Lover's Rectangle Chapter 36 2/25/12 FIN!

[kuro808]

I guess TanaKame love for now as I try to put together another screwy story together

Chapter 1

The edge of the knife always gleams before it is used.

Reina pointed the knife to the drunken salaryman, in her eyes; she knew he had no shot.  Although she never expected him to wet himself as he ran away from her.  It was that kind of life.

Reina lived alone on the streets like a stray cat, it finds shelter where ever it is warm and gets scraps from the restaurants for her protection services.  Her parents threw her away a day before their unfortunate death by hanging themselves.  No one was willing to take care of the wild child so she took on the world with her trusty knife.  Every day was cold, the few to give her have to hide their faces behind dark doors and leave out a take-out container.  The kitty avoids all the strays and run to the top of the building with the only two utensils she owns and feeds herself.

Sometimes under all the food, she finds a bus ticket covered with plastic wrap and ventures to a location where she could find herself succeed: downtown.  She boarded the bus with the people staring at her as she grasps onto the pole.  To her right was the usual drunk man who would be coming home to his wife who would be setting up dinner for him.  However his appetite was for Reina for the time being.

“I wish I had you as a wife.”  He grinned as he started to rub her hip.

“And all you do is have me on my back and bitch at me when you don’t have food and beer ready for you?”  His smiled widened as his hand over to her back side.

“Why you make it sound so bad?  Don’t you want to have a family?”  Reina looked away remembering the memories of her parents. 

He made his move with his hand under her skirt and feeling her soft skin of her legs.  Reina grew powerless remembering all the times her parents would give her great things despite their issues.  Then, she felt the finger getting closer to her buttocks and inched away.  Within a second, she kicked him in the shin and he fell down to his knees looking up at the kitty.

“Groping is bad for men like you, however I’ll give you a view that you will never forget.”  Reina smiled as she put her foot across his throat while he concentrated looking at her underwear.

“So nice…”  Reina looked toward his bottom half and put more pressure onto her throat.

“Perverted people make me sick.”  She slammed her foot onto his crotch and saw him wince in pain.

“Ma’am, you have to get off the bus.”  The driver pushed through the crowd and saw the guy rolled up into a ball.

“Take me to my stop, first.”  Reina commanded while the bus driver kneeled down to look at the man.

“Sorry… we have to kick you off for injuring a passenger.”  He looked up and instantly looked back down.

Reina walked off and kicked the bus before running away seeing the police coming toward the scene.  She hid behind the tree for a few minutes before strolling away like nothing had happened.  Reina was still a few blocks from downtown and she seemed to enjoy the atmosphere outside of the busy area.  The cars were zooming by and the people looking around with their arms linked together.

Reina held back her tears as she wrapped her arms around her body looking for a place to stay for the night.  She turned to find a café with elegant music on and walked in with everyone concentrating on the artist.

Kame… Kame….. Kame….. Kaaameee….

Reina swung around to hear the source of the noise and a nun was with her oolong tea was moving her head like a pendulum.

“What are you doing?”  Reina asked the nun who was staring at the kitchen door.

“Kame… Kame…. Kame….. Kaaameee.”  Reina took a seat and observed the weird nun.

“What are you doing?”  Reina waiving her hand in front of her as she continued her head movements.

She watched the waitress drop off the biscuit in front of her and she smiled with her hands clapping with each other like she had won a prize.  The nun looked up and shook the waitress’ hand.

“Five minutes, perfect.”  The waitress looked at Reina.

“Two minutes, nun, you still can’t tell time by your method.  Maybe you should get a watch.”  She suggested.

“But, it will throw off my timing.”  The nun smiled as Reina began to giggle at the joke.

The waitress left with a disapproving face with the nun opening up the biscuit and putting the halves on each side of the table.  The nun carefully took a piece from each side and placed it in the middle to analyze the third smashed piece in the middle.  Then, she takes the one on the left side and bites off the piece before doing the same with the right.  She finally puts all three pieces together and drinks her tea.

Reina looked at the whole performance and snagged the middle piece to munch on.  The nun offered the rest of her tea and started to move her head again.

“Nun, why did you do all of this?”  Reina asked.

“The Kame always plays with its food before consumption.”  She stated.

“What about eating foods that are small?”  The nun smiled.

“I eat it because there are many more pieces to come.”  Reina nodded hesitantly.

Reina looked away for a moment while the nun pushed everything toward the middle and placing a napkin on top of the tea cup.

“Well, nice seeing you, I mean, you can come with me, we are having a get together for the people.”  The nun grinned at Reina.

“Okay, is there anything special I need to bring?”  The nun shook her head.

“Just bring yourself and I will do the rest.”  The kitty followed the nun out the door to the cold streets.

[Sora-chan]

  Lol wait is Eri a nun lmaooooooooooooooo! ITS SO hard to see her like that but so funny as well
ANYWAYS im just happy this Tanakame !! PLEASE CONTINUE WRITING I SHALL BE HERE WAITING.

[kuro808]

@sora yes Eri is a nun however a unique nun from the standpoint of her own beliefs.  Although there will be some interesting romantic scenes ahead so stay tune

Chapter 2

Reina and the nun passed through all the people with no remorse who they took down but the nun discovered that being a religious figure helped her status but the people were always rude in her mind.  The nun popped into the door and led the kitty into the bare, dark room.

“Is this where you live?”  Reina asked as Eri tried to track the switch to the lights.

“No, I live in the room upstairs.  The turtle lives in this space.”  Eri looked toward the turtle nest and noticed it was not there.

The nun flipped the lights on with the turtle a foot away from the hole going outside to the pool.  Reina trailed the turtle while the nun ran to the cabinet.

“Escaping turtle.  ESCAPING turtle.  ESCAPING TURTLE!!!!!”  The nun ran to get a net and scooped up the turtle before it reached its freedom.

“Safe.”  The nun breathed a sigh of relief with Reina picking up the turtle.

“Hmm, this turtle seems harmless.”  Reina tilted her head forward to see the turtle’s face and it snapped its beak right in front of her.

“Never pick up the Kame, it will attack when it sees danger.  However, it likes food like lettuce so feeding it is fine if you have a nice personality though I shall feed him today.”  The nun grinned as she laid a pile of lettuce in front of the turtle and bowed to the animal.

Reina walked to the room left of the main room and flipped the lights to the image of laundry being hung out to dry, however it seemed that it was a lot more than usual.  Reina turned to see the pile of dirty laundry on the floor and most were underwear.  The kitty tiptoed around the dirty laundry and walked right into the nun.

“Laundry is never ending.”  The nun smiled.

“I see but what’s with all the underwear all over the place?” Reina asked.

“Well… I am not great at doing laundry and most of the time; I just toss it here after bathing.”  The nun nonchalantly grabbed the undergarments off the line.

“When do you usually wash it?”  The nun stuck her finger up in the air as she counted from the last time she washed.

“Every two weeks.”  Reina calmly smiled as she began to notice the smell of the water within the room.

“Sigh.  I guess you need someone to help you out; maybe I can be of an assistance.  I am Tanaka Reina.”  The kitty extended her hand to the nun.

“I am Kamei Eri, the leader of this church.  Many of my followers love the turtle although not many come here, so I guess I would take your help in consideration for money?”  Reina looked away but knew money would not hurt but in her situation it would be bad in the eyes of the nun to take money.

“I won’t take money, I just need shelter.”  Eri nodded.

“I see, would you also be interested in the way of the Kame?”  Reina shook her head.

“Okay, but I must warn you that I have no hot water, so everything will be cold as ice.”  The kitty knew it was something that she would be willing to give up but once in a while she could take an excursion out to the bathhouse.

“Thank you for the warning.”  Reina walked into the laundry room and started on the first batch of the nun’s laundry.

The nun quickly ran up to her room and went to sleep with Reina laboring away on her clothing.  The soap was overdue and just mixed with the smell.  So, she walked outside to see a place that would sell soap but being close to midnight, the stores had closed hours before, and the best thing was to find someone willing to lend.

Reina stood outside the door observing the people walking by and a woman who looked about the same age bumped into her.  The kitty was trying to hold her up with her breath smelling like alcohol she knew it would be a challenge just to keep her upright.

“Thank you, you seem drunk yourself.”  She babbled.

“I think you may be but I am in the need of soap.”  The drunken woman leaned in and confirmed her suspicion.

“Yes, you do because you smell stink.”  Reina grabbed her collar and pushed her against the door.

“Sorry, geez you take things so personally and especially you are out here with the nun in bed.”  Reina let go as the drunken woman straighten herself out.

“What do you know about here?”  Reina’s voice changed as she grew curious.

The woman took a while to put her thoughts together while she leaned on the wall.  She moved up towards Reina and whispered into her ear about something she knew.

“She was your classmate in school?”  The woman nodded.

“Kamei was friendly with everyone but soon took an interest understanding her ways unique to everyone.  Once she graduated, she moved into this house and invited us to listen to her sermons.  However, the majority was uninterested but a few of us manage to grasp onto our own reflections.”  The drunken woman explained.

“I see.  But, onto my question do you have soap for laundry?”  She giggled.

“She got ya to do laundry, nice, she is quite hopeless, so I’ll getcha your soap.”  The drunken woman walked over to her house blocks away and handed her a box of laundry soap.

“Thank you.”  Reina bowed as the woman wrapped her arms around the kitty.

“You are cute for a stinky woman; maybe you should visit me for some tea when you are not busy.”  Reina peeled her arms off and walked away.

“Let me talk to Kamei about that, she may have something against it.”  Reina bowed again before heading off.

“Okay, see ya later, Kamei will be loved.”  She waived as she struggled to walk back into her house.

Reina briskly walk back in with the turtle by the door as it crawled out of the spacing.  Reina kicked it back in and closed the door for the night as she went back to concentrate on the dirty laundry left behind.

[kuro808]

Chapter 3

The next day Reina woke up on a flat bed with just a blanket over her, however she felt a pair of arms constricting her from behind.  They were soft so she knew that it couldn’t be a man but she wasn’t going to take that chance.  The kitty tried to pry one of the arms off but she felt it move up towards her chest.  She looked behind her to see a crooked smile from the turtle.

“You’re so warm in the morning.”  Eri whispered as she started her stranglehold of the kitty’s body.

“Get… off…”  Reina roared back as Eri woke up from her slumber.

The turtle rolled off the bed and smirked at the half-waken kitty as she praised her for cleaning up her dirty laundry, however Eri was hiding something.  Reina heard the incoherent praises until a pause stopped everything and Reina shot up to Eri’s frustration.

“Gomen, I forgot all about the bathroom.”  Eri crumbled to the ground and bowed to her for every piece that was left in the bathroom.

Reina climbed the stairs up to the bathroom, swung open the door, and saw the articles of clothing everywhere.  The kitty turned to gain some fresh air as the odor was unbearable.  Eri crawled away from the stench with Reina the one holding her up.

“Why didn’t you take it down?”  Reina spoke through her hand over her nose.

“I forgot.”  The turtle grinned nervously.

Eri looked toward the turtle hole and noticed the turtle was creeping closer to its freedom.   Eri ran down the stairs and dove for the turtle.  The turtle curled itself up and the shell ricocheted off the wall to the front door as it spinned to its final resting place.  The kitty was stuck inhaling the dirty laundry as she desperately tried to avoid the smell from going any further than the outside the door.

The turtle with everything in order hid her nose under the gown and pulled the clothing out to the hallway.  Reina threw it downstairs near the laundry room as it ventured down and turned the whole house into a rancid pigpen.  As Reina started to make her bubble starter, there was a knock at the door.  Eri opened the door and the smell was pushed out and caught the visitor by surprise.

“Wooo Eri you sure have forgotten about cleaning lately.”  She commented as she looked at the kitty in the room.

“Hey, are you the new maid?”  She joked as Reina turned to find it was the drunken lady from last night.

“No, just a friend helping and by the way thanks for the soap.”  Reina went back to cleaning as the visitor followed Eri to the church down the corridor from the laundry room.

Reina knew if she dumped all the clothing in, it would rid of the rancid smell but would overload the sink she was washing them in but she knew the best way and she dumped the soapy water over the clothing as a pre-soak.  The smell became manageable while the kitty looked out with the corridor becoming lighted.  After getting them off the washboard, she hanged them up on the wire by the window.  She looked outside to take a breath of fresh air when a woman approached her.

“Kamei has a new friend.  I am Takahashi Ai, I am a believer of the Kame but not of Kamei, get it?”  Reina shook her head.

“Oh well, if Kamei didn’t tell you this but I am a daughter of a brewery and my friend Risa is a bread maker’s daughter.  Both of us have a binding relationship in making our goods, which is great because many from out of town buy their beer and bread here.”  Ai explained.

“Cool.”  Reina mouthed to her.

“Kamei is a great person you know, she is caring and compassionate but a little off sometimes.  As kids we used to play with her because she always lends herself to dress up.  However, she is an orphan that no one took in except for the church and the church group was highly against them at first.”  Ai began to notice the crowd around the window.

“Sorry I need to go open shop.  I think Risa needs to do so too.”  Ai looked inside to no other person in the room.

“Tell Kamei I said hi.”  Ai wondered off to the shop a few doors down and let the first customers in.

Reina continued on her hanging of laundry as the two came from the church and started laughing with each other.  The kitty washed her hands in the sink to rid of the soapy residue and walked up to Eri.

“Risa, here’s my new helper, Reina.”  Risa extended her hand to shake the kitty’s damp hands.

“Sorry for being a rude person last night.  Ai was excited for a new creation that we drank half the batch and roamed around town singing until we got lost.”  Kamei and she laughed as Risa was in a sunny mood.

“Thank you for the soap.”  Reina flashed a smile before Risa left the nun to open her shop.

“Risa and Ai are so cool; they have lots of fun without anyone being part of their group.”  Eri mumbled to herself as Reina walked back to bed.

“I’m sorry to wake you up early but church calls when you are alive.  I have mass in two hours.”  Eri began to notice as she ran back to prepare for the mass.

Reina closed her eyes and ventured off to dreamland after the cleaning of the turtle’s underwear.  She could rest at least for a while before mass and maybe a beneficial opportunity to seek a home to live in.  Reina began to dream about everything that she wanted to happen here and Eri’s face popped up to wake her up.  She went back to lay her head down on the this pillow and went through the same process.

However, the sleep was short lived with the roosters crowing and the sun beaming through the window.

[kuro808]

Must be interesting enough to continue and the inclusion of some violence will come up soon

Chapter 4

Eri kept occupied with the occasional cleaning, which was every year when guests seem to visit out of nowhere but it seemed different.  It wasn’t a soul that would be hard to change but maybe switching her out of her clothing would make her feel comfortable.  The turtle was contemplating on how she should attack and it always seemed to work if she went under the sheets.

The nun got onto some material and pulled away from Reina who was half asleep.  She turned over to find Eri laying out an outfit while she got some fresh clothes for her.  However, Eri was holding the only thing that no one had ever taken away from her.  With a crooked smile, Reina dove toward the turtle missing her by a few centimeters.

“Give that back!”

“I need to clean up and clothes are my duty to guests.”

“So, you take panties first?”

“No, silly, I would actually bathe you before taking any clothing away.”

Reina knew her stench was becoming unbearable to even her standards of hygiene.  So, she rolled out of bed, holding her skirt down from any unintended exposure, and walked into the bathroom.  The kitty knew how bad it was before with the damp clothing in there before but being in there without anything but her own clothing made her nervous.

She saw Eri right by the door with no other choice but to take a bath without any hot water.  It wasn’t the first time she had to bare the lack of heat but the first time where she could take an opportunity without getting caught.  The kitty first looked at the burnt charcoal as a reminder of previous baths before her and the water was frigid on cold days.  The shower was the worst offender because it was straight from the source.  However, Reina knew it was for the best interest.

Reina pulled off her blouse and slid it over to the nun who managed to pick it up with her feet.  With only the skirt and bra protecting her from Eri seeing her nude for the first time, Reina ran to close the door to prevent any more revelations of her body.  The kitty quickly slid off the skirt and pulled off the bra, leaving in a nice pile right by the door before walking over to the shower.

“Eri… you can get my clothes now.”

Eri walked into the bathroom with her eyes trying to not concentrate of Reina’s nude body but her curiosity forced the kitty to shield her body.  Reina turned on the water and felt it hit her body in a long while.  Eri stood by the door with Reina’s clothes in hand and watched her shower in the cold water.  Kamei felt confident that maybe Reina would ask for help in cleaning her back and slowly inched toward her.

“The closer you get, the more I will be pissed off.”

The warning was the usual to not interfere with Reina but Eri took the scrubbing cloth and lathered up her back like a good friend would do.  In spite what the consequences might be, Reina relaxed while Eri was at the reigns of the cloth and got everything scrubbed up.  The turtle turned away toward the bath and noticed the fire starters in front of her.

Kamei was instant klutz when her grip of the rock slipped and slid toward the wall right by Reina.  The kitty tried to slide it back with no avail.  But, Reina turned to give it one more try and caught Eri off guard with her body fully nude and she managed to get the next spark to start the fire.  Reina knew that she had made the mistake of exposing her body but it was someone who could be beneficial later.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, I rather you see them than a non-honest gentleman.”

Eri flashed a smile and left Reina to complete her bath with the water slowly heating up.  Reina felt comfortable after Eri left as she was in a permanent home for the first time.  It was a blissful feeling that someone was watching her without trying to change her.  The water soon became warmer with the sun heating the cold stones from the window.  She stepped inside to the bath and sat there for a while thinking about Eri.

After a few minutes, she snapped out of her trance and saw the towel at the end of the bath to wipe up.  The kitty dried quickly with the absorbent towel and observed that she had no clean clothes to change into.  At the moment she was ready to catch the turtle’s attention, Eri dropped off a shirt that was a size too small and pants slightly wider than her hips.  In addition to no undergarments, Reina was more exposed than she would thought as she got everything on her.

“Do you have clothes that might fit me more snuggly?”

Eri knew where the clothes were but it would be difficult to let her choose without risking washing the clothes again.  So, she tossed smaller pants to her and she slipped them on perfectly contouring to her lower half.  The turtle piled the dirty clothes to the side while Reina ventured down the stairs with her midsection showing.

Even with the midsection showing, Eri couldn’t help but admire Reina’s body, and to learn about her from all points of view.  Eri threw everything into the sink with clean water to let it soak for the time being.  Kamei knew that she had to visit the townspeople as a guest of the church.  However, the more aggressive ways Eri tried to understand her; Reina seemed to block her out.  It scared both of them the most as being the only two co-existing each other without any other reactions.

Reina led the way out to continue her visit of the townspeople and to find undergarments for her before anyone can take an assumption that she hated: Slut.  She knew everyone that called her that since high school and it didn’t change anything for her own success,  However, this was her opportunity to shut them out and include them to her family.

[Sora-chan]

  Sumimasen ! I couldnt post last time i was extremely busy ! BUT this story is getting GOODDDD!   i loved the bath scene  Will there be a pervy for this fan fiction?

AND Aw! Reina-chan. Seems like shes had such a hard life. shes such a loner, A stray cat if you will.. 
HOPEFULLY the Turtle will change that, and Eri seemed to have a bit of a hard life too. Being an orphan and all 

They are both just so PERFECT for each other <3 please continue~

[kuro808]

Sumimasen ! I couldnt post last time i was extremely busy ! BUT this story is getting GOODDDD!   i loved the bath scene  Will there be a pervy for this fan fiction?

AND Aw! Reina-chan. Seems like shes had such a hard life. shes such a loner, A stray cat if you will.. 
HOPEFULLY the Turtle will change that, and Eri seemed to have a bit of a hard life too. Being an orphan and all 

They are both just so PERFECT for each other <3 please continue~

I'm not planning a pervy part to this fic as the intention will kinda shy away from personal contact between them two.

Reina and Eri are such a unique couple that I tend to write more often about them rather than TakaGaki in general although as supplementary characters, it is worth a look into

Chapter 5

The townspeople were open to everyone even if it wasn’t the case with the mayor and his wife to call them poor, insecure idiots.  The people were friendly regardless of the mayor’s view; Ai and Risa were the model citizens that carried their pride on their sleeves.  Reina walked out to the crisp morning sights of the town, which the people opened their shops inviting the customers to pick out their fine products.  Kamei kept her reserved self behind the kitty as they explored the town.

Ai and Risa shops were next to each other and a grocery store anchored the side with friendly smiles of a young family.  Parents were each stocking the shelves as their juvenile daughter managed the cash register.  The people liked their selection because it was from the farmer’s garden that supported them throughout the generations.  It was family-oriented until the day the new mayor was brought in. 

He was a young stud that wanted to make the town the center of attention to all his friends; however the plan failed as quickly as he thought about it with the opposition of many of the older townspeople.  He decided to scrap the plan and move onto his next step of marriage to a young lady with wealth in her family.  That caused frustration to everyone because the woman had power within the city through marriage.  She was instrumental in ruining the relationships with the working people by thinking of big buildings and businesses.  It also fell through after the plan was a pipe dream for the few who had money.

Therefore, they were public enemy number one and two within the town’s limits.  Meanwhile, they bought out a building outside of town to make an orphanage.  That was the idea that made the town boom with the orphanage bringing in kids to support their ways after death.  Many were orphans who became stuck in the town, flourished by acknowledging their place outside the family.  But, Eri was not an orphan who could enjoy all this pleasure and was stuck in learning religion.

That made Eri an outsider to the people as they saw her as a preacher but that was further from the truth as she played with the children on a daily basis.  It wasn’t until they graduated from high school that they decided to distance themselves.  Ai and Risa had become Eri’s supporters after everyone had left her alone and thus could let her flourish in managing the church.

Kamei never made eye contact to the people as a nun to the church but Reina taunted them with her attitude and it worked for a bit until they got to the brewery.  The men were grouchy with Ai as she was stubborn in setting the hours to tap the liquor for them.  But, it was one place Kamei was the center of attention and the nun was uncomfortable walking in with Reina.

“Hey, welcome to the bar, I guess.”

Ai looked over at Eri and waived to get her attention.  The woman looked up at her clock and looked back down as the men became restless over Ai’s stubborn rules.  However the men were concentrating on the new woman as the clothing was awkward in the setting.

“Thanks, is there a reason to open this early if you don’t serve alcohol until later?”

Ai slid the two coffees and offered them a seat at the bar while the old men stared at Reina.

“This is the only reason.  The drunkards get their coffee and work for a while before coming back for alcohol.  Lazy to work and all day to drink creates drunkards.”

One of the men stood up.

“Ai-chan, your father knew that we can’t work without the special elixir.”

“Unfortunately, you guys were secretive that he didn’t know that you were perverted.”

The old men laugh at the joke as they headed for the exit.  Ai went into cleaning mode leaving the two to quietly sip their coffee.  Few minutes later, a man came in with a suit on and took a seat at the end of the bar.  Ai poured him a cup and left him with his thoughts.

“Who is that person?  Is that the mayor?”

Eri shook her head.

“That’s the mayor’s assistant, he likes listening to the people’s problems as he reports them to his boss but we like him because he tends to not boss us around.”

Reina took another sip of her coffee as she observed the man’s behavior.  He was looking through his shuffled papers with a dark shadow around his eyes and yawned a few times to indicate his lack of sleep.  The kitty went back to her coffee as soon as he turned towards her.  The man stood up and took a seat by Reina as Ai was preparing another batch of coffee.

“Hello, my name is Shota, I am pleased to introduce you to our town.”

He extended his hand out to the kitty to shake her hand but Reina was not in the mood.  He called Ai to order toast for him as his breakfast was usually light because of the massive amount of work he had in his office.  Despite his attempt to introduce himself, Reina was more interested in the others rather than the mayor’s assistant.

“Shota is quite cute, you know.”

Ai dropped off the pot and offered a wink to Reina.

“So, we can go on a date?”

Ai shook her head as she offered Reina as a substitute for her.

“Let’s stay as acquaintances for now.”

Shota saw his toast in front of him and buttered it up as usual but his technique was unique with the breaking of the toast and buttering it before dipping it into the coffee.  Reina turned away to hide her disgust with his method but Eri was finished and left a tip for Ai.  Eri walked out onto the streets being patient with her new friend but Reina was too concentrated that she was drinking cold coffee.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t speak more, I will catch up when we meet again.”

Reina left her tip with whatever she had and walked over to the bread store with Eri.

[kuro808]

Why does it seem it gets more out of whack when I write this damn story?  Anyways I am gonna to love more interactions later when I settle down the story more

Chapter 6

Niigaki Risa was compassionate when it came with Eri, despite being the same age, she took on an older sibling approach in introducing her to the townspeople.  She forced Ai to be friends with the turtle, even if she felt jealous at first for the amount of time they were spending together.  But, it worked out with everyone because Eri made everyone laugh with her unwitty personality and it was because Risa took her out of the shadows of the church.

Unfortunately, she also had very little time to be outside of the bakery, which was a blessing that Risa gave her a chance to reveal herself to the world.  She preferred closing early for drinking, which Reina had discovered with Ai, her drinking partner, but she never ventured the town because of the sticky situations she had gotten into before.  That was between Shota and her as Risa was weirdly attracted to Shota when drunk.  Sober Risa only likes Ai, although the mystery was for the drinking alcohol…

“Ohayou~”  Risa yelled out as she stood behind the counter with a white apron on and her hair tied back.

“Ohayou, Gaki-san, you look rather cute today.” 

Eri’s compliments always lifted the bean, even though it may seem rather weird from Reina’s point of view.  Reina looked toward the back for the selections of bread and it was down to the beer breads, which many get later on for late night consumption with their select drink.  However, the kitty felt her stomach growled and crouched down to see the sandwiches on display.

“Excuse me, do you want a sandwich?”

Reina looked up and tried to not look like she hadn’t eaten for a couple of days but it was useless as she screamed out yes to her.  Eri brought her over to the table waiting for the sandwich from Risa and they saw a woman with long black hair and brown eyes, taking out her tomato and leaving it to the side with a bottle of water.  She took a first bite and looked at the duo before pulling it away from her mouth as she chewed carefully.

Eri turned her head away leaving the kitty exposed to her eyes staring at her.  Before she tried to cover her face, the woman laid her sandwich down, and walked over slowly like she was eyeing the pray.  She looked over at Eri first, who flashed a smile, before tracking down Reina and squatting next to her.  Reina swung her head back flashing a smile and the woman knew what she was up against.

“Hello, are you that hungry that you would stare at my sandwich while I am eating?”

“No, it’s weird that you took out the tomato.”

“Well I preferred eating it as is, not like it cares for you church girl.”

Reina stood up and grabbed the woman by the collar and stared in her eyes as they were slowly fading into surrendering.  Eri loosen up her fists and let the woman back to her sandwich.  Reina felt her stomach growling waiting for her sandwich and the anger worked up in her wasn’t relieving any of the hunger pains.  Risa came around the counter and placed the sandwich and water in front of the kitty.

“Go eat, I’ll wait until we get home for my lunch.”

Reina dove into her sandwich and swallowed the first bite instantly; it was filling to have real food in her stomach in a couple of days.  The woman on the other table was still nibbling which bothered the kitty as she was lacking any formal skills at the moment.  However, it was the food that would make Reina happy for the moment, keeping her attention away from the woman.

After four huge bites, she was left with the crusts and half the bottled water.  It was filling for her as she glanced back at the woman still with half her sandwich left.  Risa walked over to grab her plate and she clamped her wrist while keeping her contact on Reina.

“Who is she?”

“Eri’s friend, I guess.”

“That turtle has no friends.”

“Well you don’t have either; all you do here is making my customers horrible.”

“Is that right?  Maybe I can buyout your lease for a shop worth my time.”

Risa froze as the threat was credible from their fathers being business partners.  Risa knew what it meant for her father to have a shop where they could have domestic bread cheap rather than import it from the city bakeries.  The bean shook off her grip and walked back behind the counter with the sense of disfavor.

Reina was angered by her actions and wanted to punch her face enough that she could see her instead of herself but Eri shook her head as a warning.  The woman threw her plate onto the ground and walked up to the pair on the table.

“You there, if you want clothing, better follow me because the turtle can’t dress you.”

“At least she gave me clothes so I could look better than you right now.”

“Hmph, I guess ugly clothing matches your attitude, well good luck.”

She walked out with authority as any person would do after a tasteless remark.  Risa walked from behind the counter and winked at Eri as a sort of congratulations to her.  The kitty was now confused about the gesture but just left it up to someone to explain.

“That’s really nice that you stood up to her, she is one of the biggest investors in town.”

“Oh really, I guess she has let everything go for her own needs, eh?”

There was a moment of silence as Reina was digging herself into a hole of oblivion.

“What Eri is trying to say is that, we need her to survive, she isn’t particularly nice except to herself but she has been going against the mayor to keep it this way.  However, she has been planning to remodel the town to his liking because the son has a crush on her, which irritates her the most.”

The story was a spiral that would make news anywhere except here but Reina knew that she can’t let anyone get on her bad side.  It was scary that she gets angry but beyond that phase, Reina would be uncontrollable.  The kitty took a deep breath and helped Risa picked up the plate and the food.  Kamei was neutral in the situation even though she believed in the woman.

Eri looked on as she saw the other shops picking business as usual and walked out leaving Risa the bill nad tip for both of them.  She walked over to the dumpling shop where a tall woman was furiously making the dough, filling it up, and throwing them into the contraption with hot oil cooking them up.  Reina watched each step as she talked to her customers and her partner taking care of the money with their fast food.

“Want dumplings?”

Eri tilted her head as they drew closer to the line.

[Sora-chan]

That mean girl was SAYU wasnt it? Im soooo sure im right, Only nice to herself, Long black hair, Poisonous Tongue its screaming Sayumi to me.

[kuro808]

^ good guess

Chapter 7

The two workers at the dumplings stand were two Chinese nationals who went on a wayward trip to Japan for research and ended up staying to promote their culture to the town.  They were only known as Jun and Lin, which was to their liking as they never have any paper work to stay within Japan’s borders for any period of time.  With being here illegally, they had to make use of the very little money they had.

Both had odd jobs until a familiar black-haired lady came up to them asking about their food background, which they had some experience, but very limited to sweet and savory dumplings.  In any case, they had an agreement and went off to look for ingredients.  On their way to the shop, there was an unusual discovery between the Jun and the black-haired lady.  It was a relationship between comparable personalities and a language barrier that the black-haired lady could expose for her own good.

However, the catch was Lin, who disliked the lady, could find a way to break off deals that could ground them.  That sort of promotion of doing business only drove the lady to go for Jun more and tear Lin apart from Jun.  The only problem was the lady wasn’t going to stoop that low to work with her leaving Jun to work by herself cooking and handling money.  Therefore, the black-haired woman would hang around pulling Jun off the fryer every so often.

~~~
“KAME!  Long time no see.”

The turtle walked up and hugged Lin as they were longtime friends that never see each other.

“Lin, this is a newcomer to the town, her name is Reina.”

The kitty extended her hand and felt something oily rubbed onto her hand as she shook her hand.

“I guess you want the usual?”

Kamei extended four fingers for her order, two more than the usual, she would order.  Problem was she didn’t know Reina would eat two of the best dumplings in the world according to the turtle’s opinion.  Lin dropped two in the bag and handed the two small, white bags over to the turtle.  They walked over to the other side away from the fryer and both bit into the hot food.

“How is it?”

“It’s hot but it is warm like soup.”

Kamei smiled at the kitty but her smile short-lived as she saw the black-haired woman again.

Eri knew that she was the problem for this business to stay afloat and if she could pry herself between them, she would do so but she saw a bag slid past Jun.  Before Kamei could take a step toward the woman, Reina took the initiative, and tried to get closer to her.

“Wait.”

“What!  She is becoming a thorn to everyone.”

As Reina approached her, Eri grabbed her and swung her around preventing eye contact from the woman.  But, it was too late and she came closer to the duo.

“Does the child want to face me?”

“I am not a child, maybe you should stop interfering with the people.”

Eri dragged her off while the woman kept following her until they reached the grocery store.  The woman grabbed the back of her gown and pulled her back to the woman.

“Kamei, wait, I’m not the bad person everyone made me to be, why do you act like them?”

Eri let Reina go but she stood there looking at her with her eyes driving into the woman’s shield.

“Sayu…”

Kamei paused as Reina walked up to her.

“Stop acting like a bitch, first of all, second, why did you make such a fuss with every one?”

Eri stepped in front of Sayu before she could get a reply from her.

“She is helping us with her father’s money although I might assume she knows more than us why, correct?”

Sayu nodded as she directed Eri and Reina to the church for a private conversation.  Eri opened the door to the turtle looking up at her with its beady eyes.  She picked up the turtle and took it over to the side towards its feeding station.

“Kamei knows my uncle has been the mayor, so she knows why I tend to act weirdly around everyone.  Only she knows because I have confided in her.  The money was left in by possession by law after his accident.”

Kamei nodded as Reina looked at both of them in confusion.

“The mayor knows my weakness so everyone has been helping me.”

Reina tilted her head as Sayu smiled.

“Risa never liked Sayu but she appreciated her money when times were hard.  Don’t look down that she doesn’t like work, she has been in the background working on how to protect the town.”

Reina smirked as she went into her room leaving the two in the front area.  The kitty placed her head on the pillow closing her eyes for a nap.

[kuro808]

She woke up with Eri sitting by her caressing her thighs with her half-eaten dumpling in front of her.  Reina forgot all about the dumpling when she ran into Sayu.  Despite her hunger pains, she wrapped it up and threw into the trash can before lying back down on the bed again.  Kamei smiled and left her to continue on with her other business.

It was plain looking around the room as it was meant to keep visitors who come into town without any relatives within the surrounding area.  Compared to the other parts, it was quite clean like a hotel room, which she was familiar with living in the city as a homeless woman.  Although, she remembered that home was hell opposed to the streets and that made her stronger as a woman.

Reina was deep into her daydream with Eri walking out into the town with its shops closing down and heading towards her way for weekly mass.  It was rare for many to observe the nun’s services as she was not well-respected as a pastor but it was the people who just came in for blessing because of the lack of others in the religion sector.  She greeted them as they pass by her for church.

“Eri, who is the new girl?”

The shrilled voice of the grocer’s daughter thrilled Eri as she curiously went toward the front door of her living quarters than to the church.  She slid pass the front door and saw the kitty staring up at the ceiling.  Reina heard the footsteps and tilted her head over seeing her yards away from her waiving furiously.

“Hey… I wanted to introduce myself.  I am Mitsui Aika; I am the grocer’s daughter who usually stays in front while they work behind me with the stock.  I saw you walking around but you never came to say hi to me so I came to you to introduce myself.”

Reina was used to the long-winded introductions with her classmates and after she would throw the first eraser at them to get their annoyance going.  However, she let her live with a wave and went back into her staring contest with the ceiling.  Aika moved in closer, blocking the kitty’s eyesight with her chest and causing Reina to sit up with anger in her eyes.

“I was wondering if you were going to mass.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to.”

“Eri is good at giving sermons.”

“It doesn’t mean I will go.”

“Eri will condemn you if you stay here without going to one sermon.”

“She won’t care if I go or not, I will end up leaving if she does force me to go against my will.”

“Fine.” 

Aika walked out the front door, slamming the door behind her as she was disappointed in the kitty for not attending.  Reina lay back down again to recover her daydream but it was no use.  She was back into the reality of her own demise and walked out to visit the brewery as a chance to escape the dungeon.

The kitty walked the dim streets to the only place that was open in town for all the people to gather for a drink.  She stepped into a full house, mainly men, looking at her as she was an outcast.  Ai was in a t-shirt and jeans as she took orders from the patrons. She gave her a special seat in the corner facing her as she filled a glass with ice.  Reina was familiar with liquor as she took shots once in a while to loosen herself up for later interactions but she wasn’t in the mood and asked for water.

Reina curiously looked at the ice cubes as the shape was different from the usual bars she had gone to before and the heart-shaped cubes were cute to the kitty’s eyes.  She took a sip as her eyes were fixed on Ai as she tended to other people.  It was weird that her body was becoming weaker the longer she stared at her and had to look away to prevent her from making a fool of herself.  Then, as she looked back, Risa was sitting next to her with a glass in hand with a tannish liquid in her cup.

“You drink?”

“Yeah, but just not in the mood.”

Risa patted her on the shoulder and let Ai pour a little of liquor to give the kitty a flavor of what was special to the town.  Reina gulped down the watered down mixture and felt a blissful moment that traveled down into her stomach.  Ai slid over soybeans for both to enjoy as she continued on with filling up the customers.  Reina did not know of the effects but it was becoming obvious that she was staring at Ai more than she hoped to do in front of Risa.  The bakery owner grinned as Reina was slowly being oblivious to the world.

“Ai has been great, you know?”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to stare at her.  She seems rather attractive for a bartender.  Does she get a lot of men to concentrate on her?”

Risa nodded.

“The outsiders are quite fond of her.”

“I guess she has been around the block many times.”

Risa’s smile turned into a grimace.

“She is not that type of woman.  She has her standards and most of the time we hang around each other.”

Reina felt embarrassed throwing that out there and bowed toward Risa apologetically as Ai filled up Risa’s glass.  Ai looked over at Reina and flashed a smile like nothing had ever happen but Risa was still holding her pose as Reina looked away.

“I was just curious, no need to jump on me for that.”

Risa loosened up and pat her on the head.

“True, I get offended easily if you talk bad about her; she isn’t like many people to fall in love easily.  She even had a hard time to accept my heart when I talked to her about just sleeping together in a room.”

Reina hid her smile as she was a whore in many people’s eyes but for her own survival she took people’s money to get stuff on her own.  It was something that was needed to be hidden while she was in town to build her appearance as a foreigner who stumbled into town.  Reina looked toward the entrance and Sayu walked in with a loose strap dress and heels.

“Ai-chan, double shot, please.”

Sayu was clearly depressed with her head hung low and her eyes were red from crying.  Risa walked away from the bar leaving her glass to go back home.  Reina moved toward Sayu as she was left to comfort her with her drink coming towards her.

“You want to explain what happened.”

Sayu slowly nodded as she kicked back the drink and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“The mayor has figured out what I have been doing and cornered me.  He… grabbed me hard.”

Reina saw the bruise of her arm like someone had grabbed her hard but it wasn’t until she had noticed the stretched out dress that she had a clue.  The kitty wiped away her tears with the napkin and glanced at Ai as she deflected her attention to something else.  Reina also some blood running down from her knee as she fell to ran over here for her protection.

Reina nodded to Ai as she was finished with her drink and dragged Sayu out of the bar.  Kamei was passing by and saw Sayu hunched over with bruises and blood flowing from her knee.  Both carried her to the medical center, which was usually dark unless if it was an emergency.  Kamei rang the doorbell and the woman let the three in.

Yoshizawa Hitomi aka Yossie was the only doctor in the town and she usually dealt with injuries like Sayu on a weekly basis but she began to notice the injuries were more severe than what had been seen on the surface.  Yossie chased the two out of the room as she was left alone with the doctor.

“What happened?”

Reina whispered to her ear her suspicion and Eri nodded to every word as she shook her head.  The kitty knew how that felt like as it was a common thing.  She felt something in her that she had the taste to kill whoever did that to Sayu but Kamei kept her calm with her eyes concentrating on Reina.

After fifteen minutes, Yossie exited from the room and took both of them far away from the room.

“She will be fine for now; it seems the injuries may cause a lot more problems mentally than physically.”

Reina was hearing that message continually: I got to kill him.  But, it was no use as Yossie held out her hand calmly like a father.

“You will not do anything, understand me, you are new here, and if you plan on doing something stupid leave town now.” 

Reina took the doctor's warning and left with Eri as her mind was going out of control thinking about revenge.

[kuro808]

Chapter 9

Yossie’s warning rang through Reina’s head with an annoying tempo and it only kept her blood boiling to try to find the mayor.  However, Eri was by the kitty’s side attempting to soothe the thought out of her mind and she hoped it was sooner than later.  It was late night at about midnight with the drunkards roaming the town with little care of their own health and the only people with no buzz was the nun and the kitty.  Reina felt a pain in her stomach and ran up to the bathroom to exit out her frustrations.

“Reina… can I get you something?”

Eri heard no response and asked if she needed something.  After a few moments, she pushed the door open seeing the kitty on the floor with her face into her hands.

“Don’t cry… You couldn’t do anything to save her.”

Reina lifted her head with tears rolling from her eyes as she felt her anger flare from her.

“I can’t help it, even if I hate the person, she doesn’t deserve anything like that.”

“No one should ever feel broken, but revenge is worst.”

Reina nodded.

“I know how Sayu feels, reason why I wanted to charge him and give him the feeling of pain for all he has controlled over the years.”

Eri blanketed the kitty with her arms and comforted her for as long as possible, giving her enough strength to come back to bed.  Kamei was surprised that it has happened to any of the townspeople and she instructed Reina to stay within the church as she ventured out to visit the victim at the medical center.

“Kamei-san, thank you for coming back to see Sayu.  It may be a challenge for anyone to accept the faith at this time.”

Eri nodded her head as she peek her head in to see Sayu curled up under a white blanket facing the wall.  She spent a few seconds mumbling a prayer before walking into the victim’s room.  Yossie followed the nun into the room and closed the door behind her.

~~
Reina rolled out of bed and walked up to the bathroom to where she was before on the floor.  She had to hide a discovery that was in the bathroom: A knife made from turtle shells.  She never seen anything close to the type of material and experimented on a towel to see its effectiveness.  The clean cut of the material made her happy and wrapped it with the split towel before leaving the church.

It was dimly lit on the streets with the lone street light and ventured out to the bar to look inside to seek her target but she got no sight of him.  She calmly walked toward the other end of town and faced the two-storied house with the lone light on the top right.  Reina hopped over the fence and hid behind the tree.  She was aware that an alarm might have been tripped and anticipated for all the lights to go on.  A few moments later, she took a couple steps toward the house and then a scream rang out from the house.

Reina hopped back over and ran toward the church as she was holding the knife in her hand.  She felt the blade dug into her hand but luckily no blood and dropped the knife onto the side of the bed.  She looked up to keep from her heart from pumping out of her chest.  As soon as she felt calm, she turned over to close her eyes.

~~
“Are you okay?”

“I’ve felt better.”

Eri smiled as she caressed her head.

“Don’t worry; the divine Kame shall take down your tormentor.”

Yossie smacked Kamei on the head as she let out a giggle to entertain Sayu.  Sayu kept her frown even though Eri was desperately trying to pep her up.  Yossie heard a soft knock at the door and excused herself from the room.  Both began to wonder what had happened and Eri crept closer hearing the whispers grow louder into her ears.  Kamei couldn’t pick out the words and walked back to sit next to Sayu.

~~

Reina woke up again with the thought of what had happened at the house and many of the lights were turned back on with the people looking at the mayor’s house.  She stood there seeing the people take out someone on a stretcher and rush them over to the medical center.  She counted two being brought out and walked over to the grocery store seeing Aika in her pajamas.

“Do you know what happened, Reina?”

“No, I was… in the church sleeping.”

“Oh, I guess someone attacked the mayor, the mayor’s wife, or Shota.  Hope they are alright.”

The mayor is a serious nutcase if he attacked his own wife or assistant.

“I hope so too, you better go to sleep.”

Aika waived good bye and walked back into her house as Reina stared at the house as the police were searching through the property.  She decided that she needed to see Sayu as her curiosity of the people who were at the medical center other than her.  In addition, she thought about the knife that she found in the bathroom to talk to Eri about the origin.  Reina grabbed a coat by the bookshelf near the window and hid the knife in the pocket as she decided to walk over to visit Sayu.

The kitty got to the entrance and the doors were lock from the outside.  She knocked to get the attention of someone but it was not effective that she pounded the door two times to get the turtle to open the door for her.

“Hai… Reina!  What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see Sayu, I was worried about here.”

“Yossie will not allow any more visitors so you lucked out.”

Reina lowered her head in disappointment but she knew that Kamei must have an answer to the knife she had brought along.  The kitty unwrap the towel to present the knife to the turtle’s eyes, she looked at it closely, and shook her head disbelief about the weapon.  Kamei held it up seeing the green and brown colors of the knife and stared in amazement of what was surprising to her eyes.

“Do you know what it is?”

“Yeah, but the story is shrouded in mystery as it was the tool that brought the Kameists together in the first place, which was a myth learned from generations before.”

Reina was surprised that Eri didn’t know more but maybe the research could be done for the origin through the dusty books Eri had inherited.  Eri carefully wrapped it back up and gave it back to Reina.  She instructed the kitty to return back to the church and not worry about her.  It was easier said than done but it was enough to comfort Reina to walk back and try to sleep it off before the morning.

[Sora-chan]

Im alittle confused.. I thought Reina went to go kill the Mayor but im just completely confused lol Maybe i read it to fast... I'll go back and reread maybe the next chapter can help me too !! ^.^

[kuro808]

^ it would explain a reason why she didn't attack, also you gotta remember that she did hear a scream

Chapter 10

Eri came back before the sun rose over the horizon finding Reina looking up at the ceiling with her body stiff pondering over the events of last night.  She sat by the kitty and rubbed her thighs slowly with the concentration of police were at the mayor’s house.

“Is everyone alright?”

“I delivered a prayer for all the hurt and left for the night.”

“I see.  Is Sayu okay?  I mean it hurts when someone attacks you so I just wanted to talk to her.”

“Well, she didn’t have anything noticeable.”

Reina shook her head.

“Emotionally she’s hurt, I felt that pain before as a victim, that’s why touching me is such a raw emotion, I can never explain how much it stings every time someone touches me.”

“I never knew that, I’m sorry.”

Eri sat there stunned in Reina’s feelings but the doctor was quite strict with her patients and she had to obey her by the power she possessed.  But, she was given free access to the patients as a source of hope for all of them and she had heard that the mayor and his wife were patients.  From an undetermined source, Eri knew the injuries could have been serious but the pace was normal for a patient within the medical center.

Reina rolled out of bed and looked toward the police at the house and felt something knot in her stomach.  She felt that she needed to see Sayu to relief the angst in her.  Reina walked out and headed toward the medical center, Eri followed her to stall her progress but it was no use, the kitty was at the front door waiting for the door to be opened.

“Reina, you cannot visit Sayu, she is under Yossie’s care.”

“I know but I cannot forgive myself if I don’t see her.”

“You can’t though; I have to stop you for doing so.”

Reina swung her arms away from Eri’s grasp and a loud pounding came with the kitty’s fists hitting the fragile door until Yossie came to see the ruckus.  She opened the door to the kitty charging into the center and rushed into Sayu’s room.  Reina stood there seeing Sayu with a scalpel in hand and her eyes tightening toward the kitty.

“Does it matter if I throw my money away to kill a bastard?”

Reina shook her head and stepped closer to Sayu watching the scalpel change hands.

“You shouldn’t, I wanted to do it for you.  I would throw myself away for a long while but someone heard my prayers and did something to take him here.”

Sayu got up and pointed the blade towards her as she watched Yossie go over to her right side and Reina creeping closer to Sayu.  Eri stood outside the door while the event was unraveling before her eyes and she stepped back to one of her nurses.  She looked at the room and tried to gain the attention of the doctor.

“The mayor took a turn for the worst, we had him stabilized, but we put the wrong medicine in him.”

Sayu dropped the scalpel and put her face into her hands as she cried the life out of her body.  Reina picked her back up onto the table as she cried with her keeping her head above running her fingers through her hair.  Eri walked in and let Yossie run over to assist with the mayor.

“Is… he… actually… here?”

Eri took a seat next to both of them and put her thoughts together before mentioning anything.  She wanted to say that he was here but in her mind she had to keep her mouth shut for the sake of Yossie.  Reina felt Sayu calm down a bit and let her lay down, so she could rest.  Reina gave her a smile as the pain was slowly going away with the news of the mayor’s condition.

~~
Yossie couldn’t believe that the nurses had mixed up the medicine by his bed.  She knew that if it wasn’t going to be solved soon it would lead to a malpractice suit and she knew how close she was with one at the last place she practiced medicine.  She ran in to see the mayor pale and his eyes were glaring at the doctor as she looked at the screen monitoring him.

“What happened?”

“I think we just had a side effect with your meds.”

He smiled and shook his head like it doomsday for him.  Yossie picked up the medicine and looked inside to see the misshapen pills inside.  She began to see that someone had been switching pills and the nurses never caught the pills that were not supposed to be in there.  The doctor threw away the bottle in disgust as she knew something was way fishier than it seemed.

The doctor ventured to the other room, where the wife was laying down on the bed with scratches on her arms and face.  The wife smiled at Yossie as she was waiting for news of her husband but her expression showed no optimism for her husband’s condition.  It was her worst nightmare that someone had planted medicine that almost killed him and keeping the supposed victim and suspect together under the same roof was making it not easy on her status.
~~
Reina felt comfortable letting Sayu’s head rest on her lap as Eri looked from a far trying to grasp the events of the past day.

Meet new woman… Helps me clean… Visit all the people… Sayu’s incident… Mayor and his wife injured… Mayor’s condition gets worst.

Eri felt frustrated that with all the pieces, she had to be in the middle of all the events since Reina came to town.  She thought about the many scriptures she had read over the years and it had become a headache for her to point out the reason.  Eri wanted to scream out everything but she just kept it inside gazing over to Sayu and Reina.  Reina was never comfortable with Eri’s comforting abilities and it disappointed her that Sayu was taking the attention.  She was becoming the odd woman out and she saw the opportunity when Yossie came back.

“The mayor has died.”

Her words sliced the tension between the three and they felt the weight of the situation crush them.  Yossie flipped over the first set of pages and saw the cause of death under her finger.

“Someone poisoned the mayor, it was no accident.”

“Who might have done it?”

“I’m not sure but I need to contact the head of police.”

Yossie walked out of the room with her phone to call Rika, who was leading the investigation.  Reina let Sayu rest on the bed and took a seat next to Eri.  Kamei lifted her hand up and placed it on top of Reina’s arm as she watched Sayu’s eyes to the picture.  Eri leaned in and pecked the kitty on the cheek as Sayu closed her hand into a fist.  Her anger had grown into the rage that she had against the mayor.  Before she could attack, Reina pulled away from Eri and ran out the door.  The two remaining were locked in a staring contest and it continued until a year later.

[kuro808]

Chapter 11

A Year Later…

It was the tragedy that struck a small town, a mayor poisoned, a detective only left with the message of a friend, and a love triangle between a runaway, who was brought in with open arms and grew to helped the town with its streets, a nun who brought in the runaway, and had opened up for the first time about her relationship after the event in the medical center, and the millionaire, who loved the town that contained the runaway and showered her with many gifts.

Reina was accepted quickly after the tour of the town and was given a small house between the nun and the millionaire’s mansion.  The kitty grew into a working member of society by doing small chores for the members like picking up trash, sorting produce, etc.  However, she could never figure out who was the person to kill the mayor and it seemed a mystery with Rika coming up short on many leads, even concluding his own misjudgment could have been his own doing.

The ex-mayor’s wife was extremely opinionated about Rika in her investigation, she felt that she was targeted like she was the suspect but every path led to a dead end.  However, she made some questionable moves after her recovery, she married Shota after the funeral of her deceased husband, and Shota by virtue of the law had become mayor even without the people’s vote for the rest of the term, and had a healthy baby boy nine months later.

Nevertheless, the battle was still on between the three which was news for everyone because it was a determination if Reina was going for the money or for the compassion of a person.  Sayu was painted as a rich woman who flew to whoever wanted her but Reina showed her soft side and changed the personality to reflect her transformation.  That transformation was the step needed to rebuild the town from scratch.  Her former lover, Jun was upset that she would take a homeless, foreign woman over her and also tried to sabotage the relationship.  However, it was a losing battle by Sayu building a store for both to sell their dumplings and other goods from China.

Eri took an initiative to be a person than a nun and impressed Reina by cleaning daily and helping her around because Sayu refused to be a worker which everyone knew from before.  She gained an upper hand by piecing together Reina’s house and helped in sorting out the location and the design, which was eventually scrapped for Sayu’s choice in design.  However, Reina did the painting; choose the interior, and made a gate for all to see.

~~

It was all perfect until Rika found a piece of evidence overlooked in the investigation: shoeprints.

She had the picture from the investigation on her table and kept looking at it constantly, only trying to point out why it was never put into the clues.  Her colleagues left the photos out as the investigation aimed toward the members and concluded to accidental death.  But, it seemed to torture her that someone had been witnessed to the incident and it was now her investigation to take on.

The investigator knew it wouldn’t be worth much to know the footsteps but it was worth a shot to figure out that person.  She had hid around the area to measure the shoe and wrote down the dimensions for her research.  It was unusual for anyone to just write down the shoeprint and conclude nothing out of it but she had a hunch that it could explode into something different from the report she had concluded the previous year.

She knew it had to be a woman because of the imprint mark was shallow and the size was small for a man to come over the fence.  Also, she had to pick out her suspect carefully without scaring them away.  It took only a few days to come with something perfect to why she was looking for shoeprints: beauty contest.

She had to find that person to match without stating the case and if she could catch her, it could explain the purpose of shoeprints.  However, it was made difficult with the new mayor rejecting idea for a contest and had to do it herself with her own funds for the entertainment of the town.

~~
“Kamei-san, thanks for cleaning the town.”

The constant ringing of her praises was drowned out with Reina dragging her cart to the brewing company where she would give off her items for Ai.  Eri opened up more of her past with the people and felt blessed to have her out and about rather than seeing her in church.  However, Sayu had gained more for improving the buildings by getting new materials to patch their faults.  Her praises were sincere compared to hers but as long as Reina could see her working it was all for the better.

Sayu watched over the people more than she did before and gained respect as the restorer to the town.  She tried to hold back a little showing the compassion to Eri but it was an act to draw Reina towards her.  It worked some days and didn’t work on others but it was well-worth the effort as she saw her walk toward Risa’s shop.

“Reina!  You’re early, is there something you need to do?”

The kitty shook her head as she dragged the flour from the cart to the kitchen.  Reina was amazed by all the mixers and ingredients in the back.  It was a warm site for the many memories that she had lost with her mother’s passing and looked at the dough that was on the table.

“It is new, thanks for getting the flour by accident, the bread has been sweeter because of your mistake and it had helped business a lot.  Maybe we need some other mistakes to make the business boom.”

Reina felt embarrassed by the incident but lucky it had worked out well because it gave them publicity and with the new materials it was a new look for the visitors.  However, Risa was observant to the situation and doing these jobs were not worth a lot but it did keep her from thinking about her problem.  She knew food would benefit her and always offered a loaf of day-old bread for her meal.

“Thanks…”

Reina left to walk over the produce shop to help sort out the stand with Aika; she was the lone one to not say anything about the situation, which benefitted Reina because she didn’t have to fight between the two with all the other people.  However, when it did come down to a down time, Aika showed her hesitance in bringing it up, and would offer up a fruit to satisfy the kitty’s hunger.

“Aika, do you want to say anything?  I think you seemed anxious about something.”

“I guess so, but you always seem irritated about Eri and Sayu, when they are mentioned.”

Reina held the fruit in her hand as she dug her nails into the skin and onto the pulp before taking a bite.  Aika had been right when it was given to her straight forward in front of the crowd but in an intimate moment, she wasn’t satisfy with the explanation that she had loved them both for different reasons.  It was because of that she couldn’t seem to choose who she wanted as a partner.  But, the source of irritation was the nagging by everyone so she tossed the fruit into the trashcan.

“Have you ever felt good about two people?”

“Yes, my mother and father.”

“No, what I mean is, two friends that make you complete and want each to be part of your life?”

Aika shook her head.

“That’s what it is at the moment, I have two great friends but their fight is silly to the point I hate but I can’t stand it without either of them.”

“I see.  Well I guess you can head home for now.  See ya later!”

Reina packed up her goods and walked back to the house where Rika was standing there with a clipboard and pencil.  She knew what she was but she knew it wasn’t anything new to see police but when you are guilty everything drives to the thought of capture but positive reinforcement was essential to her success and she needed that to ride her luck.

[kuro808]

Chapter 12

There was one thing Rika could do that would pinpoint the person responsible for the shoeprint and it was her statistics on shoe sizes for the town.  She could point out pretty much everyone’s shoes except for Reina’s shoes because she had been working delivering or helping out the people.  Everyone was cooperative that she wanted to look at their shoes except for the mayor himself and his wife.  She was curious about Eri, if she had shoes because from her past encounter, she had always worn slippers as the nun usually would wear because of the conditions in the church.  Now, she was at the kitty’s house waiting for her to come home.

“Hey Reina.” 

The room turned cold as the kitty closed the door behind her and she offered her a seat to find the shoe that could make the print.  Unfortunately, Reina threw it out months ago when they moved into the new house, so Rika with her own intuition knew she may have discarded the shoes, got another pair in her size.

Reina took the pair outside and wore it for a while to get comfortable in the shoes.  Rika led her to the mud area behind the house.  The kitty was growing suspicious of what Rika was trying to find out and stepped into the mud with her assistance and then stepped out with the shoes.  She took out a picture and matched it with the print, it seemed close enough that it could have been her, and she let her take off the shoes outside.

“Reina, I believe that you didn’t kill the mayor but I knew you were on the property.”

Rika saw she guilt show on her face as she was the person outside of the house, Rika blocked her expression by turning her around, looking at the house.  It wasn’t anything special that she got from figuring the truth but it was the little things that made sense to her.

“I wanted to kill him but I heard a scream and ran away.  I knew Sayu was in the medical center with Yossie and Eri so I just wanted to help Sayu get rid of the memory of him.”

Rika shook her head as she took mental notes and compiled the previous notes from the investigation.  The case fell apart after the marriage of the new mayor and the mayor’s widow.  When the police had been shut out of the case for reasons unknown to anyone, rumors had come out that Shota was using lawyers to cover the case.  Especially the one witness that noticed the mix up: Yossie.

Rika felt that Yossie was threatened to not release the autopsy, which she held onto as part of her records.  It was reported as an overdose but the few minor issues could never been brought up unless Yossie could challenge it.  Since the case was shut down, Yossie could never report the truth even to Rika as their partnership was an issue of professionalism.  The new mayor hid everything under his new bear rug and ran it if it was a normal town with happy people.

Rika as any lead investigator would do, she undermined the mayor by hiding the fact she was snooping around to find bits and pieces to place together.  After a few months, she had been relieved of her duties for snooping around but the decision by the mayor was overturned because of the authority figure he was going against, the head honcho of the National police.

However, she had been limited to a single room without colleagues and could only do the mundane assignments that did not involve snooping around.  It wasn’t until she had the picture that it seemed to open up in front of her.

Reina kept her composure as she knew that she could have been in big trouble if anyone did find out that she would be cited for trespassing.  But, Rika patted her on the head and let the kitty go for being cooperative with her research.  The leader had to get people to work with her and she followed Reina back and decides on how she could use Reina on later missions.  Rika explained that she would be having a permanent job in a town she knew for more than a year and maybe settling the feud she was part of.

Obviously, Reina did have some concerns and it was mainly for her protection from anyone getting close to her during a research project.  The mayor and his wife were still in the house, so it would be opportunistic to explain details.  Reina only could contact Rika and under no circumstance, she would be immune to any attack on her or her family.  The kitty was hesitant about the job and reluctantly accepts it with very little details about what her first mission was going to be.

“I believe in you as a friend and it may lead you to live a double life, however any job can be declined if it mixes personal and professional aspects.”

Reina nodded as Rika laid out a thick contract with all the legal rules, she was never a reader so she trusted Rika to clue her in on what it meant for her.  She made it easy for Reina to understand and with all her signatures; she was an agent to Rika.

“Also, one more thing, all missions will come into your mailbox at the post office, box number 007.”

“Do I have one now?”

“Yups.  However I don’t expect you to bring in your findings right away, so take your time…”

Rika walked away from the house and cautiously paced back to her office.

~~
Reina had every piece she needed to start her adventure and walked over to the post office to see the nine boxes on the wall.  She went to bottom row, first on the left, and pushed the key into the slot.  She turned it clockwise to find a piece of paper with her mission.

Buy 2 cases of beer… Thnx, Rika

Damn I need to expect a job with such expectations.

She had walked over to the brewery to see a gleaming Ai-chan readying for the evening shift.  She looked over at the case on the counter next to Ai and put up two for her order.  She knew that Rika had set up the clues to the location and hid it between the bottles.  She carried them back home and phoned Rika to pick up her packs.  She didn’t seem to notice the memo until Rika got to the door and blew the paper out of its hiding place.

“One more note, my dear.”

Reina chased after it and her eyes widened up as it seemed to catch her off-guard and she had to reread it couple of time before putting down on the table.

Research Sayu’s past

Reina smirked at the assignment and accepted it with no questions asked.  It was something that she needed to find to dig a little more for her own decision between the nun and her.

[Sora-chan]

*Fingers crosssed* Reina please pick Eri!!!

And i, myself am alittle curious about Sayu's past.. and why does Rika wanna research it ummmmmmm... interesting.

[kuro808]

^ answer won't be in the next chapter but it will present a foundation for things to come

Chapter 13

“Don’t you have a question for me?”

Rika grinned at the kitty with a beer in hand, she was ready to pour into her cup of ice, but she took the bottle away from her.  She also grabbed the package away from her and placed it next to her.

“Where is the information I need to find?”

“It is in the closet in the bedroom, I left it in the box for now, and you must find everything about her family.” 

Reina stroked her chin as she tried to find why she was looking into Sayu, she remembered that she was attacked a year ago, and she had been in the medical center throughout the night.  It would have been impossible that she could have been able to put in the drugs during a certain point in time.  She thought more into Sayu must have been doing shady things to get her money, so she walked up and dragged the box down the stairs.

“What do I need to find?”

“Whatever you desire about her life.  It isn’t a thing I do need to know but something in there will help me with the investigation.”

Reina saw her took a sip of her drink and placed it neatly on a napkin on her side of the table.  She opened up a book about her childhood; it was filled with pictures and comments written in black ink neatly on the right side of the pictures.  Many of them were alone or near a child who wasn’t looking toward the camera.  It was made that she was always alone or the parents never could get anyone to pose with her.  Then, she saw a picture of a mealworm that caught her attention, forty-five to be exact.  She showed a true smile for the first time in any of the pictures and it seemed to transits to high school.

Rika looked from her side watching the kitty flip through each of the pages carefully scanning each picture until she stopped at one picture.  It was with Ai and Risa and they each posed except for Sayu who halfheartedly turned away from the camera.

“Was she always disrespectful to others?”

“In a way, she never cares too much for others who can beat her in a matchup of looks.  Ai and Risa were friends but Sayu never had a true friend and it still holds up for today.  Eri was open in being her friend but after a few hold ups, she didn’t care unless it was for prayer.  Jun was more of love in convenience; she always loved to be in someone’s arms, so she decided to take Jun in.”

“Reason why she helped with the shop?”

Rika nodded as she flipped the page over to her father’s funeral where she kept a stone face over the image of her father on the mantle.  It seemed weird that she wasn’t overly excited but the photographer caught her patting the few tears from her eyes.  She theorized that she was either not close with the father or something else that was on her mind.  Then, a picture of her with a change of facial expression caught the kitty’s eyes and it was the mayor with a smile on his face.

“Sayu’s uncle was the mayor, right?”

“Yes, he was but he was quite young in comparison to her father.”

“They were born fifteen years apart; her father was from a different mother than the mayor.  It was a secret until someone had reported that he was disgusted of the mayor until his death.  In addition, the mayor had a grudge with the father when Sayu’s father was getting the money.”

Reina wrote down on a piece paper the facts Rika had been giving her and then a thought popped into her head.

“So the mayor had the grudge with Sayu all this time and given the opportunity, they were about the same age?”

“About seven year apart.”

“I see.”

Reina soon found a letter mentioning that Sayu would build the town from scratch with the help of her neighbors, which were probably angered that she would just spend the money on her.  However, she did make short-term changes with the infrastructure with the mayor’s approval.  Then, she met Jun and she decided to spend hundreds of thousands on Jun in the weirdest way: building a house.

The mayor sent her small notes that were chronicled in the book about the empty threats he had threatened to use.  But, it wasn’t until she finally got the note that broke it wide open, her love for Jun.  She halted the building and set up a stand for dumplings.  However, the unfinished building was still being funded through funneling into the bank account which eventually the mayor caught onto.  Finally it was out in the open, which Reina had seen when she met the Chinese women last year.

It was all written in front of her with diary entries that had been placed in the back in chronological order from her father’s death.  She closed the book and sat there thinking about the events from a year ago.  The mayor was trying to stop her from donating the money like she was delivering to the enemy, but it was love that might have been unrequited.  These were all thoughts with no clue what she was trying to find but it grew from the seed planted in her mind, she was looking for hints on something only Rika knew about.

Reina looked up and Rika was staring into Reina’s eyes as everything started to piece together the Sayu she knew and the past only supported her intentions.  The kitty picked up another book but it was smaller and it showed her financial reports after her father’s death.  Money had been imputed as an inheritance and slowly was taken out for daily use, but more was deposited as it was set up as a trust account.  The monthly deposits were way more than she was actually spending until last year where it got zeroed out.

“Was there any reason for the main account to be wiped out?”

“Simply, she had invested into rebuilding the town and all the money went into a separate account for the daily expenses, she had set up a year ago.”

“That must be the help the town received.”

Rika nodded and emptied the rest of the bottle into her glass.  She had consumed the one pack that was given to her and the second one was next to her as she was ready to leave the kitty’s house.  Rika flew the note over to her and opened to find she had another set of books to research into Eri’s life.

This shall be fun.

[Sora-chan]

They got books on ERI too!! Oh boy.... I wonder whats in there.. From whats been said so far Eri has had a bit of a troublesome life.

And Sayu her past , I kinda pity her..

Still wonder what Reina choice will be..

Please keep the updates coming!! ^.^

[kuro808]

^ well because it is a small town everyone has their "books" but some are quite limited than others

Chapter 14

Reina remembered more about Eri than Sayu, so she thought it would be more of a review until she opened the first book.  It was a letter written to Eri from her father, it mentioned about how much talent the turtle possessed in her.  She was known to be shy but from her father, she was outgoing and when she moved her, it might have changed her personality.  Reina slipped the letter back inside and flipped over to the next page to find the turtle standing by her parents posing at Disneyland.

It was filled with Disneyland pictures on how she posed, it was truly fun for her but she could see something that shown her vulnerability to others.  All the photos that were taken were by herself or with her parents.  Reina figured it was that chronic shyness with people that would prevent her from posing with others until another paper stuck out from the book revealed the reason.

Abuse.

It was on many occasions that she was involved in a rocky relationship from the many reports that the doctors observed unusual bruising around her arms, legs, and back.  What drove her away from her parents was at age fourteen, a crush had entered her house and she had been in her room.  He walked in with his head down and offered a letter to show his love; little that Eri knew that in his pocket was money from the parents.

He had pinned her against the wall and began to kiss her while his hand ventured down between her legs, she started to scream, and then the event ended without going any further.  The boy ran away but was forced back and it was locked behind him.  Eri looking at him started to open her window but she got tugged back into bed and he continued his kiss while he kept his on her chest.  Then, he removed all her clothing without her saying a word and watched the whole event unfold in front of her.

Reina couldn’t read the rest of the report, it was making her boil that her parents forced her into sex, she flipped through another set of papers, and a report about her behavior appeared.  It was mentioning that she had been isolated on occasion for disobeying the guards.  However, she showed no resistance and walked into solitary confinement often without any words.  It wasn’t until several months later that she moved into the town with the pastor and learned about religion.  She slowly opened up with her peers and became a nun at eighteen.

Her book was finished with good reports coming from the pastor before he left Eri control of the church.  The kitty closed the book and felt a sudden rush of emotions.  She cried thinking about Eri’s tough life and it felt that she needed to have her more than Sayu, but Sayu needed a person to stand by her or everything will fall apart.  She felt her body being torn into two thinking about the situation and walked out to visit Ai at the brewery.

“Hey Reina, did everyone made you work hard?”

“Nah, just been wondering of stuff.”

Ai slid her drink of whiskey on ice, which was becoming Ai’s best seller after the first batch from two years ago had been a success.  It was spicy but rather smooth going down her throat and she kicked one back in frustration.  Ai knew when people had problems; she had a sixth sense about it and walked over to Reina promptly when she dropped her glass onto the bar.

“Sayu and Eri again, I assume.”

“Yups, I can never say no to either of them.”

Ai smiled as she poured another glass for her to drink.  She presented a smile and brushed the hair away from her face as the kitty stared at the glass.

“Maybe you should try doing something spontaneous to rid of dilemma in your head at the moment.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well you rarely talk to anyone except Eri, Sayu or me, you can talk to Risa but she is busy trying to sleep, and Aika is already sleeping.  Yossie is known to be a great person to have a conversation with, she is sometimes sitting back waiting for a patient so give her a visit.”

Ai’s suggestion wasn’t a bad idea.  She knew not a lot go there on a daily basis and if it was anything interesting she could ask about both of them, it would be her who give her an answer she could be satisfied with.  She took down the second drink and strolled over to the medical center where Yossie would be at this time.  However, Reina found an empty building and took a seat next to the receptionist’s table waiting for the doctor to come back.

Fifteen minutes later, Yossie saw Reina sitting patiently as she returned with a small package of food from the Chinese duo.  The doctor always needed to find a way to fuel herself through the long nights that the clinic was open till, especially she was on emergency watch all the time.  Yossie made her office as her living space for any type of emergencies but she always kept two nurses as assistants.  The nurses were city-oriented and hated the isolated population, which many wouldn’t last the usual visits of three months.  In any case, Yossie was glad that they had a center in town rather than outside because of the timing with patients.

“Reina, you seem you got some alcohol in you.”

“Yes I do, but I am here to ask you about Rika in general.”

Yossie placed the bag onto the table and took a seat next to Reina as she prepared a question for the doctor.

“Why is she making me do research?  Isn’t the case over?”

The doctor released a grin and rubbed the kitty’s head as it seemed to strike a chord with her.

“Well she is sneaky to let people help her indirectly, she knows about the love triangle so it may give you an insight for how you should continue to the future.  The second answer is not really, the case has been open since it started, she may want you to find clues to her leads.  She will not tell you what it is but she will use you as a person of interest to get her way.  She is a maverick with investigations so be aware that she will also break simple rules for results.  Anyways, is there anything else?”

Reina shook her head as the liquor was slowly consuming her body and swayed left and right until she closed her eyes.  She woke up to be in a room where the lights were dark and once she moved, Yossie was in a chair with book in hand, and smiled at the kitty.

“I guess the alcohol did its job, return home and you will see Rika’s next note.”

Reina walked back with a stagger and pushed through until she paused at the grocery store.  Her breathing was extremely difficult and lay out of puddle in front of her.  She managed to get to the front door and saw a bowl of hot soup to keep her busy.  Reina picked up the note and saw the note mentioning about finding connections.  If Reina thought it would be hard, she was right because on the surface there was no connection.