Love Hina - Volume 2 - Chapter Pr

Preface 

It has been several months since the first novel. I, Hiroyuki Kawasaki, have been offered the important role of writing the second novel. 
The original manga series has already ended, which means the Love Hina world has concluded, but I tried to find stories to fit in between the gaps and avoid disrupting the natural flow of the original storyline. 
When I was a child, whenever my favorite TV series ended, I was left with a sad feeling. (This was, of course, before VCRs were invented!) If the fans of Love Hina , still sad from the series’ conclusion, would think of these chapters as, “I suppose this could have happened,” it will give me the greatest pleasure. 

 
Morning at Hie Hinaia House 

It seemed like the town was always covered in fog. The town of Hinata, that is. 

The scenic spot facing the Sagami Bay was a famous hot springs area—indeed, the town used to overflow with customers, from the end of the Taisho era to the beginning of the Showa era. But in the years following the Pacific War, fewer and fewer customers came. Barely any came at all these days. 

Hinata City had been left behind by the times; the old, classic scenery remained untouched. 

The antique streetcars still go downtown. The trolleys were all at least two generations old, and the now-rare threewheeled cars still ran in the streets. 

The mixture of Western Shinobu sat there, flabbergasted, flailing her arms and. legs in confusion. “Wa-ta-ta-ta!” she cried. When she finally calmed down, she called out, “Big trouble, everyone! Naru!” 

No sooner had she spoken than she accidentally fired the flare gun again and jerked from the recoil, yelping, “Ow!” 

She pranced around and eventually gasped, “Phew!” then collapsed onto her heels. 

Flaming signal flare rounds landed all over the Hinata House estate. Smoke billowed everywhere. 

A shadow squatting at the middle of the stairway started to stand. When the smoke finally cleared, the shadow was revealed to be . . . Naru Narusegawa herself. 

“Wait for me, Keitaro! I’m on my way!” she called out. 

Naru seemed a little crazy as she clutched her suitcase and dashed down the stairs. She almost looked like a track athlete—she sure didn’t look like a Tokyo University student. 

Yes, Naru was a Todai student. But, more importantly, she was absolutely gorgeous. 
 
Naturally, some Todai students were pretty, and some of them could be quite athletic, also. But Naru was probably the only one that had both qualities in such quantity, and she also hailed from a former hot springs lodge turned all-girl dorm, so she was pretty exceptional. 

Narus heart was filled with the desire to reunite with a special someone dear to her. That envious young mans name was Keitaro Urashima. 

"Did you know" if two people who love each other very much go to Tokyo University, they’ll live happily ever after?” a little girl said to her playmate, a shy little boy. 

“Really?” the boy replied. 

Oops, not that far back! Show silly to go all the way to the start of tin: series... 
 
“Flight 521, which has been delayed for four hours, has now departed. We apologize for the inconvenience. ” 

Once the airport announcement was made, Keitaro was no longer there. All that was left was one sheet of paper with “One free ticket for Keitaro to do whatever you ask him to do” written on it. 
 
The previous spring, Keitaro’s goal to become a Todai student had finally been achieved. But during the opening ceremony, he got injured , and could barely go to college. He wasted almost half a year. But as it happened, this period gave him time to get some perspective on his life. He decided to study abroad in the United States. That one free ticket was his way of thanking the residents when he left. 
 
Nam had written “kiss” on that ticket.

Keitaro fulfilled that wish—which was not exactly a chore for him, since it was his wish, too. But since Naru was half asleep at the time, it almost felt like a dream. When she awoke, Keitaro was no longer there—and his plane had already taken off. 

Naru stood stock-still in the airport lobby and murmured, 

“Stupid. ” But that wasn’t enough, so she ended up belting out “Stupid!” shamelessly in front of all those people. Still, she could only watch as the airplane twinkled into a speck, and then vanished fiom her line of sight. . . 

Now that Keitaro was no longer at the Hinata House, the residents all reminisced about him. 

But not Naru. (Or so she liked to think.) 

“He's probably doing fine, wherever he is, ” she said with a smile, and acted like she wasn't affected by Keitaro's absence. But she was just hiding her true feelings. 

Afier he'd left, Naru started to lose it every two or three days. At first, people thought she was stressing out because, with Keitaro gone, she didn't have anyone to clobber, but that wasn't the reason. Well, it may have been a part of the reason, but mostly, suppressing her desire to reunite with Keitaro would reach its limit in a matter of two or three days. 

Once those suppressed feelings peaked, it usually resulted in an incident like this morning. Basically, Naru kept trying to fly off to the United States, no matter what. 

It was Shinobu's turn to keep her under surveillance, because it was about that time for Naru to go nuts again. 

So, this morning at the Hinata House . . . 

As Naru floated down the stairs like a breeze, a shadow swiftly blocked her path. 

“Naru, please get a hold of yourself!" 

“What a shame for you ... To be so confused by such a clueless boy!" Motoko said. “By the power of my sword, I will destroy the evil spirits that must be troubling you, Naru. Now hold still.” 

“Don’t try to stop me, Motoko!” Naru warned. “I—” 

“No excuses!” Motoko attacked Naru. But suddenly .. . 

“Myu!” 

Tama, the hot springs turtle (and Hinata House’s mascot), peeked out from behind Naru. Motoko went wobbly with sheer terror.
 
She stepped back, and Naru saw her chance to fly past. But as she did, the metal latch of the suitcase she carried somehow snagged the edge of Motokos bath towel. Naru didn’t notice and ran off. Of course the bath towel got yanked off Motokos body, and . . . 

“Eek!” Motoko squealed, now in just her birthday suit. She squatted down for cover. 

“I’m sorry, Motoko!" Naru called out as she ran down the stairs. 

Mitsune Konno appeared out of nowhere, blocking Naru’s path. “I ain’t letting you get any further!” 
 
“Kitsune!” Naru gasped.
 
Mitsune’s nickname was Kitsune, which meant fox, either because she looked foxy, or because she was cunning like a fox, or maybe both. Kitsune had many tricks up her sleeve. But like Keitaro always said, the price of being fooled by a fox like her was definitely worth it. 

For some reason, Kitsune was clad in only a bath towel, too. “The manager shouldn’t just leave her post like that!” she warned.
 
“I am not the manager!” Naru protested. “I’m just a substitute!” 

“Same thing,” Kitsune said insistently. “Whatever you are, if you leave, then my life won’t be easy anymore. So you ain’t leaving just yet!” Kitsune pulled an envelope from—well, not her sleeve, because she didn’t have any, but rather from her towel-wrapped cleavage. She looked at Naru devilishly. “Besides, if you go, who knows what’ll happen to this?”
 
Naru stopped. “What is that?” she asked warily. 

Kitsune looked coy. “Oh, nothing . . .” she began. “Only a letter from Keitaro that just arrived yesterday from the States!” 

Kitsune held the letter up with a flourish. Written on it was “To Narusegawa, from Keitaro.” 
 
Naru stared, thunderstruck. Then she laughed skeptically: “Oh, no,” she said, “I’m not falling for that.” 

“What?” Kitsune looked disappointed. 

“Look carefully at the envelope,” Naru said. Kitsune looked at it. Where it was supposed to have “To Narusegawa, from Keitaro” it instead had the words “To Narusegawa, from Kage taro.” 

“Oh crap!” Kitsune hissed. “I was in such a hurry that I misspelled it.”
 
The letter was a fake. Naru glared at Kitsune with almost nuclear-level anger. 

“Naru, don’t be so mad,” Kitsune said, smiling uneasily and backing up. “I was just kidding . . .” 

“There are some things you just shouldn’t lie about!” Naru growled. 

A round of fierce explosions suddenly burst from overhead, blowing the two girls away. 

Naru was okay, but Kitsune was almost naked—the bath towel was barely hanging on. “How dare you let a young lady look like this before she even marries?!” she bellowed as she disappeared into the sky. 

Naru somehow dodged the first round, but several more explosions came toward her like flaming monsters. There were only two people crazy enough to try such a dangerous feat to stop her. As Naru fled from the bursting rounds, she looked back to see two girls standing atop the main Hinata House roof. 

“How ’bout it, Naru?! Do you like the power of this Turtle Bazooka I invented?” Suu Kaolla yelled exuberantly. She was a sophomore. She had tan skin, long arms and legs, and she too was clad only in a little white towel . . . She also had a machine that looked like a turtle shell strapped to her back. Mounted on the turtle shell was a bazooka, set on a turret.
 
Of course this might seem strange, but remember, this was the Hinata House. Suu’s hobby was making crazy gadgets, and this was just another of her wacky inventions. 

Someone else stood behind Suu, busily loading rounds. At first glance, it looked like a little boy, but upon closer inspection, it was an adorable little girl who looked like a tomboy . . . but she too was wearing only a towel. Her name was Sara MacDougall, and she was a fourth grader. Well, the paperwork hadn’t been processed yet, so technically shed start school in the spring. 
 
Prologue 

“How about that?!” Suu called out. “Are you having second thoughts about going to Keitaro now?”
 
Sara nudged Suu. “Lets finish it up,” she said.
 
“Roger! Load it up!” Suu pointed at a round that looked like something out of a science fiction movie. It was an antiNaru bazooka round. Only Suu knew what was so “antiNaru” about it. 

Sara tried to load the round into the bazooka, but then tilted her head and said, “Huh? It doesn’t fit.” 

" fust jam it in really hard!” Suu ordered. 

“Like this?” Sara pushed in the round. 

KA-BOOM! 

The round suddenly exploded and blasted the two girls into the sky. “Nah, that was a boo-boo!” 

“It’s all stupid Keitaro’s fault!” 

As the two girls rocketed far into the sky, two white towels floated to the ground. 

Upon seeing the fireworks show, Naru ran out from the shadows to get away. 
 
“Wait, Kei— Naru began, but green vertical stripes suddenly filled her view. The next moment, a watermelon slammed into Naru’s face.
 
“Oh dear, my hand slipped!” another girl said, smiling nonchalantly. It was Mutsumi Otohime, a Todai freshman now, but she had entered on her third attempt, so she was already twenty-two. 

There’s not much to say about Mutsumi. Her personality was just indescribable. Scientists ought to study her. Mutsumi was unpredictable; she had unnatural sensibilities. But her adorably cute looks usually caused most people to forgive everything she did. 

Of course, Mutsumi was also clad in only a bath towel. Naru was frozen in place, a watermelon planted on her kisser like a big green-striped head. 

But Mutsumi didn’t seem to care. “If you were going to go see Urashima,” she said, “I thought that maybe you should take a watermelon as a gift. . .”
 
“Yee-oww . . .” Naru burbled. The watermelon fell from her face, trailing seeds and pink juice down her cheeks. Her eyes rolled back and she fell forward with a plop. 

As Naru collapsed, she instinctively tried to grab onto to something to keep from falling. That something happened to be Mutsumi $ towel. 

Hague Naru went down. The towel went with her. “Oh my.” Mutsumi chuckled, buck-naked. 

Unconscious, Naru was carried into the Hinata teashop by the conspiring residents. 

Haruka Urashima, who ran the teashop, looked up apathetically, a cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth. “Again?” she said blithely. 

The girls all nodded. Haruka noticed that, except for Naru and Shinobu, they were all wearing only skimpy towels. “I must’ve missed the fashion memo,” she muttered. “Why are you guys dressed like that?” 

Kitsune answered. “It was Sunday and the weather was great, so we were taking a morning bath,” 

“Then, Shinobu, who was on watch, let off the warning flares to signal that Naru was running away again . . .” Motoko added. 
 
“I see.” Haruka was somewhat satisfied with that explanation, but as she looked at the unconscious Naru, her brow furrowed with concern. “How long is she going to continue with this?” 

“Its all because of that idiot!” said Sara. 

Suu agreed, saying, “Yeah, it’s Keitaros fault!” 

“Its not his fault!” Shinobu defended. 

Mutsumi pondered before adding, “But I kind of understand Narus feelings.” 
The residents of the Hinata House fell silent. Truth be told, everyone felt the same, more or less.