part 2:
Welcome to Maison Ikkoku
by Matthew Atanian
©2008 by Matthew Atanian
Welcome to Maison Ikkoku
by Matthew Atanian
©2008 by Matthew Atanian
The cat stretched as only a cat could, let off a tooth-filled little kitty yawn, and settled comfortably onto the soft earth. He had suffered a long trip in cramped conditions and was now looking forward to a nice long catnap. Or two. Or three.
He had settled in the shade provided by a large old doghouse. Admittedly he hadn’t been here very long, but he had not seen or smelled any dogs since arriving. This, plus the slight state of disrepair that the doghouse was in, led him to think that he was probably safe. The cat guessed that someone who lived here had once owned a dog and had not had the will to remove the doghouse after their beloved pet had passed on.
The cat was just about to drift off, the sound of the landlady sweeping the steps of the building oddly soothing, as he became vaguely aware of someone leaving the building. Whoever it was spoke briefly to the landlady and then made their way off down the road. The cat then drifted off to slumber‑land and dreamt sweet dreams in which he was a giant of a cat, bounding across and endless green pasture, crushing the mooing demon cows beneath his mighty paws.
He purred in his slumber. All was good.
He woke with a start some time later, he knew not exactly how long, by the sound of multiple people approaching. He got up, stretched his four legs, and poked his head out into the sunlight to see who it was. There was six of them. One was the gentleman who had left when he was first drifting off to
sleep.
The other five were familiar. Very familiar.
The cat thought it might be best if he approached the group later, on his own terms. With that in mind he ducked back into the shadows of the doghouse. Hopefully he had been quick enough, but he thought for one frightful moment that the one in the grubby red hat had been looking in his direction.
But there was no further notice passed his way by the one in the grubby red hat, and no notice at all by any of the others. The cat sighed in relief and sat down to watch what transpired.
The landlady stopped sweeping and greeted her new tenants. She then led them all inside.
Well, that was that. The cat settled back down, hoping to get back to his cow crushing. He’d show the damn things he was no hick! And so he was caught quite off guard when about ten minutes later the front door of the building opened and out came running the one in the grubby red hat, a steaming bucket in one hand. He ran right for the doghouse and hurled the contents of the bucket towards its entrance.
The cat had nowhere to run and could only brace himself. “Gah, too hot!” he exclaimed a moment later. The young man who had been a cat was now rather tightly crammed into the doghouse, which in a way was a good thing as the doghouse was all that was maintaining his modesty.
“Hughes, you idiot!” Mike Quadrozzi scolded his fellow. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us the Porters were going to be here, too!?”
The three Porter sisters arrived at the boarding house that was to be their home for the next year. Their guide from the train station, a man named Godai Yusaku, introduced them to the landlady, his wife Kyoko.
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” she said. “Welcome to Maison Ikkoku.”
“Your English is very good, Kyoko-san,” Sarah commented.
“Thank you,” the landlady replied. “My husband first learned it to teach to his preschool students, and I practiced it with him sometimes. When we agreed to house you all here, I figured it would be best if I practiced more to know it better for you. I am still not very good with everything, so please forgive me if I make mistakes.”
“Haven’t noticed any so far!” Nicole brightly said.
Kyoko bowed slightly. “You are too kind. Please, come this way.” She led them into the building. “We have a few long-term tenants. There is the Ichinose couple in room 1, and Yotsuya-san in room 4 on the second floor. I think he knows English, as well.”
“So we can ask him if we need anything?” Nicole inquired.
Kyoko paused, as if unsure how to best answer the question. “Perhaps it would be best if you tried to find me or my husband first. Or our daughter Haruka. Or Mrs. Ichinose.”
“Does she know English too, then?” Kirstin asked.
“Not that I know of,” Kyoko responded.
“Well, we could always brush up on our Japanese, I suppose,” Nicole said.
“Oh, do you speak Japanese?” Kyoko asked.
“A little,” Nicole responded. “Our grandmother used to speak it to us when we were younger. I can’t say I’m fluent, but I’ve tried to keep at least vaguely familiar with it for business purposes.”
“I barely remember it,” Sarah admitted. “Only a tiny bit.”
“I fear I can’t recall it much at all,” Kirstin finished.
“Well,” Nicole chided her twin, “we’ll have to change that this year!”
Kyoko smiled. “Anyways, all of the tenements on the first floor have two rooms, so I thought I would place you in one of those.” She approached and opened the door of room two.
The Porters walked into the room, dragging their luggage in behind them.
“Well, I must finish sweeping the steps before our other new tenants arrive. You can find me out front if you need anything.”
“Thank you very much,” Sarah said to the landlady as she made her exit.
The three of them looked around their home for the next year. There were two rooms, neither very large. There were two closets. One of them contained three folded up futons and other bedding material. There was a small table in one of the rooms, and the other had a small dresser on it.
“Wow, and I thought our old apartment in the states was bad,” Nicole commented.
“Nicole! Be nice,” Kirstin responded. “Needs some touching up, but I think we can be quite comfortable here.”
“Besides, this will look good on your school records,” Sarah said. “Probably help you get college scholarships.”
“Well, suppose we should get unpacked,” Nicole said. She placed one of her suitcases down and opened up the larger of them. She was very surprised when something small and furry leapt out at her.
“What the...! Neko-chan?”
Nicole looked down at her cat. The cat looked up at her, an innocent look on its face.
“How did you get in there?” She looked back at her luggage. “I swear, if you did anything on my clothes...”
Neko-chan seemed to take this as a cue and bolted from the room. Nicole was about to start after him, but stopped herself suddenly. “The little furball will be back,” she said. She went back to her suitcase. “First I should see if I need to cuddle him or skin him.”
“That explains why you couldn’t find him before we left,” Sarah pointed out.
“Yeah, but my luggage? You’d have thought that I would have noticed when packing... Or the baggage handlers would have picked it up on x-rays. Something! Oh, well. Just as well, as I’d have worried about him with no one to look after him for a year.”
“I thought you were going to ask Jason to watch him?” Kirstin asked. Then when she saw the look that came over her twin’s face, Kirstin wished she could have taken the question back.
“That was before he called me a... ooh! That man!” Nicole huffed. “I’m better off without him!”
“I’m sorry I brought it up,” Kirstin said.
“What about you and Aaron?” Nicole asked. “I know you protest there’s nothing going on with him,” she followed, anticipating Kirstin’s reply, “but I also know you were having trouble deciding how to break the news to him.”
“Aaron?” Kirstin replied. “Oh... well, it got so busy towards the end. I tried calling him, but the phone was always busy.”
“Ah, well,” Nicole said. “Probably for the best, or else you two would still be on the phone trying to figure out what to say. It was cute at first, you know, but it’s starting to get old.”
“Nicole, be nice,” Sarah interjected.
“Yeah, yeah. At least you got off easy, sis.”
Sarah looked up from her own unpacking. “What do you mean by that?”
Nicole smirked her most deliciously evil of smirks. “You won’t have to answer Atanian’s declaration of love for a whole year now.”
Sarah glared at Nicole.
Kirstin watched passively, waiting to see if she’d be needed intercede with damage control.
Nicole just tried to suppress a giggle. “Who knows,” she added. “Maybe there’s even a slim chance he’ll have moved on by the time we get back. Seeing how he’s pined for you for this long with nothing but contempt given back to him, though, I doubt it.”
Sarah’s glare deepened.
A bit of giggle managed to slip out before Nicole continued. “So you’d better have an answer ready for him when we get back. But at least you have a whole year to decide your heart’s true longing for him!”
“Nicole Sakura Porter!” Sarah started.
Sounds at the outside doorway gave Kirstin an opportunity to put an end to this before it got ugly. “Oh, I think the other exchange students are here. Shall we go meet them?”
Nicole and Sarah looked away from one another and to Kirstin. The three of them then went out into the hall.
The landlady, Kyoko, was there. As was her husband Yusaku. As were five others. One of these five, clad in a black trench coat and a matching fedora, was the first to notice the Porter sisters. He stood for a moment, mouth agape. “Sarah?”
Sarah looked at the one who had spoken her name. Her jaw tightened slightly.
“Or maybe you’ll have five minutes?” Nicole asked as innocently as she could.
Sarah’s jaw now could have compressed coal into diamond.
“Oh my,” Kirstin commented.
“No,” one of the other new arrivals said. “I’m not buying it. It’s just too convenient. Us and them, all under the same roof, for a year? It’s like our lives are turning into a sitcom!”
“Shut up, Bill,” another of them said while doing his best to not look directly into Kirstin’s eyes.
The youngest of them had taken out a calculator and was trying to work out the mathematical probabilities of such a meeting taking place.
Finally, the one of them wearing a grubby red hat got Yusaku’s attention. “Mr. Godai, this may sound weird, but would you have a bucket I could borrow? And some hot water?”
Yusaku blinked, then he led the young man off to show him where a bucket could be found.
Kyoko looked from one group to the other.
The one in the grubby hat, none other then Michael D. Quadrozzi, then ran past everyone and out the door laden with a steaming bucket.
Finally, the one in the trench coat who was indeed Matthew Atanian spoke again. As providence would have it, it was at the same exact moment that Sarah broke her silence. Furthering chance, their words were in unison and identical.
“What are you doing here?”
“So, what are you doing here?” Sarah asked again. This time they were standing on a small porch on the second floor. Some clothes were drying on a small rack hanging on the balcony.
“Well... The boys are here as part of a scholastic exchange program, and I was sent along to chaperone them. Something tells me your story is similar?”
Sarah nodded. Then she looked at Matt very sternly began speaking. “Now look, we have to set some ground rules here if we’re going to be in the same building...”
Matt cut her off. “Can I just say something first?”
Matt took Sarah’s silence as permission.
“It’s about what I said when we last saw each other. I... I don’t expect anything from you. I just thought I wasn’t going to see you for a long time and I wanted you to know.”
Sarah blinked stoically.
“So I won’t say that I don’t love you, but I don’t expect anything to change between us. Not that I’d complain if you reciprocated, but I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for you to leap into my arms. Nor do I intend to pressure you about anything.”
Sarah blinked again, this time in surprise.
“So that’s about it. You can say what you’d like now.”
Sarah felt a bit deflated. Most of what she had intended to say was now meaningless. She took a deep breath and attempted to salvage her rage. “Okay,” she said. “Here’s the deal. You’ve got boys you’re responsible for, I have girls. I think we should make it clear to them that they are not to be in each other’s rooms without one of us present.”
Matt nodded. “I think I’d trust the guys, but I can agree to that. I’ll tell them.”
“And you,” Sarah said. She paused. What should she say? “Just don’t be too annoying.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Well.” Sarah turned and started to walk back into the building. “See you around, then.”
Matt waited a moment to allow Sarah some distance before he followed her back in and looked for Kyoko or Yusaku so show him to his room.
Aaron had won the coin toss, and so he and Mike would be taking Room 3. The Bills (if Hughes ever arrived) would have to share the smaller Room 6 on the second floor.
Mike walked in. “Hey, I found Hughes. Bastard came with the Porters. In Nicole’s suitcase.”
“He could have told us they were coming, too!” Aaron replied.
“Tell me about it. He said he thought it would be a neat surprise.”
“That boy needs a beating later.”
“I’ll bring the soap,” Mike joked. “You bring the sock.”
“So how did he manage to travel with them?”
“Stowed away as a cat in Nicole’s luggage.”
“That makes sense. I couldn’t see the infamous ‘Madam Man Hater’ letting him tag along in his natural form.”
“And now, as was Hughes’ plan, Nicole won’t be confused if she sees her pet cat wandering around half-way across the globe.”
“Damn, but that plaid-wearing s.o.b. can be too smart for our own good sometimes.”
“Especially when it suits his evil purposes.”
“Indeed.”
“Oh, since we got the bigger room, I told Kenny that until he goes back to the U.S., he could bunk with us. That’s fine with you, yes?”
“Of course,” Aaron responded. He looked down at his one little piece of luggage. “How did he say he was getting the rest of our stuff here, anyways?”
“Good question.”
Matt looked around his sparse room. He counted the tatami mats. There were six of them. There was a closet on one wall. Matt found a futon folded up inside. On the opposite wall he noticed something odd. A bit of wall on the floor looked as if it was a patched up hole. This would have been one huge bugger of a hole, though. About big enough for a man to pass through! This place must have once had some huge mice!
The wall opposite the door had a window looking out over the front of the building. Matt was about to walk over to it to inspect his view when he heard a knock on his door.
“Yes?” he called out.
The door opened and Kenny walked in. “Mr. Atanian?” he asked. “I need your help with something.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Well, I had been working on something, as you know, that would allow me to get more of your luggage and furnishings here a lot more easily then flying them over.”
“Yes, I recall.”
“Do you remember that I warned you all that it was only an experiment, and in the best case it may take me at least a week to complete it and worst case the experiment could fail and you would be without your additional things unless you sent for them in a more conventional fashion?”
“Yes, I recall,” Matt said again. “It would be quite expensive if we had to do that. But we all have faith in you, Kenny. Hero of the Klondike Derby, after
all.”
“Please, you’re too kind,” Kenny responded. “I am not infallible, Mr. Atanian. After all, my plan for the campfire at summer camp was a failure. If Mr. Becker hadn’t pushed you out of the way...”
“Don’t worry about it, Kenny. It all ended well.” Matt looked at the young genius. “You... You’re not giving up already, are you? We just got here!”
“Oh, no, sir,” Kenny said.
“Ah, good.”
“No, in fact I may be able to successfully complete my experiment a lot sooner.”
“That’s great!”
“I do need your help though, Mr. Atanian.”
“Sure thing!”
“It may be dangerous.”
“Don’t worry, Kenny. I trust you.”
“Well, if you’re sure...”
“I’m sure.”
Kenny pulled out his tricorder-like device. “Could you follow me please, sir?”
“Sure thing.”
Matt followed Kenny out into the hall. “This way, Mr. Atanian.”
“Sure thing.”
Matt followed Kenny down the stairs. Fifteen to the landing, three more to the first floor.
“Um, where are we going?” Matt asked.
Kenny led Matt to a door with a big “2” on it.
“Um... Kenny?” Matt asked.
Kenny knocked.
Sarah answered. “Hello, yes?” she asked Kenny. Then she looked up at Matt. “What do you want?”
“Good day, Ms. Porter,” Kenny said. “I was wondering if you could indulge me in a scientific experiment?”
“Um... okay.” Sarah looked up at Matt. “As long as it isn’t reproductive science.”
Matt blushed. Sarah frowned.
“Oh, no, nothing like that today,” Kenny assured her. He turned to Matt. “Mr. Atanian, how do you feel about Ms. Porter?”
“Kenny, what is the point of this?” Matt asked.
Kenny held up his tricorder, scanning. “Please, Mr. Atanian.”
“Um... I love her?” Matt replied. He reflexively flinched.
Sarah didn’t move.
Kenny spoke to Sarah without looking up from his tricorder. “How does this make you feel?”
“Annoyed,” Sarah replied.
“I’m very sorry, Ms. Porter, but please bear with this.”
“Did you put this poor kid up to this?” Sarah asked Matt accusingly.
Matt shrugged, as if to say, “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Sarah sighed.
“Mr. Atanian, if you could do anything with Ms. Porter, what would it be?”
“Um... nice dinner, walk under the stars?”
“And after that?”
Matt scratched his head. “I don’t know, call her the next day and see if she had a good time?”
“Would you...” Kenny paused. “This is for science,” he muttered to himself. He looked up at Matt. “Would you kiss her?”
Matt’s eyes bugged out and he looked at Kenny. “What?” He looked up at Sarah. She just glowered at him. “I think... I think I’ll be going now.”
Nicole suddenly stuck her head out into the doorway. “Hey, Matt. Did you like the photos I sold you from that time Sarah took us to the pool? Wouldn’t peg her for a two-piece girl, huh?”
Matt turned his gaze to Nicole, shocked. “What?!”
“Sarah, no!” Nicole shouted.
Matt looked back towards Sarah. Something large and blunt was rapidly approaching his head.
“I didn’t sell him any photos! It was a joke!”
Sarah stopped herself just in the nick of time.
“Excellent,” Kenny said, not even looking up from his tricorder. He wandered off in the direction of the stairs.
Matt was not at all sure what had happened. He looked up at Sarah, who oddly enough seemed no longer angry, but a bit embarrassed. She was holding in her hand a large mallet.
Matt pointed at the mallet. “Where did you get that?”
Nicole looked confused. “It kind of came from nowhere!”
“I... I don’t know. It was instinct... I just kind of reached behind me and there it was...” Sarah looked from Matt to her sister and back. “Um, excuse me,” she said, and she disappeared back into her room.
Nicole came out into the hall as the door closed behind her. “Sorry about that. I kind of had a feeling the kid was trying to provoke a reaction from her, but I didn’t know why. What the hell was that, anyways?”
“I think,” Matt responded, “that Kenny was trying to scientifically study mallet-space.”
“Mallet-space?”
“Well, surely you noticed that Japan is, well, kind of different from the rest of the world?”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I wonder why grandmother never told us about this?”
“Well, it does seem a closely guarded secret.”
“Come to think of it, before she died grandma said she regretted never having the chance to show us the real Japan. I just thought she meant the non-touristy areas. Maybe she meant... Anyways, what the heck is mallet-space?”
“Well, in some anime series female characters are shown to pull from nowhere mallets to attack males who annoy them. Fandom has dubbed the hypothetical realm from where the mallets come as ‘mallet-space.’”
“Cool. Wonder if I can tap into that, too?”
“Remind me not to be the one to annoy you so you can find out,” Matt responded.
“Sure thing. Oh, and hey, I really do have photos like that if you’re interested. I’ll even cut you a deal as an apology for almost getting you killed just
now.”
Matt would be lying if he said he didn’t consider it for a moment, but he just said to Nicole, “No, thank you. I’d rather live.”
Nicole grinned and patted Matt on the back. “You know, you’re not nearly as bad as Sarah makes you out to be.”
Matt found Kenny waiting for him outside his room. “What the heck was that about?” he asked as the two of them entered.
Kenny was poking buttons on his tricorder as he walked. “That was fantastic!” Kenny was saying, not even looking up, excited in the way that he only seemed when on the verge of a breakthrough. “I’ll be able to complete my work in no time!”
“Kenny!”
Kenny stopped. “Hmm? Oh. Oh, I’m sorry.” Some of his timidity returned. “I really am. But it was the only way. I had to see if mallet-space was real.”
“And now that you know it is, what does that give us?” Matt asked, tottering between angry and curious, the later on the verge of winning.
“Well,” the young genius said, “it gives us this.” He pulled off a small backpack he was wearing and opened it up. From inside he took out a thin, metal briefcase. He fiddled with the combination locks on the latches, flipped them up, and the briefcase opened with a hiss. What looked like steam emanated from the case. Matt leaned close to it to try and get a better view, and he could feel cold coming from within.
“It is best to keep it super-cooled when not in use,” Kenny explained.
“What is it?” The evaporating coolant was beginning to clear, and Matt could just start to make out a small, matte black circle inside the case.
“It isn’t really anything, yet,” Kenny said. He aimed his tricorder at the circle and fiddled with the knobs on it. “Once I input the frequencies I scanned from mallet-space and tie them into this... I was so close, I just couldn’t get the right dimensional frequency, you see. Anything I put in would pass into irretrievable nothingness, you see... But now I can lock it into another stable dimension and connect it to another fixed point in ours... There!” he said, putting down the tricorder. “It’s done!”
“And... what is it?” Matt asked again.
“A portable black hole,” Kenny said.
“A portable...?”
“Black hole, yes,” Kenny said. “Don’t worry, not the super gravity-pulling suck you all in and you die sort, the Looney Tunes Acme sort.”
“Yes, that we wern’t already sucked through the event horizon, I had gathered as much,” Matt replied. “And this gets us our stuff how?”
“Don’t you see?” Kenny asked. When it was clear Matt didn’t, he continued. “The other end of this is connected to my Laboratory. I had you all bring your stuff there. So we can just go over and get it. And now I can come and go from here to there as I please, to visit you all whenever I wish.”
“Kenny, have I ever told you how cool you are?”
“Gosh, thank you, Mr. Atanian.”
“Hell, I even forgive you for almost getting me killed just now.”
“Just doing my job, sir.”
“You do it well. Just less almost death in the future, please.”
“Right.”
Matt had finished putting his room together. He now had a bookcase, filled with manga and sci-fi novels. There was a desk with a state of the art computer. It was connected to the internet with some new fangled high-speed think Kenny said was called broadband. He said he was just about to sell it to cable companies and make a mint to fund further experiments. It certainly went a long way towards explaining where Kenny got his funding, something Matt always wondered about.
He also had a mini fridge, a small stove, and a toaster oven.
There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Matt said.
“Wow,” Godai Yusaku said upon entering, “and I thought I crammed a lot in here when this used to be my room.”
“You used to live here?”
“Yes. Until about twelve years ago, this was my room. Probably for a good eight years before that.”
“You’ve been here a long time,” Matt said.
“Kyoko and I talked about moving when we got married, but it just never seemed right to leave this place. It was this place that brought us together, after all.” Godai smiled. “Enough about me, though. How are you settling in? It’s funny, I didn’t see you bring all of this stuff with you.”
“We have efficient movers,” Matt replied.
“Well, do let me or my wife if there is anything you need.”
“Oh, there is one thing,” Matt said. “Not so much something I need, as something I’d like to let you know. I have a friend who is visiting Japan and may come here from time to time. So don’t be surprised if you see an American woman with red hair named Matty around here. And don’t worry, I’m not up to anything funny in here. She’s kind of like... well... a sister to me.”
“You’re an adult, Matthew-san. Even if you were up to anything ‘funny’ as you say, as long as it is kept private, it is none of our concern. Still, I shall trust what you say as the truth. I’ll let Kyoko know it is nothing to worry about.”
The two Bills appeared at the door. “Mind if we come in?” Hughes, human and dressed in a purple, double breasted suit asked.
“Not at all,” Matt said. “You two get all of your stuff in okay?”
“Bit cramped, but we’ll manage,” Gelinas replied.
Behind the Bills appeared, much to Matt’s surprise, the Porters. They were being herded in by a short, pudgy Japanese woman holding two rather large bottles filled with a clear liquid. She was laughing heartily. The Porters looked slightly confused.
“Um, hello,” Matt said as they all entered the room.
“What’s all the ruckus? Aaron asked as he and Mike followed behind.
The room was becoming quite crowded.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound coming from the wall. It was the wall that showed signs of having once been repaired.
“Shimatta!” Godai exclaimed at the wall. “Yotsuya-san, sutoppu, sutoppu!”
A man burst through the wall, using a small log as a battering ram. He had grey hair, a suspicious face, and was clad in a comfortable looking yukata. “Greetings, American friends. Yotsuya, at your service.” He smiled.
The short, pudgy woman handed this newest arrival one of the bottles. He smiled and thanked her.
“What is going on?” Kyoko had arrived at the doorway. Peering out from behind her legs was a small girl of about ten or so.
“Kanrinin-san!” the short, pudgy woman said excitedly.
“Ichinose-san!” Kyoko replied, astonished.
“Iru, iru!” Mrs. Ichinose said, laughing heartily.
“Yes, come in!” Yotsuya-san said to the landlady. “Let the welcoming party begin!”
The Godais both sighed and everyone came into the room. “Please,” Kyoko said to Yotsuya‑san, “just promise no alcohol to the minors.”
“Madam, I am shocked you think so low of me.”
“Need we remind you of Yagami?” Yusaku asked.
Yotsuya-san only answered by handing him a glass. He then reached back through the hole leading to room 4 and pulled out some cans of juice. “For the minors,” he said.
Reaching for the juice, Matt and Sarah both said, “I’ll have one of those, too.” They glanced briefly at each other in surprise when they found themselves speaking in unison once more.
Soon, drinks were distributed all around. Mrs. Ichinose began dancing around and laughing merrily, language barriers not mattering to her. Everyone else dissolved into conversation with one another.
Yusaku looked at his wife, sitting at one of his sides with their daughter on her lap. They both sighed. He took a drink of his sake and turned to Matt, sitting on his other side. He shrugged. “Welcome to Maison Ikkoku,” he said.
He had settled in the shade provided by a large old doghouse. Admittedly he hadn’t been here very long, but he had not seen or smelled any dogs since arriving. This, plus the slight state of disrepair that the doghouse was in, led him to think that he was probably safe. The cat guessed that someone who lived here had once owned a dog and had not had the will to remove the doghouse after their beloved pet had passed on.
The cat was just about to drift off, the sound of the landlady sweeping the steps of the building oddly soothing, as he became vaguely aware of someone leaving the building. Whoever it was spoke briefly to the landlady and then made their way off down the road. The cat then drifted off to slumber‑land and dreamt sweet dreams in which he was a giant of a cat, bounding across and endless green pasture, crushing the mooing demon cows beneath his mighty paws.
He purred in his slumber. All was good.
He woke with a start some time later, he knew not exactly how long, by the sound of multiple people approaching. He got up, stretched his four legs, and poked his head out into the sunlight to see who it was. There was six of them. One was the gentleman who had left when he was first drifting off to
sleep.
The other five were familiar. Very familiar.
The cat thought it might be best if he approached the group later, on his own terms. With that in mind he ducked back into the shadows of the doghouse. Hopefully he had been quick enough, but he thought for one frightful moment that the one in the grubby red hat had been looking in his direction.
But there was no further notice passed his way by the one in the grubby red hat, and no notice at all by any of the others. The cat sighed in relief and sat down to watch what transpired.
The landlady stopped sweeping and greeted her new tenants. She then led them all inside.
Well, that was that. The cat settled back down, hoping to get back to his cow crushing. He’d show the damn things he was no hick! And so he was caught quite off guard when about ten minutes later the front door of the building opened and out came running the one in the grubby red hat, a steaming bucket in one hand. He ran right for the doghouse and hurled the contents of the bucket towards its entrance.
The cat had nowhere to run and could only brace himself. “Gah, too hot!” he exclaimed a moment later. The young man who had been a cat was now rather tightly crammed into the doghouse, which in a way was a good thing as the doghouse was all that was maintaining his modesty.
“Hughes, you idiot!” Mike Quadrozzi scolded his fellow. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us the Porters were going to be here, too!?”
The three Porter sisters arrived at the boarding house that was to be their home for the next year. Their guide from the train station, a man named Godai Yusaku, introduced them to the landlady, his wife Kyoko.
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” she said. “Welcome to Maison Ikkoku.”
“Your English is very good, Kyoko-san,” Sarah commented.
“Thank you,” the landlady replied. “My husband first learned it to teach to his preschool students, and I practiced it with him sometimes. When we agreed to house you all here, I figured it would be best if I practiced more to know it better for you. I am still not very good with everything, so please forgive me if I make mistakes.”
“Haven’t noticed any so far!” Nicole brightly said.
Kyoko bowed slightly. “You are too kind. Please, come this way.” She led them into the building. “We have a few long-term tenants. There is the Ichinose couple in room 1, and Yotsuya-san in room 4 on the second floor. I think he knows English, as well.”
“So we can ask him if we need anything?” Nicole inquired.
Kyoko paused, as if unsure how to best answer the question. “Perhaps it would be best if you tried to find me or my husband first. Or our daughter Haruka. Or Mrs. Ichinose.”
“Does she know English too, then?” Kirstin asked.
“Not that I know of,” Kyoko responded.
“Well, we could always brush up on our Japanese, I suppose,” Nicole said.
“Oh, do you speak Japanese?” Kyoko asked.
“A little,” Nicole responded. “Our grandmother used to speak it to us when we were younger. I can’t say I’m fluent, but I’ve tried to keep at least vaguely familiar with it for business purposes.”
“I barely remember it,” Sarah admitted. “Only a tiny bit.”
“I fear I can’t recall it much at all,” Kirstin finished.
“Well,” Nicole chided her twin, “we’ll have to change that this year!”
Kyoko smiled. “Anyways, all of the tenements on the first floor have two rooms, so I thought I would place you in one of those.” She approached and opened the door of room two.
The Porters walked into the room, dragging their luggage in behind them.
“Well, I must finish sweeping the steps before our other new tenants arrive. You can find me out front if you need anything.”
“Thank you very much,” Sarah said to the landlady as she made her exit.
The three of them looked around their home for the next year. There were two rooms, neither very large. There were two closets. One of them contained three folded up futons and other bedding material. There was a small table in one of the rooms, and the other had a small dresser on it.
“Wow, and I thought our old apartment in the states was bad,” Nicole commented.
“Nicole! Be nice,” Kirstin responded. “Needs some touching up, but I think we can be quite comfortable here.”
“Besides, this will look good on your school records,” Sarah said. “Probably help you get college scholarships.”
“Well, suppose we should get unpacked,” Nicole said. She placed one of her suitcases down and opened up the larger of them. She was very surprised when something small and furry leapt out at her.
“What the...! Neko-chan?”
Nicole looked down at her cat. The cat looked up at her, an innocent look on its face.
“How did you get in there?” She looked back at her luggage. “I swear, if you did anything on my clothes...”
Neko-chan seemed to take this as a cue and bolted from the room. Nicole was about to start after him, but stopped herself suddenly. “The little furball will be back,” she said. She went back to her suitcase. “First I should see if I need to cuddle him or skin him.”
“That explains why you couldn’t find him before we left,” Sarah pointed out.
“Yeah, but my luggage? You’d have thought that I would have noticed when packing... Or the baggage handlers would have picked it up on x-rays. Something! Oh, well. Just as well, as I’d have worried about him with no one to look after him for a year.”
“I thought you were going to ask Jason to watch him?” Kirstin asked. Then when she saw the look that came over her twin’s face, Kirstin wished she could have taken the question back.
“That was before he called me a... ooh! That man!” Nicole huffed. “I’m better off without him!”
“I’m sorry I brought it up,” Kirstin said.
“What about you and Aaron?” Nicole asked. “I know you protest there’s nothing going on with him,” she followed, anticipating Kirstin’s reply, “but I also know you were having trouble deciding how to break the news to him.”
“Aaron?” Kirstin replied. “Oh... well, it got so busy towards the end. I tried calling him, but the phone was always busy.”
“Ah, well,” Nicole said. “Probably for the best, or else you two would still be on the phone trying to figure out what to say. It was cute at first, you know, but it’s starting to get old.”
“Nicole, be nice,” Sarah interjected.
“Yeah, yeah. At least you got off easy, sis.”
Sarah looked up from her own unpacking. “What do you mean by that?”
Nicole smirked her most deliciously evil of smirks. “You won’t have to answer Atanian’s declaration of love for a whole year now.”
Sarah glared at Nicole.
Kirstin watched passively, waiting to see if she’d be needed intercede with damage control.
Nicole just tried to suppress a giggle. “Who knows,” she added. “Maybe there’s even a slim chance he’ll have moved on by the time we get back. Seeing how he’s pined for you for this long with nothing but contempt given back to him, though, I doubt it.”
Sarah’s glare deepened.
A bit of giggle managed to slip out before Nicole continued. “So you’d better have an answer ready for him when we get back. But at least you have a whole year to decide your heart’s true longing for him!”
“Nicole Sakura Porter!” Sarah started.
Sounds at the outside doorway gave Kirstin an opportunity to put an end to this before it got ugly. “Oh, I think the other exchange students are here. Shall we go meet them?”
Nicole and Sarah looked away from one another and to Kirstin. The three of them then went out into the hall.
The landlady, Kyoko, was there. As was her husband Yusaku. As were five others. One of these five, clad in a black trench coat and a matching fedora, was the first to notice the Porter sisters. He stood for a moment, mouth agape. “Sarah?”
Sarah looked at the one who had spoken her name. Her jaw tightened slightly.
“Or maybe you’ll have five minutes?” Nicole asked as innocently as she could.
Sarah’s jaw now could have compressed coal into diamond.
“Oh my,” Kirstin commented.
“No,” one of the other new arrivals said. “I’m not buying it. It’s just too convenient. Us and them, all under the same roof, for a year? It’s like our lives are turning into a sitcom!”
“Shut up, Bill,” another of them said while doing his best to not look directly into Kirstin’s eyes.
The youngest of them had taken out a calculator and was trying to work out the mathematical probabilities of such a meeting taking place.
Finally, the one of them wearing a grubby red hat got Yusaku’s attention. “Mr. Godai, this may sound weird, but would you have a bucket I could borrow? And some hot water?”
Yusaku blinked, then he led the young man off to show him where a bucket could be found.
Kyoko looked from one group to the other.
The one in the grubby hat, none other then Michael D. Quadrozzi, then ran past everyone and out the door laden with a steaming bucket.
Finally, the one in the trench coat who was indeed Matthew Atanian spoke again. As providence would have it, it was at the same exact moment that Sarah broke her silence. Furthering chance, their words were in unison and identical.
“What are you doing here?”
“So, what are you doing here?” Sarah asked again. This time they were standing on a small porch on the second floor. Some clothes were drying on a small rack hanging on the balcony.
“Well... The boys are here as part of a scholastic exchange program, and I was sent along to chaperone them. Something tells me your story is similar?”
Sarah nodded. Then she looked at Matt very sternly began speaking. “Now look, we have to set some ground rules here if we’re going to be in the same building...”
Matt cut her off. “Can I just say something first?”
Matt took Sarah’s silence as permission.
“It’s about what I said when we last saw each other. I... I don’t expect anything from you. I just thought I wasn’t going to see you for a long time and I wanted you to know.”
Sarah blinked stoically.
“So I won’t say that I don’t love you, but I don’t expect anything to change between us. Not that I’d complain if you reciprocated, but I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for you to leap into my arms. Nor do I intend to pressure you about anything.”
Sarah blinked again, this time in surprise.
“So that’s about it. You can say what you’d like now.”
Sarah felt a bit deflated. Most of what she had intended to say was now meaningless. She took a deep breath and attempted to salvage her rage. “Okay,” she said. “Here’s the deal. You’ve got boys you’re responsible for, I have girls. I think we should make it clear to them that they are not to be in each other’s rooms without one of us present.”
Matt nodded. “I think I’d trust the guys, but I can agree to that. I’ll tell them.”
“And you,” Sarah said. She paused. What should she say? “Just don’t be too annoying.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Well.” Sarah turned and started to walk back into the building. “See you around, then.”
Matt waited a moment to allow Sarah some distance before he followed her back in and looked for Kyoko or Yusaku so show him to his room.
Aaron had won the coin toss, and so he and Mike would be taking Room 3. The Bills (if Hughes ever arrived) would have to share the smaller Room 6 on the second floor.
Mike walked in. “Hey, I found Hughes. Bastard came with the Porters. In Nicole’s suitcase.”
“He could have told us they were coming, too!” Aaron replied.
“Tell me about it. He said he thought it would be a neat surprise.”
“That boy needs a beating later.”
“I’ll bring the soap,” Mike joked. “You bring the sock.”
“So how did he manage to travel with them?”
“Stowed away as a cat in Nicole’s luggage.”
“That makes sense. I couldn’t see the infamous ‘Madam Man Hater’ letting him tag along in his natural form.”
“And now, as was Hughes’ plan, Nicole won’t be confused if she sees her pet cat wandering around half-way across the globe.”
“Damn, but that plaid-wearing s.o.b. can be too smart for our own good sometimes.”
“Especially when it suits his evil purposes.”
“Indeed.”
“Oh, since we got the bigger room, I told Kenny that until he goes back to the U.S., he could bunk with us. That’s fine with you, yes?”
“Of course,” Aaron responded. He looked down at his one little piece of luggage. “How did he say he was getting the rest of our stuff here, anyways?”
“Good question.”
Matt looked around his sparse room. He counted the tatami mats. There were six of them. There was a closet on one wall. Matt found a futon folded up inside. On the opposite wall he noticed something odd. A bit of wall on the floor looked as if it was a patched up hole. This would have been one huge bugger of a hole, though. About big enough for a man to pass through! This place must have once had some huge mice!
The wall opposite the door had a window looking out over the front of the building. Matt was about to walk over to it to inspect his view when he heard a knock on his door.
“Yes?” he called out.
The door opened and Kenny walked in. “Mr. Atanian?” he asked. “I need your help with something.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Well, I had been working on something, as you know, that would allow me to get more of your luggage and furnishings here a lot more easily then flying them over.”
“Yes, I recall.”
“Do you remember that I warned you all that it was only an experiment, and in the best case it may take me at least a week to complete it and worst case the experiment could fail and you would be without your additional things unless you sent for them in a more conventional fashion?”
“Yes, I recall,” Matt said again. “It would be quite expensive if we had to do that. But we all have faith in you, Kenny. Hero of the Klondike Derby, after
all.”
“Please, you’re too kind,” Kenny responded. “I am not infallible, Mr. Atanian. After all, my plan for the campfire at summer camp was a failure. If Mr. Becker hadn’t pushed you out of the way...”
“Don’t worry about it, Kenny. It all ended well.” Matt looked at the young genius. “You... You’re not giving up already, are you? We just got here!”
“Oh, no, sir,” Kenny said.
“Ah, good.”
“No, in fact I may be able to successfully complete my experiment a lot sooner.”
“That’s great!”
“I do need your help though, Mr. Atanian.”
“Sure thing!”
“It may be dangerous.”
“Don’t worry, Kenny. I trust you.”
“Well, if you’re sure...”
“I’m sure.”
Kenny pulled out his tricorder-like device. “Could you follow me please, sir?”
“Sure thing.”
Matt followed Kenny out into the hall. “This way, Mr. Atanian.”
“Sure thing.”
Matt followed Kenny down the stairs. Fifteen to the landing, three more to the first floor.
“Um, where are we going?” Matt asked.
Kenny led Matt to a door with a big “2” on it.
“Um... Kenny?” Matt asked.
Kenny knocked.
Sarah answered. “Hello, yes?” she asked Kenny. Then she looked up at Matt. “What do you want?”
“Good day, Ms. Porter,” Kenny said. “I was wondering if you could indulge me in a scientific experiment?”
“Um... okay.” Sarah looked up at Matt. “As long as it isn’t reproductive science.”
Matt blushed. Sarah frowned.
“Oh, no, nothing like that today,” Kenny assured her. He turned to Matt. “Mr. Atanian, how do you feel about Ms. Porter?”
“Kenny, what is the point of this?” Matt asked.
Kenny held up his tricorder, scanning. “Please, Mr. Atanian.”
“Um... I love her?” Matt replied. He reflexively flinched.
Sarah didn’t move.
Kenny spoke to Sarah without looking up from his tricorder. “How does this make you feel?”
“Annoyed,” Sarah replied.
“I’m very sorry, Ms. Porter, but please bear with this.”
“Did you put this poor kid up to this?” Sarah asked Matt accusingly.
Matt shrugged, as if to say, “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Sarah sighed.
“Mr. Atanian, if you could do anything with Ms. Porter, what would it be?”
“Um... nice dinner, walk under the stars?”
“And after that?”
Matt scratched his head. “I don’t know, call her the next day and see if she had a good time?”
“Would you...” Kenny paused. “This is for science,” he muttered to himself. He looked up at Matt. “Would you kiss her?”
Matt’s eyes bugged out and he looked at Kenny. “What?” He looked up at Sarah. She just glowered at him. “I think... I think I’ll be going now.”
Nicole suddenly stuck her head out into the doorway. “Hey, Matt. Did you like the photos I sold you from that time Sarah took us to the pool? Wouldn’t peg her for a two-piece girl, huh?”
Matt turned his gaze to Nicole, shocked. “What?!”
“Sarah, no!” Nicole shouted.
Matt looked back towards Sarah. Something large and blunt was rapidly approaching his head.
“I didn’t sell him any photos! It was a joke!”
Sarah stopped herself just in the nick of time.
“Excellent,” Kenny said, not even looking up from his tricorder. He wandered off in the direction of the stairs.
Matt was not at all sure what had happened. He looked up at Sarah, who oddly enough seemed no longer angry, but a bit embarrassed. She was holding in her hand a large mallet.
Matt pointed at the mallet. “Where did you get that?”
Nicole looked confused. “It kind of came from nowhere!”
“I... I don’t know. It was instinct... I just kind of reached behind me and there it was...” Sarah looked from Matt to her sister and back. “Um, excuse me,” she said, and she disappeared back into her room.
Nicole came out into the hall as the door closed behind her. “Sorry about that. I kind of had a feeling the kid was trying to provoke a reaction from her, but I didn’t know why. What the hell was that, anyways?”
“I think,” Matt responded, “that Kenny was trying to scientifically study mallet-space.”
“Mallet-space?”
“Well, surely you noticed that Japan is, well, kind of different from the rest of the world?”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I wonder why grandmother never told us about this?”
“Well, it does seem a closely guarded secret.”
“Come to think of it, before she died grandma said she regretted never having the chance to show us the real Japan. I just thought she meant the non-touristy areas. Maybe she meant... Anyways, what the heck is mallet-space?”
“Well, in some anime series female characters are shown to pull from nowhere mallets to attack males who annoy them. Fandom has dubbed the hypothetical realm from where the mallets come as ‘mallet-space.’”
“Cool. Wonder if I can tap into that, too?”
“Remind me not to be the one to annoy you so you can find out,” Matt responded.
“Sure thing. Oh, and hey, I really do have photos like that if you’re interested. I’ll even cut you a deal as an apology for almost getting you killed just
now.”
Matt would be lying if he said he didn’t consider it for a moment, but he just said to Nicole, “No, thank you. I’d rather live.”
Nicole grinned and patted Matt on the back. “You know, you’re not nearly as bad as Sarah makes you out to be.”
Matt found Kenny waiting for him outside his room. “What the heck was that about?” he asked as the two of them entered.
Kenny was poking buttons on his tricorder as he walked. “That was fantastic!” Kenny was saying, not even looking up, excited in the way that he only seemed when on the verge of a breakthrough. “I’ll be able to complete my work in no time!”
“Kenny!”
Kenny stopped. “Hmm? Oh. Oh, I’m sorry.” Some of his timidity returned. “I really am. But it was the only way. I had to see if mallet-space was real.”
“And now that you know it is, what does that give us?” Matt asked, tottering between angry and curious, the later on the verge of winning.
“Well,” the young genius said, “it gives us this.” He pulled off a small backpack he was wearing and opened it up. From inside he took out a thin, metal briefcase. He fiddled with the combination locks on the latches, flipped them up, and the briefcase opened with a hiss. What looked like steam emanated from the case. Matt leaned close to it to try and get a better view, and he could feel cold coming from within.
“It is best to keep it super-cooled when not in use,” Kenny explained.
“What is it?” The evaporating coolant was beginning to clear, and Matt could just start to make out a small, matte black circle inside the case.
“It isn’t really anything, yet,” Kenny said. He aimed his tricorder at the circle and fiddled with the knobs on it. “Once I input the frequencies I scanned from mallet-space and tie them into this... I was so close, I just couldn’t get the right dimensional frequency, you see. Anything I put in would pass into irretrievable nothingness, you see... But now I can lock it into another stable dimension and connect it to another fixed point in ours... There!” he said, putting down the tricorder. “It’s done!”
“And... what is it?” Matt asked again.
“A portable black hole,” Kenny said.
“A portable...?”
“Black hole, yes,” Kenny said. “Don’t worry, not the super gravity-pulling suck you all in and you die sort, the Looney Tunes Acme sort.”
“Yes, that we wern’t already sucked through the event horizon, I had gathered as much,” Matt replied. “And this gets us our stuff how?”
“Don’t you see?” Kenny asked. When it was clear Matt didn’t, he continued. “The other end of this is connected to my Laboratory. I had you all bring your stuff there. So we can just go over and get it. And now I can come and go from here to there as I please, to visit you all whenever I wish.”
“Kenny, have I ever told you how cool you are?”
“Gosh, thank you, Mr. Atanian.”
“Hell, I even forgive you for almost getting me killed just now.”
“Just doing my job, sir.”
“You do it well. Just less almost death in the future, please.”
“Right.”
Matt had finished putting his room together. He now had a bookcase, filled with manga and sci-fi novels. There was a desk with a state of the art computer. It was connected to the internet with some new fangled high-speed think Kenny said was called broadband. He said he was just about to sell it to cable companies and make a mint to fund further experiments. It certainly went a long way towards explaining where Kenny got his funding, something Matt always wondered about.
He also had a mini fridge, a small stove, and a toaster oven.
There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Matt said.
“Wow,” Godai Yusaku said upon entering, “and I thought I crammed a lot in here when this used to be my room.”
“You used to live here?”
“Yes. Until about twelve years ago, this was my room. Probably for a good eight years before that.”
“You’ve been here a long time,” Matt said.
“Kyoko and I talked about moving when we got married, but it just never seemed right to leave this place. It was this place that brought us together, after all.” Godai smiled. “Enough about me, though. How are you settling in? It’s funny, I didn’t see you bring all of this stuff with you.”
“We have efficient movers,” Matt replied.
“Well, do let me or my wife if there is anything you need.”
“Oh, there is one thing,” Matt said. “Not so much something I need, as something I’d like to let you know. I have a friend who is visiting Japan and may come here from time to time. So don’t be surprised if you see an American woman with red hair named Matty around here. And don’t worry, I’m not up to anything funny in here. She’s kind of like... well... a sister to me.”
“You’re an adult, Matthew-san. Even if you were up to anything ‘funny’ as you say, as long as it is kept private, it is none of our concern. Still, I shall trust what you say as the truth. I’ll let Kyoko know it is nothing to worry about.”
The two Bills appeared at the door. “Mind if we come in?” Hughes, human and dressed in a purple, double breasted suit asked.
“Not at all,” Matt said. “You two get all of your stuff in okay?”
“Bit cramped, but we’ll manage,” Gelinas replied.
Behind the Bills appeared, much to Matt’s surprise, the Porters. They were being herded in by a short, pudgy Japanese woman holding two rather large bottles filled with a clear liquid. She was laughing heartily. The Porters looked slightly confused.
“Um, hello,” Matt said as they all entered the room.
“What’s all the ruckus? Aaron asked as he and Mike followed behind.
The room was becoming quite crowded.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound coming from the wall. It was the wall that showed signs of having once been repaired.
“Shimatta!” Godai exclaimed at the wall. “Yotsuya-san, sutoppu, sutoppu!”
A man burst through the wall, using a small log as a battering ram. He had grey hair, a suspicious face, and was clad in a comfortable looking yukata. “Greetings, American friends. Yotsuya, at your service.” He smiled.
The short, pudgy woman handed this newest arrival one of the bottles. He smiled and thanked her.
“What is going on?” Kyoko had arrived at the doorway. Peering out from behind her legs was a small girl of about ten or so.
“Kanrinin-san!” the short, pudgy woman said excitedly.
“Ichinose-san!” Kyoko replied, astonished.
“Iru, iru!” Mrs. Ichinose said, laughing heartily.
“Yes, come in!” Yotsuya-san said to the landlady. “Let the welcoming party begin!”
The Godais both sighed and everyone came into the room. “Please,” Kyoko said to Yotsuya‑san, “just promise no alcohol to the minors.”
“Madam, I am shocked you think so low of me.”
“Need we remind you of Yagami?” Yusaku asked.
Yotsuya-san only answered by handing him a glass. He then reached back through the hole leading to room 4 and pulled out some cans of juice. “For the minors,” he said.
Reaching for the juice, Matt and Sarah both said, “I’ll have one of those, too.” They glanced briefly at each other in surprise when they found themselves speaking in unison once more.
Soon, drinks were distributed all around. Mrs. Ichinose began dancing around and laughing merrily, language barriers not mattering to her. Everyone else dissolved into conversation with one another.
Yusaku looked at his wife, sitting at one of his sides with their daughter on her lap. They both sighed. He took a drink of his sake and turned to Matt, sitting on his other side. He shrugged. “Welcome to Maison Ikkoku,” he said.
Author's Notes & Disclaimers
Well, it has been a while, but here we are again!
My life has gone through some changes since the last Boy Scouts ½ story. Anyone reading the notes to the most recent addition to Kenny’s Laboratory will know that I am no longer with Jessi. The specific reasons why I shall not go into detail about, as unless you are a personal friend it is none of your business. And if you are a personal friend, and you really wish to hear my tale of woe, you know how to contact me.
I only mention it because in the most general sense it does have some relevancy to Boy Scouts ½. As I think about it, I find I am actually somewhat uncomfortable with my fictional counterpart these days, and how he is hiding an important truth from someone he professes to love. Little white lies, like lying if someone asks, “Does this make me look fat?” and it does, are one thing. But there are some things that one shouldn’t lie about. I’ve had it done to me, and this makes it difficult to write about me doing it to someone else, even if it is only a fiction.
Still... it is a rather basic premise of the series, and while the truth will probably be revealed someday, that time is not yet. So I’ll just have to deal with it, and take some solace in the fact that Matt knows he is doing wrong and feels bad about it. (Hell, he has been tortured by Cardasian / Penguin hybrids!) And also that someday, when the truth does come out, he’ll probably have hell to pay. (Although probably not quite as much hell as someone else will have to pay if Nicole ever discovers the truth of the curses.)
Moving on.
Well, everyone is settled into Maison Ikkoku. I may have taken a few liberties on most of the other residents knowing English. I figured I needed to have the Godai family know it, and while a bit of a stretch figured I could tie it into Yusaku’s teaching profession. (Even if it is only preschool!) Yotsuya... Well, no one really knows who he really is and what he does for a living, so I figured he was actually the most likely resident to know English! And finally, since it would be so convenient as to provoke comment from Gelinas if everyone knew English, I left Mrs. Ichinose (and probably her husband, if we ever see him) as not knowing English.
Hopefully the Japanese used in this story is accurate enough. I resorted to using online translations and trying to keep what little I did use as simple as possible. I haven’t asked her yet, but I do have a friend who has studied the language a bit and maybe if I need something a bit more complex in the future she’d be willing to help me out.
So the standard stuff. This story is not endorsed by or meant to reflect the values of the Boy Scouts of America. Jusenkyo curses are from Ranma ½ by Takahashi Rumiko. Maison Ikkoku and related characters are from Maison Ikkoku, also from Takahashi Rumiko.
That’s all for now. Either see you again soon or, see you in a few years! (Hopefully soon!)
My life has gone through some changes since the last Boy Scouts ½ story. Anyone reading the notes to the most recent addition to Kenny’s Laboratory will know that I am no longer with Jessi. The specific reasons why I shall not go into detail about, as unless you are a personal friend it is none of your business. And if you are a personal friend, and you really wish to hear my tale of woe, you know how to contact me.
I only mention it because in the most general sense it does have some relevancy to Boy Scouts ½. As I think about it, I find I am actually somewhat uncomfortable with my fictional counterpart these days, and how he is hiding an important truth from someone he professes to love. Little white lies, like lying if someone asks, “Does this make me look fat?” and it does, are one thing. But there are some things that one shouldn’t lie about. I’ve had it done to me, and this makes it difficult to write about me doing it to someone else, even if it is only a fiction.
Still... it is a rather basic premise of the series, and while the truth will probably be revealed someday, that time is not yet. So I’ll just have to deal with it, and take some solace in the fact that Matt knows he is doing wrong and feels bad about it. (Hell, he has been tortured by Cardasian / Penguin hybrids!) And also that someday, when the truth does come out, he’ll probably have hell to pay. (Although probably not quite as much hell as someone else will have to pay if Nicole ever discovers the truth of the curses.)
Moving on.
Well, everyone is settled into Maison Ikkoku. I may have taken a few liberties on most of the other residents knowing English. I figured I needed to have the Godai family know it, and while a bit of a stretch figured I could tie it into Yusaku’s teaching profession. (Even if it is only preschool!) Yotsuya... Well, no one really knows who he really is and what he does for a living, so I figured he was actually the most likely resident to know English! And finally, since it would be so convenient as to provoke comment from Gelinas if everyone knew English, I left Mrs. Ichinose (and probably her husband, if we ever see him) as not knowing English.
Hopefully the Japanese used in this story is accurate enough. I resorted to using online translations and trying to keep what little I did use as simple as possible. I haven’t asked her yet, but I do have a friend who has studied the language a bit and maybe if I need something a bit more complex in the future she’d be willing to help me out.
So the standard stuff. This story is not endorsed by or meant to reflect the values of the Boy Scouts of America. Jusenkyo curses are from Ranma ½ by Takahashi Rumiko. Maison Ikkoku and related characters are from Maison Ikkoku, also from Takahashi Rumiko.
That’s all for now. Either see you again soon or, see you in a few years! (Hopefully soon!)