New Orleans
Ikku awoke to find a
grinning, small form perched over his chest and
immediately thought of the robot he had been fighting
only moments earlier - or so he thought. It was only
when he reflexively pushed the figure down and heard
its soft, muffled yelp of surprise that he realised
it was not the robot that had knocked him unconscious
in the middle of the city; it was the green- and
black-clad adolescent frame of Kageki, the
kitchen-hand at 'Hey, Pizza!', and Ikku was no longer
in one of the city's deserted alleyways - he was
laying, wrapped warmly in heavy blankets, on the
couch in the pizza restaurant's back room.
"Ow!"
Kageki moaned as he sat upright and rubbed the back
of his head. "That hurt, Ikku-sama!"
Ikku rubbed his eyes
as Kageki dusted himself off and climbed to his feet.
The young man crossed the room to a small computer
desk against one wall and returned carrying a tray
containing a small pizza and a cup of hot tea. Ikku
pulled his legs toward his body to make room on the
couch and Kageki sat beside him, placing the tray
between them.
"Ugh!"
Ikku pinched his nose closed with one hand.
"What's that smell?"
Kageki reached down
and lifted the small pizza off the tray.
"Spinach and
broccoli pizza!" he grinned. "It is good
for colds."
Ikku shook his head
and pushed the pizza away.
"Why would you
ruin a perfectly good - ACHOO!" He sniffed.
Suddenly, his eyes widened with the realisation that
something wasn't right. "Wait - did you say
'cold'? What am I doing here? Where's that robot?"
"Calm down,
Ikku-sama!" Kageki returned the pizza to the
tray and moved the tray to a small coffee table next
to the couch. "You need to rest!"
"Kageki -
!" Ikku protested.
"No!"
Kageki stood and pulled Ikku's legs back out so that
he was laying flat on the couch once more. "Kiko
nee-chan found you in the street and said you have to
rest! ... and Trick-san said you were scaring his
customers, so I have to look after you."
"What do you
mean Kiko 'found me in the street'?" Ikku asked.
"When Kiko left
work yesterday - "
"Yesterday?!"
Kageki nodded
vigorously.
"Kiko found you
and Trick-san helped her bring you home!" Kageki
explained. "You kept waking up but nothing you
said made sense..."
"What did I
say? And where is Kiko now? Is Gattai Robo still
stuck in place?"
Kageki nodded again.
"Kiko is
helping Sei-sama fix it."
"Then who's - ACHOO!
- looking for the robot?"
Kageki shrugged.
Ikku sat up and
discovered that he no longer wore his red robosuit.
Beneath the heavy blankets, he was wearing a pair of
black pyjamas that were slightly too big for him. He
stared at Kageki for a moment, then allowed himself a
sly smile.
"Kageki...
where is my robosuit?" he asked.
Kageki looked away.
"Kageki..."
Ikku leaned forward and tapped the boy on the
shoulder. Kageki turned slowly, and when he saw how
close Ikku had come he tried to scuttle further back
along the couch; but there was nowhere to hide. The
side of the couch pressed against his back, and Ikku
leaned ever closer.
"I don't -
" Kageki began, but he did not get to finish his
sentence as Ikku lunged forward and took hold of his
wrists. The older man leaned against Kageki and
pressed him firmly against the side of the couch.
"Where. Is. My.
Robosuit?"
"Trick-san took
it off you so that you couldn't go looking for the
robot!" Kageki cried. He closed his eyes and
turned his face away from Ikku's. "Please don't
hurt me!"
Ikku sighed.
"I'm not going
to hurt you, Kageki," he said, but he did not
relieve the pressure on the young man's wrists.
"Where did Trick put it?"
"I'll never
tell!"
"Oh," Ikku
said. "If you'll never tell, then I guess I
should just give up..."
He slowly released
one of Kageki's hands, but before the captive kitchen
hand could move to save himself Ikku thrust his hand
under Kageki's green t-shirt and started to tickle
him fiercely. Kageki began to laugh and thrash about,
trying desperately to free himself, but Ikku
continued to press his own body against him - Kageki
was trapped.
"Where is
it?" Ikku asked again.
"No!"
Kageki barely managed to get the word out between
bursts of laughter. "Trick-san - !"
"I can do worse
than this, you know," Ikku grinned. "Where
is it?"
"Under...
the... couch...!" Kageki stammered. "Please
stop!"
Ikku grinned more
broadly before hoisting himself off of Kageki and
leaning over the edge of the couch to look for his
missing robosuit. He saw it resting there, neatly
folded, with his Robo Rifle and its holster laying on
top. He started to lift himself upright again when he
felt Kageki pounce on his back; he leaned forward,
sending the boy sprawling over the edge of the couch
to land on the floor with a heavy thud!.
"Owwww..."
Kageki groaned again.
Elsewhere
"Why won't they
move?" Kiko asked from Gattai Robo's giant
cockpit. She stared down at a massive crowd of people
who had gathered to stare at the robot, frozen in
place in the centre of a busy street. Police cars
blocked off sidestreets and alleyways leading into
the area and diverted traffic - and so far, no-one
official had approached them. "We can't try
anything with them all so close!"
She walked across
the cockpit and sat at her small control station,
from which she could speak openly through Gattai
Robo's mechanical mouth.
["Uh...
hello?"] she said. ["This is Gattai Robo
speaking! Could you all move away? It would really
help me out."]
The response was not
immediate. At first, the onlookers closest to Gattai
Robo just stared in surprise at the giant robot's
unmoving mouth as Kiko's words filtered down toward
them. Then, they began to push back, through the
crowd; within moments, every person who had squeezed
into the streets around Gattai Robo's frozen form
tried to run away, pushing and shoving anyone who got
in their way.
The police blocking
off the area did nothing to stop them as pounding
feet climbed over the hoods of their cars and
panicked citizens ran into the distance. Only one
police officer braved the oncoming onlookers to move
from his own vehicle to another. He climbed into the
passenger side and spoke to the driver.
"I just heard
back," he said. "They're mobilising now,
but it'll be four hours at best, tomorrow at the
latest."
The other officer
snorted. "You'd think with all the hardware they
snatched from the EDD that they could get it together
more quickly than that."
"Hey, you know
what it's like," the first officer replied.
"It takes time to put together a new force.
Especially when the Japs are trying to hold you
back."
"Yeah, well,
not long now, eh?"
"Yeah... not
long now."
Later
"There,"
Ikku remarked as he finished climbing into his
skintight robosuit. "It seemed weird not to be
wearing this thing."
"But you
shouldn't be wearing it now!" Kageki
protested. His back was turned to Ikku as the older
boy changed; and even now that he was done, Kageki
still did not turn around. "Trick-san said -
"
"Trick-san,
Trick-san, Trick-san," Ikku repeated mockingly.
"He's your boss, not mine. And you can
look now, you know."
Kageki turned
slowly, wary of any potential surprises after Ikku's
earlier attack. He wasn't sure what to say or do -
Trick and Kiko had told him to keep an eye on Ikku,
so that he could recover from his cold, but Ikku was
right; Trick wasn't his boss, and neither was Kiko.
"Please lay
down, Ikku-sama...!" he pleaded.
"N-ACHOO!"
Ikku staggered as he recovered from the sneeze.
"No."
"See?"
Kageki cried. "You're still sick!"
"It's only a
little cold," Ikku dismissed him. "It isn't
enough to stop me finding that robot."
"But - !"
"Stop
complaining," Ikku snapped. Kageki did not reply
- at least not verbally; but as he looked down at his
feet, Ikku could see tears slowly welling up in the
boy's eyes, and that was all the response he needed.
"Look, Kageki..."
Kageki sniffled.
Ikku rushed forward and crouched low to look up into
Kageki's sullen face.
"Kageki, listen
- I'm sorry, okay?" He looked a way, took a deep
breath, then faced Kageki again. "Look - Trick
said you have to look after me, right?"
Kageki nodded, but
his expression did not change.
"Did he say you
had to do it here?"
Kageki shrugged.
"... no."
"Good! So you
can still keep an eye on me - you just have to come
with me!"
Did I just say
that? Ikku wondered. I can't possibly take
him with me to fight that robot! It beat us twice...
what might it do to him?
"Actually -
" Ikku began again, but he was too late.
Kageki's face had brightened considerably; a broad
smile was etched across the young man's face and
bright, wide eyes met Ikku's as Kageki realised
exactly what Ikku meant.
"I can help you
fight the robot?" Kageki asked. "Really?"
"Well..."
Ikku stood up straight and looked away from the other
boy. "You can't fight it... but you
could help me find it. If you really wanted
to..."
A teacup rattled
against the tray on which it rested as Kageki began
jumping up and down excitedly, shaking everything in
the small room.
"Oh, thank you,
Ikku-sama!" He rushed forward and threw his arms
around Ikku's waist and squeezed him tightly. Ikku
stood still for a moment but, when Kageki he didn't
pull away, he gently pried the boy free. "But
what about Trick-san?"
"Leave
Trick-san to me..." Ikku said with a sly wink.
