She had been jogging for forty five minutes by now, but Shujiko Ishi was only just beginning to tire slightly. Navigating the streets, dressed in a simple white shirt and light blue shorts, the brown-haired girl carried on in her exercise, a water bottle gripped in her left hand.
As she ran, the young teenager had also taken to letting her mind wander. She'd ran this route so many times that it would take a drastic change for her to fail to notice anything anyway. Current object of thought? A senior girl who walked around with a hand-puppet, believing it to be alive and possessing a deep hatred of the world.
...Yup.
Really now, why did she have to think of that girl so much these days? She was just an incredibly weird, cute girl, after all. Not a boy she could justify thinking off with a crush or anything. Just a very attractive girl... that she would like to get to know...
The running girl's hair subtly darkened slightly as she let out a breathless sigh. Heh, as if. That girl was so out there that there was no way someone plain like Shujiko would ever get to be her friend or anything.
Shaking her head clear of such thoughts, Shujiko rounded a corner, intent on finishing her run for the day.
A blue light.
A blue light lit up the darkness of the alley way. It expanded outward, engulfing the darkness in its azure grace. "COME ON!" a man said. "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT!?". His voice merged with the constant crackle of lightning escaping the blue, flickering light nearby.
The man with lightning dancing through and out of his arms stood there, looking to the ground. "You asked me if that was all I got?" the man walked forward, his neck straightening up.
"Ggh..." the man, who asked that question, took a step back. He reached down to his waist, pulling out a knife. "Alright, let's go!" he charged forth, sealing his own fate.
"You put more effort into pulling out a knife THAN YOU DO THINKING ABOUT YOUR OWN LIFE!" the glowing man, who thought he sounded profound, moved forward to meet his target in the center of the alley.
Stab...
"Gh..." the man slowed down, blood drawn from his back. "What the..?" his attention faded from his front.
Stab...
And at that moment, he was pierced from both sides.
"Not so tough, are ya?" the crook on the front smiled while the one in back withdrew his blade.
"WAAAATAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" in an instant, the front of his palm smashed across the arrogant man's face.
"ATATATATATATA! WATA!" his arms moved in a blur, smashing themselves into the man's stomach. The air broke with each blow, unable to contain the sheer power and speed of each impact. "Aaaaaaaaaaa...." he stopped. He took in a deep breath, carefully measuring the distance from his closed fist to the man's stomach.
"W-wha..." he couldn't react.
"AHAAAAAAAA!!!!" the legendary One-Inch Punch.
His body flew through the air. It flew in an arc out of the alley way, into the next street, and into the dumpster, prompting it to close shut with a CLANG.
"Ah..ahhhh..." the other criminal, sitting on the ground with his browned pants, stared on in awe.
The one known as Alex Vanhart turned his head toward the downed fellow, and he removed his glasses.
His eyes glazed over with a brilliant azure, he smiled, "Get out of here."
He followed his command, quickly sitting up from the ground and sprinting into the darkness, into the shelter of the alley. "Phew..." Alex, satisfied with a job well done, slicked his hair back. "They'll never both her again." who was he talking about? well, no one in particular. "Hmm..." he looked at his.. damaged watch. "Oh, almost time for breakfast!" he said with a smile before sprinting out of the alley way.
edited 11th Mar '12 6:48:08 PM by RagnaTheSaviour
Soundwave.
He wanted Soundwave. Was that really too much to ask? One toy. He'd been everywhere until, finally, winding up at a little shop with a giant teddy bear in the window... Where he'd finally found what he'd sought.
Nanno Nanigashi stepped out of the store... and froze.
There was that girl again. He'd been seeing her everywhere... Even in his dreams. She was, like, his Ramona Flowers or something...
"...Maybe I have a subspace highway in my head..." he mused out loud.
He was doing his best not to stare, and putting a valiant effort into not smiling like an idiot, but it was a doomed effort.
edited 12th Mar '12 6:31:33 PM by Scrounge
"I hate this town." Akhisa mutters, as he walks through the town's park, completely ignoring the lush vegetation, beautiful floral wonders, and the old man that just happens to be floating in the air, bathed in pure white light. He climbs over a bench in his way, and walks further, passing by the toy store.
"I mean, what the hell attracts all the monsters and weird shit here! No one notices all this damn magic crap... and I'm the one who has to protect it. Why here? Couldn't it be Tokyo or somewhere? Why some town in the middle of nowhere?" Akihisa yawns, as he passes the mermaid pond, tossing a worm into it as he goes past.
"I suppose they are fish.. do they eat worms? I hope they do." He does a 180, turning around, and walking back to sit across the street from the toy store. "And it's that puppet! Man, that puppet is the only one I get here, I swear. Man, I want that puppet." He sighs, staring longingly at Nyan-Sama... "Wait, what the hell a I thinking? It's a puppet! It's just. Toy for that one girl... Someone or another. I guess she has hidden disgruntledness, or something... Bah."
Aki lays down on the ground, to think.
edited 11th Mar '12 9:01:17 PM by neopie
I ship it."How... How is this possible?" A man cried as he was on all fours, scattered kitchen utensils and food around him. Tears of frustration ran down his cheeks as he looked at the feet of the winner. "You damn brat, what trickery did you use?! I demand a rematch, swine! Obviously, you have drugged my loyal customers and I-" The chef got no more into his rant as the winner's heel pressed down on his head and shoved the belligerent man's face down.
"Hmph. Picking a fight with a kid for saying your dish is inadequate to serve, and losing. Accusations of me cheating. Ungraceful denial. You have no shame." Ayaka mumbled as he looked at the kitchen with sleepy eyes, pressing down on the man harder as various staff members came out and surrounded the two, looking belligerently at the newcomer. "Anyways, time to clean up this mess."
Five Minutes Later
"Hmph." A single person walked out of the closed restaurant, a grimace on his face. Inside the eatery, unconscious bodies littered the establishment along with broken tables and chairs. Amid the rubble was a single bowl of fried rice, each individual grain shining golden as though gilded by the actual metal. "Hope they appreciate the parting gift on how to cook fried rice right..." Yakumo stated, before adjusting his backpack filled with utensils once more. Setting off towards the shopping district of town, the young chef prepared to buy some new ingredients.
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.Yasu, much like his childhood friend, had decided to try and make the most of this last day before returning to the inevitable drudgery of schoolwork and had gone for a walk. Strangely, he came across an inexplicably closed restaurant. The place had been open the day before, of that the purple-haired youth was certain, and it did goods desserts... so why was it closed? How... strange.
Well, with his first choice for getting something sweet to eat—if only due to proximity—closed, he may as well go elsewhere. Humming tunelessly, Yasu ambled off for the market, attracting a lot less attention than a man in a skirt normally would. For whatever reason, his skirt, oddly long socks, and jacket all seemed to be varying shades of purple, even if the socks nearly were black. Honestly, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that any introductions on his part were misheard and he was called Nasu.*
Unwittingly following the reason for the restaurant's current closure, Yasu headed towards the market, checking how much money he had again. Why his mother insisted on female accessories too... alright, so it matched better and wasn't as confusing for other people, but it was still annoying. Hmm... he had to get some stuff for dinner, now that he thought about it, which meant... ah, definitely not as much to indulge his sweet tooth as he'd hoped.
Lost in thought, the excessively effeminate youth bumped into another effeminate male, apologising to Ayaka almost immediately.
Ayame did not have any intent to let such things as walls slow her down. Nope, she was going to enjoy today to the fullest. It was the last day before school. While she wasn't actually a student there, she did go to the school(invisible to prevent being noticed most of the time, though if necessary she'd put on a school uniform and act like she was meant to be there). After all, Akira went to school, so Ayame went to school. It was just how these things went, really. The purple-haired girl focused for less than a second, and her entire body went intangible. With that, she went right through the wall... the convenience store... and then the wall on the opposite side. Maybe she'd meet Akira?
Sweet, cute Akira-chan. Ayame was actually living in her house, though she hadn't told her that she was actually sleeping there as well. Given Ayame's current state of... well, total homelessness, she needed somewhere to stay. And why not stay at Akira-chan's home? Cute, cute Akira-chan. Cute and sweet and very, very se-
The distracting thoughts that Ayame was currently thinking led to her forgetting to return to tangibility. Seeing as she just exited a wall, unaware of her surroundings, well... A girl who hadn't noticed her simply ran right through her. Blinking, Ayame returned her body to solidity and turned to see who had ran through her.
"... Do you spend a lot of time going inside girls?" she asked, cocking her head to one side upon realizing it was Ishi Shujiko, a girl from Akira's school.
edited 12th Mar '12 10:03:58 AM by AnnoR
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."Shujiko, still paying little attention, didn't quite notice the girl before until it was kind of late. She tried to stop, but she still had momentum... that carried her right through.
Surprised at this development, she barely managed to avoid tumbling to the ground in shock and rounding on the girl, who seemed unharmed.
"Wha-what ju-" Shujiko gasped, unable to properly speak. Looked like the sudden stop had forced the young girl to inhale air until she was breathing normally. After that, a quick sip of the water bottle and she was ready to question what the hell just happened.
Still panting somewhat, Shujiko repeated, "What just happened? I... I thought I ran right thr..." Shujiko's eyes widened as she realised just what this vaguely familair-yet-still-totally-unknown girl.
"...E-enter?" Shujiko blinked, realisation slowly dawning on her face.
The redness of her face was totally from exertion and not embarrassment as she began to balle, "I-I-I never d-d-d-do stuff l-like that! I s-swear I'm not a p-p-perv! Seriously, I don't d-do that to g-g-girls!"
"Not a perv?" Ayame tilted her head, perplexed by this response. She hadn't intended to upset the girl, not in the slightest. "Why do you think I was suggesting that you're perverted? I just asked if you entered girls often..."
... Oh.
"Well, whatever, I'm Ishibashi Ayame," Ayame introduced herself, with a smile, shrugging off the meaning of what it sounded like she was saying. "I'm sorry if I upset you, it wasn't intentional. It's just like how it's not intentional when a rhino steps on a mouse... anyway, I think I've seen you before."
Ayame had seen Shujiko before, of course. around Shujiko's school. She was cute, but the object of Ayame's affections was Akira herself, truly!
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up.""Oh, um, hi Akira-san!"
...Crap, did he just say that out loud?
What if it turned out she never told him her name and he'd only heard it in passing? What if she thought he was some kind of creep or something? What if...
Oh, no... What if she slapped him, and her nails turned out to be sharp enough to draw blood?! It was too obvious that there was something weird about his blood! She'd see it, and she'd know he wasn't a normal person!
Okay, he had to stay calm.
Maybe she hadn't heard him.
Maybe, even if she had heard him, a miracle had occurred, and his completely innocent greeting had come out sounding completely innocent!
Maybe everything would be fine!
"Er, nice weather we're having...?"
...Why? Why did he do these stupid things? His body was infused with cutting-edge technology. Why did none of it make him smarter?
Stop talking now, Nanno...
"I really like your... pupppet... thing..."
...Damn it... Was it possible for a conversation to be considered suicide?
By now, he was fidgeting nervously, and his cheeks were a bright crimson as he awaited his inevitable... and well-deserved... death from embarassment.
edited 13th Mar '12 7:19:24 PM by Scrounge
Deep in thought about which ingredients to buy, Ayaka was suddenly thrown forward when a weight bounced off his back. Smacking into a nearby sign, the boy stayed against the pole for a moment before pushing himself off. Strangely, though there were slight indents in the metal, the boy's face didn't look injured in the least. "You need to be more careful." The white haired teen said as he looked at the "girl".
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected."I know... I was working out how much I would have to spend on dinner and how much I could spend on ice-cream and I didn't look where I was going," Yasu answered nervously, giving the dent in the sign a strange look and then turning back to the man that he'd unfortunately run into, "I'm really, really sorry about that."
They were a very pretty man, the crossdressing youth considered. It was almost surreal, like looking at what he could be if he dressed in the right clothes... and wasn't so short.
Well, that was embarrassing. She got the meaning entirely twisted. Shujiko's face had definitely deepened its shade of red as she turned her gaze down, fooling rather foolish. Her eyes flicked upwards once again as she was addressed, and wondered why this girl used such an odd analogy.
"Uh, Shujiko. Shujiko Ishi." The flustered girl introduced herself. "A-and you didn't upset me! I was... uh... surprised. Because I thought... you know, I ran into you?"
Shujiko hoped that didn't sound too crazy to this girl, who looked vaguely familiar yet she just couldn't place. Not even the name helped. Must have been someone she saw in the background of school once. Or maybe during her runs?
A violet haired walked down the sidewalk of the shopping district as a small girl clung closely to him. A perfectly average sight... were it not for the small red wagon being pulled behind him, carrying what appeared to be a large reptile with flippers or fins instead of legs. Of course, this oddity didn't gain as much attention as one would expect. Oddities like this wasn't out of the ordinary for this particular town. The boy soon stopped in front of a shop, a small twinkle in his eye as he looked upon the assortment of pets on display in the window.
"Hey, hey, let's get another pet Miki-chan," He said to the small girl with far too much enthusiasm, "It'll be great! Come on, can we? Pleeeeaaaase?"
The child sighed in exasperation, "Onii-chan, we're supposed to be getting a present for Otou-sama. We don't have enough money to get another pet too."
Kitaro frowned for a split section before his expression changed back to it's usual cheer. He rubbed the back of his head, completely laughing it off, "Aha... I almost forgot. Oh well, we'll get one next time! And I'll make sure it's the bestest pet ever!"
"Bestest isn't a word, Onii-chan," Miki corrected, pulling her brother along, away from the pet store, before he could have a chance to change his mind.
"Ohhh," Ayame replied, nodding slightly, "So you were just surprised? Too much surprise can kill people, but I think that needs to be a lot of surprise, like... enough to be several thousand people worth of surprise. Or something. So you should be fine. Unless you have a really weak heart... but you don't have that, right? In any case..."
Ayame gave her most winning and cheerful smile. Just because this girl wasn't Akira-chan didn't mean she shouldn't be nice to them. It just meant that, at least until further notice and perhaps the revelation of some possibilities, Ayame was focused on Akira and Akira alone in that respect. "It's nice to meet you!"
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."New to the town, new to the customs and the lay out of the damn place, Alex moved out of the alley and down the sidewalk. He knew Japanese, he just spoke it not long ago but he still missed the simplicity of the English language. He had a girl back home that he liked, too... but that was the end of his old life. He moved to this town and began going to school. New life, new experiences! That was what it was all about, right?
"Huh...?" Alex looked, seeing a strange kid with a ... pet? What was that? It drew his attention away from his roaring stomach. "Uh.." he moved from one side of the street to the other, carefully observing whatever the hell that was.
"Hello?" the word escaped his mouth. Oh wait, were there two people nearby?
"Uh..." well this was awkward.
"It's alright." Yakumo replied back, a small smile now alighting on his face. It wasn't often that people would actually pay the youth any kind of etiquette before he began striking out at things. "Anyways, ice cream is good every now and then. Don't let me get in the way of your frozen dairy treats." The effeminate boy said. It was then that he noticed the smaller "girl" was staring intently at something. "Is something the matter?" He inquired, his good mood still about.
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected."Ah, you just reminded me of something," Yasu hurriedly explained, rubbing his head nervously... and wincing when his stomach rumbled. Had breakfast really been so long ago? Maybe he should have made mo—wait, the entire reason he was in this area of town was because of lack of food. The lure of ice-cream had nearly distracted him and now running into this person... "I'd best make sure that I have enough food for dinner, first."
"Eh?" Kitaro turned around, towards the voice that just spoke up. He came face to chest to a much, much larger boy than he. Though, that was probably only magnified by Kitaro's own less than average height. The boy noticed he was staring a bit too much in wide eyed wonderment. He quickly shook himself and addressed other boy with a bright smile, "Did you need something?"
Meanwhile, the younger sister clung even tighter to her brother. She was bad with strangers to begin with, a big guy like Alex only served to intensify wariness. She tugged on his shirt sleeve to get his attention. Quite used to this action, the boy leaned down so his sister could whisper into his ear.
....
"But Miki-chan that would be rude, we should find out what he wants first!"
....
"Tou-san always says to not judge a book by his cover! We should give him a chance first, you should be more trusting Miki-chan!"
GS's post:
"Ah." Was all the teen said in response to the supposed girl''s first statement. "Dinner is always good, that. In any case, I'd best let you actually get some food. Sorry for prattling on." Ayaka responded with a knowing nod. "In any case, I hope to see you around a bit later. New restaurant needs customers and all that." With that, the boy turned about and began stalking towards the fresh produce placed outside of the markets like a predator, his eyes ready to discern for the best ingredients.
Mine:
"You do realise that we're going to be buying ingredients in the same place, right?" Yasu pointed out, in case he got accused of stalking the other man as he followed. If this guy was running a restaurant, he'd be able to help with picking good ingredients, too...
Picking up a cabbage, the purple-haired youth asked if it looked any good. He'd never been able to identify ingredient quality to save his life; normally it would be his mother that would do the shopping.
All Shujiko could do was blink and stare at Ayame, processing what she had just about lethal amounts of surprise and stuff. That... was quite an odd thing to say, she thought. Shujiko probably wasn't that surprised, after all.
Well, anyway... "Uh, likewise." Shujiko replied, smiling back. Seemed like a nice enough girl. Pretty cute too, though why that needed mentioning was anyone's guess. It was obvious Akira was more attractiveness.
Okay, that was unnecessary. Shujiko told herself with a mental sigh. Why did that girl have to force her way into Shujiko's thoughts? What if Shujiko decided to just make Akira think of her all day long? Pretty distracting, wasn't it?
Oh, right. "Um, sorry if I bothered you." Shujiko said with a small bow. "Uh, I'll just be on my way now..."
"You didn't bother me at all, it's fine," replied Ayame cheerfully, visibly not bothered at all. After all, why should she be? Shujiko seemed nice, and plenty cute. "You're cute, anyway, even if you aren't my goal, so it was nice to run into you."
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."

Welcome to Nanashi Town. It's a peaceful little place down by the coast, where nothing of much import really happens and the humble townsfolk live out their dull, monotonous lives without once witnessing anything strange, weird or downright bizarre. Nope, nothing really happens here.
...This is, of course, a lie. Even if it wasn't, Nyan-sama would still hate this horrid little town and the disgusting people who live he-
"Um, sorry, Nyan-sama wanted to do the opening narration, but I don't think that was really one of my better ideas." Akira sighed as she lay down in the shade of a relatively large tree just on the outskirts of town. Today was the last day of spring break, so she should probably make the most of it. Fluttering around her were a group of strangely diurnal fireflies (well, on closer inspection they might have been fairies), who scattered in every direction as she jumped to her feet and began to head back into town.
"I suppose I should make the most of today. Wouldn't want to go back to school feeling like I wasted my break, ahah~" she said as skipped along the pavement. "Nyan-sama thinks it was already wasted, though."
She held the puppet up to her eyes and gently poked its eye. "Nyan-sama thinks such silly things, though~" Giggling, she went on her way home, but stopped suddenly as she passed a toy store she was sure wasn't there the other day.
"Oh, it's so cute!" she squealed, eyeing up a particularly large teddy bear in the window. "Nyan-sama wishes to rip it into shreds and bathe in the blood of the shop owners, but... Kyah, I wish I had one~"
And so, as Akira gazed lovingly at the stuffed giant, another lazy morning in Nanashi Town began to drift on. Who knows what today would bring?
...Really, we have no idea.
And here we go! >.< Um... Don't feel like you have to crowd around Akira from the get-go, by the way. Take some time and maybe try to flesh out your character and the town itself if you'd like.
edited 11th Mar '12 6:34:00 PM by Nyansama
"Nyan-sama doesn't like you very much."