Thank you to the one and only reflectioncat for favoriting and following me and The Indigo Illusionist! I appreciate your support!
"Why didn't you go shopping?" I yell up the stairs. "You're the only one who can drive!"
"Not legally!" My brother's voice shouts back.
"But you still do!" I counter, freeing my wrists from the shopping bags and throwing them down in the entryway. "Get down here and get your things!"
I hear his bedroom door open, and my brother practically jumps down the stairs, sliding on his socks across the tile and picking at the bags.
My brother, Takumi Yori, looks nothing like me. While I have curly silver hair, he has swept caramel hair. While I have one brown eye and one green, he has a vibrant cobalt blue. Where I am slender in the face and shoulders, he is much more filled out, with a wider jaw, wider nose, thicker eyebrows, and broader shoulders.
"Thanks, Mizu," Takumi says, picking up a bag and starting back up the stairs.
"Wait, Takumi," I call out, picking up the other bag and and following him. "I think that maybe I'm not going to Lobelia."
"Why not?" He glances at me.
"Well, I met these kids on the street, about as old as me, Ouran Academy students. They said... bad things go on at Lobelia."
"What kind of bad things?"
"I don't know. They didn't go into any details, but it seemed pretty desperate. I don't think I should go there."
"Okay," he says after a while. "I'll hop online and get you into Ouran."
"Are you sure it's no trouble?" I ask hopefully.
"None at all," he smiles. "Anything for my baby sister."
"Thanks, Takumi!" I hug him.
I'm not very good around most people, but Takumi's really friendly. Whenever we go out together, he does all the talking while I just stand there looking fairly awkward. Most people, if they're not automatically attracted to me that is, don't like me all that much. I'm rude and what I like to call brutally honest but everyone else just calls "having no filter".
X-***-X
I heft my bag over my shoulder, smirking at the now familiar entrance courtyard. The fountain, last night only a stone skeleton, is spluttering with life. I walk casually over to it, and check the time on my phone. 8:25 exactly. Perfect. I throw my bag on the stones surrounding the fountain, and then jump up on the lip.
"Ready, Takumi?" I whisper into the cheap earpiece nestled against the shell of my ear.
"Go ahead," he replies.
"Everyone!" I call, my voice booming over the outdoor courtyard through the PA system. Dozens of faces look up at me, some annoyed, some bored, but all soon to be amazed. "You don't know me, but my name is Mizuki Kokoro Aihana. I'm from Karuizawa. And guess what? I am going to make this fountain gush with blood!"
A few oohs and little sounds of surprise go around. Ever the performer, I pause for dramatic effect, listening to my brother's sounds of concentration in my ear.
"Crap, one sec. We have problems. Stall them, Mizu," he says.
"Would you all like to see this?" I prompt. A couple scattered 'Yeahs' and a 'Sure' go up. I slump my shoulders.
"Fine, fine," I feint disappointment. "I get it, I'm new here. But, come on, a fountain running with blood? That's pretty cool, right?" I grin, leaning forward towards the growing crowd, cupping my hand around my ear. "Wouldn't you like to see it?"
Only a few more shouts of agreement. Takumi says into my ear that everything's ready when I say the word.
"Okay, you don't believe me," I smile, straightening. "So I'll show you." I spread my feet apart, raise my arms to shoulder height, and face the crowd with one last amused giggle. Then, I throw my head back and clap my hands dramatically over my head. I hear Takumi press a button and behind me, the water silents. I stay still until I hear the last of it drains from the stone bed.
I right myself, jumping up and down, shaking out my arms.
"Whoo," I laugh. "My magic is a little bit rusty. I haven't done a trick like this since the last day of middle school."
Finally, I sigh, turn around to face the empty fountain. I raise my arms again, this time towards the fountain, and, after a small pause, clap my hands together again. I hear a gurgle deep within the stonework, and the faint screeching of metal. Then, a small ribbon of red leaks from the spout. I cross my arms smugly as the ones in front lean in closer and closer as the ribbon widens into a trickle, and then to an all out stream. After one more gurgle of submission, the fountain flows steadily with blood.
There is silence, and then sudden applause. I jump off the lip of the fountain. The onlookers swallow me up, asking me how I did it and one boy even asks me if I'll teach him to do it. I only laugh and say the classic line of illusionists never revealing their secrets.
"Excuse me, Miss Aihana," a boy approaches me. I break away from my previous conversation with a small smile and a wave, turning to him.
"Yes?"
"The trick you performed was ingenious. It took me a while to figure out that you had placed a static canister of fake blood inside the fountain and set it up with a remote operating system. Was the device on you or controlled by an accomplice?"
"Shh!" I hush, clamping a hand over his mouth. He glares at me from behind his glasses, and removes my hand from his face. "You know, I don't much appreciate some random guy coming in here and giving me away. Who are you?"
"My name is Kyoya Ootori," he says, flipping open a black notebook and writing something down in it. I stand on my toes to see what it is, but he glares at me and tilts it away. I smile at him. He closes his book and says, "Why don't we talk in private?"
"Sure," I agree cheerily, following on his heels as he walks across the courtyard.
- How Mizuki Pulled It Off -
The previous night, she and Takumi created a couple gallons of fake blood using red dye, water, and iron fillings to give it that weird blood smell. They replaced it with the water tank and relied only on the water already circulating through the structure to not give them away. When Takumi presses a button, the water stops flowing, drains out of the fountain, and at another push of the button, the fake blood mixture replaces it.
Meanwhile, Takumi hacks into the Ouran Academy PA system and remotely syncs it to Mizuki's side of the earpiece. This way, her voice is broadcast throughout the entire school, interrupting classes and therefore drawing more attention to herself. This way, her tricks are known and instantly famous. Using the natural instinct to talk about things that aren't normal, Mizuki and Takumi are sure to be known.
