"Bitches and whores."

- Tohru Adachi

"I'm tacky."

- Weird Al Yankovic

Adachi's office was a spectacle of class and sophistication, the perfect cover for any psychotic mastermind. The suite was filled with rustic furniture. Neatly organized wooden shelves lined the walls, filled with encyclopedic knowledge on analyzing the criminal mind. The beige carpet was crisp and clean. Beethoven's symphony played quietly over a stereo system in the background.

Adachi sat in a towering leather office chair at his desk. He was reviewing a folder of grisly black and white crime scene photos. Pictures marked Narukami Y., Satonaka C., That obnoxious bear thing, and similar unfortunate ilk were laid out in front of his eyes. Rise was seated on the edge of the desk just beside him, her nails playfully tapping against the polished oak surface.

"Out of all the suspects who could have wiped out those damn investigators," Adachi muttered, "the last one I expected to actually pull it off was the little whore." His eyes silently glanced toward Rise.

"Thanks," she replied with a devilish giggle.

Adachi shuffled the photos into a neat stack and placed them back in his desk.

"So, Shadow Rise…" he began to say.

"Shadow nobody." Rise curled her nose as she cut him off. "I think I've proven I'm the real deal. That's why I punished that phony who convinced herself she was the real me."

"Very well, Rise." Adachi shrugged. "Now that we're officially associates, I just wanted to make a few things clear."

The leather in his seat creaked as he leaned forward and folded his hands on his desk. He lowered his voice to a more commanding and ill-tempered tone.

"No matter who you are, you're still nothing in this world without me. I'm the one who got you your ticket out of the Midnight Channel. If I hadn't set up your little exhibition, you wouldn't exist as anything more than a figment of the… former Rise Kujikawa's imagination. Before you go off strutting your stuff trying to get everyone to fall in love with you, you're going to have to convince me you're worth my investment."

"Securing my physical form and killing all of your enemies wasn't good enough for you?" Rise quirked her eyebrow.

"Please, that was just the casting call. Think of this as your tryout."

Adachi scratched his chin as he glimpsed over Rise's black and gray Yasogami uniform.

"For starters, you're going to have to do a little better than 'Washed Up Idol Taking Time Off as Boring School Girl.' You're useless to me if all you can do is assume the old Rise's identity."

Rise nodded slowly, shifting her eyes as she thought to herself.

"So you want a brand new version of me, huh? I think I got just the thing."

She hopped off the desk and quietly paced toward the stereo. She killed Beethoven and opened the tape deck with her index finger, then shuffled into her blazer pocket for a cassette that hadn't been there a few seconds earlier. The tape was labeled T.K. Mix on one side and APPRAUSE on the other in her handwriting. Adachi couldn't see which side she loaded into the stereo, but one of the pens on his desk began to vibrate ever so slightly as she turned the volume dial and first few beats of a low techno melody overwhelmed the room.

Adachi crossed his legs and leaned back into his chair with a curious look.

As Rise fell into her subversive choreography, nearly every motion she made seemed to warp reality in some way. She untied the knot in her yellow scarf and threw the cloth into her hair, transforming it into a pink and white checkered bow with a small pin shaped like a satellite dish. Tracing her fingers through her hair, a pair of yellow headphones appeared over her ears.

Rise rhythmically shifted one leg in front of the other as she inched closer toward Adachi, an intent look growing in her eyes.

The music built up to its first chorus segment. Rise pulled at her turtleneck, dissolving the garment around her throat and replacing it with a black choker. She tauntingly pulled the zipper on her blazer halfway down her chest, revealing some extra skin and adding a certain bounce to her steps.

She crossed her arms above her head, causing her black jacket to shrink into a short-sleeved shirt that left her waist exposed. A yellow ribbon appeared on her right wrist as a black and pink fingerless glove covered her left hand. Miming opening a cabinet, she spun around on one foot. Her blouse turned white with a pink collar. Her skirt changed to the same pink and white pattern as the bow in her hair.

Rise climbed on to Adachi's desk in a cat-like gesture and stretched out on her back. She kicked one leg into the air and slowly pulled on the ankle of her nylon stocking, creating a silver and pink zipper that traveled all the way up to her thigh. Then she rolled to her opposite side and transformed her other stocking in the same manner. She sat up, spun forward, and stretched her legs over Adachi's shoulders in a suggestive "V" formation. When she lowered her feet again, he saw her dull black dress shoes had changed into hot pink enamel heels.

She reached out for Adachi and pulled him forward by his tie. She lifted herself off the table and landed softly on the edge of his knees, climbing forward so her thighs were grinding anxiously against his lap. One of her brunette pigtails brushed against his cheek. She was so close that he could smell her sweet bubblegum-scented perfume.

Rise wrapped her delicate arms around his neck. When she blinked, her eyes briefly flashed bright yellow. Sealing her lips against his, she slid her tongue hungrily down his throat. She smiled submissively as she pulled away.

"Am I up to your standards now, Mr. Adachi?" she whispered in hot breath.

"This is certainly an improvement," he chuckled. "But I don't think you're quite there yet. Do you have anything more… spicy?"

Rise slinked off of the chair as the bass came back into the song. Dancing to the front of the desk, she dropped her arms to her sides and started to crouch slightly, wiggling her knees in itty bitty circles. Her hands disappeared under her brightly colored miniskirt on a search for something dangerous.

She carefully pulled her simple white panties down to her ankles inch by inch, all while keeping in time with the electronic band. Peeling them off her feet, she held out the last remaining symbol of her rapidly fleeting innocence as an offering, then quickly tore them to pieces. She tossed the threads in Adachi's direction, but they dissolved into glitter before reaching him.

Rise swung her hips as she moved toward the table, raising her skirt a little higher with each gyration. Adachi caught a quick flash of the new jet black silk that barely protected the idol's most intimate parts.

"Now you've got my attention," he said with a sadistic grin.

That moment would be his undoing.

As the song reached another chorus section, Rise thrust her hips to one side and reached out with her gloved hand.

Adachi suddenly gasped in agony. He violently rocked forward as if a massive invisible beast was pulling on his chest, almost lifting him out of his seat.

Rise drew her arm inward as part of her choreography.

Adachi's chest burst open and painted his desk with an explosion of blood and rib fragments. His still-beating heart floated out of his gaping chest cavity and hovered a few feet in front of Rise, perfectly level with where she held her hand.

Rise slowly coiled her fingers into a tight fist. The heart was crushed by invisible forces and dropped to the floor as a lifeless hunk of meat.

Swaying her arms to the beat of the music, Rise brought her hand to her mouth and slowly licked her fingers. She could almost taste the imaginary blood.

She ended her elaborate routine and approached Adachi. Slumped in his lavish office chair, his eyes were rolled all the way back into his head and blood rolled down the corners of his mouth. Rise raised her foot to his partially exposed sternum and pushed the chair over with her pointed heel.

"Thanks for the signing bonus, boss," she said to the body on the floor. "But I think I'll be performing solo from now on."

The thumping synth-heavy soundtrack gradually faded. Rise motioned toward the stereo, causing the tape deck to open on its own and eject the cassette across the room. She caught the tape in her hand, tucked it down the middle of her open blouse, and walked out of the office with a new independent stride.