----
a teaser. I'd like to hear first impressions.
ryougaecho@abraxis.com
Colliding SYmphonies production
---

PROLOGUE part A


	<Walking lazily, more like a stride.. . . .>

	I had been striding none too long, carrying the fruit and vegestables
in a bag on my right . . . Today had been cool, letting us know that
autumn was near, ready to drop on us 70,000 leaves. They say fall is the
time of death and change over to the new. I guess it's kinda appropriate
for me, just moving to this town.
	It's not big, but by no means is it small. Good shopping area, but the
market's a little small. Mom may want to start a garden with the lawn
space we have. Whoops, stepped on a crack.
	I play little games like that all the time. . . cause everything around
me is pretty dull. Mom and Dad say I'm asking for trouble when I say
that and Chairo just laughs. Maybe I am asking for it. Maybe it wouldn't
be so bad. Right now, I'm trying to not walk on the seams in the
sidewalk, while trying not to look like I am.
	The walk is pretty long to the market area, and the closest bus stop is
a bit away too, but I can practically see school from my window, so I
guess that's alright. My last year at junior high, it'll finish my ninth
year at school and go on to highschool, and into adulthood.
	I'm a girl, by the way. 
	Kakami Kasuga, 15 and a half. My hobbies are reading, poetry and
cooking. Yeah, right. Nannchatte. 
	Whoops, almost stepped on that one. 
	Today was my last day before I start school again, so I suppose I
should be partying or something. I wasn't exactly dressed to kill,
though. Yellow sundress, white blouse, braided ponytail, bottle bottom
glasses, big feet, flat chest. Oh yeah, I'm ready for a night on the
town.
	At that moment, some great force was applied to my right shoulder from
behind me, startling me. I whirled around, like mother used to teach me,
but the grip was extremely strong, kinda like Dad's was when I was
little. "What is it? I shouuted, "What are you doing?" I had managed to
turn enough to see a little bit of my offender.
	"Stopping a fatality."
	"What in the world are you babbl-," At that moment a sudden wind gust
and an engine noise blew past me, whipping my long skirt and hair
sharply. Taking a second look, I had almost walked into the
intersection. I must not have noticed while I was watching the pavement.
	The hand was still on my shoulder. And I noticed that at that point it
was also on half of my arm and partly over my back, not something most
hands are capable of spreading. I turned around fully and the hand
released me, allowing me to see its owner.
	He was huge. Simple. He was almost as tall as Dad. He was wearing an
extremely baggy legged pair of jeans, and a heavy t-shirt tucked in,
which looked painfully small on him. He stood about a meter away from
me, which is pretty amazing since he didn't look like he moved to reach
out for me. His face was soft, and somewhat expressionless. "You should
be more careful," he said. His voice was deep, but it was incredibly
full, you know, rich? His eye's bore into me. His hands, as I could see
them now, could easily have swallowed both my arms. He would aptly be
compared to a household appliance, one that required a dolly to move. 
	"Uh," usually I'm more apt for words, but for some reason the concepts
escaped me at the time. "I'm. . .sorry to be much of a trouble. thank
you very much." I felt like hell. Actually, I felt like my face was on
fire as I brushed a tress of hair from my face.
	"Just try to keep your eyes forward," he said. Maybe I should elaborate
more on his voice. You know that noise that the gymnastic mat makes when
they make you leap over that stupid horse in PE? That weird thud that
fills the whole gym when you land? The one where you feel it in your
chest and heart? Thats what his voce sounded like. That was kinda
unnerving considering he did that in the midst of traffic in the
shopping district.
	My eyes wandered his figure out of habit. The jeans, though extremely
wide in the legs, were not of the same absurd style some of the older
kids liked to wear. The pants were acutally around his waist. The shirt
he had tucked in, however, clung to his body in an almost painfully
small fasion. The neck was extremely wide, reaching down to his
barrel-like chest. His left hand had a heavy-looking cardboard box with
a rope run through it to act as a handle.
	He changed his posture suddenly, apparently noticing the 'once over' I
just gave him. Again my face turned red and I looked down. 
	"Everything in order?" he said, his tone not betraying wether he was
sending me on my way, or making fun of the look I just gave him.
	"Sorry to have troubled you," I sputtered again, looking all around. I
realised that we weren't all that far from my cafe. Maybe I could make
it up to him. Sure, why not? I had the time.
	"I haven't seen you about," he said.
	Damn that voice was conspicuous.
	"You can tell?" I piped in.
	"I walk around alot," he explained.
	"Can I. . .buy you coffee to apologise for bothering you?"
	"Gomen, demou. .I have to deliver this," he said, holding the box in
his hand aloft.
	My face began heating up again. Why am I lighting up like a street lamp
all of a sudden? Am I attracted to him or something? I took a glance at
him, and though he was quite large, he wasn't terribly spectacular of
face. Pretty plain actually. "Well. . ." I had to get a way before he
asked about my sudden sunburn, so I turned around. "Thank you again!" I
said, wincing my face at how squeaky my voice sounded. I began walking
again.
	"Wait."
	Wait? He wanted me to wait? I turned around sharply. "Yes?"
	He was wearing an intense look on his face, one of what looked like
supreme concentration. "What is it?" I asked again. Why was he looking
at me like that? With those. . .eyes?
	Very suddenly, a car zoomed behind me and whipped my skirt again, along
with my hair. After the breezen died down, I looked down the road
towards the departing car.
	"Okay. It's clear now."
	My face felt so hot at that moment, I though I was steaming. I turned
slowly to face him, a sweat drop on my brow and a stupid smile on my
face. "aheh!"
	He was wearing an awkward grin as well. "Take care," he said walking
past me and through the street at a good pace. 
	After a moment of standing there like a fool, I slowly and carefully
looked both ways, then hauled it across the street.
	What a day. . . jeeze.

<COMMERCIAL BREAK>