Angry Desu !jVJAZ.LN/Q 2009/05/02 (Sat) 01:22 No. 85722 ▼ File 124122734887.jpg - (250.72KB, 640x684 , Mariorararara.jpg)
You pause, given that everyone seemed down you didn't really want to have them sit through what would likely be a fairly dull talk about a rock tumbler, nor did you particularly want the less happy girls to get drunk - which would be the inevitable result of demonstrating the drinks cooler.
“Actually,” you murmur, “Miss Ran, did the people who moved my stuff over bring everything I owned?” You ask, “Even the stuff I had in the apartment block's storage shed?” The blond woman looks at you for a moment, then nods. “Do you have any idea where they put it?”
“I think,” she responds, “Most of it would probably have up either in the storage room on the top floor. There could be some in the basement however.”
You shuffle uncomfortably in your seat, “We have a basement?” You ask. Truth be told you probably hadn't explored the house and grounds as much as you should have done - and it felt a little embarrassing to admit this. “No, nevermind - I'll look upstairs first.”
“Hmmm...” Ran nods thoughtfully, “Allow me to do your cleaning then,” she states, “I need to have a few private words with miss Hina anyway,” You look up in alarm at that - had she been listening in to Hina's rant in the kitchen? The fox-woman just smiles gently back at you. “Of all us here,” she continues, “Miss Hina is the only one with... hmmm...” She glances at Hina, “... Shall we say, a few specific requirements?” The green-haired woman looks away, her face slightly flushed. “Although it should really be your job to make such provisions,” continues Ran, “At present I believe such a task would be beyond your current understandings.”
You frown. That sounded a little too much like an excuse to you, but it wasn't something you wanted to call her on in front of everyone. “Fine then,” you state, standing up from the remains of your meal. “It'll probably take me a while to find and set up... so... I guess I'll call everyone then?”
It took, you guessed, only a little under an hour to find what you were searching for, take it downstairs, and hook it up to the television. Cirno, having been messing with her keyboard when you had returned to the living room, hadn't exactly made things easy - since she kept asking what this or that was and what you were doing. Part of you wanted to tell her to shut up for a minute, while another part of you felt rather happy that someone was taking an active interest in what you were doing. Admittedly you probably would have felt more positive about it if you thought Cirno actually understood most of what you said but given how often you had to stop and clarify things you were pretty certain a lot of it was simply passing over her head.
“Aha!” You pull away from the tangle of wires at the back of the television - seriously, who the hell had wired this up? There were something like seven different wires you still hadn't managed to identify back there. Well, whatever, you'd probably find out what they were when something went wrong - so no use worrying about them now. Besides, you'd finally found a way to hook up your little games console into that horrendous mass of bad electrical work.
“Eh?” Cirno peers over your shoulder, sending a chill across your skin where her body presses against your back. It was almost like how you imagined being hugged by an ice cube would feel. “You're done?” She asks, “Finished 'hooking' those wire thingies up?”
“Pretty much,” you respond, “Could you do me a favor and fetch the others?” The girl pulls away from you at your request and you soon hear her flitting out of the room. You ponder for a moment over how strange it is to be used to the girls occasionally flying from place to place rather than walking or running. Then you simply shrug it off and reach out to flick on both the television and then the games console you'd spent some time setting up - it was only a super nintendo, but it had been the first one of your small retro collection you had found and, frankly, it was suitable for what you wanted right now.
Soon the room is filled with a familiar chirpy tune as the brightly colored opening screen to Super Mario World, a true classic you feel, fills the massive television screen. You were vaguely aware that there was some kind of projection room on the top floor - you had gone into it by mistake when looking for the store room - and perhaps that could have given you a much bigger display... but there was something special, you thought, about sitting in the living room with pad in hand playing your part of video game history. Start, New Game, Level one... Right, Right, Jump, Grab the Mushroom...
You blink in surprise when something knocks into you from behind, and your Mario goes flying into a pit of Lava. Damned boss levels - what was with all that Lava anyway?
“Awwww... he fell in the red stuff!” comes a whine from behind you.
“Lava, actually.” You respond. Then pause. “Eh?” Turning around you see the girls arranged behind and beside you, all of them having evidently been watching your gaming with rapt attention - well, except for Ran, who seemed to be smirking from her position at the back. “Er... how long have you all been there?”
“Since you got that little green thingie the fat guy sat on?” Suika responds, “I don't quite get what's going on though...”
“Oh! Oh!” Cirno perks up, “Is it like that shikigami the stupid shop man had?” She frowns slightly, “Only, I dun' think it's a shikigami anymore, 'cuz it had them batt-er-ee holes in it, an' the piano had them holes and it isn't a shikigami...” There's a pause as she glances over at Ran, “An' I haven't checked, but I dun' think Ran has them holes - an' she is a shikigami.”
“It's a Game Boy.” Ran states suddenly, cutting Cirno off with her sharp tone. “The shopkeeper merely misunderstood Yukari, that's all.”
“A Game Boy huh?” You ponder for a moment, “Yeah, in that case this would be like the thing the shop man had.”
“Ha!” The triumphant yell from Cirno makes you duck almost reflexively. “I knew it wasn't a shikigami!” She falls silent, and you look back to see her making an expression of great effort at thinking. “But if it's not a shikigami,” she mutters, “then what is it?”
“It's a games console,” you answer, “It's an electronic device, like the piano, but instead of making music it makes...” Pausing you try hard to think how to explain it, “... it makes video games,” you say at last, “Which are kind of like visual games, displayed on this screen here -” you tap the television screen with one knuckle, “- and controlled with the control pad in my hand. See? If I press this button here... then this little man makes a jump. And if I press this one he moves left or right.” You demonstrate for a few minutes, explaining the idea behind the game - then you reach behind you and hand the pad to the nearest girl.
Hina makes a small squeak of surprise as you push the pad into her hands, but after a few experimental pokes and prods she seems to get the hang of things, moving Mario this way and that. It didn't last long however, as she soon passed the controller to an eager-looking Utsuho, who promptly dived Mario into a pit and then giggled about it. The evening passed slowly, with the controller being passed around more or less at random. Ran and Hina didn't seem to care much for it, and you suspected that Meiling wasn't entirely convinced by the idea of video games - but all in all the girls seemed to have fun with the novelty of the video game.
