gatcha!

As a child, Jotaro was never fond of pets. Or rather, he never had the joy of experiencing one. But if it were up to him, he wouldn’t want a dog. The journey to Egypt with a small, disgusting, dog had changed his view on every dog he might encounter. Cats, on the other hand, he’d never really seen enough of them to judge them.

Today was that day he might think differently.

The street he was walking down on was busy as any normal day, with people shoving and wedging their way in between other’s so they may get to work. And even though he’d rather not start something for stopping, he couldn’t help so from a beat up looking cardboard box lying on the ground near an alleyway. And it didn’t help either that he head mewling coming from it. He made his way to the box and peered inside, his eyes finding two small cats, one gray with white underneath and the other with black fur, also with white under, scrambling around trying to get out. If they stayed any longer, Jotaro thought they might not survive. They looked pretty young, and they were kinda cute…

{ give me a break… }

And thus he found himself holding the box with the kittens inside on his lap, at a bench. What was he going to do? He didn’t really want two cats, because buying pet stuff for two might get expensive.

Hajime couldn't remember the last time the weather had been so bad in this city, but it sure was a mess today! Luckily for Hajime, she'd managed to get herself a very cute cat umbrella about a week ago. She had considered just staying inside and waiting for the rain to subside, but once she realized this was her chance to debut her new umbrella, she nearly sprinted outside.

After a good 20 minutes out in the rain however, Hajime decided that it was time to take a break and head inside. What she found surprised her, a tall, muscular man sitting by the entrance holding a box full of...

"Kittens! Oh my gosh!"

Hajime squealed loudly as she ran over to the man's side, sitting next to him and peering into the box, very clearly invading his personal bubble.

It puzzled her though. The last thing she remembered was laying in bed, thinking about Jae Gu (with Moon Young talking in her sleep). She was even still in her nightwear. The same black leggings and over-sized cream jumper, her feet bare on the cold side-walk.

Just how did this ‘Rima Hoervich’ manage to pull off such a thing?

"…….."

Curling her toes, she looked down at her feet as she planned her next move. Shoes would be a good start, but she had no money nor her credit cards. Nor could she try and find her way back, for all she knew, she was in another country. 

A loud but cheerful voice suddenly called out to the girl from behind her. Hajime had just been walking through the sectors of the city, on her way to a stationary store in sector 005, when she'd come across a rather sullen looking girl, who was very clearly a new arrival to the Hive. You could tell just based off the way she looked at everything.

Maybe Hajime could make her smile! At the very least, that was her goal now. She ran over to the blonde, her own smile never wavering, finally stopping when she was standing right in front of her.

"Yo I’m… I’m ‘aight… Nothin’ serious, like… I’m good…. yo…" 

As she placed her hands on his stomach he could feel her grind against him, he seriously hoped that she didn’t feel anything she wasn’t supposed to as she pushed off, man would he like to do that with no clothes o- OOF. 

"sunuvamothafuckinshitwhatthefuckwasthathooooooooooomygod ow fuck ow."

Takarada was left in a cursing pile upon the floor tilting back and forth and grimacing all the while. Why. Why him. Usually picking up on girls was so easy. Sooooo easy. When she came back he had half the mind to tell her that she straight up shoved her foot into his gut and that she’d be hearing from his lawyer but…

"Naw… naw s’all good I’m cool… oooouugh…"

And yet she kept hurting him. Even in just trying to help him, she'd hurt him further. Sugane had always spoke about how Hajime's actions were too erratic, how she was hard to keep up with and how she could really end up hurting someone someday, but she'd never really thought about it up until now. Man, this really kinda sucked. She felt hella bad.

She watched as he scrambled up against the wall, away from her, and her tiny fingers gripped each other as she stared at him. He was backing away from her....she needed to apologize. Make things better somehow. Despite how bad she felt, she put on a smile as she took on a more gentle pace, crawling on the floor towards him.

Once she was in front of him, she sat down, cross-legged, still smiling.

“Sorry, I just get really overexcited sometimes. You hit your head, right? I'll make it feel better!”

She leaned over, and gently placed a kiss on Takarada's forehead. Not exactly where he'd hit himself, but it was still his head, right? She giggled a bit as she sat back again, resting her hands in her lap as she looked back at him.

The shifter awoke once more, in a state of confusion. Did she fall from Heskeville into the depths of the world…? Judging by her surroundings, she doubted it. Strange odors attacked her senses as she clasped her hands over her nose and mouth. The industrial quarter in Heskeville had less of an effect on her than this foul air. It was enough to give her a throbbing headache.

She made haste towards the door the man on the screen in front of her gestured to. Leaning against the door, Kat took one last look around the room. White light engulfed the area, with an intensity that nearly left her blind. Squinting her eyes, she reached for the door handle. At that point, something clicked.

“Dusty? Hey, where are you? This isn’t funny…!”

The cosmic cat that followed her for as long as she could remember was absent. Usually, he’d be right at her feet, prepared to keep up with her, wherever she would run off to. Yet… he wasn’t here. At all. Maybe he was past this door. If not, she’d be starting off from square one all over again. No way was she going through that a second time. The first time was exhausting enough. Kat opened the door, and before her towered a grand city of considerable proportion. It was no Heskeville, but it was elaborate enough to catch the shifter’s eyes. But there was no time to sightsee! 

“He always runs off at the worst possible time. What a pain!”

She sighed in disdain before spotting Dusty, sniffing around a passerby’s feet. Obviously they looked confused. Who wouldn’t be completely lost after encountering a cat with red eyes and constellations for fur? Her heels clacked against the pavement as she ran to catch up to the mischievous feline, scooping him up in her arms.

“Sorry! I don’t know what his problem is. New environment, I guess. Thanks for stopping him though. Name’s Kat! Any idea where we are?”

“Hello kitty! Are you lost or somethin'? Maybe if you come with me we can find your owner!”

The red eyes and constellations for fur didn't even faze her. In fact, she'd thought they were pretty interesting, but really didn't think anything else of them. Maybe he was just a very special cat! She bent over, scooping the cat up in her arms so that she could walk around and look for the owner, and when she stood up, a girl was standing before her. She grabbed the cat from Hajime, apparently it was hers.

“Oh hi Kat!”

Hajime grabbed the girl's hand and gave it an eager shake, the smile on her face widening as she did so. What an interesting outfit! What an interesting accent! Already, she could tell that this person had some sort of grand story to tell and came from a world far more interesting than her own.

"I see. I suppose that answers some of my questions, so thank you, Hajime. One is a form of entertainment, and the other is transportation, then? Amazing what the people of this city were capable of inventing without the use of spirits… It was even more impressive than Elympios.

"Yes, it’s a very important job," said Milla, folding her arms. "Without my intervention, the world of Reize Maxia would have fallen into chaos long ago. Although, now that I am here, I see no reason not to protect the people of this world as well. There’s a lot I didn’t know about our universe, but my mission is still to protect people and maintain harmony between them and the spirits. Even if there are no spirits here."

Whether or not she was in Reize Maxia, Milla saw no reason to abandon her duty. Even with her powers stripped from her, she was still Maxwell.

She tuned her gaze back to Hajime, raising an eyebrow. “Gatchaman? There’s another term I’m not familiar with.” Was it another kind of technology? It sounded like it had a human element, but Milla was clueless as to what it could be. “They limited everyone’s powers, didn’t they? But there’s also a way to earn them back, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve already had all my powers stripped from me once, so I think I can manage a second time, tiresome though it is.”

"But I’ll certainly show you my artes some other time," she said, nodding. "Perhaps late at night so the next day, along with renewed powers, comes soon after. I don’t know a lot about this city, so I’d like to be prepared, you understand."

The world that Milla came from sounded so incredibly different from the world that Hajime knew. Tachikawa City, Japan had to be vastly different from this Reize Maxia place, and as impossible as it was, she really wished that she could see it. If they lacked technology, then something like Hajime's Gatchaman form would surely be a shock to everyone!

“Ahhhh, I see! That's really honorable, Milla! The city's kind of a mess sometimes, so I think people would really appreciate having another person around to protect them! And honestly, I bet there are spirits here, in one way or another! I mean there's so much here, I don't see why not!”

The focus of the conversation was quickly shifted back to Hajime and her Gatchaman status, and that only excited Hajime even further. Although other Gatchaman like Sugane and Utsutsu and OD had been adamant to showing off her Gatchaman skills, Hajime had been completely open to it. She didn't see why something so incredible that only did good needed to be hidden.

“Yeah, they did that to everyone, probably to keep things fair and safe! And yep there is! I mean the scientists seem to give 'em back to the people they think deserve 'em, so I guess we just gotta wait and see.”

Hajime pouted a bit. She really was curious to see what these artes were like, but Milla had a point. Hajime on the other hand, was far more carefree, and she didn't really care. In fact, as Milla spoke, she was already digging around in her bag for her NOTE, and once she found it, she pulled it out and held it out to Milla.

“Well, it's fine really! It's honestly gonna make more sense if I just show you. Y'see, this is a NOTE and it lets me talk to the other Gatchaman and receive missions and also transform! Just like this – GO BIRD!”

She assumed a rather strange pose, and the key words she spoke initiated her transformation. In a flash of light, Hajime returned, this time covered in a mechanical outfit still reminiscent of a young girl, but vastly different.

He was just about to head back home for the day, until a somewhat eccentric woman cut him off, seemingly begging the attention of everyone present as she.. Transformed? Naturally Sanageyama wasn’t a stranger to transformations and had been here long enough to just consider every weird power he saw as normal. As such, the only thing he could really say about it was-

"What the hell are you doing?"

What was the point? Why did she just.. do that? Was this her idea of show and tell or something? Eccentric might have been putting it lightly, she was just plain out there.. And it actually amused him.

"Heh, whatever! You’ve got something amusing going on here, so I might as well!"

One quick transformation sequence later aaaaand

"Oh my gosh that is soooo cool I've never seen anything like this before!"

He did dress pretty well, sans gaudy attire. He did know how to clean himself up at least. He was an heir after all. Even if his parents were never around, he still knew how to carry himself and how to act. He just didn’t. 

Witnessing her nearly devoured by his coat brought a slight smirk upon his face, as he brought a half curled fist to the bottom of his lip. She was pretty cute. He definitely had to admit that. 

"Ay, not a half bad look on ya, girl. ‘course my threads always make anyone look fresh as hell.  ’naw’m sayin’?” 

He laughed a bit at her comment, and as he was about to answer her, his eyes widened stumbling back attempting to avoid the collision, but it was too late. Takarada was falling down, his arms raised attempting to catch her, to no avail. The two met upon the ground, a large thud sounding from the room, the heir was left flat on his back, his hands holding her at her waist, just above her curvy hips. He did what he could to soften the fall, finding the back of his head pounding from the collision, he tried to lift his head, his eyes still shut. 

But it wasn't her coat and it wasn't her size and now she was laying on top of Takarada on the floor, more worried about the fact that she'd heard how hard his head had banged on the ground than the fact that she'd scuffed her knees on the carpet.

"Oh my gosh Kan-chan are you okay?! Sounds like you hit your noggin pretty hard, you think you need some ice or..."

"...Kan-chan?"

He'd gone silent mid-sentence, his face turning red, and considering that he'd just hit his head, she really was worried that something had happened to him. Briefly, the thought that he looked rather cute when he blushed crossed her mind, but she quickly shook it off, not bothering to get up and leaning forward in order to put her hand on his forehead.

"What's going on, do you think you're okay? Oh, I know, water!"

She put her hand on his sternum for support and pushed herself off from the floor, kicking him in the gut as she stood up and ran to the kitchen, grabbing a cold glass of water. When she came back, Takarada somehow looked worse than he had before. She hadn't even realized she'd been the one to hurt him further. 

"Ah huh. Right. Uh. Wha’eva tha’ fuck that even is." 

But then she called him sweet. It was almost as if his glasses turned white to obscure his eyes as he gulped. No one ever called him that before. He was more known for being salty. Stepping into the room, was a far cry from any other place he had been to. It was homely well kept and it had an air of originality about it. Most importantly, it was… surprisingly colorful, cranes hanging from strings scattered about and even paper pinwheels. Something tugged at Takarada’s mouth corner forcing him to smile, it was strange. Just being here put him in a nice mood. 

"Comfortable? Yeah sure wha’ eva’ just take yo-" 

Holy sweet mother of bouncing titties. Takarada gulped hard as he watched her chest heave up and down, bouncing about as she did. HHe was a healthy young man of course and this was a sight that would be sure to spark some things within him. Quickly he made a sign of the cross and clasped his hands in prayer looking up towards the ceiling.  What he spoke next was almost in certain soliloquy. To himself and under his breath.

"You’s always lookin’ out fo’ a homie Lawd. You’s mah numba one wingman tha’s fo sho. A fuckin’ men." 

As he let the show continue on for a bit longer, he let his jacket drop onto a nearby chair, rolled up his sleeves, and quickly pulled the jacket off of her, looking down with a raised eyebrow. 

Why she'd had such a hard time removing her sweater she'd never know, maybe the hole was too small for her head, but she could've sworn it was way easier to put on. She yelped as he leapt around her apartment, tugging on the sweater, realizing she was probably embarrassing herself in front of Takarada. It was more funny to her than anything, and little giggles escaped her lips as she continued to struggle, until finally, Takarada pulled the sweater off her.

“Whoa! Thanks! You really saved me there!”

After thanking him, she noticed what he wore under the jacket – a nice dress shirt and bow tie, and she leaned in closer towards his chest, taking special note of the bow tie.

“How did I not see this before? You dress pretty snazzy, Kan-chan!”

She then turned to head to the kitchen, but instead she spotted it, and gasped – the famous fur coat, sitting atopone of her chairs. He had said that she could try it on, so she scrambled over, picking it up. It was heavier than she thought, but with some effort, she managed to get her arms in the sleeves. It weighed her down plenty, but she'd never felt so regal.

“Kan-chan, look! This is really cool! I feel really...rich! Was this expensive? Was it--”

She tried to take a step forward, but the coat was far too long, and she ended up stepping on the back of her, sending her flying forward, and right into Takarada's arms. The coat was draped over the two of them, and Hajime laughed, albeit a bit weakly. The fall had kind of hurt.

"Fuck it, nothin’ jus’ watch yo back, God damn…"

Though it wasn’t like he was exactly what one would call ‘the right crowd’ either. He had his morals and beliefs. He fought on the side of good but he definitely never had considered himself a good person. That’s just how he was really. 

While the elevator smelled of urine and weed, the ride was more comforting than the area itself. But these things still weren’t foreign to the Heir. He walked these things on the daily back in Osaka, and when he was done banging his head against the elevator wall (primarily because they had opened) he stepped out before her, rubbing his eyes from under his glasses. 

"Okay! You don't have to worry about me though, I'm a Gatchaman!"

Hajime giggled as she posed briefly, as if she were to transform, then quickly dropped the pose. Something about the fact that Takarada was worried about her was just really cute to her. He'd only just met her, and he was already looking out for her. How sweet! She should really tell him that...

"...but thanks for worrying about me, it's really sweet of you!"

So she did, stepping out of the elevator and leading the way to her apartment. Once they arrived at the door, she dug around in her pockets, all the while humming a song rather loudly. Eventually she found them and unlocked the door, revealing the typical apartments the scientists gave the citizens, but brightened up with dozens of homemade decorations and origami creations.

"Here we are! Lemme just get comfortable and then we can get to cooking!"

“Do you really feel that way about me, Herr Kitaki? I never knew you thought I was royalty.” What a tease.

He watched her as she explained her capabilities. He didn’t think much of her abilities at all, but like she said she was limited just as Raiden was. “Hm, flight seems like a neat trick. Maybe I should learn how to do that one day, I usually can only fall.” 

"I mean I gotta run and jump before I do it, but I can do it for a little bit! Just gotta keep trying! Or modify your suit!"

When the man raised a question to her about where she'd gotten her suit, Hajime was stumped for a moment. The responsibility of a gatchaman had sort of been thrust upon her, and she still had no idea where it came from, but she had it.

( i keep wanting to bring wocky back here and i cant do it )

"Well, I guess so…! Have you ever had your wish granted, Hajime-san?" Surely, she had folded enough paper birds to warrant one, judging by the speed she had crafted the one just now.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Fuuka had noticed the brunette leaning forward in anticipation for the Gekkoukan student’s fold. And then out of the blue, a shout left the girl’s mouth, effectively startling Fuuka, causing her to visibly jump and nearly drop the paper she had supposedly folded the wrong way. Wide eyed, she looked at Hajime and quickly folded the paper the other way she remembered watching her do.

Hajime's wishes were never anything huge and substantial, but rather they were simply things - such as wanting to see Sugane smile, or wanting Utsutsu to spend a day with her, things that she could easily make happen on her own, but she liked to believe that the magic of the cranes helped her along. 

She hadn't meant to scare Fuuka, but if she made that fold there, it would certainly lead to the crane being deformed once she unfolded it and fixed it, so it was better to just stop her now.