Unlock My Heart, My Queen

Chapter Four

Rima's New Character Part 1

Miraculously, none of the remaining Guardian members or their charas saw Yuki during the rest of the school day. The probable reason why was because Rima still wanted to keep Yuki a secret, apparently Rima has a really mischievous side and she wanted to look on the others' face during another cleansing of the X-eggs with her former colleagues. Kusukusu thought the idea will be funny, so did Yuki. Speaking of the new cat-chara, she was the given the choice of leaving school grounds during school hours by her owner, Rima thought it would not fair for a cat chara to be coup inside for hours with nothing to do, but wait for class to end. Yuki was happy for that choice, but she spent time right outside the school while being careful and cautious from being spotted by the Guardian charas.

Unfortunately for Rima and Kusukusu, they had other confrontations with the rest of the Guardians, other than Amu. Most of were being begged to coming back, but Rima simply brushed them off and saying that she's never coming back. She received hurt expressions from Tadase and Yaya.

Rima is at the front of school, waiting for her mother to pick her up like always while her two charas were playing Tag again. Rima has a lot of thoughts in mind, for one, what she'll do for now on since, other than her charas, she's all by herself now. Her other thoughts were on Tsukiyomi Ikuto, she didn't think about him that much when she first heard of him until now. Her first thoughts about him was someone who was thieving and an annoying pervert, well that was what Tadase and Amu described him to be.

"But he doesn't seem anything like that." Rima thought sincerely which surprised her. "Did I just defend him?"

Yuki, noticing her owner's deep thinking, began to worry about her, so did Kusukusu.

"Rima?" The clown chara called out to her which pulled Rima out of her thoughts.

Noticing their concerned looks, Rima put on a smile. "Sorry, did I worry you guys? I'm just thinking." She reassured.

Kusukusu smiled knowing that her owner is feeling okay. She still has some doubts on quitting the Guardians and becoming more independent, she is worried that Rima will become more depressed without the help of her friends, but she can tell that Rima is in a good enough mood, being her chara of laughter and happiness of course.

Yuki smiled. "So Rima, what are you planning to do now that school is over?"

Kusukusu answered for her. "We're going to watch our favorite comedy show!" She exclaimed with a big smile.

"Comedy show?" Yuki asked in curiosity.

"It's called Guffaw Theatre and it shows many forms of comedy! Me and Rima always watch it after school!" Kusukusu waved her arm in excitement as she explained it.

Yuki smiled, wanting to watch it as well, but it seems it she has to wait.

"Actually Kusukusu, I have different plans tonight." Rima commented with a smile.

The clown chara was surprised by the news. Yuki smiled, happy to know Rima is becoming more like herself, making new decisions for herself.

"What are we doing then?" Yuki asked.

Rima was about to answer, but she saw her mother's car coming. "I'll tell you when we're home."

"Did you leave the letter?" Her mother asked her once she went inside the car and sat herself on the middle seat.

"Yes mama, I'm no longer part of the club." Rima said with a small smile which went unnoticed by her mother.

Mrs. Mashiro sigh in delight and smiled.

"Now we can decide on a consistent pickup time. It will help me a lot." She told her daughter.

"Hai."

Yuki and Kusukusu smiled at their owner, happy to know that she's happy with her decision.

Unknown to Rima, she was being watch by one person she knows, Kairi Sanjou, and he saw enough. From what he have heard from the other Guardians, spying on her was better than confronting her, and it seems his hunch was correct.

"So the ex-queen has a new chara." Kairi pointed out loud.

"It seems so." His chara, Masashi, agreed. "Are you going to tell your sister?"

"Hai." Kairi nodded. "She wants up to date information on the enemies."

Easter's Recording Station

Yukari Sanjou smiled at her little spy of a brother when he entered the break room where she and Utau were taking a breather after recording Utau's new song. Kairi looked around, he saw Utau sitting on the sofa, looking deep in thought with that serious expression she always has, Dia, as always, is floating near her supposed owner, and Iru is sulking next to the X-character, giving her glares.

"Ah, Kairi," Sanjou greeted. "please do come in."

Her brother did so, sitting on a chair across from his sister.

"So what are the Guardians planning tonight?" Sanjou asked so nonchalant with a small smirk.

Kairi cleared his throat before answering. "Yesterday, they found out that every student in Seiyo Academy has a pestering CD and what they can do, so they had every student in school give them their pestering CD, taking every single one."

"I see, continue." Sanjou said, not fazed from that information. Utau didn't say anything to this.

"Tonight, they planned on patrolling the school for that black van that they suspect it will come to the academy since it and the pestering CDs are connected."

Sanjou's smile grew, now sporting the look of devious.

She adjusted her glasses, "I see, well then they will be in for a surprise." She told him, already formulating a plan. "Is that all?"

Kairi shook his head, "No, I saved the best for last."

Liking where this was going, Sanjou urged him to continue. "Oh please, do go on."

"As of today, the Guardians are now short by one member." He told them.

"What? You quit already?" Sanjou guessed. "Doesn't matter though, even if you fought alongside them, they won't beat us and our master plan." That pulled Kairi's heartstrings, but he quickly recovered.

"I didn't resigned," He informed her. "Rima, the now ex-queen, left the Guardian."

That information actually caught Sanjou's interests, it even got Utau to listen more into this.

Sanjou's smile grew again. "Oh really?" She said putting a hand under her chin. "Do you think we can use her?" From what she heard about Mashiro Rima, she saw some potential in her.

Kairi shook his head. "No. In her letter of resignation, she claimed to be on her own and that she doesn't belong to either Easter or the Guardian nor is she an ally to either one."

"Hmph, doesn't matter, even if she's no ally to us. What matters is that the Guardians are now down to three members." Sanjou concluded. "Four if you count yourself, but we all know you're on our side."

Kairi became quiet when she said that. After composing himself, he continued.

"There's more regarding the ex-queen, even though she's on her own, there's something new about her that could make her a threat to Easter."

"Oh do tell, I'm curious." Sanjou listened in.

Kairi reluctantly told her about Rima's secret, feeling bad for another betrayal he'll cause.

"Rima Mashiro... has another chara, she now has two charas."

Again that caught Sanjou's and Utau's interest, after all, it's rare to find someone with two charas.

"Any info on this new chara?" Sanjou asked in interest.

"No, I couldn't find anything about her or her specialty." Kairi explained. "Although she has the appearance of a cat."

When that information was delivered, Utau froze and her eyes widen. Sanjou was also surprised, but smirked when she saw how Utau reacted.

"I could use this to motivate her." She thought with great interest.

"Okay." Sanjou said out loud, breaking the silence that was caused by her little brother. "Here's the plan for tonight."

Meanwhile...

Once Rima got home, she immediately went into the kitchen. She took out a couple of bottles of milk and also some bags of dried sardines, her actions gained confused looks from her charas, Yuki also has a look of hunger for those dried sardines. Rima then proceeded to her room not before looking at her mother, who was already going to the master bedroom.

"Mama, I'll be doing my homework." She told her, but Yuki and Kusukusu can tell she was lying to her again since they saw her finishing her homework before school ended.

"Okay." She said simply in a tired state before going to bed.

"What are we doing, Rima?" Kusukusu asked excitedly as she followed her owner.

Rima put her school stuff away, getting a plastic bag that she always have around in her room for her small garbage bin. After placing the milk bottles and dried sardines inside it, she turned to her charas.

"We're going out." She said with a smile. Yuki smiled widely at this, but Kusukusu was surprised.

"But... what about your parents?"

Rima winked at her. "I'll make them think I'm asleep." She told her before gathering other things into the bag.

After almost an hour have past, Rima's father came home. The first thing he did was making sure his daughter is safe.

"Rima, open the door." He demanded as he knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal his little girl. She was already in her pajamas, her father gave her a questioned look.

"Yes papa?"

"Aren't you going to watch TV like you usually do?" He was a little suspicious.

"No, I'm tired from school so I'm going to bed early." Again she lied. Kusukusu and Yuki giggled at Rima's impressive and believable lies. The clown chara knows this is wrong, but it is so funny how gullible Rima's parents are.

"I see, well have a good night sleep." Her father told her before going down stairs, her daughter closed her door soon after.

Rima laughed along with her charas, she was also impressed with her believable lies and it felt so right for her. Rima quickly changed out of her pajamas and put on some warmer clothing, she grabbed the plastic bag filled with some food, she also grabbed her cell phone. The last thing she did was arranging her pillows and blanket to make it look like someone was sleeping on her bed before proceeding to her balcony door(1).

She carefully opened the sliding door so it wouldn't make any loud noise. After painstakingly opening and closing the door, Rima was finally outside. She smiled as she took a deep breathe, talking in that fresh air. Sneaking out was something she never did, yet it feels so natural to her and thrilling, she felt so free.

"Kusukusu, Yuki, hold on to me." She told them with a smile.

Her charas eagerly clung onto to her long hair. Knowing what was going to happen next, Yuki activated their chara change.

"Nya, Mew, Meow~!"

White cat ears and a long white tail appeared, putting on a determined look, Rima leaped a considerable height to a tree that was several meters away from her house, she soon leaped onto another and another with no course in mind, just enjoying the gentle, cool breeze that Rima feels as she jump so high in the sky. Her charas laughed in excitement, loving the ride their owner was giving them.

Kusukusu definitely love this new change in Rima, her owner is having a time of her life and she has a big smile that Kusukusu has not seen before in a long time, that care-free smile that disappeared so long ago.