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Having left the movie theatre, Kida, Mikado and Anri were still a bit cracked up from just how funny it had been. Yet as Kida gave a rushed apology and explanation for having to leave, Mikado and Anri both felt their faces heating up.
For a while, both just stood just beside the theatre's entrance. Below the colorful 'CINEMA' sign, the two gazed at their feet. It took several minutes, but finally, Mikado worked up his courage to ask: "A-Anri-san...W...Would you like to...Get something to eat?" He blushed hotly, deeply dreading the rejection he was sure to be imminent.
Yet to his shock, Anri threaded her fingers into his. Flinching, Mikado looked over to see Anri smiling warmly up at him. "I'd love that, Mikado-kun. Please, lead the way." With renewed confidence, Mikado smiled and did just that.
The sun was still shining brightly.
Later in the day, Togusa's van sat parked outside of a hardware store. Finger tapping on the wheel, he glared balefully at Erika and Walker in the rearview mirror's reflection.
They really had gone through with eating the pizza back there. Kadota had gone inside to buy some caulking for work, and now, Togusa was on the verge of a nervous breakdown watching how Erika and Walker ate the pizza with relish. As he watched them make good use of the napkins and close the box securely, a relieved Thank God!! ran through his mind.
Once Kadota returned and opened the sliding side door to slide the caulking gun beneath Erika and Walker's seat - Ignoring Erika's squeals about how this would be a perfect Fanservice Moment if he put his hand in the wrong ("Right" in her words) place - He proceeded to close the door and circle back to the front passenger's seat. Idly tinkering with a small television set in the center of the dashboard, Kadota searched for something to watch.
Soon enough, he came across the broadcast that one Heiwajima Kasuka was doing on Ikebukuro III's Main City. Himself, Togusa, and Walker instinctively plugged their ears in unison as Erika took a deep breath in, eyes lit up and little blush stickers pinkening her cheeks. Their reflexes saved them a great deal of pain.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~~~~~!! IT''S HIM IT'S HIM IT'S REALLY HIM HE'S SO CUTE AND HE'S PERFECT FOR ANY FANFIC PAIRING AND I JUST WANT TO GET RIGHT NEXT TO HIM AND - "
Erika's continued squealing, the others in the van merely kept their ears plugged and stared straight ahead. A few heads turned at the indistinct squeals coming from the van. Yet when they saw the familiar faces, any locals just shrugged.
This was par the course with that Karisawa woman.
Finally on his lunch break, Shizuo was admittedly relieved that Tom had shown up and cooled him down. Having gotten three large burgers with everything plus bacon, Shizuo had already demolished one and was halfway through the second.
Eventually, with the third burger polished off, he merely snacked idly on fries and sipped his pepsi. It was a good thing that the staff were used to rotating through bartender positions when Shizuo needed to relax. Yet even now, he couldn't shake the feeling that impending doom was right upon his shoulder with a blade to his neck.
"...!"
Head perked up, Shizuo looked around. That had sounded suspiciously familiar.
"...san~!"
Yes, that was definitely familiar. Shizuo just couldn't place where.
"Shizu-san~!"
Oh God not this crap now. Scarfing down the last six fries in one go and nearly sucking the bottom out of his pepsi to finish the meal off, he dumped the trash into a bin and looked desperately for a quick avenue of escape.
The only way out was the crosswalk. And with a feeling of having been forsaken by God, Shizuo saw two girls of dark hair, dark eyes, and inverted yellow and dark green hoodies and skirts fast approaching. "Not these two," he groaned. To his despair, Shizuo could manage no more than disgruntled irritation. Figured that being calmed down by an old friend would bite him in the ass now.
Blankly, he turned fully to look at the two girls. The bespectacled girl had been the one shouting, and was now blathering about something. Looking to the other girl, Shizuo glared flatly into her camera-phone. He looked to the first girl. Blathering. He looked to the other. Taping. Blathering. Taping. Still blathering. Still taping. "God, kill me now," Shizuo muttered. "Look, what do you two little monsters want? I'm on my break."
The bespectacled girl smiled widely. "We were visiting, and heard that Kasuka Heiwajima is doing a taped tour of the city!! Is this true!!?" Her apparent sister was now filming a very confused pair of high school juniors. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Shizuo sighed. The bespectacled girl saw no reason to stop talking. "You're our only hope to meet him!! Did you know he was here!!? You couldn't have~!!"
Shizuo reached for his breastpocket, before remembering he was out of smokes. Dammit. "Yes, I knew. I did not care. As much as annoying little schoolgirls in junior high like you argue to the contrary, the sun does not rise and set in Kasuka. It's also not exactly shining out of my ass today, and you two are putting me back into a serious bad mood." He glared down at the two.
Wibbleface. And another wibbleface. Mother of God the little hellspawn had learned to coordinate their pity-mongering. Shizuo just stared, thinking to himself: God. I know you're watching God. You must be getting a kick out of this. I don't make requests often...But please stop this. I do not want to turn into a child-murderer today, nor any day in particular. At the very least, give me the strength and grace to not slap a bitch and put her in traction. Tell J-C I went to Church and didn't break anything for once. Amen, I guess.
A forlorn snarl escaped Shizuo. "If I get you two a snack or something, will you at least give me some air for a while? No offense, but neither I nor your big brother are physically or emotionally capable of dealing with you two brats attached at the hip." Taking out his beaten-up wallet, Shizuo looked for some cash. "Whaddya want, Mairu? Ask Kururi, too." He glared crossways at the bespectacled girl.
Whispering to her sister, Mairu had a very conspiratory look in her eye. Kururi only periodically nodded in response, occasionally mumbling something back to Kururi. Finally, as Mairu turned her gaze to Shizuo, he pulled out a coin and inspected it idly.
"We'll have a fifty-piece chicken tender, two large cokes, two large burgers, two large fries, and a large brownie sundae!"
That coin was now bent clean in half. As the high schoolers shivered, Shizuo huffed quietly.
Let's try this again, carefully, he thought. He pulled a few coins out.
Mairu and Kururi jumped up and hung from his broad shoulders.
"Get off of me you little cretins. I'm not a mother koala."
"But Shizuo-san~! Don't you want a couple of cute girls so close~?"
"You are both fourteen and I want to kill your older brother."
"Point made. Here's our stop Kururi!"
The two finally hopped off.
Shizuo made his order.
Now that Erika had gotten her fangasm out of her system, Togusa drove the van on a roundabout route to no destination in particular. Erika and Walker were singing The Meaning of Truth in perfect harmony. It was actually quite beautiful.
Meanwhile, Kadota sipped a slightly warm, now-flat Cola and glanced across at Togusa. "You want to have a slice of pizza when we stop, Togusa?" He watched as Togusa merely shook his head. Sighing, he gazed up at the fluffy white clouds up in the bright blue sky. Once Erika and Walker were done, Kadota looked at the former in the rearview mirror and asked a bit awkwardly, "So. Any new projects you'd like to share, Erika?"
Gleefully nodding, Erika said in a chipper tone, "Yup yup! A couple of adorable lovebird otaku asked for special-made rings with their birthstones! They're finished and have been delivered, and the bride was gushing when she saw them!" She giggled, looking over to Walker. "Plus, Walker got to work with me on this one! He made the ice sculpture for their dinner presentation! It was the most prettiful swan ya ever did see~!" She giggled as Walker pinched her shoulder playfully.
Kadota gave a slight smile at that. "Cool. It's been a good month laying rooftiles, so I should be able to take the next few weeks off if I economize well." Idly, he noticed that Togusa's van was on the program with Kasuka. In the background. Passing by.
He snapped his hand out and changed the channel to the next station - Thank God, it was some shonen anime. Luckily, Erika was distracted long enough for the tram outside to pass on by without incident.
Good thing. He didn't necessarily want Erika making a fool of them on globally syndicated television.
Outside the unusually nice fastfood restaurant, Mikado and Anri enjoyed a couple of milkshakes in silence. However, unlike the usual silences between them, this silence was comfortable and not awkward in the least. Both were thankful for this.
Soon having finished their shakes and discarded the cups, they stood up and headed off to find something to do. Mikado blushed as he realized that Anri was still holding his hand. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy it, but...He couldn't help but feel flush with the small contact.
As Anri pointed out a big group of people, Mikado looked as well. They all seemed to be lined up in front of a passing tram, cheering and waving at someone within.
Shrugging in unison, Mikado and Anri continued on their way.
At that moment, Shizuo was staring, perplexed, at Kururi and Mairu. The two had plowed into that box of chicken tenders with such relish that they should have bought it dinner first. Idly, Shizuo could hear the two high schoolers speaking in hushed tones.
"Dude. Those two little weird girls."
"Yeah. They're still little and weird."
"I've never seen a guy at our high school eat that fast."
"I know, man. I know."
"Where the hell are they putting it all?"
"I dunno, but let's get out of here in case they decide to put it all back."
"Eeugh. Good point. Lead the way."
"Don't make eye contact."
As the two retreated cautiously, bookbags in tow, Shizuo checked the clock on his phone. "10:04 A.M.!? Are you KIDDING ME!!?" Snapping his phone closed and jamming it angrily into his pants pocket, Shizuo broiled quietly.
Soon finishing even their brownie sundae without a hint of getting sick, both Kururi and Mairu yawned cutely in unison. Or at least, Shizuo would find it cute if the two little leeches hadn't just busted his wallet of half the cash in it. Shizuo noted the groggy look in their eyes whilst he dumped the trash and dusted off his hands.
As they moved their chairs next to each other and leaned on the table in each other's arms, Shizuo took his chance. Taking a classic relay stance, he looked back and forth between the traffic signal and the two of them. Green. They both yawned again. Still green. This plan depended on doing something that would normally border on sheer stupidity. The light gently flickered. He could hear Kururi grunt, looking for him.
Red. Time to fly.
Taking off with such speed he put a dent in the brickwork below his feet, Shizuo charged for the crosswalk. As expected, cars were rushing by rapidly. Bending at the knees and shifting his momentum, Shizuo leapt up and landed in a handstand atop an oddly familiar van. Not even leaving a dent with how fast he traveled, Shizuo fluidly brought his arms in and shoved himself high into the air.
He frontflipped wildly for a moment or two, but landed safely atop one of the lower apartment buildings. With Kururi's indignant shouts freshly belting out from behind him, Shizuo did the one thing he only did when those two psychopaths were involved.
Shizuo Heiwajima ate his pride and ran like hell.
For a few minutes, Kadota's Gang traveled quietly in Togusa's van.
Abruptly, Erika pointed out the window and gibbered something unintelligible in her glee. Soon after, a loud thud could be heard on the roof, followed by the sound of something rapidly pushing off.
Togusa blinked stinging tears out of his eyes.
"Snff...My poor vaaan..."
For several minutes, Shizuo fled the premises of the restaurant like a man possessed. He doubled back as many times as he could, climbed up and down buildings, did anything physically possible to throw the two girls off his trail.
At last stopping outside a cinema, Shizuo panted slightly. Leaning against the wall, he grinned in silent victory. Those little psycho's weren't his problem anym -
"Shizu-saaan~~~!!"
FFFFF###.
Whirling as Mairu and Kururi approached him, Shizuo growled lowly. Stomping right past them, he picked the two up by their collars and stormed away with the two lifted clear off the ground. Even as Kururi tried to kick him in the face, Shizuo was unfazed.
Enough was enough.
As Mikado and Anri headed down to one of the city's Market Squares, they got the distinct feeling of being watched. However, it wasn't in a bad way. No, no, it was in a most pleasant way, like whoever was peering at them was a good friend.
Suddenly, a deep male voice with an approximate Russian accent called out. "Mikado-san! Mikado-san's young friend! Please, come here, come here!" The two looked up to see the tall, darkskinned sushi hawker from earlier on the corner near Shizuo's bar, and both smiled, hurrying up to see him. He immediately clasped both on the shoulders gently. "Ah, so good to see you both! Simon has been looking for you all day so far! Very, very happy to have found you! First though, first though, yes." He immediately passed flyers to both Mikado and Anri.
"Please," he said jovially, "Come down to Rushyaa Osushi sometime! Very good sushi, very good! Make you grow up big and strong like me!" His gentle, bright eyes turned to gaze at Anri. "Also, we have Russian specialties, some good for beauty of young ladies! Please, please, come visit sometime! Now, how do you two do this fine day?" He looked back and forth between the two, eyebrows arched oddly, quizzically.
Chuckling, Mikado and Anri went about explaining what they were doing with their day. Simon laughed uproariously. "Ah, you two are on date! Pardon, did not mean to interrupt, pardon me!" He went right along and left the two, carrying a large, lidded wooden tub with him.
Flustered, Mikado shouted how it wasn't like that. He desperately asked Anri to correct Simon.
Anri just giggled at how cute Mikado looked.
Still in their van, Kadota's Gang stopped outside another service station. Outside, stood on Kadota's broad, sturdy shoulders, Togusa frantically inspected the roof of his van for any dents. All that he found were a couple of faint, dusty handprints, which he hurried to wipe away with some kind of cloth of silk or a similar fabric. "Filthy filthy filthy filthy filthy," he muttered in an enraged, obsessed fashion while polishing the roof. Below his feet, Kadota merely stared straight ahead blankly, supporting his friend as he carried on.
Meanwhile, Erika and Walker were busy arguing over who would be the seme and the uke in their relationship. While Walker agreed that he was more the type to do the "receiving" in this case, he still tried to assert that it would be extremely hard (Erika giggled) for a girl to be doing the "attacking" without assistance that he'd not be willing to provide. Erika still insisted that he was just trying to defend his sensitive male ego, and the two soon just descended into fan tittering as the radio turned to 3/5 Of A Mile In Ten Seconds by Jefferson Airplane. They always loved that song by the psychedelic Earth group. That and The Ballad Of You, Me, And Pooneil, although that one was particularly hard to find getting airplay in recent times. As Togusa and Kadota re-entered the van, Erika and Walker continued jamming out to the song.
Abruptly, a loud motor could be heard pulling up on Kadota's side of the van. Rolling his window down, Kadota was surprised to find Celty waiting there. Typing in a few words on her cellphone, she held it out for Kadota to read. How do you all do today, Dotachin? He chuckled. "Now, please don't you start calling me that, too. We're all doing pretty great, nonetheless. The sun's shining, no major incidents are going down, and we're on our way to a pretty awesome hotdog stand that Togusa's been meaning to show us to."
Click-Click-Click-Click-Click. Sounds like a lot of fun! Me, I'm just delivering a fresh catch from up north to Rushya Osushi. No offense, but they really needed some better ingredients for their food. I might drop in as a guest chef later! That would be very fun, aha! Kadota smiled more widely. "Well, looks like everyone's just having a blast today! I'd hate to leave you hanging, but Togusa and I are getting pretty hungry..."
Click-Click-Click. No prob! Hope your day goes well from here on out, Dotachin! Head bobbing with what seemed to be laughter at Kadota's mock outrage, Celty tucked her cellphone into her pocket and took off down the street.
Without any further ado, the group got headed for their next destination.
Soon enough, Shizuo decided to drop by and check on the time-out he had left Mairu and Kururi in. Down in a less-inhabited part of town, he had brought them to a place they could cool off and think about how they'd pissed him off.
Arms crossed, he watched as Kururi fought and kicked in vain from her place hung on a low rooftop's corner by her hood. In the same boat as her sister, Mairu however just hung their looking either very mellow or very depressed. Letting them hang there with Kururi fuming and cussing a little while longer, Shizuo finally moved in and lifted the two up.
From there, he took them down to an abandoned cafe whose door was open. Tossing them into the gloom, he ignored how the two stuck their posteriors up in a way that would get a rise out of most men. Most men, however, were not Heiwajima Shizuo, who slammed the sliding door shut on the two. Then proceeded to kick a vending machine in place to block said door.
"Shizu-saaan! You'd better let us out Shizu-saaan! Shizu-saaaaan! Shizu-saaaaan! SHIII-ZUUU-SAAAN! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US SHIZU-SAAAAAAN!" Kururi continued fiercely beating on the door with her little fists in vain.
Lighting up a new cigarette, Shizuo took out his cellphone and idly scrolled through the chatrooms. "Should be someone to talk to," he muttered.
"SHIZU-SAAAAAN LET US OUT THIS INSTANT! I SAID LET US OUT! LET US OOOUUUT!! EHHHHH! OHHHHH! EHHHHH!! OHHHHH!!"
Finding someone to chat with, Shizuo idly strolled away from the rundown cafe.
At least that'd keep Mairu and Kururi from harassing him.
For a while.
For a while, both just stood just beside the theatre's entrance. Below the colorful 'CINEMA' sign, the two gazed at their feet. It took several minutes, but finally, Mikado worked up his courage to ask: "A-Anri-san...W...Would you like to...Get something to eat?" He blushed hotly, deeply dreading the rejection he was sure to be imminent.
Yet to his shock, Anri threaded her fingers into his. Flinching, Mikado looked over to see Anri smiling warmly up at him. "I'd love that, Mikado-kun. Please, lead the way." With renewed confidence, Mikado smiled and did just that.
The sun was still shining brightly.
~ ~ ~
Later in the day, Togusa's van sat parked outside of a hardware store. Finger tapping on the wheel, he glared balefully at Erika and Walker in the rearview mirror's reflection.
They really had gone through with eating the pizza back there. Kadota had gone inside to buy some caulking for work, and now, Togusa was on the verge of a nervous breakdown watching how Erika and Walker ate the pizza with relish. As he watched them make good use of the napkins and close the box securely, a relieved Thank God!! ran through his mind.
Once Kadota returned and opened the sliding side door to slide the caulking gun beneath Erika and Walker's seat - Ignoring Erika's squeals about how this would be a perfect Fanservice Moment if he put his hand in the wrong ("Right" in her words) place - He proceeded to close the door and circle back to the front passenger's seat. Idly tinkering with a small television set in the center of the dashboard, Kadota searched for something to watch.
Soon enough, he came across the broadcast that one Heiwajima Kasuka was doing on Ikebukuro III's Main City. Himself, Togusa, and Walker instinctively plugged their ears in unison as Erika took a deep breath in, eyes lit up and little blush stickers pinkening her cheeks. Their reflexes saved them a great deal of pain.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~~~~~!! IT''S HIM IT'S HIM IT'S REALLY HIM HE'S SO CUTE AND HE'S PERFECT FOR ANY FANFIC PAIRING AND I JUST WANT TO GET RIGHT NEXT TO HIM AND - "
Erika's continued squealing, the others in the van merely kept their ears plugged and stared straight ahead. A few heads turned at the indistinct squeals coming from the van. Yet when they saw the familiar faces, any locals just shrugged.
This was par the course with that Karisawa woman.
~ ~ ~
Finally on his lunch break, Shizuo was admittedly relieved that Tom had shown up and cooled him down. Having gotten three large burgers with everything plus bacon, Shizuo had already demolished one and was halfway through the second.
Eventually, with the third burger polished off, he merely snacked idly on fries and sipped his pepsi. It was a good thing that the staff were used to rotating through bartender positions when Shizuo needed to relax. Yet even now, he couldn't shake the feeling that impending doom was right upon his shoulder with a blade to his neck.
"...!"
Head perked up, Shizuo looked around. That had sounded suspiciously familiar.
"...san~!"
Yes, that was definitely familiar. Shizuo just couldn't place where.
"Shizu-san~!"
Oh God not this crap now. Scarfing down the last six fries in one go and nearly sucking the bottom out of his pepsi to finish the meal off, he dumped the trash into a bin and looked desperately for a quick avenue of escape.
The only way out was the crosswalk. And with a feeling of having been forsaken by God, Shizuo saw two girls of dark hair, dark eyes, and inverted yellow and dark green hoodies and skirts fast approaching. "Not these two," he groaned. To his despair, Shizuo could manage no more than disgruntled irritation. Figured that being calmed down by an old friend would bite him in the ass now.
Blankly, he turned fully to look at the two girls. The bespectacled girl had been the one shouting, and was now blathering about something. Looking to the other girl, Shizuo glared flatly into her camera-phone. He looked to the first girl. Blathering. He looked to the other. Taping. Blathering. Taping. Still blathering. Still taping. "God, kill me now," Shizuo muttered. "Look, what do you two little monsters want? I'm on my break."
The bespectacled girl smiled widely. "We were visiting, and heard that Kasuka Heiwajima is doing a taped tour of the city!! Is this true!!?" Her apparent sister was now filming a very confused pair of high school juniors. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Shizuo sighed. The bespectacled girl saw no reason to stop talking. "You're our only hope to meet him!! Did you know he was here!!? You couldn't have~!!"
Shizuo reached for his breastpocket, before remembering he was out of smokes. Dammit. "Yes, I knew. I did not care. As much as annoying little schoolgirls in junior high like you argue to the contrary, the sun does not rise and set in Kasuka. It's also not exactly shining out of my ass today, and you two are putting me back into a serious bad mood." He glared down at the two.
Wibbleface. And another wibbleface. Mother of God the little hellspawn had learned to coordinate their pity-mongering. Shizuo just stared, thinking to himself: God. I know you're watching God. You must be getting a kick out of this. I don't make requests often...But please stop this. I do not want to turn into a child-murderer today, nor any day in particular. At the very least, give me the strength and grace to not slap a bitch and put her in traction. Tell J-C I went to Church and didn't break anything for once. Amen, I guess.
A forlorn snarl escaped Shizuo. "If I get you two a snack or something, will you at least give me some air for a while? No offense, but neither I nor your big brother are physically or emotionally capable of dealing with you two brats attached at the hip." Taking out his beaten-up wallet, Shizuo looked for some cash. "Whaddya want, Mairu? Ask Kururi, too." He glared crossways at the bespectacled girl.
Whispering to her sister, Mairu had a very conspiratory look in her eye. Kururi only periodically nodded in response, occasionally mumbling something back to Kururi. Finally, as Mairu turned her gaze to Shizuo, he pulled out a coin and inspected it idly.
"We'll have a fifty-piece chicken tender, two large cokes, two large burgers, two large fries, and a large brownie sundae!"
That coin was now bent clean in half. As the high schoolers shivered, Shizuo huffed quietly.
Let's try this again, carefully, he thought. He pulled a few coins out.
Mairu and Kururi jumped up and hung from his broad shoulders.
"Get off of me you little cretins. I'm not a mother koala."
"But Shizuo-san~! Don't you want a couple of cute girls so close~?"
"You are both fourteen and I want to kill your older brother."
"Point made. Here's our stop Kururi!"
The two finally hopped off.
Shizuo made his order.
~ ~ ~
Now that Erika had gotten her fangasm out of her system, Togusa drove the van on a roundabout route to no destination in particular. Erika and Walker were singing The Meaning of Truth in perfect harmony. It was actually quite beautiful.
Meanwhile, Kadota sipped a slightly warm, now-flat Cola and glanced across at Togusa. "You want to have a slice of pizza when we stop, Togusa?" He watched as Togusa merely shook his head. Sighing, he gazed up at the fluffy white clouds up in the bright blue sky. Once Erika and Walker were done, Kadota looked at the former in the rearview mirror and asked a bit awkwardly, "So. Any new projects you'd like to share, Erika?"
Gleefully nodding, Erika said in a chipper tone, "Yup yup! A couple of adorable lovebird otaku asked for special-made rings with their birthstones! They're finished and have been delivered, and the bride was gushing when she saw them!" She giggled, looking over to Walker. "Plus, Walker got to work with me on this one! He made the ice sculpture for their dinner presentation! It was the most prettiful swan ya ever did see~!" She giggled as Walker pinched her shoulder playfully.
Kadota gave a slight smile at that. "Cool. It's been a good month laying rooftiles, so I should be able to take the next few weeks off if I economize well." Idly, he noticed that Togusa's van was on the program with Kasuka. In the background. Passing by.
He snapped his hand out and changed the channel to the next station - Thank God, it was some shonen anime. Luckily, Erika was distracted long enough for the tram outside to pass on by without incident.
Good thing. He didn't necessarily want Erika making a fool of them on globally syndicated television.
~ ~ ~
Outside the unusually nice fastfood restaurant, Mikado and Anri enjoyed a couple of milkshakes in silence. However, unlike the usual silences between them, this silence was comfortable and not awkward in the least. Both were thankful for this.
Soon having finished their shakes and discarded the cups, they stood up and headed off to find something to do. Mikado blushed as he realized that Anri was still holding his hand. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy it, but...He couldn't help but feel flush with the small contact.
As Anri pointed out a big group of people, Mikado looked as well. They all seemed to be lined up in front of a passing tram, cheering and waving at someone within.
Shrugging in unison, Mikado and Anri continued on their way.
~ ~ ~
At that moment, Shizuo was staring, perplexed, at Kururi and Mairu. The two had plowed into that box of chicken tenders with such relish that they should have bought it dinner first. Idly, Shizuo could hear the two high schoolers speaking in hushed tones.
"Dude. Those two little weird girls."
"Yeah. They're still little and weird."
"I've never seen a guy at our high school eat that fast."
"I know, man. I know."
"Where the hell are they putting it all?"
"I dunno, but let's get out of here in case they decide to put it all back."
"Eeugh. Good point. Lead the way."
"Don't make eye contact."
As the two retreated cautiously, bookbags in tow, Shizuo checked the clock on his phone. "10:04 A.M.!? Are you KIDDING ME!!?" Snapping his phone closed and jamming it angrily into his pants pocket, Shizuo broiled quietly.
Soon finishing even their brownie sundae without a hint of getting sick, both Kururi and Mairu yawned cutely in unison. Or at least, Shizuo would find it cute if the two little leeches hadn't just busted his wallet of half the cash in it. Shizuo noted the groggy look in their eyes whilst he dumped the trash and dusted off his hands.
As they moved their chairs next to each other and leaned on the table in each other's arms, Shizuo took his chance. Taking a classic relay stance, he looked back and forth between the traffic signal and the two of them. Green. They both yawned again. Still green. This plan depended on doing something that would normally border on sheer stupidity. The light gently flickered. He could hear Kururi grunt, looking for him.
Red. Time to fly.
Taking off with such speed he put a dent in the brickwork below his feet, Shizuo charged for the crosswalk. As expected, cars were rushing by rapidly. Bending at the knees and shifting his momentum, Shizuo leapt up and landed in a handstand atop an oddly familiar van. Not even leaving a dent with how fast he traveled, Shizuo fluidly brought his arms in and shoved himself high into the air.
He frontflipped wildly for a moment or two, but landed safely atop one of the lower apartment buildings. With Kururi's indignant shouts freshly belting out from behind him, Shizuo did the one thing he only did when those two psychopaths were involved.
Shizuo Heiwajima ate his pride and ran like hell.
~ ~ ~
For a few minutes, Kadota's Gang traveled quietly in Togusa's van.
Abruptly, Erika pointed out the window and gibbered something unintelligible in her glee. Soon after, a loud thud could be heard on the roof, followed by the sound of something rapidly pushing off.
Togusa blinked stinging tears out of his eyes.
"Snff...My poor vaaan..."
~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~
For several minutes, Shizuo fled the premises of the restaurant like a man possessed. He doubled back as many times as he could, climbed up and down buildings, did anything physically possible to throw the two girls off his trail.
At last stopping outside a cinema, Shizuo panted slightly. Leaning against the wall, he grinned in silent victory. Those little psycho's weren't his problem anym -
"Shizu-saaan~~~!!"
FFFFF###.
Whirling as Mairu and Kururi approached him, Shizuo growled lowly. Stomping right past them, he picked the two up by their collars and stormed away with the two lifted clear off the ground. Even as Kururi tried to kick him in the face, Shizuo was unfazed.
Enough was enough.
~ ~ ~
As Mikado and Anri headed down to one of the city's Market Squares, they got the distinct feeling of being watched. However, it wasn't in a bad way. No, no, it was in a most pleasant way, like whoever was peering at them was a good friend.
Suddenly, a deep male voice with an approximate Russian accent called out. "Mikado-san! Mikado-san's young friend! Please, come here, come here!" The two looked up to see the tall, darkskinned sushi hawker from earlier on the corner near Shizuo's bar, and both smiled, hurrying up to see him. He immediately clasped both on the shoulders gently. "Ah, so good to see you both! Simon has been looking for you all day so far! Very, very happy to have found you! First though, first though, yes." He immediately passed flyers to both Mikado and Anri.
"Please," he said jovially, "Come down to Rushyaa Osushi sometime! Very good sushi, very good! Make you grow up big and strong like me!" His gentle, bright eyes turned to gaze at Anri. "Also, we have Russian specialties, some good for beauty of young ladies! Please, please, come visit sometime! Now, how do you two do this fine day?" He looked back and forth between the two, eyebrows arched oddly, quizzically.
Chuckling, Mikado and Anri went about explaining what they were doing with their day. Simon laughed uproariously. "Ah, you two are on date! Pardon, did not mean to interrupt, pardon me!" He went right along and left the two, carrying a large, lidded wooden tub with him.
Flustered, Mikado shouted how it wasn't like that. He desperately asked Anri to correct Simon.
Anri just giggled at how cute Mikado looked.
~ ~ ~
Still in their van, Kadota's Gang stopped outside another service station. Outside, stood on Kadota's broad, sturdy shoulders, Togusa frantically inspected the roof of his van for any dents. All that he found were a couple of faint, dusty handprints, which he hurried to wipe away with some kind of cloth of silk or a similar fabric. "Filthy filthy filthy filthy filthy," he muttered in an enraged, obsessed fashion while polishing the roof. Below his feet, Kadota merely stared straight ahead blankly, supporting his friend as he carried on.
Meanwhile, Erika and Walker were busy arguing over who would be the seme and the uke in their relationship. While Walker agreed that he was more the type to do the "receiving" in this case, he still tried to assert that it would be extremely hard (Erika giggled) for a girl to be doing the "attacking" without assistance that he'd not be willing to provide. Erika still insisted that he was just trying to defend his sensitive male ego, and the two soon just descended into fan tittering as the radio turned to 3/5 Of A Mile In Ten Seconds by Jefferson Airplane. They always loved that song by the psychedelic Earth group. That and The Ballad Of You, Me, And Pooneil, although that one was particularly hard to find getting airplay in recent times. As Togusa and Kadota re-entered the van, Erika and Walker continued jamming out to the song.
Abruptly, a loud motor could be heard pulling up on Kadota's side of the van. Rolling his window down, Kadota was surprised to find Celty waiting there. Typing in a few words on her cellphone, she held it out for Kadota to read. How do you all do today, Dotachin? He chuckled. "Now, please don't you start calling me that, too. We're all doing pretty great, nonetheless. The sun's shining, no major incidents are going down, and we're on our way to a pretty awesome hotdog stand that Togusa's been meaning to show us to."
Click-Click-Click-Click-Click. Sounds like a lot of fun! Me, I'm just delivering a fresh catch from up north to Rushya Osushi. No offense, but they really needed some better ingredients for their food. I might drop in as a guest chef later! That would be very fun, aha! Kadota smiled more widely. "Well, looks like everyone's just having a blast today! I'd hate to leave you hanging, but Togusa and I are getting pretty hungry..."
Click-Click-Click. No prob! Hope your day goes well from here on out, Dotachin! Head bobbing with what seemed to be laughter at Kadota's mock outrage, Celty tucked her cellphone into her pocket and took off down the street.
Without any further ado, the group got headed for their next destination.
~ ~ ~
Soon enough, Shizuo decided to drop by and check on the time-out he had left Mairu and Kururi in. Down in a less-inhabited part of town, he had brought them to a place they could cool off and think about how they'd pissed him off.
Arms crossed, he watched as Kururi fought and kicked in vain from her place hung on a low rooftop's corner by her hood. In the same boat as her sister, Mairu however just hung their looking either very mellow or very depressed. Letting them hang there with Kururi fuming and cussing a little while longer, Shizuo finally moved in and lifted the two up.
From there, he took them down to an abandoned cafe whose door was open. Tossing them into the gloom, he ignored how the two stuck their posteriors up in a way that would get a rise out of most men. Most men, however, were not Heiwajima Shizuo, who slammed the sliding door shut on the two. Then proceeded to kick a vending machine in place to block said door.
"Shizu-saaan! You'd better let us out Shizu-saaan! Shizu-saaaaan! Shizu-saaaaan! SHIII-ZUUU-SAAAN! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US SHIZU-SAAAAAAN!" Kururi continued fiercely beating on the door with her little fists in vain.
Lighting up a new cigarette, Shizuo took out his cellphone and idly scrolled through the chatrooms. "Should be someone to talk to," he muttered.
"SHIZU-SAAAAAN LET US OUT THIS INSTANT! I SAID LET US OUT! LET US OOOUUUT!! EHHHHH! OHHHHH! EHHHHH!! OHHHHH!!"
Finding someone to chat with, Shizuo idly strolled away from the rundown cafe.
At least that'd keep Mairu and Kururi from harassing him.
For a while.
Last edited by Zev: Bard of Rage on Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:51 pm; edited 1 time in total
