Chapter Six
Ryou logged out and rolled the cord around his FMD. The train was only about five minutes away from his stop. He shoved his FMD, his laptop, and his controller in his bag with enough time to get a feel for where he was in the city, using the large map in his compartment. It was a nice stroll to the park. Not too far. Really easy for him.
He hopped off the train before a small surge of people rushed on. People usually did that sort of thing around him. Waiting for him to be gone from sight until they moved. Keeping far away from him. It was just something that happened when anyone dressed as he did, acted as he acted. Ryou was six foot, two inches. Whenever the damned Academy allowed him, he wore band shirts, black hoodies, and Tripp pants, the kind you can find at your normal Hot Topic store. All of these were factors, but Ryou knew the real reason was when he looked at someone, like he looked now at a business man, they stopped dead in their tracks, just like the poor man did. If looks could kill, he would be a mass murderer.
Maybe it was that one curse that Europeans believed in? He thought idly as he stepped onto the street. That evil eye thing? Maybe. It would be a really cool thing to have, able to curse someone with a glance.
Some pizza delivery person was pedalling his way through the fairly thick crowd that was a Tokyo street. He went down the street the park was on.
Hey, wait. It's loud over here. Ryou thought. Like a billion people are talking at once. He turned the corner and the first thought was, Of course, count on Yuuichi to arrange their meeting at a Carnival. Two pretty girls in scrubs walked by.
Nurse Carnival. Rawr. Ryou thought that he might as well make the best of it. He began threading his way through the crowd in search of Yuuichi, or Gaspard, or anyone. But really, how was he supposed to know who they are? He, himself, didn't look all that much like Haseo. Well, the haristyle was close, but his was black.
This carnival was crazy. There were no rides, just people walking around and talking. Hey. He noticed a bunch of people sitting in the grass with FMDs and M2Ds out. Playing "The World."
Ryou stood, processing. For so long that a few people noticed and backed away.
He looked around at the people. A chim-chim keychain, a backpack covered in Lucky Animal stickers, so many people with weird colored hair.
Holy hells. This didn't look good. This was "The World," in reality.
This was a lot of people. He didn't think he could place even a few of them. Ryou inched his way to the edge of the party. There were even vendors selling food to the crowd. Ryou was not very good at math, but he knew this had to be upwards around one thousand people. Where the hell was Yuuichi?
Ryou suddenly tuned into a conversation near him. He didn't know why until he pinpointed a voice that seemed oddly familiar. That high-pitched squeak, he knew that voice.
He slowly circled the group, looking nonchalant, until he found who was speaking. A slightly round boy, couldn't be much more than twelve years old, was speaking to someone about a specific card in the Crimson Vs decks they had out. A bunch of people had gathered around to listen to them speak. Ryou was sure when he saw the boy had a name tag on his shirt.
Hello, My name is... "Gaspard," it said in a large scrawl.
Ryou walked toward Gaspard, people moving away from him like polar opposite magnets. He stood looming above Gaspard.
Kouta suddenly stopped talking as he noticed that everyone's attention had gone off him and something behind him. He turned, squeaked, and fell back trying to crane his neck to see who was standing behind him.
"W-what do, do you--" Kouta began, trying to be brave, when the man spoke.
"Gaspard."
Kouta blinked. Well, he knew my screen name, so he must be a friend. But who...? People around him were uncomfortable. Should they beat the man back? But he didn't touch the kid yet. Should they really wait until the man does hurt him? Is someone bullying the Crimson Vs. Champion?
Ryou crouched onto his heels, so that he was around Gaspard's height.
"Don't recognize me, huh?" Ryou asked Gaspard.
"Who are you?" Kouta asked, a bit more safer feeling now. It definately wasn't because he could see his face now, that was actually scarier, first the man's silver eyes, then his eyebrow with a rod of metal through it, he was sort of creepy. But something about the way he spoke to him, who was it?
"Don't recognize your guild master, huh? I'm hurt."
Kouta's face broke into a grin the moment the man said guild master.
"Haseo!" Kouta bounced and tackled Haseo around the neck, causing Haseo to fall backward. This was one of the oddest pictures most assembled had seen in a while; a goth being lain on by the Crimson Vs. Champion. Should they feel... icked out?
"You're really Haseo, aren't you?" Kouta snuggled closer.
"Yes, and you've got three seconds to get off me." Ryou was being squashed. He was heavy.
Kouta bounded off Haseo. Ryou picked himself up and shook the grass from his pants. His chains rattled. Gaspard seemed to be unable to keep himself to, well, himself. He grabbed onto Haseo's torso, and preceded to snuggle into his shirt. By now, people began to understand what was happening, and like the wind itself breathed the words, "Haseo. Black Rogue. Terror of Death."