Bottle Caps

I failed at coming up with a better title.

I didn't realize how long it had been since my last submission. Sorry for taking so long.
I think I did spend quite a bit of time trying to decide which of my ideas to draw next. I was torn between so many things, and on top of that I was sort of attempting fanfiction.

I probably spent more time on this trying to get all the details right. I hope it shows! ^^

I guess you could say that this is my substitute for a Valentine Day picture, as it's not likely that I'm going to do one of those.

This scene doesn't have a really elaborate story behind it, I don't think... Everyone knows that Kojiro is a compulsive bottle cap collector, right?

Well, Musashi doesn't discover Kojiro's love for bottle caps until she starts to get to know him better and Kojiro feels that he can share his secrets with her.

At first, Musashi thinks he has to be kidding. She doesn't quite understand why Kojiro would love collecting something that most people would see as rubbish, when his parents could buy him absolutely anything that he wanted. Musashi says that he's wasting his fortunes and that if she were in his shoes, there'd be no way that she spend her time collecting bottle caps.

Kojiro becomes a little dispondent over the fact that Musashi doesn't understand and doesn't share his enthusiasm. Especially, after he only just got the nerve to share this part of himself with her. After all, he does care a lot about Musashi's opinion and somehow seeks approval from her.

When Kojiro returns home from school that evening, he remains in a very sombre mood. He starts to think maybe collecting bottle caps is a stupid thing to do and proceeds to take all the bottle caps he can find in his room, and toss them into a rubbish bag. He goes to bed early, in a sulk, and wakes up for school the next morning in a particularly foul mood. He looks back sadly at the rubbish bag slumped against the wall before making his way to school.

Most of the school day, Kojiro stays silent, almost completely blanking Musashi and every attempt she makes to start up a conversation. Unbeknownst to Kojiro, Musashi is actually trying clear the air between them because she realized that what she said about the bottle caps had upset Kojiro, even though she hadn't meant it to.

As the day goes on, and Kojiro continues to remain in silence, not engaging in conversation, Musashi eventually gets fed up of Kojiro's sulking and explodes. She angrily empties the contents of her bag, fishes out a few shiny new bottle caps and chucks them at Kojiro. Before storming out of the empty classroom, Musashi explains how she was sorry for what she said and that she was trying to make it up to him, by giving him some new bottle caps to add to his collection.

Kojiro sits at his desk in shock, staring down at the bottle caps Musashi had tried to give to him. Suddenly it hits him, how he was acting towards Musashi, how she must have felt and that that was much worse. He jumps out of his chair and runs off down the corridor after Musashi.

He finds Musashi leaning heavily against a wall. She has her back to him, but he can tell that she's crying. He gently puts a hand on her shoulder, which makes her jump slightly. Musashi quickly rubs her tear stained face and pretends that she's crying. Kojiro feels terrible and softly apologizes, as he goes to hug her from behind. This catches Musashi off-guard for a second. She whirls round and laughs a little, brushing off the whole thing as something that didn't really matter. All the while, she's extremely relieved that Kojiro still wants to be her friend, and perhaps a little flustered over that hug.

Kojiro and Musashi walk home together, very happy to have things back to normal. Upon returning home, Kojiro notices that something is missing and can't quite think what. Then he remembers about tossing all his bottle caps into the rubbish bag and he's filled with dread, as it becomes all too clear that he's lost them forever. He berates himself for being so stupid, but when he looks down at his hand, to see the bottle caps from Musashi, he calms down and doesn't feel so bad.

The next day is the start of the weekend, Kojiro goes to hang out at the park with Musashi and Nyasu. He tells Musashi what happened to his bottle caps, when she asks him how the new one's looked in his collection. Musashi instantly gets a brainwave and decides to help Kojiro to build a new collection by drinking lots of soda. Kojiro is so overwhelmed that Musashi wants to help him, that insists that he'll pay for it all. On the way to the store, they meet Mondo, who was on his way to the park. Mondo decides he wants to help too, so he joins them back at the park with all the bottles of soda.

Musashi decides to have a little fun and spray Kojiro with some of the soda. Nyasu gets caught in the blast much to his annoyance.

At the end of the day, Kojiro comes home in a very good mood, as he and his friends managed to collect quite a few really nice bottle caps. And this time, Kojiro likes this set of bottle caps a lot more than his old collection, because they would always remind him of the special bond between his friends and himself.

The End! XD

Hope this makes up for the lack of a Valentine's Day drawing! ^^