BAKUMAN: GIFT OF THE ASSISTANT

by TEKNAM

With the transfer of a new student comes a tumultuous period in the lives of Mashiro, Takagi, Miho, and Kaya, and despite a painful tragedy that rocks all four to the core, all shall end well. Rated M for language, gore, and suggested themes. Enjoy!

{PN: Hey guys, another one coming in! I've been reading and watching a series called "Bakuman" by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, the creators of Death Note, for those who don't know. The story, simply put, is about two soon-to-be high school boys who set out to create a hit manga. However, the twist is that the artist of the two has to make a manga good enough to become an anime, while his crush works hard to become a voice actress. If they can accomplish this by the age of eighteen, they'll get married. A romantic thing, if not for the presence in the anime version of a rock star named Koogy who wants to immortalize himself in ALL forms of media… including manga. So, for a bit of a spin, I'm adding three people to this, who are related to the heroine of the story by weak blood. You'll see what I mean. ^_^ I'm going to make this as few chapters as possible, JUST so you know. Story will be told from multiple view points, starting with the first of my three characters. ^_^ Enjoy! HYAZUU!}

[A BAKUMAN FANFICTION]
{GIFT OF THE ASSISTANT}

~THE BOY'S POV~

"KENSEI-KUN!"
"Kensei-kun…"

'Huh? When did my hearing start to go? Damn truck driver… I always knew those guys were up to no good on the road… Almost ran over Mashiro -san if …' I thought, before retching as I coughed up a bit of blood. Just from the way I felt, I could tell at least two ribs had been pulverized… and at least two more were jammed through vital organs… I wouldn't last the night, regardless of how much surgery they had for me…

"M-Mashiro-san-san…" I said weakly, my brown eyes staring into his grey-blue ones, and it was now that I truly realized how scared for me he was. I couldn't see much… the blow had cracked my skull… there was blood running into my eyes… damn…

~Maybe it's about time I stop this gory little sideshow and tell you who this poor boy is. Or, rather, who I am. I am twenty-year-old Magami Kensei, a male transfer student from a prestigious art school in Kyoto. I had JUST moved to this small little burgh outside of Tokyo with my younger brother Kagami and older sister Rika a few years ago, and school was… interesting to say the least. Hell, to be honest, my first few days were about as boring as life in Kyoto had been. But on the first day of the second week of my transfer, I managed to not only make new friends, but also put a rather asinine kid in his place. All of that actually leads to how I wound up like this, so sit back and buckle in. You're in for a bit of a tale…~

~APRIL 5, 2005, 1:15PM~
~NARRATOR'S POV~

A young man sat behind his desk. He was at school, taking a quick five minute nap while waiting for class to change. He was glad for the quiet in the room. He didn't often sleep well at night, and last night's rest had been about as bad as every other night: fitful, wracked with nightmares, and prone to waking up in a cold sweat. He could never remember what the nightmares were about, but he felt that was for the best; at least it kept him from freaking out randomly in school. He often enjoyed napping at his desk while the other students did homework or ate their lunches. However, this day was different. A commotion from the direction of the door stirred him from his sleep.

As he lifted an eyelid to gaze in that direction, he saw a tall, bespectacled boy arguing with a rather rotund student, while another, possibly the glasses-wearing one's friend, tried to stop him, and another stood off to the side; he was probably a groupie of the larger one. Standing, he walked over to try and understand what was disturbing his rest.

~THE BOY'S POV~

"Hey…" The bespectacled boy said, grabbing the round boy by the collar.

"Shujin, he's right! My art's not that good anyway!" the small one said, getting no more than a snicker of victory from the large one. I had to do something, or this wasn't going to end well.

I ran strode over, ignoring the words, and caught the one called Shujin's arm by the wrist as he reared back to punch out the round boy. Ishizawa, I think the round one's name was…

"Hey, don't do that," I said weakly, letting go soon after. Shujin seemed to turn his anger toward me for a moment.

"So you're with THEM on this, New Guy? Is that what you're saying?" Shujin snapped, pointing a finger at Ishizawa, with almost enough force to have it snap off and fly into the other boy's eye.

"Actually, no, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that it's not right to punch a guy out JUST because he's making you angry. I don't even know what your little fight's about; I was over at my desk trying to nap. I don't sleep well at night, and napping at school's my only rest. So, enlighten me," I said, "What exactly is the nature of your quarrel?" Shujin seemed to lighten up a moment before reaching for the piece of paper Ishizawa was holding, as well as a copy of Shonen Jack Next. Oh, boy. I almost had a feeling that I knew where this was going.

"Look at this piece of paper, then look down here at this little picture," Shujin said, holding out the paper and magazine, making sure to hold the magazine in such a way that a particularly well-drawn image of a bandaged man seemed to pop off the page.

"Whoa," I said, grabbing the copy of Jack, "Whose art is THIS? I want to shake this person's hand and ask to work with them! THIS IS GREAT ART!" And it was. It seemed a bit sophisticated for Jack, but that didn't matter. To me, it wasn't about sophistication: It was the quality of his art that drew me. I couldn't see much, so I caught the page number and turned to start reading. The art was so incredibly good that I was immediately sucked in; I didn't even pay attention to the story. I had learned a long time ago that reading pictures was just as efficient in determining a story as reading the story itself. When I hit the end, I put it down and wiped away a single tear.

"Moving… The quality of the artwork is sublime! I couldn't pull myself away! An incredible story and awesome artwork to go with it! SO MOVING!" I said aloud, not even paying mind to the attention I was drawing to the situation. Not that that mattered much, because Ishizawa stepped in to jerk me back to reality… and HARD.

"Oh yeah, so you think that crap's good? Heh; I should have known a transfer student from Kyoto wouldn't know anything about REAL manga. Mine is really better, not that you'd ever know it," Ishizawa said, sliding his paper in front of my eyes. It was a purely dick move, considering there was nothing to ANY of his little kiddy work. There was no scene, no dialogue… just pictures of cutesy-ass gag manga girls with bunny ears… Son of a bitch… I bolted up off the ground and pinned Ishizawa to a wall, holding his paper in one hand.

"YOU CAN THIS BULLCRAP MANGA?" I shouted in his face, practically spitting in his face with every word, "YOU THINK THIS … WEAK ATTEMPT AT CHILD'S PLAY IS ART? ANY FOUR-YEAR-OLD WITH ACCESS TO A PEN AND PENCIL COULD DO THIS, FOR SHIT'S SAKE! THIS IS NO MORE THAN A SAD CRY FOR ATTENTION, AND YOU KNOW IT, DON'T YOU?" I let him down and ripped his paper to confetti-sized pieces in front of him.

"WHY'D YOU RIP UP MY MANGA?" Ishizawa shouted, only to reel as the back of my hand connected with his face with enough force to knock him to the floor.

"Again, you call this crap manga? This is something I was doing at the age of TWO, for fuck's sake. Hell, my little brother was doing YOUR level of child's play when he was only a few days old! My older sister… not so much, but she was never into drawing in the first place. Thing is, you're only starting out. Whoever drew this piece must have been drawing manga for YEARS! Let's compare this guy's YEARS of experience against your… what, couple of weeks of cutesy drawings?"

Ishizawa said nothing. I took a moment to look at the other three in the argument; Shujin was patting his friend, who I'd heard him refer to by the name Saiko, while Saiko smiled happily. The other kid had long since backed out of the room and back to his own classroom. He'd made a wise move; I'd have been on him next had he stuck around another few moments.

I turned toward the two and said, "Do you guys know who drew this? What are your names?" Shujin pushed up his glasses and smiled.

"I'm Takagi Akito, and this is my friend Mashiro Moritaka. We actually collaborated on that manga you thought was so good. I write the stories, he does the artwork," Takagi- san said, and my jaw immediately hit the floor. I turned to Mashiro-san and all but gushed.

"YOU'RE THE ARTIST? YOU? That's incredible! You can't be older than fifteen! That's some incredible talent!" I shouted, shaking Mashiro' hand emphatically; Mashiro couldn't believe that someone other than his friend was praising his artwork.

"What are you talking about? Mine's WAY better!" Ishizawa shouted. Now the fat bastard was REALLY getting on my nerves.

"Alright, since you think you're SO bad, how about a contest, then? We'll have an art contest between you, me and Mashiro- san. Whoever is voted by the rest of the class to have better art is the winner; loser has to ADMIT out loud that their art sucks and leave in shame. Understood?" Ishizawa nodded cockily. I looked at Mashiro and winked. A flame ignited in his eyes.

"Takagi- kun, you start it," I said, walking over and setting three desks in a circular fashion in front of each other.

~TAKAGI'S POV~

I couldn't believe anyone else was willing to step up for Saiko. Still, the fact that he intended to compete against Ishizawa AND Saiko was a bit… of a strange idea.

"Wait a moment; you intend to pit your art AGAINST Mashiro-san's AND Ishizawa's?" I asked, and the boy simply shook his head.

"Not at all, Takagi-san-san… I intend to put mine against Ishizawa only. I'm independent from Mashiro-san… but I just want him to see what doing this from a young age looks like versus only a few months," the boy said. I shook my head to try and make sense of this as the boy lined three desks up in a triangle fashion and supplied paper, pencils, and erasers.

"Alright," I said, "This Draw-Off is simple: all participants must draw a single page of manga: an action-packed scene with at least two characters battling. Shading isn't required, and the judges, as discussed before, will be the other students in class. Participants have until the end of lunch to do their absolute best, and must sign their names on their page before setting their pen down. Time starts… NOW!"

I watched with a sense of glee as Ishizawa's wicked smirk faded and he rushed, doing his best to try and draw what was required. Mashiro-san-san didn't struggle; he just sat there drawing away. When I looked at the new kid, though, I was shocked to find that he wasn't even drawing. He was just sitting there, smiling at his page… or at least it looked like he was smiling… his eyes were squinted almost closed, his nostrils flared, his mouth curled up into a grin more twisted than I'd ever seen in my life. When I asked why he wasn't doing anything, he simply held up a hand to silence me, as if he was telling me to be patient.

Sure enough, with five minutes to go, he held his hands together in that "envisioning box" posture; glancing with one eye through both hands with the index fingers touching the thumbs to form a box. Then, without warning, he threw his pencil sharpener into the air and picked up his pencil.

The next few moments were something I'll NEVER be able to forget, no matter how hard I try; the boy hunched over his desk, hands flying over the page of paper faster than a cheetah taking down its kill. Every time he drew a line, his arms stayed perfectly still, his eyes flitting from one side of the page to the other, top to bottom, left and right, all four diagonals every second. His hands were faster with that pencil that I couldn't even tell if it was getting dull.

Then, with less than a minute to go, he quickly signed his name, put down his pencil, and flipped his page over, then sat back and leaned in his chair, his hands behind his head and his legs crossed on the edge of the desk, far from his paper. I was shocked; no one I'd ever met had that level of speed. It was… almost insane. It didn't seem like neither Mashiro nor Ishizawa had seen him at any point, because they kept on drawing until the moment I signaled for them to sign their names and put down their pencils.

The three looked at each other and didn't say a word. The rest of the class came over and took turns examining the three pieces while I stepped up to the black board and wrote up a tally chart. After careful deliberation amongst themselves and each other, the students then took turns slowly filing up to the black board. The three artists and I watched as more and more tallies were left under "Mashiro-san" and "New Guy" than under "Ishizawa". Obviously the students in this room had better taste in manga art than we'd thought.

~THE BOY'S POV~

"Well," I said, smirking as I counted the tallies, "That's… fifteen for Mashiro- san, thirteen for me… and… looks like some people still favor Ishzawa's crap art, because he got FIVE. But that means that Mashiro- san, having the most votes, wins this contest. Now, I believe you owe Mashiro- san an apology, Ishizawa?"

Without even giving his apology, Ishizawa turned on his heels and took off. I smirked; I'd be getting him for it later.

"Hey," Mashiro- san said, walking over, "I want to thank you for helping me. I'm not that good on self-esteem when it comes to my art… Thanks." He extended his hand, and I shook it vigorously.

"Not a problem, Mashiro- san. I'm not one to lie about talent like yours! You're definitely pro-material!" I said with a beaming smile. Mashiro smiled back.

"By the way, Mashiro-san is too formal. Call me Saiko, and he's Shujin," Mashiro said. I did a double take.

"You call him a criminal as a … nickname?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah; He started off calling me Saiko when we started this. I didn't think much of it, but… I felt it was only right for him to have a nickname he wasn't fond of too," Mashiro said, motioning for me to help him move the desks back. I nodded and helped out.

"So, how'd you two wind up getting into manga?" I asked, and Mashiro grinned.

"That's a story for another day," Mashiro said. He motioned to indicate that the teacher had walked in. The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully. As the day wound to a close, Mashiro and Takagi seemed to get a LOT more anxious. When the bell sounded to indicate that class was done, I stood and walked to the two boys.

"Hey guys, I've got a question. Can I see the place you're writing your manga in?" I asked, and both seemed to light up.

"Sure, we'd be happy to show you the place! You have a bike?" Takagi asked. I smirked and replied that yes, indeed I did. They smiled and packed their schoolbags. I did the same myself and followed them out.

About an hour later, we all sat in the small apartment I shared with my two siblings, talking about their manga. My older sister, Rika, simply smiled and ferried in tea, soda and snacks, while Mashiro, Takagi and I conversed with my younger brother Kagami.

"How did you guys come into possession of a studio like that?" I asked, slightly incredulously. I'd never seen the inside of one before, and was surprised by how much the previous owner had managed to pack into it. Turned out the previous owner was deceased, and was actually…

"TARO YAMAGUCHI WAS YOUR UNCLE? THE AUTHOR OF 'CHO HIRO DENSETSU'* WAS YOUR UNCLE?" I gushed. I couldn't believe it; I was actually talking to the nephew of my favorite manga writer! It hurt to head he'd passed away…

"Yeah, it was cool. I'd see him every day after school and on holidays. He was always so proud of me for the awards I got for my artwork," Mashiro said.

"Awards? You got awards for your artwork as a child? How many?" Kagami asked. He seemed genuinely interested.

"All in all, I think I got… around ten in total… I'm not entirely sure. I never really paid much attention to them. They just got framed and hung on my bedroom wall," Mashiro said. A simple look at my brother told me he was slightly displeased with this knowledge.

"So, where were you two planning to go with your work?" I asked, trying to change the subject. At that, Mashiro's face went blood red, and Takagi decided to step in.

"Plainly speaking," Takagi said, "our mutual goal is to get a manga serialized and made into a manga by the time we're eighteen. However, that's where our goals separate. I want to keep going from there and continue making hit manga that I can live off of. Saiko, on the other hand, has a more… personal goal to meet. You see-"

"MASHIRO-KUN HAS A CRUSH ON A GIRL IN SCHOOL?" Rika shouted, almost dropping a fresh tray of cookies. The only three thoughts in my head at that moment were 'why does she always do that?', 'How the HELL was she able to hear that from the kitchen?', and 'where is she getting all this stuff from? Our cupboards weren't THAT full to begin with…'

Takagi winced a bit at Rika's outburst and nodded, then continued, "Yes. As it happens, he's got a crush on Azuki Miho, one of the better girls in our class. By better, I mean she's smart, rather reserved, and quiet, instead of rather foolish and loud, like many of the other girls, which makes her stand out. However, the thing about HER is, she wants to be a seiyuu*. We went to her house to tell her our plans of becoming manga writers, and she positively glowed and voiced her approval. We promised her that if we had an anime by the time she was an accomplished seiyuu, we'd reserve the part of the story's heroine for her to voice. AND THEN," Takagi said, giving Mashiro a look that almost bordered on calling him a psychotic freak, "My partner in crime all but exploded with, 'So when our dreams come true, will you marry me?' Azuki-san got scared and ran inside, but promised Saiko she would over the intercom."

At this, Rika practically fell apart at the seams. She almost became goo on the floor, until Takagi continued further:

"However, until they realize their dreams, they can't see each other. They have agreed to encourage and support each other through emails and text messages until they achieve their goals. The whole thing completely threw me off when it happened, but after a while… I got into the idea of helping Saiko achieve his dream. After all, what better way to cement friendship then to help each other reach their dreams together?" Takagi smiled, and Mashiro looked like he was about to murder Takagi in cold blood. However, despite the fact that Mashiro soon tackled Takagi to the ground and started shaking him around by his collar, the looks the two boys shared wasn't rage and fear respectively, but instead a look of joy and friendship; these boys were solid, and weren't messing around. It made tears well up in my eyes to see it.

Rika almost died as she said, "Wait… What kind of romance is that? Why not see each other ALL the time? Wouldn't that make more sense?" Mashiro let go of Takagi and shook his head.

"I actually thought about asking her, but wound up thinking it through for myself. Doing it this way keeps things easier and purer, even if we can't see each other. Seeing each other would inevitably wind up leading to dating, which would throw off our plans, as we'd wind up spending all our time with each other instead of working toward our collective goals. We can still help each other this way and… in a way, it'll make it more worth it in the end. When we both have seen our dreams realized, our feelings for each other will have gotten stronger and matured. We'll be able to approach everything that comes our way with our heads held high and a spring in our step, never letting anything get in the way of us. Because, together… we've worked at cementing ourselves in each other's hearts, making ourselves the only person the other thinks of," Mashiro said.

I almost couldn't believe that a fourteen-year-old was able to think on a level THAT deep and profound, but I let it all swirl around in my head for a moment before what he said clicked. He was right: this way was better for them. When I turned to see how my siblings were taking it, I wasn't so surprised by what Rika was doing: Rika was blubbering all over Mashiro, telling him he was a true romantic and that any girl would kill to have their arms around a guy like him.

What scared me, though, was Kagami: how no one else seemed to notice the almost maliciously evil smirk that crossed his face worried me, but not as much as the fact that the look WAS ON HIS FACE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

"Kaga-nii," I said, "Are you alright? You look like you're plotting evil…" Kagami's face went red when he heard my voice and he coughed, obviously trying to cover.

"ME? Plot evil?" Kagami asked, slowly standing, "Why would I ever plot evil?"

"Just now, your face looked…" I said, before his genuinely pure and happy smile stopped my words.

"Nii-san, you should know me better than that by now!" Kagami said, turning around and excusing himself as he went to his room. Now, more than ever before, I was worrying about my brother's mind…

"Well this is incredible! We should have a party to celebrate!" Rika said, dashing out of the room.

"Has… she always been like this?" Takagi asked. I squirmed a bit in my seat before replying.

~RIKA'S POV~

I was just rounding the corner with a fresh tray of drinks and snacks when I heard Takagi ask that dreaded question. I hated it when people asked why I was always so happy, because it always prompted the same story to come up and make me feel all horrible again… Instead of turning the corner and asking Kensei to NOT tell the story, which would have been much better for me, I simply rested the tray on the kitchen counter and stood behind a wall directly behind him and let him tell the story, wrapping my arms around my stomach and holding myself tight for support.

"Actually," Kensei said, "No, she hasn't. There were two reasons we had to leave Kyoto. You already know the second, because the teacher told everyone about my art scholarship transfer on my first day. The major reason we had to leave was… well, about three weeks before we left, Rika was gang-raped."

I couldn't see them, but I could instantly tell that both boys had looks of complete shock on their faces. Most boys their age would…

"What? B-but… How? She's so nice," Mashiro said. I almost acted on the impulse to dart around the corner and hug him; not many people aside from my brothers ever said that about me…

"We honestly don't know how or why it happened. All we know is what Rika told us. I believe every single word she said when it happened; who wouldn't believe her with how completely torn apart she was? She could barely sit down without bursting into screaming fits of tearful schizophrenia, thinking they were right around the corners waiting for her," Kensei said. When Mashiro asked to have it explained, I almost hit the floor. NO one had been that caring about my … incident since that day, save for my brothers, who since had tried to do everything they could to make life a little easier and help me cope.

"Well, you'd better get comfortable," Kensei said, his voice solemn and just verging on cracking-point, "Because in no way is it pretty. As I said, three weeks before we left, Rika had to go out to get stuff for our house. It was only two or three things and nothing that couldn't be done alone. However, when an hour passed and she hadn't returned from what should have been a fifteen-minute trip, Kagami and I flipped. We both ran out of the house and went looking for her. About half-an-hour later, I found her in a back-alley…" At that point, Kensei all but broke down. I decided I'd better finish for him.

"He found me in a back-alley with my clothes torn all over, lying in a pool of many different fluids," I said, stepping around the corner, arms still wrapped around my stomach, "I didn't want to know what it all was, and at the time, I couldn't even think straight enough to care. I barely even registered that it was Kensei helping me to my feet and slowly walking me back to the house. Once we got back, he helped me to my room and told me to call for him if I needed anything. I took a long bath, trying to clear my head when the horrible truth finally caught up to me. I'd locked the door, so all Kensei and Kagami could do was pound on the door and beg me to open it as I cried my eyes out, all but overflowing the tub with my tears. After a good fifteen minutes, I drained the water and stepped out, put on my robe, and told them I was fine and needed rest. Ever since then, both have been helping me incessantly, trying to help me overcome the pain. I've since learned to mask it all behind a beaming smile and being as helpful to guests and needy strangers as possible. But every time someone asks why I'm like this, it all comes back…" I stopped for a second as I bit back a stream of tears that threatened to fall, and leaned against the wall. I'd only just noticed Kensei moving off the couch to come over and hug me. I hugged back tightly for a moment.

~A FEW MONTHS LATER~
~KENSEI'S POV~

It had been a while since I'd joined Mashiro and Takagi on their manga writing as an assistant. Mashiro had all but begged me to join at the same moment I begged to join. Kind of odd, really… He seemed genuinely pleased with my drawing speed. I'd even gotten to meet Azuki-san and her friend Kaya Miyoshi. Based on what I've noticed of the group at hand, I got the feeling Kaya-san's presence here will be helpful. I also got the feeling she and Takagi would become quite close.

It hadn't been long, but we'd been seeing the editors at Jack frequently with differing pieces that we thought would make it in. In the end, each and every one of them was shot down. First Mashiro's sophisticated artwork, then mainstream battle-type manga. It almost made me sick to see all that work going to nothing. But I couldn't say a word about it. It wasn't my place as the assistant, even though I was asked repeatedly to voice an opinion.

After one particularly nasty meeting, where eight new storyboards were shot down, we were walking back out of the office discussing the next course of action.

"We don't seem to be having any luck with battle manga," I said. Mashiro and Takagi nodded sullenly.

"Hey, was there anything you guys wanted to try doing that you were too embarrassed to admit to each other?" I asked. Immediately both turned a bit red.

Mashiro looked at Takagi, who looked back at him, and they both said, "Actually… What about a detective story?" I was taken a bit aback by the way they said it, but was still impressed none the less. These two would be great partners LONG after their need for me was expended; they thought enough on the same page that they'd hardly ever fight.

"Alright… Where did you each come up with that idea?" I asked. Mashiro started first.

"Remember that short time where I was an assistant for our rival Eiji Nizuma?" Mashiro asked, and I nodded.

"Well," Mashiro continued, "during that time, the other assistants and I impressed upon Nizuma-san the need to do a storyboard before actually drawing out the work. He got the picture and came to the realization that his Crow character needed a rival. He dug around in old sketch books and found what he wanted, which hit me with inspiration. I went home after resigning as his assistant and dug through my old kindergarten-through-grade-school notebooks. I finally found one with the character I wanted to use: an old sketch of a detective who would create evidence to catch criminals by setting traps for them and making them admit they were at fault. I think that'd be a good one to try!"

Takagi spoke up next and said, "During that same time, I was trying to help Kaya become a mobile romance novelist. I wound up writing her entire first one for her. When we went to submit it, I found that they had a Mystery category. That struck something in me and I started writing storyboards for a detective manga, but never showed them to Saiko. So, should we maybe… head to my place so we can take a peek at which ones would work?" Mashiro and I both gave him a slow, open-mouthed nod and we all set off on our bikes.

A little over an hour later we wound up back at the studio to find Kaya waiting for us at the door. Mashiro opened the door and allowed me to go first, taking half of the stack of storyboards I was carrying so I could take off my shoes. As the others stepped in behind me, I took the rest of the pile from Mashiro and placed them down on the table. Moments later we had what could only have been seen as an assembly line in place: Mashiro drew, then placed the pages in a pile next to him, which Takagi would take and start toning and shading, then send to me for backgrounds and final touch-ups, which Kaya would then pick up to ink.

At about three in the morning, we'd completed ten storyboards and six rough drafts. Mashiro sat back in his chair and smiled. Takagi got up and walked around to stretch his legs, grinning wide the entire time. Kaya lay back across the couch and stretched out some kinks, looking exhausted, but highly satisfied. I simply sat back in the couch on the other side of the coffee table, relaxing. Tomorrow we'd take this down to Jack and see what went through.

~THE NEXT DAY~

Having just left school, I'd been waiting for the guys when I noticed Azuki-san walking past. I had done some research on my family, and had found out something she needed to know.

Walking over, I stopped her and said, "Azuki-san, I need to speak with you in private. I have something to tell you that only YOU should hear." She seemed a bit scared, but nodded and walked over behind the gates with me.

"So what is it you need to tell me?" She asked. I took a deep breath and opened my bag, then took out a folder and handed it to her.

"I was doing some research on my family at lunch today, and found out something you REALLY need to know. Make sure you're sitting down before you read this tonight, and meet me at Burger Joint tomorrow to talk about it. You won't believe me if I just say it, so…" and without warning, I turned on my heels and darted off, bag in hand, leaving Azuki to stay behind in bewilderment.

Once I was back at the gate, I saw Mashiro and Takagi waiting with their bikes. I geared up and mounted my own and rode with them to Jack.

"What were you talking about with Azuki-san?" Takagi asked. I looked over and noticed Mashiro's face; he had an expression of pure jealousy. I felt I'd struck a nerve that I should have avoided.

"I had to tell her something important, but couldn't find the words to tell her… so I gave her what I wanted to say on paper. We're meeting tomorrow to discuss it, and BEFORE you get antsy, Mashiro, NO, it's not a declaration of love. It's close, but not quite…"

About fifteen minutes later we arrived at Jack to find two of Mashiro's assistant friends there. When Takagi asked for introductions, Mashiro nodded and introduced them as Shinta Fukuda and Takuro Nakai. Fukuda struck me as a bit of a wing-nut; Mashiro told us how Fukuda was trying to get his own manga "Kiyoshi Knight" serialized while working as Nizuma's assistant. It suddenly clicked for me; Fukuda's manga was violent, had odd-looking characters that looked more monster than human, and used language that wasn't appropriate for young children. His work belonged in a more teen-to-adult-oriented magazine, not one like Jack.

Nakai, on the other hand, was doubling as assistant for both Nizuma AND another rival of ours, Ko Aoki, with the manga "Hideout Door". To me, that manga seemed more shojo than shonen, period. The characters were all done in a very feminine style, which told me that either the writer/artist wasn't really trying hard enough to make it Jack material, or that they were too used to drawing in shojo-style to really change much.

When Mashiro asked them what they were doing at Jack, Fukuda pulled a rolled newspaper from his pocket and showed us the front page. On it was a massive spread, but the foremost article was about a rock star named Koogy. Reading a bit more, I discovered something that felt like a stab at Mashiro's dream: Koogy was taking a break from his music career to take up manga, having already submitted something for the Golden Future Cup contest under the title "Colorfusical". I opened up the more recent issue of Jack I had in my backpack and looked for it; I knew I'd skipped past it at some point because of the lame art.

Sure enough, I ran into the first page of it half-way through the magazine and read the thing through. It made me sick: the art seemed like some sort of demented cross between Mashiro's old art style and classic shojo-style. The result was characters with appearances so twisted and distorted-looking that about three pages in my eyes started to hurt, and half-way through I realized I'd be having livid nightmares about it for the next few months. Not only did the art suck rocks, but the story was FAR too fantastical to seem plausible: a guy who wants to spread COLOR through the world and its people through MUSIC? How do the two connect at all?

Without even realizing it, I blurted, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?" All four next to me stared at me in shock, as did most everyone passing by. By the time I realized what I'd said, I shrank in place with a deep crimson blush spreading across my face. I'd only done that ONCE in the classroom when that fat troll Ishizawa kept insisting his crappy childish drawings were manga. I could still remember the look on his face when the class had deemed Mashiro better than him.

"That's what I said," Fukuda said, "I was watching the concert when I got home last night and caught that part JUST before shutting down. I thought it was a joke at first, but then when I watched the news this morning and read the paper, they confirmed it. He's trying to immortalize himself in ALL forms of media, no matter what it is! This has to be stopped!" All of us nodded and marched into the building together.

~A FEW HOURS LATER~
~MASHIRO'S POV~

With the news of the rocker Koogy's stunt still fresh in our minds, the lot of us had sat down for a discussion session to talk about each other's manga and see how we could improve. However, by the time we had finished reading everything, we all thought our individual work was better than everyone else's and had gotten up to leave. That was when Fukuda-san pulled me aside.

"Hey, Mashiro-kun, you need to be careful around that Kensei guy. You probably won't believe me, but I saw his Assistant's Aura while we were hashing each other's manga, and it doesn't look good," he said. I didn't believe him, but I decided to bite and see what he meant. I asked him what he was talking about, and he took a quick breath.

"Alright," Fukuda-san said, "I've been an assistant for a while. When I've got nothing to do, I usually sit back and think. During one such moment on a really late night, I closed my eyes tight and rubbed them to try and keep myself awake. When I reopened them, I saw shapes and colors around Nakai-san's body. I've seen the same things around other assistants and even on myself when I looked in the mirror. I've discovered several of these auras and what they tend to mean. I can tell you them, as info between fellow mangaka*, if you'd like."

"Alright, tell me. What are these auras, and how can I see them for myself?" I asked. Another quick breath and Fukuda-san continued.

"Plainly speaking," he said, "There are several types you want, while also several types you want to avoid at all costs. The ones you want tend to work as sort of a rock-paper-scissors thing, and are the red Pessimist Aura, the orange Optimist Aura, and the yellow Passion aura. The Pessimist Aura, when you eventually see it, can be identified by a ring of red fire around one's body, and means they're not at all happy with their work or life. The Pessimist Aura can give way to the Optimist Aura. This one indicates that someone is especially happy with their work, and can be identified by an arrangement of orange whorls of energy coming off the person in waves. However, these two can BOTH give way to the Passion Aura, signified by not a large expanse around them, but a pair of large yellow flames burning inside their eyes. This aura signifies that the person in question is in their groove, is compatible with all those nearby, and is willing to put EVERYTHING on the line to ensure that what needs to be done is done."

I nodded, thinking that he had something here, when he continued, "But watch out. The other auras are the blue Unstable Aura, golden Protector Aura, and the black Killer Aura. The Unstable Aura can become any of the others I mentioned. It's no more by a simple, cracking blue field around the person in question. People who have the Protector Aura will have a large golden shield around them. The person with THIS aura is more prone to put their life on the line and keep anyone important to them safe. I once saw ONE person with that Aura jump in front of a truck and throw his friend to safety. He survived, but was diagnosed with permanent full-body paralysis. Nothing form his neck down could move. He could still talk fine… nothing else would move…" At this point, Fukuda-san actually looked like he was going to cry. I didn't pry, but waited for him.

"Now, the Unstable Aura is one you want to watch. Should it morph into the Protector Aura, you're fine. However, should it morph into the Killer Aura, which looks like a lot of black and crimson falling off of the person in droves, you want to either get rid of that person fast, or try to help through their problems, because they're bound to have a lot of them. Either way, you want them to go from Killer to Unstable, and then see if you can help them go to one of the others. You don't want a Killer Aura looming around your workplace, because sooner or later, you or someone close to you is going to wind up hurt, or dead, or worse," Fukuda-san said. I was worried now, but thanked him and asked what he'd seen on Kensei-san.

"To be honest, he's got one of THE MOST outrageous mixes I've seen. He's got a Passion Aura that's got a bit of both the Pessimist and Optimist Auras, trying to fight their way out of an IMMENSE Unstable Aura. You should try to help him with any issues he's got, because otherwise there's no telling WHERE his aura will wind up going," Fukuda-san said. I nodded.

"I'll take your word for it for now, but how can I find out for myself?" I asked, and he sighed.

"You have to literally think of … NOTHING. Let your mind wander and it'll come to you all on its own. If it helps, try rubbing your temples or your nasal sinuses to help yourself unwind," Fukuda-san said, and I nodded. I thanked him and turned to leave.

~KENSEI'S POV~

Later that night we were on our way back to the studio to tune up the detective manga we'd been working on. We rode past a tall building with large, neon letters spelling a name on it. I stopped and rode across the street to see what the letters spelled, and a burning sensation rose in my throat and stomach:

"KOOGY~ROCK'S LATEST PRODIGY!"

My stomach almost lit on fire. I gave the guys a signal to tell them I'd be a while and to go on ahead. They smiled and nodded, then pedaled off to the studio. I waited for them to be out of sight, then pedaled back across the road, parked my bike and went into the building. If my hunch was correct, I'd be able to keep the guys on their track to realizing their dreams.

I walked up to the reception desk and asked if this was Koogy's studio. Once the receptionist said yes, I stormed past her and went into the elevator. I'd seen the sign on the way past, telling me that my target was on the tenth floor. I pushed the button and went up, getting out on the tenth floor and looking for the studio door. I burst through it and walked right up to a guy sitting behind a desk with pages of paper and art supplies. If that weren't enough of a clue, his black shades and purple nail polished fingernails were what clinched it. I slammed my hands on the desk, knocking over an ink well that spilled onto his current page.

Before he could get anything out in protest, I ripped off his shades and said, "Listen here, you attention-seeking bastard. Quit the manga business now while you still have a chance. I'm here as an emissary for two young boys who have a dream they wish to see realized. Do everyone a favor and stick to what you know best: MUSIC. That's where you're loved and respected. Your art isn't worth the paper you draw it on. So give up and go back to music, for the love of all things right."

He gave me a single look with those almost greed-filled eyes and smirked, then deadpanned, "I DON'T CARE."

"What? You'd trample the dreams of youth just to get what you want?" I asked in shock. I was sure he'd at least try to see things this way, but…

"Absolutely; youthful dreams die fast and hard. What better way to teach this to them than this? I'll beat their manga into the ground and grind it to pieces if I feel like it!" he said, a wicked smile on his face. The next moment he lay on the floor, rubbing his face and picking up the fragments of a broken tooth.

"YOU BASTARD; I HAVE AN IMAGE TO UPHOLD!" Koogy shouted at me, but two second later when my foot connected with his head, he realized I wasn't playing around. He rolled along the floor and sat up, gingerly touching his now blackened eye.

"I don't care if your public image is that of a pile of horse shit. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING, SO LISTEN CAREFULLY," I screamed in his ear, and then whispered, "You ruin those boys, and I'll ruin your life. Watch your back, 'because I'm ALWAYS around the corner." With that, I turned and left the man to cradle his injured face, grabbing his drawn manga pages as I passed the desk and tearing them into pieces. Just before I got on the elevator, I reached for a dial next to it and turned it up, which kicked the room's fans into hyper-drive. I tossed the pieces of Koogy's ruined "manga" into the blowing air, allowing him to be swept into a maelstrom of paper bits as it rode down and left the building. I mounted my bike and took off to meet up at the studio with Mashiro and Takagi.

~SEVERAL MONTHS LATER~
~MASHIRO'S POV~

It was seven-thirty that evening when my phone rang. I looked at it and saw Ken-san's number roll across the screen. It had been an hour since he and Kaya-san had gone out for snacks to celebrate our first manga, Shady Detective Trap, getting serialized. Shujin wasn't the least bit suspicious of why Ken-san- had suddenly decided to go with Kaya-san; he and I both knew that Ken-san only saw Kaya-san as a colleague and nothing more. However, when I went to answer and Takagi's phone rang as well, he looked at me in worry and signaled it was Ken-san. Something was wrong; Ken-san only EVER conference-called us when an emergency struck. I wasn't ready for this, though.

"Ken-san, what's wrong?" I asked, followed by Takagi quickly asking the same.

"Guys, get down to the alley by the mini-mart AND HURRY! KAYA-CHAN AND MIHO-CHAN ARE BEING ATTACKED!" Ken-san's voice said in a hoarse shout. My heart nearly shattered. Miho-san was …

~TAKAGI'S POV~

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN KAYA'S BEING ATTACKED! HOW?" I shouted into the phone, and the answer I got nearly destroyed me:

"THEY'RE ABOUT TO BE RAPED! MOVE YOUR ASSES!" Kensei's voice screamed, and the connection clicked shut long after Mashiro and I had fired out of that room at mach speed. More than our pride as manga creators was on the line now; our pride as men were about to be ripped from us. I'd been in some fights before, so I could take care of myself… My biggest concern was Saiko… Had he ever been in a fight? Could he hold his own? I didn't know for sure, but there was no time to stop and ask him now.

~KENSEI'S POV~

I had closed my phone and torn into that alley long before the sound of Mashiro's and Takagi's fists slamming into the two thugs on either side of me caught my attention. For them, I understood they could lose wives to this, but on my end it was different: I'd already lost family to rape once…

~FLASHBACK: SEVERAL MONTHS BEFORE~
~BURGER JOINT, 6:00PM~

I sat across from Miho-san, both of us not even looking at each other. It had only been about fifteen minutes since we'd arrived and sat down, but neither of us had said a word. Finally, Miho broke the silence.

"How do I know you aren't making this up? How'd you even get my DNA for the test, anyway?" she asked.

"The hospital had viable samples from each of your physicals over the past years. All I had to do was supply them with a bit of my blood, and the rest was their doing," I said. The test she referred to was a DNA matching test that stated the two of us were, in fact, half-siblings due in part to some fooling around her father had done as a teenager. Not only that, but by extension, she was also half-sister to both Kagami-kun and Rika-chan. The thought crossed me of how well Rika would take finding out she had a half-sister…

"Not only that, but they took care of kaa-san after she found tou-san's note saying he wasn't sticking around. We all woke up that morning to kaa-san screaming and ran to see what it was. At first we didn't understand what it said, but after kaa-san woke up in a hospital bed from exhaustion and malnutrition three days later and explained it to us that we realized we'd never see tou-san again. For the next few years we tried to keep kaa-san eating healthy, to help her in taking care of herself. I guess you could say that in a way… we had to grow up a lot faster than most youngsters had to," I said. Miho nodded, and I took a breath and continued.

"We grew up especially fast on Rika's eleventh birthday when we walked into kaa-san's room and… found her dead. She'd died of heart failure in her sleep. Three weeks later we were placed in foster care, but our foster parents weren't that nice to Kagami-kun and Rika-chan, so I broke us all out and kept us alive over the next few years, After we were all able to get jobs, we got low-key jobs and managed to keep a bad apartment for a few months until we went to school, where we were allowed to board with the teachers. That's how we wound up transferring out here. We got scholarships and managed to land a small apartment for the time being. If you'd like, I could introduce you and the rest of your family to Rika-chan and Kagami-kun. I think they'd like that."

Miho took a moment to consider the offer, and then, smiling, said, "Yes. I think we'd all like that. I wonder what Mashiro-kun will think when he finds out" She giggled nervously, and finally picked up a fry. The two of us picked at the fries in the lone box for a few minutes until only one remained. Both of us reached for it at the same time and our hands touched. Miho blushed.

Taking the opportunity, I whispered, "Miho-san, I'm going to leave you my cell number. If you EVER need anything that anyone else you know can't help you with, give me a ring, and I'll do all I can to help you. My word is my life, it shall not be broken. This I swear to you." She smiled and then, winking playfully, stood and took the last fry and walked to the door.

"Thank you, Kensei-san. I'll make sure to take you up on your offer!" she said, bolting out the door. I smile, sat back, and contemplated getting burgers for the team. A random celebration couldn't do us harm.

~END FLASHBACK~~TAKAGI'S POV~

I stared, wide-eyed, as Saiko stepped back from the thug he'd punched, lightly rubbing his fist, now red with slightly scraped knuckles.

"Saiko, you… have you been in a fight before?" I asked.

Saiko nodded and said, "Yeah… after my uncle died a lot of the bullies at school saw I wasn't feeling good and picked on me. It got to the point where I snapped one day. One moment I was on the verge of falling off the edge of sanity… the next I was in the principal's office with my hands bandaged, explaining what had led up to what he called the 'greatest stand against bullying' he'd seen in all his years at the school. Apparently, I'd knocked out every single one of the bullies, and managed to break a few noses, smash a few teeth, and make a few black eyes. You of all should know, Shujin… Appearances can be quite deceiving." I now had a brand new level of respect for Saiko.

"Alright. Let's take back our pride!" I said, rushing past Ken-kun and plowing my fist into another thug's face. I turned for a second to check on Saiko and was shocked. He was more of a berserker than he let on, all but tearing his enemies to pieces bare-handed… literally. I winced as he delivered a particularly strong kick into the groin of another thug, downing him faster than a car going one hundred miles a minute. I turned back in time to catch the wrist of a man who was trying to thrust a knife in my head, twisting just hard enough to make him drop his switchblade. One quick knee-strike to the ribcage sent him down, and I kicked the knife aside.

~SEVERAL MINUTES LATER~
~KENSEI'S POV~

I stood against the wall closest to me, looking at the carnage Takagi, Mashiro and I had wrought. I looked across at Takagi, who was holding Kaya tight against himself, trying and soon failing miserably. As soon as Kaya had buried her face in his shoulder, Takagi broke down and buried his face in her hair. The two stood against a wall, just crying in joy that she was safe. I looked to Mashiro next, who was standing with his head bowed to the floor, crying. Looking at Miho, I saw her on crossed legs, her head facing the floor with small tears falling to the ground. I couldn't take it anymore. I knew the two of them wanted to do the same as Takagi and Kaya, but their stupid promise was getting in their way.

"DAMNIT, YOU TWO! MAKE A COUPLE LOOPHOLES FOR YOUR PROMISE ALREADY! THIS IS A TIME WHERE YOU BOTH NEED TO BE TOGETHER, AND YOU'RE JUST STAYING APART LIKE STICKS IN THE MUD! MASHIRO-KUN, GET OVER THERE AND HOLD HER! OR MIHO-SAN, GET UP AND THROW YOURSELF IN HIS ARMS, FOR SHIT'S SAKE! DO SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU'RE STILL IN IT TO THE END!" I shouted out of frustration. Almost as if on cue, Miho jumped up and ran for Mashiro, who in turn ran toward her. They met half-way and held each other tight, refusing to let go as they cried hard into each other's shoulders. I nodded in approval and slumped down to the ground. Hearing a slight moan at my feet, I grunted and kicked the head of the thug that started moving, knocking him out. I wouldn't say it made me feel good to enact a rough intervention to this romantic situation, but… Sometimes these things need to find other ways to finish.

~HOURS LATER~
~POLICE PRECINCT~

We had called everyone important to the police precinct to have one of the thugs ID the person who'd paid off his gang by means of a line-up. Along the wall waiting with us were Nizuma Eiji-san, Fukuda-san, Nakai-san, Aoki Ko-san, Miho's mother and younger sister, and Kaya's mother, as well as Rika and Mashiro's mother. I couldn't tell who it was, but the fourth person seemed familiar. When the thug fingered number four and had him lower his hood, I almost ran out of the precinct. Number four… was my own brother Kagami. But what scared me more than the fact that he'd been fingered was the fact that he wasn't acting like someone who'd been framed; instead of freaking out and screaming that he'd been set up, he just … smiled wickedly the entire way through. I asked the officer if I could talk with him, and the officer agreed.

A minute later Kagami was chained to a table with handcuffs, while I sat on the other side.

"Kaga-nii, why would you do this? You knew from a few weeks ago that Miho-chan is your half-sister, so why would you target her like this?" I asked. His grin just became more malicious.

"Are you serious? Have you ever taken a serious look at that girl?" Kagami asked, and when I shook my head, he laughed like a maniac.

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" he shouted, "SHE'S A GIRL ANY MAN WOULD KILL TO HAVE AN HOUR WITH! That's why I did it. Just in order to… push her onto the better track. That way she could enjoy herself as much as she likes and not have to worry about pointless, frivolous dreams!"

"WHAT ABOUT RIKA-NEE-SAN? WHY WOULD YOU WISH RAPE ON SOMEONE WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO THE VICTIM?" I screamed back.

"ARE YOU MAD? I SET HER UP TOO!" Kagami shouted, and I hit the floor hard, following my jaw by about a mile.

"Y-YOU SET RIKA-NEE-SAN UP FOR RAPE? YOU SET UP YOUR OWN BLOOD SISTER TO GET RAPED? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD?" I shrieked. He simply smiled that evil smile and chuckled.

"For the same reason I set up Miho-nee-san: to set them on the path of hooker-dom. By my reasoning, the faster they realized how great constant sex was, the faster they'd want nothing more than that!" Kagami said. He closed his eyes as he laughed insanely. Unfortunately, he didn't last long. I may have had my head on the table, cursing myself for not having seen it sooner, when his sudden scream of pain and about half a dozen shouts of complete rage filled my ears. Looking up, I saw everyone from the other room with their fists out. I stood slowly.

"Kaga-nii, this should have been your first offense. But for going after your own family, I'm going to make sure it's your last!" Without even asking the officer on guard if I could, I leapt on my brother and began beating him with both hands. With both hands cuffed together, he was helpless to stop me.

"You'd better hope you last! YOU HAVE AN ENTIRE GANG OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR A TURN!" I shouted, wailing on him as hard as I could.

~MASHIRO'S POV~

I wasn't surprised when Ken-kun started beating up Kagami-san. What scared me, however, was how Ken-kun's aura was changing. Luckily Fukuda-san was next to me.

"Holy crap… He's got Protector Aura spanning the whole room!" Fukuda-san whispered. I looked at Fukuda-san and nodded. Ken-kun's shattering, warped Unstable Aura had solidified into a burning golden shield that spanned most of the room… specifically the area we were standing in. It was as if he was trying to protect us in case Kagami got free…

A couple minutes of beatings later, Ken-kun stood and looked at the group, his Aura shrinking back to rest around his body as he looked at the girls and said, "He's all yours. Make sure there's some left over for the guys, alright?" Ken-kun turned to walk out of the room but was caught by our sole female rival, who gripped his upper arm and spun him around like a top to face her.

~KENSEI'S POV~

I'd met Ko-san several times in the past couple months and had known she was highly reserved. However, when she grabbed my arm, whipped me around and pulled my head down to plant a short, yet lasting kiss on my kips, I got the feeling that not only had I been wrong about this woman… but that I'd also severely pissed off her self-proclaimed love interest, Nakai.

When she finally let go, the faint taste of cherry lip gloss lingering across my mouth, she looked me in the eyes and said, "Thank you for bringing this living crime against women to justice. You'll be lucky if there's anything left for the men after we women are done beating him to within an inch of Enma's* Door." With that, she looked at each of the other girls and they all took off. Kaya raised a single, high-heeled shoe-covered foot for a kick that, just from the trajectory, I could tell would either shatter a rib or bust a hole in Kagami's skull. I didn't care which at this point.

As I left the room, I felt a little bit better, but not by much. After all, for years, the true culprit behind my only sister's rape had been living under the same roof as her, possibly plotting for it to happen again. And now, finding out he had another target, he'd gone after his newly discovered half-sister and roped her best friend into it too. I felt like such an idiot…

"Ken-kun?" Mashiro's voice rang out from the door. I turned on my heels, only to be met with an outstretched hand and a beaming smile. Upon receiving a confused look, Mashiro took a deep breath.

"I want to thank you, but there are no words that can properly convey my thanks. If it hadn't been for you, Miho and Kaya would both be gone by now, lost to grief, misery, and a lifetime of worry and terror. I wouldn't know from experience how hard it must be for you to take this, but just… I don't know… Just thanks. You've saved my dream, my pride, and most of all, reinforced mine and Azuki-san's love for each other in one swoop. I owe you far more than I'll ever be able to repay. So again," he said, holding his hand out a little farther, "Thanks for everything."

I couldn't comprehend it at first, but I found myself smiling back and shaking Mashiro's hand. A moment later, Takagi came walking out slowly and approached. He soon gave me a beaming, teary-eyed smile and held out his hand. In far fewer words than Mashiro, Takagi said basically the same thing when I gave him a confused look:

"If it weren't for you, Kaya would be dead inside, or even worse. You saved both of us. So, keep working with us, alright?" Takagi said, his smile turning into a childish grin. I grinned back and shook his hand with a nod.

Moments later, Miho and the girls walked out, visibly worn out and rubbing their hands. Kaya almost stumbled out the door, then hobbled over to Takagi and asked him to get her to the hospital. Apparently, she'd broken more than just Kagami's bones with that kick. One by one, the girls files up, hugged me in thanks, and gave me a small peck on the cheek in gratitude, save for Miho and Kaya, who simply hugged me longer than any of the others. Mashiro's mother offered to drive Kaya to the hospital, which Takagi then said would be better. He didn't want to pass up a chance to possibly kill the scum that had almost gotten his girlfriend raped. As they waved the girls off and ran in to join the others. I stood against the wall, and then slumped down to bury my face in my hands with my head between my knees. This whole thing was too much for me. I had expected to be completely alone.

"My my, how unlike you, Onii-san," Rika said, as she slid over, pushed me forward and sat behind me, holding me tight around the shoulders. I almost broke down crying right there; that was exactly the way I'd held her to comfort her for the first five weeks after her rape.

"Rika-nee… I thought you went with the others to the hospital…" I said, feeling my voice reaching the point of cracking. She squeezed me tight against herself and kissed the back of my head.

"Kensei… You were the only one between you and Kagami to stay with me all day, every day, for those five long weeks after my rape. You became more of a brother to me than he was. In a way, you also became my dearest friend. No one else I knew, aside from that bastard Kagami, came to visit or help after it happened. I still remember the long hours you spent holding me just like this, trying to help me cope and work through my pain. I know it's not much… but I just couldn't leave my own brother, my dearest friend, when he's on the edge of a complete breakdown. What kind of sister would I be if I couldn't return to you the kindness, love, and care you showed me then, and have continued to show me every day since?" she asked, reaching down to gently kiss my cheek.

I lost it right there and bawled, drawing my head up tighter between my knees and holding both her hands with my own as she gently rocked me back and forth in place. I'd done that too, I remembered, using it to help her calm down and sleep during those five weeks when she was still so scared that her attackers would return for more. In fact, every little thing I had done to help her during those five weeks got its turn to work its healing magic on me; the gentle shoulder massage when they got sore and I tried to move, the occasional tissue when I needed to clean my face off, the subtle squeezes of my hands in her own… Long after the other guys had come out to take Takagi to the hospital to see Kaya, She signaled them to go on ahead, and that we'd catch up in a little bit, just as I'd done to Kagami during those five weeks when he asked if there was anything either I or Rika had needed before he went off to his part-time job.

A few hours later I calmed down, feeling the last of my pain and depression fade away. I breathed deep a couple times and squeezed Rika's hands back, just as she'd done with me all that time ago to tell me she was fine and wanted to sleep. She knew I wanted to get up, and got up first. Walking around to face me, she reached her hand down and smiled.

"Feel better now, Onii-san?" She asked. I took her hand and pulled myself up, then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Much better, Onee-san; I feel much better. We should go meet the others," I said, taking her hand and leading her to the desk. The officer said he wouldn't lay charges against any of us for assailing Kagami, but would instead write it off as an attack in his jail cell. Rika and I smiled and thanked him before leaving.

~PRESENT DAY, FIVE YEARS LATER~
~Takagi's POV~

I couldn't believe how badly things had gotten. After Kagami's trial had seen him locked up for life with no chance of parole, that bastard Koogy had taken the entire Manga world by storm with a retarded looking version of Naruto, which he called Musical Ninja Fantasy, where instead of elements, all ninja used MUSCIAL INSTRUMENTS to attack each other. It had been serialized and turned anime within a year, much to our shock, and soon after that, he'd forcefully taken over as the Editor in Chief of Jack. I couldn't have hurled any harder the day that announcement came out.

Since that day, no manga except Koogy's has graced to pages of Jack, which he also renamed after himself. No matter who it was that submitted something, he shot it down and kept only his crap running. After my one warning… he'd gone and done this. We were now all in our early twenties, and Miho had been FORCED, through Koogy threatening to end her seiyuu career, to play the heroine of Koogy's anime. When Mashiro caught wind of it, despite how hard we'd fought to keep him from finding out, he all but lost all hope of his dreams coming true.

It pained me to think of it, seeing how after her near-rape, the two of them had become even closer than before. They'd meet every other Friday for dinner to catch up on what they might not have told each other over the phone, over which they had since used to actually CALL each other every other day in the late evening while she was on her way home from work. Kaya and I were a similar case: ever since the incident, we'd grown so close that we were almost Siamese twins connected side-by-side. Only when we used "Assembly Line" in the studio did she separate herself from me. Even that seemed too hard, as our hands almost always seemed unable to leave the other. We'd often slow down production this way, spending upwards of ten minutes at a time trying to pry our fingers apart before we kissed and let that fix the problem.

In recent months, our small group had teamed up with most of the local mangaka who also hated Koogy and his hostile takeover of our life's work, and had banded into what Nizuma-san had aptly dubbed "Team Super Hate", even though we agreed on "Yokubo Sennen*" as our collective pen-name. We always kept copies of our storyboards in case Koogy's reign of terror ever ended. So far, our collection of instantly rejected storyboards amounted to a total of one hundred and thirty-two. It hurt to see the number of boxes stacked in the corner of the room every time we walked into the studio, but it motivated us to work harder. Throughout it all, Ken-kun and Kaya were a driving force of positivity, constantly raising the moral of everyone involved when most of us would have otherwise given up and packed it in for good.

However, the day of Ken-kun's accident will remain in my memory forever.

It was three in the afternoon, and Ken-kun, Saiko, and I had just stepped out of the Koogy office-as much as I hated seeing HIS name on it- and were getting to a crosswalk. Mashiro was losing hope once again after another seemingly routine failure to get even a look. This time Koogy had actually come down to look at the storyboard we submitted himself, then grinned as he tore it up and dropped each piece through the shredder. I looked at Saiko and saw him falling apart all over the place.

Ken-kun, on the other hand, had walked over and grabbed Koogy by the side of the head, and then, in what seemed to be an act of vengeance for Saiko's lost artwork, pushed Koogy's left ear into the shredder and smiled as he heard the rocker's screams of pain. When he let go, he quickly led us out of the building. I looked back once to see Koogy holding what must have been the bloody stump of his ear, and heard him shouting multitudes of the foulest curse words at us. 'Just you wait,' I thought to myself, 'Your days are numbered, Koogy.'

Once outside, Ken-kun had walked to the corner ahead of Saiko and I, talking about how much better he felt.

~MASHIRO'S POV~

"How can you possibly feel good?" I asked, almost deadpan, "You just forced Koogy's ear into the shredder and all but ensured that we'll never get seen again, let alone serialized! Could you not have at least ASKED first?"

"Oh, that would have been great, doing it that way. "Hey Mashiro~! Would you mind if I shove Koogy's head into the shredder and see what happens?" Do that, followed by three different "What's", then jam his ear in the shredder. That would have gone SO MUCH BETTER!" Ken-kun shouted aloud, sounding genuinely sincere and even laughing light-heartedly. He didn't seem even the least bit phased by Saiko's distress. At least, he didn't seem affected until he walked over and placed a hand on Saiko's shoulder.

"Mashiro-kun, listen. Things may look bad now, but I get the feeling that soon Jack will be back in full swing, Koogy will be out on his ass with no fans or followers, and you'll have all but every one of the storyboards we've all worked on scanned through. And who knows, maybe a few will even get serialized, and even better, what if a few make it to Anime status? That'd great, wouldn't it?" Ken-kun said. At that, my spirit cooled and lifted.

"That would be awesome at this point. But our chances are slim to none; where's this feeling of yours coming from anyway?" I asked, stepping up to the corner and waiting for the cross-light.

"I don't know, just a gut feeling, I guess. It's the kind of thing that's too hard to explain, save for "I feel it in my gut!"" Ken-kun said, walking over and patting my shoulder.

~KENSEI'S POV~

I smiled as I patted Mashiro on the shoulder and started walking just as the light came up for us to cross. We were half-way across when I saw it: from the corner of my eye, I saw an eighteen-wheeler barreling down the road at Mach speed. Quickly analyzing the situation, I realized that with Mashiro where he was, he wasn't going to see his dream realized. I had to act fast.

Everything seemed to slow down: one moment the truck was passing the red light faster than I could move, the next I saw Mashiro flying back the way we'd come, thrust there by my hands. As time sped back up, so did the truck. I could do little more than wince as the grill of that behemoth of a truck slammed into me at a speed that should have made it liquefy me. Surprisingly, as soon as it hit me, I fell over on my back, but then had to endure at least half-a-mile of being dragged along the ground and run over by thousands of pounds of weight, not just in tires. This truck was fully loaded. When it finally ended, I lay there, unable to even catch a breath.

~MASHIRO'S POV~

I barely had time to register why I was flying back to the curb, let alone what happened to Ken-kun as I was flying. One moment, I saw him in full form, looking at me with a worried expression, the next he was gone, replaced with the large frame of a HUGE eighteen-wheeled transport truck. When it vanished from view, all that was left in its wake was Ken-kun… badly battered. He'd just taken that truck's blow for me…

"KENSEI-KUN!" I shouted, running over to his side and trying to avoid the sight of bright red blood staining pure white snow.

~TAKAGI'S POV~

I wasn't too far away, from it all, but the sight of seeing Ken-kun throw Saiko to safety and take a speeding truck in his place… I couldn't believe it. I was right behind Saiko, stopping traffic in all directions so we could find out what was wrong. When all the cars had stopped, I ran over.

~KENSEI'S POV~

"KENSEI-KUN!"
"Kensei-kun…"

'Huh? When did my hearing start to go? Damn truck driver… I always knew those guys were up to no good on the road… Almost ran over Mashiro -san if …' I thought, before retching as I coughed up a bit of blood. Just from the way I felt, I could tell at least two ribs had been pulverized… and at least two more were jammed through vital organs… I wouldn't last the night, regardless of how much surgery they had for me…

"M-Mashiro-san-san…" I said weakly, my brown eyes staring into his grey-blue ones, and it was now that I truly realized how scared for me he was. I couldn't see much… the blow had cracked my skull… there was blood running into my eyes… damn…

~HOURS LATER~
~MASHIRO'S POV~

It had been about three hours since Ken-kun got hit. We'd called everyone we knew, and everyone had shown up to find out what happened. It didn't look good: most of Ken-kun's bones were shattered beyond repair, and the blow had even smashed several of his more important organs. A single rib remained mostly intact; the only problem with that was that it was stuck, broken off of the now shattered ribcage, through BOTH lungs, just barely grazing his heart. His diagnosis was overnight death. I couldn't believe it… the one friend besides Kaya, Miho, and Shujin, who had kept my spirits up and saved me from a trucker, but…

A large portion of our number had walked off to the cafeteria for food, leaving just Shujin, Kaya-san, Miho-san, Rika-san, and myself sitting by the bed, waiting in earnest for our friend and brother to awaken. I was still shocked to suddenly discover that Miho-san was Kensei-kun's half-sister, but that meant little now.

~KENSEI'S POV~

My head hurt worse than any headache I'd ever gotten. It only worsened as I slowly opened my eyes, and looked around. Everyone dear to me was around and watching to make sure I woke up. I closed my eyes for a moment to orient myself a little, and then tried to move. The most I managed to do was grunt. I opened my eyes again to find five pairs of eyes suddenly all but in my face. I got the feeling I couldn't speak well yet, so I tried to motion for a pad and pencil… but my arms wouldn't move.

"Kensei-kun," Kaya said, "Thank Kami* you're awake. The doctors said it's not going to last." I gave her a quizzical look, and Mashiro continued.

"The accident shattered almost every bone in your body with the exception of a single rib and your skull. In terms of that one rib, it's whole and intact, but was severed from the ribcage and shoved through both your lungs. The doctors can't do anything to help you… You have until morning…" he said, Miho-san slowly turning him to face her. Then, in a moment I'd never thought I'd see, she leaned in and kissed him. I almost cried.

~MASHIRO'S POV

I hadn't ever thought about what it would feel like to kiss Miho-san. The surprise of the action was enough to make me fall on my back afterward, and I did try to struggle out of it for a second… before I thought differently. Miho-san was trying to comfort me, and just by the way she'd approached it, she needed comfort too. I slowly pulled away and led the way back to the chair we'd been sharing, and sat down, leading her into my lap. At that moment, there was only one thing left to do.

Our lips connected again, this time much slower, and more clumsily than the first. But, after what felt like a few minutes, we told our minds to take a nap and let our hearts lead. It went on for what felt like forever, but I wasn't about to complain. Miho-san's lips tasted sweet… was she wearing strawberry lip gloss? What reason would she- OH, right, it's Friday. She was getting ready for our meeting tonight…

~MIHO'S POV~

I wasn't thinking when I pulled Mashiro-kun closer and kissed him. I was just doing what my heart told me to. But when he pulled away and had me sit on his lap, I realized what he was doing. He'd picked up on something I'd just been grasping at. This was as much a gesture of comfort for me as it was for him, so he wanted us both to be comfortable and enjoy it. After a few short moments of amateur kisses, we shut our minds off and just went with it. I started tasting strawberries… had he eaten them recently? Then I remembered I'd put on lip gloss for our meeting tonight. I'd completely forgotten, but it didn't matter now. All that mattered was us.

~TAKAGI'S POV~

I could only stare with dumb-founded eyes at the scene before me: Saiko was about to cry, but Miho-san stopped him cold… and al she had to do was KISS HIM. At that point, my mind was racing. Was it finally happening? When Saiko let go and pulled her their chair, I understood. I looked over at Kaya and saw her sobbing quietly next to me. Holding her close wasn't cutting it now. I needed to calm her down before she made me lose it too.

What I did next, I did purely on instinct, not intellect. Reaching down gently, I cupped Kaya's cheek in one hand and lowered my head to kiss her. I could feel her trying to get loose for a moment before she all but melted. Smiling to myself inwardly, I used both arms to sweep her off her feet and sat us down in our chair to keep going in peace.

~KAYA'S POV~

I hadn't even felt him move, but a short moment after I started crying again, Takagi had leaned down to kiss me. I didn't know what had caused it, but I wasn't ready, and it startled me out of my skin. I tried to push him away, but I suddenly caught sight of Mashiro and Miho. They were KISSING. Something I thought wouldn't happen until their wedding day was happening in a hospital room. The sight made me forget what was happening, and I loosened up. I closed my eyes and kissed Takagi back just in time for him to let go of my cheek and pick me up in his arms. He sat back down in a chair and kept at it. I didn't pay any mind to anything else from then until we stopped; all that mattered was my boyfriend loved me. I let my body go limp, save for one hand on his cheek to keep us steady, and lost all conscious thought.

~RIKA'S POV~

I had seen it coming a long way away. As much as I hated to admit it, personal tragedy brought out all kinds of emotions in people. Some of those emotions you knew had been there for a while, while others just stunned the hell out of you. I thought little of it and took a seat next to Kensei and smiled.

"So, onii-san… I guess this is it, huh?" I started, "I guess you won't be able to stay by my side forever. Not that I blame you for any of this; if it had been my in your shoes, I'd have done the same thing. Heck, if it had been me in Mashiro-kun's place, you would have not only tossed me aside but jumped onto the truck to try and kill that driver, right?" I laughed a bit before reaching over to gently kiss Kensei's cheek. He smiled a little.

"Don't you worry, onii-san… I'll be fine. It may take me a little while to get used to living alone, but I'll have friends all around me to help me cope. I even have two half-sisters now thanks to you. I know things will b =e rough for a while… But I'm stronger now. You helped me toughen up after I was raped, and I owe you more than I can pay you back for. The most I can do now is be strong for your sake," I said. I started to cry a bit, but found myself on the verge of losing it when I felt his fingers slither in between mine.

~KENSEI'S POV~

I struggled for a moment to speak, but once my brain got the signal to move what was left of my throat and voice box, I managed to open my mouth and rasp out my last words.

"Rika…" I said, abandoning formality and honorifics in my last moments, "What kind of… brother would I have been… if I hadn't helped my… own sister in her… time of need? I… did what I did out of… love for you, as a brother. My sister… never cried, was always strong… and always smiled. I just… wanted my sweet, caring… sister back. I just… wanted you back, Onee-san…" I smiled sadly as Rika collapsed along my arm, crying.

Even though it hurt to breathe, I forced myself to continue as Mashiro, Miho, Takagi, and Kaya heard me speaking and gathered around.

I took a long, raspy breath and continued, turning to Mashiro and Miho as I said, "Mashiro … Miho … you two have crossed… the boundaries you set for yourselves… Your love for each other… will only continue to grow stronger as you go. Congratulations… And Mashiro, as long… as you take extremely good care … of her, you have my blessing. You two… will be the proud parents of … fine children. I can tell just... from looking at you." The two broke down right there and latched onto each other, Miho crying into Mashiro's shirt while he bawled in her hair. I turned my attention to Takagi and Kaya. Surprisingly, their faces both held twin looks of mortified worry and anticipation. They wanted me to stop, but wanted to hear what I had to say.

"Takagi … Kaya … You two were already in deep… long before today, but much like Mashiro and Miho, your love for each other… has only gotten stronger … with each passing day. You two were already planning marriage before… Mashiro and Miho saw the completion… of their dreams. You two are each strong in… your own right, but are also… strong for each other. You will both… be the happy parents of… great kids," I said, almost crying myself when I saw them break down. Kaya sobbed into Takagi's shoulder, while he held onto to her tight and all but wailed into her hair. A few minutes later they all stopped and sat down, but Mashiro and Takagi walked over when I motioned for them. Everyone waited for the now inevitable as I spoke again.

"Saiko… Shujin…" I started, feeling my strength fading fast, "it's been a wild five years, huh? You both have… an unbridled talent for your chosen way… that I haven't seen in many other people. You two… when I'm gone… will make that hit manga you wanted… AND you'll get an anime. I just know it… I'm just sorry I … couldn't be around to see it with you… My friends… My family… Thank you for everything. Thank you… And… goodbye…" I reached my hand up to Mashiro both my friends, who took my hand. A moment later, a faint glow around our three hands and grew into a strong light that died down as my hand fell away.

~NARRATOR'S POV~

The heart monitor beeped slowly for Kensei's final words, the small sounds growing steadily fewer and father between, until finally, with his last breath, his heart gave out. The monitor now gave off a steady noise, and the slowly dropping lines that represented his heartbeat went flat. Mashiro, Miho, Takagi, Kaya, and Rika lay half on the bed, crying and mourning for their deceased friend and brother. Kensei officially died at 6:30 PM on January 3rd of 2010. However, Kensei wasn't entirely gone yet. His spirit lingered, still having a few matter of unfinished business to attend to.

Quickly leaving the building, Kensei's soul appeared in front to the prison where Kagami was held. Kensei counted on his phantasmal fingers four orders of business, raising a finger for each, then lowering his pinkie finger to leave three. He passed, uninhibited, through the walls until he reached Kagami's cell. He could beat have beaten Kagami to death with his own hands, but that wouldn't get the lesson across. Instead, using a psychic frequency, he reached out to all the inmates in Kagami's cell block, sending them a single signal: GET KAGAMI MAGAMI. He then sent out a quick magnetic charge to open all the cell doors, and the inmates charged.

Kagami barely had time to realize what was happening before he was beaten by ten burly men and then subjected to a more brutal version of what he'd put his sister Rika through. Despite his screams, not one guard heard him; Kensei was making them sleep a long, deep sleep. Kensei left, leaving a signal in the inmates' heads to stop and kill Kagami after an hour and a half, then leave, while the guards got a signal to stay asleep until the prisoners were finished, then inexplicably go to check that cell block. Kensei took a corporeal body and made the inmates move so Kagami could see him. His simple grin of justice was all Kagami needed to figure out what was happening. He tried to get a final scream out, but was stopped abruptly when a large man slapped him across the face and moved to obscure his view.

Kagami screamed and cried, giving Kensei's soul a feeling of accomplishment. He'd brought one of two persons to justice, and had two other things to do before that last bit of business. Knowing that his friends and family would be too busy mourning him to go near the studio that day, or even for a week or so, he went there next. He moved through the walls until he wound up inside the small room and shook his head. In an instant, every storyboard they'd done in the past five years, as well as their most recent one, flew into the air. Willing it to be done, Kensei held his arms wide and allowed his new psychic energy to flow. Each page, along with pencils, erasers, tone sheets, rulers, and pens, flew into life and set to work. In no more than three hours, he'd completed full, tankoban*-sized volumes of everything they'd failed to get serialized.

He even went back over their first serialized piece, Shady Detective Trap, and reworked it to directions he'd been given by Mashiro, but had never had time to do. Each piece was arranged so that it now lay completed in its own box, from "Vol1- END" in the corner where all their failed storyboards had rested. His work here completed, he stepped outside in his ghostly body and flew off to find Rika and Miho. He found them both at Miho's house, which didn't surprise him at all; he had the feeling Rika would give up the apartment due to there being too many bad memories, which would then prompt her to ask her closest living family for a place to stay.

He floated up to Miho's room and looked through the window to see the two girls holding each other tight, crying hard on the bed. Kensei didn't know if souls could cry, and wasn't about to try. Instead, going through the window in his spirit body, he stopped just behind both girls and smiled as her semi-solidified his body, then wrapped his arms around their shoulders. The two girls stopped crying almost immediately and looked to see him. Both girls smiled and just sat there, enjoying the warmth spreading through their bodies. They finally closed their eyes bowed their heads, as if in prayer.

"Thanks you, onii-san…" both girls said, lifting their heads to kiss his cheeks softly. He smiled and let them go, then went back to the window. The two girls followed his movement and begged him not to leave.

With a final smile, he looked them both in the eyes and said, "You two don't need to beg. I'm not really leaving. That warmth you just felt was the imprint I left on your hearts and souls. As long as you remember that warmth, I'll never be too far away. I may not be able to truly hold you both again, but I'll always be with you in spirit. Don't forget that." With that, he returned to his spirit form, watching as the two girls looked at each other, then at themselves and smiled. He may have faded from their sight, but he'd never fade from their hearts. He counted four on his fingers again, then lowered all but his middle finger, which he raised to the concert hall in mid-town where Koogy was doing a revival concert to announce his return to music.

Kensei was there in a second, going past all the guards in his spectral form until getting to the doors of the hall. He solidified his body, steeled his mind, and turned. The kick the door received sent it flying into the amphitheater, straight over the heads of all the concert-goers and striking Koogy in the head. He fell back and stopped singing… but his voice kept pouring over the speakers. Kensei smirked; he had been lip-syncing the entire time, and had probably just done that for all of his previous concerts.

"HOW DARE YOU KOOGY, YOU INSUFFERABLE BASTARD!" Kensei shouted, slowly walking through the doors and getting halfway to the stage as Koogy stood and snarled.

"WHAT DID I DO, HUH? WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU?" he shouted back, the music and his singing never once stopping. Either he didn't notice, or he didn't care. All of his fans were starting to get angry.

"YOU SINGLE-HANDEDLY RUINED THE DREAMS OF TWO YOUNG MEN BY TAKING OVER MANGA, YOU BASTARD!" Kensei yelled back, taking off in a running, super-human leap that helped him close the distance between him and his prey. Koogy didn't seem at all put off.

"I have no idea what you're…" His voice trailed as he saw who his mystery attacker was, then stammered, "Y-YOU! YOU THREATENED ME YEARS AGO! But that can't be right… YOU DIED TODAY! I'M HALUCINATING!"

Kensei smiled as the concert-goers filed out in livid screams of rage, and then he said, "True. I'm supposed to be dead. But haven't you ever heard the saying "The soul lives on after death?"" Kensei reared his fist back and slammed it into Koogy's face, and hard. The rocker soared backward, right through the wall. He staggered out, only to be kicked hard in the groin. He fell upon feeling his jewels explode, and Kensei grinned. His final act of unfinished business was JUST starting. By the time Kensei finished exacting his justice, Koogy was already long since dead, his head now lop-sided and vastly deformed, his nose all but disintegrated, his eyes almost falling out of their sockets, his teeth cracked or pulled out by the roots, and his hair torn out in clumps. That night, the legend of "The great Koogy" died, while the infamy of "Koogy the Phony" started. Kensei stepped back from the mutilated corpse of Koogy and nodded. His work was done; he could move on in peace.

~JULY 3RD, 2010~

Mashiro stirred in bed, feeling his will to draw finally burning strong again. Today was the six-month anniversary of Kensei's death, but he'd been slowly getting back into the swing of it. After a minute of stretching and getting his things together, he bolted out the door and headed to meet Takagi at the studio. Outwardly, he cursed the blazing sunlight and strong heat, but inwardly he was grateful that it was summer. Ever since Kensei's death, things had gotten steadily brighter.

Koogy had been found beaten to death on the stage of his revival concert the day after, and every newspaper had bore headlines for weeks afterward slandering him for being a fraud and a phony. Kagami Magami had been found dead after having been brutally gang-raped by every inmate in his prison cell-block. He'd been found by the guards, who stated in the report that they'd found him with knives of every shape and size jammed into various parts of his body, mostly his throat, which held thirteen alone. The inmates weren't going to be charged, as all the judges saw it as divine retribution for the crimes he'd committed against his own family.

Miho, Kaya, and Rika had quickly become the best and closest of friends, and, unexpectedly, Rika had managed to cool down Fukuda, slowly turning him into a quieter, kinder guy with less of a desire for vulgar, violent manga. The two had recently revealed to the group that he was retiring from manga so he could enjoy reading the works of others again.

As for Jack, Koogy's name had been torn from the building and replaced by the Jack sign, never to be changed again, while the old Editor in Chief took his position back. However, during their grief-induced slow period, Mashiro and Takagi had refused to write or draw anything, instead staying quiet in classes. A month after their friend's death, Ishizawa had popped into their new classroom during what had become a ritual moment of silence to ridicule Mashiro for having stopped drawing, saying it was for the best. Both Takagi AND Mashiro had instantly sprung from their chairs and blasted Ishizawa with punches packing enough force to literally push Ishizawa out the second- storey window to the ground below.

Ishizawa had come back in fifteen minutes later screaming about a broken arm when the teacher followed Mashiro and Takagi's example, not only punching the rotund boy but also soundly berating him for insulting Mashiro's art and Takagi's stories, claiming them both to be ten times the genius Ishizawa never would be, while also chewing him out for TWICE interrupting a solemn moment of remembrance for a fallen student.. This broke the boy's spirit and sent him running from the school for a hospital. Ishizawa swore never to speak again.

Now, however, Mashiro was feeling good again. He met Takagi at the door of the studio and opened it to find it exactly how they'd left it… except for the stack of boxes which… was now much larger…

"Uh… Shujin, did you lend one of the others a key to the studio?" Mashiro asked, and Takagi replied that he hadn't, then inquired why Mashiro had asked.

"Remember the stack of boxes we'd loaded our failed attempts in?" Mashiro asked, "Well, there's a lot more of them now…" He walked over and opened a box to find a remade version of "Trap", with their old pen name of Muto Ashirogi.

"Takagi," Mashiro said, holding the storyboard for what had been labeled as "Shady Detective Trap: CHAPTER THREE" with a shaky hand. Takagi took it and read it. His face lit up.

"SAIKO, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU DID THIS?" Takagi asked in surprise. Mashiro shook his head.

"That's just it, though… I haven't been in here ONCE since Kensei-kun's funeral… How did this…"

~HOWEVER…~

"GAH!" Mashiro shouted, waking up in a cold sweat. He was in the studio, hunched over sleeping on his desk with a brand new storyboard underneath him.

"It was a dream?" he said, before gasping quietly. When he looked down, herealized that he had been slowly drooling on his work, and tried to wipe it off with his sleeve. It didn't work much, so he reached for a fresh sheet. He couldn't use whiteout on it, because it'd just stay wet.

Before starting on his work, he looked at his phone. There were numerous messages on it: three texts from Miho, a multitude of voicemails assorted numbers, mostly Miho and Kaya, and … a text from a Rika Magami? Was he dreaming? He'd heard a name like that in his dream not even five minutes ago. He opened his messaging folder and checked Miho's text. He almost dropped it when he read what it said:

"Mashiro-kun,
I just wanted to ask if we're still on for this Friday night. I can't wait for our starlit picnic in the park. I hope we can stay together for a while… We haven't kissed in weeks. Has something been on your mind? Reply soon. I miss you!
Miho "

Mashiro stared, wide-eyed, before scrolling to the next one. Once again, he almost dropped his phone when he read:

"Mashiro-kun,
I want to know why you didn't show up for our date. I haven't been slacking off as a seiyuu, if that's what you seem upset about. I'm doing great at it, really! Just reply soon so we can catch up, please?
I love you!
Miho "

Mashiro's brain ground to a halt. Miho had NEVER said that in a text before. Had he fallen into an alternate reality while he was asleep or something? He clicked to the next one and almost cried.

"Mashiro, what's going on? Why aren't you answering me? Is work really that important? You've already got three animes, and I've been going around the clock to make sure that my roles in each one are exactly how you like them. You even skipped out on another date! Why won't you talk to me? Please respond soon… I'm dying without you!
Miho "

Mashiro looked at the text for a few minutes with teary eyes before moving on to the last one from Rika:

"Mashiro-kun,
Miho-chan is very worried about you. You've been working for three weeks straight missed two dates with her, and haven't answered any texts or returned any of her calls. Are you avoiding her for some reason? Call her back or I'll come down to the studio and DRAG your butt to her house! And you have no reason to be shy about it anymore; you've been in there enough times that you should know it like that back of your hand! CALL HER NOW!
Rika"

He actually dropped his phone on this one. The force behind her last few words almost seemed to pull him through the screen. He picked it up and put it on the desk, then set about drawing again. His strokes were as slow and tedious as usual… so why did he suddenly have an entire page done in less than a minute? He looked at the clocks on the wall and his phone, and verified it with his watch: it had been LESS THAN A MINUTE, and he'd finished a WHOLE PAGE, a feat that usually took him hours to do.

'Was it REALLY a dream?' Mashiro thought, staring blankly at all the manga sitting on the shelves in the darkened room. He turned the page over and started drawing again, only to finish, once again, in less than a minute. He gasped and practically blazed through the rest of his storyboard, then set it aside for Takagi to take care of in the morning. He checked the clock again: 5:30 AM.

"Perfect! Miho-chan should be setting out about now," he said, picking up his phone and speed-dialing her number -when had he actually SET IT TO SPEED-DIAL?- and waited several seconds for the ring tone to stop.

The tone stopped after the first ring and Mashiro was met with the frantic, yet exhausted sound of Miho's voice saying, "MASHIRO! Where've you been? What happened? Why did you leave me hanging on our dates?"

"Miho-chan, I'm SO, SO, SO SORRY about all of that, but… we REALLY need to talk! Like, as soon as you can! Do you have work today?" he asked, sounding almost as frantic as she was.

"No, they gave me the week off. I finished recording all the lines you had for me, so I've got some time… why? What happened? Did you get hospitalized again?" Miho asked, her frantic voice gaining a hint of worry. Mashiro winced.

"No, it's nothing like that, I swear! I just… something really weird just happened. That, and I have been being a really bad boyfriend… Can we meet for coffee somewhere?" he asked, sounding almost desperate.

Miho quickly agreed and they met an hour later to talk. They caught up on everything they'd missed in the last few weeks, and then Mashiro invited her back to the studio. Once he got in and locked the door, he sat down at his desk and held out his latest storyboard. Miho took it gingerly and thumbed through it. About three pages in, she all but glued herself to the page until the very last page. She set it down and smiled.

"You've really gotten better! I thought you were at your peak before, but this…" She said, before he shook his head.

"I haven't really been working on it that long! I woke up to find it ruined this morning and started it over, but… watch this!" he said, picking up his pencil and literally speeding his way through a HIGHLY accurate rendition of Miho, full body shot and holding an umbrella with a cute smile. She looked at him in shock.

"If you'd been doing that, why did you ditch me on our dates?" She asked indignantly, only to sit down when Mashiro shook his head.

"No, I wasn't like this before! I fell asleep last night, then woke up and I was able to do THIS!" he said. She smiled.

"Well, I'm glad. You can work faster, and we can spend more time together!" she said happily. Mashiro smiled. He waited until she gave him a beaming smile in return, then slowly stood, walked over and leaned down to kiss her. She was caught off guard, for sure, but soon stood to close the gap, somewhat, between the two of them to kiss him back.

"I'm just glad to be in your arms again," she said, her voice almost a whisper. Mashiro smiled and kissed her again.

"Well you can rest easy; I'm never taking work more seriously than you ever again. I promise," he said, before he picked her up and took her to the couch. They smiled and kept kissing each other all night.

Mashiro's final thought before his mind went blank was, "It wasn't a dream after all… It was all real. Thanks, Ken-kun…"

~THE END!~

{PN: Whoa…. This is easily the LONGEST thing I've written to date. "Kamen Rider Time" doesn't even scratch this. THIS STORY IS ROUGHLY THIRTY TWO PAGES LONG, and just over 18000 words long. That's a "JUST FREAKING WOW" moment. I've hit an all-new high and passed two milestones doing it. Also, for those who don't know, all of the asterisk points are Japanese translation notes:

*"Cho Hiro Densetsu" is the original Japanese title of a fake manga made by Mashiro's uncle. The translated name is "Super Hero Legends".
*"Seiyuu" means "voice actor/actress" in Japanese.
*"Mangaka" is Japanese for "Manga writer".
*"Enma" is one of many words that mean "Devil" in Japanese.
*"Yokubo Sennen" literally means "Thousand Years Desire".
*"Tankoban" is the term used to refer to manga when they've been printed into a book.
*"Kami" is literally "God" in Japanese.

And with that, this work of fiction is complete. Thank you all for reading! Read and review, because you make me feel like a bad writer when you read and don't review! And if you do read and review, please use CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Stuff like "u has spelling eerorz lolz" will be instantly removed: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. I hope you enjoyed "Gift of the Assistant" as much as I enjoyed the almost two months it took me to write it! And this is going to be a double-billing with another one-shot idea I've got brewing: "KAMEN RIDER PENCIL"! Hope you guys have a great whatever time of day it is when you read this, wherever you are in the world! TEK OUT! HYAZUU!}