"Kooji?" A young girl said into the empty house. "He must be looking for that mamono, Toganin. He's so secretive-I don't know a thing about this mamono Toganin other than he framed Kooji for murder, and..." The girl took off her shoes and walked into the kitchen. "Ah, well. I guess I'll just make his favorite tonight, smoked salmon with edamame,cherry, and shiso! I just hope I have enough rice vinegar!" She smiled.

However, the mamono named Kooji was walking the streets of Higashihiroshima. It wasn't raining or very cold, but the hood to his hoodie was up. The hoodie had a crown sewn into it, a gift from his human to remind him of her promise: "Even if I get hurt, even in the toughest of situations, I-no, we-will perservere, and I shall make you king!" But Kooji could not allow himself to be king before he annihilated that no-good mamono Toganin. He balled his fists in his pocket in the front of his hoodie.

'I'd better be getting back. Michiko is probably home by now.' Kooji thought. As soon as he turned around, he sensed something strange. Not Toganin, but similar. Different, yet similar. Kooji was still, trying to hone in on the strange signal. He could not find it. 'I'm going loopy,' he thought. 'I should just get home. I wonder what Michiko is making for dinner?'

Kooji walked against the crowd's current, as someone perched on a nearby tree sat unnoticed. The person gave a simple laugh, and disappeared.

"Michiko? Are you home, Michiko?" Kooji asked, as he took off his shoes. He walked around the house and into the kitchen. The food was done, and Kooji saw his book placed on his chair. He walked towards it, picked up the book, and placed it between his hoodie and his undershirt. "I haven't sensed Toganin since we fought him in the Solomon Islands."

"Do you think it's possible his book was burned between then and now?" Michiko asked. Kooji looked from her to his plate, and picked up some chopsticks. "No, definately not. Toganin is too powerful for any mamono. Well, besides me of course."

"But..." Michiko said, looking at her food. Kooji looked up at her. "But, if we're so powerful, how come..." She folded her hands under the table and she gripped them tightly. "HOW COME WE LOST BACK THEN?! HOW COME WE WERE SO POWERLESS AGAINST HIM?!"

"Because that was then. But we've gotten a hell of a lot stronger since then. And I know the next time we fight him we'll defeat him and he'll go back to Makai. Also, today, I sensed a mamono whose essence was devilishly similar to Toganin's."

"Do you think he's here in Higashihiroshima?" Michiko asked.

"Possibly. It's as possible as any other city in the world," Kooji stated eating the last bit. Michiko pushed her plate towards him.

"I'm not hungry."

"Michiko, these battles are only going to get more intense here on out. You need to eat- you never know when a mamono will appear," Kooji said, pushing it back towards her.

"I know. But whenever we go into battle, my stomach gets twisted into a pretzel and I think I'm going to throw up. I don't like that feeling at all," Michiko said.

"Eat it, or I'll force-feed you," Kooji said seriously. Michiko knew that he actually WOULD force-feed her, so she took her plate and began to eat. "Good." The spikey red head said (heh. It rhymed).

"By the way," Michiko said, swallowing quite a bit of salmon. "Kiyomaro called. He said that he heard news from Professor Riddle about Toganin's whereabouts."

"WHAT?!" Kooji screeched and slammed his hands on the table. "YOU COULDN'T HAVE SAID THAT FIRST!?"

"Gomenasai-I forgot about it until just now!"

"Where is he?! Where is Toganin?!" Kooji said. The anger and raw emotion the was radiating from his body caused him to glow cyan, like his book. Michiko sighed. She knew that Kooji would go off once he heard the next part. "Well?!"

"Kiyomaro 'convienently' left that part out. So I haven't the slightest clue," Michiko said, eating the last peice of food. "The only way is to go to Kiyomaro in Mochinoki and ask him ourselves. However, we're pretty short on cash, so we have no way to get there."

"What? What about that support money your parents send you every month from-where was it-France?"

"First off, it's Finland. Second, that doesn't come until Friday."

"Well, damn," Kooji said. "If he's going to 'convienently' leave parts out, then he should 'convienently' send us a way to find out what he 'convienenty' left out!" Kooji said with a pout. Michiko sighed again. She went to the front door to pick up the mail, but when she opened it and looked out, she gasped loudly. "What?" Kooji appeared beside her and growled like a dog.

In front of their house was a nice car, owned by none other than the famous Parco Folgore. Kanchome stuck his head out the window and waved at the two standing in the doorway. "C'mon! We're going to Kiyomaro's house to visit him and Gash, and he wanted us to pick you guys up on the way!" Kanchome dug into his pocket and began to suck on a colorful lollipop shaped like a pinwheel. "C'mon! The invincible Folgore has stuff to do!"

"Hai, hai! We're coming Kanchome!" Michiko said smiling. Kooji balled his fists. He disliked Kanchome and Folgore deeply, but he knew that if he didn't go with them, there was the possibility that Toganin would slip away again, and who knows when-or if- they would be able to find him before Toganin's or his own book was burned. So Kooji swallowed his pride (which was a difficult thing to do) and followed after his human to the car in front of the house.

"How'sa everthinga going?" Folgore asked as they entered the car.

"Good," Michiko said happily. Kooji was a different story.

His knees were pulled up to his chest as he tried to block out the horrid song playing thoughout the car. 'Damn acoustics,' he thought.

Chichi chichi oppai
Bong, bong
Chichi chichi oppai
Bong, bong
Mogi, mogi, mogi...

"It's one of Folgore's greatest hits!" Kanchome said, sitting across from Kooji. "Don't you agree Kooji?"

Kooji lifted his head and looked and Kanchome. If looks could kill, Kanchome would have died that very moment.

"First of all: No. I think this song sucks and that all of Folgore's songs generally suck more than a vacuum cleaner. Second of all: Leave me alone, Duck-Face, I'm in a bad mood. I just wanna get to Mochinoki so that I can find out where Toganin is so I can burn his book. Got it, Duck-Face? Or should I call you Dic-"

"KOOJI!" Michiko shouted. Then, her voiced hushed to a whisper only Kooji could hear. "Kooji, don't call Kanchome a 'Dick-Face'! One it's impolite and two he's too young to hear words like that!"

"Really?" Kooji asked."He's too young to hear the word 'dick' yet he's old enough to hear words like 'breasts', 'boobs', and 'grope'?"


Love it? Hate it? Think it has potential? Think it's a load of dog poo? Wondering what their names mean?

'Toganin' means 'criminal'.

'Kooji' means 'a good ruler'

The song is actually that 'Hey, hey, let's dance all day!' song. It originally meant this:

Breasts, breasts and boobs,
Bong, bong
Breasts, breasts and boobs
Bong, bong
Grope, grope, grope...

By the way, I own nothing except Kooji, Michiko, Toganin, Toganin's book keeper, and the pinwheel lolipop, even though Kanchome is eating it.