AmeCon 2007 Writing Contest Winners!
The winners of the writing contest have now been posted here on the forums!
The alarm currently sounding was a work of art in itself. It had been designed in Switzerland by an elderly gentleman who was regarded to be the greatest clock smith in the entire world, and his prices certainly did that title justice. A huge ornate clock face, complete with diamonds set into the hour, minute and second hands, with a slight tint to the face glass, which, when the sun shone on it, gave of a dazzling rainbow effect. It was rumoured to be accurate to within one second over ten years. Behind the face, the bells that were sounding was also unique. Instead of making the usual dingalingalingaling sound that bells make, they were slightly out of synch, so made more of a dingalinglingalinglingaling sound, which provided the recipient with an incredibly annoying aural assault with which to contend with.
The particular person whose ears were being bombarded sat up in her bed. She yawned with a quaint delicacy, just in case her security team had, though some incredible lapse, allowed a camera to get this close to her. She stared at the devilish clock with demonic intent, her bleary eyes attempting to put the thing out purely with their gaze. Since her attempt at clock based telekinesis had failed, she shuffled out from under her covers, and gingerly touched her feet to the floor. A chill shot up her foot, and made her shudder. Every morning, she completely forgot about the cold wooden beams that comprised the floor of her room. She sought out her slippers, cute pink fluffy things with equally cute black cat faces on them, and stood slowly. She shuffled over to the alarm, and pressed down on the top of the ringer system, which halted the noise, but left a ringing in her ears for a few seconds. Finally. Now, The eternal dilemma. Do I go back to sleep, or do I do stuff? Ah, sleep can be done at any time, Miu, I should go see how Minamo is this morning, I haven't seen him for the last few days... She thought, as she made her way to her huge body length mirror, where she regarded herself.
Miu Ryuzoki, twenty two years old, and the greatest Idol singer in Japan She had shot to fame back in school, where she had won the 'Young Voices' award, an accolade which practically guaranteed a singer a career. The significant thing about this was that she had done it on her thirteenth birthday, which made her the youngest person ever to win the award. She had also met Kanzaki Minamo in school. He had been her vocal teacher, and, through the time they had spent with each other, she had fallen for him. Quite drastically, in fact. She had never been able to tell him, back then. Her career didn't really pick up until she went to University, where it was with the help and encouragement of Keira, a girl whom Miu had befriended on her second day at Toudai, and had quickly formed a bond of friendship closer than family, that made her self-release a CD. The only reason the thing didn't reach the number one slot in the charts was because Miu didn't have the capitol to make enough copies. The CDs success had been noticed by both EMI and Sony, and both of the publishing companies had offered her recording contracts, but she turned them down, claiming to have wanted to finish her dual degrees, Theoretical Mathematics, and Ancient Languages.
Miu had, even back then, had her future in mind. She was an incredibly intelligent person, with an IQ tickling the underside of the 200 mark, and she had planned to use her fantastic singing voice to make her enough money to live comfortably, then found a job she enjoyed but didn't have to put too much effort into. However, Fate, which has a nasty habit of ding such things, intervened. On her graduation day, who should be there to graduate her than Minamo-sensei? Apparently, he had begun to work for a company that focused on the promotion of Idols. Miu was so overjoyed to see the man that she had signed a recording contract on the very day. Of course, she hadn't been idiotic enough to just sign, she had made sure the contract was satisfactory before doing so, but it was still incredibly impulsive of the girl. On that day, Mew-chan was born. The next few months of her life were the most hectic she had ever experienced. Recording sessions, video recording, concert arrangements, interviews, meetings, more recordings, more meetings, It was overwhelming. She took Japan in the palm of her hand, her music appealed to everyone, from the young and heartbroken to the old and miserable, and everyone in between. She even managed to crack into international markets, and was the first ever Japanese idol singer to have a number one song in America, and in the UK.
It was on the evening of her first live concert that she managed to finally tell Minamo how she had felt, and still did. The man had sat, staring at her for a good ten seconds, before leaning forwards, and kissing her. Miu was so overjoyed she actually told the whole crowd that she had just confessed her love, and that it had been reciprocated. The cheer from the crowd was so loud the company actually had to pay a fine after the concert for noise pollution. A year down the line, and she was standing in her room, trying to comb the entangled mess that her hair had degenerated into, without much success. She loved her hair, it was one of Mews many trademarks. Bright yellow hair, hair that couldn't even be called gold, or blonde, but Yellow, with, once she had done combing, hundreds of hair clips, all with kitties on them. She removed her silk pyjamas, making sure she put them in the dirty clothing basket, and padded lightly over to her wardrobe. Opening the massive doors, she regarded the range of outfits Mew had acquired Again, Mew was not prejudiced when it came to clothing. She had almost every type of style within the cupboard, everything from the overly frilly Gothic lolita style dresses with lots of monochrome to punky torn trousers, elegant flowing gowns, cosplay dresses, and of course, her Kitty dresses. Mew wasn't Mew without her black and white spotted kitty ears, large padded kitty paws and black and white tail. Miu selected a rather bland pair of trousers, and a blue T-shirt from the box marked 'Miu', that was sat at one end of the space, and slipped into the clothing. Regarding herself in the mirror again, she selected three of the hair clips, and removed the rest. She was Miu today, not Mew.
Placing her phone into its holder on her bag, she slipped the kitty branded bag over her shoulder, grabbed her purser, and popped it into the bag too. She opened the hotel room door, looked left and right, and giggled. Each side of the room there was a burly looking person, one male and one female, wearing well fitting black suits, white shirts and sunglasses. Standard issue bodyguard uniform... She mused, closing the door behind her. She span, allowing her hair to billow outwards, and clicked her heels together, winking at the female.
"Miu's going to go shopping today, so don't follow me. I've arranged to met up with Minamo-kun, so I'll be OK." She said, before jogging down the corridor, catching a lift just before the doors closed, and waving, calling out "JA NE!" as the door closed. Within the lift, she began giggling like a little girl, she loved playing around with the bodyguards. And what I told them wasn't technically a lie. I AM going to meet up with Minamo. I just hadn't arranged it with him. He's scouting new talent today, and I'm going to surprise him and take him for coffee. It's only the proper thing for a mans' Fiancee to do. She thought, as she watched the numbers fall. In the Lobby, there were a few more guards, and one or two photographers, but thanks to a little foresight from Miu, she was not recognised. Mainly because she had also picked up a coat, and had worn it over her hair, which made her look like just another girl.
Down the steps of the hotel Miu hopped, a wide smile on her face. She was going to see Minamo! She couldn't wait until she saw his face when she turned up at the end of his interview. Miu knew exactly where she was heading, Kanzaki always used the same Café for doing his Idol interviews. It had been the same place Miu had told him how she felt, and the same place he had proposed to her, two months ago. Of course, the marriage itself was nearly a year away, their dual schedules played hell with arranging a date for the thing. Fortunately, it was also very close to the Hotel that Miu had been staying in. Miu bounded up to it, full of energy. She looked across, and saw Alex. He was wearing a blue suit, and green shirt, which gave him an incredibly sophisticated look, especially with his gelled up black hair, and round, orange tinted sunglasses. He was sitting next to a young girl, possibly seventeen, or eighteen years old, who was wearing a dress that was best described as 'frilly'. She had long, black hair, which she had tied into a ponytail. She's pretty. But his heart already belongs to me, so I have nothing to fear. Miu thought, as she watched a little longer. A few words were exchanged, and drinks were ordered. A joke was told, and the two got a litter closer. Another joke, with a little bit too much laughter for Mius comfort. She began to head towards the Café, when she saw it. Kanzaki had leant in, and kissed the girl lightly on the cheek. Miu felt a dagger drive itself through her chest. Surely not...Did he...did he kiss her? I must be imagining it, I HAVE to be imagining it. There's no way my Minamo would kiss someone else like that... Miu panicked as she continued to watch from her safe distance. But no, she was not mistaken, for he kissed her again a few minutes later, and once more, as they got up to leave.
Miu was infuriated. She was incandescent with rage, and consumed by sorrow all at once. She wanted to confront him, wanted to rip her face off, but, at the same time, she wanted to lock herself in her room, and never, ever come out. HOW COULD HE!? HE LOVES ME! HE...he...loves....me...doesn't he? Miu thought, her mind running wild, trying in vain to make the events that had just transpired vanish. She eventually decided to confront the two as they were leaving.
"Kanzaki-Kun!" Miu called out, masking her inner turmoil perfectly. As a liver performer, she had to be able to mask her emotions well.
"M..MIU! What are you doing here, you're supposed to be getting some sleep, recovering from last nights concert. I don't want you over-exerting yourself." The tall man
"I wanted to surprise you. I thought we could go get a coffee, or maybe watch a film...Who's this, new talent?" She said, acting as though she had only just noticed the new girl.
"Yes, this is Tomoyo. She's got a wonderful singing voice."
"Is she your sister?" Miu asked, her tone changing suddenly, becoming icily cold.
"Wh..What? What do you mean?" The man asked, taken aback by her sudden questioning.
"Are you related? Sister, Cousin, Niece? Is she a blood relative of yours?" Miu sad, stamping her feet, and waving her arms.
"No. Why are you asking these stupid questions, Miu?"
"Well, if you had been related, it would have provided me a reason as to why YOU KISSED HER! WHY DID YOU KISS HER? YOU LOVE ME!"
"I think I'd better leave...." Tomoyo muttered. Miu span, and glared at her, her voice beginning to waver, and tears forming on the sides of her eyes.
"I think you'd better. RUN ALONG!!" She screamed, which caused the girl to flinch, and stumble backwards. She turned, and ran off.
"Miu..." Kanzaki began, but Miu held up her hand.
"Save it. I only want to know the answer to one question. Look me in the eyes, and answer me this. Do You Love Me?" Miu said, looking deeply into the mans' eyes, fearing what she might see. There was silence. A silence which caused the tears to flow over Mius eyes, and causing her to wail.
"WHY!? WHY LIE TO ME!? HOW COULD YOU? I TRUSTED YOU!!!" She screamed, and she turned, and ran away from the man. She ran back to the hotel, back into the lift, where she collapsed to her knees, the tears now flowing freely, her sobs coming out in huge gasps. When the lift reached her floor, and the doors opened, she did not get out, merely trapping her leg in the door, so the lift would not move from there. She stayed there for nearly twenty minutes, bawling her eyes out, before one of her bodyguards finally approached her. By this time, she was completely numb, she didn't care about anything. The man picked her up, and carried her back to her room, where he set her on her bed. He whispered "I'm sorry, Miu..." before lumbering away, back outside the door.
"I guess she found out about Kanzaki not really loving her, then." The female guard sad, as the male closed the door. He nodded.
"Yup. Looks like she's taken it pretty hard..." The man replied, assuming his usual position to one side of the door.
"Poor kid..."
Months passed, and Miu refused to move from the hotel room. Several times, people tried to get to her, but every time, she made them leave. She had threatened on more than one occasion to leap out of the window, and plummet to her death. No-one wanted her death on their hands, so they left her alone. After a little while, packages began to turn up to the hotel, addressed to her. They were generally picked up by the security staff, who left it outside her room. This was the only time she appeared to anyone, when she took her packages. It was clear to the staff that she had begun to deteriorate. Her hair became pale cream, her eyes faded, and grew a lot darker, after a while, it was difficult to even tell that she had eyes, that was the level of shadow that built up. Her skin grew paler as well, and, after the third month, always had bizarre Arabic writing on it. One hundred and thirty seven days after she had found out about Kanzaki, she emerged from her room. Her skin was no longer covered with writing, and she looked, for all intents and purposes, the same as when she had left.
"M..MIU-Sama!" The male outside the door cried. Coincidence had chosen that the two guards were the same two who had been on guard so long ago. She regarded him, and smiled brightly.
"I'm sorry I made you worry. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I cannot let my fans down, even through this." She said, before turning, and padding down the hallway. She was in full Miu dress, the first dress she had appeared in public in. She allowed the guards to follow her as she got into the lift, and even spoke a little to them as the lift fell to the ground floor. As the doors opened, the noise of people hit the three. The lobby was crowded with press officials.
"Wh..What's going on, Mew-chan?" The female guard asked.
"I told them to come. I've got an important announcement to make. EVERYONE!! Mew-chan apologises to you all for locking herself away. I shouldn't have been selfish, but Mew-chan wanted Mew-chan all to herself. BUT! Mew-chan has decided to share herself again, and Will be doing a free open air concert in three days to say sorry!" She exclaimed, prancing about, making kitty gestures, and, generally, show boating the gathered crowd.
The three days in between her announcement were Chaos incarnate. Mius announcement was pushing the Company to its limits, getting the licenses, contracts, permits and arena alone was taking nearly thirty percent of their manpower, then there was ticketing, distribution, film coverage, recording rights, copyrighting, health and safety, advertising, Everything needed to be done, and done quickly. Miu, however, did very little. It was almost as if she was testing her company, to see what they were capable of. She had also avoided Kanzaki in those three days. The concert itself broke nearly every record it was capable of breaking. Nearly half a million people turned up to watch the show, and it was broadcast simultaneously to every single country of the world. It was estimated that nearly half the globe watched the concert. Miu performed perfectly, even performing a few songs that hadn't been heard before. The event lasted nearly five hours, but, afterwards Miu had barely broken into a sweat.
A few hours after the concert, Kanzaki was in his private apartment. The place was an incredibly modern house, quite sizeable, and, currently, full of paperwork. He was currently beavering away, trying to work out exactly how much money Mius little stunt had cost his company, and it was not looking good. Right before pressing the enter button on his laptop, to calculate the final figure, a knock came to the door. Sighing, he hit the enter button, and stood up, not really wanting to look at the number.
"Just a second" He called out, shuffling the papers back into a rough pile, and kicking himself free of the mountain of pillows that he was sat in. He moved slowly over to the door, which he opened without much enthusiasm.
"Ah! Miu! Please, come in!" He said, a lot brighter than he actually felt. Miu was still in her stage outfit, a garish bright pink frilly dress, and, of course, her trademark ears, tail and paws. She had an amused expression on her face.
"Hello, Kanzaki-san. Burning the midnight oil, aren't we?" She said, the very slightest hints of sarcasm in her voice. The man shrugged, and allowed the woman entry. He offered her a drink, but she refused.
"The concert..went well, didn't it?" Kanzaki said, after a while.
"The concert was an amazing experience for the fans. For the company, though, and for you, it was probably a little bit less enjoyable." She said, smirking.
"Ah. So, it was all just a stupid little way of getting back at me, wasn't it? Is this what you spent months in that room plotting? This is nothing, I can bring the company back from this." Kanzaki said, smiling. "And did you forget about the hundreds of other people who work for the company? They're more likely to lose their jobs than I am. Or are you so selfish that you'd sacrifice their happiness for your own gain?" Mius expression changed, for a spilt second. She dropped her smile, and scowled, but was back to her extremely fake smile within moments.
"Selfish? I didn't do that concert to get back at you, you big headed son of a bitch. I did it to apologise to my fans. To say sorry for abandoning them. I've come over here, now, to get back at you." She said, her voice becoming deeper, and quite gravelly, and hoarse. Her hair began to change too, the colour draining from it, turning it from bright yellow into a dull cream. Her eyes also darkened, and became enveloped in shadow. Her skin became a lot paler, and masses of black Arabic scrawling seemed to write itself over her entire body. Even her clothing changed, the pink dress seeming to evaporate into the air, leaving a figure hugging black leotard, and simple black skirt.
"I didn't spend all my time in that room being mopey and self depreciating. Even the simplest of minds would get bored after a few months, so my intelligence was wanting more within days. So I spent my time, and an awful lot of money on research. trying to find things out. And do you know what I found?" The man shook his head, his eyes wide. He was still shocked at seeing the stark change to the girl happen within a few seconds.
"I found a book, Kanzaki. It's called Five of Nine, and it's a gripping read. So much so that it latched itself to my very skin. Turns out, this book was written by one Fureek Al Maghib, a sorcerer from around five thousand years ago. It wasn't the only interesting book I found.."
"You're freaking me out, Miu..." Kanzaki blurted, suddenly.
"GOOD!" She shouted, and, seemingly from behind her, a huge gust of wind blew, catching the man by surprise, and causing him to stumble backwards, falling onto the pile of cushions.
"Another interesting book I found is called the Codex Magus. It's sort of like a combination of a guide and rule book, for Wizards." She said, before smirking.
"W..Wizards..." Kanzaki whispered, now visibly shaking.
"Did you know that the very first law of the High council, whatever that is, states it is forbidden for a Mage to use their power to kill a mundane, that's someone who doesn't know about, or have, magical powers." Kanzaki breathed out a huge sigh of relief.
"But, fortunately, this is neither my power, nor am I a Mage." She said, slyly. As she did, several shards of ice appeared out of the thin air, hovering around Miu like birds around their keeper.
"Wh..What are you going to do?" Kanzaki said, his voice punctuated by fear.
"I'm going to show you exactly what kind of pain you put me through. I'm going to stab your heart, and turn your soul into a frozen, barren wasteland. I'm going to grind your eyes, make you feel what it's like to have no tears left to cry. I'm going to make you wish you had never lied to me, never said those three little words 'I love you'. I'm going to make you suffer unimaginable pain. And then I'm going to kill you." As she said this, the first of the ice shards shot forwards, embedding itself through Kanzakis leg, staining itself red with his blood. He screamed in out in pain.
"Hurts, doesn't it? The cold will make it go numb after a while. Imagine that hapenning to your very Being. IMAGINE WHAT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH!!!" She screamed, as another of the ice shards darted forwards, impaling through the mans' chest, spraying blood everywhere, and nailing him to the floor. Kanzaki convulsed, coughing up speckles of red.
"YOU DESTROYED ME! I TRUSTED YOU WITH MY HEART, AND YOU BETRAYED ME! YOU RUINED MY LIFE!!!" Miu wailed tears now rolling down her cheeks. A third spear shot forwards, cutting into the mans' forehead, skewering his skull. Blood, and brain, burst forth from the wound. The mans' eyes grew wide, in terror, at the fact that he was, effectively dead.
"M..m..mi..u....." He managed to stammer, through the pain. after a few seconds, he finally noticed the faint yellow glow that he had around him. Miu was staring at him through cold, distant eyes. She began to chuckled. As she did, the ice spikes removed themselves from Kanzaki, but still hovered above him, almost poised to strike, and his wounds began to heal.
"How did it feel, to have an icicle through the brain, and to still be living? Was it painful beyond all belief? Did you wish you were dead? Did you wish you had never been born in the first place? Did you want the endurance to have ended?" The man whimpered, and nodded. Another two spears shot forth from Miu, and buried themselves in his eyes. He let of an ear piercing scream.
"That was how I felt...I wanted to have never existed. I wanted to die. But I could not. How could I? I had...responsibilities...I had fans...and friends...I...couldn't..." Miu whispered, tears still falling from her eyes. She fell to her knees.
"Does that make me weak? I couldn't end my own life...I was afraid. I was so alone.." She mumbled. She wanted more than anything right now to hug the man currently sat with his eyes bleeding opposite her, but she knew could not. He did not love her. He had been using her. Even as she thought this, the tears dried up, and became enveloped with shadow again. She stood, slowly.
"Did you ever care about me? Even a little?" she said, her voice barely audible. The man coughed. "Answer me truthfully, or so help me, God, I will rip your soul to shreds, and plunge you into the depths of hell." Miu snapped, suddenly. There was silence.
"No..." He said, after a while. "Even back when I was your Sensei, I was manipulating you, doing things that would make you fall in love with me. I was using you." He pushed himself up, a little, and grinned.
"Did you ever wonder how I found out when you were graduating? Your little 'soul mate', Keira, told me." Miu gasped.
"Keira...no...she..wouldn't..." Miu mumbled.
"Oh, she was a very loyal friend. She kept on calling you her soul mate, and swore she would protect you, and keep me from you. A little rape sorted her right out." He said, smiling suddenly.
Miu sad nothing, but tears began falling anew. She was stunned into paralysis, completely frozen. She couldn't think, she couldn't move. Kanzaki pulled himself towards the table, where he pulled from a hidden ledge a handgun.
"Thank you for revealing to me the existence of Magic, Mew-chan. You have been the greatest little puppet I've ever owned. Such a shame you had to get broken..." He said, pointing the gun at Miu, and firing. The bullet sailed through the air, getting to within an inch of Mi, where it slowed down to a stop. As this hapenned, it began to deteriorate, melting into nothing. The air around Miu began to waver, becoming hazy. Around her, thousands of shards of ice formed, turning the apartment into a freezer.
"You...bastard..." She mumbled, her voice quiet, and broken. "You've killed me twice already. Is that not enough for you? Do you have to keep killing me before you are happy? HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO DIE BEFORE YOU ARE SATISFIED!!!" She screamed, grabbing the man, and shaking him. He merely smiled at her.
"Here's something else I bet you didn't know," Kanzaki said, his smirk still wide, "She loved you. Keira was besotted with you. She was going to tell you on that graduation day, but you saw me first." He laughed. Miu let go of him, and turned towards the door.
"You are scum. You are a waste of human existence, you do not deserve the life you have had." Miu said, walking towards the door. When she reached it, she turned back.
"You know, you'll get caught. I have CCTV all over this place, and panic button was pressed nearly ten minutes ago. The police will be hear in minutes."
"You fucking conceited arsehole! I won't get caught. You think I'm stupid enough to just storm in and kill you? Your CCTV is disabled, the Police will not be coming, and even if they did, how on earth is a Japanese Idol supposed to have stabbed someone thousands of times with spikes of ice? I have Magic" She shouted, her fists bunched. She turned away from him. "Goodbye, Minamo-sensei. We will not meet again, even in the afterlife." She said, opening the door. As the door closed behind her, the magical field that had been holding the ice upright above the man faded, letting the sharpened spikes fall.
"Watashi wa Mew-chan desu!!" by The Pale Rider
The alarm currently sounding was a work of art in itself. It had been designed in Switzerland by an elderly gentleman who was regarded to be the greatest clock smith in the entire world, and his prices certainly did that title justice. A huge ornate clock face, complete with diamonds set into the hour, minute and second hands, with a slight tint to the face glass, which, when the sun shone on it, gave of a dazzling rainbow effect. It was rumoured to be accurate to within one second over ten years. Behind the face, the bells that were sounding was also unique. Instead of making the usual dingalingalingaling sound that bells make, they were slightly out of synch, so made more of a dingalinglingalinglingaling sound, which provided the recipient with an incredibly annoying aural assault with which to contend with.
The particular person whose ears were being bombarded sat up in her bed. She yawned with a quaint delicacy, just in case her security team had, though some incredible lapse, allowed a camera to get this close to her. She stared at the devilish clock with demonic intent, her bleary eyes attempting to put the thing out purely with their gaze. Since her attempt at clock based telekinesis had failed, she shuffled out from under her covers, and gingerly touched her feet to the floor. A chill shot up her foot, and made her shudder. Every morning, she completely forgot about the cold wooden beams that comprised the floor of her room. She sought out her slippers, cute pink fluffy things with equally cute black cat faces on them, and stood slowly. She shuffled over to the alarm, and pressed down on the top of the ringer system, which halted the noise, but left a ringing in her ears for a few seconds. Finally. Now, The eternal dilemma. Do I go back to sleep, or do I do stuff? Ah, sleep can be done at any time, Miu, I should go see how Minamo is this morning, I haven't seen him for the last few days... She thought, as she made her way to her huge body length mirror, where she regarded herself.
Miu Ryuzoki, twenty two years old, and the greatest Idol singer in Japan She had shot to fame back in school, where she had won the 'Young Voices' award, an accolade which practically guaranteed a singer a career. The significant thing about this was that she had done it on her thirteenth birthday, which made her the youngest person ever to win the award. She had also met Kanzaki Minamo in school. He had been her vocal teacher, and, through the time they had spent with each other, she had fallen for him. Quite drastically, in fact. She had never been able to tell him, back then. Her career didn't really pick up until she went to University, where it was with the help and encouragement of Keira, a girl whom Miu had befriended on her second day at Toudai, and had quickly formed a bond of friendship closer than family, that made her self-release a CD. The only reason the thing didn't reach the number one slot in the charts was because Miu didn't have the capitol to make enough copies. The CDs success had been noticed by both EMI and Sony, and both of the publishing companies had offered her recording contracts, but she turned them down, claiming to have wanted to finish her dual degrees, Theoretical Mathematics, and Ancient Languages.
Miu had, even back then, had her future in mind. She was an incredibly intelligent person, with an IQ tickling the underside of the 200 mark, and she had planned to use her fantastic singing voice to make her enough money to live comfortably, then found a job she enjoyed but didn't have to put too much effort into. However, Fate, which has a nasty habit of ding such things, intervened. On her graduation day, who should be there to graduate her than Minamo-sensei? Apparently, he had begun to work for a company that focused on the promotion of Idols. Miu was so overjoyed to see the man that she had signed a recording contract on the very day. Of course, she hadn't been idiotic enough to just sign, she had made sure the contract was satisfactory before doing so, but it was still incredibly impulsive of the girl. On that day, Mew-chan was born. The next few months of her life were the most hectic she had ever experienced. Recording sessions, video recording, concert arrangements, interviews, meetings, more recordings, more meetings, It was overwhelming. She took Japan in the palm of her hand, her music appealed to everyone, from the young and heartbroken to the old and miserable, and everyone in between. She even managed to crack into international markets, and was the first ever Japanese idol singer to have a number one song in America, and in the UK.
It was on the evening of her first live concert that she managed to finally tell Minamo how she had felt, and still did. The man had sat, staring at her for a good ten seconds, before leaning forwards, and kissing her. Miu was so overjoyed she actually told the whole crowd that she had just confessed her love, and that it had been reciprocated. The cheer from the crowd was so loud the company actually had to pay a fine after the concert for noise pollution. A year down the line, and she was standing in her room, trying to comb the entangled mess that her hair had degenerated into, without much success. She loved her hair, it was one of Mews many trademarks. Bright yellow hair, hair that couldn't even be called gold, or blonde, but Yellow, with, once she had done combing, hundreds of hair clips, all with kitties on them. She removed her silk pyjamas, making sure she put them in the dirty clothing basket, and padded lightly over to her wardrobe. Opening the massive doors, she regarded the range of outfits Mew had acquired Again, Mew was not prejudiced when it came to clothing. She had almost every type of style within the cupboard, everything from the overly frilly Gothic lolita style dresses with lots of monochrome to punky torn trousers, elegant flowing gowns, cosplay dresses, and of course, her Kitty dresses. Mew wasn't Mew without her black and white spotted kitty ears, large padded kitty paws and black and white tail. Miu selected a rather bland pair of trousers, and a blue T-shirt from the box marked 'Miu', that was sat at one end of the space, and slipped into the clothing. Regarding herself in the mirror again, she selected three of the hair clips, and removed the rest. She was Miu today, not Mew.
Placing her phone into its holder on her bag, she slipped the kitty branded bag over her shoulder, grabbed her purser, and popped it into the bag too. She opened the hotel room door, looked left and right, and giggled. Each side of the room there was a burly looking person, one male and one female, wearing well fitting black suits, white shirts and sunglasses. Standard issue bodyguard uniform... She mused, closing the door behind her. She span, allowing her hair to billow outwards, and clicked her heels together, winking at the female.
"Miu's going to go shopping today, so don't follow me. I've arranged to met up with Minamo-kun, so I'll be OK." She said, before jogging down the corridor, catching a lift just before the doors closed, and waving, calling out "JA NE!" as the door closed. Within the lift, she began giggling like a little girl, she loved playing around with the bodyguards. And what I told them wasn't technically a lie. I AM going to meet up with Minamo. I just hadn't arranged it with him. He's scouting new talent today, and I'm going to surprise him and take him for coffee. It's only the proper thing for a mans' Fiancee to do. She thought, as she watched the numbers fall. In the Lobby, there were a few more guards, and one or two photographers, but thanks to a little foresight from Miu, she was not recognised. Mainly because she had also picked up a coat, and had worn it over her hair, which made her look like just another girl.
Down the steps of the hotel Miu hopped, a wide smile on her face. She was going to see Minamo! She couldn't wait until she saw his face when she turned up at the end of his interview. Miu knew exactly where she was heading, Kanzaki always used the same Café for doing his Idol interviews. It had been the same place Miu had told him how she felt, and the same place he had proposed to her, two months ago. Of course, the marriage itself was nearly a year away, their dual schedules played hell with arranging a date for the thing. Fortunately, it was also very close to the Hotel that Miu had been staying in. Miu bounded up to it, full of energy. She looked across, and saw Alex. He was wearing a blue suit, and green shirt, which gave him an incredibly sophisticated look, especially with his gelled up black hair, and round, orange tinted sunglasses. He was sitting next to a young girl, possibly seventeen, or eighteen years old, who was wearing a dress that was best described as 'frilly'. She had long, black hair, which she had tied into a ponytail. She's pretty. But his heart already belongs to me, so I have nothing to fear. Miu thought, as she watched a little longer. A few words were exchanged, and drinks were ordered. A joke was told, and the two got a litter closer. Another joke, with a little bit too much laughter for Mius comfort. She began to head towards the Café, when she saw it. Kanzaki had leant in, and kissed the girl lightly on the cheek. Miu felt a dagger drive itself through her chest. Surely not...Did he...did he kiss her? I must be imagining it, I HAVE to be imagining it. There's no way my Minamo would kiss someone else like that... Miu panicked as she continued to watch from her safe distance. But no, she was not mistaken, for he kissed her again a few minutes later, and once more, as they got up to leave.
Miu was infuriated. She was incandescent with rage, and consumed by sorrow all at once. She wanted to confront him, wanted to rip her face off, but, at the same time, she wanted to lock herself in her room, and never, ever come out. HOW COULD HE!? HE LOVES ME! HE...he...loves....me...doesn't he? Miu thought, her mind running wild, trying in vain to make the events that had just transpired vanish. She eventually decided to confront the two as they were leaving.
"Kanzaki-Kun!" Miu called out, masking her inner turmoil perfectly. As a liver performer, she had to be able to mask her emotions well.
"M..MIU! What are you doing here, you're supposed to be getting some sleep, recovering from last nights concert. I don't want you over-exerting yourself." The tall man
"I wanted to surprise you. I thought we could go get a coffee, or maybe watch a film...Who's this, new talent?" She said, acting as though she had only just noticed the new girl.
"Yes, this is Tomoyo. She's got a wonderful singing voice."
"Is she your sister?" Miu asked, her tone changing suddenly, becoming icily cold.
"Wh..What? What do you mean?" The man asked, taken aback by her sudden questioning.
"Are you related? Sister, Cousin, Niece? Is she a blood relative of yours?" Miu sad, stamping her feet, and waving her arms.
"No. Why are you asking these stupid questions, Miu?"
"Well, if you had been related, it would have provided me a reason as to why YOU KISSED HER! WHY DID YOU KISS HER? YOU LOVE ME!"
"I think I'd better leave...." Tomoyo muttered. Miu span, and glared at her, her voice beginning to waver, and tears forming on the sides of her eyes.
"I think you'd better. RUN ALONG!!" She screamed, which caused the girl to flinch, and stumble backwards. She turned, and ran off.
"Miu..." Kanzaki began, but Miu held up her hand.
"Save it. I only want to know the answer to one question. Look me in the eyes, and answer me this. Do You Love Me?" Miu said, looking deeply into the mans' eyes, fearing what she might see. There was silence. A silence which caused the tears to flow over Mius eyes, and causing her to wail.
"WHY!? WHY LIE TO ME!? HOW COULD YOU? I TRUSTED YOU!!!" She screamed, and she turned, and ran away from the man. She ran back to the hotel, back into the lift, where she collapsed to her knees, the tears now flowing freely, her sobs coming out in huge gasps. When the lift reached her floor, and the doors opened, she did not get out, merely trapping her leg in the door, so the lift would not move from there. She stayed there for nearly twenty minutes, bawling her eyes out, before one of her bodyguards finally approached her. By this time, she was completely numb, she didn't care about anything. The man picked her up, and carried her back to her room, where he set her on her bed. He whispered "I'm sorry, Miu..." before lumbering away, back outside the door.
"I guess she found out about Kanzaki not really loving her, then." The female guard sad, as the male closed the door. He nodded.
"Yup. Looks like she's taken it pretty hard..." The man replied, assuming his usual position to one side of the door.
"Poor kid..."
Months passed, and Miu refused to move from the hotel room. Several times, people tried to get to her, but every time, she made them leave. She had threatened on more than one occasion to leap out of the window, and plummet to her death. No-one wanted her death on their hands, so they left her alone. After a little while, packages began to turn up to the hotel, addressed to her. They were generally picked up by the security staff, who left it outside her room. This was the only time she appeared to anyone, when she took her packages. It was clear to the staff that she had begun to deteriorate. Her hair became pale cream, her eyes faded, and grew a lot darker, after a while, it was difficult to even tell that she had eyes, that was the level of shadow that built up. Her skin grew paler as well, and, after the third month, always had bizarre Arabic writing on it. One hundred and thirty seven days after she had found out about Kanzaki, she emerged from her room. Her skin was no longer covered with writing, and she looked, for all intents and purposes, the same as when she had left.
"M..MIU-Sama!" The male outside the door cried. Coincidence had chosen that the two guards were the same two who had been on guard so long ago. She regarded him, and smiled brightly.
"I'm sorry I made you worry. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I cannot let my fans down, even through this." She said, before turning, and padding down the hallway. She was in full Miu dress, the first dress she had appeared in public in. She allowed the guards to follow her as she got into the lift, and even spoke a little to them as the lift fell to the ground floor. As the doors opened, the noise of people hit the three. The lobby was crowded with press officials.
"Wh..What's going on, Mew-chan?" The female guard asked.
"I told them to come. I've got an important announcement to make. EVERYONE!! Mew-chan apologises to you all for locking herself away. I shouldn't have been selfish, but Mew-chan wanted Mew-chan all to herself. BUT! Mew-chan has decided to share herself again, and Will be doing a free open air concert in three days to say sorry!" She exclaimed, prancing about, making kitty gestures, and, generally, show boating the gathered crowd.
The three days in between her announcement were Chaos incarnate. Mius announcement was pushing the Company to its limits, getting the licenses, contracts, permits and arena alone was taking nearly thirty percent of their manpower, then there was ticketing, distribution, film coverage, recording rights, copyrighting, health and safety, advertising, Everything needed to be done, and done quickly. Miu, however, did very little. It was almost as if she was testing her company, to see what they were capable of. She had also avoided Kanzaki in those three days. The concert itself broke nearly every record it was capable of breaking. Nearly half a million people turned up to watch the show, and it was broadcast simultaneously to every single country of the world. It was estimated that nearly half the globe watched the concert. Miu performed perfectly, even performing a few songs that hadn't been heard before. The event lasted nearly five hours, but, afterwards Miu had barely broken into a sweat.
A few hours after the concert, Kanzaki was in his private apartment. The place was an incredibly modern house, quite sizeable, and, currently, full of paperwork. He was currently beavering away, trying to work out exactly how much money Mius little stunt had cost his company, and it was not looking good. Right before pressing the enter button on his laptop, to calculate the final figure, a knock came to the door. Sighing, he hit the enter button, and stood up, not really wanting to look at the number.
"Just a second" He called out, shuffling the papers back into a rough pile, and kicking himself free of the mountain of pillows that he was sat in. He moved slowly over to the door, which he opened without much enthusiasm.
"Ah! Miu! Please, come in!" He said, a lot brighter than he actually felt. Miu was still in her stage outfit, a garish bright pink frilly dress, and, of course, her trademark ears, tail and paws. She had an amused expression on her face.
"Hello, Kanzaki-san. Burning the midnight oil, aren't we?" She said, the very slightest hints of sarcasm in her voice. The man shrugged, and allowed the woman entry. He offered her a drink, but she refused.
"The concert..went well, didn't it?" Kanzaki said, after a while.
"The concert was an amazing experience for the fans. For the company, though, and for you, it was probably a little bit less enjoyable." She said, smirking.
"Ah. So, it was all just a stupid little way of getting back at me, wasn't it? Is this what you spent months in that room plotting? This is nothing, I can bring the company back from this." Kanzaki said, smiling. "And did you forget about the hundreds of other people who work for the company? They're more likely to lose their jobs than I am. Or are you so selfish that you'd sacrifice their happiness for your own gain?" Mius expression changed, for a spilt second. She dropped her smile, and scowled, but was back to her extremely fake smile within moments.
"Selfish? I didn't do that concert to get back at you, you big headed son of a bitch. I did it to apologise to my fans. To say sorry for abandoning them. I've come over here, now, to get back at you." She said, her voice becoming deeper, and quite gravelly, and hoarse. Her hair began to change too, the colour draining from it, turning it from bright yellow into a dull cream. Her eyes also darkened, and became enveloped in shadow. Her skin became a lot paler, and masses of black Arabic scrawling seemed to write itself over her entire body. Even her clothing changed, the pink dress seeming to evaporate into the air, leaving a figure hugging black leotard, and simple black skirt.
"I didn't spend all my time in that room being mopey and self depreciating. Even the simplest of minds would get bored after a few months, so my intelligence was wanting more within days. So I spent my time, and an awful lot of money on research. trying to find things out. And do you know what I found?" The man shook his head, his eyes wide. He was still shocked at seeing the stark change to the girl happen within a few seconds.
"I found a book, Kanzaki. It's called Five of Nine, and it's a gripping read. So much so that it latched itself to my very skin. Turns out, this book was written by one Fureek Al Maghib, a sorcerer from around five thousand years ago. It wasn't the only interesting book I found.."
"You're freaking me out, Miu..." Kanzaki blurted, suddenly.
"GOOD!" She shouted, and, seemingly from behind her, a huge gust of wind blew, catching the man by surprise, and causing him to stumble backwards, falling onto the pile of cushions.
"Another interesting book I found is called the Codex Magus. It's sort of like a combination of a guide and rule book, for Wizards." She said, before smirking.
"W..Wizards..." Kanzaki whispered, now visibly shaking.
"Did you know that the very first law of the High council, whatever that is, states it is forbidden for a Mage to use their power to kill a mundane, that's someone who doesn't know about, or have, magical powers." Kanzaki breathed out a huge sigh of relief.
"But, fortunately, this is neither my power, nor am I a Mage." She said, slyly. As she did, several shards of ice appeared out of the thin air, hovering around Miu like birds around their keeper.
"Wh..What are you going to do?" Kanzaki said, his voice punctuated by fear.
"I'm going to show you exactly what kind of pain you put me through. I'm going to stab your heart, and turn your soul into a frozen, barren wasteland. I'm going to grind your eyes, make you feel what it's like to have no tears left to cry. I'm going to make you wish you had never lied to me, never said those three little words 'I love you'. I'm going to make you suffer unimaginable pain. And then I'm going to kill you." As she said this, the first of the ice shards shot forwards, embedding itself through Kanzakis leg, staining itself red with his blood. He screamed in out in pain.
"Hurts, doesn't it? The cold will make it go numb after a while. Imagine that hapenning to your very Being. IMAGINE WHAT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH!!!" She screamed, as another of the ice shards darted forwards, impaling through the mans' chest, spraying blood everywhere, and nailing him to the floor. Kanzaki convulsed, coughing up speckles of red.
"YOU DESTROYED ME! I TRUSTED YOU WITH MY HEART, AND YOU BETRAYED ME! YOU RUINED MY LIFE!!!" Miu wailed tears now rolling down her cheeks. A third spear shot forwards, cutting into the mans' forehead, skewering his skull. Blood, and brain, burst forth from the wound. The mans' eyes grew wide, in terror, at the fact that he was, effectively dead.
"M..m..mi..u....." He managed to stammer, through the pain. after a few seconds, he finally noticed the faint yellow glow that he had around him. Miu was staring at him through cold, distant eyes. She began to chuckled. As she did, the ice spikes removed themselves from Kanzaki, but still hovered above him, almost poised to strike, and his wounds began to heal.
"How did it feel, to have an icicle through the brain, and to still be living? Was it painful beyond all belief? Did you wish you were dead? Did you wish you had never been born in the first place? Did you want the endurance to have ended?" The man whimpered, and nodded. Another two spears shot forth from Miu, and buried themselves in his eyes. He let of an ear piercing scream.
"That was how I felt...I wanted to have never existed. I wanted to die. But I could not. How could I? I had...responsibilities...I had fans...and friends...I...couldn't..." Miu whispered, tears still falling from her eyes. She fell to her knees.
"Does that make me weak? I couldn't end my own life...I was afraid. I was so alone.." She mumbled. She wanted more than anything right now to hug the man currently sat with his eyes bleeding opposite her, but she knew could not. He did not love her. He had been using her. Even as she thought this, the tears dried up, and became enveloped with shadow again. She stood, slowly.
"Did you ever care about me? Even a little?" she said, her voice barely audible. The man coughed. "Answer me truthfully, or so help me, God, I will rip your soul to shreds, and plunge you into the depths of hell." Miu snapped, suddenly. There was silence.
"No..." He said, after a while. "Even back when I was your Sensei, I was manipulating you, doing things that would make you fall in love with me. I was using you." He pushed himself up, a little, and grinned.
"Did you ever wonder how I found out when you were graduating? Your little 'soul mate', Keira, told me." Miu gasped.
"Keira...no...she..wouldn't..." Miu mumbled.
"Oh, she was a very loyal friend. She kept on calling you her soul mate, and swore she would protect you, and keep me from you. A little rape sorted her right out." He said, smiling suddenly.
Miu sad nothing, but tears began falling anew. She was stunned into paralysis, completely frozen. She couldn't think, she couldn't move. Kanzaki pulled himself towards the table, where he pulled from a hidden ledge a handgun.
"Thank you for revealing to me the existence of Magic, Mew-chan. You have been the greatest little puppet I've ever owned. Such a shame you had to get broken..." He said, pointing the gun at Miu, and firing. The bullet sailed through the air, getting to within an inch of Mi, where it slowed down to a stop. As this hapenned, it began to deteriorate, melting into nothing. The air around Miu began to waver, becoming hazy. Around her, thousands of shards of ice formed, turning the apartment into a freezer.
"You...bastard..." She mumbled, her voice quiet, and broken. "You've killed me twice already. Is that not enough for you? Do you have to keep killing me before you are happy? HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO DIE BEFORE YOU ARE SATISFIED!!!" She screamed, grabbing the man, and shaking him. He merely smiled at her.
"Here's something else I bet you didn't know," Kanzaki said, his smirk still wide, "She loved you. Keira was besotted with you. She was going to tell you on that graduation day, but you saw me first." He laughed. Miu let go of him, and turned towards the door.
"You are scum. You are a waste of human existence, you do not deserve the life you have had." Miu said, walking towards the door. When she reached it, she turned back.
"You know, you'll get caught. I have CCTV all over this place, and panic button was pressed nearly ten minutes ago. The police will be hear in minutes."
"You fucking conceited arsehole! I won't get caught. You think I'm stupid enough to just storm in and kill you? Your CCTV is disabled, the Police will not be coming, and even if they did, how on earth is a Japanese Idol supposed to have stabbed someone thousands of times with spikes of ice? I have Magic" She shouted, her fists bunched. She turned away from him. "Goodbye, Minamo-sensei. We will not meet again, even in the afterlife." She said, opening the door. As the door closed behind her, the magical field that had been holding the ice upright above the man faded, letting the sharpened spikes fall.
"Watashi wa Mew-chan desu!!" by The Pale Rider