant my wish?"
"Then I wouldn't."
"Then you did."
"No, I didn't."
Keiichi smirked. "But you would have, had you not granted my
wish."
Skuld gave him a look that this time said, 'long-suffering
goddess'. "You don't understand. I wouldn't pass that sort of wish to
the Main System. I'm the system debugger, you know. I'd bypass the
potential loop by cutting off the subroutine."
"Oh. So why couldn't you do that with the two-wish thing?"
"Because the initial request would already be in the system. I
can't refuse the second wish outright because I didn't refuse the
first one outright."
"That makes sense..."
Skuld sighed and disappeared back into the ceiling. "Now if
you'll excuse me, I have something I have to do."
"Need any help?"
"No."
"That panel looks loose."
"Sure it does."
"No, seriously." Keiichi said, pointing at the large panel in
the middle of the corridor's ceiling, even though she couldn't see him
pointing.
"Haha."
"I'm telling you," Keiichi said, going underneath the panel,
"this board is loose! It's even got a little handle-like thing on the
right side..."
"Will you stop it?" Skuld snapped. "I'm sorry I tried to trick
you into wishing, all right? Now will you stop this petty--"
And with that the panel opened sideways on its hinges (hinges?),
dumping Skuld on top of Keiichi. They fell to the ground in a nicely
tangled heap, and Keiichi suddenly found his face a finger's breadth
away from Skuld's.
Naturally, they both blushed. For yet another shared, long,
silent moment, they stared at each other, neither daring to move.
"I--" they both began, but they were interrupted by a squeal.
Not a gasp; a squeal. Of delight.
A shorthaired girl was standing in the corridor, looking a lot
more excited than scandalized. "Keiichi! You sly dog, you! Does Mom
know about this?"
Keiichi tore his gaze away from Skuld to the source of those
words. "Gah! Megumi! What are you doing here?"
Skuld quickly got up, brushed herself off, and asked Keiichi,
"Who's this?"
Keiichi replied, "My little sister Megumi..."
Megumi answered matter-of-factly, "What do you think I'm doing
here? I'm looking for a place to stay for a while at least until I
find a place of my own. Your sempai recommended I stay with you."
"Wait a minute," Keiichi said, "my sempai know I'm here?" He
glared suspiciously at Skuld, who glared suspiciously back.
"No, not until now," Megumi replied.
"Not until now?" Skuld asked.
"Yeah, they handed me this." Megumi pulled out a small handheld
device from her pocket. "They sneaked a radio transmitter onto your
sidecar, big brother. Actually, I had to tell them I was your
girlfriend. After I did, they seemed eager enough to tell me, although
I have to let you know... They've been tailing me all day, waiting for
a confrontation between me and 'your new girlfriend'."
"Well," Keiichi said, leading both girls into the living room
(where it was much less cramped than the entrance corridor), "I can
believe that."
"Why?" Skuld asked, passing out pillows to sit on (and where the
heck did she get those? wondered Keiichi). "Have they done this sort
of thing before?"
"Well, yes," Keiichi replied, "that and that's Tamiya's boot
sticking out of the hedge over there."
"I see it," Megumi said. "Do we carry on like they're not
there?"
"Why not?" Keiichi said, shrugging. "We were doing fine before
we realized that that tall yellow plant was actually Otaki's hair."
"Ah. Right. Anyway, let's pick up where we left off," Megumi
said. "Keiichi, you sly dog! You've been in college for little over a
year and already you're living in with a beautiful woman! And a
foreigner, to boot! All this time Dad was worried you were gay or
something!"
"Don't joke like that!" Keiichi exclaimed.
"That's right!" Skuld seconded. "The only reason I'm still here
is because he hasn't made his--MMMMFF!"
Keiichi clapped a hand over Skuld's mouth. "E- eheheheh... Well,
anyway, how long do you think you'll be staying here?"
"Well," Megumi answered thoughtfully, "I'll be shopping around
for a good apartment, although I doubt I'll find a place as nice as
this one. I won't be here for more than a week or two, and I'll cook
or do the dishes if I have to. Don't worry, I'll be gone before you
know it, so you two can get back to what you were doing before I got
here!" She snapped her fingers. "Oh, yeah! I haven't introduced
myself, have I?" She extended a hand to Skuld. "Hi. I'm Morisato
Megumi, Keiichi's younger sister. Pleased to meet you."
Skuld hesitated for a moment, then smiled and shook Megumi's
hand. "I'm Skuld. Pleased to meet you, too."
"Hey, by the way, big brother," Megumi said.
"What?" Keiichi snapped, wondering what was next.
"Don't be such a grouch! I just wanted to hand you this." She
held out a small brown envelope. "It's my allowance for two week's
worth of living expenses. Since I'll be staying here for at least this
week, I thought you should have it."
Keiichi took the envelope and opened it. Ka-ching! 40,000 yen!
"All right!" Keiichi said, grinning. "Now I can finally eat real
food!"
"HEY MORISATO!" a very distinct voice thundered from outside.
"SURPRISE!"
Keiichi, Skuld and Morisato went to meet the new visitors at the
front door. Sure enough, it was Tamiya, Otaki, and the rest of the
Nekomi Auto Club, brushing leaves and twigs off of their clothes.
At the sight of the three, Otaki's already perpetually upturned
lip corners twitched into a smirk. "Hey. Why aren't the three of you
fighting?"
"Why should we be?" Keiichi asked back.
"We thought da short-haired gurl wuz yer ol' girlfriend or
sumthin'!" Tamiya said, lifting Keiichi and putting him into the
'Rack' wrestling move over his ridiculously broad shoulders. "You
enemy of women! Can't you even share?"
Amid Keiichi's screaming and pleading, Megumi smiled and handed
back the tracking device. "I'm sorry to have to fool you like that,
guys, but I had to find my brother as soon as possible."
"BRUDDER?"
"Hi, I'm Morisato Megumi," she said. "Pleased to meet all of
you. I'll be studying at Nekomi Tech starting this year!"
"Oh! So you're joinin' da auto club, right?!" Tamiya asked
hopefully, tossing Keiichi away.
"Ah," Megumi replied, flinching from the noise barrage, "I'll
think about it..."
"Well, in any case," Otaki said, pulling a bottle of sake from
out of the many pockets of his black leather jacket (complete with
chains - how Bomber Boyish), "in honor of Megumi's entrance into
college, and Keiichi's moving in, let's PARTY!"
"Huh? Wait! I haven't finished fixing the place up yet!" Skuld
protested. I still have to set up central heating and ventilation,
proper lighting, a sprinkler system..."
"It's no use, Skuld," Keiichi sighed. "Only alcohol poisoning
can stop them after they've begun to party, and that won't be for a
while."
Megumi looked at Keiichi and Skuld and smiled. She stretched and
nonchalantly said in a loud, clear voice, "Well, I'm going to join the
party. See you guys later!" With that, Megumi entered the temple and
slid the screens closed.
"Your sister's nice." Skuld said.
"I know," Keiichi replied. "She's just a bit too nosy."
"Well, the sun is setting," Skuld said. "Let's walk around the
temple grounds a bit."
"Okay," Keiichi said.
The temple was bathed in the light of dusk, and Keiichi could
easily believe that a goddess had blessed the place. Just which
goddess, though, Keiichi wasn't sure about. Was it really the girl who
was walking next to him that day? He turned to look at her.
Was it just the sunlight? She seemed to glow in the light; she
seemed to float as the walked along the path. Every now and then she'd
close her eyes and run a soft white hand through her long, dark
tresses, like a lily on a dark, starlit river. The marks on her face
didn't seem out of place at all; they looked as if they belonged
there; they seemed familiar, as familiar as the face he was gazing at;
the face he swore he had never seen before because he would remember
if he ever saw a face like hers, he would remember for the rest of his
life, even if it was a passing glance. Yet her face seemed familiar,
as familiar as a sweet, fragrant dream that returned to him every
night, as familiar as a promise unfulfilled yet unbroken...
A thought occurred to him, and he felt he had to ask. "Skuld?"
She gave a start before turning to face him, and he realized he
had broken her own reverie; he briefly wondered what she was thinking
about before he interrupted her. "Yes?"
"Why don't you just leave me?"
She blinked; her brow furrowed, and she took a deep breath. "I
can't leave you even if I wanted to. You haven't wished."
"Yes, but if you really wanted to go, I wouldn't take it against
you. You've done so much for me already."
She shook her head. "No, I have to confess, all those things I
did were selfish, actually. Since I seem to be stuck here, I thought
I'd make my stay a little more bearable."
"You mean, the TV, the electricity and all that that?"
She smiled. "It's not really those things, per se... It's the
making of those things, the building. I enjoy building mecha - I mean,
machines; I enjoy making something that does something out of the
scope of what the sum of the individual parts can do. It's like I'm
making something of myself; it's like by making something useful, I'm
making myself useful. I know it sounds weird..."
"Not at all!" Keiichi exclaimed, shaking his head.
"You think?"
"Absolutely!" Keiichi said. "You still haven't told me why you
can't leave, though. Why can't you ignore my wish, since intentionally
or not I'm being an uncooperative 'mortal' to you?"
"I can't leave even if I wanted to, because the Ultimate Force
keeps us together." Skuld said quietly.
"What's the Ultimate Force?"
"It's a program in the Yggdrasil system that overrides
everything else. It's the wish priority routine. A wish takes
precedence over most other routines in the system. That way, a wish
can be granted easily, no matter how outlandish. Think of it as
directly modifying the program's code, without passing through the
usual input devices."
"But I haven't wished yet."
Skuld nodded. "That's the thing. I'm the interrupt handler for
this event, and I received a call for wish input. So I have to remain
on standby until input is complete. I can't execute the wish function
unless I receive all of the instructions."
"I see..." Keiichi said thoughtfully. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, " Skuld said. "I've just never met a mortal who was
this careful about his wish before."
Keiichi glanced back at the temple, where Otaki and Tamiya's
silhouettes could be seen on the shoji screens, fan dancing. "Well,
they don't seem to be missing us. I just hope my sister's okay in
there."
Skuld giggled. "From what I could tell from talking to your
sister, she can handle herself without any problems. Why? What did you
have in mind?"
"Well, I think we passed a good ice cream place on the way here
last night. I'll treat you to a couple of scoops." He pulled out the
envelope. "I can afford to, now."
"Ice cream?" Skuld asked. "What's ice cream?
"What," Keiichi said, "don't you have ice cream back in the
Heavens?"
"Nope," Skuld replied. "Although I think I'd like it..."
He looked at her, and suddenly he was sure when he replied, "I
KNOW you'll like it." He extended a hand to her. "Let's?"
Skuld looked at the extended hand, blushed slightly, then took
it in her own. "Let's," she replied, smiling.
Chapter Three:
"School?"
"Yes," Keiichi said to Skuld as he attempted to extricate his
engineering book from underneath Tamiya's unconscious form, "school.
If I don't get there in fifteen minutes, I'm going to be late."
"Well, if you knew you had school today," Skuld said, lifting
Tamiya up in the air with a wave of a finger, "why did we have this
party, then?"
"Thanks," Keiichi said, grabbing the book and placing it in his
backpack. "Well, do you actually think this little moving-in party was
my idea?"
Skuld lowered Tamiya gently so as not to disturb his slumber.
"Come to think of it, don't these guys have classes, too?"
"They probably do," Keiichi sighed. "Have you seen Megumi
anywhere?"
"No," Skuld said, "but I did find this note." She handed it to
Keiichi.
He read it out loud. "'I've gone off to school early. Don't want
to be late for my first day at Nekomi!' Figures."
"Mind if I come along?" Skuld asked.
"Huh? Oh, not at all, although I wonder how we'll explain you
being in class."
"Are the school records on computer?"
"Yes, but --"
"Then you shouldn't worry, now, should you?" She smiled at
Keiichi and gave him a wink.
Keiichi blinked for a moment, and then he grinned back. "No, I
guess I shouldn't, huh?"
First school day of the first term. Nekomi Tech was abuzz with
activity as freshmen chattered and moved around in herds, milling from
classroom to classroom while upperclassmen tried their darndest to
seem jaded and disinterested about the whole process, giving the
newbies looks of prefabricated pretentiousness and synthetic savoir-
faire. The beginnings of the power struggles for campus king and queen
were already becoming apparent between the more popular students.
Meanwhile, new teachers flitted here and there, carrying their
school planners and their schedules and their syllabi, while the older
professors simply watched and shook their heads, awaiting the
impending nervous breakdowns.
Even though the Club Festival was a week away some guerilla
recruitment was already going on, and whispers of 'Join the Art Club'
and flyers from the Friends of Pasta were already circulating among
the unsuspecting freshmen blocks.
There was a buzz of a different tone that day, however; one that
was a note higher and clearer than the rest:
"Who's that with Morisato?"
Amid the crowds walked Keiichi and his beautiful companion, her
long dark hair shimmering in the morning sun. Her face lit up with the
brightest of smiles as she and Keiichi carried on a conversation that
seemed to be about both everything and nothing at all. Though her
attire at the time could be described as ordinary, which consisted of
a yellow sweater, jeans, and white sneakers, there was something in
the way she carried those clothes that made them float and wrap around
her form like the finest fabric.
Not surprisingly, the phrase 'Who's that with Morisato' soon
became colored with shades of envy, resentment, and all-around sour-
graping. Most of these colored statements came from the male portion
of the population; there were few things more odious to men than
seeing a beautiful woman paired up with a plain-looking man.
This ran contrary to many of the opinions from the females of
the student body (and some of the faculty), who were now beginning to
see that Keiichi was kind of cute, now that they thought about it. In
fact, they decided, he was a lot more attractive than most of the
losers who were even at that moment gaping like landed fishes at
Keiichi's prize catch.
In fact, Mishima Sayoko thought as she watched the pair enter
the main building, Keiichi himself was beginning to look like the
golden ring in the Campus Queen merry-go-round. If she could manage to
snatch him from that woman's grasp, then her position on the top of
the student pecking order would be secured.
She chuckled to herself, brushing aside her own long black hair
and straightening out her rather short skirt. What was it about other
people's things...?
"Miss Skuld...?"
"Yes, sir?" Skuld looked up as her name was called.
The teacher took off his glasses. "I don't see your family name
here."
"Um, I don't have one."
"You don't have a family name?"
"Yes, sir. We don't have family names up in... I mean, not where
I come from."
"All right. Just Skuld then?"
"Yes, that's fine."
Aoshima Toshiyuki raised an eyebrow. Must be one of those
strange Westerner things. Not that he minded. That odd little one-
syllable name seemed to fit her. Just like those triangular markings
on her face; odd, yet fitting. Or was 'becoming' a better word?
He could not understand Skuld's bond with Morisato. How did a
wimp like Morisato catch a girl like Skuld? Perhaps his family played
host for some exchange program? Perhaps he saved her life? Nothing
else seemed to make sense.
He pushed back his wire-framed glasses. All the same, if
Morisato could win her, then it would be child's play for a more
charming man to snatch her from him.
He leaned back on his desk and crossed his arms. "Three guesses
who that is," he whispered to himself.
"So this is what a college cafeteria is like," Skuld said,
looking around from where Keiichi and her were seated. People were
queuing up for meal tickets dispensed by vending machines, which were
exchanged for food at the counter.
"Yeah," Keiichi said, blowing on his ramen to cool it down. "The
food isn't much --"
"-- But the company is nice," Skuld finished, smiling.
"Yes, isn't it though?" Sayoko agreed as she sat down beside
Keiichi.
Murmurs began to spread across the cafeteria.
Sayoko faced Skuld. "You're new here, aren't you? I'm Mishima
Sayoko."
"I'm Skuld. Nice to meet you."
"I'm sure," Sayoko said absently. "So, Keiichi, I remember you
saying we were going to get together to study sometime."
Keiichi blinked. He didn't seem to recall this incident. Nor did
her ever remember actually speaking to Sayoko for any extended period
of time. Surely, in the past he planned to, but he'd decided that she
was too high up on the social ladder for him to reach. "I did?"
"Sure, you did," Sayoko said, clinging onto his right arm. "Just
say when, Keiichi. I'll be happy to get together with you."
"To study, you mean," Skuld said flatly.
"Hmm?" Sayoko said, fluttering her eyelashes at Keiichi,
pressing herself against his arm. "Oh, right, study."
"Um, what are you doing?" Keiichi nervously said.
"Why? Don't you like me?" Sayoko asked.
"Um, it's not that --"
"So you do like me?" Sayoko pressed on.
"May I join in your little party?" Aoshima said, sitting himself
down next to Skuld.
"No," Sayoko spat.
The ambient noise of the cafeteria turned several semitones and
decibels lower.
"Is that any way to greet your cousin?" Aoshima said innocently.
"At any rate, I'm Aoshima Toshiyuki. Pleased to meet you." He flashed
her a calculatedly charming smile. "And you are?"
"Skuld. Nice to meet you."
"Well, Morisato-sempai," he said, turning to Keiichi, "I must
say that you have such a lovely girlfriend."
Keiichi thought he heard a grinding noise from Sayoko but paid
no attention to it.
"Oh, I'm not his girlfriend," Skuld said. "I'm just here to --"
"Ahahaha!" Keiichi interrupted nervously. "What she means to say
is that she's just here to pay a visit! We're old childhood friends,
you see. Right?" Keiichi said this last while nudging Skuld's foot
underneath the table.
"Huh?" Skuld said, looking at Keiichi confusedly, then she
caught herself. "Oh. Oh! Oh, right! Yes, I'm just visiting. We're just
friends," she said, chuckling weakly.
"So, he's just your friend, huh?" Sayoko asked Skuld. "Just...
friends?"
"Well..." Skuld began, but her voice died down.
"Then I insist we go out on a double date tomorrow, after
classes." Aoshima said. "What do you say, cousin?"
"WHAT?" Sayoko started. "I mean, that's a great idea!" she
exclaimed, catching herself.
"But..." Keiichi tried to interject.
"Then it's decided. See you then," Aoshima said, taking Skuld's
hand and kissing it. He then stood up and walked away.
"Yes, see you then, Keiichi," Sayoko said, kissing Keiichi on
the cheek before leaving.
Keiichi and Skuld stared after them in long moments of confused
silence.
"What..." Keiichi began.
"...Was THAT about?" Skuld finished.
"Say, you're not really considering going on that double date
thing, are you?"
"Why not? Besides," Skuld continued, with an expression on her
face that Keiichi could not read, "we ARE just friends, right?"
"Oh," Keiichi said, lowering his gaze to his now-cold ramen.
"Right. Just... friends."
"WHAT? You spineless, gutless wimp!" Megumi exclaimed, nearly
choking on her canned coffee. "How could you let that slimeball
Aoshima undercut you like that? Oh, no, wait. Maybe you just happen to
like Sayoko better than Skuld, huh?"
"No! It's not like that at all!" Keiichi cried. "I... damn it!"
He almost hurled down his helmet on the front steps of the temple in
frustration. "I'm so indecisive. It's the same thing with that damn
wish -- why can't I ever make up my mind?"
Megumi raised an eyebrow. "What wish?"
Keiichi checked himself. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm just talking to
myself."
"Maybe that's the problem, don't you think? Why don't you tell
her how you feel for a change, instead of just playing it out in your
mind like you always do?" Megumi clicked her tongue. "Stop dreaming
about it and do something."
"It's not that simple."
"Isn't it, though. Live with it."
"You don't understand!"
"Neither do you, apparently."
"Look, we're just friends, okay?" Keiichi spat. "Just...
friends." He felt his mouth twist at the words.
"Just... friends? When did this happen?"
"She said so. I said so. Does it matter?"
Megumi threw up her hands and sighed. "I knew I should have
moved out sooner. Maybe you two would have gotten it on by now if you
weren't so worried about me finding out. Not that I really mind, in
fact I'd be happy for both of you if you could just get over yourself
and go for it."
"That isn't funny."
"Look, kidding aside, it doesn't really matter who said it
anymore," Megumi said as she sat next to her brother and patted him on
the back. "What matters now is that you find out for yourself whether
whoever said it meant it or not. Do you understand?"
Keiichi nodded slowly. "I do."
Megumi stood up. "Good, because tomorrow's date is as good a
time as any to find out for sure."
"How will I know?"
Megumi smiled. "Trust me. You'll know."
That night, the walls that lay between where Keiichi and Skuld
slept felt thicker, at least to Keiichi, than the wood and paper they
were made of. The temple felt empty; it had lost the warm, lived-in
feeling it gained from the short two nights he and Skuld had been
living in it. Maybe it was the lack of noise, Keiichi told himself;
Tamiya, Otaki, and the others had all gone back to the dorm,
conveniently forgetting that they had missed the first day of classes.
Keiichi had breathed a sigh of relief, then; now he strained his ears
to hear a sound, any sound, but now the temple was as silent as it had
been when they first arrived. Even the sound of the television was
gone; Megumi had turned in for the night.
Still Keiichi listened, tossing and turning in his futon. What
had he hoped to hear? Keiichi wasn't sure he knew, himself.
He shook his head. What was the big deal, anyway? Skuld was only
here because he was too indecisive to make his wish and get everything
over with. It wasn't like she was here because she wanted to be; she
told him that, herself. He was lucky he was even able to call her his
friend.
Friend. What was it about that word that made his mouth twist
so? What was it Megumi told him he was supposed to 'know'? And how
would he find whatever it was out from some silly double date? Why was
it even important?
He sighed and pulled the sheets over his head.