Mai-HiME Fan Fiction ❯ Two Kitties' Curiosity. ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

"No..." Mai grumbled in protest, refusing to believe the grating, high-pitched chirp in her ears. It was impossible, she was so comfortable; it couldn't possibly be morning yet, not when she wanted to sleep so much. She waited a few minutes to see if denial had any discernable effect on the alarm clock (it didn't), before she tried a different tack. Fine, fine, it could be morning, she conceded, but surely it wasn't the morning of the first day of the new school term. Yes, that was it, had to be. The alarm didn't have any business going off, then. Why wouldn't it just turn off and let her sleep? Where the hell had she bought that thing, anyway? She should return it and tell them it was defective, going off on the wrong day. To do that, though, she would have to wake up, unplug, it and take it there. If she did that, she wouldn't be able to pretend it wasn't time for school anymore. She sighed, realizing she couldn't win, and opened her eyes to the dusky gray haze of the morning sun relentlessly sneaking around the curtains and gleefully bringing the first signs of color into her dormitory room. Mai reached down and peeled Mikoto's arm out from around her, then kicked the sheets off of her feet, the only place the sheets still covered after her roommate's nocturnal migration.

"Mikoto, wake up," she said flatly, yawning and sliding out of bed. She heard a mumbled reply as she walked to the bathroom and filled her hands with cold, clear water. She splashed her face and ran her hands through her hair, rubbing at her eyes, trying to take off the feeling of the damp coat of sweat that a warm night and living blanket had provided her with. She was wiping her face on a hand towel when the door opened and grazed her heel. Mikoto walked in and also turned on the faucet, but just ducked her head into the sink and gulped some of the water before letting it run over her face; she wiped herself dry on the large, loose sleeve of her nightshirt.

"Mornin', Mai." The name was stretched out and dipped in pitch with the girl's gaping yawn. "What's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you can find," Mai answered listlessly. "I think we have a few leftovers in the fridge." Some people might think the first day back should be a time for a solid start, but Mai had always felt more like taking it easy and trudging her way through the first day or two of class before facing the reality of it. The double shift she'd volunteered for after the first day school was on her mind now, too, and seeming much worse a thought than it had during the volunteering, so she was not in the best of moods.

"Alright," Mikoto replied. Mai was a little surprised to hear Mikoto sound rather the same as she felt; however, she reasoned, the first day of class could be getting to her as well, or maybe she was still tired--and battered--from "learning" or "playing" or whatever she wanted to call it with Akira the other day. Whatever it was, Mai felt oddly comforted to be sharing in a mutual apathy and desire to return to bed. Mutely she watched as Mikoto shrugged her way out of her nightshirt and fumbled over the new bra, finally stepping over after a minute and helping her hook it in. She took off her own pajamas, and they started changing into their school uniforms. Mai took a moment to look over Mikoto and make sure she'd clipped and clasped everything and her collar was straight, before smacking herself and telling Mikoto to take it off.

"High school uniform today, Mikoto, remember?" For the first time this morning, Mikoto brightened.

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Yep, welcome to the ranks of the orange and gray." Mai mustered a smile and noticed, only now after Mikoto had been out of her uniform for a while, that the navy blue skirt and clean white blouse sleeves looked uncomfortably short. She wondered why she had let her go so long looking like she was wearing a short skirt. It was only when her little friend pulled her new skirt snug around her hips, and it came down to the appropriate length, that Mai came to the more accurate conclusion: Mikoto had grown, and in a fair short amount of time.

"Mikoto, stand up straight." Mai said, walking up to her. Sure enough, where Mikoto had only before come up to about her chest, now she could tickle Mai's nose with the top of her head. She also saw that this growth had been just about all upwards. Mikoto hadn't yet put on her shirt or jacket, allowing Mai to see that she still wasn't developing much, her sides nearly ruler-straight from underarm to hip, and Mai also noticed--with a little envy, knowing intimately the girl's appetite after feeding her for a year--she was still very lean, hardly an ounce of spare flesh to be seen anywhere.

"What is it?"

"Ah, nothing. Just noticing that you're growing a bit. Finish getting dressed." Mai only had to step in once more, to show Mikoto how to tie the neck ribbon that came with the new uniform. The young woman in the store had given her a lesson when they had both gone to pick up the uniform, but Mikoto had already forgotten Mai stayed in the bathroom to arrange herself in the mirror while her roommate went back into the main area, probably to get something in her stomach. Mai grunted, gingerly trying to untangle a particularly stubborn knot of bedhead. A little work and her hair was being brushed out straight and shining in all its strawberry-blonde splendor, and Mai herself felt a little brighter afterwards too. She found Mikoto at the table eating from a styrofoam container, leftovers from the Linden Baum a few days back.

"Did you warm that up?"

"Nun-umph," Mikoto shook her head, but she didn't look as though she had a problem with the cold breakfast, so Mai shrugged and went about her own morning. She didn't feel very hungry, though comparing her own "spare flesh" to Mikoto's while she'd brushed her hair playing a small part in killing her appetite. Maid didn't feel like she was fat, per say, just that a little less pinchability around her tummy would be nice. She eyed Mikoto blithely eating and had to smile. To all appearances, this was a concern her highly metabolic friend would never have to bother with. Mai also thought that pasta was looking pretty good, even cold, right after her decision to skip breakfast.

"Hey, let me get a few bites, Mikoto." The younger girl offered her the utensils and they sat down at the table together to finish. Between the both of them it didn't last much longer, and soon they were gathering their packs. Mai noticed Mikoto looking around the floor with a puzzled expression, then shake her head and go to the door.

"Did you lose something?" Mai asked. Mikoto shifted her shoulders uncomfortably, but she shook her head.

"No, I didn't lose anything."

"You remember where you're supposed to go today? You have a different class now."

"I remember, Mai." Mikoto nodded reassuringly. Mai wasn't sure to what degree Mikoto should be believed in this matter; however, she could hardly argue. Mai wasn't her mother, after all, no matter how their situation might feel at some times. They filed through the doorway and stood in the hall, Mikoto waiting while Mai locked the door behind them. A thump from another room made them both start, and their neighboring door flew open and Mai's friend Aoi hopped out, tugging her shoe on and trying to keep her balance.

"I'm late, late, late!" She cried. Her phone rang, and she almost fell trying to answer it, but for a steadying hand from Mikoto's nimble response. She looked at her phone and cringed, pushing a button before stuffing it back into her bag.

"Aoi, what's the matter?" Mai asked, bewildered.

"Can't talk, Chie's waiting for me. See you later, Mai!" Aoi ran down the hall and around the corner. Mikoto looked helplessly to Mai, concerned for their friend, but Mai couldn't offer much reassurance for her and just shrugged.

"Hmph, could she have girlfriend trouble more quietly in the morning?" A voice said, sour as milk left out on a midsummer night. Bleary green eyes spied Mai and Mikoto from behind disarrayed strands of crimson hair. "And look what the little cat dragged to my doorstep today," she sneered, looking pointedly at Mai. "What have I told you about carrying around filthy things like that?" She addressed Mikoto in a lecturing tone of voice. The small girl, oblivious to Nao's sarcasm, only looked confused.

"Ignore her, Mikoto, let's get going."

"Yeah, shoo kitty, take that thing out of here." Nao must have had yet another of her indecently late nights, Mai thought angrily as her antagonizer slammed the door, to leave off so quickly without a sharper parting jab; chances were good that she was not going to be in class today.

"What's she talking about, Mai? Shouldn't Nao be going to class now, too?" Mikoto looked to her with brows furrowed.

"Yes, she should, Mikoto, but she probably won't be."

"Why not?"

"How should I know?" Mai answered, more sharply than she meant to, so she softened her tone. "You would have to ask her, Mikoto--but not now!" She hastily amended when Mikoto made move to Nao and Aoi's dormitory door. Her roommate turned quizzically to her. "You can talk to her after classes, if you need to; we need to hurry so we won't be late." The flighty girl would probably forget about it by then, or so Mai hoped.

She walked Mikoto to her first class to make sure she did, in fact, go to the right one, and when she did finally get to her own class, it was with heat in her cheeks. Mai's friends Chie and Aoi had intercepted her shortly after seeing Mikoto off, wondering whatever she could be doing there, with her class in an entirely different direction from the dormitories. They'd teased her about her motherliness, again, but when she rather stiffly suggested they all get to class, the two other girls had mysteriously gone their own way with a brief: "We'll catch up in a minute."

It was only while her thoughts were on that oddity that Mai wondered what they were doing on this side of the school; remembering Aoi's behavior, she tied the two into a larger question: what had they needed to meet so urgently about this morning, so near to Mikoto's class? Sitting in her classroom, she clasped her hands together and sighed, murmuring under her breath a quick prayer that nothing go wrong today, and hoping that there was somebody listening.

**********^_^**********

"Mai, are you in any school clubs?"

"Eh?" Mai paused at the unexpected question that had burst with ill-disguised enthusiasm from Mikoto's lips when they met in the halls for lunch. "Ah, no, Mikoto. With my job and all, I never even thought of joining a club. That's too much for me."

"Oh," Mikoto said, looking clearly disappointed in her answer.

"Wait, what's the matter, why do you ask?"

"I was hoping you could tell me a good club to join. People in my class were all talking about what clubs they were gonna join and asking me about it, and I didn't know what to say. I thought that it might be fun to be in a club that Mai was in, too."

"She's just so cute!" A very familiar squeal was followed by a pale brown splash when Aoi lunged from behind them and latched onto Mikoto, rubbing her cheek atop Mikoto's head and obscuring the surprised younger girl's face in a curtain of hair.

"You can't take her home, Aoi," Chie admonished her friend in a dry drawl, walking more sedately to them in the wake of Aoi's dash. "Isn't that sweet, Mai-kun?" She raised an eyebrow in Mai's direction, "Did you join some club, then, that has Mikoto-chan wanting in too?"

"You know I couldn't do that, Chie." Mai replied archly. Chie just smiled easily and turned to Mikoto.

"You could come join the photography club with me, Mikoto-chan," she offered. Aoi let her go and spun her around.

"Yeah, join the photography club with us!" She said enthusiastically, hugging again from the other direction. Mikoto regarded her with an unconvinced skepticism.

"Photography? What do you do in that club?" She asked the older girl. Aoi was taken aback, and glanced surreptitiously to Chie before answering.

"Well, um, that is... you, ah, take pictures. Of things." She smiled nervously. "With a camera!" She added brightly. Mai sighed, and turned suspicious eyes to Chie.

"She only joined because you were in the club, didn't she?"

"Yep," Chie agreed with a rueful laugh, running a hand through her stylishly short charcoal hair. "She's terrible at photography--I've never seen so many terrible pictures of myself." On Aoi's blind side, Chie winked slyly at Mai.

"That's mean, Chie," Aoi pouted. She'd released a thoroughly bewildered Mikoto and fixed her friend with a frown.

"But it's true, dear." Chie shrugged, and smiled the confident, enticing smile that had melted the hearts of more than a few young girls, and that apparently even Aoi's status of closest friend hadn't built up much tolerance against. Putting the final nail in the coffin of Aoi's ire, she added, "Although I can't say I mind you being around."

As she observed Aoi sigh and over to stand very closely alongside Chie, and then to link hands with her, Mai couldn't help but turn a searching eye over the both of them. She blinked, and nagging suspicion finally won out over propriety, and she opened her mouth to speak. "Hey, Chie, Aoi..." How did one ask this? 'Just what is the nature of your relationship?' She tried it out in her head, but it sounded rather formal. Before she got the opportunity to try something else, though, Mikoto came to her with a serious expression and wrapped her arms around her. "Ah, Mi-ko-to?" the name distorted when Mikoto squeezed her around the ribs.

"Mai is bigger and softer. More comfortable, yup," she concluded, rubbing her face once against Mai's breasts and letting go, satisfied with the results of this experiment. "I'm glad they're mine," she nodded.


"Mai-kun?" Chie said, bringing Mai's attention back to the other two girls. "You were saying something?"

"...Never mind," she sighed. "Let's go eat."

In the cafeteria Mai was content to let her thoughts lay forgotten when the conversation turned to something safe again: the matter of school clubs.

"I might not be in a club, Mikoto, but I can tell you that you this: look at everything, and see if there's any club that does things you like to do."

"Things I like to do?" Mikoto asked around a mouthful of her lunch, and her eyes turned thoughtfully to the ceiling. "You think there's a club for eating Mai's lunches?"

"No."

"Mmm." Mikoto grunted her disappointment with that revelation, and concentrated on her meal. Mai rolled her eyes. It wasn't much use expecting Mikoto to carry her end of the conversation at the moment. She supposed she might take it as a compliment to the lunch she'd made.

"What about sports, Mai?" Chie asked her, actually taking the matter seriously. "Mikoto's pretty athletic. She's definitely fast, and we've seen her bounce of the walls before; she could be a school star." Mai considered it. That was by far the best idea she'd heard so far. But what did Mikoto think about it? Turning to her, she sighed, and had to reiterate the idea to her; Mikoto hadn't been paying attention.

"Sports? Like what?"

"Um, there's track and field, and soccer..." Mai shrugged, and turned to Chie and Aoi for some support.

"There's tennis, Mikoto-chan, and swimming. Then there's the volleyball and basketball team, and the softball team, and... oh! I guess there's the kendo club, too." Mai noticed the tomboy's eyes slide to focus over her shoulder. She turned just in time to see a silly grin and confident eyes looking down at her.

"Yuuichi!" Mai cried, surprised, and put on a quick smile. "I didn't expect to see you until after school, what are you doing here right now?" She saw that he was in his padded Kendo uniform, sans the plate, pads, and sword.

"You don't sound very happy to see me, Mai," he said with mock sadness, smiling at her and laying his hand over hers. Mai blushed slightly; Tate had somehow gone from being a goof to an unabashed flirt the longer they had gone on as an official couple.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that! I was just surprised."

"I didn't get to see you yesterday evening, so I couldn't wait until after school. The team can practice without me, for a little while."

"Without their captain, Tate-kun?" Chie asked.

"Hell yeah, they can. Heh, it was the team that told me to go. A bunch of hot-blooded young guys like those understand priorities. Anyway, Takeda is still there, and he was the captain last year. So I get to be with Mai instead of with a bunch of sweaty guys today. Hmm?" Mai saw Tate's face cock to the side questioningly, and for the second time in as many minutes somebody was looking past her, so that she had to crane her head around to see. Mikoto was gazing at Tate as though seeing the young man for the first time, and running her eyes over him--or rather, his outfit--curiously.

"Those clothes are like those other guys wear. Like the funny guy with the scar that I see swinging that funny wooden stick around. What's it mean, Tate? Do you all swing those sticks?"

"It's the Kendo uniform, Mikoto, for the club. Yeah, we all swing those around, but they're called shinai. It's not like all of us can carry around real swords." Tate said defensively, a little embarrassed at Mikoto's assessment of his favorite activity, and Mai giggled at him.

"Shinai?" Mikoto mouthed the unfamiliar word, and shook her head. "And they're wood, with no edge or tip?" Mikoto furrowed her eyebrows, "Like for practice?" Mai blinked, rather surprised she had grasped that without having it explained to her. "I practiced with big wood swords for training with Grandfather, but when I turned ten years old he let me use my real one. How old do you have to be to use your real sword?"

"Ah..." Tate shrugged helplessly.

"Those are their real swords, Mikoto-chan." Chie came to his rescue, struggling not to laugh at his discomfort with the girl's questioning. "It's like a game. They fight each other to improve themselves, and compete to see who's better, but they use those wooden swords and wear pads, so nobody gets hurt."

"Oh," Mikoto nodded, "That makes sense. I wish I would have known about the pads before; even though they were wood, those swords Grandfather would fight me with hurt whenever I would mess up. I wonder why we never used those pads?" Mikoto's lip twisted in thought with the memory. Mai winced. Her roommate's naivete and straightforward charm were often called cute, often enough that it was easy to forget those same traits were the product of an isolated--and occasionally harsh--upbringing.

"Oh, you didn't use any kind of protection, Mikoto-chan?" Aoi gasped, looking horrified. Mikoto had never talked much about her past but with Mai, and then usually sporadically and unexpectedly, as now; Mai hadn't seen any need to tell anybody else about it. "But what about when you were using real swords, like you said?"

"With real swords?" A small smile settled on the young girl's lips, tinged with something that may have been sadness or nostalgia, "I never messed up against Grandfather when I could use Miroku. Never." A momentary silence fell over their table after Mikoto finished her sentence in a low voice, so that when a burst of laughter erupted from a nearby group the rest of them were all slightly startled. "Did you say that Kendo was a school club, Tate?" Mikoto asked eagerly, any trace of her odd countenance washed away and replaced with her usual carefree cheer.

"Um, yeah, it is. Why?"

Mai had only a moment to feel alarmed before Mikoto turned to her with eyes that brimmed with pride. "Mai, I found a club that does something I like!"

Later that day Mai was still wondering which supernatural entity to blame for disregarding her prayers, but it was hard, as she hadn't specified one to begin with. Would it be fair to just blame them all, as it was obvious none of them had helped? It hardly seemed just to blame somebody for something when you hadn't asked him, her, or it to do it in particular, though, so Mai was stumped. Such philosophical rumination did help take her mind off of Mikoto's plans, though, so she didn't worry as much as she might have while she walked to the Kendo dojo after school. While on her way, she passed or was passed by a few of the current club members, all of them suddenly looking bigger, burlier, and more threatening than they ever had before. Even the building loomed more ominously off of the path ahead; it wasn't that Mai doubted Mikoto's athleticism or ability to take care of herself in confrontations, but she could not for the life of her understand why the girl would want to put herself into a position to have to take care of herself, for fun. Tate had done his best to assure her that everybody in the club was basically a good guy, and that a girl who wanted to join didn't have anything to fear, but Mai was having trouble believing just his word, boyfriend or no.

Mai's footsteps had slowed with her thoughts, until she was standing and worrying outside the dojo. She tried to think of exactly what she planned for this visit; chances were that she wasn't going to be changing Mikoto's mind. Oh, she had threats, of course. One mention of a cease to cooking would have Mikoto tearing up in horror and coming home with her, but even with all of her fears Mai didn't feel right doing that. She couldn't think of a good reason for Mikoto not to try the club out, except for the sake of her own peace of mind. She could stand in there and watch Mikoto like a mother hawk to keep her free of molestation, but she wouldn't be able to do that every day. Even today, she really needed to be heading for work. She had called in to tell the restaurant she was going to be a few minutes late, but her shifts tended to start right after school, so this was most definitely a one-time thing. While she gnawed over the situation, she heard a sudden commotion from inside, and dark thoughts fluttered through her mind as numerously as autumn leaves in a midnight rainstorm.

She ran the last handful of yards to the door and flung it open, but her dramatic entrance went mostly unnoticed compared to the attention riveted in the center of the room, where two club members in full regalia faced one another. The taller one moved confidently around the floor in measured steps, seeming to flow around his opponent, who remained cautiously still. He approached with his shinai held with amazing steadiness; the shorter member, though there was a steady authority in the way he held his own shinai, to be sure, seemed unsure of exactly where it should be held on the grip, or in relation to his body. The attention being paid to this spectacle was almost contagious, and Mai's worries about Mikoto took a momentary backseat while she sidled into the room and leaned against the wall by the door to watch.

With an ear-splitting, very familiar, yell, the more experienced combatant launched himself at his opponent. Mai smiled brightly now, realizing that this fellow who looked to be the better of the pair was Tate; she hadn't gotten very many opportunities to see him at practice, and more often than not it seemed as though he were instructing and presiding over other sparring partners. She was suddenly more vested in even this little practice match, with her boyfriend in there. Tate's opponent was quick, though he moved awkwardly, and got his sword up in time to block the overhead swing. It wasn't the prettiest deflection, forcing Shorty, as she found herself thinking of him, to take a step back in order to meet it in time, and that gave Tate the opportunity to strike again, redirecting his angle to go for his opponent's hand guard. Seeming more confident, however, Shorty moved with surprising speed to block that too, and took a few steps back to gain breathing room from Tate, who didn't pursue. Shorty definitely wasn't bad, but even Mai's inexperienced eye could see that Tate was more experienced, and expending far less energy in his measured steps and swings than his opponent's more wild movements. Tate politely gave Shorty a moment to ready himself, but no more time than that before going back on the offensive. Mai discovered at this point that Tate had been mostly probing his opponent on the last pass, and went to true form this time around, striking quickly and hard. The sounds made Mai wince, remembering again why she was here. She dreaded thinking of Mikoto on the receiving end of that barrage. Tate's voice cut sharply through the air now, again and again, and Mai could see Shorty becoming rattled at the brutal offensive, though Mai credited him for his effort, he was certainly fast and enduring, Mai was impressed that he had lasted so long. Shorty was forced to move, and his balance began to fail with each harried step around the training area, and his blocks came close and closer to missing, slower and more clumsy. Suddenly, Tate gave one more triumphant cry and gave a mighty downward swing, catching Shorty in mid-step and catching him solidly atop his headgear. His arms windmilled for a moment, and he fell back hard onto the wooden floor.

Mai felt a surge of pride and triumph for Tate, but then her blood ran cold as she heard another familiar voice yell in tandem with Shorty's fall, a cry of shock and surprise.

"Mikoto!?"

Now, with the match completed, more eyes turned to the door to find the intruder in their midst. Mai ran into the room, stepping through the members sitting attentively on the floor and ignoring the calls of protest and the angry inquiries to her intrusion. She fell to her knees by Shorty--Mikoto, she verified, now close enough to see through the guard--and helped her sit up, seeing the young girl's eyes widen in surprise.

"Mai?"

Mai didn't have any time for more than verifying her well-being, however, and turned angrily to her boyfriend, who involuntarily stepped back at the fire in her eyes.

"What's the matter with you, huh? Hitting her in the head! Knocking her down so hard! If this is how the 'good guys' are, I'd hate to see if you had any problem members in here! I thought you taught people here, but instead you just shove them into some pads and start whacking away, huh?"

The obscured figure of Tate held his arms out helplessly, but Mai was having none of it, and prepared another verbal barrage of her own, one that would likely have been a bit more personal, and a bit harder to apologize for later, but Mikoto raised a gauntleted hand to stop her.

"Mai, no, he didn't hit me that hard. I was already falling when he swung that last time. I tripped on the bottom of this thing." She kicked her feet a little to show how the blue uniform she was wearing extended just past her toes. Then Mikoto laughed. "I wanna try again, but I don't wanna wear this." Her laugh turned slightly fierce at the end, as she prepared to offer more of her efforts to Tate, and she rose to her feet, Mai keeping a worried hand on her elbow and hovering over her, refusing to think of how motherly this might appear. By this time, the club Captain had managed to remove his headgear and shook his head with a smile. Mai almost asked him angrily what he was so happy about, but bit her tongue at the last second for the sake of Mikoto's explanation.

"Thanks, Mikoto-chan. I was in serious trouble with Mai for a moment, wasn't I?" He flashed his smile for Mai's sake, and she felt herself mellowing slightly, though her belly was still tied in a knot from the rush of anxious worry, and she wouldn't be calming down entirely for a little while, at least. "But you know, she's right. I know you wanted to jump right in and start fighting, but that's not all of what this club is for. Just like Mai said, we're supposed to teach people here." He walked over to her and clapped a hand on Mikoto's shoulder. "You did great, for a beginner, but you should take a little time to learn how we do things here before you spar with anybody again."

Mikoto's lip pushed out in small pout, and she began to protest. "But, I could've won! This armor and these pads are heavy and make me slower and I can't move like I should be able to, and these swords are so light that it's hard to block with them, and I tripped on the bottom--"
"But those are our rules, Mikoto-chan," Tate said, more sternly now. "With practice you can learn how to move in the equipment and how to hold your sword correctly to block and strike. The armor and pads are all regulation and have to be worn, and although shinai come in different lengths and weights, they're not going to be as heavy as steel."

"But--"

"The first thing you should probably do is buy some of your own equipment. That's the closest we have to your size here, and as you noticed, it doesn't fit very well."

"Erm, Yuuichi?" Mai butted in hesitantly at this juncture. He and Mikoto both started, having been focused intently on one another, and he turned over to Mai.

"Yes?"

"How much would a set of equipment cost?"

His eyes widened, and he looked uncomfortable, only now taking into account the particulars of Mikoto's finances. Almost embarrassed, he rolled out a figure. Mai made a funny noise in her throat; she wasn't sure exactly what emotion that she was trying to convey with that noise, somewhere between the sound of a cat getting stepped on and a person swallowing a baseball, but somehow she felt that it was exactly the right emotion to be expressing. She turned to look at Mikoto again. The younger girl had her head bowed, and she reached up to tug off her headgear. Freeing herself from it and jerking the wrapped cloth cap on her head, she looked at Mai with eyes simultaneously pleading and incredibly happy.

"Pleeeaaaaase, Mai?" She asked; one thing Mai had never really been able to explain to her was the concept of money. Perhaps if Mikoto were the kind of person that constantly wanted new things, Mai could have sat down with her and explained the concept of limited disposable income, but Mikoto hardly ever had a want other than food, and between learned frugal cooking and the occasional free food from the Linden Baum, that had never been a big cut into Mai's paycheck. Now, she was asking for just about the only thing she had ever asked for, and Mai was having a hard time thinking of a way to say no to her shining golden eyes.

"S-sure, Mikoto, we can probably find a way..."

"Thanks, Mai!" Mikoto wrapped around her in a hug that knocked the wind out of Mai with the impact of the hard chest plate. Apparently that made the experience less than satisfactory for Mikoto, too, because while Mai gasped and nursed a spot on her ribs that she was sure was going to bruise, Mikoto frowned down at her chest plate, rather put out with it for getting in the way of one of her favorite things. In this moment of calm, Mai looked around and froze, very conscious now of the entire Kendo club having watched their little meeting in the middle of the room.

Apparently sensing the opportunity to speak, one amused voice said, "She's a feisty one, isn't she?"

"Which one?" Another answered quickly, and a chuckle rolled through the club. Mai felt her face heating, but the club members began standing, and most of them were smiling in a friendly way. "Good job, Mikoto-chan." One of them said.

"And she's a beginner?"

"She was talking about heavier swords, though, so she must have used something before, right?"

"Nah, she's probably just one of those dreamer types that has a sword from some con at home that she swings around the backyard."

"I don't think so. Hey, Mikoto-chan? You move pretty well, you must have practiced something before, right?"

Mikoto didn't really get a chance to answer, with the rest of the club continuing the discussion healthily enough without her input. Mikoto didn't look as thought she really knew how to respond, anyway, so it was just as well. She just took a half-step to put her up against Mai, who put an arm around her shoulders while the club milled around, unsettled by the sudden noise and activity in what had been a still, quiet room. She sighed in resignation, and looked at Mikoto.

"So, you like Kendo, eh?"

"Yup, very much!"

"And you wouldn't mind having her, Yuuichi?"

"Not at all, Mai. Hell, after sparring, I want her in the club."

"Fine." Mai smiled helplessly. She sniffed, then, and crinkled her nose. "But, erm, Mikoto, before we talk anymore, could you go change out of this equipment? It smells. Badly."

"It does!" Mikoto agreed fervently, as though surprised that somebody had noticed that as well, and hurried off to the equipment storage room.

Tate laughed after she'd left. "That was another reason I granted her request to get suited up and spar on her first day, you know. I thought that if nothing else, the smell would turn her away from the club and set your mind at ease. But she seems determined to tough her way through this."

"She doesn't like losing," Mai smiled.

"Good. We don't like losing, either. She'll fit right in. Speaking of which..." Tate glanced around at the milling and chatting club members. "Hey! Just because captain gets to chat with his girlfriend doesn't mean you all forget how things are done! Line up, start your warm-ups, you're in practice now!" He barked his orders in a tone that Mai couldn't recall ever hearing from him. She remembered how he'd confessed anxiously to her when he'd gone back to the club and been summarily promoted to captain that he had no idea how to give orders; he'd apparently caught on in the meantime. Mikoto came back out of the equipment room without her pads or plate, stumbling once over the hem of her uniform again.

"Hey," Mai said suddenly after watching it happen, "Does that uniform belong to anybody in particular?"

"No, it was left behind by a senior who graduated last year, didn't take it with him or anything. Luckily he was a little on the short side, so Mikoto-chan could use it."

"Good," Mai breathed. "I can save a bit of money by taking it home and breaking out the needle, then. I'll take in the hem a bit and see if it could use some adjustment anywhere else."

"If you want," Tate conceded, "But it's really the pads and armor that are most of the money, here."

"Every little bit counts," Mai said firmly, trying not to think of the money involved. She felt a twinge of annoyance, she'd almost managed to repress that part of the discussion, before Tate had brought it up again. Tate just raised his hands up in surrender, not even offering to argue the point. He turned to Mikoto, instead.

"Now you remember, too, that we still have a couple of extra, perfectly good shinai here. If you don't find one that you just absolutely love the feel of, maybe you could try to just use one of these for a while, okay?"

"'Kay!"

"Okay, fellas. We lost some time today with our newest member, but now we have to make up for it, got it?"

"Yes, Captain!" The members chorused, lining up and starting on their exercises. At the mention of time lost, Mai breathed in sharply and drew her phone.

"Oh shi---" She bit her lip, "I'm sooo late for work now! Bye, Yuuchi, Mikoto. You're going to have to do leftovers or something instant for dinner, too, I'm working late. Sorry," she frowned at Mikoto's disappointed expression, "It's just for tonight, give me a break!" Softening, she added, "I'll make something extra-special tomorrow to make up for it, so be good." Mikoto brightened, and Mai felt better. She scrambled for the door and picked up her bag, turning around and blowing a kiss at Tate before running out of the door. Sighing, she thought it was probably a bad thing that was still the closest they'd come to kissing.

She hurried to work, now grateful that she'd signed up for the extra shift today. It was supposed to have been part of a grand plan to save up an emergency nest egg so that she wouldn't have to worry about money anymore, but... damn those limpid little begging kitten eyes of hers, Mai pouted, even whilst doing so having a hard time being angry with Mikoto; all the girl had done was follow her advice, and she even had Tate's advocation for this. She'd been determined to deter Mikoto from joining, had subsequently seen her beaten and knocked ove--tripped, she reminded herself--and then walked out planning, of all things, to pay for a set of equipment that would allow her to continue doing this on a regular basis. Still pouting, Mai nonetheless felt good on her way to work, for as much as Mikoto's sorrowful expression had melted her resistance to her joining Kendo, so did her love-filled, thankful eyes eyes still loom vividly in the forefront of Mai's mind.