Her head felt as if it were about to burst in all directions. She was aware of another person in bed with her, but the room was not hers. A further attempt at focusing her eyes confirmed that this was not a room in her own flat. It took a while for it to register that she was in her best friend's bedroom and that the snoring body next to her was that of Misato. Her mouth still tasted vaguely of vomit; she coughed distastefully and tried to block out the memory of throwing up for twenty minutes outside Misato's building. She couldn't remember much more about what had gone before. "Perverte mensch! Was machen sie denn? Ach, deliberately waiting for me after my shower, Aus! AUS!" The German girl's high-pitched yelling was agony on her throbbing brain and was enough to awaken the dormant Katsuragi. The purple haired woman grunted vaguely, rolled over and grinned sleepily at Ritsuko. "Some night huh?" Ritsuko nodded her agreement. "Mmmhmm, and I can see why we don't do this as much anymore. I feel like death warmed up, I guess I don't miss college as much as I thought." She sniffed. "Is that coffee?" "Probably." Misato yawned, rubbing at her eyes. "Shinji usually fills the percolator every morning for with breakfast." Ritsuko winced. "Ugh, not food, but coffee would be good.very good." She slowly climbed out of the bed, almost falling back down as the head rush hit her. With some effort she managed to direct her complaining frame towards the kitchen. "D.D.Dr Akagi!" Shinji seemed more than a little surprised as he leapt up from the table to greet her. She weakly attempted a smile as she ambled over to the percolator, grabbing a mug from the draining board. She sipped the rich, brown liquid gratefully, feeling it gently warm and wake her body from the inside. By the time Misato dragged herself out of bed, Ritsuko was halfway through her second mug and feeling almost human again. Shinji had disappeared back to his bedroom and was now embroiled in a bilingual argument with Asuka. More memories of the previous evening were beginning to filter back into Ritsuko's mind. She now recalled the seemingly endless tequila slammers and margheritas, the karaoke bar and running down the street shortly after 1 a.m., but there remained some considerable blanks. Misato sat opposite Ritsuko at the table, swigging from a beer can. "How can you even touch that stuff after last night, Misato?" "Ever heard of hair of the dog? Ultimate hangover cure, works like a charm." She took another slurp from the can. "So what happened with Maya last night?" Ritsuko choked on her coffee and muttered a few curses. THAT was what she couldn't remember, the biggest thing that had happened last night. She had told her, but surely it was all okay, Maya had said she felt it too, hadn't she? But they had both been so drunk.through her spluttering she managed to say "I need to talk to Maya, where is she?" Misato belched before replying. "She went home with Aoba, if you ask me I reckon he's got a thing for her." She laughed. "The state they were in last night, God only knows what they- " "Misato!" Both women were taken aback by the vehemence of Ritsuko's voice. "Geez, lighten up already, I was just kidding." Ritsuko pushed her chair back with a sigh and glanced at the floor. "I'm sorry." Should she tell Misato? Her friend probably had a right to know, but now wasn't the time, she really needed to see Maya first, they had too much to talk about for her to waste any more time. "Thanks for putting me up last night, we should do this more often." She felt her stomach turn slightly and managed to add, with forced lightness, "but not for a while." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ When she awoke Maya immediately recognised the room as Shigeru's lounge. She also recalled straight away her exchange with her sempai. It didn't take her long to realise the lurch in her stomach and go running for the bathroom. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ When she had finally emerged from her homage to the porcelain God, Aoba was on hand with a glass of water and two aspirin caplets. He smiled benignly at her. "Take these and if the symptoms don't improve, call me in the morning." She raised her eyebrows, unimpressed at the wisecrack, but necked the pills gratefully, flushing them into her still-complaining stomach with a grimace. "Where's Ritsuko?" It was his turn to raise an eyebrow at her question. "Dr Akagi spent the night at Misato's place, they figured it would be easier just to take a cab back there rather than trying to get home separately." His matter-of-fact expression softened. "So are you going to spill what went on between you two last night or should I just butt out?" Maya winced as she thought more upon what had happened the night before. She was feeling more confused than she ever had before and the after effects of her innumerable vodka mixers weren't helping. "I need to go, I need to speak to her." Shigeru nodded. "Sounds like a sensible plan to me." He hugged her tightly and walked her over to the door. "Good luck Ibuki-chan. Whatever was said last night will be forgiven or acted on in due course. It's going to be okay, you'll see." She eyed him cautiously. "Hmm, that was a little deep and I'm not entirely sure I know what you're getting at." He shrugged. "I think I heard it on an episode of Pokemon once when I was younger." He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Go get 'em."
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