Author's Note: The reason this chapter took so long to write was because I thought, hey, let's do a romantic montage. It turns out I got very unsatisfied with what came out. I'm not a romance person, no ma'am, and I decided to just skip it.
If anyone wants to write said romantic montage please do so. Please.
Enjoy.
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Children of the Sun
07. Maiden's Hand
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Thursday, 10. 11 p.m.
CEO Office, Kurosu Industries
Hotori Tsukasa was a polarising name. Depending on who you asked; some would curse and snarl his name and others would proudly declare it. After all, Kurosu Industries was bent on making 'green' technology. It was a rising star in the technology field, and Easter's main competitor.
But Tsukasa had another motive: he was a man who knew about Easter's sometimes inhumane experimentation. He'd used shady middlemen to find and buy back ill or deformed orphans, those who'd gone wrong" in experimentation, and he would try to heal them, or at least send them off in a humane way. Rumours said that Easter put them in a gas chamber and filled it with carbon monoxide, or smother them with a blanket in their sleep. The truth... well. Some things are meant to be a secret; this was one of them.
Tadase Hotori had been one of Easter's experiments for skin disease, and he was one of Tsukasa's first successful rescues. Back then, he looked like an extra from a zombie flick, his skin blistered, scarred and dotted with strange lumps and growths. He'd had skin-grafting operations, but every night he still had to apply several creams and balms to himself to keep from devolving, as well as having to cover up the irregularities in skin colour with a good coat of makeup.
"So it's arranged, I presume." Tsukasa smiled fondly.
"Yes," Tadase replied. "But what makes you think Tsukiyomi will be there?"
"From what you say," Tsukasa responded. "He's besotted with her. He'll be there, don't worry."
"I suppose. And what about Hinamori?"
"Hinamori," Tsukasa selected a few options and scrawled something with a stylus pen on the computer screen in front of him, all the while nodding absently. "Ah, Hinamori. That was a good piece of acting there, Tadase."
Tadase scowled. "I forgot to disable the cam..."
"Hm. I thought we'd have to administer hypnosis on her, but she's infatuated with you. Or at least the you she knows." Tsukasa looked up and sighed. "Alright, now I'll be serious. It's best if she doesn't know anything. Once we're finished with Tsukiyomi, we'll send him offplanet. I know a couple on Tuthmosis who would accept him as their own. If Hinamori sees you, jab her with a wipedart." He ran two more programs on his computer. "Well, run along now. I have arrangements to be made."
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Thursday, 12.00 p.m.
Amu's House
AmuletDiamond78: How's this?
BalaBalanceFan: It's fine, I suppose.
Sky_Jack has just signed in
Sky_Jack: MY EYEZ!! haha jk
BalaBalanceFan: T__T
AmuletDiamond78: T_______T
Sky_Jack: sigh
Sky_Jack: hate prom
AmuletDiamond78: hey at least you men don't need to worry bout dresses
BalaBalanceFan: It's their loss, lack of variety
AmuletDiamond78: lol
Sky_Jack: who're you going with? i'm taking rima ;)
AmuletDiamond78: :0
Sky_Jack: I HAZ NO CHOICE D8
BalaBalanceFan: Shut up.
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Friday, 9.45 pm
Seiyo Academy
"Has anyone seen Tadase?"
The blond had disappeared a while ago, saying he needed to go to the bathroom.
"No," Rima shrugged. "Kuukai's disappeared too. I guess I'll have to look for him."
As the blonde left, she suddenly saw him running towards the staircase leading to the school's historical stargazing observatory. Amu's eyes narrowed, and she followed him, cursing under her breath as she nearly tripped on the hem of her black gown. Annoyed, Amu grabbed one end in her fist and tried to rip it off, but failed.
Amu stared at the stairs in horror before spotting someone's hoverboard stowed next to it, a winter-themed Snowflake Snoppe. She silently apologised to its owner and activated it, zooming up the stairs. It quickly became known to her that the Snoppe was a board designed for extreme speed and power.
"Whoa whoa whoooooaaaah!"
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Tadase, meanwhile, was cornering Ikuto, who had landed on the observatory with a stolen Black Thief Yoru, an aptly named sleek and silent blue-black board. Both faced each other, both dressed to kill in matching tuxedoes--and indeed, if you were watching, they really did look like they were about to kill.
"Hold still, and we can do this the easy way." Tadase announced.
"You really wouldn't think I'd actually do that, would you?" Ikuto returned.
"Of course not," Tadase nonchalantly replied.
He quickly moved to pin Ikuto against the wall of the observatory, but the young cyborg sensed that in time and stepped out of his way. Tadase lost his footing for a moment, spinning around with the grace of a ballerina and pulled out a small tranquiliser dart from one pocket.
Tadase began to run towards his opponent, kicking the Yoru to one side before Ikuto could grab the board and escape. In one swift, clean movement he pinned a struggling Ikuto to the floor and shoved the dart into his upper arm. Ikuto fell limp, glaring at Tadase with a scorching hatred, willing the nanobots in his arm to heal. Instantly his brain told him that the dart contained a substance that immobilised the surrounding nanobots.
"You..."
Then he fell to the ground, out cold.
"Hotori Tadase!"
"Ah--"
Amu landed the Snoppe and slapped Tadase right across the face. That, as well as the sweat from fighting Ikuto, removed the last of the makeup from his face, which had started to flare up again. His skin was pitted with dark red, inflamed pores and some of them leaked yellow pus. Tadase's chest was heaving. He was exhausted. He did not want a confrontation with Hinamori.
Amu seemed taken aback for a while before she started back up, putting on a steely front. "What did you do to him, you bastard?!"
"You don't need to know," Tadase managed to reply. "But I'll do this just to be safe."
Something hit her forehead, and the only thing she could see was a pair of red lights blinking in front of her eyes, before everything went pitch black.
-
Additional Notes
Wipedart: A type of defence technology created by Kurosu Indistries. It has to make skin contact with a person before it detonates. Once it does, it will blank out a certain period of time. The default time is the last 5 minutes, though you can set it up to a maximum of the last 48 hours. The majority of the wipedart's customers are Mafia and other criminal establishments, who often place a modified wipedart (with no maximum) on a disloyal member. This is commonly known as a blank wipedart.
Another modified wipedart, the stasisdart, is used in the medical field because it can keep one's mind in a stasis, avoiding amnesia because it can retain most core information.
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Author's Note: Short chapter; yours truly was out of inspiration. But yeah, this is practically a masterpiece compared to the original draft. Now...
I will begin working on a new story entitled Red Circle: Bride of Vengeance. Set in a new fantasy kingdom, this is a realm of armoured dragons and wild faes, mage skirmishes and rogue warlocks, ruthless assasinations and power struggles. I have been working on Red Circle for 2 years, adding to it, combining old plot bunnies, and so on.
There are multiple lands in this setting; the first one is an Amuto set within the shadowland of Methis. It's going to be one hell of a ride, and expect me to focus heavily on the magic and the lore. Until we meet again, then...
Or, as the elves say, mai' dak, adaitha.