Music-Box Angel 2... C&C is welcomed with open arms! I didn't
put this at the top of my first episode, and, as can be expected,
I didn't get much C&C. So, to the top it goes! If you read,
please send me a comment or two -- I just gotta know what y'all
think! ^_^
For the sake of convenience in this text format, the two Maries
are known under different spellings. Hiroshi's creation is known
as Marie, while the human version is known as Mari.
Thoughts of the various characters are encased in [brackets].
Computer conversations are encased /like so/.
NOTE: This text was produced without the consent of the original
copyright holders, and, while it is intended as tribute, in some
areas it is considered an illegal work.
OUR STORY SO FAR: Yesterday morning, Marie began hearing a voice
in her head. At first it was antagonistic, then it disappeared
altogether. That afternoon, Hiroshi got a new progressive rock
CD, and, after playing the music for Mari, decided that music may
be the way to bridge the gap of interests they have. Struck with
a plan, he decided to make a music box with the ultimate song to
woo Mari and give them something beautiful in common. That
evening, Marie had a dream and met her mental companion, a 12-year
old girl named Hitomi, who claims to have had a relationship with
Hiroshi long ago...
------------ -------- ------ -------- ------------
* * *
B O K U N O M A R I E
Music-Box Angel
Episode Two: Mind Drive
The anime (c) 1996 Sakura Takeuchi/Goro Sanyo/Shueisha/
Victor Entertainment/Studio Pierrot.
Licensed by Victor Entertainment, Inc., Japan.
Released in North America by A.D.V. Films
under the title "My Dear Marie."
For more information, contact A.D.V. Films at: info@advfilms.com
Boku No Marie: Music-Box Angel (c) 1998 Matthew Johnston.
All Rights Reserved.
* * *
Saturday Morning.
Marie sat up exactly at six, fumbled a moment with her
slippers, then walked mechanically to the kitchen. As she began
preparing breakfast for Hiroshi, she thought about Hitomi, and
what she could be. If she was just a renegade routine, a bit of
bad data manifesting itself throughout her systems, then why did
she have such a history, and such a coherent one?
Marie eventually decided that this Hitomi couldn't be a bug
in the traditional sense. She wasn't a random logical error or
syntax mistake. Hitomi had to be pre-programmed.
[But why would Hiroshi put her in my system?] Marie found
she could again think without speaking; Hitomi's presence in
Marie's mind was barely there, a cool breathing of awareness,
smooth like a sleeping child. As long as Hitomi slept, Marie had
full control of her faculties.
[And when...?]
Before she knew it, she had prepared breakfast, but it wasn't
what she had intended on making. At least, she didn't think it
was.
[I must not be getting enough power,] she mused. [I just
hope I made *this* right.] Marie sighed, then grinned impishly.
[Time to wake the sleeping giant.]
Marie began taking fiendish delight in waking Hiroshi up only
days after she realized it was more fun than just about any other
chore she had around the house. She practiced her creativity and
sense of humor on him each morning. Some methods of waking him up
were simple, even elegant in their effectiveness. Others dwelled
happily in the overtly complex and dramatic. Today, she decided
for a more direct approach. The classic early wake-up.
"Good morning!" Marie drug the still snoring Hiroshi from
his bed and began walking to the kitchen.
"Wha... what do you think you're doing?" Hiroshi struggled
to focus his eyes on his wristwatch.
"Time for breakfast!"
"Six in the morning?!?" Hiroshi lunged back and grabbed his
door frame with one hand. "It's six in the morning! On a
Saturday! It's time for six more hours of sleep! Now, let go,
before I UV your EPROM's!"
Marie kept walking as Hiroshi's grip dwindled to a mere
pinkie of its former hand. "No, it's time for breakfast. I made
your favorite! At least, I think I did..." Marie felt her load
lighten, and turned to see the final moments of Hiroshi's mad
scramble back to his bed.
"What's the matter?" Marie leaned against the door frame, a
nervous grin playing on her face. "Don't you like my cooking?"
"It's fine, really. I just didn't get to bed until late."
Hiroshi rolled over and tried to wish her someplace else.
"Like you can talk. I didn't sleep at all last night."
Marie turned towards the kitchen. "Here, I'll bring it to you.
You'll love it!"
"You were up all night? But I saw you sleeping." Hiroshi
sat up as Marie entered the room, tray in hand.
"Well now. I haven't had this in a while. Thanks!" Hiroshi
smiled and dove into his meal with an enthusiasm borne of sheer
male hunger.
"This is... really good... You should try making this more
often." Hiroshi complimented between bites.
"Thanks. Though, I don't really remember how to make it."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't remember ever making it before, or learning how to
make it, or making it, or anything." The more Marie thought about
it, the more it scared her.
"Really. That sounds pretty serious." After he finished off
the last of his breakfast, he handed the tray to Marie. "Well,
since you have some other things I need to check out, let's go
down and check out what's wrong with you."
"Wrong?" Marie followed Hiroshi out of the room, mulling the
conversation over in her mind. But then it disappeared.
"Where are we going?"
"To the lab." Hiroshi stopped suddenly. "This is really
serious, isn't it?"
"What is?"
"Marie?" Worry soaked Hiroshi's voice.
"Is that my name?"
"Oh crap!" Hiroshi turned to see Marie standing, smiling
pleasantly. He reached around and, as she protested, flipped her
switch off.
"What's wrong with you?" Hiroshi hefted his sister under an
arm and half carried, half dragged her to his workshop. Clearing
his workbench with his free arm, he gingerly set Marie down on it
and stripped her. Once her main chest panel was accessible, he
connected her to his workstation, and waited for her to reboot.
It was going to take a while.
It was well after ten in the morning before the workstation's
status program beeped and produced:
/MarieOS kernel .......... activated/
/MarieOS libraries ....... not activated -- libraries 002, 007,
102 missing. Please reinstall from master copy/
Hiroshi whapped the computer monitor. "That can't be right!
They're set in ROM. They can't just disappear." He began typing
furiously, communicating with the status program at a speed even
he thought impossible.
After a number of minutes and failed leads, the status
program produced a series of messages that caused Hiroshi to wince
in pain.
"No wonder!" Hiroshi produced a mini-recorder from a pile of
miscellaneous junk on the computer desk and hit 'record.'
"Saturday, April 17th, 10:52 AM. Marie has shut down, unable
to properly access her mind drives. Drive A is full and Drive B
is inaccessible. Apparently, she dumped her entire OS kernel into
the Drive A, and was running from that, which left no room for her
short-term memory. What's worse, Drive B holds most of her
collected knowledge base, and it's completely messed up. I'm
going to clear Drive A, then remove Drive B and run a low-level
diagnostic on it. Maybe I can salvage some of the temp files and
reconstruct some of the memory files."
Hiroshi cursed himself for not having the money to buy
another FlashRAM array. As it was, Marie cost more than was
really his to spend, especially once he factored in college loans.
He knew she was running on borrowed time, but he had hoped she
would last until summer vacation. He could have backed her up
then. Hiroshi smiled darkly and asked the ceiling, "This is a
karma thing, right?"
The ceiling responded; the doorbell rang. Hiroshi's mind
raced through the logical path: [lost CD; tennis club; Mari or
Tanaka; not good; must hide; can't hide, dummy!; must answer; not
dressed!!] The doorbell rang again. Hiroshi ran upstairs,
accidentally hitting the "auto-open" button next to the door
before stopping on the Persian rug, realizing what he had done.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Mari saw Hiroshi slide by in his pajamas, one leg firmly on a
Persian rug, one waving with his arms as he disappeared to her
left. She stifled a giggle as she heard a muffled crash, followed
closely by the 'whirrr' of a vacuum cleaner, a number of boxes
falling, a few colorful metaphors, and a choked scream. A number
of quick stomps preceded Hiroshi as he appeared, stiffly walking
to meet her.
"Please enter!! Welcome to my humble home!! What brings you
here?!?" Hiroshi's hair was sticking straight out on one side,
and a number of dust bunnies hung from the ends. The pastel pink
shirt he wore was on backwards, and too small for him. His pants,
also pink, seemed a few sizes too small; when Hiroshi tried to put
his hand from his pocket to seem relaxed, it got stuck, and he had
to struggle for a few seconds to yank it out.
Mari couldn't stifle her laughter anymore. Even though she
covered her face with her hands, she couldn't keep her laughter
quiet. With tears in her eyes and bent over in a guffaw, she
apologized profusely.
"I'm. (HAHHAHH!) Sorry. (hahahaha) I'm s-(hahah) I'm s-
(hahaha) I'm so- (hehehe) I'm soooo sorry. (hahaheheha) Are you
okay?" Mari wiped the tears from her eyes and sighed in mirth.
As she stepped towards Hiroshi to wipe the dust bunnies from
his hair, Hiroshi didn't move, or seem embarrassed. Strangely
enough, he didn't seem to be moving at all. Mari's laughing spell
disappeared when she became aware of the subtle shaking of
Hiroshi's body. He stood, vibrating, but not making any other
move.
Mari pulled her hand back to her chest. She looked down at
the ground, ashamed at her lack of consideration.
"I... I'm..." [Why can't I say it?] The sound of Hiroshi's
CD case rattling in her hand made Mari aware of her own trembling.
She bowed and extended her hands, the CD case firmly in their
shared grasp.
"You left your CD in the tennis club office yesterday. I
came to return it. Please accept my apology." Mari's voice
cracked, and she almost didn't finish the sentence, but something
inside reminded her that the crush was his, not hers. Mari wasn't
sure she entirely agreed anymore.
"I listened to it last night. But I was very careful with
it." Mari found herself stammering like Hiroshi did yesterday.
She closed her mouth before she could do any more verbal damage.
Something inside Hiroshi clicked. For a moment, everything
was okay. Better than okay. Marie's crash was bad, but there
wasn't much he could do but hit the start button and wait for a
few hours while the diagnostic program hopefully worked. And Mari
had listened to the album. [Marie listened to the album!]
"All of it?" Hiroshi had to know.
Mari nodded, still staring at her feet. Hiroshi stepped
forward and lifted the CD from her hands. Marie looked up, and
smiled, but not because of Hiroshi's still ridiculous state. She
couldn't pinpoint when she felt it or what it was, but it wasn't
unpleasant.
"May I come in?" [Why spoil the moment?] Mari grinned
inwardly. [Maybe I can have an intelligent conversation with him
now that he isn't completely *terrified* of being alone near me.]
Everything that was right in Hiroshi's world disappeared,
instantly, and brutally. Hiroshi's brain, ever abreast of the
situation, told his heart that there just wasn't enough oxygen
getting to the brain; Mari had asked to come in, implying an
extended visit. Hiroshi's brain recoiled from the new situation.
"Ex... tend... ed... vissssure!! Please wait comfortably in
the living room!! I will... return!! Momentarily!!" Hiroshi
sprinted to his room and tried to find anything clean and his
size. He found a bunch of gray stuff in the corner (which turned
out to be a plain tee-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts), and
decided they would have to do.
Mari had just taken a seat on the plush couch when Hiroshi
stomped down the staircase. He avoided her gaze as he flopped
into the leather armchair across from her spot on the couch, and
continued to look elsewhere as he spoke.
"Did you like it?"
"Like what? Oh, the CD." Mari's hesitation seemed like a
month. "Well, some tracks were better than others, but on the
whole..."
"They recorded it in only a week." The enthusiasm Hiroshi
had when he last expounded on the album was gone, replaced by what
Hiroshi would have described as an 'ultra-cool blase'. He didn't
realize that Mari was only receiving the 'ultra' and 'blase' parts
of his behavior.
"Did *you* like it?" Mari tried looking Hiroshi in the eye,
but every time he looked her way, he quickly looked another.
"Well, like you said, some tracks are better than others."
Hiroshi knew he was doing it wrong. He could feel it in his
bones. But he couldn't do a thing about it. He knew that if he
tried to be himself, things would fall farther than normal. He
found himself wondering what Tanaka would do when she asked
another question.
"Where's Marie?"
"She's out shopping or something. I don't like to keep
tabs."
"I see." Marie blinked and decided to give it one more try.
"So, have you heard the new Miyamura Yuko album?"
* * *
Tanaka always prided himself on his timing. As a tennis
player and his generation's Casanova, he knew timing was
essential. He also prided himself on his memory, though at times,
he cursed it. Especially moments like yesterday afternoon.
As he pulled out of his driveway, he knew exactly where he
needed to go. Mari was usually punctual, and would want to
deliver Hiroshi's CD to him first thing.
Tanaka replayed yesterday's conversation; he couldn't let it
rest in his mind quite yet.
"What are you trying to do to the poor kid?" Mari had made
sure she was a good ten feet from the tennis club door, and was
keeping her voice down. It didn't lose its furious tone, though.
"What do you mean?" Luv-Fifteen.
[Smooth, Tanaka. Real smooth.] Tanaka barely made it
through a yellow light.
"You know exactly what I mean." Marie turned and walked
seven paces forward, to the edge of the stairs. She took one
half-step down, then back up. "I'm walking home."
"What are you getting so worked up about? Look, Mari," he
walked to Mari and touched her shoulder. Luv-Thirty.
[Too soon. She needed space.] Tanaka turned left onto
Hiroshi's street, cutting off a subcompact car in the leftmost
lane.
"You can't walk home -- it's like three miles!"
"You're not driving me home today. Not until you apologize
to Hiroshi for what you said."
"What? I didn't say anything!" Tanaka knew he was messing
up hard-core, but he couldn't stop.
"I heard you call him a geek."
"You *heard* that?" Luv-Forty.
Tanaka almost missed Hiroshi's house altogether. He braked
hard and managed to stop a few feet past the stone staircase that
led to Hiroshi's house.
"Yes I heard it. And I saw the looks you were giving him.
Until you apologize, I'm not hanging out with you any more. I'm
not even going..." Mari turned around and gave Tanaka a look he
hadn't seen since the tenth grade. It was like she was enjoying
her power over him. "I'm not even going to speak to you until you
apologize to him." Game.
"What? You can't be serious! C'mon, Mari, lemme take you
home." But Mari was already halfway down the stairs. Tanaka
followed at a distance, making sure to avoid her ever growing
'space' that he wasn't to enter.
[But she's right,] Tanaka mused. [She does have power.] He
stepped out of the car, and prepared his apology.
"Hiroshi. I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I'd like to
make it up to you if possible. Maybe you me and Mari can go out
for ice cream?" Tanaka shook his head as he started up the steps.
"Perhaps you, Mari and I can go out for coffee?" [Much better.]
As Tanaka stepped to the doorway, he felt himself ready.
"With luck," he smiled. "Mari's still here, and I can apologize
in front of her. That'd be perfect."
The double doors burst open, and Mari ran from the entrance
hall directly into Tanaka's arms. Tanaka looked first at Mari,
then accusingly at Hiroshi, who stood, wooden and dumbfounded, a
few feet inside the house.
"What'd you do to her?" Tanaka's mind raced with thoughts
that would have made Mari slap him silly. "You didn't..."
Mari slapped Tanaka. "And I'm *still* not talking to you!"
She pushed herself from Tanaka's arms and stormed from the
property. Tanaka looked at Hiroshi, who looked at him with the
same confused look as Tanaka had.
"What'd you do to her?" Both spoke simultaneously. Tanaka
replied first. "It's a long story. Oh, I almost forgot." Tanaka
turned and called to the upset girl walking down the stairs.
"Mari! Wait! Just a moment!"
Marie didn't even turn around. "I'm not riding home with
you!" Hiroshi smiled inwardly as he listened intently.
"That's okay! I'm here to... to apologize to Hiroshi!"
Hiroshi started at the words, and stiffened when Tanaka turned
back to Hiroshi. Tanaka's eyes looked sincere, but Hiroshi was
still a little wary.
"Look, Hiroshi," Hiroshi noted that Tanaka wasn't yelling.
He looked over Tanaka's shoulder and saw that Mari was standing
three steps from the bottom, watching them.
"You're doing this because Mari's angry, right?"
"Nonono! Well..." Tanaka chuckled nervously. "But I am
sorry. Sincerely. I mean it, pal. I was a... jerk yesterday. I
stepped over the line. Do ya forgive me?"
Hiroshi grinned. "APOLOGY ACCEPTED!" Two old women across
the street looked Hiroshi's way.
Tanaka rubbed his neck and chuckled again. "Oookay, well
then. Oh, where's Marie?" Tanaka stretched to get a look inside.
Hiroshi's intake of breath made a high-pitched shriek.
"She's... out shopping! Yeah, that's it, out shopping!"
Hiroshi began pushing Tanaka away from the doorway.
"Hey, Hiroshi, why don't we go out to coffee tonight? You
me, and the girls, okay? You can apologize to Mari, cause it
looks like you need to, and we'll all have a good time. Whaddya
say?"
"S-s-s-ure! Anything! For... a... pal! Hehehegoodbyenow!"
Hiroshi successfully pushed Tanaka away from the doorway and far
enough away to run inside and shut the door before Tanaka could
get his eager head inside.
"So I'll pick you guys up around seven?"
"Okay! Bye now!"
"heheh... What a..." Tanaka saw Mari still standing at the
steps, smiling. "...guy."
Marie nodded. "Good job. I didn't know you had it in you."
She gave Tanaka a little jab in the ribs when he stepped up to
her. She took two steps as he stood rubbing his ribs. "Now that
you've apologized," she giggled. "I need a ride, okay?"
Hiroshi caught his breath as Tanaka's car squealed away.
"This is not good," he commented ruefully. "Why on Earth did I
say yes?"
Realization and determination fought their way back into
Hiroshi. "Now I *have* to fix Marie and finish my Ultimate Gift!
It's the only way to apologize to Mari." Hiroshi thought for a
long while. "But if Marie doesn't show, Tanaka will get
suspicious."
* * *
Saturday, 7:12 PM.
Marie lay still as death on the worktable, her chest panel
open. A number of wires flowed from her various ports to
Hiroshi's workstation. Despite it's significant power, it was not
working fast enough. Hiroshi tapped a finger on the side of the
keyboard as the little stopwatch icon turned a forever circle,
giving no hint as to when it would finish its low-level scan of
Mind Drive B, the deceivingly miniature FlashRAM array.
Hiroshi had tried a number of techniques to access Marie's
knowledge base -- the most recent attempt involved booting his
workstation up emulating MarieOS. It was doing the best it could,
but speed wasn't its strong suit.
The text window that the emulated MarieOS used for
communication was empty; Hiroshi didn't dare hope to see anything
fill that screen, but looked at it every few moments as he scanned
each line of hexadecimal code that appeared in the scanning
program's text window. He couldn't wait for any translation, not
that he really needed. He knew what phrases he was looking for.
"I should have paid more attention. When she said she was
hearing voices, I should have known what was going on. I could
have looked. It would have only taken a second or two." The
drive finished scanning, and produced the message: /Bootable
partition found. Mount?/
"Here goes nothing." Hiroshi pressed the 'Y' key, and
waited. Thirteen seconds passed as the computer hummed in
compliance, the workstation desperately trying to emulate the
horde of processors Marie housed in her brain.
Slowly, but steadily, letters appeared in the 'Marie
Communication' window. As each word appeared, Hiroshi grew more
hopeful.
/Hiroshi?/ [She remembers my name!]
/Where am I?/ Hiroshi typed his response.
/You are being emulated by my workstation. Are you okay?/
After sixty agonizing seconds, the emulated Marie responded,
/Yes. Why am I being emulated?/
/Long story. Can you access your long-term knowledge base?/
Hiroshi closed his eyes, afraid of her response. He waited a good
half-minute before opening them.
Marie had written /Yes. Why?/
/Can you copy the files you have accessed most in the last
month to the Workstation Drive C?/ Hiroshi looked around for his
glass of water, but when he found it, it was empty. He refilled
it and returned to his chair.
/There's not enough room for all of them./
/Choose 9 GB worth./
Again, the computer whirred as the workstation's hard drive
slowly filled.
/Why am I doing this?/
/Long story. I'm going to shut you down now, and boot you up
with the hard drive./
/Will I be okay?/
/You'll be fine./
/Okay. Thank you for helping me./
Hiroshi felt a tear fall on his palm as he powered everything
down. He unplugged the hard drive from the workstation and
connected it to Marie.
[At least I was able to *get* to her memories.] Hiroshi knew
that what he had was no solution, but the problem wasn't getting
any worse.
Hiroshi managed to fit the hard drive, which was much larger
than both FlashRAM arrays, in amongst the wires, and was able to
close the door most of the way, but it wouldn't latch. Hiroshi
did, however, find his roll of duct tape, and he ran the roll
around her chest a few times to secure the door. He turned on the
power switch and went upstairs to change into something more
appropriate for a restaurant.
"I hope that she doesn't dump her ROM into that hard drive,
or else there'll be real trouble." Hiroshi searched for his good
shirt. "But, otherwise, if she isn't stressed too much between
activities, she'll do okay." Hiroshi found his shirt and
proceeded to button. "I just have to give her time to load the
right files." Hiroshi re-buttoned his good shirt so the holes
matched the buttons.
After struggling with his pants, socks, shoes and the
unfamiliar territory of the tie and jacket, he descended
downstairs, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.
"She should be able to talk at least, and walk. That's all
inboard now. But other activities..." Marie was standing at the
entrance to the workshop, smiling sweetly, but, wearing only the
strips of duct tape.
Hiroshi sniffled a small stream of blood before he asked,
"Marie?"
"Hello, Hiroshi." A long pause. "I seem to be running a
little slow. Why?"
"I had to transfer your knowledge base to hard drive because
Mind Drive B isn't working. I also replaced your ROM's with the
old ones from before the last upgrade, but it still couldn't
access Drive B." Hiroshi looked away ashamedly. "The only reason
you're awake in this sad shape is because you have to come with me
to coffee tonight. Mari and Tanaka are worried about you, and I'm
out of excuses."
Another pause. "I see. It's okay, I understand. But how
are you going to explain my pauses?" Marie's voice was worried.
"I'm not. You're going to dump your conversation libraries
and talk up a storm while you wait for the right files to load.
I'll try to keep the conversation light. Oh no!" Hiroshi ran
past Marie downstairs, and returned with a small silver box and a
smaller black box. "I need a song for the music box. Marie, do
you remember how music works?"
Marie tried out her conversation technique as she looked for
the file on the drive. "Lemme see... Well that all depends, I
suppose. What type of music?"
"Any type, just hurry! It's almost eight!" Hiroshi found
the end of the duct tape and ran three quick circles around her.
She screamed and hugged herself around the stripped skin.
"I'm so sorry! I need to get in here!" He yanked a cable
from Marie's innards, and connected it to the black box.
"It's okay." Marie paused, then wiped a tear from her eye.
"This is for Mari, right?"
"One thing at a time. Do you know how to write music?"
"I've never tried before, but I think I can. What kind of
music?"
"Something sweet. It's for a music-box." Hiroshi started
upstairs, turned, and added, "Oh, and keep the instrumentation
light. One instrument, maybe two." Marie closed her eyes and
began to work.
Hiroshi tapped her on the shoulder. "But make sure it's
impressive."
Marie nodded and returned to work.
Another tap at Marie's shoulder. "But not too complex."
Marie sighed. "Okay. Impressive, not too complex, et
cetera, et cetera."
"Exactly!"
Marie closed her eyes again and resumed her work. It took
quite a few minutes, and Hiroshi paced the workshop waiting for
her. He was about to tell her to forget it when she spoke.
"I think Mari will like this song." Marie sounded unusually
calm as she opened her eyes.
"Great!" Hiroshi yanked the box from the cord and stuffed it
in the small silver box. After some struggle, he managed to
attach the mirror on top of the box, thus completing the gift.
"Aren't you going to listen to it?"
"No time. Gotta get ready."
"How about some nice clothes?" Marie looked down at her
naked body and suddenly became very self-conscious.
"Say, how did you know it was for Mari?"
"Just a guess." Marie smiled. "Are you going to confess to
her tonight?"
"No. I'm apologizing."
"Oh, for what? What happened? Did you and Mari talk? What
did you do? It must have been a fight or something. Doesn't it
figure though, all the good stuff happens while I'm gone."
"Well, you seem to be doing okay for conversation. Can you
walk and talk at the same time?"
Marie took a tentative step while saying, "I'm not sure. I
guess I can try. I guess so!"
"Good. You try walking up the stairs some, and I'll get you
some clothes. Tanaka will be here any second."
Fate was with Hiroshi for the moment; Tanaka didn't show
until after Marie was fully dressed in her best long skirt and
blouse. It wasn't easy, but Hiroshi managed to help Marie into
her clothes. As Tanaka honked his horn a second time, Marie faced
Hiroshi in the closed doorway. She smiled gently and adjusted his
tie.
"You'll do fine tonight. Have you got the box?"
"Yep."
"Got your keys?"
"Yep."
"Did you remember deodorant?"
Hiroshi paused, then nodded.
"Wonderful." Marie frowned. "This won't do." She untied
Hiroshi's tie and dropped it on the entry table. After
unbuttoning the top button of his shirt, and a bit of adjusting,
Marie stepped back and smiled, apparently proud of her work.
"There!" She announced. "You look ready to win her over
again." Marie didn't move. "Give me a second here to collect my
thoughts, and we'll be off, okay! You're going to do great.
Trust me. I know Mari. She'll love it. Especially since it's
from you."
"Really?"
"Of course 'really!'" Marie finally stepped beside Hiroshi
and opened the door. "Now, take a deep breath. Here we go."
Tanaka was about to give up on Marie and Hiroshi when the
door opened. There she was, looking wonderful, stately, calmer
than normal (even though she always seemed calm), smiling like a
Venus.
She descended the staircase delicately, almost floating down.
At the bottom, she waited patiently while Hiroshi scrambled to
open the back door for her. After a proper amount of time
perfectly fit for a young woman learning the art of the debutante,
she climbed in, smooth like a silken-clad doll...
Mari jabbed Tanaka in the ribs, a little harder than before.
"Stop staring, Tanaka," she mumbled. Coolly, she greeted Hiroshi.
"How are you doing, Hiroshi?"
Hiroshi flushed and meekly answered, "F-fine. And yourself?"
"Oh, I'm still, how did you put it? 'Simple but
Intriguing.'"
Marie held her breath. After a moment, she looked at Hiroshi
and whispered, "You called her that?"
"No. Well, not exactly." Hiroshi returned the whisper. "It
was a misunderstanding."
"There was no misunderstanding." Mari remained icy.
"Well then, shall we go to Cafe Pierrot?" Tanaka pulled out
into the empty street.
"That sounds fine. If it's not too repetitive for Hiroshi.
We have been there *once* already."
Hiroshi never had time to recover from his last flush; his
cheeks flared anew. "That would be wonderful. I'd like that a
lot." Hiroshi tried not to growl through his gritted teeth,
[This is going to be a very long night.] Marie exhaled
slowly.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I decided, after writing episode one and half of this episode,
that I wasn't enjoying myself as much as I should be. So, after
watching BNM for the umpteenth time to get my bearings in the Cute
Zone, I started taking a slightly warmer approach. I'm not going
completely UberWAF with the story, but I am trying to stay closer
to the original manic-but-happy feel. It's lots more fun to
write! ^_^
When I posted the first draft of the first episode, I mentioned
that I thought mine was the first BNM fic publicly posted. I was
corrected, and now I stand there. Chris Davies posted the first
known Boku No Marie fanfic, "And Then ..." on August 31, 1998,
five days before I posted mine. Huzzah for the pioneers of BNM
fanfiction! ^_^
Continuity: Some of you have asked when the story takes place in
relation to the anime. It takes place 9 months after episode 3 of
the anime, in the springtime of the next year.
Technical aspects: The anime gave next to no specific info on
what Marie had "under the hood." As a result, I'm forced to
speculate on nearly everything. If the tech-talk sounds
impossible, e-mail me with a more appropriate substitute and I'll
take it under consideration, but on the whole, you'll just have to
live with it. After all, it's only science fiction. ^_^
Miyamura Yuko: A J-Pop star, and voice-actress for Marie in the
Boku no Marie anime.
"We have been there *once* already.": Just to jog your memory,
part of Hiroshi and Mari's date in episode one of the anime was
going to Cafe Pierrot for coffee.
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