Rotten Apples

Chapter 5: The Actors

Attila is wandering on the streets. His backpack is heavier than usual. He adjusts it on his back. He looks into the window of a store and looks into his reflection. All he sees is a fake individual. An impostor. He sorrowfully keeps walking when he sees someone. A man in a dove costume. He had white hair and a hunched back. Attila clenched his fist as he drew his quinque. Mado lashed at him violently. Attila drew his pen and raised a barrier around himself.

"Kakuja quinques eh?" Mado noted "Stealing is wrong kid. Let's see how much damage your body can suffer before giving in!" He said as he was tearing the barrier apart with his Fueguchi quinque. Attila drew his Ukaku quinque. He surrounded himself in the lighning aura. As Mado hit him, his quinque went rigid. It drove the current through his body, causing him to start convulsing. Attila's expression went from terrified to amused.

"Wow you old hag. You knew which quinques were stolen yet you still fought me!" He said and blood started flowing from his nose. He stopped the quinque and drew his hammer. He smacked the ground as Mado dodged by an inch.

"You fight back? How typical." He said and smacked with his hammer again. Mado summoned the Fueguchi 2. Attila was overwhelmed.

"What now, dipshit?" Mado said. Attila had no means of escape. Except for the yo-yo.

"Why do I have to be bad at this." He said he let the yo-yo roll around in the kagune and soon, it cut through the thick RC cells.

"Wow. You stole more than I thought." He said. Attila activated his necklace and he sprinted to Mado. He tried to do an uppercut but Mado dodged. He flung his Fueguchi 1 forward and made a cut in his abdomen. Attila fell to the ground. He wheezed up blood.

"Your Kakuja quinques are bad." He said and before he could smite his head down, he got shot with paint.

"What...?" He asked. He looked behind himself to see a girl with blue twin pigtails, a long sleeved blue zip-up sweater,black tank top, black yoga pants and white sneakers. Her face was covered by a gas mask and she had headphones on. She was dual wielding paint guns.

"Headphone Actor, you came!" Mado squealed. He dropped the Fueguchi 2 and pulled out a turquoise green sword-shaped quinque. The Headphone Actor started running sideways, firing paint balls at her opponent.

"QUIT TOYING WITH ME!" Mado yelled and started thrashing Fueguchi 1 around. The Headphone Actor summoned her own kagune: a purple rinkaku that has a drill-like structure. She deflected the blows.

"My my. You might actually hurt someone with that thing." She said and a threatening red glow pierced her mask. She jumped towards Mado and stabbed her kagune forward. She used the drill to make her way through Fueguchi.

"GOD DAMNIT!!" Mado shouted and cut her kagune off with his other quinque. She summoned 2 more and forced him to retreat. She looked at Attila and ran.

"What the fuck was that about." He asked and waddled back to Harmony. On his way he saw someone spraypaint the words "Twin Actors" on the wall.

"Oh cool!" He said and suddenly the girl lashed at him with the same kagune.

"OOF!!" He yelled as it barely missed. He picked up his Ukaku quinque and fired a bolt of lightning at her. She dodged and was soon stopped by her twin. Her single yellow side ponytail fluttered in the wind as she removed her mask.

"He's with Harmony too. Don't get too worked up." She said.

"What's the deal with you guys? And how do you know I'm a guy?"

"We're the twin actors. We were recently recruited. I'm the Headphone Actor, AKA Dav. This one's the Gazing Actor, AKA Neko. I'm generally stronger than her, she just enters everywhere with a loud blast."