I'm not even going to bother apologizing. Not because I'm being mean, but so you can get to the story faster!

Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat! I'd mess it up.

Chapter Four

The chair was thrown by a local drunk of a pub a block away named Takechi. He and the bartender had been having a heartfelt discussion about whether or not turtles had tails when the news had flashed upon the television screen. After receiving the news, the intoxication quickly turned his shock into anger.

Takechi went raging down the street, throwing anything he could reach into windows or doors. The bartender hadn't even noticed him leaving. He was too busy crouching underneath the bar in fright and calling his wife.

Takechi had met up with a few smoking gang members. Of course, with an alcohol level like his, he found it no problem to pick up a piece of broken concrete and lob it at the one wearing a leather jacket. The rock hit the leader right between the eyes and he fell over. As two gang members tended to the leader, the rest went after Takechi, who was starting to run away.

Now Akira, the secondary leader, was a master with fire. Many bank robberies had become successful once he made clear that either they made of with the money or he would burn to the place to the ground, hostages, money, and all. The yakuza member brought out his flamethrower and aimed, just as Takechi had found a broken chair and was aiming it for a restaurant's windows.

"Stop it or I'll shoot!" Takechi ignored him and brought it over his head. Akira shot the ball of flame and looked away, making sure the heat didn't burn his face.

And that's how a flaming chair came to pass through the windows of the Darumaya.

Kyoko's body had reacted before she could think, making her duck. The back leg of the chair hit the back of her head, but with all the adrenaline coursing through her body, she didn't even feel the heat. But she did hear her breath, coming in hard and loud. And after a while, her heartbeat calmed down and she could hear the sound of someone else being tackled.

She unsteadily picked herself off the ground and looked out the remains of the window to see an ugly man, maybe thirty-five or so, get picked up by his feet by two stone-faced teenagers and get dragged away. The smell of alcohol lingered in the air.

"Kyoko, what's going-fire! Kyoko, look!" She slowly pivoted to see a chair in the middle of a bonfire containing several of the restaurant's tables. Her mouth opened into a wide 'O' as she tried to apologize and run for the kitchen for buckets of water at the same time.

"I don't know what's going on, but I do know that the world is ending! I'm so sorry Okami-san!"

Ren held the phone to his ear even after the tone of no one on the other line rang annoyingly through his ears. There was no one Kyoko could've just hung up on him. It was just…impossible.

Eventually, his phone cancelled out of the call for him, leaving him holding a silent phone to his ear. Okay, even he couldn't ignore it by now. There was no way Kyoko would've turned the phone off in the middle of a phone call. Something must've caused the phone to close on its own. Was it the static he'd heard just before the call ended? Or something else? Maybe Sho-

Just as Ren had buried that thought away along with his raging jealousy, the elevator doors slid open. Ren took note of the fact that the two TV's in the lobby were showcasing the forecast that he had heard far too many times.

"-once this meteor hits in exactly 23 hours and forty two minutes, we will all die." Turning to his left, he saw that the regular concierge of the building was nowhere to be seen. Probably going home to see his family. Wait, what about my family? Ren thought.

His mind conjured up the image of Kuu and Julie, arms wrapped around each other and smiling. Just as his own smile could bloom, the image was consumed by the explosion of a meteor hitting Earth.

Ren felt a coldness of fear and silent rage consume him, Kuon banging on his shell of a character, threatening to break through. He took a deep breath, letting the cracks solidify once again, though he couldn't stop Kuon. He'd learned that lesson a while back.

Okay, what did have to do now? Right. Ren sprinted off in the direction of the Darumaya, hoping the darkness of dawn hid his identity as it had for Kuon.