Eric Koichi's Story

Hellooo?

Anyone home?

Eric was startled by Kazu's shouting 'I really want everyone to get along..., but he grinned at Sayu. "You're gonna need more than that to feed everyone. I'll stir-fry some vegetables or something, don't worry about it." He turned on the fire, threw the pan on it and began to look for something to cook. As soon as he found some bok choy, It'll do, I suppose..., he tossed it in and began to fry it. As this was happening, he looked around to see who had come home already.

He realized Yuji had said something to him during this time. "Oh, I'm fine, thanks. But hey, why don't we save those for after dinner? Could you please set the table instead?"

[[Hey, sorry to interject, peeps, but maybe we should try to keep some kind of posting order? I keep getting ninja'd and I'm not exactly sure what to do.

[[ Sorry, I don't since not everyone has gone yet...it's just a bit hard. Though right before dinner might be a good place to wait for people to catch up?]]

Eric finished the bok choy and threw it into a giant bowl. He gave Kazu the sternest look he could muster, saying, "C'mon, Kazu, you don't have to eat it. It's there for anyone else. Not everyone has the same taste as you." Eric gave him a small pat on the shoulder, then ran off throughout the rest of the house. He shouted, "Hey everyone, dinner's almost done! Please come on to the table!" He made sure to go through the whole place, then ran back to the kitchen to save some. Looks like not everyone's quite home yet.

Eric heard Sayu's voice, and turned to face her. He immediately blushed a bit, but it seemed as though the splash had masked the fact that he wasn't wearing anything. Alright, it's fine...you just have to wait it out or make an excuse and leave while she isn't looking. Can't be THAT hard, right? He wiped his face off, hoping to cover the blush and grinned back. "Don't even remind me what I need this energy to do. This is supposed to be my break for tonight." Eric was still embarrassed, but he was glad for the company, after all, there hadn't been much conversation at the table...

Eric strolled back towards the house, staring at the moon. He had remembered that they were almost out of food, and had gone grocery shopping during his walk. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black blur of movement and heard footsteps. He quickly turned towards the gate and caught a glimpse of someone running inside. 'Was that...Yuji? I wonder what he was doing out this late..He was running really fast. I hope everything's alright.' Right as Eric walked through the gate, he saw a figure lying on the roof.

He jogged inside and began removing things from his bags, putting them in the proper places, giving a nod to Maya and Kaji in the kitchen. "Hey, I just got back with some groceries. Anyway, I'm going to bed. Good night." After that, he quickly ran to the closet to grab a blanket. Eric was worried about Kazu, who he had seen earlier on top of the house. He made his way to the roof, where he found Kazu sleeping. "Geez, Kazu...why can't you pick a better place to sleep? You'll catch a cold." Eric grinned a bit as he muttered this to himself, and carefully covered Kazu with the blanket he had brought. He hoped that it would be enough, and that the blanket wouldn't fly away.

As he climbed down from the roof, Eric overheard Ren and Miku talking to each other. 'Well, they seem to be getting along well. Ah, young love...Wait, what? I'm not older than them. Geez, I sound so old.' Eric quietly snuck by them to his room, chuckling a bit at himself. He shuffled into his room and immediately collapsed onto his bed, completely worn out. Eric lay there, thinking about love and their curse of this family, but was so tired that he fell asleep very promptly.

[[Quick edit. For the most part, if you leave an IC chat tab open, you can see when someone posts while you're writing and change accordingly. =D ]]

Eric was jolted awake by the commotion downstairs. He looked at the clock next to him. 'It's only been an 30 minutes? I wonder what's going on..and geez, it's almost morning. I didn't know my walk was that long.' He pulled his school uniform and stumbled down the stairs. It took him a bit to wake up, but when thankfully he didn't need much sleep - though half an hour was a bit of a stretch. He walked towards where the commotion had been, but saw Kaji pass by carrying Yuji. Yuji? I guess something did happen..I hope he's okay. I'll check back on him later, after school maybe. Eric followed Kaji's trail in reverse, but when he arrived everyone was already leaving, and he only found Kazu standing there.

He grinned at Kazu, glancing at the blanket he was holding. "Didn't catch a cold when you were up there, didja?" He vaguely noticed a person behind Kazu, and peeked around to check who it was. Eric saw Sayu and immediately turned red, remembering what had happened at the bath earlier. However, on a closer look, she seemed really tired looking - in fact, she was wearing different coloured socks. "Uh, hey, S-sayu, you okay there? You seem really worn out..and your socks are mismatched, by the way." Eric worriedly looked her over as he said this. "Maybe you should sleep for another hour, after all, being tired during a test is pretty bad too. We'll wake you up before we leave..."

Eric sighed with relief as Kaji and Kazu walked away. "Well, that went 'better' than expected..though I'd better say something to Kazu before I leave for school..." he said, to no one in particular. He glanced at Sayu, who was still standing there. "Don't worry about Kazu, he's a tough guy. And you'll probably be okay, too. But you should probably go change your socks, but who knows? Go like that and start a trend." Eric went back to his room to grab another shirt, and slid it on as he went back down the stairs. He grabbed his backpack, deciding that he would head to school early, carefully walking around the glass that Kaji had shattered. "Some more stuff to clean when I get home..."

As Eric walked through the gate, he looked up on the roof in an attempt to find Kazu, and was not disappointed. "Hey Kazu, be careful, alright? Try not to get TOO mad. And if you're feeling up to it, come to school today, so he'll have less to nag you about." With this, Eric strolled in the direction of the school, trying to keep his mind off of what might happen in the house while he was gone.

Eric waved to his friends as he walked towards the house. "See ya later guys, I gotta go this way!" He strolled home, enjoying his little walk, until he reached the gate. He walked into the house to find Kazu with a melted popsicle all over his hand. Eric couldn't help himself, and snickered a bit, but opened his backpack and tossed Kazu a pack of tissues. "You'd better lick or wipe that off before it gets on the couch. Not only will Kaji be mad, but I have to help clean that, ya know? But anyway, you didn't come to school again. You okay?"

He went into the kitchen to grab a can of Coke before coming out again. He noticed Akashi at the kitchen table, with his books. "Akashi, doing your homework? Is it the apocalypse or do you have a hot date? Haha. Well, call me if you need any help, I'll be out on the couch with Kazu." He grinned a bit, surprised at the monkey actually buckling down to get something done. With this, he walked out of the kitchen and collapsed next to Kazu, while popping open his Coke and taking a sip . "Ugh...'Kaji really made a mess, didn't he. That's gonna need to get cleaned up."

Eric gave Kazu a bit of a look. "Why not? You could at least go for the same reason as Akashi, to meet people. You don't need to pay that much attention, and at least you'd have something to do." He said this as non-aggressively as he could, having noticed that Kazu was in a good mood. "C'mon man, it's not as bad as you're making it out to be." He walked into the kitchen and threw away Kazu's popsicle stick.

As he walked back in, he noticed Miku standing near the fridge, drinking water. Eric's eyes narrowed at the cuts and scrapes all over Miku's body, which she had done well to cover up, but he had noticed anyway. "Miku, where did you get those wounds?They look fresh." He cracked his knuckles and his normally cheerful expression turned into an angry look. "If there's a problem at school, you should tell us about it."

Miku quickly glances over towards Eric, who had begun to speak with her, her eyes wide as if almost surprised by his words. The crackles of his knuckles sends a chill up her spine. Although more afraid of speaking out than anything, knowing that, at least someone was willing to stand up for her, gave a warm fuzzy feeling in her chest. Still, she decided against telling the truth...Even if she did tell the truth, and even if Eric were to stick up for her against the bullies who beat her up, they would only come after her again after he was gone..."I...no there is nothing wrong...I just..fell is all.." Miku stutters out the words, which sounded false even to her own ears. The cut on her forehead which had once been bleeding was red and swolen now. It stung slightly, even after she had cleaned it, but Miku had done her best, however, to put a bandage over it to keep it from bleeding again. Nervously, Miku entwines her fingers together, still holding the bottle of cold water in between her palms. "But, thank you for caring..." She mutters, staring down at the floor...

Eric's angry look lessened to a frown at the blatant lie. "Fine, I understand. You want to handle things on your own. That's fine, but don't just let them beat you up." He gave her wounds a disapproving look; they were swelling up like mad. "And take better care of yourself. I bet you didn't even wash with soap." He sighed, and walked over to the first-aid box where he withdrew some alcohol, bandages and a cotton swab. As he returned to Miku, his tone softened and he smiled gently. "This might sting a little, so bear with me, kay?" He made a move to clean her wounds and bandage them up properly. During this time, he vaguely noticed Maya, who had walked in and slammed her head on the table. He distractedly threw a greeting back. "Hey, Maya. How was school for you today? Still having trouble? I would be happy to help if you wanted it."

She lifts her head up and smiles at Eric. She shakes her head. "No,no it's not the work that is getting on my last nerve. It's the teachers,I mean yesterday I had to stay after school because a teacher said 'a pre-schooler could learn this faster than you'. So I used my very colorful vocabulary and got in trouble. But,don't tell Kaji that,the last I saw he wasn't in a good mood." She saids sweetly before drinking some of her cold water. She looks back at him "Beside,I don't want you to waste your time teaching me something I should already know." She adds being her hard-headed self. "I just need help being positive,that's more Akashi territory. Sorry." She comments laying her head back down.

A few seconds she jolts up and walks to the almost empty trash can. She reaches in the plastic bag and feels the three pieces of her drawing. She puts them all on the ground before grabbing them and heading to the table. She looks at the others. "Please don't ask." She saids as she chuckles nervously. Don't judge me,people She thinks to herself as she messes with her nimble fingers.

Watching as Eric came to grab a can of coke, Akashi glared down at his paper from under his bangs. Stupid math, he chanted over and over in his had. It's not that he didn't get it, he understood algebra perfectly. It's just the words problems that stumped him, tapping his pencil again the table rabidly he snapped his fingers. Eyes brightening as he quickly wrote down the equation and solved what it was asking for. Smiling in victory, he quickly moved on to the next set. This time all he had to do was figure it out, so the numbers were already there.

"I just need help being positive-" Akashi zoned out after that, his homework completed he jumped up with glee.

"Yes finally done~!" Noticing Maya sitting at the table, he drew back in surprise. He must have been way zoned out. "Well, I'm going to assume you had a bad day," looking towards Miku and Eric he rose a brow. Better not ask, he thought settling back down. Stuffing the papers in the void that is his notebook.

"I dunno, school's fun. It sucks though that I can't do track for a while." Although he was glad that the punishment wasn't to harsh. Putting an arm around Maya's shoulder, he sighed in happiness. "It's not that hard to be positive. Just think of something that makes you happy......even if it involves violence." Hearing the small story that Maya got in trouble yesterday, he couldn't help but snicker. It seemed like everyone here had a bad temper. Well, almost everyone.

[[Guys, wait up. o.o ]]

Eric gave Kaji as stern a look as he dared. "Kaji, I understand what you're feeling, because I already asked Miku. Let her handle herself in this matter." He turned to everyone with the same look, folding his arms. "Now everyone step back. I'm going to bandage her wounds at least." Eric nodded in the direction Maya went. "Why doesn't everyone take Maya's advice, go on a walk and cool down? Maybe we SHOULD go to that haunted house down the street. And Miku and I will catch up after we're done here. It'll be a nice change of pace for everyone, and we can all get to know each other a bit better." He nodded a bit, more to himself than anyone else. "Any disagreement?"

Miku nervously allowed Eric to clean her wounds. She leans back against a wall as he dabs at the wounds with the medicine and properly bandages them. She wasn't quite used to anyone being so close, not even her family, really. Someone being so close, whether family or not, always made her nervous. However, she silently allowed him to do as he pleased. It made her wounds feel better, anyways. They stung less... As Kaji suddenly pushed through and grabbed her by her face, yelling who had did it to her, her eyes stared up at him in pure fear. Tears began to well up in her eyes and she wasn't able to choke out the words to speak to him. But she was surprised when Eric told everyone to leave her be to deal with her own problems, including Kaji! She watched as Eric gave him a stern look and how Kaji let it slide. It was so shocking she didn't know what to say. As Kaji reaches out to slide her bangs out of the way of her face, she flinches, unsure if he was going to hit her or just touch her. When Miku realized he was only sliding her hair aside to see the wounds, her body relaxes and she lets out a sigh, her deep gray eyes gazing up at him innocently. She knew he was the leader of the group, but she was unsure of what to think of him. There were times when he was very loud and mean, she thought, but other times when Miku could clearly see he was trying to be kind. When Kaji walks away, she refocuses her attention on Eric, who was finishing up her wounds. Miku sniffles the tears away. Haunted house? Is that what they had said? She wasn't sure she liked the idea...She was scared easily. But everyone seemed to be heading that way....Maybe she would try to suck it up and just go. It was better than sitting in her room alone...at least...maybe it was....Miku wasn't sure....

Eric was pretty much finished with cleaning and bandaging when he noticed how scared Miku was looking at the mention of heading to a haunted house. He started to give her a hug, but caught himself halfway and mentally smacked himself. He settled for ruffling her hair a bit, and looked her in the eye. "Hey, don't worry, alright? Kaji's really trying to fix things up, I'm sure everything's fine. As for the haunted house, well, don't worry, we'll all be there, right? No need to get scared. Besides, I'm sure there's someone you can hold on to if you're THAT worried." Eric laughed a little and went back outside. The first thing he noticed that was a bit odd was that Yuji and Kazu seemed to be getting along. As he passed by Kazu, he also saw the bags on the couch next to he and gave an encouraging smile. "Hey, did you buy all those for us? Thanks a bunch, Kazu." He also gave a small wave to Sayu, who seemed to be thinking as she ate some candy. Eric tracked down the place where the vase had shattered, and was even more surprised to find that Kaji was already there. He figured he should apologize and helped Kaji sweep up the last few pieces. "Hey, Kaji. Thanks for handling things the way you did. I think this little vacation is just what we need." He blushed a little with embarrassment. "And, uh..sorry for standing you up earlier. I just wanted everyone to calm down." He checked Kaji's face to see his reaction.

Miku blinks and a small smile forms over her lips. It was warm and bright. She always looked so much better when she smiled, but unfortunatly, it wasn't often. "You're right...Thanks Eric..." She says with a small happy giggle as he ruffles her hair. She watches as he walks off and sighs happily, feeling much better after the rough day. She takes her bottled water, which was slightly warm at that point, and decides to go and sit in the living room. As she plopped down onto the couch, smoothing out her hair which Eric had tangled up,and placing the bottle on the floor besides her foot, Miku spots the bags with all of the snacks in it. Her eyes sparkle with excitment, but she wasn't sure if she was allowed to eat any of the delicious treats. Hesitently fingering open the bags to gaze through at the contents, she spots one of her favorite treats; a candy apple!! Miku lets out a gasp of surprise. She wanted so badly to snatch the treat right then and trot off with it. But Miku wasn't like that...What if it was someone elses? She didn't want to steal anyone's treat...With a soft wine, Miku plucks the candy apple from the bag and walks outside, trying to find the owner. She sees Yuji and Kazu. "U-um...excuse me....Do you know who's this is? I...found it in a bag on the couch...." Miku mumbles shyly, already feeling bad for having even taken it from the bag....