"Are you sure honey?" Hitomi's mom asked over the phone.
"Yeah," Hitomi smiled. "I'm going shopping."
"By yourself?" she asked.
"No," Hitomi half lied. After all she wasn't alone, but she didn't really know this man either. "Kanako and Ikiko are with me." Now that was a full lie.
"Well," Hitomi's mom stretched out the word well, thinking, "I guess it's okay then."
"Thanks Mom!" Hitomi smiled. "See you at about 4:30!"
"Okay honey."
"Bye!" Hitomi hung up her cell phone and put it back in her purse. "All right, mister," she eyed him. "First of all, what's your name?"
"My name?" the man asked. "Mih--" he stopped. "Icchan." he smiled. "Call me Icchan."
"Well, Icchan!" she smiled. "Let's go."
"You know," he smiled. "You're the first one who hasn't called me Mr. Icchan."
"First one of what?" Hitomi asked.
"Nothing," he smiled. "Now, LET'S GO!" he yelled.
"YEAH!" Hitomi yelled after him and the two of them started to walk down the street.
"Did you see that guy?"
"The one in the lab coat?"
"I think he's stalking that 8th grader."
De ja vu...
*** "Here we are," Icchan smiled as they walked through the revolving doors of Piffle Princess. Hitomi gasped at the size of it. It was three stories high and had every toy imaginable. Dolls, bears, games, everything. The female employees wore short white skirts and long white blouses with nurses hats that had wings coming out from them. The male employees all wore aprons with the Piffle Princess Logo on them. The store was painted completely pink, yellow, and white, and little children everywhere scrambled for toys.
"All right, Hitomi," Icchan smiled. "LET'S GO!"
Icchan grabbed Hitomi and sprinted to an with a huge sign over it that said, "Angelic Layer."
"HERE WE ARE!" Icchan yelled and Hitomi gasped as she looked around the huge two aisles of merchandise. There was cloths, hair pieces, lap tops, mini arenas... "This," he smiled, "Is the heaven of Angelic Layer. And that," he pointed to the very center display, piled to the brim with the same eggs that he had had. "Is where your journey begins."
Hitomi carefully, as if they were a pit of snakes and she did not want to disturb them, walked over to the eggs, and gently picked one up. "What does it do?" she asked quietly, almost feeling a pulsing in her hands.
"From that," Icchan smiled, "You can build your own Battle Angel. You can fight with her and she'll be like your partner." he put his hands on her shoulder. "Your thoughts are her commands."
Hitomi still looked confused. Icchan rolled his eyes, slightly, "Look at the TV." This was the first time that Hitomi had noticed the TV at the end of the aisle. People on it were fighting. They were wearing strange clothes and trying to beat each other up. There was a small one and a huge one. "See that fight?" he asked. "Those are angels."
"Who cares?" Hitomi said, almost putting down the egg. "The little one is going to get crushed. It's obvious." She sighed. "It's always like that." She looked at the small one. She had short, uneven red hair and a red and gold fighting suit. She was so small compared to the other one. Hitomi turned around, slightly.
Hitomi heard the announcer, "And I think this is it folks!" Hitomi turned back to the TV. "YES IT IS, IT'S THE ROLLING THUNDER!" The little angel spun in the air and her legs catapulted the big Angel out of the arena. The little angel had won!
"And another victory for Deus, Misaki Suzuhara, age 18." Hitomi saw the girl. She was small too, just like her angel. She ran over to the other deus and asked if her angel was hurt. She was so caring. Hitomi kept watching the TV as she held the Egg in her hands. Her hands vibrated, as if the pulse of the egg had picked up.
"I want to be like her." she said softly. She stared at Misaki smiling at her fans and telling the other deus that they'd fight again for a rematch. Her angel sat peacefully in her arms, and Misaki hugged her. She wanted to do that. To outdo the odds! To prove to everyone that it's not what's on the outside that counts, but the spirit inside. "Icchan!" she yelled and Icchan looked at her, puzzled. "I've decided!" she turned around to face him, and grinned, "I'm going to play Angelic Layer!"
*** As Hitomi walked back to the curb with a bag full of stuff she wondered how she had ended up spending all of her allowance for the past 6 months. Now she remembered. ***
"Well," Icchan smiled at her. "You'll need this," he handed her a computer, "And this," he handed her a home layer, "And this, and this, and this and this!" he started pelting her with things that she would need to play the game such as hair pieces, angel cords, and so much more.
"That's a lot of stuff!" Hitomi yelled over the mile high pile of things she had in her arms.
"NOW LET'S PURCHASE!" Icchan yelled pointing at the register.
"YEAH!" Hitomi cried as well as she ran over to the check out stand to buy her things.
"THERE HE IS!" a woman with a small bag shouted, pointing at Icchan as Hitomi bought her things. "THAT MAN FOLLOWING THAT MIDDLE SCHOOL SENIOR! I THINK HE'S CRAZY!"
Quickly, security had surrounded Icchan. "Let's go you degenerate!" Security grabbed Icchan and started carrying him away.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" he yelled as they carried him off in a straight jacket, "I'M PERFECTLY SANE!"
After Hitomi had finished paying for all her things and had them all tucked safely in a bag she noticed that Icchan was not with her. (Big surprise ^_^;;) "Icchan?" she asked. She then noticed it was already 4:20. "I'd better get to the curb though." she smiled as she walked out of the store. "I'll just look him up in the phone book or something if I have any questions."
*** Now she was just walking towards the curb and as she turned the corner she saw,
"MOM?" she yelled. She then backed off as her mother was looking very upset.
"I called Kanako and Ikiko's moms," she said bitterly, her face was red, "It seems they left for home about an hour and a half ago." Hitomi looked down at the ground. "Were you out all by yourself?" she asked.
Hitomi wanted to tell her that she was with Icchan, but she knew her mother wouldn't want her hanging out with some strange man in a lab coat and glasses. "Yeah," she said fiddling with her feet.
"Do you know what could have happened to you?" she yelled a Hitomi.
"But, Mom," Hitomi started.
"Not buts!" she yelled. "Get in the car." Hitomi's eyes started to water as she got into the car. Her mother sighed and rolled her eyes. She then turned Hitomi around and looked her in the eye. "Next time you do this you're so grounded." she smiled.
Hitomi's face lit up, "Thanks Mom!" she laughed and hugged her.
*** "So," Hitomi and her mom had started down the road towards her house, "What did you buy?"
"Oh look!" Hitomi smiled as she took out her angel egg from her pink Piffle Princess bag.
"An egg?" Hitomi's mom looked at it through the rear view mirror.
"An Angel Egg." Hitomi corrected her. "You should know Mom, I mean, you are the anchor of Good Morning Japan!"
"Co-anchor," her mother corrected her. "Shuoko is my Senior remember?"
"Yeah," Hitomi sighed.
"But you know," Hitomi's mom smiled, "Angelic Layer stars are really popular now a days."
"Really?" asked Hitomi. She looked at her egg and felt it's smooth glass surface.. "I'm going to be a star too." she sighed quietly.
"Yeah," Hitomi's mom said, "But a million others want to be stars too. You'll have to beat a whole lot of people to get to the top."
"I'll work hard," Hitomi smiled. "For my Angel."
*** The minute Hitomi got home she ran into her room to open her parcels. She ran fast through the halls, so fast that she ran into her older brother, Tasuki, making them both fall to the ground.
"Watch it squirt!" he yelled. Tasuki was a Junior in High School. His ebony hair matched Hitomi's but he had his father's hazel eyes, while Hitomi had her mother's blue ones. He had already changed out of his uniform into a sleeveless top and shorts.
"Are you going out again?" his mother asked as she sat down in a chair.
"C'mon Mom," Tasuki persisted, "I want to make my Basketball team, don't I?"
"Alright, alright," their mother huffed and walked into the kitchen as Tasuki ran outside with his basketball.
"Basketball is so pointless," Hitomi put up her nose and ran into her room. Her room shone of her favorite color, sky blue. She had blue walls and a sky for a ceiling, painted with sponge clouds. Her bed was decorated with a blue bed spread and her white frilly pillows. Behind the bed was a bulletin board with all of her friends pictures on it. Her furniture was painted white and the carpet was a pretty blue with a white and blue striped rug. Hitomi heaved herself onto her bed and took out her angel egg to start. She quickly read the directions from the booklet attached, "Your Angel is filled with a shock absorbent liquid," she read, "Open it in a bathroom or someplace with a drain."
Quickly Hitomi ran to her bathroom and carefully opened her angel egg. The turquoise goo flowed out of the egg and she took a look at her angel. It was really skinny and had a lot of joints showing. It was actually kind of scary but she didn't want to admit that. "Next direction," she looked at the booklet. "After the doll is removed from the egg, carefully wash the shock-absorbent liquid off with warm water." Hitomi held the angel under the sink as the warm water flowed down on it. "Done!" she smiled and ran back into her room, still reading the instruction booklet.
"Next I need to give her hair," she smiled and looked at all of the choices Mr. Icchan had picked out for her. She looked around at all the colors. They were all the same style but there was every color imaginable. There were so many, but she could only use one. She would pick one and return the rest back to the store for a refund. After debating and debating for over a half an hour she narrowed it down to the final three colors, Sky blue, Silver, and Lavender. Sky blue would be a cliché as everything in her room was that color. She discarded that. Lavender would look odd, she wanted her Angel to be intimidating. So, by process of elimination Silver was the one.
She made the style into a bun at the top of the angel's head and a short ponytail of silver hair. She also gave her angel bangs, to make her look more intimidating. "So cool!" Hitomi squealed, as her Angel started to come together in her hand. "Next," she set up her computer as the booklet told her too. She took two rings from the packaged. "Okay," she smiled, "These go here." She put the two rings on a platform and one magnetically rose making a colored tube. Hitomi gasped with delight. "And now," she looked at the final set of instructions, "I put her in here and choose her parameters and emphasis."
This was the toughest part. This would actually determine how her angel would do in Angelic Layer. She remembered Misaki's angel. It was built on the emphasis of speed, but Hitomi didn't want to be a copycat. And anyway, she wanted this Angel to be a force to be reckoned with. But still, she wanted this to be a small angel. She quickly put in small parameters. She would defy the odds. Her emphasis was on Power. A bit of power was sacrificed because of her small size but her speed went up a small bit. Hitomi would show everyone that size and appearance doesn't matter. It's what's inside that counts.
Sure of herself, Hitomi pressed the big blue ENTER key. On the screen is flashed, "PICK A NAME FOR YOUR ANGEL." Hitomi sat long and hard. She had completely forgotten that her angel needed a name. What would she name her? She stared all around her room for inspiration. She stared at books for inspiration. She looked at her favorite shows for inspiration. But nothing came to her until finally, she got it. The perfect name. The name that would be the name of the next Angelic Layer Champion.
"IKAYA." she typed and pressed enter one last time.
Out of the tube came Ikaya, only this time she had eyes, a nose, and mouth. Hitomi stared in awe at her creation and then yelled at the top of her lungs, "YES! I'VE DONE IT!" she stared at Ikaya lovingly, "I've made an Angel."
*** Yes! Completed! So Ikaya's been created, but what about her armor and other such things! Tune in next time, for Battle 3! Hitomi's first battle! Will she survive? Find out! Please keep reading and reviewing!
"Yeah," Hitomi smiled. "I'm going shopping."
"By yourself?" she asked.
"No," Hitomi half lied. After all she wasn't alone, but she didn't really know this man either. "Kanako and Ikiko are with me." Now that was a full lie.
"Well," Hitomi's mom stretched out the word well, thinking, "I guess it's okay then."
"Thanks Mom!" Hitomi smiled. "See you at about 4:30!"
"Okay honey."
"Bye!" Hitomi hung up her cell phone and put it back in her purse. "All right, mister," she eyed him. "First of all, what's your name?"
"My name?" the man asked. "Mih--" he stopped. "Icchan." he smiled. "Call me Icchan."
"Well, Icchan!" she smiled. "Let's go."
"You know," he smiled. "You're the first one who hasn't called me Mr. Icchan."
"First one of what?" Hitomi asked.
"Nothing," he smiled. "Now, LET'S GO!" he yelled.
"YEAH!" Hitomi yelled after him and the two of them started to walk down the street.
"Did you see that guy?"
"The one in the lab coat?"
"I think he's stalking that 8th grader."
De ja vu...
*** "Here we are," Icchan smiled as they walked through the revolving doors of Piffle Princess. Hitomi gasped at the size of it. It was three stories high and had every toy imaginable. Dolls, bears, games, everything. The female employees wore short white skirts and long white blouses with nurses hats that had wings coming out from them. The male employees all wore aprons with the Piffle Princess Logo on them. The store was painted completely pink, yellow, and white, and little children everywhere scrambled for toys.
"All right, Hitomi," Icchan smiled. "LET'S GO!"
Icchan grabbed Hitomi and sprinted to an with a huge sign over it that said, "Angelic Layer."
"HERE WE ARE!" Icchan yelled and Hitomi gasped as she looked around the huge two aisles of merchandise. There was cloths, hair pieces, lap tops, mini arenas... "This," he smiled, "Is the heaven of Angelic Layer. And that," he pointed to the very center display, piled to the brim with the same eggs that he had had. "Is where your journey begins."
Hitomi carefully, as if they were a pit of snakes and she did not want to disturb them, walked over to the eggs, and gently picked one up. "What does it do?" she asked quietly, almost feeling a pulsing in her hands.
"From that," Icchan smiled, "You can build your own Battle Angel. You can fight with her and she'll be like your partner." he put his hands on her shoulder. "Your thoughts are her commands."
Hitomi still looked confused. Icchan rolled his eyes, slightly, "Look at the TV." This was the first time that Hitomi had noticed the TV at the end of the aisle. People on it were fighting. They were wearing strange clothes and trying to beat each other up. There was a small one and a huge one. "See that fight?" he asked. "Those are angels."
"Who cares?" Hitomi said, almost putting down the egg. "The little one is going to get crushed. It's obvious." She sighed. "It's always like that." She looked at the small one. She had short, uneven red hair and a red and gold fighting suit. She was so small compared to the other one. Hitomi turned around, slightly.
Hitomi heard the announcer, "And I think this is it folks!" Hitomi turned back to the TV. "YES IT IS, IT'S THE ROLLING THUNDER!" The little angel spun in the air and her legs catapulted the big Angel out of the arena. The little angel had won!
"And another victory for Deus, Misaki Suzuhara, age 18." Hitomi saw the girl. She was small too, just like her angel. She ran over to the other deus and asked if her angel was hurt. She was so caring. Hitomi kept watching the TV as she held the Egg in her hands. Her hands vibrated, as if the pulse of the egg had picked up.
"I want to be like her." she said softly. She stared at Misaki smiling at her fans and telling the other deus that they'd fight again for a rematch. Her angel sat peacefully in her arms, and Misaki hugged her. She wanted to do that. To outdo the odds! To prove to everyone that it's not what's on the outside that counts, but the spirit inside. "Icchan!" she yelled and Icchan looked at her, puzzled. "I've decided!" she turned around to face him, and grinned, "I'm going to play Angelic Layer!"
*** As Hitomi walked back to the curb with a bag full of stuff she wondered how she had ended up spending all of her allowance for the past 6 months. Now she remembered. ***
"Well," Icchan smiled at her. "You'll need this," he handed her a computer, "And this," he handed her a home layer, "And this, and this, and this and this!" he started pelting her with things that she would need to play the game such as hair pieces, angel cords, and so much more.
"That's a lot of stuff!" Hitomi yelled over the mile high pile of things she had in her arms.
"NOW LET'S PURCHASE!" Icchan yelled pointing at the register.
"YEAH!" Hitomi cried as well as she ran over to the check out stand to buy her things.
"THERE HE IS!" a woman with a small bag shouted, pointing at Icchan as Hitomi bought her things. "THAT MAN FOLLOWING THAT MIDDLE SCHOOL SENIOR! I THINK HE'S CRAZY!"
Quickly, security had surrounded Icchan. "Let's go you degenerate!" Security grabbed Icchan and started carrying him away.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" he yelled as they carried him off in a straight jacket, "I'M PERFECTLY SANE!"
After Hitomi had finished paying for all her things and had them all tucked safely in a bag she noticed that Icchan was not with her. (Big surprise ^_^;;) "Icchan?" she asked. She then noticed it was already 4:20. "I'd better get to the curb though." she smiled as she walked out of the store. "I'll just look him up in the phone book or something if I have any questions."
*** Now she was just walking towards the curb and as she turned the corner she saw,
"MOM?" she yelled. She then backed off as her mother was looking very upset.
"I called Kanako and Ikiko's moms," she said bitterly, her face was red, "It seems they left for home about an hour and a half ago." Hitomi looked down at the ground. "Were you out all by yourself?" she asked.
Hitomi wanted to tell her that she was with Icchan, but she knew her mother wouldn't want her hanging out with some strange man in a lab coat and glasses. "Yeah," she said fiddling with her feet.
"Do you know what could have happened to you?" she yelled a Hitomi.
"But, Mom," Hitomi started.
"Not buts!" she yelled. "Get in the car." Hitomi's eyes started to water as she got into the car. Her mother sighed and rolled her eyes. She then turned Hitomi around and looked her in the eye. "Next time you do this you're so grounded." she smiled.
Hitomi's face lit up, "Thanks Mom!" she laughed and hugged her.
*** "So," Hitomi and her mom had started down the road towards her house, "What did you buy?"
"Oh look!" Hitomi smiled as she took out her angel egg from her pink Piffle Princess bag.
"An egg?" Hitomi's mom looked at it through the rear view mirror.
"An Angel Egg." Hitomi corrected her. "You should know Mom, I mean, you are the anchor of Good Morning Japan!"
"Co-anchor," her mother corrected her. "Shuoko is my Senior remember?"
"Yeah," Hitomi sighed.
"But you know," Hitomi's mom smiled, "Angelic Layer stars are really popular now a days."
"Really?" asked Hitomi. She looked at her egg and felt it's smooth glass surface.. "I'm going to be a star too." she sighed quietly.
"Yeah," Hitomi's mom said, "But a million others want to be stars too. You'll have to beat a whole lot of people to get to the top."
"I'll work hard," Hitomi smiled. "For my Angel."
*** The minute Hitomi got home she ran into her room to open her parcels. She ran fast through the halls, so fast that she ran into her older brother, Tasuki, making them both fall to the ground.
"Watch it squirt!" he yelled. Tasuki was a Junior in High School. His ebony hair matched Hitomi's but he had his father's hazel eyes, while Hitomi had her mother's blue ones. He had already changed out of his uniform into a sleeveless top and shorts.
"Are you going out again?" his mother asked as she sat down in a chair.
"C'mon Mom," Tasuki persisted, "I want to make my Basketball team, don't I?"
"Alright, alright," their mother huffed and walked into the kitchen as Tasuki ran outside with his basketball.
"Basketball is so pointless," Hitomi put up her nose and ran into her room. Her room shone of her favorite color, sky blue. She had blue walls and a sky for a ceiling, painted with sponge clouds. Her bed was decorated with a blue bed spread and her white frilly pillows. Behind the bed was a bulletin board with all of her friends pictures on it. Her furniture was painted white and the carpet was a pretty blue with a white and blue striped rug. Hitomi heaved herself onto her bed and took out her angel egg to start. She quickly read the directions from the booklet attached, "Your Angel is filled with a shock absorbent liquid," she read, "Open it in a bathroom or someplace with a drain."
Quickly Hitomi ran to her bathroom and carefully opened her angel egg. The turquoise goo flowed out of the egg and she took a look at her angel. It was really skinny and had a lot of joints showing. It was actually kind of scary but she didn't want to admit that. "Next direction," she looked at the booklet. "After the doll is removed from the egg, carefully wash the shock-absorbent liquid off with warm water." Hitomi held the angel under the sink as the warm water flowed down on it. "Done!" she smiled and ran back into her room, still reading the instruction booklet.
"Next I need to give her hair," she smiled and looked at all of the choices Mr. Icchan had picked out for her. She looked around at all the colors. They were all the same style but there was every color imaginable. There were so many, but she could only use one. She would pick one and return the rest back to the store for a refund. After debating and debating for over a half an hour she narrowed it down to the final three colors, Sky blue, Silver, and Lavender. Sky blue would be a cliché as everything in her room was that color. She discarded that. Lavender would look odd, she wanted her Angel to be intimidating. So, by process of elimination Silver was the one.
She made the style into a bun at the top of the angel's head and a short ponytail of silver hair. She also gave her angel bangs, to make her look more intimidating. "So cool!" Hitomi squealed, as her Angel started to come together in her hand. "Next," she set up her computer as the booklet told her too. She took two rings from the packaged. "Okay," she smiled, "These go here." She put the two rings on a platform and one magnetically rose making a colored tube. Hitomi gasped with delight. "And now," she looked at the final set of instructions, "I put her in here and choose her parameters and emphasis."
This was the toughest part. This would actually determine how her angel would do in Angelic Layer. She remembered Misaki's angel. It was built on the emphasis of speed, but Hitomi didn't want to be a copycat. And anyway, she wanted this Angel to be a force to be reckoned with. But still, she wanted this to be a small angel. She quickly put in small parameters. She would defy the odds. Her emphasis was on Power. A bit of power was sacrificed because of her small size but her speed went up a small bit. Hitomi would show everyone that size and appearance doesn't matter. It's what's inside that counts.
Sure of herself, Hitomi pressed the big blue ENTER key. On the screen is flashed, "PICK A NAME FOR YOUR ANGEL." Hitomi sat long and hard. She had completely forgotten that her angel needed a name. What would she name her? She stared all around her room for inspiration. She stared at books for inspiration. She looked at her favorite shows for inspiration. But nothing came to her until finally, she got it. The perfect name. The name that would be the name of the next Angelic Layer Champion.
"IKAYA." she typed and pressed enter one last time.
Out of the tube came Ikaya, only this time she had eyes, a nose, and mouth. Hitomi stared in awe at her creation and then yelled at the top of her lungs, "YES! I'VE DONE IT!" she stared at Ikaya lovingly, "I've made an Angel."
*** Yes! Completed! So Ikaya's been created, but what about her armor and other such things! Tune in next time, for Battle 3! Hitomi's first battle! Will she survive? Find out! Please keep reading and reviewing!