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Lilly Route: Conflict: 2-1: The Most Manliest Of Picnics

Sep 28th, 2013
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  1. I stagger back into the school, walking down the sidewalks at random. I'm not sure where I should go. I need to clear my head after what just happened. I think Lilly's Dad actually threatened me!
  2.  
  3. I felt powerless to do anything. I was so shocked, I just let it happen. I can't believe he would be like that, that hostile towards me! With the way he made it sound, I had just insulted his family, slapped his wife and kicked his dog! I don't understand how a man like that could have Lilly or Akira as daughters. If Nurse and Mutou hadn't shown up when they did, I'm not sure what would have happened.
  4.  
  5. I wander the school for a couple hours, letting the night grow old. I'm pissed, angry, frustrated and above all else, despondent. I had a good three minutes where everything was going all right. Lilly and I would be together for the summer and then this happened!
  6. I don't know what this means for the rest of my vacation. From what he said, I don't think Mr. Satou is going to stand by and let me and Lilly have any time to ourselves.
  7.  
  8. I'm amazed Lilly was so wrong about her father. A warm side? That man? I doubt it. I can't even wrap my head around the idea.
  9. He seemed so nice to Hanako and Misha and he seems to genuinely like Shizune, his niece, even taking the time to learn sign language! Is it just because I'm dating Lilly that he dislikes me so much? I'm not sure what I could have done to warrant so much hostility!
  10.  
  11. The look Akira gave the two of us, her reluctance to be alone with her father, the way he treats her and the bitterness she directs towards him is starting to make a lot more sense to me.
  12. Does Lilly even know? I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't; other than a few weeks visiting, her last impression of her father are from when she was twelve years old! She wants us to get along, but I think that's the furthest thing from his mind right now.
  13.  
  14. Never mind; I don't want to think about it or dwell on it. I'll figure these things out at a better time. I just want to turn the clock back to when the worst thing in my life was waiting for Lilly to visit and to remember to take my pills.
  15.  
  16. I wander back to my room in a dark mood. I throw myself onto the bed and stare at the light fixture in the ceiling. I've already taken my medication for the day, so I don't even have that task to look forward too. I look at at my nightstand, seeing the box with the bottle inside that Kenji gave me.
  17. That's right; Kenji and me were supposed to hang out.
  18.  
  19. Great.
  20.  
  21. Who the hell knows how this will end up?
  22.  
  23. This should have been a great day with Lilly, but in a few short minutes it's been ruined. Perfect ending to a perfect day.
  24.  
  25. Kenji said bring a weapon, but I don't think he was being serious. Then again, he probably was, but I'm not interested, nor could I even think of what to bring or care enough to try.
  26.  
  27. I consider blowing the whole thing off and going to bed, but I realize that I'll never get any sleep between being this worked up and my regular tossing and turning while battling my perpetual insomnia. The best thing for me to do is find something to take my mind off of what happened and dealing with Kenji usually requires all of my attention.
  28.  
  29. With the box under my arm I again leave the dorms. It's late now; in a normal school day, everyone would be asleep in bed. Those who wouldn't be in their rooms could only be up to no good, which is what I feel like I'm doing right now. Yamaku doesn't post many guards during the summer, but I'm still wary of being spotted by a member of faculty after a late night of work or even another student. Then again, if I was spotted by another student out this late, we'd probably realize neither one of us wanted the other to interfere in whatever it was we were doing and simply pass each other by, an agreement of mutual silence between us.
  30.  
  31. With the main building still unlocked, once again shocking me by Yamaku's lack of oversight, I make my way up to the roof by way of the dusty old stairwell. I haven't been up here in a while, but they still haven't locked it either. At the top of the stairs, a handwritten sign has been taped up, the words, 'off limits' written on it.
  32. Heh. Don't mind if I don't.
  33. The door screeches as I open it and step onto the roof, the night air instantly chilling me. It's almost frigid despite being summer. I immediately think I should have brought a coat or jacket. I don't know what Kenji has planned, but I hope it doesn't take too long.
  34.  
  35. I wonder what we're going to do up here? It's been so long since I've just hung out with someone, I'm not really sure how to do it anymore.
  36.  
  37. Well, hung out with someone who wasn't a girl, I guess.
  38.  
  39. I don't really have any guy friends at Yamaku. I know the other boys in class by first name and we chat, but I spent so much time with Lilly and Hanako, I guess I formed my own little clique with the two of them. The rest of my time in class was with Shizune and Misha and when Lilly and I started dating, our time was almost exclusively spent with one another.
  40. I guess that's one of the reasons I've been so bored this summer with no one to talk to.
  41. I'm not very comfortable with the desperation of my plight, forced to socialize with Kenji for lack of a better option. I guess it's better than nothing or being left alone with my thoughts right now.
  42.  
  43. At the far end of the roof, near where some of the cyclone fence has collapsed, I see a mound of blankets and several flimsy wooden walls set up, draped over with several sheets. I recognize them as the stalls used back at the festival. I've never seen them up here before and I'm not sure why they're on the roof or how they manged to get up here. "Hello?" I call out.
  44.  
  45. From inside the structure, I see several blankets shuffle around. From beneath one, a head emerges, followed by a rake brandished in my general direction. "Who goes there?" Kenji shouts, thrusting the gardening utensil menacingly.
  46. "It's me. Hisao."
  47. Kenji glares in my direction. "Prove it!"
  48. "This again? I brought the bottle."
  49. "Were you followed?"
  50. "I don't think so."
  51. "That's no good! You could have led them here! Did you bring a weapon?"
  52. "No, I couldn't find anything."
  53. He groans in annoyance. "You're not taking this very seriously, man." He climbs out from under the blankets and stumbles out from over the stall, using the rake as a staff.
  54.  
  55. I shrug. "If I walked around the school with a weapon, wouldn't that make it more likely I would be followed?"
  56. Kenji stops and think about that for a second. "Good point! That's pretty smart! Acquire weapons on site, that way if you're captured and interrogated, you can claim you're just a civilian! That's pretty good, Hisao. I'll have to remember that one!" He stands up a bit straighter. "So? What do you think? Pretty impressive, isn't it?"
  57.  
  58. I look around. He's moved a couple stalls together and draped them with blankets, creating a small fort filled with pillows on the school roof. "What is it?"
  59. "It's my forward operating base, of course! Just in case I was flushed out of my room, I set this up as a bolt hole."
  60. "How did you build this? Where did you get the stalls? And why do you have so many pillows?"
  61. He glowers at me. "Those are dangerous questions, man! Questions that could get someone killed! I built it over the summer and I found the stalls hidden by the enemy. I requisitioned them for the cause! It was a bitch to drag them up here piece by piece and put them together, but I managed. As for the pillows, you'd be surprised by how many people just leave that sort of stuff lying around. I got plenty of cool junk!"
  62. "How did you have the time to do this? I thought you hadn't left your room in days."
  63. "That was a lie. I came up here a lot to build this."
  64. "Why did you lie to me about something so stupid?"
  65. "It's not stupid! I put a lot of work into this. Have some appreciation! If the enemy knew I was building this, they'd tear all my stuff down! All that hard work gone to waste! This way, my secret base is kept secret from them."
  66. "You could have just told me."
  67. "They could have tapped your room, I couldn't risk it!" He shakes his head. "You have got to stop being so damn gullible!"
  68.  
  69. I look at all the stuff he's collected. "Are you sure you can just take this stuff?"
  70. "Of course! It all belongs to the school and it's still on school property! Well... most if it, at least. Besides, salvage rights, man!"
  71. "I thought that only applied to shipwrecks...."
  72. "Yeah! Shipwrecks and schools during the summer. They're the same thing."
  73.  
  74. He throws his hands in the air as if it were a sign to begin. "Enough questions! It's time to drink! Let's break out the bottle!"
  75.  
  76. I take it out of the box and break the wax seal. "Got any glasses?"
  77. Kenji narrows his eyes behind his thick lenses. "Glasses? This isn't some sissy princess party! This is a Manly Picnic!"
  78. "A what now?"
  79. "A Manly Picnic! No glasses. No napkins. Just whiskey. A man's beverage!"
  80. He almost doubles over into the stall fort and pulls out a bag, shoving it in my face. "And pretzels!"
  81.  
  82. It seems a little odd to drink something this nice straight from the bottle, but I didn't bring any glasses either, so I have little choice.
  83. With the bottle open, I sniff it experimentally. It's very strong and my first drink is enough to burn my throat painfully. "Ugh! This stuff is pretty rough...."
  84. "That's because you're a wuss. Give it to me."
  85. Kenji takes the bottle and slams it back effortlessly. I'm impressed. "Have you done this before?"
  86. "Plenty of times. I spent a lot of the year up here."
  87.  
  88. He gestures with the bottle. "Come on in and I'll show you the place." Kenji crawls into the fort through a small opening. I just walk around the edge and into the tiny domicile.
  89. It's stocked with food and drinks I recognize from the vending machines scattered around the school as well as miscellaneous items like batteries and flashlights, school supplies and tools probably swiped from janitor closets. A huge stack of books is in the corner and there are even more pillows scattered around the floor in a mimicry of comfort. "This seems... a little excessive."
  90.  
  91. Kenji sits on a rolled up mattress, the bottle on his knee. "That's what you say now, but when the world ends, we'll need all this stuff! You'll thank me later."
  92.  
  93. He hands the bottle to me and I drink, this time taking a little sip. It's better this time, but I can tell this is a lot stronger than anything I've ever drank before. Wine with Lilly seems to have made me aware of my limits, so I don't expect I'll be drinking much of the bottle tonight. I sit on a pile of pillows across from Kenji who tosses a bag of chips at me. "Dig in, man."
  94.  
  95. I quickly realize that I haven't had anything to eat since the Shanghai and that was just a light lunch. With the bottle between us, I eat the chips while Kenji digs into a bag of pretzels, one of the books in his open hand, inches from his face.
  96.  
  97. "What are you reading?" I ask between bites.
  98. "Book on cryptography. Liberated it from the library. I've been devising my own code for use to send messages back and forth so the feminists can't find out my plans. I'm basing it on a grille cypher, but I'm afraid that's too simple. Communication through the personal adds is feasible, but more likely, I'll use some system to allow operatives to use publicly available books to pass messages. The difficult part is to determine which books and how to get them out into the field."
  99.  
  100. I blink. "Grille cypher?"
  101.  
  102. "Yeah," Kenji says through a mouthful of pretzels. "You take a particular page from a book and lay a template over it. The holes in the template show you the words in the message you're trying to send. It's more advanced than, say, a scytale, but still fairly secure in the long scheme of things. I can't count on computers or rotary devices like Lorenz cipher. Technology will be the first thing the woman seize from men!" He takes a swig of Scotch. "Right after our reproductive rights!"
  103.  
  104. Kenji is going over my head with this stuff. "You seem to know a lot about this."
  105. "Reproduction?"
  106. "God, no, codes, that sort of thing."
  107. "It's a hobby, I guess. I have plenty of time to look up codes. I've studied all the methods used by spies and operatives throughout history; Black Dragons Society, Yoshio Muto, even Mati Hari and Bella Boyd. To defeat the enemy, you must study their tactics and ways! Vile bitches!"
  108.  
  109. I'm a little impressed. I always thought Kenji was scatterbrained when it came to this stuff, but he seems to have thought this part through. "That's pretty impressive, Kenji."
  110.  
  111. He washes the pretzels down with another swig of Scotch and smiles. "Thanks, man. I spent a lot of time on this. Now if I could just find the right book to use, I'd be set."
  112. "Why not one from the library? You have a lot of them from there here with you."
  113. He nearly falls over from his perch. "Are you kidding? The library is a hotbed of feminist activity! Why do you think I liberated these books instead of checking them out!"
  114. "You mean stole?"
  115. "No, liberated! It's war time!"
  116. "Why don't you just get a library card?" I answer.
  117. Kenji blinks. "Well, that would be simple, but not the point! No way I'm going in the system, I'm off the grid! I'm not about to let those horrid females know what books I'm reading! The library is the last place you'll find me, you can count on that!"
  118.  
  119. He seems upset by the very mention of the library. I decide not the push the subject. "Well, if you can't check out the books, you could always write your own."
  120.  
  121. He looks up at me from his reading. He takes a moment, looking deep in thought. "You think I could do that?"
  122. "Of course. You seem to know a lot about this stuff. If you wrote a book about it, you could use your own book for your own hidden messages."
  123.  
  124. Kenji seems boggled by my suggestion. "A secret code in a book about secret codes? Dang, Hisao, you madman! That's crazy enough to work! They'll never expect it! It'd be hidden in plain sight!" He chuckles and hands the bottle to me. "You're not as stupid as I thought!"
  125. I smile, taking a sip of Scotch. "Thanks. You're not half bad yourself."
  126.  
  127. We stay in the fort for a while, Kenji doing most of the talking while I listen. Some of his more crazy schemes are a little hard to take, but the alcohol seems to dull the edge and Kenji's rants do seem to take on a subtle theme after a while.
  128.  
  129. It isn't long before much of the bottle has begun to vanish. I feel pretty good, considering how my day went, but I'm not nearly close to being drunk enough. All that wine with Lilly really did make me aware of my limits and I've been taking it slowly. Kenji though has had most of the bottle and seems still raring to go for more. I guess he wasn't lying when he says he does stuff like this a lot. Still, the drinking has gotten him pretty loud and wobbly as he stalks back and forth in the Fortress of Masculinity, raving about feminists and the rights of men, the injustice of divorce courts and the eventual downfall of everything male related.
  130. We long ago left the subject of codes and spies, moving on to more current events.
  131.  
  132. "Yeah, summer has been a drag, man!" Kenji says. "I keep expecting an attack, but it never comes! I'm starting to think it'll never happen."
  133.  
  134. "You don't want it to, do you," I say, looking up from a book on World War Two, a small pile of soda cans at my outstretched feet and a flashlight in my hand. I have a bunch of pillows and a few blankets wrapped tightly around me, so it's not too cold. I feel like I'm back at a slumber party like when I was a little kid and the fort is actually a lot more comfortable that I thought at first. "An attack, I mean. That's the last thing you want, right?"
  135.  
  136. "Hell, no, I don't want that! The day the war begins is the day I have to seize my destiny of leading mankind towards a brighter future! Who would want that? All that responsibility? I don't know if I'm ready. I'm the last sane man in the world, I'm the only one who can do it."
  137. I put the book down. "Isn't that a lot to expect from one man?"
  138. "Hell yeah, it is!" he shouts. "The pressure just keeps building! Everyone's counting on me and I'm all alone in this fight! I don't have any backup, it's driving me insane!"
  139. I chuckle. "Well, I'm here, aren't I?"
  140.  
  141. He stares at me through his thick lenses. "Really, man? You mean that? Oh, wow, that's a lot off my mind." He slumps drunkenly against one of the stalls. "Two sane men may just be able to save the world. It's a tall order, but it could be done."
  142.  
  143. Kenji looks around him, grabs the bottle and takes a swig. He misses and ends up pouring it down his shirt and he seems disappointed for lack of a drink. It was a get well gift for me and he ended up downing most of it, but I don't really mind. "This sucks," Kenji declares, staggering to his feet. "What am I doing? I'm moping around here like there's no hope for tomorrow! I have to do something! I have to seize the day!" He spins towards me. "You bowl?"
  144. "What?"
  145. "I said, 'you bowl!" Pay attention!"
  146. "Do you mean, 'have I ever bowled before'?"
  147. "Yes! That's what I said!"
  148. "Not in a long time and only once when I was young."
  149. "Come on! I got an idea!"
  150.  
  151. Kenji lurches about, sets the bottle down and fumbles out of the fort, rake in hand.
  152. I'm not sure if I should follow, but I don't want him to get hurt in his drunken state.
  153. I grab a broom on a whim and the flashlight laying on the floor and step outside our makeshift shelter, finding him staggering about towards the door. "Where are you going?"
  154.  
  155. "To get supplies," he bellows. He takes his scarf off and wraps it around his head like a bandanna. Then he slips out of his jacket and wraps the arms around his neck like a cape. "Come on, you'll be spotted like that! We have to be careful! Enemy agents could be anywhere!"
  156.  
  157. I stare at him a little, confused by his meaning.
  158.  
  159. "Come on," he screams. He staggers up to me, looking me up and down. "Um, here, try this." Kenji undoes his tie and hands it to me. "Put this around your head. It'll help you blend in."
  160. "That makes no sense."
  161. "It doesn't have to!"
  162.  
  163. I sigh, shrug and wrap the tie around my head like he did his scarf. Then Kenji takes one of the sheets from the fort and thrusts it into my hand. "Here, this will work. Wrap it around you like a cloak of invisibility. Good job grabbing a weapon," he says, drunkenly gesturing towards the broom, "you're all set!"
  164.  
  165. I put the sheet around me as he said too. Like I said, I'm not drunk enough, but I'm drunk enough to go along with the plan.
  166.  
  167. "Good," he says, pleased with himself. "Do you have any camouflage?"
  168. I shake my head.
  169. "That's fine," he continues. "I didn't bring my tactical gear either. It's for the best; yowie suits are worth crap in an urban environment! We'll be good like this."
  170.  
  171. The pair of us move down from the roof with bandanas around our heads, rake and broom in hand and capes on our backs. Despite myself, I'm a little amused by what we're doing. Playing along with Kenji's delusions is a little entertaining, if very strange.
  172.  
  173. I follow Kenji at an easy, meandering pace while he ducks between shadows, rolls from cover to cover and sticks to the walls in an effort to avoid being spotted by nonexistent cameras and guards.
  174.  
  175. He eventually leads me to the track. "What are we doing here?"
  176. He shushes me harshly.
  177. "What are we doing here," I whisper, crouching next to him in the shadow of the bleachers.
  178. "Supplies," he says. He darts away from me across the track, jacket billowing behind him dramatically. Getting into the spirit, I follow.
  179. I could use the exercise, I try to reason with the rational, sober side of my brain.
  180.  
  181. We make it to a small building tucked off to the side of the track field. "What is this place," I whisper as I meet up with him, catching my breath.
  182. "Track shed. They keep all the good stuff in here."
  183. Kenji sneaks around the shed twice, checking for traps and cameras. Pleased that none are visible, though I don't know why there would be, he checks the door, finding it sealed with a massive, heavy padlock. "Maybe you should have checked that first."
  184. "Shut up, Hisao."
  185. "How are we going to get in?" I ask.
  186.  
  187. We? I guess I'm part of the conspiracy now.
  188.  
  189. "I got this," Kenji says with a smirk. He pulls from his pocket a long, oddly shaped piece of metal and begins to fiddle with the lock.
  190. I shake my head. "Kenji, you'll never get it like that."
  191. "Have some faith, Hisao. I've done this before."
  192.  
  193. Kenji keeps messing with the lock while I keep lookout. The last thing we need is one of the few security guards to come by and find us.
  194. I hear a click and turn to find Kenji opening the track shed door. "I can't believe you did it," I say. "Good job, Kenji!"
  195.  
  196. He smiles victoriously. "Thanks! I've practiced a lot on the rooms in the dorms! The door locks are a lot harder than this one was."
  197. I glare at him a little. "Have you ever broken into my room?"
  198. He stops and stammers a reply. "Well, no, not technically, only to check up on you. It's not breaking and entering unless I actually enter, it's just breaking and no one gets charged with that."
  199. "That's trespassing."
  200. "Whatever. It's like getting charged with battery and not assault, it's just stupid. I told you, I'd never invade man's privacy!"
  201.  
  202. I'm a little uneasy with the possibility of him gaining access to my room, but I put it off to the side for later, reminding myself to get a really good lock at some point, maybe follow Kenji's example of paranoia and set up a booby trap or two.
  203.  
  204. We sneak into the track shed, Kenji falling over, his feet catching on the raised lip of the doorway. I step over him and he clambers to his feet in a fighting stance. "I can't see anything in here! What's happening?"
  205. I glare into the dark before fumbling a bit and turning the flashlight on. "Looks like a bunch of stuff all piled up. Mats and hurdles and some sports balls. A lot of orange cones, too."
  206. "Hey, those mats will be great for the fort! Grab one!"
  207. "Kenji, I am not lugging a huge mat onto the roof. It must weigh a ton. I could die!"
  208. "Fine! You're such a wuss! Grab the cones, I'll get the balls. Those are just what we need!"
  209.  
  210. We go about ransacking the place. I stack a few cones and carry them out, setting them on the ground outside. I find some nice gloves and put them on for the hell of it. Kenji is throwing stuff around, most of it out onto the track, ending up half bent over some of the rolling mats, rummaging through stuff. He pulls back and shouts in delight, a cone on his head at a jaunty angle.
  211.  
  212. "What is it? What did you find?"
  213.  
  214. Kenji sits up on the mats and holds something in the air victoriously. "I forgot the booze, but I found some hidden here!"
  215. "No way! Who would hide alcohol in a track shed?"
  216. "Maybe the track team likes to party between laps, I don't know." Kenji inspects the bottle for a long time.
  217. "Well, what is it?" I ask.
  218. He sniffs it. "I'm not sure. I think it's lemon schnapps!"
  219. "I don't know; that could have been here for a while."
  220. "Yeah, but if someone isn't going to watch their stash, it's their own fault! I don't usually go for fruity drinks, but I'm desperate right now!"
  221. I turn my nose up. "Don't drink that, that would be stupid."
  222.  
  223. Kenji stares at me. "Dare me."
  224. "What?"
  225. "Dare me to drink it!"
  226. "Why?"
  227. "Then it won't be stupid, it'll be for glory and honor!"
  228. "I don't think this is a good idea...."
  229. "Do it!"
  230. I sigh, resigned to the idea. "Fine. I dare you."
  231.  
  232. Kenji stares at the bottle.
  233. He drinks it.
  234. He glares at the bottle, then at me, a perturbed expression on his face.
  235.  
  236. "Well?" I ask. "How is it?"
  237.  
  238. Kenji glares at the bottle again.
  239.  
  240. "Tastes like shit," he says, hurling the bottle across the room where it bounces into a corner. "Fucking froo-froo drinks! What the hell? It's coating my mouth! Ugh! I knew chick drinks were bad, but this is terrible! Why would you ruin the fine product of alcohol with that trash! Ugh! Lets get back to the roof, I need to wash my mouth out!"
  241.  
  242. ----------------------------------------
  243.  
  244. 2-2: http://pastebin.com/XriQeHzk
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