Chapter 1 - Dusk"Ah~ I'm SO tired!" That declaration was followed by a loud thump as a figure slumped over the wooden workbenches, a picture of utter exhaustion. Across from her, her two best friends giggled. Well, one of them giggled. The other made a sympathetic face and patted the prone shoulder.
"All nighter?" She asked knowingly, reading the dark circles and lack of bounciness in her usually more upbeat friend with fair accuracy. Then again, one didn't need to be a genius to read such signs. One look around the campus grounds would reveal an alarming number of people with similar symptoms. Deadline fever, the universal leveler...
The prone figure whimpered in assent, but was interrupted as the third member of their trio cut in with a thoughtful gleam in her eyes.
"You were awfully loud for someone this tired though, Gaki-san~" Said Gaki-san, otherwise known as Niigaki Risa, huffed and rolled her eyes, although she did not lift her face up to show it. She had gotten close to no sleep the night before, so she had every right to be tired. She needed 8 hours to be a healthy, functioning adult! All nighters were so
not her thing.
"I'm not weird like you, Sayumin." Risa raised her head blearily and yawned widely. "I don't get how you survive on irregular hours the way you do..." She opened one eye to glance at her other friend, who had a spaced out expression on her face again. "Kame too, how do you two pull it off?"
"Yes." Kame, or Kamei Eri, agreed blandly without changing expression. Risa, used to the lack of elaboration from her spacey turtle friend, turned her look to one Michishige Sayumi instead. The self styled "ichiban kawaii" girl tapped her fingers on the table and smiled brilliantly as she translated the vague answer her best friend gave.
"We make up for it in other ways. Naps are good!" Sayumi flashed a peace sign and another mega kilowatt smile. Eri smiled vaguely again as she glanced over at Sayu. "Yes." Was her simple agreement, and the two clasped hands on the tabletop, neither seeming willing to let go any time soon.
Risa hit her forehead against the table again. Sometimes those two were just beyond her comprehension.
"Oh I remember now!" Eri suddenly burst out, returning, as it were, back to normal reality. Neither Risa nor Sayumi so much as blinked at the sudden burst of enthusiasm. One just got used to the dynamic they shared in time. After a while, they pretty much learned what to expect when certain personality markers showed up in their interactions. It was just a matter of adapting to the situation.
"I forgot to hand in my draft to my tutor!" Eri pounded the table with her free hand, eyes glassing over briefly as mild panic started to seep in.
Risa had no such qualms over such an act though. She was already halfway out of her seat and ready to haul Eri over to fetch said draft for submission, complete with horrified expression and mile-a-minute scoldings. Eri chuckled nervously, tugged by her panicky friend on one arm, but still attached to Sayu with the other hand.
"Ow..." Eri whimpered as she was stretched, since Sayu hadn't let go and Risa was pulling pretty hard. Risa immediately stopped to check Eri over, while Sayumi rolled her eyes at them, still maintaining her death grip on Eri's left hand.
"Oh chill, you two. No need to get so excited." The devil bunny-loving girl smirked as Risa started to protest, cutting off the older short with a raised hand.
"I already handed her draft in for her. I have a class with Suzuki-sensei too, so I dropped it off with him just now." Sayumi smiled beatifically. "Eririn was sleeping so peacefully that I didn't have the heart to wake her this morning, so I just went ahead and did it~" The youngest of the trio shot off her sweetest smile as she pulled Eri back down to snuggle happily with her.
"You're a lifesaver, Sayu." Eri beamed brightly, and Risa let out a sigh of relief as she sank back into her seat facing them as well.
"Sheesh...Kame, if you didn't have your usagi-chan with you, you'd be in big trouble." Risa shook her head with a rueful laugh. "What would you do without her?"
"Badly, I'd imagine." Sayumi sniffed just a bit haughtily, although her eyes betrayed a merry twinkle as she leaned her head on Eri's shoulder. Eri merely shrugged with a lazy smile on her face.
"There's always you, Gaki-san. You were the one reminding me of deadlines throughout first year the whole time, before Sayu made it in."
"Haaa....don't remind me." Risa stuck her tongue out at Eri. "You're hopeless, Eri."
Eri laughed. "Eh, I'm not
that bad. It's not like I
always forget...eh, do I?" The turtle girl pondered aloud, leaning forward to rest her chin on her hand.
"No, you just do it
most of the time." Risa and Sayu echoed in unison, before staring at each other. Risa chuckled, rubbing at the light rash on the back of her neck. It was just getting too warm these days, and long hair wasn't helping her case at all.
"You must be rubbing off on me, Sayu..." Sayumi smirked and flashed another 'V' for victory, her own lustrously long and dark hair tied up in twintails. Her dark eyes were lively as she detached herself from Eri, though their hands remained linked.
"Hey guys!" She started brightly, even though she had only approximately 2 hours of sleep the night before. "Since all our deadlines are over today, why don't we go out and celebrate?" She beamed again, playing with her hair.
"Oh, count me out, all I want to do now is to sleep for 2 days straight." Risa waved a hand weakly in defeat, slumping back down on the table. Eri giggled, poking Risa's puffed up cheeks as Sayu snorted.
"That's not sleeping, that's hibernating!" Sayu joined Eri in poking Risa's cheeks, and their senior puffed them out again in silent protest. Eri then added on to her best friend's comment.
"You don't want to turn into a sleepy grumpy bear, do you? Let's go out and have fun, and then you can sleep!" Eri finished with a broad grin, and the pair seated opposite Risa looked like Cheshire cats up to no good. Well, more Sayumi than Eri, but you get the idea.
"Speaking of bears..." Sayumi began, digging into her purse absently for something, before triumphantly extracting the object. "Aha!"
Eri burst out laughing. Risa took one look and was suddenly re-energized into trying to scramble for the incriminating photo. "Mou! Give that back!"
"Nanana~ Gaki-san the pedobear~" Sayumi grinned evilly as she waved the photo with the words scrawled over it. Risa flailed around trying to get at it, but failing miserably. The little devil smirked again, tucking the photo back where it was safely away from prying eyes (and hands).
"If you don't want me to stick this photo on the announcement board, you WILL go to the party with us tonight." Risa groaned and buried her face in her hands, as Eri and Sayu gave each other high fives.
"Mou, you two...that's blackmail..." Risa whined as her friends marched over to her side and started packing up her things for her. Sayumi flashed another grin, winking roguishly at her.
"Whatever it takes, senpai...whatever it takes..."
~*~*~
The loud crack of splintering wood and breaking bone echoed through the secluded little alley, seeming prenaturally loud above the faint sounds of traffic further out on the main thoroughfare.
Pale fingers flexed on a small black gloved hand, making small flicking motions outwards as if to shake something unclean off it. Quiet sobs of pain emerged from the shadowy corner where the first impact had originated, murmurs of fear rippling in a palpable wave towards the perpetrator.
Booted feet clacked on dirty gravel, past yet another moaning form half hunched over, victim of a solid punch that had knocked the wind out of him. His partner lay wheezing in a pile of collapsed crates, clutching at his broken arm and whimpering pathetically. He flinched backwards as his assailant got closer, squeezing his eyes shut in anticipation of more pain.
Only it never came, as that same gloved hand that had tossed him halfway across the alley simply picked up the bag that had slipped from his fingers, turning away with a contemptuous snort.
"Run." The terrified thug blinked at his sudden good fortune, scrambling up as quickly as he could to obey the low voiced command, holding his injured arm close to his body and tripping all over himself to make his escape.
"Amateurs." The only person left standing in the alley snorted, exiting the alley to find the wide-eyed little girl who was still on her butt, sobbing quietly in terror and cradling her scratched arm to herself. The child blinked in mid-sob when her missing bag was dangled in front of her face, and she looked up at the person holding it.
"Here. This is yours." The voice that had sounded so threatening in the alley had now modulated into a tone approaching gentleness. The little girl stared at her reflection in the mirrored sunglasses her savior wore, wondering why that big sister was wearing them when the sun had already set for the last hour.
"...thank...you..." The child stammered out, reaching out for her bag and making brief contact with the pale fingers holding it, feeling a strange chill as she did. With some effort, she climbed to her feet, though that stranger made no offer to aid her.
Instead, her own reflection continued to stare back at her, the sunglasses lending a certain inscrutability to that mysterious girl who had just saved her. If anything, the stranger seemed to be staring at something on her, lips pressed thinly together, the surface of her pale skin almost seeming to reflect the weak moonlight peeking through the dusty clouds above.
As she brushed herself off, the girl continued to feel that inexplicable sense of dread churning her stomach, her sense that something was just not
right shrieking warnings at her and blaring sirens in her head. The crisp bite of cold night air had not yet settled in, but she felt chilled all the same.
Instinctively, she took a step backwards when the strange girl stepped forward, unable to repress the shudder that ran through her spine at the increased proximity. Dimly, she realized that her knees were quivering as she suddenly felt very small, even though the stranger wasn't very much bigger than she was.
A smile that was not quite a smile appeared on the face of the older girl, as she placed one cool hand on the little one's shoulder.
"Go home. It's not safe out here." Her grip tightened, ever so slightly, on the small shoulder, as if reluctant to let go, but quickly pushed the little girl back, sending the child stumbling back a little under the force. "
Quickly." The voice had lowered to little more than a growl again, and the little girl needed no more encouragement to start bolting.
Eyes hidden behind the shades watched her go, a peculiar mix of emotions flickering within them. Her ears pricked up at the whisper of movement behind her, the racing heartbeat and shallow breathing alerting her senses.
In a blur of motion, she was gone, and a switchblade plunged down into empty air. The hand holding it extended back to a stunned face, and the remaining thug who had been knocked down with a single punch before looked around in utter bewilderment.
He gasped out loud, stiffening as something abruptly choked his airway, eyes widening as he struggled against the iron grip on his neck, knife slipping from his hand as he tried to pry the fingers that were threatening to cut off his breathing.
"You know, I would have let you go if you hadn't tried to attack me." A voice mused from behind him, tightening that icy grip around the man's neck as he began to choke, spluttering and desperately trying to get a breath.
His assailant continued on conversationally as he started to suffocate, only dimly aware that he was being hauled backwards into the alley he had just come out of.
"Now you've gone and made me angry, and even though I'm not really that hungry, I won't turn down a free meal." Pale lips pulled back into a mirthless grin, revealing a set of elongated canines that appeared bone white against the dark.
"
Itadakimasu."
~*~*~
"How did you get invited to a party like this?" Risa yelled over the noise of the party happening all around them. Sayumi waved back at her from the dance floor, indicating at her ear to imply that she couldn't hear the older girl. Risa rolled her eyes and moved closer to where her two friends were dancing with each other.
"I said, HOW DID YOU GET INVITED TO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?!" Risa bellowed into Sayumi's ear, making the younger wince, clapping a hand over the abused ear.
"No need to shout, Gaki-san. I heard you this time." Sayumi smiled ingratiatingly at her displeased senior, who looked as if she would rather be anywhere but here. Next to her, Eri latched onto the scowling Risa, pulling at her shorter friend's cheeks to make her smile (however awkwardly).
"Kame, stop that. You know it doesn't hurt me." Risa stated matter-of-factly, or as well as she could considering how her cheeks were being stretched. Eri grinned impudently and continued to pull playfully, as if trying to elicit more than just the usual bored response from Risa.
"Aw cheer up, Gaki-san. You just have to cut loose a little. It's the end of semester!" Sayumi latched on to Risa's other side, eyes alight with laughter. On the other side, Eri was also grinning goofily, and Risa felt any irritation she had with them or the place melt away.
"Oh fine. But I'm not lugging Eri home when she passes out later!" She waved a finger at Sayumi, who snapped at it playfully with her teeth. Eri protested from the side.
"I won't pass out!" Risa turned on her with a skeptical look.
"Oh yeah?" Eri nodded vigorously. "I slept through the whole morning and early afternoon before I met up with you guys! So I'll be ok for tonight!"
"Yeah, I calculated, she won't pass out until at least...1 in the morning." Sayumi predicted after quickly counting off on her fingers.
"So we better leave by midnight." Risa said decisively, snapping her fingers. Eri pouted indignantly at her friends.
"I'm almost 20 already, so stop babying me, you two!" Risa chuckled and patted the sulking Eri on the head. Sayumi giggled and pulled at the two of them, dragging the trio to the side away from the main chaos zone of the dance floor.
"You still haven't answered my question, Sayumin. How did you get invited?" Risa looked around the welter of college students massing in the club, where alcohol was flowing freely and not a few couples were already making out at some corners. And it was only 8 in the evening.
"This looks like a private party too..." Eri observed, snagging a drink from a passing tray, about to gulp it down before Risa snatched it from her to examine it first, ascertaining that it was really just fruit punch before returning it to the pouting Eri again. Sayumi winked outrageously again, blowing a kiss at them.
"Hi-mi-tsu~" Eri drank up as Risa raised an eyebrow, asking aloud half to herself.
"Do I want to know?" She paused, eyes sweeping the crowd again. "I probably don't want to know." She decided, answering her own question. She grabbed a drink as well.
"Now that annoying questions are out of the way, let's have fun!" Sayu clapped her hands together gleefully. She skipped back over to Eri.
"Dance with me, Eriiiiiiiiiic~" Risa had to laugh as Eri rolled her eyes, emulating the faux masculine persona that she had assumed the previous year for the drama production Risa had dragged her into, and Sayu squealed happily again as the pair mingled back into the dance floor. Risa looked after them, amusement twitching her lips as she sipped at her drink. Then she stared down at her glass.
"What
is this?" It was better than any fruit punch she had ever tried before. She took another sip, and the liquid almost burned down her throat in silky perfection. Blinking widely, she sat back down at the nearest free seat she found, then looked around in confusion.
"This is good!" She beamed brightly, suddenly feeling less tired and grumpy from before, and continued taking little sips, not minding so much that she had been left alone again.
She jumped a little though, when another glass banged down on the counter somewhere next to her. Blinking owlishly at her neighbor, she realized that the gesture wasn't directed at her, and tuned in automatically to the conversation she had been ignoring ever since first sitting down.
"What the HELL is this, Eizan? I said I wanted the BEST for this party, and THIS is what you give me?" The young man pounded the counter again, his piercings jangling with the movement. Risa noted the state of his attire and concluded rather quickly that the boy was rich. As if the groveling attitude of the other guy next to him wasn't obvious enough.
"Sh...Shiro-sama!" The much larger male seemed to cringe under the wrath of the slimmer young man that was seething in front of him. "Is it the food? The drinks?" Eizan looked like he was about to cry. Shiro took a negligent sip at the glass he had banged down earlier.
"No, the drinks are fine.
One thing you didn't do wrong, at least." He looked around the crowd. "Decent group you've gathered too. However..." His eyes narrowed as the music continued to pound along obnoxiously.
"What the HELL is this music! I said to get the best DJ in the city, no matter the price. I. Can. Afford. It." The last few words were punctuated with consecutive jabs against Eizan's chest, before waving at the sound system. "This is substandard trash! Playing on the best audio equipment available! What were you thinking?!"
Eizan cringed again, bowing ineffectually to his irate 'Shiro-sama'. He spluttered as he tried to explain, and Risa almost felt sorry for him. But then again, she sort of understood what this Shiro meant about the music, even though he
was being an insufferable jerk about it. Whoever was running the system wasn't doing any justice to the equipment available to him at all.
"W-we contacted the best already! S-she's on her way!" Eizan managed to get out, obviously hoping that Shiro would be appeased. However, the spoiled young man frowned.
"On
her way? A
woman?" He glowered at his cronies arrayed behind the poor Eizan who was getting the verbal lashing. "I pay people to take time for me! Why is this
woman late?" He scowled, the expression marring his otherwise handsome face. "And who the hell is this female DJ?"
"I can leave now if you want, Kanzaki Shiro-kun." A cold voice penetrated the cacophony flooding the background. Although the voice was not raised, it somehow managed to make itself heard well and clearly to those in that area, and the owner of that voice followed into the picture not long after.
Risa stared at the new arrival, her grip on her glass going slack as her attention was sucked in by that person. A similar effect seemed to ripple around the majority of the onlookers of the scene, and a small hush seemed to fall over the crowd. The commanding presence inspired instant respect, and even the arrogant Kanzaki Shiro seemed a little taken offguard by the sudden appearance.
"You...you are..." He stuttered, his blue tinted shades slipping down his nose. Eizan discreetly moved to flank Shiro's side, muttering to his boss.
"She's DJ Seirei. It took me a whole week to persuade her to even consider the offer. Not even the most elite clubs can get her to make an appearance half the time." Eizan seemed almost proud of his accomplishment in actually persuading the reclusive DJ to come over.
Shiro seemed to pull himself together, trying to present a cool facade for the woman facing him. He sized her up, mildly surprised at how such a small woman who barely reached his chin could project such an aura that had unsettled even him.
"Seirei, huh? I've heard of you." He smiled confidently, looking at her appreciatively. "No one ever told me you were this beautiful though..." He reached out to kiss her hand, but she slipped out of range smoothly, her motions tinged with an unearthly grace.
"Kanzaki-san, I do not take such advances kindly." The words were edged with steel, and dark eyes flickered over to where Eizan stood next to his boss. "I only came because Yuuhi Eizan-kun was so sincere in his approach." Her gaze was icy as she refocused back on the surprised Shiro.
"Appreciate your people more, Kanzaki Shiro. All the money in the world can only buy you sycophants, not friends." Her voice was soft, almost melodious, but it cut through the air like so many gleaming knives. Shiro seemed to pale even more as he met her piercing gaze, and he staggered back, trembling slightly.
"I will take my place now, Yuuhi-kun. I will honor my word." She inclined her head briefly before melting back through the crowd, heading towards the audio room. Shiro seemed to sink bonelessly down onto his seat, a trickle of sweat making its way down the side of his face.
"Shiro-sama! Are you alright?" Eizan seemed concerned, handing another drink to Shiro, who took it shakingly and swallowed it all in one gulp.
"So...that's the legendary Seirei..." He stared into the recesses of his empty glass. "Incredible...she's..." He shuddered again, before putting the glass back on the counter.
"I'm leaving, Eizan. Take care of things around here." Shiro pushed past his stunned crony, walking right past the silent Risa, who had been watching the whole encounter with widened eyes. She was no less impressed by what had just occurred, since she
knew of Kanzaki Shiro, number one playboy on campus and possibly the richest student there. Having a multi-millionaire for a father had its perks.
That this Seirei person could just put him in his place so easily...Risa was impressed. More than impressed, when she noticed just how shaken Shiro was when he walked past her moments earlier. She didn't know what he saw in that woman's eyes, since her view of it was blocked by his back, but she had heard her words, and had agreed internally with them. That had been something that the rich boy Kanzaki had needed to be told, and Risa was glad that this DJ had been able to stand her ground against him.
The music seemed to change almost subtly in the air, leaving no doubt that a master had taken over the amateur's place. The party, which had sort of gotten a little sidetracked by the little ruckus caused by Kanzaki earlier, was slowly coaxed back into full swing by the undoubted skill of the new DJ. Risa closed her eyes, feeling the pulsing beat of the music, amazed how the difference made by the choice of music could influence the mood of the mob.
"Did you see that?" Eri gushed suddenly as she and Sayu made their way back to Risa, bringing the oldest of the trio back to earth as they joined her at the counter.
"What?" Eri gestured vaguely around, quite excited. "You were right here, you should have seen it even better!"
Risa blinked. "Oh, you mean the part where Kanzaki got told off? Oh yeah, I saw that." Sayu slid into the seat next to Risa, and Eri plopped down unceremoniously on her lap, still beaming brightly.
"Don't you think that was the coolest thing ever?" Risa had to smile at Eri's enthusiasm, nodding with a chuckle.
"Yeah, absolutely..." Her mind drifted back to the memory of Seirei's slim figure standing proudly within a circle made of Kanzaki's men. "Very cool..."
"I wonder who's that girl though, she must be really brave to just scold him like that." Eri mused, staring at the ceiling thoughtfully. Behind her, Sayumi also hummed thoughtfully.
"She was so cool..." The youngest agreed, thinking back to the strange sensation she had felt back when Seirei was staring Kanzaki down. "I think she's someone special..." Eri's head bobbed up and down, adding. "She's really pretty too!"
"Ha, but
I'm cuter!" Sayumi puffed up instantly, and Eri pretended to frown at her. "No you aren't!"
"Yes I am!" The two pretended to squabble, bickering playfully and batting at each other as Risa looked on, amused by the scene, but gradually spacing out again.
Seirei...I wonder what she's like...?One song phased to the next, pattering raindrops seeming to echo around the place. A dazed smile crossed Risa's face as she recognized the song.
Daydream, huh? Her smile grew wider.
I like this person already.In the audio room facing down from above the dance floor, the lone figure there smiled.
~*~*~
The (relatively) young vampire was in insanely good cheer. First, she had gotten to hit someone earlier, even though it had been a rather unsatisfying fight. Secondly, she had gotten a free meal out of it, and that was the main cause of her good mood. Because of that, she wanted to party, and now that she was well fed, it would be safe to hang out amidst a mass of warm bodies gyrating on a dance floor. The temptation to feed wouldn't be so compelling now that she was actually
full.
"Reina wants to have fun!" She announced to no one in particular, although a startled rat darted across her path to seek sanctuary in the ditch by the side. The now eternally 18 year old Tanaka Reina grinned, fangs and all, spreading her arms as if to embrace the moon hanging in the sky above her.
Letting her senses spread out in an erratic wave starting from the center (aka, herself), she
listened, wanting to pinpoint the right direction to head towards for a good party somewhere. She was in an area of the city that had the most active nightlife, so she had no doubt that she would at least find
something to entertain her for the rest of the night.
Boring...boring...boring...oooh fun, but ugh feels weird... Searching this way was faster, although not always accurate. Still, it beat checking out each spot place by place. Tedium did not suit Reina, and she went out of her way to avoid it.
Her concentration was terminated abruptly when someone bumped into her, a strange buzz tingling through her at the contact. She scowled, growling low in her throat as she whirled around to glare at the perpetrator, who only muttered a halfhearted 'sorry' as he stalked off, clearly in a bad mood.
Reina frowned, half tempted to beat the shit out of him for bumping into her, but she was feeling charitable tonight and decided not to take offense.
She would have ignored him entirely too, in order to find a good place to go party for the rest of the night, but she suddenly clapped her hands over her ears when some of his thoughts started leaking to her.
Sometimes her powers were way too unpredictable...or just that this guy was thinking WAY too loudly. Reina briefly reconsidered her earlier decision not to beat him up. If it meant making his mind shut up...
However, she caught an interesting image from his thoughts, and suddenly that momentary buzz when he had bumped into her made
sense. Sort of. She shivered all over, brimming with a strange kind of excitement. To be strong enough to leave that kind of power residue in a moment's contact...Reina felt her anticipation bubble up inside her again, eyes alight.
Interesting...so interesting...Reina must see this!With a slightly maniacal grin on her face, the vampire set off, ready to crash yet another party.
The night is young! She whistled as she went, no fear of the night in her undead heart. After all, what could be scarier than herself?
Yes, unlife was just wonderful.
=======================================
There.
That was long. o_o Not as long as AA eventually got to be, but still.
Hope people can keep up with it!
^_^