This Story No Title
A School Rumble Fanfic

Chapter 11:  We've got spirit, yes we do.  We've got spirit, 
how about you?

By John Biles

***************

	Tenma waved her fist at the universe as she headed to 
school.  I will peep on Karasuma today if it kills me.  She 
had to prove her love for him.  If Yakumo can do it, surely 
I can, she thought.

	Mikoto fell in alongside her as they approached the 
school.  "Did you have a good weekend?" she asked.

	"It was okay," Tenma said.  "My subbing for Yakumo 
went very well and I got some money."  Money which can 
finance my peeping.  "How was your date with Hanai?"

	"It wasn't a date," Mikoto said.  "We just went out 
with my old tutor and his girlfriend."

	"On a double date," Tenma said.  "So, do you like 
Imadori or Hanai better?"

	"Hanai," Mikoto said.

	"Good, Imadori should go out with Karen, who likes 
him," Tenma said.

	"You're just going to matchmake the whole class," 
Mikoto said.

	"If I have to," Tenma said.  "Hmmm, I should find out 
when the band's next concert is and go."

	"How are things with you and Karasuma?" Mikoto 
asked.  She was pretty sure Tenma liked him.

	"Great," Tenma said.  "Never been better."

	"That's good," Mikoto said.

	Akira now joined them.  "Hello, everyone."

	"Did you and Eri have fun?" Tenma asked.

	"Loads," Akira said.  "Going to arrest anyone at 
school today, Tenma-chan?"

	"Bang bang," Tenma said, then laughed.  

	"What?" Mikoto asked.

	Akira told her the whole story.  Mikoto shook her 
head.  "Better be careful.  The guys may not be very happy 
with you."

	"Oh, I'm sure they understand," Tenma said.  "I was 
just doing my job."

	Oddly, neither Eri nor the pervert brigade was there 
when they arrived at school.  

	Tenma sat down and began planning Operation:  Peep.

*************

	"Are you busy?"

	Tae-sensei jumped when she heard the voice and 
turned and saw Eri.  "Oh, hello, Sawachika-san."

	"Do you have a minute?" Eri asked, shuffling her feet.

	"Yes," she said, pulling out chairs and sitting.

	Eri sat down in the chair and asked, "How do you tell 
who a guy is in love with?"  She paused and looked 
embarrassed.  "I mean..."

	"Well, some guys are obvious, like your Imadori," 
Tae-sensei began.

	"He isn't MY Imadori," Eri said.

	"Your class," Tae-sensei continued.  "Other guys, it's 
hard to tell what they think on the inside."

	"Yeah."

	"This is about Kenji-kun?" Tae-sensei asked.

	"I...uh...Just in general," Eri said hastilly.

	"Well, you have to look at a couple of things.  Who 
does he spend time with?  Who does he seek out himself?"  
She looked thoughtful.  "If he's changed his behavior, who 
is he trying to be like?"

	Eri thought about those.  Tenma, Yakumo, and I, are 
the ones he spends the most time with.  That and beating up 
Hanai.  But he didn't really act like...well, he would be 
trying to act in a way his loved one finds pleasing.

	It can't be me or he wouldn't have retracted...well, he 
never did retract that confession; Tae-sensei just started 
teasing him and I got mad and kicked his ass.

	But maybe he's scared to approach her at all, Eri 
thought.  No, that can't be it.

	"I think he's trying to become a more peaceful man for 
her sake," Eri said.

	"Then he probably loves someone peaceful," Tae-
sensei said.  "Though really, I think Hario likes you."

	"But I'm not...there's someone really special to him," 
Eri said.  "I need to know who she is."

	"Well, if it isn't you, I'm not sure who it is."

	"You really think it's me?" Eri asked nervously.

	"Well, it's hard for me to be sure, but given the risks 
he went through on your behalf...maybe he's just that 
grandiose with everyone, but I think he'd be dead already if 
he was," Tae-sensei said.  "He certainly likes you a lot."

	"You went with him," Eri pointed out.  "I mean..."  
She screwed up her courage.  "Well, you are his cousin, 
but..."

	"No, no, he lives with Itoko-sensei.  She's his cousin.  
He only lived with me a little while," Tae-sensei said, 
sighing.  

	"He...you...but you're at least...you're much older than 
him!" Eri said, panicking.

	"It was chaste," Tae-sensei said.  "He was too devoted 
to his love to do anything like that with me.  He just stayed 
with me a while, after he ran away from school for a 
while."  She sighed.  "He thought he could never be with 
his love, but I would guess circumstances must have 
changed.  He was going to confess to her, but I suppose it 
didn't happen."  She sighed again.  "He was fun to have as a 
roommate.  It's nice to come home to someone, you know?"

	Itoko-sensei being Kenji's cousin who he lived with 
made sense of a lot of things to Eri.  Her mind twirled the 
possibilities around.  Me, Tenma, Yakumo.  It can't be 
Tenma; he's never tried to ask her out.  But if Yakumo is 
the love of his life, then why does he spend so much time 
with me.  But conversely, if I'm the one, why is he dating 
Yakumo?  Or does he think I want him to date Yakumo and 
he's doing it for me?

	It all made her brain hurt.

***************

	Tani-sensei studied the class.  The entire pervert 
brigade was absent.  This boded ill, though probably not for 
him, as they didn't peep on men.  And Sawachika was...

	Sawachika ran in at the last second and sat down.

	Hanai looked utterly exhausted, and Sagano, Yuuki 
and Mikoto all looked wiped out too.  Surely a coincidence.

	Tenma and Harima both looked lost in their own 
private worlds as usual.  Karen kept staring at the wall 
between them and 2-D as if she expected Kool-Aid Man to 
burst through it.  Karasuma stared out the window, most of 
his attention focused...elsewhere.

	At least Mai had it all together, though right now she 
might as well have been yelling at an empty room for all 
the good it was doing.  "This is School Pride week!  We all 
must do our best to show our pride in the school!  There's a 
big game this Friday against Tomobiki High!  I expect you 
all to come and I expect you to show SCHOOL SPIRIT!"  
She slammed her paper fan against the podium for 
emphasis.

	Sagano was so uplifted, she mumbled incoherently 
into her desk.

	Tenma ignored her, continuing to plan operation 
Karasuma Peeping.

	Harima didn't even notice her to ignore her, working 
on reading his manga.

	Hanai managed to lift his head and mumble, "School 
spirit good."

	"Fire bad," Mikoto mumbled into her desk.

	"Mornings worse," Yuuki replied.

	"Look at you people!  A third of the class is absent, 
and the rest of you are asleep or dreaming!"  Mai shouted.  
"Doesn't anyone care?"  She shook her fan in the air.

	"Does anyone know where Imadori-kun is?" Karen 
asked.

	"No, and I don't care!" Mai said.  "I expect he and his 
sick friends all got VD from fondling used panties!"  She 
swept her fan across her field of vision as if to smite the 
whole group of absentees.

	Karen shrank back in her seat.  Surely that couldn't be 
true.

	Tenma snapped out of her haze.  I did let them out of 
that kitchen, right?  

	Akira said, "They're probably planning a horrible 
revenge on Tenma-chan for arresting them last Saturday."
	
	"You arrested them all Saturday?  You have a part-
time job as a COP?" Mai asked in disbelief.  She now 
dropped her fan in shock.

	"Officer Tenma was on the case," Tenma said a little 
nervously.  

	"No wonder you stopped a bank robbery," Mai said, 
shaking her head.  "You're going to be my enforcer, then."

	"What?" Tenma asked in confusion.

	"I can't be everywhere at once, so I'm putting you in 
charge of beating some school spirit into everyone.  We 
have to make a good showing this Friday."  Mai recovered 
her fan and smacked the podium for emphasis.

	Tenma gulped.  "I...But I..."

	"No hesitation.  NO FEAR," Mai said.  "We're going 
to win the School Spirit Trophy if it KILLS US."

	And as she looked around at her fellow students, she 
knew it might come down to that.

***************

	Coach Yuudo was a huge man who probably could 
have killed half the class with his bare hands if he wanted 
to.  He looked up and down the serried forces before him.  
"2-C may have won the school athletic festival, but you're 
going to have do better than this to win the School Spirit 
trophy.  Half your class is missing in action!"

	"Well, technically, four of us are just too tired to come 
out of the classroom," Tenma said.  "They're napping."

	"NO ONE naps on my dime!" Coach Yuudo bellowed.  
"Mai, put these slackers to work on jumping jacks and 
pushups.  I'm going to go find the lazybones."

	He stomped off to the 2-C classroom, where Hanai 
and Mikoto were asleep at the desks, Sagano had sat down 
by a wall and fallen asleep, and Yuuki was starting to 
slump out of her chair.

	He pulled out a bullhorn.  "WAKE UP!"

	Sagano leaped to her feet.  "It wasn't me!"

	Yuuki fell out of her chair.  "Oww!"

	Mikoto flipped backwards out of her chair, her leg 
coming down on the megaphone, knocking it to the floor.  
Then she looked embarrassed.

	Hanai staggered to his feet.  "Yuudo-sensei," he 
mumbled.  

	"You're a class rep!  Why are you sleeping with all 
these girls?" Yuudo bellowed.

	"I wasn't sleeping with them!"  Hanai shouted.  "My 
heart belongs to Yakumo!"

	Yuuki sighed.

	Sagano says, "If your heart belongs to Yakumo, why 
were you out with Mikoto on Saturday, being all lovey-
dovey with her?"

	"We weren't being all lovey-dovey!" Mikoto said. 

	"We're not here to discuss love lives, slackers!  You're 
going to come outside, and you're going to play soccer, and 
you're going to LIKE IT."	

	"Yes, sir," Hanai mumbled groggily.

	"You let him stay overnight at your house," Sagano 
said.  "If that isn't lovey-dovey..."

	"If I stayed overnight at her house, why was I home in 
bed at 6:30 in the morning when you showed up?" Hanai 
asked.

	"Come on, people!" the coach bellowed.

	"See?" Sagano said to Yuuki.  "I told you."

	Yuuki stared at the floor.

	Mikoto sighed.  "Come on, the coach wants us."

	So they went.

*************

	Sara looked over at 2-C, who were busy staggering 
around the soccer field, trying to play soccer and not doing 
a very good job of it.  "Your sister's class doesn't look too 
good."

	Yakumo and Sara's class, 1-C, were out on the fields 
as well, along with 3-C on the far end of the fields.  
Yakumo turned and looked, saying, "Some of them are 
missing."

	"Well, Asou's doing well," Sara said, smiling, as Asou 
stole the ball from Hanai, who was busy waving at 
Yakumo, then passed to Mai, who launched a powerful 
kick towards Mikoto, who was goalie for that half of the 
class.  Mikoto yawned, letting the ball go in.  "But most of 
the rest seem to be only half-there."

	"Pay attention!" their coach shouted at them.  The 
world punctuated this by a ball smacking Sara in the head.  

	The ball fell at Yakumo's feet, and she could see the 
onrushing line of guys approaching her.  She wasn't very 
happy with them, so she took the ball, and exploited their 
open minds, dodging through the line with the ball, then 
driving down the field.

	The goalie was an open book to her.  She feinted right, 
and when she sensed he fell for it, she kicked left, driving 
the ball in.  Score!  Sara was avenged.

	Then she rushed back to Sara, who was sitting up, 
rubbing her head.

	"Now, see, if you always played like that, your friend 
wouldn't have gotten hit in the head like that," the coach 
said to Yakumo.  

	Yakumo stared at him coldly for a moment, then 
helped Sara up.

	"No, really," the coach said, turning the harshness of 
his voice down a notch or two.  "That was really good," he 
said.  "You normally don't even pay much attention to the 
games, but I see you can do better if you want to."

	Yakumo glanced over at 2-C, where Tenma had just 
gotten in a kick past Harima somehow.  The coach looked 
surprised at that.  "That's your sister, right?"

	Yakumo nodded.  

	"Did they all get the plague or something?  They look 
an utter mess and half of them are missing," the coach said.

	It was time for another kick-off for 2-C; Asou seized 
the lead, making a pass to Suga, who then passed to Mai, 
who drove down the field past Yuuki, who was busy half 
looking at Hanai and half drowsing.  Eri moved in to 
intercept the ball and pulled off a steal.  She tried to pass it 
to Akira, but Akira didn't care too much, and just slowly 
advanced until Mai stole the ball back from her.

This time, though, Mikoto was ready and caught the 
ball as Mai kicked it in; she then gave a powerful kick that 
arced down the field and took Harima in the face, knocking 
him down.  This knocked the ball back away from the goal, 
though.

	"The perverts didn't come today," Yakumo said, 
wincing at what happened to Harima.  

	"Well, that can't possibly be good," the coach said.  He 
glanced over at her.  "That guy's your boyfriend, right?"

	"You knew?" Yakumo asked in surprise, blushing.

	"Boy's got a bad reputation," the coach said.  "You'll 
get hurt going out with a guy like him.  He used to run 
around just kicking the h...beating people up for no reason."

	"He's nice now," Yakumo said stubbornly.

	"He's changed," Sara said.

	"I hope for your sake you're right."

	Harima seized the ball and sent it flying towards the 
other team, and it took Hanai in the face.  He seized the ball 
and simply threw it at Harima's head.  It missed him and hit 
Sagano instead.  She seized it and hurled it at Hanai, whose 
dodge caused Mai to get clipped.  Pretty quickly, everyone 
was running about in a frenzy as soccer turned into 
dodgeball.

	The coach sighed.  "Here we go again."  He headed 
over to help break it up.

*************

	Tae-sensei had never seen students hauled into her 
clinic by wheelbarrow before.  Coach Yuudo dumped the 
last load on the floor. 

	"Oh dear," Tae-sensei said.  "Did things get out of 
hand?"

	"They decided to play dodgeball.  With soccer balls," 
he said flatly.

	The other coach, Coach Nanaki, said, "Two of the 
boys started fighting for no reason, and they all just kind of 
went crazy."

	"Dammit...this isn't going to help get the trophy..." 
Mai mumbled.  "Get up and play, all of you."

	About a third of 1-C peeked in the door, looking at the 
the results of all the carnage; they'd helped to haul all the 
fallen warriors in.

	"Akira-san, you will need to help me," Tae-sensei said 
to her.  "Since you are not hurt."

	Akira put her camera away.  "Of course."

	"Tenma...are you there?" Harima moaned into one of 
the beds, which he was piled on with some people.  "I can't 
see..."

	"That's because you're shoving your face into the 
mattress," Suga mumbled next to him.

	Harima rolled over.  "I can see!"

	Tae-sensei spotted Yakumo peeking in the door with 
Sara.  "Sara-chan, Yakumo-chan, please assist me as well."

	They came in and began bustling about, fixing 
everyone up.  Yakumo went over to take care of Harima, 
carefully cleaning his bruises and applying disinfectant.  
She couldn't see Eri's laser vision trying unsuccessfully to 
drill a hole in the back of her head.  

	Sara pressed an icepack to Tenma's head.  "Are you 
alright?" she asked.  There was a strange gleam in Tenma's 
eye.

	"Me?" Tenma said, laying a hand on Sara's shoulder.  
"I'm just fine, thank you."  Her voice was odd to Sara's 
hearing, but Sara wrote it off to shock.

	"Where are you hurt?"  Akira asked Hanai, who was 
busy watching Yakumo work.

	Hanai pointed to his bruises; he had a small cut on his 
leg also.  Akira said, "Alright."  She carefully salted the 
wound as Hanai howled, then applied disinfectant and a 
bandage.

	"Was that really necessary?" he asked.

	"Absolutely," she replied.  

	Soon, everyone was in vaguely working order and on 
their way back to class.

***************

	Katou-sensei looked around class 2-C.  Half the 
students were semi-conscious.  The rest looked battered 
and worn.  And that was the ones who had actually shown 
up.  

	Where had the rest of 2-C gone, anyway?

*************
	
	Thunder boomed far away, and the rain, already 
strong, grew stronger.

	"I've got a bad feeling about this," Yoshidayama said.

	"We'll be fine," Imadori said.  "There's no burglar 
alarm, no dog, what could go wrong?"  He carefully 
secured the mini-camera he was holding in place.

	They were inside the Tsukamoto house, planting 
surveillance equipment.  With this, they would be able to 
gather enough intelligence to carry out their horrible 
revenge.  

	Once they thought of one.

	There was a distant boom of thunder, and the rain 
picked up.

	"And where does Buddha get all this stuff, anyway?" 
Yoshidayama asked.

	"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Imadori said, 
carefully wiping up the excess glue.  	

	Fuyuki stuck his head in.  "Bathroom cam's installed," 
he said.  "Everyone's wearing their gloves, right?"

	"Yes, I'm wearing my gloves," Yoshidayama said.  "I 
didn't even think people our age could be cops.  And what 
if the other cops get wind of this?"

	"No way she's really a cop," Imadori said.  "I've seen 
Yakumo in that uniform."  He got down off the ladder.

	"Maybe they're both undercover cops infiltrating our 
school," Yoshidayama said.  Then he looked around.  "You 
hear that?"

	"No," Imadori said.  "No way those two are cops.  The 
police would never hire anyone as flat-chested as Tenma."  
He helped Yoshidayama pick up the ladder, and they 
headed out into the hallway.

	And then they heard Tai scream upstairs.  They 
dropped the ladder and run up only to find he'd somehow 
fallen out a window into the bushes below.  "What the hell 
happened to you?" Imadori shouted down as more people 
ran into the room.

	"I saw a blur and then it was clawing my face and I 
fell out the window!" Tai shouted.  "And now I'm stuck.  It 
was horrible, with this big scar on its forehead!"

	"Dammit, something is in here with us," Yoshidayama 
said.  "I knew heard something."

	"Maybe it's an egg-implanting alien and something 
will burst out of Tai's stomach," Imadori said sarcastically.

	Yoshidayama's eyes widened.

	Imadori slapped his forehead.  "That's a joke.  I'm sure 
it's just him being a klutz."

	There was another scream, and everyone ran 
downstairs, only to find Kamakura down on the kitchen 
floor, a pot on his head, his shirt raked by claws.  

	"It's picking us off one by one!" Yoshidayama 
shouted, grabbing Imadori and shaking him by the shirt.

	"It's just people being idiots," Imadori said.  
"Everyone back to work.  We have to do this before they 
get home."

	There was a gust of wind and all the doors slammed 
shut.  The rain poured down in great sheets.

	"It's locking us in!" Yoshidayama shouted, trembling.

	"Come on," Imadori said, grabbing his arm.  "It's just 
weather and probably their cat.

	"THE CAT WILL KILL US ALL!"

	Imadori slapped him.  "Snap out of it!"

	Yoshidayama rubbed his cheek, trying to steady his 
breathing.  "I don't want to die."

	"Let's just get the cameras up and go home."

**************
		
	Katou-sensei looked over the wasted array of 2-C 
students before him.  "Is anyone actually paying attention?" 
he asked.

	Mai raised her hand, even though her face was planted 
into her history book.  Hanai did likewise, though he was 
half-staring at the floor.  Tenma suddenly leaped out of her 
seat, shouted, "I forgot to look!" and ran screaming out of 
the room.

	That caused Akira to turn and look at her curiously.

	"Takano-san," Katou-sensei said.  "You're awake.  
What can you tell us about the Ashikaga shogunate?"

	"You couldn't shake a tree without ninjas falling out of 
it," Akira said.

	"There were no ninjas.  They were made up for kabuki 
theatre, when a playwright had one of the normally ignored 
stagehands suddenly stab someone," Katou-sensei said.

	"That was merely intended to help the clans go 
underground," Akira said.  "There could be ninjas 
undercover in this class right this minute."

	"And it's possible that Tenma is actually a princess 
from a magical kingdom who has been made to forget her 
true life by an evil spell," Katou-sensei said.

	Karasuma turned and looked out the door 
thoughtfully.

	"But actually, she's just a flaky idiot," Katou-sensei 
continued.  "Would anyone who actually did the reading 
like to tell us about the Ashikaga shogunate?"

	There was a deafening silence.

	"Didn't a bunch of oni invade Japan in that period?" 
Sagano asked.

	Katou-sensei ground his teeth.  "You may be thinking 
of the Onin War.  It basically wrecked the Ashikaga 
shogunate in civil war and kicked off a period of struggle 
between lords which ended only with the rise of 
Tokugawa," Katou-sensei continued.

	"Who was possessed by a demon," Harima said.

	"Who was most certainly not a demon," Katou-sensei 
said.  "I heard all about the tripe you filled your girlfriend's 
head with.  You'd think she would have had more sense 
than to listen to you, but if she'll date you, she's clearly 
sunk to her sister's level."

	Birds chirped and crickets sang as Harima processed 
this.

	"I don't care what you say about me, but I won't let 
you bad-mouth them," Harima said, standing up and 
pointing his finger at Katou-sensei.  "You and your whole 
class are nothing but a bunch of bad-mouthing cowards."

	"Don't point your finger at me, boy," Katou-sensei 
said.  "You and Tsukamoto are both massive flunkers who 
can only drag her sister down into the mud with you.  It's 
like your twins in idiocy."

	He wasn't paying attention, but if he had been, he 
would have seen Karasuma turning from the window to fix 
a steely gaze on him.

	"I'm not a boy!" Harima said, pounding his fist on his 
desk.

	"What, you're a girl today?" Akira asked.

	He didn't even notice her.  "I'm a man!"

	"Who acts like a gorilla.  Sit down, Harima-san," 
Katou-sensei said.

	"I'm not going to sit down until you apologize," 
Harima said.

	"I hope you like standing," Katou-sensei said.  "Has 
anyone else any insight to offer, or shall I give you all an F 
for discussion today and move on to lecturing?"

	Mai shivered.  Not an F.  There had to be 
something...school spirit...they'd never get the trophy if 
they all got discussion Fs.  She tried to focus her mind past 
her dodgeball injuries.  "Sukuran is the best of all schools!" 
she shouted desperately through the haze in her brain.

	Katou-sensei looked at her in confusion.  "I appreciate 
your enthusiasm, but that does not relate well to Japanese 
history."

	Mai elbowed Hanai.  "You're smart, say something!"

	Hanai tried to pull himself together.  There had been 
something...had people been talking about Yakumo earlier?  
He was just so tired.  "Which class is this?"

	"Japanese history and culture.  NOT NAPTIME," 
Katou-sensei said.  

	They could all hear 2-D cheer, but none of them knew 
why.  

	"The Ashikaga shogunate arose after the failure of the 
Kemmu restoration, when Emperor Go Nagai tried to 
restore the direct political authority of the emperors.  In 
1336, Ashikaga Takauji became Shogun, founding the 
Ashikaga shogunate.  It was never quite as strong as the 
Kamakura shogunate, and after a century, it came apart in 
the Onin War, leading to rising anarchy as local lords made 
war and the weak Shoguns failed to stop them," Hanai said, 
words spilling out.

	"Very good, Hanai.  I can see why one of my students 
wants to date you," Katou-sensei said.

	Hanai stared at his desk and mumbled something.  
Mikoto vibrated.

	"As compared to Harima, who has to date an 
underclassmen as he isn't smart enough for anyone his own 
age," Katou-sensei said.  "But enough of that.  Let's start 
with..." he began.

	"He is not stupid!" Eri said angrily.  Okay, he is kind 
of stupid, but I won't let this bastard say that.

	"He is a flunking delinquent who can't even speak 
proper Japanese," Katou-sensei said.  "Your Japanese is 
better than his, and you're mostly European."

	Harima said, "Yakumo-chan is very smart!"  He 
wished sometimes he could be that smart, but he had to stay 
stupid for Tenma.  Right?

	"This whole class is mostly a hotbed of stupidity and 
bizarre behavior.  I can hardly believe you all beat my class 
in the athletic competition."

	"And we'll beat them again in the school spirit 
competition!" Mai suddenly shouted.  "We've got twenty 
times their spirit!"

	"Oh you will?  So you'll all be at the yelling contest 
this afternoon?"

	"Yelling contest?" Hanai asked in confusion.

	"The classes...watch the soccer team practice and see 
who can yell for them the loudest," Mai said.  With effort, 
she pulled out her notebook.  "Yelling today.  Tomorrow is 
the cheering contest.  Wednesday is decorations.  Thursday 
is the intermural soccer tournament to get everyone worked 
up.  And Friday is the big game."

	"Well, I suppose you might all be good at yelling."  
He glanced at the door, where Tenma was peeking in.  
"Come in, Tsukamoto-san.  You've already made a fool of 
yourself, no need to be shy."

	2-D cheered again through the wall.

	Tenma came in and sat down quietly.

	"Now, let's get down to business if we're all done 
yelling," Katou-sensei said.

****************

	Yoshidayama stepped over another body.  "Keitaro is 
down!  We have to pull out before we die too!"

	"He isn't dead, he's just lying on the floor moaning to 
get out of work," Imadori said irritably.  "If'd I'd realized 
everyone was going to slack, I'd have come alone."

	"Don't leave me alone!" Yoshidayama said, shaking 
the ladder they were carrying.

	"We just have to bug Tenma's room and then we're 
done," Imadori said.

	Thankfully, Yoshidayama was silent.  

	He got into Tenma's room, placed the ladder, and put 
the camera up.  When he looked down, Yoshidayama was 
down on the ground with his shirt torn and claw marks on 
his face.

	"What is it with you people?"  It had to be the cat, he 
was sure.  He sighed and went to take the ladder outside; 
the house was strewn with people.  Everyone but me is 
crazy, he thought.  He went and put the ladder back on the 
porch, propped by one wall, where he had found it.  The 
rain was still coming down in buckets outside; walking 
home in this would not be fun.

	As he came back through the doors, there was a black 
blur; he dodged to one side and a cat flew past him, 
crashing into the doors.  It slid down the doors, tearing the 
paper, then turned and hissed at him.

	Yeah, I thought the cat was acting crazy, Imadori 
thought.  "You want some, kitty?"

	The cat leaped at him, but he dodged to one side, 
letting it crash into the kitchen.  He charged after it, and 
when it leaped at him again, he punched it in the face, 
getting bitten for his efforts.

	The cat backed off, and they circled warily, watching 
each other.  Imadori then made a break for the kitchen to 
get a knife.  The cat sprung, landing on his back and 
knocking him to the floor.  He rolled over, squashing it, and 
broke free, but the cat cut off his approaches to the kitchen.

	There were other ways to skin a cat, however.  He 
darted to one side, heading for the pantry.  The cat leaped 
up onto the counter, then sprang at him.  He ducked and the 
cat flew over his head into the pantry.  He slammed the 
door shut and propped a chair in place to jam it shut.

	Human one, cat zero, he thought, then looked at his 
prone friends.  Okay, cat eight, human one, but it's the last 
punch that counts, Imadori thought.

	Time to round up everyone and get out.

****************	

	Still feeling depressed because she'd already missed 
one chance to peep on Karasuma, Tenma looked over her 
serried troops.  A third of 2-C was missing in action.  Most 
of the rest were tired, cranky, injured or a combination of 
the three.  And now she had to inspire them to go and yell 
loud enough to drown out 2-D.

	There was only one hope.  "We have only one choice," 
Tenma said.

	"Forfeit today, go home and rest, and try to win the 
cheerleading contest tomorrow?" Sagano asked, almost 
begging.

	"We have no choice but to seduce enough of 2-D to 
get our ranks up to full, while weakening them," Tenma 
said.  "I studied the rules, and technically, they don't say 
our yelling team has to all be from our class..."

	"Seduce them?" Mikoto asked in shock.

	Mai's jaw dropped.  "I...but...we..."

	"Hanai and Karen already have lovers in 2-D," Tenma 
began.  "We will have to use our natural beauty and charm.  
Our women are the prettiest in the school."  She posed.

	Harima cheered loudly, while everyone else looked 
baffled.

	"Harima, you're excused because you have a 
girlfriend."  Tenma looked thoughtful.  "Though maybe 
you should see if Yakumo will join us.  Madoka, you and 
your boyfriend don't have to seduce anyone.  The rest of 
you are going to have to make with the love-love."

	Mai looked like someone had hit her with a freight 
train.

	Sagano stared at Tenma as if she was the second 
coming of Satan.

	Yuuki mumbled, "What a day for the pervs to not 
show up.  The one day we need them."

	Karen said, "But he...I mean, he's not my boyfriend."

	"You want me to..."  Hanai looked at Tenma warily, 
remembering his father's advice about women telling you 
to do things they don't really want you to do.

	"Asou, you can go with Harima when he gets 
Yakumo, bring back Sara."

	"I...me?" Asou asked weakly.

	"Go get your girlfriend," Suga said.

	"She's not my girlfriend!"

	Suga gently shoved him.  "Go."

	"Eri, I expect you can steal half of 2-D just by winking 
at them.  Everyone, I expect you to do your best."

	"And are YOU going to do this?" Eri demanded, 
staring at Tenma.

	Tenma gulped.  "Of course I am.  I...a good general 
has to lead her troops into combat."  Forgive me, 
Karasuma, she thought, feeling her knees get weak.  I have 
to do this for the good of the class.  I'll peep to show my 
love for you later.  "Let's go."

***************

	Some of them had it fairly easy.  Karen went into 2-D 
as classes were breaking up to go to clubs or go home and 
found Harry.  He turned and smiled at her winningly, and 
she felt hideously guilty for what she was going to do for 
her class, using him like this.

	"Umm...Harry...I need your help with something," she 
said, staring past his elbow, down at a desk.

	"Sure," he said.  "What's the problem?"

	"Well...a bunch of our guys are sick, and we need 
people who can help us...yell," Karen said.

	"You guys usually seem to yell pretty well without 
help," Harry said.

	Karen cringed and he regretted that.  Just a little.  
"Yeah, I can help," Harry said.

	"We need you to yell for us," Tougo told him.

	"Sorry, I'm afraid she's prettier than you," Harry told 
Tougo.  Then he whispered, "And this way, she owes us."

	Tougo nodded at that.  "Alright, you can have him.  
This time."

	"Thank you!" Karen said fervently.

	She and Harry headed off to join the marshalling 
army.  

*************

	Others used pure, naked force.

	Sagano walked into the music-club room, part of 
which her band usually used to practice.  But this time, she 
was looking for Biku Hayao, a drummer from 2-D.  She 
found him drumming.  "Biku-san, you have to come with 
me."

	"What?" he asked in confusion.

	"I need you to come yell with us for the yelling 
contest."

	"I'm going to be yelling for 2-D," he said.

	Her eyes flared and she loomed over him like the end 
of all things.  "I _need_ you to come yell with us."

	Hayao shrank in on himself like a black hole.  "Yes, 
ma'am," he mumbled.

*************
	
	Some worried.  

	Asou looked over at Harima as they headed down the 
stairs.  "We're not dating," he told Harima.

	"I wouldn't date you," Harima replied.

	Asou paused to bang his head on the wall.  "No, I 
mean, Sara."

	"I'm not dating Sara," Harima said.

	Asou gave up.  "So do you think the others will have 
any luck?"

	Harima looked grim.  "If anyone from 2-D tries 
anything funny with Tenma-san, I will kill them," he said.

	"Are you always so overprotective?  It's a stupid plan, 
but..."

	"It's a BRILLIANT plan," Harima said.

	"You don't sound happy about it," Asou said 
tenatively as they came out onto the first floor.

	"I hate it," Harima said firmly.

	"But it's brilliant."

	"Tenma's plans are always brilliant," Harima said, 
stomping towards 1-C.

	Asou tried to reconcile his belief in this with his hatred 
of the plan and gave up.

	They strode into 1-C together, which was busy 
planning its own yelling.  Asou walked up to Sara and said, 
"Sara, I need you."

	The entire class froze and stared at them.  

	Sara turned red.  "Asou-sempai, I don't know what to 
say.  I mean, it's so sudden and..."  She felt herself 
panicking.  Don't say anything stupid, she told herself 
desperately.

	"To help me with a project," he said hastily.

	Sara felt disappointed.  "Oh.  Yes, of course."

	"Yo, Yakumo, come with me," Harima told her.

	"Okay," she said, and tagged along.

	They could hear whispering as they left and Sara and 
Asou both looked fit to die.

	"You two okay?" Harima asked.

	"Fine," Asou said.  "We're just fine."

**************

	Some were not sure what to do.

	"Gonzales-san," Hanai said to Lala as she headed for 
wrestling practice.

	"Don't be so formal," she said, smiling broadly. "You 
can call me Lala."

	He gulped.  "We...umm...are you busy?"

	"I'm about to go to wrestling practice," she said.

	"Oh, I shouldn't impose," he said, staring past her.

	"No, what?" she asked.

	"We need more yellers for our class team, because 
many of our people are sick, and...I was hoping you could 
help," he said.

	"I'm not much of a screamer," she said.  "I don't scare 
easy."

	"You just need to be loud," he said.

	She put her hands on her hips.  "You think I'm loud?"  
She sounded angry to Hanai.

	He chose his words carefully.  "You have great 
strength, and thus can be loud if you choose to be."

	She looked somewhat mollified.  "Well, I suppose I 
can help.  Right now?"

	"We need to practice screaming."

	"Well, I can miss one day for the school spirit 
competition," she said, looking at him assessingly.  "Will 
Ichijou be there?"

	"Yes," he said.

	"Good.  I will show I can be louder than her and 
Mikoto combined."

	I do not understand women at all, Hanai thought.

**************

	Some were less successful than others.

	"Looking for someone?" Tougo asked Mai, as he 
caught her in the hallway.

	She'd been trying very hard to reconcile the 
conflicting imperatives in her head.  So now she just froze 
up, then mumbled incoherently.

	"So, was it your idea for your class to try and seduce 
away members of mine?" he asked, slowly drifting towards 
her like a snake stalking prey.

	Her eyes widened.  "Tsukamoto's idea...I was...I 
just..."  She could feel herself trembling and hated it and 
wished desperately she could go lie down for a while all at 
once.

	He strode in closer.  "Well, you can be persuasive, 
when you try, but I fear it is my duty to stand by my class.  
And I expect some of my boys can pick off a few of yours," 
he said.  "We can be quite charming, can't we?"

	Mai tried to figure out what to say, but all she could 
do was stare at him and wonder if he was going to...kiss her 
again.

	"I would try my luck with you, sweet Mai, but I 
respect you enough to not undercut you like that, though I 
promise you that I won't hold back.  I respect you too much 
for that, either," he said.

	She gulped, then mumbled, "Thank you, Tougo-san.  
May the best class win."

	"Competition brings out the best in both our classes.  
But this time, I think we will win, with so many of yours 
fled the field."  He leaned in and kissed her gently, then 
smiled at her.  "See you on the field of combat soon."

	And then he walked away and she wished she 
understood him or what he could make her do.  I'm not a 
traitor right?  Surely not, she thought.  I just...aaaaaaa!!!!

	Secret love affairs are the worst.

**************
	
	Some were too successful.

	Eri regretted getting out of bed in the morning.  The 
last thing she needed right now was to be reviving men's 
hopes of pursuing her romantically.  Not when she was 
thinking about...him.  

	However, it had been fairly easy for her to pick off a 
dozen men from various of the other classes; she'd avoided 
2-D because they'd probably be more resistant.  

	She could feel the weight of their gazes and wasn't 
enjoying it.  But there wasn't anything she could do about it 
right now.

***************

	The power of pure strangeness was enough for some.

	Ichiko tried to ignore the man standing in the doorway 
and looking at her.  But she couldn't.  He was looking at her 
with flat, cold eyes, as if he was a standing corpse.  As she 
tried to focus on her chess game, he just.  kept.  looking.  

	This led her to an early defeat at Ami's hands and she 
gave up and came over to him.  "What do you want?" she 
yelled.  "Why are you looking at me?"

	Karasuma said, "You yell well.  Come with me."

	Not knowing what else she could do to avoid more 
staring, she went.

*************

	And some just didn't have a clue.

	"Come on, go in," Mikoto whispered to Tenma.

	"You go first," she whispered back as they lurked in 
the doorway of 2-D.  

	They could see the core of that class busy talking and 
discussing the coming contest.  

	It ought to be easy for me to go in, get some guy, and 
get him to follow me with my charm and good looks, 
Tenma thought.

	Except, I don't have any.

	Her hair antenna were wiggling when Tougo walked 
up to her.  "Officer, I hear you arrested a third of your class 
this weekend."

	Tenma laughed nervously.  "They were being loud."

	"And now they are all absent.  Likely leading to your 
defeat in the school spirit competition.  Have you come to 
defect to the winning side?  You've done us a great 
service," Tougo said, smiling.

	"I...me...no, I just..."

	"Or are you here to steal more of our students?  I must 
confess that strategy worked better today than I expected," 
he said.  "It was very clever of you to think of that."  He 
advanced on her like the unstoppable march of time, and 
she began to vibrate more.

	Mikoto stood next to her, trying to figure out what to 
say.

	"Smarter than you let on," he said to Tenma, now 
putting a hand on her shoulder.  Tenma stared at his 
handsome face, drawing ever closer.  She knew she should 
run, but her legs just couldn't move.  "I like that," he said.

	"I think I hear Yakumo calling you!" Mikoto said, 
grabbing Tenma and running.  "Bye, 2-D president Tougo!"

	And smart enough to bring a wingman too, Tougo 
thought.  A wise precaution.  But I think I have her measure 
now.

****************

	When they assembled again, they found their numbers 
greatly swollen, though a few of their people had been 
picked off.  Tenma and Mai assembled the class and they 
practiced some incoherent screaming, then headed out to 
the auditorium, where it would take place, since the rain 
was still coming down in sheets.

	They could see that 2-D had copied their methods, 
though it had lost some people as well.  2-A, who had a 
large number of rowdy sports fans were looking good as 
well.  2-B, 2-E, and 2-F all looked shrunken.  The other 
classes were not competitors; each grade would win its own 
trophy.  

	It was not the most sophisticated of contests; the 
soccer players scrimmaged with each other while the 
classes all yelled incoherently, trying to drown everyone 
else out.  2-A turned out to have practiced a set of cheers, 
which helped them to coordinate.  On the other hand, these 
cheers were for the Yakult Swallows, not the Sukuran 
Soccer team.

	Tenma screamed as loudly as she could, but she could 
tell that 2-D was yelling just as loudly.  What could she do?

	Akira looked around thoughtfully, then carefully 
moved Yakumo out to the front of 2-C.  This led a large 
number of their rivals to start chanting Yakumo's name; 
Yakumo tried to shrink back and hide, but Akira kept her in 
place, hoping this would disqualify those shouts.

	Harima and Hanai both didn't look too pleased about 
this.  Or Eri for that matter.  

	Eri now came forward and began posing, and soon had 
a large number of men shouting her name.  

	The class presidents tried to focus their followers, but 
most of the guys had begun chanting Eri or Yakumo's 
names instead of appropriate soccer cheers, though 2-A 
stuck stubbornly to cheering the Yakult Swallows.

	Tenma saw this and now brought Mikoto up as well.  
That got some cheers and peeled off yet more of the men.  
Lala saw that and stepped forward, and was quite annoyed 
to not get half so much attention as she thought she 
deserved.

	Tougo could see even some of his own people 
defecting now.  Very clever, he thought.  Only one option 
left now.  He elbowed Sasami, who he had sent to collect 
their secred weapon.  She'd borrowed several mice from the 
biology lab, and now she turned them loose into 2-C's 
section.

	Tenma was the first to see them, unleashing a scream 
that could level a shack.  "SEWER RATS!" she howled.

	This sent the whole class into a gigantic panick of 
running and frenzied screaming.  The chaos spread, sending 
the other classes into a panic.

	Lala, however, simply began looking around the 
bleachers when the panic started.  Dragging Hanai with her, 
she found the mice and passed them to him to hold.

	"Not afraid of mice?" Hanai asked.

	"What sort of coward fears mice?" Lala asked.  She 
looked around the panicking students as if to answer her 
own question.

	Once things calmed down, the Principal assembled the 
class presidents to discuss the situation.  "Well, 2-C did yell 
the loudest, but it was panic," Tougo argued.

	"Hey, what about us?" 2-A's president asked.

	"Chanting for the wrong team definitely disqualifies 
you," the President said.  

	"2-C was not exactly chanting for Sukuran in their 
panicky screaming, " Tougo said.

	"We would have been if someone from another class 
hadn't unleashed mice on us!" Mai said.

	"Those weren't my mice," Tougo said.  It was 
technically true.

	"Poor mice," 2-B's president said, sighing.

	"Well, someone did!" Mai said.  "Someone tried to 
win by breaking us up."

	"Hmm, true," the Principal said.  "And clearly, it's the 
frontrunner who gets sabotaged.  Therefore, 2-C wins."

	"But...we were louder!" Tougo protested.

	"Even some of your own people were cheering for the 
ladies of 2-C.  Not quite what we wanted, but it will do," 
the principal said.  "Which will likely benefit them in the 
cheerleading contest too.  Especially since it looks like your 
prettiest woman defected to 2-C," he said.

	Mai stuck out her tongue at Tougo.  "We win!"

	He grinned.  "Don't make me bite that."

	Her eyes widened and she stared at the ground.

	"Victory for 2-C," the principal said.  "Second place to 
2-D.  Last place for 2-A for cheering for some baseball 
team."

	"They are not just SOME baseball team!  They are 
gods among men!" 2-A's president protested.

	"Perhaps they will grant you a miracle in tomorrow's 
cheerleading," the principal said.  "Alright, everyone, let's 
go home."

**************

	"We need to designate cheerleaders to cheer for us 
tomorrow," Mai said.  "So they can make costumes and 
practice tonight."

	"Kind of short notice," Sagano said.

	"That's life," Mai said.  "And Akira--good idea of 
turning it into a beauty pageant."

	Akira nodded.  "You're welcome."

	Mai said, "Cheerleading requires beauty and 
coordination.  We get to field three.  Gonzales, Suou, and 
Sawachika would probably be ideal."

	"I really should help my class out for this next one," 
Lala said.

	"Please?" Hanai asked.  "We would be very grateful."

	Mikoto glared at him, even though she knew Lala 
would be a big help.

	Lala shifted on her feet uncomfortably.  "You should 
get Ichijou to be your third cheerleader.  I shouldn't sell out 
my class again."

	"Me?" Karen asked in surprise.

	"Okay, Ichijou is number three," Mai said.

	"I should go," Lala said.  She put a hand on Hanai's 
shoulder.  "We will be rivals until this is resolved."

	He nodded seriously.

	"And the loser can pay for our next date," she said.

	"Right," he said, then noticed Mikoto laser-eying both 
of them.  

	"Better save your yen then," Mikoto said.  "Because 
we're going to CRUSH 2-D."

	"You shouldn't be so confident," Lala said.  "No one 
can outcheerlead me," she said, despite knowing better.

	"We shall see," Mikoto said.  

***************
	
	The house was a mess when Tenma got home with 
Yakumo, Mai, Karen, Akira, Sara, Mikoto and Eri.  Akira, 
Mai and Tenma were planning to help the other three make 
nice cheerleading outfits.  Furniture was down, there were 
pots on the floor, and in general, it looked like a hurricane 
had hit.  The porch door was open and water had blown in 
onto part of the living room floor.

	Yakumo sighed.  "Oh dear."

	Mai frowned.  "Looks like a dog got loose in here."

	Akira went over to the pantry door, where a chair was 
propped in place to jam it shut.  "Very clever dog."

	"Maybe Iori trapped Nara's mother's boyfriend again," 
Tenma suggested.

	"I rather doubt that," Eri said, removing the chair. 

	Iori ran out and leaped up onto Yakumo, who cuddled 
him.  Karen reached over and petted his head.

	Akira frowned.  "I'd say it's likely a burglar hit," she 
said.

	Eri said, "I bet the pervert brigade skipped class to 
panty raid the house as revenge."

	Karen's eyes widened.  I hope Imadori wasn't part of 
this, she thought.

	"Search everywhere, see if anything is missing," Mai 
said.

	A search of the house revealed some of Yakumo and 
Tenma's underwear was indeed missing.  Akira then 
ushered everyone out on the porch and whispered, "They've 
put up surveillance cameras," she said.

	"Now THAT is perverted," Tenma said, frowning.  "I 
think we're going to have to bust us some perverts."

	"Search again for evidence," Mai said.  "Maybe 
someone dropped something."

	Another search of the house revealed that while the 
ladder had moved from where it had been left earlier, little 
other evidence besides the cameras had been left behind.

	"They can't be expecting to come back for these so 
they must broadcast," Akira said.  "Which means someone 
must live nearby or they must have some sort of base to 
pick it all up and record it."

	"Hmm," Mai said.  "We need proof, just in case it 
wasn't them."

	"Maybe we could try doing wierd things in front of the 
camera, see if they gossip about it tomorrow," Tenma said.

	Mikoto mumbled something.

	"What?" Akira asked.

	"Akira wouldn't like it.  Why do you hate Hanai, 
anyway?"
	
	"I don't hate anyone," Akira said.  "He just needs to 
learn to not be a chump."

	"What does Hanai have to do with this?" Mai asked.

	Yakumo mumbled something.

	"I suppose Yakumo wouldn't either," Mikoto said.

	"Spill it," Eri said.

	"Well, I was sort of thinking that since they are kind 
of jealous of Hanai at the moment, maybe we should..."  
She blushed.  "I mean, not for real, but enough for them to 
pick up sort of...it's a stupid idea, really."

	"You mean for us to make them think we're having a 
giant orgy with Hanai?" Akira said.

	"Ahahaha."

	Karen stared.

	Mai said, "WHAT?"

	"Like I said, it's a stupid idea, I just...well, if they 
started asking Hanai how he got us to agree, we'd have 
proof it was them."

	Akira hesitated, torn between a plan whose 
deviousness she could not fail to admire and the necessity 
of involving Hanai in it.

	"We could call Nara too," Tenma whispered to Akira, 
seeing her hesitation.

	"That would grind their gears," Akira said 
thoughtfully.  "But may also give him delusions of 
grandeur."

	"I...I should call Karasuma..."  Tenma began to laugh 
nervously.

	Yakumo gulped.  "I...I should call Kenji, then."  She 
shivered.

	Sara stood, tiny wisps of smoke coming out of her 
ears.

	Karen stood and shivered, thinking about making out 
with Imadori.  But even if they...what if he was part of this?  
She hoped not, but...

	"Some of us don't exactly have boyfriends we can call 
for this," Mai mumbled.  Though Tougo would probably 
think it the funniest possible thing if she did call him, but 
she couldn't bear to admit it.  People would take her seeing 
him the wrong way.

	"I think a giant orgy would be too unrealistic," Eri 
said.

	"They're giant perverts.  They WANT to believe," 
Mikoto said.

	"Well, the trick would be to just have lots of couples 
doing it, not a sex pile," Akira said.  "Which would be 
pushing things, and harder to fake.  Whereas Mikoto 
and...Hanai...would be reasonably plausible.  Or myself and 
Nara or Tenma and Karasuma or Yakumo and Kenji."

	Eri ground her teeth.

	"Everyone else could just go home after we finish the 
sewing, and those of us with plausible partners stay for 
this," Akira said.  

	Eri said, "It would be most plausible to just have one 
couple, wouldn't it?"

	"Look, Hanai and I can just fake it, and that should be 
reasonably plausible," Mikoto said.  "Or else Tenma and 
Karasuma if she thinks he's up to it."	

	"Karasuma is not exactly a skilled actor," Eri said.  
"We shouldn't bring Kenji into this because he'll blab.  I 
expect Nara would blab too.  Hanai's probably the only 
person who can both fake it well and keep his mouth shut 
afterwards."

	"But he...I..." Tenma babbled.

	Eri pattered her shoulder.  "Unless you think he'll 
make out with you for real..."

	"I don't think they'll come up and give themselves 
away to Karasuma.  It has to be me and Hanai," Mikoto 
said.

	"I'd almost think you wanted to make out with him," 
Akira said to Mikoto.

	"I'm just doing this for Tenma's sake!" Mikoto 
protested.

	"Uh huh."

	Tenma said, "Well..."  She both wanted to call 
Karasuma and was afraid to at once.

	Mikoto got her phone out.  "You guys get to work on 
the cheerleading outfits; I'll call Hanai."

	She slinked off while they went to work.  Finding a 
quiet place in the yard to stand and call, she called Hanai.

	"Hello, Hanai Haruki speaking."

	"Hi, Haruki-kun, I need you to come...umm...help 
me."

	"I must confess I know nothing of sewing," he said.  
"But I suppose I can."

	She laughed nervously.  "I'll explain more when you 
get here."

	"Okay," he said.

	She went inside.  "Is he coming?" Tenma asked 
nervously.

	"Yes," Mikoto said.

	"Did you tell him..." Tenma began.

	Mikoto laughed nervously.

	"What, he doesn't know?" Eri asked.

	Mikoto laughed nervously again.

	Eri laughed as well.  "Well, this will be amusing."

************

	The doorbell rang.  Akira said to Mikoto, "It's Hanai.  
Make sure he doesn't come in here; the sight of Yakumo 
will likely drive him too crazed for him to make out 
convincingly with you."

	Yakumo paused in her sewing and stared at the floor.

	Mikoto nodded, and nervously rose and went to the 
door.  To her surprise, Hanai had Sagano and Yuuki in 
train.  "Uh, hi," she mumbled.

	"They had come over to study with me right as I was 
about to go, so they tagged along," Hanai said.  "You don't 
mind, do you?"

	You know, they seem to be spending a lot of time with 
Hanai lately, Mikoto thought, followed by, if they hear 
anything about the cameras or any of this, they'll blab.  Or 
at least Sagano the motormouth will.  

	"Sure, it's fine.  We just need an audience for our 
cheerleading," Mikoto lied.  

	She took them down the hallway, then said firmly to 
Hanai, "Don't harass Yakumo."

	"I'll be good," he mumbled.

	Akira looked surprised when Hanai entered with 
Sagano and Yuuki.  "Change of plans, Mikoto?"

	Mikoto stood behind them, trying to use sign language 
to say 'don't tell them anything'.  

	Tenma peered curiously at Mikoto.  "You okay?  
You're all pointing silently and stuff."

	"Fine.  They're going to be the audience for our 
cheerleader routine."

	Mikoto, Karen and Eri changed into the outfits, then 
came out and began running through the cheers; they were 
all quite nimble, and Hanai thought their routine was pretty 
impressive.  Impressive enough he managed, for the 
moment, to forget Yakumo.

	They danced and cheered, advancing on Hanai, Yuuki, 
and Sagano, and then retreating; Mikoto tried to make sure 
the camera would catch it.  Maybe if they saw Hanai 
seeming to get a private dance performance from sexy 
women, the guys would say something the next day.  It was 
worth a shot.

****************	
	
	Sagano pulled Tenma aside.  "Why is everyone acting 
weird?"

	"Weird?  No reason to act weird or anything," Tenma 
said.  "I mean, it's not like...nothing."

	Sagano looked at her suspiciously.  

	Behind them, Akira and Mai were trying to critique 
the cheerleading routines, along with some feedback from 
Yuuki and Hanai.

	"You all seem kind of jumpy, and I think Mikoto is 
ready to vibrate through a wall," Sagano said.

	Don't tell the gossip everything, Tenma thought.  
Don't tell the gossip everything.  "She can't kiss him with 
you guys watching," Tenma babbled.

	"Oooh, I see," Sagano said.  "She was hoping to sneak 
off for a little Hanai-snogging, is that it?"  Yuuki won't like 
that, she thought.

	Tenma laughed nervously.  "Uh, yeah."

	"Well, no snogging for her tonight," Sagano said, then 
went back to watching and critiquing.

*************

	It was only when Eri, Mikoto, and Karen were 
changing back to their normal clothing in the bathroom that 
it hit them they'd just done this in front of some of the 
cameras.

	Eri forced herself not to show it; she would clobber 
them later.  Karen turned red and tried hiding in a corner.  
Mikoto sighed, storing up her anger for later.

	Once out in the hallway, Eri said softly, "I'm going to 
kill these idiots."

	"At least you're worth looking at," Karen mumbled.

	"Hey, you're the one of the three of us with a 
boyfriend," Mikoto said.

	Karen stared out the window and mumbled.

	"Things not going so good?" Mikoto asked softly.

	"I just don't know what I'm doing," Karen said, 
sighing.  "Harry's a fun guy to be with, but my 
heart...belongs to Imadori.  Who doesn't want it."  She 
stared down at her body.  "He likes bigger women."

	"Yeah, Mikoto's got a big butt," Eri said, trying to 
cheer her up.

	Mikoto stuck out her tongue at Eri.  "Hey, either he'll 
come to see you for who you really are or he isn't worth 
having," Mikoto said, patting her shoulder.

	"You're lucky, having a nice boyfriend like Hanai, 
even if he's seeing Lala also," Karen said.

	"He's not my boyfriend, we're just friends," Mikoto 
said.

	"Who make out," Eri said.

	"We haven't made out!" Mikoto protested.

	"You just want to enough to cook up..." Eri began.

	"And I'm not jealous over Lala kissing him," Mikoto 
said firmly.

	"You sound jealous," Karen said hesitantly.  

	"He can kiss anyone he likes, but not Lala," Mikoto 
said.  "She's just out to steal his secret techniques," she 
continued.

	"I didn't know he had any," Eri said.

	"It's what makes them secret!" Mikoto said frantically.

	"Look, we both know you want to make out with 
him," Eri said.  "Just go drag him off and have your way 
with him."

	"Lala kissed him?" Karen asked again in shock.

	"Yes," Mikoto said grumpily.  

	"Better get even before she takes him away from you," 
Eri said.

	"Maybe I will!" Mikoto said, stomping off.

************

	Yuuki sat nervously by Hanai; they were going over 
the math homework.  It was kind of exciting for her.  She 
looked up as Mikoto, Eri, and Karen returned.  Mikoto was 
advancing on her, looking angry.

	Yuuki scooted back instinctively, and then Mikoto 
grabbed Hanai by the hand.  "Come with me."

	"I...uh...what?" he said as he was dragged off.

	What'd he do to make her so mad, Yuuki wondered.

***********
	
	Mikoto hauled Hanai over in front of one of the 
cameras in the hallway, pushing him up against the wall.  
"What did I do?" he asked in confusion.

	"You kissed Lala!" she shouted, then grabbed him and 
kissed him.

	He froze up in confusion, then gradually relaxed into 
it, embracing her.  She wasn't sure if he rated as a good 
kisser or not; she didn't have a lot of experience.  But she 
found herself enjoying it, as she put her arms around him, 
pulling him in, her lips pressed to his.

	He was red when she let go.  "Was I better than Lala?" 
she asked.

	"I...uh..."  She could tell he was searching for a politic 
answer, not a gut honest one.  Which pissed her off.

	"Let me give you another chance to judge," she 
snarled, then kissed him again.  Part of Hanai's brain 
wondered what was going on, while the rest of it worked on 
kissing Mikoto enjoyably.  He ran a hand down her back 
and pulled her in closer instinctively.

	Finally, she broke it off and said, angrily, "Well?"  
Her face had flushed red.

	"Much better," he mumbled in shock.

	"Good," she said, storming off, though she looked a 
little wobbly.

	What was THAT about?, he asked himself.

*****************

	The next morning, Imadori was in class, looking 
disgruntled, while the rest of the perv brigade was missing.  
Karen nervously approached him.  "Imadori-kun, where's 
your friends?"

	"In the nurse's office, trying to get their injuries 
treated, even though they've already been treated," Imadori 
said, sighing.  "I hear you're going to cheerlead."

	"Yes," she said, one of her legs swaying back and 
forth nervously.  "You'll come see me, won't you?"

	"I'd never miss a bunch of girls in tight sweaters with 
their legs bare," Imadori said.

	She decided to take that as a compliment.  "How did 
they all get hurt?" she asked.

	"A cat got them," Imadori said.

	"It didn't get you?" Karen asked.

	"I'm badder than any cat," he said.

	She smiled.  "I'm glad you didn't get hurt."

	"Me too.  So, does Miko-chin look sexy in her 
cheering outfit?" he asked eagerly.

	She sighed, feeling frustrated.  "You could go ask 
her."

	He rose and ran over to Mikoto.

	Watching him get slapped down made her feel better 
and worse at the same time.  She wanted a real boyfriend.  
But what could she do?

*************

	Between periods, Yoshidayama came up to Hanai with 
several other members of the perv gang.  "Man, did Mikoto 
really jump you in Tenma's house?" he asked.

	"Well, more or less," he said.

	"Man, she looked really..."

	Buddha grabbed Yoshidayama and began to drag him 
away.  "Silence is wisdom," he said.

	Then Mikoto loomed over them.  "And how did you 
know about that?"

	"I...uh...guessed," Yoshidayama said.

	"Wrong answer," Mikoto said.

	"What's going on here?" Hanai asked.

	"These bastards skipped school to put spy cameras all 
over Tenma's house," Mikoto said.

	"No, no, we were sick, really!" Yoshidayama said.

	Gears whirred in Hanai's brain.  "You put them in the 
bedrooms, didn't you."

	"No, no...yes," Yoshidayama said miserably.

	"You suck," Buddha said to Yoshidayama.  

	Hanai glowed red.  "You sought to spy on Yakumo as 
she slept!"

	"No, no, we wanted to get the dirt on Tenma for 
arresting us!" Yoshidayama protested.  

	Harima rose from nowhere, looming over Yoshidyama 
like a Gundam confronting a trash can.  "YOU TRIED TO 
SEE TENMA NAKED?"

	"I...no, really, I'd much rather see Yakumo naked, or 
even better Eri..." Yoshidayama mumbled.

	Buddha shouted, "RUN!  FLEE WHILE YOU CAN!  
We'll try to stop them."

	"They're guilty!" Mikoto shouted.

	Tenma swept forward with her friends.  "Kill them 
all," she pronounced.  "Bring me their heads, brother-in-
law."

	"With pleasure," he said.

***********

	Tougo looked out the window, seeing Yoshidayama 
arc past him.

	"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

	Well, that should encourage him not to skip school 
again, Tougo thought.

**************

	Yuuki sat with Madoka, Sagano, Fuyuki, and 
Yoshidayama at lunch.  Mai had designated them as the 
steering committee for tomorrow's decorations, and she 
wanted them to get working on it quickly.  "How about 'our 
school in chiffon' as a theme?" Madoka asked.

	"Too wimpy," Yoshidayama said, rubbing his bruised 
arm.  "We need Fuyuki to fake up some big posters of the 
soccer team trampling 2-D for us."

	"Oooh, that could be good, Sagano said.

	"This is supposed to be school spirit, not anti-2-D 
spirit," Yuuki said.

	"Same difference," Sagano said.

	"Doing something fancy with imaging would be good, 
though," Yuuki said.

	"Well, we could go over to my place after school and 
I'll whip some stuff up," Fuyuki said.  "Though we should 
probably go round, get some images of the school I can 
work from."  He had evaded beating because Mai needed 
his talents.

	"That sounds good," Yuuki said.  

	"Alright.  We have a plan, then."

**************

	Karen, Eri, and Mikoto milled about nervously in their 
cheerleader uniforms.  Not that Eri would have admitted to 
any nerves.

	Tenma and Mai fretted about them like a pair of old 
grandmothers.  Akira sat calmly and snapped some 
pictures.  

	Hanai said, "You all look great.  Don't you agree, 
Harima?"

	Harima snapped out of a haze of imagining Tenma 
and Yakumo as cheerleaders in place of Karen and Mikoto.  
"What, yeah, sure," he said.

	"Hey," Harry said, making Karen jump.  

	"Come to spy on us?" Mai asked.

	"Hey, I'm here to cheer for my woman," Harry said.

	Karen blushed.  "I...uh...thank you."

	"Just watch out.  Lala won't want to lose to any of you.  
Especially...well, any of you, really.  Hard to say which one 
of you would make her more crazy."  He looked over at 
Hanai.  "So which one of your girlfriends you going to 
cheer for?"

	"I don't have two girlfriends!" Hanai protested.

	Eri said, "You are dating two women at once."

	"I am not!" Hanai protested.

	"You have, in fact, gone on dates with Lala and 
Mikoto and kissed both of them," Akira said.

	"We're not dating!" Mikoto said.  "And that was just to 
make us even!"

	"But now it's uneven, as you kissed him twice, and he 
only kissed Lala once," Akira said.  "Ergo, he must kiss 
Lala again, for balance."

	"But..."

	Harry grinned.  "Hanai the player."

	"I am not a player!" Hanai shouted to the world.

	"Really, Hanai is a nice guy," Karen said.

	"If you say so," Harry said.  He leaned down to 
whisper to Karen, "Win the cheerleading contest and I'll 
give you a kiss."

	Karen stared at the floor, eyes wide, feeling herself 
tremble.  "I'm not really expert at this," she mumbled.

	"Do your best," he told her.  "Don't let Lala intimidate 
you."

	Karen glanced over at Imadori, who was busy talking 
on his phone.  But he had an eye looking her way.  She 
gulped, then said, "Okay."  Maybe Imadori will get jealous 
enough to try something, she thought.

	She could hope, anyway.

*************
	
	It was cheerleading time.  There were two phases to 
this.  First, the cheerleaders from each class would perform 
together to try and see who could get their class to cheer 
loudest.  The Principal had made sure to seat everyone by 
class this time to prevent student-theft.  

	2-D and 2-C were next to each other, naturally 
enough, and Mikoto had taken up the flank guarding 
position.  Lala was right next to her, and as they got ready 
to go, Lala said, "Don't feel too bad when I win."

	Mikoto growled at her.  "I'm going to win."

	"Well, I'll be dating Haruki whether I win or lose, 
but..." Lala began.

	Mikoto grimaced at her.  "Calling him that already?"

	"We have kissed, so..." Lala said.

	"He's kissed me too!" Mikoto said.  "Twice."

	"Twice?"  Lala turned and looked suspiciously at 
Hanai, who was staring off towards where Yakumo's class 
was setting up.  

	"And he wants me to win."

	"He just wants you to win because I'll have to pay for 
our next date if you win," Lala hissed.

	"We'll see about THAT," Mikoto snarled.

	The music began to play, and all the chosen 
champions began to dance, shout, and wave their 
pompoms.  The classes began cheering wildly.

	And then Lala, as she raised her right pompom, 
whacked Mikoto in the side of the head.  Mikoto assumed it 
an accident the first time.

	After the third time, however, she sidled over slightly, 
so that each time her left pompom came up, she 
uppercutted Lala.

	Lala returned with a high kick, raising her skirt high to 
the cheers of the men, accompanied by her foot hooking a 
clod of dirt and arcing it up at Mikoto's face.

	Mikoto retaliated by leading Eri and Karen into a 
series of synchronized kicks, first to the left, then to the 
right.  Every time she swung left, she whacked Lala's right 
arm.

	It was about at this point that Hanai realized what was 
going on.  He stared mindlessly for a few exchanges of 
blows, just trying to figure out why they were fighting.  
Gradually, however, it sank in as to why.  There really was 
only one way to stop them hurting each other.  

	He rose and shouted, "YAKUMO-
SAAAAAANNNN!!!!!"  waving at her class, where 
Yakumo was trying to cheerlead, but not doing a very good 
job of it, as the thoughts of all the men in her class were 
bearing down on her.

	Having Hanai yell at her was the last straw, and she 
panicked and ran.

	Lala and Mikoto grimaced, then both kicked the same 
rock as they continued their routine.  Even as Hanai started 
to run after Yakumo, he took a rock to the face and went 
down.

	Tenma saw Yakumo run and elbowed Harima, who 
had been watching Eri perform while fantasizing about 
Tenma in a cheerleader outfit.  "Better go help Yakumo."

	"Uh...you want me to cheerlead?" he asked in 
confusion.

	"GO HELP YAKUMO."  Fire came out of Tenma's 
eyes, searing Harima.  He was ready to be flipped over and 
cooked on the other side.

	So he ran down to Yakumo's class and stepped into 
her place.  The two other girls stared at him in confusion, 
and then he did a high kick.  So long as they didn't make 
him wear a dress, he could handle this, even if it was kind 
of not a man's job.  But for Tenma...he could do anything.

	Yakumo peeked out and saw Harima busy high-
kicking in her place, then stared at the ground.  Her class 
was laughing their heads off and cheering at the same time.

	She steeled herself and came running out and Harima 
spun and knealt, suddenly catching her feet with his hands 
and boosting her into the air.  Class 1-C cheered wildly and 
Yakumo then came down, landing on Harima's shoulders.  
He boosted the other two up to perch on his arms like birds 
of prey.  They wobbled, then joined hands with Yakumo 
and began slowly at first, then faster, kicking and waving 
their pompoms and cheering the usual round of school 
cheers.

	Then he began slowly to spin, wanting to show off for 
Tenma.  He could see her cheering him wildly, while many 
of the other groups of cheerleaders in first year stopped and 
stared in surprise.

	"Hey, the individual routines are later!" one of 1-D's 
cheerleaders, a girl with short green hair and glasses, 
shouted.  

	Lala and Mikoto saw this, then both turned and looked 
at Hanai like hawks.  He was just recovering when Lala and 
Mikoto sprinted towards him, crashing into each other.  

	Eri looked at Harima and felt her gut clench angrily 
for a moment, and then she turned and yelled, "Hanai, get 
down here!"

	Sagano tossed Hanai down.  Eri caught him, tossed 
Karen onto his shoulders, then flipped up and stood on 
Karen's.  "Mikoto, now!" she shouted.

	Mikoto disentangled herself from Lala and scrambled 
up to sit on Eri's shoulders.  They then went into an 
elaborate pompom waving pattern, doing 'Sukuran is Great' 
in semaphore.

	The principal shouted, "ALL CLASSES INITIATE 
INDIVIDUAL ROUTINES!"  Best to go with the flow.

	The air became full of chaos as each class played its 
own music; 2-C, 3-F, 2-B, and 1-D had the best bands but it 
was hard to hear any of them.  Tenma stared worshipfully 
at Karasuma as he played guitar.

	Harima could see this, and started juggling Yakumo 
and the other cheerleaders with him, trying to get Tenma's 
attention.  This didn't work, but 1-C went crazy for it.  
Yakumo bounced about, unable to notice what anyone was 
thinking as she was too nervous and excited and a little 
scared.

	Harry looked over apologetically at Karen as Lala 
dragged him into serving as an anchor for Lala and her 2-D 
allies to build a competing routine.  Then he tried to 
covertly sweep Hanai's legs in the middle of things.  His 
competitive instincts could not be denied.

	Pretty soon, a full dance brawl was in practice, with 
Harry and Hanai taking covert kicks at each other while 
Mikoto 'accidentally' punched Lala, Eri 'accidentally' 
punched Keiko, and Karen tried to avoid violence.  Until 
the third girl, Aiko, took a swipe at Karen.  Her hand 
covertly grabbed Karen's wrist.  Karen instinctively threw 
her.  Since Aiko was sitting on Harry's shoulders, this 
ended up tossing Lala, Keiko, and Aiko all at once.  Karen 
shouted, "Mikoto, catch them!"  once she snapped out of it.

	Mikoto grabbed Aiko's foot as they went upwards, 
then wobbled, holding them all up.  The principal shouted, 
"Now that's school spirit!"

	Mikoto flipped them back onto Harry's shoulders, 
even as he jumped over a sideswipe from Hanai.

	Tenma fantasized about Karasuma the rockstar, and 
herself singing backup for him.

	Harima went for his finishing move, throwing the 
cheerleaders into the air, then flipping over and doing a 
handstand, catching one with each foot, with Yakumo 
landing on their shoulders.

	"Bravo!" the principal shouted.

	Yakumo flushed a little and smiled as her class 
cheered and the principal came over to give 1-C the prize 
for their year.

	2-C and 2-D continued their covert brawl until the 
principal gave the award to 2-E for their complexly 
choreographed routine.  "What about us?" Lala protested.  
"Ours was fancier."

	"Yes, but you basically copied 1-C's clever idea.  
Sorry," he said.

	Harry scratched his head, then said to Hanai, "I guess 
you guys go Dutch, then."

	"I think technically, they each have to buy the other's 
dinner instead of their own, since both lost," Aiko said.

	"Does the whole world know about this?" Lala asked.

	"More or less," Keiko said.

	"We can go Dutch," Hanai said.  "I've never tried 
Dutch food, though."

	As people face-faulted around him, he wondered what 
he said.

*************

	Harima was caught in the middle of Yakumo's class 
with everyone congratulating him; he could see Tenma 
talking to Karasuma, but he couldn't get free of the press of 
hand-shakings.  Also, Yakumo was clinging to him like a 
barnacle to a ship.  

	Sighing, he gave up for the moment, and weathered 
the storm until her class finished cheering each other and 
began to disperse, and then he took her hand and led her 
over to her sister.

	Yakumo walked with him, feeling shy and excited at 
once.  The way he'd come running over and tried to take 
her place, helped them win...she felt very close to him as 
they walked together, though she could only get flashes of 
his thoughts.

	"You guys were great," Tenma said.  "I was a little 
jealous."

	That made Harima feel very good.  Yakumo stared at 
the ground, but she was smiling.  She smiled more when he 
put an arm around her without thinking about it.  

	"We should go home, get some dinner.  You guys 
want to come with us?" Tenma asked Karasuma and 
Harima.

	"Sure," Harima said.

	"Okay," Karasuma said.

	Just like a double date, Tenma thought.  This will be 
GREAT!

**************

	Harima sat with Karasuma, watching TV, while the 
Tsukamoto sisters cooked dinner.  Harima tried to think of 
some elaborate way to get rid of Karasuma, who was pretty 
clearly after his Tenma.

	They could hear the ladies giggling in the kitchen, and 
for a little while, Harima just watched Tenma chop away at 
some carrots, then chop away at the chopping board 
because she was too excited to look at what she was doing.

	Karasuma, on the other hand, seemed totally focused 
on the TV.  

	A real man would watch his girlfriend cook, Harima 
thought as he watched Yakumo chopping tofu into squares, 
then reminded himself to watch Tenma.

	Nervously, Tenma said, "Karasuma, can you mix this 
sauce for us?"

	"I'll do it!" Harima said, springing to his feet even as 
Karasuma began slowly to turn to face them.

	Tenma put him to work on the sauce, which he began 
mixing vigorously.  "Karasuma, can you help me chop this 
cabbage?"

	He nodded and came and she held the cabbage while 
he chopped.  Harima felt even more jealous.

	Soon, everything was ready and the stir fry got 
underway.  Harima went back to sitting and pouting.  
Karasuma resumed silent TV watching.

	Harima said, "I bet you couldn't hold up three women 
at once like I did for the contest."

	"You are right," Karasuma said flatly.

	Harima frowned.  No jealousy.  "And we won."

	"Yes, you did," Karasuma said calmly.

	"We couldn't even hear you," Harima said, trying hard 
to get some kind of rise out of him.

	"We need new speakers," Karasuma said.

	Harima floundered about, wondering if anything at all 
could make Karasuma mad.  "You have an ugly haircut, 
you know."

	"It's cheap," Karasuma said.

	Tenma brought drinks out.  "You boys having fun?" 
she asked.

	Harima tensed, suspecting he was about to be ratted 
out.

	"We're fine," Karasuma said, eyes on the TV; he was 
watching the news.

	Well, maybe not so bad, Harima thought.  But I hate 
him anyway.

	It was only when food was served that he realized that 
Tenma was going to sit on the same side of the table as 
Karasuma, while he was by Yakumo.  Not that he minded 
being next to Yakumo but it was like Karasuma was her 
boyfriend or something.  Not that he was Tenma's 
boyfriend yet and she did want him to train in 
boyfriendiness with Yakumo, who did make a pretty good 
practice girlfriend.  

	This must be another test, he thought, rationalizing 
desperately.  He put on his best manners, which were, 
unfortunately, not much better than his worst ones, but did 
at least have less swearing.

	They chatted about the school spirit contest, or more 
accurately, he and Tenma yammered on while Karasuma 
and Yakumo ate quietly.  Tenma finally said, 
"Congratulations again, Yakumo.  How did your class do in 
the cheering yesterday?"

	"I'm not sure," she said.  "I was cheering with your 
class."

	"How is Sara doing with Asou, hmm?" Tenma asked.

	"Not so well, yet," Yakumo said.

	"I could lean on him for her," Harima said.  That's the 
kind of offer a boyfriend makes, right?

	"I...well...that's nice of you," Yakumo said, not sure if 
that was good or not.

	"Yeah, kick his ass," Tenma said.

	"Tomorrow," Harima said.  I will show them what a 
boyfriend can do!

************

	Lala had insisted on going out immediately, to Hanai's 
surprise.  Fortunately, he had enough to cover her.  "So, 
we're going to pay for each other?" he asked as they headed 
off to find somewhere to eat.

	Lala glanced back, seeing a mysterious figure in a 
trenchcoat following them.  Almost certainly Mikoto, she 
thought.  She took Hanai's hand.  "That sounds reasonable."

	They walked a little ways and she said, "Your squad 
fought well."

	"Yours too," he said.  

	She smiled a little at that.  "Hmm, maybe we should 
try some Dutch cuisine," she said, looking at Brinker's 
Diek, a dutch restaurant.  

	"Why is that kid sticking his finger in a wall?"  Hanai 
asked, staring at the large model out front of a young kid 
plugging a hole in a wall with his finger.

	"I...probably we don't want to know," Lala confessed 
and went inside with Hanai.

	She noticed their shadow came in and got a table as 
well.  The restaurant decor was not hugely distinctive, to 
Lala's disappointment, though there were some very nice 
tulip and windmill paintings.

	Studying the menu, Lala quickly realized she had no 
idea what any of this was.  But recognizing the word 'veal' 
at least, she decided to try the Drenthe Veal stew.  Hanai 
agonized for a long time, and finally got some filets of sole 
with a tomato salad and some french fries.

	They discussed school a while, while waiting for food, 
and then Lala whispered, "Someone is following us."

	Hanai sighed.  "Not someone from our school, I 
hope."

	"Probably Suou," Lala said with a smirk.

	"Not her style," Hanai said, though he wasn't sure.  
She seemed oddly jealous of Lala.  He wasn't sure why.  
Women were very confusing.

*************

	Tenma, Karasuma, Harima, and Yakumo sat on the 
porch, watching the stars, while a pinwheel spun in 
Tenma's hand as she swirled it around.  Harima tried to sit 
close to Tenma, but she kept edging away from him over 
towards Karasuma, who got pushed to the right. Yakumo 
then edged towards Harima.  He guessed in about 20 more 
minutes of this, Karasuma would end up pinned against the 
wall at the end of the porch.

	Harima asked, suddenly curious, "What do your folks 
do for a living, Karasuma?"

	"They write," he said.

	Tenma felt embarrassed that Harima had thought to 
ask this before she had.  He's a better girlfriend to 
Karasuma than I am, she thought, then told herself not to be 
silly.

	"Write what?"

	"Science fiction," Karasuma said.  "Father writes 
novels, Mother draws manga."

	"So you wanted to follow her path?" Tenma asked 
him.

	"Yes," he said.  "I am a dreamer like her."  His voice 
held more emotion than usual, a mixture of fondness and 
sadness.

	"How about you, Harima?" Yakumo asked Harima 
suddenly.  She felt she ought to know more about his 
family.

	"My mom works at a packing plant," Harima said.  
"Fuck if I know..."  He caught himself.  "I don't know 
where Dad is now.  Bastard."

	Yakumo suddenly felt guilty.  "Did he..."

	"Ran out on Mom when my little brother was born," 
Harima said.  "Useless fucker."  He put a hand over his 
mouth.

	"Our parents write too," Tenma said.  "They're off on 
the Grand Line, probably researching for their next novel 
and having adventures."  Best to change the subject, she 
thought.

	Yakumo reached over hesitantly and took Kenji's 
other hand, squeezing it.  Forcing words out, she said, "I 
think you are a very nice man."

	Harima forced himself to stay cool, though he was 
tense inside.  "Thank you, Yakumo-san," he said.

	"You're a very good brother-in-law," Tenma said, 
smiling at him fondly.  It was like being stabbed with a 
knife while being fed candy at the same time.

	He did his best to put on a good face.  "Thank you, 
Tenma-san."

	"You will take good care of Imouto-san," Karasuma 
said.

	"I will do my best," Harima said.  He couldn't let 
Karasuma make him look bad.

	Yakumo said, "And our manga will be a big success."

	"We should work on that tonight," he said.

	"Good idea," she said.  "We need to get going on it."

	"Yeah."

	Karasuma gave a little grunt as Tenma scooted over to 
press up against him, pushing him into the wall.  But he 
didn't stop her as she ended up basically sliding into his lap.

	This was just too much for Harima.  He pulled 
Yakumo into his own lap, causing her eyes to widen.  He'd 
have beaten up Karasuma if Tenma wasn't watching, but he 
couldn't get violent in front of her.

	Tenma was turning red as she leaned on Karasuma.  
He seemed calm as always as he embraced her.  

	Harima scooted over; he and Yakumo were now 
pressing Tenma and Karasuma into the wall themselves.

	Tenma was too happy to do anything but smile.  
Please, let this moment go on forever, she thought.  Don't 
let it end.

**************
	
	Lala and Hanai finished eating, paid, and left the 
restaurant.  They were still being followed.  "I don't think 
it's Mikoto," he said.

	"Of course it is," she said.  "She's jealous of us."

	"Mikoto's not the jealous type," he said, though he 
thought about how she'd kissed him.  Which still made no 
sense.

	"Is she a good kisser?" Lala asked, her voice curiously 
calm.

	Hanai's man senses told him this was clearly a loaded 
woman question and that he would likely get a beating if he 
answered badly.  
	
	"I'm sure Yakumo could kiss better than her," he said, 
then realized that this was one of the worst possible 
answers.

	"So you didn't like kissing me?" she said, snarling.

	"I...no, I didn't mean that!  You asked me about 
Mikoto!" he said desperately.

	This seemed to mollify her.  "So you've kissed 
Tsukamoto's sister too?"

	"Umm...no."

	"How can you judge, then?" She still sounded 
somewhat angry, but she was more confused.  

	"I...umm...not really," he said, feeling mortified.

	"Why do you want a woman like her when you could 
have someone your own age, taller, prettier, and stronger?" 
Lala asked.  

	Hanai froze like a deer in headlights.  Why do I like 
Yakumo?  He tried to articulate it.  Beyond 'I want to see 
you in a hakama', which he could feel in his heart would 
lead to pain.  "She's so...she was just like a beautiful 
goddess at rest," he said dreamily.  

	"But she hates you and is dating someone else," Lala 
said.  "Plus, that's kind of superficial."

	He sunk in on himself.  "Isn't you being taller and 
prettier and stronger superficial too?"

	She winced at that, then said, "You should forget 
about someone who will never love you."

	"I can't forget," he said, hands screwing up into fists as 
he felt frustrated.

	She closed in on him.  "I can make you forget."

	"Lala, I..."  

	"You can be a very strong man," she said, arms 
wrapping around him.  "I've seen it in you, when you defied 
Harry and I with Karen at your side.  I like that in you, the 
solid steel core that doesn't give up even when the odds are 
against you.  You took everything Harry had without 
complaint, and you helped your partner to win.  And I want 
that man on my side."  Her face was close to his, her eyes 
boring into his.  

	His arms crept around her without him giving them 
orders, and she stepped in closer to him; he could feel the 
outliers of her body touching his.  "You beat your father's 
tricks when I could not.  You can be a strong man.  Which 
pisses me off all the more when you don't.  I will bring out 
that man, or die trying."  He froze, half hypnotized by the 
heat of her gaze and voice.  She moved in closer, and he 
realized she was about to kiss him again.

	The would-be kiss was cut off short, however, by the 
fact that the person following them had rushed up and now 
put Lala into a hold, pulling her off Hanai and flipping 
backwards to toss Lala into a dumpster.

	"Miko..." he began, then saw it wasn't Mikoto.  It was 
no one he knew, some tall and muscular woman who 
looked to be a college student, in part because she wore a 
Tokyo U shirt.  "Who are you?"

	"I'll kill you for what you did to my sister!" the 
woman shouted, and jumped into the dumpster after Lala.

	"What's going on?" Hanai shouted running to the edge 
of the dumpster. 

	Lala kicked the woman upwards and tried to stand, 
only to have her legs sink into the garbage.  The woman 
came down on her, slamming her powerful thighs into 
Lala's face.  

	They began to thrash in the garbage, ignoring Hanai's 
attempts to get some idea to find out what was going on.

	It wasn't going too well for Lala, who ended up with 
her head, shoulders and arms shoved down among the bags 
of garbage, while the woman ranted at her about her sister.

	Had Lala gotten angry and attacked someone, Hanai 
wondered.  She did have a temper.  But she didn't deserve 
this.  Surely I would have heard about it if she'd hurt 
anyone enough to deserve this.

	"That's enough," he said.  "Let go of her."

	"She beat the crap out of my sister and humiliated 
her," the woman said.  "I'm not leaving until every inch of 
her is garbage on the outside like she is on the inside."

	He moved to the edge of the dumpster.  "I certainly 
haven't heard about anything like that."

	Lala managed to twist and throw the woman off, 
sitting up only to get pinned again.  "It was a match!  
There's only one winner you know!  If she doesn't want to 
get hurt, she shouldn't wrestle!  Not to mention, she looked 
too spindly to wrestle."

	"She just wanted to be like her big sister, dammit, 
even though I told her not to," the woman yelled at Lala, 
long red hair spilling about.  

	"Then it's your fault for not stopping her," Lala said.  
She twisted and slipped free, trying to vault out, only to get 
her legs grabbed.

	The woman tried to fold Lala in half, but Lala 
punched her legs.

	"Look, we should settle this like civilized people," 
Hanai said.

	"Stay out of this, boy," the woman said.  "This is 
between us."

	"I can handle it," Lala said, though the fact that her 
face was being shoved into a pile of old ramen boxes and 
now she had bits of rice and old pork on her face and 
shoulders somewhat undercut this.

	Hanai couldn't just stand here and watch, but at the 
same time, he knew Lala would get pissed off if he stuck 
his nose in.  He shook indecisively, feeling his body get 
tenser.  "Who are you?"

	"Kobayama Miyu," the woman said.  "Your little 
gaijin tart beat the crap out of my sister Maru."

	"It's kind of hard to wrestle without anyone getting 
hurt," Lala pointed out as she got a leg free and kicked 
Miyu in the upper torso.

	"She's not a tart," Hanai said hotly.  "And I'm sure that 
while she may have hurt your sister, that's what happens 
when people fight.  You didn't keep hitting her once it was 
over, did you, Lala?"

	"Of course not!" Lala shouted, though she felt a little 
guilty, having been known at times to get carried away.  
And yes, she had mocked the girl afterwards.  But it wasn't 
anything that most wrestlers didn't do to each other.  If you 
couldn't stand the heat, you got out of the kitchen.

	"Don't care, I'm gonna paste her for what she did.  I'll 
paste you too, boy, if you interfere," Miyu said.

	"I'm fine, Haruki," Lala said.  "Haruki-kun.  I 
always..."  She grunted at the elbow in her gut.  "Forget 
the...things.  Honorifics."

	He couldn't stand watching her get pounded like this; 
she was clearly losing, even if she was putting up a fight.  
He watched them struggle, Miyu slowly pressing Lala into 
the garbage.

	Then an idea hit him.  He started a three count.  
Finally, at three, he said, "Sorry, Lala, you lose.  You've 
been pinned too long.  Match is over."

	Lala said, "Dammit!  I hate losing!"

	The woman said, "This isn't a match. This is me 
beating the crap out of a bitch."

 	"You've done enough," he said firmly.

	"I'll decide when I've done enough," she said.

	Hanai reached in and grasped Lala's hand for a 
moment.  "Tag."

	"What?" the woman said.

	Then Hanai flipped in, kicking the woman in the head, 
and knocking her off Lala.  He soon regretted this as she 
grabbed his feet as she went flying and piled him into a pile 
of remains of watermelon.

	He tried to get to his feet, only to find himself sinking 
into the garbage, and then the woman was on him like a 
wild dog, hammering away at his chest and overbearing 
him by sheer brute force.  He couldn't get any decent 
footing, either; his blows just seemed to drive him deeper 
into the garbage.

	Lala, however, grabbed her from behind, pulling her 
arms back, enabling him to punch her backwards, and then 
he grabbed her legs.  

	She struggled, but she couldn't manage to outmuscle 
them both at once.  "That's enough," Hanai said.

	"We should..." Lala began.

	"It's enough.  She won her fight with you.  Now she 
should be a good winner and go home," he said, staring 
intently at her.

	Miyu looked Hanai in the eyes, then blinked and said, 
"Fine, I'll go."  

	"She attacked me for no reason!" Lala protested.  

	"I'm sorry I butted into your fight," he said as the 
woman got up and hopped out, then began to head back to 
get her abandoned trenchcoat.  "But I couldn't just stand 
there and watch you get hurt."

	She stared him in the eyes, and then to his surprise, 
she smiled.  "See, there's your strength."  And then she 
lunged in and kissed him, knocking him back.

	Unfortunately, this dislodged four bags and he slid 
down into a gap, ending up ramming his head into a half-
empty milk carton which exploded, showering them with 
sour milk.

	But he never would forget that kiss.  

***************
	
	The wall was starting to dent when Yakumo said, 
"We'd better go and work on our manga."

	Reluctantly, Harima rose and carried her off to her 
room.

	Karasuma stayed in place, slightly embedded, Tenma 
resting in his arms.

	I should kiss him, Tenma thought.  This is the perfect 
chance.  She turned slightly to face him; his mouth was 
ever so slightly curved to a smile.  Or did she imagine it?

	"Karasuma," she said softly.

	"Yes, Tsukamoto?" he asked.

	"I...I..."  Her heart began to pound.  Say it, she told 
herself.  Say it.  Tell him how you feel.

	"I like..."

	He waited expectantly.

	"I like...fall," she said, then cursed herself again.

	"It is nice," he says.  "Not too cold, not too hot."

	"I want to meet your parents some time," she said.

	"Alright," he said.

	They sat in silence.  Now or never she told herself.  

	"I love shoes," she finally said frenetically.  A second 
later, she decided to hate herself for all time.

	"I love sandals," he said.  "But you can't wear them to 
school."

	Tenma quivered.  I suck, she thought.  Yakumo and 
Harima are probably making out right now.  Mikoto is 
probably kissing Hanai.  Akira and Nara are probably 
getting it on.  Eri probably has three boys kissing her at 
once...why can't I even say I love him????

	"Want to get some ice cream?" he asked.

	"I love ice cream," she said.

	"Let's go."

******************

	"Hanai, you're late," his mother said, angry.  A second 
later, her eyes widened.  "What happened to you?"

	"I forgot to call, I'm sorry," he said.  "Gonzales-san..."

	Lala interrupted him.  "Lala.  Call me Lala."

	Hanai gulped.  "We had an accident and fell in a 
dumpster."

	His mother's eyes narrowed.  "You didn't have a stupid 
fight, did you?"

	"He didn't fight stupidly at all," Lala said.  "Though I 
could have handled it."

	"Anyway, you don't mind if Lala gets cleaned up here, 
do you?  Her host mother may kill me if I take her home 
like this," Hanai said.

	His mother frowned, but nodded.  "Come with me, 
Gonzales-san."

	They came in and Lala followed Mrs. Hanai.  "I am 
sorry to bring this mess into your house."

	She looked at Lala.  "Hmm, come with me."

	She took Lala outside and hosed her down until she 
was sticky and dripping wet, but no longer covered with 
strange things.  "We can throw that in the washing 
machine, and you can wear one of my husband's yukatas 
until it is clean," she said.  "You're too tall for mine."

	Lala bowed to her.  "I am very grateful, Senora 
Hanai."

	"Seni...is that a Spanish thing?"

	"It is the same as calling you Hanai-sama, more or 
less, I think."

	"Well, thank you," she said.  "You do know that trying 
to get Haruki-kun to call you Lala is considered intimate 
here, right?"

	"That's the idea," Lala said.

	"My, you are very straightforward," Mrs. Hanai said, 
taking her to the laundry room and stripping her down.  
"Let me take you to the bath house, and you can get clean, 
and while you bathe, I'll get you a yukata."

	"Thank you," she said, bowing.

	"That serious about my boy?" Mrs. Hanai asked.

	"He intrigues me," Lala said.  

	"He's really not that mysterious.  Much like his father.  
Very smart, hard-working if he cares, otherwise, you have 
to kick his butt to get him moving.  Needs someone to give 
him direction.  Usually that's Mikoto-chan's job," Mrs. 
Hanai said, studying Lala, who seemed unbothered to stand 
around mostly naked in the laundry room.  

	She passed Lala a towel.  "Wrap up, in case the boy is 
about."  She paused.  "Whether you care or not."

	Lala wrapped up and followed her.  "He and Suou-san 
have been friends since childhood, correct?"

	"Yes.  I expect they'll get married one day."

	Lala frowned at that.

	"So you may find him a tougher nut to crack than you 
think."

	"You do not like me," Lala said.

	"I never said that," she said, opening the bathhouse.  
"Use anything you like.  Relax and enjoy your visit."

	Japanese people are so hard to read, Lala thought.  
"Thank you."

	"You're welcome."  

	Lala went in and started bathing.  She was in the 
process of scrubbing her back when she heard the door. 
"Occupado!" she shouted, caught herself and said, 
"Occupied!"

	"I'll come back later," Hanai said.

	"Better not peep," she teased.

	"That wouldn't be nice of me at all," he said. She 
heard him go, and wondered if he would peep.  She 
couldn't quite be sure what he felt at all.  Though he kissed 
well.

	She smiled a little, finished bathing, and got into the 
hot water to soak.

**************

	"Whew," Harima said.  "I think we have our first 
volume nailed down enough to start storyboarding and 
drawing."

	Yakumo nodded.  She felt pretty excited about it.  
"We should probably set up a schedule, so we can set and 
make deadlines."

	Harima nodded.  He wasn't good at deadlines.

	She came around the table, trying to find the strength 
to do something.  Not that she was sure what.  Something 
romantic.  She wanted him to feel for her, wanted him to 
think of her.  She had felt so wonderful with him spinning 
her and the other cheerleaders around.  It had been 
awesome.

	He'd seen she was in trouble, and he'd done his best to 
help her.  And she appreciated it.  She just wished she was 
better with words.  

	He looked at her, a little confused, and she said, 
"Thank you for helping my class, Kenji-kun."

	He smiled at her.  "I was glad to help," he said.  I 
could tell it made Tenma happy, he thought.  And I'm glad 
it made you smile too.

	"I wish...I could do something like that for you."

	Harima looked thoughtful.  "Well..."

	She looked at him hopefully.

	"I know there's some kind of decorating contest thing 
tomorrow, right?  Maybe we could draw something for it 
together."  He didn't really care about it, but if it would 
make her happy, and hey, the class would owe him one.

	She clapped her hands together once.  "Yes, please?"

	"Okay, lemme call Mai, find out who is running it," he 
said.  

	She smiled.  Yes.  This would bring them closer 
together.  

*************** 
	  
	Lala looked over nervously at Mr. Hanai, trying to 
hide her nerves, as they all sat together in yukatas eating ice 
cream.  "This is very good, thank you."

	"Mother makes her own," Hanai said.  "It's a real 
treat."

	Lala bowed to her.  "Thank you, Senora."

	"Mikoto-chan loves our ice cream," Mrs. Hanai said.

	"And the other students too," Mr. Hanai said, savoring 
his cherry ice cream.  "I really like this cherry flavor."

	"Thank you dear," Mrs. Hanai said; she was having 
some peaches and cream.

	Lala shifted slightly, nervously.  "I am grateful for you 
washing my clothing too."

	Mr. Hanai smiled.  "No problem."

	Hanai cut off his mother.  "Sometimes it's nice to just 
sit down and relax a little."

	"Oh, that reminds me," Mr. Hanai said.  "Your lady 
friends called.  Something about a decoration committee?"

	"Oh, did they need me?  I'll call them," Hanai said.

	"School spirit contest stuff?" Lala asked.

	"I think so," Hanai said.  He dialed.

	Sagano answered.  "Hey there, don't forget, you have 
to come in early as class rep boy and be slave labor for us 
putting up our decorations."

	"No problem," he said.

	"Did Lala and you have fun?"

	"Lots," he said.  "I'll see you in the morning, unless 
you need me now?"

	"Well, Yuuki would be happy to see you," Sagano 
said.  "But we can get by on our own if we need to."

	"Okay, see you tomorrow, then."

	"See you."

****************
	
	"And here it is," Harima said, holding up a picture of a 
soccer player making a high kick.  "We can do pictures of 
the players in various poses while Fuyuki cooks up a 
backdrop with his imaging skills using actual pictures of 
the school as a background."

	"Oooh, that's great," Yuuki said.  They were over at 
Fuyuki's place.  

	"Yakumo and I can draw a lot of these pretty quickly," 
Harima said.  "Right, Yakumo?"

	"Right," she said, nodding.

	"Yeah, this will be great," Madoka said.  "Thank you, 
both of you."

	"Well," Sagano said.  "Let's get cracking."

****************	

	"The washing machine seems to be taking a very long 
time," Mr. Hanai said to his wife.

	She went and checked, then came back, looking 
embarrassed.  "I forgot to turn it on."

	"..."

	Lala looked at the clock.  "I may have to go home in 
this."

	"You can just sleep here and your uniform will be 
clean in the morning," Mr. Hanai said.  "I'll call your host 
mother and explain."

	"Thank you very much," Lala said.  Here's my chance 
to get really ahead of Mikoto, she thought.  

************

	Mikoto sneezed, then looked over at Akira.  "Is it cold 
in here?"

	"No, feels fine to me," Akira said.  "Want me to turn 
the heat up a little?"

	"No," Mikoto said.  "I'll be fine."  She went back to 
her homework.

**************
	 
	Yakumo only realized she'd fallen asleep on the back 
of Kenji's motorcycle when he woke her up by lifting her 
off it.  Sleepily, she said, "Kenji-kun, you staying tonight?"

	"Yeah, I'd better not drive," he said.  

	"You can sleep in my room if you want," she said 
softly.

	"You still worried about those freaks breaking in 
again?"

	She nodded, though really, she just wanted him there.

	"Sure," he said.  "I'll protect you."

	She leaned her head against his chest.  "Thank you."  
Then she slid into sleep again.

	He took her to her bed and checked on Tenma, who 
was fast asleep.  Karasuma was gone, for which he was 
glad.  He smiled at her, then went and got a guest futon and 
set it up in Yakumo's room.  

	Don't worry, he thought, as he went to bed.  I'll protect 
you.

************

	Lala tried to figure out why exactly she was lurking 
just outside Hanai's room instead of knocking or just going 
in.  Somehow, it had seemed much easier to do this an hour 
ago when she'd thought of it, rather than right now, when 
his parents, one of whom could definitely kick her ass, 
were asleep just down the hallway.  Or maybe not asleep.  
In a house like this you could probably hear every time a 
door opened.  What if Mr. Hanai over heard her and came 
out and folded her so that her face was shoved into her own 
butt and left her that way?

	He'd do it if his wife told him to.  And she seemed to 
prefer Mikoto.  What has that girl got that I don't? Lala 
asked herself.  

	She just didn't get it.

	She was still hesitating when Hanai slid the door open.  
"Coming in?" he asked.

	She started in surprise, then nodded slowly and came 
in.  

	"Gets kind of lonely in the guest room?" Hanai asked.

	"Yes," Lala mumbled.  She could feel her heart 
pounding, and all her fancy plans falling apart.

	"Well, my futon's big enough for two; let me just get 
more blankets."

	She stared in a sort of confused haze at him.  She'd 
expected to have to try to seduce him, but he just sort of 
took it for granted she'd come to sleep with him.  Did he 
and Mikoto do this frequently?

	Maybe they did, she thought.  What kind of 
relationship DO they have, exactly?

	He pulled out more blankets and a pillow, then began 
scrambling under the blankets, yawning.  "Goodnight, 
Gonzales-san."

	He just thinks I'm here to sleep, she realized.  

	"Your parents won't mind, will they?" she asked 
softly.

	"Dad'll kick my ass in the morning, but I'm too tired to 
care right now."  He yawned deeply.  "Better get to sleep, 
Dad'll probably wake us up early and make us work out.  
And I've got to get to school and help put up decorations."

	She slid under the sheets, telling herself to do 
something, but she wasn't sure what to do.  She'd never 
slept in the same room as a boy before, unless you counted 
her father or one of her annoying cousins.  And nothing 
romantic there.

	Right as she started to drift off, he started mumbling 
about Yakumo.  She tried to ignore it, but the more he did 
it, the more angry she got.  How could he possibly obsess 
over an underclassman when the most beautiful woman in 
the school was in his bed?  

	Why does he want a weak, fainting girl with a taste for 
delinquents?  Sure, she was cute, but not half as good 
looking as me, Lala thought.  She couldn't understand it, 
but it pissed her off.  Mikoto she could fight, but he would 
likely respond poorly to her just beating the crap out of 
Yakumo.  Tempting as it was.

	"Nurse, come here," Hanai mumbled.

	Great, he has fantasies about nurses, she thought.  Too 
much information.

	"Yes, Miko-chan, I think your bear is sick.  We're 
going to have to give him an injection."  There was a little-
boyish tone to his voice.  Was this some memory of his? 

	She listened; it sounded like some dream of him and 
Mikoto being a doctor and a nurse treating animals of 
various kinds that belonged to Mikoto.  

	I wonder if he wants to be a vet, she thought.

	"Lala-chan, your eagle is sick?  Bring it over here," he 
said.  "It's been chewing on snakes again, I see."

	Lala wasn't sure whether to be flattered or insulted at 
playing supporting cast in a dream of Hanai's about him 
and Mikoto being veterinarians.  Though it did make her 
wonder what happened to her old eagle and serpent doll.  
The serpent's head had been chewed off by a dog and her 
father had tried to fix it, but the replacement head had never 
looked right.

	"Yakumo-chan, your cat..."

	It was too much for her and she punched his arm.  He 
snapped awake and she feigned sleep.

	Hanai rubbed his arm, wondering what he'd done to it.  
He sighed, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

	He kept quiet after that, and Lala managed to sleep as 
well.

****************
	
 	Lala woke up in the air, on her way towards the pond.  
She looked over at Hanai, also in the air, stretching as he 
flew.  "Does this happen often?" she asked.

	"You get used to it," he said, as they hit the water.

	The beating was really not even half as bad as the 
lecture she got from Mrs. Hanai afterwards.  She could only 
follow about half of it, Mrs. Hanai was speaking so fast 
about virtue and young people and the flaws of modern 
education and asking if this was why Mexico had so many 
poor people.

	The latter was simply too much for her.  "You can 
mock me, but don't insult my homeland," she growled at 
Mrs. Hanai.

	"It's a hell-hole, and we both know it," Mrs. Hanai 
said.  

	"Your country may be rich, but you all live like the 
poor," Lala snapped back angrily.  If Mrs. Hanai had been 
her own age, she'd have beaten the crap out of her, but her 
father had pushed some degree of respect for the elderly 
into her.  Also, it would make things much harder for her 
with Hanai if she beat up his mother.  "At least we can 
afford to make our houses out of something sturdier than 
paper.  I could knock down half of Japan with my fists."

	Hanai swooped down.  "Gonzales-san, we have to go 
to class." He took her by the arm and rapidly dragged her 
away.

	Hanai's mother was shouting after them, but Hanai, 
who looked very embarrassed, put his hands over her ears.  
She found it a little annoying but also sort of endearing.  
"I'm old enough that words won't kill me," she said softly.

	"Sorry," he mumbled, letting go.  "I just..."

	"Is she always like this?"

	He sighed.  "No, but I think she definitely likes 
Mikoto better than you.  And Mother tends to think she 
knows everything, whether she does or not."

	"You don't think my homeland is terrible and poor, do 
you?" she asked softly, feeling her blood pound.

	"Most of what I know about Mexico is either about 
wrestling or food.  Or Aztecs," he said.

	"You know about them?"

	"All we learned in World history about Mexico was 
about the Aztecs and how they got conquered by Cortez," 
Hanai said.  "So I don't really have an opinion on Mexico," 
he continued.  "You're the only Mexican person I've ever 
met."

	"We're not a rich country, but we're working hard to 
get richer," Lala said, though she knew Mexico was still 
poor compared to many countries.  "It just is so hard to 
catch up after all the troubles of the nineteenth century and 
the early twentieth."

	Hanai took her word for it.  "Don't sweat it.  We all 
just take you as you are."  For good and ill, he thought.

	"Thank you," she said.  "So you're going to be putting 
up decorations?"

	He nodded.  "You going to help your class?"

	"I guess, since I'll be there ear..."

	Tenma zoomed past them on a bicycle.

	"What's she doing up this early?" Lala asked in 
surprise.

	"Maybe she's helping too," Hanai speculated.

**************

	Tenma licked her lips nervously, then started the drill, 
hoping the noise wouldn't carry.  Best to do this now, with 
no one about.  Once she had this hole, she'd be able to peep 
into the boys' changing room.  

	Her whole body was shaking, but after her failure, 
after seeing Yakumo and Harima and everything...she had 
to do it.

	Give me peeping or give me death, she thought.

***************
	
	Mai wandered the halls, studying the decorations.  Her 
class had definitely done well.  Even if they didn't win 
overall, they would have at least acquitted themselves well.

	"Enjoying the view?" Tougo asked, suddenly 
embracing her from behind.

	She blushed a moment, then pulled herself together.  
"Yes, I think we'll win."

	"We'll see.  We had the art teacher critique ours in 
advance," Tougo said.

	Mai studied one of 2-D's decorations, a wall scroll 
which depicted...well, it was hard to tell, being cubist in 
style, with a soccer ball that was hugely distorted and some 
sort of alien mutant player with a seven sided head and five 
legs.

	"I...uh...It has a lot of color."

	Tougo laughed.  "You may not like it, but she will."

	"Doesn't the principal judge?"

	"Art is always judged by how pretentious it is," Tougo 
said, kissing her cheek.  She leaned back against him.  "But 
we'll see."

*************

	Yakumo couldn't find Tenma anywhere, but she then 
found the note Tenma left her in the kitchen.  'Gone to 
school early, see you there.'

	Harima came stumbling out.  "Where's your sister?"

	"Gone to school early," Yakumo said.  "Maybe they 
asked her to help put up decorations."

	"Makes sense," Harima said, yawning.  "Maybe I'll 
nap a little."

	"No time, or we'll be late to school.  You need to get 
your grades up."

	He frowned, then sighed.  Art school, he thought.  
You'd better be worth it.

*************

	Tenma realized the flaw with her plan during gym.  
How could she use the hole when the boys were in their 
changing room without the other girls noticing her using it?

	Akira looked at her.  "I could have told you that."

	"I, what?"

	"You know.  The flaw in your plan," Akira said.

	"But...I...how did..."

	"You do realize the boys could use that to peep on 
us?"

	"..."

	"I'll help you this once, then you have to plug it," 
Akira said.  

	She nodded.

	Akira stepped into the shower room, then shouted, 
"AAHHHH!!!! PERVERT!!!!"

	The women flooded into the shower room angrily, and 
Tenma bent down and looked.

	She was staring directly at someone's naked butt.  It 
was huge, seeming larger than a mountain to her.  And the 
butt crack...

	Smoke came out of Tenma's ears and she quietly 
flopped over.  

	On the other side of the wall, Buddha straightened up, 
pulling on his gym shorts and underwear.  Why do I feel 
like someone is looking at me, he asked himself, then 
shrugged and went on with life.

	Eri found Tenma and dragged her over to a bench.  
"You okay?" she asked.

	"It...so much fat...so big..."  Tenma began to claw at 
her eyes; Eri grabbed her hands.

	"Tenma, did you try and peep on the guys or 
something?" Eri asked.

	"No...no...my EYES!  BURNING!!!!!" Tenma 
shouted, drawing many stares.

	Eri took her over and flushed out her eyes with water.  
"What the...what did you do to yourself?" she asked 
sternly.

	"I need to go lie down in the nurse's office," Tenma 
mumbled.

	The door opened and Harima stuck his head in.  
"Tenma-chan, are you o..."

	The legion of half-dressed women stared at him.  
Especially since he was just in his boxers.

	Eri suddenly realized Harima was looking at her and 
Tenma when she was in her underwear.  She turned beet 
red and wanted to die.

	Harima tried to make himself stop staring at Eri when 
Tenma was in trouble.  Her face was so wet...he hadn't 
thought anyone could cry that hard.  Instinctively, he 
started to step in.

	Then Mai and Madoka clocked him in the face with a 
bench.  "PERVERT, GET OUT!"

	He fled before a barrage of anything throwable.

	"Let's get dressed and take you to the nurse," Eri said, 
heart pounding.

	"Okay," Tenma mumbled.  She did not resist.

*************

	Harima tried to focus on the soccer game, but his mind 
kept drifting off to the image of Eri in bra and panties, 
standing protectively over Tenma.  His mind kept turning 
the image over and around to study the camera angles.  It 
made him so excited he could hardly think.  

	As a result, when Yoshidayama passed him the ball, 
he just stood there with it at his feet, lost in thought.  Mai 
scampered in and stole the ball from him, driving down the 
field.

	"You idiot, stop zoning out!" Yoshidayama shouted 
angrily at him.  He idly swept Yoshidayama's legs as he 
went by, then turned and ran after the ball, stealing it from 
Mai, then passing it to Sagano, only to have Hanai steal it 
from Sagano.

	He was running after Hanai, only to hear Yuuki say, "I 
wish Sawachika-san was here.  She's good at soccer."  	This 
sent him back to the land of half-naked Eri, from which he 
only returned when he took a soccer ball to the head.

	Seizing his chance, he drove down the field and tried 
to score on Mikoto, only to have her seize it and throw it 
past him.  She was almost as good looking as Eri, he 
thought.  But she lacks something...maybe it's the hair.

	No, stop thinking about Eri, he thought.  Tenma is the 
woman for me, even if Eri has a nice figure.  And is a good 
biker, and...

	He shook his head.  Focus, he told himself.  Keep 
track of what is impor...

	He took another ball to the head, and turned and saw 
Fuyuki looking embarrassed.  He charged after Fuyuki, 
who took off running.

	You had to focus on what is important.

**************

	"What happened to her?" Tae-sensei asked Eri.

	"I don't even know," Eri said.  "There was some 
pervert in the showers and we all ran off, and then 
something got into Tenma's eyes back in the changing 
room or something."  She frowned, not liking not knowing.

	"Well, I washed out her eyes," Tae-sensei said.  

	Eri felt herself drift off, thinking about Kenji in his 
boxers.  She made herself focus.  "Maybe she didn't sleep 
well and...I don't know."

	"Well, no permanent harm.  She'll be fine, I'm sure."

	"We never did catch the shower pervert either," Eri 
said, shaking her head.  

	"Boys will be boys."  Tae sighed.  "Kenji never did 
peep on me, though I tried to give him chances."  Teasing 
Eri was too much fun.

	"You...wanted him to look?" Eri asked in shock.

	"Everyone likes people to look at them with desire," 
Tae-sensei said.  "If you really like them, you want to look 
at them."

	He was looking right at me, Eri thought.  Staring at me 
and...  She felt herself shake a little and stopped it.  "A lot 
of guys just want to look at any pretty girl."

	"That's true.  But Hario isn't that sort of guy."

	Eri shook again.  Of course, I have seen him naked, so 
it's only fair, she thought.  He was more naked than I was, 
so...

	She shook those thoughts out of her head.  That's 
super-crazy logic, she thought.  Tenma logic.  

	"Well, she just needs rest now.  You can stay if you 
like."

	"I should get back to class," Eri said.  "See you later."

************

	"Hey, how's it going?" Harima asked Tenma.

	She rubbed her eyes and sat up.  "How long have I 
been out?"

	"It's lunchtime," he said, setting a lunchbox down on 
her legs.  "Yakumo-san made it for you."

	"Thanks!" she said, then looked thoughtful.  "Kenji, 
have you ever peeped on someone you like?"

	He thought about Eri walking in on him in a bikini, his 
recent disaster at the locker rooms, Eri in a bra and panties 
standing over Tenma, looking so protective, the time he'd 
walked in on Itoko and she tossed him out the window...  "I 
don't go around peeping," he said.  "Leave that to the 
pervert club."  Though he thought he'd probably peep on 
Eri...Tenma.  On Tenma, given the chance.  "Why, you 
want me to peep on you?" he joked nervously.

	"I need to peep on Karasuma to prove my love for him 
and I don't think I can do it alone...there was this..."  Smoke 
came out of her ears.  "It was horrible!"

	"Did you peep into the men's room?" Harima asked in 
shock.

	"I...I had to!  To show my love!  But it was...awful!"

	Harima's brain struggled to integrate this into his 
vision of the pure Tenma.  Surely some horrible person 
must have tricked her into this.  Who he could clobber.  
"Who made you do this?"

	"I just..."  Tenma gulped.  "It was my own idea."

	He frowned.  "But what gave you the idea?"

	"I just...I shouldn't...nothing," she said, growing more 
frantic.  

	He frowned.  Someone had tainted her mind, and he 
would get to the bottom of it.

************

	"Say what?" Eri said to Harima, carefully not quite 
looking at him.

	He was glad that she couldn't see his mental image of 
her, and he told his brain again to stop being perverted.  
"Clearly someone influenced Tenma-san to try peeping on 
the men.  No man would do it, but I thought maybe you 
would know who is most perverted among the women."

	"Definitely Sagano," Eri said.  "But she would have 
been at the hole if it was her idea.  Really, I think this is 
one of her mad fancies.  She's probably frustrated because 
things are moving slowly with her and Karasuma."

	Harima frowned at that.  "He's a weirdo."

	"You're in no position to call anyone a weirdo, 
delinquent boy," Eri said a little hotly.

	"Hey, you're the one who saw me naked!" Harima 
protested.

	"Because you were prancing about naked in our hotel 
room!" she snapped back, then felt herself remembering it 
and tried to stop thinking about it.

	He could see her, in the bikini...in the bra...no, I am 
being unfaithful in my mind, he told himself.  Eri's not even 
my training girlfriend, she's just a close friend who is very 
good looking and...

	"And you grabbed me from...from..."  Eri tried to 
muster her rage to overcome the memory of it.

	"I'm terrible!" Harima wailed and leaped out the 
window, plummeting down to the ground below.

	"Kenji, you idiot, what are you doing?" she shouted in 
confusion, running to the window, then vaulting after him.

	She chased him across the school grounds, which 
wasn't easy; he ran towards his bike. She shouted, "Kenji-
kun, STOP!"

	 He didn't stop, but she leaped in a flying kick, 
knocking him down.  "Kenji-kun, stop being strange!"  She 
was full of a mixture of anger and worry.

	"I'm not worthy," he shouted.  "My devotion isn't pure 
enough!"  Even now, he could see her, in his mind's eye, 
and he had to get away.  He struggled to his feet.

	She grabbed his shoulder.  "Kenji-kun, stop being an 
idiot!  What are you talking about?"

	He froze up, covered his mouth with a hand, tore loose 
and ran for his bike.

	This was starting to piss her off.  Another flying kick 
took him down.  "Stop running, start answering!  Don't 
make me shave your head again!"

	"I can't!" he said, rising and sending her toppling.  
Then he ran and hopped onto his bike and roared off, 
leaving Eri to shake her fist in frustration.

	She thought about what he'd said.  Had his devotion 
to...whoever it is...had it wavered?  Surely he couldn't be 
flakey enough to run off just because his mind wandered or 
he'd always be running off.  

	She tried to think about it...he walked in on all of us 
half-naked.  No wonder his mind was wandering; no man 
could face that much beauty without it burning into his 
brain, especially not her own perfect figure.

	Not that her underwear actually showed off any more 
than the bikini he'd already seen her in when...

	She told herself not to think about that, but it hung 
around the fringe of her mind, daring her to look.  He must 
feel like he's betrayed the one he loves...can he really be so 
romantic?  She felt a mountain of envy for whoever that 
was.  Whoever she is, Eri thought, she doesn't even know 
what she's missing.  

	Stupid Kenji, she thought.  Can't you see this woman 
right in front of you?  	

***********
	
	"Hmm, I have completed my tour of the decorations, 
yes," the principal said.

	Yakumo looked around the gathered students, 
wondering where Harima had gone.  She could see Eri, 
who Tenma said had gone off with him, but...

	"Class 1-B gets the year 1 award for their soccerball 
papermache displays."

	Class 1-B cheered wildly.

	"Class 2-D gets the award because I can't understand 
their art at all, which in my experience means art critics 
would like it, so it must be good," the principal said.

	Yakumo wasn't pleased with that.  Neither was anyone 
in 2-C, who began booing while 2-D cheered.  Tougo said, 
"As I predicted, the pretentious art always wins.  Thank 
you."

	"And 3-F gets the award for creating very Communist 
art."  3-F's art featured stern, heroic high school students 
gathered to serve the motherland of the high school.

	"The rules didn't say the most communist art wins!" 3-
D's art commander said.  His group had created fancy ice 
sculptures, which had all, unfortunately, melted by second 
period.

	"It's so stern and unyielding," the Principal said.  
"Communism uber alles!"

	Everyone stared at him, then applauded, just in case.

	"So, that's one for us, one for them, and one for 2-E," 
Mai said.  "We have to win the soccer tournament.  We 
need a boys team and a girls team."

	"We need Harima," Hanai said.  "I'll form a men's 
team, but he's our second best soccer player."

	"When he pays attention," Mikoto said.

	"He's panicked and run off like an idiot," Eri said.  
"He's off being a maniac."

	"Well, we must find him," Mai said.  "Eri, I want you 
to organize our girls' team."

	"Me?" Eri said.  "Okay, I can do that.  
Mikoto, Karen, myself, Sagano, Madoka.  Mai, you can be 
goalie.  There we go."

	"What about me?" Tenma asked.

	"Sorry, five person team," Eri said.  "But can you help 
find Harima?  He's probably hiding under your porch or 
something."

	"Sure!" Tenma said.  "Come on, Yakumo, let's find 
Harima."

**************

	He wasn't under the porch.  

	Yakumo stared at Iori, who stared back; she wondered 
what he could tell her if only she could talk to him like 
Harima did to animals.  

	But instead, he was silent.  

	They would have to find another answer.

**************

	Harima sat in the waterfall, shivering.  He had to 
admit it did clear your mind.  All he could think about was 
how cold and miserable he was.  It sucked.

	But he had to stay here until he was sure that he was 
pure.  He had to purge all thoughts of anyone but Tenma 
from his mind.  He couldn't afford to lose his focus.  Even 
if Eri...NO, NO!

	"I thought I'd find you here," Hanai said.

	Harima jumped, looking at him on the shore.  "I'm 
meditating."

	"We need you for the soccer team."

	"I can't leave until my mind is pure," Harima said.  
"So, you'll have to get someone else."

	Hanai waded out into the water and got up on the shelf 
with him.  "Then I'll meditate with you."

	"What?"

	"I have to get you ready to play tomorrow, whatever it 
takes, or 2-D will win."

	"Don't care about 2-D.  Nothing else matters."

	"Worried about errant thoughts from walking in on the 
women naked?" Hanai asked.

	Harima froze up.  "DO YOU READ MINDS?"  He 
scooted over as far as he could.

	"That's enough to give anyone errant thoughts," Hanai 
said.  "I could try and teach you a meditation method to 
clear your mind.  If you'll promise to come play tomorrow, 
no matter what."

	"If it works, I will come," Harima said.

	"That's reasonable," Hanai said.  "Okay, the first thing 
you have to do is to imagine a flat, level plain."

	Harima began to imagine a plane which had been 
squashed flat by a giant.  You could hardly tell with the 
wings, but it was obvious with the rest.  "What level is the 
plane?"

	"It's just level as in flat," Hanai said.

	"So it never goes up in level?"  Sounds like a lousy 
console game, Harima thought.  

	"Don't worry about levels.  Just imagine the plain, and 
a seed falling on it from the sky."

	Harima imagined a seed falling down on the metal flat 
plane.

	"It burrows into the ground."

	"How does a seed burrow?  Or is this a mole-seed?"

	"Yes, it's a mole-seed," Hanai said.  Whatever works 
for him, he told himself.

	Harima nodded and imagined a mole in a shell digging 
down.  "It's hard going."

	"Yes," Hanai said slowly.  "Now, rains come and 
water the seed, which begins to grow."

	"Through the hole it made in the plane?"

	"Yes," Hanai said.  "Little tender shoots poking up."

	"It shoots chicken tenders?" Harima asked.

	Hanai twitched.  "You know what I mean."

	"Yeah, of course," Harima said.  He imagined the 
mole in the shell with a sniper rifle, shooting falling 
chicken strips as they rained down.

	"The precious flower rises up in the middle of the 
plain," Hanai said.	

	"Flower?  Where did that come from?"

	"The seed."

	"So it has a flower, a mole, and a rifle in it?" Harima 
asked.

	What is he THINKING, Hanai wondered.  "Yes."  Go 
with the flow, he decided.  

	"So the chicken tenders are after the mole's flower?"

	"Yes," Hanai said, giving in.

	Thousands of bodies later, Hanai said, "Do you feel 
more mellow now?"

	"Yes," Harima said.  "That was weird as hell, but it 
worked."

	"Ready to come play soccer now?" Hanai asked.

	Harima sneezed.  "If I don't get sick, anyway."

	Hanai prayed for Harima's health.

************

	Tenma wandered around the zoo, trying to see if 
Harima was here.  That had been Yakumo's second big 
idea.  Yakumo wandered with her, trying desperately to 
read animal minds.  But none of them seemed to know 
anything.

	Finally, Tenma sighed.  "I don't know w...wait, 
Yakumo, you know where he lives, right?"

	Yakumo stared at her sister a moment, eyes widening 
slightly, then said, "Yes.  We should check there."

	"Then let's go."

****************

	Eri couldn't focus on the soccer game; she kept 
thinking about Harima.  She'd chosen five sacrificial 
victims for her team to practice against.  She could afford 
to be distracted against them.

	As she stole the ball from Mai, she asked, "Wouldn't it 
have been easier if we'd gotten all these groups organized 
in advance?"

	"It took until last weekend to finalize the details," Mai 
said, chasing after her.

	To Eri's embarrassment, Yuuki stole the ball from her, 
passing it to Mai, who took a shot, only to have it blocked 
by Mikoto.  But Eri was more worried about Harima, who 
was definitely in a mood where he ws likely to do 
something stupid.

**************

	"So what is up with you and Suou and Gonzales?" 
Harima asked Hanai as they both tried to shake-dry 
themselves.

	"It's kind of complicated," Hanai said.  "I think 
Gonzales has a crush on me, and Suou-kun and I...well, it's 
a mess.  But among other things, we've been...I shouldn't 
talk about it."

	Harima leaned against a tree.  "Two women at once is 
for monkeys.  That's what she told me.  It's why I had to 
clear my mind."  His mind wasn't exactly clear, but now it 
was full of moles shooting chicken tenders, which wasn't a 
violation of his faithfulness.

	Right?

	Hanai felt jealous as he thought about Yakumo and 
Harima.  But he couldn't let himself get mad about it before 
the soccer game.  No, not now.  Focus.  "I'm not dating two 
women at once."

	"Sure looks like it," Harima said.  "I mean you went 
out with Gonzales and Suou in the same weekend."

	"She and I...we..."  Hanai shook his head.  "You 
wouldn't understand."

	"I don't understand two-timing," Harima lied as his 
brain briefly flashed the scantily clad Eri before his eyes; 
he buried her in chicken tenders.

	Hanai was getting angry.  "I am not two-timing!  I am 
faithful to Yakumo in my heart!"

	"What, you're making moves on..."  He couldn't say 
'practice girlfriend'.  Hanai would never understand.  But he 
didn't like the idea of Hanai chasing Yakumo at all.  "My 
girlfriend?"

	"At least I don't fantasize about other women!" Hanai 
said, thinking about Mikoto kissing him, then hating 
himself.  

	"I'm not!" Harima shouted.  Chicken tenders, chicken 
tenders, Eri in bikini, chicken tenders, mole shooting now!

	"Neither am I!"

	"Don't fantasize about Yakumo!" Harima demanded.

	"You can't stop me!" Hanai shouted.

	Then they began beating the snot out of each other.

***************

	"Haven't seen him," Itoko said.  "Maybe he went out 
to eat?"

	"Any idea where?" Yakumo asked.

	"No idea."

	Tenma looked thoughtful.  "Maybe Sara can get us a 
vision in the sacred flame or something."

	"I don't think Catholics have a sacred flame," Yakumo 
said.

	"I remember all these candles..." Tenma said.  "It can't 
hurt to ask."

	"True."

**************
	
	"Well, we don't normally do that," Sara said.  "But we 
could pray, and maybe God will give us a vision."  She 
paused.  "But I wouldn't count on it too hard."

	They followed her into the chapel.  Sara lit a candle 
and closed her eyes, so Yakumo and Tenma did likewise.  
They could see her lips moving silently, but couldn't figure 
out what she was saying.

	Tenma silently prayed, 'Great Kami-sama, help us to 
find Kenji-kun before he does something crazy.'

	Yakumo silently prayed, 'Great Santa Claus, please 
bring us the knowledge of where to find my boyfriend.'

	After a few seconds, Sara brought them over to kneel 
before the altar and pray.  She asked God to help them 
figure out where to find Harima.

	Yakumo continued to invoke Santa Claus, promising 
to be good for the rest of the year if this could be her early 
Christmas present.

	Tenma promised to fast from meat for a week if Kami-
sama would give them a sign of where to find Kenji.

	And then a man ran in.  "Sister, there's two teenagers 
beating each other up over in the park!  Can you do 
something about it?  They're tearing up the place."

	Sara rose.  "Is one of them wearing glasses and the 
other wearing sunglasses?"

	"Yes."

	"KENJI-KUN!" Tenma shouted, then realized she 
now couldn't eat meat for a week.  She cried as she ran out 
the door.

	Yakumo resolved to get an extra nice tree for Santa 
this year.  "Thank you, Santa," she said as she ran after her 
sister.

	Sara blinked, then said, "We'll get right on it," and ran 
after Yakumo and Tenma.

	They headed off to the nearby park, where there was a 
waterfall to be found and a river, along with picnic tables, 
flowers, and trees.  And at the moment, a massive brawl.  A 
fair sized crowd had gathered to watch Hanai and Harima 
beat the crap out of each other.

	Harima slugged Hanai in his upper chest, knocking 
him down, but as he fell, his feet snagged one of Harima's 
legs, flipping him into the river.  Harima emerged and 
head-butted Hanai as he rose. 

	"Stop!" Tenma shouted.  "We've come to take Kenji-
kun home!"

	Harima and Hanai wrestled on the ground, neither able 
to pin the other, getting mud and twigs all over themselves.

	"Kenji-kun, please stop.  You'll get hurt," Yakumo 
said.

	"That's enough," Sara said firmly.  "God will be angry 
if you keep fighting."

	"I have to punish this two-timing monkey!" Harima 
shouted.

	"Oh, well, in that case...kick his ass, Kenji-kun!" 
Tenma shouted.  "All two-timing monkeys must be 
crushed!"

	Yakumo shook her head.  She didn't like fighting for 
no reason.  "Please come home with me, Kenji-kun."

	"You want HIM to come with you?" Hanai asked.  
"What about..."

	"Go home, sempai," she said.  The words were firm, 
but her voice faded; it was hard for her to be so strong with 
someone, especially him.  

	Hanai's will to fight collapsed, and Harima rose, 
leaving Hanai in the mud.  "I need a bath," Harima 
mumbled.

	"We'll bathe you," Tenma said.

	Harima's eyes crossed at the thought, and Hanai 
moaned as they walked away with Harima.

***************
	
	Tenma shoved Harima into the bathroom.  "Go get 
clean.  Yakumo can help you if you need it."

	Yakumo's eyes widened a little and she stared at the 
floor.

	Harima froze.  "H...help me?"

	"You know...scrub your back...and everything..."  
Tenma felt like she was going to roll over and die.

	Tiny tendrils of smoke came out of Harima's ears as 
he thought about Tenma bathing him.  It was reassuring, 
really.  He wasn't thinking about Eri bathing him at all.

	Except now he was.

	Tenma looked over at Yakumo.  Yakumo's mouth 
opened and shut.  "I...do you want me to, Kenji-kun?"

	Now he imagined Yakumo...in her underwear...  He 
tried to figure out if this counted as two-timing 
monkeydom.  He loved Tenma, but Yakumo was 
his...practice girlfriend...so imagining her was fine, right?  
If Tenma wanted him to...

	Yakumo got a sudden image of Harima's mind, 
imagining her in her underwear.  She didn't actually have 
any black underwear.  She could feel her body tremble and 
her mind imagined things she was glad no one could see.  
Her mind swirled, and then she fainted.

	"Now, that is love," Tenma said, gathering her over 
one shoulder.  "Throw your clothing outside once you're 
naked, I'll wash it."

	"But what will I wear?" Harima asked.

	"The folks left a bunch of yukatas here; I think one of 
Dad's would fit you," Tenma said.  "We'll find something."

	"Okay," he said, then said, "I mean, it's okay if I..."  
He couldn't quite say it.

	"She is your girlfriend," Tenma mumbled.  "Go bathe, 
I'm going to go put her to bed, then do your clothing."

	He nodded.  Well, if Tenma said it was okay...  "I'll go 
bathe now."

	He went in.  Tenma laid down her sister in her sister's 
bedroom, then came back, got the dirty clothing, and began 
shaking it off outside.  She hosed it down with the outside 
hose to get the worst off, then took it in and threw it into 
the washing machine with some other dirty clothing.  She 
added extra soap as it looked extra dirty.

	She was doing homework when Iori ran up to her, 
looking both mournful and covered with white bubbles.

	"What's wrong?"

	Iori butted his head against her leg, so she followed 
him back and found that suds were pouring out of the 
machine, covering the laundry room.  They rose up over 
her like a tide, and covered her as she flailed about, trying 
to stop the washing machine.

	Baking powder, she thought.  That makes yeast go 
down, right?  Maybe it makes bubbles go down.

	She ran and got baking powder and sprinkled it 
everywhere.  This didn't do much good.

	Vinegar, she thought.  Oh wait, no, baking powder 
plus vinegar MAKES bubbles.  Ugh.

	So if I take out the vinegar...but that wasn't possible.  
Tenma ran to the bathroom and cracked the door.  "Kenji-
kun.  Don't come out until I tell you."

	"What?" he asked, sounding very surprised.

	"Just don't come out, okay?  There's nothing wrong, 
really, just don't come out."

	"Umm, okay," he said.

	She left the door open so Yakumo could peep if she 
woke up, then ran off and got the broom and started trying 
to sweep the bubbles into a trash bag.  But they kept 
popping.

	She finally gave in and made a phone call.  "Akira-
chan, I don't know what to do," she said.

	"I can write you a love letter to give to Karasuma if 
you want," Akira said.

	"No, about the bubbles."

	"Bubbles?" Akira asked in confusion.

	"They're all over everything, and they run away when 
I try to sweep them into a trash bag."

	"Tell me everything."

	Tenma did so, and Akira said, "Mop them up, rinse the 
mop periodically, you should be fine."

	"Okay," Tenma said.  "Thanks!"

	"You're welcome."

	Tenma frantically cleaned it all up; by the end, she 
was a sweaty, grimy, bubble-soaked mess herself.  She 
threw the clothing into the dryer, then went to do 
homework while she waited.

	The porch door opened and Eri came in.  "Hi, Tenma," 
she said.  "How are...what happened?"

	"The washing machine didn't like me," she said 
mournfully.

	"Did you find Kenji?"

	"He's in the tub," Tenma said.  "Bathing.  He and 
Hanai are a mess."

	"Were they fighting over Yakumo?" Eri asked, 
frowning.

	"More or less," Tenma said.  "Hanai should stick to his 
two girlfriends."

	Eri started to agree, then thought about how it would 
make her life easier.  "Yakumo isn't...bathing with him...is 
she?"

	"She fainted," Tenma said.

	I wouldn't faint, Eri thought, getting excited at the 
thought of it.  She didn't like trembling like that, though it 
felt strangely good.  "She's too young to bathe with a boy, 
anyway."

	"You think so?" Tenma asked.

	"Definitely," Eri said.  "Someone our age could handle 
it, but you know how a girl that age is."

	"Maybe I should have offered to bathe him," Tenma 
said.  "But I mean...it doesn't seem right to butt in when my 
sister can't."

	"If he's been fighting, he can probably use the help," 
Eri rationalized to herself.  "And we've both seen 
him...mostly...naked anyway.  On the beach trip."

	"That's true," Tenma said.  "If I toss him a bathing 
suit, it won't really be any different than the beach.  But, 
then, Yakumo could handle him in a bathing suit."

	Eri flailed in her rationalization supply.  "What if they 
lost control with us in the tub?"

	Tenma's eyes crossed.  "But...she...surely..."

	"You know how your heart beats around Karasuma, 
don't you?"

	Tenma nodded.

	"Imagine her feeling like that."

	Tenma's eyes crossed.  "Aiyah."

	"Exactly."

	She would die of jealousy if that happened with her 
watching.  She could imagine it.  Tenma tried to drive the 
image out of her brain.  

	There was only one way to prevent it.  Tenma said, 
"But you didn't bring a bathing suit, Eri."

	"Maybe you have one I could wear," Eri said 
hopefully, though as she thought about it, she could feel the 
madness starting to wear off.  What am I thinking?  If she 
did get Harima...alone...naked...she wouldn't want Tenma 
around or Yakumo likely to walk in.

	Things came to a head when Tenma dragged her off 
down the hallway and they saw Harima step out of the 
bathroom and shout, "Tenma-san, I'm done, I need 
clothing."

	He had a towel half-wrapped around him, held with 
one hand, but most of his body was shown off.  Eri couldn't 
stop staring.  Tenma blushed and turned around.  "I'll go get 
one!"  She ran off.

	Eri and Harima both stared at each other silently for a 
few seconds, then turned and bolted in opposite directions.  
She couldn't stop remembering seeing him all the way 
naked, thinking of things...they could do...

	She ended up in the slick-floored laundry room, 
leaning on the dryer and panting, trying to tell her body to 
calm down.

	Harima ran into the bathroom, stepped on soap, slid 
across the floor, banged into the tub, toppled in and 
knocked himself out.

	The noise woke Yakumo, who arrived to see the 
bathroom door open and Harima's feet sticking in the air 
out of the tub.  "Kenji-kun!"

	She was inside, trying to drag him out without seeing 
anything inappropriate, when Tenma arrived and Eri 
returned.

	"What happened to..wow," Eri said.  

	"We need a man to get him dressed and dry," Tenma 
said.  "Or else...Yakumo could do it."

	"I..." Yakumo began.

	"Too young.  We can't call Hanai, they just fought."

	"Nara," Tenma said.  "He can do it, right?"

	"I should take care of my boyfriend," Yakumo said.

	"I've already seen him naked and he walked in on me 
today.  I could get him dressed," Eri said, shivering at the 
thought.

	"He's MY boyfriend," Yakumo said more firmly. 

	Tenma could feel tensions rising.  She had to do 
something.  "Look, let's just call Nara instead of us 
deciding without asking him, okay?"

	That proved enough to hustle them out, so Tenma 
could make the call and get some help.

**************

	It was starting to rain on Hanai, but all he could do 
was to lie in the mud and despair.  He really did know it 
was wisest to give up on Yakumo.  He'd told Mikoto he 
would.  But it ground his gears to see her hooking up with 
Harima.

	The rain stopped, but only over his face.  It was 
confusing, but then he saw the green umbrella and Mikoto.  
She held out a hand to him.  "Time to come home," she 
said.

	He let her pull him up.  "Thank you," he said.

	She put an arm around him to help him walk.  They 
squeezed together under the umbrella.  "How did you find 
me?" he asked.  "Did Tenma send you?"

	"You come here a lot," she said.  "To use the 
waterfall," she continued.

	He leaned on her a little, feeling weary.  "Thank you."

	She laughed.  "You said that already.  We'll get you 
home, get you cleaned up."

	"I'm sorry, I'm getting mud on you," he said ruefully.

	"That's fine.  I can handle mud," she said.  "You think 
you can walk all the way?"

	He could feel her strong body inside his arm, up 
against his own body; it was comforting to have her here.  
"I'll be fine."  He tried to stop thinking about what 
happened.  "Harima will play; it was worth it."

	She looked at him dubiously.  "He'd better play well.  
Why did you fight?"

	"He didn't think you were pretty," Hanai lied, not 
wanting to admit the truth.

	"He seems to go for the feminine type," Mikoto said, 
sighing, then looked over at Hanai a little suspiciously.  
"You weren't fighting over Yakumo, I hope."

	He knew he shouldn't lie, but he couldn't back out 
now.  "Of course not.  She's his girlfriend, I have to move 
on."

	"That's right," Mikoto said.  She suspected he was 
lying, but he looked too hurt for her to get mad.  "And I am 
prettier."

	"Much," Hanai said.  "Tall and well built.  Though I 
liked your hair better when it was longer."

	Like Yakumo's, she thought.  She looked over at him, 
and wondered what he would be like as a boyfriend.  
Probably not much fun, but one you could rely on.  Hanai 
tried to have fun, but he wasn't very good at it.  But he'd 
only make someone a good boyfriend once he stops 
thinking about Yakumo, she thought.

	"You're pretty good looking yourself," she said.  

	He stared at the ground.  "Not really."

	"You are," she said.

	"Women generally don't take a lot of interest in me," 
Hanai said.  "I'm too staid."

	She had to cheer him up.  "If they knew what you look 
like with no clothing, they'd go crazy for you," she said.  
He did look pretty good in a bathing suit.  Or just a towel.

	He smiled a little.  "You flatter me.  I don't look half 
as good in a bathing suit as you do, though."  He thought 
about it and had to agree with himself; she definitely did.

	Now she stared down a little as they walked.  "You 
think so?"

	"Yeah.  But it's what's inside that matters more.  
You're a good friend, Mikoto-kun.  My best friend, in fact," 
he said.

	She smiled, listening to the rain pour down around 
them as they walked.  "And you're mine.  There's no one 
else I trust like you."

	"So, when do we go out again?" he asked.

	"I'm sorry to push you into that," she said, sighing.  
Stores flashed by in the rain as they walked.

	"I don't mind," he said.  "You make a good pretend 
girlfriend."

	Mikoto found it sad that was probably the most 
romantic thing anyone had ever said to her.  "And you 
make a good pretend boyfriend."  

	They reached a corner, waiting for the light, both of 
them smiling a little goofily.  She looked so beautiful to 
him, suddenly, smiling so happily, her body next to his, the 
rain pouring down and blocking off all the rest of the 
world.  It was like there was no one else but them.

	He leaned a little closer to her, and her eyes closed and 
they moved towards each other and...

	The light changed and they were trampled by a great 
press of people trying to cross.

***************
	
	Harima awoke to find Nara undressing him.  Or 
possibly dressing him.  His instinctive response was panic, 
followed by rendering Nara unconscious.

	He quickly finished getting dressed.  What the hell, he 
thought.  I thought he and Akira were going out.  What's he 
doing in Tenma's bathroom?

	He stepped out to find Akira, Yakumo, Eri, and 
Tenma hovering in the hallway.  "How did Nara get in 
there?  He was..."

	"We called him to get you decent so you wouldn't lie 
there naked and unconscious," Tenma said.

	"Wow, you laid him flat," Eri said.  

	"Kenji..." Yakumo said reproachfully.

	"Shit.  I thought...shit," Harima said.  "If someone had 
told me..."

	"You were knocked out and the girls couldn't decide 
who got to play dress-up with you," Akira said.  "And 
didn't want to leave you lying around naked."

	Harima went in and picked him up.  "I didn't mean to 
level your boyfriend, Akira."

	She sighed.  "He's not my boyfriend, and if you didn't 
mean to level him..."

	"No, no...oh fuck it."  Harima sighed.  "Well, I'm 
clean."  And his mind was reasonably clear.

	Akira said, "You can make it up to me by buying me 
dinner."

	Harima said, "Okay."

	She's slick, Eri thought.  Not her boyfriend, but 
Harima has to buy her dinner anyway.  "You can get me 
something while you're at it."

	Tenma's stomach rumbled.  "So hungry..."

	"I am kind of hungry," Yakumo said hesitantly.

	"Also, Nara deserves a food apology," Akira said.

	There goes my budget for this week, Harima thought.

****************

	There was a hand, helping Hanai up; he pulled Mikoto 
up with him.  "Miki-san," he said.

	Miki smiled at both of them.  "Walking together in the 
rain.  Isn't that romantic?"

	"Oh yes," Mikoto said.  "We were about to kiss, but 
the light changed and everyone trampled us."

	Miki's eyes sparkled as she looked at them.  "That's so 
romantic."  She shivered.  "I'm so jealous."

	"Kissing in the rain with Mikoto is a lot of fun," Hanai 
said, hoping he was helping.

	Miki almost shook with excitement.  "I'm trying to 
find somewhere I can shop for a present for Masahiro.  It'll 
be our anniversary soon."

	Mikoto's eyes widened.  "You've been dating a year?"

	"Six months," Miki said.  "I suppose I'm silly to get so 
excited.  He probably won't remember."  She sighed.  "You 
know how he is."
	
	"Well, it's almost our seventh month anniversary," 
Mikoto said, unable to stop herself.  "But you can't really 
celebrate that."

	"Not for months," Miki said.  "Did you do something 
nice for six months?"

	"We went on a dojo challenging raid together, then 
went to a hot spring," Hanai said.

	"Oooh, did you get secret techniques?" Miki asked, 
eyes glittering.

	"Yes," Hanai said.

	"I...could help you pick something out," Mikoto said.  
It would almost be like giving him an anniversary present 
myself, she thought.

	"Would you?" Miki asked.  "You're so sweet."

	"Let's go," Mikoto said.  "I know just the sort of thing 
that he..."

	Harima drove by with Yakumo on the back of his 
bike.  She was almost falling over from all the food boxes 
she was carrying.  

	Hanai fought off the urge to yell or throw something.  
It wasn't easy.

	"The sort of thing he likes," Mikoto said, a little 
curious.

	"My, that's a lot of food," Miki said.

	"Yes it is," Mikoto said.  "Come this way."

**************
	
	I could have had him all to myself, Eri thought as 
everyone ate.  But no, I had to go and tell them all about 
him and Yakumo.  But are they really dating?  She said no, 
and yet...

	Eri frowned.  She kept going around this mulberry 
bush.  Yakumo told me that she wasn't his girlfriend, and 
yet, now she said it in front of her sister.  He doesn't...I 
mean, he seems kind of fond of her, but unless that's all the 
love he knows how to show...

	And why did he confess to ME?  I have to ask him 
when I get the chance, she thought.

	He likes my body, she thought.  She was sure of that 
from the way he'd stared at her earlier.  Not that he should 
stare at her, but it did feel kind of good to know he liked 
how she looked.  

	I should just ask him, she thought.  When I can get 
him privately.  But not like this, she thought.  No privacy 
here.

	But soon.

*************
	
	Hanai felt pretty embarrassed when the storekeep 
wouldn't let him inside in his messy state.  He almost 
wouldn't let Mikoto in, due to her getting some of his mess 
on her.  He stood in the rain, letting it wash him somewhat 
cleaner.

	Miki came out, looking embarrassed.  "Sorry about 
that.  What happened?  I didn't want to pry, but..."

	"Had to deal with a punk; it got messy," Hanai said.

	"You get him home," Miki said to Mikoto.  "I'll find 
something on my own."

	"Okay," Mikoto said.  "I'm sorry that..."

	"Don't sweat it," Miki said. 

	"Well, we can walk with you a little ways, I'll show 
you more places, okay?" Mikoto asked.

	"Well, okay, thanks."

	They took off.

***************	

	Hanai and Mikoto soaked in the hot water; it felt so 
good to him.  "This is living," he mumbled.

	She felt nervous, and wasn't sure why.  It wasn't like 
they hadn't done this before, but they'd almost...

	They'd almost kissed.  She could hardly believe it.  It 
had just been so...you had to kiss under those 
circumstances.  Anyone would.

	"Feel better?" she asked softly.

	"Yeah," he said.  "I could hardly believe she tried to 
invite us to come on the anniversary date with them."

	Mikoto laughed.  "I think she's nervous.  When we 
were inside the store...she asked me how I get you to be so 
romantic with me."  

	"Did you tell her that you tell me what to do and 
when?" he asked, amused a little.

	"I don't know if sempai is fooled, but she's convinced 
we're red-hot-lovers," Mikoto said.

	Hanai sighed.  "Yeah, I think she is a little jealous of 
us."

	Mikoto leaned back against the side of the pool.  "I 
shouldn't have dragged you into this."

	"Too deep to get out now," he said.  "I'll keep it up as 
long as you need me to."

	She reached over and squeezed his shoulder.  "I'm 
surprised your parents don't care about you doing this."

	"They wouldn't let Gonzales-san bathe with me," 
Hanai said.

	Mikoto said, "What?"

	"She stayed here last night," Hanai said.

	"Here?  Why?"

	"There was a fight in a dumpster and she had to get 
clean before she could go home," Hanai said.  "It got late, 
and she had to stay here."

	Mikoto frowned.  "She probably hoped to slip into 
your room and seduce you."

	"She didn't try to seduce me at all," Hanai said, 
truthful as he saw it.  "Actually, it's late enough, you may 
want to stay here."

	She looked over at him.  "Are you inviting me to stay 
in your room, hmm?" she asked, half-testing and half-
teasingly.

	"Well, I don't know if my folks would go for that, 
though I wouldn't mind," he said.

	Her eyes crossed a moment.  "My parents would kill 
us if they caught you sleeping in my room."

	"My dad is less crazy than yours and they like you," 
Hanai said. "And we've done it before."

	"We were little," Mikoto said.  She could remember 
when her parents had stopped letting her do it.  Or at least 
doing it often; she'd crashed here a few times since then.  
But she could remember her dad lowering the boom on it.  
Hanai had cried.  She had too.  

	But they'd stayed good friends, despite that.  She knew 
he would never try anything he shouldn't.  She could sleep 
with him and be completely safe.  There weren't any other 
guys except her sempai she trusted that much.

	Though it probably wouldn't be bad if he did, she 
thought, startled by her own mental process.  There were a 
lot worse guys she could...do that with.  And probably not 
too many better.

	But her sempai had Miki now.  They probably...slept 
together any time they liked.  Though really, her sempai 
would never push Miki into thing.  But she had a feeling 
Miki wanted to be pushed.  Were they doing it?  She could 
never, ever ask them, but now she wondered.

	"Feel free to stay," Mrs. Hanai said.

	Hanai's eyes crossed and he said, "Mother, what are 
you doing in here?"

	"Bathing," she said.

	"But I'm in here!" Hanai said frantically.

	"You two have been in here forever," she said.  "Just 
don't turn around."

	Hanai rigidly looked away.

	"You're a good boy," Mrs. Hanai said.  "You can stay 
over any time you like, Mikoto-chan."

	"You...you got mad at us when we stayed at Tenma's 
together," Mikoto said hesitantly.

	"You didn't tell us where you were," Mrs. Hanai said.  
"Well, Haruki didn't tell us and you didn't tell your parents.  
Of course we were unhappy," she said.  "And I know you 
two won't do anything you shouldn't."  There was an omen 
of doom lurking quietly in the back behind the words.  
"Anyway, I expect if I reassure them, your parents won't 
mind."

	"I can just punch them until they fall down," Mr. 
Hanai said.

	Mikoto jumped, pulling her towel a little tighter.  "Is 
there anyone else there we didn't hear come in?"

	"Only the hungry dead," Mr. Hanai said, then gave a 
ghostly moan.

	Hanai said, "Well, that settles it.  We can call your 
folks once we finish in here."

	"Don't stay up all night telling ghost stories," Mrs. 
Hanai said.  "You have school tomorrow."

	"Did you tell your folks about the soccer game?" 
Mikoto asked.

	"No, but I will now."  He told them about it, finishing 
with "So, I hope we win, but if 2-D also loses, we'll be 
fine."

	"I'll come cheer for you," Mr. Hanai said.  "So don't 
lose."

	"I'll do my best, Father."  Hanai wasn't sure whether to 
be happy his father would come, or scared.

*************

	"Bye, everyone!" Eri said as she went to ride home.  
Tomorrow, she thought.  I'll find a chance to corner him 
tomorrow.

	I have to know what I'm up against, she thought.  

************
 
	Hanai laid out the futon on his floor again, then 
stretched.  "Been a while."

	"Yeah," she said softly, feeling very nervous.  He 
wouldn't try anything.  She knew he wouldn't.  But she 
couldn't help imagining it just a little and wondering if she 
would like it.  

	He just seemed so utterly calm.  Maybe he doesn't find 
me sexy at all, she thought.  Then again, maybe he and 
Lala...

	She shook her head.  No way.  Hanai could 
never...surely he'd be all romantic with someone he loved 
enough to do that.  And he wouldn't just...for fun...would 
he?

	No.  Surely not.  Mikoto couldn't imagine how Hanai 
could even stand to sleep with Lala, but...Surely if he found 
her attractive, he'd find me attractive too, she thought.

	He put a hand on her shoulder and she jumped.  "Are 
you okay?" he asked.

	"Fine," she said.  "Just...thinking stupid thoughts about 
my sempai."

	"Well, Miki-san is probably thinking stupid thoughts 
about us," Hanai said.  "So you're even."

	This made Mikoto think more thoughts about her and 
Hanai which were not wise to have just before sleeping 
with him.  IN HIS ROOM.  "I guess it really is hard to 
understand people," she said a little sadly.  "You see what 
you want to see, sometimes."

	He stretched again and went to the light switch.  "Hop 
in, I'll sleep by the switch side."

	She got under the sheets.  "Has Lala yelled at you for 
babbling about Yakumo in front of her yet?"

	He shivered.  "Yes.  She was rather passionate about 
it."

	He flicked the light off and came over to lie down.

	"If you're going to be her boyfriend, you have to let go 
of Yakumo," Mikoto said.  "For real."

	Hanai froze, half-laid-down.  "I'm not her boyfriend," 
he said.  "My heart belongs elsewhere."

	"She likes you," Mikoto said, suddenly feeling very 
despairing.  "Not many guys would turn down a woman 
like that."

	"It wouldn't be fair to her," he said.  "I can't pretend I 
love her."  Though he shivered a little, which made Mikoto 
wonder what he did feel.  He laid on his side facing her.  
"Though I do think I like her more than I used to," he 
continued.

	"Are you going to keep going out with her?" Mikoto 
asked.

	"I don't know," he said.  He sighed.  "I guess that 
makes me a two-timer."

	"Well, I mean...I did drag you into this.  And we're not 
really dating," Mikoto said.  

	"You can find a better guy than me who really loves 
you," Hanai said.  "But until you're ready to let go of your 
sempai, I'll help you out."

	She felt angry at him for just letting Lala push him 
into going out with her and angry with herself for making 
him live a lie with her just to keep her from embarrassment.  
"Hanai, you don't have to."

	"I want to," he said.  "Friends help each other."

	She just tried to relax and let it all out.  He could be so 
infuriating, but he'd always be there for her.  She could get 
mad and clobber him some other time.

	"Do I make a good pretend girlfriend?" Mikoto asked.

	"You're very good," he said.  "Am I a good pretend 
boyfriend?" he asked.

	"Yes," she said.

	"Well, we have that, at least," he said.  "A..."  He 
paused, then put a finger to his lips.  Silently, he moved 
over to the door.  

	Then he yanked it open, revealing his parents there 
with cups to the door.

	"Go to bed," he said.

	"You two need to whisper louder so you can be heard 
more easily," Mr. Hanai said.

	"Go.  To. Bed," he said.

	"See you in the morning," Mr. Hanai said, rising.

	Mrs. Hanai just left quietly.

	Hanai closed the door and laid down.  "Parents."  He 
sighed.

	"Yeah," Mikoto said.  "Do you think they heard..."

	"No," he said, lying down.

	"We should probably..." Mikoto said hesitantly.  "You 
don't think Miki will..."

	"Well, if we're going to be the passionate couple, we'll 
need to fake it well," Hanai said.  He had the feeling he was 
rationalizing.  But it was kind of flattering to have Miki 
thinking he and Mikoto were red hot lovers and to be 
jealous of him and Mikoto.  "Technically, we could tell 
them we've slept together and it would be true, just not the 
way they think."

	Mikoto laughed.  "Yes, we could."  She licked her lips 
a little nervously.  "We could probably tell her all sorts of 
things.  But I expect she's...I mean, you'd think they 
probably...by now, right?"  Mikoto shivered at the thought.

	"Pretty normal for a college age couple," Hanai said.  
"I'm sure they have, at least a few times."

	Mikoto sighed and tried not to think about it.

************

	Miki stared at the black, sexy underwear.  She was 
going to wear it for him, this time.  This time, they'd 
finally...He had to be ready for her.  It would be perfect.

	She thought about Hanai and Suou and sighed.  They 
probably do it all the time, she thought.  They might be 
doing it right now.  Masahiro loved her, but he 
wasn't...passionate and impulsive like those two.  But she 
wished sometimes, that he was.

	She probably has a whole closet of stuff like this, Miki 
thought.  Maybe I should ask to borrow...no, no, I have to 
do this myself.  This weekend, I'll make him mine or go 
crazy trying.

***********
	
	The next morning, Mr. Hanai swung in the window 
and found Mikoto and Haruki asleep, curled up to each 
other.  He smiled a little and shook his head, deciding to let 
them sleep in, just this once.

	But if Haruki lost...then there would be an ass-kicking.

****************
	 
	"Okay, everyone, listen up," Mai said the next day, 
before school.  "There's no class today, just an onslaught of 
us cheering for our teams.  So I expect lots of cheering.  
And I expect the soccer teams to win without ceasing, until 
2-D is annhilated.  Take no prisoners."

	She slapped her paper fan against her leg for 
emphasis.  "Do you understand?"

	"KILL FOR 2-C!!!!!" the class roared.

	Victory will be ours, Mai thought.  Or I'll have to wear 
the Sailor Moon outfit again.

	Not if she could help it.

*************
	 
	Eri's team blew through 2-A with ease.  2-B was a 
little harder, for values of hard which are, in fact, not very 
hard.

	2-F, on the other hand, put up a fight.  Mai had to dive 
repeatedly to stop their balls, and Mikoto found herself 
matched against the very tall and strong Mizuhara Mitoko.  
It didn't help her concentration that the loud announcer kept 
messing up their names and giving Mitoko credit for 
everything Mikoto did.  She found this deeply annoying.

	She moved in for a steal and Mitoko managed to slide 
around, interposing herself between Mitoko and the ball, 
then kicking it high into the air.  It came down to a 
teammate, who headbutted it towards a third person, even 
as Mikoto ran to intercept.  Instead, Sagano got in the way 
and went down from the impact.  

	Eri moved in, passed to Madoka, and Madoka drove 
down the field, scoring their first goal of the game.  They 
were only down by 5 to 1 now.

	Tenma was on the sidelines in a cheerleader outfit 
with an embarrassed Yuuki.  "Go, Eri-chan, go!  DEFEND 
VALENCIA!"

	Eri was so busy trying to figure out what Tenma was 
talking about that she stared right through the kickoff, and 
only a dive from Mai saved them.  Unfortunately, Mai's 
attempt to kick the ball away caused it to bounce off 
Mitoko's forehead.  Mai stared in confusion as it flew to 
one side and scored a goal.

	Mikoto faced off with Mitoko at the kickoff.  Mitoko 
had more power, but Mikoto was pretty sure she had more 
speed.  So when the ball went down, she moved as fast as 
possible, kickign the ball over to Madoka, who began a 
powerdrive, putting her sprinting skills to use.  Mitoko 
couldn't stop her own thwarted advance and crashed into 
Mikoto, but that was okay. Madoka circled the onrushing 
2-F line and when it closed in on her, managed to pass to 
Sagano, who booted it back to Eri, who then drove past a 
hapless girl from 2-F and kicked in a goal.  "Alright!  2-F is 
4-F!" she shouted.

	No one else got it, unfortunately.  More unfortunately, 
they now ran out of time, which they'd lost track of.  One 
loss to 2-F, two wins, and 2-E was next.

**********
		
	The boys team had managed to beat 2-A, beat 2-F, but 
lost to 2-B, who only gloated a little where 'a little' is 
comparing the Nile to the Amazon river.  Harima had done 
okay the first two games, but Hanai could see he was too 
busy watching the cheerleaders to do well in the third 
game, leading to their defeat.

	This would require desperate measures.  "Nara, I'm 
afraid we need your cross dressing skills," Hanai said.

	"..."

	"You have to get into a cheerleader outfit.  That 
should discourage Harima from watching the cheerleaders 
instead of playing," Hanai said.

	"..."

	"I'm sure Akira-san can help you," Hanai said.

	"Only if you wear a girl's uniform tomorrow," Akira 
said.

	"Done," Hanai said.

	Akira stared.  "You are determined."

	"My father is watching us.  I will not lose in his eyes," 
Hanai said firmly.  "Victory is worth a dress."

	Akira frowned, then nodded.  "Yes.  Come, Nara-kun, 
I will make you pretty."

	"But I don't want to be pretty..." he protested as they 
dragged him away.

***********

	Harima was in hell.  Every time he looked over at the 
cheerleaders to see Tenma in her cheerleader outfit, he had 
to look at a cross-dressing, embarrassed Nara.  The worst 
part was that at times, just for a moment, he forgot it was 
Nara.

	So he did his best to ignore the cheerleaders, much as 
it pained him to not look at so-cute Tenma.  Instead, he 
channeled his rage against 2-E, who were quickly finding 
they had no one who could possibly stand up to Harima or 
Hanai, let alone Suga, Asou, or Umedzu.  Their goalie, the 
unflappable and impassible Buddha was able to block many 
hostile shots by just standing there and being in the way 
due to size.

	In fact, that happened just as Harima turned away 
from yet another futile attempt to look at Tenma that 
instead got him a full-length view of Nara's left leg.  The 
ball bounced off Buddha's head, then landed at Harima's 
feet.  He threw everything he had into it, kicking it down 
the field.  It crashed into the unfortunate Shinra Keiichi of 
2-E, knocking him off his feet and flinging him right into 
the 2-E goalie, knocking both of them into the net.  

	This pushed the score to 5-3 in favor of 2-C.  Time 
was running out for 2-E.  Harima glanced over at the 
cheerleaders; Akira was trying to demonstrate a high kick 
to Nara, Tenma, and Yuuki.  He still couldn't see Tenma 
and it was just making things worse.

	Harima responded to the kickoff by trying to knock 
two players at once into the 2-E goal, but he overestimated 
himself and they recovered, driving down the field, only to 
have Suga move in, steal the ball and pass to Asou.  Harima 
gave up on trying to see Tenma and looked way down the 
field to see if he could at least spot Yakumo, who was busy 
cheering (in a not hugely vigorous manner) for 1-C.  

	As a result, when Asou had to pass to him, he didn't 
notice anything until 2-E's Yuki drove in and stole the ball.  
He ran after Yuki, but Yuki feinted left, then kicked right, 
getting the ball around Buddha as he lumbered the wrong 
way, and scored.

	Hanai, who had himself been guilty of Yakumo-
gazing, came over and said, "Harima-kun, you have to 
focus on the game."

	"No, I don't," Harima said.

	Hanai resisted the urge to clobber him.  Meanwhile, 
the kickoff took place without them and 2-E began driving 
their way.  Hanai casually kicked the ball over to Asou as it 
started to go by him.  "Yakumo will be very disappointed 
in you if you lose," he said.  

	That seemed to get through Harima's apathy layers 
somewhat.  "You think?"

	"Yes," Hanai said.  "If I'm going to...if you're going to 
be her boyfriend...you know a woman wants her boyfriend 
to win, not to be a loser.  Women hate losers."

	Harima imagined Tenma hating him and shivered.  
There was no choice but to win without stopping.

	Asou had passed to Umedzu, who managed to knock 
in another point after a long, swift drive down the field.  It 
was kick off time again.  This time, Harima was ready, 
moving in and using his mass and intimidation skills to get 
control of the ball and drive down the field and kick the 
ball right through the hands of the 2-E goalie.

	Then he did it two more times.  The timer ran out, and 
2-C added this one to their win list.  

	2-D was likely to be not so easy, though.

************

	2-E had fallen to the ladies' juggernaut as well.  2-D, 
on the other hand, proved to be a tough nut to crack.  Lala 
had proven able to largely neutralize Mikoto; in fact, the 
two team captains, Eri and Mikishima Hikaru (2-D), had to 
spend a fair amount of energy keeping the two playing 
rather than butting heads and 'accidentally' kicking the ball 
into each other's faces while everyone else just stood 
around, trying to actually play.

	Hikaru, a tall skinny woman, passed the ball to her 
usual confederate, the short blonde Kyoko.  Unfortunately, 
Madoka sprinted in, stole the ball and passed it across the 
field to Karen, who began a drive.  It ended in tragedy, 
however, when the unfortunate Uniboshi Umi rushed 
towards her for a steal and Karen instinctively grappled and 
suplexed her.

	Unfortunately, this caused the referee to blow the 
whistle.  Calling her over, he held up a yellow card on her; 
too many of those, and you're out of the game.  Karen felt 
so embarrassed, she wanted to shrink in on herself and 
vanish.

	This wasn't good for her team, as now Karen was 
loathe to come too close to anyone, which was about as 
good as throwing her out of the game.

	Lala snorted at that.  "Don't be a coward!" she 
shouted, driving past Karen with the ball.  "I need a rival 
who doesn't crumple when rebuked!"

	Mikoto moved in to try and intercept the ball.  "If the 
referee was paying attention, he'd have caught you for all 
the attacks you made on me," she said, her feet grappling 
for the ball with Lala's.

	Madoka darted in and kicked the ball free, knocking it 
over to Sagano, who began a drive as yet again Mikoto and 
Lala began shouting at each other.  Hikaru moved in and 
stole the ball from Sagano, only to lose it to Eri as she had 
to try and detour around Mikoto and Lala.

	Unfortunately, Eri then got doubleteamed and lost the 
ball to Hikaru, who drove down the field and scored on 
Mai.  This put the score at 3-1 in favor of 2-D.

	Karen watched the game go by, half-watching those 
watching the game, feeling a little depressed.  And then she 
saw Imadori staring at her.  He didn't look too happy, 
which made her feel worse.  

	She half-stared at the ground, then looked up at him 
again.  He was gesticulating at her, but she couldn't tell 
what exactly he was trying to convey.  Not until he got up 
on the edge of the stands and mimed kicking a ball.

	He wants me to play, she thought.  But what if I...

	He kept gesturing, and she nodded.  She could do it 
for him.  She had to.

	As Lala drove down the field, Karen ran after her.  
"What, done pouting?" Lala asked, looking back.

"Yes," Karen said.  She slid between Lala's legs 
without touching her, stealing the ball, then kicked it up 
into the air, leaped and kicked it down the field to Madoka, 
who ran with it, driving down to score a point on 2-D.

"Better," Lala said, turning to go back for the kickoff.  
"Now keep it up."  She strode off quickly.

Karen smiled a little bit at that.  It was Lala's way of 
being encouraging, she was sure.  She turned and flashed a 
smile at Imadori, who gave her a thumbs' up, which made 
her feel really good.  She turned and ran back to play.

***********

	Harima was on fire.  He was going to win for Tenma 
if it killed him.  Unfortunately, Harry was on fire also, and 
the result was that they largely neutralized each other, 
leaving others to pick up the slack.  Hanai and Tougo did 
likewise, leaving Asou, Umedzu, and Suga to pick up that 
slack.  The three facing off with them were good, but not 
awe-inspiring, rather like Asou, Umedzu, and Suga.  They 
went up and down the field, periodically stealing the ball 
from the big four whenever those four got more focused on 
each other than the game.

	At mid-game, the score was 2-2, and Umedzu was 
starting to wear out; he was more of a sprinter than a long-
distance runner, and he was having to go back and forth, up 
and down the field as the tide of battle turned.  He was also 
feeling a little frustrated because Harima and Hanai had 
each scored a point, but he hadn't gotten one yet this game.  
And hadn't scored too much in the earlier ones, either.  
They don't even do sports regularly, he thought.

	He got lucky; when he went in for a steal on Tougo, 
Tougo tried to pass to a man named Tsuwabuki, but 
instead, the ball whacked Umedzu in the face.  This was 
lucky because the ref called an indirect kick penalty on it.

	But not so lucky because that meant he had to try to 
kick it past the entire defensive line of 2-D.

	He got ready, trying to psych himself up.  And then...

	Madoka shouted from the other game, "MAKE THE 
KICK AND I'LL GIVE YOU A KISS AFTERWARDS!"

	That made the pressure twenty times greater, but also 
the reward.  He gave it the hardest kick he could, and it 
headed right over Harry's head.  Harry was too busy posing 
and trying to look good to stop it, and it arched right into 
the goal as the goalie yelled at Harry for being pretentious.

	"SCORE!" Umedzu shouted, the happiest man alive.

	He was a lot less happy when Harry turned his 
attention to covering Umedzu, making it hard for him to 
accomplish anything.

	This freed up Harima, however, to run wild, and he 
began driving up the score, until finally Tougo dragged 
Harry off revenge duty and had him covering Harima.  It 
was going to take radical measures in order to get a win out 
of this, though, as now the score had gone up to 7-3.  

	But he was gooood at Radical Measures.

*************

	Things had gone downhill for the 2-C women's team 
when the 2-D men's team all took their shirts off.  Mai's 
head kept turning to watch them run and sweat instead of 
paying attention to the game, enabling them to score points, 
and Karen looked very embarrassed and wasn't focusing 
either.  

	Eri looked suspiciously at Mai, then tried to think of 
what to do.  The 2-D girls either didn't care or perhaps had 
already seen all their men shirtless enough times.  Or 
maybe they just couldn't get a good enough view of their 
classmates.

	This really left only one option if they were going to 
to make a comeback and defeat 2-D.  Eri had a feeling she 
was about to escalate things out of control.  But she was not 
going to lose, not with tricks unplayed.

	She shouted across the field, "HANAI-KUN, TAKE 
YOUR SHIRT OFF!"

	He looked over at her, nodded seriously, and did so.  
Despite not having been told to do so, Harima copied him.  
So did the rest of his team, after a brief pause.

	This caught the 2-D girls' attention, especially Lala, 
who Eri most wanted to neutralize.  She stood, eyes 
tracking Hanai, as Karen drove right past her and scored.  
That snapped her out of it, but it formed a suitable 
distraction, keeping her off her game, as she kept glancing 
over at 2-C and specifically Hanai.

	Lala was finding it hard to focus with good looking 
men flickering in and out of the corner of her vision.  She 
tried to ignore them, but her eyes just kept swinging around 
to Hanai.  I cannot afford this, she thought.  It is weak and I 
will lose and be unworthy.

	Unfortunately, this also seemed to distract Mai even 
MORE than before.  Eri wished she could substitute.  But 
things seemed to be driving her to where there was, really, 
only one option.  "Mai, take your shirt off," she said to Mai 
as they took a brief time-out.  

	"WHAT?" Mai said.

	"Take it off.  We need to distract 2-D's men."

	"I'm not taking my shirt off unless everyone strips," 
Mai said, sure that wouldn't happen.

	Eri looked around at everyone.  "We're all wearing 
bras, right?"

	Mikoto said, "Uh...yeah..."

	"I am not going to lose just because of clothing," Eri 
said, pulling her shirt off to reveal her black bra.  "Do it, 
everyone."

	Sagano laughed.  "Well, even if we lose, we'll be 
famous."  She shucked her shirt off with ease, then turned 
and posed for the people in the stands, who went wild.

	Madoka looked a little nervous and took her shirt off.  
Mikoto said, "This had better not disqualify us."  She took 
hers off.  Karen stripped down to her wrestling uniform 
without much hesitation, until she realized Imadori was 
watching her, and suddenly she felt very embarrassed.

	Mai looked at Karen, "Do you always wear that like a 
superhero?"

	"More or less," Karen said.  	
	"Okay, you win," Mai said, taking her shirt off.  "If we 
get disqualifed, you die."

	They returned to battle. 2-D's women seemed a little 
rattled by 2-C's willingness to go so far, and the 2-D's men 
team spent too much time staring and not enough time 
scoring, though 2-C also had some of that problem.  Asou, 
however, stayed focused, and began scoring repeatedly.

	"Only thinking about Sara-san?" Suga whispered to 
him.

	Asou just remained silent, though he looked more 
nervous after that.

	Up in the stands, Tani-sensei and Katou-sensei were 
arguing over whether this was legitimate, with the principal 
as referee.  "The rules do not SAY that you have to wear a 
shirt," Tani-sensei argued.

	"Yes, but it's a violation of the school dress code!"

	"Actually, the dress code specifies what can be worn, 
not what MUST be worn," Tani-sensei said.  "And they are 
wearing bras."  He knew he shouldn't be arguing this, but 
he refused to lose to Katou-sensei.

	"Hmm," the principal said, carefully observing what 
was going on.

	Katou-sensei had a bad feeling.  "I..."

	He could then see 2-D's women taking THEIR shirts 
off.  

	"Well, if they both escalate, it's fair," the principal 
said.  

	"This is NOT acceptable," Katou-sensei said.

	"This is true school spirit, the willingness to do 
anything for your class.  Can't you understand the sacrifices 
they're making?" the principal said.  "I must commend you 
both for instilling such strong school spirit in them."

	Our principal is insane, Katou-sensei thought.

	Please, Kami-sama, all I ask is that the PTA NEVER 
hear about this, Tani-sensei thought.

**************
	
	Large quantities of exposed flesh and school spirit and 
staring had reduced the two soccer games to utter anarchy.  
No one could focus and things were going wild.

	The crucial moment for the women's game came when 
Tenma shouted, "GO ZOMBIE CID OF VALENCIA!  
RIDE OUT OF HISTORY AND INTO OUR LEGEND!"

	Lala simply couldn't stand there and listen to this 
bizarre rambling especially when Hanai had his shirt off 
and looked so good as he ran, and he had just looked at her 
and she could tell he liked it.  

	So she ran over to Tenma.  "WHAT ARE YOU 
TALKING ABOUT?"  It was just too distracting in a sea of 
distractions.

	"I saw this movie about El Cid and I ran out of good 
cheers and...ummm...  CRUSH THE MOORS!  CRUSH 
THE MOORS!" Tenma began shouting.

	In Lala's absence, Mikoto drove in a score.  Lala tried 
to run back, only to get yellow carded again.  This delayed 
her enough for her team's next offensive to fizzle while she 
argued with the ref, at which point Eri scored again.

	Meanwhile, the men's game was utter surging anarchy 
of people gazing at scantily clad women the next field over 
and crashing into each other and trying to avoid looking at 
Nara's sexy dance.

	Sara looked over at Yakumo as they cheerled.  
"Maybe...do you think Harima and Asou-sempai would like 
us to do a special cheer for them?"

	Yakumo said, "Do you know one?"

	Sara looked thoughtful, then decided to copy 
someone.  She got a megaphone, then shouted, "ASOU-
SEMPAI, IF YOUR TEAM WINS, I'LL GIVE YOU A 
KISS."

	There was, for a moment, utter silence among the final 
grade 2 men's game.  Then everyone looked at Asou, who 
shrank to roughly the size of a walnut.  

	Hanai said, "Well, I think we shouldn't disappoint her 
school spirit."

	Harima nodded.  "We'll get you your kiss, Asou-san."

	Asou mumbled incoherently.

	"Not if we can help it!" Tougo said, launching another 
drive.

	"IF YOU WIN, I'LL GIVE YOU A KISS, HARUKI-
KUN!" Lala shouted.

	Mikoto, not to be outdone, shouted, "SO WILL I!  
FIRST!"

	"AND ME!" Yuuki shouted, mustering her courage.

	"HEY, THAT WAS MY INCENTIVE FIRST!" 
Madoka shouted.

	Eri was tempted to offer Harima a kiss, but feared he 
might run away again and wreck the men's game.  And she 
still needed to confront him about Yakumo.  But maybe, in 
all the kissing likely to ensue...she might steal one...

	Yakumo tried to yell something into the megaphone, 
but she wasn't really very loud, and worse, all the yelling 
drowned her out.

	Tenma shouted enthusiastically, "GO, 2-C!  IF YOU 
WIN, I'M GOING TO GIVE KARASUMA A KISS!"  

	This didn't seem to raise 2-C morale very effectively, 
but it did make Karasuma start, and then start shaking his 
fist with something that resembled enthusiasm.

	Imadori felt inspired, and rose up.  "KAREN, IF YOU 
WIN, I WILL GIVE YOU A KISS."  He knew he would 
regret this forever.  And yet, it would also win him a 
20,000 yen bet, and thus would be worth dying for.

	That was the final stroke needed.  Karen switched into 
angel of death mode and nothing could stop her.  Especially 
not with Lala staring off at the other game frequently and 
some of her teammates distracted as well.

	Even when Tougo mimed a kiss, causing Mai to freeze 
and let one of Hikaru's shots through, 2-C's women still 
managed to triumph in the end, with a final score of 23-16.  

	The men's game approached its own topless climax 
with the ball flying frenetically around the field.  Hanai 
played valiantly, despite having the feeling Mikoto and 
Lala and Yuuki would end up clobbering each other, and 
despite being distracted by two of those ladies...showing 
off.  Asou played on despite total embarrassment.  Suga felt 
jealous no one was shouting their desire to kiss him.   He 
channeled this into crushing the enemy.  Umedzu had 
Madoka on his mind.  He was going to get that kiss, 
dammit.  And Harima had filled in his own name for 
Karasuma's in his mind when Tenma had been shouting.  
He was off in dreamland.  A dreamland where his foes had 
to be crushed for him to get a kiss.

	It was just too much for 2-D.  Harry was busy giving 
death glares at Imadori.  Tougo was too busy trying to 
cause Mai to lose her focus, as it was just too much fun.  
The rest of the players were distracted by too many women 
showing off too much.   

	The end result was that the score went utterly insane, 
but in the end, the 2-C men won, with a final score of 22-
19.  Hanai leaned against the other team's goal, panting, as 
he'd been running his ass off the last few minutes.  2-D's 
goalie, a large guy named Kyou, was sitting down inside 
the goal, breathing hard himself.  "Damn, now that was a 
game."

	"Yeah," Hanai said.  "Good game."

	Kyou glanced over.  "There's three women converging 
on you.  I hate you."

	Hanai glanced off and saw Yakumo with her 
classmates; their men's team had taken the prize for their 
grade; their women's team had gone down before its final 
round.  He then saw Yakumo and Sara start to come 
towards 2-C and 2-D and he couldn't help but stare.

	Until it sank in that Yuuki had been standing 
hesitantly in front of him.  Lala and Mikoto were busy 
arguing with each other over who would kiss him first.  He 
looked down at her.  "You make a good cheerleader," he 
told her.

	She smiled nervously, staring at the ground.  "Thank 
you.  I...umm...I did promise you something..."

	Hanai blinked, trying to remember from all the 
shouting.  "Well, umm, sure, you can give it to me."

	She wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her 
eyes and suddenly he realized she was going to kiss him.  
This surprised him rather greatly, as he hadn't thought she 
had any interest in that.  

	Also, Mikoto and Lala's feet were coming for his 
head.

	He spun them around as Yuuki kissed him, shielding 
her with his body as two sets of feet crashed into his head.  
This didn't work as well as he planned, as it basically meant 
that he got knocked down on top of Yuuki, knocking her 
unconscious and knocking himself for a loop.

	"Three-timer," Harima said, shaking his head and 
heading for Tenma as the Hanai beatdown kicked into gear.  

	Tenma, however, was heading for Karasuma, who was 
sitting on the railing at the edge of the seating in the 
stadium.  Harima sped up as he saw this, feeling something 
clenching at his gut as he moved along.  Yakumo was 
running over to him, but he couldn't see her and he couldn't 
see Eri homing in on him either.

	Suga watched this convergence in process, and shook 
his head.  He could see Sara coming towards Asou, who 
had simply frozen up like a statue.  He could see Madoka 
and Umzedu already kissing.  He sighed.  "No kisses for 
me."

	To his surprise, Sagano grabbed him and gave him a 
kiss.  "No one to kiss me either," she said.  "So there we 
go."

	Suga laughed.  "Thank you, Sagano-san."

	"Hmm, maybe I can steal one from Fuyuki-kun too," 
she said, then flitted off like a bee looking for more nectar.

	Harima could see Karasuma drawing Tenma over to 
steal the kiss she'd promised to him, Harima.  Using his evil 
powers, no doubt.  He couldn't let this evil kappa steal his 
love, Tenma!

	He started to rush forward, but a woman caught his 
arm.  He turned and saw Eri, still not wearing a shirt.  She 
looked rather embarrassed, like he felt as he looked at her.  
He couldn't stop looking at her, thinking thoughts he knew 
he shouldn't.  She looked so happy and scared at once, 
leaning forward to kiss him, drawing him down towards 
her...

	And then a soccer ball hit Harima in the face, 
knocking him down and away from Eri.  Eri spun angrily 
and saw 2-D's captain, Hikaru, glaring at her.  "You 
wrecked this game with all this stripping and kissing!  We 
should have won!  And now you're going to pay!"

	Eri began desperately dodging soccerballs, driven 
back from Harima's position. Yakumo had been running 
towards Harima, but she didn't dare enter the line of fire.

	Mai shouted, "You lost fair and square!  Stand down!"

	Tougo, who had come over to Mai, said, "Now, now, 
Hikaru, you look pretty good with your shirt off."  Mai 
stomped on his foot.  "I mean...we lost.  Their methods 
were unorthodox, but I approve of unorthodoxy."  He 
turned to Mai, grinning.  "Very clever of you."

	Mai fought the urge to blush and cuddle.  She stood as 
dignified as she could with no shirt and said, "We do what 
we have to, in order to win.  Admit you lost, Hikaru."

	"NEVER!"

	Meanwhile, Sara hesitantly walked up to Asou.  He 
was standing there, staring at her; he looked terrified, 
perhaps because of the many people staring at them.  But 
she didn't care.  She was finally going to get to show him 
how she felt.  That was all that mattered.  

	She reached out for his hands.  "I've come to keep my 
promise, sempai."

	"You...don't...I mean...if you want to," he babbled.

	"Yes," she said.  "I..."

	She was cut off by a dark haired blur.  Suddenly one 
of her classmates, Satsuki, was leaping up between them 
and basically kissing Asou as she went by.  "I like you, 
sempai!" she shouted, then ran off.

	Asou's eyes widened and he toppled over and fainted.  
Suga pointed and laughed, as is a best friend's duty.

	Sara stared in shock.  What the he...heck.  What the 
HECK was that?  Is God testing me, she wondered.

	Tenma reached up towards Karasuma, who dropped 
down to her.  "Karasuma-kun, I..." Tenma said, reaching 
towards him for a kiss.

	Then she took a stray soccerball in the back of the 
head from Hikaru trying to hit Eri.

	She shrieked and collapsed.

	Yakumo, Nara, Akira, and Karasuma all stared at 
Tenma as she fell.  Karasuma caught her.  "Hey, that wasn't 
very nice!" Nara shouted.

	Hikaru continued trying to batter Eri to death with 
soccer balls, while Eri continued to dodge desperately, 
getting hit every so often.  The unfortunate Harima got 
repeatedly trampled in the process.

	Yakumo stood, trembling.  The woman had hit her 
sister.  Hit.  Her.  Sister.

	Tougo had a feeling the apocalypse was about to break 
out.  He took Mai by the hand and dragged her away, even 
as she shouted at Hikaru about how she ought to stop and 
how she, Mai, was going to write up a disciplinary report 
on her.

	"Mai," he said softly, "I think Hikaru is about to get 
her punishment for being a sore loser."

	"You aren't going to intervene?" Mai asked in 
surprise.

	"I didn't sanction attacking Eri," he said.  "She's on her 
own if she goes rogue."

	Akira began snapping photos of Hikaru, looking grim.  

	Nara said, "We should do something, Akira-san."

	"Oh, something will be done," Akira said, pointing.

	Yakumo yanked one of the flags, pole and all, out of 
the ground by the edge of the field, and advanced grimly on 
Hikaru, twirling it in her hands.  Hikaru tried to retard her 
advance with hurled balls, but Yakumo deflected them all.  
Then she shoved the flag end of the pole into Hikaru's 
stomach, knocking her to the ground, battered a ball away 
from Hikaru's feet as she fell, and put the other end of the 
pole to Hikaru's shoulder.  "You're going to apologize to 
my sister," she said as firmly as she could muster.  "And to 
my boyfriend."

	Unfortunately, Hikaru now swept her feet, and as 
Yakumo fell, moved to pin Yakumo to the ground, hands 
pinned where she couldn't use the pole to fight back.  "I 
don't even know who you are, but I don't answer to..."

	"You want a fight, fight me, not my friends or their 
family!" Eri shouted as she ran up and kicked Hikaru in the 
head with everything she could put into the kick.  Hikaru 
flew off Yakumo, and Eri jumped on her.  They began 
rolling around, beating the crap out of each other.

	Hanai was getting clobbered as Lala and Mikoto 
fought each other and him at the same time, until he said, 
"Mikoto...I think Tenma needs help..."

	She looked over and saw Karasuma kneeling with a 
clobbered Tenma, a winded Yakumo leaning on a flagpole, 
and Eri and Hikaru slaughtering each other.  Mikoto said to 
Lala, "Tenma needs me.  Don't you dare try anything."

	Lala looked at the situation and nodded, backing up.  
"Aid your friend," she said.  "I won't try anything."  This 
should give me some credit with Haruki, she thought.

	Hanai smiled.  "Thank you, Lala."

	He got up off the ground as Mikoto charged over 
towards Hikaru.  Kyoko moved to intercept Mikoto, but 
Mikoto casually grabbed her and tossed her aside; she flew 
through the air and landed on Sagano, right as Sagano was 
approaching Fuyuki.  

	Meanwhile, Karen had made a beeline for Imadori, 
even as Harry made a beeline for her.  She reached Imadori 
and said, hesitantly, "We won."

	"Yeah," he said, grinning.  He had the sweet, sweet 
money in his hands; he could take someone out this 
weekend and have a LOT of fun.  His pleasure was 
lessened as he saw Harry closing on Karen.  He's going to 
try to kiss her, Imadori sensed.  The idea of Harry kissing 
Karen made Imadori very unhappy.  Even if he wasn't sure 
why.

	He pulled her up and sat her on the railing as he stood 
by it, and even as Harry approached, he pulled Karen into 
an embrace and kissed her.  He had planned a quick peck 
on the lips, but two things complicated this.

	First of all, he wanted a long kiss now to make Harry 
jealous and angry. 

	Secondly, he quickly realized Karen had grappled him 
and he couldn't possibly ever get her loose unless she chose 
to let go.

	So, he gave up and let himself be kissed, while out of 
the corner of one eye, he could see Mikoto pulling Hikaru 
off Eri, and now more students were charging into things 
and the principal was shouting and teachers were running 
about frantically.

	But at least he had smoochies.  Until Harry arrived 
and said, "You know, he's only kissing you because you 
won a bet for him."

	Karen froze up, and Imadori managed to pull his lips 
free and said, "That's not true!"  Not all true; making Harry 
jealous was good too.

	Karen stared at Imadori, then at his pockets full of 
money, then threw him to the ground and ran away crying 
with Harry running after her.

	Imadori decided he would just lie down a while and let 
everyone else riot half-naked.

**************
	
	Harry followed Karen all the way to the gymnasium, 
where she found a corner to collapse in, crying.  He 
approached her warily.

	"Go away," she said.

	"Karen, I..."

	"Go away.  I'm just a prize to you.  He can't stand to 
see me with you and you can't stand to see me with him, 
but otherwise, you don't care," she said, bent over and 
crying.

	He winced at that.  "Karen, I just don't like to see you 
taken advantage of."  He did like her, and he had just been 
trying to help.  Or so he told himself.

	She simply rose and ran again.

	He sighed and decided it best to send someone else her 
way instead of pushing it.

************

	The principal stared at the six class presidents of grade 
two.  "I was willing to condone some over enthusiasm, but 
a full blown riot is pushing it."

	"I..." Mai began.

	"We're sorry sir," Tougo cut in.  "I'm afraid that my 
class pushed things too far and then all the tension blew up.  
You shouldn't blame them for responding to our 
provocations."

	Mai stared in shock; several of the other class 
presidents stared in shock also.  

	"Very mature of you, especially given your class' 
rivalry with 2-C," the principal said.  "Your class will get to 
clean up this gigantic mess.  The rest of the classes may go 
home.  Please don't riot again.  And try and show some of 
that spirit at our big game tomorrow."

	The classes dispersed; Tougo made sure to catch Mai 
alone, pulling her aside into an empty classrom, then 
closing the door and pulling her into an embrace and 
kissing her.  They kissed a long smooch, and then he let go 
of her and said softly, "You owe me."

	"I know," she said softly.  "Thank you."

	One of his hands slid down to her butt.  "You can pay 
me back after the game tomorrow."

	She blushed.  "I'll be ready."

	"Bring the costume," he whispered.

	I knew it, she thought.  I never should have bought 
that thing.  "Okay," she said.  He'd earned it this time.

	He smiled that confident smile that always made her 
wobble, then kissed her quickly and let go.  "Let's go get 
my beating."

	"Try not to enjoy it too much," she said, trying to 
regain her dignity.

	"I'll try."

************
	
	Hanai sat on the railing with his father, watching 2-D 
work.  "So, did we do well?"

	"Son, if you don't make up your mind, the women will 
kill you, then kill each other.  I mean, if you really WANT 
pain, I can't stop you..."  Hanai-sama said.

	Hanai sighed.  "I am in kind of deep."

	"Very deep," Hanai-sama said.  "Maybe you should 
just dump the others and date Mikoto."

	"She's not really interested," Hanai said.  "We're just 
faking to guard her pride."

	"She seems awfully jealous to me," Hanai-sama said.

	"She and Lala just don't like each other." Hanai 
sighed. "I get on fine with both."

	"And this other girl..."

	"Yuuki?  She just got caught up in the moment," 
Hanai said.  

	"There was a lot of madness going around," Hanai-
sama said.  "Well, you played well."

	Akira came up to Hanai.  "Come with me, we have to 
fit you for a dress."

	Hanai-sama boggled.  "A dress?"

	"He promised to wear a girl's uniform tomorrow," 
Akira said.  "Promised me."

	"Son, you are sooooo dead," Hanai-sama said, rising.  
"See you at dinner."

	"Bye, Father."

	And Akira took him away.

******************

	Harima sat up, feeling confused.  Somehow, he'd 
gotten into the nurse's office.  Eri was here, sitting on a 
chair; Yakumo and Tenma were on a nearby bed, asleep.  

	"You okay?" Eri asked.  She had her shirt back on.

	"Did we win?" Harima asked.

	"Yes," Eri said.  "Kenji-kun, can I ask you a 
question?"

	"Yes," he said.  

	"What exactly is your relationship with Yakumo?" she 
asked.

	"She's my practice girlfriend, training me to be a good 
boyfriend," Harima said.  "Like I teach you to ride."

	Tenma comes up with the most crazy schemes, Eri 
thought.  "Tenma's idea?"

	"Yes," he said nervously.

	"Getting you ready for...the woman you changed for?" 
Eri asked softly.

	"I hope so," Harima mumbled.

	Eri glanced over at the sleeping people and tried to 
muster the courage to ask what she really needed to know 
next.  "Kenji-san, did you..." she began.

	Then Tae-sensei rose behind Harima, hugging him.  
"But you don't have to change for me, Hario."

	"It wasn't you!" Harima said, feeling embarrassed.

	"Awww," she said, letting go of him.  "Well, good 
luck, Hario.  Whenever you find your courage."

	He glanced over at Tenma and Yakumo, then sighed.  
"We should get them home," he said to Eri.

	"Yes, we should," she said.  There was hope, she 
thought.  But who is the one?  Maybe I'll get a chance to 
ask him once we get them home.

**************
	  
	Lala found Karen lurking in the women's changing 
room.  "Stop snivelling."

	"Neither of them really likes me," Karen mumbled.

	Lala strode over to her.  "Do you want one of them or 
not?"

	"I...what?" Karen asked.

	"The question here isn't what they want, it's what you 
want," Lala said.  "If you want a man, you can make him 
yours, if you try.  But all you do is wait for them to act.  So 
of course you fail."

	Karen turned to look up at her, sitting on a bench.  
"But men don't like a woman to push too hard."

	"Bullshit.  Weak, useless men don't," Lala said.  "A 
man who can't handle a woman coming after him isn't 
worth having.  So what do you want?"

	"Well, I like Imadori..."  Karen began.

	"He's a worthless, stupid weakling who runs and hides 
behind you and Mikoto," Lala said.  "Why do you like 
him?"

	"When he smiles at me...I just get all warm and..."  
Karen was getting embarrased.  "When he kissed me, it was 
just so perfect..."

	Either she wants a man to treat her like shit, Lala 
thought, or else she's got one of those physical crushes that 
goes away once your hormones wear off.  "But he likes 
other girls better.  He's obsessed with big breasts and scared 
of your strength.  He just kissed you because you won him 
money."

	"I know that!" she said, cringing and pounding on the 
bench in frustration.  "I just...I don't know how to forget 
him."

	Lala thought about the situation.  "Do you like 
Harry?"

	"He's okay, and kind of charming, but he doesn't..."  
Karen made a face.  "I don't know.  I can't tell if he really 
likes me or if he just wants to get me in bed or what."  She 
sighed.  "And I'm always thinking about Imadori when I'm 
with him."

	"Well, either you need to go after Imadori, then, or 
forget about him.  Harry would certainly be more worthy of 
you."

	Karen sighed.  "Sometimes, I hate being in love."

	"I just hate Suou," Lala said.  "But I will defeat her." 

	"You really serious about Hanai?" Karen asked.

	"Yes.  I will defeat Suou and I will make him mine.  
Just like you should with Imadori, or else forget about him.  
I cannot tolerate this sloppy lying about mooning over him.  
Take him for yourself or move on.  I cannot tolerate any 
other choice," Lala said, looking at Karen firmly.

	"But he can't...I can't..."

	"No more waffling," Lala said.  "Either make him 
yours or move on.  There are your choices."  She put her 
hands on her hips.  "Now, get dressed.  Our shift at 
BurgerWorld starts in twenty minutes."

	"I completely forgot!" Karen said, horrified.

	"I did not.  I will double your sales level today, or my 
name isn't Lala Gonzales."

	Karen smiled a little.  I'm lucky to have a good friend 
like Lala on my side, she thought.  She's kind of strange, 
but she's kind at heart.  "I think I'll beat you today."

	"Oh hoh, you will?" Lala said.  "We'll see."  Finally, 
she thought.  My rival rises to the challenge.  Excellent.

************

	Harry looked up at Tougo.  "Get rid of that shit-eating 
grin, or I'll get rid of it for you."  He sounded sullen as he 
worked on picking up the huge amount of garbage the 
watching students had generated.

	"I heard things didn't go so well with you and Karen," 
he said.

	"My timing was bad."

	Tougo shook his head. "The problem is that she's still 
got him on her mind.  Until you get him out, she won't be 
yours.  She's not vulnerable to your pretty face while she's 
thinking of his."

	"He looks gay," Harry grumbled, picking up candy 
wrappers.  "And big words from the man with no 
girlfriend."
	
	Annoyingly to Harry, that just made the shit-eating 
grin bigger.  "I speak as a man of past experience."

	"Bite me, President," Harry grumbled.

	"Now, now, I'm here to offer to help you, and you turn 
down help?" Tougo said.

	"What kind of help?" Harry asked.  Tougo was always 
playing his own game.  

	"This may sound counter-intuitive, but here's what 
we're going to do..."

	Harry thought, afterwards, that it sounded crazy, but it 
probably couldn't hurt to try.

************
	
	"Where's Karasuma?" Tenma asked on awaking.

	"His parents came and took him home," Eri said.  
"Before you woke up.  I think he wanted to stay."

	Tenma sighed.  "I never did get the courage to peep on 
him."

	"Peeping doesn't show love," Eri said.  "I'm sure he 
knows how you feel."  Given you two have...had sex...and 
everything.  She shivered a little at the image of those two 
in bed, and tried to blot it out of her mind.

	"Is Kenji-kun here?" Tenma asked.

	"He's trying to cook," Eri said.  "He can cook some 
stuff, I know, but..."

	Tenma smiled.  "He's such a good brother-in-law.  He 
will take very good care of Yakumo."

	She talks like those two are married, Eri thought.  But 
with Tenma...it can be hard to understand her.  Does 
she...but she must have...  She frowned.  "Doesn't he..."  
Maybe she doesn't know, Eri thought.  

	"We need to find you a boyfriend, Eri," Tenma said, 
then asked, "Where is Yakumo?"

	"Still lying down," Eri said.  

	Tenma sighed.  "I just...I need some way to tell 
Karasuma how I really feel."

	"You've...done...those things with him.  Shouldn't that 
tell him?" Eri asked.

	"You think?" Tenma asked, thinking about her dates 
and the presents.  "But I should tell him."

	"If it really embarrasses you, I can just tell him," Eri 
said.

	Tenma turned red.

	That embarrasses her and sex with Karasuma doesn't?  
What kind of weird relationship do they have, Eri 
wondered.  

	"No, I'll just...I'll find a way," Tenma said.

	Eri tried to decide if the good friend would help or let 
Tenma do it at her own pace.  She wasn't sure, but...  "Did 
you get to kiss him?"

	She sighed.  "No, I didn't.  Did you get to kiss 
anyone?"

	"Me neither," Eri said.  "But you do have more 
experience than me," she said, sighing.  "I mean, I have 
kissed guys," she lied.  "But, well..."

	"You could have any boy you want," Tenma said.  "I 
could help you practice a love confession."

	Eri stared at her.

	"I helped Harima, though he didn't tell me it was 
Yakumo he was going to confess to," Tenma said.

	Eri frowned.  So she is sure he really loves Yakumo, 
but he thinks Yakumo is his practice girlfriend.  Or is 
he...why would he lie to me?  There's no reason.  	She could 
ask Yakumo but she had a feeling that might send things 
into escalation.  Before she was ready.

	"It's weird, I really thought he liked you, but it was 
Yakumo all along.  She's been really good for him," Tenma 
said.

	I'm going to just have to ask him who he loves, Eri 
thought.  But she was a little afraid of the answer either 
way.

	But she couldn't put it off forever.  

	But maybe just a little longer.