At first, she could have dismissed it as a bad mood. Something entirely circumstantial which wouldn't really be of particular interest to herself or others. By themselves, each event would seem out of place but could be rationalized easily. Put together, on the other hand... Nabiki found herself very interested all of a sudden. It had started with Kuno's beating. Nothing much there. Perhaps Kuno came on a little too strong while Akane was in a bad mood? Easy to believe, and a quick check with Akane's friends, who were witness to the event, there wasn't much else to it. Nabiki could easily have let it drop there. But then, later in the day, she'd started taking pictures of Akane working out in the dojo. And had her camera taken from her. Somehow, she had figured out that those pictures were going to be sold to Kuno. Again, perhaps that was simply indicating how well Akane knew how Nabiki thought. She could shrug that off, no trouble.
But then the next day, things had gotten weird.
Akane had taken a detour on the way home. She had been morose all day about something or other. And then, returned home with a haircut. When asked what brought that on, she had replied "Just felt like a change." Again, that could easily be rationalized. Maybe she'd decided that no matter her hair length, she'd never manage to get the good Doctor to look at her the way he looked Kasumi. This was probably for the best. The last thing Nerima needed was for their most talented medical practitioner to run around town carrying Betty whenever Akane got in a fight.
But then, the day after that, Nabiki had spotted Akane entering the gymnasts club after school one day. Nabiki crept up to a window nearby, and listened to the ongoing conversation.
"... So could you give me a few pointers? It'd be very useful if you could teach me."
Teach her? Teach her what exactly? Gymnastics? She'd never been interested in that before. Her instincts were beginning to scream at her now. Twice was a coincidence, but this was too much. Something was up. Nabiki drew on all her knowledge and experience of her younger sister, attempting to fit the pieces together like a jigsaw... but the problem was, the pieces were all different sizes, a few were almost certainly missing, and she didn't even have a clue what the picture was supposed to be. More information was needed. And since Akane had just started practising with the gymnastics club, home was a good place to begin.
"I don't know, Nabiki. What sort of things are you talking about?"
It was annoying, really. Nabiki knew Kasumi noticed things happening in the house nobody else would, but getting information out of her was always difficult.
"I don't know, just... stuff that doesn't sit right. Weird things she's said or done over the last few days. She's not acting like herself, and I'm... worried." In this context, worried meant curious.
Kasumi stopped hanging out clothes briefly, and made a thoughtful expression. "There was that haircut she had the other day. She's also picked up her training a bit. Oh! Her favorite show was on last night, but she said she wasn't interested anymore, and needed to study. Does that help?"
Not particularly, Nabiki thought. That was the problem. When you finally got the information you really wanted out of her, it would be surrounded by other things that were useless for one reason or another. But if anybody had any idea what was wrong with Akane, it was likely to be the eldest of the three sisters. The trouble was asking the right question to narrow down the response enough. "What was that about her training? What's she doing, exactly?"
"Oh, she's doing all sorts of balancing exercises. And I think she was working on her speed."
That fit with the gymnastics training. But there was something else here, Nabiki could feel it. Time for a slightly different "What about dad? Has she asked him to help her train again?"
Kasumi stopped again, taking on a concerned expression. "Now that you mention it, I've not seen Akane talking to him for a few days now. It's almost as if she's cross at him for something, but I can't imagine what."
Jackpot. Daddy did something stupid, perhaps embarrassing the younger sister?
"Nabiki, listen. If you're concerned about Akane, why don't you just go and talk to her? If it's serious, I'm sure she'll talk to you about it."
Nabiki blinked. What a novel idea. Straight to the point and honest. Why didn't she think of that? Because it was straight to the point and, more importantly, honest.
Later, Akane returned home. Tomorrow would be the day Kuno would make the stupid proclamation, according to the diary. She could either put a stop to it before it started, or use it as a training exercise. It wasn't like it would last more than a couple of weeks, and after that, things would begin to get really hectic. Resolving her will, she realised that any and all training she could get would be useful between now and then. Which meant having to put up with a few idiots for a couple of weeks.
She went up to her room, and took the journal out of her bag. It was too important to leave anywhere, when another diary holder could attack any time. This was all part of her plan, to lure in any of her competition that happened to be nearby. If they noticed that she was using the diary to improve her lot, they'd attack. And if they attacked, Akane wanted to be ready for them. It was a fairly simple plan, but it was also the only way she could think of flushing out the others. Unless one of them made a mistake and revealed themselves to her, she'd never find them. Maybe she would be lucky, and the others would eliminate each other, but she could not count on such fortune. Too much was on the line here. Far too much.
There was a knock on her door. Akane quickly flipped the diary open to the current date, and moved to the desk as if preparing to write in it. "Come in," she called, quickly glancing over the entry as the door opened.
I'm worried. Nabiki came to talk to me after school today. I think she's suspicious about something.
Damn. That was something she'd been very worried about happening. It looked as though her change in behavior had been picked up, but by the entirely wrong person. Nabiki entered the room, and leaned against the door.
"Hey, Akane. What're you up to?"
"Just writing in my diary, Nabiki," Akane replied. She'd had the presence of mind to grab a pen. But then, her eyes widened as she read the next entry.
Oh no! Nabiki read the diary over my shoulder! She knows!
The diary was quickly closed and shoved in the drawer, as Nabiki began her approach. Her eyes narrowed, and Akane didn't need to see the entry to know she was planning on reading it later on. Like she'd get the chance.
"That can wait until later. Did you want to talk about something?" Stay calm now, you can't let your sister find out about this...
Nabiki's attention snapped back to Akane, in such a way that if she didn't know any better, she'd swear Nabiki hadn't even broken eye contact in the first place.
"Well, I was wondering about the change in attitude. You've done a few odd things these last few days, little sister, and I'm wondering if there's something you're not telling me."
Here we go...
"For starters, why did you change your haircut? I thought you were growing it long for a certain crush of yours. Oh, don't give me that look, it was obvious. Even he knew, he just didn't have the heart to break yours."
Oh, she so enjoyed that little bit of teasing, didn't she?
"I just felt like a change, Nabiki. There's nothing else for it. He's just not interested in me, and hair length isn't going to change that, so I got over him" she replied, hoping that would put her off.
"Oh, really?" Akane didn't like that smile. It made her think of a shark in front of a buffet. "So you've fallen for someone else. That might explain a few things, actually. Who's the lucky guy?"
Akane picked herself off the floor, having fallen over in shock. "There's no guy!" she yelled. Well, not yet there isn't, if indications were accurate...
"Oh, so it's a girl? Well, after you beat up Kuno, there were a few rumours, but... Um, I think I'll leave now. Thanks for your time!"
Akane scowled up until her sister closed the door behind her. It was a good thing she'd figured out that intimidation bit, and remember those entries detailing little things Nabiki would do over the next few years really helped her focus her anger.
But still, what they'd been talking about had stuck with her. Apparently, she was supposed to fall in love with someone she hadn't met yet. How does anybody prepare for something like that? Just let it happen? Pretend to be surprised when it does? What if she changed things too much, and they wound up hating each other? So many questions, and so little time. She needed to plan ahead. She needed to find the other diary holders, quickly.
But most of all, she needed motherly advice...
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(Posted Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:07)
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