oom: i thought i was someone else

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:03:03 GMT

It's just words. It's just people. There's no wind pushing them along.
tick tock tick tock
She stops and calls, "Uhm, excuse me, does Ikki-kun live here?" and she gets a response.
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She barely hears what they ask.
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"Oh, well, I'm sorry ... the door was open, so I ..."
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"You're Sumeragi Kururu, right?" they ask. "What are you doing here so early in the morning?"
tock
"Oh," she says, because she almost forgot why she really came here. "I have a message from Ikki and Ringo."
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"Eh? You ran into them? When?"
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So she tells them, briefly, about there being a parts battle, and ends it with, "The race isn't over. They're going to finish it." She swallows and tries to complete the thought that keeps playing in her mind so that it can be over. "I made the necessary repairs. They should last long enough. That's all ... everyone can stop worrying."
tick tock tick tock
She stands there a second too long, then turns and starts walking away. "See you later."
tick tock
Everything else is background noise.

tick.

oom: just a perfect day

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:59:30 GMT

tick tick tick tick

kshh
--what?

Something out of tune, fighting for balance and failing, a voice in the middle of the omnipresent hum - an interruption unexpected enough that Kururu has to know if where it's coming from; she slips the headphones down around her neck and turns to look over the edge of the tuning apparatus at Konomi, off to the side.

"Konomi - just now, I heard a strange voice ... did you hear it?"

"Uh, no," Konomi says, looking baffled, "why?" She waves her hand to dismiss herself even as she responds. "It could just be your imagination? All I hear is a roaring sound." She sighs. "Anyway, how does it look? It might not be perfect, but I'm anxious to get out of this iron chair and back into my soft bed. Besides, Sister Prima's been looking around lately - we can't deceive her forever."

"Oh, right! Yeah. Sorry." Ooops.

'Konomi, stop talking like that," Hako says, from the other side of the tuning chamber, and Kururu turns her head to go watch Hako walk away, loaded down with equipment Kururu's positive she won't actually need. "Kururu's been working hard so she deserves some slack." She shrugs. "Anyway, I'm going to repair the number 498 crane -" Hako starts, passing by Kana as she says it.

"Huh?" Kana looks up, startled. "What're you doing? I said I'd do that!"

"It's okay, Kana," Hako says, quickly. "It's okay, you've been accumulating lots of experience tuning Nue-kun, Kana. And anyway, there's not much time till the door opens ..."

Kururu watches all this with a torn expression on her face, then sits back in the tuning apparatus. "Hako ..." She sits up and slowly gets to her feet, climbing out of the apparatus as gently as she can. "Thank you, everyone, but ... it's all right now. Everything's all right."
tock

She curls her fingers around the grooved, distended objects in her hands as she steps down, then sets them on the flat surface of Konomi's input unit. "It's done. The Wind Regalia's core, the Moonstruck Drop, 'Bagram' - it's finished." And she taps the inner wheel of the core and watches it ravel itself together, innocuous, a complete core at last, a promise kept inside its unassuming exterior that only she could see.

tick
tock
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tock
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tock

tick

... the core was done. She turns, slowly, to face the other tuners. "Wh-what do you think? Right now it's still just a prototype, from here I'll need Ikki-kun to test it in various conditions. Things like material quality, output, gear ratios, other little details - can be worked out in the tuning ..." She starts to trail off, suddenly aware she's rambling. "Yeah! I ... think I did a good job, if I do say so myself!"

It takes entirely too long for anyone to say anything, and when they do it's Konomi who speaks: "Wow, you're really something ... even the leader couldn't do it in such a short time."

Kururu doesn't know how to take that, so she just fingers the core again. "If Ikki receives this - I think he'll really appreciate it, maybe."

She's so distracted Konomi's shoulder-smack catches her off guard, and she looks at Konomi, eyes wide from startlement. "Yeah," Konomi says. "It's all up to you now. Nobody has any complaints. So you go be happy with Ikki-kun."

"... eh? Wh ... what do you mean - happy?" Th-they're not in any sort of relationship, that couldn't happen, ever, not with Akito and Agito ...

tick

"Well, I guess I'll just deliver these to Ikki now!" Because there's nothing going on there, at all. She's just his tuner. Really. Why doesn't anyone else see that?

"WHAT? It's two in the morning!"

"It's fine!" Kururu waves her hands quickly, hoping to calm Konomi down before the other girl gets too worried about her safety. "When I checked his read it said that right now is when he usually practices, so I can go ahead and have him try them out."

"Oh ... really?" Konomi blinks, then doubletakes. "Wait, that's not the problem ..."

Kururu's already moving, though, so she doesn't hear the rest, and Konomi quickly cuts herself off to catch up.

Kururu stops when they reach the school gates, her hand twisting on the bicycle handle, turning back to the others and biting her lip. "Well .... if Sister Prima notices, you'll take care of it, right?"

The others nod, making shooing motions with their hands. "Shush! We know. Now hurry up and go!"

And she goes, a lightness in her being that wasn't there before.

I did it! I did it I did it I did it!

I did it!

If I give this to Ikki ... I wonder what kind of face he'll make.

I wonder if he'll use it right away ... I wonder if he'll praise me -
"--be happy with Ikki-kun."

-i-it's not like that! That's wrong, I'm not really -

It's not like that, but ... why is it that, on such a steep hill, the pedals feel so light?

She smiles to herself and doesn't know what she means by it, but she keeps pedaling anyway.

tick tock

She keeps pedaling.

tock

She comes to a stop, hours later, out of breath and out of tune.

"Haaaa," she says, though it's more like a breath. "Hah. Haha." She rubs the sweat from her forehead and looks around, worried. "This isn't funny - I'm lost, Ikki's probably asleep by now, it'll be dawn soon - ah!"

She cuts off at the sound of two impacts, one after the other, off in the distance.

"That sounded like A-T ..." She trails off to see if she can hear anything better. "It's definitely two people. Who could be battling? - huh? This sound ..."

She narrows her eyes, then closes them completely, flinging her hair back, cupping her hand around air, listening.

She knows that sound.

It's simply a matter of turning the handle to start moving again, after that.

tick

The fastest way to get to where Ikki and the other rider are battling is through a cave in the side of a hill, so it's the only way Kururu can go.

She isn't expecting the bats.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

tock

She catches glimpses of it, at first, snatches of fighting and words, then whole moments.

"... tools are not created for a use outside a given ..."
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"... people using these tools are not bound ..."
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"... because things like the Regalia exist, people compete ..."
Ikki-kun's fighting Ringo, and Ringo ... looks like she's winning.
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"... the blue sky that should represent freedom is instead dyed red with blood."
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"... the members of Sleeping Forest ..."
Because Ikki is just using regular A-T, he's not wearing a Regalia, and she's going to beat him because regular A-T parts can't win in a fight like this.
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"... hunt those who aim for the top of the Tower ..."
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"... using Regalia to destroy Regalia is the definition of our existence."

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tock

Pedals keeping rhythm, keeping time, moving in ways she'd never dream of if it weren't this, if it weren't now, like every single moment collapsing into one long note that never ends, she closes her eyes and she's still on the street.

She opens her eyes and she's skidding to a halt on the rooftops, watching Ikki-kun fall.

Her eyes meet Ringo's over the long gap of air between them, and she breathes out before sucking her breath back in and swallowing tick tock tick tock, "Tick tock - the timing has to be perfect - tock -" And she releases the brake on her wheels and goes, shrieking terribly tick tock tick tock

there is nothing

but air

beneath her feet

Is this what it feels like to ride A-T?

Ikki's world is such an amazing place.

The air whips the breath from her lungs, and she reaches for Ikki's hand as she falls.

What Ringo was saying, I thought so too - if used incorrectly, the Regalia could easily kill someone. The Regalia shouldn't be blamed, though - it's the person using it who's to blame. Even I - no, everyone - wants to fly in the sky ... the shapes of the clouds, the weight of the wind and that smell ... even if - even if I can never feel it -

I'm sure that one day I'll have the courage to continue on with my own strength.

"Stupid," Ikki says, as their bodies meet in midair. "My - A-Ts are broken -"

She finds her voice just as the wind takes his away - "How long?"

"Huh?"

The air is so strong against her face; she tries to soften the blow with her hand. "How many seconds until we hit?"

"Not sure ... three seconds? Maybe?"

"Three seconds?" And she lets go of him, reaching behind to unzip her backpack. The tools spill from inside like metal wings unfolding behind her, caught in the skeleton of her arms. "If we have that much," she says, her hands hooking in and around the parts and structures she needs, "that's more than enough!"

She grabs and she sets and she twists and she screws and she moves and she falls and three seconds stretches out on the eternity of the Infinite Scale until the pieces fall into place like clockwork, a harmony of metal and ceramic.

And someday, she thinks, as the last bolt slides home, my feelings will also reach this person. My wings are in this Regalia! "Now go!" she yells, and her face lights up like she's already touched by the rays of the sun still coming from behind the horizon.

Ikki hunches over her, pulling her tight, and she looks down away from his eyes - and starts to panic. "What are you doing - that's the river - this Bagram, it's just a prototype, I didn't waterproof it or anything -"

Ikki just grabs her close and says "Hold on tight" as they hit -

but they don't hit. The world flips and spins end over end and they don't touch the water, like there's a layer of solid wind over the water and they never hit. The wind whoops by Kururu's face and she laughs, giddy from the shock of it all.

Ikki sets her down on the sidewalk overlooking the river and kicks off into the air once more, an explosion of wind blowing her hair back and startling her. He turns back to look at her mid jump. "This is incredible - I can't believe these are new parts," he says, and Kururu smiles in response.

"I tried my best," she says, reaching up to touch her face and make sure the words came out right, "to make it 'sound' like your original A-T - that's why I chose the parts I did." She doesn't mean to flopsweat, but she can feel the clammy sensation of it against her skin anyway. "All the parts will debut in battle today ... and since they were all made together, they don't have a single scratch from Ikki-kun - yet, that is ..."

She's babbling again.

Ikki spins in midair, the muscles rippling across his back. "Then isn't this perfect?" he says, and it takes Kururu several moments to realize he's talking to her. "Today is my debut wearing the Regalia - so let's break it in together."

Kururu can't identify what lets her say "Okay" so readily to this request, not now, not yet ... but she can feel the wind gathered around her.

It's warm and sweet.

tick

tock.

♪ 皇杞 枢 ♫ sumeragi kururu ♪

oom: i thought i was someone else

oom: just a perfect day

♪ 皇杞枢 ♫ sumeragi kururu ♪