While Moreau's flu/bio-virus is still running rampant throughout Tomobiki, not to mention spreading all over Japan and abroad, a sense of calm descends over Tampopo's Ramen and Beefbowl Bar. In the furo room, Ataru and his three lovers are busy washing themselves down from the fun they had in the equipment shed at Tomobiki High School and the town park. Sylia, Linna and Nene get some needed sleep in Tampopo's bedroom. Priss is still asleep in Ataru's bedroom, though the chef's excellent first-aid care for the singer's wounds is finally taking effect. Tampopo is herself busy on the phone making calls to some very estoric friends both in Asgard and on other planets.
Meanwhile, the sex-fest at Tomobiki High School still carries on full-tilt, though the new emotional and psychic bonds Moreau's viral creation was designed to unleash are now firming up. Lum and Megane, along with their three other lovers, have shifted themselves into the Oni's small scoutship, it now hovering over the school's clock tower. Chibi and Oyuki, along with their three lovers, remain in the girl's change room. Benten and Paama, along with their lovers, have shifted to the cafeteria to get some quality time alone. Ryuunosuke and Kakugari, plus their lovers, remain in Class 2-4. Mendou, plus Momoe and Kumiko, had gone off to Butsumetsu Girl's High School to scout out some potential prospects. Rei and Shinobu remain together in the latter's home. Gioo Shigoozei has gone home. His ten remaining would-be lovers are still at the Shooting Star Inn, either taking delight in masturbation or trying out more sapphic pursuits.
As for some of the other ladies Ataru and Lum had interacted with in the past, we'll hopefully get to them soon enough.
Meanwhile, a certain singer from 2033 has woken up and discovered that in this universe, she's been immortalized in anime...
"You wanted to be free...! Oh, Sylvie..."
Priss gazes at the blank television screen before her, her cheeks awash with tears as images of the most heartwrenching night of her young life flashes through her mind, both the "real-time" images she personally experienced -- what? Just days, a week at most, ago?! -- and the classic 2-D animation Tampopo's ward possessed, which had relayed a very accurate rendition of the DD Battlemover battle despite the grossly anime-ish carictatures used to portray the participants. Wiping her eyes clean, the singer rises from the living room couch, then walks to the window to gaze on the beautiful urban scene beyond. An urban scene Priss hadn't seen the likes of which since she was a child.
Oh, yes, there had been quite a number of scientific and technological advances in the decades between the time she now was in and 2025, when Priss' whole world fell to pieces thanks to Second Kantou. But in the singer's point of view, everything that happened before the day her parents died seemed natural, acceptable, not revolutionary. After the great quake, it all changed. Technology, as personified in a sense by the coming of the boomer, had gone wild, out of control. The result: Megatokyo, a place filled to the bursting with things that seemed like magic. A place that ultimately, Priss felt but hadn't clearly articulated in her own mind until now, had no soul.
Now, she was back in a place that, though in another dimension and thirty years back in time, well before Priscilla Stephanie (nee Saki) Asagiri had been even born, felt so much like home to her. She was SAFE here, safe in a way that living in Megatokyo, even being part of the Knight Sabres, had never provoked from her. It was so bizarre, so alien to the street-smart ex-gang girl, yet at the same time, it was just so COMFORTING. Even with the curious events she had witnessed since arriving in Tomobiki -- or perhaps, was it BECAUSE of them -- a particular thought train had started to emerge from her subconscious mind.
Could she actually STAY here?
Was it wrong to feel that way? After all, Tampopo had warned her that the chances of their returning to 2033 Megatokyo were about fifty-fifty. And what lay for the Sabres back in their home dimension and time period? Was it worth going back to a place that didn't seem to appreciate, didn't seem to CARE, about the sacrifices she, much less Sylia, Nene and Linna, had made to keep it relatively safe. As if it was EVER safe!! thunders in her mind in response to that, then she sinks back onto the couch, closing her eyes.
What do I do? Priss wonders to herself, then gazes back at the television screen. She had only seen the fifth of the eight-video series chronicalling the Sabres' 2032 and 2033 adventures. Bubblegum Crisis, the producers of that old (to Priss) anime had called their story. That cases her lips to twist into a sarcastic grin. Aply named, she muses; as a singer and songwriter, she could easily enjoy a play on words as much as anyone else. And with the increasing intensity of their battles against Mason, then Largo...
Largo.
Priss scowls. Well, at least THAT motherfucker was dead. And killed by a woman who didn't have a slew of battle boomers at her command, much less the high-tech armour and weapons systems the Sabres had at their beck and call. At least Anri and Sylvie, much less the three other Sexaroids who had given up their lives on Genaros for their friends, could rest in peace...
Peace...
So peaceful here...
A knock is heard at the main door. "Yeah?!" Priss automatically answers.
"Priss-san?" a young man's voice calls from outside. "I heard the TV on. You decent?"
Priss glances at herself, then shrugs, standing. At least it was somewhat easier to move about now. Damn, Tampopo really WAS good, wasn't she? "Yeah, c'mon in! It's your place, anyway, I guess!"
The door opens, revealling a man between Mackie's and Nene's age, with shaggy brown hair and eyes sparkling with a natural sort of mischief, a friendly smile on his face. "Hey, looks like Tampopo-chan really did you some good today," he steps in, now draped in a yutaka. His hand goes out. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Priss-san. I'm Ataru Moroboshi. And yes, this IS my place!" he winks.
Priss smirks at his attempted humour, then gives his hand a firm squeeze. "Pleased to meetcha, Ataru. I guess I don't need to introduce myself now. Did you meet the others?"
"Hai, they're down in Tampopo-chan's room sawing logs. I heard you guys came to Tomobiki while you were busy beating the shit outta Mason's bastard son," Ataru moves to eject the tape from his VCR, then notices the title on the box. Closing his eyes as he offers a silent prayer to the souls of the lovely boomers -- no, WOMEN! -- the singer behind him had cared for so much, he ejects the tape, then puts it back into its box before slipping that on the shelf. "I'm really sorry about Sylvie-san and Anri-san. They didn't deserve that at all."
Priss blinks, then sniffs as fresh tears well in her eyes. Damn, she just couldn't stop crying! Why?! "I failed them..."
He looks at her, then immediately moves to place reassuring hands on her shoulders. "No, Priss, you didn't. You didn't understand their whole story until it was too late. And could you blame Sylvie for being so silent about herself, what she and Anri went through just getting off Genaros to get into Megatokyo? KNOWING they were a type of boomer that was specifically OUTLAWED in Japan, KNOWING what might happen if they got caught, especially by your pal McNichol's friends in ADP?!" Seeing Priss' eyes flash in wounded anger, Ataru closes his eyes. "I'm sorry, Priss. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings like that, but it's the truth as much as I can understand it from seeing those videos," he thumbs the television set. "But don't let this all fall on your shoulders, okay? The real culprit behind this, if you ask me, is Largo. And Tampopo-chan and Jariten finally took care of him. Sylvie, Anri and their friends have been avenged. Even better, Genom's paid one big price for letting that asshole Mason run loose for so long." Seeing Priss' confused look, he explains.
At the end of that, she slowly nods. "So that fuckin' tower's gone now, eh?"
"Hai. Along with the OMS, whatever else Quincy's brainiacs were cooking up and most likely, Quincy himself," he nods in return. "Even if you weren't the ones who actually did it, you won the war, Priss. I really don't think Genom's going to recover from that."
"Damn, I hope so," she sits down and tucks her legs into herself, ignoring the fact that she has no panties on and she was giving Ataru a pretty good view of her crotch. "I mean, I don't wanna knock down the good things Genom did, but..." she shakes her head.
Trying not to stare too much, Ataru quickly shifts over to sit beside her. Much that Priss is very attractive and all that, there were many added dangers in trying to do anything with this woman, both for her and for him. "I know," he wills himself to relax, squeezing her shoulder again. "Well, what the heck," a chuckle escapes him. "You're far beyond the reach of anyone in Genom, we're not sure when we can try to get you back home, I doubt there's anyone here who'd want to hurt you, so you can just kick back and relax. Great thing about time travel is that you can stay in 2003 as long as you want, then return to the exact moment you left 2033, right?"
Priss blinks, then smiles. "Yeah, ya got a point there," she gazes at him, reaching up to pat his hand in thanks. "So you know a lot about me. What about you? Who's Ataru Moroboshi, anyway?"
He gazes at her, then sighs. "It's a bit of a story, but I'll tell you what. You're probably hungry..."
Priss' stomach chooses that moment to growl in agreement. Hearing that, both jolt, then laugh. "C'mon," Ataru waves the singer with him. "I'm pretty good at the stove myself, so I'll whip you up something. You like Korean?"
"Sure!" she rises to follow...
Sometime later, Priss relaxes at the counter as Ataru prepares her a bowl of manduguk, Korean dumpling stew. As he adds a sprinkle of sesame seeds to the broth, then moves to fill a small bowl with some of Tampopo's home made kimch'i, she asks, "Do you love Lum?"
Ataru stops, then sighs. "I care for her even now. Back before the Second Tag Race, I could say to myself that I did love her, but I never had the guts to admit it in public. I..." he places the bowl before the singer. "I was afraid to do that."
"'Cause if you did, Lum would've dragged you right off to the altar in a flash, right?"
"Hai," he puts the kimch'i bowl beside the bowl of manduguk, then leans on the counter as Priss digs in. "Not that I'm totally against marriage, of course. I suspected that sometime in the future, I would've gone through with it. But now, when I'm only seventeen, still in high school and all that? C'mon, life's too short to go rushing into something like marriage at that age!" he snaps his fingers.
"That's true," Priss nods. "When I was dating my boyfriend before he got killed, I never thought anythin' at all about marriage."
"You were being smart about it," he concedes. "Your situation -- before you met Sylia, that is -- was way worse than anything I've had to worry about. I..." he gazes nowhere in particular. "Yeah, I did a lot of things wrong. I admit it. But at the same time, it just got to me, you know. Taking all that crap from everyone because of BOTH things I did AND things I had nothing to do with TOGETHER?!"
"You were their handy scapegoat, you mean."
He nods. "Yeah, you can say that again. Not just my so-called friends, but strangers, all of Lum's friends, my parents..." his voice is tinged with acid as he mentions Muchi and Kinshou Moroboshi, then he breathes out. "You want to know something, Priss?"
"What's that?"
"In a way, I'm glad this bio-virus came along," he stares at her. "I mean, I don't like the idea of someone out there somewhere making people so damned horny that they'll do the first person of the other sex that crosses their path. That's kinda like rape if you ask me. But here's something that's hit almost all of us all at once, hit us the same way..."
"And if they try to blame it on you, it won't stick, right?" a knowing grin crosses Priss' face.
Ataru blinks, then flusters before nodding. "Yeah, you can say that."
"Hey, hey!" she raises her hand. "Ataru gets his revenge and he didn't have to do shit to make it happen!"
"Amen!" he gives her a high-five.
Both laugh, then Ataru turns back to the stove to make something for himself. "Are you worried about Lum, though?" Priss asks.
He pauses, then nods. "A little. But Lum can take care of herself in the long term."
"Do you think someone's got to her?"
"Most likely," he sighs. "If it was someone from her class, I hope it'd be Megane or one of his friends."
Priss gives him a curious look. "They're the ones who always loved to spy on you all the time, right?"
"Hai. And yes, I hate them for it. But they're just a bunch of ordinary guys in the long run, Priss. Except for Paama -- and even this dried up for him when Mendou parachuted into our lives -- they didn't have any luck with the girls whatsoever. And..." he looks nowhere in particular, then shrugs. "Well, I guess I can't complain anymore. But neither can Lum. That'll be a first."
"Yeah, from what you've said, she sure tends to think of you as some prized pet," Priss admits, then blinks as the front door swings open, the small bell hanging over the door jangling wildly. "Who...?!"
"A-ataru..." stammers from the door.
He looks to see that it's...
(Posted Thu, 23 Jan 2003 05:59)
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