Grey. Hard. Cold.
These things came to mind very quickly as Ryan woke up. The events of the day were playing through Ryan’s head so fast he couldn’t make sense of it. The store, seeing miniature Gocchins, not to mention gaining superhuman strength and being drugged! Ryan felt the clean rag stuffing his mouth, and then the handcuffs on his wrists and ankles. Surveying his surroundings, Ryan found himself in what looked like a cage with no door and no roof. The walls were solid concrete but not that high so climbing over was possible. From what Ryan could make out, the “cage” was in a warehouse. Looking around, Ryan found his ipod next to him with a note:
PLAY ONLY LOVE NAMIDAIRO.
Ryan looked around, looking for some indication of this whole scene being some weird joke or even some insane scheme thought up by some Japanese TV show, but all he felt was silence. Reluctantly, Ryan put on “Love Namidairo” and started listening, playing around with the handcuffs when he felt something bend. Puzzled, Ryan turned over one handcuff to see a bend. Giving the cuff another twist, the handcuff broke off. Not wasting time, he broke off the remaining cuffs, took off his gag and walked to one wall.
“I wonder…” Ryan thought as he gave the wall in front of him a push. Ryan expected the wall to go crashing down, what he didn’t expect was an audience on the other side. Ryan recognized Kyosuke, Yuki and Taka but what made this slightly surreal was seeing Inaba Atsuko standing with them.
“What the hell?” Ryan asked aloud, moving forward. Instinctively, everyone moved away, Kyosuke in particular. Atsuko slowly stepped forward, putting out her hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet an Australian fan” she said.
“Now this is getting bizarre” Ryan thought, shaking Atsuko’s hand.
“You have a lot of questions, don’t you?” Atsuko asked, studying Ryan’s blank expression.
“Follow me and we’ll turn your questions into answers” motioning Ryan to a door.
Ryan wasn’t sure if this was real or another trick but something compelled him to follow Atsuko and the others.
Entering the door, Ryan found himself in a back alley. “So what’s the story? Is this some joke for Hello Morning?”
Atsuko smiled, handing Ryan a meishi “Look up the website. We’ll contact you when the time comes.
At that moment, two cars stopped at the entrance of the alley. Atsuko got in one and Taka, Kyosuke and Yuki got into another. As Yuki walked past Ryan, she said “Please consider our cause. We’d be grateful for your help.”
As the cars pulled away, Ryan looked at the card Atsuko gave him. The meishi had the word “SAKURA WATCH” with a picture of a green cherry blossom on it. The other side of the card had a website address and a cellphone number. Ryan put it in his pocket and walked out of the alley.
Turning right, Ryan stopped at a drink machine. Buying a Pocari sweat, Ryan gulped it down in the first moment
of peace since going into that damn store.
"Hey gaijin!" a voice yelled out.
Ryan turned around to see a gang of youths wearing red-and-blue colors like the Sakura watch. Among them was
the clerk from the store, looking a little worse for wear. The leader, a stocky youth with flame red spiky hair
stepped forward.
"Are you the one causing trouble with our boys?" He asked
"Who's asking?" Ryan replied.
"Don't play games gaijin!" The clerk yelled out
"Quiet, Taro" the leader rebuked.
"Sorry Ken" Taro meekly complied with this request.
"I'm on vacation guys. Leave me alone" Ryan tiredly said.
As he started to walk away, the gang started to spread out, surrounding him. Taro knew what was going to happen
and smartly stepped away. Pausing for a moment, Ryan hastily put on his ipod and charged into a gang member,
bowling him over. Ryan tried clicking onto "Love Namidairo" but accidentaly started playing "Doki doki mail"
which resulted in Ryan speeding away from the gang at breakneck speed.
"He's an empath" Taro exclaimed
"After him!" Ken yelled, prompting everyone to get on their scooters to pursue Ryan. Ryan was going so fast he was almost tripping over himself. His joy was shortlived when he started slowing down. Looking at the ipod, the battery was starting to run out. Ryan quickly turned it off to preserve the little energy it had and turned around to the gang closing in on him. Ryan estimated he had at least 5 minutes of super strength which he intended to use wisely. Suddenly, a bolt of energy hit the ground in front of him, stopping the gang in its tracks. Ryan turned
around to see Yuki in a Nochiura Natsumi costume with one of the car from their alleyway meeting behind her. Yuki grabbed Ryan and literally threw him into the car and stood on the roof. Ryan composed himself to see Taka sitting next to him and Kyosuke with a driver in the front.
"GO!" Kyosuke yelled. As the car sped away, Ryan looked out the back window to see What was left of the gang reorganised themselves and give pursuit. Yuki was on the roof, shooting energy bolts
"Do these guys know what quitting means?" Ryan said. Taka gave him a packet of Pretz "What the hell is this?"
"JUST THROW THEM!" Taka barked. Ryan saw Taka throw a pretz like a dart into the wheel of one of the scooters causing the scooter to crash. Ryan tried emulating Taka's throwing style, but wasn't so successful. The ranks of the gang were growing thinner due to the combined efforts of Taka and Yuki. Frustrated with pretz throwing, Ryan saw Kyosuke's ipod on the dashboard and grabbed it.
"Hey!" Kyosuke yelled "Just give me a second with it" Ryan hastily begged, scrolling through Kyosuke's playlist.
Brandishing an e-kara microphone, Ken unleashes a sonic blast at the side of the car, causing Yuki to lose her balance and start to fall.
Seeing Yuki, Ryan immediately opens the car door, climbing out and grabbing Yukis hand in a split second. There was no time to celebrate as Ryan was hanging out of the car with Yuki holding on for her life with Ken closing in. Taka helped pull Yuki in as once she was inside, Ryan leapt out and played "Doki doki lovemail".
Ken was too busy concentrating his aim on the car to see Ryan casually run alongside him and push him over. With the pursuit all but a failure for Ken's gang, he could only look on as Ryan and others sped off into the distance. When they knew it was safe, Ryan and the car stopped by the road. Ryan returned the ipod to Kyosuke.
"Thanks" Ryan said. Kyosuke was too shocked at Ryan's stunt to give his thanks. Ryan looked into the back of the
car. "You guys ok?"
"We're fine" Taka replied.
"This isn't going to go down well with Otome watch" The driver interrupted.
"Everyone knows that Ken and his goons are the troublemakers of Otome watch" Yuki retorted.
"Who cares guys? At least we're not beaten up! Lets go for coffee. My treat" Kyosuke offered as a peacmaking tool.
Kyosuke looked at Ryan "Get in".
"This holiday's gotten more interesting Ryan thought as he got in and they drove off to drink and laugh the evening away.