please be kind to yuuto!

      “No idea who this Yuuto is, but he must be one lucky bastard to have you make candies for him. I bet he enjoys them a lot, doesn’t he? I sure do~!” He speaks all that while chewing, which does not make for a pleasant spectacle but at least he’s immensely happy about it. Just for good manners, he’ll spit the empty wrappers out of the basket, grinning in satisfaction before he sets back to lay on the delicious food and looks back at the gentleman’s face.

      “Oh?” Big red eyes blink in confusion once the stranger sets his hand next to him. Is he asking the bat to get out? Well, maybe he’s overstayed his welcome and gobbled down on his food without paying for it, but he doesn’t seem angry at all. Maybe he can comply since he feels full already, but feeling too heavy to fly now, he sets to climb his way onto the large hand. Those fingers sure do look uncommon, it’s like they really do have holes at the tips. Such weird gloves. 

“Sure.” He’d get lunch out of this and be able to catch up with Deneb to see how far along the timeline he was from. He’d most likely talk about Yuuto the entire time, but Koutaro was sure he could weasel some information out here and there.

“I have no idea at all where to go.  I wish Yuuto were here, he would know.  Yuuto is so smart.”  Deneb actually hadn’t even run into Yuuto yet, so to sit here and hope that Yuuto was beside him just to find a place to eat was almost ridiculous.  Thankfully though he wouldn’t need to count on Yuuto for money, so long as... no, he looked like he was broke too.  This was not working out well, and he let out a small sound of disappointment over not being able to do anything for Yuuto.  Er, Koutaro.

      “That’s good! He must have learned a lot from you, didn’t he?” He wants to meet this Yuuto guy if fate allows it, and it also depends on whether he’s going to see this person again in the future. For one, this shop looks rich enough so he might come back again, not to mention they could contact each other on the phone once he obtains one– he’s heard it’s a gift that appears after a month of stay. He just can’t wait to be able to talk to Hikawa-san even while they’re far away from each other.

      …

      Suddenly he feels strong doubts over wanting to meet the Yuuto guy.

      “Piledrive you…? Are you serious? How can someone do that to their own caretaker?!” If Mana were to beat him up everytime he slightly irritated her even he would doubt their familial relationship. “I’m sure no amount of veggie candies should bring someone into such a rageful state, especially if they’re as nice as you’re saying he is!” Despite the upbeat tone with which he’s being told this, that only makes it sound all the more unsettling. 

“Yes, contract holder.  He holds my contract, and I grant him a wish in return.  Except it’s not really Yuuto, it’s Sakurai, but that’s complicated and really I mostly am with Yuuto now because I want to be.”  Deneb nodded, moving to cross his arms.  His metal fingers clicked against themselves as he passed, causing a sharp ping.  

He continued on though, addressing more. “As for piledrives, he does a lot more too!  Yuuto is really good at wrestling!  I’m very sturdy though because I’m made of sand like I said, and it makes him happy when we play together.”  It probably wouldn’t be considering playing, not to anyone else who heard it, but to Deneb it was harmless enough.  Yuuto had a hard life, a very lonely life, so if the Imagin could ease his troubles by being put into an armbar then he didn’t mind.  “Also yes I’m not human, I am an Imagin!  A being from the future who traveled back in time to destroy the past in order to create a new future.”  Why did he still sound so eager?

They were defending their right to exist, weren’t they?

He ground his teeth and kept pushing. He didn’t transform. Of course not. That would only increase his strength that much more. Keisuke wanted to incapacitate. Not kill.

He tried not think about the sound of bones breaking with each hit from him. He tried not to think about the gunshots aimed at him. A few had hit, but he couldn’t worry about the pain. He couldn’t worry about the blood staining his clothes. There were people who needed protection and coverage to get to safe houses.

As soon as the attackers were subdued, Keiuske breathed heavily. He helped the small child up from the ground. The girl looked worried for him, but he smiled and picked her up. As he did so, he saw a someone nearby.

Keisuke wasn’t sure what to make of him, really. He’d seen odd people from both cities. This one didn’t look hostile, but that didn’t mean looks weren’t deceiving. He tightened his hold on the child a little–mindful of his returned strength–as the other approached. Even wounded as he was, Keisuke wouldn’t let any harm come to this child.

Moving along and avoiding as much fighting as he could, Deneb found himself screeching to a halt as he came upon a group of wounded people.  Many couldn’t move because of their injures, and many just wouldn’t be able to move again at all.  Dashing forward to try and help, he came to a stop as a rather bloodied man bent over a child and lifted them close.  Initially Deneb raised his arms up, as though to reach out and help, but the man’s sudden words had him lower them back down.

It would be a hassle. Their apartment would never be quiet with Yuuto and Deneb there. It would be entertaining, sure, but you could only handle so much. Besides, Koutaro doubted Yuuto would want him around. Or at least he would act like he didn’t.

Koutaro assumes the Imagin is just being nice by asking anyway. Deneb was Deneb. He was as parental as an Imagin could be, so his next question doesn’t surprise Koutaro at all. Of course he’d want to know if they boy had eaten. Koutaro gives a halfhearted shrug, trying to be nonchalant. 

All the members of the Nogami family were rather important to Yuuto, and to Deneb as well by proxy, so any time he could be of any help he certainly wanted to do so.  It also didn’t hurt that he was basically smothering everyone with his good intentions but that was beside the point.

4649candy

         Gentarou listened to the message from the scientists carefully. He wasn’t gonna let any of his new friends here get hurt, or himself for that matter. He wasn’t sure what to expect out of the other Gentarou waiting in that city above him, or if he’d be any less or more friendly, but Gentarou didn’t have much time to ponder that. To his surprise, he found a full set of astro switches laid out across his coffee table in the living room. He ran over, pocketing all of them, giving cosmic a good grip when he picked it up. It was the last switch he had tampered with before he was sent here, after all. Gentarou left his apartment, and even more surprisingly, the Machine Massigler was waiting there as his ride. He threw his belt down onto his waist, performing his sequence, and then he immediately switched out the rocket switch for the cosmic switch. He watched as all of the switches entered his chest to form the bulky chest plate, and as the bodysuit he wore turned a bright blue. The large familiar rocket sword sat in his right hand. It was really working. He was really going cosmic state. He looked down the street, then looked up to the city above. It was too eerie, almost unreal. He knew somewhere up there, another Gentarou was watching, and it felt wrong. He shook it off, throwing a hand out and shouting

           “Alright Hive City! Let’s show em our fighting spirit! We never give up, and our bonds stay unbreakable no matter what!”, Gentarou shouted, hopping on the Machine Massigler and heading to the nearest portal. He saw a few scary looking citizens popping out of the portal here and there, and he tried his best to skirt around them. He saw one attacking a nice lady that he saw in the park from time to time. He quickly slashed his sword out as he drove by, a large bright blue cut of space appearing on the attacker, and it blew him off of her no problem. He arrived to the portal, and stepped forward to it, taking one last look around him. 

          “If I don’t make it back, remember me as your bro, Hive City!”, Gentarou yelled out, not quite sure who was listening, but it comforted him. He stepped forward, taking the ride up. It was a flash, and suddenly he was in the same spot, but the architecture looked different. It wasn’t the Hive City he knew. There was fighting going on here, as well. Gentarou prepared to fight back himself, and that’s when he spotted him. It was him. His own self. Another Gentarou Kisaragi standing no more than 30 feet away from him. He almost dropped his cosmic sword, but kept a tight grip. 

There was nothing sweeter than the taste of betrayal and nothing sweeter than the taste of victory at gaining another enemy.  He really didn’t need friends, they only weighed him down.  He didn’t need enemies either, if he wanted to be honest with himself, he just didn’t need people. 

Of course he wasn’t a real loner or anything, that would mean he had a problem!  No no, it was just that people were troublesome, always trying to talk to one another and better one another and fight and complain and cry.  So it was best to pretend to be friends, and it was best to play at actually not wanting to ruin the lives of people around him.  The only problem now was that people here knew him.  People here knew to stay away from him.  

Ruined his fun, really.

But then, it appeared.  The other place, a place full of people that he already knew but didn’t know.  People that didn’t know him, know what he wanted to do.  All it would take was slipping over and blending in, making himself mingle among the citizens there while either ruining the reputation of the man who shared the same face, or bettering it.

      Chewing and taking his time to savor as much as possible, Kivat makes it all disappear beyond his gaping mouth. That’s when he notes the stranger’s features for the first time, and he’s struck by the familiarity of such a face, if it can be called one. Without those eyes that seem like they’re very much incorporated with the rest, he could have thought the guy was wearing a mask. But, somehow, he can recall the presence in a corner of his mind. An Imagin, maybe…?

      Well… nothing to mull over. Those candies are the end of the world in the most positive sense, and his language has been understood enough to make the man react in a way that is in no way indignated or inclined to violence. This is a good sign.

“But how powerful is the scientists’ machine?” She thought, “If they just pluck two time travelers from any given time period, how much would change in that world?”

4649candy

          Gentarou had taken another trip to Sector 6. It was his favorite by far, and he wanted to attempt to move there as soon as possible, considering how much time he spent in it. He was strolling along one of the parks pathways, observing all the citizens of Hive City, or as he liked to call them, potential friends. He was heading for a bench across from a fountain to take a sit down, when suddenly he saw a monster- urh, maybe that wasn’t the best wording for it. He discovered after his rude meetings with Urataros and Ankh that maybe monster wasn’t the right word to use in this city. He hadn’t met anyone lethal yet, and sure some may have been a bit rude, but these were just people waiting to be his friends. As he thought this to himself, he saw the figure in the long cloak giving out… candy? He watched as the figure bowed to the very confused looking person. The cloaked guy was heading his way now, and Gentarou decided he’d get some candy and make a friend at the same time!

          He hopped in front of the cloaked man, observing his yellow mask-like face, and his coiled fingers and arms. He had to say, the guy looked pretty badass, even with a basket of candy. “Hey, man! The name’s Gentarou Kisaragi, I’m the man who’s gonna befriend everyone in Hive City! Could I offer you a handshake and friendship in return for some candy?”, Gentarou proposed to the guy, holding his hand out and giving a big toothy grin. 

Hey, man!

“Oh. Of course, have a candy and please be kind to Yuuto.”  Deneb didn’t skip a beat as he held out a sucker to the rather bold young man who jumped right out in front of him.  So many people in Hive City appeared to love his candy, or like Yuuto anyway, that they were practically jumping right out in front of him in order to get some.  If the Imagin couldn’t take that as a good sign that things inside Hive City were very nice then he wasn’t sure what he could think about it.  “And it’s nice to meet you Gentaro Kisaragi.  My name is Deneb.”

      “I believe having someone to take care of and you can cook anything for is essential to live a happy life. You make candies too? I tried making ones based on vegetables, but I don’t think people liked that.” He chuckles, remembering Mana and Taichi grimacing comically when they ate them. Not everything goes well with vegetables, he guesses, though he’d like to overcome the impossible and someday present the world with the most delicious daikon flavored candies ever.

      “I’m working to become one! Or I used to, since I got here instead.” A hand rubs his chin and he snorts a little sigh. It was going so damn well, too. From then to at least one year he might have been able to open his own restaurant, but he guesses fate didn’t want to give him this satsfaction after all he’d been put through. He shifts the topic back to what the man has mentioned that Shouichi is quite confused about.

“But going back to what you’re saying, you can make good candies out of veggies depending on how you prepare them and what you add to them, but I can’t really say much because I don’t think I’ve made any before.  Yuuto is a really picky eater and when I don’t make what he likes he sometimes pile drives me into the carpet.”  His tone as he spoke was still just as upbeat as it had been when he started.  “Yuuto is very good at wrestling moves!  He only uses them on me though because he’s very considerate to his friends and I know that he feels like it would be bad to hurt them.  I’m made of sand so I think I’m okay.”

That doesn’t keep Koutaro from moping though. Still, he tries his best to answer the fretting Imagin. He only meant well and Koutaro wasn’t going to fault him for that. “You haven’t been here that long than,” he begins, “You’ll find Yuuto soon enough. Or he’ll find you.”

     This is also why he’d rather have a trip alone. Wataru won’t have to rush over and bow a thousand apologies towards whoever his bat friend accidentally (or not) wronged that day. Now said bat friend can just safely fly away if things get really bad, far from his responsibilities. Not a development Wataru would approve of, but Kivat can pull it off pretty well.

     While observing the city above him, his red eyes catch on something that stands out from the crowd. A dark figure holding a basket full of colorful and bright… stones? Eggs? No, they’re too small to be eggs. Mystery aside, what’s certain is that he’s attracted by the sight like a magpie spotting something shiny, and hence he descends, almost nosediving towards his target with the precision of a bird that had been doing this for years. In a way, he did.

      The basket shakes in the stranger’s arms the moment Kivat slams against it, and then emerges triumphantly with a few candies in his large mouth, happily flapping his wings.

[ ☩ ] - She wasn’t even sure what to make of this fact. He didn’t seem like a mean man by any means but.. the fact he was basically speaking to her in his own way of nude.. she would catch herself staring in utter disbelief, speaking only to ask about.. well.. what he meant.