"Why does she have to be in my room while you lazy asses get hers sorted out!?" someone angrily roared.
"Overcrowding in the cells," a bored, monotonous voice grunted.
"Bullshit!" the initial voice yelled. "Put her elsewhere!"
A quieter voice tried to placate him. "Don't worry, Senji-san. We'll explain everything to her ourselves and maybe by then, they'll have figured out what to do with her."
A pair of orderly footsteps clunked quietly away. The floor spread chills across the back of her semi-conscious body. Cold…
"Ah, they're gone. They're kind of freaky, those lap dogs of his," the same youthful voice sighed. "All white and way too robotic."
The angry man sounded like he'd slammed his hand against the wall. "Kid… how many times do I have to tell you? Calling me Senji is fine!"
"It's a sign of respect!" the other protested.
"I'm not a fourty-year-old, you idiotic Woodpecker!"
"In that case, I humbly apologise, Crow…"
"Ohoho. Since you're so comfortable with calling me that, do you want another taste of my claws? I'll hit you dead centre!"
She decided that it was probably a good time to open her eyes and sit up. Noting that her attire now consisted of a tight and sleeveless leather dress that rode just to
the top of her thighs, she made to stand straight and immediately winced. Ouch… she still ached all over. At least the gash in her thigh had nicely healed, leaving only a pearly scar in its wake. It seemed like the doctors had given her a once-over.
A young boy with grey eyes and a sincere smile extended a calloused hand to help her up off the floor. "You're finally awake! Nice to meet you, I'm Ganta Igarashi… or Woodpecker," he hastily added. "You can call me whichever you want."
Something about his bashful nature made her feel reassured about giving away her own name, and she managed a tiny smile in return. "I'm Kirika Fujiwara. The Weasel called me Raven."
"Weasel?" A deeper voice spoke, sounding amused. He sounded like the angry man from before. "You mean that crazy games co-ordinator, Tsunenaga?" He stepped out of the shadows, a palpable look of interest on his sharp features… which suddenly changed to display alarm. "Hey, woman, just what do you think you're wearing!?"
Kirika looked downwards. There was nothing particularly exciting about the dress, which clung perfectly to her flesh thanks to the corset-style back. Her feet- and indeed, most of her long, pale legs- were covered by a pair of comfortable black boots, laced tightly to the top, which extended to just above her knees. In fact, this was the most covered up she'd been in ages. "I'm wearing what they gave me, of course."
"Senji-san, there's nothing wrong with how she looks!" Ganta defended valiantly, sounding confused.
The older male shook his spiky-haired head violently, and shrugged off the long coat which had been hiding his rather perfectly sculpted upper body. "You look like a dominatrix! Put this on! No- put it on without shrugging your shoulders… honestly, they're swaying…"
She gave him an odd look as the overly-large coat wrapped its warmth and spicy male scent around her. "Hey, are you some sort of pervert?"
"I should be saying that to you!" he shouted, turning away from her curious stare. "If you're going to stay in this room, keep yourself covered up!"
The young boy couldn't help but laugh as he picked up an old, worn book labelled "Rules", motioning her to sit beside him at the table. "And that man, Kirika-san, is Senji Kiyomasa- or Crow, as they like to put it."
"What's with that tone of voice, kid…" Senji glowered ominously. Deciding to put it behind him, he gestured towards the rulebook. "That book's a load of crap for anyone in G-Block. She'd get it better coming from us."
Ganta frowned, scratching his hair. "Hmm, you're probably right." Putting the book to the side, he sighed and poured some water into a small cup. After taking a drink, he cleared his throat. "Okay, Kirika-san-"
"Just call me Kirika," she interjected, wanting to promote a friendly vibe.
He rolled his eyes, not looking at Senji, who had snickered a little at the correction. "Okay, Kirika. What did you do to get stuck in Deadman Wonderland's death row carnival?"
She noted that his last word had sounded very scathing, and wondered if perhaps she wasn't the only one to get caught in this strange place for no reason. "As far as I'm concerned, I haven't done anything to deserve it," she explained. "Sure, maybe I've committed some petty computer crimes. But I always figured there were bigger fish to fry, so I don't know how they got a hold of my name."
A big sigh from the tall man told her that she wasn't saying the right things. "Not the petty stuff, kid. What did you really do?" He gestured around himself. "This place is full of freaks, you know. Woodpecker here managed to massacre an entire classroom."
Her eyes widened in shock. "Did you really, Ganta?"
"Of course not!" The young boy objected loudly, looking a little cross. "Why would I kill my friends? I could never do that. It was the Red Man…" he closed his eyes as if in pain, "…but they blamed it on me and I got locked in here."
Kirika bit her lip sympathetically, noting that he had also mentioned a red man. She promised herself to ask him about it later. "So they framed you as well?"
"Yeah," he replied, looking relieved at her understanding. "I was with the regulars- the other prisoners- for a while, but after a certain incident they moved me here." A bitter smile laced his small mouth. "I became a Deadman."
"And… after the incident, you realised that you were able to do things with your blood, right?"
Ganta nodded. "It really started to develop when I met that guy," he pointed towards a rather bored-looking Senji, "and he's helped to train my Gun ever since."
"Gun?" she inquired interestedly.
"Well, it's not like a pistol or anything," he said mildly. "But with practise, I can get a pretty good projectile coming out from here." He pointed to his hands.
At that, Senji grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Hitting them dead centre more and more every time, kid."
The younger boy tilted his head curiously towards Kirika. "What can you do with your powers? Ah, no…" a faint blush tinted his cheeks, "If you don't want to show us, you don't have to..."
"It's not that I wouldn't mind showing you, but I have some problems controlling it," she smiled faintly, a little sheepish. "Sometimes it's more powerful than others- or at least, that's what the Weasel-"
"You said you were Raven, right?" Senji interrupted, grabbing a sip of water himself.
"That's what he called me," Kirika replied quizzically at the interruption.
Senji suddenly grasped Ganta's shoulder with a smouldering smirk of glee. "This is the girl those guards been talking about, Ganta. The one that killed over seventy people in the cinema and-"
A murderous glare crossed her face as she glared darkly at him. "I did not kill anybody!"
"But you do have a taste for it, little girl," the older male snorted. "We heard they even had to send some Undertakers over your way when Tsunenaga grabbed you on the streets, since you put up such a fight. Knocked out a few of his underlings, didn't you?"
Ganta noted the expression of extreme surprise that thinned her lips and darkened her unusually pale hazel eyes. "Hey, surely you remember?" he said softly.
Kirika shook her head slowly, becoming increasingly irritated with the Crow's behaviour towards her. "Not at all."
"She's either putting up a front or they injected her with something real good." Senji scoffed. As he stretched, his defined muscles rippled and she noticed matching scar lines raking down his forearms. "Anyway, Ganta, get back to the main points, we don't have all day."
"Alright…" the boy sighed. He motioned to the collar that adorned all of their necks. "Basically, you need candy to keep you alive, or the poison that this releases will kill you. Every three days, you need to have one. They taste pretty bad, but that's how it goes. You've got one in your welcome package, right?"
She nodded her assent. "I think I know all of the basics. Is there anything else that is only relevant to us that I should know?"
At that, he looked uncomfortable. "Well… there is the-"
"There's the Carnival Corpse," Senji uttered with a sardonic grin, watching Ganta ball his hands into fists. "You and me. You and Ganta. You and everyone else in this hellhole. Hummingbird, Owl; whoever, whatever. We fight, someone loses. The losers get a part of themselves removed by the doctors. Sounds fun, right?"
"…Fun?" Kirika said dryly. She was starting to feel sick. She didn't have giant muscles like the older man, or even the most basic skills of kindness like Ganta. And she damn well didn't want to give up a part of herself to some disgusting medic who wanted to salivate over her body! "What can be lost?"
Poor Ganta was looking more and more disturbed by his memories, even as he knew that he should be putting up a more confident front for himself in the presence of a stranger. "We can lose anything- our stomachs, hearts, livers, kidneys, eyes…"
"Is there anything that's non-internal?" She spoke dryly, trying not to show how much this news bothered her.
"Well, yeah," Senji replied with a snort, showing her his foot. It was missing a toe, but he didn't seem bothered at all. "Anything goes. That's their style."
Feeling mildly nauseous, Kirika stood up abruptly, not noticing the coat falling off from her shoulders. "I have to use the bathroom."
She heard a muffled gasp and quiet murmurs behind her as she locked the door and sank to the pale tiles. What was going on? She'd been a regular girl going to the cinemas with her friends last month, and now...
She glanced upwards. The spotless mirror had a crack to the left side, jagging her face grotesquely. Two pale hazel eyes glittered strangely back at her, adorned by thick, brown lashes and a nose that was a little too small for her features. Her mouth curved downwards in an unhappy line, almost touching a strand of dark brown hair that had strayed from the rest, which she usually kept tucked behind one ear and pushed over her left shoulder. A small scratch decorated her right cheek- she had no idea where it was from- which was otherwise occupied with a faint blush that showed clearly through her pale skin. Overall, she simply looked tired and frightened. She didn't know what was going to come next, but she was sure it couldn't be good.
Splashing a little cold water on her face, she took a deep breath and put her hand back onto the doorknob. I absolutely can't get attached to these people, she reminded herself sternly, no matter how trustworthy they seem to be.
"So, Raven." Senji began cordially as she re-entered, which raised her suspicions- he'd been anything but polite to her over the past few hours. "Those scars all over your back. They wouldn't have anything to do with your Branch of Sin, would they now?"
Ganta looked a little worried at his forwardness. "Don't start a fight…"
"She's the rookie who Tsunenaga required Undertakers for- that hasn't happened since Mockingbird. And we all know how psycho that bastard is. So of course I'm going to be curious, kid," the other replied dangerously easily, cracking his knuckles again. Kirika noticed the sharp rings adorning Senji's fingers, and suddenly put
two and two together with the scars all over his forearms. So that's where his power emerges from…
"They would have something to do with my Branch," she said pleasantly, trying to ignore the slowly deteriorating vibe that was in the room. "But I don't really want to show you right now- this room isn't big enough for both of us, if you need a reason."
"That's just fine by me," Senji smiled, stepping closer to her. Even though she wasn't short- she was a good 1.75m tall- the man still managed to tower over her, radiating a predatory grin. "A good fight is always a little messy."
"It wasn't a challenge," Kirika said exasperatedly, shaking her head.
Senji threw his head back and laughed. "Too bad. I'm taking it as one."
I have to control my anger…
Seeing the girl's obvious irritation at those words, Ganta pursed his lips and stepped between them hastily. "Quit it. She's only just gotten here and you want to fight her? She's your roommate, Senji!"
"If you don't shut up, kid, I'll take both of you on," the man growled. "I want to see what you can do, girl!"
I need to control my anger…
With an easy slit, the Crow's claws began a certain trajectory that would impale her to death.
As soon as Kirika saw the huge claw of blood sweep at a lightning-fast speed towards her, she knew.
Why had the Weasel placed her in a cell with a man who was volatile to her style of dress and even her name? Why, when they were both hot-headed? Why hadn't he just put her in Ganta's cell, where everything would have been peaceful (or as peaceful as it would ever get)? Better yet, why not just leave her in her own space? She didn't believe for a second that G-Block was overcrowded. It wasn't as if new Deadmen were made daily.
It was because, as he had said- he was watching. The Weasel wanted a show. Even if nobody else was watching aside from himself. Moreover, it was a test. Who better to test her powers on than a man who seemingly lived for the best battles that he could find?
Well, if it was a test, she would rise to the occasion. Even if she couldn't control herself completely. She'd show him that she was no test subject.
Finding her innermost feelings of hatred and resentment toward the establishment that had left her in this mess, Kirika took a deep breath…
…and became the Raven.
A second later, the colour of the walls ran red.
Playlist B
Trouble Man - Marvin Gaye
Honeybear - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Mr. Self Destruct - Nine Inch Nails
