Yoohoo~~ And yes. I got sucked into the DRAMAtical Murder Fandom. Got the game, even Re:Connect, and up-to-date with the anime series. And I just loooooooooove Clear. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy and once this fandom calms down, I'll continue more of Doppelganger Duo. Promise~~
Disclaimer: ...*sighs* I own nothing. NOTHING! ...but this Clear Body Pillow.
Battle One
Technical Zone: Low
Coil News Flash
Midorijima- A new Rhyme player is taking everyone by storm. Stealing the hearts of men and charming the young aspiring Rhyme players. In the public eye, Rhyme player 'Rosemary' and her Allmate 'Kurai' are well-known and called to be 'The Savior of Rhyme playing'. A few witnesses saw Rosemary attending an unfair Drive-By match, two against one, and join forces with the one on their own. Her and the lone player were victor due to Rosemary's attacks and skills.
Rosemary is a prized player of Rhyme, for she can attack other Allmates while playing, also defending and taking attacks directed at her Allmate and continuing the game "without a care in the world."
"Allmates are people too", she had told one of players she battled along with before disappearing from the scene.
A true hero of stopping unfair Rhyme battles and the respect given to her trusty Allmate. Rosemary and Kurai are extremely rare to find, for they do not belong to a team. Rumor has it that Rosemary is the same as Usui to help make the game fair and fun, but no information has been shared. Even the players that fought along with Rosemary refused identify her appearance, adding on the mystery.
Aka closed of the Coil News and squealed like a school girl as she lies back on her bed, accidently startling her cat Allmate that was on sleep mode behind her. Akaku Jinx rolled around on her bed, trying to calm down her excitement (and breathing) before her Allmate, extremely curious on what had made his owner go mad, pounce onto her chest and stared into her leaf-green eyes.
"Aka" it asked in a British accent, "what's the matter? Are you going through another sugar rush again?"
Aka grabbed her Allmate and held him high above her head. "I just read the Coil News Flash, Ai", she said. "They did an article of 'Rosemary and Kurai', of us!"
"And you're excited about this because…?"
Aka huffed and sat the cat beside her. "They called us 'Heroes', Ai. Heroes!" She stood up and made a victory pose. "To protect Rhymers one and all. And Allmates, too!" She winked at him.
"Well, Rhymers protecting Allmates in battle is pretty unheard of."
"Well, Rhymers use their Allmates as fighting tools and not as people." She sat back down next to Ai and patted his head. "You're more than just an Allmate to me, Ai. You're my partner and my bestest-best friend." She then leans down and nuzzled him.
"So, what will you do when they find out that the Hero Rhymer Rosemary is just a young girl with a bad sugar habit", Ai asked, purring.
"Hey!" She sat up and glared at her friend. "It's not bad. It's not like I crash from my Sugar High anyway."
"Aka! Ai!" Called out her Uncle Ku. "Come on down! Business is bombing!"
"Yay!" Aka bounced to her feet. "It's baking time, Ai! Ready?"
"Yes." Ai leaped and landed on his master's shoulders as she left her room.
Aka lives with her Uncle Ku and Auntie Ra. They all live in the apartment right above their bakery store, Tamaki Bakery. Uncle Ku, a sturdy man with blonde hair, is a master of making fancy (and sometimes girly) cakes for parties and weddings. Auntie Ra, a nicely-aged woman with sakura-pink hair up in a bun, makes pies so good that it'll put Housewives to shame. Then there's Aka, a young girl with rose-red hair as wild and untamed as a lion's mane; she makes the sweets such as Bon-Bons, shortcakes, brownies, cookies and lollipops. All ingredients made out of scratch and she makes them taste wonderful.
Aka also deals with deliveries when she doesn't have to make sweets. Ai also comes along to guide her to unfamiliar places in town. But after she delivers the sweets and cakes to her customers, she then takes her time looking around for Drive-By Rhyme battles and joins in. Before looking for battles, she puts on her head mask. So when she appears, Rhymers will only see a small figure in a mask that have two bright glowing red eyes and two rows of teeth that curls up like a smile. Her hair would be pushed back behind her and Ai would be in her arms as she'd approach the Rhymers.
"Aka", said Uncle Ku, meeting his red-headed niece at the end of the stairs, "there's a delivery you gotta make. One of our customers was unable to pick it up this morning."
"No problem!" Aka saluted to her Uncle.
"Great!" He rubbed the young girl's head. "Boy, you sure do need a haircut. You look like a lion with big mane of yours."
"Maybe I wanted to revert back to my cat-like heritage", she said, laughing.
"Please don't", Ai said with a sigh. "I'm the only cat this place needs. Bad enough I have to deal with Aka here."
"Hey!" Aka snapped but she knew her friend was just kidding when he laughed.
"So where to" Ai asked.
"Junk Shop Heibon", Uncle Ku answered. "Mr. Haga was unable to come pick it up. He paid in advance. I already put the cake in your bag and some of your packaged cookies in case you wanna 'promote'." Busniess isn't bad. They get lots of customers wanting their treats, but Ku wanted his niece make some friends that weren't male. He believed that having an Allmate as her only friend was okay at the time when her parents died in a fire ten years ago, but the child is now twenty years old. But with her special cookies and lollipops, she's bond to make some more friends with them.
"Awesome! Thanks, Uncle Ku." She hugged the man and ran towards the table next to the door where her Honekoneko bag was, dodging some customers along the way.
"Junk Shop Heibon", Ai repeated as they left. "Isn't that were Aoba works at?"
"He sure does. Haven't seen him in a week." She clicked the heels of her black roller shoes to turn on her rollers. She wore a black silk tank top with a matching black skirt with a belt that had a rose on the buckle. Reaching into her skirt pockets, she pulled out her Bluetooth earbuds and placed them inside her ears. Messing with her Coil, she found her favorite song by Voltaire, Cannibal Buffet, and play.
"Hold on tight, Ai", she said.
Ai, who was around his owner's neck, sighs. "Good grief."
Aka then started skating along to her music towards her destination.
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"Hello, this is Junk Shop Heibon", answered the Bluenette.
"…Hello", said a strangled voice.
"Yes?"
"Uh….I uh…" then the caller ended the call.
Aoba sighs and hung up the store's retro phone. "I swear, that's the tenth one today and it's not even noon yet."
"More weird callers, Aoba?" His Allmate, Ren, asked in his lap.
"Yeah", he answered, petting Ren's fluffy fur. "It's rather irritating. And it's mostly guys, too."
"You've yet to discuss this with Koujaku" Ren reminded. "He might do something about it."
Aoba laughed weakly. "Uh….I don't think violence is the key. I don't wanna scare away the customers. Eh heh heh…." It would cause some trouble if his boyfriend knew that other men were attracted to his voice when he answered the phone. No, Koujaku is known for his bad temper so he would try to hunt down every guy in town and threaten them with his sword. That would put Aoba in a pickle.
"No no. Koujaku shouldn't know about this yet", he convinced himself.
"Hm" was all Ren said before hearing the store bell ring.
Aoba straightens up. "Welcome", but then smiles at the person walking in.
"Super Sweets from Tamaki Bakery" sang the red-headed woman as she did the pose her Aunt and Uncle forced her to do when delivering. She was to turn to her right, bend done slightly and point her finger towards the sky. "Reach fooooor your sugar high!"
Aoba literally fell out of his chair, startling Ren, laughing like a maniac. Once a week, his boss Haga, would order a cake from Tamaki Bakery. They opened a few years back but started their delivery system two months ago. It was then that he met Akaku, singing the song and doing a strange pose against her will. It was the highlights of his week every time.
"You're an ass, Aoba" Aka huffed, reaching into her Honekoneko, pulled out the order and put it on the counter. "Every time it's like this. You should be use to this by now."
"I can't!" he said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "It's cute and hilarious."
"It's anything but cute", Ai said, leaping from Aka's shoulders to the ground where Ren was. "Good morning, Ren."
"Morning, Ai" the dog greeted.
"I haven't seen you in a while", Aoba said, picking himself up.
"It has been awhile. How are you and Koujaku? Have you guys done it yet? Was it good? Tell me! Teeeell me!" Aka was leaning over the counter towards her blue-haired friend.
Aoba backed away, slight blush tainted his cheeks. "Out of everyone, you had to be into gay people. What is that thing you're into? Owie?"
"Yaoi", she corrected, "and it's awesome and good for the soul."
He raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be into tattoos or boys or drinking?"
"I'm a social drinker."
He stared down the girl. "You don't get out much, do you?"
"I do!"
"Work doesn't count", he said, crossing his arms.
She wanted to tell him about Rhyme but she knew he wasn't into that so she said, "Well, it's better than doing drugs. Like, look at this new game I got!" Reaching into her Honekoneko, she pulled out her game console, a 3Ds she had gotten from the mainland, booted it up and showed her friend the title.
Aoba looked at the screen. "TACTical Murder?"
Aku nodded. "Yeah, it's super awesome!"
"It's yaoi, isn't it?"
"Duh! Look! Look at all of these men! The main character is Kaiba, and this is guy is his best friend Hiroku and this is Whisper, this is Hitch and this one is Blur."
Aoba, still not really interested at her game, stared at the guy named 'Blur'. "Uhh…Blur isn't human. He's a robot."
"He's a Cyborg", she corrected with a huff. "And he's a sweetheart. I don't care if he's not human. I would bang him in an instant!" She hugged her handheld console.
"R-right." Aoba wasn't the one to judge. Since Aka was his only female friend, he accepted her weirdness and her love for guy-on-guy relationships. She was also the one who accepted his relationship with Koujaku, next to his Grandmother, and keeps it a secret from everyone else. Mostly her saying that she 'shipped' them together before it even happen….whatever that meant.
"You know Koujaku is gonna be really upset that you haven't gotten a haircut", he said, changing the subject. "You look like a lion with that mane of yours."
Aka huffed again. "I'll cut it or something. I don't feel like fighting his fans."
"Tell me about it", he said as he laughed.
Aka's coil started to ring.
"It's a message from Uncle Ka", Ai announced, walking back to his owner.
"It might be another delivery" she said, slancing at the message on her coil before shutting it off. "Make sure Mr. Haga gets his treat."
Aoba nodded. "Oh! If you're not busy around three, let's go over to Dry Juice's turf and hang with Mizuki."
Aka blushed. "Mizuki? Jeez, I really don't know…." She met Mizuki through Aoba when they first started to hangout. Mizuki was a kind man who was into Rib. Dry Juice is the largest Rib team in the area. It was no doubt that Mizuki has the hots for her and she likes him as well….but her identity of her doing Rhyme is still a secret and it was no secret that Mizuki hated Rhyme and the people who does it.
'Maybe I don't need to do Rhyme today just in case', she thought to herself.
"Well?"
"Sure thing! Oh!" Putting her 3Ds back into her Honekoneko, she pulled out a package of cookies and tossed them at her friend. "That's for you. Share them with Granny, okay?"
"Right. See ya later!" He waved.
"Yeah. Let's go, Ai. Bye bye, Ren!"
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Twenty-seven deliveries later, Aka and Ai were done for the day. They returned back to Tamaki Bakery to pick up their last delivery, a birthday cake, to Black Needle, which is where she was going to be at anyway. She might as well head over to Junk Shop to get Aoba before making the delivery.
"When will you be back" Uncle Ku asked his niece.
"No clue", she replied. "I'm hanging with Aoba and Mizuki at Black Needle anyway…maybe sometime before 2am?"
"Will you be drinking?" he asked, raising his brushy eyebrow.
"I don't know, maybe." She peeked at the cake again before carefully putting it in a carryout container. "It's someone's birthday so maybe." She raised her gaze up to her glaring Uncle. "No worries, I'll have both Aoba and Koujaku walk me home in case I drink. I promise."
Uncle Ku looked over that the cat Allmate on his niece's shoulders.
"I'll notify you if she walks home alone" Ai answered.
"Good!" He petted the Allmate. "You're so responsible, Ai."
"Yeah yeah." She rolled her eyes. "I'm off. See ya later." She wanted to leave the bakery as soon as possible. She didn't want to be reminded what had happened to her back in her teen years.
Long story short, when she did have "friends" they weren't really her friends, they would pressure her to drink until she couldn't function and leave her in an alley. It scared her when she woke to being surrounded by dirty men with lust in their eyes. Ai ran off to get help when she tried to fight them off…she blacked out for a while and came to back in her own room, Auntie Ra sobbing tears of joy and Uncle Ku wanting to beat the living shit out of the men who were trying to take advantage of a young girl. It's not like police could do anything about it. It was then Aka stayed home to help out with the baking and only socialized with Ai.
Reaching to Junk Shop Heibon, Aoba stood outside with a taller man in a red kimono.
The man spotted her first and waved. "Oi, Akaku!"
"Hey Koujaku", she greeted. "Yo Aoba." She eyes the older man closer. "So, did you do him in the butt yet?"
Koujaku blushed ad red as his kimono. "Uh…well…erm, that goes without saying that-"
"Stop asking such vulgar questions", Aoba said, blushing as well. "It's embarrassing."
"Then hurry up and do it already", she said with a huff.
"Hey, Fish breath", Beni, Koujaku's red sparrow Allmate, greeted Ai.
Ai sighs. "When you properly call me by my name, I will acknowledge you."
"He will never learn", Ren said, lowering his ears.
"Anywho", Aka rolled her eyes, "I have this cake to deliver to Black Needle. Whose birthday is it?"
"It might be one of the Dry Juice member", Aoba said thoughtfully. "Someone must've ordered it ,but sweet! Free cake!"
"Let's go!" She skated forward, but someone gripped her arms and rolled her backwards.
"Akaku", Koujaku tsked. "Look at you. You look like a lion with your hair unkempt."
"Told ya", Aoba snickered, earning a glare from the red-head.
"Why don't you let me cut it", he asked.
"I like my hair like this" she answered.
"Very un-lady like to not to take care of your hair. Especially while going to visit Mizuki." Koujaku smiled at his friend's red face.
It's not like she had a choice. Mizuki was going to see her looking like a lion. But she always looks like a lion, but Dry Juice is celebrating someone's birthday meaning Mizuki was going to look even more handsome than normal… "Do you have any booby pins on you, Koujaku?"
"Plenty", he answered, reaching into his pack he kept around his waist.
"That's all I really need." After he handed her a handful of black bobby pins, she handed the cake over to Aoba and darted inside Junk Shop. After a few minutes, she came out, looking more like a young lady than a lion, earning a smile from the hairdresser.
Her bangs were parted and cupped the frame of her face down to her chin. The back of her head were still untamed but a few bobby pins laid her hair flat.
"Impressive", Koujaku commented. "You look very lovely."
"You look very pretty, Aka", Aoba said.
She girl blushed and carefully took the cake from the bluenette's arms. "Yeah yeah…let's just go already."
"Lead the way, ma'am", Koujaku said, grabbing his boyfriend's hand.
"Maaaaastaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"
CRASH!
"Wah!" Aka, clutching the birthday cake for her dear life dodged whatever had fallen into the ground from the sky. "What…was that?"
Aoba sighed, letting go of Koujaku's hand. "Of course."
Whatever had fell quickly stood up six feet tall, dusted itself off as if nothing happened and ran up to Aoba. "Aoba! And Koujaku too! Good evening!"
"Good evening….Clear", Koujaku greeted as calmly as possible.
"I thought I told you to stop calling me 'Master'", Aoba yelled at stranger.
"Did I call you 'Master' again?" The stranger tiled his head to the side.
"Yes, you did", Aoba yelled again, to the stranger's face.
"Waaaaaah, I'm sorry. Forgive me!" He bowed lowly.
Aka, recovering from what had happen came from behind the stranger that fell from the sky. He wore a large lab coat with a yellow scarf. For all she knew, his hair was fair white and his face…was covered by a gasmask.
"One of your friends, Aoba?" She asked.
"Yeah…" he answered. "Aka, this is Clear."
"A.K.A. Gaskmask guy", Koujaku added.
Aka glanced at the guy, whom seem to stiffen when she looked at him. 'Weird', she thought, then she smiled at him. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Aka-"
"-Hime", finished Clear, in a low voice.
"Eh?" Akahime? "No, I'm Akaku."
Through that clarification, Clear started to spazz out. "Ack! I'm so sorry", he said as he bowed. "I thought you were someone else so I thought…"
'He's defiantly weird' Aka conclude. "It's fine" she said calmly. "It's not often that I get confused to be someone else."
"Even after being a shut-in for five years" Ai added. "It's impossible to confused Aka as someone else since Aka just started leaving her room."
"With all the Yaoi she has, I wonder how she even sleeps at night", Koujaku chuckled.
Aoba laughed.
Aka, red faced, started to skate forward. "Let's get going or no 'free cake' for you guys."
"Aw, wait for us, Aka!" Koujaku called out, but she ignored him.
"You ought to slow down, Aka", Ai said frantic, chasing her. "You're going too fast."
"Come on, Ai! Pick up the pace. You're a cat, after all!" She laughed.
"You forget my limitations as an Allmate…Ai!"
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Though Aka did feel better after her friends embarrassed her about her Yaoi obsession, to which surprised her that Clear didn't know what it was until explained, she couldn't escaped doing the silly pose and cheer when she reached Black Needle, on the turf of Dry Juice. And it was Mizuki who ordered the cake.
"Reach fooooooor your sugar high!"
Aoba, along with several Dry Juice members, collapsed to the ground laughing. Koukaku was able to stifle his laughter while Clear looked around wondering why everyone was laughing. Mizuki, on the other hand, took the cake from the young girl's hand and patted her head.
"It's so nice that you could deliver this, Akaku", Mizuki said with a smile. "I really appreciate your hard work."
She averted her gaze from the man. "Thanks…"
"You look lovely today, too", he added. "You looked like a lion when I first met you, but now you look like a kitten."
The flattery was too much for Aka. "Th-th-thank you…" To escape, she dodged around the tattooist to get behind the bar. When they had first met, she accidently corrected him on how to make mixed drinks; to shake them and not stir. Whenever she was invited to come by, she would make drinks for him and his team members.
As it turned out it was one of the female member's birthday, who was already a fan of Tamaki Bakery, which made both the girl and Aka happy. While Dry Juice, Aoba, Koujaku (and somehow Clear) got a slice of cake, Mizuki started to play some music and allowed everyone to mingle. Aka, still a hermit and not use to walking up to people, stayed behind the bar and talked to members that ask for drinks. Even pouring herself some.
The night was going fine. At least…she thought it was.
"It's stupid", Mizuki grumbled as he sat on the bar stool.
"What is?" she asked.
"Rhyme", he answered.
'Uh oh….' "What about it?"
"It's becoming more popular nowadays. It's not even real…fighting in your head. It's a waste of time."
She poured him a shot of whiskey. "Well, maybe it's for people who can't physically fight. Maybe that's why Rhyme is what they do."
"That's why they should do Rib and learn how to fight" he counted, drinking his shot. "It's just stupid game. People who do Rhyme can rot in hell for all I care."
Aka was getting uncomfortable. She's the only one who does Rhyme in secret. She likes the game and helping others enjoy the game at the fullest. Plus, she can't fight to save her life, hence being a shut-in. Rhyme make her feel more open and out there with people. Of course she couldn't tell Mizuki that.
All of this was making her depressed.
"Aka", Ai said, coming off of Sleep Mode, "it's nearing 2am. You might want to head home."
She nodded. It'll be best to head off home now. She reached over and put Ai back to Sleep Mode. "I gotta go. See ya next time,'kay?"
Mizuki smiled at her sweetly. "Okay. Good night."
"G'night." She walked from the bar and left Black Needle, not bothering to find Aoba or Koujaku to ask to walk her home. She just wanted to be alone. It's not like one drink will make her unstable. She can get home just fine. She clicked her heels to activate her skates and slowly started to roll away, making her way out of Dry Juice's turf.
'Rhyme is not that bad' she thought to herself. 'I guess it all in your head, but it's not like fighting physically is any better. People can get really hurt. Or even die in a Rib fight.'
Becoming aware of her surroundings, she realized she made a wrong turn. But there were also footsteps coming from behind. Turning around, she saw two dirty men a few feet from her, eyeing her as if she was some piece of meat.
'This isn't good', she panicked. 'I can't fight and there's no one around to help me.'
"Hello, Miss", one of the men said, stepping forward. "You're all alone, aren't cha?"
"We can escort you to your home", snickered the other men.
"No thank you", she said calmly.
"Hey, don't be like that." The man's greasy hand touched her bare shoulders. "We're trying to be nice to ya. The least you could do is to appreciate our offer."
"Let go!" She was able to get the hand off of her, but man number two grabbed her from behind. "Hey!"
"Don't worry, Sweetie", whispered man number two. "It'll go easy on you."
This was not good for Aka. She struggled to get away from the men but she wasn't strong enough. 'No…no again.' She bent her head in defeat as the men started to grope her. 'No…no….NO!'
"Aka!"
She raised her to the sound of her voice. The men stopped touching her and glanced behind them. There, stood six foot tall, in a white lab coat wearing a gasmask…was Clear.
"Aka" he said, "are these your friends? You look like you're crying."
"Hey, buzz off, buddy" spat man number one. "We're busy here."
"You're hurting my friend", Clear said lowly. "I will not let you hurt her."
'We're friends already?' she thought. 'Though I am grateful to see him.'
"Son of a bitch", the guy behind her released her and cracked his knuckles. "Get out before I teach you a lesson."
"Clear!" she called out, tears knowingly streaming down her face.
Guy number two rushed towards Clear, but he quickly dodges and punched the guy in the gut, making him collapse to the ground.
"I won't let you make my friend cry", Clear said in a scary voice, aiming his attention to the other man who still had Aka in his grasp. "I won't forgive you if you hurt her."
Terrified, man number one quickly released the red-head and scurried off into the dark alley.
"Ah, there we go", Clear said happily, stepping over the now unconscious man, walking over to his friend. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"More terrified than injured." She quickly wiped her tears. "What were you doing here, Clear? I thought you were still at Black Needle?"
"I heard your voice, some I came", he said.
"Eh? My voice?" She remembered she was quite throughout the whole ordeal, besides telling them to 'let go'. How could he hear her from all the way to Black Needle? But, she was extremely grateful.
She went and gave Clear a hug. "Thank you so so much…I wouldn't know what to do if you didn't come when you did."
"Anytime. Were you going home?"
"That was the plan." She scratched the back of her head.
"I can walk with you, if you like", he offered.
Aka sighs in relief. "That would be nice. Better it was you than those men." She reached for his gloved hand.
"Yes! Let's go!" Clear cheered as he lead the way to Tamaki Bakery.