Inside a two-story house, not too gaudy, yet not poorly decorated, sat the dolls. Their appearances are as follows:
The first one, wearing a large and frilly pink ribbon, was sitting on a dining room table and drawing. She was deep into her work, and kept fidgeting every so often, moving her equally large and frilly pink dress along with her, and bouncing up and down. Next to her, a heterochromatic maiden stood, wagging her finger as if it might fall off. Her mouth was open, probably lecturing the child, and she continually mouthed the word 'desu' at the end of every possible sentence. Her brown ringlets were caught up in a pretty bonnet, and Kyoushi immediately wondered if that was the thing he could steal from her.
Two others sat on the opposite side of the table, one eating and the other one shaking her-or was it his-head, possibly at the obnoxious one. The more boyish of the twins-for indeed they were-was talking to her sibling, and then sighed, seemingly giving up. The one eating was stuffing her chubby face with what appeared to be tamagoyaki. Her grey curls were slightly covered in it, but she persisted in chewing and chewing and chewing... One in a scarlet dress had seated herself on a chair, and was staring into a box-like object and quite engrossed, to be sure. In her lap was a small toy, possibly a dog, with one eye covered by a brown spot.
"Retsu-onii-san! Look! The Rozen Maidens are in the house, right?" Retsukon stared for a moment, and then nodded, closing the music box. The sweet melody that filled the air only seconds ago ceased as quickly as it had begun. "Quite. Well, we must help Master with his research. Let us pro-" He was interrupted as Kyoushi darted ahead of him, holding up his needle and getting ready to break the glass door down. "You idiot!" Kurotekai snapped, raising his hand and stopping his younger brother for a second, an ivy vine grabbing onto his leg. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Trying to get into the house, duh. Do you think that they'd just let the likes of us inside without any questions asked?"
"Well, it's not like we have any malicious intent or anything..." Kurotekai still didn't let go, and Kyoushi quickly cut the vine. He was running at he door again, swinging the huge needle like a hammer, when BAM! Eibetsu stared down at him, not smiling or laughing in satisfaction; just blankly staring. "Idiot..." he muttered, placing the two bars of metal back in his pocket. The rest of the troupe came near him, and Douyou jumped up and down, almost squealing, "Wai okke! Eibetsu-chan did a good job! Is...is Kyoushi-onii-san okay?" They gazed at the brother with wide-eyes, until Kouunshi ran over, bending down on one knee and inspecting him. "Uh...yes...he's just fine everyone..." Hizashitaiko poked him in the head, and then banged the drum loudly. Huge vibrations shook the earth, causing everyone in a five mile radius to feel the slight tremor. Kyoushi squeaked and leaped into the air, placing his hands over his ears and screaming, "Stop doing that, you pansy! I'm awake, I'm awake!" Hizashitaiko stopped and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, sorry. Hizashi-sama was just trying to get you off the floor dearou. Let's get to those Maidens!" But it was a little too late. The earthquake had been felt by them too, and there they were, standing right in front of the Troupe.
No one spoke for a moment, until the one dressed in green suddenly piped up, "Are you the ones who caused the earthquake desu?" Everyone looked from side to side, checking if she was talking to someone else, and then Hizashitaiko answered, nodding. She barked, "You made my cookie dough fall on the floor desu! How dare you do such a rude thing, desu?" Kurotekai, who was rather tired of hearing her whine (her voice was distastefully high), smiled not unkindly and responded, "Please miss, we mean you no harm at all. We are here for our Master wishes it; Leonardo Calice, owner of the Ombra Theatre. Perhaps you've heard of-"
"No, we haven't heard of him. Explain your business, we're very engaged in other matters currently," the one in a red dress uttered, saying it in a superior tone. Apparently she had already dropped the doll and replaced it with a cane.
Retsukon immediately complied with her wishes. "Yes. We are the Diamante Troupe, coming from Italy. We have traveled here from far away, as our troupe is also a traveling company, though our main station is in Italy. But I digress.
"We have come here under the orders of our Master, seeking to find proof that the Rozen Maidens do exist, and are not, in fact, myths." The frilly pink one put her hands in the air and bound up cheerfully. "Oh, that's okay na no! Now that you've seen us, you can go home na no!" Retsukon took off his glasses again, blowing on them and wiping them on his shirt, and replied, "I'm afraid not. Proof, of course, must be physical, so-" He was interrupted by the green-clothed, obnoxious one again. "What are you saying then? You want us to come with you or something desu? That's crazy desu!"
"On the contrary," Kurotekai said, sighing ever so slightly. "We just need an item that has been hanging about you and touching you physically for scientific research reasons. Nothing more. Perhaps even an article of clothing."
The green one seemed angry and offended. "What?! The very nerve desu! How dare you wish to take my precious clothes, you disgusting little perverts desu?" The Diamantes stepped back together at the same time, holding their hands up and reddening. "No no, we're not perverts like that dearou," Hizashitaiko said, blushing. Douyou nodded in agreement, and a very loud agreement it was. "No! We just want to make Master happy, since he needs it for sci-science. Douyou isn't a pervert at all; he likes the pretty Maiden okke!"
"Huh? You think I'm pretty na no? Thank you na no!" Hinaichigo bounced again, this time waving at Douyou quite happily. "I like how your coat looks too, na no. I must be very warm," she conjectured, tilting her head a little. The young Diamante nodded, excitedly perhaps, and ran over to meet the girl more closely. "Yup yup, it really does okke!" He paused, and then hesitantly asked, "Hey, do you like...hana-ke-ki?" But before she could answer, he noted what the boyish Maiden held in her hand: shears. And huge shears they were, no smaller than Kyoushi's needle. He pointed at it and stepped back, frightened. "W-what's that big scissor for? Why are you holding it like that?" The one clothed in blue was holding it like any other scissor, but Douyou still couldn't shake off the thought that he would get hurt by it.
The obnoxious one stepped into place, grabbing the shears from her sister's hand and yelling, "Yes, that's right desu! Come any closer and Souseiseki will instantly stab you with this, impaling right through the stomach!" Douyou heard this and ran over to Hizashitaiko's side, crying and whimpering.
"Hey, that's not nice dearou! We didn't threaten you dearou!" The red one spoke again. "You are the ones who came here; and for a rather vague and stupid reason at that."
"Wouldn't you have done the same for your Master?" Every one of the Maiden's eyes widened at the question.
"How absurd," The red one retorted after a few seconds of silence. "We do not need to answer your questions. Come along now." She gestured the others to follow, and most of them did as she said; except for the pink frilly one. She just stood there, and then walked over to Douyou, poking him in the shoulder. "Ah, are you all right na no? Did Suiseiseki make you cry na no?" Douyou, who had stopped crying and was by now only trembling, nodded. The young Maiden looked down, shuffling her feet slightly. "Go-gomenasai na no. Suiseiseki didn't mean to be bad, or at least, I don't think so..." Douyou let go of his older brother's hand and smiled. "So, do you like hana-ke-ki okke?" he asked, resurrecting their old conversation. She shook her head. "Nope, I like unyuu na no!" He was rather disappointed, but shrugged. "Okay. What's your name okke?"
"I'm Hinaichigo na no! What's yours?"
"I'm Douyou okke! It's nice to meet you!"
"Likewise na no! Oh, it's nice to make a new friend na no!" She was stopped short, however, by Suiseiseki, for that was indeed the green one's name. "Chibi-chibi, come here desu! We're having Hanamaru Hamburger, which I personally helped make desu!" Her tone was rather snobbish, but Hinaichigo just bowed, gave a sweet little' good-bye', and ran off into the house.
Douyou stood there, sighing. "Aww, I made a new friend, and now she's gone. And it's so cold too; Douyou does not like it here! I wanna go home!" Kyoushi, who was silent for most of the meeting, suddenly fell on the floor, bursting into laughter. "Oh crap, their outfits were so...frilly!" he said, wiping the tears that were streaming down his cheeks. "And what was with that obnoxious brunette? Retard chick, I guess." He stood up and dusted off his clothes. "And as for you," he said, looking over to Douyou, "Looks like you're a guy right after Chibi-kawaii's own heart, eh?" Eibetsu whacked him over the head again, growling and yelling, "No, I am! Kurotekai-onii-sama is my idol, not Douyou's!"
"You have a weird, gay obsession, little brother. What's up with that?"
"I'm not gay, and it's not an obsession! I just want to be like him, is all, and that's not wrong. Obsession is wrong." Kyoushi shrugged, sighing. "Fine, fine, whatever. Now what I'm wondering is where are we going to sleep?" Everyone sighed at the question, even Retsukon. "I didn't really think..."
Meanwhile, at the house, everyone was already eating dinner.
"Nori, how do you make such good food?" came Hinaichigo's question, as she gulped down another bit of hamburger. Nori blushed lightly and shook her head. "Oh thank you, but dinner tonight was made by Suiseiseki-chan, so you should all be thanking her!" Everyone one said, "Thank you Suiseiseki!" and went back to eating. She was, however, quite pleased with herself, and responded, "Oh, your welcome desu. It is delicious, right desu? Possibly the best tasting in the world desu!" Souseiseki, the other twin, didn't speak, but continued to eat quietly and neatly. The grey-haired one, whom everyone addressed as Kanaria, stuffed her face some more.
Everyone was enjoying their meal; that is, until a bespectacled boy asked, "Hey Shinku, what was that all about? You know, when you went outside? It sounded like yelling or something." Shinku, without looking up at him, pinched his leg harshly. He pulled back with a yelp. "Hey, what was that for?!"
"Be quiet. Nothing happened; there was an earthquake, and we went out to investigate. You have no right to interrogate us, Jun." Hinaichigo suddenly pronounced, "Guess what? I met a new friend! His name is Douyou, and he has six brothers, like me, except I have sisters!"
"Chibi-chibi, eat some more desu!" Suiseiseki suddenly shrieked, stuffing more hamburgers into the child's mouth. Jun, however, had heard enough, and asked Shinku, "Is that so? What really happened out there?"
"If I must tell you, some ruffians were outside, bothering us; I believe they were called the Diamante Troupe. Anyway-"
She was disrupted, however by a slight scream, though this was of delight. "The Diamantes?" asked Nori, jumping up and down. "Oh my, their famous, haven't you heard? They're living puppets, and they can move about without strings or anything! Like they're alive! They've been traveling around Europe, but I never thought...Oh my!" She suddenly ran outside, waving, and forgetting that in front of her sat five of the seven fabled Maidens. "Hello! Greetings! Would you like to come in?" The Troupe was still there, though everyone had since collapsed on the ground, looking up at the sky; save for Retsukon and Kouunshi. All their heads went up as they searched for the owner of the voice. Kurotekai stood up and walked over, making sure it wasn't a trap or anything; the green one was very aggressive. "Um, excuse me miss, are you talking to us?"
"Why of course; there's nobody else around, right?" Kurotekai smiled at her and bowed, and then a wave of confusion came over poor Nori. In one second, a whole stampede crashed over the girl, who was helped up eventually by two of the puppets. Suiseiseki was growling and yelled, "Huh? You've broken into the house, I see desu. We must counter attack desu!" She began to throw heavy pots and pans at them. They attempted to dodge, though some actually hit their intended target. In the end, most of them were on the floor, holding their heads.
"What the hell is wrong with you, woman?"
"Waaah! Please stop! You're...you're hurting Douyou!" Nori was able to calm the place down, and said, "Please, there's no need to be so hostile, Suiseiseki-chan." She looked at them and huffed, turning away. "Now why don't all of you introduce yourselves?"
To be continued...
