Still Waters 3 Part 2, Chapter 5, The Festival First Day Part 1

Friday, June 26th, 2009, Morning

"Greetings everyone, and welcome to the eighty-fourth Mahora Festival!" Kazumi's voice echoed through the speaker system set up around the city. "Everyone, please be prompt in going through the main gate, don't waste time hanging around or you might get trampled!"

Nodoka had to laugh at that, and when she glanced over at Kazumi where she stood in the festival HQ announcers' office, even the redhead was grinning as she read from the announcement paper prepared beforehand.

"And on a final note, this year's Mahora Festival is sponsored by the beautiful, fresh, and exciting dual princesses of the Absolutely Wonderful And Perfect In Every Way Kingdom Of Molmol, Amalla and Kaolla Su! Let's give them a hand, everyone!" Pictures of the two princesses in several action-y poses wearing the elaborate native dress of their country were shown on massive screens strategically positioned throughout the city. Kazumi waited a moment until the cheering from the crowd outside, thunderous even within the headquarters building, died down. "And with that, let the eighty-fourth Mahora Festival begin!"

Kazumi pressed a button on the control panel and collapsed into an office chair, laughing. "Oh wow, the 'Absolutely Wonderful And Perfect In Every Way Kingdom Of Molmol'? Who writes this stuff?" she exclaimed between fits of laughter. She wiped tears from her eyes as Nodoka smiled.

"I think it was Kaolla Su herself," Nodoka replied as she swept a stray lock of hair out of her face. "One of her aides brought it over."

"He~h," Kazumi replied as she looked over the announcement schedule. She would definitely have to share announcement responsibilities with Nodoka; there was no way her voice would survive, otherwise. "So, how is it going?" she suddenly asked, eying the other woman.

"Hmm?" Nodoka asked as she took a bite of bread, all she had had time to grab for breakfast.

"You know what I mean," Kazumi said, sidling up to Nodoka. She leaned over the back of Nodoka's chair and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm talking about Negi-sensei~" she said breathily into Nodoka's ear.

Nodoka squirmed away, her face beet red. "Well…he promised to walk around with me on the third day."

"Hmm~?"

"…"

"Hmmmmm~?"

Nodoka turned stubbornly away. "I don't know what you're expecting to hear."

Kazumi shrugged it off and stood up. "Oh well. When did you get so stubborn, anyway? You're no fun to tease and lead astray anymore," she said, grinning to take the already minimal sting from her words. Nodoka grinned back at her, and she knew she had been forgiven. She plopped down into an office chair and stretched languidly, draping herself backwards over the low back of the chair as she threw her feet up onto the table. She looked blankly back at the opposite wall while Nodoka shuffled papers and made notes at the desk.

"I wonder if this year's festival will be as crazy as last year?" Kazumi said aloud a moment later.

"Isn't it always?" Nodoka asked as she straightened another pile of papers. She stood up and stretched, and Kazumi turned to look at her.

"You think so? I'm kinda worried about the youkai festival, myself," Kazumi said as she kicked off the floor with one foot and let the chair spin around.

"Hmm," Nodoka replied as she began filling out some paperwork.

"Yeah, pretty much," Kazumi said. She let out a sigh and kicked off the floor again.

Kagami impatiently shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she waited for the crowd involved in the marathon to get out of the way.

"Come on come on come on..."

She pulled out her cell phone and looked at the time. 'It's already 8:30, this stupid marathon should be over already...' It looked like they had just started, however; the road was thoroughly blocked.

"Man, this is so stupid. Why couldn't they have held it off for five more minutes?" Taro grumbled beside her, not appearing worried about her best friend Possum for the first time since the other girl's disappearance.

Kagami looked out over the marathon participants still clogging the road, looked back the way she had come, and made her decision.

"Hey wait, Kagami, where are you going?"

She pushed through the crowd lining her side of the street, waited for a moment until she saw an opening, and plunged out into the street and into the crowd of runners. People yelled and complained and cursed as she pushed through, and more than a few stumbled or fell as she continued on and burst out the other side, where she dove into the crowd of spectators, followed closely by Taro. Someone threw a snow cone she narrowly avoided as she ran, laughing. Idiots! They got what they deserved, blocking the whole road like that. How else were people supposed to get by? Besides, she needed to get to the bazaar before all the good stuff was gone.

Kagami ducked into a small alley between two buildings to catch her breath and Taro pulled up beside her, laughing crazily. "Ha! Did you see the look on that guy's face? Man, you are insane, Kagami!" she said, grinning toothily as she struggled to catch her breath.

Kagami grinned back as she leaned against a wall trying to catch her breath. Acting like a delinquent was fun...she could get used to this!

Ako's cell phone rang; she picked it up and answered.

"Hello?" she asked pleasantly. There was a moment of silence from the other end.

"A...Ako-san?"

"Yes?" Ako replied. Where had she heard that voice before...?

"Th-this is Rale. Um. We met the other d-day?"

"Oh! I remember you, Rale-kun. Did you need something?" Again, there was a long silence from the other end.

"Um...will you...I mean, can you, and me, um...will you..."

Ako smiled gently. "Would you like to walk around with me today, Rale-kun?" she asked. Misa had wanted them to watch the first day bands together, but she knew the other girl would understand.

"Y-yes!" the boy shouted. Ako winced and moved the cell phone away from her ear for a moment.

"Okay then. Where would you like to meet?" Ako asked.

"At the...big tree? Would that be all right?"

"That would be fine," Ako said. "What time?" She couldn't help but smile as she heard the boy's breath catch as he panicked. "How about noon?" she asked.

"Yeah! Noon at the big tree!" Rale said excitedly, then hung up.

Ako flipped her cell phone shut.

"Are you sure about this, Ako?" Madoka asked. The two of them had been heading for the bazaar when Ako received her call. "The kid's all right I guess, but something about those people he was with bothers me..."

"I think it will be fine. He's a nice boy, I don't think he would do anything bad," Ako said, shaking her head.

Madoka just gave her a look, and she relented.

"Okay, you can follow us and make sure nobody tries to stalk me," Ako said as the laughter left her voice. She had had several problems with stalkers over the past several years. Apparently, something about her personality attracted them in droves.

Madoka sighed. "Ako, all I'm asking is that you learn to take care of yourself. Come on, let us show you a few moves or something, all right?"

Ako just turned her attention back to her cell phone, and Madoka rolled her eyes."Ako..."

"...I just don't want to hurt anybody. And that is all I will say about that," Ako said stubbornly as she crossed her arms and looked away.

"Whatever," Madoka said as she took out her own cell phone and dialed Misa's number. "Hey, Misa? Something came up and me and Ako won't be able to make it later, okay? … Yeah yeah, we all must hate you, blah blah blah. See ya later." She hung up and slipped her cell phone back into her pocket, and the duo started walking again.

Misa frowned grumpily as she flipped her cell phone shut and looked at it for a moment. They had made plans to watch the bands that would be playing on the first day together a month ago! Kagami-chan's classmates' band was supposed to play today too... She remembered meeting them at the band tournament months ago, but couldn't recall much beyond their surprising skill and the fact that the guitarist was a huge fan and the bassist was really hot. And the fact that they had promised to have a jam session with them some time. 'Huh...better make some time for that,' Misa thought before turning to Sakurako.

"Can you believe that, Sakurako?" Misa asked. "So rude!"

Sakurako grinned crookedly and shrugged, her mouth full of crepe. She choked it down before she replied.

"Oh well. Nothing we can do about it, right? Besides, Ako-chan looked like she was having a lot of fun the other day," she said, referring to the incident a few days before, when Ako had befriended a younger boy in front of the world tree. She took another bite of her crepe. "'N b'shides, 'snot like she doeshn't d'sherve friendsh."

Misa rolled her eyes and wiped her face off with a napkin. "Don't speak with your mouth full, Sakurako." The other girl laughed, spewing half-eaten crepe everywhere, and Misa groaned.

"Now how am I supposed to marry you off to some rich guy with a lot of life insurance just so I can off him if you don't have any manners, huh?" she demanded, prompting even more laughter from Sakurako. "Our evil plans are all gonna come to nothing! I'm serious! I mean, come on! Look at that, you've got a piece of crepe on my shirt! How are you going to make that up to me, huh?"

Sakurako was practically rolling on the ground by this point, laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach. Misa watched for a moment before her cell phone rang. She opened it with an expert flick of her wrist and held it up to her ear.

"Called to apologize yet, Madoka? Seriously I don't- Oh," she said, her jocular tone suddenly gone as she cut herself off. Sakurako looked up at her as her laughter finally died down.

"Misa? Is something wrong?" Misa looked distractedly at her and shook her head.

"You mean...today? Now? … No, it's not that much of a burden I guess, but...Okay. But, are you sure you want to come here? It's not that interesting," Misa said, stepping back to allow room for a giant mechanical T-Rex to walk by as an old fashioned biplane did a barrel roll above and gunfire crackled in the distance. She listened for a moment longer and sighed. "Okay. I'll see you then, okay? Bye..."

Sakurako watched curiously as her normally energetic friend just looked blankly at her cell phone for a moment before she closed it.

"Something wrong, Misa?"

Misa looked at her absently for a moment. "Huh? Oh. Well...my big sis is coming to see the festival," she said all in a quick breath.

Sakurako blinked. "You never told me you had a big sister! What does she look like how tall is she is she pretty? Come on, tell me tell me!"

Misa's expression became more crestfallen. "She's coming today, and she wants to see the band...she said she might stay the whole weekend...Sakurako, she said she wants to see this Madoka person I'm always talking about...!" Misa said as panic took over.

Sakurako blinked. "So?"

Misa just looked at her for a moment until Sakurako's eyes widened with sudden understanding.

"Ooohhh...! She thinks Madoka's a guy!"

Misa nodded feebly.

"Madoka's such a girly name though..."

Misa looked away for a moment. "...somehow she got the idea it was a surname."

Sakurako just looked at her. "Somehow."

Misa nodded. "Somehow."

Sakurako and Misa looked at each other for a moment, and then Sakurako began to smile. It was a slow sort of smile; the sort that starts at the center of the lips and slowly spreads outward to the cheeks and finally upward toward the eyes, continuing on and on until the whole face gets in on the deal. Misa knew that smile, and she didn't like it at all.

"I know just what to do!" Sakurako said. "First-"

"No way! I am not getting involved in one of your schemes again!" Misa protested feebly as she grabbed Sakurako's arm to keep her from running off to implement the first stages of her plan.

"Ha ha! Come on Misa-chan, when have I ever failed you before~?" Sakurako sang out as she danced out of Misa's grasp. "First, we have to see if Negi-kun will be able to help us."

"Nooo...!" Misa whined.

"Sakurako ignored her. "Or maybe Kotarou-kun. Misa, what type does your sister like? Wild guys or smart guys?"

"...strong guys," Misa said reluctantly as Sakurako's enthusiasm swept her away. 'She's doing it to me again,' Misa thought. 'She's going to get me in a lot of trouble this time, too...' Most people, all the way back to middle school and before Ako joined up, thought Misa was the brains behind Dekopin Rocket and the three cheerleaders. While she wasn't about to correct anyone on that particular matter, she had to grudgingly admit that Sakurako, who seemed so cheerful and ditzy from the outside, was the real brains behind the group. Sakurako hinted at things, told lies and truths interchangeably, and did whatever she felt was necessary to reach whatever result she was hoping for, which almost always turned out to be amusingly humiliating for some unlucky person. Most often, that had turned out to be Madoka or, more recently, Ako. But this time... She had had a sneaking suspicion for a long time that most of Sakurako's failed plans were actually designed to fail from the very beginning. And the reason, though somewhat scary, was obvious. Sakurako loved to tease people, and her plans always provided her with huge amounts of embarrassing material. She realized Sakurako was still talking.

"Okay, that should be it," Sakurako said as she nodded to herself. "I've got to make some calls, and then the plan's all set! What do you say, Misa-chan~?"

Misa shuddered. Sakurako was scary. But...she couldn't tell Hatsune that Madoka wasn't a guy; she'd just die if her sister found out...!

"Misa-chan~" Sakurako said cheerfully in an incredibly evil way.

"...all right..." Misa finally said, her voice wavering pitifully. "But why do I feel like I just made a deal with the devil?"

Sakurako just laughed.

Negi and Kotarou wandered along the sidewalk on their morning patrol, drawing interested looks from the women and irritated glares from the men.

"So...whaddaya say, want to join the tournament again?" Kotarou asked after a moment.

Negi looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. "No, I've already done it once. Besides..." he said, looking down at his hands. "It kind of feels like I would be taking advantage of the other fighters, you know?"

Kotarou smirked. "Getting cocky, aren't ya? How about underground tournaments? Are they having any good ones this year?" There were usually a couple of them staged every year, and the combatants were usually quite a bit tougher than those who participated in the official tournament...

"Not this year. Someone got badly hurt last time so they decided to crack down on them. You might check out the youkai festival, though. It goes from Monday to Wednesday and isn't under the management of Mahora," Negi said.

Kotarou looked up at the sky idly. "Youkai festival, huh...I always wanted to see that. Want to come with me?"

Negi shook his head ruefully. "Sorry, I've got classes to teach."

Kotarou gave him an amused look. "Man, you're just shooting down everything I have to say today."

Negi grinned slightly at that. That comment deserved a little revenge... "Why don't you ask Natsumi-san? I'm sure she would love to— ack!"

"Oh wow, look at that car!" someone said excitedly. Sato Gin, who had been wandering alone on the sidewalk, turned to see what was going on, and froze.

"Wow..." she said, not even realizing she had spoken as she joined the small group of onlookers, four Japanese men in their thirties and early forties, as they watched the car pull into a parking space. "What kind of car is that?" she asked, her eyes never leaving it.

"A nineteen sixty nine Chevrolet Camaro Z/28," one of the men said, his voice full of awe. "You never see those around here! I mean, come one, just look at it...!"

"Yeah..." one of the other guys, noticeably unimpressed, stated.

"Come on, this is a car that deserves respect! Just look at it's condition! And that engine...! Judging from the sound-"

Gin wandered away from the group toward the car as they began arguing about the finer points of the V8 and the I4 until she finally came to a stop on the sidewalk in front of it. She looked down at the long expanse of its hood, deeply interested. She had always liked older cars, probably from her race car driving father, but this...she had never seen something like this before, not in person. The impact was totally different from what you got with a picture.

A woman opened the driver side door and stepped out. "Do you like it?" she asked pleasantly as she swept her long shiny black hair out of her face and reached back into the car to grab a light jacket from the passenger seat.

Gin nodded. "It's...really cool..." she said. Her father had liked older cars too, and even let her drive his old Lancia back home, but this...! She had never heard an engine with quite that sound before; something about it awoke the sleeping gearhead in her soul.

"Thanks," the woman said as she put the jacket on. "I built it up myself from a wreck a few years ago. Some idiot thought he would build a drifter, but didn't have as much skill as he had money." The amused look on her face made Gin think of a fox.

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the woman. "Drifter?"

The woman closed her eyes and nodded. "He saw a Camaro someone built in America for their drifting series, and went out to find one for himself. He had only driven high end Skylines and Evos before that point, never anything rear wheel drive with that much power. He ran it off of a mountain road and wrecked the car; he wasn't expecting the power the engine made to have the affect it did on the rear wheels."

Gin rolled her eyes. "Isn't that sort of basic? You know...sort of obvious once you get into the car and start driving?"

The ends of the woman's lips twitched slightly upward and she nodded. "So you drive, do you? You don't look old enough."

Gin looked at the woman shyly. "I know I'm still too young, but my dad's let me drive since I was ten."

The woman nodded. "Good man. Now, as interesting as this is, I have to go. Do you know where I can find a hotel that's not booked solid?"

Gin shook her head shyly.

The woman sighed as she shut the car's door and put the keys in her pocket. "I guess I'll have to find one on my own then. Thanks anyway, miss...what was your name?" she asked as she stepped up onto the sidewalk. Gin noticed with a secret sort of delight that the woman was a couple inches taller than her; that was a very rare thing.

"My name is Sato Gin, I am a student here at Mahora," she said, bowing politely.

The woman smiled. "I went to school here too, a long time ago. My name is Kakizaki Hatsune; it was nice to meet you, Gin-san."

Gin watched as the woman turned and walked away. Now where had she heard that family name before...?

"Kakizaki Misa-sama is much cooler than that stupid Madoka!" Ayumi bellowed at Kondo Kai in the hallway, causing several people to look their way.

"Stop moving your head," Kara instructed from behind Ayumi as she gathered the guitarist's hair and began working a rubber band over it; she had lost the tie for her ponytail earlier.

Kai sighed and shook her head. "No way, Madoka-san is way more relaxed, she's awesome. So is, ah, whats-her-name, the bassist. Ako. Yeah. Don't you think, Kara? Miyako?" Kai asked, turning to the other two while Ayumi's jaw dropped.

"I'm afraid so," Kara said as she finished Ayumi's ponytail, a pitiful little thing given the shortness of Ayumi's hair, and gave it a quick tug just to annoy her. Miyako nodded as well as the group started walking again.

"No way, she's a jerk!" Ayumi bellowed again indignantly as she recalled Madoka and Ako bursting into laughter at the guitar shop the other day. "They both are!"

"Looks like this is our room," Kai said as she glanced up at the number on the door.

"Let's just get ready, okay? I'm tired of hearing this," Kara said irritably as she pushed the door open. She knew Ayumi didn't care about bassists, but this was just getting rude...

Ayumi glared, but bit her tongue on the insult she had been about to spit at Kara. She would be stuck in a bind if the bassist decided to walk out; Kara had been showing a lot of guts lately, and Miyako had been siding with her more often, too. Ayumi had a sickening feeling that this part of her life, the only part she even found to be fun anymore, was starting to get out of her control too, but pushed it to the back of her mind with the other uncertainties that had recently cropped up in her life. And lately...lately, even Kai, who had been her best friend since, well, forever, was starting to go against her. They had known each other for the past five years, and Kai was by far her best friend. The other girls that swarmed around her and with whom she gossiped at lunch time were just...other girls her age, who happened to be popular like her. There was no friendliness between them, simply a shared status of being popular. Ayumi couldn't stand them, and knew, somewhere deep in some dark, hidden spot in her heart, that they probably hated her too. These three, Kara and Miyako and Kai, were the only ones she thought she could trust. But if they were turning against her too...

"Oh wow, I saw you guys play at the battle of the bands! You were in the top three!" someone said excitedly, drawing Ayumi back into the real world as she looked into the dressing room.

"What?" she asked distantly, eying the other two bands that had been crammed into the already crowded space. It looked like their luck with dressing rooms from the Battle of the Bands hadn't carried over to the Mahora Festival. This room was, if anything, even smaller than the one they had been assigned before. And, with three bands crammed into it, there was barely room to breathe, much less prepare for a show.

The girl who had spoken before shrank back slightly. "I-I saw you guys at the battle of the bands, last month..."

Ayumi just blinked at her for a moment before the girl's words registered. "...you watched us play?"

"Yeah!" the girl answered excitedly, perking up again.

"It's true," one of the girl's bandmates said, grinning crookedly. "She liked you guys so much she wouldn't shut up about it." The first girl stuck her tongue out at the second as she blushed furiously.

Kai grinned crookedly and clapped a hand on Ayumi's shoulder. "Looks like we've got some fans after all, huh?" she said as she stepped into the room, followed by Kara and Miyako.

Ayumi's mind was racing. Fans? She had actual fans? It was just...wow. She hadn't ever had fans before...

Ayumi smiled brilliantly at the excited girl and entered the dressing room, shutting the door behind her.

Ako arrived at the World Tree ten minutes early only to find Rale already there, waiting for her.

"Hello A-Ako-san!" the boy said excitedly.

"Hello, Rale-san," Ako replied pleasantly.

"Hahaha!"

"..."

"..."

"Is there anything you would like to do, Rale-san?" Ako asked, taking pity on the boy. Obviously he had never dated before. Poor kid...

"Er...well...not really. Was there anything you would like to do?" he asked, obviously grasping at straws.

Ako smiled pleasantly. "Well, I am a little hungry, would you like to get something to eat?"

"Y-yes!" Rale stammered.

Madoka watched, an odd expression of horrified amusement on her face, as Ako led the foreign kid around like a dog on a leash. 'Poor kid doesn't have a clue, and Ako's too nice to brush him off,' she thought, grinning slightly. It was pitiful!

She had started to relax by the time the kid revealed he didn't have money to pay for his food, and was actually yawning by the time the kid expressed his total ignorance of the inner workings of the Mahora train system. She was about to get on the train with them when a shout caught her attention.

"EEEeeek! Someone help me...!"

Madoka looked over to where the scream had come from and spotted a young girl from the middle school being pushed around by three thugs, with the local police nowhere in sight. She looked back at the train car where Ako sweatdropped while the kid talked animatedly, then back at the student, who looked positively terrified, and heaved a weary sigh.

"Take care of yourself, Ako," Madoka muttered as she trotted over toward the group of bullies. It wasn't as if that Rale kid was any sort of threat after all, and it wasn't as if Ako hadn't had extensive training either. It was just...she worried about her. Ako was far too gentle for her own good, and it bothered Madoka. She reached the group and pushed through them, reaching down to take the girl's hand.

"So there you are, Ami-chan," Madoka said, picking a name at random. "I've been looking for you all day, let's go," she said as she pulled the girl to her feet.

The girl stood up easily enough, but then...she smiled cruelly at Madoka and grabbed her wrist with her other hand. "Stupid bitch. GET HER!"

Someone hit her in the back of the head hard enough to stagger her, but Madoka didn't let her grip on the girl's hand go. Instead, she swung around and flung the suddenly shrieking girl into one of the thugs, knocking him down, and then rounded on the other two before they could react.

"Why you...! How dare you hurt Hayate-sama!"

"Shut up!" Madoka bellowed as she punched the speaker in the mouth, sending him staggering back a good dozen feet before he collapsed. She drove her elbow into the next one's side, and he folded over and fell to the ground just in time for Madoka to see the girl that had tricked her stand up and pull a knife.

The girl crept closer in an odd half-crouch, and Madoka moved to face her. "So, who are you?" Madoka asked viciously as she circled, irritation at yet another ambush making her snappy. This was the third one this week...! "What, did I beat up one of your friends? Your brother? Your lover? Give it up before you get hurt, kid."

The girl glared. "Yeah, you did, remember? It was just a week ago! You beat them up and left them in an alley! This is revenge!" she yelled as she darted in, knife raised high.

"Bad form," Madoka said as she caught the girl's descending arm and flipped her painfully to the ground. The girl grunted as the impact but quickly got to her feet again.

"You'll pay for that!"

Madoka just looked at her, waiting.

The girl suddenly smiled in vicious satisfaction, and Madoka whipped around and nailed the guy who had been sneaking up on her in the stomach, sending him flying into the wall at the far end of the station. She continued her spin and backhanded the girl across the face as she darted in to stab her in the back, sending the girl spinning dazed to the ground ten feet away as her knife skittered across the concrete and fell onto the train tracks.

And suddenly the crowd that had formed to watch was clapping and cheering and patting Madoka on the back.

"Wow! That was amazing!"

"Hey, was that an event for the festival? I heard you guys always put on street performances-"

"Hey, uh, wanna go out some time?"

Madoka did what she could to distract the crowd while the authorities arrested the troublemakers, and barely managed to slip away after a few minutes.

Ako and the kid were long gone.

Madoka settled down on a nearby park bench, wondering what she should do. She could wander around and see some of the first day events, of course, but... Her phone beeped, indicating she had received a text message.

Madoka pulled out her phone and flicked it open.

"A message from Sakurako..."

Want 2 c somthng intrsting?

Madoka cocked an eyebrow as she read the message. Okay, now she was curious... She texted back.

Sure.

A moment later, her phone beeped again.

Good. Come 2 the cafe nr teh station. Wer a disgize.

Madoka just looked at the message for a moment. A disguise...? What on earth was Sakurako up to?

Two black Mercedes pulled up outside of a hotel, and the doors opened as if on cue. Several men in expensive suits exited the vehicles and waited, standing around and looking dangerous, while another much younger man with an air of command got out and glanced around.

"Saburo," the young man said. One of the others stepped forward.

"Hiroaki-sama," the man replied, bowing.

"See about getting some rooms for us, will you?" Hiroaki said absently. "Sousuke, Akihiko, lets go for a walk. The rest of you, go with Saburo."

"Yes, Hiroaki-sama," they replied.

Hiroaki put his hands into his pockets casually and started walking as the others strolled off down the sidewalk. Sousuke, a big, imposing man with graying hair and horrific scars across his throat, and Akihiko, a tall man with a serious face, fell into step side by side several feet behind Hiroaki.

"So boss, what now?" Akihiko asked, much less formally than when they had arrived. He and Sousuke had been with the family for a long time and had been around Hiroaki as a child; it was understood that the two of them were practically his personal bodyguards and friends, and were thus afforded special privileges in situations like this.

Hiroaki smiled roguishly at a pretty woman walking by before he answered. "We're going to go and see my little sister."

Author's Notes: Don't recognize these yakuza-types? Try reading Still Waters 2, from chapter 12 or 13 up. Anyway...Wait a minute. Misa's got an older sister?

Kakizaki Hatsune – Mysterious Older Sister of Many Talents

Born – 1/1/1980

Height - 5'10"

Likes: Freedom to do as she wishes, fast cars, strong opponents

Dislikes: Boredom

Little Known Facts: She is only a half-sister to Misa, but that doesn't matter to her.