FLCL

Seeing this open display of indecency with a minor, Gaku and Masashi could only stare transfixed. They thought to themselves that this housekeeper of Naota's was no ordinary person, after all, but their minds didn't make the connection between this sensual girl and the light-speed Vespa woman who they had once told scary stories about at school.

'Huh?'

Ninamori spotted a shadow over the embankment. It was a high school girl who was gazing toward Naota and Haruko with a sad air.

Mamimi Samejima.

Haruko noticed Mamimi and waved the flag cheerily. 'Hey! Mamimi!'

Having been called to, Mamimi looked perplexed. She had planned to stand there unnoticed, but having been spotted, she had nowhere to run.

Naota also raised his head as he looked up at Mamimi. However, considering he was being embraced by Haruko, Naota felt awkward, as well.

For a moment, Naota and Mamimi met each other's eyes, and then they both quickly looked away.

Chapter 3

What kind of disaster are those three involved in? Ninamori thought.

Having separated from Naota and the others, they were once again driving the Masamune's Sake truck alongside the river.

'Bye! See you in school!' they'd said. 'We still have some deliveries to make, so we'd better get going.' But the truth was that they didn't really have any work left to do; Masashi simply had the good sense to get out of there.

It was a wise decision. When Mamimi turned up, the atmosphere had become quite uncomfortable.

Ninamori's feelings toward Naota had changed from before, though; even with Haruko and Naota frolicking around in such an indecent manner right next to her, she hadn't felt a thing.

I gave up being the Marquis de Carabas.

During the school play, the reason Ninamori had worn fake glasses over her contact lenses was that she'd wanted to pretend she was a child. In real life, she'd pretended to be an adult, maintaining that appearance with contact lenses. So when she'd worn glasses on stage, she'd actually showed her true face, that of a simple child. That's how Ninamori made sense of it in her head.

In her mind, those who pretended to be grown up were children, so to prove that she had indeed grown up, she'd pretended to be a child by wearing glasses in the school play, it wasn't until a little while after the play was over that she'd realized she didn't have to pretend to be a child.

I really am still a child. When I want to cry, then it's okay to cry. I can enjoy riding in a truck with my classmates. And I can enjoy eating this soda-flavored popsicle as much as I want to.

When she looked at the stick from the popsicle she had just finished eating, she noticed there was something written on it. Ninamori had bought the popsicle at Masamune's Sake shop, so she extended her hand into the front seat and showed it to Masashi, who was driving.

'Look. I won.'

'Oh yeah, you did. Wait a second.'

Masashi took a small paper bag out of a box on the front seat, offering it to Ninamori.

'What is it?'

'Free gift. Hope you like it.'

Ninamori took out a small item from the paper bag—a water pistol. It was a toy, a water gun made out of transparent green plastic.

'It's pretty.'

She smiled and held the water gun up to the sun. It cast a bright-colored, translucent shadow across her face.

With one eye closed, she looked through her newly acquired jewel at the world beyond. The green world spread into the girl's eyes: Green sky. Green clouds. Green river. Through the plastic, everything looked like she was in another world. Ninamori was now on a green planet in another universe.

'That high school girl,' Masashi said from the front seat, 'that's Naota's brother's girlfriend.'

That was news to Ninamori. So, Mamimi Samejima was the girlfriend of Naota's brother, who was playing baseball in America. Somehow, Masashi knew this, as did Gaku.

'But you know,' Gaku said, 'that maid likes Naota more. That touchy-feely girl really seems to like Naota. Naota's, like, popular.'

Is that really right? Ninamori thought. Wasn't it dangerous for a high school girl and an adult female to hold special feelings for the same sixth grade boy?

Pointing her water pistol into the sky, Ninamori aimed at the sun and fired.

Well, Haruko and Mamimi both seem pretty dangerous.

Naota drank some canned juice Canti had bought for them. Right after Canti had delivered it, the robot had disappeared somewhere. And then, Haruko, the person who'd created this disaster by calling to Mamimi, also disappeared somewhere. So, now it was just Naota and Mamimi left by the river near Mabase Bridge, the area that had until just a while ago been the scene of the survival game.

Naota was sitting on the bank as he always did. Mamimi was holding Naota's air gun, playing with it while she rambled off nonsense with no train of logic. She seemed to be pretending she was a gunman she'd seen on TV.

'This body here will be the defense, continuing to neutralize the AT field. We have to defend from their dissolving solution. Backup, move down. Withdraw your rifles, and hand to the offense. Now, offense fire together, destroy target… NOW!'

'Don't point it at me; it's dangerous.'

'You got the one with bits in it.'

Naota was startled. Mamimi was commenting at the can of juice in Naota's hand, having noticed that it was orange juice with pulp in it.

'You've been getting the ones with pulp in nowadays?'

'Well, I don't like the bitter drinks.'

'She likes the pulp, too—Haru.'

Now that she'd said it, Naota noticed for the first time that he had only drunk canned coffee previously. It was true that he had started to enjoy drinking the pulpy juice that was mixed with bits of fruit only recently… and that it was Haruko's drink of choice. Without him knowing it, Haruko had made an impact on him—at least, as far as his choice of cold drinks.

'I was watching,' Mamimi said. 'I was watching.'

'You noticed that?'

She must have been talking about the disaster, when Haruko had gotten caught up in animal lust.

Of course, Naota felt a little guilty that Mamimi had seen him messing around like that with Haruko. It had been careless. How much had Mamimi seen? It wasn't as though he had looked very happy about it, had he?

'I don't really think anything about Haruko.' Naota's voice sounded apologetic. 'Haruko was just really happy and was just jumping all over me; that's what she always does. Well, what I mean is, that's what she's always like; I don't mean that she's always doing that kind of stuff.'

Mamimi looked at Naota with sadness—hers was the troubled face of an abandoned cat.

Naota was strangely embarrassed, but also happy. Why? Because a truth had become clear. The reason Mamimi had noticed and been bothered by the pulpy juice was obvious! Mamimi was feeling jealous over him.

Mamimi is jealous! It's tough being so popular, Naota said to himself internally.

'You're really amazing,' Mamimi said. 'You drove Canti, you hit back the Lord of Fear and saved the