Yeah, new story! Let's see how this will go. I've been writing this for a long time, actually, but I just never posted it. This story won't be a really long one, around three chapters. It, as its title suggests, is kind of centered around fairy tales so things are cliche. You have been warned.
"Takane-san, thank goodness you're here!" shouted Momo, clasping Takane's hands the minute she entered the house. "If you didn't come for a day or two, Onii-chan would break down completely!" Takane sighed, speechless at how quickly Shintaro's attempt to stay in one piece failed.
"Haruka-san too, thanks so much for coming. You guys have got to help Onii-chan!" said Momo, sighing and her eyes watering slightly. It pained her to see her brother like this. Even though they argued and fought constantly, Momo really did love her brother in the end and wanted to help him in any way possible.
"How long has he been like this?" asked Takane, sighing, running her hand through her already-messy hair. Momo sighed.
"Ever since he heard the news..." she said. Takane sighed again.
"Well, I don't really blame him..." said Haruka. "I would be the same if I heard Takane was getting married to some other guy." Takane immediately turned bright red at her boyfriend's words.
"Haruka. Now's not the time." she said, elbowing him in the ribs lightly, still blushing. Haruka shrugged.
"We're going to go check on him now. See you later, Imouto-san." said Takane, walking up the stairs with Haruka. They approached Shintaro's room and to maintain manners, as they were already adults, Takane knocked on the door. No answer. Takane sighed.
"Shintaro! Open the door!" she shouted. No answer.
"Shintaro-kun? Please open the door!" shouted Haruka. No answer.
"Being polite isn't going to work with him obviously, Haruka. KISARAGI! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR! YOU CAN'T JUST LIKE SIT THERE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, YOU BASTARD!" shouted Takane. Ha, back to the old days. When there was still no answer, Takane sighed.
"Haruka. Break open the door." she said. Haruka nodded. He took a deep breath and rammed his shoulder against the door. It burst open and both Haruka and Takane stumbled in. There, they found Shintaro, sitting on the ground with his head down, almost seeming colorless and obviously sunken in depression and despair. The room itself was in horrible shape as well. Books, magazines and CDs scattered all over the ground and Shintaro's clothes could be found everywhere. The bed was unmade and his blankets were a tangled mess. The lights were turned off and the curtains were pulled. The whole room and Shintaro together seemed to define 'despair' perfectly.
"Hey Shittaro! Get a grip!" shouted Takane, shaking Shintaro by his shoulders. Haruka turned on the lights. Shintaro stirred slightly at the sudden light and movement he was exposed to. He wasn't asleep, but he surely wasn't fully awake either.
"Ayano's wedding... Three days..." he was able to force out.
"Shintaro-kun really is broken..." said Haruka, worried. Takane got up to her feet and crossed her arms over her chest angrily.
"Shintaro Kisaragi, if you stay like this, you're not going to get Ayano-chan in ten years, fifty years, or even after you die! You don't even have the right to cry because you're so broken that you can't even buy a pack of tissues!" she shouted. Haruka looked at her, shocked at her words.
"Ta-Takane... That's a little too..." he said, scared that Takane would push Shintaro into deeper depression.
"But it's the truth, isn't it?" asked Takane. That made Haruka shut up, having no defense to that. A dry laugh escaped Shintaro's mouth, attracting the couple's attention to him. His voice was dry and raspy, and Takane recalled that Momo told them he had refused to eat or drink. However, he must have had some water because he would have died if he didn't have water for so long. He lifted his head and looked at his friends with his tired eyes, red from crying. His face still held the traces of his tears, long gone. He had cried out all his tears already.
"...She's getting married in three days. What else is there I can do?" he said, defeated. That made Takane snap. Shintaro Kisaragi was not supposed to be like this. He was supposed to be that mean asshole who happened to be a genius with an IQ of 168 who was able to beat her in Dead Bullet. He wasn't this broken man in front of her.
"Well, Kisaragi, you've got two choices. You can either sit there on your ass like junk and watch her walk down the aisle and say her pledges with another guy, or you can be like a man and stop the wedding." she said.
"S-Stop the wedding? Are you serious, Takane?" asked Haruka. That reminded her. She hadn't told Haruka of what she planned to do yet. Haruka was shocked with happiness and excitement, while on the other hand, Shintaro was shocked with horror.
"Enomoto, you must be crazy. Did you loose all your IQ after graduating high school because you feel like you didn't need it anymore? Well then, newsflash, you are going to need it here."
"Oh, that's a good one, Kisaragi. At least I'm not some bastard that can't even hold a pair of chopsticks after hearing the love of his life going to get married with a guy with more money and power than him and not even going to do anything about it!"
"Well, you know what? That's because you already got the guy you wanted! You're living happily ever after like a fairy tale princess, and what about me? My princess left me for another prince who is a million times better! My happily ever after has shattered!"
"Oh, so now you're playing the hurt one's role? Saying it's all somebody else's fault? Well, guess what? It's all your fault that you didn't seize your happily ever after! And speaking of happily ever afters, another newsflash for you, Kisaragi, FAIRY TALES AREN'T REAL!"
"It was a metaphor! How did you even graduate high school? And how is it all my fault?"
"I don't care what the fuck it was! A simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, who the fuck even cares right now?!"
"Obviously, your English teacher -"
"I'll tell my English teacher to go to hell! Shintaro Kisaragi! If you don't stop the goddamn wedding, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!" shouted Takane. There was a silence as Shintaro's tired eyes widened, and he seemed to reconsider this.
"But there's only three days. What can I do?" he asked. "Also, I don't have an invitation. According to Momo, the bastard Ayano's getting married to made sure that I would not be able to go. He's got security and all that shit. He's a rich son of a bitch, you know." A sound of disapproval escaped Takane's mouth.
"That's why..." her mouth narrowed into a smile of confidence. "We're calling another Mekakushi Dan meeting."
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And so, this is how the Mekakushi Dan met up with its full members (all except Ayano, of course) met up for the for the first time in two years. Sure, there were certain members that met up frequently throughout this time, but this was the first time in two years that the whole Mekakushi Dan, Member NOs 1-9, were in the same room, face-to-face.
They spent quite a long time just looking at each other when everyone was there, just seeing the changes. Obviously, everyone stared at Shintaro, who looked like, well, shit, for a long time.
Kido no longer wore her purple hoodie and olive pants. She wore a red long-sleeved V-neck shirt with a brown vest on top. She also wore a skirt, which was something quite surprising, maroon-ish brown-ish in color. She grew a little bit taller since a few years ago, and she had cut her hair to a little bit below her shoulders. She and her two brothers started to attend high school right after the Kagerou Daze case was over, and they were now near graduating. Kido took on a part-time job as a tutor for the piano, a skill she had learnt in the days she was still at her real parents' home.
Seto had abandoned his green jumpsuit and instead, he wore a white jacket and long green pants. He was about the same height as two years ago. He still wore his yellow clip. Seto, like always, worked in the flower shop part-time, and he was near graduating.
Kano wore a grey sweater and blue pants. He grew slightly taller. Just slightly. Slightly. Kano was also near graduating and during the years he was at school, he took up acting. He was now the captain of the drama club.
Marry wore a blue dress with a pinkish white jacket over. She had many ribbons in her hair. Her hair wasn't any shorter, but it wasn't as thick anymore. She didn't change in height. Marry remained with Seto, Kido, and Kano, and she also attended school, though she was a year younger despite being older than them. She was still shy and finding it hard to open up to people, but she's getting there.
Momo wore a long reddish pink jacket over a light green T-shirt and orange shorts. Her hair was much longer, and it was tied in a ponytail. Momo's career as an idol made her more popular than ever. She was world-famous at this point, and had many concerts, movie shootings, and CDs releasing.
Takane wore a white jacket with extra long sleeves, just like those she had as Ene. She wore a navy blue skirt and black knee-highs. She had her usual pair of headphones around her neck. Her hair was let down and it reached the middle of her back. She had grown a slight bit taller. Takane was attending college along with Haruka, and even though they didn't have the same classes anymore, they were as close as ever. Takane was learning game-creating, and currently at the top of her class. The times she spent as Ene really helped.
Hibiya wore a simple white button-up shirt and light blue shorts. He definitely grew over the two years, and now he was at Kano's height. Hibiya went home after the Kagerou Daze event, back to the countryside, but he returned just for a few days upon Momo's request.
Haruka wore a light brown jacket above a white shirt and pants of an even lighter brown. He carried his sketchbook. He was attending college in the art department, and was top of his class.
"Wow, Shintaro, you... Really DO look like shit, as Momo said." commented Hibiya, breaking the silence. At times of seriousness like these, Hibiya didn't call anyone by their nicknames. Shintaro laughed dryly.
"Thanks, kid." he replied. Takane stepped to the front of the room.
"Okay, guys, thanks for coming today! Although I'd love to do the greetings and stuff, since we haven't met for two years and all, but we've got a wedding to crash. So, who's in?" she asked. Takane herself raised her hand, showing that she would be participating in the plan. Haruka, too, raised his hand. Momo followed. The rest of the gang looked at each other, unsure.
"I really don't like that man... H-He's scary..." said Marry, putting up her hand. "He reminds me of... K-Kuroha..."
"I guess I'll have to help then. Because if not, Oba-san would probably beat me up." said Hibiya, putting up his hand. Momo gave him a punch to the head.
"Shut up, Ex-Elementary-Schooler! I'm not an Oba-san! And who says I'll beat you up?" she said. Hibiya raised an eyebrow.
"You probably would. Hell, you got a helicopter to come pick me up and told me to 'get the fuck over here'! I think those measures were extreme enough!" he shouted. Momo decided not to start bickering with him again.
"What about you guys?" she asked, looking towards Kido, Seto, and Kano. The three siblings looked at each other, unsure.
"It's not going to be easy, guys. That man made sure that Shintaro would not be able to get in. He's got so many guards! You can't fight all of them! And he made sure you didn't get an invitation!" said Seto. Takane smiled confidently at them. She gave a look to Haruka and Haruka, understanding what she meant, nodded. Takane suddenly fell backwards, loosing consciousness, and Haruka caught her in his embrace.
"Did you forget, guys?" asked a familiar, peppy voice from Shintaro's computer. Everyone looked over to the screen and saw the familiar figure of the cyber girl, Ene.
"We're the Mekakushi Dan! We've got eye powers, you know! This is Mekakushi Dan's big mission number two! And we're ready to kick some asses!" she shouted. Kido, Seto, and Kano looked at each other. They couldn't help but smile. They put up their hands.
"Alright then. Everyone, Mekakushi Dan mission number two! It's going to be a busy time, these three days!"
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The gang had sat down in a circle on the floor of Shintaro's room.
"Alright, let me give you the lowdown on the wedding plan and what that man has done to prevent Shintaro coming." said Kano. As one of the wedding planners, Kano knew everything about the wedding and Ayano's fiancee's plans, and the information he was providing would form their plan of breaking in.
"To get into the wedding area, you need a special invitation code that will be sent to your phone as the invitation. It's like a QR Code, and when you arrive, you put it under a scanner that reads it. It's connected to the front door, so if you don't have the code, you can't open the door, and you're basically just fucked. If we don't want to go through the back door, we need to get Shintaro-kun one of those. I recommend getting one of those, because we need to have two plans. If back door doesn't work, we can go through the front door, and vice versa." said Kano.
"How do you get one of these codes?" asked Haruka. Kano sighed.
"That's the hard part. It's on Kurozawa's laptop. That's Ayano's fiancee, by the way. There's a special program that generates these codes, and it's only found on his laptop." he said. Takane, who had returned to her own body, was confident in this job.
"That's a piece of cake! Who do you think I am? I'll be done in, like, a minute!" said Takane. Kido nodded.
"Alright. We'll fill you in on what we discussed when you get back." said Kido. And with that, Takane went unconscious and Ene was back. Looking at Takane's head in Haruka's lap and Haruka caressing Takane's hair, Shintaro couldn't help but feel jealous. Explode, you lucky bastards! But he turned his attention back to the plan.
"Okay, if Ene-chan can get you the code, we should be all set for the first part of the front door. Now let's talk about the back door. The back door has no cameras, but the door is almost impossible to open without a key. The key's hidden somewhere near the door, but nobody knows where except Kurozawa himself." said Kano. There was a small silence after.
"I'll be in charge of that." said Hibiya. Everyone looked towards him.
"I have superhuman eyesight, don't I? I can find the key." he said.
"You're able to control your power now, Hibiya?" asked Kido. Hibiya nodded.
"I tried at my house multiple times. I found a lot of things that I didn't even know existed in my house." he said, accompanied with some dry laughter. When they didn't look convinced, Hibiya sighed. His eyes flashed red as he looked around the room.
"That drawer's full of scissors, weird hobby you've got there, Shintaro. There's a bunch of CDs in that box, and it contains songs that Shintaro wrote. And that box has..."
His eyes laid on a certain box lying on the floor and he fell silent.
"...Hibiya-kun?" asked Momo.
"What's in that box?" asked Marry. Shintaro followed their gaze and his eyes widened. That box was...!
"Shintaro, I've always wondered, but what did you do to all those paper cranes I've made for you?" Shintaro looked up at his girlfriend, wondering where that question came from. It was so out of the blue. The high-school-jerk Shintaro from inside spoke for him immediately.
"I threw them away." Ayano pouted and looked down at her tea, stirring it. How could someone be so cute? Was she an angel descended upon him from the heavens? No, now's not the time to think about that. He had said something that he shouldn't have said. One, because it wasn't nice. Two, because he sounded like a jerk. And three, because it simply wasn't true at all.
"Just kidding." Ayano looked up, surprised. Shintaro looked away, embarrassed, and he knew he was blushing.
"I kept all of them. They're in a box in my room." he said. When he looked back, his eyes widened. Ayano's eyes were filled with tears, and they rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away with her sleeve, her mouth breaking into a smile.
"Ayano..."
"I'm alright, Shintaro!" she said. "I'm just... So happy...!"
"...Paper cranes." said Hibiya. Everyone turned to Shintaro.
"Is that right?" asked Momo. Shintaro looked away and nodded.
"...Aya-nee liked folding them." stated Kano. Shintaro nodded again. Kano clenched his fist.
"Alright, I've decided!" said Kano. "I'm going to do everything I can to contribute to this plan. This is too sad to watch. We need to do something." Everyone nodded. Suddenly, the text tone rang on Shintaro's phone. He looked at it and saw that the code had been messaged to him. Ene had succeeded! Right at that moment, Takane regained consciousness.
"How was that? I did my job! It was tough figuring out how the program worked, but I got it!" she said.
"You did great, Takane!" said Haruka, planting a kiss on Takane's forehead. Takane blushed, not unexpectedly.
"Alright, Hibiya has just volunteered to take the first part of the back door, which involved finding the key to open the back door. Now, let's continue with the front door. There will be a hallway with cameras which you need to pass to enter the hall." said Kano.
"I'll use my power to make Shintaro unseen so he can pass through the hall." said Kido. Kano nodded.
"Okay. That way, we've got the front door cleared, and this will probably be used as our main plan. Now let's talk about the back door. The back door also has a hallway that leads to the hall, and it has a higher possibility of guards, so we need to make sure we can combat." he said.
"I'll be Shintaro's bodyguard! I still have my strength and speed as Konoha, so I think we'll be fine!" said Haruka.
"And I'll go too, just in case. I can definitely shoot with guns accurately. Obviously I won't use real guns. I'm going to use those fake bullets that are really hard and will be painful if you get hit." said Takane. Kido nodded.
"That would work. I think it's better if we have Haruka and Takane in our main plan as well, because you never know if guards could just pop up and accidentally disable my power. I'll help with the back door as combat as well." she said. Kano made an OK sign.
"That leaves me, Seto, Marry, and Momo without work on the two plans. I think we'll act as emergency plan and combat. Seto, you'll keep an eye on Kurozawa and read his thoughts when necessary. Let us know if he's coming and sending anyone going Shintaro-kun's way." said Kano.
"Roger!" said Seto.
"And me, Marry, and Momo will be on the emergency combat team. If there are too many guards for Takane and Haruka to handle, call us over and we'll help. I'll get us those cool microphone earpiece things so we can communicate." said Kano. Everyone nodded.
"I'll repeat the plan." said Kido. "Front door will be our main plan, back door our second. Front door will require the code that Ene got for us, and once we get in, I will make sure you guys are unable to be seen and we'll get through. If my power gets disabled and we get found by guards, Haruka and Takane will be in charge of battle, and I'll help as well. Main plan will need me, Haruka, Takane, and of course, Shintaro."
"Got it!" said Haruka.
"Our second plan, Plan B, will consist of Haruka, Takane, Hibiya, and Shintaro, maybe me as well. Hibiya will find the key and when they go into the hall, Takane and Haruka will fight the guards, with me helping. Emergency team, consisting of Kano, Momo, and Marry, will be called if any help is needed. Seto will be in charge of Kurozawa." continued Kido. "Everyone got it?" Everyone nodded. Kido smiled.
"Then let's begin... The plan of the children..."
Thank you for reading, and I really hope you liked that! Please favorite, follow, review etc., and I hope to see you next chapter as well!
~Chinnie Ai