Disclaimer: All Bust-A-Groove elements belong to Enix. I own nothing.

Note: This is my attempt at a BAG romance I have never before read anywhere on the Web.

UPDATE: 10/23/04 Now presenting the updated version of LRT!! The paragraphs have been spaced out...that's pretty much all that's different.

La Rima Tibia

(Warm Rhythm)

by ArchFaith

Raining, it was raining. So wet, so cold. The droplets splashed against the black cement of the neon city of Tokyo. Everywhere, people were inside, enjoying the warmth of their houses, with loved ones surrounding them.

The rain belonged outside. The warmth belonged inside.

I belonged inside, along with the warmth I longed for desparately longed for. Yet I stood, soaked, on the sidewalk. There was no part of my body that was dry. My hair, clothes, shoes were full of liquid. My face was wet, but whether it was tears or the rain, I couldn't tell.

A woman pulling a little child along hurried past. She brushed against me coldly. "Mama, what is that girl doing out in the rain without an umbrella?" the child asked.

"Hush sweetheart. Don't mind anyone," the woman told her child as they walked along. My sense of hearing was extraordinary; I could hear the woman whispering, "Don't associate with street walkers like that, darling. Never."

I sighed. If they knew who I was, they'd change their tune. Definitely.

I decided that I had to keep walking. Standing here in the rain would only give me a cold. I walked down the street, shivering. I regretted not bringing along my coat. I briefly comtemplated returning to the place I had come from. There, my closest friend would be probably give me a scolding and send me to bed. But I could not return; I needed to talk with someone.

It must have been midnight. The wind whipped around me. I hugged myself, trying to keep the warmth in my body. Where I had come from, there was warmth, but not warmth. It was hard to explain.

I must've walked at least twenty blocks before reaching my destination. Twenty, or ten? Or fifteen. The rain and tears blocked my view. I still looked both ways before crossing the street, but I walked like a zombie. I smiled grimly. Bi-O would resent that.

Night is so frightening. My mind would gather images and spread them before me. My worst fears would appear before me, taunting me. But tonight was different. I did not fear; I only hoped. I hoped that the place I was going to would have warmth in it. A warmth, and a person to spread the warmth. A person to tell me "I love you."

My closest friend tried to stop me from going. But I wanted to go. My friend thought it was a waste of time. "But bad stuff could happen to you!" my friend exclaimed in a childish voice.

"If I don't go, I'll go crazy," I answered. I had stormed out of the place I had come from. Ran down the street, in the rain, walked and walked and walked. And this brings me to here.

My destination. It was an apartment building. The person to spread warmth lived on the top floor, in the penthouse. I wearily climbed up the steps, not wanting to use the elevator. I silently stepped up to the door and knocked.

I waited.

I knocked again.

The door opened. The person to spread warmth stood there. I flashed a weary smile before collapsing against the person, weak from the rain and the hunger inside me.

"Shorty?"

The person who spreads warmth...