Prologue: Sea of Stardom (Part 3)
Warning!
This is a Danganronpa Fic, so expect dark and serious themes! But also fun and whimsical themes! Enjoy!
[???]
Pheme watched through her screen intently as she witnessed the latest four stars exit the comedy studio. Her eyes were borderline glued to the screen. She kept on watching it even after the four recent starts exited, so the other figure in the room had to literally pull her away from it. Luckily it didn't take much force to do so.
"Miss... Pheme!" The figure grunted as they pulled her away.
As she was brought back to reality, away from her own head, she looked around the room in a daze.
"Ah, was I distracted? Forgive me!" Pheme slowly shook her head.
"It was just... something about that last star. Bessie B. Blossom. Something I can't put my finger on..." Pheme pondered.
The figure slightly frowned at that comment.
"Indeed? Well, let's not get distracted by that. It's time to decide which of the remaining eight stars will go into the next studio."
"Ah yes! You are correct!" Pheme cheered.
"So? What studio is next? Which one is it? Oh I'm so excited! I can hardly stand it!" Pheme jumped up off of her chair in excitement.
The figure didn't answer for a moment.
"Do you... not know? You should know this Miss Pheme."
Pheme cocked her head at what the figure said. She should know? She thought about it for a second...
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before it hit her.
"Ah, I know what it is! How could I forget? It's the Action Studio!" Pheme moved around vaguely like she was in an action movie.
"The fights! The destruction! The kaijus! Everything about them is absolutely exhilarating!" Pheme was clearly enjoying this a lot.
"Quite... anyway, now you should know what to do Miss Pheme. Which of the remaining eight shall be placed in the Action Studio?" The figure questioned.
Pheme didn't even need to look. She brazenly grabbed at a stack of documents, and happened to pull out the four stars she had in mind. She then promptly shoved the documents into the figure's face. "These four!" She open-mouth smiled.
The figure slowly lowered the documents from his face, and grabbed them away from Pheme. They had mixed feelings about one of them, but that wasn't important right now. "So be it Miss Pheme. Now, are you ready?"
Pheme nodded. "Of course!"
"Ready..." She paused for dramatic effect, like she usually does.
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"Action!"
[???]
The wind was blowing hard. A distant noise of hustle and bustle hit my ears as I lied on the ground. My body felt lethargic. It was like... I was giving commands to my limbs to move, but my brain didn't acknowledge them. My mind felt so fuzzy. But, despite my fatigue, I managed to move my head up off of the ground, and look around at my surroundings. And immediately... I actually recognized where I was.
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The girl was lying on a hard asphalt and concrete road, hot to the touch. Most likely due to the sun bearing down on her no doubt. The heat helped shock her joints awake, and it allowed to properly get up. When she did, she was able to see more of her surroundings. A wide silver cityscape surrounded her on all sides. Skyscrapers of various shapes and sizes abound. She was on a highway road, which was fairly high up. Thankfully she wasn't scared of heights. But she knew where she was. This was Tokyo! She lived here! She may not of known where exactly in Tokyo she was, but she knew she was in Tokyo.
Wanting to get a better grip on where she was, she turned her gaze towards further down the highway she was on. It was... well... a normal highway. There weren't any cars at all, which was a tad strange. But what was even stranger, was they she could barely make out three other people on this highway with her, though fairly spread out. She didn't recognize them. This whole situation had her feeling very uneasy... but she went forwards anyway. She needed to talk to these people to know what was going on, and where she actually was. Because she knew she didn't fall asleep on the road last night.
As she went towards the nearest person, she started looking them over. The first she noticed was that the person was a man. A... man...
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She shook her head. She had to swallow her insecurities for now. Anyway, the man was sitting on the ground, leaning against the railing of the highway. He didn't notice her yet, but she definitely noticed him. His style stuck out like a sore thumb in this daylight.
The man she was looking at had blue eyes and dark blue hair, the latter of which being fairly messy. He had a rather... dead look in his eyes, as well as various piercings on his body. Including some diamond-shaped earrings and a mouth piercing. Then he also had a tattoo of the ace of spades on his right forearm.
His clothes stuck out as well. He had on a black v-neck t-shirt and blue jeans. Holding up his jeans was a black and brown belt with metal holes around the entire thing. Lastly, he had several silver rings on both hands, all different.
She didn't really want to approach him. But she felt like she had no choice at the moment. She slowly crept up to him, until the man looked her way.
The man turned his head towards the approaching girl and squinted his eyes at her. After a brief moment, he turned back towards looking at nothing.
She was a little confused, but kept walking until she was right next to him. She was going to open her mouth to say something, but kept quiet. She wanted to see if he'd speak first.
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Evidently not. He didn't even seem to acknowledge her presence. Well, she just had to deal with it then. She gulped, then started talking.
"Umm... Hi." She muttered. The man still didn't turn towards her. She internally groaned. She really didn't want to deal with this.
"Ummm... Hello!" She spoke a bit louder. And it luckily got the man's attention as he turned towards her.
"Oh? Hey." He immediately stopped talking, and looked away again. What was this guys deal?! She sighed audibly this time.
"Umm... What's your name?" She softly asked.
He turned back towards her again. "What's it to you?" He raised an eyebrow.
She slightly squirmed, but she wasn't going to let the weird guy mess with her. She still hated that she had to deal with him though.
"W-well I just thought that... I uh-... I just..." She kept on stumbling over her words as she tried to talk.
As the guy watched her stumble, he couldn't take it anymore. "Hey, just uh- quit talking. I'll tell you what you want to know. It's Darren Taylor. My name. And uh- not that it matters, but I'm the Ultimate Bartender too I guess. There. You happy?"
She was quite happy with that indeed! Darren didn't have to be so dismissive about the whole thing though. But they were finally getting somewhere. "Hi... uh- Darren. I'm uh- Ayaka Naganohara. I'm actually an ultimate too. The Ultimate Violinist to be specific. Heh..." She mumbled, but still loud enough for Darren to hear it.
Huh. Darren hadn't expected to see another Ultimate in... wherever they were. That definitely caught his attention.
So Darren decided to pay a bit more attention to the nervous girl and looked her over. Ayaka had long, straight hime cut dark green hair. She had fair skin and gray eyes. She was a bit skinny for someone of her height, but still not exactly underweight. Then Ayaka had a crude, thick crescent shaped scar on her left palm.
For what she wore, she had a noticeable black face mask that hid the entire lower half of her face. She then wore a thick off shoulder black sweater over a black camisole. Ayaka's pants were ripped dark blue jeans as well as dark brown hiking boots. The Darren swore he could barely make out what looked like a heart-shaped pendant hidden under her sweater. He was curious about that, but now wasn't the time to question it.
Darren realized that he had been silent the entire time he was looking at Ayaka, and chose to continue staying silent. But Ayaka really wasn't liking his glare. "Uhh... can you stop l-looking at me like that please?" She muttered.
Like he was snapped back to reality, Darren widen his eyes for a moment and looked away. "Ah, sorry."
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This was a very awkward conversation. Lots of silence. Ayaka internally cursed at this misfortune.
"Hey, Darren? Do you... know where we are?" She asked.
Darren kept staring at nothing as he responded. "I got no clue."
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Seriously? He's staying silent again? Ayaka felt like she was about to lose it. She was going to-
Darren groaned as Ayaka didn't say anything, due to her being buried in her thoughts. Well, he decided he may as well finally contribute to this one-sided conversation. "Do you have an idea Ayaka?"
It took Ayaka a second to realize that Darren had finally talked. "Umm... well... I think this is Tokyo. I umm... live in Tokyo. And I recognize some of these buildings. So I'm pretty sure that's where we are. Yeah." Ayaka awkwardly stated.
Darren actually perked up at that information. Tokyo? That certainly wasn't where he lived. He lived in Seattle. Darren finally got up off the ground and looked around a little.
"Tokyo huh? You don't say..." Darren crossed his arms. Ayaka was a bit confused at his muted reaction to this. He was American wasn't he? Shouldn't he be a bit more concerned that he suddenly appeared in a country across the world?
Ayaka shook her head. "Say... Darren. Do you have any ideas why you're here? Or maybe w-why both of us are here. I t-think we were kidnapped... but being placed in the middle of a g-giant road is a bit strange..."
Darren didn't turn towards her, but Ayaka could tell he was thinking deeply about something. After a couple of seconds, it looked like he was about to say something, but he didn't. Like he held himself back.
"Why does it matter?" Darren closed his eyes.
"H-huh? What do you mean? It matters a lot! Do you realize we've been kidnapped? How does that not m-matter to you?"
Darren opened his eyes and flashed Ayaka a slightly annoyed look. "Listen..." Darren coughed. "I know we were kidnapped. Why we are here? I have an idea. But talking about is just a waste of time." Darren pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
Ayaka let out a small gasp. She didn't understand how he could be so apathetic about the situation. Did he not care about his own life?! "H-hey Darren. I-it isn't a waste of time! We've been kidnapped, a-and you should care about it a bit more!" Ayaka tried being as assertive as she could be with this guy.
Darren turned completely away from her, looking further down the road. "Ayaka. Let's just keep going. We can talk all we want, but answers aren't going to magically fall from the sky. Right now, let's go meet those other two people here. Then, we could talk. It'd be useless talking about the puzzle when we don't have all of the pieces." Without waiting for a response from Ayaka, Darren started walking down the road towards the next nearest person.
Ayaka stood frozen for a moment as she watched Darren walk away. She already didn't particularly like men... but this guy... she didn't know what to think. Ayaka was annoyed, but she kept that down and followed after Darren. She sped-walked as fast as she could in order to catch up with Darren, but she was stopped when she actually saw the next person they were approaching. And it was another man. Great.
Ayaka started looking over the young man who was contently starring into space. He had prominent cheekbones and fair, flawless skin that seemed to radiate in the light. He had short blonde hair that was tousled yet looked meticulously maintained. As she glanced at his hair, the man ran his hand through it, almost as if on cue. He looked athletic and lean, it looked like his clothes concealed his toned physique, but she could see that he had a well-defined build too. He had small gray eyes, hinting at hidden depths that added an air of mystery to his persona.
For what he wore, he had a pristine white turtleneck, its high collar perfectly framing his face, under a stylish cream trench coat that draped elegantly over his shoulders. His choice of brown dress pants complemented the ensemble, adding a touch of warmth to the otherwise neutral palette. He sported polished black dress shoes on his feet, adding a sophisticated finish to his look. For accessories, he had on black studded earrings that subtly caught the light, adding a hint of edge to his otherwise refined appearance. Then he had a black scarf that was worn loosely under his trench coat, providing warmth and a layer of stylish detail.
All in all, he was a very stylish person. Ayaka couldn't see Darren's expression, but she internally groaned. She felt like this was going to be annoying. Luckily, she didn't have to start the conversation, as Darren spoke up first.
"Hey!" Darren yelled, a rarity for him to do. He sighed as he noticed the man finally turning their way.
"Ah, well well well. What do we have here?" He raised an eyebrow as he sauntered towards the duo.
"Hey, we're-" Darren was cut off as the man cut past him and went straight up to Ayaka. Well, that'll teach him to not initiate conversations anymore.
"You! What a beautiful thing you are!" He exaggerated with a hand motion. "What is your name dear?" He turned his head a bit, so his ear could hear all Ayaka had to say.
Ayaka was very thrown off by this attitude. She was weirded out by him instantly, and she took a big step back from the bold man. "I-I'm uh- can you... not be so close to me...?" She stammered out.
A shocked look crossed the man's face, before turning into one of pure forgiveness. "Ah, please do accept my apologies! I did not mean to make you even more uncomfortable in this already uncomfortable situation!" He gave an exaggerated bow.
"But where are my manners?" He straightened up his clothes. "I am Damien Lux, the Ultimate Beautician. Some say I'm a master of transformation, but I prefer to think of myself as an artist. It's a pleasure to meet you..." He trailed off.
"Ayaka. It's Ayaka Naganohara." And Ayaka filled in the gaps.
"Ah, Ayaka. What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Damien bent down to kiss Ayaka's hand as a form of affection, but Ayaka instantly pulled her hand away, and fought off a strong urge to slap him.
"Sorry, can you please... not be so... close." Ayaka looked away. "I just don't like p-people... being so close to me."
Damien stepped back. He of course hadn't meant to overstep her boundaries. "Ayaka..." He spoke once again, though this time a bit further back, in order to not scare her. "You needn't be afraid. I can tell you've been through some things. And trust me, I have too. But a girl like you being afraid just doesn't fit with your natural beauty." He winked. "Come now, you don't need to worry about every little thing. Someone being close or not, it's no fun living in the dark is it?" He slowly walked close to her again as he talked.
Ayaka... kind of got what he said. But at the same time, it didn't really work on her. She was never a fan of overly charming people, or people that try too hard in general. She put up her hands. "I- thank you for trying to comfort me, b-but I'm okay." Ayaka herself backed away a tad, and trying to take control of the conversation. "H-hey, Damien? Do you have any information that might be useful? I feel like we've been acting a bit too lax considering the situation we're in..."
A frustrated look flashed upon Damien's face at the conversation changing, but it quickly changed back to a slight smirk. "Information you say? Indeed, this is quite the situation..." He concentrated, trying to think about what all he knew. "Well first off, may I hear what you have to say about this Ayaka? No doubt your knowledge is more vital than mine."
Something about this guy was rubbing Ayaka the wrong way, but... he seemed... sincere? It's hard to get a good read on this guy. And Darren wasn't helping, he was just back to sitting on the ground a few feet behind Damien. She quickly shook her head. She just went along with it for now. "Well... all I know is that this is Tokyo. I-it's where I live... so I'd recognize this scenery anywhere." She looked around a bit more.
Then Damien joined the violinist in looking around at the scenery. "Indeed? Wow, despite the raw city atmosphere, Tokyo is quiet... beautiful." He accentuated with a hand motion. "Especially if beautiful people like you live here Ayaka..." He turned his gaze to the violinist. "It must be quite the nice place indeed."
Now that actually got a small blush out of Ayaka. But besides for that, she didn't react much, and she quickly brushed it off. "So... yeah. That's what I know. So do you know anything Damien?"
Damien got a bit internally frustrated at the conversation, but he decided to just let it go. He'll do what he can to Ayaka later. He'll just focus up for now. "Indeed then. For what I know... well... unfortunately not much." He furrowed his brow. "I do have vague memories of before I woke up in this place. Would you care to hear?" He then raised his eyebrow.
Ayaka nodded. "Yes of course!" Finally, they were getting somewhere. She wanted Darren to hear this too, but she looked behind Damien and saw that he was gone. She wanted to look for him, but Damien's story cut her off and caught her attention.
"Now I'd like to preface this by saying that I am usually quite the cautious and careful man. I'm not one to let someone get the upper-hand on me. Understand? Well, my last memories were from when I did let my guard down. I had been invited to the show the "Yapping Yachiho." Have you heard of it?" Damien extended his hand towards Ayaka.
She thought for a moment. The "Yapping Yachiho?" It kind of sounded familiar...
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Oh yeah! She remembered! "I-I think I have. I don't watch her much, but I think Raiha Miyahara was on it." She recalled.
"Ah, you know the Riactionista? Marvelous! She's quite the inspiration and icon isn't she? Quite like myself you could say!" Damien exclaimed.
"O-oh, well like I said, I don't watch her much..." Ayaka repeated.
"Ah, quite right! Forgive me for that blunder. But anyway, the Riactionista and I are... acquaintances. And I knew she had been on the show, but I still didn't trust it. Did you hear? She evidently went missing a little after appearing on the show." Damien's tone darkened.
Ayaka blinked. "M-missing? Like us...?" She muttered.
That was an interesting connection. Damien thought about it for a moment. "Well perhaps or perhaps not. Could us two going missing align with her? I hadn't thought about it. Great observation Ayaka!" He stepped closer to the nervous girl, and Ayaka subsequently stepping further back.
"A-ah, thanks. But it's the three of us."
Damien didn't understand what she said. "Wait, the three of us? Is it not just us two?" He was genuinely confused as he looked around him.
And Ayaka was confused as well, confused on how he didn't even see Darren when he literally pushed past him to get to Ayaka. "Uh, well yeah. There was this other guy Darren..." She looked around for him, but there was no sign of the bartender.
Damien didn't realize that there was another person besides the two of them here, but he of course trusted Ayaka. "Hm. Well, I trust you Ayaka. Shall we find out where this mysterious Darren went together?" He held out his hand.
Damien... trusted her? Ayaka didn't realize that he did. She smiled from under her mask. "Yeah, let's go. We can finish your story later alright?" She didn't take Damien's hand and she started walking forwards on her own.
Damien lightly chuckled. "Of course Ayaka, we'll have time for stories later. For now, let's find this mysterious person!" Ayaka looked behind her and firmly nodded as Damien caught up with her, and they started to search the area more.
[???]
Meanwhile, you're probably curious what Darren had been up to right? Well let's find out!
Darren had been sitting on the ground behind Damien for a while, listening in on what he was saying. But admittedly, he was getting fairly bored of it. He stretched his arms. He figured Ayaka could handle the "golden boy." He got up and started moving onwards, until he realized something. He looked down at his hands and saw that he was missing one of his rings. He looked on the ground. He hadn't dropped it. And he's sure he would've noticed if Damien took it.
He looked more around the surrounding area, until he spotted something strange. He could barely see what looked like a person, running down a distant flight of stairs, going underneath the road. He sighed, and figured that they stole it. He begrudgingly started walking towards his only lead of the mysterious ring theft.
Darren wasn't exactly unfit or anything, but he also wasn't used to walking for such a long length. He sure how long he ended up walking, but he finally reached a small flight of stairs on the side of the road. It looked a little rickety, but after walking down them, it held his weight well enough. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a small walkway that led to what looked like a sort of maintenance room. And on top of the maintenance room, he saw a girl lying down, seemingly taking a nap.
She looked like a petite woman with a lithe frame that gave off the impression of a feline, and after watching her twist and turn in her sleep in... strange ways, she definitely had the flexibility to match it. Despite her diminutive size, her slender limbs made her seem somewhat taller and better proportioned than she really is. She had light skin that looked soft and smooth, and she had subtle, supple musculature with the faintest hint of abs.
Darren continued looking her over, and noticed her waking up from her catnap, then proceeding to look at him. Her almond eyes, twinkled with mischief, were electric green, and it looked like she was wearing contact lenses with cat pupils. She then had short neon pink hair with swept bangs that cover her right eye and dangle past her flat chest, and inch-long nails which were festively painted red and white in an alternating pattern.
Her clothes... almost complimented her already strange look. She had a questionable take on a Santa-themed costume fused with a feline flavour. She wore a red fur-trimmed capelet attached to an oversized hood with cat ears. Her capelet had a ribbon clasp with a large golden bell attached that slightly jingled whenever the seemingly stealthy girl was moving around. She wore a red tube top that exposed her midriff, and her posterior was hugged by a red miniskirt trimmed with white fur. Attached to her skirt is a fake cat tail that is the same shade as her hair with another ribbon and bell tied around the end. Her legs were pinched by thigh-high stockings with red-and-white stripes in a candy cane pattern. For footwear, she wore black leather boots up to her ankles with an array of superficial belt buckles.
The feline-esc girl flashed a fang-toothed smile at the sight of Darren, and spoke. "Nyahaha! What's the matter, big boy?" She jumped down from on top of the maintenance room to the ground below, stuck the landing rather well, then she faced down the bartender. "Upset you lost your precious ring?" She brought out the stolen silver ring and tossed into the air, and quickly caught it. Just an act to show off it looked like.
Darren wasn't too impressed. He just muttered out an "Eh." before moving closer to the maintenance room to check it out a bit closer. But the feline felon still blocked his path. "Hey now, hold on there human!" The feline-like girl stepped in front of the door, blocking it. "What business does one such as you have in here?" She got right up in Darren's face as she asked that.
Darren groaned. He did not want to deal with this. And why did she say "human?" Odd way to word it. But whatever. Darren scratched his head. "I guess I don't have any business. Just curious." He shrugged. "Why, should I have business in there? Should I be curious? What's in there?" He bombarded the ring thief with questions.
The girl squinted her eyes then shook her head. "You humans and your countless questions! "What is this?" "What is that?" It's ridiculous!" She mocked him, and by extension all humans by doing that. "Do you really wanna know what's in there?" She smirked.
Honestly, he did kind of want to know. But... "Nah." was all Darren said as he put his hands behind his head.
The girl squinted her eyes again. "That figures. You humans are all so lazy and apathetic too! Can't be helped I suppose..." She gave a disgusted look. "Well, it doesn't really matter. It's just a bunch of weird shiny buttons in there." She huffed.
That ever-so-slightly caught Darren's attention. "Oh yeah? Sounds interesting." He deadpanned as he tried to open the door. It was locked.
The girl smirked upon seeing Darren trying to open the door. "Nyahaha! I suppose you are wondering how I got in there?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Not really." was all Darren said to that, but it didn't stop her at all.
"Nyaha! It was kittens-play for me to get into the room, as I am the Ultimate Cat Burglar!" She put her hand on her chest as she announced her Ultimate title. The Christmas cosplayer then skillfully lifted one leg behind her before winking. "I am Catherine Munchkin—Cathy! Best Cat Burglar, guaranteed! Silly humans should give up, run home like a little pup! Nyahaha!" Cathy laughed jovially.
Darren didn't really know what to think. For one, she was... eccentric to say the least. Quite the strong personality. Seemed like a bother to deal with, honestly. But he begrudgingly tried to. "So... Cathy. I guess you used your talent to get in there? How'd you do it?"
Cathy kept on laughing. "Nyahaha! You think a human could mimic the Ultimate Cat Burglar! What a fool!" She shook her head.
Darren thought she seemed a little wonky in the head if anything. But that made him think about something. "Hey Cathy, why are you saying "human"? Aren't we both... humans?" He asked her another question, confused about her choice of words.
But she rolled her eyes and gave a blunt answer "Well duh."
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Darren... decided to just not question it. It wasn't worth the effort. "Okay, you know what? It's fine." Darren shot his hands up in defeat. He decided to move this conversation on, just to make it end quicker. "So there's nothing important in there at all? You're sure?"
Cathy gave a lithe stretch. "Ny-ope! Absolutely nothing! I pressed them, but the shiny buttons didn't even do anything!" She pouted.
Darren was keeping mental notes of everything she was saying, because he assumed he wasn't going to be able to get into the room. He tried to puzzle out what was up with that room...
Until Cathy tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey. Human. You realize you still haven't introduced yourself right?" She lightly shoved his shoulder.
"Huh? Darren Taylor. Ultimate Bartender." He just quickly dealt with whatever Cathy wanted.
"Ugh, I shouldn't be surprised. All of you humans are drunkards..." She waved Darren away with her hand. "Well, this has been fun but shouldn't we move on to something else?" She asked, but apparently not to Darren, and just jumped quite acrobatically up to the top of the road, not even using the stairs.
Darren apathetically looked above him. "Well at least I'm not getting drunk on cat nip..."
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Darren facepalmed. "Why did I even say that?"
He tried to open the door to the "maintenance room" once again, but it still didn't budge. There was a small window on it, and he could see that Cathy wasn't actually lying. There were a variety of small and shiny buttons in there. He also saw... something else.
Huh. He'll keep that observation to himself for now. But did Cathy not notice it? Hm. He internally groaned as he realized he'd have to ask her about it later. Whatever. He walked away from the "maintenance room" and started back up the steps to the top of the road.
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[Road (Top)]
Ayaka and Damien were walking together, still trying to find out where Darren disappeared to. They filled the void with small talk. Ayaka was slowly warming to Damien, and Damien wasn't being as forward. So it made for a nice change. But all change must unfortunately be interrupted.
"So as I was saying, dear Ayaka, that is why boredom is a deadly foe-!" Damien stopped talking as he sensed something. Something strange. He held out his arm in front of Ayaka to protect her from this strange sensation.
"Stay back Ayaka. Something strange is coming."
Ayaka looked around them after Damien's warning. "Umm... really? I don't sense anything?" Ayaka was confused at what Damien meant.
"You needn't worry. Just stay behind me and-" But it was too late. Like a bite from a cobra, or more accurately, like a bite from a cat, she appeared. Cathy the Christmas cat burglar leaped up from below the road, almost seeming to hover in the air. Ayaka and Damien were frozen at the strange sight. But Damien specifically didn't get much time to gawk, as Cathy quickly came down from up in the air, and landed directly on Damien, causing him to crash and crumble to the ground, back-up.
"Nyahaha! Cathy the Cat burglar sticks the landing!" She proudly announced as she stood a top Damien's back.
Ayaka jumped back in mainly shock at the sight. "W-w-what the? W-who are you?!" She shakily pointed to Cathy.
"Ah, another human that doesn't know me? Well I shouldn't be surprised! How could one know of the illusive ultimate cat burglar Catherine Munchkin?" She gave a fast twirl, furthering Damien's silent pain.
Ayaka's reaction softened a little upon learning of Cathy's ultimate talent. "Y-you're an ultimate? Like us? So you were kidnapped too?" Ayaka was excited at the prospect of learning more about what had happened to them.
But Cathy just brushed off her questions. "Oh? You think I was kidnapped? Impossible! You humans do all think the same foolish logic. You and the blue brain dead bartender too!" Cathy aggressively pointed at Ayaka.
Blue... Brain dead... Bartender...? Ayaka got an epiphany. That was Darren! "Wait, you saw Darren? Where was he?"
Cathy rolled her eyes and pointed below them. "Down below. He got there because he chased after me! I stole this from that silly drunkard!" Cathy revealed the silver ring she stole from Darren. Weird that she still had it, but Darren just didn't have the effort to take it back I suppose.
Ayaka was confused at what she said. Down below? What "down below?" She was about to ask what exactly Cathy meant, but she was cut off by the beautician starting to struggle.
Right, let's not forget about Damien! He was struggling underneath Cathy. For being such a petite girl, it was harder than he would've thought getting her off of him. But after enough effort... "Get... off... of... me! You stupid feline!" Damien jumped up from off the ground to his feet, actually managing to catch Cathy by surprise. She almost landed on her back, but because she was a "cat" she managed to land on her feet.
"Oh wow! That was a human I was standing on? I thought the ground felt a bit piggish..." Cathy remarked, not being remorseful in the slightest.
Damien was just about to lose his cool, but he reined it in. He saw Ayaka's shocked face, and calmed down. "Ah, that outburst was unbecoming of me. Forgive my dear... Catherine? Correct? That is quite the ensemble you have on. The Santa Clause ascetic is to die for. Your look is quite unique." Damien started to compliment Cathy's look, but she wasn't having it.
She held up her hand in front of her. "Save it! You won't trap me with your words lined with thorns! Save it for the naive and stupid humans, like her!" She cocked her head towards Ayaka.
"H-hey! I didn't even do anything!" Ayaka frowned.
Damien, sensing a cat-fight brewing, stepped in to stop it. "Now ladies. Let's both calm now." He held his arms between the two women, and turned towards Cathy. "Cathy, I implore you to be careful with your words. Misunderstandings can lead to unnecessary conflict." He adopted a lecturer tone to his voice as he tried to diffuse the fight before it even began.
Cathy rolled her eyes, like she usually does whenever a dirty human speaks to her. "Nyaha!" She jumped away from the beautician and violinist pair. "Like I said, your barbed words won't work on me! Nice try!" She condescendingly winked at Damien.
Sensing that there'd be no point trying to converse further with the fast feline, Damien dropped the matter, and turned to Ayaka. "Well, I apologize on Catherine's behalf dear Ayaka. Jealousy can do nasty things to people..." He shook his head.
"Nyahaha! Silly human!" A distant yell reached Ayaka and Damien's ears, but they ignored it. Damien was attempting to talk to Ayaka to comfort her, but the violinist was slowly zoning out.
What... was happening? She gets kidnapped... placed in the middle of a large highway in Tokyo, and she gets paired up with three... eccentric people. What even was this? She didn't know what to think about any of this. Why did she deserve this? Why was she here? Why were any of them here?
She audibly sighed. And she still didn't even know where Darren was-
And right on cue, Darren appeared. He walked back up the flight of stairs to the top of the road, and saw Damien trying to talk to Ayaka. And he also saw Cathy in the distance jumping between various platforms near the highway. He was grateful he didn't have to deal with the Christmas cat burglar again. He saw Ayaka, and wanted to report what he found down below.
He started to walk up to the masked girl, but was stopped by Damien. "Excuse me? Forgive my manners, but just who are you?" He asked the bartender pointedly.
Darren, like he usually feels, didn't want to deal with this guy. He hadn't liked the vibe he got from Damien when he overheard his first conversation with Ayaka. But luckily for him, Ayaka stepped between them.
"I-it's okay Damien! This is Darren, who I told you about earlier!" She gave a slight smile underneath her mask.
Upon realizing who Darren was, Damien became a lot more polite with the bartender. "Once again I ask you to excuse me, I just didn't realize who you were. It's nice to meet you Darren. I am Damien Lux, Ultimate Beautician." Damien held out his hand, and Darren gave it a light and limp shake. "Right. Good to meet you." He deadpanned.
While Damien and Darren shared a dull conversation, Ayaka got a realization. She still didn't know to where Darren disappeared too. "Say, Darren? I-I don't want to interrupt you, but I want to ask you something." She chimed in.
Trust me Ayaka, Darren didn't mind in the slightest that she was interrupting his boring talk with Damien. "Huh? What's up Ayaka?" The pair looked towards the girl in anticipation of what she wanted to say.
"Where did you disappear to? Neither Damien nor myself saw you o-on the road." She darted her eyes back and forth.
Ah, he almost forgot. "Oh yeah. I wanted to tell you about that. Well, both of you I guess. Down below the-" Darren was cut off. Not by Ayaka, Damien, Cathy, or a distant -nya from the horror studio. But by a loud and grating sound. It was like the sound itself was burrowing in their eardrums. It was so painful to listen to. The three felt the effects of it, and they could see Cathy in the distant getting agitated by it as well. The hell... was that? Some sort of... ancient audio equipment?
The three looked around to find a source.
"W-where is that coming from?!" Ayaka yelled as loud as she could.
"Ughhh..." Darren loudly groaned.
"This is... quite the disturbance..." Damien muttered inaudibly.
Cathy was probably saying something too, but she was too far way for the trio to hear.
The sound finally came to an end after a few more seconds, and a voice echoed throughout the city.
"Hello! Hello! Greetings my four darling stars!" The voice loudly echoed through the air, like it was coming from a blimp or something similar high in the sky. "Ah, it makes my heart dance to see you four alive and well!" She voice dripped with glee.
The trio, and probably Cathy as well, didn't know what to think. Both Damien and Darren stood shocked at the voice. But Ayaka for some reason felt the inexplicable urge to kneel at the sound of the voice. Like she had an alternative personality inside of her that started with an S and ended with an Empi. But that urge quickly changed back to normal and rational shock.
"What is t-that voice? W-where is it coming from?" Ayaka frantically looked around.
Damien moved closer to get to protect her while Darren just stood there, not really doing anything.
"Ayaka, let's not worry. Let's be calm..." Damien looked around, once again trying to find the source of the voice. "Listen! What do you need of us?! What do you want from us?!" Damien carefully yet confidently questioned the voice.
"Ah, you need't be so worried Mr. Lux! I only want the best of you, and your fellow stars!" The voice sounded like it was dancing with joy.
Damien was a bit thrown off hearing the voice of probably the kidnapper speaking his name. He stayed silent for a moment before the voice spoke up once again. "Ah, I know what you are thinking Mr. Lux! Indeed! You, Mr. Taylor, Ms. Naganohara, and Ms. Munchkin are all my precious stars!"
Huh. So they did actually know all of their names. Damien started carefully thinking about what to say...
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but Darren spoke up before Damien could think out a proper response. "So? Why are we here?" Darren yelled out with little to no emotion. Damien wanted to stop him from being so brash, but the voice seemingly didn't care.
"That is a wonderful question Mr. Taylor! And I'd be happy to answer that for you! First, I assume you all realize where you currently are?" She asked the figurative class.
Ayaka was the one to speak up now. "It's... Tokyo!" She assertively yelled out.
The voice was pleased by the answer she gave. "Very good Ms. Naganohara! Correct, this is Tokyo! And do you know what Tokyo is known for?" She asked the group again.
No one immediately answered. That was a rather broad question. Tokyo was known for a lot of things. The boys glanced at Ayaka, but even she didn't know what to answer. The voice disappointedly spoke up. "Do my wonderful stars not know? That's okay! Not everyone can always know the correct answer~! So I'll answer for you! Tokyo is known for...
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Godzilla!"
All of a sudden, loud and monstrous roar came from an unknown place. Ayaka jumped up in shock, but the boys tried their best to keep it cool.
"W-was that...?" Ayaka stammered, and the voice answered.
"Indeed Ms. Naganohara! That was the roar of the monster Godzilla! Quite known for the destruction he causes in Tokyo time and time again, no? Isn't it exhilarating? Aren't you excited to see the fabled monster in real life?!" The voice sounded like it was jumping up and down in happiness.
Normally, one would just assume that a "real life Godzilla" would just be some sort of fancy movie prop. But... this was no fancy prop. The trio looked up in awe as they saw a frighteningly realistic Godzilla slowly but surely approaching them on the road they stood on. None of them said a word, so the mysterious voice opted to speak.
"Ah, so my darlings see him! Isn't he wonderful? Isn't the mythical kaiju just so majestic?!" The voice fawned over the beast, for... some reason. "But I shouldn't lose my composure. Glamourous stars! I have one simple task for you to accomplish!"
"A-and what would that be?" Damien stammered out. Even he had to admit that he was quite frightened in the presence of this beast.
"Again, the task is quite simple! I hate repeating challenges, but all you must do is...
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Run!" Godzilla yet out another eardrum-rupturing roar as the voice went away as suddenly as it appeared. The trio looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do. But they didn't have the luxury of that, as Godzilla took a big step forward towards them. Then another big step. Then another. It might seem like, because of its towering size, it'd be slow to move. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Godzilla was approaching the trio at quite the steady pace.
"Come on." Darren spoke up as he started to slowly run in the opposite direction of the monster.
Damien and Ayaka nodded it each other. They knew it was difficult, but they figured it was wiser to stay calm. They started slowly running after Darren. All of their hearts were beating out of their chests, and it picked up tenfold when Godzilla started moving faster. And faster. And even faster. Soon enough, Godzilla was in a straight sprint towards them, so the trio had to follow suit.
None of them were particularly athletic, but they got by. Deep breaths and sore legs ran through out all three of them as they just ran as fast as they could.
He didn't know if the other two were thinking it, but Darren was getting concerned. Running is all well and good, but how would they escape? They certainly can't run forever. But almost as if on cue- the trio saw a peculiar sight.
A metallic wall materialized out of nowhere, only a few meters ahead of them. And notably, the metallic wall had a door on it. Damien picked up his pace a little to reach the door first. They needed to be quick and calm about this. The door had a simple nob on it. He turned it, and it...
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It actually opened! It let in a blindly bright light the already bright city. He took a deep breath. Once Ayaka had reached the door, he urged her inside. He then followed after her, motioning for Darren to follow as well. He was about to do so, but he stopped. He knew he shouldn't really care but... where was Cathy? He looked around. But as he did, he also noticed that Godzilla had stopped in its tracks. It was frozen in place now, standing on the highway it had destroyed. What... happened?
People have good timing this chapter, because on cue, Cathy jumped down from a random location above to greet Darren. "Oh, you survived? Impressive, considering you're a human!" She snidely muttered.
"Cathy, what happened to you?" Darren was legitimately curious.
Cathy was going to toy with him... but she decided against it. For some reason, she felt like she should be honest here. "The weird shiny button room. I was in there."
Darren raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Why's that?" He wanted to know more.
"When that fake human-made monster appeared, I dipped down to the room. I entered, and saw that two buttons were glowing. And I pressed them. That's it and that's all you're getting out of me! Nyahaha!" She changed back to her usual attitude as she dipped out the door.
Darren stood there for a moment. There was a lot to take in. The monster, that voice, that "maintenance room," and especially what he saw in there as well. Darren loudly sighed. He certainly didn't sign up for this nonsense, but he figured he might as well try and go along with it. He shook his head, and followed the other three out of the door...
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Hello everyone! Welcome back to another chapter! I hope you enjoyed!
And for Oddly, Sempi, Otter, and Nekoja, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about your characters and how I wrote them, please do tell!
Also, small news update. The deadline for submissions had been expedited a bit to July 1st! But the cast size was also expanded to 18!
That's... it. Short author's note this time! But again. I hope you enjoyed! And I hope you have a good day/evening/night!
Our Glamorous Stars
1. Kei Aikawa - Ultimate Lawyer [theotakureader101]
2. Kuroko Kurobara - Ultimate Hypnotist [MrUtenaHolic]
3. Yoshino Akiyama - Ultimate Horror Novelist [DeathlyJazzHands55]
4. Genjiro Mashimoto - Ultimate Wrestler [Grandma Sue]
5. Joji Kaneshiro - Ultimate Carpenter [SureJahn]
6. Lake Beaumont - Ultimate Ballet Dancer [KadachiNova]
7. Bessie B. Blossom - Ultimate Pop Star [CandleFire45]
8. Raiha Miyahara - Ultimate Trendsetter [Prince PokePersona]
9. Ayaka Naganohara - Ultimate Violinist [Sempi]
10. Catherine Munchkin - Ultimate Cat Burglar [Nekoja]
11. Darren Taylor - Ultimate Bartender [Otterplay]
12. Damien Lux - Ultimate Beautician [oddlyillregular]
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