Evening in Tokyo. The sun was setting, turning the sky into a golden inferno dotted with pink clouds and reflected on a red sea. The waves rumbled off the shore as always, sweeping in gently to kiss the white sands of the beach. There was not a sound of a car on the road, and the gulls were flying peacefully above, circling in an intricate dance over the wide ocean. The world was at peace, and everything was at its best for the one young lady sitting placidly on the beach, digging her toes into the sand and smiling as she took in the beauty of her surroundings...
RRRRRIIIIIIINNNNGGGG!
No, this small interruption wasn't going to lessen the enlightenment she was having. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she ignored the ringing. Eventually it stopped. After a few minutes, it rang again. The young woman snarled furiously, grabbed her obnoxiously ringing cell phone and jerked it against her ear. "WHAT?!" she screamed.
"Kitsurabami! I knew you'd answer eventually. Could you do me a favor?" a voice on the other end asked innocently.
"Commander Amarao?" Kitsurabami blinked in surprise.
"Yeah, it's me. Listen, I'm having trouble with something, I need you to come over right away and help me out!"
Kitsurabami stammered angrily. "B-but Commander! This is supposed to be—!"
"—your day off, I know. But I really need your help. Would you mind?"
YES, I DO MIND, YOU GIANT LUMP OF FISHBRAINS! I WAS HAVING A NICE TIME RELAXING ON THE BEACH UNTIL YOU INTERRUPTED ME LIKE THIS! Kitsurabami could imagine herself saying that, but she bit it back. "Uh... sure, I guess I—"
"You'll come? Great! See you in a few minutes, then!"
"Uh, yeah, a few min—oh..." Kitsurabami heard a *click* on the other end in the middle of her sentence. She stared at her cell phone for a few seconds before throwing it into the sand with a growl. "This isn't fair! I do his job all the time! I should get to command him around, that stinking, fake-eyebrowed, puerile jerk!" She stood up and dusted herself off. "This had better be good..."
Driving away in her dark blue Sonata, Kitsurabami's anger melted away, and she sighed sadly. "How come I can't ever get anywhere in this job, huh?" She slumped against the wheel, her face in her hand. "Jeez, now I'm depressed. I shouldn't get myself worked up over something so small. Besides, I make plenty of money!" She jerked her head back up, grinning, but only in time to see that she was about to plow straight into a left-turning semi truck! Kitsurabami screamed and hit the brake, spinning the tires and turning the car just enough not to hit the truck. She breathed a sigh of relief as she passed the truck unharmed, only to be rear-ended a second later. She moaned and thumped her head against the wheel. "Why me?"
A man sat in his apartment, looking quite like a bum. He wore an old, stained t-shirt, a towel around his neck, shabby jeans with holes in the knees, and all of this was accompanied by a pair of seaweed eyebrows stuck to where his real eyebrows would normally be. He was mumbling to himself and smoking a menthol cigarette. When the door opened behind him, he turned around on his stool. "'ey, Kitsurabami!" He waved at the figure of a tired blonde girl while she coughed in the smoked-out entryway. "What took you so long? I've been waiting for ages!"
Kitsurabami sighed. "What do you need, Commander?"
"Oh, yeah, that. I need your opinion on something important."
"What is it? Does it have anything to do with Atomsk?"
Amarao puffed out a cloud of smoke, and Kitsurabami coughed again. "Well, no, but it is pretty important. Here, I'll show you." Amarao walked into his bedroom and came out a moment later... holding up two shirts. Kitsurabami blinked in surprise. "Commander..."
"Which one do you think would go best with this pair of shades?" He held a pair of red-tinted glasses to his eyes. "Well?"
Kitsurabami said nothing, but turned around with a neutral expression on her face and left the apartment. Amarao stood clueless. "I could pick out a different one if it's that bad!" When he heard no answer, he dropped the shirts and shades and ran outside. "Kitsurabami? Why are you leaving?"
The woman turned around, a vein popping out on her forehead. "I BUSTED MY BUTT TO GET HERE, GOT IN AN ACCIDENT, NARROWLY AVOIDED ANOTHER, GAVE UP A BEAUTIFUL EVENING ALONE ON THE BEACH, AND ALL SO YOU COULD GET HELP PICKING OUT A STUPID SHIRT!!!! WELL, I'VE REACHED MY LIMIT WITH YOU, AMARAO! I QUIT!"
Amarao leaned over the barrier on his steps. "You can't! I need you! Noooo!"
Kitsurabami started the car as the barrier collapsed under Amarao's weight and he fell into a tree below. She laughed silently, then gunned the engine and sped away, leaving Amarao hanging by his shirt in the tree. "Serves him right..."
What will Kitsurabami do?! Does her rear-ender have insurance?! Will Amarao ever get out of the tree?! The answers to these and more in the next chapter!