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?"
(What 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.
=====
w.o.m.
TimeRunner's Web Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482
=====
All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental.
- Kurt Vonnegut