Shiro's back you guys! Episode 3 made me so pumped up!
December 24th
Christmas Eve.
"So it starts after sunset? Then I'll meet you at the station and we can head there together." Himuro Daisuke was speaking to Sota Mami through his PDA that early afternoon. He was staying at Iris for the holiday break, catching people beginning to leave every time he looked out his living room window. Snow had blanketed around the corporation but with the sun out, it was hard to enjoy the scene without being blinded by the bright white.
"O-Okay! We can meet up at 4:00 and get there early...is that alright? I heard there's going to be lots of activities and food stands here that will keep us busy until the actual event starts." Mami asks timidly.
"Yeah, sounds good. I'll see you until then." He answers.
"Mn! (Yeah!)" She giggles and they hang up. The two had planned to see the Christmas illuminations in mid town Shizume City later. He was somewhat anxious but excited at the same time because he would be giving her his gift; the glass pegasus figurine he bought from that odd person, Orlando; since she would be spending Christmas day with her family. Orlando definitely fulfills the idea of how a typical Iridescent Clansman would be. He thought as he heads to his kitchen, opening the fridge and reaching for a can of soda, but only disappointed when there wasn't any left. He also notices that he was running low on groceries and blames working to hard that he wasn't paying attention to the necessities.
"I guess it's off to the store for me then." He mutters, shutting the fridge while scratching his head and sighing. He grabs his coat, making sure his wallet was in the pockets and snatches the keys from a small end table, opening its small drawer to grab a pair of wool gloves and afterwards walking over to the entrance of his apartment, slipping his shoes on and opening the door. He locks it once it closes and makes his way to the main lobby on his floor, taking the stairs down, his keys and footsteps echo throughout the stairway. He reaches ground floor, pushing open the stairway door and entering the foyer, greeted by the front desk and the people behind it.
"Hi hi, Daisuke-kun!" Saeko cheers, leaning over the counter and waving at him.
"Hey." He returns the gesture, approaching her and noticing that Mamoru wasn't around. "Where's Ozaki-san?"
"Gone. Like everyone else...well, the majority of us." She answers, sitting back in her swivel chair and leaning her elbows on the desk top, her hands under her chin as she looks up at him. She wasn't wearing her uniform, instead she was wearing a gray, red and white Christmas sweater and black pajama pants with gray slippers. She was five years older than Daisuke and he met her and Mamoru a couple days before being initiated into the Clan. Overall, he thought she was a friendly person and they got along pretty well.
"Oh, I see, but what about you? Aren't you going home?" He asks.
"I am. I'm just waiting for Kanae-chan since her parents live in the same area as mine. Neat isn't it?" She grins, but Daisuke wasn't too familiar with the name and she notices his hesitation. "Ah that's right. You're a newbie still so you still don't know everyone, but that'll change. Iris isn't like your previous Clan, Jungle with all that anonymity."
"Um...yeah. It'll be a while until I meet everyone I guess...ha, I joined at a pretty crazy time huh?" Daisuke felt anxious at the mention of Jungle, the Clan he was formerly affiliated with.
"Nah. I think that award goes to the Hashimoto twins, and I'll even throw in the fact that Shizuka-san might have a hard time remembering them after the break since they didn't show up at the party last night." Saeko glances away as she makes assumptions.
"Ah that's right, the twins. I remember seeing them the other day when they were moving in and they really look alike. If they had the same hairstyles I'm sure they could easily fool everyone...as for Takahiro's case, I think her brain will fry trying to figure out who is who." Daisuke adds, recalling how Shizuka had forgotten who he was and sympathized with the twins.
"I was thinking the same too, but imagine how interesting things will be from now on." Saeko laughs and Daisuke felt a little concerned, thinking that she might be some sort of sadist, but he takes into thought of how nice it was to talk to someone, more importantly a fellow Clansman who he can actually trust. Jungle lacked that, but in comparison to Iris, they both allowed anyone to join, but for the Green Clan, one would have to be an elite member to actually meet with the King. In any case, he wasn't a part of them anymore and pushed the thought away for the time being.
"You're so weird." He finally comments and Saeko looks at him with a sly grin.
"Aren't we all in some way? Heh, this is almost like a scene out of Alice in Wonderland. You being Alice and I the Cheshire Cat telling you how we're all mad here." Saeko declares and Daisuke thought it was a dumb but funny reference and he laughs.
"Well, I'm probably keeping you from doing whatever you were doing before, but it was a good talk." She says.
"Not at all, but yeah. I was just gonna go shopping because I ran out of soda, and to pass the time until I head to Shizume City to see my girlfriend." He answers.
"How nice~ I hope you two have a good time then." She smiles and he takes a step back.
"Yeah I hope so too. I'll see you later." He waves a hand and walks off towards the doors; Saeko also waving back and he opens them, feeling a slight breeze envelope his body but it soon goes away and he walks out of Iris grounds, following the sidewalk and heading to the main street in search of an available cab to take him to the store he usually went to.
As he walked, he went over his and Saeko's conversation. Jungle...huh. He thought, looking at the ground with his hands in his pockets, recalling how he logged into the site, thinking it was some sort of gaming network and discovering about other Clans and powers aside from the one he was familiar with, that being HOMRA, who were largely known somewhat as ruffians in Shizume City, where he initially lived before Iris Headquarters. Soon he participated in missions to earn 'points'. In the beginning they were harmless, simple objectives, until they lead to robbing and other petty crimes, so he stopped. He wasn't the kind of person to hurt anyone or damaging property and wasn't looking to seek power, or even caring to meet with the Green King like the other members wanted, he wanted to play the 'game', but not like that.
"Oi, watch yourself."
He suddenly sees an arm shoot past him from behind and hook around his neck, pulling him backwards and stopping him from running into a pole.
"Huh?" He grunts, steadying himself and the person releases their grip. He turns around to come face to face with Kazuyoshi Riku, who adjusts his glasses, which were tinted from exposure to the sun, and he gives him a stern look.
"What were you doing? This isn't the place to be spacing out like that." He asks Daisuke who rubs his neck and clears his throat.
"S-Sorry. I was thinking about something, but thanks for the save." He answers, nodding his head to Riku, who remained silent.
"Oh, Himuro. I haven't seen you in a while so I almost didn't recognize you from behind." He says calmly, fixing the muffler around his neck and Daisuke chuckles, feeling as if this has happened before.
"Y-Yeah, I've been busy...um, I thought everyone went home to their families, so what are you up to?" He asks.
"My parents don't live too far from Iris and my mother asked me to grab some things in town. And you?" Riku replies.
"I'm grocery shopping"
"And...what about going home?"
"I'd rather just stay at Iris."
Riku didn't question Daisuke any further on the subject, feeling that it was inappropriate to do so.
"I see...in any case, we're heading in the same direction so I think it would be best if we split the fare from a cab, what do you think?" He asks and Daisuke nods, the two heading down the road together. They talked about what hey had planned for the break, Riku explaining how his older sister and brother-in-law had shown up at the house and how his mother invited their relatives to come by since she has a party set up.
Of course, Daisuke didn't have anything planned, but he liked being by himself so he didn't find anything wrong with that and neither did Riku.
After a while, they began seeing more people walking about and it wasn't long until they finally reach the main street, the sidewalks nearly crowded with strangers rushing into stores, purchasing last minute gifts and other goods.
"How troublesome." Riku mutters under his breath as he looked around while Daisuke catches a cab for them, waving a hand until one pulls up to the curb and they climb inside. They are then taken to the market district, which was much more crowded than their previous destination. The cab slowly pulls into a drop off area and the two pay their share of the fee and exit the vehicle.
"Alright, I have to go this way. It was nice catching up with you, Kazuyoshi." Daisuke points in a direction while looking at Riku at the same time.
"Yeah. I'll see you around. Have a good break.." He responds and Daisuke turns away, at the same time Riku does too.
In Shizume City, Kushina Anna, accompanied by Kamamoto Rikio, have been strolling along the riverwalk. He looks out at the shimmering blue ocean, his back turned to Anna as she snaps pictures of some snow glistening in the sun on the bushes around them, retrieving the developed film from the cartridge and giving a smile. Rikio turns his attention back to her to make sure she was okay and he catches sight of her enjoyment with the Polaroid camera.
It's good to see that she's having fun with that. He thought, resting his hands in the pockets of his coat for warmth. With Mikoto-san gone now...I guess this is something to take her mind off of it...and everything else happening with the Clan.
He recalled the day when Anna was given the camera by a girl name Ito Yukina, claiming to be a mangaka and photographer who worked at Coffee Royale. He thought she was weird for popping out of nowhere and getting friendly with Anna, but from what he saw that day, she didn't mean any harm and just wanted to take pictures.
Even so, Yata Misaki wasn't convinced and Rikio was pulled along with him to investigate Coffee Royale to see what kind of place it was, and it turned out to be a normal two story building with the name of the company and the logo at its doors, matching the business card Yukina gave to Anna. Its size was in comparison to the HOMRA bar but nothing as fancy as the two thought. Much to their discouragement, it was also closed for the holidays so no one was around to give them insight and the traveling turned out to be a waste of time.
Though Rikio suggested they just contact Yukina herself, Misaki wasn't up to the challenge and dropped the case, but he was still suspicious, even accusing the Polaroid to be a bomb or rigged with bugs but when they let their older Clansman, Kusunagi Izumo, look at it he simply stated it was just a camera.
Since then, they allowed Anna to keep it, but if she was going to go meet with Yukina at any time, she must have someone with her.
There was the sound of music playing in the distance and Anna and Rikio follow the noise, coming upon a man playing an electric violin. He wore sunglasses to shield his eyes from the sunlight, or perhaps to maintain a mysterious identity in Rikio's opinion. His hair was a creamy blonde color and ruffled, his outfit seemed like a prestigious school uniform with a mix of a tuxedo, all being black with white designs to highlight pockets and the silver buttons down his front and around his sleeve cuffs. There was a small machine with a petal connected to the violin and a set of speakers to amplify his playing. There were other people surrounding him, watching as he played a familiar tune and Anna sees the man place the bow in his mouth, stepping on the pedal of the machine at the same time and tapping on the top of the strings of the violin which gave out a bass-like sound. He then steps off the pedal and the beat he created repeats through the speakers and the people around were amazed.
They continued watching the performer with joy. Anna snaps a picture of him with the camera slightly tilted for added visual interest and the film develops immediately. The violinist finishes his song and the crowd applause him, some people step up to give tips, throwing cash and coin into the case he set out prior to his performance, there were even some people requesting some songs, seeming as if they were his fans.
"That was cool! I'm glad we were able to see something like that, heh, wish I could do something like that." Rikio comments as Anna attempts to take another photo of the man, but nothing happens. He notices the stall and Anna looks up at him looking worried.
"D-Did I break it?"
"Eh? I don't think so, let me see." He asks, taking the Polaroid when she hands it to him and inspecting it even though he had no idea how it worked. Anna takes a moment to think, remembering that she had taken a lot of pictures and wondered if it was out of film. It was then that Rikio manages to open the Polaroid after pushing a button, seeing that there wasn't anymore of the white film inside. "Aah, there isn't anymore of those things, Anna. Sorry...but we can go buy some when we head back, how about it?" He squats down to match her height when he asked, handing the Polaroid back to her with a warm smile and she slowly nods her head.
"Anna-chan? Is that you?"
A voice grabs their attention and they turn to the sound, seeing a familiar face approaching them. That being Ito Yukina. Rikio then stands up as he sees her drawing closer, utterly shocked of her sudden appearance.
"Yukina?" Anna was also surprised but at he same time she was also happy to see her again.
"Aha! I was right! I saw your red dress and wondered if it was you." Yukina beams, running up to the HOMRA Clansmen. "Wow, talk about coincidental. I didn't think I'd run into you again so soon to be honest...maybe this is really is the power of Christmas."
"I didn't think so either, but it's good to see you." Anna gives a smile to the content Yukina, who then turns her attention to Rikio.
"Ah, we didn't properly introduce ourselves last time. Sorry, I was in a rush that day, but I'm Ito Yukina. It's nice to meet you." She gives a bow to him, who was a little surprised but he kept his guard up.
"Oh, Y-Yeah. I'm Kamamoto Rikio, It's nice to meet you too." He replies and she was content with the pleasantries. She then looks around the area, wondering where the skateboard guy was at, who she knew as Yata, but he wasn't anywhere nearby.
"That skater guy isn't with you today?" She asks, looking at both Anna and Rikio.
"Yata? No, he's...doing something." He answers, keeping to himself on Misaki's whereabouts.
"I see. Well it is Christmas Eve so I understand." Yukina says, pushing her glasses up.
"What are you doing here?" Anna asks.
"I'm just taking in my last bit of freedom before heading to my old man's place and going out to the country to my grandparents." Yukina answers, hanging her head and her arms going limp. "I'll be trapped out there with possibly no signal."
"But, you're a mangaka right? Isn't that hard work? I think a break would be good for you." Rikio adds and Yukina nods her head, sniffing as if she was crying and pulls herself back together.
"Soja! (Right!) I have my next series to work on still so I could probably get some storyboard made...ah, that reminds me, I have to go shopping too..." Yukina mumbles to herself while Rikio frowns at her and Anna laughs. It was then that Yukina takes a breather and then looks down at her. "Enough of that, So how's the camera been? I bet you've taken a ton of pictures huh?"
"Yes, I did and it's been really fun, but...I ran out of those things...film...right?" She asks, handing the camera to Yukina and she opens up the film door, finding the slot empty.
"You're right. Wow, you took a lot then...if I remember I think I filled this up to the max...I don't know actually, forget what I said."
"Oh, okay." Anna says, feeling unsure on what to believe.
"Well you're lucky we ran into each other. I tend to horde as much Polaroid film as I can since they're hard to come by. You can't get them at any regular store nowadays." She kneels down, setting her bag on the stone floor and unzipping it.
"You can't? Well that's saves us the trouble then." Rikio comments, watching as Yukina pulls out a pack of blank films, muttering about it being a ten pack and pulling another and she finally registers Rikio's statement.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I only know two small stores in Shizume City that sell the ones that fit this model." She laughs, waving the packs of film. "I'm gonna let you have these, alright?"
"Wh-What? Is that really okay?" She asks, her eyes widen and even Rikio was surprised.
"Yeah you just finished explaining how hard it is to buy them." He adds.
"What? It's Christmas Eve, you know? Don't worry about." She gives them a thumbs up. "Here, I'll teach you how to load them in. It's really easy."
She begins demonstrating how to refill the film into the Polaroid for Anna, Rikio also watches with curiosity, thinking that he should watch just in case Anna couldn't do it herself if the time comes. It was a very short explanation when Yukina loaded up the films, handing the camera back to Anna who was very pleased.
"Thank you." She says smiling warmly and Yukina giggles.
"Hee hee, you're welcome. Now you can take pictures again."
Anna nods her head with a feeling of satisfaction and a soft breeze brushes past them. Yukina gives a shiver against it.
"Brr! It's not good to be out too long in this weather. Anna-chan aren't you cold? Even though it's sunny it doesn't mean you still can't get sick." She says, rubbing her hands together and breathing on them but Anna shakes her head.
"No, it doesn't bother Rikio and me."
"Heeh~ Sokka, must be that red Aura, huh?" Yukina asks tilting her head to the side as she questions and Anna nods her head.
"Well, we still have to wear a little bit of warm clothes." Rikio adds, scratching his head and Yukina laughs.
"Right right. We're still human after all." She jokes, looking at him as she stands, then stretching. "Ja, I should get going or my old man's gonna worry too much. He can be a real pain in the ass when he gets like that." Yukina makes a sour face thinking about her tiger dad lecturing her.
"O-Oh." Anna was disappointed with Yukina having to leave so soon.
"Don't feel down, Anna. We'll see her again, besides you still have her card right?" Rikio reassures her and then she nods her head, which makes Yukina a little surprised but also content.
"Yeah, if you ever need anything you can just call me. I'm more than happy to hang out with you and Rikio more, but I don't know about Yata. Hmph. I think he's a bit rude." Yukina growls, thinking back when he almost ran her over with his skateboard.
"Misaki is a good person though, so I don't think he meant it." Anna says and Rikio face twists in horror when she said Yata's first name, but he was too late in trying to cover it up from Yukina hearing it who already has a smile of interest.
"Misaki huh?" She purrs. "Oh, I will remember that the next time we meet." She snickers, rubbing her hands together as if she was a villain.
"A-Ah, is there any way for you to forgive him?" Rikio asks, attempting to persuade her in not using the name but she wasn't backing down for the moment.
"Hmm...who knows." She laughs, waving a hand and Rikio drops his head in defeat. "I'll see you guys later. I have to get going so bye bye!~" She runs off quickly, catching Anna waving at her before turning her back to the HOMRA members and joining the busy sidewalks of the city.
"Ja, let's get going too, Anna." Rikio finally gathers himself up, halted for a moment as he catches sight of snowflakes glistening as they fall down, and was about to walk off until he notices that Anna was looking at something ahead of her. He follows her gaze to see the guy with the violin from earlier standing a few feet from them and looking in the direction Yukina had run off to. He had a hard case strapped over his right shoulder, which Rikio assumed held his instrument, and behind him was someone putting the speaker into a larger casing as well as the small machine with the pedal.
"What's his problem?" Rikio asks, lifting an eyebrow and reaching out to Anna so they could leave but the man looks over at the two which causes Rikio to pause.
"Was that Ito Yukina?" He asks, his tone sounding lazy and monotone, which surprises the red Clansmen, feeling that his performance and the taste of music he played was a complete contrast to it.
"Er...why do you need to know that?" Rikio asks, pulling Anna behind him in case a fight was to break out, but the guy lets out a sigh, taking out a gray handkerchief and pulling his sunglasses off, revealing his amethyst colored eyes and he cleans the glasses seeing that there were droplets on the lens from the snowflakes.
"I'm just a fellow colleague, that's all." He replies and Rikio feels wary and confused, but before he could ask what he meant, a voice interrupts them.
"Oi~ Mamoru, what are you doing? I have everything packed so lets get out of this weather and get something to eat. I'm hungry!" The person who was packing his equipment waved his arms, calling out and grabbing the violin guy's attention and he slips his sunglasses back on, turning away without saying anything.
"Wh...What just happened?" Rikio asks, feeling out of place for some strange reason and Anna grabs the hem of his white hoodie to bring him back to reality.
"Iko." She says, pulling him with her.
"Eh? Ah! Okay okay!" Rikio says, nearly tripping over his own feet as he follows Anna.