Otaku Love: armbands

I held up the bright orange armband, "Tada!"

Stacy stared blankly for a few seconds. Her eyes slowly narrowed as her brain slowly worked. One could see the gears slowly beginning to crank in her dysfunctional mind. Suddenly, it hit her. Her face lit up, "Haruhi!" she cried.

"Yup," I smiled, holding out the armband, "And it's got the Japanese kanji for 'sojifu' on it, at David's suggestion."

Stacy took the armband and checked it over, "You mean that word he always calls me by?"

"Yup," I smiled, yet I was quite upset with David on the inside.

Stacy looked at me and set the armband on her lap, "Do you know what it means? I mean, he's never told me."

I faked a smile, "Not a clue." Wrong. I most certainly knew. I just didn't approve. David dubbed her "Sojifu" because Sojifu means "maid." It was his way of saying that she was a pillar of obvious turn-ons. They all seemed to be the kind of turn-ons that only a lolicon like him would catch. She was tiny, flat, clueless, easily tricked, innocent, and she was slower than me at getting dirty jokes.

"Hmmmm..." Stacy thought, "Oh well!" she smiled and pulled the armband onto her arm and inspected it, "It's nice..."

"Thanks."

"You made it?"

"Yup," I pulled a few more bundles of bright orange out of my pocket, "I made one for pretty much everyone."

"Ooh," Stacy looked, "what do they say and who are they for?"

I held up each armband in turn and showed, "This one is David's. It says 'Lolicon.' This one is Kyle's. It says "Sarcasm." This one is Delia's, and it says 'death.' " I pulled at the one on my sleeve, "Mine just says 'chief' like Haruhi's."

Stacy stared in awe, "Still, they're pretty good."

"Yeah," I sighed, "For an ameture like me, they're pretty ok, I guess."

The phone rang. Stacy quickly got up, "Sorry, I probably need to get that..."

"Yeah, go ahead," I waved her away.

She walked into the room with a phone a few minute3s later, "Yup... Well, I knew that! I just didn't know how to reply! ... No, actually, she's right here..." Stacy looked at me and shrugged before looking away again, "Yeah, yeah! Keep your pants on," she remarked angrily, not realizing the many sexual innuendos that line would raise, "Hang on!" she put a hand over the mouthpiece and turned to face me, "It's David. He wants to talk to you..." she held out the phone.

I gave her a confused look and took the phone, "Moshimoshi?"

"Kirei!" David's excited voice blared in my ears. I pulled the phone away from my ear for a moment and put it back, "I was surprised to hear that you were at Soji-chan's house."

I narrowed my eyes, "We decided to try to get to know each other better. We call each other friends, but we don't really hang out that much with just the two of us."

"So... It's just the two of you, huh?"

"David, don't you dare twist this around in your mind and write about it! David!"

"Too late!"

I heard the abrupt sound of a ring tone after he uttered those words and muttered, "Baka..." to myself and hung up. I held the phone out to Stacy.

She took the phone, "What was that all about?"

"Eh... David being stupid," I shrugged and added, "As usual."

Stacy laughed, "I see..." she walked the phone into the other room and came back a few minutes later, "So, what else were you hoping to get done while you were here?" she asked as she sat back down.

"Ok," I held my hands up, "First of all, NEVER ask a question like that while David's here. It leaves you too open for him to, well... be David. Second, I never really planned it out. I figured we could just wing it..." Good thing David didn't hear that...

Stacy put a finger on her chin and thought, "We could go to a Barnes and Noble."

"I spent all of my money last time all of us went to the mall, remember?"

"But, the and of the month was yesterday, though. Shouldn't everything be paid off by now?" Stacy gave me a confused look.

I returned the look, "What..." I thought for a minute before it hit me, "Stacy, normal teenagers don't use credit cards. They pay with money from their parents or a job. Considering how I have no job and my parents are up to their eyeballs in debt, I don't get money from either source."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Stacy nodded slowly. She seemed to get it for a brief second. Then her face returned to it's usual state of confusion, "What's debt?"

I glared at her, "You know what? Let's just go to the store. It doesn't cost anything just to sit and read the manga as long as you don't try to take it out of the store," I grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door.