will the real anime protagonist please stand up

[protagchan]

[ ah, it's sunny out...

you know, as i get older i realize the days just start to blur together. i can't really tell one day from the next 'cause it's all the same to me. i do the same things over and over again that everything i do has lost meaning to it.

i wake up, i eat breakfast, i go to school, come home from school, sit around and play some games while i do my homework, eat dinner somewhere along the way and i go to sleep.

and then it repeats, just like that, every day. and it's been like this for, what, i dunno -- half of my life? and then this is just going to keep on going for... however long i'm alive for. it's really boring, isn't it? living that kind of life.

which is why, right at this moment, i sigh heavily. before me stands perhaps the greatest obstacle of my day: a hill that i must climb in order to reach the school campus.

ugh, anything but this...

it's true, this route could easily be avoided -- if i wake up early enough, i could take the longer way around, or if i had a bicycle i could just bike my way up the hill, or if i had friends who lived in my neighborhood, they could walk up with me and it wouldn't be so boring.

except it's all too much trouble and i'd rather not waste my time. it's going to be more work to figure out an alternative. best not to prolong the inevitable, either -- i'm going to have to climb this hill for the next two years of my life anyway.

it's way too early for this.

i take my first step -- left foot first -- and just as my foot is about to hit the ground, my right foot just about to push off to take the next step, something odd happens. it takes me by surprise and i stumble, losing my balance after not even one single step and i fall to the ground, my ass meeting the pavement that i would have been treading along had things... gone to plan, i guess.

something rustles from the bushes to my right, and within a moment's notice something i've never seen before comes out from it. a dark puddle or blob or something moves to the left, a little, then to the right. it stops, moves forward and then moves back... and looks right at me.

-- panic settles in --

what the hell is going on right now? why is it looking at me? shit --

why is this happening to me? ]

Comments

[quasimediocre]

... Man, you're bad at this lying thing.

How about we just take a bath, then? We're all sweaty from how hot it's been anyway. [And the sex. Don't forget the sex.]

Not that I don't like you when you're sweaty. [Kyouko returns the proper kiss, slips Shiro her tongue even though she's tired/not in the mood. Kyouko's never tired and she's always in the mood, apparently.]

[protagchan]

Bath sounds nice. [ Shiro breaks the kiss, goes back to just laying on Kyouko and cuddling with her. Sorry her breasts are pressed up against yours, Kyouko. ]

Can we have bubbles in it? [ She's disregarding the other stuff. Huff huff she's not in the mooood ]

[quasimediocre]

[It feels kinda nice, but it. Also makes Kyouko feel conscious of her boobs. Being conscious of her boobs is strange for her - they're pretty flat and unless they're kinda sore or whatever, she forgets they're there.]

One bubble bath coming right up, princess. [Kyouko squirms out from under Shiro - sorry to insult your grip - and just sort of. Casually lifts her. It's not a bridal carry, or anything cute like that, she's carrying her like you would a kid.]

Love you.

[quasimediocre]

[Kyouko shifts in bed, crosses her legs, scratches at her hair.

Hey, Shiro. Did you forget your phone when you went out? You're always doing silly stuff like that.

... Wait, I didn't mean it like-

Okay, the first attempt hadn't gone so well.

Sorry about that last one. Let me try again. Uhm........

She probably needed to plan these out before calling. Maybe write it down.

Shiro, I -

What's that? No, no, Kojima, I'm not calling anybody important! Look, can you just - gimme that, would you?

For the record, that one was totally Kojima's fault. Stupid tall idiot stealing her hat.

Shiro, I love you, and I'm sorry if I said anything that hurt you. Could you please pick up? I miss you.

... Alright! I think I nailed it! Wait, it's still goi-

That one was definitely her own fault, though. After about two minutes of burying her head in her pillows in shame, Kyouko gathered up the nerve to try again, speed-dialing Shiro's number. Waiting for the now familiar voice mall clip, she began to speak as soon as she heard noise.]

Shiro, sorry about that last one. I know I'm...

[She trails off as soon as she realizes she didn't get the answering machine, though. There's an awkward silence, and then - ]

... Are you there? I can hear you breathing, you know.

[protagchan]

[ In the past week, Kyouko has called her at least 50 times.

In the past day, Kyouko has called her at least 20 times out of that 50.

In the past hour? 5 times.

Shiro finally decides to pick it up, shuffling around in her hoodie pocket for her phone. She crosses her legs on the bed, tosses her PSP aside (some dumb otome game she picked up the other day while browsing the game shop... by herself) and just... takes in Kyouko's voice. ]

...

[ What's with this girl? Seriously, all of these voice mails that she leaves...

Frankly, Shiro can't help but chuckle. ]

God, what the hell are you doing? [ Through her chuckling, Shiro smiles faintly and curls up a bit. ] No one said you could be such a dork.

[quasimediocre]

Hey, hey, don't make fun of me. [Kyouko huffs, but laughing is a hell of a lot better than crying. She doesn't know what she'll do if Shiro starts crying.]

I meant it when I said I miss you. I woke up this morning and you weren't there, and that just felt... wrong.

... I'm sorry for calling you an idiot. [Kyouko's exact words were 'emptyheaded spaz', but.]

I'm not gonna try and explain myself. It was wrong. I apologize. [Can you tell she asked for advice from a bunch of different people, Shiro?]

[protagchan]

Yeah. I woke up and you weren't there either. I mean, it's my house - you wouldn't be here to begin with - but waking up without feels weird.

[ She presses the phone to her ear a little too hard, rests her head against the wall. ]

It's... fine. I was the one who messed up anyway, right? ... Sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did, and I shouldn't have felt so upset when you, uh, insulted me.

[quasimediocre]

You slipped up, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I mean - I said some awful things. We're adults, I think. We can handle stuff like this without attacking each other.

[Kyouko sighs, and for her part sprawls out onto her bed.]

I mean, I love you, so making you feel like shit is kind of terrible of me. And it's not like my mom threw me out of the house or anything. She just... pursed her lips a bit. Gave me that look, like she was a little disappointed.

[Kyouko's voice is tight. She's passing it off like it's better than she was expecting, but as far as she's concerned, disowning her would have been better than what her mother actually did.]

So I'm fine. How're you holding up?

[protagchan]

That's good, I think, not throwing you out part I mean. Um, sorry about the look. Maybe we can go back there and talk to her? Give it a few days, though, if we did.

You sure you're okay...? [ Kyouko's tone of voice worries her. ]

I'm alright. Hanging in there, I guess. It was weird not going to your place or anything after school or just to hang... Dad asked me if I had dumped my ... boyfriend or something. I just laughed and shook it off, had dinner and went to sleep.

[ She bites her lip. ] Sorry, they don't know anything either so... They just assumed...

[quasimediocre]

Don't worry. I wouldn't expect you to tell them or anything.

[Kyouko curls up in bed. She feels... gross. Wrong, somehow.]

I'm fine. Uhm...

[Kyouko chews on her lip for a second.]

Can you come over? I'll make dinner. [Her tone of voice is closer to 'please come over.']

I wanna make up for being an ass.

[protagchan]

I'll tell them - I just. I don't know when yet. We can talk about that some other time.

[ Shiro... makes a very faint kissing sound into the speaker. If Kyouko can hear that, then good. It's embarrassing so she has to hear it. ]

Yeah. Gimme half an hour. [ Kyouko's kinda far... ] Make me my favorite? [ chicken nanban! ] Then we'll be even.

[quasimediocre]

[Kyouko hears the sound, and. Laughs. It's not exactly a strong laugh, but it's there.]

Yeah, okay. See you then. Make sure you're wearing cute panties. [Kyouko laughs again, significantly more at ease - it's amazing that a goofy little noise can make her feel so much better - and smiles.]

I just said it, but I really do love you. Let's just have a nice night and forget about our problems for a bit.

[protagchan]

O-Oi, what makes you think I'm not wearing cute panties? Shit, wait - that came out wrong - I'll be there! Jeez.

[ Shiro hangs up, blushing. It only takes her a second to slip something else on besides pajama shorts and a tank-top and she's off. Her parents question where she's going pretty late in the night but she dismisses them and just says, "I'll be back tomorrow morning!".

Good thing it's a weekend night.

The walk to Kyouko's never really seemed that long to her, but Shiro's walking and taking buses and doing some more walking... Tonight's a night where she feels a little lonely. Not seeing Kyouko for a while has done some damage but... she's about to her now, right? That's something to look forward to.

She's in short shorts and a graphic tee, hair already a little longer than when they first met.

She opens the door - Kyouko gave her a spare key - and walks in quietly towards the kitchen ]

Oiiiiiii. [ Sniff, sniff ] It smells good already. You work fast.

[quasimediocre]

[Kyouko, on the other hand, basically still is in her pajamas - short shorts and a tanktop, since it's hot - with an apron tied around her. It's not exactly naked aproning, but there's a bit of skin.]

The walk's kinda long, so I figured you'd be hungry when you got here. So I started right away.

[She doesn't quite look at Shiro yet - gotta make sure the chicken's frying right - but then she glances up at her, and she drops everything to walk over to her, hug her tight, stroke her hair.

She holds Shiro very close, against her chest.]

I won't hurt you again, okay? I mean, I can't promise I won't do anything stupid, but I won't insult you, or attack you, or anything like that. Okay? I'm promising you that. If I break that promise, kick me in the shins or something.

[protagchan]

How thoughtful.

[ Shiro falls against her the moment she's hugged, and presses her face against the side of her head. Embracing Kyouko is a lot nicer now that she's been away from it for a few days. ]

Yeah. You know I'm good with promises, so - hope your shins are ready.

[ She hugs Kyouko a little longer, arms wrapped around her neck, face against her shoulder now. Shiro takes in her scent, misses what Kyouko smells like, then sniffs again...

And sniffs one more time... ]

Is something burning?

[quasimediocre]

...

Oh, shit.

[Kyouko breaks the hug, hurries over to the chicken. Thankfully, it isn't on fire or anything - the sauce just got a little. Frazzled.]

Uhm, it might be a little more sour than usual... [Kyouko cuts the heat, blows on the pan a little - or a lot - than takes a sniff.]

Yeha, it's. Fine. A bit crispy, but it's fried, it's good when it's crispy. [That's a good justification.]

So! What panties are you wearing? [Kyouko winks. This is a smooth way of getting off the topic of her fuck-up, right.]

[protagchan]

Jeez, pay a little more attention to your stove next time.

[ "Next time." That's a good sign. ]

Well, I guess I'll eat it still, since you went through the trouble of making it for me. [ She grins a little sheepishly, sits down at the table. Food, food! ]

Hmmm... don't wanna say~ Surprise yourself later or something.

[ Is she insinuating something?? ]

[quasimediocre]

Of course you're gonna eat it still. Good quality chicken isn't cheap...

[Kyouko sighs as she prepares the food, sets a plate - with a big helping of chicken and sauce - in front of Shiro, and sets a more modest serving on her end.

And then suddenly ducks her head under the table, trying to catch a glimpse of her panties - those shorts had to ride up a little when she sat down, right?]

[protagchan]

Yeah, yeah. Hey, can I get some rice with this, too?

[ Too bad, Kyouko.

Shiro's legs are squeezed together!! ]

Drop something down there? [ Look how innocent she is ]

[quasimediocre]

Yeah. [Her dignity.]

Since you asked so nicely, you can get some rice. [By which she means she's just pour a bit of rice onto Shiro's plate. No bowl for you.

Once that's done, she sits down opposite Shiro, takes a small bite of her chicken experimentally. She's kind of awkward with chopsticks (she blames her American blood), so she's just. Using her fingers.]

Tastes fine to me.

[protagchan]

Thanks.

[ And Shiro... is pretty much stuffing her face. She didn't eat much at the dinner table at home, so she's pretty hungry.

While she's chewing with a mouth full, she nods. ]

Tastes great! Maybe I should just eat this a little crispier from now on.

[ What are good manners ]

[quasimediocre]

Crispier is one thing, but I won't burn it again. [Huff. Kyouko takes pride in her cooking! She even likes watching cooking shows.

And she doesn't mind Shiro's complete lack of table manners. She's just happy she likes it.]

Even if it comes out fine, it leaves a kind of nasty smell all over my nice stove.

[protagchan]

We'll clean it up later.

[ She reaches over the table, picking up a piece of Kyouko's chicken and holds it up to her mouth. ]

'Ahhh.'

[ Look, isn't that cute? Shiro's feeding her. ]

[quasimediocre]

I'm not five, you know.

[But she opens her mouth wide, anyway.]

Ahhhhn~ [So cute, Kyouko.]

[protagchan]

Pfff. Cute.

[ And once both of them have stopped chewing and swallowed their food...

Shiro leans in for a kiss! ]

Love you.