<Ed's note: From here on in, we're going to go off the tracks a little.>
Spoiler for tl;dr:
Thanks to the now infamous Chippendale incident, Asahina-senpai, like Haruki, had become a household name within our school. Nonetheless, after that single day off, he bravely reappeared once more in our club room. Was this a result of Haruki's "manliness training?"
Yeah, right.
Anyway, when our activities didn't consist of Haruki's routine blackmail and/or molestation, there wasn't very much to do. So I brought along an old Othello board from home. It had been buried away deep within my house, long forgotten (well, until recently), so I thought that Asahina-senpai and myself could play a few rounds, and chat a little. You know, pass the time.
The website was done, but it was pretty much useless without any visitors. We hadn't even gotten a single e-mail. The PC was only any good for surfing the Internet; if the Computer Club girls ever found out that their top-of-the-line PC was being used for nothing more than net-surfing, I'm sure they'd cry themselves to death.
Seated next to Nagato Yuuki (reading a thick book, as usual), I began my third round of Othello with Asahina-senpai.
"Suzumiya-san sure is taking his time." said Asahina-senpai, softly, as he stared at the board.
Seeing that he hadn't been too badly affected by the events of the day before last, I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe, with some luck, I could keep Haruki from breaking the poor kid any further. I wanted to maintain his innocence forever...
"There's a transfer student coming in today. I bet he went to go look for her." I said casually.
"Transfer student?"
Asahina-senpai raised his head like a little bird. Aww, how cute!
"Haruki was really excited when he heard there was a student transferring into class 1-9 today" I said, placing a white piece on the board and flipping over a few black pieces. "I guess he really likes transfer students."
"Hmm..."
"Anyway... I'm surprised you came today, Asahina-senpai!"
"Um... I did have my doubts," Asahina-senpai said a little uncertainly, "but I was still worried, so I decided to come."
Didn't he say that last time?
"What are you so worried about?" I asked.
Smack! He flipped one of the board pieces with his tiny fingers.
"Uh, um... nothing."
I could feel someone's gaze on me, so I turned to find Nagato staring at the game board. His face was as static as ever, but underneath his glasses, his eyes seemed more intent than I had ever seen them before.
"..."
His gaze was like a newborn kitten amazed at seeing a dog for the first time. I traced his line of vision to my hand, still holding an Othello piece.
"... Nagato-kun, you want to play?"
Nagato blinked, and with the tiniest of movements nodded his head. You wouldn't even have noticed it if you hadn't been playing close attention.
I swapped seats with Nagato, and moved to sit by Asahina-senpai. As I seated myself, Nagato picked up one of the pieces and inspected it carefully. He seemed particularly fascinated by the way the pieces stuck to each other magnetically.
"Um… Nagato-kun, have you ever played Othello before?"
He slowly shook his head.
"Do you know the rules, then?"
Same motion. A negative.
"Well, look. You're the white team, right? So your goal is to surround the black pieces with your white pieces. When they're surrounded, you flip over the black piece and it becomes white. In the end, whoever has the most pieces wins!" I explained quickly.
He nodded his head and proceeded to delicately place the pieces on the board, though I noticed he seemed a little clumsy in flipping the opposing pieces.
Asahina-senpai also seemed to get a little more nervous after Nagato began playing. First his fingers began tremble, just a bit, then I noticed that he didn't dare lift his head to look directly at Nagato. Instead, he'd sneak furtive glances at him while Nagato was concentrating on the game board. I suppose Asahina-senpai couldn't concentrate while he was acting all jumpy, so white quickly took a clear advantage that round.
That’s weird. Why would Asahina-senpai be afraid of Nagato?
It wasn't long before white claimed a decisive victory. Just as the two were about to begin a new round, the perpetrator of all the chaos that had gone before returned to the room with a brand new sacrifice.
"Hey, everyone! Kept ya waiting!" Haruki yelled cheerfully as he dragged in a female student by the hand. "This is the new transfer student in the First Year, Class Nine, and her name is-"
Haruki stopped and gave a "it's your cue" look at the girl, who turned and smiled at us.
"-Koizumi Itsuko, pleased to meet you."
The girl was slim and graceful, with a nice body and a fairly large bust. She seemed like one of those rich, elegant ladies; like those girls who could pose on the cover of a supermodel magazine and end up with tons of fans. If she turned out to have a good personality as well, she'd be even more popular than that.
"This is the SOS Brigade Club Room!" Haruki was saying. "I'm the Commander, Suzumiya Haruki! These are Subordinates One, Two, and Three. That makes you Number Four, so remember to get along well!"
What kind of introduction was that? The only names mentioned were yours and hers! What about me, Nagato, and Asahina-senpai? We're people, not numbers!
"I don't mind joining," Koizumi Itsuko said kindly, clearly not anticipating the danger she was putting herself into. "But what kind of club is this?"
If there were a hundred people in this room, that one question was the one that every single person would have asked. In fact, a whole bunch of people had already asked me that question, but I could never find an answer. Anybody who could answer that question skillfully was probably a talented con-artist, anyway. But Haruki didn't seem concerned at all, a smile spreading broadly across his face.
"Then let me enlighten you to the purpose of the SOS Brigade," Haruki said, still grinning.
He took a deep breath, posed dramatically, and shouted: "To find aliens, time-travelers, and espers, and marry them!"
-----
The world stood still for a second. BAD END (<- Is this a reference to anything, Kaisos?)
Well, not really. The only thing going through my mind was "Just as planned I thought", but the other three didn't seem to share my line of thinking.
Asahina-senpai was completely dumbfounded, his eyes widening as he stared blankly at the cheerful Haruki. Nagato Yuuki was in a similar situation; after turning his head to look at Haruki, he sat completely still like a doll that had run out of batteries. What was really weird though was that his eyes widened, just a fraction. For someone as stoic as Nagato, that was rather surprising.
Our newest member just gave an enigmatic smile. It was hard to tell what that smile meant, though - was she shocked? Was she amused? No clue. She was the first to regain her senses, though.
"Ah, I see."
She looked at Asahina-senpai and Nagato, and nodded as though in comprehension. "As expected from Suzumiya-san."
After that mysterious statement, she continued. "No problem, no problem at all. I'll join up. I look forward to working with you all."
She smiled, showing her bright white, even teeth.
...hang on, did you just accept Haruki's ridiculous explanation, just like that? Were you even listening!? Do you really want to get married so young!?
Noticing a (once again) bewildered me, Koizomi Itsuko suddenly approached and held her hand out. "I'm Koizumi Itsuko, but you can just call me Itsuko" she said, very formally, still smiling. "I just transferred in today, so I've still got a lot to learn. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Uh, likewise." I said, not quite sure how to react. "I'm-"
"She's Kyon!" Haruki interrupted. Damnit, that's not my name! "The four-eyes is Yuuki-san, and the little weakling over there is Mitsuuru-kun!"
Crash!
A loud noise thundered throughout the room. Asahina-senpai had been trying to stand up, but tripped over his chair, and had smacked into the Othello board with a loud thud. "Are you all right?" Itsuko asked, appearing at Asahina-senpai's side before I could even say anything. How had she moved so quickly?
"I, um... I'm fine," Asahina-senpai said, looking gratefully at Itsuko. Grr… looking after Asahina-senpai is my job! Mine!
"Great, now we have five members!" Haruki interrupted, climbing onto a chair and continuing his speech. "There’s no way the school can stop us now! So, as of now, the SOS Brigade is open for business! Everybody, let's work together and move forward! Forward, towards our ultimate goal, and the fulfillment of my plans!"
What's that, a mass wedding with aliens?
And what do you mean by “open for business”, Commander Haruki? We still need a sponsor teacher, you know, and I don’t think there’s anyone who’d want to get involved in something like this. Nobody normal, anyway.
As I glanced desperately around the room, I noticed Nagato-san had already returned to his seat and was once again reading his book. Nagato-san, Haruki already counts you as a part of the SOS Brigade! Are you really sure that's ok with you?
From the looks of it, this will continue for a bit.....
Taniguchi.....
yay! You know, I've recently realized that i wouldn't be surprised that if a month later, the 1st episode fully done of Seitenkan was to come out in jap with fansub/dubs at the rate this is going.
yay! You know, I've recently realized that i wouldn't be surprised that if a month later, the 1st episode fully done of Seitenkan was to come out in jap with fansub/dubs at the rate this is going.
From what I've heard, they just finished the star scene of the OP.
I'm tempted to suggest No Exit. WELCOME TO HELL, ITSUKO.
Anyway, archive post updated.
Hey, If everything's Genderbended, maybe it's Princess Hamlet, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as females! Of course, No Exit is an awesome play too, so either way.
fascinating, an existentialist play. perhaps to enforce the possibility that their existence might just be a fabrication of Haruki's mind?
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is also pretty existential in itself, since the basic idea (debated back and forth throughout the play) is that R&G have no free will outside of Shakespeare's script. I just figured that No Exit is amusing for the irony that the SOS Brigade members are pretty much stuck with each other.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jobrill
Hey, If everything's Genderbended, maybe it's Princess Hamlet, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as females! Of course, No Exit is an awesome play too, so either way.
I'm operating under the assumption that while characters original to the novel are genderswapped, other characters from outside are not. This is why Santa Claus is still male.
Otherwise, we go from an exploration on gender roles in a given story, to a sort of bizarro world which is far too confusing to the reader based in ours.
Now, this does not rule out the possibility of Itsuko's class deciding to run a female version of R&G, probably for the same reason we're doing Seitenkan. That would be the easiest way to fix the scene, albeit somewhat cheaply.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SquishXD
So... Does that mean that Itsuko will be Inès?
I'm guessing as much, yes. Trying to fit everything neatly might seem a little hard to believe, though.
Full disclosure: I've not seen either R&G or NE, although I've read them. Also, I've read them, but I didn't say that I liked them.
I'm operating under the assumption that while characters original to the novel are genderswapped, other characters from outside are not. This is why Santa Claus is still male.
Otherwise, we go from an exploration on gender roles in a given story, to a sort of bizarro world which is far too confusing to the reader based in ours.
Now, this does not rule out the possibility of Itsuko's class deciding to run a female version of R&G, probably for the same reason we're doing Seitenkan. That would be the easiest way to fix the scene, albeit somewhat cheaply.
We need to operate under these assumptions, because otherwise storygoestobizarroworld. You are correct.
Kyon-chan's probably gonna have an envy for larger breasts though, being insecure in her size. Although she need not be. Deliciously flat is very fine too.
I actually wouldn't really imagine Kyonko being that insecure about the size of her breasts. I personally think several anime make it look like breast-size is a huge issue to girls, while, at least according to my experince, it really isn't that big of a deal
Why am I talking about breasts, again...?
Oh right. While I won't get frustrated by disagreement if Kyonko does express some insecurity, I don't think she really needs to. It's not something I see necessary for a character like her... but that's just me. I'm definitely not an expert on the matter
[i]Now, this does not rule out the possibility of Itsuko's class deciding to run a female version of R&G, probably for the same reason we're doing Seitenkan. That would be the easiest way to fix the scene, albeit somewhat cheaply.
The play shouldn't be an issue. Thanks to the Takarazuka Revue, it is not uncommon to see girls play male characters in plays and such. (at least in popular imagination)
The play shouldn't be an issue. Thanks to the Takarazuka Revue, it is not uncommon to see girls play male characters in plays and such. (at least in popular imagination)
Actually, quite a few female actors played male roles in Japan in plays and movies, so it really isn't a problem (from a Japanese point of view)
2008-03-25, 02:07
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