hikaruorkaoru | Ninth Pattern ; video

Ninth Pattern ; video

[Between make-up and natural recovery, Hikaru looks pretty good now. Definitely not like he got a beat down awhile ago. He looks at the camera, one brow arched.]

So. 'Bout that whole. "Evil Valentine's Day" thing people kept going on and on and on about...

This was kind of anti-climactic, y'know?

I mean. Seriously. Nothing.

Booooring.

[Someone doesn't know not to tempt fate, obviously.]

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You're really Japanese and you don't know? I see...

[She seems noticeably put out by that, but with a deep breath Erica carries on talking so she can explain.]

It's something Japanese people have on their heads. You need a license to have one, so I was wondering what happened to yours since you don't have a chonmage.

...Your world sounds really weird.

Eh, weird?! It can't be that weird, can it? It's really a wonderful world, even if you have a chonmage license or not!

It definitely sounds weird.

[For a moment it seems as though Erica might cry, but her expression suddenly shifts to a much more determined one. Perhaps Hikaru is from a part of Japan that just doesn't have chonmage yet! How horrible. He's missing out.]

It might only sound weird because you've never heard of a chonmage before. If you want, I can show you what one looks like!

Sure. Why not?

And why do people have it? Like... why do they need a license? What is it for?

I am not sure! [She sure sounds confident considering she gave the world's most unhelpful answer.] But I had heard all Japanese people had one, and a very close friend of mine told me you need a license to have one. So I've been training!

[That said, Erica starts grabbing clumps of her hair and begins trying to style it as best she can. Now she's trying to go for something like this, but with long hair she really isn't doing a good job of showing what a chonmage is supposed to look like... Though even if her hair was shorter and you really used your imagination she still wouldn't be able to make it look anything like a chonmage.]

This is my best chonmage! I think... Ahaha, this is much easier to do in front of a mirror.

[Hikaru stares for a moment and then, slowly, asks a very important question:]

What year are you from?

The year? Let me see... 1926.

[Erica lets go of her hair while she thinks, letting it messily fall down over her face.]

...Oh. Well. That... kind of explains it.

I'm from, like, almost eighty years later.

Oh, eighty years, I see... Wha-?! Are you a time traveler, Hikaru?!

[Clearly that's the most logical explanation here.]

Guess I kind of am! But it's more this place. It pulls people from different times.

...Of course, in my world, the chonmage [seeing it and thinking about it? the chord had finally been struck] was pretty much in the Edo era... which ended, like, two hundred years ago. Eighteen hundreds.

... So it's Luceti's doing, how wonderful. [Ah Luceti, bringing people together. More importantly however-]

But wait, if the chonmage was around all that time ago, then... Then does that mean that no one has one anymore? And what about the license?

I... think sumo wrestlers still have them? But I don't know any, so I could be wrong...

But. Yeah. No one wears that, like, every day.

Oh thank goodness! Hearing that a few people might still have them is a huge relief, even if they don't always have them.

[Though if that's the case then that means mister Ogami lied to her back home. Oh dear... If he ever shows up she'll need to ask him about chonmage again.]

Well. I know... worlds here aren't always the same histories. From what I've heard. So they... might still be common where you're from. Some... alternate history or... something.

Ah, so people might still have them after all! If worlds can be the same, only they have different pasts to other similar worlds, so they're really different all along then... Ahaha, this place can get very confusing with all the different worlds and times people are from.

Yeah, I basically just roll with it, y'know? Stuff's too weird otherwise.

I see! That sounds like some very good advice. Perhaps I should try rolling with it as well! ... Though I should clear some space on the floor before I try that.

[... ... ... Nope. It's too good.]

Definitely.

It works better with carpet. You build up static electricity, which passes to your brain, and makes you better understand the weird way things work here.

[He actually says all this with a straight face, very intently.]

[Goodness, she had no idea that understanding this place could be so easy!]

There's a carpet here! [Though she's still staying in the welcome center, so it's going to take some time for her to move some of the furniture around in the room she's staying in so she can actually perform a roll.] Please wait a moment, I'll let you know when I'm ready to roll with it.

[Erica gives the journal a determined nod before she starts moving some furniture around, starting by pushing her bed as far up against the wall as she can get it.]

Yeah. I need to get a drink.

[Which is as good an excuse as any to close the journal temporarily, go into the kitchen, and laugh like a maniac. Until he cries, actually.

That done, able to control himself again, he fixes himself a cup of coffee and returns to the journal, opening it again.]

Okay, back!

You're just in time, I'm ready to roll with it now! Here I go...

[With a smile, Erica sets up the journal on the floor so it can catch her doing her roll. There's no way she'll crash into any furniture now with how spaced out everything is!

With a count down from three, Erica crouches down and goes into a forward roll! While she doesn't manage to hit any furniture, she does manage to slam her head into the wall when she comes out of the roll instead. Crying out, Erica falls back and knocks the journal over as she flops onto the carpet.]

I... I did it!? [She's torn between laughing sheepishily and whining as she rubs the new bump on her head. Ow.]

That was great!

[Hikaru gives a big, big grin, managing not to laugh outright. But, oh, Lord, it's funny. So, so funny. This is exactly what he needed!]

Now, if you do that once a day for a week, you should be just fine!

Once a day for a week...

[If this roll was anything to go off of then that sounds like it's going to hurt. A lot. But if she ends up understanding this place better as a result of her rolling then it'll all be okay.]

It will all be worth it in the end, so for that reason I will keep on rolling! Did you have to go through the same thing when you first showed up here as well?

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