Ryo-oki's mind whirred.
...Carrot...plus human...equals...YumYum!
Immediately, Ryo-oki's little body started to be not such a little body anymore. But to Washu's frustration, nothing was registered on any of the devices.
After about a minute, Ryo-oki was the exact copy of YumYum the Carrot Girl, the bonds broken around her. Washu stared at the figure.
"...Of all the..." She threw the magazine behind her shoulder. "You weren't listening to a thing I said, were you? And as for these machines...they picked up nothing...NOTHING." She put her head in her hands. "I'm better than I thought." Then she glanced up between her fingers. "I believe you can speak now."
Ryo-oki moved her mouth silently for a second. "Hunh...hangh...ree..."
"Pardon?"
"Huh...grah...ree..."
"Oh. Practicing. Well, I'd figure it out soon. You have approximately 23 hours and 58 minutes left."
"HUNGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
"...Okay, so no more practice..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Everyone sat at the dinner table, the dishes in front of them good enough to...well, good enough to eat. But even the expansive spread in front of them didn't draw everyone's attention away from the only one eating.
Ryoko folded her arms, still on the brink of laughter. "So...let me get this straight...you told her to change into a human from one of Ayeka's stupid fashion magazines...and she...she..." But by now, Ryoko was cackling too hard to finish her question.
Ayeka raised an eyebrow. "Ryoko, if you paid more attention to those 'stupid fashion magazines' then you might not look as terrible as you always do. Although that would be asking a miracle, I admit."
Ryoko didn't quite stop laughing, but managed a criticising look over at Ayeka. "And you have the nerve to say I look terrible...HAH. If reading a magazine like that means I end up looking like you, I'd burn every last one of them."
Nobuyuki raised his voice over Ryoko and Ayeka. "So instead of a model, you got YumYum, that girl who does the carrot adverts?"
"Yup." Washu finally took a mouthful of rice.
Sasami giggled. "So she's like...Yum-oki or something?"
Tenchi gave a sort of nervous laugh. "Yeah...I guess. Well, that's what we'll call her for now...Yum-oki."
Katsuhito watched the newly named Yum-oki eat her way through bowl after bowl, plate after plate of carrot-based dishes. "I do not believe that the real YumYum had quite that much enthusiasm for carrots," he said, still watching her over his sake cup. "Nor do I think she could eat as fast, or as many."
"G...goo carr...good carrots!" Yum-oki managed in between mouthfuls. Suddenly, her cheeks began to go red. "K...K...gah..."
Ryoko frowned. "Wha shf tryin' ta sfay?", she asked with her mouth full.
Ayeka made a show of swallowing her food before saying, "She sounds just like you, Ryoko, you know that?"
Tenchi's chair scraped backwards, and he ran round to her. "She's choking!"
Washu looked thoughtful. "You know, I think that's the first time she's choked. Intriguing...it must be a different system. She's not used to it yet."
By the time Tenchi had got there, Yum-oki was happily munching away at her plate of carrot sticks, ignoring the dip next to her.
Sasami laughed. "We'd better not make her go hungry again. It's dangerous!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yum-oki threw herself back on the bed. Sasami had pretty much worn her out. They'd had pillow fights, made some cookies (including a special carrot batch for Yum-oki), watched TV together, played enough games to last a lifetime, and in-between each of these, had had a long "girly chat". Still. It had been nice to have a two-way conversation with Sasami, although she took a little longer than Sasami to get the words out.
Before, she'd felt that she owed Sasami; she'd told so many secrets to her, and Ryo-oki hadn't been able to share any back, even give an opinion. Not a real one at least. Only so much could be expressed through meowing.
And then Sasami had chosen, of all the people in the world, to become Ryo- oki for a day. Her one chance to change into anybody at all...and she'd chosen to become a cabbit. And thinking back on the day just gone, Yum-oki realised that, although she hadn't been given the chance that Sasami had, she had chosen (albeit unwittingly) to spend a day as Sasami. Sort of. Now, she felt well and truly equal. And exhausted.
For what she though must be the first time, she was thankful Washu had chosen her to be a guinea pig in one of her experiments. There were several advantages she had now that she'd never had before. But many disadvantages, too. And she was feeling one of them.
She buried under the covers, shivering. Humans had no fur to keep them warm.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was the next day. Sasami and Yum-oki had been sitting watching TV for the past hour or so. At some point, Sasami had gone to fetch popcorn, and they were now sitting, munching away, watching Moldiver.
Sasami turned and giggled to Yum-oki. "Mihoshi should use her tablet to transform into Moldiver, huh?"
"Y-Yeah!" Yum-oki laughed. "I can just see it! We'd never get a m-moment's peace!" She had pretty much got the hand of talking by this time, although she still stumbled occasionally. The talks she'd had with Sasami had really been good practice.
Sasami smiled again before she turned back to the television. A couple of minutes later, she reached for popcorn. Instead of a handful of popcorn, she pulled out a sticky little cabbit.
"Mya..."
Sasami glanced to her side. Yum-oki was gone. "Aww, I guess your time ran out, Ryo-oki. Ah well." She tweaked Ryo-oki's nose, who mewed. "You're much more huggable like this."
She plopped Ryo-oki on her lap, tickled her behind the ear, and turned up the volume of the television to drown out the row Ryoko and Ayeka had just started outside.
But she turned the television off when the door opened.
"Hey, we're back!" Kiyone dropped her bags in the hallway and waved to Sasami and Ryo-oki, Mihoshi close behind her.
"Hey, guess what?" Sasami winked conspiratorially at Ryo-oki, who meowed again. "We've had a celebrity round."
"Tell me in a minute," Kiyone picked up her bags again. "I'll take these upstairs and unpack - may as well get it out of the way, right? Mihoshi, I'll take your bags too."
"Thanks!" Mihoshi made to hop over the back of the couch to watch TV with the other two.
"Wait!" Sasami moved the popcorn bowl off the seat onto the floor, so Mihoshi wouldn't land in it. "Okay, now."
Mihoshi jumped, and landed, and managed to put her foot into the bowl. Popcorn went everywhere.
Sasami giggled. "Hey, Mihoshi. Ryo-oki and I decided you should use your tablet to transform into Moldiver! Wouldn't that be cool?"
"I already used it," Mihoshi explained. "Kiyone used hers too. See, we-"
"Hold on," Sasami got up, plucking Ryo-oki off her lap. "I'll go make some more popcorn, and then we can talk. Oh, and I made some lemonade. Could you take some down to Washu, please Mihoshi?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Washu sat, arms folded, glaring at the lifeless computer screen. Not one of the computers had picked up any response that would explain the effect triggered by the tablets. Sure, they'd picked up on the fact that the body was changing. But that was obvious.
...Maybe obvious enough to offer a reason...? But now she had no research specimen. She only had the data she'd collected previously.
Washu sighed. That would have to be enough. Besides, she'd been pretty thorough. She could have carried out no further experiments anyway.
With a thought, she flicked the computer on, and started to load the information. She was obviously missing something, and it had to be in that data, somewhere.
"Little Washu, hello?"
Washu's eyes widened in horror at the voice. She snapped her head round. Mihoshi was coming down the stairs, holding a tray of drinks. Washu started to get that nagging feeling...she quickly gave Mihoshi the once-over, trying to pick up on anything that would cause her to fall, or drop the tray, or anything like that.
Not that she needed a reason, Washu thought bitterly.
Then, Washu spotted the shoelace trailing behind Mihoshi.
"No! Mihoshi, NO!" She started to get up, waving her hands for Mihoshi to leave.
"Oh, but Washu, Sasami made some lemonade," Mihoshi kept walking and you've been down here for- AH!"
Washu winced as Mihoshi, of course, tripped and fell down the last few steps. The drinks tray, of course, flew into the air. And, of course, a drink flew towards the computer, just as the data appeared on screen. There were, of course, sparks, and after trying valiantly to recover, the computer shut down. Of course.
Washu glowered at Mihoshi, trying to get up.
"A...aha...sorry, Washu..." Mihoshi gave an apologetic grin.
"Of course you are," Washu said coldly.
Mihoshi watched as Washu restarted the computer, and tried to reload the information. But the memory had been wiped. Of course.
Washu turned around to look at Mihoshi, daggers shooting from her eyes.
Mihoshi backed up the stairs, almost falling again. "Hey, Washu, it was an accident. Tell you what, I'll go get you another glass of lemonade, and it won't be as bad, okay?" She ran out of the lab.
"AAAAAAARGH! MIHOSHI!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Whelp, that's Chapter 4 done! *grins* I know I've kinda been picking on Mihoshi a bit...it's not that I don't like her - she rocks just like the other characters. But it just makes the story soooo much easier on my part. ^__-
...Carrot...plus human...equals...YumYum!
Immediately, Ryo-oki's little body started to be not such a little body anymore. But to Washu's frustration, nothing was registered on any of the devices.
After about a minute, Ryo-oki was the exact copy of YumYum the Carrot Girl, the bonds broken around her. Washu stared at the figure.
"...Of all the..." She threw the magazine behind her shoulder. "You weren't listening to a thing I said, were you? And as for these machines...they picked up nothing...NOTHING." She put her head in her hands. "I'm better than I thought." Then she glanced up between her fingers. "I believe you can speak now."
Ryo-oki moved her mouth silently for a second. "Hunh...hangh...ree..."
"Pardon?"
"Huh...grah...ree..."
"Oh. Practicing. Well, I'd figure it out soon. You have approximately 23 hours and 58 minutes left."
"HUNGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
"...Okay, so no more practice..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Everyone sat at the dinner table, the dishes in front of them good enough to...well, good enough to eat. But even the expansive spread in front of them didn't draw everyone's attention away from the only one eating.
Ryoko folded her arms, still on the brink of laughter. "So...let me get this straight...you told her to change into a human from one of Ayeka's stupid fashion magazines...and she...she..." But by now, Ryoko was cackling too hard to finish her question.
Ayeka raised an eyebrow. "Ryoko, if you paid more attention to those 'stupid fashion magazines' then you might not look as terrible as you always do. Although that would be asking a miracle, I admit."
Ryoko didn't quite stop laughing, but managed a criticising look over at Ayeka. "And you have the nerve to say I look terrible...HAH. If reading a magazine like that means I end up looking like you, I'd burn every last one of them."
Nobuyuki raised his voice over Ryoko and Ayeka. "So instead of a model, you got YumYum, that girl who does the carrot adverts?"
"Yup." Washu finally took a mouthful of rice.
Sasami giggled. "So she's like...Yum-oki or something?"
Tenchi gave a sort of nervous laugh. "Yeah...I guess. Well, that's what we'll call her for now...Yum-oki."
Katsuhito watched the newly named Yum-oki eat her way through bowl after bowl, plate after plate of carrot-based dishes. "I do not believe that the real YumYum had quite that much enthusiasm for carrots," he said, still watching her over his sake cup. "Nor do I think she could eat as fast, or as many."
"G...goo carr...good carrots!" Yum-oki managed in between mouthfuls. Suddenly, her cheeks began to go red. "K...K...gah..."
Ryoko frowned. "Wha shf tryin' ta sfay?", she asked with her mouth full.
Ayeka made a show of swallowing her food before saying, "She sounds just like you, Ryoko, you know that?"
Tenchi's chair scraped backwards, and he ran round to her. "She's choking!"
Washu looked thoughtful. "You know, I think that's the first time she's choked. Intriguing...it must be a different system. She's not used to it yet."
By the time Tenchi had got there, Yum-oki was happily munching away at her plate of carrot sticks, ignoring the dip next to her.
Sasami laughed. "We'd better not make her go hungry again. It's dangerous!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yum-oki threw herself back on the bed. Sasami had pretty much worn her out. They'd had pillow fights, made some cookies (including a special carrot batch for Yum-oki), watched TV together, played enough games to last a lifetime, and in-between each of these, had had a long "girly chat". Still. It had been nice to have a two-way conversation with Sasami, although she took a little longer than Sasami to get the words out.
Before, she'd felt that she owed Sasami; she'd told so many secrets to her, and Ryo-oki hadn't been able to share any back, even give an opinion. Not a real one at least. Only so much could be expressed through meowing.
And then Sasami had chosen, of all the people in the world, to become Ryo- oki for a day. Her one chance to change into anybody at all...and she'd chosen to become a cabbit. And thinking back on the day just gone, Yum-oki realised that, although she hadn't been given the chance that Sasami had, she had chosen (albeit unwittingly) to spend a day as Sasami. Sort of. Now, she felt well and truly equal. And exhausted.
For what she though must be the first time, she was thankful Washu had chosen her to be a guinea pig in one of her experiments. There were several advantages she had now that she'd never had before. But many disadvantages, too. And she was feeling one of them.
She buried under the covers, shivering. Humans had no fur to keep them warm.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was the next day. Sasami and Yum-oki had been sitting watching TV for the past hour or so. At some point, Sasami had gone to fetch popcorn, and they were now sitting, munching away, watching Moldiver.
Sasami turned and giggled to Yum-oki. "Mihoshi should use her tablet to transform into Moldiver, huh?"
"Y-Yeah!" Yum-oki laughed. "I can just see it! We'd never get a m-moment's peace!" She had pretty much got the hand of talking by this time, although she still stumbled occasionally. The talks she'd had with Sasami had really been good practice.
Sasami smiled again before she turned back to the television. A couple of minutes later, she reached for popcorn. Instead of a handful of popcorn, she pulled out a sticky little cabbit.
"Mya..."
Sasami glanced to her side. Yum-oki was gone. "Aww, I guess your time ran out, Ryo-oki. Ah well." She tweaked Ryo-oki's nose, who mewed. "You're much more huggable like this."
She plopped Ryo-oki on her lap, tickled her behind the ear, and turned up the volume of the television to drown out the row Ryoko and Ayeka had just started outside.
But she turned the television off when the door opened.
"Hey, we're back!" Kiyone dropped her bags in the hallway and waved to Sasami and Ryo-oki, Mihoshi close behind her.
"Hey, guess what?" Sasami winked conspiratorially at Ryo-oki, who meowed again. "We've had a celebrity round."
"Tell me in a minute," Kiyone picked up her bags again. "I'll take these upstairs and unpack - may as well get it out of the way, right? Mihoshi, I'll take your bags too."
"Thanks!" Mihoshi made to hop over the back of the couch to watch TV with the other two.
"Wait!" Sasami moved the popcorn bowl off the seat onto the floor, so Mihoshi wouldn't land in it. "Okay, now."
Mihoshi jumped, and landed, and managed to put her foot into the bowl. Popcorn went everywhere.
Sasami giggled. "Hey, Mihoshi. Ryo-oki and I decided you should use your tablet to transform into Moldiver! Wouldn't that be cool?"
"I already used it," Mihoshi explained. "Kiyone used hers too. See, we-"
"Hold on," Sasami got up, plucking Ryo-oki off her lap. "I'll go make some more popcorn, and then we can talk. Oh, and I made some lemonade. Could you take some down to Washu, please Mihoshi?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Washu sat, arms folded, glaring at the lifeless computer screen. Not one of the computers had picked up any response that would explain the effect triggered by the tablets. Sure, they'd picked up on the fact that the body was changing. But that was obvious.
...Maybe obvious enough to offer a reason...? But now she had no research specimen. She only had the data she'd collected previously.
Washu sighed. That would have to be enough. Besides, she'd been pretty thorough. She could have carried out no further experiments anyway.
With a thought, she flicked the computer on, and started to load the information. She was obviously missing something, and it had to be in that data, somewhere.
"Little Washu, hello?"
Washu's eyes widened in horror at the voice. She snapped her head round. Mihoshi was coming down the stairs, holding a tray of drinks. Washu started to get that nagging feeling...she quickly gave Mihoshi the once-over, trying to pick up on anything that would cause her to fall, or drop the tray, or anything like that.
Not that she needed a reason, Washu thought bitterly.
Then, Washu spotted the shoelace trailing behind Mihoshi.
"No! Mihoshi, NO!" She started to get up, waving her hands for Mihoshi to leave.
"Oh, but Washu, Sasami made some lemonade," Mihoshi kept walking and you've been down here for- AH!"
Washu winced as Mihoshi, of course, tripped and fell down the last few steps. The drinks tray, of course, flew into the air. And, of course, a drink flew towards the computer, just as the data appeared on screen. There were, of course, sparks, and after trying valiantly to recover, the computer shut down. Of course.
Washu glowered at Mihoshi, trying to get up.
"A...aha...sorry, Washu..." Mihoshi gave an apologetic grin.
"Of course you are," Washu said coldly.
Mihoshi watched as Washu restarted the computer, and tried to reload the information. But the memory had been wiped. Of course.
Washu turned around to look at Mihoshi, daggers shooting from her eyes.
Mihoshi backed up the stairs, almost falling again. "Hey, Washu, it was an accident. Tell you what, I'll go get you another glass of lemonade, and it won't be as bad, okay?" She ran out of the lab.
"AAAAAAARGH! MIHOSHI!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Whelp, that's Chapter 4 done! *grins* I know I've kinda been picking on Mihoshi a bit...it's not that I don't like her - she rocks just like the other characters. But it just makes the story soooo much easier on my part. ^__-