Somebody's Watching Me

It had been a while since Beauty Ichigaya had graced the Friction ring. Not since her match with Blade Uehara, to be exact.

For many wrestlers, that would’ve been too long away from the ring, both for financial and emotional reasons, but she wasn’t so burdened. After all, she had her hands in more than enough business ventures to stay solvent even if she never stepped foot in the squared circle again. As much as the fans chided her attitude, envied her looks, harangued her decisions, she was one of the few Wrestle Angels to create a safety net beyond wrestling. She could survive. She could support herself.

She told people - the few friends she had - that she was just taking a hiatus from wrestling, getting some breathing room. That wasn’t untrue, but she never divulged why that was so, what the focal point was.

Blade Uehara.

Months later, and she could still recall every detail from that match, clear as if it happened only minutes ago. The bumps. The crashed. The moves. The time they had in private. The kiss. What they said, what they did, what they could’ve done…

It was all such a torrent of emotions, one that she was struggling to make sense of. Even now, as she lounged in the jacuzzi at her apartment, it was still a raw nerve in her brain, pounding away. She had tried to get it out, distract herself in so many ways. She had even tried to talk with her roommate, Toshimi Manami, about her woes - the woman wasn’t exactly the best with such matters, but bless her, she did make an honest effort. Nothing worked. Nothing stuck. Blade Uehara was a permanent resident in her mind, and there wasn’t anything she could do to evict her. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to.

The monotony of her thoughts was broken by a knock on the door, one that nearly startled her into splashing water out of the tub. It wasn’t the knock itself that surprised her - Toshimi had gone for a grocery run, and it wasn’t uncommon for her to knock when her hands were full. But she had come back far earlier than expected. She had only been gone twenty minutes, and most grocery trips took her three times that long.

Without giving it much more thought, Beauty made her way out of the tub, drying off, as another heavy knock echoed through the apartment. Humming a soft tune under her breathe and wrapping her hair as she went. She slipped on her bathrobe, unlocked the door, and opened it to find-

"Yes...Yes, I...Yes, of course Mr. Nakazawa. The deposition paper and contracts will be on your desk first thing in the morning...In triplicate...Alright, goodnight sir."

Toshimi continued her one-sided conversation as best she could considering the multitasking she'd be currently undertaking. Just than reversing into her parking spot and ending the conversation with one of the head lawyers at her firm who was once again saddling her with an excessive workload. Tasks that he himself should be responsible for, but being lower on the totem pole meant having to swallow your pride and patiently wait for an opportunity to become promoted. The logic and stern rigidity of the law had compelled Toshimi to pursue this profession since early on in her life, and since the shuttering of W.A.'s doors it had indeed become her sole profession to concentrate fully towards. But while lawyering stimulated her intellectually, a sly glance at the current wrestling product every now and then couldn't be avoided. Not when her roommate Beauty had re-entered the wrestling ring herself and was strutting around the apartment trying on different leotards in preparation for her matches. It seemed Toshimi couldn't avoid the siren's call no matter how hard she tried. Except that her own debut match could not have been further than how she envisioned it playing out...

"...*sigh*...incompetent weasel." Toshimi muttered what she thought of Mr. Nakazawa after hanging up on him and taking the ipods out of her ears. Still dressed in her purple tracksuit from her exercise session earlier in the day, the lawyering submissionist reached into the backseat of her car and pulled out her grocery bags. Luckily just two somewhat heavy bags bearing the essentials, which she never minded picking up after her workouts considering the supermarket was right next to her gym. What's more...Beauty had been out of sorts ever since losing her match with Kyouko. Someone who Toshimi never particularly enjoyed being in the vicinity with but whom Ichigaya seemed quite...smitten with, it seemed. To the point where she'd become absent-minded, forgetful even. How someone of such poise, esteem, and financial success could allow herself to become so unwound by Blade of all people. Regardless, as one of her dearest friends, she hoped Beauty would snap out of it with time and forget about Kyouko...much like how Toshimi was attempting to forget about her AFW match altogether. What an embarrassment that was, in spite of her winning. Toshimi perked up after coming off the elevator and walked down the carpeted hallway towards their apartment door. Beginning to casually walk right on in.

"Reika...why is the door op-"

Toshimi opened the door and found herself staring at a disaster area.

It was like a tornado had ripped through the entire apartment, leaving little untouched. Food was thrown far from the kitchen area, splattered along the walls, crashing and broken on the floor, filling the air with the pungent aroma of a dozen spoiling scents. The sink was running and overflowing, dripping out onto the floor, leaving a growing puddle. The ceiling fan was running at full speed, but missing two of its blades, which had somehow found their way into the oven. Pots and were scattered all over, one of which was currently embedded into the flat screen tv - a television that was supposed to be mounted on the wall, but now on the couch, leaving a ripped up chunk of dry where it had previously been. Their plates and cups had all been pulled out of their respective cabinets and used for target practice, smashed to pieces on the opposite side of the room. Condiments had been spilled all over the floor, making an unholy mix of mustard and mayonnaise, one that had footprints tracking all through it, one that traced a line through the path of destruction.

And there, in the middle of it all, Beauty Ichigaya sat with her back against the wall, her eyes blanked and her hair a frazzled mess. Distressing as all this was, however, it pailed in comparison to one, small detail.

Beauty was, for some reason, wearing the clothes of Migiri Oozara. And, as if that wasn’t a big enough clue on the culprit, two words were written on the wall above her, in blood red crayon.

-ened?"

Blank-eyed and aghast at the chaos strewn around her, Toshimi took one trepidatious step at a time within what she scarcely recognized as her home anymore. The horrors of what transpired within being seamless enough to discern. But the truth of the matter did little to stem the palpable terror felt from fitting back together the puzzle pieces of this crime scene. Especially since the overall picture would merely brandish the culprit's countenance, someone she'd thought little of and intended to keep that way...until now. Her grocery bags in hand plummeting to the floor as the rigidity in her arms softened up to a flaccid limpness as she timidly stepped forward, eyes scanning the area until she squinted and was forced to pinch her nose from the odorous stench of discarded and spoiled foodstuffs.

"...*gasp*..." The message scribbled in crimson red crayon were nightmare fuel for anyone to behold, but her immediate priorities were centered upon her best friend in disheveled, battered disarray. Toshimi dashing towards Beauty and applying all of her basic first aid knowledge. Relief washing over her when signs of life began being elicited from Reika through stirring breaths and lethargic movements. The submissionist embracing her colleague with a heartfelt hug and with plans of calling the police being her next step, but...seeking revenge being her long-term goal. Since the tornado of a tantrum, what Reika was subjected to wear, and the fact that the culprit used "Your" instead "You're"...were all the clues Toshi needed to know who's to blame for all this...