Matoi had grown up in Japan, and subsequently had experience dealing with Japanese men; few positive, and even those that were, she had no ability to see as anything other than some form of sly perversion. Not that she could not tolerate a few; yet she believed men were slower to mature than women, if they did at all, and this made her glad to be a lesbian. At her root Matoi was prejudiced against men: whether to begrudge her for it is for others to deem.
But, when Junpei called her that night to ask if they would go drinking with him, she asked her squadron regardless, and was nonplussed they all agreed. "Where at?"
"It's at..."
He was already outside of the bar when they arrived and led them inside. "Thanks for coming. Damn, I didn't want o look like some loser who drinks alone, y'know?"
"What'd you do with the beer you had earlier?" said Samuel.
"He drank it on the way over." muttered Fucking Mia.
"Hey, those were all... uh... low... sparkling..."
"Happoshu." said Matoi and he nodded as they went to a private sideroom and sat down. There were menus already on the table, and they began looking through them.
"Happoshu, yeah. Don't worry about the price or whatever, 'cause I used to drop people off here when I evacuated them, so I get a full discount and shit."
"What should we get?" said Marisa.
"Sake?" said Mia and Junpei retched.
"Nah, it tastes like warm urine."
"He's correct." muttered Matoi, glancing over Marisa's menu. "Here, I'll-"
"-I'm never letting you decide for me again." laughed Marisa, pulling her menu away.
Without Matoi's help, the four placed their orders & a few appetizers; Junpei retrieved them and they talked for a few more minutes while they ate. Eventually, Marisa took a sip and asked Junpei: "Where are you from, anyway?"
"Hiroshima." said Junpei, and the three foreigners fell silent.
Marisa kept her lips on her glass for a long while. Eventually, Samuel spoke up. "What's it like?"
"It's boring, even their baseball team sucks. Carps have played like crap for thirty years. You ever notice they always say the worst teams have the loudest fans? I swear, last time they won a game was when I was working as an animator."
"Don't tell me you worked at Studio TRIGGER." muttered Matoi.
"Nah, I wish. Damn, I love Kill la Kill, though."
Matoi sipped her drink, and smiled smally to herself. (Or to again translate to uberhost::wimpy civilian - a boil of anger popped, then sank back into its stew quickly.)
"But damn, they didn't give shit for wages where I was working. I mean, I didn't even get a salary or nothing. I had to live with my parents 'cause I wasn't even making minimum wage."
"Animators aren't salaried?" said Mia.
Junpei laughs. "No, animators aren't salaried. They get paid by the frame. Man, I was having to sleep under my desk, and they still made us do all this exercise in the morning, calling us a *team* and all."
"They made you exercise?" said Marisa.
"Japan has a tax on obesity." said Matoi.
"Yeah, 'cause they care so much about our health. That's why they let all those elderly people go in to Fukushima to clean up, when that nuclear reactor melted down. Damn, I hated when the prime minister gave all those speeches after about how we're all in this together. Yeah, especially the people that lost their jobs 'cause the government cheaped out on making sure the thing worked right."
Mia grinned, and was reminded of the several rants her father had gone on.
"Oh, sorry, but the animation gig. So now I get calls from 'em telling me they'd love to have me come back, so they could put my name on an episode or something. Yeah, 'cause it was so enjoyable the first time. Damn, that shits."
"That shits?" said Mia.
"Uh, do you mean 'that shit sucks'?" said Marisa.
"Oh, yeah."
Matoi was beginning to realize why Junpei had needed to ask them to go drinking with him; even as the rest of her squadron was enjoying it.
Junpei said to Samuel: "Hey, man, I don't want to offend you or anything, but did you know the tabloids said you have a kid?"
"Excuse me?" said Marisa.
Samuel sighed. "Oh, good god."
"I haven't heard about this." grinned Matoi as she turned to Samuel.
"That's because I thought it was beneath me to mention to you." said Samuel. "Well, what happens with male Urasaria students, like I've mentioned before, is that we tend to have even more aggressive sexual harassment than the woman. Obviously, there's some men who enjoy that type of behavior, probably because it's about the only time we get compliments. Not that it's ... you get what I'm saying."
"Oh, yeah, man." nodded Junpei. "Man, I used to get dressed up for shit and everything, but what's the point? I didn't get any women telling me I smelled nice or my hair looked good, ever, ever!"
There was likely a reason for that, Matoi thought.
"Well, so me and Kate - my protege - went on a contract with Grant and some other male student in my second year, and we ran in to one of these rats." He paused as Matoi glared at him. "I just realized I shouldn't've used that term, but that's what some men call them. Fans of students. She was a journalist, far as I remember, so she asked if she could call us up for information. She was also a good source for Kate's investigation, so I didn't think much of it. Now, I'm at Urasaria about ten or eleven months later, and I got a card from her for Father's Day, saying that she'd like it if I could start paying for our child. Obviously, I never had sexual relations with that woman, so I knew she was bullshitting."
"Why did she choose you?" said Mia.
"Because the way these women go about it is that they know every male student they've met, and if they happen to get pregnant, then they'll go down the list and either start sending letters until one of them gives in, or they choose which one they *wish* was the father. In that regard, I was rather tickled."
Marisa frowned. "...wait, you mentioned Grant, right?"
"Oh, so she just sent that shit over here?" said Junpei. "You didn't take an, ano..."
"Paternity test?" said Matoi. "Oyako kantei."
"Yeah, that."
"I didn't need to." said Samuel. "If I weren't a student, I'd owe about $40,000 in Louisiana. But I'm not going to legitimize something like that by responding to it. Not just because whether something's true and something's reported are two separate matters, but because it isn't child support she wants -- she wants proximity to someone she sees as a celebrity."
"Proving defamation is stricter in America." said Matoi to Junpei. "I doubt the tabloid expected Samuel to find out, either."
"Oh, yeah." Junpei burped. "Hey, they'll probably get more pissed if you didn't pay your mistress anything."
Matoi glanced to the foreigners. "There was a prime minister who resigned after he was accused of having a mistress -- the press called him stingy for not paying her properly. He's referring to Uno."
"Gross." said Marisa.
"Didn't you have some president like that?" said Junpei.
"Yes, and he was a rapist." said Matoi.
"Damn. All those powerful types get away with that shit." Junpei's phone vibrated. "Ah, shit, lemme..." He checked it, then disappeared.
Matoi closed her eyes, slightly drunk. "I wonder if we could leave before he comes back."
Samuel laughed. "You know, pretty bold to say that with your eyes still closed."
Marisa & Mia giggled. Junpei soon reappeared and resumed rambling on god cares what, sometimes about his loneliness, the deals he cut with certain businesses to drop off Tyrant's civilians near there, and recent Western shows he loved. Some of it was even intelligible.
"Oh - oh! You know that - ah, fuck, what's the... the show where it has the clock ticking, going *din*! *Din*! *Din*!"
Mia laughs. "What -- what the fuck are you talking about?"
"It's got, um… ah, shit, it's got... tuentifō, what the fuck is-"
"-you're talking about 24?" laughed Matoi.
"Yeah! Damn, I love that shit, but then they-"
- a scream came from the dining room; the five shot up -
" - we'll check." said Matoi, alcohol already in her tone as the four ran out to the hall -
- and saw their foe standing over a table a hundred feet away, his clothes covered in shimmering oil; his eyes went wide as he saw the four -
" - Junpei!" shouted Matoi; Junpei came out of the room, nodding quick -
" - tiiime to go! Shouldn't be driving drunk, Daishi was right!" he shouted, Tyrant's throne forming -
- and he was gone, as were the civilians. The four started their drunken charge forward, Revenants readied as they rushed out of the hall and between the booths; ahead, the man's oiled palms swept forward -
- and streams of oil erupted from his hands, hitting the floor ahead; halting quickly, the four stopped fifty feet away. The explosive barrage erupted from Wedding's shoulders -
- but a stream of oil hit the missiles as they flew -
- and down they fell to the ground, far earlier than their normal range, four sighing at the eternal counter.
" - you dick!" shouted Marisa, relevantly; at her side, Mia murmured low to the three, and they nodded unified. Peeling left along the aisle and rushing in to another beside, their rush took a different angle as new globes of oil hit the floor behind -
- but a swift fire scarab disintegrated the floor, keeping the effect from compounding as the four flanked down the left aisle, and as they came midway -
" - Boudoir!" shouted Marisa; a strand erupted from her glove and hit the ceiling above, and as the three clutched tight and readied to swing right to the man -
- a bout of oil hit the tip of the rope, and as they swung over -
- they felt their speed slow as they came in range of the man -
- just in time for Outcast's boot to kick the man's skull in; the pain threw him back and to the floor -
- and the four sighed as they saw him slip along the floor and out of the front doors, slippery oil ensuring his escape out of the restaurant and to the street beyond.
" - Sssamuel." groaned Mia, relevantly -
" - well, I had to pull it at the last second!" he laughed, and the four started their tipsy rush again out the front doors to the street, ripping their drunken eyes left -
- and saw the foe fleeing down the sidewalk a hundred feet away, buildings and emptied cars where expected. Palms aimed forward, a new geyser of oil burst out and hit his path ahead -
- and the four kept their groaning as they saw him starting to slip and gain speed. Marisa smacked their shoes as they chased -
" - uh - cleats, like." She giggled. "Cleats."
"Cleats." nodded Samuel, utterly clueless as the four kept their run.
"Cleats." grinned Matoi, head still swaying.
"Stop repeating that." winced Mia. "Why do we have cleats?"
"Uh, cause that oil sticks and slips, dum-dum." chimed Marisa. "Lesbian mom."
"Mia's a mother?" laughed Matoi -
" - Worldwide." winced the lesbian mom, sheets of ice forming underneath to slicken their step -
- and three staggered and fell immediately; turning her eyes back as she ran undettered ahead, Mia laughed -
- and shrieked as she fell on to her back -
- and even the man laughed a hundred feet ahead as the four got up again, drunken senses failing them as they restarted their eternal rush, evacuated shops beside&ahead -
" - Sekiyu!" shouted the man, and in the next instant -
- a geyser of oil hit one of the buildings beside -
- and a bizarre scene met their stare, walls&ceiling slipping off their hinges, dozens of concrete chunks separating from each other -
- and collapsing away from the four. Confused, they still chased -
" - your Revenant means - oil! Vermin! Dipshit!" shouted Matoi; and laughed a second later as they passed by one store -
- but the next scene was instant. The wall slipped off its hinges and fell towards them; Matoi turned with the speed of light, and as her missiles hit the barrier -
- the slipperiness within the wall threw them with the speed of a thousand away -
- but a swift sweep of Wedding's lasers burnt the wall to ash, leaving three still running faster ahead, only seventy-five feet separating them and the man now -
"( - liquid-bending boy!)" shouted Matoi - "( - that's what they should call you, you fat fuck!)"
- ahead, the three passed by another building; another wall collapsed towards them -
" - got it!" chimed Marisa, only Samuel&Mia left as she stayed behind, Boudoir's sword hacking with the speed of light through the material. Fifty feet finally separated them from their foe ahead; the two peeled to the road keep in pursuit, parked cars adjacent -
" - so sick of this horseshit." groaned Samuel, stopping at one casual car. Digging his gauntlets underneath, he caught it up -
- and hurled it; the man instinctively threw his arm out with a cry -
- and the keen two-ton projectile hit him skull-on -
" - abaio, kuso - kuso tarry!" slurred Mia -
" - goodbye, shithead!" slurred Matoi fifty feet behind -
- and the four winced as they didn't see him a second later.
"That's why I should've pulled it. Might've killed him." groaned Samuel, but in the next instant -
- the two saw a shimmering outline exit the vehicle and start to walk towards them, barely visible and fading every second -
" - using his fucking oil." sighed Mia. "Every Revenant. Every Revenant. Why can't they all be fire? Or ice?"
Another invisible bout of oil struck the two's feet, cleats useless against the ground starting to stick -
" - Outcast!" shouted Samuel, rage peaking as ghastly hands gripped one driverside door nearby -
- and tore it clear off, throwing it near the two -
- and leaving them both sighing as no shriek of pain came, Marisa&Matoi daring not enter as new oil caught the duo below -
" - I said - Outcast!" shouted Samuel, rage truly peaking as ghastly hands gripped another car -
- and threw it whole to the two; another set caught it, throwing it in a circle around, automobile turned tornado spinning and spinning around and seeking their invisible foe -
- but the two sighed as it slipped apart suddenly, still no sight of their foe, step permanently stuck in the ground by then -
" - only one way to find this - fucking useless bitch! Kuso - kusottare!" slurred Mia, Samuel laughing as he nodded. Ghastly hands pulled a final car around, and as it slipped apart again -
- ghastly hands scattered the gasoline all around, fire scarabs following a second later -
- and setting the two in to a burning ring of orange fire; as it burned burned burned, they heard a scream behind and turned -
- just in time to see an invisible figure set alight twenty feet away, desperate oil trying to douse the flames -
- and a final electrical scarab knocked him unconscious, ice scarabs extinguishing him as he fell.
"Fucking imbecile." grinned Mia, head swaying, trying Serena's voice. "Dickless - bitch!"
The two laughed as Matoi and Marisa came up.
"And now, to call Junpei -" grinned Matoi, head swaying -
" - uh, we should probably sober up first -" grinned Marisa, and the four started laughing, but didn't know why.