[FFML] [fanfic][lime][dark][Yotsuba&!] Pretty Neighbor 2nd Visit, Chapter 21: Miura & Exposition

[Mythril Moth]

Hold on tight, folks. This one's gonna go in sideways, and it's gonna hurt.

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MIURA & EXPOSITION

by Mythril Moth

based on Yotsuba&! by Azuma Kiyohiko

subsequently based on the "Pretty Neighbor" Yotsuba& doujinshi series

no permission asked or given

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Koiwai was the first to wake up. He looked around in a daze.

"Hey, Niisan," Miura greeted quietly.

"Hey, Miura," he returned. He looked at the three sleeping girls he was 
tangled up in, and sighed. "I bet this was a confusing mess to walk in on."

Miura shook her head. "Only for about five seconds. Then the bitch called."

"Eh? You talked to the bitch?"

"More like the bitch talked some shit at me," Miura replied, scowling. "She 
let Jumbo-chan call, huh?"

Koiwai nodded, grimacing. "And just our luck, Yotsuba was the only one here 
to answer the phone."

Miura closed her eyes. "Dammit."

"Yeah."

"By the way, Niisan, you need to call a plumber to fix the kitchen sink."

"Eh?" Koiwai blinked stupidly.

"Yeah. And um...I kinda owe you a garbage disposal and a new phone."

"A garbage disposal and a new phone?" Koiwai echoed, having trouble piecing 
those items together in his mind.

Miura grimaced. "Yeah, I kinda overreacted to the bitch's call. Sorry about 
that." Cheeks pink, she added, "If it was even half as loud on her end as it 
was here, then it was totally worth it."

It took Koiwai a moment to figure out what Miura had done. Shaking his head, 
he headed silently upstairs, digging out his mobile en route.

------------------------------------

With the kitchen effectively out of order and nobody really feeling like 
leaving the house, they ordered pizza. Nobody especially felt hungry when it 
arrived, but they sat and ate together as a family.

"You know," Ena said as she picked at the slice of pizza on her plate, "much 
as I hate thinking about Asagi at all, there's one thing I just can't quit 
wondering, since all this started."

"What's that, Ena-chan?" Fuuka asked.

"How did she get all this...organization?" Ena asked, gesturing vaguely. "I 
mean, she's got underlings, she's got resources, it's like she's the damn 
yakuza, but..."

"But where'd she get the money?" Fuuka asked. "Yeah, I've been wondering 
that too. It doesn't make any sense." She shook her head. "She's never had a 
job, she always got the exact same allowance we did...I guess with what we 
found on her computer, she might've been--" She froze, remembering Yotsuba 
was at the table, and corrected herself with a cough, "--uh, dating somebody 
really rich or something and we didn't know it..."

"Actually, I know everything about Asagi's organization," Miura said. 
"Especially how she got started."

Everyone stared at her.

"Since *when*?" Ena asked.

"Since I asked Torako-san and she told me," Miura said simply. At everyone's 
silent, shocked stares, she raised an eyebrow. "What, you think I'm not 
gonna find out everything I possibly can about what I'm gettin' myself 
into?"

"N-no," Fuuka said after a moment, "it's just..." She looked sheepish. "I 
guess it just never occurred to any of us that Torako-san would answer 
questions like that."

"I wasn't sure she would either," Miura said, taking a bite of pizza, "but I 
figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. And I think she was waiting for it, because 
she laid this big damn presentation on me the second I did."

"Really?" Koiwai asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's interesting."

"Don't ever forget Torako-san is one of *US*, Niisan." Miura paused for 
another bite, sipped her drink, and continued. "Anyway, this apparently all 
started with her very first subordinate, a girl she calls Takako. Torako-san 
doesn't know Takako's real name, but she knows that the place their little 
girl gang always hung out at when they were in junior high school was owned 
by this really old guy Takako was...ahem, going out with."

Everyone except Yotsuba turned faintly green at the implication.

"When Asagi started hanging out with the bad girls, it was right after she 
made friends with this Takako." Miura paused. "Torako-san wasn't there at 
the start, of course. By the time she got there, Asagi had already taken 
over the gang. But apparently, Takako was the original leader. And had all 
the money and stuff."

"So what happened?" Fuuka asked.

"Well, these girls were really only into petty vandalism and stuff. You 
know, trashing bathrooms, graffiti, smoking, being noisy and rude. Typical 
sukeban crap.

"But then Takako brought Asagi in, and Asagi taught them how to really 
*hurt* people. And they got off on it." Miura grimaced. "Erm, I mean they 
really enjoyed it."

"They didn't know how to hurt people?" Yotsuba asked. "Cuz even I know that. 
I mean if you hit somebody it hurts, right?"

"No, Yotsuba-chan, I mean REAL hurt," Miura said. "Like..."

"Like today?" Yotsuba asked, voice small and afraid. "Like when Jumbo 
called?"

"Yeah, exactly like that," Miura affirmed. "See, they weren't too smart, 
these girls, and they just liked ticking people off. But Asagi, well...we've 
all seen what she's capable of. Hell, what she did to you guys, she didn't 
even NEED her gang for."

"True enough," Fuuka nodded, scowling.

"So anyway, there was this one teacher...Torako-san remembers her, says she 
was really nice and really popular, especially with the boys. She wasn't 
much past high school age herself.

"Well, one day, Asagi decided to ask out this guy she kinda liked, and he 
basically told her to fuck off because he was only interested in that 
teacher." Miura shook her head. "Well, we all know how well Asagi handles 
rejection."

"Yeah," Koiwai said, grimacing.

Miura opened her mouth to say more, and then paused. "Um...I don't know if I 
should finish this story in front of Yotsuba-chan. It's...really not 
somethin' I want her to hear."

Wordlessly, Yotsuba picked up her plate and her drink, trotted off to the TV 
room, and closed the door behind her.

Miura blinked. "Whoa. Not even an argument?"

"Yotsuba-chan's figured out why people don't tell her stuff," Ena said. "She 
says she's starting to wish she didn't understand things again."

Everyone shifted uncomfortably.

The door to the TV room cracked open. "Lemme know when you're done with the 
bad part so I can hear the parts that I can understand," Yotsuba said before 
closing the door again.

Koiwai blinked. "DAMN. She IS getting smart."

Miura coughed. "Anyway...so Asagi shows up at the girls' condo after school 
and she's really pissed about the whole thing. So Takako asks if she wants 
the girls to help rough up the teacher or something. And then Asagi lays 
this plan on them.

"They rounded up this bunch of A/V nerds and some of the dumber, uglier jock 
types from some of the sports clubs. Asagi tells these guys they need some 
big favors, and the guys can name their price--money, pussy, whatever. So 
these guys say okay, sure, we'll do it.

"So the girls set this teacher up by asking her to help with something they 
were working on for Art Club. This teacher was the kind who was always happy 
to help people out, so she went along with them.

"So she gets there, and wants to know what the project is, and then the 
girls grab her and hold her while Asagi duct-tapes her hands. And then these 
guys, they had at least a dozen that went along with this, all come into the 
room. They block the door, and Takako's girls start setting up video cameras 
and shit the A/V nerds loaned them. Once all the cameras are set up and all 
the guys are ready and all the sukeban are hidden off in the corners of the 
room, the guys gang-rape this teacher for like three hours."

Everyone stared at Miura in horror.

"Oh my GOD," Ena gasped.

"That's...that's really, really sick," Koiwai said.

"It gets worse."

"Oh god, you can't be serious."

Miura sighed. "Like I said, they were taping this whole thing. And they sold 
it to a porn company. It took like three days for the school administration 
to find out there was a video flying around of one of the teachers getting 
gang-raped. Of course, every face and voice on the video was blurred and 
distorted EXCEPT the teacher's.

"She was already completely broken inside by the actual rape, to the point 
she had barricaded herself in her own apartment and wouldn't even answer the 
phone. So she gets a message on her answering machine telling her she's been 
'dismissed' from her duties due to 'undue distress'."


"They fired her because the video of her rape shamed the school," Koiwai 
clarified.

"Yeah. And then, Asagi e-mailed her a link to the website where that company 
was selling the video of her being raped." Miura sighed. "She killed 
herself."

Utter, horrified silence followed that pronouncement.

"Well, when they saw just how far they could push someone...these girls 
started to get excited. They *liked* Asagi's particular brand of nasty. 
Takako especially. So they made her their new captain, and went from a 
vague, disorganized group of random girl thugs straight to being complete 
sociopaths, and always taking their cues from Asagi so that nobody outside 
of themselves and their victims ever suspected they were so thoroughly 
depraved."


"My god..." Fuuka whispered.

"So, with Takako as her loyal lieutenant, Asagi kept the gang going all 
through junior high and high school, and forbade Takako to stop fucking the 
old guy with the money until he croaked. Well, the old guy left Takako 
everything he had in his will, so now she's filthy fucking rich, and she's 
got good economic sense so she just keeps getting richer. While all the 
money and resources come from Takako, she's one hundred percent loyal to 
Asagi, and that's how we got to where we are now."

"And...how long has she been running all this shit?" Koiwai asked.

"Seven years."

"Goddamn."

"And none of us ever even suspected...she was just our Oneechan..." Ena 
murmured, trembling.

"We lived under the same roof as a monster like that..." Fuuka breathed. 
"I..." She shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes.

"And this is what we're fighting?" Koiwai asked. "This is seriously what 
we're up against?"

"Yeah," Miura nodded.

"Then we're fucked," Koiwai said listlessly. "We're completely, utterly 
fucked."

"No, we're not," Miura said. "She may not be a human being inside, like the 
rest of us, but on the outside she still is, and that means she can die. So 
all we have to do is get close enough to her to kill her, and then do it."

"And then wait for Takako and whatever other monsters she has lying around 
to come after us in revenge?" Fuuka asked.

"Torako-san's working on a plan to deal with the underlings. The only thing 
WE need to focus on is Asagi. Get rid of her, they're completely 
disorganized." Miura paused. "Well, no, Takako is still dangerous, but only 
because Asagi personally groomed her all these years. But Torako-san is 
pretty sure Takako will be a lot easier to dispose of once Asagi is gone."

"I guess it's a good thing we never went to the police with any of this," 
Koiwai said absently. "We'd have all been dead in a day, and they'd never 
even be able to touch her."

"Yeah, this whole mess is so fucked up we're pretty much stuck with street 
justice," Miura nodded miserably. "Bad as I want her dead, bad as I want to 
be the one to do it, I'm honestly really nervous about taking on this gang 
of hers." She finished her drink and wiped her mouth. "Of course, the idea 
is to NOT have to fight them, so...best I can do is stick with the training, 
and pray."

She went to the TV room and sat down with Yotsuba. The others just looked at 
one another, silently sharing their horror and dread. With no further 
conversation, everyone cleared the table and got ready for bed.

None of them slept particularly well.

------------------------------------

Shortly after sunrise, Koiwai stirred to wakefulness, and looked over at 
Fuuka. She was lying still, she was breathing steadily enough, but her eyes 
were open, and he knew she wasn't asleep.

"Did you sleep at all?" he asked her.

She sighed. "No, I didn't. All night long, all I could think about is what 
Miura-chan told us...I keep going back in my mind, to when Asagi was in 
junior high. I keep trying to remember what her friends looked like...trying 
to, I dunno..."

"Trying to figure out if you know this Takako?"

"Yeah." Fuuka sighed. "All I can remember is a normal, laughing bunch of 
girls that just hung out with Asagi, not worship her, not..." She trembled.

"What terrifies me is that the very FIRST thing she did is probably the 
sickest thing I've ever heard of in my entire life," Koiwai said. "And over 
*NOTHING*! I mean, what she did to that poor teacher...over absolutely 
NOTHING..."

"How did she get so sick?" Fuuka wondered. "I mean, what went wrong? I can't 
figure it out. I feel like I should be able to think back and remember some 
sign, some warning..."

Koiwai slipped an arm around her and drew her close. "Maybe it's better not 
to dwell on it. The more time we spend thinking about what kind of demon she 
is, the more afraid of her we'll be. I think. I don't know."

"Yeah..."

Koiwai sighed. "I'm gonna go down to the flower shop today. I gotta tell 
Jumbo's dad he called."

"Poor Takeda-san," Fuuka said. "I'd forgotten about him entirely, but now 
that you mention it...he must be so confused and torn up..."

------------------------------------

"I didn't sleep so good last night," Ena complained as she sat up in bed.

"Me neither," Yotsuba said. She yawned. "Nobody never told me the part of 
the story that wasn't too bad to understand."

"That's because there wasn't one," Ena grimaced. "I'm gonna have nightmares 
about that for the rest of my life."

"It's worse than what she did to Jumbo?"

"A whole lot worse."

"Did she kill somebody?"

"Sort of. She hurt somebody so bad they killed themselves."


Yotsuba's eyes widened. "That's scary!"

"Yes, Yotsuba-chan, it's VERY scary." Stretching, Ena looked around the 
room. "Hey, where's Miura-chan, anyway?"

"She didn't never come to bed last night," Yotsuba said.

Ena's eyes widened in alarm. "Then we gotta find her!"

"Asagi didn't take her or nothin'," Yotsuba said. "She was just outside 
exercisin' all night. I watched her out the window."

"Oh," Ena said. "That's okay, then."

"You miss huggin' an' kissin' Miura all the time like you used to, huh?" 
Yotsuba suddenly asked.

Ena flushed. "Yeah, I do," she said. "Ever since she got...like she is 
now...we just haven't spent much time together." She sighed. "This whole 
summer...just doesn't seem like it could really be real anymore. I mean we 
keep going from happy to mad to hurt to afraid to happy to really happy to 
scared to really pissed off and..."

"Hey Ena?" Yotsuba asked after the older girl trailed off.

"Hm?"

Yotsuba stood up on the bed, facing away from Ena, then bent over, waving 
her pajama-covered rear in front of the other girl, and started making 
really loud farting noises.

"Ewww, Yotsuba-chan! That's nasty!"

Yotsuba jumped down off the bed and ran over to her dresser, digging out the 
bottoms from her spare pajamas. She pulled them over her arms and head, then 
started dancing around the room. "I'm FARTS MAN!" she declared. "Which end 
farts and which end poops? You'll never know!"

Ena doubled over, giggling hysterically. "You are SO WEIRD sometimes, 
Yotsuba-chan..."

------------------------------------

'The place looks like hell' would have been the biggest understatement since 
'it gets cold at the South Pole'.

Koiwai sighed inwardly as he looked around the shop. He wasn't a great 
expert on flowers, but he knew just enough to know that about half of 
Takeda-san's merchandise was either dead or dying. There were also withered 
leaves and wilted petals scattered and strewn all over the place. Cut 
flowers hadn't been watered, the daily specials board hadn't been updated in 
days...

Sighing, he headed around to the corner behind the cabinet where he knew 
Jumbo kept a broom and dustpan, and began cleaning up the mess.

"Eh? Is someone out there?" he heard as he worked. He looked up, and Mr. 
Takeda shuffled listlessly out of the back room, looking around. "I'm sorry 
for the slow service--"

"It's okay, Jisan," Koiwai said. "It's just me."

Mr. Takeda blinked. "Koiwai-kun?" He noticed Koiwai sweeping, and he paled. 
"Oh goodness, whatever are you doing? You don't need to--"

"Yeah, I do," Koiwai said. "At least let me clean the shop up for you."

"Well...alright. I guess it does need...Takashi-kun usually..."

"That's kind of why I'm here, by the way," Koiwai said as he worked. "I 
wanted to let you know that we've heard from him. Kind of."

Mr. Takeda blinked. "You've heard from my son?"

"Yeah. Asagi let him call us yesterday."

"I see..." Mr. Takeda frowned. "That girl isn't very nice, is she?"

"No, Jisan, she isn't." Koiwai grimaced inwardly; Mr. Takeda was obviously 
falling apart. Had he even slept or eaten since...?

"So is he coming home? Is he going to call his poor father?"

"I'm sorry, Jisan. I just don't know. The only one who was home when he 
called was Yotsuba, and she didn't seem to think he was doing very well." 
Flinching at what he had just said, he added, "But the fact we heard from 
him at all is a good sign, right?"

"Yes, I...I suppose so..." Mr. Takeda frowned. "He called Yotsuba-chan, huh? 
And not me...?"

"Maybe he didn't want to upset you," Koiwai said, shrugging. "To be honest, 
we all sort of broke down a little after we heard from him. We miss him like 
crazy and we all want him back." He dumped a dustpan full of petals into the 
trash. "I figure he knew if he called us, we'd let you know."

"Yes, yes...of course. He's always been such a sensible boy..." Mr. Takeda 
twisted his hands fretfully.

"Jisan," Koiwai said, setting down his broom and dustpan. He walked over and 
placed his hands on the older man's shoulders, looking him firmly in the 
eye. "We're working on a plan to bring him home. We don't know where he is 
right now, but we'll find out. And as soon as we do, we're taking him back."

Mr. Takeda snuffled loudly. "You should go to the police," he said. "I 
wanted to, but Takashi-kun said not to..."

"Jisan, if we try to get the police to help, Asagi will kill most if not all 
of my family. Jumbo knows that. That's why he told you not to call."

Mr. Takeda's eyes widened. "She..."

"As fucked up as it sounds, this has become a private war," Koiwai said. 
"And we're going to win it. We're gonna kick her ass so hard her 
great-great-grandmother will feel it, and we're gonna bring Jumbo home safe 
and sound." He smiled at the older man. "And I'll tell you something, 
Jisan...when Jumbo comes home, he better not find this place looking like 
this, with the flowers all sad and worthless."

Mr. Takeda's brow furrowed. Slowly, he started to regain focus; his listless 
gaze lost some cloudiness. His shoulders stiffened, his jaw firmed. He 
nodded. "Right. I've got work to do. I won't let Takashi-kun see the shop in 
such a pitiful shape." Taking a step back, he bowed. "Thank you, Koiwai-kun. 
My son couldn't possibly ask for a better best friend than you."

Koiwai returned the bow. "I can only hope to earn such praise," he said. "If 
you need any help around here, I can help out, or send some of the girls 
over to help. Ena and Yotsuba need something to do other than sit around, 
anyway."

Mr. Takeda chuckled. "I appreciate the offer, but I'll be fine. I ran this 
place all by myself for a good twenty years, after all." He smiled. "I'm not 
as spry as I used to be, but I think I'd be better off overworking myself 
than sitting around right now."

"I know exactly what you mean," Koiwai said. "But be sure to rest and eat 
properly, too. After all, you want Jumbo to see you strong and healthy when 
he gets back, right?"

"Right." Mr. Takeda nodded. "Keep me posted, Koiwai-kun."

"Of course." Koiwai left, and Mr. Takeda began the laborious process of 
getting his store back in shape.

-----------------------------------

"Well, Takashi-kun," Asagi said with a bright, sunny smile. "Did you enjoy 
your day of relative freedom? Was it pleasant to hear that cute little 
child's voice?"

Jumbo, once again tied to the bed, remained silent.

"Oh my, oh my...I had hoped to improve your manners through a little 
positive reinforcement." She sighed. "And I frankly grow bored with our 
little games in here...watching you bleed just isn't as interesting as it 
used to be."

There was a knock on the door. "Asagi-sama, pardon the intrusion..."

"Not at all, Takako, come on in. Oh, Takashi-kun, you've not met my 
executive assistant yet, have you? Well, don't be rude, introduce yourself." 
She paused, waiting. "No? Very well, then." Proceeding to ignore Jumbo, 
Asagi turned her attention to Takako. "This must be important, or at least 
fairly interesting," she said.

"I've reviewed the audio from the Koiwai house from yesterday evening," 
Takako said.

"I take it you overheard something good?" Asagi asked.

"There was definitely a very...interesting conversation," Takako said. "Of 
which you were the central topic, of course."

"Well of course," Asagi agreed. "After all, what could possibly be of more 
interest than me?"

"Actually, the most interesting part is that I was also mentioned," Takako 
said.

Asagi whirled sharply to face her. "They're not supposed to even know you 
exist," she warned.

"Except that they have an informant. And the bokukko was finally smart 
enough to ask the right questions."

"Ah, of course. So, Torako has been telling tales outside of school, has 
she?"

Takako suddenly burst into a particularly unpleasant fit of giggles that 
made Jumbo's skin crawl.

Asagi raised an eyebrow. "I said something to amuse you, Takako-chan?"

"Perhaps...I should simply play the recording," Takako said with a sinister 
smile. "And, if I may be so bold, Asagi-sama...perhaps your husband would 
enjoy hearing his friends' voices for a short time?"

Asagi considered this, then nodded. "Very well. Proceed."

Jumbo's eyes widened and his face paled as he listened to Miura's tale, 
captured by the audio bugs he now knew existed in his best friend's home.

Asagi raised an eyebrow. "Oh my, oh my, that DOES bring back memories, does 
it not, sweet Takako?"

"Yes, Asagi-sama, it does," Takako agreed.

"Hmm, what was her name again? Nakamori, Nakatomi, Nakanaka..." Asagi 
shrugged. "Can't remember, doesn't matter." She touched her lip 
thoughtfully. "You know, I can't even remember the little boy that turned me 
down? Did I ever wind up going out with him?"

"Don't you remember? He was one of the ones we hired to rape that teacher," 
Takako said. "He didn't even ask for anything in return."

"Oh, yes, that's right," Asagi nodded. She laughed. "Funny how things work 
out, ne, Takako-chan?"

"I've always thought so, Asagi-sama."

"You know, hearing that story puts me in the mood for an eclair. Let's go to 
the pastry shop down by the station..."

The two women left, having forgotten entirely about Jumbo. Jumbo, 
unfortunately, now had a great deal more to think about than he would have 
liked.


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Mythril Moth
www.mythrilmoth.net