The Chikamori Selfacy (A Reboot)
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-451kWfI6hzI/X8bPPtEyeVI/AAAAAAAAk54/KB3_SyRJ73IFG8EkSAmOkYAyCBOz1giwgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/ChikamoriSelfacyReboot_banner.png Prologue: June 12, 1970; Sacred Spleen Hospital...
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Generation One - Chapter Two
Part Five
Two Hours Later, 24hr Wellness Center, 221 Landgraab Avenue
River slipped into her bikini at the fitness centre women's changing room. She had also took a quick shower in order to clean the sweat off before slipping into the pool.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xqK0UgxwABc/X8bR8YN7JTI/AAAAAAAAk6A/MPqHwFEyJ1YSxvJflkLC-NcUisfpZ_YfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-60.jpg
Likewise Haruo was doing the same. After playing soccer shootout, he was sweating. Pulling on his swimming trunks, he glanced in the mirror and grinned. His kung fu practices had honed his muscles making them wiry and flexible enough to make an explosive dragon claw counter punch -the last time he used that technique it made VJ Alvi measure his own length in the mud of the school football field knocked out cold. VJ left him alone after that; presumably after seeing Ursa Major rotate around his head a few dozen times.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BN9hqgR_ou0/X8bSOrRh3fI/AAAAAAAAk6I/VY0mIrDVbKMt-hENf9bWmkWDFGe1f_64wCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-62.jpg
Haruo was limber and his toned martial arts trained body was fit, he noted. He wasn't big, nor was his intention to get huge like Lee Haney who won the 86 Mr Olympia and was enroute to quite possibly winning again in 1987.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6fhpkTArKgw/X8bSmg4hnPI/AAAAAAAAk6Q/qyaouY6Vxawsc0zEle8r94rADXyCq9XuACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-64.jpg
He flexed at the mirror and then walked out. The pool was a rectangular shaped one and uniformly deep. Most who went into the pool dog-paddled to keep afloat.
"Haruo!" River called to him.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9iLKnLMMJQ/X8bSx374XRI/AAAAAAAAk6U/QWFYPe2pee4_d5VkiUlHosjKxivWlqoVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-65.jpg
And Haruo responded with a warm smile as she walked over to him and looked him over; her eyes halting her inspection of his torso at the level of his bare chest, an admiring look as she noted his wiry muscles.
River gazed at him appreciatively. "You look good." She assessed him seeing the wiry muscles that years of kung fu training had given him as he dropped into a kung fu pose grinning resembling a crouching dragon. She marveled at the easy way he was able to assume the position and the natural way his arms and hands seemed to position themselves into a dragons claws ready to lash out.
She'd seen him in grade eight put a grade eleven student on the ground with two moves: a lashing palm strike that whipped the student's head back and a spinning foot sweep kicking the student's legs out from under him. And that was for the student pushing a grade eight student head first into the door of a locker. That junior class-man had deserved everything he'd gotten. And now they had been the juniors and going into their senior year with graduation just around the corner and uncertain job prospects. They would have to make their way and hope that they struck opportunities at the right moment.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J0x_RyC2Fh4/X8bTKEKAVpI/AAAAAAAAk6g/1zVxudl8RWMVgq-c4slYpKgsrZYeKPD6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-66.jpg
Haruo gazed appreciatively at River as well. Her hair was already damp and slicked back from the shower she'd taken to wash off the street-dust before going into the pool and she was in a black bikini which pretty much left nothing to the imagination.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2tvfLxH8Hk/X8bTnsTpbeI/AAAAAAAAk6o/ijzqJJ3Ib2UMyfySH45KWWyXxpStrOiBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-68.jpg
But all that would wait as their only goal right now was to go swimming. "Cannon-ball!" Haruo charged for the pool...risking getting an admonition from the life-guards at the rec center. "Last one in the pool is a rotten egg..." River playfully taunted as she took a step off the edge of the poolside and into the water, submerging completely before rising to the surface treading water favoring him with an impish grin, her sodden hair contouring to the shape of her head, her eyes twinkling in merriment, rivulets of pool-water streaming down her face.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jpa6vaydV4s/X8bUy5AhSOI/AAAAAAAAk60/wEJv3wDiw2IVa0zW1mORrjOKH69hj2tfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-73.jpg
River wasn't fast enough as Haruo hit the water scant seconds before she jumped in.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AJVjd9g_5vs/X8bU-1NfcuI/AAAAAAAAk64/zSzG11qsiCs_N7asDSKZcF8sr8NxwfCLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-82.jpg
Coming back up he saw her looking at him again with a look that appeared as though she was appraising him. "Like what you see?" He asked jokingly while treading water himself.
"Mmm-hmmm..." River responded, nodding her head as she swam closer to him inadvertently brushing her torso against his sending an electric charge coursing through his body as he had to quite remember to breathe. They'd flirted before but more as a joke.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FTKaMSMKl1Y/X8bWFXHLlqI/AAAAAAAAk7I/5Vd2I6bkm_sV0RTDsExYeiEIvj3tukiAACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-85.jpg
"Wanna have a breath-holding contest?" Haruo asked River, trying to break up the intimate tension that had suddenly filled the air. However it was uncomfortably clear that his longtime friend was maturing into a young woman and as a young man, Haruo did react quite noticeably to that. He groaned softly, inaudibly. He wasn't going to be able to get out of the pool for a while as he was clearly interested in River.
“Yeah...how many times has it been? 25-0?” River grinned at him. “You want to make it twenty six to zip?”
“Yeah, right, McIrish...blah blah blah...enough trash-talk, let’s do this...”
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2zdYXHw-eo/X8bYnQkSz4I/AAAAAAAAk7U/O2jarYpDcFMMxz0LtgtgX_shqwLf8zENQCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-88.jpg
Sinking to the bottom of the pool, they held their breaths for as long as possible. Haruo could barely stand it...and his lungs were burning from holding in his breath for such a long while. Searching for River with his foot, he used his toes to tickle her thigh. That did it. She emitted a large stream of bubbles from her mouth as she exhaled her breath and shot for the surface. Breaking the surface she looked down at him and letting out an exhale of mock-outrage, protested, “That’s cheating, you tickled me and made me lose!"
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nHKZCf5oI8g/X8bYsYFP_fI/AAAAAAAAk7Y/gbyyliM4B4EUYjoenU-a1It2Mczd9LrvgCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-86.jpg
Haruo grinned at her, “No, I didn’t...” Her pout was adorable. But she would get him back, when they got tired of swimming...and decided to rest by poolside on the recliners. Leaning back, Haruo sighed as he looked up at the ceiling of the rec center two floors above the pool when all of a sudden a torso blocked his vision to replace it with an exquisite vision. He looked up to see River straddling him with an evil grin on her face...yes, payback was a... That was all he could contemplate before he noted her very close proximity to his own torso.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x2kcNUiteAU/X8bbeCIxnTI/AAAAAAAAk7o/tdSOzx4nQWceKdWs8yvjQj7yvUZHbt3xwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-96.jpg
Oh, she knew just how uncomfortable she was making him and she had him pinned like a butterfly to a specimen board. “Say you cheated...” she smirked at him.
“No...” he grinned up at her. “Not gonna say it...” he resisted.
“Guess I’m going to have to make you really uncomfortable...” she said moving herself closer to him, if there was any daylight between the two of them, it couldn’t readily be seen. Haruo could feel her body heat as she leaned in really close and whispered, “You are going to say you cheated...” she grinned at him, putting her hands on the sides of his head and coaxing him up from the back of the recliner.
Haruo's mind fled; God, she's beautiful... he thought.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vV0FhT5YTu8/X8bcJZQlb0I/AAAAAAAAk70/fUlO6NPa2H8PuhHbHz4HIuCCyJjK8lrgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-99.jpg
For Haruo, it was a lost cause, "Anything you say, River..." he acquiesced.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmcQ3z5yCs4/X8bcJUx1DvI/AAAAAAAAk7w/Xd14oLlhxpw79sYg_RuIOQuRzZKeBZw1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-94.jpg
Two Hours Later
Emerging from the pool, Haruo noticed his friend lying on the poolside recliner looking out at the pool smiling. "Think we should start heading back?" He asked her.
"Yeah. But I want to get something quick for the walk back." She answered him with a smile. "Meet you by the counter after showering off?"
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DKV2IQEWhAs/X8beApSYJ-I/AAAAAAAAk8E/P1zzEnY6NJ4siBZaigp8Vd5mzX5liwktwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-71.jpg
"Sounds good to me. Think the fair kiosks are open?"
"It's nine-thirty; they usually close by nine. We may end up having to eat at Hogan's again." River answered his query as she headed off to the women's change rooms.
River, while taking her swimsuit off and diving into the shower to wash the chlorine out of her hair and off her body, smiled to herself as she recalled Haruo's reaction to her closing the distance in the pool with him and brushing up against him had made him respond as though he'd been zapped by an electric charge. It was harmless flirting after all. By this time she was washing the lather out of her hair ensuring that it was squeaky clean of harsh chemicals from the pool and putting another palm full of shampoo for a second wash to make doubly sure.
CENSORED - for cleanliness
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VpbFjGAReXg/X8db8-PR0-I/AAAAAAAAk8Y/9829hFuhePA_m0b2Qr9Nm6yQfK0VJsFQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/River_washing_hair.pnghttps://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ba2RCmnsjmI/X8db_IyPwCI/AAAAAAAAk8c/xwS0fd5LtgctmkyaKGXsjnIidHj5f5uNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/River_washing_hair2.png
Innocent flirting was just that, wasn't it!? She pondered as she finished her ablutions. But lately doubts about the innocence of their interactions as long-time friends were starting to creep into her mind. They'd been together for so long that it didn't seem natural to not have him around. And that she wasn't sure if travel itself could ever replace a friend who was always there for her. The longer she thought about it, the more she realized that traveling alone wouldn't replace the want of life companion.
And maybe those little innocent flirtations with him were just masking a desire for something greater than friendship. River sighed, frustrated as she finished up and toweled herself off changing back into street clothes.
Maybe time would tell, but she had already started thinking of Haruo as something more than just her longtime friend and she wondered if he had ever thought of her in that same way. But the thought of unrequited affection put a damper on that thought very quickly.
But that seed, despite all efforts to stamp it out, would sit there all through the summer; through the move from her home and into the triplex and their senior year, germinating into a hope for the future.
END CHAPTER TWO
Generation One - Chapter Two
Part Five
Two Hours Later, 24hr Wellness Center, 221 Landgraab Avenue
River slipped into her bikini at the fitness centre women's changing room. She had also took a quick shower in order to clean the sweat off before slipping into the pool.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xqK0UgxwABc/X8bR8YN7JTI/AAAAAAAAk6A/MPqHwFEyJ1YSxvJflkLC-NcUisfpZ_YfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-60.jpg
Likewise Haruo was doing the same. After playing soccer shootout, he was sweating. Pulling on his swimming trunks, he glanced in the mirror and grinned. His kung fu practices had honed his muscles making them wiry and flexible enough to make an explosive dragon claw counter punch -the last time he used that technique it made VJ Alvi measure his own length in the mud of the school football field knocked out cold. VJ left him alone after that; presumably after seeing Ursa Major rotate around his head a few dozen times.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BN9hqgR_ou0/X8bSOrRh3fI/AAAAAAAAk6I/VY0mIrDVbKMt-hENf9bWmkWDFGe1f_64wCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-62.jpg
Haruo was limber and his toned martial arts trained body was fit, he noted. He wasn't big, nor was his intention to get huge like Lee Haney who won the 86 Mr Olympia and was enroute to quite possibly winning again in 1987.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6fhpkTArKgw/X8bSmg4hnPI/AAAAAAAAk6Q/qyaouY6Vxawsc0zEle8r94rADXyCq9XuACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-64.jpg
He flexed at the mirror and then walked out. The pool was a rectangular shaped one and uniformly deep. Most who went into the pool dog-paddled to keep afloat.
"Haruo!" River called to him.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9iLKnLMMJQ/X8bSx374XRI/AAAAAAAAk6U/QWFYPe2pee4_d5VkiUlHosjKxivWlqoVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-65.jpg
And Haruo responded with a warm smile as she walked over to him and looked him over; her eyes halting her inspection of his torso at the level of his bare chest, an admiring look as she noted his wiry muscles.
River gazed at him appreciatively. "You look good." She assessed him seeing the wiry muscles that years of kung fu training had given him as he dropped into a kung fu pose grinning resembling a crouching dragon. She marveled at the easy way he was able to assume the position and the natural way his arms and hands seemed to position themselves into a dragons claws ready to lash out.
She'd seen him in grade eight put a grade eleven student on the ground with two moves: a lashing palm strike that whipped the student's head back and a spinning foot sweep kicking the student's legs out from under him. And that was for the student pushing a grade eight student head first into the door of a locker. That junior class-man had deserved everything he'd gotten. And now they had been the juniors and going into their senior year with graduation just around the corner and uncertain job prospects. They would have to make their way and hope that they struck opportunities at the right moment.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J0x_RyC2Fh4/X8bTKEKAVpI/AAAAAAAAk6g/1zVxudl8RWMVgq-c4slYpKgsrZYeKPD6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-66.jpg
Haruo gazed appreciatively at River as well. Her hair was already damp and slicked back from the shower she'd taken to wash off the street-dust before going into the pool and she was in a black bikini which pretty much left nothing to the imagination.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2tvfLxH8Hk/X8bTnsTpbeI/AAAAAAAAk6o/ijzqJJ3Ib2UMyfySH45KWWyXxpStrOiBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-68.jpg
But all that would wait as their only goal right now was to go swimming. "Cannon-ball!" Haruo charged for the pool...risking getting an admonition from the life-guards at the rec center. "Last one in the pool is a rotten egg..." River playfully taunted as she took a step off the edge of the poolside and into the water, submerging completely before rising to the surface treading water favoring him with an impish grin, her sodden hair contouring to the shape of her head, her eyes twinkling in merriment, rivulets of pool-water streaming down her face.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jpa6vaydV4s/X8bUy5AhSOI/AAAAAAAAk60/wEJv3wDiw2IVa0zW1mORrjOKH69hj2tfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-73.jpg
River wasn't fast enough as Haruo hit the water scant seconds before she jumped in.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AJVjd9g_5vs/X8bU-1NfcuI/AAAAAAAAk64/zSzG11qsiCs_N7asDSKZcF8sr8NxwfCLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-82.jpg
Coming back up he saw her looking at him again with a look that appeared as though she was appraising him. "Like what you see?" He asked jokingly while treading water himself.
"Mmm-hmmm..." River responded, nodding her head as she swam closer to him inadvertently brushing her torso against his sending an electric charge coursing through his body as he had to quite remember to breathe. They'd flirted before but more as a joke.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FTKaMSMKl1Y/X8bWFXHLlqI/AAAAAAAAk7I/5Vd2I6bkm_sV0RTDsExYeiEIvj3tukiAACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-85.jpg
"Wanna have a breath-holding contest?" Haruo asked River, trying to break up the intimate tension that had suddenly filled the air. However it was uncomfortably clear that his longtime friend was maturing into a young woman and as a young man, Haruo did react quite noticeably to that. He groaned softly, inaudibly. He wasn't going to be able to get out of the pool for a while as he was clearly interested in River.
“Yeah...how many times has it been? 25-0?” River grinned at him. “You want to make it twenty six to zip?”
“Yeah, right, McIrish...blah blah blah...enough trash-talk, let’s do this...”
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2zdYXHw-eo/X8bYnQkSz4I/AAAAAAAAk7U/O2jarYpDcFMMxz0LtgtgX_shqwLf8zENQCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-88.jpg
Sinking to the bottom of the pool, they held their breaths for as long as possible. Haruo could barely stand it...and his lungs were burning from holding in his breath for such a long while. Searching for River with his foot, he used his toes to tickle her thigh. That did it. She emitted a large stream of bubbles from her mouth as she exhaled her breath and shot for the surface. Breaking the surface she looked down at him and letting out an exhale of mock-outrage, protested, “That’s cheating, you tickled me and made me lose!"
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nHKZCf5oI8g/X8bYsYFP_fI/AAAAAAAAk7Y/gbyyliM4B4EUYjoenU-a1It2Mczd9LrvgCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-86.jpg
Haruo grinned at her, “No, I didn’t...” Her pout was adorable. But she would get him back, when they got tired of swimming...and decided to rest by poolside on the recliners. Leaning back, Haruo sighed as he looked up at the ceiling of the rec center two floors above the pool when all of a sudden a torso blocked his vision to replace it with an exquisite vision. He looked up to see River straddling him with an evil grin on her face...yes, payback was a... That was all he could contemplate before he noted her very close proximity to his own torso.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x2kcNUiteAU/X8bbeCIxnTI/AAAAAAAAk7o/tdSOzx4nQWceKdWs8yvjQj7yvUZHbt3xwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-96.jpg
Oh, she knew just how uncomfortable she was making him and she had him pinned like a butterfly to a specimen board. “Say you cheated...” she smirked at him.
“No...” he grinned up at her. “Not gonna say it...” he resisted.
“Guess I’m going to have to make you really uncomfortable...” she said moving herself closer to him, if there was any daylight between the two of them, it couldn’t readily be seen. Haruo could feel her body heat as she leaned in really close and whispered, “You are going to say you cheated...” she grinned at him, putting her hands on the sides of his head and coaxing him up from the back of the recliner.
Haruo's mind fled; God, she's beautiful... he thought.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vV0FhT5YTu8/X8bcJZQlb0I/AAAAAAAAk70/fUlO6NPa2H8PuhHbHz4HIuCCyJjK8lrgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-99.jpg
For Haruo, it was a lost cause, "Anything you say, River..." he acquiesced.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmcQ3z5yCs4/X8bcJUx1DvI/AAAAAAAAk7w/Xd14oLlhxpw79sYg_RuIOQuRzZKeBZw1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-94.jpg
Two Hours Later
Emerging from the pool, Haruo noticed his friend lying on the poolside recliner looking out at the pool smiling. "Think we should start heading back?" He asked her.
"Yeah. But I want to get something quick for the walk back." She answered him with a smile. "Meet you by the counter after showering off?"
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DKV2IQEWhAs/X8beApSYJ-I/AAAAAAAAk8E/P1zzEnY6NJ4siBZaigp8Vd5mzX5liwktwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screenshot-71.jpg
"Sounds good to me. Think the fair kiosks are open?"
"It's nine-thirty; they usually close by nine. We may end up having to eat at Hogan's again." River answered his query as she headed off to the women's change rooms.
River, while taking her swimsuit off and diving into the shower to wash the chlorine out of her hair and off her body, smiled to herself as she recalled Haruo's reaction to her closing the distance in the pool with him and brushing up against him had made him respond as though he'd been zapped by an electric charge. It was harmless flirting after all. By this time she was washing the lather out of her hair ensuring that it was squeaky clean of harsh chemicals from the pool and putting another palm full of shampoo for a second wash to make doubly sure.
CENSORED - for cleanliness
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VpbFjGAReXg/X8db8-PR0-I/AAAAAAAAk8Y/9829hFuhePA_m0b2Qr9Nm6yQfK0VJsFQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/River_washing_hair.pnghttps://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ba2RCmnsjmI/X8db_IyPwCI/AAAAAAAAk8c/xwS0fd5LtgctmkyaKGXsjnIidHj5f5uNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/River_washing_hair2.png
Innocent flirting was just that, wasn't it!? She pondered as she finished her ablutions. But lately doubts about the innocence of their interactions as long-time friends were starting to creep into her mind. They'd been together for so long that it didn't seem natural to not have him around. And that she wasn't sure if travel itself could ever replace a friend who was always there for her. The longer she thought about it, the more she realized that traveling alone wouldn't replace the want of life companion.
And maybe those little innocent flirtations with him were just masking a desire for something greater than friendship. River sighed, frustrated as she finished up and toweled herself off changing back into street clothes.
Maybe time would tell, but she had already started thinking of Haruo as something more than just her longtime friend and she wondered if he had ever thought of her in that same way. But the thought of unrequited affection put a damper on that thought very quickly.
But that seed, despite all efforts to stamp it out, would sit there all through the summer; through the move from her home and into the triplex and their senior year, germinating into a hope for the future.
END CHAPTER TWO
