EE Chapter 13

# Chapter Thirteen - "A Rude Awakening"

    My second morning in Kyoto started in a way I not only didn't expect, but in a way which I had specifically gone to lengths to avoid - Rinko's stupid face shouting only a few inches away from mine. Megumi I would have understood. Well, not shouting. I'm not sure I've ever even imagined Megumi *shouting*. It's far too unladylike for her, and even when I've caught her off her guard her voice doesn't seem to go above a mezzoforte unless she's singing. But waking up to find Megumi gazing at me in that "creepy but just a little bit cute if you ignore that she isn't half as subtle as she thinks she is" way that she does?

    *That* I wouldn't have been surprised by at all.

    "Ms. Hanazawa! Stop! You mustn't-" The room's owner entered the doorway on a flurry of tiny steps - as skilled as she is at moving in a kimono, she's no match for Rinko and her freakishly fast pace - and looked the most flustered I've ever seen her. I laughed out loud at the panicked face she was making despite being annoyed over my rude awakening, then pushed Rinko's dumb body up and away from me with a shove of my elephantine sleeping companion. With both hands. She still barely budged.

    "Wow, Megumi! Your room's great!"

    While I was still rubbing the sleep from my eyes, the intruder started running from wall to wall, fixture to fixture, trying to take in everything all at once like this was some kind of Megumi museum and she was aware closing time was imminent. "I used to have this game system too! Does it still work? You sure have a lot of books! Is that why you're so smart? You've always slept on a futon? I usually sleep in a bed so the futon was kind of weird! When you're on a bed, does that feel weird to you? Did you know Junko used to have that same poster hanging in her room too? Why do you have a boomera-"

    "Rinko! You can't just barge into someone's room like that without knocking first. Or I guess…" The girl's ever-present pink puppy dog came following after her, right on cue. She was so close to making a real point too, until she tripped herself up, probably wondering how you're supposed to knock on paper doors judging by the way she was tapping on Megumi's. Ignoring her own advice, she barged into the room as well to lecture her friend, only to get distracted by the thoroughly average surroundings just as Rinko had. This opened the floodgates to everyone else who were no doubt as curious as I had initially been, and before Megumi could dish out further chastisement the entire group was gathered in the room, soaking in Megumi's secrets. Dam-Bi flitted around much like our first intruder as they surveyed everything in an order that made no sense whatsoever to me. Kanon and Chiyo were pouring through the bookshelves, gawking at all the keepsakes Megumi had maintained.

    "It's all so cute! It's nothing like I would have expected! Megumin, I had no idea you had such a wide array of interests!"

    "*Adachi to…* I have the rest of some of these series…" The white-haired junior had pulled two volumes from Megumi's extensive library and held up one in each hand. "Want to borrow them when we get back?"

    "Megumi! You play videogames too?! You've gotta come play *Capsule Girls* with me and Kanon and Dam-Bi sometime! I bet you'd be really good at it!"

    By this point I had finished waking up, resituated my robe, and approached my friend who was watching in horror as her secret room was ransacked by the tiny barbarians who had invaded.

    "So much for a nice peaceful morning."

    "I'm so sorry, Eimi! I was helping finish up breakfast when they all showed up so we could eat together and asked where you were. I said I was letting you sleep in, and Ms. Hanazawa just… just…"

    "Well nothing you can do about it now. May as well let everyone know your deep, dark secret."

    I made sure to say "deep, dark secret" really loudly and with a spooky voice. It worked, and everyone stopped what they were doing - poking their noses around Megumi's room - and refocused on her. I pushed her forward so that she was fully in the room. The way I see it, it was too late for Megumi to put this genie back in the bottle, and from my own experience I knew that if these girls were curious about something they had already discovered then she would eventually relent and let it slip anyway. There's also the matter of our conversation a couple nights ago. Megumi doesn't always feel like people see who she really is. So, now they all do. It's probably a good thing, if you ask me. What's the worst that happens? Everyone knows she's a dork?

    "Well, you see everyone. I've always been completely truthful. I do genuinely love all the things that you think I do. Very, very much. But I like all sorts of things, just like everyone does. It's always been easier though to be who people have expected me to be. I do like being that person and have no intention of changing how I present myself to the public. But, I am terribly sorry for deceiving you."

    "Deceiving us? But if you really like all those things then you haven't done that at all, Megumin. This just means there are more fun things we can do with you!"

    "Right. You'll always be our Megumi. I used to like a lot of this same stuff. Rinko and I had almost all these things at our place. You're still our classiest member. If anything this makes you less intimidating."

    "Yeah! You need to come to a sleepover in our room so we can talk about all this stuff! We even have a futon you can use!"

    "And we need to go shopping so you can help me pick out my own yukata! I don't know the first thing about picking out one that's high quality and all of yours are so comfortable!"

    "And I still have a bajillion questions for you!"

    Everyone was circling closer and closer in their efforts to reassure Megumi and I found myself pushed completely out of the doorway and into the hall. They continued listing off things they needed to do with her now that she had been revealed as having something more than a one-track personality. This quickly escalated, as things tend to with some of them, into excited giggling, then into Rinko hugging her, and then everyone hugging her all at once. Except myself, of course. Who needs that frufru, touchy feely stuff anyway? Eventually though it was getting old, and I would really like to get changed back into my own clothes sometime today…

    "Ahem. Excuse me, please." The mass of idols momentarily let their attention drift in the direction of the sound. "This is all very touching, but could you please take it outside for a minute? I need the room to make the magic happen."

    They all seemed confused by my request. Dam-Bi whispered something too quiet to hear directly in Chiyo's ear, causing her to giggle uncontrollably. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was rude.

    "Out. Now. Please. Go eat, I'll be there in five minutes!"

    This got the point across, as one by one they filed out of the room, each one getting in one last hug before they left. They passed by wordlessly laughing, nearly in the order they had intruded, save Junko who exited last, looking familiarly sunburnt.

    "Eimi, you're, um…" She looked back at Megumi, who was smiling ear to ear from all the attention. "You may want to tighten your…"

    I was barely able to correct the embarrassing wardrobe malfunction once she ran by before I was basically tackled by the only other person remaining in the room.

    "Thank you, Ms. Inagawa!"

    "What'd I do?"

    She neglected to answer and I figured I wasn't going to be able to change until she got what she wanted - we can both be stubborn like that - and so we shared a warm, tight hug. Nothing weird, just a regular stupid hug like the other girls keep giving each other all the time. It's like they're obsessed with it.

    "Can I get dressed now?"

    "In another minute."

    "...fine…"

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