Chapter Two:Honest Feelings of a Kind Soul

The following morning, Ayumi was waiting for Mifumi and her older sister, Miharu at the studio where both of the Kisaragi sisters were now employed. Miharu was Ayumi's contact about things going on with the studio, mostly so that Ayumi could keep an eye on things and help protect Mifumi. After all, being that the Kisaragi were often targeted for either their fame in the industry or their riches, Miharu saw it fit to have a less messy way of keeping her kid sister out of harm's way. Bodyguards became bothersome and were often easily paid off to double cross their clients. Having someone with a deeper rooted connection and a way to deter bad guys without bloodshed was much better for both the Studio's rep, as well as for the Kisaragi girls.

So there Ayumi stood, waiting for the sisters to arrive, dressed in a white collared shirt and black casual suit, a silver pendant hanging from her neck. Her stockings were sheer black and her shoes were black wedged ankle boots with overhanging folds and silver accents. She'd also changed her normal two-tone rounded frames for black square ones, to match the "professional" look that Miharu had insisted on.

Mifumi and Miharu arrived not too much later, Mifumi was dressed a little more fashionably than normal, with a blue bell-sleeved cardigan over a white camisole, a ruffled white skirt with eyelet lace, and white knee-high socks with blue wedges. She ran over to Ayumi and almost tripped a few times while doing so. "G-good morning, Ayumi-chan~"

"Morning, Mifumi." she pet her friend's head, since the girl was still shorter than her. "Miharu was playing dress up I take it?" she asked, smiling a little. "You look cute."

"R-really? Thank you, Ayumi-chan~" Mifumi looked ecstatic that her friend approved of the outfit. "D-do you think Ka- I-i mean Yuuhei-san would like it too...?" she asked, twiddling her thumbs.

"Don't be so nervous, Fumi~!" Miharu walked up behind her sister and grabbed her around the waist, squeezing the girl's chest, which seemed a little more prominent than normal. "I bought you a pretty push-up bra and everything, you look FABULOUS~" she giggled, Mifumi looking like she might pass out from her sister's antics. Miharu's hair was a soft brownish-grey color and it was styled so the short bit in the back was easy to care for, while the front part hung down over her shoulders, but could be pinned back or put into a ponytail of sorts while she worked. Her bangs were just long enough to cover her eyebrows. Her eyes were that same shade of green as her little sister's, but her makeup really made them pop. "And besides, your natural look is appealing, you hardly need anything. Just foundation and a little eyeliner, and you look like a precious doll~!"

"H-haru-nee, stop it!" Mifumi exclaimed, trying to be more bold. Ayumi chuckled at them. "B-besides, Ayumi-chan is much prettier than me!" Ayumi paused, seeing Miharu looking at her.

"I'm not, Mifumi." Ayumi said, backing up a little. But Miharu was on her in a second, groping her chest, causing her to cover herself.

"Mmm, Ayu's boobs make me sooo jealous~!" Miharu said, clinging to the glasses girl. "So soft and big~! I wish I had a rack like this~!"

"M-miharu, enough." she stated, pushing the older girl off. But she latched right back on.

"And your skin is so smooth and pretty~! And your eyelashes are so long~! And you've basically got natural eyeliner~! I wish you'd let me dress you up~!"

"Uh, please no." she replied simply, slipping away from the older girl. "You made me wear the most intolerable shade of pink the last time..." she went back to leaning against a wall. "Besides, you're busy. And we're here to help your sister today, aren't we?"

"That's right~! Here to help my baby Fumi get all dolled up for her Prince Charming~"

"H-haru-nee, shhhhh!" Mifumi said, face bright red as she tried to stop her sister from blabbing her secret to the whole world. Even though most of the people in the studio who worked with Mifumi knew that she had the biggest crush on Yuuhei Hanejima.

"So let's go~!" Miharu dragged the younger girls off to the studio, Ayumi being there mostly to pose as Mifumi's planning agent, while the agency found one of their people willing to work with the girl.

Chieko wandered the streets of Ikebukuro again, but this time she was actually going somewhere. Ayumi had identified a coffee shop that Shizuo often went to with his boss, Tom. Chieko smiled, remembering Tom to be quite an interesting character from what she'd heard. In her normal off-white suit jacket, pink pleated skirt, and light pink stockings, she headed over to the shop, her pinkish-red shoes clicking on the pavement as she went. There was an undeniable spring in her step, though she wasn't even sure if Shizuo would be there today. But after a short while, she found herself lost, as she often did. She was trying to figure out where she was when she heard someone talking to her. She turned to see a familiar face. "Ah~! Shinra~!"

"Chieko~! I knew it was you~!" the doctor smiled, walking over with his medical bag in hand. "What are you doing here? Are you perhaps searching for your long lost high school sweetheart, Shizuo-kun~?"

"Oh but of course, how DID you know~?" she giggled. "Are you perhaps heading home after a job?" she tilted her head to the side, her smile showing how knowledgeable she was about Shinra's business.

"Yes, I was. Do you want to come over? I can introduce you to my lovely room mate, and we can have a nice chat about how things have been~"

"That sounds wonderful~ Is this room mate perhaps a girlfriend~?" she asked as Shinra began leading her to his home, the pair seeming like two peas in a pod.

When they arrived in Shinra's apartment room, Celty was sitting on the couch. "Celty are you home~? We have a visitor~!" he exclaimed, rushing in only to be tossed off of the headless rider by some shadows. "Ahahaha, you're so silly Celty." he smiled, motioning for Chieko to come in. "Celty, this is Chieko Tsubakawa. A former classmate of mine from Raira Academy and a good friend."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Celty-san~" the smiling girl didn't even seem phased by the fact that she was talking to someone without a head. "Are you perhaps the "Headless Rider" everyone is talking about?" she offered a hand. "It's a great honor to meet you." Celty shook the girl's hand, feeling something odd about her but not speaking on the matter. She typed out her response and showed it to Chieko.

"It's nice to meet you too. Are you going to stay for a while? I put some water on for tea."

"That sounds great~" Chieko nodded. She took a seat and Shinra went to brew the tea when the water heated up, all the while explaining things to Celty about how Chieko was in the same year as himself and Shizuo, and that she was always the only girl who ever dared to try and hug Shizuo.

"When we were in our second year, She actually asked him out on a date in front of the whole school~ You should have seen his face, it was super red!"

"Hehe, he looked like a cooked lobster fresh from the steamer~" Chieko said cheerfully. Celty seemed surprised at how much affection towards Shizuo this woman had.

"So why did you leave Ikebukuro? Surely Shizuo must have wanted you to stay."

"... Ehehe... well you see..." Chieko turned to Celty. "Izaya was being a troublemaker... and he was fighting with Shizuo one day... they were getting really aggressive... and when I realized it, I went to try and calm Shizuo down... but." she sighed. "When I arrived on scene, I didn't realize Shizuo had thrown a broken sign post in my direction, and it sliced up my side pretty bad." she removed her jacket and lifted her shirt to show the other woman the scar, which took up a good chunk of her abdomen. She put her shirt back down and put her jacket back on. "I had to leave to get it treated after my body was relatively stable and I never got to come back." she looked a little sad at the mention of it. "But it's okay~ Boys will be boys... I don't blame them for it... I'm just sad that I never got to implement my plan for kissing Shizuo at graduation." she chuckled.

"Oh, you were really going to do it?" Shinra asked, walking over and placing the tea down. "Celty, do you think we would have been that cute if we had been able to go to school together?!" he latched onto Celty, who pushed him off with more shadows, typing something to Chieko.

"Do you love Shizuo?"

"Yes. Yes I do." Chieko smiled. "With all that I am, I love Shizuo." Celty seemed almost taken aback by the girl's sincerity. Did Shizuo not realize it? Or perhaps she had just lost contact with him when she left the city. "But... I don't know if he wants me back..." she sipped at her tea. "... when I got hurt, Shizuo tried to visit me in the hospital... Shinra told me... but apparently my step-mother turned him away and told him to never see me again... But she's dead now so I wanted to come and find Shizuo and ask him to marry me~"

"M-marry?!"

Mifumi was fidgeting and nervous while she was getting ready for the photoshoot with Kasuka and Ruri. This was her debut to the world as a real part of the industry. She was going to be in a magazine with the two as advocates for her. Normally this was not done, but the owner of the company said it would be good press for the girl, since she was already a web idol people knew her. She just needed a push, and he was intending to give her a rocket booster pack. Miharu worked on her makeup as Ayumi sat on the side inconspicuously, checking her phone for messages and checking out the lead Izaya had given her. She paused, noting a detail that Izaya had given her about the building she was checking out, sighing and rubbing the back of her neck. It wasn't what she had come for, but she knew she had to check it out later. She closed her phone as she noticed Kasuka walk in. She immediately got up and went to tell Mifumi. At mention of the stoic star, the girl nearly fainted. Ayumi left Miharu to calm her down, going to Kasuka and standing next to him, seeing as he was already dressed and they were just waiting on Ruri. "So, do you remember me?"

"I do, Ayumi-san."

"And do you remember Mifumi?"

"... I do." he turned to her. "Why are you posing as her agent?"

"Why didn't you let her know you weren't going to make it to her meeting yesterday?" she retorted, making him pause before turning to look at the dressing rooms where he noticed Miharu trying to get her sister to come out of the room without falling over herself.

"I wanted to... but the directors had me working non stop..."

"But you wanted to?"

"Yes..."

"Good." she smiled, getting off of the wall. "Be sure you talk to her. She missed you." she added before she went to sit down somewhere she wouldn't be an obstruction. Kasuka was still a good kid... and it seemed that at least he still cared a little about Mifumi's feelings. He'd told her before that Mifumi was someone he cherished, and he knew about her crush on him. But despite that, he never talked to her about it. Ayumi just sighed and went back to her research. "At least they have a mutual respect for each other..." she remembered Izaya's taunting and felt a little lonely because of it. 'But you don't control who you fall in love with...' she thought, leaning against the wall behind her.

Celty had offered to drive Chieko back to her apartment after the tea, since it was on the way for her to the next job she was taking. But they stopped to chat outside the building, the streets void of people. "So, you're really going to ask him to marry you?" Celty typed.

"Yes... or at least I want to see if he remembers me, and get back to the way things were before I got hurt... even if it's not for a while, I do EVENTUALLY want to try and make something out of the whole situation..." she smiled.

"Well, be careful... Things aren't so safe in this city at the moment."

"Hehe, alright~ I'll do my best~ Oh, and next time Celty I will bring you a present for driving me home~" she smiled, waving before she headed inside, Celty waving back. She rather liked this girl, she was... well, she was enthusiastic like Shinra, but she was also someone who openly admitted that she loved Shizuo. Despite knowing the danger, and despite the fear, she was accepting. Celty appreciated that. The headless rider drove off, heading to her next job.

After the photo shoot, Kasuka offered to take Mifumi to dinner since Ruri was busy with other engagements. Miharu practically had to talk for her sister to make her agree to go, sending the panicking girl off with him and warning him not to do anything mean to the girl. Ayumi looked at Miharu with a quirked eyebrow. "Did you really just force your sister into the car?"

"Yes, I did~" Miharu grinned. "Fumi needs to stop panicking over him."

"Aren't there rumors of Yuuhei and Ruri dating?"

"Yes, so? It's not like they are." Miharu stated. "Ruri doesn't want to date right now, if ever." she shrugged. "But maybe I'm biased and I want my baby sister to steal Yuuhei's heart~!"

"Pff, like that's changed since Raira."

"Oooh, good point~ But speaking of which." she looped her arm around Ayumi's shoulder. "You still like that Orihara jerk?" she asked, grinning as Ayumi hid her face behind one hand. "I still don't get what you see in him, Ayu..."

"... I don't either..." she replied. "I'll see you later... let me know how things went with those two." she headed off after removing Miharu from her person, trying to calm down. "The heart wants what it wants... and I have the misfortune of wanting what I cannot have..." she mumbled as she walked down the streets to the park, feeling like she needed to stay outside in the fresh air for a while to get her focus back. But on her way there, she heard what sounded like a horse, looking up to catch a glimpse of the infamous legend. The Black Rider passed her by, causing her to stare in shock. "... Heh... maybe that's a good sign?" she asked herself, heading towards the building she had been investigating. "Nothing better for focusing the mind than a dangerous operation." she shrugged, laughing a little to herself as she went. This was how things were now. And she was fine with that.

((Haha, I was on a roll today ; v ; I hope you guys like it~

I-i'm still looking forward to reviews, so if you guys like, please let me know...

-Winter Cheshire))