Goodbye, Hello,
Who Are You?
Part 4: Freestyle My Heart
Version 2.0
A Dance Dance Revolution Fanfiction
By: Azurite (but people call me Andi, Akachan, Mer, and Baka)
http://azurite.rosedreams.org
Well, if you've
gotten this far, then you are no doubt wondering one of these things:
(1) WHAAAT?! Andi wrote a DDR fic!? What about all her *other* unfinished fics?
Well you know the story about the thing that never goes away? Ever? Yeah, this
is like that. I'd never be able to watch/play (ha ha) DDR again if I didn't
write this. So here it is.
(2) O.o How did I get here? What am I doing here? Well, if you clicked on "DDR"
in my profile, then you either knew what it meant, and wondered what the heck
a poor dancer such as myself was doing with those three letters, or you were
like "huh? Dark Dark Rain? Double Dark Rocks?" and just clicked out of curiosity.
Well, poor soul, you have found your way to a piece known as a FANFICTION! It's
about DDR. Ha. Ha.
Notes and Schtuff:
(1) No, I can't DDR. I have terrible coordination. I can try, but I only embarass
myself and my much-better-at-DDRing friends. My fingers are much faster than
my feet anyway. -.- Of course, that doesn't help me when playing DanceManiaX
any...
(2) No, I don't own DDR-- any aspect of it. Konami owns DDR, and the individual
artists responsible for the songs therein own them. I'm not making a profit
off this... if anything, I'm giving MORE money to those companies by buying
their games, and dumping token after token into the arcade machines to try and
play. Key word being try.
(3) Yes, I have written fanfiction before, but no, not DDR fanfiction. This
is an original piece... it's fictional (duh. Hence the "fiction" part of fanfiction)
and absolutely did NOT happen. I'm just sort of setting it where I am, since
I know my area best. ^.~
(4) Yes, I know *some* Japanese. So unless you're a native or have studied Japanese
for over 10 years (ooh goody, someone on par with me!) then don't correct me.
I may not know kanji all that well, but I know names and phrases like I know
the English alphabet. -.- Don't even comment on that last one.
Dedicates:
(because I'm a dork)
Amber (;_; I want her clothes...)
Onii-chan (Because I *said* so!)
Sean-no-baka (-.-; Thanks for the tip... I think.)
Mike (waaaaaaaai! *pounce!*)
Fred (waai, he has such a nice smile...)
Joemi (*grin grin*)
Helen (KAWAII YO!)
and Will (YOU RULE, DUDE!)
Going Nuts?
I may
be going crazy, I may not... but since this is DDR-related, I might as well
mention it here: I swear to god that I have heard the UNCENSORED "Whistle
Song" (i.e. "Blow My Whistle Bitch") on 7th Mix. Yet all my friends
insist that on every DDR machine they play, it's censored, and that cannot be
changed. O.o Am I losing it? ^^;;;
Revision Notes:
^^;;
*cough* I know I'm not an official DDR player, and you can tell by the little
trip-ups I make all the time in here. Thanks to Sean, I have fixed my screw-up
with "Pink Dinosaur" as being listed on MAX2, the fact that (apparently)
most DDR players in Japan can get 99% on the most difficult songs on "Stealth"
mode, and that "MaxX Unlimited" is the only choice for an extra stage
(which is only accessible if you AA your final stage on Heavy), while if you
AA (or AAA) that, you can get access to "Kakumei."
Oh, and just to avoid any further confusion:
1) The "KonamiLand" I made up that Akio and Kumiko went to is supposed
to be this huge arcade that has ALL sorts of games, but mostly Bemani. I heard
from Sean no Baka that Konami only makes 1000 of every DDR Mix, then stops.
So there's at least .2% of all DDR 7th Mix Machines here in SF! I figrue that
since DDR machines are so costly to maintain, that even if Japan has the bulk
of them, there are still a lot in the U.S. and still more in the other Asian
countries, like Korea, China, Taiwan, etc. 1000 is actually quite a lot, if
you think about it...
2) DDR EX ("8rd" mix!) removes the "MaxX Unlimited only"
option for your extra stage. I'm not sure about the "one more extra stage"
being "Kakumei" only yet (though it's probably safe to assume that
they'll use another song. The new MaxX, "The Legend of Max" is supposed
to replace the other MaxXs as "the hardest song ever," though rumor
has it that someone AA'd it on his second try when he went to the Konami Test
location.... -.-; *coughcough*nolives!*coughcough* ^^;;; No.Offense.Intended.
Anything else I'm forgetting? Do let me know... it helps me out a LOT!
Legend:
"spoken
word"
thoughts
emphasized stuff
[Japanese language, translated]
What happened last time:
Our main character, Alexa Dirson, is your not-so-average teenage girl --she's got crushes, talks to herself, and oh yeah, has the spirit of a dead Japanese DDR expert inside her head! Between figuring this new mess out and trying not to DDR in front of the one guy she likes, Alexa's got her hands pretty full. Of course, she doesn't know that the spirit inside her head has an ex... that's watching her every DDR move!
"W...wow, Al... that was really good!" Andrea stumbled over the words, while her friend tripped off the DDR 7th mix machine, nearly colliding face-first with a nearby water-ski simulator game. Luckily, Matt leaned over from where he was sitting on the Gauntlet Legends machine, and caught her. The two stared at each other, nearly nose to nose for a moment, before Alexa's face flamed bright red, and she hastily backed away, nearly ramming herself into someone focused entirely on a solo game of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2.
"I uh... don't know what came over me. Musta been dumb luck or something... hehe..." Alexa scratched behind her ear nervously. Both Matt and Andrea were still gaping at her. True, she hadn't scored high enough to rank or anything like that, but a AA for Alexa was still quite the accomplishment. Still, it hadn't felt right... stepping off the stage like that. It was like she'd only been half there...
Or something... Alexa thought to herself, brow furrowing. Everything was all hot and dizzy around her, and she wanted nothing more than to escape the humid back area of the arcade and dash into the bathroom.
"Well I... uh, I think I here Vic calling! I better go!" And without another word, Alexa hastily jumped around the Marvel Vs. Capcom player, only to ram face first into an Asian girl just a few feet away. Had she been watching...?
"I'm so sorry! Oh geez, I'm such a klutz... uh, really, sorry..."
"..." The girl was silent a moment, and Alexa gulped, wondering if she was goint to get yelled at.
I'd deserve it... god, I'm such a klutz...
Never more than at that particular moment had Alexa wanted to cry more. She stood still, trembling ever so slightly, awaiting the harsh insults of a total stranger.
"It is okay," The girl finally responded in a soft, yet accented voice. Alexa finally brought the courage forth to look up, and when she did, her entire world wavered around her-- then everything went black.
Three Months Ago...
"[But I thought you wanted to get all perfects!]" Kumiko Nikado asked her friend Akio Kataoka, confusion evident in her voice. She walked down the street in the early evening with him, towards her house, where they were to study for the upcoming English exam.
"[Well now everyone is doing that. I get so sick of everyone playing the same three songs over and over. It's like a AA or AAA on Heavy isn't enough, they need to get an extra stage and AA that, too!]" Akio grumbled. They'd just come from the KonamiLand arcade, and after playing some rather standard, non-Bemani games, had finally gotten their -or rather, Akio's- turn on one of the 7th Mix machines. The mix itself wasn't new, considering how long 7th mix had been out already, but KonamiLand was constantly getting machines that other arcades could no longer afford to maintain, hoping to attract Bemani fans from around the metropolitan area. With millions of commuters every day, and nearly as many high school students in the area, it was no difficulty at all.
In any case, Akio had quickly gotten tired of waiting --and observing how nearly every player before him was so desperate to get a perfect score that they always played the same songs, hoping to one-up the person ahead of them. With the most difficult songs on their playlist, and options like "Stealth" activated from the Options Menu, Akio explained, they'd look good even if they scored in the low 96-99%. Kumiko's mind was boggled that anything below that was considered poor-- though she'd never tried DDR herself, putting so much effort into a game seemed awfully far-fetched to the girl.
Still... everyone has their passions. Just like I excel in academics, these people love to dance... if you can call that elephant stomping 'dancing.' Kumiko chuckled to herself, remembering the term that Akio had applied to it after seeing a particularly heavy-set classmate DDR to "Max 300" 3 times in a row, and then finish off his turn with the only selection for his extra stage, "MaxX Unlimited." The boy had been stomping so hard that the couple had heard it from across the arcade-- and had the misfortune to be right after him, when the DDR stage was dripping from his sweat. Thankfully, he hadn't AA'd "MaxX Unlimited, or the heavy-set boy would have continued right on to plauy "Kakumei" and made the DDR stage a miniature pool.
As a result, Akio had tripped midway through "Stay," in front of a large crowd of his classmates. However, he'd quickly made up for it-- sliding on the pad and hitting the necessary arrows with his hands. The audience had murmured in astonished surprised-- what did he think he was doing? Only those gaijin tourists --self-called 'freestylers'-- did anything like that!
And yet somehow, after accidentally incorporating hand plants and a few scattered knee drops, Akio walked away from the dance stage with a AA. It was slightly below his usual par, but considering he didn't stomp and trash the pads as many of the desperate-to-get-perfect players did, it was quite the achievement. More than that, he'd won the attention of many people who had never seen someone doing any sort of a unique performance on the DDR machine.
Kumiko had become enthralled --Akio was having fun, and she was too-- Akio was a wild card now, and she was helping him, not just with class assignments now, but new "freestyle" moves that would wow the steadily-growing audience at KonamiLand whenever Akio appeared. Still, Kumiko longed for a weekend when DDR wouldn't be the sole focus of their time together-- Akio had plenty of other friends who liked to DDR, and it wasn't as if they'd shunned him for starting to get less than perfect, just for being original.
Akio...
"[Hey, Kumiko! Earth to Kumiko!]"
"[Huh?]" Kumiko snapped back to reality as she and Akio arrived at her house. So lost in memories had she been that she hardly noticed their 20-minute walk had come to a close.
Akio laughed, a rich tenor laugh that caused the young girl to blush scarlet. Upon seeing her crimson face, Akio laughed even more, jovially placing an arm around Kumiko's shoulder and walking inside with her.
"[I'm home!]" Kumiko called as she came home, slipping her shoes off her feet. Akio did the same, leaving his nearly-worn sneakers facing inward, implying that he was a guest. He looked up curiously when no one responded to Kumiko's hail, wondering where Kumiko's mother was. Normally, the Nikado matriarch was home all day, and by the time the two of them came over to study, she had snacks all ready and waiting for them.
Since Akio's mother had died when he was born, he'd never had the kind of motherly attention that Kumiko's mother was so ready and willing to offer. It was... nice.
"[Hm, that's odd. Mama's usually home... Oh.]" Kumiko picked up a note and read, a smile blossoming on her face as she read the letter aloud.
"['Dear Kumiko, Well, it's finally our anniversary weekend! Papa and I are going away to the hot springs in Mie for the weekend, and we should return by late Sunday evening. Be sure to complete all your homework for school on Saturday, and don't forget to help Akio-kun with his English. Good luck! Oh, and there's dinner for the next three nights in the fridge. Love, Mama and Papa.']"
"[Away for the weekend, eh?]" Akio smirked, turning to Kumiko. She stared back at him in surprise, one eyebrow cocked up in questioning. When she got his drift, she blushed scarlet, and yelped when he advanced towards her, making to tickle her.
"[Come back here Nikado, I'm not through with you yet!]" And so Akio chased Kumiko upstairs, laughing all the while.
Later...
"[We haven't gotten any studying done.]" Kumiko sighed, spent from all the chasing around and laughing she and Akio had done. It was different, that was for sure. Never had she had so much... fun! It was one thing to be happy to spend time with him --at school, and going with him nearly every afternoon to KonamiLand... but... this...
"[Can you really say you minded skipping it this once?]" Akio finally murmured, lying beside her on the floor. The two of them had gotten into an enormous pillow fight, and when one of the pillows actually exploded in a flurry of down feathers, they'd started sneezing, and collapsed onto the floor in fits of laughter.
"[No... I'm glad I finally took a break from studying. I'm sick of people always calling me the book worm.]" Kumiko frowned. She was never the most popular girl in school, in direct contrast to Akio. It was funny how fate worked out things like that.
"[Nah, not a book worm. Not unless book worms are cute nowadays.]" Akio smiled, propping his head up on his hand, resting his elbow on one of the de-feathered pillows at their side. Kumiko glanced out of the corner of her eye at him, blushing when she saw his disarming smile.
Silence filled the air for a few moments, emphasizing just how alone the two were in the Nikado family house. What was more, they were alone in Kumiko's bedroom. There was a certain tension humming in the air, begging to be set free, to be broken somehow. Yet neither of the teens knew completely how to go about it.
Akio finally worked up the nerve to break the tension, in the most unexpected of ways-- without a single word of advance notice, he leaned over Kumiko and kissed her firmly on the lips, his hand still propping up his head just above hers. Hardly intrusive, gentle lips caressed hers, slowly becoming more eager as Kumiko, in all her embarassment, gave way to the feelings she'd harbored for Akio for so long.
At last...
Back at the arcade...
"Hey! Hey, Alexa, snap out of it!"
"Ugh?" Alexa groaned as she sat up, her head throbbing as if someone had slammed a gong against it quite soundly.
What had happened? She remembered DDRing... and feeling sort of displaced from the rest of the world. Then, there...
I... I think I bumped into someone. Some... some girl. And I fainted? What the heck...?
Alexa looked around her confused. The only faces she met were those of her friends-- Matt was hovering over her, sitting on his haunches with a worried expression creasing his features. Andrea stood next to him, holding a wet paper towel, while Vic was behind her, and Jason was standing behind him, hands in his pockets and trying not to look upset by Matt's closeness.
"Isn't Prince Charmin' supposed to kiss his Cinderella awake?" Alexa murmured, sitting up. Matt immediately leaned forward to support her back with his hand, and Alexa saw that nearly all her friends were nearby, looking various levels of confused, perplexed, or worried.
"You really must have your wires crossed, Al! Prince Charmin' kisses Snow White awake... not Cinderella!" Andrea laughed, kneeling down to wipe the brow of her friend.
"What... happened?"
"Heck if we know," Matthew started, a grim expression donning his face, "One minute you were DDRing like a pro and trying to be humble about it, next minute you were on the floor."
"Yeah... and that girl we saw... she just split when you fainted." Andrea finished, looking out towards the pier. Wherever that girl was, she wasn't in sight. With Alexa's reaction to the name 'Akio Kataoka' earlier, and now this, Andrea was getting worried.
What's going on here? What's up with Al... and who was that girl?
One mystery after another... and they were no closer to solving anything.
Outside...
What... what was that? Kumiko thought to herself, sucking in a breath. The moment the young girl's eyes had met hers, truly one-on-one, Kumiko felt as though she was staring straight at... straight at...
Akio...
But it couldn't be! Akio was dead! Why couldn't she just... forget? Why was a someone here in San Francisco, 3000 miles away... a girl no less, reminding Kumiko of her deceased lover? Why was her heart being continually plagued by regrets...?
Pressing a hand to her rapidly pulsing heart, Kumiko left the nook between the arcade and the small cafe next door, quickly weaving through the evening crowds out to the boardwalk, and away from the Pier Side Arcade.
I don't know what's happening, Akio... why you keep haunting me. I wish I could say sorry... but it's time for me to move on.
End of Part
4!
Okay, I know these parts are short... and they're not much for cliffhangers!
-.-; I also have to work in the DDR a bit more. This chapter was quite TWAFFY,
if I do say so myself... Let me know what you think!
Oh, and Sean... happy now? I made it so that it makes sense that Alexa uses freestyle moves, even if she's "inhabited" by Akio! By the way, he'll be making an appearance soon, along with more of Alexa's friends.
Look forward to it!