Thanks again for all reviews! In response to them: I will put Maniwa into later chapters, and possibly the next one. Thanks to all of the reviewers, and thanks for sticking with the story to everyone still reading. It took a little while, but it's up here! The third chapter that moves the story to the beginning of the plot. Enjoy!

Yuichi Tayra or 'Ichi' was accused two years ago of being Lil' Slugger, but when he became a victim himself, he began to rebuild his popularity. People immediately apologized for how they had acted, and 'Ichi' was back.

But then the second incident happened.

Things in his school were spiraling downward. He had neglected to study for a test, and failed. In conjunction, he was the final out on his baseball team, and pitched majority of the opposing side's points to them. The day was horrible, and he finally snapped on the next person who talked to him.

It just happened to be Ushi, and majority of the class just happened to be watching.

They began to accuse him of attacking Ushi a few weeks back. They called him one of Lil' Slugger's wanna-be's. They were assuming there were more knock-off kids of Lil' Slugger solely because of the one kid who committed suicide in prison. His life was being destroyed again.

The black ooze disaster stopped the rumors again, and Yuichi moved up to middle school. Now he didn't even try to be popular. He had become extremely anti-social. He still kept up his grades, but never tried to make friends again, and never tried to climb the social ladder again.

Yuichi was walking back from school as the sun was setting. He had been absent the previous day, and had to stay after to make up a test. He was sure he'd aced it, but showed no enthusiasm.

A movie store turned on its lights as he walked past. Hanging in the windows were the new movie posters. Yuichi stopped, and looked at the new movie release list for a little while. The new movies were:

Pet Shop Fun 3, The Rumor, Distortion, and Kilko the Kat goes to Tokyo.

RUMOR DISTORTION

Yuichi stared at the last new release, 'Kilko the Kat goes to Tokyo'. The stupid cat that replaced the pink dog was doing well, apparently. Yuichi turned away, and continued walking home.

A computer had the image of a half-finished character that resembled a frog. It had a short tie, spiraling eyes, and a small tuft of hair on top of its head. A line that formed half of an underbelly was just barely visible without the color added yet.

On top of the computer was a small cat plush toy with a head that was too big for its body. It was almost colored like a Siamese cat, and had large eyes with big black pupils.

All of this was set up in a cubicle. It wasn't too small, but with all of the printed character designs, it was extremely cluttered. A hand reached over the cubicle wall and grabbed the cat. The person sitting in the middle of the cubicle looked up.

"Can you believe the success of Kilko?" asked a woman with long brown hair. "She's even got her own movie out now!"

"Oh, hello, Mariyama," said the person in the cubicle. Knowing who was talking to them, the person returned to coloring the frog.

"Oh, is this the new character design?" asked Mariyama. She stared at the frog for a few seconds, and smiled. "Tell me, how do you keep coming up with these designs, Tsukiko?" Tsukiko gave a small smile, and then let her face return to the expressionless gaze it normally carried.

Tsukiko Sagi had changed how she looked entirely. She had cut her hair so that it was now shoulder length, and didn't wear the same pink outfit people would usually see her in. Instead, she had a grey vest that buttoned towards the middle of it, and a matching skirt. Underneath the vest, she wore a short-sleeved white t-shirt with a crew-cut collar. Two of the only things that remained the same were her style of shoes, although they were a new pair, and the fact that she wore glasses when working on her computer.

"I'm not sure," Tsukiko said. "They just come to me." Mariyama smiled.

"Whatever happened to the dog that originally made you so famous? Maromi?" Mariyama asked. Tsukiko's eyes narrowed.

"The character didn't work out," Tsukiko responded quickly. "Too many flaws and character designing troubles with the series."

"Oh," said Mariyama, slightly taken back by Tsukiko's quick response. "Well, good luck on your next design!" Mariyama walked out of the cubicle, and Tsukiko looked up at Kilko.

"Why did she have to ask that?" Tsukiko said to herself, and went back to giving the frog color.

Yuichi walked down the road to school. Two years ago, he would be staring ahead of him, eagerly awaiting the welcome of his peers as the sight of his school would come into view. But as he always thought, that was two years ago.

The day seemed normal at first, but Yuichi knew that something bad was going to happen. No sooner had he thought this, when a kid bumped into him. Yuichi waited for the insults and how he should 'watch where he was walking', but they never came. Finally Yuichi turned around to see a short kid who otherwise looked his age trembling in fear.

"Please," he begged as Yuichi stared blankly. "Don't hurt me!" The kid ran ahead of Yuichi, leaving him confused.

When Yuichi got to school, he realized what that had been about. Someone left him a note saying very abruptly, 'You attacked Chono!" Yuichi stared at the note with a blank look on his face.

Mrs. Chono awoke in the hospital last night. She reported nothing to the police except that she was 'still feeling a little weak'. Police have only received a small statement that the attacker had dark hair and wielded a large golden baseball bat.

Yuichi gave a small smile as his eyes narrowed. That's what was happening? People thought he was attacking people? Assaulting them on the streets? Yuichi dropped the note.

This isn't happening, thought Yuichi. Not again, no. People just like to spread rumors, that's all. This won't grow to become that again.

Yuichi had been wrong. No sooner had he got into class, people formed small circles and whispered, occasionally looking at him.

Nothing's happening. He assured himself. Nothing at all is happening. Yuichi began to hear the whispers as he took his seat.

"He did it!"

"He attacked that school teacher!"

"Wasn't she a tutor?"

"He killed that fat man!"

"He's a murderer!"

"Settle down class," stated a teacher as she walked into the room. The loud rumors stopped, but a few people continued in a whisper.

Nothing's happening, Yuichi thought again. Nothing. They aren't doing this.

Tsukiko pushed open Mariyama's office door. She had called Tsukiko to her office. Something about characters. Tsukiko had just barely pushed open the door when Mariyama shouted, "Tsukiko! Come in! Sit down!"

Obeying, Tsukiko sat in the wooden chair in front of Mariyama's desk. The office itself was rectangular, and surprisingly clean for the type of person Mariyama rubbed off as. A small plant stood in the corner of the office by a large window behind Mariyama's desk. Mariyama smiled, her lips were covered in crimson lipstick, and stretched extremely thin.

"I'm glad at the characters you designed," said Mariyama. "It's refreshing to see you haven't forgotten you're roots," Tsukiko, who had been looking at the exciting carpeting, turned her attention to the thin women.

"Excuse me," started Tsukiko, "But what character design are you talking about?"

"This one!" exclaimed Mariyama, holding up a manila folder. "It's so cute, too!"

"I'm sorry," began Tsukiko. "But what character is it?" Now Mariyama stared in confusion.

"The one you gave me, or course," She brought the envelope down to her desk and opened it. "I'm glad you brought him back," Tsukiko's eyes widened in horror.

Mariyama was holding up a picture of Maromi.

"You dropped it in my mail," said Mariyama. "Why you didn't you just give it to me yourself?

"I need to withdraw that character," Tsukiko said hastily.

"But…" Mariyama tried to reason, but Tsukiko ignored her.

"I'll get you a good character on Monday, just please return that drawing," Without waiting for an answer, Tsukiko took the picture and walked hastily out of the office.

"Uh, okay then!" Mariyama shouted after her. "I'll be waiting on Monday!"

Tsukiko immediately returned to her cubicle and dropped the paper on her desk. The drawing of Maromi seemed to be staring at her.

"Someone just played a trick on me," Tsukiko whispered. "That's all," Tsukiko finished her statement as she slipped the Maromi picture through the shredder. One of the strips of paper fell, and seemed to be staring a Tsukiko.

Yuichi stood in line and listened to the student continue talking about him.

"I heard he attacked the tutor because she stopped teaching him!"

"Really?"

"I heard that too!"

"So why did he attack that girl?"

"Because he could! He let his power go to his head, and-,"

The people left the line with their pizza, and Yuichi couldn't hear them anymore. All the better. Yuichi waited for his pizza, but instead stared at the tuna sandwich placed on his tray.

"We're out of pizza," said a fat lunch lady as another one hastily tried to hide the rest of the pizza under the counter.

"Are you serious?" Yuichi asked no one. "Everyone?" When he walked out into the cafeteria, everyone was talking about him. Yelling things at him. Insulting him. Even the teachers. Everything was happening all over again.

Yuichi dropped his tray and ran out of the cafeteria. As he pushed open the cafeteria doors and let them swing shut behind him, a handwritten note tapped to the lunchroom doors flapped in the wind.

It read; "Silent Lunch Today".

A few teachers stared, but none stopped Yuichi Tayra from running out of the building. Maybe they thought he would eat lunch in the school greenhouse as a few of the other kids did.

Yuichi didn't stop running. The world was spinning around him.

"Why can't they stop?" Yuichi yelled. "Please! Make them stop! Make them care for me! Please make it all leave!"

Yuichi had turned into a dark alley. A few stray cats hastened to get out of his way as he stumbled around in panic.

"Why did you attack me, Yuichi?" Hirumi Chono was standing in front of him.

"Yeah," jeered a little kid. "You even killed an old man!"

"Make them stop!" yelled Yuichi. "Make it all go away!"

The shapes in Yuichi's vision were blurring together. It all looked like a grayish swirl. As Yuichi stumbled backward, he saw one image that wasn't blurred. A reddish cap and golden skates raced towards him. A golden bat was brought up into the air, and Yuichi saw nothing more.

Night had fallen. Tuskiko walked towards her apartment building, careful not to wander down any alleys. As she reached the building, a feeling of foreboding came over her. Something was wrong.

The climb up the stairs seemed to take no time at all, but it seemed to take a while for her to get her keys out. The fight with her pocket to retrieve the keys ended with them falling onto the carpeted floor. She reached down to grab them, but instead came up with a piece of paper.

Maromi seemed to stare at her from the paper.

Tsukiko gave a sharp cry, grabbed her keys, and shoved them into the lock. She got the door open, practically jumped into her house, and slammed it shut behind her. As she circled around to sit down on her couch, she saw something that caused her to drop her bag onto the floor.

A Maromi doll was sitting on the couch. It looked up at Tsukiko.

"Tsukiko," Maromi said. "He's back,"

Thank you for reading! I should have chapter four up in a shorter time then it took for this one. Please review!