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Friday night.
From the Assassination Department dorm's common room came the voices of play-by-play and color commentators from a TV screen showing a game of FIFA 08. Sitting on the floor in front of the TV, holding controllers, were Sakamoto and Nagumo. On the couch behind Nagumo, Akao lounged lazily, flicking her lighter with a cigarette in her mouth. Students weren’t allowed to smoke on school grounds, but since when did Akao care?
There were only the three of them in the room. The other students just decided not to share the space. "They're too strong, it's scary," they'd hear them whisper. In the normal world, that'd be isolation, practically bullying. In their world though, that's recognition of their prowess. How could it be bullying if they got to enjoy the common room and the old PlayStation 2 all to themselves?
Like they were now.
Sakamoto was playing Aston Villa, Nagumo was on Manchester United. Nagumo was down 2-1 and building from the back, using United's wingers' speed. On the TV, the animated Ryan Giggs got a switch pass on the left flank. Holding R1 to sprint, Nagumo blew past Villa's right-back. Just before the line, he hit Square to send a high, arcing cross to the far post. Cristiano Ronaldo jumped over the defender.
"Sakamoto! Watch out!" Akao suddenly yelled, sitting up a bit from slouching.
Nagumo pressed Circle and tilted the left stick toward the top corner. Ronaldo headed the ball toward goal, but Villa goalie tipped it over the bar with an amazing fingertip save.
"Shiiit!" Nagumo cursed, glancing at Sakamoto, whose face was deadpan as usual. "And Akao, stop screaming in my ear every time! You're distracting me," he complained.
"I'm not stopping. Sakamoto promised me 3 and a half of the 7 days you'll treat him at the JCC Cafeteria if he wins," Akao said.
"I didn't promise it to you. You pandhandled it from me."
"Hey! Play more seriously! We gotta make this young master distribute his wealth!"
"'We'? Even though you're not doing anything to help?" Sakamoto complained.
"I'm cheering for you. That oughta mean a lot."
She's up to her old tricks again, doing whatever she wanted. That's Akao for them.
Under the pressure, Sakamoto slid into a defender just outside the penalty area, fouling him.
Nagumo picked Ronaldo to take the free kick.
"Do something useful besides yelling!" Sakamoto told Akao.
"Ugh, what a pain!" Akao said, lying on her side on the couch, not showing any signs of doing what Sakamoto asked. She just lay there, staring at the TV.
Nagumo aimed a little wide of the wall to account for the curve, then pushed the left stick forward to add some spin. He was tapping Circle to fill the power bar exactly halfway when suddenly he felt Akao playfully ran her fingers through his hair, even gently pulling at the roots. Nagumo froze at the touch, holding the Circle button a split second too long. Ronaldo blasted the ball straight into the pixelated crowd.
"What... are you doing?!" Nagumo said, removing Akao's hand from his head, turning his head toward her for a moment before turning back to the screen.
"I'm booored! And your hair just looks so soft!" Akao said, pouting, holding her own hand that Nagumo had removed.
Nagumo turned his head slightly toward Akao again, his mouth a little open. He felt a weird sensation in his stomach when Akao messed with his hair, and now another weird sensation, in the center of his chest, after briefly seeing Akao's pouting face. Not wanting to fathom what these sensations were, he forced himself to focus back on the game.
The final minute of stoppage time.
Paul Scholes intercepted a pass and set up Ryan Giggs for a clean, 1-on-1 breakaway with Aston Villa keeper, Scott Carson. Nagumo was thinking about hitting Circle to shoot or L1 to chip, but then he felt a touch on his body again—this time on the tip of the cartilage at his earlobe and on his earlobe itself. He shuddered hard, making his hands shake. In a reflex to pull away, his right hand clenched the controller. Instead of pressing Circle or L1, he slammed down on the X button.
Giggs stopped dead in his tracks and softly passed the ball laterally to nobody. Villa defender Olof Mellberg picked up the loose ball and passed it away.
The referee blew the final whistle immediately after the clearance.
The match ended.
Aston Villa 2, Manchester United 1.
Sakamoto dropped his DualShock 2 controller. His face was still deadpan, but Nagumo could swear there was this faint smug smile on his face. He seemed to be entirely unaware of the psychological warfare happening on Nagumo's side of the room.
Still sitting, Nagumo turned to face Akao, who was still lying down, ready to protest about what she'd done. But she grabbed his head and pulled him closer, his face accidentally brushing against her soft chest.
And for a second it startled him, the feel of a girl's breasts against his face. He couldn't ignore the heightening of his senses, the excitement of being in close contact with a girl, the probably imagined increase in his pulse rate.
"Yay! Free meals! Thanks for being such a loser!" Akao said excitedly before letting go of Nagumo's head.
"You sabotaged me on purpose, didn't you?" Nagumo asked, annoyed.
Yes, annoyed, that's what he tried to call that weird sensation again.
"What are you blabbing about? I didn't snatch your controller, or smack your head, or stab your arm with a bayonet," Akao said, sitting up straight. In her head, those were obviously the things she'd do if she wanted to sabotage Nagumo in the game.
"Yeah, but.....," Nagumo trailed off.
You got all handsy and it distracted me more than any possible attack you mentioned.
He thought but didn't say.
"What you were doing can be considered harassment, you know."
That's what actually came out of his mouth.
"Huh? What did you do?" Sakamoto asked Akao.
Figured as much, Sakamoto had no idea what was going on.
"I did nothing! Just ruffled his hair.... out of boredom.... and pinched his earlobe," Akao said. "I saw my baby niece over last semester break. And for some reason after that, I started thinking earlobes are cute."
Her face was all shy but trying to look tough when she said it.
Nagumo was instantly struck by how damn cute she actually was.
Sakamoto looked away at Nagumo.
"Nagumo, don't tell me, you....."
Nagumo awkwardly gulped. "What?" he asked, wondering what Sakamoto was about to say.
No way, Sakamoto actually figured out his.....
"......you are ticklish?"
Oh, forget it. Sakamoto was too oblivious for that.
"Huh?! For real?!" Akao bursted out. "A ticklish assassin? You'll be an easy gargalesis target."
"I'm not tickli...."
"Uh, I gotta hit the bathroom," Sakamoto cut Nagumo off, got up, and didn't bother listening.
Nagumo just sighed and ignored Sakamoto as he left the common room, his eyes following Akao as she reached for an unopened bag of chips.
"Alright, alright, I apologize, then," Akao said, flopping back against the couch cushion. "I promise I ain't gonna touch you again."
She uttered those words with such airy nonchalance, as one might to chill a friend out after a joke or prank goes a little too far. Not necessarily meaning to make a solemn promise. But for some reason Nagumo couldn't understand, his mind began to ponder what this promise might mean down the line, stirred by something buried deep within his heart.
"Hey, take back that promise.....," Nagumo muttered, just as Akao finally managed to rip open the chip bag.
"Man. Scientists seriously need to invent chip bags with a suppressor," Akao said, almost to herself, before looking from the chips to Nagumo. "Sorry. Did you say somethin'?"
Nagumo was half grateful that opening a bag of chips was and would always be as loud as a gunshot.