A little further down the street was a sign that had
the word "Highpoints" written on it in silver and blue
letters. Though it had only opened eight months ago,
Highpoints quickly shot to the top of Kitsune�s
favorite watering holes. Good food, a friendly staff
and reason prices had made the new bar popular with

reasonable prices

But Highpoints had one other thing going for it; the
d�cor. Almost every square inch of the bar�s walls was

were

covered in movie posters. The posters covered all of
film from around the world and the last eighty or so

all film; don't need 'of'. world, and

The posters and the films they promoted were often the
topic of lengthy discussions among the bar�s patrons.
Which was entirely the point. To keep the conversation
fresh and the customers coming back the posters were

coming, back

changed once every two months. Right now American
horror and sci-fi films seemed to dominate the most
space.

most of the

But Kitsune wasn�t thinking about any of that as she
strolled through Highpoints� door. Once inside she

inside, she. You don't like commas to much, do you?
Or, maybe, I, just, like, them, too, much.

The woman in question was named Aoi Minase. She too
had been one of Highpoints� first regulars. As people
in bars are want to do the pair had got to talking one

do, the. There I go with commas again.
Please someone tell me if I have a fetish or if
Skyrocket just isn't good with commas.

"A free sake table and I missed it? Damn," grumbled
Aoi. "I was going to go to the shrine thing with my
friend Ryoko. But she somehow got her hands on two
tickets to a special New Year�s Day concert by
Firebomber at the Tokyo Dome. So we decided going to
that instead."

to go to

"Naru told me that Keitaro found me so wasted I could
barely walk and he had to half drag half carry me
home."

Ok, I think there is supposed to be something on the
'half drag half carry" part but I'm not sure what. Is it a
comma, a hyphen, or am i just crazy?

The blue-haired girl had a feeling she may hit a
tender spot, which intrigued her. When Kitsune did
speak of her building manager she usually stared

started

"Okay, what kind of relationship do you have with this
guy?" asked Aoi. "Other than giving his nosebleeds and

him

"Uh�well," began Kitsune. If Aoi had asked this
question a few days before the foxgirl would have said
that Keitaro was just a friend, albeit one who was
easy to manipulate for fun and profit. But after
having shared the secret of her family situation with
him Kitsune couldn�t deny that their relationship had

him, Kitsune

"Look, Aoi, Keitaro�s a nice guy and I do consider him
a friend," said Kitsune firmly. "But he�s just a
friend. I�ve told you how he�s got it bad for Naru.
Though she�s sooner kiss a pig than admit it, she

she'd

Kitsune scowled and took a long gulp of her beer,

Not sake?

The blue haired girl rested her elbows up on the table
and lazily let her face rest in her hands. "Yeah,
you�re right. I guess I�m no one to talk. Yusuke�s
really happy and the girl he�s engaged to is very
nice. I should just accept the fact that I was never
anything more than an employee to Yusuke and try and
be happy for them but�"

them, but. It can't be just me, can it?

"Give or take, yeah, almost three years."

So, I'm guessing this is before he shows up?
Oh wait.... stupid question.

Aoi gave a little smile and nodded. "Damned if you
aren�t right. Shining�Yeah, Yusuke did seem that way
to me when I looked at him, now that I think about it.
That Seta guy was like that for you?"

Of course, she could have just been drunk.

The foxgirl made an agreeing sound while taking
another long drink. "Even though it broke my heart
when he left I�m grateful to Seta. He was a genuinely

left, I'm

Kitsune shook her head. "No, I never did tell him.
After all this time I still regret that. I�m sure that
if I had Seta would have let me down as gently as he

had, Seta

Aoi nodded. "Yeah, that�s Miki. She�s pretty good with
a pencil, but what she�s really good at is waving
around a kitchen and yelling when she gets mad."

WOW! She can wave around a kitchen. That's insane!

Kitsune chuckled. "Sounds like she�d really get along
with Naru. She tends to hit people when she gets riled
up. And Motoko too. Get her angry and you�ll get a
sword in your face faster than you can �Masamune�.

I'm not completley familiar with that term; "Masamune"?

"They all do sound a bit alike," concurred Aoi. "Heck,
you should see the poor sap that delivers the
restaurant�s vegetables. Miki�s chewed him out for
being late while waving a kitchen knife around so many

Not the entire kitchen like before? That would scare me
so much I'd never be late again.

"The looks on those pervs faces as she waves that

pervs' ; I believe.

knife around is great. They don�t listen to word she

to a word

"They were about your age and both had short hair and
glasses. One was tall and the other on the short side.
I don�t remember what they called each other, but I
was the one who had to serve them so I heard some of
their conversation. I�m pretty sure the tall one�s
name started with and H and the short guy�s with an S.

an H

Kitsune rolled her eyes. "That old line? I heard that
one plenty time when I did the waitress gig. Let me

plenty of times

"But this guy�I could that what he *really* wanted was

could tell

me bringing him food while wearing nothing but an
apron with Aoi ala mode for dessert."

Mmmm, sounds tasty. Where can I get some.
......sorry.

"That�s a colorful image," said Kitsune. "But what
about the tall one? Was he eyeing you too?"

Cool, even she likes it. Hmmm, maybe a threesome?
Arrgghh, stop thinking this! Bad Truk, bad!

managed convince Ryoko that she was mature enough to

managed to

"I�ll give her credit where credit�s due, Mina�s a
good worker, the customers all love her and all of us
at the Pia Carrot treat her like a little sister,"
began Aoi. "So seeing this guy give Mina one of
�those� looks really got under my skin. That, and the
fact that while I was taking their order the short one

orders; plural

But I�ve had that tired on me plenty of times so I was

tried

Kitsune nodded as she listened. "The accidentally
dropping the silverware routine. The first time I
worked as a waitress and a guy pulled that on me I
didn�t realize what he was doing until it was too
late," lamented the foxgirl. "That was how I learned
the hard way that there actually are some times when
thong panties just aren�t a good idea.

Ok, I should comment, but I'm trying to restain myself.

"Word must have gotten around to the local perverts
real quick because before I knew it I had guys trying

it, I; There are those damn commas again.

that on me half a dozen time a day. Even after I

times

"Anyway, the second Miki finished her �lecture� and
went back to the kitchen those two jumped up, tossed
the money for their food on the table and bolted for
the door. They were both in such a hurry to get away

>from Miki they almost each other down trying to get

almost knocked

"Sounds like Shinobu," said Kitsune. "You should see
the shades of red she�ll turn if romance or anything
relating to good �ol s-e-x comes up. It�s pretty
funny."

Or just Keitaro in general.

"Ah, to be young gain," sighed Aoi. "I�d hate it.

again

Aoi made an amused smile. "Weren�t you just talking a
few minutes ago about how �If you�re going to be in
love for the first time it should be with someone who
is a good person. Because no matter how your first
love ends, the person you were in love with will, in
some small way, touch every other romantic
relationship you have for the rest of your life,�
right?

Damn, word for word. It's like she copy/pasted what
Kitsune said right out of the air. Amazing. Sorry if
I'm being a smart ass, that's just the way I am.

Kitsune made a dismissive gesture with her hand and
snorted. "Of course not. He�s probably had a naughty
thought about her from time to time, but Keitaro would
never do that to Shinobu. I�ve told you have she looks

how she

up to him and even calls him �sempai�. You can tell by

Really? Sempai? I'll have to watch the japanese version.

the look on his face that the way Shinobu looks up to
him means a lot to Keitaro. He�d never do deliberately

never deliberatly

"Besides, the big dope hasn�t got clue one that
Shinobu feels anything more than respect for him.
Though it�s glaringly obvious to anyone who isn�t

glaring or blaring?

"So like I said, she a lucky girl," repeated Aoi. "Her
first love is someone Shinobu both likes and respects,
who cares a lot about her feelings and would never try
and take advantage of her or hurt her. I this big bad

In

=====
"What is the difference between genius and stupidity? Genius has limits."
-Albert Einstein

Um, nice little story, but I kinda didn't get the point of it.
I guess I'd have to go back and read the last 2 chapters.
It was pretty good, but if it was like this chapter I don't
think I'll be doing that anytime soon. Sorry.

Truk
"I'm gonna sing the doom song now!" - Gir

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