"Cool!" Kanra cheered, running over to the man who looked like her. She saw that he was analyzing her just as closely, and smiled widely at him saying, "I'm Kanra, and you are?"

He almost answered but the aggressive man interrupted with his shout of "What the fuck flea?!"

"Ah Shizu-chan!" the man said with an arrogant smirk that Kanra admired. "I didn't know there was a human who could match Shizu-chan's strength!"

"Truly?" Kanra asked. "My mutant's strength is unparalleled, ne?"

Shizuka growled and spat, "Shut up ant! I'm going to kill you as soon as this idiot stops shoving me!"

The monster-like man growled and turned his attention to Shizuka. "Don't get in my way then!" he spat.

"Then don't attack my things!" she spat back.

Kanra cheered and said to her lookalike, "They're getting along, ne?"

The man grinned at her and agreed, "Two of a kind, ne?"

A sharp whistle alerted Kanra and Shizuka to their father's arrival. Glancing at each other, they both knew how much trouble they were in. Shizuka shoved the monster's signpost to the side, dropping her own in the process.

"Nice meeting you!" Kanra cheered, darting off to where she knew their father was waiting.

"Wait for me ant!" Shizuka called after her.

"I told you two to be careful!" Shizuka's father lectured her. "You two don't know how harsh the world truly is, and people out there will chew you up and spit you out without a second thought!"

"I can handle anything," Shizuka muttered. Kanra wasn't there, having been lectured to earlier and sent to her room.

Her father gave her a stern look. "You only think that, but how many times has Kanra managed to cut you, or trick you into injuring yourself? How many times have you been in the hospital? How many times have you passed out due to being in too much pain to bare?"

"I have gotten stronger!" Shizuka muttered.

"But everyone has their limits."

"Not me. I will always get stronger!"

He shook his head sadly. "You don't understand the world as I do." She was quiet and he sighed. "There was a man you met who was like you, wasn't there?"

Shizuka perked up. Did he know about that man? How did he know? Was he going to tell her? What about that man like Kanra? Did he know about him?

Seeing the recognition in her eyes he continued, "I thought as much. I believed Heiwajima-san would be on the down-low today. After all, Orihara-san was in town yesterday and hardly ever returns two days in a row. I was hoping you were just fighting with a strange gangster though."

Shizuka's ears perked. She didn't want to interrupt, for fear that he was giving her too much information.

"Those two are known from their evil deeds," her father continued, almost as if he was talking to himself. "Heiwajima-san has monstrous strength, and is known as the beast of Ikebukuro. Orihara-san is just an information broker, but one who seems to be involved in too many underground deals to be decent. Neither of them should be crossed if one wishes to live long."

"And this beast is like me?" Shizuka asked.

Her father smiled, embarrassed. "Well in a way, but at the same time not. He does not act human, but you are very much human."

That wasn't what she had asked for. She wanted to know where her demonic strength came from, and was hoping to get an answer for that.

"And the man like Kanra?" Shizuka asked instead of bringing up her true question.

"He is a lot like her as well, but again he doesn't act human. He actually refers to everyone as his 'precious humans' as if we belong to him. He is also mentally unstable, consistently unpredictable, which we know Kanra is not."

This confirmed to Shizuka how little their father truly knew about them. Kanra was always talking about others as if she was not part of them, preferring to act like an overseer or manager. Shizuka herself was also less human-like than she wished. She had always done her best to cry whenever she was injured, but always felt the uncontrollable rage inside her no matter how hard she tried to repress it.

"Off to bed," her father said, interrupting her thoughts. "Think about what I said about the world's cruelty."

Shizuka left the room silently, giving up every misconception she had about her father having her best interests at heart.

Kanra watched as Shizuka left room where they had received their father's lectures. Of course she had listened to it all, wanting to be sure not to miss anything that happened. She always wanted to be a part of things, though not in the limelight. She preferred to be the secret puppet-master.

Shizuka sighed as she walked down the hall, Kanra her silent shadow. "You heard?" she asked suddenly, not quiet startling Kanra.

"Obviously," the smaller girl answered.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Shizuka asked.

Kanra moved to walk next to the blonde and said, "If it includes smoking, probably not. But you of course mean that we should investigate, correct?"

Shizuka turned to the brunette and smirked. "Obviously," she copied her.

"Mimicking isn't nice, Shizu-chan."

The blonde turned to her rival. "Neither is insulting nicknames, ant."

The brunette smiled and leaned into her precious blonde. "Shizu-chan is so mean," she murmured. "She probably hasn't even thought about how to get out of here."

Shizuka smiled. "That's your area of expertise, ant."

"Aw, Shizu-chan thinks I'm an expert at something!"

"Just get to thinking, dumbass."