I've not been writing fanfiction for a long, long time, do forgive the style… This takes place post-SODOM, if you've not read the manga it'll be really difficult to understand why this and that happens. Pairings: ReccaYanagi, RaiFuu, NeonKurei. Some of you might hate it, some of you might not. Believe me, these pairings are the consequence of the manga. Have fun!

Oh and by the way: You may realize that you cannot identify some punctuation marks if you browser is set to the Western European setting. Please right click and go to 'Encoding', then click on 'Unicode (UTF-8)'. Sorry for the inconvenience!

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Prologue

"I think this will be good," smiled Yanagi at Recca as she held up a baby bottle. Recca frowned and pointed at a colorful bib with teddy bears drawn on top.

"Wouldn't that be better? It is his birthday, he likes pretty things."

Yanagi stared up at Recca.

"You've changed, Recca-kun. You're more… sensitive now."

Recca gave her a sheepish grin. "Well, I have to be."

Yanagi smiled back and nodded decidedly. "The bib it shall be!"

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"Why on earth did you not remember to get the fertiliser earlier in the day?" scolded Aoi, as she cruised down the aisles of the supermarket with Domon, shopping for Hana no Ishijima. "We could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere than a supermarket!"

"Sorry," Domon muttered, looking at his watch. It was already close to nine p.m. He sighed as he remembered his mother's expression when she found out just minutes before that Domon forgot to get the fertilizer.

It was then when the two of them heard a deafening tirade in the canned food section just in front.

"Maybe we can get free food while they're not looking," Domon enthusiastically raced towards the noise.

"Sure, Domon," Aoi sarcastically cheered. "Everything goes through the cashier in a supermarket."

"…If I told you I was kidding, would you believe me?" Domon hopefully asked.

Aoi rolled her eyes and continued pushing the shopping cart forward.

And then she stopped.

"Whoa, look at that."

Domon, true to his nature, looked.

A Caucasian-looking girl about their age was crawling out of a huge pile of baked bean cans – slowly, but unhurt. She stood up, looked at the pile of cans bewilderedly and then left.

"What a babe that gaijin is…" Domon's eyes turned into stars as he dreamily stared after her.

Aoi frowned and pushed the cart towards the pile before thoughtfully picking up a few cans and putting them down inside. She decidedly hit Domon (hard) on the head with one of the cans before heading for the fertilizer.

"Why did you take the cans?" Domon asked cheekily. "You think it's gonna be free, don't you? Since there are huge dents and all."

Aoi gave an exasperated sigh. "Very hardworking of you to try to use your brain, but no. I am going to try to get them cheap, not free. There's nothing free in this world."

Domon grumbled under his breath as they walked along when suddenly Aoi said, "Wait. There's something that will probably be free in this world."

"What?"

"Your brain. I can't see why it's going to be worth anything."

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"Raiha" Fuuko bounded up to the said 'victim', waving a plastic snake that could light up, and had segments to facilitate its movement if you just flicked on a switch, in his face. "Do you think he'll like this?"

"Honestly, he likes anything colorful. And you choose the weirdest things!"

"Isn't this cool? It lights up in so many different colors and wriggles around! It even has a motion detector so it doesn't bump into anything easily. He'll love it!"

"Fuuko… If this is functions as what you have described, it must be expensive."

Fuuko shot Raiha a death glare and muttered something that sounded like "Your coffin will be a cheap one, I promise."

Raiha sighed and took a look at the price tag.

He promptly fainted.

x

"Mika-chan…" Tokiya's long-time neighbour Itsuko (who loved to borrow essentials like mineral water from him since she didn't have anything much in her home but hangovers) knocked on his door.

"What…" Tokiya opened the door, albeit irritated. He was studying for his entrance exams to university (read: University of Tokyo) and he did not, I repeat, did not like anyone to break his concentration.

"I'm moving out next week to my boyfriend's place!" smiled Itsuko. "I, well, just wanted to say thank you. And goodbye."

She gave him a small bow. Awkwardly, he bowed back.

"You've been a nice kid, Mika-chan," she smiled. "I do hope you have a good neighbor… At least, someone who's sober most of the time," she winked.

"Thank you, Itsuko-san."

"No problem," came the soft spoken reply. "Thank you for putting up with all my hangover nonsense these few years."

"You're welcome."

"Ah, what's with all this politeness today! Sheesh. I do hope you get a girlfriend soon. See you around!"

With that, Itsuko left and Tokiya shut the door, allowing sound to resonate throughout the silent corridor.