"Questions? Actually, yes. Why don't you just leave again?" She threw Kyoko a hostile look. "And she can stop destroying my stuff."
Junko was herself staring rather unkindly at Kyoko, who was royally ignoring both of them.
"Kyoko, seriously... It's Amaya's holo device. And i heard it was quite expensive. Leave it alone."
"Oh. So that's your new girlfriend, Junko?" answered the concerned one after giving a bored gaze towards Amaya. "Didn't know you were that desperate. Oh well. At least your personalities match. Can't tell for sure who is the most angry and unpleasant."
She was about to get really mad when she noticed Ishikawa. She mumbled something indistinctly and then said out loud : "Amaya. I have to talk to the Commander Ishikawa. I will be back soon." That said, she grabbed his arm offhandedly and headed to the second floor.
"And me? What am i supposed to do now?!" yelled Amaya as they were climbing the stairs...
"Well... You could play with us, Junko's girlfriend." said casually Kyoko. Amaya noticed she 'materialized' four projections which could just be holo HCIs.
She already tapped on John's finger to make him us one of the projections. The boy complied, even if he was obviously a tad lost... "The mute boy right there can play too, if he wants."
"This place is a bit messy, isn't it? - John mumbled to himself, watching surroundings changing so fast.
"Umm... Amaya, right? I kind of feel like we should go back to introduction part, but whatever. - he shrugged - Last time i obeyed her with no objections i ended up being a christmas tree. With all those bags, weighing more than she does. Come get yourself dragged into something fascinating!"
Young man was seemingly going to add something else - but got interrupted by Kyoko, tapping on his finger. "A-ha? - he said, gazing at the holo projections with confused face expression - And what am i supposed to do, Miss Unclear Explanations?"
Ishikawa was following Junko upstairs, slightly amused by the situation. "I wasn't aware that I would interrupt something here. You should have told me. "
She didn't answer though and quickly dragged him well out of hearing distance of the others. He raised an eyebrow. "So?"
In the meantime Amaya was looking suspiciously at the holo projections. "Tell me what you did." Curiously she tapped on one of them. "You wouldn't understand if I explained it to you."
She looked angrily at Kyoko, but then the guy who had been silent until now got up. "uhm.. I guess I'm leaving now. I'll call you or something." "Sure sure.. bye." Amaya sighed as he left through the door. "He was boring anyway."
She then turned back to the projection. "At least tell me this will be fun."
"Oh hold on right there, miss angry. Do i look like enjoying boring stuffs? Yes, no?" "Actually..." started to say John, raising a finger.
Kyoko admonished the boy with a small tap on his hand to make him put it back on the immaterial device. "Not asking you?" then said the girl, now tapping away in the air on her immaterial controller.
She then gave a casual gaze towards Amaya, finally noticing she was obviously sulking. "Oh wait yeah right i have a wonderful idea. What about you leave us alone and go run after the oh so boring boy right there? No? Fine then put your hands on the controller. We're going to play a game." "A game?" repeated stupidly Amaya, obviously surprised someone as old as Kyoko would do this...
~~~
She opened the door of her room and stepped in. After a few steps, she turned around to face Ishikawa.
He was looking around thoughtfully, but finally gazed back at her. "You have a wonderful house, junko. Congratulations." "Hm." replied the woman, while staring at him accimoniously "Did i say something wrong." finally pondered the man.
"No. No..." she eventually replied after a repressed sigh. "It's just a busy day, i guess. I wanted to rest today." "I see... I can visit you another day, perhaps." proposed the man while moving to leave the room. "No. Now you're here, stay..."
"A game. She is a kid, even though her well-developed figure makes her look gorgeous and mature in every possible way." - John said in rater sarcastic manner, not bothering to turn his head to Amaya.
Young man pretended to look a bit bored from all those negotiations. He let out a loud yawn, pulled some small and shiny prism-like or, rather, jewellery-like thing out from his pocket - and started playing with it, moving it up and down through the "controller" and wathcing the distortions.
"Kyoo-koo, Kyoo-koo~! - John added with a lazy smile, drawling. - Should i lift her up and carry her closer yet? Or, rather, nevermind that cutie, she is too old for games anyway. Let's do something already?"
Amaya eyed the holo projections suspiciously before tapping on it carefully. Kyoko observed her with some amusement. "It won't bite.""I know that.""Then don't act like you'd have to fear for your arm if you tap it."
Amaya then proceeded to touch the interface with both hands. "What kind of game is it?"
--
"Alright." He smiled at her. "I didn't know you have so many people in this house."
"We don't... not usually at least." She sighed. "I had no idea we would have visitors today."
He just shrugged. "Seem like interesting people. Who are they?" "Kyoko, a friend of mine. And she brought that weird guy with her." She frowned.
"Oh. And the other one is Amaya. I think I already told you about her."
"You did. The one who opened the door for me, right?" He walked over to the window to watch busy New Tokyo. "So, what's the plan now?"
She opened a chest of drawers and took some papers along with a bunch of keys and sat on the bed. "Here." she said, to draw his attention from the window and the city beyond it.
As he was sitting near her, he picked the bunch of keys and observed the ornament that was part of the bunch. "You will need this derogation to access and use the vessel, along with those copy of its ID..." was saying Junko while skimming through the documents. "hm..."
She finally raised her head and, noticing the object of his attention, pondered. "Anybody home?" "Yes. Go on." replied the man, dropping the bunch of keys on the bed. "Alright, what is it?" "Nothing. So many documents. Was it really necessary?" "What's wrong?" she asked peremptorily. "Nevermind."
She knocked his shoulder. "I'm serious, Hideaki. You always do that. It pisses me off." "Do what?" "Oh i don't know? Going all 'Oh, i'm so amused to not answer and to just give you a nevermind', perhaps. So hilarious."
He remained silent for a short while, massaging slowly his shoulder as if she hurt him.
Finally, he smiled slightly. "You use my first-name to address me now?"
~~~
"What would be the fun in telling you now. You will see, hm? Or are you afraid to lose?" "Afraid to lose? Pfft" replied the girl haughtily. "Alright, beautiful hug-able creatures. No need to fight now." said the male in a half-bored half-insolent way. "Oh... Looks like you will in the end."
A projection indeed appeared while he was talking, and Kyoko was already choosing a character. "I'm going to clean the ground with your two corpses. Hope you will enjoy~"
"A-ha, remember to say that again when i will... Huh." - said John, predictably looking through the list of biggest, strongest and most muscular characters. He did not finish his line, though.
Instead, young man stood up, walked to Kyoko, grabbed both of her hands - and lifted them up in the air above her head, interrupting The-Greatest-Fighter-To-Be. "I am sorry, Dave, i'm afraid i can't let you do that." - he pronounced, holding girl's hands up and observing her face changing from slightly surprised to slightly annoyed. Few seconds of enjoying himself later, he decided it would be nice to elaborate.
"We missed something really important. A bet! Because it will be way more entertaining with a bet, right?" - John explained proudly, smiling. "I suggest that each of the players grants the winner one wish. Yay? Yay. What a smart person you are, Mister Ti... John. What a smart person you are, John! Clap-clap-clap!" - he added, dramatically clapping Kyoko's hands he was holding.
"Well, Kyoko? Amaya, do you want to offer something better? Or do you want to tickle and grope Kyoko while i hold her like that? I would have done so, but most probably she will hit me in case i free one of my hands by letting hers go."
Not expecting this, she was silent for a moment being surprised by the question.
She hadn't really noticed that she called him Hideaki.
"What if I do? Is there a problem with it?" "No, not at all. I just wondered when it would happen." "Alright." She frowns at him. "Stop acting so smug already, Hi-de-a-ki."
He smirked. "Fine." Then he held up the bunch of keys. "What are the others for?"
---
Amaya, completely bewildered, looked at the odd couple. "You two are very weird."
She then frowned at them. "I don't plan on granting anyone of you a wish.
This is very unfair after all. I have no idea bout this "game" you want to play"
For once, Amaya didn't go out for the evening. She didn't invite someone either.
She was just tired.
The last mission her unit was given had been tiring. Far from home, with only a few boring pilots as escort, to look for something intangible, making them all risk their lives for nothing.
What the hell was the admiralty even thinking?
Chasing those thoughts from her mind, she slumped on the sofa, gazing around to locate the holo device remote control.
The quietness in the house reminded her how desert this place came to be.
Actually... She wasn't alone.
That young cat jumped near her, begging for a few caresses.
Amaya often wondered during the last weeks where her co-tenant was. It didn't bother her that much however, as she often tended to lecture her and treat her like some kind of stupid child, which was pretty much damn annoying.
Also because it allowed her to do what she wanted in the house while she wasn't there, which was, well... Pretty neat.
But, somehow, her part of the rent was paid in time. Therefore she assumed she was somewhere busy trying to look all mean and ruthless.
After her co-tenant friends fiddled with her holo device, it took a week to reconfigure it correctly. She gave the cat an hostile gaze as she was pretty damn sure he was playing with the remote control when nobody was home, which would explain why it always ended under some troublesome to move furniture.
"You wouldn't come to know where the remote is, hmm, bakaneko."
Some purrs were the only answer she got. "Thought so." she answered after raising her eyebrow.
Some noise made her look back. Junko was standing near the entry, leaning uneasily against the partition. "Oh... Bakaneko, look who's paying us a visit. Someone will finally bother to feed you after all!"
Her co-tenant didn't say a word, and after a few seconds, finally walked towards the sofa with effort.
Eventually, she sat carefully. Something was obviously costing her a lot. "Ehhhh? No offense Junko, but you look like... Well i do not find the appropriate metaphor."
Her friend didn't answer. She uneasily started to take off her fly suit, which appeared to be sticking to her under clothes.
A somewhat horrified expression appeared on Amaya's face. "What the.."
![[Image: siggies.png]](http://pile.randimg.net/0/46/11539/siggies.png)
