astrangerenters (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
astrangestorm) wrote2012-10-14 09:17 pm
astrangestorm) wrote2012-10-14 09:17 pm
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Jidai Fusion Paradise (4/5)
JIDAI FUSION PARADISE 4/5
He spent most of the following day trying to blow up Sho's phone with mails. They had no events, and Jun had a meeting with the bigwigs, so they weren't holding office hours either. It was a day of blessed freedom. He'd gotten up around noon, watching a marathon of old Dragonball episodes while he sent increasingly obnoxious messages to his friend.
"Are congratulations in order? Should I call your mom to celebrate?"
"Is your ass sore? Pick up the phone!"
"Did he turn you down? What's his address so I can go kill him with an icepick? Nobody will know."
"How big is his dick? You know you can tell me anything, Sho-chan" was the message that finally got him a response around 5:00 PM, an actual phone call instead of a terse mail reply.
"Sho-chaaaaan, how goes it?" he said, turning down the volume on the TV.
"It goes alright."
Nino's heart caught in his throat. "Well?" he asked Sho's silence over the line. "Well? Don't leave me in suspense, did you tell him?"
"I did," Sho admitted.
"And?"
Sho cleared his throat, not sounding happy or sad. "He said that he returns my feelings in equal measure, but that he isn't sure if now is the right time."
"What the fuck kind of answer is that? 'I want to bone you so bad, but not right now'?"
"Nino..."
He leaned back against the cushions he'd put on the living room floor, sighing. "But he does feel the same way?"
"He does."
"Didn't jack you off though?"
"He did not."
"Hmm."
The silence continued for a few moments before Sho spoke again. "I mean, at least he feels the same way. That counts for something. I didn't make a complete ass of myself. He just said he needed some time to think about it. I respect that. I made him wait all this time, what's a few more weeks, right?"
He could hear typing and clicking on the other end, and Sho continued talking.
"So what's this I'm seeing about Murasaki Shikibu, Hattori Hanzo, and a time machine?"
Nino took a peek at his laptop, still closed, and realized that it had been almost two days now since he'd logged on to Jidai Fusion Paradise. "Just something silly," he said. "You told me to give the community a try again, and I did."
"I can see that," Sho said. "Holy crap, this thread alone has over 500 comments..."
"It takes a while to get to Hiratsuka when you're being stalked by dogs trained especially for tracking by an enemy ninja clan, you know." Sho only made an irritated snort on the other end. "Hey, I can hear you judging my life over there!"
"I'm not judging your life..."
"Right."
"Look, can you do me a favor tomorrow? The printers called and said they're having the newest fliers delivered to the office but they need someone there to sign for them."
"And why can't Mr. Office Leader Jun take care of this?"
"Because he and I are going to meet with a potential client in Fujiyoshida."
"A road trip? That promises to be awkward."
Sho sighed. "Can you just do this for me?"
"Of course, Sho-chan."
"Thank you. They'll be there between 10:00 and 4:00."
He immediately regretted agreeing to this. "What? That's crazy! What will I do for six hours?"
"So call Aiba and have him sit with you. Look, I have to go."
He hung up, sighing heavily. Six hours of precious off time, and he'd be spending it at the office. If they'd just gone ahead and placed the order with Toma's company, none of this would have been necessary. But because Jun was Jun, and all the fliers had to be on some off-white specialty paper ("Essence of Eggshell!" Jun had insisted), they'd ordered from some place in Tokyo at what Nino thought was considerable expense. But, Nino figured, if management had signed off on it, it must have meant they still had some degree of confidence in the Numazu office.
He tried Aiba first, to no avail. Tomorrow he and Becky were going hiking. "The weather's going to be gorgeous!" Aiba had cheered, "the kind of day where you don't dare stay inside." Oh-chan was next, and he also had plans. He was getting up at 3:00 AM to go out deep sea fishing with some of his friends who owned a boat down at the Numazu port.
This left Nino hesitating over another option in his phone - Riisa-chan. They all had one another's phone numbers because of work, but he hadn't called her before. And the last thing he needed to do was trap her in the office with him for six hours with nothing to do. Especially now when his feelings towards her were in a weird, transitional phase. But when it came down to spending all that time alone and the slightest chance that she might show up, he decided to go with the slightest chance.
He dialed her number and said a quick little prayer.
"Nino?"
"Riisa-chan, hey. How are you?"
He could hear dogs barking in the background. "I'm at the shelter right now. It's almost bath time!"
"Ah, I'm sorry to interrupt. But I was just wondering what you were doing tomorrow?"
Only the sound of the dogs came back over the line.
"Not a date or anything," he said quickly, feeling his heart start to race a bit in panic. "Definitely not that. Sho-chan needs me to wait around at the office all day tomorrow for a delivery. Aiba and Oh-chan are busy, Sho and Jun are driving out somewhere in Yamanashi, and I'm going to be bored there by myself. What do you say? Will you come in?"
"What time?"
"10:00 to 4:00." This was going better than his two previous calls had at least. "Not that you'd have to stay the whole time. I just...you know, it'd be nice to have some company is all."
"I can try for 11:00, how's that?" He heard some noise over the line. "Look, I'm about to be elbow deep in suds, I'll see you tomorrow, Nino."
"That's great! Thank..."
And she hung up on him.
Not a date or anything, he'd said. Why the hell did he say something like that? That was Sho's level of awkward. He was better than that, wasn't he? But despite his odd choice of words, she'd still agreed to come in, knowing it would just be the two of them. Despite everything she'd been through, despite her issues with trust, she'd still said yes. And maybe, just maybe, he admitted to himself, he really was developing some feelings for her. Because why else would he be so happy in spite of the boring as hell task Sho had set out for him?
Having no other outlet for the feelings of giddiness that started to overwhelm him, he popped open his laptop lid. Murasaki had abandoned Hattori Hanzo for far too long.
They had some bears to take care of.
**
The morning passed by, and Nino sat in front of Sho's work computer. He'd stayed up until half past four plotting and scheming with Hattori Hanzo. Now that they'd learned how to control the time machine thanks to the alien posing as a samurai who'd been guarding it, the whole of history, time, and space awaited.
Of course, the first thing they'd done was travel to the present day to get ice cream.
He read back through their chat, smiling at all their ridiculous dialogue.
User:hattori_hanzo2
yo this vanilla chocolate swirl is the best ever. almost makes me want 2 stay in this era forever
User:murasaki_shikibu
The cold concoction is almost frightening in appearance, yet upon my tongue it melts like the mountain snows in the first blessed weeks of spring. That I could share this experience with you, Master Hattori, is worth ten encounters with ninja bumblebees intent on stinging us to death.
User:hattori_hanzo2
those bees were something else huh
The office door opened, and Nino hurriedly clicked out of the tab for Jidai Fusion Paradise. "Morning," he called, peeking around the monitor to spy the familiar zebra hoodie.
"Sorry I'm later than I said I'd be," Riisa called, hauling in a takeaway bag. "I slept in."
All was forgiven when she set the bag on the table. Croquettes, still piping hot from the restaurant around the block, and two bottles of tea from the vending machine two doors down. "How much do I owe you?" he asked.
She shrugged out of her hoodie, setting it on her chair as Nino got everything out of the bag. "It's on me."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "You make a habit of buying food for creepy guys?"
She grabbed one of the tea bottles and twisted it open. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
They dug in, not having much to say when there was good food in front of them. In a job like theirs, walking from table to table with food they couldn't touch, meal time tended to be a rather hasty affair. She was unafraid of eating in big bites, the food filling out her cheeks almost like a little kid's. Or Sho's, for that matter. Nino had known a lot of girls who ate in dainty little nibbles, but Riisa didn't seem to care much about what he thought. He liked that.
They finished their meal, leaning back in their chairs with matching sighs of happiness. "So what are we waiting for again?" she asked, turning her chair slowly round and round, her braided hair swaying back and forth.
"Our brand new fliers, courtesy Matsumoto Jun's artistic stylings."
She smiled at that, checking the clock on the wall. "Half past noon now. Wanna make a bet on when it finally arrives? 1000 yen?"
He met her eyes across the table, studying her. She didn't flinch away, locking her eyes right back on his and wiggling her matching nose at him. "Alright, 1000 it is," Nino decided. "We say our times out loud on the count of three."
"One," she said.
"Two," he replied.
"3:30," they said in unison before bursting into laughter.
"Mind reading demon!" he accused her, gathering up their garbage and throwing it away.
"You're the mind reader, creep!"
They decided on a rock-paper-scissors battle. After two rocks, one scissors, and two more rocks, they stared at each other again. "How are you doing that?" he asked her.
She pointed a finger across the table at him, smiling so brightly it was impossible to look away. "How am I doing that? What about you? You're the weirdo!"
"Fine," he conceded. "You can have 3:30..."
"Good!"
"...and so I choose 3:31 and all points after."
She gaped at him, picking up a stray pen from the table and flinging it at him. "No fair!"
"Hey, you picked 3:30!"
"And you're an asshole!"
Before too long she was out of her seat, grabbing a jumbo box of paper clips and flicking them at him while he picked up a file folder, using it as a shield to try and deflect her projectile attacks. Keeping the table between them, they chased each other around the room, Nino doing his best to dodge the rain of paper clips.
"We're going to have to clean this up when we're done!" he protested, nearly catching a paper clip in the eye.
"You're the one who wanted company here today!"
Before too long, she was out of ammo, and they were both panting, collapsing back into their chairs. Nino felt the crunch of paper clips under his shoes, and he started laughing, and she joined in. Chasing each other around on a full stomach had been a terrible idea, but Nino wasn't too upset. It was like Aiba or Oh-chan was here, doing this stupid kind of shit. For the first time, Riisa felt like a necessary presence in the office, as though something wouldn't feel right if she wasn't around.
"How old are you again?" she asked him, twirling around in the chair once more. "Just so we're clear on how immature we're acting."
"Twenty-nine," he admitted with a laugh.
She smiled, and now that he was getting used to seeing it and especially seeing it directed his way, he didn't want her to stop. It seemed to change her whole face. The sad girl he'd met had seemed to vanish completely.
Riisa grabbed her bag with a sigh, pulling over Aiba's chair so she could put her feet up. "Well, I brought a book so the computer's all yours."
"Sounds good," he said, grateful to go back to slacking off. He did, however, diligently walk the room, picking up paper clip after paper clip lest Jun accuse him of turning the office into a playground. As he passed her, almost completely engrossed in her book, he caught a peek at the title.
Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu
He did a double take, nearly bumping into the table in his surprise. "Riisa-chan," he said quietly, shoving some more little clips back into the box. "You like history?"
"In high school, yeah, I loved it," she murmured, turning a page of the book, totally immersed in it. "Especially the battles."
"Really?"
She nodded almost absent-mindedly. "My parents thought it was weird, a girl buying a cheap knock-off Hattori Hanzo spear on Yahoo Auctions, but there it is."
"There it is," he mumbled.
She looked over at him and smiled. "I don't stab anybody with it..." She lowered her voice ominously. "Unless, of course, they deserve it."
When he was done tidying the room, he sat down in the chair in front of Sho's computer once more. It was impossible, wasn't it? Spending all these weeks wandering 16th century Japan with Hattori Hanzo, and here was Riisa-chan the history buff who apparently owned a Hattori Hanzo spear replica.
Keeping an eye on her in the chair across from him, he clicked his way back to Jidai Fusion Paradise. Nino had been up with Hattori Hanzo until 4:30 in the morning - and then Riisa's excuse for being late was that she'd slept in. If she'd been up until 4:30 too, that certainly explained things...
It was a coincidence, Nino told himself. It had to be a coincidence. He clicked on Hattori Hanzo's user profile, something he hadn't bothered to do in all this time. Because they'd just been chatting for fun, him and some stranger. It was a message board that gathered folks from all over Japan. How could user:hattori_hanzo2 be Naka Riisa, the girl sitting across from him in the Numazu City Animal Shelter t-shirt peppered with tiny little dog hairs? The girl who called him creep with amused affection?
A cute girl like her playing some slang-talking samurai? He stared at the profile again - just the user name with "IGA PROVINCE, YO" given as the character's location. And then a link to send the user a private message. Of course a cute girl could play a violent samurai, Nino told himself. Hypocrite. He, after all, had spent years playing a woman. So why couldn't Riisa do the same?
He couldn't stop staring, watching her purse her lips, watching her painted black fingernails turn another page. The silly language, the goofy plots, the time machine - Hattori Hanzo was just as much an escape for his player as Murasaki had always been for Nino. The curiosity was driving him crazy. There was only one way to know for sure.
He turned away from her, clicking on the private message link, taking a deep breath and starting to type.
User:murasaki_shikibu
Private Message for User:hattori_hanzo2
Many apologies for leaving mid-ice cream last night, Master Hattori. Please let me know if you'll have time to pick up where we left off this evening? I'll be free later on. I remain humbly your friend, Murasaki Shikibu.
He bit his lip, holding the mouse over the Send button for a few moments of agony. Private messages would go straight through to your phone because it was connected to email addresses. If Riisa's phone beeped with it, then Nino had all the confirmation he needed. But at the same time, he'd be leaving her at a disadvantage. He'd know the truth, and she'd still have no idea who Murasaki was. And that wasn't necessarily fair to her.
Nino heard her turn another page, and his curiosity beat out sensitivity. He clicked send, and hurriedly clicked to another tab, staring at some sports scores as the seconds slowly ticked by. He was just about to give up when he heard Riisa's phone make a little chirping noise inside her bag.
He tried to focus on the computer screen as she reached for her purse, setting the book down on the table and pulling out her phone. Her phone that just so happened to have what looked like a tiny black ninja charm attached to it. She flipped it open and clicked on the message, and the smile that crossed her face at the sight of it made Nino's heart leap. Did Murasaki Shikibu make Hattori Hanzo just as happy?
Did this mean that he'd be a fool not to pursue tortoise girl for real?
She typed back a message faster than he thought possible, snickering to herself the whole time, before shutting her phone and picking her book up again. His phone was on vibrate, and he heard it go off in his bag where he'd left it slung over the hook by the door. Riisa didn't react at all, and Nino exhaled slowly, clicking away from the baseball results to find that Hattori Hanzo had just replied to him. There was his confirmation alright.
User:hattori_hanzo2
Private Message for User:murasaki_shikibu
yo murasaki no worries bout last night needed 2 get up 4 a very special mission this morning anyhow. we r so on 4 tonite! ill b looking 4 u!! h.h.
He covered his mouth with his hand, seeing Riisa reading her book as though nothing was amiss. A very special mission, huh? Sitting here in the office with him? Was that the special mission?
He spent the next hour trying to concentrate on the computer, watching video recaps of games and changing Sho's desktop wallpaper from some European soccer stadium to a picture of a family of squirrels nestled in a tree. But all he could really do was think back on the past several weeks of Jidai Fusion Paradise, where the person he'd been having such ridiculous fun with had been Riisa all along.
There was a buzz at the door. Finally the fliers were here, and Riisa set down her book to look up at him triumphantly. "2:30!" she said, gesturing to the clock. "That'll be 1000 yen."
He rolled his eyes. "You picked 3:30," he said, heading for the door.
"If you took 3:31 and all points after, I got 3:30 and all points earlier," she said, staring him down. He liked her, Nino decided. It was impossible not to.
He opened the door, and the guy held out a box. "This will be the first of six."
They carried them in, setting them down on the tables for Jun to inspect, and Nino signed off on the delivery. He shut the door, task complete. Now what? "Well," Nino said, still a bit flustered. "I appreciate you coming over here."
She already had her nose back in her book, holding her hand out. "1000 yen, please."
He grinned, taking out his wallet. He even had it open and his fingers on the bill when he decided to be stupid and impulsive. "Or I could put that towards something else. You covered lunch, so let me get you dinner. Or a movie. Or something."
This got her looking up from the dry historical writing, blinking at him. "Tonight?"
"Yeah, tonight. If you want." He thought about the message from Hattori Hanzo, confirming their online "date," as it were. "Unless you're busy or something?"
She looked a bit torn, and he realized that Jidai Fusion Paradise really meant a lot to her. With its anachronisms and time machines and all that. "It's...fine," she said. "I wanted to get home a little early. You mind if we just catch a 6:00 or 7:00 PM movie?"
He nodded. "No problem." He moved over to the computer, and she got up out of the chair to follow him. Luckily he didn't have the roleplaying board open any longer, and he clicked his way to the local theater's website. "Let's see what's playing tonight then."
He tried to keep his hand steady on the mouse, even as she stood right behind him, leaning forward to look at Sho's ancient monitor, one of her braids brushing against his shoulder briefly. Now that he was a little too aware of what he was feeling, he didn't know what to do. With most people, Nino just went straight for the physical and for the last decade or more, that had seemed agreeable to everyone he'd pursued.
But this time...this time he couldn't do that. This one had to grow. He had to earn her trust. So he decided to ask if she wanted to see a comedy, nothing like an out and out romance that was a dead giveaway for what he was looking for. He figured that would be a neutral choice. But then she spied a different movie, tapping him on the shoulder as she used her other hand to point at the screen.
"Death Boat!" she cried happily, finger smearing the screen. "Oh wow, we totally have to go see Death Boat!"
"The hell is Death Boat?"
She gasped like he'd just shown up to work naked or something, pulling up Ohno's chair and sitting down, turning Nino in his chair so that they were facing one another, her knees against his knees.
"Death Boat, Ninomiya Kazunari, is the sixth film in director Ishimura Kazuo's Death Transport series!"
"Ishimura who?"
She crossed her arms, shaking her head at him in disappointment. And then to Nino's surprise she launched into a lengthy description of the Death Transport cinematic series. The first, Death Limousine, was a low budget slasher movie starring some washed-up actor as a shady limo driver who liked to murder his wealthy clients after picking them up at the airport or the office.
Death Limousine was followed by Death Taxi, which followed a similar format with less wealthy clientele. Then there was Death Limousine 2: The Reckoning, Death Plane, and finally Riisa's personal favorite (if talking about it non-stop for 20 minutes without even a sip of tea was anything to go on), Death Copter.
"The propellers, Nino," she said with a wicked twinkle in her eye. "You should have seen the propellers."
So she hadn't been lying when she'd told Ohno she was into horror movies. A genre that Nino loathed to the core of his being. Because, to be completely honest, they scared the absolute shit out of him. He hated gory murders. He hated the creepy music. He hated cheap scares. And since he had a tendency to get seasick, he imagined that sitting through Death Boat would be like a vision of hell.
But as she continued to talk at him, gesturing wildly with her hands about all of Death Copter's nubile young victims with such a cheerful smile on her face, he decided that he would try and sit through hell for her.
He'd known after two days that his life and Sho's were meant to intertwine. About the same timeframe with Aiba and Oh-chan as well. And even if it had taken him a few months now to realize it, there was no denying that he and Riisa had a connection too. With time machines and tortoise costumes and death copters.
"Alright," he said, putting his hands on her knees and giving her a little push, the wheels under her chair coasting her back along the linoleum. "You won the bet. Death Boat it is."
**
With some time to kill before the 6:25 showing of Death Boat, they stayed together in the office. Nino sent Sho a message that the fliers had been delivered, simultaneously using the message as a way to ask if he and Jun had parked the car at the side of the road to make out yet. His short response from Sho, "thanks for taking care of the fliers," offered no resolution to Nino's inquiry, and he snickered, settling his phone back in his pocket.
His nervousness grew as he clicked through some reviews for the movie, with fans praising the balance between suspense and gore. "I've never been so afraid in my entire life!" cheered one of the happy fans. He gulped at that one, clicking out of the review site and clearing his mind by finding some website that posted nothing but cute pictures of puppies. Maybe if he spent the movie thinking about a shiba inu in a ballerina tutu he could survive with his sanity intact.
It was soon time to go, and Riisa shoved her book back in her bag. She'd made a considerable dent in it since she'd arrived earlier that day, serving as an uncomfortable reminder to Nino that he'd eventually have to come clean about knowing who she was playing on Jidai Fusion Paradise.
They piled into Nino's car, heading for the theater near the train station. Riisa cheerfully ran over to a giant cardboard cut-out of the Death Boat itself, snapping pictures with her phone while Nino paid for their tickets. He thought he saw her blush when he insisted on buying her some candy, but maybe it was just the odd lighting inside the theater.
His heart was racing as they entered the auditorium, and thankfully Riisa informed him that she preferred to sit up in the back of the theater rather than in the front. Nino was pretty damn sure he'd puke if he had to see everything up close without being able to look away. They took two seats in the middle of one of the back rows, and already the auditorium was filling with other horror lovers, mostly groups of guy friends or guys who'd obviously dragged their girlfriends along in hopes of them putting out after a traumatic movie experience. Nino hated guys like that, but then, wasn't he doing the same thing in reverse? Sort of?
Death Boat appeared to be more popular than Nino had even realized. The showing was apparently sold out, and the rows of seats filled up. The asshole next to him stole the armrest, and he couldn't help leaning a little closer to Riisa instead as the lights went out and things got underway.
It only took three minutes into the movie for Nino to get scared, jumping in his seat and nearly causing Riisa's box of chewy candy to go flying. She looked at him in the darkness, tapping him on his leg. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he whispered back. "I just...I...I had a cramp. I'm fine."
"Alright," she said, sounding dubious as she popped another piece of candy in her mouth.
Death Boat was no joke. Nino spent the next hour close to hyperventilating as the boat swayed and bobbed across the waves, blood spraying bright red against the dull wooden deck as the movie's villain (hero?) crept around in fishing waders. As everyone around them seemed to cringe or cry out at each scary moment, he found himself watching Riisa's face as the light of the screen caught it.
She was positively giddy, smiling each time Nino could hear someone getting gutted or impaled on a giant hook. And he could have sworn he'd never seen her look more beautiful.
But then she turned, her smile vanishing as she caught him staring at her, and he quickly looked back at the screen only to see someone get horribly decapitated by the boat's anchor. "Oh god," he moaned in surprise, feeling the croquettes from lunch starting to tickle his stomach.
He knew for a fact that he wasn't going to make it.
"Nino?" Riisa's hand was so warm and comforting on his thigh, and the conflicting feelings in his stomach and now in his pants were going to make him ill.
"I need to use the bathroom," he muttered, awkwardly getting to his feet, nearly tripping over her and the rest of the moviegoers in their row. He could hear people screaming as the boat came around for a second pass and another victim in the water got torn apart. The speakers echoed with the sounds of water sloshing around noisily, and the screen seemed to tilt but only because the movie was being shot like someone was swaying on a real boat.
"Oh god, oh god," he whispered to himself, nearly falling down the stairs with his eyes half shut to block out the screen, clinging to the railing as he desperately tried to escape the auditorium. "Oh god."
**
He made it to the bathroom, rushing inside and switching on the faucet. He splashed water on his face again and again, breathing so hard that it felt like he was in someone else's body entirely. He kept trying to conjure up Riisa's pretty, smiling, joyful face but all he could see was that head flying through the air in a gratuitous orgy of blood, and he shivered.
"Fucking motherfuck Death Boat fuck," he wheezed, knocking his fist against the sink. The head was flying. The head was flying. And then there was the hook through the guy's intestines. "Son of a bitch fuck damn it fuck!"
He paced the bathroom floor, jittery and flustered. He heard toilets flush, and guys standing at the urinals were looking over their shoulders at him like he was a nutjob. It took a good five minutes of pacing and another solid minute with his head in the sink splashing water on himself before his heart seemed to slow down (and his babbled cursing along with it).
He was such a fucking idiot. He was here with the girl he'd finally realized he liked, and he'd fled like a coward. He couldn't even make it through a stupid movie for her. Aiba had gone ahead and confessed his feelings for Becky, and now they did horrible things together like rock climbing and bungee jumping. Post-bungee jump sex had to be amazing, he thought. Even Sho-chan had told Jun what he felt. And here he was, hiding in the bathroom after spending an hour watching her out of the corner of his eye like some creep.
He was a creep, as she'd been telling him all along. Catching himself in the mirror, his skin was even more pale than usual, his eyes bloodshot, and he was shaking like he'd just injected himself with some kind of drug. This was what he had to offer her.
Nino headed for the door, the urge to punch something starting to take over. But instead of heading back across the corridor for the Death Boat auditorium he found Riisa standing there next to the drinking fountain, looking worried. Seeing her there waiting for his pathetic ass made him want to turn around and run right back inside the bathroom.
But then her concerned expression changed to a cute little smirk. "Oh Nino, you didn't like it, did you?"
"What? Just...I don't know, end of summer cold. It's nothing..."
She shook her head. "Don't lie to me. If you don't like movies like that, why didn't you say something?"
"It's not a matter of like or dislike..." She looked ready to smack him. "Okay. I hate movies like that. A lot. But we're here and it's paid for, so let's go back inside, alright? I'll just keep my eyes closed."
Instead she started walking in the opposite direction, her bag strapped across her body and bouncing along her hip. He followed at her heels like a lost dog.
"Riisa-chan? The movie?"
She didn't say anything as they bypassed other moviegoers, heading for the parking structure where Nino had paid more than he'd wanted to park his car. They climbed up the steps, and she stopped them just before they got to their floor.
She turned around, blocking the door, and looked at him with a frown. "I'm really sorry. We could have gone to see something else if you'd said something. It made you sick, and I feel so horrible..."
"But you really wanted to see it," he said bitterly, still angry at himself. He couldn't meet her eyes. Aiba was a scaredy cat, but he would have made it through the movie. Oh-chan would have slept through it, hooks through intestines and everything. Sho would probably cringe and look away, but he wouldn't go fleeing to the bathroom.
She was opening her bag. "Let me at least pay you back for my ticket..."
"I wanted to watch it with you," he blurted out. "The subject matter wasn't the point. It was watching it with you that was the point."
Things grew uncomfortably quiet in the stairwell of the parking garage. And because he was already out of sorts courtesy of Death Boat, he couldn't keep his mouth from leaking vital information.
"Because I like you," he told the concrete floor somewhere around her sneakers. "But I didn't really know what to do about it because you've been hurt before, and I didn't want to say anything or do anything before you were ready. I mean, the first time we met I jumped you, so you probably still think I'm a freak. Rightly so."
Little by little she came towards him, sneakers scuffing against the ground.
"But I liked your red hair and I like your brown hair, and even if Jun-kun thinks we have the same nose, I don't think about you in a sisterly way at all. It's more than that, unless you don't want it to be. I mean, if you don't, it's okay, I don't want this to be weird between us so I just thought a movie would be a way to get to know each other better. I really want to get to know you better so..."
He didn't expect her to lean forward and wrap her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. But she did, and there she was, locked on, and when she didn't let go, he found his own arms moving from his sides to wrap around her waist. Her bag thunked awkwardly between them, the bag with her Tokugawa book inside, and he kind of wanted to kiss her. He settled for rubbing small circles on her back.
"Thank you," he heard her say. She was so warm and smelled like some kind of citrus-y spritzy stuff and the box of chewy candy she'd been munching on. "Nino..."
"Let me drive you home, okay?" he said. "I'm really sorry for being such a wimp."
She let him go, her face red as she stepped back and away from him. "You're not a wimp."
He opened the door, and they walked slowly to his car. He unlocked the doors, and they slipped inside, buckling their seatbelts. As he turned the car on, he watched her fiddle with the zipper on her bag, dragging it back and forth nervously.
"Uh, just for clarity's sake," he mumbled. "I, uh...think I just confessed to you. I'm sorry if that was uncomfortable for you."
"It...wasn't..."
"Oh?"
"I think I'd like to get to know you better, too."
He inhaled and exhaled a breath before putting the car in drive and backing out of the parking spot. She gave him directions to her apartment, and they spent the rest of the ride in silence. The radio was playing songs that were popular about ten years earlier. He knew the words but didn't want to spoil the gravity of the situation they were in. So she wanted to get to know him better. And all it had required was him nearly passing out in a movie theater bathroom.
He pulled into the alleyway alongside her building, putting the car in park. They didn't have office hours scheduled for the next few days, and no events until the weekend. The obvious thing to ask her was when they could see each other again privately, but he was still feeling less than suave. Instead, he went with:
"Would you like me to walk you to your door?"
He watched her fingers tighten around the strap of her bag. "Ah, no. That's okay." She smiled. "Thank you."
When she didn't move to open the door, he wondered if he'd done something wrong. "Riisa-chan?" he asked.
She opened up her bag nervously, pulling out her phone. "I kind of...I don't need you to walk me to my door, but if you...wanted to stop in for a while, I could make you coffee or something..." She was playing with the charms hanging off the phone. "But I uh, I was going to..."
Jidai Fusion Paradise, he realized. She wanted to honor her "date" with Murasaki. "It's okay," he said, "if you have other plans, it's completely fine..."
She flipped the phone open anyhow. "I think I'd rather you stayed...if you want. Hold on, this will just take a moment..."
He wanted to stop her, but already she was clicking through her contacts and typing up a mail. He could feel his own phone in his pocket. His pulse started racing, watching her fingers fly over the phone keys. "It's...it's okay, I don't really even like coffee that much..."
But then she hit send on her phone, and in seconds his pocket was vibrating noisily. In that moment, she turned to look at him, her own phone still open. Her eyes widened. She didn't have her history book to distract her this time. "Are you...going to answer that?"
He kept his hands on the steering wheel in a death grip. "It's...probably just Sho-chan..."
Nino could see it, the strange look on her face. Maybe it was what his own face had looked like hours earlier when he'd made the connection. And then she was looking at her phone again, typing up another message. She turned back to look at him, her phone beeping quietly as she pressed send once more.
And his pocket vibrated again.
"Nino?"
"Yeah?"
She pointed down at his pants. "Your phone?"
"Like I said, it's just..."
"Can you just humor me a moment?"
His hand was thoroughly shaking as he adjusted in his seat, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He flipped it open, and the screen notified him of two brand new messages.
User:hattori_hanzo2
Private Message for User:murasaki_shikibu
something came up last minute. im so sorry to cancel on u. plz 4give me. h.h.
User:hattori_hanzo2
Private Message for User:murasaki_shikibu
test test test test test
He shut his eyes and shoved his hand out at her, letting her read the message on his phone, hearing her sharp intake of breath.
"...Murasaki?" she squeaked.
His eyes still closed, he nodded weakly. "Master Hattori?"
He expected her to flee, to jump out of the car and slam the door closed. She'd race up the stairs and lock herself inside her apartment. Then she'd go online and delete everything they'd unknowingly written together. And then she'd call up Jun and get him fired.
But she didn't.
"You...play a woman?"
He opened his eyes, turning to look at her in confusion. "You play a guy?" he accused her right back.
She surprised him then with a bright smile. "How about that coffee?"
He killed the engine and followed her inside. It was a small apartment, made all the smaller because of the huge spear replica mounted on the wall behind her bed. She hadn't been lying, and he couldn't help smiling at the sight of it. There were bookshelves filled with worn paperbacks along another wall, samurai novel after samurai novel.
He settled himself at her small table, and when she came in, setting down the coffee mugs, they stared at each other. He searched her eyes; Master Hattori, in the (female) flesh. "So," she said, breaking the odd tension. "You like the time machine idea?"
"So," he shot back, "you like typing like a ten year old?"
They both started laughing, not stopping until they each had tears in their eyes, and he realized that he liked her more than ever. He'd found his Master Hattori, and she'd found her Lady Murasaki. The universe had an odd way of working these things out.
She brought out her laptop, settling it on the table between the two of them, and they spent the next three hours pointing and laughing at the conversations they'd had together unknowingly over the past several weeks. Looking back, he found a few sloppy instances where he'd used more masculine language, and she called him out on it - but she'd never noticed it the first time around, and he teased her right back.
"I haven't had this much fun in a long time," she admitted, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. "Oh wow, Nino, you don't make such a bad Heian-era lady."
"And you make for a really bizarre old man," he replied, sending her onto the floor, laughing hard enough to snort, and then that set him off again.
When they finally got through all of their threads and had laughed themselves out, she closed the laptop, beaming at him. "We can still play right? Even if we know who's on the other side of the screen?"
He smiled in return. "On one condition."
"Mm? What's that?"
"We use the time machine to go hunt down the killer from Death Boat."
She covered her mouth, nearly screaming in laughter, using her other hand to wave at him in agreement. Their coffee long finished, he got to his feet. It had been an extraordinary day - between the day at the office, the disaster of a movie, and their roleplaying discoveries, he'd realized that Riisa was someone he truly needed in his life.
She walked him to the door, and he slid his sneakers back on. "I was so worried about missing Jidai Fusion Paradise tonight," she said to him quietly, and he found himself reaching his hand out to grasp hold of her fingers. He was pleased when she squeezed back. "I was so worried, and you were here all along."
"Master Hattori, I'll be here as long as you have need of me," he said, looking into her eyes. "We make quite the pair."
"We do, don't we, Murasaki baby?" she admitted, tugging him a bit closer until he was inches from her mouth.
"A proper lady never makes the first move," Nino reminded her, even as he moved his free hand around her to settle on her back.
"Oh?"
"It would surely be vulgar," he said.
"It's a good thing I'm here then," she whispered, leaning forward with none of the hesitation she'd shown earlier that evening.
"Very good."
That their noses bumped on their very first kiss had to be some cosmic sign from the universe that they were obviously meant to be.
In the past few months, he'd mostly kissed guys he was already friends with or random girls Ohno had set him up with. This was the first in a long time that Nino felt he'd had to work for, and he found himself smiling against her lips, reveling in the simplicity of getting those first few tentative kisses with her. He was twenty-nine, and he felt half his age. He lightly tugged on one of her braids as he deepened their kiss, and she retaliated by slipping her hand into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling him against her. It took everything he had not to press for more.
She stopped them first, moving away with a small smile teasing at the corners of her mouth. "I'll see you online," she said, giving him a wink.
"See you there," he said.
PART FIVE
He spent most of the following day trying to blow up Sho's phone with mails. They had no events, and Jun had a meeting with the bigwigs, so they weren't holding office hours either. It was a day of blessed freedom. He'd gotten up around noon, watching a marathon of old Dragonball episodes while he sent increasingly obnoxious messages to his friend.
"Are congratulations in order? Should I call your mom to celebrate?"
"Is your ass sore? Pick up the phone!"
"Did he turn you down? What's his address so I can go kill him with an icepick? Nobody will know."
"How big is his dick? You know you can tell me anything, Sho-chan" was the message that finally got him a response around 5:00 PM, an actual phone call instead of a terse mail reply.
"Sho-chaaaaan, how goes it?" he said, turning down the volume on the TV.
"It goes alright."
Nino's heart caught in his throat. "Well?" he asked Sho's silence over the line. "Well? Don't leave me in suspense, did you tell him?"
"I did," Sho admitted.
"And?"
Sho cleared his throat, not sounding happy or sad. "He said that he returns my feelings in equal measure, but that he isn't sure if now is the right time."
"What the fuck kind of answer is that? 'I want to bone you so bad, but not right now'?"
"Nino..."
He leaned back against the cushions he'd put on the living room floor, sighing. "But he does feel the same way?"
"He does."
"Didn't jack you off though?"
"He did not."
"Hmm."
The silence continued for a few moments before Sho spoke again. "I mean, at least he feels the same way. That counts for something. I didn't make a complete ass of myself. He just said he needed some time to think about it. I respect that. I made him wait all this time, what's a few more weeks, right?"
He could hear typing and clicking on the other end, and Sho continued talking.
"So what's this I'm seeing about Murasaki Shikibu, Hattori Hanzo, and a time machine?"
Nino took a peek at his laptop, still closed, and realized that it had been almost two days now since he'd logged on to Jidai Fusion Paradise. "Just something silly," he said. "You told me to give the community a try again, and I did."
"I can see that," Sho said. "Holy crap, this thread alone has over 500 comments..."
"It takes a while to get to Hiratsuka when you're being stalked by dogs trained especially for tracking by an enemy ninja clan, you know." Sho only made an irritated snort on the other end. "Hey, I can hear you judging my life over there!"
"I'm not judging your life..."
"Right."
"Look, can you do me a favor tomorrow? The printers called and said they're having the newest fliers delivered to the office but they need someone there to sign for them."
"And why can't Mr. Office Leader Jun take care of this?"
"Because he and I are going to meet with a potential client in Fujiyoshida."
"A road trip? That promises to be awkward."
Sho sighed. "Can you just do this for me?"
"Of course, Sho-chan."
"Thank you. They'll be there between 10:00 and 4:00."
He immediately regretted agreeing to this. "What? That's crazy! What will I do for six hours?"
"So call Aiba and have him sit with you. Look, I have to go."
He hung up, sighing heavily. Six hours of precious off time, and he'd be spending it at the office. If they'd just gone ahead and placed the order with Toma's company, none of this would have been necessary. But because Jun was Jun, and all the fliers had to be on some off-white specialty paper ("Essence of Eggshell!" Jun had insisted), they'd ordered from some place in Tokyo at what Nino thought was considerable expense. But, Nino figured, if management had signed off on it, it must have meant they still had some degree of confidence in the Numazu office.
He tried Aiba first, to no avail. Tomorrow he and Becky were going hiking. "The weather's going to be gorgeous!" Aiba had cheered, "the kind of day where you don't dare stay inside." Oh-chan was next, and he also had plans. He was getting up at 3:00 AM to go out deep sea fishing with some of his friends who owned a boat down at the Numazu port.
This left Nino hesitating over another option in his phone - Riisa-chan. They all had one another's phone numbers because of work, but he hadn't called her before. And the last thing he needed to do was trap her in the office with him for six hours with nothing to do. Especially now when his feelings towards her were in a weird, transitional phase. But when it came down to spending all that time alone and the slightest chance that she might show up, he decided to go with the slightest chance.
He dialed her number and said a quick little prayer.
"Nino?"
"Riisa-chan, hey. How are you?"
He could hear dogs barking in the background. "I'm at the shelter right now. It's almost bath time!"
"Ah, I'm sorry to interrupt. But I was just wondering what you were doing tomorrow?"
Only the sound of the dogs came back over the line.
"Not a date or anything," he said quickly, feeling his heart start to race a bit in panic. "Definitely not that. Sho-chan needs me to wait around at the office all day tomorrow for a delivery. Aiba and Oh-chan are busy, Sho and Jun are driving out somewhere in Yamanashi, and I'm going to be bored there by myself. What do you say? Will you come in?"
"What time?"
"10:00 to 4:00." This was going better than his two previous calls had at least. "Not that you'd have to stay the whole time. I just...you know, it'd be nice to have some company is all."
"I can try for 11:00, how's that?" He heard some noise over the line. "Look, I'm about to be elbow deep in suds, I'll see you tomorrow, Nino."
"That's great! Thank..."
And she hung up on him.
Not a date or anything, he'd said. Why the hell did he say something like that? That was Sho's level of awkward. He was better than that, wasn't he? But despite his odd choice of words, she'd still agreed to come in, knowing it would just be the two of them. Despite everything she'd been through, despite her issues with trust, she'd still said yes. And maybe, just maybe, he admitted to himself, he really was developing some feelings for her. Because why else would he be so happy in spite of the boring as hell task Sho had set out for him?
Having no other outlet for the feelings of giddiness that started to overwhelm him, he popped open his laptop lid. Murasaki had abandoned Hattori Hanzo for far too long.
They had some bears to take care of.
**
The morning passed by, and Nino sat in front of Sho's work computer. He'd stayed up until half past four plotting and scheming with Hattori Hanzo. Now that they'd learned how to control the time machine thanks to the alien posing as a samurai who'd been guarding it, the whole of history, time, and space awaited.
Of course, the first thing they'd done was travel to the present day to get ice cream.
He read back through their chat, smiling at all their ridiculous dialogue.
User:hattori_hanzo2
yo this vanilla chocolate swirl is the best ever. almost makes me want 2 stay in this era forever
User:murasaki_shikibu
The cold concoction is almost frightening in appearance, yet upon my tongue it melts like the mountain snows in the first blessed weeks of spring. That I could share this experience with you, Master Hattori, is worth ten encounters with ninja bumblebees intent on stinging us to death.
User:hattori_hanzo2
those bees were something else huh
The office door opened, and Nino hurriedly clicked out of the tab for Jidai Fusion Paradise. "Morning," he called, peeking around the monitor to spy the familiar zebra hoodie.
"Sorry I'm later than I said I'd be," Riisa called, hauling in a takeaway bag. "I slept in."
All was forgiven when she set the bag on the table. Croquettes, still piping hot from the restaurant around the block, and two bottles of tea from the vending machine two doors down. "How much do I owe you?" he asked.
She shrugged out of her hoodie, setting it on her chair as Nino got everything out of the bag. "It's on me."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "You make a habit of buying food for creepy guys?"
She grabbed one of the tea bottles and twisted it open. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
They dug in, not having much to say when there was good food in front of them. In a job like theirs, walking from table to table with food they couldn't touch, meal time tended to be a rather hasty affair. She was unafraid of eating in big bites, the food filling out her cheeks almost like a little kid's. Or Sho's, for that matter. Nino had known a lot of girls who ate in dainty little nibbles, but Riisa didn't seem to care much about what he thought. He liked that.
They finished their meal, leaning back in their chairs with matching sighs of happiness. "So what are we waiting for again?" she asked, turning her chair slowly round and round, her braided hair swaying back and forth.
"Our brand new fliers, courtesy Matsumoto Jun's artistic stylings."
She smiled at that, checking the clock on the wall. "Half past noon now. Wanna make a bet on when it finally arrives? 1000 yen?"
He met her eyes across the table, studying her. She didn't flinch away, locking her eyes right back on his and wiggling her matching nose at him. "Alright, 1000 it is," Nino decided. "We say our times out loud on the count of three."
"One," she said.
"Two," he replied.
"3:30," they said in unison before bursting into laughter.
"Mind reading demon!" he accused her, gathering up their garbage and throwing it away.
"You're the mind reader, creep!"
They decided on a rock-paper-scissors battle. After two rocks, one scissors, and two more rocks, they stared at each other again. "How are you doing that?" he asked her.
She pointed a finger across the table at him, smiling so brightly it was impossible to look away. "How am I doing that? What about you? You're the weirdo!"
"Fine," he conceded. "You can have 3:30..."
"Good!"
"...and so I choose 3:31 and all points after."
She gaped at him, picking up a stray pen from the table and flinging it at him. "No fair!"
"Hey, you picked 3:30!"
"And you're an asshole!"
Before too long she was out of her seat, grabbing a jumbo box of paper clips and flicking them at him while he picked up a file folder, using it as a shield to try and deflect her projectile attacks. Keeping the table between them, they chased each other around the room, Nino doing his best to dodge the rain of paper clips.
"We're going to have to clean this up when we're done!" he protested, nearly catching a paper clip in the eye.
"You're the one who wanted company here today!"
Before too long, she was out of ammo, and they were both panting, collapsing back into their chairs. Nino felt the crunch of paper clips under his shoes, and he started laughing, and she joined in. Chasing each other around on a full stomach had been a terrible idea, but Nino wasn't too upset. It was like Aiba or Oh-chan was here, doing this stupid kind of shit. For the first time, Riisa felt like a necessary presence in the office, as though something wouldn't feel right if she wasn't around.
"How old are you again?" she asked him, twirling around in the chair once more. "Just so we're clear on how immature we're acting."
"Twenty-nine," he admitted with a laugh.
She smiled, and now that he was getting used to seeing it and especially seeing it directed his way, he didn't want her to stop. It seemed to change her whole face. The sad girl he'd met had seemed to vanish completely.
Riisa grabbed her bag with a sigh, pulling over Aiba's chair so she could put her feet up. "Well, I brought a book so the computer's all yours."
"Sounds good," he said, grateful to go back to slacking off. He did, however, diligently walk the room, picking up paper clip after paper clip lest Jun accuse him of turning the office into a playground. As he passed her, almost completely engrossed in her book, he caught a peek at the title.
Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu
He did a double take, nearly bumping into the table in his surprise. "Riisa-chan," he said quietly, shoving some more little clips back into the box. "You like history?"
"In high school, yeah, I loved it," she murmured, turning a page of the book, totally immersed in it. "Especially the battles."
"Really?"
She nodded almost absent-mindedly. "My parents thought it was weird, a girl buying a cheap knock-off Hattori Hanzo spear on Yahoo Auctions, but there it is."
"There it is," he mumbled.
She looked over at him and smiled. "I don't stab anybody with it..." She lowered her voice ominously. "Unless, of course, they deserve it."
When he was done tidying the room, he sat down in the chair in front of Sho's computer once more. It was impossible, wasn't it? Spending all these weeks wandering 16th century Japan with Hattori Hanzo, and here was Riisa-chan the history buff who apparently owned a Hattori Hanzo spear replica.
Keeping an eye on her in the chair across from him, he clicked his way back to Jidai Fusion Paradise. Nino had been up with Hattori Hanzo until 4:30 in the morning - and then Riisa's excuse for being late was that she'd slept in. If she'd been up until 4:30 too, that certainly explained things...
It was a coincidence, Nino told himself. It had to be a coincidence. He clicked on Hattori Hanzo's user profile, something he hadn't bothered to do in all this time. Because they'd just been chatting for fun, him and some stranger. It was a message board that gathered folks from all over Japan. How could user:hattori_hanzo2 be Naka Riisa, the girl sitting across from him in the Numazu City Animal Shelter t-shirt peppered with tiny little dog hairs? The girl who called him creep with amused affection?
A cute girl like her playing some slang-talking samurai? He stared at the profile again - just the user name with "IGA PROVINCE, YO" given as the character's location. And then a link to send the user a private message. Of course a cute girl could play a violent samurai, Nino told himself. Hypocrite. He, after all, had spent years playing a woman. So why couldn't Riisa do the same?
He couldn't stop staring, watching her purse her lips, watching her painted black fingernails turn another page. The silly language, the goofy plots, the time machine - Hattori Hanzo was just as much an escape for his player as Murasaki had always been for Nino. The curiosity was driving him crazy. There was only one way to know for sure.
He turned away from her, clicking on the private message link, taking a deep breath and starting to type.
User:murasaki_shikibu
Private Message for User:hattori_hanzo2
Many apologies for leaving mid-ice cream last night, Master Hattori. Please let me know if you'll have time to pick up where we left off this evening? I'll be free later on. I remain humbly your friend, Murasaki Shikibu.
He bit his lip, holding the mouse over the Send button for a few moments of agony. Private messages would go straight through to your phone because it was connected to email addresses. If Riisa's phone beeped with it, then Nino had all the confirmation he needed. But at the same time, he'd be leaving her at a disadvantage. He'd know the truth, and she'd still have no idea who Murasaki was. And that wasn't necessarily fair to her.
Nino heard her turn another page, and his curiosity beat out sensitivity. He clicked send, and hurriedly clicked to another tab, staring at some sports scores as the seconds slowly ticked by. He was just about to give up when he heard Riisa's phone make a little chirping noise inside her bag.
He tried to focus on the computer screen as she reached for her purse, setting the book down on the table and pulling out her phone. Her phone that just so happened to have what looked like a tiny black ninja charm attached to it. She flipped it open and clicked on the message, and the smile that crossed her face at the sight of it made Nino's heart leap. Did Murasaki Shikibu make Hattori Hanzo just as happy?
Did this mean that he'd be a fool not to pursue tortoise girl for real?
She typed back a message faster than he thought possible, snickering to herself the whole time, before shutting her phone and picking her book up again. His phone was on vibrate, and he heard it go off in his bag where he'd left it slung over the hook by the door. Riisa didn't react at all, and Nino exhaled slowly, clicking away from the baseball results to find that Hattori Hanzo had just replied to him. There was his confirmation alright.
User:hattori_hanzo2
Private Message for User:murasaki_shikibu
yo murasaki no worries bout last night needed 2 get up 4 a very special mission this morning anyhow. we r so on 4 tonite! ill b looking 4 u!! h.h.
He covered his mouth with his hand, seeing Riisa reading her book as though nothing was amiss. A very special mission, huh? Sitting here in the office with him? Was that the special mission?
He spent the next hour trying to concentrate on the computer, watching video recaps of games and changing Sho's desktop wallpaper from some European soccer stadium to a picture of a family of squirrels nestled in a tree. But all he could really do was think back on the past several weeks of Jidai Fusion Paradise, where the person he'd been having such ridiculous fun with had been Riisa all along.
There was a buzz at the door. Finally the fliers were here, and Riisa set down her book to look up at him triumphantly. "2:30!" she said, gesturing to the clock. "That'll be 1000 yen."
He rolled his eyes. "You picked 3:30," he said, heading for the door.
"If you took 3:31 and all points after, I got 3:30 and all points earlier," she said, staring him down. He liked her, Nino decided. It was impossible not to.
He opened the door, and the guy held out a box. "This will be the first of six."
They carried them in, setting them down on the tables for Jun to inspect, and Nino signed off on the delivery. He shut the door, task complete. Now what? "Well," Nino said, still a bit flustered. "I appreciate you coming over here."
She already had her nose back in her book, holding her hand out. "1000 yen, please."
He grinned, taking out his wallet. He even had it open and his fingers on the bill when he decided to be stupid and impulsive. "Or I could put that towards something else. You covered lunch, so let me get you dinner. Or a movie. Or something."
This got her looking up from the dry historical writing, blinking at him. "Tonight?"
"Yeah, tonight. If you want." He thought about the message from Hattori Hanzo, confirming their online "date," as it were. "Unless you're busy or something?"
She looked a bit torn, and he realized that Jidai Fusion Paradise really meant a lot to her. With its anachronisms and time machines and all that. "It's...fine," she said. "I wanted to get home a little early. You mind if we just catch a 6:00 or 7:00 PM movie?"
He nodded. "No problem." He moved over to the computer, and she got up out of the chair to follow him. Luckily he didn't have the roleplaying board open any longer, and he clicked his way to the local theater's website. "Let's see what's playing tonight then."
He tried to keep his hand steady on the mouse, even as she stood right behind him, leaning forward to look at Sho's ancient monitor, one of her braids brushing against his shoulder briefly. Now that he was a little too aware of what he was feeling, he didn't know what to do. With most people, Nino just went straight for the physical and for the last decade or more, that had seemed agreeable to everyone he'd pursued.
But this time...this time he couldn't do that. This one had to grow. He had to earn her trust. So he decided to ask if she wanted to see a comedy, nothing like an out and out romance that was a dead giveaway for what he was looking for. He figured that would be a neutral choice. But then she spied a different movie, tapping him on the shoulder as she used her other hand to point at the screen.
"Death Boat!" she cried happily, finger smearing the screen. "Oh wow, we totally have to go see Death Boat!"
"The hell is Death Boat?"
She gasped like he'd just shown up to work naked or something, pulling up Ohno's chair and sitting down, turning Nino in his chair so that they were facing one another, her knees against his knees.
"Death Boat, Ninomiya Kazunari, is the sixth film in director Ishimura Kazuo's Death Transport series!"
"Ishimura who?"
She crossed her arms, shaking her head at him in disappointment. And then to Nino's surprise she launched into a lengthy description of the Death Transport cinematic series. The first, Death Limousine, was a low budget slasher movie starring some washed-up actor as a shady limo driver who liked to murder his wealthy clients after picking them up at the airport or the office.
Death Limousine was followed by Death Taxi, which followed a similar format with less wealthy clientele. Then there was Death Limousine 2: The Reckoning, Death Plane, and finally Riisa's personal favorite (if talking about it non-stop for 20 minutes without even a sip of tea was anything to go on), Death Copter.
"The propellers, Nino," she said with a wicked twinkle in her eye. "You should have seen the propellers."
So she hadn't been lying when she'd told Ohno she was into horror movies. A genre that Nino loathed to the core of his being. Because, to be completely honest, they scared the absolute shit out of him. He hated gory murders. He hated the creepy music. He hated cheap scares. And since he had a tendency to get seasick, he imagined that sitting through Death Boat would be like a vision of hell.
But as she continued to talk at him, gesturing wildly with her hands about all of Death Copter's nubile young victims with such a cheerful smile on her face, he decided that he would try and sit through hell for her.
He'd known after two days that his life and Sho's were meant to intertwine. About the same timeframe with Aiba and Oh-chan as well. And even if it had taken him a few months now to realize it, there was no denying that he and Riisa had a connection too. With time machines and tortoise costumes and death copters.
"Alright," he said, putting his hands on her knees and giving her a little push, the wheels under her chair coasting her back along the linoleum. "You won the bet. Death Boat it is."
**
With some time to kill before the 6:25 showing of Death Boat, they stayed together in the office. Nino sent Sho a message that the fliers had been delivered, simultaneously using the message as a way to ask if he and Jun had parked the car at the side of the road to make out yet. His short response from Sho, "thanks for taking care of the fliers," offered no resolution to Nino's inquiry, and he snickered, settling his phone back in his pocket.
His nervousness grew as he clicked through some reviews for the movie, with fans praising the balance between suspense and gore. "I've never been so afraid in my entire life!" cheered one of the happy fans. He gulped at that one, clicking out of the review site and clearing his mind by finding some website that posted nothing but cute pictures of puppies. Maybe if he spent the movie thinking about a shiba inu in a ballerina tutu he could survive with his sanity intact.
It was soon time to go, and Riisa shoved her book back in her bag. She'd made a considerable dent in it since she'd arrived earlier that day, serving as an uncomfortable reminder to Nino that he'd eventually have to come clean about knowing who she was playing on Jidai Fusion Paradise.
They piled into Nino's car, heading for the theater near the train station. Riisa cheerfully ran over to a giant cardboard cut-out of the Death Boat itself, snapping pictures with her phone while Nino paid for their tickets. He thought he saw her blush when he insisted on buying her some candy, but maybe it was just the odd lighting inside the theater.
His heart was racing as they entered the auditorium, and thankfully Riisa informed him that she preferred to sit up in the back of the theater rather than in the front. Nino was pretty damn sure he'd puke if he had to see everything up close without being able to look away. They took two seats in the middle of one of the back rows, and already the auditorium was filling with other horror lovers, mostly groups of guy friends or guys who'd obviously dragged their girlfriends along in hopes of them putting out after a traumatic movie experience. Nino hated guys like that, but then, wasn't he doing the same thing in reverse? Sort of?
Death Boat appeared to be more popular than Nino had even realized. The showing was apparently sold out, and the rows of seats filled up. The asshole next to him stole the armrest, and he couldn't help leaning a little closer to Riisa instead as the lights went out and things got underway.
It only took three minutes into the movie for Nino to get scared, jumping in his seat and nearly causing Riisa's box of chewy candy to go flying. She looked at him in the darkness, tapping him on his leg. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he whispered back. "I just...I...I had a cramp. I'm fine."
"Alright," she said, sounding dubious as she popped another piece of candy in her mouth.
Death Boat was no joke. Nino spent the next hour close to hyperventilating as the boat swayed and bobbed across the waves, blood spraying bright red against the dull wooden deck as the movie's villain (hero?) crept around in fishing waders. As everyone around them seemed to cringe or cry out at each scary moment, he found himself watching Riisa's face as the light of the screen caught it.
She was positively giddy, smiling each time Nino could hear someone getting gutted or impaled on a giant hook. And he could have sworn he'd never seen her look more beautiful.
But then she turned, her smile vanishing as she caught him staring at her, and he quickly looked back at the screen only to see someone get horribly decapitated by the boat's anchor. "Oh god," he moaned in surprise, feeling the croquettes from lunch starting to tickle his stomach.
He knew for a fact that he wasn't going to make it.
"Nino?" Riisa's hand was so warm and comforting on his thigh, and the conflicting feelings in his stomach and now in his pants were going to make him ill.
"I need to use the bathroom," he muttered, awkwardly getting to his feet, nearly tripping over her and the rest of the moviegoers in their row. He could hear people screaming as the boat came around for a second pass and another victim in the water got torn apart. The speakers echoed with the sounds of water sloshing around noisily, and the screen seemed to tilt but only because the movie was being shot like someone was swaying on a real boat.
"Oh god, oh god," he whispered to himself, nearly falling down the stairs with his eyes half shut to block out the screen, clinging to the railing as he desperately tried to escape the auditorium. "Oh god."
**
He made it to the bathroom, rushing inside and switching on the faucet. He splashed water on his face again and again, breathing so hard that it felt like he was in someone else's body entirely. He kept trying to conjure up Riisa's pretty, smiling, joyful face but all he could see was that head flying through the air in a gratuitous orgy of blood, and he shivered.
"Fucking motherfuck Death Boat fuck," he wheezed, knocking his fist against the sink. The head was flying. The head was flying. And then there was the hook through the guy's intestines. "Son of a bitch fuck damn it fuck!"
He paced the bathroom floor, jittery and flustered. He heard toilets flush, and guys standing at the urinals were looking over their shoulders at him like he was a nutjob. It took a good five minutes of pacing and another solid minute with his head in the sink splashing water on himself before his heart seemed to slow down (and his babbled cursing along with it).
He was such a fucking idiot. He was here with the girl he'd finally realized he liked, and he'd fled like a coward. He couldn't even make it through a stupid movie for her. Aiba had gone ahead and confessed his feelings for Becky, and now they did horrible things together like rock climbing and bungee jumping. Post-bungee jump sex had to be amazing, he thought. Even Sho-chan had told Jun what he felt. And here he was, hiding in the bathroom after spending an hour watching her out of the corner of his eye like some creep.
He was a creep, as she'd been telling him all along. Catching himself in the mirror, his skin was even more pale than usual, his eyes bloodshot, and he was shaking like he'd just injected himself with some kind of drug. This was what he had to offer her.
Nino headed for the door, the urge to punch something starting to take over. But instead of heading back across the corridor for the Death Boat auditorium he found Riisa standing there next to the drinking fountain, looking worried. Seeing her there waiting for his pathetic ass made him want to turn around and run right back inside the bathroom.
But then her concerned expression changed to a cute little smirk. "Oh Nino, you didn't like it, did you?"
"What? Just...I don't know, end of summer cold. It's nothing..."
She shook her head. "Don't lie to me. If you don't like movies like that, why didn't you say something?"
"It's not a matter of like or dislike..." She looked ready to smack him. "Okay. I hate movies like that. A lot. But we're here and it's paid for, so let's go back inside, alright? I'll just keep my eyes closed."
Instead she started walking in the opposite direction, her bag strapped across her body and bouncing along her hip. He followed at her heels like a lost dog.
"Riisa-chan? The movie?"
She didn't say anything as they bypassed other moviegoers, heading for the parking structure where Nino had paid more than he'd wanted to park his car. They climbed up the steps, and she stopped them just before they got to their floor.
She turned around, blocking the door, and looked at him with a frown. "I'm really sorry. We could have gone to see something else if you'd said something. It made you sick, and I feel so horrible..."
"But you really wanted to see it," he said bitterly, still angry at himself. He couldn't meet her eyes. Aiba was a scaredy cat, but he would have made it through the movie. Oh-chan would have slept through it, hooks through intestines and everything. Sho would probably cringe and look away, but he wouldn't go fleeing to the bathroom.
She was opening her bag. "Let me at least pay you back for my ticket..."
"I wanted to watch it with you," he blurted out. "The subject matter wasn't the point. It was watching it with you that was the point."
Things grew uncomfortably quiet in the stairwell of the parking garage. And because he was already out of sorts courtesy of Death Boat, he couldn't keep his mouth from leaking vital information.
"Because I like you," he told the concrete floor somewhere around her sneakers. "But I didn't really know what to do about it because you've been hurt before, and I didn't want to say anything or do anything before you were ready. I mean, the first time we met I jumped you, so you probably still think I'm a freak. Rightly so."
Little by little she came towards him, sneakers scuffing against the ground.
"But I liked your red hair and I like your brown hair, and even if Jun-kun thinks we have the same nose, I don't think about you in a sisterly way at all. It's more than that, unless you don't want it to be. I mean, if you don't, it's okay, I don't want this to be weird between us so I just thought a movie would be a way to get to know each other better. I really want to get to know you better so..."
He didn't expect her to lean forward and wrap her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. But she did, and there she was, locked on, and when she didn't let go, he found his own arms moving from his sides to wrap around her waist. Her bag thunked awkwardly between them, the bag with her Tokugawa book inside, and he kind of wanted to kiss her. He settled for rubbing small circles on her back.
"Thank you," he heard her say. She was so warm and smelled like some kind of citrus-y spritzy stuff and the box of chewy candy she'd been munching on. "Nino..."
"Let me drive you home, okay?" he said. "I'm really sorry for being such a wimp."
She let him go, her face red as she stepped back and away from him. "You're not a wimp."
He opened the door, and they walked slowly to his car. He unlocked the doors, and they slipped inside, buckling their seatbelts. As he turned the car on, he watched her fiddle with the zipper on her bag, dragging it back and forth nervously.
"Uh, just for clarity's sake," he mumbled. "I, uh...think I just confessed to you. I'm sorry if that was uncomfortable for you."
"It...wasn't..."
"Oh?"
"I think I'd like to get to know you better, too."
He inhaled and exhaled a breath before putting the car in drive and backing out of the parking spot. She gave him directions to her apartment, and they spent the rest of the ride in silence. The radio was playing songs that were popular about ten years earlier. He knew the words but didn't want to spoil the gravity of the situation they were in. So she wanted to get to know him better. And all it had required was him nearly passing out in a movie theater bathroom.
He pulled into the alleyway alongside her building, putting the car in park. They didn't have office hours scheduled for the next few days, and no events until the weekend. The obvious thing to ask her was when they could see each other again privately, but he was still feeling less than suave. Instead, he went with:
"Would you like me to walk you to your door?"
He watched her fingers tighten around the strap of her bag. "Ah, no. That's okay." She smiled. "Thank you."
When she didn't move to open the door, he wondered if he'd done something wrong. "Riisa-chan?" he asked.
She opened up her bag nervously, pulling out her phone. "I kind of...I don't need you to walk me to my door, but if you...wanted to stop in for a while, I could make you coffee or something..." She was playing with the charms hanging off the phone. "But I uh, I was going to..."
Jidai Fusion Paradise, he realized. She wanted to honor her "date" with Murasaki. "It's okay," he said, "if you have other plans, it's completely fine..."
She flipped the phone open anyhow. "I think I'd rather you stayed...if you want. Hold on, this will just take a moment..."
He wanted to stop her, but already she was clicking through her contacts and typing up a mail. He could feel his own phone in his pocket. His pulse started racing, watching her fingers fly over the phone keys. "It's...it's okay, I don't really even like coffee that much..."
But then she hit send on her phone, and in seconds his pocket was vibrating noisily. In that moment, she turned to look at him, her own phone still open. Her eyes widened. She didn't have her history book to distract her this time. "Are you...going to answer that?"
He kept his hands on the steering wheel in a death grip. "It's...probably just Sho-chan..."
Nino could see it, the strange look on her face. Maybe it was what his own face had looked like hours earlier when he'd made the connection. And then she was looking at her phone again, typing up another message. She turned back to look at him, her phone beeping quietly as she pressed send once more.
And his pocket vibrated again.
"Nino?"
"Yeah?"
She pointed down at his pants. "Your phone?"
"Like I said, it's just..."
"Can you just humor me a moment?"
His hand was thoroughly shaking as he adjusted in his seat, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He flipped it open, and the screen notified him of two brand new messages.
User:hattori_hanzo2
Private Message for User:murasaki_shikibu
something came up last minute. im so sorry to cancel on u. plz 4give me. h.h.
User:hattori_hanzo2
Private Message for User:murasaki_shikibu
test test test test test
He shut his eyes and shoved his hand out at her, letting her read the message on his phone, hearing her sharp intake of breath.
"...Murasaki?" she squeaked.
His eyes still closed, he nodded weakly. "Master Hattori?"
He expected her to flee, to jump out of the car and slam the door closed. She'd race up the stairs and lock herself inside her apartment. Then she'd go online and delete everything they'd unknowingly written together. And then she'd call up Jun and get him fired.
But she didn't.
"You...play a woman?"
He opened his eyes, turning to look at her in confusion. "You play a guy?" he accused her right back.
She surprised him then with a bright smile. "How about that coffee?"
He killed the engine and followed her inside. It was a small apartment, made all the smaller because of the huge spear replica mounted on the wall behind her bed. She hadn't been lying, and he couldn't help smiling at the sight of it. There were bookshelves filled with worn paperbacks along another wall, samurai novel after samurai novel.
He settled himself at her small table, and when she came in, setting down the coffee mugs, they stared at each other. He searched her eyes; Master Hattori, in the (female) flesh. "So," she said, breaking the odd tension. "You like the time machine idea?"
"So," he shot back, "you like typing like a ten year old?"
They both started laughing, not stopping until they each had tears in their eyes, and he realized that he liked her more than ever. He'd found his Master Hattori, and she'd found her Lady Murasaki. The universe had an odd way of working these things out.
She brought out her laptop, settling it on the table between the two of them, and they spent the next three hours pointing and laughing at the conversations they'd had together unknowingly over the past several weeks. Looking back, he found a few sloppy instances where he'd used more masculine language, and she called him out on it - but she'd never noticed it the first time around, and he teased her right back.
"I haven't had this much fun in a long time," she admitted, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. "Oh wow, Nino, you don't make such a bad Heian-era lady."
"And you make for a really bizarre old man," he replied, sending her onto the floor, laughing hard enough to snort, and then that set him off again.
When they finally got through all of their threads and had laughed themselves out, she closed the laptop, beaming at him. "We can still play right? Even if we know who's on the other side of the screen?"
He smiled in return. "On one condition."
"Mm? What's that?"
"We use the time machine to go hunt down the killer from Death Boat."
She covered her mouth, nearly screaming in laughter, using her other hand to wave at him in agreement. Their coffee long finished, he got to his feet. It had been an extraordinary day - between the day at the office, the disaster of a movie, and their roleplaying discoveries, he'd realized that Riisa was someone he truly needed in his life.
She walked him to the door, and he slid his sneakers back on. "I was so worried about missing Jidai Fusion Paradise tonight," she said to him quietly, and he found himself reaching his hand out to grasp hold of her fingers. He was pleased when she squeezed back. "I was so worried, and you were here all along."
"Master Hattori, I'll be here as long as you have need of me," he said, looking into her eyes. "We make quite the pair."
"We do, don't we, Murasaki baby?" she admitted, tugging him a bit closer until he was inches from her mouth.
"A proper lady never makes the first move," Nino reminded her, even as he moved his free hand around her to settle on her back.
"Oh?"
"It would surely be vulgar," he said.
"It's a good thing I'm here then," she whispered, leaning forward with none of the hesitation she'd shown earlier that evening.
"Very good."
That their noses bumped on their very first kiss had to be some cosmic sign from the universe that they were obviously meant to be.
In the past few months, he'd mostly kissed guys he was already friends with or random girls Ohno had set him up with. This was the first in a long time that Nino felt he'd had to work for, and he found himself smiling against her lips, reveling in the simplicity of getting those first few tentative kisses with her. He was twenty-nine, and he felt half his age. He lightly tugged on one of her braids as he deepened their kiss, and she retaliated by slipping her hand into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling him against her. It took everything he had not to press for more.
She stopped them first, moving away with a small smile teasing at the corners of her mouth. "I'll see you online," she said, giving him a wink.
"See you there," he said.
PART FIVE