Meet Cute/Transcript

NARRATOR: "So we leave, all three together. Lilly walks beside the wall, letting her cane gently tap against it every now and then. Hanako comes along right beside her, so close that she is practically half-hugging her as they go. Although it must make her walking that much harder, Lilly takes it in stride. As we turn around the corner of the hallway, something hits me in the chest with the force of a steam train. Hanako shrieks a little and my vision briefly goes black."

HISAO: "Ouch..."

NARRATOR: "Opening my eyes I see a pair of saucer-like green eyes looking up at me.

They belong to the perpetrator, a short girl who bumped into me and has now fallen down onto the hallway floor.

She wears a PE uniform and a very worried frown. The former strikes me as a rather strange thing to have on during a lunch break. ....

More striking than that, though, is the fact that she doesn't have legs.

Or she does, but they are not flesh and bone. Her pale and very much flesh-and-bone thighs end in shins and feet made of some black metallic or plastic-like material.

They look disturbingly artificial and unnatural. They almost make me forget that my chest is hurting.

The girl winces a little, rubs her nose and jumps up."

TWIN-TAILS GIRL: "Aw man.... Hey are you alright? I'm sorry about that really! I wasn't looking where I was going, and you just came out of nowhere. Sorry... Sorry!"

NARRATOR: She's looking really apologetic, in the hurt puppy way of looking apologetic. I quickly forget about being angry or anything, since hurt puppies are my weak spot.

HISAO: It's okay, don't worry about it.... ouch..."

NARRATOR: I say that, but there's a stinging pain growing in my chest, and I know this is about the biggest possible danger for my condition.

'Don't over-exert yourself, don't forget your medication, and most of all don't get hit in the chest'

I try to rub my solar plexus to chase the pain away, I hold my breath in an attempt to hear my heartbeat. It seems normal...

TWIN-TAILS GIRL: "Hey... Should I get a nurse?"

NARRATOR: The worried, high-pitched voice of the girl snaps me out of it. I stare at her for a few seconds dumbfounded, until I realize I probably look worse off than I really was, doubled over myself and looking all tense.

Damn, I'm overly worried about my heart.

HISAO: "Err... No need, I'm fine.

NARRATOR: Managing to say something in response, I pull myself upright, feeling my sore ribs one last time, and take a deep breath.

She just knocked the wind out of me. Big time. But it's nothing more than that.

TWIN-TAILS GIRL: "You sure you're okay? I hit you pretty hard."

HISAO: "It's okay. I said I was fine, and nothing's broken. No harm done."

TWIN-TAILS GIRL: "That's good! I was -"

LILLY: "Hisao, what happened?"

NARRATOR: "She's not quite up to speed for obvious reasons, but she sounds very worried. More than what the situation deserves, really."

HISAO: "Someone just bumped into me, nothing serious. Just winded."

TWIN-TAILS GIRL: "Er, sorry, it's my fault. I was just going to get some stuff, and I was in a kind of a hurry."

LILLY: "That 'someone' here is Emi, isn't it?"

NARRATOR: "The little girl coughs quietly and shuffles her plastic or metallic feet, looking down at them before saying anything."

EMI: "Hi, Lilly. Hanako."

NARRATOR: "I guess the girls know each other."

LILLY: "Do please try to be more careful. You might be sturdy enough to endure these sorts of accidents, but there are people who aren't."

NARRATOR: "The girl blushes and starts to fidget nervously like a little child caught misbehaving. It's so cute I find myself smiling."

EMI: "I know that! I— I, um, I was just... Aaah! I gotta go! Teacher'll have my head, I promised to help with printouts but I went running instead! Sorry, but I've gotta change and everything!"

NARRATOR: "Before any of us can say a thing, Emi has already bolted away, leaving the hallway eerily quiet."

HISAO: "Does that kind of thing happen often around here?"

LILLY: "There are more rules in Yamaku than usual for running in corridors. ...but that rarely stops Emi, it seems."

NARRATOR: "She shakes her head weakly and offers a slight, composed smile."

LILLY: "I don't think there's anything we can do to stop her, I'm afraid. Shall we be off, then?"

NARRATOR: "Lilly heads off along the hallway, and Hanako hurries after her. The route to the room the two use for tea is fairly simple to retrace, being still fresh in my mind from yesterday."

[Next Scene: Sip (Part 1)]