Index:
I - Breaking the Heart
Step 01 - 03.01.2008 - Curiosity
Step 02 - 03.13.2008 - Confusion
Step 03 - 03.30.2008 - Dejection
Step 04 - 04.07.2008 - Illusions
Step 05 - 05.08.2008 - Deliberations
Step 06 - 06.14.2008 - Readings
Step 07 - 06.27.2008 - Predictions
Step 08 - 07.17.2008 - Loss
Step 01 - Curiosity"...5,6,7,8. 1,2,3,4..."
Everyone is giving all they got.
"1,2,3,4..."
The girls are practicing without a coach. Recently they got scolded for not taking the lessons seriously. Now have they have to do additional dance practices in the evening to get their form back.
"...5,6, ..no!" Aichan interrupts.
Not all girls are actually practicing right now. Eri, who got a cold recently is lying in her warm bed at home.
"Again!" Aichan says rather harsh. She really puts on a strict tone at those lessons. On one hand it's to force them all to get better again, but on the other hand she really has it in for one of the girls.
"...3,4...no! Stop, stop, stop! You did it wrong again!"
- "Ah, give me a break," Risa sighs.
Risa gets a lot of criticism from Aichan, although she is the sub-leader in the group. The two seem to be on bad terms with each other, not only during the extra practice.
"We've been going through the exact same steps for three days already and you still don't make them right!"
- "Is that so?" Risa purposely doesn't take her serious and looks away.
"I am talking with you! You are the..."
- "Ah, I got it!" Risa interrupts and signalizes her to stop.
She throws her towel over her shoulder and heads for the door.
"Where do you think you are going?" Aichan gets really pissed.
- "I'm out of here," Risa answers in a kind of insultingly calm way.
- "Bye~," she waves in front the door.
"You...!"
The rest of what Aichan wanted to say got drowned by the sound of the slamming door. Aichan is shocked and surprised that Risa really left.
"Here," Junjun walks up to Aichan and gives her a towel, "we should end the practice for today."
- "Thank you. You are right.." she takes the towel and wipes the sweat out of her face.
Junjun smiles and pats her on the back.
"Isn't it weird that Junjun, the new one, is the one who has to cheer up our leader?" Reina wonders.
- "You think so?" Sayu looks at Aichan and Junjun.
"Well, it's funny, isn't it?"
- "You are the one who is weird to think that it is weird."
"What?" Reina slightly angered.
They both are sitting in a corner of the dance studio and drink some water. Of course they witnessed the whole scene. Sayu doesn't seem to be too curious about it while Reina really likes to enjoy every detail of such internal dramas. Linlin joins the two.
"You shouldn't drink so fast, Sayu. You will look like a blowfish."
- Sayu spills some water, "Blowfish?"
"Ahaha! That's right! You do, sometimes," Reina agrees with Linlin.
She gets a cheeky and looks at them with big shocked eyes.
- Then she feels offended and turns away, "I've never heard something like that."
"Ah! There it is! The blowfish!" Reina points at her cheeky face and bursts out in laughter.
Linlin joins the laughter. Sayu feels really embarrassed and angry. They both quick decide to apology before it's too late, yet Reina can't stop grinning at Sayu.
Koharu looks at the three from another side of the studio. Even though she couldn't hear what it was about, she can't help but also smile. She turns back to Aichan and sees the complete opposite to the three who seem to have a lot of fun. Surrounded by a serious aura, Aichan stares at the door with a thoughtful expression. Mitsui suddenly comes to Koharu.
"Wanna go?"
- "Eh? ..sure," Koharu nods.
Junjun notices that they are leaving, "we should go as well."
- "Hm? Sorry," Aichan stutters.
She obviously didn't listen, but sees Koharu and Mitsui leaving and waves a bye at them. Although she didn't really listen, she now can remember what she said.
- "Ah, yeah. I mean, you can ... go. I'll stay for a little longer."
"Again?"
- "Yes, don't worry. Hurry and get some sleep, tomorrow will be tough again," Aichan smiles.
Junjun laughs a bit. "Okay, boss," she replies, knowing that she can't convince her to get some sleep as well.
- "I told you not to call me boss."
"I know, I know. See you tomorrow, okay?" Junjun smiles.
Aichan isn't angry about what she said. It's a joke Junjun does from time to time. Junjun then leaves the studio as well. Linlin rushes after her and quickly waves at Aichan on her run. Aichan giggles while the remaining two also get their things and leave. Reina suddenly bows at Aichan, giggles and heads for the door. Sayu can't believe it herself and rolls with her eyes.
"Bye."
- "See you," Aichan smirks because of Reina.
Sayu closes the door behind her and so Aichan finally is all alone.
/////////////////->
0. Anonymous 01/14 14:44 NTwhM: Listen! Everyone!
Listen to your mind!
Watch it! Everyone!
Watch what's happening!
This nation, no, this world it's lowest level.
Who do you blame?
You blame yourself!
Is that right? Is that fair?
No!
Don't let IT control you! Control IT!
Tonight!
A collisions, a new path, YOUR new path!
1. Anonymous 01/14 14:46 OdhIp: huh? what the fuck was th
at?
you must be in the wrong board
or is this supposed to be your way to announce your suicide?
2. Anonymous 01/14 14:46 UaMPe: drunk?
3. Anonymous 01/14 14:47 WtBnh: He is making fun of us!
Ignore him -_-'
4. Anonymous 01/14 14:49 NTwhM: You will soon feel the sam
e way! I know it!
You all can't make them go away anymore!
They will stay, they will overtake you; hate, anger, sadness.
You fools! You children of order!
The break of chaos, everywhere, everyone.
No warning!
Announcement!
<-/////////////////
"Huh?" Kizaki Yusuke, an assistant inspector in Tokyo looks confused at his laptop.
- "What's up, Kizaki?" Murono Ryo, an police inspector whose current partner is Yusuke asks.
"Nothing, just read something weird..," he points at the screen.
- "Those boards again? Stop playing on your laptop during work!"
"That's not playing, it's called surfing," Yusuke corrects Ryo who is from an older generation.
- "..."
"Sorry."
Yusuke reads a few more entries before closing his laptop. While Ryo drinks some coffee, Yusuke wonders about this weird announcement. The board usually only has topics about group suicides and similar. He got promoted recently for preventing one of them and now is on his way to become a police inspector. Ryo is supposed to teach him some more practical things and some probably outdated values from his generation. Yusuke still is full of motivation, although he already is awake for almost 72hours. His stomach screams for something to food and even Ryo notices the grumbling of Yusuke's revolting stomach. Unlike Ryo, he isn't yet used to have his most intimate relationship with a nice hot cup of coffee. To convince himself that a car seat or office chair are far more comfortable than a big soft bed, also is yet an obstacle in his life of a policeman in Tokyo. The whole country lacks policemen compared to the rising number of crimes. For most of the people it still seems kind of normal, for good observers it's more than only a temporary problem and for a few individuals it's beyond imagination.
You can hear somebody practicing in the dance studio. It's Aichan who practices all by herself. She sees it as her duty as leader to be the best in those things, even if it means to do extra individual trainings at evening. Her personal opinion that the leader always has to be able to support and help the other members who might have problems is what gives her this energy. Only by looking at her you can see that she really gives her all. She is sweating and not only a bit. Aichan already exchanged the long sweatpants she wore before with some sporty short pants, but it doesn't really help. Additional to her normal effort, she seems to be troubled about something and overdoes a lot of steps. It could be her conflict with Risa or something else. Finally she makes a short break to drink some water. Her eyes are still focused on the mirror, her mind probably not only going through some steps. A penny for her thoughts...
She drank enough, time to continue practice. Aichan gets back into position and starts to count in her mind. Again, it doesn't seem like she wants to stop anytime soon.
"You would be able to do this part much smoother, if you add an additional step there," a young man suddenly interrupts.
- "Huh?" Aichan is surprised, "who are you?"
"Me? I've been watching you for a while now, .. from the door," he points to the door behind him with his thumb over his shoulder.
- "You...what?!" She feels a bit embarrassed and can't believe that she didn't notice him.
~He saw me like this? And what am I wearing?~ Aichan speaks with herself in her mind. ~AH!~ She looks down herself, ~He saw me..in my shorts! Noo~! Who is he and who allowed him to come in here? I can't believe this!~
- "Who.."
"Watch carefully," he says and positions himself in front of the mirror wall.
- "Eh?"
"1,2,3,...4...5...6,7..8, got it?"
Aichan is completely confused and amazed at the same time, but she didn't really watch his steps. Somehow she starts to think that he is really cool, what makes her even more embarrassed about her outfit.
"Hey! Don't dream!" he jolts her out of her own world.
- "AH! Eh? Yes, ..sorry," Aichan doesn't really know what to say.
"Again, but this time you watch more carefully, okay?"
He does the same steps again and now Aichan actually watches them in the mirror. "Not only that he looks cool, he can dance," she probably thinks when she suddenly gives him an "Amazing!" Aichan can't believe that she actually did that, even he has to smile to himself.
"Try it too!" he suggests.
Aichan only nods, afraid to do another embarrassing girlish sound. They both go through the same steps two or three times and Aichan really starts to understand what he means.
- "Wow, that's really an improvement. I have to show this to our coach," she comments while dancing.
He smiles and looks at his watch. "Oh, it's so late already. I'm sorry, but I have to go now," he says and heads for the door, "bye."
- "What? Wait! Can't you even tell me your name?"
"Don't worry, we will definitely meet again," is his reply and his last words before leaving the studio.
- "Huh?" Aichan looks at the door as surprised as before, "who is he?"
Yusuke needed some fresh air and combines it with his hunger. He is on a short break of about one hour now and knows a really nice ramen shop not too far away from the station. It's a really small shop and as tourist you probably wouldn't find it. He knows this shop since childhood and the owner is like an uncle to him. On his way to this place, he comes across Reina. They neither really meet nor know each it, she just happens to walk at the same street, but on the other sidewalk. She is on her way home. Unlike Aichan who sweats in the warm studio, Reina freezes a bit walking down the street. It's already cold, probably four-five degree Celsius below zero. She has a nice fluffy warm jacket and a long scarf, but her legs are completely uncovered. Reina only wears a miniskirt and high heels. Today she made two mistakes, first she decided not to wear some high boots, but this wouldn't be a problem, if she didn't decide not to put on her thigh-high socks after the practice. This morning it wasn't that cold, she got heated up during training and so she made the decision not to wear them and regrets it a bit now. However, it's not a long way home anymore and so she decides to endure the cold. Reina is walking alone, but it's only the way from the train station back home. Sayu and Risa take the same train, but Reina has to get out a few stations earlier than them.
Reina tries to think of something else to forget the cold and looks up at the sky. It's a clear sky, but there are no stars. At 9pm it's dark already, but the city lights are too bright to see some stars, at least while walking. She would have to stop and concentrate, but then she would be freezing even more. Reina knows that, yet still pouts a little and makes a cute little kissy mouth. It's something she often does when she is sad, but doesn't notice it herself. She turns into another street. There are less lamps, but it's still safe enough to walk alone. Reina actually likes it when it is like that. Every light, every window now becomes really interesting and she really likes to look at windows from distance. Not that she peeks inside, it's just that sometimes you can see the shadows of people that do funny or strange things. It's really a nice way not to be bored on your way home.
~Soon I will be in my fluffy bed.~
Reina can't wait to arrive at home and fall into her bed. She can already feel her soft pillow only thinking about it. Suddenly a young girl with a school uniform bumps into her back and jolts her out of her dream rather harsh. The girl obviously didn't see her, but doesn't even apologize to Reina. She gets back up on her feet and continues to run. Reina is pissed and confused, a very bad mixture, but she also notices that the girl must be running away from somebody. She turns around, but can't see anyone.
"Odd..," Reina yawns.
Why would she care anyway? Besides, she is really tired and doesn't have the energy to care about a weird and unfriendly girl. While closing and rubbing her sleepy eyes, she suddenly hears a very loud scream not very far away.
"...her?!"
Reina guesses that it must be this girl. The scream is coming from the same direction. It sounds really terrifying and gives her goosebumps. She now is completely awake again.
Yuzuke looks at the ramen shop and can't believe that it's closed. It was the only tasty shop nearby. Well, he has no time to be sad about it. He is so hungry that he decides to get something from a vending machine. On his way to one he saw before, he suddenly hears a scream. It's not really close, but not that far either. As an assistant inspector he immediately heads into the direction it came from to check what it is about.
Reina's heart is beating really fast. She doesn't really know what awaits her around the next corner. The scream must have come from there, but what if she goes there and gets involved into some crime? Maybe the girl only slipped?
~No, she didn't sleep. This scream...,~ she thinks, but doesn't walk away.
Her curiosity and wish to help wins over her anxiety. She kind of hopes that she will only see a hurt or robbed girl she can help and that whoever did that to her already ran away. She comes up with all those things in her mind only and didn't yet look around the corner, but now she makes the move and peaks into the road.
It's dark, she can't really see much. There is no way she would walk along this road voluntary. It was a very bad decision by this school girl. Reina tries to spot anybody and then sees something white on the ground. She moves a bit closer and guesses that it must be the girl, that this is her white school shirt. Reina is really cautions and scans the surrounding, but she can't see anybody else.
~He must have run away.~
Now she is close enough to be sure of that it really is the girl from before. She is sitting and leaning against the wall. It's dark, but Reina can see her face. However, the girl isn't moving at all. That's not exactly what Reina imagined in her mind before. Reina is scared to move closer, but she can't simply walk away. She already takes out her mobile to call for help once she confirms her condition. One step after another and suddenly she stops.
"Blood! Everywhere!" Reina gets a shock, thunderstruck.
The other site of the shirt she couldn't see is completely covered in blood. That's worse than she expected, much worse. Reina covers one of her eyes. She doesn't want to look at it, but can't look away either. Reina still kinda hopes that she might be alive and decides to get a little closer. She wants a sign of life, although she probably already knows that she is dead. With a pale face, not believing what she sees and not wanting to realize that she is dead, she keeps forward and suddenly hears a splash sounds. It sounded like she stepped into a puddle.
"It's wet!" She shrieks when she feels something wet around her naked toes.
Reina looks down and..
"Ahhh!"
She quickly moves back until she hits a wall with her back. It really was a puddle, a puddle of blood. This girl must have lost an enormous amount of blood already.
"So much blood! Oh my...," Reina almost faints.
Yusuke arrives at the scene. He didn't yet turn into the rood of where the scream came from, but he stands around the corner just like Reina did before. Judging from the intensity of the scream, he knows that it must be serious and therefore he is really cautious. He peaks around the corner, but he can hardly see what's going on. However, he has better trained eyes than Reina and so he already saw the shapes of somebody lying ong the ground and another person standing at a wall. The second one is Reina, but of course they both don't know each other. Yusuke can't see the blood from there, but he already noticed that one of them at least must be hurt. His first guess is that the other person, Reina, has to have something to do with it. Now that he went through everything in his head, he decides to move around the corner and aims at Reina with his gun.
Reina didn't yet notice the cop. She is more afraid of the blood that more and more flows towards her direction and scared to death presses herself against the wall behind her. Finally she can escape her state of shock and moves away, immediately trying to call for help with her mobile.
"DON'T MOVE!" Yusuke suddenly screams at Reina.
- "Huh?" Reina is surprised and turns around, but suddenly sees a middle-aged man right in front of her.
Yusuke is surprised as well. He didn't see this man at all and now doesn't know who is the bad one. This question immediately gets answered with a sudden shot that hits him.
Reina had to cover her ears when this man suddenly shot the gun right in front of her. She then looks at where he shot and sees Yusuke lying on the ground. Now that was too much, she is completely stunned. The man sees the mobile phone in her hand and smashes it at the wall, with Reina still holding onto it, probably breaking two or three bones in her hand. Reina isn't doing anything, she can't do anything. She doesn't even scream, it's all too much, too sudden, too fast. Her mind is completely blank. She doesn't even feel the pain in her hand. However, her eyes speak for themselves, eyes full of fear, eyes only people can see who put other people into such an enormous fear. Now the man grabs her throat and presses her against the wall with the gun at her head. Reina can feel the hot muzzle of the gun and has to gasp for breath. He gets really close and looks her straight in the frightened eyes.
"You are...," he whispers with a deep voice and suddenly presses his mouth against lips.
He violently forces his tongue into her mouth. Reina doesn't know what's happening and finally tries to defend herself, not that she is able to anything though. This man simply is too strong for her and keeps his firm grip at her throat while kissing her.
Basically pinned against the wall, Reina goes through various horror scenarios in her head.
~Will he kill me? Will he rape me? No! Please! Not that! Somebody!?~
She even starts to blame herself for even going after the source of that screams. Now she ended up exactly with what she has been afraid of, involved into a very serious crime, probably ending like that schoolgirl.
~Huh? What's this?~ Reina suddenly feels something odd.
~What's this feeling? The kiss? What's happening?~ She gets a shock, because she makes some wild guesses what that could be.
The feeling she noticed, Reina thinks that it is what she read about some time ago, about victims suddenly feeling a kind of pleasure during such crimes. They don't want to, but they can't help it. Now Reina is afraid that this violent and long kiss is turning her on.
~This can't be. No,no,no,no,no..this, this isn't a feeling of pleasure. It.....it feels different.~
Reina is right, something strange is happening. The kiss, it's oddly long and he not even once changed the position of his mouth. It's like he is stuck to her mouth.
Yusuke is finally getting back up on his feet. The bullet only hit him in his left arm, but it came out of nowhere and totally surprised him. Of course he dropped his gun when he fell to the ground. He picks it up and, while his left arm hurts, he aims at the man with his right.
"Get away from her!"
He could shoot, but he doesn't. Reina is too close to him. Yusuke could hurt her, his aim isn't very steady now that he himself is hurt as well. Also, he can still be considered unexperienced when it comes to such situations. The man doesn't care about him at all. With force he keeps on forcing his tongue into Reina's mouth.
"You! I said.......what the...?" Yusuke can't believe his eyes.
The man releases his grip and even drops his weapon, but not because wants to give up, something else is happening. He slowly steps away from Reina and Yusuke can see a knife sticking in his stomach. His expressions is completely different from before. It seems like he is confused and disoriented, like a totally different person. Yusuke doesn't really know what happened, but he guesses that he must have had a knife with him and somehow Reina was able to grab it and stab him to defend herself. However, Reina isn't running away or something. She actually moves towards the man again, but this time with the complete opposite of an fearful expression. Yusuke already put his gun down and wants tell her to come to him, but then he sees something odd, a sword-like thing. Reina is holding a sword or whatever in her right hand that got seriously hurt before. Suddenly she moves up the sword and attacks the man. Yusuke gets a shock, she basically slices him into two. Not only that it happened out of nowhere, he never before such brutal thing in person, not counting some gory movies. She also must be very strong and the sword very sharp. The sword went through the man like through butter. However, Reina doesn't really look that powerful to him.
"What ...just happened?" Yusuke asks himself.
He stares at Reina who now turns towards him. She looks at him with an evil smirk and eyes that could kill you. Luckily for him that they don't, but he still is like paralyzed, not being able to move at all. While his body isn't able to move anymore, his eyes are and notice that the sword disappeared again. Reina is still some meters away from hin and decided to use a gun instead of a sword. At least she now holds a gun in her hand, pointing at Yusuke. Suddenly she breaks down a bit, the gun disappearing in the smoke. She holds her heart and seems to be in a lot of pain. Yusuke himself forgot to call for reinforcement, but he can hear the sound of arriving help. Somebody must have called the police after hearing the scream and the shot. Reina can also hear the sirens and starts to walk away. After a few steps her pain seems to decrease, because she is able to run now.
She arrives at the main road. The bright lights are dazzling her. They are blurred in her eyes and seem to be everywhere. Reina can get a hold of herself again and wonders where she is.
"Wha.....wha.....," she hardly can breath, "...what.....what happened?"
All she know is that she is in incredible pain. Her hand, her head, her whole body, her heart, everything is hurting. She holds her broken right hand and stumbles her away along the sidewalk. People around her only look, but they don't help. The fact that one half of her is completely covered in blood makes her really suspicious. You can also see some people grabbing their mobiles and calling for police. Reina herself can't really see anything. She can feel a coldness overtaking her body and her sight is blurry. It doesn't take long and she finally collapses. She looses her consciousness and lies on the ground. A crowd of people gathers around her, but everyone is too afraid to do anything.
"Move..!"
Yusuke arrives and tells the people to move away. He followed her despite his own wound and now sees her lying on the floor. Down on his knees he takes some deep breaths and looks at her with a still confused look.
"Ambulance!" He shouts at the crowd.
- "Yes, yes,...I...I already called," some random woman replies.
Yusuke feels her pulse, but everything seems normal.
"This innocent face....what happened to her?" He whispers.
Please tell me when you find some serious grammatical mistakes or typos. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Topic: Crushed Heart [I - Step 08] (Read 7968 times)