Chapter 7 – Stories Part 3 – Why Ice Cream And Cops Don't Mix

Disclaimer: I'm starting to think disclaimers are pointless... We are on after all, so it's pretty obvious that we don't own the game.

Neo POV

As I was about to head off home, a thought suddenly hit me, "Hey, do you need a place to crash?" I asked Echo, jumping onto the wire and beginning to grind up it.

"Yeah, actually I do." Echo said with a laugh as we came to a stop on the roof, "Recently I've had to sleep on a bench. Not very comfortable." I nodded, having tried that once before. It certainly hadn't been comfortable. I seem to remember falling off said bench, too...

"Well, you can come and stay with us, if you don't mind sleeping on the sofa." I offered, and Echo nodded slightly, smiling.

"I'd like that."

Echo POV

Thump. I awoke with a jolt as I hit the floor, blinking a few times against the thin strip of sunlight filtering through the curtains. Wait- curtains? I sat, staring at them for a moment, as I attempted to recall the events from the night before through my still-sleeping brain. All at once, it suddenly hit me. I sat up straight, peeking over the top of the sofa. Two beds were on the other side of the room, and both were occupied. I smiled slightly, the fact that I was no longer alone sinking in.

I looked down at my clothes, realizing I was still wearing my skating gear. Not that it was a surprise, I always slept in these. But I wondered if, now I lived with them, one of the siblings could lend me some stuff. I decided I'd ask later, when both of them were awake.

As I stood up, it suddenly hit me that I didn't even know their names. I chuckled to myself, finding the fact that I had just moved in with two strangers strangely amusing. I had thought my mother had taught me better, but apparently not. Not that I really cared; I felt a lot better knowing that I had a place to go back to now.

I opened one of the two doors that led off from the room, revealing the bathroom beyond. I eyed the shower longingly, trying to remember the last time I'd managed to have one without having to sneak into the swimming baths or the like. I glanced back at the sleeping rudies, then back to the inviting shower. Ah, what the hell. I'm sure they won't mind...

Tempo POV

Beep! Beep! Bee- I reached out and slammed my hand down on the alarm clock, sitting up and stretching. I glanced to my left, and sure enough, Neo was still sleeping- but when I looked over to the sofa, Echo had gone. I could just hear the faint sound of running water. Ah, she's in the shower. I stood up, not bothering to make my bed. I knew Neo would do it whenever she actually woke up anyway.

I walked into the kitchen, yawning, and switched on the kettle. Just as I was putting bread into the toaster, I heard the door open behind me. I turned around, but almost dropped the toast when I saw Echo in the doorway. Her pink her was damp and loose from the bun it had been in the day before, and she was just wearing one of my sister's towels from the bathroom. I shook my head to stop myself from staring, and turned back around to distract myself with preparing breakfast.

"You don't have a washing machine, do you?" She asked, and I nodded towards the left of the room. I heard her messing around with the dials on the machine, and then walk across the room so she was stood next to me. "What're you making?" She asked, turning off the steaming kettle. I shrugged, pointing to the toaster.

"Not much; just toast." I said, reaching up to get a mug out of the cupboard. I was about to shut the door, when I hesitated, glancing around it at Echo, "Do you want some coffee?" I asked. She looked slightly surprised, as if I'd knocked her out of her thoughts, but she smiled and nodded. I pulled out another cup along with the jar of coffee. When the coffee was ready, we both sat down at the small table in the kitchen. Echo looked slightly preoccupied, but I decided not to pry.

"So, are we doing anything today?" She suddenly asked, and I shrugged. Neo was normally the one who organized where we went tagging and stuff, but on days when we didn't need to do any, I normally just wandered around Dogenzaka Hill, Shibuya Terminal and Chuo Street.

"If Neo isn't planning on doing any tagging or anything, I was just gonna go practice some tricks near the bus terminal. You could come, if you wanted to." I suggested, and she grinned.

"Yeah, sure. If it's nice, we could always get some ice cream. I know an awesome place in Dogenzaka I always go to." She said, and I grinned back at her. Just then, Neo walked through the door, looking incredibly tired. She opened her mouth to speak, but I just pointed towards the coffee. She gave me a sort of tired smile, dragging herself across the kitchen.

"She isn't a morning person, huh?" Echo whispered to me, and I just shook my head, bemused. Echo chuckled, "I'll try to remember that." She finished off her coffee, standing up and walking towards the sink. She looked over at Neo, "We're going to Shibuya in a bit. You coming?" Without really noticing I was doing it, I shook my head at my sister quickly, and I saw her raise an eyebrow at me. She took a small sip of her coffee before answering.

"Nah, it's alright. I've got some stuff I need to do today." She grinned in my direction, winking, "You kids have fun." I narrowed my eyes at her slightly, and she laughed. Echo looked between us, a bit confused, but seemingly decided to shrug it off. Suddenly, her eyes widened, as if she'd suddenly remembered something.

"Oh yeah! I completely forgot!" She exclaimed, "It'll sound kind of stupid, but... What are you called?" She asked, laughing. I hadn't really noticed that we hadn't told her, but then again, she'd never really asked.

"Well, I'm Neo." Said my sister, taking another long sip of coffee, "And that, is-"

"Tempo. It's Tempo." I cut in. Echo nodded, smiling.

"Cool names. And the second thing-" She looked at Neo with a slightly sheepish expression on her face, "I couldn't borrow some clothes, could I? I only had what I was wearing, and I just put them in the wash." Neo nodded calmly, pointing towards the other room.

"Just help yourself to any of my stuff, it's all in the wardrobe." She said, and Echo looked relieved. I rolled my eyes.

"She probably wouldn't notice if you took it anyway. She owns so much stuff there's barely room for me to put my own." I muttered, avoiding my sister's sharp look. Echo giggled, before pushing herself up from the sideboard she'd been leaning on.

"Alright, I'll go get ready then."

***

"-No, I'm telling you, triple chocolate chip with fudge sauce beats pistachio every time." Echo insisted as we exited the ice cream store on Dogenzaka Hill's main street. I shook my head, waving my own ice cream in front of her and pointing at it.

"I'm pretty sure that this ice cream could beat yours anyday... But just to be sure, maybe I should taste yours?" I asked with a sly grin. She hit me on the arm lightly, sticking her tongue out at me before taking another lick of her ice cream.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing, you sneaky little beggar! You want free ice cream!" She accused, hugging the chocolate ice cream to her in a theatrical way. I shook my head innocently, taking a bite out of my own ice cream.

"I don't know what would give you that idea." I said, and she shook her head, grinning, before holding out the ice cream.

"Because I'm so generous, you can have some." She said dramatically, and I laughed, shaking my head and returning to my own ice cream. I was just getting to the cone when I heard the music in my headphones suddenly come to a halt. I paused, wondering if it was just me, but then I saw Echo messing with her headphones with a confused look on her face. Out of nowhere, the familiar voice of DJ Professor K came blasting through the radio.

And we're back to the grooviest station on air- Jet Set Radio! Just a little warning for any of you little rudies hanging around Dogenzaka Hill, apparently those freaky new cops are heading your way! You might want to get out of there, 'cause I heard they've got some psycho new captain in charge of them, and he's one nasty piece of work. The rest is up to you, my protégées!

I glanced at Echo, but she was already grinding down one of the rails, heading towards the entrance to Shibuya Terminal. I could just about hear the sirens now, but what worried me was how loud they were getting. That could only mean that they were almost here, and we were only about a quarter of the way to our exit.

As we reached the break in the rails, I heard shouting, and looked behind me. A few of the cop vehicles had got ahead of the others, and I could just see the troops jumping out of the back. When I saw how many there were, I couldn't help but be shocked. To say that they were only chasing after two rudies (as far as I knew), their numbers were massive.

And then, there was the guy running in front of the cars. He was holding what looked like a gun. A gun. What the hell did they need a gun for? I guessed that he was the psycho captain that Professor K had mentioned, and I could see why he'd warned us about him. Even if that gun only shot something like rubber or plastic bullets, I could imagine they'd still leave a hell of a bruise.

I looked back in front of me, and found that the Shibuya entrance was just a short rail away. If we could get into Shibuya, then we could take the shortcut to 99th Street and lose them easily. We shot down the street, no longer stopping to look behind us.

We only stopped when we reached 99th Street. By then, we were both gasping for breath, exhausted. I looked up, and Echo was frowning at something in her hand.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to see what it was. She held up the object, pouting. It was an empty ice cream cone.

"I dropped my ice cream!"

A/N: Yay! I'm on a roll! But after writing about ice cream, I want some myself... Ahh! It's like one am and I'm hungry! Jeez, I must have something wrong with me. Anyhow, review, please!