Grown Up- an Ah! My Goddess fanfic

Please review. I beg you…

Chapter 5

“So, that’s the girl you have been head over heels for, for practically the whole time I’ve known you.” Daichi said, friendly arm around Sentaro’s neck as they walked across the bridge, the two girls now out of earshot. “You dog! Here I am trying my hardest to figure out which girl you like, while you act all mysterious and mature. I just thought you had a really good poker face.”
Daichi chuckled, “You sure can pick them, Sentaro. She’s beautiful, good-natured, and smart.” He laughed a bit, “And there you are blushing like a little girl! Boy was I wrong!” Sentaro shoved his elbow into his friend’s stomach. Daichi sat down on the bridge, laughing even harder. “Shut up. You just assumed she was a girl at school, or in the neighborhood. Not my fault.” He said, still blushing.
Daichi got up and brushed himself off. “Hey, no harm, no foul. I don’t blame you keeping it quiet. She’s practically idol material.” Sentaro loosened up a little and then laughed himself. “Oh yeah! What about you? You got all shy once they treated you normally, stammered when asking why, and when Iinchou looked you over like she did you looked like a tomato!”
Daichi tensed a little, and then relaxed and laughed as well. “I bet we both were an amusing sight when that little girlfriend of yours let loose with that killer line of hers! If she had been born a man, she’d be a natural lady-killer!”
The two laughed again and began moving across the bridge again. “So, the heavy duty chain guard and new bike chain probably came in this morning.” Daichi said casually. “Both of those are pretty expensive. I don’t think I need to ask why, but your old chain guard and chain didn’t break regularly, did they?” Sentaro sighed. “No, you are right. One of the punks in one of my fights last week kicked the guard in just the right place to crack it, and the guard itself broke my chain. The new one is metal, so once it’s installed, I won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Daichi was silent. “I know you feel like you have to do this, but can’t you just let…” “No.” Sentaro said firmly. “Everything will just go in circles, like before I started. At least this way everyone can move forward, however slowly.” Daichi sighed. “Just be careful. Nobody likes seeing you hurt all the time.”
They finished crossing the bridge and Sentaro tried to lighten the mood. “Race you to your brothers daycare.” “Trying to break out of your losing streak? You suck at anything not BMX.” Daichi replied, a competitive glint in his eye. “We’ll see about that.” Sentaro laughed as they both bolted in the direction of the local daycare.


After they both arrived, breathing harder and sweating, their new school uniforms now in disarray. Sentaro laughed “Ha! Beat you this time!” “Whatever, I was at least a half a stride in front!” Daichi shot back, also laughing in between ragged breaths. “You two…” The owner of the daycare came out, shaking her head. “Won’t you two ever grow up?”
Sentaro snickered, and replied “Never, Auntie, never ever. It’s too much fun to do silly things just because you feel like it.” Daichi chuckled, and elbowed him in the side, “You wouldn’t even grow up for her? I thought you had more grit than that.” Daichi teased. Sentaro blushed and smacked Daichi’s arm away from his ribcage. “Shut up.”
Auntie Tougen raised an eyebrow. “Sentaro in love? I have to hear about this. As soon as you go get your little brother ready to go, that is.” Daichi stopped mid-laugh, panic stealing across his face as he saw his little brother peek from around the door, a slightly hurt look on his little face. “No, Sabure! I didn’t forget you, I swear! I was just about to…” the door closed, and Daichi’s shoulders slumped for a moment, and then he rushed inside. “Nooo, Sabuuu! I was just…” the rest of what he was saying was cut off when the door closed behind him. Sentaro and Tougen-san smirked. “No one at school would ever guess he is such an overly-doting older brother.” Sentaro said amusedly. “It’s kind of cute how flustered he gets over every little upset over every little hiccup in Sabure’s mood.” She agreed.
She sighed. “I really feel like a smoke. But I am out of cigarettes, again. Looking after kids can be fun, but today was a rough day.” Sentaro stayed silent. Tougen leaned in a bit closer and whispered, “So who is this her?” Sentaro sighed.
“I was hoping you would forget about that. The person I have a crush on started attending our high school.” Sentaro scuffed his shoe against the pavement. “Daichi is teasing me because he kept trying to guess who it was, and he couldn’t ever get it right because he thought it was one of our classmates from middle school.”
Auntie Tougen chuckled. “Alright, I won’t tease you too much for today, then. But you aren’t getting off this lightly forever. I will know eventually.” She paused as Daichi came out, Sabure on his shoulders. “Off you three go. Have a good afternoon!” she called after them.


“Sabure has way too much fun when you carry him home on your shoulders.” Sentaro told Daichi as they sat at his kitchen counter. Meanwhile, Daichi was trying to massage away the tenseness from trying to keep a hyper four year old from falling off the aforementioned shoulders. “You really shouldn’t spoil him like that.” Daichi made a face at Sentaro. “I don’t care.” Sentaro chuckled. “I know. If you’re done with that, let’s go see if your dad is in the shop.” Daichi got up slowly. “Alright, let’s go.”
The two friends began to noisily shuffle down the stairs. Before they got all the way down, the location of Daichi’s father was confirmed. “Ah! The happy pitter-patter of young feet! How are you two doing? Come on in and join me. I think I have a nice surprise for one of you.” Sentaro and Daichi both ducked under the lintel of the doorway leading into the bike repair shop. “Hey Mr. Furakawa. How was business today?” Sentaro asked. Daichi’s dad straightened up, wiping sweat off of his shaven head, his six-foot tall frame looming over the two boys. “Not that good. There was a student that came by, but she seemed really afraid for some reason. Since it’s unforgivable for cute girls to be afraid for any reason, I looked around to figure out why she was so afraid. And then I saw a boy her age peeking in at her from across the street.”
Daichi hung his head. “Oh no, dad, what did you do?” he moaned softly. Daichi was rather aware of the fact that he had inherited not only his father’s height, but also his face. That was part of his problem. Mr. Furakawa looked at him, a hurt look on his face. “I chased off her stalker, that’s what. I really wish you would stop acting like I am some kind of oblivious person.” Sentaro chipped in, “Yeah, Daichi. You don’t know if it’s a boyfriend or a stalker, so it’s best to just play it safe.” He chuckled, eyes dancing with laughter.
Daichi shot his friend a dirty look. “That’s another scared customer that won’t come back. Dad, you have to realize that someone as tall and muscular as you are can be kind of intimidating.” Mr. Furakawa wrinkled his forehead, “What are you talking about, son? Aren’t I renowned around the neighborhood for being a nice guy, one who gets on really well with all of the kids? Who would think I am scary?” and he smiled widely, a happy and somewhat silly look on his face. Daichi sighed in exasperation. “That’s around the neighborhood, dad. Whatever.” He shook his head.
“Ah, before I forget, Sentaro.” Mr. Furakawa pulled a box from underneath one of the work counters. “Your new part came in. I know you like to help maintain your bike, so I waited until you came over to install it. And this chain guard is kind of special, so I need your help anyway. Come over here.”
“Alright, Mr. Furakawa.” Sentaro replied as he slipped over next to the work counter that his bike rested on. “What do you need me to do?” Daichi’s dad opened the box and handed him the new part. “The part you ordered is unusual in the fact that it’s probably best to install it with at least two people. This chain guard has a heavy back plate that needs to be mounted first. Supposedly it’s supposed to help keep dirt and debris from screwing up your chain. After the back plate is mounted, you attach the gears, and then mount the front of the chain guard onto the back plate, and then you put on the chain. Here,” he pointed to the place he wanted Sentaro to hold the back plate, “Please hold it steady here while I anchor it to the frame of your bike and attach your gears.”
“No problem, Mr. Furakawa. I owe you one.” Sentaro did as instructed, patiently holding the back plate in place as Daichi’s dad set to work attaching it. Daichi looked on quietly from the side. A comfortable silence fell over the trio. Sentaro’s thoughts began to wander as he looked at the BMX bike he had used over the past two years. So many scratches. He thought idly, and a bunch of them are pretty good memories. It occurred to him that pretty much all of them involved Skuld. It’s such a shame most of the more recent scratches and scrapes are all from punks.
“Hey,” said Daichi’s dad, interrupting Sentaro’s train of thought. “would you mind if I asked you a question?” “Go ahead. It won’t bother me.” Sentaro replied, wondering what kind of question a bike mechanic would have for him. “I noticed you don’t have the original handlebars on this bike. Is there a reason your handlebars from a different bike?” Sentaro blinked. Well, that was a curveball. “Interesting question. Actually, these handlebars are from my old bike, and I really liked them. Well, that and…” A piece of a memory flashed into Sentaro’s head. He managed to keep from blushing. “I have a couple good memories stored in those handlebars.” Sentaro’s eyes quickly flicked towards the slightly dented part of the crossbar. He could almost hear that particular piece of dialogue again. “Is it okay?!” “Yeah, the bike’s fine.” “Not the bike, you, idiot!”
Sentaro smiled a bit dreamily. That was a particularly cherished memory of his. And there was no way he was letting those handlebars go until he had no other choice! “Yo, dude! You still awake?” Sentaro was jolted back into reality. A reality where Daichi was waving his hand in his face, and Mr. Furakawa stood waiting to move onto the next part of the installment with a slightly worried look on his face. “Sorry, guys. Thanks for waiting, Mr. Furakawa.”


Sentaro wheeled his newly fixed bike smoothly out onto the street. “Moves like a dream, Mr. Furakawa. Maybe I should have done this earlier.” He said as he flipped down the stand, set down his backpack to open it, and pulled off his school uniform, revealing a black t-shirt and put on some black leather biking gloves and his helmet. Mr. Furakawa and Daichi looked on a little apprehensively. “Sentaro, that chain guard is usually ordered by hardcore Mountain bikers who are tired of losing their chains to debris or really rough territory. Now, I know you are pretty rough on your bike because you like to take ‘shortcuts’ and do tricks, but…” Mr. Furakawa paused. “It could be considered overkill. Unless it’s being used in a way it’s not meant to.”
Sentaro got on his bike and looked over at the father and son pair. “I don’t really have much of a choice.” He said softly. He looked away again. “I am going to go around and see if anyone has any deliveries today, just in case. I appreciate your concern, though. Thanks.” Sentaro pushed off and began to pedal away. “See you guys later!”

Mr. Ryouiki, the owner of the local ramen shop, shook his head, “No deliveries today. I told my regular customers that you would be out of commission for around a week, so you’ll have to wait for about two more days until the week is up. It’d take just about that amount of time to spread the news that you are back in business, so you should just wait. Come back in two days time.”
Then the storeowner smiled, winked, and said “Instead, why don’t you take the time to go flirt with that girl I hear you like.” Sentaro groaned. “I knew I shouldn’t have told the most notorious gossip in the neighborhood even the smallest piece of information.” He sighed. “Thanks Mr. Ryouiki. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” Sentaro frowned slightly. “I find it ironic that you’re the one who suggested to make this arrangement official to the rest of them. I was only asking for an occasional free meal at your place. You probably lose more this way. Ow!” Sentaro rubbed his head where Mr. Ryouiki had sternly whacked him with his ladle. “What was that for?” he growled.
Mr. Ryouiki frowned, “I don’t like being cheated, and I hate cheating others just as much. I was getting too much value from your services to feel like our deal was fair. The others just agreed with me.” And then he was all smiles again. “Off with you, youngling. Perhaps the bakery has something for you. I know for sure Sawanuma-san does, and Miwa-san and her husband probably might as well.” Sentaro nodded and took off down the street, and Ryouiki yelled after him as he ducked under his shops noren, “Don’t forget to say hello to Ren-chan for me! She’s working a shift for her parents today.”

Ren adjusted the white cleaning cap on her head as Sentaro walked in. “Hey, Ren-nee. How is business going?” he asked. She ignored him for a moment, staring at the last piece of some intricately plaited bread lying in the sample box on the counter while chewing absentmindedly on the end of her ponytail. “Here, try this.” She said abruptly, picking it up and shoving it into his hands. “Mom found a recipe for a fancy herbed plaited bread online and decided to experiment. Try this and tell me what you think.”
Sentaro cast a suspicious glance at the piece of bread in his hands. HERBED bread? I don’t see any herbs, but I can certainly see filling at the cut end. Though the plaiting in the dough looks pretty cool. He sighed. She won’t talk to me until after I do this. Might as well get it over with. He tore off a bite-sized piece off of the right side and bit into the part with filling.
“Wow.” Sentaro mumbled through a full mouth that was filled with the delicious taste of peanut butter filling. “That is really good.” He swallowed, tore off a piece from the middle, and this mouthful tasted of chocolate. “Mmmmm.” Sentaro swallowed. “Wow, it’s really good, Ren-nee. Maybe she is onto something this time.”
Ren gave him a flat look. “You’re not finished yet. Go on, eat the last of it.” Sentaro had no problem with that. “Okay.” He bit into the left side, expecting peanut butter filling. And got sweet red bean paste. “Pffff.” He managed to swallow instead of spitting it out. It would have tasted fine, except… when it mixed with the flavor of chocolate and peanut butter. “Urghh…”
“Gross, isn’t it? If she had stuck with just two flavors, it would have been fine, but…” Ren sighed. “She didn’t. And knowing her, she won’t take the suggestion to limit to two flavored fillings per bread well.” She absentmindedly straightened the short apron tied around her waist.
“Water.” Sentaro rasped. That last bite tasted nasty. “Please.” Ren waved her hand at the cooler next to the counter. “Help yourself. On the house. It’s the least I could do after you bravely ventured into the unknown.” Sentaro quickly opened it and grabbed out a short bottle of water. He twisted open the cap and started to chug it down.
Sentaro stopped to take a breath. “Before I forget, Ren-nee, I need to ask if you have any deliveries today.” She shook her head. “Nope, not today.” “Mr. Ryouiki told me to say hi, by the way.” He added. Ren nodded her head, “Thanks. I’ll be talking to him later, since we’re eating at his shop tonight.” She looked on as Sentaro finished the last of the water.
Ren smiled slyly. “So, what’s this I hear about a cute girl? The neighborhood has been buzzing about it.” Sentaro threw the plastic bottle into the marked recycle bin, and sighed. “I’ve known her for a long time. And she started coming to our high school. That’s all I’m telling.” Ren laughed, clutching at her stomach. “‘All you are telling’? I guessed you had a crush hidden away somewhere since the time you gave me a weird look when I asked you if you had a crush on me!” she laughed a bit more, bending over the counter. Then she straightened up and continued on, wiping tears from her eyes, “Now that I look back, it was only because I felt insecure about whether or not people here looked at me like a girl. I started to read too much into about how you and Daichi acted because you two little snots were the only ones that treated me like a girl.”
Sentaro snorted, “All the other guys in this neighborhood are idiots who can’t get past childhood memories. They only saw you as the tomboy neighbor who played baseball better than they did. I didn’t have any of that to contend with, and Daichi is too sensible to be so short-sighted.” Sentaro smiled. Payback time! “And all it took for me to figure it out was watching you moon over a picture in your student handbook. Whoever that guy is, he makes you act like a total air head that reads middle school girl magazines and tries out all of the bogus love charms in them.”
Ren blushed and then smacked him angrily on the top of his head. “I’ll get you for that Sentaro Kawanishi*! Off with you, before I lose my temper. I’m a university student now, and you can’t make fun of me like that without proper retribution! Watch your back!” Sentaro laughed as he dashed out the door. “See you later!”


“Mrs. Sawanuma?” Sentaro stuck his head into the print shop looked around, “Do you have any deliveries for me today?” The shop owner turned to look in his direction. “Nothing for the local companies, but the poster boards grandma Sonoteien asked for just finished printing. Could you take care of it for me? It’s over here.” Mrs. Sawanuma pointed at a poster carrier case leaning up next to the door. “No problem, Mrs. Sawanuma. They’ll have it in a bit, since I was headed over there next anyway.” Sentaro said as he grabbed it. “See you tomorrow!” and he headed off to the Sonoteien’s flower shop.

“Thank you very much for bringing these over, Kawanishi-kun.” Grandma Sonoteien said after she had pulled out a poster board to check that it was as ordered. “My husband has absolutely no head for anything but flowers, so he kept procrastinating on this until I had to take care of this myself.” She sighed tiredly, rubbing her wrinkled forehead with the back of her hand. “Miwa!” came an irritated voice from the back of the shop where Grandpa Sonoteien had his greenhouse and workshop, “We need to find a way to get this bouquet to our customer!”
Grandma Sonoteien chuckled. “Just a moment, husband. I think I know the answer to our little problem.” She patted Sentaro heavily on the shoulder. “Please wait a moment. This is the only delivery today, and we thought we would have to wait a bit longer until you got back, but this is fortunate.” She disappeared into the back while Sentaro waited patiently, straining a bit to see if he could hear anything of the muffled conversation. Then she reappeared, and huge bouquet in her hands. “That young lad who rents a room from the Tougen’s finally decided to ask that crush of his on a date. They are over in the park, so could you get this to him before too long?”
Sentaro carefully took the bouquet and started out the door. “No problem. It will only take a moment.” He headed out the door, “Have a good afternoon!” he said.

Sentaro hummed as he slowly pedaled his way back from making the delivery. He hadn’t seen any of the delinquents today, which was a good sign. Maybe they were starting to get the hint that they weren’t welcome if they did destructive things? Nah, probably not. But he’d take one evening of peace anytime.
Sentaro hummed as he sped up a little. A night where he didn’t need to drive off delinquents! He coasted with his eyes closed, feeling the cool evening breeze rush past his face and ruffle through his hair, and wonderful feeling flooding through him. He opened his eyes and spotted a raised garden set up high above the sidewalk in concrete. It continued on down the street until it ended in an opened up area at the corner of the street, close to the Sonoteien’s flower shop.
Sentaro smiled cockily as he sped up and jumped up onto the ledge. He hadn’t had the free time to do many bike tricks recently. Now that he had some time, he’d do a couple on the way home, just to get his blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing. Sentaro centered his bike on the thin strip of concrete that kept the gardening soil in and began to rush as fast as he could toward the end.
That got his heart starting to beat faster, and as he approached the takeoff point it beat ever faster, and faster. And when the critical point was reached, he raised his front wheel just enough so that he rocketed off of the ledge he did a back flip on his bike as he fell. And landed it!
“Haha.” He laughed shakily, the adrenaline rush making him a bit shaky. It had been a long time, long enough that even this simple trick really got him going. He continued down the street lazily, looking for another spot to do a trick on the way home.
Sentaro weaved slowly down the street on his bike, and then rounded the corner to the Sonoteien’s flower shop. And what he saw totally killed any good feelings he’d had that evening. “Hey, little cutie, how ya doin’?” a punk with bleached hair leaning up against the wall, trapping a girl up against it, as his four friends surrounded them and cut off all routes of her possible escape. “Why don’t you come and play with me and my friends this evening? We will treat you,” the punk stopped and leered, “real nice, won’t we guys?” The other delinquents chuckled nastily and the punk leered and leaned in even closer, running the back of his fingers up her jaw line. “Come on, cutie, whaddya say?”
Sentaro felt hot rage flow through him, and he clenched his jaw. Isn’t that the Sonoteien’s grandkid? She just got into middle school this year. Those sick punks are at least juniors. He felt a sick feeling in his stomach, and he pulled his biking gloves down tight onto hands trembling with rage. Why can’t any delinquents figure out that we don’t want them here! He took a deep breath. Breaking windows, tearing posters, graffiti on buildings, bothering customers, all that is unacceptable. But when you start hitting on middle schoolers you are low! The heat of his rage cooled, leaving a cold, calculating anger that almost scared him more than the white-hot rage he’d felt moments before.
“Hey, jackass.” Sentaro called out, his voice much calmer than he felt, “What the fuck,” the curse word slipped out easily before he registered he’d said it. He continued on anyway, “do you think you are doing?” The punks’ head snapped up. “Who the hell are you talking to?” he snarled. “I’ll kick your ass for that, punk.” He pushed off the wall, and his friends moved into fighting positions. The girl took the opportunity to run while they were distracted, a frightened look on her face. Sentaro silently watched to make sure she got away safe, stretching out the silence uncomfortably. The punk got impatient.
“What, are you gonna chicken out now?” he yelled, “You aren’t getting off that easily!” Sentaro laughed, sounding scary-cold even to his own ears. “I was just waiting for you to work up your courage, bleach-brain.” The punks face twisted and he charged toward Sentaro.
Sentaro pedaled as fast as he could, trying to get up enough speed to pull off what he needed to do so he could ditch his bike and fight on foot. He’d almost broken his legs last time punks had caught him while he was still on his bike. That was a while ago, though. He thought detachedly as he drew near to the punk. He stopped his pedals in the right position and tensed his legs. Until I figured out how to do this.
Sentaro whipped his right leg over the frame of his bike, put all of his weight on the front wheel and kicked the back of his bike with both legs so that his back wheel spun quickly out to connect with the punks jaw. He landed on his feet, took his weight off the handlebars and caught his bike seat when his bike rebounded from the impact. When he’d caught it, he quickly ditched his bike off to the side, where it probably received another scratch.
While the other delinquents were staring at their erstwhile leader who was still on the ground, Sentaro removed the bike helmet and tossed it near his bike. He walked over to the leader, who was rubbing his jaw, picked him up by his shirtfront and slammed a right punch into his gut. “Stay down.” Sentaro said to him as he curled up, and then began to stalk in closer to the others.
They hesitated a bit, and then with a small yell from one of them, all four charged him as a group. This is going to hurt. Sentaro though dispassionately as they came within range. Oh well,
One delinquent lashed out with a left that Sentaro easily knocked to the side, and the other three all threw their own punches, which he easily dodged. And then they began to fan out around him. Crap. Sentaro lashed out with a left kick and hit one of them in the gonads. The punk dropped. Sentaro leaped over the downed punk and turned to face the other three who moved to surround him again. This time, one of them managed to strike out first a wide and practically useless punch, which nonetheless clipped Sentaro on the right side of his forehead, opening up a stinging cute on his right eyebrow. Sentaro stepped in and elbowed him hard in the gut, followed up with a blow with the back of his right hand to the punks face.
Two left. Sentaro thought, just as one of those two landed a solid punch to his gut. “Uurk.” Sentaro fell back, clutching his stomach, his knees gone weak. Now it wasn’t looking good for him at all. I have got to at least hurt one of them, he thought as they moved in closer.
Then a familiar voice came out from behind him. “I told you to be careful, idiot.” And Daichi kicked one of the punks in the side. “Just because you’ve gotten better doesn’t mean you can take on five by yourself.” He said as he kneed the same punk in the gut.
“Right…thanks.” Sentaro said slowly as he straightened up, the pain in his gut receding slightly. He coughed. “Let’s finish this up.” He and Daichi turned their gaze to the last punk, who was still standing there open-mouthed at the sudden development. And then he snapped it shut and started to back up. Sentaro moved in quickly and snapped his hand out to grab the delinquent’s shirtfront. “I’m getting tired of saying this to you people.” He said slowly and deliberately. “I don’t care if you smoke cigarettes, or skip school, dye your hair weird colors or put it into weird styles. But if you want to hang out in this area, you need to act like actual people and not gorillas, got it?” Sentaro stared the punk down until he nodded. “Okay. Get your friends and leave. If I see you people doing something stupid again, I’ll fight you. Even if I lose, the next time I see you, I’ll fight you again. This will continue until you stop doing what I don’t like, or you leave. Understand?”
The delinquent nodded, “Yeah, okay. I understand.” The delinquent said nervously. “You aren’t going to beat me up now, are you?” Sentaro stared down coldly at him. “No, but tell your friends what I said. Now leave.” The punk moved toward the leader and picked him up, and the other delinquents got up slowly and they left, limping and beaten.
Daichi and Sentaro watched until they were gone, and then Daichi grabbed Sentaro by the ear. “You’re coming with me, idiot. Grandma Sonoteien has a first aid kit ready, and we will clean you up so you can go home.”


*I double-checked this using several sources, and Sentaro’s last name is Kawanishi as far as I can tell.