From: kemper01@ix.netcom.com (David Rubino)

KOR2 is a fanfiction about Kazuya, Kyosuke's younger cousin, set in
the KOR universe.  Much work has been done to maintain the original
KOR feeling and humor so please enjoy.  Comments can be directed to
kemper01@ix.netcom.com and check out the KOR2 homepage at
http://www.kor2.com


KOR 2 : ANOTHER DAY

Episode 10 : Big Trouble for Little Kazuya

Teacher Ishiguro walked up to the front of the class and put up his
hands to stop the commotion in the class.  This was the first time a 
teacher ever openly supported dating in school, this was a momentous 
event!

"Now, this project is intended to really prove your worth, you must 
demonstrate that you are a responsible individual.  And you girls,
your choice is not based on how cute he is!  Your decision must be 
reasonable and weighed out."  Most of the girls crowded to see who 
was on Eichi's paper, totally ignoring the teacher's instructions.

I thought this would be great, a full and total excuse to be around
Mai, although showing that I was responsible would be a problem.  It
would take some serious dosages of my power.  I pondered over some 
effective ways of using my power to impress Mai - in other words, 
cheating.

As I slowly came back to reality, my eyes focused on a small object in

midair racing to meet my nose.  I unconsciously used my power to 
stop it just as it came within inches of crashing into me, I noticed
that it was a class eraser hurled by Teacher Ishiguro.  Stopping the
eraser with my power was as effective as stopping it with my hand,
although that didn't stop the cloud of chalk dust that blew over my
face.

"Huh?" I muttered.  Teacher Ishiguro started to turn red at my lack of

attention.

"Kazuya!  Did you wear that suit to school just to hand your report 
in?"  As he mentioned it, I realized how stupid I must have looked 
being the only one wearing a suit.  It really seemed like a good idea
at the time.  

"Well?"  he asked again.  As I searched for an answer Takashi spoke 
up.

"Maybe he wore it to impress a certain girl?" he implied.  The whole 
class was awed in suspicion, and I began to blush.  Takashi turned to 
me and gave me his crazy smile.  "Well, it looks like Kazuya has got a

lead on some of you other boys."

I opened my mouth to protest, to scream out that it wasn't true, but I

could only manage a small stutter.  I was now embarrassed beyond 
belief, soon the whole class would find out that I wore it with the
only intention of impressing Mai.  After what happened this morning,
it seemed that nothing was working out for me.

Then the class bell rang.  I looked up at Mai as I gathered my books 
together.  She looked back this time and smiled.  I guess she thought 
the suit was a joke, at least it lightened up her mood. 

Ryosuke came running up to me.  "Kazuya, who did you get?" he 
asked.

I held up the slip of paper so that he could see for himself, I was
afraid of saying her name out loud.  His eyes widened.

"Mai?!" he exclaimed.  A few students looked over and I could tell 
that we had their attention.  I tucked my books under my arm and 
began to walk out of the class.  Ryosuke didn't seem to notice 
anything unusual and followed me.  "Wow!  That should be pretty 
easy, you're friends already."

"Maybe not, things aren't going too well.  Who did you get?" I asked.


"I got stuck with Norika," he replied as he looked down.  I wasn't the

least bit surprised, she was like the female version of Ryosuke
sitting in the back of the glass.  She wore glasses and look nerdy,
surely a match made in heaven.  Unfortunately, Ryosuke didn't think
so.

"This project is going to be hard," I said, almost to myself.  I began

thinking of ways to impress Mai.

Ryosuke stopped in the middle of the hallway clutching his fists 
together like he was in pain.  He looked as sad as he could possibly
be and tears came to his eyes.

"How can I go on and betray my dear Miyuki like this?!"  I ignored 
him as he stood there and wept.  I turned the corner into another 
hallway, almost expecting to see Miyuki, and then realizing that after

what occurred earlier this morning I probably wouldn't be seeing her.

Even if I did, I didn't have a clue as to what to say.

I continued to walk down the hall to my next class, where I saw Coach 
Hatta on hall patrol, with that usual look of perversion across his
face.  Grinning widely, he approached me and put his hand on my
shoulder.  

"Kazuya!  Teacher Ishiguro told me about your new project.  Don't 
worry about a thing, I'm here to help you!"

"You will?" I asked incredulously.  I began to wonder, even fear, what

help he could actually provide.

"Don't worry, Coach Hatta knows the secrets to a woman's heart!  He 
knows how to win any girl over!"  He began to hold his heart and look 
towards the sky (ceiling), rambling on about the ways of true love, as

if he was some grand master of love.

"I think I'll be okay on my own," I said, remembering the wrestling 
lesson I got from him.  His provision of help tended to fill me more 
with fear than confidence.  I just imagined myself getting a huge slap

across the face using any of Hatta's techniques.

But now that I think about it, I could use some help.  What could I 
possibly do to look responsible?  I realized that letting Mai do our
last report all on her own was a bad start.  As I wandered aimlessly
down the hall, I didn't even notice that Ryosuke was once again by my
side.

"That's it!  I got it, Kazuya!" he exclaimed.  He looked tremendously 
excited.

"What?" I said.

"I can help you.  Instead of looking responsible, you can look heroic!

You could be walking down the street with Mai and I can sneak up on 
you disguised as a thug to harass you both.  After a quick battle, I
can let you win and you can save the day!"  Ryosuke looked quite 
impressed with himself.

I just imagined for a moment a big, terrifying thug jumping in front
of us.  Mai would throw herself on me.  "Oh Kazuya, save me!" she 
would say.  I would hold her and tell her not to worry, I have the 
situation under control.  I would look so cool!  And then..

And then that thug slowly diminished into scrawny, little Ryosuke 
jumping up and down.  Mai would knock him down with one shot and 
maybe not even notice that he was there.  Hardly the heroic event.

"Sorry, Ryosuke.  I just don't think that you would make a convincing 
thug."  Ryosuke looked at me in confusion and began to flex his 
biceps, examining his arms closely.  Just then, Takashi appeared 
behind us and I jumped.

"Hey guys!  Discussing your new project??" he asked, putting on that 
smile again.  That look always made me nervous, I could never tell 
what he was up to.  I vowed that I would use my power to find out 
someday.

"It's not just our project, you know," I answered.  "Who did you get?"

"Me?  I'm not working on this project.  I'm the new guy in school and 
the odd man out.  Teacher Ishiguro let me sit out on this one and just

write a report on how others show their responsibility.  Teacher said 
that I should get to know the class better."  

He kept smiling and just as I was about to say something, he walked 
off with even saying good-bye.  As I was about to walk into my next 
class, I noticed a mob of girls around Eichi, still trying to find out
who the lucky girl was.  Eichi refused to show them.

*******************

School quickly came to an end and for the first time, I didn't see 
Miyuki.  I began to dread the inevitable situation of meeting her, I
still didn't have an excuse for leaving her alone in the rain.  I
never wanted to hurt Miyuki's feelings, yet here I was doing exactly
what I knew would hurt her.  My conscience bothered me and I felt
horrible.

As I walked out of the school into the sunlight, I noticed Mai
standing at a distance talking to Miyuki.  I reached out with the
power and picked up that they were talking about me, specifically
about this morning.  

Just great, I thought.  Now they'll both hate me.  I tried to smoothly

hide behind some bushes and hear what they were saying but before I 
could adequately hide, Mai spotted me and started to wave.  This was 
it, nowhere to run.  

Miyuki still wasn't facing me, she probably couldn't stand to even 
look at me.  She was going to kill me, I knew it.  I should run now,
and get a head start before she got a chance to pound me into the
ground.  I edged away and got ready to sprint when Miyuki suddenly
turned around and...

...and waved at me.  She looked happy.  Confused, I stood there.  
Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as I thought.  

They waved me over and I began to walk over to them.  Maybe I was 
making more of this than there was, maybe she wasn't mad at all.  
With each step, I became more confident until I was practically 
strutting up to them.

"Hey!" I waved my hand casually, looking especially cool.  In a split 
second, Miyuki changed her expression from sweet angel to Avenger 
Miyuki.  My breath stopped and I considered that this was a bad idea.

Her shoulders moved quickly and her school bag swung in a full arc 
towards my head.

"Kazuya, you idiot!!!"  BAAAMMM!!!

I tried to scream but found myself on the floor with my hands up, 
guarding against the fearsome Miyuki.  I considered begging for my 
life.

"Why didn't you tell me you were doing a report with Mai?  I would 
have understood."  I realized now that Mai must have explained things 
to her.  Otherwise, it probably would have been much worse for me.  
Thank goodness that was one less problem I would have to worry 
about.

"I'm sorry, I guess I just forgot about it," I tried explaining as
Miyuki helped me up off the ground.  Mai gave me a peculiar look.

"Knowing you, that's probably because you didn't work on it," Miyuki 
said, almost laughing at how irresponsible I was.  Then Mai laughed 
with her, realizing it was true.  Great, right before this new project
that was the last thing that I needed, a bad reputation.  I began to
take offense.

"I.. I, uh.."  I just realized that my stuttering didn't help with the

project.  I was in definite need of some miraculous event to make me 
look like some sort of important individual in from of these two
girls.  I thought it would be a good idea to divert the conversation
away from my lack of responsibility.  "Did you want to go anywhere?"

Miyuki turned to me, "Mai and I were thinking of stopping by ABCB 
for ice cream shakes."

"Okay, sounds great," I said, smiling.  Another opportunity to be 
around two gorgeous girls.

**************

We finally arrived at ABCB, it was a nice place and we all felt right
at home there despite its short time being reopened, Master was really

nice to all of us.  The place was crowded and Master looked very busy.

We walked in and took a seat, eventually Master came over to us.

"Hey, it's the Orange Road gang!" he said, smiling.

"Hi, Master!" we all said simultaneously.  

"What can I get for you kids?" he said, looking happy to see us.

We all agreed beforehand, Miyuki just took the initiative to announce 
it for us.  "We're all having vanilla shakes."

"Great, great!  Okay, that'll be a couple of minutes," he said and 
quickly set about the task.  

As we talked, I started thinking of what would make me look 
responsible again.  I looked around the place watching all of the 
couples together, and noticed one guy in the corner.  He was pulling 
out his wallet and a wad of money to pay for the bill as his
girlfriend latched onto his arm.  Maybe if I paid for the drinks,
they'll think I'm sort of responsible.  I could look like a big shot,
pay for their shakes, maybe even buy a gift.  It was a great idea, she
would love it!  I could just picture Mai all excited over a new, low
cut sweater I bought her.  She would look great in it.  I had better
tell them now.

"Girls," I announced.  They both turned their attention to me.  "The 
shakes will be my treat today!" I said smiling, knowing that this was 
the answer to all of my problems.

Miyuki grabbed my arm excitedly, "Thank you, Kazuya!"  Mai also 
smiled and thanked me.  I was feeling pretty good right now.

Master came back with the shakes and placed them before us, at which 
point I confidently swung my wallet out of my back pocket and asked, 
"Master, what does it come to?"

"Oh, treating the ladies I see!  Well, it comes to $5.00."  I opened
my wallet to see. one dollar, and a ragged one at that.  The
realization set in that for this plan to work I would actually need
money to do any of it.  I started to turn red with embarrassment, this
was going to turn out worse than I could have thought.

Master looked down at me and saw the expression on my face turning 
sour.  I didn't want to ask the girls for the money, that would just
make me look worse, but I had no choice.  I braced myself for the 
humiliation.

Just then, Master interrupted, "Kazuya, can you help me out for a 
minute?"

"Uh, sure."  I followed him behind the counter.  He looked so busy.  
He reached under the counter and grabbed two cups.

"Can you fill these with soda and bring them to that couple over in
the corner?" he asked.

"Uh.. no problem."  I wasn't sure what he was getting at, but I had
the feeling that he was trying to help me out.  I also like Master and
no problem with helping him out, so I started pouring soda into the 
glasses.

"Did you ever consider getting a job?" he asked.  I thought about it.
I never really considered it before, I sort of enjoyed moping around
the house.  But the money?  I could actually impress Mai with it.

"I guess, a little."  I was getting to think that he wanted to hire
me.  It surprised me that someone thought I was responsible enough to
handle a job.

"Well, if you're interested I have a job opening here.  I could sure
use the help and I would prefer someone I already know to take the
job.  I enjoyed having your older cousin work for me when he went to
high school, I figured that maybe you would like the job."  He smiled
at me.  I didn't know what to say but he went on, "By the way, the
shakes are on me."

"Oh thanks, thank you very much!"  I was surprised he helped me, 
nothing else seemed to be going right today.  I felt I could use the
job, and I could look cool.  I imagined myself running the place and
Mai walking in to see how I was doing.  I could make a vanilla shake
with two straws for us to share.  I stood there in awe fantasizing
about how great it could be, then I realized that Master was staring
at me.

"Oh, uh, yes, I'll do it.  Thank you very much!"  I bowed, in hope
that my fantasies could come true.

"You will?  Great, great!  Maybe you could start within the next 
couple of days."

"Sure," I answered.  I then walked over to the table and gave the 
couple their drinks.  I looked over at the girls, they were watching
me.  I smiled, looking a bit embarrassed.  Act cool, act responsible,
I reminded myself.  "Here you go, enjoy."  And then I walked back to 
Mai and Miyuki.

Miyuki gave me a strange look.  "Did you have to work for the 
drinks?"

"What?  No, no, everything was paid for," I said laughing, throwing 
my hand behind my head.  Mai smiled.

We finished our drinks and talked for a bit.  The girls got up from
their seats and prepared to walk home.  I continued on my trend of 
responsibility.

"Why don't I walk you two ladies home?" I offered gallantly.  Miyuki 
stared at me with an odd look.

"Of course," she said, grabbing me by my arm and pulling me out the 
door.

The three of us continued to walk down the street discussing classes
in school.  Mai and Miyuki talked on about other things when I started
to daydream again about working in ABCB.  I pictured Mai and Miyuki 
walking in and I would serve them.  It would be great.

As we kept walking, I noticed a little further ahead of us a few
bushes shaking suspiciously.  As we got closer, I started to become
more and more suspicious of the bush as we approached it.  Mai seemed
to notice that something was bothering me.

"Kazuya, what's wrong?" she asked.  

And before I could answer, a figure jumped out of the bush directly in

front of us.

"Ryosuke?" I said under my breath, it was probably. but Ryosuke 
wasn't that big.  This person was a rather large man, tall and thin.
He had his face covered with some sort of dark mask, and he was all 
dressed up in black clothing, and he was approaching me quickly.  
This was my chance to be a hero!  

But I was scared, I wasn't expecting this.  He grabbed me by my shirt 
and I looked into his eyes, something about him looked familiar.  He 
pulled me towards and shouted menacingly, "YOU!!"

Miyuki turned towards him, "Let him go, you jerk!"  She was about to 
let him have it.  No, I could do this myself, this was my only chance.
I braced my teeth, pulled my head back, and decided to go for the 
headbutt.  I swung my head forward with all of my strength, hoping 
that he would go down with it.

As I thrusted forward, I recalled the last of my head butts.  It was
with Kyosuke, and we switched bodies.  OH NO!  My forehead slammed 
down on his.

"UUGGH!"  I fell back onto the sidewalk, holding my head.  That sure 
hurt!  I managed to open my eyes halfway and saw. myself?  Oh no, 
we switched!!!  I looked at myself wondering who I was, and then he 
started to smile in a strange but familiar way.  

No, it couldn't be!  He looked awfully confused and shaken up, then 
suddenly he began to run down the street.  I jumped up on my feet, to 
my new body.  "No, wait!" I yelled.  But it was already too late.

I brushed off my knees and turned to the girls.  When I saw the 
shocked expression on their faces, I realized that I was still the
thug.  Miyuki gave me her killer stare and the dark shadow of fear
fell over me.

"You jerk!" she yelled as she swung her school bag at me.  I ducked, 
the bag missed me by inches.  I realized that I was a lot more agile
in this body, but even then I couldn't escape the wrath of Miyuki
forever.  And I couldn't tell them the truth even if they did listen,
I had to act quickly.

I shot down the street after my body and whoever was in it, but the 
girls were quick and they were right behind me trying to catch up.  I 
heard Miyuki yelling, "You're not going to get away with this!"

I worried that this person would find out that I'm an esper,
especially if I somehow knew him.  At least when we switched bodies
they wouldn't get my powers, that would stay with me no matter what
body I was in.  I risked a glance behind myself just to see the bottom
edge of Miyuki's school bag swing inches in front of my face!  I had
to get away from here, now.

I saw a large group of bushes to the side and dove in, disappearing 
from their sight.  "No you don't!" I heard Miyuki yell.

I fell to the dirt ground and concentrated on home, I had to go there.

Nothing was happening.  `Come on'. I strained myself.  I need the 
power, I had to teleport and nothing was happening.  I heard the
rustle of branches as Miyuki and Mai were entering the bushes and
preparing to bodily damage me.  I put all of my energy into it and
concentrated harder than ever.

Then it happened, I began to feel everything being pulled towards me 
like a vacuum and everything went dark.  With a large whooshing 
sound I blasted onto the roof of a building.  I walked to the edge of
the building and looked over, surveying the neighborhood.  I realized 
immediately that this was where I lived, except that I was on the roof

instead of my room.

I walked around the edge until I saw the outside patio that lead into 
Akane's room.  Even though it wasn't a very far drop it still seemed 
pretty high.  I didn't want to jump down so I bent over the side of
the wall and slowly slid my body down the side, praying that Akane 
wasn't sitting in her room watching a complete stranger lunge onto her

balcony.  Hitting the ground, I glanced at the glass door and saw my 
distorted reflection in the sunlit glare.  I was wearing a black mask
on my face like a ninja and I looked pretty intimidating.

I glanced inside the room and saw that it was empty.  Lucky!  I tested

the glass door to find that it was unlocked and slid right open.
Lucky!  I stepped in front of a desk in Akane's room that had a large
mirror.  In the corner was a small snapshot of Ayukawa, strange.  I
quickly removed the mask and looked at who I was for the first time.
My heart stopped.  Unlucky!!!

I found my worst nightmare staring right back at me, the face of 
Takashi!  Oh no!  He must have overheard Ryosuke's lame idea and 
tried it out on me.  I had to find Akane, I needed her help before 
Takashi does anything damaging, if he hasn't already.  The worst of 
thoughts coursed through my mind as I walked into the hallway.

"Akane!" I called out loudly.  "It's me, Kazuya!"  I had an odd
feeling that a door opened down the hall behind me and I saw a large
shadow slowly loom into the hallway.

"You're not Kazuya!!!" echoed a deep, horrific voice behind me.  

I slowly turned around to see an oversized powerhouse of a man 
glaring at me hatefully.  His expression and size threatened to pound 
me into a pulp, I couldn't believe that someone that large even
existed.  Every instinct in my body told me to run for my life but
something inside told me that this was really Akane.

"Akane??" I said nervously, hopefully.  I swung my hand over my 
head and began to laugh, "Akane!  It's you, right??"

The large, burly man began to approach me with his fist in the air.  
"Who are you?!!" he demanded with a thundering voice.  Nothing 
about him was reminiscent to Akane.  I was starting to think that this

was a really bad idea.  I spoke quickly.

"Akane!  It's me, Kazuya.  I head butted someone from school on 
accident, that's why I look like this."  The man didn't stop 
approaching me.

"Please, Akane!  I need your help!!" I pleaded, covering my head, 
getting ready to get beat up.

"Kazuya?" he said as he slowly began to shrink into a petite, but 
dangerous, Akane.  "Did I just hear you correctly?"  She looked 
confused.

"Yes, it's me, your idiot brother that always oversleeps, who lets the

cat eat my breakfast, it's Kazuya!"  I said relieved that this was
finally getting through to her.

"How could you let this happen?" she demanded.

"It wasn't my fault!  He attacked me, and I was trying to defend Ma..
I 
mean Miyuki."  I didn't want to feed her any ideas of me and Mai.

"You idiot, Mom and Dad and going to kill you if they find out about 
this!"  She looked mad, but more likely worried that our parents would

hold her responsible since she was in charge, so it would partially be

her fault.  Which would also mean that if she got in trouble I would 
have to suffer her torment for who knows how long.  I need to take 
care of this today!

"We need to find Takashi in my body before he does anything stupid."  
Akane gave me a look that said, `You mean something more stupid 
than what you just did?'

I began to hear a hissing sound at my feet.  I looked to see Jingimi,
he 
didn't know who I was so he was trying to defend the household.  
When he saw that I was looking down at him, he jumped behind the 
protection of Akane and continued hissing at me.  I was in no mood 
for his annoying bravery, I concentrated and lifted him off the
ground.  His tough look slowly digressed into a terrified expression,
and then I launched him down the hallway into my room and plunging
into my bed.  That would keep him out of the way.

"Leave him alone, Kazuya.  You've got bigger problems.  Now where 
do think this kid would be?"  I thought for a minute and tried to see 
things the way Takashi did.. and then realized that was impossible.  
Takashi was such a confusing person, he would probably just wander 
the streets aimlessly wondering how he could ruin my life.  I knew I 
should have looked into his mind when I had the chance.

"I don't have a clue," I confessed.  "He could be anywhere just 
wandering around."

Akane sighed, "Well, then let's try looking for him.  We have to start

somewhere."  We hurried downstairs and prepared to leave.  Akane 
looked back at the TV in the living room, I could see that her
favorite show was on.  She regrettably walked over and shut it off.  I
could tell already that I wasn't going to live this one down.  She
then grabbed her house keys and we walked out the door in search of
Takashi, or rather Kazuya.

*****************

I hadn't realized just how big the town actually was until I walked 
around it, there were so many sections that I never crossed.  We 
checked by the hundred stairs, by ABCB, and by my school.  We 
looked inside of every store that we could but he was nowhere to be 
found.  Akane was looking more and more exasperated.

Someone I didn't recognize nodded to me and it caught me by 
surprise, until I realized that they weren't nodding to me but who
they thought was Takashi.  I nodded back and continued on.  I noticed
that even though I was in Takashi's body, I didn't receive too much 
attention.  Nobody strange confronted me and I was especially happy 
that I didn't run into Miyuki or Mai again.  

It was starting to get late and every minute that passed just seemed
to go by too fast, we weren't getting anywhere.  Just then I thought
to myself that maybe at this point Takashi would try going to my home.

That seemed to be the most logical thing, but I wasn't sure if 
Takashi's brain ever worked on logic.  It was worth a shot and 
probably the only chance that we had.  I turned to Akane.

"Akane, I think that maybe he came to my house."  Akane shot me a 
look of resentment, a look that said she was on the verge of killing
me.

"He had better be there," she threatened.  "It's getting dark and we 
can't go to sleep tonight without the two of you switching back."  I 
once again began to wonder what Takashi would possibly do in my 
body.  Would he accept this awkward event and try to ruin my life 
further?  Or would he be wandering the streets forever in shock?  

I was starting to miss my usual line of thought, the responsibility 
factor.  I'm sure seeing Takashi take off in my body this afternoon 
didn't look very heroic either.

We finally got back to my street and saw my apartment from a 
distance.  I noticed someone standing by the entrance.  Was that 
Takashi?  I couldn't see exactly who it was from this distance but as 
we walked closer I could see clearly that there was not one but two 
people standing by the door.  Akane wasn't even looking, she seemed 
to be lost in thoughts of tormenting me.

We were only a few houses away when I could see both people 
clearly, and my worst nightmares came true.  I jumped behind a tree 
and tried to hide myself.  Akane looked at me strangely.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Do you see who that is?"  I hissed.  She looked up at the two people 
and her mouth opened wide.  

"Oh no," Akane muttered.  "This is going to ruin everything."

It was Takashi, in my body... talking to Miyuki.

This was the worst day of my life.


- End of Episode 10 -