Dandy Wonderous (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dandywonderous) wrote2014-01-05 11:49 pm
dandywonderous) wrote2014-01-05 11:49 pm
Happyjime
In which Hajime does something right and everyone is proud.
...
Jack only had the TV on for background noise when the report came on. He was bent over a small contraption he had spread out across the Tanaka’s coffee table, mostly consisting of a camera and a DVD writer. He was messing with his robots’ synthetic memories, and ways to take certain bits of videos and save them to DVDs instead of the internal memory systems.
“Breaking news,” said the newscaster (in Japanese, of course, which made it easier for Jack to tune out), “something something something something, assisted by the Yuuhi Ouenden-“
Jack’s head snapped up at that, and he watched as the feed changed to show a shot of a tightrope walker, just getting ready to cross the gap between two ridiculously tall skyscrapers in Tokyo, and on top of one of those skyscrapers stood three figures in very familiar uniforms.
The camera zoomed in on them a little, and Jack jumped to his feet.
“Hajime’s leading! Hajime’s on TV!”
He gaped at the TV for a moment, before it occurred to him that he needed to do something, before this moment got away forever. Grabbing for the DVD writer and a blank disc, he hooked up the device and turned it on. He hoped it would work.
Then he looked up and yelled for Genji and Taizo to get down here now, it’s important! Taizo came down first, running as fast as he could to Jack’s summons.
“What is it, what is it!?” Taizo demanded, looking around like he expected a robot to swoop down any moment. Sometimes that was exactly what happened, so one couldn’t really blame the kid.
But there were no robots today. Instead, Jack pointed to the TV, which was currently focused on the tightrope walker.
“Hajime’s on TV!”
“WHOA!” Taizo looked, frowned when he only saw the tightrope walker, then jumped up when the camera switched back to show Hajime and the other Ouendan. “HE IS! Genji, Genji, come here!”
“What’s all the yelling about?” Genji appeared in the doorway, looking irritated. He was holding a book in his hand.
“Your brother’s on TV, now get in here,” snapped Jack, eyes glued to the screen. Curious despite himself now, the younger boy walked in.
“That’s a tightrope walk- ah, hey, there he is!”
The camera was switching between the two, showing the progress of the tightrope walker juxtaposed to the synchronized, diligent cheering of the Ouendan. The performer was halfway across the rope now, suspended high above Tokyo’s streets.
“Go Hajime!” cheered the assembled boys, jumping up and down or fistpumping where appropriate. The crowd below the scene joined in, a cacophony of cheering for the scene.
All was going well, and then the tightrope walker, only a forth of the way from the other building, teetered on the rope. A hush seemed to fall over everyone, except the Ouendan, who did not lesson their pace in the slightest. Hajime cheered and danced with even more fervor, it seemed, to keep the man from falling, and to help him reach his goal.
After a tense moment, the tightrope walker regained his balance, and started taking steps again to the roar of the crowd. Jack released the breath he’d been holding and whooped along with them.
The performer finally made it to his goal and stepped off the rope into the waiting arms of coaches, paramedics, and reporters. One more shot was dedicated to the Ouendan, who all gave a bow, before focusing on the man and his incredible feat.
“That was so cool!” cheered Taizo, jumping up and down.
Genji, more composed, said, “It’s too bad Mother and Father didn’t get to see it.”
“It’s cool, I recorded it,” said Jack, bending to stop the writer as the news moved back to more mundane topics. “We got it right here on this disc.”
“That’s great! For once, you actually had a good idea.”
“Hey, get out of here before I make you target practice for my robots,” Jack huffed, shoving Genji’s shoulder a little. It was playful, though. He’d been getting better at interacting with them lately.
“Let’s show Mother and Father when they get home,” said Taizo eagerly. Jack nodded.
“Oh don’t worry, we will.”
…
Hajime felt pretty good as he walked up the drive to his front door. He’d completed one of his most terrifying missions yet (if he’d tripped up… he didn’t even want to think of what would have happened), and he still had a glow of pride around him that he’d even been picked for that mission in the first place.
The only downside, he thought, was that his family hadn’t seen it. They’d become more accepting of his involvement in the Ouendan, it was true, but he wished they could see him in action more often.
Ah well. He could still tell them about it at dinner.
Opening the door, he found them not getting ready for dinner as he’d thought, but seated in front of the television, two bowls of popcorn balanced between the five of them. Hajime wasn’t sure what the oddest part of this picture was – that his parents were sitting on the couch with popcorn or that Jack was sitting next to Genji and no one looked ready to kill someone.
When they saw he had entered, they all started clapping enthusiastically, with Jack pumping his fist in the air and going, “Whoop whoop whoop!” loudly. Oddly enough, no one stopped him.
“Wh-what’s going on?” he asked, readying himself in case they were actually pod people.
“We heard about your mission today, helping the tightrope walker,” explained his mother, patting the couch next to her. “We were just about to watch the footage.”
Hajime stayed put where he was. “Watch the… what?”
“You were on TV!” yelled Taizo, jumping off the couch. “You were like wha, wha, wha!” He made exaggerated hand motions that looked a bit more like karate than dancing. “And the tightrope guy was like WHOA WHOA yeah I made it!” He jumped around until Jack grabbed his arm.
“We get it, squirt.” He looked up at Hajime, grinning. “Anyway, I got it all on a DVD. You’re welcome.”
Hajime could only stand there, processing this information. He’d known there were a lot of reporters, but he’d thought they were focusing on the tightrope walker, not on them. But they had, and apparently it had aired earlier. He wondered how Jack had managed to record it and decided he would ask later.
For now, he made his to the couch, still a little befuddled, and sat down next to his mother (Taizo was forced to stay off the couch so they could all fit). Jack held up the remote and pushed play.
Sure enough, there he was, onscreen, doing his routine with the others behind him. And they looked good.
Hajime suddenly felt overwhelmed. He looked over at Jack, who just shrugged innocently and pointed back at the screen. Hajime looked back, and watched himself lead a successful mission with his family.
...
Jack only had the TV on for background noise when the report came on. He was bent over a small contraption he had spread out across the Tanaka’s coffee table, mostly consisting of a camera and a DVD writer. He was messing with his robots’ synthetic memories, and ways to take certain bits of videos and save them to DVDs instead of the internal memory systems.
“Breaking news,” said the newscaster (in Japanese, of course, which made it easier for Jack to tune out), “something something something something, assisted by the Yuuhi Ouenden-“
Jack’s head snapped up at that, and he watched as the feed changed to show a shot of a tightrope walker, just getting ready to cross the gap between two ridiculously tall skyscrapers in Tokyo, and on top of one of those skyscrapers stood three figures in very familiar uniforms.
The camera zoomed in on them a little, and Jack jumped to his feet.
“Hajime’s leading! Hajime’s on TV!”
He gaped at the TV for a moment, before it occurred to him that he needed to do something, before this moment got away forever. Grabbing for the DVD writer and a blank disc, he hooked up the device and turned it on. He hoped it would work.
Then he looked up and yelled for Genji and Taizo to get down here now, it’s important! Taizo came down first, running as fast as he could to Jack’s summons.
“What is it, what is it!?” Taizo demanded, looking around like he expected a robot to swoop down any moment. Sometimes that was exactly what happened, so one couldn’t really blame the kid.
But there were no robots today. Instead, Jack pointed to the TV, which was currently focused on the tightrope walker.
“Hajime’s on TV!”
“WHOA!” Taizo looked, frowned when he only saw the tightrope walker, then jumped up when the camera switched back to show Hajime and the other Ouendan. “HE IS! Genji, Genji, come here!”
“What’s all the yelling about?” Genji appeared in the doorway, looking irritated. He was holding a book in his hand.
“Your brother’s on TV, now get in here,” snapped Jack, eyes glued to the screen. Curious despite himself now, the younger boy walked in.
“That’s a tightrope walk- ah, hey, there he is!”
The camera was switching between the two, showing the progress of the tightrope walker juxtaposed to the synchronized, diligent cheering of the Ouendan. The performer was halfway across the rope now, suspended high above Tokyo’s streets.
“Go Hajime!” cheered the assembled boys, jumping up and down or fistpumping where appropriate. The crowd below the scene joined in, a cacophony of cheering for the scene.
All was going well, and then the tightrope walker, only a forth of the way from the other building, teetered on the rope. A hush seemed to fall over everyone, except the Ouendan, who did not lesson their pace in the slightest. Hajime cheered and danced with even more fervor, it seemed, to keep the man from falling, and to help him reach his goal.
After a tense moment, the tightrope walker regained his balance, and started taking steps again to the roar of the crowd. Jack released the breath he’d been holding and whooped along with them.
The performer finally made it to his goal and stepped off the rope into the waiting arms of coaches, paramedics, and reporters. One more shot was dedicated to the Ouendan, who all gave a bow, before focusing on the man and his incredible feat.
“That was so cool!” cheered Taizo, jumping up and down.
Genji, more composed, said, “It’s too bad Mother and Father didn’t get to see it.”
“It’s cool, I recorded it,” said Jack, bending to stop the writer as the news moved back to more mundane topics. “We got it right here on this disc.”
“That’s great! For once, you actually had a good idea.”
“Hey, get out of here before I make you target practice for my robots,” Jack huffed, shoving Genji’s shoulder a little. It was playful, though. He’d been getting better at interacting with them lately.
“Let’s show Mother and Father when they get home,” said Taizo eagerly. Jack nodded.
“Oh don’t worry, we will.”
…
Hajime felt pretty good as he walked up the drive to his front door. He’d completed one of his most terrifying missions yet (if he’d tripped up… he didn’t even want to think of what would have happened), and he still had a glow of pride around him that he’d even been picked for that mission in the first place.
The only downside, he thought, was that his family hadn’t seen it. They’d become more accepting of his involvement in the Ouendan, it was true, but he wished they could see him in action more often.
Ah well. He could still tell them about it at dinner.
Opening the door, he found them not getting ready for dinner as he’d thought, but seated in front of the television, two bowls of popcorn balanced between the five of them. Hajime wasn’t sure what the oddest part of this picture was – that his parents were sitting on the couch with popcorn or that Jack was sitting next to Genji and no one looked ready to kill someone.
When they saw he had entered, they all started clapping enthusiastically, with Jack pumping his fist in the air and going, “Whoop whoop whoop!” loudly. Oddly enough, no one stopped him.
“Wh-what’s going on?” he asked, readying himself in case they were actually pod people.
“We heard about your mission today, helping the tightrope walker,” explained his mother, patting the couch next to her. “We were just about to watch the footage.”
Hajime stayed put where he was. “Watch the… what?”
“You were on TV!” yelled Taizo, jumping off the couch. “You were like wha, wha, wha!” He made exaggerated hand motions that looked a bit more like karate than dancing. “And the tightrope guy was like WHOA WHOA yeah I made it!” He jumped around until Jack grabbed his arm.
“We get it, squirt.” He looked up at Hajime, grinning. “Anyway, I got it all on a DVD. You’re welcome.”
Hajime could only stand there, processing this information. He’d known there were a lot of reporters, but he’d thought they were focusing on the tightrope walker, not on them. But they had, and apparently it had aired earlier. He wondered how Jack had managed to record it and decided he would ask later.
For now, he made his to the couch, still a little befuddled, and sat down next to his mother (Taizo was forced to stay off the couch so they could all fit). Jack held up the remote and pushed play.
Sure enough, there he was, onscreen, doing his routine with the others behind him. And they looked good.
Hajime suddenly felt overwhelmed. He looked over at Jack, who just shrugged innocently and pointed back at the screen. Hajime looked back, and watched himself lead a successful mission with his family.